#scrooges and setups

[spacesapphi]

HES Trio Headcanons (the third)

That's right guys, another one (my brain is rotted). These three live in my head rent free

some the Shane ones are sad again, sorry

Elliott

-had a pet hermit crab as a kid, he's always been a friend of the crabs!

- prefers fancy, decorative candles to scented ones. The prettier the better!

- trying his best to make his room look like Howls from Howls Moving Castle. That clutter of beautiful trinkets is exactly what he wants for a setup

- loves wearing his hair in braids, but is terrible at doing braids on himself. He usually asks Leah

- Willy is like a father to him. His bio father was not a kind man, and Willy is everything he wished his father could be and more

- Willy taught him how to fish too, and he's actually pretty good at it!

- very into a "method acting" style of writing, as in he'll live like a character he's trying to write for a while until he feels like he can realistically interpret them in his writing

- faked a British accent for about a month in middle school because he thought it sounded very sophisticated and artsy

Harvey

- won't tell anyone, but he enjoys little Saturday morning cartoons now and then. It reminds him of the moments of joy he felt when he was little and he cherishes that

- tried to shave off his mustache once and seeing how he looked without it scared him so bad he vowed not to do it again. It looks so bad 😭💔

- wears that Ebenezer scrooge lookin nightgown and cap unironically, swears that it helps him sleep better

- lactose intolerant and has a gluten allergy. He doesn't like cheese and baked goods because of it, they make him really sick

- that being said, if u made/bought him gluten free stuff he would act like he owes his life to you

- once he was at the library at the same time Penny was tutoring the kids. It was during free reading time and Vincent told him he looked like a character in the book he was reading. It was Geronimo Stilton. Harvey has still not recovered from that

- really wanted siblings as a little kid but never had them, so he created an imaginary friend for himself and pretended to go on aviation missions with them

- has a lil gap between his front teeth, he gets a bit shy about it, but it's cute when he smiles and you can see it

Shane

- I changed my height headcanon, bro is 5'3 now

- his ENTIRE family is very short, his mom and Marnie are 5'0. Jas' parents were tall though so once she's older she's absolutely towering over Marnie and Shane

- had very long hair before taking in Jas. For many reasons, especially maintenance, he's kept it short since adopting her

- Him stealing food from Joja is a habit built from necessity, from the time before he moved back in with Marnie. He got to the point financially that he was often stealing food for him and Jas, because he was often forced to choose between groceries and paying rent.

- he's not a vegetarian, but he refuses to eat chicken specifically. Everytime he tries, he just can't bring himself to do it. He loves chickens too much

- even then, he still ate very little. Stealing was risky and he wanted to make sure Jas was given what she needed first. He always had her eat first, and would eat whatever she didn't, like crusts or veggies she didn't like. The night he moved back in with Marnie was the first time he had an actual meal in about a year

- After he starts recovery, he tries to be better friends with Penny given that she's Jas' teacher. She isn't very interested in being close with him, but he still tries to be friendly

- has an arsenal of dad jokes at the ready at any given moment, you are not prepared for how corny this man gets

- forever salty that LEWIS of all people is beating him on the junimo kart leaderboards

- He and Sam have a workplace besties kinda relationship. They still stay pretty good friends after Joja closes, Shane goes to all of his bands shows to show support

- the only festivals he really cares about are the egg festival, luau and Stardew valley fair. The rest he'll go to because it makes Jas and Marnie happy, but those three he has a passion for

[a-dotrivenitupontop]

i really think the main problem with s3 and 4 of mq is how scrambled the jobs have become. like in s1 and 2 it starts out pretty simple.

ian: the head-in-the-clouds creative director with your typical weirdly spiritual man who wields power over others moments

poppy: the shut in coding genius lead engineer who longs for power and then lets it get to her head when she becomes co-creative director

david: the awkward and pathetic boss who really does not have a grip on his company

brad: the money-hungry head of monetisation

jo: the helpful yet slightly deranged assistant

rachel and dana: the overlooked testers who know they’re worth more

cw: the kooky and more than vaguely racist writer

other characters are the overworked art department head, phil. the hr head carol, who’s treated like a therapist. the mansplaining other tester who appeared for a bit, lou. and of course, autistic latina icon, maria.

it’s a typical sitcom setup. each character has a job in the Setting and that job allows the writers to explore that personality. brad works with money so his ultimate goal is a scrooge mcduck money bin. cw wrote sci fi books in the seventies so of course he’s gonna say odd things about women. poppy’s job is to sit at a computer all day, there’s no way she’s developed appropriate social skills. but then in s3 and 4 the jobs get so much weirder and jumbled?? like??

ian: co-creative director and grimpop studios. then goes back to mythic quest, then quits but finds he can’t when poppy tries to leave.

poppy: co-creative director at grimpop studios. then goes back to mythic quest, gets a boyfriend, gets pregnant, debates leaving for the netherlands.

david: still the executive producer. becomes evil for a bit then pathetic again. becomes evil again. becomes pathetic again. becomes evil again. becomes pathetic again.

brad: the janitor. then he’s invited back to be the homie. then joins dana. then fucks over dana playing poker. then he has to choose between his girlfriend who works for danas rival (who never gets mentioned again) or mythic quest. chooses mythic quest.

jo: still assistant. that’s solid. kinda. idk who she assisted in particular in s4 but she assisted. now she’s head of playpen??

rachel: decides she wants to be a writer. fails at berkeley or wherever. joins monetisation. then she becomes evil?? and defends child labor in playpen?? then mopes about it for a few days before david needs her back??

dana: randomly decides she’s the best coder of her generation because she can make a roblox game. works for ian and poppy but then makes her own studio which is owned by mythic quest. brad gambles her new game away after she’s bested by a 17yo. makes a new game.

carol: montreal gives her a job as head of diversity and inclusion (hodi). does mq have an hr department anymore?? who knows. who cares. hodi isn’t really a job that involves anything so carol spends her time fucking the old gay testers.

the old gay testers: old and gay and testers. for some reason they’re at davids meeting in telephone even though s1 rachel complained about how testers are never invited to meetings. btw what happened to the other gay testers from s3??

other characters include like 2 mins of screen time from porn addicted anthony who i think is a coder and an episode about pootie shoe. why so few side characters? because brad got as much screen time in s4 and michelle got in s1. does anyone miss michelle btw?? does anyone miss when this show had people actually working in each department??? does mythic quest have a writing department anymore???? can this show do plot line that doesn’t involve a character getting fired then coming back then quitting then joining another thing then quitting then going back to mq???? while getting completely flanderised in the process????

[korkorali]

I think the worst bit for me about all Those Sorts (you know the type) of fics is that they always take Della extremely out of character in order to make her the 'antagonist.'

And that sucks because it's just not necessary! It's the worst because you can have Della & Louie angst where Della's the 'antagonist,' and it's in-character.

You just have to have Louie be wrong in the end (kind of).

The reason why Della and Louie clash in Timephoon and Glomtales! isn't because Della 'disapproves of scheming in entirety' or something, it's because she's done the same goddamn thing as him.

(And side note- Timephoon is honestly an amazing piece of storytelling, because it allows us to see Della's thought process for taking the Spear of Selene by showing us Louie doing pretty much the same thing.)

She's been through it all before, and she knows how it ends.

And that fucking terrifies her! The idea that one of her kids is making the same mistakes as her, could go through the same thing as she did, and she's the only one who can see it, is terrifying.

The way to start out a story like this is simple; have an adventure go wrong. Not in a deadly way, not in a way that's caused by Louie (at least, not that anyone but him notices), not in a way that costs anyone their life- but in a way that causes them to lose the treasure. The adventure is a failure, and they have to come back empty handed, like New Gods on the Block.

Maybe some people get hurt, maybe it's vaguely Louie's fault (and even then- it'd be better if it wasn't even his fault, it's just his brain connecting patterns where there aren't any), but the most important part is that they don't get the treasure, and it's like- one of those ones that can only be found once every hundred years or something.

Louie feels responsible (I mean all of the kids do, but as it'd be a Louie story he'd be the one focused on) and upset that they want to all that trouble and don't have anything to show for it, so he tries to figure out some way to go on the adventure again.

Turns out, after a bit of research, there is a way to get to the treasure again! Louie brings it to Scrooge's attention excitedly- but Scrooge turns it down. Says it's too dangerous, that they're not doing it, end of story.

...Not end of story- everyone's still obviously miserable. So Louie decides that 'okay, if it's 'too dangerous,' then I'll just go in secret. It'll be fine, Scrooge is just overreacting.'

So he starts trying to put a plan into place to get the treasure in secret- but Della, somehow, seems to know what he's doing (hint: it's because she knows what she'd do if she was in Louie's shoes). And is consistently getting in his way.

