#the idea that the mcducks are triplets make a lot of sense

[fistfightinganxietyandlosing]

A post-finale Webby, May, and June centric episode idea I think is neat

🦆

- May and June get accepted as part of the family pretty quickly

- Instead, it's them who take a bit longer to warm up to the others

- Not that they particularly dislike the Mcducks. It's just that they don't want a repeat of the Bradford-Heron situation, having to constantly strive to earn love and affection

- Yes, they were happy when Donald suggested them joining him and Daisy on their trip, but that was mostly due to relief that they'd be taken care of

- Webby notices how distant they are from the rest of the family and encourages them to bond with the others but to an excessive degree

- While she has learnt a lot in the time she's spent in the outside world, Webby still spent at least a decade with no one but her Granny and Scrooge who she hardly saw. I don't think she'd gain perfect social skills that fast. Sure, she's more capable now, but she's not exactly great in social situations and doesn't comprehend others' emotions well

- She doesn't really understand why May and June are reluctant to participate in family bonding or why instead of referring to the Mcducks as their family, they call them "the people we're currently staying with" and they don't tell her why either because they know how much she loves the Mcducks

- Webby confides her worries with the triplets who, being more socially aware, tell her that they probably just aren't ready yet

- She's very confused by this. Webby has wanted nothing but a family for years so it makes sense that she wouldn't get why May and June wouldn't immediately be thrilled at having one

- She goes to overboard trying to show them how amazing having a family as big and diverse as theirs is. Very overboard. The in-your-face kind

- Webby takes them around Duckburg(and beyond), enlisting the help of whichever family member is usually at the location she brings her sisters to

- They go to all sorts of locations like the lab where Webby forces Gyro(and Fenton but he's onboard from the get go) to go along with her plan; St Canard where she talks Drake into being involved; the library where Violet is persuaded to help; and Ithaquack, Webby getting even the gods to join her scheme

- Unfortunately for her, chaos ensues at every stop, leaving her panicking because maybe she's only convinced them to avoid the family even more

- May and June are frustrated too but for a different reason. Webby's just being too pushy. They understand what she's trying to do, but it's not helping. They need time to process everything that happened with FOWL

- This culminates in them saying exactly that, having had enough of Webby being so determined to get them to instantly be ready to join the family

- Webby realizes just how overbearing she's been and runs off by herself. Della ends up having a heart to heart with her. She knows what it's like to be to pushy with the people you love because of how enthusiastic you are to see relationships blossom(see: Nothing can stop Della Duck). She tells Webby that although she's excited, strong relationships take time and that she needs to give May and June time to find their places within the family just like she did

- I think, as a nice callback to the Put a Moonlander on Earth episode where Webby has a conversation with Penumbra about her struggling to adjust to new things(being on Earth), it'd be cool if while Webby was having her own talk with Della, May and June were having one with our favorite Moonlander

- Penumbra can definitely relate to how May and June feel. She was extremely against giving Earth a chance after that failed date with Launchpad, but she eventually did and ended up really enjoying herself

- May and June end up realizing that while they're completely justified in needing time, they shouldn't close themselves off forever and be a bit more open to the idea of being a part of the family

- The girls end up reconciling and coming to an understanding. Will it take a while for May and June to be truly comfortable? Yes, but that doesn't mean they won't and they're willing to put in the effort to become it :)

- anw that's it!!

me basically

this was much longer than i expected it to be 😭

[astro-duck]

The finale of DuckTales is deeply flawed

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

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

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

A few important notes:

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

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

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

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

Actual Episode Criticism:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall:

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

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

[wyllathepeach]

Ok, so my anxiety really did not allow me to get this out earlier lol. Anyway:

TS songs as Ducktales Characters, part III: Webby Vanderquack

(I would like to apologize beforehand for the poor redaction you're about to read, neither google translation nor my brain was having it)

If I had to explain Webby's character, I would sum it up with the concept of belonging. Having grown up isolated from the world, only with her granny, Webby needs connection with someone. She needs to belong or connect so much that she becomes obsessed with every detail of the life of the only person she knows, Uncle Scrooge, in the hopes she finds her place in the McDuck family. But, even when she starts to become family, she envies the triplets' relationship for she cannot be part of such intimate bond. She then clings to Lena, the only relationship she formed on her own.

Webby also gives the impression that her desire for an intimate relationship is the reason she supports Dewey despite not agreeing with keeping the investigation about Della hidden: it is something that unites them both in an exclusive way. It would also help her even more to be part of the family: if she gets to be just like Scrooge, then she MUST belong to his family. All for at the end being cruelly reminded that she'll never be family by blood, and, even if she was, family relationships are not unbreakable (speaking exclusively from her point of view at the end of Last Crash). This is why she needs to bring the family together at the end of season 1: she has done so much to form a relationship with the family, but if the family isn't together then she doesn't belong anywhere.

On a separate point, it is this sense of belonging that she has with the family that leads her to give so much importance to her friends and gives them her complete trust. It is friendship that allows her to have a family and therefore makes no difference between family ties and friendships. Hence her blind attachment to Lena.

Season 2, although Webby doesn't have an active role, is consistent with the former idea in Golden Armory: again she needs to prove herself as an equal to the new family member to feel validated. However, after Last Crash she is never again pushed away or questioned as family and her belonging is reinforced again and again, as seen in Found Lamp, where Uncle Scrooge trusts her with an essential part of the adventure, the same goes for Rumble for Ragnarok.

I don't remember much (and I don't have anywhere to rewatch the series at the moment) about her role in season 3 outside the plot twist that I so dislike (and that in my opinion ruins the message of found family and makes her entire development seem pointless), but I do remember that her fear of abandonment is consistent for Fight for Castle McDuck.

Anyway, all this to say that the Taylor Swift song that would be Webby's anthem, in my opinion, would be The Outside.

I've seen other people relate her to Seven or You're on your own, Kid, and although Seven agrees with the idea of longing childhood innocence once it's lost by the maturity that comes with experience (as seen in Harp of Mervana), the lyrics of The Outside expand the idea of loneliness and feeling like you don't belong anywhere, as well as learning to observe people to look for ways to connect. The song was written about going to school and meeting all these new people and realizing that you won't connect with them and will end up isolated, no matter how much you can offer to a friendship. Just as Webby would never be blood related to the Duck/McDuck family, even though she began to relate to them at the same time they reconnected and her fear of the family pushing her aside eventually.

"The Outside"

So how can I ever try to be better? Nobody ever lets me in. And I can still see you, this ain't the best view: on the outside, lookin' in. I've been a lot of lonely places; I've never been on the outside.

Thank you for reading. Next one should be Huey, but who knows what will come out of that (ゝω・)ﾉ

[lemonsherbetsss]

Ok so! I have zero plan for how I’m writing this (probably a bad thing) but here is a post explaining (??) Angela Gearlooose and her backstory/lore !

This is Lengthyyyyyyyy I didn’t mean for it to be but yeah

for starters, she exists within the headcanon/au in which Scrooge is Gyro’s adoptive father and where Gyro lived and grew up with Donald, Della and Scrooge. Angela was hatched before Della had and hatched Huey, Dewey and Louie. Della and Donald were ecstatic to be her aunt/uncle but no one was as excited as Scrooge was to become a Grandpa.

The plan was that Gyro would raise Angel in the mansion alongside HDL when they hatched with the help of Scrooge, Donald and Della but this did not happen after the Spear Of Selene. Obviously they all went their separate ways (Gyro obviously still works with McDuck Ind. but his close relationship to his family is no longer intact) and didn’t really have any contact with each other (I say really as for Gyro, Scrooge is just of arms reach but again aren’t as close).

Gyro raises Angel on his own somewhat and I’ve played with multiple ideas which I’ll talk about but I’ll talk about the original ideas first!

The first and original idea was that if Gyro was far to busy, he would drop Angel off at the mansion and she would spend the day there under the watchful eyes of Beakley (i stan Gyro and Beakley friendship they are real, in this I’d imagine Gyro and Bentina already know each other -with him being a McDuck ofc- and she is quite fond of him, their relationship being kind of grandmother-grandson / mother-son if that makes sense) . While at the mansion, she would also make and be good friends with Webby (I think Webby is a bit older than the triplets canonically so they’d be the same age).

Whenever at the Mansion, Angel tries her best to stay out of Scrooge’s way, she doesn’t know her relation to him yet but she feels as if she’s a bit of a burden in the mansion and that she’s always intruding when she is there so she tries to keep her head down and be respectful. As for Scrooge, I feel he wouldn’t want to address Angela, like let her know who he is, build an actual relationship at all (yet) because are you kidding me bro didn’t even do that for HDL the only reason that happened was because of Beakley and their trouble making. Not to say that I don’t think Beakley wouldn’t urge him to get to know Angel (she probably would as like I said she did the same with the triplets) but yeah Angel and Scrooge keep their distance and Angel doesn’t know how or even the fact that they’re connected.

The way she comes across the knowledge that he is her Grandfather is through Webby (because she knows everything McDuck). The way it went in my original lore explanation I made on my Instagram highlights was really lame but briefly (although yes this is basically it) it was:

Webby: how come you get so quiet and reclusive whenever Mr McDuck is around?

Angela: I don’t know, he’s an adult I don’t know, it’s respectful I guess.

Webby: wait what? But he’s your Grandpa

Angela: he’s my what.

(Sucky ik but let’s just roll w it for now 😭😭)

She nervously and quietly asks Gyro about it and Gyro’s shocked because he didn’t really like tell her much about their past and other family as it basically has just been the two together as a family (looking back now it’s kinda dumb I had this because Gyro is a genius and his daughter is friends with the McDuck obsessed kid also Angela literally sometimes stays at the home of said McDuck but whatever). His explanation is just a vague ‘I’m sorry I’ve kept so much about our family from you, it’s hard to explain, something bad happened a long time ago and that’s why their family is like this (mysterious n broken lol) and Scrooge doesn’t mean to be the way he is and it’s just complicated’. I imagined that as a child and because she doesn’t know a lot about the situation and she doesn’t know any better, Angel would have like a tiny voice in her head that’s trying to convince her that she’s to blame for the rapture of her family but yeah 👍👍👍 that was the original idea.

One of the ideas I’ve played with was Launchpad helping Gyro out with raising Angel and become like an uncle figure to her (bc I also believe in Lp gyro friendship 💪💪). I feel Gyro’d just want to to do everything on his own (bc 1) being so hurt from everything and 2) being so stubborn) and, bc Lp is nearby -him working for Scrooge as well- Launchpad wants to be friends and eventually learns about Angela and wants to help. At first it’d be just Lp offering small favours (like offering to drive, hold things -perhaps if Gyro’s got a lot on his hands literally idk 😭😭- offering to bring things down to the lab, offering to buy him anything he needs, offering to watch Angel for a sec, etc.), to which Gyro refuses time and time again until one day he reluctantly accepted, much to Launchpad’s surprise. With Lp watching Angel Gyro would be extremely reluctant and hesitant (giving Launchpad’s clumsy nature) but he lets it happen and nothing goes wrong (maybe a broken cup or something that makes Gyro freak out if Angel’s ok for a bit before the reassurance that she’s fine from Lp) and he let’s Lp look after her more and they become closer and very much like family, the first family Gyro’s had kinda of like??? ‘Around’ ig since the spear of Selene

There’s more ideas but this post is already too long so ig I’ll talk abt it another day

So this is it lol 😭😭 this is probably really bad bc I don’t usually do stuff like this but like I realise I never actually share my oc lore to any places so it’s good have something down ig

Also I said in a post before that Gyro still works an unhealthy amount (coping ig) but finds a way to do it while caring for Angel I’ll link it here when I can lol

Edit: forgot to add but Angel spends most her freetime in the lab w her dad (idk if that’s important but ya)

[moonlight-inthesky]

You know, as I've been catching up on Ducktales, I started thinking about Scrooge and the dynamic he has with his sisters, specifically the changes in them.

Obviously, the biggest change that caught me off guard was Matilda becoming the youngest sibling, with Hortense persumably becoming the middle child. At first, I had no idea why they made this change, but then I soon started to think about it and I realized that the McDuck siblings might be parallels to the triplets.

More under the cut because this gets very long

Right off the bat, Scrooge and Matilda are both businesspeople, with Scrooge being a billionaire and Matilda just barely hanging on. From what little we know about Hortense, she apparently decided to settle down, marry, and have kids, with nothing suggesting she had a business as well.

Thinking about these aspects of the characters, as well as the changes in age order, made me think back to the duck triplets, with the changes made to their personalities in this iteration based on their age order, and of course I came to the logical conclusion that the McDuck siblings are supposed to be parallels to the duck triplets.

Think about it:

Scrooge and Huey, both the oldest, rely on their smarts to outsmart others and succeed. Also they wear red.

Matilda and Louie, both the youngest, are less than successful business owners and have to rely on schemes to succeed, and even then its not a guarantee. Matilda's shirt is also a yellowish-greenish color, and obviously Louie wears green.

And that leaves Dewey and Hortense, both the middle children. Again, we know next to nothing about Hortense. However, based on the patterns I found above, I may have an idea of what Hortense may be like as it will probably be revealed in future episodes.

Dewey, being the middle child, wants to stand out from his brothers, which explains why he so enthusiastic about adventure; he wants to make a name for himself and separate his identity from his brothers. Hortense, also probably being a middle child, might have had a similar problem, but taken to the opposite direction.

Okay, so we know Hortense started a family and apparently did not have a business, unlike her siblings (unless the theory that Ludwig's kids are also Matilda's is true), so those are the biggest differences. I'm thinking that Hortense wanted to separate her identity from her siblings by NOT standing out, a direct contrast from Dewey. She knew about her siblings' crazy business ventures and she didn't want to be associated with Clan McDuck if they were just going to be known as greedy, eccentric businesspeople. So, she decided she was going to settle down with Quackmore (and take his last name to further distance herself from her siblings) and have Donald and Della. No crazy adventures, no association with eccentric businesspeople, just a normal life with her family.

Of course we all know how that ended. However, if this is the case, this would make an interesting character study, a foil to most of the McDuck/Duck family, and a parallel to Donald, who had a similar goal after the SoS incident (like mother, like son, after all).

So bottom line: there's a lot more to the McDuck siblings that we just don't know yet, but we seem to have some clues that would suggest future revelations about them.

Also, I just remembered some pictures showed in "The Fight for Castle McDuck!" showed Scrooge and Matilda as around the same age, despite being oldest and youngest, respectively. So, this means that the two and Hortense were closer in age this time around...

...OR they were triplets as well. I actually really like that concept and it would only drive home the parallels between the McDuck siblings and Duck triplets even further.

