Mayberry Melonpool is the television-addicted, somewhat clumsy, not-all-that-intelligent Captain of the "Steel Duck." Oh yeah, and he's obsessed with getting a date. In short, he doesn't have a lot going for him.
Ralph Zinobop is the inventor of the "Steel Duck." He is eager to enter the next phase of his plan: to make money off his inventions to regain his rightful place as ruler of the Planet Zinobop — a planet that he was exiled from by his paranoid father several years ago. His other hobbies include wild get-get-rich schemes and drinking copious amounts of coffee. He also has a terrible temper.
Ralphie Zinobop is an "evil" clone of Ralph Zinobop. Since Ralph was already evil, Ralphie popped out warm, caring and generally the nicest guy you’ll ever meet — essentially, he’s everything that the original Ralph is not. In addition to his personality, Ralphie is left-handed (Ralph is a “righty”), his DNA winds the opposite direction and his fingerprints are reversed.
Sam T. Dogg is completely out of his element. He’s super intelligent, a highly-skilled pilot and has the most common sense of anyone aboard the "Steel Duck." Also, no one takes him seriously because he’s a dog.
It was something I always thought about when writing Ralph and Ralphie after the split, but could never come up with a reason for them to actually address it in the strip.
I feel unexpectedly terrible for Ralph here! I’m not an inventor, but I’d be pretty horrified if I looked up one day and realized my brain had stopped churning out, say, story ideas, or that I’d lost some other skill that’s always been fairly reliable.
…I’m just going to assume these nuances stop at personality and don’t mean all the pieces of the Steel Duck have half the intended structural integrity.
Was this mentioned in the original series? I don’t remember so, but thinking back this makes so much sense!
It was something I always thought about when writing Ralph and Ralphie after the split, but could never come up with a reason for them to actually address it in the strip.
Well, that explains some things.
I feel unexpectedly terrible for Ralph here! I’m not an inventor, but I’d be pretty horrified if I looked up one day and realized my brain had stopped churning out, say, story ideas, or that I’d lost some other skill that’s always been fairly reliable.
…I’m just going to assume these nuances stop at personality and don’t mean all the pieces of the Steel Duck have half the intended structural integrity.