Darkwing Duck (animation)/YMMV

• Alas, Poor Villain: In the 2011 Darkwing Annual, we discover Quackerjack enjoyed his work in Quackwerks Toy Department, at least at first. Eventually the pressure and paranoia started to get to him, and he...well, snapped. At the end of the comic, after a long and extremely strange battle between the old and new Mr. Banana Brain, he goes back to his girlfriend, Claire's, house. He looks longingly at the door for a while, then sighs, and pulls out a miniature version of the device he had been using, which turned people into toys. We see a flash from inside the house, and Claire rushes out to find a sad, little Quackerjack doll, with a little note leaning against it. It reads "This is the best I'll ever be. -Jacky"
• Angst? What Angst?: Gosalyn is quite chipper for a little kid whose granddad was murdered in the first episode.
  • Even weirder in issue #4 of the comic book when everyone confronts Taurus Bulba and she doesn't even mention her grandpa's death, only that Bulba kidnapped her for the code to his Ramrod machine. You'd think it might come up.
    • To be fair, she might not know as Taurus's goon did in her grandfather, and she might not know they were working for him.
• Complete Monster: Taurus Bulba, the show's Knight of Cerebus.
  • NegaDuck qualifies as well when he's in the mood. Despite much of his personality being played for laughs, he is still taken seriously by the other characters as the most dangerous of the recurring villains in St. Canard, putting him in this trope. In "Just Us Justice Ducks":

NegaDuck: Don't move! If I push this button, the electric wall will close in and destroy St. Canard!
The Justice Ducks: *GASP!*
NegaDuck: In fact, I think I'll just push it anyway!

• • And then there's the fact just finding out that Negaduck was the guardian of his universe's Gosalyn convinced Darkwing to stay and free his world. Speaks volumes as to how evil this guy is doesn't it?
• Crowning Moment of Awesome:

Taurus Bulba: Tell me, Darkwing, are you wiling to DIE for them?
Darkwing Duck: Gladly.

• Crowning Moment of Heartwarming:
  • "I have a better memory than most people think... and I know a hero when I see one."
  • "You were always my Superhero."
  • "Rest your head, little girl blue, come paint your dreams on your pillow. I'll be near to chase away fear, so sleep now and dream till tomorrow." (All of Darkwing and Gosalyn getting to know each other in the first story, really, but it's hard to call that a moment.)
  • There are a few good moments in Life, the Negaverse and Everything. When Darkwing realizes that the Good Gosalyn's ward is Negaduck, he decides to stay in the awful reality for her sake. And then at the end of the episode, after defeating Negaduck with the help of the Friendly Four (dressed in Darkwing Gear) and is about to head home, he asks if Gosalyn will be alright. Her response? "I have four Darkwings to take care of me now!" All while the good incarnations of his worst enemies merrily wave goodbye. Aaaaw.
• Crowning Music of Awesome: The theme song. You just try not to sing along to it.
  • It's even better in the instrumental version.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Bushroot. No, really.
  • This is probably because he was a legitimately nice guy before his accident, exudes Geeky Turn On like it's pollen, and while not the Butt Monkey Megavolt is, he tends to get chewed on a lot. Girls want to cuddle him and make it all better, poor guy.
  • Megavolt has a few followers; he was beaten badly in high school, constantly gets beat up, and has a personality that makes you feel somewhat sorry for the guy, when he's possibly committed murder.
• Ear Worm: The saxophone-driven theme song.
  • Also the songs from the episode "Paraducks".
• Ensemble Darkhorse: Megavolt was one of the most popular characters of the show. It's no wonder why he was in more episodes than any other villain.
  • Liquidator was far, far more popular than his episode count (one solo appearance) would suggest. Of course that's part of why he was selected for the Fearsome Five.
  • Darkwarrior Duck. When he appeared in the comics, people got really excited. And there're major hints that he'll has a main role in near future, which itself is something to gushing about.
  • Quackerjack in the comic, probably the most developed villain next to Nega-Duck.
• Evil Is Sexy: Morgana and Neptunia before their Heel Face Turn, and the Bugmaster a.k.a. news reporter Bianca Beakley.
• Foe Yay: In spades.
  • Yes, and mixing this trope with a Love Potion is a disturbing combination...
  • On a less 'mortal enemies' note, Darkwing and Grizlicoff have some of this.
  • Darkwing and Neptunia had some of this in her debut episode when she kisses him on the cheek at the end.
  • Also Darkwing and Isis "Icy" Vanderchill.
• Fridge Logic: That Splatter Pheonix wasn't very freaked out at being melted into a puddle by turpentine suggest she was aware that she's a cartoon character.
• Fridge Horror: The fact that Negaduck is the guardian of his universe's Gosalyn. In-universe as well, just considering that idea was more than enough to convince Darkwing to stay and free that world. It's honestly Fridge Horror imagining what Darkwing was thinking!
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The show was incredibly popular in 1990's Russia (thanks to, among other factors, a very creative dub), is still fondly remembered and subject to much Memetic Mutation.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: A comic has a Mr. Fantastic Captain Ersatz attempt to enforce a Super Registration Act. The Darkwing Duck comic came first.
  • In an early episode a passing joke is made where a now rich Darkwing has Incorporated himself to protect the city. Silly until recently when a back from the dead Batman decides to do the same thing!
• Ho Yay: DW and Launchpad. Search your feelings, you know it to be true.
  • Quackerjack and Megavolt too.
  • Liquidator and Bushroot, though not quite as common as Quackerjack and Megavolt.
• Jerkass Woobie: Because of his power to generate electricity from himself, Megavolt was sometimes considered less than human (er, less than a rat, or a mole, or....well, you get the idea). One comic story in the Disney Adventures magazine I remember recounted various criminal organizations trying to capture Megavolt and treating him as a slave. One of the gangsters even ominously told Megavolt that he planned on "converting his energy."
• Magnificent Bastard: Taurus Bulba...and how...
  • In his first apperance in the pilot, we see he's been operating his criminal ring from inside prison for some time, even using the license plate making area to turn part of the prison into an airship ready for his escape. He has his men kill Gosalyn's grandpa, making it look like an accident, finds Darkwing's secret hideout, and nearly kills both Gosalyn and Darkwing.
  • Believed to be killed in an explosion, he appears again in the third season, body badly damaged, and life saved by F.O.W.L. turning him into a cyborg. They hope he will become one of their chief agents...he thanks them for saving him by blowing up thier base, and proclaiming he works for no one. Later in this episode he takes Gosalyn hostage, and when D.W. offer to do whatever he wants in exchange for her freedom, Bulba laughs and says he doesn't know what he wants yet...just for the fun of watching Darkwing squirm.
  • His next (and last) canon appearence was in the new comics series, when his cyborg body had an accident and he took on a Ghost in the Machine persona, creating Quackwerks, and using the corporation to take over the city in under a year..why? For revenge? No...just so he could gather every citizen, get them to say every word they know until he came across the activation word for the Gizmoduck suit.

