Animal Gang - Patrick the Platypus (research)

Regarding my project « Basil, Conda, Doze & co », there are some other characters that weren’t yet presented through a concept/posing sheet. Among these were a short-tempered mechanic platypus. When I created him, I named him Castard (a mix between « castor » (beaver), and « canard » (duck) ), but I’m not sure anymore about how I should call him (plus, Castard would sound like custard, to english-speaking people !)… Maybe Otto l’Ornithorynque in french, and Patrick the Platypus in english, I don’t know, tell me !
Anyway, here are two design variations for this character (I wasn’t very inspired, this time... ), with more posings and costume variations, the left one being the closest to my first drawings of him (back then, he litterally had a hairless beaver tail, duck legs, and a yellowish beak ).

Naturally, Patrick grew up in Australia, and the abundance of highly dangerous animals here left him no other choice than toughen himself up. In addition to the poisonous darts located at his ankles which nature gave him (they’re going to pop out only when he intends to use them, to avoid making his design « heavier »), he acquired a short-temper, and is quickly disposed to fight any threat, despite his small size. To increase the defenses of his den, he started tinkering traps, tools, and other stuff. After several years, he had become a skillful mechanic, even able to create a small, toy-like car for him to drive ! One day, an old, absent-minded kiwi bird fell in one of the traps around his home ; he was Wiki the Kiwi, a strangely cultured bird, who, in the end, came to live with Patrick. The platypus gave him protection, while the kiwi shared his vast knowledge with him.

Somehow, they started corresponding with other peculiar animals at the other side of the globe : Patrick wrote to a certain Basil the Basilisk, and Wiki to a certain Hardy the Aardvark. Soon, they all met each other, and the other animals surrounding Basil, who often came to visit their friends from down under. Patrick developed a vague inferiority complex, when confronted to the far more versatile genius of Basil, but they still get along well. When he unnecessarily gets angry, Doze the Sloth is often the first to try and soothe/reason him.
To be honest, I was MASSIVELY inspired by Walter Sobchak from The Big Lebowski, for his personality. Even if he wasn’t born at this time, he could often speak about the Great Emu War !

He could be voiced by John Goodman, or by Gary Schwartz (who voiced the Demoman and the Heavy in Team Fortress 2), or he could have been voiced by the late Rick May (who voiced the Soldier in Team Fortress 2).

(Pour les français(es) qui me suivent, je l'imagine bien doublé par Jacques Frantz (vf de Long John Silver dans La Planète au Trésor), ou par Claude Brosset (vf de Walter Sobchak dans The Big Lebowski), hélas décédé...)