One Little Cave Duck, So Many Threads

In "Timephoon!", Dewey and Webby came up with a very interesting theory to explain how Bubba made it to the mansion, that I continue to think back about. Even more now than usual...

“Oo! Maybe he was frozen in an iceberg–”

“And the iceberg melted, and he was washed ashore with the storm!”

I had previously discussed in my latest essay installment about how Bubba's story, and 

other aspects of the episode, could be expressing hidden information about HDL's Father:

Bubba is a pre-existing red-haired character who became related to the McDuck family in the reboot. After getting hit with a blast of light (something that has happened to LP THREE TIMES!), he was brought back to the mansion with a powerful vehicle, during an unusual, cloudy weather pattern. He was found by someone who was warned not to go outside at such a dangerous time and was initially thought to be dead. 

He wasn't expected to be smart or someone highly important, and he doesn't quite match his history in multiple ways. The idea of Bubba being frozen in an iceberg was further emphasized with Scrooge's own experience, Rockerduck was revealed to be frozen at the end of "Moonvasion!", there was a mention of a freezing ray in "Crash Twice", and all of this feels reminiscent of Launchpad's fear of Ice Fever in "Neverrest", so...it's incredibly hard for me to believe there wasn't a deeper meaning behind this.

Further into my essay installment, I also talked about how "Richest Duck" could intersect with 

the theory made on Bubba and point towards Launchpad being the father:

Louie was placed as the rich head of a company without earning it. He and his team traveled to a mysterious, misty island in a green vehicle that Launchpad landed without crashing. (Just like "Gander", the first episode to bring up LP's secret ex adventures.) Scrooge had this location pulled from maps, making it similar to the mythical island of Ithaquack. (The place that Dewey and Webby made Launchpad crash-land on during a storm so they could find out more about Della...and where the other kids found out about Donald having a best friend he's never talked to them about, on that island...who shares similarities with Launchpad.)

LP's observance and ability to withstand pain, were on display as they explored this uncharted territory. A monstrous threat was freed from their containment and constantly chased after Louie. An explosion was thought to have killed off the threat, but it was still alive. The threat hitched a ride as the group escaped and damaged the flying machine to close in on Louie. In an attempt to get rid of the threat, both characters fell out into the sea below. Before Louie fell out, he missed the grasp of someone trying to save him and the word "no" is repeated multiple times; like Della's reaction to crashing on the Moon. 

It was the custom-made ottoman that caused Louie to fall out, which makes me think of Ottoman Empire, and how it seems to have a...strangely consistent connection to the Spear of Selene...I think this topic is worthy of its own compilation post in the future.

The way Louie was carried to shore on top of the ottoman, could represent the iceberg Dad was frozen in. Both would be solid objects that floated to land and eventually brought each passenger back home. The crescent moon island in "Nightmare" (as well as the one Donald was later found on) made me wonder if Dad had ended up on an island after being frozen. The music that played in the background as Louie dialed the emojis on his phone, was accompanied with what sounded a lot like a disoriented version of Launchpad's theme and a form of memory loss.

After arriving back to Duckburg, Louie soon found out that the monstrous threat had also survived the fall. He continued to chase the duck until he was stopped in an unexpected way...in this case, with humility. Knowing this makes me wonder how the supposed monster in Dad's case would be defeated if they're still after Launchpad...Does he have to confess something? Or discover a realization like Della did with the mite? If there are similarities between Della and the Moon mite, could there be some between Dad and the monster? Did the monster go missing from their family? Think they weren't good enough? Were they blamed for something that wasn't entirely their fault? King Honestus in "Mervana" comes to mind when I consider this...and a plot for an IDW comic that was possibly building off of the ideas of Launchpad going through a significant change as well as having some kind of double life. 

Louie's struggle with The Bombie can be compared to what LP believed he was facing in "Trickening":

Because of a past misunderstanding, he thought he had unleashed a curse too. He was convinced that the consequences of his actions would continue to plague the town every year. When things start to get worse, he decides to go back "to where it all began" in order to put an end to the whole thing...sounds a bit like Webby's theory about Della provoking the wrath of the gods in "Selene"...it also sounds like the Terra-firmian prophecy of The Lost Prince.

