Launchpad’s Association With Della Duck: If Walls Could Talk
Sometimes in art, the composition of a scene gives away more information than the foreground is willing to tell us. The musical score and the colors can also be used to do this by invoking certain emotions. When Scrooge orders Launchpad to hand him the parachute in “Last Crash of the Sunchaser!”, Launchpad stalls and a brassy instrument buzzes in the background. Combined with his look of concern and Scrooge covering up his vague mention of Della with the kids, this musical cue seems to imply that something stung about Scrooge’s slip-up. Or that maybe he knew something was wrong and wanted to know who Scrooge was really referring to. Also, during the most intense portion of the episode, the sun begins to set, causing many warm colors to be present. Having this setting while the emotions are high, further invokes feelings of fear and suspense.
With that being said, let’s see what additional information Della and Launchpad’s first meeting could be telling us.
Della’s mystery theme begins to play as she descends from the stairs. She brushes her hand against a picture of Donald sitting on HDL’s eggs. The sound of a violin intensifies and subsides as she does this.
Della looks at another photo of Donald taking care of the boys, then fixes her gaze on the family photo as she continues to walk. The violin comes in. She stops in front of Launchpad’s photo with her head covering up most of it. The score briefly stops along with her.
Della takes out her own copy of the family photo; the same one she’s been holding on to since the moment she first entered the Spear. After sadly staring at the drawings on the back of it, she places it over her side of Donald’s copy. This gesture makes me wonder if this was her way of inserting the father into the picture. The boys are already being represented by their eggs, so why would she need to place them into the picture if they’re already there? I guess it can be argued that she was excluding herself because she wasn’t present during most of HDL’s childhood, but a little afterwards, she says “I’ll take it from here.” She’s still optimistic about her role as a parent and belonging in the family so why would she block herself out as to think she didn’t deserve to be on the wall?
Remember how Scrooge was comparing the Spear incident to the situation happening in “Last Crash”? He was trying to protect Dewey, but the triplet continued to chase after a missing piece of a photo.
When the piece gets stuck at the front of the plane, Dewey activates the parachute to launch himself up there. When the piece flies out the window, he goes right after it, putting himself in a dangerous area full of clouds.
The main objective of the trip was to go to an event called E.X.C.E.S.S, which included the phrase “Fun for Dad!” on its flyer.
There were also plans to find a lost heirloom but neither got accomplished because the plane gets stuck on a peak, much like Della getting stuck on the Moon.
When Dewey and Scrooge are speeding through the plane, Scrooge has a rope tied to his waist and Launchpad holds on to the other end that’s tied to the parachute. The pilot is connected to what’s happening, but he’s very perplexed about it.
Earlier, as Scrooge instructs everyone to stay put, Dewey inches over to the second pilot chair where the missing piece is stuck onto the base. When Dewey causes the plane to shake, Launchpad is suddenly placed in that chair after we’re given a shot of it being empty.
Perhaps this was some sort of error, but this scene does follow a moment where Launchpad needs to be saved after a bunch of cargo traps him in the jeep.
There also seems to be another error where Launchpad suddenly appears in the jeep when the driver’s seat was empty in the previous shot.
We see the missing piece stuck to the jeep before this happens.
Scrooge’s comparison can serve as an explanation to why Della had the photo of herself climbing into the rocket in “The Golden Spear”. It might be a meta thing to express that connection. Otherwise, it would be very strange for Della to be hanging up a regretful moment without destroying the photo in some way.
After quietly commending Donald on his parenting, Della notices Launchpad’s photo and shifts into a more sour demeanor as she wonders why this stranger is up on the wall. When the picture first appeared in “Storkules in Duckburg!”, I had a strong feeling that it was supposed to be Launchpad depicted in it. He’s looking a lot more like himself as opposed to the messy, white-haired individual wearing a teal scarf and no boots. He’s still kneeling on the ground, smiling and giving a thumbs up, but now it’s much easier to tell that there’s a plane in the background. We’re shown that the Sunchaser caught on fire when it crashed. Donald is in the photo now, panicking and running away with the back of his shirt on fire. Launchpad is a bit singed from the fire, but he’s not fazed at all.
When I realized it was Launchpad in the “Storkules” version, I thought they were obscuring him in a similar way that they did with Duckworth before they officially revealed him. Even though the wall wasn’t as detailed as it became in “Nothing Can”, everyone else was very easy to recognize right off the bat. They could have easily made Launchpad look closer to himself. Giving him red hair would have been a huge clue, but instead, they left that detail out and gave him different clothes. Because of my new theory, I think this was alluding to Launchpad looking notably different in the past. Later in the episode, the photo disappears and the wall reverts to what it used to look like in “Shadow War”. It came off as something we weren’t supposed to see for very long, but this could be representing Launchpad going missing. When the wall changes again in “Nothing Can”, it could be hinting how LP changed after his disappearance.
