Western Animation / Inspector Gadget (2015)

A CGI Inspector Gadget cartoon animated by DHX Media.

Some time after the original series (presumably), Dr. Claw tried to launch a stink missile at HQ, but was accidentally frozen in the Antarctic by Gadget. Without Claw to worry about, Gadget went into retirement, while Penny and Brain became open junior investigators for HQ. However, Dr. Claw had a nephew named Talon, who re-awoke Dr. Claw, retrieved his lost claw, and began rebuilding the MAD organization with Claw's "guidance". With MAD's threat very real again, Gadget comes out of retirement at the chief's request. Now partnered with Penny and Brain on a regular basis, it's up to Gadget and his partners to stop MAD wherever they might strike, no matter how dangerous, or petty, it might be.

Each episode now consists of two 11-minute shorts per episode which takes up both slots.

The show first premiered in 2015 on Boomerang in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America and on Teletoon in Canada. It is exclusive to Netflix in the United States. It ran for 4 seasons and a total of 52 episodes.

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Go Go Gadget Tropes!:

• 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Inverted; the cartoon is primarily 3D, with some stylized 2D animation for effects like fire, explosions and imagine spots.
• Aborted Declaration of Love: Presumably, in "Airhead to the Throne".
  Talon: Well, since we're not gonna make it out of this alive, Penny, I want you to know that I've always had a secret—
  (self-destruct sequence cancelled)
• Academy of Evil: Evil U.
• Action Girl: Penny is a lot more physically active than in the original series, where she managed to defeat the bad guy with just her computer book.
• Adaptational Badass: Gadget himself is as bumbling as ever, but now his gadgets include lasers, missile launchers, and a portal generator.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: In the old show, Dr. Claw was often annoyed by Mad Cat and occasionally struck him. In this series, he actually dotes on her.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Chief Quimby now has blonde hair when his hair was brown in the original series.
• Adaptation Name Change: In the original show, Claw's first name was Edward, and in Gadget and the Gadgetinis, his first name was George. In this show, his full name is Irving Felonius Claw Jr.
• Adorable Evil Minion: In this series, MAD Cat is much cuter, and while the original was solely a Right-Hand Cat, this incarnation occasionally gets directly involved in missions.
• Adults Are Useless: The most competent characters on both sides are both teenagers.
• Affably Evil: Talon seems to genuinely enjoy running into Penny, despite being shown to be perfectly willing to kill her during the course of his duties. Virtually all of their encounters have involved banter (occasionally bordering on flirting!) and one of his immediate questions when Gadget is spotted is, "Is Penny there too?"
  • It should be pointed out that while Talon is willing to use lethal force against Penny, when her life is in actual danger and she's helpless to save herself, Talon rushes to save her.
• Affectionate Nickname: Talon calls Penny "Pretty Penny", a name he got from Penny herself, when she bashfully introduced herself to him when they first met.
• Age Lift: Though not the first incarnation to do so,^note Penny was previously a teenager in the animated DTV movie, "Inspector Gadget's Biggest Caper Ever", Penny is now a teenager.
  • Professor Von Slickstein actually debuted in the original Inspector Gadget cartoon's episode "The Amazon". There, he had a hunched back, balding hair, a white mustache, and a cane. For some reason, he appears much younger in this 2015 series, although this professor might just be a relative of the other.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Happens in the episode "Mr. Security." Slickstein installs a security system with AI named Mr. Security that first goes on to mistake Talon for Penny and then goes rouge, thinking Gadget himself is a threat.
• All-CGI Cartoon: Unlike previous shows, this series is made completely with CGI animation.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: It's pretty clear this is part of Penny's attraction to Talon, though she is fully aware of how bad he is and is more than willing to take him down.
  • That said, in "Tiny Talon Time" she admits that he's "super cute" and in "Evil U" she admits that his bad boy attitude is at least somewhat attractive.
• Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The title theme in most languages is a new composition with a stronger "Mountain King" influence than its predecessor. The French opening is a cover of the original theme song.
• Always Someone Better: Gadget's Russian counterpart, Comrade Multi-Use Tool, is a subversion. He's better than Gadget, but thinks Gadget is better than him because he mistakes Gadget's idiocy and gadget malfunctions for brilliant tactics.
  • For Dr. Claw, there's his unseen rival Baron von Steeltoe. Most mentions of him tend be about a successful scheme he just pulled off flawlessly and/or lording his success over Claw.
• Ambiguously Brown: Dr. Claw's mother. The same applies to Talon, thought to a less obvious extent, and even Dr. Claw (what little we've seen of him).
• Ambiguously Gay: Dr. Slickstein has a questionable sexuality- while changing Gadget in a super-costume machine, Slickstein accidentally gets Gadget into a thong. He specializes in technological fashion, and at one point goes through a Sailor Moon-esque Transformation Sequence, complete with ballet twirl.
• Anticipatory Breath Spray: In "Double O'Penny" Talon does this just before meeting up with Penny's evil clone at a restaurant. The "date" doesn't go as he'd hoped.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Penny sometimes tries to invoke an epiphany on Talon by earnestly asking some variation on "do you really want to do this?" It has made him hesitate, but he'll either conclude Evil Feels Good or admit he doesn't want to let his uncle down.
