#my blorbo. the spoingle. the scrimblo. scroingly boingly.

[angstphilosophy]

man the duck knight returns really was a masterpiece,,,

from how they kept the new unfamiliar guy’s name a secret until the end (for drama purposes which also relates to the whole superheroes secret identity stuff but also, it parallels just like how we didn’t know darkwing duck’s civilian name until the very end of the OG Show’s two episode pilot)

jim starling himself was a meta reference and parallel to the OG drake mallard in a lot of ways. appearance wise, he’s basically OG drake mallard but drawn in ducktales 2017′s style down to the feathers reaching his legs, to the wrinkled forehead, and the cheek feathers. he even had the old drake mallard’s VA. but most importantly, he’s a lot of the old drake mallard’s negative personality traits brought together and dialed up quite a bit. heck, jim starling may be darkwing duck (if his normal civilian clothes are any indication. like i said, the role of darkwing was so embedded in him that he walks around with his costume 24/7), but he’s truly not drake mallard, 2017 or 1991. because drake mallard is the civilian in tuned to his vices and virtues, and jim starling... doesn’t really have a life outside of darkwing. 

2017 drake mallard, while still having an ego and some degree of pettiness, at least has the OG drake mallard’s positive traits as well. he’s still truly drake mallard, albeit he’s younger this time around with a pretty face. even if i think he got yassified from his original appearance lmao (rip his busted ass smoking line of crack face). 

and as banal as boorswan’s whole idea of making the darkwing duck movie dark, grim, and gritty is à la the CW, he still had a point. the whole jim starling vs drake mallard thing at the end was still cleverly done in a meta way that ties very well into jim turning in negaduck. because it’s the worst of darkwing duck vs the best of darkwing, and when you remember that the original version of negaduck in the OG show was drake’s negative half split from his positive half, it makes a lot of sense that the person embodying darkwing duck’s more negative traits... turns into the evil twin

lastly, launchpad. he got so caught up in his hero worship of jim that he made some poor choices. you put a man that’s... not the best person on a pedestal and it leads to disasters. but when he developed a healthier relationship with drake where they’re both on equal and even grounds (heck, both of them said ‘let’s get dangerous’ together), they were able to work together and stop jim from destroying the film set. and i’d argue that this equal respect and understanding of each other only strengthened as time went on (i know we all joke that they share one single braincell, but as a result, they’re unstoppable together and as partners, are in sync). i also think launchpad mentally passed on the mantle of darkwing to drake when they were confronting jim when he called out darkwing after jim blew him up and dropped a piano on him (granted LP didn’t know drake’s name at the time, but there was another darkwing-clad person there so...). and, he was the one that suggested drake become DW for real because he saw enough in drake that he knows drake can carry on the positive legacy of darkwing.

this episode was a banger dear lord

edit: launchpad and drake even fought each other in their first episode together just like in the OG pilot the parallels are rich <3

#ducktales #the duck knight returns #darkwing duck #jim starling #drake mallard #launchpad mcquack #i snark but i really love the 2017 take on drake mallard #he's my guy <3 #my blorbo. the spoingle. the scrimblo. scroingly boingly. #maybe. even. a mipy #text post