Inspector Gadget/Characters

Augustin Tamare/Inspector Gadget

• Accidental Hero: Believe it or not, there are actually a number of times when Gadget is legitimately helpful and actually contributes towards solving the case. It's just that he tends to do it purely by accident.

Repeated line whenever Gadget is congratulated for solving the case: I did?

• Actor Allusion: "Would you believe I was practicing my swan dive?"
• Artificial Limbs
• Badass Longcoat
• Catch Phrase: "I'm always on duty."
• Chekhov's Skill: His sheer clumsiness, as proven when Quimby shows up and there's an impostor in the same room. Quimby knows which Gadget is which just because one of them happened to attack him with a stray mallet that just happened to go off by itself at exactly the right moment...
• The Ditz
• Drives Like Crazy: It's amazing he still has a license, really.
• Fake Ultimate Hero
• Flanderization: In the pilot, Gadget was bumbling, but not nearly as oblivious and managed to fend off most of MAD's schemes via competance. Early episodes occasionally flip flopped between this depiction and his iconic Accidental Hero persona before finally settling for the later. This was taken Up to Eleven where most spin offs such as Gadget and the Gadgetinis are concerned.
• Flipping the Bird: Surprisingly in a children's series, he does this in the OPENING sequence! Granted, he wasn't trying to be deliberately offensive; his bird just happened to be a flashlight.
• The Fool: Despite his idiocy, Gadget continually helps Penny and Brain out in one way or another, which leads to some Alternate Character Interpretations among fans that he's merely Obfuscating Stupidity.
• Inspector Oblivious
• Last-Name Basis: In the animated incarnations. In the movie Gadget is just a nickname given to him by the press and his real name is John Brown.
• Lawful Stupid
• Nice Hat
  • Hat of Flight: It can become a helicopter hat.
• The Other Darrin: Fake Brit Gadget from the pilot was voiced by Gary Owens.
• Papa Wolf: When he knows Penny is in danger, Gadget becomes virtually unrecognizable (and unstoppable) as he becomes the superhero he is supposed to be.
  • This also extends to other people Gadget cares about. He's gone to similar lengths to save Brain (when he actually knows that he's dealing with Brain, as opposed to thinking the disguised Brain is a MAD agent) and Professor Von Slickenstein, the scientist who gave him his gadgets.
• Police Are Useless
• Swiss Army Appendage
• Too Dumb to Live
• Useless Protagonist: Half the time, the other half his bumbling actually inadvertantly comes handy (about five or six times throughout the show he actually saves the day through competance).
• We Can Rebuild Him: His origin in the movie.

Dr. Claw

• Affably Evil
• Angry Fist Shake
• Arch Enemy
• Beard of Evil: He had a goatee in the animated series, though it only ever appeared on an action figure released in 1992.
• Berserk Button: Just seeing Gadget, or even simply having to mention his name, can make Dr. Claw angry enough to smash holes in his desk or shatter diamonds with his bare hands.
• Big Bad
• Camp Straight: In the live-action movie.
• Captain Ersatz: Of Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
• Catch Phrase: "I'll get you next time, Gadget! Next time!"
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: For the movie. Also any episode that revolved around MAD setting up a legitimate business and then wiping out their competition by some underhanded means, leaving Dr. Claw with a monopoly.
• Diabolical Mastermind
• Evil Plan: Each episode revolves around one.
• Evil Sounds Deep
• The Faceless: Not only faceless, but also bodiless as only his hands and arms are ever shown to the viewers. Luckily, in the movie, his whole appearance is Rupert Everett.
  • Not so much since the action figure release. Warning! May cause self-destruction of childhood.
• Hook Hand: His origin in the movie.
• No Name Given: While Gadget and the Gadgetinis has George Claw, the movie has Sanford Scolex.
• The Other Darrin: Whenever Frank Welker wasn't available, he was voiced by Don Francks (Cree Summer's dad).
• Right-Hand-Cat
• Sinister Surveillance: The only thing he's ever shown doing.
• Slouch of Villainy: Throughout the series, he only watches the events from his lair or car.
• Surrounded by Idiots: Even with Penny always screwing up his plans, you sometimes think he might be ruling the world by now if his henchmen weren't all so stupid.
• Ultimate Evil
• Villain Exit Stage Left: Whenever he's actually at the scene of a MAD activity, he'll typically escape in the MAD Mobile once the Gadget family ruins his scheme.

Penny

• Badass Damsel: Though she gets captured frequently, half the time she ends up rescuing herself.
• Bound and Gagged: Happens frequently.
• Cree Summer: Played Penny for most of the original series. It was her first role.
• Dub Name Change: In the French version her name is Sophie.
• Girlish Pigtails
• Hair of Gold
• Hypercompetent Sidekick
• Kid Detective
• Non Standard Character Design: In comparison to the other very cartoony designs in the show, Penny's is noticeably more anime inspired and realistically proportioned. Gadget and the Gadgetinis gives her a somewhat wackier design, though still slightly more subtle than the rest of the cast.
• Only One Name: Penny was never given a last name, though a lot of people just assume it's Gadget.
• The Other Darrin: In the pilot she was voiced by Mona Marshall. In the second season, Holly Berger took over the role from Cree Summer.
• Parental Abandonment: According to Dr. Claw, if his word is anything to go by, Penny's parents died at some point before the start of the series.
• Snooping Little Kid

Brain

• Action Pet: Although more wacky than outright action, he still goes through things that one would have to be tough to get though.
• Beleaguered Assistant: Occasionally averted when Gadget actually saves Brain. This usually happens when Gadget thinks he's a MAD agent and is trying to capture him, and ends up grabbing Brain right before he'd fall to his death.
• Face Palm: One of his frequent reactions to Gadget's antics.
• My Instincts Are Showing: Though usually a neurotic Straight Man with more human intelligence than most of the police force combined, Brain sometimes has displays of puppy-like friskiness. For example, at one point when Gadget tries to throw away some explosives, he mistakes it for a stick and excitedly plays fetch with it.
• Non-Human Sidekick
• Paper-Thin Disguise
• Speech-Impaired Animal

Chief Quimby

• Da Chief
• Ice King: His attitude is different in each live action movie.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In The Movie.
  • Jerkass: In the direct-to-video sequel to The Movie.
• Mr. Exposition
• Something Only They Would Say: Apparently, only the real Gadget would malfunction without warning and injure him with his gadgets. Quimby uses that fact to Spot the Impostor in one episode.