#i love talking about della and selene

[tokuvivor]

Can we just talk about how good this scene in The Spear of Selene! is?

To start, we’ve just got the gradual buildup of Dewey and Webby adventuring around Ithaquack, just to find some sort of answer about Della. It all culminates in this line:

Webby: We’re so close to the truth! Why won’t you let us find it?!

Dewey: Because…what if my mom was a bad person?

And even though she really wants to figure this one out, Webby respects Dewey’s wishes, and decides to drop it for now. But then Dewey has a change of heart, deciding that if they’ve gotten this far, they should see it through to the end.

At which point, an ominous figure jumps out from behind them…

…who turns out to be the Goddess of the Moon herself, Selene!

One thing I will make note of is the fact that Frank and Matt were originally intending Selene to be more serious and regal, but they ultimately reworked her characterization to better fit Nia Vardalos’ voice, which is how we ultimately got the wise, yet laid-back and playful Selene we all know.

Anyway, Selene explains that the whole gauntlet Dewey and Webby just went through was intended for Della, because she knew Della would find it fun.

On the topic of whether Selene would have actually known that Della got stuck on the moon, her moon, I would like to think that yes, she did know. I mean, besides the previous point, she and Della are super close; it just doesn’t seem right to have her not know what happened to Della. As for why she couldn’t do anything about it, well, need I remind you who her father is? But I digress.

So Selene, despite being this all-powerful goddess, doesn’t know what Dewey’s talking about by a “Spear of Selene”, but eventually realizes that he’s “Della’s kid” when Dewey brings up “his mom” taking it.

Even though Dewey’s dismayed that he’s now back to square one, Selene assures him that Della was a good person. The greatest, even. And she made everyone around her better.

She even gives it to Dewey for him to keep.

And she assures Dewey not to give up his search, because Della wouldn’t have, either.

And then we get this sweet bit…

Also, I just love how gentle Selene is with Dewey in this scene. I mean, the boy’s never met his mother, has been looking ceaselessly for answers about her for months, and even though Selene doesn’t have all of them, she tells Dewey what he needs to hear, and even gives him a much-needed hug. She’s not Della, but she gives Dewey that maternal guidance that he really needs right about now.

Random headcanon: Just like Louie with Goldie, Dewey calls Selene “Aunt Selene”. Well, I can see all the boys doing that at some point, but Dewey would probably be the first one.

(Minor credits to TV Tropes for this analysis)

[writebackatya]

For anyone out there thinking about creating a DuckTales 2017 OC that is Della’s husband and the father of Huey, Dewey, and Louie; I should let you know that doing this The Spear of Selene incident is now partially your fault

Actually scratch that, it’s now ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT!

You selfish jerk!

Why didn’t you sit down with your wife and talk things over with her!? Why didn’t you talk about the overwhelming feelings she must’ve had when having three kids. Maybe that’s why she took the rocket because she thought it would be her last adventure as her own woman with the pressures of motherhood coming towards her!

Oh there was nothing you could do to prevent Della’s actions!? Well then why the hell did you let Donald Duck take her kids and raise them by himself!? That bum can’t even hold down a job let alone a high note! You really want garble mouth to raise your kids by himself!?! At least try to convincee him to tell the boys about their own family!

Oh and Uncle Scrooge! One of Della’s close family members that loved her near and dear! Way to let him become a recluse! He a lost a part of himself because of the Spear of Selene!

Also fuck you for not letting her kids be named Jet, Rebel, and Turbo! That was like one of her wishes and you failed at that too!

God I’m so mad at this nonexistent character I made up

I hate you Father of the Triplets! Why don’t people get mad at you instead of the three that caused the Spear of Selene!

[korkorali]

Oooooohhhh are we talking about Bradford telling Della about the Spear of Selene? I think we're talking about Bradford telling Della about the Spear of Selene!

Okay okay this is something I have Ideas™️about- specifically why he told her, and why she believed him.

The answer (as I have so humbly decided is obviously the abject truth) is the same for both: Because he'd been manipulating her for years.

He was trying to be the Emperor Palpatine to her Anakin Skywalker.

Why? Simple: The Papyrus of Truth.

Think about it- it doesn't make sense to immediately go 'oh, only Scrooge McDuck's heir can find the Papyrus? Welp, time to steal some of his DNA and make a kid!' That's supervillain territory, and Bradford isn't a supervillain! (He's just a bit of a scumbag, but that's not a supervillain so it's obviously fine.)

So picture this: he finds out about the wish Scrooge made on the Papyrus, that only his heir could find it, and his thought patterns line up with Scrooge's:

He thinks "Alright, then it has to be one of those rugrats."

The question is, which one? Della, or Donald?

And honestly, when they're both kids- it's not really that much of a question, is it?

Is it Donald, the angry coward who loves to hole up in his room and write songs about eating the rich and basically doing everything that Scrooge hates?

Or is it Della, the adventurous and energetic ball of high-octane excitement and adrenaline, unable to sit still for a single moment, who acts like Scrooge McDuck, who likes all the same things as Scrooge McDuck, who is pretty much every single thing that Bradford Buzzard hates about Scrooge McDuck, all rolled up into a bratty child?

(Nevermind the fact that she isn't actually like that, not entirely. Nevermind the fact that she's doing all that because she feels she has to be useful, to be likeable, and that means mirroring Scrooge McDuck because if he likes himself so much then he must like seeing himself in her.)

Obviously it's Della. It has to be.

Which means, in order for him to get the Papyrus, he needed to get his claws into Della.

Which shouldn't have been hard- you can't tell me that Scrooge wouldn't do the same thing with Donald and Della that he did with Louie. He'd take them to the Money Bin (after all, it's like a second home for him), then head into his office and tell them not to disturb him.

And that'd leave Della in the perfect position for Bradford to begin to wheedle his ways past her defenses.

(Of course, multiple problems arise, not the least of which is she's a child and Bradford undoubtedly hates children. But moreso it's that she's genre-savvy, and also (and we love her for it, but) kind of dumb. It's a very frustrating mix that leads to her very nearly calling him out on what he's doing a lot.

But also, despite all that- she's still a kid.

And despite how much she thinks she knows, he's still better.)

It'd take a while, and I don't think he ever really manages it, but he still gets her to trust him.

Eventually, of course, he learns that Della isn't the 'heir of Scrooge McDuck.'

(Not sure how this happens, but it obviously does- I'm sure that lots of the Adventure Trio's adventures in the earlier days were spent searching for that missing Papyrus, but for some reason they stopped. The whole thing threatened to tear Donald and Della apart, or something.)

And that makes all the work he spent on her useless. All the time spent manipulating her, and trying (and -mostly- failing) to get her to be something he wanted, to push her to break up her family, all for naught.

Or- maybe not.

Because Scrooge keeps a secret. He makes her a spaceship. An untested, unreliable, terrible spaceship that literally runs on money.

It's horrible.

It's a waste.

It's perfect.

All the work doesn't have to be for naught. All Bradford has to do is let Della come to him one day, when she's at the Money Bin (probably because she and Donald and Scrooge were going shopping for baby toys, and she kept trying to get these really dangerous and deadly-looking ones, and ultimately got sent to the Money Bin as a bit of a 'time out'), let her rant and burn herself out to him about how frustrating Donald and Scrooge are being, how unfair they are (how scared she is, how much she just wishes they'd let her actually handle some stuff, how bad they make her feel for still wanting to adventure at a time like this, how much it feels like all either of them care about anymore are the kids and not her), how much it blows to be stuck like this.

And all Bradford has to do is offer up some half-hearted consolement, assure her that (while Donald is definitely being too overprotective) that of course Scrooge still cares about her, is still thinking about her, is still thinking about her, after all he's making her the-

And then cut himself off, like he said too much. That's aaaaallll that's needed to peak Della's interest, after all. And as soon as that's peaked- it's over.

All he has to do is hem and haw back and forth, say 'oh but he made me promise never to say anything' and 'I could get in trouble' and so on and so forth. Make it seem like he didn't want to say anything. Make Della feel like she earned the information, that he didn't plan this from the start.

And when she finally gets the information about the Spear out of him, and her eyes light up like stars and she darts off to go see if he was telling the truth, he can be confident that she'll never remember that he was the one who told her about it. All she'd be able to think about is 'I figured it out.' Because she had, after all. She'd figured it out, all her, he definitely hadn't pointed her in that direction at all.

He got to get rid of a liability and break the family, all in one fell swoop.

[strawberryicemoon]

Why I can't watch the Ducktales Finale

I'm not the kind of person who struggles to watch the last episode of something. I love to finish a show, and let it sit in my brain. I'm the kind of person who often enjoys spoilers because it adds to my understanding of the media. I love to view the media in their entirety just as much as I love a journey to get there.

But I can't get past the first few minutes of Ducktales 2017, The Last Adventure. And it's because of spoilers that I couldn't deal with. I don't like them, and even years later after I've had time to digest, and have seen so many finale clips, that I still can't just sit down and watch it. And I've made attempts. I've looked through the summary of the episode to prepare. But I can't.

And there's... a couple of things that rub me the wrong way about the Finale that keep me from being able to just watch it.

1. Webby is Scrooge's Clone Daughter

2. Webby is April, of April May and June

3. Donald and Daisy are going on vacation.

Now, I don't actually hate any of these... conceptually. And I'm well aware that Frank Angones has stated the Webby twist was planned from very early on. And usually I am completely down for whatever a finale is, as long as I can tell that this was something the creator really believed in.

I'm a fan of such "controversial" endings as, Amphibia and Digimon Adventure 02, because I know exactly why they ended like that. It's written in the themes. Even if it took me time to understand Adventure's ending, I've grown to understand it and love it once I learned more about the original Japanese version and the shows production (and also grew up myself). Amphibia ended exactly as I expected based on one of the very earliest things I heard about the show from Matt Braly: "an ode to past friendships". Even if I think there are things they messed up I GET IT. I wouldn't want them ending any other way.

So I understand WHY the decision is made. Conceptually it does make sense. Webby exists as a composite character of April May and June, and I believe shares the same name as April in one language. Webby being Scrooge's clone daughter is an effective way of full-circling her relationship with him. Strangers in each other's home to father and daughter. She's family not BECAUSE of Blood, but because of Love. She still loves her Granny, it's just the non blood relationship wasn't the one she thought it was. And Donald deserves a vacation, and to have the more down to earth life experiences he wanted, especially after raising his sisters kids alone for 10 years.

But they still twist me up inside.

And I think it comes down to three reasons: 1. Lack of Continuity between episodes 2. An over-focusing on Scrooge 3. Handling of Word of God

1. Lack of Continuity between episodes Part of what got me to fall in love with Ducktales was S1 and the continuity of the Spear of Selene subplot. We got hints at a semi-regular pace, but it successfully overhung the entire series. It was what separated Scrooge and Donald. It was why Della was gone. The subject matter was of course not something that needed to be overstated, as most of it was being kept hush hush. Sure it was a mystery, but not an urgent one. Dewey had never had his mom, so it wasn't like he couldn't focus on anything else for a while

But in S2 I started noticing that the show stopped explaining or foreshadowing things. Maybe it always did, I haven't re watched it properly. But I definitely noticed something off about the storytelling then. But it was definitely a problem throughout the show.

Webby never brought up Lena after her sacrifice until the relevant episode.

Lena living with the Sabrewings was something never brought up until episodes later we saw her with them.

We had Della talking about the boys with their "Uncles" setting up the pain of not knowing how things fell apart after her departure, only to get no payoff.

