* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
** There are hints suggesting that Two might not hate One at all, but [[{{Yandere}} is rather obsessed with him]].
** Some think that Mary Ann Flaggstar, rather then being simply loyal to professor Fairfax due to her job, was actually in love with him. When she realized his true colors, especially his lie about a presumed "unique" pendant he entrusted to her, she wasn't just angry, she ''cried''.
* ArchivePanic: While not a very long series it can be hard to get it in full today, and ''New Era'' stories require knowledge of ''PKNA'' and ''[=PK2=]'' to be fully appreciated.
** Even in its native Italy, reprints have been spotty throughout the years. The first one in the [=mid-2000s=] was suspended after issue #21, while a later collection is missing issue #41 and several short stories, and each volume bundles three stories in random order (even one from ''[=PK2=]'' shoved in). After a temporary suspension PK Giant was finished by publishing double issues, followed by 9 double issues of ''[=PK2=]'', but even before then extra pages were not included anymore. Short of getting the original run, the most complete print to date is 2012's ''PK - Il Mito'' ("PK - The Myth"), released weekly in collaboration with some newspapers, which reprinted all three series by bundling three issues in each volume and in correct order, topped with several new extra pages.
** If you live outside of Italy you're even more out of luck, as the only localized editions that came to completion have been published in Denmark and in the Scandinavian countries.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt:
** Every issue drawn by Claudio Sciarrone. Lorenzo Pastrovicchio and Alesandro Barbucci are very appreciated by the fanbase, too. As for more recent issues, Roberto Vian's work on ''Danger Dome'' and ''Ur-Evron''.
** The covers are ''always'' gorgeous. Some standouts include ''Fragments of Autumn'' with its beautiful lighting, ''The Parts and the Whole'' with its amazing background, ''Beato Angelico'' with its dynamic scene and ''Memory Loss'' with its beautiful visual effects.
** While the style of the Evronian Emperor varies from directly menacing to cartoony depending on the artist, one of his cartoonier looks still makes great use of his MultipleHeadCase, with one head having a sadistic mocking expression, and the other one sarcastically crying.
* BaseBreakingCharacter: Being the first completely new important foe introduced in the ''New Era'', Moldrock is quite divisive among the fanbase. Some find him an interesting villain with an imposing, menacing figure, others consider his characterization inconsistent and his design [[Creator/RobLiefeld liefeldan]].
* BrokenBase: With the exception of the first New Era story, ''Might and Power'', pretty much everything from the 2014 relaunch onwards has been more or less divisive between fans.
** ''PK Universe''. Some readers were pleased to see their beloved PK characters interacting with the classic Paperinik and other classic Disney characters, others didn't like the excess jokes, the general LighterAndSofter fare (especially in the portrayal of Xadhoom) and how the opening storyline crammed too much in just 100 pages.
** Common criticisms of New Era stories include the little breathing space to develop plot threads fully due to the infrequent publication, lack of emotion in the reapperance of certain characters (especially [[spoiler:Xhadoom and One]]), and the ContinuityLockout.
** A poll to decide on the fate of [[spoiler:the Ducklair Tower]] near the end of PKNE #1 ''Might and Power'', with a few pages for every possible outcome drawn and ready for publication, saw the first option (save) prevail by a wide margin, until authors and staff started openly campaigning for the other choice (destroy), leading to a reversal by a narrow margin. Some fans have seen this as a great way to involve the readers, even drawing parallels with ''ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily'', others think it was a stunt to get some piloted approval over a possibly unpopular choice. At least the winning outcome has been used for interesting story developments.
** The jury's still out on whether another reprint of PKNA was really necessary, especially for those readers who'd rather like ''New Era'' stories published with more frequency.
