#schrodinger's dark. hes ✨complicated✨

[dnangelic]

(thonk) if i could gather up every single daisuke rper across all of time i'd only ask them how they'd describe their darks and whether or not they think/call dark human or nonhuman

[theplanetprince]

Welcome to the Thanatology Anthology, Danny Phantom AU/Rewrite FAQ THREAD--

With me, your host, theplanetprince.

SO, I suppose the first question should be--

Q: What is the Thanatology Anthology?

A: The Thanatology Anthology is a series of fics/art made by me, theplanetprince, based around the 2004 nickelodeon superhero Paranormal SciFi cartoon Danny Phantom.

Simply put it's the name for how I would reboot the show. Including designs of certain characters, characterization, aspects of world-building, redos of moments in the show, etc. Truthfully, told I'm unsure what label to put my series of fixes and nitpicks under-- I've heard some people call it an outright rewrite/reboot of the continuity which I'm more willing to agree with.

Although I am borrowing a lot of aspects from certain aus, ecto-hunger, the core stuff, though they don't really bare a lot of resemblance to the original material or I simply can't find sources to double check if I'm getting all the details right. There are a lot of differences from the canon that I'm incorporating that some people might want to borrow and use for their own writing like for example Danielle (AKA Ellie) being Danny's future daughter rather than a clone. I guess I use the au label as well, in case people like my ideas enough to use.

I'm probably making it sound a bit more complicated than it actually is, but the idea is that I'm rewriting the show from the perspective of an older fan influenced by horror movies who wants to give the characters a bit more nuance and life.

Q: Okay, but what does 'Thanatology Anthology' mean though?

A: Ah, Thanatology is a word that comes from Thanatos IE the greek spirit of Death. Thanatology means the Study of Death. I thought I was clever. A few other work-shopped titles were "In the midst of our lives we die." "Pine box parables" "Six Feet Shallow" and "Death via Misadventure"

Q: When does this rewrite take place?

A: It can really be whenever you want it to be, but I've always shot for the late 90s, or early 2000s.

Q: Do I have to read these in order?

A: I mean, I'm not writing it in order! I'm writing the story as it comes to me. One piece might take place in the character's Freshman year and the very next I release might be their Junior year. I've done my best so far to cobble together some kind of order as well as catagerize stories via the series function on AO3 by the character arcs. Like for example Wes's arc is under the series label "That Messed up Thing That Happened To Wes When He Was A Kid." Each story in that series is ordered by every appearance of Wes that pertains to his character arc. You don't have to read these stories in order if you don't want to! I'll try to put enough context in each piece to make it approachable.

First Year (Freshman):

Amity Park Anomalies

Cherry Flavored

Second Year (Sophmore):

Pick Your Poison

Schrodinger’s Adolescent

Q: You said you were making changes to the canon, what kind of changes are there going to be? What are you keeping? What are you mixing around?

A: For the most part the concept is still the same, Half-Dead teen antics. ✨Now gayer✨

I'm mostly removing world-building concepts that no longer mesh with how I think the story will flow. I'm mostly trying to rework the appearances of the Medieval Ghosts Eudora and Aragorn. That is strictly a personal preference of mine, I just don't find high fantasy concepts that interesting-- and they're kind of confusing when you open them up in a more SciFi setting like Amity Park. It feels more realistic for aliens to mesh into the setting than medieval ghosts/dragons. I probably won't be including the likes of Pariah Dark either. However, I do have plans for the Fright Knight that I hope people will find interesting. The furthest back in time in setting I'll go is probably to the witch trial days because I find that setting is not only easier to write for, for my skill set, I just find folksy/witch horror oodles more fascinating. Also with the villain set, I wanted to incorporate more Guys in White lore and more original ghost hunters. Making the humans in Amity Park just as threatening as the ghost threats. I'm putting more of an emphasis on technology, ghost weapons, and characters versus high fantasy elements.

Q: With characterization, how do you plan to change that?

A: Truthfully, I don't plan on changing much except fulfilling character arcs to iron out the main character's flaws from the original run of the show. It never felt like they grew or evolved much beyond simplistic stereotypes. I plan on getting into the heads of our teenage protagonists to really bring out their best and worst aspects so they can grow. Not to mention conclude Valerie Gray's arc from the original run-- as well, as giving the fan-created character Wes Weston a villain arc in tandem.

Q: What Ships are endgame?

A: TeddyGhost. I wish I could be more blunt about it (LMAO)

but Teddyghost or some poly quartet of the Main Trio + Dash. This started with Schrodinger's adolescent a Danny/Dash fic, and I would like to keep it that way. But I promise not every fic in this series will be centered around a romantic pairing. Some of them will just be good, clean, bad one liners and fights. Other ships that will probably get some spotlight are VeggieBurger (Sam/Tucker) and PunkPoet (Ember/Ghostwriter). I'm not too sure what the official name decided on Val/Wes is but DeceasedDesist is my personal label for it haha.

Q: I want to help/I want chapters and releases to come out faster-- Where can I find more stuff?

A: I'll be real with you, I am just one person and I am just making it up as I go along! But if you would like to help contribute, maybe consider checking out the stories I do have on my AO3, Under the Thanatology Anthology Series. What really helps motivate any author is comments and asks. Share my work! I don't mind. But as long as there's still work to be done I'll be here doing it.