“ | Aw, phooey! | ” |
–Donald Duck's catchphrase |
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is one of the nine protagonists of DuckTales 2017. He was originally cast as a recurring character in DuckTales 1987. He is the nephew of Scrooge McDuck, uncle of Huey, Dewey, and Louie Duck, and the older twin brother of Della Duck.
Personality
Donald Duck is a fiery, devoted, independent and caring duck, who has taken responsibility for his sister's kids as their guardian. Giving them love and protection as if they were his children, doing anything to protect them from danger.
Donald is extremely overprotective of his nephews, to the point where he feels uncomfortable leaving them alone. Before his nephews met Scrooge McDuck, Donald never let them venture far, keeping a close eye on them as they tend to sneak away; as seen in the comic "The Chilling Secret of the Lighthouse!"
Yet once when he realized how capable they were during their first adventure with their great-uncle Scrooge McDuck in the pilot episode, Donald gives them the freedom to have adventures with Scrooge, although originally on birthdays or federal holidays until his houseboat exploded because of Dewey.
Donald has altruism and compassion for his family as well as other people, often answering requests to lend a hand. Even if either party may have treated him poorly in the past. Such as when he allowed Flintheart Glomgold's henchmen access to the submarine while Atlantis was falling apart. He does the same thing in The House of the Lucky Gander! where he tries to help his cousin Gladstone, even though he despises Gladstone's smug luck and lax behavior.
Donald is honest, straight-forward, aggressive, short-tempered, as when something is unfair or has angered him, he is the one to express his opinion on it in the loudest way possible. He doesn't hold back to express his fury and love, often resorting to temper tantrums as an outlet. This has gotten him into trouble, as his anger almost always leads to a chaotic rampage of quacking and a chain of comedic destruction. However, this can be used against his enemies. This is well displayed in Daytrip of Doom!, where Donald single-handedly took on two of the Beagle Boys (one being the significantly larger Bouncer) out of sheer rage for the kidnappers ransoming his boys.
He can also be quite stubborn, holding a high value to his independence and his desires. In the Daytrip of Doom!, Donald's attitude towards Mrs. Beakley in regards to her house rules is dismissive, to say the least, as he openly opposes her for any form of assistance. This self-proclaimed competition is immediately ignored, however, after finding the ransom note tied to a brick.
Although mostly well-meaning, Donald can prove to be unpredictable, as well as a "financial risk," as put by Huey in Who is Gizmoduck?! His explosive temper can be set off in moments of frustration, impatience, and typically when nothing goes his way.
This is likely due to his outstandingly terrible luck. In The House of the Lucky Gander! it was stated by Louie that Donald was "the unluckiest duck in the world." Donald's luck has been shown to extend to various levels of unfortunate circumstances, including physical injury, property damage, vocal misunderstandings, misplaced respect from others, unintended massive responsibilities, and a bittersweet lack of previous interests.
Even though his misfortunes set him up for failure, Louie states the best thing about Donald is that he never gives up. Persistent, devoted and stubborn, Donald's misadventures make him a survivor, a quality his nephews' respect. Webby even went as far as describing him as a daring hero in Woo-oo!.
Through all of Donald's emotional tendency of affection, protectiveness, and fury, Donald has shown to be insecure, as nothing comes easy for him. The opinion of others can sometimes drag him into being depressed. This is well shown in The House of the Lucky Gander!, where Donald's bad luck brings him down while his cousin Gladstone's good luck gives him everything, causing Donald to feel like a loser. Donald is discouraged further when his nephews favor Gladstone and Scrooge more than him, making him feeling hurt and belittled. This, however, has been known to change throughout the series. As seen in The Shadow War!, when asked by Webby to say one nice thing about a relative, the nephews prefer to only say nice things about Donald since after hearing about the story of what happened to their mother, they begin to appreciate how devoted he is to his family. As well as the reasoning as to why Donald has always been so overprotective of them in their lives. This cheers Donald up very much, knowing his nephews meant every word and allowing him to feel achieved as a guardian to them for all these years. And when Donald's confidence shows, he shows signs of great leadership and initiative, as seen in The Shadow War! when Donald takes charge of saving Scrooge.
Despite his negative traits, Donald's positivity, loyalty, and perseverance shine when he gives his all for the ones he loves.
History
- Main article: Donald Duck (2017)/Biography
Physical Appearance
Donald Duck is a white anthropomorphic duck with a yellow-ochre bill, legs, and feet. He usually wears a sleek black sailor shirt that has four golden buttons and white accents with a white sailor cap that has black accents to match. He originally used to wear a blue sailor uniform, but it can be seen being worn by Donald in some episodes, such as Quack Pack! and Woo-oo!. As shown in "The Town Where Everyone Was Nice!", Donald's cap is a makeshift accordion. When he was a tweenager, he wore a black t-shirt with a yellow emoji and over it, a dark blue Jacket with a checkered pattern
Skills and Abilities
“ | "You never had the common sense to give up before, why start now?" | ” |
–Louie to Donald |
- Experienced adventurer: Donald has and continues to travel numerous globetrotting adventures along side his family ever since he was a kid. As seen during stories like "The Frightful Family Fishing Trip!", Donald is proven to have gained tactful experience over the years as an adventurer, ranging from puzzle solving to taking down villains as he continuously learned from both Scrooge and his past mistakes.
