Western Animation / Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart

"I’m gonna be a legend." ^note Clockwise from top: Adorabat, Mao Mao, and Badgerclops.

"I love you
I love you Mao Mao!
Finally, my dreams are coming true
Show me how
How to be a hero, like you!"

— Theme song

Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart is an animated adventure comedy from Cartoon Network and Titmouse, created by Parker Simmons, a former storyboard artist for OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes. It was announced on May 20, 2019, stealth premiering its first episode the same day on Cartoon Network's website and app. Futher episodes would premiere on the app the following month, with the series receiving its linear network premiere on July 1, 2019. On July 23, 2020 a second season was announced. However, currently there has been no further news on its current status.

Mao Mao and Badgerclops used to travel the world as wandering heroes, until one day they crashed into and broke the Ruby Pure Heart, destroying the barrier protecting Pure Heart Valley. Mao Mao, feeling personally at fault, decide that he and Badgerclops should stay and defend the valley and its residents in the artifact's stead. Joined by the adventure-longing Adorabat, the trio work together and find themselves facing all sorts of monsters and mayhem.

The show eventually stopped airing on Cartoon Network and was moved to HBO Max for streaming. Unfortunately, HBO Max announced on August 17th, 2022 that it, alongside a plethora of shows, will leave the service for good. While the show is still available for viewing on other platforms, and eventually had most of its videos restored to Cartoon Network's Youtube channel after being removed, it remains on an indefinite hiatus.

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Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart provides examples of:

• Actor Allusion:
  • In the Japanese dub, the titular Mao Mao is voiced by Tatsuhisa Suzuki, who already voiced another dark-haired, sword-wielding hero bent on saving the world, while having many inner demons haunting him. Likewise, Subaru Kimura (Badgerclops) already voiced another bullish fat guy.
  • The same goes in the Latin American Spanish dub, as Mao Mao is voiced by Alejandro Orozco, who already voiced a sword-wielding villain wearing a black armor, and having lots of personal conflicts with his father: Kylo Ren.
  • Chris McCulloch uses the same voice he uses for S.P.H.I.N.X. Commander, an Expy of Cobra Commander for Orangusnake; who's also a cobra.
• Animesque: The show's creator worked on OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, so it isn't too surprising that this cartoon emulates quite a bit of anime tropes, from the incredible Action-Hogging Opening, to the Chibi designs of the characters, to the use of Manga Effects such as hexagonal speech balloons and Visible Sighs.
• Arc Words: "Legendary" is repeated quite a lot for humorous effect and has a factor into Mao Mao's motivations.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: In "Ultraclops", Badgerclops is turned into a giant to fight a Kaiju-like monster invading the valley. After dispatching it, however, he refuses to turn back to normal, so Mao Mao and Adorabat also get big to confront him.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Pretty much everyone in the rogues gallery of Orangusnake. Take Steel Wing: Having metal wings is cool, but definitely isn't useful for... y'know, flying.
• Balloonacy: In "Weapon of Choice", Pinky is floating in a balloon, asking for help getting down. When Badgerclops tells him to just let go, he answers "No! I stole this balloon fair and square."
• Be Careful What You Wish For: In "Breakup", Adorabat wishes she could spend more time with Mao and Badgerclops, and it backfires on her, as Mao and Badgerclops spend too much time with her.
  Adorabat: I wish, I wish, I wish, with all my little HEART!
• Bigger on the Inside: Applies to their bathroom. Their house has a set and consistent design, and their bathroom is a door in their bedroom that goes under the stairs. The problem is, the bathroom we see is way too big to fit under the stairs that that we see.◊
• Blessed with Suck: Many of the members of Orangusnake's rogues gallery; special mention goes to Fearwing, who has metal wings too heavy to fly, and Ratarang, whose only ability is to turn into a boomerang to be used by someone else.
• A Bloody Mess: Invoked in "Popularity Conquest", with cherry pies.
• Blunt "Yes": In the episode "Mao Mao's Bike Adventure", Adorabat keeps saying "yes" to all of Mao Mao's questions.
  Mao Mao: You know something you're not telling me, don't you?
