Ramble: Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi

Man, I was not expecting this particular nostalgia trip...I'm a bit ashamed to admit I fell into reading this webcomic in high school, and dropped it around when I entered college. (I guess fairly early in its run? 75% of the stuff in the video was completely unfamiliar to me.) I remembered the edgy character designs and the plot being a meandering mess, but funnily enough I didn't remember the massive p*do overtones at all...maybe the art was too off-putting for the comic to register as being sexual in my teenage brain, lol

DechAmim

The way Jenny gasped and put her hands on her head at seeing shadow the hedgehog is so funny. I even said his name aloud in abject shock as if I just saw him irl

kalyn avery

why does he keep drawing Asuka’s head on Blossom

Wes

I'm with you when it comes to a lot of serialized web comics. The only good ones I've read are more recent Korean ones, but those are kind of pushing it in terms of what a "webcomic" is since they get "published" by companies that sell the comics and get competent English translations and all that (See Lezhin for example).

Markus D

One can tell how much love the author had for the characters.

Jed Grahek

I loved orbitz. I was really hoping that's where that anecdote was going <3

Taylor "Armac" Quenneville

There was a squirrel ppg. Also, the random glasses character maybe the kid from Time Squad, but maybe not.

Tum T Tum

I can't believe there was no comment on the fact that Sonichu was in this comic

I am catching up on some videos-- but DAMN. Thank you for digging this up from the recesses of my memory. Oof, I'm embarassed for past me. I think I remember something about finding out SNAFU/Bleedman was into CP or at least had an account where he drew it? Either way it would explain all of the upskirt shots....

Brenn

I think the ferret character is supposed to be I am Weasel..... they needed to make him more weasely.

Carissa

I think the problem with doing original work is that it doesn't come with a pre-existing fan base. If you've gotten used to the kind of readership numbers that come from doing a wacky version of something that's already popular, it might be too depressing to find that less than one percent as many people read your original stuff.

Stephen Notley

can you do a follow-up vid where you just do an intense deep dive on Top Cat?

QuailMan420

I’m a cartoonist who started in webcomics (I draw print books now) so obviously I’m biased, but I feel like judging an entire format by two of it’s most infamous bad examples is a little unfair

wanting to see this one is what made me finally sub. thanks, bleedman!

Oh man, I remember following this comic off and on when I was like 13... I just thought it was cool to see a fan comic with such a polished style and there were cool edgy storylines for all the characters I remembered from when I was younger. I do remember feeling weird when I found out the artist was already like 40 when he started it but I was too young to really get why. I was just like, "ok then I guess it's fine for adults to be so obsessed with little girl characters". It was a trip to find out it's still going! Be glad you didn't get into the Grim Tales comic, Mandy grows up and reunites with Grim and they get married and the comic is about their half-skeleton kids.

Ok Imma be real positive about the that artist despite the...bad Fanfiction style story and the none-stop panty shots. His art style really improved over time and his ability to frame panels did too. He’d do a good job as a lagit comic artist. Just don’t let him write any of the stories 🤷‍♂️

We'll that was two bucks well spent, time to see what else I've won!

John K.

it is a lot of foot. it's so much foot.

Libby

what do you mean?

Johnny

Fun fact about the bagged Pringles thing. Pringles can come in a bag in the Philippines, where the artist is from. He probably didn't know that Pringles only come in a can outside of Asia.

Crowsie

Nothing in the world could have prepared me for the Among Us appearance

TJ Guiney

I remember skimming through this comic out of cringe/nostalgia(?), and being really confused about the rolling back of but still ocassional underwear shots as it went on. Unlike arguably adult fanservice, I don't think fanservice with minors is the sort of thing where it's tastefulness can be weighed by it's amount.

LL

I wouldn't say they are - Doujinshi really just means "self published printed work" the key aspect is that it is PRINTED, and not published through a company. The fact that a lot of it is fanwork is beside the point. This guy called his webcomic "power puff girls doujinshi" but that doesn't - make - it a doujinshi. He could call it a dictionary but that wouldn't make it a reference book. Black Moon Rising is a doujinshi. This is not.

Natalie Arnold

TIL people don't remember the "I Am Weasel" cartoons which is honestly probably for the best.

Michelle

Yeah, if you look at the image Jenny points out on their DeviantArt with the pony, it's like the comic but without text bubbles: just random existing characters drawn in a certain pose, then made to look like they're somehow interacting. The artist just loves drawing fan-art and decided to put it in something that could be called a story.

Trystan

Does anyone remember the actual real official PPG anime? It was called like Powerpuff Girls Z I think.

Natalia Mazzoni Ramos

THAT sounds like something my teenage self would be all over!

