YMMV / The Powerpuff Girls (2016)

For YMMV tropes pertaining to the original series, go here.

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YMMV tropes with their own pages:

• Memetic Mutation
• They Changed It Now It Sucks

General examples:

#-O

• Animation Age Ghetto: Much like the Girl-Show Ghetto, many have accused the reboot of falling under this category with its (initial) usage of outdated memes, bizarre facial expressions (such as the large amount of Wingding Eyes), and bowdlerization (e.g. the violence being toned down and removing Ms. Bellum for being a Ms. Fanservice despite original show having always depicted her as far more than that).
• Anvilicious:
  • While the original didn't make such a big deal about the heroes being girls, the 2016 reboot has girl power as a prominent theme.
  • A specific episode example would be "Spider Sense," which has a very obvious message against polluting and being wasteful.
• Ass Pull:
  • A few viewers have this reaction to the revelation that Jemmica is a centuries-old sorceress, which was never mentioned until her third (and last) episode and just feels like an utter course shift to her character, as if the writers realized she was too average to really be considered an enemy of the girls.
  • In "Princess Buttercup" Princess's indestructible necronium diamond suddenly becomes destructible once the Derbytantes attack it despite the Powerpuff Girls being unable to break it with their super powers.
• Badass Decay: This has been a major complaint lodged against Silico. In his debut in "Viral Spiral", he was a competent, menacing villain who managed to hijack the internet with the girls unaware of his existence. His next appearance in "Halt and Catch Silico" revealed that his hatred for the girls stemmed from them accidentally destroying his house and breaking his robotic friends. Many fans felt that it was a flimsy backstory that undermined his previous badassery. His third appearance in "Bring Your Kids To Doomsday" tries to give him back some of the intimation factor he had in his debut, but it ultimately falls flat due to him being far less competent than before. To the point that he is outwitted and defeated by the Professor of all people. "The Trouble With Bubbles" seems to have fixed some of this, however, as it is revealed that Silico is now able to upload his mind into 3D copies of himself that can become anyone he chooses, even the Professor.
• Base-Breaking Character: All three of the Powerpuff Girls have mixed reception because of the reboot's sharply divisive characterization of them. But there are specific reasons each of them have gained detractors, as well as fans who still accept them:
  • Blossom is now a disturbingly obsessive Neat Freak who is not as competent as a leader as she was previously depicted, but some viewers like how adorkable she is.
  • Buttercup's redeeming qualities were toned down, to the point where she is a straight-up jerk most of the time, but there are some occasions where she shows a softer side, like comforting Bubbles in "Bubbles of the Opera," and "Halt and Catch Silico." Other viewers find her exaggerated jerkass nature to be funnier.
  • Bubbles receives a considerable amount of backlash for occasionally clutching the Jerkass Ball, and her meme-based idiocy, but she is still for the most part depicted as good-natured and amiable as she was in the original show.
  • Silico. Some think that he is a competent, menacing villain with a tragic background. Others believe that he was wasted potential whose entire grudge came from the Girls breaking his stuff (that were the closest thing he had to friends, but still). That being said, he is still the most popular villain within the reboot.
  • The fourth Powerpuff Girl (aside of Bunny from the original) from the 5-episode special "The Power of Four" got a predictably mixed reaction. Some were happy that we now have a black Powerpuff Girl, while others made jokes about her resembling your typical DeviantArt OC (especially with her unusual blue hair,) and/or accused her of only existing just for the sake of being a Token Minority. Others see her as an unnecessary Replacement Scrappy to Bunny from the original show. And then there is the backstory of her being the Professor's first attempt at creating the girls, who he abandoned or hid because she was dangerously unstable. Besides feeling like a lazy backstory for such a character type, people hate it for being wildly out of character for the Professor, who was depicted as a model dad to the girls throughout the original series and in the reboot. Others dislike the retconning of the series' lore. Her design is also mocked for having wider hips and much longer legs (as she is supposed to be a teenager), making her look even more awkward, especially next to her sisters.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
  • Blossom, Bubbles and Allegro twerking in "Painbow". It is never talked about again and it never had anything to do with the plot.
