Disney Ducks Comic Universe/Characters: Difference between revisions
Disney Ducks Comic Universe/Characters (view source)
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* [[Deadpan Snarker]]
* [[Depending on the Writer]]: Scrooge's ruthlessness and adherence to ethics. Older Italian comics (particularly those written by Guido Martina) tended to portray Scrooge much more in line with his initial [[Jerkass]] characterization, veering into [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] territory. Barks himself went back to a more ruthless Scrooge in a few Donald-centered gag stories.
** ''[[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.
* [[Determinator]]
* [[Early-Bird Cameo]]: Though it may be a pure coincidence, a character closely resembling Scrooge made an appearence in the [[Classic Disney Shorts|short]] ''The Spirit of '43'' as Donald's "thrifty saver" conscience four years before Scrooge's actual debut in comics, though whether Scrooge as we know him was based on this character is presumably something that only [[Carl Barks]] himself would have known.
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* [[Uncle Pennybags]]: When in a good mood.
* [[Violent Glaswegian]]: He's Scottish, has a real short temper, and won't hesitate to get violent.
* [[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.
=== [[Donald Duck]] ===
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* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]: Most notably as the Duck Avenger, where he sometimes reached near-[[Batman]] levels of hyper-competence, but he has '''many''' moments where he gets to be [[Badass]] just being himself.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]
* [[Demoted to Extra]]: In ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' he only appears in a handful of episodes.
* [[Determinator]]: As soon as Donald starts to obsess about something, he'll go to any length.
* [[The Drag Along]]: Donald is frequently this when treasure-hunting with Uncle Scrooge.
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* [[New Job Episode]]: Donald has much trouble getting jobs. When not working for Scrooge, he is most commonly shown working in a skunk oil factory or a margarine factory, jobs he understandably hates.
** Even so, Donald seems to be doing very well for himself at the margarine factory, at least. He once took a test of skills, and the conclusion was that the ideal job for him would be packing margarine.
** ''[[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.
*** It also helps them skip around the problem of him being a main character while keeping the defining trait of his animated self; a voice that is functionally impossible to understand.
** A common plot in comics is that Donald starts in a job, and is amazingly good at it, earning money and becoming famous – until he makes a huge mistake that destroys the house, the garden, the road or whatever he’s a specialist in, and has to flee the town.
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* [[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—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.
* [[The Unintelligible]]: Subverted in the comics, since there his dialogue is written for us to read.
** Played straight on ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'', though, where it's a [[Running Gag]] for people to ask "What did he say?"
* [[Unlucky Everydude]]: Although not as bad as in the Disney animated canon, Donald still tends to have absolutely rotten luck.
* [[Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist]]: In several stories.
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'''Huey, Dewey and Louie:''' We know how ''that'' feels, Unca Scrooge. }}
* [[Single-Minded Twins|Single-Minded Triplets]]: More apparent in earlier stories, where they were often literally treated as one character with three separate bodies, to the point of sharing all their spoken lines. The trope is still in effect in later stories, but the boys seem to have at least stopped speaking in union and finishing each other's sentences.
** ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' occasionally subverted the trope by giving them individual character traits—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.
* [[The Smart Guy]]: All three of them share this role when out adventuring with Donald and Scrooge, making for a [[Five-Man Band]] with one [[The Hero|Hero]] (Scrooge), one [[The Lancer|Lancer]] (Donald) and ''three'' [[The Smart Guy|Smart Guys.]]
* [[Theme Twin Naming|Theme Triplet Naming]]
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=== Gladstone Gander ===
[[File:gladstone_3420.jpg|frame]]
{{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]].}}
* [[Born Lucky]]: Literally.
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* [[Distaff Counterpart]]: Few Disney characters are this blatant about it.
* [[The Dividual]]: Like Huey, Dewey and Louie, the girls look and act pretty much the same. so it's impossible to say if they have any individual character traits.
* [[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.
** However, this is again avoided in the Dutch comics, where the girls have made more appearances with their modernized looks. Certain Danish stories have also begin featuring the redesigned girls, so it remains to be seen whether they'll make a glorious return.
* [[Identical Twin ID Tag]]: Again, in the modern Dutch comics, their hairstyles. In older comics, the colors of their clothes is probably supposed to be this, but since the girls' colors are even more inconsistently handled than Huey, Dewey and Louie's are, this really doesn't help.
