Recap / DuckTales (2017) S3 E22 "The Last Adventure!"

The future of adventuring hangs in the balance as the Duck Family uncovers earth-shattering secrets in a final standoff with the Fiendish Organization for World Larceny (F.O.W.L.).

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Tropes:

• Above Good and Evil: Given to his belief that good and evil are just matters of perspective, Bradford has not only succeeded in capturing all of Scrooge's family members, friends and allies in cells, but also did the same to Scrooge's hated rivals and enemies; this was shown as he already got his agents to imprison Flintheart Glomgold, Ma Beagle and the Beagle Boys, and even the notorious Magica De Spell before having them brainwashed by Steelbeak, a fate that contributed to his ultimate fate.
• Absent-Minded Professor: Ludwig Von Drake takes the cake when he admits that, between his work and getting captured by F.O.W.L., he didn't get around to dying of old age like he was supposed to.
• Accordion Man: Donald suffers this at one point during a battle against Jeeves.
• Actor Allusion: This isn't the first time that David Tennant had an Opposite-Sex Clone forcibly made of him.
• Adaptational Villainy: In the comics and Legend of the Three Caballeros, June and May have always been good guys. Here, they are clones of Webby (who is also this show's version of April) created by F.O.W.L. for nefarious purposes, and do what Black Heron and Bradford tell them to until their Heel–Face Turn.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In the comics, Gladstone was Donald's romantic rival for Daisy. In Gladstone's and Daisy's only scene together here, they don't even acknowledge each other, neither showing any attraction to the other whatsoever.
• An Aesop:
  • Family are those who look out for and care for you.
  • In the end, only you can decide who you are.
  • Listen to what your kids actually want instead of blindly forcing your passions on them.
• Ageless Birthday Episode: Webby celebrates her birthday, but her age is never given.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Bradford kills his clones in cold blood before they can so much as speak. Scrooge is downright horrified. May and June call out "MOM!" when they see Bradford toss Black Heron into the Vortex. Black Heron accepts her fate with honor and grace.
• All for Nothing: Bradford had spent the last few decades with a plan to prevent Scrooge from adventuring and spending profits. The Papyrus of Binding played a part in the form of a legally-binding, iron-clad contract, but Scrooge's family finds a loophole that Bradford didn't expect, causing the whole thing to unravel.
• Alternate Company Equivalent: A Nebulous Evil Organisation that created a group of cloned, Tyke Bomb, Child Soldiers skilled in close quarters combat, named after the months of the year sounds very similar to how Shadaloo made Cammy and the Dolls in Street Fighter Alpha 3.
• Ambiguously Related: Webby's String Theory board has a question mark between Drake and Gosalyn, referencing how it was never made clear if he adopted her like he did in the original Darkwing Duck.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • It's unclear if Beakley completely made up her story about Webby's parents or if she actually has a dead daughter and son-in-law. The fact that Webby has a photo of them on her family board would seem to imply the latter, though it could be a forgery.
  • It is only stated Webby was made "from" Scrooge. So we don't know if they combined Scrooge's DNA with someone else's, or if Webby is an outright Opposite-Sex Clone.
  • The Papyrus of Binding could only be found by Scrooge's "true heir". Webby qualified as such, but May and June did not, despite all three being Scrooge's children genetically. This may have been because the latter were technically clones of Webby, it needed to be a blood relative Scrooge knew as family, or the blood relationship was completely irrelevant (or possibly simply a legal heir as Webby is older and the heir is typically the oldest).
• And the Adventure Continues: The show ends with F.O.W.L. defeated and all of the characters looking forward to whatever adventures they will partake in in the future.
• An Arm and a Leg: The intensity of the fight scene with undead Franken-Jeeves is raised quite a bit by showing Della's prosthetic can be turned into an axe as a last ditch secret weapon, using it to cut off his left arm. Being undead, Jeeves doesn't feel much from this, and still manages to beat Della by using his severed arm as an improvised club. However, it does leave him less able to defend himself when Beakley surprise attacks to finish him off.
• Artificial Family Member: As it is revealed, Webby (A.K.A. April) was created from Scrooge's DNA in order to allow Bradford to find the Papyrus of Binding. May and June were created using the fragment of the Stone of What Was that Don Karnage got away with back in "The Lost Cargo of Kit Cloudkicker!" and the feather that Black Heron got from Webby back in "The Split Sword of Swanstantine!", in an attempt to replace April.
• Back for the Finale: Pretty much all of the major characters in the series (and a few minor ones) return in this episode.
• Bad "Bad Acting": Webby and Huey don't do well in performing their deceptions when they arrive at F.O.W.L.'s base. This is played less for comedy and more as drama, due to the stakes being faced.
• Bad Boss: Bradford was always planing to eliminate all of his allies as part of his gambit to eliminate anything "adventurous" from the world. He only succeeds in tossing Bentley, Buford, and Black Heron into the Vortex.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: The only actual "deaths" in this episode come courtesy of Bradford (who erases his clones and Black Heron from existence) and Magica (who transforms Bradford into a mindless vulture minion).
• Bad Liar: Webby is still not a good liar, as she doesn't convince Beakley she's not up to anything. Her "a free cup for water" is better than before, but still not totally convincing (but it probably doesn't matter, since Scrooge is paying for the whole thing).
• Badass in Distress: F.O.W.L. managed to not only steal a couple of artifacts, but they also captured everyone and locked them up, including the Rescue Rangers, Penumbra, Flintheart Glomgold, the Beagle Boys, Magica De Spell, and even gods including Zeus, Storkules and Selene.
• Batman Gambit: Bradford provokes Scrooge into a reckless attack by admitting that he was the one who told Della about the Spear of Selene. An act which was in of itself this trope, since he did it with the express purpose of tearing apart Scrooge's family.
• Becoming the Mask: At first, Huey is questioning Bradford about his motives to stall and buy time for Webby's plan, whatever that is. Then he gets taken in by Bradford showing off his Junior Woodchuck outfit and photos of his grandmother Isabella Finch, and questions that maybe Bradford is a misguided Anti-Villain. This costs him when he finds Gandra and Ludwig von Drake, the latter of which reveals that Bradford actually hated doing Woodchuck activities with his grandmother. Bradford takes the opportunity to lock up Huey then and there.
• Believing Their Own Lies: Bradford takes this to a Tautological Templar level, insisting that he's not a villain, but instead a Well-Intentioned Extremist trying to make the world more orderly and stable by eliminating anything "adventurous", when it's clear that he's largely motivated by childhood trauma from his grandmother dragging him on adventures, is willing to erase innocent people and children in the process - not even his own henchmen being safe - is implied to have had Duckworth killed in an attempt to isolate Scrooge, along with getting Della lost in space for the same purpose, and even when the Sword of Swanstantine amplifies his inner nature and turns him into a Tin Tyrant exhibiting villainous behaviors like an Evil Laugh and a You Said You Would Let Them Go moment with Donald, Beakley and Della making it clear that the blade only amplifies what's already there when they fight with him, he still blames them instead. His last words before Magica hits him with a Forced Transformation are a desperate plea that he's not a villain.
• Berserk Button:
  • Lena snaps when June cuts the string tying her photo to Webby's on Webby's family board.
  • Scrooge loses it when Bradford reveals he was the one who told Della about the Spear of Selene, setting off Scrooge's disgust with being around family.
  • Even Glomgold, Ma Beagle and Magica have their moment when they confront Bradford for using them as expendable pawns for his plans.
• Beyond the Impossible: Discussed. Bradford, being the savvy bastard he is, refuses to toss Scrooge into the Solego Vortex because he is certain that somehow Scrooge would find a way back. Note that the Vortex was modified so instead of simply teleporting things somewhere else, it explicitly causes anything caught in it to be erased from existence. However, Bradford doesn't doubt for a second that Scrooge would STILL find a way to escape due to the latter's intelligence; plus, he also knows that Scrooge's imminent death will only motivate others to take a stand against F.O.W.L. since Scrooge inspired them with his stories of adventuring for decades.
• Big Damn Heroes: Gyro hacks into and deactivates the Solego Vortex just as Bradford tries to toss Donald into it.
• Birthday Episode: The episode begins with Webby's birthday being celebrated at Funso's Fun Zone.
• A Birthday, Not a Break: Webby's birthday involves a spy raid, which she is excited for. This happiness doesn't last long as she ends up discovering clones of herself, getting kidnapped, learning her true origins, and almost seeing her family destroyed. On the bright side, the episodes end with Webby being closer to her family than ever.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: Bradford could have easily left with the contract after making Scrooge sign it. Instead, he takes a petty spur of the moment by trying to erase Donald from existence. When the rest of the family save him and grabbed the contract, it didn't take long to find a loophole to exploit and ruin Bradford's deacades-long plan.
