Comic Book / Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars!

When your fur is bright green, you've already gone where no ordinary rabbit would dare.

In another dimension, another time and space,
a parallel universe has fallen on its face!
When out of the chaos, who else could it be?
Funky animal adventurers from S-P-A-C-E!

— Theme song

A very short-lived (5 issues) but well remembered comic book series created by Larry Hama, with help from Michael Golden and Neal Adams, about Captain Bucky O'Hare, a green humanoid hare who fights to protect his Universe from the scourge of the evil Toad Empire. Bucky is assisted by the intrepid crew of his space frigate, the Righteous Indignation, which is joined by a human Child Prodigy named Willy DuWitt, who entered his universe through a Portal Door that he accidentally helped create via simultaneous Photon Accelerator malfunction, and is trapped until the event can be recreated.

The original comic debuted in 1986, originally appearing as entries in the comics anthology series Echo of Futurepast, published by Continuity Comics — the first issue debuted to the public in Echo of Futurepast #1 in May 1984. In 1991, a 13-episode animated television series (and a tie-in line of action figures by Hasbro) debuted, running from September to December 1991.

Konami would also release two video games based on the animated series, one for the NES and the arcade game Bucky O'Hare in 1992. The cartoon would inspire a UK comics company to produce a second Bucky O'Hare comic series in 1992; it reprinted the original five issues, and then created 15 new issues that expanded on the comics story.

Thanks to Pragmatic Adaptation, Willy DuWitt can go freely back and forth between Earth and the other universe - renamed the "Aniverse" - at will in the cartoon.

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Bucky O'Hare and the Trope Wars:

• Abusive Parents: Willy's parents are of the "neglectful, selfish parents" variety. See Adults Are Useless below for an example. Willy's mother has an Establishing Character Moment where she balks at Willy devoting himself to the school science project, referring to the idea of the reward as "selfish and elitist"...rather rich, coming from someone who neglects her own son's aspirations and desires while attempting to force her lifestyle onto him.
• Adults Are Useless: Willy's parents in both the comic and the cartoon are completely worthless.
  • In the comic, they are Strawman Political hippy-types, who actually strand their son in another dimension through their carelessness and their indifference in listening to him.
  • In the cartoon, they are more reasonable and responsible, but they can't seem to understand that their son is going through a hard time at school because of bullies.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The main villain, KOMPLEX, is a sentient computer program that the toads designed to run their planet. It turned evil and sent them on the warpath for no readily apparent reason. By contrast, AFC Blinky is a totally friendly and humble and religious robot.
• All There in the Manual: The name of Bucky's mysterious mentor, Damaron Jabok, is given in a promotional booklet for an abandoned second season and further toyline.
• All There in the Script: The names of several characters and things, particularly:
  • Jeff and Mark (the other two bullies with Doug)
  • Bob (the gray hare in "Home, Swampy, Home")
  • Digger the mole's surname, McSquint.
  • Willy's mother's first name, "Sunshine."
  • The Iron Vulture (the Corsair Canards' pirate ship)
  • Dr. Wartimer and Dr. Croakley (the other two toad scientists who created Komplex)
• All Women Are Lustful: All of the women in this show are very direct about their affections, Jenny and Mimi LaFloo in particular.
• Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Bucky has green fur.
• Amphibian Assault: The toads serve as the main villains of the series, with their goal being to conquer the galaxy.
• Artificial Limbs: Kamikaze Kamo's lower arms are both cybernetic. This is also heavily implied to be one of the ways some toads disguised as the Corsair Canards from Dead-Eye's species (four-armed ducks) managed to make their disguise convincing despite having only two arms of their own.
• Artistic License – Biology: While there's some question of how exactly ordinary biology applies to anthropomorphic species like those in the Aniverse, Bucky O'Hare's people—while explicitly stated to be hares—share some of the distinct traits of both hares and rabbits: like rabbits, they can burrow into the ground (as Bucky does in "Bye Bye Berserker Baboon") and their planet Warren is named after the underground burrows in which rabbits typically live with up to about twenty other members of their extended families; yet, like hares (which dig shallow nests into the moors where they live), Bucky's people live above ground mostly in nuclear family units. A lyric from one of the toads' pop singers in the background in "On The Blink" ("As a smoother-skinned toad, you're just a frog!") also implies that the toads are somehow actually hybridized with frogs (and that this is why some of them have more warts—which they consider to be sexually appealing—than others).
• Awesome, but Impractical: The toy version of the Toad Croaker. While in the show, games, and comic it was presented as more or less a one man recon vehicle, the toy was altered slightly to look like a left shoe, complete with treads on its bottom. The reason was so that kids would use it to smash it down onto Toad Trooper action figures, "stepping" on them^note The name is a reference to the franchise's Battle Cry "Let's croak (us some) toads!"... Needless to say the Toads' own Double Bubble didn't come anywhere close to this level of awesome.
• Badass Boast: This is BRUISER, the Betelgeusian Berserker Baboon speaking! I'm unstoppable, unbeatable, and uncontrollable!
• Bad Boss: In one episode, Toad Air Marshal threaten to blow up the factory where Bucky and his friends are located unless they surrender. Frix protests, saying that Frax, their troops and workers are still stationed in the factory. Toad Air Marshal calls it "a small sacrifice" to pay for victory.
• Badass Crew: The crew of the Righteous Indignation. To wit:
  • Bucky is an adept tactician and planner, as well as a highly skilled tumbler and acrobat.
  • Jenny uses her (secret^note Except to Willy.) psychic abilities to devastating effect, and is an excellent pilot and perfectly capable personal combatant.
  • Deadeye is a lethal marksman with any gun (hence his name).
