Louie accidentally loses Scrooge's "number-one dime" and turns to Gyro Gearloose to help him get it back. Meanwhile, Dewey and Webby go to the McDuck Archives to look for information about Della.
Tropes:
- #1 Dime: The Trope Namer is reintroduced in this episode, and the practicality of it is questioned by Scrooge's investors, noting that Scrooge spent a lot of money just to give it a velvet pillow. Louie spends it to get a can of soda and spends his half of the episode trying to get it back, but it turns out the dime on display was just a decoy, Scrooge keeping the real dime on his person. He gives the decoy to Louie, with the intent of having it be his own #1 Dime, but Louie eagerly spends it on a can of soda again on accident.
- Absurdly Long Stairway: The episode makes a Running Gag of Louie missing the elevator and having to climb up and down the stairs.
- Adaptation Personality Change:
- Quackfaster in the comics was Scrooge's harried but overall nice secretary. Here she is an Ax-Crazy archivist who will threaten children seeking knowledge (though she claims she is just testing them or punishing them for trying to break the rules of the "trials", and she may be more loony than evil).
- Gyro Gearloose goes from Nice Guy to Insufferable Genius.
- In the Carl Barks comics and in his single appearance on the 1987 series, Little Bulb was everything Gyro claimed: helpful, obedient, and useful, practically Gyro's Familiar. Not so much here, at least until Gyro realises he used a bulb that had more wattage than intended.
- In the comics, Donald and Gladstone Gander (Depending on the Writernote Comics sympathetic to Donald and/or Scrooge often cast the former as lazy/unlucky and the latter as disappointed/smug/self-righteous depending on the dynamic they wanted. This goes back to Carl Barks' works where earlier comics had an unsympathetic Scrooge and a sympathetic Donald, and then switched over later on) were always the recipients of Scrooge's lectures/lessons on the virtues of hard work and the evils of laziness; Scrooge and the triplets (including Louie) were always on the same page as far as their work ethic, with Scrooge often observing how he and they were similar.. The show has chosen to give the triplets different personalities and attitudes, and also a separate dynamic with Scrooge to set them apart, has a very reluctant Louie as the one Scrooge has to push and motivate to ambition, action, and independence.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: All of Gyro's robots end up turning evil, though he insists only half of them are evil and the other half are "wildly misunderstood".
- All for Nothing: The number-one dime that Scrooge has on display is just a dummy, so Louie ends up trying to reclaim it for nothing. Or at least nothing except the knowledge that he had still worked hard to accomplish a goal, which he admits does feel pretty good.
- An Aesop:
- The easy way isn't always the best way, and hard work is ultimately its own reward.
- Patience is a virtue (especially if it prevents you from taking and losing another person's property).
- Angry Fist-Shake: Li'l Bulb does this after one of the members of Scrooge's board of directors insults Gyro's inventions.
- Ax-Crazy: Quackfaster once she starts using the sword.
- Berserk Button:
- Louie's slovenly and wasteful attitudes set Scrooge on edge, and he takes it upon himself to teach the lad the value of hard work.
- Webby says that Della Duck is one for Scrooge. One time a mailman brought junk mail delivered to her; Scrooge then bought the post office and the mailman never came to the mansion again.
- Big "NO!": Louie when he spends the dime Scrooge gave him as a reward on another soda. Combined with Skyward Scream.
- Blank Book: The Life and Times of Della Duck is almost entirely blank. The only thing inside is a Dewey Decimal number that points to the location of the secret archive room.
- Boring Yet Practical: Scrooge gets almost nowhere defending his employees to the Board and after Li'l Bulb crashes through the wall he decides to just scare them into dropping it by basically saying "Yes they are completely out of their minds and do you really want to find out what happens if you cross them?"
- Building of Adventure: The Money Bin is portrayed as one, in huge contrast to its portrayal as a giant piggy bank in the 1987 series. It now has 57 floors, which visually doesn't come off, and seems to be a case of Bigger on the Inside. In addition to the giant space with the coins, there's an underground laboratory for Gyro, and a huge library full of archives, and as Scrooge notes with some amount of pride and affection, it's full of lunatics like Gyro Gearloose and Miss Quackfaster.