• Art Shift: At certain moments, scenes will flip to a somewhat animesque style for a few seconds. This is done often to punctuate a gag, emphasize a character's emotional state, or highlight that the scene is a flashback.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Interruption: "Growing Like MAD" had this exchange:
  Talon: Face it, Penny, you're always going to be one step--
  Penny: Behind you!
  Talon: Exactly. (gets slammed from behind)
• Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: The bad guys are all absurdly silly Card Carrying Villains who demonstrate these reverse principles all the time, particularly when their larger organizations are given a look. Showing up late is for class at the Academy of Evil is worth extra credit, the trust-building exercises are passed by not catching the teammate's fall, Claw's mother criticizes him for obeying traffic laws rather than driving like a lunatic and so forth. At the end of "Evil U," Penny is able to twist this "logic" into a justification for how she and Mal can still be friends despite having opposed morals.
• Bad Present: In "Back to the MAD Future", time-traveling to the past creates a new version of the present that is a dystopian Egopolis run by MAD Cat.
• Balloon Belly: In "A Better Class of MAD", Penny and Brain get these in an Imagine Spot.
• Bankruptcy Barrel: Quimby is wearing one in the Episode Title Card of "MAD Money", where the plot concerns HQ's Gadget-inflicted fiscal woes. Eventually he shows up wearing it in the episode proper.
• Blazing Inferno Hellfire Sauce:
  Penny: Uh, Brain? That's Pain Power Picante Pepper Paste. It registers two million on the "ouchie tongue" scale.
  (Brain smiles, shrugs, and takes a bite. Cue Art Shift and the Fire-Breathing Diner.)
• Borrowed Catchphrase: Talon borrows both Gadget's and Claw's catchphrases in "The Gadgetor". He does the first on purpose when Penny mocks him by pointing out he's talking like her uncle, and when she knocks his goo gun out of his hand he uses the latter. He actually goes nuts when Penny points out he's now talking like his own uncle.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: In the episode “Metro City’s Sinking”, when Talon points out how weak the ground’s getting from constant digging, Claw responds with “I’m sick of your Foreshadowing.”
• Broken Pedestal: Detective Data is this for Penny in the episode "Operation HQ Reunion" when she finds out that her favorite "youngest Junior Agent-turned full-fledged Agent" is now a turned agent who's working for MAD, due to lack of appreciation for her talents after being stuck in Gadget's shadow for 10 years.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • In this series, Talon has taken MAD Cat's place as Claw's punching bag.
  • Quimby as the messages he gives Gadget always wind up self-destructing on him thanks to Gadget.
• Call-Back: In "A Penny Saved", Claw refuses to let Talon anywhere near his vehicles. Talon takes offense, claiming he isn't that bad a driver. Que a selection of clips from previous episodes where he crashes numerous vehicles, and even Talon is forced to concede the point.
• Calling the Old Man Out: In "Double O'Penny", Penny finally calls out Gadget for his obliviousness after he nearly botches a mission and jeopardizes their lives. He is later Easily Forgiven by Penny, since his bumbling saves the day in that episode.
• Chair Reveal: How Penny, and the viewers, are introduced to Talon in "Gadget 2.0, Part 1".
• Chaste Toons: Aside from Gadget still having his niece Penny, Dr. Claw now has a nephew named Talon.
• Circling Birdies: The "circling stars" variation is seen a lot.
• Comeback Tomorrow: In "Colliderscope" Penny has trouble coming up with good comebacks to Talon's quips and tries taking advantage of a time loop to fix this. At one point she comes up with a decent comeback, but forgets to wait for Talon to give her the setup. Talon makes fun of her for it.
• Conspicuous Consumption: Talon lampshades Claw's plan to freeze everyone at HQ's reunion party with liquid diamond as needlessly extravagant and expensive since it can be done cheaper with ice.
• Danger Room Cold Open:
  • After Dr. Claw is revived, Penny is running through a simulation against MAD henchmen. Also introduces a Chekhov's Skill, where she forgets to look up.
  • Several other episodes also start in a "holoroom", some without the danger element.
• Dating Catwoman: A gender reversed example, Penny is immediately attracted to Talon upon introduction. Talon seems to return the feelings.
  • How well they get along seems to Depend On The Writer, as in some episodes, they are totally hostile to each other, while in others, they get along well (for example, their conversation in the episode "Sucks Like MAD"), and others still, they borderline flirt with each other.
• Death Dealer: The MADgician has been shown using playing cards as thrown weapons.
• Deface of the Moon: Claw would have loved to do this, but his villainous rival Baron Von Steeltoe beat him to it.
• Denser and Wackier: Compared to the original show, this one is a lot more fast-paced, the slapstick is more frequent, and there are more jokes. Dr. Claw, while still the mysterious and gravelly-voiced villain, has become a lot more comedic and at times comes across as almost a parody of his old self (very much like in Gadget and the Gadgetinis), although it could be attributed to that he's much older now.
  • As an example in the original, Dr. Claw once crushed a *diamond* with one hand, terrifying M.A.D.Kat and his henchmen, and on numerous occasions, it's clear his henchmen are terrified of him. The 2015 Claw is...not quite as terrifying. At least not without resorting to laser fire.
