Is Duck really that overrated?

When Season 2 first aired, one of the new characters introduced was Duck the Great Western Engine. Ever since his first appearance, he became a fan favorite and was even on a list for a position on the Steam Team when Season 8 was being made, but he was cut when HIT decided for Emily (introduced in Season 7) to be a part of it (due to a need for a female).

Duck (along with many others like Oliver, Bill, Ben, etc.) was not seen again for almost nine years (minus some minor appearances in Season 12) until Season 17 came long, where he made his official return, much to the rejoice of the fan base.

However, despite that, many from the fandom have recently started to complain that Duck had become overrated. It hasn't helped that he started using the "Great Western way and the Wrong way" once too often, and that he became "arrogant" too.

I've wanted to start something like this on a forum (without starting a heated debate) because after reading some of the comments to the episodes "Duck and the Slip Coaches" and especially "Spencer's VIP" from users on YouTube (some were quite harsh to say), as well as checking out the pages of certain DeviantART users too. Many have grown to either dislike or outright hate Duck just because of either the ending shot in "Duck and the Slip Coaches", and earlier him annoying James to the point of him going and stealing the Slip Coaches idea from Duck, but getting into trouble in the end and making Duck look better, or him constantly boasting about "The Great Western Way" in "The Thomas Way" or "Spencer's VIP" (at least Oliver shuts him up about it). But seriously, is he really that overrated?

I honestly don't think he's overrated at all. While I do like him, I'm not a crazed fanboy. I will admit that I was a little disappointed when he "disappeared" at the end of Season 7, but not enough to get super mad and to go out and blame Emily for "replacing Duck" (I hated her in S8-12 for a whole different reason), besides I never believed that stupid rumor in the first place. Now WHY?!? Many fans wanted him back on the show, and now they're complaining about him *appearing too much*?! That makes no sense at all!

Now, this is my first time making a topic, so please try to be nice about it seeing as I am technically new here, and I'm not trying to call out anyone who might not like Duck. If it seems like I am, then I humbly apologize for it, but I'm just trying to search for possible answers.

Anyway, what do you all think? Is Duck really that overrated in the fandom? Feel free to give your opinions below.

railwayfan03 wrote:Many fans wanted him back on the show, and now they're complaining about him *appearing too much*?! That makes no sense at all!

It basically sums up this fan base. There are people that are never happy. People complained when the show moved to CGI and then complained even more when the animation changed to Arc.

In terms of Duck, he's been back 2 series and has had 5 or 6 episodes and people already think he should go again. I've always preferred Oliver, but what's Oliver without Duck? He starred in one of my favourite episodes of all time (Duck and the Slip Coaches) and he's been very well written so far and his rivalry with James was very enjoyable.

That being said, there are still a lot of people who love Duck and he is a great character. I think we need less focus on the Steam Team (except Edward and Toby. We need more Edward and Toby) and more focus on Duck, Oliver, Donald and Douglas on the Little Western.

I agree. However, the way Duck constantly has to emphasize on himself being "Great Western" is a little bit annoying, yet this does support the rivalry between him and James. To be honest, Duck, from the beginning, has always talked about the GWR and is proud of it; and always received an annoyed response of the other engines. ("Don't we know it!")
I guess this could be a rendition of what Awdry originally wrote, as Duck always emphasized on this exact point.
Duck has always been one of my favorite characters, and this is mainly because of the support and bit of "words of the wiser" that he applies to some situations. But that was then, and this is now.
Though I am not one of the crazed fans, I still feel a bit excited that he has returned. I feel though that if he is given a larger role, this would kind of upset the balance between the other characters. A little bit less of the "I'm GW and..." would help solve the problems for Duck. It seems a bit sad that many people who have enjoyed him as a character are now turning their backs against him...

TheSCC&ScottishTwins wrote:It seems a bit sad that many people who have enjoyed him as a character are now turning their backs against him...

Uh-huh, while I don't mind if they think he's overrated, it makes me very angry when they bash him in the worst possible way.

Exactly! Duck in his own way has always been a bit repetitive, but it seems like when they brought him back in CGI people realized this and just said, "Nope" and turned away.

And yet I thought this was one of the many reasons so many people liked Duck; through his clever ways (Donald's Duck much? ), the way he doesn't stand any nonsense, and his continuous pride towards being Great Western.

