Dan (Dan Vs.)

Dan
Gender	Male
Series	Dan Vs.
Tournament Berths	2 (2018, 2020)
Highest Seed	31 (2020)
Best Result	Round 2 (2020)

Dan is the titular protagonist and anti-hero of the 2011 animated series Dan Vs. According to the show's co-creator Dan Mandel, the character is "based on his negative qualities". He is a short-tempered, misanthropic, and unemployed adult man who is constantly triggered by small problems, and believes that the world is out against him. The series' premise involves Dan wanting to exact revenge on practically everything that has wronged him; naturally this also includes the /co/ tournaments and the wiki that documents those events.

A common source of contention for Dan is his name. Officially, his full name is simply 'Dan', a mononym that the creator has implied he adopted to avoid the law. His full name was likely Dan Mandel or Daniel Mandel, after his creator, but this is only a theory. To make matters worse, in 2020 a typo led to his name being mistakenly written as "Dan Vs", causing a wave of imposters taking advantage of the confusion.

Tournament history

Dan is mainstay in Mr. /co/lympus ever since he has nominated in 2018. He has garnered a cult following throughout the contest's history due to his personality, which has resulted in several pieces of fan arts and a notable place in contest lore. But keeping in with the show's theme, Dan has a history of losing in the early rounds, and has even missed the tournament in 2019, causing much frustration for him.

After a weak showing in 2018 (losing to Danny Fenton without much fanfare), Dan fought a significantly more notable campaign in 2020. Confusion with his name lead to various memes about his real identity and who the REAL Dan was, including problems with his old nemesis [[Dan*]] and even Zoidberg (why not?).

Dan's most notable role, however, would be his feud with Mao Mao, which would grow into arguably the most famous rivalry of the year, and one of the most notable feuds in the tournament's history. The two dominated the round in an ugly back and forth spat, roasting each other on their weaknesses (with Dan prophetically predicting both Mao Mao's cancellation and his own revival that would occur in 2021) and trying to prove their own based status to the fans. Despite running into trouble when Mao Mao offered to release doujin images, Dan ended up winning a narrow victory, commonly attributed to him taking on the role as an Irish Nationalist and writing a parody ballad against the wicked feline, "Come Out Ye Mao Mao Fans". Dan did far less in Round 2, and primarily relied on his lack of fear of the IRS to win voters against the Joker (as Joker is notably terrified of the Internal Revenue Service). This failed, however, and Dan ended up sulking away a loser.

Outside of Mr. /co/lympus, Dan has found much success by becoming the champion of the inaugural Mr. /mlp/ held in 2019, perhaps due to both My Little Pony and Dan Vs. being broadcasted on the same channel (The Hub / Discovery Family). The tournament, which is similar in format to /co/'s, featured characters from other series outside of /mlp/ because its cast has significantly fewer males. Dan also showed a solid run in /co/'s Tag-Team Tournament 2020 together with his best friend Chris, making it to Round 3 and losing to eventual Elite 8 members Alastor and Bill Cipher, the Dapper Dealers.

Dan Vs. Mr. /co/lympus

Mr. /co/lympus 2018 - seed 80

• R1: (49) Danny Phantom @ Danny Phantom 97 - 128 _(43.1%)

Mr. /co/lympus 2020 - seed 31

• R1: (98) Mao Mao @ Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart 308 - 302 _(50.5%)
• R2: (95) Joker @ DC Comics 302 - 336 _(47.3%)

Dan Vs. Tag-Teams

Tag-Team Tournament 2020: The Avatars of Nemesis (Dan/Chris) - seed 41

• R1: (88) File:Rick s icon.png I Turned Myself Into a Pickle-inator (Rick/Doof) - 56.6%
• R2: (24) Ineptive Invaders (Zim/GIR) - 58.4%
• R3: (9) Dapper Dealers (Alastor/Bill) - 42.7%

Dan Vs. Ponies

Mr. /mlp/ 2019

• TBD

Tournament Lore

During the 2020 roleplaying season, which initially started in Ms. /co/ with HenchGwen and Monarch-Posting and rapidly escalated in Mr. /co/ following the Rameses incident, Dan became one of the most heavily, and yet consistently, arced characters. The following is a loose and somewhat patchy summary of the 'plot' of Dan's arc.

Pre-Tournament

Backstory

Dan lost to Danny Fenton in 2018 to little fanfare, and for a while laid low on /co/, not even qualifying in 2019 and instead going to /mlp/ to win their tournament. In celebration, he went on a drinking and questionably legal sex binge.

In late 2020, shortly before the tournament, a series of 'rumors' circulated that Dan Vs was being revived. These rumors (while revealed to have been correct in February 2021) were dismissed quickly and lead to significant spite against Dan. His history as having won on /mlp/ only made things worse. Hoping to shed his bad reputation, Dan decided to enter in Mr. /co/ again and prove once and for all he was not only based, but remembered, and thusly worthy of a revival.

Thanks to his Irish heritage, Dan had long been a member of the real Irish Republican Army, or r-IRA. He sought out funding for them prior to the tournament to help support his campaign in exchange for using it to pursue the cause. Dan most certainly agreed, both to help the Isle and further bury the 'rumors' that were hurting him.