- Skilled hand-to-hand combatant: Donald has shown to have competent fight skills when alongside his family for an adventure. Notably, he's proven to be the most dangerous fighter of the family when angered, his berserker approach can disorient more skilled opponents, making him hard to defend against or predict. [2] He is also fast and strong as shown in episodes like "The Shadow War!", "The House of the Lucky Gander!", "The Most Dangerous Game...Night!", "What Ever Happened to Donald Duck?!", "Quack Pack!", "Louie's Eleven!" and "Daytrip of Doom!" His most infamous hand-to-hand combat skills were displayed during his showdown with Lunaris, where he almost defeated him, a feat not even his Uncle Scrooge could do.
- Leadership: When he's confident and determined, Donald shows signs of great leadership and intuition, as in "The Shadow War!", to the point that it even shocks and impresses Beakley enough to follow his lead.
- Superhuman Leaping: "The House of the Lucky Gander!"
- Navigation:
- Dynamic Speed and Strength: During times when Donald gets angry, his abilities switch into high-gear. He becomes stronger, faster, and way more determined when his family (more specifically his nephews) are in danger, and with his compromise and he becomes bolder in saving those who are important to him. He displays this when he was single-handedly pounding both Bouncer and Burger Beagle in "Daytrip of Doom!" to save his nephews, impressing even Bentina Beakley before she joined in the fight. This is also shown when he fought Lunaris in "What Ever Happened to Donald Duck?!" after the alien threatened to kill his kids and his anger allowed him to move so fast he caught Lunaris off-guard, fighting on par with the Moonlander (something which even Scrooge couldn't do on his own) for a short time and delivered strong and powerful blows to the alien that he was initially struggling against.
- Resilience: Due to Donald's bad luck, he can often get injured in the mishap but stand back up. This is shown on many occasions but the most impressive was in "What Ever Happened to Donald Duck?!" where he endured the rocket trip back to Earth even though it was unstable and he was unprepared.
- Carpentry: After numerous occasions of Donald's houseboat getting destroyed, he is shown to have somewhat of a carpentry skill due to the numerous times he's managed to return his boat back to its original state.
- Guitar: Although he lacks in vocals among his peers (excluding Daisy), he is shown to have experience with playing the guitar after having done a few performances with his Three Caballeros group, as well as playing it in front of his girlfriend Daisy.
Relationships
- Main article: Donald Duck (2017)/Relationships
Appearances
Shorts
Season 1 (48%)
- 1. Woo-oo!
- 2. Daytrip of Doom!
- 6. The House of the Lucky Gander!
- 10. The Spear of Selene!
- 13. McMystery at McDuck McManor! (cameo)
- 14. Jaw$!
- 17. From the Confidential Casefiles of Agent 22! (cameo)
- 18. Who is Gizmoduck?!
- 21. The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck! (cameo in flashbacks from the Sphere)
- 22. The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!
- 23. The Shadow War!
Season 2 (42%)
- 1. The Most Dangerous Game...Night!
- 2. The Depths of Cousin Fethry!
- 4. The Town Where Everyone Was Nice!
- 5. Storkules in Duckburg!
- 6. Last Christmas! (both present-day and younger incarnations)
- 10. The 87 Cent Solution!
- 11. The Golden Spear!
- 12. Nothing Can Stop Della Duck!
- 17. What Ever Happened to Donald Duck?!
- 24. Moonvasion!
Season 3 (45%)
- 1. Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks!
- 2. Quack Pack!
- 4. The Lost Harp of Mervana!
- 5. Louie's Eleven!
- 10. The Trickening!
- 13. Escape from the Impossibin!
- 15. New Gods on the Block!
- 16. The First Adventure!
- 18. How Santa Stole Christmas!
- 22. The Last Adventure!
Comics
- Big Trouble at Little Lake!
- The Repeating Revenge of the Screaming Duck!
- The Chilling Secret of the Lighthouse!
- The Great Experiment of the Washing Machine!
- A Viking at My Door!
- Old Monteplumage Had a Chicken!
- Cheating Like Nostradogmus!
- Beware of the Phenomenal Pumpkin People!
- A Series of Unfortunate Substitutions!
- Go, Go Golden Years!
- Happy, Happy Valley!
- The Giant Butterfly of Duckburg!
- The Frightful Family Fishing Trip!
- The Risk McDuck Refused!
- The Twisted Tale of the Two-Headed Horse!
- The Hedge Enigma!
- When Luck Ran Out!
- Nightmare on Bear Mountain!
- The Mighty Ducks of Duckburg!
- Marooned in Mystery Mansion!
- Flintheart... McDuck?!?
- Silence Is Golden!
