"Hot Air Buffoon" is the sixteenth episode of Season 3 (and the 66th episode overall). It first aired on Cartoon Network in the United States on December 1, 2000.
Plot[]
The Mayor of Townsville gets more involved with fighting crime, by scoping the streets from above, in a hot air balloon. However, his involvement leads to more destruction than gratification.
Synopsis[]
Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, as they appear in this episode.
Every time the city is in a state of emergency, especially over a criminal matter, it is common for the Mayor to call the Powerpuff Girls to resolve it. One night, after feeling as if he put in a good day's work, he notices a night maid, who he thought was Ms. Bellum, who was coming in to start cleaning as the Mayor lost track of time. The maid tells the Mayor that he isn't doing anything to help Townsville and that it's the Powerpuff Girls who are doing all the work. Soon after she notes that she did not vote for him, he becomes enraged and decides to call the Powerpuff Girls and have them beat her up, but then he realizes that she's right and trashes his office.
The next day, Ms. Bellum notices his office in shambles and confirms that he is okay. The mayor says no and introduces Ms. Bellum to a hot air balloon that he will use to fight crime. Afterward, he flies in it with her, explaining that he will take a more proactive approach to watch the city by looking over Townsville and stopping criminals with his extended punching glove, the "Equalizer." At first, he appears to be doing well: He stops a criminal holding an old woman at knifepoint and thwarts a man as he breaks into a car. Even Ms. Bellum is impressed by this. However, things start to go astray when the Mayor gets mad with his effectiveness; he punches a man who accidentally littered, and then he starts attacking people who weren't committing any crimes such as a man withdrawing money out of the ATM and two boxers in a contest, much to Ms. Bellum's horror. She tries to explain it to him that he is hurting innocent citizens, but the Mayor doesn't budge and continues with his approach.
Meanwhile, Blossom notices that the Mayor hasn't called them the entire day and becomes concerned; she is not even able to dial him directly on the hotline phone. As Buttercup and Bubbles play video games, Buttercup assures them that nothing is wrong, but when all three of them fly to the Mayor's office, they see that it is in ruins (because of his outburst earlier).
They later fly into town and see everyone running away. One of the Townsville residents informs them that they're running away from the Mayor himself. When they try to confront the Mayor about the situation, he tries to punch them with his weapon but misses them. Instead, his Equalizer ends up hitting a button, launching four missiles from a control tower that is near the town. It then becomes the girls' mission to do what they can and intercept the missiles before impact: Buttercup strips away one of the missiles to disable it, Bubbles uses a sonic attack to jam its flight patterns, and Blossom diverts one of the missiles towards the nearby sea. The fourth missile, however, continues towards Townsville with the Mayor using the Equalizer in an effort to defuse it. Though the girls are able to stop the last one as they did the others, the Equalizer punches it and detonates it, destroying the area.
With the town in ruins, the girls reassure him that despite his passive efforts, the Mayor helps to save Townsville by calling them to at least inform them of serious happenings. The episode ends with a good laugh and the narrator says: "Oh Mayor, what would Townsville do without you? Probably be a lot better off."
Characters[]
Major Roles[]
Minor Roles[]
- Nighttime Cleaning Staff
- Fred Flintstone (Non-Speaking Cameo)
- Barney Rubble (Non-Speaking Cameo)
- Jill (Non-Speaking Cameo)
Trivia[]
- This episode premiered in some countries before the United States.[1]
- This episode premiered in Australia on June 16, 2000.
- This episode premiered in Canada on July 22, 2000.
- This episode premiered in the United Kingdom on August 27, 2000.
- This is one of two episodes in which the narrator doesn't manage to finish his trademark opening line. The other is "Makes Zen to Me".
- This is the second time the Mayor replaced the Powerpuff Girls, but this time with himself as the Townsville's local hero with a hot air balloon called The Dirigible and an extending punching glove called The Equalizer. The first time was in "Major Competition" with Major Man who turned out to be a cowardly, egoistic fraud that had set up all of the crimes and disasters he stopped that he was secretly putting everybody in Townsville's lives in danger in order to gain attention, respect and fame that he doesn't really deserved at all in the first place. In reality, he couldn't saves the day for real or even capable of saving himself when he's in danger, which it exposed the complete fraud really he is and always will be and got kicked out from Townsville and ending his false hero career.
Allusions[]
- The Flintstones - Two robbers that look like Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble, barefoot and wearing masks, appear robbing a bank.
- Jack and Jill - When the Mayor says that the jewels are being jacked by Jill, this makes a reference to the story of Jack and Jill.
- Dexter's Laboratory - The Puppet Pals appear in the video game Bubbles and Buttercup are seen playing.
- Dr. Strangelove - Blossom rides a missile into the ocean like Major Kong rides a missile into Russia.
- The Equalizer - The Mayor called his extending punching glove, "The Equalizer" from the 1985-1989 American crime series starring Edward Woodward as the main and titular character, which it was made into a movie in 2014 starring Denzel Washington and a sequel of it in 2018. Also, a 2020 reboot of the TV series starring Queen Latifah as the main and titular character.
- Yo-Kai Watch - A yokai shares a similar name with the title, known as "Iballoon" in Japanese.