#what rewatching ducktales does to me

[mighty-ant]

thinking about launchpad and missed potentials again

we know launchpad doesn't think very highly of himself, despite his inner strength and confidence inspiring many a superhero now, and despite his himbo status we know that he's actually a very competent fighter

i think i would've loved a launchpad centric episode where we actually follow along with him on one of his globetrotting adventures to help one of his exes fight ninjas or save their kingdom (etc. etc.), with the usual "hero" characters playing secondary roles, to really hammer home for launchpad his ability to be a hero on his own, with no suit or inteli-ray or "proper" hero to take the credit intentionally or not

not to diss his scene in "Last Adventure," i loved that, but just to have some more building up to that, plus launchpad's really hot when he actually puts his all into fighting someone 😔👍🏽

[dollyknight]

One May and June episode could be about their fears and insecurity joining the family (maybe involving FOWL remains), and how the clan tries to made them feel welcome and loved.

Since getting this ask I’ve thought of an episode where the two deal with this separately so here’s another episode description as a treat. Albeit slightly modified to avoid some spoilers 

May and June learn what it truly means to have a family. 

Ive been doing a full rewatch of Ducktales 2017 for both research and for fun and I’ve just finished the life and crimes of Scrooge Mcduck( the episode in Huey’s season before the finale being a Louie episode is a little annoying ngl) so I haven’t gotten to may and junes introduction yet but the characterizations I have for them for is under the cut

June: I’ve kind of split parts of webby’s personality and altered them to give them each their own personality which is still a little bit of a wip for now. For June I gave her webbys initial season one enthusiasm if you know what I mean. She’s excited and bouncy and wants to try everything there is to try. I imagine she’d be interested in things like art and ballet as well as loving the ocean even if she’s not that good at sailing. She also has a lot of respect for her sister May, based on that one scene where she cuts the strings on webbys board because may said it was wrong, which leads me to thing she also does things without thinking she doesn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings she still learning. She seems like she’d be a good gift giver, the type of person who knows what people like because she wants everyone to be happy, which does sometimes lead to naivety( but don’t get it twisted she’s plenty smart)overcompensation on her part but she’s working on it.

May: mays a lot more cynical then her sister and is protective of her. She doesn’t trust easily on account of her entire world shattering. She’s got more of webby’s warrior attitude and has a similar way of looking at problems to Louie( he probably ropes her into his schemes). Even though she comes off as grumpy and cynical she loves her family and would do anything for them, she has a lot of respect for Donald and daisy as well as Mrs. Beakley and Huey( he is collecting little siblings like pokemon you guys). I also imagine she’d be interested in fashion like her mom daisy and debate. I think she gets lots of book recommendations from Huey so she’s always reading. She butts heads with Dewey a lot, partly because the entire cast kind of just gets along, they don’t often have different conclusions or shown opinions from each other( like they’re all obviously different to each other but you don’t really see them draw different conclusions from each other too often) and also because she kind of opposes his sunshine everything’s okay personality. 

[dragonform]

Lurking on some Ninjago communities is driving me batty, so let me just get this out here.

"oLd NinJaGO wAs BetTeR"

"JuSt LeT nINjaGo dIE"

Look, buddy. Lemme tell you a story. (Buckle up, this is gonna be a long one.)

Last year, my kid Ry was six years old. Prime Ninjago age. He had already started watching Lego shows, and in fact already loved the dragon sets from Ninjago (we got him the sets for 4+ years the moment he was old enough to follow the instructions), but was a bit hesitant to start the show because some of it looked scary.

We started with Dragons Rising, because it was new at the time and Netflix was pushing it. As we watched, we got the sense that there was a lot of history behind it. My husband and I already knew Ninjago had been around for a while, having seen the sets in shops. So I looked up the history of the show to see how much we needed to catch up on.

"15 seasons!?" I yelped to my husband.

"Has it been around that long???" he responded.

We were happy, of course, that Ry had found a nice long Lego show to watch (we generally love Lego shows in this house, they all seem to be of much higher quality than other kids' tv shows out there. But I digress.)

We started from Season 1. Somewhere around Skybound (yes, ok, I know), it dawned on me that not only was Ry enjoying the show, I was enjoying the show. The scenes looked ridiculously cinematic, larger in scale than what Lego Minifigures should reasonably deliver. The action and fight scenes were ridiculously complex and fluid for little square plastic people. The faces far more expressive than what's basically an emoji printed on yellow plastic should allow for. And the characters and writing? Light years more compelling than any Hollywood superhero movie in recent memory.

"This show is ridiculous," I said to my husband, amazed.

One year later, we've collected almost all the sets we could find, and Ninjago is officially our favorite show in the entire household. Not Dragons Rising. Ninjago. All of it, from beginning to end, including the pilots and Day of the Departed (in both English and Chinese), all of it. Ask Ry if he prefers "old Ninjago" or Dragons Rising, and he'll tell you old Ninjago without hesitation. But he will cheerfully rewatch DR anytime. (We're rewatching DR S1 for the fourth time as I write this.)

What I'm trying to say is, you (imaginary OG Ninjago fan) may not like Dragons Rising, but it's how kids nowadays are discovering old Ninjago. To say it should end just because you don't like the changes? Is basically saying you're so selfish you don't want to share your childhood with the kids of today. Old Ninjago isn't going anywhere. You can rewatch it anytime. I hate New Ducktales because I grew up with Old Ducktales (jeez, now everyone knows how old I am) but I don't wish they never made New Ducktales. There's a whole new generation waiting to discover the same joy and wonder you felt watching your favorite shows. Let them watch it.

And before you say my kid and I are the exception, have you been to Legoland lately? The Ninjago rooms and ride haven't been updated since the Tournament of Elements. That's 2015 - almost a decade ago. And you know what? At our Legoland, the Ninjago rooms still go for a premium because the demand is so high. The Ninjago ride still boasts one of the longest queues in the whole of Legoland. The kids' t-shirts sell like hotcakes.

Just yesterday, at the mall, I watched a random girl, about 8 years old, sit down and pull out a copy of The Book of Elemental Powers (released in 2021) and read it. Ry has a copy of the same book.

Kids nowadays love old Ninjago AND new Ninjago. I don't know who needs to hear this, but it's right here for whoever does.

Ninjago is amazing and I wish it many long years ahead for the generations to come.

[hollowwish]

List of arosepc headcanons I have below (it is quite long) (list subject to future updates/suggestions (you can send me propaganda for your blorbo))

Ford Pines - he literally just has the vibes tbh. Crazy uncle who doesn't want anyone bc he's aromantic and obsessed with portals. also it would make billford worse.

Mable Pines - she literally picks her crushes and then stops 'liking' them in week. Do you know how many aromantic people have done this.

Hollyleaf warrior cats - fallen leaves was her qpp. Okay. The website family tree is lying to you. If Lionblaze asked her when she would get married she'd respond with "I'm already married to the warrior code."

Sonic T. Hedgehog - it's in character. Sega themsleves said he would hate settling down.... (I also think hes bi)

huey dewey louie or webby duck(tales) - at least one of them is arosepc I just can't figure out which one. Or maybe it's all of them

Della duck - cool aromantic lesbian mom. She does not need a husband or a partner she just needs her ducklings (and donald ig)

lapis lazuil - ngl I was rewatching steven universe and I just had a Feeling. Also she's one of my favorite characters, so.

Rise Leo - he's like Mabel he's doing comphet. (I think he's gay aromantic specifically and just keeps mistaking "I want to be friends with this guy/wow they're attractive" with "I want to date him") (also makes the fandom wide headcanon of aro donnie really funny. Wrong twin guys..)

C!peal and c!gem - especially empires s1. Pearl being aroace and gem being arospec but she hasn't figured that out yet (insert "I'm probably nonbinary but I have a job" image)

On that note, empires 1 fwhip has and will always be demiromantic in my mind

No idea what e2 fwhip has going on but he is somewhere on the aro spectrum. Maybe it's why he's so weird abt jimmy.

ONE Jimmy solidarity character is also arosepc I just don't know which one. But one of them is i know it in my bones.

grian and scar- they are both aros who fuck and 3rd life was world shattering platonic love.

