Fanfic / Danny Phantom: Dressed

Dressed is the 13th story in Stranded. Casper High is hosting another pageant, which Star and Colette compete in.

Tropes:

• All Take and No Give: Spectra correctly points out that Valerie was a terrible partner to Danny while they were paired together for the school science project in "Life Lessons", having treated him like a lackey by bossing Danny around and pushing all the work onto him using her new part-time job as an excuse, since it’s not that much work and Valerie was just looking for someone to bully since she still saw herself as better than Danny despite being kicked out of the A-Listers.
• Aloof Ally: In response to Tucker calling her Team Phantom's Sixth Ranger, Valerie says she's independent.
• Attack Backfire: Minor example but Colette spilling water on Star's painting makes it better, since she was using watercolors.
• Berserk Button:
  • Paulina does NOT like being reminded that Danny Phantom is dating Starlight Spirit.
  • Sam hates being called “Samantha”, as she makes clear to Bertrand.
  • Colette cannot stand losing to the point of throwing a really loud tantrum in public by fighting with Paulina when Valerie wins the beauty pageant, requiring security to intervene and prompting her dad to punish her.
• Brutal Honesty:
  • Chris makes it crystal clear to Paulina she doesn’t have a chance with Danny Phantom, especially since he already has Starlight Spirit as a girlfriend, and winning a lousy beauty pageant isn’t going to change that. He doesn’t sugarcoat how pathetic Paulina is for thinking that winning a single, insignificant pageant will make Danny Phantom believe she’s better than his superhero girlfriend since he’s not going to leave Starlight Spirit for a girl like Paulina, who isn’t even in his league nor has gone on a single date with him.
  • Chris also doesn’t bother hiding his hatred for Colette and makes it clear she’s a total brat.
• Cat Fight: Colette and Paulina take out their frustrations over losing the pageant on each other in a fight.
• Crazy-Prepared: Star plans ahead for Colette trying to sabotage her talent act by pretending to agree with her mom to dance instead of paint, knowing Colette will try to steal her routine. Star using watercolors also unintentionally foils Colette's attempt to ruin her work by spilling water on it.
• Dark Horse Victory: Valerie's combat skills when fighting Spectra impress the judges, who crown her Miss Teen Amity Park.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Spectra of all people calls Valerie out over wanting to kill Danny over something as petty as losing her status as an A-Lister.
• Dumbass Has a Point: Even Dash notices something is wrong with the beauty pageant contestants after witnessing their increasingly aggressive behavior.
• Easily Forgiven:
  • When Star callously brings up Valerie's Missing Mom over her increasing frustrations with the pageant, Valerie is upset but lets it go, knowing that Star is stressed out beyond belief right now and didn't really mean what she said. It also helps that Valerie realizes that something isn't quite right so she knows Star really isn't to blame for that.
  • Star said some harsh things to her mother, father, and housekeeper due to the stress she was under while competing in the beauty pageant and Spectra's brainwashing. When Stella apologized for putting too much pressure on her daughter, Star in turn apologized for what she said, admitting that she should never have let the stress get to her instead of talking to her mother; she also apologized to her father and housekeeper. Since Star made a genuine Heartfelt Apology, and it was revealed that she and the other girls were brainwashed to be worse than they were, Star's family forgives her.
• Entitled Bitch: Colette is furious when she learns Stella has offered to become Star's pageant coach (not knowing at the time Colette had signed up too) because she expects her stepmother to solely focus her attention and expertise on the daughter she actually lives with. Colette even demands Stella ignore Star in favor of the former, who she is supposed to help win the beauty pageant, and tries to make her father "talk some sense into her".
• Even Evil Has Standards: Even Spectra is disgusted at Tucker when he mentions he "didn't bring anything that didn't involve getting numbers and finding girls' social media accounts". She is also less than impressed by Valerie's past vendetta with Danny Phantom, which essentially boils down to her selfishness and Selective Obliviousness.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Despite not liking Danny, Dash still warns him about the girls in the beauty pageant acting crazy.