[neurodihuegent]

[PART ONE] Huey's character development: season 1 to season 3.

with ducktales 2017 coming to a close in less than two weeks, i thought that now was best of all times to create a post of how i think huey has developed as a character throughout all three seasons. please remember, this post is just based on how I see his character development, and you're free to have your own ideas and/or not agree with all of my points!

1.) learning to adjust to new environments/accepting failures: When we were first introduced to huey's character, one of the biggest take aways was that he's a very "by the book" kind of a person, and has a hard time adjusting to foreign environments or situations that he will need to go with the flow and what he already knows, rather than doing everything by the book.

This was mainly introduced in "The Terror of the Terrafirmians!" in season one, where we could literally see Huey scrambling to make sense of the situation, and at some points, spouting out B.S. to make sense of the situation in his head. While he did end up coming to terms that the Terrafirmians are in fact, very real, he still only decided to believe it once it was documented in his Junior Woodchuck Guidebook.

Progressively throughout the show, we see Huey being put in situations where he has to be able to think quick on his feet rather than anxiously try to sort out all that he knows from the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook. Because of his personality, Huey not only had a hard time adjusting to foreign environments, but it's also been shown that he has a hard time accepting set backs as well. From what we've seen, it's easy to infer that when Huey has his mind set on something, he will do nothing short of achieving that goal: And when said goal is not achieved, or is starting to look like it won't be achieved, he takes it very personally.

This is especially seen in "The Infernal Internship of Mark Beaks!" and "The Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchuck!": Where in "The Infernal Internship of Mark Beaks", even though Huey was definitely more qualified for the position by a significant amount, when Dewey got the position, his first instinct was to get angry instead of congratulate his brother: Granted, Dewey wasn't completely deserving of the position over Huey, and at this point, Huey was just a kid still learning how to manage his emotions, but his instictive reaction tells a lot about his character at the time. Thankfully, we see this progress with "The Challenfe of the Senior Junior Woodchuck!", where Huey is once again put in a situation where the odds were against him, considering that this time around, Violet was more qualified and prepared for the position than he was. At first, Huey does take this badly, getting super anxious that he'll have to do a challenging, dangerous course that no 11-12 year old probably should be doing, on his lonesome without even the help of the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook, which has been shown to be a source of comfort for Huey. At one point, he is only surviving through the course by creating a talking Junior Woodchuck Guidebook in his head, but even that goes south as he gets so overwhelmed and anxious to the point where he sets it on fire in his head. Eventually, noticing how far he's fallen behind Violet, and realizing how deserving she is of the title over him despite his love for everything Junior Woodchucks, he is able to come to terms with the fact that he lost, and instead of getting upset or beating himself up for it, he gracefully allows her to be announced as the winner, and shows her his full support. This is meaningful, because if this was season 1 Huey, we honestly can not say that his reaction to his loss would've been the same: He probably would've gotten a lot more upset about it than he actually did in season 3.

"Quack Pack!", despite somewhat being more of a comedic episode, also sheds light on how Huey's learned to adjust with a change in environment: He was the first character (other than Donald, who was fully aware) to pick up on the fact that they are in an alternate universe, set inside of a 1990s sitcom, and becomes increasingly anxious about it as a result, especially since everyone was pretty much oblivious of it at first. However despite this, when the family confronts Donald about the wish, while Donald does make a compelling point of how this scenario gives them a sense of normalcy and security, Huey also brings up the fact that despite the hardships they may face, adventuring is an integral part of their new found family. Even though Huey has always been pretty enthusiastic about adventuring, especially in comparison to Louie and pre-season 3 Donald, there has been times where adventuring has caused him anxiety due to being confronted with new settings or situations that he doesn't immediately know how to handle, so considering this, I think that line alone has shown the great improvement Huey has made with adjusting.

2.) embracing "The Duke": in the first two seasons, while we always had somewhat of an idea that huey was the triplet that inherited the infamous McDuck anger, "The Duke" wasn't something that was necessarily explored much in the first two seasons, leading people to believe that it was just for comedic plot. However, in season 3, we finally got an image of what "The Duke" actually is and represents, alongside with how Huey truly feels about this side of him.

Based on my perception of "The Split Sword of Swanstantine", Huey sees The Duke as an entire separate entity from himself rather than just how far his anger can really go, decides to completely reject this side and keep it locked away in his brain. Of course, we've had our early season moments where The Duke "slipped out", but for the most part, leading up to The Split Sword of Swanstantine, we never really got a full glimpse of what exactly the Duke is: and given his personality, it makes sense as to why Huey was rejecting this side of him instead. Not only does The Duke represent one of Huey's most vulnerable states, but knowing how far his anger can go, goes completely against the side of his personality that he does allow to shine: Being orderly, being well put together, and being the brain of his sibling trio, which being blinded by anger would all deter. Despite the strength that embracing his anger gives him, Huey obviously still sees it as a weakness, because it's the side of him he doesn't want people to see, especially those closest to him, because before the events of The Split Sword, Huey didn't exactly have the greatest control of his anger, so while nobody would want to think of it, no one knows how far he could really go if he's pissed enough.

However, thanks to the encouragement of Lena, Huey was finally able to embrace that side of him, and fully gain control over his anger which is something we don't typically see with the infamous McDuck Anger, given that the only way he could defeat Steelbeak who had an obvious advantage, was to tap into his true strength. The biggest takeaway Huey got from this situation, is that his anger shouldn't be treated as if it's a separate entity, or as if it's something to be embarassed of, but to truly embrace that side of himself, and learn how to control it, all things that he was able to accomplish by the end of "The Split Sword of Swanstantine".

3.) building new relationships:

Since season one, it's been hinted that Huey does struggle a bit on the friendship aspect of things. He does have very close relationships with his brothers and Webby, but even these can be hindered by clashing personalities and differing interests. Even though it's fairly obvious that HDLW all love and support each other like family, Huey has never really exactly been shown to have a bond with someone where he shares completely similar interests: Now, this isn't really important in friendship, often times opposites attract even down to the friendship aspect, but it is nice to have someone where you can just sit and chat about similar interests, and do stuff together that you'll both enjoy.

The first time we've gotten a hint at Huey struggling with making friends was in "The Day of the Only Child!", where, if the Beagle Brothers didn't show up, Huey would've been out of luck with finding two other participants for the three-man cookout, considering that everyone else was already paired up and Louie and Dewey were already off doing their own things for the day. Also hinted in that same episode, is the fact that Huey make struggle with loneliness as well (Huey "Be horribly alone." Dewey: "For once!"), given that he's spent most if not all of his life constantly with his brothers and Donald, so even if him and his brothers did have fall outs every here and there, he could always rely on them to be there given that outside of them, he didn't rely have any other friends.

Now, this somewhat turns around in season 2, when we're introduced to Fenton, who Huey not only idolizes as Gizmoduck, but looks at like a genuine best friend and most likely, as an older brother figure. Besides Huey's admiration of Gizmoduck, it's been shown that they bond over their similar interest in science, and in general, Huey is constantly looking out for Fenton and always wanting to protect his best friend from any danger or hurt that he himself can prevent. Despite Fenton undoubtedly being Huey's closest friend, I think that it's also important to shed light on the friendships that he's made that are more in his age group.

Following the events of Astro BOYD!, we are introduced to Boyd and Huey's friendship, two characters that existed in the show prior but never had any interactions. Huey and Boyd bond over their interest in the Junior Woodchucks, something that we once again see Huey get backlash for from his fellow Woodchucks, for being too "by the book" and not just "relaxing and being a kid" (even going as far to label him as a "robot"). Even in Boyd's malfunctioning, Huey is determined to stay by his side until the end, not only because of their shared interests and the bonding they began to do at the very beginning of the episode, but also because Huey understood what it was like to be cast away and treated as less just for being different (or in Huey's words, "wired a little differently"). Even though Fenton is Huey's closest friend by a margin, I would consider Boyd's friendship with him really meaningful, at least given the circumstances of how they became friends in the first place: Two people who were cast aside, for not being what society considered the "perfect/normal kid", and instead of people working with them, they were just cast aside easily. Considering how fast Huey probably had to grow up given the circumstances of living with Donald who, despite being an amazing father figure, dealt with poverty pretty often, it's no wonder why he's very mature for his age and very "by the book", but it's also no wonder why kids who probably didn't have to grow up with those circumstances, would easily be turned off. Louie and Dewey are a lot more understanding considering they grew up in the same setting, but even they dealt with it differently, often leading to their personalities clashing, which is even lampshaded in this episode as another insecurity of Huey's when building relationships ("Are you sure you want me to continue? My brothers are usually *begging* me to stop.).

We're also introduced to another friendship at the very beginning of season three, with Violet. Even though at the beginning, things were a bit rocky considering how anxious Huey was getting from the Senior Woodchuck competition, and his determination to beat Violet, even to the point of leaving him behind when she probably needed him the most, by the end of the episode, we see both Violet and Huey not only reconcile, but start to actually bond. During this high stress situation, Violet was a great source of relief for Huey, using her own experiences of failure to inspire Huey to not give up, and that even if he does lose (which he did) in this specific situation, there'll be more opportunities because he is great when it comes to the Junior Woodchucks. Even when Violet wins, instead of being bitter which would definitely be expected considering that Huey is a child and how much he was anticipating winning, he is able to put his grievances aside and congratulate her because she helped him greatly during a point of weakness. Even if Violet and Huey's friendship didn't end up as closeknit as his and Boyd's, or as prominent as his and Fenton's, I think this was still a meaningful connection for him as Violet was great balance for the anxiety that he was feeling at the time, and despite him leaving her behind, she beared no ill will towards him.

This is only the first part, where I examined what I felt were the key component to his character development over the last three seasons, and the next post will focus on other aspects that weren't as focused on during the series!

[s-creations]

Now We’re Six

Donald Duck was honestly not prepared to loose so much in such a short time. He's at the end of his rope when two familiar faces show up on his front door to offer their help.

Fandom: DuckTales 2017 / The Three Caballeros     Rating: General Audience     Relationships/Pairings: José  Carioca/Donald Duck/Panchito Pistoles Additional Tags: Dalla Duck mentioned, Scrooge McDuck mentioned, Gyro Gearloose mentioned, Gladstone mentioned, Fethry mentioned, angst, hurt and comfort, happy ending, start of a new family, the triplets are eggs still

Start of a Series Called: We’re the Three- Sorry, Six Caballeros!

How was it possible that he could lose everything in only three days? Scrooge didn’t want to take responsibility, even though he was the one who started this whole train of destruction. It wasn’t just enough to stay on the ground. Oh no, space was the next adventure, they just  had to go. Gyro actually had the audacity to look apologetic when faced with the angry duck. As if he truly felt sorry. Never mind the fact that it was his own creation that cost them so much. Did neither bird think it would be pertinent to heighten security? They were both so lax about the whole thing and now Della-

 Donald let out a shaky breath, tightening the grip on his arms. Trying to keep himself grounded. 

 Della was gone. There was no getting around it. She was lost to the stars because it was killing her to remain on the ground. Even though she’s just laid eggs, even after Donald gave every argument he could to make her see sense, she still went. Nothing was going to stop Della Duck. 

 Except a cosmic storm apparently. 

 So, here sat Donald. Losing his twin sister, his great uncle, his stable life. Self-barricaded away in his boathouse he’d only recently bought after scrounging up everything from his savings to get. Scrunched up in the padded booth of the dinner table with eggs covered in every blanket he owned and resting on the flat surface. A constant reminder of what had happened. What was happening. 

 Another shaky exhale as Donald attempted to relax. His body protested for being in a clenched position for so long, bones creaking and muscles sore. The clock over the stove read midnight in a blaring red color. Numbers that were burned into his eyes and seen from behind closed eyelids. A heavy sigh sounded as he reached out to fidget with the towel-created nest.

 He honestly had no idea what he was doing. Were they cold, to warm maybe? He supposed since the color wasn’t dulling, he was doing something right. Was he supposed to take them to a doctor before they hatched? They were only a few weeks away from hatching but that doesn’t mean something wasn’t wrong. Doesn't mean he’d be able to afford an office visit, no insurance. God, he needed to find a stable job quickly. He had four mouths to feed now and no income. Not a great way to start off the rest of his life. But since when has anything been remotely easy for him?

 Donald was broken from his thoughts when his phone chimed. The beaten up piece of technology was resting on the table as well. But had been pushed as far away as possible, teetering on the edge. He’d been receiving numerous phone calls and messages since the incident. Duckworth asking for Donald and the eggs to return to the mansion to talk this out properly, please. Fethry asking what was happening, was Donald okay, where was he? Gladstone actually sounded furious that Donald would just leave with the eggs in tow and no explanation.

 Donald was just tired of it all. So he left the phone alone, turning back to the eggs. 

 Only for the front door to be knocked on.

 Now he was starting to become angry. What idiot goes to a boathouse in the middle of the night? What idiot goes to any random place in the middle of the night?  Was it really so hard to just ask for a moment's peace? Just a few minutes where the environment and his mind would just shut up. The phone started to chime again just as another knock sounded. He was going to lose it.

 “Deal with the joker at the door first, then worry about the phone.” Donald grumbled, trying to keep his anger in check. An outburst could lead to one of the eggs being damaged. Which would not help the situation. 

 He opened the door, ready to tear whoever was on the other side apart. Only to swallow the words back down when he found a familiar parrot and rooster before him.

 It had been so long, years even. Yet José and Panchito looked as they did the day Donald left them. Minus the outfits, which were wildly different. 

 No three-piece for José. Merely a clean pressed, cream colored, short sleeved button up with the familiar straw hat perched atop his head. Black umbrella resting at the crook of his arm. Even in the dark of night, his feathers were a bright green that made Donald think of the jungles the parrot loved to explore. 

 Panchito was honestly the biggest change. No more overly large sombrero or bright, red outfit. The rooster looked like he’d be more at home on a farm wearing his faded jeans and short sleeved plaid shirt. He’d seem to have gotten taller as well, his comb grown out. Hand still in mid-air as he’d no doubt planned on knocking once again. His feathers were a warm red, seeming to have dulled a little since the years had passed, but still a comforting color. 

 All seemed to be frozen as they looked the other over. José still holding his phone up to his ear, Donald seeing his name on the screen display. Absolutely shocked, the duck’s bill opened and closed, mind still trying to confirm what he was seeing. He wasn’t even sure what he should say. 

 What are you doing here?

 How did you get here? 

 I’m sorry I left so suddenly and broke my promise that I would be back then never returning or even providing an explanation.

 He wanted to say it all. But Donald’s mind settled on uttering one world. “...Hi.”

 “Hola.” Panchito easily replied while José pocketed his phone.