  Adorabat: Yes!
  Mao Mao: The identity of the one who stole my bike.
  Adorabat: Yes!
  Mao Mao: Really? Uh, so you're hiding them!
  Adorabat: Um, yes!
  Mao Mao: Where are they?
  Adorabat: Um, line?
  Mao Mao: What?
  Adorabat: I don't know what I'm supposed to say here.
  Mao Mao: Adorabat, you're not just, you're not supposed to say yes to everything I ask.
  Adorabat: Oh! Okay!
  Mao Mao: Alright, start again, start again, start again. Who stole my bike?
  Adorabat: Yes!
  Mao Mao: [groans]
• Buffy Speak: Adorabat exclaims "I want that," referring to Mao Mao's general lifestyle, and upon getting a confused response from him, she replies while gesturing, "Thiiis!"
• By the Lights of Their Eyes: In "Mao Mao's Nakey", Mao Mao discovers that without his clothes, he is invisible in the shadows except for his eyes. Two palace guards notices his eyes, but once he closes them, they dismiss it, causing Mao Mao to muse that "Whatever they get paid is too much."
• Captain Ersatz: The puppet Din Danalin is one of Howdy Doody in "Scared of Puppets".
• Chaotic Stupid: The Sky Pirates occasionally display a different form of this. Not doing random things, but rather not being subjected to any law or chore if they don't want to... which means they've been having literal pretend dinners for some time because no one wants to buy groceries.
  Orangusnake: *slurred* This is... pretty common side effect of... not ever eating any real food... CURSE YOU, GROCERY SHOPPING!
  Badgerclops: Wait, grocery shopping!? Why didn't someone just go!?
  Orangusnake: Pff, you're not my mom.
• Compressed Vice:
  • The plot of "The Truth Stinks" involves Badgerclops not being able to take criticism without going into a violent rampage. Even though Badgerclops has been shown to take criticism with no problem in previous episodes. In fact, their very first ever dialogue together in the first episode is Mao Mao criticizing Badgerclops for driving like a grandma.
  • There is also "Captured Clops" where Badgerclops is suddenly incredibly lazy and refuses to do any work. Badgerclops has implied that he doesn't really like working before, but at no point before or after this episode has he ever actually refused to do work out of laziness. ^note The only example that's even close is ironically "The Truth Stinks" again, but it's debatable because the plot was more about how he was convinced that he didn't NEED to take a shower in the first place rather than refusing to when asked. When he finally realizes he really does need a shower, he gets one.
  • And now in "Sleeper Sofa" Badgerclops suddenly has a hoarding problem where he never throws anything away, with a huge pile of electronics and sauce dips laying around that has never been seen before this episode.
• Crapsaccharine World: Played for Laughs. Pure Heart Valley, at first glance, seems all sunshine and rainbows, with all the residents being cute and colorful animals reminiscent of Care Bears, but without the protection of the Ruby Pure Heart, the town is constantly under attack from giant monsters and the residents themselves, despite at least some being actual adults (one mentions he's 30), are very immature, suicidally stupid (such as deciding that the middle of a street is the perfect place to have a picnic), or unrepentant criminals (Mao Mao is seen arresting a few of them more than once.).
• Crying Wolf: In "Bao Bao's Revenge", Badgerclops has a hard time believing Mao Mao's story about Bao Bao because of his tendency to overdramatize everything. It then turns out that everything about the story is true, except the part about Bao Bao being a fierce warrior, when he's just an adorable shiba inu; Adorabat figures that it was because Bao Bao broke Mao Mao's heart by running away, so he played up his fierceness in his mind.
• Demonic Dummy: "Scared of Puppets" has a ventriloquist dummy that Mao Mao finds utterly frightening due to an incident with one during his sixth birthday party. The dummy itself is more goofy looking than scary, but considering it's the only human-looking thing in a World of Funny Animals, it might be invoking Humans Are Cthulhu. Badgerclops plays off this trope by pretending to speak for him swearing revenge from beyond the grave as it burns in the fireplace, which causes Mao Mao to faint.
