Western Animation / The Powerpuff Girls (2016)

Who's got the power? We got the power!!!^note  From left to right, Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup.

The third major entry in The Powerpuff Girls franchise, following the original 1998 animated series and the 2006 anime adaptation, The Powerpuff Girls (2016) serves as a soft reboot to the Cartoon Network show. Announced in June 2014 following the positive reception of the Dance Pantsed special, this incarnation is executive produced by Bob Boyle (Yin Yang Yo!) and Nick Jennings.^note Cartoon Network did consider having franchise creator Craig McCracken return as showrunner, but his contract with Disney Television Animation at the time (producing Wander over Yonder) prevented this.

The story is still the same as always: Professor Utonium was testing the theory of Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice to see if he could make the perfect little girls. He accidentally smashed a container of Chemical X which pours into the vat, and indeed did create said girls, but they were imbued with superpowers. Thus Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup use said powers to protect the city of Townsville from crime, monsters, the supernatural, and any other forces of evil.

Changes made to this version of the series include a host of new villains in addition to the previous show's Rogues Gallery, the girls now being elementary school students, the old telephone being replaced by a smartphone app, and a general shift from comedic action to more Slice of Life-styled plots. While the original voice actresses for the girls (Cathy Cavadini, Tara Strong and Elizabeth Daily) were replaced — allegedly for being "too old" — several other VAs (such as Tom Kenny and Roger L. Jackson) returned to reprise their roles.

The series premiered on April 4th, 2016, with the series premiere predated by a trio of character shorts (Air Buttercup, Bubbles Beauty Blog, and Run Blossom Run) meant to introduce the new versions of the characters. After three seasons, the series ended on June 16, 2019.^note No official statements were made regarding the series' cancellation, but its disappearance from the network after June 2019 (and much of the crew moving on to other productions in the time since), gives a strong indication that this is the case.

Now has a Recap page as well as a Character page dedicated to the new characters.

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The Powerpuff Girls (2016) provides examples of:

#-J

• Adaptational Badass: The Mayor, surprisingly enough. He is still a bit bumbling, but not as reliant on Ms. Bellum as he was in the original series. He can actually hold his own in a few cases. He survives Monster Island with his pickles, and likewise saves the girls from the monsters of said island. When new villains Bianca and Barbarus Bikini had captured the girls, the Mayor single-handedly rescues them.
• Adaptational Dumbass: Professor Utonium is portrayed as a bumbling, goofy father. With the exception of a few Character Check moments, where he returns to his more level-headed original portrayal.
• Adaptational Intelligence:
  • Downplayed with Bubbles. The original series occasionally had jokes which implied that her intelligence rivaled (and maybe even surpassed) that of Blossom (the intellectual Powerpuff). This version makes it more obvious, by having Bubbles be adept at coding.
  • Buttercup is a math prodigy, with one episode placing her in an advanced placement class. In the original series, she was mediocre at math.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Both Bubbles and Buttercup. Bubbles' hidden darker side is much more apparent in this series. She gets angry easily, and she is also more self-centered than before. Buttercup, always the most violent of the trio, is more of a bully than before.
• Adaptational Wimp: Mojo Jojo. He was already an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain in the original show, but he could be a menacing and effective villain in some episodes. In this show, he is little more than a Plucky Comic Relief. Likewise, the old villains are rarely used in this series. They often serve as background characters and are considerably less threatening than before. The only exceptions so far are Princess Morbucks, Him, and the Amoeba Boys, who are mostly in line with their characterizations from the original series.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Certain episodes have flashbacks that show that Mojo was always green, unlike in the original series where he had normal-colored skin before being exposed to Chemical X.
• Adapted Out:
  • Most of the minor and background characters from the original have been either outright replaced or Demoted to Extra. There is a boy who looks a lot like Mitch, except with a slight redesign and a plain black shirt, but he is a voiceless background character.
  • Miss Bellum and Sedusa are not part of the main cast. Miss Bellum was Put on a Bus, and Sedusa did not even get a mention in the series. The latter did appear in the Bureau of Bad comic miniseries, but only as a non-speaking cameo.
• Aesop Amnesia:
  • Near the end of "Halt and Catch Silico" when Silico leaves after blaming the Powerpuffs for destroying his robot friends:
    Bubbles: I kind of feel bad for him. We didn't mean to do anything to his house.
    Blossom: Yeah, we really should be more careful. There's nothing we can do about our past mistakes, but we can apologize for our current ones. [to Buttercup] What do you say, Buttercup? Want to right some wrongs?
    Buttercup: Ugh, dumb superhero cliches.
  • Later, when the Powerpuffs break into Mojo's laboratory:
    Blossom: Mojo!