  • As chill a guy as Chris is, even he hates Paulina and Colette for being annoying Spoiled Brats.
  • Jean-Luc Bevier punishes Colette on his own volition for throwing a really loud tantrum in public that gets a security guard injured, requiring him to pay compensation to prevent his daughter from being charged for assault, just because she lost the beauty pageant.
• For the Evulz: Spectra always enjoys seeing others suffer, and she especially relishes Valerie’s breakdown from her "Reason You Suck" Speech.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Like Star back in "Found", Spectra makes it clear in her "Reason You Suck" Speech to Valerie that losing her money and status due to an honest mistake by Danny Phantom didn't justify her working with Vlad to hunt down and destroy him or Dani.
• Gold Digger: Mr. Strong's status as a successful lawyer is one of the things Spectra likes about him.
• Hate at First Sight: Chris despises Paulina instantly upon meeting her after seeing she’s every bit the shallow spoiled brat Sam described her as.
• Hidden Depths: It seems most of the characters have an interest in anime. Tucker's response to a giant Spectra is to shout the English translation of the first lyrics from the original Attack on Titan opening, Danny's mention of drills and shouting "One For All" suggests he's a fan of both Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and My Hero Academia, Star flat out says she loves Sailor Moon and Venus is her favorite character, Sam's comments on what she thinks is the best anime suggests it's Kill la Kill, while Spectra herself enjoys Slice of Life and it seems her favorite is K-On!, gushing about who is obviously Mio un-ironically. While Valerie reminds everyone to remember what they're doing, she briefly mentions her favorite involves spaceships with arms, which suggests it's Outlaw Star.
• Hidden Disdain Reveal: Valerie admits she never liked Penelope Spectra when the latter was posing as a guidance counselor at Casper High last semester, and being told by Danny that she's really an evil ghost who spreads misery to make herself young certainly doesn’t help.
• Hoist by Her Own Petard: Colette first tries to sabotage Star's painting act by dropping a sandbag to destroy her art supplies. However, she hits the wrong lever and a bag bursts in front of Colette instead, covering her with sand.
• Jerkass to One: Chris is even more openly disdainful of Paulina and Colette than he ever was of Star.
• Jerkass Has a Point: During the beauty pageant, Chris calls Paulina out on her shallowness and delusions for believing that winning a random beauty pageant will make Danny Phantom think she’s better for him than his girlfriend Starlight Spirit, who is more in his league anyway since she’s an actual hero and has probably gone on dates with him, unlike Paulina. Sam and Star don’t say it out loud but they completely agree with him.
• Knight Templar: Deconstructed with Valerie as Spectra makes it clear her hatred for ghosts is not an excuse to take it out on Danny Phantom (who only caused her misfortunes by accident) and Dani (who did nothing to her).
• Lame Comeback: After Chris delivers Paulina a short yet rather brutal and accurate "Reason You Suck" Speech, all she can do is yell, “You losers!” before angrily storming off.
• Locked Out of the Loop:
  • Valerie didn’t know that Casper High’s former guidance counselor Penelope Spectra was a ghost making teens miserable on purpose so she can feed on it and steal their youth until Danny tells her.
  • Sam and Tucker were apparently unaware of Valerie selling out Danielle to Vlad in "D-Stabilized" until Spectra called her out.
• Loony Fan: Chris finds Paulina completely pathetic for her fixation on Danny Phantom, who barely knows her and is already going out with Starlight Spirit.
• Madness Mantra: Throughout the fic, Colette repeats, "I'm too beautiful to be angry." to herself in response to any provocation so she can maintain her dignified, graceful facade for the beauty pageant until she finally snaps in the end upon losing the crown.
• Missing Mom: The absence of Valerie's mother is acknowledged, with Star (briefly) and Spectra throwing it in her face and her father Damon wishing at the end she could've seen her daughter win the pageant. Spectra implies Valerie's mother left her family, which is a sore spot for her.
• Oh, No... Not Again!: Bertrand yells, "No, not again!" when Danny sucks him into a Fenton Thermos.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Most girls at Casper High are still upset at Danny regarding his performance at the previous pageant.
