Disney Ducks Comic Universe/Characters: Difference between revisions

{{quote| The richest, and probably the cheapest duck in the world. [[Catch Phrase|He made his wealth by being tougher than the toughies and smarter than the smarties, and he made it square.]] He resides in a large bin full of money (which [[Money Fetish|he loves to dive around in like a porpoise, burrow through like a gopher, and toss it up and let it him on the head]]) in Duckburg, constantly seeking to increase his wealth.}}

** ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'', notably, goes the other way, turning Scrooge [[Lighter and Softer]] by giving him an openly sentimental streak and sense of family values that he seldom, if ever, displayed in the comics.

* [[Lonely Atat the Top]]: One of Scrooge's most important life lessons; if you do get wealthy and powerful, friendship is pretty much something you'll have to forsake.

* [[Thrifty Scot]]: In the [[Don Rosa]] canon, this is a family trait of the McDuck Clan, and it's one they're very proud of -- theof—the ghosts of Scrooge's ancestors ensure he survives a would-have-been fatal injury when they discover his destiny is to become the most tightfisted tightward the world will ever see. In fact, one of Scrooge's ancestors lost a battle (and his life) because he was too cheap to buy arrows for his archers.

* [[What Could Have Been]]: It took twenty years from Scrooge's first appearance in comics (''Christmas on Bear Mountain,'' 1947) to his first proper role in animation (''Scrooge and Money,'' 1967) -- and twenty ''more'' years until he became a star character in animation (''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'', 1987) -- but there was actually talk of bringing Scrooge to animation much sooner. In the fifties, when Scrooge's solo comic was beginning to really get popular, The Disney studios contacted [[Carl Barks]] to ask him to provide a story for a Scrooge McDuck cartoon, and Barks complied. According to Barks, the story was based around a similar concept to the opening parts of ''Only A Poor Old Man,'' with Scrooge trying to convince Donald how happy and carefree the life of a rich man is, while at the same time nearly suffering breakdowns at the thought of thieves or other threats to his money. For some reason, Disney ended up not using this story, and as they couldn't seem to get a grasp on the character of Scrooge at the time, the cartoon was never made.

{{quote| Scrooge's nephew, who has to tolerate living with his three nephews, being dragged along for treasure hunts, fighting annoying neighbors and cousins, and being between jobs.}}

* [[Demoted to Extra]]: In ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' he only appears in a handful of episodes.

* [[Hair-Trigger Temper]]: Much less prominent in the comic book incarnation of Donald than in his animated counterpart, but still very much a part of his character -- aftercharacter—after all, he wouldn't be [[Donald Duck]] without it.

* [[Miles Gloriosus]]: While he often displays amazing talents, he's got a tendency to brag and exaggerate, promising more than he can deliver. Usually his faith in himself is unshakable -- untilunshakable—until he's actually called upon to ''do'' all those things he's bragged about.

** ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' sent Donald off to the Navy for the length of the series, as a plot excuse to leave the three nephews with Unca Scrooge.

* [[Supreme Chef]]: [[Depending on the Writer]] to a ''very'' high degree, and some comics even depict him as a [[Lethal Chef]], but in most stories where it comes up he's actually a good cook -- notcook—not quite in Grandma Duck's class, and often limited by the fact that he can't afford to buy the proper ingredients, but a talented enough chef that family members will come running when he's doing the cooking.

** Played straight on ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'', though, where it's a [[Running Gag]] for people to ask "What did he say?"

{{quote| Donald's nephews (and Scrooge's grandnephews), living with their "Unca Donald," rising within the ranks of the Junior Woodchucks, and causing trouble at home.}}

* [[Expy]]: They actually started out as Expys for Mickey's two nephews, Morty and Ferdie, who until the introduction of Huey, Dewey and Louie actually made several appearances in Donald's comic strip, sans Mickey, in order to torment him with pranks and childish mischief. After a while, it was decided to give Donald his own nephews -- andnephews—and as a way of one-upping Mickey, Donald got ''three'' bratty, identical nephews instead of just ''two.'' [[Weird Al Effect|Of course, since they only had a couple of animated appearances and starred in far fewer comics, today Morty and Ferdie aren't one-tenth as well-known or popular as Huey, Dewey and Louie are.]]

