Fenton Crackshell (also known as Gizmoduck) is a character who was introduced in the second season of DuckTales. He later made guest appearances in its spin-off Darkwing Duck.
Gizmoduck (along with Bubba and an unused character named Alien Duck) were created by Tad Stones around the same time Chip 'n' Dale were added to Rescue Rangers. Originally, Gizmoduck was intended to be an artificially intelligent robot (and, indeed in the series, Scrooge originally intended to use a security robot designed by Gyro with the designation of GICU-2 until he realized it "didn't have a brain", as it was so dedicated to its directive that it wouldn't even let Scrooge himself into his money bin), but the idea was later changed to the current one, akin to Iron Man or RoboCop.
Gizmoduck was originally called RoboDuck, which, coincidentally, was kept as his name in the Netherlands, Belgium and Japan. This is also why there is an "R" shaped insignia on the Gizmosuit's chest. It was later changed to a "G" in subsequent appearances in comics, video games and the 2017 reboot.
He first appeared on DuckTales (to be more exact, the TV movie Super DuckTales, which was later split up into a five-part episode) as a bean counter (literally), but he quit that job to work for Scrooge McDuck as his accountant. Although he is not stupid, Fenton's ambitious ideas and hasty decision-making create serious problems for his boss (from the DuckTales: The Quest for Gold manual, "Fenton can count faster than the speed of sound, but his judgment is not always very sound"). He is doggedly determined to make amends each time by any means necessary, which can create even more complications until he ultimately succeeds, although this requires a large amount of patience with him.
Presumably lacking education in business and accounting, he tends to take things literally. For example, when Scrooge referred to his large cache of funds as "liquid assets", Fenton has the entire money bin emptied into a nearby lake. Fortunately, he then suggested that his employer "freeze his assets" which inspires McDuck to have the lake frozen solid, then transport the ice to a secure area and recover the money.
Fenton having become Gizmoduck for the first time.
Later on, Fenton finds a robot suit called the Gizmosuit, made by Gyro Gearloose. The secret code to activate it is "Blatherskite", a word that Gyro assumes no normal person would use. (Unbeknownst to him, one of Fenton's most frequently used sayings was "blabberin'/blatherin' blatherskite".) As fate would have it, Fenton wanders too close to the suit and utters his favorite expression, thus gaining a secret identity as a superhero. From then on, Fenton always uses "blabberin'/blatherin' blatherskite" to become Gizmoduck, despite only needing the second word ― it's possible that he doesn't realize he doesn't have to say the entire phrase.
The only characters privileged to know that Fenton is GizmoDuck are Scrooge McDuck and Fenton's mother, whom he refers to as "M'ma". His mother usually wears a bathrobe and watches television in a rundown trailer-home (and sometimes serves as GizmoDuck as she has the same favorite exclamation as her son). Fenton is in love with Gandra Dee, Scrooge's bean factory receptionist.
As Fenton, he is Scrooge's accountant, but as Gizmoduck, he is Scrooge's personal bodyguard and chief of security for McDuck Enterprises. This gives Gizmoduck an almost Iron Man-like quality, as he plays bodyguard to a rich man. The only difference between the two is that Fenton/Gizmoduck is a wholly different entity from his employer, whereas Iron Man was Tony Stark, who protected his identity by publicly stating that Iron Man was another man who served as Tony Stark's bodyguard. While wearing the Gizmoduck suit, Fenton lowers his voice down an octave and speaks in a boisterous "heroic" manner in order to prevent anybody from recognizing his true identity.
Fenton also has the surprisingly useful, savant-like ability to count large numbers of objects instantaneously. For instance, that ability allowed him to instantly count the number of shotgun pellets McDuck fired to scare him away in Super DuckTales (because of the gunfire, this scene was cut from syndicated broadcasts). The billionaire, amazed at this improbable skill, then challenged him to determine the value of a collection of coins he flipped in the air, and Fenton was accurate to the penny. At the climax of the film, it was Fenton's counting abilities and not Gizmoduck's armor that saved the day; he challenged a massively powerful alien supercomputer, the Master Electronic Leader ("You may call me M-MEL"; voiced by Frank Welker) to a counting contest. Fenton quickly began to pull ahead, causing MEL's circuits to start to overheat in exasperation. Fenton then challenged him to count the number of bolts in a jar. After MEL gave its answer, Fenton responded with a grin, "Sorry MEL, these are nuts, not bolts. Trick question! You lose!" The sheer shock of this defeat drove MEL insane, caused it to explode and began a chain reaction which eventually led to the destruction of the entire robotic planet.