 Donald merely stood aside and gestured for the two to enter, too tired to really question what was happening. As soon as he saw the eggs, Panchito let out a coo of excitement and rushed over. Carefully plucking at the fabric nest to cover said eggs better while speaking softly to them. José kept his attention to Donald, who closed the door with a sharp snap before facing the parrot.

 “You look like death, meu amor.” José spoke gently. A hand reaching out to preen a few feathers back into place.  Between the pet name, the gentle tone, the soft touches, Donald couldn’t help a shiver that traveled through him.

 “Really? Thought I was looking pretty good.” The parrot laughed softly, Donald forgetting how much he missed that sound. Was he close to crying or was he just extremely tired? “What are you two doing here?”

 “We heard about Della.”

 José had said it so simply. But it felt like a punch to his stomach, Donald wrapping his arms around himself. “How...who told you.”

 “Fethry and I are friends on Beakbook.” Panchito replied.

 “We came as soon as we could,” José continued, “Had to cash in all my mileage points and vacation time to get this to work. The company was a little upset that this was so sudden, but it was worth it.”

 “Cancelled a few birthdays on my end.” The rooster laughs softly.

 “We just wanted to be here. How are you feeling?”

 Donald let out a snort, rubbing his eyes as he walked back over to the table. He more or less collapsed back into the padded seats. “I’m not feeling anything. I used up all my shock, anger, and disgust on Scrooge the day Della disappeared. Now I’m caring for three eggs when I can barely keep my life together and I’ve ostracized myself from my family. Because they either did nothing to stop Della or just couldn’t understand why in the world I would be so angry.”

 A less than sane laugh escaped from the fragile duck. “And Della just left! Can you believe it? She had eggs. She just delivered her eggs and decided the next best thing was going on the big adventure! How...How absolutely messed up is that? How am I supposed to tell these kids their mother left because motherhood was less important to her than adventuring. The thing she’s done for years but could get enough of!”

 Donald pulled at his feathers, breathing becoming shallow and harsh. This was it, he was finally breaking. Just as he’d received a break in the clouds he feels himself falling apart. He was just so tired…

 Very little resistance was put up as his hands were gently pulled away from his sore head. Instead of self-inflicted pain, he was now clutching onto a shirt. His view became obscured by green feathers that felt like silk and were cool against his heated skin. A familiar tune of a lullaby started to be hummed that calmed his nerves further. Shoulders slumped as he felt himself slip away from consciousness. After three days of unrest, Donald fell into a relatively easy sleep with José holding him close.

 _____________________

 “I would just need to change addresses. It will not be that hard for me.”

 “Won’t you have anything to move?”

 “No, at least not a lot. I can just sell what I do not need. You?”

 “I have a lot of family heirlooms that I would like to bring. If possible.”

 “We will figure something out.”

 “Do you think Donald will be okay with moving?”

 “He is charmingly stubborn. But if we sell it properly, I am sure he will understand where we are coming from.”

 Donald squirmed as he slowly started to wake. Pressed against something warm and soft as he was rocked by the hammock. Fingers gently brushed through the feathers on the back of his head. It would have lulled him back to sleep if he wasn’t determined to figure out what was happening.

 It took a few blinks to clear his blurred vision to understand where he was. Laying against José, both resting in the duck’s hammock hanging in the supposed to be storage room. The only proper bedroom being set up for being the nursery. Panchito was resting on the floor nearby. The eggs and fabric nest had been moved from the table as well, laying next to the rooster who was running a hand over the shells carefully. From the soft light drifting from the window, Donald reasoned it was the following evening. 

 ...How long had he been asleep?

 “I’m sorry meu amor, did we wake you?” José’s voice was soft.

 “No...I was kind of waking up. How are the eggs?”

 “Pequeños Ángeles. So quiet and well-behaved.” Panchito teased.

 “The eggs are fine. We are more worried about you right now,” continued José, “Donald, you have not had a breakdown like that since college.”

 “Possibly even worse than that.”

 “Have more adult problems.” Donald responded weakly. He was still so exhausted.

 “This is not a normal situation,” Panchito argued, “You look so close to death when we arrived yesterday.”

 “Haven’t been able to clear my thoughts for the past few days. It’s all just been a...mess…”

 “We understand where you are coming from Donald. But this is such a sudden change, and to do it on your own…” José was not one to be at a loss for words. But this was a situation that seemed to be weighing heavily on all their shoulders with no clear answer.

 “I’m not going back to Scrooge.” The duck responded sharply.

 “That is not what we are suggesting.”

 “Then what are you suggesting? Because I’m too exhausted to figure it out.”

 “We’re going to help.” Panchito answered easily.

 It took Donald a few seconds to properly understand what was just said. “How? I mean, wait, no, that was rude. You guys already have enough in your own lives to deal with. I couldn’t just...ask you two to help.”

 “We are offering to help.” José corrected.

 “But-”

 “We want to help.”

 Donald sucked in his breath, eyes darting between the two other birds. José calm. Panchito eager. “...I’m not in a good place. Mentally, emotionally, financially.”

 “We were roommates in college, we know what you’re like. You’re going through something...heavy, so anyone facing this wouldn’t be doing okay. We understand. José and I have jobs to help with pay. Easy.” Panchito answered.

 “You can’t just...leave your jobs, your homes.”

 “I am a flight attendant. I just need to transfer to a hub positioned here. Panchito is a freelance performer, he can easily find work. And we do not have much tied to our current apartments. Moving will not be an issue.”

 “The boathouse will be cramped. It was already an issue with me and the eggs, once they hatched.” 

 “This may not be your most favorite of suggesting,” José started cautiously, “But, we would  need to sell the boathouse and find an apartment.”

 “I- We don’t have the financial support or a reliable credit! Mine’s terrible, you two aren’t proper citizens-”

 Panchito coughed weakly at that. “We actually received our citizenship a few months ago.”

 Donald’s mouth dropped at that, looking to José for confirmation. The parrot nodded. “We were going to tell you properly when we saw you again.”

 “Right..the original plan. Only going to be gone for a year,” the duck chuckled weakly, “My luck just had to ruin everything for everyone, didn’t it?”

 “No, no mi amor, esto no es tu culpa.” Panchito inched closer to grab Donald’s hand, José taking the other one. “You should know how unpredictable life truly is. We just have to greet each day the best we can.”

 Donald let out a small sigh, knowing he was slowly losing this battle. “...You didn’t ask… You shouldn’t… This is my family, my mess to deal with. This nothing you two should worry about. I’m not bringing you into this, you shouldn’t have to worry about it.”

 “Come now, are we not the Three Caballeros? We are together, to support each other, no matter what kind of storm we face. You need us now more than ever and how terrible would we be if we just abandoned you? Patinho bobo.” José gently teased.

 Donald was unprepared, but not unhappy, when a kiss was placed on both his cheeks. All but melting into the touch. A smile forming as he leaned back into José and gently squeezing each hand he still had a hold of. 

 “Are you really prepared to raise triplets?”

 “I’m used to a big family.” Panchito replied with a smile.

 “Never raised children, but I am a fast learner. We will be fine.”

 Donald gave a small nod, letting out a slow breath as his worries faded away. He didn’t argue when Panchito collected the eggs and all piled into the hammock. It creaked, but gave no further protest as they all settled down. Perhaps it was because he was so exhausted so he couldn’t truly argue anymore. Or because José and Panchito gave good reasoning. But at this moment, sandwiched between two people he loved and the eggs resting on his lap, Donald realized he was feeling content after so many days of unrest. 

 How could he ever doubt these two?

[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.

[devious-kat]

LEGITAMATELY WISH I HAD SOMEONE TO GRAB AND SHAKE AND SCREAM ABOUT DUCKTALES WITH.

I don’t usually do this. Reason I am is because I can’t do the title above.

Thoughts during the finale. Spoilers.

Title comes up and Webby says “Woo-oo!” - I’m not ready TT_TT

Webby gets “water” - she’s learned! our baby is growing up!

Scrooge paid FULL PRICE. FULL. AND ISN’T COMPLAINING OR MICROMANAGING TO SAVE EXTRA COSTS. THAT’S HOW SCROOGE SAYS ‘I LOVE YOU’ OKAY (plan or no plan)

Huey putting emPHASIS on words made me SUSPICIOUS.

the kids taking charge reminded me that Frank said they were focusing on the future generation. Leaving things to the kids and such.

Darkwing showboating made me roll my eyes. oh, DW.

I enjoyed that Dewey kicked the door and subsequently Beakley did too XD

I got a bit spoiled about May and June. So not surprised. BUT suspicious right away. If FOWL was so ahead of the game that no one was around by the time they got there, why forget the two? They had a plan, NO WAY these two weren’t part of it.

And another thing - in comic universe May and June are Daisy’s nieces - to Donald’s nephews. And they were triplets. So again, right away I was like “something’s going on here....”

Scrooge is gentler and more aware of how sensitive this is for Beakley, and I’m just adoring it.

Juice is brought back - Me: GUMMY BEEEARS BOUNCING HERE AND THERE AND EVERYWHEREEEEEE

I was trying to absorb as much information from Webby’s board as I could. I love how it went from McDuck family tree to Webby’s FAMILY board <3

DONT YOU CUT THOSE STRINGS YOU CLONE! OOOH THEMS FIGHTIN ACTIONS

I was a bit surprised Donald was preparing to go on a trip. Surprised only because it does feel like he could make up for lost time with Della for a while before going. I love him and Daisy together though, they’re super sweet.

Beakley told Webby some truths. And some lies. 

Scrooge made tea. SCROOGE made tea.

OUR family. they’re killing me you guys.

Huey surprised me by going after Webby. He’s usually the one who wants to think things through, but then again, there wasn’t time.

Also was surprised Webby was disguised as June! at first I thought June stole her bracelet.

Throwing Scrooge on the car made me laugh.

Della on top of Donald hitting him in the head made me laugh too. How quick they are to fight each other XD

“It’s WEBBY.” that was actually super sweet.

Also another sign the kids are taking over.

Scrooge knows Dewey and Louie (and Huey) well by now. And he believes in them. I love it.

“The original three!” omg I was so excited. Honestly I’d watch a show of the three of them.

MANNY?!?!

huh that voice is familiar......

“age reversal”? that’s...interesting...

Project 87?? I SEE YOU.

Ahhh, April. There it is.

I believed Bradford was Finch’s grandson, but NOT that he was a woodchuck for some reason.

LUDWIG?!?! HOLY CRAP!

Pogo-Cane returns!

Della’s leg can be an axe?? frickin sweet!

“you abandoned me!” aw Scrooge...

“How do we Dewey it?” I said it as the same time as Louie. saw that one coming XD

She went straight to Scrooge after, I just can’t ok

I kept waiting for the harp to say something while Bradford was talking....

SHABOOIE!

I...KNOW THAT MUSIC...NOW I REMEMBER WHERE I KNOW THAT VOICE FROM. DUCKTALES WRITERS YOU CADS. FREAKIN GARGOYLES MAN!!! FUCK! YES!!!

Poor Launchpad is just taking a beating :(

I freakin love Ludwig in this XD

“a veritable troop of Goofs” AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

......did Bradford KILL Duckworth?????

the way Flintheart just jumps out and says his own name convinces me he wakes up every morning and screams his own name too. no matter the situation. knocked out? wakes up, screams “FLINTHEART GLOMGOLD!”

Scrooge takes a huge beating in this too! like, a lot. oof.

I’ll be honest, with the contract, I figured this was the writer’s way of letting the kids take over. If Scrooge can’t adventure, they can. And I was really upset.

FRICKIN LUDWIG. “you fellas knew that, right?...or you didn’t. I’m gonna give you a moment to adjust everything.” I love Ludwig.

also, did NOT see that coming. the “age reversal” part of cloning makes sense now though...

Launchpad. deserved. this. (not the beating, though)

him not saying the phrase right was freaking fantastic XD

It’s interesting that Scrooge doesn’t hesitate, but Donald tries to tell him not to. like, NO DONALD. HE WON’T RISK YOUR LIFE. NOT FOR THIS.

Things were tense for a bit here! I had no idea how they could get Scrooge out of the contract.

“Donald Duck.” “Uncle Scrooge.” WHAT A CALLBACK FRICKIN LOVE IT

“Dad..?” “...dad.” I’m dying

ok ok I know it’s probably weird but I love the idea of a Beakley+Webby+Scrooge family dynamic. I want to read every fic ever. gimme. that little moment they shared, I can’t stop watching it.

also yeah, animation was peak this episode. so smooooooth.

END CREDITS. BEAUTIFUL TT_TT

[ordinaryschmuck]

Top 20 BEST Animated Series of the 2010s-4th Place

To anyone who plans on making a reboot of their favorite show in the future, you might want to take notes on this next pick. Because if you ask me, this next series that I'm going to talk about is the best example of how to do a reboot properly.

#4-Ducktales (2017-2021)

The Plot: Scrooge McDuck is the richest duck in the world, who made it big by also being one of the greatest adventurers of all time...ten years ago. Sadly, after an unfortunate accident with the family, Scrooge is forced to live the life of a normal businessman-er-duck. Up until Donald Duck asks Scrooge to watch over his nephews: Huey, Dewey, and Louie. What starts off as a single day of babysitting soon turns into a life of adventure as Scrooge gets back into the adventuring spirit to show his new family what the world really has to offer.

Now I want to make one thing clear: As of the moment of me writing this review, I have seen a total of zero episodes of the original Ducktales. That being said, despite my limited knowledge of the series, I still think it’s fair of me to point out how this is hands down the best reboot as of late (and I’ll explain more as to why that is later). And besides, from what I’ve heard from fans who have watched the original, Ducktales (2017) is a pretty faithful adaptation of the beloved franchise. The reason is that I believe this show remembers the two most important rules of making a reboot.

The first rule of a reboot is to try something new while still being faithful to the source material. Doing something like that is simple as a writer just needs to keep what the fans love and change what they hated. And trust me when I say that the writers of Ducktales (2017) knows how to do just that. For the most part, the show is about a family going on crazy globe-trotting adventures while still learning that family is the best adventure of all, much like the original. As for the characters, most of them keep their fun personalities. Scrooge is still a stingy miser with the heart for adventure, Launchpad is still the lovable idiot who can’t fly a plane, and Donald Duck still remains the one who gets stuck with all the bad luck. Then some characters have their personalities/roles revamped into something that improves upon the original. The best example is Fenton, who is still the wannabe superhero but is now a scientist in this show, wherein the old one was just Scrooge’s accountant. This way, both the hero and the man-DUCK-who’s behind the mask are equally capable of saving the day. There’s also Mrs. Beakley, who was originally a nanny that nagged Scrooge’s ear off for putting the kids in danger. In the reboot, she’s treated more as the anchor of reality to the more oddball characters, who also used to be a kick-butt super spy in her younger years. It is still the same role, but a different interpretation.

