History YMMV / AttackOfTheMutant

* SignatureScene: The Galloping Gazelle pulling a ScrewThisImOuttaHere abandoning Skipper to the Mutant.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter
** The Masked Mutant actually manages to be a competent, threatening and mysterious antagonist. He's killed off in his only appearance -- and in one of the most ridiculous ways possible. To add insult to injury, since the series was revived with the ''Horrorland'' books, there've been three separate books featuring comic book villains coming to life, and none of them features the Masked Mutant. They didn't even reprint ''Attack of the Mutant'' to go alongside ''Dr. Maniac Vs. Robby Schwartz'' even though it was a thematic fit.

!!The episode contains examples of:

* NarmCharm: The garish colors and the Masked Mutant's one-dimensional characterisation are impossible to take seriously, but for fans of old-timey superhero serials it's a fun episode that still manages to have some creepy moments.
* OneSceneWonder: Adam West as the Galloping Gazelle only shows up in person at the end of part 2, but you can guarantee it's the part most people remember.
* WhatTheHellCastingAgency: The old man who tells Skipper it’s no wonder he’s seeing things, because comic books will “rot your mind”. They didn’t make a ''bad'' casting decision, per se; but can’t you imagine just how hilariously ironic it would have been if that man had been a cameo role for Stan Lee?

* DesignatedHero: Skipper looks worse with each passing year as he seems to fit the mold of the more toxic brands of internet fandom, with his incredibly snobbish and gate-keeping view of what can be considered quality comic-books and especially in his dismissal of Libby's collection ([[spoiler:even after "her Big Reveal"]]), which can have a slightly chauvinistic edge to it as well. It does help, however, that the Mutant kicks his butt.

* DesignatedHero: Skipper looks worse with each passing year as he seems to fit the mold of the more toxic brands of internet fandom, with his incredibly snobbish and gate-keeping view of what can be considered quality comic-books and especially in his dismissal of Libby's collection ([[spoiler: even after "her Big Reveal"]]), which can have a slightly chauvinistic edge to it as well. It does help, however, that the Mutant kicks his butt.

* NarmCharm: The garish colors and the Masked Mutant's one-dimensional characerization are impossible to take seriously, but for fans of old-timey superhero serials it's a fun episode that still manages to have some creepy moments.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Skipper dissing Libby's taste in comics comes off more like a case of VitriolicBestBuds rather than actually dismissing her interests. His comic snobbery in general is toned way down, with no mention of him collecting comics to sell later.

* DesignatedHero: Skipper looks worse with each passing year as he seems to fit the mold of the more toxic brands of internet fandom, with his incredibly snobbish and gate-keeping view of what can be considered quality comic-books and especially in his dismissal of Libby's collection ([[spoiler: even after "her Big Reveal"]]), which can have a slightly chauvinistic edge to it as well. It does help, however, that the Mutant kicks his butt and the Galloping Gazelle leaves him to die.

* OneSceneWonder: Adam West as the Galloping Gazelle only shows up in person at the end of part 2, but you can guarantee its the part most people remember.

* IdiotPlot: TheReveal of The Masked Mutant. [[spoiler:He was fascinated by how Skipper was his biggest fan and decided to turn the kid into his newest nemesis, changing him into a comic character and then curbstomping him after revealing that he was posing as Skipper's new friend Libby]]. This raises a lot of questions of how he thought a prepubescent sexist boy would be his WorthyOpponent when Skipper is dumb enough to go into a strange building he's never been before to prove a point. Skipper only wins by going CorneredRattlesnake and becoming a GuileHero. To a lesser extent, how is he turning a profit [[spoiler: if he's self-publishing his comics, especially in the 1990s?]]
** Adding to that, [[spoiler: why would he be able to shapeshift into liquid if doing so would destroy him?]]

%%!!The episode contains examples of:

* UncannyValley: Suffice to say, the faces of the more humanoid characters look rather...off. Not helping matters are all the [[GrossUpCloseUp Gross-Up Close-Ups]].

* DesignatedHero: Skipper looks worse with each passing year as he seems to fit the mold of the more toxic brands of internet fandom, with his incredibly snobbish and gate-keeping view of what can be considered quality comic-books and especially in his dismissal of Libby's collection ([[spoiler: even after "her BigReveal"]]), which can have a slightly chauvinistic edge to it as well. It does help, however, that the Mutant kicks his butt and the Galloping Gazelle leaves him to die.

* UncannyValley: Suffice to say, the faces of the more humanoid characters look rather...off. Not helping matters are all the {{Gross Up Close Up}}s.

* DesignatedHero: Skipper looks worse with each passing year as he seems to fit the mold of the more toxic brands of internet fandom, with his incredibly snobbish and gate-keeping view of what can be considered quality comic-books and especially in his dismissal of Libby's collection ([[spoiler: even after "her" BigReveal"]]), which can have a slightly chauvinistic edge to it as well. It does help, however, that the Mutant kicks his butt and the Galloping Gazelle leaves him to die.

%% * CreepyAwesome: The Masked Mutant.

** ''Attack of the Mutant'' is one long TakeThat at comic books, depicting Skipper as having an unhealthy obsession, and most of the other characters finding them pointless. Years later, not only would R.L. Stine write a ComicBook/ManThing series for Marvel, but Goosebumps itself would get a comic book series.

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: In ''Attack of the Mutant'', as Skipper finally faces off against the Masked Mutant, he tries to bluff his way out by proclaiming he's really the hero known as the Colossal Elastic Boy. At which point the Mutant exclaims, in complete sincerity, "Elastic Boy! I ''thought'' you looked familiar!" At no point was there ever a character called Elastic Boy mentioned before that moment, and that just makes it even funnier.