• Book Ends:
  • Just like the series premiere, "The Last Adventure!" aired on Disney XD for 24 hours straight.
  • The Papayrus of Binding played a crucial role in "The First Adventure!" and "The Last Adventure!"
  • Funso's Fun Zone was the first place Webby visited all the way back in Season 1. Now, it is one of the last places shown in the series and a nod is given to "Daytrip of Doom!" where Webby successfully manages to get free juice this time, learning from Louie.
  • Donald also wears his blue sailor attire at the start of Part 2 like he did at the start of the series premiere.
  • A Running Gag in the pilot was Launchpad saying he's a pilot. He says so again when donning the Gizmoduck armor.
  • May and June are at one point locked in the same room that Beakley locked the triplets in the pilot where they even stumble upon the marbles Scrooge tried to give to them. They also react to Webby the same way she reacted to the nephews (with an "Oh my gosh"). They then bombard her with three questions, just like with the triplets, but they end with, "Have you eaten a hamburger?"
  • May and June later on end up capturing Huey, Dewey, and Louie the same way Webby did in the pilot when she first met them.
    Huey, Dewey and Louie: [resigned] Ah, phooey.
  • Webby's conspiracy board from the pilot makes another appearance, updated with the events and developments that have occurred throughout the series.
  • Dewey sings his theme song when he's about to do something incredibly dangerous (playing a game of aerial chicken with Don Karnage), just like he did during his adventure in Atlantis.
  • The Headless Man Horse is alive in the first and last episodes, thanks to the Blessed Bagpipes.
  • When Donald is shielding Scrooge from Bradford's final attack, the final exchange Donald and Scrooge have is the same as their first interaction in the pilot though a lot more cheerful this time due to the two burying the hatchet since then.
    Scrooge: [proudly] Donald Duck.
    Donald: Uncle Scrooge.
  • Donald is once again used as leverage against Scrooge by a villain (Glomgold in the pilot, Bradford here).
  • Launchpad ends up getting distracted again while flying the Sunchaser at the end to comment on how family is the greatest adventure of all though this time, Della manages to take control of the plane before it crashes.
  • The episode opens with the DuckTales logo rather than the intro like the pilot.
  • One of the last things to happen in the episode is Scrooge putting a life vest on Webby. Donald put one on Huey and Louie near the start of the series.
• Borrowed Catchphrase:
  • Bradford uses the Harp of Mervana's "Correct" when Beakley reveals the truth behind Webby's history.
  • Webby says "Bless me bagpipes" after learning that she's Scrooge's daughter.
  • Della calls Donald "a big palooka" lovingly when she approves of him leaving with Daisy.
  • Huey, Dewey, and Louie: "Ah, phooey."
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Steelbeak uses his boosted intellect to modify the intelligence-ray in order to brainwash Glomgold, Magica, and the Beagles into his mindless minions.
• Break the Cutie: Webby is in tears after learning she was artificially created by F.O.W.L. and that Beakley has been lying to her the entire time.
• Bullying a Dragon: Using Mind Control on one of the world's most powerful and pettiest sorceresses is a good way to commit suicide in the Duck realm. When Magica and the others are freed, she decides the Ducks are less of a threat than F.O.W.L. and confronts Bradford after he's defeated. Her Death Glare indicates that you would have to be really stupid to turn her into a lackey.
• Buried Alive: Well, Buried Undead. Beakley defeats Franken-Jeeves by knocking him into a stone wall, causing it to collapse and bury him in sand and rubble.
• But Now I Must Go: Beakley attempts to leave the family at the end of the episode, her mission finally fulfilled and with the reveal that Webby isn't actually her granddaughter, she doesn't feel the need to stay. Naturally Webby and Scrooge aren't having any of that.
• Call-Back:
  • To "Woo-oo!", where May and June react to Webby the same way she did to Huey, Dewey and Louie (and they even ask her if she has had a hamburger, which she stated she would do in the pilot).
  • To "Daytrip of Doom!", where Webby successfully manages to get a free cup "for water" and definitely not Pep.
  • To "The First Adventure!", where a younger Bradford is told by Ludwig Von Drake he got hired at S.H.U.S.H. because Von Drake owed his grandmother a favor. Turns out it wasn't simple nepotism but because that grandmother was Isabella Finch.
  • To the show's own intro where the show ends with Scrooge reversing his somersault dive, a close-up shot of his Number One Dime and the Sunchaser crashing into the DuckTales logo.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Webby is not happy that Beakley not only kept her true origins a secret (after promising there'd be no more secrets), she lied to her when she tried to bring up the clone issue.
• Cannot Keep a Secret: Fethry accidentally lets Della know that Donald and Daisy are planning a trip around the world, despite being explicitly told not to let Della know.
• Canon Character All Along: Although Webby was already a pre-existing character, it turns out she's also this show's version of April.
  • Manny the Headless Man-Horse turns out to be this continuity's equivalent of Goliath!
• Captivity Harmonica: Ludwig Von Drake plays the harmonica while locked at F.O.W.L. headquarters.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Steelbeak and Black Heron, as usual (the latter in particular delights in Bradford becoming more "villainous," even when she's about to die).
• Casting Gag: Of course Riki Lindhome gets to voice a clone of Kate Micucci's character, given that they comprise Garfunkel and Oates.
• Caught Monologuing: Bradford explains his whole backstory, motivation, and goals to Scrooge after capturing and tying him up. Unfortunately for Bradford, Scrooge is able to quietly untie himself during his speech, noting how Bradford's Junior Woodchuck knot-making skills are subpar. Unfortunately for Scrooge, Bradford acquires the nearby Sword of Swanstantine and is greatly empowered by it.
• Cerebus Retcon:
  • Webby mentioned lightheartedly in the pilot that Mrs. Beakley is "a little overprotective" of her and taught her everything about self-defense as well as escaping from restraints, while not letting her leave the Manor except with Scrooge to the Money Bin. We find out why; Webby is a Living MacGuffin for F.O.W.L., that wanted to use her to find the lost Papyrus. Mrs. Beakley was trying to protect an innocent girl from being a pawn for evil.
  • In the season 3 premiere, Scrooge paints Isabella Finch in a wonderful light while discussing the great adventures she went on. We learn from Bradford that he too was part of those "great" adventures when he was a boy but they become so traumatizing that it resulted in his Start of Darkness.
• Chekhov's Gun: All of the Missing Mysteries of Isabella Finch play a role somewhere in this episode:
  • The "master plan" involving the Solego Circuit is to create a void that destroys anything thrown into it to dispose of anything chaotic or dangerous.
  • The Harp of Mervana is used as a lie detector on Beakley to confirm Webby's origins, as the harp had hinted Beakley was still keeping secrets from Webby.
  • Bradford uses the Sword of Swanstantine against Scrooge, giving himself evil-looking armor and an ability to fire lightning.
  • The Fountain of the Foreverglades is used to make May and June the same age as Webby, since they should only be six episodes (probably not even two months) old, in addition to Rockerduck using it to age Jeeves back to an adult.
  • Phantom Blot's gauntlet is powered up by Gene the Genie.
  • The Blessed Bagpipes of the McDuck Clan is used to animate Manny's head, but turns the rest of his body to stone.
  • Steelbeak uses the Intelliray (still powered by the Third Eye Diamond) on himself to become smarter, and later modifies it to control others.
  • The Stone of What Was is somehow involved in the cloning process, thanks to the fragment that Don Karnage picked up in his last appearance.
  • The Papyrus of Binding - being the most important Missing Mystery - is used to create a contract that magically binds Scrooge against adventuring.
  • On an unrelated note, the Gummi juice from back in Season 1 makes a return when it's used in the fight between Webby and June.
• Chekhov's Gunman:
  • Launchpad's intelligent persona from "Double-O-Duck in You Only Crash Twice!" is not only still present in Launchpad's subconsciousness like at the end of that episode, but provided Huey the location of F.O.W.L.'s headquarters by talking in his sleep.
  • The feather claimed by F.O.W.L. during "The Split Sword of Swanstantine" is used with The Fountain of the Foreverglades and The Stone of What Was to create May and June.
  • Magica's power to transform anyone into a non-sapient animal - which led to the loss of her twin brother Poe as revealed in "The Life and Crimes of Scrooge McDuck!" - is brought back for the finale as the ultimate punishment for Bradford.