Now, some characters receive grand changes to their original personalities. But from what I’ve heard, those changes are made for the better. And there are no characters that need it more than the children. More specifically, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. This show does something that I’m eternally grateful for, and that’s giving each of these three their own distinct personalities and quirks. For years I couldn’t for the life of me tell the triplets apart. They had the same design, the same voice, the same personality, and the only difference people had to go off of are their different colors (which really didn’t do much to help). Here, they have different designs, voices, and now defining character traits for each of them. Huey is the smart and responsible boy scout, Dewey is the annoying attention seeker, and Louie is the best character in the entire show, and I WILL FREAKING FIGHT YOU ON THAT! And let us not forget the most appreciated change: Webby. From what I’ve heard, fans hated the original Webby, as she was nothing more than just the stereotypical girl of the group. Here, she’s given an actual personality and a fun one to boot. Webby is the ecstatic thrill-seeking adventurer who is skilled in combat training (thanks to her grandma) and is (of course) a socially awkward girl who wants to make friends. Like I said, this show took the idea that the fans hated and changed it into something that they’ll love. Which makes sense why the writers mastered this because they themselves are real fans of the show.

It is clear how much the writers are fans of the Ducktales franchise as they filled Ducktales (2017) with many references. And not just references to the original series but also references to the classic comics by Carl Barks and even the NES video game from the 1980s (seriously, this show will make you feel things about the “Moon Theme” you wouldn’t think was possible!). Even the show’s animation seems to be a homage to both the cartoon and comics. Not only do the characters and backgrounds have a more comic book style to them, but the characters also work on a mix of realistic and cartoony logic. And let me just say, it is refreshing to see characters in a Disney show have cartoon logic to them since Wander Over Yonder got canceled. And it’s not just Ducktales that the series reference, but even classic Disney movies (of course) and other shows in the Disney Afternoon lineup. And when it comes to these references, it’s more than just a subtle wink to the fans. The writers actually go out of their way to write a story around these beloved characters, so people who don’t get the joke won’t be one-hundred percent lost. For instance, without giving anything away, the writers found a brilliant way to reintroduce Darkwing Duck in this universe that feels right for this famous character. And if you ask me personally, these are the best ways to handle references for a reboot. Make them work within the story, even if you don’t fully get the joke.

This brings me to the second most important rule of a reboot: Make a quality product even though it is based on something else. Let us pretend that the original never existed. Would Ducktales (2017) still be as good as it is now? Personally, as a person who has never seen the original, I think it is.

This is another show that mixes slice of life episodes with adventure ones, similar to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. And just like Friendship is Magic, both are equally interesting because the characters themselves make them so. No matter what situation the Duck Family are in, the audience will care about it because the characters care about it. In fact, I think Ducktales (2017) handles the mix of slice of life and adventure much better than Friendship is Magic. In MLP: FiM, the adventure-based episodes force the characters to stick to their simple personality traits to move the story forward, and character-based ones help them grow. In Ducktales (2017), because the characters regularly go on adventures, they grow as characters no matter the situation. For example, my favorite episode is “The Great Dime Chase” where the main plot is Louie finding Scrooge’s #1 dime after accidentally spending it. While in that same episode, Dewey and Webby try to solve a mystery around the boys’ mom. We get a great lesson about the importance of hard work and a fascinating plot of an overarching mystery within the season, all taking place within the same episode. Both are interesting, neither feels as though it overshadows the other, and the characters develop along the way.

Another thing this show mixes well is comedy and drama. A lot of shows recently tried way too hard to find that perfect mix. Ducktales (2017) is one of the few examples that nails it. The comedy is hilarious, the drama is endearing, and neither feels like it’s prioritized over the other. The show starts off with this mix as well, where others that I’ve talked about seem to start off as purely comedic only to take themselves more seriously later on. That isn’t entirely a bad thing, but I feel as though Ducktales (2017) is the best way to go about the method. That way, fans won’t be complaining about how much “better” the show used to be in its first batch of episodes, much like Star V.S. the Forces of Evil.

Unfortunately, while I recommend this show, it’s not without its fair share of issues. Or rather, issue, as there really is only one problem I have with it. And that problem can be summed up with one name: Dewey Duck. For the most part, I dislike Dewy. Because he’s nothing more than a Ben Schwarts character. No disrespect to Ben Schwarts himself, but lately, it feels as though he only plays the one character from time to time: The egotistical attention seeker slowly and surely learning to be a better person who realizes that not everything is about him. That’s the character he plays in both Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Sonic the Hedgehog (2020), and it’s the character he plays here. And the thing about these characters is that they’re not as lovable as Ben Schwarts thinks they sound. In fact (and, again, I mean no disrespect to the actor. I’m sure he’s a lovely person in real life), every single one of these characters comes off as kind of annoying rather than as the lovable rapscallions I’m sure they’re meant to be. However, there is one thing worth mentioning about Dewey. While he’s portrayed as annoying when used for comedy, Dewey is surprisingly a compelling character when used for drama. The thing is, he’s rarely used for dramatic moments and is meant as a source of comedy. Hence why I said I disliked him for the most part.

Other than that, there aren’t really that many problems with the show. Well, there are, but they’re mostly nitpicks that the series more than makes up for. Is it weird that the kids are voiced by adults? Yes, but the actors do a great job at being sincere and have great comedic timing than any kid could have. Are there changes to characters that fans might not enjoy? Probably, but I have yet to have seen anyone that has annoyed me as much as Dewey has. Are the villains just evil for the sake of being evil? Yes, but that’s not really a big deal. In fact, a villain doesn’t need a heartbreaking backstory as to why they’ve become so evil. They just need to have a great personality that’s fun to watch, which every villain in the show has (aside from season two’s antagonist who’s basically a Disney surprise villain. And I hate them with a fiery passion). Does it feel as though the show suffers from “too many characters” syndrome? It sometimes does, but each character has such a fun and unique personality that I find it hard to forget most of them.

So really, Ducktales (2017) is the best reboot in recent memory. This is crazy, seeing as how lately it feels as though Disney doesn’t even know how to properly reboot their own movies to save their lives. This is why I feel as though people should take notes on what Ducktales (2017) does if they ever feel like rebooting something they loved as a kid. Because this is more than just a retelling of the same story that people know by heart. This is a fantastic show with even better characters, stories, and tone. Whether you’ve been a fan since the beginning, or a part of the new generation of viewers, odds are you’ll be screaming Whoo-Ooo with every episode.

(Also, a word of warning to those who haven’t watched the show yet: Beware the theme song. Trust me when I say it’ll be stuck in your head until the day you die)

[tobiasdrake]

Dragon’s Eye on DuckTales S01E06 - The Beagle Birthday Massacre

Oh man, I have been waiting for this one! The character introduction episodes are out of the way. The dynamics between the Triplets Plus One have been established and fleshed out and the writers are ready to push forward and explore new ideas with those characters.

And it all starts with the arrival of the season’s other major arc, the introduction of my personal favorite character in the show, and also taking a do-over on “Daytrip of Doom” while we’re here.

Inventing Lena DeSpell

There are two words you will not hear me use when discussing Lena’s journey through the course of this season. Those words are “redemption arc”. Lena’s journey has some of the trappings of your standard redemption tropes. She’s a character motivated to do a bad thing, but who ultimately sides with the protagonists. She even pulls off a ham-fisted heroic sacrifice in the season’s finale, which is often a hallmark of redemption stories.

But Lena’s story isn’t about redemption. Redemption implies that a character who was a bad guy changes sides and becomes good. Lena wasn’t a bad guy. Lena actually parallels Webby; she’s a blank canvas experiencing the world for the first time. She’s a child dealing with the influence of one toxic parent molding her in her image and one outside friend just helping her figure out who she is.

Lena hasn’t had a chance to be a good person or a bad person yet. What happens over the course of the season isn’t a redemption story; it’s simply Lena figuring out what she believes in and who she wants to be as a person for the first time, much to her malevolent matron’s dismay.

Make no mistake, Magica sets Lena to a wicked task. Lena is charged with infiltrating McDuck Manor. She is, from the beginning, charged with being a spy and a thief and she does perform some of the tasks given to her. But Lena is about as culpable as a ten-year-old whose mom told her to stuff a piece of merchandise under her coat on the way out of a store.

There is one thing that bothers me about Lena, and it’s the linguistic choice of “Aunt Magica”. At a creative level, the purpose of this moniker is obvious. Lena’s relationship to “Aunt Magica” is meant to parallel the Triplets Plus One’s relationship to “Uncle Scrooge”. And for much of the season, it works.

However, in “The Shadow War”, it’s revealed that Lena’s true nature is that of a magical construct. She’s Magica’s shadow manifested as a person. This reveal, while cool and giving Lena a unique identity in the series, makes the usage of “Aunt Magica” retroactively bizarre.

In this episode, Lena has lines of dialogue such as, “Now I remember why I avoid family! All they do is fight!” What is she talking about? Lena doesn’t have a family outside of Magica, who she does not avoid (at least, not yet).

This kind of dialogue provides a lot of bathos to Lena’s character as introduced. It creates the impression of a nasty home life among what is revealed at episode’s end to be the extended DeSpell family. Given that she’s living in an abandoned auditorium, it may even suggest that Lena herself is a runaway, having fled an abusive household.

But with the ultimate reveal in “The Shadow War”, these lines retroactively make zero sense. Lena doesn’t have a family to avoid, let alone any reason to have such strongly held opinions about the subject. She’s not implying a dark and troubled history; she’s just vomiting nonsense words from her face hole for no reason.

Both the Della Duck and Lena DeSpell storylines have bits like this, which raise questions and create intrigue only to be left unsatisfyingly dangling when the truth is revealed. It leads me to wonder how much the writers actually had planned out from the beginning, how much was just general mystery boxing, and whether plans changed over the course of the season.

Web of Adventure: Make New Friends but Keep the Old

So the central premise of this episode is that “Daytrip of Doom” sucked and the writers would like to take a mulligan on it.

Once again, the Triplets are setting out for a fun activity, but Webby’s place is called into question. The complication this time is logistical; rather than Louie being a jerk, what’s stopping Webby from joining the boys is that their boat was built for three people.

Once the problem becomes apparent, Huey volunteers to stay behind and let Webby take his spot. I love this moment because Huey constantly strives to be the big brother of the group. Here, for the first time, we see Huey extend that courtesy to Webby as well. Giving up his spot for her is a total big brother move, and it demonstrates that Webby is wanted and valued in this group.

But Webby wins the politeness standoff and stays behind. This leads her right into the path of her aspiring new friend, Lena.

Something Wicked This Way Comes: Lena DeSpell

For much of this episode, the premise is ground well-trodden. Most of us have seen this story many, many times before. Webby doesn’t feel valued by her old friends and suddenly she meets this new friend who is exciting and awesome and cool. Together they go off on a whirlwind adventure that seems amazing and fun at first!

But the toxic new friend is actually a bad influence and is bad for her. And, when the chips are down, the new friend leaves her holding the bag and it’s her old friends who turn up to help, revealing to her who her actual friends really were all along.

The moral of the story is that toxic people might be intoxicatingly cool and you might well enjoy being around them, but they’ll only hurt you in the end. Never lose sight of who your real friends are.

Much of the episode follows those beats and it’s easy to be lulled into a false sense of security in knowing where the story is going. But there’s a deeper, more sinister layer to the Lena we meet in this episode. She’s not just irresponsible. She’s not just a bad influence. Lena is a predator.

See, there’s a point midway through the episode where Lena and Webby discuss the Triplets; Webby wants to share with them the experiences she and Lena have had, and Lena starts dissing on them as “Three nerds who left [Webby] on the beach”.

Up to this point, Webby hasn’t said a word about her friends. She mentioned once that she wanted to wait for her friends, but provided no context for what that means. Lena knows things she shouldn’t rightly know and is trying to use that knowledge against Webby; this is an easily-missed bit of foreshadowing about Lena’s true nature.

Webby and Lena did not meet by chance. Lena was watching when the Triplets took the boat. She saw opportunity when Webby was left by herself on the beach. She took advantage of that opportunity to lure Webby to the auditorium so she could ingratiate herself. And in the playground scene, she’s trying to manipulate the conversation to make Webby feel like the Triplets abandoned her.

She’s trying to first physically isolate Webby so no one can intervene, then emotionally isolate Webby by convincing her that her friends don’t really care about her. The end result: to make Webby emotionally dependent on her, Lena, for companionship. To ensure that when Webby does return to the others, she will consider Lena her only true friend. To convince her to hide things from them, to trust in Lena exclusively, and to do whatever Lena asks of her without question, because she believes Lena is the only person in the world who cares about her.

This is Predator 101. And while Lena is ultimately unsuccessful in isolating Webby emotionally, poor neglected Webby is too desperate for companionship to even see her doing it.

There is, however, a complicating factor. Well, there’s two complicating factors; one is just that Lena’s a dumb kid who knows what she’s trying to do but is only halfway decent at actually doing it; throughout the episode, we see her utilize her talent for psychological manipulation at several turns, particularly against the Beagle Boys, but she is only occasionally successful. The other obstacle is a much more dangerous one.

Something Wicked This Way Comes: The Extended Beagle Boys Family

The Beagle Boys make their return from “Daytrip of Doom” now with a wide variety of different Beagle groups supporting them. While I’m not fond of the premise of the Beagle Boys, the animators do a great job of making the various Beagle clans diverse and interesting.

They’re still here as fill-in villains. They aren’t related to the central conflict of the story, which is Lena’s attempts to get in with Webby. They are once again just here to provide some physical menace, giving Lena and Webby the opportunity to bond by battling it out against the different Beagle groups.

It’s unclear whether Lena was even aware of the animosity between Ma Beagle and Webby when she brought Webby to the junkyard. It’s possible that she planned this all out from the start, but if so, she didn’t seem very well prepared for the actual conflict that ensued. It’s also possible that she was just trying to be cool and get Webby to like her by sneaking into this killer Beagle party, and then had to adapt her plan to changing circumstances after Ma and Webby turned out to know each other.

Personally, I favor the latter interpretation; in general, the more convoluted a character’s plans become, the less it feels like they are actually a person existing in the story and the more it feels like they’re just reading the script and claiming credit for its events.

In any case, Ma wants Webby’s head on a plate and so much of the episode is spent with Webby and Lena duking it out with the Beagle clans. This is another key point of distinction between this episode and “Daytrip of Doom”. In that episode, the Triplets accept Webby as a friend because she can fight the Beagles for them. In this one, Webby and Lena work together to overcome the Beagles, building a bond through mutual effort and teamwork that the audience can become invested in.

