Della being in more Mickey and Friends productions?

[duckhuefan]

With Ducktales said to be ending next year, we know that while Donald, HDL, and Scrooge will still thrive in various Mickey and Friends media and Launchpad has the Darkwing reboot, the likes of Webby, Della, Beakley, Lena, Gyro, and more will be gone for a long time.

Now it's especially sad for Della since after all the effort the writers put in making her go from a once in a blue moon character in comics and a plot device for HDL to be with Donald to a legitimate fleshed out character. For Della to go back to being the former just feels so wrong, infuriating, and disappointing.

How much would you all beg for Della to be in more of the Mickey and Friends productions like Kingdom Hearts, Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse, and Mickey Mouse Mixed Up Adventures? 

And considering how they did include Max (from Goof Troop) in some of those productions in the 90s and 2000s like in House of Mouse, The Spirit of Mickey, and Mickey's Once/Twice Upon a Christmas, there's gotta be room for Della in the group too.

And Della's presence would provide some solid representation both for females (since the only other females in the group are Minnie, Daisy, and Clarabelle who generally are just Satellite Love Interests to Mickey, Donald, and Goofy/Horace (granted some shows do attempt and succeed in giving them more fleshed out personalities like House of Mouse and Mickey Mouse 2013 for Minnie, House of Mouse, Quack Pack, and Ducktales for Daisy, and House of Mouse for Clarabelle) so Della being the first female in the group that isn't just a designated satellite lover interest would provide a nice representation on that end) and amputees (she is an inspiration to amputees everywhere and imagine how those inspired by her would feel if she was never in anymore Mickey and Friends productions). And there is how popular and big Della's fanbase has gotten thanks to Ducktales so that's gotta be a motivation for Disney to give us more of her.

So, how amazing would it be to have Della included in the Mickey and Friends lineup and not go back to being a once in a blue moon character in comics and a plot device for HDL to be with Donald again? What personalities would y'all give her? Would you use any elements from Ducktales' take on her?

[djnyr]

I don't want to ever see this version of Della again. As I and others have pointed out over in the Ducktales 2017 thread, if she were to be taken seriously, she'd be a horrifying sociopath who caused incalculable damage to her family's lives, through sheer vainglory and selfishness. Even taken simply as a comic caricature, she's irritatingly shrill and utterly predictable in her attempts to be wackily unpredictable. 


However, even if Della were done well, she really does not belong in the Duck universe, since having Huey, Dewey, and Louie's mom be a regular character completely destroys the boys' quasi-familial dynamic with Donald, which has been basic to the triplets' characters ever since they debuted. I seldom agree with Rosa, but he's right about this--you can imagine that Della will return some day in the future, but she can't be present in the here-and-now. She can be in Tralla La (Rosa's idea), she can be in outer space (Matilda's godson's idea), or she can be working as an undercover agent along with her husband in their own series of spin-off detective/adventures (my own idea), but she can't be hanging out with Donald and the Nephews.

[duckman87]

Regardless of one's feelings for the latest depiction of Della, I think bringing her to future Disney medias is a troubled scenario, because her presence not only messes with status quo, but recquires the story to address the circunstances under which she was separate from her sons. And I don't think that most shows would be able to handle that.
The major theories about Della's disappearance involve such issues as abandonment and death, which any production would have a hard time handling. And even if she were alive and stranded from her sons for circumstances beyond her control, a la "80 jaar", bringing her back would push fans to demand for a solution. "If she is alive and cares for her boys, will she ever reunite with them? When? How is she and Donald gonna deal with that?" It's the kind of situation most productions would rather avoid.
Both Ducktales 2017 and "80 jaar" are unique examples in that they're self-contained enough that they could afford to address the mystery behind what happened to HD&L' mother and not have issues with the status quo. The former is an adaptation, separate from the status quo, and the latter was a special case, that involved meta jokes about the characters not ageing in the past decades and being self-aware that they were comics characters, among other oddities, not to mention giving it an end where Della's abscense is explained and it's given a bit of hope that she might return whitin a few decades considering the time loop (and considering that the characters don't age in that story, her sons will still be kids when she's back, so it's not too tragic).
Aside from that scenario, the only way I could see Della appear in a safe way would be in stories set during Donald's childhood and youth, long before the triplets are a thing. Though even then that'd push its audience to make questions about her whereabouts in the presents and the reason she's not there for the triplets.