• Chekhov's Skill: Webby was established to be highly skilled at impersonation in "Escape From the Impossibin!". Here, she uses it for Impersonating the Evil Twin and go undercover at F.O.W.L. as June.
• Clone Angst:
  • May and June were primarily motivated by the purpose behind their creation. They are disheartened knowing that they are failed attempts to become heirs of Scrooge, and were just going to be destroyed when Bradford's plan succeeds.
  • Webby herself falls into this upon learning of her true origins, though she's able to shake it off more quickly than May and June with her understanding of family.
• Combining Mecha: An improvised variant: when a crash reduces B.O.Y.D. to a (still functioning head) Lil'Bulb pulls his bulb out and sticks the head in. The result (which Fenton calls "Loyd") moves awkwardly from being so top-heavy, but still has Eye Beams.
• Company Cross References:
  • One of the drawings on Isabella Finch's original Junior Woodchuck Guidebook is a triangle with an eye.
  • So, a Disney animated villain who insists he's not a villain but merely makes deals with people to improve things goads the protagonist into signing a Magically-Binding Contract, which leads to the signer being surrounded by swirling bands of gold light. You can almost hear Bradford singing "Take a gulp and take a breath and go ahead and sign the scroll!"
  • The musical stinger and his spoken line when Manny takes his true form are one to the main theme of Gargoyles.
• Continuity Cavalcade: Basically any existing character without a part to play in the finale can be seen in F.O.W.L.'s holding cells when Darkwing, Gizmoduck, and Gyro get captured.
• Continuity Nod:
  • José and Panchito provide the music when Webby's cake is brought out. "The Town Where Everyone Was Nice!" had previously established that the latter is a professional children's birthday performer.
  • May sees on Webby's globe that she's been to Ithaquack, Mervana, and Space.
  • Webby's String Theory board contains several references to past episodes like a post-it note with Phooey written on it, Bubba being at the top of the McDuck family tree, and Launchpad and Penny being labeled as "Just Friends".
  • Webby still has that "Ziggy Starduck" poster from "Escape from the Impossibin!" hanging in her room.
  • Bradford cites Junior Woodchuck Rule 413 ("Never speak ill of a fellow Woodchuck") when he reveals he's a former member of the organization, which had previously been established in "Day of the Only Child!"
  • Drake mentions how he saved all of reality.
• Crazy Enough to Work: The triplets manage to make Bradford's magical contract on Scrooge null and void (stating he could only be with his family if he didn't adventure) on a technicality, by pointing out that family is his greatest adventure of all. Bradford thinks that's the stupidest thing he's ever heard but the Papyrus, being what it is, nonetheless accepts it and sets Scrooge free.
• Crazy-Prepared: Averted. Bradford spent thirty years writing the contract that will force Scrooge to give up adventuring full time, making sure every detail was so perfect so that there will be no loopholes to break it. What he didn't count on was the Papyrus of Binding taking Scrooge's definition of family as being "the greatest adventure of all" and breaking when it's pointed out.
• Cross-Referenced Titles: The title references the previous episode "The First Adventure!", and numerous references are made to that episode.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: Launchpad suspects that F.O.W.L.'s evil plan is to trap everyone inside a box. Later, we see F.O.W.L. has done just that.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: After Steelbeak uses the Intelliray to make himself smarter, his new found intelligence combined with his physical strength lets him easily defeat Gizmoduck and Darkwing Duck.
• Curtain Call: The Finale Credits consist of the major protagonists and allies all falling from the Sunchaser in groups^note  In order: Gyro, Lil'Bulb, and B.O.Y.D.; Gandra Dee and Fenton; Darkwing Duck, Gosalyn, and Launchpad; May, June, Violet, and Lena; Mrs. Beakley, Manny, Della, and Donald, ending with Scrooge, the triplets, and Webby holding hands in a circle.
• Cuteness Proximity: Donald and Della get smitten by baby Jeeves, though it's a trap to get them closer for when Rockerduck ages him back up to his monstrous adult form.
• Darkest Hour: After Webby is "taken" hostage, the ducks rarely have a moment of victory but are constantly put through the wringer until the very end.
• Declaration of Protection: Upon seeing the Phantom Blot draining Manny, Lena powers up to her Super Sorceress form and blasts the Blot away while declaring that Manny is a magical being and under her protection.
• Deus ex Machina: Even with the contract problem solved, the heroes would have still had a typical fight for survival on their hands if Bradford hadn't dropped the Sword of Swanstantine as he desperately tried to grab the disintegrating papyrus.
• Deus Exit Machina: Scrooge tasks Duckworth to guard the mansion^note  and water Beakley's plants in case F.O.W.L. comes back. They never do, meaning that Duckworth never got to participate in the final battle.
• Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: The theme is being played at the very start of the episode by the Funso's band, and Webby even yells "Woo-oo!" at the correct place in the song.
• Do with Him as You Will: When Magica, Ma Beagle and Glomgold show up, wanting a piece of Bradford, Scrooge doesn't stop them. Instead, he smirks as Magica turns Bradford into a nonsapient vulture; even Lena is satisfied by Magica's move in spite of their feud with each other. The enemies part peacefully, with the Ducks waving farewell.
• Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment: Beakley hesitates when attacking May due to being reminded of Webby, which gives Black Heron enough time to shock her unconscious.
• Dressing as the Enemy:
  • Beakley takes an Egghead's suit, allowing her to surprise attack Jeeves.
  • Webby disguises herself as June to infiltrate the Lost Library.
• Dumbass No More: Steelbeak shoots himself with the intelligence ray, making himself smarter and taking even more levels in badass. Though it doesn't help him when he's up against a motivated Launchpad in the Gizmoduck suit.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Donald finally gets that vacation he coveted, and with the duck that he loves. When June and May come along for the ride, he is more than okay with that.
• Either/Or Title: When aired as three parts, they are titled "A Tale of Three Webbys!", "The Lost Library of Isabella Finch!" and "Tale's End!".
• End-of-Series Awareness:
  • The episode title itself references this being the last episode of the show altogether.
  • Louie is watching the final episode of Ottoman Empire at the manor.
  • Della is hesitant to let Donald go on vacation, as it would mean their adventures together being over for a while.
• Enemy Mine: Glomgold, Magica, and the Beagles are none too pleased that Bradford had F.O.W.L. capture and brainwash them to act as their Mooks. When Magica decides to transform Bradford into a non-sapient buzzard, none of the heroes object to her decision. This is also in effect between the three main villains since Magica and Ma Beagle hate Glomgold, but they don’t bother each other at all, intent on getting their revenge on the one who captured them.
• Entertainingly Wrong:
  • Upon entering F.O.W.L.'s base, Dewey recognizes it as the same location as in the Double-O Duck AR game he and Launchpad played in the past. However, instead of realizing he and Launchpad had actually inadvertently infiltrated the base, Dewey assumes F.O.W.L. modeled it after the game's layout.
  • Likewise, Launchpad recognizes Steelbeak as "the guy from the video game".
• "Eureka!" Moment: As they're going through the contract, the triplets realize it is ironclad, so there is no way to break it. Louie despairs that Scrooge can only get his family back if he gives up adventuring. The trio and Webby realize right there that a loophole in the contract exists that Bradford didn't expect - Scrooge can't give up adventuring for his family because, for him, "Family is the greatest adventure of all".
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: May and June really loved Black Heron as a mother. Her death was deeply felt by them and prompted their Heel–Face Turn.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Magica, Ma Beagle, and Glomgold are disappointed that Bradford lacks the courage to stand and face the Ducks while fleeing from them. Instead, he cowers on the ground rather than using a smoke bomb, shark, or any descendants. They are also disgusted to learn Bradford still doesn't think himself as a villain in spite of his heinous actions against them, which made Magica sarcastically reply that he's definitely not one before punishing him.
• Evil Laugh: Averted a bit late but then played straight. Bradford scolds everyone doing it prior to the ducks invading their base below Funso's, saying they're not common villains. He actually does an evil laugh at the climax when he tried to kill Donald, showing that he ironically became the common villain he has always insisted he never was.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: Magica, Flintheart, and the Beagles do not react well to being kidnapped and brainwashed by F.O.W.L..
• Evil Is Petty: Bradford tries to throw Donald into the Solego Circuit void even after he forces Scrooge to sign the contract binding him to "never adventure again" in exchange for his family's safety by threatening Donald. He even points out that it's a villainously petty moment of indulgence.