  • Willy, in spite of being a young child without military training, still fights effectively alongside the crew of the Righteous. He is skilled enough with a frisbee to hit a thrown knife in flight.
  • Blinky has shown excellent skills in infiltration and cyberwarfare.
  • Bruiser is Bruiser. He caused the toads to evacuate an entire planet by making a Badass Boast on TV. Twice.
• Batman Gambit:
  • Toadborg uses one on Jenny in "The Artificers of Aldebaran". He kidnaps Jenny's student Felicia and takes her into a nebula that he couldn't possibly navigate himself, knowing Jenny would use her powers to navigate the nebula for him. He does this to get to the source of the Articifers' power; while he's able to access it, it proves too great for him to handle and he's knocked out. He wakes up with no recollection of the source or its location.
  • Another one was used by the good guys in "The Taking of Pilot Jenny" which succeeded in freeing the captured planet Warren.
• Battle Cry: The characteristic HI-YOU-GAH! of the Betelgeusian marines.
  • "Let's croak (us some) toads!"
• Berserk Button: Don't insinuate that Toadborg was just a worker before being converted into a Cyborg, rather than a warrior.
• Berserker Tears: Shed by Bruiser after Bruce vanishes for the second time.
  That's the second time the toads cost me MY BROTHER!
• Beware the Silly Ones: When Bucky threatened the Air Marshal with the might of United Animals Space Fleet (which at that moment consisted of only one frigate, albeit toads did not know that), the Air Marshal actually saw this as opportunity to finally lure the main enemy force into open battle... which is quite reasonable course of action.
• Big Bad: Komplex, the evil AI who enslaved the Toads and has designs on the rest of the Aniverse.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • This kicks off the revelation of the Batman Gambit in "The Taking of Pilot Jenny" when, with the Righteous Crew seemingly at the mercy of KOMPLEX and Toadborg, the ship they're all in is rocked by gunfire as the Indefatigable cuts through their stagnate defenses like a hot knife through butter.
  • Another one occurs in "Bye Bye Berserker Baboon." The Total Terror Toad, a monstrous amphibian warrior, has the heroes cornered. To make matters worse, unlike his brethren, he is not afraid of Berserker Baboons and looks like he could eat them like popcorn. Bucky O'Hare, injured in a failed attack on the monster, suddenly dives down and burrows through the ground away, escaping. Unable to believe they've been abandoned by their leader, the others are treated to the sight of their ship suddenly launching and flying away. The monster gets closer and closer as the Air Marshal cackles that he's finally beaten even the "Great Bucky O'Hare." Suddenly, the sound of rockets firing is heard and Bucky returns on the Toad Croaker. Turns out he just went out to the next planet over to snag several jars of the Aniverse's best tasting flies, with which he proceeds to lure the Total Terror Toad back to the Toad Mothership where it proceeds to tear the place apart.
• Big Sister Instinct: After the initial few episodes played with the idea of Jenny having romantic feelings for Willy, the show eventually established her as having more of a sibling bond with him, looking out for his wellbeing and at one point admonishing him for disobeying her order to stay behind.
• Brainwashed and Crazy:
  • When Blinky was captured by the toads and reprogrammed, this was the result on him when he was rescued by the Righteous.
  • In the NES Video Game, you have to defeat Jenny, Willy, and Deadeye to free them from the Toads' brainwashing.
  • KOMPLEX did this to all the toads, setting off the war in the first place.
• Briar Patching: Bucky, disguised as an old man, begs the toads who have just arrested him not to send him to the slave factory. Bucky wanted to be taken there so he can free the imprisoned hares at the factory.
• Brown Note: Toad TV, which turns anyone who watches it into a brainless couch potato.
• The Bully: Willy is constantly being harassed by bullies Doug McKenna and his friends. at school. His parents are blind to his suffering.
• Canon Immigrant: While Jenny and Terror Toad were first seen in the cartoon, they and several other characters were eventually going to be released as part of the expanded toy line. Unfortunately, the expanded toy line didn't happen.
• The Captain: Bucky O'Hare is always the man in charge.
• Captured Super-Entity: As it turns out, the source of power for the Articifers is this: a powerful Eldritch Abomination that resides in a nebula in an induced sleep. Toadborg attempted to harness its power, but it ended badly for him (he survived the overload, but had forgotten about everything about it). It took the combined power of Jenny, her student Felicia, pretty much every single Aldebaran to put it back it sleep before it threatened the Aniverse. It's best to leave it that way.
• Cat Folk: Jenny and the residents of her home planet Aldebaran.
• The Champion: Toadborg is KOMPLEX's champion.
• Chekhov's Gun: Willy's water gun, which is "confiscated" by Deadeye in the second episode. It becomes VERY important to the crew when they're making their escape from the Toad Mothership. It's lampshaded later when the same tactic doesn't work a second time.
• Chick Magnet: Bucky and Willy.
• Child Prodigy: If Willy were not one of these, it's doubtful that he would have survived the first episode.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: The bullies aren't seen again after the pilot.
• City Planet: KOMPLEX has the toad homeworld completely covered in factories seven layers deep.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: This happens by way of Offstage Villainy in the episode "The Artificers of Alderberan" when Princess Felicia gets herself captured by toads. The scene begins with a solitary toad forcing Felicia to watch terrible commercials. Then Toadborg enters the room, proceeds to literally throw the toad out of the room in disgust, leaving him alone with Felicia. Then he clutches her face in a rather uncomfortable manner. This immediately precedes her being tortured by Toadborg offscreen.
• Combat Stilettos: While Jenny wears high heels (platform boots in the comic) as part of her outfit, she's in no way hampered by them; in one episode she's shown effortlessly dodging and performing acrobatics around a combat exercise droid.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Dogstar's voice is based on Jim Backus.
