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1[[quoteright:211:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Mafalda_2.gif]]
2
3''Mafalda'', Argentinian cartoonist Creator/{{Quino}}'s masterpiece, is perhaps the most popular comic strip in the Spanish speaking world. It could be sketchily described as "''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' with politics". Unlike the timeless world Charles Schulz's creations inhabit, Mafalda and her friends are deeply concerned with world politics, war and the state of humanity. The strip ran from 1962 to 1973, with a weeklong hiatus in March 1965 and a longer interruption from December 1967 to June 1968. It's been translated to several languages.
4
5In 2009, [[https://www.google.com/search?q=statue+of+mafalda&biw=1366&bih=662&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiRnaO38pPSAhVB_WMKHQt5CusQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=_ a statue of Mafalda]] (and her friends) was unveiled in Buenos Aires.
6
7The main characters are (in order of appearance in the strip):
8
9* Mafalda, the main character. LittleMissSnarker (maybe one of the first examples), a precocious and [[SoapboxSadie politically opinionated girl]]; and no, she was NOT run over by a soup truck, despite what the {{Fanon}} may believe;
10* [[HouseWife Raquel]] and [[SalaryMan the father]], Mafalda's affectionate but nondescript parents;
11* Felipe, a [[CloudCuckoolander dreamy boy]] with a deep resentment for school, [[ShrinkingViolet huge insecurity problems]] and huge teeth;
12* Manolito, a shopkeeper's son [[HonestJohnsDealership obsessed with money and business]] to the point he is quite dumb about everything else;
13* Susanita, Mafalda's [[GossipyHens gossipy]] best female friend with blonde hair and [[GoldDigger the dream of marrying into riches]];
14* Miguelito, a MommasBoy who is somewhat rebellious and sometimes too eager to get into philosophical debates;
15* Guille, Mafalda's [[CheerfulChild candid younger brother]] born around halfway of the strip's run, and
16* [[TheNapoleon Libertad]] ("Freedom", an actual name in Spanish), a girl who's remarkably small. Has left wing leanings.
17----
18
19!! Contains examples of:
20
21* AdaptationExpansion: The 1972 and 1990s animated shows that adapted scenes and jokes from the comics expands more on the storylines and character interactions.
22* AdultsAreUseless: Mafalda's parents are well-meaning but clueless, and no other adult around is much help to Mafalda and her friends.
23* AffirmativeActionGirl: invoked in the strip as the reason why Mafalda was introduced to Susanita, as before that the only other kids Mafalda knew and played with were male. Ironically, Susanita is a GirlyGirl (JerkAss version, but still more typically feminine than Mafalda).
24* AgonyOfTheFeet: The father, in [[https://stryptor.herokuapp.com/mafalda/06-090 one strip]], due to Mafalda's rather... uncomfortable question.
25--> '''Mafalda''': Dad?
26--> '''Father''': (Cutting the nails of his toes): Yeah?
27--> '''Mafalda''': I know that in the newspaper it says it's some kind of insane person, but tell me, what kind of things does a sexual maniac do?
28--> Cut to the train that the father uses to go to work, with one of his feet bandaged.
29* AlphaBitch: Susanita has some of these traits.
30* AmbiguousInnocence: Miguelito and Guille.
31* {{Angrish}}, Or rather Spangrish: "¡SUNESCAN! ¡DALUNA BUSO!" -> regular Spanish: "¡Es un escandalo, un abuso!" -> English: "It's a scandal, an abuse!" (Raquel storming home and speaking, or, more accurately, yelling about the rising price of the groceries)
32* AnimatedAdaptation: Two, in fact. First came a monochrome one made in 1972 called ''El Mundo de Mafalda'' that focused mostly on the dialogues. Another one was made in the 90s, this one mute (Save for a few cases of SpeakingSimlish) and in full color. The contrast between the two is notable.
33* ArtEvolution: The early strips have a more brisk drawing style; compare and contrast this with the characters' droopier hair and faces near the end of the strip's run.
34* BeachEpisode: Mafalda spends a couple of summers at the seaside with her family. Even while sunbathing, she still finds opportunities for political comments.
35* BelligerentSexualTension: [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Arguably between Susanita and Manolito]].