Donatello tmnt - I haven't seen every tmnt iteration but like. ONE of them is aro and it is NOT rise donnie

Scott smajor - @/funkily suggested he was cupio and it made way too much sense

Saiki kusuo - do I even need to explain this one. It's basically canon (unless it is canon and I just missed something)

Wednesday Addams - most aromantic coded girl ever and I'm going to fight netflix for making her kiss barista boy

Shadow the Hedgehog - he's arospec. ("Im probably aromantic but i have a job and trauma")

Honorable mentions -

Oli theorionsound (suggested by sage thinkingabout-girls)

Whatever the fuck was going on with divorce quartet in double life specifically

Violet and lena saberwing ducktales

Also ducktales gosalyn

At least one of the powerpuff girls

Adrien agreste because (iirc) he sucks at romance and I need to escape love square hell

Mumbo jumbo

Arospec mythicalsausage

Maud Pie (I think if I finished mlp she'd be on the list)

[anathtsurugi]

Istanbird (Not Swanstantinople)

So I was doing a rewatch of Ducktales recently, enjoying watching my toddlers point to the Duck family and exclaim, "Duckie!", and whilst watching 'The Split Sword of Swanstantine', a few things started to occur to me.

Like, if things like Istanbird and Swanstantine exist in the Duck universe, does it not stand to reason that this Istanbird may have once been called...Swanstantinople? Hmmmmm?

Now, I have neither the skill, nor the software, nor even really the time to try and create an actual recording or video of this idea, so all you're gonna get from me is the lyrics; but I hope the notion brings just as much joy to the history nerds in the house as it did to me.

So without further ado, my fellow DT fans, I give you...some stupid fun.

Istanbird was Swanstantinople

Now it’s Istanbird, not Swanstantinople

Been a long time gone, Swanstantinople

Now it’s Turkish delight on a moonlit night

Every bird in Swanstantinople

Lives in Istanbird, not Swanstantinople

So if you’ve a date in Swanstantinople

They’ll be waiting in Istanbird

Even old New Yolk was once New Hamsterdam

Why they changed it I can’t say

People just liked it better that way

So take me back to Swanstantinople

No, you can’t go back to Swanstantinople

Been a long time gone, Swanstantinople

Why did Swanstantinople get the works?

That’s nobody’s business but the Turks

Istanbird, Istanbird

Istanbird, Istanbird

Even old New Yolk was once New Hamsterdam

Why they changed it I can’t say

People just liked it better that way

Istanbird was Swanstantinople

Now it’s Istanbird, not Swanstantinople

Been a long time gone, oh Swanstantinople

Why did Swanstantinople get the works?

That’s nobody’s business but the Turks

So take me back to Swanstantinople

No, you can’t go back to Swanstantinople

Been a long time gone, Swanstantinople

Why did Swanstantinople get the works?

That’s nobody’s business but the Turks

~*~

Aaaand there's my geeking quota for the month. Not that it was greatly difficult to parody the lyrics in this case, though I do feel like I Could've come up with something better than New Yolk and New Hamsterdam. If anybody else does come up with something better, do feel free to hit me up about it.

And, of course, if you have no idea what I'm talking about with any of this but have still somehow made it this far, you should probably just do yourself a favor and go check out the original song. Have fun!

[multifandom-nerds-blog]

Ducktales 2017 timeline: ranting

One tiny thing that is icking me about Ducktales is that there is rarely any clear dates, or seasons for how much time passesor when the episodes happen. Like, obviously most episodes do not happen directly after the previous one unless they are double episodes like the season finales the first two episodes or the darkwing duck episodes in S3.

In addition to that exact topic, I'm gonna have to say that by logic, the spear of Selene incident , at the point of S2 when Della came back, should have been 11 instead of 10 years.

While (again) not entirely clear in what season the show even starts, it's summer for most people, which also makes sense with the trees being green and everything, so either summer or late spring

The first episode obviously also didn't play on the exact day of Della dissapearing for 10 years, cause by simple logic that would've been made clear. So yeah, still closer to 10 years but as in someone saying they are 10 years old and not "10 years and so many months"

We have the whole christmas time travel episode (that I just rewatched which made me write this post) in S2 with Dewey meeting young Donald and Della. This now tells us, Donald and the triplets have been living with Scrooge for at least half a year.

After that we're back to the generic cartoon spring/summer season

Ergo: The showmakers were to lazy to properly think of the fact that time INDEED DOES PASSES, also in a cartoon. Not to forget that this could've given us:

A triplet birthday episode in S1 or S2

An episode on the date of the spear of Selene incident with everyone like "ah phooey, now it's been 11 years already" with possible bonding between Donald and Scrooge

A GOOD TIMELINE I COULD REFERENCE IN MY HEAD FOR ANYBODYS SAKE

Yes. I know this is a kids show. Not to forget a kids show from Disney, but I'm always happier when I know how much time passes between events in shows or movies. It gives my brain satisfaction. This is also often (not always) a reason for me disliking episodically structured shows.

[writebackatya]

so im writing a ducktales fic that includes dewey being lost in the multiverse and im struggling to write dialog for the first chapter i was wondering if you had any advice

Okay so I’ve never really given writing advice before but hey there’s a first time for everything, right?

So one common writing advice that you might have already seen is this: just write. Just write whatever you can at the moment and tell yourself that what you’re writing is not the final draft and is allowed to change

Whenever I wanna work on dialogue for a scene but can’t at the moment sometimes I’ll leave little notes for myself in the draft such as [Add dinner dialogue later] or just add in whatever generic dialogue I can write at the moment which I change later. Usually when I have a dialogue in a scene I try to think about what’s the outcome of the dialogue I want. And if I can’t get to that at the moment, I usually work on something else in the story until it gets to me. You don’t wanna stress too hard about what you can’t write at the moment, if you can’t write it, then work on something else in the story until it gets to you

As for writing for specific characters there are some things I like to do when I want to capture their voice

I usually watch either clips or compilations of a character’s “best moments”. I find compilations great to watch cause they usually have the character’s wide range of emotions and reactions

Sometimes I will just rewatch episodes that either stars the character or features them in a large way. When I do watch the episodes, I like to pay attention to that character’s mannerisms throughout the episodes: the way the react, the way the speak, their nonverbals such as facial expressions, the way they interact with different characters, etc

Another thing I like to do when writing a character is watching other roles their actor has played. For example, whenever I write for Dewey I will sometimes look up other Ben Schwartz roles I enjoyed and watch random clips of him as someone like Sonic, Jean-Ralphio, Yasper, his many characters on Jake and Amir, etc. Watching Ben Schwartz play different characters makes me think about what Ben does differently when he plays Dewey

So I hope this was helpful. And best of luck. The writing process can be painful at times. There will be moments where you wanna give up so don’t be afraid to give yourself a break. You’re still finding your voice and that takes time and it isn’t always final

Just try to have fun, you’re writing a story where a duck is traveling the multiverse. That’s really cool!

[xullianspamnoham]

Uhh no

I do like ducktales but currently lack any brainrot so basically I can't say anything about it except the fact that I loved it a lot and it was a comfort show for me

Haven't rewatched in a while tho

Blvlblnlnlbllmmmmm

WAKE UP i need coffee

Im gonna get coffee

Umumumjmmmmm haha what if ink sans was intersex. Youve had that conversation before, but still. Ink with OH does ink have shrim vision? I like to imagine he can see extra colors

[glowyjellyfish]

Is there still a Ducktales fandom here? Most of the blogs I followed around the 2017 times have either changed subjects or gone quiet. Well, anyway, if anybody’s still here:

I started rewatching Ducktales 2017 over the holiday, with the intent of finally finishing the last few episodes! I’m in the middle of s2 and very excited. So I went through and started editing my playlist, which hasn’t really been updated since season 1. And I’m wondering if any other fans out there have any song ideas. I’d like to have a fairly equal amount of songs for each major character, and so far my favorites tend to be over represented.

Here’s what I have so far:

General amusement songs:

Ducktales theme song

Quack Quack Quack! Donald Duck

The Three Caballeros Song

Scrooge

The Saddest Story Ever Told by The Magnetic Fields

Hazy Shade of Winter by Gerard Way

Feel It Still by Portugal. The Man

Inside Out by Eve 6

We Are the Champions by Queen

Donald

Trouble Loves Me by Morrisey

The Worst Day Since Yesterday by Flogging Molly

Come With Me Now by Kongos

Battle Cry by Ludo

Return by OK Go (although it’s about Della, from his perspective)

Della

Song of the Sea by Cake Bake Betty

Got to Fly by Marian Call (the best Della song)

Rocket Ship by Kathy McCarty

Huey

The Trail We Blaze by Elton John

Overkill by Colin Hay (I kinda want to replace this one)

In Too Deep by Sum 41

Everything is Awesome by Tegan and Sara

Dewey

Ready for Anything by Skyway Flyer

A Little Less Conversation by Elvis Presley (the Megamind cover)

Ghost by Mystery Skulls

Louie

Plan B by Five Iron Frenzy

Heist by Ben Folds Five

Here It Goes Again by OK Go

Natural by Imagine Dragons

The Future by Mystery Skulls

Webby

Kids in the Dark by All Time Low

I’m Ready by Angela Michael

Try Everything by Shakira

Beakley

Have You Got It In You? by Imogen Heap

Launchpad

Crash Goes My World by Cadence Grace

Flying by Blue Rodeo

Mr Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra

All Star by Smash Mouth (the best Launchpad song)

