Line #34 YMMV/TheMightyDucks


1	!! The films:
2
3	* AccidentalAesop:
4	** In ''D2'', having good sportsmanship on the ice is a MoralPragmatist move because sometimes LifeIsntFair and the referee may be an idiot. Dean is expelled from the first Iceland game for a relatively small infraction and gloating about it, as is Julie. Meanwhile, the player that badly injures Adam is given a few minutes in the penalty box. (At the least, Dwayne avenges Adam by lassoing Sanderson and humiliating him for trying to bodyslam Connie.)
5	** ''D3'' has that sometimes a coach has to be CruelToBeKind to get the best players on the ice. Bombay has always given Goldberg seniority over Julie even though the latter is the better goalie and it's lampshaded a few times when she politely asks to play more. Coach Orion does not believe in seniority; he has them both audition and notes that Goldberg didn't even block ''one'' goal from his teammates. The first game of the season proves him right when Julie is a CurbStompCushion against the visitor team, and Goldberg is completely curbstomped when Orion sends him in as backup. Orion goes further by making Goldberg line defense; it turns out Goldberg is better at line defense and becomes a star player. What's more, Julie gets to shine in the climax when blocking several goals from Varsity and getting some help from Adam.
6	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: In the first film when Gordon discovers Adam Banks actually lives in District 5 and forces the league to transfer him to the Ducks. Is he doing it as part of his CharacterDevelopment in regards to fair play? Does he do it so the Ducks can have a star player on its roster for the playoffs? Or does Gordon see a lot of his younger self in Adam and wants to get him away from Reilly before Reilly's intensity sends him down a path similar to Gordon's?
7	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
8	** The first one has The Outfield’s "Winning It All" in the end credits.
9	** "We Will, We Will, Rock You!"
10	** Music/{{Queen}}'s "We Are the Champions" at the end of ''D2''.
11	** The end-credits follow-up, "Rock the Pond", boasts solid sound and intelligent lyrics.
12	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
13	** Gordon's fateful penalty shot is "replays" before the Ducks' championship game against the Hawks, even though it was shown at the beginning of the film, the only difference being the speed at which the moment is played.
14	** In Team USA's opening game at the Junior Goodwill Games in ''D2'', the team is cruising with a 6-0 lead until the game momentarily focuses on Trinidad & Tobago netting a solitary goal, causing various reaction shots for the jubilation including their fans playing calypso music in the stands. This has no effect on the outcome nor is it commented on by anyone.
15	* CatharsisFactor: ''D2'' has a fair number of moments:
16	** Ms. [=McKay=] revealing she canceled the Ducks' intensive practice session because they are exhausted and falling asleep during her classes. She tells off Bombay for risking the team's health to win a game, reminding him they are just kids. Much later, she lies that she is their replacement coach to keep them from forfeiting a match; Bombay thanks her with a kiss to the cheek and apologizes to the team.
17	** Russ's brother invites the Ducks for some rollerblading hockey to give them ToughLove and cheer them up. After the devastating loss they suffered, it is a relief that Russ is simultaneously telling them off for being "babies" and also giving them a chance to let off steam. It ends with both teams hugging Ken Wu after he's taught how to intimidate guys bigger than him.
18	** Iceland has the Ducks on the ropes and is winning by a large lead. They then try to go after Connie, who's struggling with the puck, just because she's struggling to stay upright. Dwayne humiliates the guy trying to bodyslam her -- a move that gave Bombay a permanent knee injury, by the way -- by grabbing his trademark cowboy rope, jumping onto the ice, and lassoing him like a cattle. Connie thanks Dwayne, who says, "[[BondOneLiner Where I come from, we treat ladies with respect]]" and then knocks the guy down. Bombay is disappointed that Dwayne decided to stoop to Iceland's level, but it is hilarious and satisfying since he saved Connie from leaving the ice on a stretcher.
