Danny Phantom/Fridge

Fridge Brilliance

• When I was a new fan of Danny Phantom years back, I had an irritating dislike for the main character of Danny because for every lesson and moral he learned, he almost never seemed to grow up... or so I thought. The more I got used to this show's rather excellent Character Development, the more I saw Danny was indeed maturing and developing his personality. Sure, the writing can be lax on this at certain parts, but they've relatively kept it going at a good pace. He's such a different person by the last season than he was at the beginning and I've come to enjoy his presence. --User:Neo Yi
• This Danny/Valerie shipper finally figured out the unique angle for the Danny/Sam ship -- Sam is a total Danny Phantom Fan Girl. Despite her friendship with Danny Fenton, it's clear his alter ego is the one she's attracted to. She practically swoons while flying with him in "Fanning the Flames", she redesigns his costume (just like Cardcaptor Sakura's biggest fangirl), and she's livid when Danny gives up his powers in "Phantom Planet" because she's going to miss Phantom. The Last-Minute Hookup is more female fantasy fulfillment than male, despite Sam fitting the Rich Bitch trend in Danny's Love Interests. Because, by sheer coincidence, this Lois knows this Superman's Secret Identity from the beginning; it's weird, but weird is good (still not as good as this show's Dating Catwoman, but interesting enough). -- User:Lale
  • My God, that's why she acted like she was slapped in the face during the Grand Finale. It wasn't Character Derailment at all! Granted, it's not a part of the characterization I like, but damn it, it fits! -- User:Mullon
  • I actually came up with a pro Sam approach to the whole situation. Sam loves Danny for who he is and always will; when he gave up his powers, to her, it was just that... he gave up. It wasn't that he felt like he did his part and was finished with his share or something; he was beaten by Vlad and decided to stay down and let Vlad's goon squad take care of things for profit. In doing so, he stopped being the Danny that we watched through the series, who became stronger and more mature at the same time and instead in giving up, he became a shadow of his old self. This made Sam feel that he wasn't the same person that she fell in love with.
    • That's how I had interpreted it from the start. Sam had fallen in love with him, not because he was a hero, but because he had overcome the obstacles without losing sight of who he is. He remained the same well-intentioned guy throughout the entire series, he just became more mature. Giving up his powers was like giving up a piece of who he is. It's the same reason Paulina's fan-girl actions towards Phantom annoyed her. She knew that Paulina liked him because he was a hero and nothing else, while Sam loved everything about him.
  • Not to mention that until the third season, neither of them were willing to admit their feelings and with the ghost powers and fighting, they were able to see each other as they were growing up. Danny's ghost side is what helped him become Sam's dream guy and without it, she's unsure if she still would love him because he isn't the same person that she finally was able to admit even to herself that she loved.
  • Doesn't that arguably go back to the first example; that Sam liked Danny romantically because of his ghostly abilities?
    • This Troper thinks that one is more along the lines of "being The Hero helped him become the person she loves".
  • I think the Danny/Sam relationship was shown as like one editor said, that Sam always loved Danny. That scene in "Fanning the Flames" to me was Sam's Love Epiphany which is why she admits part of her really like Danny's attention. Their eventual relationship is clear to almost everyone from day one, from Jerk Jock Dash to his clueless father. The powers were just made his unique as Sam pointed out. This also show the difference between her and Paulina, Sam love Danny despite his powers, Paulina loves Danny because of his powers.
• When "Masters of All Time" first aired, I hated it because as a Vlad fangirl, I thought the idea that he was a Jerkass even in an alternate timeline was just crossing the line, especially since it came after "The Ultimate Enemy" where he was sympathized. It took nearly three years to realize that this isn't the case. Vlad having a tragic, pathetic, and sad life even in another timeline not only has a "it's not coincidence, it's hitsuzen" feel, but makes him even MORE sympathetic. Because even in another timeline, he tries so hard to find love because he's painfully afraid of being alone. Instead of being angry for his treatment, I now see this episode as an Alas, Poor Villain episode and a Character Development to the Villainous Breakdown he gets in the Season Two Finale--the writing was just very subtle about it. Brilliant. -- User:Neo Yi
  • I would see that as a Deconstruction of the Freudian Excuse. "I am not a villain! All I wanted was love!" Kudos for not being a Card-Carrying Villain, but no dice on the excuse. You're evil even when you have everything you want. ~ User:Lale
  • Call me a Vlad fangirl, but when a villain is usually played for sympathy, I tend to think there can be more then just him "being evil". Especially when this can be proven true if the alternative Bad Future was an indication. True, it took the ghost power out of him, but it goes back to my "Hitsuzen" time coincidence remark. What happened in another time could potentially work in the current canon. It can be argued it already happened in the Grand Finale when he regrets what he has done to the planet. -- User:Neo Yi
  • He was evil for different reasons there: he was in a nearly loveless marriage and paranoid that Maddie would leave in a heartbeat for Jack. He was right. That was more for the fact that Jack and Maddie are made for each other. Either way, Vlad didn't recognize that Maddie didn't love him really or/and more importantly that Jack does love him in a platonic way. Although that one fic Tavalya Ra wrote was hilarious. -Anthiens
    • Jack: We shared everything.
• Upon watching "Eye for an Eye", I at first thought that Vlad's character had been completely derailed, going from a rather sympathetic character with questionable methods to just plain being a Jerkass. The one-uppance of the whole episode left a bad taste in my mouth, thinking that Vlad had lost his finesse and hit an all-time low in playing pranks. But, that was before I rewatched most of season 2 and "Kindred Spirits". I realized that Vlad's obsession with having Danny as a son took him to all-new levels in his behavior, and when Danny destroyed his clones and his lab, he blew a gasket. After that, I could easily see how Danny became less of a "son he never had" and became more of an enemy he just wanted to ruin and make miserable. - User:Captain Planette
• It's reportedly taken more than one fan some time before it clicks that Vlad saying to Danny and Jazz, "You two know each other?" in "Secret Weapons" is not a goof -- because Danny is in his ghost form, and Vlad doesn't yet know that Jazz knows his Secret Identity. - User:Lale
• It always bugged me that The Nasty Burger sponsored Sam and Tucker's pirate radio in the episode of the same name, but it just hit me: all the adults were missing! It was probably an indifferent or irresponsible teenaged employee who suddenly found himself with control over the whole place and made the decision to sponsor them, perhaps just for kicks. - Mazz
• In his first appearance, Vlad Plasmius basically mops the floor with Danny, displaying not just more raw power then the young hero, but also a wider range of powers as well, justifying it as him having "Years of Experience". However, from Season 2 onward, the battles between Vlad and Danny become much more even, culminating in "Masters of All Time", where Team Phantom chases Vlad throughout history, with Danny fighting the villain on a more even footing. How did Danny close the gap in terms of power and skill so fast? Consider Vlad's personality. He's a Smug Snake who prefers manipulating people to direct confrontation, and who only fights when he's stacked the deck in his favor. It's actually taken him years to gain that much experience using his powers. Danny, on the other hand, is constantly jumping head-first into almost hopeless fights to try and protect innocent people, and thus having to improvise while in combat. He's effectively been Level Grinding, getting in "years of experience" in a shorter amount of time then Vlad took. - lonewolf23k
  • I think it is part level grinding and part the fact that many of the ghost Danny fought would have killed him if he got in the way, if were not actively hunted him. The whole win or die mentality kind of forced Danny into being better. darkwulf23
• You know in the last episode where Jack shows a picture of "skunk punks stink!" with several people with skunk stripes in their hair with Vlad? They may have been trying to help him feel better after the accident, but somehow gotten formed into a band. I liked how it showed Jack as really naive instead of stupid.
• I was just watching TUE again, and I sw a pattern in Dark Danny's chaos. He destorys Ember's vocal cords, Shes a singer. Johnny Thriteen is in a wheelchair, he is a motorbike rider. Box ghost, nothing without realizing he and Lunch Lady had a daughter, and Lunch Lady is nowhere to be seen in the fight sceen. The kicker is with Vlad, truely alone, truely powerless and helped create the monster to help the kid he wants as a son. Dan Phantom was going for extreme Irony.