• Exact Words:
  • Bradford needed Scrooge's "true heir" to find the Papyrus of Binding, so he made one in the form of April/Webby.
    • He convinced Webby to help unlock the Papyrus for him, under the promise of revealing why she was born/created in the first place. Since it was part of his plan to defeat Scrooge, once he acquires it, he quickly reveals to Webby that she was the key to finally set his plan into motion.
  • It's implied that May and June failed to obtain the Papyrus themselves, indicating that it runs on Scrooge's definition of family where blood relations are less important than true bonds.
  • This is used to negate the contract Bradford made Scrooge sign using the Papyrus as a base, since it promises Scrooge can have his family safe if he gives up adventuring, but for Scrooge, "family is the greatest adventure of all". Bradford, who had spent decades going over the contract for loopholes, is in disbelief when it works.
  • Prior to the contract getting nullified, even the act of trying to escape from Bradford is considered an adventure or rather an aspect of it, holding Scrooge in place. One can also argue this is how Donald is saved by way of a Big Damn Heroes moment by the captive heroes.
• Expendable Clone: Bentley and Buford are revealed to be this to Bradford, as they react with shock when he tosses both of them to their deaths. May and June realize they are also made just to be thrown away after completing their mission, and defect from F.O.W.L..
• Extra-Long Episode: The episode is the length of three regular episodes.
• Face Death with Dignity: Black Heron doesn't mind being killed by Bradford after he decides he doesn't need her since he has displayed that he is a true supervillain, no matter how much he denies it.
• Face Palm: Lena does it when Louie says they’re not ready.
• Family of Choice: Double Subverted. Webby continues to place emphasis on the importance of found family even after learning that she's biologically a McDuck. This is further reinforced by how May and June failed to make the Papyrus appear when Webby could, despite all three of them being genetically identical.
• Failed a Spot Check: Drake assumes that Gizmoduck just gave Fenton his armor instead of coming himself, interrupts him when he tries to confirm his relation to Gizmoduck upfront, and ultimately "realizes" that Launchpad is Gizmoduck despite having a drastically different beak and voice to the real Gizmoduck.
• Fate Worse than Death: Bradford intended to subject Scrooge to this by forcing him to sign a contract forbidding him to adventure and making him suffer at the expense of his family's lives. The reason why is that while Bradford intends to send all of Scrooge's family, friends, allies and enemies into oblivion, he refuses to subject Scrooge to the same fate because he knows that doing so will motivate others (who are inspired by Scrooge's adventures) to fight against F.O.W.L. and that Scrooge himself is too intelligent to find a way back into existence.
  • Ironically, Bradford is transformed by Magica into a mindless vulture as punishment for trying to rid the world of all adventures and using her and the other villains as pawns to take down the McDuck family; even Scrooge is impressed by this.
• Faux Affably Evil: Bradford plays this card with Huey, appealing to their shared Woodchuck membership, and claiming he only wants to complete his grandmother's work. However, this is only a ruse to try to trick Huey into helping him convince Webby to willingly aid him as part of his true plan to rid the world of all adventures; even throwing Huey in a cell after the latter discovers this and refuses to go along with it.
• Foreshadowing:
  • The Ottoman Empire finale that Louie is watching hints at two major plot points:
    • Randy and Johnny discover their long-lost father, just as Webby finds out that Scrooge is her father.
    • Randy comments at the end how "Family is the greatest footstool of all." Likewise, the Papyrus of Binding's hold on Scrooge breaks because "Family is the greatest adventure of all."
  • Relating to the above, on a lesser extent, Donald reassures Della that Daisy is going to be his adventure.
  • Beakley tells Webby that her mother was an artist and her father was a librarian. This does turn out to be a Metaphorically True description of her creators, since Black Heron treats supervillainy as an art and Bradford is in possession of the Library of Alexandria.
  • When Bradford attempts to use his status as a former Junior Woodchuck to appeal to Huey, he noticeably only has one badge on his sash. This foreshadows that he actually hated being a Woodchuck and was extremely bad at it.
• Finale Credits: Launchpad accidentally jettisons the entire cast out of the Sunchaser, and all of them skydive along with the scrolling credits while an instrumental version of the theme song plays.
• Forced Transformation: Bradford's final fate is to be turned into a non-anthropomorphic buzzard by Magica.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: A lot of them, namely with the various beings and artifacts that F.O.W.L. has captured.
• Freudian Excuse: It turns out that Bradford's obsession with eliminating the concept of adventures and hatred of disorder came from the constant danger he was put in whenever his grandmother Isabella Finch took him on one of her adventures.
• Grand Finale: The final episode of Season 3 and the DuckTales reboot, and the longest; whereas the previous season finale episodes were two-parters, this one's a three-parter.
• Hand Wave: Ludwig Von Drake was already an old man in the 60s, but unlike other ancient characters on the show who have some sort of magic explanation for their longevity, Ludwig is still alive because he's been too busy to die. (But this being Von Drake, it is a very Von Drake answer.)
• Hate Sink: While his actions could have been seen as those of a Well-Intentioned Extremist in the past, this episode has Bradford throw all of those possibilities out the window in favor of being as hateful and petty as possible. His crimes include siphoning several of Scrooge's finances to fund his operations for F.O.W.L., punishing his agents for their failure, and treating his creations (both his original clones and Webby and her clones) as expendable. This is further kicked up a notch as he has his agents steal all the lost artifacts that Scrooge found, as well as arrange the kidnapping and imprisonment of all friends and allies who were acquainted with Scrooge during his adventures to find the artifacts; even Scrooge's old enemies such as Magica, Flintheart Glomgold, Ma Beagle and the Beagle Boys all end up being captured and brainwashed to do F.O.W.L.'s work against their will. While fighting against Scrooge, Bradford cruelly admitted to having told Della about the Spear of Selene before defeating Scrooge in combat, and disposed three of his trusted members (his clones and Black Heron) before attempting to do the same to Donald, all just to force Scrooge to sign a contract to never adventure again. And when Scrooge does sign it, Bradford sadistically attempts to outright kill Donald just to spite him further. Dedicated to bringing order to the world by taking it over through any means necessary, Bradford proved himself to be the most personal and despicable foe that Scrooge ever faced up against. Even Magica herself is disgusted by Bradford's actions that she turns him into a mindless buzzard, and nobody reacts at all to this act.
• Hates Being Alone: Della starts suffering from separation anxiety after learning about Donald's plans to go on a trip with Daisy, since she doesn't want to be apart from her brother after having already been isolated for a decade.
  Della: I need you, ya big palooka. We're a team! We lost so much, and I just got back, and now you're moving out. I'm not... ready for our adventures to be over.
• Heel–Face Turn: May and June, after learning Bradford's plans and intentions for them to die and getting a speech about a family from Webby, free everyone and help them fight Bradford.
• Heel Realization: May and June have one when Bradford kills their "mother" without a shred of remorse. Webby is in a prime position to kick one of them in the face for their betrayal and kidnapping, but instead she talks them down, reminding them that family is who you choose, and who will fight for you.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Donald shouts at Scrooge to not sign the document while being threatened with Cessation of Existence. He'd rather face the end of existence than see his uncle give up adventure.
• History Repeats: Donald raised Huey, Dewey and Louie. Now they have their mother back and don't need him as much... but two orphan ducklettes do... so he steps up again. This time, with Daisy by his side.
• Honor Before Reason: Fenton gets so annoyed with Darkwing being oblivious to his alter-ego that he nearly blurts out that he's Gizmoduck when they're trapped in a cell together. This is despite knowing that Darkwing hates Gizmoduck with a vengeance.
• Hope Spot: There's a moment where Webby briefly overpowers June. Then June uses the Gummiberry juice to knock Webby out. Subverted as it turns out Webby did successfully defeat June and swapped clothes to disguise herself.
• Hypocrisy Nod: Della tries to convince Donald not to leave her for a romantic vacation with Daisy in that he'll miss out on adventures with her and the triplets. She does admit, however, that this is rich coming from Della Duck since she got stranded on the moon for ten years while leaving behind her kids.
• Hypocrite:
  • Bradford's Evil Plan to bring order and stability by removing the "Adventure" from a world of adventure. Unfortunately for him, accomplishing this requires using cloning tech to create clones of Scrooge so that he can use a magic, reality-warping contract on him, use a modified teleporter/virtual-reality device to erase people and objects from existence, fighting Scrooge using a magic sword and doing all of this with the help of a Rogues Gallery of supervillains. Basically, he is not above using the Fantastic Science and magic that makes the world so adventurous to end those adventures.