• The Dentist Episode: In "Flyaway", Adorabat's toothache and her fear of the dentist are so strong that she uses Astral Projection to avoid both.
• Disney Villain Death: All but three of Orangusnake's henchmen end up plummeting to their dooms because of Mao Mao's interference with their roll call, and are never seen again.^note Though they do claim to be okay after the fall.
• Distant Duet: Parodied in "Bobo Chan" with Badgerclops depressed and singing to Bobo Chan who he left in the wild, with her singing back but saying nothing but "bobo". Mao Mao is horrified at how pathetic the whole thing is and demands that Adorabat stay inside when she tries to leave the house as if to stop her from seeing something offensive.
• Eye Colour Change: Has temporarily happened to Badgerclops and Adorabat. Specifically...
  • When Badgerclops' creativity is repressed for too long he enters a hyperfocused state where he builds all the ideas that have been cooped up in his mind all to not remember what the heck they do when he snaps out of it.
  • The Ruby Pure Heart granted Adorabat the power to have her "zings" cause physical damage through a mouth beam that shifted her eyes into a purple shade when in use.
• Eyepatch of Power: Badgerclops, one of the show's strongest characters, wears one.
• Eyes Always Shut: Badgerclops' visible eye is always closed, and his other one is covered with an eyepatch. "Breakup", however, shows his uncovered eye wide open, to distinguish the time he used to be a bandit.
• Face Your Fears: It's obvious to everyone in "Scared of Puppets" that Mao Mao is scared of a ventriloquist dummy Badgerclops bougth, but is too stubborn to admit it. When his fear interferes with fighting a monster (due to said monster dropping dozens of them around Mao Mao's vicinity), he is forced to admit that he needs help from his teammates.
• Fantasy Helmet Enforcement: Mao Mao and Badgerclops have helmets that close over their heads whenever they get on the aerocycle. Adorabat has to put on her helmet manually, though this is usually skipped, with her just having it on whenever she appears on the bike.
• Foreshadowing: In "Popularity Conquest", we see Mao Mao without his gloves on in one of the outfits he gets stuck in, and he is shown to have cat paws. It isn't really relevant in that particular episode and seems like it might just be a side effect of the cuter and friendly persona he's putting on, but it comes back a few episodes later in "Thumb War" where at a thumb war competition, he's forced to remove his gloves, showing that his "hands" really are just paws, with nubs for thumbs, much to his embarrassment. The gloves apparently are prosthetics to have proper length fingers.
• Freudian Excuse: "Not Impressed" reveals that much, if not all of, Mao Mao's egotistical and glory-seeking traits are motivated by a subconscious desire to please his father, who neglected him as a child in favor of training his sisters.
• Freudian Slip: After Mao Mao finally gets Ol' Blue to say he's impressed with him (by wearing a disguise, but still), Mao Mao begins to celebrate, but ends up blurting out "I knew you loved me, DADDY!" in front of all the other Sweetie Pies.
• Funny Background Event: Some episodes feature these:
  • Ramaraffe waking up and emerging from her hiding place in "Bobo Chan", only to see the heroes dealing with a gigantic monster. She immediately turns around.
  • In "Outfoxed" Penny can be seen throwing Benny into the pond for a gift. Later in the episode, Benny can be seen amongst the piles of stolen goods Rufus and Reg have.
  • In "Ultraclops" when Mao Mao is talking to Camille and Honey, you can see the giant Badgerclops happily dancing while this is happening.
• Glory Seeker: Mao Mao's primary goal in life is to become a legendary hero. He's ecstatic when he realizes that he can become one by protecting the Valley after having accidentally broken the Pure Heart Ruby that hid the Valley away previously.
• Goldfish Poop Gang: Orangusnake's pirate gang become this after Mao Mao ends up leaving his gang reduced to just three goofy, somewhat-ineffective members.
• Gory Discretion Shot: In the "Mao Mao's High Flying Ride" clip, Mao Mao decapitates the Impressaur, which is displayed in shadow over a valley resident as they go from joyful to terrified.
• Green Gators: Gary the crocodile Sweety Pie is turquoise green.
