Heartwarming / DuckTales (2017)

• In the first trailer
  • After Scrooge is told that he "used to be a big deal", there are a few scenes showing the skills that made him a Living Legend, which leads to a line that perfectly reflects the feelings of the fans:
  Scrooge: I'm back!
  • The return of the theme song during the trailer, which starts right at the beginning of the montage that leads to the He's Back! moment above.
• Word of God has it that Scrooge and Donald used to go on adventures together until a falling out ten years ago. While the falling out part isn't happy, it's still nice to see that, unlike the comics, Scrooge stayed on good enough terms with his family to eventually bring his nephew into fun rather than languish in loneliness for decades.
  • Despite their falling out, Scrooge is still there to sing "Happy Birthday" to his nephew, possibly a sign that they patched things up somehow.
• The relationship the two uncles have with Huey, Dewey, and Louie. In the "Scrooge" Short for example, Scrooge is rather nice to Louie despite the fact that he was screwing around with a time machine. And in the theme song, Donald throws a life jacket on the three to keep them safe.
  • The Entertainment Weekly article describes Donald as an obsessive, overprotective single parent who doesn't want to take any risks, and while there is definitely a possibility for conflict or character development to bring him out of that, it clearly comes from a place of loving his three troublemakers and wanting to do right by them.
• In the Launchpad short, it's revealed that despite all his screwups, Launchpad still has a very positive relationship with his boss. We learn that Scrooge pays for all the damages caused by Launchpad's crashes, including the hospital bill when Launchpad eats too many hot dogs.
  Launchpad: He's a good guy.
  • He signs the letter "Your friend, Launchpad McQuack," and is implied that this is how he signs all his letters. Scrooge isn't the only good guy.
  • Apparently Launchpad once crashed Scrooge's limo into a RV, which caught on fire. Rather than get mad the RV's owners took the opportunity to have a weenie roast and invited Launchpad and Scrooge to join them.
• Frank Angones revealed on the It's a Duck Blur podcast that every single cast member was their first and only choice, and only had to be asked once. Most of them practically begged him to work on the show in some way with David Tennant joking that he should be paying Frank for the opportunity when the subject of pay came up. The idea of doing a cast sing-along to the classic theme song was Ben Schwartz's idea, and he even did a lot of the logistics in setting it up. Frank himself is sometimes nicknamed "Mr. Ducktales" due to his love of the show and encyclopedic knowledge of the Disney Ducks canon.
• The first series focused on the adventure aspect of the franchise moreso than anything else. But here the creators went on record to say that their focus is family. Every episode explores some aspect on how family is important, like the pilot episode reigniting Scrooge's high spirits once he is around his nephews, and an upcoming episode will be about getting Louie to be more assertive and embrace the time with his brothers.
• While it never actually happened in the pilot, this image of Webby, Huey, Dewey, and Louie munching on burgers and fries makes for a cute scene.
• The triplets' treatment of Webby. Unlike the original series, where even though they care about her, they also treated with disrespect and a nuisance just because she was a girl. Here, she is considered the "fourth triplet" and the brothers enjoy her companionship.
  • Gets better with this part of this article of the creator talking about them:
  Joining the pack (though decidedly not the Quack Pack), expect significantly more screen time for little Webby (Kate Micucci), Scrooge’s niece-by-affection, whom Youngberg says has "a stronger and more unique voice than she ever had before." Angones adds, "We almost never say 'the nephews' or 'the boys' — she's a crucial part of the adventuring team, and they really are this big, weird family. If Huey has Scrooge's brains, Dewey has Scrooge's guts, and Louie has Scrooge's love of treasure, Webby has Scrooge's heart."
  • This comment becomes Heartwarming in Hindsight when it's revealed that F.O.W.L. genetically engineered Webby from Scrooge's DNA, meaning Webby is Scrooge's biological daughter and by extension part of the McDuck clan.
• There is a low-key Running Gag that whenever Huey embarks on something Incredibly Lame Fun, one of his brothers is always one hundred percent behind him.
  "Don't listen to him! Follow your lame dreams!"
  "My brother is going to become a professional nerd!"

• In this issue, we get a new context for Donald's classic New Job Episode tendencies: he just wants to find a job that lets him provide for his nephews, but due to his classic bad luck, and of course his temper, he has problems holding down a job he likes. His utter joy at the beginning at the episode is really touching, as well as a subtle Tear Jerker, since you know this isn't the first time, and won't be the last time, he's been convinced that this time he's got a good job.
  "Oh boy, oh boy! Finally a job that's working out the way it's supposed to! And it's about time... all this moving around can't be much fun for the boys."
• When Dewey gets upset that his upcoming movie role might be usurped by an unwitting Donald, money-grubbing Louie takes the time to try and cheer him up:
  "Don't worry, Dewey. You're my only star! Besides, we can split Uncle Donald's paycheck!"
• Issue #0 makes it abundantly clear that for Donald his nephews come first. He's not just happy at his job because things are going well for him but because the boys can finally have some stability in their lives. And when his own temper accidentally leads him to run his tour boat aground Donald's immediate concern is whether or not his nephews are hurt.
• In the second story Donald lets his nephews go off to explore the hotel that he's trying to fix up. Granted he also uses GPS trackers on them so he knows where they are but it's nice to see that he can loosen up a little to let them have fun.

#11

• Scrooge's plans to open a museum about his clan at his home town are halted because the Mayor thinks he's a fraud. When Scrooge goes there to investigate, he runs afoul of an angry mob wanting to punish him for "pretending" to be a Scot. After Scrooge foils a "Scooby-Doo" Hoax Flintheart Glomgold was pulling there to buy the townsfolk's lands for pennies, they decide he's alright with them, true Scot or not.

#13

• In "Countdown to Destruction", the board of directors decided to fire Gyro to save money but Scrooge convinces them to give another chance and he's given 24 hours to come up with something they can use and won't gain sentinence and destroy them all. When he doesn't show the invention on time, Scrooge reminds the board that the deal was for Gyro to invent something within the deadline. Not having time to argue, the directors leave right before the invention gains sentience and tries to conquer the world. For Gyro's sake, Scrooge is willing to keep it a secret.

• Webby calling Donald "Uncle Donald". Considering their lack of interaction in the series, it’s sweet to know Donald is an Honorary Uncle to her.

• In spite of Launchpad's strange mannerisms, Sal really hits it off with him, to the point where he even names his new food truck after him.