Thatās a good point! BUT
Not to beat a dead horse, but the whole āPPGs and RRBs are siblingsā thing has always felt more like an observational fan theory than an actual confirmed fact. Thereās definitely an argument for it, and I understand why some people like the theory (hell I vibe with itāļø), but at the end of the day it depends on whether or not you buy into that interpretation. The show itself never really confirms it.
That reminds me a bit of the whole thing with Kagamine Rin and Len from Vocaloidā¦.
A lot of people see Rin and Len and immediately assume theyāre twins because of how similar they look, even though they arenāt canonically siblings. Some people ship them, some people donāt, and both reactions are valid. Even if something isnāt technically incestuous, people can still find it uncomfortable, and thatās their right.
A lot of this comes down to personal preference in character design. Personally, Iāve always found contrasting designs more interesting than matching ones. Iām talking height differences, different color palettes, different silhouettes, different personalities! characters who visually and narratively bounce off each other.
Part of the reason for that is that modern audiences tend to place a much bigger emphasis on visual individuality than older cartoons did. Nowadays, itās practically a meme that cartoon couples look like siblings because they share the same face shape, body type, or overall design. Thatās one reason designs like Mickey and Minnie can look a little strange to modern viewers. Theyāre products of a different era of animation, where simplifying characters and reusing similar visual language was common practice. Itās less a flaw in the designs themselves and more a byproduct of animation standards from the 192 was and early cartoon era. It was so common place. It never stopped and still standard practice for animators all the way up to the 90s and 2000s.
The Powerpuff Girls and Rowdyruff Boys donāt really have that kind of contrast because theyāre intentionally designed as counterparts. For some people, thatās the appeal. For others, itās exactly why they look elsewhere or end up redesigning the characters from the ground up. There arenāt actually that many options once you get into the whole āthey need to be with their own kindā debate, which has always made me a little uncomfortable anyway.
(I know that was a huge tangent, but I thought I would bring it up because I just know someone will mention it in the comment somewhere)
I also see people bring up the fact that the boys were revived by HIM, but Iāve never really found that argument convincing either. HIM didnāt create entirely new characters; he resurrected characters that already existed. Theyāre still the same Rowdyruff Boys, just brought back after being defeated. Whether that changes how people interpret their connection to the girls is up to them, but Iāve always seen it as a revival rather than the creation of a new set of characters.
As for people shipping the girls with the Powerpunk Girls, Iāve always seen that as falling into the same category as clone ships, alternate universe ships, evil counterpart ships, and all the other weird fandom stuff that have existed forever. Itās basically like that one question you think about while laying in your bed at night of, āIf you could clone yourself, would you date them?ā Itās not really something I take all that seriously.
I donāt personally ship it, but I also donāt feel nearly as strongly about it as some people do. I can understand why someone looking for a lesbian alternative to other ships might gravitate toward it. There are aspects of the dynamic that people find interesting even if they donāt like the more popular counterpartā¦.
Really, this whole discussion exists in a gray area where people can hide behind whatās technically true while still making others uncomfortable. Thatās why I think most of these debates ultimately come down to interpretation rather than objective right or wrong.
At the end of the day, fandom has been shipping alternate versions of characters, clones, counterparts, and mirror-universe doubles or even just literally the character themselves for years. Itās not exactly a new phenomenon. We all remember what happened with the Onceler.