We didn't get ANYTHING about Webby's parentage until the final episode, and barely a hint in 1 season 3 episode.

Almost every finale episode changes the status quo in some way. The question is how much. Lots of final episodes kind of have things going back to the way they were before plot kicked off but better (like with new friends or a new government). Sometimes someone dies.

Webby being Scrooge's clone is paradigm shifting. And that kind of thing needs to be set up. You CANNOT catch your audience off guard with something like that.

In Digimon Adventure 02 the series ends with everyone on earth with a digimon partner which is controversial but at least built up throughout the series at hints of other digidestined until an arc near the end showcased many international digidestined. Hilda ends with the reveal that Hilda's mother is half-fairy, and despite not being present throughout the first two seasons, it was hinted at through the third season, and contextualized some of the few things we did know before about Johanna's childhood. The Hollow's first season ends with you finding out it was all a game, but it had been hinted at before with the video game nature of the world. Sure Avatar didn't hint at Aang getting the power to take away bending, but we knew he was a pacifist who didn't want to kill so was looking for a solution, getting the power to remove bending (ie power over others) works thematically, in the same way Anne using the power of the stones and getting brought back to life by a god like being worked. Sure, Scratch turning out to be a wraith at the end of The Ghost and Molly McGee was rather sudden, but people had been theorizing that Todd was Scratch's body for a long time, so it wasn't like there weren't any hints, and while the show was cut short and had to rush to end, the build up of Scratch's memories at least gave some sort of foreshadowing link to what was going on.

There's a reason people rarely throw in new characters at the very end of a show. It can absolutely work. Amphibia and The Owl House threw in "God" at the end, but that gets a pass for being the kind of figure they meet once and then move on with their lives. On the other side, you can sometimes have secret big bads that were pulling the strings the whole time too. I can't speak for the finale of Ducktales (because again, can't bring myself to watch it), but adding two new characters on top of changing the entire dynamic of how the family is set up at the very end of the show does not sit well with me. We won't get to see how this change in status quo effects the characters. We saw how learning about their mom affected the boys relationship with Scrooge, her return and having to build a relationship with her and her presence conflicting with Launchpad's. But we don't get that with Scrooge and Webby? Basically too many status quo shifts in the finale all at once.

All we got was Beakley was a spy, was overprotective of Webby, and a few episodes before the end it was revealed Beakley was lying to her. Webby didn't seem to care about her parents. And this was a girl who was very dedicated to unraveling the secrets of clan mcduck. Couldn't they have had one hint at some point in the show where it was unclear if it was the boys or Webby who were recognized as a McDuck? Some offhand mention where the boys ask her about HER parents, because she helped them with her mom?

You couldn't tell what was or was not going be important in the way they dropped. It's very hard to set your expectations when you had no clue what to expect. And while there is something to be said for unexpected surprises and twists in a story, an audience really needs to know what is or is important or they're going to go on wild goose chases and get disappointed when they build up hype for something the show then refuses to address.

In HINDSIGHT, I find it extremely odd that Huey and Louie, prior to finding out about Dewey's investigations, did not pry at ALL into the fact that hey: if Donald was an adventurer with Scrooge, then he had to know their mom. Like that’s weird right?

2. An over-focusing on Scrooge Scrooge is the Center of the Universe.

I'm not a Disney Ducks fan. Aside from 2017, and pop culture osmosis, I know very little. But the thing is I am someone whose first inclination once I become a fan of something is to check out the wiki pages for information. Find about what longstanding fan mysteries there are. I understand the importance of cross continuity callbacks. I'm a fan of other longstanding series and have rubbed elbows with several others. I get really long franchises with several iterations.

Which is to say that I, despite not having a horse in this race, understand how this works and how it should work.

Now a bit of this is the fact Ducktales is ABOUT Scrooge. But Scrooge isn't the center of the Duck universe. Something I find pretty interesting is the fact that Donald has reasonably fleshed out family trees on both sides of his family. That's cool. That's how real people work, a meeting point of the stories of those who came before. But Ducktales doesn't care, the only adult the show cares about is him. I get that to a certain extent it was the show execs insisting on focusing on the kids. And again, he's kind of the main character. But you brought back Donald, and Della. There are other characters here with rich lives, he doesn't need to take over everything.

It's especially egregious ANY time the McDuck clan gets involved. Could Matilda be the youngest child now? Sure. But that's a really arbitrary change, that they don't use for anything. And even if that was purposeful, the fact is that the first thing they established is Donald's mom is still Scrooge's sister, so Donald is the grandson of Fergus and Downy McDuck. Not nephew? Surely they could recognize him? But where is Hortense and Quackmore? They brought them up in the first episode, and then they never made any appearances aside from references. Why were Donald and Della staying with Scrooge for Christmas? Never clarified. Fans (reasonably) assumed they were dead. Scrooge called Donald his ward (admittedly when he also called him Fergus and Downy’s nephew rather than grandson). I mean where else would they be when their DAUGHTER DISAPPEARED. Would they not want to meet their grandchildren? But that was never clarified. And I've seen some fans alternatively interpret them as bad parents, which I think is just really unfair. Scrooge gets to be the good parent? It's once again Scrooge to the rescue. The CAPITALIST? I mean it's also a little bit just a family issue in general: It's Uncle Gladstone and Cousin Fethry when they are theoretically the same: technically cousins but old enough to be honorary uncles. It's fair enough. But really that brings us to the Duck family in general.

Grandma Duck? What about Gladstone and Fethry's parents? Gus Goose? Are they all dead? Does Fethry have any siblings? Do the boys not know or not care about the Duck side of the family? They know Gladstone but no one else? I mean Scrooge's parents, who should be dead, were magically kept alive but nothing for the duck family. Speaking of which, they constantly bring up how old Scrooge and occasionally refer to the causes of his supernatural age, but that does not explain how young Donald and Della are compared to him. Overall, we get nothing on the Duck family except for its existence at least, so even removed from the context of Disney Ducks legacy its weird to introduce a side of the family and just gloss over it.

The one episode about the Duck family legacy is a Webby episode. Which, fine, she's not a Duck, but she's part of the family. Except wait. She's Scrooge's daughter/clone, and you gave her the focus on the one episode about the Duck family not the McDuck's? You couldn't leave Scrooge out of anything?

So for Webby's great twist in the finale, was taking not just one, but two characters NOT related to Scrooge (April and Webby), and tying them to Scrooge. I think I could deal with Webby being April, and (HUGE MAYBE) Webby being Scrooge’s clone or April being Scrooge’s clone but not both. Not to mention April, May and June are DAISY's nieces... not random three girls who are her boyfriends uncles clone and and boyfriends uncles clones clone? It doesn't sit right with me that a character who I thought was supposed to be learning that he was sometimes in the wrong, and not the center of morality (see how he made Glomgold a villain through his own ego), continue to be made the center of the universe in ways he simply shouldn't be.

He's literally an old rich guy. Like there is historical context for why this character is like this, but why does the world revolve around him in this show.

3. Word of God Word of God is useful. As are interviews and statements made by the creator. It helps to provide insight into the themes. I love seeing the person behind the art.

But here's the thing. Word of God is clarification, insight into how you should look at the work to set expectations. It's supplementary. It doesn't replace text.

This is a little bit difficult to really talk about now that I'm several years removed from the experience, so grain of salt and all, but I really think the way Word of God was handled did the show a disservice.

Back to Lena becoming a Sabrewing, we didn't get that in show. Lena just dropped off the face of the earth, not until S3’s premier we got a clarification on that in show.

We never got Della's reaction to learning that Donald and Scrooge were estranged, she just suddenly stopped speaking under that assumption.

So Word of God became an essential part of understanding the text, because a lot of necessary information was left unexplained by the canon its a huge problem. And Word of God is often fluid. It can be changed later if during the writing process something changes. (We should probably cover this topic in show and want to do it a bit differently, I have a great Idea of what we can do to turn that error into foreshadowing, I was lying to the fans to keep a secret).

But when word of god is necessary, word of god becomes essential for tempering expectations about the show.

This is probably going to be less of an issue for people who come and watch the show later. Sure, things are still unexplained, but when you can binge the show Lena's unexplained absence is less obvious, you're so busy moving on to other things that Della's change in understanding about the situation is clearly unimportant and you can move on.

But what ended up happening is that Frank Angones struggled to balance clarifications, keeping show secrets, and a sometimes changing story. Which sometimes left characters completely sure on where the story was sitting, only for it to be ripped out from under them. Also, tying back to the first point, of plot points being dropped until the episode where they where they were relevant made it VERY difficult to tell what was or wasn’t going to be relevant, and what emotional beats to get emotionally invested in.

Prior to the finale there was a bit of a community of Webby/Triplet shippers. Personally, I see that as a complete dismissal of the themes of the show and a bit heteronormative. I avoided all such content. But at the same time, shipping doesn't hurt anyone. At the end of the day, the boys and Webby were not related by blood, and hadn't even met until age 10. There wasn't... really a reason you couldn't ship them. There are TONS of shows out there with 10 year old characters and love interests. Just off the top of my head: Any Ship with Ash Ketchum, Sprigivy, Phinabella, Kenyako, Sorato. Even if they don't get together at 10, (or at all) the fact of the matter is 10 year olds getting shipped is old news. I'm still attached to Pokeshipping and Takari to this day, even if I tend to see them more as platonic relationships these days. So I avoided all shipping with them, but I understood why people (particularly younger people) were shipping them. Until the finale hit, and the ships that people thought never going to be canon, but were safe, weren't. To a certain extent, that's the game you play with shipping clearly noncanonical ships. But I feel that the way questions about shipping were answered didn't help, because iirc he tended to say the show wouldn't focus on that more than he explicitly stated the kids were family. He called Webby/Triplet shipping highly unlikely for example, giving it more legitimacy than a no, which leant to it being taken as a solid fact prior to the finale that Webby was definitely not related to the boys, because a lot of what else was said was solid fact.

4. (Bonus): of course, I do also feel it kind of isn't enough to justify breaking the found family. So much of Webby's arc was being accepted into the family. Becoming the 4th triplet. So for her to have been blood all along is a little cheap. Sure it doesn't break the becoming family despite blood before. But, having meta-knowledge of Launchpad probably finding family with Gosalyn and Drake Mallard, it's just Beakley whose left as not blood related (and she's technically the help...). And yeah, there's the Granny/Grandaughter adopted relationship. But....

Webby is one of four kids. Again, she became one of the kids. So yeah. I'm happy that she became one of the kids. Able to call him uncle scrooge. But it feels weird to me that she, the kid who already lived in the manor with Scrooge even if they kept their distance, displaced the triplets as Scrooge's natural heirs. The uncle relationships in this show being parental/grandparental was already good. Not all families look the same, some people parent their siblings' kids for one reason or another. Scrooge's presumed "heirs' ' was his sister's descendants, not his, but he loved them like his own. That's good. So to not only break the "not blood related at all" to "actually daughter", kind of ALSO meant a "my niblings are my legacy" got overtaken with "my daughter is my legacy".

And maybe I'd feel less sour about it if we had more time after the show. But on a fundamental level it didn't just alter Webby's place in the family, but her grandmother's, and the Duck Twins and Triplets. Again, especially with the triplets. I wanted the four of them to become functional equals. The 4th triplet. But for her to have a secret Scrooge connection that overtakes the one she was jealous of the triplets of having doesn't sit right to say the least.

I feel I could get over this one, especially maybe if they gave us more time. But it just didn't make it worth it to me.

