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I always do a double take whenever someone mentions ‘87 DuckTales because I cannot stop myself from saying “Is that the bite of ‘87?” In a Markiplier voice. Every time.

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No, because I’ve always thought this and you’re so right. I’m honestly glad you said this because I don’t think the addition of Della was handled well. I think that they should have done it differently so there was any stakes or any relation to her coming back and what was going on. But I think Scrooge needed to organically tell the boys what happened to their mom and have them forgive him. So I don’t think that Della returning was done right, but I don’t know what they could have done differently, but it should absolutely have been something.

So like, Della coming back had literally nothing to do with the Earth plots.

She could have come back at literally any moment.

Dewey's like "we gotta solve the mystery of what happened to my mom" and she just crash lands in their backyard right that second.

We go through Last Crash and everybody's upset and wants to leave and then surprise Della was at the mansion that whole episode because she came back while they were gone.

For the angsty folks out there, Della coming back at the tail end of the 10 year time skip pre-S1 where her family is completely torn apart "because" of her.

Or she's just gone. Whole series. We solved the mystery and moved on. That's it.

That's the thing too. They solved the mystery. They spilled the beans. Then they got over it. They were ready to just keep on trucking. Sure they still missed her but there was nothing they could have done about it. It's just a fact of life.

That's crazy to me. To think how different the show would be just based on what episode they pulled the trigger bringing her back on.

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We have almost universally decided that Huey Duck, if he wore pants, would wear khaki shorts

And I am here for it

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Running a poll to determine the tone of the post I’ve been thinking about for too long.

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Hilarious that the Duck

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(This accidentally became a long story, sorry)

When I was like 8, I went to a place two hours drive outside of my city. It’s called “The Enchanted Forrest” and it’s theme park for little kids based around old fairy tales, like Alice in Wonderland, The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, etc. I had been there before with my Grandma, but this time I was with my mom and little sister.

There was the one attraction at the place, I have no idea what it was actually called, but it was a water show. It wasn’t anywhere near as fancy as anything like in DuckTales (or Vegas). It was just two rows of sprinklers, some pretty lights and some music. The water moved in time to the music, and the lights illuminated the water so it appeared to be glowing.

My mom insisted we go in there to eat, and so she could sit down. My sister and I protested, but she insisted. So we went.

When the show started, I was instantly hooked. I think the show lasted about 25 minutes, which is a long time for an 8 year old to give her full attention to something. But I LOVED that thing. I watched it intently for the entire time. When it ended, I was actually really sad. I begged my mom to let me stay, but my sister said it was boring and she wanted to go see the log rides go (we weren’t allowed on them). I even said they could leave me there and come back and get me after the next one, but my mom said “Astro, we’re leaving!” In her mom voice so I didn’t protest any more.

But I had dreams about that water show. Seriously, I don’t usually remember my dreams but I exclusively remember dreaming about that show, music and all, for like 9 months. It wasn’t anything different, it was just the water show. I would get the music stuck in my head and hum it occasionally. I would be excited to go to bed at night so I could watch the water show.

All this nonsense to say, DuckTales is absolutely correct. People (autistic children) really do love those fucking water shows. And if I was able, I absolutely would have made my mom and sister sit through it three times.

He sat through the waters of aquanadon three times

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TW: Suicide

Okay I know that looks insane but remember when “Uncle Grandpa” was canceled so the show’s creator, Peter Browngardt, Tweeted this image of Uncle Grandpa with a gun in his mouth?

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Made this for my friend but you guys may like it

The actual one with the actual picture my friend requested. Not related to DuckTales but maybe you want this one instead

And the original photos, unedited:

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you know in retrospect it's weird that the splatooniverse has a band called "the squid sisters" when, like... they Are squids. that's like if the real world had a band called "the human league"

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The finale of DuckTales is deeply flawed

I don’t know if I’m alone in thinking this, but I’ve always wanted to explain this to someone.

It’s not all bad. It’s actually an enjoyable watch, it’s fun and charming like most episodes are. The animation is incredible, even more so then it usually is, there’s lots of great moments that are really beautiful. I also enjoy a fair few of the plot moments, the one that stands out most to me is Scrooge immediately surrendering to Bradford the second he threatens to kill Donald, saying “it’s not worth the risk.” Really, all of Bradford’s eventual surrender to petty villainy is well done.

