Things In A Name

Sam's beef with Valerie shouldn't have been reduced to petty jealousy just because they were two girls into the same guy, especially when you have Tucker and his established envy towards Danny and desire to get a girlfriend right there.

Seriously, from a narrative standpoint, Danny developing a mutual crush on Valerie and acting on those feelings should have resulted in an argument between Danny and Tucker. Especially because, even if canon completely glossed over this fact, Danny dating Valerie in spite of her being a ghost huntress bent on killing his ghost half for good is pretty hypocritical of him. More so from Tucker's point of view.

Think about it.

During the first half of season 1, Valerie was introduced as Danny's new rival and Tucker's most serious crush.

With him being his most genuinely gentlemanly and selfless for her sake in Shades of Gray (even if it was crystal clear he also hoped Valerie would give him the time of day if he helped her out), to the point Tucker covered for her at Axiom Labs so her dad wouldn't get in even bigger trouble. A gesture that seemed to finally endear him to Valerie, after all.

And yet, come Life Lessons and beyond, Valerie barely acknowledges his existence. If my memory doesn't fail me, she only really addresses him once after Shades of Gray, when he asked her if she was feeling any better in Reign Storm.

Now, at no point am I trying to say that Val is morally obligated to return his affections. Of course not. If she doesn't feel that way about Tucker, then she just doesn't feel that way about him.

But Tucker is also entitled to his feelings and, all things considered, he should have felt very bitter and hurt over Danny dating Valerie. Not just because that's his unrequited crush, but because of the hypocrisy I mentioned earlier.

In Shades of Gray, Danny and Sam were rightfully angry at Tucker for knowingly spending time with Valerie even after she became a ghost hunter after Danny Phantom.

Danny: Great. My best friend has a crush on a ghost hunter. Sam: That's life. Well, your life, anyway. ---- Tucker: Hey guys, can we join you? Sam and Danny: No! --- Valerie: So, Tucker tells me your parents hunt ghosts. Danny: Did he now? What else did he tell you? [Glares at Tucker but he just smiles back.]

And yet, when Danny's the one with the crush on the person with a very heated and personal grudge against him, suddenly it's perfectly fine if he routinely risks his neck hanging out with her?

To add insult to injury, Valerie only hung out around Tucker to get information on ghosts, preferably from Danny, whose parents are ghost hunters and experts on them. In other words, while Valerie grew to be genuinely interested in Danny, she was only using Tucker for her own benefit.

No matter how you look at it, Tucker was dealt an extremely bad hand in all this. More so when you remember he was the one most interested in getting a girlfriend yet he ended up being the only one of the trio who ended the show single (because Danny and Sam started dating each other, but still).

All things considered, it makes much more sense if the conflict over Danny dating Val had been between him and Tucker than between Valerie and Sam.

Yeah, I get it. Romantic drama and jealousy is supposed to pay off when the main couple ends up together at last. However, objectively speaking, regardless of her feelings for Danny or her issues with jealousy, Sam didn't need to be jealous of Val to have beef with her.

@picturejasper20 once pointed out how it was a pity the show reduced Sam's issues with Valerie to mere jealousy when, in truth, there was so much more to it.

After all, by that point, Sam already had plenty of valid and legitimate grievances with her. Like the very real danger Danny was in if she ever found out about his secret and didn't take it well. Or the fact that she used to be a real piece of work back when she had money yet felt entitled to being welcomed into their group with open arms even though she never acknowledged her behaviour (at the very least, not aloud), let alone apologised for it.

I'm just saying. If they were going to pit the girls against each other either way, then at least do it over something deeper than a love triangle. Especially when your third main character has as many reasons as Sam to be jealous over Danny and Valerie's relationship, but his love life and his character in general were given much less focus.

(small AGiT spoilers)

So I've been thinking about Sam lately and how I personally think that she is the least interesting character of the main cast. I wondered why I feel that way and I think I came to a conclusion: She has no personal goal and no character development. What I mean is: what would happen to the characters if we remove the protagonist, Danny, from the story.

Valerie has basically her own hero ( or anti-hero) story. ( And soon the sequel graphic novel is about her )

Jazz want to be psychologist and later wants to study ghost psychology

Vlad is Vlad, he has many goals and one of his goals is to have a perfect half-ghost son with Danny but but he is perfectly fine to create one himself with his clone experiment. And later in AGiT he realized that all he wanted is love and wants to make amends.

