Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Used in "Balance of Power". Stampede steals Shaman's staff and uses its magic to make a robot and later Thunderstick and Scuzz giants to fight Bravestarr.
Broken Aesop: The episode "Bravestarr and the Law", in which the And Knowing Is Half the Battle segment has Bravestarr talking about how one should always obey the law even if you don't agree with it. The episode, however, had him going against the law (which was going to evict Shaman) up until the true facts were revealed and Shaman's home was no longer endangered.
Not quite. He was ready and willing to quit his job as a lawman, but stopped short of (and anguished over) actually breaking the law.
There's also one in the episode "Eye of the Beholder", where a blind girl manages to prove that there is something good even in Tex Hex, the main antagonist. The given aesop however, is that blind people don't need pity but can take care of themselves and even be useful to a community.
Brought Down to Normal: In "Strength of the Bear", Bravestarr loses his animal-based super powers and has to go on a Vision Quest (without weapons or tools) to regain them—all while protecting himself and an elderly blind man from outlaws.
Secret Test of Character: The blind man turns out to be the embodiment of Bravestarr's spirit animals, making sure that the marshall is worthy of his powers.
Another example: In "Lost Mountain", the weird magnetic field that causes Bravestarr and Fuzz to crash their plane also interferes with Bravestarr's powers.
A villainous example: Stampede strips Tex Hex of his powers to teach him a lesson in "Tex But No Hex".
Cats Are Mean: Klawto, an evil, felinoid alien wizard, and the felinoid Krang warriors.
Clip Show: "The Disappearance of Thirty-Thirty" and "Tex's Terrible Night", which both use footage from The Movie.
Cool Horse: Thirty-Thirty, an indefatigable talking mount who carries Bravestarr on his back in travel and in battle is a ferocious humanoid warrior who watches Bravestarr's back.
Courtroom Episode: Used in "Tex But No Hex", where the people of Fort Kerium finally take Tex Hex to court for his crimes.
Dark Chick: Vipra, who is less action-oriented than male villains, her main ability being to hypnotize.
Days of Future Past: As with the other Space Western cartoons, clothing and architecture reminiscent of The Wild West and the Victorian era co-exists with futuristic technology. The spaceships look like sailing ships complete with rigging.
Easily Forgiven: Vipra in "Who Am I?". She bullies Scuzz to get information on a magic book, uses the magic book to completely overthrow Tex Hex, establishes herself as the new leader of Tex Hex's gang, and even tries to talk directly to Stampede, but by the time the next episode rolls around, she's still in Tex's gang, taking orders as if nothing's happened.
Eye Beams: One of Tex Hex's powers. One episode even has him create a laser rope out of his eyes in order to strangle one of his henchmen for talking back to him.
Fantastic Racism: In "Kerium Fever", the indigenous Prairie People find a kerium vein just when it seems that New Texas is tapped out, causing some of the human prospectors to resent them. Taking advantage of the tension, Tex Hex and his gang kidnap Judge J.B., frame the innocent Prairie People, then try to steal the kerium while everyone else is busy with the racial conflict.
God Save Us from the Queen: Queen Singlish from "Nomad Is an Island". Not only is she mean to her servants, she kidnaps Thirty-Thirty (because she wants a horse as a gift for her 1000th birthday) and some random Prairie People (because she wants slaves).
Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Scuzz. He's seen smoking a really dirty-looking cigar at all times, can't speak more than a sentence without coughing, and at one point in The Movie, he actually lights his cigar with a stick of dynamite. None of the other villains look too favorably on his habit, though.
Incredible Shrinking Man: In "Thoren the Slavemaster", the title villain uses a "minisizer" to shrink Bravestarr and several other characters.
Just a Machine: The status of Mecha-Mooks varies from one episode to another, but series regulars Cactushead and Thunderstick are clearly considered people (albeit rotten ones).
Kick the Dog: Several of the villains have their Jerkass moments throughout the series, but special mention goes to the scene in "No Drums, No Trumpets" where Thunderstick and Outlaw Scuzz go out of their way to harass and berate a man in front of his young daughter just for carrying her baby dolls.
Mineral MacGuffin: Kerium, a highly energized red crystal that's used as a power source for pretty much everything and is described as "ten times more valuable than gold." It's a plot point in a lot of different ways, and a lot of parallels are drawn between it and gold.
Morality Pet: Tex-Hex's ex-girlfriend Ursula is this for him; he sabotages his own mission once when it would endanger her.
Never Say "Die": Averted; the words die, death, and murder are used when appropriate, and the situations do come up, with "Fallen Idol" being one of the most prominent examples.
Our Robots Are Weird: Cactushead has to be one of the weirdest-looking robots ever designed. He looks like a Joke Character, but he's actually one of Tex's more competent underlings. Then there's Thunderstick, who not only looks odd but speaks a sort of Robo Speak patois that causes him to repeat phrases in a herky-jerky manner.
Pilot Movie: Bravestarr: The Movie, aka Bravestarr: The Legend. It was meant to be a theatrically released introduction to the series, but due to a botched distribution deal, it only had a few limited screenings and was rarely seen until its DVD release.
Scaled Up: In "The Vigilantes", Tex Hex turns himself into a giant dragon in Handlebar's saloon in order to attack Bravestarr. It doesn't go well for him.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Outlaw Scuzz tries to pull this a lot whenever the villains are losing, due to his ability to burrow underground. One episode even has him producing mechanical wings from behind his back and flying away the moment Bravestarr breaks into the villains' hideout.
Settling The Frontier: The main background of the story is the settlement of New Texas.
Spell My Name with an S: The makers of the show couldn't decide whether Tex Hex's prairie person henchman is called Outlaw Skuzz or Outlaw Scuzz. An episode title uses the "Skuzz" spelling, but "Scuzz" appears on the merchandise.
The humanoid pig that's sometimes seen riding with Tex's gang is named Hawgtie, not Hogtie.
Stock Footage: Several extended sequences from the feature film were used routinely as stock footage (and padding) in the series: the space montage opening almost every episode; Bravestarr riding Thirty-Thirty through the desert; Fort Kerium going into Fortress Mode. Conversely, some shots from the series' Title Sequence were integrated into the film's action sequences (the two were produced simultaneously). The four stock sequences of Bravestarr summoning his animal powers were used regularly. Filmation's heavy use of stock and rotoscoped character motions may also qualify.
Super Senses: "Eyes of the hawk!" and "Ears of the wolf!"
Transformation Sequence: Seen when Thirty-Thirty converts from humanoid to robot horse form (and vice versa). The Stock Footage seen when Bravestarr uses his animal powers may also qualify.
Turned Against Their Masters: In "Night of the Bronco Tank", Stampede creates a mechanical monstrosity to destroy Bravestarr and finally take over New Texas. Once the Bronco Tank becomes powerful enough, it decides to go after Stampede as well and rule New Texas itself.
Verbal Tic: Half of the non-human cast seems to have one of these. Stampede punctuates his speech with bull-like snorts, Vipra hisses like a snake when she talks, Thunderstick repeats random words, Thirty-Thirty whinnies like a horse...
You No Take Candle: The Prairie People, as well as half of Tex's gang, speak in broken English.
Exceptions: Skuzz speaks perfect English in several episodes ("The Witnesses" and "Who Am I?") as well as his anti-smoking And Knowing Is Half the Battle segment.
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