    Mojo Jojo: What? Mojo just fixed that wall! Why don't you use the door when you're going to beat up Mojo for no good reason?
    Blossom: We're not here to beat you up, we're here to apologize for beating you up. We thought you were cooking kittens.
    Mojo Jojo: What?! Mojo was not cooking kittens, Mojo was cooking for kittens!
    Blossom: Whew, that's a relief.
    Buttercup: Wait for it...
    Mojo Jojo: To help them get big and strong... For Mojo's deadly kitten army!
  • After Mojo's kitten army runs away, the Powerpuffs beat him up for no good reason.
    Mojo Jojo: [after his ineffectual plan falls apart] Curses. [pleadingly] Please, be gentle. [The Powerpuffs punch Mojo as the episode ends]
  • Buttercup learns in "Man Up 2" that she shouldn't put material objects as her top priority, and yet in "Sister Sitter" and "Cheep Thrills" she goes right back to acting that way.
• Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The theme song for the Japanese version is "Pawawawawan! Powerpuff Girls" by Idol Street.
• Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Flashbacks show that Mojo Jojo was always green.
• Animesque:
  • The girls, even more so than the original run.
  • "The Power of Four" had an animesque Art Shift during a monster fight, complete with a Japanese song.
  • The series frequently uses anime-inspired expressions.
• Art Evolution: Season 2 introduced title cards that (usually) show who the episode is themed around. Pink backgrounds mean a Blossom centric episode, blue means a Bubbles centric episode, and green means a Buttercup centric episode. A purple background indicates an episode that focuses on Mojo Jojo. A title card with all three colours means an episode themed around all three sisters.
• Art Shift:
  • The flashback to the destruction of Pokey Oaks Kindergarten is animated in the style of the original series.
  • Buttercup's Battle in the Center of the Mind in "Man Up" is done against photographic backgrounds.
• Artistic Age: The girls go to an elementary school where most students look like middle schoolers, or even high schoolers!
• Artistic License – Space: At the end of "The Power of Four", Bliss leaves Earth in order to push Saturn back into its original orbit. However, Saturn is a gas giant, meaning that pushing the planet wouldn't be possible.
• Badass Normal: The Mayor was able to survive on Monster Island by feeding the monsters pickles. Of course, once he runs out of pickles...
• Big Eater:
  • Buttercup eats a lot of sloppy joes in "Princess Buttercup". In the first 2016 comic book, she also gobbles up a lot of sloppy joes.
  • Eddie the worm ate every single vegetable in the Girls's garden.
• The B Grade: In "Painbow", Blossom becomes upset that her diorama got an A+... because the teacher gave everyone an A+ due to being hypnotized by the Allegro's rainbow. Blossom felt that she got the grade without earning it.
• Berserk Button:
  • Buttercup hates being called "princess".
  • If Octi is in danger, Bubbles will flip her shit.
  • Never interrupt Bubbles's sleep.
  • Calling Blossom "disorganized" is a death wish.
  • Mojo hates being called ugly.
• Black Comedy: In "Once Upon a Townsville", Buttercup mistakes the unconscious Princess Bluebelle for a corpse. When Bluebelle regains consciousness, Buttercup mistakes her for a zombie.
• Blog: The focus of the second short, Bubbles Beauty Blog, in which Bubbles tries to make one but keeps getting interrupted by Blossom and Buttercup.
• Bragging Theme Tune: The intro:
  Powerpuff Girls fighting crime
  To save the world before bed time
  It's the time to shine when you're fighting crime
  Power it up
  Who's got the power?
  We've got the power!
  Breaking through the walls
  Gonna do it all
  We don't quit
  Who's got the power?
  We've got the power!
• Break the Cutie:
  • Happens to Bubbles in "Bubbles of the Opera" after the annual school picture day goes wrong for Bubbles. She gets the Butt-Monkey treatment with the cafeteria lady subbing for the regular photographer, and taking Bubbles' picture in an off-guard moment. This is followed by a bad haircut for Bubbles, given by the lunch lady who is subbing as an "apprentice hairstylist". A recalled make-up kit then causes a horrible allergic reaction, and Bubbles accidentally flies into the ceiling fan.
    Bubbles: I'm... I'm... I'm a monster!
    Blossom: What? No.
    Bubbles [sadly]: It's true; I'm a monster. An ugly, hideous monster!
    Buttercup: Dude, this is all in your head!
    Blossom: Bubbles, you're being kind of crazy.
    Bubbles: Oh, so now you think I'm ugly and crazy. I've always just been the "cute" one to you. And now that I'm not cute, you think I'm worthless, right?
    Prof. Utonium: All right girls, I think it's time to go home now.
    Bubbles: Home? Home? I'm never going home, never! Never!
