lol i lowkey forgot how to draw Danny for a bit it’s been too long
so like, what if, in the beginning when Danny’s figuring out his ghostly powers, before he got the whole ‘going ghost’ ring-ly transformation sequence, he just kinda, unpredictably ‘misted’ between forms.
Eyyyyy it’s been a while! Been busy with life stuff and other interests so sadly DP dropped in my list of priorities. However! I recently chatted with @rhythmantics about their frikkin AMAZING DP s3 rewrite and I am ABSOLUTELY IN LOVE.
Everything’s so well crafted and their characters, both OCs and canon character redesigns are amazing, you should absolutely check it out yo.
So like, how could I not do some doodles after all that? So there’s Flux Antares, their DP OC (such a rad design), along with a Vlad redesign of theirs (BLESS), and their version of Danny (who has LIGHTNING POWERS AAAAAA).
(Also you can totally see me start to lose my shit more and more after each pic. FFFFF)
Wow it’s been a while. Welp, I come bearing another Danny Phantom AU.
Warning: This AU explores the concept and idealization of death and by consequence its relations (including suicide/assisted suicide), the impossible nature of being ‘half-dead’, and what it means to be a ghost. (Also endgame does include major character death *cough cough*)
What if when Danny was electrocuted in the incident that got him his ghost powers, he ended up more ‘dead’ than ‘alive’? (Although honestly I have so many issues with the idea of being half dead, let alone trying to quantify it into more of one than the other, but for the sake of this au, let us assume it can be done.) And what I mean by more ‘dead’, I mean instead of being half human-half ghost, it’s more half ghost-half ‘one step into oblivion/eternal rest’. (Although that’s not entirely true, but that ventures into spoilery territory..)
Anyways, after the incident, this Danny ends up in the Ghost Zone, and thanks to deus ex machina Clockwork, ends up under the care of Frostbite. (Their relationship is much more paternal than hero-worshippy here.)
Due to the whole being more dead than alive, this Danny exists in a haze of indifference and doesn’t remember much at all of when he was alive. Emotionally detached and without purpose makes him a bit of an oddball among ghosts (and considering ghosts only exist because they have a purpose, an unfinished business if you will, Danny’s existence is an aberration of aberrations.) A worried Frostbite sends Danny back to Amity Park in the hopes that he can find his ‘purpose’.
Back in Amity Park, as far as anyone is aware, Danny died in the incident. There’s grieving, some people are more affected than others, then life happens. It would have been Danny’s senior year in high school when he makes his return. Strangely, no one can see or hear him except for Kwan of all people. Shenanigans happen. It takes a while for Kwan to realize that the ghost that only he can see and hear is Danny because 1. faded memories on both their parts (the entire thing for Danny while for Kwan, it’s not exactly easy to remember every minutiae of detail of the kid he sometimes bullied that died 3 years ago, especially when the kid doesn’t even act like the kid anymore), 2. can’t even see Danny’s face because of his shroud which he never takes off.
Of course, once the realization sets in, moral dilemmas galore! To tell? Not to tell? Bring up old wounds? Give closure to still grieving parties? And who would even believe him in the first place? Kwan suffers.
Meanwhile, being around Amity Park, Danny starts regaining memories of his past and starts to feel things again which is causing all sorts of inner turmoil. The ultimate goal of a ghost is not life, but peace. To fulfill their goal, their ‘unfinished business’ is their only reason for existence and it is for that reason they linger. They do not, cannot crave life. Danny starts to crave life.
Insert more shenanigans here with background angst and existential crises. Kwan finally tells, people grieve all over again, but this time with closure. Danny makes a resolution.
Peace is found.
Notes:
If you wanna be precise, this Danny is like, 49.5% for reals dead, 49.5% ghost, 1% still alive
despite that, Danny did in fact grow a bit during his 3 year stint with Frostbite (owing to that part of him still alive, it is only a small fraction of the growth he would have undergone had he been canon status or full human)
strong against ice, weak against electricity
covered in lichtenberg scars
still has that ol’ hazmat suit under all those cloaks, finery, and furs from Frostbite
has an extreme aversion to mirrors/reflective surfaces, seeing himself (particularly the face), being seen
pretty much always wears his ‘death shroud’ (head covering) if he can help it
has a very spotty short term memory (sometimes it’s hard to tell whether it’s sheer absentmindedness, or pure indifference)
Klemper’s best friend
I’d appreciate if you do not tag this particular Danny as kin. Thank.
