#the other bin of scrooge mcduck

[best-ducktales-episode]

ROUND #2

[knuckles-junior]

He eat ^^

[sometimes-they-come-back-237]

Webby: It's okay, Lena. We'll just add "playing video games" to the list of things that trigger your magic.

Lena: Everything triggers my stupid magic!

Violet: “Making lists”.

. . .

Magica: All you had to do is pose as the pink one's friend, gain her trust, get invited to a series of sleepovers, forge a Vesuvian diamond dagger that can cut through anything, sneak into Scrooge's room while he sleeps to enact my grim revenge-

[ducklooney]

Happy birthday, Carl Barks!

On March 27, 1901, near Merrill, Oregon, Carl Barks was born, the famous writer and artist of Donald Duck comics who would turn Donald Duck and his family into something spectacular, starting with Duckburg and the Duckverse universe. He had a difficult childhood and was constantly looking for work until he started working for Disney from 1935. He worked on writing scripts for many classic Donald Duck shorts, and from 1942 he started writing and publishing the comic book "Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold" and since then he has been writing famous comics that will be read all over the world and that Donald Duck will be even more famous. Although Al Taliaferro invented Donald's nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie, Gus Goose, Grandma Duck and Bolivar the dog, while Walt Disney Donald and Daisy Duck, Barks remains famous for perfecting these characters and inventing one of the most famous characters without that the Duckverse wouldn't even exist. They are certainly Scrooge McDuck (created in 1947), Gladstone Gander (created in 1948), Beagle Boys (created in 1951), Junior Woodchucks (created in 1951), April, May and June Duck (created in 1952), Gyro Gearloose (created in 1952), Cornelius Coot (created in 1952), Goldie O'Gilt (created in 1953), Flintheart Glomgold (created in 1956), Magica De Spell and Miss Quackfaster (created in 1961), John D. Rockerduck (created in 1961), Abner Whitewater Duck (created in 1962), as well as Neighbor Jones, Soapy Slick, Pig mayor, Matilda and Hortense McDuck and other characters.

He stopped working with comics in 1967, but continued to draw special artwork and developed a duck style that influenced other artists and writers to follow him. Although he established his own rules for the Duckverse and the duck family, he never established it as true canon and let other authors make up their own. He strove for excellent humor (sometimes dark humor), and his comics are proof of that, even though conclusions about adventure comics were drawn from it. Those comics will later greatly influence other media, not only for Disney, but for the creation of the Indiana Jones movies. Influenced a lot on Osama Tezuka, the founder of manga. It also influenced the creation of Ducktales in 1987. He traveled around European countries and met other Donald Duck comic artists and writers. He especially influenced Don Rosa, Romano Scarpa, William Van Horn, Guido Martina, Carpi, Vicar and other authors. He married three times and left two daughters. He died on August 25, 2000 in Grants Pass, Oregon.

And now the best pictures of him in memory of the great Donald Duck artist who won The Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1987. He was also called The Duck Man and The Good Duck Artist. If you love this comic artist and writer, feel free to like and reblog this and tell me what your favorite Carl Barks comics are. Happy Birthday Carl Barks!

[tokuvivor]

Well, last night, we had the first of three Halloween Movie Nights for this month, all with a broad supernatural/parallel universe theme to them. So, the highlights:

Skeleton Dance

Me: “That’s gotta hurt” (the cats pulling at each other’s tongues)

@writebackatya falling into the well and @tealottie pulling him back out

The stream cut out, so we didn’t get to finish the short. But if you want to check it out, you can do so right here.

Magica’s Shadow War

The fact that the episode was the original inspiration for Lena

Everyone wanting to smash Magica

@spamtoon: “i fucking forgot about 87 poe”

@puffyducks: “it’s ok the writers forget about 87 poe too”

Gyro’s invention being a camera with a spotlight

Puffy: “they just fucking flashbanged her”

Will: “me when Webby kicked the flash grenade back to Gandra”

Scrooge’s girly apron

The guy at the airport (Gus Goose?)

Scrooge White and the Seven Nephews (courtesy of @shewhowantsmouseears)

Evermore/nevermore

Scrooge covering all the bases with the shadow’s pronouns

Scrooge wearing a moose head

Me: “Keel moose and squirrel”

Mel: “They had to make a moose joke, given how her voice is clearly based on Natasha from Rocky and Bullwinkle” (Since June Foray voiced both Natasha Fatale and ‘87 Magica.)

Magica’s shadow looking like Madam Mim because of the hair (plus some lore droppage from Mel and @emeraldcity1900)

“Magica’s raven” That’s her brother!

AUGH

Launchpad!

Will: “Do you think every family member immediately groans to themselves whenever Scrooge starts his sentences with “I made my fortune””

Several people: “Yes”

Surprise Webby!

@alex31624: “is like... some shadow war...”

Endless drama with the dime (as usual)

Caro: “I was hoping Scrooge would SHPEDEHOOING the dime out of her hands”

The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck!

Lena time!

Scrooge in a deep sleep

Lena: “Aaaah…”

*theme song plays*

Will and Caro discussing how the theme song playing would impact the characters in real time

@spamtoon: “hi mark”

Webby’s long-ass speech about Scrooge

Magica being a terrible person

Blink-and-you-miss-it animation error where Lena isn’t wearing shoes

Gavin subplot!

Louie’s Kids

Darkwing Duck and Paperinik references (leading into Donkey Kong reference)

Will: “And then there’s Della! She’s dead.”

Sword horse!

Huey and Dewey being jerks to Louie in this episode

Puffy: “dewey time travel adventure is a touching story about him spending christmas with his missing mother and then louie time travel story is him just going to a 23rd century film set”

@godfrey-the-chaos-duck: “huey needed a time travel story”

Puffy: “I think huey experiencing any time travel would cause him to spiral”

Louie finding out Gavin’s conning them (and that his name is Gavin)

Gavin being like Bradley Uppercrust III

“Bigfoot, you just poked the bear.”

“The power…the body…”

Everyone losing their shit at Lena’s dream scene

Louie beating Gavin

“i win”

“Now go back! From whence you cameee!”

Everyone losing their shit again at the last scene

A Nightmare on Killmotor Hill!

The fact that it’s a peak episode

Violet!!!!

Lena’s song and everyone else’s reactions (including Louie’s “TF did I just watch” face)

Friendship bracelets!

Violet being relatable AF

The fact that Boyd and Gosalyn should’ve gotten friendship bracelets in the show

“Let’s eat pure sugar!”

Us watching this episode coinciding with the server’s one-year anniversary

“Me!” “…Sleep.” (plus Dewey’s offended face)

“YOU’RE IRRITABLITY!”

The boys and Violet sleeping

Glowy stars ✨

The fact that we should’ve gotten a second sleepover episode

The sword horse returns!

The finale foreshadowing

What would Boyd dream of? Does he even sleep? (Plus this incorrect quote from Will)

The sword horse disappearing without so much as a sound effect for it

Dewey High!

Dewey’s love interest (queer allegory)

Puffy: “bro thinks she’s bill cipher”

Godfrey: “if they ever made a deal all of reality would collapse”

Cat Louie!

“Meow. Everyone pat my head.”

Wolf Lena!

WHY HUEY WHY

Seriously, long-legged Huey is cursed AF

Phooey!

Whale Launchpad!

“My dream is just to read more.” “Awesome!”

@hueberryshortcake: “the bond between a girl and her librarian is unbreakable”

Now for Lena’s dream

She looks cool in green, though

Lena would make jokes about Poe

Everyone in their dream forms rescuing Lena

Lena and Webby’s conversation (and the feels that come with it)

Mel: “friendship is magic, the ponies were right”

Alex: “friendship is the best magic”

Magica is dead! (Welllll…)

She actually just lost her magic. Which explains her white feathers. (LOL what a loser)

These drawings from Puffy (minus Violet, she will be added later):

Magica trying (and failing) to do a Darkwing-esque speech at the end

Ghoul Friend

Adorable or horrible style? (It was a joke, though.)

Zombie Goofy!

Screaming Squirrel

Goofy Holler!

“You wouldn’t hit a mouse with glasses, would ya?” (Also the only line in the short, which says a lot about how you don’t necessarily need dialogue to tell a story.)

Goofy died because Max failed the perfect cast

Coraline

Alex: “Coraline won, and everyone leaves”

Keith David being in the movie

Looking ahead to Coco, and talking about how much we will (or will not) cry

@ducklooney: “Skeletor robot on motorbike!” (Wybie)

(About Coraline’s dad)

Puffy:

Will: “Are ya winning dad?”

Blue boy in a painting

Puffy: “woah you know who ELSE is a blue boy in a painting”

I ❤️ Mulch

Coraline’s parents being too absorbed in their work to pay attention to her

The fact that her friends in Michigan gave her a whole billboard to say goodbye to her (courtesy of @story-blossoms-ducks)

Kangaroo mice!

Puffy: “woah.. mirror dimension... just li”

“wait everyone that watched infinity train with me is gone”

The food in the other dimension looking fantastic (even though it’s not real)

The mice are friends

Mr. B’s confusion over Coraline’s name

Puffy: “we're not even in the scary world and everyone is still a fuckin creepy weirdo”

Will: “yeah, isn’t it great?” “they’re good people. Just weird”

The fact that everyone is telling Coraline to not go through the door, yet she still does

Will: “I mean they had mango milkshakes”

Puffy: “wait you’re right I hadn’t considered that”

The garden in the shape of Coraline’s face (feat. the mantis cart)

Mouse circus!

How Lena would fit into the role of Coraline

Keith David is the cat!

Me: “That is a lot of Scotties”

Brain bleach moment with Other Spink and Forcible

Shit gradually will start to go down (Coraline given buttons for her eyes)

John Linnell of They Might Be Giants being the Other Father’s singing VA

Cocoa beetles

DuckLooney: “"You will eat ze bugs and you will be happy."”

Puffy: “-the lion king”

“Bad.” “Lost.” “Bad.” “Lost.”

Coraline and her pillow parents

CAT STARE

Mel: “dammit, beldam, spit will out right now”

Breaking the mirror=seven years’ bad luck

Will: “And she’s hanging out with a black cat who’s always crossing her path”

Into the trap!

Puffy: “girl that is NOT your mother”

@kaitosduckmania: “she is mommy tho”

Coraline trying to collect the ghost eyes (and thinking she’s out of time when it’s still going) (shoutout to the cat on the assist with the last eye)

People having the hots for the Other Mother’s spider form

Destroy the key!

Webby Wybie to the rescue!

That’s all folks! (Not really, the sound was messing up)

Will’s cat watching with him

Puffy and Mel with a Simpsons reference (We’re Sending Our Love Down the Well)

Why is Mr. B’s skin blue?

Will: ““So your sister’s dead. But good news; her soul is no longer held captive by the spider woman.””

It was a good movie. Very unique.