This ability has occasionally led to other swift-processing of information (such as when he determined how to make the Gizmosuit fly while falling from a building), however, the only other real talent that Fenton has is that of mimicry; when assuming the role of Gizmoduck, he adopts a deep voice much different from the one he uses in normal speech, which is clearly not the doing of the suit, as he has been heard using his Gizmoduck voice when in his normal identity and vice-versa. He is also understandably bolder, such as coming to the rescue of Scrooge and Mrs. Beakley, both of whom had been unjustly imprisoned, by breaking them both out of jail and challenging the prison guards to open fire on him.
Darkwing expressing annoyance when Gizmoduck shows up.
Fenton appeared as a guest star on Darkwing Duck on occasion as Launchpad McQuack's old friend from Duckburg as both identities. However, his suit seemed to be smaller than the one from DuckTales and lacks the black coloring in the upper arms (this may be due to the fact that in the DuckTales episode "Attack of the Metal Mites", his suit was eaten by Flintheart Glomgold's metal-mites, so in Darkwing Duck, he probably uses a different one).
First appearing in "Tiff of the Titans", Fenton traveled to St. Canard to prevent the theft of the prototype E.G.R.E.T. assault vehicle by Steelbeak and F.O.W.L. under the guise of visiting Launchpad. In both his Fenton and Gizmoduck personas, Fenton proved to be an annoyance to both of Darkwing's personas by being an annoying house guest to Drake Mallard and mistaking Darkwing for a criminal. After nearly being drowned by a Yolk bomb dropped by Steelbeak, the two joined forces and succeeded in stopping Steelbeak from escaping with the E.G.R.E.T.
In his subsequent appearances, Gizmoduck developed a complex friendship/rivalry with Darkwing and even joined Darkwing's Justice Ducks team where he deferred leadership to Darkwing.
In "Darkwing Doubloon", it is revealed Fenton had an ancestor who also had a suit of armor similar to his Gizmoduck suit, albeit made mostly out of wood.
Fenton appears in the reboot series, albeit his full name being Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera. This version is a young scientist with Latin-inspired roots and works for Gyro Gearloose as an intern. Despite Fenton's interest in science and his eagerness to help the world, he is repeatedly berated and scolded by Gyro for carelessness and clumsiness around the lab. Like in the original series, Fenton is also the alter-ego of Gizmoduck, Duckburg's resident superhero. Unlike the original series, however, Fenton is barely able to maintain his secret identity and keeps an ever-growing record of those aware of it, which includes everyone who lives on his block.
He first appears in the eleventh episode "Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System!", where he attempts to aid Launchpad in defeating B.U.D.D.Y.. It is revealed that Beaks stole B.U.D.D.Y. from Gyro and that he was only able to do so because Fenton posted Bulb tech online, and Gyro angrily fires him. He teams up with Launchpad and dons the Gizmoduck suit for the first time to save Gyro, Scrooge, and Dewey from a rogue robot manufactured by Mark Beaks. He is rehired by Gyro as thanks for saving him and to "idiot proof" the suit.
In "Who is Gizmoduck?!", Fenton goes to the bank and ends up in the middle of a bank robbery. He stops the robbery, but also severely damages the bank. He attempts to get a better handle on the suit but ends up launching a missile that nearly kills Mark Beaks. After Crackshell is fired by Gyro who deemed him and the suit a liability, he steals the suit and goes to work for Mark Beaks, who rebrands him as Waddle Duck. Crackshell discovers that Beaks has been using him to attract Waddle customers by having Waddle Duck perform menial tasks. After Huey is disappointed that Gizmoduck has become a sellout by being Waddle Duck and the Waddle Duck program stops him from preventing a robbery, he quits, only for Beaks to steal the suit and try to be Waddle Duck. When the Gizmosuit's processor is overloaded, Crackshell removes the processor and takes it away from Duckburg, destroying the Gizmosuit. At the behest of Scrooge, Gyro reluctantly creates a new, upgraded version of the Gizmosuit, making it possible for Gizmoduck to protect Duckburg once again.
In "The Shadow War!", Fenton is watching the lunar eclipse when his shadow comes to life and steals his Gizmoduck suit. He saves Manny and Little Bulb from Magica's shadow army and uses Little Bulb to amplify the power of the laser.
In "The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee!", Fenton dates Gandra Dee and becomes more confident in his skills as a scientist beyond being a superhero. He uses his new discoveries to energize Little Bulb, much to Gyro's approval.
Gizmoduck also appears in the Season 2 finale "Moonvasion!" as part of Scrooge McDuck's army against the Moonlanders due to Lunaris' plan to destroy Earth. This battle ultimately ended when Lunaris is defeated.
