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popculturebuffet · 4 years

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Ducktales: New Gods On The Block! Review or THE INCREDIBLE STORKULES: COCKBLOCKER OUT OF MYTH!

We’re back, and i’m doing away with intros, for now, i’m trying to see if offering people a bit of the review makes them more receptive to reading it and now we’re nearing the end of this hellyear, and the trump presdency, i’m going into this one with a ton of energy, so let’s get quackin!

We open with the Scrooge and Kids on a quest to get a golden helmet he’s been after for years and has been one of his lifelong goals using a carefully crafted plan with all the kids skills needed. Okay i’ll admit that last part is unique to this show: given how interchangable the boys are outside of this continuity, I assume he’d just throw them at the monster like Pikmin as a distraction while Donald grabbed the helmet and just grow new ones in his vast venture bro style clone mine if they happen to die. Thankfully there’s no Child Death but there is Child Failure as the team comes back sad and defeated and doubting themselves.. Della having a confetti cannon ready to celebrate dosen’t help. Though it does bring me to the subject of Della being out of focus this season. It’s a mixed bag for me: On the one hand I do get it, as she was the main focus of last season, even more than Louie, and now we’ve gotten to know her, she can sit back and play more of a supporting role, especially since Donald , who himself was more of a supporting character the past two seasons, is now getting more screentime and Beakly’s getting fleshed out more. Their trying to balance a rather massive cast, so it’s natural the one whose already got a ton of focus at this point would take a back seat and all around the show’s done a far better job giving everyone screentime this season. Launchpad has been lacking of late but given a Darkwing Duck spinoff is probably in the cards, and he’s had tons of episodes at this point compared to Donald and Beakly, i’m understanding of it.

On the other.. there’s still a lot of stories to tell with her: We still haven’t had her deal with Scrooge basically erasing her for a decade at all nor Donald hiding her past from the kids.. he had reason and all, but he still made their mother a stranger to them. They had no stories, nothing to really go on for 10 years. That’s gotta have impacted both the kids and gotta hit della hard at some point that her father-uncle and brother both just kinda.. erased her to the kids. Plus we don’t know how she’s been adjusting to have a life OUTSIDE the kids especially since she’s been sitting out so many adventures, likely to let Scrooge have time with them and be a good daughter and mother and what not, but still there’s a LOT of ground to cover they simply haven’t yet. The Donald and Della plot we did get, while glorious, didn’t really add anything to either’s likely strained relationship and it’d be nice to give the two a subplot to work this out. Granted this might all be coming in the Castle McDuck Episode for all I know, but I can’t pin all my hopes and dreams on that one. And this all COULD’VE easily happened off screen.. but it’s something the audience really wants and needs. I’m not sure if we’re getting it and that worries me. But again theirs a large chunk of the season to answer this if this is the last one, and another season possible if it’s not, so i’m willing to wait for it. I’m just getting impatient is all.

That being said this episode makes up for the Della Deficet as she’s one of the main driving forces of this side of the episode. I’ll get into that more in a second but Della’s been on the rare misfire adventure and knows Scrooge’s stages of grief and that he’ll come out of it with a better plan. Unfortunately for the kids that plan dosen’t include them and Scrooge runs off to assemble a better team leaving the kids utterly devastated. One of the other main driving forces besides depressed children and the greek gods is scrooge being really bad with people, but i’ll get to that.

Point is the kids understandable emotional devastation and Della trying to mom for all of them at once because Launchpad had to get to his other job and is taking Beakly this weak to teach him and Drake how to raise a child, is interrupted by said Zeus ASSHAT RAPIST OUT OF MYTH! Along with Storkules COCKBLOCKER OUT OF MYTH and Selene, DELLA’S FIRST TIME WITH A WOMAN OUT OF MYTH! There here because Zeus has lost his powers, as the Gods all collectively decided he was a dick and voted him out of office.. er stripped him of his powers. Sorry an asshole, narcacistic, sociopathic racist getting removed from his position of power happening a few days after the election was called.. the timing just could not have been better. But yeah Zeus is out, roll credits. Join me after them and after the cut for the rest of the review.

So yeah the Gods are fed up with him, and Selene and Storkules are there to pick a worthy inheritor to his Laurel Wreath, his lighting bolts, and his collection of playboys he keeps alphabatized in his mancave.. also his mancave will also go to the winner. Storkules however, having a one track mind, notices Donald isn’t there and goes to find him. The kids are all eager to try but Selene is there for Della, which they all agree makes sense: I mean she has the disposition and sexual appitite of a green god but without all the rampant sex crimes and murder, and given most of them have clearly copped to the times except Zeus, that’s a plus. Plus she and Selene have already been together before so the fact they can smooch into infinity along with all the fun stuff is a nice bonus. It’s not like Storkules isn’t selecting his candiate soley with his 13 inch penis, so ther’es a precident. But Della, seeing the kids clearly need this more than she does, convinces her once and future girlfriend to let them try out. I really do wish we got more of the two this episode but what we get is great, and Selene reluctantly agrees after Della makes the valid point their STILL more mature than her dad. The fact Zeus punctuates this by getting into a “No you” contest with an 11-12 year old probably helped. As for where Donald is he’s preparing for a date with Daisy! Horay. I’ve been waiting for Daisy to come back since the last time she was here, and Donald has naturally been considerate: Setting up a bunch of hearts, flowers, some punch that is likely just box wine and sprite, he has a budget and throwing all his garbage in the pool with bricks because he’s still Donald. Romantic, a good dad.. but still a disaster of a person who dosen’t know quite how to live like an adult... which naturally I immensely relate to and hope i’m lucky enough one day to have a lady or fella to hide all my garbage from. I mean i’m probably dying alone, but that’s likely my old buddy crippling depression talking. Oh you old scamp.. please fuck off an die. But enough chilling looks into my psyche, point is Storkules barges in to ruin it, and eat his carefully made grilled cheese. As though Storkules may be incredible he’s also STORKULES, GOD OF NOT REALLY READING THE ROOM. Daisy comes in, and we find out it’s their second date.. and i’m assuming their first wasn’t that time they ended up in a direct to video sequel to Die Hard that’s still far better than Die Hard 5.. then again a colonoscopy is preferable to that movie so I Dunno. But she’s nice, friendly, if put off by the big sweaty man suddenly in their date. Storkules COCKBLOCKER OUT OF MYTH, does not help matters by, upon hearing that seeing how in love they are, and finding out it’s the second date assumes their getting married and hugs them in THE SWEATY ABS OF STORKULES. Do me next.

Back at the God Tests, god I love a job-ish thing that lets me say that, Louie is up first, and being Louie has thought up a plan that benifets him wether he wins or looses but one that has serious underlying issues he hasn’t thought of. Naturally it turns out to be a gold touch which, as with Midas, works out about as well as you’d expect.. with Dog Murder and mass murder to follow. Selene undoes it, So Louie gets nothing. And yeah this has been a major issue this season that while I talked about it back in “Let’s Get Dangerous” bares repeating: Louie feels like he learned NOTHING from the events of last season. He still likes, he still dosen’t think plans through, and he still cheats. In contrast Dewey DID grow from his season.. it’s subtle, he’s still the same loveable trainwreck and pre-teen Hank Venture he’s always been, but he no longer hides secrets or family stuff and is more of a team player. Still an egotsitical one, but it’s there. But Louie.. hasn’t changed at all. He’s still conviving, still thinks only in short term.. it’s only once or twice like with the Impossibin the events of last year really seem to have sunk in. It feels like the writer’s couldn’t figure out how to write a smarter Louie and just gave up. It’s really disheartning especially when most other character development, subtle and otherwise, sticks.

While Huey sweats over his turn and Della tries to encourage, we cut back to the date which is going okay, Daisy’s trying to roll with it but Storkules, TERRIBLE WINGMAN OUT OF MYTH really isn’t good at talking Donald up or letting them get to know one another. While things breifly get better when Daisy brings up her career and Donald talks it up like the loving soon to be boyfriend he is, Storkules FUCKUP OUT OF MYTH screws things up by saying, when she explains to him she hasn’t made any Toga’s because she works primarily in dresses that she can “work up to them eventually. “ As proof this is the best Daisy she dosen’t dump Donald immidetly despite none of this being his fault and him trying to explain he didn’t invite him, but instead just makes an angry, and understandably so , face and goes to powder her beak.. which is clearly code for “Scream Obscenities into Donald’s Mirror for the next ten minutes”. Which if it already wasn’t abundantly clear they were perfect for each other this would be the clincher. Donald wants Storkules to go and TRIES to tell him, but Storkules just assumes he wants him to make a big romantic gesture for them and goes to “let Cupid’s Arrow” strike her. Donald understandably wants conformation he doesn’t mean that literally. Spoiler alert: He does.

IT’s Huey’s turn next at playing god and he decides to be God of Intuition, gaining future sight so he can know everything and prevent tragedy. We instead get a damn funny scene where after adjusting to his powers he tries to prevent a breakup.. only to play both parts himself and cause it anyway. Just some great acting from Danny Pudi there. We get some more as Huey slowly melts down from the information, traumatizing a kid and nearly getting beat up with a guy who wants to “Beat up the freak for making everyone uncomfortable” which..

Yeah it’s not acceptable for what looks like a grown adult, or even a Teenager if that was an intent, to whale on a CHILD, let alone ANYONE for being “a Freak”. I mean yes Huey did screw up big, not mass murder bit but still.. but he’s still a fucking child. As someone who was prone to breakdowns at that age, and up to present day... I take this personally, especially since I see Huey as high functioning autsitic. So this hits home as i’ve had many people just tell me to get over it instead of trying to help. So yeah fuck this guy, take off that Gizmoduck shirt you do not deserve it. We fans do though, I hope that becomes real merch.