  • Allegro exploding and turning out to be a small blue bear at the end of "Painbow" as well. It's never explained why this happened and neither of the episodes that brought him back acknowledge it (Even in "Largo", which reveals Allegro's origin, never mentions it).
• Bile Fascination: In its first few weeks, a lot of people (especially fans of the original) watched the show purely to pick it apart and discuss every flaw in the writing, animation, and the changes they made from the original — until they eventually got bored and moved on.
• Bizarro Episode: "Painbow". Allegro's lair, characters acting like they are high, and references to outdated memes such as "OMG yass", "Literally can't even", and also twerking.
• Broken Base:
  • "Horn, Sweet Horn", the episode with the pony who wanted to be a unicorn. While some have praised it for discussing gender identity in a way that wasn't too anvilicious, others have thrashed it because of the botched moral. The pony underwent a dangerous transformation procedure, not because he wanted to, but because Bubbles wanted it. She told him that he needed it. Not only does he become a monster, he discovers that he was a unicorn all along upon returning to normal. His horn was simply tucked away under his mane the whole time.The episode's writer later came out and said that the episode was not intended to be about gender identity, meaning the supposed commentary was merely something the producers spun up to make the show sound progressive.
  • Some praise the show for promoting girl power and feel that it's in step with the previous series. Others feel that it comes off as forced and (in light of dropping Ms. Bellum and reducing Ms. Keane's bust) disingenuous, hypocritical and laced with "Real Women Don't Wear Dresses"-like implications. It doesn't help that the girls often get kidnapped and rescued by male characters, including the Mayor.
  • The girls' personalities also came under fire. Some like the fact that they are a tad more mature than their original incarnations. They also like that the girls bicker at a more frequent basis, like any siblings would. Others feel that the writers have flanderized some of their more negative aspects: Buttercup's thirst for action, Bubbles' girlishness, and Blossom's need for order to the point where she's Obsessively Organized.
  • Some of the villains' portrayals are controversial as well. Mojo Jojo was the girl's main arch-enemy in the original series, but the reboot made him almost completely ineffectual and took away ALL of the original Mojo's vocal tics. Some find it fitting for the sake of humor, others think that it completely misses the point of the character.
  • The series being a sort of Soft Reboot Stealth Sequel. It obviously intends for fans to have seen the original series, despite the fact that the show hasn't had frequent reruns on Cartoon Network in a decade. Fans are split on this. Some are glad for the references and feel that they are a saving grace for the series. Others think that they tie the series down too much and make everything confusing (for example, how old are the girls now?)
• Captain Obvious Reveal: In "Arachno-Romance", the Professor's new arachnologist girlfriend, who the girls found near where the giant spider disappeared and was acting nervously suspicious, turns out to be the giant spider.
• Character Rerailment:
  • The episode "The Big Sleep" does this to Professor Utonium. After several episodes of him being portrayed as a Ditzy Genius and a Bumbling Dad, the episode has him coming up with a foolproof Batman Gambit. It involves him creating a pillow that can instantly put anyone to sleep. He tricks the girls into thinking that it escaped his lab and poses a threat to all of Townsville. The entire plan is aimed at making the girls go to bed.
  • "The Trouble With Bubbles" does this for Silico. After two prior episodes of lackluster appearances, Silico is finally back to resembling the threat the show presented him as in his debut. He not only hacks Bubbles' 3D copy machine to construct a clone to destroy the Powerpuff Girls, he also gives it a self-destruct sequence, should the clone fail. And even though the clone performs a Taking You with Me to seemingly kill him, Silico is revealed to have already uploaded his conscience to the net. He can now create 3D copies of himself. Copies that allow him to be anywhere and anyone he chooses—including the Professor.