• Only in It for the Money: Valerie only signs up for the beauty pageant because the prize includes a $5,000 scholarship.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Between Stella's Stage Mom antics and Ms. Stone's "advice", Star finds herself so overwhelmed that she acts worse than when she was an A-Lister, doing things that she would never do under normal circumstances like snapping at her dad and Georgia.
  • After Star's outburst towards her, Stella is so concerned over their relationship that she actually forgets Colette is competing in the pageant too. Johnathan muses he's not sure whether this is a good or bad thing.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Stella goes out of her way to help Star prepare for the beauty pageant, supporting her all the way. Sure, she goes overboard, but it’s a nice gesture.
  • While disguised as the beauty pageant coordinator, Penelope Spectra catches Sam and Chris trying to sabotage the event. Sam gets in trouble but Spectra lets Chris go free because she just considers him a pathetic boy desperately trying to impress a girl he likes.
  • After Valerie has a breakdown from Spectra’s verbal beatdown, Team Phantom helps her recover by making it clear she has done good things along with bad things and since reformed, so she is a real hero.
• Rejected Apology: Deconstructed as Spectra calls Valerie out on her pettiness for obsessing over destroying Danny Phantom because he accidentally cost her dad his job and refusing to accept or even listen to his apologies.
• Revenge Myopia: Spectra makes it clear that Valerie didn’t care if Danny Phantom was evil or not, or that he cost her her wealth and A-Lister status by honest accident, she just wanted someone to blame and take her anger out on because deep down, she was still a bully looking to victimize someone just to make herself feel better.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Chris gives a short but epic one to Paulina during the pageant by calling her a pathetic fangirl and shallow spoiled brat for obsessing over a guy (Danny Phantom) who barely knows her since they have never gone on a single date and he already has Starlight Spirit for a girlfriend. Chris also finds it laughable that she’s shallow and delusional enough to think that winning an insignificant beauty pageant will make Danny Phantom leave Starlight Spirit for her. Sam and Star are thoroughly impressed.
  • Penelope Spectra gives a VERY brutal one to Valerie, calling her out on all her deplorable actions towards both sides of Danny and almost getting Dani killed, along with becoming a worse person as the Red Huntress than she was even during her A-Listers days.
• Sadist: Penelope Spectra lives to make others miserable to empower herself and just for mere amusement.
• Shallow Cannot Comprehend True Love: Chris calls Paulina out on being this for thinking that winning some stupid beauty pageant will make Danny Phantom leave his superhero girlfriend Starlight Spirit for her since he barely even knows Paulina, who is just a regular girl that’s not worth his time or in his league.
• Shout-Out: The scene where Star becomes suspicious of Valerie is a mirror version of Robin's Competition Freak moment in the Teen Titans (2003) episode "Winner Takes All" when he accused Cyborg of trying to trick him.
• Sixth Ranger: Tucker uses these words to describe Valerie's place in Team Phantom but she insists she's independent.
• Skewed Priorities:
  • When Spectra uses a device to make Valerie's battlesuit stop working, Tucker's main concern is that his PDA stopped working as well.
  • Harriet is more concerned about her own job and safety than her fellow judges. They call her out for it.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Paulina thinks that winning the beauty pageant and becoming Miss Teen Amity Park will make her better than Starlight Spirit and cause Danny Phantom to leave her for Paulina. Chris mocks her for her shallowness and naïveté by foolishly believing that this will make her better than a superhero and gain the interest of a guy that doesn’t know her.
• Smug Snake: Paulina and Colette vastly overestimate their chances of winning the beauty pageant and don’t take it well when they lose to Valerie.
• Sore Loser: After Paulina and Colette both lose the pageant crown to Valerie and say they "should've worn white gold" at the same time, they proceed get into a physical brawl with each other.
• Spoiled Brat: Spectra makes it clear that Valerie was always this even after she got kicked out of the A-Listers since her entire feud with Danny was based on a petty grudge over losing her status as a rich, popular kid. Even Valerie concedes her point.