[violetganache42]

A Lorcana YouTuber named The Forbidden Mountain revealed "The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck!" just got referenced in a new Lorcana card! AND IT'S NONE OTHER THAN THE 1877TH VAULT, WHERE LENA'S WORST NIGHTMARE TOOK PLACE!

Vault Door

Ink Cost: 4 (Can be put in the Inkwell) Card Type: Item Ink: Sapphire Rarity: Common [SEALED AWAY] Your locations and characters at locations gain Resist +1. (Damage dealt to them is reduced by 1.)

Only Scrooge knows about this vault. And he's going to keep it that way.

Art by Nicolas Ky

[mrs-gauche]

Let's talk about the Red Lyrium Idol

(…Because it's not like this thing has been discussed to death over the past ten years, right? 😂 *drops my two cents in the Scrooge McDuck money bin*)

Ah yes… The red lyrium idol. The one thing that's given me a headache since 2018, as I'm still trying to figure out how this damn thing could possibly fit into my bazillion tinfoil theories.

Whether it's the first official DA4 teaser in 2018, the Blue Wraith comic series or the entirety of the last chapter of Tevinter Nights, a lot of the supplementary media and promotional stuff setting up the course for DA4 seems to be centered around the idol. Quite literally, in some cases, like this mural from the first 2018 teaser:

It certainly led us to think that the idol won't just be another McGuffin (or so I hope lol), but other than that, it's still heavely shrouded in mystery…

Which is why I will now make an attempt to unravel this and gather every single bit of information we have on it (so far) and maybe that'll get us closer to some sort of answer in the end (actually, it won't, because this got SO long that I had to split this post in two parts lol No one's going to read all of this anyway 💀)!

Look, I just needed to get this behemoth of a post out before we might get an actual substantial trailer tomorrow and none of this will probably matter anymore. 😂💀

(Note: This whole thing was initially intended to be solely for myself to keep track of any information we've gotten about the idol since DA2. But since it's gotten SO long over the years, I figured why not just rewrite it into a somewhat coherent text and post it on here? :D ......Seriously, it's really, REALLY effing long.)

The Idol's Journey so far

To me, the idol always seemed to be something like "The One Ring" in LOTR. A forged ancient artifact with creepy unknown powers that is said to feel "alive", almost as if it possesses a will of its own, seeing as it has somehow found its way from countless random people, back to (presumably) its former owner. It also appears to be somewhat cursed, given that almost everyone who held it at one point seems to have died or gone mad by now (Yeah, I'm very worried about Varric and Hawke 👀).

Let us start with a quick summary of the journey the idol has made in the span of about 12-13 years (not counting the unknown timespan in which the last chapter of Tevinter Nights takes place):

First discovered by Hawke and Varric in an ancient Thaig in the Deep Roads.

Stolen by Bartrand, who then made a quick trip to Rivain.

Sold to Meredith, who turned it into a sword.

Taken out of Meredith's petrified corpse by Carta dwarves.

Sold again to a Tevinter mage, who brought it to House Qintara in Ventus.

Handed to a secret agent of Fen'Harel named Gaius (who was impersonating Magister Qintara).

Traded away to Tractus Danarius.

Handed to Magister Nenealeus at Castellum Tenebris to be used as part of a ritual.

Picked up by Cedric Marquette after the fortress fell, while trying to escape.

Handed back to Tractus Danarius, who then probably (not confirmed) went to Nevarra to perform another blood magic ritual.

Picked up by a Mortalitasi who (maybe) took it to Tevinter.

(Supposedly!) ended up in a vault under an auction house in Llomerryn in Rivain, where it was (supposedly!) retrieved by Solas.

That's quite the journey… that you wouldn't even know half about if you didn't read the comics or Tevinter Nights. But whereas the book and comics were all published after the first teaser trailer in 2018, after which the idol became the center of the fandom's attention and speculation, it should be noted that a connection to the idol was in fact already made way back in 2014, when people noticed that the image of Solas holding Flemeth's lifeless body at the end of Inquisition was very reminiscent of something else.

...Which brings us to the point of what the idol is even depicting to begin with.

Description

Before I'll start to give my own description based on the models in-game, the teaser and concept art, I'd like to quote the people who've actually seen it in person.

In the last chapter of Tevinter Nights, we are being told three tales by three different people, who all describe the same idol differently.

The Carta Assassin: "A couple hugging, too thin to be dwarves - but it's sitting there, glowing softly like a ruby lit by the grace of the Maker himself. […] It's heavier than you'd think - lyrium's heavier than you'd think, too, but this was heavy even for that. When I hefted it in my hand, it was like it wanted to keep moving, like it was liquid inside."

The Mortalitasi: "An idol crafted from red lyrium, which seemed to show two lovers, or a god mourning her sacrifice. It whispered in our minds when we saw it […]."

The Orlesian Bard/Solas: "He whispered something as he picked it up, tracing his gloved fingers gently along the crowned figure who comforted the other."

The one thing that all of these seem to have in common though is two figures who embrace each other in some way.

Which is interesting, because in all the depictions of the idol we've seen so far, it clearly shows three people instead of two. Granted, the third figure is a bit cramped up in the back of the crowned figure, but what's strange is that not even Solas himself mentions this third figure.

Most notable though is the crowned female looking figure in the center, which is holding onto the two other figures on each side of the ring shaped object (or it's the two figures holding onto the female?). The figures themselves look rather goulish, deadly or skeletal, with their bone structure clearly visible and all their expressions captured in a mix of horror or torment. The small carved-in lines coming from the middle figure's eye sockets also resemble black tears, much like we've seen on "The Mother" in Awakening.

There's also no sign of clothing, which is all the more apparent on the concept art of the idol, in which the breast of the middle figure is.. much more prominent. lol (We don't make fun of saggy boobs in this house, it's just nature and gravity after all, but for the sake of observation, I will note that they do remind me of Broodmother boobs, too 😂), aside from a hint of what could be a veil on the middle figure's head.

At the bottom of the idol, the lower bodies of the figures seem to fully submerge within its name-giving red lyrium and this "claw" type thing, which is coming off in the shape of crystalline red lyrium spikes at the tail end, though in the concept art and the DA2 model, these spikes were clearly more like red lyrium roots. But either way, the bottom makes it kinda look like it's been broken/ripped off?

We can also see tentacle like features, that remind me of the figures we've seen in the mural in the 2020 teaser and the depiction in the 25th anniversary book that revealed to us what the Archdemons were initially supposed to look like. 👀

I'd also like to point out that in the original concept art of the idol, the ears of the crowned figure look much more pointy to me than in later versions. 👀

There's also this "ring", that I've seen many people connect to how the Veil is often portrayed in Solas' murals.

But if this ring is supposed to depict the Veil, then what could it mean for the crowned figure reaching across to hold that ominous third figure on the "other side"?

And yes, I recognize that this ominous third figure also seems to be missing a left arm, just like another certain main character. 👀

The one thing that stands out the most though, is probably the crown itself. Most people might first associate it with Andraste, when the same shape can be traced as far back as ancient statues of Mythal.

Yeah, there's definitely a pattern here. 😂

That being said…

Connection to Mythal & Solas

Okay, we all know about the theory that Andraste might have been Mythal's previous host, right? We all know about the parallels between Mythal's story, Andraste, Flemeth, etc. And after comparing the idol to Flemeth and Meredith in their moment of death, considering all of the above/following and how old this thing potentially is, I will now make a wild guess here and argue that the idol is in fact depicting Mythal's death.

"He whispered something as he picked it up, tracing his gloved fingers gently along the crowned figure who comforted the other. But I could not make out the words, for I fear they were elven."

Not only does Solas seem to hold sentimental value for whoever the crowned figure is supposed to be, while also talking to it in elven, but the way he describes to "caress" the idol in Tevinter Nights does also seem to mirror how Flemythal was comforting him at the end of DAI.

However, I always thought it was a bit odd how Solas describes the idol as "a figure comforting another", when… tbh, "comforting" would probably be last thing that comes to my mind when I look at this...

"Agony" would be more fitting here, maybe? lol Kinda begs the question of how Mythal was murdered, too, with this being her expression in her moment of death? 👀

Without getting too much into it here, if there's one thing we can take from everything we've learned so far about their past, Solas' relationship with Mythal must've been a rather complicated one, to say the least.

"He did not want a body, but she asked him to come. He left a scar when he burned her off his face."

Solas calls Mythal "the best of the elven gods", calling her "the mother, protective and fierce", and Solas is even described in the designer's notes as "Mythal's oldest friend" who is all about free will, yet if the spirit origin theory is true and Cole's cryptic comments in Trespasser are in fact about them, it was Mythal who gave Solas a body against his will, potentially bound/enslaved him with her vallaslin, and maybe even forced him to act against his original purpose?

"You should have seen me when I was younger. Hot-blooded and cocky, always ready to fight."

Cole: "You didn't do it to be right. You did it to save them." Inquisitor: "Solas, what is Cole talking about?" Solas: "A mistake. One of many made by a much younger elf who was certain he knew everything."

How much of what happened was Solas acting out Mythal's will, or rather, acting out of vengeance and pain in reaction to Mythal's death? How much of it was him acting downright impulsive?

Solas: “Cole is a spirit. The death of the real Cole wounded him, perverted him from his purpose. To regain that part of himself, he must forgive.” Varric: “You don’t just forgive someone killing you.” Solas: “You don’t. A spirit can.”

Or was it Mythal's death itself that "wounded him and perverted him from his purpose", just like he described what happened to Cole?

And what does that say about Mythal then, when she clearly hasn't forgiven her murderers and still strives for vengeance after all this time? What if Solas' own perception of Mythal and all the circumstances surrounding her murder is warped because he was once bound to her? 👀

Anyway. To get back to topic.

So if we assume that the idol is in fact depicting Mythal's death, then that brings us to the next question of why the idol is even made of red lyrium? Or rather, what is Mythal's connection to red lyrium?

We know that red lyrium is tainted blood of a Titan. Mythal was the first to kill a Titan and mine their blood for things we won't get into in this post. So, how did the idol end up in the Deep Roads, anyway? How long had it been there? One thing that's kinda strange to me, is how the DA wiki page about the idol says that it was forged by the dwarves, solely based on the fact that it was initially found in the Deep Roads, when we have no actual evidence for that. We've seen statues of both Mythal and the Dread Wolf in the Deep Road section in Trespasser where the mining of lyrium was undergone, but we don't know if the dwarves even had any part in building them as well.

Would the dwarves forge an idol of the elven deity who conquered them and killed their Titan, if they were somehow forced to do so? We also have to remember that dwarves were and still are the only ones able to actually mine raw lyrium safely, but even the Carta dwarves in Tevinter Nights had to take several precautions in order to recover the red lyrium idol from Meredith's corpse. And even then, many of them still fell shaking or went mad in its presence like Bartrand.

