¡Mucha Lucha!

¡Mucha Lucha!
File:ThreeMascaritasDancing.jpg The Three Mascaritas - Flea, Rikochet, and Buena Girl
Created by	Eddie Mort & Lili Chin
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	52
Production
Running time	30 Minutes
Original release
Network	Kids' WB
Release	August 17, 2002 – February 26 2005

¡Mucha Lucha! is an animated television series which premiered on Kids' WB on August 17, 2002. In the UK the show airs on CITV, while it currently airs in Cartoon Network's Miguzi block, after being off air for about two years. It was created by Eddie Mort and Lili Chin. It is one of the first animated television series created with Adobe Flash, a program usually used for Internet cartoons.

The show is set in a town centered around Lucha libre (nearly everyone in the town has a mask and costume and a signature move) and is essentially about the adventures of three children, Rikochet, Buena Girl, and The Flea, as they struggle through the world-famous school of wrestling where they study.

Main characters

File:MuchaLuchaGroupShot.jpg

Characters in ¡Mucha Lucha!

Main article: List of ¡Mucha Lucha! characters

• The Flea: The filthy and disgusting feminine-voiced wrestler.
• Buena Girl: The knowledgable wrestler girl and Love intrest of Rikochet.
• Rikochet: The brave wrestler boy.

Season list

Season 1: 2002-2003

1. Back to School / How Rikochet Got His Move Back
2. The Fantastic Backpack / The Naked and the Masked (got a little bit of obscene)
3. Weight Gaining / Heart of Lucha (also known as Big Bad Flea)
4. Woulda Coulda Hasbeena / The Anger of Cindy Slam
5. The Curse of the Masked Toilet / The Mummy with the Golden Mask
6. Pinball Wizard (also known as Pinball Problems) / Not So Buena Girl (also known as The Fortune Donut)
7. Bring Your Dad to Lucha Day / Our Founder
8. Tooth or Dare / The Mask Mitzvah
9. Flea's Fighting Fish (also known as A Little Fishy) / La Flamencita (also known as Dance Disaster)
10. Will the Real El Rey Please Stand Up? / The Musica Man
11. Timmy of a Thousand Masks / All Creatures Masked and Small (also known as Doggone It)
12. Honor Thy Lucha (also known as Trading Card Trouble) / Chinche
13. Mask Away

Note: "How Rikochet Got His Move Back" was originally intended to be shown with "Back to School", but ended up being paired with "Heart of Lucha" (while "Back to School" is shown with "Weight Gaining") for reasons unknown. Several episodes from this season were adaptated into children's storybooks, most of them being given titles different from the episodes themselves.

Season 2: 2003-2004

1. Lone Stars / The Littlest Luchadora
2. The Man from M.A.S.K. / The Flea's Bueno Twin
3. Nightmare on Lucha Street / Revenge of the Masked Toilet
4. Calling All Monsters / Pig Out
5. Thrills and Skills / Party Animal
6. Dancing with Bugs / Chain of Fools
7. You Look Radishing (also known as Thief of Radishes) / Lucha, Rinse and Repeat
8. War of the Donuts / Show Me the Funny
9. French Twisted / Hungry Like Los Lobos (also known as Los Lobos De Lucha)
10. Big Buena Sellout / Laying in Ruins
11. Getting Ahead / Los Fabulosos
12. Meet the Muertos / Mask Maker
13. Undercover Flea / Kid Wombat
14. Churro Overload / Mini Mercado of Doom
15. La Bruja / El Niño Loco
16. The Collector
17. The Brat in the Hat (also known as Los Pantalones) / Election Daze
18. Late Night Lucha / Flea at Last
19. Flea's Personal Demons / Virtual Luchadores
20. Cinco De Piñata (also known as Day of the Piñata) / Poocha Lucha
21. Run, Lucha, Run / An Epic Tale Of Heroes And Donuts
22. Attack Of The Luchabots
23. My Hairy Knuckles / Brains Meets Brawn
24. Asphalt of Doom / Hot Hot Hot
25. I was a Pre-Teen Chupacabra / Carnival of Masked Terror
26. Getting His Goat / 10 Rounds of Trouble

Video Movie: ¡Mucha Lucha!: The Return of El Maléfico

Note: The theme song was slightly changed this season. The last four episodes of this season were held over and ended up airing during season 3.

Season 3: 2004-2005 (Mucha Lucha Gigante)

1. Buena Basura / Shamrock and Roll
2. Spider and the Flea / The Incredible Penny Plutonium
3. Dare to Lucha / Monkey Business
4. Dawn of the Donuts / Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Horchata
5. Big Worm / Medico Mayhem
6. Banditos de los Muertos / Field of Screams
7. Slamazon and On... / Buena on Wheels
8. A Whole Lot of El Rey / Doomien
9. The Match Before Christmas (also known as A Mucha Mucha Christmas)
10. Call of the Mild
11. Niko Sushi's Happy Battle Funtime Dome 3000 / Smarticus
12. Mars Madness / Fears of a Clown
13. The Magnificent Three

Spin-off merchandise

A toy line based on the show was released by Jakks Pacific in 2003. In this toy line included "Mix-a-Lot" action figures; these had removable body parts that could be placed on the bodies of other action figures in the series. "Signature Move" action figures were also put out, along with a toy wrestling ring. However, the second series of the toy line was cancelled.

During summer of 2003, DC Comics published a three-issue mini-series of comic books based on ¡Mucha Lucha! All three of the stories featured in these comic books were written by Eddie Mort, and have even been occasionally referenced in the TV series.

1. El Rey, Come Home!
2. It's All Buena!
3. Limbo of the Lost Luchadores!

The show was licensed for a Game Boy Advance video game in late 2003 - Mascaritas of the Lost Code, and also a Sony Playstation 2 video game was slated for release but was cancelled around 2004 - Mysterioso Grande.

Also Sabritas had two "tazos" collections of Mucha Lucha in Mexico, where due to the show's Mexican style, it raised a fever pitch. A card game was released in Mexico in early January 2006, however the card game was released on some Mexican states during late 2005.

See also

• Lucha libre (Mexican wrestling)

External links

• ¡Mucha Lucha! at Kids WB!
• ¡Mucha Lucha! at Cartoon Network (USA)
• ¡Mucha Lucha! - TV.com

Animation technique

• The companies that got to animate ¡Mucha Lucha! gigante (Season 3)
• Bardel Entertainment Inc., Vancouver, BC, Canada