5. (Bonus Bonus): Now I don't use the term Mary Sue lightly. But what I do think of canon Mary Sueism is a tendency to make female characters on predominately male casts "special" in some way to justify their presence. They have to be the level headed smart ones and the ones with . They have to be likable so they're robbed of character. I wouldn't say Webby is a particularly bad example of this, and it's not like Ducktales lacks other flawed female characters (Della my beloved).

But the way Webby is treated reminds me of April from TMNT 2012, and Allura from Voltron Legendary Defender (and kinda Larmina from Voltron Force). All are 80s characters in shows that had a predominately male cast of characters, and who were both an outsider, and defined by being a girl. And then the reboot both doubled down on making them special, integrating them into the group more, but also making them generally tougher the boys in some way, and also sometimes more in the know about things. Webby is aged up to match the boys age rather than aged down to match the boys age like April but the effect is still the same.

The girl is now a peer to the boys, 4th triplet, rather than a little sister. Webby is more capable and well-read than any of the boys. And at the start of the series she's socially awkward enough it feels like it will work. And I'm not saying Webby isn't flawed, she is. But when it comes to the things the family finds important: adventuring, she doesn't have any obvious shortcomings. Louie quits easily and isn't as coordinated, Dewey is reckless and generally uneducated, and Huey isn't flexible. And Webby... used to be socially awkward???

It’s kinda trading 1 sexist trope for another. And yeah, all shows do have OTHER female characters who kind of avert this. But it doesn’t change the fact the leading lady is more “special” than the boys. Like being a girl has to be special.

In short, at the end of the day Webby being Scrooge's daughter doesn't help her character, her grandmothers, or the rest of the family. It kinda helps Scrooge’s character, but while I haven’t seen the episode myself, I’m not sure there would be enough time for it to be meaningful. And again, I think a lot of the characterization and worldbuilding of other characters were already sacrificed for Scrooge’s sake in the show already.

Oh and the Donald/Daisy thing.

The reason Daisy/Donald's trip doesn't sit right with me is we barely got any Donald and Della having to coparent. Get used to each other again. We barely got any of them and we're heading back into separation. It doesn’t feel cathartic when we still have unanswered questions from this stage in their life. And even if the trip is well, a trip. It feels weird.

It feels kind of unexpectedly "conventional family", even if it's still really unconventional. Donald is going to go be happy with his love interest, away from the boys he raised who aren't actually his sons (and yes, I know he takes May and June with him but still, knowing that May and June are by default Daisy's nieces kind of has "new kids with new wife" implications to me but that's neither here nor there). Adding this to "Webby being Scrooge's daughter is a good plot point for him" and it's just really weird, and kind of feels like the final nail in the nontraditional family dynamics coffin. If feel only way they could have buried it more is if Beakley died or something.

I was already kinda uncomfortable with the “Daisy being the only one to understand him” thing because like. That’s sweet. His soulmate is the only one who really hears him. But also that’s a fucking speech impediment Donald has. Are you telling me that no one in his family cared enough to effectively communicate with him despite his disability? Like if it is REALLY that much a problem he should have an effective communication method. Sign-language for example?

The triplets he raised don’t always understand him. His twin sister doesn’t always understand him? But this random woman does? I am all for Daisy and Donald being basically soulmates. But uh? This feels both ableist and allonormative in a show that really wasn’t those things before. (well okay it was kinda ableist about Donald but it felt less weird to me when there wasn’t one person who could magically understand Donald). And Daisy understanding him still could be a big thing? The first person who understood him without getting to know him first/wasn’t literally raising him/raised with/raised by him?

I want to like Daisy so much, but she just feels a bit like Webby does: a legacy female character they are trying to make too cool, who gets some of their coolness incidentally defined by a male character, rather than a full-fledged character on their own. (For instance if we saw Daisy with anyone other than Donald, her overbearing boss and… whatever Storkules is). 

I feel some of these may have been resolved with more time. But some of these problems had their seeds planted as early as S1. That said I think if the quality of S1 was maintained they would have been fine. Overall, I think Ducktales is a good reboot, and a good show, but it really could have been better. Was so close to being better.

[mighty-ant]

No hate to Della but I wish their was an angsty/fluffy/funny/family drama filled custody battle for the triplets between Donald and Della fic. Mainly because Della gets too arrogant and wants fully custody of the boys. And like all I want for this type of fic is angst for Donald and the boys, but ultimately all of Donald's friends standing up for him and saying he deserves to keep custody of the boys in court. All the people in Donalds life and the boys saying he's a good dad. Like emotionally and legally everyone shutting Della down because Donald is the very best for the boys and he's their dad. Like how dare she even attempts this. And the climax of the fic is Scrooge being 100% on Donald's side saying the boys deserve to be with Donald on the stand. Like at first he's on Della's side(gets her a very expensive lawyer and everything). But than he steps back and thinks about it. Like this could take place somewhere after Donald comes back from the island or season 3. Either way I really would love a fic like this. Especially that emphasize that Della choice to leave the boys on a rocket, and Donald made a commitment to rase the boys as his babies. For fun in this Uno/Odin can be his lawyer.

I wouldn't go so far as to want a custody battle, but I do wish the show more directly acknowledged how damaging Della's stealing the Spear of Selene was to the entire family

Della's suffered enough, so I get why nobody talked about it right away, but with Donald finally back (after getting stranded himself), it would be interesting to see Della taking a backseat to Donald who has been the boys' parent for their entire lives, and realizing that they lived without Scrooge and without adventure until very recently

This is all a bit heavy for a kids show that already deals with pretty heavy stuff, so I guess that's what fanworks are for!

[cloud-navi]

So I finished DuckTales (2017), my thoughts:

⚠️ Spoilers ahead ⚠️

- Bradford Buzzard:

His feelings for hating adventure and chaos is valid but he should have told his grandma to fuck off and got therapy instead of trying to destroy it. Also its not his fault that Della took the Spear of Selene even if he told her about it.

You can’t have one thing without the other, there must be chaos if there is stability and vice versa.

- Webbigail Vanderquack and Bentina Beakly (Agent 22):

It was a good twist, but it makes me question where FOWL got Scrooge’s DNA to make Webby and why her exact clones (sisters) aren’t perceived as Scrooges kid like Webby is.

My theory: “The Papyrus of Binding only appears to a direct heir of Scrooge McDuck” I think it mean’s physically and emotionally. If June and May are Webby’s clones that means they are just as much Scrooge’s physical child as Webby is, except they don’t have a relationship with Scrooge. Scrooge even before knowing Webby was his kid thought of her like his Grandniece, like family, making her an heir like the boys.

For how much Beakly talked about how important and strong a family is together when getting the boys to talk to Scrooge again in Season 1, it doesn’t make much sense to have her go in alone without informing the family of what she knows of FOWL from SHUSH.

Goldie O’Gilt:

I love her so much, except in the ImpossiBin episode, there she was okay. At the end of the ImpossiBin episode Goldie calls Scooge assuming he took the fountain of youth when they agreed to keep it for both of them, (she went back to steal it for herself so she says). They made progress in the Youth Fountain episode and having Goldie call him about it being gone kinda defeats the whole purpose of their bonding in that episode. Except I understand they needed a character to tell him it was gone like the other missing mysteries but I find it defeated the whole point.

Lena and Violet Saberwing:

To me it looked like Violet’s parents adopted Lena and I’m all for that. Also love the hinted gay rep with their dads.

Magica De spell:

While it was Scrooge that blocked her spell, it was still her spell that she shot that turned her brother into a raven. Theres no reason or obligation for Scrooge to have caught him and give him to her when they were both terrible people. If anything her brother got a new chance at life as a raven instead.

I wish there was kinda a redemption arc when she was training Lena, if not for Lena a little redemption for Gladstone because I like those two.

Fenton Crackshell (GizmoDuck) and DarkWing Duck:

I like Drake with Fenton regardless if he’s Drake or playing DarkWing but I feel like he needs to accept that GizmoDuck is also a hero. Bro needs to know the difference between hero and vigilante.

Fenton is pretty bbg too <3

Launchpad McQuack:

Giant himbo and I love him so much.

Daisy Duck:

Love her, not much else to say. She had standards, that was clear when we heard what she said while driving away from their second date except she still fell in love and was willing to put up with Donald enough to go rescue him and keep going out. Overall a girl boss <3

Huey, Dewey and Louie:

While Dewey should have come forward earlier about looking for Della I understand his intentions more then Huey did when he found out. Louie was right, its not okay, but in the beginning Dewey was just trying to find if she was alive or not, not where she was. He was sorry because he ‘got caught’, he was genuinely sorry. It’s difficult to want to tell someone you’re finding all this stuff about someone you all seek when none of you know if they’re even alive or not. Dewey didn’t want them to lose hope that Della may be alive even if he found out she might not have. Yes he should have told them but I understand he didn’t want to them to be more hurt that she’s unalive instead of just missing. Also they aren’t even teenagers and communication skills are ass with teenagers what makes you think they’ll be any better as 10 year olds?

Again, their anger is misplaced when they’re mad at Scrooge for building a Spear of Selene.

Scrooge McDuck (sugar daddy?):

I like his character and I feel theres a bit of development through out the show with him and the kids, to be a teacher you need to be able to learn from your students.

While yes, he shouldn’t have built the rocket right there he also didn’t tell Della about it. Not his fault she left. Also the audacity to find out it wasn’t really his fault or the fact he nearly went bankrupt looking for her and they didn’t apologize at all.

Donald Duck (DILF):

Literally the best man in the whole show. He put his family first the whole time even when he should have taken breaks except he stepped up. We know that he had some form of falling out with Scrooge because of Della but even so he stepped up to take the kids and stayed in DuckBurg instead of moving anytime in the 10+ years they lived there. I have a feeling they stayed because he knew deep down that he could somewhat still count on Scrooge if not Beakly. Why else would he have stayed and gone to Beakly to watch the kids, granted he didn’t want to talk to Scrooge, Scrooge still took them in and watched them while Donald was off getting a job.

Donald may not be their bio-dad, but he is no way a fucking Uncle. He raised those boys by himself for 10+ years, through their formative years and until they were old enough to know he wasn’t their bio-dad. He stepped in to be a parent because Della chickened out and chose to go to space even when he told her she shouldn’t so she can be with her kids.

Donald Duck, not an uncle, a father.

Della Duck (cool-ish weird Aunt):

My opinion has not changed, she still isn’t a mother to me. Della is an estranged aunt that comes by and is the ‘cool aunt’. She willingly, without obligation, without threat, consciously CHOSE to leave her kids. Regardless of if she knew she would get killed or stuck in space, “there were too many variables” -Huey. She had a fight with Donald that specifically told her that it was a giant, dumb fucking idea with kids on the way. The idea that anyone would accept her back as a parent so blindly is so dumb. Yes she’s their egg-layer, but there is no way in hell she is their mother. A MOTHER would never choose to leave their children unless they positively fucking had too (obligation for safety). Whether or not she regrets it holds no power because she still chose to leave for a stupid reason.

Season 1 finale: “Get away from my kids” by Donald Duck will forever hold more power and significance then anytime she ever says it because she gave up parent rights before they were born. No parent would willingly, without valid cause like their safety (not fucking exploring space for funzys) would leave their child.

Over all:

Scrooge and Donald are DILFS and Della can get bent.

[wacky-nameless-inventor-24]

Hi let's go with 1, 13, and 15 for the fandom ask game.

