Cynthia Comes Alive

"Cynthia Comes Alive" is a Season 8 episode of Rugrats.

Characters Present

 * Tommy
 * Dil
 * Chuckie
 * Phil
 * Lil
 * Kimi
 * Angelica
 * Stu
 * Chas
 * Kira
 * Betty
 * Cindy
 * Cynthia
 * Toby the Turtle
 * Customer 3

Synopsis
''When a girl named Cindy begins working at Java Lava dressed exactly like Angelica's "Cool Teen Cynthia" doll, Angelica tells the babies that her toy has come to life. Can the babies get Cynthia to turn back into a toy?'' - Description from Klasky Csupo

Plot
The episode begins at Java Lava, where the babies are playing with their Toby the Turtle toy, that walks and talks when the string is pulled. Toby says that he loves the babies, and Kimi says she and her friends love him, too. As Phil and Lil argue over which of them gets to play with Toby next, Kimi grabs Toby and pulls his string. Unfortunately, Toby begins skipping his speech and slowly winds down. Tommy pulls Toby's string, but Toby does nothing. Phil and Lil worry that Toby may be sleeping or sick, but Kimi tells them he doesn't feel sick. Tommy then tells Phil and Lil that Toby is broken. Chuckie wonders how Toby could break, and Phil adds that they only got Toby yesterday. Angelica overhears this and tells the babies that their toys break, not like her new Cool Teen Cynthia doll, which she shows off to the babies. Like Toby, Cool Teen Cynthia talks when her string is pulled, though she says things teenagers say, like "Seriously?", "Sweet!" and "This is so yesterday!". Angelica asks the babies if Cool Teen Cynthia is smart, but Chuckie tells her that Cool Teen Cynthia isn't really, as she doesn't even know it's today. Kimi wants to play with Cool Teen Cynthia, so she tries to take it from Angelica, who tells her to let go of her. Kimi tells Angelica she's just looking at Cool Teen Cynthia, and the two girls fight over her. When Kimi lets go, Angelica falls on Cool Teen Cynthia and breaks her. Angelica then blames the babies for breaking Cool Teen Cynthia, but Tommy points out that she was the one who broke her, not them, although Kimi made her break it. Angelica tells the babies that everything is always their fault, just like when Toby broke. She also tells them she hopes Toby stays broken forever. This causes the babies to cry.

Stu, who is wiping one of the tables, overhears the babies crying and asks them what's wrong. He suddenly sees Toby and realizes that he must be broken. He tells the babies that it should be quick and easy for him to fix Toby in his workshop, which causes them to smile. He then sees Angelica looking unhappy and asks her what's wrong. Angelica insults the babies, but then realizing this might get her in trouble, quickly pretends to be nice to them while explaining to Stu that they accidentally broke her Cool Teen Cynthia. Stu guesses that two toys broke in one day, and assures Angelica that he'll fix Cool Teen Cynthia as well. Angelica thanks Stu as Cindy, a teenager resembling Cool Teen Cynthia, walks into the shop. Cindy even says, "This is so yesterday!" just like Cool Teen Cynthia. Angelica soon realizes that Cindy is just like her Cool Teen Cynthia doll.

Chas and Kira greet Cindy, whom they've hired to work at their shop. Angelica runs up to Kira, who introduces her to Cindy. She explains to her that Cindy is in the high school study work program, and is going to work at their shop. Angelica asks the babies if Cindy looks just like Cool Teen Cynthia, but they don't pay too much attention to her. Kimi asks Angelica where Cool Teen Cynthia is, but Angelica decides to play a trick on the babies by telling them that Cindy is Cool Teen Cynthia, as she came to life. The babies gasp and Angelica chuckles wickedly as she runs away, then sits at the counter where Cindy is working.

Tommy suddenly starts to believe that toys can come to life, and Kimi wonders if any new ones will come to life as she holds a toy tiger up to a frightened Chuckie. Chuckie asks Tommy, Phil, Lil, and Kimi what would happen if a particular toy that came to life isn't very friendly. He then asks them if a stuffed rabbit can come to life first, and Phil asks him if it does, then his block could be second.