I will likely end up making a post talking more in-depth about why the finale is great, but that is not this post. This post is strictly about the flaws in the plot of the finale.

A few important notes:

I am not a genius media critic, I’m an asshole on Tumblr. This is entirely my opinion and if you love this episode/this one is your favorite I am genuinely happy for you. I understand that it can suck to have someone criticize your favorite piece of media, and if you don’t want to hear this then I don’t want you to hear it either. (/gen)

I, as a person, am very resistant to change. I find it difficult to cope with extreme changes to form in the media I love. I tried to look at this from a non-biased perspective, and I think I did a good enough job, but I’m sure my personal bias slipped through the cracks very frequently.

The very final episode made me cry, despite all this. I cried because the end credits were so sweet and I cried because it was over. I was watching the end credits and I cried. So, that’s something.

I will refer to the three part finale as “The episode” throughout, because this is the easiest way for me to understand it. I will specify if I am talking about a specific part, but for the most time it is just “This Episode” or “The finale”

Actual Episode Criticism:

I think May and June were a terrible idea. I think that the reveal that Webby is a F.O.W.L clone of Scrooge was also a terrible idea. I think the episode has too many plot twists and characters thrown in and it means hardly anything truly meaningful happens.

I believe that May and June were a harmful addition to the finale and the overall canon of the show. Strictly speaking from a finale perspective, they are completely new characters who take up a large portion of the finale of a show, especially in the first part. The episode should not have centered around new characters, but instead been a grand final adventure with the existing characters all having their moments, but especially showcasing the McDucks.

They divert so much of the time of the episode away from other characters that nobody else really gets to shine. Huey, Dewey and Louie sort of get replaced by Webby, May and June. They feel like the new triplets because it’s literally Webby and two clones of her. However, instead of being three distinct personalities, they’re all just literally clones of Webby, personality and all. I have nothing against Webby, but I don’t think having three of her running around taking up 60% of screen time in the finale was good.

The “Webby is a Scrooge Clone” thing is dumb as hell. Especially because Webby calls Scrooge “Dad” at the end of the end of the episode. I’ll get in to this more in a second, but it sort of shits on the message that family isn’t blood. I don’t think Webby needs to see Scrooge as a father. It also doesn’t make sense that they made her a girl, even though trans Scrooge/Webby is a good thought, it’s not canonical.

This is also another twist that they shouldn’t have thrown in last second, because it’s such a large idea to flesh-out. I’m glad they kept it for the finale though, strictly because I would not have enjoyed the arc of Scrooge and Webby being Father/Daughter. Especially because it doesn’t make sense, like if May and June are “sisters” to Webby and they’re clones of her, wouldn’t Scrooge be more like a brother? At least save Webby calling him “Uncle Scrooge” for this grand moment at the end, if you’re going to go to this terrible twist.

These two plots shit directly on the face of whatever message the show was saying up to that point, that “Family is just the people who love you.” Because when May and June show up, Webby immediately begins calling them her sisters because they have the same blood as her. She goes directly against the wishes of the people who, up to that point, were her actual family. Just for two girls who are F.O.W.L spies and who she doesn’t know.

Webby being genetically identical to Scrooge also flies in the face of this a little, because it makes it so that the Papyrus appearing to her, and Webby and Scrooge being family, arguable as being because they are genetically related. This is not the point the show is trying to make, but it still is an argument to be made. Why do they have to be biologically related at all? Why can’t they just be family?

Especially because this show had, for a while, done such a good job portraying non-standard family dynamics. An uncle raising his sister’s kids? A grandmother raising her (adopted) granddaughter? Both in non-standard environments? We don’t often see things like this casually portrayed. But with the return of Della and the Dad-ification of Scrooge it almost feels like they’re saying families aren’t complete without a mom or a dad. Even though they aren’t saying that, it’s still there.

Gosh this post is getting long. Last thing, nobody gets any screen time. So many characters are in this episode, and they had 60 minutes to use them all, but so much of it was dedicated to Webby, May and June that it’s nearly impossible for anybody else to get a complete arc. Webby and Huey are separated from the rest of the McDucks for a while, which would be fine except they don’t even really get a proper reunion. Webby doesn’t get one at all, and Huey gets a quick “I’m so happy to see you, I used your book to find you.” Before they are immediately captured again. Most of the cast actually spends a large portion of the part just before the climax in cells, not being a part of the action.

