The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!!
Original U.S. air date: 1/19/2009 (produced in 2008)
The Powerpuff Girls try to stop the villains of Townsville from obtaining the Key to the World, which actually gives its possessor the right to rule the world, and surprisingly enough, Mojo Jojo obtains the key, and actually makes the world a better place.
The Powerpuff Girls Rule provides examples of:
- Art Shift: The only episode of the original series to be created with Adobe Flash, as by that point, Craig McCracken had been using it for several years on Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and decided that it complimented his artistic abilities better than hand-drawn animation. He even wrote on his DeviantArt page "Where was this program 10 years ago?"
- Aside Glance: As Mojo readies his machine, his narration brags that at long last his moment of triumph has arrived. His machine then briefly gets stuck in a loading loop, prompting a frustrated Mojo to do this.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Mojo Jojo ends up with the key, and thus gets to rule the world. Surprisingly, he reveals himself to be a very benevolent ruler who stops global warming, cures all diseases, protects whales, ends all war, and finally, gives everyone a free puppy. The girls are literally stunned silent and later apologize to Mojo for always thwarting him in the past.
- Bait-and-Switch: Pulled by the Mayor. During the chaotic search for the Key, the Mayor confides to the girls that he found "it". Unfortunately, he wasn't talking about the key but his precious porcelain poodle.
- Behind the Black: When the girls deduce the Key is in the Mayors' office, it's promptly revealed that Mojo was listening in on their conversation just off screen, from inside a giant tank the girls should easily have noticed. Buttercup even lampshades the trope:How did we not notice a tank following us?
- They likewise fail to notice all the other villains in their respective vehicles getting ready to pursuit Mojo.
- Big Ball of Violence: Happens repeatedly during the fight over the Key.
- Big Brother Is Watching: Buttercup imagines herself like this if she were to rule the world.
- Big "YES!": Mojo the second he claims the key.
- Butt-Monkey: Mojo Jojo becomes one in this episode, being easily beaten and humiliated by both the girls and other villains to the point that he gives up and decides to leave Townsville.
- Creator Cameo: Both Craig McCracken and Lauren Faust (a writer and producer of the show) are seen among the crowd when Mojo goes back to villainy.
- The Cameo:
- Several oneshot villains from the series cameo in this episode, including the giant fish monster, Roach Coach, Lenny Baxter, the evil cat, and The Boogie Man.
- Frankie Foster is seen among the women in Blossom's vision of how she'd run the world.
- Comes Great Responsibility: Said by the Mayor to the girls after they too tried to get the key for themselves.
- Denser and Wackier: This special is a lot wackier than the original series, with far more elements of farce and absurdist humor. According to Word of God, this was an intentional decision, as Craig McCracken felt that the 2002 movie was too serious.
- Didn't See That Coming: After Mojo turns the world into a complete paradise, the narrator lets out a surprised "Wow." While saying Mojo has actually saved the day, the narrator goes on to talk about how unexpected this development was.
- Disappointed in You: Professor Utonium, the Mayor, Miss Bellum, Miss Keane, and almost all the citizens of Townsville hang their heads in shame after seeing the girls fight over the key. Even the talking dog stated that he had nothing to say to them.
- End of an Age: Followed up by Dance Pantsed and the 2016 reboot series, this was the final piece of Powerpuff Girls animation to use the show's original art style and to feature the involvement of series creator Craig McCracken and the original writing team.
- Evil vs. Evil: Since they all want to rule to world, the villains of Townsville just as much fight each other over The Key as they fight the girls.
- The Extremist Was Right: It turns out making Mojo Jojo the ruler of Earth as he's fought to make himself would usher in a utopia... at least until he gets bored of ruling.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: This episode finally shows Mrs. Bellum's face!
- Good Is Boring: Mojo Jojo uses the key to turn the world into a utopia. However, he quickly becomes bored of it.
- Grand Finale: After "See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey" already serves as a Series Fauxnale, this special is the definitive finale for The Powerpuff Girls.
- Happy Dance: Mojo does one after inserting the key into his machine.