• Comedy Ghetto: Much like Teen Titans Go! and Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! before it, the show placing more emphasis on comedy rather than action has soured a lot of fans. Particularly fans of the original series who praised it for balancing comedy with action and dark themes.
• Common Knowledge: One of the writers, Jake Goldman, created a self-insert character named Jared Shapiro in order to ship himself with Blossom. While this is an understandable conclusion, due to the character resembling and being voiced by Goldman, said writer didn't create the character. Jared originated as an in-joke amongst the show's artists, and the character was kept due to Goldman finding the caricature to be Actually Pretty Funny.
• Continuity Lock-Out: The series is meant to be a reboot aimed at 2010's children, yet it also assumes that they are fans of the original 1990s cartoon. It doesn't give proper introductions to old villains and features numerous references to the original.
• Critical Dissonance: Critical reception for the reboot is more mixed compared to the audiences' extremely negative reception, getting a 3/5 on Common Sense Media but a 3.6/10 on IMDb.
• Designated Hero: While the Powerpuff Girls in the original show would occasionally fall under this category, their reboot incarnations have much more pronounced flaws that it's difficult to root for the girls despite the narrative wanting us to side with them. Specifically:
  • Buttercup is the worst out of the trio. Despite being usually portrayed as in the right, she is fine with beating up people unprovoked. She has also forgotten to put others before herself more than once. She calls Silico "messed up" after he reveals his tragic backstory to her and the other Girls. That line was Played for Laughs...
  • Bubbles is shown to act more self-centered, annoying, immature, whiny, even psychotic. She lacks any character development. Despite this, nobody really ever calls Bubbles out on any of it. They all act like this is simply how she is.
  • Blossom is probably the least offensive of the trio, typically being the Only Sane Man of them. Even so, Blossom's Obsessively Organized instincts will make her freak out over the slightest of filthiness and disorganization. This makes her come off as more of an annoyance than a reasonable person. And of course, she is prone to acting self-absorbed like her sisters.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Silico is the most popular of the new villains, due to a strong first appearance and surprisingly menacing nature.
  • DupliKate won over some fans with combining a cute design and a likable personality. The viewers see it as the perfect kinda Ham and Cheese for the show. The fact she actually does give the girls a challenge has worked in her favor.
  • A few fans found the butter boy aka "Butterfingers" pretty interesting. A villain whose motivation was wanting to be a superhero. He resorted to un-supehero like methods (i.e stealing Buttercup's body) because the power he gained wasn't to his liking. The fact that he has a very skewed perception of superhero-ing (solely just fighting bad guys for action rather than protecting people) and he is willing to kill to keep Buttercup's body was a factor too.
• Evil Is Cool: Silico has gotten quite the fan following for being a truly menacing and competent villain, who managed to get away with his crimes with the girls completely unaware of his existence. In "Halt and Catch Silico", he faces the heroes in person and dishes out a Curb-Stomp Battle on them by being a Combat Pragmatist.
• Fan-Disliked Explanation: Silico's origin story and grudge against the Powerpuff Girls, which pertains to the Girls accidentally destroying his robot friends which led to him to seek revenge, is disliked even by people who otherwise like him, with the overall feeling that it cheapens Silico as an antagonist.
• Fanon Discontinuity:
  • Most fans of the original series like to pretend this reboot did not exist.
  • More than a few people who saw "Total Eclipse of the Kart" like to pretend Jemmica's true nature as Jemoiré never happened.
• Fetish Retardant: If the scene of Blossom and Bubbles twerking in "Painbow" was intended to be fanservice in some way, then it definitely qualifies. They are both underage girls with cartoonish body proportions. Not really helping matters is that the producers got rid of Ms. Bellum for being too risque, yet allowed the girls to twerk. This is seen as hypocrisy by many.
