The Truth Stinks

"I'll only help if you tell how great I smell"

"The Truth Stinks" is the 21st episode of the first season of Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart, and the 21st episode overall.

Synopsis
Badgerclops smells, but Mao Mao and Adorabat don’t know how to tell him.

Plot
The story begins with the Sweetypies frolicking and playing in the flower field until Chubbum sniffs a pungent odour and faints. It turns out that the culprit is Badgerclops, who believes that his purifying crystals are clearing his smell, and ends up unintentionally suffocating the poor Sweetypies one by one (except for Pinky who seems to loves his odor). Smelling Badgerclops' trail of odor, Adorabat thinks that he is getting stinky, and Mao Mao agrees with her by remarking that after Badgerclops hasn't bathed himself since getting himself those stupid crystals. Adorabat, who can't bear to watch the other Sweetypies suffer from the stinky odor, believes that he should be reminded, though Mao Mao dismisses her idea. Kevin, on the other hand, tearfully apologizes to Mao Mao for illegally picking flowers from the field, only to be insulted by Mao Mao as a dirty thief.

But before Mao Mao can tell Adorabat that the last thing to remind Badgerclops is his stink, Adorabat just can't wait any longer and tries to point his flaw out, so Mao Mao has to leap onto her and hide with her among the flowers. He then explains that the reason why Badgerclops won't accept her advice is despite being a wonderful friend, Badgerclops is awful at taking personal criticism, given by an example of him completely destroying a village from the Great Plains after somebody criticized the way he cut his bangs, and thinks that it is better to protect his feelings, until he discovers their hiding spot and proceeds to hug them. Although both Adorabat and Mao Mao pretend to like his crystals just to make him feel happy, they know they can't stand the odor anymore, and as Badgerclops walks to Marion to show off the crystals, they decide to conjure a plan "Operation No Stink" as a means to finally get him cleaned without his knowledge.

Back at the headquarters, Mao Mao thinks that it's better to change the operation's name as he take out a blueprint for him and Adorabat to read while hiding under the kitchen table, as Badgerclops is about to sing the second verse of his crystal song, and manages to overhear them. Mao Mao suggests an alternative on how to trap Badgerclops' butt in the shower, which Adorabat agrees, and it turns out that they are luring him into the bathroom with some beignets. However, Badgerclops actually avoids everything that can clean him while gobbling up the beignets one by one, surprising Mao Mao, who is the one that gets washed instead, and the same fate happens to Adorabat. Basically, Badgerclops is able to dance his way out obliviously, which causes Mao Mao and Adorabat to have their plans backfire every time they attempt to get him washed properly. In fact, just as he approaches the tub where his two friends ambush, he suddenly declares himself full and walks away, so they end up getting soaked in the tub, much to their dismay. Unable to tolerate Badgerclops' odor any longer, Adorabat is on the verge of blasting him with a firecracker when Mao Mao devises one last idea.

Later on, a lonely Badgerclops tries to find the pair for lunch when he sees a walkie-talkie. On the other side of the walkie-talkie is Mao Mao, who distracts him. Both Mao Mao and Adorabat believe that they can avoid his smell through talking with him indirectly, until he suspiciously questions what exactly they are doing. Mao Mao lies that he and Adorabat are trying to expand their headquarters, only for both to be dragged back by his robotic arm, and then gets interrogated by him. Abruptly, the monster alarm rings, so the pair struggles to get their escape, but Badgerclops pesters them and claims that he can take criticism, until Adorabat finally has enough and loudly confronts him on how stinky he is. Having his self-defense triggered, Badgerclops becomes incredibly furious and regards them being jealous towards his dope crystals and lashes out, and even calling out their attitude as stinky. He is still furious at them when the pair boards the aerocycle and take off.

Elsewhere, Ketchup is still at the flower fields when she feels some winds, and then a monster in the shape of a gigantic lizard appears in front of her. Horrified, she and the other Sweetypies run around in all directions. Mao Mao and Adorabat reach the fields and attempt to retaliate against the monster, when Muffins tells them about her bakery being destroyed as the aerocycle gets blown into the lizard's noses. Instead of comforting her, Adorabat labels her cookies as nasty, causing her to dart away in tears. Mao Mao points out Adorabat's meanness, but Adorabat denies her fault by stating Muffins not being her friend, when the lizard approaches and they have to run.

