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Western Animation: SilverHawks

"Wings of silver, nerves of steel... Silverrrhawwwwks!"

Thundercats IN SPACE!. (Not entirely, but darned close). A Rankin/Bass Animated Series from 1986 that shares most of its producers, creative teams and Voice Actors with its predecessor.

The Silverhawks, the "partly metal, partly real" space law-enforcement for the Limbo Galaxy (which wasn't much bigger than a solar system) oppose The Mob, run by the evil Mon*Star. The show wasn't as bad as you might have thought (with a few exceptions), despite its total lack of astronomy, physics, or really any sort of science. However the character designs are interesting, the characters themselves are engaging, and most of the stories are fun.

Now has a character page, currently under construction.

Tropes:

Action-Hogging Opening
And Knowing Is Half the Battle: A subversion. While it does occur at the end of each episode, it's neither a "moral of the story", nor a "public service announcement". Instead, it's a short astronomy lesson (mostly about the solar system and its then-nine planets [Pluto is now a dwarf planet]) presented within the context of Bluegrass training the Copper Kidd as a pilot.
Bad Guy Bar: The Sinistar Saloon. 100% alcohol-free.
Batman Can Breathe in Space: Yeah, it's by the people who did Thundercats, alright.
Cool Starship: The Maraj. Aesthetically pleasing design, it also contains compartments to launch each of the Silverhawks from, and the main cockpit can detach into a fighter-like mode while the rest of the craft goes invisible.
Environment Specific Action Figures: The action figure line included Quicksilver, Steelwill and Bluegrass in "ultrasonic suits" as well as their regular outfits.
Episode Title Card
Everything's Squishier with Cephalopods: Mon*Star's mode of transportation and battle mount is the Sky-Runner, a five-tentacled space squid clad in armor.
Expository Theme Tune
Expy:The Big Bad is a gravelly voiced villain who has his own transformation phrase and can transform into a much more powerful form. Hmm, on what show was there also a character like that?
Five-Man Band: At least for the first season, until later characters were added to the squad.
- The Hero: Quicksilver.
- The Lancer: Bluegrass.
- The Big Guy: Steelwill.
- The Chick: Steelheart.
- The Smart Guy: Copper Kid.
Heterosexual Life Partners: Seymour and Zeek .
Hey, It's That Voice!: In addition to reusing some cast members from ThunderCats, Melodia was voiced by Janice from Friends, seriously!
Hollywood Cyborg: The Silverhawks.
Instrument of Murder: Bluegrass's guitar and Melodia's keytar.
Merchandise Driven
Methuselah Syndrome: People apparently measure their lifespans in the millennia.
- Considering that their civilization has Faster-than-Light Travel and cyborgs that breathe in space, it actually makes sense to have that kind of longevity. With that kind of biotech, a century's lifespan would be ridiculously small.
Mirror Morality Machine
Nice Hat: Bluegrass' cowboy hat. The gold armor plating that covers half of Stargazer's head (complete with telescopic left-eye implant) also qualifies.
No Celebrities Were Harmed: Condor's voice is an imitation of Humphrey Bogart.
The Other Darrin: When Adolph Caesar (the original voice of Hotwing) died during production, another actor took over the role.
Rogues Gallery: Mon*Star and his mob fill this role for the Silverhawks, fittingly enough. The specific members of Mon*Star's mob are Yes-Man, Hardware, Melodia, Windhammer, Molec-U-lar, Mumbo Jumbo, Poker-Face, Buzz-Saw and Timestopper. Other villains include Zero the Memory-thief (who worked occasionally with Mon*Star's mob), the Rhino, the Cyclops, the Space Bandit and the Bounty Hunter.
Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Where to begin!?
Sixth Ranger: The original Silverhawks got four new teammates (Hotwing, Flashback, Condor and Moonstryker) midway through the series.
65-Episode Cartoon
The Smurfette Principle: Occurs on both sides with Steelheart (good guys) and Melodia (bad guys).
Space Police: The premise of the show.
Surfer Dude: Moon Stryker.
Team Pet: Tallyhawk, Quicksilver's cyborg hawk.
Team Title
The Teaser: Each episode opened with clips from that day's story, accompanied by a narrator giving a brief plot synopsis.
Those Two Guys: Seymour and Zeek.
Transformation Sequence: Combined with By the Power of Grayskull! and Added Alliterative Appeal. Different in that the bad guy does it.
"Moonstar of Limbo... give me the might... the muscle... the menace... of MON*STAR!!"
Artistic License - Physics: Again, where to begin?!
- Well, okay, for starters, in this show, space has air. And also a "down." A few harmless insectoid workers get thrown off a ship in one episode and this is as close to an on-screen death as we usually get.
Weird Sun: The Artificial Sun, a titanic flashlight at the edge of the sector.