Well, it’s time to get this Crossover Clash out of the way. Let’s just rip this mother off like a band-aid!
The newer versions of Cartoon Network’s iconic shows Teen Titans and The Powerpuff Girls have proven to be two of the channel’s most polarizing series in their history. Teen Titans GO has a far goofier and aggressive style of humor compared to the first series, even with the latter being rather comedic at times, while the latest Powerpuff show is a lot more on-the-nose with its messaging. So it came as no surprise when people were skeptical about their upcoming meeting, “The Competition”.
I’d be lying if I tried to claim that TTG has never made me laugh. I generally find it to be a rather hit-or-miss show, some of the gags do hit their mark and it’s clear the original cast is having tons of fun parodying themselves. Though now and then they’ll have an episode where they call out their critics and have the characters acknowledge the viewers who dislike them, which come off to me as pretty forced. And the 2016 Powerpuff show is frequently sloppy with its animation, on top of its stories often being more formulaic than before. One episode’s jokes basically amounted to “hey look, the entire town’s tripping out on acid!” Luckily, this crossover doesn’t have those particular issues with either show per se. But does that mean it’s really funny? Ehh….
As usual, Mojo Jojo can hardly contain his excitement and mangles the English language as he plans to unleash his army of robot monkeys on Townsville. When the Powerpuff Girls intervene, he decides to take his creations to another dimension- namely the world of the Teen Titans, in what he assumes to be a place where people don’t care about fighting crime.
The Titans, being moronic, lazy slobs for the most part in their current incarnations, easily fit his description. Beast Boy and Cyborg are so enthralled by the sheer concept of a robot monkey army that they basically just turn heel right then and there, joining up with Mojo. Yay, character development!
The Puffs pursue their arch-nemesis into the Titans’ universe and meet Robin, Starfire and Raven, who have a hard time taking the adorable flying children seriously. Tara Strong goes out of her way to subvert her character’s usual mood, cracking wise at the PPG’s expense.
Blossom, Butters and Buttercup for their part are rather unimpressed by the DC adolescents, and their search for their missing teammates becomes a game of oneupmanship. More time is spent arguing and griping between the superheroes as opposed to real detective work. Meanwhile, the help Mojo gets from Cyborg and Raven doesn’t turn out to be what he expected.
Generally, it’s an episode that feels like it was made more because Cartoon Network liked the idea of Teen Titans GO and the Powerpuff Girls interacting as opposed to making a really clever story. Both of these shows get a ton of hate, but I don’t think either one is necessarily the absolute worst thing ever. But their respective flaws are pretty obvious at times, and the narrator pointing out how stupid everyone is doesn’t make up for it.
I don’t mind “turn your brain off” humor, but they both seem satisfied with having their characters act like idiots most of the time, as opposed to putting them in unique and interesting situations. They’re both ok for what they are, but compared to their original shows they don’t feel all that memorable. Not that either one needs to get “darker” or more serious (like in one TTG episode where they satirized themselves as a “gritter” team), but overall “The Competition” isn’t as inspired as it could be, given the history of these characters. Not recommended.