• Hidden Depths: Mao Mao is definitely a glory seeker, but he has a strong sense of responsibility, given his response to breaking the Ruby Pure Heart and to Adorabat's collateral damage filled first battle.
• Hostage Situation: In "Try Hard", the Sky Pirates have Pinky. An attempt to rescue him results in Mao Mao and Badgerclops trapped instead, leaving Adorabat alone to save them.
• Humiliation Conga: Mao Mao puts himself through one in "Mao Mao's Nakey" after losing his clothes. In trying to sneak past the Cutie Pies in the middle of the night, he ends up stumbling around, getting stuff inadvertently thrown at him, is almost cooked alive hiding in an oven, and forced to hide in thorny bushes. When he's finally caught outside naked, instead of letting the crowd laugh at him, he decides to do a preemptive strike and flaunt his nudity at them. Not only do they not care, a video of it is posted and goes viral.
• I'm Okay!: Whenever Oragusnake and his Pirate crew gets launched out into the sky by Mao Mao, Badgerclops and Adorabat, they crash so far away, but they shout that they're okay, seeing that they will be back.
  Oragusnake and Pirate crew: We're okay!
• Imposed Handicap Training: Episode "All By Mao Self" Mao Mao decides that he's not facing challenges befitting a legendary hero so he gives himself leg weights to making fighting more challenging. When he still thinks it's too easy he also blindfolds himself and holds scorpions in his hands to increase the handicap.
• Intelligible Unintelligible : Clark Lockjaw speaks only in series of identical-sounding high-pitched yips. Everyone seems to understand him perfectly, though, which explains why he manages to still be a TV journalist.
• Invisibility Cloak: How the Pure Heart Ruby hid the Valley. Once Mao Mao crashed into the Ruby (which was in part the fault of its invisibility), the cloak fails and the Valley is now exposed to danger.
• Line-of-Sight Name: In "The Perfect Adventure", Adorabat invents a mystery concerning the delivery vans with bags full of apple bombs after seeing a kiosk that sells lip balm.
• Malicious Misnaming: In Mao Mao's flashbacks to his childhood, it's shown that his father, Shin Mao, didn't even bother to get his son's name right on a regular basis.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Orangusnake, the main villain of the series, is an orangutan with a snake head.
• Mundane Made Awesome: In "Thumb War", a thumb war competition of all things, specifically the final round against Big Thumb Pete, which looks like something straight out of Dragon Ball Z.
• My Greatest Failure: After learning that he broke the Ruby Pure Heart, Mao Mao instantly decides that he'll stay there and make up for his actions by protecting the valley, as that is what a real hero would do. Subverted when Orangusnake indirectly points out that doing so would make someone legendary, to which Mao Mao immediately perks up as he realizes his mistake has given him a ticket to become a legend.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The trouble for Pure Heart Valley begins when Mao Mao and Badgerclops accidentally crash into the Ruby Pure Heart, as they couldn't see it, and create a large crack in it, thus negating its protecting power, leaving it ripe for stealing and the valley ripe for monster attacks.
• Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here: Adorabat says this verbatim after the two she was cloud-watching with walk off, one in anger and one in fear over her trying to see a monster in the clouds.
• Now What?: The Sky Pirates have this reaction in "Bobo-Chan," after their plan to ambush and tie up the Sheriff's Department actually works. They clearly didn't think they'd get that far.
• Obsessive Hobby Episode: In "The Truth Stinks", Badgerclops becomes obsessed with crystals that allegedly replace the need for hygeine.
• Older Than They Look: The citizens of Pure Heart Valley are small, technicolored creatures with cutesy voices, making them seem like kids. Mao Mao also initially believed they were all kids, prompting one bird-person to exclaim "I'm thirty!".
• Parental Neglect: From what little is seen of Mao Mao's father, Shin Mao, it's clear that he favors his daughters over his only son (whom he doesn't even call the right name).
• Politeness Judo: In "He's the Sheriff", after King Snugglemagne joins Mao Mao's posse and gets fired because his excessive politeness hinders them, Snugglemagne and Boss Hosstrich engage in one of these, competing in face-slapping with gloves, exchanging compliments, a gentleman's handshake with the two of them taking turns judo tossing each other, and putting their cloaks over a puddle with the loser being the first one to walk across the puddle; Snugglemagne manages to leap the puddle and overwhelms Hosstrich with his charm.