Quotes
“ | Aw, Phooey! | ” |
–Donald Duck |
“ | "Donald Duck is one of the most daring adventurers of all time!" | ” |
–Webby Vanderquack about Donald Duck, Woo-oo! |
“ | "Like Uncle Donald says, family always helps family." | ” |
–Huey Duck, The House of the Lucky Gander! |
“ | "Come on, Uncle Donald. So you have to worst luck in the world, who cares? No matter how bad things get, like really, really bad, you keep going. It's kinda ridiculous. You never had the common sense to give up before; why start now?" | ” |
–Louie Duck, The House of the Lucky Gander! |
“ | I am the storm! | ” |
–Donald Duck, The Shadow War! |
“ | "Ducks Don't Back Down." | ” |
–Donald Duck, The Shadow War! |
“ | Let’s get quacking! | ” |
–Donald to Huey, Quack Pack! |
“ | Wow! Nice dress! | ” |
–Donald to Daisy, Louie's Eleven! |
“ | Wait. Boyfriend? Oh boy! | ” |
–Donald Duck, New Gods on the Block! |
“ | To adventure! | ” |
–Donald Duck, The Last Adventure! |
“ | Just like old times! | ” |
–Donald Duck, The Last Adventure! |
Videos
Gallery
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Trivia
- In the original series, Donald had a minor role because it was meant to revolve around his uncle and nephews. In the reboot of the series, he was given a bigger role.
- Despite final changes, Donald was initially cast to be the protagonist. However, an edict from Disney forbade any Golden Age characters be cast as main.
- Donald Duck has appeared in the most Disney comics (along with Huey, Dewey, and Louie).
- Outside of Disney, Donald and his nephews are the 10th and 11th most published comic characters in the world respectively.
- Donald's outfit color scheme is similar to the one in comics created by Don Rosa. His hat is also similar to one he originally had in the classic shorts.
- In the pilot episode, "Woo-oo!", Donald's contemporary blue and yellow sailor shirt, including the red bowtie, briefly appear before being destroyed in Donald's efforts to prepare for a job interview. This outfit has been seen very few times since, for example, flashbacks as to what happened before Della's disappearance and the events of "Quack Pack!", not counting being seen in some pictures in some episodes. The blue sailor shirt later appears in "The Last Adventure!" as Della helps Donald packs for his bag adventure with Daisy. He later receives a black and white version of his sailor shirt and bowtie, a design calling back to the original Donald Duck comics, after being hired for a short time by Glomgold.
- In "The Spear of Selene!" Donald and his family were revealed to have made friends with the Greek Gods Storkules and Selene before the series and before Della's disappearance.
- In "The Most Dangerous Game...Night!" it's revealed that both Donald and Scrooge are experts at non-verbal communication due to thirty years of constantly trying to guess what Donald's saying.
- In "The Town Where Everyone Was Nice!" it's revealed that during Donald's college years, he used to enjoy spending his time with friends Panchito Pistoles and Jose Carioca. They also formed a band together known as The Three Caballeros, but most of the crowds disliked them due to their singing (particularly Donald's).
- As seen in "Last Christmas!" and "The First Adventure!," Donald used to have an emo hairstyle when he was still a pre-teen, as well as an obsession with writing songs with his electric guitar.
- Donald's confirmed birthday is June 9, the same day that The Wise Little Hen debuted (which Donald first appeared in animated format).
- Though his first on-screen debut was in 1934 in The Wise Little Hen, according to Disney historian, Michael Crawford, he first appeared in a 1931 story-book as a friend of Mickey.
- A recurring theme for Donald during Season 1 of this series is his inability to keep his boat together. In "Woo-oo!", his boat was destroyed due to Dewey keeping the engine running for too long. In Daytrip of Doom!, the boat suffered fire damage while setting up generators. In Jaw$!, the boathouse is further damaged by the confrontation with the money shark. In "The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!", even with Donald's confidence in the boat being nearly repaired, explosions from the boat can easily be seen in the background. In "The Shadow War!", his boat is destroyed once again when Beakley failed to stop the shadow monsters from tearing the boat apart, with it sinking into the water soon after.
- Donald and his sister Della are the first descendants of three major families; the Duck Family, Clan McDuck, and the Coot Family.
- Donald and his sister Della's parents have never been seen in person nor through flashback throughout the entire series, making it unclear when the two went to live with Scrooge before the Spear of Selene incident.
- Donald is one of three sensational six members to appear in DuckTales 2017, with the other two being Goofy and Daisy Duck.
- In the series, Donald and Daisy never met prior until Season 3, meaning the series acts as if they're meeting for the first time.
- Tony Anselmo, Donald's current voice actor for the series, is also the current voice for Donald in other media, excluding Mickey Mouse: Mixed-Up Adventures, where he was voiced by Daniel Ross.
- Donald's confirmed middle name is Fauntleroy.
- Pre-teen Donald's shirt is a reference to the band Nirvana
- Donald is the only other character, alongside Huey, to be present in every episode of This Duckburg Life, where he dictated the end credits.
References
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