History WesternAnimation / MightyMax

* TheBigGuy: Norman is one outside of the FiveManBand dynamic.

* AliensAndMonsters:
** Usually played straight; they're often villains and true to the trope they rarely have any redeeming features or ability to be reasoned with. In fact, it'd be easier to just list the subversions/aversions.
*** In "Werewolves of Dunneglen" it turns out the werewolf is actually a heroic character who helps Max out against the real villain, a human scientist with a bad case of JekyllAndHyde.
*** In "Beetlemania" the characters spend a large part of the episode wondering why the beetle aliens and their giant guardian are being so arbitrarily evil, only to discover at the end that the aliens were playing this trope in reverse - because they didn't know how to communicate with us and humans like to kill bugs, they assumed that ''humans'' were AlwaysChaoticEvil.
*** In "Sirius Trouble" the aliens are set up as this, attacking Earth to steal "the source of all power" from us. In the end, it turns out they're only carrying out an age-old contract so old humanity has forgotten it. [[spoiler:When it also turns out that the "source of all power" is ''radioactive waste'' Max surrenders and tells them they can have as much of it as they want.]]

* EvolutionaryLevels: In one episode, a villain uses some sort of evolution device on himself, and he changes shape repeatedly, including at one point taking the same shape as Virgil, who comments that at some brief point in the future, humanity will find it quite useful. He eventually evolves beyond good and evil and leaves.

The show was technically MerchandiseDriven, although this aspect wasn't too noticeable. It was also unusual as Max had no real 'powers' to speak of, and its classic monster horror roots meant it never shied away from actually killing people (especially in the final plot arcs) during a time when most cartoons would NeverSayDie with Virgil even pointing out in one episode "Real violence has real consequences."

* NotSoDifferent:

The show was technically MerchandiseDriven, although this aspect wasn't too noticeable. It was also unusual as Max had no real 'powers' to speak of, and its classic monster horror roots meant it never shied away from actually killing people (especially in the final plot arcs) during a time when most cartoons would NeverSayDie with Virgil even pointing out in one episode [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped "Real violence has real consequences."]]

* FamousLastWords:
** “AAAAAAAAAH! I’M NOT THROUGH WITH YOU YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!” [[spoiler:Spike]]
** “[[TemptingFate I need no help! I am]] [[spoiler:[[SpiderPeople Arachnoid]]]]!” [[spoiler:Dr. Stanley Kirby/Arachnoid]]
** “No! What are you doing?!” [[spoiler:Freako]]
** “What the-? You’re not Puss-Puss!” [[spoiler:Villager]]
** “Now here’s to the kill; [[ImAHumanitarian or should I say; to breakfast.]]” [[spoiler:Dr. [=MacDougal=]]]
** “Run! It’s my destiny!” [[spoiler:Hanuman]]
** “Talk, talk, talk!” [[spoiler:Norman]]
** “Don’t do it Mighty One!” [[spoiler:Virgil]]
** “Curse you, Cap Bearer!” [[spoiler:Skullmaster]]

* ArbitrarySkepticism: In "The Mother Of All Adventures" Max's mom says early in the episode there's no such thing as voodoo and zombies. Even though in an earlier episode she recognizes Norman and Virgil, and even takes Virgil shopping with her since he'll help her recognize genuine antiques better, which says she has a pretty good inkling of what her son does. She didn't even bat an eye when they fell through a portal and were suddenly in the middle of the Serengeti.

** In the episode "I, Warmonger", Skullmaster orders his dragon to leave after it takes him and Warmonger to Zero Island. This is the third and final time said dragon is seen in the series, (The first two times being the very end of "Pandora's Box Part 2" and "Blood of the Dragon" respectively.) and it doesn't get acknowledged or even reappear in the series finale.

* YouHaveFailedMe: [[spoiler:Implied with Skullmaster's pet dragon. At the end of the episode "Blood of the Dragon" Skullmaster is poised to finally destroy Max and his friends and his dragon is about to roast them all with its fire breath, but is stopped when Norman chucks a boulder into the beast's nose, and in its flailing not only does it let them escape it also accidentally throws Skullmaster into the ocean. We never see what, if any, punishment Skullmaster gives his pet, but considering the dragon is ''never seen again'' it's probably safe to assume it was a harsh one.]]

* MonsterClown: Freako the Clown, the titular [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zowpHcqs0_M&feature=PlayList&p=069EFB3D6AC4502B&index=53 Clown Without Pity]], a deformed clown/ringmaster of a CircusOfFear staffed by children transformed into hideous monsters by his magic.

* ProfessorGuineaPig: Dr. Zygote and Dr. [=MacTaggart=] both count as this.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** In "Out in the Cold", Max and Norman are shown thermometers, causing Max to say to the man holding the thermometers "[[AssShove I hope you're not planning to put those where I think you will]]."
** In "Cyberskull II: The Next Level", Max refers to his science project as "Hell on wheels".

