YMMV / Dan Vs.

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • In "Anger Management," Dan empathizes with a frustrated Amber, and correctly deduces that her rage is making her feel "helpless" and "ineffective".With this in mind, it can be inferred that Dan takes revenge in the way he does not just for the sake of it, but because actually doing something about what bothers him makes Dan feel less helpless in the face of unfairness.
    • Backed up by the events of "Summer Camp". Dan's first real revenge scheme was against a camp counsellor who employed a "might makes right" mindset and allowed the smaller campers—Dan included—to be bullied by the older ones.
  • Does Chris stay Dan's friend out of a misguided sense of loyalty, or because he's just too much of a pushover to walk away? Or does he hope to be a Morality Pet of sorts to keep Dan from doing too much damage, to himself or those around him?
• Base-Breaking Character: Elise is a very divisive character, mostly because of her super spy subplots that often turn her into a Spotlight-Stealing Squad, especially in Season 2. Otherwise, fans don't mind her character and actually find her relationship with Chris and interactions with Dan to be well done.
• Crossover Ship: The Hub's crossover ads featuring Dan and Pinkie Pie have lead to this example.
• Cult Classic: It's considered by those who watched it as one of The Hub's best shows.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Dan isn't specified to have a certain condition, but it's abundantly clear he's not in the best shape psychologically. His Hair-Trigger Temper can provoke months of carefully calculated revenge, his relationship with Chris is severely toxic and codependent, and Dan's case of Blue-and-Orange Morality implies he's operating on a moral level that other people have difficulty following (and even Dan himself can contradict). He's intensely paranoid and distrustful of others (though this is sometimes justified) and rarely can admit to his faults without his arm being twisted. Then there's his propensity for violence, love of fire, and general incompetence in caring for himself^note he's unemployed, barely pays the bills, depends on Chris and Elise to bail him out, his hygiene is poor, and his apartment is a mess. It doesn't help it's all but outright stated that his parents were abusive and his explanation of his childhood made his psychologist scream in horror. The Imposter, while reading Dan's diary, initially laughed at the entries, but then solemnly said out loud that Dan is "just not well." Therefore, fans began to speculate whether Dan had some kind of unchecked personality disorder.
• Die for Our Ship: Many Dan/Hortense fans weren't happy that Jeremiah Burger married the latter in "The Wedding", wishing that karma will bite Jeremiah in the ass. This is actually Dan's in-universe plan: wait for the much older Jeremiah Burger to die so he can hook up with the widowed (and now wealthy) Hortense.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • In a poll for the official Facebook page, Mr. Mumbles got the most votes for the most popular side character. Ninja Dave is a close second.
  • Hortense is really popular with shippers and Rule 34 artists (more than Becky for some reason). She's adorable.
• Fanon Discontinuity: Some fans treat the events of "The Wedding" as if it never happened, as they feel it canceled out one of the show's very few Heartwarming Moments as well as destroying any future relationships between Dan and Hortense.
• Genius Bonus: In "Stupidity", the Governor responsible for the stupidity epidemic talks with an obvious George W. Bush impression. This is a possible reference to Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, which implemented a system where schools would lose funding the worse their test scores were. This has led some to blame NCLB for the dumbing down of America's education system.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • "Canada" can be an awkward episode to watch after Dave Foley revealed that he would be arrested if he ever returned to said country, due to the back child support he owed to his ex-wife.
  • In "Mall Santa", Dan says to Mr. Mumbles that "I hope peppermint isn't poisonous to cats" when they both lick the candy canes, which are made out of peppermint. Researchers say that peppermint is very lethal to cats, so Mr. Mumbles probably wouldn't have survived.
  • In-Universe; in "Elise's Parents", Dan, despite initially viewing them as nuisances to the point of thinking that they're in The Mafia (which he was correct), saves both Don and Elise Sr. when The Mafia (whom Dan called) try to murder them, to which Dan objects. The episode ends with Dan thinking Elise's parents, for all their faults, weren't really bad after all. Come to their third appearance, "Family Thanksgiving", where they reveal that they never owe Dan back the favor for saving them, they only used him for their egg devil recipe, made worse by the tragic implication that Dan had never experienced any affection throughout his entire life and actually thought they loved him, making their betrayal seem far crueler. It was only a call-out from Elise to make them realize that they were in the wrong and apologize to Dan, but not before saving the latter from the fire he caused.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • One episode has Dan trying to convince the police that Elise's parents are in the mafia. As proof, he records and splices a conversation they have about their cupcake business. He explains that "cupcake" is the new slang for "kill". In the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fandom, thanks to a notoriously gory fanfic, "cupcaked" is occasionally used as slang for being gruesomely killed.
  • Dan mentions in "Art" that abstract art looks like somebody ate the paint and puked it up (major squick warning for the link).
  • Reality TV becomes this when a year after it aired, Curtis Armstrong (Dan) hosted a reality show called King of the Nerds, and in some episodes, he'd actually wear Dan's Jerk Shirt.
