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zelda-cooper · 30 days ago

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Character Ideias - Darkwing Duck (aka Drake Mallard)

This blog is for Darkwing Duck writers who plan to write a fanfic, comic or anything that directly or indirectly involves the character Bushroot. The ideas may not be for everyone and everyone has their own different vision of the character, but this blog is for those who are experiencing writer's block or any other creative issues. I hope you understand and, if you use any of these ideas, please give me credit. Thank you for understanding.

Yeah, I know... It took a while but it's here... Sorry for the delay, it's just that my hyperfocus on Loonatics is back and it really messes with my reasoning...

"Excuse me, let me introduce myself..." •pushes me away• "HELLO, MY DEAR FANS!!! I, the great Darkwing Duck, managed to convince you to finally write a blog about me! You lucky ones, hearing only things about me! HAHAHAHAH!"

Sure, sure... Is the speech over? I have to get back to the blog, I'm completely out of patience today...

"Yeah yeah yeah... You know, guys? She lost the first version of the blog because of Tumblr's problem... And probably incompetence..."

I HEAR THAT YOU S-

"Anyway, keep the blog!"

Character's Past

This part is one of the ones that I think won't be that much of a problem regarding the origin of "how Drake became a superhero", because there are a lot of origins that he told in the original series... Even though I think that the ones he told in the episode "The Secret Origins of Darkwing Duck" are all lies and one of the only reliable ones is from "Clash Reunion".

"Wait a minute, are you calling me a liar?!"

I'm not calling... I'm sure...

"HEY HEY HEY!!! REPEAT IF YOU HAVE THE COURAGE!!!"

The fact is... Darkwing Duck's origin does have a basis and foundation, you can choose whether he incorporated the persona as a child or at the end of college in his fight against Megavolt. Now, when we talk about the Reboot... We have a small problem... We do know how he became Darkwing Duck in Ducktales 2017, the hero was his idol since childhood and he became an actor for that, then after the event with Jim Starling, he decided to incorporate the heroic persona into his life. So far, so good... But Drake's family was never exactly shown. And, I know, his ancestors were shown, but I mean HIS PARENTS. In this one, it really is a very free path for interpretation, however, I have some suggestions.

- Orphan

There's no way to escape that much, especially because Darkwing is inspired by Batman, and we already know what happened to Bruce... I'm not saying it should be the same, but at least have something similar.

- Toxic or problematic family

This is another factor that could be interesting and, if you want to consider the original version of the series that Negaduck is an alternate version of Darkwing Duck, it's a good starting point. I've seen some people use this and, honestly, it's valid. It could be one of the factors for Drake to actually be overprotective of Gosalyn and, at times, be a jerk to her (example: "Slime Okay, You're Okay").

- Normal family, but...

Now a more interesting one... We can consider that Drake did have a normal childhood, his parents were present and stuff. However... Why doesn't he talk about his parents? And why did he never introduce them to Gosalyn? Maybe he had a fight with them? Did he cause an accident that made him distance himself from his family? You can interpret this part however you want, whether it was Drake's fault or not, but considering his difficult personality... Maybe it was his fault... Speaking of guilt...

The Problems of a Problematic Personality

Now the fun begins... We all know that Drake is not exactly the nicest person in the world... In fact, he has a lot of problems... Whether it's his ego, his character, his relationships, his self-esteem, probably traumas he suffered... But let's start slowly... What are the consequences of Drake's personality? Let's start with his relationships...

- Complicated Relationships

I want to start with this factor because Drake definitely has problems here... First, we have Megavolt/Elmo, who, I know, was never mentioned in the original series, but in many headcanons people say that they were childhood friends. And, yes, it's cute and even cool to think that... But have you seen what Drake's CURRENT friendship with Launchpad is like? They are indeed good friends, but there were many times when Drake treated Launchpad badly, like in "Jailbird" and "Quack of Ages". If he treats LP badly, imagine Elmo, who at that time was also a person with no self-esteem and who was constantly bullied. We already know that Drake sometimes tends to be a coward (not like Bushroot, but he values his life a lot), so he probably didn't protect Elmo. Speaking of friendships... Now, if we take it to a romantic level, it doesn't improve the situation one bit... I've already written a blog about how Drake and Morgana's relationship is too problematic, so I won't repeat it... Now, regarding the Gosalyn issue... Even though he's a good father in certain aspects, he's also not... Whether it's because he's a jerk to her or because he's too overprotective... So, yeah... Their relationships aren't good... Worse than that, is the issue of his hero life.

- Failed Heroic Life

Okay... Where to start? Maybe the fact that he's mostly lazy and not very competent? Sorry, guys... But you have to agree that Drake is really very incompetent! He may have good intentions sometimes and even do the job right sometimes, but most of the time he only cares about fame and is driven by it, sometimes also driven by anger when someone underestimates him. So you can get an idea... Even as a VILLAIN, even if as a disguise, he is incompetent in and of himself, because instead of committing crimes, he ends up solving them unintentionally. Again, there are times when he does manage to do the hero's job right, but in the original series that's not the case. And I know it's a comedy series, but still, his deeds aren't exactly good...

- Psychological Effects

In addition to work relationships and personal relationships in general, there is another factor here... Drake has extremely low self-esteem and this causes the chain reaction that is the egocentric and temperamental personality that makes him problematic. But have you ever stopped to think about how this also affects him mentally? Let's be honest, the life of a hero probably causes Drake a lot of trauma, whether it be stress, burnout, relationship problems and, mainly, a feeling of failure. Drake Mallard, as a civilian, is a mediocre person (in the sense of being a totally average person with nothing special), but when he is Darkwing Duck, he manages to have the self-esteem he always wanted. And therein lies the problem... Staying comfortable in a fantasy, in a persona, is not good... Keeping the mask of confidence when your inner self does not have it and embracing arrogance has a big impact. You end up hurting yourself and the others around you and end up pushing them away, making you feel alone. And, as we can see, Drake does not exactly do well alone...