Tucker wants to be recognized and and is a technology genius. Sadly he is prone to abuse his power when he is in a position of power. With his technological understanding he can help to fight against tech-ghost ( Skulker and Technus) or invent different gadgets. ( His ghost repellant or his ancient language translator in AGiT)

The Fenton parents do their ghost hunting and research with and without Danny

And what is Sam doing without Danny? She is good in sports but so is Dash and he is the local bully. She is rich but has no financial understanding and tips a pizza delivery boy with 10 bucks for one pizza. She knows much about the occult and paranormal but does not much with this knowdledge. One thing she is doing without Danny is her commitment to animal welfare and environmental protection. Noble goals but in a show about ghost this is narrativly missing the point. Her attitude of beeing different for the sake of it is just standard puperty teenage stuff and not interesting when doing nothing with it.

Then there is no character development. In the episodes where she is the focus she learns nothing and for some reason everyone else is at fault. This could be a flaw of her and as the story goes on she could have some development there but nope nothing happens in this direction. You can put Sam from the first episode and the Sam from the last episode side by side and say that these are the same pictures.

To be honest her character traits are actually pretty good have for a compelling character but the show does nothing to make her narrativly interesting.

Here are some ideas:

-Imagine with her knowledge of the occult and her athleticism she could be some kind of Indiana Jones character who wants to treasure hunt in the ghost zone and later clashes with Freakshow who hunts for ghost artefacts to use them for evil. -Or with her activism she actually willingly allie herself with Undergrowth and likeminded ghosts instead be controlled by him. But this also means the show must be rewritten so that nature and environment would play a larger role. -Or something crazy, that she is actually a secret agent for the GiW who just became friends with Danny to keep an eye on the Fentons, and later when she falls in love with him she must decide between betraying Danny or the GiW. ( And the love triangle with Valerie would be a little bit more spicy)

Nocturn: I saw through his act first, but hid my true feelings behind a mask. I dream of what could have been.

Fright Knight: I followed his lead. I lost everything. Trapped in my very own personal nightmare.

Vortex: He was my big brother. I must express this storm of emotion. My art is all I have left of who he once was.

Undergrowth: I did not act. I still feel the lost souls screaming in my roots. I must protect them.

Pandora: He destroyed my home and filled me with just rage. No evil will escape me. I will contain it.

Frostbite: I lost my family and created his weapons of war. Blood stains my lost arm. I will preserve what is left of the world He tried to destroy.

mushroom: can you feel your heart burning? can you feel the struggle within? the fear within me is beyond anything your soul can make. you cannot kill me in a way that matters

Like yeah sure write it where he could get good grades if he had the time for homework/studying. But, from Danny's point of veiw, he has to seriously work for his grades. Sure Jazz studied, but honestly she never really needed to study, she could have gotten all As without it, but she liked studying and preparing for collage so she did.

So yeah, compared to his family, Danny's the stupid one, and its a mentality the plagues him.

It doesn't matter that he got into some of the same schools as Jazz, Jazz got full ride scholarship offers, meaning shes smarter.

It doesn't matter that Danny's papers on ecto-biology are more accurate than his parents', and was revered by many ecto-biologists, Danny was just less bais than his parents, and he had the advantage of actually being part ghost.

I’ve gathered some resources and tips and tricks on self-educating after educational neglect. This is only what I did and what I know helped me. I’m about to graduate college with honors after having no education past the age of 9. I wouldn’t be here without the following. Everything is free, and at/well above the standard for education in the US.

The holy grail: Khan Academy. Nearly every course you could take is available here, in order and by grade level. Their open-source free courses rival some of the college classes I’ve taken. This is your most solid resource.

For inattentive types: Crash Course offers a variety of courses that are snappy, entertaining, and extremely rewarding. They work for my ADHD brain. They also have college prep advice, which is essential if you’re looking to go to higher education with no classroom experience.

To catch up on your reading: There are certain books that you may have read had you gone to school that you’ve missed out on. This list is the most well-rounded and can fill you in on both children’s books and classic novels that are essential or at least extremely helpful to be familiar with. You can find a majority of these easily at a local library (and some for free in PDF form online low key). There are a few higher level classics in here that I’d highly recommend. If it doesn’t work for you, I’d always recommend asking your local librarian.

*BE AWARE* The book list I recommend suggests you read Harry Potter books, and given their transphobic author you may or may not want to read them. If you choose to, I’d highly recommend buying the books secondhand or borrowing from a library to avoid financially supporting a living author with dangerous and damaging views.

TEST, TEST, TEST: Again, Khan Academy is your go-to for this. I don’t personally like standardized testing, but going through SAT and ACT courses was the best way I found to really reveal my gaps so that I could supplement.

Finally: As much as you can, enjoy the process. Education can be thrilling and teach you so much about yourself, and help shape your view of the world. It can get frustrating, but I’d like to encourage you that everyone can learn. No pace is the perfect pace, and your learning style is the right learning style for you. In teaching yourself, be patient, be kind, and indulge in the subjects you really enjoy without neglecting others. You are your teacher. Give yourself what others chose not to.

Comic based on a post I liked a lot