Launchpad’s Association with Della Duck: A Secret Agenda?
When it comes to working for the McDuck family, I don’t think LP’s just along for the ride. He certainly can't be in it for the pay: in the old show, Scrooge pays him pennies an hour. If that's still true, why on earth would LP bother sticking around? That isn't enough money to sustain him. (But then again, Scrooge stated “Every dent is coming out of your salary!” which ultimately causes him to work for nothing...still though.) I’m sure he wanted to befriend Scrooge in the process since he wants to be friends with everyone and possibly because he wanted to take the opportunity to work for someone so important, but maybe he’s also hoping for an exchange of information. The main reason why he could be working for Scrooge might be to find out what happened to Della. If anyone has an idea, it’d be Scrooge.
- When the reboot opens up, we find out that LP just started working for Scrooge. He was really eager to talk about the aviation aspect of his life. His mentions of being a pilot could have been him seeing if he could carefully segue into asking Scrooge about Della. (Because bad things do happen to those who speak of her.) He was low-key trying to motivate Scrooge to come out of retirement so he could go on an adventure with him. Maybe he’s hoping that one of Scrooge’s adventures could possibly lead him to her or he wants to stay close to the family in case anything important leaks out.
- Launchpad could be playing dumb (to an extent) so no one will suspect anything and to remain on Scrooge’s good side.
- Launchpad has access to the mansion and he’s just roaming around the place. Does he live there? He just so happens to be behind the door whenever the word “pilot” is mentioned. Was he eavesdropping?
- In the pilot episode of Darkwing Duck, “Darkly Dawns the Duck”, LP mentions having a scrapbook of newspaper clippings. One of the producers confirmed on their Tumblr that this will still be relevant in the reboot. When Scrooge goes to look at his diving outfit, he walks past an old ripped up newspaper with a headline that alluded to Della’s disappearance. It’s likely that LP could have his own copy of the same article in his scrapbook with who knows what else.
- Della and Launchpad definitely could have known each other, they’re both from well-known families with aviation relations: LP from The Flying McQuack stunt pilots (assuming this will be carried on into the reboot) and Della piloting for The Richest Duck in The World. Della may have been his friend from flight school, or their paths just so happen to cross one day, and a friendship formed from that. Launchpad was probably a fan of hers; he was probably a fan of the McDuck’s in general with their globe-trotting and whatnot. Heck, Della could have been a fan of his family. For all we know, they may have inspired her to become a pilot️! The more active you are in your field, the more people you’ll meet within that field.
Why are Della and Launchpad matching? No, they’re not straight up matching but they're both pilots wearing brown and green. That doesn't automatically mean that they have a connection, but sometimes in art, it can signify importance. One could argue that they have these colors because they’re pilots, but judging by characters like Baloo, Ripcord, Loopy and Gadget, it doesn't seem to be a requirement to wear them.
Only Baloo has been confirmed for the reboot (not explicitly, but c’mon, you can’t have Cape Suzette without Baloo), but I think it’s safe to say that whenever any of these characters will show up, they’re not going to lose their signature colors. That breaks the rules of the character designs they’re going for. This show likes to update old characters while still retaining key features. (Like Webby for example, she has an indigo vest and a purple skirt now, but she still has pink articles of clothing.) Brown is very common when it comes to what pilots wear, but those shades of green? Whenever green is incorporated in aviator outfits, they’re usually in much duller shades and sometimes boarder-lining brown.
- At first, I thought their colors were some kinda indicator of the flight school they went to, but I later began to doubt that. Their outfits probably aren't something that a school would enforce anyway, they’re a little too casual; Della’s wearing shorts and LP’s even more so with his t-shirt and cap.
- I also thought maybe what Della is wearing in the reboot was a reference to her pilot outfit in the “80 is prachtig”/”Family Ties” comic that the showrunners drew inspiration from for her character. I took another look at it and the design is completely different from what Reboot!Della wears. Green and brown are present, but overall, the design of it isn’t strong enough to make a good comparison.
