A step to inclusivity? Here’s a Bliss!

(“Welcome to the family Bliss! ❤️💚💙💜 #PowerpuffGirls #Bliss” from Cartoon Network’s official Twitter account: @cartoonnetwork https://t.co/ZhDmI99LRG)

SUGAR, spice and everything nice – Colorful action stories always bring out the child in each of us, and as we are enthralled by the lovable characters of the Powerpuff Girls, what more can we ask from the powerful trio? Yes! Another hero!

Cartoon Network has unveiled the fourth power puff girl, Blisstina Utonium, the older sister of Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup.

This new revelation was a historic move as it did not only make the trio a quartet but it also offered diversity in the show—another yes! Bliss is the first black Power Puff girl.

According to Slash Film, Bliss was created by Professor Utonium with the same blend of sugar, spice and everything nice, but with “accidental addition of Chemical W instead of Chemical X.”

The Chemical W is the reason why Bliss cannot control her powers whenever her emotions stir up.

Bliss was raised by Professor Utonium years before he created the powerful trio, but when an explosion caused by her tantrum blew their house, she fled away from Townsville and stayed in an island where she could hurt no one.

Now that she is back as a teenager who carries incredible strength with powers of flight, telekinesis and teleportation, Townsville will witness four Power Puff girls who will battle with different villains including Bliss’s former friend, Mojo Jojo.

The Power Puff Girls has long inspired young girls to be empowered from the moment it aired in 1998.

The show proved that you can also kick butts while being cute and bubbly at the same time.

But its new step to welcome diversity has garnered different comments from the fans of the well-loved series.

For the record, Cartoon Network did not give a clear stand on Bliss’s race.

In an interview with ELLE - South Africa, rapper Toya Delazy, who will be one of the voices of Bliss, said the inclusion of a dark-skinned character in the show slays the embracement of diversity.

“It feels amazing…to fill girls, especially young black girls, with that energy to say you can do anything, that was the point of Powerpuff Girls,” Delazy said.

However, Wear Your Voice (WYV), an intersectional feminist media, claimed that the part where Bliss was “discarded and forgotten” by Professor Utonium represents how black women were always treated as “collateral damage” in different medical and scientific experiments.

“Black women and girls shouldn’t be invisible afterthoughts, if representation is important, give us a Bliss who isn’t the result of an irresponsible white man,” WYG called.

The Powerpuff Girls The Power of Four movie-series is not yet over.

The introduction of a black Powerpuff girl is a good move for cartoons to embrace diversity and introduce it to its viewers – but the move should not end there.

Everyone would feel the inclusivity if their racial identity would be well represented.

Bliss was introduced to the Filipino viewers on Cartoon Network last Saturday, September 23.

What are your thoughts about her?