• Fight Scene Failure: One criticism is that along with there being less action overall, when there are fight scenes, the Powerpuff Girl's punches are too slow and don't really have much impact.
• Franchise Original Sin: The 2009 special included a reference to the Dramatic Chipmunk video, as mentioned below under Older Than They Think. This didn't attract much backlash then, but some feel that it paved the way for the drastic increase in memes that this series displays.
• Germans Love David Hassel Hoff: Got a better reception overseas in Europe and Japan. It's likely the reason why the show lasted three seasons.
• Girl-Show Ghetto: Unlike the original, this show falls into it. The 90s cartoon was a unisex aimed cartoon that used its cute girlish protagonists in an ironic manner, due to how violent they actually were. The merchandise was mainly aimed at girls, but the show itself was aimed at a general audiences. The reboot on the other hand is clearly aimed at girls. This makes the show considerably less popular with boys than before. The merchandise itself doesn't sell as well either.
• Growing the Beard:
  • Aside from the TTG/PPG crossover mentioned above, the episode "Viral Spiral" has been surprisingly well received by fans for portraying the girls in a more heroic light, and for the debut of Silico, who is seen as the most competent villain in the cast so far. Even detractors of the show admitted this was one of the better episodes.
  • Later episodes have likewise started feeling closer to the original series with the girls in action a lot more. Shadow Streak, who has reviewed every single episode of the show, has even postulated that if season one was more like season three, the show would have likely been better received over all, if still heavily flawed.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The twerking scene with Blossom, Bubbles, and Allegro from "Painbow" was already considered pretty creepy by itself, but it's now even moreso when Julia Vickerman, who co-wrote the episode, was discovered three years after its premiere to have made several pedophilic posts on her social media (a scandal that all but killed her own series, Twelve Forever).
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In season 4 episode of Johnny Bravo, "Johnny Makeover", after Don Knotts, Blue Falcon, and "Weird Al" Yankovic try too hard to make Johnny Bravo into a modern demographically-hip reboot:
  Don Knotts: Hey, what do you say we makeover The Powerpuff Girls?
  Blue Falcon: You know, they could use some fingers. ^note Keep in mind, when this episode aired, this was twelve years before the reboot.
  • The show has a Take That! at Wonder Woman's costume. In 2019 Cartoon Network began airing DC Super Hero Girls, which stars Wonder Woman. To make it even funnier, Cartoon Network's Twitter posted a picture for Wonder Woman Day of various female characters dressed as Wonder Woman. Bubbles' reboot design was amongst the cosplayers.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Silico. His parents were never around, and his only friends, the robots he made, were accidentally destroyed by the Girls.
  • Buttercup on occasion. She has stolen Octi from Bubbles, neglected her sisters while they were sick, ditched her sisters to hang out with her friends and hurt people for no reason. But she does have her moments of woobieness, such as "Princess Buttercup". When it comes down to the point, her heart is in the right place.
• Magnificent Bastard: Silico is a technological genius who has dedicated his life to destroying the Powerpuff Girls ever since their recklessness led to the destruction of his robot friends. Since he successfully had the Amoeba Boys upload his consciousness to the Internet in his debut, Silico has used his know-how on robotics and hologram technology to act as a consistent thorn in the girls' side. His schemes include destroying the Powerpuff Girls' reputation through slanderous articles, tricking the Professor into building him a superpowered suit, taking control of and upgrading a 3D-copy of Bubbles, and disguising himself as Bliss to give away tech that brainwashes Townsville's citizens into trying to kill the girls. Always coming dangerously close to victory and bouncing back from nearly every setback, Silico has proven to be one of the most dangerous and clever foes the Powerpuff Girls have ever faced.
• Memetic Molester:
  • Allegro from the episode "Painbow". His voice, eyes, and perpetual smile are creepy enough, but his insistence on hugging Buttercup despite her clearly and repeatedly saying no makes him come off as a pedophile.
