Gyro Gearloose is a
fictional characterA character is the representation of a person in a narrative or dramatic work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr through its Latin transcription character, the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its...
, an
anthropomorphicAnthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics to non-human creatures and beings, phenomena, material states and objects or abstract concepts. Examples include animals and plants depicted as creatures with human motivation able to reason and converse and forces of nature such as...
chickenThe chicken is a domesticated fowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other bird...
created by
Carl BarksCarl Barks was a famous Disney Studio illustrator and comic book creator, who invented Duckburg and many of its inhabitants, such as Scrooge McDuck , Gladstone Gander , the Beagle Boys , Gyro Gearloose , Flintheart Glomgold , John D. Rockerduck and Magica De Spell...
for
The Walt Disney CompanyThe Walt Disney Company , often simply known as Disney, is the largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world, known for its family-friendly products...
. He is part of the
Scrooge McDuckScrooge McDuck or Uncle Scrooge is a Glaswegian anthropomorphic duck created by Carl Barks that first appeared in Four Color Comics #178, Christmas on Bear Mountain, published by Dell Comics in December 1947....
universeThe Scrooge McDuck universe is the fictional world where Scrooge McDuck lives. It is a subset of the Donald Duck universe. However, Donald Duck appears in most comic stories involving Scrooge. Only in the animated cartoons do they rarely meet. Thus, this distinction between universes is only...
, appearing in
comic bookA comic book is a magazine made up of narrative artwork, often accompanied by dialog and often including brief descriptive prose...
stories as a friend of
Donald DuckDonald Duck is an American cartoon character from The Walt Disney Company. Donald is a white anthropomorphic duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He usually wears a sailor shirt, cap, and a red or black bow tie, but no trousers...
, Scrooge and anyone who is associated with them.
Gyro is
DuckburgDuckburg is a fictional city which appears in Walt Disney's comic books and animated projects. In the comics and cartoons, Duckburg is the home of Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck, Daisy Duck, and most of their supporting cast...
's most famous inventor, even though his inventions don't always work the way he wants them to. His outrageous productivity is presented as a factor in the quality of his inventions; because he always comes up with new ideas, the fact that his inventions often lack an important feature, will often cause trouble for Scrooge or Donald who have bought the invention.
Gyro Gearloose is a
fictional characterA character is the representation of a person in a narrative or dramatic work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr through its Latin transcription character, the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its...
, an
anthropomorphicAnthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics to non-human creatures and beings, phenomena, material states and objects or abstract concepts. Examples include animals and plants depicted as creatures with human motivation able to reason and converse and forces of nature such as...
chickenThe chicken is a domesticated fowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other bird...
created by
Carl BarksCarl Barks was a famous Disney Studio illustrator and comic book creator, who invented Duckburg and many of its inhabitants, such as Scrooge McDuck , Gladstone Gander , the Beagle Boys , Gyro Gearloose , Flintheart Glomgold , John D. Rockerduck and Magica De Spell...
for
The Walt Disney CompanyThe Walt Disney Company , often simply known as Disney, is the largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world, known for its family-friendly products...
. He is part of the
Scrooge McDuckScrooge McDuck or Uncle Scrooge is a Glaswegian anthropomorphic duck created by Carl Barks that first appeared in Four Color Comics #178, Christmas on Bear Mountain, published by Dell Comics in December 1947....
universeThe Scrooge McDuck universe is the fictional world where Scrooge McDuck lives. It is a subset of the Donald Duck universe. However, Donald Duck appears in most comic stories involving Scrooge. Only in the animated cartoons do they rarely meet. Thus, this distinction between universes is only...
, appearing in
comic bookA comic book is a magazine made up of narrative artwork, often accompanied by dialog and often including brief descriptive prose...
stories as a friend of
Donald DuckDonald Duck is an American cartoon character from The Walt Disney Company. Donald is a white anthropomorphic duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He usually wears a sailor shirt, cap, and a red or black bow tie, but no trousers...
, Scrooge and anyone who is associated with them.
Fictional character biography
Gyro is
DuckburgDuckburg is a fictional city which appears in Walt Disney's comic books and animated projects. In the comics and cartoons, Duckburg is the home of Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck, Daisy Duck, and most of their supporting cast...