  • Soon afterwards, Bubbles wears a bunny-face half mask (based on The Phantom of the Opera), and teams up with Mojo Jojo:
    Mojo Jojo: Come now, tell Mojo what's on your mind.
    Bubbles: Well... I want to wreak vengeance on those who have forsaken me! So... I came to the only person who knows what it's like to be rejected for being hideous.
    Mojo Jojo: [gasps] Mojo is not hideous! He is at least a solid... eight!
  • Later on, Bubbles uses her animal-talking abilities to break the animals out of the zoo, running rampant throughout Townsville, with Blossom and Buttercup attempting to talk some sense back into Bubbles:
    Blossom: Bubbles! What are you doing? This isn't you!
    Bubbles: This is me! You've made me this: a monster!
    Buttercup: Dude, no! You're the best sister in the world! Remember when I wiped out on my skateboard, and you took care of me?
    Blossom: Or when I had spinach in my teeth, and everyone made fun of me, so you put spinach in your teeth, too?
    Mojo Jojo: No, no! Don't listen to them! Drop the hippo, now!
    Blossom: Bubbles, you're a good person!
    Buttercup: You're like, the most caring person in the world, Bubbs!
  • Bubbles makes a Heel–Face Turn, dropping the hippo on Mojo and reuniting with her sisters.
    Bubbles [to Mojo]: And you... you're going to pay for this.
    Mojo Jojo: Me? It was your idea!
    Bubbles: Oh... yeah. And that's why I'm gonna let you go this one time: 'cause I got a good team here, and when we get mad, we aren't very cute.
    Mojo Jojo: Oh, okay, Mojo is on his way. [to the elephant] Come on girl.
    Bubbles: I'm sorry, guys, I had no idea I'd let my identity become so defined by being cute.
    Blossom: Yeah, talk about limiting yourself.
    Buttercup: Under the surface, you're, like, terrfying! So much better than being cute.
• Bring My Brown Pants: In "15 Minutes of Fame" Bubbles creates an energy projection in the form of a giant mouse wearing a top hat and diaper to lure a giant sabertooth tiger. The tiger attacks and rips off the diaper:
  Bubbles: I'm glad I wore that diaper, for two reasons.
• Bystander Syndrome: In "Puffdora's Box", Hope is supposed to be destined to save the world from the evil spirits she was trapped with. She is actually too distracted to help, and spends most of the episode bouncing on a trampoline. Her only contribution to saving the day is telling the Powerpuff Girls how to do it.
• Call-Back:
  • In the first episode "Man Up", when the girls re-confront Man Boy, he comes with an army of meat, likely a reference to Fuzzy's meat gun in "Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins".
  • "The Wrinklegruff Gals" had a flashback sequence explaining how Pokey Oats Kindergarten was destroyed, and Bubbles had her original model from the first show.
  • Donny references Citysville in "The Last Donnycorn".
  • "Memory Lane of Pain" depicts a photo of a scene from "Abracadaver". The photo is a recreation instead of an actual screencap.
• The Cameo: One of the girls at the Powerpuff Girls' sleepover in "The Stayover" is Robin from the original series episode "Superfriends".
• Christmas Episode: "You're A Good Man, Mojo Jojo."
• Classically-Trained Extra: The monster hired by Princess Morbucks in "Princess Buttercup".
• Crossover: The Powerpuff Girls are featured in the Teen Titans Go! episode "TTG v. PPG".
• Cute and Psycho: Bubbles is a self-proclaimed cute kid, but she has a firey temper.
• Crying at Your Birthday Party: In "Super Sweet 6", the Powerpuff Girls escape from a candle that was going towards the sun during Princess's birthday party. The indignant Princess tries to squirt them with a giant icing bottle, only for it to burst and cover her in icing. She then starts to wail.
• Deal with the Devil: One episode has Bubbles and Buttercup making a deal with HIM. Played for laughs, as the deal is permission to own Blossom's soul, in exchange for HIM giving them 1 dollar, and ends up backfiring on HIM because Blossom takes over his position.
  • Another episode involves Buttercup making another deal with HIM, this one giving Buttercup a new guitar, at the cost of forcing Blossom and Bubbles forming a rock band with HIM. This one wasn't intentional on Buttercup's part though.
• Defeat Means Friendship: The Derby-Tantes in "Princess Buttercup" at first were paid by Princess Morbucks to keep Buttercup from helping her sisters. When she finds out, Buttercup beats them up and goes to her sisters. Later, the Derby-Tantes help the girls beat Morbucks because. By beating them, Buttercup has earned this team's respect.
• Denser and Wackier: While the original series had many comedic episodes (especially in the last few seasons), the 2016 reboot ups the antics. Everyone acts more excitably, and the exaggerating characterizations are exaggerated. Blossom transformer from The Smart Gal of the original to being a Neat Freak with Obsessively Organized tendencies. This series features Wingding Eyes often, and frequently mentions memes.