While I’m glad that LP was confirmed for the mysterious photo, I still don’t understand why Donald has it up. They’re not exactly friends…they hardly ever interact with each other and Donald’s not enjoying himself in the picture at all. Maybe Dewey took the picture and put it up there, but still…the fact that a picture of Launchpad is included while Webby and Mrs. Beakley are excluded, is extremely peculiar…all three of them are supposed to be honorary family members, yet Launchpad is the only one surrounded by blood relatives.
Right on cue, Launchpad enters the houseboat to introduce himself to Della. He stands in front of Donald’s parenting side of the wall. The placement of the photos become inconsistent for the next two shots:
Della starts off in front of Huey and Louie’s portraits but when she begins to confront Launchpad about being replaced, the pictures have shifted to the left; putting her in between Launchpad’s photo and the original family photo. This shot hides the faces of Della’s first two drawings, but the third one is left visible until she stops in front of him.
When Della grabs Launchpad by the zipper, the photos have shifted to the right. The original family photo is suddenly hanging around their heads. LP slumps forward when he realizes that Della isn’t happy with him and that causes his head to point towards the drawings.
She brings LP down to her line of sight to glare at him as she makes it clear that she’s the pilot around here. This brings their heads together below the family photo with Launchpad being even more in line with the direction of the drawings. The third drawing is peeking from behind LP’s head and the way LP is scrunched down makes him resemble it more. Unlike most shots the third drawing appears in, the lower half of the body is missing.
Della loosens her grip as she marches up the stairs. Launchpad seems to press himself against the wall to get out of Della’s way (or did she force him to move over?), causing his head to be placed in the family photo, his right arm to be in his own photo, his left arm to be in the photo of Donald with the triplets in the inflatable raft, leaving the rest of his body in the photo of Donald and the boys fishing. Having Launchpad put in front of the family photo seems to support the idea of Della wanting to have the father “in the picture”.
It also reminded me of one occurrence after another: It made me think of how the Launch light in the Spear was in the same direction of the family photo during the beginning of “Whatever Happened”. There may have even been some subtle wordplay going on with the “Emergency Launch” being activated in “Golden Spear”.
That made me think of Launchpad’s dialogue when he was talking to Scrooge over the intercom in “Shadow War”. The scene briefly gives us a look at Magica-Possesed Lena eavesdropping on the conversation. Then the camera immediately goes back to LP the moment he says, “launching their mom into Space and orphaning them”. The way he recaps the situation makes it sound like this is the first time Launchpad is checking on Scrooge. The episode takes place three days after “Last Crash”. Why did it take him so long? He doesn’t even appear at the end of that episode when everyone, including Duckworth, is leaving. We’re left wondering where Launchpad is during Scrooge’s time of need. In spite of hearing Scrooge’s side of the Spear incident, Launchpad never takes the time to blame Della. Wouldn’t he want to defend Scrooge?
Looking back at “Last Crash” made me think about the scene where the plane is about to fall off the peak. As the children pile the blame onto Scrooge, the Sunchaser leans forward where Launchpad and the hula girl bobble figure are. I’ve noted in the past how the figure could have been placed there by Launchpad and how it could be representing Della since it wears some of her colors. The plane leaning on their side rather than the back could definitely be an indicator that Scrooge wasn’t the reason why Della went missing. Launchpad isn’t able to respond to the flashback because of the plane, but he draws attention to himself in general as he tries to interrupt the argument.
Speaking of which, something else that’s worth noticing about Launchpad’s placement on the wall is that his head is right next to Della’s third drawing. When he lands there, his hair bang seems to be bringing attention to it by keeping it visible while having the other two drawings hidden.
This drawing seems to be getting a lot of attention in general: When we first see the back of the family photo in “Last Christmas!”, we’re given zero indication of what the third drawing looks like. It’s hidden… like Della’s lower half. Then in “Whatever Happened to Della Duck?!”, we find out why her lower half was hidden and what the third drawing looks like.
As Lunaris talks about the sacrifices the moon mite made for her child, Della looks at the front of the family photo. The top two drawings are visible, but the third is not.
When Della shows her kids to Penumbra in “The Golden Spear!”, she isolates the third drawing by noting that their heads aren’t really shaped like eggplants... It’s the only one with a head-shape that closely resembles the fruit.
For a while, I’ve been thinking that there could be some foreshadowing going on with the entire back of the photo. As soon as I saw the second drawing, I immediately thought of Gladstone due to the eyebrows and curly hair bang. I couldn’t figure out who the first one could have represented but then I saw suggestions about it possibly having to do with Fethry; the cone shape on top of the head could be like a hat. It would make a lot of sense for these two drawings to be referring to them since they’re both Duck Cousins with debut episodes that follow the same formula and shared similarities to Della’s situation on the Moon.
One of those formula components included “being heavily compared to one of the triplets". Gladstone had his episode with Louie on land. Fethry had his episode under the sea with Huey. Dewey has yet to have an episode that follows the special formula and Space definitely seems like it could be the next environment to be featured.