- Bullying a Dragon: How Scrooge closes the argument about cutting the cash influx to the Money Bin.
Scrooge: Ye can'eh get rid of the bin! You may think they're crackpots and weirdos, but they're the ones who push innovation and creativity, inspire this company ever forward!
(Marauding robot knocks down the door as Gyro clings to its back)
Gyro: Just a little malfunction! Definitely not evil!
Scrooge: (Completely dropping the facade) Look, they're all mad as loons, and if you fire them, they're definitely going to seek revenge.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Quackfaster is a bit Ax-Crazy, but highly competent. Scrooge implies the same about Gyro Gearloose.
- Call-Back: The Spear of Selene is mentioned again - first time by Donald in Atlantis - this time in a note by Della apologizing for taking it.
- The Cameo: Glomgold appears as a guest on the show Louie watches on his phone.
- Chew-Out Fake-Out: Scrooge delivers one of these. When he asks Louie about his absence from the board room, Louie mentions he's going to get a new notebook, as he'd filled the previous one taking notes. Scrooge replies that he can take all he likes in a tone that implies he's calling Louie out on his BS, before immediately directing his ire at the board's parsimonious ways. He then in a much more sincere tone advises Louie to use both sides of each page and write small.
- Coat Tail Riding Relative: Louie has started to become very lazy and wasteful since moving into McDuck Manor and justifies it on the basis that "we're rich". As Scrooge points out, he's rich and Louie and the others are just staying with him.
- Continuity Nod: Scrooge mentions he requires magical defenses because of the vengeance curses on his head. In "Woo-oo!", we saw a Ghost Pirate coming after his head.
- Conveniently Timed Distraction: When Quackfaster managed to capture Dewey and Webby, they managed to escape Quackfaster when she gets distracted when Louie enters the library while being chased by Little Bulb.
- Crazy-Prepared: Scrooge spends millions on magical defenses to protect himself and his property from the many curses and such that his more magically-inclined enemies send after him.
- Decon-Recon Switch: The Money Bin Pool goes through this; it's deconstructed when Louie tries to dive in, and Scrooge stops him because he'll crack his head open if he does. Reconstructed when Scrooge points out that the reason he can dive in is because he's trained and prepared his body for many years in order to be able to do so.
- Didn't Think This Through: To get extra money for a soda, Louie grabs a dime from a display. It doesn't occur to him to ask why it's on a pedestal. He then finds out that Uncle Scrooge values it highly since it's his First Dime.
- Disproportionate Retribution: According to Webby, one time the mailman brought junk mail to the house addressed to Della. Scrooge then bought the post office, and Webby claims he made the postman disappear (or rather she never saw him again, which given how sheltered she was may only mean he was reassigned and never went to the mansion again).
- Distinction Without a Difference: When catching Dewey rifling through her notebook, Webby asks whether he thinks she covers it in sparkly red glitter just because it looks nice. When Dewey answers in the affirmative, she concedes that it does look nice, but that's just a fringe benefit and not the real reason.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Webby excitedly notes that the trials and the library really does have all the answers pointing that it knows Dewey's name, indicating a giant boarding that says "Dewey Decimal". For those who might not be familiar, the Dewey Decimal refers to the cataloging system used in many modern libraries and it's not named after Dewey Duck, it's named after its inventor Mevil Dewey.
- Expressive Mask: Li'l Bulb's filament reshapes itself into eye expressions.
- Eye Am Watching You: Gyro does this gesture after Louie borrows Li'l Bulb.
- Failed a Spot Check: This episode reveals that Scrooge has done everything he could to remove any evidence of Della. Apparently, he forgot about the painting that Dewey fixed in the pilot.