• Delivery Guy Infiltration: Mojo's plan to defeat the Girls in "The Stayover" involves this; unfortunately for him, his rather absurd pizza guy costume doesn't fool them. He ends up grabbed by the sugar-rush-addled kids, and then tied up in the closet, wearing a dress and covered with makeup.
• Disappointed by the Motive: Silico's grudge on the Powerpuff Girls basically stems from them destroying his robot friends, which was an accident.
  Blossom: You want to destroy us because we broke your toys?
  Buttercup: Dude, you're messed up.
• Disney Death: Buttercup in "Little Octi Lost".
• Dodgeball Is Hell: In "Princess Buttercup", the Derby-Tantes are a gang of tough girls who play "deathball", which is very rough dodgeball with rollerblades and skateboards. This turns out to be Buttercup's kind of game, and The Stinger of the episode along with "Derby Dollies" has Bubbles getting into it as well.
• Drunk on Milk: All three Girls after sampling a lot of candy in "The Stayover".
• Expressive Accessory: Blossom's bow droops if she feels scared or sad, as seen here.◊
• Expressive Hair: Bubbles's pigtails flick upwards if she is shocked or greatly surprised. If she is depressed or nervous, the pigtails droop. When Bubbles is happy or excited, they perk up a bit.
• Extremely Short Intro Sequence: The original cartoon had an opening that was almost 70 seconds long. The reboot cuts its intro down to roughly 25 seconds, though an extended intro does exist online.
• Facial Horror: In "Bubbles of the Opera", after Bubbles gets a bad haircut, her day gets worse when she gets an allergic reaction from a recalled makeup kit. Subsequently, she loses her teeth as a result of hitting the ceiling fan. These events makes Bubbles want to put a bunny mask on that side of her face.
• "Fantastic Voyage" Plot: "Sugar, Spice and Super Lice." Although, instead of going inside Buttercup's body, Blossom and Bubbles shrink down and go into her hair to wipe out some lice.
• Faux Adventure Story: The original series was a straight-up superhero show about three cute kindergartners who brutally beat up supervillains. And this reboot? Not so much. Taking hints from Teen Titans Go!, it is a lighthearted cartoon with very little actual fighting. It focuses on the girls' civilian lives rather than their superhero work. When they do fight, rarely are they depicted actually hitting their opponents. Instead they either use Hard Light attacks or punch but visibly don't actually come into contact with their opponents
• Fluffy Tamer: The Mayor is able to manipulate the monsters on Monster Island easily once he finds out they love pickles. Fortunately, the Girls rescue him when he's down to the last one.
• Found Footage Films: Bubble's beauty blog is the most realistic thing in the series.
• Gasshole: Buttercup belches a lot.
• Gassy Gastronomy:
  • In "Deb O'Nair", Buttercup eats a burrito and has Bubbles set her fart on fire with her laser vision to defeat a monster that's attacking the city.
  • In "A Slight Hiccup", Bubbles claims to have never belched before, so she and the other two Powerpuff Girls drink many cans of soda. All this does is give them very powerful hiccups. However, Bubbles does finally belch for the first time in the end, and it saves the day.
• Glass-Shattering Sound: Bubbles' singing in "Tiara Trouble", which comes in handy when the girls need to stop a cursed tiara that possesses Princess Morbucks.
• G-Rated Drug: The rainbow's effects in "Painbow" are a dead ringer for ecstasy.
• Hard Light: The girls now possess the ability to create constructs this way. Each one always has a theme to them as well: Blossom's version is object-based (staples, gloves, tape, etc). Bubbles' version is animal-based and Buttercup's version is weapons-based.
• Here We Go Again!: Most of the plot of "Little Octi Lost" focused on Buttercup trying to redeem herself to Bubbles for taking and hiding Octi without her permission. This action had resulted in Octi getting stolen by Packrat. After the girls manage to get Octi back, Bubbles forgives her...but Blossom soon gets mad at Buttercup for wrecking her kickball trophy to save herself from a trash compacter.
• Hiccup Hijinks: One episode has the girls getting hiccups from drinking too much soda, and they are too unstable to fight crime properly.
• Idiot Hair: Buttercup has a noticeable cowlick in this adaptation.
• It Was with You All Along: The end of "Horn, Sweet Horn" has this happen to Donny the horse, who finds out he was always a unicorn - which was what he wanted to be.
• Jerkass: Buttercup is selfish, causes more problems than she fixes them, disrupts class, and is willing to attack others with no provocation.
• Joke of the Butt: Buttercup often likes to make butt jokes, such as calling Bubbles a "wimpy butt". It may or may not be a pun on the first four letters of her name.
