#launchpad mcquack theories

[tornfromthestreet]

Do you think the plane always crashes because the "LaunchPad" is inside of the plane? And there's no crash course correction for that?

(It sounds better than calling him an incompetent pilot...)

[perry-88]

Amazing!

(spoilers) I have a bit of a pitch for you

So we know Darkwing Duck was canceled, 

But I’d like to tell you my stretch on HOW it was canceled, consider it a head canon.

And when I say stretch, I am not kidding.

It all is coming from this scene;

“Stubbed his toe really badly, Movie stars, One little boo-boo and they fall apart.”

The way he says this sounds like it holds a lot more than we know, mostly because he wasn’t around when Drake hurt his foot.

Because I mean look at this:

his stature is more intense then just being a jerk, like his personal history is reflecting.

Now bear with me while I explain the second thing that will back up my head canon:

His right foot has been a major key in this episode, considering the following images

What does the iron land on? Drake’s right foot

Which foot does he point to when he says “One little boo-boo and they fall apart”? His right foot.

What foot does Drake step on during the fight? his right foot.

Now to finish it off with this quote from Launchpad

 “He was an old school actor who did all his own stunts, sure he gotta little banged up in later seasons, but that just made him even more heroic”

What I think happened is he broke his leg during a scene for the next episode, and couldn’t film quick enough before the film producers found their chance to shut him down, which is a major loss for him and all that he was, no wonder some called him a washed up actor.

It really hurts my 90′s heart to think about what he went through, fame can really change a person, and to have the one thing that is going good for you taken away? I see why he became selfish.

I really think if Launchpad met him and the show wasn’t canceled, he probably would be a completely different person.

This may be a stretch but it adds depth into a character we just met, since things now are so different than before.

Needless to say I’m excited to see more, this is my favorite episode by far.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Genuinely hoping this theory isn't true

https://www.tumblr.com/erisluna35/756311839889031168/i-heard-a-theory-that-the-only-reason-ta-is?source=share

I doubt it.

Like yeah the shows are both owned by the same studio and supposedly in the same universe, but how often has a major character from one show been a major character in a second show that wasn't literally a direct sequel or a reboot and I mean 'major character' not 'cameo or crossover episode'? Because literally all I can think of is Launchpad McQuack.

I highly doubt that the Miss Rose/Double Rose crew would be allowed to use Chloé as a major character even if she was permanently kicked from ML. That's just not how these sort of things typically work.

[general-klumpp]

DuckTales THEORY: Team Who?

Hello Duckblr! We know that in DuckTales 2017, Huey, Dewey and Webby have their own definite cliques, but what if this idea were to extend to each of the six Duck children in hypothetical future seasons?

TLDR: If DuckTales kept going on, we would have seen more Louie/Doofus/Goldie episodes. May's interrogative side can blend her in with the Rescue Rangers.

Team Science (Huey)

Huey's group of allies usually revolves around working on scientific breakthroughs and his hero, Gizmoduck. Huey stories would usually involve these specific characters:

Gyro Gearloose

Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera (Gizmoduck)

Manny

BOYD

Gandra Dee

Huey's enemy is usually Mark Beaks, a businessman who makes his living off dumb and/or stolen ideas, which is totally against his moral code. If executed better, Dr. Akita could make a better contender.

Team Action (Dewey)

Dewey's group of allies usually revolves around getting into dangerous situations, definitely not due to the influence of Launchpad or his very own mother, Della. Dewey stories would usually involve these specific protagonists:

Launchpad McQuack

Della Duck

Drake Mallard (DW)

Gosalyn Waddlemeyer (an extension of DW)

Kit and Molly

Dewey's enemy is usually Don Karnage, a deranged air pilot who will go to any lengths to gain vengeance on him. Falcon Graves has also appeared in Dewey stories, a serious contender for his showboating.

Team Scheme (Louie)

Despite being shown to be a charmer in the show, Louie falls flat when it comes to making secure friends, especially when it's in his nature that he is the 'evil triplet' of the Duck boys. However, the cunning antihero, Goldie O'Gilt is quite fond of him. Louie stories would definitely involve these specific characters:

Goldie O'Gilt

Doofus Drake

Ottoman Brothers (placeholder because they're always in the background of Louie stories)

Although Louie completely destroyed Glomgold in S2, I'd love to see Rockerduck as his enemy, as the Wild West Swindler has a more interesting way to battle - with his words, instead of his fists.

Team Magic (Webby/April)

Webby's group of allies usually revolves around trying to fix the curses laid out from Scrooge's adventures, or his most powerful enemy, Magica De Spell. Webby stories would usually involve these specific characters:

Lena Sabrewing

Violet Sabrewing

Blackarts Beagle (redemption arc??)

Phantom Blot and Pepper (maybe they're forced to team-up??)

Morgana (placeholder because they don't have a grown-up hero)

Webby and Lena's enemy is usually Magica De Spell, a witch who wants to use her powers to abuse and take advantage of others, completely opposite to how Webby wants to play.

Team Mystery (May)

Despite the wishes of her current guardian, Donald Duck, I could see May get into contact with her ilk, also experimented on by FOWL - no other than the Rescue Rangers themselves!

Chip and Dale

Gadget Hackwrench

Monterey Jack

Zipper

...and maybe Detective Gokart from the comics (a loser that May could help to become a better person)

Perhaps the Rescue Rangers have found a larger FOWL experiment gone rogue and they need a heroine around their size to help bring the experiment to justice.

Team ??? (June)

Team Sports? Team Wellbeing? Team Theatre? Team Adorable? It seems that poor June is the only one I can't think of for a team.

By process of elimination, the only frequent group of protagonists without a child character to support them are the gods/goddesses of Ithaquack.

Bum Bum Ghigno, an everyday person from the comics might help her appreciate the normal and might draw parallels between the clone twins and his relationship with his brother.

I'd love to put the Idle Hour Club from Donald's first ever cartoon somewhere, but those stories wouldn't be fun.

[cloud-navi]

So I finished DuckTales (2017), my thoughts:

⚠️ Spoilers ahead ⚠️

- Bradford Buzzard:

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

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

- Webbigail Vanderquack and Bentina Beakly (Agent 22):

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

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

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

Goldie O’Gilt:

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

Lena and Violet Saberwing:

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

Magica De spell:

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

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

Fenton Crackshell (GizmoDuck) and DarkWing Duck:

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

Fenton is pretty bbg too <3

Launchpad McQuack:

Giant himbo and I love him so much.