** The storyline started by ''A New Hero'', which has marked the switch to issues made specifically for comic shops and bookstores, has been even more divisive for how slowly it developed: each issue is just 48 pages[[note]]for comparison, previous New Era stories were divided in three or four weekly parts of at least 30 pages each, meaning that you at least got a complete storyline every six months[[/note]] and the pandemic caused further delays, taking early 2022 to finish the six-issue storyline. And while the middle part is considered very solid after a weak start, the ending has been heavily criticized for [[spoiler:ending everything with time travel shenanigans that erase most of the events]], made worse by how the reviled ending of ''Pikappa'' used similar tropes.
* ContinuityLockout:
** A very rare example from Disney, connected only to a specific sub-continuity of the Junior Woodchucks (itself locked out from the rest) that is alluded to in "Xadhoom" and, later, ''ComicBook/DoubleDuck'' and a sub-series of spy stories (mentioned in passing by Paperinik during the crossover).
** The ''New Era'' stories can be hard to follow for who has come in contact with the franchise starting with ''Might and Power'' and the ''PK Giant'' reprints, on top of giving them massive spoilers for the original series. For example, whoever read ''The Mark of Moldrock'' at the time of first publication in May 2017 would be familiar with the returning [[spoiler:Trauma]], but completely baffled at the mentions of [[spoiler:Juniper and Corona]], especially with no confirmation that a reprint of ''[=PK2=]'' will follow the original series' reprint.
* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Trauma appeared only in one issue and he's the most popular villain of the series. [[spoiler:To the point PKNE brought him back as an ally.]]
** Gorthan is also quite popular for a character who had only a couple of appearances beside the issue dedicated to him. It may be for this reason that he was given a larger role in ''Pikappa''.
** Lyla Lay, the MsFanservice of the series.
* FanNickname: A new character introduced in ''Might and Power'' quickly gained one. [[spoiler:The Omega Chamber AI didn't have a name, so it was all too natural to call him "Three". Ironically, an AI with that name was conceived when PKNA was in the planning stages, so it may be an old idea recovered after almost 20 years. Other nicknames used by readers are "the Guardian" and "Omega".]] His own creator calls him "Sergio", which has gradually stuck with the fanbase. [[spoiler:After getting an android body ans taking the identity of Solomon Hicks, it's more natural to call him by that name.]]
* FoeYayShipping:
** Paperinik and the Raider. Paperinik literally cries over [[spoiler:the Raider's death]], and the Raider asks him to explain it to his son. PKNE #1 ''Might and Power'' has even a scene playing humorously on this: when the Raider tries to make PK notice the Moon ([[spoiler:or rather the lack of it, since Earth has become a Worldship in the BadFuture]]), PK replies "Watch it! If you're trying to be romantic, you've picked the wrong time and the wrong duck..."
** Moldrock seems to be extremely fond of PK. Even in cases where PK betrays his trust, even when so angry he could annihilate him with no effort, Moldrock is always willing to let PK go and then try and get him to his side again. In fact, Moldrock's reaction when Paperinik first tricked him really screamed "person who was cheated on by a lover".
--->'''Moldrock:''' " We... we tried trusting you! But you are just like Everett. Just like ''everybody else''!"
* FridgeHorror: Corona's state as of the present in ''[=PK2=]''. Every single member of the parliament is implied to be just as emotionally stunted as [[spoiler:Korinna and Juniper, with no more maturity. All they have is more information, which we saw that the two used in vicious way. A new evil empire in the making?]] And the way the parliament members are raised is plain out child abuse. [[spoiler:It's all come to a head by the time of PKNE, as #5 reveals Juniper has managed to become queen in the interim, making the situation on the planet even crappier.]]
* GeniusBonus:
** In PKNA #39, One creates a fake identity for Paperinik, as a professor of ''[[http://www.themodernword.com/eco/eco_humanitas90.html mechanical avunculogratulation]]'', an idea he got from one of his [[Literature/FoucaultsPendulum favourite books]].
** In #46 we found more about Xado's experiment, the one that gave her the power of a star. It's referred to as "[[PhilosophersStone The Great Work]]". It even has the four colored stages!
** Until he gets a translation unit Q'Wynkennon, Neopard's robotic sidekick, is apparently TheUnintelligible. If you are from the Lumbardy region of Italy, however, you may recognize a disguised regional dialect.