And there you go- a perfect setup to have Della consistently and purposefully stepping on Louie's toes, getting in his way, trying to stop him from doing things, and it's even in-character! It'd probably start out with the two acting like everything's perfectly hunky-dory, even though both of them know that the other knows that they know that the other knows why they did this one thing.

As plans get deeper, it'd escalate to Della trying to actively call Louie out, but he always manages to just barely weasel his way out of it, and eventually commence his plan.

It obviously goes wrong. But Della's there to help. And finally she'd actually explain why the fuck she's been something of a thorn in his side for the past few weeks, why it seems like she knows what he's thinking: because she does.

Because she's been through the same thing.

Because she fucked up, and left her stranded on the moon for ten years, and she does not want that for her kid. (And of course everything could've been solved if she'd just sat down and talked to Louie about that at the onset, but it's Della- she only likes to bring up the moon when it's funny. She would've thought 'nah it's fine, I can handle this, I don't need to bare my soul, I shouldn't burden anyone with that' without realizing that oh yeah, no, that's the exact same thought process she doesn't want Louie to think)

And of course they'd argue, because it'd be a high-stress situation and neither of them would have the composure to pretend that everything's alright and they haven't been sniping at each other for the past week or so, and eventually it'd finally come up; eventually, they'd finally bring up that they thought the exact same thing when Louie did this, when Louie took the Timetub, when Della took the Spear.

'...And if anything goes wrong, at least I'm the only one who'll get hurt.' (Because you cannot tell me that that was not the last thought running through both of their heads when they took the timetub/Spear of Selene, you cannot convince me that they didn't think they were doing right by their families in that moment, that they hadn't done their due diligence and minimized risk down to one person.)

And Louie wouldn't understand, because he did the right thing. He minimized risk, he made sure nobody else would get hurt. But that's wrong- because if he got hurt, then Della (Donald, Scrooge, their family, her kids) would get hurt too. That they could fly into a vacuum all they wanted, but at the end of the day, they still didn't exist in one.

Eventually, they'd get out of there and abandon the mission again. Maybe they'd succeed, but probably not. But that's not important- what'd be important is that they were both safe and alive and okay.

There- a Della & Louie thing, extremely angsty, well Della as the 'antagonist,' and it's all in-character. Easy.

[justaboot]

sorry took a nap

OKAY I've always lost my mind a bit at New Gods on the Block, but I could never put my finger exactly on what it was. Specifically this scene.

First off, visually it's BRILLIANTLY laid out and dynamic, and I think that's a huge part of it, because it physicalizes the entire episode thesis.

It's about power dynamics.

We've talked about this before, but the kids have put Scrooge up on this towering pedestal. Della, who's been in their shoes before, spends the whole episode trying to get them to kick that image, because it's stupid, not healthy, whatever. But the point is, I think what's so intriguing about the adults in this episode is that they're ADULTS. Scrooge and Della have kicked the parent-kid dynamic for this one, the dust has settled, and they're on equal footing.

The episode lays that out as soon as they get home from their failed adventure. The kids are having their life crisis, we're worms, etc, and they have Della come in and de-mystify the scenario immediately. It's low stakes. Don't worry about it, look, here's the formula, it's happened before, it'll happen again.

So suddenly, she's coming in confidently and easily on the same plane as Scrooge. This is what happens, whatever. They're partners, she's not subservient or looking up to him. She spends the whole episode treating him like a peer, the adults and the kids, and she's pissed at him like a peer, so that when THIS scene comes around, you've got a great setup for a visual struggle, too.

There's all this discussion about an effective team, who's worthy, whatever, and the kids fall behind, and Della and Scrooge jump in. After all this talk about teamwork, a huge visual point is made about Scrooge and Della having silent, effective communication and team work, and I think the most important part is that Della goes first.

This whole episode is a conversation about power dynamics, and Scrooge being this god-king, and Della pulls him up.

Now, you've got a fight scene happening in a fight scene, while their primary activity is climbing. Again, everything in this episode has been about team work, and this climb is old-hat enough for them together to weave in and out and still have it out, and the timing is EVERYTHING.

Scrooge is critical of what they're doing, where are those kids, why aren't they helping, etc, and he's been placed higher than Della. Suddenly, though, when she turns it around on him:

She climbs above him. They talked in the artbook about how she used to be in the kids' shoes and knows what it's like to hinge her worth on his opinion, and now, she's knocking HIM down a peg.

Suddenly SHE'S in the position of power, where she's put herself, (and he's let her, long way from don't raise your voice at me) because pre-series, they (and Donald) were a team. That's the point that he has to take a look outside of himself and see that the kids aren't on the same page. He's thought of them as a team, but didn't vocalize it, didn't treat them fairly, etc, and the kids heard and that had consequences. He literally doesn't hear them, he's not listening, and it takes a smackdown from someone who's decided she's on the same plane to get through to him.

It's one of the few times Della's one of the adults and not one of the kids, and it's really brilliantly executed. It adds a lot of dynamic, and the implied history and experience together adds a really dynamic layer. She used to be Thee adventure team, and that's still true. Idk the silent teamwork got me.

Anyway, this episode is my fav and a lot more thought was put into this than it looks, thanks for coming to my ted talk.

[quiverwingquack]

I'm hyperfixating on Ducktales again and rewatching episodes, as one does, and I realized Louie uses a landline to call Goldie in Outlaw Scrooge McDuck, which I thought was weird because he definitely had a cell phone in Great Dime Chase, cause he and Scrooge talk about it.

But then I realized it's cause he gets a phone for his Louie Inc setup. He’s making a business call to Goldie. This kid is a professional and he has a business line. (Also, I'm kind of obsessed with how much their room changes.)

[thatmittengirl2009]

Today I had the amazing experience of being able to volunteer for the Leader Dogs for the Blind organization. My friend trains service dogs and as they go through extensive training at the facility, a good chunk of 3rd and 4th stage training is completed out in the field aka the real world.

Being able to tour the facility and what goes into this program is truly remarkable. They have their own breeding program to ensure most pups will have the best chance at health to be able to serve for long periods of time. Once they’re deemed good, the organization relies on “puppy raises” who are everyday volunteers to take on the responsibility of training a normal puppy. The program provides the food for them and vet visits, plus all the training tools and classes the puppy raiser needs. Once they get basic obedience completed and pass an evaluation, they can then work on getting the pups socialized. This is the most important and crucial step. As a puppy raiser, you are given more free rein on places to bring the dog. Because they’re not “officially” a service dog, it’s best to call ahead at stores or restaurants to see if they will allow the dog to come in for training. Most will say absolutely. There is one or two scrooges but places recognize this is the only way a dog will get used to these environments. Some puppy raisers will send the dog off to school with their older kid even to get used to the classroom environment. The dog is kept with their puppy raiser family until about 2 years. If the dog passes their final little exam, then they are brought back to the facility for advanced training. If they find they might not be suitable, then they are “career changed” and the puppy raiser gets first dibs if they want to adopt that dog. If they don’t, then they have an adoption center too for the public. So if you see someone with a vested dog that says “in training” most likely what you’re seeing is a volunteer who is putting in their own private time to ensure this dog can help someone one day.

The advanced training is where the staff come in and lasts about a year. They do a lot of training at the facility first, teaching a dog to backup and how to track and keep eye on their handler. They also try to teach spacial awareness at this stage as the dog needs to understand if there is an object in the way, they must give more room for the human to clear it as well, not just them. As they advance, they are taken out on remote locations. There is a team of trainers who work together to purposefully recreate dangerous situations like crossing a street when a car is coming in hot around the corner. Will the dog run? Will they back up immediately to protect their human? They have cameras on the cars too so they can study the dog’s reaction. Were they scared? Did they show signs of distress? Those are all kinds of scenarios we don’t think about but the dog needs to be prepared for as a human life will be in their hands (or paws). Many dogs are career changed at this point as either they’re too scared of the advanced stimuli or they can’t seem to remember they’re guiding a human. It’s sad to see them come so far and be told sorry no. 😭 But they seem to take it well. If they’re career changed at this point, the original puppy raiser also gets first dibs. I found it amazing how the volunteer families are kept up to date with the dog’s progress long after they’re gone. The trainers often will turn to the families to ask questions like “what did the dog like as a reward for doing good behavior?” Or “did he always do this?” It’s all to help for the best outcome and many families just want to see the dog succeed. The whole setup is adorable!!

In the final stages of training, they do as many field tests as possible with a trainer blindfolded. If the dog can pass all these final challenges and a trainer feels like they’re in good hands, the dog will go on to their final exam which is completed at the facility and last 2-3 hours. After 3 years of intense training, that 2-3 hours is their make or break moment. They need to be able to repeat tasks 10 times perfectly with no error.

My friend has been working with three dogs this past year and one named, Yoshi, was getting one of his final field training/tests done today as he goes onto his final exam in 2 weeks. Sometimes they prefer a 3rd party to help to ensure everything has been covered as the dog might react differently once with a new handler. And this isn’t great considering they’re eventually being paired with a person in need.