I would rather have Duck, Donald, Douglas, Oliver and the Little Western appear then Charlie, Rosie, Flynn and the Logging Losers. What needs to appear more is the Little Western and the Skarloey Railway.

ThomasSirHandel wrote:I would rather have Duck, Donald, Douglas, Oliver and the Little Western appear then Charlie, Rosie, Flynn and the Logging Losers. What needs to appear more is the Little Western and the Skarloey Railway.

Agreed, but I'd also like to see Rosie because she's one of my favorite female characters. The rest: Charlie, Flynn, and the Logging Locos... can take a hike and scat!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ff_-7zor9q0

I think this video, made by SkarloeyRailway, sums up why we all love Duck and why he needs to stay.

Duck is my favourite character, so him coming back in one of the main reasons I got back into watching it.

I like his little feud with James at the moment, but I wished to see more development between him and other characters, he's a good friend of Percy, so why can't they bring that up?

Duck and the slip coaches is getting quite a lot of hate over the scene at Tidmouth, Oh my Godred I sometimes hate the fan base of TTTE. It's just a joke that was made by ARC to make fun of the Emily replaced Duck rumor and turn it around. Now DATSC is ruined because of fanboys of Emily who were on Duck 5 seconds ago.

Well, it wasn't really Duck's fault. The first time was simply an accident (Emily was late getting back to Tidmouth), while the second time was actually Henry's fault, he rolled in front of Emily and took her spot.

True, maybe this plot point will unfold into bigger things unfolding between Duck and Emily in season 19.

He's not, really. To me, fans hype the Duck episodes because they're so scarce. It's something fresh, and that's what makes them so excited.

This video contains all my thoughts

(sighs), I've read through all the comments on this page and even looked over the video...yet I STILL can't seem to find an answer.

It makes me sad...

Well you're not gonna get a definitive answer, because this is largely an opinion based question. There's no right or wrong view on Duck.

Duck might've been overrated if he appeared in every season, but he didn't, so I'd still say no.

I think he's a perfect character who will always one of my favourites.

I think we have had an overdose of Duck recently, so far Duck has had an overdose in the series, from S17-18 he has had at least 8 episodes with him, (and his number is 8 XD) maybe giving Oliver a few more episodes would work (but not 11 episodes) or D&D because they are coming back but maybe not as much Duck but I'm sure the fanboys would beg to differ.

Is duck overrated? Absolutely not, he's a great character, and I like him way more than Emily.

I don't think it's fair to say we've had an overdose - We begged, and we begged for him to come back - now he's back and he's a main character, I think that's safe to say.

I totally agree with Sean. Duck was used all the time in the Railway Series and classic series and no one complains. I don't get why people who begged for him to return are so sick of him all of a sudden!

I'd understand if people didn't really care if he came back or not, but he was by far the most demanded character. I just don't get the "overdose" viewpoint.

Perhaps it's because of either his new *catchphrase*, or that there are some people who are still angry about the ending shot of the episode *Duck and the Slip Coaches* (they actually shouldn't be blaming Duck for it, it was actually Henry's fault, because he cut Emily off from getting onto the turntable), but honestly, the former is just a simple catchphrase (one that is not nearly as annoying as the *Confusion and Delay* one    ), and the latter of both (combined) shots of Emily failing to get into the sheds was just a joke by the writers/animators.

I don't think we've seen too much Duck. I've counted just 3 episodes that he has starred in (The Thomas Way, Duck in the Water and Duck and the Slip Coaches.) out of 52 from series 17 and 18. He starred in 6 episodes in series 2 and 3 (Duck Takes Charge, Pop Goes the Diesel, Dirty Work, A Close Shave, Diesel Does it Again and All At Sea). That is just half of what we had.

I think it's better to star well established, developed characters, like Duck and use underdeveloped characters to support.

I don't think Duck is overrated. He's had the best writing of any character since Series 17 started.

I don't at all think Duck is overrated. The only problem with him now is that many fans were dying for him to come back, and once he returned and ever since Duck and the Slip Coaches, they want him gone again!

Oh well! As I said many time before, they wanted him back! They got their wish! There's no undoing it.

I don't think Duck is TOO overrated, because he's a great character.