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Powerpuff Girls reboot 2016

Last posted Apr 25, 2016 at 05:08PM EDT. Added Feb 16, 2016 at 04:00PM EST
32 posts from 25 users

So lately, there's been a lot of talk about this new PPG reboot. Reactions have been diverse (especially around the latest sneak peak).

So what are your thoughts on this reboot?
Honestly I still have hopes for it. It looks promising. The intro's style is great and the old designs are here, but the animation is a bit slow and some of the side character's designs are a bit off. But other than that, I'm excited.

Well, I'll be the odd man out here, starting by saying that I already think PPG was Craig's weakest work to begin with (I can't really get much into a show where the majority of the characters are literally just walking tropes rather than actual characters). All I have to judge this new show by, anyway, is this sneak peek they released,

The writing's just as flat as it was back in '98, and the art style is the same prosaic stuff 85% of CN shows look like. Also related:


I still usually give a show 4 chances to impress me before I write it off as shit, so I'll just have to wait and see if they get rid of the zombies on the script-writing team. I know, I sound a bit jaded, but again, I found the original show pretty bland to begin with so I'm not really anxious either way. Not saying that the original show was bad, it had some enjoyable moments, but I'd say it's to 90's CN shows what Cars is to Pixar.

Last edited Feb 16, 2016 at 06:58PM EST

Well smh tbh fam
I'll deal with the art department, i don't want/i can't make a commentary of the plot in its current state.

After watching the intro, my impression was that "no way in hell this is the intro of a tv show", that it was more like a standalone music video that just happens to have a PPG motif. You see, intros often have better quality animation (more detail, more frames per second, more action-y, etc) than the actual show (logic often is "it's the first thing people see, so let's make a good first impression" and/or "we'll see this thing literally in every episode, so better be good"). tvtropes calls this Animation Bump (i won't put direct links to the site). This one was too fluid, too detailed, very unlike most (current) western animation, and even i don't think that anime makes such dissonance between intro and show, and i'll admit if i present some cognitive dissonance, see for example Watamote, Zetsubou Sensei.

Some sections from the actual show.


(Spoilered so i don't slow down your browser with too many embeds)

Let's hope the videos aren't taken down, i had to use a proxy to watch the second one on the official channel.
Edit: Emperor Katuunu XVI's embed is the one i had to proxy

Honestly, i'm not much a fan of this animation. Too like our modern simplistic CalArt cartoons. I read a post on the tvtropes forums that the quality was similar to the original show's later seasons, but my counterargument (yeah, i'm aware i'm responding to someone on another forum): The protagonists seem to have desaturated colors (paler skin and greyer clothes/eyes); there's something i don't like in the movements, too like Flash/Toonboom, mostly on the section with the 3 girls, Buttercup takes the scene, she changing her pose, the man moving his arms, he dissapearing into the horizon after being thrown; i read on another forum (for the record, it's called fdzeta, it's Spanish-speaking) a comment dealing with the minimized aspect of violence, referring to the use of still frames for the "combat", Buttercup never touches the man, only moves her mouth, they suddenly appear in midair and then she throws him away, it's only lazy animation, you aren't getting rid of the violence; the visual design of the antagonist just screams hipster-ish CalArts, with circle eyes, rounded edges, anatomy/proportions that would get you lynched if you tried to tell it is even close to "realistic" (as in "Classicism art realistic").

But personally, i don't enjoy the art of 90's cartoons as much as when i was younger (well, when i was younger i just didn't mind), because i see the exaggerated anatomy and simplistic detail, current cartoons retroactively ruined older series for me, compare to 80's merchandise-driven animation, or anime, i have the stance of "Your waifu or husbando is shittier than average because the official art lacks the slightest sense of proportions", which is cognitive dissonance again, for example i don't complain about Touhou's zunart aka best art. It must be what happens when you spend time studying and practicing drawing, but i digress.

/rant over

Last edited Feb 16, 2016 at 07:41PM EST

So, personally, I'm really glad that the art style looks lie the original series meets Uncle Grandpa/ Clarence/ Steven Universe in terms of style as opposed to the style seen in Dance Pantsed. While I still prefer the original version (and the the Lumberjack looking guy from the clip feels like he walked in from another cartoon) if they do feel the need to reboot it, I prefer the main distinctions in style of the original remaining like this, as opposed to a complete overhaul.

Of course, art style alone won't make it good. While I do enjoy the style, as it defiantly feels how a reboot of series that was enjoyed back in the day should look (I'm looking at you Teen Titans) I'm going to wait to see if the rest of the show holds up. To be honest, most of my memories of the PPG were long after it's initial run, watching it on Boomerang. I enjoyed it, partially because of some slight nostalgia, and partly for the more adult references and cameos. I guess I don't really think of characterization that much though.

