Tear Jerker / Darkwing Duck

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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TV series

General

• Really when you think about it, the Fearsome Five (with the exception of Negaduck.)
  • Bushroot is a lonely man with severe emotional issues due to being a mutant plant/duck hybrid as well as having been tormented by his peers. The fact that he is the gentlest of the group makes him all the more sympathetic.
  • Megavolt was also bullied, which led to an accident that gave him his powers, but also gave him severe brain damage and drove him insane. The poor bastard can't even remember his own name.
  • Liquidator is probably the only exception after Negaduck, he started out as a scummy and two-faced businessman and his own fate strongly comes across as deserved. That said, he had his entire body dissolved in chemicals and turned into a being made entirely of water, a terrible experience that makes him at least a bit pitiful.
  • Quackerjack was once a prominent toymaker that simply couldn't keep up with competitors - specifically the video game industry - and went mad from losing his entire livelihood; even now, all he wants is for children to play with his toys.
    • What makes this last one particularly sad is a scene from "Toys Czar Us", where he tries to sell one of his murderous and creepy toys (a mechanical puppy) to a young boy, and his mother/grandma grabs him away from its razor sharp teeth at the last possible moment and leaves, while Quackerjack is genuinely upset and sad and doesn't understand what he did wrong, like a confused little kid who estranges other kids by playing too rough.

Darkly Dawns the Duck

• Gosalyn singing "Little Girl Blue", the song her late Grandfather used to sing to her (which is also the code to activate a powerful machine) and Darkwing's verse afterward.
• The scene where Gosalyn is being taken by Bulba's men and D.W. is desperately trying to save her while shouting her name.
• Darkwing's Disney Death at the end of the episode. Sure, seeing as how there's nearly 90 more episodes after this you know that everything's going to be okay, but that scene where Gosalyn's forlornly staring at the spot where the Ramrod blew up with him on it from her room at the orphanage is heartbreaking.
• Consider the fact that Gos' VA, the now late Christine Cavanaugh, gave up her career at the dawn of the 2000's to focus on her family. Now that she's gone, try listening to the lullaby without crying.

Up, Up, And Awry

• When Gizmoduck and DW are stuck on a giant magnet and the former tells the latter that without his Powered Armor, he's useless. Yes, it does lead to a Moment of Awesome for DW followed by a happy ending, but it's still quite heartbreaking that even after all this time, Fenton STILL doesn't think he's worth anything without the Gizmosuit.

Dead Duck

• Gos and Launchpad returning from Darkwing's funeral.
• Darkwing, who had died and is currently in a ghost form, saying goodbye to Morgana, Launchpad, and Gosalyn. Just the sight of not just Launchpad and Morgana crying, but Gos crying breaks your heart. Of course, it turns out to be a dream.

Time and Punishment

• Gosalyn tries to tag along on mission, and Darkwing tells her to stay with the Ratcatcher. When she protests, he replies "I'm serious Gos, if something were to happen to you, I... (voice catches) I don't know what I'd do."
• To see how Dark Warrior Duck has become so corrupted by his own sense of justice because the one person he loved (more than himself) was gone, and to see her return after all these years has a flood of bottled up emotions just flowing out. It was only worse when he felt betrayed by her near the end as well.
  • Want to know just how far gone Dark Warrior really is? He pulls a missile launcher on her and is ready to pull the trigger. The man pulled an armed, loaded gun on his dear daughter, the very reason he became such a Knight Templar in the first place, and was ready to shoot her with it.
    • A part of the scene that got cut in syndication has him bringing out what looks like his gas gun. Gosalyn just snarks that she's not worried, only for Dark Warrior to reveal that he hasn't used a gas gun in years before the thing turns into a missile launcher. It just sells the fact that Darkwing is long gone and all that's left is Dark Warrior.
  • Dark Warrior looks like he's about to pull the trigger until he starts freaking out over how he can't do it, not to Gosalyn. He honestly seems like he's a having a literal internal struggle between his sense of justice and his love for Gosalyn. Launchpad quickly knocks him out but notes that Gosalyn has to hurry to get back because he sincerely doubts Dark Warrior is going to be happy when he wakes up. Launchpad honestly feared that Dark Warrior would genuinely hurt Gosalyn if enough time passed.
• The flashback of how Darkwing became Dark Warrior shows just how broken he was from losing Gosalyn. He's completely immobile, only moving when Launchpad physically manipulates him. Until he sees a little girl who looks like Gosalyn get her doll stolen and you see the fight return in his eyes. But after helping her Darkwing sees that it isn't his beloved daughter. That probably just drilled it in for Darkwing that Gosalyn really was gone.
• The alternate Launchpad. He tried so hard to help Darkwing after Gosalyn's disappearance, and ultimately Darkwarrior wound up hating him enough to want to kill him. The fact that Launchpad doesn't hate Darkwarrior in return makes it even worse — as Darkwing's old friend, he still misses and loves him, but Darkwarrior is just too far gone.