• Just One Extra Ticket: This is Bubbles' dilemma in "Escape from Monster Island" when she wins two tickets to a boy band concert and Blossom and Buttercup fight each other over who gets to go. She eventually takes Frederick, a baby monster she meets on Monster Island.

K-Z

• Kaiju: As with the original show, giant monsters are a recurring threat.
• Karma Houdini:
  • Outside of being abandoned by the Powerpuff Girls, Jemmica didn't receive any form of punishment for making them accomplices to her crimes.
  • Although Silico Industries is destroyed, Silico himself gets away with no repercussions for his Malicious Slander against the Powerpuff Girls.
  • Buttercup doesn't get into trouble for being neglectful to her sisters in "Sister Sitter". Subverted as the closest thing she gets to punishment is getting sick.
• Kids Are Cruel: In "The Wrinklegruff Gals" the girls get bullied at their new K-8 school for being kindergarteners. They decide to drink a potion that ages them up, but drink too much and age into seniors.
• Knight of Cerebus:
  • HIM, a villain from the original series, continues to be a devastating villain with his ominous string pulling behind the conflicts of several episodes. Able to think up very well-designed ploys, tricks and traps that nearly kill the girls. He is played fairly close to his main series counterpart, and has some very nasty surprises up his sleeve. Including being able to actually absorb the Powerpuff Girls and throw Saturn into the Planet Earth like a buzzsaw. Compared to the villains of that show, HIM is really nasty in that version.
  • Out of all the new villains introduced in the reboot thus far, two of them manage to achieve this as well. That being Silico and Jemoiré. Silico has been presented as a genuine threat, with episodes centered on him being more serious. And Jemoiré came dangerously close to taking over Townsville after easily beating the girls to the ground. And that was her only episode appearance ever.
• Lemonade Stand Plot: There's a minor example at the beginning of the episode "Poorbucks", where Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup open up a lemonade stand. Said stand isn't important to the episode's plot whatsoever.
• Lighter and Softer: Despite the Knight of Cerebus characters listed above, the series is this compared to the original 1998 series, due to toned down violence and more focus on comedy.
• Make Way for the New Villains: With the exception of Mojo Jojo and Princess Morbucks, the old villains are mostly underused, in favor of new ones. There is a running theme throughout the first season where the new villains appear in at least two episodes each:
  • Manboy: A lumberjack-themed supervillain, who wishes to make all of Townsville manly. In reality, he is just a child acting out what he believes a man should be.
  • The Fashionistas: A pair of fashion obsessed criminal sisters.
  • Packrat: A human-sized rat who steals shiny objects and hoards them for his various inanimate girlfriends.
  • Silico: A mysterious, technological supervillain with a gift for robotics who holds a personal grudge against the Powerpuff Girls.
  • Allegro: A fun-loving, reality warping panda bear, who brainwashes others with his rainbow.
  • The Gnat: A giant, mutated gnat that grew to huge size after being bit by a radioactive human. He seeks revenge against the Powerpuff Girls for being swatted by them in the past.
• Manchild: Literally with the half-man, half-boy lumberjack supervillain, Man Boy. Inverted in a way because he is a child acting out what he thinks a man should be.
• Manipulative Editing: Princess Morbucks uses this tactic in "Presidential Punchout", when she and Blossom run for class president. Princess edits clips of Blossom to make her appear to say unflattering and incriminating things, such as stating "This school's students are doody", threatening to beat up everyone's grandparents, and claiming that her true goal is to become "the (fart noise) Queen".
• Merchandise-Driven: Toys and other merchandise for the reboot were announced and showcased months before the first episode even aired. With the original series, merchandise was only produced after it turned out to be a success.
• Mind over Matter: Man Boy is capable of animating objects such as lumber robots, meat and even his beard to move how he wants through sheer manly willpower.
• Miniature Senior Citizens: In "The Wrinklegruff Gals", the Powerpuff Girls end up aging themselves after drinking more of Professor Utonium's aging serum than he instructed. While they get gray hair, wrinkles, and other signs of growing old, they remain the same height they were when they were five-year-olds.
• Most Writers Are Adults: This is more pronounced here than than in the original series. For characters who are apparently in kindergarten age, the girls don't act remotely their age. Bubbles used to be the most childish and innocent of the sisters. She sometimes acted even younger than a five year old. Here she often acts like a preteen fangirl. This only makes the inconsistent Vague Age of the characters more obvious.
• Mythology Gag: In the extended version of the show's opening, one scene shows the girls wearing skirts, with Blossom and Bubbles thrilled, while Buttercup is disdainful. This is likely a reference to the Powerpuff Girls anime Powerpuff Girls Z, where Buttercup's counterpart is known to hate wearing skirts.
