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fly-pow-bye · 4 years ago

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DuckTales 2017 - The Absolute Best!

After doing the least best this series has done, it's time for a much, much harder list to put together: the absolute best episodes of DuckTales 2017. I am not going to lie: this was hard to put together. Anyone could guess that based on how I once planned to have this list alongside the worst list and that did not happen. I can also see myself forgetting about other really good episodes of this show. However, after days of pondering, I believe I have a good list here.

Same rules as the last list.

It has to be an episode of DuckTales 2017. No shorts, even if the shorts combined can make up a full episode.

With this list, I have to say something bad about each of these episodes. Not necessarily the worst part of the episode, but a bad part nonetheless. These are going to be more nitpicky, but it is only fair to prove the constant that there is no such thing as a perfect piece of media and it is a decent challenge for me.

This is my opinion and my opinion alone. There are episodes I didn't like as much that a lot of people did. The last list should be a huge hint at that.

Alright, let's begin.

10. Jaw$!

I mentioned this episode in my Least Best as the better example of the show establishing the relationship between Lena and Magica De Spell. It establishes Magica De Spell better than either of the episodes that featured her before this one. One was a tease put in the very last minute of the episode to show how Lena is going to be far more important than the "cool new goth girl", and the other was the Terra-Firmians episode that used her as a way to improve what would otherwise be a not-so-good filler episode. This one is a far better example, and it's not just because a money-shark is a lot more interesting and threatening than a bunch of cutesy rock creatures.

It also has a B-plot about Scrooge's Board of Directors scheduling an interview to improve his PR, and hilarity ensues when Scrooge has to defend his zillionaire antics when a shark made of his own fortune is causing havoc throughout the town. Glomgold also makes an appearance during this, which only makes it better. Along with some neat Jaws references along the way, this is not an episode to miss.

Bad thing: They really did not want to mention the obvious plot hole of the kids being able to go into the money bin. This was long before F.O.W.L. began their plans against Scrooge or even the 87 cent problem, but still, one would think this would be one of the most highly secure places at Killmotor Hill considering all of his enemies. Considering I didn't particularly love the Impossibin episode, as much as I love the idea of it, it might be for the best.

9. The First Adventure!

Going from an arc from season 1 to an arc from season 3, though some may argue the F.O.W.L. arc has been happening since season 1. Anyway, this is an episode that brings back the younger Donald and younger Della that was first seen in "Last Christmas!" in their first adventure with their Uncle Scrooge. It's very interesting to see the similarities between their first adventure with Scrooge and the first adventure with Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

Even though this does give good development to the arc, arguably even bigger characters in this episode are Bradford Buzzard and Black Heron, as this episode details the origins of the Fiendish Organization of World Larceny. Their antics throughout this episode are very entertaining, with the plot toying with the dynamic of the more chaotic evil Heron and the more lawful evil Buzzard. With all it all ties together, I had to put the First Adventure on this list.

Bad thing: The sense of time in this episode is odd. We get a title card showing that it's the 60's in the opening scene, and yet there is very little suggestion of any passing of time between the opening scene and the scenes that I assumed took place in the 80's.

8. Quack Pack!

It would be too easy to just put in episodes that are important to any of the various story arcs that went throughout this series, so here's an episode that could be taken out of the series without harming anything. However, it is still a very memorable episode of the show, where the cast of characters have to be in this weird sitcom. There's also a mystery element, as there is a culprit to why these characters are in this sitcom world.

I really like the whole meta element, with the characters picking apart all not only the clichés in sitcoms, but sitcom production as well. I also really appreciated the "special guest", another sitcom staple, being a character from a different Disney Afternoon show with some great references to it. Quack Pack turns out to be the antithesis of the show it was named after; it's not dated, it's really funny, and it realistically portrays how freaked out these characters would be if they saw those weird hairless apes.

Bad thing: I wish they did more with the concept of this world being made up by someone who was locked away from the world since 1990. Maybe not references to the era of Disney that gave us "Gotta Be Gettin' Goofy", but more jokes about how the 90's were different from now. They kind of ignore this, as if they only mentioned 1990 because of the DuckTales movie they were referencing.

7. Last Christmas!

Wait, a Christmas episode in a Top 10? I have my reasons for including this one. It's not just because the idea is pretty great, as it uses the very tale that inspired Scrooge's entire character in the first place. Obviously, we already had one of the best cartoon renditions of A Christmas Carol, and this episode does not try to recreate that. Instead, we get a different tale, mostly featuring Scrooge and Jiminy Cricket, er, the ghost of Christmas Past, going back to the past to experience a good Christmas party. If only we can do the same, like Dewey accidentally does in the episode.

This was also the first time we also got to see a young version of Donald, who, in this episode, is voiced by none other than the late, great Russi Taylor. It was almost like having one of the siblings from the old show interact with one of the new ones. This is also the first time we got to see and hear her outside of a painting, and it's heartbreaking and yet understandable when we get to the scene where Dewey has to say goodbye. It's a good scene, and they weren't afraid to even throw in a joke that does not ruin the moment.

Bad thing: No, episode, this is the Scrooge they were looking for. Were they trying to make it seem like Scrooge was always a hero and not a miser who would deserve getting three ghosts to visit him with that line? I don’t buy it.

6. The Ballad of Duke Baloney!

Got to pay some respect to Scrooge's arch-rival with an episode that really shows off his character, which is a bit ironic as this is an episode about him getting amnesia and getting a brand new, at least to us, persona named Duke Baloney. Amnesia episodes tend to be a dime-a-dozen, and anyone could predict this new persona is not going to last, but the way this episode develops is actually much more interesting. This is the episode for Glomgold character development, with dream sequences, flashbacks, and a great scene in the ending that takes place in a storm that he may or may not have made up in his head. I may not have given a lot of his episodes high-rated reviews, but this is easily not only one of his best appearances, but one of the best episodes of DuckTales 2017.

Bad thing: The dream sequence really subtly implies that Duke Baloney is about to become Glomgold again. How? By having him outright say "this gold, it's GLOOMING onto me!" ...okay, I'll admit, that was a stretch for a bad thing, but with a dream sequence with subtleties, that took me out of it.

5. The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!

I called this episode "the best episode of the series so far" when I reviewed it, a pretty late episode in a season with lots of good episodes, I would say that's a good sign that this one was going to be a shoo-in for at least the Top 10. What I love most about this episode is that it gives a little more humanity to the legendary Scrooge McDuck. Sure, this was shown a bit in "Woo-oo!" and "Mount Never-Rest!", but I felt this episodes was one of the best examples of that. Throughout this episode, he sees himself as this legendary figure, as everyone sees him, and he ends up failing to live up to those impossible standards by crashing in a plane in a way where they may not survive.

Much like Quack Pack, there's no traditional villain like Glomgold or Magica. Eventually, this leads to Scrooge finally bringing up his biggest failure: his loss of the Spear of Selene and a certain relative that was piloting it, and it is one of the biggest emotional moments of the series, both in and out of universe. It's one of the most important episodes in the series, and it is also one of the best.

Bad thing: The Last Crash of the Sunchaser is a neat title, but it doesn't really fit the episode. The Sunchaser will certainly crash again. At most, maybe it could be referring to Scrooge crashing down to the lowest point he gets to in the series, but that's not the Sunchaser's fault.

4. Moonvasion!

My big hot take: the season 2 finale, the best of the season finales in my opinion, is not the best episode of the series. However, it is very close. It's actually kind of funny; I had plenty of criticism against the build-up to his finale, especially the Louie Inc. plot that led to an episode that was just kind of lackluster to me, and of all the, some alien commander from the Moon who thinks the Earth revolved around his "planet" wasn't exactly as threatening as an all powerful witch or the scheming businessman who knew Scrooge's every move. Okay, when I put it like that, the alien does sound more threatening, but trust me, even Bradford had his moments.

The biggest thing about this episode is the sheer scale of it. It really did feel like every major player in the series had a part in this, from Scrooge and the nephews, to Dijon and Amunet, to the new Darkwing Duck, to Donald and Della, to even the Greek pantheon! Oh, and Glomgold, too, in what may be his finest moment in the series! It really does feel like a finale for the series, and I say this even if I felt The Last Adventure was a great one as well.

Bad thing: In hindsight, this would have been a good time for the Terries and Fermies to come back. They're in the earth! That episode wasn't bad because of them.

3. Let's Get Dangerous!

I'll tell you a secret: I did not watch Darkwing Duck as a kid. It was just DuckTales '87, and even then, I did not remember a lot of episodes of that. This show was made for people who did not grow up with DuckTales '87, because they were not even alive. Though there are parts of this episode that can be appreciated by those who were familiar with the heroes of the Disney Afternoon, I will still say this episode works very well as its own superhero movie. That is what it is, really!

This special is the true continuation of another episode, though we saw this defictionalized-within-the-fiction Darkwing Duck in the Moonvasion, and it may as well be a pilot for a Darkwing Duck reboot that spins off from this show, with its villains, its origin stories, its sidekicks, and its memorable catchphrases. It all works very well. Who knows where the new Darkwing Duck reboot will go, though I would at least imagine that they would eventually get to certain Darkwing-related plot threads that never got resolved.

Bad thing: Outside of using a few cliche moments to extend the episode that end rather predictably, in the attempt to make Darkwing Duck as cool as he wants to be, the regular cast essentially become jobbers in their own show.

2. What Ever Happened To Della Duck?!

It's the question everyone wanted to know ever since Dewey said the last line in the first episode: what ever happened to Della Duck? This is one of the more artsy episodes of the show, focusing on one duck on what she assumes is a barren moon until she finds a monster that seems to do nothing but impede on her quest to get someone to save her. It does heavily expand from there, to the point where we get to see some more new characters, one who I thought was going to be way more important than the other. I decided to call that guy "General Not Penumbra", and that name could still be fitting as an insult.

This episode would be made or broken by how good Della is, and this is a very good episode for her first voiced debut as an adult. We did get to see her in the IDW comics, but this episode is where her character is developed. Throughout the episode, she has elements of her kids and especially her brother Donald. While there are future episodes that develop her further as a mother who wants to make up for all of those years she missed, one of the biggest defining moments is right in this episode, where she sings a version of the Capcom game's famous moon theme. An amazing episode all around.

Bad thing: Do I have to? Uh, flares do not work on the Moon? No, seriously, I can't think of anything worse than that.

Honorable mentions from each season:

The Shadow War! - An excellent way to end Season 1 that would only be topped by the Moonvasion.

Nightmare on Killmotor Hill! - A dream episode that really works with the concept, especially how Lena is the one involved with it.

Double-O-Duck in You Only Crash Twice! - This is an action packed episode where Launchpad really shines.

And now, #1:

1. The Duck Knight Returns!

Yes, I decided to put the prequel episode to Let's Get Dangerous as higher than the big Darkwing Duck episode, and part of this may be a little bias on my part. While it was not the very original intention of it, Fly Pow Bye started as a project to review a reboot, so of course an episode about Darkwing Duck, a fictional show within the fiction, getting a dark and gritty reboot would be right up my alley. We have Launchpad, a Darkwing Duck superfan, reacting to how they're going to ruin Darkwing Duck. We got the conflict between what the big studio execs wanted Darkwing Duck to be and Dewey's version of it. Finally, we have the conflict between Jim Starling, an obvious reference to original Darkwing Duck voice actor Jim Cummings who is even voiced by him, and his replacement, who appears to be some guy named Drake Mallard.

A lot of these plots converge in very interesting ways, with plenty of twists. Drake Mallard, the guy Launchpad was trying to replace with the original, turns out to be very worthy of the role by also being a superfan! Dewey's version has dancers, just like that Batdance music video! Okay, maybe that last one isn't that great, but it does not overstay its welcome. And, of course, Jim Starling ends up causing a huge cliffhanger that, despite the show being over, we will still be hanging from. We can only wonder what was going to come next, but I do not have to wonder what the best episode of DuckTales 2017 is.

Bad thing: I can't really think of a bad thing for this episode, but I can say that it is odd that there's no real transition from "TV character" to "real hero". It does help that it's not the TV actor that ends up becoming Darkwing, but "fanboy of TV character turning into a real hero" is just as much of a leap, even with an incompetent hero like Darkwing. I would also consider the show never following up on this episode's cliffhanger a bad thing, but that's not this episode's fault.

How does the whole show stack up?

It is an excellent modern take on the Disney Ducks. Opinions may vary on how this will compare with the original, since it is very much a modern take, with a different style of humor than the one from the original or the one in the original comics. Anyone who loves shows like Gravity Falls will be right at home here. Any fan of the original comics or the original cartoon may balk at some of the creative decisions made with the characters, but I would say it pays some good respect to them.

Oh, and before anyone asks, no, I am not going to give a rating for the whole series. I've already imposed a 10 image limit on myself, and since I grade on a relative scale, the average is always, in theory, going to be in the middle. It's a good show, that's what you're going to get from me.

And that's it for DuckTales 2017. Hurrah for Disney and Clan McDuck. Bye.

← The Least Best! 🦆 n/a →

#fpb dt 2017 #ducktales 2017 #fpb reviews #ducktales #disney

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monkey-network · 4 years ago

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Good Stuff: The New Animaniacs

The Trio are Backy, Shamelessly Wacky

Let it be said that a cartoon can’t not get back a pep in their step after being gone for so long. Mickey Mouse got his revival series, Ducktales reworked its old hat anew, Cuphead brought the more vintage style of hand drawn animation back, and now both Looney Tunes and Animaniacs have refurbished their looks when nobody was looking. Then again, after so long, Animaniacs can’t do the same song and dance nor just be Looney Tunes #2. So with its gaze on getting unique relevance, does this hold up? Well it has a soul, but one of very different breath.

I know this’ll be cheeky, coming from somebody that grew up with the original during Middle and High School, it’s made clear that while the charm is still there, I feel like it’s deep down ashamed of itself for existing. It’s in part by the uhhhhhh clear fact they cut out most of the original skits.

I love the Warners, Pinky, and the Brain much as the next guy but I always found joy in Animaniacs being more than them. It wasn’t all memorable, I fucking hate Mindy, but the variety was still welcome and unpredictably fun. The Warners were still the main act, but the show didn’t revolve around them. It’s kinda like the one Looney Tunes reboot where it was only Bugs Bunny for a season until they decided, “Shit, there are more characters aren’t there?” They acknowledge this change in one episode but that’s it. Outside Scratchansniff and Ralph, nobody else is allowed to truly come back. The show while still enjoyable feels incomplete. Maybe season 2 will introduce more, it’s up in the air. Otherwise, have too much and the welcome will wear. As for it being more topical and meta with these current times, I don’t have much to say beyond the winds are kinda taken out the sails when it’s lucky this is a years later reboot. Just saying, it could’ve gotten rebooted over and over, go the Scooby-Doo route of airing continuous specials or interpreted series, go the Spongebob route of staying longer than desired, or worse above all, suffer the same fate as the Simpsons.

You think it’s something after being gone for 22 years? Imagine being forced to live over 22 years. Doing the same thing, for a company that clearly says death was never an option.

I think my personal takeaway is that while I enjoy it, it isn’t the same after seeing so many other cartoons. I’ve gotten good chaos, good commentary, irreverent fun, good characters elsewhere and where this Animaniacs certainly knows what it’s doing, I’ve seen the original and this is original, but again pretty incomplete with not as many hooks as before outside “They’re Back”. I’m really grateful the show is how it is now, but I’m not rabid with joy over this as I hoped. Maybe I’m the exhausted fool.

But in spite of my hangups, it all is a quality return to form. New look, but doesn’t feel like such a shell of its former self or an attempt to be so modern that it immediately dates itself. It’s still musical, chaotic, energetic, a pretty dignified nostalgia comeback. It’s not outbeating the OG, but that is okay.

3 out of 5, Glad to have it back.

#Animaniacs #animaniacs 2020 #animaniacs reboot #cartoons #animation #long post #reviews #Good Stuff

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pinkyshy101 · 4 years ago

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So I got bored and decided to type out a list of the cartoons/tv shows I’ve watched, cause why not! I think this is all I’ve watched, or at least recent enough (I’m thinking like…. 2014/15 onward, when I actively started to watch more cartoons)

It’s kinda long, and I’m kinda rambley, so I’ll put it under a keep reading thing (if I can) so you don’t have to scroll through that if you don’t want to. Idk who will actually read this, but hey maybe it’s an idea of what kind of things I might reblog on here! I’m always taking any suggestions for shows to watch, I love learning about and watching more and more cartoons! So if there’s something I didn’t list as something I watched and you think of be interested, feel free to please recommend it! I may update this with a reblog or an edit or something at some point in the future, idk though. For now, its September 19, 2020, and here’s what I got for ya

This ended up way more rambley than I meant for it to be but I started writing it at maybe 12:30ish am and now its almost 2am when I’m getting ready to post it so oops 👀 I’m not really expecting anyone to read this but hey, it’s something! Read if you wanna know what shows and other stuff I watched lol idc

Cartoons I’ve watched in their entirety (or what’s all aired as of today 9/19/20):

(updated 12/2/20 as starting with ATLA)

Gravity Falls - watched since late 2014

Steven Universe (including the movie and Future) - watched since mid June 2015, right before the second stevenbomb/sworn to the sword (early season 2)

Over The Garden Wall - watched back around when it first came out, can’t remember exactly when but sometime in 2015

Star vs The Forces of Evil - watched the first 2 seasons as they aired, then stopped watching for a while and rewatched the whole show in June 2019

Hilda - watched for the first time in I think October 2018, rewatched in May quarantine

She-ra and the Princesses of Power - watched all 5 seasons about/not even a week after season 5 came out, idk why I waited so long to watch it

The Owl House - started watching it after the grom episode aired, idk why I waited so long to watch it but molly and noelle and everyone was screaming about grom on twitter, so of course I had to watch it then

Kipo and The Age of Wonderbeasts - watched it all in early August, right before I watched The Owl House

Infinity Train - watched the pilot back in 2016, then the first season when it came out, but then I started college and didn’t get the chance to watch the 2nd/3rd season until I decided to watch the whole series (s1 again, 2/3 for the first time) this past week

Ouran High School Host Club - ok I know it’s anime not a cartoon and I can’t see myself reblogging anything from it but it’s literally the only anime I’ve watched more than like 1 or 2 episodes of/the only one I’ve seen in its entirety so I figured eh I’ll mention it

Camp Camp - I almost forgot to mention this one! I started watching it when there was I think only 3 episodes of season 1, so back in 2016, and I’ve loved it since then! I guess this summer’s season couldn’t happen cause of covid.... But I’m still excited for when/if it does eventually come out!

