More Likely Than You Think - An Analytical Comparison
Muahaha. And you all think YOU have too much time on your hands? I am the Ultimate Geek today. How so? The following was created with absolutely NO Wikipedia. Until Freakshow's name blanked on me. XD
OK! So, I was going to take a leaf from saiika_von_maou ’s book and give you all some crazy cool, philosophical, character-interpretational essay type thing on how Dr. Paradox makes everything possible… but then I realized I could just say “Paradox makes everything possible” and leave it at that. You all have fun pondering this. I certainly have been enjoying the possibilities. Thank you saiika, for finding that quote for me: “Young Ben has a great understanding of temporal metaphysics.” Indeed he does. Otherwise, Eon would never have existed.
What I’m really going to leave you all with here is something a bit more in character, for myself anyway. CRACK. Muahaha. You all know how crack-tastic I can get. Episode reactions & commentary with loogie jokes and pregnancy predictions? Round Robins with Teen Titans and turtle-swallowing for prompts? “Snakes on Plane” references in the middle of fics? Oh yeah. I am cracky. Here’s my crack for this week, since it appears my new episode prediction for this week was wrong. (Damn you Julie.)
~~~~~~~~
Have you ever compared different things, and found that they were freakishly similar? I did that this morning. My comparison? Ben 10 and Danny Phantom. Wait a minute… what? Danny Phantom? In my Ben 10?
It’s more likely than you think.
Let’s focus on characters. The main characters in DP and AF are a set of three teenagers, two boys and a girl. In AF, we have Ben, Kevin, and Gwen. In DP, we have Danny, Tucker, and Sam. Basic, yes? And it doesn’t just appear in these series, either. It’s a common character dynamic, regardless of age. Harry Potter, Season 1 Avatar, Fairly Oddparents, Naruto, the original Ben 10 (Grandpa Max counts!), the Matrix (to some extent, if we only count Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus as the main main characters), and other stuff that I’m blanking out on. Feel free to share any that you come up with.
Back to characters. Could we perhaps identify similar characters in each show? Yes, we can. Ben is analogous to Danny. Pretty damn obvious, that. The super powered (thanks to an accident) teenage boy who fights to save his home from the paranormal. The semi-geeky, not all that popular boy who’s evil-fighting results in several enemies who want him dead. That hero with the awesome sidekicks. Those sidekicks? Let’s think on this… Sidekick number one: dark, brooding, steel-toe booted, vaguely Jewish, and hopelessly in love with the hero. Check: Kevin and Sam. Sidekick number two: brainy, somewhat annoying, and always has really bad lines. Check: Gwen and Tucker. Gwen is a double-whammy, actually. She’s also Jazz. The hero’s intelligent, red-headed female relative who always tries to help him hide his secret from everyone else while managing to kick butt herself. And who falls prey to the lure of the bad boy. Gwen, unfortunately, is gaga over Kevin, whereas Jazz had an episode where Johnny 13 essentially tricked her into being (possessed by) his girlfriend, Kitty.
I like to think of Julie as Valerie. The Dungeons Master’s Girlfriend, so to speak. Julie starts off normal, but ends up learning about aliens and helping fight the Forever Knights. Valerie learns about ghosts, and with the anonymous aid of Vlad, ends up becoming a ghost hunter herself. Both were the girl that the hero goes for when he’s being too stupid to see the dark, brooding, steel-toe booted, vaguely Jewish sidekick who is totally in love with him. Now, I’ll give you that Valerie became a ghost hunter so she could hunt down Danny Phantom, who she had no idea was Danny Fenton, but hey. I’ll just add her to the “mortal enemy” list both boys seem to have.
OH! Here’s a good one! Cash and Dash. The bullies. The ne’er-do-wells. The idiots. The banes of Ben and Danny’s normal lives. Their names even rhyme. To go with Cash and Dash, we have J.T. and Kwan. The potentially nice guys who aren’t because they practically worship the bully. The ones who have little one-shot redemptions (J.T.’s in “The Guantlet” and Kwan’s in that one episode where he has to work with Sam on that one project… I want to say it was the flour baby episode… or the episode where the parents are abducted onto a pirate ship. But that was everyone’s redemption episode, so what am I saying?)
Oh dude. The pirate ship. Ember and Youngblood. Ember strikes me as vaguely Charmcaster-esque. Youngblood isn’t Hex… no wait. He is like Hex, post-Fountain of Youth. Sweet. I’m just pulling crack out of thin air now. I should go back to something more substantial…
AHA! PARADOX! Dr. Paradox is like Clockwork. The time-traveler who knows everything that has happened, is happening, and may happen. Note I say may happen. Clockwork made very clear that time isn’t a parade in front of you, but a maze that he can see from above. He sees all the twists and turns it could take. Paradox implies this ability by showing the trio the alternate future where the time-monster Hugo destroys everything. But it doesn’t happen because they went back in time and changed the past to save Hugo. Clockwork sends Danny back and forth through time to save the future in “The Ultimate Enemy,” where cheating on a test changes Danny’s future. He had to time travel to the future to save his family and friends’ lives in the present. That was weird. Not as crazy weird as “Race Against Time,” though. That movie still confuses me. Although I will give you the whole time-traveling-future-self-is-the-bad-guy thing. Eon is similar to Dan Phantom, for sure. Dan Phantom, I believe is also pretty similar to Albedo.