• Cool Ship: At least Bucky's ship's name is easily the coolest in Western TV animation, the Righteous Indignation.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: When Jenny first met Toadborg, she mistook him for a simple robot and tried to defeat him with a psychic blast. It didn't work: as it turns out, cyborgs aren't nearly as susceptible to her psychic abilities as robots are. Toadborg retaliates by effortlessly blasting her to the floor and knocking her out with an aerosol.
• Cute Clumsy Girl: Felicia.
• Cyborg: Toadborg was a toad soldier who suffered a catastrophic injury and was rebuilt as a nearly invincible cyborg soldier.
• Cyber Cyclops: The one-eyed android Blinky.
• Cyberpunk: A downplayed, but very present theme in the series overall. Several of the heroes fall solidly into Anti-Hero territory (such as Deadeye Duck), important advances in cybernetics are seen in both Toadborg and Kamikaze Kamo, and Komplex is a sapient Master Computer gone haywire.
• Day in the Limelight: After "War of the Warts" every crew member of the Righteous Indignation got a least one episode in which to shine, sometimes two.
• Demoted to Extra: Toadborg becomes this in the NES game. While he is still a boss character, he is only the boss of the relatively easy Green Planet, and one of the easiest bosses to beat himself. This is in direct contrast to his status as The Dragon and Knight of Cerebus in the show.
• Department of Redundancy Department: When Al Negator names his price:
  Toad Air Marshal: Five thousand simoleons?! That's extortion! That's blackmail!
  Al Negator: Ha-ha, of course, two of my specialties.
• Didn't Think This Through: Did you really think that the creators of a rogue AI would allow said AI to capture them and send them into deep space if there was a quick-and-dirty way to deactivate said AI? Seriously, Bucky?
• Difficult, but Awesome: In the video game, Jenny's Energy Orb, which requires charging. While it leaves you vulnerable to an attack, the energy ball is so powerful, that it can 1-shot some bosses.
• The Dragon: Toadborg, to Komplex.
  • Co-Dragons: Toadborg and Toad Air Marshal often share this.
  • Dragon-in-Chief: Toadborg
• The Dreaded: The Berserker Baboons. And that's after the Toads' genetic fear of Baboons has been neutralized.
  Air Marshal: Wait a minute! Now, the goggles are a neat trick, but the Betelgeusian Berserker Baboons are our most formidable foes in the Aniverse!
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Bruiser falls into the role quite easily, when he is a guest instructor at the Betelgeusian military academy. His mother is very proud of him.
• Dystopia: Formerly, the Toads' homeworld was a swamp planet. Now, it's a planet-sized industrial complex that runs seven layers deep beneath the surface, with every inch of the factory-planet totally controlled and endlessly watched by Komplex. Because their planet is in such a state, the Toads have turned to stealing other planets and changing the biosphere to resemble their original swampy home. Despite this, when Komplex is taken offline in an attack by Bucky O'Hare, the Toads rebuild him without hesitation, because they love their Toad TV.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: In the first three episodes, Frix and Frax have deep, gruff voices that actually make them sound somewhat tough. This is in sharp contrast to all their later appearances where they have high, squeaky, whiny voices.
• Embarrassing Password:
  S.P.A.C.E. Representative: (saluting) "Fish stink from the head."
  Bucky: (saluting) "Toads stink from the feet."
  S.P.A.C.E. Representative: Yeah, them's the passwords. You're all right. (under his breath) Who thought of these stupid passwords...?
• Empathy Doll Shot: In the Theme Song opening. Also used in a flashback in the second episode.
• The Empire: And one populated by amphibians no less.
• The Engineer: Willy DuWitt. He is able to build or repair just about anything.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Bruiser's not evil, but he is a badass. And he loves his mother very much.
• Everyone Calls Him Bar Keep: The Toad Air Marshal, even after KOMPLEX fires him in one episode.
• Evil Sounds Deep: At least if you are a threat to the heroes. The more of a threat you are, the deeper your voice.
• Explosive Decompression: Averted. In the third episode, Toadborg exposes the Righteous Indignation crew to the vacuum of space to force Willy DuWitt to choose between them and a chip containing important security codes. The effect is a surprisingly realistic gradual decompression.
• Expository Theme Tune: The cartoon's theme song is a cross between this and Bragging Theme Tune.
• Extendable Arms: Both Toadborg and Blinky have the ability to extend their limbs. Blinky actually uses contractile tentacles for fingers, in fact.
• The Faceless: All of the human adults are shown from the neck down. The only humans whose faces we see are kids.
• Faceless Goons: Pretty much all of the toads except for the Toad Air Marshal and Toadborg.
• Fantastic Racism: KOMPLEX has a deep hatred against all non-Toad beings. Bucky and Deadeye both have a hatred for Toads, and no one trusts Sleezasaurs. There are also subtle hints of mammal vs. reptile/amphibian discrimination, given that lizards, newts and sleezasaurs have all been seen voluntarily working with the toads against the mammalian races.
• Fantastic Slurs: A lot of the characters seem to have a complete list of creative insults for toads, especially Bucky.
• Feathered Fiend: All ducks shown tend towards the anti-heroic side of things at best.
  • The Corsair Canards are a gang of pirates who are most emphatically not The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything (the first thing we see them do is attack a luxury liner), but have a "no first use of violence"-policy (note, no first use, the Corsairs will gladly turn any ship that offers resistance into dust) which is enough to convince Bucky that the Corsairs are worth cultivating as allies against the Toads.
  • Kamikaze Kamo is a ninja duck, and the leads La Résistance against the Toad-backed Lizards attempting to conquer Canopus III. Kamo and his people are decent enough, but they are also reluctant to hold back and will happily use bladed weapons and attack from ambush. Kamo is shown nailing a fleeing enemy in the back with a shuriken.
