#An Adventure's no Fun if There's no Challenge! (Dewey Duck)

[michimonie]

Ow, first time I've heard of the star force rebel academy series, what are these comics about? Something like Donald and Daisy's children?

It's a comic mainly focusing on the adventures of Huey, Dewey, and Louie, kind of like Spookyzone.

Cover of Issue #1 - Featuring June Duck, Dewey Duck, and Morty Fieldmouse

"Four hundred years into the future the galaxy has fallen into the hands of the evil Dark Horde but the final battle to save the universe is being fight today, and our only hope is the power if the imagination of a group of kids led by Huey, Dewey, and Louie!"

More info below the cut

The kids have to fight aliens who fight as part of the "Dark Horde," which mainly consist of students from an intergalactic school that teaches evil. I'm only on Issue 3, and there are essentially 2 stories per issue, so I'm about 4 stories in. So far what I've gathered is:

The kids have a mechanical friend named CIP who can 3D print pretty much anything the kids can imagine (including mecha ships shaped like animals)

Huey, Dewey, and Louie describe mechas they want. CIP hears and creates the mechas for them.

There are a good amount of stories that can be summarized as "here's a problems kids normally have to deal with" and "here's a dramatic, life threatening version of a similar thing that teaches the kids how to handle the regular life event."

Wise Alien: It doesn't matter how many times we fail, little nose... as long as we succeed once! Dewey: *realizing what he meant and relating it to a basketball game / bullying thing from earlier in the comic*

Everything seems like it's supposed to give off video game vibes and one fun part of it is how Huey and Dewey know gamer speak, but have to keep teaching Louie (great for readers who may not know the lingo.)

Dewey: Your robot doesn't scare us. Even if you farmed it! Louie: "Farmed"? Dewey: Made it more powerful by putting it through lots of challenges! Louie: Oh!

There are currently 12 issues available on Readly. Not gonna lie, I started reading it because I liked the logo (and I'm not sure how much I like it so far), but if you like space adventures and stories that include a bunch of Disney kids (HDL, AMJ, Morty & Ferdie...) or even just HDL stories, I recommend it.

Bonus: Related to my earlier post about April, May, and June. Here are who's who in the comic.

[violetganache42]

Highlights from tonight's movie night celebrating some of the different teams Donald has been a part of in categorized and chronological order (I honestly like this format. I might stick with it):

"Boat Builders":

Good news: The short has subtitles! Bad news: They're not in English, so you still can't understand what the fuck Donald is saying.

Donald: "Yeah, even a child can do it!" Godfrey: "Even Della could do it!"

justaboot: "god's third choice after the 3 stooges"

Max's mother has been found

"The First Adventure!":

Bradford Hate Club

Ludwig appearance!

puffywuffy8904: "he's serving whatever the opposite of cunt is" WriteBackAtYa: "So di—"

(I love this screenshot. 😂)

The reference to Della's letter

WriteBackAtYa and I being on the same wavelength

Eat the rich uncle (Sorry, Scrooge, but I had to. XD)

"You can't mute me, old man!"

RIP Donald's guitar

The Temple of Doom parallel!

PAPYRUS

"Treasure of the Golden Suns" easter egg!

"fragile old body"

POGO CANE

Black Heron doing the smug anime girl laugh (You know what I'm talking about.)

"I'm the chosen one!" Pure Deweycore

"So long, suckers!"

Just Black Heron in general (She's a fun villain. lol)

DONALD KILL

Us ranting about Bradford using the Papyrus of Binding to escape like the COWARD THAT HE IS! WHY WE OUGHTA— COME BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE—

If I had a nickel for every time Black Heron lost her robot arm, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

Me: "BEAKLEY YOU FOOL" Godfrey: "YOU FUCKING FOOOOOOOOL"

"The House of the Lucky Gander!":

Louie "I do hate hot dogs" Duck noticing the neon lights shaped like a hot dog

"We're all gonna die! I'VE WASTED MY LIFE!"

Launchpad deserves his own episode dedicating to his love life

Gladstone Hate Club

Scrooge looking at the camera like he's on The Office

puffywuffy8904: "gladstone you have a haircut shut up"

Huey autism moment

Just how bored and tired Dewey, Webby, and Scrooge were after seeing Aquarioon

Dewey and the jade tigers

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

27!

Webby's love for chocolate fountains

"And a distraction."

Scrooge: "I don't even get to be part of the blasted challenge?" Huey:

Real-Life-Pine-Tree: "Roasted duck anyone?" Me: "'Danny: I'll have the duck.'"

Louie's motivational speech

"Where did that come from?"

Us @ Liu Hai: RIP bozo (at least until DuckTales World Showcase Adventure)

The underwhelming Golden Cricket and how fucking bored and exhausted the family was

"Mt. Fuji Whiz":

LotTC basically being DuckTales on crack

Me: "Hell is a city. Where have I seen that before? 🤔" Godfrey: "Hazbin Hote—[gunshot]"

My idea of Clinton and Webby bonding over Clan McDuck history

Missy thirsting for Panchito

The return of the Ari the Autism Bird!

Xandra and the nieces in general (They're some of the best characters in the show. ^^)

*The Three Caballeros are stuck in the Underworld* AMJ: "We have a very simple solution." DT17!Huey: "This doesn't feel simple."

Jack Skellington moon

Donald saying the Karen phrase

Xandra and Charon clothes swap

Panchito being "that" guy

The Sheldgoose family tree taking notes from Goofy's family tree regarding the relatives' designs

IN THE PLUMS!

Clinton hugging Donald 💖

Tokyo? LIKE IN DUCKTALES!

"Potatoland":

Dreamy: "SEE HE HAS 27 FINGERS" Me: "27!"

POTATOLAND! POTATOLAND!

"Mickey, I am fed up with your bullshit devil magic."

Praising Mickey's characterization in the Paul Rudish shorts

Donald's blush

No more Idaho

Just the whole short in general. It's the best. XD

"Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers":

Black Arts Beagle's Musketeer cousins

puffywuffy8904: "they wanna be Scrooge soooo bad"

Donald being, and I quote Jamie, "a punk bitch" in this movie

The return of Pete Hate Club

"Whoa, he's bisexual, I didn't know that!"/"By the way, I'm bisexual! I forgot, I- forgot to announce it! How do you turn this shit off- wait-"

The entire opera gag

Clarabelle appearance!

Dreamy pointing out the parallels how Pete is to Minnie what Bradford is to Scrooge

In the Hall of the Mountain King

"Why did the music stop?"

"Together, we'll save the princess or die trying!"/"…Die? …Die?"

melcat33: "Minnie discovers she's into bdsm"

WriteBackAtYa and I quoting Philip CD-i Legend of Zelda

The turtle trying to be the rooster from Robin Hood at one point

"That little diddy's starting to grow on me."

Pete referencing The Lion King

Donald FINALLY unleashing his iconic temper

melcat33: "Goofy finally being Dad Material" WriteBackAtYa: "But he was daddy material"

(Look what you made me do! /lh)

Pirates of Penzance

"Not long… maybe… 40 years?"

The movie ending with the fucking Can-Can

Learning about how Tokyo Disneyland had Mickey, Donald, and Goofy as the Three Musketeers and they all looked AMAZING (Why does Japan get all the cool shit?!)

[soul-heart-and-beyond]

Previously On!: @rosdtmuses

“ Hmph! Just because you’re a genius doesn’t grant you the privilege, let alone right to have the last slice. That one’s mine, and I’m not giving it to ya. “

[soul-heart-and-beyond]

terrorofthenight​:

“Alright…so! What do you think of the name… Quiverwing Quack?”

“ .....Hm, not gonna lie, it sounds like you’d be quivering in your costume with that sort of name. Maybe we can make a better name! “

"Alright...so! What do you think of the name... Quiverwing Quack?"

[tygerbug]

Della Ducktales

http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6776/

Why should her Uncle Scrooge have all the fun? Thrill-seeking Della Duck returns from the moon ready for adventure!

Della Duck takes on her greatest challenge yet - to discover the legendary Five Lost Treasures and challenge Scrooge McDuck’s title as the “Richest Duck in the World!”

This ROMhack makes Della Duck playable in place of Scrooge McDuck, in the 1989 NES Ducktales video game. Character graphics have been redrawn, with a new title screen and ending screen. Some text has also been rewritten, with a new font, and sprite construction tweaked.

HDPacks are also provided for the emulator Mesen. These replace the graphics with more colors than the NES is capable of.

Mother to Huey, Dewey and Louie, Della Duck was played by Paget Brewster in the 2017 Ducktales series. She had been a minor implied character in previous versions. Della once went on adventures with her brother Donald and her uncle Scrooge McDuck (the richest duck in the world). She has been trapped on the Moon for many years (as long as the boys have been alive). She survives on oxygenated gum. Losing a leg, she replaces it with an artificial one. She discovers a race of people on the Moon, and gets back to earth just in time to fight off an invasion, and reconnect with her family. She can be reckless to a fault, but nothing can stop Della Duck!

[stargaze-sunflower]

Hello! Could you do some Dewey and Louie bonding? Or maybe Dewey protecting his brothers? Your writing is amazing btw.

This ask is from way back when I was taking prompts sajdskj I'm sorry its so late but I dug up something that I wrote for the green beans discord and it sort of fit this so I cleaned it up a bit :]

The context is that Dewey and Louie have been stuck in a magical forest that shows them their worst memories, but it kinda starts near the end of that story so asjdkkjsa anyway I hope you enjoy!! <33

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Dewey’s worst nightmare used to be Huey being freakishly tall, but now that he’d been introduced to freakishly tall trees in a disturbingly magical forest, he might be reevaluating that decision.

“We’ll get out of here,” Dewey said, softer than he might’ve, had it not felt like something was watching them. “We always get out.”

“Yeah, sure, we always escape magical forests that trap us and show us our worst memories,” Louie grumbled, sarcastic and defensive; tired and lost.

“You know what I mean,” Dewey said, standing up from where he’d been kneeling in a patch of bright green and glowing moss. He held out a hand for Louie to take. “We’re two-thirds of the Duck Boys, we’ll be fine.”

“It only takes once, you know,” Louie said, taking his hand and rising on slightly shaky legs. “And then always turns into sometimes, and my mental health will somehow get worse.”

“We’ll be fine,” Dewey reiterated, his chest squeezing a bit at Louie’s words, at the fact that he was so scared of sometimes. “I mean, we could probably use some help, sure. Or ideas. Or a miracle.”

“I’m afraid I’m out of stock,” Louie said drily.