  Allegro: You're harshing the party vibes! I know! Give me a hug!
  Buttercup: Ugh! No way, man! I'm having a moment!
  Allegro: Hug me! Hugs make everything better!
  Buttercup: Dude, no!
  Allegro: Just one little hug...!
  Buttercup: Back off!
  Allegro: Hug me! Give me a hug!
  Buttercup: Get away from me, you creep!
  Allegro: Come on! Just One. Little. Hug...!
  Buttercup: I said NO!
  • Jared Shapiro, and by proxy Jake Goldman, largely due to the former being based on the latter and Jared looking older than Blossom. Jake Goldman is also credited as a writer for most of the episodes that focus on him, which led to rumors that he specifically wrote Jared Shapiro as a Self-Insert. According to Word of God, these rumors are false, as this resemblance was a production in-joke by the rest of the staff.
• Mis-blamed: The lack of fight scenes has little to do with the writers. It's due to network and rating restrictions. Like the original, the show has a TV-Y7 rating, but what's allowed under that rating has changed since the original cartoon. It would now need a TV-PG rating to be as violent as the original.
• Older Than They Think:
  • The reboot has been accused of oversaturation with memes, with Painbow being a major offender. Ironically speaking, the 10th anniversary special (aired in 2009) had Mojo Jojo doing the Dramatic Chipmunk pose, music included. However, seeing as that's just a one-off gag and a brief one at that, this might be more Franchise Original Sin.
  • This is not the first time Bubbles has technically been depicted with hair accessories. Her Evil Counterpart Brat has bows in her hair.
  • This isn't the first time vaguely preteen Powerpuff Girls characters have appeared in an official work. The MMO FusionFall had the trio as middle schoolers due to a Plot-Relevant Age-Up. They had their original voice actresses, but their voices were lower and older sounding.

R-Z

• Rainbow Lens: The episode "Horn Sweet Horn" revolves around a colt who wishes he was a unicorn. This has been officially referred to as a transgender allegory, though people on the staff have clarified that it wasn't intended to be.
• Replacement Scrappy:
  • Several of the new villains (Packrat, Man-Boy, Allegro, and the Bikini Sisters) are widely unpopular with fans of the original show. Many viewers felt that they are bland and uninteresting compared to the more classic villains (Mojo Jojo, Him, Fuzzy Lumpkins, and the Gangreen Gang). The fact that the classic villains are rarely used only makes it worse.
  • While Bliss is more of a Base-Breaking Character on her own, in comparison to Bunny she is still usually seen as a rather generic and less engaging replacement.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • For those who were annoyed by Princess Morbucks' shrill and lispy voice in the original show, she now has a much smoother one with her new actress. She also acts less like a whiny Spoiled Brat and has more of an Awesome Ego. She even develops redeeming features and acts like a Friendly Enemy with Blossom.
  • Upon her announcement, Bliss was initially reviled by fans for her poor design and for replacing the much more beloved Bunny as the show's fourth Powerpuff Girl. However, when The Power of Four finally aired, it showed that she had flaws like the other girls and obviously was trying to improve herself. As a result, she managed to win over at least some of her detractors, elevating her into Base-Breaking Character status.
• The Scrappy:
  • While most of the new villains in the show are widely unpopular with fans of the original series, Allegro is the most despised character in the show. Many people have criticizing him for being a bland, boring villain with a flimsy motivation for being evil. Others dislike his creepy interactions with Buttercup, and his willingness to embrace her against her will. He is is also blamed as responsible for the infamous twerking scene.
  • Jared Shapiro is hated for getting in the way of Blossom-related ships. For fans who don't ship Blossom with anyone, he is just seen as a boring and unneeded character. The hatred increased after the character was accused of being a blatant self-insert for one of the writers, Jake Goldman. This theory is based on their similar appearances, Jared being voiced by Jake, and Jake writing almost every episode the character appears in.