Last edited Feb 16, 2016 at 11:30PM EST

Seeing the extended intro, I'm actually kinda impressed. It kinda reminds me of anime intros being how lively and lengthy it is. That's not what we'll be seeing when an episode airs though. In typical Western show fashion, they (thankfully) shorten the intro to under 30 seconds. Something like this I'm guessing.

From what I've seen from the sneak peeks, I don't think the show itself will look good as the intro, which I'm guessing has an animation bump (kind of stuff anime does frequently.) But I may just need some getting used to with the new art style.

The original PPG was some of the most brutal shite for kid cartoons. You had explicit punching and kicking, gun-toting enemies, blood, and basically a bunch of characters getting their ass handed to them that they barely look anything more than pulps… and I don't mean that in a humorous way akin to slapstick like Tom & Jerry. I don't think the new PPG will be as hardcore as the original, cartoons are bit light on those stuff these days.

Another thing that makes PPG a great show is the cute slice-of-life humor that balances out the action parts of the show. In between all the fighting you usually get some interactions between the characters that end up being relatable to sibling rivalry or just plain sweet and adorable.

From the extended intro, I think the new PPG will try to do the same with trying to keep the action flowing but at the same time giving attention to the slice-of-life aspects. The action may be toned down, but as long as it can keep the cute-action balance of the original PPG that'd make me happy.

Powerpuff Girls originally aired from 1998 to 2004, spanning 78 episodes total. Tom Kenny has signed on to return to the reboot as the narrating mayor, while Amanda Leighton will play Blossom, Kristen Li will voice Bubbles and Natalie Palamides is set to play Buttercup.

Last edited Mar 15, 2016 at 03:35AM EDT

Going to be brief with this… it looks like it will be sorta good, but I feel like the whole "GURL POWAH" bit is a little over played… but that's just me, I'm not entirely sure what to make of it right now…

Last edited Mar 15, 2016 at 06:44AM EDT

Mako the Goblin Queen wrote:

Going to be brief with this… it looks like it will be sorta good, but I feel like the whole "GURL POWAH" bit is a little over played… but that's just me, I'm not entirely sure what to make of it right now…

To be fair the GURL POWAH thing was always overplayed in PPG

I saw two episodes

The very first episode had a pretty cookie cutter plot once I saw what it was I just went "oh this episode ok" then turned it off about 5 minutes in

Second episode was pretty boring too. Wasn't really funny the action wasn't that good ect
I don't like it and I think it sucks

But you know what thats fine I don't think a show called "The Power Puff Girls" was made for a guy in his 20s anyway. Im sure kids will like it

Ill live

So what are your thoughts on this reboot?

It's crap. The animation looks worse than stuff on DeviantART, it uses that same goddamn style every other show uses--despite the characters not fitting it in the slightest, they got rid of Miss Bellum because she didn't "fit" the direction they were going, and the original sin I can never forgive regardless of show: they got new VAs for the characters, not because of death or age, but because CN's too greedy to pay them.

Also, they're using memes, which is never advisable.

So I finally watched a few more episodes besides the ones that left a bad taste in my mouth ("Man Up" and the one with the "horse wants to be a unicorn" plot that I probably wouldn't be caring that much about were it not for statements made by one of the producers in an interview, specifically that the episode was supposed to be a "gender metaphor" and I feel they botched it), and I'll say this: Princess Buttercup's actually a pretty good episode.

This updated version of Princess Morbucks has more of a "rich bitch" personality as opposed to the "spoiled rotten brat" attitude of the original, I came to rather like the Derby Taunts by the end, and the way the girl's acted in this episode all felt very much like how I remember them in the old show (plus unlike the infamous "Man Up" this one actually ends with a "and the day is saved" ending, though to be fair the "horse" episode had one too, it seems Man Up is the only one to lack that for some reason). The art is still a major mixed bag, some scenes in Princess Buttercup actually looked pretty nice when they were doing more with the lighting and how it effects the perspective, but others still suffer from the "flat designs in a three dimensional world" problem that's been brought up many times now.

I still haven't caught the rest of the "premiere week" episodes but I'm hoping for more "Princess Buttercup" quality and much less "Man Up."

My two cents about the tranny episode before watching it:

Good lord, did the new ppg seriously play the tranny card that quickly

it's like they're trying so so so so so so sooooooo hard to cater to the left nostalgia crowd it's so sad; you could have given it like just a little bit more effort but NO, let's resort to pandering this quickly.

I mean I guess I'll give it this much for not taking the stereotypical route which is to basically portray a trans person as the saddest puppy ever and if you don't feel sad sads for them then you're just a huge asshole, but it's getting to the point that I think people are forgetting that there are other aspects to people's identity other than whether or not you have a medical diagnosis.