{{quote| '''Scrooge:''' I'm not used to relatives either. The few I had seem to have... disappeared.<br />

** ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' occasionally subverted the trope by giving them individual character traits -- Hueytraits—Huey as the energetic leader, Dewey as the smart guy and Louie as the gentle, good-natured tagalong. ''[[Quack Pack]]'' took these traits and [[Flanderization|ran with them]], making the three boys distinct individuals and completely averting the trope.

{{quote| Donald's girlfriend, who is almost as temperamental as he is, but does have somewhat better self-control.}}

{{quote| Duckburg's local inventor, who frequently works on strange and often useless inventions that have a tendency to end up in the wrong hands. Donald and Scrooge are his friends and his most frequent customers.}}

* [[Bungling Inventor]]: Sometimes, though his inventions do tend to work perfectly -- whenperfectly—when problems arise, it's usually due to some detail Gyro has failed to consider, or simply due to unfortunate circumstances.

* [[Inner Monologue]]: Prone to these in his first solo stories -- beforestories—before the introduction of Little Helper, which gave him someone to actually talk to.

{{quote| Gyro's tiny, robotic assistant, who aids him with his many inventions and is sometimes hinted to be just as smart, if not even smarter, than Gyro. Usually he's mostly a [[Funny Background Event]] character, but he does occasionally play important parts in the plots and even gets a few [[Day in The Limelight]] episodes now and again.}}

{{quote| Donald's impossibly lucky cousin. Gladstone's incredible luck allows him to live a life of leisure without ever doing anything resembling working, much to Donald's chagrin. He is Donald's heated rival in almost everything, including Daisy's affections. Everybody -- including the writers -- [[The Scrappy|loves to hate this guy]], but of course, the "[[Lucky Bastard]] loses his luck" plot would lose its meaning if overdone; it was actually very rarely used in the comics and only once in the ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' [[Animated Adaptation]].}}

* [[Characterization Marches On]]: In some of Gladstone's earlier appearances (Such as [https://web.archive.org/web/20111027040540/http://disneycomics.free.fr/Ducks/Barks/show.php?s=date&loc=1948/W_WDC_88%2FW_WDC_88-02R ''Wintertime Wager'']), his luck is not yet present, and he's basically a (slightly) more obnoxious version of Donald. Later, he got his infamous good fortune, and became that much more insufferable.

* [[Hidden Depths]]: In most stories he averts this, but there have been stories where it's revealed that his constant good luck isn't ''always'' a good thing -- whenthing—when it comes down to it, Gladstone's lifestyle and attitude has left him with absolutely no friends and only marginal support from his family. A few stories have speculated that this is the ''real'' reason he enjoys riling Donald up so much; it's the closest thing he has to a friendship.

* [[Jerkass]]: In the comics. He's actually pretty nice to his relatives in Duck Tales, coming off more as a cheerful guy who's oblivious to the fact that not everyone's as lucky as he is.

* [[Pet the Dog]]: Occasionally -- ''very'' occasionally -- heoccasionally—he'll have a few moments where he does this and employs his incredible luck for the benefit of others and not just himself. Notable examples are [http://disneycomics.free.fr/Ducks/Barks/show.php?num=18&loc=1952/W_OS_367-02R&s=date ''Christmas for Shacktown'']{{Dead link}} and [http://disneycomics.free.fr/Ducks/Rosa/show.php?num=25&loc=D96325&s=date ''A Little Something Special.'']{{Dead link}}

{{quote| Donald's eccentric cousin who seems to take on a new obsession every week, but as all of his information on his obsession usually comes from books, TV shows, self-help videos and the like, he often messes up his attempts to apply his "knowledge" and is blissfully unaware of the trouble he causes for everyone around him (especially Donald). Despite Fethry's being an American invention, his stories weren't printed in English until relatively recently. Instead, he enjoyed popularity in other countries, Brazil going as far as to give him his own solo comic, complete with nephew (just one), girlfriend (she's a long-suffering artist), and superhero alter-ego (The Red Bat, borderline useless). He is not part of Barks/Don Rosa canon, though some versions of the Duck family tree do place him there.}}

