History WesternAnimation / ActionLeagueNOW

-->'''Narrator:''' ''Consider the Mayor. How did he get so evil? Why does he hate the League so? And what exactly is he the mayor of? The answers are simple: We don't know.''

-->'''The Narrator:''' ...Er, that's what I was gonna say. Stay tuned for the action-gnawed conclusion of...Action League NOW!

-->'''Narrator''': "Warning! The following very special ''Action League Now'' special contains scenes of Action Mayhem (AMH), Action Love (ALV), and Action Action (AA). It may be too intense for older viewers. Oh, and did we mention, somebody's naked (NKD) for the whole show?"

-->'''Narrator:''' We find our heroes in a somber mood, pondering a terrible tragedy.

** Everyone gets completely fooled by Robo-Flesh, who is simply just Flesh with a robot voice and bolts sticking out everywhere. The narrator even [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] on it.

%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * ParentalBonus: Remember that time when the Action League was saved by the dulcet tones of Lou Rawls?

%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * WalkingShirtlessScene: The Flesh. Also, Walking ''Pantsless'' Scene.

* FailureMontage: In a ClipShow involving the Action League standing before council to see whether they should retain their hero status or be declared a danger to the public for their incompetence. Each of the Leaguers' flashback to their past exploits don't really help their case, but the icing on the cake is Flesh's recollections which are presented in such a montage of how his clumsiness or carelessness only did more harm than good to the people he was trying to help.

** The Mayor counts as one towards the League, as he is their oldest most frequent recurring antagonist towards the League and the closest thing the show has to a BigBad. The anthology episode in the spin-off "His Dishonor" implies he has a personal reason for hating the League....not that we ever find out.
-->'''Narrator:''' ''Consider the Mayor. How did he get so evil? Why does he hate the League so? And what exactly is he the Mayor of? The answers are simple: We don't know.''

* EmergencyImpersonation: In "Danger For A Dignitary", the Flesh is forced the place of the ambassador (that he injures by accident) in order to sign a peace treaty.

-->'''Stinky Diver'': They should see me naked! I'm GLORIOUS!!!

* BadassNormal: For a guy who's the leader of a team of superheroes despite having no form of superpowers, the Chief has to count. He even saves the day far effectively than the League does whenever possible.
** Stinky Diver as well, despite his claims that "firing [his] harpoon gun" counts as a superpower. ''Many'' episodes are resolved by Stinky simply [[CombatPragmatist harpooning]] whatever the MonsterOfTheWeek is.
*** He was also previously in the Navy, so that might have something to do with it.

** Despite constantly ridiculing him and ordering him to get them snacks, when the Chief threatens to fire Meltman for his cowardice in the first half of "In the Whine of Fire" the rest of the League objects. They even plan to secretly help Meltman when he's reassigned as Blandi's bodyguard.

* AintTooProudToBeg: This exchange in "Voice of Treason" as a garage door is about to crush the League.

* AndCallHimGeorge

* AntiVillain: Hodge Podge. Can't blame a guy for wanting to destroy the League (especially Bill the Lab Guy) when they basically ruined his life, even though, it was an accident.

%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: Spotzilla, Mega Meltman, Big Baby, others
* BadassNormal: For a guy who's the leader of a League of Superheroes despite having ''no form of superpowers'', the Chief has to count.
** Stinky Diver as well, despite his claims that "firing [his] harpoon gun" counts as a superpower. ''Many'' episodes are revolved by Stinky simply [[CombatPragmatist harpooning]] whatever the MonsterOfTheWeek is.

%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * BigBad: The Mayor and, to a lesser extent, Hodge Podge.

%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * BrainlessBeauty: The Flesh.

* ButtMonkey: Meltman.
** Considering the type of humor in the series, pretty much every member of the main cast probably counts as a Butt Monkey. Meltman just happens to take the brunt of the punishment.