• Naughty Is Good: Buttercup is constantly causing mischief, but she is on the side of good. Well, if you really consider her a hero...
• Oculothorax: While the real villains in "Rebel Rebel" are the Beaker Boys, the episode's plot is mainly driven by Mr. Big Eye, a giant tentacled eyeball monster who was created by Professor Utonium while being tricked by the Beaker Boys. He attacks by shooting lasers, and walks on the ground with his tentacles.
• One-Steve Limit: The show has several minor and one-shot characters named "Billy".
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: In "Frenemy," Buttercup's British accent, which was forced upon her by the episode's antagonist, is poorly done. This may have been intentional for comedic effect.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In "Power Up Puff," Bubbles and Buttercup get a new power, but Blossom does not. It leaves her very self-conscious about her competence,. When Blossom is constantly confronted by things that call out mediocrity and plainness, she bursts into tears.
• Passing Judgment: In "Bubbles of the Opera", Bubbles is distraught over having taken a bad school photo. Her sisters try a number of things to cheer her up but she keeps having accident after accident, resulting in her face becoming more disfigured. After leaving the dentist's office, Bubbles says she's starting to feel better but her horribly disfigured face doesn't sit well with a large group of students on a passing school bus, the last of which screams "KEEP DRIVING!! FOR THE LOVE OF HUMANITY, KEEP DRIVING!!"
• Pity the Kidnapper: In the episode "Our Brand is Chaos", Bubbles and Buttercup make a deal with HIM, to trade Blossom's soul for a fancy sled. She ends up taking over the Chaos Dimension and demotes HIM. The devil ends up forcing Blossom back into Townsville by destroying the contract that the deal was made on.
• Pronouncing My Name for You: In "Power of Four", when Mecha-Gnat has the girls trapped on a sheet of flypaper:
  Blossom: Do your worst, Nate!
  Gnat: Ugh! It's Gnat!
• Protagonist-Centered Morality: Blossom will get on Buttercup's case for bullying Bubbles, but does not care if Buttercup bullies other kids.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Princess Morbucks uses an Uber-esque phone app to hire a monster to destroy the city. He tells her to give him a good rating after she doesn't need him anymore.
• Put on a Bus: Miss Bellum. After working everyday for twelve years, she had acquired one-thousand vacation days, and is using them on a one-thousand day vacation^NoteFor anyone wondering, that's nearly three years, although she has still not returned even after over a thousand days have passed, implying she won't ever come back to the show.
• Queer Colors: The episode "Horn Sweet Horn" ends with the heart colored in pink, white, and blue rather than different shades of pink as normal, very reminiscent of the transgender flag. The episode (about a horse who wants to become a unicorn) was originally promoted as a transgender allegory; though Word of God would later claim this wasn't the case, there's no other reason for the flag to be colored that way.
• Quivering Lip: In "Power-Up Puff", Blossom lip quivers when Buttercup hurts her feelings by saying that she might never get any new powers.
• Real After All: Unicorns in "Horn, Sweet Horn".
• Retcon:
  • Not only did the Professor create a "perfect little girl" years before the Powerpuff Girls, but another scientist created a "perfect little boy" even before that. In the original show, the girls are the first known artificial humans.
  • Mojo Jojo is shown to naturally be green skinned.
• Rock Me, Asmodeus!: The episode "Electric Buttercup" centers around the demon HIM manipulating Buttercup into unknowingly selling her sisters' souls for a guitar. The girls would be forced to be part of his rock band forever. Of course, it ends with an epic guitar duel between HIM and Buttercup.
• Rock–Paper–Scissors: The girls play a round to decide who answers the hotline; Bubbles throws scissors and loses. This is Played for Laughs, as the girls do not have fingers. This is likely a Call-Back to the episode "Curses" from the original series, where Bubbles lost after throwing paper.
• Rouge Angles of Satin: Avid viewers have picked up on at least two typos - Blossom's achievement reward reads "Certificate of Achivement" at the top, and a device in self-destruct mode reads "Self-Destuct Mode".
• Same Character, But Different: The girls themselves, compared to the original show. In "Bubbles of the Opera", Bubbles describes herself as 'the cute one', Blossom as 'the smart one', and Buttercup as 'the cool one'. In the original, though, Blossom was both the smart one and the cute one. Her incredible tactical skills and leadership abilities were coupled with an insufferable ego and haughtiness. Bubbles was the painfully innocent and naïve one, because her very childish outlook was coloring her view of life. Buttercup was the bitter, angry one whose sarcasm came from a deep wellspring of rage, which in turn masking some serious self-esteem issues. In this version, some of those traits have survived, if a little tone down. Blossom is now a bit more order-obsessed, worrying more about her grades, how to handle messes and cleanliness. Bubbles is mostly the same, in fact having gotten smarter in some cases. But her fixation on cute things can sometimes reach disturbing levels. Buttercup's tomboyishness is likewise present, but she is not as action-heavy as she once was (though she still loves action). She tends to be more of a Deadpan Snarker now. She also seems to often serve in a Big Sister role. Though she can make just as many mistakes due to immature decisions.