Avatar the Last Airbender

Shows that I’ve partially watched but not completely:

We Bare Bears - I’ve seen the first 2 seasons, maybe some of the third I can’t remember, I watched it when it first came out but I haven’t watched it in a while, so I would probably need to rewatch a bunch of it (I did rewatch I think the first season sometime this year? But it was while working on school projects so I wasn’t giving it my full attention), apparently there’s also a movie now???

My Little Pony Friendship is Magic - I was huge into the brony fandom from roughly 2013ish-2017ish, I’ve seen up to season 8 and a few episodes of season 9, and the 4 equestria girls movies, and the mlp movie; I probably know seasons 1 - 4 the most, maybe a little of 5, 6 and 7 are kinda fuzzy but I’ve seen them, 8 I watched over quarantine (since it’d been a few years since I had watched any of it, I also rewatched bits of 5-7) as well as I think the first episode or so of season 9, but I don’t remember them too well. I watched the movie (the pony one, not eqg) when it came out in theaters, and not too long after that I drifted away from the mlp fandom (tbh I was drifting a little bit before it came out, but I knew I had to stick in there at least until it came out since I had been waiting for so long for it). The equestria girls movies, I saw them all when they first came out (I even saw rainbow rocks in the theater). I think there’s like, half hour shorts or episodes or something?? That’s in the eqg universe?? But I don’t think I’ve seen any of them, and if I have it was probably a really early one a long time ago because I haven’t really kept up with anything after Legend of Everfree came out

Animaniacs reboot - I’ve seen the first 5 episodes and it’s nice!

Shows that I’ve only seen an episode or few of that I (probably) intend on continuing to watch:

Glitch Techs - I saw the first episode! Definitely want to continue it

Rick and Morty - I watched a few episodes of the first season in like March/April quarantine, but I was still dealing with online school at home finishing out last semester then. I think I want to watch this eventually, but I have other shows that I want to catch up on/watch before I’d get to this one

Tangled the Series - idk if that’s the name I’ve seen multiple names but I hope you know what I’m talking about, I saw a handful of episodes from the first season I think sometime around fall 2019, but I’d probably have to rewatch the whole thing

Adventure Time - I’ve never had cable/cartoon network so I didn’t watch this growing up, but I’ve heard really good things about it and seen a bunch of stuff from it (I’d have to be living under a rock to have not seen anything lol) but it’s so long and I just haven’t gotten around to it yet! Well I’ve seen maybe a dozen or so episodes of the first season but it was a while ago so I’d have/want to start over probably

Shows I haven’t started

Amphibia - I’ve heard it’s good! I just haven’t gotten around to it yet

Avatar the Last Airbender - probably next on my list to watch, I’ve been meaning to watch it for years but I haven’t yet, its on Netflix now so that should make it easier to watch and a friend from school made me promise that this would be the next one I’d watch so that’s what I’m doing (I did watch the last 2 seasons of infinity train that night though, since I was really wanting to finish it first… But atla is next) watched it! (updated 12/2/20)

The Legend of Korra - obviously I’m waiting to watch it until after alta, and I’m probably going to watch it right after I finish atla

The Dragon Prince - idk really anything about it other than I think it’s on netflix? and apparently it’s good and maybe gay idk but I’ve heard it’s good thus why it’s on here lol

Black Horseman - idk too too much about this other than apparently it’s good but also kinda depressing. Similarly to rick and morty I want to watch it eventually but its not insanely high on my list

OK KO - don’t know a ton about it other than it’s decent, a step up from r+m/bojack on where I want to watch it but not urgently

Ducktales Reboot - similarly to OK KO, don’t know much about it other than it’s decent, same level of want to watch

Milo Murphy’s Law - saw a couple episodes when it came out, haven’t watched it in forever so if I ever do want to rewatch it I’d have to restart it, not super high on my priority list though

Bee and Puppycat - another one I almost forgot! I don’t know a ton about this but I’ve heard its nice! Plus from what I’ve seen I like the artstyle so 👀 maybe someday

Animaniacs (original) - I started to watch the reboot and I think I want to watch the original eventually! Just haven’t gotten around to it yet

Clone High - listen it’s not that I desperately WANT to watch this, I just have friends who are like, hey, watch this lol it’s apparently not super long so why not

Other non cartoon shows I’ve watched:

Brooklyn 99 - idk when I started watching it, maybe around season 4/5ish? I think sometime in 2018 so idk the season, idk, most of the episodes I’ve only seen once so I couldn’t tell you exactly what happens in every episode but I still like it

Rise - ugh I miss this show, I started watching it after/around when the 3rd episode came out (end of March 2018?), and I don’t think I’ve watched any of it since it ended (mid may 2018) cause its not on any streaming services anymore :/ at least not that I know of but I loved it and would love to rewatch it

Andi Mack - I’d heard it was good but hadn’t watched it after it ended (early august 2019 I think I watched it), haven’t rewatched it since then but it was decent, I mainly watched it cause I had seen clips of gay but yknow it was alright

Sex Education - watched 1st season sometime in 2019, when rewatched it/watched season 2 when it came out January 2020, this is like WAY more mature than like anything on this list but like it has an interesting story

Love Victor - watched first/currently only season when it came out mid june 2017 (how was June so long ago what)

Queer Eye - I’ve seen a couple seasons of it idk I figured why not add it lol

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist - I think I watched this around when there were maybe a few episodes of season 1 left (well there’s only one season now but still), idk I liked it cause like musicals and stuff idk

Idk what else to add to this section but if I think of anything (to any category on this list) I’ll probably update it later maybe idk (again I’m not necessarily going to be reblogging stuff from all/any of these but like, I figured I’d mention it cause idk)

Musicals:

Another thing I love is musicals, like I’m a design/tech major in college rn so yeah I like theatre lol so I’m going to list some I’ve seen (mostly watched bootlegs of, but I’ll list some professional/tour ones I’ve seen in person)(but if it doesn’t say anything special I probably just watched a bootleg, 2017 was a big year for me and my google drive being filled with bootlegs…) This might not be all of them and I won’t go into as much detail (I hope, I haven’t typed it yet) but we’ll see:

Broadway tours I’ve seen: (I swear this isn’t bragging they were cheap seats way up high lol)

Dear Evan Hansen (May 2019)

Wicked (first professional show I saw, October 2017, haven’t watched a bootleg or anything of it since then and I went in completely blind)

Mean Girls (November 2019, last professional show I saw before quarantine)

Come From Away (September 2019)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (November 2018)

The Book of Mormon (August 2018, was hoping to again this August but quarantine :( )

Non professional/high school/college/other shows I’ve seen in person/been on crew for (not all of them, but some) (assume I’ve also seen bootlegs/proshots if there are any)

Newsies

Spring Awakening (spot op)

Shrek (props)

Legally Blonde

I’ve seen done way more but I don’t feel like listing them or that they’re anything I’d want go reblog/actively look at fandom content for (that’s not saying it reblog stuff from shrek the musical but still lol)

Other shows I’ve seen only in proshot/bootleg form:

Basically every Starkid show

Spies are Forever

The Solve it Squad

Hamilton

Heathers

Be More Chill (yes I was in that big amalgamation of musical fandom stuff with these and deh in 2017 aaaa)

Falsettos

Beetlejuice

Spongebob

21 Chump Street

Les Mis

Phantom

(Again maybe not necessarily all but some there’s a slight chance I might reblog things about)

Musicals I still need/want to watch/listen to:

The Prom

Six

The Great Comet (not typing it all out)

Hadestown

Waitress

Bonnie and Clyde

Something Rotten

Tuck Everlasting

Again there’s more I want to see I’m sure but I haven’t really watched bootlegs in a while…. Idk feel free to suggest shows tho

Movies I’ve seen/like: obviously I’m not gonna just every single movie I’ve seen but heres a few I like:

The Sound of Music

The Wizard of Oz - these 2 have actually always been my favorite movies since I was little, I can’t dee myself reblogging much of anything about them but figured I’d mention them cause why not

Love Simon

Some but not all Disney movies (I grew up with no cable/mostly just pbs)

Most pixar movies?

I don’t think John Mulaney shows count as movies but eh whatever I’ve seen them on netflix

Idk what else lol I know I’ve seen more movies than this but eh

If anyone actually read all of this... Wow I’m surprised honestly lol have a free cookie or something for your struggles or smth, idk, thanks for reading this though lol I appreciate you (but also slightly worry, this was a lot of words and a lot of rambling)

#long post #me #personal #really long post

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araminakilla · 5 years ago

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Ducktales theory: Modern Arabian Night(mare)s

Warning: Long theory, has a little of angst too.

So, you already know I love the Treasure of the Lost Lamp characters, and with Found Lamp! things got better. Today's theory is about D'jinn (I'm not sorry) and a concept that was introduced in this new Ducktales' season 2. What is that concept? Stay tuned.

This Christmas I was watching an original Netflix movie with the name of "Knight before Christmas" The plot is simple: An european knight from the XIV century meets a witch in the forest. Said witch brings him to the present in 2019, days before our Christmas. He has to complete a quest before the Holidays or he can't return home, that is, his time period.

While there is more to tell, I wanted to point this because the knight spoke in a manner that made me think in D'jinn. That's when I realized: That's how medieval knights spoke! (yeah, I think you knew this by this point, I'm slow in some things, it happens)

Not only that, but said knight tried to solve conflicts with his sword and is very loyal with people he just met but have good intentions. Also, he was talking about his quest during the movie, just like D'jinn in the Found Lamp! episode.

There was a post about the movie where the person said that the knight was handsome, among other things, but also very stupid. Then I found this comment:

Why am I telling you all of this? Well, here comes the theory part. I thought in two possibilities of why D'jinn acts like a medieval knight.

1) He's a fan of stories with ancient arabian medieval knights and is imitating them (a dramatic theater boy)

2) He IS an ancient arabian medieval knight stuck in the present.

But how? Well, I think it has to be with this lamp: (pictures belong to @scroogeislife)

The lamp of Eternity. It has to do with time, so that could mean something. At first I thought of Merlock given that he's inmortal, and maybe that could be Gene the Genie's new lamp design, but who knows?

Also a fun fact: Faris means "knight" in Arabic so if D'jinn is really a knight that would make him "Al-Faris Faris D'jinn" which would translate to "The knight Faris D'jinn" or is The knight Knight Genie?? Anyway...

The point is, Faris was doing what arabian knights did with the company of other knights from his hometown. I theorize that he was in a war against some new invaders that wanted to conquer his homeland and destroy his family for the lamp. I would say they were either the Knight Templars or the Ottomans, let's go with the Ottomans since it was established he hates them in the series. The time period would be the early/mid XIV century (I don't really know much about arabian history in those times, so lets continue)

Be a lamp, a wizard or some strange magic, our Faris ended up in the XXI century, 700 years in the future.

To make things better (for us) he ends up in a modern arabian City with many modern malls, very advanced technology and beautiful skyscrapers (because yes, there are still people who believe those things don't exist in the Middle East)

He naturaly freaks up and demands to know what happens and for "demands" that means raising his sword, pointing it at everyone who is making eye contact with him and screaming: What kind of sorcery is this!?

The people around him also freak out, culminating in D'jinn being taken to the police, who proceeds to take pictures of him, hence those pictures in Lunaris' secret war room and why there are two of them when everyone has only one.

They began to make questions like: Who are you? Where did you come from? What are your intentions?

And D'jinn is like: I am Faris D'jinn! Loyal knight of (Insert name of a sultan here) who along with other magnificent people has the sacred duty of stop the Ottomans so they can not expand and become a powerful Empire!

And the police is like: Do you know the Ottoman Empire ended almost a century ago right?

Which is why Faris asks: They became an Empire!? How!? When!? What year is this!?

The Officers explain that the Ottomans ruled the Middle East for centuries and by the time of World War One they started to fall and now their descendants are the Turks. Oh, and also that this is the XXI century.

And then Faris D'jinn.exe has stopped working.

The officers were worried about this guy's mental health and told him they were going to call a doctor to see if he can help him and that he has to wait in a room.

But D'jinn had other things in mind. What happened seven centuries ago after he disappeared? What happened to his people, his companions in war, his family? Where are they now? He wants to know all those answers. He wants to know everything NOW.

So, like the good warrior he is, he escapes and begins to seach for the D'jinn family.

Unfortunately, they seem to have disappeared. There's no sign of his family or descendants with his last name. He begins to fear for the worst. He sometimes thinks the Ottomans wiped them out of existence, but other times he believes they are fine and it's only matter of seaching more, hence why Faris told Huey that the Ottomans failed miserably at trying to destroy his family (and suddenly another funny moment becomes an angsty one)

Gif belongs to @drummergirl231-2

We believed Della had it rough? Well yes that's very true but what about being the only survivor of your family? That must hurt a lot, specialy for someone very family-oriented and who consider bloodline and legacy to be very important.

He actually goes through the 5 stages of grief, the Anger and Depression stages being the most prominent ones.

He refuses to have any contact or friendship with other people, as he can't understand them and he feels they will never understand him.

It's only when he gets to the Acceptance stage that he begins to talk to others and is interested in modern technology, music, etc.

D'jinn even records everything new he learns in different scrolls just in case he has the posibility of return to his time period.

The people (mostly millenials) around him find his way of thinking and speaking funny and they call him a loony when he tries to convince them he is an actual knight from the past.

That's where we return to the "Knight before Christmas" post. D'jinn is not dumb, he's from another time period. He's adapting, with hilarous consequences.

After hundreds of failed intents to revelal his true identity, Faris gives up and adopts a "sure, I'm a dramatic man who loves knights, whatever" attitude, which makes him feel more lonely than what already was before.

Years pass and he knows how to use a cellphone properly, how to ride a motorcycle, among other things. But he still has the hope to return to his true home and see his family again.

In the future (our present), his quest for the lamp of the first Genie continues as it still is one of the (if not the only) relics his family has.

Then he meets the Duck family and the rest is history...

After the lamp adventure, he meets the Living Mummies and bonds with them as they were in a similar situation, being from "other times" and adapting to the present.

If he gets to meet Gene and have the lamp in his hands, he would try to make a wish to return to his original time period. But there are problems:

1) He is starting to like his new present and will miss all of his new allies (the Ducks and the Mummies)

2) He knows to much. OF COURSE he's going to tell everyone about what happens in the future which could end in him becoming the arab equivalent of Nostradamus at best, or everyone thinking he is crazy at worst.

3) He and his family have a code that if someone found a thing with a Genie in it and if the genie is good, they would free it with their first wish. This code is as strong as the Mandalorian's code of not removing his helmet (This is the way) so Faris will be torn about betraying the family code only to return to them or staying in the future and never see his family and friends again.

The only solution would be asking the Ducks to make a wish so he can return but knowing Scrooge, Della and Donald, they would consider that very dangerous because again, he knows to much, he could change dramatically the events of history.

Gif belongs to @nerdalmighty

And things could get worse if Merlock/F.O.W.L. get to know about the time traveler knight.

But that is another story.

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mochuelovelli · 4 years ago

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Since you brought it up during that answer to that other anon (I'm not the same one this time), why aren't you too fond of Last Christmas? We got to see Donald and Della interaction for the first time on screen and see em as kids plus we see some parallels Dewey and Donald have here and the episode does set up some potential of the twins' past which Frank said will be explored more in season 3.

I do like those aspects that you listed about the episode although I think it could've been handled in a different way (and I did love Russi Taylor returning for young Donald's voice, rip).

While I do like the story they tried to tell with Scrooge's backstory, where he has come a long way from being the cold hearted man that relished in leaving his family to literally live in the past to over coming that, the whole plot/joke with the Wendigo to me and many others. While Ducktales interpretation of the Wendigo wasn't the absolute worst it could've been, its a kin to praising shows that have gay characters be overtly sexual and sassy/die in tragic ways and say "Well at least they had that character on for a couple seasons!" No, you'd say that's a poor depiction of a community with a sorrid history of violence/discrimination against them and promoting them reinforces prejudice.

Now, most people know Wendigos as the scary monster that is from Native American folklore that eats cannibals or is a cannibal who turns into a monster or even that its just some weird deer demon. Something you might've heard from books, tv, movies, or in some half baked creepypasta so if you held any of these previous assumptions before, I don't blame you. I held those same assumptions for a long while.

While yes, the Native depiction -- which originated in the tribes which inhabit the area surrounding the borders of the great lake regions of Canada to the St. Lawrence river but also include a lot of the continental inland and eastern seaboard of Canada which can be labeled broadly as the "Algonquin" people, named so because of the language/dialect of origin -- isn't a flattering depiction of the malevolent spirit, as it is still described to be something more akin to a gravely ill person [frostbite, skeletal, torn lips].

Here is a quote from a source - "It is connected to winter by way of cold, desolation, and selfishness. It is a spirit of destruction and environmental decay. It is pure evil, and the kind of thing that people in the culture don’t like to talk about openly for fear of inviting its attention."

The articles I will link at the end go more in depth about the actual mythos and explains it far more in detail. But my main concern is that by taking a cultural significant part of Algonquin or any Native People's and twisting it for a 5 second joke while being so far detached from its origin is highly disrespectful to a group of people who most often are at best caricatured and mocked to at worst tortured, killed or forcefully seperated to assimilate into "western culture". I think it's just best to leave that shit alone.

Let me be clear; I do not think any part of the crew or creators were purposefully wishing harm when creating a throwaway line. At the end of the day, its word play. But from a show that has taken great lengths to sidestep the source material (referring to the original ducktales/donald duck content) and make something more respectful, I expected better. If we can't represent an accurate depiction of a cultural significant figure after years of becoming white people/non natives pay pigs for gimicky shit then just dont fucking do it.