- Fatal Flaw: Louie's laziness, combined with Didn't Think This Through and not paying attention to Scrooge. He gets pulled to the Money Bin because he makes the mistake of being openly slovenly and wasteful in front of Scrooge, whom he knows is a penny pincher. Then later on he accidentally uses what he thinks is an emergency dime, he spends the entire episode trying to get it back. Scrooge was about to tell him the dime's importance before the Money Bin distracted him. Furthermore, if he'd searched for the Dime himself rather than making Little Bulb do it, most of the resulting chaos would have been avoided. He doesn't really get better by the end, though he seems to have learned to listen to Scrooge and does come to admit that earning the Dime after all his hard work for it did feel pretty good.
- Flat-Earth Atheist: The board acts like Scrooge spending 15 million on magical defenses is a waste of money. The series premier featured a giant dragon destroying part of the manor.
- Foreshadowing:
- Scrooge tries to show off his #1 Dime to Louie, who's more entranced by the money vault. Due to Louie missing the lecture, he doesn't realize the dime's importance until it's too late.
- Scrooge explains to Louie that he had to build up his strength and dexterity to be able to swim in his money vault. Indeed, when Louie winds up down there trying to retrieve the dime he struggles to move through the coins.
- A more long-term example comes at the end, when Gyro brainstorms something he calls "Project Blatherskite". Three guesses to what that means...
- A smaller earlier one in the scene where Louie convinces Gyro to let him test Little Bulb, which has Gryo muttering to himself "blathering blatherskite", which is the codeword for the very thing "Project Blatherskite" itself foreshadows.
- Scrooge mentioning the magical defenses against vengeance curses, while also a Continuity Nod to the ghosts in the first episode, foreshadows a future appearance of his most dangerous magical foe, Magica De Spell.
- The first shot of the hidden Della room is a ceiling star map, foreshadowing the exact fate of Della.
- Among his inventions that have gone evil, Gyro lists the Time Tub. About thirty episodes later, we actually see the Time Tub in action.
- This episode is the first time the Magical Defense Budget is brought up, and could easily be written off as a one-off gag. The penultimate episode of Season 2 would explain what the budget is actually for, and what happens when you cut the funding for it.
- Funny Background Event: As Launchpad backs Scrooge's limo out of the garage, you can see how the hood is damaged — and as the camera focuses on Dewey and Webby, you can hear a faint crash in the background, indicating that he's crashed into something again.
- Gilligan Cut: Scrooge, in an attempt to keep his board from firing everyone who works at the money bin, praises his staff. The first time, he cites the levelheadedness of Quackfaster — then we cut to her threatening Dewey and Webby with a sword. The second time, he tries to defend Gyro's competency — and Gyro is then seen arguing with the vending machine.
- Gone Horribly Right:
- Louie tells Little Bulb to get Scrooge's Number One Dime out of the bunch of coins. Louie eventually comes across it right after Little Bulb has made himself makeshift Powered Armor, and gets chased all across the Money Bin as a result.
- Scrooge admits he keeps the Board of Directors around because they're the only people he knows that are "cheaper than [him]". Just after admitting this, the Board starts to discuss how ridiculously expensive the magical defenses for the Money Bin are. After Scrooge's refusal to relent, they decide to consider firing Money Bin workers, and perhaps even get rid of the Money Bin itself due to it seeming to serve no practical purpose as the main office is downtown. Downplayed in that they're only doing their jobs, and they relent after Scrooge points out that getting rid of the Money Bin and its workers would likely result in them trying to get even.
- Idea Bulb: Louie needs help opening the door to the money sorting room, just as Gyro walks by with Little Bulb. As Louie gets the idea to borrow Little Bulb to get the dime, Little Bulb, who is visible over his head, lights up.
- Innocuously Important Episode: When the episode first aired, Scrooge's and Louie's plot looks like fun, well-written filler setting up some Character Development. The third season reveals it's also the introduction for Scrooge's greatest foe, hard at work on his agenda of isolating Scrooge and hindering his ability to spend resources on adventuring, and making his hatred of chaos very clear from the start.
