Original air date: 1/13/1999 (produced in 1998)
Production code: PPG-108
Paste Makes Waste: Buttercup becomes a bully to a boy in her class, but the boy gets his chance for revenge when he is turned into a paste monster.
Ice Sore: during a heat wave, Blossom discovers a new superpower: Ice Breath.
Paste Makes Waste provides examples of:
- An Aesop:
- Apologize when you hurt others.
- Apologizing does not make you weak. Quite the opposite is true.
- Asshole Victim: The bullies in Elmer’s class. At first, Blossom and Bubbles outright refuse to stop the monstrous Elmer since they feel the bullies (and Buttercup) had it coming. Only after he attacks Ms. Keane (who comforted Elmer after the bullying was done, mind you) are they willing to fight him.
- Bullying a Dragon: Invoked. Elmer turned into the glue monster right after he was pushed by a bully and got back at him.
- Cannot Spit It Out: When Ms. Keane has Buttercup apologize to Elmer for bullying him, she hesitantly tries to, but can't even start. Even when she does find it in herself to apologize at the climax, it's still hard for her to say the word without effort.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: When Elmer goes on a rampage, Blossom tells Buttercup that none of it would be happening if she had just apologized to him in the first place. Indeed, Elmer stops his rampage and helps fix things when Buttercup finally does so.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Elmer going off on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Buttercup and the other bullies for tormenting him after his mutation? Understandable. Him proceeding to go through a destructive rampage through Townsville? Not so much.
- Extreme Omnivore: Elmer likes to eat school paste.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Buttercup joins in on her classmates teasing Elmer. You can tell from the looks on their faces how shocked Blossom and Bubbles are to see this.
- Foreshadowing: "I'd be cool if I had powers."
- Hypocrite: Harry and Wes, two boys who say that eating paste is "gross" and "a sick habit", respectively. The former looks like he hasn't bathed in weeks and the latter is a nose-picker.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Buttercup may be The Unapologetic for picking on Elmer, but she does rightfully point out how Elmer is attacking people who had nothing to do with his humiliation, including Ms. Keane who actually helped him out.
- Misplaced Retribution: When Elmer mutates, Blossom and Bubbles refuse to help Buttercup fight him, telling her point-blank that she and the other bullies deserve it for how they treated him. They immediately change their minds when Elmer attacks Ms. Keane, who had nothing to do with the bullying and even comforted him afterwards, and proceeds to destroy the school building and rampage through Townsville.Buttercup: Well, is she a bully?
- Mutagenic Goo: The brightly glowing green radioactive waste that indirectly causes Elmer's mutation. A worker at the facility it came from accidentally wiped his face with a cloth it dripped on and grows long octopus tentacles out of his cheeks.
- Nuclear Mutant: Some paste and a fly exposed to chemical waste are what transforms Elmer into a monster. The fly itself also underwent a mutation before this.
- Only One Name: Somehow, during the morning roll call, Ms. Keane does not call the Powerpuff Girls by their full name but only their first, unlike the other children.
- Ordered Apology: Ms. Keane demands Buttercup apologizes to Elmer for throwing paste at him, but she can’t bring herself to it. Later, Blossom and Bubbles demand the same thing when it becomes clear they cannot beat Elmer in his monster form. After postponing it for as long as possible, she finally does, and he promptly ceases his attack.
- Paste Eater: Elmer snacks on paste for the entirety of his screen time.
- Punny Name: Wes's last name is Goingon (What's going on).
- Refuse to Rescue the Disliked: Blossom and Bubbles refuse to help Buttercup fight Elmer, telling her that she and the other kids deserved it for bullying him. They change their minds after he attacks Ms. Keane.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Elmer wastes no time to get back at his bullies after his transformation.
- Rocket Fist: As a monster, Elmer can detach his fists and shoot them at opponents in this manner.
- Sheathe Your Sword: The Powerpuff Girls try everything in their power to beat Monster!Elmer, and nothing works (especially not coming into contact with him). Under the pressure that her sisters are drowning in Elmer's gluey body, Buttercup is forced to do the one thing she's been reluctant to do for him: apologize. Not surprisingly, this calms Elmer and he not only frees Buttercup's sisters, but also makes amends to his actions.
- Shout-Out:
- Elmer is named, appropriately enough, after Elmer's Brand glue.
- Elmer when he's the giant glue monster does the Howie scream at one point.
- Buttercup is physically incapable of saying "sorry" in the same way Fonzie is incapable of saying he was wrong.