Natalia Mazzoni Ramos

If anyone else is into webcomics and wants to read an actual good one, I recommend astudyinscarletandblue.tumblr.com (Spiderman fan-creation, complete but with extra installments in the making) and themusementor.com (also complete but the author has new projects). Anyway this comic gave me some real Ready Player One vibes.

lyrium

Seems like this is a doodle pad masquerading as a comic book, as he learns to draw new characters and wedges them in with little follow-up in mind. This will be the endpoint of the IP “‘memba this?” death spiral in film and TV, too: just hours of hero shot character introductions with kicking interludes (and the ‘born sexy yesterday’ trope).

Emvee

I was going to try to make a "PonlyFans" pun, but apparently that's already a thing, and means something else... gah!

Dee Crosier

I recorded a thing at the end but then just cut it cause I felt I was too unfocused trying to explain. I think it's most likely a reality show vid will come after the beanie baby one, since it's 90% written and kind of topical for May I started watching several Barbie Movies for a tier List a la Land Before Time but one of my favorite channels ModernGurlz just released a ranking vid so I felt weird doing it right after (I didn't watch hers because I don't want to be influenced), but maybe 2 videos from now it'll feel right

Jenny Nicholson

Hold on so we know Beanie Babies is next but do we know anything after that?

Tori

Now I am so curious about whether Jenny has ever seen Tails Gets Trolled.

Jeff McManus

Surprise winners were Jenny singalong, nostalgic memories AND as of today the animal topics coalition! Fur bearing trout! Bang up month really

Andrew Hill

As one who recognizes that I don’t have the fastest processor, the speed at which you take in information and then clearly articulate your fully formed analysis in real time is impressive, bordering on intimidating.

Dash

Omg, I didn’t realize it was THAT webcomic. I was all up on that in high school, and the Billy and Mandy one too. Soooooooo cringey now.

Rachel Cook

“An older and sexier pb&j otter” nooooo oh my god 🤣🤣🤣 is it tho?

Oathian

Love the format of this video.

Harry

Jenny's singing was the best part maybe I'll suggest "Jenny sings her favorite songs" as a ramble topic.

Luis

I'm sure Michael Bay would approve of those leering upskirt camera angles as well. You don't think..?

Ben Lyons

Was that a rogue strand of trout fur at 3:05?!

Ben Lyons

My partner had this exact reaction when it got mentioned.

Same reason most fanfic stuff isn't. It's not monetized and the corner of the internet that it existed was small enough that it didn't splash over too much into other areas, I think.

Silvoid

Watching this just unlocked a memory of a webcomic I read as a teen called roommates. Sarah from the Labyrinth and Christine from Phantom of the Opera were roommates!

Ella Wharton

I have to say, this was something I was not expecting to see today, and if I was asked 1000 times to list things I would not expect to see today, I'd think there is a zero percent chance I'd come up with this. Patreon subscription well worth it.

David Perek

I followed this comic from ages 10-12 (the exact age range Jenny said this comic would be cool for, go figure) and it was one of the things that got me into drawing. Looking back at seeing how skeevy the comic really was is nasty and is hitting me hard with the second hand embarrassment for all the friends I tried to get into PPGD. I remember dropping it around whatever that school festival was. Where XJ-9 gets hijacked by Bell (Oc Powerpuffgirl) and monsters start attacking. I think I dropped it cause of how few and far between updates were. Even as a kid I felt like the story was meandering around and not leading to anything. Looking at it now as someone whos going into a storytelling field. It feels like its constantly adding in more and more characters to minimal benefit for the plot. The base idea of the bad guys and their plan feels so vauge that the comic can keep adding in more cartoon characters whenever a new show comes out. They keep putting in more cameos that mean nothing and only add to the bloated mess that is this things pacing. Also I don't know how, but the comic's text bubble formatting somehow got worse over time?? There's so much text on screen in some of the pages Jenny looked at that it almost boarders on parody. All this critique tho is obviously eclipsed by the biggest thing of: don't sexualize the powerpuff girls you god damn weirdo.

Madds_Lion

I feel judged since I was really into this during college not when I was 11 heh. Once I sort of let my nostalgia glasses fall off and realized the weird underage subtext might not be subtext it grossed me out and I stopped. also it always felt like it was leading to..nothing

Kayla Heidenreich

GRIM TALES FROM DOWN BELOW!! oh my god, mandy does 9/11 and they randomly meet the characters from nightmare before christmas, i loved that comic so much when i was like 9 and shouldn't have been on the internet

Elliott

Or maybe she didn't recognize Sonichu, which would mean she's better than us.

Andrew L Butula

How has this not gotten a million cease and desist letters?

