Sure, Storks is a lighthearted comedy, but all those laughs brush aside some rather dark stuff...
- EVERYTHING surrounding Tulip's early childhood with the storks is Nightmare Fuel.
- Right from the start, Tulip's accidental orphan-ism is filled with the stuff of nightmares and psychological damage. Here is a child who's loved and wanted by two devoted parents, only to lose them because a stranger she doesn't know (Jasper) becomes inappropriately attached to her, then destroys the only link between her and her family.
- And to top it all off, Jasper was never imprisoned or punished for his actions, but simply fled — having a Stalker with a Crush is scary enough, but imagine how much worse it is for a child to grow up knowing that the psycho who cut you off from your family is still on the loose, planning who-knows-what... is it any surprise she has a Wall of Crazy about Jasper?
- And then there's the trauma Tulip must have endured in her youth from wondering about her parents. She knows she has parents out in the wide world, she knows they didn't abandon her, but she has no idea whatsoever who or where they are. Did they give up on her? Have they been searching for her? Worse, were they searching for her and then gave up trying to find her?
- It's unclear how Tulip was treated when she was raised by storks, but it probably wasn't a happy time. There are no signs of any parental figures in her life, and none of the storks we've seen appear to be particularly nurturing or supportive. Meanwhile, the storks we do see around Tulip appear to be rude and dismissive of her, treating her at best as a jinx, and at worst as an outright freak. The storks are already xenophobic enough towards other birds; now imagine how someone of an entirely different species must have been treated...
- Remember, Junior had no qualms about putting Tulip in a darkened room by herself and telling her to never leave. And he thinks that's being kind to her...
- Jasper appearing when Junior, Tulip and Diamond Destiny were cornered by the wolves, after following the former three since they left Cornerstore.Jasper: (intimidatingly) THAT’S MY BABYYYY!
- Tulip being reunited with her family at the end may be a Happy Ending, but it's not a trouble-free one. After all, her parents spent eighteen years wondering about the fate of their child, without a single hint as to what might have happened. They tried to cope with things, perhaps by having many more children to make up for the one they've lost... and then she appears on their doorstep one day, a fully-grown adult. Sure, they're relieved, but they must also be worried — is Tulip the type of person they would have raised? Do her values, her ethics, her beliefs align with theirs? Not to mention all of her childhood milestones that they've missed and will never get to have with her...