So if it only takes that little exposure to have that much of an effect on someone's sanity, how were the ancient dwarves or anyone even able to create it in the first place? What if the idol was initially made of blue lyrium but was then somehow corrupted?

And if we take one moment to really think about what an idol actually is.

"An object representing extreme devotion and religious worship to a god."

While Solas doesn't think of any of the Evanuris as actual gods, he still seems to hold Mythal at such a high regard that he wouldn't even speak of her at a sacred place like the Temple of Mythal (whether or not that was because he just wanted to withhold any secret ancient knowledge). He's able to fully recite the invocation to Mythal if you bring him with you to her altar. He also looks exactly like the sentinels in Mythal's temple.

I could go on, but generally speaking, there are so many little hints pointing to Solas being a former slave/servant of Mythal that, again, we won't get into here, but it's important to mention when trying to figure out why the idol (presumably) even belongs to Solas.

"The idol's journey is now complete, and it has found its master."

In Tevinter Nights, the Dread Wolf claims that the red lyrium idol belongs to him. He also made sure to punish those who tried to misuse it, going so far as to march in with an entire army of spirits and snapping a guy's neck with his jaw. (Yup, you're better off not to touch the Dread Wolf's stuff for dirty blood rituals, kids.)

"You use my idol carelessly, and in doing so, you threaten all creation."

Additionally, in the last chapter of Tevinter Nights, Charter and other spies conclude that Solas must need the idol for whatever ritual he's planning, while Solas in Bard disguise claims that he's already in possession of the idol now and therefore, I quote, "cannot be stopped". (Though I personally still don't actually buy a single thing about his vivid tale at that auction house, but we'll get back to this later. lol)

And if the idol belongs to Solas, was he the one who created it, or did he order the dwarves or someone else to make it for him? But why would he intentionally make an idol out of red lyrium, anyway? He is fully aware of the dangers and corruption that comes with being exposed to red lyrium and its use. Especially considering that red lyrium is blighted and how he repeatedly expresses great concern over the Blights and gets furious over the Grey Wardens' attempts to preempt them by killing the Archdemons (because he obviously knows more than us).

So, does he know a way to use it without getting corrupted like everyone else? The Seekers of Truth are so far the only ones we've seen to be immune to red lyrium thanks to having their minds touched by a spirit of Faith during their vigil. Could Solas' connection to spirits/his hypothetical spirit origin allow him to use the idol without it effecting him?

But if any of this is true, then l'm again asking myself what even was the purpose of the idol to begin with? Why or when was it created? How does it differ from any other red lyrium, and what could Solas have used it for in the ancient past?

Powers & Effects

So, let's talk about what this thing can actually do (as far as we know).

(Btw, this is the part where I will shamelessly copy a lot straight from the DA wiki, because truth be told, I'm just a German struggling with limited vocabulary and I figured there's simply no way to summarize this any better than the wiki already has. 💀)

Just like any other red lyrium, we know that being exposed to the idol for too long will make you mad/paranoid/possessive/violent, while also grant you special powers, until overuse causes your body to be completely overtaken by red lyrium. It seems to thin the Veil wherever it is currently kept, allowing spirits or demons to interact with the physical world.

It also emanates a song that is slowly turning people who hear it insane.

The Song

"It sings… sick music." "It eats you inside until you're nothing." "It creeps into your thoughts, humming." "They hear a different song. The song behind the door old whispers want opened. They are dead and dark and done." "Songs screaming far away. It wants to wake up but can't remember how."

(- Cole's comments about red lyrium/red templars)

After Bartrand took the idol and left Varric and Hawke to die in the primeval Thaig, he started hearing voices, claiming the idol was "singing" to him. Even after selling it, Bartrand could still hear the idol and was eventually driven mad by its red lyrium.

Three years later, it is discovered that Bartrand had chipped a piece of the idol off and left it in his estate, which causes the house to behave like it was haunted and the Veil was torn.

Then during the "Haunted" quest, Varric himself remarks several times to hear music while walking through the estate, much like the Carta assassin in Tevinter Nights recalled to have heard "music in the wind, like some old song I heard as a kid but can't quite remember" when obtaining the idol from Meredith's corpse.

Important to mention here is that Varric seems to also be the only one in the party able to hear this song.

Varric: "Hey… is that music? Where is that coming from?" Hawke: "In don't hear anything." Varric: "Where is that singing coming from? You hear it, right, Hawke?" Varric: "Where is that voice coming from?" Hawke: "What voice?" Varric: "I can barely hear it… I wish I could make out the words."

Varric also told us that, after Bartrand went mad, he tortured his non-dwarven servants by cutting pieces off them to help them "hear the song".

(And remember, the idol was found in an ancient primeval Thaig in the Deep Roads, sitting on something like an altar, indicating that it was being worshiped by the ancient dwarves as well. Presumably because they too were being influenced by the idol's/red lyrium's song?)

Haunted

During the "Haunted" quest, we learn that the mere presence of a shard of the idol in the estate causes:

"Voices whispering in the walls"

Random objects moving on their own

Apparitions/screaming spirits appear running across the floors

When Varric picks up the piece of the idol, he starts to exhibit the same symptoms of madness Bartrand showed, at which point Hawke can either let Varric keep the piece, or can take it from him with the intent of having Sandal destroy it.

If Hawke asks Anders to diagnose Bartrand in Act 2, he suspects a demon at work, however Bartrand is a dwarf. Instead, he determines that "his mind has been poisoned by something powerful".

In Tevinter Nights, the Carta assassin recalls that, in the attempt to retrieve the idol from Meredith's corpse, most of his colleagues fell shaking and whispering the closer they got to it.

Meredith

After Bartrand sold the idol to Meredith, she reshapes it into her sword Certainty, which does eventually drive her insane as well. It also gives her unnatural powers, such as the ability to animate the statues in the Gallows, and even limited flight capabilities.

(My question is though, were the things happening in that final fight directly caused by the idol or was this just the result of the Veil being already weakened that much by the many terrible things that happened at that place/Kirkwall in general?)

Anyhow, during the final battle at the Gallows, Meredith overuses the lyrium sword, causing it to burst into dust and petrify her into a statue.

Though as we all know now, some part of Meredith seems to have survived somehow, as her… mind(?) or something was shown to now still "live" within the red lyrium somewhere in Kirkwall at the end of Absolution. She (or "it") also seems to have somewhat control over the red templars now, too.

So, how is this possible? What exactly is she now, if it even is herself and not just a manifestation/echo of her memories or something? Could it have something to do with the idol? No one really knows (and we might never find out, if Netflix won't give us a second season, anyway lol), but I do think it's curious how the idol is likely depicting Mythal's death, who didn't actually die either and lived on through the ages as a type of lingering "wisp" clinging to various hosts. 👀

I also want to point out how Solas did suspiciously include Meredith's petrified corpse in his mural in the 2020 teaser as well, placing her right under that ominous upside down figure with the tentacles.

Furthermore, just like Meredith, the idol also seems to be somewhat indestructable. lol After Meredith's sword burst into dust, it regrew inside her petrified corpse (which Solas was apparently also aware of). What's interesting is that it regenerated in Meredith's chest of all places. You know, like, where the heart is supposed to be? 👀

Then there's also this curious line from Anders, when talking about Varric acting strange after obtaining a shard of the idol:

"This thing's magic seems only more potent when broken."

I've mentioned it before, but with the spikes (or roots in DA2) at the bottom part of the idol making it look like it was ripped or broken off of something, you have to wonder if its current state is somewhat broken, even after regenerating.

"Hot-Blooded"

During the Haunted quest, Fenris will remark this:

"Whatever is here is angry."

In DAI, Cole repeatedly comments on how red lyrium feels "very angry" and how it is "less angry when it's cold". We know for a fact that red lyrium emanates a noticeable heat. A corrupted Bartrand is especially weak to cold/ice magic.

While anger is generally associated with heat, I find this aspect particularly interesting, given that red lyrium is tainted blood of a Titan.

And building on that, while still searching for further connections between red lyrium, the idol and Mythal… Remember how the ancient sarcophagus in the Blue Wraith and Dark Fortress comic was used in a ritual, in which lyrium combined with fire of a Great dragon carved lyrium infused markings into Fenris' and Shirallas' skin, granting them special powers.

Not only was this ancient sarcophagus specifically built only for elves, and its design resembling that of Mythal's statues…

…but here we have a case in which lyrium is purposefully "set on fire" by a Great dragon to create "elven super soldiers". Mythal is always depicted as a dragon. And she mined lyrium in humongous amounts.

Again, red lyrium emanates heat. If this was common practice in ancient times, then I feel like it's not surprising that a Titan would eventually be pretty damn angry in reaction to its blood being continuously burned for centuries [insert boiling blood joke here].

So, aside from the red lyrium being blighted, could there be a connection in Mythal burning the Titans' blood? As far as we know, it did take a couple of aeons in which Mythal (presumably) continued to mine (and burn?) the Titans' blood, before the ancient elves sealed the Deep Roads for good, because they discovered something… bad. As Solas himself declares in the vision described at the mural depicting a Titan's death:

"Let this place be forgotten. Let no one wake its anger." "The vision grows dark. An aeon seems to pass. Then the runes crackle, as if filled with an angry energy. A new vision appears: elves collapsing caverns, sealing the Deep Roads with stone and magic." "Terror, heart-pounding, ice-cold, as the last of the spells is cast."

And there it is again. That anger we're talking about. What's so interesting to me, is how this does sort of come full circle with Mythal and the idol after all, since the motivation behind Mythal's actions, even after thousands of years, remains her unwavering desire for vengeance upon the people who betrayed and murdered her, which, in a way, does mirror the same anger/heat that the Titan is emanating from its tainted blood.

And speaking of blood……

A Ritual Blade

In Tevinter Nights, we learned that the idol is able to produce a blade, which is then used as part of a blood magic ritual.

"The Tevinter mage was killing his slaves. […] He had cut the throat of one of them, and then another, catching the blood of his victims on the idol as he made his way around the circle. […] The Tevinter mage raised the idol before him, and I saw a spike of lyrium spring from the base of the idol, so that all at once, it was not merely an idol, but a ritual blade. He slashed his own hand, and a wave of power pulsed through the cavern. It was as though we were the blood, and the cavern was the body through which it flowed, and we fell, all of us, to the ground, our minds pulled into the raw chaos of the Fade by the power of his ritual."

In the end of the Dark Fortress comic, the idol produced another red lyrium sword, that could be fully detached and was then placed onto the before-mentioned sarcophagus, turning Shirallas into a raving beserker that was pretty much invincible as long as he was in possession of that same sword.

While the blue lyrium infused sword that was used in Fenris' ritual simply dissolved in the process, the sword produced by the idol could "regenerate" and was especially resistant to Great dragon fire.