Dewey laughed a bit, glad that most of the horrible tension from earlier had dissipated into something more manageable. Running from reruns of their worst memories until Louie collapsed into a panic attack had not been the fun adventure he’d been hoping for.

Still holding Louie’s hand, Dewey turned to take in their surroundings for what had to be the thirtieth time. There were trees as far as he could see, and they were taller than he could even fathom, so much so that he couldn’t see the sky, couldn’t tell if it was night or day. Patches of glowing green moss were spread haphazardly across the forest floor and growing near the bases of the trees. And speaking of trees…

“Do you think we should try climbing?” Dewey asked, his head tilted backwards at an uncomfortable angle as he searched for one worth a try. All the branches were at least twenty feet in the air.

“Nope, no. Absolutely not,” Louie said, tugging on his hand as if to shake the thought of it from his head. “I’d rather you didn’t fall and die, thanks.”

“Maybe one of those giant deer we saw earlier would catch me.”

“I don’t really want to see that either.”

“What? But it’d be so cool!”

“Do it on your own time, then,” Louie said, but a small smile was pulling at the corner of his beak, and Dewey grinned.

“That sounds like a challenge,” he said, teasing.

“That was the opposite of a challenge,” Louie said. “That was a thinly veiled plea to never leap into the arms of a giant deer.”

Dewey pouted playfully. “You’re no fun.”

“No, I just happen to have common sense and a healthy fear of injury.”

Something in the air shifted.

(“Fear, you say?”)

Dewey jumped about a mile in the air, startled, as Louie yelped in poorly concealed surprise. The voice seemed to come from all around them, layered and echoing and amused. Slowly, they turned around, and with wide eyes they took in the figure in front of them.

It was a child, glowing with the same light that had formed imitations of their family members just a few minutes ago. The child looked like a ghost, or a hologram, and despite its youthful appearance, Dewey got the feeling that it was older than anything he’d ever met before; ancient and magic and terrifying, like the trees surrounding them and the creatures they’d encountered throughout their adventure.

But it looked like a child.

The figure smiled, and Dewey blinked, feeling Louie’s grip on his hand tighten as they stared at the entity in front of them.

“Who are you?” Dewey blurted, forgoing a polite hello in favor of getting straight into whatever this was.

(“I am the forest,”) the child said, as if that were a perfectly normal and reasonable response. For their family, it might as well be. (“Why are you here?”)

“Trust me, I’d rather not be,” Louie spoke up, stepping out from where Dewey had subconsciously stepped in front of him. He gave the forest spirit a long, resigned look. “So if you could point us towards the exit, that would be great.”

(“There is no exit,”) the forest said, that amused undertone to its voice again, and then it smiled. (“But there is an escape.”)

“Okay, uh, can you point us to the escape, then?” Dewey asked, already frustrated by the word games the thing was playing.

The forest hummed as if deliberating, and the leaves around them rustled in an echo of it, low and haunting. Dewey felt Louie shiver.

(“It is something you have to find for yourself,”) said the forest spirit, floating forward a bit. (“All I can be is a guide. It is up to you, whether you leave or not.”)

There was a moment of silence, in which Dewey got the impression that the trees were breathing, or something equally as ridiculous.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Louie asked, growing bolder in his irritation. “We want to leave. Let us out.”

(“Freedom is not free, child,”) the forest said, for a moment sounding exactly as ancient as it really was. Sounding sad, almost. (“You have to give me something in return.”)

Dewey glanced back at Louie with a question in his eyes, and Louie just shrugged. Bargaining with the forest. Sure. Now he’d seen everything.

“What do you want?” Dewey asked.

(“An answer,”) said the forest, tilting its head to the side as it examined them. (“An answer to a question.”)

“Great,” Louie said flatly, exhaustion and resignation seeping into his voice. “Ask away.”

What Dewey had expected was some sort of riddle, or trick, or maybe an impossible task. What he got was something completely different.

(“What are you afraid of?”) the forest asked, and Dewey’s breath caught. The child frowned. (“No one ever tells me the truth.”)

“This has happened before?” Dewey asked, and the spirit shrugged.

(“I’ve lived for centuries,”) the forest said, looking around at the trees that were growing tall and proud around them. (“There are always those who wander.”)

“And do you let them leave?” Louie’s voice was careful in the way that meant he was scared. Dewey lightly squeezed his hand.

(“It depends on what they tell me.”)

Dewey swallowed, feeling the pressure begin to press in on him from all sides. He was the older brother here; he had to make sure they made it out.

“Okay,” Dewey said, after a few long seconds of eerie quiet. “I’m sacred of heights, and thunder, and— and rivers.”

He heard Louie’s rushed breath of surprise at his declaration, because there were definitely some things in there that his brother hadn’t known.

(“That is the truth,”) the forest acknowledged, (“but it is not enough.”)

“Why not?” Dewey asked, halfway to being offended.

(“What are you afraid of?”) the forest spirit repeated the question gently. (“More than anything.”)

“More than anything?” Dewey parroted, and the forest nodded. He’d never met a forest who could nod before.

Sighing, Dewey turned to look at Louie, who was staring back at him in resigned bewilderment. The glow from the moss cast him in an eerie sort of lighting, but he supposed it reflected the mood well enough. Eventually, Louie broke eye contact and sighed.

“Okay, sure, if we tell you our greatest fear, then you’ll let us leave?” Louie asked, apparently making sure that if he bared his soul, it would be for a good reason.

(“Yes,”) said the forest, simply. (“You will be free.”)

“Great, not ominous at all.”

“Do you even know what your greatest fear is?” Dewey asked, glancing at Louie over his shoulder. He wasn’t even completely sure if he knew his own.

“I’ve got a few ideas,” Louie said absentmindedly, not meeting his eyes, and Dewey’s stomach twisted into anxious knots.

(“Will you tell me the truth?”) asked the forest spirit, and it almost sounded like it was excited. (“It has been a long time since I’ve heard honesty.”)

“It’s been a long time since I’ve practiced it,” said Louie, “but I’ll do my best.”

The forest nodded, something like a wry smile pulling at its lips. (“That is the truth.”)

“Thanks,” Louie said, and then in the same breath: “I’m afraid of being useless. Of having nothing to offer that makes me worth keeping around. I’m afraid of hurting people, of letting them down. I’m afraid that I’ll be left behind because I’m the only one who doesn’t always like where we’re going.”

Dewey stood rigid in the wake of Louie’s confession, his hand gone still and clammy in Louie’s tight, shaking grip. The weight of the words was not lost on Dewey, who suddenly had something new that he was afraid of. He never wanted Louie to feel like any of that was even possible.

“Louie?” Dewey’s voice wavered around his little brother’s name, but Louie ignored him in favor of staring challengingly at the forest spirit.

There was a long pause, in which everything was hauntingly still.

(“That is the truth,”) the forest said eventually, a bit of pride making its way into its voice. (“Thank you.”)

“Yeah,” Louie said, sounding equal parts fragile and relieved. “No problem.”

Big problem.

“Louie,” Dewey said, looking at him with confused, hurt eyes. “Why do you— You know we’d never do any of that stuff, right?”

Louie just shrugged, smiling a bit awkwardly.

“Somedays it seems more rational than others,” he said, and then, “It’s your turn.”

Reluctantly, Dewey turned back to the forest spirit, who was standing there serenely and watching them patiently. Right. His greatest fears.

“I don’t like to think about being scared,” Dewey opened up with, deciding to just wing it. “So I guess I’m afraid of being afraid. I’m afraid of missing out, being ignored. I’m afraid that no one will ever think I’m special or unique. It would really suck to be thought of as boring, you know?”

(“I do not know,”) said the forest spirit, kindness shining through its old eyes as it looked at him. (“But that is the truth. Thank you.”)

“Sure,” Dewey said, feeling slightly sick. “Anytime.”

“Though preferably never again,” Louie added, his voice thin and weak.

Dewey turned to look back at him, and found nothing but sadness and understanding in his gaze.

“You’re special, Dewey,” Louie told him, “and the fact that we’re standing here talking to a forest spirit is testament enough to the fact that you couldn’t be boring even if you tried.”

Despite himself, Dewey started chuckling, and Louie joined in with giggles soon after, all of the tension tumbling out of them in the form of laughter. The forest spirit smiled at them.

(“Laughter is rarer than honesty,”) the forest spirit mused. (“Or at least it is so where I come from.”)

“It depends on the person, I think, more than the place,” Louie said, and how did their lives reach this point? Making casual conversation with the embodiment of a magical forest. “Can we go now?”

(“Of course,”) said the forest, leaning back against a tree, seeming completely at ease. (“I told you the truth. You may go.”)

“Oka—"

“Why did you need to know our greatest fears?” Dewey asked suddenly, overcome with curiosity. “Are you holding them hostage now? Will we not be afraid anymore?”

(“I am a magical being,”) the forest spirit said, smiling up at the leaves above them, (“but even I cannot make you fearless.”)

“Then what was the point?”

(“To make you brave.”)

“Brave?” Louie asked, frowning a bit.

(“Honesty and Bravery are closely connected.”) The forest shrugged. (“To have any of either is to wear your heart on your sleeve.”)

“That’s another thing I’m afraid of,” Louie said softly, a bit wonderingly, and Dewey glanced at him sharply. “Being known.”

(“And yet you are,”) said the forest, glancing at Dewey and smiling softly. (“And you are loved all the same.”)

“I’d call that a miracle,” Louie said, a wry grin growing on his face even as Dewey squeezed his hand in a silent reprimand.

(“You may call it whatever you want.”) The forest around them began to change, the trees shrinking and shifting in the corners of Dewey’s vision. (“But I call it the truth.”)

The glow of the moss began to fade away, leaving behind a depressing normalcy. The trees had molded themselves into a mere shadow of their former glory, sunlight passing through the leaves that hung shortly above them. Before long, the only thing left of the magical forest was the figure in front of them, fainter and more translucent now that its home was back in… whatever realm it had come from; Dewey didn’t really know much about the logistics of magical forests and such.

“Bye,” Dewey said awkwardly, uselessly, and the forest spirit laughed brightly, eyes crinkling.

The laughter lingered even after the childlike figure had disappeared, until even that was carried away on the wind, leaving Dewey and Louie standing in a perfectly average sort of forest, staring at the spot where the last of their adventure had just vanished into thin air. Too much had happened in the past few hours. Too much to even begin to process.

“That was… something,” Louie said faintly, and Dewey snorted.

Understatement of the century.

