#he’s just a teenage dirtbag babey

[ectokelpeigh]

@olivethetiger you get it!!

“Nerdy/awkward/shy person dons their secret identity and becomes bold/loud/outgoing/gregarious” is not an uncommon trope, and it’s fairly intuitive

When no one can judge the ‘real’ you, the social stakes are lowered, thus your inhibitions are dampened

But a fun thing that happens with Danny Fenton/Phantom is how his original face isn’t physically obscured at all with his alter ego, and the personality shift kind of becomes his mask

Like yeah his appearance is altered with the glowing and the color scheme change. But there’s nothing covering him. And that let’s him be as expressive as he ever is, in a way that’s not a given for superheroes— most masks and cowls obscure the eyes, which are a wealth of cues in. Full-face masks (Red Hood, Deadpool, Spider-Man) obscure the mouth and (realistically) the voice.

Danny’s just… out there, looking like himself but two inches to the left. Don’t get me wrong, eldritch!Danny fans are valid as hell, but to me there’s some undeniable charm in the kid running around in the equivalent of a rather tame glow-rave getup.

We joke all the time about how blasé Danny can be about secrecy, and I think there are plenty of other valid reasons for the people of Amity Park to not catch on anyway. However, I don’t think Danny’s the type to have considered all the factors we have. He’s just out there being a little shit, because he’s a kid who got super strength and laser hands. And he has so much more vitality (hehehe) as a ghost that he becomes unrecognizable. It’s so crazy it not only works, but is loss of fun to watch.

[inkspottie]

My brains is going overdrive on everyone having different perceptions of lolmike, especially Dective Larson rendition, the beanie and ear piercings? Epic ✨

He’s just a teenage dirtbag babey!

[micamicster]

⭐⭐⭐ music question!! any particular song choices you put a lot of thought into or just really want to talk about?

noa ur a real one for this. i know youre asleep rn i hope you enjoy the madness you've unleashed when you wake up <3

Back when I started writing this i complained nonstop about how i didn't know anything about 80s music and im happy to say that is no longer true! I have listened to SO MUCH 80s music in the last month holy shit.

Playlist with all the referenced songs <3 If people want to know what the hell im talkign about at any given time they will all be on here <3

I already talked in the end notes about what music everyone is based on so I won't get into that here. Instead I'm gonna talk about the "soundtrack songs," or the songs that i insist on shoehorning into every scene. (Actually discussed with my sister A Lot about whether the songs are fun or meaningful or are clutter in different scenes and the jury is kinda still out on that. So would be interested to hear what people think!)

The most important songs in part one are probably Last Dance With Mary Jane and Dancing in the Dark. I'd always wanted Last Dance for Steve's crisis about being back in indiana. That's a song I listened to on LOOP writing that scene! I love tom petty so much--i feel like he has a unique sympathy for the characters he creates in his songs. They're very kind songs, and they feel very comforting, even when he's talking about ennui and dissatisfaction and heartbreak. Dancing in the Dark is dancing in the dark i literally cant even explain more. Perfect song. (Other good bruce songs for steve are Brilliant Disguise for Steve/Nancy and Independence Day for his daddy issues <3)

In part I think the major songs are Cyndi Lauper's Good Enough, which I brought into the scene to be another thing they don't have in common. The bus scene is a whole list of Shit They Don't Have In Common, and Good Enough is an answer to that question (if it's good enough for you it's good enough for me), but it's also a kinda depressing hint at Eddie's perspective on the fwb situation (if it's good enough for you it's good enough for me).

Every kid's breakfast order song! Dustin's is a 70s rock song and also a pun (i love dustin). Lucas' is a classic off my favorite Steve Wonder album. It's a little older (1980), so it's probably one his parents played when he was a kid. He sings it to Max in a wildly over the top way (just like he used to see his dad do for his mom) and she pretends hes so annoying but she loves it. (Lucas has the most flexible voice the the group btw he can do any genre). Will is playing a gay ass song by the replacements, one of the greatest of 80s alt rock. Mike is playing an electronic piece that nobody else likes (the icicle works were one hit wonders iirc). El is playing a 60s girl group (headed by the incomparable ronnie spector, who was also abused by her manager, like El was, even though that's not something El would know to associate her with). Max is listening to Talking Heads. She (and will) listen the most widely of any of the kids, but I think her heart lies with new wave/punk (again vs will who is a punk/alt rock kid). Eddie plays Iron Maiden. He's a twenty-something teenage dirtbag babey!

Breakfast club scene I think is self explanatory. Don't you forget about me etc etc

FUCK this is so long. Imma keep goign. Now for some songs i DIDN"T get to include:

REFUGEE TOM PETTY aka the song that best sums up the Eddie/Steve situation in this fic. Could not make it fit naturally into the text but you should know it's The Song

Downtown Lights by Blue Nile is the song I listened to while writing the party scene in nyc. I did not include it because it came out in 1989 which is not accurate :( Alternatively I chose Drive by The Cars for that scene, but I ended up not putting any lyrics in at all, because I thought it might just clutter the thing up. (But I think I left it on the playlist anyway because i listened to it so much lol)

[unproduciblesmackdown]

what would you consider some must have wrol content?

boy what Wouldn’t i.......

but really lol okay gonna just skip over deh and bmc since they’re Most Known and have a lot of readily available content (emphasis on A Lot lol like if i get too much into detail that’ll be its own whole thing. but like, if everyone hasn’t already listened to the specifically acoustic version of loser geek whatever or partaken in this moment in the tiny desk vimh.....)

lbr will’s right about how “comfort and joy” might be the best Act 1 Closer and the person in the comments of this video is right that this performance is the best version of comfort and joy available online

speaking of particular performances, this “amphibian” is 100% Required Viewing

and speaking of best versions: best teenage dirtbag everyone else give it up.

speaking of everything and also more recently, he really brought all these Classic Elements to his performance of jeff at the lincoln center.......the fact that he gives So Much effort and energy to any performance of whatever; being able to be both funny and heartbreaking and a) at any given moment i’ll drop a short essay about how it’s more impressive to Know How To Be Funny than not and it means you can probably also out-drama ~dramatic~ performers who Don’t Know How To Be Funny and b) thank you to this [will roland performing “jeff”] for making me cry many times; the Singing; the Acting; the not-cishet energy; great visuals to appreciate here as well with his tie clip dishevelment Choice and the pyramid of traffic bokeh behind him and the wrolstache and also his bosom. 

there’s a lot of good stuff out there but for now let’s leave it at that lil handful and this one more Required Viewing which is that like, if anyone’s been following me in the last year+ you probably know You Gotta Watch The Kompenso Clips. winnie n tay babey

[mossslut]

BORIS!!! HES JUST A TEENAGE DIRTBAG BABEY!!!!!!!