But yeah Huey failed and Zeus is gloating..mostly because in his already considerably warped brain, he thinks that if they all fail he dosen’t get it. Selene explains basic logic to him: If they fail to find a new god here, they’ll just keep looking. Zeus naturally has a tantrum as Scrooge enters, wondering why the kids care about god powers and Della, being a supportive mom, tries to get him to encourage them. He instead focuses on his team. Again, we’ll get to him trust me. Selene also calls her dad out on the fact he hasn’t done anything good since defeating the titans centuries ago. Naturally being THE GREATEST SHITHEAD IN ALL OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY Zeus takes the exact wrong lesson from this and calls his brother Hades to whip up a titan for him to fight because that was her point and not that your an irredemible dick tip who their desperate to replace and who was dethroned because no one liked you, not even your horrible presumibly now ex wife. I mean unlike DC Comics Zeus he’s not planning a cou but only because he has no powers. Hades however is well aware his brother has no powers, as the gods have been talking about it and laughing about it because Zeus sucks eggs. Also Hades has a great goth look and personality here as well as muscular arms to hold my bi ass at night. A-Plus character design. I may also have a thing for goths and emos I never realized I had. Just an observation.

Back at the boat Donald and Daisy are enjoying drinks, which again has to be wine.. I mean again box wine, Donald needs a lot of booze after a hard days nearly getting murdered and Costco has great deals on it, but still booze. They cuddle a bit and it’s fucking adorable.. and Storkules WHO JUST KIDDNAPED HIS COUSIN CUPID AND STOLE HIS SHIT naturally ruins this moment by first trying to fire one date rape arrow at them, then takes donald’s rampant headshaking no as a sign to fire all of the arrows... with Daisy ending up in the water and unsettling the garbage. Granted Donald COULD’VE prevented this by explaning things to her.. but i’m betting he didn’t simply because he’s.. tired of this shit. He’s tired of adventure, tired of it intruding on his life and just hoped Storkules was gone and out of sight and didn’t have a chance to prepare for that till it was too late. NOW Daisy storms off.. but unlike say Cabs Daisy, whose a living nightmare, or Comic Daisy, whose not a great person but has her moments depending on the comic, she has VALID REASON. Donald lied to her about garbage and dind’t just take it out like a normal Duck, and didn’t just outright yell at his friend to leave on their date, a friend who just attacked her and already insulted her. IT’s understandable, especailly given a line coming up she’d WANT to leave and leave Donald behind. Donald however is naturally miserable and it finally gets through Storkules thick skull he messed up and he runs off to cry while Donald miserably floats among the garbage and my heart both relates to that nad breaks seeing it. I mean .. Daisy meant a lot to him: After years of presumibly avoiding dating, or if he did not doing so for long, to focus on the boys, after a year of putting their needs ahead of his and living with his demanding uncle, of being dragged out of a normal if miserable life and into a less miersable but adventerous one he didn’t want, of being stranded in space and on an island wondering if his kids would be okay.. he finally not only has time for himself, and his sister back after years of thinking her dead and thus someone else to take care of the kids needs for a while without feeling any guilt over it or worrying about them, but found someone special. She’s talented, beautiful, charming, and understanding. And most importanlty she LISTENS to him and throughly likes Donald for who he is. And he looses that only PARTLY due to his won incomptence but mostly because someone he already barely allows in his life came in and ruined it. Once again the adventure and everything took something from him and while not nearly as big as loosing his sister, it still fucking hurts to once again have one small bit of something just for himself, one bit of normalcy, one person who loves him for who he is now through and through.. and it’s seemingly gone. It’s why I like this relationship even if this part panes me: Donald can FINALLY be happy... finally have someone who genuinely cares about him. This also boils down Storkules character and why I don’t ship the two of them: He’s a good god, he’s brave, compasionate, carring, and generally wants the best for donald and does genuinely love him.. but he also dosen’t care really what DONALD wants half the time. He’s the embodiment of Donald’s biggest gripe with his life: No one listens to or repsects him or what he wants. Storkules wants Donald the adventurer, Donald the brave, Donald the undaunted, DONALD THE IDEALIZED VERSION THAT ONLY EXISTS IN HIS HEAD. He dosen’t really get Donald isn’t the same person, and even that person wasn’t into him. Not because he’s a man, like his sister Donald could easily be bi or pan.. but because he’s just SO MUCH and Donald’s family is already SO MUCH.. and that was BEFORE the kids and the launchpad. Donald has made peace with adventuring but it’s still clearly not his faviorite thing while for Storkules adventure and experince is his life. Storkules needs someone like him and Donald needs someone down to earth, someone who can HANDLE the amount of chaos that follows him and the famly, but someone whose .. normal. And Daisy is that. If you ship then fine fine, but I just don’t because they just don’t go together and both deserve a partner they can truly be a partner with, not someone they clearly don’t understand or someone they DREAD visiting. They both deserve better than that.

Back on the god plot, it’s Webby’s turn as she becomes Goddess of Friendship. And helps the mood at the pier by spreading sunshine.. and then deals with the pier’s greatest menace and my honorary uncle, because he’s really not much worse than some of my actual uncles...

GLOMGOLD, SCOURGE OF CHILDREN’S KIDDIE RIDES. Because of course a seemingly regular habit for Glomgold is hogging a children’s ride he somehow fits into. Of course it is. It’s cheap and he’s not the best human being but I love him anyway. Webby heats it up to scare him then tries to get the kids to hug before having a breakdown at everyone not being happy. This does fit with her personality.. I didn’t think so at first but thinking back her first response in any friendship crisis is to panic and overreact. Her reaction to her best friend telling her she may have to stop sleeping over with her and her sister/webby’s giflriend because of magic danger is an implied death threat. She’s getting BETTER with people, but she still dosen’t have the life experince to fully deal with it and naturally upon seeing things get worse and worse goes on a lighting filled rampage Selene thankfully stops and likely undoes. Though Glomgold is likely on the moon now. He’ll be fine.

Dewey is last and auditions.. but forgets the god part and fails which fits him perfectly and is a great bit. The kids have all washed out and are depressed about it. While Della is hopeful when talking to Selene, Selene gently explains to her girlfriend she shares with a space alien that the kids just aren’t ready and that maybe the power of a god just isn’t the thing you give to a kid for a self esteem boost. Della MEANS well here, she just wants her kids, Webby very much included, to feel good and get their self esteem back after Scrooge swallowed it whole. But Selene is right that this is just too much power, and given it nearly drove Huey insane and nearly made Louie and Webby murderers, she has a point. It’s a good thought, but Selene needs an actual replacement for her dad. Sadly though this breaks the kids further after this and they slink off and Selene gets she messed up.. while she was right to reject them, she missed WHY Della was trying so hard. However credit where it’s do unlike her brother, while she dosen’t try to fix her issue, it’s likely out of emotional maturity: she knows just saying nice things to the kids wouldn’t help them or would wring hollow and their mom is better for that. IT’s things like this that are going to make her a good step mom.. yeah i’m shiping Della with both her girlfriends at once. Just because I gave up on her and Launchpad dosen’t mean poly’s off the table, and frankly selene is strong enough to win Penumbra’s favor and Penumbra has the kind of pepper and violence a greek goddess likes in her women. They’d be cute all together. I likes it.

Less cute is ZEUS, SCHEMING BOWL OF ELEPHANT PISS OUT OF MYTH!, who realizes his greatest gift isn’t his powers: I’ts manipulating his children.

And since he found a sad STORKULES POOR SAD BOY OUT OF MYTH. , and hears his issue, with Storkules hilarious sitting in his poppa’s lap, he spins it into getting what he wants: Saying since he and his wife, and Storkules mother in this version apparently I dunno, fell in love with battle, summoning Chronos will do just that for Donsy. Granted for most people your dad’s tale about how he met your step mom who tried killiing you a bunch and who he’s cheated on dozens of times would raise a red flag, but STORKULES IS THICK AS A BRICK.. in both senses of the word and calls forth Chronus.

Daisy meanwhile is driving her car away, but is battling with herself. On one hand she doesn’t want to play mother to a guy who can’t dispose his trash or his weird friends. On the other she admits she can really be herself around Donald. We then get the most telling line though.. “You do not need to fall for another man who needs saving!”

That.. is clearly setup for the future. It MIGHT be Gladstone but it could be anyone. Hell it could be someone entirely new. She also could have a kid like we’ve all wanted. We could get a canon version of Juinor.. not named Donald Juinor because 1) He’s not donald’s son and 2) that name’s been forever tainted and we all know which living bottle of axe body spray to blame. I.. genuinely can’t wait to find out who this is and I expect we will before the season’s up and i’ts nice to see Tress, like last time, get to dig into some emotional complexity with the character instead of just yelling at Donald or talking about bows and stuff. Here she grapples with herself as she does love Donald but the past has burnt her a lot. But as a wise pansexual once said “ But I think it's important for us to remember that sometimes, sometimes it does work out. And even though everything inside us is telling us to protect ourselves, when you've got it, don't let it go. And I am telling you, that you have got it, if you want it. “ Love is hard, love is messy, maybe that among many other things is why i’m alone. But it’s worth it when you take the time.. and upon seeing a giant monster heading for Donald’s house, Daisy realizes he is worth it.. or that frustrated with him right now or not she dosen’t want him to die. Either way she’s a coming and i’m gathering hornets in a box in ancipation of finding out who hurt her so I can mail them to him. I popped an H on there so I know it has hornets.