[Matilda]

Dec 25, 2020 18:23:00 GMT duckman87 said:

 
Aside from that scenario, the only way I could see Della appear in a safe way would be in stories set during Donald's childhood and youth, long before the triplets are a thing. Though even then that'd push its audience to make questions about her whereabouts in the presents and the reason she's not there for the triplets.

I agree with your analysis overall, and I appreciate your explanation of how both DT 17 and 80 jaar managed to include Della only because they are special cases.

I do think it's possible to have stories which show Della and Donald in their youth without raising any more urgent questions about her whereabouts in the comics-present than those we all already have. Geradts' one-pagers depicting them in childhood are fine. The DT 17 Della I personally enjoyed was in Cavalieri's "Old Monteplumage Had a Chicken." Those Della comics stories suffered greatly from being published right next to each other, with two similar stories in one comic. This made certain shared irritating features stand out to the reader. But I like "Monteplumage" by itself, and I think it would be possible for there to be more stories set in the pre-HDL times.

I appreciate duckhuefan's wish to have a continuing female character in the central "Mickey & friends" cast who is not a Satellite Love Interest. I sadly agree with the others that Della's not a good candidate for that, for the reasons they lay out. She can't really be around in the (fictional) present.

[That Duckfan]

Plus, if we're talking about "Mickey and Friends", I don't think another member of the Duck family is going to help much. We've always got Donald and Daisy, with the occasional appearances by Scrooge and the nephews. Add to that the fact she's fairly new, whereas the others have been around for decades, is a surefire ticket to Mary Sue-ville.

I agree that Mickey and company could use some diversification, but this isn't how I'd go about it. How about a bird of different feather? I'm thinking more along the lines of a sister for Panchito or José, for instance.

[bats]

Or you know... Dickie, who was pretty much created for this purpose to begin with.

[The KKM]

Saddled with the name "Dickie", is fairly unuseable lol. I'd go with Eurasia Toft myself.

[aldwayne]

Della only really works as an adult rather than child in the wider Disneyverse if she's openly shown as HDL's mother with Donald absent. HDL depend on only really having one reliable parent/parental figure be it not just Donald but Scrooge or Daisy.

[alquackskey]

I think that it's important to ask what exactly it would entail for her to be in more Mickey & Friends media.

Like, of the three examples you give, only one really has any chance at having mainstream appeal, to my knowledge.

You have the Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse; it's not quite the biggest show out there, but it's at least decently well-known, to my knowledge.
Then you have Mixed-Up Adventures - as far as I'm aware, that's aimed specifically at a younger audience, isn't it? I never really paid it much mind, but I assumed that it didn't really appeal to a general audience in the way that other cartoons do. Feel free to correct me on that, though.
Finally, you have Kingdom Hearts. It's a video game series, it's a crossover with Final Fantasy and newer entries aren't very accessible to an audience that hasn't played the previous ones - it's not infeasible, but I don't know if she'd really be able to make much of a splash there.

When I think of characters in the Mickey & Friends cast, I tend to view it in three categories:
1. Core characters - Characters that everyone knows. They're pretty much always present to some degree. These ones, of course, being Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Minnie, Daisy, Pluto and Pete.
2. Major characters - They're also fairly well-known, but they can be absent from a few things and not be missed too heavily outside of their fans. Characters like Chip and Dale, Uncle Scrooge, Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar, Huey, Dewey and Louie... and maybe Max (He's in a strange spot, I'll come back to him).
3. Recurring characters - Characters that most would at least recognize if they watched Disney works now and then. They mightn't necessarily be known by name, but people would have a general idea of who they are. Characters like Ludwig Von Drake, Morty and Ferdie, Willie the Giant, Mortimer Mouse, Panchito, José and maybe villains like the Phantom Blot.