• Spotting the Thread: Valerie realizes something is wrong after noticing how hostile all the girls are being to each other and Ms. Stone's "advice" is only riling everyone up even worse.
• Stage Mom: Stella becomes very obsessed and micromanaging whenever Star enters a pageant, due to being a former beauty queen herself.
• Tantrum Throwing:
  • Colette throws one when Stella refuses to be her pageant coach instead of Star's.
  • Colette and Paulina throw an even bigger one with a Cat Fight after they lose the pageant.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Valerie is crowned the winner of the beauty pageant and becomes Miss Teen Amity Park, earning a scholarship grand prize to pay for college.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Spectra makes it clear to Valerie that getting kicked out of the A-Listers didn’t make her any less of a cruel, arrogant bully but it did turn into an even worse person than them by using her hatred of ghosts to become a thug who takes her anger out on innocents like Danny Phantom and Dani.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Team Phantom cheer up Valerie after Spectra gives her a vicious "Reason You Suck" Speech by reminding her of all altruistic things she’s done, like aiding Team Phantom and helping save Amity Park.
• Unwitting Pawn: Spectra manipulates Sam, making her angrier than usual, into ruining the pageant by making some very "radical" schemes that are also hurtful.
• Villain Has a Point: Penelope Spectra is a vain and selfish ghost who uses her skills as a psychologist to break kids emotionally to feed on their misery. However, during her fight with the heroes, she gives a long, justified speech that Valerie Grey isn't as heroic as she thinks she is. While confronting her, Valerie protests that she is a good person who isn't trying to be evil, but Spectra tears her apart verbally when she correctly points out Valerie's past misdeeds such as her mistreatment of Danny in both identities, her self-centered feud with him, and how she had sold out Danielle to Vlad.
  • While Valerie tries defending herself by insisting that Vlad had tricked her, Spectra retorts that torturing Danny and what she did to Danielle was inexcusable. Valerie tries to say that she didn't know that Dani was half-human, but Spectra fires back that ghost or not, it was not right to do such a thing to a child, regardless of what race they are, and it is hardly heroic at all, which even Tucker agrees with.
  • Valerie feels guilty about this, but things get worse as Spectra continues to bring up her flaws and past actions, such as her mistreatment of Danny's human form and how she put all the work of their school project on him, using her job as an excuse to justify it. Spectra points out that work hours for teens are not that much and Valerie COULD have done more work, but she refused simply because she looked down on Danny and wanted someone to boss around.
  • Spectra also points out how pointless and petty Valerie's grudge against Danny's ghost form was, and how she refused to see all the good he's done or listen to him when he explained it was just an accident, even though he tried to apologize to her.
  • Finally, Spectra claims that Valerie didn't even care if Danny was evil or not, and was just using her vendetta as an excuse to lash out and take her frustrations out on someone. In Spectra's own words, despite no longer being a rich A-Lister, Valerie was STILL a Spoiled Brat and bully who wanted another target to bully and feel special while doing it.
  • Valerie is horrified to hear all of this, and given that she received a similar accusation from Star in the past, she nearly breaks down emotionally out of guilt and shame. However, Star and the rest of Team Phantom restore Valerie's self-worth and image by assuring her that while she had done bad things in the past, she has since learned the error of her ways and grown as a person, sincerely putting others before herself.
• Villain Respect:
  • Spectra admits she admires Valerie’s muscular structure and wants it for herself.
  • According to Spectra, nearly every ghost in the Ghost Zone respects Danny Phantom despite their grudge against him due to his powers and honorable actions.
• Villains Out Shopping: It seems when Spectra isn't causing misery and suffering, she watches Slice of Life anime.
• Would Hurt a Child: Spectra of all people calls Valerie out on this by pointing out her mistreatment of Dani was completely unjustified regardless of her status as a ghost or human since she’s still a kid.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: After Spectra’s scathing verbal assault on Valerie, Team Phantom give their friend a much-needed pep talk about all the good she’s done like stopping evil ghosts and helping Team Phantom, and how she's genuinely changed for the better.