Most people say no to this volunteer opportunity though as it’s too scary. I get it lol. This dog isn’t officially certified but you’re willingly being blindfolded and hoping this dog doesn’t run you into a fountain. Of course I said yes to helping my friend and getting this rare opportunity. So I met up at the facility, got a tour, and then met the perfect Yoshi, a brown lab with white spots who is adorable!! We drove out in a van to the downtown area where there is lots of shops and stores have signs outside and there is steps and street crossing opportunities. I was blindfolded and by blindfold, I mean they used these special sleep type masks that are bulky and completely eliminate any vision. You can’t look down, you have no peripheral vision. It’s just darkness. It’s surprising how much my other senses automatically kicked into overdrive hearing things I usually wouldn’t pick up on, and even my smell became heightened. I had two spotters with me. One who kept on eye on what the dog was doing and one person looking after me. If say the dog decides it’s safe to cross the street when it’s not, they’ll pull us back. I was given the commands and what they mean and away I went. It feels so weird relying strictly on this dog to guide me through crowds. Yoshi unfortunately did walk me right into a sign twice but he quickly realized his error and it vastly improved the rest of the time. It’s amazing when you get to a set of stairs, he stops at the top but he gets as close to a handrail as possible for me to find before he proceeds. He waited for my command to then continue slowly down the stairs not pulling me. He would stop at every cross walk and idk how they know but he just knew not to go because cars were turning. As a side note, when I was in Grand Haven on vacation last year, the crosswalks talked. I remember thinking that was an amazing feature and honestly I could have used that in that moment. Those little raised bumps at the end of sidewalks became my saving grace to know I was by a street.

I was extremely anxious at first, but after an hour of walking around completely blind, I never felt more safe. My anxiety and tension got less and less and as I removed the blindfold at the end, I couldn’t help but cry. I mean I cry at everything but to know this dog was gonna change someone’s life for the better and help give them that independence I just experienced for a mere hour blew my mind. And a blind person experiences this every single day.

I will say I never realized until that moment that direction challenge is a real thing. Dogs are great but they’re not GPS systems. You can’t say “go to Starbucks” and expect to get there. Half the time I had no clue where I was. I learned this is a very common issue that blind people face especially young people who always relied on a parent or friend to help them. Leaders for the Blind offers classes to blind people to learn direction mapping and how to overcome disorientation. If a person cannot be fully independent because of these issues, they actually cannot be matched to a dog because it puts the dog at risk to be injured too. It’s those little things I never thought about before today.

I have faith Yoshi will pass his final exam and he will make someone very very happy.

What comes next after they pass is the matching process. At this point, the trainers already have been working with the dogs for a while so they understand their different temperaments. Some walk fast, others are slower. The person who works between working with a candidate and the trainers takes that info and uses it to match the person. If a person likes to walk fast or be active, then this dog will do. Or someone is older and slower, then the slow and steady dog will do. It’s an entire process behind the scenes to ensure the best outcome. Once they have a match and a certification, graduation day and match week comes about. They’ll have the blind person and their families come in for a week. The dogs meet their new person privately with the trainer where they’re given bonding time just like you would with a regular adopted dog. Sometimes the matching process stops right there if the dog and owner don’t take to each other. 95% of the time it’s a match though. Then they work with both the blind person and their new dog doing training around the facility for the entire week so they learn the commands and get used to having a dog guide them rather than relying on their guide stick. During that week, a trainer can help adjust any commands if needed and help ensure the person is fully comfortable. It takes major adjusting and one thing my friend mentioned is the huge smile the blind person always gets because it becomes a new sense of absolute freedom for them as well as an unconditional friend who will always be there for them.

At the end of the week, a big ceremony is held as usually all the dogs graduate at the same time and are placed. They’ll even invite the puppy raisers and their families to attend so they can see how far their dog came they helped raise. 😭 He said those families keep in touch more than you think they would and they build lifelong friendships. They get their certificates and then their new owners are announced and it’s just the cutest thing ever.

Seriously if you ever get a chance to work with a leader dog as a volunteer, do it. It’ll give you an entirely new respect and perspective for what these dogs truly do. They’re so smart and such good boys and girls!!! ❤️❤️❤️

[minorsofdt]

re: this post that shows how impactful gyro is on Ducktales 2017's plots...but how the show doesn't acknowledge it.

Disclaimer : I like...some of Ducktales 2017. Let's Get Dangerous and Astro Boyd are some of my favorite episodes. Also Most Dangerous Game Night and Waddleduck But it's because I love the characters and even some of the new ones that I can critique and point out flaws in a show. I'm an adult - I can love something and viciously mock it for it's mistakes.

( other rant post. )

when the Spear of Selene incident ( Shown in Last Crash ) & What Happened to Della Duck came out I was buzzing with ideas of what would happen if Della got back on earth. I had expected Dewey to figure out that Gyro built the rocket and confront him. That it would be a plot point but, it never was. None of the nephews found out. None of them seemed to care either. For the show to act like Dewey finding out about his mom was super important, you'd expect them to show Gyro slipping up and talking about Della so that Dewey would ask him a million questions about her. So why? Why even show that Gyro essentially created and designed the ship that started all the drama if you're not going to do anything? I wonder if Frank and Matt planned to do a Gravity Falls sort of show with mysteries to solve and character development but someone wanted more KID ORIENTED EPISODES and they already had the Magica de Spel set up so they didn't have time? From the first season, it seemed to be Setting Gyro up as the Not As He Seems Stan red herring and we were supposed to find out that he has a heart of gold or whatever… but the Finale just throws him into the plot, has Scrooge call him a WORK ACQUAINTANCE and has Magica unceremoniously throw him into the lake. Then nothing, Scrooge forgets about him. No one wonders where Dr. Gearloose is. They just defeat Magica de Spel and celebrate without him. The next time we see him, a whole bunch of months have passed. ( I was milking the drama of that finale in roleplays for those months and thriving.) But,

it really felt like a slap in the face to have Gyro show up in the mansion completely fine. Not at all upset at Scrooge for leaving him in the lake like that. He's there to do a little colonialism as a treat and he sets off the entire plot that starts up Louie's arc into being less '' evil ''. In Gyro's interactions with Louie, you can tell that Gyro wants to become the nephew's Uncle - Desperately. Is it because he misses Della and they remind him of Della? Dunno, the show never confirms anything. They spent last season HINTING that Della and Gyro had a relationship of some kind. Anatognistic or Sibling-like but SOMETHING. But the show spent the next two seasons, IGNORING all that setup.

It's clear that he's coming on too strong and Louie is not about that. ( Shere contrast between roleplay and show was starting to get ridiculous. Though, Roleplay is fan-run writing but Frank and Matt had a different vision. That's fine. )

Gyro never feels like an uncle to any of the nephews in the show. The show spends the rest of it's time using Gyro as a plot point. Gyro is basically not in season 3 for the most part. Astro Boyd was the last time he was given any respect. And his relationship with Fenton seems to reset every episode so of course, Fenton would drift farther away from Gyro by the end. In the final credits, Gyro and Fenton never interact again. It's clear that they don't have a relationship outside of co-workers. The show doesn't have time to show Gyro and Fenton interact in positive ways. We never see Fenton get encouragement from him to show Scrooge the new invention Fenton has made.

Fenton by the end, is a full-time employee and probably going to end up leaving McDuck Inc and starting up a new lab with Gandra. That's fine but by the end of Ducktales - The MY FAMILY shot with all these random people tacked on and Gyro standing there with Team Science and Von Drake who he's LITERALLY NEVER INTERACTED WITH. IT felt cheap to me?

I mean, There was an ENTIRE EPISODE where the joke was that The family photo included Gyro instead of Donald. Which I just realized... was a JOKE ABOUT DUCKTALES 1987 and how Donald is LITERALLY SHIPPED OFF TO THE NAVY AND LEAVES THE KIDS WITH HIS UNCLE. He has a job, and a good relationship with Scrooge...

Donald says the line ' There's no one else I trust ' ... so there's no Della Drama in 1987. Della just isn't there. Della isn't mentioned and she's never a looming threat against the male characters helping to raise these children together. Gyro is there as a family friend who's probably gay but, no one questions it. And the nephews are cordial towards Gyro. He's obviously wanted and included in the family.

Gyro in 1987 is allowed at the family dinner table as a WELCOME GUEST. He's invited to events like weddings. He works freelance, works for both Glomgold and Scrooge. He seems happy.

Donald shows up whenever he's able to come in and is a welcome part of the family.

Compare that to Gyro from 2017 , Barging into the mansion with an invention and the first thing that happens is Louie slamming the door on his face - to '' comedic '' effect.

It's clear that he's not wanted. Launchpad uses him as a weapon,and he just disappears. He was just there to start off the plot and nothing else.

