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Ajax Duckman is one of the main characters in of Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man. He is Duckman's eldest son who takes after his mother's heart and his father's low IQ.
Character[]
Ajax speaks with a slight surfer-dude accent, and calls his father "Dod". He is extremely slow mentally and doesn't have any athletic skill, but is a skilled free-verse poet. He has also been depicted as having musical abilities; his singing voice is a powerful soprano, and he can even sing piano music to perfection.
He occasionally surprises other characters with a few words of philosophical wisdom or obscure knowledge of his birthday, but this is usually followed by him saying something more inline with his stupidity.
In "Ride the High School", it is revealed that Ajax's lack of intelligence makes it so that he is the only member of the family to whom Duckman can truly relate.
Aside from his low IQ, his most notable trait is his emotional frailty. Ajax often feels rejected by his family and peers, which can result in overwhelming feelings of sadness, and desperation to be accepted.
Ajax got his name from a trucking company Cornfed was driving for when he and Duckman first met (however, due to continuity errors, this was technically the second time they'd met). Ajax is a huge Merv Griffin fan, and constantly attempts to call him by phone so they can "always have a working line between [them]".
Official Character Bios[]
DVD Bio[]
On the Duckman DVD collection, his bio is given as the following;
- Duckman's teenage son, the first of his brood, the fruit of his looms
- Was named after the trucking company Cornfed was driving when he and Duckman first met
- Always calls his father "Dod"
- Is slightly slow, but is also a gifted poet and a true romantic
- Speaks with a slight California surfer-dude accent
Ajax Loves:
- Belching his name
- Poetry
- Sandwiches
Ajax Hates:
- Hard to grasp concepts like left and right
- Taking action
- Escalators
Cooltoons2.com Character Bio[]
On Klasky Csupo's flash website, Ajax's bio is given as the following;
Ajax is Duckman's older son, and definitely not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Despite being somewhat slow on the ball, he is a fairly decent poet, and occasionally surprises Duckman with a few words of slacker wisdom. Ajax speaks with a Southern California surfer drawl, and is usually very shy. He is not quick to take action unless he needs to, and when he does need to take action, usually finds a way to avoid it. Still, his dad is proud of him. After all... his other son has two heads!
Talents and Interests[]
Poetry[]
In "Research and Destroy", Ajax is discovered by his English teacher to be a gifted free verse poet. After performing at an open mic night, he became a hit in the beatnik scene and was eventually signed to a contract for a greeting card company. However, he found his creativity was greatly limited while working for them and was miserable until Duckman accidentally got him fired.
Art[]
Ajax enjoys creating sculptures out of cheese. Many of his sculptures corresponded to the type of cheese used, such as a goat made from goat cheese, a map of Switzerland made from Swiss cheese and a head made from head cheese.
He also collects rocks he finds to be pretty and once painted a realistic portrait of his family at the park. One of his most often visited places is the local art gallery.
Music[]
Ajax playing the harp in "My Feral Lady".
Ajax is seen playing the harp in both "Sperms of Endearment" and "My Feral Lady". He notes that at this pace, in 30 years, he could work his way up to "idiot savant".
In "A Star is Abhorred", the family visited a karaoke bar, and Ajax wanted to karaoke to Beethoven. Charles and Mambo said that there's no way he could, as the music of Beethoven has no lyrics, but Ajax was clearly able to replicate the instruments and orchestra with his vocals alone. Dead-on. It also becomes a running gag within the episode that the background musical cues were provided by Ajax.
When Duckman was given ownership of The Dixie Cups in "Vuuck, as in Duck", Ajax opened one of the games with The National Anthem in a smooth and womanly falsetto voice. He's heard singing some serious high notes during this.
Family and Relationships[]
Duckman[]
Ajax tries to speak with Duckman.
Ajax loves his father greatly, but due to Duckman's neglect, he is often left starved for his attention. When Ajax finds himself ignored by his father, it affects him greatly, much more than Charles and Mambo. When in need of advice, his father is always the first person he turns to. If he gets the advice, he will always follow it. If he gets brushed off, it can cause him to become very depressed.
Despite his devotion to Duckman, when the rest of the family ridicules him, he will usually join in. In "Aged Heat", it's suggested that Ajax doesn't really understand what the rest of the family is doing in these situations.
Ajax has also been known to sneak money into his dad's wallet when Duckman is short on cash. Duckman asks if Ajax ever spends money to make himself happy, but Cornfed notes that sneaking the money into Duckman's wallet probably did make Ajax happy.
Beatrice[]
Ajax's photo of Beatrice.
Ajax was shown to have loved his mother. While not much is known about their relationship prior to the series, Ajax is sensitive towards her being mentioned.
In "I, Duckman", Ajax is seen comforting Duckman during what would've been the anniversary of Duckman and Beatrice's wedding. As a gift, Ajax gives Duckman the submarine sandwich that Ajax himself refused to eat because he loved it so much.
In "Research and Destroy", Ajax's poetry was revealed to have some inspiration from his mother. When Ajax was feeling miserable about his career in greeting cards, he's seen writing a poem about his mother, then he folds it into a paper airplane and glides it out the window. He's then seen tearing up over a photo that's depicting him and his mother during one of his birthdays.
In "About Face", Ajax immediately retreated to his room when he heard that his father had a date. Bernice says that he's very sensitive about replacing his mother. Ajax, however, warmed up to Angela very quickly, possibly because of her new appearance. Much later in the series, in the episode "Bonfire of the Panties", Ajax was actually willing to call Courtney Thorne-Smith his new mother. This possibly shows that Ajax has warmed up to the idea of having a new mom.