• Disco Dan: Due to one being frozen and the other being...well...himself, Both Dr. Claw and Inspector Gadget are a little behind the times when it comes to contemporary music and trends.
  • To Talon's horror, Dr. Claw's recruitment video for MAD henchmen clearly hasn't been updated in decades.
• Disguised in Drag: Brain and Talon both frequently use female disguises. Penny has also gone undercover as the opposite sex.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Talon gets like this at times when Penny is around. On one occasion, he has weapons trained on her and gets distracted by how cute she looks while she's desperately using her holotech to disrupt his control. On several occasions, he gets so caught up in taking Penny on that he doesn't notice her (or Inspector Gadget himself) actually foil MAD's plan.
  • Penny also gets like this at times, but she normally doesn't allow it to interfere with her mission. That said, in "We Heart Gadget" she spends quite a bit of time, staring at Talon with a lovestruck look on her face. Talon actually feels embarrassed when he notices.
  • Even Gadget gets in on the act, as he is charmed by a MAD agent in "We Heart Gadget".
• The Door Slams You: In the intro, Gadget accidentally saves Penny by doing this to Talon.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?:
  • An ex-partner of Gadget's works for MAD to freeze everyone in HQ's reunion party in liquid diamond because Gadget gets all the credit for her work, and even goads Penny to stop working for her uncle because of this.
  • Talon seems to feel this way at times, such as when he was sent to work under the Cuckoo Clockmaker and the extent of his duties was, "Watch the giant clock."
• Episode Title Card
• Enfant Terrible: Dr. Claw's nephew Talon, who can be seen trying to shoot Penny in the new intro.
• Engineered Public Confession: In "Gadget Goes to Jail," Penny exploits Talon's tendency to blab about his schemes to her and broadcasts his admission that he framed Gadget to exonerate her uncle.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • In "A Penny Saved", after accidentally hypnotizing Talon, Claw commands him to eat one of MAD Cat's hairballs, but stops him before he can go through with it, as even he's not that evil.
  • Talon might be malicious, but he refuses to destroy the planet for petty reasons.
• Everyone Can See It: Penny's attraction to Talon (and his attraction to her) is pretty obvious to Chief Quimby and Brain in the very first episode. In "Tiny Talon Time", it's revealed that Penny's friend Kayla and Professor Von Slickstein totally ship them, especially when the two engage in a fight. Chief Quimby's response is a weary sigh and a reminder to Penny that she still needs to stop Talon.
• Evil Counterpart: Dr. Claw's nephew Talon appears to be this to Penny, as well as a Spear Counterpart, as he is Dr. Claw's nephew and Penny is Gadget's niece, and both are very intelligent for their age.
  • An example of how evenly matched they are can be seen in the episode where Talon is sent to take over a super airship. He uses a machine to seize control of the ship and sets up a firewall preventing Penny from hacking it, but she then uses the Gadgetmobile as a ram and knocks the machine clean off the ship. Talon then uses another machine to drag the ship towards a MAD base, and Penny is on the verge of giving up when she realises there's nothing stopping her from using the Gadgetmobile again.
• Evil Is Petty: While some things MAD does is nefarious and criminal, like trying to take over all the TV waves of the world, sometimes it's something simple like trying to get rid of all dogs as revenge for one dog stealing candy when Dr. Claw was young, or putting all the people of the city into a sugar coma just so Mama Claw can have some peace and quiet. Talon doesn't hesitate to point out just how stupid this can be.
  • In "Double O'Penny", after she thinks she's eliminated Gadget, Penny's evil clone engages in some random chaos around HQ before leaving.
• Evil Laugh: The Evil Laugh is Serious Business among the villains. It's one of the things they're graded on at the Academy of Evil. Mal's is excellent, Talon's is often called inadequate, Penny's attempt summons cute little birds who perch on her hands.
• Evil Matriarch: Mama Claw, whom Claw and Talon both go in fear of.
• Evil Twin: In "Double O'Penny" MAD makes an evil clone of Penny to infiltrate HQ.
• Expendable Clone: Somewhat surprisingly for this kind of story, this is averted in "Double O'Penny." Penny's evil clone is simply arrested like any other bad guy, and doesn't melt away or anything.
• Eyepatch of Power: Madtana Dan wears one, but it's just for show. The eye is shown as perfectly healthy when the eyepatch is knocked askew. His ostrich also wears one.
• The Faceless: Dr. Claw remains this. While the original cartoon stuck to just his claw and a bit of his arm, everything from the armpits to his knees can be seen in some scenes. Mama Claw is similarly hidden, although she is seen to be short with large hair.
  • Lampshaded by Talon in one episode.
  "In your indescribable face, Uncle Claw!"
  • And by Claw himself in another:
  "Now I can never not show my face there again!"
• Falsely Reformed Villain: A variation in "Trees Company": The Weed-Whacko is cured of his hatred of plants and then released from custody. Though the reform is genuine in the sense that he now truly loves plants, he's otherwise just as crazy and villainous as ever. He immediately starts a new plan to turn everyone into plants as opposed to trying to kill all plants.
• Family-Friendly Firearms: Talon and most other MAD agents carry around a purple gun that fires large globs of extremely sticky gum. (It's literal gum -- characters sometimes comment on its flavor.) Though often brandished threateningly, it's never shown to have direct lethal utility, and is used only to detain or delay.