Daisy Duck:

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

Huey, Dewey and Louie:

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

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

Scrooge McDuck (sugar daddy?):

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

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

Donald Duck (DILF):

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

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

Donald Duck, not an uncle, a father.

Della Duck (cool-ish weird Aunt):

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

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

Over all:

Scrooge and Donald are DILFS and Della can get bent.

[raeloganthesonic06fangirl]

There's also this type of duck that does some wing flapping and head bobbing for their courting displays, and I love the idea of QJ making a spectacle of himself while shouting: "Yo, honey, I got a gift card to Applebees, wanna go get nachos??" and Megavolt just looking out the window of the lighthouse like "It's 3am, Quacky, can't this wait til tomorrow?"

I have a theory, actually, just a theory that's got no standing other than observation and me over thinking a bit too much, so lemme just channel some MatPat from Game Theory for a second:

I like to imagine that by modern times, the avian population of the Disney Afternoon-iverse has integrated multiple bird traits throughout and aren't exclusively purely Ducks, since we know mixed couples are a thing ((for example, Herb and Binky Muddlefoot, who appear to be a goose and a canary, and both of thier physical traits are present in Honker and Tank, or Launchpad's parents, who seem to be a pelican and a duck)), so I was hoping there was some variety thanks to a complex ancestry or something. 😅😅😅

Like, maybe Duck is the dominant physical trait, but also maybe QuackerJack great-grandfather was a Stork or something tall that he gets his height from as well as his long beak?

Although the scaling is not always consistent, we know that QuackerJack is generally taller than the average Duck, since Darkwing and Negaduck are roughly the same height as Donald and Scrooge, but he's also shorter than Launchpad, and Launchpad has the physical trait of a jawline and height that belongs to a pelican even though his last name suggests being a duck (("McQuack")).

((Gosalyn's name and last name before being adopted suggests some goose like, especially considering her grandfather has the same build as Herb and "Goose Lee", although she herself presents a more duck like facial structure and stature. So naming doesn't always immediately indicate species, rather just whose family they belong to))

So, since we have never seen anyone else in QuackerJack's family at all to be able to actually confirm heritage, we can't accurately say whether or not he really is just a freakishly tall Duck with an impressive overbite.

But, hey, that's just a theory-!

I also want to say that "Drake Mallard" is probably the equivalent of being named "Guy Mann", which sounds like the most alias inspired name for a dude wanting a secret identity I've ever heard. Literally just the Duck-verse equivalent of an alternative to "John Doe".

Would it be so cute to see a megavolt and quackerjack date episode?

Pretty sure that's what half the subplot of "Stressed to Kill" was essentially if you squint just right.

In fact, the general plot is strangely similar to a segment in 1997's New Batman Adventures Christmas episode "Holiday Knights", said segment being a short story where Ivy and Harley get Bruce's credit card after Ivy gets him under thier influence, and they just spend the night going around doing whatever they want because no one will stop them, until a Christmas tree falls on them ((makes sense in context)) and they get arrested.

That episode itself is based on a comic story in the DCAU expanded continuity released in 1995, so either way, Darkwing did it first, lol.

I'd also like to say that there's a species of bird ((Bower Bird)) that courts by collecting items to decorate his nest, as an offering to his crush, and I really do wish there was a possibility that the male avian characters in the Disney Afternoon-iverse actually engage in various displays of affection whenever they're smitten, not restricted to bird species specifics, of course.

So, please, imagine for a if QuackerJack is flirting, it's just him gathering a hoard of toys ((something he values very much)) to present to whomever is on the receiving end.

Or bust a move.

Maybe both. 😗

[bolddeducktionneverfails]

Launchpad’s Association With Della Duck: The End of The Runway?

Some time after the premiere of the DuckTales reboot, I came across speculation regarding Launchpad possibly being the father of the triplets; a claim that has probably followed the character since the debut of the original series. (A lot of us probably thought about it at least once when we were younger.) I wasn’t in favor of the idea, but I was still open to Launchpad having something else to do with Della. They’re pilots after all, so I figured some sorta connection could be made: Maybe Launchpad was a fan of hers or a flight school colleague. Were they best friends? Could Launchpad have been a friend of the triplets’ father? Maybe he was the one who brought the couple together.

As the show progressed, along with the Disney Duck media that followed it, Della's outfit changed colors. When “Dime Chase” aired, her Money Bin portrait depicted her without black gloves, tan shorts instead of a cream colored pair and her scarf was suddenly a shade of green as opposed to a peachy-looking color. In the previews for the IDW comics, her outfit pretty much fell in line with the newer painting, but I noticed how her scarf was now a shade of teal that was very close to Launchpad's hat. Then in "House of The Lucky Gander!", Launchpad showed competence and maturity when he went out on a dangerous mission to check on his old girlfriend. The release of IDW's second and third issues of DuckTales comics gave us an idea of what Della was like and she seemed like someone who could get along pretty well with Launchpad. And eventually, I realized that Ziyi may have gone missing...just like Della did. 

This was getting all too interesting. From that point on, I decided to consider the theory and continued to find other notable occurrences that could indicate Launchpad and Della having a past. I became convinced and took another stab at connecting the dots:

First, I started off with the concept of Launchpad trying to figure out what happened to Della like Dewey and Webby were. Maybe he was hoping his job with Scrooge would help him get some answers. Webby stated in "Dime Chase" that bad things happen to those who speak of Della Duck, so maybe he was waiting for the best time to ask; gaining the family’s trust and perhaps doing his own secret investigation in the meantime. Then, after trying to figure out Launchpad’s odd behavior in “The Last Crash of The Sunchaser!” and “The Shadow War”, I began to think that maybe he already knew that Della got lost in Space after taking the Spear and that he’s been wanting to help Scrooge find her because it might be his fault in some way. Maybe applying for the chauffeur job was his way of making up for his involvement. I also wanted to believe that maybe he’s been playing dumb to an extent because he's afraid of everyone getting mad at him.

When the description for "Nothing Can Stop Della Duck!" was released, it was very vague about whether Della succeeded or not with rebuilding the Spear. I was stuck in the mindset that it would be too early for her to make it directly to her family. I thought that maybe she would at least make it to Earth, but there would still be another struggle for her to face in order for her to make it back to Duckburg. After "Golden Spear" aired, I wondered if there was a catch to the ending. The switch happened so fast and the sky looked really eerie...I thought it was a dream Della was having after she had crashed elsewhere. But once IGN posted a clip from “Nothing Can Stop Della Duck!” to assure us that Della really was coming home this early in the season, I began to anticipate a family reunion involving Launchpad and Della being on screen together; finally revealing their secret connection to everyone and…

They don’t know each other.