  • Donny did not have a strong start with his first appearance. In his second appearance, he shows himself to be a disloyal friend to Bubbles. In "The Last Donnycorn", Donny constantly acts like a dumb useless coward, despite being The Chosen One.
  • Schedulebot is also pretty disliked for being an annoyingly loud character.
• Sequelitis: The show is this to the original. Fans of the original show dislike the newer villains (except Silico and some one-shot characters) for being less interesting than the Rogues Gallery of the original, while pushing most of the older villains out of the spotlight, as to the point, their appearance are extremely small and limited to being either cameos or mentioned. Also disliked are the Flanderization of the girls and their voice change, the wonky animation, and the rather weak plots. Unlike Teen Titans Go! above, this show doesn't have the benefit of being a follow-up; it is a direct continuation.
• Signature Scene: The infamous scene of Blossom and Bubbles straight up twerking with Allegro in "Painbow". Good luck getting that out of your head.
• So Okay, It's Average:
  • This ended up being the opinion of several people on the crossover episode with Teen Titans Go! after it finally aired. The episode was praised for portraying the Powerpuff Girls as reasonably competent and having the girls and their narrator call the Titans out on their unscrupulous and incompetent ways. But it was also derided for having the Teen Titans be extremely patronizing to the Powerpuff Girls. They do not learn their lesson at the end of the episode, even after the Powerpuff Girls prove themselves to be better heroes than them.
  • As for the show itself, the general consensus is that it's not as bad as many expected the show to be. They felt that it improved on a few areas of the older series, but it still seemed watered down and lacking in comparison. The similarities of the reboot to several of its contemporaries (such as Adventure Time, Clarence, and Steven Universe) have been noted. The show never really tried to do anything interesting with the characters and fell victim to a lot of stock tropes and gags. These tendencies prevented it from standing out from competing shows, like its predecessor did. Even its status as a reboot is divisive. Some claim that it is at least a better reboot than Teen Titans Go!, since the girls haven't become massive jerks like the Titans. Others say that it lacks a real identity of its own. To put it simply, the show is just boring.
• Special Effect Failure: As noted all throughout this page, the repeated animation errors that go beyond just being Off-Model. The characters have a tendency to either phase through other characters and/or have certain parts of their body randomly disappear, the tweening is often very wonky, and there are frequent layering issues.
• Squick:
  • The twerking scene in Painbow has many viewers siding with Buttercup's assessment of "Eww, gross!".
  • Bubbles' allergic reaction to pimentos in "Power Up Puff".
  • Blossom's grotesque swollen face in Tooth or Consequences.
  • Likewise, the episode "Bubbles of the Opera" has Bubbles' swollen face after she has an allergic reaction to some makeup she tried to use. Buttercup once again echoes the viewers' sentiment when asked if it looks bad.
  Buttercup: YES! Dude, yes it is!
  • A lot of Buttercup's butt jokes are this.
  • Buttercup's muscular physique in "Musclecup" isn't exactly pleasant to look at. It's Buttercup's normal head on top of a grotesquely large muscular spray tanned body, which looks reminiscent of something you'd expect to see in muscle fetish artwork. Her grotesque, morbidly obese body later in the same episode is just as disgusting if not moreso.
• Tainted by the Preview: The second preview clip includes an incredibly jarring animation error, where Manboy appears really tiny for a moment due to the animators royally screwing up the perspective. A lot of people can't believe such an obvious mistake wasn't noticed or fixed. For that matter, his very design (or more exactly, the entire show's art style) was criticized as being overly reminiscent of modern-day cartoons, (eg. Clarence, Adventure Time, etc.). The new style clashes with the style of the original show.