• The Family That Slays Together: Dr. Claw, his mother, and his nephew are all criminals who work together.
• Family Theme Naming:
  • Dr. Claw's nephew is called Talon.
  • Although not blood related, most named MAD agents have "MAD" at the start of their name. Some names are more obvious than others (like Madeline versus The Madgician).
• Felony Misdemeanor: Played for Laughs in "Inspector Gadget Goes to Jail," where shoplifting is repeatedly referred to as the worst crime ever.
• Female Feline, Male Mutt: MADCat and Brain, since the former is now a girl.
• Fire-Breathing Diner: A common gag when someone eats spicy food.
• First-Episode Twist: Talon is Dr. Claw's nephew. They try to hide this fact in "Gadget 2.0, Part 1", but it was spoiled by the intro.
• Flanderization: This series plays up Gadget's stupidity and egotism far more than any other series.
• Flying Face: Talon becomes this in some scenes of the episode What Is... The MADtrix?
• Foe Romance Subtext: Oodles of it between Penny and Talon. At times, their banter borders on flirtation. It is so obvious between them that "Tiny Talon Time" reveals that Penny's co-workers actively ship them In-Universe, and in "Tool Russia With Love", a Russian agent outwardly wonders if the reason Talon hasn't been caught is because of Penny's attraction to him. They even go on a Not a Date in "We Heart Gadget", and seem to genuinely enjoy each other's company.
• Foreshadowing: A short-term example, when Penny is given a mission instead of Gadget because he is sick, the message "may" self-destruct. This is the only message to do so, since Penny deactivates that function.
• Fountain of Youth: The main gimmick of "The Fountain of Cortez". Both Dr. Ithica Marvins and The Chief are reverted into babies, and Dr. Claw wanted to revert everyone in the world into babies. There are also a "Basin of Aging" that has the reverse effects. Mixing the two causes both to disintegrate.
• Freudian Excuse: Dr. Claw claims he hates dogs because he's allergic to them, but it's really because a dog stole his candy when he was a baby.
• Friendly Enemy:
  • In some episodes Penny and Talon bear each other no personal animosity and can be quite chatty and cordial until duty demands they start fighting.
  • Penny and Mal agree to be "frienemies" at the end of "Evil U" after Mal finds out that her best evil buddy was in fact good all along. This relationship is somewhat strained in "Frienemy of the State" though.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision: In "Ice, Ice Yeti", Penny has to choose between disabling Dr. Claw's icecap-melting heat machine (and in the process, free the yeti Talon captured to power said machine), or capturing Talon to receive good marks at HQ for detaining the enemy. She naturally chooses the former.
• Gadget Watches: In episode 8, the new antagonist is 'Cuckoo', who makes convoluted gadget watches.
• Gender Flip: MAD Cat is female in this series.
• The Ghost: We have no idea who Talon's parents are, or if they are even still alive. He does call Mama Claw "Grandma", but not which side of his family she's from.
• Gilded Cage: While attempting to capture Penny and Gadget, Mal tries to suggest Penny's captivity won't be all that bad.
  Mal: Just 'cause it's over for you doesn't mean our friendship has to be. Being my prisoner will be like a sleepover! That never ends.
  • At the end of the same episode, Penny promises to send Mal only to medium-security prison.
• Giving Them the Strip: Subverted in "Pyramid Scheme". Penny pins Talon to the wall with darts, and he drops out of his shirt to escape... still wearing an identical shirt.
  Talon: And that's why they call me "Lucky Talon Two-Shirts".
• Grand Theft Me: In "Brain Drain" MAD kidnaps Brain and then switches his mind with MADcat's in order to get access to HQ.
• Grappling-Hook Pistol: Penny and Brain carry around a variant that has a suction cup instead of a grappling hook, but the usage is much the same.
• Growling Gut: Happens to Gadget due to consuming a bomb, (though he thought it was from too many hot peppers). Happens to Chief Quimby in one episode due to hunger, and to Penny’s friend, Kayla due to dizziness.
• Hair Color Dissonance: Talon's hair is black... until he stands next to Gadget. Then you realize: his hair is actually purple.
  • When seen in his civilian clothes, Talon's hair is black and lays flat◊, but while in his MAD uniform, his hair is styled up into spikes and colored purple. This implies his styled hair is dyed.
• Harmless Freezing: Getting turned into a Human Popsicle is harmless but for some shivering afterward. In the first episode Dr. Claw and MADcat suffer only minor temporary effects after having been frozen in an iceberg for years. The trope makes repeated appearances throughout the series (and could be seen in the original cartoon as well).
• Hartman Hips: A number of female characters have extremely exaggerated hips. Madelena in "A Better Class of MAD" is also an example.
• Heel–Face Turn: Dr. Claw does one in "Back to the MAD Future" after he's convinced his greed led to MADcat's death. In the Bad Present he's become the Chief at HQ, displacing Quimby. In order to fix the present, this has to be undone.
• Here We Go Again!: The moment Penny suggests getting Gadget out of retirement, Brain begins packing it up to go into retirement, positively dreading the inevitable usual, before of course getting talked into helping by Penny.