It's hard to know which specific category Max belongs in. These days, I'd almost wonder if he's shifting towards Recurring; as duckhuefan mentioned, he was extremely prominent in the 90s and 2000s... but what has he been in lately? He certainly has a place in the crew, and he has a sizable fanbase, but he's not really there to any significant degree in modern works, from what I can see.

I suppose my main question is how you'd actually go about making her a real member of the cast?

The idea is to stop her from being a 'once in a blue moon' character, but... in all honesty, that's a term that you could apply to a lot of the Mickey & Friends crew.
Maybe I just haven't been paying enough attention, but there's not really much going on that she could be included in.
Out of the examples you've included (Again, only going by my admittedly limited knowledge of the cartoons), both cartoons seem like they wouldn't have much room for her outside of being a guest appearance here and there, and Kingdom Hearts wouldn't really have much mainstream appeal anyway.

I don't know how clear that was, but I'm mainly just wondering how she really could be given much prominence with what Disney currently has going on.

[That Duckfan]

Speaking of Kingdom Hearts, the one character Della reminds me of the most is Oswald. Another character who was lost for eighty years, brought back with much fanfare, but left in a strange spot due to their relation with the other characters. They were initially undeveloped, in fact, Disney grew up around their absence. They're not easy to recontexualize nearly a century later.

I take serious issue with Della being a space pilot as being the explanation for her disappearance. Not only does it sound like the plot of sitcom way past its expiration date, it also doesn't make any sense in the context in which she was introduced. Yes, I know Donald went to Mars in that one Italian story, but meanwhile in the real world, spaceflight was impossible in 1937.

[aldwayne]

DT17 tried to work around that last point by implying that space travel technology is far less advanced than in our world.

[juicymcduck]

No matter how sad this may sound, it's always been obvious to me that Della and her husband (whoever he may be!) abandoned not only their children, but their whole family. Now, of course, we must remember that the triplets actually sent their father to the hospital by setting a cracker under his chair. It was always supposed to be comical, I suppose, but it always rang horrific to me, even as a child.

[arandomguy]

Dec 26, 2020 22:23:35 GMT juicymcduck said:

No matter how sad this may sound, it's always been obvious to me that Della and her husband (whoever he may be!) abandoned not only their children, but their whole family. Now, of course, we must remember that the triplets actually sent their father to the hospital by setting a cracker under his chair. It was always supposed to be comical, I suppose, but it always rang horrific to me, even as a child.

I recall one early Barks story involving a Professor Pulpheart that the nephews also set off firecrackers under Donald and the professor's chair without much consequences for Donald and the professor, so maybe the dad is just weak

[That Duckfan]

Dec 26, 2020 22:23:35 GMT juicymcduck said:

No matter how sad this may sound, it's always been obvious to me that Della and her husband (whoever he may be!) abandoned not only their children, but their whole family. Now, of course, we must remember that the triplets actually sent their father to the hospital by setting a cracker under his chair. It was always supposed to be comical, I suppose, but it always rang horrific to me, even as a child.

Child protection services may have been involved, if you want to go that route. Donald and Della didn't have the best role models themselves, given the heriditary fits of anger. That said, whatever you think of Donald's skills, he's a pretty great parent who managed to turn those three little hellraisers into Junior Woodchucks. Raising three kids on his salary, color me impressed.

[juicymcduck]

Dec 27, 2020 14:44:05 GMT That Duckfan said:

Dec 26, 2020 22:23:35 GMT juicymcduck said:

No matter how sad this may sound, it's always been obvious to me that Della and her husband (whoever he may be!) abandoned not only their children, but their whole family. Now, of course, we must remember that the triplets actually sent their father to the hospital by setting a cracker under his chair. It was always supposed to be comical, I suppose, but it always rang horrific to me, even as a child.

Child protection services may have been involved, if you want to go that route. Donald and Della didn't have the best role models themselves, given the heriditary fits of anger. That said, whatever you think of Donald's skills, he's a pretty great parent who managed to turn those three little hellraisers into Junior Woodchucks. Raising three kids on his salary, color me impressed.

Putting his (admittedly numerous) flaws aside, my opinion of Donald's parenting skills is very high!