Their very first interaction on the show is Della yelling at Launchpad and angrily running out of Donald's Houseboat to confront Scrooge about replacing her.

This scene should have been a devastating blow that cancelled out all of Launchpad's eligibility and should have prevented any other way to work around it.

But instead...it caused me to look further and reroute my ideas.

When Della told Scrooge the original names she had in mind for Huey, Dewey and Louie, I could have yelled...if I wasn’t watching TV so early in the morning...“Jet” is Launchpad’s first name in the Italian Ducktales dub and “Turbo” is his name in the Dutch version. “Rebel”, as far as I know, has nothing to do with Launchpad. It’s probably included because it breaks the pattern...unless this is referring to the fact that Launchpad is an (very) unorthodox airplane pilot.

A ʟɪsᴛ ᴏғ Lᴀᴜɴᴄʜᴘᴀᴅ’s ɪɴᴛᴇʀɴᴀᴛɪᴏɴᴀʟ ɴᴀᴍᴇs ғʀᴏᴍ ʜɪs I.N.D.U.C.K.S ᴘᴀɢᴇ

So...Della basically wanted to name her children after Launchpad in the same episode where they meet for the very first time? A lot of Disney research goes into this show, so it's really hard for me to believe the show runners would choose two names that just so happen to already belong to Launchpad.  Even without intentionally thinking of his alternate names, the words "jet", "turbo" and "launchpad" all go hand-in-hand with each other.

Why is the foreground telling us that Della and Launchpad have nothing to do with each other when the background is giving us every reason to doubt this?

This lead me into thinking of something I would have never fathomed:

What if LP used to be the father...but an event changed him into who we currently know him as?

One character turning out to be another isn't a new thing in the DT fandom. When Season 1 was still premiering, there were theories going around about Della being Magica and Webby being a de-aged Della due to a magical incident. I'm usually against these theories because they tend to involve two well-known characters with established histories. Neither of them would be able to exist at the same time; a sacrifice would have to be made and that doesn't feel right. But with HDL's father, we know so little about him, that it would be easier to merge his history with someone else who shares enough similarities with him: Launchpad and the father are both accident prone ducks with red hair and possible military involvement. With Della being a pilot with an unknown lover, that makes this an even better fit.

Fʀᴏᴍ ᴀ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ ᴅᴇsᴄʀɪᴘᴛɪᴏɴ ᴘᴀɢᴇ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏʟᴅᴇʀ DᴜᴄᴋTᴀʟᴇs ᴄᴏᴍɪᴄs

If Launchpad went through a change, then what type of crazy event could have caused him to become unrecognizable? The first thing that comes to my mind is the cosmic storm.

Issue 18 of IDW's DuckTales comics provided us with a story called "Money Grubbing Hooligans From The Deep!" . It's about a submarine pilot, who shares many similarities with Della, traveling a great distance to save Launchpad after someone mislead her into believing he was kidnapped and enslaved.

Her rescue mission caused such an unusual amount of seismic activity, that a tsunami warning had to be issued out across Duckburg. So basically, a pilot had secret intentions of helping a loved one, that involved traveling through strange weather patterns.

While the comics are not necessarily set as canon, they will sometimes loosely parallel certain events from the show.  Like how the first two issues revolved around Donald looking for a job and how that element was present in the pilot episode. “Happy Happy Valley!”  seems to be inspired by “The Town Where Everyone Was Nice!”. The plot for “The Incredible Shrinking Webby!” sounds similar to “The Most Dangerous Game…Night!” where Gyro’s shrink ray got out of hand.

"Money Grubbing Hooligans From The Deep!" seems to be partially inspired by “The Depths of Cousin Fethry!”. In that episode, Huey and Dewey answer Fethry's call about a discovery at the Mid-Atlantic ridge and trick Launchpad into stealing Scrooge's submarine in order to meet him. Dewey claimed that Scrooge wanted them to go on this "Totally non-suspicious trip to 'test the equipment.'" He also rips out the sub's radio, causing them to lose contact with Scrooge. When they reach their destination, Launchpad gets side-tracked by the call of a mermaid he previously dated.

Later on, Fethry realized that the monster they were trying to escape from, was actually a previous member of his krill team. He didn't recognize her at first because her body was altered by the chemicals in the hydrothermal vents. As he tried to jog her memory, he brought up a moment where they had shared a rib-eye together; it sounded very reminiscent of a date.

Then afterwards, Launchpad returns to the lighthouse after possibly helping his ex out of a situation. He wore an Aquaman-esque outfit, basically held a golden spear in his hand, and had color-coded creatures attached to him that matched the triplets in color and personality traits. 

So, in short, a vehicle was stolen under a false claim when the real intention involved a family member and a previous lover.

Back in February, PhatMojo showcased their upcoming DuckTales merchandise for the New York Toy Fair. People weren’t able to take pictures of the new additions at the event, but Phatmojo added pictures of a different display full of mock-ups and prototypes to their website; possibly from a section of their office. In the first row of the posable figure area, a mock-up package of Launchpad, dressed in the Chinese armor he wore at the end of “Gander”, was placed next to a mock-up package of Della’s Post-Spear design. 

(Sᴏᴜʀᴄᴇ)

For some reason, they’re the only ones with the blue sky background and gold label, opposed to the sunset background and teal label a lot of the Wave 2 toys have. This could just be an indication that these are story elements from Season 1 or maybe sunset and teal was decided after these mock-ups were put together and the final products will convert to it, but at the moment...this really makes the two pilots stand out…Below the figures were a couple of boxes with talking plush toys. One of which, had a Launchpad plush leaning on a toy of the Spear.

The placement of the items shown might not be completely random: Lunaris is placed under Della and he definitely has something to do with her this season. Donald is placed in between him and a figure pack that looks a lot like the triplets in space suits. And the figure packs containing Gizmoduck, Della Duck and Darkwing Duck are grouped together when they have a connection to the Moon. While Della and Darkwing are self-explanatory, Gizmoduck was involved with the Moon Level in the classic DuckTales video game. Perhaps this was hinting towards their involvement in Donald’s rescue or the invasion in general. 

