Heartwarming / El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera

Frida: "Isn't love lovely?" (Smiles and scoots closer to Manny)

• In general, the show really does its best to highlight the importance of loving and respecting one's family, not to mention life lessons can also be seen at times under all the craziness.
• "Stinking Badges" is a episode-long heart-warmer between Frida and her father Emiliano, Miracle City's police chief. You can see that despite Frida's love for wanton mayhem, villainy and overall reckless behavior, she has nothing but love and admiration for Police Chief Suarez. She plays a tribute song at his celebratory dinner, and goes so far as to join the Junior Police Cadets when she feels like she embarrassed him at the dinner with her punk rock antics and fears that she and her father have nothing in common. She seemingly gives up after failing the cadet trials and getting a pity job from her father by being put in "Staple Squad", but then goes with Manny's idea to take credit for his super-villain captures. It all seems to work...except for one of the few times in the show Frida is truly regretful of her actions because it goes against her father's police code of honesty. It comes back to bite her in the worst way when her sisters oust her to their father during an attempt to stop the Mustache Mafia. When he wordlessly asks for her badge, she looks downright heartbroken as she hands it over and he walks away. When Manny confronts the chief and explains that she did it so he would like her more...
  Chief Suarez: WHAT?! How could I like her more? I love my Frida! She is...(tearfully) my Frida.
  • Then, after the Mustache Mafia attacks Frida and Chief Suarez deals a metric-ton of Papa Wolf whoop-ass to them, he hugs his little girl close, telling her...
  Chief Suarez: You don't have to do anything to make me love you...you're perfect just the way you are.
  Frida: (softly) Thanks, Papa.
  • The line where he goes "Just because you're different doesn't mean I love you any less." Like even though Frida can be a spitfire and has difficulty staying out of trouble or is different from her sisters doesn't make her an Unfavorite by any means (despite what Frida is convinced at the beginning of the episode).
    • Fridge Brilliance kicks in when you remember that Emiliano grew up much like Frida, with a love for partying, punk rock and blue hair, so they have much more in common than Frida realizes.
• The Dia de los Muertos episode, "The Grave Escape," revealing all the previous generations of Rivera Men. Even though they alternated good and evil each generation, there is still love there along with pride. It allows them to overcome their differences when the chips are down.
  • There's a scene between Puma Loco and his Father, who was a hero, Justice Jaguar. Now Jaguar, as many fans speculate, never forgave his son for turning to the side of evil. After Manny, Frida, and all the other passed Rivera men escape from the Underworld, it's a moment that's so simple but sweet.
    *both are glaring at each other*
    Jaguar: ....*spitefully* Son.
    Puma: ....*bitterly* Father.
    Jaguar: *tearfully* Son!
    Puma: *crying* Father!
    *they both embrace and cry*
  • El Tigre I calling out to Manny that he believes in him and reassures Manny that he's a true Rivera, giving Manny the strength to fully summon the Ancient Tiger Spirit. There's also Manny's willingness to go through with the Blitz knowing full well he could have died from it.
  • Then there was Manny calling out the Rivera heroes and villains when they began arguing, saying that while he needs to learn to respect them they also need to respect one another.
  • Manny finally understanding and accepting the importance of Dia De Los Muertos, not to mention this is an episode dedicated to highlighting it's overall meaning.
    • Related to this is that Manny commented that he thought the whole holiday was silly and that when people die they are dead and that's that. Not only does he gain a newfound respect for the holiday he also gets to know that he'll be reunited with his family once he passes (on the condition that they remain remembered, of course).
  • When Manny begins to worry about what the future will bring, El Tigre I assures him that, although Manny must find out the answers for himself, his ancestor will always be with him in spirit.
  • Why does El Tigre I ultimately agree to use the Ancient Tiger Spirit to bring everyone back up to the living world? Manny tells him that Puma Loco and White Pantera have always honored his memory despite his indecision and the effects it had on him.
    • In general, Puma Loco and White Pantera fully embracing the occasion shows how much they still love their ancestors and hold them in high regard no matter what.
  • Out of the deceased family members El Tigre I was the only one who embraced Manny as family after realizing he was the new El Tigre, Manny eating his offerings be damned.
• For her birthday, Manny makes Frida a belt buckle with a 'F' on it. When he trashes her party later, he sees that she's still wearing it. She tells him that her best friend made it for her. Manny realizes what a jerk he's been and comes to his senses.
  • Manny apologizes for wrecking her party, but she tells him it was epic and that in the end he was there for her like he always is. They look at each other then get awkward and Manny asks if they should hug, but Frida says it's gross.
• The reason Manny breaks off his friendship with Frida in "Adios Amigos" is because he wants to keep her safe. Throughout the episode, it shows that they truly miss one another and both are totally depressed about being apart. In the end, Frida ends up being the one protecting Manny and they run off to the carnival together.
  • Manny was willing to die to keep her safe:
    Manny: (strained) Do what you want to me, just let Frida go!
    • Word of God once said that when they are old, Manny will die saving Frida. It's sad and cute at the same time.
    • In a related tweet Jorge said that those who are lucky get to die old, and Manny and Frida will be among that group.
• When Puma Loco learns that Manny and Frida stole his mech suit, and his son and his ex wife plotted against him in secret, he gives them all a big hug, happy that he got to see them all doing evil at once.
• After Casa de Mariachi is destroyed in "Miracle City Worker", Maria tells Manny that they will probably have to stay at a smaller place for a while without all the luxuries. Manny says it only matters that she'll be there and gives her a hug.
  • The fact that El Cucharon makes a Heel–Face Turn because of Maria's kindness is sweet on its own as she was the first person to not mock his power of controlling spoons. He even shows up later in "Bride of Puma Loco" to officiate Grandpapi and Sartana's wedding, implying that he became a friend to the family.
• In "The Return of Plata Peligrosa" sees Rodolfo's hopeless romance for Maria reach new heights when she dons the "Plata Peligrosa" identity again. Manny and Frida instigating a crime wave puts Pantera and Peligrosa together more often, pushing Rodolfo to the point where he has enough nerve to ask Maria/Peligrosa out. Manny realizes this will only end badly for his erstwhile parents and hides the watch that alerts Maria to take off her glove before going power mad, causing her to go berserk in front of Rodolfo so he'll have to change his mind. Only, when Maria crazily proposes they team up indefinitely and beat up bad guys forever, Rodolfo seems all too willing to accept...only to trick Peligrosa and kick the glove off. When a weary Maria apologizes for the things she promised under the glove's influence, Rodolfo, despite that his only real chance at getting back with Maria in the series went up in smoke, understands wholeheartedly.
  • The line Rodolfo/Pantera utters in shock as he sees Maria/Peligrosa go berserk cements them being not so different, as Rodolfo would rather be in love with the gentle, peace-loving Maria than go justice-seeking alongside Plata Peligrosa, much like Maria admitted in the flashback of "Mother of All Tigres" that she married Rodolfo, not White Pantera:
    Rodolfo/White Pantera: I have never seen such grotesque grotesquery! That's not like my Maria! It's not love!
• Why were Little Mule and Señor Chapi so desperate to get their squeaky toy back in "Animales"? Because they have a picture inside of them with the Rivera family.

