Do you think any of the nephews has fairy godparents?

[Hector]

Let me explain myself. Yesterday, i watched an episode of 'Fairy Godparents', where it was
revealed (spoiler alert) that Timmy Turner, the main 10 year old character of the show,
made a wish for everybody (including himself) to stop ageing, so that he remains a kid
forever and never loses his godparents (it gets even freakier when, right after that, Timmy
reveals it's been 50 years since he made that wish!). I guess that the fact that nobody
in the city where Timmy lived ever noticed that the clock had stopped ticking was also
part of that wish.
Anyway, could one of the nephews have made a similar wish to some fairy godparent, hmm?
I know i'm trying to discover conspiracy theories once more, but that would be a great way
of explaining the vast number of adventures in Duckburg.
Actually, why don't you write such a story, Robb? It will be fun. It requires great abilities to
pull it off. Do you think you have what it takes?

[enemy1]

Uncle Scrooge is their real fairy godparent. He is rich enough to support all his family.

[Deleted]

Mar 19, 2018 4:49:00 GMT enemy1 said:

Uncle Scrooge is their real fairy godparent. He is rich enough to support all his family.

This is not going to happen

[RobbK1]

Mar 19, 2018 16:18:41 GMT @titusmcduck said:

Mar 19, 2018 4:49:00 GMT enemy1 said:

Uncle Scrooge is their real fairy godparent. He is rich enough to support all his family.

This is not going to happen

Uncle Scrooge has been bailing Donald out of his moneyless periods for many years, for the sake of The Nephews (so they wouldn't starve).  That is not to say that Scrooge is not taking unfair advantage of Donald when making him work hard for the pittance he pays him.

[Baar Baar Jinx]

Mar 20, 2018 1:58:37 GMT RobbK1 said:

Uncle Scrooge has been bailing Donald out of his moneyless periods for many years, for the sake of The Nephews (so they wouldn't starve). 

But is there really any evidence of this, in Barks' work or elsewhere in the comics? In any case, I never got the impression that Donald was ever so destitute that the nephews were in danger of going hungry.

[RobbK1]

Mar 20, 2018 2:57:47 GMT Baar Baar Jinx said:

Mar 20, 2018 1:58:37 GMT RobbK1 said:

Uncle Scrooge has been bailing Donald out of his moneyless periods for many years, for the sake of The Nephews (so they wouldn't starve). 

But is there really any evidence of this, in Barks' work or elsewhere in the comics? In any case, I never got the impression that Donald was ever so destitute that the nephews were in danger of going hungry.

Donald has never held a job for more than a few weeks, or a month or 2 in rare cases, other than his coin polishing job for Uncle Scrooge (earning slave wages, and often doing it to pay Scrooge back for previous loans.  He is almost always in financial trouble.  Often, when he has a great financial success in the middle of a story, he is broke again at the end.   So, it is reasonable to assume, that much of the time, Scrooge is needed to help keep Donald and The Nephews out of the street.

[Baar Baar Jinx]

Mar 21, 2018 0:32:39 GMT RobbK1 said:

So, it is reasonable to assume, that much of the time, Scrooge is needed to help keep Donald and The Nephews out of the street.

But surely there would be social safety nets (food stamps, etc.) that Donald could avail of to prevent such a scenario? I would imagine it would be more in keeping with Scrooge's character to point Donald in that direction than step up himself. 

[deb]

If Scrooge were supporting Donald and the boys financially, he would do so in a way that wouldn't be obvious. So perhaps his coin polishing jobs and treasure hunts/business trips are his subtle way of helping Donald out when he's between jobs, but he doesn't want them to think so, else they'd think he was a sentimental old fool, which is not the way he wants to be seen. Just my two cents.

[RobbK1]

Mar 21, 2018 0:59:37 GMT Baar Baar Jinx said:

Mar 21, 2018 0:32:39 GMT RobbK1 said:

So, it is reasonable to assume, that much of the time, Scrooge is needed to help keep Donald and The Nephews out of the street.

But surely there would be social safety nets (food stamps, etc.) that Donald could avail of to prevent such a scenario? I would imagine it would be more in keeping with Scrooge's character to point Donald in that direction than step up himself. 

I don't think that Disney wants its young readers to dwell on the idea that there are enough people in society that don't earn enough money to have a decent roof over their heads, decent clothes to wear, enough healthy food to eat, and the like.  Their decision makers want their entertainment to be lighthearted escapism.  So, the idea of "charity" has to be vague and just a general concept, thrown out in conversation by Scrooge only as something to which he must avoid contributing, and as a vague generality that others should seek instead of asking HIM for money.  But, they don't want child readers to think deeply about how very much need there is in society that must be served by state run service agencies.  Furthermore, Scrooge cruelly uses Donald's helplessness in being able to provide for himself and his young nephews as a way to bully and abuse him as a means to use him (and his nephews) as an often-used source of cheap labour.  That is one of his most important characteristics invented and employed by Barks (and emulated by other creators, including myself).  I am positive that my editors would disallow any attempt by me to mention or show any public welfare service.  That smacks of politics (which is a NO-NO).  

[crazycatlord]

Some stories make clear that Donald owes MUCH money to Uncle Scrooge (but we never see US loaning money to him...); perhaps this is the explanation (or then he is still in debt by the money he lost in "Billions to Sneeze At").

[Baar Baar Jinx]

Mar 21, 2018 2:53:51 GMT deb said:

If Scrooge were supporting Donald and the boys financially, he would do so in a way that wouldn't be obvious. So perhaps his coin polishing jobs and treasure hunts/business trips are his subtle way of helping Donald out when he's between jobs, but he doesn't want them to think so, else they'd think he was a sentimental old fool, which is not the way he wants to be seen. Just my two cents.

This explanation makes the most sense to me. I've always felt that giving Donald low-paying, tedious, menial jobs like coin-polishing or janitorial work was as far as Scrooge would allow himself to go in acknowledging that Donald was his relative and wasn't the best off financially, especially with three additional mouths to feed. However, the idea that Donald is massively in debt to Scrooge ... and that every time Donald is dragged off to risk his life on one of Scrooge's treasure-seeking adventures, he is forced to do so to pay off that enormous debt ...  takes Scrooge out of the "uncaring" realm and firmly into "heartless evil vulture capitalist" territory.

As for not wanting to depict social safety nets and state-run welfare programs in Disney comics, I understand the concept of Disney wanting a simplistic approach, but one thing about Barks' work was that he, at least part of the time, was writing for adults (not to the extent that Rosa did, of course), so some elements of politics and social commentary did creep in; "Financial Fable" and the aforementioned "Billions to Sneeze At" would be prime examples. But we have a separate thread for that discussion.    

[Hector]

Wow, guys. 9 answers on this thread, not even one was on topic.