PM could certainly be hinting something with Launchpad and Della too, LP’s outfit comes directly from the case of a missing loved one and the toy company is well-aware of what will happen in the future of the show. If LP has nothing to do with Della, wouldn’t there be some temptation to place Donald next to her instead? They’re twins, it’s a much better fit and the row would have been full of the original adventuring trio. 

If the packaging of Launchpad and Della’s figures were done as an indication between seasons, it’s kinda odd to have Macaw!LP in a group of Season 2 focused toys and especially being something that’s seen as a small running gag. It’s like, why not make a figure out of Launchpad’s look from “Depths”? It’s a similar situation, but more recent. The fact that this version of the character is getting a toy really seems to suggest that this subject will be brought up again with something significant attached.

Another interesting thing about the picture of the display is the time that it was released: It was added to PhatMojo’s website during the time the Toy Fair was happening; February 16th to the 19th. A day later, Issue 18 was released on the 20th, when it’s original date was planned for the 13th, closer to Valentine’s Day. Two days later, a clip from “Whatever Happened to Della Duck?!” was posted to Disney Channel’s YouTube account and the following day, a promo begin to air...two weeks before the episode premiered. 

This was the episode to break up a long hiatus, so it was probably being promoted this early to generate hype, but like...a photo of a display with Launchpad and Della next to each other, a toy of Launchpad leaning against the Spear in that same photo, a story about a female submarine pilot wanting to save Launchpad and details about Della’s mysterious journey, all getting released in such a short period of time? This is looking a bit pre-planned...

Before “Whatever Happened” aired, I remember seeing some speculation about Della possibly being affected by the cosmic storm in some way. Huey asks her about this in “Nothing Can”, but it's left unanswered, similarly to Huey's question about Zeus controlling all storms in “The Spear of Selene!”. Could this be implying that Zeus was probably the one who created the cosmic storm? And if Della wasn't affected...couldn’t that leave the possibility that someone else may have been?

I didn’t catch this the first time I heard it, but Launchpad’s “a little lightning never killed anyone” quote from “Selene” sounds a lot like he was struck by lightning before. He said a similar thing in the latter half of "Woo-oo!' after he got a pile of snakes dropped on him. He's probably been bitten by snakes many other times and knew that the venom wouldn't be able to kill him.

Launchpad made joke in the DT joke book about getting struck by lightning and Zeus was mentioned along with it...LP has yet to be on screen at the same time as Zeus, or any other Greek deity for that matter. (A similar thing usually happens whenever the Duck Cousins are focused on. He's been on screen with Donald before, but they hardly ever interact.) Both the joke and the quote could have been referring to a past encounter. And judging by LP's avoidance, it could have been a negative one. He seemed a bit nervous about leaving the plane when it crashed on Ithaquack. We've seen Donald get directly struck by Zeus' lighting in “Golden Spear” and nothing special happened to him, but combined with the radiation of the cosmic storm? It's bound to do something to somebody.

Iɴ "Tʜᴇ Sᴘᴇᴀʀ ᴏғ Sᴇʟᴇɴᴇ", Wᴇʙʙʏ ᴛʜᴇᴏʀɪᴢᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴀғᴛᴇʀ Dᴇʟʟᴀ sᴛᴏʟᴇ ᴛʜᴇ Sᴘᴇᴀʀ, sʜᴇ ᴀɴɢᴇʀᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴏᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ʙʀᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ᴡʀᴀᴛʜ ᴜᴘᴏɴ ʜᴇʀ ғᴀᴍɪʟʏ. Tʜɪs ᴅɪᴅɴ'ᴛ ᴘʟᴀʏ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴏɴ Dᴇʟʟᴀ's ᴇɴᴅ ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴡᴇ sᴇᴇ ʜᴇʀ ʜᴇᴀᴅɪɴɢ ᴏғғ ɪɴᴛᴏ Sᴘᴀᴄᴇ. Sᴏ, ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴛʜɪs ᴘᴏʀᴛɪᴏɴ ʙᴇ ғᴏʀᴇsʜᴀᴅᴏᴡɪɴɢ sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ғᴀᴛʜᴇʀ ᴍᴀʏ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴅᴏɴᴇ?

Tʜᴇʀᴇ ᴍᴀʏ ʙᴇ ᴀ ᴄᴏɴɴᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ʙᴇᴛᴡᴇᴇɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇᴠᴇɴᴛs ᴏғ "Gᴀᴍᴇ Nɪɢʜᴛ" ᴀɴᴅ Sᴘᴀᴄᴇ: Gʏʀᴏ ᴡᴀs ᴛɪᴛʟᴇᴅ ᴀs ᴀ ɢᴏᴅ-ᴋɪɴɢ ᴀɴᴅ ʜᴇ ᴢᴀᴘᴘᴇᴅ Lᴀᴜɴᴄʜᴘᴀᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʜɪs sʜʀɪɴ�� ʀᴀʏ. Aғᴛᴇʀᴡᴀʀᴅs, Lᴀᴜɴᴄʜᴘᴀᴅ ᴅᴇsᴄʀɪʙᴇᴅ ʜɪs sɪᴛᴜᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴀs ʙᴇɪɴɢ ɪɴ ᴀ "Gɪᴀɴᴛ Wᴏʀʟᴅ ᴏғ Nɪɢʜᴛᴍᴀʀᴇ Hᴏʀʀᴏʀs". Pᴇɴᴜᴍʙʀᴀ ʟᴀᴛᴇʀ ᴅᴇsᴄʀɪʙᴇs Eᴀʀᴛʜ ɪɴ ᴀ sɪᴍɪʟᴀʀ ᴡᴀʏ.

Issue 18 made me wonder if Launchpad could have been abducted by aliens. His character has a history of space travel and he’s been abducted by aliens before in the original Darkwing Duck series. Launchpad’s behavior in “Terror” really seemed to indicate that he may have gone through a situation where a shape-shifting creature, perhaps after turning into someone he trusted, attacked him and the mole monster movie was bringing that memory back. While he was talking about how anyone could be a mole monster, he stands in front of an alien poster. The poster for the mole movie is right next to it. 

In “Moorshire”, Launchpad got taken away by the kelpies, creatures that are known to shape-shift, in the remains of the golf cart he was driving. Huey noticed he was gone and went to save him before it was too late. Maybe Launchpad’s past self used to be an astronaut pilot and the aliens attacked him in his ship.

