The GiW meets its match
is a series of Danny Phantom AU oneshots by Zaft_Convoy, who also writes Digital Phantom, in which the Guys in White, furious after the events of "Reign Storm", and unable to effectively cut Amity off from the rest of the world, decide to have it nuked out of existence. Thankfully this fails, but the consequences of the rogue agency quickly start to snowball...
The Giw Meets Its Match contains examples of the following tropes:
- Alliterative Name:
- The Guys in White's mole in the Senate is named Sam Sampson.
- Danny's Stalker without a Crush, Wes Weston.
- Artistic License – Law: In-Universe, because the Guys in White are a terrorist organization that merely acts like a government division, their grasp of the law is somewhat shaky at best. For instance, they think that because they're "government agents", they can just do things like busting into someone's house, slap anti-ecto cuffs on them, and drag them away, and their actions have made the Amity Park citizens think that all of the government works that way. When asked after his attempt to drag Paulina (said teenager) away is foiled, "Agent M" doesn't even know what a warrant is.
- Artistic License – Medicine: In-Universe, the Guys In White are fifty years out of date when it comes to modern medicine. One captured and injured agent doesn't think that electric heart monitors are possible at first, and their procedures to "cleanse" people of ghostly influence are pointless and cruel at best, fatal at worst. They don't even know that lobotomies have been banned for decades.
- Believing Their Own Lies: Besides their Doublethink around the sapience of ghosts, even though the Guys in White haven't been an official organization for decades, some of their younger recruits seem to actually buy into their hype.
- Book Ends: The series begins and ends with the words "Excuse me, what did you say?!" if you include the title.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- K tries to have a nuke launched at Amity Park. Not only does he not consider that a nuclear strike on American soil could be the impetus for World War III, but he claims to have the authority to order the man operating the silo (who thankfully refuses) to fire when he in fact does not, and the way that he identifies himself exposes the Guys in White to the federal government and ruins their anonymity.
- It's later revealed that, through a senator affiliated with them, the GIW tried to have "Anti-Ecto Laws" passed that would legally allow them to experiment on anyone from a "haunted city", including Amity, San Francisco, and even Washington DC itself. Not only have the GIW clearly not checked to see if the bill actually passed before acting on it, the bill is wildly against the Constitution and highly unlikely to have been passed at all due to most of the Senate not believing ghosts even existed at the time.
- Doublethink: The Guys in White claims that ghosts are both non-sapient entities dumber than microscopic organisms, and skilled and dangerous manipulators solely focused on harming humanity over the long term, incapable of telling the truth. The contradiction is obvious to anyone else (even the older Fentons), but they honestly seem to believe it. For instance, Agent Alpha simultaneously believes that the government officials who hacked into the GIW servers are a group of ghosts (in part of the lighting giving them red eyes when he backhacked the connection) who are capable of such a feat of technical skill... but assumes that the bug was destroyed by them fighting over their lair instead of detected and removed because ghosts aren't intelligent enough to have found it.
- Fantastic Drug: Major Green speculates that the GIW have been "doping" with ectoplasm, which has caused them to give off high ectoplasmic radiation. He and the Fentons further speculate this may have caused other effects, such as changes to their brain functions. During the raid in the GIW HQ, Agent Alpha claims that one needs to give off the energy of a ghost to fight them.
- Fantastic Legal Weirdness: Following the events of the story, a series of laws are put into place that acknowledge the status of ghosts, halfas (referred to as hybrids), and ecto-contaminated humans as sentient beings, and all the rights that entails.
- Hypocrite: Part of why the Guys in White act so maliciously towards the Amity Park citizens is that due to the ecto-contamination the portal is spilling out, and their flawed understanding of how ectoplasm interacts with living cells, they believe that the citizens are either overshadowed or ghosts in human skin. However, when several "agents" are captured, it's discovered that they're also heavily ecto-contaminated. In fact, the GiW apparently lack any caution about contaminating themselves, as the captured members are somehow more contaminated than Danny and seem to be slowly changing into halfas themselves, and later evidence implies that they're deliberately exposing themselves to it. Agent Alpha claims during the raid on the Guys in White HQ that one needs to give off the energy of ghosts to fight them, but even if that's true, it's clear that their scanners for detecting ectoplasmic contamination are have serious calibration issues regarding detecting contamination levels.
- Impersonating an Officer: The Guys in White haven't been an official government organization since the early fifties, since they ignored an official presidential order to shut down and reformed in secret, stealing from the government to fund themselves, though more than a few modern-day members seem to think that they actually are an official government group instead of just a Renegade Splinter Faction easily edging into terrorism. It's even noted more than once that they seem to be trying to sell the image fairly hard, like using nonsensical codes that sound impressive to civilians but tip actual officials off that they're nothing more than wannabes.