{{quote| Donald, Fethry and Gladstone's grandmother and Huey, Dewey and Louie's great-grandmother. She lives at a farm outside Duckburg with her gluttonous, incredibly lazy farmhand Gus Goose (Donald's cousin), and is renowned for her pie-baking skills. Her rarely heard real name is Elvira Coot.}}

* [[Depending on the Writer]]: According to [[Don Rosa]], she is Donald's paternal grandmother and therefore not related to Scrooge at all, but before that, in European comics, it was widely accepted that she was Scrooge's sister and actually Donald's ''aunt'' -- and—and Huey, Dewey and Louie's real grandmother. With the publication of the Duck family tree which shows her as Donald's grandmother, this has largely been forgotten.

{{quote| Grandma Duck's incredibly lazy and gluttonous helping hand.}}

** There have been a couple of stories where Gus (temporarily) either got much more energetic, or Grandma hired another farmhand to help out -- everyout—every time, Grandma ended up going nuts because all of a sudden ''there wasn't enough work left for her.''

{{quote| Daisy's three nieces, and more or less [[Distaff Counterpart|Distaff Counterparts]]s of Huey, Dewey and Louie. Unlike HD&L, however, they live with their mother (Daisy's unseen and unnamed sister) and only occasionally stay with their aunt.}}

* [[Chromatic Arrangement]]: Only in about half their appearances do the girls follow the classic red/blue/green scheme; they're often seen to wear yellow/magenta/cyan, and sometimes they discard the chromatic part and wear yellow/purple/orange -- andorange—and sometimes they all wear the same color. It's impossible to say which color belongs to which girl, as they never got an official color assignment.

*** Also, in more recent Dutch comics, the girls have gained more modern appearances and can now be told apart by their [http://www.mysites.nl/upload2/donald_duck/328375.jpg hairstyles]{{Dead link}}: April wears her hair in a ponytail, May has short hair and wears a headband, while June wears twin pigtails.

* [[Out of Focus]]: The girls were never major characters in the comics, and with the advent of ''[[DuckTales (1987)]],'' where their combined [[Expy]] Webby appeared, they seem to have been phased out, maybe to avoid confusion. Since the eighties they have only made very occasional cameos.

{{quote| Scrooge's love interest from his gold prospecting days, "the only live one I ever knew."}}

{{quote| An absent-minded scholar/inventor who is referred to as Donald's uncle (according to [[Don Rosa]], he is/was married to Scrooge's sister Matilda, making him Donald's uncle by marriage) and an expert on everything. He originally appeared in ''Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color'', but has since appeared as a recurring character in comics by some authors. He appears ''very'' rarely in stories by Carl Barks and Don Rosa. Has become somewhat similar to Gyro, which is probably why you rarely see the two together. Just remember, Ludwig is [[The Professor]] first, and a [[Bungling Inventor]] second, while Gyro is the other way around.}}

* [[Ditzy Genius]]: Even moreso than Gyro, in fact. There's no doubt that he's brilliant in every way, but he's also somewhat of an eccentric, at times bordering on being a [[The Wonka|Wonka]] -- or—or, [[Depending on the Writer]], even a full-fledged [[Cloudcuckoolander]].

* [[Out of Focus]]: In later years he hasn't been used much in comics -- incomics—in fact, for some years Egmont Creative A/S, the main publisher of Disney comics in Europe, completely banned any use of the character, because editor and creative leader Byron Erickson considered him superfluous; there was nothing Ludwig could do that Gyro Gearloose or the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook couldn't. However, the ban seems to have been lifted in recent years, though Ludwig is still a minor character in the comics.

{{quote| Scrooge's lazy, freeloading, overweight half-brother. Created by, and so far used exclusively by William Van Horn.}}

* [[No Social Skills]]: Though it doesn't seem to be the cause of any strange upbringing or Asperger's Syndrome or anything like that -- Rumpusthat—Rumpus probably ''could'' be a socially well-adjusted person if he made the effort; it's just that he does not care enough about anyone who isn't him to even bother trying.