In "Astro B.O.Y.D.!", he travels alongside Huey, Gyro, and B.O.Y.D. to the city of Tokyolk to fix B.O.Y.D.'s problem. Upon encountering Inspector Tezuka, she prepares to arrest him for suspicious scanning to which he tells her he is innocent. While asking her about a relationship with cybernetic citizens, she tells him about the tragic story of B.O.Y.D. destroying the city, causing him to believe B.O.Y.D. is a dangerous being. During confrontation against Dr. Akita, Gizmoduck defends Tezuka from B.O.Y.D. just as he prepares to destroy his helmet. Tezuka stabilizes him and rescues Gizmoduck while she arrests Akita for his crimes, finally dealing with B.O.Y.D.'s bad reputation.
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Fenton never appeared in either of the original two DuckTales comic book series. He did, however, appear in the comic stories printed in Disney Adventures. One story, "A Switch in Time", had him and Launchpad switching jobs for a few days. Another story, "The Littlest Gizmoduck", had Huey, Dewey, and Louie making their own Gizmosuit and bickering amongst themselves over who should get to wear it. Fenton is also a prominent character in the crossover-series between TaleSpin, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, Goof Troop, DuckTales, and Darkwing Duck, "The Legend of the Chaos God", in which an evil god named Solego robs his Gizmoduck suit in order to have a body again (as his real form is trapped in a crystal, while his spirit is free).
When DuckTales and Darkwing Duck were revived for the Disney comics line by Boom! Studios, Fenton returned to comic books in the "Dangerous Currency" story arc that ended both books. In the story, it is explained that Fenton disappeared over a year prior to the in-story events, having been abducted from his own time by Magica De Spell. By the time of the story's events, he manages to escape and makes his way to St. Canard just as Magica and the Phantom Blot have begun taken over with their evil slime. He is quickly recaptured and, while in his Gizmosuit, transformed into a monster by the slime, but returned to normal shortly after and goes on to help Scrooge and Darkwing save St. Canard and Duckburg. Due to the story's negative reception, however, "Dangerous Currency" is not considered canon to either series.
Officially, Gizmoduck's return comes in "Dawn of the Day of the Return of the Living Spud", the two-part story printed in issues #7-8 of the comic's continuation under Joe Books. It is explained here that, prior to the events of the Boom! comic, Fenton had taken a long vacation and had also gone to a "McGuffin convention", though this is not further elaborated on. Fenton now sports a new "quack 2" Gizmosuit (built by Gyro using parts scavenged from technology that Launchpad had crashed planes into[2]), which he uses to slice up the potatoes controlling the citizens of St. Canard.
In the reboot comics published by IDW Publishing, Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera makes his debut in Issue #20 where he is working on his M'Ma's birthday gift, a robot that can make cinnamon sugar donuts. He then receives an emergency call from Huey Duck and suits up as Gizmoduck to stop a Beagle Boy robbery, though he loses track of the criminals. Fenton suits up again to stop his M'Ma's birthday gift—which turned evil due to Gyro's tinkering—and teams up with Fethry Duck to successfully stop the robot. The comic ends with him surprising his M'Ma with the donuts produced from the defeated robot.
Gizmoduck had a prominent cameo appearance in the first DuckTales video game on the NES. In the Moon level, in order to break down a barrier blocking the way to the boss of the level, Scrooge has to find a remote control on the UFO and use it to signal Gizmoduck so he can blast the barrier down. The HD remake expands on Fenton's role in the level, in that he actually gets kidnapped by the UFO, and Scrooge has to venture into the UFO to save Fenton and also find all the parts of the Gizmosuit.
Fenton/Gizmoduck establishes that by the beginning of Darkwing Duck, Launchpad McQuack has left the employment of Scrooge to work for Darkwing full time.
Gizmoduck was originally named as "Roboduck" as a nod to Robocop; that name was used in Japan, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
The first word in Fenton's catchphrase tended to vary on the original DuckTales; it was sometimes said as "blabberin' blatherskite", and sometimes said as "blatherin' blatherskite," with some episodes even using both variations. The Disney Adventures comics and the Darkwing Duck series bible wrote it as "blabberin'", while many revival projects, including the Boom! Studios comics, DuckTales Remastered, and the reboot consistently used "blatherin'."
Darkwing and Gizmo's interactions parody the interactions of other superhero archetypes as seen in several comic books, notably Superman/Batman and Iron Man/Captain America.
One of Aaron Sparrow's unpublished stories planned for the Darkwing Duck revival comics, which was to feature a return to the Negaverse from "Life, the Negaverse, and Everything", would've featured an appearance by Gizmoduck's Negaverse counterpart.[3][4]
By coincidence, Fenton's reboot voice actor, Lin-Manuel Miranda, portrayed Alexander Hamilton, whose last name is also the first name of Fenton's original voice, Hamilton Camp.