  • One of the reasons Bradford wants to stop Scrooge from adventuring is because of adventures leading to things like the Moonlander invasion, but Lunaris would have never gotten the plans for the Spear of Selene if Bradford hadn't leaked the news of the ship to Della in an attempt to split Scrooge's family apart in the first place. Additionally, in "Let's Get Dangerous!", he rants about how Magica De Spell was one of the other reasons as well. Had Della not been stranded on the moon, the triplets wouldn't have had a falling out with Scrooge, which wouldn't have broken him and left him vulnerable to Magica in the first place; even a furious Magica lampshades this to Bradford before turning him into a mindless buzzard.
  • By the time Bradford has Scrooge cornered and his allies captured, he has donned a Red and Black suit that makes him look like a Tin Tyrant, is using a massive convoluted Evil Plan using science and magic, has his own accomplices killed when he no longer has need of them and even indulges in an Evil Laugh (which he himself admonished the other members from doing at the start) when he goes back on his deal with Scrooge to try and kill Donald for the hell of it. Keep in mind that for the entire season, Bradford insists that he isn't a supervillain, but that type of vaudevillian malice is the kind of thing he is trying to do away with.
• Hypocritical Humor: Darkwing scolds Gizmoduck for showboating, while doing some showboating of his own.
• I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder: Bradford tells Scrooge that he's a "Businessman, not a villain".
• Instantly Proven Wrong: When Huey undermines Bradford's contract by pointing out how Scrooge considers his family to be his greatest adventure, Bradford claims that it's the stupidest thing he's ever heard, only for the Papyrus of Binding to disintegrate under the paradox.
• Ironic Echo: Beakley refuses to let the kids (aside from Huey) interact with May and June since they're "F.O.W.L. creations and therefore not to be trusted". Webby, after Beakley unknowingly confesses her true past, can only tearfully throw these quotes back to show how angry she is.
• Irony:
  • For someone who hates adventures for "causing chaos", Bradford probably inadvertently caused more chaos from trying to stop it.
  • Beakley was instrumental in encouraging Scrooge and his family to reconnect and thus restart his adventuring hobby, but she never would have moved in with him if it hadn't been for Webby. If Bradford hadn't created Webby, Scrooge most likely would still be the lonely, broken down has-been he was at the start of the series, not adventuring and not causing chaos, exactly like Bradford wanted.
• Just a Kid: Inverted and discussed; Dewey and Louie remind Gyro that "we're children" to get Layman's Terms for how to open a cell door. Gyro complains they're trying to have it both ways by saying such but also having to rely on them to save the world.
• Killing Your Alternate Self: When Scrooge points out to him that to get rid of chaos in the world, Bradford would have to get rid of his own F.O.W.L. agents as well, Bradford wordlessly and casually tosses Bentley and Buford, his two magical clones, into the Solego Vortex, effectively killing them.
• Lampshade Hanging: When Scrooge initially tries to stop Dewey, Louie, Lena, Violet, B.O.Y.D., and Gosalyn, from boarding the plane to go save Webby, Huey, and the others, Louie asks him if they're really going to do the usual "thing where you tell us not to go and we sneak along anyway?" Scrooge promptly lets everyone onboard.
• Laser-Guided Karma: After everything Bradford did to Scrooge and his family in the name of stopping their adventures and ridding the world of chaos (including Scrooge's Rogues Gallery), he winds up being transformed by Magica into a mindless vulture to act as her pet, ensuring he will spend the rest of his days involved in any chaos she creates.
• Last Episode, New Character: May and June make their only appearance in this episode.
• The Last Title: The third with this format following "The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!" and "Last Christmas!".
• Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: An animatronic Sebastian is colored blue inside Funso's.
• Leader Wannabe: While the adults are examining the clones, Dewey claims that Scrooge put him in charge. Louie doesn't buy it.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Thanks to the Phantom Blot giving Manny the power of speech, he says he has no choice but to reveal his true form. He gives his Scrooge head to Violet, before transforming into a horse-gargoyle (accompanied by the Gargoyles theme).
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: When Clan McDuck enters F.O.W.L.'s headquarters, Huey suggests splitting up into two groups - one to recover the missing Missing Mysteries and the other to capture the members of F.O.W.L. Later, this trope goes into full swing when Scrooge suggests his group (Gyro, Manny, Gizmoduck, Darkwing Duck, Launchpad, Donald, Della) to stay together once they enter the Library of Alexandria, but Gizmoduck is focused on finding the prisoners (to rescue Gandra Dee), Darkwing Duck is focused on one-upping Gizmoduck while Launchpad follows him, and Gyro is focused on finding out F.O.W.L.'s plans and drags Manny with him. Only Donald and Della stay with him.
• Loophole Abuse:
  • The Arc Words of family being "the greatest adventure of all" serves as the ultimate loophole, which renders the Papyrus of Binding's contract null and void. Bradford forced Scrooge to abandon his adventuring, but it would mean abandoning his family as well. Since that's impossible, the contradiction cancels out the Papyrus's power.
  • The Papyrus Of Binding can be found only by a direct descendant of Scrooge McDuck. So Bradford created a daughter from Scrooge’s D.N.A. to get it, in the form of April/Webby.
• Luke, You Are My Father: Webby is the one to reveal to Scrooge that she was created from his DNA.
• Magical Library: The majority of the finale is set in and around the Library of Alexandria, which was rediscovered and partly restored by Isabella Finch. It's also where the Papyrus of Binding ended up after being whisked away by Scrooge years ago.
• Magically-Binding Contract: Bradford tries to force Scrooge into never adventuring again with one using the Papyrus in exchange for his family's safety. But the kids find a loophole to exploit and cancel it.
• Magic Skirt: Hats, rather than skirts, but when the cast are falling out of the plane at the end, none of the hat wearing charcters (Donald, Della, Huey, Scrooge, Darkwing or Gyro) lose their headwear.
• Moral Myopia: To the very end, Bradford insists that he's not a villain, in spite of all the vile, terrible things he's done in order to achieve his goals. Magica at least acknowledges this.
• Mundane Utility: During Webby's party, Lena uses her magic to help Violet win against Dewey in a game of Uke or Puke.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Donald decides to take May and June along on his vacation with Daisy, referencing how the two were originally Daisy's nieces.
  • The end credits sequence is a hat tip to the 2019 ComicCon promotional poster, which also featured large swaths of the cast falling out of the Sunchaser.
  • Manny's final form, theme music, and voice actor (Keith David) are all hat tips to Gargoyles.
    Manny: I LIVE AGAIN! ...again.
  • Bradford mentions how Scrooge's adventures have attracted "hyper-intelligent rodents, caped crusaders, flying bears, bouncing bears, living statues, and a veritable troupe of goofs".
  • Donald has a Hawaiian shirt in his luggage that is the same one he wore in Quack Pack. Della refuses to let him wear it, saying "Hawaiian shirt, is it 1996?" - the year Quack Pack first aired.
  • Ludwig von Drake sings a blues song similar to the one he sang in his debut appearance on Walt Disney Presents.
  • Launchpad wears the Gizmoduck suit, which he did in one episode of the '87 series. The kids thought he was Gizmoduck then, and Darkwing is fooled in the same way.
  • May and June being clones of Webby/April is actually a reference to how Daisy's nieces were supposed to be part of the original series, but Webby got created instead because having April, May and June was considered redundant. In the Dutch comics, April and Webby have the same name: Lizzy.
  • Making Webby Scrooge's daughter also hearkens back to another character from the Italian comics who was partial inspiration for the 1987 Webby: Dickie Duck, Goldie's granddaughter who (jokingly?) called Scrooge "granddad."
  • A blue version of Sebastian from The Little Mermaid appears at Funso's.
  • Webby/April, May, and June's files in F.O.W.L's database are all labeled under "Project87", in yet another reference to the original series' release date. Similarly, Bradford mentions how he spent 30 years writing his contract for Scrooge, which was the amount of time between that series' release and this one.
  • During the fight against Jeeves, Scrooge uses his cane as a pogo stick, much like in the classic video game.
  • Baby Webby was shown to have a hairstyle and pink bow reminiscent of her '87 counterpart.
  • Scrooge refers to Webby as "Webby darling" after finding out that she's his daughter, much like how he called her his "darling Webbigail" in the original series.
  • Donald is once again shown in his signature blue sailor suit.
  • Bradford being transformed into a non-anthropomorphic buzzard (rather than a completely different creature like Poe) is similar to what happened to Circe in the original series episode "Home Sweet Homer".