Dewey opened his mouth to respond, but the harsh sound of the bushes to their right moving around pulled his attention away. Huey and Webby came tumbling through the underbrush moments later, looking wild and worried. Dewey and Louie turned to look at them with wide eyes, and Huey sighed in relief.

“We’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Huey said, rushing over to them to pull them into a hug. “Where have you been?”

“And why were you holding hands and staring at a tree?” Webby added, scanning them for injuries.

“It’s a long story,” Dewey managed, finally letting go of Louie’s hand as they shared a look.

“Yeah,” Louie agreed, looking back at their other siblings, “and we’re not telling it until we’re far, far away from anything resembling a forest.”

“The trees have eyes and ears,” Dewey said, nodding seriously, fighting a smile when Huey and Webby looked properly baffled now.

“And the forest talks like a poet from like, 80 centuries ago. I don’t—” Louie cut himself off with a yawn. “I don’t know. I’m tired.”

Hueys face softened into something concerned and caring.

“Okay,” said Huey. “Okay, let’s go home.”

The wind ruffled their hair gently as they were led back towards the Sunchaser, and somehow the rustling of the leaves sounded like a goodbye. Dewey looked towards the sky and smiled.

[bolddeducktionneverfails]

・゜-: ✧ :► 🌩 : ✧ :-゜・

Selene’s Statements About Della Duck

| ✖ | 🌕 | 🌕 | 🌕 | 🌕 |

When it comes to Della’s decision with The Spear, we’re meant to believe she was more excited about taking a quick joyride in orbit than prioritizing motherhood. We’re also supposed to believe that Della’s crash-landing was the thing that humbled her into being more family-oriented. 

But even with the show being over, there are still some things about this that leave me unconvinced...I mean, yeah, it was very convincing after Scrooge gave his perspective of the ordeal, but as Season 2 progressed, I began to question this retelling...

Although taking the Spear was presented to us as this big, selfish mistake that Della has been trying to make up for and get past, other cases that resembled this story or touched on a contributing factor, didn’t quite treat it as such. Space-related imagery and the like continued to be brought up in the background; even after major events like Della’s return, Lunaris’ defeat and Penny settling her homesickness...it felt like there was something much more important that needed to be said beyond Bradford’s small mention in the finale.

If these other situations in the series truly were inspired by Della’s situation and if she was completely in the wrong, then there would have been more things to further cement this to line up with Scrooge’s perspective. If what he said was exactly what Della was doing, it should be reflected in these other stories as irrefutable no matter how you look at the situation. There shouldn��t be anything that makes us want to second guess...and yet, there’s enough room to think about this.

Dewey and Webby meeting Selene in her garden was one of the first moments I started to question when I looked back at it. As soon as a negative view of Della was said, Selene immediately, without a doubt, went against it by claiming otherwise. At this point in the series, it could have been argued that she was just looking at her friendship with Della in a rose-colored way, but as the time went on, a lot of the information she gave about Della became evident.

In a similar manner, it was once believed both inside and outside of the show that Della had died after getting lost in Space. But the Sphere of Selene itself was hinting towards the opposite; that she was actually alive on the Moon.

Let’s take a deeper look at what Selene was saying about Della here:

“So, we’re back to “she stole Scrooge’s spear and betrayed the family” then. Great.”

“Whaat? No way! She loved her family more than anything in the world!”

This was suggesting that Della was always family oriented, not suddenly after her arrival to the Moon. This is proven through the episodes we’ve seen with her as a child.

In “The First Adventure!”, Della stayed persistent in convincing Scrooge that it would be better to take Donald and her with him, than to search for The Papyrus of Binding by himself. Later after he agreed, both Donald and Della had to get after him for caring more about his business than enjoying the adventure he was having with them. In “Last Christmas!”, Dewey had to explain to Donald why Della was so upset with him. She had planned for the night to be spent going on a mission together but Donald misinterpreted her actions and skipped out to do his own thing. 

Even in the Pre-Spear comics IDW provided, it was Della who was chosen to remind Donald about what it means to be family in Issue # 3. And while the comics don’t determine the canon, the writers who developed these stories were given insight about how the show’s universe works and how the characters are supposed to act. The writers in both the show and the comics could have easily slipped something into these stories to demonstrate how wrong Della was to go into outer-space at the time that she did. In the child episodes, they could have highlighted her selfishness directly by making her want to catch Santa to steal all of his presents or having her extremely eager to make her own request with the papyrus. Why would the showrunners miss out on that opportunity...twice? Why are other characters focused on being in the wrong, but she isn’t?

As an adult, it didn’t feel right to have Della fussing at Donald and Louie for taking significant leaves and not being mindful about the impact of their actions, if she basically did the same thing. It never came off as not wanting them to make the mistake she made, it always sounded like she would know better. She was so quick to point out this problem she had with others that it felt like she forgot about herself. On one hand, this makes her look like a hypocrite, but on the other, this gives off the notion that being selfish and leaving her family out of big events, is not initially a part of her nature.

The closest case we have to better reflecting the Spear situation is in “Trickening” where Della’s desire is at a level of uncertainty that could easily be misinterpreted. In this episode, she wanted to join in on what someone else was doing to give the trick-o-treaters a memorable Halloween. She was aiming to share her love of the holiday with them, but she was so caught up in making it special, that she didn’t realize this plan was way too intense. 

Donald was completely opposed to it like he was with her space travel proposal. He wanted to make his sister understand that she was doing too much, but she ignored his concern and tried to push past him. If Della was supposed to learn that she should listen to Donald more, you would think she would have taken that into consideration much sooner instead of having a huge relapse. Della showing improvement after a major mistake would be too important of a thing for her to revert on, so, having a similar situation in “Trickening” was more than likely done to help us understand something about the Spear one better. As the twins fought, he begged Della to think of the kids and she stated this was exactly what she was doing. This suggested that Della had the same mindset when it came to her own kids.

So, as both a kid and an adult, she has been portrayed caring more about family than other things like adventure itself or some kind of item she could get out of it. If she loved her family so much, then what on Earth would make her leave during such a crucial time and jeopardize the chances of ever being with them again?

“Last Christmas!” showed us that Della doesn’t adventure out on her own unless she feels like she has to. If she didn’t go out in the snow after Donald refused to come with her, then she would have missed out on her chance to catch Santa as a present for Scrooge. Like her Santa hunt, Della originally intended for her space trip to be a family thing. If a parallel is meant to be made here, then that opens up the possibility that Della took the rocket so that she wouldn’t miss her chance to do something special for her family; more than likely, something for HDL’s birthday that could not wait. That could explain her urgency and lack of detail in the letter she left for Scrooge.

If she was just taking the rocket for a spin, she wouldn’t need to word her letter like that. She would have used it as a way to express her gratitude towards her uncle for having her project built. Why would the showrunners have her letter be like this purely for the sake of suspense if we’re supposed to be looking for clues? This is another thing that is too important for them to have pulled something meaningless here. If she had to leave a letter for Donald about naming the boys for her too, then it sounds like she was doing something that may not have been able to be done in time before their hatching. Or, I suppose, in case she didn’t make it back at all. Either way, both messages showed that she thought about the consequences beforehand.

In addition to the garden meeting on Ithaquack, something else that made me slowly change my mind about Della’s decision was how she had brought her copy of the family photo with her. Having it placed on the dashboard in front of her as she traveled through Space, seemed to imply that family was a driving force in her choice to continue in the direction of a storm she could have easily avoided. In Scrooge’s flashback, it seemed like Della was enjoying the challenge she was faced with before the rocket was struck. But when it came to showing her perspective, she wasn’t having a fun experience at all.

“Aw, Della wasn’t just a good person...she was the greatest! And she made everyone around her better.”

When Launchpad defined what it meant to be a Senior Woodchuck in “Challenge”, I immediately made a connection to what Selene had said. It’s a bit uncertain whether Della became a Senior Woodchuck or not, but she was still a dedicated member of the Junior Woodchucks and that sort of implies that she was someone who often looked out for others. This coincides with how Della encouraged HDLW in “New Gods” and helped to bring the children’s feelings of inferiority to Scrooge’s attention. Della eventually helped to make Penumbra a better person once the lieutenant realized that her jealousy and suspicion advanced Lunaris’ invasion. The betrayal against the pilot made her a hero in the eyes of her fellow Moonlanders again, but it was through a lie and that didn’t settle with her. Acknowledging the fact that she messed up motivated her to regain her heroic title in the right way.

None of the points that I’m bringing up in this is to say that I don’t think Della was flawed or that she isn’t really an impulsive character, but that maybe there was a different kind of mistake she made with her rocket plans than what we were being told.

“Maybe the spear isn’t an artifact...maybe, it’s something else!”

“Your mom did love a good mystery!”

This part makes me think of the riddle from Della that the boys would later find in “Castle”. It led them on a quest to find a lost crown, but similarly to The Spear, they found out that this treasure was never an actual crown--it was a sailor’s hat in a duffle bag. It was within the castle’s catacombs where HDL realized that the riddle was originally intended for Donald; another character who is supposed to be looked at as their parent. An imprint of the Spear’s blueprints were later discovered on the back of the paper Della’s riddle was written on.

The way Selene mentioned mysteries right after Webby wondered about the spear being something else, seems to suggest that Della’s disappearance could have been due to her wanting to solve a mystery of her own. In “Last Crash”, Scrooge did compare Dewey’s hunt for the missing photo piece with how he previously failed to keep his niece safe from the cosmic storm.

“Here. It’s not a spear, but it’s a treasure even Della never found.”

This feels reminiscent of Della’s old journal statement about how she never found Coot’s armory. In this episode, it was explained that her younger self was looking for something in relation to the non-McDuck side of HDL’s family. Webby wanted to follow in Della’s footsteps and bring the boys with her on an epic journey to finally resolve this mystery, but once they reached their destination, it landed them in a room full of corn instead. Because the treasure was expected to be materialistic rather than sentimental, the trip looked like a big waste of time. It wasn’t until a spark was set in motion, that the characters were able to acknowledge the importance of what they discovered.

I noticed many elements in “Coot” that could be paralleling things in relation to Della’s journey. On her side of the story, she was determined to complete the task of celebrating her family at the fort, but a setback prevented her from doing it sooner. There was also an cloudy formation that accompanied a crash as well as there being a moment where her vehicle needed to be reassembled.

If Della was looking for a treasure of some sort in Space, perhaps she didn’t reveal this afterwards because, like Scrooge was with her, she was embarrassed about her failure. Selene implied that Della was usually great at accomplishing cases like these but this one resulted in a major loss that caused a decade of separation.

