#edit: had to remove 3 uses of Swiftly in 1 paragraph lmao

[shinygoku]

i can't seem to get this to let me send a nice image again... but (at your leisure) can you do Duck for the character ask? ♥

First impression

Huh, with a name like Duck, I expected him to be more avian. And maaan, what is up with the shape he has??

Impression now

Ah right, that's a Pannier Tank Engine, and they just Look like that lol. Still unsure about the alleged Waddle motion, maybe cause I ain't seen enough of these babies in motion.

Anyhoo, while I can absolutely see why he's a big fan favourite, I'm a bit more ambivalent, personally. I still Like him, but I wouldn't put him in my assortment of Most Beloved.

Favourite moment

His arc with Diesel, natch! Again, more than a singular moment, but the whole shebang with buildup, fallout and resolution is one of the series' biggest Turning Points and Duck himself is on top form. Though I gotta shout out to A Close Shave for being him centric and damn cool 🦆😎

Idea for a story

Hmmm.... the order of these points may compromise the mild surprize that's possible, so I'll answer this in the last section ;3

Unpopular opinion

Other than my rather "yeah he's fine lol" mild reaction to him? :P

I vastly, and I do mean Pretty Dang Vast, prefer how he looks in the book illustrations where he has a black smokebox bordering his face. On the whole I adore the TV show's models, but his circular face on the massive green slab ends up kinda offputting. Maybe that's also a factor in my lower key reception of him too, haha

But seriously, compare these book illustrations, which is more harmonious with the other characters to you?

Favourite relationship

Ahh geeze, I ain't given it much thought.... unleeessss [see Headcanon Section]

Also shout out for (initially at least) being Diesel's Arch Enemy, even if that kinda drifts away with the TV show and time.

Favourite headcanon

Ok, here we go... this is all pretty much your own doing, Jobey!

It may not have been your intent, but I'm starting to think Duck is one corner of a Platonic Love Triangle, with the other end being Thomas, and the mutual object of their ....friendship[?] is Percy. I better draw a Diagram lol (Also no, it's not a shipping thing lol)

So like... Duck was brought in specifically to help Percy out, they get along well and have a lot of stories/episodes together. Eventually Percy is put on the Ffarquhar, or "Thomas' Branch Line" and the amount of time Duck spends with Percy promptly plummets. Related is that I genuinely can't think of any stories where Thomas and Duck interact in a meaningful capacity. It seems whenever those two are in the same scene and it's not a swift drive by cameo, it's because Percy is there.

It makes me start to wonder if Duck and Thomas have any particular thoughts on the other, or just the low key 'yeah he's not actively a dick to me so we're cool'. Is it out of character to Headcanon Duck as being somewhat jealous of Thomas, simply for whisking Percy away? It sounds rather more silly written out than in my head asfsjkd

But like, I'm thinking of eps like All At Sea, where Thomas doesn't feature until right at the end (irl prolly a Studio Mandate lol) but it makes me wonder if Duck himself is thinking "Oh smeg, it's Thomas. Can't he stay up by the quarry for once? He's always everywhere!"

And weirdly, cause it's from Season Six of all things, is the ep Scaredy Engines. I flip flop on whether I like how it plays the exact same Moral from Percy and the Dragon again, but with Percy and Thomas' roles swapped from the other ep, or if I think it's inferior to said Dragon ep. However, the role Duck plays in Scaredy is very interesting...

So Thomas was being kinda a dick in the ep, teasing Percy about being scared, so Duck takes on the Karmic Trickster mantle that had been left behind for several TV eps by now, and arranges for Thomas to get scared back. The thing is, while he's pleased with a job well done, Percy is still concerned when Thomas doesn't reappear at the Fireworks show, so he leaves Duck and finds Thomas back at the sheds instead.

Yeah, I could very easily read into this lol. Duck's plan to avenge Percy by proxy worked, but also backfired, as Percy himself went off towards the guy who, certainly from Duck's Point of View, should have been left licking his wounds alone and feeling the weight of The Lesson soak in. Duck has again been jilted by Percy in favour of Thomas, even though Duck in particular sees Thomas' actions as Jerkish. Percy is much more willing to forgive this and see a lack of malicious intent, this is the kind of ribbing they share, and Thomas actually hiding scared is enough to get Percy to seek him out.

I may just be overreading, of course, but the tl;dr of this is that I think Duck and Percy have a pretty conventional Nice to Each Other Friendship, but Percy spends more time with Thomas and they have a relationship that can look screwy to outsiders (I again refer to You, Jobey, and that you said Thomas and Percy bring out each other's worst traits lol) but they pretty much muddle along as best buds anyway. I can see Duck being jealous but determined enough to stay civil and professional, even if internally he's always a bit annoyed when Thomas rolls in somewhere and takes Percy's attention.

Man, that got long!

And I still have the Fanfic Idea for here! But don't worry, it's related:

Basically something that examines this a bit more, but the meat of it being Thomas and Duck actually directly talking about it and maybe coming away with a better understanding of each other. Could be one'a them Locked In A Room Together type of situations, like a particularly poorly planned path by the sea that gets covered by high tide or whatever. Bonus points if Percy catches some of this without them realising and is like "what in the hell are those two dumbasses rabbiting on about. Me??? Oh god"

Bonus: Duck says Thomas is welcome to have Diesel as his arch enemy instead lol

That's all I have now, sorry Duck stans for not talking about The Great Western! 🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