What Was Wrong with Original Webby?

[zlens]

This is an honest question, I can´t understand what was so bad about her, to such a degree the people behind the reboot decided to change her to a Mabel fascimile (a defective one in my humble opinión, because this ¨new and improved¨ Webby seems more psycho than fun loving, but I digress).
Yeah, maybe she was somewhat cloying, I heard that criticism against Molly from Talespin too, but I still don´t think she deserved to have her entire original personality throwed to a garbage pail because of it.

 

[TheVileOne]

Just hating haters. That's about it. Aside from that, the boys' personalities seem very different as well.

 

[Fone Bone]

Speaking as a fan of the Carl Barks and Dona Rosa comics, if Webby were actually the worst thing about the original DuckTales, I would consider it a great show. But DuckTales' huge problems and low-quality had almost nothing to do with Webby. She was a symptom of why the show sucked, not the cause.

 

[Surreal Kangaroo]

I never had a problem with the original Webby. Maybe it's because I'm a girl, but I never found her annoying or overly cutesy. Then again I haven't seen the show in a few years.

Speaking as a fan of the Carl Barks and Dona Rosa comics, if Webby were actually the worst thing about the original DuckTales, I would consider it a great show. But DuckTales' huge problems and low-quality had almost nothing to do with Webby. She was a symptom of why the show sucked, not the cause.

Just curious, but why didn't you like Duck Tales.

 

[Fone Bone]

Where to start? This is a great question, but it WILL inspire a rant. I'm not going to list every problem I have with the show, but I'll get to the essentials, and the things that really piss me off. This post might be a little longish.

1. I feel the show didn't have the heart of the Uncle Scrooge comics. Remember the episode "Once Upon A Dime", and Scrooge is saying goodbye to his parents in Scotland? And they accidentally honk the bagpipes as they hug so this otherwise touching moment is ruined and played for laughs. In the Carl Barks comics, Scrooge's family history is treated respectfully and seriously, and the Don Rosa comics go even further than that and make the history touching and heartbreaking. DuckTales treated the concept like a kiddie cartoon joke.

2. Sexism. Aside from having no strong female characters (Daisy and Grandma Duck are completely absent and Glittering Goldie only appears two or three times) 'Til Nephews Do Us Part is absolutely appalling on every level. The evil business shrew wants to marry Scrooge for his money, and Scrooge spends the earlier part of the episode treating her like a sexist pig.

3. Bubba Duck. I don't need to explain this one.

4. Gizmoduck. I hate Gizmoduck. With a passion. He is just as bad Bubba to me. Because like Bubba, he turns the premise into something it isn't actually about: a superhero parody. That not what Uncle Scrooge stories should ever be. Here is an irony. I kind of liked Gizmoduck on Darkwing Duck. Because there the character was appropriate.

5. Flintheart Glomgold sucked. First off, in the comics, he isn't Scottish, he's South African, and the character is made worse for seeming a Scrooge rip-off on the cartoon. Also they made Scrooge legitimately far richer than him. That was a mistake. The entire source of their genuine conflict is that their wealths are so vast they cannot easily be measured. That's where the fun of the Barks and Rosa stories come from.

6. Doofus. Like Bubba, not something I have to explain to anybody else.

7. Duckworth's Revolt: I hated this episode back in the day because I thought the moral of "Slavery is bad, mm'kay?" was too obvious, and not something that needed to be debated. As far as I was concerned, that was settled. But looking back on it, maybe what I SHOULD have been objecting to is that they say "Slavery is bad" without looking at the general underlying causes such as racism and economic suffering. It's easy to tell kids slavery is bad. But if you don't tell them the actual reasons it was, they aren't going to understand the moral properly.

8. The Phantom Blot: I could list pages and pages about why DuckTales' version of the best Disney villain ever sucks so much, but I'll just leave it here: They actually ruined his spooky character design and gave him a freaking mouth. That is all.