Bud Like You by AJR

Holding Out For a Hero by Bonnie Tyler (favorite recent addition, it’s both perfect and hilarious)

Learn to Fly by Foo Fighters

Gyro

Build the Robots by Doctor Steel

Still Alive from Portal

Fenton (should note that his section is a bit of a mess and may include songs that don’t work very well because I was just tossing songs in there to see what would stick)

Rocket Man by Elton John (although it works better for Classic Fenton than 2017 Fenton)

A Better Son/Daughter by Rilo Kiley

Freaking Out by Mystery Skulls

The Safety Dance by Men Without Hats (haven’t tested it yet, but the idea amused me)

Hero by Chad Kroeger

Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons

Mighty Little Man by Steve Burns

Consequences by Buffering the Vampire Slayer

We Are by Ana Johnson

Lena

Opheliac by Emilie Autumn

Glomgold

Opportunities by Pet Shop Boys

Reprehensible by They Might Be Giants

Mark Beaks

Whipped Cream by Ludo

Welcome to the Internet by Bo Burnham

Gladstone

Life Has Been Good To Me by Randy Newman

…and that’s it. As you can see, it does not feel like a complete playlist, covering neither every character nor any full arcs. …except maybe Launchpad who’s pretty well represented with some good and great songs for him. My sister has suggested I try Let the Games Begin and The Good Part by AJR, as well as You Won’t Make a Fool Out of Me by Flogging Molly for Donald, but I would like some songs I haven’t heard by different artists, if possible. Also, please note that I haven’t seen the last five or so episodes of the series yet; I have approximate knowledge of The One Thing, but otherwise am avoiding spoilers until I finish.

Any ideas?

[heyclickadee]

I know it wasn’t on your list, but I’m asking anyway. my man Darkwing Duck for character bingo please 😋 (the original obviously, not the new Ducktales one 😝)

Honestly, I should have put Disney Ducks generally on the list but didn't, so thanks for this one!

So, OG Darkwing. Darkwing Duck was one of my favorite shows when I was a kid, buuut I was a little bit too young to see a lot of episodes in the original run (and that's besides the whole thing where certain episodes only aired on ABC and other ones only aired on the Disney Channel) and ended up catching most of them on reruns a few years later. (I also didn't realize that tv schedules were a thing until I was about twelve, so...yeeeaahh). But, being a bit of a completionist, I did a full rewatch of the whole original series a few years ago (and then did another one a bit ago in episode production order because I don't know but this is what I do I guess), and you know what? Darkwing is kind of a jerk. He's a self-aggrandizing, egotistical, headline-obsessed asshole who's exactly three bad choices from going full supervillian on everyone at all times, and it's great because he does usually get around to doing the right thing for the right reason in spite of that. It might take a couple anvils to the head every episode, but he does get there, and gosh darn it if he doesn't turn his whole life upside down to be a dad because he met a kid who needed a home.

Seriously, the Darkwing and Gosalyn dynamic kills me, because it's literally the "I've only had X for five minutes but if something happened to them, I'd kill everyone in the room and myself." They've both got really strong personalities, so they play off of each other really well, and the thing I like most about it is that Darkwing genuinely doesn't know how to be a dad (or be around people much, really), so even though he's trying, he screws up a lot, is shown to be in the wrong when he does, and then manages to course correct when he gets (sometimes literally) hit over the head with how he messed up and makes things right.

And you know what else? I wish the Batman vs Superman movie was like "Tiff of the Titans." Darkwing and Gizmoduck are so dang petty, it's a delight.

Also, it's hard to dislike a guy who's go to method of combat is to shout nonsense and then launch himself bodily at the villain. And the outfit slaps. And I'm a sucker for slapstick comedy. (Also uncut version of "Darkly Dawns the Duck" released when I want that intro scene back)

[sunbratz]

i feel like the only person in existance who didnt really like the way they wrapped up deweys character development in the new episode ://

[feeling--pink]

Recently I decided that the fireside girls are phenomenal and deserve much more characterization than they got in the show. I’m very sorry for how long it took me so long to realize this!

Anyways to start off here’s some casual clothes since we never saw them outside their uniforms in the show!! Explanations for each under the cut as per usual! :D

~

Just a disclaimer that while I used every scrap of evidence I could find from the wikis and rewatching the failed pilot episodes that I did have to make some stuff up for these. In the future I hope to build on what the show gave us for more fully fleshed out characters but until then here’s a start!! 

Gretchen

I should let y’all know now that I did base their color schemes off of those in act your age! But I gave everyone a secondary color as well (if they didn't already have one)

Gretchen, according to the wiki is “Extremely Smart, happy” (extremely smart being unique)

She is also the only (known) one with the Saying A Word No One Else In The Room Knows Patch 

From that we can take that she’s in the same sort of archetype as Huey Duck, Violet Sabrewing, Frida (hilda), Clemont (pokemon xyz), etc. 

So I tired to base her outfit on them!

In this case it’s mostly Huey, Violet, and Frida because pokemon outfits follow different rules 

Violet and Frida’s outfits are more similar because they’re what I consider “comfortable” 

And while I love their designs I decided to go the other route!

The other route being Huey! Aka I wanted to give her a polo shirt skjdfhgk

Besides, for Gretchen’s age up design I think her outfit fits in the same category as Violet and Frida’s do! So we’ll get there eventually!

But anyways yes, I took the polo shirt from Huey then decided I should probably give her pants because she isn’t a duck where its socially acceptable to not wear pants sksajdhfgaks

So yeah a pleated skirt just seemed the right way to go yes? :D

Katie

Yes Katie is wearing crocs

Why you may ask?

BECAUSE WHAT ARE THOSE SUPPOSED TO BE OTHER THAN CROCS

LISTEN- I tried, I really did, to come up with something other than crocs

But I couldn’t hecking do it 

Well I couldn’t without ignoring this part of her character design which is 90% of what I have to go off of

Anyways from her wiki entry her personality is described as “Kind, helpful, cute”

This makes cute her only unique trait among all the fireside girls (except technically Isabella)

She’s also the only (known) one with the semaphore patch (that isn’t on her wiki but it is stated in bee story) 

btw this is totally unrelated to my design but I’m thinking what if Katie got into color guard when she’s older? skjdhfakasj idk I think she would like it

Anyways!! At another point in the wiki it mentions her “running gag” (running gag in quotations because it only happened once I watched the episode specifically looking for this) where she says/does unusual things to get a glance from the other girls

I’m taking that to mean she’s silly!!!!! 

Hence the crocs sksjdhfak

The overalls just seemed to fit her nature, and like I know Baljeet already has overalls but she’ll fight him for it k? skjhdsak

Milly

I’ll say here that Milly and Holly have the least characterization from their wikis which I’m very sad about

Okay so Milly’s  “Kind, helpful, Happy” (no unique traits), is bad with secrets (operation crumb cake), and has one more Help Thy Neighbor patch because she went back to Phineas and Ferb’s house after everyone left at some point

Unfortunately from first glance we don’t don’t have a lot to go off of character design wise with these

However!! I know another character who's bad with secrets, helpful, and wears a bow in her hair!! That's right- Webby Vanderquack (btw very sorry to anyone who hasn't watched Ducktales I’m gonna keep bringing it up because I love it a lot I’m sorry)

So I loosely based this design on Webby’s! Aka dress shirt thing (in this case, a blouse) and a skirt that I think is neat!! 

Webby’s design leans more into her nerdy side and so I made Milly’s lean toward sweetness!! (not saying Milly isn’t nerdy, there's just no evidence to suggest that she is so I didn’t lean into that) (also that would be too close to literally just drawing Webby’s outfit which I also didn’t want to do)

Holly

I’m restating that Holly and Milly get practically nothing from their wikis (Holly getting the least)

Like  “Kind, nice, helpful” -The P&F wiki on Holly

Go girl!! Give us nothing!!!!!

skjdjhf okay but actually there is exactly one thing we can get from the wiki

While she doesn't have any unique patches, if we look at my patch reference sheet below

You may notice that for all the patches that 3 people got; Gretchen and Holly have all four (Ginger being replaced with Adyson for the Rodeo Clown patch)

In conclusion: Gretchen and Holly are best friends.

Look I know I’m blowing this a little out of proportion, but they gave me literally nothing so I’m running with what I have

Anyways!! I’m taking Gretchen and Holly being best friends as Holly is also wicked smart!! 

So in conclusion that all adds up to I’m also making Holly’s outfit nerd-esq because I can

This time basing it loosely of of Satsuki from My Neighbor Totoro because she’s who I think of for an orange and yellow color scheme! 