So although the Beagles are just some one-note bad dude randos to provide a physical threat, they’re at least creative randos this time around and they make for a variety of interesting encounters. They serve their purpose well and facilitate the development of Lena and Webby’s relationship without ever overshadowing the central point of the episode.

Web of Adventure: Wait There’s Still Five Minutes Left

It all comes to a head in the playground. The Triplets show up and their presence disrupts Lena’s ability to manipulate Webby. Webby is no longer physically isolated.

Lena tries to convince Webby to abandon the Triplets to the Beagle Boys and come with her, but between running from the Beagles and the sudden presence of the Triplets, she hasn’t had a chance to properly lay the emotional groundwork. Webby refuses and goes back to help them.

Remember, kids: the presence of even just one another person with you is the strongest defense against predators that there is. An isolated person is vulnerable, but a stalwart friend is an impenetrable shield.

This seems like where that story we’ve all seen a million times before would end. Webby goes back to help the Triplets and together they overcome the Beagles. When she returns to find Lena, Lena has bailed. The toxic friend didn’t wait for her. Of course she didn’t.

Huey once more steps up to be the big brother and console Webby about Lena’s abandonment. It sucks that Lena was never really her friend, but she’ll always have them. They’re her family and they’ll be there for her no matter what. All she can do is take some time, get her feelings in order, and when she’s ready, get back on that horse again.

EXCEPT WAIT WHAT THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED HERE

Plot twist, the story isn’t over yet! Because Lena isn’t a toxic friend who bounced; she’s a true friend after all a predator trying to use Webby to get her foot in the door of McDuck Manor. She didn’t bail on Webby; the Beagle Boys caught her!

This subversion leads into one last clash with the Beagles. Lena and Webby put their skills together to demonstrate what the strength of their friendship can do and take the Beagles all down as one. Lena manipulates them into fighting one another, leaving the few Beagles in their path vulnerable to Webby’s action skills.

Lena sets them up, Webby knocks them down, and the audience has one last chance to cheer for how awesome these two characters are together and root for their friendship to be everlasting.

Which, in turn, sets up the whammy of a final scene.

Something Wicked This Way Comes: Magica DeSpell

This last scene is fantastic. Webby notices that Lena has an ancient Sumerian talisman shortly after they meet for the first time. However, Lena mentions that she got her shirt in Paris; whatever her issues with her family are, she’s clearly well-traveled. She also tucks away the talisman for most of the episode; by the time this final scene happens, it’s easy to have forgotten she even had it.

But then Lena returns home to the auditorium and casts an incantation to invoke Magica. Magica doesn’t have a single word of dialogue in this scene, but her presence is felt in her grandiose shadow and malevolent grin.

It’s a tense and suspenseful finale reintroducing the most iconic villain in DuckTales history. It strikes the audience like a curve ball to the face, but it’s been subtly set up enough throughout the episode that it doesn’t feel like it comes right out of nowhere.

This is what the whole episode has been building to. And as the scene fades to black and the credits roll, the tug of addiction-based storytelling is impossible to resist.

In Conclusion

This episode makes for a great introduction to the intrigue of Lena DeSpell, Webby’s best friend and Magica’s infiltrating agent. I love the dynamic at work with how the episode presents her. Lena is a dangerous predator masquerading as a toxic influence.

There’s something about her behavior that’s always subtly off, but that’s masked by her flippancy and her seemingly artificial coolness. It’s easy to get a bad impression from the way she talks and acts, but it’s also easy to write that bad impression off as the object lesson of the episode: Webby is going to learn that friends like Lena are actually bad for her.

Hilariously enough, Lena’s next appearance in “Terror of the Terra-Firmians” will literally be about this judgmental mindset, too. If you watched Lena be all too cool for school, listened to how she talks, and immediately decided that she’s definitely going to be the bad guy of the episode, then the writers have your fucking number.

And when Lena turns out to genuinely be trying to be Webby’s friend in the end, it’s a surprising and endearing twist that emotionally sets the audience up for that final gut-punch, which puts all those bits that seemed off about her into a brand new light.

"The Beagle Birthday Massacre” is a cleverly written roller coaster that plays on expectations and utilizes cliches in order to deliver a surprisingly solid experience.

[general-klumpp]

THEORY: DuckTales S3 is about bringing the McDuck FAMILY together. LITERALLY.

Greetings, fellow DuckTales fans! Very pleased to make my first theory out in the digital world, with my own illustrations to support it!

MAJOR/POTENTIAL SPOILERS

Part 1: Brothers and Sisters

According to Frank Angones, one of the main directions Season 3 is heading to is challenging ‘Clan McDuck’ to its core. We already know that includes the triplets, Webby, Scrooge, Donald, the manor staff, Lena, Violet, Gladstone...

With that said, what if a plotline surfaces, in which we learn about bringing the actual McDuck family together...?

A thought occurred to me the other day, that due to the challenging circumstances, the triplets are eventually going to estrange each other. How do I know? 

1. Huey will go through absolute hell this season. It is heavily implied that he will start investigating F.O.W.L with no-one in his family believing him - including his brothers.

2. Disney has accidentally leaked footage of a Halloween special, in which Louie dresses up as his weird red hat brother. Assuming that the next episode is about Team Magic, it could be because Huey’s investigations are creeping Louie out, thus the green triplet dressing up as Huey.

3. The last episode so far involves the triplets supporting each other. They seemed too ‘on good terms’ with each other, if you know what I mean. More about that later.

Now I don’t know exactly when we will learn about Scrooge’s relationship with his sisters...but to make things parallel and poetic, I believe we will find out once it seems that the triplets will split up. FOR GOOD.

According to numerous Duck stories, Scrooge spent a lot of his life away from his sisters, the latter seldom having coverage. From what I’ve seen so far, I believe that the team will use Rosa’s A Letter from Home, as a stimulus toward their fates: Hortense MAY have died a long time ago with her husband (hence Donald and Della being raised by their uncle), whereas Matilda is still out there, somewhere. 

These are not 100% my ideas, but I’d love to imagine Hortense having a love for discipline and splendour more than Scrooge (Team Guile), whereas Matilda could have a passion for science, thus her probable love for Ludwig Von Drake (Team Science). Any information about whether or not Matilda is married to Von Drake is currently confidential, but I believe that marriage was his big mistake - making Scrooge’s sister an easy target for F.O.W.L, and that the two are hiding. OR MAYBE MATILDA WAS THE TRAITOR THAT WAS MENTIONED ON WEBBY’S BOARD THE ENTIRE. TIME. Could make sense, acknowledging they toned down Scrooge’s love for money. 

I don’t have a clear scenario about how this would play out, but I believe that the episode regarding this would start as a hasty attempt from Scrooge to bring the triplets back together with another visit to Castle McDuck. Scrooge’s parents would then tell the triplets about his relationship with his sisters, which Scrooge may or may not expect at all. Other than that, I don’t have much, but we may find Matilda using the opportunity to take care of her parents as a way to hide from F.O.W.L. or in the slim chance of Hortense still being alive, the triplets attempting to bring Scrooge and his siblings together and make up.

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING MAY BE A HUGE STRETCH

According to Frank, every member of Clan McDuck will have a counterpart working for F.O.W.L. I’d imagine that in this canon, Scrooge and his siblings are three aging birds wearing slightly different eyewear. Who else are three aging birds wearing slightly different eyewear?

If that is true, and if each sibling is alive, then whatever Bradford’s brothers were to him could be what Scrooge’s sisters are to the richest duck in the world himself. Perhaps once Scrooge reunites with his sisters, the other Buzzards may start a rocky path with Bradford.

Part 2: NO SECRET - This part of the theory is leaning towards what I want to be true...cheeky me!

“I’m your grandmother, dear. I have no more secrets from you from here on out.”

I believe that in the beginning of the season, positive aspects between characters such as the triplets, Donald and Della, etc. will be explored - and then what? 

Apart from Huey, it is obvious that Beakley and Webby are going to have the big oof this season. And as part of F.O.W.L’s motive, they could split the two apart. How? With the help of a familiar face. Webby’s mother. Bentina Beakley’s daughter - Bianca, also known as Darkwing Duck’s Bugmaster. I REALLY WANT THIS TO BE TRUE. They could take the most interesting route by making Bugmaster an agent/journalist of F.O.W.L. But...why?

PIC UNRELATED

I’d imagine the beginning of this story as Webby crossing the boundaries of her grandmother, and cue an entire ‘The Reason You Suck Speech’ from Webby to Beakley, about how Beakley’s strict parenting affected her life. Webby could then storm off and find someone else to latch onto - like her mother... 

It could make sense, because Webby is always curious about information, and has a camera of her own...that kind of stuff seems kinda fitting for a job in the news industry, as Bianca’s job in DW was a news reporter for St. Canard. On the other hand, Bianca could be the exact antithesis of what Beakley wants her daughter to be. Unlike Webby, I’d imagine a younger Beakley being more laid back/absent with Bianca, and so that could have angered her a lot - probably even more with Webby in the picture, kinda like Eleanor Shellstrop from The Good Place. As a result, Bianca could have grown dishonest and rebellious, joining F.O.W.L to take revenge on her own mother, becoming Agent Bugmaster.

One potential scenario in mind of a battle between Agent 22 and Bugmaster - probably too dark and edgy, is that upon Bugmaster’s defeat/death - she tells her mother to take care of Webby, as if having a second chance to raise her Bianca. Cue big Beakley-Webby hug. Ow.

Part 3: The Rest

I have plenty of other ideas in which the relationships within the McDuck clan and friends may fall apart 

- Scrooge may be framed as working for F.O.W.L.

- Donald and Della may fall apart due to the shocking revelation that Donald and Scrooge hated each other for 10 years, or Daisy.

- Donald, Della and Scrooge may fall apart because of a potential lie from Scrooge about the fates of Hortense and Quackmore.

- Launchpad may be isolated from the McDuck family due to his insecurities.

- B.O.Y.D. may be a hacking target by Gandra Dee.

- Webby’s hypothetical growing distrust in the world may cause her to grow distant from her grandmother, and two best friends.

- Changing dynamics between Gyro and Fenton. What if Gyro finds out about Gandra and loses trust in Fenton knowing that the two are in a relationship? 

- A few members losing trust in Fethry letting some dumb secret slip.

TLDR: 

Part 1: Scrooge’s sisters may be revealed once HDL falls apart, Matilda McDuck and Ludwig Von Drake are alive and hiding

Part 2: Webby has Granny issues, Webby’s mom is The Bugmaster from Darkwing Duck

Part 3 and OVERALL: F.O.W.L is trying to split Clan McDuck, and it is up to the individuals to bring the family together!

...and that’s it! Thank you for reading this large ambitious theory! mcautismo signing out! peace

[mochuelovelli]

ASOUE AU? ASOUE AU. Pt 1 (Characters)

Okay so I just posted a little doodle I did for an A Series of Unfortunate Events AU that I had been thinking about ever since I realized that Esmé was obviously Magica's VA (which was 3 days ago so oop). I don't have all the characters figured out right now (mostly bc quite frankly there aren't really enough adults that act so... neglectful towards the kids in ducktales). I'll list the ones I am pretty concrete on VS the ones I'm unsure or ones that I "reimagined" due to not everyone fitting perfectly in this world.

Characters that are Definite:

Glomgold as Count Olaf: Think about it, horrible actor/cosplayer (yes thats what he is). Both obsessed about riches, revenge and are generally incompetent. Really, Olaf is much more wicked in the ASOUE series imo (bc even tho Glomgold wants to kill Scrooge and steal his money. This anger only extends his wards if he wishes to use them against Scrooge and is less keen on the murdering of kids. Notice I said LESS). Not 100% if I want him to be as...well explicit as Olaf can be at times. Especially his characterization in the Bad Beginning if you know what I mean (pst it's child marriage)

Magicia DeSpell as Esmé Squalor: Like I said, this is a no brainer. She has the stage performance of Magicia with a bit of Mark Beaks Mom (forget her name) mixed in. Probably would downplay her love for fashion and replace it with an obsession with the occult. I would also not have her be obsessed with Glomgold, its more in character for Glomgold to be obsessed with her anyhow. It is also possible bc I tend to believe she is a more compelling villian in canon that she might take the place of Glomgold on the Island in "The End". But I also plan for Scrooges Number One Dime to replace the Sugar bowl so, maybe not.

Doofus Drake as Calmanita Splats: Duh, spoiled brat who is very creepy and probably has parents that want them dead? Instead of wanting to sing all the time he mainly wants to wreak things/people. He still definitely dresses up tho into a hodgepodge of things. It always changes and Glomgold is always annoyed by this but he likes him more than Magicia. She definitely wants him dead just like Olaf in the series (she really hates kids).

Duckworth as Larry your waiter: Yeah not much competition for this role. It was either him or Launchpad. Duckworth is too perfect for this role and he honestly will play a better spy than canon Larry. If I ever write it out a lot of the "fight scenes" and anime-esque "explaining how I fooled you" dialogue will definitely be reworked but still present. I will however not keep out the main theme of neglect or ignorance with the adults, they will still fail in that regard as always but will just not literally stand there and tell Olaf "We finally caught you, now let me explain why we are so smart oh no you set something on fire again". I mean...maybe for a Mr. Poe but not the VFD. Or...SHUSH I should say but more on that later (or in another post who knows?)

Scrooge McDuck as Lemony Snicket (sorta): Okay so OBVIOUSLY we can't have our "Lemony" have the hots for the McDuck siblings mom (yes another thing I must explain oh boy). Scrooge will still be gilted in love by, of course Goldie though I am still not 100% if she should play part of the the role of Kit Snicket (again NOT related to Scrooge) or should she be someone else entirely. Scrooge is basically the reason everything is happening in this AU just like the canon Lemony but writes sad letters to Donald and Della as well as Goldie. As you might of well guessed, Scrooge's Fortune is also the riches the McDuck's have.

Fethry Duck as Dr. Monty: Of course a snake lover will become a marine lover in this AU! Also of COURSE Mitzy will play the roles of the incredibly deadly viper AND the great unknown! Fethry and Dr. Monty not being mentioned by their family but also too enthralled with their studies to care all that much (but seriously thats fucked up ducktales). Totally made for this role. As far as setting goes this will be where the siblings will be underwater first but since the series already has plently of aquatic locals I will probably swap out the Lake Lacamose story with Peru or the Galapagos. Speaking of...

Ms. Quackfaster as Aunt Josephine: For narrative purposes it would make sense that Ms. Quackfaster would lose her edge as a brave and bold woman. For what exact reason I am still trying to figure out. Not sure if I still want to keep the "Ike" storyline, maybe she just got really spooked by FOWL. Maybe some creature from the Galapagos ate her leg or something.