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!: A recurring criticism of the show is that it frequently reuses plots from the original series. Within the first twelve episodes alone, there are no less than six recycled plots from the original show, sometimes two in the same episode:
  • "Princess Buttercup": Buttercup starts hanging out with the wrong crowd, allowing the villains to attack Blossom and Bubbles. Then Buttercup accidentally smashes a wall and sees her sisters in trouble. She realizes what is truly important, and beats up all the people she thought were her friends (recycled from "Buttercrush").
  • "Man Up": Buttercup has a serious temper problem, so she undergoes spiritual training to learn how to be more Zen (recycled from "Makes Zen to Me").
  • "Power-Up Puff": One of the girls feels left out and starts angsting because her sisters have awesome new powers, which she does not have (recycled from "Nuthin' Special" and "Ice Sore").
  • "Arachno-Romance": The Professor ends up falling in love with a woman, only for the relationship to fail due the woman hiding a secret (recycled from "Mommy Fearest" and "Keen on Keane").
  • "Presidential Punchout": One of the characters is running a campaign against one of the supervillains. They have a wrestling match to settle it (recycled from "Impeach Fuzz").
  • "Cheep Thrills": Against the wishes of her family, Bubbles adopts a stray animal and attempts to hide it from the others. She is forced to return the animal to its natural habitat at the end of the episode (recycled from "Helter Shelter").
  • "Green Wing" features an elderly superheroine coming out of retirement when an old foe breaks lose (recycled from "Fallen Arches")
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Despite his Ensemble Dark Horse status, Silico has become this to a portion of the fandom. When he was introduced, his intrigue and menacing nature drew people in. Then "Halt and Catch Silico" revealed his backstory and many felt that it was lackluster and diminished his credibility as a villain. The fact that he went from hijacking the Internet in his debut, to writing slanderous articles didn't help. Many fans, even his detractors, felt Silico had boundless potential as a villain (hijacking the Internet alone could have made him an excellent Big Bad) but was ultimately ruined by poor writing.
  • Jemoiré, Jemmica's true form, is seen this way. She has an interesting backstory and is so powerful in comparison to the girls that they needed to Enemy Mine with Mojo to even stand a chance. But, as stated in Ass Pull, this reveal is all done in one episode. There is no build up to it, and the character is taken out at the end of said episode. Some viewers noted that when it came to her, Jemoiré's backstory could have been kept. But rather than just be sealed as Jemmica, her powers should have been weakened. Making her less powerful than what she was in her prime. Forced to go back to her Jemmica form if she exceeds her limit. Her goal being to find an artifact that can boost her power. She could have used the Jemmica ruse as a cover to become a friend of the girls like she did in her debut episode, but rather than showcase her true colors right then and there, she should keep up the ruse while scheming her plans. With the Jemoiré persona being the one the girls would fight like a transforming villain, allowing viewers to get to know both sides much better. This would build her up as a new mystic villain in the girls' Rogues Gallery. And having a bit of a story arc in following episodes, with the girls slowly beginning to catch on that Jemmica and Jemoiré are one and the same. But alas, the Jemoiré reveal comes way too late and sudden to be of any impact to the audience other than a cheap shock moment.
  • For some that actually continued to watch the show beyond the first season, some of the one-shot villains were actually seen this way. Sporde, Dupli-Kate and "Butterfingers" were seen as much more interesting than recurring foes like Allegro, Packrat and Gnat. As they actually feel like villains that would show up in the original series, are very comical, have good designs, but still presenting decent challenges to the girls. Alas they were wasted due to coming in so late in the show and due to the writers' stubborn insistence to keep using villains which were clearly not clicking with the audience.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • "Bye Bye Bellum" has the Mayor accidentally hiring Bianca Bikini as his new assistant after Ms. Bellum takes a vacation. After learning that Bianca has kidnapped the Powerpuff Girls, he realizes his mistake and fights the Bikini sisters to rescue the girls. The writers could have used this to give the Mayor some Character Development, with the Mayor finally learning to be less reliant on others and more responsible. Instead, the Mayor ends up getting amnesia after Barbarus throws him against the TV. This renders his story pointless.