• Hidden Depths: Penny seems to believe this of Talon. In "Tiny Talon Time", Penny tells Kayla that while "super-cute", Talon is still evil. She quickly amends her statement by adding, "Mostly."
  • Considering there are a number of occasions where Talon actively saves her life, and Penny's knowledge of Talon's Hilariously Abusive Childhood, she may be hoping for a Love Redeems situation.
• High-Class Glass: The main uplifted alligator in "See You Later, Super-Gator" acquires a monocle as part of the illustration that they are now super-intelligent and highly urbane. The extremely wealthy Sir Owen Barnstormer also sports one.
• Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Talon is often the target of Claw's displeasure. Claw's mother even scolds him for how he treats Talon-for not being harsh enough.
  • The episode "A Clawruption" subverts this, as it shows Talon going along with Dr. Claw's plan (despite his own neck being on the line) because he's so desperate for Claw's love and/or affection. Penny actually feels bad for him and tries to get him to call it off, but he goes through with it anyway.
• Holographic Terminal: What has replaced Penny's computer book; she has both screen and goggle scanning functions.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Agent Data plans on sneaking in a cake filled with liquid diamond to freeze the agents at the party forever in "Operation HQ Reunion," Only for Gadget to push it into the elevator she was trapped in, causing it to go off on her.
• Homage: Season 2 is actually full of episode long homages to various movies, including Mad Max, The Matrix, Speed, Back to the Future, and The Lord of the Rings.
• Human Popsicle: It is established in the first episode, "Gadget 2.0", that Dr. Claw ended up frozen in an iceberg after the events of the original cartoon. He gets thawed out to continue menacing the world.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: Penny, even more so than before: She's been in training, and is an agent in her own right.
  • Talon is this to Dr. Claw, and he's pretty much the only one of Claw's minions who can stand against Penny with some degree of success.
• I Want Grandkids: Dr. Claw's "turn everyone in the world into babies" plan in "The Fountain of Cortez" kicks off because of his (circa late '80s) memory of Mama Claw pestering him for grandchildren. In the era of the show proper, she does have one grandchild, but certainly would like more.
• Just Between You and Me: Talon will often blab about his plans to Penny. Can also be attributed to Distracted by the Sexy, as he pretty obviously has a thing for her and wants to impress her.
• Left the Background Music On: Part of Talon's Chair Reveal in the first episode included heavenly music while Penny stared agape... until Brain turned the radio playing it off.
• Lighter and Softer: The original series wasn't especially dark overall, but the humorous parts were almost entirely confined to Gadget's bumbling antics, which served to break up the more serious segments featuring Penny and Claw. Penny was physically helpless and never fared well against MAD agents, who seldom displayed any reluctance to hurt or kill a child, and Claw could head straight into Vile Villain, Saccharine Show at times. Here, everyone contributes to the humor, Penny's encounters with MAD agents are action-adventure romps against an opponent her own age, and Claw is almost as bumbling as Gadget.
• Longing Look: Penny shoots Talon a number of these on their Not a Date in "We Heart Gadget". While normally quite flirty, Talon actually feels embarrassed when he notices and quickly claims to find romance gross.
• Love At Firstsight: Between Penny and Talon, Dr. Claw's nephew.
• Long-Runner Tech Marches On:
  • Penny's computer book has been replaced with a tablet akin to an iPad that materializes in front of her. She can also summon up goggles with Stat-O-Vision, infrared, etc.
  • Chief Quimby's exploding messages are now given in on small devices that play recorded messages instead of pieces of paper that explode when Gadget finishes reading them.
  • Brain's collar now offers quick transformations in addition to communication with Penny.
  • Gadget's old coat and Gadgetmobile appear in the first episode, but are replaced with newer versions (the latter disintegrating into dust because it was so badly rusted).
• Love Makes You Dumb: Seeing Talon sometimes leaves Penny temporarily dumbstruck. Penny has the same effect on Talon, to the point he sometimes changes or abandons plans in order to meet with her. And then try to kill her, but perhaps that's just his way of showing affection. It's especially notable because Talon generally spends his time pointing out obvious flaws in Dr. Claw's plans.
• Meaningful Echo: "I'm evil, not dead," is said by Mal in "Evil U" when discussing her love for Irony Maiden (also Penny's favorite band). Near the end of the episode when Mal finds out Penny was a good guy in disguise all along, she angrily asks whether Penny even likes Irony Maiden, and Penny replies with "I'm good, not dead."
• Miniature Senior Citizen: Mama Claw, though they still manage to hide her face like they do with her son.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Detective Data was once HQ's youngest Junior Agent to be made into a full Agent. To her misfortune, she was partnered with the Cloudcuckoolander Inspector Gadget, who not only neglected taking her seriously, but ended up always taking the credit for anything she may have actually accomplished on their missions (just like with Penny, who actively gives Gadget the props regardless of his involvement in the given caper). It was like this for ten years, and to say she wasn't pleased would be an understatement. It's why she no longer works with partners on missions (it's in her contract) and why she currently works for MAD.
  • On the few occasions she sees how Claw treats Talon, Penny can't help wondering why he hasn't pulled this off yet.