Ma Beagle as Dr. Orwell: This particular role was sort of hard for me to cast due to the fact that Dr. Orwell is older and romantically involved with Olaf (at least its sorta there). I really didn't want to give this role to Owlson bc other than she isn't a bad person, she is also way too young. Ma Beagle already has a similar motivation im canon to want to reclaim Duckburg as Beagleburg so the Terrible Mills plot to frame the B for causing a fire in order to have control over the mill is very in line with Ma. I originally wanted the Beagle Boys be working in the Mill but since I am changing the setting to Egypt, I decided to use the people stuck in the pyrimid (idk what they are actually called) and will either use Amulet, Launchpad or Dijin as Cookie

Characters that are Mixed with others:

Huey Duck as the Narrative Role of Violet B.: I mostly imagined(?) the kid characters in a approximation of set characters from the books/series. For this reason, Huey plays the ROLE of Violet Baudelaire so that he can take the "inventor" occupation. I went back and forth on finding who would have Violet's quirk of using an object to help her think. My mind originally went to Webby since she has a bow and I wanted Huey's obsession with the Incomplete History of Secret Organizations to take the place of his JWG. However I reworked it so that Huey's JWG would act as Violet's ribbon with him having to flip through his beat up (and slightly burnt) journal to find a quick solution or just to calm his nerves. Something that applies to all the triplets and twins is that their last names are changed to "McDuck" mostly bc it sounds better that they are later called the "McDuck Murders" instead of the "Duck Murders" as well as Scrooges edited role in the kids lives. He has a mix of Klaus' social awkwardness and habit of talking at length about his special interests to whoever will listen. Huey is also the one who gets hypnotized in the Miserable Mill ep.

Louie Duck as the Narrative Role of Sunny B.: Pretty sure I swapped Louie and Webby for this role in my first post but whatever. I wanted to confusingly change Klaus' role into a "Charmer" or "smooth talker" (obviously still a work in progress) since I felt that Huey in DuckTales canon was always well researched as well a good mechanic and having two characters who pretty much fit the same role was... redundant. I also wanted to really make Webby's Sunny much more inline with her notorious/abnormal fighting abilities. However, I realized that instead of changing Klaus' role I should just change Sunny's characterization since I would have to rework it anyways since she was a baby. I also got the idea from recently rewatching the series and saw Sunny basically trick her way out of being trapped with the Hook handed man (i.e. Fernald). I will instead make Louie's role as what he functionally is in DuckTales (the guy who can talk his way out of anything). He would probably also say his occupation is "Defense Attorney" or something along those lines. He is also the one who gets captured the most but not by much. However while he still has Sunny's sarcasm, he also has Klaus' inherit skeptism and distrust of adults.

Webby Vanderquack as the Narrative Role of Klaus B.: Like I said in Louie's segment, Webby is changed to Klaus or more accurately the "Researcher" of the group. She is often the one who stays up late, researching ways to get out of Glomgold's schemes. Unlike Klaus though, she has more of the optimism of Violet but might not put as much belief into all authority as Huey might. She still has role models that she looks up to but isn't against bending the rules. She also unfortunately takes Violet's role of becoming "Olaf's bride" in the Bad Beginning. In the story she has always lived with the McDucks but didn't take their name and still had Mrs. B (until she was around 10, she was 12ish when the fire happened). However, she is still in the McDuck Will and therefore Glomgold hatches a plan to use her to get the fortune. She also tricks him by signing her name "Vanderduck" or "McDuck" instead of Vanderquack to make the marriage null in void. She is also a mix of Sunny since she is generally the most physically capable out of the children.

Dewey Duck as the Narrative Role as Quigley Quagmire: Okay honestly after a rewatch, I don't exactly know what makes Duncan and Quigley that different from each other. I'm pretty sure Duncan is the Klaus of his siblings but whatever. Dewey mostly just 1/2 of the reveal that two people survived the fire during the Carnival segment (which is changed to an underground wrestling theme for reasons to be explained). I am fairly certain that during the last part of the Village of Fowl Devotees I want Dewey be the one left behind with Webby and Lena that way we can have more time spent with him and Weblena/ Magicia v Lena drama. Dewey's occupation would be "Comedian/Host/Actor" . He also is the one the adults ignore during the first half and will be the subject of Triplet/only child jokes that the Quagmires face.

Gosalyn Mallard as the Narrative Role of Duncan Quagmire: Okay so like, no she isn't related or adopted by the Quagmires

Lena Saberwing as the Narrative Role of Isadora Quagmire: c'mon both these kids like poetry. Literally I can think of no other DuckTales kid that likes that (other than Webby but that was more of her liking Lena's stuff). She will still have her background as Magica's niece and might take some of the role of Fernald where he gets redeemed by betraying Olaf/saving Sunny. I am unsure by what extent though as she isn't going to be a henchperson of Glomgold or Magica. It might be that she is uses morally questionable ways to get what she wants/needs. Maybe she is "good" but has to commit a terrible act similar to how the Baudelaires have to burn down the carnival.

Characters that I am uncertain about or straight up don't have someone in that role:

Violet Saberwing as the Narrative Role of Fiona Widdershins: Like Fiona, Violet was also originally distrusted by a part of the cast (in this AU, it probably be Webby and/or Louie as Huey catches feelings lol). She is also obsessed with the occult not fungus and has to save probably Louie from losing his soul or something (wip). Violet more than any of the main cast of kids will probably act more like her canon self since she is naturally straight forward and booksmart. She probably gets forced to stay with Glomgold until her and Lena can escape again. Also since I didn't want it to be another underwater local and wanted it to relate to DuckTales17 a bit more closely I thought it be better if they were in the sky. Maybe Violet got the Sun chaser or maybe even the Spear of Selene. Maybe instead of going to look for their dads (since they are dead oof) they come back at The End to tell the McDuck Siblings et all that they might of found something...or someone important.

Boyd as the Narrative Role of Friday: This is definitely more of a stretch as really he is only Friday because in role only because I want him at the Island at The End so that he can save the siblings from whatever organic incident happens since he is still an android. I previously thought he could also fit the role of Fernald since he could go through a redemption arc easier due to him sorta going through one in the show. Its not out of the realm of possibility that Glomgold could have reprogrammed him to obey him (he might still do something similar I haven't figured it out 100%).

Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera as the narrative role of Hector: He probably won't faint as much as Hector but he will have to be pushed by the kids to be confident in himself during the Vile Village (which will probably change to a Capital city since I plan to rework FOWL into this). Maybe its similar to a military academy which makes having a set of rules make sense. Its also possible that Fenton escapes with some of the kids in the Sunchaser by the end of this.

Steelbeak as the Narrative Role of Fernald Widdershins: I mainly chose him because Steelbeak and Hookhanded man both most clearly are shown to be sympathic antagonists. They are still functionally villians, much more so than any of the children like Boyd or Lena who, yeah, have done bad things but in one case wasn't given the freewill to decide for himself or was but when she decided to stand up for herself she was literally tortured and had her freedom taken away (more so than in the beginning since. Steelbeak would, like Fernald, be making a choice as an adult man to be apart of a mad man's troop and was harden enough to commit murder if it meant he could impress his boss. But because he is not related to (by blood or otherwise) any protagonist I struggle to know where to put him. I might still have him defect during the end of what would have been the Grim Grotto ep and comes back with the Saberwings at The End. Maybe he brings Gosalyn back after finding her at some point, maybe he dies somewhere towards The End. Not sure.

Gladstone/Ghost of Christmas Past/News Reporter Lady as the Narrative Role of Mr. Poe/Mr. Poes Wife: wow this one is really confusing. My reasoning behind these picks is because The News lady would be a great pick for Mr. Poe's wife or at least a substitute as she has similar motivations in DT17. The biggest set back for her tho is that she has no reason to be on the Baudelaire case (or McDuck case anyways). Ghost of Christmas past is a bit of a stretch since why the fuck would he be in charge of making sure the kids had guardians? I mainly want him just bc of his motivation (or lack thereof) to do his job and being incompetent at it. Gladstone while making some sense that he also would be uncaring about where the kids go is also a stretch given he is a relative and he while he might not care 100% about their whereabouts he wouldn't lose them like Mr. Poe would simply bc he is so damn Lucky. Its possible to work that against him, maybe in a scenerios like where he drops off the kids but gets whisked away because some rando gifts him a boat. Still unsure.

Mrs. Beakley as either the Narrative Role of Jaclyn S (Mr. Poes Secretary/VFD spy)., Olivia C. (Librarian): I want Mrs. B to have a role which fits her being experienced and competent but also met a tragic demise. I might mix the experience of JS with the fate of OC. Poor Webby.

Justice Strauss as ???: I'll be honest, I am stumped with this one. This is a very important role to fill and I can't quite find an adult character that fits the bill of Justice Strauss. Mrs. B is too smart, Launchpad studying law while ridiculous, is something inline with the show but he doesn't have a DT17 motivation similar enough to Strauss where he's desires can be exploited nor has he really want kids in the same sense as Strauss. Drake Mallard is close since he is an actor but having him work with law is a bit of a stretch, I also think that making him somewhat bumbling is an insult to his character but Strauss is tragic since she WANTS to very much be the Baudelaires guardian but fails so much. Maybe in a safer world she could have been, maybe if they were luckier. She loves them so much, but they run away where she can't find them to at least try to be there for them and is left heart broken by the end. Whoever becomes JS is in for a world of hurt and I'm sorry. Goofy could also be a replacement, maybe Max died for more angst 😬.

Goldie or Daisy as the narrative role of Kit Snicket: This kinda gets really fanfic-y as neither of these characters really fit nicely into this role. Goldie definitely has the skill of Kit and her disregard for the rules but the pregnancy thing is... something. Not entirely sure if I actually want her to be pregnant but I also want a Beatrice II type character (of course she would be named Della II) but again very fanfic-y. Daisy I am more comfortable being the one who gets pregnant, she might take Olivias role as the new VFD recruit instead of Kits more seasoned one. All I know is that if either or both outcomes exist they will die also a Dewey Deanumont(?) Character wouldn't be the father it would of course be Donald or Scrooge depending who gets pregnant.

Jacques Snicket as ???: Another mystery for me. Functionally? Maybe Manny could play this role or even Launchpad (he really is just my go to for any character idk about huh?) Whoever it is will die but wont have a romance with the Olivia character(s). Maybe its Goofy lmao.

This is quite long enough, let me know if y'all got any more ideas. I'll edit this when I can since I am tired of writing. Please comment or reblog for suggestions and the like thx u. And please...Look Away while you still can.

[saokpe-loves-to-talk]

Ducktales (2017): Masters in Character Writing

Rarely does a story revolve around a single character, and this means that characters usually need to eventually interact with each other. This aspect of character writing is probably the trickiest because the moment you introduce two characters that have yet to heavily interact, your audience automatically has an idea on how the interaction will eventually play out. Additionally, if two popular characters have yet to interact, a sudden demand for that particular dynamic formulates. Unfortunately it is rather hard to predict what dynamics will be popular and which the most number of people will want to see, nor can you gauge how your audience will react to canon dynamics when fan alternatives have been allowed to form beforehand. These elements are easy to juggle with smaller casts or even in more grounded settings, two advantages Ducktales has to do without. In this case the writers have to make sure their characters are designed and written in ways that they can bounce their personality with most every other character in the show. How do you do that? Make your characters as three-dimensional as humanly possible. 

I think a great example of this is Della Duck. Since her introduction in the mid-season finale of season 2, Della has been allowed to interact with a vast majority of the main cast, a risky play in a show so focused on variety. If not written correctly, her various interactions would seem repetitive, as if the other characters were just taking turns talking to a looping recording. This doesn’t happen, however; the writers constructed Della in a manner in which her personality has various aspects that allow for different and interesting dynamics with all the other characters. Her and Dewey play off each other’s brave and bold adrenaline-seeking. Della’s more liberal approach to parenting contrasts perfectly with Beakley’s more coservative strategies. Her paranoid guilt clashing harshly with Louie’s reckless schemes, and so on and so forth. Instead of having various other characters interact with one aspect of her personality, the writers had the foresight to create various different angles from which different characters can bounce off. That said, no matter how interesting a character’s different dynamics are, they can’t stay the same throughout a whole show, they need to develop or your character may suffer the consequences.

The new Ducktales reboot is amazing, from the humor, to the stories it tells, the show has really gone above and beyond what anyone would’ve expected from it. I love this show, the fandom around it and the messages it preaches to death, but there’s one thing that this show succeeds in doing that leaves me giddy with joy every time I think about, and that’s its characters. In this, my first of many essays on various media’s superb writing, I want to speak on the Ducktales reboot’s characters and what makes them so great. Now, before I begin, I want to preface that this analysis is purely subjective (like literally any other analysis of media) so if you disagree with anything said please feel free to add your opinion to this post, I want to start a discussion not an ultimatum. 

Anyone who has watched this show knows of its expansive cast. An entourage of main characters large enough to make even Game of Thrones blush, all with arcs and personalities so well developed that it would make Game of Thrones cry. Logic would state that these types of ensemble casts are hard to write, I mean, one well written character is a headache in of itself, let alone the dozen or so Ducktales juggles. There are many aspects of character writing that need to be adhered to, guidelines that turn this aspect of any story into the most complicated and sensitive. A character is usually what the viewer latches themselves to, it’s an element of the story that can’t be manipulated by the author directly but instead by the obstacles and surroundings the author places them through, a part so subjective and circumstantial that it is usual to see a distinction in a fandom’s interpretation of them and the original text’s. Needless to say, one needs to place a LOT of work into the development of your work’s characters. So what’s so special about Ducktales and how the writers handle this aspect of their show?

Personality Overlap

A character needs to have a personality, a rule so basic that it’s dismissal is in of itself an artistic decision (though that doesn’t stop some works from ignoring it entirely). To say the Ducktales reboot has succeeded in the implementation of personalities into many of these iconic characters would be an understatement, from the revamping of the triplets to the expansion of classic Disney characters like Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck, the writers have far demonstrated their ability to create interesting personalities or elaborating on already existing personalities. That far from makes a character, however, especially when you have as many as this show does. With ensemble casts, the writer needs to assure that every character is unique from one another, we can’t have characters step on each other's toes as it may lead to a sense of monotony in the future. That’s where this show stands out. Many characters DO share many personality traits. The number of eccentric geniuses alone proves comical, yet at no point do these overlapping traits prove detrimental to the enjoyment of any particular character. Why?

