Dan Vs.: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''"[[Best Served Cold|Revenge is a dish best served]] [[Subversion|immediately]]."''|'''Dan'''}}

 

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* [[Acquired Poison Immunity]]: In "Baseball", Dan mentions that he's been hit with tear gas and pepper spray so many times that he doesn't even feel their effects anymore. Unfortunately, everyone else around him still does. Shows up again in "The Bank", where he casually walks through a cloud of tear gas shot by the cops.

* [[Action Girl]]: Elise, when the situation calls for it.

* [[Arbitrary Skepticism]]: Dan believes in werewolves, psychics and Santa (among other things), but in "The Magician", he doesn't believe in magic.

* [[Area 51|Area 52]]: Elise sneaks in and {{spoiler|steals an alien spacecraft from it}}.

** The androids in "Technology", right down to the funky eye color.

** {{spoiler|The androids in "The Gym".}}

* [[The Blacksmith]]: Dan secretly had the ability to expertly [[Forging Scene|craft arrowheads out of silver]]. He'd probably use this skill to get a job, [[Brilliant but Lazy|if it didn't require work.]]

* [[Brand X]]: "Generic Cereal" is on Dan's revenge list.

** "The Salvation Armed Forces": the entire episode commences because Dan's toaster is broken and he couldn't get a toaster because the lady in front of him at the store bought them all. At the very last second, he steals one from said Armed Forces.

** In "The Fancy Restaurant", Dan laments his favorite sandwich shop being bought out by a trendy gourmet restaurant, since he won't be able to get his favorite turkey sandwich anymore. When the sandwich place comes back at the end of the episode, Dan and his friends order the fabled turkey sandwich, which Dan takes one bite of before flatly declaring they're not as good anymore.

* [[Butt Monkey]]: Chris. If someone's going to be hurt or humiliated, chances are it will be him, or, if not alone, he'll be the one who gets it the worst.

* [[Call a Human a Meatbag]]: The androids in "The Gym" refer to humans as [[The Matrix|meat batteries]].

* [[Call It Karma]]: From the episode ''New Mexico'':

'''Chris''': I'm not sure that's how karma works. }}

* [[Calling Your Attacks]]: Dan does this alot, mostly calling the noun that he's going to attack his target with. Results are mixed on his sucess.

* [[Comedic Sociopathy]]

* [[Comically Small Bribe]]: In "Art," Dan attempts to get a set of records from an art school by [[Starving Artist|offering the secretary a sandwich]]. When she doesn't go for it, he adds a bag of ''ruffled'' potato chips.

** In "The Wolf-Man," Chris points out to Dan that there is an animal shelter right next to his apartment. The animal shelter returns in "The Animal Shelter," where Chris remembers telling Dan about it.

** Also, we actually see Chris's tomato garden before he accuses Dan of never asking about it in a later episode.

* [[Dark and Troubled Past]]: Elise is a parody of this in "New Mexico". Like Dan, she wants revenge on New Mexico. In her case, though, it's because roadrunners (the official state bird) once stole her cotton candy when she was a child, mentally scarring her.

** That damn cactus also popped her balloon...

** At her 8th birthday party, Elise volunteered for a magic act....and was tormented by Magnifico The Magnificent's swords and knives.

** Hinted at with Dan himself in "The Dentist". Having an unnecessary root canal at the age of 5 couldn't have been good for his psyche.

* [[Distaff Counterpart]]: The {{spoiler|Tyrannosaurus Rex}} is this to Dan. He's also the one [[Lampshade Hanging|who says she's just like him]] and {{spoiler|she does the same [[Angry Fist Shake]] as Dan at the end of the episode.}}

* [[Donut Mess with a Cop]]: In "The Wolf-Man" Dan and Chris chase a kid down the street and pass by a cop eating a donut, who doesn't pursue them until he realizes, "Oh, yeah, I'm a cop!"

** "The Barber", but like "The Telemarketer", Dan isn't aware of it.

* [[Dumb Muscle]]: Moose and Harold of "The Lemonade Stand Gang", Chris occassionally boarders on this.

* [[Embarrassing Nickname]]: Elise and her mother share the same name, so her parents sometimes call her Junior.

* [[Enfant Terrible]]: Dan goes up against a group of sixth-graders in "The Lemonade Stand Gang".

* [[Episode Title Card]]: In place of a title sequence, the "Dan Vs." titles are above the episode title, creating the trope above.

* [[Escalating War]]: Dan's war against the Lemonade Stand Gang. The kids were lucky Chris stepped in to change the rules, or Elise would have shipped them to Korea.

