Bushroot

Dr. **Reginald Bushroot** is a botanist who became a half-plant/half-duck mutant through one of his failed experiments. He's one of the most recurring villains on the show Darkwing Duck. Fueled by loneliness, he will stop at nothing to find a companion for himself and is a member of the Fearsome Five. He was voiced by Tino Insana.

## Background

Before his mutation, Reginald Bushroot was a botanist employed at the St. Canard University, where he shared laboratory space with colleagues Rhoda Dendron, Larson, and Gary.

Bushroot and Dendron were good company to each other, but Larson and Gary took great joy in bullying the physically weaker and psychologically delicate Bushroot.

Bushroot was developing a method to make animals able to photosynthesize, which would solve world hunger, but the university Dean showed no interest because they couldn't profit from it.

As his funding for his experiments was about to be cut, to prove his theories were correct, Bushroot performed an experiment on himself and was permanently transformed into a half-duck half-plant creature.

He pursued revenge on rival scientists Dr. Gary and Dr. Larson who had nicknamed him "Reggie the Veggie." Bushroot seemingly kills Dr. Garyand Dr. Larson and attempted to woo the beautiful Dr. Rhoda Dendron, who had previously defended Bushroot from bullies. Rhoda was dismayed by Bushroot's lack of scientific ethics and shunned him when he appeared before her. Heartbroken and more than a little insane, Bushroot took her hostage, intending to perform the same experiment on her, but was stopped by Darkwing Duck.

In later episodes Bushroot mainly commits crimes to fund his experiments, though sometimes he acts in a manner reminiscent of an environmentalist. Bushroot has the ability to control any and all forms of plant, though some seem to obey better than others. He sometimes has to use chemicals or fertilizers to make a plant useful in a fight.

In one episode, he attempts to create a mate for himself, but mistakenly used the wrong seeds and creates a giant slobbering mutant potato named Posey. He also has a pet plant named Spike which resembles a Venus flytrap.

Bushroot has dark green feathers, vines for arms, ivy leaves for hands, and shaggy lavender foliage for hair. He has the ability to regenerate himself when cut and is therefore virtually impossible to kill.

He has also been known to fake his own death through leaving dried dummy husks behind and regenerating through various methods. Aside from his many plant cohorts, Bushroot was also allied as a member of the Fearsome Five, acting as one of Negaduck's henchmen.

In the Life, the Negaverse and Everything, Bushroot's counterpart is a member of the Friendly Four, and he seems braver and more willing to act and speak up. In the episode "A Star Is Scorned" Bushroot is portrayed as an less than intelligent actor (along with the rest of the Darkwing Duck cast) for "Dizzy" (Disney) studios.

After blooming into a plant-duck hybrid he gained a mental connection with and the loyalty of flora, putting him in charge of an immense potential army.

With the power to make mighty trees and thorny vines strike at his enemies, this would make him one of the most dangerous beings in Saint Canard. However his personality, largely being that of a pacifist, renders the potential violence of these powers near non-existent. Only once has he used them in a genuinely lethal way, and aimed at long term tormentors of his.

He is effectively indestructible, as he can abandon one husk and transfer his mind into a fresh one and simply regrow his body, allowing him to survive fatal accidents like being chopped to pieces, drying up, etc.

## Appearance

Prior to his mutation Bushroot was a short balding duck with a few strands of black hair, blue eyes and white feathers. He usually wore a blue suit with a black neck tie. After his mutation he has dark green feathers, vines for arms, ivy leaves for hands, and shaggy lavender foliage for hair.

## Personality

Bushroot is driven by desire for love and companionship. He had a very low self esteem before his mutation, and this often drags him down from being able to achieve his dreams and goals. Now, after his mutation, it was as if that self esteem was taken from him, thrown onto the floor, crushed, stamped on, beaten, burned up, and then flung back to him. No matter what he does, people would run from him in fright, or attack him on sight. They never gave him a chance to show that he could be more than this. An example would be It's a Wonderful Leaf, where he'd just wished to do some normal shopping, until he was hurt and attacked by the mall shoppers for no particular reason. Had people shown more kindness and acceptance towards him, he would never have gone down the path of villainy.

Unlike most St Canardians, Bushroot is not aggressive, and all he used to want was world peace. Even as a villain, he has reservations about hurting people, and most of his crimes consists of making a wife for himself, or a friend. This also makes him a coward and a pushover. He was unable to stand up for himself, especially against the bullies in St Canard University, and now, he still allows himself to be pushed around by his team. While he's no saint, he's definitely the nicest member of the Fearsome Five.

He also has the ability to do good, even after being labelled as a villain. In Twin Beaks, he assisted an army of cow aliens to spy on some evil cabbages, and even helped stop them from world domination by working together with Darkwing. He also decided to help Darkwing and release Gosalyn when she turned into a slime monster in Slime Okay, You're Okay, where it was revealed he wished to establish a friendship with the hero.

Bushroot is also shown as patient and unconditional. In Night of the Living Spud, he was willing to marry an unpleasant, barely sentient and demanding potato vampire, and even feel sadness and anger for her death. He also took care of a ravenous and savage piece of hedge in Slime Okay, You're Okay, refusing to give up on it even when it ate his books.

However, this does not mean Bushroot is not a villain. Due to his selfishness and a tendency to go overboard upon losing his temper, he has hurt more people that he'd intended to. He never considered Rhoda's feelings before hooking her up to his plant converter against her wishes, insisting she would like it. When he was attacked by mall shoppers in It's a Wonderful Leaf, he decided to take Christmas away from everyone, and he never considered the ones who didn't deserve it, such as Honker Muddlefoot. In Night of the Living Spud, when he found out Darkwing was making out with his potato wife, it sent him into a rage, and he even tried to mow Darkwing down. He also desires vengeance, one of the biggest examples being Dr. Gary and Dr. Larson, whom he'd murdered after years and years of bullying. He seems to suffer from bouts of insanity as well, which was probably caused by his loneliness, pent-up anger and need for a friend.