If Launchpad was somewhere in the area where the cosmic storm was, that would explain why Della pressed forward instead of turning around. Scrooge told her to turn back, implying she could, right? If not, I suppose the poor connection delayed his warning. Scrooge talking to Della at that moment may have been the first time he was able to contact her since taking the rocket. The way Della reacted to the video connection cutting in and out seemed like she may have struggled with it earlier. But if she could have turned back to dodge the storm completely and if it was simply a test-run like Scrooge had claimed, there was no need for her to deliberately go through the storm without a purpose. There had to have been something she was trying to get to in the direction of it and she felt like passing through was the best option.

Lᴀᴜɴᴄʜᴘᴀᴅ ʟᴏᴏsɪɴɢ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴀᴄᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ Lᴏᴜɪᴇ ᴅᴜʀɪɴɢ ʜɪs ᴘʜᴏɴᴇ ᴄᴀʟʟ ɪɴ "Gᴀᴍᴇ Nɪɢʜᴛ", ɪs sɪᴍɪʟᴀʀ ᴛᴏ ʜᴏᴡ Dᴇʟʟᴀ ʟᴏsᴛ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴀᴄᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ Sᴄʀᴏᴏɢᴇ ɪɴ "Lᴀsᴛ Cʀᴀsʜ". Tʜᴇʏ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ʙᴏᴛʜ ʙᴇʟɪᴇᴠᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, ʙᴜᴛ sᴜʀᴠɪᴠᴇᴅ.

There could be a parallel between Della's departure from Earth and her departure from the Moon: 

Donald didn't want her and the family to go into Space because it was too dangerous with HDL on the way. Penumbra didn't want Della to bring the Moonlanders to Earth because she thought it was too dangerous and didn't like the idea of Della's planet being better than hers.

Della promised to take the Moonlanders to Earth, similarly to how she wanted her family to go to Space, but the emergency launch being activated caused her to break it. This might be hinting that something sudden and urgent caused her take the Spear as soon as she did.

In "Dime Chase", Webby questioned if Della betrayed Scrooge and the Moonlanders felt betrayed when Della ended up leaving without them.

Della's urgency for leaving the Moon was so she could finally get back to her family. Based on the fact that she placed the family photo on the dashboard of the Spear when she first entered Space, family could have been a driving force in that situation too.

I find it extremely interesting that Scrooge compared the Sunchaser situation in “Last Crash” to the Spear incident while Dewey was desperately trying to resolve the mystery about his mother. As Dewey tried to find answers in “The Spear of Selene!”, Selene talks about how much Della loved a good mystery and also how much she loved her family.

Because of these things and the fact that Dewey is so similar to Della, this could be an indication why the whole Spear thing got started: she too could have been making a great risk to solve a mystery.

The dialogue during the scene where Dewey is outside of the plane may have been hinting this:

Webby and Louie try to talk him out of chasing the missing piece.

"Dewey, this is crazy! The mystery's not worth it!"

"I--I get it, but you can't give up the rest of us to find the one person we lost!"

Launchpad comes up to the window after this is said. The glass creates a divide between him and the rest of the group as he makes a statement that comes off as completely irrelevant. Huey takes the walkie-talkie from him.

"Dewey, our family is amazing! We're enough, let it go!"

Then, Dewey angrily chucks his walkie-talkie; losing connection with his brother.

So, maybe this is what could have happened: Aliens or something else could have caused the father to go missing for a long period of time. After realizing he disappeared, Della may have started an investigation that turned into a plan for a family rescue. Somewhere in this, she could have gone to Selene for help with the mystery. Maybe Della named the Spear after her friend to express gratitude.

It’s very possible that she had intentions of bringing her family together and letting the father know about their children, but after Donald voiced his negative opinion of the trip and refused to let her take the boys, her plans were disrupted. Somehow, she found out about the Spear and could have started reworking around this. Perhaps the father was trying to come home at this point and eventually got caught in the cosmic storm. He could have sent out a mayday but lost his connection. Maybe Della received his distress call or was given an idea of where he was and took off to help him.

Since Launchpad has been very secretive about his love-life and Della’s hasn't been directly mentioned anywhere, I feel like she may have not told Scrooge and Donald about the father for some reason or anything about him being the underlying reason for wanting to explore Space.  For a while, I've been headcanoning that the couple was mainly nervous about what Donald would think of their relationship and decided to hold off on the introduction until they felt ready. (Aside from giving Della room to grow as a parent, perhaps one of the reasons why Donald was sent to Space was because he would have interfered with Della discovering who Launchpad really is.) 

Maybe she kept getting interrupted or ignored every time she wanted to talk about the father to her family. That tends to happen to Launchpad when he has something interesting to say. There could be a running gag playing off of the popular version of Don Rosa's Duck Family tree where the father's face and first name are "censored". What if she purposely left the father out of her explanation because she thought she would be more likely be to discouraged? To be told that the three of them were enough, like Huey said to Dewey?

I ᴡᴏɴᴅᴇʀ ɪғ ᴘᴀʀᴛ ᴏғ Dᴇʟʟᴀ's ᴘᴏssɪʙʟᴇ ʀᴇsᴄᴜᴇ ᴡᴀs ғᴜᴇʟᴇᴅ ʙʏ ᴛʜᴇ ғᴀᴛᴇ ᴏғ ʜᴇʀ ᴏᴡɴ ᴘᴀʀᴇɴᴛs. Mᴀʏʙᴇ sʜᴇ ᴅɪᴅɴ'ᴛ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛʀɪᴘʟᴇᴛs ᴛᴏ ɢʀᴏᴡ ᴜᴘ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ʙᴏᴛʜ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ᴘᴀʀᴇɴᴛs ʟɪᴋᴇ sʜᴇ ᴅɪᴅ.

Donald probably didn’t give Della a chance to explain everything when she brought up her ideas of Space travel during such a crucial point in time. Donald was quick to call Della reckless and brainless in "Last Christmas". There was even a parallel being made between that situation and the one surrounding the Spear: There was an underlying motive, she made a big deal, wanted to spend time with her family, packed a bunch of supplies and Donald was opposed to the adventure. She was also searching for someone to make another part of her family happy. When Della shared her plans about the rocket, he could have shot her down by insulting her and caused her to lose her point as they argued. 