1.OTP?

fenro they’re everything to me <333 and beakheron! and also if we’re talking about ships with like. non canon characters then madfen too

13. What's a character or ship you haven't written/drawn yet but would like to some day?

oooooooh. as far as DuckTales goes I think I’ve drawn pretty much everyone I want to??? Some of it’s really old and I haven’t posted it but I’ve still drawn them so hmmmm…. as far as characters I’d say Poe, and ships I’d say Della/Penny/Selene!

15. Have you noticed your style change over time?

YES I refuse to read my old writing but that’s DEFINITELY changed so instead I wanna look through my art-

first starting out with my 2020 art this was really my first time drawing like seriously? so everything was very stiff and not. really dynamic (there was also a lot of magica for some reason?)

2021 art was still pretty stiff, but I actually really like this as an art style. It’s still not too skilled but there’s a lot of personality in it

Not sure what happened in 2022 but I don’t like this art like. at all. I got more advanced of course, but for some reason everyone was so square and their heads were all too small. It feels like a step backward from my art style in 2021

2023-2024!!! My most recent! I fucking love this style! In the beginning you can see the influence of the square bodies and too small heads, but I got that figured out. Now honestly I try so hard not to repeat that that I end up with heads being too big 😭

so yeag it’s definitely changed a lot <3333

[thelostexperiment]

☕ + topic : about bradford (for Colin)

Collin felt the feathers down his back stand on end, it's not often he's invited to rant about the buzzard who lives rent free in his spite-filled mind and he was not about to waste it.

Collin: "Gods, where to start? His hypocrisy? His narrow mindedness? There's no depth that's too low for him to stoop if it means getting what he wants! He already made a career out of lying to everyone's faces for over 30 years, even if he gave the most sincere sounding apology for all he's done, nothing he says can be trusted! Not that he'd ever apologize anyway."

"For all his talk of 'raining-in chaos' and 'not being a villain', he certainly is the causing factor of some major catastrophes! Yet if you pointed this out to him, even set all the evidence in front of him and made him look at all the harm his shadowy influence inflicted he would still deny responsibility for any of it! He has a slippery way with semantics, to blame everyone and everything but himself, to play the victim that'd have you sympathize with him and think of him as far more reasonable than he is... So long as you don't think about it too hard... It's only afterwards when you release all the holes in his so-called 'logical' ideologies!"

"Of course he loves complaining about the chaos in the world, preaching about the greater-good of 'control'- whatever ends he can justify the means to! The mental hoops he's jumped through to convince himself he's in the right astounds me that he's not won a gold medal for 'most delusional'!"

"I do say this moreso for my own sake. He did, after all, destroy my previous life and identity then left me to rot as a forgotten, broken tool- but not only because of that! If it wasn't for him, Della Duck wouldn't have found the spear of Selen. Don't misunderstand, I couldn't care less about the McDucks, personally. STILL! If Della hadn't flown into that storm Moonvasion wouldn't have happened! The McDucks weren't the only family affected by that event. I'm talking about my assistant's family. Susan. I've seen the cracks of grief that's shown through her smiling exterior, I'm aware of the loss weighing heavily on her and I personally know that she didn't deserve any of it. That's more than enough reason to hate the old buzzard!"

"Yes! I'm aware of his unfortunate childhood with Isabella Finch. It may be a reason why he became the way he is but it's certainly no excuse! So I refuse to be like him, to hide behind any of that nonsense! Bradford may have made me, but I won't credit him for becoming the villain I am now! that choice was mine! I refuse to grant him that much control over me! Whatever consequences result from my actions I accept fully! I'd sooner be petty than a hypocrite!"

[shychick-52]

Gyro's tech

From The Art of DuckTales:

I like how Frank summed that up, very interesting! So, the three major brands of Gyro's tech seen in the show are BulbTech, GoldTech, and TimeTech. But the order in which he created them gets a little tricky, which I'll try to uncover.

As for "TimeTech is his new thing"... I'll get to that further down...

As we see in season 2's 'What Ever Happened To Della Duck?', Gyro invented GoldTech- presumably his earliest brand of tech, or at least one of his earliest- sometime before Della took off in the Spear of Selene years ago (he presumably designed the rocket to run on GoldTech; and I love the page in the Spear of Selene’s manual that talks about the benefits to it XD):

In Gyro's debut episode 'The Great Dime Chase' early in season 1, he first introduced BulbTech to Scrooge and the Board with his prototype Lil Bulb...

...which, in season 3's 'Astro B.O.Y.D.', was hinted to be from an old idea he actually had during his intern years (the working name at that time being 'Lil Helper', which was a cool reference to its name from the comics and 80s show):

And in season 2, his TimeTech was introduced (although it was never actually called that in the show). There was the Time Tub ('The Outlaw Scrooge McDuck' and 'Timephoon') and the Time Teaser ('The 87 Cent Solution'), the latter which Glomgold found/stole just as Manny was on his way to dispose of it along with a bunch of other apparently discarded inventions of Gyro's:

The strange thing is... according to 'The Great Dime Chase', Gyro had already invented his Time Tub prior to that episode (prior to creating BulbTech). It was listed among his failed experiments (and what's also interesting is that it wasn't shown gaining sentience and turning evil in either of its only appearances 'The Outlaw Scrooge McDuck' or 'Timephoon'):

What's also interesting is that in a blink-and-miss-it moment toward the end of 'The Outlaw Scrooge McDuck', Gyro was seen powering his Time Tub with GoldTech right before he left the Old West period (look very carefully at the gif in this post by @kats-randomology; what Gyro pulls out of his pocket is a tiny nugget of gold, which he inserts into his time machine). So... his Time Tub was a form of TimeTech that ran on GoldTech (if anything, I'd thought it was a hybrid of TimeTech and BulbTech because of the lightbulbs adorning the mechanism as shown in the above screenshots of it)??? So, he was still using his old GoldTech and he designed his time machine to run on it? Did he ever stop using GoldTech at any point after Della went missing?

Then again, we have no idea what year Gyro even came from when he got stuck in the Old West in 'Outlaw Scrooge McDuck'. I just always assumed it was present-day Gyro because he implied that Fenton's ancestor reminded him of his intern ("You are very frustratingly familiar to me"). But his Time Tub was in the lab in 'Timephoon' when Louie stole it (Louie presumably even knew about it, because he seemed to sneak into the lab specifically to take it for his get-rich-quick scheme), so I dunno. When exactly did he create the Time Tub?? If it turned evil at some point, I don't know why he would use it again, unless he was determined to perfect it for some reason...?

Here is part 2, of this post.

[writebackatya]

Wip Preview!

Once again I’ve caught the writing bug. And once again I’m just too excited about what I’m writing so I thought I’d share a little bit

So come on! Come get your pre-canon Spear of Selene angst! All though this part ain’t too angsty. And this hasn’t been beta read and still a work in process so it ain’t final

Also in case you couldn’t tell, I love writing for Duckworth:

***********************************************

“LOOK OUT BELOW!”

After hearing the inane shouting of Della, Bradford let out a quiet exasperated sigh; which was then followed by a rather loud startled gasp as the buzzard spotted the duck sliding down the stairs, using a shield as her personal board.

“Ah! Bradford?!” Della then swung her body into the direction away from the buzzard, causing the duck to wipe out off her board but away from Bradford.

“Umph!” Della grunted as her face made contact to the ground. She then quickly looked up to greet her guest.

“Bradford.”

DONK

The shield that Della was using as a stairboard landed on top of the duck’s head.

After the shield fell off her head, Della got up onto her feet, “I mean, Mr. Buzzard. Sorry, I thought you were Donald! He’s coming back home today and well you how siblings can get, right?”

“…No. I do not.” Bradford answered, “and yes, your uncle did tell me that your brother would be arriving sometime today.”

“Yeah! He’s going to meet the kids for the first time!”

“Yes, he also did mention your unexpected pregnancy.”

“Heh, yeah.” Della rubbed her head as she awkwardly picked up the shield from the ground. “Well I’m past that part, now all I gotta do is sit on them till their ready. So far, I think I’m handling things well. But let me tell yeah, pushing those three out was a whole another story. You ever push out-, never mind…”

“I see…and do you at least know who the father is?”

“Some asshole I hope I never see again.” Della chuckled which became rather awkward when she noticed the unamused look on the buzzard’s face. “I uh, suppose you’re here to see Uncle Scrooge?”

“Uh, yes.” Bradford cleared his throat and then look passed Della. “Does he know that I’m here?”

“Oh keep your shirt on, Bradford I’m right here.” Scrooge said as he made his way down the stairs.

“Augh, Della,” Scrooge sighed. “Did you just go surfing down the stairs while we have company?”

“Uncle Scrooge, I did not know, I thought he was Donald.”

“That’s not the point lass, I don’t want ya treating my house like it’s a skate park.”

“Oh come on, I was just having some harmless fun” Della explained as she once again rubbed the bump on her head, “our guest is fine and King Arthur’s shield is perfectly intact.”

“Della, please put it back where you found it.”

“I was gonna,” Della assured her uncle as she awkwardly backed away from the two older birds, “Anyway, I’ll leave you two alone so you can talk about business. Woo! Business. Heh, yeah…”

“Yes, thank you Della.”

“No problem, Uncle Scrooge. I’ll just, uh, be in my room till Donnie gets here.”

As Della made her way up the stairs she hissed to her uncle’s passing butler. “Thanks for the heads up, Duckworth.”

“I’ll be sure to speak faster next time, Della.” Duckworth remarked before joining Scrooge by his side.

“Now Bradford,” Scrooge began when Della had left the area, “I thought we agreed that you’d come over after noon, my nephew should be here soon.”

“Oh, right.” Bradford cleared his throat. “Sorry, I must’ve mixed the times up I can come back if you’d like.”

“Perhaps you can get yourself a personal planner,” Duckworth suggested getting a glare from the buzzard, “I find those to be quite useful when I organize my day.”

“Nonsense, Bradford. There’s no point in you leaving when you came all this way, I’ll have plenty of time for Donald later. Duckworth that’ll be all for now.”

“I’ll be taking care of young Della’s nasty bump if you need me, Scrooge. Mr. Buzzard.” And with that said, Duckworth left the two businessmen alone.

[korkorali]

WIP GAME! Thanks for the tag @writebackatya

Rules: in a new post name "all" of the files in your WIP folder no matter how non-descriptive or ridiculous, let people send an ask with the title that intrigues then the most then post a small snippet and tell us about it!

Adding a small extra rule to this: if the WIP in question has explicit parts, it has an (E) after it.

The Robot Uprising (The IV)

Blackjacks and Mounties (E)

Getting Rough on the Planet Moon (E)

Della/Magica (E)

Duck Avengers, Assemble! Chapter 4(ish)

The Duckburg Boom

Duck Avengers, Assemble! Chapter 2

The Many Dimensions of Della Duck

Ensnared Gold (E)

Lustrous Gold (E)

A Trip to the Racetrack (E)

The Race Tracks!

Accordion Sounds

Camping, Start!

A Moonlight Meeting (E)

Duck Avengers, Assemble! Chapter 5ish

Duck Avengers, Assemble! Chapter 7(ish)

Della/Selene First Time (E)

A Trip to the Farm

Through the Looking Glass (E)

Xadhoom and the Duck Avenger(s)

Xadhoom and the Duck Avenger(s), Chapter 2

Xadhoom and the Duck Avenger(s), Chapter 3

Huey and Webby Talking

Scrooge/Goldie Pregnancy (E)

Olivia/Yunan Whiptail Ritual (E)

De Spell Family Reunion, Chapters 2-5, and also 8-ish

Threat Assessment Chapter 3 (Unfinished)

Never Have I Ever (E-ish)

A Clashing of Universes (Rough Draft)

Paper Airplane, Della Fighting with Girlfriends

Sasha’s Fight

Camilla’s Durance

Wanderhome

Time Flies Chapter 9

This is all stuff that me and my lovely, beautiful, absolutely wonderful co-author @imjustusingthistolikeartists have written together, so if you have any questions about any of them, direct them to either or both of us!

