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Herbbinkie

Binkie Muddlefoot is one of the neighbors and friends of the Mallard household. She is a happy and good-natured, if slow-witted, WASP housewife and mother, which drives the perpetually suspicious and everything but usual Drake Mallard crazy, though Launchpad, Gosalyn, and Morgana think she's okay. Binkie is happily married to Herb Muddlefoot, unaware that her older son Tank is a violent and sexist bully, and overly protective of her younger son Honker. She and her husband's favorite activities include gardening, backyard barbecue with friends and neighbors, and watching the sitcom Pelican's Island on TV.

She was voiced by the late Susan Tolsky.

Character[]

Much like her husband, Binkie is a trope'ish example of suburban bliss. The cheery canary is a perfect parody of fifties housewives, active throughout her community; and fretting over Gosalyn Mallard, who is never ladylike enough for her liking. While she means well, her oblivious observations can be cuttingly cruel when misdirected, such as when she insists Gos be a part of the school's cotillion and forces her into a ladylike mold in "Slaves to Fashion". 

"Inside Binkie's Brain" shows us that she cares deeply about her community's wellfare, as does "Adopt-a-Con," even though her actions are not only oblivious, but outright dangerous and destructive to her family and her person.

One odd facet of Binkie is her love of exotic cooking, so much so that she doesn't bat an eye at the morbid fare served by Morgana Macawber and takes joy in learning the tricks of the ghoulish trade.

Binkie has an identical twin sister, Trudi, who lives in Twin Beaks. They are identical in appearence, save for an eye patch on Trudi and her preference of red over Binkie's blue.

Appearance[]

Binkie is nearly identical to Trudi both in own

Life, the Negaverse, and Everything - Nega-Binkie

Negaverse Binkie and her family confronting Darkwing.

appearance and fashion choices. She is a tall, thin canary with yellow feathers and a large plume-like pompadour. Binkie and Trudi wear similar but not identical knee-length dresses with short sleeves. Minor differences include tight sleeves and a homogeneous blue skirt portion for Binkie. Differences that seem to signal their tastes are that Trudi sports a bold red, while Binkie sports a demure blue. Binkie's dress has a jewel neckline she wears a necklace with, but Trudi's has a slot neckline and she doesn't wear jewelry. Both wear a white apron, but where Trudi has just a bow on the back, Binkie has two ribbons hanging from it.

The Muddlefoot Household[]

The Muddefoots Household is loosly based on the Cleaver household of "Leave It To Beaver". The parents are unaware that their older son Tank is little better than a caveman or "man-ape" who is violent, mysoginistic, bullying, and coniving. Herb and Binkie, on catching their older son in various escapades, will typically write off his behavior as "boys will be boys."

They dote on and smother their younger son as much as they justify the older. Honker's allergies and phobias may well be a direct result of his mother's hovering and his father's oblivious indulgences. While they often feel that tomboy Gosalyn is a poor influence on their boy, they have no problems with their escapades, or the opposite-sexed children having sleep-overs and overnight adventures constantly.

They also seem blisfully unaware that Honker is a frequent accomplice to Darkwing Duck's escapades, and never question how or even that he knows the mighty masked mallard.

All of this leads Darkwing Duck to question just how it is that the genius Honker could have been born from Muddlefoot stock. "Normal is relative; and after all, your relatives are Muddlefoots."

Negaverse[]

As with most denizens of the Negaverse, the Nega-Muddlefoots are polar opposite to their counterparts in Darkwing's world. While still indulgent of their children, they are utterly psychotic and violent. Binkie is a criminal enabler and quite capable of directing her children to nefarious tasks; obviously inteilligent and self-aware, and treating her son Honker as little more than a weapon to be pointed at her enemies.

Nega-Herb is every bit as violent and self-serving as his counterpart is gregarious and generous, wielding a heavy tow-chain and hook as his weapon of choice and eagerly engaging in wanton violence and the infliction of pain.

If the parents are scary, then Nega-Honker is downright horrifying. An utter sociopath, he gleefully and excitedly follows the commands of Lord Negaduck when told to "shoot Darkwing Duck on sight, Rip him apart, Burn him to firey ash!" his only loyalty it seems is to his mother.

Nega-Tankard is the odd goose out of this scenario being eloquent, polite, and perhaps even more well-versed in the sciences than his cross-universe little brother. It's he, not Honker, who watches over Nega-Gosalyn's wellbeing.

Gallery[]

Fiction[]

"A Duck by Any Other Name" "Battle of the Brainteasers" "You Sweat Your Life" "Heavy Mental" "A Brush with Oblivion" "Easy Come, Easy Grows" "Negaduck" "Dry Hard" "Bearskin Thug" "Comic Book Capers" "Slaves to Fashion" "Night of the Living Spud" "Adopt-a-Con" "Life, the Negaverse and Everything" "Darkwing Doubloon" "Dead Duck" "Quack of Ages" "It's a Wonderful Leaf" "Twin Beaks" "Inside Binkie's Brain" "A Star Is Scorned" "The Revenge of the Return of the Brainteasers, Too!" "Mutantcy on the Bouncy" "Hot Spells" "Malice's Restaurant"

Notes[]

  • In "A Star Is Scorned," Herb and Binkie are shown to be actors who have to play out of characther roles as ruthless business tycoons-due to a hidden clause in their acting contracts that "The Studio is always Right." That role is a parody of the then-current Captain Planet and the Planeteers cartoon villains.
  • In "Quack of Ages," Herb and Binkie's ancestors were King and Queen of St. Canard, indicating that Binkie and Herb may be distant cousins.
  • They also have demon counterparts as seen In "Hot Spells," and they had red feathers and horns and Demon Herb's shirt has devil faces on it instead a watermelons and bananas; in this epsiode the Devil tortures Darkwing Duck into insanity by forcing D.W. to watch "Pelican's Island" with the Muddlefoots for all of eternity!
  • Binkie's Negaverse counterpart in Life, the Negaverse and Everything talks with the same tone, although in an evil style.
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