** The vocal directive used to deactivate Two involves the deletion of something named "ehmet". If you know Jewish folklore, that's the word that gave life to the Golem; and its partial deletion to "met" resulted in the Golem's death.
* GrowingTheBeard: PKNA #3 "The Day Of The Cold Sun" is generally considered the first issue where the series really showed what it was capable of.
* HarsherInHindsight: Remember all those [[SlaveMooks Coolflames]] Xadhoom killed alongside the Evronians? [[spoiler:We later learn that the few remaining Xerbians have found a way to return them to normal.]]
* HilariousInHindsight
** The Evronians are established to be able to absorb energy from the emotions of sentient beings. As of 2005, the ComicBook/GreenLantern comic book has the emotional spectrum to provide energy for the various corps.
** The terrorist from Belgravia Oberon De Spair liked to call himself an "Agent of Chaos", [[Film/TheDarkKnight ten years before The Joker.]]
** Late in the series, [[spoiler:One, an entity composed entirely of computer data, assimilates his dying twin, Two, after his defeat]]. Guess how ''Anime/DigimonTamers'' differs from ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' and ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02''?
*** It goes even beyond this point: [[spoiler:One's absorbtion of Two gives One new capabilities, and eventually, a different physical form]].
** In the second issue of ''[=PK2=]'', Paperinik complains that life is easier for other superheroes. Of course they had to change their name for copyright reasons, and so he mentions the [[ComicBook/XMen X-Ducks]] and... [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Blue Lantern]]. A little more than a year later, the reboot would put him among a Lanterns-like organization.
*** And it would be revealed that the Blue Lanterns actually exist.
** At the end of PKNA #1 "Shadows On Venus", One wished one hundred adventures to Paperinik. If you don't count the summer specials and sum the issues of PKNA, ''[=PK2=]'' and ''Pikappa'', 100 is the exact number you get.
** In ''Might and Power'', the Raider has discovered Paperinik's true identity, as part of the effort he's taken to find and save him from the Evronian threat. Who else previously managed to do it? The evil future version of his son in a BadFuture. ItRunsInTheFamily, apparently.
** Throughout PKNA, Angus (and other 00 News staff members) often derogatorily calls Camera 9 "a robot". In the second PKNE storyline, a bunch of robots disguise as cameramen similar to Camera 9.
* JerkassWoobie:
** Xadhoom is consistently rude, bitter and abrasive to everybody, including Paperinik, and thinks of One as nothing more than a machine. You'll still want to give [[ItsAllMyFault her]] [[TheAtoner a]] [[LastOfHerKind BIG hug]], and the hell to solarburn.
** Korinna too.
** Birgit Q is not a nice woman for sure, but seeing her so devastated after [[spoiler:Everett betrays her trust]] is heartbreaking.
** Hobey, a minor character from three issues of ''[=PK2=]''. In one of them, he takes several people hostage at Duckmall, while in another he uses newfound psychic powers to his advantage. Not a nice guy, but knowing his past - he was first reduced to homelessness after he was fired and lost a legal cause with his former employee, then fell victim to Profunda's powers - you cannot help but feel sorry for him.
* MoralEventHorizon
** When in the reboot Vendor [[spoiler:transforms Lyo in a Godzilla-like creature and causes his death]]. It's seen as this even InUniverse: Paperinik decides it's too much and goes out to kill him.
** Used most literally in PKNE #6, which is even titled "Event Horizon". [[spoiler:Everett never got many of his past researches to completion because they were dangerous; a personal "event horizon" he'd never cross. His daughter Korinna, unfortunately, has done that and while she's made Corona powerful the borders she's ready to cross, even at risk for her own life, have become such than even ''Juniper'' begins to display doubt.]]
* {{Narm}}:
** General Zondag's name falls flat in UsefulNotes/TheNetherlands, as "Zondag" is the Dutch word for "Sunday", but the translators didn't change his name, essentially meaning that in the Netherlands, a major villain is named "General Sunday".