Back at the mansion the mood is bleak as heelllllllllll with Louie ordering pizza minus the toppings and Della’s attempt to give the kids hot choclate just getting an ow from Webby. It does make sense: Scrooge and adventuring are their lives.. if he dosen’t need them.. how would they ever do it themselves? Plus their 11 and 13 and at that age kids are very fragile so having their mentor and grandpa reject them like this really hurts, not helped by Scrooge proudly announcing his new team and trying to awkwardly bounce not getting this is his fault, though Della is staring at him with a look that just screams.

But before Della can stab her Dunkle, we cut to a depressed donald who switches from one natural state, Depression, to another, fearing for his life, as Chronus arrives and Huey rightly wonders how he’s here. The kids all defer to Scrooge while Della continues to just be the best. Seriously for the entire episode her only throught is her kids, and their emotional well being and had this crisis not popped up she probably would’ve stabbed scrooge then yelled him out for hurting her babies. She’s graduated from trying to be a mom but having issues with it due to mentally still being in her 20′s, to genuinely being GREAT at the job. Good on her. Daisy is naturally horrified to arrive to find Donald being eaten while Storkules is overjoyed. I WOULD say his stupidity’s overplayed this episode.. but he’s never displayed good judgement before why start now? It fits his character and his joy turns to distress when Chronus eats donald.. and has a cage in his tummy. with glass walls. I dunno, it’s a cool design. Daisy is understandably pissed and yells at it for eating her boyfriend, which gets an adorable oh boy oh boy from donald> Again love is rough, but one jackass screwing with you does not equate to every man or woman or person you date being a jackass. Daisy has realized this. Storkules is overjoyed, but soon finds himself and his sister fihgting Chronus and honestly both are damn impressive doing so. Seriously when the justice ducks form.. give htem a call. I mean She has moon beams and he’s a greek god.. plus Drake and Launchpad could use a third.. I mean he fits better there and Drake is already dating one manchild, and is one to a smaller extent, another won’t hurt. Just consider it shippers.. or foursies with Morgana because as this episode shows Storkules is bi as he is mighty. he’s Bighty. But the god squad fails, and gets eaten and Zeus’ time to shine predictably ends with an “I’ve failed immediately”, to no one’s suprise.

Scrooge starts working on a plan as he and Della, naturally scale the colossus. We then get the scene that’s been boiling all episode: When Scrooge wonders where the kids are, Della calls him out pointing out they’ve been plauged with doubts about him replacing them.. because he literally was replacing them, and when Scrooge is earnestly suprised by that Della points out the obvious: Their children, as I said their fragile and as Della puts it, Scrooge puts a LOT of pressure on them, something she likely knows from experince. And this is what i’ve been leading up to and putting a pin in all episode: Scrooge himself. It’s something I thought of days ago but this episode hammers in heavily: Scrooge really dosen’t have a ton of personal social skills. Sure he can work a board room pitch, lead a team of adventuerers, and run a vast empire while never forgetting the human element, for a lack of a better term, he’s not lacking in empathy or the ablility to talk to people, but when it comes to reading them it’s just surface level. He’s genuinely been show to struggle with empathy, with feeling someone elses emotions or realizing them till they’ve already been hurt. He spent a good ten years desperatley trying to bring Della back, avoding his pain and guilt instead of talking to Donald and making amends with him. His relationship with Goldie took decades to get anywhere healthy as he just put his walls up and assumed she’d never change when, as we’ve seen now, she always could she just needed a push. And when confronted by the kids he lashed out and then pushed them away instead of mending the wounds he created. Even on a much smaller level, when Lena and Violet ended up along next week he’s utterly lost when Adventure isn’t on the menu and only picks up from being baffled by two normal ish (One’s a parnaomal expert the other is the paranormal) joining him once it’s clear at least one of them fits right in with his intrests. He can deal with people on a problem by problem basis, but he’s just not good at dealing with their emotional needs or opening up. It’s why this works so well: his oblviousness fits. To him and the way his brain works, the crown is just a problem to solve and he just needs diffrent tools to fix it, not realizing replacing the kids for a mission would bother them or they’d ever think they were replaceable. Until now I hadn’t seen much similarity to Huey but both.. are just not great with PEOPLE. They put them in boxes, try to solve problems that way.. it’s just their specific issues that way are diffrent. Scrooge can anticapte the unknown and how people he’s fighting act.. but can’t anticipate personal hurt and pain well because he bottles all his up. When checking off a problem.. i’ts just something he dosen’t consider and thus his biggest blindspot, the thing he has to overcome time and time again: How his family feels and how he can deal with it. Here however he deals admirably.. now he KNOWS there’s a problem, and in a genuine show of character development over the past three seasons, he apologizes fully, saying their the best team he could ask for, better than zeus and don’t need his powers and they can get the helm together. Instead of putting up walls.. he’s letting his in and showing humility, which given Scrooge’s ego.. is a tall order. But for those kids, for his strength, it’s no small feet. Of course said speech gets Him and Della eaten, but the kids, now reinegized, ahve time to plan, with Daisy further stalling by roaring at Chronus to stop. Because she’s fucking awesome and Storkules finally gets that. The kids however take the leaves and breifly retake their powers, Dewey’s is for dance naturally, and use them together to take down Chronus, freeing everyone else, defeating the titan and throwing him back into the pits. Donald and Daisy reunite and get a RELLY sweet moment, blushing and looking lovingly at one another, getting lava on each other, before kissing. STORKULES, DOSEN’T GET THEY DON’T WANT A THIRD PARTNER OF MYTH, of course interrupts and hugs them hostage for the remaider of the episode. I’m assuming Beakly , when she got home, pried htem out and explained them not wanting a third int heir relationship to him, and it’s a weak end to the plot as Storkules learned nothing and one of the weaker parts of this episode. The rest is stronger as the kids and Scrooge plan to make another run at the helmet and Selene wonders off to “use your shower” and then order pizza.. so she basically just asked Della out. And has used her shower before.

I mean again, she can have two partners. This episode alone has earned that and they seem like they’d mesh. Penny would just have to learn some lessons about sharing and godly vagina’s is all. Nothing wrong with that. And what about Zeus.. no one asked but he gets his wreath back only to fall in the pit, with Hades naturally laughing his ass off.. and likely also taking Zeus’ laurel back. So Zeus is trapped in hell with a goth mocking him. HORAY! HAPPY END. Final Thoughts; This was a pretty good one. It does have it’s weak spots: Storkules learned nothing, the kids stories endings were easy to see coming and there wasn’t enough Dellene. But really despite that. .it’s still a solid episode mostly because it’s REALLY damn funny. The comedic timing is just pitch perfect and while like most of the plots I could see the rhythm of the donsy plot, the reasons for it were all funny and fresh and the scene with Daisy in her car was a nice bit of character building/clear setup for the future. And showing off Della’s own character developement and history with scrooge, the latter without ever having to mention it, really brought the episode up, as did the guest cast’s game voice acting and timing. This episode is far from perfect, but it’s still a fun episode that felt needed despite not being tied into the main plot: Bringing back some old friends, and having an intresting story to tell. Plus we got more Donsy so there’s that. Overall while not the BEST episode of the series, it was a funny, enjoyable half hour of television and sometimes, that’s enough. If you liked this review follow me or more, and if there’s an episode of Ducktales from seasons 1 or 2 you’d like me to cover, you can comission it for 5 bucks, 5 bucks an episode, 5 dollars off your order when you comission more than one, via my personal messages. You can also follow me on patreon at patreon.com/popculturebuffet if you want. NEXT WEEK: FLASHBACK EPISODE! BABY DONALD AND DELLA! BRADFORD ORIGIN STORY! POSSIBLE HORTENSE AFTER SO LONG! MY BODY IS READY!

#ducktales #donald duck #daisy duck #donsy #delumbra #delene #della duck #selene #storkules #scrooge mcduck #dewey duck #huey duck #louie duck #hades #chronus #chronos #new gods on the block!#new gods on the block #ducktales spoilers

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therealjordan23 · 4 years

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Huelet Week 2020: Day 1 - Bad Boy AU

Violet Sabrewing had been the tutor of high school heartthrob, Huey Duck, for about seven minutes now, and she already regretted accepting the "offer of a lifetime," as Webby had described the job.

Her best friend, Webbigail Vanderquack, had grown up alone in Scrooge McDuck’s mansion for the first 10 years of her life… until Donald Duck had shown up with his three rowdy triplet nephews: Huey, Dewey, and Louie Duck. Needless to say, the four spent the rest of their childhood together, and Webby grew close to each of them. In fact, she was even dating one of them. Violet got along fine with Dewey, Webby’s boyfriend, and Louie, her sister's boyfriend, but Huey? He was the school's bad boy, and was also dating the meanest girl at Duckburg High, Gosalyn Mallard. The spunky redhead loved making fun of Violet because she was a straight A student, who was in Junior Woodchucks, and did tutoring on the weekends.

Huey on the other hand was your typical bad boy: he was incredibly handsome with messy light hair, and intense, yet dreamy, dark eyes. Violet remembered he used to wear a simple red polo shirt with a red hat back in their freshman year, but now Huey preferred to wear all black, and usually left his hair wildly untamed. She also remembered how sweet and kind he used to be, but that had all changed when he began dating Gosalyn. He went from being in the Mathletes and Chess Club to the star quarterback of the football team. Huey was also captain of the basketball team, much to Dewey’s dismay. Violet was sure she saw him at a select few Junior Woodchuck meetings, but it felt like he didn’t want to be seen attending those. He went to parties every weekend, skipped class, he was everything that Violet wasn't, but Violet couldn't help but be attracted to him.

Which brought her back to the present—Webby had come up to her a couple of days ago, asking her to tutor Huey.

