YMMV / The Maxx

• Broken Aesop: The cartoon version has this thanks to the Gecko Ending. The series points out that Julie's pushing people away and blaming them for their problems (to the point of saying rape victims are responsible for them getting raped) is a shitty attitude to have. However in the final episode, pushing away the Maxx is what gets him to recover his original identity, thus meaning pushing people away was a good thing.
• Evil Is Cool: How many people feel about Mr. Gone. See Misaimed Fandom below.
• Fridge Logic:
  • Oh so much. One of the most shining examples from the cartoon was the denouement when Maxx finds his own Outback, which is gardening in a little greenhouse. This is significant because the "animals" in Julie's Outback are all plants. This leads to several possible conclusions:
    • Julie helped Maxx find his own Outback.
    • Julie and Maxx were meant for each other and the conclusion is a tragedy.
    • Maxx's own Outback is the reason why he was so good at protecting her, which was why she could never grow with him around.
• Misaimed Fandom: Mr. Gone is often quoted for saying "Of course I've got a problem with women. Everyone has a problem with women. Because women taunt and tease. Because they are attractive, and they punish you for being attracted," which some fans thought to be insightful and accurate. In fact, Mr. Gone is a rapist, and this attitude was intended as a representation of how a rapist thinks.
• Moral Event Horizon: Though the first Story Arc (the one adapted into the TV series), did not make this explicit, Mr. Gone literally rapes several women during his villain career. A later Story Arc of the Comic Book dealt with this and his reasons for doing it in a way that transcended cliche.
• Nightmare Fuel: Mr. Gone, including some of his stages of decomposition, the dark Isz, the dying rabbit under little Julie's bed that keeps scratching and scratching, a baby with his eyes removed and the sockets sewn back up, retrieving severed toes and fingers from inside the "fairies" that have eaten them.
• Retroactive Recognition: Lauren Faust's very first job in the animation industry was as a layout artist for the Animated Adaptation.
• Seasonal Rot: The comic series went downhill fast after issue 21. Mr. Gone's Character Development was perhaps the only good thing to come of it. Others will argue it happened after issue 29, where the plot lost its direction and was constantly interrupted by various one-shot stories that had nothing to do with anything.
• Tear Jerker:
  • The last episode of the animated series, in which Julie leaves the city. The Maxx is emotionally devastated about this, and this shows during their last dialogue in the series — but she's right that it proves to be his salvation, as he apparently regains his memory because of it. Also, unlike in the comic, the story ends here.
  • In-universe: Sarah is driven to tears by reading Artie's diary and finding all the abuse he suffered.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Symbolic?: Tons of stuff. Up to and including toenail-clipping.

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