  • Despite seemingly setting up a possible continuous story arc, the ending scene of "Viral Spiral," where Silico hijacks the Internet, is never brought up or referenced in any of his subsequent appearances.
  • Played with to "They Missed a Chance to Make a Perfectly Good Joke" during the crossover special with Teen Titans Go!, while it's probably because Bubbles is no longer voiced by Tara Strong, did anyone else want Raven and Bubbles commenting on each other's voices?
  • Those that don't outright decry the series, are disappointed that the writers don't take the show beyond the original premise. Being a superhero show in an age where superhero Cosmic Retcons are prevalent was a major wasted opportunity. They could have crafted a new mythos with the characters and explorer some bold new directions. The hard light powers of the girls and their move to elementary school was a good start. Instead the writers played it safe with stock gags and plots. They turned the reboot into an average cartoon that just slightly has action here and there.
  • For some, the show also didn't really need to be a reboot at all. It could have been just a Season 7 for the original series. Despite the two shows' differences, there were enough similarities for them to share the same canon.
• Uncertain Audience: The series is a Soft Reboot of the original series and features many new characters and elements along with a heavy focus on mid-2010s culture, but it simultaneously has references and villains from the original show, without giving them any context, leaving new viewers confused. It keeps the same setup from the original, but greatly downplays the superhero fare in favor of Slice of Life plots. It also removes well-liked characters from the original series (like Miss Bellum), while others suffer Flanderization and Badass Decay (like Mojo Jojo and the Professor). It's hard to tell if the show is aimed at a new crowd or at fans of the original cartoon, and it ultimately feels like a half-measure that fails to please either side, with fans criticizing the reboot for failing to capture the spirit of the original and gutting most of the elements that made it work in the first place, while as a standalone show, it feels derivative of other cartoons from the time. Most reviews point out the show could have worked better if it wasn't trying to cling to the original series and established its own identity, as most reboots usually do.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • The show makes it look like Buttercup is justified in attacking people unprovoked, just because she is "the tough one".
  • Donny in "Horn Sweet Horn". Yes, he just wanted to be a unicorn, and yes, the mutations from the transmogrifier looked liked they hurt. Donny blames Bubbles for this happening, despite it being his own fault for not considering the risks of using the transmogrifier.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Despite the large amount of detractors, many people still like the intro animation and song. It looks noticeably better than the actual series' animation and fits the classic interpretations of the characters better.
• Win Back the Crowd: This SERIOUSLY depends on the person asked.
  • While the very first preview was met with mixed to negative reactions online for feeling very cliche and out of context from the episode, the following clips shown on the Cartoon Network YouTube channel were met with much more positive reactions as time went on. What especially won a lot of fans over before the show aired seemed to be the reveal of the extended intro.
  • Once the show itself aired, many comments seem to be that while it hasn't lived up to the original show, it's far from terrible and manages to be at least a decent one that tries to have its own identity. That said, the glaring animation errors, the seemingly Broken Aesop of "Horn Sweet Horn", the use of internet memes, and writing Ms. Bellum out of the show (among other things) have turned off quite a few fans.
• The Woobie:
  • Blossom in "Power-Up Puff" when she feels unimportant for not getting her new powers yet.
  • Bubbles in "Bubbles Of The Opera", wherein she spends the whole episode thinking that she has lost her cuteness.
  • Buttercup in "Princess Buttercup" upon finding out that the Derby-Tantes were paid to be friends with her. The sad look on her face is pretty woobie-ish.
  • Both Blossom and Bubbles in "Princess Buttercup" after Buttercup repeatedly ditches them to hang out with her new friends, the Derby-Tantes.
  • Sapna Nehru. She turns into a spider whenever she feels affection for others, and that sucks for her.
  • Blossom again in "Poorbucks". She goes out of her way to befriend Morbucks, then Morbucks betrays her.

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