The Name Game: Enter the Impostor(s)

During the filing process as Dan signs up to be nominated, stats mistakenly lists his name as "Dan Vs", instead of Dan or Dan Mandel. This led to several anons growing confused and mocking Dan, and Dan's old rival, Dan* (or The Imposter) showing up to take advantage of the situation and steal Dan's place in the tournament.

Dan declared vengeance on the one who made the typo, and immediately attempted to aggressively correct his error. Most anons, however, continued to insist he was 'Dan Vs', allowing the Imposter to further steal support as the 'real Dan'. The Imposter even went so far as to alter Dan's license to say 'Dan Vs', further worsening his stance and leading more people to side with the Imposter Dan*.

In the confusion, Karkat Vantas, having been passed over in nominations, attempted to take Dan's identity himself, declaring both Dan and Dan* to be imposters (Karkat baring an odd resemblance to Dan himself). Eridan quickly informed the public of this fraud, but Karkat continued to insist he was 'so the real Man Dandel', despite his horns.

The real Dan attempted to shoot Karkat down by pointing out their mismatched zodiac signs (Dan is a scorpio) as the Impostor continued to rally support, and the growing confusion lead to more and more anons questioning who the real Dan was. To make matters worse, Dan's actor from the early concept version of the show appeared as well, and armed with his trustworthy sleaves, only deepened confusion on the identity of the true Dan.

As the qualifiers continued, Dan and Dan* heated up their primary feud over who was the real Dan (with Karkat being widely dismissed by the public and Beta Dan having vanished). The situation escalated as accusations of /mlp/ collusion spread and arguments over who was the better pet owner to Mr.(Ms.) Mumbles.

Despite the Imposter's smooth charm and planning winning over the majority of anons support as the real Dan, logic prevailed, and stats managed to fix the typo and enter the REAL Dan into the tournament.

Mr. /co/

Rise of Mao Mao and a continuing Impostor Problem

Despite Dan securing his status in the polls as the 'true Dan', Dan* continued to claim to be the real Dan in the threads, swaying many anons to remain at his side, as did Karkat....or, he at least tried. His campaign was far less persuasive to most anons due to his distinctive troll appearance. Dan made several attempts early in the Round to correct these errors, but eventually gave up, as there was a bigger problem on the horizon.

Dan had drawn Mao Mao, the hero warrior cat of Pure Heart Valley, as his first round match up. After a rallying speech by Mao Mao calling upon his honor to justify support, it was, interestingly enough, Dan's pet cat Mr. Mumbles who would draw first blood, threatening Mao Mao with horrific violence in a language only cats could understand. This prompted Mao Mao to order Badgerclops(his overweight sidekick) to kill Mumbles, which lead to Dan himself threatening to have Mao Mao disemboweled, mutilated, and cannibalized if so much as a hair on Mr. Mumbles was touched. And thus, with just a few words between angry cats, a rivalry of the ages was born.

As Round 1 continued, Dan initially relied on leveraging his lolita girlfriend Hortence to appease the coomer vote, and hanging the possibility of his show getting brought back to further win over voters. Mao Mao initially laid back, attempting a more casual approach of impressing the anons with his athletic skill.

Dan's focus on Mao Mao, however, allowed an opening for the Impostor's to re-intensify their efforts, with Dan* and Karkat upping their attempts to prove themselves as the 'real Dan', with Beta Dan returning and even Mr. Dwicky from Invader Zim throwing his hat in the ring. Despite a smear campaign by Dan* with fake leaks, most of the public by this point had faith in the real Dan.

Mao Mao's Doujin

With more and more attention drawn to Dan (partially due to the Impostor Problem and partially due to his campaign of basedness), Mao Mao pulled out a dirty manuever. Offering to release scans of a doujin manga drawn of him to the board if he won. Many anons found themselves tempted, either to the thoughts of a lewd cat or simply the prospect of generating chaos by unleashing such a thing.

Dan panicked at the possibility of losing the round, and attempted to bribe Garfield into eating Mao Mao, which failed. He then doubled down on his prior efforts, offering to mail a loli version of Elise to every voter if he won(which backfired on him), and then reintensifying his campaign to look as based as possible, which proved more successful. Dan also attempted to sway the Hungarian Vote that had been brought in via Jucika in Ms. /co/ by bringing up his Hungarian Dub, though this failed to bare fruit. Many voters fell to the temptation of Mao Mao's Doujin and jumped ship.

Dan* and Karkat also continued to attempt to sway voters, though no one believed Karkat and even Dan* was losing his core of followers, as several anons saw him venting and finally realized he had been an Imposter the whole time. Mao Mao, confident in his doujin, focused on planning his victory with Badgerclops, until a chance encounter would lead to the highlight of the round.

The Great Debate

A Mao Mao fan who's name has been lost to time praised him for his technique, proclaiming that sex sells and Mao Mao's OnlyFans would lead his campaign to victory. Dan, at the same event, saw his chance and attacked Mao Mao on his lack of integrity, sparking a bitter back and forth debate.

