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  • Why is the Metro City Police Department interested in an international criminal like Dr. Claw? All those destinations around the world are a little out of a city police department's jurisdiction, aren't they?
    • It's implied that either the Metro City PD or Gadget himself has ties with a No Celebrities Were Harmed version of INTERPOL. An episode called "The Infiltration," where Gadget attends a world police summit in London, gives credence to this theory. Either that, or the MCPD is just a front for CONTROL.
      • NB: The French title of "The Infiltration" is "The INTERPOL Summit".
      • Either way, it's likely that Dr. Claw is wanted for crimes he committed in Metro City, which would fall under their jurisdiction anyway. What this means is, even if they were to catch him in some foreign country, they could have him extradited to the U.S. (or Canada or wherever Metro City is).
      • Gadget's pursuit of MAD is The Artifact of his Lupin VIII origins. In Lupin III, Inspector Zenigata was assigned to catch Lupin III, much like Inspector Clouseau is assigned to catch the thief who stole the Pink Panther diamond. Gadget is based in Metro City, but he and Chief Quimby take orders from INTERPOL when the need arises. That Dr. Claw is the head of a criminal empire rather than a master thief like Carmen Sandiego muddies things a bit.

  • How does one make self-destructing paper?
  • What effect do magnets have on Inspector Gadget? In one episode he was shown to be able to get caught in a giant magnet a la Wolverine due to his artificial parts, but in others he was shown to be able to be near them without trouble, even ones strong enough to pull metal towards them through water from the bottom of a river, and even had magnet shoes.

  • How does Gadget maintain an in-universe fanbase when he's constantly harassing civilians (mistaking them for MAD agents and attacking and arresting them unprovoked the way he frequently does to Brain), constantly almost running them over with his car, and is often a condescending Jerkass (in The Capeman Cometh he cut a hole in the bottom of a ship, accused the tied-up passengers of being MAD agents and started to arrest them, then left them tied up on the sinking ship, ignoring their pleas for help!)
    • The fan base seems to make him out to be a celebrity, who we usually forgive pretty easily for stupid stunts. Not to mention given his global recognition and stopping MAD he might be an international hero, on top of being a cyborg. Again, given his international pull, he might have a team in the department that covers his more controversial escapades from the general public to maintain an image. Basically his fans still love based purely on Rule of Cool.

  • Inspector Gadget is supposedly a police inspector — a detective. So why do very few of his missions actually involve the sort of work you'd expect a police detective to do? Many of them fall more under the heading of counter-intelligence or counterterrorism (i.e., the kind of work a secret agent/spy would do), while others amount to glorified security guard work.
    • Because most police detectives aren't a walking swiss army knife.
      • Of course, but why is he hired as a police detective? Couldn't they have just transferred him to the secret services when he got gadgetized?

  • Oh, boy, the second season.
    • Between seasons, Gadget's house went from a normal suburban home to a sprawling near-mansion laden with gadgets. How did this happen? He doesn't seem to be making much money, there was no obvious job-related reason for this, and it's never so much as commented on in-series.
    • Main villains sometimes appear across multiple episodes in this season. How? I know they escape when they were always captured in the first season... but Doctor Claw made it clear on several occasions in the first season that he was about ready to pull a You Have Failed Me on them after the failures of a single episode, let alone two or three in a row. Was he just bluffing? And even if he was, wouldn't that make him look weak to his minions?
      • Considering his utter lack of sucsess against Gadget, it is possible that Claw minions only agrees to work for him, if defeat from Gadget is classified as Force Majeure.
    • Different terms start being used for some of the gadgets in this season. Gadget Umbrella instead of Gadget-Brella, Gadget Hammer instead of Gadget Mallet, and Gadget Car and Gadget Wheels instead of Gadgetmobile are ones I spotted before I finally gave up on trying to watch this season through before it got pulled from Netflix. Assuming they're in part or whole voice-activated, which seemed implied, why do they still actually trigger with the wrong phrases?

