It's not clear if it was intentional, since the toys they were based on were unafraid of being scary and graphic as well, but this cartoon viciously
deconstructs nearly every aspect of Saturday morning cartoons.
- The Kid Hero is not even remotely prepared for being a hero and the only reason he is one is because Skull Master arose sooner than he was supposed to. He also expresses a strong desire to not be the hero, completely averting Jumped at the Call.
- The He-Man-esque Norman is a Sociopathic Hero who has zero problems with killing villains.
- The Dumb Blonde is so incompetent that she's The Load and nearly gets herself killed. And Max didn't eventually realized that her personality wasn't as charming as he initially thought.
- Never Say "Die", Improbable Infant Survival, and No Endor Holocaust are completely averted, with numerous characters being killed off. The heroes themselves kill off a good number of villains and mooks. According to IMDb this was a major part of what led to the show's cancellation; there was no way for censors to easily remove the darker moments, and the network got tired of hearing complaints.
- The Big Bad is a borderline Eldritch Abomination who is most definitely not a Harmless Villain. In the end, Max isn't even able to defeat him; he has to hit a Reset Button to prevent Skull Master from winning.
- The Invincible Hero gets this treatment. Max discovers that the villains in the series gradually become more and more dangerous so he had to rely on quick thinking to achieve victory and most of the time he barely survives the adventures he is in. There is also him gradually losing allies during his quest to defeat Skullmaster and he had to resort in pulling an enemy mine scenario just to stand even the slightest chance against him. Even with that he'd never get a true victory against Skullmaster.
- The series tears apart all aspects of the heroic adventures the Kid Hero usually go on in Saturday Morning Cartoon Shows. For starters the villains are far from incompetent and have no qualms in killing Max. There have been several episodes where Max's only option would be to run for his life than to fight off a Monster of the Week. Then you have Max seeing all kinds of horrors that no normal kid should see.