{{quote| A shrewd businesswoman duck whose main goal is to one day marry Scrooge McDuck, even though he isn't interested in romance at all. Created by Romano Scarpa, Barks liked the character enough to give Romano a drawing of Brigitta trying to seduce Scrooge with a Money Scented perfume, which Romano then wrote a story based on said premise. The original drawing has been lost.}}

* [[Platonic Life Partners]]: With Jubal -- whichJubal—which is a definite case of [[Characterization Marches On]], as the two were ''definitely'' not friends in the first story Jubal appeared in.

{{quote| A younger businessman (about Donald's age, it seems) who really wishes he could be successful like Scrooge, but doesn't really have what it takes, despite being just as eager (and usually just as honest). A friend (and nothing more) and protegé of Brigitta MacBridge. When working with her he can usually accomplish more than on his own. Like Brigitta, created by Romano Scarpa and used mainly in Italian comics, where he is named Filo Sganga.}}

{{quote| Scrooge's loyal and efficient secretary.}}

* [[Depending on the Writer]]; Quackfaster's name is inconsistent between writers. Her British name is "Miss Typefast," and is occasionally left in American rewrites by mistake. She was "Miss Featherby" on ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'', where writers evidently [[Did Not Do the Research]]. Her first name, "Emily", was invented by [[Don Rosa]].

{{quote| Donald's lazy and stupid St. Bernard, who is generally much more at home sleeping in front of the fireplace than he is going out on adventures and suchlike. Doesn't appear in many stories, but generally makes himself known in a big way when he does appear.}}

* [[Ironic Fear]]: He's a ''St. Bernard'' who's afraid of ''snow.'' Donald even [[Lampshaded Trope|Lampshades]] [http://disneycomics.free.fr/Ducks/Barks/show.php?num=3&loc=1951/W_WDC_125-02R&s=date it on occasion.]{{Dead link}}

{{quote| }}

{{quote| The [[Scout Out|Scouting]] organization that Huey, Dewey and Louie are members of, created by [[Carl Barks]] as a parody of the Boy Scouts. There are, or at least there are implied to be, several thousand members of the Junior Woodchucks on a global basis, though the Duckburg troop is the oldest and original one. In most stories, HD&L are the only named characters in the organization, though several writers and artists have their own recurring background characters to fill out the ranks, plus a never-ending stream of troop leaders and generals with pompous and silly titles.}}

** [[Don Rosa]]'s stories frequently lampshade the impossibilities of this, on some instances taking it even further -- suchfurther—such as in the story ''W.H.A.D.A.L.O.T.T.A.J.A.R.G.O.N'', where one tiny pamphlet with extratcts from the Guidebook still holds enough information for "a mere set or two of encyclopedias."

{{quote| One of three official Junior Woodchuck canine mascots (both [[Pluto the Pup|Pluto]] and Bolivar have functioned as Junior Woodchuck mascots in some stories), and by far the most talented of them. He's an expert bloodhound who can sniff out anyone or anything, and is hinted to be the smartest dog in the world.}}

{{quote| Scrooge McDuck's Father.}}

{{quote| Scrooge [[McDuck]]'s Mother.}}

{{quote| The oldest of Scrooge's two younger sisters.}}

* [[Big Brother Worship]] : {{spoiler|Until [[Broken Pedestal|Chapter 11 ]].}} {{spoiler|When we meet her again as an old lady she inverts this trope by insulting Scrooge at every turn .}}

{{quote| Scrooge's youngest sister. {{spoiler|Also Donald Duck's Mother.}}}}

{{quote| The Beagle Boys are a family of masked and usually not-too-bright thugs that unsuccessfully seek to rob Scrooge of his fortune.}}

** Not all the time. Italian-produced comics make them buffoons, but quite a number of Egmont and Dutch-produced stories feature the Beagles being quite menacing -- themenacing—the point typically being that while just a few Beagles are fairly inept by themselves, a large number can be quite effective crooks.