Fridge Horror

• Dark Danny is both Danny, to whom Maddie is his mom-and Vlad, who loves/lusts after her. Think about that a moment. No wonder he's so messed up. -Anthiens
• In Danny Phantom, Dark Danny is a hybrid of Vlad Plasmius and Danny Phantom. As a mashup of the two, he probably has the same viewpoints of both guys. Danny views his mom as his mom, and Vlad wants to put his phantom in her thermos. How does he see her?
  • How about the scene where Dark Danny kills his human half? Nightmare Fuel in and of itself, right? However, look at how Dan's looming over Danny with his fangs bared and tongue lashing about. I'm a Humanitarian, anyone?
    • Also keep this in mind with Vlad from the mentioned alternate timeline. You know he viewed Danny as the son he never had, seeing Danny's broken spirit being wasted away into nothing by his grief, and the one time he acts like a decent human being - and does something to help Danny, just because he wants to help the poor kid's suffering end his pain. It blows up in the guy's face in more ways than one. His ghost half gets ripped out of his body! He watches the defenseless human Danny - DIE A HORRIBLE DEATH SO BAD HE CAN'T EVEN MENTION IT - WHILE HE'S POWERLESS TO DO ANYTHING TO SAVE THE KID! The monster that was created, pretty much is killing people on a daily basis - in the now apocalyptic world - was a result of something Vlad himself did, JUST TO HELP A KID HE WANTED TO SEE STOP SUFFERING! And lives now alone in his huge torn up home... for years... with nothing but the haunting memories of this ALL to reflect on! I don't know what he's on to keep him from becoming insane or killing himself... BUT I NEED SOME!
  • On a completely different note, you know the ghosts like Youngblood and Sidney Poindexter? They're still just kids/teens. Youngblood most likely died before he turned eight, and Poindexter, given his history of being bullied, most likely hung himself. Poindexter's easy to sympathize with in today's world, but try looking at Youngblood's pranks and "games" thinking about what could have happened to cause him to die at such a young age.
    • And then there's Ember. A pop star with flaming hair? She probably died in a fire, likely from a obsessed, pyromaniac fan.
• ALL of the ghosts have nasty Fridge Horror implications for this troper. Let's take a looksee:
  • As with the above mention, there's Sydney Poindexter. A kid so ruthlessly bullied, he's thought to still haunt his locker. Why the heck would anyone think that, unless he died during that bullying? He may have killed himself, or one of the bullies may have taken it too far... Both are fairly likely.
  • Ember - just listen to her song. Maybe I'm reading too much into things, but it sounds like someone used her, dumped her, cheated on her, or some combination therein, and she couldn't take it. This troper's guess is that she tried to burn his house down, and somehow got trapped inside. Or maybe she did something bad to him, and he burnt her house down with her inside.
  • The Box Ghost - He's a particular source of fridge horror for me. I mean, he probably worked at a shipping yard or something, and got crushed under a load of boxes. Suddenly, likely painfully. Maybe he had a wife and kids, we really don't know. But, still, the whole, "You will be crushed under the belongings of <insert name here>. Prepare to meet your cardboard fate of DOOM!" thing... it's just very cringe. Very, very cringe.
  • Youngblood - as above mentioned, he played a lot as a kid. Probably drowned, playing 'pirates' or something. Horrible...