The story of also, yeah, leaving a dude (ik hes a spirit but he is shown/treated both initially as Scrooges friend) in the past for DECADES is a real dick move. It's hard to sympathize with Scrooge here. But hey, time travel doesn't make sense in general. But maybe Scrooge could've just, ya know, traveled a week into the future? Maybe less? Not sure complete isolation/and abandonment makes you a great person much less a friend. So even the moral is just self serving even though its just "when someone is pushing you to do something you want to do you should draw a line somewhere" doesn't imply you should be so extreme in doing that by leaving them without any means of survival.

On that note of reading too much into a kids show - please read the following sources to be educated on the Wendigo lore. If not for me bitching/white knighting about it, then for the people it comes from. Below also has ways to circumvent the cultural appropriation if you just like deer zombie man aesthetic and stuff, you know so I don't just wag my finger at people and say "monster bad" without providing a solution. Thanks if you got this far: https://ko-fi.com/post/The-Wendigo-Is-Not-Yours-for-the-Taking-C0C116U8P

https://openjournals.bsu.edu/dlr/article/download/2881/1771/

#ducktales #dt17 #ducktales 17 #ducktales 2017 #last christmas #wendigo #cultural appropriation #asks #sam says shit #sorry this is so long #also to the anon who asked me about this #sorry i took forever i was busy with school shit

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signor-signor · 5 years ago

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Trending 27th - January 2020

What have been your efforts in the campaign for SaveWOY and what are your upcoming plans to save WOY? Now this is a question worth answering!

In the past, I made a little list of the things I did to support SaveWOY and bring awareness to Wander Over Yonder’s existence and its third season plans. Since then, I’ve done a whole lot more from hand-drawn art to more intricate art. Some of them are almost as special as that signed poster @peepsqueak got from the WOY crew as a token of their gratitude.

Here’s an updated list of everything I did for SaveWOY so far:

Attended the SaveWOY picnic at Griffith Park, where I got to sign a banner.

Pointed out various higher-ups involved in the business of Disney television.

Sent several letters to the higher-ups, some of which had envelopes with an image of the downed space pod taped to them.

Started a weekly Twitter post series, SaveWOY Thought of the Week.

Made Lite-Brite art of Wander and Lord Hater, which Craig McCracken and Francisco Angones liked.

Attended D23 2017 with an Operation: FORCE drawing of Hater, a colored page of Wander and Sylvia and a few facts about WOY, and an orange pen with a green hat (I got the hat from the aforementioned picnic) - there, I signed a bench with Wander and the phrase, “Never hurts to help.”

Signed my name, drew Wander (and my own character, Jacken DeBox), and wrote, “Happiest place in outer space!” on the highest beam for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

Wrote a letter (and drew Wander) for the victims of the Las Vegas tragedy with the message, “The darkest times call for the sunniest smiles!”

Got Craig to reveal the name of the ship (said to play a BIG part in S3, made a cameo in Future-Worm) when I commented that we’d have to figure out the name - his response: “The ship is called The Star Nomad.”

Wrote a couple of cards to two Disney higher-ups with the message, “A little nice makes naughty think twice!”

Drew Dominator in a situation that might take place several seconds after she passes the downed space pod, just in time for Noël Wells’s B-day.

Made the Star Nomad with LEGO Digital Designer.

Made three images in the style of the original Star Wars trilogy VHS set.

Posted 50 WOYS3PredictionPolls on Twitter.

Made an image of “The First 5 Years” with over 140 individuals (including the question marks for 3 new mains and 2 new regulars - I still want to know what they look like!) and one cleverly made Hidden Mickey.

Shared WOY-related images from my 1st 5 Years fan art on Twitter acknowledging the B-days of most of the voice actors (Charlie Adler, Kevin Michael Richardson, Ken Marino, Josh Sussman, H. Michael Croner, James Adomian, Jason Ritter, and Piotr Michael clearly noticed).

Typed a summary of how I think the S3 premiere would go.

Typed lyrics to “Let’s Go Soarin’ and Explorin’,” a song from my aforementioned S3 premiere summary. Wouldn’t it be great if Andy Bean used it?

Made a microgame with WarioWare: D.I.Y. where the player has to spin the fan to make the Star Nomad fly. Part of a chorus from “Let’s Go Soarin’ and Explorin’” included.

Started FanCharacterFriday on Twitter - more Tumblr users seem to like Dr. Otmar Vunderbar.

Made a short comic page of Lord Hater trying to break out of the DTVA vault plus a sly reminder that Disney owns the rights to WOY.

Shared a list of potential episode titles for S3.

Made an actual LEGO Star Nomad based on the model made with LDD. Hopefully, those who worked on WOY have noticed. In case you missed it, here’s a picture...

Now, the ideas I have in mind for further boosting support for the campaign. I may not be able to do most of them myself, but they are certainly for everyone’s consideration.

Provide updated information of higher-ups (if any).

As soon as we find out what Kid Cosmic looks like, expect fan art of him saying, “Watch my show and tell your friends so we’ll make that Mousey Company pay for what they did to my half-brother!”

Another SaveWOY picnic - if there’s one in my general area, you can count me in.

LP album artwork of My Fair Hatey.

A mural identical to that of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate consisting of not just characters from WOY, but also characters who were said to debut in S3 and characters who’d fit in perfectly, namely some of my OCs.

Pumpkin stencils of the main characters for Halloween.

Drawings of various WOY characters stuck on the ex-secret planet explaining why they need to leave said planet. Maybe I could also show how the galaxy’s villains would react if they learn that Lord Dominator’s been bested by Lord Hater.

Drawings consisting of SaveWOY-related messages spoken by the main characters from Disney shows that got at least three seasons (e.g. DuckTales, Fish Hooks), tons of love from the viewers and the executives (e.g. Gravity Falls), or both (e.g. SvtFoE, Mickey Mouse ‘13).

Example with Phineas and Ferb:

Phineas: “We may be creative and famous, but we’re not the ones who came up with the Star Nomad. It’s the ship powered by orbbles! Orbbles! I’d LOVE to see it take flight, wouldn’t you? If you let Mr. McCracken end the show his way, and not the executive way, which, truth be told, is the absolute worst, Wander will surely be elated!”

Ferb: “The Orbble Transporter was invented by conjoined twin brothers, voiced by the performers of the theme song.”

Irving (peeking in from the side): “Speaking of voices, the titular main character sounds JUST LIKE ME! How could you possibly resist?! And look, just because I’m the biggest fan of these guys (gesturing to P&F) doesn’t mean I have no interest in what’s planned for the furry orange fella!”

Since I’m a full-time Disneyland cast member, I should be able to make contacts with anyone who might have more clues about what S3 would entail. It might be a long shot, but if I’m able to convince Disney that WOY’s influence on my life boosted my chance at gaining employment at the company, they should understand.

A weekly Jeopardy-type pop quiz on Twitter - here’s the catch: you must refrain from finding information online when you read the answer (I bet you that the most hardcore fans of the most popular shows will get most of the questions wrong).

Example: This arachnomorph got his name from a dog tag he swallowed when he infiltrated a fish-shaped ship. He later became Lord Hater’s beloved pet.

-Who is Captain Tim?

Summaries of S3 episodes I made up myself a while back.

More fan-made characters - my most recent is an elected official of Cluckon, Mayor Spye C. Drumstick.

Conjuring a logo that best fits the status of S3/TV movie - Wander Over Yonder: The New Galaxy (the center would have the silhouette of the Star Nomad with Wander and Sylvia on it).

Brainstorming possible ideas for the three new main characters.

If all else fails, I suggest we make a web comic based on the hints we accumulated back in 2016 and what we learned from the cameo in Future-Worm’s finale. Team Sea3on has been taking that approach for SatAM Sonic the Hedgehog S3, though they are also making an animated version.

That’s about all I’ve got so far. In closing, I have several questions to ask as the new decade kicks off.

Disney executives: Are you even listening to us WOY fans? What more do you want? I’ve done so much for the campaign that I feel I’m entitled to know everything that was planned for WOY’s third and final season, especially now that I’m working full-time for your company. If you tell us what your demands are, we’d be happy to oblige.

@crackmccraigen: Are you aware of how hard the fans and I have been trying to talk Disney into giving you the chance for true closure? We’ll make sure we watch KC when it comes out on Netflix. If we’re lucky, we might see WOY get added to Disney+, where it should get that closure, assuming you’ll have finished KC your way before then.

@suspendersofdisbelief: I know you’re super busy with DuckTales and you love the plans for WOY S3 so much that you can’t bear to reveal it all in one post, but it’s been waaaay too long since we got any hints from you. Are there any other WOY S3-related facts you could describe in much greater detail? The campaign could do with more motivation.

Non-WOY fans: Are you convinced? Need I remind you what’s in the end tag of the “last” episode of WOY? You know there’s much more to life than tales from the land of Ooo, a blue middle school cat boy in a world of unusual individuals, adolescent twins in an Oregon town filled with oddities, a half-gem half-human protagonist, a coming-of-age princess of Mewni, a trio of ursine trend-followers in San Francisco, and all that jazz. If you’re not one bit interested in Hater’s origin story and all that was planned for S3, it’s your loss.

Pessimists: Will you please dispense with this unnerving “Wander is dead” talk? As a certain Popeye would say, “That’s all I can stands, I can’t stands no more!” You’re not trying to let the Disney bosses win, are you? You probably used to think previously canceled shows like Hey Arnold!, Samurai Jack, and Young Justice could never be brought back. The point is, all is not lost.

@peepsqueak and WOY fans/SaveWOY supporters: Have I been of assistance? Almost every remark I’ve ever made shows wit and perception. I mean, just think. Wander is still stuck in that vault where his goal of reforming Lord Hater remains incomplete, and he has no idea of what threat awaits him. He says, “Glorn, help us.” It’ll take something big and extraordinary to convince every Disney fan (and perhaps every Netflix fan) to talk some sense into the higher-ups. Not to mention the replacement/back-up voice actors we’ll have to find if Disney takes even longer (we already lost one - René Auberjonois). We shan’t rest until we get the answers!

@disneyanimation

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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago

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One Year Anniversary: Top 12 Ducktales Episodes!

Happy anniversary all you happy people! Yes it was one year ago today I started reviewing animation and it’s been a ride to be sure. I’d always WANTED to be a reviewer: I love going on and on about stuff I love, really digging into it and picking it apart... but I could never get started. I tried youtube but I didn’t have the money for the equipment nor a proper shooting space to record, so my efforts.. were not great. And while I TRIED text reviews, my own looming pile of self hatred meant every attempt I made was shot down when it got hard as me not being good enough.

But one year ago I finally got past that. I’d already been reviewing a bit, doing invididual issues of comics... but got way in over my head trying to do the current line of X-Men comics as it came out, and wisely bowed out of that. But that left a gap: I had nothing to cover week to week and with a demanding new job, I drifted into just doing in charcter chats, little fan fictions script styles. Not bad work, I should do some more at some point and I even got a comissoin once in a while, but nothing I could really live on and not what I wanted to do with my life.

Enter Ducktales. I’d always WANTED to review the show.. and when the double premire happened, I decided fuck it, and put up my thoughts. And then decided.. hey maybe I can do this every week.. and slowly.. my work evolved, getting better and better, getting more and more likes. I picked up Amphibia when that came by week to week.

And eventually.. this went from a hobby, if one I was passionate about to a career. Not a largely paying one, as only one person was really intrested in paying me for it, friend of the blog and our fincial backer @weirdkev27, but .. it’s money and i’m now making about 30 dollars a month due to a comination of comissions and patreon. Other contributers are always welcome mind you, my patreon is here if your curious and comissions are 5 dollars an episode, but i’ts just nice to have money coming in. To have gone from simply WANTING to review things and make a living off it.. to simply doing it.

And it’s been one hell of a year.. and not just because 2020 felt like hell or 2021 began with a full on insurrection. I feel like i’ve acomplished a lot in the year i’ve been doing this: I finished what I started with Ducktales season 3, getting better and better as I went. And I didn’t stop there with ducks: I started covering what brought me to Ducks in the first place, the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, and while that retrospective has slid a bit on the schedule, I intend to get it back on track this month. I reviewed a bunch of Darkwing Duck episodes leading up to the Just Us Justice Ducks.. chronologically anyway. The actual airing order reads like someone took 50 issues of a comic, made it rain with them, then just started reading whatever ones they picked up randomly. I also covered some of Duck Master Carl Barks work with the classics Night on Bear Mountain, A Christmas for Shacktown and Back to the Klondike, with more to come.

And the Duck didn’t stop at just reviews I did on my own: Kev comissioned two MASSIVE retrospectives from me: My first for him was Ride of the Three Caballleros where in just a few short months I covered the boys entire televisied careers together from the movie, to house of mouse, to mickey and the roadster racers, to ducktales (again) and finishing with the wonderful Legend of the Three Caballeros. It has probably the worst Daisy imaginable, but otherwise is really excellent and i’m glad I finally watched it. I also covered Don Rosa’s two stories with the boys as part of it. It was a fun ride and I enjoyed every minute of it... okay most of them again Three Cabs Daisy is the worst. And once that finished Kev started up another idea: Shadow Into Light: a look at Lena’s character arc from start to finish that has gone on to be my most popular series on this blog, and that finishes next week. And there’s more to come as after that there’s a short breather with a look at Lilo and Stitch’s crossover episodes.. folllowed by me looking at all three of season 2′s ducktales arcs. And I fully intend to have covered every episode of the series by this time next year, so stay tuned.

Outside of ducks though I didn’t slow down. I restarted my Tom Lucitor retrospective, covering what i feel to be one of Star Vs’ two best characters, tied with eclipsa, and my personal faviorite as he redeemeed himself, found love and I bitched a lot about the horrible directions the series took and probabably will more as that’s still not done yet. I did what I always wanted to do and started looks at some of my faviorite comics ever, starting with Life and Times and adding in New X-Men and Scott PIlgrim. I also threw in the awesome comic Blacksad. I did pride month for the first time and not only came out publicly, but also did two whole arcs i’m proud of with The Saluna episodes of Loud house and the rednid episodes of OK KO, and generally just had myself a good old fashioned time as an out bi man reviewing childrens cartoons.

I started Season 2 of amphibia with it’s lows of an endlesss road trip and highs of adding Marcy to the cast and giving us more of the silky voiced keith david. And finally Patreon wise Kev’s taken me on a hell o fa journey: In addition to the restrospectives i’ve covered some additional darkwing duck, and a simpsons homage to the duck comics... but also got a bit weird and obscure with detours like the lost animnaics sucessor Histeria, the apocalyptic comedy where Santa dosen’t know how doors work Whoops! and the adventures of Santa’s bratty teen daughter jingle belle. In short.. it’s been a long year but damn has it been fun and there’s more to come. I’d like to thank all of you for reading, thank my Patreons Kev and Emma for supporting me, and thank my family for doing the same. So with that out of the way, I figured the best way to celebrate was to do something i’ve been wanting to do for a long time, something honoring the show that gave me this calling in the first place. And with Season 3 sadly being the last, and enough weeks having passed for me to digest it between the finale and today, I could think of nothing better than my top 12 episodes of Ducktales.

Ducktales is one of the best cartoons of the 2010′s. Brilliantly taking EVERYTHING that had come before, the comics, the original cartoon and every bit of duck media period to craft a masterful, unique and wonderful reboot. It was funny, it was insane, and it had damn good character arcs. By the end every member of the main cast along with major supporting cast members like Fenton, Drake and especially Lena, had changed and signifigantly at that. The show was everything I could’ve dreamed of and more and I miss it terribly, hoping DIsney will do a revivial movie at some point. For now though, Frank and Matt’s run on ducktales, as they called it and I do too since i’m a massive comic book nerd, it’s time to look back on my favorite tales of ducks. So grab your sharks, your number one dimes and your friendship cakes with clear gay undertones and join me under the cut as I celebrate one of my faviorite shows and my anniversary in the best way possible.

12. House of the Lucky Gander!

So as i’ve gone on about before and no doubt will again, Donald kinda got the short end of the stick in season 1. While Frank and Matt had good story intentions, keeping Donald away from adventure since he had no interest in it, in practice it meant a beloved Disney Icon who they and disney HEAVILY promoted as part of the series and whose being here this go round was a big draw for fans of the comics.... was only in a quarter of the season and only got TWO plots centered around him in 23 episodes, with only one being the main plot of the episode. The PIlot and Finale both centered around the family more as a whole if your curious how I counted those so while he got plenty of focus in both, it’s still not a day in the limelight sort of thing.

But unusually for Donald, he lucked out as his one big starring role for Season 1 was both one of my faviorites and one of Season 1′s most inventive outings. A lot of the episodes enegy comes from a one two punch of a great guest star and one of the series best settings. The guest star is of course everyone’s faviorite overly lucky himbo Gladstone Gander. The show adapted the prick perfectly: The original Gladstone from the comics.. was the worst asshole imaginable, utterly insufferable. And for a villian, and Donald’s rival, that’s all well and good.. but his super luck meant he RARELY , if ever, suffered any consequences for being just...

The 87 series simply made him nicer, while Going Quackers simply removed his luck. No adaptation really got how to make this fucker work.. until this one. Here Frank split the diffrence: Gladstone is still smug.. but he’s no longer actively malicious. While he is an insensitive prick to Donald in this one, unlike the comics he’s not constantly bragging about his luck or how great he is or actively BAITING Donald to fight with him or trying to ruin his relationship or a million other reasons he sucks and I hate him.

This version by contrast... is generous. He’s not the most empathetic, because he doesn’t get how life works, but he does share the riches of the casnio with everyone and in a cameo appearance in “Treasure of the Found Lamp” gladly offers his nephews some diamonds. He’s got a nice surface level charm to him that makes you understand why people like him.. but it’s also clear ther’es nothing UNDER that of value, making you equally understand why Scrooge and Donald hate him. Gladstone in this reboot is a perfect example of why we need reboots or new adaptations in the first place: Because sometimes the original got something wrong or something can be done much better by the new writers.

