YMMV / Storm Hawks

• Accidental Innuendo: In "Best Friends Forever", when Piper wants to go back and get the boys for backup, Lark shoots down the idea with "The two of us made out just fine in the storm, we'll be fine here." Considering how friendly they already were when they got back to the Condor, one has to wonder...
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Is Master Cyclonis an evil sociopath or, as Piper claims, a lonely little girl who just wants a friend? Following on that, is she an Evil Overlord through and through, or a Well-Intentioned Extremist who wants to forcibly unite Atmos by any means necessary to fulfill her family's ambitions?
  • Same goes for child-Cyclonis, since all we see of her is a picture. She was smiling, but was that supposed to imply that she Used to Be a Sweet Kid, or was she a Creepy Child seen in a happy moment? Heck, even the doll she was holding could be seen both as a ragged, well-loved toy and a voodoo-ish looking thing.
• Angst? What Angst?: All of the Storm Hawks are orphans, a fact which is given no more than a brief mention. Of course, this would get in the way with lighthearted tone of the show.
• Cargo Ship: Stork is very, very attached to and protective of his precious Condor.
• Cliché Storm: A common criticism of the show is that you're not likely to find much in terms of "original" ideas for plots or characters. However, many will also say that's one of the show's strengths as it plays its cliches to the hilt and just has fun with them.
• Crazy Is Cool: Stork and Arygyn. Also Aerrow, with the stunts he pulls.
• Cry for the Devil: One episode has Master Cyclonis attack the titular characters to steal a crystal from them which she needs to repair a broken crystal of her own. She actually pulls it off, returns to her Supervillain Lair and repairs the crystal... which projects a holographic image of her as a young child with her grandmother. She sincerely looks as human as she ever has throughout the scene.
• Die for Our Ship:
  • Starling has had some hate aimed at her from Aerrow/Piper shippers who perceive her as a threat to their ship.
  • And Aerrow himself gets some from Piper/Master Cyclonis shippers, though he usually gets viewed as a Knight Templar Big Brother with (not unjust) misgivings about Cyclonis.
• Draco in Leather Pants: The Dark Ace, Master Cyclonis and, to a lesser extent, Repton.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Suzy Lu and the Absolute Zeroes have some of a fanbase, due to their memorable Cloud Cuckoolander antics and taking their Canadian pastiche to amusing levels, while Suzy Lu herself is a rather likeable Cool Big Sis-type character. It helps that the Blizzarians' unique design helps them stand out despite their limited screen time.
• Evil Is Cool: The Dark Ace is virtually unstoppable in battle except against Aerrow, and Master Cyclonis is able to take on all the Storm Hawks and the Condor's security systems in "Five Days".
• Fanfic Fuel: Almost nothing is revealed about the Far Side of the Atmos in the series, leading fanfic writers to come up with their own conjectures. The series finale, which has the Storm Hawks actually going there, only adds more fuel.
• Fanon:
  • It's never stated that Lightning Strike is Aerrow's father, but taking into account Lightning Strike's supposed age, how much they look alike, and Aerrow's status as an orphan, it's highly unlikely they'd be related in any other way.
  • Fanon suggests that Master Cyclonis' real name might be Lark, even though it was just the name she used to try and infiltrate the Storm Hawks and trick Piper, due to the fact it would make sense In-Universe that no one knows her real name.
• Foe Yay Shipping: Piper/Master Cyclonis is one of the more prominent ships in the fandom, given Cyclonis' interest in Piper's abilities and the rather personal enmity they share.
• Inferred Holocaust: The Nightcrawlers are implied to have killed the entire indigenous population of Terra Tropica because they might have interfered. Cyclonis also destroys nine terras in as many days during the series finale, which realistically would have killed a good number of people even with the Sky Knights trying to rescue their residents.
• Most Wonderful Sound: The Condor's foghorn. It's basically the airship equivalent of a Pre-Asskicking One-Liner.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The tentacle monster from "Terra Neon". Though given that he's also a shoutout to Statler and Waldorf, it's up in the air if that makes it better or worse.
  • The Murk Raiders in their first appearance where empty ships of their past victims are shown to be torn apart. The giant skull in the front of their airship, and their unnerving war chant doesn't help either.
  • The Dark Ace's fate, overloading with energy while screaming in confidence, and then pain, and exploding into dust.
• Popular with Furries: There are quite a few furry fans drawn to the various Beast Folk who populate the setting, particularly the Blizzarians, the Merbs, and the Raptors.
• Portmanteau Couple Name: For a certain duo, it's Cypher.
• Ships That Pass in the Night: The Foe Yay Shipping of Starling/Dark Ace. Their on-screen interaction is limited to Starling delivering him a flying kick in "Age of Heroes".
• So Okay, It's Average: The general critical consensus is that, while Storm Hawks is a fun show overall, that's really all it has going for it, and the show doesn't offer anything too new or exciting. Being aired alongside the likes of Avatar: The Last Airbender certainly didn't help it stand out.
• Starboarding: Some fans like the idea of Piper having a one-sided Precocious Crush on Starling, an interpretation which is not unfounded in the show itself.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • At the end of "Talon Academy," the former Talon recruits decide they want to join up with the Storm Hawks instead, and Aerrow agrees that they could use a reserve team. The idea never goes anywhere, and these characters are never seen again.
  • Despite being a semi-regular for the first season and an unofficial seventh Storm Hawk, Starling is almost nowhere to be found in season 2.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Piper tells Cyclonis that she believes Cyclonis is just a lonely girl who wants a friend. This is never brought up again. Perhaps something would have been done with it had the show continued as Cyclonis was left off no longer in the Big Bad position, but in that case Piper's statement should have been saved for toward the end of the show's second season, not toward the start of the first.
  • Also, the Storm Hawks briefly try to have Starling join the team as their seventh member, but she politely declines. She isn't seen again until the finale.
• Viewer Gender Confusion:
  • Master Cyclonis' young age, ambiguous physique, and equally ambiguous title and name led to some interpretations of her as a boy whose voice hasn't dropped. It seems that the creators noticed this, as later on, after she was identified by name in an episode they would mostly stick to feminine pronouns if she was mentioned again, and "Best Friends Forever" seemingly goes out of its way to dispel any doubts of her being female.
  • Spitz sometimes gets this, being by far the smallest and skinniest Raptor.

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