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* [[Ascended Extra]]: The fact that Quackfaster was mostly just a background character in [[Carl Barks]]'s stories probably contributed to her inconsistent portrayals.
* [[Depending on the Artist]]: For some reason, she is sometimes shown as being blonde and much taller than any of the other duck characters (rather than old, grey-haired and relatively short). Some artists go the middle road and make her the same height as the other ducks, but make her look younger.
* [[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]].
* [[Plucky Girl]]: On some occasions.
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* [[Depending on the Writer]]: Just how many Beagle Boys exist is very inconsistent. They are commonly shown three at a time, but in [[Don Rosa]]'s stories, there are seven of them (who are occasionally aided by their much smarter grandfather, Blackheart). Some authors show the Beagle Boys to be all over the world in some form or another. Their relationship is also somewhat inconsistent. They are usually seen as being brothers, but according to Don Rosa they are actually a group of brothers and cousins.
** Even Carl Barks at one point showed them by the hundreds. They're implied to be a very large family with dozens of branches, but only one of them is usually active in Duckburg. He used thirty different numbers in his stories.
* [[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.
* [[Evil Is One Big Happy Family]]
* [[Harmless Villain]]
* [[Informed Species|Informed Breed]]: They look nothing like real beagles.
* [[Karma Houdini]]: Ma Beagle in the first season of ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]''
* [[Murder, Inc.]]
* [[Paper-Thin Disguise]]: The Beagle Boys constantly wear black masks that only serve to make them more recognizable (which was played in one story, where they robbed a jewelry store and the witness didn't recognize them because they weren't wearing their masks despite the fact they were otherwise dressed like typical Beagle Boys), since they never, ever take them off, not even when they are actually trying to disguise themselves. Let alone the ''prisoner's numbers'' on their chests.
** Don Rosa used to play with it, and in ''one'' occasion Barks draw one of them (young Blackheart) without his mask from stupefaction: [http://disneycomics.free.fr/Ducks/Barks/show.php?num=15&loc=1957/W_USGD_1-02R&s=date here].
* [[Villain Protagonist]]: There are plenty of comic stories with the Beagle Boys as the main focus, often showing them trying to rob someone ''other'' than Scrooge for a change. It's these stories that usually features their [[Comic Trio]] characterizations.
* [[You Are Number Six]]: In the comics, the Beagles are only known by their prisoner's numbers—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.)
=== Grandpa Beagle/Blackheart Beagle ===
[[File:grandpabeagle_7453.jpg|frame]]
{{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]].}}
* [[Big Bad]]: Mostly in [[Don Rosa]]'s stories.
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* [[Arch Enemy]]: With Scrooge, and they have had a couple of [[Enemy Mine]] moments.
* [[Chaste Toons]]: A ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' comic gave her a niece named Minima, who's made several appearances in the foreign comics since then.
* [[Dark Action Girl]]: One of the earliest examples from Disney.
* [[Depending on the Writer]]: Just how much power Magica has varies between writers. [[Carl Barks]] and [[Don Rosa]] generally showed her as not having any genuine magical abilities on her own, but merely using magical trinkets, but many other writers show her as a powerful witch in her own right and interacting with many other powerful witches.
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* [[Humiliation Conga]]: He gets these in "The Last Lord of El Dorado", "The Terror of the Transvaal" and "A Little Something Special." [[Don Rosa]] seems to be fond of putting him through these.
* [[Master of Disguise]]: Since his third appearance, Glomgold has fooled Scrooge and his nephews numerous times with his disguises in order to stay one step ahead, sabotage, or both. Even his female disguise was once convincing enough for Donald to steal a kiss!
* [[My Name Is Not Durwood]]: In the ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' episode "Attack of the Metal Mites", Dijon could never pronounce his name correctly.
** Also, his second appearance "The Money Champ" (September, 1959) has several people failing to get his name right, calling him Goldflint Heartglom, Flintgold Glomheart, and Heartflint Goldglom. Albeit it was more likely that Glomgold himself coined these variations of his name to get away with his dirty schemes. Even [[Paper-Thin Disguise|Scrooge failed to connect these names to Flintheart Glomgold]].
* [[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.
* [[The Rival]]
* [[Self-Made Man]]
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* [[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 ([http://disneycomics.free.fr/Ducks/Barks/show.php?s=date&loc=1957/W_DD_54-01R "Forbidden Valley"], his first appearance).