Tagging: @hueberryshortcake, @foxymc, @dellyduck, @ninja-librarian if any of you also wish to play and haven't been tagged yet

[lunarspearedaa]

@somniaxperdita​  asked  :  headcanon + della/selene!!!

          headcanons! | accepting.

          OH BOY, I SURE DO HAVE MORE THAN THREE HEADCANONS FOR THE GAYS. 

Selene was like -- Della’s gay awakening.  She met Selene &&  immediately just went heart eyes because I mean, have y’all seen Selene? She’s gorgeous. Della was smitten right off the bat. 

Every time Della and the family went to Ithaquack, she would usually spend most of her time with Selene in her garden. 

Selene would read / write poetry for Della ( my friend Bri who writes Selene came up with this one -- I’d tag her blog but she archived !! ) 

Della lived on Ithaquack with Selene for a little under a year; Zeus did not like that. 

Della and Selene liked stargazing together! While Della already knew most of the constellations ( she earned an astronomy badge in the Junior Woodchucks )  Selene taught her some lesser known ones && told her about ones that used to exist. 

Selene let Della search for the Sphere as much as she wanted -- But Della could never find it. She also never just asked for Selene to give it to her. The adventure was all the fun, after all! 

Selene taught Della the greek language! 

Della and Selene’s eventual break up was mutual. They’re still really good friends in the present day! Della can’t imagine a world where Selene isn’t in her life in one way or another. 

[okaystoptellingmetomakeanaccount]

OKAY ALRIGHT EVERYBODY LISTEN. No more just posting thoughts in tags. It is time to explain why The Shadow War is better than Last Crash of the Sunchaser.

Last Crash is obviously beloved for all the emotional stuff. It’s where all the tension that had been building up through the season (kinda) snaps. It was not actually building up. It was shows a little bit and most of it is done in this episode. And it’s very well done I mean it feels like this has always been a thing, even if the show has just made it up. But it does feel like l of this emotional baggage has always been on these characters. The balancing of the Sunchaser signifying whenever everyone is emotionally stable/the plane itself is literally stable is a fucking genius move. Gotta say that. Sunchaser is a very good episode. But it’s not without faults.

That emotional stuff. It’s what everyone loves this for, and why it’s so beloved. But it only really happens in the last 10 minutes. The rest of the episode is a lot of silliness. Everybody always ever talks about those last emotional 10 minutes. Never about the rest of the episode. Which is good fun, but remember that people don’t love this episode. They love the last half of it.

A critique I’ve seen from the FS that I agree with is with a small scene from Scrooge’s flashback. The moment where he spends all his money to find Della. Like that is supposed to be the biggest of sacrifices, but the show hasn’t really done anything to make us feel that. If you’ve read some comics you know how much Scrooge loves his money, but that doesn’t work with this Scrooge. DT17 Scrooge just does not care as much about his money. He cares more about the adventure. That’s made very clear by the show, and so this specific scene just doesn’t hit the way it should have. I would say it’s unsuccessful at what it’s trying to achieve if you are just a normal watcher.

Now, the spear of selene itself is also a bit silly. “Yo mama was a doofus and flew a rocket into space without caution and she died. Btw i build the rocket. Why? Idk, thought she would like it.” Be honest, it’s a very silly thing to have this very well executed drama about, if you deconstruct it even a little bit.

The reason for the fall out of the family is silly, but the fall out itself is masterful. I gotta say that. We all know that. The way it mirrors the end of chapter 11 of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck is genius, and how it recreates the uber famous Scrooge panel where he sits is his chair, mwah, chefs kiss, ten chefs kisses. “I am”? David Tennant i could fucking kiss you. How the comic book panel it’s recreating has Scrooge saying that he wants to be alone, and then have him saying here that he is happy being alone again while obviously lying. I mean in the vacuüm of the show you don’t see that and it’s just a good emotional scene, but with the comics in mind these last few minutes work extra well. Which in this case is fine, because it doesn’t rely on the comics to be impactful.

The emotional fall out that comes from it with the duck family is masterful, but also, we see most of that not here. Because here is where last crash of the sunchaser ends. The rest of this incredibly great drama happens in the next two episodes.

Why The Shadow War is a fucking masterpiece.

The Shadow War does what ducktales does best. When it’s at its peak. When it is not relying on anything else. When it’s not adapting any source material, and manages to use Barks’ stupendously versatile characters (and Webby) in these amazing original stories that cannot be told via any other medium than this. When it uses it’s own specific style of storytelling. Full of comedy, satire, heart, adventure and drama. Always in the spirit of the comics, but never the same in storytelling.

We have two plots running here. Scrooge who is getting interrogated by Lena/notMagica and the rest of the family on Donald’s boat.

The family stuff continues the drama exceptionally well. We see how Huey Dewey and Louie try to cope with the situation. Huey and Dewey go for the extreme and want to cut any relation as far from their lives as possible, while Louie doesn’t yet feel like we should go this far for just one thing. (He’s the one that cares the least about the mystery of his mom after all, or at least is the best at hiding that he cares, as we see in season 2) Webby feels similarly. She is upset with Scrooge, duh, but he was just not feeling it that day. She has already forgiven him. Very Webby thing to do. She tries her best to rekindle the family together with Launchpad and her grandmother. But what is important is that for her, this is not just the family as it is for everyone else. This is her family. And it is her only family. She has lived for years in isolation and while she loves her granny dearly, she never had a greater family. Now she finally does, and it is already slipping away from her. Already it is falling apart.

The ducks have always been about family. Donald Duck comics are always about family, unlike Mickey Mouse comics, which have always had a bigger focus on friendship. This is a clear point throughout the entire show. Here is where we can really feel it well. Like when watching we almost became a part of the duck family. Webby through the series has always been our little viewer insert. She knew the duck family from the start, but only as these legendary far away figures. For most English speaking viewers, it’s like having heard about these old comics that were apparently amazing, inspired so many things, but having never actually read them. Now through the series both Webby and the viewer finally get to experience these kinds of things up close. It’s not the same as the tales, but it feels just right. Now the season is ending. Angones has told that they went into every season like it was their last. Never expect to be able to do more. Disney is a difficult company. The showrunners were feeling as much as they could possibly lose the duck family as the character they wrote, and when watching you just feel that, but translated through an exciting finale.

The family drama continues on a surface level really well too. I could just quote all the lines those waterfowls are quacking on that boat and it should be enough to convince you. It manages to talk about a shared loss which especially the younger characters find difficult to deal with, and when the understanding comes, it’s really compelling. A lot of the boat scenes are also really funny.

The Scrooge plot then. notMagica has been looking forward to this for centuries. The great warrior Scrooge McDuck, richest duck in the world, stronger than the strongiest, smarter than the smartest. She walks in through Lena’s body (which is excellently terrifying) and he’s depressed as fuck. It’s like an exaggerated version of what Artibani showed in L’ultima avventura. Only there he had lost his money. We know DT17 Scrooge isn’t comics Scrooge, and DT17 Scrooge has lost what he has most dear. His family.

notMagica manages to slap some sense into Scrooge (kinda) (also make comic references) (can i also say how much i appreciate the dutch translation of this show? They catched all the references and more. Like for example in this episode; Plain Awful is not literally translated, but is given the name Doffe Ellende like in the original decades old translations. Same with crown of the mongols, which is specifically renamed to crown of genghiz khan to reflect the title of the translated comic), but simultaneously manipulates him to keep him weak, without the thing he actually needs. Like Tennant’s other character would say: ‘brilliant’.

And then i mean when notMagica rises from the shadow magic eclipse thing. Thats the sickest fucking thing ever.

Then Lena undoes the Magica manipulating by being real and saying things. What a legend. I love speeches. Don’t you love speeches?

Also it’s often very funny.

The second part of shadow war. The day of the Doctor Ducks.

I’m not gonna talk about how the shadows coming alive are actually an allegory for some kind of societal problem. They’re just really great funny shadows. I’m sorry.

This episode is primarily the end of Lena’s arc. All of her trust issues, probably existential crisises and all the shit she went through before this, it gets all capped off here. ‘Cuz she dies. Kinda. I dont feel like writing about Lena. There are already way too many texts about Lena. Point is, here is where it all comes together.

Here is also where the family drama started in last crash finds its climax. It might have been cooked up in last crash, but here is where we truly see to what it has lead, with the destroyed money bin as a physical example of the falling out of the family.

We cant go without talking about the Barksian modulator in the room; Donald’s voice. So eh. Not gonna talk about any behind the scenes stuff that may or may not have happened. I don’t have anything against it. It feels like a blown up version of the more heroic side of comic Donald. People say it feels like PK, which i kind of agree with, but thats just because of the general hero direction. There is nothing i find distinguishly PK about it. I dont know what to think of naming it after Barks.

But then the most important point. The entire episode is just full of epic. Donald does his thing, the kids do a little detectiving which builds up to the big reveal for them related to Lena. And then when the fight comes we see all the best parts. The outstanding action, lighting, scenery. The comedy from both notMagica and HDL, which flawlessly flows into Webby’s speech about her losing everything. Then notMagica giving her anti-speech. Lena’s dramatic sacrifice and Webby’s reaction immediately after. The entire climax is simply amazing. The first half of shadow war is very cleverly and intricately build up, while the second half finishes all that it needs to in the neatest bow imaginable, while having fun with making everything cool asf. It never misses a single beat and all the best qualities of the show shine like coins out of Scrooge’s money bin freshly cleaned by Donald. The irony and satire is sharper than the sharpies, the emotional scenes are stronger than the strongies (real word i swear) and the way it just does everything is done smarter than the smarties. Or whatever he says in English.

Then the cliffhanger dude. We see the camera focus on the moon while the music fades its original tone and plays those legendary 4 notes from the ducktales video game in what already sounds as the wonderful rendition of the song we will be hearing in the later upcoming season. Then the following 6 notes play, and the rocket, a tv, and then Della Duck is revealed.

You better vote for The Shadow War. It’s Ducktales 2017 at it’s very best. Peaktales fr.

Thank you for reading my ‘essay’. I forgot what else i wanted to write. Euh. Bwe. Shadow your wars or something.

ROUND #1

[adamarinayu]

Since I can’t draw right now (it’s like 1 AM) I decided I’d just write things down about Domestic DUno AU (I still don’t have a proper name for it!!) so here we go~

Info below the cut to spare the mobile users my ramblings~~

BACKSTORY STUFF 

-Donald first became PK as a teenager (14 or 15), pulling petty pranks and avenging perceived wrongdoings. He ended up accidentally becoming a hero after stopping a thief and unknowingly saving a young girl’s life, and he realized he could direct his temper, anger and frustration not at making other people miserable, but at protecting others. Gyro, who went to school with Donald (Donald and Della attended a private school that would accommodate their adventure schedule; Gyro, being the absolute genius he is, attended on a scholarship) was there and ended up helping, being the one to inadvertently provide PK with the weapon he fended off the criminals with. PK talked to Gyro and the two became partners in crime-fighting that way.