- Insufferable Genius: Gyro Gearloose. Let's face it, when our first introduction to a character is them barging into a board meeting declaring "Shut up everyone, I've done something brilliant!", they're just begging to be thrown into this trope.
- Irony: In light of the series finale — when Quackfaster says, "Behold, heir of Clan McDuck!", Dewey isn't the only kid standing there...
- Jaw Drop: Louie does one when Scrooge reveals the dime on the pedestal is a decoy, and he wears the real one around his neck.
- Jerkass Has a Point: The Board is quite cold about the employees in the money bin, but they ask Gyro point-blank if Little Bulb will go evil like his other inventions have. Gyro can only claim that half of his inventions have gone evil. And it ends up being a valid concern. Likewise they have a point that a number of Scrooge's expenses, including the Money Bin itself, don't serve any obvious practical purpose to justify the expense they involve. All a rather hilarious lampshade on how Scrooge isn't near as cheap as he claims to be.
- The Key Is Behind the Lock: When the dime Louie is chasing gets locked behind a room, he looks up a video on lockpicking. Of course, the Improvised Lockpick the video suggests is a dime.
- Laborious Laziness: In true "laziness never pays" fashion, every single thing Louie does to try and make his life or job easier in this episode ends up backfiring on him and causing him more hard work.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Webby saying that there is hardly any information about Della Duck sounds like a nod to how rarely she is mentioned in the comics and cartoons.
- Literal Metaphor: As Gyro points out, Little Bulb went literally mad with power: he had a 75-watt bulb when he was designed for only 50 watts.
- Look Behind You: When Little Bulb chases Louie into the library, Louie managed to distract its attention by telling it, "Look, a distraction!", which it completely fell for it and Louie is able to escape from it.
Louie: Look! A distraction!
- Loophole Abuse: Webby has been banned from Scrooge's private library because she's not family. When she presents Dewey, Scrooge's great-nephew, Quackfaster reluctantly allows her to accompany him.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal:
- After being mistreated by Louie one too many times, Little Bulb goes nuts and starts stealing all the dimes he can.
- Scrooge invokes this to the Board of Directors when he defends the competency of his staff, only for a now-insane Little Bulb to crash through the wall. At this point, Scrooge just flat-out tells the board that his staff is filled with loonies who would probably seek revenge on them if they were fired.
- Mythology Gag:
- The "Pep" brand soda is a named after the brand Fenton was in charge of in the original series episode "The Big Flub".
- Gyro's list of inventions that have ended up turning evil are largely taken the original series, such as Armstrong, Robotica, and his time-tub (which ended up gaining sentience).
- The first item on Gyro's list of failed inventions is the Cogs from Toontown Online, a reference to his indirect involvement with their creation in the game's beta.
- Much of the A-plot in the episode serves as a Whole-Plot Reference to "Super Ducktales Pt. 2: Frozen Assets." Louie mistakenly thinks the (false) Number One Dime is in a case because it's for use in emergencies, much like Fenton did, and goes through numerous troubles trying to retrieve it, while Little Bulb going on a rampage heavily implies that Gyro is going to build the Gizmo Duck suit in response, similar to how the GICU2 going out of control led him to creating Gizmo Duck.
- The title of the book on Della Duck that Webby and Dewey find is The Life and Times of Della Duck.
- The last time Della disappeared and left only a vague letter was in Huey, Dewey and Louie's debut in the 30's, when she left her sons in Donald's care. In fact, Della communicated with her brother via letters and telegrams long before she was officially introduced.
- Scrooge telling Louie "there's more to money than money" and then his board of directors pointing out how extravagant his Money Bin recalls his very first animated appearance, the short Scrooge McDuck and Money (1967) where he explains that the Money Bin indeed only has petty cash, and that his actual wealth is tied in stocks, shares and circulates in the market and wider economy.
- On a point of contention with the Board is Scrooge's spending money on "magical defenses". One of his most infamous foes is the witch Magica De Spell, who's always trying to steal the Number # 1 Dime.
- Needle in a Stack of Needles: The dime falls into the money bin. Louie actually locates it, but then Gyro deactivates Little Bulb and all the dimes he collected fall on top of Louie, losing the original dime once again.