U.F.Foe

• When Darkwing and Gosalyn find Launchpad and find out that he’s going to "Oompa [marry]" and leave Earth, Gosalyn cries about how she’s going to miss Launchpad and how no one could ever take his place. Even Darkwing looks sad at the thought of Launchpad leaving.

Comics

• In issue #4, it looks like Gosalyn has bit the big one and DW cradles her body whispering "This can't happen. We can't let Bulba have this. It was you...you inspired me to come back. You've always been the inspiration. Your courage. Your honor. Having you by my side made me unstoppable. You were always my superhero." OK, we all know she wasn't going to die but still...
• Darkwing trying to break the brainwashing on the catatonic Morgana in issue 5 of the comic. He succeeds, taking the entire issue to do so, also revealing that without Darkwing, Drake is a duck without a driving purpose. In the end, just about to give up, he tearfully says to her that if he never quit, she would never have suffered. The tear breaks her out of it.
• The ending of the Quackerjack story in the Darkwing Duck 2011 Annual is on equal with an ending of Batman: The Animated Series. Quackerjack builds a ray to turn people into dolls at the urging of his new, more evil Mr. Banana Brain that he made to replace the original that he lost. DW tries to buy another copy of the original online to use it as bait to lure him out, but someone snipes it from him. That person turns out to be QJ's girlfriend, who tells him that QJ had given up being a villain and had a normal, happy life for a while before circumstances pushed him back into it, and she was hoping the old Mr. Banana Brain would remind him of happier times. When DW confronts QJ, both the old and new Mr. Banana Brains end up getting hit by the doll ray, which makes them come alive and grow giant. They both fight over QJ, which ends with him getting thrown out a window and escaping. He goes to his girlfriend's house and pulls out a pocket-sized version of his doll ray. Cut to inside the house where his girlfriend hears a zap from outside. She opens the door to find a sad Quackerjack doll looking up at her, along with a note reading "This is the best I'll ever be. -Jacky"
• In the comics DW actually throws Launchpad out of his house after LP accidentally leads Nega-Duck to their home. This is sad in itself as this action destroys the little family they made. They got better, but during the time apart, LP thought he was tossed out because DW lost a contest. That means that when DW kicked him out, he didn't even tell him WHY his friend was throwing him out of his home. And while we knew LP could crash at Scrooge's place it's not clear that DW knew, so for all he knew DW was throwing his friend out onto the street, homeless AND jobless. Yet LP seems to hold no real grudge and is just happy to be back with his family when they reunite.
• With the Dangerous Currency arc made noncanon by the omnibus, until the new series, Morgana is still missing. Quackerjack is also likely still a doll, though it's almost a given that the new series will devote some issues to bringing both of them back.
• In issue #8 of the Joe Books run, Bushroot, despite his best efforts to talk her down peacefully, is forced to kill Posey with his own powers after she's turned practically everyone in St. Canard into potato zombies yet again. The way he just sheds a Single Tear before doing the deed is icing on the cake.
  Darkwing: Bushr-Reggie. I know you're lonely. I... I know what it's like to not have anyone, believe me. And I know you created her to be your companion. But I think you know... She's not it, and she's never going to be.
  Bushroot: I made her! She's like me; she doesn't fit anywhere. And now you want me to destroy her. Hasn't she suffered enough?!
  Darkwing: Yes. She has.