36* BetterThanABareBulb: A good deal of the humour relies on acid comments, sarcasm and LampshadeHanging.
37* BewareTheNiceOnes: ''Dear God,'' Miguelito. When the kids play cops and robbers, he demands to be in the cops team. Felipe agrees since he's so cute and innocent... and Miguelito shows them he brought his own ''[[ColdBloodedTorture needle for torture and all that.]]''
38** In another strip, Miguelito asks Mafalda if she's still gonna like him when she gets a little brother. When she replies she'll always like him, he throws away the club he'd been hiding behind his back.
39* BlackComedy: Often employed, especially in strips dealing with society or politics. An example is when the kids play "Government", and Felipe and Manolito try to pull a MilitaryCoup (armed with pots on their heads and wooden swords). Mafalda throws them out of her room.
40-->'''Felipe:''' You are not well informed! It ''never'' goes this way in reality!
41* BookDumb: Manolito, due to his interest in being a shopkeeper, simply shuns any information not related with that. His only strong subject in school is Math, and he is ''atrocious'' even on things of common knowledge (for example, he apparently thought "John Doe" to be an historical figure, and refers to [[{{seppuku}} harakiri]] as "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikebana ikebana]]").
42** In one strip, the class delivers a report about America. Manolito then asks Mafalda "By the way, 'America' isn't spelled with an 'H', right?" When she says no, Manolito is happy that he got it right... then we see a dejected teacher next to a pile of reports all with a map of America on the cover... except for Manolito's which is ''flipped''.
43* ButtMonkey: Felipe, Felipe, Felipe. Manolito also qualifies.
44* CannotSpitItOut: At a certain point, Felipe falls in love with a mysterious girl, whom he avoids, and whose name (Muriel) we learn later thanks to Susanita.
45* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Felipe and Miguelito, in different ways. Felipe is the daydreaming type, while Miguelito has curious leaps of logic.
46* ComicallyMissingThePoint:
47** In one strip, Mafalda tells Felipe about a report she heard on the radio about how "a nuclear conflict would affect us all". Felipe replies "Wow! That's the first time *I* was ever mentioned on the radio!"
48** In another, Felipe offers to share some cookies with Mafalda prompting the latter to [[SoapboxSadie grimly remark on the injustice that they are eating cookies while so many people are starving throughout the world]]. Felipe shouts "YOU NEVER CHANGE!" and leaves. Mafalda retorts that that isn't true: [[ExactWords she used to be younger]].
49** After reading the [[Literature/TheBible Beatitude]] 'Blessed are the poor (in spirit), for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven', Susanita imagines a FluffyCloudHeaven populated by hobos and urchins... and promptly starts saving money.
50* ComicBookTime: Mostly played straight with the protagonists staying little children for 10 years, but some aging does occur: Mafalda and her friends start going to school (excluding Felipe, who's already in first grade when he appears), Guille is born and grows into a toddler. Also, Mafalda met and befriended Susanita, Miguelito and Libertad at different stages as the strip went on.
51* CompanionCube: Mafalda often talks to her globe, which acts as a stand in for the world.
52* CompilationMovie: The 1972 series was adapted into a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZHDvDVGrLQ&t=346s feature film in 1982]] titled "Mafalda". The film consisted of episodes from the 70s series with an addition of a new theme song and re-recorded dialogue for the characters.
53* CrapsackWorld: Even if all the characters live a nice middle class life, Mafalda constantly despairs about humanity and implies that we live in a sad, hopeless world.
54* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Raquel has been able to outsmart Mafalda in several occasions. Once, Mafalda's defeat was so big, that she started ''eating her soup''.
55* {{Defictionalization}}: Nervocalm, the preferred in-universe tranquilizer, [[http://www.hmargentina.com.ar/sitio/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=65:nervocalm&catid=38:suplementos&Itemid=61 became a real product]] in Argentina.
56* DeliveryStork: Discussed in the pre-Guille's birth strips.
57* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: When explaining that her son will be a famous doctor, Susanita claims that "Everybody who sees me will say 'There goes Mrs. Susanita, mother of Doctor Mrs Susanita's son!'"
58* DiegeticSoundtrackUsage: The 1982 compilation movie features Mafalda's father humming the film's theme song.