Albedo is essentially a crazy Galvan inside a copy of Ben’s body, thanks to his knock-off Omnitrix. He has all of Ben’s powers, but he uses them for not-good stuff. Like destroying Forever Knights’ castles for no good reason. Dan Phantom is a conglomeration of Danny and Vlad’s ghost halves merged together. Vlad’s evilness overcame Danny, so Dan turned out evil. He has all of Danny’s powers, but uses them for evil. Like destroying the world. Albedo and Dan have fast food connections: Albedo to chili fries, and Dan to the Nasty Burger (its special sauce, in particular). Both Albedo and Dan try to masquerade as the original Ben and Danny in order to trick the sidekicks. Albedo pulls his in the factory in order to glue Kevin and Gwen to the wall with packing foam. Dan pulls his to ensure his own existence by trying to kill Sam, Tucker, the Fentons, and Mr. Lancer via Nasty Burger Special Sauce explosion. Both Albedo and Dan end up losing to the hero and getting trapped in a prison thanks to the old man mentor (Azmuth and Clockwork). Both rebel inside their little prisons: Albedo’s “GIVE ME CHILI FRIES!” comes to mind, as well as Dan’s banging around and imprinting his face into the thermos. Essentially, both are out of commission, but could potentially come back. Albedo still can, Dan turns out never did. Boo. He was awesome.
Oh snap. Vlad. Almost forgot him. How could I discuss Danny Phantom and not bring up Vlad Masters? He’s the rich billionaire who loves Danny’s mom and wants to kill Danny’s dad because it was his fault Vlad has ghost powers. Damn. This makes Vlad sound kind of like eleven-year-old Kevin. Kevin blamed Ben for his monster mash mutation, very similarly to Vlad blaming Jack Fenton for his ghost powers. But then… that’s about as close as the similarities get.
Vlad could essentially be Vilgax, actually. The V-named, older, ugly arch-nemesis bent on obtaining from our intrepid hero the ultimate prize. In Vilgax’s case, the Omnitrix. In Vlad’s case, Danny as his son and Maddie as his wife. Both super villains use minions. Vilgax has the bounty hunter Six-Six. Vlad has the fez-wearing vultures with Yiddish accents. Vlad also gave Valerie what she needs to be a ghost hunter, making her like Six-Six. Dang. They both have high-tech reddish-colored suits too.
In the end, Vlad and Vilgax both end up defeated but are essentially not eliminated from post-canon because they are floating in outer space. I’m going with “Secret of the Omnitrix” as the actual ending of Ben 10 on this. Vilgax is left to float around in space at the end of that one. Leaving him free to come back in Alien Force, for sure. Vlad is left in outer space because he failed to stop the Disasteriod in “Phantom Planet” and reveals his true colors to Jack, who leaves him behind when he returns to Earth in the space ship. Vlad could very well return to Earth and wreak more havoc if he goes the route of fallen villain seeking revenge. Again with the Kevin 11 thing… damn.
Do I have to point out the obviousness that is Ghostfreak? Ghostfreak. I’ll leave you with that. Oh, and the Circus freaks are totally like that evil Circus run by Freakshow in DP. Oooh. He was in “Reality Trip.” There’s some alternate future-verse stuff. He changed reality using some kind of magic glove thing, the “Gauntlet of Reality.” It’s like Cash using the robot glove!
Speaking of robots, how about them Detrovites? You know, Technorg and Vulkanus? They’re little aliens that wear big robotic suits that make them super strong and hard to defeat. Sounds an awful lot like Skulker to me. Skulker’s a tiny little blob thing that wears a huge mechanical robotic suit to make himself “the Ghost Zone’s greatest hunter.” He spends his free time plotting ways to capture Danny, or the “whelp,” and take his pelt. Vulkanus wasn’t too keen on Kevin, now was he?
Alright, now we’re hitting more minor things. Ship and Cujo. The little monsters that start out bad, but turn out good and adorable. Paulina and Kai. Both are the girl that only shows interest in the hero because she knows he has a connection to what she wants. Snowy weather control? Check. Evil plant things? Check. Battle cries? Check. Portals to other dimensions? Check. Parents who turn out useful once they learn their son’s secret? Check. Useless side characters named Ishiyama? Check. Dee Bradley Baker? Check.