- Hypocritical Humor: As the girls apologize, the Mayor (holding the key) tells them about the importance of being responsible with great power. He then thoughtlessly gives the key to Mojo when asked.
- Idiot Ball: Whoever's idea it was to send the Key of the World to Townsville was definitely carrying this ball. The girls even lampshade what a stupid idea it is.
- Instant Wristwatch: Mojo Jojo checks his watch at the Bus Stop scene in the end of Everybody Wants to Rule the World.
- It's All About Me: The girls decide to use the key of Townsville for their own advantages instead of using it for great responsibility and they get into a big fight over it and beat up all the villains over it and their fighting makes the others look down on them, they apologize for this still.
- MacGuffin: The key to the world.
- Motor Mouth: Everyone talks much faster than normal in this special for some reason. It likely had a lot to do with the network's mandate for the episode to be shrunken down from being an hour-long special at the last minute.
- My God, What Have I Done?: The girls when they see the disappointed faces of the professor, Mayor, Mrs. Bellum, Mrs. Keane, their classmates, and the citizens of Townsville in response to their fight to get the key.
- Mundane Solution: How does Mojo get the key? He simply asks the Mayor if he could see it.
- Needle in a Stack of Needles: At one point, The Key to the World is seemingly lost in a large pile of keys, making it harder for everyone involved to find it. The Girls however eventually deduce that the key never was in the pile, but rather in the Mayors' office.
- Not So Above It All: The girls are just as quick to fight over the key as the villains are.
- Oh, Crap!: The Girls' reaction to learning that the Key of the World will be brought to Townsville, since they know what this will lead to with all the villains running around town.
- Repurposed Pop Song: During his Villainous BSoD, Mojo sings Tears for Fears' Everybody Wants to Rule the World.
- Robot Me: The giant robot Mojo uses at the start of the episode is basically a large, mechanical version of Mojo himself.
- Self-Destruct Mechanism: Mojo’s tank has one, which he accidentally activates after the tank crashes. However, Mojo uses this to his advantage by using the explosion combined with the tanks cannon to turn himself into a Human Cannonball, and thus actually reach the Town Hall first.
- Shout-Out:
- The Narrator's dialogue when the villains begin attacking Townsville, "All of the villains, and all the bratty ones, and all the fuzzy ones, and all the icky ones, and all the sticky ones, and all the scary ones...", and the way the villains all run around while he says it are references to the early Sesame Street song "None, Some, All".
- When the Girls crash into Mojo during his escape from prison and blow up his Powered Armor in the process, he holds up a sign reading "curses" before falling to the ground, not unlike how Wile E Coyote frequently addresses the viewer.
- Ace shouts, "Key to the world, ma!"
- During the Wacky Racing scene, Mojo Jojo's tank resembles a cross between the Mean Machine and the Army Surplus Special, and the girls dune buggy (which the Professor insisted they use) looks like a pink Shout-Out to Speed Buggy.
- At the Professor's prodding, the girls press a button on their car to send out a turtle shell that hits Mojo Jojo's car and sends him flying off the track like in the Mario Kart games.
- Mojo saves the whales... from Captain Ahab.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Mojo eventually coming out on top can be seen as this, considering his streak of bad luck throughout the episode.
- Tornado Move: Buttercup uses one to save a group of people from falling to their deaths.
- Victory Is Boring: This is the reason Mojo gives up his rule over the world and goes back to fighting the girls again.Mojo: Ah, yes. Peace. Wonderful peace. Incredible peace. Nice peace. Quiet peace. Boring peace. It's driving me CRAZY!
- Volumetric Mouth: The Girls are drawn like this a lot.
- Wacky Racing: All villains and the girls end up in a race to the Mayors office, where the key is.
- Wham Line: After claiming the key, Mojo rants in full supervillain boasting that he will finally rule the world and get to do all the things he's dreamed of doing. Then he gets to the part about how his machine will remake the world and throws the audience for a loop.Mojo: FIRST I WILL... end world hunger.
- Wing Ding Eyes: The eyes of several villains take the shape of the Key whenever they think it is within their reach.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: After seeing all the great things that Mojo does once in control of the world, the girls stare in disbelief. Bubbles even falls over.