59* DirtyCommunists: The strip was made during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar.
60* DoesNotLikeSpam: Mafalda and soup, and in another strip, Guille and mortadella. There is even a song dedicated to Mafalda's dislike for soup called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dol9nX5OHCg "Otra ves Sopa"]] from the 1972 album "Mafalda y sus Amigos".
61* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Susanita's rants against the poor wouldn't be out of place in an Creator/AynRand book.
62* DubNameChange: The Swedish names are as follows: Susanne, Filip, Emanuel, Mikael, Fred (Libertad), Lillen (Guille), and Rakel. the father never gets a name. Mafalda? She's Mafalda, of course. What else could she be?
63* {{Eagleland}}: Argentinians had a complicated relationship with the USA in the 1960s, and the series reflects this ambivalence. Several strips allude to the cultural imperialism of the US (or its political imperialism, for that matter).
64* ElephantsChild: Mafalda, and later Guille.
65* EpicFail:
66** Susanita’s attempts at poetry and political speeches fall into this.
67** Manolito kicks a soccer ball right into the point of a statue’s sword.
68** Manolito breaks a toy bow when trying to shoot an arrow.
69** [[RunningGag Manolito]] breaks Guille's toy car when trying to wind it.
70** [[ButtMonkey Manolito’s]] vacation consists of him sitting sadly in the water basin.
71** [[OverlyLongGag Manolito]] misses all pins bowling. Angrily, he yells among other things that he's a moron... [[IResembleThatRemark and is applauded]].
72** Manolito tries to repeat Mafalda's hitting a cup with the tip of her finger to make a nice sound, "''¡CLINK!''". The end of the strip has Mafalda and Raquel sweeping something and Manolito thinking "''¡CLINK!''".
73** Felipe, Mafalda and Manolito are playing with paper planes... correction: Felipe ''and'' Mafalda are playing with paper planes; Manolito made a paper '''boat''', which he tries to hurl like a plane which promptly falls to the floor; he wonders where did he go wrong...
74** And then there’s this exchange:
75--> '''Susanita:''' You are a '''MORON!!'''
76-->*''BeatPanel''*
77-->*''BeatPanel''*
78--> '''Manolito:''' Ha- ''[[LameComeback subtleties]]'' to me?
79* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Susanita thinks Felipe's ''feverish'' after he speaks about altruism.
80* UsefulNotes/FascistItaly: Miguelito's grandfather is a UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini admirer (possibly a fascist immigrant from Italy?). Since Miguelito is too young to have heard of the outcome of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and doesn't understand what fascism really is, he is unable to understand why Mafalda glares to him when he repeats what his granddad says.
81* {{Flanderization}}: Almost every character had just a little bit of this by the time the strip ended. But Manolito and Susanita had it in spades.
82* [[FloweryElizabethanEnglish Flowery Cervantian Spanish]]: In one strip, between Mafalda and Raquel.
83-->'''Mafalda''': (seeing her mother with a plate of soup): What have you brought to me? Mercy, take away from here your vile concoction (''¿Que me has traido? Pardiez, llevaos de aqui vuestro vil brebaje'').
84-->'''Raquel''': As it pleases you, God knows, for it will not be I who becomes a weakling (''Como os plazca, vive Dios, que no sere yo la que quede enclenque'').
85-->'''Mafalda''': (surprised at her response): Is she making a psychoanalisis of herself in anonimity?
86* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Mafalda = choleric (you see her shout often), Susanita = sanguine (optimistic and arrogant), Felipe = melancholic (self-explanatory), Manolito = phlegmatic (rational); also, {{Sixth Ranger}}s Miguelito and Libertad = Leukine (the former is calm and friendly, but can get quite depressed; the latter is also friendly, while [[TranquilFury two of every three times she appears on the strip, she's shouting at someone]]).
87* FreudianExcuse: Lampshaded in one strip where the kids are playing to be gangsters, and Susanita wants to be the leader, but claims that she isn't evil deep inside, but a "product from society" instead.
88* GoingCommando: As mentioned, Guille doesn't like pants and underwear...
89* GoldDigger: Susanita.
90* GoodWithNumbers: Manolito. Unfortunately, he's not good at much else.