• Portmanteau:
  • Adorabat's name is a portmanteau of "adorable" and "bat", being an adorable bat.
  • Badgerclops' name is a portmanteau of "badger" and "cyclops", being a one-eyed badger.
  • Orangusnake's name is a portmanteau of "orangutan" and "snake", being an orangutan and a snake wrapped around each other.
  • Ratarang's name is a portmanteau of "rat" and "boomerang", being a rat that turns into a boomerang.
• Power Crystal: The Ruby Pure Heart protects the Pure Heart Valley with an Invisibility Cloak... until it's broken.
• "Rashomon"-Style: In "Breakup", Badgerclops tells the story of how he and Mao Mao met. Then Mao Mao questions the details and parts of the story are shown again with changes. Badgerclops claims Mao Mao was lonely and pathetic when he first saw him, then Mao Mao makes Badgerclops a baby in need of rescue, then Badgerclops claims that he was only pretending to have his foot trapped by falling rocks, showing him putting one tiny pebble on his foot, which Mao Mao struggled to lift.
• Remembered I Could Fly: Adorabat in "Try Hard" wants to get to the top deck of the Sky Pirate's ship, but is too concerned with being just like Mao Mao that she forgets she could simply fly up there. When she finally gets there by climbing, she then remembers just in time to get past Orangusnake's "Omega Shield" — broken glass shards all over the floor — by flying over them. It then gets Lampshaded by Badgerclops.
  Badgerclops: She forgot!?
• Repetitive Name:
  • Mao Mao's name is just the word "mao" twice.
    • In "Small", it's revealed that his last name is also "Mao", making his full name "Mao Mao Mao".
  • The same is applied to Bao Bao, his former partner and pet.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Many of Pure Heart Valley's citizens, the aptly named Adorabat included, fitting with the Sugar Bowl theme of the setting, are small, wide-eyed creatures that resemble stuffed animals.
• Running Gag: The town is often set on fire. Mao Mao even lampshades this in "Popularity Conquest".

  Mao Mao: This town desperately needs a fire department.

• Schizo Tech: The show's Technology Levels are all over the map. Pure Heart Valley was supposedly isolated from the outside world for centuries, and the town has an 18th-19th Century vibe to it, but it has 20th-21st C. amenities such as television, cars, and cell phones with internet access. The Sky Pirates' ship, Mao Mao's skycycle and Badgerclops' cybernetic arm suggest a futuristic Diesel Punk setting, yet swords seem to be the preferred form of weaponry (aside from Badgerclops' plasma cannon), and there are no signs of firearms anywhere.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In "The Perfect Adventure", Badgerclops quits going along with Adorabat's adventure scheme because he's tired of having to climb so many stairs.
• Secret Test of Character: Tanya Keys's attempt to capture Badgerclops turns out to be mostly a ploy to see whether Mao Mao is willing to stop being Lawful Stupid to rescue a friend. He is.
• Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now?: Zigzagged a bit. In "Trading Day" Badgerclops is surprised that Adorabat goes to school, and at the end, a line states that Adorabat had an off-screen conversation with her school friends where she told them she would be away from school (presumably to train). But in Flyaway it's implied that Adorabat actually does still go to school, although we never actually see her do it.
• Shout-Out:
  • Mao's color scheme is based on Link's ending equipment in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, with red clothes and a gold sword.
  • "Sick Mao" has one to G Gundam of all things as Mao Mao recites a parody of Domon Kasshu's Shining Finger chant as he uses his illness to defeat the ice dragon, complete with a Suspiciously Similar Song to the Shining Finger theme!
    Mao Mao: My body burns with a terrible fever, and it's your turn to feel the heat! Take this! My germs, my viruses, and all of my pathogens!