After insulting his lack of integrity and willingness to whore himself out, Mao Mao fired back, mocking Dan for his lack of relevancy. Dan threatened Mao Mao and warned him not to underestimate him, prompting Mao Mao to mock Dan for his series age, implying Dan was an old man not long for this world. Mao Mao's confidence against Dan was immense, proclaiming him to be nothing, but another punk. Somewhat caught offguard, Dan fired back, insisting he was far from finished, though Mao Mao continued to pound him with insults, comparing Dan to a common incel and noting his lack of charisma.

Initially backing off after such a defeat, Dan came back with a roaring speech about his integrity and refusal to surrender. The speech proved so moving, it silenced all remaining debate about his name or whether Dan* (Impostor) was the true Dan, unifying all factions of Dan Fans behind him. (Dan* continued to insist he was the real Dan, but the last of his following was gone). Mao Mao followed up by pulling the dreaded /mlp/ card, noting Dan's long connection to the forbidden series, and suggesting Dan's network forgot about him. Dan countered by mentioning an incident where Nickelodeon had stolen Mao Mao's likeness, going after Cartoon Network in the process. Mao Mao turned the insult against Dan though, and suggested his face was simply THAT marketable. Confident in his win, Mao Mao told Dan he needed to accept that he had lost and the battle was unwinnable.

At his highest moment, Mao Mao made the mistake of snidely remarking Dan had been forgotten.

Freshly united, the Dandom countered hard, pointing out how Mao Mao would be floundering if not for the doujin bribes and general lewds, and how most of his fanbase was made of furrys. Playing the integrity card again, Dan noted how his fandom was still fighting to bring him back and stay together even after all these years, and how the creator was still posting based memes after all this time. Dan finished by implying(somewhat prophetically) his fandom would ensure he came back someday, while very soon Mao Mao would be abandoned by his network and forgotten, and turning the age argument against Mao Mao by treating him as an immature fool. (Both of Dan's arguments proved true in 2021, with a revival announced in February and Mao Mao's cancellation leaked in June.)

Mao Mao attempted to fire back, calling Dan senile, implying his family connection made him superior, and INSISTING he would be remembered personally LONG after Dan was forgotten. This failed to make the same impact, and Dan pulled up statistics, showing even at that time, while Mao Mao was still airing and Dan Vs hadn't aired in 7 years, Dan Vs was the more searched for show. Mao Mao's counter ended up only hurting him, as he accidentally implied Dan was correct about Cartoon Network ignoring him. Quickly getting back on track, Mao Mao proclaimed his dip in search activity was due to him being in an interlude, and with S2 coming soon he was certain to soar to new heights on HBOMax as Dan faded into obscurity.

Dan simply told him that sort of thing cuts both ways, and someday he would see that.(Again, extremely prophetic), and called out Mao Mao for attacking the Infinity Train Fandom.

Dan Rush

Following the conclusion of the debate, Dan*(Impostor) had lost all his remaining support due to Dan's speech, and was trying to regain recognition. Dan* attempted to ally himself with Mao Mao and portray himself as a nicer person in order to regain support as the real Dan, taking advantage of the debates to sway several Mao Mao fans to his side and once again draw Dan's validity into question. Mao Mao himself was hesitant to trust his intentions, as they'd still be enemies if he became the Dan competing (Which was of course, the Impostor's plan, being a better Dan then the original and thus beating Mao Mao in the polls). Still, Mao Mao eventually agreed, and assisted the Imposter in locking Dan in a cellar with Zoidberg.

While Dan* took his opportunity to flaunt his baking skills and begin rebuilding support as the true Dan, Dan was still trapped in the cellar, no one answering his cries for help and even fellow prisoner Zoidberg saying the Impostor was a better Dan. Left to his own devices to scheme, Dan began chewing his way out of the cellar.

Eventually, Dan*'s own niceness and charisma came to bite him in the ass, as several anons claimed he was 'too nice' and thusly a terrible Dan. This sparked an outrage against the Impostor, and spurred on by Dan(who had escaped by this point), a rush of Dan Impostors raided the site, including Karkat, a ditto, Dan's friend Chris, Zoidberg(who followed Dan's escape tunnel), Genderbent Dan, Badgerclops, a Gingerbread Man, Dan's cat, a guy waiting for the bathroom, creepy Beta Dan, cool Beta Dan, his former opponent Danny Fenton, Danny from Cats Don't Dance, Dan Avadan, and Shinji. This only got worse when the horde of Impostor's got their hands on a cloning machine ,creating various broken Dan clones, including tiny Dan, Sub Dan, Dom Dan, Coomer Dan, and an Alien Queen Dan.

The Dan Rush was eventually contained with most of the clones and impostors fleeing the tournament grounds. Dan*'s attempt to reclaim his seat was crushed in the chaos, and the real Dan regained his unquestioned status as the true Dan.

Gallery

For more images, visit the Mr. /co/ booru.

• 

  Wiki icon

• 

  Dan vs Mao Mao (2020)

• 
•