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Princess hired the Derby-Tantes to keep Buttercup away from her sisters, but they reject Princess because they like Buttercup better. She is tougher than Princess. And to them, smashing stuff (like Princess' mecha) is worth more than cash.
• Series Continuity Error:
  • One episode has the girls poking fun at Wonder Woman's outfit and how it doesn't cover up much. In the original series, the three idolized Wonder Woman.
  • "Memory Lane Of Pain" portrays Bubbles as being overshadowed by both of her sisters. Unlike in "Bubblevicious", the problem is not all in Bubbles' head. Newspaper headlines poke fun at Bubbles and simply call her "pigtails". This contradicts not only the original show but the reboot itself. Bubbles was previously portrayed as the most popular Powerpuff.
  • Mojo Jojo mentions having a mother in his life more than once. There is no sign that he knows his parents in the original series.
  • A season 1 episode has Blossom refer to herself as "Blossom Powerpuff". However, in the original series episode "Roughin' It Up", the Professor has a line mentioning the girls use "Utonium" as their surname. By the next season the writers seemed to have noticed this, as Bliss is referred to as "Utonium".
  • In the extended intro, the Professor himself breaks the beaker. Mojo Jojo isn't involved. This contradicts the girls' origin in the original series.
  • "You're A Good Man, Mojo Jojo" depicts a pre-Chemical X Mojo as being calm and sweet. In his original origin story, he was a playful and jumpy chimp whose rowdiness caused him to break the Chemical X vial.
• Serious Business:
  • Trash basketball for Buttercup in the short "Air Buttercup". After missing a few shots with regular trash, she starts grabbing everything she can find to make a her shot big enough to go into the trash bin. She still fails in the end.
  • Perfect attendance for Blossom. Heck, practically anything academic in this series.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: Run Blossom Run has Blossom trying to get to school to keep her perfect attendance record, and she gets there with a second to spare. She then finds out that it was the weekend, a Sunday, in fact.
• Shapes and Symbols Tropes: This time around, the girls are distinguished by more than just a signature color. Blossom is represented by a red square, Bubbles by a blue circle and Buttercup by a green triangle. This is regularly visible in the detail of their energy trails in flight and illustrated in the opening sequence in shots of Professor Utonium adding sugar, spice and everything nice.
• Show Within a Show: The girls are fans of a media franchise called Space Tow Truck.
• Sibling Fusion: The finale of "Power of Four" has Bliss, Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup join together into a construct of a bigger Powerpuff Girl to fight HIM.
• Skewed Priorities:
  • "Escape from Monster Island" is all about this. Blossom and Buttercup are arguing over who gets to go with Bubbles. They actually forget that they are on Monster Island to save the Mayor, and nearly get killed.
  • In "Painbow", Blossom is upset that everyone received an A+ with their dioramas, even though they didn't work as hard as she did. She does not notice the obvious effect the rainbow is having on everyone.
  • In "Viral Spiral", Bubbles tells Buttercup the ramifications of the Internet being destroyed. Buttercup is entirely unconcerned, until Bubbles informs her that it will also cause Buttercup to lose all her weapons in a video game.
• Soft Reboot: In practice. The 2016 series treats itself as a sequel series to the original 1998 show on several occasions, but also plays with and changes numerous character backstories, character personalities, and dynamics.
• Stubborn Hair: At the start of "Bubbles of the Opera", Professor Utonium attempts to brush down Buttercup's cowlick with a hairbrush, but fails.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Just like the original, the 2016 version has some episodes where the Powerpuff Girls are put in more realistic situations. Run Blossom Run has Blossom try to maintain her perfect attendance record and getting an achievement. In other shows or situations, not only the character had gotten to a place in time, despite being nearly late with other things to do, they were also greatly rewarded at that convenient time by somebody for their effort during that particular episode. Not here. Despite getting to school in time, after helping several people of Townsville, when Blossom tries to open the school doors, they were completely locked. And it's not because the others in school were inconveniently kidnapped or were hiding somewhere to surprise Blossom. Blossom also did not arrive too late. But Blossom forgot the actual day, after she overslept. She assumed that it was a Saturday. Bubbles immediately corrects her sister by informing her that the current day is Sunday. Buttercup then informs Blossom that she did this yesterday too. Blossom sighs and decides to go back to bed.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: There's a background character who looks a lot like like Mitch but has several differences and is never described as Mitch.