- I Reject Your Reality: The Guys in White have apparently noticed how Phantom's actions defy their close-minded theories on ghosts, and that looking closer would prove that he's not an anomaly, so they've got a particular hatred for him because they don't want to acknowledge that their biases are wrong.
- Ironic Hell: In the end, the surviving Guys in White members are handed over to the ghostly authorities for their crimes, banished for eternity to the realm that they hate and planned to destroy, and at the mercy of its inhabitants.
- Light Is Not Good: The legal and ethical violations the Guys in White get up to are fully explored here, and they wear all white to an obsessive degree.
- Lying by Omission: When the truth about the Guys in White wanting to nuke Amity Park gets to the CDC, one scientist complains that they were told that it was just a dirty bomb. Lt Charles points out that a nuke is a dirty bomb, just one that can be lobbed thousands of miles.
- Mad Scientist: The Guys In White "researchers" effectively count as this, performing horrific "experiments" on ghosts and supposedly ghostly humans that are more exercises in torture than anything. After the group is defeated, all of their data is thrown out, both because of the cruelty and the fact that the anti-ghost bias is so strong that it's effectively worthless.
- The Men in Black: Like in canon, the Guys in White parody the Trope Namers. They're so obsessed with their suits that they're surprised that some other agencies do not always wear suits in the field, like the EPA, and they even wear them instead of flight suits.
- Modern Stasis: The Guys in White have been so focused on staying hidden, and so obsessed with hunting ghosts, that they've largely missed any major scientific or cultural advancements since the fifties, save for those related to said ghost hunting. For example, their tanks are laughably easy for modern tanks to defeat, they think that federal employees need to wear suits everywhere even for organizations where that would be less than ideal, have strong Stay in the Kitchen mentalities, and "Agent T" is shocked to realize that the device he's hooked up to is an electronic heart monitor, as he didn't even know that that was possible. During the raid on their headquarters, Agent Alpha uses his revolver to shoot Major Green several times, which he shrugs off thanks to his body armor, much to the former's shock.
- A Nazi by Any Other Name: It's noted a couple times that the Guys in White's hatred of ghosts, along with the unethical and often pointless "experiments", is chillingly similar to the ideology of the Nazis, if not worse. This is especially apparent with their mole in the Senate, whose code name is "Agent SS" (apparently due to his name being Sam Sampson, but still).
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: K's failed attempt to have a nuclear missile sent to Amity Park results in the Guys in White being exposed to the federal government, resulting in a new organization being formed to not only help shut them down, but to investigate ghosts with proper scientific and ethical standards.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Guys in White claim to be defenders of humanity against supernatural threats (namely ghosts), but their actions, methods, and plans show that even if they did have good intentions at some point, they're long-gone by the present. The fact that Agent K starts the story by attempting to send a nuclear missile to Amity Park is just the start, as they have plans to vivisect people to supposedly "cleanse them of ghostly influence" (or just for getting too close to their base), will shoot at civilians for getting in their way, and actively ignore any evidence that ghosts are not inherently evil or mindless (and the Doublethink required to believe that both are true at once).
- Obliviously Evil: When we get a glimpse inside the head of "Agent M", we see that he honestly thinks that what the Guys in White did to Paulina and their other victims is helpful "cleansing", and dragging said teenage girl away in an unmarked van after slapping anti-ecto cuffs on her for a follow-up isn't as creepy as hell. He's baffled when the FBI agents interfere and tell him that he's breaking the law since he was just following the "laws" and procedures of his bosses, and he doesn't even know what a warrant is when asked if he has one.
- Propaganda Piece: Jack and Maddie Fenton's negative views on ghosts are the result of the research books they used in college having been written by the Guys in White to spread their views further.
- Renegade Splinter Faction: The Guys in White turn out to have begun as an actual government organization in the 1950s called the Ghost Investigation Ward, which was founded in response to hearsay that the Soviets were seeking to use the supernatural to gain power in the Cold War. While the GIW was disbanded by presidential decree after only two years of operation when it became clear the Soviets weren't trying to weaponize the paranormal, the Agent Alpha of the time secretly reformed the group underground and siphoned money from the government to fund their goals.
- Rule of Symbolism: As the president is looking out the Oval Office, after reading a report on the new anti-GiW task force, she sees a bald eagle snatching a white gull.
- Running Gag: People hearing the Doublethink that the Guys in White use to justify their hatred of ghosts and pointing out the contradictions.
- Sequel Hook: The last story in the series ends with another anti-supernatural group in Europe causing trouble just like the Guys in White, opening the possibility of more stories in the AU.
- Stay in the Kitchen: As a result of their perception of the world being stuck in the fifties, the Guys in White are rather misogynistic in addition to their many other failings.
- Tangled Family Tree: In this AU Vlad somehow got Danny's sperm and Maddie's egg cells, so Dani and the other "clones" are, genetically speaking, both Danny's children and maternal half-siblings.