91* GossipyHens: Oh, Susanita.
92** [[GenerationXerox Blame it on her mother, who's just as bad]]. If not worse, there are times when ''Susanita'' herself is embarrassed.
93--> '''Mrs. Chirusi''' (on the 'phone): Elvira told me EVERYTHING about Mecha and her hubby, and I swear to you that if you look at it ''the wrong way'', the deal is soooo fascinating...!
94--> '''Kids''':...
95--> '''Susanita''': *red from head to toe*
96* GratuitousEnglish: Lampshaded to emphasize Argentina's cultural satellization by the USA.
97* HighClassGlass: Guille wears his pacifier as a monocle in a strip to look dignified.
98** He also has Mafalda prepare him a ''Pacifier On the Rocks.''
99* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: Manolito's. Full stop.
100* HonestJohnsDealership: Manolito, to a hilarious degree. For example, an early strip had Mafalda and Felipe trying to cure Manolito's hiccups by running into his dad's store screaming "TERRORISM! BOMBS! CIVIL WAR!". His immediate reaction is to increase prices tenfold... and his hiccups persist.
101* HouseWife: Susanita dreams of being one but her concept of what this means is... uh, it's [[GoldDigger very special]].
102** Raquel arguably plays it straighter.
103* HypocriticalHumor: Lots.
104** Especially with Susanita. In one particularly noteworthy example, she tells Mafalda that it saddens her to see poor people, and that when they're older, they'll join a cause to help the poor, by organizing fundraising banquets that will serve turkey, chicken, and pork... which is way better than the actual food they would buy the poor with the profits raised: "[[PovertyFood Flour and semolina and pasta]] [[CrossestheLineTwice and all that crap they eat]]."
105* IfIWereARichMan: On a strip, Manolito daydreams about running a big company and having ''the Rockefellers'' owe him millions.
106* ImagineSpot: Felipe ''lives and breathes'' this trope, usually centering on getting back at people like his parents or teachers for making him do work or chores or punishing him for misbehaving, and oftentimes involving the Lone Ranger some way or another.
107** As a RunningGag, Felipe's Imagine Spots about there being a reason that he can avoid going to school are immediately followed by a KickTheDog moment where he is brought back to the real world and things work out as the ''exact'' opposite of what he imagined moments ago.
108* InfantSiblingJealousy: Mafalda has a couple of strips where she is pretty jealous of the attention Guille will receive when he gets born. Meanwhile, Susanita is jealous that Mafalda got a sibling before her. Both get over it fairly quickly, and once Guille is born he becomes part of the group with no issue.
109* InflationaryDialogue: When explaining that he hates Music/TheBeatles, Manolito says they give him a 40-degree fever.[[labelnote:In °F]]104 degrees Fahrenheit[[/labelnote]] Mafalda tells him that the Beatles are millionaires, doesn't he like millionaires? Manolito replies that makes no difference, they still give him a 37-degree fever.[[note]]98.6 °F[[/note]]
110* InnocentProdigy: Mafalda. Guille might grow into one.
111* InsaneTrollLogic:
112** Libertad's bread and butter.
113--> '''Libertad''': You know, retired men should go on strike. Retired People's Strike! Riots all across the country!
114--> '''Mafalda''': Libertad... ''nothing'' would happen.
115--> '''Libertad''': How so? I mean, who's going to sit on park benches and complain about the youth of today? And the grandpas! Can you imagine an infantry soldier masquerading as a grandpa? Huh?
116** One time Guille got in his parents's bed in the middle of the night, next to his sleeping mom. The father muttered he was going to wake her up and he replied "Are you jealous because you didn't know her since birth and I do?"
117** Susanita claims that poor people are poor because they waste the little money they gain in poor-quality clothes and furniture and they can't progress like that.
118** Manolito also dabbles in this. Take his explanation of why you should not fear a nuclear war:
119--> '''Manolito:''' War is a business, and those who make it are good businessmen. My father is also a good businessman. So they won't throw bombs to destroy my dad's store. Dog doesn't eat dog.
120* ItsAllAboutMe: Susanita, absurdly self-centered (and self-righteous) for a small girl.