  • In Stupidity, Dan's annoyance that Humongobots, an obvious parody of the Transformers Film Series, is getting a sixth installment despite the other ones being terrible. Before the release of Transformers: The Last Knight, it was announced that seven movies, as well as a Bumblebee spin-off film (making it eight in total), are being made. However, after The Last Knight underperformed, it was decided that after the Bumblebee spin-off the film franchise would be rebooted, meaning it got exactly six installments.
  • The manager of the gym in The Gym is a cool muscular blond guy named Chad.
  • Dave Foley voices Chris, a reluctant "one-sixteenth Canadian" whose great-great-grandfather was heavily implied to be in a romantic relationship with a yeti. Four years later in another animated series, Foley would go on to voice a fully-Canadian Sasquatch.
• Ho Yay:
  • Dan has expressed to Chris that he should have never gotten married, his distaste for Elise, and clinginess to Chris ("Why was your phone off? ...This is not ok. You never turn your phone off, ever again. Promise me! ...PROMISE! ME!"), seems to really like touching Chris's mouth, knows Chris well enough to know his grooming habits from his knock, and had such dialogue gems as: "Seriously, if this doesn't work, I'm leaving you." followed by a quickly whispered "I would never leave you." and while gloating to Elise: "Possession is nine tenths of the law, I'll have you know. Technically, Chris is mine now." Chris is also the only person in the universe Dan seems willing to show any sign of caring or affection for, however minuscule the gestures may be (this being Dan, what's common courtesy to the rest of us is angelic from him), apart from his two one-episode actual Love Interests. But the kicker for this trope has to be:
    Dan (talking as Chris): I love you.
    Dan as himself, shyly: Um, I... feel... somewhat warmly towards you.
  • And in "The Wolfman", Dan's response to Chris's heart-shaped locket containing a picture of Elise? "Hey, that's not me."
  • From "Canada":
    Dan: Ahh, so clean you could eat off me. (meaningful look)
    Chris: I'm not going to do that.
    Dan: I'm just saying you could...!
    Chris: Well, I'm not going to.
    Dan: FINE! (slams hand and pouts)
  • From "George Washington":
    Dan: This is why our children are getting dumber. No standards!
    Chris: We don't have children.
    Dan: You know what I mean!
  • And in "The Beach", the "love pinch" anyone?
    Chris (after Dan saves him): "You came here to help me, you do care...!"
    (Dan pinches him)
    Chris, beaming: Ow! Ah, you can't fool me! That felt like a love pinch...!
  • Any time Chris and Elise start to have a moment, Dan makes sure to interrupt in some way. He also keeps trying to get them to break up.
    Chris: Shh! Do you mind? I'm trying to leave a message.
    Dan: Well just tell her you've left her. (into the phone) He's left you! ...He's left you! And he's never coming back!
  • In the "The DMV", Chris keeps a mugshot of Dan because it looked—quote, unquote—adorable.
  • Plus, in "The Family Camping Trip", he continually calls Colby "dreamy" and gets lost in his eyes.
• Jerkass Woobie: Dan himself. He's a jerk, obsessive, Brutally Honest, a big fan of Disproportionate Retribution, and often misdirects his rage (such as going after the commissioner of baseball for a game preempting his favorite show). However, he's also a Weirdness Magnet to the point of being a Cosmic Plaything, which is what triggers his various adventures. If not for that, he'd otherwise keep to himself and only be mildly impolite. He even says in "The Ski Trip" that he doesn't like devoting so much time to revenge pursuits; he just can't help it because he notices the flaws and doesn't think anyone else will do anything about them. Various episodes (particularly "Summer Camp") have also suggested his upbringing was full of neglectful, possibly abusive parenting.
• Karmic Overkill: In "Dancing", while Dan was going out of his way to sabotage Elise's dancing competition, Elise sending him to a borderline zombie-infested town to die was certainly overkill. It doesn't help that Elise herself ends up getting away with it.
• Magnificent Bastard: Of the many dubious figures Dan seeks revenge on, a select few are just as crafty and charismatic:
  • "Dan Vs. The Ninja": Ninja Dave is a skilled assassin, clever combatant, and petty thief. Stealing desserts per his oath, he swipes a box of cookies from an unsuspecting Dan with a precise shuriken to his milk and gets away unseen. When Elise, already a target of his clan, gets dragged in, Dave eavesdrops on her, Dan, and Chris undetected and plots to kill the three. He later has two bouts with Elise, showing quick thinking by turning her attacks against her and using the arena to his advantage. Dave only loses his fights when Dan interferes, making a clean getaway the first time, and after his second fight, reveals himself to be the last of his clan, promises to leave his rivals alone, and opens up his own cookie shop.
  • "Dan Vs. Dan" and "Dan Vs. The Telemarketer": The Imposter is one of the friendly antagonists in the show, as well as the most crafty. While the Imposter's MO is stealing people's identities and taking over their lives, he generally goes after people who are isolated from society, winning over the town under their name. Despite being outsmarted by Dan in his first appearance, the Imposter evens the score and then some in his second when he accurately predicts Dan's every move, luring him and Chris into a trapped apartment, before implanting a transmitter into Dan's molar. The Imposter then orchestrates Dan's arrest by Playing the Victim Card in front of an officer.