Huey wanted to talk with Gyro but he never showed any interest in the kid. By Astro Boyd, any respect Huey had for Gyro is gone. The only '' character development '' is that Gyro goes from calling Huey ' some kid ' ' Red nephew ' to ' hat nephew '.

And that he seems genuinely concerned about seeing Huey when he's trapped in the Library. But, this feels like a Hail Mary , an Author Saving throw to salvage something from the lack of writing and time required to have the nephews from a close Uncle-Nephew bond with Gyro. Instead, it's just Forced at the end like it'd always been like this and we just didn't see it. It's a lot of telling and not showing.

Even how Gyro and Launchpad interact in the new show is different. In the old one, Gyro snipes at Launchpad just as much as new Gyro but it's clear that this is reciprocated.

First time we see Launchpad in Ducktales 1987, he stomps up to the two of them after Gyro and Scrooge thought he was dead. His scarf is on fire so he blows it out and blows the smoke directly into Gyro's face. This is an establishing moment that tells you straight away what their friendship is. It implies that the ship he crashed was made by Gyro and Launchpad is getting back at Gyro for having him pilot a dangerous ship. ( They have a pre-existing relationship and we're just settling into there lives. )

Compare that to the new show where Gyro calls him ' dummy' and only goes along with the plan to see Mark's new invention because he has obvious unresolved tension with Mark. He's there to save HIS JOB, not save THEIR JOBS.

( 1987 gyro is fun and silly... too )

The relationship with Scrooge and Gyro is a friendship not ... whatever Scrooge and Gyro in the new one supposedly have. They don't seem to be close. Gyro and Scrooge's relationship is more established in the comics but Frank made it seem like those were not CANON... so , I won't talk about them here.

In the show proper we only ever see Scrooge reacting to Gyro's inventions going haywire and Scrooge yelling at Gyro to be nicer.

The first interaction we see of Gyro and Scrooge implies that Scrooge is taking a fatherly role with Gyro but that has been dropped by the time Magica shows up. He FORGOT about Gyro. IF he was really lying to protect Gyro then , why would he FORGET about him? Why isn't there a joke at the end about Scrooge realizing that Gyro is still in the Lake only from Gyro to waltz in soaking wet and grumble about being fine?? ( the writers didn't care enough about including Gyro to include him. )

Nothing.

Also , in Buddy System he completely ignores the fact that he also made GYRO worried about his job in the company. It's only Launchpad. We just see Gyro waiting in the car. ( This is why I wrote that Drabble to give them an argument. Some kind of resolution. But I shouldn't have to create headcanons to smooth out the things left out of the show proper like that. )

Gyro and Scrooge barely interact after season 1. I can't actually remember a time when they interact outside of the FUNNY BIT where Gyro basically tells Scrooge how F-ed they are.

Actually, Scrooge interacts with Gyro more in Outlaw Scrooge than anywhere else, because neither of them seem to know that they're interacting with each other. ( or Gyro knows and is playing it cool. )

I can't help but wonder how much Scrooge left out.

I get it. Gyro was not a main character. Not in the new show. He was a side-character. a plot device. He was only there as an accent to help drive the duck's plot.

Gyro interacts with the characters just enough and then completely backs out of the scene, having full filled his role.

Scrooge can prattle on about how everyone is his family but that's not true.

(( Note that his scene at the ending credits is him, ALONE with Lil'Bulb and Boyd. The only two people who are SHOWN to care about him... are his inventions. LET THAT SINK IN. )

In the end, it was only about the DUCKS. No one else mattered.

(( and this is why I roleplay... )

[luckyduckwrites]

Remembrance Chapter 1-17: The Golden Lagoon of White Agony Plains!

Fandom: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Lena (Disney: DuckTales)/Original Female Character(s), Della Duck (Disney) & Original Character(s), Huey Duck (Disney) & Original Female Character(s), Louie Duck (Disney) & Original Female Character(s), Dewey Duck (Disney) & Original Character(s)

Characters: Lena (Disney: DuckTales), Della Duck (Disney), Original Female Character(s), Webby Vanderquack, Huey Duck (Disney), Dewey Duck (Disney), Louie Duck (Disney)

Additional Tags: Mentioned Della Duck (Disney), Canon Autistic Character, Canon Disabled Character, Protective Siblings, Brother-Sister Relationships, POV First Person, Original Character-centric, POV Original Female Character, Childhood Trauma, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Slow Romance, Slow To Update, Friends to Lovers

Summary:

My name is Izzy, and I'm Donald Duck's niece. I'm 6 years older than my brothers Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and we all grew up together on the houseboat. My brothers are incredibly mischevious and are always causing trouble, so they can never be left alone, but Uncle Donald almost never lets me babysit them. One day, he brings us to meet our Uncle Scrooge, the richest duck in the world! He seems vaguely familiar, almost like I've seen him before, but that can't be possible. I've never seen him on TV, so where could I have possibly seen him before?

**AO3 & Wattpad links in masterpost pinned to the top of the blog**

One night, Uncle Scrooge asks my brothers and I to join him at a Gala to celebrate the opening of a new wing of the Duckburg National History Museum. My brothers and uncle are wearing suits, and I'm wearing an orange sequined dress Uncle Scrooge gave me.

Huey asks, "So why are we at the Gala for the Flintheart Glomgolf wing of the National History Museum?"

I add, "Yeah, I thought he was, like, your worst enemy, and now we're here to celebrate him? I don't get it."

Dewey adds, "Ugh, yeah! And look at this tacky setup! Somebody is trying way too hard." A waiter walks by, and he says in his best 'fancy' voice, "I'll have a virgin peach julep in your fanciest glass, thank you."

The server sighs and walks away.

Louie says, "All these trinkets are just from times Glomgold lost to you! A pebble from the lost city of El Dorado. A singed kilt from that fire pit in Crockatoa."

Huey adds, gesturing at a large, impossible skeleton, "And this 'Glomasuarus Rex' is clearly just a bunch of random parts stuck together. Honestly, how could you know it wore a crown?"

I smirk, asking, "How could you know it didn't?" Huey glares at me, and I chuckle, adding, "Just try to suspend your disbelief for a few hours, Hue."

Dewey asks, "So what are we doing here anyway?"

Uncle Scrooge explains, "As upstanding citizens of note, it's our responsibility to support Duckburg's cultural institutions... And these cocktail weenies are on Glomgold's dollar."

He starts stuffing food from the buffet table in plastic bags and hiding them in his coat pockets, and Louie asks, "Aren't you rich? Why do you need free food."

Uncle Scrooge responds, "I didn't get rich by wasting money, I got rich by beating my enemies!" He takes a large bite of a Vienna sausage, adding, "Stock up, kids!"

Louie starts scratching at his neck, saying, "Ugh, these custom suits are the worst! I think I'm getting a rash!"

Uncle Scrooge says through bites, "Mm, nope, that's the plastic lining. Saves on dry cleaning, and you lose less dip."

He pours dip directly into one of Louie's pockets, and I start packing cubes of cheese and some chips into my dress's large plastic-lined pockets.

Dewey unties his bowtie and says cheerfully after our pockets are stuffed, "It's not the cut of the suit, it's how you wear it! Take my playfully loose bowtie. Is he coming? Is he going? Did he party so hard it just flew open?!"

Suddenly, Uncle Scrooge gasps when a duck woman in a long golden dress appears at the top of the stairs. She makes eye contact with him while he remains frozen in shock, and makes her way over to him.

I ask, "Who is she?"

Louie adds, "A cursed villain?"

Dewey adds, "A villainous curse?"

Huey adds, "A... uh..." He sighs, then exclaims, "Man, I hate going third!"

Uncle Scrooge responds finally, "Worse. It's my ex!"

Huey asks, "Your ex?"

I add, "As in, your ex-girlfriend?"

Uncle Scrooge responds, "Ex-partner, ex-rival, ex-everything." The duck woman finally reaches us, and Uncle Scrooge adds in a low tone, "Watch your wallets, wee ones."

The woman says in mock shock, "Please, Scrooge! I would steal from children! Well, u nless they had something I really wanted, or I was bored, or-"

Uncle Scrooge interrupts her, grumbling, "Goldie O'Gilt, the Ice Queen of Dawson. I thought I heard the clatter of cloven hooves!"

Goldie says back, "Scroogie McMoneybags, the tightwad of Duckburg. That clatter was probably your brittle bones settling, ya gilded geezer!"

Dewey mutters, "I feel both disturbed and intrigued."

Suddenly, Glomgold pops up next to Goldie and rests an arm on her waist, saying, "Oh, hello Scrooge! This is my date, Goldie! What's that? Your ex you say?" He fakes a gasp, adding, "How awkward this must be for you."

He laughs, and Goldie peels Glomgold's hand from her waist, grumbling, "I'm not your date."

Glomgold continues like she didn't say anything, "Does it make your blood boil with jealousy, Scrooge? You're just a sad third wheel! Deadwood! A-"

Music starts, and Goldie immediately takes Scrooge's hand and starts dancing with him.