* [[Everything Is Better With Dinosaurs]]: A Tyrannosaurus Rex is the antagonist in "The Dinosaur".

* [[Everything's Even Worse with Sharks]]: Dan and Chris steal a shark from the aquarium in an attempt to drive beachgoing tourists away in "The Beach". It doesn't end well.

** In "Family Camping Trip", Dan gets covered in bear hormone and a female bears mistakes him for a mate.

* [[Evil Laugh]]: A very nice one in "The Wolfman", complete with lampshaded lightning.

''([[Beat]])''

'''Chris''': It was a hundred years ago... }}

** Dan had his first encounter with bad traffic in "The Wolf-Man." Then came "Traffic."

** Occasionally, something will rile Dan up while he's in the middle of exacting revenge on another party. This results in Dan whipping out a steno pad and writing down the offending object on his list of things to get revenge on later. (The list includes: Babies who cry at the park, babies in general, generals, dull pencils, pencils that are too sharp, and Arizona.)

* [[Forgotten Anniversary]]: In "The Fancy Restaurant" both Chris ''and'' Elise forget when their anniversary is.

* [[Formally-Named Pet]]: In "The Animal Shelter", Dan takes home a kitten and names it Mr. Mumbles.

* [[French Cuisine Is Haughty]]: In "The Fancy Restaurant", Dan's favorite sandwich shop is replaced by Cafe Puree. Of course, Dan vows to take down the restaurant. Elise joins in when she feels scammed by their small, expensive portions and exceedingly slow service.

* [[French Jerk]]: Chef Puree

* [[Friendly Enemy]]: The identity thief/telemarketer has shades of this with Dan, but is outright this with Chris and Elise. When he dumped Chris in a trap hole to keep him out of the way, he had a pie waiting for him. Justified, since he doesn't think of Chris and Elise as his enemies.

* [[Gagging on Your Words]]: In "The Dentist", it takes Dan great effort (he actually starts sweating from the strain) to say "Thank you," to Elise.

* [[Genius Ditz]]: Hortense mistakes Latin for French, but "The Wedding" shows she's a professional businesswoman.

* [[Gentle Giant]]: Chris

** In "New Mexico", Dan is beamed up into a spacecraft and believes he is being abducted by aliens:

{{quote|'''Dan''': Keep your filthy tentacles off my--! ''(puts hands over groin)''}}

{{quote|'''Dan:''' "Move ''the flock'' out of the way!!"}}

** In "Technology," when Hiram offers Dan and Chris to use his zoetrope, he tells them something a little personal:

'''Dan:''' [[Squick|Ugh]]. }}

** In "Art", Elise seemed to have enjoyed that picture of Chris a little ''too'' much.

** In "Burgerphile", the Burgerphile founder offers to make burgers for Dan and Hortense. Dan says, right to Hortense's face, "I'll have mine ''naked''."

* [[Help, I'm Stuck!]]: In "The Fancy Restaurant," Dan escapes the dungeon by crawling through the vent that leads to the men's room, only to get stuck on the way out. Fortunately, Chris was able to pull him out.

{{quote|'''Dan''': My revenge is being stalled by this narrow vent. Free me!}}

{{quote|'''Dan''', after seeing his car wrecked by hippies: ''HIPPIES!''}}

** The ending of "Baseball" is pretty much a much shorter version of the intro, but with basketball instead.

'''Elise:''' His choice, lets move.

'''Chris:''' We can't leave Dan.

'''Chris:''' And he's our friend. }}

* [[Heroic Comedic Sociopath]]: Dan

* [[Hidden Heart of Gold]]: Dan will actually do the right thing, occasionally, if it involves lives; he doesn't kill anybody, tries to get Chris to a hospital when he's poisoned and even saves all of the animals in the shelter before blowing it up. He does have feelings in there ''some''where.

* [[High-Pressure Emotion]]

** The dentist at the end of the third episode.

** The identity thief at the end of "Dan", {{spoiler|who gets arrested in Dan's place after Dan misses a court appearance}}.

* [[I Ate What?]]: The theatre-goers' reactions upon discovering they've been eating soap soup. Except Chris, he just keeps eating.

{{quote|'''Chris:''' My stomach hurts...but I do feel clean inside.}}

** At the end of "Burgerphile", Dan tells his new girlfriend Hortense to forget about him so she can move to Santa Monica and achieve her dream of becoming Burgerphile's Regional Manager (despite the fact that Santa Monica is only a twenty minute drive from Van Nuys, but then again, we all know what bad luck Dan has with his car...)

