THIS WAS SUPOSSED TO BE FINISHED TWO DAYS AGO, I'M THE WORST.
According to the episode "beware the B.U.D.D.Y system" Launchpad's B-day its on September 18, and if I'm not wrong the date on his driver's license is also the actual date the original ducktales premiered.
SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BOTH, DUCKTALES AND LAUNCHPAD. I don't care i'm posting this like three days later.
Also I'm popping in here to show off a delightful little easter egg from Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System
Heehee, look under the rearview mirror ;) Wonder who that could be~
Oh my fucking god
Fenton made a bargain with Bill because Bill wanted access to the lab
to build a portal
When do we get the episode where Gizmoduck gets knocked out in his suit and then "wakes up" with yellow eyes
I'm wondering how this featured into his safety advice to Launchpad. "And if all else fails and you think you're gonna die: make eye contact with this post-it and plea for help. Sometimes it works!"
So, in this post and this post, I talked about how alike Gyro and Gandra are, and some missed opportunities for them to interact.
But then I read a drabble that inspired me to realize a couple other interesting ways they could interact/bond, maybe even if there was a fourth season, which I can't believe I didn't think of (@writebackatya, what's your opinion on this?):
(1) Gyro and Gandra sort of bonding over how much they both hated Bradford (Gyro hated him because he always turned down his inventions and denied him funding, seeing his projects as dangerous and unorthodox with his track record of them turning evil; Gandra probably hated him because he was an uptight, narrow-minded, creepy old capitalist, who was full of shit about not being evil/wanting F.O.W.L. to take over the world for the 'greater good', and was the most prominent reminder of circumstances she felt trapped in from a combination of a difficult life and her own poor choices).
What's interesting is that Gandra must have gotten paid decently from Bradford if she was making enough to live off of and secretly build the GizmoCloud with Fenton (and I assume Fenton was also using part of his own wages from his respective jobs as Gizmoduck and his new f/t position in the lab ever since Gyro promoted him from intern). But Bradford doesn't strike me as the kind who would pay his agents very generously (not unlike Scrooge), especially since he considered them all part of the chaos and unpredictability he sought to eliminate from the world (which was made clear in 'The Last Adventure' when he revealed he actually intended to get rid of his own team once he finally made sure Scrooge was no longer a threat to his grand plans). And before it was revealed in the last episode that Bradford considered even the rest of F.O.W.L. too much of a threat to his planned New World Order, Gandra told Huey in 'Beaks In the Shell':
“My whole life, I’ve tried to push the boundaries of science, but that means people don’t always get what you’re doing. Super-science can be dangerous. It’s why I ended up having to experiment on myself… and why the only people who fund my work are villains who don’t care how much destruction I cause.”
Also, assuming Bradford did pay his people decently, I can see Gyro being kind of grudging and jealous, thinking Bradford to be a total hypocrite after all the times he rejected his own inventions for causing too much destruction. (Gyro: Hypocritical old buzzard! *Dryly joking* I could have joined F.O.W.L. if I'd known of their existence. Why didn't he think to recruit me, the greatest mind in Duckburg and the world? / Gandra: You remember he planned to destroy all his agents after defeating Scrooge, right?)
(2) Gyro and Gandra half-jokingly agreeing with each other about their disdain over the name of her and Fenton's VR space "GizmoCloud" (in 'Beaks In the Shell', Gandra wasn't impressed with the name of their project, which was Fenton's idea). Although Gyro never actually said what he thought of the name, I can see him also not being a fan of it. It would've been a fun callback to when Gyro said Gizmoduck was a stupid name in season 1's 'Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System' if they said something like "GizmoCloud. I'll never get used to that name" / "That's what I thought!"
A ship I have with said character: Fendra. He and Gandra Dee are perfect, no notes
A BROTP I have with said character: Launchpad McQuack, I liked their dynamic in Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System!, both have this positive energy that I find contagious
A NOTP I have with said character: Mark Beaks. What with his culture appropriation and all that other nonsense
A random headcanon: Is secretly an excellent rapper
General Opinion over said character: Nicest guy in all of DuckTales, would drive you to the airport even if he had a million other things to do, just a solid guy
I think we’re kinda done with character asks by this point. But okay, fine.