Glomgold mutters, "Touche, Goldie. Let the love games begin."

Goldie and Scrooge keep dancing, exchanging flirty banter the entire time.

Goldie starts, "It's been a long time, Scrooge."

Scrooge adds, "And yet, it still feels too soon."

Goldie grimaces, "Oof, your tango's as rusty as your joints, old man."

Scrooge spins her into a dip, asking, "How's this for rusty?"

Goldie responds, "Oh, not bad. But let the lady lead."

Louie coos, "Ooh! Scrooge has a crush!"

I add, "I guess there truly is nothing else like rekindling an old flame."

Huey adds, "True love is truly ageless!"

Dewey adds, "Ooh!"

Glomgold exclaims, "Somebody dance with me! I need to make her jealous!"

He forcefully grabs me by the wrist and spins me around way too fast, and I start feeling nauseous, nearly throwing up. Dewey tags in with Glomgold while I heave in the corner, and he starts dancing enthusiastically.

Glomgold exclaims, "Stop one-upping my one-upmanship! Dance worse than me!"

Dewey responds while dancing, "No can Dewey! Woohoo!"

Once my gut is under control, Louie helps me back over to where he and Huey are standing, watching Goldie and our uncle.

Uncle Scrooge stops dancing with Goldie, saying, "Cut the patter, O'Gilt. What're you really up to?"

Goldie asks, "Why do you think I'm always up to something?"

Uncle Scrooge responds, "Because wherever you go, you leave a flaming wreck in your wake."

Goldie says flirtatiously, "Can't start a fire without a spark, Scroogie."

Louie gags at that, and I say, "Oh, relax, Louie. It's just romance."

Louie groans, "Yeah, old-people romance."

Dewey joins us as Glomgold steps up to a podium, announcing, "Ladies and gentlemen, hated rivals, I am proud to unveil a brand new exhibit! Dug up by me very own oil crew in the Yukon; Behold! The feared, the terrible Glacier Monster of the Klondike!"

He pulls a cloth off of a large display skeleton, and Uncle Scrooge gasps, 'I know that beast!"

Goldie smirks smugly, and pulls a small remote out of her pocket. She presses a button on it and the lights turn off, and when the lights turn back on only a moment later, the skeleton's skull is missing!

The crowd gasps, and I hear a British woman ask, "What's going on here? Is this a surprise?"

Glomgold exclaims, "What?!"

Uncle Scrooge mutters, "We need to go."

I say, "But Uncle Scrooge-"

He says louder, "Now!"

We follow him to the limo, and Launchpad takes off.

Uncle Scrooge growls, "Goldie. Step on it, Launchpad! I need to get to the mansion!"

Louie coos, "Ooh, tell us about your new old girlfriend!"

He makes kissing noises, and I add, "When's the marriage? Do you have any kids we don't know about?"

Dewey adds, "Ooh, did you smooch in the dark?"

He makes kissing noises just like Louie, and Uncle Scrooge exclaims, "We weren't smoochin', ya wee numpties! It was all part of her plan to steal that map and mammoth skull!"

Huey asks, "Ooh, so you could smooch it together?"

Dewey groans, "Ewe!"

Louie adds, "What?"

I add, "Why would you ever ask that?!"

Uncle Scrooge explains, "No! Because that was no ordinary skull! Back in the Gold Rush, when I was prospecting for my fortune in the Klondike-"

Huey interrupts, asking, "Wait, Gold Rush? How old are you?!"

I add, "The Klondike Gold Rush was in 1896, so you must be at least 150 years old! How are you still alive?"

Uncle Scrooge responds, "A timeless Demon dimension, among other things. Now, can I get back to my story?"

Huey and I nod.

Uncle Scrooge explains, "I let that swindler Goldie repay a claim by helping me search for the legendary Golden Lagoon of White Agony Plains, but that mendacious minx stole my map! I managed to catch her, but in the scuffle, the map tore in half! Before I could get it back, we were attacked by the Glacier Monster of the Klondike, a Wolly Mammoth!"

I ask, "How was there a living mammoth in 1896?"

Uncle Scrooge mutters, exasperated, "Can I just get on with my story?"

I huff, but let him continue.

He says, "Goldie dodged its attack, but lost her half of the map inside the teeth of that beast! We escaped with our lives by being promptly frozen in the ice."

I ask, "Oh, was the mammoth thawed out? Is that why it was alive?" Uncle Scrooge's eye twitches, and I mutter, "Sorry. Continue."

Uncle Scrooge finishes his story, "For five years, I was stuck in that cursed glacier, forced to stare at her thievin' mug before we thawed. The Golden Lagoon of White Agony Plains is the one treasure that greedy gillie could never find, until Glomgold dug up the Glacier Monster's skull! That's the real reason Goldie came to the Gala." We finally arrive at the mansion, and he yells, "Launchpad, brakes!"

Launchpad slams his foot on the brakes, nearly avoiding crashing into the Glacier Monster's giant skull.

Uncle Scrooge growls, "She's here."

He runs inside and my brothers and I follow after him, and we finally find her in Uncle Scrooge's home office wearing his top hat.

She's sitting in his chair and asks, "Hey Moneybags, where's the other half of the map?"

Uncle Scrooge asks, "Where are Beakley and Webbigail?"

Goldie opens the closet door, revealing the two tied Beakley angrily asks, "How could you let that thief back into-"

Goldie shuts the closet door again, muffling the rest of Beakley's sentence.

Uncle Scrooge says, 'You reprehensible recreant."

Goldie smugly says, "Please, stop flirting in front of the children."

My brother and I coo, "Ooh!"

We scream as Uncle Scrooge tosses a chair at us, slamming the door shut so we don't get hit, but we lean our ears against the door to hear what they're saying.

Uncle Scrooge says, "Takes a fossil to find a fossil. Eh, Goldie?"

Goldie responds, "Says the man who still wears spats and a top... hat." It sounds like there's a scuffle, and she exclaims, "Give me my map!"

Uncle Scrooge exclaims, "Get your pilfering paws off my headpiece!"

Goldie exclaims, "I've got the map!" There's a sound like rustling paper, and she grumbles, "Fine. We team up. With our two halves of the map, we can finally find the Golden Lagoon."

Uncle Scrooge asks, suspicion dripping from his voice, 'Amd why should I trust you?"

Goldie responds in a flirtatious voice, "Because it's gold, because it's a treasure you never found, and because you're Scrooge McDuck."

She and Uncle Scrooge say in unison, "You think you know me so well."

My brothers and I open the door again, chanting, "Date! Date! Date!"

Uncle Scrooge and Goldie exclaims in unison, "It's not a date!"

I ask, "Are you sure? Sure sounds like a date to me."

Uncle Scrooge yells, "Out! Out of my office, the lot of ye! To your rooms! I better not see any of ye until tomorrow!"

I groan, "Ugh, fine, jeez. Have fun on your date."

Uncle Scrooge growls, "It's not a-"

I mutter, "Yeah, yeah, I get it."

We empty our pockets onto the dining room table and head upstairs. I change out of my itchy dress and change into my soft silky pajamas. Uncle Scrooge finally gets back home the next day, in a different set of clothes and empty-handed.

My brothers and I coo, "Ooh!"

Huey adds, "Tell us about your daaaate with your giiiirlfrieend!"

I add, "Yeah, and the marriage!"

Dewey adds in a baby-like voice, "And your baby and the baby carriage!"

Louie asks, "Ooh, and if we get a new aunt, will she give us lots of fancy presents? Wait, she's not in the will, is she?"

Uncle Scrooge storms off to his office, exclaiming, "Oh, grow up!"

My brothers and I laugh, messing with Uncle Scrooge about his 'date' for the rest of the day.

[popculturebuffet]

Uncle Scrooge: The Secret Santa Spell Review (comission by WeirdKev27)

Happy Holidays all you Happy People. It's that time of year again, time to haul out the holly and the breadcrumbs because we're talking about ducks again. Yes while I haven't talked about ducks nearly enough on this blog as of late, finding a Ducktale for christmas has always been a priority.

This year though Kev took the reigns on this one after realizing this was a tradition, and found me TWO. We were originally going to do the darkwing duck christmas special, something I didn't know existed and still know little about on purpose and still plan to next year.. but then... he found this. See back in 2021 I reviewed the Carl Barks comic a letter to santa. You can find the review here.

But the main takeaway is it features THIS iconic scene

Look saying i'm a simple man would be a boldfaced lie, but sometimes it's the simple things like an absurdly rich duck and his nephew fighting to the death with heavy machinery so one of them can give their nephew's the remaining machine as a christmas present that bring me joy on this holiday season.

That said after years of basking in the warm glow of having randomly found a comic about Scrooge and Donald battling to the death with steam shovels, I found something just as holly jolly.. and just as gloriously, wonderfully nuts. My friends it's time I introduced you to the Secret Santa spell.

