The Theory Basis

1) Launchpad and the father of the triplets are the same person.

This could potentially explain things like…

• Why Della originally wanted to name Huey and Dewey, “Jet” and “Turbo”. 

• Launchpad is known as "Jet McQuack" in the Italian version of DuckTales and "Turbo McKwek" in the Dutch version

• Why Dewey overemphasized the name he could have had

• Why LP was the first outside of the usual family circle to have a photo on the wall of Donald’s Houseboat while others weren’t added until much later

• Why there was so much hesitancy when it came to elaborating on Launchpad’s mysterious past

• Why his side adventures always involved rekindling with an old love interest

2) The father went through an event that changed him into who we currently know him as. That event was the cosmic storm. He was possibly an astronaut or abductee exposed to the chemicals (and lightning) within the storm, causing his appearance to be altered and granting him special abilities.

This could potentially explain things like…

• Why Louie remarked about Launchpad possibly being immortal in “The Most Dangerous Game…Night!”

• Why he stands in front of an alien movie poster in “Terror of The Terra-firmians!”

• His overall behavior in the episode and why he was deathly afraid of (being possessed by) mole men

• Why he’s shown to have an immunity to snakes in “Woo-oo!”

• Why he claimed that “a little lightning never killed anyone” in “The Spear of Selene!”

• Why Launchpad didn’t drown after submerging himself  in “The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest!”

• Why Launchpad didn’t gasp for air in “Depths” when he arrived to the surface

• Why Launchpad was able to gasp for air in his soup without choking, after the air exited his body in “Friendship Hates Magic!”

• Why Launchpad’s photo in Donald’s houseboat looked drastically different from when it first appeared in “Storkules in Duckburg!”

3) Della’s idea of space travel was tied to a mystery she was trying to solve about the father’s disappearance. When she discovered he needed help in the Cosmic Storm, she took the Spear early in an attempt to save him, which led to her own disappearance.

        This could potentially explain things like…

• Why Della pressed forward instead of turning around

• Why Della would take such a risk even after knowing there was a chance she would miss HDL’s hatching

• Why Della didn’t thank Scrooge in her letter after taking off with the rocket

• Why she took the rocket in spite of knowing it would make the rest of her family upset

• Why the family photo Della took with her was placed in front of the “Launch” light

• Why Launchpad’s photo in Donald’s houseboat disappeared in the latter portion of “Storkules in Duckburg!” 

• Why the intended goals in “Last Crash”, the episode where we first find out what happened to Della, were to find a lost heirloom (a family treasure) and to go to a convention with the phrase “Fun for Dad!” on its flyer.

• Why we were presented with (the concept of) Dewey risking his life to chase after a missing piece of a photo in order to solve a mystery

• Why Launchpad’s secret adventures involved him helping his exes get out of dangerous situations

• Why Launchpad returned to the lighthouse holding a golden trident, which is basically a three-pronged spear, along with the color-coded creatures on his back

• Why Launchpad’s armor was riddled with arrows; small red-feathered spears

• Why it was implied that Ziyi and Oceanika went missing like Della did

•  Why Oceanika’s top and tail colors are similar to Della’s shirt and shorts

• Why Issue 18 of IDW’s DuckTales comics involved one of Launchpad’s exes traveling a great distance to save LP after she’s misinformed about him getting kidnapped and enslaved

• Why the ex featured in the comic shares a lot in common with Della

4) Launchpad doesn’t recognize Della because the experience with the storm gave him amnesia. He can’t remember what happened, and he can’t remember Della as a person, but somewhere deep in his subconscious, he remembers certain aspects. She can’t remember his name because he was under a different one when they met in the past.

        This could explain things like…

• Why Launchpad couldn’t remember if he had a pilot’s license or not

• Why Launchpad doesn’t express any prior knowledge of the Duck Twins despite them having a years long association with Scrooge

• Why Launchpad remembers something about dating a talking cloud of energy

• Why Launchpad considers Dewey, the triplet who resembles Della’s personally the most, to be his best friend

• Why he calls himself “Launchpad”; he might remember himself having something to do with Space

• Why he shared a lot of similar colors with Glomgold when his amnesia caused him to revert back into Duke Baloney

• Why Magica’s Shadow War was referred to as a “storm”

• Why Kit CloudKicker was made so similar to Launchpad in the reboot

5) If Launchpad is the father of the triplets, he was old enough to date Della.

• After Huey, Dewey and Louie hatched, Scrooge stopped talking to his family for ten years. "The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest!" was the first episode to take place on Christmas day. "Last Christmas!" is the second; indicating a year has passed since then. In "Last", the Weezer parody poster indicated that the year is no earlier than 1994. If Dewey went back in time to when Donald and Della were the same age as he was, the three of them were eleven years old.

• Launchpad's license says his birthdate is "September 18, 1987". The tricycle he was riding in the "Trickening" flashback is based on The Original Big Wheel. The age limit for this toy is eight years old and if Launchpad was this old in the flashback, the year would be 1995. If the flashback happened in the same year as the one Dewey time traveled to, Della and Launchpad are three years apart.

• There are many characters in the show who have ages that don't match up with their years of existence. For one reason or another, their aging process got put on hold. It’s been heavily hinted that Launchpad’s been through a lot of zany situations. This creates the possibly of his age being affected in the process.

• Webby & Dewey's theory on Bubba suggested that after the cosmic storm, LP was frozen in an iceberg for some time. 

• If Launchpad has amnesia, he could have gotten his own age wrong. 

• There could be a time travel portion to Launchpad's history due this element being very present in S2 and had him directly involved in one of these stories. 

            Either way, we have some element of LP’s current age not being quite what it seems.

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