"Unlike the lyrium-infused swords of the so-called Arcane warriors, this sword should survive the ritual."

In the final fight against him, Marquette comments on how Shirallas "feeds energy to the sword from the red lyrium in his veins" and how in turn "the sword heals his wounds".

So in both the comic and Tevinter Nights, the idol/the weapon produced from the idol seems to draw power specifically from the blood of its wielder. It makes me wonder if it was initially intended to be used this way, since we have to remember that it still presumably belongs to Solas, who claims to not practice blood magic, because it seems to make it more difficult to enter the Fade.

Which is ironic, given what the mage in Tevinter Nights did to disrupt the Fade, but also how the Magisters Sidereal used a massive blood ritual to enter the Fade physically.

And oddly enough, in your first conversation with Solas about blood magic, he makes this curious analogy with daggers as an example…

Inquisitor: Every time I've seen blood magic used, it has been for some evil purpose. Solas: I once saw a woman being stabbed in the stomach with a dagger. She died slowly, in angony. It was repulsive. If the Chantry outlawed daggers, would that stop the people from using it? Of course not. […]" Inquisitor: "You don't need to sacrifice a slave's life to make a dagger." Solas: "I suppose it depends upon the dagger."

So… Could Solas be referencing Mythal's death here? Or what if the dagger here is referring to the idol in its blade form? What the heck does he mean by "I suppose it depends upon the dagger"? Was a slave's life sacrificed to create the idol maybe?

But if blood magic wasn't the sole purpose for why it was made, then what else could the idol as a ritual blade be used for?

Which brings us to…

Dalish mythology

According to Dalish legends, Fen'Harel told the Creators and the Forgotten Ones that the Avvar had forged a "terrible weapon", a blade that would end the war between both clans of gods. He told the Creators that it was forged in the heavens, while the Forgotten Ones were told that it was hidden in the Abyss. And when the gods went seeking it, Fen'Harel sealed them both in their realms forever.

Okay. So, let's just assume for a second that the blade in this legend was actually the idol in its blade form. Because hell, what are the odds of having two "super powerful ancient blades that belong to Solas"? lol

If they are in fact the same weapon and the part about Solas tricking the gods is true, why were the Evanuris and the Forgotten Ones so eager to get this thing, to the point that they would fell into a trap?

And with this, I'd also like to point out the level design in the scene in which Flemeth takes Kieran's Old God soul in the Fade. I can't help but feel like the statue of Dirthamen being stabbed in the back with a sword, crying a stream of blood, resulting in a huge pool of blood, as well as a bloody ouroboros symbol on the ground, is a very deliberate design choice. Especially considering the context of this scene with the revelation about Flemeth and Mythal, I'd argue this is all in reference to how Mythal was betrayed and murdered.

Again, the idol could depict Mythal in her moment of death. In the final fresco in the rotunda, the one Solas never finished before leaving the Inquisition, we see a wolf looming over a dragon slain by a blade.

In the last visual of the 2022 cinematic that, going by Varric's narration, could potentially depict the destruction of the Veil, Solas appears to hold something that resembles a blade with a very destinct handle. Additionally, we've since discovered an icon hidden on the Steam page of DA4, that shows a dagger with an identical shape and the same glowy purple as the Dreadwolf title.

So we have the idol in its blade form, the blade Mythal was potentially slain with, the blade Solas is holding in the 2022 cinematic, Solas mentioning a dagger in relation to blood magic and Fen'Harel's blade in Dalish legends.

That's a lot of blades... and a lot of blood. lol

The Hunt of the Fell Wolf

"The Hunt of the Fell Wolf" is the title of a poem that can be found in the Jaws of Hakkon DLC. It tells a story of former Inquisitor Ameridan, his friend Haron and their fight against a demon wolf.

Along with numerous odd things in this tale that could be interpreted as some kind of metaphor (or just the devs messing with us, if you want to know more, please check out this post), it also mentions an "idol of fade-touched stone" in connection to the demon wolf.

The wounded knight in darkness Found within the cavern’s gloom An idol of fade-touched stone, Which could prove the monster’s doom.

In the poem, after a grim fight, the wolf takes Ameridan's friend Haron to its lair, a "labyrinth of winding cave" (which many believe is referring to the Deep Roads, just like the ancient Thaig in DA2 where Hawke and Varric found the red lyrium idol originally) where Haron, oddly enough, also happens to find an idol. What's intruiging though, is that this idol seems to be connected to the wolf in such a way that he can only be defeated if both him and the idol are destroyed and struck down at the same time.

With burning blade, Ameridan And monster met again Whilst elsewhere did Haron valiantly With demon-wards contend.

As demon-stone was shattered, Ameridan struck true: Beast and spirit—both felled at once, Though neither hunter knew.

"Beast and spirit—both felled at once"

Two entities that are connected across two different places… as in the physical body and the spirit maybe?

As in the waking world and the Fade?

So, let's reiterate.

The red lyrium idol belongs to the Dread Wolf. Cole remarks how he can feel that Solas is "in both places". The word "Dread Wolf" itself is an anagram for "World" and "Fade". We've talked about the popular spirit origin theory before, Solas taking a physical form against his will because of Mythal. The whole matter of Solas' "true name" before he called himself Pride. Solas' entire personal quest, which may or may not mirror his own past, a spirit of Wisdom being denied its original purpose, turning into a pride demon ("He wants to give wisdom not orders"). His strange remarks at the end of Cole's personal quest ("We cannot change our nature by wishing"). The fact that Solas makes Cole forget about his true identity, just like spirit!Cole does. The visual portrayal of Solas "consuming" Flemeth's powers at the end of DAI. The way in which Solas doesn't recognize anyone in the waking world as "people", but will vehemently debate you on why spirits should be considered people.

"But the People… They need me." (- Solas to Flemeth at the end of DAI) "Never again." (- Solas after burning the mages who were responsible for Wisdom's corruption) "From this moment, should you ever bind a spirit, your life is mine." (- the Dread Wolf's final warning to the mages in Tevinter Nights)

All of this considered, what could the poem in JOH imply for the connection between Solas and the Dread Wolf/the Dread Wolf and the idol?

"They made bodies from the Earth, and the Earth was afraid. It fought back, but they made it forget."

One theory assumes that the creation of the Veil lead to the separation of the ancient elves' bodies and their souls/spirits, assuming that before the creation of the Veil, the Evanuris somehow made bodies from the Titans/lyrium for spirits to manifest and then enslaved/bound them to their will by marking those bodies with their vallaslin.

But if that's true, then what happened to Solas when he created the Veil?

"He broke the dreams to stop the old dreams from waking. The wolf chews its leg off to escape the trap."

In all the murals, tarot cards and illustrations, the Dread Wolf and Solas are always depicted separately.

What really IS the Dread Wolf? And what is he to Solas?

"It was a beast unlike any I had ever seen. Lupine in appearance, but the size of a high dragon, with shaggy spiked hide and six burning eyes like a pride demon, and it came to us on wings of fire that resolved themselves into a horde of lesser demons."

From what little we know of the Dread Wolf himself, he only seems to exist within the Fade (that is to say, before the Veil, Solas was already depicted as a wolf, presumably even before his rebellion and before the Evanuris "bestowed" him with the title "Fen'Harel"). In the Mortalitasi's tale in Tevinter Nights, his army of spirits follows the mages back to the waking world, yet the Dread Wolf himself remains in the Fade. In one of the frescoes in the rotunda, Solas portrays the Black City surrounded by the six burning red eyes that resemble those of the Dread Wolf, almost like he's keeping watch over the eternal prison of those he banished. In the Tower tarot card, the Dread Wolf is ominously looming over Solas, almost like it's about to consume him, while in one of the Trespasser murals, it looks more like the Dread Wolf follows his lead. And then there's the DA4 2018 teaser mural, in which they're opposing each other, only seperated by the red lyrium idol in the center of the Veil.

If the red lyrium idol is connected to Solas like the idol in the poem is connected to the wolf, could this be part of the reason Solas is so desperate to find it? Does it possess some kind of spirit? Can the Dread Wolf only be defeated if the idol is destroyed at the same time, just like in the poem?

Where is it now?

So where's the damn thing now?

Well, in my opinion, there are two options.

Option 1) The bard's tale in Tevinter Nights was complete bullshit. lol

Despite Solas trying to convince us that he already obtained the idol in a vault some time ago under an auction house in Llomerryn, it's possible that, much like his whole charade in that chapter, this tale was also entirely fabricated. lol

To make it short, here is a list of arguments for why the "bard's tale" could've been a complete lie:

Solas attended this spy meeting specifically for information on the idol's whereabouts (because he doesn't actually know where it is currently?).

Everything until the last two pages was an act.

Both the Mortalitasi and the Carta Assassin point out several contradictions within his tale.

Upon hearing the other spies assuming that he needs the idol, it would just make sense that he would want them/Charter to believe that he’s now in possession of the idol and “cannot be stopped”, so that they would drop all effort to find it before him.

On the very last page of the book, there's a lists of bullet points of information when Charter is about to write down her report, and it does not explicitly say “He has the idol�� but rather just what it looks like, which suggests that Charter didn’t buy his story either.

So if this was all lies, the last known location of the idol would therefore be the unknown person who took it when escaping from the Dread Wolf's spirit army in the Grand Necropolis in the tale of the Mortalitasi.

Meaning that Solas would therefore still be searching for it now. (Which would actually be kind of hilarious, considering how there's likely gonna be a ten year timeskip since DAI, so he would've been searching for the flippin thing for the better part of a decade now. 😂 We know from the end of the Blue Wraith comics that he had followed the idol's path via eluvian, but maybe he just lost track of it at some point? In fact, the last we heard from him, Solas was apparently busy pursuing some Venatori people to get another ancient artifact called the Crucious Stone in the The Missing comic, much like he prevented the Tevinter mage in Nevarra from using his idol. Solas after ten years of searching for the idol was probably like "Oh fuck it, I give up, on to McGuffin Nr 2 then". lmao)

In an interview with the comic writers Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir, they talked about how in their initial draft of Dark Fortress, Solas actually *got* the idol(!!) from two of his agents by using the eluvian located at Nenealeus' place before BioWare stepped in and requested a change. 👀 That version would've explained how Solas was able to track the idol through the eluvian we see at the end. Their own interpretation was that Solas can only overlook a certain radius within the area of where another eluvian is located. Which would actually support the assumption that Solas might've lost track of the idol at some point after Nenealeus left the place… but that's just their interpretation and not official BioWare canon (yet), sooo…. Hm.

Option 2) Solas has the idol now.

So let's assume that the part about him obtaining the idol in Tevinter Nights was actually true and it's now in his possession.

Aside from this, the only thing that could speak for Solas already having the idol in the beginning of DA4, is once again the final visual in the 2022 cinematic.

