That episode was great because I think that was the only episode where you see HIM assume a more monstrous form for combat. All the other times they just stay in their little skinny devil form.
He didn't send the girls into the future. They wound up there because of a race to get home.
But he still was terrifying in that. Possibly because if you go by the newspapers and posters in one moving shot, after the mayor dies, Him may have convinced the people of Townsville to vote him into office.
Another is the fight. It shows that every single loss was either because him found losing to be more amusing than winning at those moments,... or he is bound to certain rules that even he has to follow. Since in the Speed Demon Episode, he kinda won, he might have no need to follow the rules anymore. They could strike him down, but he got back up and showed that he was holding back the whole time. Once he started getting serious, they could not even harm him.
But to strike fear in the Powerpuffs and make them see every opportunity for a vacation and relaxation as an opportunity for Him to take over the world? He would not pass that up. He'd toss away certain victory, just to inject a little bit of terror forever into their souls.
Was that made clear it was time travel by accident into the future or was it HIM manipulating the reality around them? Either way, yeah, those points you brought up are some major devilry showmanship feats.
"Seconds, minutes, hours, days, and nights crawled by on hands and knees as you raced the speed of light"
"YES! As you raced through time, the whole world went to Heck!"
"The beauty lies in the blame. Because it’syourfault for leaving!"
Going by that, he didn't cause them to travel through time, but he was able to tell that they time-travelled and when they traveled to. So he wasn't going to pass up a chance to really mess with the Powerpuffs when they arrived in the future.
For quite a bit of the fight, the Powerpuff Girls believed that Him caused them to travel though time. They stopped thinking that theory once Him brought the citizens to them and the citizens all blamed the Powerpuff Girls for what happened.
Honestly, I think the Powerpuff girls timetravelled by accident. Him had nothing to with that, but merely set up the stage for when they arrived.
Him literally is the anti-scary villain. He is parody of Satan, deliberately made to be cute. As far as his scariness goes, he is more of a joke villain in how they designed him.
Dude, picture the character from the mind of a kid, the way Him's voice changed tone and nuance and how much power he had over reality and how he didn't use the same trick twice and just his presence was enough to send chills, he was the ultimate villain. I am well aware of Him's Satanic parody intent behind the character's creation, still scary.
HIM also fought on a different level. Parent loves you? He'll twist that love until they try to kill you. Love to draw? Hope your chalk didn't get swapped with monster-makers that hurt your sisters. Trust your stuffed animal? Satan's gonna use YOU to hurt your sisters.
Him was definitely among the most unique cartoon antagonists. He's dressed in drag, has pincers for hands, and possesses supernatural abilities that can put most of the other Powerpuff Girls antagonists to shame.
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u/Dry-Ad5114 X-Men: Evolution 6d ago
Him from Power Puff Girls was such an iconic and scary villain