I mean, Gyro has a few references yo feeling like he’s “losing his touch” before it’s never a big deal again. Della is mad that Donald is leaving but they don’t ever talk about it and then Della just decides it’s okay. Donald never interacts with May and June before deciding to take them on his boat with Daisy. B.O.Y.D, Goaslyn, Violet and Lena don’t really do anything at all, except for B.O.Y.D and Lena having some plot point that no one else really would have been able to do (Reprogramming the Gizmoduck armor and making the ship invisible.) I think that the addition of these characters feels forced, when they should have been a natural addition to a grand adventure finale.

Overall:

May and June are unnecessary and hinder the other characters relationships and I don’t think Webby should be genetically related to Scrooge because then it feels less like “Found Family”. I think nobody gets enough screen time except Webby and her clones, but I don’t think they should have been the focus of the episode.

I’m sorry this post was so long, remember that I don’t hate watching this episode. I just think that the finale of my favorite cartoon should have been handled better.

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Sorry the last one is a picture of my TV and sorry that BOYD is still pink, but you get the gist.

DuckTales is so cool because you could take any random screenshot and use it as a draw your oc/draw the squad meme

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What did I mean by this

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Clarifying! I Don’t think Gyro hates BOYD in current canon this is just something silly I made. Call it pre-“Astro-B.O.Y.D” (S3 E6) or an AU of sorts. I just saw this post and thought of them. Also it’s sort of inspired by the fact that Gyro calls his bulb army “children” and calls BOYD Lil’ Bulb’s brother, but never directly calls the former his son. Mostly though, it’s just because I saw this post and thought of them.

This thought would not let me sleep.

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This thought would not let me sleep.

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Trying to pick a favorite character

Well it’s obviously B.O.Y.D I’m all the way deranged about him, but that feels like a bad answer because he’s featured at all in 8 episodes total and two of them are background appearances, and one his just his name. And maybe he isn’t my favorite character, maybe I just like robots?

So I should pick someone more popular? I love Huey, he slays, holy shit, love his autism. I really enjoy Huey, he’s definitely my favorite of the triplets but I’m not entirely sure he can be called my favorite character, just because he’s the superior triplet. I do love him a lot, but I’m not sure if I’m judging him fairly. Especially because he’s voiced by Danny Pudi, who I love.

So I should pick someone in the middle, not too central but with more speaking roles under his belt? Then I pick Gyro Gearloose. He’s the obvious choice, he’s snarky, he’s a little tragic but in a fun way, he’s voiced by Jim Rash and oh no I might not be judging him fairly I like Jim Rash a lot. I enjoy Community. I love Gyro but I don’t know if I would love him that much, I tend to get tired of overly sarcastic and rude characters. Maybe it’s just a sign of how well he’s written, I’m not sure.

Goldie is so hot. She’s cool too, I think she’s a well written character who you’re never supposed to know if you can trust. She’s also hot, and cool. I think her relationship with Scrooge and Louie is very well done, but I don’t know if I can base my favorite character off who I think they work well with. She is hot though.

What about Doofus Drake? He’s objectively the funniest villain in the whole show. I really enjoy the three or so episodes where he’s spotlighted, he really stands out in all of them. That’s especially saying something because B.O.Y.D is in one of those, and he kicks ass. I really enjoy his small arc where Louie tries to befriend him and accidentally gets Doofus to not leave him alone. First by Doofus wanting to be friends and then swearing revenge. What was he gonna do with the umbrella and walnuts?

Also I really enjoy Lil’ Bulb, possibly because I am slight deranged about robots in general, but I also love silent characters who are still super expressive. I love how loyal the Bulb Army ™️ is to their causes (when they aren’t evil). One of them kills itself so that the moon people can’t receive Huey’s transmission, and the one true Lil’ Bulb is willing to defend Gyro almost always and unscrews his head after being commanded to “look after your brother”. But he can’t be my favorite, he just isn’t.

This is a difficult decision.

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DuckTales is so cool because you could take any random screenshot and use it as a draw your oc/draw the squad meme

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This was a horrible mistake. I have so many one-second videos saved to my phone.

Very tempted to make a compilation of every single second B.O.Y.D is on screen/mentioned.