-After deciding to become a hero, it was small-town villains mostly that he dealt with. Thieves, and the like. He didn’t start fighting mutants and those kinds of things until he was 17 or so, and the Evronians didn’t show up until he was 18. This is when Scrooge gave him a summer job at his newly acquired tower, figuring since Donald didn’t want to go with him and Della on a three-month adventure (as Donald was needed in Duckburg, he couldn’t be gone for three months!!) then he may as well work and earn a little money. As Duckworth was still alive, Duckworth was in charge of the manor, so Donald didn’t need to worry about upkeeping the mansion.

-Donald met Uno after a failed attempt to fight the Evronians, and they partnered up, with Uno providing Donald with otherworldly advanced tech that Gyro... would probably understand if given the time and chance (come on, he built a time machine out of a bathtub, he could totally understand future tech). After the first battle with the Evronians that Donald eventually wins, he realized that the game had just just 10x more dangerous. Between working on his doctorate and interning for Scrooge’s science department (something the scientists working for Scrooge were salty about), Gyro didn’t have much time to work on new and improved inventions for PK so when Uno contacted Gyro about him stepping down from helping PK, Gyro agreed, acknowledging that the mysterious Uno Ducklair would probably be a better benefactor for the hero. He didn’t know PK’s identity, though, so he didn’t take the memory erasing candy. Instead he focused on his work.

-Years passed this way, with Donald and Uno working together. Of course Donald had his other adventures, such as with Jose and Panchito and Mickey and all them lovely folks, but Uno was his closest confidante and biggest supporter. He was the one he vented his frustrations with Della and Scrooge to, and the one to give him advice on how to deal with it and talk to them about it all.

-At some point during this time, Gladstone finds out Donald is PK. Of course it happens in the typical Lucky way- him finding out saved Donald’s life. Gladstone is shaken up by the knowledge that his cousin/brother is in danger every day and has almost died multiple times. Gladstone becomes a sort of third member of the whole Crime Fighting thing, yep, you heard it right, Cloverleaf is real here. He figures if he’s out in the field with Donald, then Donald will never die because of Gladstone’s supernaturally good luck. Uno, while frustrated with Gladstone’s unpredictable and illogical luck, accepts this. Donald is less keen because he doesn’t want Gladstone in danger’s path but when the gander makes up his mind it’s made up, yo.

-PK and Cloverleaf (CL from here on out) and Uno work together for 3 years before the Spear of Selene incident, where Donald is suddenly left with three eggs. Donald’s priorities now shifted, he quits being a hero and buys the houseboat so he can raise the triplets without Scrooge’s influence. Gladstone does what he can to help while trying to continue to protect Duckburg, and while watching CL on the news Donald has the sudden realization that Duckburg still needs him- new parent or not. So he (metaphorically!!) throws the eggs into their pram, rushes to Ducklair Tower, begs Lyla to watch the eggs for him and rushes off to CL’s aid. 

-After the danger is over, Donald collects the eggs, thanks Lyla for her help, then meets up with CL and Uno on the 151st floor where they have a serious conversation. Donald acknowledges that Duckburg still needs PK, but Della’s children also need him. The three eventually come to the conclusion that the kids would be raised by PK and Uno there in the Tower, where they would be safe- and they would be trained so they’re ready for anything thrown at them. (Gladstone is actually the one who is like “nah cuz you be their dad I’m not cut out for that, I’ll be the cool uncle, I don’t wanna live in the tower! No offense Uno” so it isn’t like Donald just decided to leave him out of the parenting)

-The eggs hatch and Donald names them sensible (AKA not Della’s list) names (and pronounces Llewellyn correctly dammit) and Donald and Uno have a time learning hands-on how to be parents. (“I’ve read twenty different parenting guides in the last five seconds and they’re all saying different things, Donald, WHAT DO WE DO-”) The whole “raising kids together” thing brings them even closer than before and forces them to have a chat about their feelings, too. 

-When the triplets are small and starting to run around, Uno baby proofs everything. He has a hard time keeping them from escaping their playpen (which is essentially a huge room with an amazing view of the city, he doesn’t know why they’re so intent on escaping). Then eventually the inevitable happens- both Don and Glad end up stuck on the other side of the world for nearly a whole month, and Uno realizes taking care of three toddlers is much easier when you have a body. So while they’re gone, he balances his time between advising them on their mission, taking care of the triplets and building an android body that can handle an AI as advanced as him (throw out that “an AI who is only good could never make a full person” shit cuz Uno can be petty as hell, he’s a whole ass person even without Due yo). By the time Don and Glad get back he’s testing his prototype. Donald is thrilled, of course- his boyfriend has a body now!

-The triplets gain a sister! Everett brings a child to them one day, a little Coronan girl who was for reasons I haven’t decided yet cast out of her family and Everett, with his weird Enlightened Powers shit, went and found her and brought her back to the people he knew would take care of her well (considering his own past failures...). And so the triplets have a little sister who is an alien! Yee! Yes it’s Asveya (Ve). She came to them when she was ~2 and the triplets were 3 or 4, and as she didn’t have a name Donald named her after a friend he met as a child, when he regularly adventured with Scrooge and Della, and whom he ended up meeting again as a young adult.

-Uno perfects the body over time as he learns more things about being a person (he very purposefully leaves out pain receptors, though he includes the best parts of being a physical person ofc- he wants his cake and he wants to eat it too!). Everett decides now that Uno has a body, it was time to introduce him as his son officially and hand the business over to him (stating that it’ll be good for the kids if at least one of their parents had a proper job and income, since savings don’t last forever), and as the kids get older Donald begins training them so they’ll be able to take care of/protect themselves if need be. Uno creates a training field/obstacle course that is fun and age-appropriate, and by the time they’re ten they’re like little superheroes in training. They can give Webby a run for her money. Ve is less interested in being like PK and more interested in being like Uno- AKA the techie behind the gadgets.

-The triplets are already playing with some rudimentary pieces of tech Ve made, playing like they’re superheroes (or villains, gotta have someone to fight!). Uno finds out when he reviews the Tower footage and immediately confiscates anything that can be dangerous, but lets them keep the more innocent stuff.

MODERN DAY STUFF (AKA the time the show takes place)

-As the kids got older Donald and Uno allowed them more freedom, even letting them go out on their own (with the promise of being back before dark, not telling anyone what their parents did for a living, they all stuck together and they didn’t speak to strangers beyond what was necessary). When the triplets were 10 and Ve was 8 or 9, Uno learned that a powerful artifact (not the gem) was in Atlantis and that if a villain got their hands on it, it would be... very bad. So Donald decides it’s time to put on his metaphorical adventure shoes again and go get it. By this time Gladstone got trapped in the casino (Uno has been looking for him, after not hearing from him for over a week) and Uno had a Big Business thing to attend, real important too, so they talk about getting a babysitter for the weekend they’ll be gone. The kids manage to convince them they don’t need one, as they’ll be safe in the 151st floor (“We’ll be safer there than anywhere else, right, Uncle Uno?”). Donald tried to call Lyla but she was unfortunately in the field, so he agreed to let them stay home on their own until Uno got back (Uno did the math and figured he could stay for a few hours to just make a good faith appearance, talk business with some stooges and then come home the same day).

-Of course, the kids get caught. Uno had already left out for his business thing at like 5 AM, and Donald was about to head out to Atlantis in one of the Duckmobiles. He happened to check on a whim the back of the mobile, where he found his surprised ducklings staring wide-eyed up at him. He knew then that he needed to cash in on a favour- he called Beakley and then drove the protesting children to the mansion. (“Come on, Unca’ Donald!” “It’s a mansion! We wanna go to the lost city, too!” “Come on, we’ve been doing real good in training!” “Please, dad? We promise we’ll listen!”) The excitement over meeting THE Scrooge McDuck is overshadowed by the disappointment that they can’t go on this mission.

-Besides, who cares about a mansion and a rich adventuring duck when your parents and uncle are not only rich adventurers, but they’re also superheroes???

-Donald gives them a forehead kiss goodbye and heads off, and Scrooge has Beakley put the kids in that old room. “It’ll only be a few hours” they said. “Until Uno gets back.” Unfortunately, Uno calls Louie and tells the duckling there’s been a problem and he won’t be back until later- Donald already informed him of the changed arrangements and he’s already contacted Beakley.

-The kids decide to escape the old room, putting their hero training into action, but are ultimately swept up into Webby’s trap. Webby is super excited to meet them when she realizes who they are (though she has no idea who Ve is), and she cuts them down from the net without them having to escape themselves. The kids know they’re not supposed to let anyone know about the “hero family” thing so try to act like normal kids, though it becomes apparent Webby doesn’t know how to be a normal kid either.

-Through shenanigans, the children inspire Scrooge to adventure again, and Dewey lets slip about lost cities and Scrooge has a moment of realization. Thus, he drags the kids to Atlantis with him. While there, the kids each get a chance to show off their moves (which they’re SUPPOSED TO HIDE but you know, when arrows are flying at you ain’t got no time to hide). Donald is pissed when he notices them in Atlantis, and Uno is pissed when he calls Donald and learns the kids are in Atlantis, right where they are NOT supposed to be.

-Things pretty much follow the episode, though with the triplets able to hold their own and Donald gunning for a completely different artifact. When they escape and get back to the surface with their respective artifacts, they’re met by a livid android who absolutely chews Scrooge out for dragging four ten year olds and an eight year old to a dangerous place like that.

-Donald decides that it might be okay for the kids to visit with Scrooge sometimes, to get a little real-world experience, and at precisely that moment something crashes into the 151st floor of Ducklair Tower. Uno is absolutely furious (“MY TOWER???”) cuz that’s gonna take a bit to fix- at the very least it’ll appear to take a while- and when the kids question “what now?” Scrooge offers up some rooms in the mansion. The kids are excited cuz they’ll get to live with Webby and explore a new place. Donald and Uno say “just until the tower is fixed” (Gladstone had Donald’s boat at the time he went missing so Donald doesn’t have it) which is good enough for the kids.

-Scrooge being sus of Uno for like a whole arc cuz he’d never heard of Uno Ducklair before recently and also his nephew?? got married??? 

-Gladstone finally gets a message out to Don and Uno for help, and they go immediately- but not before Scrooge makes it a family adventure. Scrooge is disparaging of Gladstone, but Donald is just worried about his cousin. They manage to save Gladstone without pseudo-sacrificing anyone. Scrooge gets a little sus when they get back to Duckburg, and days later the missing Cloverleaf has shown up again. 

-HDLV ended up spilling the truth to Webby as she got closer with them, but they swore her to secrecy. Of course Beakley found out because Webby is a terrible liar.

**So basically Donald + Uno parents, a kid that calls them her dads, good Uncle Gladstone, Brotherly Gladstone + Donald, Competent Cloverleaf, PK + Cloverleaf teamup, little-hero triplets. Gyro will end up teaming up with Gizmoduck when Fenton takes up heroing, too, just like Launchpad teams up with DW (DW’s story for this AU will be different, also, just a heads up) and basically all their combined kids become a badass team of children (Huey, Dewey, Louie, Webby, Ve, Boyd, Gos, and of course Lena and Violet join in later...) Gyro teams up with Gizmoduck because every hero needs a tech guy (even heroes who are also scientists....) and he’s not only very capable, he’s worked with a hero before so he knows the ins and outs :D

However it is now 2 AM and I need to sleep so I’m gonna end my musings here but I am thinking of them so much right now I’m

[dellyduck]

Inspired by the recent post you made, could you kinda elaborate on what makes Secrets of Castle McDuck so great and the best episode and what made Fight for Castle McDuck not work and the worst episode of the show? I respect your opinion and I myself do love Secrets of Castle McDuck (and had issues with Fight for Castle McDuck) but I wanna know your analysis/take on it. Also, you think the whole Spear of Selene drama could've made for better reason for Scrooge/Matilda to fight?

