Wengie now a PowerPuff Girl
SHE’S one of Australia’s most famous faces, but she hasn’t appeared on TV until now. Australian-Chinese social media star Wengie, who has nearly nine million YouTube followers, makes her debut as the new fourth Powerpuff Girl on Cartoon Network today.
After working with the pay-TV channel to design some merchandise, Wengie – real name Wendy Ayche – was surprised by an offer for the long-running series.
“Cartoon Network reached out to my email and said we want you to do this voice and I was like, there is no fourth Powerpuff Girl. Is this a prank or a scam?” she tells Weekend. “I thought it wasn’t real so I just gave it to my team and said can you make sure it’s a real offer?
“Obviously it was very hush-hush and they said oh wait you still have to audition. I’d never auditioned for anything before. I run my own YouTube channel so I’ve never been scrutinised (in a casting) before... It was such a huge relief when I got the role.”
Blisstina, or Bliss for short, will feature in five episodes airing over the next two days.
Before Professor Utonium created the three Powerpuff Girls viewers know and love, he created a little girl who embodied all of their traits. After a mysterious disappearance, Bliss returns to the city of Townsville as a teenager to discover she has three younger sisters.
“Even though she’s older than the older girls, she’s very insecure and vulnerable,” Wengie says.
“She’s been alone on an island for so long, she doesn’t know how to act in front of other people. She’s very powerful but she can’t control it. It’s good to see this character grow into her potential with the support of her sisters. I think Bliss is so relatable as a character. She shows viewers you can be weird and alone and different but you have so much potential in you, you just have to see it and unlock it.”
This is just the start of a new career for Wengie, who studied accounting at university before falling into social media. She will soon star in an original YouTube Red TV series, the details of which are still under wraps, and she is also currently recording her first album.
“I’m pursuing a singing career in China and I’ve recorded four songs already in Mandarin,” she says. “Growing up I wanted to be a Spice Girl.”
Cartoon Network’s five-part Bliss special starts today at 4.15pm on Foxtel.