- No Antagonist: Unlike most episode, this one lacks a Villain of the Week. Although Miss Quackfaster and Little Bulb both act somewhat antagonistic, neither is truly villainous, and the main conflict of the episode is caused by Louie's laziness and greed instead.
- Noodle Implements: One of the cutaways to Scrooge's board meeting starts with him talking about finding 3,000 gallons of silver polish for a cheap price.
- Noodle Incident:
- Apparently Della took the Spear of Selene and left with it, if her note is any indication, but why is unknown.
- Bradford asks Gyro if Little Bulb will "attain sentience and turn evil" like all of his other robots.
- Scrooge apparently has more than a few "vengeance curses" put upon his head.
- Gyro invented a magnetic backpack, but one teen used it as a schoolbag and got stuck to a school bus.
- No Social Skills: Gyro's massive ego doesn't translate into smooth, flawless communication skills:
Scrooge: Gyro, what did we say about interacting with other people?
Gyro: [Sigh] The cards. Fine.
- Not His Sled: Unlike the source material and other adaptations, the dime in Scrooge's display case is merely a decoy - he keeps the real Number One on his person at all times.
- Oh, Crap!: Louie when he finds out that the dime he borrowed to use the soda machine was actually Scrooge's number-one dime.
- Pooled Funds: Deconstructed and Justified. When Louie sees the money bin for the first time, he tries to dive in it just like his uncle does. However, Scrooge grabs him and tells him that he'll crack his skull open. The reason Scrooge can do it is that he spent years practicing and conditioning his body to protect himself. Similar justifications have come up in the comics.
- Precedent Excuse: When the board starts talking about firing employees from the Bin, Scrooge complains that they might simply close the bin itself. The board point out that Scrooge has an office in the city, so he doesn't actually need the bin.
- Pun-Based Title: In-universe, Louie watches a reality show called Ottoman Empire, about two brothers who build custom ottomans.
- Rage Breaking Point: Just before Quackfaster starts chasing him and Webby, Dewey makes his frustrations about the librarian refusing to divulge information about his mother very clear.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Scrooge has a tendency to employ the unemployable, or at least those who wouldn't find work anywhere. He hires Gyro who's an Insufferable Genius Mad Scientist whom no one would touch with a ten-foot pole, and Miss Quackfaster for the same reason and he even keeps around the Buzzards as Board of Directors because they are the only ones cheaper than he.
- Replaced with Replica: Scrooge McDuck reveals that the Number One Dime he exhibits in his Money Bin on a velvet pillow is just a decoy, and he carries his real Number One Dime in a locket around his neck.
- Rewatch Bonus: Dewey sticks his hand on a sensor which detects and loudly declares his McDuck DNA. Had the chronically curious Webby tried sticking her hand in there, the results would have led to a lot of confusion...
- Running Gag: Louie has to keep running up and down all 57 flights of stairs in the Money Bin.
- Screaming Warrior: Quackfaster yells loudly while chasing Dewey and Webby with a sword. Justified, as she most likely tries to scare them rather than actually hurt them.
- The Scrooge:
- Louie lampshades the fact that Scrooge just has to squeeze out an extra 10 cents from someone who wants to buy a soda from his office vending machine. Later on, when Louie lies and tells Scrooge he was looking for a notebook, Scrooge says he can use as many as he wants, as long as he writes on both sides of the page and in small print.
- Ironically, his investors are looking for ways to further cut costs, and point out that him having a Money Bin, among other things, cut into the budget more than strictly necessary.
- Secret Test of Character: Implied. Scrooge gives Louie the decoy dime he worked so hard to put back, and asks him if it didn't feel so bad to have to work to get it back.
- Shame If Something Happened: What finally convinces the Board to relent and back off Scrooge. He notes that the lunatics he employs could probably do more harm against them if they were fired, and as he looks at them, you can tell the board knows that Scrooge is saying, "I'll be sure to tell them who to blame".