• The Mole: Talon, who manages to infiltrate HQ in the first episode due to his impressive credentials as a means of finding Dr. Claw's missing claw.
  • "Operation HQ Reunion" gives us the once illustrious Detective Data, now turned MAD Agent, who works Claw's scheme to sabotage HQ's Agent Reunion party.
• Moose and Maple Syrup: Chief Quimby's office has a couple of Canadian flags and a portrait of him as a Mountie. (DHX Media is a Canadian company.)
• Morality Pet: In "Back to the MAD Future", Dr. Claw's past self mistakenly believes MADcat was killed at an explosion caused by one of his devices and he decides to become a good guy, creating a timeline where he's Da Chief. Unfortunately, MADcat survives and uses the plans the previous timeline's Claw sent back in time to become such a terrifying villain in the new timeline Gadget and Penny have to go back in time again and restore the status quo.
• Motor Mouth: Penny's friend Kayla. In "Appy Days" she utilizes this to torture Talon.
• My God, What Have I Done?: In "Back to the MAD Future" Dr. Claw has a moment like this, thinking he's caused the death of MADcat.
  Dr. Claw: MADcat. My one true friend. Like, totally lost forever because of my greed. Maybe crime doesn't pay. (sighs)
• Mythology Gag:
  • The new opening contains some scenes from the original cartoon's intro, such as Gadget handcuffing a fake Dr. Claw arm and finding a bomb in the seat, with the explosion causing him to become the "I" in the show's title.
  • The Gadget Copter bears some resemblance to its appearance in the live-action Disney films.
  • In the premiere episode "Gadget 2.0", it is revealed that Dr. Claw has been frozen since Gadget went into retirement and he is also seen wearing a mitten over his hand instead of his traditional metal claw glove. This is a reference to his brother Dr. Thaw from Gadget and the Gadgetinis, who also wore mittens and ended up frozen.
  • Gadget and the Gadgetinis also featured a nephew of Claw who was Ship Teased with Penny. Unlike with Talon, though, Penny's dynamic with William lacked Foe Romance Subtext, since he wasn't a villain himself.
  • Penny's pajamas are just grown-up versions of her outfit from the original series.
  • In one episode, it's mentioned that Gadget was a magician in college known as "the great Gadgetini".
  • Penny's digital scrapbook shows the globetrotting Gadget visiting many exotic locales, including a shot of him at the Great Wall of China, that looks a lot like stills from the opening credit roll of Inspector Gadget's Field Trip.
  • In one episode where the characters go back in time, Dr. Claw is shown to have the MAD uniforms from the original show.
  • A Russian agent is shown to have a computer book, which Penny mentions having used one for years.
  • Talon's first plan in "A Clawruption" is to set off the volcano using bombs hidden in pineapples, which was also the scheme of the "Volcano Island" episode in the original series.
• Not a Date: Penny and Talon secretly trail Gadget and a Honey Trap MAD agent in "We Heart Gadget". They have ice cream together, complain how they'd rather be in a comic book store than a museum (where Gadget and the agent decided to go on their date), watched a romantic sunset and took a ride on a rickshaw. Penny even admits she wishes the mission would go on just a bit longer.
• Not Hyperbole: In "Gadget 2.0" when Talon says he left Claw a billion messages, he wasn't exaggerating.
• Not So Above It All: This show's Penny is far more flawed than past incarnations. For example, if Talon's involved, chances are she'll drop everything to go after him, leaving Brain to watch over Gadget. This sometimes leads to her getting in over her head. As an example, she once infiltrated a MAD training seminar and wasn't able to resist taking Talon on when he asked for volunteers to demonstrate self defense. Unluckily for her, while he couldn't see through her disguise, Talon recognises the way she moves and fights.
  • Penny also acts more like a typical teenager around her friend Kayla and even Talon herself. She and Talon joke about Dr. Claw during "Sucks like MAD", and seem like they genuinely enjoy the conversation.
• Once per Episode: The tradition of Quimby always getting caught in the explosion from the self-destructing message continues from the original, although the message is now on a hologram instead of paper.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Penny and Talon both seem to feel this way about each other, especially in "Frienemy of the State". Penny gets less than zero satisfaction out of seeing Talon behind bars when captured by someone else, and is even more indignant when she finds out his arrest happened because of having been ratted out by his own side. For his part Talon expresses the sentiment exactly when he saves her from capture herself.
  Talon: No one defeats Penny except me!
  Penny: What he said! (Beat as she realizes what she's said.) Except for the defeating me part.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: In "Mr.Security," Talon fools the security system by wearing a wig that does not even look like Penny's hair.
• Plot Allergy: Penny is allergic to cats. It doesn't come up often, but if Mad Cat is around, Penny will find out.
• Portrait Painting Peephole: Done in MAD's lair when a pair of eyes follow Penny, Brain, and Talon in the intro.
• Progressively Prettier: MAD Cat is much more adorable in this series.
• Relationship Labeling Problems: Penny has this with her mortal enemy Talon (who is Doctor Claw's nephew to boot). They're clearly attracted to each other, virtually everyone who sees them interact can see it, but both are also extremely loyal to their sides. In an episode where she and Talon are spying on Gadget and a MAD agent on a date (while engaging in date-like activities themselves while doing it), when the Chief contacts her and asks "what's your status?" she sheepishly responds, "It's complicated?"