  • On a more personal level, there is Deadeye Duck. Deadeye is a former Corsair Canard in good standing, and while he serves loyally as Bucky's master gunner, he is also far more likely to lie, cheat, steal and use gun violence in the name of the cause than the other main characters.
• The Federation: The United Animal Security Council and its strong arm, S.P.A.C.E.
• Fictional Currency: Simoleons is currency used in the Aniverse.
• Fictional United Nations: The United Animal Security Council operates like this. Not a very flattering portrayal, either, given that they're depicted as so caught up with constant bureaucratic squabbling that they're willing to stick their heads in the sand and ignore the decades-long war against the toads.
• Five-Episode Pilot: Okay a three episode one, but who's counting?
• Flash of Pain: In the arcade game, bosses gain seizure times of turning orange whenever they're dead soon.
• Forever War: In both the 1986 comic and the cartoon, KOMPLEX enslaved the Toads a century ago and they've been at war ever since.
• French Jerk: Captain Smada, a campy, simpering toad captain and old rival of the Toad Air Marshal who speaks with a French accent.
• Fridge Logic: Invoked In-Universe during the cartoon; the episode "Kreation Konspiracy" revolves around Bucky trying to rescue KOMPLEX's long-lost creators, hoping that they have some secret shut-down code or key insight into his workings that S.P.A.C.E can exploit. At the episode's end, after having been rescued, the dumbfounded toads point out that if they had a quick and easy way to just deactivate KOMPLEX, they wouldn't have let him launch them into permanent exile in deep space.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision: Toadborg wants the defense codes or he'll jettison Bucky, Jenny and Deadeye into space. Willy faces a moral dilemma. Does he destroy the disks containing the codes, or give them up to save his friends? At Bucky's insistence he smashes them, to Toadborg's fury.... until Al Negator turns up with a copy of the codes. Oops.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Before Komplex corrupted them, the toads were a lazy, decadent race with a penchant for shoddily-made consumer products. Now they are a heavily militarized group of Planet Looters.
• Frothy Mugs of Water: Former pirate Gunner Deadeye Duck's favored drink? Swamp Grass.
• Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal: All the furry characters.
• Fun with Acronyms: This franchise loves its acronyms.
  • S.P.A.C.E.: Sentient Protoplasm Against Colonial Encroachment
  • C.H.I.E.F.: Cool Head In Every Fiasco
  • C.A.T.: Crystal Augmented Telekinesis◊
• Genius Bruiser: Toadborg.
  • Bruce is a One-Man Army who happens to be a warp drive engineer by trade, and can build a teleporter out of scrap.
• Goggles Do Nothing: Bucky's aviator cap has a pair of large goggles that he never pulls down over his eyes.
• Graceful Loser: Al Negator laughs upon realizing that Willy has managed to out-con him.. though that doesn't mean that anyone else can join in.
• Granola Girl: Willy's mother. Her name is "Sunshine", and in her first appearance she is gearing up for a "Save the Whales"-rally.
• Groin Attack: Jenny kicks a toad in the family jewels in the first episode.
• Handicapped Badass: Deadeye has only one eye. The lack of depth perception has no effect on his aim.
• Head-in-the-Sand Management: The United Animal Security Council seems to think that the Toad Empire's warmongering can be dealt with by doing exactly nothing.
• Heel–Face Turn: One of the bully Doug's cohorts Jeff became Willy's friend after helping them with their science project, and consoles Willy when Doug took all the credit.
• Hero of Another Story: Commander Dogstar and the crew of the Indefatigable in the TV-series.
• Hero-Worshipper: Felicia to Jenny.
• Holding Out for a Hero: The enslaved hares put to work building a new climate converter are waiting to be rescued by Bucky O'Hare. This irritates Mimi LaFloo, who is trying to organize a resistance movement so they can free themselves.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Bucky, for all his strategic brilliance, has a bad tendency to trust easily. Best shown when he recruited Al Negator as the ship's mechanic.
• Hostile Terraforming: The toads have a machine which can completely change the climate and ecology of a conquered planet into a swamp. Given what we see of the cities on such converted worlds, this cannot be a pleasant experience for anything currently on the surface when this happens.
• Hot Witch: Jenny fits the bill.◊
• Humanoid Female Animal: Every singe female character in the entire series fits this trope. However, not all of them have hair.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: It is downplayed due to him having very little screen-time, but Wolf, Commander Dogstar's Number One, is significantly more capable and on-the-ball than his Commanding Officer. His interactions with Dogstar are shining examples of barely restrained snark.
• Immune to Mind Control: In one episode, the entire crew of Righteous Indignation is put into a state of trance by Toad TV...except for Willy, who's able to shut off the transmission. He theorizes that his immunity is likely due to the fact that human's brain structure is different from that of a mammal from Aniverse.
• Impossibly Cool Clothes: While toned down in the cartoon due to Limited Animation, Jenny's outfit ^note Word of God names it Aldebaran Battle Armor◊ in the comic book is pure Costume Porn. Even though it is form-fitting futuristic spandex, it is equal parts functional high tech battle-armor and active weapon system: It's covered in magical gems that amplify her telekinesis, and has one gem that serves as a Subspace Ansible when combined with her telepathy. ^note Described here◊ The armored bits of the suit are made of a very shiny metallic substance that is just as flexible as the rest of the suit.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: And with a flying disk no less. Also some of the shots Deadeye pulls off seem fairly unlikely even given his background.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: The Toad Air Marshal. He sees himself as Bucky's arch-nemesis but Bucky seems to view him as little more than an annoyance.