  • In "Popularity Conquest", Mao Mao is forced by the king to try different outfits to make him more popular with the townspeople (since they aren't fans of his gruff and angry behavior). Among other outfits, he's seen dressing up like Finn (with the king vetoing the outfit because "that's over") and Robin ("I see that one all the time"), before the king settles on an outfit that's a dead ringer for Steven Universe, complete with Mao Mao awkwardly contorting his mouth into an inoffensive smile and singing with a ukulele.
  • "Breakup" has a flashback sequence revealing that Badgerclops used to be part of a gang called the Thicket Thieves. Along with obviously-a-badger Badgerclops, the other members of the gang were a mole, a rat, and a toad.
  • "Trading Day": When the three heroes trade roles with each other to see if the other's lives are easier or harder than their own, Adorabat wears Mao Mao's Cape, hangs upside is a bat and she says "I'm Mao Mao" except for the hanging upside down part, this sounds eerily similar to Batman.
  • "Scared of Puppets" features the typical shenanigans that ensue when a group learns that their supposedly fearless friend is actually terrified of something, in this case being that Mao Mao is freaked out by a ventiloquist dummy. Badgerclops and Adorabat proceed to use this to prank Mao Mao for a good chunk of the episode, which includes a moment which is almost certainly a reference to the viral video "Don't Ever Scare Black People".
• Sick Episode:
  • "Sick Mao", in which Mao Mao is sick, but won't admit it because it would mean he was weak. He actually uses this to defeat the ice dragon attacking the Valley, by making it sick.
  • "Strange Bedfellows", in which Mao Mao and Orangusnake both end up in the same hospital room after breaking their bones during a monster attack. Even though the doctor warned them not to fight or their bones will be pulverized, the two foes keep trying to kill each other.
• Silent Treatment: In "Lucky Ducky Mug", Mao Mao decides not to talk to his teammates anymore after they broke his favorite mug, which leads to problems when trying to do their duties.
• Sky Pirates: Orangusnake, the main antagonist, is one. Though after the heroes destroy his ship's power source, get rid of most of his lackeys and crash his ship into the ground in the first episode one of his primary goals from then on is to get it airborne again.
• Smash Cut: In "Mao Mao's Bike Adventure", Mao Mao is in the middle of an annoyed groan when it cuts from the interrogation of Adorabat to that of Badgerclops.
• Somebody Doesn't Love Raymond: In "Not Impressed", a citizen named Ol' Blue is the only one who is not impressed by Mao Mao's heroics. Mao Mao becomes desperate for recognition from him because he's reminded of his father never paying any attention to him.
• Something We Forgot:
  • At the end of "Ultraclops", Mao Mao feels like they forgot something. Cut to one of Adorabat's shed skins from when she was giant flopping over a house.
  • In "Breakup", Mao Mao, Badgerclops and Adorabat have just defeated the Rock Monster when Mao Mao suddenly remembers that they left the oven on; cut to the headquarters on fire.
• So Proud of You: The ending of "Small" shows Mao Mao's relationship with his dad improving, with Shin Mao finally admitting that he's proud of his son. In "Scared of Puppets," it's revealed that Mao Mao's reluctance to admit that he's scared of Mr. Din Danalin is because Shin Mao pounded into his head that "heroes aren't afraid." Even if Shin Mao has finally realized how badly his neglect affected his son, all the trauma he's inflicted on Mao Mao isn't going to disappear overnight.
• Strong as They Need to Be: Mao Mao and Badgerclops are always just as strong as they need to be for the plot to work. This is required since the monsters that randomly attack the town don't arrive in increasing levels of strength, so if they always just busted out the ultimate attacks they've shown in previous episodes, there wouldn't be much drama.
• Sugar Bowl: Pure Heart Valley was one for thousands of years thanks to the Ruby Pure Heart shielding it. The buildings are all pastel colored and the citizens are small and childlike.
• Tagalong Kid: Adorabat wants to be a hero like Mao Mao, and wants to join him in adventures. After saving him and Badgerclops from the pirates in the pilot, she's made assistant deputy.
