Gyro Gearloose is a cartoon character created in 1952 by Carl Barks for Disney comics. An anthropomorphic chicken, he is part of the Donald Duck universe, appearing in comic book stories as a friend of Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, and anyone who is associated with them. He was also a heroic creator star of the animated DuckTales. He first appeared in the Carl Barks comic "Gladstone's Terrible Secret" (Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #140, May 1952), and was the regular lead character in 4-page backup stories in Barks' issues of Uncle Scrooge, starting with issue #13 (March 1956) and continuing through #41 (March 1963). Biography Gyro is Duckburg's most genius inventor, even though his inventions sometimes do not work the way he wants them to. His outrageous productivity is presented as a factor in the quality of his inventions. Because Gyro is always coming up with new ideas, the fact that his inventions often lack an important feature will often cause trouble for both Scrooge and Donald, who are known to have frequently bought his inventions. He is known for being good-natured towards others. Gyro is often assisted by his Little Helper (or just "Helper"), who is a small anthropomorphic robot with a light bulb for a head. Besides Little Helper, he also has a "thinking cap", a hat shaped like a combination of a roof-top and a nest, with three black birds living inside it. Wearing this thinking cap helps Gyro figure out particularly difficult problems, but it only works if the birds are currently nesting in the cap. Some stories have involved the birds leaving Gyro's thinking cap, resulting in the cap becoming ineffective. 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 Boys and Magica De Spell. With his inventions, he is also a very important ally of Donald Duck's alter ego, Paperinik, in the Italian Disney comics. Consistent with the two "G's" in his name, he had bins on his shelves containing odds and ends, which he labeled "Gewgaws", "Gimcracks", "Gadgets", and "Gizmos". Appearances in other media Gyro made his first animated appearance in a 1980s full-length movie, the Sport Goofy in Soccermania television special, with only one line of dialogue,