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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 5 years

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Psycho Analysis: Mojo Jojo

A superhero is only as impressive as their archenemy. Batman is great, but with the Joker fighting him he’s even more awesome; Superman without Lex Luthor just doesn’t feel right; and would Danny Phantom be quite as entertaining to watch if Vlad wasn’t always outmaneuvering him? The point is, no matter how good your superheroes are, they really do need an impressive archenemy to stand out. And the Powerpuff Girls have perhaps one of the coolest archenemies in all of western animation: Mojo Jojo.

Mojo Jojo is one of the more personal foes in the rogues gallery of the Powerpuffs, seeing as he indirectly had a hand in creating them and, as the movie showed, an incredibly direct role in getting them to the position they are in now as the saviors of the city of Townsville. And on top of that, he is just filled to the brim with insane schemes, colorful personality, and enjoyable and memorable moments that help make him a true villain for the ages.

Also, he’s a monkey. And everything’s better with monkeys!

...Okay, he’s technically a chimpanzee, but don’t tell that to Devo.

Actor: Mojo Jojo is voiced by Roger L. Jackson, a voice actor who aside from this iconic role has also played the voice of of Ghostface in every single Scream film to date. Interestingly, Jackson also voiced none other than Hol Horse in the Stardust Crusaders OVA from the early 90s, meaning that Mojo Jojo and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure are closer than anyone could have guessed. Jackson, of course, does a fantastic job, delivering Mojo’s ridiculously redundant speech patterns, in which he tends to repeat what he says, reiterating his points over and over, with great gusto. He’s also able to, in-character, sing an amazing rendition of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” so there’s that too.

Motivation/Goals: Mojo Jojo has a very simple goal: he wants to take over the world. Now, simple goals in the wrong hands lead to boring villains; look at Malekith for proof of that. But the thing with Mojo is that he never has the same evil scheme twice (except for the one time he did have the same evil scheme twice, which ended about as well for him as you’d expect seeing as he failed the first time). He’s always at it again with some crazy new scheme, whether it be forming a bad guy group that spoofs the Beatles or turning everyone into dogs or just building some cray evil machine. And sometimes when he shows up, he’s not doing anything particularly bad; he’s just out shopping, or enjoying a day off. What he lacks in brilliant motivation he more than makes up for in variety.

Personality: Mojo Jojo is well known for his amusing speech patterns and his extreme levels of ham, but beyond the typical trappings of his Saturday morning cartoon villain exterior is something a little bit more. Mojo is perfectly friendly and affable when he wants to be, on occasion even helping out the girls (though it’s almost always with ulterior motives). It can also be inferred that much of Mojo’s hammy, villainous personality is little more than a mask to hide an incredible inferiority complex, which is definitely hinted at in episodes such as the one where an alien conqueror steals all of his ideas, and even a bit in the movie. Such a complex likely stems from his origin as the Professor’s lab monkey; Mojo definitely feels rejected, underappreciated, and in the shadow of the Powerpuff Girls. Of course, considering who he is, he’d never admit it.

Final Fate: Mojo is never defeated, but once he actually did achieve his goal of world domination… and he then proceeded to make the world into a utopia rid of disease, war, and global warming. It’s just a shame that he eventually got bored with his victory and went back to committing crimes; it’s likely he’s just going to be fighting the girls forever, or at least until he finds a better hobby.

Best Scene: In the episode “Forced Kin,” Mojo sees an alien conqueror use every single idea he wanted to use to conquer Townsville and so he, if you’ll pardon the pun, goes apeshit and beats the towering galactic conqueror into submission with nothing but his fists and a baguette. And so the day is saved… by Mojo Jojo!

Best Quote: “I do not talk like that! The way I communicate is much different. I do not reiterate, repeat, reinstate the same thing over and over again. I am clear, concise, to the point!” Sure Mojo, keep telling yourself that.

Final Thoughts & Score: Mojo Jojo is easily the best villain in one of the best non-comic book superhero rogues galleries ever conceived. I think a lot of the reason really does boil down to his ham-tastic personality and the fact he is a cackling chimpanzee mad scientist; over-the-top mad scientists always do well in animation it seems (just ask Jack Spicer and Dr. Doofenshmirtz). Add on top of that a speech pattern that was inspired by the The Super Dictionary (which you likely know as the book that showcased Lex Luthor committing the crime of stealing forty cakes. That’s as many as four tens! And that’s terrible) and you have one of the most unique and charming supervillains out there despite him being a mashup of all sorts of classic villain tropes.

If you thought Mojo Jojo would be getting anything less than a perfect 10/10, you’d be wrong. Mojo may not be the deepest villain out there, but he serves his function as a fun and funny bad guy for a cool superhero cartoon. And even saying he’s not that deep is selling him a bit short; he actually has a pretty interesting background and the fact he continuously ties himself into the existence of the Powerpuff Girls in every aspect, from his time-traveling escapades inspiring the young Professor to take up science to literally causing the accident that created the girls, Mojo is a villain so utterly doomed to failure that on some level you can’t help but root for him, even though you know he can’t possibly succeed. It certainly helps that for all the times he’s shown to be ruthless and cunning, he’s also shown to be pleasant, charming, and even a loving father to the Rowdyruff Boys.

Mojo Jojo is really what any great superhero cartoon villain should aspire to be, especially ones not based on preexisting works. Mojo Jojo, an original supervillain creation, easily deserves to be held up alongside Joker, Green Goblin, and Lex Luthor. I’m not joking. When you’ve gotten your own theme song performed by Devo, you know you’re in the big leagues and worthy of respect.

#Psycho Analysis #powerpuff girls #Mojo Jojo

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