20. A weird headcanon
Just as he has gotten Beakley into Darkwing Duck, Beakley has gotten him into British drama shows.
21. When do you think they were at their happiest?
I’ll say either in Let’s Get Dangerous!, after he, Drake, and Gosalyn came together for the first time, really, as a family, or in The Last Adventure!, when everyone was cheering him on after he put on the Gizmosuit.
22. When do you think they were at their lowest?
In Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System!, after he lost the driving contest, got humiliated, and ended up losing his job (along with Fenton).
23. Future headcanon
After Launchpad starts working more on Darkwing-related stuff, Scrooge allows him more flexibility working for him so that he doesn’t have to run himself into the ground work-wise. It’s not exactly uncommon for there to be weeks where Launchpad doesn’t work in Duckburg at all. He still tries to update Scrooge as much as he can, though.
When I got to know him for the first time, he was an interesting character. The way he wanted to do his best for everything and for Gyro was so interesting. When I learn more about Fenton I figured out that he just wanted to make Gyro proud like a proud father.
7) A Quote I Remember
"Blathering Blatherskite" is a quote that always pop in my head when I think about Fenton who is Gizmoduck. It is quite obvious.
14) The Best Storyline They Had
"Call me Gizmoduuuuuuuuuuuuck!" is the best storyline he had when he got crashed by the car when he was introduced in the episode "Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System!" . It was funny 😂.
20) A Weird Headcanon
This is my first year with the DuckTales 2017 fandom so I don't really know that much headcanons about Fenton so Im skipping this note. Sorry. 😐
For my very first poll I have decided to do something that requires more than 10 options/choices and because there can only be one poll per post there will be multiple posts that all have to do with the same poll. This poll will be about which DuckTales (2017) episode you consider to be the best in the entire series. So if the episode you consider the best isn’t on this particular poll, don’t worry because there will be multiple posts that may have the episode you’re looking for on there. All the episode polls will end around the exact same time. Even though there will multiple posts with a poll dealing with which DuckTales (2017) episode you consider to be the best, please treat this as a single poll and vote for one episode only. For example if the episode you’re looking for is here and you voted for it on this poll, please don’t go to the other posts to vote for an episode that’s on that poll. Have fun! 😊 ❤️ 🦆
A few days ago I was randomly reminded of the scene in 'Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System' when Gyro immediately shot down Dewey's idea of building a self-driving robot car, because he said it had too many variables and would turn evil too quickly.
Anyway I got to thinking it was almost strange how fast he came to that conclusion, and it might just be how smart he is that he was immediately able to recognize that, or maybe he's built a self-driving robot car before and it's turned evil.
OR another- heart breaking- possibility is it's something Gyro's considered, but decided not to do because of how it would go bad fast. Which means Gyro has stopped trying with some inventions.
That he's had ideas that he's liked and wanted to build, but have given up on them because he knows he can't do it the right way. Because he's too afraid of the robot going evil and being a let-down to him.
...And further proving to himself that he's evil, if all he can make are evil machines.
And not only is that just so saddening in itself but what makes it even sadder is that even the inventions that Gyro has decided to take a chance on still go evil, which must've crushed his spirits even more.
How often do you think Quackerjack goes to the dentist?
Judging by how pleasantly well kept and gleaming those teeth are, I'd have to assume either quite often, or he practices oral hygiene very well and probably flosses more than anyone else does. Also, he brushes his little chattering teeth, so I assume he'd at least take care of his own as well.
I actually, interestingly enough, had this elaborate headcanon for DT17!QuackerJack that stems entirely on the possibility that the in-universe actor for the in-universe version of DWD was the one who might have been injured on set during one of the stunts (perhaps a spiral fractured femur or a lower back injury), retired from acting because of said injury, and later studied and became a pediatric dentist, where he can still make children smile, and has a basket of toys to give out the the patients as well as the pay for this sort of job would help cover the expenses of the consequences of the injury he had, and also it would be a job he could sit down at and not constantly agitated the old injury as much. Also, swivel chair, that's important.
His name would be "Mike Bill", to emulate the naming convection of Jim Starling.