“He’s being recruited by a bunch of these big schools, but he’s been slacking off. I told him to either get a tutor, or get ready to scrape the gum off of tables in a restaurant.” Webby had said.

In the end, Webby had begged for Violet to tutor him, and Violet had begrudgingly accepted. After all, she was getting paid, and who didn’t like to have some extra cash by their side? And he wouldn’t be too hopeless. Huey was smart… right?

Nope. She was currently watching the teenage boy stuff about 6 pencils into his left nostril.

“Listen,” she groaned, frustrated. “I don’t want to do this just as much as you don’t. There are about 700 different things I’d rather be doing, none of which include watching you stuff a half dozen pencils into your nose.” she said, her voice dry and monotoned as ever.

“Then what are you gonna do about it, Sabrewing? Leave?” he asked with a mean laugh. “That doesn’t really affect me, sweetheart.” he smirked, and Violet hated that his sly smile was enough to make her heart race.

“Cute, but no,” Violet said pointedly. “I’ll tell Webby about this, and I know she’s just about ready to kick your ass at this point, Duck. So unless you want your more than just your pride hurt, I suggest you start giving a shit about school… sweetheart.” she said icily.

Huey stared at her, his mind coming up with no retorts or remarks to shoot back at her. In the loosest definition possible, Violet did have a point. Webby was just about ready to kick his ass into space, and the last thing he needed was a bruised tailbone, and Gosalyn asking about it.

He’ll admit, his and Gosalyn’s relationship didn’t mean much: it was just one of those high school flings. They would go to parties together, he would get black out drunk, and he and Gosalyn would have meaningless one night stands. Then he’d wake up with a pounding headache the next morning, and he’d try to get through the day. Unfortunately, most of that day was spent in school, hence the slacking off.

“Fine,” Huey managed. “Let’s get some work done.”

As Violet explained various things to him, Huey let his eyes wander to her face: Violet was pretty. And not Gosalyn pretty; Gosalyn layered her face with makeup every morning, but Violet seemed… well natural, she wore no makeup, wore no skimpy clothing to make her femine curves stand out, she was just… Violet. And that made her seem more attractive: she had dark skin, something Huey felt drawn to, and dark, curly hair, giving her a mysterious vibe right off the bat. Ever since high school began, she had begun wearing her long hair down, and her face was framed by two bangs. Her current outfit usually consisted of a light aqua Duckburg High hoodie, with black jeans, but she usually changed it up—

“Hubert?” she called, snapping her fingers in front of him.

“Hmm?” he asked.

“Can you repeat what I said?” she asked, frowning.

“Uhh. err… we were on the p-pythagorean theorem, right?” he stammered, flustered that he had gotten so distracted by her face.

She groaned. “We’re on English… let’s go over this again.”

ooo

Weeks passed, and slowly, Violet was starting to make some progress with him. They weren’t friendly, they’d often exchange snide remarks and retorts towards one another, but the air around them was becoming more comfortable, and Violet got over his cocky, arrogant side. Huey on the other hand, found himself wanting to know the type of person she was more and more. She was pretty mysterious, and he only knew one or two facts about her.

He caught her looking at him.

“See something you like, princess?” Huey asked, giving her a shit eating grin. Every time he called her an annoying pet name, it barely fazed her, and Huey was more than determined to find out what pet name she disliked most.

Violet glared at him. “Nothing, Hubert.” she said dryly.

He groaned. “Would you please stop calling me that?”

“What?” she asked incredulously. “You mean your name?”

“My full name,” he corrected, rolling his eyes. “It’s Huey. everyone calls me Huey… expect for you.”

“Well, I personally find it distasteful to shorten down someone’s given name,” Violet sighed. “And if it irks you, then that’s a point for me,” she smirked. “Now let’s go over this concept one more time.”

“Whatever you say… Vi.” he grinned.

Violet whipped around, giving him the mother of all death glares, but Huey was unfazed. He smirked, propping his head up with his hand, as if baiting her into saying something, and Volet faltered: if she showed how much she hated the nickname, then he would just get a little kick out of it. He wanted to annoy her.

She swallowed thickly. “So, when x is equal to negative 1, what is your y value?” she bit out.

He quickly did the math in his head, and smirked. “It would be negative 3, Vi.”

Violet’s left eye twitched, and Huey resisted the urge to grin.

“T-that’s right,” she bit out through gritted teeth. “Let’s move onto the next problem.”

“Sure, Vi.” he nodded.

She suddenly stood up, grabbing him by the collar, shaking him violently.

“SHUT UP!” she roared.

“I can’t even handle how beautiful you are when you’re angry, Sabrewing.” he smirked, making her falter, and loosen her grip on his collar, any form of anger gone.

“W-what?” she asked shyly, now tucking her hair behind her ear.

“I said that I can’t even handle how beautiful you are when you’re angry, Violet.” he said, looking her in the eye, his dark eyes washing over her like a blanket.

Her guard was up. “If this is a ploy to get out of tutoring, I—”

Huey chuckled. “It’s not. I genuinely think that you’re one of the most beautiful people to exist.”

Her cheeks burned. “S-so what does this make us?”

“Friends with benefits?” Huey asked hopefully.

“Hubert!” she laughed, smacking his arm. “I’m serious. If Gosalyn finds out about this—”

He smiled warmly, cupping her cheek. “I broke up with Gosalyn weeks ago.”

“Why?”

“Maybe I knew that this would happen,” he chuckled. “Being around you makes me feel like the old me, Vi.”

She blushed harder. “I suggest you cool it with that nickname, Duck.”

“Oh yeah, what are you going to do about i—” he was cut off when she pressed her lips firmly against his own, making him blush.

When she pulled away, he was a flustered mess.

“I can do that.” she said coyly.

“That, I can get used to.” he smiled, pulling her closer to him. He cupped her cheek, and gently kissed her, and Violet felt as if she were in heaven.

And for the first time in a long time, Hubert Duck felt good again.

ooo

Cheesy, I know, but we need more Bad Boy Huey stories out there :) here’s Day 1 of Huelet Week 2020, @hueletweek2020

#ducktales #ducktales fanfiction #ducktales au #huey duck #violet sabrewing #huey x violet #huelet #huelet week 2020

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thesquidgame · 4 years

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Umbrella Academy Trailer Breakdown

Keep in mind that I wrote like 4 pages of this and then my computer deleted it by accident and I have now way to retrieve it, so this was originally much longer

The first two names that Five calls are Diego and Luther

Across the street there is a sign advertising Kiss Vampire

There is a 1963 movie called The Kiss of the Vampire that was released on september 11th 1963

It’s about a honeymooning couple who get drawn into a vampire cult

Fun

The soldiers appear to gun down one of their own men

Who is waving a red flag, which can stand for communism or socialism

The siblings look beaten and bruised when a nuke goes off

I don’t think that’s the end of the season though

I think it’s what Five sees that causes him to go further back and prevent it

The song playing is called “Here Comes the End” it’s a new song by Gerard fucking Way

The traditional netflix transition is turned into black and white

Five still looks freaked out

So I think Cha Cha pulled him back further in time

Cha Cha looks a lot older, so he’s probably been there for some time

It goes deeper into a store, then a sewing shop, then a bunch of cars outside of a house with police directing them

The record playing is Johann Sebastians Bach’s Chaconne

Chaconne is defined by the Oxford dictionary as: a composition in a series of varying sections in slow triple time, typically over a short repeated bass theme.

Which could weirdly enough describe the Hargreeves as well

Klaus has a cult, with a LOT of followers

As long as he doesn’t hurt them then I’m just glad he’s getting some love

His cult appears to be about him reassuring and comforting people who have lost loved ones

Allison appears to be in court, she’s sitting next to another man and woman, with a lot of white people who look pissed behind her

Luther is a boxer that I can’t tell if he’s hated or loved

Ben is so done with Klaus’ shit

Diego is in an asylum with Lila and I’m not happy

Vanya is in a car with a woman and a little kid

She has one hand on the steering wheel and the other at an angle that leads me to believe she has her hand on the woman’s knee

Five somehow rounded up the gang

Want to see what that was like

They are already SO done with Klaus’ cult it’s not even funny

Okay a little funny

Okay very funny

A minute in! (I already did this shit for an hour and a half and it was deleted so I’m so unenthusiastic but whatevs)

Diego has his hair cut and he’s in his outfit when they are going in to see the tv, and his outfit looks a little dirty so it’s probably a little later in the season

It looks like they are going to the place where Five was meant to assassinate the president

There are silhouettes of Five and Luther in the reflection

Diego is talking to Allison about how the whole thing revolves around the president’s assasination, and there’s a man in the background

Allison is holding the man from earliers hands while he’s in jail

Yay!

Her romantic subplot isn’t with her brother!

Five is looking at a zoomed-in image of a woman wearing a hijab or a scarf looking up at the sky in shock

Vanya is looking in fear at a tape with someone standing ominously in the background

It looks like at the beginning we think it’s nuclear bombs that destroy the earth (it’s probably something different in the end)

Diego is standing in some sort of control room

Five is sneaking through another room that looks to be in the same or a similar building

Another message or whatever for the three men that look like the musketeers grew up to be an Edward Scissorhands Scrooge

I wonder if the milkman’s milk is sour or if he just refills the milk with good milk every time he goes to murder somebody

The scorrges break into the asylum where DIego is at and starts shooting at him and Lila

They escape, because he’s Diego

Allison looks really beat up, by the “vacuum salesmen”

I know that line wasn’t meant to be funny, but it was really fucking funny

Halfway there… Again

Someone did a flip and-

HOLY FUCK

THe goldfish guy?!