If this cinematic is in fact playing at the beginning of the game as a general re-introduction to the lore and the last visual is depicting Solas in the middle of destroying the Veil using the idol, then.. well yeah, there it is, in his hand…. at least, for now. Making Solas succeed in the first 10 minutes, I guess? lol

……Unless!

See, a few years ago, I speculated about how the idol might actually be the perfect plot device/motivation for our new protagonist to get involved in the whole Solas deal without even knowing who he is.

Let's say the last visual in the 2022 cinematic is actually showing us a hypothetical scenario, and not something that has already happened/is currently happening. Like, Varric gives this expository narration explaining who Solas is and what might happen if we don't succeed in getting the idol. (Notice how Varric says "And we're the only ones who can stop him" at the end… Like there's still a chance to stop him before this actually happens.) We know from Tevinter Nights that Charter knows that Solas needs the idol for whatever ritual he's planning. And Charter obviously informed the Inquisition/Varric about this as well. So the next logical step for the Inquisition now would be to obtain the idol (whether or not the bard's tale in TN was true) to prevent this ritual at any cost, right?

The comic The Missing re-emphasized that Varric is now in charge of getting people that Solas doesn't know. And this might be where the new protagonist gets recruited by Varric (who is still a spymaster after all) and gets assigned the alias "Rook" for a heist mission to obtain the idol. (And after a very thorough observation of the DA4 reddit leaks from 2023… it looks like Rook might've actually succeeded in this potential quest?)

While we don't know when the stuff in the leaks actually takes place within DA4's storyline, I think it's safe to say that Rook will obtain the idol at some point in the story and that it will play a pivotal role, if the blurb on the Steam page for DA4 is to be believed. lol

As well as what could likely end up being the game's icon, found on the Steam page.

And again, remember how in the Hunt of the Fell Wolf poem, it seemed like Ameridan struck the wolf’s body in the waking world, while his friend Haron killed the spirit (inside the idol?) in the Fade. What could this imply for DA4 then, if we are applying the role of Ameridan, Haron and the wolf in this tale to the Inquisitor, Rook and Solas?? 👀 Is this how we can stop him? The Inquisitor confronts Solas in the waking world, while Rook has to destroy the idol/fight the Dread Wolf in the Fade?

Or could it just be a metaphor for the Inquisitor in DA4 keeping Solas occupied to distract him from Rook, while they can figure out another secret way to deal with him/how to get/destroy the idol?