- Sickly Green Glow: The radioactive waste a worker at the nuclear plant accidentally spills, and anything that gets affected by it afterwards, Elmer included.
- Snap Back: Elmer somehow turned back to normal after this episode.
- The Unapologetic: Buttercup outright refuses to apologize to Elmer after what she did to him. And when she tries, all she can do is stutter.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Despite Ms. Keane defending him from his classmates, Elmer still attacks her during his rampage.
Ice Sore provides examples of:
- An Aesop: Bragging is not good, and if you brag, it will come back to bite you.
- Colony Drop: The heat wave is eventually revealed to be caused by a giant, flaming meteor on a collision course with Earth.
- Comes Great Responsibility: Sure the girl already have superpowers, but Blossom falls under this when she discovers her new ice powers. She blows off stopping a robbery to make ice cones (granted, it was during a heatwave, but still...). And then when she finally joins the chase, she tries to use her powers to stop them, but instead helps them get away by freezing the road. To make up, she regains the resolve to use her ice breathing power to freeze the meteor. To make doubly sure, the girls smash the meteor to minimize the damage to the city.
- Comically Missing the Point: We get this gem from the Mayor, after Blossom freezes over the flaming meteor heading towards Townsville with her ice breath...Mayor: Oh good! Blossom has stopped the giant fireball.
Ms. Bellum: Yes, but now there's a giant iceball hurtling towards us.
Mayor: Yes, but it's not a giant fireball! - Discard and Draw: After using her powers to completely freeze a giant flaming meteor, Blossom believes she tapped out that power and can't use it anymore. Then she discovers she has flame breath.
- Gratuitous Spanish: Double Subverted. Bubbles can speak Spanish, but she misuses a phrase towards Pablo when the girls arrive at school. She says "¡Movarte, el niño!" which means "Move over, boy!" loosely translated. The actual command in the sentence is "¡Muévete!" not "¡Movarte!"
- Green-Eyed Monster: Bubbles and Buttercup are particularly bitter over Blossom's ice power. It comes with a little Jerkass Has a Point after she starts to use it recklessly. They still soon regret pressuring her into never using it when giant meteor appears.
- Harmless Freezing: When Professor Utonium wants Blossom to demonstrate her new ice breath, she does so by freezing his head. He doesn’t seem bothered by it at all, other than that it makes it a little harder for him to talk.
- Here We Go Again!: Blossom went from having issues controlling her ice powers to her developing fire breath. Oddly, the fire breath never returns in future episodes.
- Jerkass Ball: Held by Bubbles and Buttercup when they get jealous of Blossom's ice power. They relent when a giant meteor threatens Townsville.
- New Super Power: Blossom discovers her ice breath in this episode. The Narrator lampshades it.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Blossom accidentally helps a group of jewel thieves get away when she freezes the road while their car is on top of a slope.
- Oh, Crap!: After Bubbles and Buttercup finally guilt Blossom into never using her ice powers again, a meteor instantly appears shooting towards Townsville. The two's faces at Blossom make clear they fully know the irony of the situation.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Apparently, the heat wave is so impairing that it had Ms. Keane of all people act unfeeling to the students after she ordered them to play outside in the heat.
- Power Incontinence: In an attempt to stop a getaway car, Blossom tries to freeze the tires, but she also freezes the road, which causes the car to slide down a slope. Not only that, but she also freezes two police officers, a bunch of citizens, and a tree. This shows that because her ice powers are new, she has no control over them.
- The Scream: This happens to Blossom and Bubbles after trying extremely hot oatmeal.
- Shout-Out
- Blossom uses her ice breath to create ice slides in the sky identical to Iceman.
- Bubbles asks Blossom to freeze the kitchen floor "like in Tom and Jerry," specifically the short Mice Follies.
- Slippery Skid: Buttercup and Bubbles encourage Blossom to freeze the floor in the kitchen, which, of course, has this as a result. Poor Professor Utonium.
- Sneeze of Doom: For an end of episode gag Blossom discovers she has fire breathing powers when she sneezes and accidentally gives her sisters Ash Face.
- Status Quo Is God: Blossom says her ice powers are gone by the end of the episode, but in subsequent episodes they seem to have returned.
- Super-Breath: This episode involves Blossom discovering she has freeze breath powers. At the end, she discovers she has fire breathing too.
- That's All, Folks!: After giving the closing spiel, the narrator says, "So long, everybody."
- Waxing Lyrical: Upon discovering the flaming meteor, the Mayor exclaims, “GOODNESS GRACIOUS! A GREAT BALL OF FIRE!”