As a customer tries to order from the counter, Cindy refuses to help her for two reasons; 1. because she only has two arms, which are occupied with her cell phone and her magazine, respectively, and 2. What the customer's ordering is bad for her teeth. The disgusted customer scowls and leaves. Chas, Betty, and Kira all watch her leave, and Chas decides to talk to Cindy. Chas walks up to Cindy and asks her if she can be nice to the customers. He's not asking for too much, but at least for her to smile. Cindy tells Chas that even though she's excited to be working at his shop and she enjoys their company, there are three things she doesn't do; she doesn't wipe counters, she doesn't wash dishes, and she especially doesn't smile, as she doesn't think any of those things are cool. A dejected Chas walks away, and Angelica tells Cindy she agrees with her, and that smiling is so yesterday. She then realizes she's smiling, and frowns. As Cindy decides to read her magazine again, Kira calls Angelica over, telling her Jonathan's arrived to take her to preschool. Angelica scoffs, and runs outside. After she leaves, Chas tells Kira that he's afraid Cindy will scare all his customers away, bad word of mouth will spread, which will lead to no business, and before he knows it, he'll go broke. The babies overhear this, but misunderstand the concept of going broke. Chuckie believes Chas will break, and Lil asks him if Chas will break just like Toby. Betty then picks up Dil and tells Chas his troubles will be over once he brings Cindy down to size. Once again, the babies misunderstand the concept, and Chuckie says the troubles started when Cool Teen Cynthia came to life and became big. Tommy then gets the idea to make Cindy small again, so that she'll be too small to work. Kimi likes this idea, as it will save Chas from being broken. Phil agrees, and follows Tommy.

At Tommy's house, Stu tries to fix both Toby the Turtle and Cool Teen Cynthia at the same time, which includes their voice boxes. Unfortunately, he is having a tough time doing so. Back at Java Lava, a customer waits impatiently for his Mocha Docha Yokyo, which Cindy refuses to give him because the polish on her fingernails is still drying. The customer leaves angrily. Chas and Kira, both of whom are reading magazines, witness this, and decide to take action for what Cindy has done. Chas tries talking to Cindy again, telling her he noticed she doesn't like to do much work around his shop. Cindy interrupts him, telling him that the polish on her fingernails are still drying, and her last boss said she was full of fun ideas. Betty overhears this as she hands the babies their juice boxes, and says that Cindy is full of hot air. Once again, the babies misunderstand the concept, and Lil thinks that Cindy is filled with hot air like a beach ball. Tommy then gets the idea to pull Cindy's plug so they can deflate her and she'll shrink. Kimi asks Tommy where Cindy's plug is, and Tommy looks over at Cindy, seeing a ring on her belly button. Tommy decides that all they need to do is pull Cindy's belly button ring.

Chas looks around, and sees that his shop's tables are empty, and no one seems to want to come in thanks to Cindy being rude to them. He sits down at one of the tables and frowns, which gets Chuckie's attention. Chuckie tells Tommy that Chas is about to break, and they have to hurry and shrink Cindy. Tommy decides that he will help Chuckie in his time of need. Kira walks up to Chas and tells him to meet her in the office so they can consult the employee relations handbook for options on how to deal with employees like Cindy. Chas sighs unhappily and decides to go with Kira's advice. As Cindy finishes reading her magazine, her cell phone rings. As she talks on her cell phone, Tommy pulls his screwdriver out of his diaper and uses it to open the playpen. He, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, and Kimi all walk out and crawl under the tables to avoid being noticed by Cindy.

In the office, Chas reads a section of the employee relations handbook that tells him that in order to deal with employees, he should use the three F's; Firm, Fair, and Fearless. Betty then tells Chas that the handbook left out the most important F of all; Fired! Kira then tells Chas they should call the high school to inform them that Cindy's work ethic is not what their shop needs. Chas sighs unhappily upon hearing this.

Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, and Kimi continue crawling up to Cindy as she continues talking on her cell phone. Tommy pulls Cindy's belly button ring, and Cindy screams and stumbles back in pain. She tosses her magazine into the air, and a fan shreds it to pieces. Cindy then gets her left shoe caught in one of the cups of the waterfall display and tries to pull it out. Back in the office, Chas is on the phone, being put on hold for Cindy's high school due to band music playing. As Cindy tries to get her shoe out of the cup, she knocks over a stack of cups and a pitcher of water. Kimi asks Tommy, Chuckie, Phil and Lil how they're going to shrink Cindy now that they have her stuck. Tommy has an idea, and asks the other babies if they remember what happened when they sat on the balloons at Chuckie's birthday party, and they popped and shrank. They all run up to Cindy and sit on her, then try to deflate her by bouncing on her. Cindy gets up and gets her foot out of her shoe. Phil tells Tommy that Cindy is one tough balloon. Tommy decides that they have to find another way to shrink Cindy, and Chuckie tells him that one time, Chas put his pajamas in the washing machine, and they came out small. Phil tells Chuckie that they have bigger problems than his pajamas right now. Kimi, understanding what Chuckie is saying, tells Phil that if they put Cindy in a washing machine, she might shrink just like Chuckie's pajamas. Phil tells Kimi they don't have a washing machine. Chuckie then tells Tommy, Phil, Lil, and Kimi that maybe all they need is everything that's in a washing machine. Lil points out that soap and water are the two primary things in a washing machine. Kimi asks which one they have, and Tommy sees a pitcher of tea, which Cindy drinks from. He thinks there is water inside, so Chuckie, Phil, Lil, and Kimi decide to help him get it.

Tommy and Chuckie push a stool towards the pitcher of tea and use it to climb onto the counter. As Cindy wipes herself off with a napkin, Tommy signals Kimi, and Kimi pretends to cry. Cindy walks up to Kimi and unenthusiastically asks her what's wrong. Kimi runs away just in time as Tommy dumps the pitcher of tea all over Cindy, causing her to scream. Chas, Kira, and Betty all rush out, and Dil throws up on Cindy, causing her to scream. Dil giggles happily as Cindy loses her balance, and Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, and Kimi all run back into the playpen. Chas asks Cindy what happened, and she tells him that the babies made a mess of the shop. Kira walks back into the office as Betty is now angry at Cindy for blaming her mess on the babies. Chas nervously tries to tell Cindy that she's fired, but Cindy willingly quits out of her own accord. She leaves as Kira comes back with a broom, and Chas tells Kira that he simply had to put his foot down.

As Cindy leaves, Stu arrives with the repaired Toby and Cool Teen Cynthia, and when he sees the mess in the shop, he asks Chas and Kira what happened. They tell him that Cindy made a mess. Stu then tells them that he fixed Angelica's Cool Teen Cynthia doll, and it will be waiting for her when she gets back from preschool. He sets the doll on the counter, and when Lil sees it, she, Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, and Kimi all cheer, thinking their plan to shrink Cindy worked. Angelica returns from preschool and says goodbye to Jonathan. She then looks around and asks Kira where Cindy is. Kira tells her that Cindy had to leave, much to Angelica's disappointment, but then Stu says he has a pleasant surprise for her. Angelica is happy to see her Cool Teen Cynthia doll in one piece once again.

Stu sets Toby down in the playpen and tells the babies he got Toby fixed. Tommy pulls Toby's string, and to his surprise, Toby says Cool Teen Cynthia's phrases as he walks across the playpen. Obviously, Stu mixed up Toby and Cool Teen Cynthia's voice boxes, which causes Tommy and Lil to believe that Toby became a teenager. Kimi points out that Toby still looks the same as before, and Chuckie bets that Toby still plays the same, so they all decide to play with him regardless of his new voice.

Angelica sits down at the table, sad that she's going to miss Cindy, but she remembers that she at least has her Cool Teen Cynthia doll. She pulls Cool Teen Cynthia's string, and to her shock, Cool Teen Cynthia says Toby's phrases. She then screams for Stu as the episode ends.

Trivia

 * Sara Gilbert, originally from ABC's sitcom Roseanne, was the voice of Cindy.
 * Cindy's list of don'ts:
 * 1. Don't wipe counters
 * 2. Don't do dishes
 * 3. Definitely don't smile... It's SOO not cool.

Quotes
Cindy: This place is SOOO yesterday.