• Informed Ability: The Toad Air Marshal is forever talking about his accomplishments and skills, but for the run of the series he's much more of joke character than anything else. Of course, considering the only guy in the entire Empire who seems remotely competent is in a higher position than him and above that is a super-computer, maybe he really is the best KOMPLEX could get for the job.
• Insignia Rip-Off Ritual: In the episode "The Warriors", the Toad Air Marshall is stripped of his medals and demoted for his constant failures, with Frix and Frax put in charge. When they prove to be even more incompetent, KOMPLEX reinstates the Air Marshall.
• Instant Sedation: In the episode ‘The Good, The Bad and The Worty’ Bucky and Jenny are victims of this trope when Toadborg renders them both unconscious with a jet of knockout gas sprayed from his finger.
• Interspecies Romance: All of the implied romances are this. See Ship Tease for more details.
• It Only Works Once: On their first meeting, Willy's water pistol is able to destroy a toad Void-Droid with one shot to its innards. On the second such encounter, it turns out the toads immediately upgraded their Void-Droids with better waterproofing.
• Jerkass: Vice-Chairman Grebb, the Toad Air Marshal, Sly Lee-Zard, and Al Negator all fit this trope.
• Jerkass Gods: Zigzagged with the "Alien God-Mouse" in the 1986 comic. On the one hand, he believes all life is sacred, so he saves the toads aboard their magma tanker by teleporting them to safety before it implodes (though he does teleport them to a world with "bad food and high taxes" as a punishment for being evil). On the other hand, he makes no attempt to warn Willy that his parents are about to arrive and turn off his photon accelerator, trapping him in the Aniverse, and vanishes instead of sticking around and offering a hand.
• Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge: Jenny's species form a sisterhood, with a directive to keep the true extent of their powers, as well as any Aldebaran secrets, from all outsiders. Jenny herself has found ways to work around this, allowing her to sometimes go all out without her crewmates noticing (often with the Mother Superior's approval, of course). Willy, however, is the only outsider to have discovered a couple of these in one episode, and trustworthy enough to be sworn to secrecy. While few, like Toadborg, are somewhat familiar with Jenny's abilities, it's never where she or her "sisters" see it as a threat to their directive.
  • In the cartoon, when Toadborg tried to harness the source of the Aldebarans' power in the Dark Heart Nebula, the Eldritch Abomination inside overwhelmed his sensors to the point where he doesn't remember it at all after being picked up by his fellow toads.
  • In the comic, Jenny is able to knock out the toads while she escaped captivity, because they won't remember a thing when they wake up. However, Mother Superior prevented her from using her powers later, warning her that they were watched by beings even more powerful than the Aldebarans themselves (in that case, the mouse-like creatures).
• Killer Space Monkey: Betelgeusian Berserker Baboons are a rare heroic example. They're one of the largest mammalian species seen in the series, and showcased as incredibly strong, and with legendary tempers. When not enraged, however, they're just people like everyone else in the Aniverse, with no particular racial tendencies towards malice. Still, there's got to be some reason why the Toads are absolutely terrified of them.
  • Explained in the show. The toads have a genetic trigger based on the shape of a Berserker Baboon that triggers an innate flight response. But it's only the specific shape of the Baboon that causes it to the point that if the shape is altered it's not triggered. Doesn't help them getting flattened by what they think is a spindly little thing is however.
• Knight of Cerebus: Toadborg. The Air Marshal is incompetent and the toads are ineffectual, but Toadborg is tough, smart, competent and dangerous.
• Lady Land: Jenny's home planet Aldebaran is seen twice: only women are seen among the natives on both occasions. It's for certain that the women seen do not account for the planet's entire population, and we see one of them tending a child in a crib, but that begs the question: where are all the males?
• Large Ham: In-universe example: Bruiser's TV appearances are GLORIOUSLY hammy.
• Laser Blade: When the crew met Willy for the first time, Deadeye mistook Willy's flashlight for a Laser Blade and calling it a lightsaber.
• Lethal Lava Land: The NES game's Red Planet.
• Lighter and Softer: While the better known TV series adaptation of the comic doesn't allow anyone to die on either side of the Toad Empire vs S.P.A.C.E. conflict, the original comic series wasn't restricted by any television censorship. As a result, characters could -and often did- actually die. Poor Bruce got reduced to ashes in the first issue, and KOMPLEX lobotomized the Toads that built him shortly after being activated. In addition, the TV series would generally substitute wacky and silly Toad TV commercials for torture and war devastation, but not always: Felicia was tortured off screen in "The Artificers of Aldebaran."
• Like Brother and Sister: While Jenny and Bucky certainly care for each other, they never treat each other any differently than their other crewmates. In fact, the only one who receives any romantic affection from Jenny was Willy: she often teases him.
• Lovable Nerd: Willy.
• Magic from Technology: The Artificer Witches of Aldebaran use "magic" that comes from the captured offspring of a massive sleeping creature that resides in the middle of the Dark Heart nebula. The sensors of the Righteous Indignation were designed by the Artificers and presumably use the same system.
• Male Gaze: A rather gratuitous example occurs in "The Good the Bad, and the Worty": Jenny gets sedated after being on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle courtesy of Toadborg. As she loses consciousness, the scene abruptly cuts to a tightly focused shot of her breasts that leaves her head completely out of the frame as her raised arms fall limp.
• Married to the Job: Deadeye confirms himself to be this.
  Deadeye:"Ah, she was never mine, Willy me boy, and I got no time for lass in me life anyway."
• Meaningful Name: Most of the characters have these.