This is some megamind shit!

Klaus’ cult is a happy cult :)

Diego and Lila have a budding romance

Someone gets blasted

Vanya looks really scared at the wheel of a car by the milk man

That was phrased horribly

Some jackass dodges one of Diego’s knives

This is kinda off topic

But there is such a harsh contrast between the characters moods in the instagram posts and in the trailer

For example, Allison looked super happy in the posts, but super pissed in the trailer

Klaus looked super pissed in the posts, but super happy in the trailer

Same thing goes for the rest of them, it completely contrasts

Klaus looks like he’s dancing while high in a liquor isle (you were doing so good baby, so good)

Klaus, Allison, and Vanya dancing in the foyer in something I can get behind

I love Vanya’s dancing

In every situation, it’s awkward, it’s nerdy, but it’s so good

It’s a Napolean Dynamite type situation

I’m not going to get into that interaction with Luther and Five, I don’t know

It looks like Luther and Five team up in this season and that is a nope from me

Ben shushes Klaus in front of a door title bureau and I don’t even know

LOL, a book meant for very dumb children

THis is a cute fight between Ben and KLaus

Stop trying to make Luther and Five happen, it’s not going to happen

I love it how Five asks Klaus

He’s not even like

As he here? In like a hopeful way

It’s more like, how many idiots do we have to deal with today

No, unfortunately ghosts can’t time travel

Are you kidding me?

That seems like Justin and Robert’s real life chemistry, lol

The sign behind Ben’s head isn’t actually a real place

Someone got PISSED at Luther

I’m betting it was Vanya

The second she saw him she was like

Hey asshole, remember the years of abuse you put me through and how you hurt me more when I was hurt?

Guess what bitch, that came back to haunt you

But then again? How were you supposed to know that you’re actions had consequences

Boo-hoo

Look! It’s Allison’s boyfriend again!

It looks like Allison and Klaus are together in time, and when Five popped in they were like wut

Baby Pogo. No.

Yay! Diego beats the shit out of 66% of the scrooges

Ax child ax child ax child

Who beat up Luther I’ll shake his hand

Flippity flip flip flippity

Why in there the giant beams of light hurting Allison HASN’T SHE BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH

I AM 10000000% here for the tiki hut

I heard a rumor that you punched yourself in the face

Young Reginald

NO NO NO

This is a really important detail

11/22/63 is a Stephen King novel

11/22/63 is a novel about

A TIME TRAVELER WHO GOES BACK IN TIME TO STOP THE KENNEDY ASSASINATION

THE SAME PLOT

Here’s the wikipedia page, Gerard knows what he’s doing

#tua #tua2 #ua #ua2 #spoilers #tua spoilers #the umbrella academy spoilers #luther hargreeves #diego hargreeves #allison hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #five hargreeves #ben hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #reginald hargreeves #the hargreeves #11/22/63 #breakdown #analysis

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dr-gearloose · 4 years

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DuckTales Theory

So, I’m pretty sure you all know about the 1987 (Original) DuckTales, 1990 (Reboot) The Quack Pack and the 2017 (Reboot) DuckTales.

Well, I have a theory that connects all 3 together. Originally, this started with a theory about Gyro Gearloose, so here’s how all 3 connect.

ACT I: The Original

1987: Donald Duck joins the Navy thus leaving Huey, Dewey and Louie in the hands of Scrooge McDuck.

Scrooge decides to hire some people to... Help around the house (Mrs. Beakley) Be a pilot (Launchpad McQuack) Count money (Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera) and be the Bin’s Security Guard (Gizmo Duck)

(The reason why Gyro and Duckworth aren’t listed is because I’m pretty sure they were already hired. Okay, back to the regularly scheduled theory.)

Mrs. Beakley brought her granddaughter; Webbigail to the mansion. Webby always went unnoticed. She only made friends with animals because no one else pays attention.

ACT II: The Quack Pack!

1990: The boys were teenagers now, Donald left the Navy and Huey, Dewey, and Louie have moved in with their Uncle, who now has a girlfriend. Daisy Duck.

Instead of Gyro, they have Dr. Ludwig Von Strangeduck. (Episode 1) With his newest invention they could become ‘T-Squad’ (just realized how much that sounds like T-Series) Also, their voices were probably higher cause of puberty.

[There’s nothing else to really go off of in Huey, Dewey and Louie’s lives other than their outfits. (We’ll come back to this.)]

As for Webby, I’m going to assume that sometime around the first or second episode maybe? is when she started her spy training and Beakley was hired as an agent.

Gyro is currently on a well deserved vacation. Or did he just travel 26 years into the future? (We’ll come back to this.)

ACT III: The Reboot

2017: Now, there’s A LOT to go off of in the new series! So here we go.

Webby’s grown up. She’s now somewhere around 13, she’s basically a professional spy.

Huey, Dewey and Louie’s outfits have changed. I’m gonna say that Huey is 16, Dewey is 15 and Louie is 14, he’s still in that angsty teen era.

They’ve also forgotten about Scrooge because of all the adventures. Plus, teenagers wouldn’t really care about a rich uncle too much, would they? They just want a girlfriend...or three.

Duckworth is unfortunately dead, which is pretty clever. Donald and Daisy have unfortunately broken up and forgot about each other. Daisy was busy with her job and Donald is just living his best life. Or at least trying to... (We’ll get back to this.)

Scrooge has grown to like his nephews over time. --

[VILLAIN BREAK!] Ma Beagle: No longer wears her hair in a bun, wears makeup and changed her fashion up a bit.

The Beagle Boys: There’s more of them! [The Déjà Vu’s, The 5th Avenue Friendlies, The 5th Avenue Meanies, Black Arts Beagle, The Ugly Failures, etc.] Their home has downgraded to a Junkyard, they changed their shirts. Bouncer Beagle never skipped a day in the Beagle Gym. Burger Beagle has S T I C K S for limbs.

The Aliens: They like rockets.

Magica De Spell: She has a niece now! [VILLAIN BREAK: TO BE CONTINUED...]

ACT IV: Spies and Broken Hearts

Since Webby’s been in a mansion basically her whole life, she’s a sucker for adventures and magic! (We’ll get back to this.)

As for Della Duck - When she stole The Spear Of Selene in 1987, it was now her mission to get home. She made friends with an alien named Penumbra.

She finally got home, on Earth in maybe 2017 or 2018. Now we continue the love story of Donald and Daisy: In Season 3, Episode 5 - Louie’s Eleven, we see Daisy’s comeback. Donald doesn’t recognize her, Daisy doesn’t recognize him. (I still ship it tho)

Daisy was fired from her previous job - a news reporter - so now, who knows where she is in her life now.

ACT V: Project B.O.Y.D.

Gyro hasn’t traveled 26 years into the future, he’s been on a well deserved vacation, he came back and made a new robot. 2-BO, or B.O.Y.D. A definitely real boy. Akita, however, did not like the idea of 2-BO being a ‘real boy’ so he overrode his programming.

A few years later, Mark Beaks found ‘2-BO’ left in the trunk of Gyro’s car. While Gyro was in the store, looking for things to fix up B.O.Y.D, Beaks thought that he could take B.O.Y.D and pretend he had a child so he could go to Doofus Drake’s birthday party. While B.O.Y.D was living with Doofus, Gyro decided to get a makeover.

[VILLAIN BREAK! PART 2]

Magica De Spell: She dyed her feathers!

Mark Beaks: That one kid who’s WAY ahead of his time and confuses everyone.

Flintheart Glomgold: Still wants to be richer! But he’s chubbier.

Goldie O’Gilt (Technically): She doesn’t have gray hair!

(just realized i did magica twice. oops.) [VILLAIN BREAK: TO BE CONTINUED...]

New Glasses / His old glasses were broken by B.O.Y.D due to a malfunction in the programming. New Shirt / The previous shirt he owned was not only uncomfortable, but was torn while testing B.O.Y.D for the first time. There was a malfunction, causing B.O.Y.D to attack Gyro. New Hat / The straps were uncomfortable. New Haircut / There’s no real reason for this other than he just wanted to change his style a bit.

ACT VI: Gizmoduck Fenton had been working on Gizmoduck, improving the suit’s self defense system and stuff. Soon enough, Gizmoduck was everywhere! TV, the News, saving people!

Also, Fenton’s skin/feathers changed because he probably got a sun-tan.

[VILLAIN BREAK! PART 3]

Waddleduck (Technically): Gizmoduck but he’s Mark Beaks.

Negaduck: He’s back and also has a double personality!

Magica’s Shadow: ...gone?

Tulpas: THEY ENVY THE POPULARITY THAT THE OTHERS HA-

[VILLAIN BREAK: THE END]

ACT VII: Lena De Spell

Lena was created by Magica De Spell, you all know this. But how did she learn to do this? Well, in the 1987 series there was an episode in Season 1 named ‘Magica’s Shadow War’ it wasn’t a 2 part episode or anything special. But it was the first appearance the Magica’s ability to create shadows and make a shadow army.

With this new knowledge, she took it upon herself to first, improve her old outfit and get a more modern look. Less trickery and bribery. She was gonna get that dime...but she needed a puppet. She couldn’t do it herself.

Before she knew it, she was in Scrooge’s dime. The thing she wanted most, she was now shown on... But before this, she performed the same spell from all those years ago... And brought her shadow to life, she swore that if she found a puppet, that shadow would be connected to them for as long as she’s in that dime.

What if I told you... Lena’s not a shadow. She was bribed into being Magica’s puppet. Even though she said ‘No more trickery or bribery’ she had to so she could convince Lena to be her new puppet.

Whenever she wanted, she could come out and yell at Lena to get the dime so she’d be free.

