Mirror Mirror is a DuckTales fanfiction written by a fan going by “soulful-sin” (fanfiction writers usually have just the silliest name; this isn't a special case). More precisely, its appeal lies in that it is a crossover of sorts between the classic Duck universe and DuckTales 2017.
(An unrelatd, but also very entertaining, fanmade take
on the ‘Webby meets Webby’ premise.)
The basic plot is that the 1987 version of Webby Vanderquack is dared by the triplets to touch a creepy old mirror Scrooge has in his archives. Naturally, the mirror turns out to be a cursed artifact, which transports her to alternate dimension — a strange world where the boys have different personalities, where it's already the 21st century, and where she is herself a strong, independent adventurer rather than the meek little girl who has to stow away if she wants to go on any adventures at all with Scrooge and the boys. The mirror then gets shattered, trapping Webby in the DT17 universe, and Scrooge has to make a deal with Magica De Spell to repair it.
The story certainly has a lot going for it.
For one thing, all the characters, from both series, are written perfectly in-character (it's impossible not to hear Louie-17 as Bobby Moynihan or Scrooge-87 as Alan Young), and the crossover unfolds very nicely. The story manages to make you care about classic-Webby even with the other, universally-considered-more-interesting Webby running around at the same time. Both worlds are, in general, rendered very faithfully — with the irritating, borderline-inexplicable exception that Duckburg is persistently misspelled as “Duckberg”.
Soulful-sin also tentatively takes a stab at a possible return of Lena De Spell, which may not be the most imaginative, but allows for emotional stuff between her and Webby. (For good or ill, the story has a lot of ‘emotional stuff’. No romance per se, though the author stated their love of the Webby/Lena pairing elsewhere, but just general angst.)
There are, I think, two blunders in this story's conceit, beyond the fact that the writing, while solid, is not quite of professional quality. The first is a surprising absence of the humor so essential to both DuckTales series' appeal. The second is that, forced to acknowledge DT17's Della plotline, Soulful-sin felt compelled to clarify Della's fate in the prime timeline as well, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with… anything. Not only is Family Ties ignored (which is odd, considering its very clear parallels with the DT17 story), but the Mirror Mirror version implies that Scrooge was indeed adventuring with Della around the time of the triplets' birth, a blatant DT17 contamination that in no way fits the classic timeline.
Still, the DuckTales fanfiction community isn't exactly of Harry Potter level in scale, and we should take what we can get. Mirror Mirror is definitely on the upper end of Duck fanfiction as it exists for now, and if you've ever wondered what the two worlds crashing into each other might look like, and don't mind a healthy helping of sappy angst, it's a pleasant enough read.
Ye Olde Post-Scriptum
Three other weird decisions by Soulful-sin that I fail to understand: 17-Magica swears a lot (though it's never taken down word for word; we're just told 'she cursed', 'she said a string of very bad words Mrs Beakley certainly wouldn't approve of', etc.). Classic-Scrooge is orders of magnitude less wealthy than 17-Scrooge……er, why? And finally, there are repeated reference to this post-Shadow War story taking place in 2017, as opposed to the canonical 2018. No idea why. Since there was a Christmas episode halfway through the season, one would presume it was obvious that the year's changed, but apparently not to Soulfun-sin.
Ye Olde Post-Scriptum
Three other weird decisions by Soulful-sin that I fail to understand: 17-Magica swears a lot (though it's never taken down word for word; we're just told 'she cursed', 'she said a string of very bad words Mrs Beakley certainly wouldn't approve of', etc.). Classic-Scrooge is orders of magnitude less wealthy than 17-Scrooge……er, why? And finally, there are repeated reference to this post-Shadow War story taking place in 2017, as opposed to the canonical 2018. No idea why. Since there was a Christmas episode halfway through the season, one would presume it was obvious that the year's changed, but apparently not to Soulfun-sin.
I had actually found and started reading this fanfiction a few weeks ago but never finished - perhaps I'd ought to give it another go.