- In “Woo-oo!”, Della is depicted in an outfit closer to what LP used to wear in the old series, but in other depictions, her outfit falls more in line with what Reboot!LP wears when he's adventuring.
- Della’s scarf is often a shade of blue-green and LP’s hat falls in that spectrum. Blue-green is the dominant color in Della’s dedication room (and the dining room where she shoved Donald’s head into a cake, lol). LP was mainly wearing a shade this color and other various shades of green in “The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest”.
- Launchpad’s standard wardrobe has never had the color green or blue-green in it until the reboot. (As far as I know, anyway.) He had a light-green scarf in Fabian Mense’s concept art and now he wears two green articles of clothing. LP completely loses the color green when he’s a chauffeur. Based on the covers for the new DT comics and other early promotional material, it’s suggested that he was originally going to wear his chauffeur outfit consistently no matter what task he was doing. Somewhere later in production, it was decided for him to have two separate outfits.
- Della and Launchpad’s outfits seem to suggest that they’re very in-tune with each other. This is looking a little too close to purely be a designing coincidence...
So... they’re both pilots, they have a good chance of knowing who the other is, it’s very likely they were friends and they’re sporting similar colors. With all these similarities, factors and connectedness going on, one can’t help but wonder…
Could Launchpad…
...actually be…
....the long-lost father of the triplets?!
(Yes, I'm going THERE! And yes, I know, but here me out.)
I mean, with all this talk of mom, it’s only a matter of time before there’s talk about dad, right? LP and Della are oddly connected from the get-go. In “Woo-oo!”, the pilot episode, Launchpad, a pilot, constantly states “I’m a pilot!I’m a pilot!I’m a pilot!” and what do we find out at the end of the two-parter? HDL’s mom is a pilot. Like...what’s with all this pilotception? I’m having a hard time believing that the showrunners would set something up like this for it to go nowhere️.
- We still don’t know too much about Launchpad. He has this mysterious background that the characters aren't really paying attention to, especially Scrooge. He constantly ignores LP every time he tries to talk to him about his life.
- It seems to be implied that he was a world traveler before he started working for Scrooge. He claims that the road is his office, and he has the ability to speak other languages. (How well he’s able to speak to them isn’t exactly certain. He suddenly spoke in Swedish when Webby was trying to lie to her grandmother and he probably knows Chinese as well.)
- It’s been confirmed that the old episode, “Double O Duck” will be reworked into this show, and depending on how the crew plans on using its story elements, he could have been or could still be a spy! Back in the 90’s there was a Disneyland live show called “Plane Crazy” that involved Launchpad along with a few other Disney Afternoon characters being recruited by the FBI to retrieve a stole spy jet. There’s another secret agent connection right there! The showrunners aren't just pulling from the comics and the previous show, there’s a good possibility that they could use something like this as a source. (I mean, they made something as obscure as a Toontown Online reference! Almost anything is possible!)
- No one expects much from Launchpad McQuack. People think he’s just this stupid comic relief guy who keeps crashing planes everywhere. The Macau trip proved that there’s more to him than what he seems. LP is an outsider with a ton of connections. This won’t be the first time he surprises us.
- If he’s the father, why does he not remember his children? At first, I was thinking that maybe some mind-wiping might have come into play. (How far is Scrooge willing to go to cover up Della’s existence? What the heck happened to the mailman?!) It would explain his odd behavior and why he’s so unfocused, but now I’m leaning more towards an event in the past that could have prevented him from returning to his family.
- He could have gone missing himself, he probably didn't even know Della was pregnant during his absence. Maybe he had a severe injury that kept him sidelined. (No one has ever died during LP’s crashes, but has anyone ever gotten hurt?) LP is already a clumsy-accident prone character who always ends up getting in some sort of dangerous incident. In the episodes we've seen so far, something always ends up impairing him during the adventures.