121* {{Jerkass}}: Susanita again. Her Jerkassery reached its peak when Mafalda was sad that her family wouldn't go on vacation due to Guille's impeding birth. Susanita (horribly jealous about Mafalda getting a baby brother) proceeded to rub it in at every opportunity.
122* JerkassHasAPoint: In one strip, Susanita says that she want to have plenty of dresses when she grows up, and Mafalda replies she wants to have plenty of culture. Susanita replies as follows:
123-->'''Susanita''': Can you get arrested in the street for being uncultured?
124-->'''Mafalda''': No.
125-->'''Susanita''': Try and get in the street undressed.
126-->''The last panel has Susanita crying, and Mafalda walking away with a sad expression''
127-->'''Mafalda''': It's so sad when you have to beat up someone who's right!...
128* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Even though he friggin' loves money, Manolito still puts his friends as a higher priority over it; you can even consider his father this if Manolito's mental monologue about ''Doña Pepa'' is anything to go by. Examples:
129--> '''Mafalda''': Hi, Manolito. Is the whiskey you sell expensive?
130--> '''Manolito''': No, it's cheap.
131--> '''Mafalda''': Is it imported?
132--> '''Manolito''': No, it's not imported.
133--> '''Mafalda''': Hmmm. Is it good?
134--> '''Manolito''': Er... Nnno. It's not very good.
135--> '''Mafalda''': Manolito... Is it ''really'' whiskey?
136--> '''Manolito''': (blushes with shame): No, it actually isn't...
137--> (Mafalda leaves)
138--> '''Manolito''': (thinking): Business is business, but friends are friends...
139** And the other one:
140--> '''Manolito''': (thinking): And there goes Doña Pepa...
141--> '''Manolito''': (thinking): Who would believe it? With the whole thing about earning a misery for a retirement, she's already in debt with us for seven months...
142--> '''Manolito''': (thinking while looking at the sky with an annoyed face): And what does the president, minister or whoever is in charge about it? Nothing, after all, we are here to prevent her from starving to death. Go on, lay your heads on your pillows filled with Don Manolo's noodles and sleep well.
143* LogicalFallacies: Manolito is particularly prone to it. In one instance, he's sad because he isn't rich yet. Mafalda comforts him by telling him he'll have plenty of money someday. He answers: "But in the meantime I lose interest on the money I don't have yet!"
144* LukeIAmYourFather : Tried by Susanita on Felipe to get a Mother's day gift, because it works in the soaps right? He isn't fooled.
145** In the next strip we see she tries the same on Manolito, with similar results.
146* {{Malaproper}}: One strip has Mafalda ask her father how millibars relate to weather. He starts going on about pressure in millibars, but she interrupts him to clarify that she meant millibars and pressure, not [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical military pressure]].
147* ManChild: The Father - riding a slide in the park when no one's looking, playing 'pirates' by himself (just when Mafalda and friends walk in on him), and (when prodded by Mafalda) remembering a bit too vividly how much he hated school.
148* MeaningfulName: Downplayed with Libertad; played straight with the '''tortoise''' 'Bureaucracy'.
149* MotorMouth: Susanita. So much, that sometimes others feel like her monologues are overtaking their bodies.
150** The father, sometimes. One in particular happens when Mafalda asks him about his obligatory military service, and he speaks non-stop for half of a day.
151* MrImagination: Several characters, but especially Felipe.
152* TheNapoleon: Libertad can be aggressive at times, specially when told about her height. And sometimes, even when ''not'' told.
153-->'''Guille''': This girl?
154-->'''Mafalda''': This girl is Libertad!
155-->'''Libertad''': (goes up angrily towards Guille before he can even say hi): And I'm much older than you! Any objections?!
156* NationalStereotypes: Manolito has thick brows, pointed hair and a strong disdain for education, and is more than a little obtuse; all these were considered stereotypical Spaniard traits in Argentina at the time (Manolito's father is Spanish). Currently this is becoming more of a DiscreditedTrope.
157** Galician, actually. It just so happens that Argentines joke about Galicians the way Americans joke about Poles.
158** Might be a case of SelfDeprecation on author Quino's since his father was also from Spain.
159** Also played with in one of Mafalda's National Independence Day greetings. "Long live the Motherland!" (beat) "And tango!"
160* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: Libertad is so used to [[TheNapoleon short jokes]], coupled with her name being "Freedom" that the first thing she does when she meets someone new is telling them quite clearly "Go ahead and say your stupid conclusion. We both know what you are really thinking". When she said so to Mafalda, she got red from head to toe, complete with an AsideGlance. At one point Mafalda's dad was going to make a quip when she said "when I was little" but Libertad interrupted him saying that she knows how these things go and "from height, we touch the issue of age and I could make you cry then".
161* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: In one strip, Manolito makes polite small talk with a store customer while ringing up her shopping. Until...
162-->'''Manolito''': By the way, whatever happened to your husband? I haven't seen him in quite some time...
163-->'''Customer''': NEITHER HAVE I! HE MUST BE FINE! ''[Leaves without her shopping]''
164-->'''Manolito''': ''[Thinking]'' "Commercial coldness"... When will I learn? Customers must be treated with commercial coldness...
165* OffTheWagon: Guille and his ''pacifier''.
166* PaperThinDisguise: Manolito once tries to advertise his father's grocery store by passing himself off as a newcomer in the neighborhood; he disguises himself by putting on a pair of glasses and combing his hair back. (It doesn't work).
167* PopCulturalOsmosisFailure: Mafalda's father, listening to her and her friends playing, decides to join in by making a reference to ''Literature/{{Sandokan}}''... only for the kids to ask, mystified, who Sandokan is.
168* RunningGag: Lots of them:
169** Mafalda's "soupophobia".
170** Manolito trying to sell stale or substandard foodstuffs and his ''hatred'' of Music/TheBeatles.
171** Mafalda's relatives dashing to the pharmacy after someone (usually Mafalda) does or says something that causes someone else to have an (off-panel) attack of some sort.
172** Susanita's constant gloating of her desire of "marry a handsome rich man and have a lot of little kids". To the point that RealLife women acting like this are sometimes known as "Susanitas" in Argentina.
173** Felipe's extreme dislike for school.
174** Libertad's emphasis on 'simplicity' and 'simple things'.
175* SceneryPorn: The national park.
176* ShamefulShrinking: Played with in a strip. When Felipe is called to talk in front of the class, he gets smaller as he walks down the aisle. After the teacher congratulates him on a good job, he walks back to his desk as a giant.
177* ShesAManInJapan: Libertad is a man in Sweden. Why? Because that way, sh... ''he'' can be named Fred, which is both a name and Swedish for "peace".
178* {{Shorttank}}: Mafalda is a primary school-aged version.
179* ShoutOut:
180** Mafalda's visual similarity to ''Nancy'' is lampshaded when Miguelito shows her an issue and asks "Who does this look like?". Judging by Miguelito's reaction, she replied "[[YourMom Your granny!]]"
181** There was a small arc centered around Mafalda trying to figure out the [[FridgeLogic logistics]] of the DeliveryStork. An alternate theory is brought up by Miguelito when he says his parents told him children come from Toys/{{cabbage patch|Kids}}es.
182* ShrinkingViolet: Reflected in Felipe, the author himself is described as incredibly shy. A friend of his even commented "in Quino's presence, one always feels like an intruder."
183* SingingInTheShower: In a strip, Mafalda's father is belting out "[[Theatre/{{Rigoletto}} La Donna è Mobile]]" while showering... and is greeted by [[ProducePelting flying tomatoes]] courtesy of Guille as soon as he leaves the bathroom.
184* TheSixties: Men with long hair, bell-bottom pants and [[Music/TheBeatles British pop music]] -- and not everyone likes it.
185* SoapboxSadie: Mafalda, mostly, but Libertad can be even more militant than her.
186** Miguelito tries to be one, but sucks at it. One soapbox rant about how everything for children is made by ''adults'' ends with a dejected "That's because we are ourselves not made by children, but by adults" and the dispersal of the crowd in disgust.
187* SpitTake: Raquel and a friend of hers were drinking tea. Mafalda asks "Mom, what's white slavery?" This is what happens.
188* SpoiledBrat: May be an explanation for how Susanita behaves. She ''is'' an only child, after all.