19	** Another Iceland one; they've been keeping Russ from doing his trademark knuckle puck. Bombay then comes up with a strategy: have Russ and Goldberg switch uniforms, and pass the puck to the "goalie". Russ then takes off his helmet, revealing who he is to the delight of his big brother. Stansson can only give a BigNo as the puck flies towards the goal, tying the teams.
20	* DesignatedVillain: Of the three rival teams the Ducks had to overcome in the trilogy, Team Iceland is the least dickish to them. Unlike the Hawks and the Varsity team, we never see the Ducks interact with the Iceland players off the ice. True that the Iceland players were anything but nice to the Ducks during the games but then again, they're playing hockey. Aggression is all a part of the game and even their taunting could be viewed as their competitive nature shining through. Sanderson is probably the worst of the lot since he injured Adam for the crime of scoring a goal and then whacked him ''again'' on the same wrist, which is bad sportsmanship for many reasons. The one thing that cements Team Iceland's status in this trope is the fact that they are the only team to have the decency to go back on the ice and congratulate the Ducks on a game well played.
21	** Even Wolf Stansson, Team Iceland's coach, isn't that much of a villain. He's just a damn good coach who did everything he could to make sure his boys were ready to take on the world, from scouting his opponents to targeting the players. Yeah, he was an arrogant {{Jerkass}} that talked a lot of trash but could be translated as him being confident in his team. And just like his team, Stansson, after losing the big game to Ducks at the end, was humble enough to shake Gordon's hand afterwards and congratulate him on the win. It was still a dick move on Stansson's part to clip Gordon's injured leg the moment he was on the losing end of their one-on-one contest. He also didn't have to pop the beach ball they were tossing around during their last practice.
22	** In ''D3'', Banks is looked at as a traitor for being a member of the varsity team despite the fact that his promotion to varsity was the coaches' decision and beyond his control. While he does hang around the varsity team at school, you could tell it was out of reluctance and peer pressure than pure spite. He didn't even take part in the varsity's locker room and restaurant pranks against the Ducks and only found out about them after the fact. The Ducks, on the other hand, are quick to treat Banks no differently than any of the other varsity members.
23	** While the varsity team was viewed as the antagonist in ''D3'', they haven't really done anything outright malicious towards the Ducks apart from instigating the EscalatingPrankWar. The worst they did was making them pay for the dinner they treated them but even that was out of retaliation of being on the receiving end of the Ducks freezing their uniforms.
24	* DesignatedHero: The Mighty Ducks have usually been considered the lovable underdogs in parts ''I'' & ''II'' of the trilogy, but come part ''III'' they were dangerously close to losing the lovable aspect. Granted, the varsity were dicks to them, but when Banks got promoted to the varsity team, he became a victim of the Ducks' pranks without any provocation on his part. And when the Ducks failed to meet the academy's standards, they had to use Bombay to bully their way into staying at the school. Also, even though it's clear that most of the school board never wanted the Ducks there in the first place, it wasn't like they were purposely trying to sabotage them either. The TV series ''Game Changers'' takes this to the conclusion, with the modern-day pee-wee Ducks having become what the original team hated in the Hawks in the first film, thanks to the program reveling in their notoriety.
25	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
26	** Fulton Reed, the MysteriousProtector with one of the coolest {{Signature Move}}s on the ice, is a major fan favorite.
27	** Fans were crushed when trash-talking [[TheLancer lancer]] Jesse Hall didn't come back for the third movie.
28	** Down-to-earth OfficialCouple Guy and Connie are often considered some of the most likable of the players.
29	** Among the new characters in the second movie, people especially enjoy goofy {{Cowboy}} Dwayne and unfairly sidelined goalie Julie.
30	** Goldberg is considered an unforgettable character for being a good source of comic relief and getting an interesting transition from goalie to a defenseman in the final film.
31	** Adam is well-liked for his CharacterDevelopment over the trilogy and for arguably being the team's best player.