• Near-Villain Victory: Bradford has succeeded in stealing all of the Lost Artifacts, as well as capturing all of Scrooge's family, friends, allies and enemies before placing them in cells in hopes of erasing them all from existence to cement F.O.W.L.'s rise to power in the world. He even managed to defeat Scrooge using his wits before forcing him to sign a contract forbidding him to ever adventure again, right before deciding to kill Donald out of spite. However, he did not expect that his willingness to kill his own henchmen (as he did with his clones and Heron) would drive a horrified May and June to make a Heel–Face Turn and free the others to save Donald just in time, and that the triplets would deduce a loophole in the contract to defeat him.
• Never My Fault:
  • Bradford laments how Scrooge's family "turned him into a base villain", but Beakley and Della explicitly point out that all his evil comes from him (including his sinister-looking armor).
  • A retroactive example, but Bradford blames the McDucks for unleashing Magica and the Moon invaders. It was his actions that led to said events occurring, as a result of him telling Della about the Spear of Selene.
• Never Trust a Trailer: The trailers for this episode make it look like May and June are joining the Ducks on their final adventure - with no real indication that they're connected to F.O.W.L. in any way. The only subtle indication is when one of them says that at least the room Beakley threw them in were bigger than the tubes that they were kept in.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: After a misunderstanding with the superheroes, Launchpad suggests that he go back to the plane with the kids. Unfortunately for him, Steelbeak overhears this information and sends Don Karnage to hunt them down.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • The Phantom Blot revealing Manny's true form was not one of his brightest moves. When Lena and Violet free him, Manny says he has no choice but to fight and asks Violet to hold his Scrooge head for safekeeping. He turns the tide of the fight against the Blot easily and Steelbeak briefly.
  • The Reveal that Bradford told Della about the Spear of Selene before it was ready becomes this in hindsight. He retired from adventuring to focus on saving Della, nearly bankrupting his businesses and forcing the vultures to intervene and going against what he wanted. Instead of stopping Scrooge from adventuring, it instead invited more disaster the minute he broke out of his funk with the triplets' help. Safe to say that if Bradford had just let things lie, the Ducks would have probably willingly taken a break from adventure to raise the boys, rather than leaving it all to Donald. Additionally, this act lead to Magica De Spell and the Moonlanders becoming threats in the first place, which is the push that warrants F.O.W.L. to put their master plan in action.
  • Bradford disposing of Black Heron and his clones, and in view of May and June, before his victory over Scrooge was actually complete, bites back on him hard as this leads the girls to have a Heel–Face Turn and release Scrooge's team, enabling them to help.
  • Bradford threatening to erase Magica, Glomgold and the Beagle Boys from existence was not one of his best moments. As such, they became so mad that they put away their grudge from Scrooge for the time being to turn Bradford into a vulture, making him Magica's new pet. They don't part civilly, but Scrooge lets them go, feeling they deserve the break in exchange for getting rid of Bradford.
• Not Quite Dead: Although he was implied to have passed in "Raiders of the Doomsday Vault!", Professor Von Drake appears very much alive (and not having aged a day) in one of F.O.W.L.'s prison cells. Apparently he was so busy being forced to work for F.O.W.L. that he forgot to age.
• Not So Above It All: Despite Bradford's repeated claims throughout the season that he's not a villain, in this episode, particularly once he starts using the Sword of Swanstantine, which amplifies the user's own inner nature, which starts off by making him a Tin Tyrant in red and black armor with a distinctly villainous tint, he decides to "indulge in petty villainy" by trying to drop Donald into the Solego Vortex after he'd already forced Scrooge into signing the Magically-Binding Contract on the Papyrus by threatening his nephew's safety, complete with an Evil Laugh (when he had previously told his subordinates off for doing the same earlier in the episode), pulling a You Have Outlived Your Usefulness on his clones and Black Heron, and using various magical artifacts in his plot, proves that he's more a villain than he'll admit to being.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Bradford claims to not be a villain, and that his actions are in the name of world stability, but he's implied to be at least partially motivated by his trauma from adventuring with his grandmother as a child, he's willing to eliminate innocent people and children to rid the world of anything "adventurous", let alone his own subordinates, threatens to have Donald erased from existence in order to force Scrooge to sign the Papyrus, and even after he signs it Bradford tries to throw Donald into the Solego void anyway. This is emphasized when he becomes a Tin Tyrant upon using the Sword of Swanstantine, and blames the Ducks for turning him into a "base villain", they tell him that the Sword simply amplifies who you already are on the inside, so it's all him.
• Oblivious Janitor Cut: When Webby and June are fighting on the plane, Don Karnage is oblivious because he's up in the cockpit with his eyes closed with headphones on.
• Oblivious to Hints: Despite the Gizmoduck suit deactivating in front of him, Darkwing Duck still doesn't realize that Fenton is Gizmoduck (and always has been). Instead he decides that Gizmoduck must have given Fenton the suit, and then later decides that Launchpad was Gizmoduck's true identity all along.
• Oblivious to Their Own Description: Invoked by Violet when Gold Team fails to report back to Silver Team.
  Violet: Statistically speaking, in the absence of Hubert, one of us should fill the void and spin out in panic. [panicked tone] But who?! WHO?!
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: F.O.W.L. manages to capture everything that is supposed to be "mystical" or "adventurous". This somehow includes actual gods, Santa Claus, and Magica.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Scrooge paid full price for Webby's birthday party, leading her to hug him in thanks.
  • Lena is the first one to say that the kids shouldn't get involved with the investigation about May and June, since she's something of an expert when it comes to clones made by Scrooge's enemies and is concerned that something could happen to Webby. This makes both Webby and Violet gasp in shock.
  • When they realize that Huey left his Junior Woodchuck Guidebook behind at the manor, everyone knows that something big must have happened to him.
  • Dewey expresses apprehension at storming the Library out of worry that it might be a trap. Louie sums this up quite well:
    Louie: Dewey's concerned about jumping into this one blind, and he's Dewey.
  • The Harp of Mervana silently nods instead of yelling out her catchphrases on whether it is a truth or a lie when Webby, disguised as June, interrogates Beakley about her true origins and finds out that she is not her granddaughter.
• Opening Shout-Out: The end credits finish with Scrooge, Webby, and the nephews doing a skydiving maneuver around Scrooge's Number One Dime and a shot of the Sunchaser crashing into the show's logo, just like in the theme song.
• Operation: [Blank]: F.O.W.L.'s plan to create Opposite-Sex Clones of Scrooge and obtain the Papyrus of Binding was known as "Project 87". While it's clearly meant to be a reference to the original series' airdate out of universe, the in-universe significance behind the name is indicated to be because Bradford came up with the plan in 1987, given he states he had been working for thirty years on the contract the Papyrus would enforce. The cloning/creating an heir for Scrooge part wouldn't have come up until later, once the initial attempt to claim the Papyrus failed, but Bradford could have named the project for when the contract plan started all the same.
• Opposite-Sex Clone: Webby is revealed to have been artificially created from Scrooge's DNA. The word "clone" is never used in regard to her, so there may be genetic differences besides sex. May and June, in turn, were cloned from Webby herself.
  Webby: Bradford needed Scrooge’s descendant… so he made one.
• Palette Swap: May and June's clothes are completely yellow and cyan (respectively) versions of Webby's pink, purple, and blue outfit. (Their bows are more distinct, being slightly larger.) Justified, since they were cloned from her.
• Papa Wolf:
  • Donald pauses his vacation plans and goes to fight F.O.W.L alongside his family when he is informed by his nephews that Huey is missing.
  • When Manny achieves his true form and Lena frees him, his first priority becomes protecting the kids.
  • Scoorge flies into a rage when Bradford reveals to him that he was one who made sure Della found out about Scoorge's top-secret construction of the Spear of Selene, thereby kicking off the event which tore his family apart and caused him to stop adventuring out of grief for over a decade.
• The Pardon: Having realized they were dangerous but naïve pawns of F.O.W.L., the McDucks forgive June and May, and take them in after Bradford is defeated. While the triplets at first are suspicious of them, they admit that Heron and Bradford manipulated them.
• Pet the Dog: Magica leaves Scrooge in peace after getting her revenge on Bradford, and the Ducks (especially Lena) even wave genuine goodbyes to her, Ma Beagle and Glomgold. Maybe there is the hope of a Friendly Enemy situation. It also should be noted that despite her and Ma Beagle’s hatred of Glomgold, Magica is still willing to give him a magical ride and departs with him in peace, united by their hatred of Bradford who subjugated them all.