189* StrongFamilyResemblance: The parents look a LOT like their kids. Mafalda is a short-haired EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette like Raquel, Manolito and his older brother look like younger versions of their father, Susanita and her mom look almost exactly the same, Felipe's mother has his same buck teeth ([[RetCon though she originally didn't have them]]).
190** Lampshaded by Mafalda panicking and hugging Raquel when she sees an old photo of her, in a SoapOpera spoof: "Why didn't you tell me you were my sister?!"
191* TakeThat: And how!
192** Mafalda despises Communism, going as far as [[FelonyMisdemeanor comparing it with soup.]]
193** Libertad appears as a complete parody of shallow, insufferable, over-the-top, perpetually-protesting liberals. Considering the author’s political stand, this might count as SelfDeprecation.
194** Raquel and the father get quite a lot of vile remarks from their daughter for being a housewife and a salaryman, respectively.
195** Once, Raquel started to cry because she had gained some weight and her bikini didn't look good on her, Mafalda responded that half of humanity couldn't get one gram fatter because it didn't had what to eat, [[LampshadeHanging afterwards stating that she should have said something good to comfort her instead of making her look like an idiot]].
196* TalkingToPlants: Mafalda's dad loves to do this.
197** Manolito's father tries it, too. Though, it doesn't work.
198-->'''Don Manolo''': ''Grow up already, you damned stunted thing!''
199* ThoseWackyNazis: Felipe once imagines himself as a German WWII prisoner reporting to the ''kommandant'' about his absence. Turns out he was delivering the absence justification letter from her mom to the school's teacher.
200* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Mafalda and Susanita, even when Mafalda herself wasn't really tomboyish by actual standards.
201** ValuesDissonance: Having certain traits in Latin America will automatically make a girl be considered a tomboy, while still remaining girly by North American standards.
202* TrademarkFavoriteFood: [[DoesNotLikeSpam Inverted]] with Mafalda and her hatred of soup. Played straight in that soup is the favorite food of her little brother Guille and Manolito's. A couple of strips, however, imply that Mafalda's favorite food is pancakes.
203* TrueCompanions: One of the most endearing, diverse and human groups in fiction. The kids and their relationships are surprisingly deep and refreshing in a genre full of generic SelfInsert characters.
204* {{Tsundere}}: Sometimes Susanita toward Felipe (and maybe Manolito).
205** Mafalda may come as a non-romantic version.
206* UnnamedParent: Raquel's name is mentioned in only ''one'' strip, and the father's name is ''NEVER'' mentioned at all in the comic.
207* TheVoiceOfAGeneration: The comic strip is about the aforementioned little girl and her vision of the world, which is very political. She and her friends became the voice of the children (who aren't listened or taken into consideration for anything, especially in the time the comic strip was released) at the point of becoming an ambassador for [[UsefulNotes/UnitedNations UNICEF]].
208* WallOfText: When she's in full gossip mode, Susanita's speech bubbles eclipse the rest of the panel, and are apparently able to ''assimilate'' [[FateWorseThanDeath other characters.]]
209** WriterOnBoard
210* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Soup.
211* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Mafalda's grasp of politics.
212-->'''Mafalda''': Mommy, do you think Communist China-?
213-->'''Raquel''': My opinion is that you should think about things appropriate for your age!
214-->'''Mafalda''': ''[blows some soap bubbles and claps]'' Cute! Cute!... So, do you think Communist China...?
215* WithFriendsLikeThese: All the kids get along (mostly) with Mafalda, but they doesn't always get along between them.
216** From an unspecified falling out early in the strip onwards, Susanita and Manolito act like they outright hate each other. Lampshaded in a strip with Mafalda and Susanita speaking about how they have very opposite mindsets and fight over key issues so often no one, even them, knows how or why they are still friends. Then both hug each other. Of course, the effect is diminished by the fact that two strips later [[StatusQuoIsGod they're back to arguing]].
217-->'''How can we be friends if we can't stand each other?'''
218-->'''No idea... but, I'd rather not stand you forever instead of not standing some stranger'''
219* YoungEntrepreneur: Manolito often tries to come up with schemes to bring more business to his father's grocery shop. Most of them backfire.
220** YankTheDogsChain: Manolito eventually comes up with the ''Manolo's Card'', which enables customers to buy things and pay another time; it gets popular, too popular at the end.

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