See, the thing is, we have to remember that this is after all, a video game. lol Meaning that, if our protagonist gets to carry around a powerful ancient artifact/weapon, I would assume that this has to be somehow implemented in the gameplay as well. What we can take from the short footage of the 2023 reddit leak, is that Rook might carry the idol (if it really IS the same thing) while still fighting with their own main weapon in combat. So, what if the idol serves as more of a special power tool outside of combat, for example, like the anchor did in DAI, where it can only be used for special occasions? Let's say, the idol in its blade form can't be used in battle but is able to "split" the Veil or reality, like the anchor was able to open and close rifts? Or, if we assume that the idol is something like an ancient phylactery (which btw is my favorite theory and I will talk about in my second post), maybe it can be used as some kind of "tracking device"? Actually, I'm super curious to learn how Rook is even able to carry it like this in the first place, since we know what kind of effect it usually has on people. lol

~~~~~

Anyway, I'll make a hard cut here now and save the rest of this behemoth of a post for a second separate post (because I also just realized that tumblr doesn't let me add any more images 😂💀), so if any of you actually made it this far... thank you for being just as crazy as me about this and I will post the second part shortly after. lol ❤

[popculturebuffet]

Life and Times B-Sides Retrospective: The Goldie Trilogy: I Can't Get Started With You

Hello all you people and welcome back to my life and time's retrospective and a look at the various other flashback tales, followups and what have you related to one of the greatest stories ever told.

This time we're looking at all three flashback tales featuring the love of scrooge's life, with the temper, right hook and moxie to match him Goldie O'Gilt, the best singer in dawson turned queen of the bears turned succesful hotel tycoon.

Rosa was a huge fan of goldie, considering her Scrooge's true love. She wasn't his only love interest and only showed up once in Carl Barks run aka the only run Rosa deemed canon, but she made quite an impression 3 feet to be exact.. but was such a faviorite of his he had to bring her back. He did what the best comic writers do: He took a character who had tons of potetial but hadn't been used much and fleshed her out, keeping her temper and moxie and like Scrooge before her showing just what that was like in her prime. Where Scrooge relies more on thinking int he moment at the point they met , Goldie is more a schemer, always having a plan and trying to outwit him while falling for him. It's a wonderful dynamic you'll all get to bear witness as we look at all three of the LIfe and Times Adjacent Goldie stories.

The Prisoner of White Agony Creek

I'm doing these stories in the order they occured in canon, the reverse of when they came out in the real world. As mentioned this is Don Rosa's final story: With his eye sight dwinlding there was one last story he wanted to tell, one he'd wanted to his whole career: While he loved Last Sled to Dawson, he always wandered just what made scrooge and goldie go from enemies to lovers who also probably stabbed each other a few times in bed.

The answer is this story: It starts with the boys in the bin, working on stuff and wondering what Scrooge's most precious treasure is. They all debate, the bin, his #1 dime, castle mcduck, and end up bringing up the Goose Egg nugget and helpfully filling in Scrooge and Goldie's backstory for the audience and Me who hasn't read last sled to dawson since I reviewed it. Saves me my due dilligence and some time, thanks boys!

To recap the recap: It was a classic boy meets girl story: She drugged him to steel his goose egg nugget that made him rich, he beat up her minons and kidnapped her for a month to teach her a lesson. You can see why Don kinda needed to step in as "our hero kidnapped a woman and forced her to chop chop dig dig for him" is just a tiny bit insane. I mean she drugged him but still.

So the boys wonder

I love everything about this... i'm sure any adults reading with thier kids had the same reaction. Donald i'm sure dosen't even know what happened exactly just that it probably involved the loudest angriest sex in the history of the universe and nopes the kids out of there. He could've just told them "I'll tell you when I'm older" but i'm not sure "Uncle scrooge's angry sex adventures" is something they ever need to hear.

So we flash back to when Scrooge what kidnapped the love of his life. Rosa adjusts it well: Scrooge still straight up Napped her.. but it's made clear as soon as the second page: When Scrooge tries to easily scare her with the frozen mammoth he uses to guard his claim... Goldie just whips out a pistol and shoots it, making it clear she could've shot him and ran off any time and her thought bubble after he takes it making it clear she's only playing along to steal his gold. It takes it from her being someone who scrooge forced into slave labor to teach a moral weapon into someone whose only going along with his shit because she has her own scheme. Granted the reality of the situation is played for a very dark, very well timed laugh

This joke should not work.. but it does because it's VERY clear until that moment Scrooge had never thought through the implications of a young man kidnapping a woman. It's the only reason this story really works: Scrooge has been living on the road, mostly in hyper masculine fields like cattle ranching or mining, in an era already dripping with sweat, and has avoided relationships up to this point because it just wasn't a priority. Getting money for his family was. So combine the two and you get a man who of course is not going to get the implications of what he's done till he's stepped in it.

Scrooge also constantly lectures goldie. Scrooge pointing out he left home at 13 and has scarely went back, being his family's main breadwinner for most of his life puts it into perspective: The bulk of miners work hard for their money and Goldie just casually drugs them and steals it.. something she realizes

It's a well done bit of character development. Scrooge mansplaning could easily come off bad.. but he has a point. She simply never thought about what the gold rush MEANS to a lot of the people she swindled. I'm not saying every one of them is a saint, Dawson is consistently portrayed in this universe as a wretched hive of scum and villainy... but many could be like scrooge: someone desperate to move up who lost anything simply because they got horny once.

The work begins how you'd expect.. roughly with Goldie not liking scrooge's breakfast. He COULD hunt him some game.. but being scrooge he instead made a deal: he dosen't harm the wildlife and they dont' harm him. It's brilliant. Goldie gets covered in bees, attacked by a bear, a nice call forward to show she's not queen of the bears just yet, and generally has a bad time.

Not having one are three gentlemen meeting with Soapy Slick. Soapy was a one off villian Rosa brought back a few times, and one who wants revenge against Scrooge for wrecking his previous riverboat. Scrooge STILL claims it was just an engine failure and will in a later story today.. but I still don't buy that explanation. The man can scare bears off with no real effort. He once road a lion into town to tar and feather Glomgold. He survived a massive flood in the australian outback and later held off the entire us army while sneering

He didn't do the last part alone, but it shows that the man was and is nigh unstoppable. He has enough weakness to be intresting and enough failings as a person, but trying to downplay his legend is like trying to put a tempest in a teacup.. which i'm damn sure he has.

The three want to buy Soapy's old saloon since he's in exile and all.. and soon reveal themselves to be living legends: Wyatt Earp, Batt Masterson and Hanging Judge Roy Bean, all legends in their own right and all exagerated to fit the setting.

For those like me who aren't familiar with these cowpokes, Wyatt Earp is a famous gunslinger and sheriff known for being at the OK Coral shootout, Masterson was a gambler, adventuer and writer who wrote up a lot of their exploits and Roy Bean was a judge and a mean son of a bitch who despite only hanging twice got a rep for it.

The former two are pretty much just neat lawmen, with Bat simply being a bit more stylish. Roy on the other hand is a ghoulsih old man with a hilariously dark running gag, especially for an all ages comic. Allow him to demonstrate

Yup Roy just.. keeps trying to murder everyone he meets for the mildest of reasons. I also love that they, unlike my pendantic self, don't point out the obvious: They aren't anywhere NEAR langtry Texas. Their not even in the US. Roy just loves a hangin.

Naturally Soapy sees a bit opportunity here to take out his biggest headache and convinces the three to go on a rescue mission to goldie.. and when first conceived I assumed this was some sort of understanding but no... Scrooge really just took Goldie and assumed no one would come for him. I mean he's not wrong, Dawson being a laweless mess at the time is a consistent plot point, but it's still just a mite fucked up. I'm not a fan of the police but i'm also not a fan of women getting kidnapped to do the gold panning equilvent of workign in a mine.

Two suspcious men offer to take the team on their way and the race is on. Back on the claim Goldie is tried of working so hard in her dress and Scrooge.. is actually concerned. He wants her to learn her lesson.. but is worried she'll become him, looking at a flower. They bicker because that's their love language.. but when she sees the flower she pauses, realizing why he stopped for a second.

The rescue party arrives.. and runs into a problem. Goldie still hasn't gotten to Scrooge's strongbox. She knows where the gold is.. but without it all of this is for nothing. So she instead plays both sides against each other claming their just ruffians and knowing Scrooge can easily handle them. Unfortunately for her the guides.. turn out to be famous outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. This whole chapter feels like a chance for Rosa to cram in a bunch of historical figures he hadnn't got to play with yet and despite not knowing any of them paticuarlly well it actually helps the story: he writes them well enough that even knowing not a lot you get a sense of who these men are.

Scrooge easily deals with his opponents with some slap stick, some mining gear and a pie plate and finishes them off with a horde of moose.. he could've easily done this all day but he's busy. Earp eventually realizes he's met scrooge, back in the klondike chapter of life and times an incident I almost forgot about, and that his legend's been exagerated a bit in prose... and that their guides were butch and sundanc.e Worrying for Goldie Scrooge chases after... by riding some moose

Or is it Caribou. Either way it's majestic and of course rosa got off one last feat of strength. Butch and Sundance fire off warning shots.. not realizing A) gunfire is useless at range against scrooge an B) their going to cause an avalanche. Scrooge quickly improvises and sets himself up to ride the avalanche afte rthem. Goldie ends up on an ice floe, nowhere to go with the strongbox.. and Scrooge naturally dives down and rescues her. I also like a little gag where they go back to reasue the animals.

We also get a nice bit of Karma: Soapy is pleased as punch, confident the trio will drag Scrooge back... only for the flood of water and ice from the ruckuss to wash his boat away.. with Soapy correctly assuming Scrooge somehow did this and Butch and Sundance deciding to flee to south america, as far as they can from Scrooge. Smart boys.

Scrooge and Goldie get back to the cabin still unable to admit they like each other.. and we get a hell of a panel

I can be hard on Don Rosa. Some of the stuff he loved so much from Barks he carried on has not aged well and is not stuff he ever should have kept, like Scrooge's rampant finacial abuse of Donald. It's stuff that even for it's time wasn't great and has aged worse. I'm taking time to point this out though.. because the man was a truly amazing artist and it's devastating he had to retire. No one can draw ducks like him. Few can panel at his levels. THe detail, the small bits of comedy like Bat's fear, it's all so good. He was one of the best artists there's ever been and deserves every ounce of praise he get. I may not have liked every opinon the man had or every choice he made and I will never like how he only considers one writer in a massive sea of them absolute canon.. but damn if I don't love and respect his work. Rosa is one of the best writers Scrooge has been and along with Barks, Argones and Youngberg, is one of the pillars of this character.

Goldie convinces them to leave scrooge and they prepare to leave.. but while the trio fumbles with getting a sled, Goldie looks at the nugget. Earlier she'd spotted Scrooge gazing at his strongbox.. but realizes he had the nugget out and it wasn't the deed either... instead...

Now is taking a lock of someone's hair a little weird yes.. but again.. Scrooge does not know better and the fact he cares for ANYONE that much especailly goldie is a suprise. We knew he had the lock from life and times chapter 9, Scrooge's sisters teased him over it.. but it's clear Barks had this story for it in mind the whole time and finding out it was the one thing of her he had and something he kept and fawned over .. it's genuinely sweet. Weird and mildly creepy, but still somehow sweet.

So Goldie, genuinely flattered and realizing just how deep her own feeling go and their reciprocated makes Scrooge breakfast. An naturally.. Scrooge assumes this is some scheme and the two end up fighting, starting with slapstick then the hitting starts and then..

Yup.. excellent way to get the obvious past the radar.. the two finally consumate their rleationship with what defintely started as some loud hate sex.. turns passionate and gentle. Conveying THAT much without making it obvious to children is a masterstroke and I love that roy bean, of all characters, finally got the message and ended the threat.

Sadly these two just can't get started. They love each other.. btu Scrooge's stubborn determination to pay her for her work and send her on sends the wrong message and while the spark's still there.. the two don't really settle.

Still, it's clear that one night of passion, love and property damage meant a lot and when asked about what his most valuable treasure is, if it's any of what the boys thought.. Scrooge's answer is simple

These three beautiful panels.. are a perfect capper for Rosa's run on the character. I really wish he could do more and it's still tragic he couldn't.. but it gets to the core of what Rosa's stories are about: memory is the greatest treasure of all. The experince, the adventure, a life well lived. Scrooge may have everything.. but this is the one thing money cannot buy and he would never trade. A memory of love.

The Prisoner of White AgonY Creek is easily the best story of the three. Another one here isn't bad, but Hearts is Barks final story, what he knew would likely be his last. It was never going to be a contest. Hearts is a fun screwball comedy that somehow makes a kidnapping work as it's setup, with Scrooge not really seen as RIGHT for it and running into trouble for his impulsiveness, but Goldie seen as an equal partner, someone who only dosen't get away with her tresure.. because she cares about HIM more and vice versa. It's a story of two people who love each other but can't get past their own egos, tempers and hard wired values to just admit it. And it's a story that's not over.. the rest had been written by this point, but this perfectly starts the dominos rosa had set up with his previous two flashbacks to the yukon and perfectely continues from the one set before this. The man somehow pulled off a coherent heartbreaking story he told almost entirely in reverse. That's genius. It's a beautiful ending to a beautiful run.. but it's not the end of this story or this article.