ᴀs sᴇᴇɴ ɪɴ "Lᴀsᴛ Cʜʀɪsᴛᴍᴀs" ᴀɴᴅ "Sᴋʏ Pɪʀᴀᴛᴇs", ʙᴏᴛʜ Dᴇʟʟᴀ ᴀɴᴅ Dᴇᴡᴇʏ sᴇᴇᴍ ᴛᴏ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ᴘʀᴏʙʟᴇᴍ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴄᴀᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ɴᴇᴇᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ɪɴᴛᴇɴᴛɪᴏɴs ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʟᴇᴀʀʟʏ.

After "Whatever Happened" premiered, I wanted to believe Della succeeded in her rescue mission, but got caught in the storm on the way back. That would explain why she was laser-focused on her boys, because she had already did what she needed to do. I had also thought her regret over the situation when she said "I will NOT fail them again!" mainly lied on the promise she made to her boys about finding a way back home. But what if she failed completely? What if she regrets ever stepping foot into the Spear because in the end, all it did was make her miss out on motherhood and did nothing to help the father? When it comes to the letter Della left behind, a lot of fans have been wondering why she wrote "I’m sorry" instead of "thank you". I first thought it was “sorry” as in “Sorry for ruining the surprise!”, but it could be “Sorry, but need to go on this mission!”, “Sorry, but I'm running out of time!”, “I'm sorry for whatever may happen after I do this!”. The letter sounds a lot like she had to do something against Scrooge's wishes that couldn’t wait. If this was just a test run, she could have definitely waited for certain conditions to be right.

After discovering that the moon mite was a mother, General Lunaris makes a statement that resonates deeply with Della.

"She put herself in danger, faced unknown threats, scoured this entire planet for any scrap of metal."

"...Because a mother would do anything for the sake of her kids."

The moon mite’s actions reflected Della’s. It wouldn't be as fitting if Della's decision was fueled by selfishness, therefore, she put herself in danger for something in relation to her kids.

Pᴇɴᴜᴍʙʀᴀ ғɪʀɪɴɢ ʜᴇʀ ʟᴀsᴇʀ ɢᴜɴ ᴀs Dᴇʟʟᴀ ᴄʜᴀʀɢᴇᴅ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏᴏɴ ᴍɪᴛᴇ ᴡᴀs ᴠᴇʀʏ ʀᴇᴍɪɴɪsᴄᴇɴᴛ ᴏғ ʜᴏᴡ sʜᴇ ᴘᴜsʜᴇᴅ ғᴏʀᴡᴀʀᴅ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴏsᴍɪᴄ sᴛᴏʀᴍ.

Scrooge's flashback made it look like Della cared more about adventure than her family, but then in Season 2, we see her doing everything she can to come back home and see her express her desire to be a good mother. She loves her family too much to suddenly cast them aside. Della is flawed; she impulsive, but at this point in the series, it's hard for me to think of her messing up this badly without a bigger reason being attached to it.

Ok, ok, so, that could explain why Della didn’t recognize Launchpad's physical appearance and a possible reason to why Della took the Spear, but why doesn't he recognize her? And why does Della not remember his name? After his meeting with Della in "Nothing Can", I looked back and realized that Launchpad may have been showing signs of amnesia.

 In "Beware of the B.U.D.D.Y System!", he can't remember if he has a pilot's license or not and makes the most bewildered face as he tries to think about this.

I thought that was extremely odd...I mean, either you have your license or you don't. How do you just forget something significant like that? Being a pilot is his passion. In the joke book , he claimed pilot's licenses don't exist. Huey confronts him about how wrong he is and asks if Launchpad has one. He doesn't answer.

Launchpad isn't good at remembering the lyrics to songs. In "Last Christmas!" he didn't know a majority of the words to "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and had to improvise; mostly repeating the same phrase and forgetting the ninth day. In the description for the Theme Song Takeover video, the description highlights his forgetfulness. In "Moorshire", Launchpad is very confused about what golf is and constantly mixes it up with other sports. And in "Last Crash", he... doesn't seem to know what a parachute is…? In spite of all the piloting he does?

After Scrooge tells the kids not to tell Donald about their trip to Atlantis in "Woo-oo!", Launchpad quickly asks "Who is that?". I had wondered if maybe Scrooge referring to him as Uncle Donald was the part that threw Launchpad off. He was right there as Scrooge and Donald argued in front of the gate; saying each other's names. Maybe LP thought HDL were Donald's sons or the sons of a cousin. But seriously...Launchpad has been just about everywhere. So has Scrooge, Donald and Della. How can he know who Scrooge, the Richest Duck in The World, is without knowing who’s been accompanying him for many years? The family is so famous, he should have known about Donald and Della’s existence prior to working for Scrooge.

Wᴇ ᴅᴏɴ’ᴛ ᴇᴠᴇɴ ɢᴇᴛ ᴛᴏ sᴇᴇ LP’s ʀᴇᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴋɪᴅs ᴡʜɪʟᴇ ᴛʜᴇʏ’ʀᴇ ᴊᴜᴍᴘɪɴɢ ᴀʀᴏᴜɴᴅ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴀʀ. Mᴀʏʙᴇ ʜᴇ ᴅɪᴅ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ Dᴏɴᴀʟᴅ ᴡᴀs ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ғᴀᴛʜᴇʀ ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀs sᴜʀᴘʀɪsᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ғɪɴᴅ ᴏᴜᴛ ʜᴇ ᴡᴀs ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ᴜɴᴄʟᴇ ɪɴsᴛᴇᴀᴅ.

Webby describes Donald as one of the greatest adventurers of all time. Stepping out of the spotlight for a decade to raise the boys isn't long enough for him to be forgotten. Launchpad Is around the twins' age, so it's not like he was too young to remember hearing about their adventures.

Aside from forgetting about important items and significant people, Launchpad could be suffering from a loss of self-identity as well.

I had earlier speculations about LP being a spy since he briefly worked as one in the old DuckTales episode "Double O Duck" and joked around with the idea that he was only disguising himself as a bumbling pilot to retrieve more information about Della. Now, I think he would make a terrible spy since it's hard for him to lie...on purpose, but he still seems to have this double-life thing going on: he has two jobs with Scrooge. One he was hired for, the other one being more voluntary. He has a different outfit to go with each one instead of having a consistent set of clothes like everyone else. It's evident enough that he was going to wear his chauffeur look no matter what he was doing, but was later changed during production. Maybe this decision was done to illustrate how there is more than one side of him.