I think I’m good for today. My crack degenerated into actual thought, then just degenerated completely. My brain is feeling mushy now.
What do you all think of this nut case?
OK! So, I was going to take a leaf from saiika_von_maou ’s book and give you all some crazy cool, philosophical, character-interpretational essay type thing on how Dr. Paradox makes everything possible… but then I realized I could just say “Paradox makes everything possible” and leave it at that. You all have fun pondering this. I certainly have been enjoying the possibilities. Thank you saiika, for finding that quote for me: “Young Ben has a great understanding of temporal metaphysics.” Indeed he does. Otherwise, Eon would never have existed.
What I’m really going to leave you all with here is something a bit more in character, for myself anyway. CRACK. Muahaha. You all know how crack-tastic I can get. Episode reactions & commentary with loogie jokes and pregnancy predictions? Round Robins with Teen Titans and turtle-swallowing for prompts? “Snakes on Plane” references in the middle of fics? Oh yeah. I am cracky. Here’s my crack for this week, since it appears my new episode prediction for this week was wrong. (Damn you Julie.)
~~~~~~~~
Have you ever compared different things, and found that they were freakishly similar? I did that this morning. My comparison? Ben 10 and Danny Phantom. Wait a minute… what? Danny Phantom? In my Ben 10?
It’s more likely than you think.
Let’s focus on characters. The main characters in DP and AF are a set of three teenagers, two boys and a girl. In AF, we have Ben, Kevin, and Gwen. In DP, we have Danny, Tucker, and Sam. Basic, yes? And it doesn’t just appear in these series, either. It’s a common character dynamic, regardless of age. Harry Potter, Season 1 Avatar, Fairly Oddparents, Naruto, the original Ben 10 (Grandpa Max counts!), the Matrix (to some extent, if we only count Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus as the main main characters), and other stuff that I’m blanking out on. Feel free to share any that you come up with.
Back to characters. Could we perhaps identify similar characters in each show? Yes, we can. Ben is analogous to Danny. Pretty damn obvious, that. The super powered (thanks to an accident) teenage boy who fights to save his home from the paranormal. The semi-geeky, not all that popular boy who’s evil-fighting results in several enemies who want him dead. That hero with the awesome sidekicks. Those sidekicks? Let’s think on this… Sidekick number one: dark, brooding, steel-toe booted, vaguely Jewish, and hopelessly in love with the hero. Check: Kevin and Sam. Sidekick number two: brainy, somewhat annoying, and always has really bad lines. Check: Gwen and Tucker. Gwen is a double-whammy, actually. She’s also Jazz. The hero’s intelligent, red-headed female relative who always tries to help him hide his secret from everyone else while managing to kick butt herself. And who falls prey to the lure of the bad boy. Gwen, unfortunately, is gaga over Kevin, whereas Jazz had an episode where Johnny 13 essentially tricked her into being (possessed by) his girlfriend, Kitty.
I like to think of Julie as Valerie. The Dungeons Master’s Girlfriend, so to speak. Julie starts off normal, but ends up learning about aliens and helping fight the Forever Knights. Valerie learns about ghosts, and with the anonymous aid of Vlad, ends up becoming a ghost hunter herself. Both were the girl that the hero goes for when he’s being too stupid to see the dark, brooding, steel-toe booted, vaguely Jewish sidekick who is totally in love with him. Now, I’ll give you that Valerie became a ghost hunter so she could hunt down Danny Phantom, who she had no idea was Danny Fenton, but hey. I’ll just add her to the “mortal enemy” list both boys seem to have.
OH! Here’s a good one! Cash and Dash. The bullies. The ne’er-do-wells. The idiots. The banes of Ben and Danny’s normal lives. Their names even rhyme. To go with Cash and Dash, we have J.T. and Kwan. The potentially nice guys who aren’t because they practically worship the bully. The ones who have little one-shot redemptions (J.T.’s in “The Guantlet” and Kwan’s in that one episode where he has to work with Sam on that one project… I want to say it was the flour baby episode… or the episode where the parents are abducted onto a pirate ship. But that was everyone’s redemption episode, so what am I saying?)
Oh dude. The pirate ship. Ember and Youngblood. Ember strikes me as vaguely Charmcaster-esque. Youngblood isn’t Hex… no wait. He is like Hex, post-Fountain of Youth. Sweet. I’m just pulling crack out of thin air now. I should go back to something more substantial…
AHA! PARADOX! Dr. Paradox is like Clockwork. The time-traveler who knows everything that has happened, is happening, and may happen. Note I say may happen. Clockwork made very clear that time isn’t a parade in front of you, but a maze that he can see from above. He sees all the twists and turns it could take. Paradox implies this ability by showing the trio the alternate future where the time-monster Hugo destroys everything. But it doesn’t happen because they went back in time and changed the past to save Hugo. Clockwork sends Danny back and forth through time to save the future in “The Ultimate Enemy,” where cheating on a test changes Danny’s future. He had to time travel to the future to save his family and friends’ lives in the present. That was weird. Not as crazy weird as “Race Against Time,” though. That movie still confuses me. Although I will give you the whole time-traveling-future-self-is-the-bad-guy thing. Eon is similar to Dan Phantom, for sure. Dan Phantom, I believe is also pretty similar to Albedo.