ReplyDelete(also, no "Mandatory Post-Scriptum"?)
There *was* one but it got accidentally deleted; thank you for pointing it out.
DeleteThis was one of the first Ducktales fanfics I read, and it was the plot of my dreams: the original and new show meeting. I've seen some fanarts exploring the idea, but this is the one and only story I've read so far to explore this plot.
ReplyDeleteThat said, there was one thing that wasn't fulfilled to me, and it was Webbigail's arc. The story is about her meeting her 21th century counterpart, so naturally we see the story thorugh her eyes and sympathize with her. We feel bad for her being excluded by the others, and not being allowed to participate the adventures in an active way. Yet, after the climax, this is what happens: she doesn't participate in an proeminent way, she doesn't get to prove herself worthy. She spents most of the adventure being passive and lamenting that she isn't better and tougher, which is sympathetic, but she never grows out of it. The closest thing to an active role is that she SPOILER: brings on her friend to help them bring Lena back, and this only happens after the climax, when the adventure is over END OF SPOILER.
I din't need her save the day herself, I was just expecting the story to give her something to do, since she's the main character, for crying out loud! This is the same mistake the original show made in most episodes with Webby, which was not giving her much to do (if at all), making a good part of the audience dislike her. Viewers have a hard time liking passive characters, and I was hoping the story would know better than that.
Then again, it's just a fan story: the author has no obligations with me or anyone, and has the right to portray the characters as he pleases. I like "Mirror Mirror" a lot, it has really good and interesting moments with the old and new characters we love (Scrooges interacting is priceless). I just wish the main character was given a little more something to do.
You make some very good points; honestly, though, I couldn't even tell you now, just a few months later, precisely what the plot of Mirror Mirror was in the first place, let alone whether Classic!Webby participated in it in a satisfactory way.
DeleteBy the by, if you too are interested in DuckTales fanfiction, can you recommend any good ones? The latest I had cause to keep an eye on is a sort of remake of Mirror Mirror by the title of Hi, We're Webby. Unfortunately promises to include more than its fair share of adult content, which doesn't inspire confidence, but puzzlingly, its first two chapters were surprisingly in-character for both Webbies, and the author has also promised some plot, so y'know, cautiously optimistic.
But it's not really much, is it?
Sorry it took me so long to reply; I've been busy in the last few weeks.
ReplyDeleteI've been searching every once in a while, and there isn't much interesting material. One story that I found was actually Mirror Mirror's sequel, "The Fairest of Them All, about Webby's finding details about her parents, something that neither Ducktales series ever dealt with (and probably never will). It takes place entirely in the reboot Universe, the classic being only mentioned. As in the first story, there's some themes and a good action sequence in the climax. Also, some citizens of Saint Canard make a welcome, if underused cameo. It also brings a conlusion to Della' s arc, though some details are outdated (the story was written long before "Whatever Happened To Della Duck"). I also read "Dreams And Reality", about Dewey as he dreams of his mother's past, and struggles to find more clues about her; it's a little old now that we have more information of Della's whereabouts, but it's well written.
If you have any interest in stories from Classic Ducktales, I'd recommend "Ducktales: Twenty Years Later", which crosses over the classic show with Darkwing Duck and Talespin in the future after Scrooge is gone, the triplets are split in different paths, and meet some familiar faces from Saint Canard and Cape Suzette. The story is full of mature themes (fan writers love doing that with kids' shows), and from what I've read so far, it's pretty good. Also "The Lost Tomb of Pharaoh Sedqaduck", an adventure with Scrooge, the triplets and Gladstone in Egypt, and "The Reunion At Duckburg", a less ambitious crossover between Ducktales and Goof Troop, with a good adventure against Magica de Spell.
As far I found, there aren't many interesting stories; maybe it's too soon. I did stumble across "Hi, We're Webby!", but the premise scared me miles away from it.
I know of Sedqaduck and Reunion by way of Chris Barat, yeah.
Delete