* [[Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas]]: In ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'', at least. The closest thing to Ma Beagle in the comics is their grandfather or, occasionally, Granny Beagle.

* [[Karma Houdini]]: Ma Beagle in the first season of ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]''

** Don Rosa used to play with it, and in ''one'' occasion Barks draw one of them (young Blackheart) without his mask from stupefaction: [https://web.archive.org/web/20110811035454/http://disneycomics.free.fr/Ducks/Barks/show.php?num=15&loc=1957/W_USGD_1%2FW_USGD_1-02R&s=date here].

* [[You Are Number Six]]: In the comics, the Beagles are only known by their prisoner's numbers -- onenumbers—one story goes as far as to show a Beagle wondering what his name is, as his own mother preferred to call him by number. Averted in ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'', where they all get names and different appearances ([[Word of God]] states that this was because the prisoner's numbers were too unclear as identity tags in animation.)

{{quote| The Beagle Boys' grandfather, founder and occasional leader. In ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' he's replaced by Ma Beagle, and some of the fans [[Epileptic Trees|assume that she's his wife]].}}

{{quote| A sorceress who seeks to steal Scrooge's #1 dime and melt it in the fires of Mt. Vesuvius for a spell that could give her the power to turn any substance into gold.}}

* [[Chaste Toons]]: A ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' comic gave her a niece named Minima, who's made several appearances in the foreign comics since then.

{{quote| The second richest duck in the world, Flintheart Glomgold, just like Scrooge is a cheap old miser who lives in a bin full of money, except in South Africa; and just like Scrooge, Flintheart started his fortune from nothing. Flintheart, however, has none of Scrooge's integrity and didn't make his fortune square. Flintheart seeks to gain the status of the richest duck in the world, and unlike Scrooge, doesn't have much morality to slow him down.}}

* [[My Name Is Not Durwood]]: In the ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' episode "Attack of the Metal Mites", Dijon could never pronounce his name correctly.

* [[Race Lift]]: in ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' he's no longer a Boer because a TV show setting a [[The Apartheid Era|South African villain in the 80's]] could have had [[Unfortunate Implications|Unfortunate]] [[What Do You Mean It's Not Political?|Implications]]. So [[Executive Meddling|they]] changed it to Scottish.

{{quote| A notorious, Duckburg-based business rival of Scrooge's. He presumably holds the dubious honour of being the third richest duck in the world. John D. Rockerduck was created and used by [[Carl Barks]] in just one story, "Boat Buster", but for some bizarre reason, Brazilian and European writers almost always use him in Flintheart Glomgold's place and rarely acknowledge Flintheart's existence. Unlike Scrooge (and Glomgold), Rockerduck has no qualms about spending money if it suits him (which in some ways makes him somewhat more sensible than Scrooge), and he inherited his wealth from his hard working father, Howard Rockerduck, rather than earning it himself.}}

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: He does have his moral standards -- itstandards—it [[Depending on the Writer|depends on the story]] what he actually ''is'' willing to do (some stories have him gleefully perform sabotage, kidnappings and even outright theft, while others have him a more honest businessman), though unlike Glomgold, he is ''never'' portrayed as willing to stoop to murder.

{{quote| Donald's next door neighbor. He and Donald have a heated rivalry that comes close to being a full-fledged war, with the yard between their houses as the battlefield.}}

{{quote| A pig-featured, mustachioed con man usually wearing a hat and a black coat. Created by Barks, he's appeared under many different names such as "Scalpnik" and "Porkman de Lardo".}}

* [[Zany Scheme]]: His plots have included stuff like turning pineapples to stone with a poison or destroying Duckburg's cucumber crop so he could sell his own unpalatable foodstuffs ([https://web.archive.org/web/20110826045628/http://disneycomics.free.fr/Ducks/Barks/show.php?s=date&loc=1957/W_DD_54%2FW_DD_54-01R "Forbidden Valley"], his first appearance).