John K.

Webcomics. No matter how hard you read them, they give nothing back.

superb lobster

Gosh, nooo. Noooo, why those angles

oh my god. I completely didn't realise which comic this was going to be about until the part when you mentioned megatokyo (I guess I never thought of doujinshi and webcomics as the same thing?), and then all the repressed memories came back to slap me in the brain like a rotten fish

big bird (not that one)

There is so much cursed dialogue in this video, but "It's like I've seen the light at the end of the tunnel, and it's Rick and Morty" is real standout.

Shaun Cheah

You really ought to chat with someone who was in the webcomics game in around the 2008-2012 era. Much like bronies, that was actually a really fascinating scene, especially behind closed doors. Maybe it still is, I'm well out of it, but essentially the drama that unfolded as people began to intuit the things you mentioned. A lot of creators were not only struggling with the comic quality/comic update schedule balance, but also the "social media engagement/merchandising" aspect and it quickly revealed a lot of immense pressure points on the medium. Only a few years earlier there was a ton of optimism that it would be the next huge content growth area, and the period where that optimism began to fade and disappear made would have made for an exceptional documentary.

Notation

"You asked for it" You know, I might upgrade my patreon tier so I can vote on ramble topic polls, and specifically Not Ask For It - I wash my hands from Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi

I remember being so scandalized as a preteen by Dexter "cheating" on Blossom with Mandark's sister that I dropped the series completely. Damn, what a throw back.

Pterranodon

Big yikes.

Jiminy's Journal

All this time and I’ve been thinking this angle in your video was just the other side of your bedroom. 🤯

This was a spiritual journey dude

Juliette

So much of this went over my head when I followed this comic. My dumb ten year old brain had no idea. I just wanted to see the power puff girls fight robots. Then I clicked over to Grim Tales, and at the age of 10 I learned that some webcomic authors are into incest. Not a good time.

Your comments about how the mecha design was too busy and you couldn't tell where its face was, that's how I feel about Michael Bay's Transformers. I like TFs in general, but those movies are a mess.

Monica McFadden

I love that samurai jack is wearing a nike track jacket. Also professor x could get it

Kombucha Papi

Believe it or not, PPGD was written by a few people and not just Bleedman himself. Also, a majority of the concepts and characters were straight-up ripped off of actual children's fanworks on DA, including character designs. Mind you, Vincent Ngo was in his late-30s/40s when he started the comic and he's pretty open about his attraction to little girls. He did eventually start his own original comic called Sugar Bits. Didn't last long before crossing over with the half-dozen other comics he had going on. Now the whole thing exists as a huge clusterfuck. It's borderline meta considering PPGD started off as a huge crossover clusterfuck.

Crowsie

Yay, we got a nostalgic internet memory!

AppleSnaps

Jenny, trust me when I say you don't want an interpersonal drama from this creator. The Grim Tales spin-off is more about that and that one literally ends with the main character, who is Grim and Mandy's son, dating their half-sister. That said, this review really makes me wish you could play FusionFall, the Cartoon Network crossover MMO from the early 2010s.

Silvoid

It's I. M. Weasel from Cow & Chicken

Silvoid

Feeling very privileged to see this giant plush pony. Patreon only pony. A Patre-ony.

Stephanie Hohn

excellent ramble which makes me wonder who helped write it and if they were even compensated 🤔

Luis

am i the only one who’s never heard about this before today

mollie

The robot girl was actually Samantha from the anime Medabots, a really minor character (i had to look up her name lol but I recognized the hairstyle), but I guess she must've been his favorite. But anyway thank you for exploring this comic, I'd always run into art on deviantart around 2007 but never had the courage to read through it

Angela Valdez

You totally just glossed over the SONICHU 😂

Bison

Proposing this drinking game probably counts as attempted murder.

Martin

It's so bizarre thinking that this comic is still going and seeing things from shows like Rick and Morty or Star Vs in there that I know have only been around for a few years. Everything about this webcomic just screams "made in the 00's" and seeing something that's such a product of its time incorporate new characters into that same style is just jarring. Part of me respects the dedication and part of me is terrified for this person who reads like he hasn't changed at all in over a decade.

Rosepetals

It absolutely was. Suzy was a main character in Johnny Bravo. The male character at the beginning of the comic with glasses and a small puft of hair was Otto from 'Time Squad'.

