{"id":25726,"date":"2018-02-02T00:00:47","date_gmt":"2018-02-02T05:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/?p=25726"},"modified":"2026-03-18T08:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:53:11","slug":"disney-afternoon-mystery-minis-ducktales-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/2018\/02\/disney-afternoon-mystery-minis-ducktales-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney Afternoon Mystery Minis - DuckTales review"},"content":{"rendered":"

In some alternate reality, Disney had a character named \"Donald Dog,\" whose family backstory was created and embellished by an artist named \"Carl Quacks.\"<\/p>\n

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Scrooge McDuck first appeared in 1947's \"Christmas on Bear Mountain,\" where he was an angry old miser, much in keeping with his Dickensian namesake. He was meant to be a one-shot character, but it was realized that he (and his money) would make a good hook for new stories, so only six months later, he was back again. By the mid-50s, Scrooge had become the central figure of the Disney Duck universe, displacing his nephew Donald - which is why, when Disney made DuckTales<\/i> in 1987, Donald was nowhere to be found.<\/p>\n

Scrooge is sculpted in a fairly simple pose, leaning on his cane - reminiscent of his stance from the DuckTales<\/i> videogame. And yet, the figure still tends to fall over backwards, because of the weight of his top hat. You may have to boil his feet to soften them enough to tip him forward a little. He's wearing his blue coat and red spats, rather than the Mirror Universe \"red coat and blue spats\" look. The brim on his hat is asymmetrical, for some reason, but he does get his spectacles molded on his beak. He's available in a 1:12 ratio, but only in the standard cases: the Hot Topic, GameStop and Toys \"Я\" Us exclusive cases all drop him out (though Hot Topic does have a version of him swimming in a pile of money).<\/p>\n

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Huey, Dewey and Louie were created for a cartoon short, Donald's Nephews<\/i>, but because of the time it takes to create a cartoon, they got \"Renee Montoya'd\" - that is, they showed up in the Donald Duck<\/i> comic a few months earlier.<\/p>\n

All three of the Mystery Minis<\/i> triplets use the same basic mold (a-doy), but they're not identical: thanks to the way Mystery Minis<\/i> are constructed, they get small differences beyond the to set them apart. That difference? The arms: each of the brothers gets a different set! Huey has his arms crossed over his chest, Dewey has one hand on his hip and the other hanging free, and Louie has both hands on his hips with his elbows sticking out.<\/p>\n

(Their pupils and eyebrows are also painted in different spots on their faces, but that may simply be variation due to the production process, not a conscious choice. And since the boys are all white Pekin ducks, the eyes have been painted a pale grey so they don't blend in.)<\/p>\n

Huey, Dewey and Louie are each available in a 1:24 ratio, meaning that only two of them are in any given case. On the surface of it, that seems like a stupid idea, but if you think about it, it makes sense: Case 1 will have figures A and B, while Case 2 will have figures C and D (\"D\" in this case being Webby, also available in the same ratio); however, if you think about it again, it goes back to being stupid, because the standard cases all feature Chip and Dale in a 1:6 ratio, meaning both<\/b> of them are in every box twice. Funko could easily have dropped one set of the chipmunks and put a full set of ducklings in every case.<\/p>\n

When the nephews were introduced, they were rambunctious troublemakers (after all, they were sent to stay with Donald after hospitalizing their father with a prank), but by the time they began interacting with Scrooge, they were more helpful and respectful. The difference? Joining the Junior Woodchucks. GameStop gets exclusive versions of the three boys, wearing their Junior Woodchuck hats and sashes, but the ratios there are even worse than the normal figures: Huey and Dewey are 1:6, but Louie is 1:12. They will forever<\/b> be mis-matched! Who does that!?<\/p>\n

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(If Funko really wanted to get creative, they'd have made a super-rare chase figure wearing black, instead of red, blue, or green, and called it \"Phooey,\" the mysterious fourth brother.)<\/p>\n

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DuckTales<\/i> introduced several new characters to the mythos - after all, a show about three young boys and their elderly great-uncle would be a bit sparse. So Scrooge, in need of a maid, cook, and a nanny for the boys, hired Bentina Beakley, who offered to work for room and board. And when Mrs. Beakley moved in, she brought her granddaughter Webby along with her.<\/p>\n

Webbigail Vanderquack has always been typical of the era in which she was appearing - today she's an intense and obsessive girl with a penchant for grappling hooks [seen it<\/a> --ed.], but in the '80s, though, she was sensitive and caring and even a little bit childish.<\/p>\n

Webby is wearing a pink shirt\/dress thing, and has a gigantic bow in her hair. Well, around her head - ducks don't actually have hair. Okay, some<\/b> Disney ducks have hair, but Webby isn't one of them. She still has the little ruff of feathers sticking out of the back of her head, but for some reason, it's just a single one in the center - since you could always see them no matter which direction she was facing, wouldn't it make more sense to assume she has two? Like Wolverine, if Wolverine were a tiny female duckling. In the cartoon, her eyes were blue, but here they're the same kind of gray as the boys'. She's also clutching her beloved Quacky Patch doll to her chest.<\/p>\n

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Another new character DuckTales<\/i> introduced was Launchpad McQuack, Scrooge's pilot - as he himself says, \"if it has wings, I can crash it!\" He's a giant doofus, but incredibly sweet and good-natured (and is apparently quite attractive by Duckburg standards, because all the ladies seem to love him). He's a bit childish, getting along with the kids better than he does with adults, but despite his many absent-minded mistakes, he can generally be counted on to achieve any goal he's given.<\/p>\n

Launchpad is one of the biggest anthropomorphic characters Disney has - discounting things like giants and dragons, it's really just Launchpad and Pete at the top of the list. He has heroic proportions that would make him look at home in a Bruce Timm cartoon: skinny legs, big arms, huge chest, etc. He's even got a chin that makes him look ethnically half-pelican! Launchpad dresses like an old-timey pilot, with a leather jacket, jodhpurs, an aviator's cap and goggles, and a light scarf tied around his neck. A shock of orange hair sticks out from under his cap, and for this figure, he's holding a gray wrench - he must be making repairs on one of Scrooge's airships.<\/p>\n

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Looking to create a new recurring enemy for Scrooge McDuck, Carl Barks came up with the sorceress Magica De Spell. Where the Beagle Boys wanted Scrooge's money because, well, they just wanted money, and Flintheart Glomgold wanted to surpass Scrooge as the richest duck in the world, Magica was just interested in gaining his Number One Dime: she wants to melt it down as part of a spell that will give her the Midas touch. In the comics, she's Italian (she lives next to Naples on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius), but in the cartoon she had an Eastern European \"Natasha Fatale\" accent.<\/p>\n

Rather than making Magica an old crone, Barks opted to make her young and sexy, basing her on Italian actresses Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren, with a dash of Morticia Addams thrown in for good measure. She wears a long black dress with red cuffs, and the toy even gets her high heels despite its small size. Her eyelids are half closed, in a bit of a seductive look, and she's posed in a decent \"spellcasting\" stance, with one hand on her hip and the other held out before her with the fingers at odd angles.<\/p>\n

Magica is a Hot Topic exclusive, but she's the rarest of the three: Negatron<\/a> and Swimming Scrooge are both 1:6 figures, but Magica is 1:12 - if you're curious, I got her from the top right corner in the back.<\/p>\n

BONUS CONTENT!<\/p>\n