Now “Powerpuff Girls” fans can mix up their own batch of sugar, spice, everything nice and Chemical X.
To promote the reboot of the beloved animated series, Cartoon Network launched the Powerpuff Yourself website. The browser app allows users to create a Powerpuff Girl or Boy character version of themselves.
By clicking “Power Me Up,” users can customize their own unique character by selecting hair, facial features, skin tone, clothing, accessories and even animated backgrounds. The characters can be saved or shared as static images, desktop wallpaper and GIFs.
The app went viral on social media shortly after it was released last week. “Powerpuff Girls” avatars began making the rounds on Twitter last week and included interpretations of celebrities and even pop culture fictional characters. One fan “Powerpuff”-ed “Game of Thrones” character Jon Snow. Entertainment Weekly turned the One Direction boys into “Powerpuff” characters. And some fans of Chris Evans made the “Captain America” star into a cartoon superhero.
This “customize your own character” app isn’t a new concept—for instance, check out “The Peanuts Movie” promotion, the award-winning Peanutize Me app, which came out last year. But Powerpuff Me does offer something a little different from its predecessors.
To start, these characters actually look exactly like they live in the world of “The Powerpuff Girls” and stay true to the spirit of the series as it stands, whereas the Peanutize Me app uses a 3D approach that meshes with the aesthetic of “The Peanuts Movie.” It’s still a cool look and a fun app, but might not speak to fans who identify more closely with the original comic strip than the movie’s 3D look.
Powerpuff Yourself is a really creative way to give Cartoon Network viewers, both past and present, an exciting way to engage with the latest generation of “Powerpuff Girls.” And by offering variations in skin tones, facial hair and eclectic outfit styles, it allows people from all different walks of life to be a part of the promotion, and to identify with the series as a whole.
The 2016 edition of “Powerpuff Girls” premiered this week, and features a brand new voice cast.