32	* EvenBetterSequel: Specifically, ''D2''. It's more ingrained into pop culture than the original -- especially considering its popular new characters that replaced the old ones -- to the point that when the cast of kids reunited to celebrate a 20th anniversary, it was in regards to the sequel's anniversary.
33	* FairForItsDay: The movies are much more diverse than many 90s movies, with the Ducks representing multiple races and ethnicities and always having one or two girls on the team. However, some of this veers into caricature from a modern viewpoint, such as the only Jewish character having parents who own a deli and the one Hispanic character being introduced ''with mariachi band music'' despite being from Florida.
34	* HarsherInHindsight:
35	** Towards the end of the first movie, Gordon takes the Ducks to an [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague NHL]] game between the hometown Minnesota North Stars and visiting Hartford Whalers. Within a few years of the movie's release, both teams relocated (to Dallas and Raleigh, NC (renamed the Hurricanes), respectively). Somewhat downplayed in Minnesota's case, as they would eventually get a new team, the Wild.
36	** The bit in the first movie where Bombay teaches the kids how to fake injuries became this in 2019, when Terry Hall's actor, Jussie Smollett, was arrested for filing a false police report after claiming he was the victim of an anti-black assault. As it turns out, the assault was actually carried out by two Nigerian men -- not white, as Smollett had claimed -- who he had ''hired'' to commit the deed.
37	** Toward the end of D3, Dean Portman is sent to the penalty box and goes ballistic, stripping off his gear and playing to the crowd. The teen announcer observes, “He has really got this crowd, especially the ladies, going!” as many adult women in the stands smile and cheer at his physique on display. Portman is probably about 15 years old.
38	* HeartwarmingInHindsight: Part of the reason that Gordon Bombay recruits Adam using the new district lines is that he sees himself in the kid: a young upstart ace player that Reilly turned into a BrokenAce. [[spoiler:The sequel series reveals that Adam was inspired by Bombay to not only go into law but become a public defender to help the misfits of the world and those who can't defend themselves. He also says that he owes Bombay for helping him become a better person when recruiting him from the Hawks, and becoming a Duck was the best thing that happened to him]].
39	* HilariousInHindsight:
40	** Emilio Estevez's character is obsessed with winning in the first film. Nearly twenty years later, his brother Creator/CharlieSheen began using "Winning" as one of his catch phrases.
41	** In the first film, Guy claims a college offered Fulton a football scholarship, which is supposed to supposed to come across as ridiculous since they're all middle school aged. By TheNewTwenties, college football recruiting has become so cutthroat that some colleges actually are offering scholarships to middle schoolers.
42	** In the third film, Fulton realizes that he doesn't want to play hockey his whole life and wants to get a good education. [[Series/Daredevil2015 He grows up to be a lawyer.]]
43	** In the second film, Team Iceland is led by a coach whose nickname is "The Dentist" (because he often knocked other players' teeth out). Decades later during the 2016 Euro and 2018 World Cup soccer tournaments, Iceland's national team was managed by Heimir Hallgrímsson, who actually works as a part-time dentist.
44	** In the first film, Averman often imitates Creator/RobSchneider's "Richmeister" character from ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''. Steven Brill, the writer of the entire trilogy, would later go on to work with Schneider on several Creator/HappyMadisonProductions films, including ''Film/MrDeeds'', ''Film/LittleNicky'', and ''Film/HubieHalloween''.
45	** Creator/KenanThompson used to be a kid reporter doing movie reviews for children on CNN and the first film he covered with ''Film/TheMightyDucks''. He ended up joining the franchise in ''D2''.
46	** In the third film, a student approaches Charlie about changing Eden Hall’s mascot for racial sensitivity issues. Charlie cites several pro teams who have indigenous mascots, among them the Cleveland Indians and Washington Redskins. Both these teams later changed their names (to the Guardians and Commanders, respectively) for the same reasons.
47	* HoYay: Averman agrees with Connie that Luis is very good-looking in ''D2'' and appears a little too into seeing Dean stripteasing in the penalty box in ''D3''.