The Hazel House toy room had decorations of an evil entity placed next to a plane. The two objects were shown hanging from the ceiling; surrounded in darkness, with the box of a toy rocket not too far away...there was a heavy focus on the Moon that included a partly cloudy scene where Launchpad expressed guilt over "this whole night" being his fault...

There was also an overwhelming amount of green and purple throughout the episode. I'm sure it was mainly to help give off an eerie tone, but these colors are normally pretty important. One is often associated with Louie and sometimes with Launchpad. (And Glomgold.) The other is LP's favorite color, obviously due to him being a fan of Darkwing Duck. Shades of this color, and blue, were present in the storm clouds...

Season 3 had a few other purple, cloudy formations worth paying attention to: 

Red Feather, from the "Double-O Duck" spy game, caused Launchpad and Dewey to lose when her device emitted a cloud of purple smoke. This brought up a "YOU DIED" screen and after LP gasped for air, he makes a statement about how the game felt "a little too real"...like he had a previous experience close to this where he died in some way, literally or figuratively, and was later brought back to life as a different looking person. 

In "Quack Pack", visuals of purple clouds were shown during a scene where the family tried to remember what happened in the past and were linked with Gene's magical abilities. Towards the end of the episode, the clouds form a circular path to the Moon...not long after this, Launchpad silently reacts to someone's father being present "this whole time"...

In "Dangerous", smoke bombs were thrown, and electricity was shown during a time where a dimensional portal machine, was activated. Bulba got struck by a stray bolt and when Launchpad steps in to prevent him from hurting Gosalyn, it vaguely resembles the decorations in the Hazel House toy room.

To bring things back to my main point:

I was recently reminded that there was a Broken Karaoke short that actually did have Launchpad frozen in an iceberg!

There was also a giant snake present...a long-bodied creature that sorta 

bears resemblance to the evil creature in the Hazel House toy room.

The way the video thumbnail is set up even makes it seem like LP's reacting to the giant snake!

I have no idea who wrote this short, but it's certainly not impossible for it to be a writer from the show or someone else who was let in about additional information on LP's character, who decided to incorporate that notion.

And lastly, the biggest driving force for creating this post, was Launchpad's menorah sweater. It's the same exact one he was wearing in "Last Christmas". This indicates that Christmas took place somewhere within the eight-day duration of Hanukkah. Which would mean that two important events were happening at the same time! Just like how there was a dangerously impactful rescue in the storm, during the week of HDL's hatching! If the storm was part of some kind of prophecy, then there's a possibility that it's reoccurring, like the Papian one with Atlantis or the mists parting the way to Castle McDuck! (It also aligns with the suggestion that Della and Dad were headed in opposite directions in the storm.)

 I had already picked up on part of this because of other celebrations in the show sharing things in common with the Spear of Selene incident, but I've never realized just how deep and intentional this could be! When you combine the timeframe of Christmas and Hanukkah together, you get themes of miracles, birth, family, and gift-giving. As I've stated before, Della was always family focused. When it came to the Spear, she wanted her family to join her in it and purposely put herself in danger for the sake of her kids. She had her family photo copy with her as she was designing the blueprints and had it placed ahead of her on the dashboard, in front of the rocket's "LAUNCH" light. 

The kids found her blueprints on the back of a riddle to find something that was missing...In "Trickening", Della wanted to gift the trick-or-treaters, the kids, the gift of a memorable holiday, involving Launchpad...During one of her transmissions from the Moon, Della wanted to give HDL the gift of having their mother return for their birthday...In the case of The Spear, it's very possible that Della wanted to bring their missing father back home for their birthday. And if this theory is true, then yeah, it was VERY miraculous that Della was able to fly in at the perfect time to complete her mission, without even realizing it AND that anyone survived something so devastating.

When I was thinking about putting this post together, I wasn't planning on making a short essay, but everything feels so connected to each other in this show... it's hard not to think of one thing that happened, that makes you think about something else. The way DuckTales is structured to tell a much bigger story, makes me appreciate the show even more. It's always fun to look back and discover that even something as small and insignificant seeming like Bubba, has the ability to lead into a serious domino effect of helpful realizations. 🧵

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DUCKTALES YOU ARE NOT BEATING THE "PLAN A WAS DELPAD" ALLEGATIONS!!

if the circuit is hinting towards della and dad being in a storm tied to a portal...

could the key shape be hinting towards the monster?

keys don't normally look like that...