** Bill the Lab Guy's "There is nothing I can do." The Chief {{lampshade|Hanging}}d it once.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: The League started out as pretty effective heroes, but became more inept with each episode.
** The League also started out as being highly respected by the townspeople. Cue "Stink or Swim", where a person is actually ''unhappy'' that the League has come to save him from being flushed down the toilet.

%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * DaChief: The Chief.

* TheDitz: The Flesh is by far the least intelligent character on the show, often being this.

* FailedASpotCheck: Meltman in "Melty's Girl", when he's sent to scout out the villain's lair for booby traps. Made more humorous when the League just follows along with it anyways.

* FauxAffablyEvil: The Mayor. Half of the humor from him is because of him being this.

* ForTheEvulz: Lightning Lady is revealed to be the Mayor. Reason? Because he's evil.

* FourthWallMailSlot: The "Ask The League" segments. As said by the LemonyNarrator:

* FromNobodyToNightmare: The Action League accountant, due to The Flesh's idiocy, ended up being wrecked in a blender and subsequently "operated" on by Bill. The result? [[TwoBeingsOneBody Hodge]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge Podge]].

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: "You should see me naked! I'm GLORIOUS!!!"

* HypocriticalHumor: As noted above, Thundergirl had her fair share of TooDumbToLive moments even though she always chastised her teammates for being idiots.
** The Mayor counts too. He's always quick to call the League idiots, despite half his {{Evil Plan}}s being ones that are clearly not well thought out.

* IdiotHero: The Flesh. Stinky Diver even uses this to the team's advantage in one episode. As Flesh is fighting Robo-Flesh, Stinky yells out "Hey, stupid!" When Flesh responds with "What?" that's what finally convinces the League that he's the real Flesh.

%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * IncomingHam: The Mayor, almost always.

%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * MostCommonSuperpower: Thunder Girl.
%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * MrExposition: Bill, the Lab Guy.

* MyGreatestFailure: Years ago, Stinky Diver's brother fell into a flushing toilet. He was about to jump but was afraid his wallet would get wet. He was too late to save him. That event has haunted him since. He told the League about this after he failed to save someone from a flushing tiolet.

%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * NiceJobBreakingItHero: The League mess up almost every assignment.

%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * NoIndoorVoice: DaChief.

%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * OnlySaneMan: The Chief.

%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * PresidentEvil: The Mayor might count.

%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * TheTeam:
%% commented out as ZeroContextExample ** The Flesh: [[TheBigGuy The Big]] [[TheHero Hero]]
%% commented out as ZeroContextExample ** Thunder Girl: TheChick
%% commented out as ZeroContextExample ** Stinky Diver: TheLancer
%% commented out as ZeroContextExample ** Meltman: TheHeart
%% commented out as ZeroContextExample ** Justice: TeamPet
%% commented out as ZeroContextExample ** Bill the Lab Guy: TheSmartGuy
%% commented out as ZeroContextExample ** The Chief: MentorArchetype

* TwoBeingsOneBody: just take a guess at which of the two {{Big Bad}}s it is.

-->'''Announcer:''' With a door closing on any hope, the league has one last card to play...
-->'''Thunder Girl:''' No please!

Our heroes were The Flesh (a ''Series/ConanTheAdventurer'' doll modified to replace his hips/loincloth with a Ken type bulge who was described as "super-strong and super-naked"), Thunder Girl (a superheroine with a [[=Sindy=]] doll head who just flew around and complained about how stupid her teammates were, even though she could be just as clueless as the others), Stinky Diver (a loose cannon with a thick British accent and perpetual body odor, and is made from a GIJoe Shipwreck action figure) and Melt-Man (a not-too-bright melted {{GI Joe}}-like figurine "with the power to... ''melt!''"). They tended to suffer horrible injuries. They were accompanied by The Chief, who would often shout "BLAST IT!" and berate the team for their screw-ups; Justice the Dog, and Bill the Lab Guy, who spoke in monotone, and often made strange inventions and devices to help the League, though these would often be stolen or otherwise used to harm the League.

