Henri Dropshot

Henri Dropshot
Character
Henri in Episode 1
Species	Duck
Birthplace	Breed Rietland
First appearance	Episode 1
Character Model Sheet number	7/1
Character Model Sheet name	2 Kemphanen
Name in different languages
Dutch name	Henri Dropshot
Japanese name	青年 (Seinen, or lit. Young Man)
German name	Unknown
English name	Unknown

Likely born in Breed Rietland, Henri Dropshot, also known as one of the Kemphanen, fights with Johnny Hollyday over Anna van de Polder, another resident of the Plaspoelpolder.

Appearance

He is a duck of regular size, sporting a small moustache and ginger hair. In the animated series, he is depicted with a relatively full head of hair; however, in the book De wonderlijke avonturen van de eend Alfred Jodocus Kwak: Goedemorgen, he is shown with only a few tufts of hair and well kept eyebrows. He is also shown to have a mole below his right eye on his beak.

He wears a green colbert over a white undershirt, complemented by a bright red bowtie (rendered as red with blue spots in Goedemorgen) and white spats covering his feet. Finally, he accessorizes with a boater hat and a monocle, which he wears on his right eye in the animated series, but on the left eye in Goedemorgen. In Goedemorgen he's also shown to wear brown gloves. He is frequently seen carrying a tennis racket, a coin for tossing and sometimes a cigarette.

Personality

He carries himself as a dandy, strolling around with refined language and placing great importance on his appearance and leisurely hobbies. His use of deodorant and aftershave could be smelled from great distances.

He attempts to win over women with this attitude, as seen in his pursuit of Anna van de Polder, boasting about his threefold inheritance. However, when his claim to Anna is challenged by Johnny Hollyday, he loses his composure and engages in a fight.

According to Henk de Mol, while Henri was frequently seen carrying a tennis racket, he was never actually observed playing. Instead, he was often seen commentating on the tennis players. He is also regularly depicted smoking cigarettes.

Storyline

Henri Dropshot attempts to court Anna van de Polder on the dyke, asking if she would be interested in playing tennis. In De wonderlijke avonturen van de eend Alfred Jodocus Kwak: Goedemorgen and De Droom van Alfred Jodocus Kwak, he instead invites her for a walk around the Plaspoelpolder. Before Anna can respond to Henri's advances, they are interrupted by the sound of Johnny Hollyday's motorcycle. Equally interested in Anna, Johnny also tries to court her, but Henri refuses to back down, leading the two into a fight.

In both De wonderlijke avonturen van de eend Alfred Jodocus Kwak: Goedemorgen and De Droom van Alfred Jodocus Kwak, the fight results in them rolling off the dyke into a ditch. In the Alfred J. Kwak animated series, Johan Sebastiaan Kwak joyfully kisses both Dropshot and Hollyday after his own courtship of Anna has been met with approval.

After Henk de Mol recounts these events to Johan and Anna’s son years later, Alfred Jodocus Kwak, Dropshot and Hollyday reappear in his dream, still fighting in the same ditch.

Henri Dropshot courting Anna van de Polder from the book De wonderlijke avonturen van de eend Alfred Jodocus Kwak: Goedemorgen

Voice actors

Japanese	¦	島田 敏 (Bin Shimada)	¦	青年 (Seinen)
Dutch	¦	Bob van Tol	¦	Henri Dropshot
German	¦	???	¦	Unnamed
English	¦	???	¦	Unnamed

Appearances

TV Series

• 
  Alfred J. Kwak Episode 1

Books

• 
  De wonderlijke avonturen van de eend Alfred Jodocus Kwak: Goedemorgen (1989) (Dutch)
• 
  De wonderlijke avonturen van Alfred J. Kwak: De zeven eieren (1989) (Dutch)
• 
  De wonderlijke avonturen van Alfred J. Kwak: Omnibus 1 (1989) (Dutch)
• 
  Alfred J. Kwak Mijn avontuurlijke leven (1991) (Dutch)
• 
  Alfred J. Kwak Filmstripboek Deel 1 (2006) (Dutch)
• 
  De wonderlijke avonturen van Alfred J. Kwak: Het Grote Voorleesboek (2010) (Dutch)

Production background

Henri Dropshot and Johnny Hollyday in the middle of fighting over Anna van de Polder.

Henri Dropshot is one of the kemphanen mentioned in the original outline written by Herman van Veen for the production of episode 1 of the animated series. The term kemphanen (singular: kemphaan) has a double meaning in Dutch. It literally refers to the Ruff, a species of wading bird, but is also commonly used to describe two individuals who are frequently in conflict or rivalry. It is likely that this term was intended to be taken both figuratively and literally in the series. Henri Dropshot (7/1) shared his Character- and Color-Designs for Alfred J. Kwak character sheet page with the other 'kemphaan,' Johnny Hollyday (6/1). The character sheet was made in april of 1988.

Dropshot received a slightly altered design in the book De wonderlijke avonturen van de eend Alfred Jodocus Kwak: Goedemorgen, where he was depicted with brown gloves, his monocle on the opposite eye, blue spots on his bowtie, and a cigarette. Additionally, he was shown with significantly less hair than in his animated counterpart.

In the book De Droom van Alfred Jodocus Kwak, Henri Dropshot and Johnny Holliday were given their names, as they were not named in the animated series. In the Japanese version, Henri was instead credited as 青年 (Seinen), which translates to "Young Man".

The name "Dropshot" has two different meanings. One refers to the drop shot, a technique in certain racket sports where the ball (or shuttlecock) is hit softly to land just over the net. This may imply that while Henri boasts about being a tennis player, his actual skills are rather weak. The second meaning derives from the Dutch dropshot, a traditionally Dutch liquorice-flavored liqueur with an alcohol content typically around 20%, though some variants contain 14.9%, which could imply a drinking habit by Henri.