Oh man, I seem to really enjoy drawing Danny in various fantasy-style outfits. eue
Anyways, this may seem a little apropos of nothing but OH MY GOSH I HAD ANOTHER DP AU IDEA
Danny Phantom and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle fusion!!! With Danny in a situation similar to Sakura and Dimensional Ghost Clockwork with Mokona!Observers (lol). The Tsubasa influence is going to be very loose though. Direct parallels don’t really work with these two and I never actually finished reading Tsubasa soo... Huehue, I just want an epic adventure across time and space, tons of character development, contemplations of self-identity, and the strength of the bonds of friendship.
Aahhh, there are multiple ways I can develop this. Anyone wanna be my sounding board?
Alas, life keeps me busy. Soon. Winter (break) is coming. ouo
Trio scribble! God, I have this huge virtual reality MMORPG dp au (a la .Hack or 1/2 Prince) that I’ve been thinking up. This is not that particular au, this is just self-indulgent scribbling (I just wanted to draw some fancy costumes). But I am a huge fan of werewolf!Tucker headcanon and that translates pretty marvelously to Tucker choosing a Beastman-type character were he to play the hypothetical VRMMORPG. eue
I loved, loved, loved the foul mouthed Danny AU. Do you have any more headcanons on his filthy mouth? The ways his friends react to his swears? When Vlad and him first fight? Like, seriously, I love that AU!!
Aaaaa thank you! o///o
Sorry for the wait! Tbh, foul mouthed Danny isn’t one of my more developed AUs mainly because the differences aren’t as.. er.. extreme as my others, but I can give you what I’ve got so far! Nvm, I lied. Under the cut because apparently this AU had more to offer than I thought.
So, first of all, you can probably surmise that the Foul Mouthed Phantom is rather infamous amongst the adult population of Amity Park due to his cussing. This, now that I think about it, does have a fairly significant impact regarding his public image compared to his canon counterpart. Despite, or maybe because, of his foul mouth, Phantom is a popular subject to report for the Amity news (it’s almost gossip mag/cheap tabloid-ish tactic, but they can’t deny that whenever Phantom shows up on the screen, there’s a sharp increase in viewers). Because of that, many of Phantom’s battles are televised (to Danny’s chagrin), but it does have an unforeseen ripple effect down the line for Phantom. Because the Foul Mouthed Phantom is such a well known figure, people are more apt to focus on certain aspects of his persona more than others.
“Hey! Did you catch Phantom’s latest battle last night?”“Boy did I ever! I always discover new things whenever he fights!”“I know right? I don’t remember him using that technique before, and that building was absolutely trashed after that battle. It’s like he keeps getting stronger...”“Yeah, yeah, but OH MAN, did you hear what he said!? Look! I even wrote it down here..”*whistle* “Damn, that is creative.”“Heh heh, I know right? John from accounting won’t know what hit him.”“Omg. John, that bastard? Hell yeah, I’ll be there. I’m so recording that for posterity.”
Bottom line, smear campaigns are not effective against the Foul Mouthed Phantom. As annoying as it is for Danny (cause honestly he would really rather not have people recording his fights), it does have the fortunate side affect of the public viewing him as more of a moral nuisance than a potentially dangerous ghost. (Phantom also gains fans that are more on the mature side that actually have the power to shut down any potential fear-mongering because no way in hell are they going to lose this golden piece of entertainment and they can see the public service Phantom is rendering them with keeping the ghost attacks under control dammit.)
Whilst Phantom paints himself as a colorful figure, Danny by contrast is quieter, even more so than canon. Gosh, all that yelling and letting go during Phantom fights does wonders for Danny’s stress levels that he can actually focus in class. That’s not to say everything is perfect. There are still occasions of Dash being a jerk, but the bullying instances start to decline as Danny starts to not care/react (Danny’s got no time for Dash’s childish shenanigans/Dash meanwhile is left very confused, maybe even bereft..? HAH).
Overall, this Danny is ironically more mature than his canon counterpart. He doesn’t have the desire to be with the popular crowd because the fame/infamy of being Phantom is tiring enough (also a bit flattering because he has quite a following in various social media, Tucker keeps him updated with all the juicy bits). Dash is a non-issue compared to some of the ghosts he has to deal with on a near daily basis.
