History YMMV / ThePiratesOfDarkWater

* BadassDecay: When Tula is introduced, she is a capable sailor ActionGirl with her own agenda. After she finds out about her magical powers, she not only gets a more revealing outfit, but is mostly shown either swooning and moaning because of using said powers, or just shouting at other characters and [[DistressedDamsel needing some sort of rescue.]]

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Konk's apparent VillainDecay is actually ObfuscatingStupidity so that Bloth will underestimate him. Notably, his scenes of great competence were well away from Bloth's view.

* {{Narm}}: In Andorus level in the Sega Genesis game, you have to work your way through networks of caves infested with savage beasts and pools of dark water, accompanied by an almost hypnotic while also creepy background tune. All of the quiet menace is a little undone by the farting noises made by blobs of dark water shooting out of pools, though.

* SeasonalRot : After a great start, with changing loyalties, various factions, reveals, dramatic deaths and competent villains, there comes (from ''Andorus'' onwards) a sequence of filler episodes in which Ren becomes more naive and easy to fool, Ioz becomes dumb muscle, and Tula is [[{{Chickification}} chickified]] badly. Further treasures are found almost as an afterthought in otherwise MonsterOfTheWeek storylines.

* UncannyValley: Bloth. [[{{Gonk}} Please let him be a non-human species]].
** And any of Bloth's crew. Scratch that - [[EvilMakesYouUgly any bad guy]]. Konk can fit his entire hand up to the wrist in his giant maw. And ''does''.

** Ren's eyes NEVER move, although that may be more UncannyValley. Especially since half the time he's looking directly at the screen when there's no way he should be able...

* {{Chickification}}: When Tula is introduced, she is a capable sailor ActionGirl with her own agenda. After she finds out about her magical powers, she not only gets a more revealing outfit, but is mostly shown either swooning and moaning because of using said powers, or just shouting at other characters and [[DistressedDamsel needing some sort of rescue.]]

* ForgotAboutHisPowers: Tula finds out she has the power to influence nature, weather, plants, and animals... and promptly forgets that when the ship could use additional wind, or a toxic fog should be dispersed, or when she's in danger from animals...
* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Niddler's obsession with food and his cowardice both become a lot less comical when you recall he's a member of a ''slave race'' who was sold to ''Bloth'' of all people. Starvation was clearly a big part of his life before Ren rescued him, and courage likely wasn't rewarded--and in fact, might even have been ''punished''--by either the slavers who raised him or the crew of the ''Maelstrom''...

* VillainDecay: In the miniseries, Konk is a very capable bad guy saddled with incompetent minions, capable of giving the heroes a difficult time on his own. He is later downgraded to being an incompetent minion himself.
** AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Konk's apparent VillainDecay is actually ObfuscatingStupidity so that Bloth will underestimate him. Notably, his scenes of great competence were well away from Bloth's view.

*** That seems to be a function of the animation.

* SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames: The SNES game is a very competent BeatEmUp, and the Genesis version is practically a 16-bit variation of ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink''.

** And any of Bloth's crew. Scratch that - any bad guy. Konk can fit his entire hand up to the wrist in his giant maw. And ''does''.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Niddler's obsession with food and his cowardice both become a lot less comical when you recall he's a member of a ''slave race'' who was sold to ''Bloth'' of all people. Starvation was clearly a big part of his life before Ren rescued him, and courage likely wasn't rewarded by either the slavers who raised him or the crew of the ''Maelstrom''...

* OlderThanTheyThink: This show is one that haters of [[Creator/HannaBarbera its studio]] love to give a pass. But this sometimes crosses over into it being one of the studio's "not rip-offs", even though if we say WesternAnimation/WallyGator owes a lot to early WesternAnimation/YogiBear, then this show owes a lot to ''WesternAnimation/{{Wildfire}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/GaltarAndTheGoldenLance''. The FollowTheLeader example gives in depth comparisons. To the majority though, most of these are examples of TropesAreNotBad.