“Don’t give up, young duck. Your mother never did.”

There is definitely no exaggeration about this. In spite of all her struggles, Della continued to press on until she made it back home.

As I was observing the occurrences in Season 2, I noticed that there were key moments about her departure from the Moon that line up with her departure from Earth. If she was working hard to get back to her family on Earth, then there could have been something about Space that she was working just as hard to get to. If there was a particular goal with Earth that Della wanted to include the Moonlanders with, then there could have been something particular with Space that she wanted to include her family with.

Della had to leave the Moon earlier than expected because an emergency came up. That creates a possibility that there was some kind of emergency that caused Della to launch The Spear from Earth sooner than she intended to. Both departures resulted in leaving groups behind and breaking a promise she made to them. Della was very concerned about what the Moonlanders would think about her being gone and while Donald was the one who made a promise about never spending another Christmas apart, she had to have agreed to it; she’s the one who made a big fuss in the first place. If Lunaris' claim of Della being a traitor was false, then there's a possibility that Scrooge's explanation wasn't true either. What could strengthen this is how he was wrong about Della in “Raiders” during its own parallels to the Spear incident.

Adding on to what I said about “Trickening”, If both of these situations were meant to be reflective of Della taking the Spear, then she wasn’t using the kids to mask a selfish desire, she was seriously doing it for them. Lunaris told the rest of the Moonlanders that Della made up her stories about Earth to trick them into letting their guard down, but that was never part of Della’s plan.

So from evaluating Selene’s statements we can gather:

That Della was always family oriented and that betraying her family for the thrill of adventure or the sake of something materialistic, is considered out of her character

Della doesn’t adventure out on her own unless she feels like she absolutely has to

Della may have taken the rocket so that she wouldn’t miss her chance to do something special for HDL’s birthday

Della’s letters to Scrooge and Donald showed that she thought about the consequences before taking the Spear

Della may have not avoided the storm because there was something in the direction of it that she was trying to get to

That even in the past, Della was someone with the tendency to look out for others and make them better people

There may have been a different kind of mistake she made with her plans than what we were being told

That Della’s disappearance could have been due to her wanting to solve a mystery of her own

That if Della was looking for some type of treasure in Space, there’s a higher chance that it was of sentimental value rather than what we would have normally expected it to be

She was more than likely looking for something in relation to another group of people who would also qualify as being part of HDL’s family

Della might not have revealed this afterwards due to her being embarrassed about her failure

Maybe she didn’t tell Scrooge and Donald the truth about her outer-space proposal because she wanted it to be a surprise

If the kids succeed in finding the armory’s gold with realizing it...perhaps in some strange way, Della may have unknowingly completed her goal too

That Della was always known as someone who persevered whenever she had her heart set on something

Della’s plans to enter Space may have played out in a similar manner to her plans to come back home

An emergency in relation to her goal could have caused Della to leave sooner

There’s a good chance that Scrooge may have been wrong about Della’s intentions

If there was nothing significant shown ahead in the storm, then what was Della working towards? Before this episode aired, there were comments here and there speculating that the cosmic storm was a wormhole that sent her into the future. I think that especially at this point, it could have been some kind of portal. The clouds were in the formation of a tunnel and an underground tunnel was what led to the golden armory, so, whether she realized it or not, the storm could have certainly led to the treasure she was seeking. It could have been a portal to a place that wasn’t easy to realize until you’ve passed through it. The Shadow Realm was a hidden dimension that made Lena seem invisible while she was trapped there. Or, maybe like the wormholes in “Neverrest”, the storm could have been a shortcut to another area of Space.

If Della had a bigger reason for taking the Spear then why didn’t the showrunners go into that before the series ended?  Maybe in a similar way to Negaduck’s return, they wanted to get to that but something caused a change. Perhaps there wasn’t enough room to conclude it while also doing the same for Huey and Webby’s F.O.W.L. arc. Interviews with Vulture and SyFy Wire   revealed that twenty minutes had been shaved from the original finale script during finalization as well as there being fifty-five-ish episode ideas leftover that we didn’t get to see.

Another potential option for the additional Spear information is that was always set aside in case Disney greenlit a fourth season. All of the other seasons provided something new about The Spear of Selene and the subject matter is deeply tied to the series, so it would be pretty strange to suddenly stop mentioning it in the next continuation. Maybe Huey and Webby’s arc needed to be focused on first because there’s something about Della’s decision that further connects the two. I’m just...really doubtful that we were given so much build up against the narrative with no intention of it paying off at some point. 

I would love to go in fuller depth about what I think could be going on with Della’s story, but it’s SOOO much work to put everything together for evaluation...I’m not sure how long it’ll take to get it done. I started a multi-part essay about this two years ago and wanted to have it finished before Season 3 but there was too much left to finalize in the last section….

Right now, I can only manage to make singular posts like these and shorter...but there are older, slightly outdated traces of my theory if you look around my blog long enough.

| ✖ | 🌕 | 🌕 | 🌕 | 🌕 |・

゜-: ✧ :► 🌩 : ✧ :-゜・

[disneytva]

March 2021 Programming Highlights

Monday, March 1

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney XD

DuckTales “The Lost Cargo of Kit Cloudkicker!”

(7:00-7:30 p.m. EST)

Della, Dewey and Huey recruit a showboating pilot to take them to an island full of monsters in search of a missing mystery, unaware that Don Karnage is hot on their tails.

*Adam Pally (“Happy Endings”) guest stars as Kit Cloudkicker, and Jaime Camil (“Jane The Virgin”) returns as Don Karnage.

TV-Y7

Saturday, March 6

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel

Big City Greens “Bleeped/Sellouts”

(9:00-9:30 a.m. EST)

“Bleeped” – Cricket is amused by a new socially unacceptable word in his big city world and tempts fate by repeating it.

“Sellouts” – The Greens try new methods to improve sales at their produce stand.

TV-Y7

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel

Amphibia “Night Drivers/Return to Wartwood”

(9:30-10:00 a.m. EST)

“Night Drivers” – Ignoring Anne’s and Hop Pop’s warnings about the dangers of night driving, Sprig and Polly stay up all night to drive the family home.

“Return to Wartwood” –After realizing they forgot to get anyone a gift from Newtopia, the Plantar’s come up with a risky plan to keep the town from finding out.

TV-Y7

Monday, March 8

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney XD

DuckTales “The Life and Crimes of Scrooge McDuck!”

(7:00-7:30 p.m. EST)

Scrooge’s enemies reveal a secret history to prove that he is responsible for turning them evil, forcing Louie to defend his uncle against their prosecutor, Doofus Drake.

*Guest starring is Martin Freeman (“Sherlock”) as Poe, Magica’s brother, and Henry Winkler (“Happy Days”) as Bailiff. Catherine Tate (“Doctor Who”) returns as Magica.

TV-Y7

Friday, March 12

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Junior

Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures “Crooner Mickey/Once Upon A Lemonade Stand”

(6:00-6:30 p.m. EST)

“Crooner Mickey” – Mickey discovers that Minnie is singing the same song he was planning to sing at the Park Picnic.

“Once Upon A Lemonade Stand” – Minnie and Daisy help Susie and Pearl build lemonade stands for a school fundraiser.

TV-Y

Saturday, March 13

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel

Big City Greens “Fast Foodie/Spaghetti Theory”

(9:00-9:30 a.m. EST)

“Fast Foodie” – When a Burger Clown franchise opens next door, Cricket tries to prove to Bill that he can eat fast food for every meal with no ill effects.

*Dan Fogler (“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”) guest stars as Mr. Burger Clown.

“Spaghetti Theory” – Tilly and Cricket debate whether the lives of people in Big City are intertwined.

TV-Y7

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel

Amphibia “Ivy on the Run/After the Rain”

(9:30-10:00 a.m. EST)

“Ivy on the Run” – Fed up with her mother’s strict rules, Ivy devises a plan to run away.

“After the Rain” – Anne asks Hop Pop to retrieve the music box, bringing some long-buried secrets to light.

TV-Y7

Monday, March 15

Original Series – Series Finale on Disney XD

DuckTales “The Last Adventure!”

(7:00-8:30 p.m. EDT)

The future of adventuring hangs in the balance as the Duck family uncovers earth-shattering secrets in a final standoff with the Fiendish Organization for World Larceny (F.O.W.L.).

*Returning guest voices include Lin-Manuel Miranda, Giancarlo Esposito, Julie Bowen, Jaime Camil, Jameela Jamil, Catherine Tate, Stephanie Beatriz, Paul F. Tompkins, Jim Rash, Margo Martindale, Jason Mantzoukas, John Hodgman, Retta, Kimiko Glenn, Libe Barer, Jaleel White and Amy Sedaris. Noël Wells and Riki Lindhome guest star as sisters, June and May, respectively.

TV-Y7

Saturday, March 20

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel

Big City Greens “Ding Dongers/Animation Abomination”

(9:00-9:30 a.m. EDT)

“Ding Dongers” – Remy uses Cricket’s antics to gain views and likes on a new video-sharing app.

“Animation Abomination” – When Cricket and Tilly learn that Gloria has an internship at the animation studio that produces their favorite cartoon, they beg her to bring them for a visit.

TV-Y7

Original Series – Tentpole Episode Premiere on Disney Channel

Amphibia “The First Temple”

(9:30-10:00 a.m. EDT)

Marcy, Anne and the Plantars travel to an ancient temple that could hold the key to getting Anne and Marcy home, but only if they can survive the temple’s deadly challenges.

*Haley Tju (“Big Hero 6: The Series”) returns as Marcy.

TV-Y7

Saturday, March 27

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel

Big City Greens “The Van/Bat Girl”

(9:00-9:30 a.m. EDT)

“The Van” – Gramma and Cricket are upset that an ugly van has been parked in front of their house for what seems like forever.

*David Harbour (“Stanger Things”) guest stars as Rick, the owner of the van. Andy Daly (“Silicon Valley”) returns as Officer Keys.

“Bat Girl” – Nancy joins Cricket and Tilly’s community center little league team.

*Rob Riggle (“Fancy Nancy”) guest stars as Community Sue’s rival, Community Dan. Betsy Sodaro (“Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts”) returns as Community Sue.

TV-Y7

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel

Amphibia “New Wartwood/Friend or Frobo”

(9:30-10:00 a.m. EDT)

“New Wartwood” – Intent on winning over Wartwood, Marcy makes a plan to improve the town.