Also, cause I’m a sucker for supportive teacher!Lancer, Danny makes an arrangement with Lancer near the beginning of him obtaining ghost powers for possible due date extensions or extra credit opportunities in case he finds himself unable to get his assignments done on time because of the whole ghost thing. Of course, Danny doesn’t tell Lancer about his ghost alter, the reason he cites instead is regarding the duress of the amount of stress he is constantly under, though he is attempting to find ways to manage it, doesn’t always work and wreaks havoc on his schoolwork. Lancer in response, is rather touched and proud of Danny of approaching him and trying to arrange something instead of taking everything on himself because Lancer honestly wants his students to succeed, he just can’t do much unless the students themselves tells him they are having a problem. And since Lancer takes the mental health of his students seriously, he is quite happy to arrange something for Danny. (And thus we completely bypass the entirety of TUE.)
So Sam and Tucker. Heh. First of all, Sam does not approve of Danny as Phantom’s cussing but she’s quite the hypocrite. The best ones in Phantom’s repertoire are from Sam when she’s really pissed. Tucker on the other hand, doesn’t cuss himself, but he’s such an enabler. He searches up interesting words and phrases to feed Danny’s vocabulary and creativity.
Now Phantom’s relationships with his ghost enemies have a decidedly different feel in this AU compared to canon. Generally meetings come in three flavors, “omg watch your mouth you horrible child”, “holy shit we’re going to be bffs after i kick your ass”, or “is that all you can muster?”
Skulker and Vlad are of the first kind. Hilariously enough, actual cussing makes them physically cringe. Vlad especially tries so hard to get Danny to stop. Of course, all he gets is a “fuck no.”
Ember and Technus of all ghosts fall under the second category. Ember and Phantom have a blast slinging insults at each other and make a contest over who can be the most creative. And when Phantom gets the Ghostly Wail/Fuck You Cannon, Ember has an absolute field day with helping him refine the technique. Now Technus, due to his inclination towards technology, I headcanon as one of the younger ghosts despite his older physical appearance. Technus is to Phantom someone similar to Tucker. He finds hilarity in expanding Phantom’s repertoire, but unlike Tucker who has Sam breathing down his back and his own fear of how exactly his doings will affect Danny, Technus has no qualms about exposing Phantom to the.. danker side of the internet. Memes, Urban Dictionary, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit.. Hell yeah, they’re a thing, and Technus oh Technus.. is laughing his ass off what he has unleashed upon Amity Park. Dear god.
Finally, there are ghosts like Walker, Clockwork, and Spectra who’ve seen/heard/been through a lot of shit and aren’t affected by the Foul Mouthed Phantom. I mean, Walker is the warden of a prison, Clockwork has pretty much seen/heard everything that can be said, and Spectra who feeds on misery can brush off foul language quite easily.
Phew. That’s all I have so far. Considering the relative flippancy of the original post, parts of this may not be what you have expected, particularly the dedication this Danny has towards his studies. My reasoning for that is this Danny does in fact acknowledge that he half-died during that incident, which for understandable reasons gets glossed over in the original show. For this Danny, the acknowledgement manifests as a drive to succeed in his dreams (becoming an astronaut) before his inevitable death, which is why he focuses on his studies so hard. Though Danny tried to juggle everything on his own at first like canon, the stress mounted so much that he snapped and voila, here comes the Foul Mouthed Phantom. After that, Danny realizes how much better he feels letting go as Phantom and how much more his focus improves on his studies afterwards.
This may have unintentional effects in Danny’s future because it cements in Danny this habit of Danny=work, Phantom=play. His friends are slow to notice because they are with him the majority of the time. To them, Danny and Phantom are still the same person and so what if Danny prefers to be in ghost form when he relaxes with his friends or play video games with Tucker, they know his secret so it’s cool, yeah?
It also doesn’t help that Phantom does try to establish a working relationship with the ghosts that he defeats because screaming vitriol and using someone as a literal punching bag is a little messed up since most of these fights aren’t personal. And eventually some of the ghosts get that, “hey, nobody can be that keyed up all the time” and come out to play baddie of the day for some fun spar times. It’s usually Skulker, though sometimes Ember or Technus will show up just to see how he’s doing for better or worse.
What I’m trying to get at is, whilst TUE may have been circumvented in this AU, Dan Phantom is still not completely out of the picture, just in a different way than in canon. Heh.
So like, bear with me here, I’m gonna do some headcanon mixing.