• Plot Tailored to the Party: After the Phantom Blot runs into Gyro and Manny, the former says it must be a mistake for the "magic guy" to run into the "science guy". He's forgetting that Manny is a magical being, who the Phantom Blot was actually after.
• Point of No Return: During Webby's "birthday party", Beakley says that "when they have cake (raid F.O.W.L.), there's no turning back".
• Poor Communication Kills:
  • Despite being repeatedly encouraged to talk, Beakley refused to discuss Webby's origins or why there might be two clones of her. This costs her dearly as Webby gets kidnapped after busting the girls out of the storage room, and later has to force the truth out of her in disguise.
  • In regards to Bradford's claim of his grandmother Isabella Finch dragging him on dangerous adventures as a kid, while it's unknown whether or not Bradford tried to object to going on his grandmother's adventures or if Finch did or didn't hear her grandson out, the fact remains that the catalyst for Bradford's plan to eliminate adventure in the world could have been avoided if he and his grandmother talked things over.
• Power-Strain Blackout: After finally being told to cancel the cloaking spell around the Sunchaser, Lena passes out, completely exhausted.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: Bradford gets one when the Sword of Swanstantine gives him his armor.
  Bradford: Now, onto new business!
• Pressure Point: Beakley presses one on Scrooge to knock him out when she decides she doesn't want to tell him the truth about Webby yet.
• Properly Paranoid: Most of the Duck family is rightfully suspicious of May and June. Only Webby really falls for the tricks, and that allows them to steal the two Missing Mysteries kept at the manor. When she finally catches on, they (try to) kidnap her.
• Psychotic Smirk: Bradford gives one when he reveals to Scrooge that he was the one who told Della about the Spear of Selene all those years ago. Scrooge reacts how you’d expect.
• Quest for Identity: A big part of this special is Webby (and May and June) wanting to know their pasts and who they really are, and Webby got a sense that her grandmother has been lying to her. She's not happy when she finds out she was a clone named April created for F.O.W.L. She ultimately rejects that identity.
• Rank Up: Pepper has been promoted since her last appearance and is now a member of F.O.W.L.'s inner circle.
• Read the Fine Print: Scrooge attempts to carefully read the contract in the Papyrus of Binding when Bradford forces him to give up his adventures in hopes to invoke Loophole Abuse. When he tries to get out of signing it all because of a smudge on his glasses, Bradford threatens to kill Donald. However, Huey finds a flaw in the contract after it was signed to make the Papyrus self-destruct by noting that Scrooge's greatest adventure is his family.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: The Sword of Swanstantine grants Bradford scary-looking red and black armor as a manifestation of his inner evil. Black Heron even comments on his "nice outfit" and how villainous it makes him, much to Bradford's displeasure.
• Related in the Adaptation: As it is revealed, Webby is actually a clone of Scrooge, created by F.O.W.L. for their own evil purposes. That makes her and her clones May and June biological cousins of Della and Donald, and the triplets' first cousins once removed.
• Retired Monster: The Phantom Blot reveals Manny as the "Headless Man-Horse of the Apocalypse" who is apparently fated to bring about the mystical end of days. But Manny says he's changed and just wants to live a normal life.
• Rewatch Bonus: All of Webby's characteristics and behaviour throughout the series take on a whole new light when it is revealed that she is made from Scrooge.
• The Reveal:
  • Bradford is the grandson of Isabella Finch. Bentley and Buford are revealed to be his clones.
  • Webby is an Opposite-Sex Clone of Scrooge, found and taken in by Beakley.
  • Bradford was the one who told Della about the Spear of Selene that Scrooge was secretly building, with the intentions of getting rid of her, and cause Scrooge to stop adventuring in his grief.
  • Bradford's plan is ultimately to use the Solego Circuit's dimensional void to utterly erase anything "adventurous" from existence. That includes people.
  • Professor Von Drake is alive and well!
  • Manny is actually the prophesied "Man Horse of the Apocalypse," and more over, is actually an Expy of Goliath!
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: While spying on Webby's birthday party, Steelbeak believes it's all a coverup which is true...but what tipped him off was the birthday cake being Neapolitan.
• Rule #1: Appropriately, the final Junior Woodchuck rule we hear in the series is Rule 1: “Always expect the unexpected”.
• Running Gag: Gyro resorting to advanced technology to handle things (such as examining May and June, or finding Huey and Webby), only for more simple solutions (such as Lena's magic, or Louie tracking Huey's phone) being used instead.
• Saving Christmas: While it isn't a Christmas Episode and it isn't said out loud, Santa Claus is one of F.O.W.L.'s prisoners pending erasure.
• Scary Stinging Swarm:
  • Gosalyn weaponizes explosive beehives to briefly fend off Steelbeak.
  • Additionally, one of the pictures of Bradford's adventures with his grandmother shows him running from giant bees.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Rockerduck and Steelbeak are quick to flee when the tide turns against them.
• The Scrooge:
  • Averted with Scrooge himself, who actually pays full price for Webby's birthday party and doesn't reuse an old teabag when making tea for Mrs. Beakley.
    Scrooge: You can really taste how much it's costing me!
  • Played straight with Donald's choice of his usual blue sailor suit from the shops.
    Donald: What? It's a classic!
    Della: And the cheapest thing on the rack.
• Self-Destruct Mechanism: F.O.W.L.'s lair is put on self-destruct when the heroes arrive, forcing them to achieve their goals expediently. Gizmoduck is able to stop the self-destruct, though only after it's discovered that the place has been cleared out.
• Sequel Hook: There are a few potential plot threads for any DuckTales spinoffs, movies, or sequel series:
  • Most of the F.O.W.L. agents like Steelbeak, Rockerduck,and Phantom Blot & Pepper are left alive, and it's unknown how many had the sense to flee when Scrooge's contract got nullified or if any were arrested afterwards.
    • Gene also escapes and gets out of dodge.
  • Magica still hasn't found Poe, though it seems for now she's put her grudge with Scrooge aside in favor of punishing Bradford. She, Ma Beagle, and Glomgold leave without further fuss, providing hope that they will go from It's Personal to a Friendly Enemy Rogues Gallery. Scrooge and the Ducks have let go of their hate for the trio in the meantime, sincerely waving farewell to them.
  • Scrooge and the others have effectively saved every magical and science-fiction being in the universe, including the Rescue Rangers, the Greek Gods, and Goldie.
  • Donald agrees to take May and June on his vacation with Daisy. That is going to be quite an adventure.
  • Manny has revealed he is a gargoyle-like being with a tragic backstory, and explains he is atoning for his past. This leaves open the possibility of a plotline exploring his past and the prophecy tying him to the mystical end of the world.
  • Besides Drake still being Darkwing and going on further adventures with Launchpad and Gosalyn, Gosalyn's grandfather is still trapped in another dimension, leaving hope that he could be rescued in the future. Negaduck is also still out there, with the heroes unaware that he's alive. And thanks to the intelligence-enhancing ray, Steelbeak can potentially become the Diabolical Mastermind he was in the original Darkwing cartoon.
• Shout-Out:
  • Webby's origins combines the origin stories of Laura Kinney and Loki, which are both from Marvel.
  • During the final battle, Scrooge finds himself protected from the Sword of Swanstantine's blasts by his friends and family using a chunk of debris to block it. This is similar to the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode "The Ending of the End - Part 1", where Twilight Sparkle's friends defend her from a magical onslaught with a piece of wall.
  • "Come with me if you want DEW live."
  • Scrooge isn't the first action hero billionaire to discover a kid he had a mentor-apprentice relationship with is actually his child made by a top secret spy organization for their own purposes. This plot comes from the Justice League Unlimited Fully Absorbed Finale "Epilogue."
• Sigil Spam:
  • Donald's Hawaiian shirt has a Hidden Mickey on the tag.
  • The shoulderpads on Bradford's Tin Tyrant armor are the F.O.W.L. logo.
• Slipped the Ropes:
  • Played for Laughs when Ludwig von Drake manages to slip his arms out of the ropes to play his harmonica while everyone else processes the reveal about Webby being Scrooge's daughter.
  • Bradford's status as the worst Junior Woodchuck is proven when Scrooge easily slips out of the rope he's tied him up with, even commenting on how shoddy the knots were.
• So Proud of You:
  • At the beginning, Louie catches Webby asking for a cup for "water" and then slyly filling it with Pep instead, a trick he taught her way back in "Daytrip of Doom!"
    Louie: [proudly] That's not water.