Mostly based around this segment in "Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System" episode:
In which QuackerJack eats the pavement and doesn't move for the rest of the scene. So I thought maybe he was who Jim was referring to with the quip "one little boo boo, and they fall right to pieces" in the later episode. Co-star gets hurt, leaves the show, others follow suit, budget drops, no one will answer casting call because word gets out that Jim injured another actor during a stunt on accident, and that leads to Jim having to do all the acting and shoddy editing for the final episode that he was screening at the furniture store?
... Obviously, I didn't want to get my hopes up with such an elaborate thought, so I never really did much with the idea beyond writing it down to get it out of my head after the "The Duck Knight Returns" episode aired, since that all came about on one continuous train of thought. It's a curse. 👀
Anyway, dentists. I think QuackerJack probably either takes good enough care of his own teeth, or at the very least, someone in his family could be in the orthodontics profession.
... Then again, there is that one moment where his teeth straight up ran out of his face and while it might be a gag, it might also be hinting that he's got dentures from poor self care habits, and probably why his beak is way too soft here too, since that CAN'T be healthy.
Or it could just be a gag for the sake of being a gag. Because ha ha screaming teeth funny.
Who knows? This show never had any solid continuity, Darkwing's got like three origin stories that are likely fake.
Fenton's irresponsibility and inconsideration when it comes to Gyro
(Another repost from my defunct blog).
I adore Fenton. He's got such a heart of gold and he always has the best of intentions! Buuut despite his good intentions, he does tend to act without thinking and screw up… which is honestly adorable in his over-eagerness and his thirst to please Gyro, to prove himself, and to help others, because he tries so hard and he feels so bad when things don’t go right. But he often comes across as very inconsiderate and irresponsible, and often seems downright oblivious to how his actions/behavior affects Gyro even when it's staring him in the face (tho he doesn't mean to). Here are all the times he did so in order:
Putting Gyro’s proprietary designs for Bulb-Tech online behind his back in an attempt to crowdfund a solution to his inventions turning evil and thus win his approval, resulting in it getting stolen- surprise, surprise- and Fenton didn't seem to even care about that (episode 'Beware the B.U.D.D.Y System', the first time he got fired):
Stealing Gyro's unstable prototype armor to prevent Gyro from scrapping it and seize his chance to finally make a difference... after he'd already just proven he was a danger to himself and Duckburg when he tested it earlier without Gyro's approval/supervision to near-disastrous results, thus defeating the whole purpose of wanting to help others (episode 'Who Is Gizmoduck?', the second and last time he got fired):
Forgetting about Gyro- who'd been captured and tossed away by Magica, and never even regrouped with the Ducks and the rest of Team Science- during and after the Shadow War (episode 'The Shadow War'):
(Fenton grabbing Gyro's fallen blaster- which he'd dropped after being captured- and joining Manny and Lil Bulb in fighting the shadows, seeming to not wonder or care what happened to Gyro before he joined the fray)
(Fenton forgetting about the still-missing Gyro after the Shadow War- as did everyone else- and celebrating victory with them, not seeming to care or wonder what happened or if he was ok)
Taking over the lab for a date behind Gyro's back- and letting a total stranger and potential security threat into Gyro's private lab, no less- letting his friends lock Gyro inside a closet, and then forgetting all about Gyro still locked up by the end of the night and seemingly not caring that the lab totally got destroyed because of his selfish actions (episode 'The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee'):
(Poor Gyro escaping from the closet where he'd been trapped for hours, seeing Fenton there working on a project like nothing happened; and I go more into detail about that here and here)
(Gyro: *seeing the destruction* "WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!")
Taking off with Boyd in Tokyolk in an attempt to prove he wasn't dangerous, as though he understood Gyro's own inventions more than Gyro did; just like with the prototype suit of armor in 'Who Is Gizmoduck?', it was extremely reckless (episode 'Astro B.O.Y.D.'):
Fenton means well and all, but... well, don't get me wrong, I honestly love just what a flawed character he is! It makes him not only more adorable, but more relatable. They could've so easily turned him into an annoying Gary Stu, but they didn't. But sometimes he just needs a serious shake! Plus, I'm a bit protective of my boi Gyro...
(But seriously, I always just want to slap him in 'The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee'; that was the one time he acted purely selfishly).