He’s perfectly paired with the setting: The House of Lucky Fortune, a mystical casino with an East Asian astatic based in the country of Macaw and provides two great plots. Donald’s really highlights his character: His understandable jealousy at gladstone earning the boys love through nothing while he struggles to make a living for them, and how he feels like a looser and like Gladstone is simply showing that off instead of just not knowing what empathy is. Having Louie be the one to bond with Gladstone was also just pitch pefefct, as is showing some depth for the boy by having himr ealize his hero is an asshole and be the one to help donald in the end.

The other plot is just pure joy though and is where the setting REALLY shines: Scrooge and the rest of the kids try to leave.. but can’t find the exit. This is where the creative part comes in: The Casino simply morphs to keep people trapped, and caters to them, giving them whatever they want to keep them trapped. In the cases of the kids it’s all hilarious and adorably in character: Huey becomes entranced by a fancy water show, in one of his best bits of the season, Dewey gets a pet tiger who sadly did not come home with him and Webby gets to live the dream we’ve all had of stuffing her face directly in a choclate fountain. Scrooge’s escape is likewise clever: He simply prepares to get a room.. then books it as the check in desk is ALWAYS near the front.

We then find out Gladston’es trapped get the whole mystical contest with absolutely gorgeous animation, i’ll talk about it in full some time but this episode is just a treat to watch, has a great arc for donald and had some memorable gags. I can’t help but smile when I watch it.

11. The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee! As I mentioned before i’m a superhero nerd so naturally Fenton was one of my faviorite parts of the show. Frank and Matt were just damn good at crafting superhero stories, and like gladstone improved fenton turning him from an awkward donald stand in to an awkward peter parker-esque science nerd who just wants to be a good person and the best hero he can be. He got into science not just because he thinks it’s neat, but because he honestly wants to help people and you can’t help but foot for him whenever he pops up. Lin Manuel Miranda is a large reason for that, bringing his incomparable a-game to the character. While we sadly didn’t get a ton of gizmoduck focused episodes, the fatct we got AS MANY as we did and that Lin didn’t drop out for a minute even with his busy schedule was a miracle and I’m acknowledging that.

As for why this one, I feel it builds brilliantly on the previous Fentoncentric episode Who Is Gizmoduck?! which just BARELY didn’t make this list and uses the fact we haven’t seen fenton in a while as both a plot point and to move some things forward without having to spend screentime they clearly didn’t have. By having Fenton be just burnt out on superheroics it finds a way to both explain where he’s been, he’s been busy with his new job, and give us an interesting angle to the old “superhero is tired of the life” thing. He never once complains about saving people or stuff... it’s just like any job it gets tiring after a while. As someone who has his dream job but has struggled with it from time to time, I vastly relate.

Though while I love my boy and Lin is game as always, the episodes real MVP is my other boy Huey. The episode has moved Huey up from being simply Fenton’s fanboy to being his best friend, and adorable as hell relationship. The two clearly respect and appricate each other and Huey is looking out for his buddy the whole episode. His love of love is also just really cute. Added in the mix is Webby, who in one of my faviorite gags of the series, finds out Fenton is Gizmoduck because Huey is incredibly and insanely blatant with his unecessary coverup. But she of course is game to help while Fenton is trying to play it casual. We also just get a waterfall of great gags as everyone overdoes it wingmanning for fenton: Huey sets up an itallian bistro and tries to purposfully create a lady and the tramp situation, and sings opera (With Manny on acordian), the wonderfully 80′s suit from Fenton’s dad his mom gives him to wear, and Launchpad, who gives us a tremendous list of his exes, and plays my favorite song of the series: It’s a Date, a micheal mcdonnel riff.

This episode also wisely ups Mark’s Beaks game as Fenton’s arch enemy, still keeping him hilaroius, with the guy acting like a bored teenager and guzzling so much nanite jucie he turns into a hulk, as well as said hulk mode leading to a ton of great gags from kidnapping the children (”I got your kids.. are they your kids? I don’t know how this family works), to “take that coach dad” to eating a pie with tins and all and wondering about said tins. But he’s an actual threat now, taking on fenton in one hell of a fight, and having an utterly transcendent scene where he hacks his way past gyro’s security while dancing.. and dabbing because of course he does. It’s a fun, well done character piece that’s mostly here for i’ts laugh but Fenton’s struggle with Gizmo overtaking his life, and finding out someone he truly hit it off iwth only wanted him for that.. it’s really good stuff and Lin’s delivery after Fenton finds out, the pure pain and betryal in his voice, is just excellent. Also that opera scene is poetry.

10. Quack Pack!

One of the episodes that started my career naturally landed here. Not for that reason though: Quack Pack is a fun riff on sitcoms, specifically the tgif ones of the 90′s that Disney Afternoon Kids no doubt also watched, the kinds Disney Channel still makes today, and most importanly the kind the Disney Afternoon itself made like Goof Troop and well... Quack Pack.

Riffs on sitcoms are nothing new and the last year has been FULL of them. 2020 gave us this episode, Beef House and the wonderful “The Perfect House” episode of Close Enough, and this year gave us WandaVision, my second favorite MCU project so far, right behind Black Panther, which used the sitcom deconstruction to create one hell of a character study.

So you’d think with a year having passed and this concept happening as an entire mini series would dull this one.. but no. it’s still damn funny, having fun at the cliches while, again like WandaVision, having one of the main cast be responsible by accident but go along with it. The episode pivots from glorious affectionate parody of cheesy sitcoms, to that plus horrifying “Humans”, and a character piece for Donald. This brings Donald’s hatred and fed up ness with adventure to a head revealing his fondest wish is just to have a normal life and not loose anyone again.

It takes one of his best friends to snap him out of it. Look Goofy is my second faviorite of the sensational seven, an episode with him was already an easy sell for me.. but the episode uses him really well. First for laughs as he’s gentically dispositioned to be a perfect sitcom neighbor.. but also for heart. With his family preoccupied and a bit hurt, i’ts Goofy who cuts to the heart of the issue, pointing out NO ONE is normal and even his normal domestic life raising Max, who we see go to prom with roxanne eeeeee, has all sorts of chaos. Normal is what you make of it and pining for some ideal that will never happen was just tearing donald apart piece by piece and by letting go of that.. he finally begins to grow as a person throughout the season. It’s also a great thematic tie in to the season’s overall plot with Bradford and what Makes donald, despite also disliking the chaos his family gets into, different. Donald accepted it and grew as a person.. Bradford clung to his hate and it ate him alive. Or turned him into a non-sapient kind of vulture. Before I close this part out Jaleel White is also excellent and I wish eh’d get back into voice acting. He’s so freaking good at it. Seriously man i’d love to see him and ben in a sonic property together as a mythology gag. Same with Jims cummings and carey. Just think about it whoever owns the sonic movies.. think about it.

9. The Last Adventure!

Look I knew this was coming, you knew this was coming. But it had to be on here. The Last Adventure is not perfect: The lack of a build up episode like the previous two finales had really hurt this one: even at about 70 minutes, it still feels rushed in places and Huey, one of hte main characters of the season, dosen’t feel like he has a full payoff to his character like Dewey and Louie got.

But despite those flaws.. this episode is just a damn good ending. Almost everyone gets a big moment paying off their character arc, everyone in the party that comes to rescue webby and huey, along with the two themselves, gets a moment to show off, and everything comes together to give us one last epic sendoff. There’s just moment stacked on moment stacked on moment from Launchpads heroic second wind and donning of the gizmoduck armor, to Webby’s tearful confrontation with Beakley, to Huey using the greatest adventure of all line to foil bradford in one of the most deligfhully nuts moments of the series, I could go on for days with just how triumphant this finale felt. While it left a lot of doors open.. that feels like part of the design. It’s the end of the fight with FOWL.. but our heroes will never stop adventuring, never stop going and never stop being in our hearts and the curtain call at the end is now my faviorite bit of end credits ever, perfectly giving the main cast and friends one last chance to take a bow in their own unique ways. I will always miss this show but I will never be disapointed by the note it went out on.

8. The 87 Cent Solution!

Look some episodes are show stoppers, some are heartfelt tearjerkers, some are all this and more.. and some episodes are just clever and hilarious. The 87 Solution is the second funniest episode of Ducktales with me and my go to episode when watching the show. It’s just pure fun and with a clever premise: Scrooge notices 87 cents have gone missing, and already coming down with a cold, goes mad with paranoia as the kids slowly don face masks, something that has become even eeerier given everything, one by one realizing he needs to stop.

While David Tennant is an EXCELLENT dramatic actor, his comedy timing is really something that shoudln’t be ignored and i’ts on full display here as his performance gets more and more deranged, to thep oint he thinks an 8th dimensional imp is repsonsible. He nicely balances the disturbing side of Scrooge’s paranoia, his distancing from his family, with plenty of great gags about it too, the standout being when he offers 2 million dollars to whoever took the money like he’s publicly appeasing kidnappers. It’s fucking brilliant.

But while David is awesome as ever what really, truly makes the episode is my boy, one of my faviorite characters on the show if not my single faviriote FLINTHEART GLOMGOLD. Keith Ferguson is ALWAYS a dream as the character but this is his best performance by far. Part of this is the addition of Zan Owlson, Kev who I mentioned earlier’s faviorite Ducktales character. She’s not only throughly likeable in her own right, but provides the one thing Flinty was missing; a straight man.. or woman in this case. Scrooge wasn’t TERRIBLE in the roll, but can easily step away from his shit or foil it. Owlson has to put up with Glomgold’s nonsense while desperatly trying to stop him from undoing all her hard work with sheer force of jackass. The two jut play off each other brilliantly, Glomgold not getting sh’es not his employee but his equal and Owlson constnatly snarking at him.

And of course both things hit their peak in the climax with the family staging a fake funeral (Though no one told donald it was fake), and we get the funniest scene in the entire fucking show as Glomgold burts in in a white suit, money shades and full dance number to “All I Do Is Win’, which when first watching this I was convinced the song was somehow accidnetly on in the background but nope. They got it after using it in the test phase and the scene is better for it. Glomgold twerking on Scrooge’s casket, trying to get on it to dance, and having to be placated like ac hild is the icing on this very rich cake

And the reveal scene is also gold as Glomgold gets into a YEARLONG staring contest with a baby, fails to steal more than the 87 cents and, in my faviorite touch, put on an imp costume just to make scrooge seem crazier... then keeps the damn thing on the rest of the time for no explicable reason. The episode is the show at it’s comedic peak while giving Glomgold a chance to be a genuine threat and that’s Glomgood.

7. Let’s Get Dangerous!

Frank’s Rebooted Version of Darkwing Duck is probably his greatest achivment with the show. While this show is a team effort, something I slowly realized as I reviewed the show, it’s very clear from the way he talks, how well he knows the show and how much effort was put into porting Darkwing into the reboot that this was his baby. While redefining ducktales for the 2010′s was clearly a huge dream of his... doing the same for the master of suprise was an even bigger goal. And as a huge fan of superheroes i’ve seen my fair share of half assed takes on laired and complex characters. The XCU alone is one giant grab bag of missed opportunities for me.

So i’ts no exageration when I tell you Frank.. nailed it. In one of the most brilliant moves i’ve seen for a superhero work Frank worked his love of the show into the reboot.. by having Darkwing have been a show, one Launchpad loved.. and so did Drake, who was inspried by the show to become an inspriation himself and while his attempt to do that through a zack snydery reboot failed, Launchpad encouraged him to do it for real. Drake was still himself, but the meta aspect and the toning down of some of darkwing’s more obnoxious traits that didn’t work in a universe that, while patently rediciulous still took it’s characters seriously, he made a BETTER version of the character.

This is where all that comes to it’s peak, and hoppefully convinced Disney to let Frank , and possibly matt, run the reboot. And no, even if Point Grey is producing that dosen’t stop that: Thanks to Invincible i’ve now realized that Seth and his friend Evan producing the show dosen’t mean it’ll be RAN by them, nor unrelated to this. It just means their helping make it and if anything given how lush and gorgeous invincible’s animation is, it’s a VERY good sign their helping out with it if it’s true.

But wether this versoin continues or not, Frank gave it his best shot. Part of his diffrent angle is having Drake as a rookie here and as such here we see him truly struggle: he’s had his origin, he ahs the cape, he has the gadgets (in a brilliant turn thanks to fenton, who he actually likes... but is so far the ONLY person to not get he’s Gizmoduck), and the city.. but no crime to fight and no real idea how to go about his lifelong dream. The events of the episode slowly shape him: WHile he already had the spirit for darkwing, never giving up, looking good in a cape etc, this episode gives him the heart the same way it gave his original it: With Gosalyn. Dimantopolis and Beatriz just play off each other perfectly, as the two go from neimies to slowly bonding as Drake realizes this kid needs him and that he needs to fight for more than just filing the ohle inside, and goes to hell and back to help her get her grandpa back, with one of the best moments of the episode to me being when Launchpad helps her realize how hard he’s been working at it, an exausted drake refusing to acccept that he can’t get her grandpa back because he promised. He grows from simply trying to live the dream.. to surpassing the original. We also see more from Launchpad, who grows into his new family and helps push his boyfriend and newa dopted daughter in the right directions. The episode really evolves these characters from the simple disney afternoon versions, who while awesome were made into fully fleshed out characters. Gosalyn still has her edge but now has a hard lesson to learn about doing the right thing, forced to give up someone she loves for the greater good but finding a new family in the process.

Part of what makes the episode work though as while it is funcitonally one big darkwing duck reboot pilot that’s awesome, heartrending and a joy to watch... it’s still a ducktales episode in parts without either part hurting each other. Huey plays a vital role, figuring the ramrod is too good to be true.. and discovering just how it is, then when captured, slowly unravling why Bradford’s there and being at least in part responsible for outing him as a FOWL agent. While this is largely Drakes story the rest of the cast is still vital to it: Scrooge trusting in huey, Louie serving as his logical counter and Dewey meanwhile bonding with team darkwing and helping Gosalyn, knowing exactly where she’s been and providing a nice foil. The episode is just one long and impressive love letter to the original show while creating it’s own thing and that’s really this reboot in a nutshell. It also has some of the best fights of the series, with the first fight between darkwing and bulba, where our hero, unlike his original counterpart, easily troucnes bulba using his speed and skill, is the standout.

6. Woo-Ooo!

I covered this one recently so I won’t go on for too long.. but I will say I hold this one up as the gold standard for first episodes. In one hour, hell even in jus the first half we get a sense of the whole cast, the tone of the show, and the world we’ve been thrust into. It gets all the table setting out of the way by weaving it into a compelling story of Scrooge getting back in the game, finding a reason to get back to what he does best in those he loves most and setting up the season long arc effortlessly in the process. The worst I can say about the episode is it sets the bar a bit high for Season 1 and a lot of the first half really struggled to reach these heights. This episode is a masterwork and the perfect showcase for what the series would be at it’s height.

5. Moonvasion!

Speaking of Golden Standards, Moonvasion is one of the best season finale’s i’ve seen. it’s not THE best.. but that’s a really high bar to clear and that spots currently taken in my heart by “The Crossroads of Destiny” from Avatar the Last Airbender. But while not the best of it’s kind, it’s sitll the best the series put out and is an utterly satisfying epic that ties up season 2.

While I love the Last Adventure, it had a LOT to tie up and was really hampered by having to do all of that with no direct lead in. Moonvasion by contrast hits the ground running with the Moonlanders arriving on earth and all hell breaking loose, and the episode itself breaking into two stellar plots. Scrooge leading an army of every ally he has against the invaders, and Della seemingly going for reinforcements.. but really just trying to keep the kids safe from it, to their anger once they find out.

Both sides end up going badly: Scrooge looses most of his army as Lunaris was one step ahead of him and is left iwth Beakly and Launchpad, while Della ends up marooned.. and finds Donald. The reunion between the two is the highlight of the special, as the two argue as you’d expect (And Dewey cutting in seemingly to stop it.. only to rant at Donald for costing him “ten years of turbo” is the best gag of the episode), before embracing.

Our heroes naturally find ways to bounce back though. Louie, capping off his growth for the season, convinces his mom they can’t just hide.. and in the second best scene of the episode sings the lullabye she wrote.. one Donald sung them every night

And no sooner than Della gets her step back and realizes that dangerous or not she and her newly reunited family have to get back in there, do the cousins show up on Fethry’s giant shrimp/girlfriend Mitzi, and our heroes head back.

Scrooge’s plot hits i’ts peak though as he’s forced to accept the help of an unlikely and unwelcome ally: Glomgold, who turns out to be exactly what they need: While his plan is as stupid, short sighted and insane as you’d expect, complete with forcing Scrooge to dress up as santa just to piss him off and dressing his sharks in parkas (”I call them sharkas”), the sheer lonacy throws Lunaris off as he dosen’t know how to deal with this and Glomgold not only gets the better of him but gets his company back as part of his scheme. “You were prepared for our best but not our dumbest!” “And i’m the dumbest theirs ever been! Muahahahaha! Wait...”

And of course our other heroes arrive just in time to save things.. and the episode still manages to pull off what many works struggle to, something tha’ts very hard to: a SECOND climax. Lunaris decides to just say fuck it and blow up the earth and i’ts up to our core family to kick his ass in space. Epic space battles, Della’s girlfriend meeting the family and more insues and an emotoinal, action packed and fully satisfying finale is had by all... and it’s all topped with one of the best sequel hooks i’ve ever seen as FOWL makes themselves known to us.. and prepares to strike.

4. How Santa Stole Christmas! This one will also be short as i’ve talked about this one.. a lottttt. The initial review, my best christmas specials list and my best of 2020 list. I stand by all of that: this is a unique and wonderful christmas special, i’ll be watching it every year, and i’ts full of charm, humor and gay subtext. In short it’s this series but on christmas footing.

3. Last Crash of the Sunchaser!

Another one I covered very recently, this episode is a master piece of suspense, slowly building tension as our heroes get closer and closer to the truth about Della.. and to death, the simple but deadly stakes making this an absolute nailbiter from start to finish. This is some of the series best pacing bar none... but what seals it is the ending: the masterful flashback finally explaning whatever happened to Della duck, our heroes lashing out at each other.. all cumilating in the best Scene of the show. I said it might be in the review but no I can confirm: Scrooge bitterly ruminating over things while we find out just how much he’s lost... ending with him tearfully and angrily sitting once again alone in one hell of a powerful shot echoing Scrooge’s first apperance. Damn fine stuff.