** Subverted in "The Wedding". {{spoiler|While Dan does eventually let Hortense go, he plans to back together with her when Jeremiah Burger dies.}}

'''Dan:''' Let's just say "non-vital", it's nicer. }}

* [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja]]: Cookie-stealing ninjas, at that.

** Dan. He actually goes around wearing [[Fun T-Shirt|a shirt that says "Jerk"]] [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|on it.]]

** Elise's parents, more so with Elise's dad.

* [[Kick the Son of a Bitch]]: In "New Mexico", Dan destroys a bunch of hot air balloons. However, the balloonists were making a [[Human Sacrifice]]

* [[Kids Are Cruel]]: The Lemonade Stand Gang.

** Dan sometimes justifies his actions by talking about how his most recent target is a menace to society and how dealing with them would be doing mankind a favor.

** Dan believes Chris to be this in "The Wolfman".

* [[Married to the Job]]: Jeff the Burgerphile manager, to the point where he would rather lie about getting Dan's order wrong than admit to the mistake and blemish his otherwise perfect service record.

* [[Dating What Daddy Hates|Marrying What Daddy Hates]]: Elise's dad despises Chris.

** The Dentobots.

** The androids. They may look human, but they're hard as a rock and surprisingly brittle.

* [[Mushroom Samba]]: Chris starts hallucinating after a ninja shoots him with a "poisonous" dart.

* [[Mystery Meat]]: According to Elise, Burgerphile's "chicken" nuggets are actually made from soybeans and recycled newspaper.

* [[The Napoleon]]: Dan

* [[New Age Retro Hippie]]: Crunchy, as well as all the hippies from "The Beach".

* [[No Indoor Voice]]: Dan

* [[Noir Episode]]: "The Catburglar", complete with [[Private Eye Monologue]] narration by Dan, a [[Femme Fatale]] named Honey O'Houlihan, and a sepia tone filter over most of the scenes.

* [[Noodle Incident]]: Dan's grandmother died at some point (offscreen). Since then, Dan has expressed his dislike of her and made mention of some unspecified unpleasantness which he does not regret.

** Averted. Dan even refuses to let Chris drive away from an imminent ''explosion'' until he puts on his belt.

** Played straight in "Technology" when they get in a wreck and Dan is thrown through the windshield resulting in a [[Non Sequitur Thud]].

{{quote|'''Dan:''' Rainbows are nature's rainbows.}}

* [[No Theme Tune]]: The beginning of the episodes tend to have something terrible happen to Dan, and then Dan screaming skyward about the episode's subject. There actually is an ending theme, but it's only heard on the online and downloadable copies, since The Hub runs promos during the credits on their broadcasts.

** Dan and Elise on occasion, since Elise also has a pretty vindictive side. In "The Dinosaur", Dan bonds with the dinosaur when he sees her enjoying television, eating burgers, and yelling angrily at people. Just like Dan. He can't bring himself to kill her after that {{spoiler|and settles for sending her his car repair bill. She responds with a [[Skyward Scream]]. Just like Dan.}}

** Imposter Dan may be nicer than the real Dan but "The Telemarketer" reveals that {{spoiler|he's just as vengeful as Dan is.}}

* [[Once Killed a Man with A Noodle Implement]]: In "The Salvation Armed Forces", Dan tells his friend Chris that the bell ringer knows twelve ways to kill a man with a bell. Chris thinks about it, but can only come up with one.

* [[One Dialogue, Two Conversations]]: In an argument with a pitcher, Dan can be heard ranting about how he didn't learn how to tie his shoes until he was twelve.

* [[Only One Name]]: Dan, although given that Chris' last name is Pearson, and named after one of the show's writers, it's quite probable that Dan's last name is Mandel, after his own namesake.

* [[Only Sane Man]]: So far, Chris is the most normal of the cast aside from the fact that {{spoiler|he's apparently a werebear or something. Dan really should rethink his habit of sticking his fingers in Chris's mouth.}}

* [[Out-of-Genre Experience]]: Happens a few times, with "The Dentist" being one of the more jarring examples.

* [[Palette Swap]]: Often done as a cheap way to make background characters. For instance, the guy who gets hit by the bus in "New Mexico" is clearly seen with new hair and shirt colors in "Baseball" as one of the members of the seating feud.

* [[Perpetual Frowner]]: Dan

* [[Pet the Dog]]: In "The Animal Shelter", Dan "adopts" a kitten and released all the animals before blowing up the shelter.

* [[Poisonous Friend]]: Dan to Chris (literally in "The Animal Shelter").

