Beagle Boys vs the Money Bin is a story made by Don Rosa in 2001 the Danish comic Anders and & Co. It was later released in America in Uncle Scrooge #325 in 2004. It was made in celebration of both the Beagle Boys' and the Money Bin's 50th anniversary.
It's the anniversary of Blackheart Beagle founding the Beagle Boys, and the gang pay a visit to their beloved grandfather and founder in the Duckburg prison. After sharing some cake (or what little was left of it after it had been thoroughly searched for files, hammers and other escape tools) the Beagles gather around the family photo album, reminiscing about the early days of the gang and Duckburg itself. Blackheart reveals that that the anniversary was just a good excuse to have the gang visit, because he's recently remembered something important - the Architect! Namely, the name and address of the architect who originally constructed the Money Bin back when Duckburg was just a small town surrounding Killmotor Hill. Knowing how cheap Scrooge is, odds are good that he's never bothered to pay for new plans to be drawn up, even after disasters that have caused the Bin to need extensive repairs, or even be completely rebuilt, meaning that if the Beagle Boys can get their hands on the plans, they'd know every nook and cranny of the Money Bin.
Sure enough, the gang finds the architects office, and his files, in the ruins of Old Duckburg, beneath the modern city, including the plans for the Bin, along with a water access through a well leading right into the basement. With most of it's defenses geared towards keeping intruders out, is the Money Bin able to hold out against thieves who are already on the inside?
This story has examples of
- Air Vent Escape: With the door in the well room armed, the Beagles resort to crawling through the heating vents, as Scrooge rarely uses it unless it's too cold to work in- as in, cold enough to freeze ink. The reason this works is because the Bin still has the large, old-fashioned type vents that can fit a person, even the heavyset Beagles.
- Bizarrchitecture: When a large panel shows the different Beagles stuck/traveling across the Money Bin simultainiously, the layout of the rooms doesn't make any sense in relation to what was established before in the story. An author's note at the bottom of the panel explains this as necessary due to the interest of clarity and humor (and laziness of the artist).
- Crazy-Prepared: Scrooge has alarms set on every door in his Money Bin- even the bathroom!
- Did Not Think This Through: When two Beagles make it to Scrooge's bedroom, one decides to try out the slide that leads to the money pool- completely forgetting that he's too big for the Scrooge-sized door in the wall.
- Dwindling Party: Non-lethal version. The Beagle Boys break into Scrooge's Money Bin at night with a gang of 7, but one by one they all dispose of themselves by getting stuck in one of the Money Bin's rooms. Scrooge just has to call the cops when he finds them.
- Epic Fail: In what is likely the most embarrassing failure of their career, the Beagle Boys are outwitted by an empty building, leaving them stuck until Scrooge finds them.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- 176-167 is aghast at Scrooge's meagre diet, which consists of basically nothing but cheap canned and frozen food.
- The gang is very disapproving of how few accomodations Scrooge's workers get, the Bin doesn't even have a cafeteria!
Beagle Boy: Give me a prison chain gang any day... - Failed a Spot Check: Subverted. When Scrooge gets home to the Bin very late at night, he's so tired that he doesn't notice any of the Beagle Boys during his evening routine. He's ready to brush it off and go to sleep until he has an Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap! realization.
- The Fog of Ages: Zigzagged; As Blackheart admits, as he gets older, his short-term memory weakens- he repeats this twice in one sequence- but his long term memory improves, allowing him to remember the name of the Money Bin's architect.
- Generation Xerox: Played for Laughs; the modern Beagle Boys are the children of Blackheart's three sons, and not only do they all look identical to their fathers, they all look identical to each other. Despite this, one Beagle father is pointed out as being "the handsome one", and one Beagle Boy tells his cousins that one of them got most of their fathers good looks.Beagle One: *proudly* Everyone always says that.Beagle Two: *annoyed* He never lets me forget it...
- Help, I'm Stuck!: With the exception of the Beagle who accidentally knocks himself unconscious in Scrooge's bedroom, the whole gang gets stuck in various places throughout the Bin, including getting a toilet seat stuck around his neck that keeps him from using the vents, getting tangled in electrical wiring that'll fry him if he struggles, triggering the touch-sensetive alarm for the #1 Dime display and keeping him from taking his hand off it, etc...
- Jail Bake: The Beagle Boys bring a huge cake to visit their grandpa in prison. After the guard searches the cake and removes all of the hidden weapons and tools, it's not that impressive anymore.
- The Last Straw: 176-167 finds his way to the kitchen and takes a break to snack on a jar of pickled prunes he finds in a cabinet. Unfortunately, this snack is just enough to make him too fat for the vents, leaving him stuck halfway in.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: Because they have no way of navigating the heating vents, the Beagles have to split up to find their way.
- Lifesaving Misfortune: That one Beagle Boy who got himself trapped in electrical wiring. While getting caught by Scrooge and going to jail wasn't a part of the plan, it is preferable to being electrocuted.
- Shout-Out:
- One Beagle trapped in a bathroom finds a comic book for Ducktales "Bizarre!"
- Two of the Beagles end up in Scrooge's trophy room, and one of them tries to grab the Candy-Striped Ruby like they did once before, referencing the story "The Status Seeker".
- The architect of the Money Bin is named Frank Lloyd Drake after famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and the plans in his office are signed K.D Rosa.
- Villain Episode: This story is focused entirely on the Beagle Boys, with Scrooge only appearing briefly at the end.
