ah shucks, thank you! I’m glad you like the stuff, and I think I made a post talking about why I like him before (which I can’t find haha go me) but, I think it’s partially because he’s so disliked? by the people in his world, not just ours- there’s something almost encouraging to me, seeing a character who is openly despised by people, who doesn’t give them the satisfaction of being upset by it and even encourages it: like, yeah! I’m not ‘nice’, so what? Bring it! Come on and boo me. I may be a fairly zany go-with-it person now, but I was not a confident kid, at all, and being a nerd of the first degree I certainly wasn’t a popular one. Reading about this character who was as flawed as I felt I was was refreshing, and yet this was also a character who was lucky, witty, cunning, and redeemable enough for me to get behind- it was very cathartic. I didn’t mind when he lost, because I knew he didn’t always deserve to win- just like me, but I especially loved it when he showed that little glimmer of good, because if Gladstone Gander was a good person when it really came down to it perhaps that meant I had that in me too. When I read the european comics and the stories that explored him actively encouraging this unpopular aspect of his public face in order to avoid people exploiting him and making false friendships to access his luck, I was completely sold. He’s also clearly a deeply isolated and lonely character, and while it’s partly self inflicted I can’t help but feel sorry for the guy.

I’ve also always loved morally grey/neutral trickster-type characters like Anubis, Anansi, and Loki (probably for similar reasons), and the flexibility and spontaneity they offer to stories by acting as wild cards. There’s a freedom and joy to them that’s indescribably appealing to me. In summary; I guess I saw flaws in Gladstone that I saw in myself, and I saw a courage and potential in him that I wished I had.