  • A villainous example, but rather than curse Bradford for betraying her, Black Heron commends him for doing something so evil and twisted.
    Black Heron: Oh Bradford, how villainous.
• Spanner in the Works: Huey, Dewey, and Louie turn out to be this after Bradford had told Della - their mother - about the Spear of Selene so she could use it, with the intent of stopping Scrooge to ever adventure through wallowing in grief and distancing himself from his family. If it hadn't been for the triplets, Scrooge would have continued to be a grumpy old man that hated adventure.
• Spy Speak: Double Subverted. All the mentions of "cake" during Webby's party actually are referring to her birthday cake... which is the signal for them to start their raid on F.O.W.L.'s secret headquarters under Funso's.
• Stealing the Credit: Dewey thinks himself the "hero" of the Funso's raid.
• Storming the Castle: The birthday party is a ruse to get Scrooge's allies close to F.O.W.L.'s headquarters and break in to capture its agents and reclaim the Missing Mysteries.
• Stupidest Thing I've Ever Heard: Is what Bradford calls Huey's claims that "Family being the greatest adventure of all" and thus nullifying the Papyrus. The Papyrus promptly disintegrates.
• Supernatural Sealing: This is how the Papyrus of Binding incapacitates Scrooge and keeps him from saving his family (the contract keeps him from ever adventuring again). When a technical flaw is discovered, the binds break.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: Darkwing can't believe that "Launchpad was Gizmoduck this whole time!"
  Gosalyn: Yeah.....
• Take Up My Sword: Launchpad dons the Gizmoduck armor with Fenton's blessing, although Fenton gets his armor back in the credits.
• Talking in Your Sleep: Launchpad's smart ego was trapped inside of him, but he was able to communicate through talking in his sleep, allowing Huey to figure out that F.O.W.L. was located at Funso's.
• Tautological Templar: Bradford seems to genuinely believe that he's not a villain, and that he's instead a Well-Intentioned Extremist trying to bring order to a chaotic world by eliminating anything "adventurous" from existence, while in reality he seems to be largely motivated as a result of the trauma he had adventuring with his grandmother as a child, and is willing to eliminate innocent people, even children, from existence as well. He even blames the Ducks for turning him into a "base villain" when the Sword of Swanstantine turns him into a Tin Tyrant by magnifying his inner nature, and his last words before his Forced Transformation have him deny that he's a villain.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: Webby never actually gets the chance to have some of her birthday cake due to the fact that it being brought out was the signal to begin the raid on F.O.W.L.'s lair.
• Title Drop: Bradford says the episode's title twice at different times.
• Tomato in the Mirror: Webby finds out that Beakley isn’t her biological grandmother and her supposed parents never existed; she’s a clone created by F.O.W.L. whom Beakley rescued and raised as her own. Webby is broken by this realization and hit with an existential crisis. She quickly recovers from it, when she discovers who she was made from: Scrooge himself, making her his biological daughter by cloning.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Steelbeak uses the Intelliray to increase his intelligence to disarm Gizmoduck, Darkwing, and Launchpad. He also ends up making it so he can brainwash people into doing his orders.
  • Bradford uses the Sword of Swanstantine in order to gain the power to turn into a Tin Tyrant to fight and defeat Scrooge in combat. It later gives him a monstrous One-Winged Angel form that makes him bigger.
• Toon Physics: Pretty much the only explanation of how Dewey is able to moonwalk while skydiving during the credits.
• Twin Switch: Webby switches with June so she can find out her origins, knocking her out and tying her up in her clothes. The ruse is found out, but not before Webby gets what she's looking for.
• Underestimating Badassery: One of the Eggheads surrounding Scrooge, Donald and Della sneers that they are "only three little ducks".
• Unexpected Successor: Only Scrooge's 'true heir' could find the Papyrus of Binding. It's not Donald, Della, or any of the triplets, but Webby who's the true heir.
• Unrelated in the Adaptation: April, May, and June aren't Daisy's nieces in this continuity, and Webby was only adopted by Mrs. Beakley rather than being a blood relative.
• Victory Is Boring: Gladstone is continuously winning the arcade game and looks incredibly bored throughout. In contrast, both Donald and Della are sick with not getting in even a single ball.
• Villain Cred: When Bradford shoves Black Heron into the Vortex, erasing her from existence, she commends him for embracing his villainous side.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: When Glomgold, Magica, and the Beagles are freed from their brainwashing, they enact revenge against Bradford rather than to fight the heroes and leave afterwards. The Duck family gives them a genuine farewell as thanks for their assistance.
• Villainous Breakdown: As the Ducks keep fighting him, starting by rescuing Donald after Bradford forces Scrooge to sign the Magically-Binding Contract keeping him from adventuring, Bradford's clearly losing his cool and his Tin Tyrant armor gets more monstrous as the Sword of Swanstantine reacts to his rage, but when the kids manage to find a loophole in the contract and negate the power of the Papyrus, he completely loses his composure, dropping the Sword and desperately chasing after the pieces of the Papyrus as they float away, saying that he will not lose to Scrooge. When Scrooge informs him that he didn't lose to him, but his whole family, finding himself outnumbered, he slinks away, reverting back to his childhood cowardice.
  Bradford: No! I will not lose to Scrooge!
• Wham Line:
  • After Webby says she was the one who found the Papyrus of Binding, which can only be found by an heir of Scrooge:
    Huey: May and June were made from Webby. Who was Webby made from?
    Ludvig Von Drake: Why, your old Uncle Scrooge McDuck, of course!
    [Everyone else gasps!]
    Ludvig Von Drake: ...You fellas all knew that, right?
  • Bradford tells Scrooge he "tore [his family] apart once before".
    Scrooge: What are you babbling about?
    Bradford: How do you think Della found out you built the Spear of Selene?
    [Cue Scrooge launching into a rage]
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • The final fates of the rest of the F.O.W.L. agents, such as Rockerduck, Don Karnage, the Phantom Blot, Pepper, and Steelbeak aren't shown. Though it's implied that they were most likely arrested.
  • After Gene the Genie is freed from being weaponized by the Phantom Blot, he shouts "Shabooie!" and disappears to parts unknown.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Webby manages to learn from Beakley that she was a part of a cloning experiment from F.O.W.L years ago, and she's not happy about it. The reason why she is so upset isn't exactly because she was created, not born, but because her granny kept this a secret from her; even after she promised she wouldn't hide or lie about any more secrets.
• Worf Had the Flu: B.O.Y.D.'s head get separated from his body, and he spends most of the episode attached to Lil'Bulb's(body). Hence, he is unable to use most of the powers he displayed in "AstroB.O.Y.D.", such as his rocket-legs and his super-strength. He still has his Eye Beams though.
• The Worf Effect: Bradford's army proved sufficient enough in might to bring down the likes of pretty much every character in the series, from powerhouses like Penumbra, the Asgardian warriors, to the Greek pantheon of gods, to Magica.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Shortly after Lena knocks her off the ladder for cutting the string on Webby's family board, June runs out of the room crying, causing Webby to turn against her friends. It also gives June a chance to get the Sword of Swanstantine from Donald's houseboat.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: When Launchpad laments that he's not a hero, there's a lot of characters that say otherwise. This gives him a Heroic Second Wind to activate the Gizmoduck armor.
• You Are Not Alone: Darkwing tells Fenton that.
• You Are Number 6: Bradford calls Webby, disguised as June, "Clone One".
• You Are What You Hate: When Bradford wields the Sword of Swanstantine, it turns him into a Tin Tyrant with a red and black color scheme, his form becoming progressively more monstrous as the fight goes on, showing just how much of a villain he really is in spite of his protests throughout the series.
  Bradford: Look what you turned me into; a base-villain!
  Beakley: The Sword of Swanstantine amplifies who you are inside.
  Della: This is all you, ya buzzard!
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Bradford does this to his own clones and Black Heron when Scrooge points out that to get rid of all chaos in the world, Bradford would have to get rid of his own F.O.W.L. agents as well, showing just how far he wants to get rid of all chaos.
• You Keep Telling Yourself That: When all members of F.O.W.L. engage in an Evil Laugh one last time before abandoning their base, Bradford silences them, prompting Black Heron to remark on this.
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: F.O.W.L. is one step ahead of the Ducks' attack on their base at Funso's. They escape with the artifacts, except for May and June, leave the base completely empty, and move their base of operations to the Library of Alexandria.
• You Said You Would Let Them Go: Bradford throws Donald into the void anyway after successfully forcing Scrooge to give up his adventures. Luckily for Donald, the void is deactivated in time.

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