I love your take in townsville!!! Adding to it I think what’s also interesting about the citizens and townsville is just how bad it all was before the girls showed up. They were living in a terrible place filled with terrible people. It could be argued they may have even been similar to citysville once upon a time. When the girls showed up everything calmed down but not out of human goodness but out of fear of one’s life. Like the crime didn’t stop because the people were better, crime dwindled because no one wanted to get put into a hospital by these little girls. I like to think that townsville acts as a somewhat accurate reflection of real society if superheroes were real. I don’t think our world would be inspired to do well rather than ostracize our heroes and simultaneously demand they do everything we don’t want to.
📢🙌📢🙌📢👏👏👏👏👏👏
Literally could not have said it better myself. That’s exactly what i think. Townsville is such a wonderful reflection of the real world. And if a person think they would never be like the City, just remember, you’re not immune to the mob-mentality.
I guess we should acknowledge that Townsville is located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, so it may be hard to get off island BUT I don’t think that really adds or takes away from this argument.
I got so mad at the citizens of Townsvile in that one episode idr the name of where those animals were robbing the place and everyone getting mad at the girls for stopping them.
That’s the Sweet n’ Sour episode! It is one of the least popular episodes all because of how poorly the girls are treated in it.
I hate this one.
It’s a really good example of how conditional Townsville’s love for the girls is, so thank you for pointing it out! The girls don’t even have the ability/or get the chance to win the City’s favor back in the end. It ends with the narrator berating the girls for saving the day :(
I think the episode is made sadder when you remember that Townsville (when they’re mad at the girls) calls the Powerpuffs bug-eyed freaks. Essentially, the City boots their freaky heroes in favor of cute bad guys. And the City would have continued to do so if the cute bad guys didn’t run away in the end. Ugh.
Thank you for the answer! You're so right though, why didn't the professor notice how much Buttercup stinked earlier? Looking back, yeah, Buttercuo should've bathed earlier and she was a good choice for that lesson, but at the same time, she's my girl so I felt it was mean to chase her out I guess XD
sorry! I meant to respond to this earlier. Anon is referencing this post!
I think the love that the professor has for the girls and vice versa is so very obvious, and I love their family dynamic, but sometimes I feel like he’s the most inconsistent character in the show. He goes from “best dad” to “😬” in the blink of an eye!
Especially post-movie, but the whole show is noticeably different post-movie for obvious reasons lol
I was scrolling through your blog like usual and when I found the words "Townsville's citizens love for the girl's is conditional" I was like YAAASSS SOMEONE ELSE WHO NOTICED IT. I thought it was just my dislike of the citizens in general that made me think that but now that I think about it, 8-12 year old me may have had a point.
Okay for real thank goodness I’m not alone cause I’m over here feeling like
How did you feel about the way the girls were treated in the movie? I personally think the way the citizens treated the girls was really mean and it got to a point that was way past justified anger at their city being destroyed imo. It was also the professor's fault for not teaching the girls how to control their powers earlier I believe.
The movie rips my heart out. I know that in one of the documentary's Craig was like, "oh, I kind of regret that movie," because it ended up being darker than he felt it should have been. I get where he's coming from, but regardless, I really loved it. I thought the artwork was great, and the girls' personalities really shone through.
Also, the whole game of tag was top-notch, in my opinion! I love the special little detail where you see the girls flying, and their light trails are all different shapes and patterns, showing off their different personalities. I thought that was really creative! I wish I could find a good pic of it, but i can't :(
Anyway, sorry, that's beside the point, but still, I'm a big fan. I think it's a good origin story. We never got one in the original run of the show, so seeing how everything came to be, why the girls ended up superheroes, the whole Mojo thing was excellent. I think it rounded out some details from the original seasons really well.
So, in a way, I guess, I'm fine with how the girls were treated in the movie because if it had been any different, we wouldn't have gotten the stories we did. It still makes me sad, though. The movie's just a real fucking bummer. You have to watch six-year-olds process abandonment on a meteor. That shit hurts.
(more under the cut!)
I blame the movie on my weird relationship with Townsville. Do I like them? Do I not? Are they inherently good? Or bad? When I think about the PowerPunks world, as I show here in this post, I'd argue that Townsville is inherently good. However, all of the recent asks I've gotten have me thinking it over, and I don't know anymore.
I think that the movie really sets up the idea that Townsville doesn't actually love the girls because of who they are, but what they are. Townsville as a whole is an incompetent character, but the movie really solidifies that Townsville may not be incompetent for lovable reasons but selfish ones. Still, for all the shit I give Townsville, I like how their character goals are ambiguous. It makes for a better story.
If HIM is Townsville's all-seeing, omnipotent demon-god, and the Girls are the embodiment of goodness, then maybe the whole of Townsville is the chaotic character to round out the trio. The City is fickle enough for it. IDK!
At the end of the day, I can't say I'm mad at the City for being angry about their homes getting destroyed. I feel that the anger is justified, but they really did play the perfect Frankenstein mob, didn't they? I'm pissed they treated the girls the way they did, but it was so perfectly in character, I can't see them treating the girls any other way at that point in time in the girls' story.
I also don't fault the Professor. I don't think he knew exactly what the girls were capable of, and when he did finally learn, he was arrested immediately and denied access to his kids. The Professor does a lot of not-so-great stuff throughout the show, but he is a single parent, who didn't exactly ask for three little girls, so most of the things he does can be blamed on inexperience. But, generally, he tries his best, you know? I think overall, he's a pretty good dad.
The real villain of this movie is the Townsville Legal System. Mans didn't even have a lawyer, and they tried his ass in court.
Also, one more thing about the movie that I gotta get off my chest:
I think the saddest part of the whole thing was when Buttercup punched that ape and then immediately apologized, saying she hadn't meant to, and that she was sorry, and a good girl, and like, the whole nine yards of a child desperately seeking forgiveness/approval.
But! But! Immediately after that, it wasn't the City, Ms. Keane/Bellum/the Mayor, any of her peers, or the Professor that validated her. It was her sisters (particularly Blossom, but Bubbles was down 100%). Her sisters were the ones who were like, no, Buttercup, you didn't do anything wrong. They (the City) may have told you that was wrong, but we can use what they think are faults to our advantage. And the Powerpuff Girls were really born at that moment.
And it's that right there that totally solidifies the sisters' relationship in my mind. Idk why; I can't put it into words. I just think that was a crucial moment.
Thank you for your response! Your answers were pretty good and yeah, I see the Punks being irredeemable villains too and it's better that evil girlbosses stay evil girlbosses sometimes tbh
nbd!! I just like my punks evil!! I wish I had some good fic links to give out, but I haven’t encountered many dealing with the punks, which is a real shame. I bet they’d be interesting characters to write!