  • Dr. Claw seems to operate under the impression that Gadget's the one always foiling his plans — it's always Gadget who he gets angry at and vows to kill at the end of the episode. With all his Sinister Surveillance, how has Claw never realized that Penny is the one who actually defeats him?
    • Because he only keeps surveillance on Gadget, not Penny.
  • Fridge Horror: Scenes of Gadget without his hat suggest that a significant portion of his head is dedicated to storing helicopter blades. What happened to his brain?
    • It can explain why he always trust suspicious people and always suspect Brain. That or he's just plain stupid...
    • He's probably not got any brain at all: his self is probably a computer AI now.

  • The episode "Follow That Jet" has Inspector Gadget investigating jets going missing from an air force base. Since when do civilian police have jurisdiction over activity on a military base? Wouldn't the missing jets be investigated by the military police instead?

  • Can Gadget really be killed? We see him survive long falls, get flattened, fried, and crushed like a looney tunes character. Why bother sending agents after him if he can survive those things? Shooting him probably won't work either.

  • Dr. Claw is supposed to be an evil genius with a high IQ, yet he keeps believing Gadget is the one foiling his plans every episode. Shouldn't Claw and his MAD agents notice the inspector's idiocy after all the years of spying on him? Does Dr. Claw think Gadget's bumbling and oddness is just an act he puts on? Also, Claw isn't at least a bit curious as to why a little girl and her dog are snooping around in his hideouts, and eavesdropping on his agents?
    • You think Claw doesn't notice that everytime he does target them Gadget suddenly because far more dangerous? Such bursts of competence also likely make Claw think Gadget is just faking incompetence.
    • Dr. Claw does seem to know that Gadget is an idiot — but he also knows that Gadget keeps foiling his plans. He probably figures Gadget is just lucky, but being "just lucky" doesn't make him any less dangerous. When you're an evil genius, the only thing worse than being repeatedly outwitted by a genius opponent is being outwitted by a lucky fool. Even if his minions were bright enough to report Penny and Brain's activities to him, Dr. Claw would probably still prefer to think that he's only losing due to Gadget's luck (as opposed to being outwitted by a prepubescent child). Dr. Claw only has to be lucky once, after all; Gadget has to be lucky every time.
    • Well Sherlock Holmes didn't believe in the existence of the solar system, so...

  • It might be necessary for the most enduring Running Gag of the show, but it has to be asked. Why do the police send both a disguised Chief Quimby and a self-destructing message to Gadget? One or the other should be sufficient to deliver him his orders without leaving evidence behind.
    • Aside from Rule of Funny, it's probably a good idea to have all your bases covered to be on the safe side (especially when your best agent is a bumbling idiot like Gadget).

Fridge Logic:

  • When the Death Trap blows up in a MAD agent's face and they suffer the full brunt of it, they're never seriously hurt, just left a little bruised and/or sooty. So if that's all it does, how was it supposed to eliminate Gadget?
    • EMP bombs cause very little physical damage. If Gadget has electronics operating his gadgets, that's probably all Claw thinks he needs.
  • Penny's what - ten or twelve years old? And her uncle leaves her alone with the dog, at a moment's notice, to travel to exotic locations? Talk about neglectful! You know she's alone because if there was a babysitter/caretaker, they'd notice she was gone!
    • She's independent, responsible, and mature enough to handle it, and Gadget knows that. She acts like a miniature adult 90% of the time, it's not neglect.
      • She's still only ten. Just because she's smarter than him doesn't mean she doesn't need him.
      • He only plans to be gone for a couple of days. The age at which you can leave kids home alone for that long depends on their maturity, and Penny is very mature.
      • Or, here's a thought, he actually KNOWS they're tagging along, in fact is perfectly aware of what's going on with them helping him out, knows they're smarter and more capable than him, but also knows that he can jump in and help when needed. This also accounts for his sudden bouts of competence when they're involved. Obfuscating Stupidity, anyone?
  • Where are Penny's parents?

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