• Quarter Hour Short: Every episode consists of two 11-minute shorts. Other than in the pilot episode, none of the shorts' plots are connected to each other.
• Save the Villain: Being the good guy, Penny will save Talon if he's in dire need. This almost always means saving him from a threat he himself created.
  • In "Operation Hocus Pocus" she swoops in on a rope to swing him to safety after he's been cornered by a rolling boulder o' doom. As they're swinging, the art shifts and they smile at each other, apparently both caught up in the Rescue Romance aspect.
  • In "Mr. Security" she repeatedly tries to save him from the rogue AI turned Knight Templar Mr. Security. Clarifying that she wants him to live behind bars, she helps him out from a pit Mr. Security threw him into, and tries to talk the AI out of killing him by suggesting he has good qualities.
  • In "The Walking Head Cold" she knocks away a mucus-zombie that was about to attack him.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: The shark in "Game Over, Man!", apparently. Several henchmen are like this as well. In later episodes, such as "Were Brain of London", more of these screams happen, and strangely, it's Talon who's making these crazy screams.
• Security Cling:
  • In "Tiny Talon Time," the mere suggestion of rats being loose in the building causes Kayla to do the Eek, a Mouse!! routine and hop into Penny's arms for safety.
  • In "Harmageddon" the impending end of the world prompts Talon to jump into Penny's arms, complete with a cry of "hold me!" Although that's usually a pure comedy setup, they wind up smiling at each other and the art shifts into a full Ship Tease moment.
• Sequel Series: This cartoon is a sequel to the original show, establishing that Gadget went into retirement after Dr. Claw got trapped in an iceberg.
• Shout-Out:
  • In "Appy Days" Brain's businessman disguise is based on Bill Lumbergh from Office Space.
  • When Gadget visits a space station, one of the astronauts has an acoustic guitar and seems to be modeled after Chris Hadfield (which he acknowledged on his Tumblr.)
  • "My Gadget Will Go On" has several references to popular ship disaster movies, such as Titanic (1997) and The Poseidon Adventure.
  • In "Dog Show Days Are Over", we get this exchange:
  Penny: No wonder I've been sneezing. But why?
  Talon: It's an autoimmune response, but that's not really important right now.
  • From "A Claw for Talon":
  Talon: Why can't I wear the claw?
  Claw: You can't handle the claw!
  • In "Gadget Management", Brain has several run-ins with the glowering emu from Untalkative Bunny, who is apparently now working for MAD.
  • The episode "Back to the MAD Future" features a car that must go at 88 miles per hour to work as a Time Machine.
  • The playing-with-dinosaur-dolls opening to "Jurassic Jerk" is straight out of Firefly. Claw makes sure to use the memetic "sudden but inevitable betrayal" line.
• Shrink Ray: The Phlebotinum of the day in "Tiny Talon Time".
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Basically the relationship between Talon and MADcat.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: Chief Quimby now wears glasses.
• Spikes of Villainy: Claw is very fond of this aesthetic. Possibly reaches the apex of absurdity when he's shown riding on a segway with spikes.
• Start My Own: Talon in a few episodes has expressed the ambition to leave Claw and start his own MAD empire. It's the main motive behind his plot in "The Heir Affair".
• Stating the Simple Solution: Talon frequently does this during Dr. Claw's more foolish plans.
  • In the second episode, a henchmen suggest simply dropping Penny to her death from the top of a skyscraper, but Talon immediately stops him, claim it'd be more evil to make her watch as their plans come to fruition.
• Suggestive Collision: "Growing Like MAD" has about as suggestive a collision as a TV-Y show could plausibly get away with — after being knocked from behind by a vine, Talon winds up flung face down on top of Penny with his lower half between her legs. Both are mortified, and Talon chuckles nervously, says "let's never speak of this again," and jumps up to resume the fight.
• Suicidal "Gotcha!": In "A Clawruption," after trying and failing to talk Talon out of his mission, Penny suddenly jumps from the helicopter. Talon is horrified and rushes to the door after her screaming her name... and then he sees the parachute deploy. He immediately reverts to his smug persona and claims he'd known about it all along.
• Suicide Mission: Claw has no compunctions about sending his nephew on these. He's completely unconcerned with whether Talon survives the mission in "A Clawruption," and "Harmageddon" has Claw outright broadcast that he doesn't want Talon to make it back.
• Sympathy for the Devil: In "A Clawruption", Penny happens to witness a conversation between Talon and Claw. When Talon attempts to point out he might not make it back, Claw wordlessly cuts the communication, leaving Talon to slump into his chair. Penny feels so sorry for him she actually reaches out, and quickly makes her presence known in an attempt to convince him Claw isn't worth it. It doesn't work.
• Teen Super Spy: Penny has been upgraded from a Snooping Little Kid to this. Talon as her Evil Counterpart is one as well, as is Kayla, her best friend, although Kayla's at a somewhat lower level.
• Third-Person Person: Madtana Dan frequently refers to himself in the third person, although he'll use "me" and "I" occasionally too.
• This Is Gonna Suck: The "I'm about to bear the brunt of an explosion and have no time to do anything but sigh" face is often seen, usually on Quimby just before the self-destructing message of the episode blows up in his face, or on Talon just before his plans go spectacularly wrong.