Let’s check the hit counter:
- Bitten by a bunch of snakes
- Falling off a mountain
- Freaking out about ice fever
- Several arrows to the back
- He had an eye-patch in that same episode, so he possibly sustained an eye injury
- Crashing into a wall
- Getting paranoid about mole monsters
- He’s also apparently sunk a helicopter in a wave pool once
- In HDL’s original comic debut, their mom leaves Donald a letter, mentioning their father being hospitalized due to a firecracker exploding under his chair. Doesn't sound too far off from some kind of crazy thing that could have happen to Launchpad.
Sky Pirates exist in this universe due to Talespin, maybe they raided his plane and kidnapped him. If he’s a spy, he could have been called out on a long mission. Launchpad could have also been in the military. I've seen comments when some viewers were speculating that LP might be suffering from PTSD due to how badly he reacted in “Terror of the Terra-firmians!”. The oldest illustration of the triplets’ father (WHY did they give him human ears?! ARRHG!) depicts him having a buzz cut hairstyle. This could be suggesting he was a soldier. Launchpad did army crawl in “The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest!”, and there was a scene where he was acting like a drill sergeant in “The Living Mummies of Toth-Ra!”. Heh, I guess that could be another explanation to why he’s wearing green. (LP just strikes me as a character who has had multiple occupations in the past.)
[Note: Della was previously called “Thelma” and “Dumbella” before her name was finalized.]
- If he’s the father, how could Donald and Scrooge not know who he is️? I really don’t think they would know...Della probably didn't properly introduce them to him. This could have been due to his possible disappearance. He could have been really busy due to whatever job he had at the time or maybe she was afraid to tell them who he was because they could have thought poorly of him. (He probably was notorious for his constant crashing around.) I have a bit of a feeling that Della kept certain important things in secret; her love-life probably being one of those things (And the possibility that she was working with Magica). I’m sure Scrooge could care less about who Della’s dating; he just needs her to be available for adventures.
- Now with Donald, I dunno. In the “80 is prachtig”/”Family Ties” comic, Della just randomly shows up at Donald’s door with the triplets. He had just returned from the navy, and he didn't even know she had children. Why wouldn't she tell Donald? It feels so weird for someone as close as your twin sister to lose contact like that. (Really? No letters? No telegrams or whatever means of long-distance communication that existed in that time frame?)
- D’oh geez...what if Donald knew or had a feeling but saw Launchpad unfit to take care of the boys? He already isn't very fond of LP for mishandling his damaged houseboat. I just wanna see Donald show a general annoyance towards Launchpad regardless of it having anything to do with Della. LP’s character was basically created to r̶e̶p̶l̶a̶c̶e̶ help fill the void Donald left behind in the old series after he went off to the navy. It would be entertaining to see something meta like that.
- Towards the end of “Woo-oo!” where Scrooge instructs HDL not to tell their Uncle Donald about going to Atlantis, Launchpad says “Wait, who is that?” This could suggest that he doesn't know who Donald is, but it’s possible that it was the “Uncle” part that threw him off. Donald wasn't an uncle 10+ years ago, so maybe he thought Scrooge was referring to another relative. It’s also possible that LP wasn't paying attention during Scrooge and Donald’s exchange in the earlier part of the special. Depending on how far the spy element will be worked into his character, he could also be pretending he doesn't know who Donald is, so his cover won’t be blown. (Would Della not tell Launchpad about her brother? If so... why?)
If the relationship Launchpad and Della have is a romantic one, I don’t think the show runners are going to be quick to confirm it. One of the producers stated that this show isn't about romantic relationships. That doesn't mean that there won’t be any romance, but it’s main focus will be on the platonic relationships that go on in a family. Discovering who both of HDL’s parents are fits perfectly with the family theme of the show, but we probably won’t see this get addressed until maybe the third season or the end of the show in the fourth season. (Disney has a rule about how their shows can’t exceed four seasons.) The relationships of the main cast need to be established first before a surprise element like this can be thrown into the mix.
While it may take a long time for their connection to be addressed, I believe there may already be hints to ensure that this is happening. In my next post, I'll be discussing some other interesting things I've noticed and what they could mean.
Are you up for more reading? Continue here.
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