• Take That!: In "Popularity Conquest", when Mao Mao is trying for a new look, one outfit he wears is similar to Finn from Adventure Time. Snugglemagne rejects it, saying "That's over", because the series aired its final episode in 2018. Then, Mao Mao tries with an outfit similar to Robin from Teen Titans Go!, which Snugglemagne also dismisses it, saying "I see that one all the time", a reference to that series taking up a lot of Cartoon Network's timeslots in the United States.
  • The Pureheart Valley news network is literally named "That Show Grown-Ups Watch Because They Hate Themselves".
• Temporary Bulk Change: In "All By Mao Self", Mao Mao puts weights on his legs to challenge himself. After he removes them, his legs are longer and muscular, which he uses to fight the Sky Pirates. At the end of the episode, his legs are back to normal, with Mao Mao commenting that he'll likely not do that again, as the legs chafed him.
• The Drifter: Mao Mao and Badgerclops were this before they became the sworn protectors of Pure Heart Valley. Mao Mao in particular likes the freedom of just wandering around having adventures, while Badgerclops prefers to settle down.
• The Royal We: King Snugglemagne often uses "we" instead of "I" when referring to himself. When he first introduces himself to Mao Mao, he says, "We are King Snugglemagne the 25th."
• This Is Gonna Suck: Orangusnake's reaction to the fact that all his competent minions fell overboard.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Mao Mao when Badgerclops and Adorabat break his lucky Ducky mug. He does forgive them eventually when they repair it.
• Training the Peaceful Villagers: Mao Mao attempts to prepare the Sweetiepies for battle when he learns of Bao Bao's imminent arrival. Subeverted when Bao Bao is revealed to be of no threat, except in Mao's mind
• Twinkle in the Sky: More often than not, this is how the monster threats in each episode are dealt with.
• The Unapologetic: Mao Mao in "Mao Mao's Bike Adventure" refuses to admit he was wrong about the pirates stealing his skybike because he is "never wrong", instead trying to pin it on the Sweetie-Pies, despite all evidence to the contrary. When it is confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that the pirates stole it, Mao Mao's whole outlook is shattered.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: The Sky Pirates are often sent flying away by the heroes or the heroes cause their airship to crash. They always reassure everyone they weren't harmed by yelling "We're okay!"
• Volumetric Mouth: A common expression used for whenever a character (usually Mao Mao or Adorabat) screams or does an Evil Laugh.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Mao Mao's desire to be a legendary hero is at least partially a bid to gain his family's respect.
• Whole Episode Flashback: "Lonely Kid" has Mao Mao telling the story of how he met Bao Bao as a kid.
• Whole-Plot Reference: "Try Hard" to Die Hard, with Adorabat in the John McClane role.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: "Scared of Puppets" reveals that the only thing Mao Mao is afraid of is ventriloquist dummies. When a monster attacks the town, it upsets a whole kiosk full of them, which scatter around Mao Mao and paralyze him with fear.
• Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him?: In "Bobo-Chan," the Sky Pirates (specifically Rammaraff) come up with the fairly simple plan of ambushing and tying up the Sheriff's Department while their guard is down. Of course, this actually works, and the Sky Pirates nearly succeed in throwing Mao Mao, Adorabat, and Badgerclops off a cliff (even though it took them a minute to come up with that part).
• Wings Do Nothing: Steel Wing cannot fly because his wings are made out of metal and thus, too heavy for flight.
• Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing: In "Thumb War", Badgerclops wins his matches because the other Sweetie-Pies are too afraid to fight him on account of he's too big. In the end, he gets the trophy for first place by bribing people like crazy.
• World of Funny Animals: All the characters are Funny Animals: Mao Mao is a cat, Badgerclops is a badger, Adorabat is a bat, and so on.
• Working Through the Cold: Mao Mao attempts this with limited success in Sick Mao, until he decides to use his germs as a weapon to fight the ice dragon.
• X-Ray of Pain: In "Strange Bedfellows", Mao Mao and Orangusnake are in traction in the hospital, but are still trying to destroy each other. At one point Mao Mao makes Orangusnake bounce up and down, and every time he lands, a cross section of his legs shows his bones breaking until they turn to powder.
• You Remind Me of X: Mao Mao makes Adorabat his sidekick because her adventurous attitude reminds him of himself.

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