“Friend or Frobo” – Desperate for fun, Polly breaks out and finds an unlikely new friend in the process.

TV-Y7

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Junior

Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures “Holi, By Golly!/The Pink City!”

(10:30-11:00 a.m. EDT)

“Holi, By Golly!” – Goofy and the gang must take a painting safely across New Delhi to the Museum of Modern Art.

“The Pink City!” – The Happy Helpers help Priya take Missy the elephant to her new sanctuary home in Jaipur.

TV-Y

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Junior

Mira, Royal Detective “The Holi Festival Mystery/Mystery on the Jalpur Express”

(11:00-11:30 a.m. EDT)

“The Holi Festival Mystery” – Mira must follow the colorful clues in order to save the town’s Holi Festival.

“Mystery on the Jalpur Express” – The Queen’s crown is stolen on the inaugural ride of Jalpur’s new train, so Mira must track down the culprit.  

TV-Y

[korkorali]

Alright, it’s time for more headcannons!

Today, we’re talking about how Della Duck bonds with her kids.

For both Dewey and Webby, she bonds with them over adventures, but for different reasons.

With Dewey, she bonds over the excitement, the death-defying stunts that they both pull. Sure, it terrifies her at times just how much Dewey’s impulsiveness reminds her of her, but that just makes her even more desperate to build a good rapport: to cut off the possibility that he’ll lose himself at the bud.

With Webby, she bonds over the mystery, the exploration of it all. They bond over ‘firsts’: from being the first people do step foot in an ancient Mayan temple over centuries, to being the first in their family to reach the Cloudslayer/Sunchaser in their escape from said temple.

But more importantly, they bond over their love for the unknown. They bond over the addiction of the chase, the moment before all the answers click into place. (And sometimes Huey will join them, his interests in documenting everything lining up nicely with theirs)

She bonds with Huey over video games, and the Junior Woodchucks.

The video game part is something of a constant learning experience for the both of them, each learning how the other prefers to take their fantasies, and where they line up.

Take Minecraft, for example: Huey is a builder, and a farmer. He enjoys taking his time making complex structures and watching his crops grow, knowing that he’s making someone else’s life easier. Della, on the other hand, is a miner/explorer if there ever was one. She constantly goes cave diving, looking for mineshafts and strongholds, and killing monsters. She takes pride in the fact that she’s making the world a touch safer, and that she is practically unbeatable in PvP. (They are both absolute gods with redstone though. It’s one of the only things that Della will spend time on building. The allure of secret passageways and duplication is to much for them to bear.)

The Junior Woodchucks was an insanely pleasant surprise for both of them. Both of them had grown up with everyone around them kind of... criticizing them for it. Or if not that, then just not really getting their excitement about the whole thing. But then they had each other to talk to about it, and they ab-so-luetly took advantage of that. Huey had someone who actually understood what he meant when he described the proper way to set up a tent. Della had someone to give all the secret tips and tricks she’d learned to. They would eagerly go on any camping trip possible.

As for how she bonds with Louie? Well, that one took some time to find out. Not for lack of trying, on either of their parts.

They tried TV shows at first. It didn’t really work, for a few reasons: Della would end up spacing out and then missing most of the plot, and Louie would get annoyed trying to explain it a bunch. In the end, they found out they also had wildly different ideas of what made good television as well.

Chess was next, and actually lasted for a while. They were both pretty damn good at it, and found it nice to have a challenge for once. In the end though, they were both so silent while playing, and tight-lipped about their different strategies afterwards, that they would just never talk while playing. They both desperately tried to reason with themselves that they were bonding, but they ended up giving up chess as a tool for bonding, in the end. (They still continued to play chess together, though. It just wasn’t the thing that they had been looking for.)

They both realized that adventures wouldn’t work, as Louie didn’t actually enjoy any of the parts that Della did. And video games wouldn’t work either, because Louie didn’t really play them in his spare time. As a competition? Sure, but not for fun.

In the end, they discovered how they bonded best by accident. They were both awake, late at night, and one thing led to another, Della’s lack of a filter on her mouth leading to her releasing some thoughts/feelings that she normally wouldn’t talk about, and Louie related to them.

So they found it: they bonded by, simply, talking to each other. They would spend late nights where they were both plagued by insomnia in the kitchen snacking, having conversations. They were usually slightly morbid, like discussions about anxiety (thinking about every. Single. Thing. That could have/should have/would have happened on the adventure the other day, other people and their unpredictability, etc.), past trauma (they don’t even realize the fact that they’re talking about trauma at first, the experiences so deeply ingrained in them.), and feelings of body dysphoria (both feel as though their bodies aren’t exactly what they should be, for different reasons, mostly. But the result is the same (never taking of the hoodie/jacket)). But they would also talk about how much they loved their family, and try to discover together why they didn’t feel they showed it well.

Della Duck bonds with all her children differently, but she wouldn’t give them up for the universe.

[tomb-bloom-noctem]

To inject some Ducktales positivity back on this blog, what are your favorite episodes from each season?

Sorry this one got a little buried in the inbox 😅 onto it now!

FAVS!

Oh. Good question. Um. Honestly I love most of the episodes and there's only a few I genuinely hate. Sadly though they can't all be winners 😅 So I picked ones the ones I enjoyed overall best from each season.

Season 1:

Woo-oo!, The House of the Lucky Gander, McMystery at McDuck Manor, The Missing Links of Moorshire, The Spear of Selene, Beware the Buddy System, From the Confidential Casefiles of Agent 22, The Secrets of Castle McDuck, Who Is Gizmoduck, The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck, The Last Crash of the Sunchaser, The Shadow War

Top pick: The Shadow War

I think this is one of the best episodes overall in terms of the show. It has family, heartbreak and reconciliation, action, drama, humor, I think this one is Ducktales at it's best. Much as I do also enjoy Moonvasion a lot, I kinda feel this one is the stronger finale. Either way though it's definitely a grand finale.

Season 2:

The Most Dangerous Game Night, The Depths of Cousin Fethry, The Town Where Everyone was Nice, Storkules in Duckburg, Whatever Happened to Della Duck, Friendship Hates Magic, Raiders of the Doomsday Vault, the Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee, The Duck Knight Returns, Whatever Happened to Donald Duck, A Nightmare on Killmotor Hill, Moonvasion

Top Pick: The Duck Knight Returns

So some of Darkwing Duck hasn't aged the best but I think overall the show is great. And out of all the Disney Afternoon programs to include in Ducktales, Darkwing is definitely the best. And oh my gosh did they deliver! The new Drake is still recognizable in comparison to his 91 version but still gets a modernization. The relationship between him and LP is even better than before, the battle with Jim Starling is so much fun. Chris D does a phenomenal job as this newer Drake and Jim Cummings finally appearing on the show as Jim Starling/Negaduck was AWESOME.

Season 3:

The Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks, Quack Pack, Double-O-Drake in You Only Crash Twice, The Lost Harp of Mervana, Louie's Eleven, Astro B.O.Y.D., The Phantom and the Sorceress, They Put a Moonlander on Earth, The Trickening, Let's Get Dangerous, Escape from the ImpossiBin, The Split Sword of Swanstatine, New Gods on the Block, The First Adventure, Beaks in the Shell

Top Pick: This one is legit a tie for me so I have to split it between Let's Get Dangerous and Louie's Eleven

Both of these episodes fill me with intensive joy i different ways. I get giddy whenever they're on O just love them. Let's Get Dangerous rocks even more of the amazing Drake and Launchpad dynamic (and yes I ship them) and we finally get Gosalyn. Like Drake she definitely resembles her 91 self in a way that's recognizable but she's also got a good modernization. Also I love how they modernized Taurus Bulba. He was instantly likable yet also crafty and very dangerous. Then also getting to see the Fearsome Four, getting a pretty hilarious DT87 reference "A SEA MONSTER ATE MY ICE CREAM!" The way the music swelled when Gosalyn couldn't shut off the Ramrod and prepared to destroy it, tears in her eyes. UGH GOOD STUFF. This episode has to be one of favorites.

But also love Louie's Eleven too much to not want it to be the top episode too. I adore healthy portrayals of Donsy and here we were delivered. It was refreshing to get to have Donald and Daisy meeting for the first time and have their portrayal instantly be healthier. Sure we still see some of that temper Daisy is known for too but thankfully not as bad as it can be. The way she instantly understands him. The way they smile at each other. When she hears him sing, she hears more than just his rough voice but rather the soul behind it. LOVE. And the way they team up to take on Graves and his team. The way Donald says "MY KIDS!" WHAT A DAD, I LOVE HIM. And the way at the end Donald sings and Daisy says she can listen to it all night and the two share such a loving look. I JUST ADORE IT.

And more than just the Donsy aspect of this episode, this was just ridiculously fun. Love the heist/scheme op at play. Love Louie getting to be Louie until he finally has to rely on his big brother Dewey. Then Dewey gets to Dewey it. And it's phenomenal. And of freaking course THE THREE CABALLEROS! YAY! I love them!!! This was just such a good episode I can't help but love it.

This is just my opinion though overall. This is not an attack on any episode or on anyone. I actually love this show overall I know I've been a bit critical lately but it's a really important show to me. Sad that it's over but happy it did happen.

[amrio]

The Jacket War

Not that he was one to blame his daughter on anything, but Drake absolutely blamed her for starting the war for Launchpad's jacket. Sure she was just pushing his buttons at the start, but by the time that they were quite literally chasing each other for a coat, it had turned into a downright competition. One that neither of them had any intention of losing.

Launchpad was never one to forget things, as he rarely had anything with him to misplace, but his jacket? The pilot never left anywhere without it. You never know when you might take a nosedive into the side of an icy mountain after all. The only time Drake ever saw him without his beloved bomber jacket was when he stayed with him and Gosalyn after a night of patrolling and he took it off to sleep. Even then, it was never far away—either thrown over the back of the couch he was sleeping on, or on one of the bedposts if he managed to make it to the bed they had set up for him without falling to the ground snoring in that ever so loud, but quite endearing, way he does when he's truly exhausted.

So when Drake got up one morning and found the leather coat on the back of the couch, with no sign of Launchpad anywhere, he was certainly surprised. The pilot must've gotten up early that morning and left in a rush if he forgot it. Not to mention that he managed to leave without either Gosalyn or himself noticing. The two of them were such light sleepers that they were normally able to send Launchpad off with a tired goodbye before stumbling back to bed. Not saying goodbye was almost as depressing as having to say goodbye at all was.