(she also gives me Boyd (DT again) vibes from the color I chose for the shorts though haha)

Adyson

Starting right off the bat the wiki gives us “Sometimes comical, helpful, accident-prone, nice”

Accident prone gives us bandages

Adyson also has the unique patch of the appliance repair patch 

She also used to have the record patch for earning six patches in one day before Candace broke that record!

So I gave her running shorts and a sleeveless hoodie because I take that as she’s slightly sporty (athlesure but more casual)

Adyson was really much more straightforward than the others

I had an idea in my head that made sense so I went with it, y’know?

Ginger

okay but WHY IS GINGER SO TALL

I’m not even talking about how much taller I made her here because I was basing it off of the show!!! She’s stupid tall!!! 

And like I know Stacey and her mom are both tall so of course she would be too but LOOK AT THIS

I MEAN ?????? BRO-

Anyways moving on! :D

I REALLY liked her light blue and indigo color scheme in aya so I tried to keep that! 

I wish I could have incorporated a little more light blue but with the style of dress I went with that wasn’t really possible

Speaking of her dress!! Why’d I do that you may ask? 

I dunno I thought it looked cute! 

Listen- I love giving explicit reasons for each and every choice I make, but honestly there's usually a point where I have no ideas and go “eh its cute”

and thats what happened here! 

Thanks for reading if you got this far!!

If I missed some details or you have ideas please come talk to me!! I really want to do a good job for these guys (they absolutely deserve it) and could use all the help I can get! 

[popculturebuffet]

Of Moons, Millionares and Mothers: Part 14: GlomTales!: Cannae Top Louie’s Grand Plan to Beat that “Scotsman” (Patreon Review for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy people and welcome back to of Moons, Millionares and Mothers, my look at the complete season 2 arcs of Ducktales! And we’re at the goal line as we’re counting down our final episodes, leading up to the finale next week with Moonvasion, just in time for the show’s anniversary! But we’ve got two episdoes before that so let’s bring back the counter shall we?

And this counter is apporiate as unlike the seasons i’ts sandwitched between, each of the final three episodes of this arc and the season as a whole tie up one of the storylines. Glomgold does come back in a big way for the finale and Louie’s development coming full circle is just as crucial, making Moonvasion feel like wrap up not just to the della arc but to the season as a whole, But the arcs themselves had solid endings BEFORE that so the finale movie can focus purely on the moonlander invasion, finishing Della’s character arc and giving us a big, avengers endgame style finale to the season. This episode wraps up Glomgold’s bet while pushign teh Louie storyline to it’s conclusion. Granted Owlson will stick around for one more episode, as HER story arc isn’t finished, but we’ll get to that. For now, i’ve ran out of budget so consider joining my patreon (More about that and what neat stuff yo ugeto for signing on at the end. ), but you’ll all love it so GLOMTALES!:

Previously on Ducktales:

Now on Ducktales:

We have to plots that come together, right now, over me, and unlike the last few times there isn’t any plot to get into BEFORE they split off naturally. Sooo....

Hate You, Hate You Both:

So yeah i’m getting the part of the episode that objectively sucks and brings this episode down entirely. 

Yeah i’m not remotely playing my cards close to my chest with this one. While Timephoon had issues the Louie plot here? Contender for worst of the season and it’s only not the worst of the series because we have “Launchpad: Too Stupid to Tell Fiction From Reality” and “Sasquatch Plot in the middle of a terrifying psychological horror story” So the show has had worse.. but my my my god this one still leaves a bad taste in my mouth and a rewatch only made it worse. 

So Louie is still grounded, with Della having hacked the wifi to have self righteous lectures from here instead of anything fun on Louie’s phone. Hope he dosen’t say have to call for help from an army of super villians. HOPE THAT DOSEN”T HAPPEN. 

Anyway the family is going on an adventure as usual, this time an easy breather one to the Big Rock Candy Mountain, which naturally is a real place, to have a vacation for once before the bet finishes. Yup the bet is almost due and Glomgold is trailing with no real hope of catching up in time. More on him soon. I’m counting the seconds. Louie expects he’ll get to go.. but Della dosen’t let him and he’s grumpy about it despite you know BEING GROUDNED AND HAVING NEARLY KILLED THEM ALL. 

Yeah this is our first problem, Louie has.. no shame for what he’s done. No repentance, no shred of feeling BAD or residual guilt. This carries over from last episode.. and that’s a problem in itself. They had a whole nother breakdown to correct this problem, have him maybe using his lack of guilt as a cover for the fact he actualy feels bad. His mood instead?

He just expects everything ot be fine after this and expects his mom to bend over. His emotoinal moments this episode fall flat because he did something ABHORENT that nearly wiped out history itself, and is just.. not at all bothered by it or remotely rattled and gets away clean from having ZERO guilt over almost loosing EVERYTHING. He felt bad in the moment but once it was clear there were no consequencs he was fine. And that’s REALLY bad. I THOUGHT Louie’s characterization issues started in season 3 but honestly rewatching his arc.. he dosen’t REALLY grow until the very END of it.. and that’s reset next season.  He really has learned absolutely nothing, each lesson just shaking of fhim like tefflon. 

It’s annoying enough when a character learns the same lesson again and again in a more episodic show but in this show character development STICKS. Webby slowly learns normal interactoin, Huey’s fear of the unknown is gone after “Terror of the Terra Firmians”, Dewey never leaves his brothers out of stuff the way he did. Lena slowly forgives hereslf for her past, Fenton learns to be a hero, Gyro learns to treat people better, Scrooge learns a ton of lessons and to actually remember who drake is. Things STICK in this series  normally so the fact Louie remains almost entirely the same REALLY bothers me. He’s not a bad character and Bobby Monnihan is talented... but for an arc entirely about his development nothing changes.

 In contrast Dewey learns the consequences of his selfishness, and that sticks, and Huey has TONS of development scattered across Season 3. While he’s not the most key player in the FOWL arc like we hoped, the show compensated by giving him tons of focus and a clear arc: peace by peace he grows to make peace with chaos. He accepted the unknown.. now he needed to accept the weird and oddness of his world and of life itself. The unpredictablity. And he did wether it was with wrestling, not being the best woodchuck in favor of his girlfriend, or in his own head. Huey CHANGED and while at first I genuinely thought my boy didn’t get a capper to his arc.. honestly he did. It’s just subtle.  His final major act in the series is saving his uncle.. by USING the ludicrious nature of the unvierse he’s in. By fully embracing it. He simply says “family is the greatest adventure of all”..  something that like Bradford says “makes no sense”.. but Huey gets now that sometimes the world DOSEN’T make sense, sometimes it is just plain weird.. and that’s okay. IN the end what seperates him from our big bad is Bradford refused to accept the world is weird, wonderful and diffrent.. and Huey did, and Huey won because of it. Louie.. is just a greedy dick and while his greedy dickery does win the day here, he dosen’t really feel lik ehe’s ever sorry for what his greed has done and the next time it bakcfires it’s soley on Louie himself so he never gets to. 

Now you’d THINK Della would also be sympathetic right?

Yeah no Della leaves her child with an unstable reporgammed DT-87 (the robot from day of the only child) that she HOPES won’t turn evil that zaps him any time it detects a scheme. There.. there is so much wrong in that one sentence it’s astounding. 

Okay first off GYRO built and refurbished the DT87. Gyro.. the guy who didn’t think to put a homing device in your rocket della. And the fact it wasn’t tested yet dosen’t excuse this: he built a full manual and as far as I can tell the only thing faulty on the rocket was the cosmic ray shielding fantastic four stylez. A guy who on a GOOD day usually makes about 5 or 6 ultrons to Hank Pym’s one, is petty and vengful and has every reason to hate your son after he stole his invention the other dayyyyyy, and nearly undid time with it. Your trusting HIM not to murder your child. 

I get not having most of their associates look afte rthem: With selene it’s not really kosher to ring up your ex to look after your kid, the cabs, fenton and most others they have at this point are too scamable, and most who aren’t are going with you on the vacation. But you had two VALID other options to babysit him without depriving Beakley or Scrooge of a vacation. Duckworth whose STILL in the manor and for NO REASON GIVEN dosen’t watch Louie or take care of watching his schemes himself, and thus creates a massive plothole in the “tourturing your son with a robot” subplot. And of course the biggest, most obvious one of all Della...

