Fanfic / TMDDF: What If?

TMDDF: What If? is a fanfic written by NeoMark, inspired by The Many Dates of Danny Fenton, written by Flower princess11.

This fic takes place in an alternate universe where Flowerprincess11 isn't the one who picks Danny's dates.The dates so far: Kim Possible, Samantha Simpson, Gwen Tennyson, Abby Archer, Leni Loud, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Sakura Kasugano, Lapis Lazuli, Cree Lincoln, Violet Parr, Jen Masterson, Daphne Blake, Star Butterfly, Wendy Corduroy, Melissa Chase, April O'Neil, Bridgette, Vanessa Doofenshmirtz, Kula Diamond, Makoto Kino, Yuki Kusakabe, Penny Proud, Kimiko Tohomiko, Clawdeen Wolf, Bloom, and Liz Allen.

Tropes:

• Abhorrent Admirer: During his date with Clawdeen, Danny unintentionally caught the interest of Toralie Stripe, who kissed him without consent. He did not enjoy it or her in the slightest.
• Actionized Sequel: More accurately, actionized alternate universe. There is more emphasis on action and combat in this story as opposed to the original Many Dates, which was mostly focused on comedy. Even chapters with dates that aren't fighters like Leni and Jen feature Danny going up against a threat.
• Adaptational Karma: While the original fic had Cree simply be taken into custody by the KND after Danny calls her a creep, here Danny decides to dole out some real justice...by making Cree mad enough to cause property damage, phasing the armour off her, and leaving her to a bunch of angry people for her actions. Father isn't happy by her property damage and just leaves her to her fate.
• Amazon Chaser: Danny takes a quick shine to girls who can hold their own in battle, including Kim, Samantha and Marinette.
• Ascended Extra: Samantha was a minor character in the original story, while a supporting character in the spin-off involving Alex. Marinette was never featured in the original, but she has been acknowledged in various spin-offs. Both of them are dates in this version.
• Bait-and-Switch: At first, it seems that the end of Danny's date with Star is a straightforward example of Something We Forgot as he wonders if he forgot something, which then cuts to Pony Head still frozen. He then realizes he forgot to get donuts, cheerfully saying it's a good way to celebrate freezing her as payback.
• The Bet: Deadpool made one with the Warners that he won when NeoMark chose Gwen Tennyson since that means the author kept another girl whose spin-off he's penning but also that he picked three redheads with green eyes.
• Big Bad Wannabe: During Danny's date with Penny, Garrett Krebs arrives for revenge. But in a town where ghost attacks happen frequently and has its own ghostly superhero, Garrett is pretty much a joke, especially when the only thing he can do is turn into a floating head and use basic telekinesis. Danny even lampshades this before kicking his butt.
  Danny: Look, Gary Krab-
  Garrett: GARRETT KREBS!
  Danny: Right… Krebs. I'm sure you're the biggest, baddest ghost where you call home. But here? Not so much. You're a big fish from a small pond, Amity Park's whole lake full of ghosts. Everything you've shown is basically level 1, something that'd be trouble for me almost a year ago but now is like standard fare in a JRPG. So, let's just make things easier, shall we? You agree to go and never bother that family again… and I'll promise not to deal with you anymore, okay?
• Birds of a Feather:
  • Danny and Marinette quickly bond over their shared similarities of clumsiness, dealing with getting over their feelings for another, and hero duty.
  • Both Danny and Kula gained their powers through science and have cryokinesis as a power, something that excited the latter.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Danny isn't above ogling his dates slightly when they're dressed in form-fitting outfits like Sam in her spy suit or Marinette as Ladybug. However, he is above doing anything else and clearly values earning their respect. Even when he does comment on how attractive Marinette is, he's being playful about it.
• Demoted to Extra: In the original fanfic, Total Drama Gwen was one of Danny's dates. Here, she just gets a mention as Tucker's date from the day Danny dated Melissa.
• Didn't Think This Through: When Vlad decided to go after some of the girls Danny dated, the Plasmius Maximus is used on him and he quickly activates a way to deflect ghost attacks so Danny won't be able to hurt him. He's reminded that he's surrounded by enemies who, having nothing ghostly, still can harm him.
• Dirty Coward: Dash is willing to push Kwan into Sagat's path and give Sakura all his money, if it means saving his own skin.