Wow, I wasn’t expecting for such an ask, but okay, I’ll do my best to answer!

First and foremost, I need to emphasis that Secret(s) of Castle McDuck is the best episode to me, personaly. This was the episode that truly hooked me on Ducktales, so yes, I’m biased when I say Secret(s) is the best episode.

I truly believe it’s one of the best episodes of the show, however, and the reason for that is the two family conflicts we have in it.

Fergus & Scrooge: This is the first time we meet the Father of the richest duck in the world, and we just fall heads on this broken, bitten (not petty) Father & Son relationship. We don’t know why they’re like that, and their bickering is funny to watch, but at the same time we can see how frustrated at the situation Scrooge is. He didn’t even want to be there!

... And that was actually the problem, as we find out later. By who? Fergus. When he and Scrooge go into the castle’s walls, Fergus admits, after his son explodes on his face about how he never gave him anything, that he was the one who gave Scrooge his first dime. He did that to teach his son how to fend for himself, but Scrooge learned it so well that he very much forgot about his family.

Fergus admits he’s hard on his son because he misses him, and in return Scrooge admits he misses his parents too.

A conflict plot that was: fun at the beginning, got deeper, and concluded satisfactorily.

Huey, Dewey & Louie: Now the reason why this episode is my favorite.

Different from Fergus and Scrooge, the situation that follows the conflict between the triplets isn’t unknown for us; on the contrary, it had been built up through the whole season. Dewey found informations, clues, about their mother and never shared it with his brothers.

It’s fun to watch Dewey trying to make Huey and Louie give up on the treasure hunt, but in the end actually needing his brothers’ help to solve the clues and get closer to the prize, which he was the only who knew had something to do with Della.

And then, the catacombs scene happens.

“BECAUSE IT BELONGS TO MOM!”

“You kept a secret about Mom...”

“That’s not okay.”

Huey and Louie were hurt, but even then they still went for their brother and saved Dewey from the demon dog (with a little help from their ghost relatives that scene makes me so emotional). I really believe that Dewey’s second I’m sorry, when they go back for Della’s bag, is sincere. He learned his lesson and can’t wait to continue the investigation with Huey and Louie by his side.

One more time, the conflict plot was: fun at the beginning, got deeper, and concluded satisfactorily.

This is the main reason I love Secret(s) of Castle McDuck so much. That’s why I love the Castle McDuck! There lies all the history, good or bad, of this huge, ancient clan. Those walls hold so much history and the possibilities of what to do with them is countless!

So I will give this to Fight for Caslte: a magic bagpipe is a way to try to bring this history into life.

Before starting to talk about Fight For Castle McDuck, I need to say, again, that the episode’s the worst to me, personally.

Let’s start analysing what I pointed out the most in Secret(s): the conflicts.

Different from Fergus & Scrooge in season 1, Matilda and Scrooge’s conflict starts off clearly and purely as a petty fight between siblings. And this is all it is, literally, it never gets deeper than Whiskers.

But even then, for some reason, Webby acts as if the world’s ending! Webby, my dear, you’ve been living with the boys for almost two years now, and with Donald and Della for a long while. Please, tell me you know siblings fight. Please, listen to Dewey.

And before continuing with the McDucks, let’s take a look on Huey and Louie. In this episode, Huey’s trying to follow the instructions Finch left in her journal for them to find the Blessed Bagpipes, and Louie just wants to find a short cut while mocking his brother’s way to do things.

Now I wouldn’t be too bothered by that, if Fight for Castle McDuck wasn’t an episode that happens after season 2, the season where Louie learns that short cuts aren’t always the best strategy, and after two or three episodes in season 3 where Louie learns that he needs to listen and trust on his brothers.

Now back to the McDucks... they’re still fighting about Whiskers, this time with Fergus and Downey involved too. Downey defending Scrooge while Fergus defends Matilda, because- oh right, I almost forgot to mention: do you guys remember all that development where Fergus admited he was hard on Scrooge because he missed him? Well, now Fergus is back at being a mean Dad to Scrooge, but for no reason this time.

You asked if I think the whole Spear of Selene drama could've made for better reason for Scrooge/Matilda to fight, and my answer is: absolutely. It would be the best reason ever, especially because Matilda has a life outside of the Castle, she can go out, so different from Downey and Fergus no one can convince me she didn’t know that her niece disappeared for ten years. She knew. And the fact that she doesn’t mention it once, the fact she doesn’t look mad at Scrooge at all, the fact she doesn’t even ask about Donald and Della-

It was a golden opportunity wasted on a ball of furr.

Then, we finally get to the apex of the episode: everyone (Scrooge, Matilda, Downy, Fergus, Huey, Dewey and Louie) in the statues run, fighting for petty reasons, only for the statues of Clan McDuck to be brought into life... and also start fighting between them for no reason!

But no fret, because Webby will play a sad audio she recorded of how much she loves the McDucks and they will all instantly stop!

I can’t start to say who’s more in the wrong here and how much this episode’s execution was made poorly. So in the end, the conflicts were: fun at the beginnig, but never got deeper, and the conclusion was everything but satisfactory.

Besides, you noticed that I didn’t mention, Pepper, Blot, or FOWL at all in this post right? That was how important they were for this episode! Two agents of the main villain of the season and the family barely aknowledge their presence there!

It’s frustrating, infuriating, and I’m getting tired, so I’m finish here. I hope this was enough of an answer to you. Thanks a lot for your question :)

[callme--starchild]

I Could Do About Anything

Della was able to see all angles, she was sure of that since she was a child. She couldn't remember if it was a skill that she had always had or that she developed as she grew up, but it was undeniable that it was there. Also, there were other possibilities that the sight of it offered her, and that was to read people, particularly her brother.

Of course, there were non-believers (including Donald himself) who claimed otherwise, and there were others who argued that it was because they were twins that Della was able to know what he thought, and that was partially true. Because while there were times when they found themselves thinking the same thing, the truth was that both also worked individually, and Donald himself was a different world from her.

A world that was commonly incomprehensible to many, including her. Not exactly because of the way her brother speaks, but because of the way he acts. It was not a secret that they were completely opposite, even Della had heard such comments since they were in high school, and she knew that he did as well because of the erratic way in which his behavior changed despite remaining like the typical shy boy from the corner.

Perhaps that was why she had sensed the discomfort of her twin throughout the journey, even if she was a few kilometers from him and even if she turned her back to him, as if it were a gentle breeze brushing her feathers and fiddling with her clothes. Her gaze remained focused on the sky, a path that she recognized on the way and that she recognized back; however, a part of her was focused on the conversations that were going on behind her. Goofy chatted with the children, Max's name popping over and over with such a familiar fondness that it left an emptiness in the pilot's stomach,

(Especially since it reminded her of her brother while talking about the triplets, but it didn't make sense: would Goofy have a child?

Her brother always got on better with him than her, but she had always known him as a loving guy, and surely she would have known of a child before she had taken the Spear of Selene; particularly what will his wife be like? She must be very gallant if she, again, had managed to conquer Goofy of all people.

Which, in turn, made her wonder about Mickey and Minnie, because so far the only clue she has had since her return has been that melon that Donald had with him on the island and—)

on the other hand, and now that she had stopped talking to LP, she could hear her brother having a pleasant conversation with Agent— Beakley. And though Della couldn't figure out what they were talking about, her hands were shaking on the wheel. Because Donald's desire kept tickling her mind.

Specifically, on his reason for asking it.

Not having to worry about the family being captured or lost.

"Della." Her uncle's calloused hands on hers made her blink, and she returned to focus on the flight — much to the extent that Launchpad took care of it to her apparent distraction, though she did let her uncle know that she was listening to him with a gesture, "are ye okay? Ye've bin very… quiet since we got on the plane."

In fact? No. At least, not quite. Lost, lost. Lost. The word poked at her brain incessantly, and it frustrated her.

Della cherished having discussed the Spear's topic with the children, and having her uncle's support despite yelling at each other — it was to be expected, though, with their tempers. However, she acknowledged that she still owed her twin a conversation; not only about the rift that she had formed between them a decade ago, but also about the time when he was the one who was on the moon and her apparent disinterest when he told her through that bizarre melon. Her brother had always been someone who refused to talk, particularly if it involved his feelings, but he had even refused to speak after the invasion and it made her stomach clench.

Lost.

Della knew she was lost even when she returned to her home. From the terrible second impression with her uncle to the relationship with her kids. She had no idea how to be a mother, she had barely read a thing or two even when she was waiting for the triplets because her thoughts were more focused on the world behind that stardust she saw through her window after every adventure, and when she landed on the Moon her priority had been to repair the rocket and return to Earth. Instead, her brother had read all the books on parenting the moment he discovered that she was waiting, and even she could claim that he had been made from other sources that she was still unaware of to date.

Her mind had always been in the clouds and that had led her to be stranded in space without being able to develop her motherhood. But Donald had always been on Earth, being the father and mother of her sons; But having wished Gene for a normal and perfect family, she had a feeling that perhaps it could be something more.

"Yeah, yeah, Uncle Scrooge," she said in a distant voice; though she knew she had been slow to respond, her uncle's concerned expression confirmed it once she returned to concentrating enough on the vast stage in front of her, “but I need to think a few things. Launchpad, would you mind continuing the flight to the mansion?"

Of course, the other driver was an incarnate sunbeam, and he only responded with a thumbs up and a smile without reciting any words or questions before taking the wheel again.

But no matter which direction her mind took, they all came to the same conclusion: she should speak to Donald soon.

It was with that thought in mind that she headed for the houseboat, feeling her shoulders grow heavier as she approached. The triplets and Webby were watching TV, and she had literally seen Beakley in the kitchen not long ago. Scrooge had retired to his office with Isabella's journal and Duckworth was away, doing ghost things; ergo, there was no one who could interrupt her during her conversation with her self-proclaimed best friend, but that did little to relax her and, otherwise, made her tenser. Not just because it wasn't a secret that Donald was more emotional, the lamp incident had proved it to her, but because with their infamous temperaments it was a lousy combination in case the situation got out of control, what if …?

When she was least aware of it, her metal foot stepped onto the hatch that gave her access to the boat. And even though she knew it was more sensible to go to the door and knock, especially remembering how strict her brother had been about his privacy from their distant adolescence — that, on second thought, it made no sense when it came to Donald because: what could he hide from everyone that required a dress code that never existed? —, the truth was that she was very impatient to discuss this issue to walk the deck only to go to the bow and also wait to be attended.

No. If she was going to do this she was going to do it now, and with that conviction, she raised the hatch.

"Donald, listen. I know I'm coming unannounced, but you and I have to…" Down the stairs, her words died in her throat when she saw the aforementioned accompanied by… a strange-looking duck, who had also become tense at her presence. They appeared to be looking at a framed photo, but the abrupt way in which they parted, as if they had been caught doing something wrong, did not go unnoticed.

This puzzled Della much more than expected, perhaps due to the fact that...

"Dumbella! I told you to knock.” Donald was really calm, when he used to be on the alert for a visit from any stranger. If that in itself was strange, he just looked a bit annoyed at her sudden entrance.

"Don't worry, D," however, his features seemed to relax when said stranger addressed him, approaching to murmur something that caused him to stifle a laugh. That definitely didn't twist something in his stomach.

Her brother looked relaxed, off guard, more cheerful than she could remember, and it took the pilot out of focus on the reasons that brought her to the houseboat in the first place. Sure, she remembered seeing him like this during junior high and high school with Mickey and Goofy, or in college with José and Panchito; but right now there was something in his gaze that she was unable to define.