When she finally had the dime, I bet you’re wondering how she could be banished to the SHADOW realm if Lena’s not a shadow. Well, that’s just it... She wasn’t in the shadow realm. She was in Limbo.

The realm between life and death.

Lena was able to help every so often... Thanks to Violet Sabrewing and Webby, she was freed.

ACT IX: The Quack Pack! (2017)

Season 3, Episode 2: The Quack Pack! This is a short one, but remember when I told you to remember their outfits from 1990?

No?

Good! ‘Cause I never did. :) I just said ‘...other than their outfits. (We’ll come back to this)’

So, the 1990s Quack Pack was slightly different. I mean the outfits. 1. Donald had a Hawaiian type shirt. 2. Louie’s shirt was different and had a hat. 3. Daisy existed.

But anyways, they brought the outfits back!

ACT X: The End.

TL;DR: ACT 1: Scrooge hires a bunch of people and only cares about money. ACT 2: The nephews and Donald forgot Scrooge and Donald is dating Daisy. ACT 3: Huey is 16, Dewey is 15, and Louie is 14. Duckworth died ACT 4: Webby loves magic and adventure now, Della was stuck on the moon for 20 decades, Donald and Daisy broke up, Daisy was fired from her old job. ACT 5: Gyro invented BOYD and then BOYD was stolen by Mark Beaks. Also, Gyro got a makeover. ACT 6: Fenton improved his Gizmoduck suit. ACT 7: Lena isn’t a shadow, Magica learned how to bring her shadow to life and cursed Lena until she got the dime and then Lena was stuck in Limbo for a while. ACT 8: The Quack Pack made a comeback in Season 3. ACT 9: You’re reading ACT 9, why did I add this one?

Everything here is a theory. Not facts. And I can’t believe this all started with a little theory about Gyro’s change of style!

Just gonna say this now: I totally ship Fenton x Gyro. Don’t @ me.

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starshinewriter · 4 years

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Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Donald Duck & Minnie Mouse, Louie Duck & Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck & Louie Duck Characters: Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Louie Duck Additional Tags: louie is around 3, minnie is the best aunt, (dont tell daisy), donald and louie love each other so much, bad grammar in some parts cause its in louies perspective Series: Part 6 of A Bigger, Different Family Dynamic Summary:

Minnie babysits while Donald looks for a job.

Notes:

First story of the new year!!! Yeah!! Hope you guys enjoy and have a great 2021!!!

Alternative to Ao3:

Donald needed a job, he couldn't ignore that anymore. The money he saved up over the years was almost gone and he didn't want to ask Scrooge for more, not unless he really had to. So he needed a job, but that meant leaving Louie alone and he had never done that before. Even when they went over to the mansion Donald made sure to be around him at all times. He wasn't sure how he'd react to being left with someone else for so long, and he was kind of scared to find out. But he needed a job so that meant he had no choice.

He spent the next few days looking around for opportunities and finally found one, which meant all he had to do now was find someone to watch Louie. It shouldn't be too hard, it wasn't like there was a shortage of people. So he started calling his friends, he would use his Uncle as the first option, but he was so busy with the twins and Donald didn't want to add onto that.

Minnie ended up being the only one who could do it on such short notice and he gave her about a thousand thank you's before she told him to stop and that she was happy to do it. This was one of the many times he was glad he had such great friends.

He started going through what Louie would need for the day and putting it into a bag before his eyes landed on his son. Louie smiled and waved at him and Donald smiled back as he sat down and pulled him into his lap. How to have this conversation? "How do you feel about going to see Aunt Minnie today?"

"Why?"

"I have to go somewhere for a few hours and someone needs to watch you."

Louie looked at him stubbornly, "I go."

Donald shook his head, "Sorry, Sweetheart, but you can't. But you like Minnie, right? She's nice and a lot of fun, I'm sure the time will fly by." Louie started tearing up so Donald quickly pulled him closer and began soothing him. "It's gonna be okay, Louie, it's not forever, just a few hours, and then we'll be back together again."

"Promise?"

He smiled at him, "Promise."

So Donald finished packing the bag, there was still the thing of if he got a job this would be happening more often, but one issue at a time. And maybe if today went well enough Louie would soon get used to being without him for a while. That was his hope anyway. He couldn't be overly dependant on him, all the parenting books said that was a big no-no, and who was he to not listen to them?

The drive to Minnie's was short but also not short enough, there was no way Louie was ready to say goodbye to him. He almost thought about canceling the interview, waiting a few months before doing this, but he would just have this problem then too, best to deal with it now. He just wished it wouldn't be this hard, he didn't want to leave Louie and this would be just as difficult for him as his son, but he knew it was for the best. They needed money to survive and an unfortunate part of that was being away from his kid for a few hours. They needed this, he just had to keep reminding himself of that.

Louie refused to let go of him after he got everything settled with Minnie and he wished he could say he was surprised. But he really did have to get going, any later and he'd be late for his interview. "I know this is gonna be hard, but I need you to be brave for me. Can you do that?" He felt him nod against his shoulder and smiled then placed a kiss on his head. "Be good for Aunt Minnie, I'll be back in just a few short hours. I love you." Louie looked at him and gave a small smile,

"I wuv yu too." He handed him to Minnie and then gave him one last look and a wave before heading out the door, knowing that if he didn't leave then then he never would.

Louie watched the thing his Dada disappeared into until the big mouse got his attention. He liked her, she was sweet and always gave him sweet things when his Dada wasn't looking, but she wasn't his Dada. He wanted his Dada. Why did he leave? Was Louie not good enough for him?

The big mouse smiled at him, "It's okay, Louie, your Dad'll be back soon and in the meantime we get to hang out." She said, bringing him into the room that smelled really nice.

"Wher he go?"

"He's going to a job interview." Louie looked at her confused, what was that? And why did it sound so, bad? "A job is something adults have to get money, so that they can take care of things and the people they care about. An interview is something they have to do to get a job." So he didn't leave cause Louie was bad, he just needed mony? Maybe there was a way Louie could get mony. If he had mony he wouldn't hafta hafe job- jobs sound hard and his Dada did so much for him, he want to do something for him too.

Then that settled it, "I need mony, to help Dada."

"Well, aren't you sweet?" Louie grinned at her. "Unfortunately you're a bit too young for money, but I'll tell you another way you can help him. You can help him just by being you, jobs can make people tired but being around the people they love can make them less tired. And remind them why they have them in the first place." All he had to do was be him? That sound easy, he can do that. Anything to help his Dada.

She gave him something to eat after that and he asked her more about jobs. He didn't really understand it, but the big mouse said it was cause he was too young. The only thing he really focused on was that his Dada would be away from him more often. He didn't want that, but the big duckie who took care of the place his cousins stay at say sometime you hafta do things you don't want to. He didn't know why but Hue and Dew trust her so so did he. He would miss his Dada but the big mouse say he got job for him so he would just hafta deal with it.

Dada's took care of people, that what they did, Louie had to let him do whatever it took to take care of him. Even if it sounded bad. His Dada know what he doing, his Dada always know what he doing. And apparently he was doing job now.

After he finished eating the big mouse took him back into the room with all the things he wasn't suppose to climb and pulled some of his toys out of the thing he Dada always carried. She handed him his box that he had to put stuff into and set him on the ground. She wasn't gonna leave him was she? He didn't want to be alone. He start tearing up and she quick sat next to him. "What's wrong, Louie?"

"No leave! Stay wit me!"

She dried his eyes, "Oh, Louie, of course I'm staying with you! It wouldn't be much of a hang out if I didn't, right?" He nodded and she give him a smile. "Don't worry, I'm not leaving you alone while you're here." He not be alone. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, maybe it even be fun like his Dad say.

The two of them played with his toys for a while and he have fun, not as much as with his Dada or cousins but still fun. The playing tired him out but he wasn't ready to nap without his Dada, but the big mouse wasn't making him which make him like her even more. That was the day he decided she he's favorite big person after his Dada. And maybe after the big duckie that talk weird and took care of his cousins ...maybe not, he say weird things sometime that Louie don't understan. He didn't like not understaning something, but neither did Hue so maybe it was a cousin thing.

Suddenly a noise came from the big rectangle and he jumped. The big mouse smiled at him and picked him up so it hasta be a good thing, maybe it was his Dada! She open the big rectangle and his Dada appeared in front of it, it was him! He was back! Louie made grabby hands for him and wiggled in the big mouse's arms. "Dada!"

His Dada quick grabbed him and start putting kisses all over him which make him giggle. "Louie! Oh, I missed you so much!"

"Miss yu to! Bunch and bunch!" Donald smiled at that then looked at Minnie who was watching them with a smile of her own.

"Min, I really can't thank you enough for this. How was he? Did he do okay?" He seemed to be okay, and looked like he had tired himself out but he had a big grin on his face and that was all that really mattered to Donald.

"It was no trouble at all, Love, he was an absolute sweetheart. He had a little trouble at first but he was brave, just like you asked him to be." He looked at Louie who nodded and he placed another kiss on him. "Oh and the cutest thing happened! While I was explaining to him what you were doing he said he 'needed money, to help you out', isn't that just the sweetest?"

It really was. "Louie..."

Louie looked at him sheepishly, "You do so much for me, wannaed to do something for yu to."

"Just be you, Sweetheart, that's all I ever want." Two people had tell Louie that now, it had to be true. That sounded easy, a lot easy than job. He had the better life.

Donald and Minne talked for a few more minutes before Louie let out a yawn. The two of them chuckled, "I should get him home so he can nap. But really, thank you again." Minnie waved him off and he thought that was fair enough by now. He turned back to his son, "Tell Aunt Minne bye-bye." He cooed to him.

