Original air date: 8/20/1999
Production code: PPG-203
Birthday Bash: While in prison, Mojo Jojo, Princess, and the Amoeba Boys all come up with plans to destroy the Girls at their television-covered birthday party. Later on, HIM tries a plan of his own, using the piñata featured at the party.
Too Pooped to Puff: Fed up with Townsville taking them for granted, the Girls vow not to move a muscle until Townsville starts taking care of themselves. Therefore, when a monster attacks the town, the Girls stick to their decision.
Birthday Bash provides examples of:
- Added Alliterative Appeal: "This bulldozing bull is busting up our birthday bash!"
- Birthday Episode: The girls celebrate their birthday with all of Townsville and it's television-covered. It's even in the title, "Birthday Bash".
- A Birthday, Not a Break: The villains plan to turn the Powerpuff Girls' birthday into tragic event by attacking them during the party. It’s Subverted because all of Townsville enjoyed seeing their heroes in action.
- Birthday Party Goes Wrong: The girls celebrate their birthday with all of Townsville. However, Mojo Jojo, Princess and HIM all seize the opportunity to attack and hopefully kill the girls with their "gifts" (Mojo sends a giant robot, Princess a missile, and HIM a giant, living piñata). The Amoeba Boys also make an attempt to harm the girls with Voodoo Dolls, but screw up as usual.
- Bowdlerisation: On CITV in the UK, the Mayor's line "I got the little bugger!" is removed, due to the word "bugger" being considered offensive over there.
- Happy Birthday to You!: The girls' party guests start to sing this when the cake is ushered out, but Bubbles shuts them up midway through the first word, as this episode was produced when the actual song was still under copyright.
- Humongous Mecha: Mojo’s “gift” for the girls.
- Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: Being in prison doesn’t stop Mojo Jojo, Princess Morbucks and the Amoeba Boys from somehow getting their booby-trapped presents to the Powerpuff Girls on their birthday. The Amoeba Boys somehow get their present to the girls by toilet.
- Must Make Amends: Implied to be the reason why Rainbow the Clown is invited to the girls' birthday party.
- Present Peeking: The girls try to use their x-ray vision to see what is inside the presents, but the Professor quickly jumps in between and tells them to just wait till they can open the presents.
- Sore Loser: Mojo and Princess both get angry and complain when their "gifts" fail to destroy the Powerpuff Girls, while also mocking each other for failing and arguing over which of them came closer. Everyone also accuses HIM of being one after he claims that his plan succeeded even though he didn't destroy anyone and just gave them candy instead, which he claims will give everyone tooth decay.
- Third Time's The Charm: When Princess unleashes a missile at the Powerpuffs' birthday bash, the girls split up to stop it. First, Blossom works alone and heads toward the missile, and tries to redirect the missile away from everyone, but the caboose is made to easily detach itself, and nullifies her effort. After realizing that the missile is after the lid target, Buttercup and Bubbles work together to get rid of the target, with Buttercup trying to slow down the missile while Bubbles moves the target out of the way. Just when Buttercup is overpowered and sent spinning mid-air, Bubbles grabs the target, and repositions it mid-air, where the missile hits its mark, thus saving the party.
- Title Drop: By Blossom as the possessed piñata destroys the party.
- The Un-Reveal: Ms. Bellum is shown fully in frame, but her face is hidden behind a party balloon.
- Voodoo Doll: The Amoeba boys give these to the girls, forgetting that in order for the voodoo to work they had to keep the dolls themselves so they could put the needles in. Mojo immediately points out this flaw in their plan.
- Xanatos Gambit: HIM claims his plan to be this. Even though the girls defeat his giant Piñata monster and nobody got killed or even injured during the monster’s rampage (though there’s a lot of collateral damage), HIM still claims he won because the candy from the piñata will now give everybody tooth decay. The other villains don’t agree and accuse him of just being a sore loser who can’t admit defeat. Only the mayor ends up complaining how the candy gave him a toothache.
Too Pooped to Puff provides examples of:
- Aesop Amnesia: Unsurprisingly, the Mayor after the monster has been dealt with, thoughtlessly telling the girls to clean up the town as he walks away. The girls are not the least bit pleased to hear this.
- Calling the Old Man Out: The girls give the Professor a piece of their mind when he calls their help to retrieve the tv remote, which was literally JUST out of his reach. He was too lazy to get up and get it himself.
- Firehouse Dalmatian: When the girls rescue several citizens from a burning apartment building, a fireman offers half-hearted praise and then asks them to take Spot, his pet Dalmatian, for a walk, much to their chagrin.
- Frivolous Summoning: The cause of the girls' frustration; the townspeople want their help with everything.
- Heroic Fatigue: The girls suffer from this since everyone in Townsville keeps asking their help for even the most mundane tasks.
- Heroic Fire Rescue: The Girls save people from a burning building.
- Police Are Useless: Especially in this episode, where they don’t even TRY to stop any crooks since they count on the girls to do it for them. The fire fighters aren’t any better.
- Shock and Awe: The citizens of Townsville defeat the giant monster by first tricking him to walk into some power lines, and then spray him with a hose. The resulting electrocution causes the monster to explode.
- Terminally Dependent Society: In this episode, Townsville has devolved into this, with the citizens depending on the girls for literally everything. The girls go on strike to force the inhabitants to show some responsibility instead of taking them for granted.