  Señor Chapi: Viva familia.

• Frida's about to become a zombie forever, So Manny tempts the head zombie on her into biting his head instead. It works and Frida is back to normal and now Manny is the one in danger of being a zombie permanently. He gets better though.
• After injuring Giant Robot Sanchez and taking control of him for a bit, Manny and Frida decide to do fun things with his kids and pretend that they're him. After doing stuff like saving them from falling off a glacier and playing ding dong ditch on the moon they return them home and Robot Sanchez goes back online. He begins hurting Manny and Frida but his kids come and give him a trophy with 'Worlds best dad' on it. Sanchez thanks Manny and Frida for helping his family and lets them go.
  • There's also the fact that GRS is celebrating with his family and the rest of Miracle City when the Rivera's defeat the rest of the villains, possibly alluding to a Heel–Face Turn (or at the very least no longer causing mayhem).
• Chuy sacrificing his life to save Manny and take down Chipotle's monster. Unknown to Manny however, is that Chuy survived.
• Manny and Frida going to the dance together in "Wrong and Dance".
  • The dance itself is utterly bland and apparently no one had the guts to ask someone out or even dance themselves, yet Manny and Frida have no problem dancing the night away together.
  • Before that, Frida telling Manny he is way too good for the bad girls that he tried impressing, broke off the date with Sergio so Manny wouldn't have to go to the dance alone, and was (probably) the one to help dress Manny's injuries after said bad girls beat him up.
• The ending to "Oso Sole Mio", which probably produced a good number of Squees from the Manny/Frida shippers:

  Frida: Isn't love lovely? (Smiles and scoots closer to Manny).