* CrowningMomentOfFunny: In "King Niddler", Konk has been captured for trespassing by the Mobo. ''King'' Niddler tells Konk he's free... to clean up his royal litter.
-->'''Niddler:''' I hate sitting on minga-melon seeds.\\
'''Konk:''' ''(being led by the guards)'' Noy Jitat. Konk rather pluck royal feathers.

* AnimationAgeGhetto: A ''definite'' attempt to work around this. In the end it was killed more by the production costs (compared to the income it was getting) than by breaking the "for kids" rule.
** As for the age perception, it was noted for really managing to work around this - it was still quite kid-friendly but was ''way'' more complicated than other shows of its time, with a MythArc.

* HoYay: Young and (as much as we can tell) pretty Tula runs about with a bare midriff among seamen ([[HehHehYouSaidX snicker]]) and the only one who really takes notice of her is Bloth, of all people. Ren seems pretty comatose when it comes to the opposite sex, and while Ioz does mention that he enjoys women, he keeps grabbing and hugging Ren by the waist. Also, Ioz and Zooley are pretty shippable.

* OlderThanTheyThink: This show is one that haters of [[Creator/HannaBarbera its studio]] love to give a pass. But this sometimes crosses over into it being one of the studio's "not rip-offs", even though if we say WesternAnimation/WallyGator owes a lot to early WesternAnimation/YogiBear, then this show owes a lot to ''WesternAnimation/{{Wildfire}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/GaltarAndTheGoldenLance''. All three are shows about displaced royalty on quests in a basic sense, among other similarities.
** Adding to this, All three main heroes are blonde, Ren, Galtar and Sara. Each team contains at least one displaced royal, Ren, Goleeta and Zorn and Sara. The main villain is responsible for the deaths of parents. Bloth is responsible for Ren's father's death, Tormack killed not only Galtar's parents but Goleeta's too. Diabolyn is responsible for Sara's mother's death.
** Take it one step further: Brock Peters (aka [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Joe Sisko]]) also voiced Galtar's main antagonist; a couple of years later he would also voice [[WesternAnimation/SwatKats Dark Kat]] for the studio. Making that series OlderThanTheyThink as well in terms of recycling.
*** Brock Peters did have such an epic voice, a great pick up for the studio to give roles to in the 80s/90s. Too bad he didn't do more.
** Also this would be the second HB show to have its heroes on a quest for 13 of something. See ''WesternAnimation/The13GhostsOfScoobyDoo.'' In process also making it the second show to not complete a quest for 13 of something either.
** To the majority though, most of these are examples of TropesAreNotBad.
* SeasonalRot : After a great start, with changing loyalties, various factions, reveals, dramatic deaths and competent villains, there comes (from ''Andorus'' onwards) a sequence of filler episodes in which Ren becomes more naive and easy to fool, Ioz becomes dumb muscle, and Tula is [[Chickification chickified]] badly. Further treasures are found almost as an afterthought in otherwise MonsterOfTheWeek storylines.

* NoProblemWithLicensedGames: The SNES game is a very competent BeatEmUp, and the Genesis version is practically a 16-bit variation of ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink''.

* NightmareFuel: It's never pretty when Dark Water gets a hold of anything or anyone. In one episode, ''one drop'' consumes someone from the inside out.

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: Averted. The SNES game is a very competent BeatEmUp, and the Genesis version is practically a 16-bit variation of ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink''.

* ForgotAboutHisPowers : Tula finds out she has the power to influence nature, weather, plants, and animals... and promptly forgets that when the ship could use additional wind, or a toxic fog should be dispersed, or when she's in danger from animals...

** Adding to this, both Galtar and Sara are blonde displaced royals on quests.

** Also this would be the second HB show to have its heroes on a quest for 13 of something. See ''WesternAnimation/The13GhostsOfScoobyDoo.''

* CompleteMonster: [[EldritchAbomination The Dark Dweller]] is the [[BiggerBad being behind]] the titular [[MurderWater "Dark Water,"]] a menacing oily substance that devours whatever it touches and is spreading all throughout the world. By proxy, the Dweller is responsible for countless deaths of places that the Dark Water has devoured. The Dark Dweller is focused on domination and destruction who plans to unleash its Dark Water throughout the world, focused only on consuming and controlling what it can.