== [[Canon Foreigner]]s from ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' ==
{{quote|Characters who were created exclusively for the [[Animated Adaptation]] series, ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]''.}}
=== Launchpad McQuack ===
[[File:Launchpad_8773.jpg|frame]]
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* [[Awesome McCoolname]]
* [[Canon Immigrant]]: He is the only character from ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' to star in his own comics even long after the show ended its run.
* [[Captain Crash]]
* [[The Ditz]]: Sometimes going into [[Genius Ditz]] area. Not only is he several times shown being quite inventive and capable in a pinch, at one point he manages to work the Gizmoduck suit, and by the time he made the migration to ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'' had managed to singlehandedly build a gadget-laden, VTOL and hover-capable subsonic jet plane.
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=== Fenton Crackshell / Gizmoduck ===
[[File:fenton_1921.jpg|frame]] [[File:Gizmokvakk 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.}}
* [[Affectionate Parody]]: Of Robocop.
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* [[Clothes Make the Superman]]
* [[Expy]]: Fills in Donald's missing role; especially glaring in episodes based on Barks' comics such as "The Land of Tra La La."
* [[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."
* [[Good with Numbers]]: He got the job as Scrooge's accountant by counting how many shotgun pellets Scrooge fired at him to scare him away.
** [[Up to Eleven]]: He can count Scrooge's entire fortune right down to the cent, in a matter of seconds.
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* [[Something Person]]
* [[Superhero]]: The straightest example on the show.
* [[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.
* [[Visual Pun]]: Before going to work directly for Scrooge, Fenton's putting his counting skills to work as a bean counter... literally. He ''counts beans'' for a living.
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* [[Children Are Innocent]]: [[Depending on the Writer|Depends a little on the episode]] just how innocent and naive she really is, but she is definitely this trope, sometimes bordering on [[Friend to All Living Things]].
* [[Composite Character]]: She is a single-character [[Expy]] of Daisy's nieces.
** Interestingly enough, in the Dutch dub of ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' she is named "Lizzy," which is the Dutch name for April.
* [[Tagalong Kid]]: Huey, Dewey and Louie tend to view her as this as she is both younger than them, and a ''girl.'' It varies how much they tolerate her; for the most part they're willing to let her hang out with them, but they loathe it when she tries to arrange tea parties and suchlike.
* [[Morality Pet]]: More than any other character in ''[[DuckTales (1987)]],'' she is this to Scrooge.
* [[Pink Means Feminine]]: Her outfit is pink, and she's ''very'' much a girly-girl.
* [[Ship Tease]]: With Doofus; though they usually don't interact much, one [[Time Travel]] episode showed them as married adults.
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=== Duckworth ===
[[File:duckworth_4396.jpg|frame]]
{{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".}}
* [[A Day in the Limelight]]: For the most part, he's mostly a background character who gets a few minor moments here and there, but he did get two episodes that centered on him, ''Duckworth's Revolt'' and ''Take Me Out of the Ballgame.''
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* [[Apron Matron]]: At least in the beginning; though less strict and more soft-spoken than most examples of the trope. Of course, she didn't quite stay that way: see below.
* [[Chickification]]: In the first episode, she was able to put up with everything the nephews could throw at her. In ''[[DuckTales (1987) 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.
* [[Cool Old Lady]]: Originally; see above.
* [[Expy]]: For Grandma Duck, who weirdly enough never appears in ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]''—even though she would probably be a more natural choice for Donald to send his nephews to than Scrooge.
* [[Granny Classic]]
* [[Team Mom]]: She plays this role on occasion, especially in the first season.
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=== Merlock ===
[[File:merlock_798.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|A ruthless, immortal, shape-shifting sorceror who goes on the warpath when Scrooge gets hold of the magic lamp in ''[[DuckTales (1987) 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.}}
* [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]]: He sank Atlantis, destroyed Pompeii using Vesuvius, and created anchovy pizza.
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=== El Capitan ===
{{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)]].''}}
* [[Jim Cummings]]
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* [[I See London]]: A [[Running Gag]] with him is that he'll lose his pants because he's stuffed his pockets too heavy with his loot... and yes, he wears [[Goofy Print Underwear]].
* [[Lovable Coward]]: When danger lurks, Dijon will step up and... make any excuse not to have to face it.
* [[Minion with an F In Evil]]: To Merlock in [[DuckTales (1987) the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp|the movie]] and to Flintheart Glomgold in the series.
* [[Sticky Fingers]]: It's an obsession with him.
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