McMoneyBags probably called him, Drake figured to himself as he stared down at the article of clothing. It looked so out of place without it's owner. Upon further inspection, he found a new tear and a few scorch marks on the back. They weren't from their patrol last night, he knew that much for certain. They had been dealing with another liquid type villain that had escaped from a lab and sought to wreck havoc on the scientists that created it. McDuck better not let this happen often, he groused picking up the jacket and feeling the worn leather between his fingers. He's my partner. If anything ever happened to him...!

It took the man all of two seconds to realize what he had just admitted, despite being in his mind. Drake quickly whipped his head around and scanned the area, lest he find that his thoughts had been projected for the rest of the world to hear. Or worse still, Gosalyn. She had been poking fun at him ever since she found them curled up together on the couch after a particularly rough night.

They had been tired, beaten, battered, and emotionally exhausted after Darkwing had accidentally gotten captured. None of them had the strength to even look at the stairs leading up to their bedrooms and instead flopped over onto the couch dead on their feet. Launchpad had fallen asleep first, three hour drives between St. Canard and Duckburg taking up a more obvious toll with the additional stress of the night. Much to no one's surprise, Launchpad was a sleep hugger. And okay, maybe Drake enjoyed the sleepy affection too. It was something he was very unaccustomed, but not entirely opposed to. Launchpad was warm, he was tired, and with Gosalyn safe and nearby he may or may not have allowed himself to cuddle into the much bigger duck's chest and fall asleep that way.

The thought of that comfortable evening brought more warmth to his cheeks and a nervous twitch to his fingers as he looked around. Thankfully the pale morning light illuminating the tower was his traitorous thinking's only audience.

Launchpad could handle himself. He had proven it on any number of occasions, matching Darkwing's battle prowess with ease. Now...what that had to do with the sudden worried possessiveness that his brain had just given words to and his fondness of that sleepy evening...well...Drake wasn't going to sit there and ponder that while it was still so early. That was a problem for several cups of coffee and some breakfast. Yet he found himself holding on to the jacket for a few moments more, looking it over and marveling at just how big it was (and how big it would be on him), but it ended up being for a few moments too many.

"Hey nerd! Whatcha doin'?"

Drake yelped and quickly dropped the coat back over the couch as a warm red re-exploded on his face. "G-Gosalyn! Uh! I'm not doing anything! W-what are you doing?" He couldn't figure out what to do with his hands as his ten year old eyed him suspiciously and ended up shoving them into the pockets of his purple bathrobe before they gave away his nervousness.

Gosalyn stared him down, her eyes taking on that glint that he often saw when she was trying to work out how to save her grandpa. Her analyzing look. Much to his horror, he watched her gaze drift to the couch and land on Launchpad's coat. Oh, he really didn't like the look on her face now. She was grinning in the same way that said she was going to try a new trick shot with her crossbow that would absolutely send his coffee mug spilling to the ground.

"So, have you tried it on yet?" she smirked, knowing exactly why her father had gotten flustered.

"No! And I have no idea why you would suggest I do such a thing," he said trying to grapple for at least a little bit of his dignity. "Why are you up anyways?" It was a Saturday and neither of them were much for mornings.

"I heard you up." She crossed her arms over her green pjs with a huff. "Why are you awake?"

"Oh you know...uh. Just trying to get a jump start on those files from yesterday." He gave a nervous laugh, knowing full well that WANDA had already sorted and sifted through them the moment they were uploaded.

Gosalyn wasn't impressed. "If you say so."

After a staring contest that Drake quickly lost to the knowing eyes of his daughter, he ended up trudging to the kitchen for some coffee. In the back of his mind he was aware of how empty the spacs was without a certain pilot serving up coffee with a cheery grin. Drake would never understand how Launchpad was such a morning person. He got less sleep than the average college student and yet he still managed to shine brighter than the sun at six in the morning when he woke up either to a demanding phone call from Scrooge or to the sound of Drake struggling with another nightmare.

As he was pondering this he all but choked on his coffee when Gosalyn wandered—and almost tripped—into the kitchen.

"What? You weren't using it," she said as she struggled to climb into her seat at the table.

She was wearing Launchpad's jacket.

If Drake had thought the coat would be big on him, it was downright gigantic on Gosalyn. It all but swallowed the girl whole as she looked up and challenged him to do something about it. She wasn't a dress kind of girl, but that's the only thing he could even remotely compare it to. It buried her at the table and hung over the edge of the seat, hiding her arms and feet entirely. Well, maybe a king sized blanket would be a better comparison.

"Isn't that a little uh, big for you Gos?" he finally asked as he tried to decide if the sight was more adorable or comical.

"Nope," she said, somehow with a straight face, as she got situated. All of her moving and struggling with the coat had thrown her bed tousled hair into her face and she ended up pulling her arms out of the sleeves so she could shove it away and reach for the mug of tea he had made for her. "It's comfortable. And really warm." She sipped at her drink before grinning around the edge of the mug. "You should try it on. LP certainly wouldn't mind."

"I—! You—!" he sputtered trying his hardest to keep the blush out of his feathers. "That's none of your concern, Waddlemeyer."

Though she gave a genuine smile at the name, glad to hold onto her grandpa's name for a little while longer, she couldn't help but taunt him in her reply. "No? Or are you just too afraid to take it from me and find out?"

Should he stoop to the level of his competitive ten-year old? Probably not. That wouldn't sound very good on paper now would it? "I'm not fighting a child for a coat."

"Chicken."

"I am not."

"Are too."

"Darkwing Duck is no chicken."

"Prove it then!"

Well if that's how it was going to go, screw the paper and how it would sound. Drake set his coffee down and narrowed his eyes at the girl only to find her mirroring his actions.

Some part of him knew how ridiculous they were being, but that was heavily outweighed by the fact that A) he wasn't going to back down from any challenge no matter who it was from and B) Gosalyn was smiling more this morning than all the other mornings combined. He had seen her sleep-fits often enough that they were probably tied when it came to who had nightmares the most. Mornings were fragile things unless Launchpad was there to comfort them or snap them out of it. Now it seemed that his jacket was doing a good enough job at keeping them light-hearted in his place.

So yeah. He was totally going to steal that coat from Gosalyn.

If the fact that she pulled a hair-tie off of her wrist and pulled her wavy red hair back in a messy ponytail said anything, it was that she was more than happy to make the challenge as difficult as possible.

When Launchpad came back to St. Canard later that day after returning the Duck family to the mansion from an adventure involving magical dirt...? he hadn't caught the name of it; all he knew was that it was blue and turned Dewey into a mini dragon (it took them an eternity to convince him to change back). Regardless, he certainly wasn't expecting to find Drake and Gosalyn chasing each other around the base in some sort of game before lunch.

"Hey guys! Guess who's back!" he hollered stepping through the main door.

"Hi LP!" Gosalyn greeted as she sprinted in front of him. She had something in her grasp, but she was moving too fast for Launchpad to figure out what it was.

Hardly a second later, Drake ran past him as well and gave a distracted hello before he jumped up and off the wall at his daughter. The two of them ended up in a roll as they fought for whatever item the girl had until Drake was the victor. Not for long though, as his rather loud victory "HAH!" was cut short when Gosalyn snagged the item out of his outstretched grasp and made a mad dash in the opposite direction.

Launchpad couldn't help but laugh at the frustrated growl from Drake. He had no idea what they were doing, but he was happy to see them getting along. Drake had formally adopted Gosalyn a couple of months ago, but they were still adjusting to the whole family dynamic thing. Gosalyn was stubbornly independent and Drake got caught up in his nightly alter-ego all too easily. There were good days and bad days, but today just happened to be an exceptionally good day.

Eventually Drake got up from his dramatic pouting on the ground and gave chase to his daughter once again.

Seeing the determined look on Drake's face and the cocky grin on Gosalyn's made the pilot realize, not for the first time, just how much he adored them. They were chaotic and a little bit of a mess—he noted Drake's bathrobe abandoned on the couch—but they were a family. He knew Gosalyn couldn't say it yet and that Drake would hesitate to admit it, but it was true nonetheless. They were his adventure family. So he let out a fond sigh and rested his arms against the railing to watch their antics for a time.

As the green blur of Gosalyn sped down the stairs, Launchpad realized that she was struggling with the something in her arms until it unfolded into something he recognized. She had his coat! So that's where he had left it! He knew it had to be here with them, or at the fast-food place he frequented between cities. It was a good thing it was here and not the fast-food joint, because he forgot to stop there in his excitement to get back to them.

Gosalyn fought with the gargantuan jacket until she managed to get her arms into the sleeves and continued running with the rest of the coat trailing after her. She tried to scrunch up the sleeves so she could use her hands, but there was simply too much jacket so she gave up and let the sleeves flap as she ran. It was adorable to say the least. What was even better was how much she resembled her father. At some point, Launchpad couldn't remember when exactly, Drake had stolen one or two of his shirts for pjs. So now both Drake and Gosalyn were running and jumping around in Launchpad's clothes and both of them were absolutely dwarfed by the bigger sizing

Launchpad couldn't have squashed his grin if he tried. But he didn't try. He smiled openly at the sight presented and laughed when the much-too-long sleeve of his coat got caught on a desk and brought Gosalyn to a screeching halt. Drake jumped at the opportunity and immediately scooped up his daughter so she couldn't escape again, holding her in front of him to avoid her kicking feet.

"Ha-HA! Can't get away this time can you!"

"That doesn't count! I got stuck!" she cried trying to fight out of his hold.

Before Drake could retaliate with some sassy remark or another, Launchpad spoke up with a laugh as he made his way down the stairs and to them in the living room. "So...you two haven't seen my coat anywhere have you?"

Their responses were immediate.

"Nope haven't seen it."

"What coat?"

When Launchpad got closer it finally sunk in that they were still in pjs. "Wait...you two aren't dressed yet...don't tell me—" his voice rose in concern and too much volume "—that you haven't had anything for breakfast?!" Because he could see the kitchen, and there were no plates or bowls or even orange peels left out to indicate otherwise.

"Um. About that," Drake started nervously. He was no stranger to "Uncle Launchpad's" mothering and neither was Gosalyn.

"We got...distracted?" Gosalyn supplied after a beat.

Launchpad was having none of that. Drake and Gosalyn were quickled ushered into the kitchen and to the table, their game of keep-away momentarily forgotten, while Launchpad set about righting the wrongness of no breakfast. It wasn't long before Gosalyn had a stack of waffles drowned in syrup in front of her and Drake had a bowl of cereal and half an orange to dig into. As Launchpad brought over refills to their coffee and tea, he marveled at how small his family was.