So I read this headcanon a while ago that went something along the lines of Vlad and Jack being childhood friends and Vlad would always be the one who would test/guinea pig Jack’s usually ill-conceived inventions and Vlad would get so used to that being his life he would just automatically do the thing. (If you know where this post is, I would greatly appreciate it if you sent it to me so I can link back! ;o;)
So like, the above is a thing. Jump to college age with the proto-ghost portal incident except this time Vlad gets distracted and JACK is the one hit with the radiation and gets the ghost powers.
Vlad is devastated, the one goddamn time he takes his eyes off Jack, this happens. Pretty much kills the low burn antagonism that he had started to build up against Jack regarding Maddie’s affections. Maddie pretty much goes MY BOYS, snaps Vlad out of his funk and hightails both of ‘em to the hospital to be with Jack because no way in hell are they going to be separated no sirree.
So yeah, Jack discovers ghost powers and proceeds to be a goddamn precious cinnamon roll about it, Vlad is immediately blinded by the pure fluffy goodness that is Jack, and Maddie sighs in exasperation at her boys but gives them a tender loving smile.
Between the three of them, they build a working ghost portal much sooner than canon (and no portal-related accidents this time, Vlad made sure of that) and spend their time exploring the ghost zone and developing ghost tech.
Ever since the incident, Vlad and Maddie are fiercely protective of Jack (even though Jack is the one that can take the most beating, being a halfa and all).
Actually an offshoot of the snakeowner!Danny au (yo au of an au, gotta go deeper). This is a what if Danny didn’t stop just at the snek tongue with the whole shapeshifting ability and developed it to the point where it became a main staple power of his. Danny has a total ball with this power and even spends a bit of time researching some mythological creatures because yoooo that’s some cool shit.
Also, in this particular au, some young ghosts don’t have a strong sense of self. It can be a bit of a problem for Danny because whilst he has no problems with pushing the envelope regarding his shapeshifting experiments, he sometimes forgets himself. That is, spend too long shapeshifting, and your original form no longer becomes your ‘default’. (Vlad by contrast does not have this problem, nor the sheer shapeshifting potential/ability that Danny has because he is ‘set in his ways’, so to speak. If Vlad were to try to shapeshift, he would have to work to maintain it because his body ‘remembers’ what he is ‘supposed’ to look like. Danny’s form on the other hand, is much more malleable because he doesn’t have the same mindframe.)
This is the product of me living vicariously through fictional characters and wondering about the strangest little show tidbits in the middle of the night.
So like, Dan? He can do that snake tongue thingy in that one memorable part in the Ultimate Enemy, but for the life of me I can’t remember if the snake tongue is a Vlad thing or something that is wholly Dan’s. Granted, I haven’t seen the show in years and honestly that particular bit wasn’t an important scene in the long run (purely shock factor to showcase how scary/monstrous Dan is), but if the fangs are Vlad’s, can the snake tongue be Danny’s? (NEWS FLASH: MY MEMORY IS SHITE)
Basically, an au where Danny somehow becomes a snake owner and learns some small-scale shapeshifting so that he can do that snake tongue thing just to play around with his snake. Snake is so confused by the warm log that is sometimes not so warm and strangely snake-ish.
And because I’ve spent too much time drawing those darn snakes, those are both Ball Pythons. Danny has an Axanthic Super Pastel and Dan has a Black Eyed Leucistic.
(Btw, in this au, Vlad is totes scared of snakes. Danny teases him with the tongue thing to freak him out, but he also gets invested in getting post-redemption Vlad over his fear and embrace the wonder and beauty of scale children. Alas, Vlad would, at best, only get to the point of toleration (he’s a cat person at heart).)
There is quite possibly a Danny out there who after the events of The Ultimate Enemy thought, even though Dan was an absolute dick, he had something going right with that hairstyle. Cue Danny attempting to grow out his hair.
Danny, pls. Long hair is a commitment. Consider asking about proper hair care tips from someone. Like Jazz. Or Vlad.
(I wouldn’t be surprised if the first pic is how Dash in a Swagger Bishie universe sees Phantom. wth Dash.)
I’ve gotta say, canon Danny is one of the most *relatively* well behaved 14 year olds I’ve ever seen. I mean, when I was that age, I distinctly remember most of my peers as children fresh out of middle school, loud, foul-mouthed with something to prove. Certainly, if one of them were suddenly given ghost powers and an alternate identity that theoretically, would not be linked back to their human persona, well.
