Full Title: Captain Underpants and the Horrifying Hysteria of the Harrowing Haar-brain (and the Subsequent Strike of the Screwball Sophies)
Do you remember when The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants blatantly ripped off some of its villains from the original books? Remember how FLUSHER was just the Turbo Toilet 2000 again, or how the Utopiquans were copies of the Purple Potty People to the point where Captain Pandernuts has Captain Blunderpants' catchphrase of "La-La-Traaaaaaaa"? (On a similar note, remember how they copied Everything Except Fabric Softener with Stuart's Stuff Store, with the one thing they DON'T sell being gum instead of fabric softener?)
Now do you remember when The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants blatantly ripped off ITSELF? Remember how Mr. Meaner or a variation thereof was used as a villain THREE times in the show (ALONGSIDE a hero alter ego in Sergeant Boxers, and AFTER being Sir Stinks-a-Lot in the final book), or how the student doppelganger idea was used TWICE in the show BEFORE the Utopiquans?
Here's my attempt at one of these "rip-off" episodes. Unlike last time, this is less of a "fix" and more of just throwing my hat into the ring. I don't actually like these kinds of episodes in the show proper, but in fan works as a response to these kind of episodes? Kinda fun.
In the episode, George and Harold finally notice Jessica is... kind of an asshole (and that's putting it mildly). So they decide to do something about it. First, they make a comic about her, making her a mad scientist with superpowered hair called Hairbrain, in an attempt to humiliate and humble her. When this only ends up pissing her off, George uses the Hypno-Ring to try and get her to be nice, and also treat her Sophies better, and say "hair" correctly, and also NOT turn into Hairbrain or anything like that. BUT, what our heroes don't know is that the ring works OPPOSITE on females, which ends up- guess what?- turning Jessica into Hairbrain. Or rather, since they told her to say "hair" correctly... Haar-brain! (Complete with an evil laugh that goes "Ha-ha-ha-ha-haar!")
And it gets worse. Haar-brain ends up getting two important items in CU lore. First, the superpower juice, which she douses in her hair to make her hair super. Second, the Hypno-Ring, which she uses to hypnotize the Sophies into being her minions, still silent and always doing what they're told. But for all her smarts, Haar-brain doesn't know about the whole "opposite effect on girls" thing the Hypno-Ring has, and this ends up turning the Sophies into talkative, hyperactive, rebellious nutjobs, like George and Harold on crack, who go on a pranking spree that puts even our heroes to shame! Meanwhile, Haar-brain decides she's smart enough to take over the world with or without minions- starting with the school!
The boys decide that three hypnotized wackos deserve another, and summon Captain Underpants. But there's three of them, but only one of Captain Underpants! And George... and Harold... wait, it's three against three! So the boys take Cap to deal with Haar-brain while they take care of the Sophies. But after a battle in Hair-O-Rama (because violence is scary, but hair is just... hairy), Captain Underpants finds himself on the losing side, for one simple reason... he's an idiot, and Haar-brain is a genius!
Meanwhile, George and Harold confront the Sophies, but end up getting pranked hard. So, the boys decide to prank the Sophies back to get their attention. This prank results in the girls sprayed with a TON of water from the hose, leaving them sopping wet. George and Harold try to tell them off, but are met with silence from the Sophies... which until now couldn't shut up.
Wait a minute! They couldn't shut up AFTER they were hypnotized, but beforehand they were always silent! George and Harold realize that the water somehow undid the hypnotic trance. They then reason that if water turns Captain Underpants back into Mr. Krupp, and turns the Sophies back to normal, it can turn Haar-brain back into regular old Jessica, for better or for worse. And with the Hypno-Ring in still Haar-brain's hands, this is the only option they have.
So the boys take the hose and end up trying to shoot Haar-brain with it. Haar-brain attempts to flee, then takes Captain Underpants hostage- because then, the boys can't spray HER with water without spraying their precious Captain with it too, turning him back into their principal! George and Harold are fine with this- they can bring him back.
When they spray the water, Haar-brain turns back into Jessica, and Cap back into Krupp- both no idea why they're wet, or where they are. Krupp wonders where his clothes are, and Jessica asks in horror what happened to her haar. George and Harold prepare to re-hypnotize Jessica (using reverse psychology this time to make her actually nice), but before they can, Gooch steals the Hypno-Ring. Now the boys can only hope that nobody snaps their fingers around Jessica.
You probably see where this is going. When Gooch plays with the Hypno-Ring and uses Bo as a test subject, he ends up snapping his fingers. As a result, Krupp turns back into Captain Underpants, Jessica turns back into Haar-brain, and the Sophies go crazy again! "Oh no!" "Here we go again!"
If you were paying attention, you might have noticed that the initial plot (George and Harold hypnotizing someone into being nice, the Hypno-Ring failing due to the mark being female, and said mark turning into a supervillain with super-powered hair) is pretty much that of the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman, and this would also be the second time Jessica was the villain (after the Vimpire episode). Plus, if you're going to do an episode with Jessica as the villain OTHER than the Vimpire (which was literally made for Erica anyways), you gotta do something to do with hair, even if it's just a pun.
Honestly, I think Haar-brain could actually become Captain Underpants's new nemesis. In addition to being the Lex Luthor to his Superman, Jessica also becomes Haar-brain at the sound of finger snapping and returns to normal after being splashed with water, much like Krupp and Captain Underpants. It's what we call "cinematic parallels". Meanwhile, the hypnotized Sophies, being hyperactive and rowdy pranksters, could become not-quite-evil-but-certainly-not-good counterparts to George and Harold.