- Tautological Templar: The Guys in White are entirely convinced that ghosts are evil and universally dangerous while being completely non-sapient, despite the fact that their "evidence" to the conclusion doesn't hold up to even basic unbiased examination. Furthermore, they believe that anything done in service of their goal of fighting ghostly threats is a good thing. These supposedly good actions include stealing funds from the government to keep their organization running, trying to launch a nuclear missile at a town on American soil, conducting pointless "experiments" that seem more designed to cause pain to ghosts than actually get useful scientific data (and are compared unfavorably to similar experiments run by the Nazis), and running similar "experiments" on regular humans (even teenagers) that they think might be possessed by/actually are ghosts or just happen to get in their way. As a whole, the GIW appear to be incapable of comprehending that humans can object to their methods without being influenced by ghosts and think that because they're supposedly government agents, they can do things like bursting into someone's house to drag them off without a warrant (not that "Agent M" knows what one is).
- Technobabble: One of the ways the Guys in White have been pretending to still be government officials is spouting off terminology that sounds official enough to civilians, but in reality is pure nonsense that doesn't stand up to scrutiny from anyone who's actually part of the government.Lieutenant Charles: The way Agent Alpha addressed the team, it was clear he was trying too hard to be a real government agent, mentioning something like 'Protocol form Alpha Omega B, Delta Bravo 5' or what not.
- Telecom Tree: Justified through the military chain of command, and backfires majorly on Agent K when he calls a missile silo to launch a minuteman nuke at Amity Park. The next several stories follow up the chain of command as the individual who took the call, Major Jacob Green, calls the Air Force Chief of Staff, General Derek Brown, for a clearance check, who then reports the issue to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Abraham Whitman. General Whitman then calls an emergency meeting with the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council, the Secretary of Defense, and the President, with the actual calls between them to arrange this meeting implicit. The communications then disperse into a mixture of phone calls and emails moving up and down the chain of command as the government hurriedly tries to dig up any information they can on the GIW.
- Theory Tunnelvision: The Guys in White suffer this on multiple levels.
- Firstly, they are so sure that ghosts are universally non-sapient and evil that they ignore any evidence to the contrary or the fact that their "logic" requires significant Doublethink that doesn't hold up to any close examination, conducting "experiments" that are more exercises in sadism and their desire to destroy ghosts than anything remotely close to an unbiased and accurate test (like removing the limbs on the left side of a ghost's body and claiming that it affects their intelligence to a lower standard).
- Secondly, they're so assured of the righteousness of themselves and their cause that they seemingly can't even consider that someone who isn't a ghost or overshadowed by one could oppose them, assuming that ghosts have invaded the government and need to be "cleansed" with vivisection and unethical and dangerous procedures (like removing several organs from a teenager whose only apparent misdeed was getting too close to their base).
- Their biases have also affected independent researchers, namely the Fentons, as their propaganda caused the duo to form biases of their own and not question them until the task force arrived and shook things up. For instance, the Guys in White dictate that any real amount of ectoplasmic contamination will kill organic cells exposed to it, which is why they believe that Amity is infested with ghosts disguised as humans, and while that can be true of too much exposure, smaller amounts are fine.
- Later they've developed the belief that Danny is the Monster Progenitor of all the ghosts in Amity, calling him the "Ghost Mother" despite him clearly being male.
- Too Dumb to Live: The GIW are so obsessed with their white suits that they even wear them in situations where more specialized attire and equipment is crucial to survival. This leads to the death of one of their pilots, as he isn't wearing a flight suit or even using an oxygen mask when he ejects.
- Windmill Crusader: While some ghosts are legitimately dangerous, the Guys in White believe that all ghosts are inherently mindless monsters that can only speak lies and are plotting to bring humanity back to the dark ages... despite the inherently contradictory nature of that statement and the clear evidence that that's not the case they're willfully ignoring. They've also been going after the people of Amity (and been planning to do the same to the residents of other "haunted" cities), being convinced that many if not all of them are either overshadowed or ghosts pretending to be alive, and performing unethical procedures to attempt to "cleanse" them despite being far more ecto-contaminated than the Amity residents themselves.
- Would Hurt a Child: When the task force first arrives in Amity the Guys in White shoot a teen who had the misfortune of drawing their attention, and it's later revealed that they'd abducted another teen who got too close to their base and had him vivisected while conscious.
- You and What Army?: Agent K asks Major Green this when the latter stops the former from dragging off a teen to be experimented on. Green finds this hilarious because there's literally a tank from the Marines right in front of him, and the Guys in White's attack on said tank does nothing more than minor damage while the tank destroys their three "tanks" in short order.
- You Do Not Want To Know: The president tells Jack and Danny that they're better off not knowing the details of the "experiments" (using the term very loosely) that the Guys in White performed.