9. The TMS animation was fine, but things went downhill when the studio switched to Wang / Cuckoo's Nest.

10. Similarly the writing declined as the series went along too. I'm not going to pretend I loved the first half of the first season, but there is not denying Treasure Of The Golden Suns is far superior to The Ducky Horror Picture Show or Scroogerello.

I could probably think of another dozen things about it that annoy me, but I want to be able to get some sleep.

 

[SweetShop209]

I'm going to assume the creators of the original show wanted it to be more faithful to the comics, but things like executive meddling and/or legal issues (I.e. Donald having a few scarce appearances as opposed to being a major player in the comics) prevented that from happening. Not that many people know that the original cartoon was based on comics, hence why most people think of the cartoon instead of the comics when they hear "Ducktales", and only dedicated comic readers would know otherwise.

As for the question at hand, it's probably from the mentality of girls and women at the time that Webby was what she was, hence her reputation.

 

[ToonsJazzLover]

I watched the whole original series, and I thought she was okay, but she was bland most of the time. The reboot personality, I'm not sure what to say about it, but I will say something once I watch it next week.

 

[ToonReel]

Webby is different, but truthfully so is a lot of the rest of the cast. When I see the triplets and Mrs Beakley, I don't get deja vu of the original show. This is a reimagining, part to give it more a tone of the original Carl Banks works, and the other to give it more 'contemporary' humour and style.

 

[Rick Jones]

I haven't seen the series since I was in the single digits range and I haven't seen the movie in 10 years but from memory, I never disliked Webby. She was pretty much the fourth sibling in my eyes and I viewed them all the same. I could relate more to the boys, especially as a guy with my own experience with sisters but at the end of the day, Scrooge and Launchpad were on the characters I watched for.

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

 

[TnAdct1]

5. Flintheart Glomgold sucked. First off, in the comics, he isn't Scottish, he's South African

There was a good reason for that change, as the show came out around the time when there was a lot of backlash towards South Africa due to apartheid.

 

[ToonReel]

From what I know comics Glomgold is Scottish as well (he even has the cliche bonnet) just he took residence in South Africa due to having descendants there, and the aforementioned real life issues led the original show to relocate him to Duckberg. The venom over the 'second richest duck' billing was there too, just the show, like his Scottish traits, maybe exaggerated it.

Gladstone Gander wasn't a smug jerk in the show either (though some fans actually enjoyed that).

I know Don Rosa wasn't fond of Duck Tales and hated actually having to write a few comic based on it's continuity. I heard Carl Banks himself wasn't too off put by it, if more because he could accept it was a different interpretation from what he made.

 

[TsWade2]

Well, I don't have any problems with Webby in the original. I mean, she may not be everyone's favorite, but she's just a little girl. But I guess she's sort of a little sister stereotype. But in the reboot, they making her more excitable, adventurous, and fan girlish kind of girl, which is IMO is fine with me. In fact, I thought the new Webby was funny. I admit, her character is sort of familiar of Mabel Pines, but she's funny as.........heck.

 

[PinkieLopBun]

I haven't seen a whole lot of the original DuckTales, but from what I've seen of Webby, I don't have any major issues with her. However, I'm still okay with them changing her character if it's something better. From what I've seen, I personally think the new Webby is more fun than the old one, so I'm okay with it.

 

[Fone Bone]

There was a good reason for that change, as the show came out around the time when there was a lot of backlash towards South Africa due to apartheid.

Great point. I guess it only seems disappointing in hindsight.

 

[ShadowBeast]

I don't think I was a fan of the original Webby's whiny personality. But I don't think I was a big fan of Huey,Dewie,Louie either. My only complaint about the new Webby is her fighting abilities (I have no problems with kick-butt females, but you love variety if turn them all into butt-kickers), otherwise her new personality seems fun.

 

[Dragnatek]

All they did was trade one stereotype for another. I am more impressed with the reboot boys instead of being just three identical characters they have distinct personalities that are rooted in aspects of the original personality all three share. Much better then the last attempt at distinguishing the three.

