Launchpad in Lorcana: When? And Where?

Last year, a trading card game called Disney Lorcana debuted, featuring glimmers of Disney characters and elements from their stories. Once it was confirmed that DT17 would be integrated into the game, alongside their standard-styled counterparts, I knew it was only a matter of time before Launchpad would show up.

We got Scrooge and the kids, as expected. We got less expected characters like, Gyro, Glomgold, Lena and Ludwig. We even got Della! A completely unexpected character who gets left out and ignored in out-of-show media a lot. So far, Magica has five different cards! 

...But still no Launchpad card?? What's taking so long?! 🤨

Whenever DuckTales gets merch, Launchpad tends to be the next character in line after Scrooge or the triplets. He's also considered to be more iconic than the other characters we've been getting. I guess they haven't quite found a place for him in the story yet. ┐(´ー｀)┌ 

Feels like Mrs. B will get a card before him at this rate...

___________________________________________________

When the "Shimmering Skies" deck was announced, I thought LP would show up for sure with that name. Once it became clear that he wasn't going to, I started to think about what his next chance could look like. There was a part of me that was hoping his DT17 glimmer would be featured with water to complement and sorta mirror the fiery background for Della's "Inklands" card. Launchpad does have a strong connection with water in the reboot, so, it's not just a nice thing to see, it makes a lot of sense in general as well. 

But while this does increase the chances of seeing a card like this, the chances of him doing a plane-related something is MUCH, much higher. I don't think most fans have really noticed his water connection; let alone, any possible secret connection to Della. It's not likely that the ones working at Ravensburger would be informed on anything like that...

One month after convincing myself I'd better off drawing the card illustration idea, the next Lorcana deck was announced:

A water-based theme...right after I started privately theorizing about a character showing up with an aquatic background? I was SHOOK. Was I actually onto something here?! Will Launchpad finally show up?

I wish I could say... 

I came across some speculation about the "dapper ducks" mentioned in the deck's promotional short story, was referring to more DT cards showing up. Scrooge does fit this description well, but not wanting to get my hopes up too high, I wondered if it was actually Donald and Daisy since their "Azurite" cards already revealed them to be pirates. I went to check every card reveals thus far and realized Mickey was a pirate captain. He's always depicted as the leader in his friend group, so I automatically assumed he was the one heading the ship, preventing Donald and Daisy from being the ducks in the story. 

Once I convinced myself that Scrooge was at least one of the ducks, I figured LP, Della or Donald was the second. As I was gathering up my sources for this blog post, I made another realization: Daisy was a pirate captain too! In addition to this, the ship featured in Mickey and Minnie's backgrounds don't share the same colors or features bows in the design. There were two crews after all! Putting Donald and Daisy back at being the most likely out of anyone else.

___________________________________________________

Even if this doesn't turn out to be the hint I was hoping for, I still have a good deal of hope left. Rescue Rangers and Big Hero 6 debuts have been getting a lot of focus for "Azurite", but the whole deck is supposed to have 204 cards! Maybe even a little over that! With this many, we can't completely rule out more DT17 ones! We'll just have to wait and see...👀

If it's still not this one, maybe we'll get to see him in Space; another fitting place for him.

I'll definitely make an update whenever he appears.

__________________________________________________________________________________

*•. ̧♥ ♥ ̧.•*'

-   -   -   ---   ---   ---    -   -   -

 ˜”*°• •°*”˜

c'mon azurite sea...do the thing with the thing please!