His son waved at her, "Bye-bye, Aunt Minnie!" The adults froze at that but Louie didn't seem to notice, content to snuggle into his Dad. That was the first time he had referred to one of them like that beside Donald. Minnie put her hands over her mouth and Donald grinned at her, she deserved it, Louie adored her. Even before he asked her to babysit.

They hugged after that and Donald and Louie left, Louie falling asleep as soon as he got in his car seat. But not before his Dad could tell him how proud of him he was for today, and since Donald had gotten a second interview it looked like days like today were going to be happening more often. Well, everyone said the first day was the hardest- and they both got through it, they could get through anything with their family be their side.

#ducktales 2017 #louie duck 2017 #donald and louie 2017 #a bigger different family dynamic

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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Where in Fiction Would You Spend Christmas?

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It’s been a staying-in kind of year. That New Year’s Resolution you made to travel more? It’s gained 20 pounds, started cutting its own hair and is now in a jigsaw club with your neighbour Ken. The only marathon you’ve completed in 2020 is a Battlestar Galactica rewatch. The only mountain you’ve climbed is the metaphorical one it takes to shower daily. That beach trip you’d planned? It went okay actually. You made some bells by selling coconuts to Nook’s Cranny and dug up a bunch of Manila Clams with a flimsy shovel.

For obvious reasons, escape is on our minds this year more than most. So we started thinking, if you had your wishing socks on, where in the collected imaginations of everyone who’s ever dreamt up a film, TV show, game or book, would you spend the holidays? On the holodeck of the Starship Enterprise or roasting on an open fire with The Simpsons, exchanging gifts with Ewoks or witnessing Scrooge McDuck’s transformation from miser to philanthropist first hand?

To get things started, here’s what our writers picked…

Alec Bojalad would spend Christmas … reveling with the Sterling Cooper staff on Mad Men

If I’m to indulge this hypothetical in which I’m torn away from one reality and thrust into another, one thing is very clear: I will have to be extremely intoxicated to avoid my heart exploding from the stressful terror of it all. Thankfully, I know exactly where in pop culture to go to get absolutely blitzed: Mad Men. In terms of sheer debauchery, a Sterling Cooper Christmas party probably falls somewhere between a Bacchanalian orgy and Valhalla itself. As Don, Roger, Bert, Peggy, and company gather together to celebrate another successful year schmoozing clients and sexually harassing one another, I will don my finest 1960s attire and infiltrate the festive event.

As Don Draper wonders who this soft-bodied weirdo in an ill-fitting suit is, I’ll catch up with Harry Crane about television. Then I’ll ask to see Bert Cooper’s weird tentacle porn painting. Sometime around my 9th J&B Whisky on the rocks I’ll visit the secretarial pool and beg them to demand better treatment because “you’ree ssssooo strong and eleganttt. Don’t listen to thessseee men. They’re Mad Men.” Hopefully I’ll be taken away to an old-timey hospital at that point, given electroshock treatment, and return back to my own continuity.

Ryan Britt would spend Christmas… at Deanna and Will’s cabin from Star Trek: Picard

When Jean-Luc Picard uses the spatial projector to zap himself and Soji across the galaxy to the planet Nepethene, the result is a cozy pizza dinner with Will Riker, Deanna Troi and their daughter Kestra. For those who had been pining for more ‘90s nostalgia in this Trek series, the episode ‘Nepthene’ delivered, but with a strong shot of realism. Although Picard was written and created before the Covid-19 pandemic, the idea that Riker and Troi would leave the busy and crowded life of Starfleet, and retire in a remote cabin to protect their family is a choice many have actually faced in 2020. As people around the world have fled pandemic epicenters and tried to put shields around their own families, the peaceful and remote home of the Riker-Trois represents the optimistic ideal of Star Trek with a quiet, and very close-to-home twist.

Spending time with the Riker-Troi family would mean great conversation, great music (oh the jazz!) and, above all, great food. I would happily put my own family in their ‘pod’ if only so Kestra could teach my three-year-old daughter the best way to construct a bow and arrow, and of course, how to learn that secret language of butterflies.

Then, after the kids were in bed, having a glass of wine or some Romulan whiskey with Will out on the porch sounds pretty damn perfect. 2020 has been tough. A bear hug from Riker seems like the perfect Christmas gift of all.

Caroline Preece would spend Christmas… at The Muppet Christmas Carol’s Penguin Skating Party

Ever since young-me set eyes on the ultra-festive world of The Muppet Christmas Carol I’ve wanted to visit. I can’t imagine a better way to spend Christmas Eve than in the cuddly version of Dickens’ cautionary tale, helping Kermit and his co-workers tidy up Scrooge’s office for the holidays, dancing down the snowy London streets and attending the Penguins’ annual Christmas skating party as the ultimate topper to a perfect evening.

As well as being super-merry and joyous (‘tis the season), judging by Kermit’s performance on the ice, they let anyone take part.

It could just be the general lack of socialising and festive frivolity in 2020, but Bob Cratchit’s hopeful walk home from the office (remember the office?!?) on the night before Christmas has always epitomised the idea that the anticipation of Christmas Day is the best part. Add to that a trip to the market to pick up some singing vegetables, or the cosy Cratchit dinner with Miss Piggy and their gaggle of pig and frog offspring, and it’s a version of old-timey festive cheer that will always hold a place in my heart.

Louisa Mellor would spend Christmas… with the strippers in Hustlers

This choice won’t reflect well on me. It’s neither edifying nor improving and has a core of savage capitalist consumerism, which is probably what makes it so Christmassy. Midway through Lorraine Scafaria’s Hustlers – a film about a group of strippers who right the wrongs of the 2008 financial crisis by drugging Wall Street guys to run up their company credit cards – there’s a scene that’d make anyone’s heart grow three sizes.

A dozen lap dancers gather for Christmas in a high-end apartment, their daughters and a grandmother in tow. Dressed in luxe loungewear and chunky gold, their skin glowing like a sucked butterscotch, they swap gifts, smile and sing and dance and thank the lord for their sisters. Expensive elegance is everywhere. Someone gets a fur coat, somebody else a pair of animal-print Louboutins. The woman who dips the dancers’ tits in bowls of ice before they go on stage is given an iPhone 4. Mostly though, they give each other affirmation. Without a natural hair colour, nude fingernail or a man in sight, it’s a dream family Christmas. Picture a Norman Rockwell painting with Jennifer Lopez in gold lamé, a cashmere Santa hat and a balcony bra. Feel-good festive perfection.

Michael Ahr would spend Christmas… secluded in Hogwarts

Some may have found Harry Potter’s winter holidays without his friends rather lonely, but I can think of nothing more magical than having the vast empty halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry all to myself. Why let the staff have the warm, dry, magical snow that fell annually in the Great Hall all to themselves? Not being of school age myself anymore, I might choose to share a butterbeer (or perhaps a hot buttered rum) with Dumbledore and Hagrid by a roaring fire.

I might even be tempted to make the trip to Hogsmeade to see all the shops decked out with lights and blanketed in snow. I’d still be able to enjoy the comparative solitude without all the kids running around, but I’m almost certain there would be a group of carolers wandering about the square, never mind the singing enchanted suits of armor back at the school. And of course, if I could pick a particular present, I’d choose to receive the same amazing gift Harry received that first Christmas from Dumbledore: his father’s Invisibility Cloak. I’d likewise pass it along as a family heirloom to my own children on some Christmas morning to come.

Jamie Andrew would spend Christmas… in a Deep Space Nine Holosuite

At first, I entertained the idea of spending Christmas in Baltimore with the denizens of The Wire, mainly because I liked the idea of children running up and down the streets hollering, ‘Omar’s coming!’ moments before the shotgun-wielding Robin Hood of the Hood came swaggering down the street wearing a big red coat and a white beard, tossing out bank notes and whistling ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’. Then I realised that the chances of me ending up a corpse inside a boarded-up derelict building before the turkey was even cooked were surprisingly high, so I thought I’d try Christmas with Frasier Crane and family instead. Unfortunately, my foreknowledge of Martin’s and Eddie’s deaths would cloud the occasion, and I’d probably spend all night slumped crying in Martin’s recliner, unable to tell anyone why I was so upset without violating the temporal time directive.

Best, then, to spend Yule time on Deep Space Nine. Christianity and its associated festive traditions don’t appear to exist in the 24th Century, so after saying hello to Sisko and co., and maybe playing a bit of Dabo at Quark’s, I’d probably spend the rest of my time in a faithful Holosuite reproduction of a 1990s Irish bar on New Year’s Eve getting absolutely wasted with fellow Celt Chief O’Brien. Now THAT’S what I call Christmas.

Juliette Harrisson would spend Christmas… in Narnia

Not, of course, the White Witch’s eternal winter, when it’s always winter but never Christmas, but a regular Christmas in Narnia. It would, of course, be a white Christmas because otherwise, how would Father Christmas come and deliver presents to everyone? So I could spend the season in a snowy woodland surrounded by magical creatures, and be in with a chance of a really good present. Or possibly a sewing machine.

Movies

Why Chronicles of Narnia’s Santa Claus Celebrates Christmas with Weapons of War

By Juliette Harrisson

Movies

The Rod Serling Christmas Movie You Never Saw

By Chris Farnell

On the first moonlit night when there’s snow on the ground, Narnian fauns, dryads, and dwarfs perform the Great Snow Dance, with the fauns and dryads dancing around while the dwarfs throw snowballs that don’t hit them (an often forgotten detail from the book version of The Silver Chair!). I would join in, although possibly not throw any snowballs as my aim isn’t that good. Then I’d go back to Mr Tumnus’s for sardines and cake on Christmas Eve and talk to him about his somewhat dubious taste in books (just what is Nymphs And Their Ways about, eh Tumnus?). I’d spend Christmas Day up at the castle of Cair Paravel, eating and drinking like a Queen, and then I’d go visit Mr and Mrs Beaver on Boxing Day for a feast of leftovers and maybe a little light ice fishing.