His coat was filling more chair than Gosalyn was and she had to reach out from behind the zipper to reach her sugary meal even sitting on her knees. He had no doubt that she could shut the zipper and hide in the thing and no one would know the difference. Meanwhile on the other side of the table, one of his green t-shirts was hanging loosely off of Drake's wirey frame, looking more like a night-gown than a shirt. Warmth blossomed in the pilot's chest as he really took that information in. His little adventure family really was little. They could handle themselves, but he would always be there to have their backs and protect them. How could he not? They didn't even fill his shirt!

"You good LP?" Drake asked, snapping him out of his thought. "You stopped talking."

Was he talking? Oh right! He had been telling them about the adventures of Dewey as a fire-breathing dragon while he fixed their food. "Buh...Uh ye-yeah I'm good. Sorry about that."

"Where did you go?" Gosalyn asked around her mug.

"Where did I go? Did I leave the kitchen too?!" He hadn't thought he had left the room, but he wasn't paying attention. What if he did and he didn't know it?!

"What? No!" She snorted at his stricken expression. Her mug was set down so she wouldn't spill it as she clarified. "I meant what were you thinking about."

"Oh! Ok yeah that makes more sense." He wasn't one to lie, so he didn't and told them. "I was thinking about how small you two are."

Drake gave an indignant "hey!" in response while Gosalyn just giggled at how offended he got.

"I think it's the other way around LP," she said lightly. "You're big and so are your clothes. Look at this!" She gestured to the jacket surrounding her. "It's like, way bigger than me!"

"I guess so... hey! Speaking of my coat, can I have it back?"

"Nope!"

[soul-heart-and-beyond]

“ ...I guess that’s all over with, huh? No more people policing how other people live their lives, no more shadow cabinet determined to wipe us all out, and now there’s practically no more secrets left to be kept... “

“ Hm, I suppose I can get used to it, as long as there’s something good waiting out there for me us! “

[tomyo]

Ducktales 2017 is gonna have me crying.

I haven't been able to watch the series due to college taking away too much times but I've been happy to finally get a chance to catch up and I'm slain. What gets me the most is the casualness of the world. They keep it fantastical and immediately fill it with a wide cast ranging from greek gods, superheros, and the supernatural but it never feels zany. Gearloose has been a favourite example of this, he is literally a mad scientist unable to really function with greater society. He has almost no empathy, curses society for misunderstanding him while also trying to appeal to investors and reasonably attempts to fire his intern when he's out of order. There's just something so bizarrely grounded in a way I can't fully place, sometimes it's show don't tell being well used, sometimes subtext, and sometimes just that they don't pause for dramatic effect. Before you know it, the horse with a statue head or the ghosts of Christmas just feel natural.

In interesting ways that feeling reflects the Duck family. When I think about it, Ducktales 2017 is pretty align with Venture Bros. A family known for adventures and the real ways the out there can be normalized. Everyone in the cast is capable of fighting and out manuvering their opponent. Season one's finale really shows it off as you watch chauffers, trained spies, and office workers quickly turn into a specialized tactical unit. I remember before being able to watch it being mystified and going frame by frame through webby's fighting. Remember Sokka's iconic fight against his master, how the master highlights each skill that makes the choreography so beautiful? Weeby and Magica are doing all of that and it's not even the focus of what they're doing. This is someone she's never even faced and not only keep low to stay out of range but even uses Magica's own barrier against her and slide behind her. There's something just so ingenious about that.

What particularly stands out to be too is Donald. I've always understood Donald Duck as the character who will get his comeupits in the end. Short tempered, self serving, cocky, and likely to be bested by the smart allec foil. He's the don't of the do/don't example. While he's certainly kinder I'm Ducktales, he's now presented as the helicopter parent who spoils everyone's fun. The text of the show says Donald isn't seen as cool, at least in the eyes of his nephews. The triplets are clearly now the main character (as apposed to scrounge in the previous interaction) and we can even see this by the fact they've now been given normal voices to be easier to hear. The juxtaposition the reboot is presenting us is how they as newcomers see their mudane uncle against the adventurous, eccentric, and wealthy head of the clan great uncle as well as other family members or associates.

But what's mostly crazy about this is they continue to see him as that. Even as they continues to learn not only of Scrooge but Donald's exploits, his casual greeting to a Greek god that idolizes him, taking command when there's a reason to fight, etc. He's still the lame one in their eyes.

So then we get to the latest episode I saw, Last Christmas, and it overwhelms me.

The boys have not known what it was like to grow up in the duck clan and we can really see that gap in this episode. Mind you, Dewey recently took part in defeating a witch out for world domination. He immediately drags Teen Donald along to find his mom and something to note is he leaves through the window of a stories high mansion and makes it to the ground in a few leaps. So it sets the standard for Donald's much higher skill.

The most obvious difference is how Donald's just willing to lick what could be his sister's blood. He's not even speculative, he's just unimpressed. Like he says, adventuring is juvenile to him. Where Dewey tumbles down a hill of snow, he slides with ease; when Dewey hides from the monster, Donald climbs up a tree like it's second nature and begins attacking the wendigo. The one that especially gets to me is when Della cuts them down. The striking image of his arms apathetically dangling, the hair flip, how I bothered he is at the idea of fighting with a guitar shifting around on his shoulder. It's really such an anime sense, like the slightly unhinged OP character you find.

I also want to deviate a moment to talk about Della's appearance, how she grapples the net trap with ease and talks about capturing one of the most well known fairy tale figures like she was trying to find just some rabbit or such. The twins almost kind of have the feeling of kids of doomsday preppers. That uncanny feeling of watching children feel so familiar with survival skills and tacticion even adults have lost touch with.

The dropdown shows not only the twins skill level over Dewey but also their relationship in their lineage. Again to gush over teen Donald's animation, he drops down with hardly any brace for impact, only briefly having his hand on the ground before getting up in a limp relaxed stance and an unfocused expression. Della on the other hand immeadia adjust herself into a proper fighting position showing her eagerness to fight as she delivers a challenge. It really solidifies what we know about them, how she always is after the next journey while he kind of sees it as there's better things he could be doing. And this carries through how he prioritized raising and keeping the triplets safe even more so than their mother had.

Like I mentioned before, the mcduck clan and the Ventures share a lot in common with how a famous patriarch defines the identity of the family as well as how each family member takes to that role laid out before them. For a lot of shows, the spectacle of concepts brought up in Ducktales would big it down and I actually see it a benefit to characters often being nonplused and capable when faced with daunting obstacles. But in some ways that suggests a general ennui for the clan. The mcducks/ducks are estranged from the rest of duckville and have numbed themselves over time. We see Rusty Venture deal with the consequences of having an unstructured and unsafe upbringing but rarely is it brought up in Ducktales (which to be fair it's a kid show even for as emotionally mature as it is). Della's disappearance was just the one tragedy where things went too far.

By the end we see the twins not even theorize but call out Dewey as a future relative and know protocol enough to stop him from revealing anything. I saw another user point out how sad it actually is when it's shown Donald remembers this night and what it must of meant as he raised the kid he met. But it also says a lot that in that moment as kids that Dewey clearly was emotional over Della and how foreboding it would be to have an unknown they needed to be warned about with not even a when to put it to. When you think of how even Webby says she's hardly known other kids before the boys, it apparent how isolating this home must be. When Dewey first finds Donald, the hallway he's in looks rundown, like the room was out of the way in a less used section of the house. That maybe the twins rarely saw other people.

At the end, Dewey returned along with his uncle as both realize how nice it would be to stay with all their loved ones singing carols next to a painting of Della's legacy while Donald and Della only have each other to be with as the huge portrait of Scrooge hangs over them.

[vhs-ghost]

DT Season 3 Episode Thoughts:

Just a short review of every Season 3 Episode because why not (no spoilers, its just long lol):

Just a short review of every Season 3 Episode because why not: 1 Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks! Pretty good. Didn’t like it as a season premiere tho, just would have preferred Quack Pack to start season 3. Happy for a Huey centered beginning tho. And set up the journal and FOWL well. 2 Quack Pack! Great episode. The designs we so good. Loved Huey breaking the 4th wall in Abed fashion. Just really enjoyable. Also side note, this is my favorite Launchpad look in the series. I love him in the pilots hat and on top of that I love the color palette. That goes for everyone else too. Love those bright 90s colors. 3 Double-O-Duck in You Only Crash Twice! If I had a nickel and every time a Disney cartoon took my favorite character (who has red hair) and gave him a weird James Bond 180 degree character change with a dumb voice and a suit, I’d have 2 nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice (the other one is Bashful from the 7D). I like it because it’s got Launchpad. A lot of Launchpad. And that’s all I’ll say. 4 The Lost Harp of Mervana! Pretty good. Love when Donald’s around. I liked that the harp moved along the secret Webby plot. A fun episode. 5 Louie's Eleven! We got Daisy in this episode, which is a major win. This DonDaisy is so so good. For the rest of the ep, I wish Huey had been part of the scheme more. I just like it when my boys are together. It was nice to see the 3 Caballeros even tho I preferred their first episode. Mark Beaks was kinda funny in this episode. Enjoyable, but I seriously missed Huey. 6 Astro B.O.Y.D.! It made me cry. I don’t think there’s anything else to say. (Seriously an amazing episode. I love Huey, Gyro, Fenton, and Boyd. So fantastic). 7 The Rumble for Ragnarok! A good episode if I recall. Huey got the animation budget in this episode. The fights were meh but I enjoyed the triplets in this one. Also enjoyed Launchpad knowing a lot about something (other than Darkwing of course). 8 The Phantom and the Sorceress! Aaaaaand here’s where I stop having a good time. A boring ep after a long hiatus. Magica annoyed me, Gladstone bored me, and I really used to like Webby but I can hardly stand Webby-centered episodes anymore. 9 They Put a Moonlander on the Earth! I don’t like Penumbra very much and Webby was annoying. I also don’t like seeing LP making a fool of himself (and putting the kiddos at risk in the process). HOWEVER, I like pretty much having confirmation that Penumbra is a lesbian. 10 The Trickening! Was a let down. Would have been more fun earlier on in the series I think. I also can’t believe LP is THAT dumb. It was painful. 11 The Forbidden Fountain of the Foreverglades! I really loved seeing Goldie. Such good scroldie content with good kisses. A fun ep with an interesting concept but I had WAY too many questions about how no one was suspicious after tons and tons of college kids go missing over like, many years. Super dark. 12 Let's Get Dangerous! Absolutely amazing. Best episode of the season by far. One of the best in the show. I just really really love Darkwing Duck and the Mallard/McQuack family brings me incredible joy. 13 Escape from the ImpossiBin! Solid ep. The ending where everyone is calling Scrooge with what was stolen SLAPPED. Also the rooftop showdown and Donald being just the fucking best. 14 The Split Sword of Swanstantine! Liked the dynamics of the children. Enjoyed Lena and The Duke and Louie and Violet. Those parts were great. I feel like I didn’t need more Dewey Webby friendship stuff like the others were so much more unpredictable. Still not my favorite episode tho. 15 New Gods on the Block! Great because it had Daisy. I just wanted DonDaisy content. 16 The First Adventure! A very cute episode. I just love seeing Donald and Della as kids. A fun episode and I really enjoyed it. 17 The Fight for Castle McDuck! Boring and a let down. Not nearly as interesting or good as the other episode that took place at Castle McDuck. 18 How Santa Stole Christmas! I did not care for this one at all. I would have preferred not actually ever knowing more of Scrooge’s hatred towards Santa. I enjoyed the mystery. If anything, I would have preferred the whole family to save Christmas like they did at the end. Also, why is Scrooge such a dick sometimes? Like you think he’s getting better and then gave everyone coal. Like come on, man. 19 Beaks in the Shell! Not my favorite, but definitely not the worst. I missed Fenton. He and Gandra were pretty cute I guess. Love that Huey content. The best scene was Louie pretending to be Huey. Needed more Gyro. Mark is hella annoying and a shit villain now. 20 The Lost Cargo of Kit Cloudkicker! Liked Kit. Disliked everything else. Weird Dewey arc. Needed Launchpad. 21 The Life and Crimes of Scrooge McDuck! Could have been so much better. I feel no sympathy for Magica. Scrooge isn’t blameless for things tho like he was a dick for a long ass time and still has dickish tendencies. I hate Doofus why did the episode have Louie apologizing to him???? Bad! Just a weird episode. 22 The Last Adventure! TBD but I really hope it’s good. I don’t wanna get my hopes up too high tho.