Bernice[]
Ajax loves his aunt and thinks of her as a second mother. Bernice speaks with Ajax in a very soft tone in comparison to everyone else, and is sensitive to Ajax's low brain wattage.
Bernice is also upset with Duckman for not taking much interest in Ajax, and it's said that Bernice doesn't have much time to give to him either, otherwise she would.
In "It's the Thing of the Principal", Bernice was excited to hear that Ajax was in love, because it meant that he's becoming a man.
She found it shocking that he had a crush on his school's vice principal (Vanessa La Pert), but she felt it was natural since she once had a crush on an older authority figure when she was a teenager herself. She claims that "a boy's first love is a very special memory", but becomes less enthused about it upon finding out that Vanessa loves Ajax back.
However, rather than assertively confronting Vanessa about the situation like she's usually characterized as doing, she instead tries to calmly talk Ajax and Vanessa out of running away together before having to follow after them. This may be because of the fact that she, again, coddles Ajax, and would prefer to keep things as amicable as possible without hurting his feelings.
When on their way to meet Ajax's new girlfriend's family in "Cock Tales for Four", Bernice seems to carry the same sentiment as before. She believes that this is a very important moment for Ajax, and she wants to make sure that she and Duckman make the best impression possible.
In "Exile in Guyville", Bernice attempts to disguise Ajax as a girl, so that Ajax could join her in the East Coast division with the rest of the women. She did this because she doesn't believe that Ajax is as capable of fending for himself as his brothers are, and she knows that Duckman won't take care of him properly.
Charles and Mambo[]
For the most part Ajax gets along well with Charles and Mambo. They do argue sometimes, and Charles and Mambo might take a jab at his low IQ, whereas he might tease them for having two heads. Ajax once revealed to his father that he was envious of the twins condition, because they never got lonely.
Vanessa La Pert[]
Vanessa La Pert was Ajax's vice principal whom he had a crush on. He would intentionally get in trouble at school just to be sent to her office to see her. Vanessa, oddly enough, returned his feelings, telling Duckman and Bernice that she was in love with him. She said she knew the relationship was inappropriate, but didn't care. She convinced Ajax to run away across the border with her to get married. Bernice and Duckman went after him, but Ajax managed to come to the conclusion not to marry her on his own.
Tammy Chicken[]
Ajax's girlfriend from "Cock Tales for Four". In the episode, it isn't made clear what the two of them needed a zucchini for, but Ajax may have lost his virginity to her (or to the zucchini.)
Betamaxians[]
In "The One With Lisa Kudrow in a Small Role", Ajax is kidnapped by aliens from the planet Betamax. Once on their planet, he is worshipped like a deity. A videotape made by Duckman, however, causes society to collapse and his disciples to turn against him.
Health[]
Ben Stein holding Ajax's X-ray.
According to Dr. Ben Stein in "Kidney, Popsicle, and Nuts", Ajax was born without any kidneys. Though, intriguingly, he does have three livers and an ovary.
In "American Dicks", Ajax says he has gastritis, which is inflammation of the stomach lining. This condition can be caused by major surgery, traumatic injury, burns, infections or extreme stress.
In "Role With It", he is described by Dr. Susan Fox as "A boy with an eating disorder totally disconnected from the world."
In "From Brad to Worse", it is revealed that he is epileptic. Duckman believes his seizures to be fake.
Cognitive Functions[]
Ajax's alarm clock
As stated above, Ajax is not the brightest crayon in the box. In fact, many of his cognitive functions—or lack thereof—show evidence of learning disabilities or cognitive disabilities.
For example, Ajax seems to have difficulty recognizing faces, and instead seems to recognize people by their basic outlines. He once mistook a kick-boxing dummy for his father in "Clip Job", and a two headed lamp for Charles and Mambo due to similarity in shape in "It's the Thing of the Principal".
Ajax has difficulty differentiating left from right, and reads at only a first grade level. He cannot tell time on a regular clock. These symptoms suggest Ajax could have Dyscalculia, Dyslexia, Autism, or Visual Processing Disorder.
Character Conception[]
In the original comic, Ajax didn't have much of a personality aside from being Duckman's slacker son. During development of the two pilots, Ajax was given his main character traits. His character design didn't change much from the comic aside from the fact that he originally did not wear a T-shirt or shoes.
The comic's description of Ajax was as follows; Teenage kid who is a prime candidate for "Twilight Sleep". He's really no worse then any other teenager though, which is to say he's a giant pain in the butt.
In the original pilot, Ajax's design is almost exactly the same, however he has green hair instead of blue.
Episodes[]
Important Ajax Episodes[]
- Ride the High School
- It's the Thing of the Principal
- Research and Destroy
- The One With Lisa Kudrow in a Small Role
- The Road to Dendron
- Coolio Runnings
- Ajax and Ajaxer
Absences[]
Episodes where Ajax has no speaking role
- Noir Gang
- Aged Heat 2: Women in Heat
- Duckman and Cornfed in 'Haunted Society Plumbers'
- Westward, No!
- Das Sub
Quotes[]
Click here for a collection of quotes by Ajax!
Gallery[]
Click here to view Ajax's gallery!
| Also Starring |
|---|
| Ajax ● Bernice ● Charles and Mambo ● Cornfed ● Duckman ● Fluffy and Uranus ● Grandma-ma |