  Sagat: Hmph. A coward's blood is not worthy to stain my fist.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Deadpool jokingly claims in one review about the fact all of Danny's dates at the time were redheads like his sister is beneath him.
  • Danny outright refuses to look up Sakura's skirt despite having the opportunity to.
  • Tucker is ashamed of his happiness over Danny having a bad date once Danny pointed out he was happy when Danny "went out with someone who hits kids".
  • When Vanessa Doofenshmirtz reveals she hacked her way into becoming Danny's date, she explains that she chose him because the only other Amity Park boy in the dating service was Tucker and she considered his profile too shady. Danny admits he can't blame her for thinking that.
  • Danny may be a Nice Guy, but there are limits to what he’ll put up with since he gets back at Pony Head for interrupting his date with Star and being a total jerk to him by leaving her frozen in the bathroom.
  • While King Pony Head loves his daughter Princess Pony Head and does free her from the ice block Danny imprisoned her in, he makes it clear she brought it on herself since he correctly assumes Pony Head ended up that way by antagonizing Danny, given her jerkass trolling personality.
• Foil: NeoMark claims to have chosen certain dates as replacements based on how different they are from dates in the original.
  • Abby to replace Emma because he considers the girls as foils to each other. As Neo points out, "Both have similar hairstyles, both older, both had not so great luck with boys they liked... but Abby is a more confident and capable girl, and a heroine in her own right, and she's not too keen on that same boy".
  • Lapis Lazuli takes Jenny Wakeman's place as a blue inorganic girl that Danny dates. Jenny was technically the youngest of Danny's dates and was very extroverted, whereas Lapis Lazuli is more withdrawn and thousands of years old.
  • Star Butterfly replaces Katie Kaboom is the "crazy" blonde girl that is too much for Danny to handle. Though unlike Katie, Star acknowledges right away that Danny isn't into her and they part on decent terms.
  • Marinette Dupain-Cheng serves as a foil to Sabrina Spellman. Both girls are the same age as Danny, having a small talking creature as a partner (Salem being a wizard-turned-cat who is incredibly snarky while Tikki is a kwami who is much less so) and have magical powers, though Marinette uses them as a superhero while Sabrina is a witch-in-training.
  • Sakura Kasugano is a prominent video game character who aspires to be the protégé of Ryu, contrasting Kara Kent being a prominent comic book character who is already the protégé of Superman.
• Heartbreak and Ice Cream: After a date with a girl named Paige, Tucker eats ice cream to feel better.
• Hero of Another Story: Much like with returning dates, some of Danny's new dates are heroines in their own right.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Once again, Vlad's Plasmius Maximus is used against him.
• Hold the Unsolicited Ingredient: When Danny and Daphne are eating a sandwich, Danny finds it odd she "asked the guy not to put stuff in the sandwich like sauerkraut or pork or relish or anything else that clearly did not belong on it". Daphne explains that her friends Shaggy and Scooby "have odd tastes in food".
• Hypocritical Humor: Ben 10 asks Danny Phantom, "Who uses their first name in a hero name?" and a DNAlien points out he does.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While King Pony Head doesn’t know the whole story, he is justified in believing that it’s his daughter’s Pony Head’s own fault she got stuck in ice by messing with the one who froze her (Danny in this case) since he’s very aware of his daughter’s troublesome attitude.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: K' is very confrontational and unfriendly, but he cares for Kula and, despite his dislike of Danny, encourages him to keep her happy.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Danny gets back at Pony Head for crashing his blind date with Star and acting like a total jerkass to him by leaving her trapped in a block ice in the bathroom. Ever her caring father King Pony Head correctly suspects that it’s her own fault she got trapped in ice by provoking someone since he’s aware of her wild, impulsive, and unpleasant personality.
• Literal Surveillance Bug: Many of Danny's dates have one of Vlad's robot insects follow him. So far though, Vlad has not been involved in person, unlike the original story that featured him in chapter 6.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Danny gets this reaction from Sagat by pointing out the latter was willing to harm or even kill Sakura, a teenage girl, just to get another fight with Ryu.
• Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond:
  • In Street Fighter, Sakura is not among the most powerful of the World Warriors, given she's mostly self taught after emulating Ryu. In Amity Park, she's a far better fighter than anyone around, able to handle Dash and his entire crew with ease.
