The introduction of the first black character on Powerpuff Girls was met with much celebration and cheer. The addition of the Powerpuff girl will play an important role for many young black kids who will get to see themselves represented kicking ass and taking names.

But let’s be honest, Powerpuff Girls has been struggling since the reboot of the original. The 2016 edition of the series failed to impress, with a 3.6/10 rating given by IMDb based on 1842 votes.

T.V. com gave the cartoon a rating of 5.2/10 based on 37 votes. Following the changes that took place, the show has failed to impress.

“I really, really wanted to like this show, but after watching the first six episodes (and HATING two of them), I officially call this series a soulless, pandering, hack-job excuse of a show that could have had potential,” said one of the reviews on IMDb.

And another comment on IMDb said, “If I could give this show a 0/10 or -100/10, I would because this was just god awful. I mean, I felt it rip out my childhood and do unspeakably horrible things to it.”

The addition of the new character comes as a surprise but one can only wonder about the intentions of adding a black Powerpuff Girls. After all, the show has been running since 1998 with a completely white cast. What has sparked the sudden change?

To be frank, the addition has nothing to do with representation or balancing scales but rather to make money. Diversity is a trend, and these networks are cashing in.

The 2014 Hollywood Diversity Report found that broadcast TV shows with 41 – 50 percent non-white characters attracted sky high ratings and 21 – 30 percent non-white diversity movies earned the most revenue.

It is clear that this is an attempt to save a failing show, and the stats prove it. The pressure is now on for the black character and Toya Delazy to redeem the show.

Image credit: Toya Delazy’s Instagram page