Albedo is essentially a crazy Galvan inside a copy of Ben’s body, thanks to his knock-off Omnitrix. He has all of Ben’s powers, but he uses them for not-good stuff. Like destroying Forever Knights’ castles for no good reason. Dan Phantom is a conglomeration of Danny and Vlad’s ghost halves merged together. Vlad’s evilness overcame Danny, so Dan turned out evil. He has all of Danny’s powers, but uses them for evil. Like destroying the world. Albedo and Dan have fast food connections: Albedo to chili fries, and Dan to the Nasty Burger (its special sauce, in particular). Both Albedo and Dan try to masquerade as the original Ben and Danny in order to trick the sidekicks. Albedo pulls his in the factory in order to glue Kevin and Gwen to the wall with packing foam. Dan pulls his to ensure his own existence by trying to kill Sam, Tucker, the Fentons, and Mr. Lancer via Nasty Burger Special Sauce explosion. Both Albedo and Dan end up losing to the hero and getting trapped in a prison thanks to the old man mentor (Azmuth and Clockwork). Both rebel inside their little prisons: Albedo’s “GIVE ME CHILI FRIES!” comes to mind, as well as Dan’s banging around and imprinting his face into the thermos. Essentially, both are out of commission, but could potentially come back. Albedo still can, Dan turns out never did. Boo. He was awesome.
Oh snap. Vlad. Almost forgot him. How could I discuss Danny Phantom and not bring up Vlad Masters? He’s the rich billionaire who loves Danny’s mom and wants to kill Danny’s dad because it was his fault Vlad has ghost powers. Damn. This makes Vlad sound kind of like eleven-year-old Kevin. Kevin blamed Ben for his monster mash mutation, very similarly to Vlad blaming Jack Fenton for his ghost powers. But then… that’s about as close as the similarities get.
Vlad could essentially be Vilgax, actually. The V-named, older, ugly arch-nemesis bent on obtaining from our intrepid hero the ultimate prize. In Vilgax’s case, the Omnitrix. In Vlad’s case, Danny as his son and Maddie as his wife. Both super villains use minions. Vilgax has the bounty hunter Six-Six. Vlad has the fez-wearing vultures with Yiddish accents. Vlad also gave Valerie what she needs to be a ghost hunter, making her like Six-Six. Dang. They both have high-tech reddish-colored suits too.
In the end, Vlad and Vilgax both end up defeated but are essentially not eliminated from post-canon because they are floating in outer space. I’m going with “Secret of the Omnitrix” as the actual ending of Ben 10 on this. Vilgax is left to float around in space at the end of that one. Leaving him free to come back in Alien Force, for sure. Vlad is left in outer space because he failed to stop the Disasteriod in “Phantom Planet” and reveals his true colors to Jack, who leaves him behind when he returns to Earth in the space ship. Vlad could very well return to Earth and wreak more havoc if he goes the route of fallen villain seeking revenge. Again with the Kevin 11 thing… damn.
Do I have to point out the obviousness that is Ghostfreak? Ghostfreak. I’ll leave you with that. Oh, and the Circus freaks are totally like that evil Circus run by Freakshow in DP. Oooh. He was in “Reality Trip.” There’s some alternate future-verse stuff. He changed reality using some kind of magic glove thing, the “Gauntlet of Reality.” It’s like Cash using the robot glove!
Speaking of robots, how about them Detrovites? You know, Technorg and Vulkanus? They’re little aliens that wear big robotic suits that make them super strong and hard to defeat. Sounds an awful lot like Skulker to me. Skulker’s a tiny little blob thing that wears a huge mechanical robotic suit to make himself “the Ghost Zone’s greatest hunter.” He spends his free time plotting ways to capture Danny, or the “whelp,” and take his pelt. Vulkanus wasn’t too keen on Kevin, now was he?
Alright, now we’re hitting more minor things. Ship and Cujo. The little monsters that start out bad, but turn out good and adorable. Paulina and Kai. Both are the girl that only shows interest in the hero because she knows he has a connection to what she wants. Snowy weather control? Check. Evil plant things? Check. Battle cries? Check. Portals to other dimensions? Check. Parents who turn out useful once they learn their son’s secret? Check. Useless side characters named Ishiyama? Check. Dee Bradley Baker? Check.
I think I’m good for today. My crack degenerated into actual thought, then just degenerated completely. My brain is feeling mushy now.
What do you all think of this nut case?