• Take That!: In "The Power of Four", Buttercup and Blossom poke fun at Wonder Woman's costume.
• Testosterone Poisoning: The lumberjack villain, Man-Boy, is pretty much this. He does not even see Buttercup as a threat, simply because she is a girl. Even when she beats him silly and throws him into the distance, he continues to mock her.
• Toilet Humor: Buttercup is obsessed with butt jokes, probably as a nod to the first four letters of her name.
• Thicker Than Water: All three sisters to a point, though especially Blossom and Buttercup.
• Traumatic Haircut: Bubbles in "Bubbles of the Opera". After her appearance was ruined by various events throughout the episode, she goes through a shift in personality.
• Theme Music Power-Up: While the full theme song isn't used, the lines "Who's Got The Power? We Got The Power!" can be heard during fighting scenes when The Powerpuff Girls get the upper hand in fights.
• Vague Age:
  • In the original continuity the girls were explicitly mentally and physically five years old, though chronologically younger due to being artificial humans. In the reboot their ages are far harder to place. They go to an elementary school instead of a kindergarten, but it is mentioned that Pokey Oaks is uninhabitable and their class was transferred. They are shown being taught middle school-level subjects. The Picture Day episode implies that they are ten or eleven years old, due to them having five Picture Days. "The Power of Four" explicitly states that the girls are at least three years old, eight physically. The girls act older and sound older than they used to be. They were also bullied due to "looking like babies", which is an odd thing to say to a five year old. Despite the evidence that they are preteens, there is also evidence for them still being five-years-old. Their human peers such as Robin and Princess still seem to be five, which means the Powerpuff Girls aren't just not aging, and Ms. Keane is still their teacher. This trope is exaggerated in "Toy Ploy" when Blossom's stuffed animal says that he has known Blossom for "many years, decades even". An interview with the creators confirms that the girls are the same age as they are in the original cartoon.
  • The show adds onto the Professor's confusing age from the original cartoon. He looks no older than his late 40s, but a childhood flashback shows him listening to a radio show in the 1940s or 1950s. The show takes place in the 2010s.
  • Bliss is a teenager. Her exact age is never specified. If she was created at the same age as the others, however, then she is fifteen.
  • Mojo Jojo was friends with Bliss when he was little. Several years have passed between Bliss' creation and her sisters, yet Mojo Jojo was still the same age.
• Villains Out Shopping: In "The Wrinklegruff Gals", Mojo Jojo is first seen walking his dog while talking to his mom on the phone.
• Vocal Evolution: Multiple examples:
  • Professor Utonium now sounds older than the original series, which can be chalked up to his actor, Tom Kane, getting older.
  • The Narrator also sounds a good deal different, since Tom Kenny, like Tom Kane, has gotten older. His Mayor voice, though, sounds remarkably the same.
  • Him's voice doesn't have his previous echo and he also doesn't suddenly change pitch.
• What Did I Do Last Night?: The basis of "The Stayover" starts like this with Blossom and Buttercup recovering from a candy-induced sugar rush hangover and trying to find Bubbles.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Most of the supporting characters from the original such as Robin and Mitch Mitchelson are either Demoted to Extra or outright absent.
• Whole-Plot Reference: "The Stayover" is one for The Hangover, with the girls unable to remember the previous night after a massive sugar high.
• Who's on First?: In "The Power of Four", when Bubbles is describing her allegedly imaginary friend Bliss after the plates get broken on the kitchen floor:
  Bubbles: It was... Bliss.
  Blossom [skeptically]: Riight. And where exactly is this "Bliss"?
  Bubbles: She left.
  Buttercup [skeptically]: Riight... With her elephant?
  Bubbles: Mih.
  Buttercup: You?
  Bubbles: No, the elephant.
  Blossom: Wait, who?
  Bubbles: Mih.
  Buttercup: What about you?
  Blossom: Oh, I think she means the elephant is "me".
  Buttercup: Wait, you're an elephant?
  Bubbles: No, that's his name, "Mih"; the elephant's name is Mih.
  Blossom: Okay, so "Mih", the elephant, was in this kitchen?
  Buttercup: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, great!
  • Later on in the episode, when Mih is revealed to be Him:
  Blossom: Bliss!
  Bubbles: You're free!
  Bliss: What happened?
  Blossom: Mih was Him!
  Buttercup: And Him was you!
  Bubbles: And you was Him, and who was Mih?
  Buttercup: Mih was Him.
  Blossom: Him was you?
  Bliss: And I'm confused.
• Wingding Pupils: The girls get them often, more so than in the original series.
• "YEAH!" Shot: Bubbles does this at the end of "Air Buttercup".

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