Yeah I do not get in the slightest why Della isn’t the one watching Louie. The ONLY reason he’s alone is for the plot later... and even that makes no sense.. just have him fake his defection still, but have it clear Della’s in on it or get she’s planning something. This plot would work better if Della, feeling responsible, stayed behind to make sure Louie stayed grounded. It’d also give more weight ot the mansion invasion..which has plenty but adding in them fighting one of the main heroes would make it so much more exciting. Instead.. Della leaves one of her kids home alone with a neglectful ghost and a possibly muderous robot.  This is easily the worst thought out thing she’s ever done nad yes i’m very much aware she shot herself into space with no planning , commuincations or backup because a creepy and suspcious old man told her where a rocket was.  Leaving your child to get murdered by a robot instead of watching him yoruself, something your other children would FULLY understand you having to do and only be a little bummed at your absence, really tops it, especailly since she’s had 10 years to grow th ehell pua nd.. not do this. 

So we get the payoff as Della wants him to stop scheming.. but Louie is worried it’s all he has. And i’d feel for him if I felt he had a soul at this point but everything in the last two episodes points to a big fat nope. It’s  GOOD character idea: that Louie Schemes because it’s what he knows and dosen’t know HOW to stop.. but it only comes up NOW and isn’t hinted at earlier... which dosen’t work when the premeir is BUILT aroudn Louie having an inner psychological issue tha’ts slowly hinted at. Here he just comes off as wanting to go on a vacation he didn’t earn till suddenly feelings. God I need a frigging break.. and thankfully i’m getting it as we can now get to the actually GOOD part of the episode

The Actually Good Part of the Episode:

So yeah about that bet. Back after that first scene and several hours ago, Glomgold breaks into the Beagle’s junkyard HQ and tries to get Ma’s help for a scheme, which already seems.. off. Glomgold NEVER relies on anyone who isn’t a shark in his schemes. If you look back their always done solo and even with Owlson h’es more mad she’s popping on his party than actually trying to get her to help him despite thinking she’s his assistant. Not only that but his ego means only HE can kill scrooge .. so why would he want one of his other eneimies help? Ma , after the boys caputre him figures it out right away, but before we get to that answer let’s talk about Ma. Ma Beagle.. is awesome here.. a criminal matriach whose hialriously dickish to her sons, clever, pragmatic and of course voiced by the always incredbile and perfectly cast Character Actress Margo Martendale, in between heists of course. The only shame of her character.. is that she ended up sidelined: her sons showed up more because their easier to use as disposable antagonists, she’s too clever for that, and unlike Glomgold, go got this full arc that concludes here, Beaks, who became Fenton’s arch enemy and got apperances outside of that being easier to squeeze in, and Magica who got an arc AND an arch enemy slot with Lena, Ma never really GOT any major focus or depth. Even when we get her backstory we find out she was always a convincing controlling beast of a woman. She’s not a BAD character but with the show’s changed priorites her and her sons just didn’t fit into the world Frank created as well and thus juts kinda faded and it’s a shame.

Anyway Ma has Glomgold figured out: She knows the bet is in it’s last 12 or so hours, and thus Glomgold is desperate to win, and has no real stake in it We then get a moment that’ shonestly.. shocking on rewatch because i’d forgot about it and it’s shockingly out of character, not the poorly written kind the “oh crap this is really serious” kind” Glomgold.. let’s his ego and his walls down and is EMOTIONALLY HONEST. He admits he CAN’T beat scrooge, something you’d think would be impossible for him to grasp.. but he’s tried everything. Done everything he can.. but just. Can’t swin.

But cleverly he’s figured out part of why> I mean obviously he hasn’t figured out it’s his lack of planning or own stupidity, thisi sn’t a miracle ephininy. But he has figured out he can’t do this alone, even though he is strong, he needs something more to him, something that’s the key to victory 

That key.. is family Scrooge’s family gives him one of the greatest temas ever assembled when you think about it: The Greatest Adventurer of all time, an ace pilot whose also skilled at hand to hand, thinking on the fly and mechanics, a master sailor, scrapper and dad, ANOTHER ace pilot whose the king of the himbos, nigh unkillable and very good at punches, a former spymaster with decades of experince and combat skills only rivaled by scrooge herself, her daughter whose also the secret daughter of the world’s greatest adventuerer and a burgoning master in all martial arts and history, the brightest young mind of a generation, an instinctive scrapper who would later outwrestle a god, a master manipulator and conman at only 11,  the world’s smartest man, and a ghost. And that’s just the major cast, the extended “family” includes an awkward latino genius piloting the most powerful weapon known to duckkind, a gay emo sorceress, her magically genius sister, the luckiest man alive, a suprisnigly briliant and unsuprisingly nuts oceanographer, and an apocalyptic god whose also a horse. 

While Glomgold DOES mostly fail because.. he’s glomgold, it’s undeniable he has a point: sure one man CAN fight a cool family team.. but it take sa HELL of a man. Doctor Doom is only able to take on the fantastic four , the world’s second greatest family and all with the power of gods, because he’s the world’s second smartest man, has an entire countries worth of resources and thinks 80 steps ahead when he’s not writtne by a moron who thinks “kill everyone because one of these guys slept with my fiance and surely this won’t ge tthe world to declare war on me for obviously having done something this stupid that could easily be found out”. Syndrome took on the incredibles because again, incredibly smart, rich and ful lof resources, only loosing because of his own ego. 

Glomgold has the resource part.. but he’s dumber than a sack of hammers once owned by Pauly Shore. He has the money and sheer tenacity of these dudes but not the actual competence and he’s not like the juggernaught, where he’s phsycially powerful enough for that not to matter. And even Cain would question how sharks are supposed to rob a casino then throw it on top of scrooge using an active volcano the sharks would also move due to using time travel. 

But as we’ve seen while ass incompitent a stopped clock can be right twice a day.. and Glomgold is right here.  Villian teams exist for a reason: one bad guy can do a lot of damage, but usually only the most powerful can take on an entire team. But together? knowing al ltheir various eneimes weaknesses their a true nightmare. Lex Luthor nearly destoryed the unvierse with th elegion of doom then saved it when that whole thing backfired for reasons I don’t know I didn’t read Scott Snyder’s Justice League Run. The Masters of Evil beat the avengers incredibly badly and only lost because the avengers were lucky enough to get some reinforments in the form of Thor and Ant-Man. The Sinister Six have nearly taken over the world TWICE.  A good villian team can break worlds. 

And as you can tell I like one of those and the idea of gathering all the biggest villians in the series wa sa great one. Granted I prefer ones more like the suicide squad, the secret six and the thunderbolts that are smaller villians trying to eithe redeem ehsmevles, forced to do the work, or trying to make a name but  this is still awesome. 

 So with a right hand woman and three hired goons/sons in place, we get our opening credits. And they.. are .. glorious...

I just.. this whole thing is fucking glomglorious. I’ve rewatched it about 10 times since then and probably watched it a good 10-20 times when the theme song takeover first went online. There’s just SO much good stuff from the various half asssed (inteitnoally the art to make the hallfassery look hilarous is still very good on the crew’s part) graphics, from the blueprint begining, to the chroma key nightmare over the scrooge stinks to the cardboard at the end, to the “fancy” cg.. there’s just about 80 diffrent things to love about this. The hot air balloon WHICH SHOWS UP LATER and the sparkly suit. And that’s not even getting into the lyrics, from the actually clever bits like “Cannae top my grand plan to beat that scots man” to it devolving into glomgold, like he does with everything, winging it as he goes.. i’ts just fucking beatufiul and one fo the series best gags and ONLY not the best because of the all I do is win funeral dance. But it’s an easy second and this is easily Keith’s finest comedic performance as the character. I really miss the dude and hope he gets more work soon. I also can’t help but miss flinty.. and everyone in this series really. “Sigh”. 

Anyways, onto the next member of the Legend of Glom, thank you Kev for that name: Mark Beaks. Mark is naturally running his own form of cryptocurrency because he’s natures perfect fuckboy. We naturally get a it’s in the cloud gag.  Beaks has no real intrest in it because he’s so up his own ass he can see the tumorous pile of dank memes that subsittues for his brain. Ma balks at needing him, valid, but Glomgold does point out they need a “gyro” so Ma helps by manipulating him, playing on Beaks ego by saying they don’t REALLY need him, thus maknig him WNAT to join. 

Next up is our old pal Don Karnage, showing up for the only time this season. It’s alwas a pleasure to see Jamie Camil again and i’m glad he’s voice acting quite a bit after this and star vs. He’s always a pleasure. Also I love the fact the Glom Air Balloon is real and it makes me think he has a Glomcopter and Hidenglom too. Anyway, Glomgold while having a good idea in legion of dooming it, still can’t hence immitating scrooge as you can see with Don on the roster because pilot. He is a valid counter though and Don IS more than happy to join.. granted he thinks this is all about DEWEY but no one here cares about a grown man wanting to murder a child so he’s all Don’s. This SEEMINGLY completes it: Glomgold naturally counters scrooge, in theory, Ma is smart ands scrappy enough to counter the more refined and just as badass beakley, the boys are larger and stronger than the triplets, Beaks has shown he can hack gyro’s tech before so he’s the natural choice for him and Don is also a himbo pilot. Not only that but while Glomgold HORRIBLY undereistamted the kids he STILL somehow managed to fall backwards into perfect counterpoitns for them: Beaks is a technical genius who Huey has a personal grudge with while being a grifter just like louie.l , and Don is a theatircal instincual badass moron like Dewey. 