Donald’s on the Moon now, so the third drawing could be hinting to something involving him, but I don’t think he’s being depicted here, and they don’t share a lot in common. Dewey is often compared to Della, but he’s similar to Launchpad too. The fact that Della let Penumbra know that her children didn’t really have eggplant-shaped heads in spite of what she drew, could coincide with the idea that Launchpad didn’t always look the way that he currently does.
“Depths” compared Launchpad to Dewey when he rose out of the water with a serious expression on his face, that was similar to the beginning of the episode when Huey disrupted Dewey from his bath. Dewey was expressing how he wanted to see something exciting happen and Launchpad ends up coming from something exciting. If the first two drawings truly did represent Fethry and Gladstone and if Huey and Louie had episodes with them where they were compared to their cousins, that means Dewey will be compared to another family member. If it’s the father, that means he’s still alive and will accompany him in that episode.
Towards the end of “Nothing Can”, after the Gilded Man fight, Della states “Man, Donald sure is missing out on some quality family bonding.” He’s not the only one; Launchpad was completely absent during the family’s time of need. (Well, and Duckworth.) He was just seen in the houseboat, and we’re led to believe he lives somewhere in a separate area of the mansion’s garage. If he was still on the premises, he should have heard what was going on. Where could he have gone? Because Launchpad has had other unexplained absences, this is feeling very deliberate. Aside from remarking about Launchpad being immortal in “Game Night”, Louie did mention how Launchpad leaves for “non-suspicious reasons”. I’m convinced they’re saving Launchpad for another important family moment.
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In a couple of other posts I’ve made, I discussed the set-up of Launchpad’s room in the garage and how he sleeps hanging suspended in a starry atmosphere.
But as I observed it some more, I came to realize that not only is this area made up of string lights and glow-in-the-dark celestial objects, but it also includes a red hammock, a blue pillow and a green cover.
On the ground level of the garage, he has a red couch, a green-ish teal curtain and an area of blue to indigo-colored posters on his wall below the string lights. There are also large areas of gold and brown, much like the chauffeur outfit he wears.
Whenever red, blue and green are grouped together on this show, it more than likely has something to do with HDL and whenever anything is reminiscent of stars or the Moon, it’s hard not to think of Della.
Webby’s room is pretty interesting too. Last August, I wondered if some of Webby’s belongings could have been hand-me-downs from Della’s childhood or that maybe the items were originally intended for HDL’s nursery. There are two pairs of aircrafts hanging down from the ceiling as well as moons, stars and hearts throughout the main section of her room and the bathroom.
It’s also possible that this was originally Della’s room after she moved out of the one she shared with Donald and then later wanted to re-purpose it for a nursery. Another thing that could be indicating that Della could have been involved with the room is how Webby’s sleeping area has a blue bunny, a green-ish teal pillow and a red cover. There’s also a telescope to look out the window over the bed.
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At the end of “The Shadow War!” where Della was watching the news report, I was convinced that she acknowledged Launchpad when she put her hand on his side of the screen. Now that we know they don’t know each other, I believe this was meant to be a meta hint. Dewey and Louie are also on this side, but her hand covers their faces while leaving Launchpad’s easy for us to see.
Maybe it was Scrooge she was acknowledging at that moment, but this isn’t exactly made clear; perhaps because of the camera’s angle. When you acknowledge someone you care about on screen, and you haven’t seen them in forever, you’re gonna want to place your hand on their body and leave their face open to look at. Completely blocking their face or put your hand next to them, is a strange impulse.
I had thought the screen was clear enough for a moment for her to see where she was putting her hand, but I suppose the static and goggles made the scene hard for her to read. That would explain why she failed to notice HDL until the screen changed to focus on them. Still…the screen could have been more distorted to give us a better idea of how she was looking at it, but we’re able to recognize everyone and where they’re placed. Launchpad didn’t have to be on that side, he could have easily been placed where Mrs. Beakley was put.
Another reason why this could be some meta stuff going on is Donald’s absence. There was an empty spot where he could have gone and he was present before Della’s scene, yet he was excluded from the news report. Now that Donald is the one stuck on the Moon, this could have been foreshadowing his disappearance.
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Back in March, the official DuckTales social media accounts changed their profile pictures and banners to be themed around new artwork of the family skydiving. Launchpad is the only one left on the plane, carrying what seems to be a jetpack at the doorway of the hatch. After the May episodes were released, video on demand services such as iTunes and Amazon Video set this artwork as the image for their Volume 4 pages.
In every variation of this artwork, the Sunchaser is always facing the Moon, which is peeking behind a cloud. This reminds me a lot of the second cover for Issue 18, where this also could have been used to represent Della.
The fact that this element remains consistent in each version of the artwork, seems to imply significance. The composition of the first version also seems to hint at Donald’s imprisonment on the Moon.
Alright, time to conclude this update with some later-in-the-season speculation!
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