Identity is like a billion things, gender identity is one small aspect of your identity that's probably best labeled as chronic medical condition than anything else. A pretty small portion of people are transgender so it's a pretty small number of people who will benefit from this message. Again it's not the worst way they could do it but it bothers me.

I'm almost thinking you could make a much better episode with a strong message to support transgender people by basically having a plot about someone who wants to be an [insert occupation here] but being denied based on who they are instead of an animal or being because the same premises still apply, and it can touch a larger group of people. Instead of saying "there's a small group of people who feel this way, dear you, you're right, dear others, don't deny their feelings,", you are basically saying "you know how you felt here? Well this is how they feel here, but you know it in your heart to be true". Yes, it doesn't address the physiological nature of gender dysphoria but is that really needed to get the point across either way?

I mean I guess it just bugs me as a writer, since you totally can write a story about transgender stuff without making it completely dated within 20 years. Like, think about it this way – this would be like making a cartoon that essentially the moral is, "Black people have feelings too!". Sure that'd be revolutionary for the 30's-50's but if you made that in 2010 that'd be fucking offensive. People would be like, "No shit, of course they are you KKK shit."

If you were a writer in this time, instead you could write a story about the struggles that black people had at that time in order to show others that black people had feelings deserving of respect and that would stand the test of time because you're essentially using the time period as a setting, instead of expecting to educate people on your morals. Not only are you educating people by example and empathy instead of just saying "FEEL BAD FOR THESE PPL", but the message of the story can be passed down for generations, beyond when it was politically relevant. Why do you think people still read Mark Twain and similar authors for fun?

Ultimately regardless of whether or not you agree with the message, it boils down to political soapboxing, and will become irrelevant when that issue becomes socially irrelevant. It's really. Really annoying. And when you see it everywhere it just makes me want to crawl up into a little ball and cry a little.

Sorry I'm not super interested in the PPG series but since I keep seeing this pandering everywhere I thought I'd bring it up.

Last edited Apr 14, 2016 at 09:21PM EDT

I think with 2 weeks full of non-stop controversies of this show, I just feel like we're beating a dead horse right now. Nearly every episode has the same flaws (ex. dank memes, errors, being hip and trendy, marketing ploy). I mostly agree with these weak moments, but it's almost at this point that it is unnecessarily rubbing them on my face through a forgettable show like this. I've seen even worse things from Cartoon Network; this reboot is nothing but a stinging splinter than a big stab in the stomach for us to be shocked about.

Last edited Apr 16, 2016 at 08:42PM EDT

Watched the episode, here is what I have to say.

- The trans stuff is so fucking forced, I honestly don't think the plot would really be offensive. I'll be blunt, when the unicorn turned into a monster, it made me feel uncomfortable. I've been on hormones for a few months now and I wasn't digging the subtext, especially how it was presented (like it was going to kill you or destroy you FOREVER). I felt like it was dishonest and the analogy didn't really make sense.

Quite frankly just having a plot about a really stupid unicorn that drags the girls, the Professor and the town into this whole mess and then just realizes he was a unicorn all along would be a lot funnier and not offensive but noooo you just couldn't help yourselves lmao

- Worse than the whole trans analogy though is that the episode is so dreadfully boring. Bubbles' new voice actress sounds like she's forcing all of her lines ("HE. IS. MY. FRIEND.") and it's really distracting. The other two are better but none of them are funny. At ALL. The only gag I thought was funny was the teacher at the beginning of the episode, but everything else seemed so forced or was explained outright like as if we're stupid.

- I noticed quite a few animation errors. Come on, animators, you're paid for this shit. Do it right.

Last edited Apr 16, 2016 at 08:48PM EDT

Iamslow said:

Where did it all go wrong?

They didn't hire McCracken or someone with a strong vision of what they wanted to do with the show and a commitment to quality and instead opted for the cheapest possible people to voice, write, and animate it because even if it tanks, if it's cheap to make, it's a success.

I'm not in a mood to write an entire essay on why is this reboot disappointing, but I think this pic will show my thoughts towards this show.

I had hopes.
Had them

I was a naive fuck.

I already say this in the entry but better put here as well. The problems with this in my opinion are.
1. The artstyle tries too hard be like Steven Universe
2. The Quality of this show are the same level as Johnny Test
3. The fact they are using unfunny outdated memes like advice animals and rage comics also they can’t done it right
4. Remove characters or personality traits of the original series
5. Some of the villians are just there as filler example Manboy
6. There haven’t been a full season now there’s transgender and other SJW shit.
7. The fact Tumblr and 4chan both agree on something, the reboot sucks you really fucked up
I going be surprised if this reboot got another season after all this, But seems is easy to produce seems is going be like Johnny Test a lot of seasons. In my honest opinion i prefer watch PPGZ over the reboot.

Skeletor-sm

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