* FantasyKitchenSink: Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Asian, Indian, Native American, African, Arthurian, original and even Biblical mythical elements are all shown to exist in the show's setting. The astral plane is real, Atlantis and Lemuria existed there, and the guys also tangle with werewolves, vampires ([[OurVampiresAreDifferent of a sort]]), talking ape warriors, dragons and more. That's not even getting into the episodes with sci-fi elements instead.

* FantasyKitchenSink: Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Asian, Indian, Native American and African and even original mythical elements are all shown to exist in the show's setting. The astral plane is real, Atlantis and Lemuria existed there, and the guys also tangle with werewolves, vampires ([[OurVampiresAreDifferent of a sort]]), talking ape warriors, dragons and more. That's not even getting into the episodes with sci-fi elements instead.

* FamilyFriendlyFirearms: Averted, along with most other kids' show tropes. Several episodes feature realistic guns that, as far as we can tell, fire realistic bullets.

* FantasyKitchenSink: Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Asian, Indian, Native American and African and even original mythical elements are all shown to exist in the show's setting. The guys also tangle with werewolves, vampires ([[OurVampiresAreDifferent of a sort]]), talking ape warriors, dragons, and make a visit to the astral plane. That's not even getting into the episodes with sci-fi elements instead.

--> '''Ernie:''' Looks like you blew out the BTR and the SCSI with a little extra juice in the GUI, Maxie-Waxie!

* YouHaveFailedMe: [[spoiler:Implied with Skullmaster's pet dragon. At the end of the episode "Blood of the Dragon" Skullmaster is poised to finally destroy Max and his friends and his dragon is about to roast them all with its fire breath, but is stopped when Norman chucks a boulder into the beast's nose, and in its flailing not only does it let them escape it also accidentally throws Skullmaster into the ocean. We never see what, if any, punishment Skullmaster gives his pet, but considering the dragon is ''never seen again'' it's probably safe to assume it was a harsh one.]]

* {{Deconstruction}}: It's not clear if it was intentional, since the toys they were based on were unafraid of being scary and graphic as well, but this cartoon viciously deconstructs nearly every aspect of Saturday morning cartoons:
** The KidHero is not even remotely prepared for being a hero and the only reason he is one is because Skull Master arose sooner than he was supposed to, which meant that Norman couldn't wait for Max to grow up. He also expresses a strong desire to not be the hero, completely averting JumpedAtTheCall.
** The ''He-Man''-esque Norman is a SociopathicHero who has zero problems with killing villains.
** The DumbBlonde is so incompetent that she's TheLoad and nearly [[LethallyStupid gets herself killed]].
** NeverSayDie, ImprobableInfantSurvival, and NoEndorHolocaust are ''completely'' averted, with numerous characters being killed off. The heroes themselves kill off a good number of villains and mooks.
** The BigBad is a borderline EldritchAbomination who is most definitely ''not'' a HarmlessVillain. [[spoiler: In the end, Max isn't even able to defeat him; he has to hit a ResetButton to prevent Skull Master from winning.]]
** The InvincibleHero gets this treatment. Max discovers that the villains in the series gradually become more and more dangerous so he had to rely on quick thinking to achieve victory and most of the time he barely survives the adventures he is in. There is also him gradually losing allies during his quest to defeat Skullmaster and he had to resort in pulling an enemy mine scenario just to stand even the slightest chance against him. Even with that he'd never get a true victory against Skullmaster.
** The series tears apart all aspects of the heroic adventures the KidHero usually go on in Saturday Morning Cartoon Shows. For starters the villains are far from incompetent and have no qualms in killing Max. There have been several episodes where Max's only option would be to run for his life than to fight off a MonsterOfTheWeek. Then you have Max seeing all kinds of horrors that no normal kid should see.

* MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels: In "Beetlemania", Max tries to calm down a Peruvian woman by talking to her in Spanish. Bea giggles and points out that he just said "Don't cry. We'll eat your feet."

* OlderSidekick: Max is a twelve year old boy, so his Body Guard Norman does all the killing. Meanwhile Virgil who is even older, serves part as his boss (telling him what needs to be done) but more as a sidekick, helping him out and giving him details he'll need to know.

* InsaneTrollLogic: Dr. Scorpio's plan in the episode "Scorpio Rising." Scorpio is tired of living all alone underground and is running out of food, but after forty years in a contaminated bunker he can't live without atomic radiation. His solution? Flood the world with radiation so he can return to the surface! Of course, doing so will kill all of the normal humans, meaning he'll still be alone, and kill all of the plants and animals so he won't have any food either.