Particularly, there was the fact that her brother used to chat about the antics he did with his friends all the time, and the visits did not wait when they were in the mansion on an almost daily basis, not to mention the multiple sleepovers that her little brother did per week.

In one way or another, they had adopted a small place under their roof, allowing her to know and grow fond of them, even if they got on better with her twin.

But this guy? She didn't recall Donald mentioning an outrageously dressed mallard, not even in a slip; there were no antecedents, there were no visits. Still, his calm in the face of this unfamiliar new face tickled the back of her neck, and she didn't like it.

"Er…" She cleared his throat, and it seemed that they too had been pigeonholed into their little bubble. There was also the look that this guy gave her at all times, as if he was watching her and reproaching her for some reason she did not know. "Donnie? Don't think I'm planned to be rude, but who is he?"

Having to fight her willpower not to point him out because Donald would scold her for the rudeness, she instead pointed her eyes at him, and the frown of her strange companion didn't soften - at least, not with her. That did less to reassure her, especially considering the way her brother's eyebrow arched in confusion, at least until he met his partner's gaze and his face lit up in an unusual way, and it lit a small sparkle in the pilot's gaze.

"Oh, where are my manners?" he exclaimed with a small blush blurring the feathers of his cheeks, and her desire to make fun of him increased but she was held back when she noticed that Donald was really sorry and her conversation with him continued in a pendulum.

"Easy, Ol-Don," he cleared his throat, letting his hand rest on the sailor's shoulder for a second, though of course, it would be enough for him to relax, before addressing her again with a serious face, all traces of complicity that he seems to have with her twin fading away.

And judging by the way his eyes widened, he noticed it too.

"Uno Ducklair, Donald's old friend. Nice to meet you.” His voice had certainly turned strict, enveloping in a dark aura that mystified Della as he shook her hand, with a smile that might look real if not for her keen eyesight.

She wasn't sure if the other duck in the residence would have noticed, but it seemed to be eyeing the blissful Uno with an indecipherable expression. Most disconcerting was the way he tried to hide his outstretched arm from her brother, as if he were trying to protect him.

But from who?

"Erm, I'm... Della Duck, Donald's sister. I'm sorry for the… intrusion, but I didn't know my brother was expecting visits" and she was really sorry, considering they both seemed to be in the middle of a chat when she arrived "nice to meet you."

Before shaking her hand with the mallard's, she sighing aloud at the grasp.

"Wow, you really have a strong hand, huh?" Laughing nervously, she heard her brother reproach her in the background.

But Uno knew.

Uno knew he wouldn't find himself in the Ducklair Tower again until years later as Odin Eidolon, when Donald and his adventures as Paperinik, as well as the friends and enemies they had made along the way, were nothing more than a vague memory in the abandoned lair. However, there he was: the tower reviving while he was reactivated and his data was transferred, the memories that he had kept hidden from his creator becoming overwhelming during the moments in which he became accustomed again to the environment that was the hiding place that once witnessed the tommyrot of two partners who saved the city and saw Anxieties in their spare time.

Uno knew that the first image in his database after that memorabilia was Donald's face, cheerful and full of life, always telling bad jokes as he faced Evronians and the misadventures of daily life. The glint in his gaze as he thought of the future with his nibling, who would later become nephews. And Uno knew that he should appreciate that look again, being almost instantaneously that he looked for his old fellow in the system while his arms were in charge of giving the last details to the body that had begun with so much care before being deactivated.

He had missed him, he had to confess. He was not ignorant that many of the machines of the time of his partner of crime were incapable of feeling any emotion; but after meeting Lyla and himself learning about them after his friend, that stereotype had been erased from his data or, in Donald's words, thrown out the window.

As he polished the finishing touches to what would be the new recipient of his data, he hadn't gone unnoticed the adding of some Gizmoduck and Darkwing Duck as saviors of the city. And though he found the absence of Paperinik alarming, that concern was forgotten the second he found the whereabouts of said vigilante.

In just a few minutes, an Artificial Intelligence had given way to an android that was heading to the McDuck Manor. That, while he took in every detail, feel, and color that the city was from a new perspective.

But as an AI, Uno's data was collected, and he was able to remember.

And he remembered every afternoon they watched every episode of Anxieties, new or old, while they both tried to disguise the effect that Saxony Starbright had on them and made a few comments about the plots and absurd twists that the writers made even if they used to be on the edge of the seat at such absurd twists like the hypocrites that they were.

He remembered every mission he did alongside Paperinik, being his eyes and ears in the tower as the hero took care of the casual villains and the Evronians in his umpteenth futile attempt to increase his army, as both would joke about it later while he checked the little scrapes and bruises between his feathers.

But he also remembered those wounds that were not generated by the occupational hazards, those occasions when Donald had to work harder and not smarter due to the adventures he faced every day in the company of his sister and his uncle. Those moments when he limped into the secret apartment, refusing to be checked to retire to put on the suit of his second job despite the reprimands he gave while Donald was dressing or when the situation was resolved, when the hero was too mentally and physically exhausted to fight the worrying intelligence.

When Donald was on the brink of hypothermia from some magical ice he was on.

When he came in exhaling a cocoa scent and trailing bright-colored plumage, his sensors detecting sensitive peck marks under his own feather coat, particularly in the cranial area.

Or each time he came in with more and more scars, his clothes shattered, bald spots, and even obvious bruises. Many times because of some crazy adventure, other times because he fought someone at school, the character of his partner added to the physical ability that he possessed from his self-induced training.

When he arrived depressed due to an argument with family members, because he refused to go out with them to the next hidden temple, because of his bad luck or even his cousin's getting in the way of each meeting, or because he was still not understood metaphorically and literally by his family or a third party.

For his family.

For his family.

For his family.

Uno did not know how, but until he discovered that Della was waiting even before Donald, the occasions in which he had seen him truly smile, at least with his family, could be easily counted and that because he had collected them, and on the other hand he really stood out when he was with friends, including him.

He really didn't want to feel some things unless they involved Donald, and while this technically involved his partner, he also knew the fondness he had for his family, so his confusion at his reaction was not only valid, but justifiable.

"Uno?" He blinked, and they knew what a relief it was for the sailor to mutter that name again even if there were no words in between, and even blinking out of his thoughts was so strange and wonderful to him, "Is everything okay?"

It was then that he recognized how nervous Della was in front of him, and tried not to feel joy at it because this was his best friend's sister and while he wanted her to fear and more, he did not want to get into an argument with Donald after a decade of estrangement and a lot of time to recover.

"Yes, yes, my apologies," and though he wasn't really sorry, it was gratifying to see Della tense enough because that was the least he feared every time Donald had to leave Duckburg with them. "I'm not that used to physical contact."

And well, that wasn't entirely a lie. Donald has been the one who has gotten him used to it, and that because he used to be very affectionate back in the tower, and getting used to the body was also new to him, but he did not know how much he had changed in recent years if the first thing he had done when he saw him was to keep clung.

But Della was watching them warily, and somehow both knew what the next question would be before it exited the pilot's peak:

"And how did you meet?"

"During the time you were in flight school," Donald began almost instantly, finally intervening between his sister and Uno even if he tried his best not to make it weirder than it already was, "I was looking for a part-time job and coincidentally Uncle Scrooge had just bought the Ducklair Tower so I started working there. Uno is... one of the sons of Everett Ducklair, the previous owner of the tower" Donald had to accept that his lying skills had rusted over the years — after raising the triplets on honesty, but the least he could do and he was grateful for was dancing around the truth because he had become the custodian of the Tower while his sister soared through the skies in search of her pilot's license, as uncomfortable as it was for him to even mention the name of his old friend's master's name.

But he also didn't want to know her reaction to knowing how involved he was with artificial intelligences, aliens, droids, and time travels. Especially when it was all over and it had been a lot to him at the time.

"Hmm, well Uncle Scrooge said you changed a lot while I was in school, that you had become more sensitive or something, and more alert," she commented out of nowhere and with a thoughtful expression, and Donald blinked after hearing someone snort, rolling his eyes after recognizing Uno's giggle even though a smile was visible on the edge of his beak, because if he had heard that several times during his time as a janitor and superhero, many times for teasing or bothering him, the truth was that he missed the teasing a lot — coming from his partner — because, unlike the ones he had heard on multiple occasions, they were not malicious. Besides the fact that facing bad boys had indeed helped his temper during his studies "it must have been for that. I guess I must thank you… Uno."

Still, neither of them missed the discomfort on Della's face, or the way she fiddled with her scarf, and her smile became strained as she spoke more.

Maybe it was because of the fact that Donald had secret friends? Because of the looks Uno gave her behind the back of his brother? Was it some older sister instinct that hadn't been around since high school coming to life and yelling at her to protect her brother from Uno at all costs?

And that was the hardest part, because Donald didn't look at all overwhelmed or alert by the mallard's presence. Indeed, she felt her twin relaxed in a way that only happened when he was with José and Panchito, and that had been while they were in college.

"I was just telling Uno to introduce him to the rest of the family, that you came in was a mere coincidence," Donald commented, with a smile so bright it puzzled Della, when was the last time you saw him so happy about something that surrounded him?

But she couldn't question it too much when Donald's face turned strange, blinking as his expression changed.

"What brings you here anyway? Not that it bothers me!" He clarified quickly, grinning nervously, and Della could have sworn the third duck's face turned warmer, and that was something she could share: she had also missed seeing Donald turn into the same nervous wreck as to when they were young adults. The duck cleared his throat and crossed both arms behind his back, “it's just, well, the only times you come unannounced are when you can't sleep. Now that I think about it, you seemed to want to tell me something… is everything okay?"

As he looked thoughtfully, he acknowledged that sooner or later he would have to talk to his sister about his desire and what happened next was more than evident. However, he did not expect it to happen so soon, and Donald preferred to wait once the situation with Uno was over and he had had enough time to think about what to say to her.

Unconsciously, that little consideration from the sailor had been enough for Della to remember what had dragged her into the boat in the first place, it can't be that she has forgotten so quickly!

However, the pilot couldn't help but wonder if now was the right time, especially seeing how calm it was in comparison to the cave. Actually, it was as if he had never had a breakdown in the first place.

She wanted to preserve that for a few more moments. Furthermore, she would never have known how to start that conversation even if she could chat with her brother at the time.

"It's not that important, it can wait." She shrugged, maintaining a serene expression that she now felt more sincere. If Donald noticed that tiny detail, he didn't say anything. "Don't you mind if I keep you company to the mansion? If anyone had the audacity to put up with my brother's plover head, it's worth knowing."

She olympically ignored her twin's reproach in favor of sneering at him, feeling satisfied when the mallard giggled despite the faint reddish tinge in the sailor's feathers.

"I don't see why not," Uno commented. And even though he still looked relatively tense, his shoulders looked more relaxed when he side hugged Donald. Della could not gloat over that small victory given the strange glint in Uno's eyes. It was a bit inhuman, though the pilot didn't want to jump to baseless conclusions, but they seemed to be on the alert, "but I'd rather wait: the plover head was thinking of wait and respond with the whole family present, he doesn't want to leave anything unsolved."

Unlike her, there seemed to be an iota of homesickness when he used the same nickname to poke fun at Donald, and though he rolled his eyes this time, an exhausted smile took place.

Della flinched when Donald suddenly raised his voice, his voice raspier with the effort.

"Family, can you come over for a second?!" Even Uno smiled, wincing at the future state of the sailor's throat. "I want you to meet someone!"