So consider a dp au where human Danny is an emotionally repressed child with many frustrations (school, family, etc.) that makes the realization that as long as he’s smart about it, no one will ever make the connection between his ghostly alter ego and his human self. And eyyy, ghosts don’t have to listen to parents or worry about being grounded if you say some foul language yeah?
Cue Danny Phantom, the most foul mouthed entity the Ghost Zone has ever seen. The poor newscasters can’t even get a proper recording, at least one fit to air, without bleeping out every other word out of this foul mouthed phantom.
Danny has never felt more free or relaxed after a good fight and yelling session. Most of what he says are general swears, more for stress relief than to really hurt someone, but.. Ooohh boyy, it’s rare, but when it happens, when someone pushes him over the boiling point, the sheer vitriol he unleashes is rumored to cause actual burns (also consider the discovery/manifestation of the ghostly wail came about as the biggest FUCK YOU Danny has ever yelled).
(And of course, because no DP post of mine is ever complete without at least mentioning the fruitloop, Vlad is absolutely horrified by this child’s behavior. Danny gives no shits.)
DP AU where almost everything is the same except Danny’s ghost form is a bird. A really tiny, fluffy bird.
Danny has no idea why considering he doesn’t even care for birds all that much. And why something so tiny!? And cute.. suffice to say, he does not tell his friends about this development due to sheer mortification.
Birdghost!Danny’s first and main weapon of choice is the ghostly wail. He can still turn intangible/invisibility/etc. but is rather fragile and weak in regards to physical combat. Is much faster and nimble to make up for it.
Amity Park’s reception of their new guardian bird ghost is.. pretty good. Someone out there gets the brilliant idea of turning birdghost into the city/town mascot. Really popular with the young and the elderly. Bird watching becomes a rather popular hobby and there are a bunch of commemorative bird baths/houses/feeders put up.
Danny meanwhile has a little better time juggling school with ghost hunting because who in the world would suspect a ghost-bird secretly being a boy? (Wes dodged a bullet here) Danny does however develop some interesting quirks. Like the urge to sing in the morning whenever he wakes up, the urge to go upwards when in danger, an aversion to poultry based foods (to Sam’s delight), and being easily distracted by shiny things.
And because i need some Danny and Vlad interaction in my life, Bitter Reunions does not happen. Instead of pining after Maddie and hating Jack, Vlad is more of a cynical, world-hating recluse (still rich af tho). Danny happens to find out about Vlad being a halfa from the ghost vultures that are still under Vlad’s employ (it’s tough being an intelligent non-humanoid ghost being yanno? They’ll sometimes get together to complain or chat, avian solidarity and all that).
So one day Danny as ghostbird shows up at Vlad’s mansion, sees what a gloomy person Vlad is, and decides this man needs to get out more or something. So Danny takes it upon himself, as his self-appointed mission, to become THAT BIRD. You know, that one. The one that makes its nest right outside your window and sings its guts out every single morning at the crack of dawn. Yeah.
Shenanigans happen. It takes a while for Vlad to figure out that it’s a ghost bird that is haunting him and not, you know, a living one (and then he wonders what the heck he’s done to warrant this). Danny keeps his human half and above bird level intelligence a secret (though Vlad has suspicions).
Time passes and Vlad comes to the realization that ghostbird isn’t a complete nuisance and maybe he kinda sorta enjoys that ectoplasmic avian’s companionship? Of course, ghostbird can’t be there all the time, because Danny has school and stuff (Vlad doesn’t know that though). So one day Vlad decides to catch ghostbird and make it his official pet. Cue ghost-proof birdcage, ghostbird!Danny’s shock and horror (because Danny really wasn’t expecting it) and Vlad being all excited because he’s not completely alone anymore.
Danny though is completely in shock that he’s in this situation and really worried about the situation at home and school and just kind of clams up in his internal debate on whether to reveal his human side or not. Vlad meanwhile is really sad and disappointed how non-responsive his birdghostfriend is and has second thoughts about caging ghostbird.
Just as Danny is about to reveal himself, Vlad decides to let ghostbird go because if you love them you must set them free and all that jazz. Danny hightails it outta there with DAMAGE CONTROL blaring in his mind whilst Vlad dramatically stares off into the distance all bittersweet, sure that this was the right thing to do, but sad that he probably irrevocably damaged his friendship with ghostbird.
Ghostbird shows up next Saturday morning at 5:30 instead of 6:00 screaming the most annoying song because THIS IS WHAT YOU DESERVE VLAD.
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