YMMV / The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers

• Accidental Aesop: The B-Plot for "Change on the Fly" has the Aesop that one shouldn't be jealous of their peers because there's a good chance you have something that they want themselves. However, because the episode shows that Logan is jealous of Nick and his moms being a "real family", it also works well as a Gay Aesop by showing that families headed by same-sex couples are just as "real" as ones that aren't.
• Aesop Amnesia: In the second season, Alex has seemingly forgotten everything from the first season about how a little competitiveness and edge never hurt anyone and thinks the Ducks can swing a whole summer at an elite hockey academy without intense practice or cross-training.
• Alas, Poor Scrappy: As hated as Stephanie is by fans seeing her having a breakdown because of her marriage and family falling apart is a genuinely sad sight to see.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The withdrawn, screen-addicted, slovenly Koob reveals that he has an affinity for show tunes, a beautiful voice and a knack for performing for Nick's moms. Tonally, it is completely out of nowhere and played purely for laughs... but it works.
• Designated Villain: Coach Cole, AJ Lawrence, Team Dominate and even the rival Canadians at the end. Whereas most of the franchise has a history of turning any team the Ducks/Don't Bothers play into the Big Bad, none of these "antagonists" are really shown to be that bad. AJ's not the best brother, but is still shown to love his brother and simply love the game – he even accepts his captaincy loss to Evan graciously and hugs Koob at the end of the camp. While Cole is a bit underhanded with the "slow hands" move on the Ducks, he's also just a very focused if not somewhat sad man. And the Canadians at the end aren't even shown to be characters or dirty players, they just have a jerk for a coach in Coach T.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Although his role has been small thus far, fans – especially Canadian fans – adore Logan because of his sense of humour, his easygoing nature and his uncanny Celebrity Resemblance to Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander.
  • Similarly, Logan's sad-sack father Harris won a lot of fans (and sympathy) for his adorable awkwardness.
• Jerkass Woobie: Stephanie falls into this when it's revealed that she's getting a divorce and that she is fully aware of how miserable and obsessed with one-upmanship she is.
  • While Alex is more of a straight-up woobie, she does fall into this when she becomes so competitive she lashes out at the Don't Bothers, and is later devastated when Evan fires her.
• Narm: The kids naming their new team the "Don't Bothers" is supposed to be seen as an inspiring, meaningful name that perfectly reflects the team's spirit in the same vein as the Ducks team name did in the first film. However, since the term doesn't translate as well to being a team name as well as an animal does, most viewers had the same befuddled reaction as Coach T's In-Universe.
• Narm Charm: Lauren and Maya showing up to school dressed like one another (Lauren in Brandy Melville and Maya in warrior cosplay) to prove that they're not embarrassed of each other? Cheesy, dorky, a little cringeworthy, and a trope that's been done to death in every kid and teen show. But it's so sweet to see two polar opposite characters who genuinely care for each other, especially since the two had been so under-developed prior to that episode. It's also sweet how happy all the teammates are for them.
• Pet the Dog: After Alex loses it on the Don't Bothers for going against her game plan, Evan agrees to let her go. She feels bad, but doesn't fight him on it, and immediately accepts it, which indicates that she probably knows how much she screwed up.
• Plot Armor: Let's face it: If the Don't Bothers never improved, there wouldn't be much of a story to tell.
• Take That!: Coach T would rather die than go back to Winnipeg.
• The Scrappy: No one likes Stephanie, Alex's passive-aggressive, Bitch in Sheep's Clothing boss who condescends to her at any given opportunity.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Stephanie bonding with Alex and helping the Don't Bothers from being expelled from the tournament did help to fix some of the hatred against her.
• Tearjerker:
  • While the return of Fulton, Banks, Averman, Connie, Guy, and Kenny in "Spirit of the Ducks" starts off heartwarming, it quickly veers into tearjerker territory when it's revealed Gordon has been out of touch with his former players for years and he's missed out on a lot of their big life events, like Connie and Guy's wedding. Charlie in particular took Gordon's long absence very personally and decided not to show up to the Ducks anniversary gala out of spite.
  • When Logan explains to Nick that he's jealous of Nick for all that he has in his life – two parents who love each other and make time for their son, friends and neighbours who would do anything for him – he's practically in tears, because his mom leaving his family is still so fresh, and he feels so lonely at home. Double tear-jerker because he's telling Nick that he has a "real family," when Nick, a kid who has two moms, might have very well been made to feel by some people like his family is not a real family.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Many fans were disappointed by the show making Coach T a generic Drill Sergeant Nasty of the Opposing Sports Team Ducks just like Coach Reilly from the first film and would have liked to see a more nuanced, three-dimensional take on the archetype based on the modern youth sports culture created by Sports Dads. This is particularly noteworthy as he started off being reasonably if harsh in the first episode and the ninth episode teased him actually having depth and being another by-product of the hyper-competitive field only to revert to him being a Jerk with a Heart of Jerk.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • The fact that Adam Banks wound up becoming a public defender instead of a professional hockey player despite the skill he had as a youth would have been great fodder to deconstruct the Serious Business of the current Ducks culture by showing the parents just how difficult and unlikely forging a career in hockey actually is.
  • Gordon's past as a lawyer has, as of Episode 9, never been brought up, despite Alex working for the same firm he used to and that his legal skills would have been very useful when it seems like he might be banned from coaching the team due to his past NCAA violation.
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • Zig-zagged. As Alex and Bombay search through his mail, she finds out that the Ice Palace has structural damage dating back to 2005. While it’s not handled by the end of Season 1, it definitely comes back to bite the team hard in the Season 2 premiere. The building winds up condemned.
  • The refs promise the Don't Bothers a power play upon their next regular season game against the Ducks for an after-the-whistle check on Evan. They never end up playing another regular season game against one another, so it's all for nothing.
• The Woobie:
  • Sofi is a nice, hardworking, ambitious kid whose academic and athletic schedule already has her exhausted. Then she starts secretly playing for two teams, and her parents don't seem to care how playing on the Ducks is affecting her mental (and physical) health. Her dad comes around, though.
  • Logan is a nice kid who finds himself in a completely new country following his parents' bitter divorce. And while he seems to be The Ace to his new peers, he's actually miserable by both the fact he's The Load to the Don't Bothers and that he has to see Nick's happy family across the street everyday.
  • Alex is overworked and underpaid, will do anything for her son (which he accepts with varying degrees of kindness) and genuinely cares about the kids' self-esteem. She's also a single mom whose ex always swoops in to be the "fun dad" and show Evan a good time while Alex is stuck cleaning up his messes. Add in the fact that she's constantly disrespected at work by her condescending boss, and it's quite hard to not feel sorry for her.
  • If the films didn't do enough to make Bombay a woobie, the series finishes the job. He managed to get back on the ice, only to suffer another injury that killed his career for good. He then went back to coaching, only to lose that job for an act of charity that violated the rules. Now he's in charge of an ice arena that he can barely keep running. And on top of all that, he's watched the team of underdogs that he helped create turn into the arrogant powerhouse that he once opposed and the program considers him an embarrassment. Guy simply can't catch a break.
  • Meta-example: Emilio Estevez revealed in late 2021 – after rumors circulated that he declined to return to the show for a second season because he did not have a COVID-19 vaccination – that he filmed most of the first season while suffering from long-COVID symptoms, which include extreme exhaustion, brain fog and some long-term respiratory issues. Considering the highly physical nature of his role, it becomes harder to watch some of his scenes on the ice knowing he was in pain.