37. Mojo Jojo
73 Points, 4 Lists, #13 Issun
"All right, you flea-bitten curs! Heel! I, Mojo Jojo, am your master, and you shall obey my commands like the dogs you are! Because I am your master, it is I who you will obey! Obeying commands is what you will do! I will give you commands, and you will obey them!”
Source Material: The Powerpuff Girls
Voice Actor: Roger L. Jackson, Masashi Ebara (Powerpuff Girls Z), Michael Dobson (Powerpuff Girls Z)
Mojo Jojo is a super-intelligent chimpanzee who lives in an observatory in the middle of a park in the City of Townsville. A supervillain through and through, Mojo Jojo’s main goal is power, world conquest and the destruction of the Powerpuff Girls, a trio of pre-school aged superheroes. He is noted for his unique manner of speech where he is constantly reiterating himself to an extremely redundant degree. Mojo was once a hyperactive lab chimp used by the scientist Professor Utonium until it caused an accident that both created the Powerpuff Girls AND mutated him into super-intelligence.
Though the Powerpuff Girls have faced monsters, aliens and the devil himself (in a Rocky Horror sort of way), Mojo Jojo is the Girls’ most tenacious villain and probably the one who has come closest to truly defeating them. Despite this, while the Girls’ often take him as a menace when he’s pulling off a plan, they are just as likely to treat him as a nuisance or even a playmate if they meet him on a non-“battle for the fate of the Earth” basis, where the Girls often drive him to distraction. Mojo relishes his evil and intelligence as cartoon villains often do and is proud of his machinations and inventions.
It is unfortunate that the character’s voice, particularly in the early episodes, is a stereotypical Japanese accent because the rest of the character is a classic, fun supervillain. In addition to other things (which I’ll get to), his voice is a parody of the weirder, older age of anime dub acting of the 60s and 70s. But beyond that, he’s just a completely fun, over-the-top villain who is distinct and is a genuine threat but also works great as a utility player on the show. Need someone for the Girls’ to pester? Jojo works. Need someone to take the piss out of villainy. Mojo again. He’s works all across the board but rarely feels over used, even with a specific verbal gimmick.
Plus, Devo did an entire song about him.
BTW The Powerpuff Girls’ album is legit awesome and has a bevy of alternative bands like the Apples in Stereo, Shonen Knife, Frank Black, and Optiganally Yours.
Dracula
PPG had some of the all-time great villains in cartoon history, but Mojo was my favorite. He channels all of the ineffectual blowhard charisma of 1980s cartoon villains into one tiny package.
Plaintiffs:
Fun fact, he’s a mix of these things
Defense:
“This could be a class action suit, so maybe we should deride the move as “classist”. *shrug*”