Eh, I... I think Drake is not well mentally... So let's try to talk about a lighter topic...:'3

Character Development

The character development in the original series is a bit messy, but it's easy to draw a line under it. An arrogant and lonely person who, with the help of people in his life, ends up changing and, even with adversity and internal problems, ends up becoming a better person and a better hero. It's a very basic line of reasoning and a "cliché" character development, but it's effective when done correctly. So, I'll just give you a few tips to help you with your writing.

- Work on the character's psychology

This may require some psychology study, but it's not that complex... Basically, you'll end up acting like a therapist/psychologist for the character. What are his fears? Why does he act the way he does? Why is it difficult for him to change? Use some base episodes if you can; the more you study more about the character's psyche, the more capable you'll feel about writing about him.

- Parallels of the hero and his villains

Again, this may require some in-depth analysis, but like Batman's villains, Darkwing's villains (depending on whether you're going to rewrite them or not) end up having small parallels to Drake. To give you some basic examples... Quackerjack could be a representation of Drake's "mask", how he performs his actions as a hero just as Quackerjack performs his actions as a villain. Bushroot could represent Drake's insecurities and his fear of being alone. Liquidator could represent how his ego and hunger for fame can lead him to be a despicable person. And Megavolt represents Drake's demons from the past, how his personality affects others and turns them into enemies or just hurts them. It's up to your interpretation.

- How Relationships Affect Drake

I've already said how much he affects people, but what about the other side of the coin? We know how much being Gosalyn's father affected him in a positive way, he started to care and have a more noble cause for himself. Lauchpad was a friend for him to vent and talk about his problems. Morgana, in my view, would end up becoming a safe place for Drake to be himself. Now, as for the Justice Ducks... You can interpret that however you want... But, in general, it would make Drake start to have a greater sense of leadership and more responsibility. However, there is one last topic that... This one, although optional, is one of the most interesting to explore...

The Trinity of Alternate Darkwing Duck Versions

This topic, as I said, is completely optional, but if you want to play with multiverse or alternate versions, I have some comments about that... Again, I'm going to play with Undertale's routes.

- Dictator's Route

Let's start with Darkwarrior Duck's route, who is a character that I find, honestly, very interesting... He's still Drake, but at the same time, he's not him anymore... And all because he lost Gosalyn... He lost the person who made him see beyond his greed for fame. But now... She's no longer by his side... You can say that she died (because alternative futures are something that's complicated to work with and, honestly, I don't have the patience to work with time travel) or something else, but the loss of Gosalyn will result in him becoming a dictator who probably killed ALL of his villains and has a completely distorted view of "justice".

- Negative Route

This is his route based on the Negaverse. You can consider Negaduck to be like the original and he's an alternate version of Drake. But if you take into account the 2017 version, you can play with the concept... You can make Jim a good person in the Negaverse and Drake a bad person here. I'm not saying to turn Jim into "Darkwing Duck", no... But making Drake a villain is an interesting idea in the Negaverse, regardless of whether this universe will have a "Darkwing Duck" or it will be just the Friendly Four who stop him. There are thousands of reasons you can give to make Drake become "Negaduck" here, it's just up to you to choose.

- Archer's Route

To finish the trinity, I wanted to talk about an alternative version that only appeared in the comics: Quiverwing Duck. This version of Drake also lost Gosalyn, but also... We didn't see the "Launchpad" version here at any point, so... It could be that he didn't just ask for Gosalyn, he could also have lost Launchpad. We can consider that this Drake lost his support network for some reason, but unlike Darkwarrior, he remained at least sane. He kept his true sense of justice... However, he is still lonely... In this version, you can explore Quiverwing Duck's loneliness and how much this trauma of losing his loved ones affected him.

Reference Suggestions

As a side topic, I will recommend some characters that might be interesting to use in writing your version of Drake Mallard/Darkwing Duck.

- Batman from DC Comics

It's the most obvious choice, since it's inspired by Batman (in part), and it could also be interesting to explore the psychological side of the character.

- Caitlyn from Arcane (Spoilers Alert)

One of the most recent, let's say... Although her arc was "weak" in the end, she's still a good choice. Whether it's to show Drake's inexperienced side at the beginning or his downfall when he becomes a dictator.

- Blitzø from Helluva Boss

A character who struggles with his relationships and has a toxic personality, who is struggling with this side of himself and has to face the demons of his past. Could it be more perfect for Drake? -w-

- Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz from Steven Universe

One of the most complex characters in fiction, one that you can either love or hate, but it is the perfect representation of a problematic person who also has to fight against these problems and who hurts people without even realizing it. It is really essential to work on this side of Drake and his constant struggle, also the side of him being "truly neutral".

- Azula from Avatar The Last Airbending

A recommendation that is unusual, but can be a good basis, whether for the version of Drake as Darkwarrior Duck or him as "Negaduck", his decline into insanity.

Conclusion

So, are you happy now?

"Of course! Worthy of me!"

Do you want to finish it for me? I really need it...

"Yeah, yeah, yeah... Just this once..."

Well, my dear fans! Thank you for your patience in waiting for my wonderful blog to arrive! It had to be rebuilt from scratch due to some technical issues, but now everything is fine. Again, thank you for coming this far and leave in the comments any suggestions, opinions, compliments for me and other things. Now I have to go, the villains of Saint Canarian don't rest day or night! Goodbye and, don't forget... Stay Dangerous!

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