On the other hand, Badgerclops still fusses over his friends' attitudes, while they struggle to withstand the lizard's enormous foot. As he continues ranting, the pair gets thrown back home and Adorabat admits that their weaknesses without Badgerclops' help. They still try to carry on with the fight, although the monster is way stronger, when Badgerclops is throwing his tantrum. So they have no choice but to call him, and have to please him by describing him (who still refuses to acknowledge his own grossness) as great as a desperate measure. Chubbum and Gary are glad that he is here to help as he lands in a Mary Poppins style, but they faint thanks to his odor. When he mistakes them for napping, he discovers the monster behind him, and with his odor, Mao Mao's katana drops out of the lizard's nose. Clever enough to realize his friends have been sucked up and cries over their disappearance, yet he regains his courage quickly and decides to lay the hammer down! However, he underestimates the lizard and gets his upper body sucked inside as well.

Upon entering the nose, Badgerclops finds his friends, and he still fails to understand his grossness has been affecting them. Though in retrospect, thanks to his odor, the lizard sneezes him out. He mistakes the lizard jealous of his crystals, until he watches his friends being sneezed out. Ultimately, he apologizes to them for being unable to take criticism, much to their shock, and proceeds to twirl his odor into a tornado by switching his arm for a fan, defeating the lizard.

Mao Mao and Adorabat are pleased to hear that Badgerclops is giving up his crystals and starting to face himself, until he frankly admits that...he hates showering. In the end, Badgerclops is being hosed off by Mao Mao, while Adorabat reminds Mao Mao to clean his armplates.

Characters

 * Adorabat
 * Badgerclops
 * Chubbum
 * Farmer Bun
 * Gary
 * Ketchup
 * Lucky
 * Mao Mao
 * Marion
 * Muffins
 * Pinky
 * Slim Pigguns
 * Wind Lizard (debut)

Locations

 * Flower Medow (debut)
 * Sheriff Headquarters
 * Pure Heart Valley

Trivia

 * Badgerclops is revealed to be a person who can hardly accept criticism in this episode.
 * He even destroyed the entire Great Plains prior to the start of the series, only because the villagers criticized his hairdo.
 * It’s possible that Mao Mao broke the fourth wall by dragging down the next scene after he and Adorabat discuss a new plan to evade Badgerclop’s smell.
 * Parker Simmons had revealed several details of this episode's making:
 * He had forgotten the genesis of it, but believed that it was about exploring the idea of people criticizing their friends and stink jokes.
 * Michael Moloney purposefully made the Wind Lizard have a enormous nose.
 * There was originally going to be a gag on how Badgerclops accidentally bought the crystals from Etsy while looking for missiles. Another gag was when Badgerclops yelled at Marion and Marion responded with how she loved him like he was her son but got interrupted.
 * Badgerclops' beignet makeout session took forever to record, because the crew couldn't help but laugh every time they tried to do it in one take. Eventually they had to did it panel by panel and cut it together as an alternative way.
 * Adorabat was originally going to smother Badgerclops with a pillow.
 * This episode is part of the "I'm Lonely" collection, which means it has a part where the character admits he/she is lonely.
 * His favorite gag in this episode is "Badgerclops! ACTIVATE!"
 * The writers genuinely thought Badgerclops was going to learn a lesson until Parker himself said "If they weren't so mean to me!".
 * The Wind Lizard was originally going to dissolve into a skeleton in the stink-nado and his bones landed recreating his skeleton with xylophone.
 * Badgerclops is intended to not learn a lesson or learn a wrong lesson. Parker considers that it means Badgerclops has too much depth to learn a shallow cartoon moral.

Cultural References

 * When Badgerclops is about to land onto the flower fields with the umbrella, it's a reference to Mary Poppins.

International premieres

 * March 18, 2020 (Poland)