Again Kev, my producer of sorts, deserves the credit here: he found this in Disney Christmas Parade, IDW's christmas anthology they printed every year for a while, and god bless him for it as this story is gold. It's a genuinely good, well done Magica story that thanks to taking place on christmas and involving a claus somehow less thought out than the one where if you kill Santa you become Santa, figgy pudding, a murder tree, and a volcano finale, is also completely bonkers and I love every second of it. This is a geninely fantastic scrooge story and one worth taking a look for yourself if you can find it online since it's out of print. For those of you who can't or simply don't wanna, come with me under the cut as we explore the hap happiest christmas since bing crosby tap danced with danny fucking kaye while Donald and Scrooge tried to pummel each other with steam shovels.

This story comes to us from writers Fransico Artibani, Lello Arena and artest Silvio Cambolli. I hadn't heard of any of these people before this as i'm not really up on my itallian duck comics but they do an excellent job here and I certainly will be looking out for more of their stories.

For this story we open at the bin a few days before christmas as everything's winding down for the holiday and Donald's doing one of his last bits of slave labor for Scrooge when two Scottish obviously suspcious carollers show up. Scrooge apparently gets so many that both are and aren't villians in disguise he's worked up a bit of an extreme solution.. granted he wanted to just pour oil on them but then legal got involved.

So he has to go with the Virtuetron 3000, an elaborate setup he had gyro work up that puts MIND READING HELMETS

Yup i'ts magica.. I mean I can't blame Scrooge for being suspcious, turning her shadow into a teenager to sneak into the mansion only for said teenager to fall in love with scrooge's daughter, this ain't, but i'm less concered with Magica and Co's half baked scheme and more concered a man who underpays his employees, quite literally owns the town, and already has a fairly sketchy moral compass has MIND CONTROL technology.. and giant killer robots

You'd think this would be an out of character expendature... but he got it from a reliable presidental source

Scrooge did all this so he could have a restful christmas. Magica.. isn't having the same as she has some uninvited guests.

Okay so some introductions are in order as i'm sure some of you had the same reaction I did

Thankfully Inducks also indexed who they are. Starting with the one I DID recognize, the little tyke is Magica's niece Minima, the basis for Lena and Magica's exact oppisite: kind, selfless, cheery. The only thing she isn't inverted on is magical talent, as Minima has a knack for it.

The two strangers are Rosolio and Gramma DeSpell. Yes GRAMMA, that's magica's grandma. What's intresting is there's two distinct versions of the character that don't really contradict each other, with this one in the 90's becoming a bigger fixture, and there being nothing to say this isn't the same character given a Sabrina the Teenage Witch style makeover, just a few years BEFORE Zelda and Hilda's got there's in fact. Go figure. She's a bit of a hippie and tries to talk down Magica from her schemes.

Her sidekick here, and sexual harasser, is Rosolio, a mildly inepet magician who followed her from italy to hit on her.

So Magica's about ready to just abandon her magic shop and go.. fuck off or whatever when Minima innocently brings up something...

Yes folks, this is indeed our premise: Santa put in a clause in his magic that's somehow weirder than "If tim allen shoves you off a room tim allen become santa claus" or "If tim allen dosen't find a wife in time he ceases to be santa claus" or.. let's just say anything tim allen adjacent. If you wish for something seven times and happen to be some sort of spellcaster, you get it, regardless of morality, intent or what it actually is. Which DOES mean good news for one little boy man robot

But still raises a LOT of questions. It's not a bad concept, that asking for something enough means santa will take pity but why isn't their restraints? Why has Magica, someone Santa would objectively not liked asked 7 times? why have we only heard about a magic version of the junior woodchuck guidebook this once? why didn't we get a fourth season of ducktales so Frank could adapt this? These are the things that keep me up at night. This is also a thing that keeps me up at night.

Donald just admit you need glasses instead of taking it out on your children, for all our sakes!

So Magica goes to the north poll to deliver letter 7 personally while Gramma.. only stops Rogoilo from going with her then hopes she'll be okay.

Magicia isn't as an elf being pulled by a sleigh full of pengys and getting there late notices her. Honestly we wouldn't have this plot at all if the best boy pengy wasn't busy.

Magica is frozen solid and is revived by 30 cc's of hot chocolate. I don't know if Tom Hanks sang to her, he was also busy that christmas

Magcia repays this kindness by busting up the north poll, going on a rampage to find Santa since the elves handle letters. Keep in mind this ENTIRE act of the story, her getting frozen, her going on a rampage, her bringing an evil dead tree to life before fighting an army of teddy bears and snowman

YUP. You didn't think the insanity stopped at mind policing, killer robots, santa clauses and improperly placed penguins did you? Nope we get a full on offscreen lord of the rings battle complete with ents simply because Magicia wants to gloat in person. And despite this section being padding.. it works. of COURSE magicia would want to gloat to santa, of COURSE she coudln't wait for Christmas day. It's totlaly in character and her singing oh christmas tree or spitting out hot chocolate are just.. such nice character touches. Of course she's so dedicated to being evil she hates something sweet. OF COURSE.

It's something neat about this comic: i'ts bonkers, no question.. but it's also simply fantastic on it's own merit. The idea of Magica getting a santa wish is neat on it's own, but the story then uses Minima to anchor it: she's frustrated it seems her aunt will never be happy and always obess over the dime, and thus teleports to the bin to take it from her, not understanding WHY it's precious to scrooge or WHY her aunt wants it, simply wanting to make her aunt happy. No one even knows; the thought police helmet's don't scan ill intent.. because there isn't none. It's just an innocent child wanting to bring her Aunt christmas. This version of Minima reminds me a LOT of 87 webby, and it's in the best way: innocent , kind, selfless.. all the good things.

Anyways Santa finally goes to confront magica, wondering why she's doing this the answers no.. and forgetting his own stupid policy until it's too late, with her asking for the dime and him entering a trance to go get it.

It's christmas eve and Scrooge is bored as nothing's going on. Disturbingly he wants to know how litigatoins are going. Those orphans aren't going to be forced out into the snow themsleves, ghosts of past buisness partners be dammned!

Scrooge is interuptted from taling to Mrs. Quackfaster byt he arrival of santa. Thinking it's magica in a disguise , he sicks a robot guard dog on her he turns into a sheep.

But then we get the crowner, the weirdest, best, and most wonderful thing in this story.. I present...

I"ll level with you all, while holiday shopping was easy this year, i've still been dealing with a lot of seasonal depression and regular ole depression. It's been a long month with loved ones in the hosptial (nothing serious but also nothing you need to know about in full), work piling up and me not even taking the time to enjoy some of my gifts. I've had plenty of kind people, thoughtful gifts, and wonderful friends but sometimes the stress of this job, as much as I love it, and the world can get to you. So getting to just relax and review a comic where Santa turns Scrooge's bin into a giant figgy pudding while under hypnosis.. it helps> it warms the spirit and reminds me why I do this. For the joy of good stories.. and for the wonder of nonsense.

For those who like me wondered what Figgy Pudding actually even is, wonmder no more: it's a traditional british pudding made out of animal fat. You no doubt have more questions but we have more story

So Santa snaps out of it once he gives Magica the time and she teleports out. Scrooge asks santa to go get it.. but despite you know having TURNED SCROOGE'S BIN INTO PUDDING and stolen his prized possesion, he's .. less than helpful.

I just.. dude... man.. santa dude man claus... Christmas is important. It brigns joy to children and it's why youd o this. I get that. But how does "I need to return the dime I stole while BRAINWASHED due to a stupid bit of magic I never bothered to undo or work up a backup plan for", equate to "greed begats greed'.

For starters the Dime.. isn't just a dime.. and you should know this. Your santa. You know everything about a person, it's your deal. This dime was the first bit of honest money Scrooge ever earned, a reminder of what he started, something he dearly loves and treasures not because it's MONEY but because of what it means. And even not knowing that Scrooge didn't start any of this shit. Scrooge has to constantly ward off Magicia's crap, something you DO for a fact know as you rejected her wish till your dumbass magic kicked in. She's not trying to steal his hoarded gross amount of money, she's trying to take the dime and she's trying to do it for an evil plan. YOU KNOW BETTER SANTA.

Granted this could be a christmastime grift as Santa gets Scrooge to promise a big dinner and bonuses for everyone in duckburg, so he could've simply been fleecing scooge.. and I prefer that interprtation as it fits santa better: Santa would WANT to make up for what he did with magica and WANT to stop her because Santa is a kind, caring person. And even if she hadn't used the santa spell against him, she still attacked his elves out of spite. I prefer to think he would've helped anyway but knew Scrooge deserved to be taught a lesson which, fair play to the big guy.. Scrooge ABSOLUTELY did.

So they go to stop him while Magica goes to show off her dime.. and minima realizes Magica didn't open her present and thus dosen'jt know and is about to make an oopsie.