Tᴏᴘ, Lᴇғᴛ ᴛᴏ Rɪɢʜᴛ: Fʀᴏᴍ ᴏɴᴇ ᴏғ 2ᴠᴇɪɴᴛᴇ’s ᴘʀᴏᴍᴏs, ᴘᴀʀᴛ ᴏғ Cᴏᴠᴇʀ B ғᴏʀ Issᴜᴇ #4, ᴀɴᴅ ᴘᴀʀᴛ ᴏғ Cᴏᴠᴇʀ B ғᴏʀ Issᴜᴇ #5.

Bᴏᴛᴛᴏᴍ, Lᴇғᴛ ᴛᴏ Rɪɢʜᴛ: A sᴄʀᴇᴇɴsʜᴏᴛ ғʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇ Dᴜᴄᴋʙᴜʀɢ Qᴜᴇsᴛ ᴍᴏʙɪʟᴇ ɢᴀᴍᴇ, ғʀᴏᴍ ᴀɴ ᴇᴀʀʟʏ ᴘɪᴇᴄᴇ ᴏғ ᴘʀᴏᴍᴏ ᴀʀᴛ.

There was a long period of time where the IDW comics only featured LP in his chauffeur outfit on the cover, but depicted his piloting outfit on the inside. This went on until Issue 18. They probably had to revise all of his drawings to put him in that outfit, but it's interesting how they didn't go all the way.

Launchpad finds it extremely difficult to pretend to be someone else without acknowledging himself. In “B.U.D.D.Y”, when he asks Gyro for help, he splits himself into Not Launchpad and Launchpad to speak hypothetically but ends up confusing the two with each other. When he was pretending to be Donald in “Castle”, he quickly forgot he was supposed to be in disguise. He catches himself and tries to go back to being Donald, but he keeps reverting back to Launchpad. Fergus noted his "nephew's" drastic change in appearance and could sense he was confused.

Scrooge's confusion over Launchpad being a pilot in "Woo-oo!" may have had a double meaning. His ignorance towards Launchpad's mentions led him into being surprised, but combined with the fact that he can't recall getting his pilot's license, this could have been hinting that he was never a real pilot. Or at least, never an airplane pilot.

Like I had mentioned before, he could actually be an astronaut pilot. One of the requirements for being an astronaut selection candidate is having a certain amount of hours of flying a jet aircraft. This option is geared more towards candidates that start out from the military and as an old character description for Launchpad states, he may have had military involvement as a test pilot. 

Prior flying experience isn't needed to be a test pilot and a pilot's license isn't required to be an astronaut, but there is a six-week training process you have to go through to fly a military jet. Being another kind of pilot would explain why Launchpad has the basics of flying a plane and possibly why he can operate a sub exceptionally well without prior experience. 

If "Launchpad" isn't his real name, maybe it's something he remembered from his astronaut background. Was it a nickname he was given? An alter-ego he had previously made for himself? And after the amnesia confused him, it became something he fused with himself? 

Amnesia or not, one thing that's for certain is that LP has sustained a bunch of injuries; some of which were head injuries: He crashed into a wall in “Toth-Ra” while trying to catch Scrooge, he got hit with a golf club in “Moorshire”, he was rubbing his head after the Jeep hit the interior of the Sunchaser in “Last Crash”, and Scrooge caused him to hit the limo’s hood a few times in “Game Night”.

I suggested in my first Association post that Launchpad may have had a severe injury that kept him sidelined and one in relation to the head is looking very likely. The father was originally hospitalized for having a firecracker put under his chair and the show could be using that as a base. Amnesia could have occurred due to the whole Space incident being too stressful for him to remember or an outward force, like magic, could also be an explanation. Getting struck by lightning can also result in memory loss (as well as...many other problems). 

If Launchpad truly is amnesic, his awareness isn't in full like I had previously thought it was, it's partially hidden in his subconscious. He'll do or say certain things and maybe he's not exactly sure why, but there’s a deeper meaning connected to who he used to be. He can't remember who Della is as a person but he remembers things about her and probably bits and pieces of the incident. This could be why Launchpad's been dating around so much; he doesn't realize it, but he's been trying to make his way back to Della. Most of his relationships may have not been very long lasting. From what we’ve been let in on so far, they seem to be at this weird status where they still have feelings but continue to stay apart. Perhaps every time he tried to develop a serious relationship, something came up and got in the way. One of those things could have been his subconscious telling him that this wasn’t who he used to be with. Constantly trying to figure this out could have been what eventually led him to working for Scrooge in Duckburg.

Something was definitely happening in Launchpad’s mind during the events of  "Last Crash" and "Shadow War". After Scrooge accidentally refers to Della, we aren't able to see Launchpad's immediate reaction; the camera is very quick to focus on Beakley, but when Scrooge asks LP to hand him another parachute, the pilot instead hesitates and gives a look of concern. 

When the investigation crate breaks open and Mrs. B takes the Spear's blueprints from Webby's pocket, Launchpad is left out of these shots; preventing us from seeing his reaction. But when the missing piece flies up to the front of the plane, we see that he's in a tense pose with his arms drawn close to his chest. 

Launchpad completely disappeared at the end of "Last Crash" when everyone was leaving the mansion and likely didn't check on Scrooge until three days later. As Mrs. B guilt trips the boys into reuniting with Scrooge, Launchpad blinks excessively, sadly looks off into the distance and has a couple of outbursts. 

When Della is mentioned by name, the focus is on Louie with Launchpad's clenched fist next to him.

He's having all these feelings about something he supposedly has nothing to do with and he doesn't understand why. Mrs. B could sense something was wrong with him based on how surprised she was over his hesitation and the "why are you overreacting?" look she gave him when he responded loudly to her sarcasm. I'm convinced that the show-runners wanted to catch our attention without having to reveal anything yet.

This post is getting really long, so I'm gonna break it off into another part talking more about the amnesia theory with a case we've already seen, what kinds of special abilities Launchpad may have and some reoccurring themes that may be leading back to "Whatever Happened to Della Duck?!"

...Are you up for more reading? Continue here.

[crak-ducktales-theories]

Ok but concept art Gosalyn looks willing to straight up kill a man

A flamethrower???

A CROWBAR???

Good thing Drake and LP found her before she went full John Wick on Bulba....

[daniellefelton]

⚠️Let’s Get Dangerous Spoilers. You have been warned⚠️

Frank really wasn’t kidding when he said Drake and Fenton’s interactions were gonna be dumb, huh?

Drake is going to be SO salty when he finds out that Fenton (his friend) is Gizmoduck (his rival) and that Fenton/Gizmoduck made all of his gadgets. The day he finds out will be a glorious one. Also, if he made Drake’s gadgets, doesn’t that mean he knows Drake is Darkwing?