• Mechanical Animals: Commander Dogstar's crew has ASC Rumblebee, a war bot in the shape of an anthropomorphic bumblebee (as opposed to main character AFC Blinky who is a small humanoid bot with an eyeball for a head). The style design allows for a gun to be built into Rumblebee's large thorax, letting him shift modes into a stationary maser cannon and provide heavy artillery support for the crew of the Indefatigable, as well a second gun enplacement for the ship itself.
• Medals for Everyone: "Bye Bye, Berserker Baboon" begins with Bruiser being decorated for valorous conduct.
• The Mentor: Bucky actually has one in the form of the mysterious Mentor, a rabbit who taught him how to be a warrior. Given how young he's portrayed as, one wonders when he had time to do that AND go through the Academy on Genus.
• The Mole: Chairman Harman turns out to be a tiny newt controlling a robot body.
• Momma's Boy: Bruiser.
• Mook Lieutenants: Frix and Frax.
• More Deadly Than the Male: Thanks to her powers, Jenny can be destructive to ridiculous levels compared to the rest of the cast. The only thing restricting her from doing this all the time is the fact that she's sworn to keep those powers a secret from the rest of the universe: thus, she must be discreet.
• More than Mind Control: The Toad Empire is totally and completely under Komplex's control, despite the fact that the Toads are clearly in control of their own mental faculties. This is done through subconscious brainwashing carried in television signals, which most of the Toads find addicting, but not debilitating. To non-Toads, the content of those signals act as Mind Rape, implying that the Toads have been conditioned to accept this. However, if given enough time and effort, Komplex can manipulate these signals to empty the minds of non-Toads and directly reprogram them to serve him.
• Ms. Fanservice: Jenny. She has long hair, her outfit is spandex with a Grade-A Zettai Ryouiki (see Impossibly Cool Clothes above for more info on her outfit), and she herself is very much The Tease towards Willy DuWitt. The camera also tends to focus on her in certain predictable ways.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Deadeye has four arms, all of which are great for shooting things with.
• The Napoleon: The Toad Air Marshal, swagger stick and all. Bucky also to a certain degree.
• Never Say "Die": Thoroughly averted. Toadborg in particular makes numerous overt death threats, and none of the other characters shy away from mentioning death. That said, nobody dies, even when they definitely should.
• New-Age Retro Hippie: Willy's parents are these. This is played up more and portrayed much less sympathetically in the comic book than in the cartoon.
• Nice Guy: Willy DuWitt.
• Nintendo Hard: The NES game is very difficult to win. Surprisingly, it isn't bad programming that gives the game this distinction, it was the requirement for skill. The "HARD!" password makes it even tougher!
• Non-Mammal Mammaries: In spades. Even the female toads have breasts.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: According to Blinky, the reason the Toads' initial push was so unexpected was that everyone thought they were completely harmless.^note They were... at first.
• Not Quite Dead: In the cartoon, Bruce gets zapped by the photon accelerator and everyone thinks he's dead (or rather, had "attained oneness with the universe") as a result. He actually got teleported across the Aniverse. In the comic, however, Bruce was working on the engines when a plasma cannon shot caused severe feedback in the engine circuits... he was instantly reduced to a pile of ash.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: The United Animal Security Council is consistently portrayed as hopelessly incompetent. In the comic, they weigh down S.P.A.C.E with an outrageous amount of forms and politically-motivated red tape. (As an example, S.P.A.C.E is not allowed to engage Toad Forces on or around inhabited planets without securing official, written recognition from that specific planet's government first - even if the Toads are already in the process of stealing/destroying said planet. The only thing the Toads do is steal and/or destroy planets.) In the addition, the entire reason S.P.A.C.E is stretched so thinly in its efforts to fight the toads is because the Security Council would only spare the budget for a total of three individual frigates... all of which are repurposed civilian transport craft with guns strapped onto them.
• Oh, Crap!: Nearly all toads are terrified of Berzerker Baboons and they have this reaction whenever one shows up.
• Parental Bonus: The cartoon is so heavily loaded with these that it would be a waste of space to list them all. That said, Mimi LaFloo's frigate is called the Screaming Mimi. That's just the beginning.
• Parent Service: There is a lot of fanservice in this cartoon, all over the place. Most of it comes from Jenny.
• Pirates and Privateers: The Corsair Canards start as Space Pirates whom Deadeye convinces to work for S.P.A.C.E. and only attack the Toads.
• Planet Looters: The toads do this differently depending on the medium. In the comic, they siphon out the molten cores of planets to use as raw materials to feed their war machine. In the cartoon, they basically steal planets by conquering them and enslaving the races to work for them, frequently subjecting the world to Hostile Terraforming to remake the environment into something more to their preference.
• Planet of Hats: Before Komplex took over, the Toads were an entire civilization of mindless consumerism.
• Player-Guided Missile: Jenny's charged orb in the NES game can be controlled by the player.
• Portal Door: A literal example; the portal between Earth and the Aniverse is the door of Willy's closet. Unlike in the comics, where he's stuck in the Aniverse, Willy can travel between worlds in the cartoon whenever he pleases.
• Punny Name:
  • Come on...Al Negator?
  • The toad scientists who built Komplex are named Hopkins, Wartimer and Croakley.
  • "Willy DuWitt". Just say his full name and think about it.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: Bucky's the head of his crew and also a very formidable all-around warrior. Toadborg is also a very serious physical threat in addition to being the toads' only competent commander. In the last episode, when KOMPLEX gets a body, he also proves to be extremely difficult to bring down, and this form was fittingly adapted into the final boss of the arcade game. Averted with the Air Marshall, who's only slightly less useless than his goofy assistants.
• Recycled In Space: Buck Rogers with anthropomorphic animals.
  • The arcade game functions similar to that of Aliens as both of these games are run-and-gun action games on a semi-isometric view.