48	* InformedWrongness: Gordon bringing up a case in which the appellate court overruled Judge Weathers is portrayed as a dirty trick, but...while Gordon did poke Weathers in a soft spot and was a jerk about it, the fact remains that the testimony Weathers was trying to quash was admissible according to a set precedent. If it wasn't, he would have sustained the objection, but he backpedaled because he didn't have a leg to stand on and he knew it.
49	* MemeticBadass: Gordon Bombay and the team have become this to hockey fans. A lot of people joke about how if Bombay were an NHL coach, the Mighty Ducks would win every season. Indeed, when Emilio Estevez tweeted his support for the Anaheim Ducks against the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2015 Western Conference Final, and Anaheim went on to win that game (and was even spotted in a Flying-V formation), his popularity boomed.
50	* {{Moe}}: Connie's smile, enthusiasm, and loyalty to the team make her an easy character to feel affection for.
51	* MoralEventHorizon:
52	** Reilly, the Hawks' Coach is just a smug jerk for most of D1, but he crosses the line when he has [=McGill=] check Adam Banks (who had been playing for him until a few weeks ago and was only a Duck because Bombay took advantage of a change in the district boundaries to have him play for his team) into the net so hard that he had to leave the game due to injury.
53	** [=McGill=] also crosses the line in doing the deed. While Adam's friend was frantically checking on him, [=McGill=] coolly watches as Adam is loaded onto a stretcher.
54	** The player that gave Bombay a permanent knee injury counts as this. When you see his face as Bombay is checked, we know that he was doing it on purpose. Bombay even mentions that sometimes he is tempted to get even with the guy.
55	* {{Narm}}:
56	** Everyone seems to pay a little too much attention to a Pee-Wee hockey team in the first movie. Entire front-page news articles about a bunch of ten-year-olds in a Minneapolis youth league? Guess that Pee-Wee League is SeriousBusiness to someone.
57	** It's forgivable in the second movie, since Gordon Bombay is apparently a celebrity or something, but even so, the entire country gets behind a youth hockey team when said country can barely get anyone to care about international youth sports in general.
58	* RetroactiveRecognition:
59	** Charlie was played by Joshua Jackson, who went on to ''Series/DawsonsCreek'', ''Series/{{Fringe}}'', and ''Series/TheAffair''.
60	** Creator/EldenHenson has had a very respectable career as a character actor, popping up in everything from ''Film/ShesAllThat'' to ''Series/{{Daredevil 2015}}''.
61	** Russ Tyler was played by Kenan Thompson -- the same one who was on ''Series/AllThat'', ''Series/KenanAndKel'', and is currently a cast member on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' (notable as the first to be born after ''SNL'' premiered in 1975 and the first one to be a child star and perform in more family-friendly fare [specifically this movie and the two aforementioned Nickelodeon shows] before moving on to fare that's more adult).
62	** Julie Gaffney was played by Colombe Jacobsen, who eventually became a chef and competed in the 2007 season of The Next Food Network Star.
63	** Terry Hall in the first movie is played by a young Creator/JussieSmollett.
64	** Future Sports Illustrated model Melissa Kellar has a minor role as a cheerleader in the third movie.
65	* RootingForTheEmpire: One wouldn't blame those who felt Varsity should have beaten The Ducks. Especially after a series of taking levels of jerkass the Ducks provide.
66	* {{Sequelitis}}: ''D3''. The Ducks in general TookALevelInJerkass, especially Charlie, [[SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome Hans is killed off]], and Bombay is no longer coaching the team with his appearances in the film mostly being extended cameos. [[ContrastingSequelMainCharacter Coach Orion]] is more of a strait-laced sports coach and lacks Bombay's more interesting quirks and nuances as a character and also gets much less focus than the Ducks, which makes him come across a bit flat.