And sweet baby Fenton, having to act dumb about the whole thing and be like “yep, I can’t stand Gizmoduck. He’s the worst.” Also, he made the computer act and sound like Gandra and that just shows this boy is in love (Gandra please don’t hurt him).

I love how the boys were playing dumb with Bradford and he was desperately trying to keep his cover. Also, seeing Heron again.... YES.

I have to wonder about Taurus though. He already works for FOWL unlike the original when he refuses to join. It seems like Taurus wants a world full of supervillains, while Bradford wants to contain them(if that makes sense). So the opposing views most likely means that Taurus is going to become that cyborg thing from the original and be his own supervillain.

I’m sorry, I just love this episode so much. I love everything about it. Gosalyn, LP, Drake, the boys, all of it.

[likelytowritesomestuff]

If Drakepad isn't in the plans of Ducktales's writers, explain me why:

- LP wrote a fanfiction about the finale that the show never had with himself as a self-insertion character (probably more than one fic);

- it encourages Fenton before his date with Gandra that could be 'your special someone' and lists all of his exes, which are in order a deadly ninja, a forbidden mermaid, a were-duck, a clone of himself, a viking shield maiden, a talking cloud of energy, a subtle move from the writers to say he's bisexual/pansexual AND IN THE NEXT EPISODE HE MEETS DRAKE? WHAT A COINCIDENCE!;

- then, at his first date with Penny, a possible love interest for him, the first question he asked her is if Darkwing Duck airs on the moon...

Ducktales's writers are so good in throwing clues (remember how did they foreshadowed Della's artificial leg?) and these are all hints that Drakepad will be endgame.

[ducktales-crackships]

Launchpad x whoever Fenton’s dad is

Requested by Anonymous who said “because purple”

[sammyheroes]

I have reason to believe that Launchpad learned to play the saxophone just to play Darkwing Duck’s theme song.

[drakepad]

reasons why launchpad is absolutely either a sleeper agent/secret agent who works/has worked for SHUSH in the past

1) in the very first episode of ducktales, he gets bitten by a snake and then randomly speaks swedish perfectly to beakley, then takes down a bad guy with ease using similar drunken fighting style moves to what drake used in moonvasion

2) he knows/has dated a ton of really strange people from around the world, and when he goes on his adventures with them it’s always shaded in mystery

3) he has been growing closer to beakley since season 2, who, as we know, is a confirmed SHUSH agent

4) the wrestling-esque moves he used on drake in the duck knight returns were DEFINITELY something he had to have taken training for, as he used a lot of defensive and surprise attack moves, such as ducking from drake’s punches and grabbing drake from behind

5) launchpad--obviously--was double o duck in dt87 for one episode, and frank has said that launchpad will have an alter ego in season 3, which is what double o duck was for launchpad in that one episode of dt87

6) it was confirmed at sdcc this year that launchpad and dewey are involved in a james bond inspired episode in season 3

that’s the evidence i have so far so launchpad definitely either has an alter ego as double o duck OR frank typing “altar” instead of “alter” was NOT a typo and he in fact becomes an ordained minister in season 3.

[launchpadmcfuck]

i am having a big think on the “You do not need to fall for another man that needs saving.” ooc daisy quote

most likely targets of talking to

herself. donald’s biggest challenge this season is supposed to be love so naturally there will be some ups and downs

penumbra seems kinda likely just because of the launchpad gag but i cant see her falling for any man. especially one she can easily destroy

gandra??? just because she has an established love interest in fenton but fenton seems pretty capable especially since most of the time spent on him at least partially builds on the fact that he can stand uo for himself and others so the descriptor doesnt make sense

launchpad. i feel foolishly hopeful for saying this but given what’s been said by mr angones about launchpad’s past romantic endeavors and other relationships being how launchpad brings out the best in other people and therefore in some way saving them from themselves. it feels like it fits the most. launchpad DOESNT need to fall for another man who needs saving. and drake does appear that way at first. but drake will be able to offer his own brand of emotional support that can help launchpad believe in himself and grow as a person

anyways watch this be about something not romantic at all or daisy is just watching a tv show or reading something and making a comment about it

[zero2heroyesindeed]

We may not be rewriting history today but we are most definitely solving a mystery. Specifically the mystery of what is going to happen to Ducktales after season 3 and whether or not season 4 is happening (because I’m not ready to lose my wonderful bird children yet).

Any engagement with the video is much appreciated. Even hate comments (there’s a good chance i’d probably agree with them).

https://youtu.be/7LiYvAHywBo

[queenie-main]

It’s interesting to see where Launchpad’s arc is going this season, especially now that Della is a contender for the job of Scrooge’s pilot. Her mere existence as a character has driven much of the plot for Season 1, and now that she’s actually present in Season 2 the established DuckTales formula has turned upside down. That means changes for everyone, for better or worse.

Launchpad started Season 1 as Scrooge’s driver and now he’s back to doing just that. He has never been unhappy with that job and fought hard to keep it, but he’ll start to miss piloting soon enough. Because that’s who he is; Launchpad McQuack is a pilot above all else. He is also an established part of Scrooge’s family now. After all the adventures he’s been on and the friendships he’s forged, there’s no way he could ever leave. And now with a real Darkwing Duck on the scene, Launchpad is on the road to becoming his pilot as well, even if he has no Thunderquack to fly yet.

But will piloting for Darkwing mean Launchpad will never go on adventures with Scrooge and the kids again? Not likely. Launchpad is family and he’s been an important part of the DuckTales universe since DT87. He’s not going anywhere. Scrooge isn’t going to get rid of him just because Della is back. There might even be times when she isn’t available to fly for him, or times when the two pilots need to work together. Della might resist at first, and there may be some friction on both sides as they try to impress Scrooge, but after a life changing adventure they could become best friends.

Launchpad has always been the link between the worlds of DuckTales and Darkwing Duck, and there is potential for some interesting stories now that there’s so much crossover happening. But therein lies an interesting problem for Launchpad. How does he balance his life in both worlds? The dilemma is raised in the Kaboom! comics crossover when Scrooge and Darkwing have to work together. Launchpad doesn’t have much time to wrestle with the problem before the story ends and the problem is solved for him. If it comes up in DT2017 it has to be after Drake adopts Gosalyn and Launchpad has an established life with their family as well as crimefighting.

This will be the greatest challenge Launchpad has ever faced.