2. Escape from The Impossbin Only one episode not only matches Last Crash in mounting tension and atmosphere but suprasses it. With FOWL and Bradford’s true nature now out in the wind, this episode uses that to create tension and rattles it’s two most unshakable characters: SCrooge’s normal boundless confidence is shot, not sure he can win this time against an opponent who knows him as well as he knows himself while Beakly slowly unravels, pitting Webby against the boys.. and pitting herself against Webby when Webby sees her terroizing them is only dividing them. Both plots start out funny enough but slowly escalate in tension and stakes until by the end your on the edge of your seat. The Beakly plot is the standout of the two, giving Bentina the starring role she badly needed, having gotten even better in light of the finale. Everyone is at the top of their game and everything builds up to one hell of a twist ending and one hell of a badass boast from our heroes: Their down.. but their far from out and this is far from over.

1. Nightmare On Kimotor Hill!

I”ll be reviewing this episode in full later this week as part of my Lena retrospective, but I stand by putting it up top. This episode is ducktales in it’s purest form and focuses on it’s best original character as Lena grapples with her self hatred and her past. That core helps anchor an amazing concept: going into the Kid’s dreams and finding out their greatest desires. The results.. are all gloriously rediclous and are easily the best gags of hte series as a whole: Dewey’s high school musical santa claus is going ot high school nonsense from getting a’s in Dewology to running away from the abstract concept of a love intrest, to not getting the sybolism of himself crying a moon made of his own tears. Louie quite literally becoming garfield, and my faviorite scene of the show: Huey, wanting to be the tall older brother..g iving himself horrifcly long leg. While everyone else is just understandably baffled, what makes the scene is the banter between Dewey and Huey, with Schwartz and Pudi at their best as Dewey first freaks out and then asks what the hell man, while Huey defends his weird decision (”I”m not good at imagination stuff okay!”), and then tries to get a jar of pickles. Each dream is just so oddly and wonderfully specific to each kid and each one of the triplests dreams, as well as violets being color coded down tot he backgrounds is a very nice touch. The visuals here are just peak ducktales, using the setting for all it’s worth and the climax is utterly emotoinal and heartbreaking... and Lena’s break from her abuser, finally realizing she has the power now is not only a wonderful metaphor... but also just so damn cathartic. And that’s why this one’s the best to me personally: it just packs so much into 20 minutes: some of the series best and most creative jokes, a gripping emtoinal arc, and so much more. It’s just that damn good and tha’ts why it’s the best... that and starting Huelet for me. Seriously that LIbrary scene is so fucking cute.

Thank you all for reading. If you liked this artcle, join my patreon and help me get to my stretch goal for monthly darkwing duck reviews, a review of super ducktales and more after! Until the next rainbow... it’s been a pleasure.

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b0sscrew · 5 years ago

Text

Hey, this is my first post!

Also, you know this person?

This person right here?

Yes, this person is a beautiful person. This person is very hard to miss.

Blame this person for this dumb and wonderfully beautiful idea that I love so much. So here we go.

Dugan Duck AU!

Now hear me out!

What if season three didn't happen. What if I threw out all of the cannon we know now and just focused on background characters, or relationships we rarely get to see? That's what I'm planning to do. (To be clear, Daisy is staying. I love her and she's never leaving.)

I've decided that Dugan is about five by the time he comes into Feathery's care. It makes sense, since Feathery has been in the lab for four and a half years. @drummergirl231-2 had the idea that Feathery never knew about Dugan because he was in that lab for so long, and I think it's brilliant. But I also think we could go further.

What if Mary didn't want Feathery to know about Dugan because she thought he would be too distracted from his work (or something, I'm still working it out). But one day Mary gets really sick and has no choice but to send Dugan to his Uncle Feathery. I can only think of the chaos and cuteness that would bring.

Just imagine it. Scrooge is in his office after the events of Moonvasion. He's minding his own buisness when Feathery's can rings. Scrooge begrudgingly answers to an almost panicked sounding Feathery, telling him to hury over. Against his better judgment, Scrooge goes to visit, dragging Donald and Huey along with him, because why not. They get there and Feathery shows them the last thing they'd expect. There's a freaking toddler on the floor, just laughing to himself as they all stare at him. Feathery explains the situation about the baby NONE OF THEM KNEW ABOUT, and how Mary had kept him a secret. He would tell them he was taking the kid in but had no idea what to do, and all three of the other ducks would immediately start 'helping' in their own way. Donald would be the only helpful one as the other two just play with Dugan the whole time. Donald tells Feathery the basics and Feathery takes little notes in a torn notepad he had in his coat.

JUST IMAGINE IT!

Also things our lovely friend thought of that I didn't and I decided to add onto.

1: Feathery would ask for help at the worst times from Donald.

Absolutely true! No matter how many notes he took he would think he was doing something wrong. So, of course, he would call Donald at wildly inappropriate times. I mean, he would call during normal times too but that's not the point. It doesn't matter the time or day. If Dugan is sick at three in the morning, Feathery is calling Donald to get advice, getting reassurance and a death threat instead, not that Feathery would notice the threat (He's not dense, he's just focused on Dugan once the threat comes out). Dugan refuses to go to sleep? Feathery calls up Donald for advice. Dugan is slow at learning something? Donald is on speed dial and is groaning before Feathery even touches the call button.

2: Feathery rambles about Dugan.

Not only does he ramble about Dugan, he's always thinking about Dugan too. Sometimes he'll be rambling about Marinebiology and accidentally replace some of the creatures with Dugan without even realizing it. His family would be proud that he found something knew to be one of his special interests, but even Mrs. Beakley and Donald would get tired of the relatable stories and constant questions. But no matter how tiring it gets there is a silent agreement to never tell Feathery to shut up while talking about Dugan.

3: He does surprisingly well as a father.

Yeah, he's far from perfect, but he has so many fatherly tendencies already, you would think he was already a dad. He's willing to protect others at the cost of his safety (and maybe his life). He'll stop what he's doing, no matter how much he loves it, in order to make others happy. He even knows so much of how to take care of sea life, like they're his kids. I mean, he sings to his krill to make them happy and glow, he makes the sea worms feel loved, and then there's Mitzy (I don't think I need to explain that one).

Now here are my ideas.

1: Feathery's job. (This one is partially inspired)

Scrooge would suggest a job as soon as he knew that Feathery had taken in a kid, but Feathery would refuse. He would want to get his job the old fashioned way and want to earn it. He would find a research job and work super hard at it. Once he got home he would work even harder to take care of Dugan. That persistence never goes away and he almost over does himself a lot of the time until he finally does crash and Dugan somehow calls Donald to come over, who sees what happened and takes over from there. Feathery works so hard at his job that when Donald calls his work and tells them Feathery can't come in they don't even ask any questions and let's the family go on with their life for the day.

2: Gladstone and Feathery are really close.

I love the idea that Gladstone and Feathery kept in touch while he was in the lab. Once Dugan was adopted Gladstone made it his mission to become even closer to Feathery. He visits on weekends, babysits when Donald is busy, and he even helps Feathery with money on bad days. They're just so close and Feathery wishes he could return the favor, but Gladstone turns the suggestion down every time since he's "the luckiest duck in the world". It's just so cute.

4: Ships!

Of course there will be Feathery ships. I just don't know which one to choose. Should I bring Gloria (his girlfriend from the comics) back or should I do a ship from Ducktales? I don't know but I'm so excited!

5: Feathery has bad nights.

Feathery already has trauma like Della does. He was stuck in the lab for so long without any human (Is it human? I don't know the term.) contact. I bet he would have nightmares about it, refuse to get out of bed at night because it reminds him of the lab, jump whenever he saw seamonsters on tv, or just get sad because one of his favorite things was partially ruined because of the experience. He just hopes it's not obvious to Dugan and that the fear doesn't grow onto him.

6: Dugan is a wild child.

Dugan is the wildest child and you can not change my mind! He's more hyper than Dewey and Webby combined and it sometimes scares Feathery because Dugan always wants to do crazy stunts. He's met Webby and wants to do what she does. He loves animals, specifically jungle animals. His favorite animal is a porcupine and really wants one for a pet. Instead, Feathery got them a hamster and named him Porky. Dugan loves Porky almost as much as he loves jungles and adventure. Another thing to know is nothing can stop him when he puts his mind to something... except Uncle Feathery. He refuses to make Uncle Feathery mad. He hasn't yet and he wants to keep it that way.

7: Feathery is a giant neat freak.

After leaving the lab he realized how much of a neat freak he actually is. So once he got a house, Feathery made sure everything was spotless. He met Dugan and one of the first things he taught him was how to be neat and do things by himself. He will not tolerate toys on the ground or drawings on the wall. He will, however, tolerate spills. Accidents happen and he'll clean it up later. He's not strict and he lets Dugan bend the rules on occasion, but Dugan is not allowed to break the clean house rule, and Dugan refuses to break it. It's an unspoken rule, but it's the biggest rule.

And that's everything I've thought of so far! If you're reading this please say hello to @drummergirl231-2 for me. And Drummer Girl, if you're reading this... I'm sorry.

Have a good day!

(I just realized I never explained who Dugan is... he's Feathery's nephew in a comic that's not originally in English, so most of this is from scratch.)

#ducktales #ducktales fanfiction #dugan duck #ducktales 2017 #ducktales au #feathery #ducktales Feathery #ducktales dugan #ducktales 2017 au

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sleepykittypaws · 5 years ago

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Animated Special Advent Calendar

Updated: December 23, 2019

Every year since my oldest first became interested in TV watching, we’ve watched classic Christmas specials annually. What started as a happy accident with an enamored three-year-old wanting a nightly dose of cartoon Christmas goodness, became a family tradition, and we now try and watch a different special every night between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, with family members rotating picks, youngest to oldest.

After mentioning this several times online, a few folks expressed interest in what we watch, so I’ll try to keep this page updated with daily entries, though I admit we’re not tyrants about doing this (it’s supposed to be fun!), so if we miss a night, we just try to watch two (or more) another time to catch up. The daily picks mean our line-up changes every season (variety is good!), though there are definitely a handful of annual must-watch specials on every family member’s mental lists, and we always finish on Christmas Eve with the 1966 classic, Dr. Suess’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

We’ve got a huge collection of DVDs and digital specials we own, but I’ll try and note where our picks are available to watch, if possible. And, if you’re looking for ideas to fill up your own Christmas Special advent calendar, you can check out my Top 25 Animated Holiday Special list, or the results of our Holiday Special Showdown, where 64 animated classics went head-to-head for viewer’s votes in 2017.

Nov. 28: We kicked things off on Thanksgiving with Phineas and Ferb’s Christmas Vacation, a music-filled Disney Channel original now available on Disney+ (Season 2, episode 21). It’s an annual must-see for us.

Nov. 29: Night two was British imports Robbie the Reindeer: Hooves of Fire and Robbie the Reindeer in Legend of the Lost Tribe. The first of these Aardman Animation originals is better than the sequel, but both still air annually on CBS. There’s also a third, UK-only entry, Close Encounters of the Herd Kind, that never made it to the US. Fun Fact: 100% of all 3 specials’ profits go to charity, as they were produced by Comic Relief.

Nov. 30: A Chipmunk Christmas. Though it had several DVD releases, they’re all of out print currently and this 1981 classic, a staple of my childhood, has become distressingly hard to find, even though we, personally, have multiple DVD copies.

Dec. 1: Our first special of December was The Happy Elf. This 2005 Harry Connick-voiced special got little love on its release, but is a family favorite. Rare to find on TV, it’s still widely available via digital or DVD, and worth checking out.

Dec. 2: With Frozen fever rampant, we revisited a lesser known entry in the franchise, 2016′s LEGO Frozen Northern Lights. This clever send-up isn’t specifically Christmas, but it’s snowy and so much fun. And it’s now available, though oddly broken into segments, on Disney+. (The Disney Channel is also showing it in one 30 min package all this month.)

Dec. 3: On this busy school night we needed something short, so I picked Pluto’s Christmas Tree, now on Disney+. Kids had never seen this 1952 animated short, and we all really enjoyed it.

Dec. 4: One of those days we wandered off the beaten path and tried the Opus-led A Wish for Wings that Work from 1991, based on the book and comic strip by Berkeley Breathed. A bit long for littles, but the ending landed, and it was a nice change of pace. Not streaming, but available very cheaply on DVD.

Dec. 5: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire was my son’s pick. This pilot episode for the 30-year-old series works as the stand alone holiday special it was first conceived as, and can be found on Disney+.

Dec. 6: Ducktales: Last Christmas! This fun, 2018 special can be found on Disney+ (season 2, episode 6 of the rebooted series). We watched it several times last year, and it’s just good as I remember. Timey-wimey fun.

Dec. 7: This 2006 direct-to-DVD release isn’t the classic Looney Tunes of the 1930s-40s, but Looney Tunes: Bah, Humduck (available digitally or DVD) is still a fun Christmas Carol take with Daffy as Scrooge and a fairly faithful adaptation of Dickens’ tale.

Dec. 8: Time for a classic: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, playing this year on Freeform, as well as CBS, and also available in an infinite variety of DVD collections and via iTunes.

Dec. 9: Did you know that Hallmark Channel used to make original animated specials? They did, and they were good, too! 2011′s Hoops and Yoyo Ruin Christmas was our pick last night and it’s smart, and cute, and fun. I miss that Hallmark Channel. Released on DVD, it’s out of print, but copies can still be found, and Amazon offers it for digital purchase.

Dec. 10: As a kid the anticipation of this special’s debut was almost too much to bear for my then, 7-year-old self. 1982′s The Smurf’s Christmas Special was my pick last night, and I vividly recalled how it was a such huge event for me at the time that I danced around the basement during the commercials, too full of excitement to sit. It isn’t streaming, but can be found on the still-available 2011 DVD The Smurf’s Holiday Celebration.

Dec. 11 and 12: Busy evenings the past few, so missed the 11th, but still managed to watch Merry Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda Holiday last night—and I almost managed to stay awake, too. (Both are on Netflix.)

Dec. 13: Duck the Halls: A Mickey Mouse Christmas Special, this charming, under-rated 2016 Disney Channel original is, oddly, NOT available on Disney+, though it can be purchased digitally or watched this month via Disney Channel On Demand. A family favorite since its debut.

Dec. 14: Last night, instead of a traditional animated offering, we had our annual viewing of (mostly) animated British Christmas adverts, which are a very big deal in the UK and, frankly, often more awesome than any 30 minute special. I’ve tweeted a lot about my love for these often tear-jerking mini-movies, but here are what I think are my top 5…5) From Sainsbury’s, 2018′s The Big Night builds to an awesome ending. 4) Sainsbury’s The Greatest Gift (2016) has an original song that’s become a Christmas favorite in our house. 3) John Lewis is the master purveyor of this emotionally manipulative—in the best way—three-minute extravaganzas. Lots to choose from, but 2014′s Monty the Penguin is probably my fave. 2) In 2015, Sainsbury’s delivered the perfect mix of comedy and heart with Mog’s Christmas Calamity. 1) And my fave—a bit of cheat since it’s Canadian—is Cineplex’s Lily and the Snowman. Seen it probably 100 times now, and cried every one. There’s plenty more to explore, from the UK and beyond, and falling down a rabbit hole of these ads on YouTube is an utterly delightful way to spend an evening. To get you started, here’s a compilation of what one YouTube reviewer calls the top 10 Christmas ads of 2019.

Dec. 15: Returned to a classic with 1969′s Frosty the Snowman, which still airs annually on CBS. Happy Birthday!

Dec. 16: Finally watched NBC’s new How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming, available on Hulu.

Dec. 17: My pick, and I chose a Rankin-Bass we hadn’t seen in a while, 1970′s Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town. Unfortunately, forgot how long and slow this one was. My kids were kind of bored.

Dec. 18: Shrek the Halls, which really is laugh-out-loud family fun. For some reason, this is the only Dreamworks special not on Netflix, but does still air annually on ABC.

Dec. 19: I have no clue how Olive the Other Reindeer, this super-charming, Drew Barrymore-voiced special about a dog who mishears a radio bulletin and thinks Santa needs her, didn’t become a classic. It’s not streaming, but is available very inexpensively on DVD and well worth a watch.

Dec. 20: How Murray Saved Christmas, another overlooked gem, this 2014 rhyming special first appeared on NBC, and is airing this season as part of AMC’s Best Christmas Ever. (It’s also available on DVD and digital.)

Dec. 21: As we realize we’re quickly running out of days till Christmas, time to make sure we pack in some classics, like, A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Dec. 22: Santa, Baby! This 2001special featuring Eartha Kitt is the last of the Rankin-Bass originals and it’s…fine. Lots of music and a magical partridge. Not something you see everyday. (Was available on DVD, now out of print, and can sometimes be found on YouTube.)

Dec. 23: Saving the best for (almost) last, the whole family got up this morning and watched Prep & Landing, and its sequel, Prep & Landing: Naughty vs Nice, in our jammies, to kick off Christmas vacation.

Dec. 24: Christmas Eve is always the 1966 version of Dr. Suess’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas to remind us all that Christmas doesn't come from a store. Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more.

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gamerfansims389 · 5 years ago

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Characters I Think Can (and possibly can't) defeat Alastor

You know. Different characters in Hazbin going up against Alastor one day in a full on power battle with him would be interesting. But what about other characters from other fandoms?

Disclaimer: Some characters from some fandoms, I haven't seen all of (like movies, shows and anime). So please keep that in mind.

I will also categorize characters in the following: High Chance, Medium Chance, Low Chance

High Chance meaning they could most definatley defeat him easily without any injuries or within the blink of an eye, Medium Chance, they could defeat him but it would take a while to, may take some injuries, Low Chance, will most definatley end up with injuries, maybe even come close to dying.

Please note: I don't hate Alastor. He's a really interesting character in my book. This idea has just been in my head for a while. And I wanna see if other people will agree and or disagree. You are also free to reblog this and add onto the list if you want to. This is an open topic to discuss. As long as it remains peaceful and civil. If it gets out of hand, I will delete this post.