== [[Canon Foreigner|Canon Foreigners]]s from ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' ==

{{quote| Characters who were created exclusively for the [[Animated Adaptation]] series, ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]''.}}

{{quote| A tall, strapping pilot who worked as Scrooge's go-to guy for piloting, but with a bad habit of pulling off crash landings. Later became [[Darkwing Duck]]'s sidekick.}}

* [[Canon Immigrant]]: He is the only character from ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' to star in his own comics even long after the show ended its run.

* [[Expy]]: Another Expy of Donald. Mostly filling Donald's roles of "in charge of travel" and "saying stupid things".

[[File:fenton_1921.jpg|frame|http]] [[File://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gizmokvakk_4536Gizmokvakk 4536.jpg|frame]]

{{quote| Scrooge's accountant in the second season of ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'', who possesses an almost supernatural ability to count things very quickly with only a quick glace. He also guards the Money Bin as Gizmoduck.}}

* [[Genius Ditz]]: To quote the manual for the video game ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]: The Quest For Gold'': "Fenton can count faster than the speed of sound, but his judgement is not always very sound."

* [[Momma's Boy]]: Occasionally crossing into just a bit of:

* [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad]]: He was introduced in the second season of ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' and almost immediately became the show's main character apart from Scrooge himself.

{{quote| A young female duckling who lives with her grandmother, Mrs. Beakley, in Scrooge's mansion.}}

** Interestingly enough, in the Dutch dub of ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' she is named "Lizzy," which is the Dutch name for April.

* [[Morality Pet]]: More than any other character in ''[[DuckTales (1987)]],'' she is this to Scrooge.

{{quote| A chubby Junior Woodchuck, friend to Huey, Dewey and Louie, and Launchpad's biggest fan.}}

* [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]]: In the second season. He only showed up in one single non-speaking cameo in one episode and afterwards was never seen or mentioned again -- perhapsagain—perhaps because both Launchpad and (to a lesser extent) Huey, Dewey and Louie were moved [[Out of Focus]] in this season, and sice Doofus was mostly there to interact with them, there was no real room for him in the scripts anymore.

{{quote| A young caveduck and his pet dinosaur who stowed away with Scrooge and company during a time-traveling trip.}}

{{quote| Scrooge's butler and chauffeur in ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'', who has actually also appeared in some non-Rosa comics. It should be noted that though Duckworth himself was a ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' creation, the idea of Scrooge having a butler ranges as far back as to Scrooge's first story, ''The Christmas on Bear Mountain''. Italian comics have a similar character named Battista as Scrooge's butler, and the Mexican dub of the animated series actually translated Duckworth as "Battista".}}

{{quote| Scrooge's maid and the nephews' nanny, hired because she offered to work for nothing except food and shelter for herself and her granddaughter Webby.}}

* [[Chickification]]: In the first episode, she was able to put up with everything the nephews could throw at her. In ''[[DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp|Duck Tales the Movie Treasure of The Lost Lamp]]'', she's spooked by their toys coming to life and has several fainting spells.

* [[Expy]]: For Grandma Duck, who weirdly enough never appears in ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' -- even—even though she would probably be a more natural choice for Donald to send his nephews to than Scrooge.

{{quote| Donald's comanding officer while he worked in the Navy}}

{{quote| A ruthless, immortal, shape-shifting sorceror who goes on the warpath when Scrooge gets hold of the magic lamp in ''[[DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp|Duck Tales the Movie Treasure of The Lost Lamp]]''. He was one of the Genie's former masters, and will do ''anything'' to get him back into his clutches.}}

{{quote| A former sea captain who's even more greedy and miserly than Scrooge is; he literally goes insane with gold fever and will go to any lengths to retrieve even a lost penny -- even if it should risk losing all his other money or even his life. Appears in the five-part pilot for ''[[DuckTales (1987)]].''}}

{{quote| A kleptomaniac who's always going after valuable treasures but has trouble keeping them. He's occasionally hired by other villains to aid them in their goals, and has been seen working for both Flintheart Glomgold and Merlock -- though he's really not such a bad person when it comes down to it.}}

* [[Minion with an F In Evil]]: To Merlock in [[DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp|the movie]] and to Flintheart Glomgold in the series.