  • "Dan Vs. Reality TV"
    • Buddy Star is a charismatic producer of Immoral Reality Shows. After setting Dan up to be humiliated on camera, Buddy made up a lie get Dan to come to his house — actually the set of another reality show. Star then filmed Dan's escape efforts as content, and when Dan made it out, impersonated a taxi driver to cancel his progress. After two painful challenges lead to the final round, Buddy rigs the contest, willing to reshoot as necessary. Though Star is ultimately disappointed with his show being cancelled with Dan as the winner, he bounds right back by fooling Dan into yet another show, complete with ravenous coyotes.
    • Kelly, the in-universe equivalent to The Bachelorette, plays a Dumb Blonde for the cameras, but shows subtle cleverness to advance her Immoral Reality Show. When judging a runway contest, she realizes unintended brilliance that allows the preferred contestants to advance beyond the objective best performance. She then brings up the then-unknown grand prize to prevent Dan from blowing up the set, and only finally drops character after the show to state that she's married.
• Memetic Mutation: The first scene of the show ("Hi Dan. I just moved in next door. I'm a supermodel!" "I don't care who the IRS sends, I am NOT paying taxes!") has been making rounds on YouTube.
• Moe: Little Elise in "New Mexico" and "Magician".
• Never Live It Down: A lot of fans didn't condone Elise's actions in "Dancing" even after the show ended. While she has done shady things before and Dan certainly deserved to be punished for trying to destroy her dance hall, sending him off to be killed in a lawless borderline zombie infested town is going too far.
• Paranoia Fuel:
  • Unless you have really good insurance, you don't get to see an actual doctor, but an actor the hospital secretly hired.
  • Your children's dentist secretly damages your child's teeth to get more money from you.
  • That guy that runs the gym? He's a cyborg. So are most of the other buff people working out there all the time. And they're all planning to rule the world and force you to repower them up, under punishment of taser. And they plan to replace you with a better looking cyborg of you. Seriously, the gym has a LOT going for it.
  • Your boss is a demon.
• Self-Fanservice: Dan's much more attractive in fanart, though some like him the way he is.
• Sophomore Slump: Among fans of the show, season one is often hailed as the best for its humor and exciting revenge missions. Season two, while not hated, is generally considered the weakest, due to a combination of Dan losing more often, the show and the audience disagreeing on rootability, and Elise taking screen time from Dan. Season three, while not as popular as the first season, is generally considered a return to form.
• Suspiciously Similar Song:
  • "Technology" features an obvious pastiche of Quincy Jones' "Ironside".
  • A version of "I'm Alright" from Caddyshack is heard in "Golf".
  • The car chase scene in "The Catburglar" is set to a song that bears resemblance to Tank! of Cowboy Bebop fame.
  • The credits in "Dan vs. Chris" play over a parody of the theme from Star Trek: The Original Series.
  • Naturally, the showdown in "Wild West Town" features a variation on the theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
  • "The High School Reunion" features songs similar to many of The '80s' greatest hits.
• Ugly Cute:
  • Mr. Mumbles is a female cat with incredibly matted fur. Nonetheless, her sweetness and doe eyes give her major cute points.
  • Dan himself. He's a short, messy, easily angered Manchild whose only purpose in life is to get revenge at anyone or anything that slights him. It doesn't stop fans from adoring him, helped by his occasional Jerk with a Heart of Gold moments.
• Uncertain Audience: Widely argued to be the reason why the series struggled to gain mainstream attention. It's a Black Comedy with a Heroic Comedic Sociopath that contained quite a bit of risqué humor and occasionally dealt with mature subjects like martial problems. These are elements you typically find in an adult cartoon, but the series was rated TV-PG, and warranted such a rating with its slapstick, surreal plotlines, and containing little-to-no profanity or bloodshed. As a result, it was difficult to tell if this show was supposed to be for kids or adults. The fact that it was marketed as being from the same animation studio as The Simpsons and King of the Hill, both of which are adult cartoons, didn't help. ^note It could also be chalked up to Canada's more lax Standards and Practices, but it aired on the Hub (i.e., the same channel as My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic).
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?:
  • The Hub's programming is very much child-friendly stuff, and while some series on the channel do have quite a bit of dark material, Dan Vs. is perhaps the only one that owes its darkness to Black Comedy. This show would likely feel more at home on [adult swim] or Cartoon Network fighting with Regular Show over which "kid-friendly-but-really-not" cartoon is the best. That being said, Dan Vs. originated as a live-action adult sitcom, and was actually pitched to Adult Swim before premiering on The Hub.
  • This actually hurt the show when it got imported to Hungary. Due to its timeslot and the TV promos focusing heavily on the Black Comedy aspect, many people thought it was going to be a "raunchier", adult-oriented cartoon, only to be disappointed upon realizing that it was in reality more of a kids' show.
  • The fact that Dan and Elise were played by actors known for their voice-work on American Dad! and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law (both of which were TV-14-rated cartoons), respectively, doesn't help.
  • Ironically enough, the deleted scenes that have been posted on the official Facebook page are far more violent and inappropriate than what actually makes it on air, making you wonder who the show was actually made for.

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