So Scrooge and Santa go to stop her, but can't... luckily thanks to Minima giving Scrooge a chocolate coin instead of giving her the midas touch, the spell gives her...

It's an excellent brick joke on Magicia hating chocolate, and a great visual. it temproarily makes her the sweetst duck in the world.. which leads to some shipping bait

But a genuinely sweet ending for Minima who, if for one moment and only thanks to magic.. gets to enjoy her aunt. I mean Magica becoming sweet thanks to choclate magic is KINDA Messed up.. but it's hard to not enjoy a child who simply wanted her aunt to be happy.. getting that for one breif moment.

I still feel bad for her as this won't lass, Magicia will be back to her abuse hateful self.. but I can't begrudge a kind, innocent little witch her happy ending. I just don't have it in me. It's not forever, Magicia gets herself back.. but for one day.. she'll treat her family how they deserve. And Rogilo how he really dosen't but you can't have everything now can you?

So because we can't just end on the sweet moment, Santa assures Scrooge the figgy pudding bin will turn back after christmas.. but until then.. he has a promise to fufill.

Every christmas story should end with the whole town eating a rich man's property. Hell EVERY christmas should. Eat the rich's buildings kids!

This story is excellent. Really werid? yes. Having a pretty bonkers ending for no reason? Yes. Is said ending hilarious, the throughline of Minima heartfelt, and the zanier stuff also really funny? Entirely. It's a well done Scrooge story set around christmas with santa's indgiance at helping scrooge being the only thing I really don't like. Had he phrased it less as "you brought this on yourself" and more "you don't deserve it after how you've treated your employees" it'd make more sense. Still one little bump dosen't ruin the figgy pudding.. I think. I don't know how figgy pudding works. I do like this story though and highly recommend it. Thanks for reading.

[spamtoon]

DCRC week 3 time! ...In week 4.

you see. every time i wanted to open this comic. i wanted to do something else actually sosososososo bad. however now's the time

my history with the comics is ZILCH. i've had my friend show me a few duck comics they had in their first language and i've read some of the darkwing stuff but i haven't dived head first into scrooge's origins the way that many other duckblr members have

please note i might be off because i am very tired as of writing this. i will pass out directly after i finish this and so my judgements might be a bit. Strange

First comment I'd like to make her is how professional the comic seems, though that may just be because i'm viewing this though the don rosa archive on the definitely legal website. i'm glad at the very least that all of these like. little comics that are hard to keep track of are in one place

second off i just want to shoutout how tiny louie is here. ity bity. the 87 triplets are so small. sorry this is how it is with me i'm like wow... i appreciate these comics and all of the work people put into them and then im like oh louie little

Oh my aching eyebulbs! I did in fact misread that as lightbulbs

great panel we've got going on here. og glomgold acting quite fruity while donald needs to catch the thing... Glomgold you do understand you are also claiming other people's fortunes given the work for you in the south african diamond mines... a detail that i've only ever heard in trivia until now.

donald is so just continuously done with their garbage and he deserves to be i think. for all he's been through

sorry i just like the exaggerated poses here and the sillouettes and line effects. showcasing the them

Oh deliver us!

sorry i just love the expressions (and posing in the third) here. i know i'm mainly admiring comic panels so far but dang it. they...

aaaaand this is where the stuff that. didnt quite age starts. i've heard from chatter on discord that Things Happen in this comic and that scrooge should be wanted in Peru because of it. they way that some of the descendants are just casually helping him gnngnsn. i understand it was the 80s...

glomgold ate in this outfit and i'm sure you all agree. assuming this is glomgold i havent read that yet but look at him. that's glomgold. his goofy ahh smirk

FOEIJFIOUSGJEIAFEAFOJIUEAAEJOFEADAEFJIEA well. i did forget that glomgold held scrooge at gunpoint. and he does! i'm so . the way he's just. being held at gunpoint and scrooge's reaction is like THIS IS LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE i'm so. not even a gun can stop scrooge mcduck. or the triplets for that mater they also are kinda unphased at this point

another case where i just want to note these panels for the pose and expression contrast between the two of them... they

FEAHUIAOEJFEA the cogging way that the sound effects STREEEEETCH across the winds. priceless i think

i also want to note the action panels in the plane crash section i'm so. this one in particular but all of them really

Okay so i guess they were just. stuck with glomgold for multiple days. and scrooge is like where the barp is everyone ohhhh curse me cog darn kilts sorry

also omg calisota mention. calisota girls we're unforgesorry

glomgold's little happy handstand... you deserve to dark.wing cartwheel actually i think. also caro thinking about quack.erjack

parrot mention (context. im normal about that phone guy)

also please know before it registered that was a shine effect i thought the zebra's tail was a Bomb for a second and that the twist was going to be it all explodes in glomgold's face. but alas

HUIDAEJIOJFAEIJF THE WAY SCROOGE IS JUST. CASUAL ABOUT IT like dammmm you guys were slow. the fact scrooge has just had a little setup out here i'm so. yeah let's prank glomgold

im so mad... its beautiful. ive heard comics scrooge vs dt.17 scrooge described as business scrooge vs family scrooge and if this isn't way to differentiate between the two of them. the adventure's over because Business glomgold.

sorry every serious comic person that may or may not be reading this because i am. not very serious especially right now but please know i have so much respect for these and cant wait to read more. except i have to do an assignment first. two assignments. four. school is kicking my behind right now thats part of why i'm late but i will catch up eventually. now time to go to sleep

OH WAIT THERES MORE COMIC hold on wait what if you see this while i'm editing no you don't. i can't believe i actually got juked by the fake ending. i will admit i have been coasting along for a bit now but Now i am invested

the way he spends multiple panels gloating about the gems specifically... both of them are so petty here and its beautiful

rooooolling giiiiirl sorry my legitimate first thoughts. i am having an era right now. yes glomgold chase your big gem frisbee

the way that they're dragging both of them out and away from each other. like alright folks. time to break it up here. you're gonna destroy the temple. and they do!

GLEEP!

okay now its the end. this comic has made me a fan of comic glomgold and thats what i'm going to say here. good night everyone i hope this is a great start to my beautiful comic journey

[meerkatp]

If you did nega-Launchpad what will nega-Scrooge mcduck look like in your version?

If you mean a DT17 version I'm not sure. I don't think he'd exist. Scrooge never appeared in the Negaverse episode of Darkwing so I'm not sure how to translate that to 17 without anything to initially go off of. (I'd have to create a DW91 NegaScrooge first for that.) The reason "Bruno" exists is because of a mentioned clone of LP that I get the feeling may or may not of been a setup for a NegaLaunchpad similar to how Jim is Negaduck (or at least, his equivalent). As for Scrooge's existing clones, I don't think any of them'd become a NegaScrooge. Like Negaduck "NegaLaunchpad" is a special case.

[iamthetruestrepairman]

>comes online >calls best friends setup “Scrooge on Christmas Eve coded” >goes offline

[env0]

So my fans working. Because it just takes time it seems to reset

My dad complained it was chewing up electricity. So now I'm going to pester the shit out of his 5 monitor 2 laptop 1 TV setup that's always running.

It's doing nothing. Sir it circulates air in my small ass room so it's not stale and so I can sleep better.

Okay but turn it off during the day.

If i could I would but the whole system is so fucked, as I've told you twice now, that shutting the light switch off kills the entire room. No lights no air no power. And I have no control when it'll return. I don't use the remote or the light switch. I manually use the pull strings on the ceiling fan.

Bro... I swear to God I'll throw cash at you to shut up. You turned the ac down multiple times last few nights when it's cool out.

Fuck the fuck off. Costing us money, you dumb fucking scrooge.

Have your tuppence.

[sasindi-mga2025mi6021]

Stage Lighting Research

do research on what colors used what types of light

which will help when synchronizing in real life light

Why different lighting is used ?

Setting the Mood and Tone:

A warm, soft glow can create a romantic ambiance.

Stark, sharp lights can convey tension or drama.

Enhancing Storytelling:

Highlight a character during a important moment.

Create the illusion of time passing.

Symbolize emotions.

Drawing Attention:

when there are a lot of prop or people drawing attention to the specific person.

Foundational terms

1. Adapt Lighting to the Performance Genre

The type of performance will influence your lighting choices. Each genre has unique requirements to enhance its presentation effectively.

Dance Production Dance performances demand lighting that follows and enhances movement. Sidelights are indispensable, as they highlight body tone and emphasise the fluid motion of the dancers. Use a lighting scheme that accentuates shapes and body definition. Pair this with a simple stage setup, such as black drapes or a white cyclorama (cyc), to maximise the impact of dynamic colour changes in the lighting.

Standard Play For plays that focus on dialogue and character interactions, front lighting is key. Light should come from the audience’s viewpoint to illuminate facial expressions and ensure clear visibility of lip movements. This helps the audience connect with the characters and stay engaged with the story.