I signed up for Jenny's patreon the moment I saw she was covering this. This was my FAVORITE webcomic as a kid. As someone who watched Cartoon Network constantly and spent way too much time playing Cartoon Orbit, this comic was like catnip for me. I remember liking the anime-esque art style (especially since it debuted before PPGZ / Fusion Fall) and the edgier interactions between the characters. I do not, however, remember the vast amount of panty shots or quasi-incest drama (though considering the reputation of the author of this comic I should not be particularly surprised). Looking forward to going through the rest of the Patreon exclusive content! P.S. Please consider doing a deep dive into Bleedman's Grim and Mandy comic - it is a million times creepier and perverted than his PPG comic. The OCs are also hysterically cringe from what I recall

i am watching this with little to no knowledge of cartoons but man, if pinky and/or the brain turn up i will lose my mind

Amy White

That has to be the otter from pb & j

I would recommend everyone not to play that drinking game because you would probably die.

Noe Ramirez

WUT It's the middle of the day

Jerry Nicholson

the bag of pringles omg

Ben Thorne

the memories this unlocked in me...

yikes

Ben Thorne

The suspense I felt when Jenny said "oh I thought we would get a cameo from Dede, oh well" while knowing that she was literally on the same page and then her reaction when she scrolled down was probably the most serotonin I've gotten since February of 2020

Rice G.

Honestly bleedmans powerpuff comic is almost innocent compared to the grim adventures of billy and Mandy one he did. That one...is a whole can of something nasty. There so much disturbing stuff in it

God. I’ve been following MegaTokyo for 15 years now. I absolutely see where your coming from with Piro being unimpressive as a protagonist, but I like how Fred has improved on the story as he’s grown out of that. But, truly, fuck Bleedman.

Sarah L

Pretty sure that "ferret"/"otter" thing is I.M. Weasel from I Am Weasel.

Ericwinlol

I'm losing my fucking mind who suggested this, why did they suggest it, where are they and how dare they catapult me 15 years in to the past like that for the love of god in heaven

Rice G.

Oh dear lord, MegaTokyo.

I had no idea this was thing, so you took me on a journey.

Gabrielle

I totally agree with you on Teenage Robot, I think they had some plot with the Escape From Cluster Prime two-part thing but it was a perfect show for a deeper long-term plot

doopliss

Oh wow, finally a video that doesn't get insta-blocked! Has YouTube turned a corner?

Stephen Notley

Well that was a journey

If I remember correctly, in the billy and mandy fan comic, mandy grows up to be a hot grim reaper and caused 9/11

Kel McDonald

Wow, I had completely blocked out that I had read this

Susannah Beckett

This makes me eternally grateful that my Big Start reading webcomics was longform stuff like Transfusions and the general Things The Hiveworks Offer. I'd be a much more insufferable person otherwise, knowing the way my brain works. Actual professionally made webcomics being updated regularly, A+ stuff. And Homestuck. I read Homestuck. Don't read Homestuck.

Ruth (The Horned Witch)

Lol suzie was from johnny bravo I think. Honestly, his game reminds me of the Cartoon Resort games, and those little mini ad-like cartoons during commercial breaks on cartoon network that crossed over the different cartoons.

Katie Gogerty

Oh jeez. I had tried finding this since I wanted to glance things over before this and I clearly found the wrong one haha https://imgur.com/gallery/394Zr

Mel Curtis

I thought the punchline was going to be that you realized you were reading a different comic entirely

Austin Baker

Is there a word for that feeling when one day you remember a webcomic you used to follow as a tween and you go look it up 12 years later and find that it’s still going but the art style has completely changed and all the characters are new and the tone is wildly different and you realize that youth is fleeting and everything is transient

i named my dog albus before joanne came out as a terf fml

i'd been meaning to join jenny's patreon and this video popping up on twitter today was what made me finally do it, this is amazing

Omg, it is so funny you talked about Cartoon Orbit!! My brother, my best friend and I were just talking about it yesterday!!! And being sad about not being able to play flash games anymore, but there are groups that catalogued versions of the games that you can play (cartoon network, neopets, disney channel, addicting games and more) I played the Cartoon Network Resort game yesterday!! If anyone else is interested, it's called "BlueMaxima's Flashpoint" I'm in love with it lol

Katie Gogerty

YES!!!!!

I thought this was going to be an entirely different PPG comic. There's a grimdark one called "Birth of Angels"...didn't even know this one existed. Anyway, I'm sure I'm in for a fun learning experience

Josh Draper

the only way to read webcomics is to binge read them on thanksgiving or any holiday where you sit around and ignore extended family drama that youre not too keyed into.

jesse m

you should try the flash fighting game if its still around

Johnny

Thank you miss Jenny my day is made

Almost a full hour 😍

Jimmy Space

Oh god. I had blocked this all out.

Anastasi

Ah shit, here we go again.

Michael Wilson

Oh my god! I can't wait to go to sleep to enjoy this :D