• This Page Will Self-Destruct: Gadget still receives his missions via explosive message, all that's changed is that the message is a hologram.
• Three-Point Landing: Penny can be shown landing in this way within three minutes of the first episode, as part of the demonstration that she's a martial arts Action Girl this time around. It shows up repeatedly in many of the action scenes thereafter.
• Took a Level in Dumbass: Relative to the 80's version, Chief Quimby is stupider. In the first episode, he mistakenly tries to open the door to HQ by using the wrong magnetic cards, and even a cracker.
  • Truth in Television: Nowadays, people tend to have a lot of loyalty cards scattered through their wallets for stores, restaurants, AAA membership, etc. Including ones that are useless due to the chain going out of business, or moving to where the chain doesn't have a location, etc. So Quimby confusing his cards isn't technically impossible; besides, he now wears glasses, so it's possible age has taken a toll as well.
  • Gadget is somehow even dumber here than before. At one point, he is chained to a pike with middle ages style warriors around, and comes to the conclusion he's at a party and fire is just what the party needs, and lights up his own pike
  • Dr. Claw is significantly less intelligent and cunning than the 80's version, sometimes borderlining on plain goofy. One episode sees Claw mention a plan to plant a giant Jack O'Lantern for a plot and Talon trying to correct him that you have to grow a pumpkin and then carve it instead. Claw scoffed at the idea and replied "Next you're going to tell me that you can't grow mashed potatoes!"
• Totally Radical:
  • The teenage characters make heavy and sometimes jarring use of "totes", "whatevs", and "OMG", among others.
  • In "Back to the MAD Future" Claw uses a lot of much more dated slang in an even more exaggerated fashion.
• Tron Lines: The infiltration mode of Penny's outfit sports these.
• Two Shorts: Unlike the original series, all episodes except the pilot are split into two side-by-side segments.
• Two Words: I Can't Count: At the end of "Evil U".
  Dr. Claw: (addressing Talon) I have two words for you: Evil. Summer. School.
• United Nations Is a Superpower: Chief Quimby has alternating Canadian and UN flags arrayed behind his desk.
• Unknown Rival: Lampshaded in "The Gadgetator" when Talon tries to tell Claw about Penny and Claw doesn't know what he's talking about.
  • Gadget also doesn't know who Talon is, according to "Ice Ice Yeti".
• Unobtainium: The champion belt is made of "obscurium", the shiniest metal in the world.
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Penny in "Picnic Pests" is quite a sore winner who doesn't even check to see if her opponents are uninjured before starting to gloat over them. Kayla calls her out on her behavior, and Talon, when he sees it, can't resist joining in the competition just to show her up (he is, of course, just as bad). Although she is able to prioritize the larger objective over the insignificant competition, the fact that at the end of the episode she's recounting with nearly sadistic glee the exact injuries Talon will be in pain from after having "beaten" her makes it somewhat unclear whether she actually learned a lesson.
• Vampires Are Sex Gods: Penny is disappointed that this is not the case, though Dracula claims he was quite a looker.
• Vampire Vords: The vampires in "The Lady and the Vamp" speak in the stereotypical way.
• Villain Decay: Dr. Claw has become a bit more like his foe, going from Diabolical Mastermind to a Harmless Dastardly Whiplash.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Without fail, Talon will evade capture by taking off with his rocket boots or some similar means.
• Villainous Rescue: Though he's quite willing to put her in harm's way himself, certain occasions have prompted Talon to save Penny.
  • In "MAD Carpet Ride" she loses her balance on top of a rapidly turning blimp and he stops her from falling to her death... though he does so by catching her ankles with a rope and tying the other end to a beam, leaving her hanging safely but embarrassingly upside-down.
  • In "Frienemy of the State" Mal has her weapon trained on Penny and is about to capture her before Talon jumps in and disables Mal, with a quip about being The Only One Allowed to Defeat Penny.
  • Less dramatically, he also talked Madthew out of tossing her off a building in "Towering Towers".
• The Voiceless: Brain no longer talks. At best, he growls as he rolls his eyes.
• Voices Are Mental: Characters keep their original voices throughout the body swapping that goes on in "Brain Drain". Gadget lampshades it when he hears Talon's voice coming out of Penny.
• Welcome Back, Traitor: Professor Von Slickstein has defected to MAD in a few episodes and is accepted back into the ranks of HQ without a word being said. In "Parched Nemesis" he (and Kayla, who did the same thing) tries to play it off as having been a Fake Defector, but no one seems to care either way.
• What Are Records?: In "Back to the MAD Future," Talon has never heard of VHS tapes.
• What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: Said quite sarcastically by Talon after hearing the Evil Plan of the day in "Lost in the Lost City of Atlantis" — and just before heading out to enact it anyway.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: In the episode "Towering Towers", MAD construction worker Madthew suggests throwing a newly captured Penny off the side of the skyscraper they were on. Talon profusely objects to this, before trying to cover himself up by making a Bond Villain Stupidity excuse. Of course, Penny scrambles off the first chance she gets. This scenario is ironic, given it's usually Talon who likes to poke holes through his uncle's way of going about things as opposed to being more practical.

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