Let’s take two of the main four child characters, Webby and Dewey, as examples. Both these characters can be described as brave, headstrong adventurers who are always looking for their next adrenaline pumping adventure. Both are incredibly energetic and somewhat naive, and both seem to share increasingly comparable acrobatic abilities. These similarities are so prominent, in fact, that the show itself has used their compatibility as the base for many episode’s A or B plots. Yet, both of these characters are very easy to tell apart and that’s without listing their obvious differences. While many other shows and movies avoid making two main characters too similar in fear of having the story feel redundant, Ducktales embrace the fact that you need to be in a very particular headspace to do the things these characters do. While, yes, Dewey and Webby are both energetic and excitable, the former portrays this aspect of himself with performative and showman-like mannerisms, the latter expressing herself in hyper-active giddy and high-pitched declarations of happiness. This acceptance of similarities leads to, ironically, a more unique and nuanced experience as the writers allow themselves to create characters that break the mold of their given archetypes. Additionally, this acceptance of character similarities also allow for increasingly interesting character dynamics.

Character Dynamics

Rarely does a story revolve around a single character, and this means that characters usually need to eventually interact with each other. This aspect of character writing is probably the trickiest because the moment you introduce two characters that have yet to heavily interact, your audience automatically has an idea on how the interaction will eventually play out. Additionally, if two popular characters have yet to interact, a sudden demand for that particular dynamic formulates. Unfortunately it is rather hard to predict what dynamics will be popular and which the most number of people will want to see, nor can you gauge how your audience will react to canon dynamics when fan alternatives have been allowed to form beforehand. These elements are easy to juggle with smaller casts or even in more grounded settings, two advantages Ducktales has to do without. In this case the writers have to make sure their characters are designed and written in ways that they can bounce their personality with most every other character in the show. How do you do that? Make your characters as three-dimensional as humanly possible. 

I think a great example of this is Della Duck. Since her introduction in the mid-season finale of season 2, Della has been allowed to interact with a vast majority of the main cast, a risky play in a show so focused on variety. If not written correctly, her various interactions would seem repetitive, as if the other characters were just taking turns talking to a looping recording. This doesn’t happen, however; the writers constructed Della in a manner in which her personality has various aspects that allow for different and interesting dynamics with all the other characters. Her and Dewey play off each other’s brave and bold adrenaline-seeking. Della’s more liberal approach to parenting contrasts perfectly with Beakley’s more conservative strategies. Her paranoid guilt clashing harshly with Louie’s reckless schemes, and so on and so forth. Instead of having various other characters interact with one aspect of her personality, the writers had the foresight to create various different angles from which different characters can bounce off. That said, no matter how interesting a character’s different dynamics are, they can’t stay the same throughout a whole show, they need to develop or your character may suffer the consequences.

Character Development

I’m sure this last segment isn’t anything particularly untouched when it comes to character discussions but I feel it needs to be commemorated equally. People grow and so should your work’s imitation of people. It’s been drilled into our heads that a character should have flaws (which is a bit of a vague sentiment that leads to a bunch of people calling particular characters Mary Sues despite them not actually being one but that’s for another essay), and those flaws need to eventually iron themselves out. They don’t need to be fixed, but they need to be addressed, they need to change and shape your character. This change is the heart of your story. An audience is experiencing your story through the characters and as such their development and change is better felt than the external forces that might haunt them. Or at least that’s how I see it. Most importantly, the duck show does this well.

Louie Duck throughout the majority of season 1 proved himself the odd-duck out in his expansive family of crazy adventurers, him being rather cowardly and extremely averse to any type of physical exertion. Despite this he maintained useful as a shrewd con artist and silver tongued schemer. This left Louie in a situation where he always seemed to resemble more the various villains Scrooge faced and berated instead of his own heroic family-tree. An interesting tid-bit to take into the second season which coincidentally premiered with an episode revolving around Louie’s disdain of thrill-seeking adventures and his insecurity about his seeming uselessness in those previously mentioned adventures. His arc for the season is established. This story-line eventually culminates when Della grounds him for one particularly catastrophic scheme he attempted to pull called the Timephoon. At this point we have a character, who appoints himself as the “evil-triplet”, with an apparently detrimental flaw he previously valued, a flaw which he shares with various of the cunning villains the show has previously labelled as “schemers.” These elements of his arc come together when a party of villains come looking for a way to finally destroy the McDuck family. His character has developed throughout the season, his insecurities and faults continuously pointed out, his one apparent quality mislabeled as dangerous and unwanted, he reached his lowest point. The archetypal villain backstory. Yet he doesn’t actually become a villain, instead he tricks the villains and saves his family from being hunted by these maniacs using the same trickery and cunning that was previously called dangerous. You might think that my retelling is biased to make it seem like Louie was going to turn evil, I mean, I left out like the majority of Louie inc. stories and the development experienced there. But that’s the kicker, the writers led this character through a road that seemed to lead to villany just to remind us of all the other lessons Louie had learned prior to Timephoon, how he felt after being betrayed by Goldie, how unmaintainable his harpy scheme was earlier in the season and a bunch of other, minor, realizations. It’s hard to write character development without it seeming predictable, flaws are easy to fix in retrospect, the journey there is what really matters.

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I hope you enjoyed reading through this not so little dissection of one of my favorite shows. If you have feedback on how I should format these essays in the future please comment so, improvement is always my first goal. More importantly, however, if you agree or disagree with anything written, or you feel like you have something to add, please don’t hesitate to do so. This is all about creating discussion.

[nitr0glycer1ne]

Ducktober/Duckvember 9 - Headcanon

Hi! My writing schedule for this is very hectic, but I've been working a lot lately and Death Stranding is out, so both of these have been keeping me busy... sorry!! I'll do my best to catch up on duck fics! I did a combo with this one since it features 3 headcanons of mine :) More on them in the notes at the end, so I don't spoil the story! Also first time writing Panchito and José so I’m stocked!! Enjoy!

It was supposed to be a calm Saturday in the McDuck Mansion.

Mrs Beakley was cleaning the hallways, Huey was absorbed in trying to earn his calligraphy Junior Woodchuck badge, Dewey was filming yet another episode of Dewey Dew-night in the triplets' room (even though it was the middle of the afternoon, since his filming sessions had been rescheduled courtesy of Donald and Della’s joint efforts), Louie was teaching Webby the ropes of advanced kart drifting techniques in his favorite racing game, Della was busy doing some maintenance work on the Cloud Slayer, and Launchpad was at an amusement park with Drake and his friend's adopted daughter Gosalyn. And since everyone was busy doing rather calm activities, Scrooge had taken the opportunity to sit in the library, comfortably seated in his favorite armchair, newspaper on his lap and a cup of warm tea on the small table near him, within hand's reach.

It was supposed to be a calm Saturday – “supposed” being the keyword.

Suddenly, an abominable noise akin to a deafening mix between a dying screech and an explosion vibrated through the whole house, startling all its inhabitants. Right after that first audible assault, a guitar riff resonated in every corridor and every room, its melody (if you could call it that) generously peppered with false notes. And as if it wasn't enough, a stream of somewhat rhythmic banging was added, and soon after what could only be described as the sound that someone recklessly stepping on a piano would make.

“What is that?!” Louie screamed, more annoyed than scared. He had looked forward to spending a normal day for once and was most displeased with the horrid cacophony. “I have no idea!” Webby answered excitedly, dropping her controller. “Let's investigate!”

The girl dashed out of the room, and Louie had no choice but to follow her. He really didn't want to, but the sooner they found the source of the disturbance, the sooner he could get back to his video game. As the ducklings were running in the corridors, trying to find the room the problem was coming from, they came across a very irritated Dewey.

“I was doing an interview!” he explained. “Whoever or whatever is making that noise will have to do some serious apologizing!”

Louie rolled his eyes, and the three kids kept running. They ended up in the entrance hall, the noise getting louder with every step; when they reached the bottom of the stairs, Della, Huey and Mrs. Beakley were already busy trying to locate the source of the noise. Said noise was still barely bearable; Huey in particular was looking particularly distressed, his hands tightly protecting his ears.

“What is going on here?!” Della yelled, her voice hard to hear above the cacophony. “I thought it was you, Dewey!” “What?!” the duckling shouted, offended. “Why would you think that?!” “Shut up!” Louie screamed as he held Huey’s right shoulder and pressed his older brother close to him, to comfort him and do his best to soothe his nerves. “You’re making it worse!”

Dewey was about to answer the youngest triplet but was cut short by his great-uncle joining them in the hall. Curiously, although he should have been the most annoyed by the sudden racket, Scrooge looked tired and resigned rather than angry. That startled even Mrs Beakley, who couldn’t help but ask:

“Mr McDuck, do you have any idea what-” “Yes, I do, Beakley.” he sighed, rolling his eyes and making his way to the manor’s right wing. “And I’ll put an end to it.”

Webby was the first to follow him, followed closely by Dewey and her grandmother. Louie stayed behind with Huey, waiting until his brother’s breathing had slowed down before they joined the rest of the group. They found themselves in the garage, where the noise was so loud it was painful to bear.

Since Launchpad had moved to live with Drake and Gosalyn the week before, the mansion’s garage had been eerily quiet without the constant, faint sound of Darkwing Duck reruns, or more recently, old rock songs. Now, however, the garage was anything but quiet, and the manor’s inhabitants understood why when they opened the door and found themselves face to face with what seemed like a fever dream.

Donald was wearing an old, tattered flannel shirt Della was sure he must have gotten as a birthday present twenty years before, and he was playing on an equally old electric guitar, his fingers running on the instrument with a surprising speed, but with a disastrous result. Donald had also combed his hair to resemble a fringe, falling on his forehead, stopping right before his eyes that were tightly shut closed as he was passionately shouting in what was probably an attempt at singing. Next to him, an antique accordion was propped on a chair, next to a flute and an acoustic guitar.

He wasn’t alone: two other persons were with him, and the four children were surprised to recognize him as Donald’s best friends, the ones they had met back in Brazil.

Panchito still had his sombrero on, but he was wearing tight denim pants and a leather jacket with shining spikes on the shoulders rather than the bright red outfit he had worn when they first met him. He was also singing, and was sitting behind worn drums, playing them with all his might, the sticks banging ferociously against the instrument. José was as into their “musical number” as his friends: he was standing behind a keyboard, hands expertly gliding on the keys, playing somewhat better than Panchito and Donald – which wasn’t saying much. He had gone through a wardrobe change too, wearing a white shirt with more buttons undone than fastened and slick black pants. José was singing his heart out as well, and sometimes his left hand left the keyboard to reach for a tambourine and shake it for a bit.

Huey and Della were in absolute disbelief at the scene, while Louie snorted and quickly reached for his phone, recording the disastrous attempt of a musical performance. Webby was confused, blinking quickly and looking at her grandmother for answers to her silent questions, Mrs Beakley answering only with a tired sigh. Scrooge was about to charge towards the trio, cane in his hand, but Dewey was quicker and louder:

“UNCLE DONALD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

His scream was so loud that Donald and his friends stopped immediately, drawing sighs of relief and pleasure from everyone else. He opened his eyes, and found himself face to face with a very angry duckling.

“Oh, bom dia, Donald’s family!” José greeted, not fazed in the least by Dewey’s tone or attitude. “It’s been a while!” Panchito added, smiling. “Yeah, yeah, hello. It’s not everyday that I can get prestigious guests on my show, and just when I was about to start interviewing Glomgold, you had to do… whatever that is!” “Glomgold?!” Scrooge almost choked as he heard his rival’s name. “Yeah!” Huey chimed in, having finally calmed down since the source of his discomfort had disappeared. “Do you really have to play so loud?” “And so false?” Louie added, saying out loud what everyone thought.

Donald looked a bit distraught, and Panchito and José looked at each other, confused.

“We weren’t playing out of key!” the rooster countered. “Si, it has been a while since we last practiced, but-” “It was atrocious.” Della provided. “Aw, come on, Dellita!” Panchito brushed her off. He stood up and ran to properly greet her, giving her a tight hug. He hadn’t seen her since she had visited Donald between two flights during his college days, and his duck friend had told him and José all about what had happened to her. “Come here! I’m so happy to see you!” “Sim, Della, you haven’t aged a day!” José smiled after giving her a hug of his own. “Flattery isn’t gonna make me less mad about you!”

Donald couldn’t help but feel a strange sensation in his stomach as he saw his twin sister reuniting with his best friend, a warm feeling tinted with nostalgia that brought a tear to his eye. He blinked it away, and when he opened his eyes, it was to find himself face to face with Scrooge, who was looking particularly crossed.

“Lad, the “no band practice in the manor without my permission” rule still applies.” “Uncle Scr-” “Band practice?!” Webby squealed, running away from Panchito ruffling her hair to Scrooge and Donald’s side. “I didn’t realize! It’s true that the three of you were the Three Caballeros! Since you said that last time, I did some research but didn’t find anything online!” “We were very, ehm, how do you say? Ah, underground!” José provided. “But I could give you a cassette we recorded. I have several back home.” “Aww, you kept them?” Panchito beamed, throwing his arms around his friend. “I’d love to, Mr Carioca!” “Please, call me José, docinha.” “Why… why would you want that?!”

As Webby explained how happy she was to put her hands on a tangible piece of Donald Duck’s history, Panchito and José decided to back their friend up, since said friend was looking a little guilty under Scrooge’s severe glare.

“Scrooge, sorry! We were so happy to celebrate the Three Caballeros’ revival that we might have gotten a bit carried away!” the parrot apologized with a smile. “Yeah!” Panchito added, firmly patting the old duck’s back. “We’ll be more careful in the future, promise!” “What do you mean, in the future?” Mrs Beakley sternly asked, her head already aching at the perspective of having to endure more of this torture. “You didn’t tell them, Donald?!” José gasped.

The duck rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed.

“I… was waiting for the right moment and didn’t have the occasion?” “Told us what, Donald?” Scrooge squinted, sensing something not pleasant in the least was about to happen. “Donald said that since your garage was free now, we had all the space we wanted to practice and work on new songs for our upcoming album and concerts! Los Three Caballeros are officially BACK!” Panchito loudly exclaimed, José smiling in approval and Donald feeling very, very little under his uncle and Mrs Beakley’s intense stares.

A collective groan ensued, save for Webby’s enthusiastic “Yeah!”.

-

It was my first time writing Panchito and José, I hope I got them right! I took Spanish as a 2nd language (French being my mothertongue, English was my 1st foreign language in school, Russian my 3rd and Latin my 4th. Sadly I've lost almost all of my knowledge in Russian...) and don't speak Portuguese or Brazilian Portuguese so feel free to correct me. More on the 3 headcanons:

1) Sometime after season 2, Launchpad moves out of McDuck manor and goes to live with Drake and Gosalyn, although he still stays close to Scrooge and his family, especially Dewey! It starts as a simple roommates situation, but since I love Drakepad it ends with them in a relationship :)

2) Huey is gifted. It's probably me projecting, but Huey has a lot of traits often found in gifted people: being book smart, having interest in always learning new things and skills, trying to understand everything, being kind and trying to be as helpful as possible, and being easily anxious and prone to anger outbursts. I could go into detail about this haha, in fact I probably will in the form of a fic later in this challenge that will have Huey interacting with someone I also headcanon as gifted c: 2.5) And I can see Louie as being the one to calm him down the most easily when Huey has a spike of anxiety or a panic attack. Louie is good at reading people and he's also quite sensitive, which is why I can see him looking out for his big brother. Dewey just doesn't realize it, I think he has more difficulty reading people and understanding how they feel, especially if they try to hide it.

