"Ploys R' Us" is the seventeenth episode of Season 3 (and the 67th episode overall). It first aired on Cartoon Network in the United States on December 1, 2000.
Plot[]
After waking up one day to find their room filled with toys, the girls find out that the Professor has been robbing the toy store in his sleep. They initially decide to take advantage of his sleepwalking habits for their own gain, but this proves to have alarming consequences.
Synopsis[]
The episode starts with the girls awakening from their sleep and are a little irritated by the sun, but then they noticed something in their room that makes their eyes open wide. The room has new toys for them! The girls begin to wonder how they got all these toys.
They come to understand that Professor Utonium must have bought the toys so they go out to thank him, but he is fast asleep. The girls continue to play with the new toys until the phone rings. Blossom answers the phone and the mayor tells them there has been a robbery. When they arrive at the location, they soon find out it is a toy store at the corner of two streets that have been robbed.
Bubbles surrounded by toys
To their horror, they learn that the toys that were stolen such as the dolls and games they were playing with earlier are in their room. Bubbles, though, inadvertently hints that the toy store's losses were much greater than the storekeeper, Mr. Giuseppe, could immediately name to the Townsville PD officers interviewing him.
Back at home, they debate whether their own Professor Utonium is a thief. Suddenly that night, they see him going out and move to shadow him. When they try to stop him, however, they notice that he is asleep with his eyes open. Bubbles thinks he is a zombie, but the girls realize that he is sleepwalking; Blossom cites this behavior as somnambulism.
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Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, as they appear in this episode.
Taking advantage of the situation, the girls suggest things for him to steal as they allow him to continue stealing from the store and deny any knowledge of the thefts if questioned. The days and nights go by and the room is stocked with hundreds of toys, including everything from phonographs to ball-pit balls and model race cars.
One day, the room is almost filled with toys when Professor Utonium knocks on the door and sees if he can come in. The girls try to hide the toys, but the toys break out. Professor Utonium is unhappy and he asks the girls where they got these toys. Blossom lies to him saying the city gave them the toys to reward them for their continued service. Professor Utonium buys the lie and leaves the room, but the girls begin to think they should stop, but their love for toys gets in the way of their judgment. That night, the Professor is stealing from the store when a toy (with batteries included) he drops turns on and awakens him. Professor Utonium finally realizes what he has done and takes all the toys back. Realizing that the girls have been exploiting his sleepwalking for their own personal gains, Professor Utonium resolves to teach them a lesson.
The next morning, the girls awaken with anger upon seeing that all of their toys have gone missing and no new ones are found, so Blossom tells the girls that they'll keep a close eye on the Professor. That very night, the Professor is sleepwalking again and the girls are right behind him. When he opens the front door of the toy store, he stops. Buttercup asks why he stopped when the Mayor suddenly jumps out of a group of toys and says, "Hold it right there!" Then, Townsville Police SWAT officers armed with guns, two tanks, searchlights, and helicopters appear in and around the toy store. Having surrounded him, the Mayor tells the Professor to give up, but he is unwavering as he says "Never!" To the horror of the girls, he grabs the Mayor and holds him hostage at gunpoint, threatening that "Nobody move or the Mayor gets it!" A hostage negotiator on a megaphone tells the professor to relax and let the Mayor go, but the Professor refuses.
Despite the Professor's handling of the situation, the mayor breaks free by punching him and orders the police to open fire. The Powerpuff Girls shout in horror and in protest, but this does not stop the police officers from opening fire and bringing him down amidst countless flashes of the bores of their weapons. It seems that they killed him. When the Mayor congratulates the policemen on a job well done, the girls begin crying and confess that it was all their fault. The Mayor asks them what they mean when the girls admit that they knew it was the Professor all along, and that they couldn't stop him from bringing toys to them, and that he is now dead because of it. Surprisingly, however, he reveals that he was not dead as he was tagged with suction darts; the guns were mere toys and he is alive.
He tells the girls that he came up with the whole scene to teach them a lesson about greed; the cops were real, but they were using toy weapons. After the girls apologize, having learned that stealing is a crime no matter the circumstances, the Mayor also reveals that since there was no (physical) harm done, the toys are paid for, so they can keep them all. Buttercup and Bubbles are delighted, but Blossom says it wouldn't be right and they didn't deserve them after everything that happened, so the Mayor decides to take the toys - for himself because he always wanted a Beefy Betty.
Trivia[]
- Moral: Stealing is a crime, no matter what the circumstances.
- The name of the episode was actually meant to parody the toy store 'Toys R Us'.
- There are no villains in this episode.
- There is also no crime fighting in this episode as well.
- This is the second episode the Powerpuff Girls made schemes out of greediness. The first was in Candy is Dandy.
- 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 the episodes ending with the narrator saying his catchphrase differently: "And so, once again, the day is saved. From The Powerpuff Girls, by The Powerpuff Girls." *When the girls normally appear in their house at night, they are wearing their nightgowns. However, in the last scenes of this episode, when the girls appear at the toy store at night and also in the normal hearts outro for this episode, they have their regular daytime clothes on.
- The professor walked into the girls' room without any good reason to do so, since he left right after they showed him their "surprise", while he was the one wanting to come in.
- Dexter, Dee Dee, and Monkey from Dexter's Laboratory appear as dolls in this episode.
- Another character that appeared as a doll in this episode besides Dexter's Laboratory characters, there's a Robocon doll. who is the main protagonist of a tokusatsu show named "Ganbare! Robocon!" created by the late Shotaro Ishinomori, who is known for his others toku shows like Kamen Rider and Kikaider.
- This is one of the episodes in which the Powerpuff Girls showed a huge greedy side.
- This is the last episode to air in the year 2000, the last one to air in the 20th century, the last one to air in the 2nd millenium, and the last to air during Bill Clinton’s presidency.
- The title of this episode is a parody of the now-defunct toy store chain in the United States, France, Germany, Poland, UK and Australia, Toys "R" Us. Toys "R" Us can still be found in Canada and other parts of the world, such as Africa, Europe, and Asia however.
- One of the toys Bubbles is shown with has a face similar to BEEBO.
- There are various Teletubbies dolls that appear in a couple of scenes, which is a reference to the Ragdoll Productions show with the same name.
- This is the second time the Powerpuff Girls cries, the first time being in Bought and Scold and the next one is Coupe D'Etat.
Errors[]
- In the beginning, the doctor doll's box says "Dr. Suzy", but Blossom and Mr. Giuseppe call her "Dee Dee".
Allusions[]
Dexter's Laboratory - Dexter, Dee Dee, and Monkey are seen as dolls.
Ganbare! Robocon! - like Dexter's laboratory characters, Robocon is also seen as a doll.
The Flintstones - Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble are seen on a pinball machine in the toy store.
NERF - One of the toy dart guns is labeled MERF.
Pokémon - Like other episodes, a Pikachu-like plush toy is seen.
Disney - There is a mouse-like plush is seen in the background when Bubbles exclaims "Dolls!". This lead to several questions as to if this is supposed to be Mickey Mouse.
Star Wars - A Jar Jar Binks doll can be seen when Bubbles says junk and then tossed, alluding to Star Wars Episode I not being as well received as the original trilogy and Jar Jar is one of the least liked characters in the films.
My Neighbor, Totoro - A doll that looks like Totoro is found in the shopping cart the Professor uses to collect the toys in the toy store.