- Shout-Out: The way Louie shouts out "No-no-no-mineminemine!" while chasing the dime into the Money Bin sounds an awful lot like Daffy Duck from the Merry Melodies cartoon Ali Baba Bunny (specifically the scene where he's trying to stuff the genie back in the lamp, mistaking him for a competitor to the wealth he and Bugs Bunny found).
- The Slacker: Louie is acting like a spoiled couch potato in the opening of the episode before Scrooge decides to set him straight.
- Sorcerer's Apprentice Plot: Louie tells Little Bulb to find the dime. Little Bulb rebels by obeying orders, finding not only the dime Louie wanted but every single other dime in the building no matter how much violence and mayhem this requires.
- Stealth Pun: The Money Bin is staffed with lunatics, doesn't that make it a 'loony bin?'
- Story Arc: This episode's B-Plot picks up where the pilot left off, with Dewey asking Webby to help him find information about Della.
- Swiss-Cheese Security: You'd think Scrooge would put his #1 Dime under tighter security than a glass case that's easily lifted. But no, a child can easily lift and take it. Subverted, though, since that's only a decoy dime; Scrooge keeps the real one on his person at all times, and even the decoy is located in the most secure part of the bin.
- Tell Me About My Father: A variant; Dewey tries to find out from Webby about Della, his mother. It turns out she's been reaching dead ends about Della for years, but with his help they go to Scrooge's private library to find it. They don't try asking Scrooge or Donald as it's clear that even if they know something about her they are not willing to tell it, given the extreme expense and effort Scrooge has gone through to hide or erase most evidence of Della's existence.
- They Called Me Mad!: After the board rejects Little Bulb, Gyro goes on a rant about how he'll "show them all!" Scrooge tells him to at least wait until he's out the door to say that.
- Ultimate Job Security: Invoked. Scrooge tells his board that the Money Bin staff is crazy and would probably seek revenge if fired.
- Unimpressive Progress Reveal: The first time Louie goes up the aforementioned Absurdly Long Stairway, there's a brief montage of him struggling, sweating, and panting, at the end of which he reaches...the second floor.
- Unperson: Webby claims that Scrooge has made Della one, to the point where the only images of her are Dewey's old photograph and a portrait in the garage.
- Unsatisfiable Customer: In the "Ottoman Empire" show Glomgold is a guest in, he tells the hosts that they cannot expect him to use something that doesn't have his face on it. A few scenes later, we hear him again complaining that the hosts expect him to put his feet where his face is printed on.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Louie only took the dime because he thought it was there for someone to use if they didn't have exact change and he had every intention of paying Scrooge back later.
- Villains Out Shopping: When not antagonizing Scrooge, Flintheart Glomgold appears as a celebrity guest on the TV show "Ottoman Empire".
- Visual Pun: Webby catches Dewey sneaking through her files red-handed... as in, Dewey's hands are red from the massive amount of glitter she put on the notebook.
- Wax On, Wax Off: Dewey suspects that Quackfaster's "trials" are just her tricking them into doing her chores.
Dewey: Okay, how much of this is just us doing your work for you?
Quackfaster: About 50 perceeeeeeeent.
- Wham Episode: Dewey and Webby find out that Scrooge keeps a hidden room in the Archives dedicated to Della. They also find a letter she wrote, apologizing for taking the Spear of Selene. Both are horrified that the thought of Della having betrayed Scrooge, if it happened, and agree to not tell the other two triplets until they find more answers.
- Wham Line:
- Found on a note from Della to Scrooge: "Scrooge, I've taken the Spear of Selene. I'm sorry."
- Gyro's last line in the episode, "Gyro is robot", and the writing on his notepad, "Project Blatherskite", heavily imply that he's going to be creating the Gizmoduck armor at some point in the future.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Apparently, part of the reason Little Bulb went so bonkers was because his bulb was too high a wattage.
Gyro: Oh, I know what went wrong. This is a 75-watt bulb. Lil' Bulb's only built for 50! (chuckles) He just went a little mad with power.
