Gladstone Gander is a character from the Donald Duck comics. Like his name suggests, he is a goose rather than a duck, but in spite of this fact, he is stated to be Donald’s cousin and one of Scrooge’s nephews. Since this makes Gladstone one of Scrooge’s potential heirs, this makes him Donald’s rival, though there are other factors that have contributed to make him so.
For example, Gladstone is lucky, so much so that he can get whatever he wants without having to spend time and effort on the matter. Something that must be an enormous source of frustration for Donald, whose lack of luck is one of his most common characteristics. Even worse, Gladstone makes no productive use of his luck, as shown by the fact that he has never accomplished anything of note because of a lack of ambition. This is something that contrasts him with Scrooge, who has a number of negative characteristics to him but nonetheless built his fortune through a relentlessness that crosses over into the fantastical. Finally, it should be mentioned that Gladstone is often depicted as being Donald’s rival for Donald’s girlfriend Daisy, which is one more reason that the two cousins have a rather hostile relationship.
How Has Gladstone Gander Changed in the New DuckTales?
Gladstone showed up in a number of episodes in the first DuckTales. Now, he has shown up in the new DuckTales as well. Overall, he was much as what people would have expected of him, which is to say, he was lucky, lazy, and arrogant. However, the exact details of what he was up to were nonetheless unpleasant to see, though to be fair, that is as it should be.
In short, the episode saw Gladstone calling in his family for help. However, his behavior is so poor that both Donald and Scrooge are on the verge of leaving before it is revealed that Gladstone has been imprisoned by Toad Liu Hai, who is a spirit of chance whose nature can be best summed up as being a luck vampire. As a result, Scrooge challenges Toad Liu Hai to a contest in which Donald will serve as the representative of the Duck family while Gladstone will serve as the representative of Toad Liu Hai, with the loser being forced to become the spirit’s new prisoner. Despite expectations, it is Donald who becomes Toad Liu Hai’s new prisoner even when he wins, though fortunately for him, the spirit loses power when he starts feeding on Donald because Donald’s luck is just that bad.
Overall, the episode served an important purpose by laying the foundations for further narratives in the new DuckTales, with the introduction of Gladstone being the best example thereof. Said character was exactly what he should have been. However, it is interesting to note that both Donald and Scrooge are shown to have an enormous dislike for the character, with Scrooge’s dislike having originated from the feeling that Gladstone’s success is undeserved. It remains to be seen how these relationships will be used in future episodes, but based on their current state, they have the potential to prove interesting indeed.
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