- “A Junior Woodchuck is always prepared! I brought my lunch - peanut butter and sardines! I'm a growin' boy, ya know."
"I'd say you were three growing boys!” - ―Doofus and Scrooge[src]
Doofus Drake is a friend of Huey, Dewey, and Louie's, who appears in DuckTales and a number of Junior Woodchucks comics. He is a larger and rotund duck and has a constant appetite. He is reimagined as an antagonistic character in the 2017 reboot.
Background
Personality
Doofus is a rather dim-witted and clumsy character with a positive attitude that is just as insatiable as his appetite. He exhibits hero worship for Launchpad, which frequently borders on the delusional (the relationship between Doofus and Launchpad, in many ways, mirrors that of Launchpad and Scrooge). Doofus is also marked by his strong moral compass, best demonstrated in the episode "Superdoo!", in which he uses paranormal powers to save the Junior Woodchucks from catastrophe, only to voluntarily relinquish them for the sake of hard work and friendship. In the 2017 reboot, Doofus' personality was changed from a stupid child to a spoiled and selfish person, making Doofus something of a neutral character. Doofus became something of a rival to Louie, often torturing and teasing him, much to Louie's chagrin. Furthermore, Doofus still retains his voracious appetite, but this time Doofus' voracious appetite is followed by his selfishness and arrogance.
Appearances
DuckTales
Doofus is a regular in the show, primarily throughout season one, often with Launchpad McQuack, acting as his sidekick. Doofus is a member of the Junior Woodchucks and is often shown wearing his uniform. When Scrooge travels 40 years into the future in the episode "Duck to the Future", Doofus has become trimmer and it's revealed that he is married to Webbigail. Since this future also involved Scrooge's nephews becoming money-grubbers and Magica ruling the world, this may not be definite and is very likely just a fabricated future by Magica. Following the introduction of the characters Bubba the Cave Duck and Fenton Crackshell in season two, Doofus was faded out of the series entirely.
DuckTales (2017)
Doofus reappears in the reboot, but his 2017's version is radically different from his original counterpart - rather than being a benevolent friend of the McDuck children, this version is a rich, spoiled heir who turned his parents into servants, and is one of the reboot's villains, primarily Louie's personal nemesis. He first appears in the episode "Day of the Only Child!", where Louie tries to befriend Doofus only to find out about Doofus' unhealthy lifestyle. Doofus was apparently not always this way according to his parents, but after the passing of his grandmother Frances (or "Gummeemama", as he refers to her), Doofus was named inheritor of her fortune and became inconsiderate, controlling, and obsessive because of it. Since he has everything his heart desires, Doofus views everyone as a possession he can treat however he wants, with the exception of his beloved grandmother, although Doofus becomes hostile when her likeness is threatened. This extends to his own parents, whom he forces to serve as his maid and butler while unceasingly tormenting them with humiliating tasks. When not exhibiting his selfishness, Doofus has a tepid, peculiar disposition and seemingly indifferent about how his quirks may startle or discomfort others.
Doofus appears in the episode "Treasure of the Found Lamp!", where he traded a lamp Gladstone Gander bought for a blimp. He wanted the lamp to use as a gravy bowl, but then realized he could just make his father use his hands, so threw it away.
Doofus appears in the episode "Happy Birthday, Doofus Drake!", where he holds his Septleventh Birth-Anniversary party. It is attended by the Beagles, Flintheart Glomgold, and a ventriloquist dummy, Mark Beaks and his son "BOYD", Louie and Glittering Goldie and throughout the night he ejects the guests who really aren't with families. Although he allows Glomgold to stay at first as he considered his act with his "son" soothing, Doofus does eventually kick Glomgold out after breaks the dummy. Louie and Goldie eventually expose B.O.Y.D. as a robot, so Doofus kicks Beaks out of the party but keeps Boyd and orders it to kill Louie.
Goldie ends up stepping in front of B.O.Y.D. to get him to stop. To her and Louie's surprise, B.O.Y.D. shuts down and Doofus praises Louie and Goldie for passing the test. The whole ordeal was a test devised by Doofus to test their bonds of parenthood, just so Doofus could claim Goldie as his new "Goldiemama". Doofus relinquishes the gift bags to Louie and catapults him out.
Doofus encases Goldie in a glass prison and forces her to tell him stories. Louie eventually rescues Goldie and appropriates B.O.Y.D.'s settings to treat the Drakes as his parents; the two Drakes happily embrace their new adoptive son. Feeling betrayed, Doofus throws a tantrum and threatens to sever his parents' pay, but B.O.Y.D. transfers half of Doofus' inheritance to his own bank account, which he generously shares with his new parents. Now reassured by a truly loving son, Mrs. Drake sternly informs Doofus that he is to be grounded indefinitely, for which Doofus vows revenge on Louie.
He is next seen in "Moonvasion!" as a prisoner in McDuck Manor during the invasion.
He is seen as a Junior Woodchuck in "Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks!"
Doofus appears again briefly in "Astro B.O.Y.D.!" when Gyro and Huey are viewing B.O.Y.D.'s memories where in one involving him, which takes place after Happy Birthday, Doofus Drake!, he tries to force him to break one of his mother's necklaces as revenge for not giving him gravy baths anymore. However, B.O.Y.D. is uncomfortable with breaking anything, to which Doofus responds by angrily asking why "he insists on breaking his heart". B.O.Y.D. then apologizes and offers to hug him, which scares Doofus since he's afraid that he's "attacking him with love", before Gyro and Huey switch to a different memory.
His final appearance was in "The Life and Crimes of Scrooge McDuck!" where he joins forces with Flintheart Glomgold, Ma Beagle and Magica De Spell in a last ditch effort to take down Scrooge McDuck by taking him and Louie to a celestial court to charge Scrooge with creating them as his enemies, with Doofus acting as the prosecuting attorney. He reveals to Louie, who is forced to be Scrooge's defense attorney, that he hopes to take vengeance on him for causing half of his fortune to be shared. Although Glomgold and Ma end up losing their credibility, it's Magica who ends up nearly winning the case for the villains by showing that Scrooge is (indirectly) responsible for her brother Poe De Spell being turned into a mindless raven. As Scrooge laments that having enemies can sometimes make you part of the problem, Louie confronts Doofus and says that even though he is messed up, he doesn't want to have a lifetime rivalry with him and sincerely expresses his remorse for what happened on his birthday. Doofus menacingly approaches Louie before hugging him and expressing gratitude, revealing that all he wanted was an apology. Doofus then abandons the case and walks out of the courtroom. While he wasn't there to see it, he eventually lost the case.
Trivia
- According to Frank Angones, the reason for Doofus being turned evil in the 2017 reboot is because they wanted a foil to Louie on how money could ruin a person if left unchecked, and because the writers disliked Doofus' characterization in the original show. This version of Doofus is roughly modeled after Anthony Fremont, the villainous boy played by Bill Mumy at the center of The Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life", where the central premise was an omnipotent boy becomes a monster because no one can tell him no.
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