This being flinty he did miss something by having his thumb over the photo: Webby. And while he balks at it because again, it’s implied he dosen’t see the children as real threats because well. .he’s stupid and underestimates everyone up to and including scrooge, Ma ISN’T so stupid as Webby has kicked her ass before. Ma KNOWS Webby is just as dangerous as the adults in single combat and while she dosen’t admit it out right, it’s clear she knows she’d loose again even in an unfair fight as Webby has foiled her THREE TIMES now. Unlike Glomgold , Ma knows when to quit. 

But just like the boys, Webby DOES have a natural arch enemy and counterpoint, a wild card badass. It’s just Glomgold wants nothing to do with her for understandable and unsurprisingly petty reasons: Magica. DeSpell. Flinty is naturally sore everyone considers HER Scrooge’s greatest enemy and not him... even though you know she’s actually gotten a few vicotries and even her latest loss still involved her besting scrooge, killing her niece and unleashing a horrifying shadow army. I mean sure that plan backfired in the long run: Clan McDuck was firmly reunited by the experience, whlie she struck Lena down, the teen ebcame more powerful than magica could ever imagine, and the whole mess gave Violet her origin story, not only giving lena a home and sister but Clan McDuck one of their most resourceful and powerful allies.  But credit where it’s due Magica still nearly won AGAIN after this and, while accidently making Lena stronger than ever in the process, would eventualyl get her full power back and end the series turning it’s biggest threat into her harmles familiar. Glomgold would end it hitching a ride with her after ruining his reputation again. 

Magica isn’t QUITE back in the game yet though as post gaslighting, see my Lena retrospective for alla that, she’s working at Funzo’s. Everyone’s outfits are amazing though why Flinty thoguht Beaks needed to be disgusied as a child to get in I have no idea. Adults seem to be fine just fine hanging around Funzo’s party or no. Anyway Flinty TRIES to weasel out of it by whispering to her.. only for Magica to overhear them talking after and is naturally in.. after getting chewed out by her boss for swearing vengance on children again. Also as a reminder.. her boss is her arch enemy the phantom blot, who while using this job to keep an eye on her is probably REALLY enjoying making the monster who massacred his entire family miserable. As a former minimum wage employee myself, i’d normally not side with managment.. but it’s Magica and again, she did a genoicde on a whole villiage. This si the one time in fiction I can side witht he douchey manager over the employee.

So with that Glomgold’s legion is formed, gets a badass montage as they prep and lands in the Iron Vulture, utterly decimating the defenses in front of a horrified Louie. Gee Della it’s almost like you shoudl’ve stayed because the manor gets attacked every so often and even with Duckworth he might not be enough.. as evidenced by the fact Magica takes him out in seconds with a ghost banishing amulet. LIke I get she coudln’t of predicted a legion of doom, the whole point of one when done right is to catch your foe off guard and thus use suprise as part of your arsenal, throw them off ballance by suddenly being confronted with all their foes at once. But their foes attack the mansion on a daily basis clearly, and said mansion , while a fortress isn’t impreginible. There’s an entire sublevel of dangerous shit, and an entire garage. If Louie DID somehow beat dt87, which he would’ve had time to had this attack not happened, and unleash some horror duckworth couldn’t stop and he coudln’t think his way out of. .he’d be dead and it’d be your fault. I just.. gahhhh.

So Glomgold makes his grand decleration.. only for Louie to point out that no one else is home... which pisses off the rest of the Legion of Glom who quickly realize as usual Glomgold didn’t even have 12% of a plan. Which fair on Beaks, the Beagle Brothers and Don. The former four are as short sighted as Glomgold and the latter one is both that and hasn’t even met the guy before today. But Ma and Magica CLEARLY know him well, and thus have no excuse for not asking followup questions. Louie however, actually DOES have a plan he’s willing to share.. provided he’s let in. 

So we get our climax. At the finale tally thing for the contest, everyone is waiting and Owlson can BARELY hold back her excitement at getting to work with an actual adult. I feel so effing bda for her knowing what’s coming and knowing that after a YEAR of putting up with a manchild, she’s about to have that hope yanked away. Like that poor fucking woman my dudes. 

Anyway the Legion of Glom arrive and we get a cool parallel shot.. and of course Scrooge assuming this is Magica (Which Flinty gives the great reply to of “I’M STANDING IN FRONT!”). The enusing fight is awesome with both sides holding their own and naturally for this show a few great gags as Dewey runs from Don (”Is it my fault I stole the spotlight from you?”)

 Beaks just taking a fetal position from Launchpad as “I was supposed to fight Gyro” and Magica and Flinty arguging over who gets to kill scrooge. This cool as hell fight that was promoted in the season 2b trailer for damn good reason (including a sneaky reedit of magica to be green to hide the twist from nightmare on kilmotor hill, tha’ts th ekind of trailer lying I can get behind), Louie descends.. and reveals he’s on the bad guys team. And again Della being there with him WOUDLN’T of stopped this, he coudl’ve just told her but again nope we got this instead. 

Louie actually does the impossible and gets Glomgold the win, as he simply has al lthe villians pool their resources... which makes sense. Alone they all have PLENTY from blue collar crime, white collar crime, dark magic stuff, plundering and what have you, if not enough to compare to scrooge> Together.. they easily top him and win..... and just... Zan’s face when she realizes Glomgold somehow won...

That... poor woman needs ALL the therapy. 

Naturally though it’s not THAT easy. Cue up your faviorite jojo, theme , last suprise whatever fits, because Louie pulls one hell of a gambit here that despite his actions I can’t help but bask in the brilliance of: Naturally this was all a long con and in an utterly awesome move I didn’t see coming when I first watched the episode the show actually uses the whole Duke Balloney reveal as a huge chekovs gun, thus making Louie’s presence there suddenly VITAL: Glomgold signed the papers making hi mand Louie buisnesss parnters with his current name. But being Glomgold he never LEGALLY changed it. Flintheart Glomgold is a fake name, making the documents invalid.. and thus making LOUIE the winner of the contest. 

The vilians are rightfully pissed, not helped by the fact that seconds before Louie revealed his gambit, Glomgold naturally planned to take it all for himself. Instead he gets angrily chased into the seas as the Villians have now lost EVERYTHING, Louie is richest duck in the world and Glomgold is defeated and hated. For now.. but that’s for later. 

To wrap things up we do get a touching, if unearned scene of Louie being vunerable with his mom, admitting he NEEDS to be able to scheme and gambit.. but he’ll try to be better about it and Della agreeing to catch him when he falls nad be there for him. There’s just one wrinkle though.... Louie needs to sign back the companies.. but he’ll do that right? Louie? Louie? Lou...

Final Thoughts: 

This episode is a mixed bag. As i’ve gone into enough so I shan’t go into again, the Louie and Della plot blows raspberries. But the Legion of Glom stuf fis fun as hell, the final fight is great and the final reveal is utterly awesome, showing Louie HAS learned at least how to scheme better and providing him the perfect target for it: Louie wins against a person who like him has a tendency to go with the first draft o fa plan and not think.. by finally THINKING through his plan entirely.  While I admit Louie’s growth a saa person is pretty non existant till the next episode, his growth as a maginficen tbastard is subtle.. but there the whole way.  He starts out with a decent but finite scheme he squanders and being too lazy to work.. and then slowly grows over his next episode, outwitting his arch enemy and doing something good befor efinally cresncdoing here with Louie using his powers smartly, patiently and in a way that not only saves his family but makes him the richest duck in the world. I have my issues with this arc... but I can’t deny it has it’s moments. I’ll get more into the arc itself next time.

For now though, we’ve reached the end of Flinty’s arc. So how was it? 

The Flintheart arc has some REALLY good stuff to it: Zan Owlson is the foil Flinty truly needed, Keith gets to ham it up to perfection, and the arc does show, outside of raiders, the Flinty is pretty competent if still held back by his stupidity.  We get some of the best moments in the ENTIRE series from GlomTales, to All I Do is Win, to Glomgold’s backstory, to the big legion of doom brawl to “I’m going to dry off by the fire”. So it’s not bad or a waste of my time and I was happy to revisit it. 

