0319 - Prince V'Lara

We've covered a lot of strong characters in our quest to draw every Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series character, but this certainly isn't one of them. Obviously we've spent a good portion of the episode so far with Chameleon impersonating this character, but now we get to cover the real prince. I've chosen to portray him in his "true" form, after he's retrieved his magical sceptre:

as opposed to his weakened state, which is when we first meet him:

He's a bit of an odd character - almost acting completely differently in his two forms. His initial cowardly form is unlikable and pathetic, and the sceptre seems to restore his confidence and give him...an Elvis voice? Just another example of the show assuming all 1996 kids will get every reference that is thrown at them. I mean, I guess I probably knew who Elvis was in 1996, but I wouldn't write it into a children's cartoon.

He's barely a character, is Prince V'Lara, just a conduit for the message of the episode that Wildwing teaches him, and then he teaches back to Wildwing. "Whatever it takes" is what he is told, and while he does accomplish the task set before him, I wouldn't call that particularly useful or specific advice.

Furthermore, it feels like this should have been the Emilio Estevez cameo we were all waiting for, a nice little button to the show by featuring an actor from the film. A missed opportunity.

The whole Atlantis plotline of this episode is still baffling to me. It's bookended by scenes that essentially act as a finale to the entire series, but provides very little to the overall plot - it's just a weird diversion. And why is it even Atlantis? Water is not even slightly involved. It's like this was supposed to be an episode completely by itself, and then late in the production they decided to make it the last episode so tacked on the part where the ducks confront Lord Dragaunus once and for all. It all feels very rushed, and furthers my thought, as I've said many times in this project before, that Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series is an 80s cartoon trapped in a 90s cartoon animation budget. Viewers were used to more sophisticated writing than this by 1996.

After this we come to the final confrontation, and the show wraps up in a very convenient little bow. And yet there are still five episodes after this, even though this is the last one on the show's chronology? Not sure what's going on there, but I am sure I don't want to watch five more episodes of this. Frankly, this entire project has been a mess. I don't know why anyone would choose to watch one man go insane while he draws every character from a cartoon barely anyone remembers, but here we are. I should have covered a more universally beloved cartoon instead.

This post is part of my "Every Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, click here.