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: In ''Attack of the Mutant'' when Skipper defeats the Masked Mutant by [[TrickingTheShapeshifter tricking him into turning into acid]] - the Mutant could turn into anything solid, but if he turned into a liquid he would be locked in that form.
** The villain himself gets one with his entire plan to capture Skipper. To elaborate, the Mutant takes the form of a young girl named Libby to get close to the kid, while his henchman(disguised as him) has captured a super hero. When Skipper finds out, he comes back to the lair, where "Libby" kills the villain, saving his life...before revealing herself as the mutant, explaining the ruse, then moving in for the kill. Up until then, very few villains in the series had displayed this much ruthlessness and cunning.

* NightmareFuel: The Masked Mutant, a sociopathic shape-shifting comic villain who is hellbent on killing his biggest fan. To this end, he takes on [[ShapeshiftingSeducer the form of an attractive young girl]] [[{{Squick}} to get close to him]], graphically disintegrates his own henchman ''on page'', and finally tries to kill the boy by ''melting him in acid''. It's also worth noting that the book [[NothingIsScarier never explains just what he is or how he became real]]. It gets worse when you consider the FridgeHorror of The Masked Mutant: He impersonates a teenage girl so flawlessly that Skipper still believes "Libby" was on his side right up until the moment that The Mutant reveals the deception. In short, he can not only shapeshift, but he's a fairly skilled actor too. Imagine what someone like that could do if they had a motive beyond "kill my biggest fan": The mutant could have impersonated any number of influential figures and seized a great deal of political power. He'd be a regular [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Barty Crouch Junior]].

!!The episode contains examples of:
* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: Skipper triumphantly mimics the Mutant's EvilLaugh upon defeating him.
* NightmareFuel: The episode gives us a first person view of the titular mutant spying on Skipper from behind some foliage, and then landing on his bus shortly before he introduces himself to Skipper as "Libby".
** He also impersonates a bus driver later on, creating plenty of ParanoiaFuel. Who else could the Mutant have impersonated in Skipper's life? Wilson? His parents?
** After Skipper gets zapped by the scanner in the Mutant's HQ and thus [[spoiler:turned into a comic book character]], he occasionally starts to see things in "comic book vision". There's no explanation for this until the end, and it's very random and very creepy.

* AtrociousAlias: Captain Bob.

* EarWorm: Pinky's Theme.
* MoralEventHorizon: Each villain crosses this at some point.
** The Masked Mutant crossed it when he started [[spoiler:converting the real world into a comic book.]]
** Root Rot crosses it near the end, trying to kill Feedback.
** Pinky crosses it after trapping the player in "slowsand" so their death would be twice as torturous.
** Chinchilla crosses it by trapping you in a freezer with Magnificent Molecule Man.
** [[spoiler:The Wicked Wartlock crosses it [[DisproportionateRetribution killing a Toadie who dropped a single fruit by accident]].]]

* CompleteMonster: [[VoluntaryShapeshifter The Masked Mutant]] is a comic book supervillain who wants to conquer both his own world and the Earth. To accomplish this, the Mutant has a SlaveRace called the Toadies construct the Green Beam, a device that will merge the comic book world and the Earth by converting the latter to 2-D. The Mutant allows the cruel taskmaster Wartlok to [[BadBoss brutalize and kill the Toadies as he sees fit]], and once they finish the Green Beam, the Mutant abducts [[WouldHurtAChild young children]] to use as test subjects, turning several into lifeless cutouts that are frozen mid-scream and callously dumped in a storage room in Mutant Headquarters. When the protagonist and the League of Good Guys invade his HQ, the Mutant deploys his henchmen to kill them as he kickstarts "Operation: Total Conversion" by unleashing the Green Beam on major population centers like Washington, D.C. Growing annoyed by one of his untrustworthy lackeys, the Magnificent Molecule Man, the Mutant splits him into his component parts and leaves him to freeze in a SlippySlideyIceWorld. In the game's bad ending, the Mutant wipes out the League of Good Guys and reduces the Earth to a wasteland, having trapped everyone and everything on it in the comic book world, which he rules over like a God.

* AtrociousAlias: Captain Bob

* EarWorm: Pinky's Theme
* InferredHolocaust: It is implied that [[spoiler:The Masked Mutant turned Washington DC, among other places, into 2D versions of themselves]].

** The Masked Mutant crossed it when he started [[spoiler: converting the real world into a comic book.]]

** Pinky crosses it after trapping the player in slowsand so their death would be twice as torturous.

** [[spoiler: The Wicked Wartlock crosses it [[DisproportionateRetribution killing a Toadie who dropped a fruit by accident]].]]
* UncannyValley: Suffice to say, the faces of the more humanoid characters look rather...off. Not helping matters are all the {{GrossUpCloseUp}}s.

* HellIsThatNoise: [[TimedMission Ten minutes until conversion completion. Ten minutes.]]

* UncannyValley: Suffice to say, the faces of the more humanoid characters look rather...off. Not helping matters are all the {{Gross-Up Close-Up}}s.

* CompleteMonster:
** The Masked Mutant, [[BigBad obviously]]. He plans on converting the entire real world into a comic book, which appears to leave humans [[AndIMustScream as two-dimensional drawings]]. He has no qualms against [[WouldHurtAChild destroying]] the KidHero.
** [[RealityWarper Pinky Flamingo]]. He can erase characters and objects out of existence, gleefully doing so. Twice, he incapacitates the Galloping Gazelle, and tried to drown the protagonist in slowsand.
** [[spoiler: [[BadBoss The Wicked Wartlock]]. He kills a Toadie after he accidentally drops a single fruit.]]

* InferredHolocaust: It is implied that [[spoiler:The Masked Mutant turned Washington DC, among other places, into 2D versions of themselves]].