This post may also contain spoilers from other shows, anime, cartoons, and movies. I'm leaving game characters out of this because I haven't played a lot of games in order to put those characters on this list. But you are free to add game characters if you wish. You have been warned of possible spoilers!

Anyways. On with the list. This also will be in no particular order power wise so yeah.

High Chance:

1. Mob/Shigeo Kageyama (Mob Psycho 100) (As of this post, I have 2 more episodes left remaining in Season 2. Do not spoil for me and for others please!)

Okay. Maybe not when he's at normal power (0%). But when he's at 100%, that boy is an explosive depending on what emotion he's feeling at the time of a situation. Yes, he has his rule of not using his psychic powers against others. But when the people he holds dearly are in danger of possibly dying or not, he is not a force to be messed with.

(An example of when he's at 100%)

2. Bill Cipher (Gravity Falls) (Spoiler warning!)

We all know of how powerful Bill is. He caused a Weirdmaggedon on Gravity Falls in the Season 2 finale. He froze time, he can grow, he can change his form, and he's been around since the beginning of time itself. Sure, he was defeated by Mabel and Dipper themselves a few times already. But as a whole, this triangle demon is pretty much an unstoppable force to deal with if you really look at it.

He also has a lot of similar qualities to that of Alastor. He likes to make deals, he likes to cause trouble, a lot of the citizens fear him, etc.

3. Kurumi (Date a Live) (Spoiler warning!)

It's been a long time since I last watched Date a Live. But from what I remember, this girl is pretty powerful. If my memory serves me correctly, she can freeze time, she can make duplicates of herself, she weilds a shotgun, she's quite a handful power wise. I haven't seen all of Date a Live. Just the 1st Season. So idk if other seasons/spin offs/OVA's/movies explore more on her powers or not (please don't spoil if it does).

4. Gon (Hunter x Hunter 2011) (Spoiler warning!)

I honestly do think that Gon has a high chance of defeating Alastor. We saw him duke it out with Neferpitou and he won for the sake of a friend. Just like Mob, he may not seem strong appearance wise but this boy has taken on some people much powerful than he is and won. Sure, his battle with the Chimera Ants almost left him for dead but he still made it out alive in the end thanks to Killua's help.

5. Elsa (Frozen, Frozen 2) (Please note I have not seen anything else Frozen related such as shorts. So I'm basing all of this based on what I have seen from Frozen. Any Frozen shorts that may have development on Elsa's powers! I have now seen Frozen 2 on YouTube due to a link but that doesn't mean you can spoil it for others!)

As rediculous as this may sound to some, she probably does have a high chance of defeating Alastor. We saw this girl make an entire ice castle just from her powers alone in Frozen within the course of a 2-3 minute song that everyone has embedded in their heads at this point in time. She can also change her outfits via her powers as well and make animate snow/ice creatures with her powers as well. Heck, we saw her freeze an entire kingdom which was the plot starter for Frozen! Again. Others may have other opinions. But this is what I think.

Medium Chance:

1. Celty Sturloson (Durarara!) (Spoiler warning!)

Like Date a Live, it's been quite a while since I last seen the entirety of Durarara so just bare with me on this. For those that don't know, Celty is a Dullahan, a creature from Irish folklore which is basically like their version of the Grim Reaper. Dullahans supposedly carry their heads around in their arms after they die. But in Celty's case, she lost her head and she kind of gave up on searching for it towards the end of the series. She can make a black ball out of an inescapable substance from her powers, she can make web-like structures with them as well, and she also does weild a scythe. Her motorcycle can also transform into different vehicles such as a horse (which is default), a bike, a carriage, etc.

2. Lelouch Lamporouge (Code Geass) (Please note that I have never completed this anime. I had like 9 episodes remaining in Season 1. So please don't spoil anything in regards to Lelouch's power development!)

I kind of have my doubts with Lelouch on this one since his powers require him to look at someone directly in the eye in order to possess them so he can command them to do something against their own will. But if he plays his cards right (which he's pretty good at doing), he could have a chance of defeating Alastor. Like I previously mentioned, I haven't completed all of Code Geass so I don't know the full extent of Lelouch's powers outside of Season 1. I already also mentioned Lelouch's powers previously, too so yeah lol. But yeah. I kind of have my doubts when it comes to him.

3. Yuu Otosaka (Charlotte) (Spoiler warning!)

Yuu would most likely have a medium chance of defeating Alastor because of his ability to harness other's powers. Keep in mind. It's also been a while since I've last seen Charlotte so bare with me on this one as well. I do think he would come out with some injuries because of the fact that he doesn't know the extent of other's powers that he has harnessed from them, he only knows about his own powers very well. If he's not careful, he could end up injured.

4. Albedo (Overlord) (Please note that I've only seen Season 1 so don't spoil anything that's important to Albedo's power development!)

I personally don't think Einz himself would go out to try to fight someone that's as powerful as he is unless it posed as a threat to his life and or his kingdom. So, I would think that he'd send his servants to survey the area of any potential threats and to get rid of them immediatley before they become a big threat. He probably wouldn't send Albedo out first but maybe she could be his 2nd to last resort before going to investigate himself. Either that or she'd automatically volunteer herself out of the sake of her love for Einz. Which, he'd probably agree with once the begging gets annoying.

5. Chrollo Lucilfer (Hunter x Hunter 2011) (Spoiler warning!)

This would be before he got his powers taken away and restricted into a state of Zetsu by Kurapika. He has shown to be pretty powerful. He made it out alive when fighting against two members of the Zoldyck family. But I think the only disadvantage to this would be the fact that he needs his Nen book in order to use other's powers. Without his Nen book, he's basically powerless.

Low Chance:

1. Ganta (Deadman Wonderland) (Spoiler warning!)

It's been quite a while since I've seen Deadman Wonderland. Bare with me here. So much like Gon, Ganta has taken on some pretty powerful Deadmen while serving his time in Deadman Wonderland after being accused of a crime he was blackmailed against for. I don't exactly remember his Deadman ability since it's been so long. But I do think he'd come out with quite a lot of injuries after challenging Alastor to a fight.

2. Decim (Death Parade) (Spoiler warning!)

The only thing I'm aware of power wise for Decim is that he can use web-like strings to hold people down after they've realized they're dead. I've heard quite a bit saying that he's based on the Greek god, Decima. Idk if that's true or not tho. But the extent of his powers is unknown and I highly doubt Death Parade will continue as an anime series. So I would think he has a low chance at defeating Alastor with all that we currently know on his powers.

3. Sebastian Micaelis (Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji) (Spoiler warning!)

A lot of fangirls will probably hate me for this. Lol. But I kind of doubt Sebastian could defeat Alastor without getting injured. We don't know the full extent of his powers yet despite also coming from Hell in that universe. So, that's the reason to my doubts.

4. Magica De Spell (DuckTales 2017) (Spoiler warning!)

This would be before the Shadow War! I'm also not going to discuss the 1987 show or the original comics since I've never completed the 1987 show nor have I read any of the original comics yet. So I'm only relying on what we've seen so far in the reboot. Like Bill, she was able to start this apocalypse by taking everyone's shadows from them. She trapped Scrooge in his own lucky dime in order to execute her plans. But I doubt she'd be able to defeat Alastor in all honesty.

5. Lena De Spell (DuckTales 2017) (Spoiler warning!)

Lena De Spell is the niece of Magica De Spell. She was created as a shadow with the appearance of the real girl in order to unwillingly help Magica with her plans to take over Duckburg in the exchange for her freedom. After Magica is defeated and powerless, Lena now currently possesses Magica's powers via her amulet. So she undoubtingly has some of the same powers that Magica had. But since she hasn't really had much character development/power development as of this post, I kind of doubt she could defeat Alastor without being injured.

Aand that's all. If you want to add to this post, reblogs are appriciated. Thank you!

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bolddeducktionneverfails · 6 years ago

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Launchpad’s Association With Della Duck: Ballads of Dangerous Chemistry

Part 1 | Part 2 || Part 3 | Part 4| Part 5 || Continued from Part 6

One of the many things I've noticed in DuckTales is that certain elements from earlier episodes tend to return in the later portion of the season. Sometimes as a running gag or an Easter egg, but other times, they end up revealing to be an important concept that's extremely relevant to the story.

The Season 1 finale was a good example of this: The boys hijacking Donald's Houseboat in the pilot to go to Cape Suzette comes back as Donald wanting to move there when the boys no longer want anything to do with Scrooge. The bag of marbles Scrooge gave the boys when they first arrive to the mansion comes back as a way for Scrooge to reminisce about having them around. The silly cutout of Gyro from "Beware of The B.U.D.D.Y System!" is seen floating around in the underwater lab after the area was destroyed by the shadows.

Sometimes it doesn't even take that long for the early elements to reappear; they can be contained within the episode itself by giving us hints in the very beginning of it and later come into play towards the ending. Scrooge was right from the start when he blamed Glomgold in "The 87 Cent Solution!" and the ending of the Darkwing Duck series finale basically foreshadowed the entirety of "The Duck Knight Returns!". If Della paid attention as she was attempting to fix the rocket on her own, she would have known about Gold Tech way ahead of time.

Two years ago at the D23 Expo, it was announced during the DuckTales panel that Duckworth was already shown, but no one had found him yet. Many of us searched around for the butler dog and every character we guessed was rejected by the show-runners. It wasn't until "McMystery at McDuck McManor" that Duckworth was revealed to be the ram-headed spirit we've been seeing in the intro! The answer to the mystery was right there in front of our faces! But we didn't realize it because the appearance of the person we were looking for was altered.

Bᴇғᴏʀᴇ Dᴜᴄᴋᴡᴏʀᴛʜ’s ʀᴇᴠᴇᴀʟ, ʜᴇ ᴡᴀs ʜɪɴᴛᴇᴅ ᴀᴛ ᴀ ᴄᴏᴜᴘʟᴇ ᴛɪᴍᴇs ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ʜɪs ʟɪᴋᴇɴᴇss ᴡᴀs ᴏʙsᴄᴜʀᴇᴅ: Tʜᴇ ɢʜᴏsᴛ ᴄʜᴀsɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ᴋɪᴅs ɪɴ Mʀs. Bᴇᴀᴋʟᴇʏ’s sʜᴏʀᴛ , ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʜᴏᴛᴏɢʀᴀᴘʜ ᴏғ ᴀ ғʟᴏᴀᴛɪɴɢ ᴏʀʙ ᴏғ ʟɪɢʜᴛ ᴏɴ Wᴇʙʙʏ’s ʙᴏᴀʀᴅ

Sᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇʟʏ ᴇɴᴏᴜɢʜ, Lᴀᴜɴᴄʜᴘᴀᴅ ᴡᴀsɴ'ᴛ ᴘʀᴇsᴇɴᴛ ɪɴ "MᴄMᴀɴᴏʀ" ᴀᴛ ᴀʟʟ ᴅᴇsᴘɪᴛᴇ ʟɪᴠɪɴɢ ɪɴ ᴀ sᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀɴsɪᴏɴ' s ɢᴀʀᴀɢᴇ...

This proves that we don't always have to look too far to figure things out, so, after thinking about amnesia, I had to take another look at "The Ballad of Duke Baloney!". It features a confirmed case of the condition and a good example of applying one similar character to another.

The episode begins with a flashback to the happenings of "The Shadow War!", a pretty significant event. Glomgold fails to prevent his shadow from flying off and ends up falling into the marina. He loses consciousness and is eventually found by two fishers, trapped in their fisher net. He can no longer remember the whole ordeal that caused him to take on his false Scottish persona and reverts back to who he used to be: Duke Baloney.

The name Duke Balony, derives from a completely different character named The Duke of Baloni. He comes from an old Carl Barks story that predates Glomgold's character and was the first to be titled "Second-Richest Duck in the World". The show-runners used this similarity as a part of giving an in-universe explanation to why Flintheart Glomgold went from South African like he was in the earlier Scrooge McDuck comics, to Scottish like he was in the original DuckTales series.

Four months later, after Flintheart is reported to have gone missing, Webby and Louie stop by Bait 'N' Such to find him as a completely different person: His demeanor is much kinder, he talks with a different accent, he sports a real beard and now wears a fisherman outfit.

Speaking of which, Duke and LP share a lot of similar colors. Even Young Duke wears teal and green; something that was mainly exclusive to both Launchpad and Della.

The kids aren't exactly sure what to think. Was this really Glomgold? Or were they mistaking a random stranger for him? Was he genuinely suffering from amnesia? Or was this another one of his crazy schemes? As they try to figure out his true intentions, they discover Duke has a suspicious, gold money clip in his possession. This causes Webby and Louie to start an investigation where they discover Duke Baloney's records are non-existent and Flintheart Glomgold's records do not extend past his arrival to Duckburg in the 80's.

Meanwhile, Duke's evil persona slowly starts to re-emerge after one of Scrooge's fishing boats roll into the dock. He can't remember Scrooge's name, he can't even remember his face when they meet, but he suddenly grows negative feelings towards the boat and he's not exactly sure why. He starts coming up with elaborate plans to outrank it and he ends up having a dream full of subliminal messages about his past.

As Duke starts to question who he really is, he notices that Webby and Louie are out at sea as a thunderstorm is approaching. He plans to go out and rescue them but a boat crane hits him on the head, causing him to fall into the marina much like he did before. It's in his second time of unconsciousness where he remembers why he started his Scottish persona in the first place: When Duke was a child, Scrooge failed at teaching him a sense of self reliance by only paying partially for his shoe shining services. Feeling cheated, he secretly stole Scrooge's money clip and vowed to do whatever it takes to out-best him at everything and steal his title of "Richest Duck in the World".

When Duke comes to at the surface, he reverts back to his evil ways. He displays this as he tricks Webby into giving him her hand only for him throw her out of the boat to make room for himself. The other fishers are very shocked to see their friend act like this.

Glomgold makes his way back to his office to reclaim his company from Zan Owlson and to challenge Scrooge with the fiscal year bet. Scrooge refuses until Glomgold taunts him with the money clip he had stolen from him. McDuck becomes surprised, and angry, that his greatest rival has a significant connection to his past.

So, if Launchpad has amnesia, what could Glomgold's situation be telling us about his?

Glomgold's amnesia was tied to a big event as well as LP's could be if he was involved with the cosmic storm.

Glomgold goes missing in the sea, an environment that is very similar to outer-space.

Following his disappearance, Glomgold ended up looking like a different person with a new profession. Launchpad is completely unrecognizable to Della in spite of many signs that they could have something to do with each other's backgrounds and there are also possible signs that he might not be a legitimate airplane pilot.

Glomgold had Scrooge's money clip on him. Maybe LP has some sort of mysterious item or something like a scar or a birthmark that could help prove that he's the father.

Information on both Duke and Glomgold is extremely limited. Launchpad's records probably don't go very far either.

Duke's sudden hatred for Scrooge's boat reminds me of Launchpad's sudden attachment to Dewey. The triplet hasn't done much to or for Launchpad prior "Terror of The Terrafimians!”; he caused a trap to dump a pile of snakes onto Launchpad without apologizing. Dewey doesn't show any concern towards him until he comes back from his search in "Gander"...and yet, Launchpad established him as his best friend. He may not even be sure why he does. I've been theorizing for the longest time that Dewey could be reminding him of Della.

In the Theme Song Takeover, Launchpad sings about being on the Houseboat with Dewey specifically without acknowledging that Scrooge, Donald, Huey and Louie are there too. He did a similar thing in “Jaw$!” when he simplified Huey and Louie as “Dewey’s Brothers”. Aside from giving us potential clues about Della, Issue 18 highlighted Launchpad’s friendship with Dewey as well. When he realizes the severity of the tsunami alert, he immediately grabs Dewey and wants to head to safety instead of thinking to grab both Dewey and Webby at the same time. The retail incentive cover for this issue features a bunch of Dewey photos with Launchpad facing them.

Duke has a dream full of symbolism revolving around his Scottish persona. Launchpad’s line in “The 87 Cent Solution!” when Scrooge causes Gizmoduck to accidentally shoot the Sunchaser with a torpedo, reminds me a bit of this. He said the situation reminded him of every nightmare he’s ever had....why is he having dreams of accidentally hitting Dewey with the plane? What does this mean? Is he afraid that there will be a day where he hurts someone he cares about? Has this already happened in the past?

Was the mishap reminiscent of what happened during the cosmic storm? Scrooge accidentally causes Gizmoduck to fire his torpedoes (lightning?), they hit the plane (spacecraft?), smoke fills the vehicle (radiation clouds?) and he comes close to hitting someone he cares about (Della?)

After seeing the boat, Glomgold's old ways start to creep back into his mind. I think after being exposed to Della's presence for the first time in years, Launchpad will start to act a bit like his older self and do things that Della will recognize.

Glomgold had to get knocked back into the sea to return to how he normally is. Will Launchpad have to have another stressful incident or head injury to help him remember who he was?

There's a line from "The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest!" where he says "NO! This is not the end of Launchpad McQuack! It WILL be by plane crash, or not at all!" Was that possibly hinting towards this?

Duke actually says a line a bit similar to this where he says “All I need to know, is that I came from the sea...and I’ll die buy it...”

A thunderstorm was involved and a rescue was underway, just like how Della could have been trying to rescue the father while she was caught up in the cosmic storm.

Glomgold's beard gets zapped with lightning from the storm, burning it into nothing. Launchpad possibly implied that he himself survived a lightning strike of some sort.

This episode was about a villain turning back into a good guy after losing his memory. Did Launchpad use to be a bad person? Or someone who was generally good, but made a bad decision? Or just unknowingly caused a bunch of bad things to happen? If Launchpad was the reason behind Della taking the Spear, then it’s partially his fault for Della getting stuck on the moon, losing her leg, Donald and Scrooge's separation, the boys growing up financially unstable without a mother, the depletion of the Money Bin, almost making Scrooge go bankrupt, Scrooge's retirement and depression, the family splitting up for a second time, Donald being sent to jail and the upcoming invasion. Even if the incident was beyond his control, he'll still feel horrible about causing such a chain reaction.