3) And of course the main focus of this fic, THE THREE CABALLEROS GETTING BACK TOGETHER !!! I really wanna see this in the show, even if it's just in passing. We know that Panchito and José will be in S3, and I really would like to see them and Donald playing music, even if it's just in a flashback or something!!

[toxikku]

Ducktales Switched AU: Masterpost !

I was asked to make a masterpost pertaining to my feelsy AU and figured considering how far it’s come, it was needed!

Brief summary: This is an AU where Scrooge and Magica’s roles have been swapped. Gladstone takes the place of Lena after Scrooge saved him from the House of Lucky Fortune, whilst a shadow child called Lena takes the place of Magica’s niece. Magica lives in the mansion with Lena, Webby, Mrs. Beakley, and her brother-turned-raven, Poe. Scrooge’s family is of magical heritage, including Donald and his boys who are currently estranged from the old miser after a terrible accident involving Della Duck. The unlucky duck avoided Duckburg all their lives up until the kids hijacked and sabotaged the boat to visit out of curiousity. And then the shenanigans began.

Now the core aspect of it is out of the way, more information under the cut! Biographies may vary in length (and key events) as I am still figuring out concepts. As a result, I may make edits occasionally! If you have any further questions, even about characters I’ve already talked about or have YET to talk about, please shoot!

The official tag for it is #ducktales switched au, until further notice!

CHARACTERS:

Magica De Spell: The richest duck in the world, Magica is a well reknowned figure in the world, running huge companies as well as owning a considerable amount of land. Her estate used to belong to the one and only Scrooge McDuck, until she bought it out after his disappearance. She does adventure in her spare time (and has done in the past, crossing paths with Scrooge AND Goldie), though is quite a busy business woman so rarely has time for her domestic life. Extremely eccentric and a little chaotic, but she does get the job done. Has dabbled in magic before, but after her brother was turned into a raven, doesn’t much do so anymore.

Scrooge McDuck: An infamous warlock of his time, Scrooge McDuck was a former treasure hunter and magical artefact collector, jolly and passionate. He ventured the world with his nephew and niece gathering items which slowly corrupted his mindset, much to the worries of Donald. He became power hungry, possessive, and stuck in his own decisions - and that ended terribly when Della Duck tried to lead him away from the life of corruption. A reflex stray of magic ended in disaster, and in one day, both relatives left him. Grieving over the loss of Della and how it was all his fault, he left behind his estate and relocated to Mt. Vesuvius, then spent the following years lost and searching for a way to get Della back, no matter the casualities. His first real attempt to get her back was thwarted by Magica De Spell, and he was trapped in his own dime for five years up until the events of the Shadow War.

Lena De Spell: Magica’s ‘niece’. After fleeing numerous boarding schools, Lena turned up on Magica’s doorstep and wound up adopted. She was created during the fight between Magica and Scrooge, much like in canon, only this time around, Gladstone was there to take her place. Magica took her in partly out of guilt and responsibility for her creation, and they’ve been together ever since. Lena rarely gets to see her aunt much, and Magica’s spoilings don’t really help this - though that does change eventually, around the time she met these three weird kids. Lena’s connection to Scrooge is something Magica does stress over though...

Webby Vanderquack: Lena’s best friend and local conspiracy theorist. Not much different from her canon counterpart, she gushes over the De Spell family’s history, much to the irritation of Lena who frankly could care less. With how busy Magica is, Webby and Lena are constantly together, and go on adventures with Gladstone Gander, the triplets, and the entire family if they’re lucky. Family dictionary, and her world totally wasn’t shaken when she discovered Scrooge McDuck’s belongings in the manor.

Gladstone Gander: Scrooge’s lucky adopted and non-magical nephew. At some point before Scrooge was shadow-fied, Gladstone was saved from the Lucky Casino by his uncle. In exchange, he agreed to help Scrooge out without reading the fine print (binding contracts are never good). After Scrooge and Magica’s battle, Scrooge’s shadow attached to his, and the rest rolls out as you’d expect. He eventually becomes involved in the De Spells’ lives, trying to retrieve the number one dime for his uncle and earn his freedom. Unfortunately, his growing attachment to the family means his luck doesn’t really work with him, at least for Scrooge’s goals. Becomes quite protective of Lena and Webby (and usually stands up to Scrooge because of them), and develops awkward feelings for Magica.

Has no idea what Scrooge’s actual motives are, and Scrooge is hesitant to say them in case Gladstone rebels. Not that he doesn’t eventually anyways. Come the Other Bin, the goose has enough of his uncle’s orders but that ends badly for him, and the freedom in the Shadow War is temporary. Cursed a shadow, but that doesn’t stop him protecting the kids, which is his end - least in waking life. Stiiiiill pondering who his shadow gets attached to.

Donald Duck: Scrooge’s magical nephew and your typical bad luck magnet. Before the incident with his relatives, he ventured the world while studying magic under his uncle’s wing. Lived in Duckburg until Della’s disappearance, then left with the boys, constantly on the move for a new home (and job).  Wary about the usage of magic after what happened to Della, though hesitantly taught the boys what he knows (at least the bare minimum). Occasionally traveled with his friends, José Carioca and Panchito, and didn’t return to Duckburg until his curious nephews hijacked the boat and stranded them there. Spends most of his time looking for a new job to fix the boat. Fixed up the boat over the course of season 1, but it wound up getting broken again by its end. Magica offered his family to stay come season 2 in thanks for the battle against his uncle.

Della Duck: The missing mother. She ventured with her uncle and brother, though unlike them wasn’t that invested in magic. Della focused on practicality, and although she was a talented witch at a young age, she ultimately lost interest and wanted to tackle everything hands on. She disappeared before her children were born, sucked into a portal to the underworld after trying to confiscate an artefact from her uncle’s grasp and being hit by a stray bout of magic. As far as everyone knows, Della is long dead. Her memorial can be found at Castle McDuck, and her family visits it often.

Huey: An incredibly bright child with a knack for reading; takes to spellbooks like a duck to water. Typically the nephew most knowledgeable on spells and if you need a magic dictionary, then he’s your guy. Has about as much potential as Donald when it comes to magic ability, but he’s still learning and as a result his spells vary in strength. Into science and idolizes Gizmoduck, finding the practicality of science and technology fascinating.

Dewey: Darts right into danger just like his mother; Dewey has had accidents with his spell casting, and accidentally snapped his wand at a point (those are expensive to replace)/ His spellcasting has pretty good strength for a boy his age... until you realize it has zero handling. Until he can get a lid on it, his spells are pretty unstable and the wand doesn’t help things. Despite its defects, however, only Dewey knows how to somewhat work it because he’s had it so long. Dewey headed the ‘let’s sabotage the boat while Donald is sleeping and go to Duckburg’ plan.

Louie: The lazy triplet has a lot of tricks up his sleeves. Spells are usually pretty tame as he has a tendency to just use them for house chores, but out of all the triplets, he has the strongest magical capability. The downside is he’s just never motivated to push himself that far. As such, he has a habit of getting into the most trouble - and since he’s still building self confidence, fear isn’t the motivation he needs.

Poe de Spell: A duck cursed to be a raven by Scrooge McDuck; he was transformed into a raven during Scrooge’s final confrontation with Magica. Generally acts as her sister’s advisor of sorts, wary, wise, but still as snarky as in the OG Ducktales. Acts as a Zazu to Lena, in that sense, but cursed teens are always able to evade a watchful eye. He’s a raven the entirety of Season 1 before the wizard, Donald Duck, is able to turn him back after the events of the Shadow War.

Launchpad McQuack: The family driver/pilot - Magica admires his positive and smashing energy and wouldn’t have any other person to drive her to and from her destinations.

Goldie o’Gilt: Scrooge McDuck’s old flame; she had history with the warlock before he took a turn for the worse. Their relationship was about as you’d expect until the incident, then it grew colder with every encounter because Goldie’s rivalry was intrusive to Scrooge’s plans. She had no idea what incited this change. Attended a party and ran into another old rival: Magica De Spell, and they ventured to white agony plains together (where Goldie was reminiscent of the days with Scrooge, though she said little about it to Magica).

Mrs. Beakley: Agent 22 - used to work with Scrooge McDuck, and soon as his housekeeper until Della’s disappearance and his leave. Signed up for the same job with Magica de Spell, awaiting her former boss’ return and to keep an eye on his belongings.

Duckworth: The manor’s ghost; previously served under Scrooge McDuck before his disappearance. Along with Mrs. Beakley, is currently guarding the warlock’s belongings. Extremely loyal to Scrooge in general, but due to the bonds he’s made with the people around him, that loyalty is a tad strained. Unlike in canon, he actually stayed behind before the events of the Shadow War.

STILL TO COME:

Fenton Crackshell:

Gyro Gearloose:

Downy & Fergus

AND A BUNCH MORE. PROBS.

LINKS:

REFERENCES:

Scrooge

Donald.

Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

Poe De Spell.

LORE:

The Scrooge sketch that started it all - This was just a random idea I came up with one day; I loved role switch AUs, especially when they’re with antagonists and protagonists.

Initial Magica Concept - Later adapted the design to better fit the design in the reboot.

General PSA about the AU - 1 - Not everyone changes drastially; they’re just adapted.

General PSA about the AU - 2 - About the general storyline.

McDuck Family Lore - 1 - The McDuck family are one of magic, Gladstone being the exception as he is adopted. Della died due to a magical accident and Donald was unable to save her.

De Spell Family Lore - 1 - About Magica’s relationship with Lena and her characterisation in general.

De Spell Family Lore - 2 - Information on the raven, Poe de Spell, and Lena.

Poe & Gladstone - stuff about Poe’s personality and fate, with a bit about Gladstone.

Lena’s Existence in the AU - shadow child, ye.

Donald - 1 - Initial Donald design; pretty basic and eventually got changed.

Donald - 2 - Doodle of that boy.

Scrooge - 1 - Doodles; Scrooge’s infamy is pretty well known and he won’t stand for family members getting in the way of his goals.

Donald and the boys - 1 - Donald teaches the boys magic... but only with restraint.

Donald and the boys - 2 (+Gladstone meta) - Slightly scrapped concept; Donald was stranded in Duckburg with the boys instead of constantly traveling the world across the season so he and the boys would be more involved with the plot.

Donald and the boys - 3 - and where they’re living.

Donald and Della’s childhood - they were so smol.

Della’s Scarf - ouch.

Dewey’s Wand - 1 - it broken.

Dewey’s Wand - 2 - but he knows how to use it.

The Triplets & their involvement - I still love this idea so much.

Scrooge and Gladstone - 1 - An old concept I suppose; I’m honestly thinking about scrapping this as ‘marriage’ takes a little too long for Scrooge’s liking and the concept just irks me a little.

Scrooge and Gladstone - 2 - Gladstone trying to casually divert attention to something else does not work in the slightest.

Scrooge and Gladstone - 3 - Summary of how Scrooge’s quest to save Gladstone and get his backup plan for the fight against Magica went.

Scrooge and Gladstone - 4 - Decided to mess with a different kind of perspective.

Voice Musing - I saw stuff in the tags it had me thinking emoji.

Scrooge and Gladstone - 5 - lore galore in the tags, btw.

Scrooge’s relationship with Goldie - talks a bit about her debut ep.

not canon but HOW DARE YOU ANON - scrooge and goldie hurt me.

Gladstone’s interactions with the kids - 1 - Lena is generally suspicious but Webby is painfully open.

Gladstone’s interactions with the kids - 2 - Lena is a suspicious child wary for Webby’s sake. Also I am called out for having too much Gladstone in this AU. Looking at this list, I can confirm I am trash.

Gladstone’s interactions with Magica - 1 - spoilers: he’s a dork.

JAW$ redraw but it’s Gladstone and Scrooge - I spent so much time on this but it was really worth it. He likely would have had the friendship bracelet Webby gave him but I was too burnt out to draw that section.

JAW$ doodles (Lena, Gladstone and Scrooge) - in which a teenager is baffled and shocked this guy would save anyone but himself.

Other Bin Doodles (Gladstone ft. Lena) - Some sketches I did after rewatching the Other Bin; Lena and Webby both get turned into dolls in this one.

Other Bin suffering - goose boy sad, save him.

Gladstone and Magica content (ft. Lena) - someone asked for Magicstone so I delivered.

Fenton & Gyro - some general stuff and their relationship with their boss.

Mrs. Beakley’s role in the Switched AU - I don’t talk about her enough tbh.

Scrooge’s old personality and his relationship with his niece and nephew - meta is so fun to write out but ouch.

Scrooge’s Motives & About Della - was rather painful to write about.

Scrooge and Donald - 1 - Did you know Della’s scarf used to be whole?

Shadow War Sketches - 1 - Man I really was on a field trip with these.

Shadow War Sketches - 2 - in which Gladstone perishes.

Shadow War Sketches - 3 - got to work with good expressions with these.

Shadow War Sketches - 4 - veeeeery proud of these.

Fake Shadow War Screenshots - got asked to edit suffering and I delivered.

Fake Triplet Screenshots - edits of the children.

Fake Scrooge Screenshots - I still don’t think green suits him tbh.

Fake Magica screenshot - she.

Shadow Gladstone and his fate - This... was dark.

Fenton and Scrooge - Took place after the Shadow War, I guess, while Scrooge is grieving.

This is a serious AU - yeah... i got nothin to say.

Inspiration - I’m a nerd, go figure.

Fanfiction WIP - who knows when I’ll finish it, but it’s in the works.

Scrapped Visual Novel - Maybe? Idk, depends if I ever get time for it.

Misc. Sketches - [x] [x] [x] [x] [x] [x] [x] [x] [x] [x] [x] 

Misc. Asks - [x] [x] [x] [x]

Headcanon commentary - [x] [x] [x] [x] [x]

BEAUTIFUL ART BY BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE:

domiinon:

Scrooge

Scrooge again and I am sobbing

All the Scrooges need hugs tbh

THIS LOOKS SO AMAZING?? LOOK AT IT??

scrooge support squad for all the angst we put them through

KJGNJFDNGDJ THEY ALL LOOK FABULOUS

bloosume:

Scrooge

fini-mun:

The End

kats-kreations:

Last Christmas aka kat breaks my heart