I’ts real problemn is that i’ts one of THREE arcs this season and as the most superflous it’s given the least improtance. Della’s arc is important because... duh, and Louie’s is because it’s his season in the limelight and does give him some depth. Glomgold’s.. is there entirely to fool the audience about who the big bad is till Lunaris gets there. That’s it. IT’s fun as hell, gives us a great new character and the further payoff in the finale IS great.. but overall the arc is just kind of there. There’s no real stakes because the only way Flinty ALMOST won was by a last minute scheme, the only way anyone thought he might possibly MAYBE win. Every episode in the arc, which is too short on top of all this, has him loose hard. I love the guy, he’s my faviorite character in the show closely tied with Huey... but he’s just not a credible threat. It’d be like if Captain Boomberang somehow turned out to be the big bad of suicide squad.. I mean he could I have’nt seen it at the time of this writing, and I do love me some Boomerbutt but Digger just isn’t compitent enough to pull that off and neither is glomgold. By the way Captain Boomerang was the flintheart glomgold of the dc unvierse and the 1980s. Point is the arc isn’t BAD but ti is dispaointing and despite hyping Glomgold up as a big threat.. he’s ultimately only the appitizer and I wish he could’ve been more.. even if I get why not. 

Next Time: we’re almost done as Scrooge makes the mistake of letting Louie hold onto the fortune a while and nearly dooms earth and his nephew over it while Della faces some hard truths about her crush/roomate/best friend on an accidently hardhitting dewey dew night. 

If you liked this review, consdier joining my patreon. As you could probably tell by the fact that like many I joine din the blackout fridayI’m not a fan of tumblr+ : I  don’t like my audeince having to pay 5 bucks for exlusives and would STRONGLY prever add based monteization instead like they used to have so I can get paid like a reasonable person.  But I would like to mak ea living doing this so Patreon is the compromise: exclusive reviews, polls once I get enough people to do that as I onl yhave two right now, and a FREE REVIEW on signup await you and it only costs a buck a month. That’s right not 5 or 10 or some such bullshit. Just one for everything. And if you DO want to pay 5 a month, your welcome to and get ONE GUARNATEED REVIEW , public to all and not put up behind any paywall, a month. Whatever you want.

And THAT’S NOT ALL. Right now I have a membership drive going with juicy exclusvie reviews that i’ll do if I hti certain goals. Right now JUST ONE PERSON joining will get me to review ALL OF QUACK PACK. All of it. Not episode by episode, but it will probably be a months long project broken up into four ten episode chunks or two 20 episode chunks. So if you want more duck content from me and wnat to see me truly baffled and uneasy, then this is yoru goal. 

But this quack pack goal is ONLY THROUGH AUGUST 2021 so ACT NOW.  You’ll also get full season reviews of Tuca and Bertie Seasons 1 and 2 and Amphibia. And the more people that join the more goals I hit and the more reviews I sign on for over the rest of the year and into the next: Two new patrons gets all this, the drive exclusive goal of a rise of the tmnt retrospective, a review of Brian Lee O’Malley’s other works before and after Scott Pilgrim, and a trio of Paramount+ based reviews for my animatoin people: Kamp Korral, Rugrats 2021, and the iCarly reboot. Finally if THREE of you join overall, you get ALL this and the drive exlusvie goal of Garfield and Peanuts special retrospectives, including all films for both, and most importantly A SEASON 1 REVIEW OF THE OWL HOUSE. So if you want all this juicy stuff sign up NOW. There’s only so much time left. If you can’t that’s fine just let people know. But if you can, HERE IS MY PATREON GET AFTER IT. 

[sxrrandomfanfics]

Are there any Villain characters (Canon & OC) that you find intriguing? Who and why?

Villain characters I find intriguing... hmm...

Different Properties - 8 Characters - 13

Cosma (OK K.O.) - I like the shape changing dragon. Rand Ridley (Inside Job) - HORRIBLE FATHER. Rewatching the series you know his plan and you see it happening. But still wants his big happy family. I want to jump into your brain old man. We jumped into your daughter's now it's your turn. Maligula (Psychonauts 2) - Aw, sweet little Nona. How in the world did you let yourself become the royalty your sister hated? How close were you with your sister before she drowned at your hands? How much did you love Gelsin Mux? What was your relationship with Mithra and Zalto, your parents? What did you think of your brother in law? Why do you still have so many questions surrounding you, Nona? The more we know, the more we realize such deep holes of unknowable with you and your age. You're in your seventies now, Nona. Coach Morceau "Morry/Oly" Oleander (Psychonauts) - He's my cuddle bunny. Bean bag shaped. So much of your past is known yet unknown. How much from the Li-Po is true about you? Or are you now just a surface level maniac who's being monitored? Tell me, Oly, is your family proud of you? VV Argost (Secret Saturdays) - Yeti with a God complex has such a dastardly plan. It makes me wonder why he wanted to infiltrate humanity in the first place if he hated them so much. Amelia (Infinity Train) - A woman who had a happy life and then... she lost everything. She got a chance to help herself and instead made it her life to stay on the train trying to go back to her old life, and now may never go home. Magica DeSpell (Ducktales) - Oh my goodness what a backstory, what powers, what a fall. All around turning from most intimidating villain who had a successful plan to pathetic. Toffee (Star Vs.) - Magic hating Raptor God Man deserved better. Volo (Pokemon) - God Complexes are fun. Javert (Les Miserables) - The desperation and unneeded attacks that Javert does to Jean Valjean is so shiver inducing to watch. Also I like his songs, like "The Confrontation."

Spinny (Whatever Happened to Shadowy Figure?) - Dastardly. Evil. Want to know more but all we know is what she's done to Brittney Spark and Nelly. Reaper Blanc (Hanahaki Ask AU: Unfinished Business) - He didn't always act like this, but something happened to him, and now I wonder who he was. "People's Peonies" (Family Swap) - I love the ideas of marginilized groups who are like: We have more power than these other people cause there are more of us/we have different, supernatural powers and them going to attack people. Like they have no clear goal they're just like: We're better than you. Dina [UNREVEALED STORY] - With a past shrouded and only the idea of chugging science along, Dina is a character similar to Peridot but never gets a redemption. She will go down with hope that her experiment lives on and does its job rather than see another failure. A blind follower of her superiors while also seeing herself as above, Dina is just very interesting to write.

[REDACTED] - This boy who was actually from someone helping me work on a fanfiction and not Belos from Owl House. There's literally no reason why I wouldn't just say Belos. Spoilers are off once things are revealed. No [REDACTED] is a fallen prince in a collaboration fic I'm working on and I have so many songs for this boyo. If you want to know why he's so villainous (without me spoiling the fic), just listen to "Everything At Once" by Lenka. That's essentially his entire character, both before and after his fall. [REDACTED] the fallen prince my beloved. Poor little meow meow. Needs to be thrown in the washing machine. Tar baby lookin ass. Has a tiktok where he censors the name of the "replacement brother" he hates. No Face from Spirited Away actin ass.

[crystallhamptonhersheykiss]

With Ducktales premiering The last adventure tonight, it's bittersweet, while the show wasn't perfect it was still a fun show to watch. Even though this is the series finale I think there is a chance we could see these versions of these characters again. Keep in mind I have not seen The last adventures yet.

The most obvious choice is if the rumors about a Darkwing Duck reboot are true. There's no guarantee that a reboot will be set in the same universe, but with Launchpad, Drake and Fenton all being friends, it would be easy for the rest of the Mcduck family to come visit Launchpad in St. Canard and have a couple crossover episodes.

Another good way to see these versions again is with a movie on Disney plus. There's a lot of ideas and characters from the comics and the 1987 series that can be used for a movie. Phineas and Ferb ended in 2015 and we got a new movie on Disney plus last year, so I think There's always a chance that Ducktales can get a movie too.

There's no guarantee any of this will happen, And if it does, it will most likely be a couple years at least before we see them in anything new. (Two or three years would be my guess.) I don't really know much about it but I've heard epcot at one of the parks is doing a ducktales ride/attraction? (Correct me on what it is.) So at least fans who go to the parks can enjoy that if they're still doing it. Not only that but we also are getting a ducktales podcast.

Like I said the show ending is bittersweet, but at least we can always rewatch the show, And there's always a chance we can see these versions again someday.

[watch-talk-fixate]

The Humility of Family and Being a Hero: A Darkwing Duck and Drake Mallard Analysis.

Special thanks to @stoopakoopa @mighty-ant @drakepad because they inspired me.

Ducktales 2017. A show that a lot of people saw a simple cash grab and the exploitation of nostalgia of 80s and 90s kids alike. But it was a true surprise. A show of adventure and family and exploring yourself in the family name. This show brought so many characters from the golden age of Disney Channel called “The Disney Afternoon Era” with faces from shows like: Gizmoduck, Talespin, Goof Troop and Darkwing Duck. 