** [[spoiler:Two's]] last words. It's supposed to show his SanitySlippage, but they are ''ridiculous''. To clarify: they are [[spoiler:"Today Master Ducklair taught me a doggerel. Wanna hear it?". ''While sucking his thumb'']].
** In ''Pikappa'', Lyonard's transformation into Lyozard. His clothes should be ripping... except it's drawn like they're melting on his skin.
* OlderThanTheyThink: The Disney use of the TimePolice (of all things): their first appearance (named Guardians of Time and with different uniforms and time machines) is in a 1994 story published on the Italian Mickey Mouse magazine, where they show due a stranded time traveler unwittingly causing the early introduction of ArtificialGravity technology and demonstrate the ability to precisely track him down. A very similar premise to that story is used with "[[Recap/PaperinikNewAdventuresS1E42TimeWreck Time Wreck]]", also stating they could ''normally'' track down the stranded time traveler with ease and extreme precision if the events of "[[Recap/PaperinikNewAdventuresS1E6TheDayOfTheColdSun The Day of the Cold Sun]]" hadn't made that particular part of the timeline much harder to read.
* PeripheryDemographic: The comic was intended for 10-12 year olds, but gained a large following between college students.
* PlatonicWritingRomanticReading: Donald is supposed to be in a relationship with Daisy, [[OfficialCouple as always]]. However, [[PhysicalGoddess Xadhoom]] is a {{tsundere}} for him, most of their dialogue come off as flirtatious (she is the biggest offender, but he does return it and never seems to mind, and calls her "Beautiful Eyes") and she straight up kisses him on one occasion. His only complaint is her high body temperature. Listen to Paperinik's last words to [[spoiler:a computer program that contains the memory of Xadhoom]] and compare it to what a lover would say:
-->'''Paperinik:''' We'll find a way to get you out of it... You'll be able to see again. The wind, the sky... We'll be together... we'll be... happy...
* ReplacementScrappy:
** Malice Sturling, who takes [[LongBusTrip Mary Ann Flagstarr]]'s place in the PBI in ''[=PK2=]''. Very unsympathetic, she refuses any help from Paperinik and treats him badly, forgetting all the help he gave to the PBI in the past.
** From ''Might and Power'', [[spoiler:the edgy new AI, which made fans miss One even more.]] He's become considerably more sympathethic throughout following stories, however.
* RonTheDeathEater: Xari ([[spoiler:Xadhoom's ex-boyfriend]]) and the Xerbian race in general are not seen well by a large slice of the fandom.
* ShockingMoments: ''PK New Era'' seems bent on topping itself per story starting with [[spoiler:Donald's murder and the destruction of the Ducklair Tower]] from ''Might and Power'' to [[spoiler:the OriginStory of ''the original Evron'' and then him invading Earth]] from ''Ur-Evron''.
* StatusQuoIsGod: Most of the ''New Era'' stories have done this, gradually bringing back the characters and general set-up of the first two-thirds of PKNA, which were missed most by the fans. [[spoiler:The Evronians are back, time travel is possible again which also brings the Raider back (and most times as an anti-hero), Xadhoom is revealed to have never died, and after some stories with the Omega Guardian aka Hicks, One is back too, resuming his role of MissionControl from Ducklair Tower.]]
* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: Was adapted into a video game called ''Disney's [=PK=]: Out of the Shadows''. It got mostly negative reviews. To make things worse, the fact it was in production may be what prompted Disney to [[ExecutiveMeddling quickly conclude ''[=PK2=]'' and make space for the reboot]], hoping to create a series that, with no connection to the classic Paperinik, would have been easier to sell outside Italy.
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks:
** Even if it's a direct sequel, many readers at the time didn't (and some still do today) appreciate the changes ''[=PK2=]'' brought to setting, atmosphere and cast. Its short duration, due to ExecutiveMeddling that made the series close with an hasty finale in favor of ''Pikappa'', didn't help.