• Reformed Criminal: Deadeye straddles the line between this and Recruiting the Criminal. He used to be a member of the notorious pirate band the Corsair Canards, but seems to have left on good terms. He is well-known and respected among the Corsairs (though some consider him a sell-out) and keeps in touch with his old shipmates. He is also the master gunner of the Righteous Indignation and a loyal and trustworthy member of Bucky's crew.
• Religious Robot: A.F.C. Blinky clearly believes in the religion that is practiced by the Righteous Indignation's crew, which appears to be an alternate universe version of Taoism (Blinky directly mentions "Sacred Tao"). He has also been programmed to respect the Chain Of Command more than his religion, which may be a deliberate failsafe system.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Al Negator is a two-timing scuzzball only out for profit, willing even to betray the toads. Likewise, Samurai lizard Sly Leezard is quite the bastard. Note that this is subverted when Sly's boss, the supreme commander of the Samurai lizards, has him punished for breaking the Samurai's code of honor, and lets the heroes go free (so long as they never return).
• Restraining Bolt: In the comic book, KOMPLEX lobotomized its creators soon after being activated. In a deliberate effort to make the cartoon pass the network censors, this was changed to KOMPLEX having an inability to hurt his designers. So, when he took over the toads, he sent them into deep space.
• The Right of a Superior Species: Thanks to KOMPLEX, the Toads believe themselves to be superior to the other races, and as such, they claim the right to steal their planets and enslave their inhabitants.
• Robot Soldier: The Toads use some of these as a supplement to their armies. Jenny made the mistake of thinking Toadborg was one of them.
• Scary Dogmatic Aliens: The Toads easily fit this trope by way of Techno Dystopia. Formerly, they were a harmless, but vain and greedy people run by capitalist lords. Then those lords decided to make KOMPLEX: a massive, sentient computer network that could run their society more efficiently than they could themselves. That's exactly what it did, by taking direct control of everything - and everyone - in their entire society: it put the entire populace under constant surveillance through their TV screens, at all times. Generally, the toads didn't mind one bit... aside from the fact that KOMPLEX essentially forced them to destroy their own swampy home planet by turning it into a giant factory to suit their consumerism. To fix that problem, KOMPLEX used manipulative mass media to change the toads into incredibly militaristic expansionists that deem themselves superior to all other species in the universe, and sent them on a bloody campaign across the galaxy to steal other planets and then terraform them to suit the toads' needs.
• Secret-Keeper: Willy is the only non Aldebaran who knows about Jenny's magical abilities.
• Sexy Cat Person: Jenny is a well endowed and openly romantic woman who just so happens to be a humanoid cat.
• Short Runner: The comic ran for five issues. The TV series was gone after 13 episodes.
• Shout-Out: Both the comic and the cartoon contain a massive amount of references to both Star Trek and Star Wars.
• Ship Tease: Both the comic and the cartoon strongly tease at a possible relationship between Jenny and Willy DuWitt, and the cartoon also teases at a romance between Bucky O'Hare and Mimi LaFloo. That said, due to the comic lasting only five issues, and the cartoon's short time on the air, nothing is developed in any concrete way.
  • In the comic, Jenny started showing very overt affections for Willy DuWitt almost immediately after meeting him, in response to his offer to help the crew of the Righteous Indignation instead of simply returning home, despite the distinct possibility of becoming trapped forever. The cartoon simply makes her reasons and affections much more obvious. ^note (In her own words: "Willy DuWitt, you are very brave.") By the end of the three part pilot episode, she had kissed him several times in increasingly affectionate ways - the last being directly on the mouth - and also given him a magical Alderberan memory stone to keep contact with him.^note That last point is very significant, since Alderberans are very secretive regarding their magic, to the point where Jenny hides her magical powers from the rest of the Righteous Indignation's crew, even going so far as to ask for permission to use an invisible psychic blast to save her own life! Willy consistently responds to her advances with a Crush Blush.
  • In the immediate following episode, Mimi LaFloo developed feelings for Bucky O'Hare after he saved her from a Toad labor camp. Afterwards, she was swiftly given a ship to command - on Bucky's recommendation - based on her tendency to lead. She proceeds to thank Bucky with a kiss, which causes him to break into a bashful grin. Seeing this, Jenny "humphs" haughtily and scoffs about Mimi's lack of propriety... despite her own behavior towards Willy in literally all of the previous episodes being the same.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Jenny is clearly interested in Willy for this reason.
  Jenny:"Willy DuWitt, you are a very brave human"
• Sliding Scale of Animal Cast: The entire franchise is a Level 4 example.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The NES game's Blue Planet.
• The Smurfette Principle: Jenny is the only female in Bucky's crew.
• Space Pirates: The Corsair Canards, Deadeye's old outfit.
• Spared by the Adaptation: In the comics, Bruce dies and goes onto be replaced by Bruiser and Willy. He was instead teleported to a far-off galaxy in the Animated Adaptation, and comes back for a second appearance, with a set-up for an eventual return.
• Statuesque Stunner: Jenny is quite tall compared to nearly everyone who isn't Willy or a Berserker Baboon, and is also a major source of Fanservice.
• Sufficiently Advanced Alien: Encountered in the comic book in the form of a white mouse. He explicitly denies being a god, declaring that his people developed their Reality Warper powers as a gift from another, even more powerful race. He has the ability to rewrite reality around himself, which he mostly uses in the form of creating whatever he wants out of thin air. Apparently, anything he creates that travels outside his "sphere of influence" ceases to be, which the toads found out to their detriment when the magma they stole from his planet disappeared when they got far enough away. He proved to be something of a benevolent version of this trope, using his powers to rescue the toads on the ship (though he admitted the place he'd sent them to was known for its high taxes and bad food).
