- Story Arc: Avalon Mystic Tour; The Pack
- Characters: Goliath, Elisa, Angela, Bronx
- Enemy(ies): Jackal and Hyena
Another quest from Avalon sends the trio to the Guatemalan Rainforest, aka the Green. Here, they find a quartet of gargoyles who consider the entire rainforest their protectorate, but are in danger of being wiped out by the crazed Jackal and Hyena.
Jackal and Hyena would not be seen again until the Goliath Chronicles episode "Broadway Goes to Hollywood".
This episode contains the following Tropes:
- A Million Is a Statistic: Averted.Zafiro: "There is no such thing as a few trees."
- An Aesop: Civilization's expansion is inevitable, but equally, our natural resources must be preserved. Elisa's Take a Third Option at the end of the episode is an excellent compromise of both.
- Ax-Crazy: Jackal is in fine form this episode, especially during the second battle, where he gleefully attacks and cuts down trees instead of going after the gargoyles directly. There's a method to his madness, however, he's leading them back to their pyramid and then distracting them with a forest fire so he can gather them all in one place.
- Both Sides Have a Point: A refreshing example, as most Saturday morning cartoons with a Green Aesop message usually lean entirely in the "nature good, progress evil" direction. The Mayan Clan's assertions that the rainforest and its dwindling population of rare flora must be safeguarded is true, yet Elisa isn't framed as being in the wrong for pointing out that local farmers need to cut down a couple trees for the sake of raising livestock to feed their families and they should look into who legally owns the forest.
- Call-Back: As Jackal puts it, Goliath has menaced him and his sister in Manhattan, Egypt, and now Guatemala.Hyena: "Hey, he's a fan. And we always make time for our fans."
- Combat Pragmatist: As Jackal puts it, why fight hard when you can fight smart and plans their attack around destroying the Sun Amulet protecting the Mayan gargoyles, and then wiping them all out at dawn, now that they know where their sanctuary is.
- Continuity Nod: Halcyon Renard, back in his last appearance in "Golem", was revealed to be battling an unspecified illness of some sort. Now in this episode, it has progressed to a point that he has had to take time off to get treatment, leaving Preston Vogel in charge.
- Determinator: Even realizing their efforts are futile, the Mayan Clan does not hesitate to keep up their protectorate of the Green against encroaching civilization.
- Easily Forgiven: Hyena seems to hold no qualms with her brother having previously reverted her into an infant and tried to wipe out humanity during "Grief". Considering the two are never again seen working with the rest of the Pack, however, indicates this is not nearly as true with the rest of them or their usual employer. Also, it's questionable how well she remembers being a baby.
- Feathered Serpent: Zafiro's lower body is that of a snake and he has feathered wings. Presumably, his ancestors were the inspiration for the original Quetzalcoatl. Word of God is that a majority of the Mayan gargoyles have this look.
- Fling a Light into the Future: Elisa's compromise to preserve the rainforest in the ending involves bringing some Guatemalan flora back to Avalon to be planted there. Oberon and his court never addressed this upon their return to the island, so presumably they're still thriving.
- For the Evulz: In his Imagine Spot, when destroying the Mayan Clan and the Avalon travelers, Jackal doesn't smash Goliath completely, just carves his own face in place of the gargoyle's own, seemingly just because he can.
- Gaia's Vengeance: The Mayan Clan inhabit the depths of the rainforest and regard the natural world, not humans, as the domain they protect.
- Imagine Spot: When describing his plan to Preston Vogel, Jackal has one where he imagines crushing, smashing, and ruining the stone gargoyles during the daytime.
- Green Aesop: A big part of the episode is about the Mayan Clan’s efforts to protect the rainforest. Unlike most examples from 90s cartoons, it's delivered in a less awkward fashion.
- Mundane Utility: Out of all the robotics Jackal could possibly incorporate into his body, it's seen he also has a hair drier installed.
- Noodle Incident: It's not revealed why the four pendant wearers were all away from their clan's resting place at the same time when they were attacked, despite one of the reasons for the anti-stone-sleep spell being to prevent such a disaster.
- Offstage Villainy: Most of the Mayan gargoyle clan's members are stated to have been slain by unseen poachers who stole an artifact from them. While we see the mask in the museum, neither the slaughter nor the remains are shown.
- Taken for Granite:
- Averted for the four chosen guardians of the Mayan Clan. Thanks to four magic pendants of obsidian, jade, turquoise and sapphire empowered centuries ago by a Mayan sorcerer, four of the Mayan gargoyles remain flesh by day. Bronx also briefly enjoys this sunlight immunity when holding one such pendant in his maw. The pendants are connected to a Sun Amulet which is currently in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
- Unfortunately, the rest of the clan were smashed by poachers during the day not long ago when the four pendant wearers were all absent. Mercifully, they didn't get the eggs in the rookery.
- Title Drop: How the Mayan Clan refers to their protectorate.Zafiro: The Green is safe for another night.
- The Fettered: The Mayan Clan. They make it a practice only to scare the log-cutting locals and rarely harm them (they seem to have no qualms using lethal force against those who attack with weapons, however). It's in sharp contrast to their very Ax-Crazy opponents Jackal and Hyena.
- Theme Naming: The four pendant wearers of the Mayan Clan are named after the valuable stones in their pendants: Zafiro, Obsidiana, Jade and Turquesa. Word of God is that they're the only gargoyles in the clan with names, and the four chosen wearers in each generation are always named Zafiro/Zafira, Obsidiano/Obsidiana, Jade/Jada and Turqueso/Turquesa.
- Very Special Episode: This episode is about the importance of the rainforest and the limited resources that are on the planet.
- Wham Line:Zafiro: "The Pyramid provides a vantage point from which we can watch the entire forest, day and night."Goliath: "Day and night?"