Live Music Performance Lighting for live music performances varies based on the genre and the number of performers. For high-energy acts, bold colours and wash lights can create a vibrant atmosphere. For more intimate or emotional moments, subdued, atmospheric lighting works best. Spotlights are ideal for solo performances or for tracking artists moving across the stage.

Understand Your Lantern Stock

Your choice of lighting fixtures will heavily influence your lighting design. Different fixtures provide distinct effects, and understanding their capabilities is essential.

Flood Lights: Deliver a fixed, soft-edged wash of light. Ideal for evenly lighting cycloramas, backdrops, or scenery.

Fresnels: These soft-edged spotlights allow control over beam angles and are perfect for smooth washes with a subtle edge.

Profile Spots: Create a sharply defined spot of light. They are excellent for highlighting specific performers or areas of the stage, and they can be adjusted for size and sharpness.

Parcans: Originally used in concerts, these lights produce an oval pool of light with unfocused edges. They’re particularly effective for saturated colours and dramatic downlighting.

 Tailor Lighting to the Content

Understanding the specific content of your performance is essential when designing lighting. Here are key aspects to consider:

Selective Visibility: Focus light on areas that need attention, such as performers, props, or key parts of the set. Mask irrelevant areas to maintain clarity and audience focus.

Mood Lighting: Colour is a powerful tool for conveying mood. For example, in A Christmas Carol, cool blue tones can represent Scrooge’s harshness, while warm tones later reflect his transformation.

Composition: Use lighting to guide the audience’s attention and enhance storytelling. Well-planned lighting design adds structure and flow to the performance.

Movement: Dynamic lighting, such as moving lights, can amplify action and signify scene changes, adding an energetic dimension to the production.

Revelation of Form: Use lighting to create contrast by highlighting performers or props against the background. This adds visual depth.

Texture: Incorporate gobos—stencils placed in front of profile lanterns—to project shapes such as windows, foliage, or abstract patterns. This can add layers to your stage design.

Naturalism and Motivation: Use lighting to reflect natural conditions or motivated sources, such as moonlight, sunsets, or even candlelight. Gobos or coloured gels can help create these effects.

Lighting Sources and Fixtures

A range of stage lighting options is available to enhance your production:

Static Fixtures: These are essential for stable, predictable lighting.

Moving Lights: Bring flexibility and drama, making it possible to adapt lighting mid-performance.

Effects Lighting: Use effects to enhance atmosphere or highlight pivotal moments in the show.

Lighting Control Systems: A robust control board is crucial for smooth transitions and precise manipulation of lighting setups.

Colour Temperature: Choose between warm and cool tones depending on the scene’s mood and the overall aesthetic of the production.

Plan Your Lighting Areas

Strategic planning of lighting areas ensures a cohesive design. Start with these basic positions:

Front Light: Placed at a 45-degree angle to illuminate faces and avoid shadows.

Side Light: Adds definition to the sides of performers, commonly used in dance to accentuate movement.

High Side Light: Positioned at a 30-60 degree angle overhead to highlight the upper body.

Back Light: Separates performers from the background, adding depth to the scene.

Down Light: Creates an even stage wash by dividing the stage into a grid of overlapping light pools.

6. Minimal Lighting Can Have Maximum Impact

Sometimes less is more. In 2013, Maxine Peake performed a reading of Shelley’s The Mask of Anarchy at The Albert Hall, lit almost entirely by candlelight. The simplicity of the lighting created an evocative atmosphere, proving that a minimalist approach can still be powerful.

By understanding the range of stage lighting and the capabilities of different lighting fixtures, you can craft a lighting design that not only illuminates but elevates your production. Thoughtful planning and creativity are your greatest tools in making your stage come alive.

[studiomkm]

Something I feel doesn’t get acknowledged often enough is how fine the line between silly and epic actually is.

They both require setup to work and you can use the exact same setup for either and get a different result entirely depending just on how the moment plays out.

Example: Scrooge wakes up after being visited by the 3 ghosts and asks someone walking outside his window what the date is.

The epic version of this is him learning the spirits sent him back in time for a second shot at being a good person for Christmas.

The silly version is the guy telling him it’s January 1st.

Nothing else about the story has changed. Scrooge still went through all the emotional turmoil and soul searching and yet you get two completely different responses. One’s epic and one makes you giggle.

Okay, rant over. Back to writing fanfic and puzzling out if I can make a decent TTRPG

[patrickbrianmooney]

IFComp 2023: Ryan Veeder's The Little Match Girl 4: Crown of Pearls

This is a review of a game entered into IFComp 2023, the twenty-ninth annual interactive fiction competition. This year, there are 74 games in the Comp, all free to play. There’s some good stuff in there this year! Anyone is welcome to play and vote on the entries during the Comp period, and you need vote on only five games by the middle of November for your votes to count toward the games’ overall scores!

As is my wont when writing IFComp reviews, I shamelessly steal Jacqueline Ashwell’s rubric for scoring, because, well, it’s thoughtful and fair.

This review, like all of my reviews, is potentially spoilery. You may want to avoid reading it until after you’ve played the game. That’s up to you.

What a pleasure this was to play.

It's a silly concept — the Little Match Girl from the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of that name discovers that she has the ability to travel through time and space by looking at fire, which is, you have to admit, a more cheerful outcome to Andersen's setup than was Andersen's original ending to the fairy tale. Having discovered this, she becomes "a time-traveling bounty hunter/vampire slayer/heroine-at-large," as Veeder summarizes it. She has been adopted by Ebeneezer Scrooge (yes, the character from Dickens) and is in the service of Queen Victoria. In this, the fourth installment of the series, Ebeneezabeth (that's the player character's name) is seeking magical pearls to give to an infant fairy prince in order to avert a war with the fairy kingdom.

So it's a completely ridiculous setup, and Veeder plays it to the hilt, mostly by refusing to let the game notice that it's ridiculous aside from the occasional plausibly deniable side-eye joke. He traces out some of the implications of the basic ridiculous premise over the course of the game, but also adds numerous other layers of ridiculousness: one of the settings to which you travel is a vampire castle in the Austrian alps, in which you overhear vampires debating what to do with your future self, whom they seem to have captured. (There seems to be no way in this particular game to avert that fate, but it makes me want to play The Little Match Girl 5, assuming the author continues with the series.) The tone of the vampire debate is farcical; think Office Space politics. Another travel destination is a dinosaur society in Montana, 67 million BC; another is an old-west town in Arizona, 1922; another is a space ship orbiting a distant star two thousand years in the future. Another destination — the one in which the character starts, in fact — adapts GIlbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance.

So it's a zany mish-mash, a weird bricolage of pirates and dinosaurs, fairies and cowboys, ghosts and robots and vampires and aliens. (Come to think of it, those are the primary elements of Stephen King's Dark Tower series. The Little Match Girl 4 takes substantially less time to work through, though.) It's all unified by a treasure-hunting plot where you work through multiple mostly-disconnected map areas (eight! Well, five, if you restrict the count to areas with more than three rooms) all at once, where a technique you learn from a talking dinosaur in prehistoric Montana gives you access to another part of the map in Arizona in 1922, and also on a spaceship in 4044; or where the device you find in the spaceship is what you need to detect how to enter the vampire castle in the Alps. There's the pleasing feeling of working through all of the major sub-maps simultaneously; and that happens just because the author has put care into balancing map access in exactly the right ways.

Part of the joy of this particular game is simply that a lot of effort has been put into polishing it: partially right solutions result in responses that nudge you toward fully correct solutions; and none of the puzzles is too hard in the first place. Finding yourself stuck in progress on one map generally means you already know what you can be doing on another map, and going off and doing that will eventually unlock the forward path on the map where you're originally stuck. (The one puzzle that I could not figure out was how to awaken the sleeping lamplighter in Penzance; I tried SING, YELL, KICK MAN, SHAKE MAN — probably a dozen different things in all; maybe more — only to finally turn to the walkthrough and discover that the necessary command is something much like WAKE MAN UP. So I was just making the problem too hard for myself.) The points of real frustration in parser IF, in my experience, are points where it feels like the author just didn't have enough audience awareness to understand how to communicate to the audience how to move the plot forward. Granted, having a theory of other people's minds is a difficult thing to do in the first place, and the parser IF genre adds many wrinkles of its own to that problem, and no one is perfect. But Ryan Veeder is better than most at these things, and that's a big chunk of the reason why playing his games is such a pleasure.

Well, that and the simple absurd zesty joy of ridiculous situations that you encounter in his games: a gunfight with an alien space-pirate; learning to shoot flaming bullets from a ghost; transforming into a mouse to get past a room full of dullard vampires; smearing honey onto your face so a fake beard will stick ... I'm glad I didn't have to play through the first three Little Match Girl games to appreciate this one, but I am certainly going to do so once the Comp is over this year.

My rating: 9/10.

(I also drew a map of the game's geography as I played.)