[animation-recaps-by-sean]

DuckTales-The Trickening! Recap

Halloween comes to Duckburg as Team McDuck deals with the holiday in their own way. Spoilers below.

I love Halloween. I love ghost stories, haunted houses, and pumpkins. I was excited when DuckTales announced that they were doing an Halloween episode and it did not disappoint.

Webby dresses as a monster she believes inspired halloween, Huey is dressed as Gizmoduck, Dewey is in an eyepatch and a hawaiian shirt or as he calls it ‘pirate on vacation’, Louie just wears Huey’s hat. The four of them go trick or treating and I’m a little sad Della isn’t going with them. I get that they're properly old enough to go on their own, but this is Della’s first Halloween with her kids.

Scrooge meanwhile, shuts down the manor having no hand outs; he does leave an empty bowl with a take one sign. Scrooge is going trick or treating as he never misses an opportunity for a challenge or free stuff. This leaves Donald and Della, who rock angel and devil respectively, in a pinch as they wanted to hand out candy and host a haunted house. They decide to hit up Launchpad.

Meanwhile, Louie talks everyone into going to the Hazel House, a haunted house where all the kids drop their candy in terror. The house is named after the witch from the classic Donald Duck short Trick or Treat. Louie figures since they have a ghost butler, other ghosts shouldn’t be any trouble. That assessment is quickly proven false when they run into evil puppets of themselves.

Back with Donald and Della, they go to Launchpad to find the place barricaded. Launchpad has don a hockey mask and is attacking anything that gets close. He realizes how it is and lets them in. He tells them that as a child he wandered into the Hazel House and read a spell and unleashed demons. He actually read the ingredients off a candy wrapper and noticed trick or treaters. I guess that Launchpad parents kept him sheltered since he doesn’t know what halloween is. Della thinks it’s great since Launchpad actually attacking children will make them much more scared. Maybe it’s a good thing she didn’t go with the kids. She does have a change of heart once she sees Launchpad attack kids with actual power tools.

Meanwhile the kids are attacked by a monster clown, a puppet, the girl from the ring, and a bunch of tentacles. But it turns out that it is actually a werewolves, a puppet, a witch, and the tentacles were Frankenstien’s limbs in costumes.  They are dressing up as more modern monsters to keep up with the times which is a fun idea. I’ve seen classic monsters complain about new monsters but I’ve never seen them try dressing up as them. It’s a fun idea.  

They scare kids to drop candy but since the kids went here first they have no candy to drop. So the monsters decide to eat the kids.

Launchpad busts in along with Donald, Della, and Scrooge. And the monsters surrender. The kids teach Launchpad about Halloween, and Scrooge does give his candy to trick or treaters and the monsters. He charges them of course.

I really enjoyed the Halloween episode. Great moment between Huey and Louie where Huey is mad at Louie because he doesn't want a lifetime of candy. It’s about the trick or treating. It was one of their first adventures they could do before they met Scrooge.

3 ½ out of 4

[whirlwott]

linking back to what i last said....

( quick summary: huey getting bullied & that possibly being a episode plot with della or boyd or someone )

i’ve been trying to think about what the arcs could be for huey, dewey & louie in season 3 and maybe this is hueys? maybe it’s too early to tell, but huey feeling left out and alone could be a very crucial factor of his character development this season. obviously, as seen in astro boyd, it’s clear that huey isn’t exactly popular and is bullied for his love for the junior woodchucks and everything being perfect. maybe his arc in season 3 could be to do with him being left out and needing to realise he’s perfect the way he is.

it’s also kind of shown in challenge of the senior junior woodchucks that huey wants to prove himself and be successful at something. because he doesn’t have a lot of friends / sometimes is made fun of, he feels the need to be the best at something to prove he’s not a loser. he’s desperate to beat violet, even going out of his way to disregard the woodchuck rules, something he lives his life around, to finally get people to see he’s talented and worth appreciating. it’s also seen slightly in the internal internship of mark beaks as huey competes against dewey for the spot as an intern with mark beaks. he so desperately wants this internship, to show he’s successful and worth sometimes and when dewey comes along and manages to do better than him without trying, he feels sad and unwanted - like what he’s doing is pointless and that the situation is unfair.

being in a family, especially one like his, when there’s so many of them, it’s got to be so hard for him to get attention. for example, look at dewey. dewey is easily the most alike the rest of his family, besides donald, scrooge, della & dewey all crave adventure. dewey loves to explore and go on daring quests and would do anything to go on them. he tries to find an adventure in everything he does and because of his talkative and outgoing personality, he gets attention. huey, as much as he adores adventure, doesn’t get the exact same thrill from it. he likes the adventures bc he can use his junior woodchuck skills on them and he likes a challenge and none of his family are exactly like him like dewey is della & scrooge. now, while louie doesn’t exactly enjoy adventuring and would much rather stay at home, he wants to be rich like scrooge. his adventure is wanting to become as successful as scrooge so they both relate to each on that part. and louie got the attention from della at the end of season 2 when he went back in time. della now understands how louie acts even though he doesn’t exactly relate to the family. whilst scrooge is smart and della was a junior woodchuck, they don’t share the same love that huey does for the group & book. huey is also the eldest sibling, which means that he feels he has to be the responsible one and lead for dewey & louie, this is a normal older sibling trait. but it’s especially seen in huey because of all the personality in his family so he feels he has to show he’s the elder sibling, he just wants to be appreciated. so because huey feels like he can’t relate as much to his family, he really likes hanging out with fenton at the lab, they relate to each other; they’re both under appreciated, fenton by gyro and huey by his family.

after we have seen astro boyd, we’ve seen how huey truly feels. huey clearly isn’t popular amongst his other junior woodchucks and doesn’t have a lot of friends. but now, we’ve got boyd. when huey meets boyd, he’s excited to finally have someone who understands him - boyd is the friend who huey has been waiting for. boyd likes to follow along with the guidebook and boys likes to show he’s smart, even though he’s a robot and just comes smart. throughout the episode, we see huey going out of his way to prove that boyd isn’t evil. he constantly is trying to tell and show gyro that boyd is good because he’s just so happy to finally find someone like him. when they both go on their little adventure together, it’s clear huey is having more fun than he has had in a long time, finally with someone who enjoys all the same things as him.

here’s a quote from astro boyd between boyd and huey:

huey: are you sure you’re not bored? my brothers are usually begging me to stop. boyd: are you kidding? i’m having so much fun!

huey is so insecure about what everyone thinks and says that he feels like he’s making boyd annoyed too. he’s so used to everyone disregarding what he says that he doesn’t believe that boyd is actually having fun. he’s become accustomed to him not being important and everyone finding him irritatating that when boyd says he’s enjoying himself, huey is elated. he even goes and sticks the photo of him and boyd into his junior woodchuck guide, the one thing he would never tamper with. he values and appreciates his friendship with boyd so so much that he spends the entire episode proving he’s good. he’s so happy when he’s finally fully good at the end, showing he was right all along and his friendship with boyd is here to stay.

so huey’s arc, where from here? i’d definitely love to see more of his friendship with boyd and then getting to make more amazing memories together. his arc could be him figuring out that he’s perfect the way he is. as sad as it’s gonna be, possibly seeing huey being bullied more may be a good thing for his character. in an episode, he could maybe be bullied so much that he completely disses the idea of being a junior woodchuck completely. he changes himself and tries to be more “normal”. obviously, his family will be very confused and wonder what’s up with him. boyd could also be featured in this episode and maybe even huey gets mad at him? like boyd continuously tries to talk to him about what’s going on until suddenly huey just shouts at him and tells him being a woodchuck and following rules is stupid. this episode could also be a good chance to see della’s maternal instincts kick in. she’s going to want to sort out what’s wrong with huey and she could be pestering him and suddenly he just snaps and cries. this is a whole new field of experience for della and as much as she’s going to want to beat those kids up, she’s going to have be mature and comfort huey. we could get such a heart warming scene and i’m honestly tearing up just thinking about it. maybe even dewey & louie could step in an comfort huey, telling him that they love him just the way he is and they could apologise for “always begging” huey to stop. PLUS i would very much like to see them and webby destroy the bullies like yes :)

at the end of the season, we could finally see huey being happy with himself and much less insecure. maybe his woodchuck skills could be the way f.o.w.l is stopped??? 🤔🤔

idk these are just some ideas whirring in my head but i just hope that huey gets the best arc possible

anyways,,,, i love huey duck the end 🥺