's most famous inventor, even though his inventions don't always work the way he wants them to. His outrageous productivity is presented as a factor in the quality of his inventions; because he always comes up with new ideas, the fact that his inventions often lack an important feature, will often cause trouble for Scrooge or Donald who have bought the invention. He is known as being good-natured towards others. Gyro is often assisted by his Little Helper (or just "Helper"), who is a small anthropomorphic
robotA robot is a virtual or mechanical artificial agent. In practice, it is usually an electro-mechanical machine which is guided by computer or electronic programming, and is thus able to do tasks on its own...
with a
light bulbThe incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is a source of electric light that works by incandescence . An electric current passes through a thin filament, heating it until it produces light...
for a head.
Besides Little Helper, he has also a
thinking capThinking Cap is a privately owned software development company specializing in Semantic knowledge management products. Thinking Cap’s current products are Thinking Cap LCMS and Thinking Cap LMS.- Background :...
, a combination of a roof-top and a nest, with three black birds living in it.
Some of Gyro's relatives include his father Fulton Gearloose, his grandfather Ratchet Gearloose, and Newton Gearloose, his nephew. Occasionally there have been stories about Gyro's girlfriend Matilda. In some stories, Gyro's primary rival is Emil Eagle, although he is also antagonized by the
Beagle BoysThe Beagle Boys are a group of fictional characters from the Scrooge McDuck universe. They are a gang of criminals who constantly try to rob Scrooge McDuck and were created by Carl Barks...
and
Magica De SpellMagica De Spell is a fictional character of the Scrooge McDuck universe, a witch created by Carl Barks. She constantly steals or attempts to steal Scrooge McDuck's Number One Dime, which she believes will play a vital role in magically obtaining the same fabulous wealth of its owner.-Publication...
.
Appearances in other media
Gyro made his first animated appearance on the Sport Goofy
Soccermania television special with only one line of dialogue, voiced by
Will RyanWill Ryan is an American veteran voice actor and producer–writer–composer, well-known for singing about the American West. In the late seventies he teamed up with Phil Baron as Willio and Phillio. They had regular gigs on television, radio and comedy clubs and universities throughout the US...
: "Scrooge parting with a million dollars?" In the subsequent 1987
animated series DuckTalesDuckTales is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. Based on Carl Barks' Uncle Scrooge comic book series, featuring the adventures of Scrooge McDuck and his nephews, the show premiered on September 18, 1987 and ended on November 28, 1990.- Premise :The...
, Gyro became a regular character, with
Hal SmithHarold John "Hal" Smith was an American character actor and voice-over artist. Smith is best known as Otis Campbell, the town drunk on The Andy Griffith Show and was the voice of many characters in animated cartoon shorts.- Early life :He was born in Petoskey, Michigan...
supplying his voice. Among Gyro's noteworthy inventions in the series was the creation of the
GizmoDuckFenton Crackshell, also known as GizmoDuck, is a fictional character created by the Walt Disney company and voiced by Hamilton Camp.- History :...
suit, intended to be worn by a security guard for Scrooge McDuck's Money Bin. Although Gyro's shop and house are on the south side of Duckburg, he was born on the north side — a sign marks his birthplace and mentions one of his inventions — topless hats. According to the majority of Duck scholars, the character of Gyro was based on the electrical engineering student Evan Charles "Chaz" Browning of Oklahoma. The resemblance is uncanny.
In high school, young Gyro was a baseball pitcher with his "madball" pitch — actually only a straight-ball pitch. When Gyro is forced to pitch for the Northside, pitting an "unhittable" baseball against another of his inventions, an "unmissable" baseball bat made for the Southside team, the result is total chaos.
Contrary to his entry in
Don Markstein's ToonopediaDon Markstein's Toonopedia is a web encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation. While the site aims for comprehensiveness, it makes little or no pretense of having a neutral point of view...
, Gyro never appeared on
House of Mouse. Gyro's usual role as an inventor is replaced with
Ludwig Von DrakeLudwig von Drake is one of Walt Disney's cartoon and comic book characters. He was first introduced on September 24, 1961, as the presenter in the cartoon An Adventure in Color, part of the first show of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color on NBC. Ludwig is a V.I.P. member of the Mickey Mouse...
in both
House of Mouse and many other cartoons.
In the
ToontownDisney's Toontown Online is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game created by The Walt Disney Company and billed as the first such game intended for kids and families. Designed for children as young as seven, the depth of the game's content has drawn in many older players as well...
universe, Gyro created a robot that, when Scrooge accidentally wired it incorrectly, made the Cogs, the main
antagonistAn antagonist is a character, group of characters, or an institution, who represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
s of the game. They are grim businessmen-like robots who can't take a joke, so to take care of the infestation, the toons (the main protagonists of the game), destroy them with gags, such as squirting seltzer water and throwing pies at them.
External links