• In "Silver Wolf" Frida spends the whole week ignoring Manny and hanging out with Silver Wolf. When the two fight, Silver Wolf shocks Tigre with his whip and wants Frida to finish him. He tells her to pick between him and El Tigre. Frida immediately picks El Tigre without missing a beat, telling Silver Wolf it's a no-brainer.
• Raul and Browsia's romance in "Mustache love" Ending with them getting married and sharing a kiss of true love. El Tigre made a love story between a mustache and an eyebrow adorable.
• Speaking of Raul, his friendship with Manny and Frida counts since he was originally created by Dr. Chipotle Jr. to become a tool to destroy the two, and said friendship is more than returned with Manny's willingness to stick his neck out for Raul's sake even to his own detriment.
• The end of "The Golden Eagle Twins". Yes, the twins got away with all of their wrongdoings AND got Manny both horribly injured and imprisoned because of them. However, even though he only had Manny's word to go by, Rodolfo did not hesitate to believe his son's story and was ultimately proud of him for saving the park occupants.
• Sans the mutual Frida-obsession and willingness to fight each other over her, Diego and Sergio's friendship can be seen as this.
• The Rivera men bonding together as a family in the final episode. They truly unite and help each other when their powers are mixed up and their punch is so powerful it circles the whole globe.
  • The Riveras taking part in some normal family activities and genuinely having a blast doing them. Manny even ponders why they don't hang out like that in the first place.
  • Frida giving a kiss to Manny.
  • Two awesome (final) words that describe the Riveras wholeheartedly, whether they be good, bad or something in between: "FAMILIA FOREVER!!!"
• Especially knowing that Manny abandoned her in kindergarten, played her for information regarding her family's plans, and ultimately leaves her again for Frida, it could be sort of nice to know that Zoe will ultimately find a partner in Django.
  • Not to mention this technically also ends the line of failed romances between the Aves' and the Riveras... even if Django is of an illegitimate line or does not count as a Rivera.
• The show's creators have confirmed that Rodolfo and Maria get back together once the former retires (for good) from his work as a superhero. And even without that, it's really sweet to see that Rodolfo and Maria were on friendly terms with each other despite being divorced—not to mention their son didn't seem to have any issues arising from having divorced parents.
• When Manny and Frida were afraid that Maria was going to take Manny away due to Miracle City being too dangerous, Maria reveals not only does she know and is accepting of El Tigre but that she also planned to move back so that she could better guide Manny throughout life.
• Though it ended up costing the soccer match and everyone attacked him for it, Manny deciding to play the rest of the game without El Tigre in order to make his father happy (not to mention make it up to Rodolfo for getting him sick so Granpapi could take over as coach).
• Speaking of Manny and Rodolfo, it's worth noting that in general Manny loves his father immensely and on many occasions will decide to do what's right (and undo whatever trouble making that was done) for his sake or will take on tasks that Manny would rather avoid if it'll make Rodolfo happy (even if said tasks lead to more trouble, like hanging out with the Golden Eagle Twins).
• Doubles as Awesome, but Manny flipping Django's entire plan on its head when he chooses to save his family over taking over the world with Django and Sartana. And this is after all of the doubt that Rodolfo and Granpapi laid on him.
  • Assuming that he was being fully legit, Manny offering to end the fight with Django peacefully even after the skeleton manipulated Manny into turning against his family and attacked him. There's also the fact that Manny seemed to have genuinely viewed Django as a friend throughout the tournament, which is significant since outside of Frida and his family Manny doesn't seem to really have anyone else to truly turn to. Sadly Django has none of this, and cue Manny's Life-or-Limb Decision.
  • In the evil ending of "The Good, The Bad, and El Tigre" it turns out that Manny had it in him to keep his father and grandfather alive (albeit still imprisoned), and when he finally releases them they simply share a group hug. Easily Forgiven incarnate? Yep. Strangely sweet? Also yep.
  • Also in the evil ending there's Manny setting Frida free and making her his co-ruler. They proceed to spend the next sixty years ruling the world as dictators with a childish streak, no longer having to deal with any of their former adversaries and as happy as you can get.
• Before things took a nosedive straight into the abyss, Manny seemed to have been the only person who didn't really judge Sergio for his kiddie cowboy get up and seemed to have even approved of it (greeting Sergio with a genuine and cheerful "Yippie Ki-Yay, Man!").
• While he can absolutely be a little pest at times, it's actually oddly sweet to see Davi/Albino Burrito being a genuine and dedicated fan of Manny's and still is after Manny pinned his chores on the kid and brutally chewed the kid out (though the latter was due to Davi's antics). Also worth noting that Davi seems to only regard Manny as a hero and seeks to become the same instead of a villain or a half-and-half which could imply that Davi believes Manny's more on the side of good rather than evil.

---