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • The Toads aren't exactly the most capable military force... But the United Animal Council allows S.P.A.C.E. to have a grand total of three ships (one in the cartoon, though they later expand to three), originally Banana Runners refitted for war, each with a crew of six, and gave them extremely restrictive rules of engagement. The Toads have conquered dozens of worlds.
  • When he first encounters the Void Toads, Willy discovers that his squirt gun can short circuit them. In the second encounter he discovers that the Toads have refitted them with better waterproofing.
  • The Toads have a genetic marker that leaves them terrified of the shape of the Betelgeusean Berserker Baboons. They eventually start wearing goggles that alter that shape, so they aren't terrified anymore... Just long enough for them to realize they're still three-meters tall apes with Super-Strength and legendary tempers.
    Wait a minute! Now, the goggles are a neat trick, but the Betelgeusian Berserker Baboons are our most formidable foes in the Aniverse!
  • One episode has Bucky find Komplex' banished creators, and ask them how to deactivate it. They ask back what makes them think they'd have let it banish them if they could have deactivated it easily.
• Tag Team: The NES game uses this mechanic to allow the player to control the entire Righteous Indignation crew.
• Telepathic Spacemen: Jenny, and all other Articifers.
• Terror Hero: Bruce and Bruiser, and the entire species of Betelgeusian Berserker Baboons as a whole, as far as toadkind is concerned. Even the sight of one sends legions of toads heading for the hills or even evacuating planets.
• Theme Naming: Frix and Frax.
• Title Drop: "And now an update on Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars!"
• Token Human: Willy.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • In the comic, a toad ship recklessly flies into the Righteous Indignation's kill zone despite receiving multiple warnings.
  • The United Animal Security Council seems almost like it's actively trying to get wiped out by the Toad Empire. Despite the fact that the toads have been aggressively warring on all other species for decades, they refuse to actively meet the toads with equal force, instead commissioning an anti-toad "fleet" that consists of, in the comic, three second hand frigates, which the cartoon downgraded to only one frigate. Three by the end of the cartoon. Lampshaded in the first episode of the cartoon, when Bucky storms into the UASC meeting and indignantly points out he asked for a fleet and got one ship to protect the whole Aniverse with.
  • Frix and Frax, to an insane level.
• Took a Level in Badass: Willy took one the moment he joined the Righteous Indignation's crew.
• Tragic Bigot: Every person on the Righteous Indignation except Willy DuWitt and AFC Blinky openly hates the entire Toad race, and for totally justifiable reasons. The most clear-cut example of this trope is Bucky O'Hare himself, whose whole race was enslaved by the toads, and his homeworld turned into a swamp for their use.
• Trapped in Another World: The original comic ends with Willy's parents entering his room and switching off his photon accelerator, breaking the link between their dimensions
• Trigger-Happy: Deadeye solves just about every problem he encounters by shooting at it. He enjoys that sort of thing.
• Tsurime Eyes: The outer corners of Jenny's eyes notably slant upwards to a sharp point. Appropriately, she is both strong-willed and proud.
• The Twindividual: Frix and Frax. They're only distinguishable from one another due to the Frix's larger chin and jawline compared to Frax. Otherwise they're essentially identically and almost never appear separately.
• Uncanny Family Resemblance: Bucky has a cousin named Jeffrey who is nearly identical to him (except he's voiced by Scott McNeil). Bucky uses it to his advantage.
• Unknown Rival: The Air Marshal considers Bucky his arch-nemesis. Bucky considers the Air Marshal a minor speed-bump on the road to taking down Toadborg and KOMPLEX.
• Unwinnable by Design: In The NES game, the Blue Planet is not possible to complete without completing the Green Planet and rescuing Blinky to break the ice blocks. Either use a password to revert back or get a game over to reselect planet.
• Vile Villain, Laughable Lackey: KOMPLEX and Toadborg are portrayed as very threatening and competent villains, unlike their comically incompetent underlings.
• Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Willy DuWitt is a down to Earth rationalist with a genius intellect. His parents are proud hippies.
• War Comes Home: The series proper opens with the titular Toad Wars already in full swing. We're introduced to the title character and his crew as they raid a Toad slave ship and free its captives who are all, surprise, surprise, hares, indicating Bucky's own home planet of Warren has been conquered. This causes Bucky to put pressure on S.P.A.C.E. to commission more ships to combat the Toad menace, as Warren was supposedly safe from the Toad Armada.
• Weaksauce Weakness: The Void-Droid — very powerful, but not waterproof (initially).
  Air Marshal: I don't believe it! It was ray shielded and missile shielded!
  Frax: But not waterproof!
• Weather-Control Machine: The Toad Empire use building-sized climate converters for Hostile Terraforming attacked planets' climates into swamps.
• What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: The toads and pretty much every non-mammalian species in the show, apart from birds of course.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: All toads, naturally fear the berserker baboons. Toadborg manages to get over that fear.
• Wild Card: Al Negator is willing to work with anyone who pays him well. Toads don't trust him or most Sleezasaurs. Non-toads trust him even less.
• Wily Walrus: Subverted with Harman, a walrus who is part of the benevolent United Animal Security Council. While he is evil, being The Mole who was sent by the villains to infiltrate the Council, it is later revealed that he is not actually a walrus, but a newt piloting a robot walrus body.
• World of Buxom: It seems like every adult female in the Aniverse has a huge rack.
• Zerg Rush: The toad soldiers have training and hardware that's - for the most part - inferior to what Bucky's crew and lone ship can bring to bear in a fight. The main reason they're still dangerous is they're the only side to have an actual fleet and armies. To keep the amphibian menace from engulfing the Aniverse, by the end of the show S.P.A.C.E. has managed to assemble a grand total of three ships, each with a crew of about six members.

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