Not really counting on this, but if amnesia caused Glomgold to revert back to his original accent, could breaking out of amnesia cause Launchpad to revert back to his? In the original DuckTales series, Launchpad had more of a Northeastern accent. There are certain points in the cadence of Della's voice that reminds me of how Launchpad speaks in the reboot; more notably when she slips into a lower register

"Iiiit's fiiiine, I'm sure the flavor will wear off soon…"

"I've activated my distress beacon, so you can pinpoint my location and COME GET ME."

"I bet the boys have hatched by now... I'm not even sure what they look like…"

"I was gone for a decade and everyone was just fine…"

Glomgold's change in voice was brought on by copying off of Scrooge. Perhaps Launchpad is emulating Della in that way as well.

There are a few other lines in this episode that reminded me of some lines Launchpad has said in the previous season:

When Duke shares his crazy plans to outdo Scrooge's boat by over-fishing, Mann makes a comment.

"...But it's like you always say, 'sharing is caring'."

Duke takes a moment to think about this.

"That does sound like me...or does it?"

This reminds me of the scene in "The Spear of Selene!" where Scrooge orders Launchpad to get the plane back in the air after crash landing on Ithaquack. Launchpad responds.

"Sorry, Mr. McDee, gotta figure out what this flashing red light means. I always say: Better to be safe than... whatever the opposite of safe is!"

He then looks off to the side with uncertainty afterwards, like he's not exactly sure where this phrase came from, but he could have sworn he said it at some point.

"Yeah, I do say that.”

But then Scrooge fires back.

"WHEN HAVE YOU EVER SAID THAT?!"

Could this little break in character be implying that Launchpad was a safer person at some point in his life?

When Duke notices Webby and Louie out at sea when the storm is about to start, he begins to speak.

“I'll save ya! Or my name isn't--”

But then he gets hit with a crane and falls into the water. This reminds me of LP's quote in “The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck!” when he's trying to help Scrooge win his parents’ approval. In disguise, he says

“He's a real family man or my name isn't Launchpad Mc...Donald Duck.”

We all know he isn't Donald and he was close to saying Launchpad McQuack wasn't his real name.

This may not count, but When Duke reached out to Webby and said “Give me your hand!”, it reminded me of when LP said the same thing to Dewey in “B.U.D.D.Y” as well as Scrooge in "Last Crash" when he's going after Dewey outside of the plane. Duke pulls Webby into the water and the limo rides over a rock causing Dewey to come out of the self-driving car and fly out of LP's grip.

After developing my new theory about Della and Launchpad's connection, I later realized how the two episodes I’ve been zeroing in on the most, are next to each other in order of production. One dealt with the ideas of genetic mutation in a space-like environment, combined with the concept of going on a secret trip to meet up with a family member and a lover. Then right after that, there's the idea of someone having amnesia after a big event causes their long absence and then struggling to figure out who they really are when elements from their past start to seep back into their life. A connection between the two is looking very likely. Both stories were set in aquatic places and may have even occurred around the same time. I came across a theory that Huey, Dewey and Launchpad visited the Mid-Atlantic ridge while Webby and Louie went fishing, which would explain why they weren't present in the other's episode. __

If Launchpad was affected by the cosmic storm, what else could it have done to him aside from changing the way he looks?

I've put together a list of abilities he may have gained from this:

Immortality

In "The Most Dangerous Game...Night!" Louie tells Huey that he's convinced Launchpad is immortal due to the amount of plane crashes he's survived. LP doesn't respond to this comment and later refuses to answer Huey about how he survived the Tower of Infinity when it collapsed.

I think there's enough weight to Louie's remark for it to be more than simply a one-off joke because there are multiple times where he's shown to be pretty resilient. Launchpad can get sick or hurt, but he recovers incredibly well to injuries and has, as Fisher said when he was describing Duke, "a freakishly high tolerance for pain".

After the snakes from the Atlantean trap bit him, he brushes the situation off like it's not a big deal. He's hindered by the venom, but he's still conscious enough to climb down the bridge when it breaks (for the most part) and helps Webby to lie to her grandmother by posing as a Swedish person. When Glomgold announced that he's about to blow up the city, Launchpad’s facial swelling suddenly goes down and he’s well enough to quickly drive the sub to safety. Also, when Launchpad returns to the Sunchaser after looking for Ziyi, a bunch of arrows are pierced through his armor and he has an eye-patch over his eye. He’s winded by having to run to the to the plane in time and escape the danger he went though, but he isn’t wincing from his injuries. He isn’t really fazed by them at all.

Sᴛᴏʀᴋᴜʟᴇs sᴇᴇᴍs ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴀ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇʜᴏʟᴅᴇʀ ғᴏʀ Lᴀᴜɴᴄʜᴘᴀᴅ ᴡʜᴇɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ʜᴇ's ɴᴏᴛ ᴘᴀʀᴛɪᴄɪᴘᴀᴛɪɴɢ ɪɴ ᴄᴇʀᴛᴀɪɴ ᴇᴘɪsᴏᴅᴇs. Pᴇʀʜᴀᴘs ʜᴇ ʀᴇᴘʀᴇsᴇɴᴛs Lᴀᴜɴᴄʜᴘᴀᴅ's ɪᴍᴍᴏʀᴛᴀʟɪᴛʏ ɪɴ ᴀ ᴡᴀʏ.

Strength

“The Missing Links of Moorshire!” is a good example of Launchpad’s strength. Towards the end of the episode, he’s shown to lift Huey, Dewey, Louie, Webby and Scrooge with ease. Even earlier in the episode, he’s able to push a water-logged golf cart out of a lake, which on average is somewhere between 900 to 1100 lbs when it’s dry.

The cosmic storm may have increased his strength, but the workout equipment in his room would indicate that he needs to maintain it to a degree. Maybe it's a Hercules-type situation; even during his weaker points, he’s still pretty strong, but working out just makes him even more abnormally strong.

Agility

As seen in “Shadow War” and “Duck Knight”, LP is a very capable fighter. He has good reflexes, allowing him to dodge most attacks. Even though the venom from the snakes impaired him, he was still able to defend himself from Glomgold’s henchmen. In “Last Crash”, he ran on top of falling items to keep himself from falling out of the plane. And when he was fighting off the shadows on top of the plane, he never lost his balance.

Speed

I'm not really sure with this one, but in "Game Night" Launchpad was able to make it over to Louie and Huey after getting struck with the shrink ray. Perhaps this was ignored for convince, but running fast would explain how he was able to survive the collapse of the Jenga tower.

Aquatic Respiration

I think this is starting to become more apparent. After "Whatever Happened to Della Duck?!" aired, I started to wonder if Launchpad may have used Oxy-Chew when he went to visit Oceanika. But after "Friendship Hates Magic!"....I don't think this is the case. In the scene where he's drinking pea soup through a silly straw, one of the peas gets stuck and he struggles with it until his face starts to turn blue. He faints and all the air in his lungs exits his body before face-planting into his bowl. Then he makes a muffled inhaling noise without choking…

Lᴀᴜɴᴄʜᴘᴀᴅ sɪᴛs ɪɴ ғʀᴏɴᴛ ᴏғ ᴀ ᴘᴀɪɴᴛɪɴɢ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ sᴇᴀsɪᴅᴇ ᴀs ᴛʜɪs ɪs ʜᴀᴘᴘᴇɴɪɴɢ.

In “Neverrest”, Launchpad keeps his mouth open as he falls into the hot spring and doesn’t gasp for air when he bursts out of it. When he comes back to the lighthouse in "Depths", he simply resurfaces with no problem. He isn't panting for air until he has to climb up onto the platform, which can be a bit tiring after staying in the water for so long. So, uh...I guess Launchpad has gills somewhere on his beak...? Granted, if he did have Oxy-Chew at some point, he could have ended up swallowing it; I mean, that stuff is pretty powerful when you chew it alone, but I'm leaning on mutation with this one.

Electrical Powers

After getting caught in a cloud full of radiation and lightning, it would make a ton of sense for Launchpad to have some sort of connection to electricity. But what kind of connection exactly? Can he generate his own? Can he bend and levitate metal objects to his will? Does he serve as a special conductor? It's really hard to tell since there aren't any on obviously examples, but perhaps there could be something with the latter option.

The ending to “The Spear of Selene!” was very baffling. During my first viewing, I thought Launchpad was scared to leave the plane for some reason, but he ends up disassembling the plane; preventing the family from leaving and bringing him out in the open. Then, during my latest viewing, I realized that the plane isn’t simply taken apart, it looks like it was ripped apart. The pieces are damaged...one of the engines are chipped and dented, one of the propeller blades are also chipped, the tail of the plane has a cracked wing, the control board is all dented with the yoke snapped off...was he really that obsessed with figuring out the problem that he couldn’t just use tools to separate the plane properly? This made me wonder if there could have been an explosion from inside of the Sunchaser. Could another lightning bolt have hit the plane and it was strong enough for Launchpad to react to it? The first time the plane was struck, he’s quickly able to engage a control to stop it from affecting the plane.

The plane parts don’t seem to have any burn marks on them and Launchpad’s clothes aren’t singed or anything, so perhaps there was a different kind of electrical mishap or something that resulted from another side effect of the cosmic storm.

Sixth Sense

Maybe this is purely for meta humor, but LP seems to have this underlying fourth wall-y awareness. At the end of “Moonshire”, the camera is gone, but he still faces the audience and addresses the lesson to be learned. He then undercuts himself as if he didn't want us to know how insightful he is.

In "Terror of The Terrafimians!", he questions if Huey, Webby and Lena were the only three missing from the group when Magica technically counts as a fourth person.

Good Hearing

You would think that after constantly hearing the sound of breaking glass and denting metal on a daily basis, it would take a toll on Launchpad's hearing, but he seems to be a good listener.

Even though we weren't able to see his reaction to Scrooge's story about the Spear of Selene, he must have heard it in spite of being all the way on the other side of the plane and being sorta barricaded by a bunch of stuff to help balance the weight. If the boys informed him about what happened, he would have taken their word for it when he was talking over the intercom in "Shadow War", not point out how they’re the ones who blame Scrooge.

After "Nothing Can Stop Della Duck!" aired, I've been trying to figure out how Launchpad knew that Della was in the houseboat. She wasn't being very loud and he said "Thought I'd come over to introduce myself," implying that he knew about her being in there and stalled afterwards. He could have seen her as she was walking to the other side of the pool to board the houseboat, but it would have to have been somewhere where she wouldn’t have been able to notice him. Maybe looking out the window from inside the house. If not, he could have heard her in the boat as he was passing by. She didn’t start talking until around the time he came over, so if this were the case, he would have already known whose voice it was coming out of the houseboat. If he knew about Della being in the mansion this whole time, why did it take him so long to talk to her?

Weight Manipulation?

Part of me sorta wonders if LP has the ability to make himself lighter when he needs to be; holding back so he won't hurt anyone. This would explain things like how Scrooge was able to save LP from falling out of the plane in “Last Crash” without dislocating his shoulder and how Webby was able to knock LP down in “Shadow War”.

But then again, determination, anger and stubbornness act a bit like super powers to some of the characters. It gives them a boost of strength when the stakes are high and allows them to do things they wouldn’t normally be able to do or shouldn't be able to do based on their body type. Scrooge was able to throw everyone off of him in “87 Cent Solution”, and enjoys swimming around in one of the most heavy metals in existence. Huey dragged LP back to the log in “Only Child” even after he wasn’t able to lift any part of that log. He was also able to lift three kids along with his uncle in “Moorshire” and was strong enough to keep the demon dog at bay in “McManor”. Then there's both Drake and Jim who can go through a bunch of injuries and still get back up after them.

This guess, along with the others I've discussed in this list, might just be part of cartoon logic and isn't meant to be an indication of anything outside of humor or convenience.

The Ability to Be Manipulated?

As I was putting this list together, I suddenly thought: If there's a Greek connection to the cosmic storm, what if Zeus is able to manipulate LP similarly to how he was able to manipulate Storkules with the siren? If Launchpad does have good hearing, what if he heard the siren and that's what caused him to destroy the Sunchaser? Launchpad loves music and, as seen in "Sky Pirates", gets easily distracted by it. The plane was fine when Donald was trying to leave the lightning barrier, but then after the singing and fighting continued, it's in shambles.

Zeus used the siren because he knew it would affect Storkules directly. Scrooge, Huey and Louie were not affected by the singing after later taking their hands from over their ear...holes. Dewey, Webby and Selene couldn't be affected because the temple was way up high on the island. The Sunchaser, however, was located right around the corner. Since Zeus wasn't affected by the siren either, perhaps there's something in the lyrics that affects immortals who rank lower than himself.

Back in April, I observed the Spear manual scenes in “Whatever Happened” and noticed that “DT-87” and “DT-18” were mentioned. These are abbreviations for “DuckTales 1987”, the year the original series came out and “DuckTales 2018”, the year Season 2 premiered. The numbers “7-15”, “7-16”, “7-18” and “207” were also featured.

“207” as well as the other 7’s refer to “Whatever Happened”’s production code, so I figured 15, 16 and 18 were also referring to other Season 2 episodes that might relate to 7. So far, Episode 15, "The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee!" and Episode 16, "The Duck Knight Returns!", have provided things that could be leading up to why Della took the Spear and how it could have to do with the father. Launchpad was present in both episodes, and both shared some similar themes.

Episode 15 opens up with a thunderstorm storm. Gizmoduck is facing off against an evil scientist named Dr. Atmoz Fear, who's taking advantage of the storm by using one of his devices to manipulate the lightning. When he tries to zap Gizmoduck with it, it reminds me a bit of Gyro and his shrink ray in "Game Night".

Dʀ. Aᴛᴍᴏᴢ Fᴇᴀʀ sʜᴀʀᴇs sᴏᴍᴇ ᴄᴏʟᴏʀs ᴡɪᴛʜ Lᴀᴜɴᴄʜᴘᴀᴅ: Hᴇ ʜᴀs ʀᴇᴅ ʜᴀɪʀ, ᴀ ɢʀᴇᴇɴ sʜɪʀᴛ, ᴀ ʙʟᴀᴄᴋ ᴍᴀsᴋ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴏʟᴏʀs ᴏғ ʜɪs ғᴇᴀᴛʜᴇʀs ᴀɴᴅ ʟᴀʙ ᴄᴏᴀᴛ, sᴇᴇᴍ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ɪɴᴠᴇʀsᴇ ᴏғ LP's ғᴇᴀᴛʜᴇʀs ᴀɴᴅ ғᴜʀʀᴇᴅ ᴄᴏʟʟᴀʀ.

After the villain is defeated, Fenton meets Gandra, someone else who also works in the scientific fields. Unlike Fenton, who's more professional with his work, she's more on the rebellious side. A similar thing can be said about Della and Launchpad when it comes to aviation.

Fenton schedules a science date with Gandra, but he's very hesitant to call it such. If Della took the Spear because she was trying to save the father and failed, I can see her being very hesitant about getting back into a romantic relationship.

On their way to pick up Gandra in the limo, Launchpad conversates with Fenton by going down a list of special someone’s he’s previously dated. A couple of mentions in this list caught my attention; the first being how Launchpad claims to have dated a clone of himself. I think this is a meta thing we aren't supposed to take seriously. Because...why would this be suggested if a legitimate clone of yourself is basically your twin sibling, your child or somewhere in-between that...? Maybe it’s just me, but he blinks rather oddly right after he says this. There's also a pause as he stops the limo and begins to furrow his brow. Either he’s thinking really hard about everyone he's dated or he's a bit confused to where these more weirder memories are coming from.

What makes it even harder to take this clone claim seriously is that this is the same character who thinks Fenton is an actual robot because of the Gizmo suit and who also confused someone for a yeti in “Neverrest”. The word "clone" does have a non-literal meaning, so if we consider this and break it down...LP previously dated another goofy pilot who tends to wear teal and green, has a positive outlook on life in spite of all the hardships they face, never gives up, loves adventure, loves family, and doesn't like the idea of being replaced...?

I’ve joked to myself in the past about Della sort of being a female version of Launchpad due to their colors and how they have a similar way about themselves. Della's character pre-dates Launchpad but she was never described as a fearless pilot until the "Family Ties" comic was released in 2014, twenty-seven years after DuckTales debuted. (This comic is where the reboot got its inspiration for Della's character and story arc.)

If LP really does have amnesia, he can’t remember Della as a person, so it would be easy for him to consider her as a copy of himself. Scrooge made it extremely difficult to get information about Della after she went missing so anything that Launchpad is emulating from her had to be based on knowledge prior to that point.

Another reason why this could be a sly reference to Della is because every time we get information about Launchpad’s love-life, we’re always given something that can be traced back to Della: Della isn’t a deadly ninja, but Ziyi’s situation in “Gander” involved her disappearing and possibly leaving her offspring behind. (I’m assuming Ziyi was being referred to due to the order of the list and being the only previously mentioned lover with an Asian background. Perhaps she has some Japanese origins as well as Chinese.) Della isn’t a forbidden mermaid, but Oceanika’s situation in “Depths” involved her calling out to Launchpad in a sing-song manner, wearing similar colors to both Launchpad and Della, and ended with Launchpad returning with a golden spear and trio of color-coded sea creatures that come from eggs. One of Launchpad’s lines in “The Twelve Days of Christmas” involved his true love giving him “eleven planes a-flying”. Regardless of how strange that statement was, it still planted the idea that there are two Launchpads, which technically, may be true persona-wise.

Tʜɪs ᴍᴀʏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ, ʙᴜᴛ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ Tʜᴇᴍᴇ Sᴏɴɢ Tᴀᴋᴇᴏᴠᴇʀ, ᴀғᴛᴇʀ Lᴀᴜɴᴄʜᴘᴀᴅ ʜɪᴛs ʜɪs ʜᴇᴀᴅ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴏɢᴏ ᴄʀᴀsʜ, ʜᴇ sᴇᴇs ᴀ ʟᴀʀɢᴇʀ ᴠᴇʀsɪᴏɴ ᴏғ ʜɪᴍsᴇʟғ ᴏᴜᴛsɪᴅᴇ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡɪɴᴅᴏᴡ. Nᴏᴛ ᴏɴʟʏ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴛʜɪs ʙᴇ ʀᴇғᴇʀʀɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ Lᴀᴜɴᴄʜᴘᴀᴅ ʙᴇɪɴɢ ᴛᴡᴏ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ, ʙᴜᴛ ʜᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ sᴛᴏʀᴍ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ɢʀᴏᴡ ʙɪɢɢᴇʀ ᴛʜᴀɴ ʜᴇ ᴡᴀs ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀsᴛ.