67	* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Film/TheBadNewsBears'' as both films feature a coach who is a JerkWithAHeartOfGold teaching a team of RagtagBunchOfMisfits and said coach forms a bond with one of the players. the difference is that in this movie [[spoiler: the underdogs actually won]].
68	* StrawmanHasAPoint: Rick Reilly from ''D3'' is clearly a spoiled, elitist jerk, but he has a right to be angry about the fact that his younger brother and other players who probably would've been on the Eden Hall JV team under normal circumstances weren't even allowed to ''try out'' for the team because the school decided to give full scholarships and the roster spots to all of the Ducks with no tryout needed. As the team's first few games show, while they may have been successful youth players, that doesn't necessarily translate to the high school level.
69	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Luis's crush Mindy in ''D3.'' While no one wanted to see a RomanticPlotTumor relationship, it might have kept them out of TokenRomance area if they'd exchanged more than two sentences of dialogue before they get together at the end.
70	* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
71	** "Good Vibrations" by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch is enough to solidly anchor the first film to TheNineties.
72	** In the first film, the team attends a game between the Minnesota North Stars and the Hartford Whalers. The North Stars would move to Dallas in 1993 and become just the Stars (which Dwayne and Bombay actually acknowledge in ''D3'') and be replaced by the Wild in 2000 while the Whalers became the Carolina Hurricanes in 1997.
73	* UnintentionallySympathetic: Goldberg initially being afraid of getting hit by the puck in the first film is supposed to come across as an AbsurdPhobia because he's the team's goalie. However, since his initial goalie equipment consists of an old baseball chest protector and '''newspaper shin guards'', it's hard to blame him for his fear since the odds are he probably would get a serious injury from getting hit. Bombay reassures him with some ToughLove -- and tying him to the net -- that his upgrade from Hans will keep him safe.
74	* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Most of the Ducks, but especially Charlie, in ''D3''. While the Varsity team were hostile to the Ducks from day 1, Coach Orion doesn't act like a jerk to them and is just stricter with them than Bombay was. In spite of this, the team initially doesn't show him any respect and act like a bunch of entitled, arrogant brats who expect him to cater to them just because of their past success. Charlie in particular not only constantly disrespects Orion, but comes off as unreasonably angry for most of the film, lashing out at anyone that tries to reason with him- including the (unbeknownst to him) dying Hans. We're supposed to sympathize with him because his whole world has been thrown into upheaval, but he just comes off as a colossal jerk until Gordon returns to set him straight.
75	* ValuesResonance: In the third movie, Charlie's love interest argues that the Warriors Hockey Team has a racist name and mascot and both should be changed, which does happen at the end of the movie. This argument feels more relevant in the 21st century, on which the Redskins football team experienced increased controversy over its name and was eventually rebranded the Commanders, and more relevantly to hockey, the ongoing smaller-scale debate over the Chicago Blackhawks mascot and logo.
76	* TheWoobie:
77	** Bombay, believe it or not. Missing a penalty shot to lose the district championships as a child costs him his passion for the game, although he's very skilled. He makes a comeback as an adult, tears up the minors and seems to be on the fast track to the [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague NHL]] when a cheap shot to the knee by a frustrated opponent ends his career for good.
78	** Julie in the second movie. She's shown from the start to be more skilled than Goldberg. While the stakes can be high in a two-loss elimination tournament, why it wasn't her net to begin with is a mystery (Bombay even admits to Tibbles upfront that he's too attached to Goldberg to think about making it an open competition). Before the first loss to Iceland, Bombay should have played her at least once, especially against a low-seeded, known low-skill team like Trinidad. The fact that she doesn't get to prove herself clearly depresses her; the one time she's called in she immediately faces misogyny at the hands of the opposing team players, and she's then put in cold in a shootout situation (which shouldn't be legal anyway, but it's ''The Mighty Ducks'' we're talking about). It's at least vindicating when Coach Orion recognizes that she is the superior goalie.
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Context YMMV / TheMightyDucks