Guess who finished another Hello Puppets! OC's ref sheet, THIS GAL!!!(cant believe I finished this guy in 1/2 days)
"Duke is a brave, and albeit foolish(often said by his cousin, Riley) daredevil. Who sometimes, unintentially causes trouble. Despite that, He's always there to help people face their fears and become as daring as he is!"
In the show:
Duke first appeared in the episode, 'Daring Danger', when the Handeemen decided to attend one of his stunt shows. After the show he immediatly recognised Riley and decided to pay her a visit, slightly embarrassing her infront of the other Handees-
He decides to hang around for a while, accidentally causing a few accidents to happen due to his recklessness. Eventually, around the end of the episode, he learns a valuble lesson on safety and how to be careful.
Outside of the show:
He was created by one of the show's writers, Avery Flores, as a self insert and aswell as a possible side character for the show. It took awhile but Owen finally accepted his submission and made him Duke's official pupeteer!
Nobody knows what had happened to Avery when the studio fire started, but it is highly likely that he didnt make it...
Relationship with the Handeemen(Show counterparts):
- Rosco: Duke adores the golden retriever, he would always give him alot of belly rubs and treats whenever he gets to visit(Duke always wanted to have a dog, but due to his constant travels(and the fact he lives in a van), he's unnable to own one).
Rosco loves to play with Duke and would look forward to his visits(which makes Riley abit jealous), their favourite thing to do together is digging!
- Riley: As said before, Duke is Riley's reckless cousin(specifically from her mother's side), they've knowned eachother since they were toddlers and would often visit eachother during the holidays. Duke likes to tease her about her height, despite also being short.
Riley might never admit it, but she is glad to have Duke's company(as she didnt have many friends back then). Tho, she is tired of constantly scolding him for his reckless behaviour.
- Nick: Duke sees the artist as a close friend of his. The two would often exchange terrible dad jokes and team up to prank/tease Riley(much to the scientist's dismay). He's also one of the only few who wilingly listens to the artist's poems(tho half the time, Duke gets distracted by other things and ends up forgeting what Nick just spoke).
While Nick is annoyed by Duke's reckless antics(he still holds a grudge againts him for accidentally ruining one of his paintings that took hours to finish), he's glad to have another theater kid to talk to(Yep, Duke's a theater kid. So is Riley, but she's in the closet).
- Daisy: Duke LOVES Daisy's cooking(as it reminds him of his grandma's), he would often try and volunteer to help her in the kitchen(tho he was quickly banned after he somehow set it on fire the moment he stepped in).
Daisy's mother hen tendencies are increased when Duke's around, mostly due to his clumsy nature(he keeps giving her heart attacks with his definitely not safe stunt shows). Tho, its safe to say the two are good friends.
- Mortimer: The daredevil admires the old magician as he never cease to amaze him with his unbeliavable magic tricks, so much so that Duke wouldnt stop talking about them(he's abit of a chatter box). He greatly respects him.
Mortimer is both amused and overwhelmed by his enthusiam, either way, he's glad to have another person be his practice audience.
More Info about him:
- Since it was the 80s, his transgender reprsentation was never outright said due to the censorships. However, the crew managed to work around it by giving small hints throughout the show(e.g., sneakily showing a trans bumper sticker on his van).
- On some occasions, he'll dye his hair a different color to match the theme of the episode, or out of curiosity on what they'll look like.
- He has ADHD, Riley made him get a diagnosis after showing multiple signs of having it(that probably explains why he gets distracted easily, and why he keeps forgetting shit-).
- He is allergic to cats(they found out after he tried to pet the neighbors cat when he was little), tho that doesnt stop him from trying to pet any cat he finds, much to Riley's annoyence(she had to stop him from petting Angel when he first met the feline).
Have a small doodle of Duke I did while struggling with art block:
Just saying, he would definitely be an AJR fan(and its DEFINITELY not because Im ALSO an AJR fan, or that he's SLIGHTLY based of a few aspects of my personality).
Btw, Im sorry for the lack of content(then again thats probably common for me), Im about to graduate middle school soon and my class has been rehearsing for it these pass few weeks(they've been draining my energy like vampires), I already have a few storyboards for future animatics featuring this almost dead fandom that I'll probably start working on in the summers.
Till then I'll probably just post small doodles and shitpost, or just reblog random shit like I usually do-
