unused powers


Does it bother anyone else when the girls inconsistently use their powers? I mean, when there are powers we know they have but they don't use them and thus all tension is lost.

For instance, in the one with the cooties, Mojo drops them down a hole and leaves them with the cootie kid, and so they are all trying to run away from him in the enclosed space. ...But they can FLY! Why didn't they just fly out the top??? This would make sense if the top CLOSED, but it didn't!

Another one is in "Him Diddle Riddle". They have to make it to a phone in three minutes without flying. Fine. THEY HAVE SUPER SPEED! He never said they couldn't RUN really fast! And only a few episodes earlier, in "Members Only" it was clearly established that Bubbles (and presumably the others) can run around the world in under seven seconds. So... they couldn't make it to a phone in 3 MINUTES?

Do these things bother anyone else?

-TK

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No, this doesn't bother me because I understand that sometimes the writers of those episodes made the girls not remember/use those powers because the plot had depended on it. Take the cootie episode for example. In the episode "Cootie Gras" had the girls simply just flown out of the hole they never would've faced their fear of the cooties head on, and realized that it was all in their imaginations. In "Him Diddle Riddle" the girls using different means of transportation to get to the phone in 3 minutes without flying helped to expand the plot, and made it very interesting to watch what each Powerpuff Girl had preferred to as her own individual and unique transportation method to get to the phone in time. Had they used super speed that would've been boring and the episode would've ended much sooner. In "Members Only" Bubbles HAD to use her super speed to run around the world in under 7 seconds in order to prove to the sexist male heroes of the ASWM that she was just as good a hero as they were. These were all great and convenient plot devices that I understood and had no problem with whatsoever.

My only REAL PROBLEM with the powers is how sometimes the writers forget that certain powers & abilities ONLY BELONG to a specific Powerpuff Girl! For example: One of Bubbles' special and unique powers/abilities is her Super Sonic Scream, and up until the 4th season episode "All Chalked Up" she was the only Powerpuff Girl in the series who had used this power. Buttercup's unique power/ability is her Tornado, and up until the 5th season episode "Power-Noia" she was the only Powerpuff Girl in the series who had used this power. THIS specific type of inconsistency when it comes to the powers bugs me; especially in the 5th season episode "Nuthin' Special"! Come to think of it this problem actually occurred ALOT in seasons 5-6 rather than in the previous seasons, but then again as the true Powerpuff Girls fan that I am I like to pretend that seasons 5-6 take place in a non-canon universe altogether :)!!!

The Powerpuff Girls - Saving the world before bedtime for a decade!!!

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Excellent!

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The series isn't meant to be taken very seriously and episodes aren't always written by the same people. And as Takedi21 said above, the overall importance falls on the plot, joke, or moral of the story virtually 99% of the time - the action's just an awesome device.

- Their feats of speed and strength vary considerably by episode (too many to list)
- In the movie and several episodes (Boogie Frights, Members Only) they're capable of traveling to outer space with ease and no detrimental side-effects, but in other episodes (Uh Oh Dynamo, Helter Shelter) they don space suits for unexplained reasons
- Special team techniques are pretty inconsistent, either only being used once or twice, or undergoing performance/name/visual changes (such as Starburst Ray and Mega Blast being performed the same way, and the second time they use Mega Blast it looks no different than Starburst Ray; or how the first time they used Form Furious Flaming Feline they had to dive through the Earth's atmosphere, like many of their special techniques, but when they used it in Members Only they did not)

As for Taked21's comment on unique abilities...

Buttercup's tornado and Bubbles' ultrasonic scream don't appear to be unique abilities - that's all. It was said Blossom's was ice breath, and Bubbles' equivalent was speaking Spanish while Buttercup's is being able to roll her tongue. Although this is just for lulz, you should probably take it as truth given the evidence we've seen. There are some differences, however...

- When Blossom and Buttercup screamed to defeat the chalk monsters, it affected everyone and everything, and it also did poop despite both of them doing it. However, Bubbles seems to be particularly gifted with it - her's being stronger and able to be focused. When she used it (or a variation of it?) in A Made Up Story, she even threw her name in the name of the attack.
- Buttercup has shown her efficiency in spinning since the very first episode, but it doesn't mean the other girls can't. The episode you speak of, however, they spun to bore into the ground and back up through the monster - probably the same way Buttercup spun to deflect the dishes thrown at her in Powerpuff Bluff. Although it's probably created the same way, I wouldn't even compare these to the tornado she can create by spinning - it doesn't serve as a perfect defense or drill, but rather as a massive vacuum...quite incomparable. EDIT: Oh yeah, forgot they did it in "Nuthin' Special"... I'm not sure how serious all their special abilities really are, though.

So, they really aren't unique abilities, it's just that certain girls are better at them. You may also see this with the normal energy blasts they can emit from their hands - Buttercup is the only one to ever use it on her own. The other girls always use them in tandem (either all three use them individually or they combine for a special technique), but Buttercup exercises the ability more often by herself (Octi Evil, Nano of the North).

Edit:

Oh, it should probably also be mentioned that the locations and size values vary all the time, I think particularly early on in the series where everything seemed up for grabs. Things such as the number of students in their class, the location of their house, or their bedroom (particularly their bed).

Speaking of their class, you could also point out how very odd it is that they're still in kindergarten. In the movie, they enrolled on the third day of their birth, and throughout the entire series they've never aged or advanced in the school system.

This raises other questions, such as whether there even is a school system. If you remember, the Gangreen Gang was forced to attend Pokey Oaks - surely teenagers wouldn't be forced to go to kindergarten with 5-year olds, right?

Or how about some of those kids, such as the ones who get super powers from Mojo - those were KINDERGARTENERS?

And back to the question of whether a year has even passed in the series...how do you explain their birthday party? There are even episodes chronologically after said party and in "Him Diddle Riddle" Him says they've been saving the day for "years" (though this could've been creative license on his part to make his riddles rhyme, the same argument can be used on why they couldn't run to the phone, saying that "no flying" means "no super powers"). Most possible explanations for this can be further countered by recurring classmates, as well.

So yeah...

Pedophiles Are ****ing Immature Ass****s
Fiat Justitia; Ruat Coelum

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