Gosalyn: "So Quackworks taking over St. Canard was just a ruse to..."
Darkwing: "..net Bulba the Gizmoduck suit. Just to show he could!! We've all been trapped in another man's game."

• Memetic Mutation: I am X, that Y (Ex.: "I am a can of tuna that has been expired!")
  • "Put out the Darkwing, put out the Darkwing!"
• Nightmare Fuel: Sometimes when SHUSH asked Darkwing to take over a case for them they showed him what happened to the guys they had who were looking into it before. Like once Darkwing asked what happened to their last agent and J. Gander replied by taking a can of cat food out of his desk drawer.
  • Actually, the cat food was just cat food. The other cat food can in Hooter's desk was the remains of their last agent.
  • Paddywhack. Monster Clown, feeds on negative emotions, beak filled with sharp teeth, evil beady eyes, spider-like limbs on a squat body, that deep scary voice... GAH!. He's the Darkwing-verse version of IT. Issue #7 brings him back. And now..Paddywhack is coming to supper!
  • Posey, the vampire potato and Bushroot's "bride".
  • Darkwarrior Duck.
• Older Than They Think: Gosalyn points out that Darkwing went to school with Megavolt by drawing glasses on a picture in a yearbook. To current viewers, this appears to be yet another of the series' nigh-uncountable Shout Outs, this one to Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, where Batman discovers one of The Joker's first aliases by drawing a smile on an old photograph. Except "Clash Reunion" aired November 14, 1992. Mask of the Phantasm was released Christmas Day... 1993.
• Ruined FOREVER: Many fans of the show have had this reaction to the Boom Studios comic.
• Too Good to Last
• Toy Ship: Some fans like to romantically pair off Gosalyn and Honker.
  • Alien criminal Wacko sarcastically calling Honker Gosalyn's boyfriend, with Gosalyn getting all angry and defensive and Honker smiling proudly and saying nothing to deny it, may have added somewhat...
  • Not to mention Gosalyn kissing Honker on the cheek when they are at the museum tracking down Stegmutt in "Jurassic Jumble".
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Dark Warrior Duck. If Gosalyn hadn't disappeared, he wouldn't have became a Knight Templar in the first place.
  • Slightly undercut by Quiverwing Darkwing, who also lost his Goslyn, and took up her Quiverwing Quack hero persona to honor her. He later beats Dark Warrior Duck.
• What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?: "Paint Misbehavin'". An anthropomorphic ferret befriends a man whose got a gloved hand for a head.
• The Woobie: Gosalyn, very effectively, in "Darkly Dawns the Duck", while she's still an orphan that feels unwanted. In later episodes she doesn't have that problem, and characterization in general is more shallow anyway.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Bushroot.