Beagle Boys
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| The Beagle Boys | |
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A Beagle family photo, as seen in DuckTales. From left to right: Burger, Baggy, Bouncer, Bigtime, Ma Beagle, Bugle, Bankjob, and Babyface. |
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| First appearance | Walt Disney's Comics and Stories issue 134 |
| Created by | Carl Barks |
| Voiced by | Frank Welker, Chuck McCann, Peter Cullen, Terry McGovern, Brian Cummings |
The Beagle Boys are a group of fictional characters from the Scrooge McDuck universe loosely based on the popular image of Ma Barker and the Barker-Karpis Gang. They are a gang of criminals who constantly try to rob Scrooge McDuck and were created by Carl Barks. Their introduction and first appearance was in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #134.
In the comics, the individual Beagle Boys are referred to by their prison numbers, indicated on the tags seen on the chests of their distinctive red shirts (which appeared as orange in the comics). The three most common numbers are 176-167, 176-671, and 176-761. In fact, no digits other than one, six, or seven appeared on their prison ID tags. Carl Barks used to include the words "Beagle Boys Inc" on their shirts under their numbers, which was later deleted. In later years, they appeared in the comics as a trio (some combination of the most common numbers with 671-176, 716-617 and 176-176), plus cousins and other relatives of various talents as spin-off characters. They live in a small tumbledown hide-out in Duckburg; in 1980s American-produced stories, their pet cat Ratty often lived there as well.
On DuckTales, the Beagle Boys were given names and different personalities. The usual character combination is Bigtime, Burger, and Bouncer, and sometimes Baggy or Babyface, Bugle, and Bankjob. Other known names are Bomber and Blitzkrieg. Their leader is usually Bigtime, Bankjob, or their mother, Ma Beagle. In other words, the letter B is the first initial of all Beagle Boys' handles except Megabyte, the brains of the bunch.
The Beagle Boys have lots of relatives who count each other as brothers and cousins: apart from Ma Beagle there are the Beagle Brats (sons or nephews), the Beagle Babes (older generation which happens to be a trio of female cousins and a younger generation which happens to be their daughters or nieces) and their grandfather Blackheart Beagle. The brains of the Beagle clan is Intellectual-176 (or I-176) who wears a mortar-board cap and glasses over his black mask. Grandma & Grandpa Beagle have appeared in the strips at various times.
According to Don Rosa's Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Scrooge first met The Beagle Boys in his Mississippi riverboat days. Those Beagle Boys included Blackheart Beagle and his three sons. Scrooge first met the modern Beagle Boys during Christmas 1947, which was when he first met his grandnephews Huey, Dewey and Louie and met his nephew Donald for the second time. Since then the Beagle Boys have been a constant threat to Scrooge's huge money bin.
Sometimes they team up with other villains such as Magica De Spell, Black Pete, Mad Madam Mim, or hire out their services to Flintheart Glomgold, Ollie Eiderduck or John Rockerduck. During these occasions, it should be noted, they continue to operate out of their own interests rather than their employers.
Sometimes, they antagonize Super Goof, Mickey Mouse, or some other characters from Walt Disney's comic books.
Although the characters are obviously based on dogs, they in no way resemble the actual beagle breed.
The Italian ska band Banda Bassotti takes its name from the Italian name of the gang.
[edit] DuckTales Beagles
There were many Beagle Boys on DuckTales, but the most common seven consisted of:
| Name | Placard Number | Characteristics |
| Bigtime Beagle | 167-671 | Bigtime is the usual leader of the group, and is distinguished by being rather short for someone with the word "Big" in his name. He often has to correct his companions whenever they get something wrong and mishear his directions. Voiced by Frank Welker. |
| Burger Beagle | 761-176 or 176-761 | As his name suggests, Burger has a large appetite, although it is for more than just hamburgers. He has a habit of rambling about food no matter if any of the others are actually talking about it. He also isn't very bright. Incidentally, his comic counterpart (who had the second placard number) is known for a special appreciation for prunes and his curious culinary tastes (i.e. catsup on ice cream or peanut butter pizza with gravy). Voiced by Chuck McCann. |
| Bouncer Beagle | 716-167 | Distinguishable for his teeth, one of which is missing. The strongest Beagle after Bankjob. Voiced by Chuck McCann. |
| Baggy Beagle | 617-716 | Baggy is distinguishable for his silly grin as well as his loose-fitting clothing. Voiced by Frank Welker. |
| Babyface Beagle | 176-167 | As his name suggests, Babyface seems to be the youngest of the primary Beagles, as evidenced by the fact that his own clothing matches those of a baby, including a propellor beanie in place of the usual hat. Like Bigtime, he's also rather short. He is also the only Beagle who hasn't a beard. In spite of this, his voice, provided by Terry McGovern (who also voices Launchpad), sounds more manly than that of Burger. Strangely, one particular comic story in Disney Adventures prominently featured Babyface, wherein he infiltrated Webby's class. But he looked different from how he did on the show, and he also had a conscience, as he ended up rebelling against his brothers during a field trip to Scrooge's Money Bin. (He still ended up being arrested along with his brothers, though.) |
| Bugle/Bebop Beagle | 671-761 | Bebop, or Bugle, depending on the episode, is the poetic member of the Beagle Boys (despite the fact that the comic Beagle with this character trait corresponds by placard to Babyface), and even dresses in a jazz-styled outfit. Voiced by Brian Cummings. |
| Bankjob Beagle | 671-167 | Bankjob usually leads the group in episodes where Bigtime isn't present. He is the largest of the seven main Beagles (by comparison, he is about the same size as Launchpad), and the strongest, complete with a Jay Leno-esque chin. Voiced by Peter Cullen. |
Other Beagle Boys consisted of:
- Megabyte Beagle is the mechanical genius of the clan, and the only one whose name doesn't begin with the letter "B". He appeared in the five-part serial Super DuckTales, in which he made a remote control with which to take control of GizmoDuck. He has a habit of confusing his companions with his technobabble, forcing them to make him "say it in Beagle talk!" Surprisingly, he didn't seem to have a comeuppance. Ma Beagle comments that she paid for him to go to college with stolen money. His voice was done by Frank Welker.
- Bomber Beagle looks a lot like Bankjob in that he has a similar jawline and it very large. He appears in less episodes and is more intelligent than most of the other brothers. He is also a skilled pilot as seen in the episode "Top Duck" (episode 16).
- Backwards Beagle is one the smaller and the only Beagle who wears a full moustache. He has a strong Canadian accent and is the twin brother of Binky Beagle and Bacon Beagle. Backwards wears a Davy Crocket-like trapper's outfit as opposed to the normal jailhouse outfit of the Beagleboys. He is also the only person who is able to understand Bacon Beagle.
- Binky Beagle is a probably the only Beagleboy who is never seen speaking. He is roughly the same size as Baggy Beagle, wears a lumberjack outfit and has a full beard. He lives with Backwards and Bacon Beagle in the Ducky Mountains
- Bacon Beagle is the only Beagle boy who is not a Beagle. Bacon is in fact a pig. When Glomgold asked how he could be a Beagle Boy, Backwards explains that Bacon had a bad case of the swineflu as a child. Bacon cannot speak, but his oinks and grunts are, instead, translated by Backwards Beagle.
- Bullseye
- Bulkhead
- Butterball
[edit] External links
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