 

[Fone Bone]

I don't think I was a fan of the original Webby's whiny personality. But I don't think I was a big fan of Huey,Dewie,Louie either. My only complaint about the new Webby is her fighting abilities (I have no problems with kick-butt females, but you love variety if turn them all into butt-kickers), otherwise her new personality seems fun.

I personally think the more kick-butt females the better. Nobody complains about the lack of variety for the personalities of every single male hero who kicks butt, but some people want to have a finite amount of women who do it. Not me. I'd be perfectly happy if every single fictional female character from now on kicked butt. It might make TV and film worse to have to turn the damsel in the distress roles entirely over to the men. But I wouldn't complain.

 

[ShadowBeast]

I personally think the more kick-butt females the better. Nobody complains about the lack of variety for the personalities of every single male hero who kicks butt, but some people want to have a finite amount of women who do it. Not me. I'd be perfectly happy if every single fictional female character from now on kicked butt. It might make TV and film worse to have to turn the damsel in the distress roles entirely over to the men. But I wouldn't complain.

What male heroes who kick butt? Most males characters are made into idiots these days, even the action ones. Making every female a kick-butt female only limits the type of female characters. It also makes them look like mary-sues since giving them any type of flaw is considered bad to those who are PC. I rather female characters have a variety to them than just kick butt types.

All they did was trade one stereotype for another. I am more impressed with the reboot boys instead of being just three identical characters they have distinct personalities that are rooted in aspects of the original personality all three share. Much better then the last attempt at distinguishing the three.

I get a Quack-Pack vibe from them with how they behave.

 

[Fone Bone]

What male heroes who kick butt? Most males characters are made into idiots these days, even the action ones.

Batman, Superman, Captain Kirk, Spock, Captain Picard, Worf, Captain Sisko, the Flash, Arrow, Agent Coulson, Nick Fury, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Iron Man, Captain America, Gandalf, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Samurai Jack, Optimus Prime, Agent Mulder, Doctor Who, Captain Jack Harkness, Angel, Mal Reynolds, John Crichton, Splinter, James Bond, Robin / Nightwing, Constantine. You've never heard of any of these people?

Making every female a kick-butt female only limits the type of female characters. It also makes them look like mary-sues since giving them any type of flaw is considered bad to those who are PC. I rather female characters have a variety to them than just kick butt types.
.

Who was it that decided that any female character that kicks butt is a Mary Sue? Because I think that's b.s.. And I sure as hell don't want writers to stop writing strong female characters for fear of internet backlash.

And buttkickers can totally have flaws, as seen in most of the male heroes I listed above. If writers are concerned about people believing female heroes cannot have flaws, well, read again what I said about them ignoring internet criticism.

We deserve more fully rounded female characters who can go toe to toe with men. And it astounds me that this idea is still controversial among fandom.

 

[ShadowBeast]

Batman, Superman, Captain Kirk, Spock, Captain Picard, Worf, Captain Sisko, the Flash, Arrow, Agent Coulson, Nick Fury, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Iron Man, Captain America, Gandalf, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Samurai Jack, Optimus Prime, Agent Mulder, Doctor Who, Captain Jack Harkness, Angel, Mal Reynolds, John Crichton, Splinter, James Bond, Robin / Nightwing, Constantine. You've never heard of any of these people?

Yeah, most of those are live-action. I'm referring to cartoons.

Who was it that decided that any female character that kicks butt is a Mary Sue? Because I think that's b.s.. And I sure as hell don't want writers to stop writing strong female characters for fear of internet backlash.

And buttkickers can totally have flaws, as seen in most of the male heroes I listed above. If writers are concerned about people believing female heroes cannot have flaws, well, read again what I said about them ignoring internet criticism.

We deserve more fully rounded female characters who can go toe to toe with men. And it astounds me that this idea is still controversial among fandom.

The butt-kickers are also the voice of reason and also the smartest among a bunch of idiots. A lack of flaws.
A butt kicker can have flaws, but it's rare to see the female characters have them, and it feels like it's done for PC reasons.