  • Garrett Krebs was notably the sole ghost from "The Proud Family" and one of the few paranormal threats the family encountered, and only was defeated thanks to Penny getting superpowers that episode. Without Penny having powers, he would be the biggest danger… if it's not in Amity Park. Danny himself acknowledges this trope, saying Krebs is "a big fish from a small pond", with Amity Park being a lake and how basic his powers are that he isn't a threat to him.
• No Sparks: Although impressed with Star's fighting prowess, Danny admits that her chaotic nature and irresponsibility make him rather uninterested in her. She doesn't fault him for it and they part on okay terms.
• One-Steve Limit:
  • When Danny dates a girl named Sam, he has to explain to his dad he doesn't mean his friend Sam Manson. Danny even points out Sam is a common name.
  • One of Danny's dates is Abby Archer and another of his dates has a sister named Abby Lincoln.
  • One of Danny's dates is Gwen Tennyson and one of Tucker's dates is Gwen from Total Drama.
  • When describing his date with Star Butterfly, Danny has to clarify to Tucker it's not the Star from their school.
• Rescue Romance: Although Abby was slightly upset about Danny hiding his identity from her, she forgives him and quickly resumes her date with him out of gratitude for saving her.
• Same Surname Means Related: In the chapter where Danny dates a girl from the Street Fighter franchise, it's noted that he heard of Ken Masters and checked for a kinship between Ken and Vlad Masters, but found out they're not related.
• Seen It All: Danny comments it says something about his life when he isn't bothered by the sight of Dojo the dragon.
• Shallow Cannot Comprehend True Love:
  • After Sakura defends herself and Danny from Dash, he asks why Sakura is going out with a "wimp" like Danny. Sakura responds by saying that Danny is a good guy who treats her with respect, isn't intimidated by her strength, and refused to look up her skirt when he had the opportunity to do so.
  • During Danny's date with Bloom, some of the people around him claim that she's only going out with him either because she lost a bet or Danny won a bet.
• Shipper on Deck: While he denies it, K' seems to encourage the budding relationship between Danny and Kula, especially since it makes the latter happy.
• Shout-Out:
  • Ben 10 calls Danny Jack Frost.
  • When looking for a ghost rabbit, Danny says, "Be vewy quiet, I'm huntin' wabbits!".
  • When Danny meets the Xiaolin warriors, he calls Omi "Aang". He also thinks Wuya is an ugly regional Gastly variant.
  • In the Monster High chapter, Deapool pressures NeoMark into acknowledging an allusion to Darkstalkers, which he gives in and does so.
• Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Upon reading his third date's profile, Danny notices she and the previous two are redheads with green eyes.
• Slave Mooks: During Danny's date with Marinette, Paulina gets akumatized into Celosa Rosa, a doll like woman with the ability to hypnotize people into her slaves.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: When the Ninja Turtles show up to help April against the Foot, April assumes they were already there because they were looking for the mutagen and Donnie, not wanting to admit he's spying on her dates, eagerly plays along.
• Take That!:
  • When he chose Gwen Tennyson as Danny's third date, the author said he made sure she's a pre-Omniverse version.
  • During the chapter with Liz, a notable jab at Drake Bell is made, notably of when he had dubbed over Josh Keaton in Spidey's appearance in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. When Danny asks if Spidey met the Avengers, he says he dreamt about it but his voice sounded all wrong, comparing it to "an actor who was more interested in what was on his phone than what was written on the script sheet" and Danny calling it a terrible casting choice.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Happens much sooner to Tucker than before. After his date with Rei, Tucker changes his profile to be more honest. He's now gone on two dates that went much better for him.
• Unfortunate Names: Upon meeting Rick Dicker, Danny describes his name as "very unfortunate".
• Unskilled, but Strong: Danny Phantom may have a wide variety of powers and super strength, but against Street Fighter characters, his powers can only give him so much of an edge before things go the other way. The Strong and Skilled Sagat was able to survive a hit that most ghosts would have shown less resistance to and would have done more damage had it not been for Danny's intangibility. Danny doesn't even win his fight with him, simply getting Sagat to see the error of his actions to make him leave.
• Villain of Another Story: If the girl in question is a hero, Danny will have to help take care of a prominent villain they've dealt with.
• What If?: Subverted. The summary suggests all deviations from Flower princess11's fanfic came from the fact someone else picked Danny's dates but some differences (like Tim Scam supplying weapons to the villain who antagonizes the Totally Spies instead of directly facing them) cannot be explained by that.