The whole concept of Darkwing Duck is quite silly really. A parody of Batman, superhero tropes and even James Bond but with a duck in the suburbs of the fictional city of Saint Canard living with his boyfriend sidekick Launchpad and his adopted daughter Gosalyn. As someone who watched the show in reruns back in the day and recently rewatched it on Disney Plus, I didn’t think I would have appreciated this show as much as I thought I would. Dry and witty humor that caught me off guard and it truly doesn’t seem as dated as other shows from those times. 

But I’m here to talk about Drake Mallard and what it means to be a superhero and a parent. 

(For the sake of the analysis, I will be referring to Drake Mallard from the Ducktales 2017 reboot as “Drake Mallard!17” and the Drake Mallard from the OG Darkwing Duck show as “Drake Mallard!91”.)

Ducktales 2017 for a long time was alluring to bringing Darkwing Duck into the universe of the show. Many fans didn't know how this was possible until a certain episode that was the rise of another superhero and Darkwing Duck’s long time rival: Gizmoduck (now voiced by the guy who wrote a Broadway musical that won many awards-- Bring It On the Musical. I’m kidding. Lin Manuel Miranda). In the episode ‘The BUDDY System’ we are shown what looks like a fight scene between Darkwing Duck and his villains, MegaVolt and QuackerJack. But then it’s abruptly cut when it’s revealed to be a video. An episode. Launchpad explains to Dewey (the blue duck nephew of Donald Duck) that Darkwing Duck is his favorite TV show’ meaning that Darkwing Duck is a TV show in the Ducktales 2017 universe. A show inside a show. 

Weird, right? 

But what does this have to do with being a superhero and a parent and how family humbles you? Well, in the OG Darkwing Duck show the character of Drake Mallard is shown to be a late-20s to early-40s nobody in his two-parter episode debut-- “Darkly Dawns the Duck”-- who spends his days locked inside an abandoned bridge tower and out fighting small-time crime at night as a purple masked weirdo. And I say this in the kindest way ever but Drake Mallard!91 is an asshole. It’s later revealed in the show that he wanted to be a superhero not because he wanted to protect the people in his city -- that is a parody of Batman’s Gotham -- but because he wanted the praise and attention of being a hero. He’s a hero for a selfish reason. 

But how is it possible to have an asshole for a main character that lasted 91 episodes? Drake Mallard!91 has a child. It isn’t his biological daughter really but she is his daughter. In his two-parter episode his first real ‘save’ is the granddaughter of a scientist that was murdered by the mafia and now they are after the granddaughter because she has the code for a machine that they are going to use to rob banks and release mayhem across the world. Darkwing Duck!91 goes to save her and they start to have a bond that makes my daddy issues burst into tears. 

Hiding her in his secret hide-out, she isn’t comfortable and Gosalyn needs to sleep so as a way to calm her down he sings her dead grandfather’s lullaby to her. I won’t reveal the rest of the episode or the “plot twist”(?) because I think it’s a cute episode. But here we see that Drake Mallard!91 does have the ability to care about others that isn’t himself or his reputation. 

At the end of the episode, he goes out of his way to adopt Gosalyn and officially makes her his daughter. Throughout the series, you see that Drake Mallard!91 bonds with Gosalyn. Taking her to school, talking to her about emotional things, and doing everything in his power to protect her from the harm that comes with him being a superhero. But in one of my favorite episodes “Toys R Czar”, Drake Mallard!91 has come to the conclusion that he can’t both be a hero and great parent after one of Gosalyn’s teachers points out that she has been causing a lot of issues at school. He blames himself for not being a good parent, reading parenting books and following them to the letter. Cleaning, baking cookies and even being the director for a play where he made Gosalyn the star. 

He gives up being Darkwing Duck. He gives up the one thing that he worked so hard and was so proud of. Drake Mallard!91 put his ego aside to be a good parent and was ready to throw away his cape and pick up an actual job to raise Gosalyn. He did the toughest thing about being a hero, a figure of salvation: having a family. 

I think that the reason that I enjoyed the OG Darkwing Duck a lot despite me being a bitch to the pain character’s ego and pride was that yes, he would probably be a terrible parent but he has Gosalyn and Launchpad to guide him. He has them to ground him and not let his ego overrun him into believing he’s such a big-shot hero because he stops supervillains with only a gas gun, smoke bombs and a purple mask. His family makes him human-- despite him being a duck. 

Now moving onto Ducktales 2017. In the episode ‘The BUDDY System’ when Launchpad is telling Dewey about Darkwing Duck being his favorite TV show and growing up on it he mentions an actor’s name: Jim Starling. 

Jim Starling plays Darkwing Duck. Remember that. 

(Fun Fact: the actor who voices the OG Darkwing Duck/Drake Mallard!91 does the voice of Jim Starling.) 

In my favorite and comfort episode “The Duck Knight Rises” we are shown that Jim Starling has suffered the same fate of Bo Jack Horseman: a washed out actor from the 80s/90s that is living on the steam of his former success. Jim is no longer as popular as he was back in the day, making money off of signing autographs and openings of less-than-desirable stores. It isn’t until Dewey mentions the fact that there is a Darkwing Duck Movie ready to release that we see Jim Starling happy and ready to jump back into the role. 

The Role of a Hero. 

We discover that Scrooge McDuck is the one producing the movie and after watching the trailer both Launchpad and Jim Starling agree that this isn’t faithful to the character. Yet Jim doesn’t really care, he wants to be back into the light and have the attention and adoration of an actor. Of being a hero. How very of Drake Mallard!91 of him. 

The director of the Duck Knight Rises movie tells Jim that he isn’t playing Darkwing Duck. A younger actor is. Outraged, he attacks the actor and is kicked out alongside Launchpad. Jim Starling believes that he is owed this role. That this role only belongs to him and no one else in the world. Roping Launchpad into his plan, here we see that Jim Starling never truly let go of his past when he slips on his old Darkwing Duck costume to play hero again. 

It is Launchpad that begins to question him when Jim starts to ramble about revenge, Launchpad still looking at his old idol with nostalgia tinted glasses and goes along with the plan. 

Here is where the analysis begins to pick up again. When LP sneaks into the actor’s trailer and immediately panics, locking himself, the Actor comes to his rescue. After some light fighting we see that the Actor is a big fan of the Darkwing Duck; possibly bigger than LP himself. LP does have a connection with the show but it seems that he Actor here takes it up more personally. That his whole ideologies and all of his morals came from a silly little show from his childhood and is the reason he is the way he is today. This whole movie is his big shot and a dream come true. 

Immediately after this, we see Jim Starling running around and knocking people out. Actually hurting people just to get back into the role he’s clinging on to. Paralleling the Actor’s acceptance of the role and Jim ready to draw blood because he can’t let go. 

Finally, we see the Actor and Jim Starling have a “sane” interaction. That it’s a huge honor to be here with him, says the Actor. That he wants to play the role of Darkwing Duck with Jim’s blessing. That they can do this together. 

But Jim wants this for his own. All for himself. 

After knocking the Actor out, we see a glimpse of how gone he is. How attention thirsty he is and that he will literally stop at nothing to get back on screen. 

The whole climatic fight of the episode is the Actor putting on his new Darkwing Duck costume and heading off face first into danger to save people as Jim Starling just snaps. The new confronts the old. With the trademark, goofy Darkwing Duck openings of I am the terror that flaps in the night but more modern. 

As they fight, it’s LP that finally gets to Jim with him telling him how much Darkwing Duck means to him and what it means to be a hero like him. As a power beam prop is ready to fall on top of LP, Jim does what a hero is supposed to do. Sacrifice. By pushing his biggest fan out of the way, he completes the role he has been yearning to play. 

They don’t find the body. (Yes this is a kids show). But here is where we learn that the Actor’s name is Drake Mallard. 

Drake Mallard!17. 

Launchpad is the one that convinces Drake Mallard!17 to be the true Darkwing Duck. For Jim. 

Jim Starling is what the OG Darkwing Duck was. Egotistical, wanting fame and attention, having all of the qualities that would make anyone doubt that he is truly a hero. The thing is that if Jim Starling only played Darkwing Duck, not Drake Mallard (because in this universe he is a real person), then it means that he didn’t have a Launchpad or a Gosalyn to ground him. Jim Starlings is what happens when a hero is isolated and is only a hero and not a person. 

Drake Mallard!17 is a person who becomes a hero while Jim Starling is an actor who pretended to be a hero. Jim was stuck in his own vanity, not having anyone truly reminding him that he isn't’ the roles he plays; that he isn’t Darkwing Duck. 

Drake Mallard is Darkwing Duck.