Hearts of the Yukon

Hearts of the Yukon is a decent story but it's one I had trouble writing about. It's why this part of the project took a while. The first half is pretty.. okay. A few gags as Scrooge wonders into town, there's a food shortage, and Goldie as usual pines for Scrooge.. and as usual rather than actually talk to him like a normal person she fakes a claim to a visiting mounty to get him to come visit her.

That mounty is the best part of this story, the decorated real life figure Sam Steele, who always gets his man.. and spends the comic getting that catchrphase down to a writer, being a proper gentlemen and genuinely being comedy gold every time he steps into page

He's pure gold and a perfect opponent to Scrooge. Scrooge is outside of the law and dosen't care for it and Steele is all law and order and muscle to the smaller scrooge. He's tricked into revoking Scrooge's gold claim

This leads to a minor slog as Scrooge deals with a corrupt mounty, a hallucination and santa.. nothing terrible but most of this story is just okay for the first half

The second... is pure greatness. The town starts to burn and Scrooge dashes across it to get to goldie, dealing with Steele all the way and having to improvise. I also love Steele not getting muddy because of coures he dosen't and the above joke. It's a good show from scrooge. He does stop to save Cornelius Coot, more on him next story, but his main target is goldie. The first half is fairly week.. but the art as ever is great.. and the climax is truly heartbreaking.

Scrooge comes to the blackjack where Goldie's been waiting for him to save her.... and freezes. She fakes fainting.. he tries to save her and gets knocked out. And as we'll see when we get to the end of this retrospective and my faviorite scrooge story period, it's his greatest regret, something he repeats in his head night after night.. the thing that seperated him and Goldie forever.

While scrooge is aquitted.. he leaves before GOldie is done with the medics.. and has a message taken to him. This scene.. is a punch to the gut as Scrooge makes the second biggest mistake of his life. The letter is a confession.. one we never find the consequences of.. but clearly her being honest with him.. but it's scrooge's own fear and pride that destroy his relationship with Goldie. It won't be the last time as we'll see.. but it's one of the big reasons why he couldn't be happy.. if he'd just opened it.. jus tread it... he'd have a long happy life, a diffrent life.. but a good one. Hell he probably still would've gone to america so it's one where Donald likely still exists. As Dawson cleared out the two could've gotten married, headed to scottland, got his sisters and created kinder duckberg. I doubt Scrooge would've stopped entirely.. but it might've been a less cold mean and cruel life for both of them.. instead..

Hearts of the Yukon isn't the strongest story in Rosa's library, Steele aside.. but that ending is one of his best, another truly heartbreaking moment as Scrooge slams the door shut on what could've been... but it still creaks open one last time... one last possible fate that sadly just didn't work out.

Last Sled to Dawson

Our final story today is fittingly both Rosa's first goldie story, his third story overall and the only one to fully intersect with present day. Instead of a wraparound the main story is in the present with the flashback setting up everything else.

So we open with Scrooge swamped with work, having to put out crisis after crisis. He admits as exhausted as he is he geninely enjoys what he does, big same man, but sometimes longs for the simplier life he could've had with Goldie. He gets cut off but you knows it, I knows it so let's not dance around it.

He flashes back to times past, our final flashback and to another milestone in his life, one that would briefly come up in the main life and times story: Scrooge has made his first million. With this he wonders what to do, become a philanthropist perhaps? He's honestly not sure... this is something he dreamed of, and as Rosa would flesh out later he fought hard for: he worked his feathers to the bone to get this and is now what we all dream of but will sadly likely never achieve: finacially secure.

He decides on his fate after talking to Cornelius Coot: He'd make cameos in Rosa's later stories set earlier

More importantly he sells Scrooge the deed to Killmotor Hill and Scrooge decides with this what to do: cash out and leave this life behind. He encounters soapy slick on his way up, this will be important later, and heads out. he makes it back to his claim and packs up something he can't bear to loose

Naturally he looses it on the way there, caught in the storm and leaving his rifle as a marker. After fighting some wolves and ending up on Slick's boat by pure accident, Scrooge blames all his misfortune on deciding to settle down. Once again the door to a better, simplier life that still coudl've been packed with adventure and buisness is slammed shut.

In present day Scrooge TRIES to act like the old life's behind him.. but the second the boys inform him that the marker has been found and the glacier is thawing, he has them pack up to dawson.

Our heroes return to Dawson for the second time in Rosa's continuity. Donald wants to know why their there and scrooge is a dick about it saying "you pay someone top dollar and they think their your partner!"

At this point i've just.. tried to harden myself best I can against Scrooge's finacial abuse of donald. And it is finacial abuse: he barely pays somneone he knows can't afford to turn down the work and is supporting three children. It was funny back in barks day, it wasn't too funny by the 90's and now

Scrooge finds two changes, a Statue glorifying him, a welcome sight and a fancy hotel. He naturally balks at the 15 dollars a night charge, and for once is probably right as even if his 30 cents is practically nothing 15 dollars in 1940's money sounds like a decent amount for one room.

Thankfully he knows the manager. Given the hotel is where the Blackjack Ballroom would be and the statue, it's naturally Goldie, who is both happy to see him and the only person who can get his goat with him flustered and the boys enjoying seeing him sweat.

Goldie's also gotten a redesign from Barks... she's still a tad thin, but now has a lot of her old figure back and still looks as gorgeous as the day scrooge met her. It makes perfect sense too: She opened the hotel with the money from Back to the Klondike so with money coming back in she's no longer restricted to whatever she can scrounge up in the wild and has the money to buy nicer clothes. I like this because instead of just sitting pining for scrooge waiting for his retirement like in the original story, a shell of her former self, she's picked herself back up, found a modern equilvent to her old buisness and done something that could bring Dawson back to life: tourism. I used to think Barks just had her waiting but i'm happy that no, he made her a successful entrepreneur in her own right, like Scrooge having gone from a depressed husk of their old self to a final act worthy of their reputation and cunning. While it's not confirmed I like to think she got Dawson back to thriving, not what it once was but a beautiful tourist spot while keeping the local beauty of the location in tact, a place full of adventure but still far enough from buisenss Scrooge can comfortably retire there one day.

She offers him a room and he takes it.. with his pile of nephews. Not exactly what she had in mind, but everyone misses the subtext and gets a godo nights sleep. Goldie is likely sore and not in the way she intended.

Unfortuantely for our heroes this wouldn't be much of an adventure without a villian and he happens to own the only ship: Soapy Slick, pissed Scrooge beat him last time and probably still sore over the boiler he's been keeping an eye on the glacier all this time and gets salvage rights when it falls in the ocean. Goldie warns them that the riverboats the only way to sail it.. but not the only way. Naturallly scrooge is a dick about it and assumes she has a plane.. but Goldie has a better way: a hot air balloon used for tourism. Donald naturally gets into some shenanigans and Goldie gets left behind, as Donald has to parasail his way up and ends up suspended with Scrooge being scrooge. While they do this Soapy theroizes the deed to duckberg is in there.

This is where life and times hurts this story a bit: when it was published this was implsuable but possible: Scrooge probably couldn't of claimed the deed without it but he's lost enough stuff and gone on enough fetch quests to get it back to make it at least a possibility. Once you've read life and times though it's clear that he took it with him and had it the whole time.

We get a nice character moment as Scrooge looks over the valley.. and bemoans that he can't appriciate it like he once did. What was once a majesty beauty to behold.. is just potetial lumber. His decades and buisness have drained the joy out of it.

With them just above the glacier the triplets come up with a plan: turn the balloon into a sled and slide down the fucker. Scrooge does not get a say in this and I chortle both at the genuine joke and someone strong arming him into something for a change.

They land roughly and Soapy arrives, ready to claim the glacier.. but it's not adrift and he BADLY underestimates clan mcduck: Donald instantly snaps into action holding the thing, while the boys pelt the old man and the other old man digs.. only for the glacier to go on a ride. Scrooge still dosen't give up though and cuts Soapy off when he dangles off a glacier and weakly tries to make a deal for a partnership.

It becomes a mad dash as soapy tries to knock it onto his warf with the riverboat.. but fails it instead ending up on land. He still tries to foil scrooge... but in a nice fit of irony it's another scrooge that stops him

As you can guess, and the boys figure out there's nothing of monetary value on the Sled. It's all of Scrooge's old gear from when he first started out

It's a beautiful moment.. Scrooge gets back something invaluable.. his past. Pieces of who he was .. a simplier time... it's something we all have. I don't have many mementos unfortunatley, I either sold them or lost them over the ages.. but i've still picked up a few and just looking at the nightcrawler on my desk, one of my last marvel legends, my glomgold I got from Kev as a gift or even my donald duck from house of mouse, something more recent but gotten the same day I lost my dog.. everything has a memory. It's a key part of Rosa's work on Scrooge.. that he's not just rich in money.. but in experince.. it's what we do not what we have that defines us.

The box the boys found is for Goldie, a box of choclates and a note that while we don't see clearly touches her. He was once again going to confess.. but didn't. She dosen't fully regret it, a bit disapointing.. but we see WHY she loves him so dearly even after all this time

It's a beautiful ending once again showing why we love scrooge: he may be an asshole.. but he's a man with a life well lived... a man whose richer than god.. but also rich in the ways it counts. No matter what he's lost.. he's not alone and he never was. And while he may not be with goldie now I do agree with Rosa's sentment on how they ended up: together, in retirment having a few more years together.. and god knows how many memories.

Thanks for reading and remember i'm pulling for ya we're all in this together.

[stormsong2]

Clue: Ducktales 2017

This is literally just for the sake of I went down a Clue rabbit hole and then saw someone make their own, so…

So there are like 5 or 6 different groups you could make out of all of the characters or at least that I’ve made

So we have everyone who lives in the manor (Scrooge, Beakley, Donald, Della, Huey, Dewey, Louie, Webby, Launchpad, Duckworth)

The main children (Huey, Dewey, Louie, Webby, Violet, Lena)

All the children (Huey, Dewey, Louie, Webby, Violet, Lena, Gosalyn, Boyd, May, June)

The adults (Scrooge, Beakley, Donald, Della, Gladstone, Fethry, Gyro, Fenton, Launchpad, and I haven’t decided who else those are the main ones unless I’m completely forgetting someone)

F.O.W.L. (Bradford, Heron, Steelbeak, Phantom Blot, Pepper, Rockerduck)

And finally the villains (Magica, Glomgold, Ma Beagle, Mark Beaks, Don Karnage, Lunaris)

I’d probably end up using the people at the manor or the children but that’s mainly because I don’t think of it as being too serious hence no one dies in this version. I’ve seen a version of Clue where people steal stuff instead of killing someone we’re going that route.

The easiest things for that are just stuff that are somewhat important to characters. If it’s just the storyline of the kids or people in the manor playing tricks on each other I think it would be stuff like

The junior woodchuck guidebook

Webby’s journal

Dewey’s hat from the sky pirates episode

The golden statue Louie has

Either Scrooge’s top hat or cane

Donald’s hat I guess

And either Della’s scarf or goggles

If anyone has any other ideas for stuff that would be amazing, I’m running out of ideas. And if the game was for the villains it would be stuff like

Scrooge’s number one dime

Magica’s staff/amulet

The deed to Duckburg

Once again I’m willing to hear other people’s ideas because I can’t think of any more.

And finally where it all takes place. I would either have it have places in the mansion or places around Duckburg. For the mansion I actually have a rough sketch of where everything would be, so here

So nine different rooms like normal Clue and the darker areas on the lines are where the doors would be. I still need to tweak it a bit if I’m actually going to make it but this is the rough sketch for now.

And then for places around Duckburg I think there would be

McDuck Manor

Money Bin

Junkyard

Ampitheater

Magica’s House

Waddle

Glomgold Industries (if I can find a picture of the outside of it)

Funso’s

Doofus’s Mansion

I think those would be the easiest locations to use but there could also be places like the docks, the fairgrounds (I think those might be the same place but I’m not sure), the beach, or the subway.

And I think that’s it for my ideas. I don’t know, I just wanted to get this out there even if I don’t end up making it, which I’m thinking about doing but we’ll see if I have the motivation and/or artistic talent to actually do it. So bye I guess I don’t know how to end this.

[princess-of-the-corner]

One reason Scrooge McDuck shouldn't be compared to modern billionaires is that he values COMPETENCE, rewards it, and fully informs anyone he hires to work directly for him of the job's dangers:

Albert Quackmore, his butler, is openly the World's Best Butler and a skilled artilleryman (the Money Bin's defenses include war residuates Scrooge picked up then and there, and he's in charge of maintaining them, and fires at least the 149mm Scrooge bought after World War II from the Italian Army. He once nailed a headshot on a superhuman alien invader at about five km). His pay isn't much, but he also gets board (that he's in charge of, meaning he can eat what he wants on Scrooge's dime... But he's honest and as frugal as Scrooge) and room... And said room is full of luxury items (including a robot butler): his duties include testing Scrooge's new luxury products and he's allowed to keep them.