** ''Pikappa'' is obviously hit the most by this. While the series has some high points, the complete removal of the hero's classic origins, the rewriting of many characters' origins and personalities, the general idea of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the lower quality of many stories make it reviled by most fans. And by its own creators apparently, since the finale with [[spoiler:the entire series having never happened, due to a rewritten timeline]] sounds, if not a hate letter to it, at least as SelfDeprecation from their part.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
** Camera 9 seemed destined to a significant role, especially after his appearance in the Stefan Vladuck persona in PKNA #16. Unfortunately, little of significance has been seen of him after that issue, and the fact he knew a lot of things about PK and Lyla has been never addressed. Even PKNE has given only small appearances of him so far.
** A minor criticism of ''Might and Power'' is how Nebula Faraday and Morgan Fairfax, despite [[spoiler:their prominent role in the Evronian resurgence]], get little space and relevance in the story proper.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
** In PKNA #0/3 we have Huey, Dewey and Louie mention the events of "Threat From the Infinite", a multi-chapter science-fiction story that was then running on the Italian Junior Woodchucks monthly magazine. The potential crossover fails to materialize, with no interaction between the Evronians and the T'zook (the villains from "Threat From the Infinite") in spite of both trying to take over the world and the latters city-ship being in Earth orbit.
** From the ending of PKNA #11, it looked like we were going to see several adventures with Urk as the evil-fighting partner of Paperinik, forming a PowerTrio with Lyla. Instead, the three fought together again only in #19, and in #24 Urk returned to his dimension.
** The Principate of Stahlburg, appearing in PKNA #25, looked like a good counterpart to Belgravia, and its organization The Axe, with its advanced technology, seemed an important ally for the future. Instead, they appeared only in that issue.
* TooCoolToLive: [[spoiler:Xadhoom (in a big tear jerker moment)]]. Subverted in ''New Era'', [[spoiler:as it's been revealed her death was only apparent.]]
* VindicatedByHistory: While there are fans that still cannot stand ''[=PK2=]'', many others have re-evaluated it as a series that would have deserved more time to develop from both Disney and the readers, and that if it got more love back then, it may have spared us from ''Pikappa'' and then a decade of oblivion.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: It has WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck as a protagonist and plenty of funny moments, but features a character that defies ThouShallNotKill, another that is the victim of FantasticRacism for most of its run, several ApocalypseHow scenarios, complex characters, downer endings and an evil empire that transforms the populations of every planet it conquers into zombies.
** ''Pikappa'' should be (and generally is) LighterAndSofter compared to the previous two series but it makes you doubt it at times, considering some darker stories and moments of strong fanservice with [[MsFanservice Lyla and Birgit]].
** Some fans were afraid that PKNE, being on the pages of the Mickey Mouse weekly, would have forced the authors to LighterAndSofter fare, similar to the classic Paperinik stories published there. Quite the opposite: #1 ''Might and Power'' is probably the darkest story published on the magazine in years. Among other things, it features [[spoiler:a ''very'' bleak BadFuture that started with ''the assassination of Donald Duck'', and a new AI who accuses PK of having been too soft in the past, [[BloodKnight and gets angry when the hero refuses the easy and fast solution of killing his enemies]]]].
* TheWoobie: [[AngstWhatAngst He never really angsts about it]], but if you take notice Paperinik's life gets significantly worse from the second half of PKNA to all of ''[=PK2=]'': he loses many of his most trusted allies and friends (except Lyla, and only because [[spoiler:Everett changed reality thanks to the Book of Destiny]]), gets evicted from his secret headquarters and sees one person he trusted transform into a grey character that could very well be a danger for him and everybody else. In fact it could be the first time his life as Donald is better than his life as Paperinik. Of course, since he is the {{Determinator}} hero we know and love, he does his best to [[IronWoobie restart his superhero life from scratch]].
** In this light, it's not surprising to know that by the opening of PKNE, he had quit the superhero life for at least some time, and he's not happy to be thrusted back into it.
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