John Saavedra would spend Christmas…celebrating Life Day with Star Wars’ Poe Dameron

No one has ever cared so much about Life Day, the Star Wars galaxy’s own version of Christmas, as much as ace pilot Poe Dameron does in the Lego Star Wars Holiday Special. From decorating the Millennium Falcon and choosing the right Life Day sweater to roasting the traditional tip-yip (also known as Endorian chicken), Poe shows there’s something much stronger than the Force in the Star Wars universe: holiday spirit. Who knew the Resistance hero best known for his knack at blowing stuff up had such a soft spot?

Hanging with Poe on Life Day would mean chestnuts roasting on an open exhaust engine, drinking whatever passes for cocoa in the Star Wars galaxy, hanging out with Wookiees on their homeworld of Kashyyyk, singing festive carols in Huttese, and finding just the right Life Day tree for the Falcon. It’d also mean dancing to the hip tunes of Max Rebo’s drum (the rest of his band is unfortunately no longer with us) and partying with Lando Calrissian, Finn, Rose, Rey, Jannah, Mon Calamari, Jawas, Rodians, Ewoks, and maybe even Chewie’s son Lumpy. If you’re not sold by now, your taste in holiday parties might be bantha poodoo.

Elizabeth Donoghue would spend Christmas…. at The Office’s Classy Christmas

Dunder Mifflin has many memorable Christmas parties, but Steve Carell’s final festive special includes some of my favourite things about The Office; weird Gabe, Michael’s enduring hatred of Toby, and Michael and Holly’s adorable relationship.

After Toby announces he is taking a leave of absence for jury duty (‘Thank you, Scranton Strangler. I love you. You just took one more person’s breath away’) Michael learns that Holly will be returning to Scranton and demands that Pam’s regular Christmas party must get classy. What makes a Christmas classy? A backwards Kangol-esque Santa hat, a red velvet smoking jacket and a quarter of a jazz quartet of course.

I would actively enjoy watching Dwight take down Jim in their snowball fight (total bully, needs to be taken down a peg or two), get drunk with Kelly and Meredith, dance with Phyllis and Erin and learn more about the enigma that is Creed. And although it is slightly more subdued than their Benihana and Moroccan Christmas parties, I’m sure we could keep the party going at a Poor Richard’s after-party.

Kayti Burt would spend Christmas … on Themyscira

The Amazons’ decision to opt out of the “Patriarch’s World” has always been a relatable one, but never so much as in The Year 2020. Historically, I’m not really a beach person, but Themyscira, aka Paradise Island, has a lot going for it: warm weather, a supportive community, and live sporting events where you don’t have to worry about some drunken dudebro spilling cheap beer on your toga.

As far as I can tell from the Wonder Woman movies, no one (besides Young Diana, who’s usually working through some stuff) ever seems to be having a bad time on Themyscira. And why would you? The pre-Crisis comics incarnation of the island (which I am going to choose to accept as my holiday canon) includes indigeneous kangaroo-like creatures called Kangas that the Amazons ride like horses. Diana’s is called Jumpa; mine will be called Jimmy Hoppa, and we will explore the island’s cascading waterfalls and cliffside terraces together. In the evenings, I will attend performances at the Themysciran amphitheater with my new Amazonian friends or, if I’m feeling introverted, catch up on my book reading and crossword puzzles.

Listen, I wouldn’t want to spend forever on Themyscira—I’d miss my friends, family, and TV shows (Themyscira doesn’t seem to get a good wireless signal)—but a few weeks (or months, especially as I will be quarantining for my first two weeks) for Christmas 2020? Bring me to the enchanted feminist utopia.

Alana Joli Abbott would spend Yule… at the coven house from the Nightcraft Quartet

Witchkind, as presented in Shannon Page’s Nightcraft Quartet, don’t celebrate Christmas, but they do love a good Yuletide celebration. Page’s witches and warlocks are separate from humans, long lived, and magical. Young witches train in the magical arts at a coven house, living there like a dorm; the adult women of the coven (always numbering thirteen) may be involved in scientific research (like protagonist Callie), medicine and healing, or reading Tarot, and they teach their specialties to the young witches. The coven house is a central place where women gather to live, to practice magic together, to celebrate, and to honor traditional rituals. While Callie’s coven in San Francisco has their problems, the community there is caring and genuine, full of both youthful energy and centuries of experienced witchery.

One of the perks of editing this series is that I get sneak peeks into parts of the story readers haven’t seen yet—including Yule decorations. Rather than cutting down dead trees, witches coax living fir boughs to weave along the walls and mantles, accented with red ribbon and gold—coins, beads, chains. I can imagine the cozy San Francisco coven house filled with witches all rushing to perform their tasks to make the perfect celebration, some of them convincing the fir boughs to expand in just the right ways while others brew hot chocolate or prepare the feast. I picture them eating in the large hall, voices lifted in joyful chatter, and then making their way out to the grounds beyond the house to celebrate beneath the stars, singing midwinter songs and looking forward to the next year. After months of 2020 with smaller communities and less human contact, being surrounded by such a vibrant, magical group of women sounds like just the right way to end my year.

Rosie Fletcher would spend Christmas… with the Roy family from Succession

Go hard or go home, they say, so since I can’t go home this year, I’m going round the Roys. That is, of course, the family at the centre of Succession, a show peopled by the very wealthiest and utterly worst. Festivities would be held at the home of patriarch Logan Roy. His children and their partners would be obliged to attend. Logan would hire a chef to cook, waiting staff to serve, some of whom he would abuse. I would give them sympathetic “I’m sorry” looks but do nothing, secretly thankful Logan’s ire wasn’t focused on me.

In all likelihood I would be a figure like Greg (the egg), or Tom Wambsgans – mostly tolerated, vaguely despised and very much the second class citizens of the Roy clan, skulking on the periphery as Kendall, Roman and Shiv compete for Logan’s love and oldest son Connor comes up will another entirely ridiculous life plan – I dunno, maybe this year he’s decided that his next career move is to become Santa Claus.

The food would be extraordinary. The booze the very finest – how long before, like Greg, I would be claiming the bottle of vintage rose champagne I had just motored through was ‘not my favourite’? And the dinner table conversation would be electric. Electric like an electric shock – sharp, painful, disorientating, unexpected.

So Christmas has become too commercialised? Fine, fuck it. I’ll take the eye-wateringly expensive gift that’s grudgingly bestowed on me, I will gorge on the finest cheeses known to man and coat my tongue with port made from molten rubies, knowing I am on my way to moral bankruptcy and doing it anyway. Go hard or go home…

Kirsten Howard would spend Christmas… singing along in the closing moments of Scrooged

You’d be hard-pressed to find a Christmas movie that feels as genuinely uplifting during its climax as 1988’s Scrooged. Bill Murray’s arrogant TV boss Frank Cross, having been visited by the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Future, disrupts a live broadcast of A Christmas Carol to rant openly and honestly at the cast and crew (and eventually you) as he makes a passionate case for a life less invested in exploitation and capitalism, and eventually kicks off a collective singalong of Annie Lennox and Al Green’s version of ‘Put a Little Love in Your Heart’.

That’s where I’d like to be this Christmas. Not just to sing along with Bill, but to be around people immediately swept along by the much-less-explored altruistic route of ‘no fucks given’.

Also hanging out with Bill Murray, though, of course.

So much of the last few years has been a public race to the bottom of Nothing Matters Mountain, but even if it hadn’t all been so demoralising and forced so many of us to reevaluate our priorities, Frank’s message of redemption in love and living as well as we can, while shrugging off our own heavy expectations of success, still feels really special.

This Christmas, there is light at the end of the tunnel. We may not be able to grab the nearest stranger and sing “put a little love in your heart!” at them right now, but we CAN carry that feeling with us into 2021. As Frank says: “There are people who are having trouble making their miracle happen”. We can always try and find time to stop focusing on our own for a while and to help them.

David Crow would spend Christmas… chilling with Harold and Kumar

Not many people are aware of this, but A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas is the best Harold and Kumar. It may not have the pop culture cache of their medicinal-fueled quest for mini-cheeseburgers, but it does have something very special, indeed: Wafflebot. If you’ve had the misfortune of living your life oblivious to Wafflebot’s existence, allow me to introduce you to a greater world of wonder and magic.

Wafflebot is the best Christmas present to ever come out of Santa’s Workshop. Displaying an eerily sophisticated artificial intelligence for a toy meant only to cook delicious breakfasts, Wafflebot can make you waffles any time by just popping the top and letting that batter drop. But he can also do so much more! Vaguely aware of the concept of friendship, this brunching Frankenstein can learn how to love and appreciate his owners… and defend them from any threat with scalding hot projectile syrup!

With the ability to serve breakfast, save your life, be manipulated into dangerous attack mode, and learn how to see the real you, all while playing a mean drum solo, Wafflebot would make any Christmas a sweetly warm experience. And then Harold and Kumar, and I could also steal a Christmas tree from NPH or something.

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saokpe-loves-to-talk · 4 years

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Ducktales (2017): Masters in Character Writing

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

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

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

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

Personality Overlap

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

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

Character Dynamics

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

Character Development

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

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

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

#ducktales #Ducktales2017 #dt17 #dt2017 #Dewey Duck #webby vanderquack #della duck #Louie Duck

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