The second mention in Launchpad’s list of lovers that caught my attention was the talking cloud of energy. Similarly to the pause after talking about a clone, he gets cut off right after he says this. A cloud of energy is basically a cloud full of lightning and that reminds me a lot of the cosmic storm. Since the cloud had the ability to talk, could this claim be based on a memory of Della trying to contact him while he was in the cosmic storm?

Fenton and Gandra’s date takes place at night in Gyro’s underwater lab. The moon is mentioned and it’s likeness is sort of shown through the string of lights used to decorate the room. Outside of the lab’s window is a starfish that is colored with a shade very close to Fenton’s purple shirt. He sits on the side of the table where the creature is located. The scenery is reminding me of the sea-space connections the show has been making. The starfish not only reminds me of stars in general but how the blue starfish attached to Launchpad at the end of “Depths” was a similar color to Della’s teal scarf. I’ve noted in another post that the starfish could have to do with Della because it also shares traits with Dewey and he’s constantly being compared to her, but what makes Della even more like the starfish is her ability to adapt. She lost her leg, but she was able to make a new one. Starfish can regenerate their limbs when they lose them.

When Fenton shows Gandra his Fentonium project, he described the invention as "An innovative generator from a mild-mannered source." If Launchpad has any electrical powers, this makes me wonder if they'll eventually be put to scientific use.

It’s later revealed that Gandra is a spy working for Waddle. Her main objective for going on a date with Fenton was to get him to say his Gizmoduck passcode to activate the nanite serum she made for Mark Beaks. For Gandra, the nanites gave her the power to deliver electrical shocks. For Mark, the nanites enhanced his body by giving him a muscular physique, a more prominent chin and gruffer voice to go with it.

Tʜᴇ ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇᴘᴛs ᴏғ ᴇʟᴇᴄᴛʀɪᴄɪᴛʏ ᴀɴᴅ ᴇxᴛʀᴇᴍᴇ ᴘʜʏsɪᴄᴀʟ ᴛʀᴀɴsғᴏʀᴍᴀᴛɪᴏɴs sᴇᴇᴍ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ɪɴᴄʀᴇᴀsɪɴɢ. Tʜᴇ ᴍɪᴅ-sᴇᴀsᴏɴ ᴛʀᴀɪʟᴇʀ ғᴏʀ Sᴇᴀsᴏɴ 2 ғᴇᴀᴛᴜʀᴇs ᴀ ᴄʟɪᴘ ғʀᴏᴍ ᴀɴ ᴜᴘᴄᴏᴍɪɴɢ ᴇᴘɪsᴏᴅᴇ ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ Hᴜᴇʏ ᴛʀᴀɴsғᴏʀᴍs ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴀ Sᴜᴘᴇʀ Sᴀɪʏᴀɴ ɪɴsᴘɪʀᴇᴅ ᴠᴇʀsɪᴏɴ ᴏғ ʜɪᴍsᴇʟғ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴀ ʟɪɢʜᴛɴɪɴɢ ʙᴏʟᴛ ʜɪɢʜʟɪɢʜᴛ ɪɴ ʜɪs ʜᴀɪʀ. Lᴀᴜɴᴄʜᴘᴀᴅ ᴀɴᴅ Mᴀʀᴋ ᴀʀᴇ sʜᴏᴡɴ ʀɪɢʜᴛ ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ ᴛʜɪs.

After the secret plan unfurls, Fenton turns into Gizmoduck. He responds to Mark's mutation:

“You've always been a monster, but now, you are a literal monster!”

This reminds me a lot of the monster stuff in "Terror". I always feel weird when I try to make sense of that portion of the plot because I feel like I haven't figured it out yet, but something is definitely going on. Since that episode has aired, there have been multiple cases where a character is considered a physical or figurative monster and whether that makes them a good person or a bad person. And there's always an "M" alliteration tied to it:

Mole Monster and McQuack in “Terror of The Terrafirmians!”

"I can't believe my best friend is a mole monster..."

"Wait...am I a mole monster? But I'm a good guy! Then that means...mole monster can also be good guys."

Magica and Monster in “The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck!”

"They'll turn on you; call you a monster!

“You’re the monster here! And I know just the hunter to take you down...”

Monstro and M’Ma in "Who Is Gizmoduck?!"

"Eres un monstro, Diego!"

Monster and Mitzi in "The Depths of Cousin Fethry!"

"She's not a monster, she's a Mitzi!"

Moon Mite and Mother in "Whatever Happened to Della Duck?!"

“The mite isn't a monster, it's a mother!"

In an earlier post, I began to wonder if it would end up circling back to Launchpad since he's the one who started it. I thought maybe he'd feel like a monster in a figurative sense for accidentally abandoning his kids, but now it could also be something involving his genetic mutations. Maybe even a betrayal or theft of some sort since those concepts seem to be lingering in the background.

With all these M's going on and the high possibility of Launchpad's foreign names being used for Huey and Dewey, perhaps Launchpad's real name is Maxwell as in his Danish name, Max Motor. Joseph as in his Spanish name, Joe McQuack could also be another possibility. Since HDL went from more outlandish names to more plausible names, it's likely Launchpad's real name is something more standard.

Lᴀsᴛ ʏᴇᴀʀ, Dɪsɴᴇʏ ʀᴇʟᴇᴀsᴇᴅ ᴀ sᴇʀɪᴇs ᴏғ sʜᴏʀᴛs ᴄᴀʟʟᴇᴅ Wᴇʙʙʏ Rᴇᴀᴄᴛs, ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ sʜᴇ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜ ᴄʟɪᴘs ғʀᴏᴍ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ Dɪsɴᴇʏ Cʜᴀɴɴᴇʟ ʀᴇʟᴀᴛᴇᴅ ᴍᴇᴅɪᴀ ᴀɴᴅ ᴅʀᴇᴡ ᴄᴏᴍᴘᴀʀɪsᴏɴs ᴛᴏ ᴛʜɪɴɢs ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴇᴠᴇɴᴛᴜᴀʟʟʏ ʜᴀᴘᴘᴇɴᴇᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇʀ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ sʜᴏᴡ. Dᴜʀɪɴɢ ʜᴇʀ ʀᴇᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ᴛᴏ Bᴇx's sᴇᴄʀᴇᴛ ғʀᴏᴍ Aɴᴅɪ Mᴀᴄᴋ, sʜᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴘᴀʀᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴏ Lᴀᴜɴᴄʜᴘᴀᴅ ᴀs sᴏᴍᴇᴏɴᴇ ᴡʜᴏ's "ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴛᴏᴏ ᴍᴀɴʏ ᴍɪsᴛᴀᴋᴇs". Tʜᴇɴ ᴛᴏᴡᴀʀᴅs ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ, ɪᴛ's ʀᴇᴠᴇᴀʟᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ Bᴇx ᴡᴀs ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ Aɴᴅɪ's ᴏʟᴅᴇʀ sɪsᴛᴇʀ; sʜᴇ's ʜᴇʀ ᴍᴏᴛʜᴇʀ. Tʜɪs ᴄᴀᴜsᴇs Wᴇʙʙʏ ᴛᴏ ᴡᴏɴᴅᴇʀ ᴡʜᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ғᴀᴛʜᴇʀ ɪs.

When Fenton and Gandra make amends and try to come up with a way to stop Mega Beaks from wreaking any more havoc, Fenton points out that in spite of Mark's body being altered, he's still the same weak, ego-fuel person underneath those alterations. A similar thing can be said for Duke; even after he forgot about his Scottish persona, he was still Flintheart Glomgold and this became evident as he began to revert back into him.

When Mega Beaks is able to catch the Fentonium-laced paddle ball Fenton throws at him, he's amazed.

"Wow, I never actually caught a ball before! Well, who's the loser now, coach DAD?!"

This is the second time someone's father was mentioned in the episode. Before the date, M'ma mentions Fenton's father when she gives her son his suit to wear. Perhaps Della has one of the father's belongings that she'll pass down to her sons too.

___

Episode 16 was about two different people sharing the same alternative persona: Jim Starling as the original Darkwing Duck and Drake Mallard as the new one. Jim is outraged that he’s being replaced on a new Darkwing production after years of trying to make a comeback. Being disappointed by the gritty direction of the reboot, Launchpad sees Drake in a negative light and agrees to help Jim sabotage the movie. It was supposed to be for the greater good, but when Launchpad tries to go with the plan and lock Drake in his own trailer, his heroism is questioned. Drake isn’t a bad person and it turns out that he’s a huge Darkwing fan much like Launchpad himself. Was crushing the dreams of playing his childhood hero the right thing to do?

Once they find common ground, Launchpad devises a new plan where all three of them work together to help make a Darkwing Duck movie that new and old fans can enjoy. Unfortunately, Jim is too full of obsession and desperation to finally give the show a proper conclusion, that he becomes selfish. He ignores Drake when he tries to propose LP’s new idea to him and locks him away. He then refuses to follow the script and ends up destroying the movie set with his defiance. Drake soon breaks free and challenges Jim, leading Darkwing into fighting with himself. Launchpad tries to snap Jim out of it and remind him of the hero he’s supposed to be. While it does cause Jim to literally reflect on what he was becoming and helped him to save both Drake and Launchpad from the surging lightning tower before it exploded, it ultimately wasn’t enough. The one who was presumed to be bad turned out to be good, and the one who was presumed to be good, became bad, leaving Darkwing as both the hero and villain of his own story.

Ok, so, there’s a lot of identity struggle going on along with frustration over getting replaced after years of trying to get back into the spotlight. This seems like more supporting evidence that Launchpad will be faced with a situation where he’ll be confused about who he really is, but could this also be hinting that Della might go a little too far with her rivalry against Launchpad?

A lot of DW episodes so far seem to contain LP’s fear of being fired...but he’s considered honorary family; it’s hard to imagine Launchpad getting kicked out to take a permanent leave to St. Canard in this continuity. Launchpad wasn’t working for Scrooge in the original Darkwing Duck series because it took place in an alternate universe. Even with DW’s world integrated into the reboot, it’s still DuckTales at it’s base. It wouldn’t feel right for Launchpad to suddenly get removed from the main cast. I think similarly to Drake, Della will find some common ground with LP before anything is able to get out of hand.

When Dewey expresses his ideas to make the Darkwing film better, he mentions aliens, Megavolt and lightning towers. When Jim threatens to zap Alistair Boorswan with Megavolt's lightning ray, Launchpad steps in between them; willing to get hit to protect the director. Drake displays a high tolerance for pain as he survives a box of explosives going off, getting a piano dropped on him and getting zapped several times.

As Dʀᴀᴋᴇ ɢᴇᴛs ᴢᴀᴘᴘᴇᴅ, ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ's ᴀ ᴠɪsɪʙʟᴇ ᴄʀᴀᴄᴋ ɪɴ ʜɪs sᴋᴜʟʟ; ᴀ sɪɢɴ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʜᴇ's sᴜsᴛᴀɪɴᴇᴅ ᴀ ʜᴇᴀᴅ ɪɴᴊᴜʀʏ.

...ᴡᴀɪᴛ ᴀ ᴍɪɴᴜᴛᴇ, ᴡʜʏ ᴅɪᴅ Dᴇᴡᴇʏ ᴏʀᴅᴇʀ ᴀᴄᴛᴜᴀʟ ᴡᴇᴀᴘᴏɴs ғᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏᴠɪᴇ?!

An artificial thunderstorm is created when Launchpad turns on the rain machine to stop the movie set from being on fire. When he delivers his speech about how heroic and important Darkwing Duck is as a character, he stands in front of one of the lightning towers. At the mention of the word "light", there's an upsurge of power as the camera pans from Launchpad to the top of the tower. The structure sends sparks everywhere, but Launchpad is completely unfazed by this and continues his speech.

A tattered image of the moon and a starry sky hangs in the background as this is going on... could this scene be proving that Launchpad has some degree of electrical manipulation? Is it only evident when he's extremely passionate about something? If this was purely the result of the rain machine being activated, wouldn't it have taken a much shorter time for the lightning tower to react?

Tʜᴇ ʟɪɢʜᴛɪɴɢ ᴅᴜʀɪɴɢ Lᴀᴜɴᴄʜᴘᴀᴅ's sᴘᴇᴇᴄʜ ɪs ᴄʟᴏsᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪɢʜᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴇɴᴛ ᴏɴ ɪɴ "Tᴇʀʀᴏʀ"'s sᴜʙᴡᴀʏ ᴄʀᴀsʜ. Iɴᴛᴇʀᴇsᴛɪɴɢʟʏ ᴇɴᴏᴜɢʜ, ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ's ᴀ sᴘᴀʀᴋɪɴɢ ғɪxᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴏɴ Lᴀᴜɴᴄʜᴘᴀᴅ's sɪᴅᴇ ᴀғᴛᴇʀ ʜᴇ ᴇxɪsᴛs ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴀʀ ᴀɴᴅ ᴡʜᴇɴ ʜᴇ ʟɪᴛᴇʀᴀʟʟʏ ʀᴇғʟᴇᴄᴛs ᴏɴ ᴡʜᴇᴛʜᴇʀ ʜᴇ's ᴀ ᴍᴏʟᴇ ᴍᴏɴsᴛᴇʀ ᴏʀ ɴᴏᴛ, ᴛᴡᴏ Lᴀᴜɴᴄʜᴘᴀᴅ's ᴀʀᴇ sʜᴏᴡɴ.

When Jim and Drake notice the lightning tower is growing unstable, they both run towards Launchpad to save him. In a hassle to be heroic again, Jim pushes both of his fans out of the way and suffers from the explosion. The rescuer is believed to be dead but he's alive and takes on a new persona: Negaduck. The event figuratively turns him into a monster.

So, there's a rescue, an electrical based event, survival from that event, a re-branding of oneself and someone is considered a monster. If Launchpad truly is responsible for blowing up the tower, he's the one who "killed" Jim. Drake blames himself, kinda like how everyone blames Della for the Spear incident when it could have been due to her going after Launchpad.

Wʜᴇɴ Dʀᴀᴋᴇ ᴀɴᴅ LP ᴀʀᴇ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ DWD ᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ғɪɢᴜʀᴇs, Lᴀᴜɴᴄʜᴘᴀᴅ ᴘʟᴀʏs ᴀ ᴠɪʟʟᴀɪɴ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀᴄᴄɪᴅᴇɴᴛᴀʟʟʏ ᴋɴᴏᴄᴋs ᴏᴠᴇʀ ᴀ ᴄᴜᴘ ᴏғ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ, ᴡʜɪᴄʜ ᴇᴠᴇɴᴛᴜᴀʟʟʏ ʟᴇᴀᴅs ᴛᴏ Dʀᴀᴋᴇ ʜᴜʀᴛɪɴɢ ʜɪs ғᴏᴏᴛ.

This episode made me realize a loose pattern that seems to be going on with two similar character that rival each other. One pretty much stays consistent (Scrooge, Lena, Drake), while the other goes through a major change that emulates the other (Glomgold, Violet, Jim). There’s usually an event and or a disappearance tied to their change (Scrooge’s Africa visit, the Shadow War, the tower explosion). The changed character is seen negatively and could be considered a monster. And at some point, one of the rivaling characters realize that the other has a significant connection to their past (The money clip, the amulet, the table signing).

I think Della and Launchpad could be following this pattern too. As noted by Scrooge in “Nothing Can” and “Raiders of The Doomsday Vault!”, Della’s hasn’t really changed at her base. Thus, making Launchpad the one who has most likely gone through a major change. Launchpad was established as Della’s double when she considered him to be her replacement and views him negatively. We know for sure that one of them went missing during an event and there’s enough potential hinting to suggest that they have a significant connection in their past.

Tʜᴇ ʟᴀᴛᴛᴇʀ ᴘᴏʀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀᴛᴛᴇʀɴ ᴡᴀs ᴘʀᴇsᴇɴᴛ ɪɴ "Lᴀsᴛ Cʜʀsɪᴛᴍᴀs!" ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴇɴᴅɪɢᴏ ᴡᴀs ʀᴇᴠᴇᴀʟᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴛʜᴇ Gʜᴏsᴛ ᴏғ Cʜʀɪsᴛᴍᴀs Pᴀsᴛ. Iɴ sᴘɪᴛᴇ ᴏғ ʜɪs ᴍᴏɴsᴛʀᴏᴜs ᴇxᴛᴇʀɪᴏʀ, ʜᴇ ᴡᴀs sᴛɪʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ sᴀᴍᴇ ᴘᴇʀsᴏɴ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ɪɴsɪᴅᴇ.

Another number featured in the Spear’s manual was “800”. I couldn't figure out what it could mean at the time, but it could stand for "Friendship Hates Magic!". WDTV press has it listed as Episode 8 in order of production. This episode featured concepts of taking a dangerous risk to bringing someone back from the unknown, Launchpad bonding with a co-worker, possibly displaying one of his special abilities, hinting towards “Duck Knight” and the idea of someone who was thought of as being gone but they’ve actually been hanging around this whole time. When Lena is back to her solid form, Launchpad appears soon after the magical clouds of smoke begin to clear.

The number 17 is missing in the sequence that was highlighted in the manual. Perhaps there's something secretive about Episode 17. Or maybe the plot could be dealing with something or someone that’s missing. It could be when the family realizes Donald is missing or how his jail time is going on the Moon. It could also be something regarding the father; like Della opening up to the boys about him. I guess it could mean that this episode isn’t relevant to Episode 7, but that feels a bit less likely.

In my next post, I'm going to discuss how the arrangement of a scene can give us subtle hints about the future; starting with a closer look at Donald's family photo wall.

Are you up for even more reading? Continue here.

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