Scrooge's personal secretary Emily Quackfaster (Barks version) is one of three people known to keep up with Scrooge's work rhythm and to run his office. Differently from the others, she wasn't hired by Scrooge but by his sisters in the 1910s, and he kept her working after he stopped going around the world in 1930 because she was just that good.

The Italian version of Emily Quackfaster, her niece and successor as of the 2024 story Emily, decided to work for Scrooge when she was a child and her aunt brought her to work, letting her see the cash pool... But she wasn't hired through nepotism, she knew better than try that. She tried to get hired the normal way, failed because Scrooge still had her aunt, so she started working for a competitor... And when Scrooge visited said competitor as her aunt was about to retire he was impressed by her professionalism and skills and shamelessly poached her before even finding out who her aunt was, and warned her of Magica and the Beagle Boys before even asking said name. She's just as competent a secretary as her aunt, but can actually chase off the Beagle Boys and Magica by herself.

Donald at times works for Scrooge, and he's either hired because he's hypercompetent at what Scrooge needs him to do or quickly learns to be so. In particular, his most frequent job is polishing coins, and he's considered the World's Foremost Expert at this (with at least one coin collector coming to Duckburg on a plane and PAYING to get his advice).

Daisy has at times subbed for Miss Quackfaster, and not only can keep up with the insane workload, she can actually sub for SCROOGE HIMSELF when it comes to business decisions.

The other workers don't get much attention, but it's always shown that they're extremely competent at their job, were selected for their competence, and got all the additional training they needed for both their new duties and to partially keep up with Scrooge's insane rhythm - the latter provided by Scrooge himself, going by the story in which the city got him to deal with their lazy bureaucratic workers and he straightened them up in about a week (in the same occasion Scrooge bragged that he never fired anyone who thought they could laze around now that they worked directly under him, he just got them back up to his expectations). And with extremely rare exceptions they're all EXTREMELY loyal to him: he may have a temper, but he genuinely appreciates competence and knows how to acquire and maintain it (except with Donald, but that's because he's trying to get him to become a worthy inheritor for his business empire and doesn't get that Donald doesn't care).

Wish more irl billionaires were like that

[best-ducktales-episode]

ROUND #1

[a-dotrivenitupontop]

i really think the main problem with s3 and 4 of mq is how scrambled the jobs have become. like in s1 and 2 it starts out pretty simple.

ian: the head-in-the-clouds creative director with your typical weirdly spiritual man who wields power over others moments

poppy: the shut in coding genius lead engineer who longs for power and then lets it get to her head when she becomes co-creative director

david: the awkward and pathetic boss who really does not have a grip on his company

brad: the money-hungry head of monetisation

jo: the helpful yet slightly deranged assistant

rachel and dana: the overlooked testers who know they’re worth more

cw: the kooky and more than vaguely racist writer

other characters are the overworked art department head, phil. the hr head carol, who’s treated like a therapist. the mansplaining other tester who appeared for a bit, lou. and of course, autistic latina icon, maria.

it’s a typical sitcom setup. each character has a job in the Setting and that job allows the writers to explore that personality. brad works with money so his ultimate goal is a scrooge mcduck money bin. cw wrote sci fi books in the seventies so of course he’s gonna say odd things about women. poppy’s job is to sit at a computer all day, there’s no way she’s developed appropriate social skills. but then in s3 and 4 the jobs get so much weirder and jumbled?? like??

ian: co-creative director and grimpop studios. then goes back to mythic quest, then quits but finds he can’t when poppy tries to leave.

poppy: co-creative director at grimpop studios. then goes back to mythic quest, gets a boyfriend, gets pregnant, debates leaving for the netherlands.

david: still the executive producer. becomes evil for a bit then pathetic again. becomes evil again. becomes pathetic again. becomes evil again. becomes pathetic again.

brad: the janitor. then he’s invited back to be the homie. then joins dana. then fucks over dana playing poker. then he has to choose between his girlfriend who works for danas rival (who never gets mentioned again) or mythic quest. chooses mythic quest.

jo: still assistant. that’s solid. kinda. idk who she assisted in particular in s4 but she assisted. now she’s head of playpen??

rachel: decides she wants to be a writer. fails at berkeley or wherever. joins monetisation. then she becomes evil?? and defends child labor in playpen?? then mopes about it for a few days before david needs her back??

dana: randomly decides she’s the best coder of her generation because she can make a roblox game. works for ian and poppy but then makes her own studio which is owned by mythic quest. brad gambles her new game away after she’s bested by a 17yo. makes a new game.

carol: montreal gives her a job as head of diversity and inclusion (hodi). does mq have an hr department anymore?? who knows. who cares. hodi isn’t really a job that involves anything so carol spends her time fucking the old gay testers.

the old gay testers: old and gay and testers. for some reason they’re at davids meeting in telephone even though s1 rachel complained about how testers are never invited to meetings. btw what happened to the other gay testers from s3??

other characters include like 2 mins of screen time from porn addicted anthony who i think is a coder and an episode about pootie shoe. why so few side characters? because brad got as much screen time in s4 and michelle got in s1. does anyone miss michelle btw?? does anyone miss when this show had people actually working in each department??? does mythic quest have a writing department anymore???? can this show do plot line that doesn’t involve a character getting fired then coming back then quitting then joining another thing then quitting then going back to mq???? while getting completely flanderised in the process????

[ducklooney]

"This June, Disney comic book icon Uncle Scrooge headlines his first-ever Marvel Comic book in UNCLE SCROOGE AND THE INFINITY DIME #1. Written by legendary Marvel scribe Jason Aaron and drawn by an incredible lineup of celebrate Disney comic book artists, this one-shot will masterfully blend the beloved world of Uncle Scrooge with the hallmarks of Marvel Comics storytelling.

In addition to breathtaking covers by Alex Ross and Lorenzo Pastrovicchio, UNCLE SCROOGE AND THE INFINITY DIME will have a fortunes-worth of variant covers by some of the industry’s most acclaimed artists including Peach Momoko, John Romita Jr., J. Scott Campbell, Walter Simonson, Ron Lim, Elizabeth Torque, and Gabriele Dell’Otto. And like all of Marvel’s major launches, UNCLE SCROOGE AND THE INFINITY DIME #1 will shine as brightly as Scrooge’s treasure vault with a special FOIL VARIANT COVER by superstar artist Steve McNiven.

Announced last month, UNCLE SCROOGE AND THE INFINITY DIME #1 will see Scrooge embark on a time-honored Marvel adventure as he explores the Multiverse to stop a twisted alternate Scrooge from becoming the all-powerful and incomprehensibly rich Scrooge-Above-All! Along the way, the story will introduce exciting new takes on the iconic tycoon with a heart of gold and feature appearances by Scrooge’s nephew, Donald Duck; grandnephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie; and his supporting cast of characters, including Gyro Gearloose!

See never-before-seen variant covers for the highly-anticipated UNCLE SCROOGE AND THE INFINITY DIME #1, on sale in June.

SUPERSTAR ARTISTS CELEBRATE SCROOGE MCDUCK’S FIRST-EVER MARVEL COMICS ADVENTURE WITH NEW UNCLE $CROOGE AND THE INFINITY DIME #1 COVERS!"

Source: Marvel

New covers comics related to Uncle Scrooge and the Infinity Dime from the Marvel edition that will be released in June this year. Most of these covers were drawn by LORENZO PASTROVICCHIO, PAOLO MOTTURA, FRANCESCO D'IPPOLITO, VITALE MANGIATORDI and others.

[denaliwrites]

Tales of Daring

Scrooge McDuck x GN!Reader

Summary: Scrooge catches you in his Money Bin.

Soundtrack: DuckTales Theme by Felicia Barton

Requests: Open!

Warnings: I... I'm so... I don't even know what to put here. What the fuck, man. What did I do to deserve this?

"It's not every day I catch a thief red-handed," a Scottish voice purred from behind you. You hadn't even heard him effortlessly dive into the seemingly infinite pile of gold that you'd had to rappel into, and now he had you at a disadvantage. What were you supposed to do with that?

Well, you certainly wouldn't beg for mercy. It was exactly what the old coot wanted, and you couldn't give him that.

"It's not every day a thief makes it out of your Money Bin with a pretty penny to show for it," you replied, holding up a giant, glinting ruby. Light bounced off it, sending scattered shards of red all over the room. One lit up the grin on your bill.

"Tha's a bit more than a pretty penny, wouldn't ye say?" he asked. You heard some coins shift behind you, signaling his moving closer to you.

Your grin grew just a fraction.

"To you, I'd think it's little more than a pretty trinket, wouldn't you say?" you teased, shooting him a look. He didn't seem as amused by your twist on his words as you were. No matter. "Would you really miss this little token, Scrooge?"

You watched as he shivered at the way you said his name. His eyes bounced around the bin contemplatively in an attempt to play off the reaction he'd had to you. "I know all the coins and gems and trinkets in this bin as if they were my own children. Of course I'd miss it."

"Then it should bring you some comfort, shouldn't it, that it's going to a good home?"

"I hardly think bein' sold on the Black Market for a wad of cash is 'goin' to a good home.'"

You feigned offense, laying a hand dramatically over your heart. "Scrooge! I'm hurt you'd think so poorly of me. Of course it's not going to the Black Market. It's going to a very reputable buyer. Hired me to steal it from you and everything."

"How much is 'e payin' ye, then?" Scrooge asked.

Now it was your turn to shiver -- though the one that danced down your spine was a bit more... anticipatory in nature. "Not nearly as much as the ruby is worth," you confessed lightly. "But we both know I never was one to back down from a challenge."

He was suddenly on you, his hands pinning yours behind you while his chest pressed flush against your back. A gentle shushing whisper blew past your ear before he spoke, "And how goes yer little challenge, eh? Would ye consider it successful?"

You shot a look back to him, along with a grin. "Well, I got your attention, didn't I? I'd call that a win."

He grunted in amusement before shifting his hands so that one was still holding you by the wrists, while the other delicately plucked the ruby from your grasp.

He held it up within your line of sight, twisting it so the lights bouncing off it danced along the walls. "Beautiful, isn't it?" he asked, though even as he spoke of it, his eyes were on you.

"You're not so bad yourself," you purred.

He unceremoniously threw the ruby back into the sea of gold with a sigh, then released you with a grunt that seemed a lot less amused than before. "Same time next week?" he asked.

"Of course."

"Off ye pop, then. I've got a meetin' in ten..."

[okaystoptellingmetomakeanaccount]

Scrog Timeline based on Life and times here we go. Part one lil kid scrog livin in Scotland.

The extended life and times of Scrooge McDuck. Part 1 - Glasgow 1867

First. There are a bunch of stories which show snippets of Scrooge’s life as a child (usually around Christmas). These snippets can vary from a single panel to multiple pages, but they are never the main plot. Among these are:

W DD 70-01, The Search for Cyril

W DD 72-01, Secret Of The Sargasso Sea

S 63099, Chairman of the Bored

D 9044, Wait For Me

D 99078, The Quest For Kalevala

I PM 187-2, The Brotherly News. - Note: Scrooge, Gideon and Grandma are shown as kids together in Scotland.

D 92305, The Lost Birthday. - Note: Partially time travel/suggested dream sequence, partially flashback.

I TL 2442-5, The Ghost’s Treasure… Or The Other Way Around

D 2012-058, Donald's Homemade Christmas

I TL 3063-2, The Numismatic Process

I TL 3239-1, A New Christmas Carol

I TL 3369-1, The Comfortable Temptation

D 2019-039, The New Year that Wasn't. - Note: This story contains a scene in which Scrooge travels to the past to give himself the number one dime. This is not reverted.

I TL 3368-1P, A Tournament of 100 Doors

D 2020-210, In Time For Christmas. - Note: This is a time travel story, and so the snippet is actually not a flashback. The snippet takes place during the night before Scrooge leaves for America.

I TL 3448-2, A Mysterious Anniversary

H 2022-002, The Treasure of Captain Seabass

I TL 3499-1, Fame

I TL 3501-3, Clear Coin Cleaning

I TL 3536-1P, The Test of Scottishness

I TL 3550-1P, The Leap Lamp. - Note: This story interestingly contains a retcon of D 91308. This retcon consists of Scrooge getting his shoeshine box on Christmas, as Fergus couldn’t finish it in time for his birthday. No known story contradicts this.

I TL 3616-4, $ogni nel cassetto

From here we can continue onto full stories that depict Scrooge’s time as a wee lad, whether they are flashbacks or not. Stories are placed in timeline order. If not sure (so for most of them) they are placed in release order. Among these are:

W US 44-04, The Invisible Intruder. - Note: Life And Times’ depiction of this time of Scrooge’s days is largely based on this story.

B 790164, A Taste and Three Cruzeiros

B 820168, A Christmas From the Past. - While the narrative is primarily about this past adventure, Scrooge only plays a secondary role.

B 830113, The First Bin. - Note: History told by LVD. Story does not necessarily seem to take place in 1860s Glasgow.

I TL 2865-03, The Mistake. - Note: Rare one pager showing Scrooge at school. Is in conflict with I TL 2695-1 in showing something that shouldn’t yet have happened according to Scrooge’s accounts in that story.

D 2013-026, The Orphan's Christmas

F DBG 16, The Dragon of Glasgow

H 2023-183, The First Christmas Ornament. - Note: After interference of Grandma Duck by the end, this story is revealed to be a fiction made up by Scrooge.

D 2020-145, The First Adventure. - Note: This story is a direct lead-in to Rosa’s story. As such, it’s probably the only one that can be surely placed.

D 91308, The Last of the Clan McDuck. - Note: it is very well possible for any of the above mentioned stories to take place during this story, as it contains time skips.

Honorable mentions:

I TL 756-A, Klondike’s Gold. - Note: This story famously portrays Scrooge’s youth as taking place in the Klondike, going as far as having him be born here.

W DAD 29-02, The Last Laugh. - Note: Scrooge mentions shining shoes and delivering papers when he was HDL’s age.

W DD 48-02, A Bucket of Scones. - Note: Scrooge mentions having left Scotland 60 years ago.

W JW 29-03, The Good Deed. - Note: Scrooge mentions growing up in Scotland in a boys’ home. Together with HDL they also visit his hometown: Pinchpenny.

I TL 697-B, The Unfortunate Dream. - Note: Dream sequence where Magica sees Scrooge earning his first dime as a child.

S 81095, The Search For Viking Treasure. - Note: Scrooge earns his first money by plowing fields.

I am 99% certain I have forgot and/or missed stories, so please feel free to comment or whatever to add to this. This post will keep being updated.