* AnimationBump: Rock-a-Big Baby (the theatrical short that played in front of ''Film/GoodBurger'') had considerably more stop motion animated scenes than the rest of the series.

* EvilDetectingDog: Justice, in "Hey! Who Stole My Face!" Not very suprising, really, given it was just The Mayor with The Chief's face...

* FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome: The Flesh, in one episode. His hyperintelligence gets removed by a blow to the head from one of Smarty Pants's chess pieces [[spoiler: The Flesh wins the chess game anyway.]] Subverted in that the rest of the league is thankful to have the old Flesh back... and promptly reconsider that when he drops a pile of books on them again.

* RoguesGallery: A fairly small one- you had The Mayor, Hodge-Podge, Big Baby, and a few one-offs (Spotzilla, Smarty Pants, Danger Society, the Red Ninja).

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: In one episode, Stinky Diver was feeling down. He told the League how his mother betrayed him some years ago, resulting him getting his signature odor.
-->'''Meltman:''' So that's why he stinks. ''(the League look at him)'' What?

* AntiVillain: Hodge Podge. Can't blame a guy for wanting to destroy the League (especially Bill the Lab Guy) when they basically ruined his life.

* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway What Kind of Lame Power Is Melting Anyway?]]

* BlessedWithSuck: Meltman. He has the power to... melt. And that's about it. It doesn't help that he's treated as a ButtMonkey by the rest of the cast.

* {{Pittsburgh}}: The voices were all provided by Pittsburgh-based disc jockeys. The male characters were voiced by Jim Krenn and Scott Paulsen, who co-hosted the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_DVE_Morning_Show WDVE Morning Show]] for many years together. Cris Winter, the other main cast member, was the morning show's newsreader. Bill Cowher and Kordell Stewart also appeared.

Originally a segment on {{Nickelodeon}}'s live-action TV series ''Series/AllThat'' and then on its AnimatedAnthology ''WesternAnimation/{{KaBlam}}!'', ''Action League NOW!'' centered on the crudely stop-motion-animated adventures of four superhero toys, who were forever going off on missions that were either ill-defined or just plain weird, and nearly always involved trying to stop the corrupt "The Mayor" in some zany scheme of his. What made it distinct was that the toys were all shown in their "natural state" of being 6 inches tall in a human world, seldom even moving on their own (unless being thrown or the like, which is why the show was sometimes described as being filmed in "Chuck-imation").

* ShooOutTheNewGuy: Bill the Lab Guy's teenage daughter, Quarky. Introduced in ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam's'' second season premier (if we're going by production order), and was in a bunch of episodes from that season. After "The Quarky Syndrome", she never appeared again.

%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * SuperZeroes

---> '''Bill the Lab Guy:''' Correct.

* {{Pittsburgh}}: The voices were all provided by Pittsburgh based Disc Jockeys. The male characters were voiced by Jim Krenn and Scott Paulsen, who co-hosted the WDVE Morning Show for many years together. Cris Winter, the other main cast member, also worked for WDVE. Bill Cowher and Kordell Stewart also appeared.

* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: Smarty Pants, who was probably the greatest threat the League ever faced off against ''because'' he's this trope.
** The Mayor had his moments.
** The very few episodes Hodge Podge was in, he displayed this with his tactics on how to crush the League. It makes sense, since he used to work for them, but then again, you don't really need much sense to beat the League.

* ShooOutTheNewGuy: Bill the Lab Guy's teenage daughter, Quarky. Introduced in ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam's'' second season premier (if we're going by production order), and was in a bunch of episodes from that season. [[TheScrappy Fans found her rather annoying]], and after "The Quarky Syndrome", she never appeared again.

* [[spoiler:MissedHimByThatMuch: After arresting two criminals pretending to be The Flesh's parents, he wonders if he'll ever meet his real parent. Then, his real (naked) parents drive by wondering the same thing, and crushed the Action Mobile.]]

%% commented out as ZeroContextExample * NakedPeopleAreFunny (The Flesh)