* [[Police Are Useless]]: In "Burgerphile", when Jeff tries to have Dan arrested, the cops try asking Dan nicely to unchain himself from the cash register, and when he refuses, they immediately give up and leave.

** Those Canadian security guards are friendly, but violent.

** In "The Wolf Man," a police officer does taze Dan, but only after Dan made a scene at the station and took his hat after being warned not to.

* [[Shaggy Dog Story]]: "The Wolfman", as Dan and Chris go thorough a month of preparation just {{spoiler|so Dan could key his car back.}}

* [[Shark Pool]]: One in "Baseball". With squeaky rubber sharks! Dan is not amused. Then there's one with a ''real'' shark in "The Beach", which Dan and Chris attempt to "borrow" from the aquarium.

** After Chris runs over a road runner in "New Mexico," Dan is pretty sure that it's [[Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner|THE Road Runner]]. Also, There's also a blue screen of death on the Librarian's computer in the beginning. Deviantart in "Monster Under the Bed"

** Dan has a poster of [[The Ramones]] in his apartment.

** A [[Suspiciously Similar Song]] version of Quincy Jones' "Ironside" plays during Elise's fight with the android in "Technology".

** In the restaurant episode, a family named Dufresne is kidnapped, which is a reference to a [[Mitch Hedberg]] routine.

** "Burgerphile" has two employees named Mac and Carl, likely references to real-life fast food franchises McDonald's and Carl's, Jr.

** In "The Lemonade Stand Gang", Dan quotes [[The Princess Bride (film)|"inconceivable!"]].

{{quote|'''Dan:''' Gather the troops. We attack in two hours.

'''Crunchy:''' What troops?

** In ''Monster Under The Bed'', Chris makes reference to a monster called Agrigoth of the [[Deviant ART]].

** In "The Dinosaur", the government have a box that contains "[[Spider-Man|someone who shouldn't exist, he's half spider, half man, and he fights crime]]."

* [[Shout-Out/To Shakespeare]]: The entirety of "Ye Olde Shakespeare Dinner Theatre."

* [[Sidetracked by the Analogy]]: In "The Wolf-Man".

'''Chris''': What kind of sandwich? }}

* [[Silver Bullet|Silver Arrowhead]].

* [[Suspiciously Similar Song]]: A version of "I'm Alright" from ''[[Caddyshack]]'' is heard in "Golf".

* [[Sword Fight]]: Probably the most inactive sword fight ever animated is in "Ye Olde Shakespearean Dinner Theatre".

** ''The Monster Under the Bed'' has Chris tell Dan that he should be lucky he's not being visited by [[Eldritch Abomination|Uggragoth]] of the [[Deviant ART]]

** In ''The Magician,'' the antagonist was modeled after [[Chris Angel]].

* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: In "Stupidity", the antagonist's goal is to lower educational and entertainment standards so that all Americans are too dumb to live. {{spoiler|Chris and Dan's near terminal stupidity at the end of the episode (Chris managed to set himself on fire and Dan tried to remove fire ants by beating himself with a two-by-four) convinces him that his job is done and he moves the operation to China.}}

* [[To the Bat Noun]]

'''Dan:''' To the Danmobile! }}

* [[Toon Physics]]: Used sometimes, like when Dan hid an entire car behind a scrawny tree.

* [[Tuckerization]]: Dan and Chris are named after the show's creators, Dan Mandel and Chris Pearson.

* [[The Unfavorite]]: In "The Family Camping Trip," Don states that Elise's ex Colby is the closest thing he has to a son. Elise Sr. then asks him about their actual son.

** Dan himself, like 95% of the time.

** Even though Chris saved everyone from a serial killer and proved himself a man, Elise's father STILL hates him and swears to get back at him. He's probably angry that Chris one-upped Colby, who's more of a son to but, but Colby was ready to let everyone but Elise die.

* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: In "Dance", Chris expresses shock that Elise {{spoiler|stuffed Dan in a box and mailed him to a ghost town populated by fight-dancing madmen}} to keep Dan from endangering her chances of winning a dance contest. Doesn't really go anywhere since Elise pacifies him with a shoulder rub.

* [[What Would X Do?]]: Dan asks himself "What would Mr. Mumbles do?" when trapped on a roof. He then displays cat-like agility by scaling a drainage pipe, landing on the stairway railing, then jumping the remaining distance to the sidewalk. [[Achievements in Ignorance|He is amazed it actually worked.]]

** Ty, from "Ye Olde Shakespeare Dinner Theatre."

{{quote|[[Blatant Lies|"It's for a play."]]}}

[[Category:The New Tens]]

[[Category:Western Animation]]

[[Category:The Hub]]