Samantha “Sam” Manson: Hardcore Bitch
VOICE ACTOR: Grey DeLisle
AGE: 14
EYES: Lavender
HAIR: Black
STATUS: Gothic Vegan-Centric Liberal, Expert nagger, Eventual Canon Sue
LIKES: All things dark and dreary, individuality, Environmental concern, Danny
DISLIKES: Her parents' nagging, mainstream, people misunderstanding her views and the benefit roles it has on society
PERSONALITY: Rational, levelheaded, individual, bossy, pushy, outspoken
POWER: Rich status can get her whatever she wants, later on gains some significant combat skills
STRENGTH: Latter combat skills, a vocal mouth that makes her a force of nature
WEAKNESS: At times hypocritical, constantly nags, very forceful
GOAL: To spread her unique individuality to others
TRIVIA: She has an interest in anime, punk, and sci-fi
FIRST APPEARANCE: "Mystery Meat"
HISTORY: She doesn’t eat anything with a face, she strives for animal rights, she constantly criticizes the wrong in humanity and its morals, and she wears eyeliners blacker then night; at only fourteen, Sam has uniquely divided herself up from the rest of the mainstream individuals. If one of her "things" ends up in that same, tired route, she’d most likely move to the next, obscure fad. What has stayed is her love and support for her best friends Danny and Tucker, especially the former’s ghostly powers which she not only supports, but fantasizes over. Wanting to be accepted for who she is, Sam never advertised her true upbringings, in that her parents are conservative WASP-like Stepfords who happen to be filthy rich (her inventor grandfather designed a product that made them very rich), and in fact became the opposite of what they wanted her to be.
Fascinated by the Fenton’s Ghost Portal, Sam poked Danny to explore its contents, the result leaving him with superpowers. Since then she has helped and stayed by his side, often as the rational figure that keeps him (and Tucker) in line, having been friends since the 2nd grade. Her liberal/unique views have led her to be vocal on a variety of subjects, but like the others, this has sometimes led her into deep trouble: from supporting and trying to stop a Gothic circus ring leader from taking over the world, to bringing a feminist air to a repressed ghost princess while escaping the arranged marriage she was forced into, or turning into a brainwashed Queen of all plants ("Urban Jungle"), she remains consistent with her life choices despite the complications and criticisms she gets.
One of the ongoings of Sam’s story is her blatant secret crush on Danny. She keeps it to herself, but there are a few who actually know very well of her not-so-hidden crush and at times, eggs her on about it. Afraid to be rejected, not to mention potentially ruin the friendship they built, Sam has kept quiet on her lust to the clueless Danny. This has built an ongoing series of frustrations for Sam who has to deal with other girls Danny crushes over...or crushes on him. A close call occurred when Danny and Valerie nearly became a couple. Later on, Sam fell briefly for the Goth foreign exchange student Gregor, dumping him when she finds him to be a false con artist who only wanted to jump her. Danny's brain eventually handled the concept that he is slowly liking Sam and the two grew closer. By the end of the series, they both became a couple, ready to face the world awaiting them. ("Phantom Planet")
PERSONALITY: A very liberal figure, Sam’s style remains small compared to the mainstream denizens she despises so much. Wanting to share her beliefs with others, Sam constantly retains a stubborn figure as well as vocal. She does her part in protecting the environment and essentially bettering people’s lives, disregarding their disinterest. If things don’t go her way, she forcibly takes action and would often take desperate, immoral measures to get her messages across. As much as she deters from her parents’ fancy lifestyle, Sam has much of their traits and is essentially quite spoiled in getting what she wants, though often for the sake of the planet. Unfortunately this often makes her a hypocrite when she is constantly criticizing the right and wrong views of humanity, such as Danny’s power abuses.She constantly plays as Danny’s good conscience. As the rational figure of the three, she keeps him and Tucker in line, making sure they don’t screw up or do anything that could potentially harm them. It’s a helpful reminder to the rowdy teenage boys, but she makes it a habit to the point of being bossy and nagging. In the end, Sam merely wishes to support her friends, especially to Danny who constantly surprises her (in a good way) with his increasing maturity and unpredictability.
OPINION: There’s a lot to respect for the character of Sam. I wish I had the guts to speak my mind in public the way she does. When properly motivated, she has no fears and the effort she puts forth to be her own person is an achievement. It’s hard to say whether it’s a phase or not, but it’s commendable. For the first two seasons, Sam, though not a favorite character of mine’s, had an entertaining personality. She was fun to watch; her stubbornness paved way to influence the character she is while making it a part of her flawed personality. It was a brilliant balance...
...then Season Three ruined it in the WORST WAYS. With new writers under the belt, Sam took a severe nosedive. Her very thinking was so glued onto her that everything she said, everything that she did (the good and the bad) was taken with a hearty compliment. Danny unfortunately suffered this the most. He’s always had a consistent growth into maturity, but he would often be dumb down in order to learn today’s moral lessons. Most of the time, Sam is the one delivering said lesson and usually, she’s right. Oh, she’s been right before, but the episodes balanced it out by showing she, too makes common mistakes that gets ‘em in deep craps—that despite how right she is, she can be flawed for her bossy, forceful, demeanor.
Starting sometime around the mid-Second Season and blatant by the last, all Sam had going was to correct any follies Danny (and others) made with little backtalk. Even if Danny was wrong, he had the guts to counter with reasons of his own, and to criticize and question Sam’s logic or undoing. Here, he takes it in stride. Example: when Sam wanted to go with Danny to battle Nocturn, he reluctantly agreed even though he didn't like the idea—he wanted to keep her safe, but instead of debating like he used to do, he turns into a pussy and lets her tag along. It's like she's hypnotized him! Danny is suppose to be growing up, but how can he if he has to constantly play idiot just for Sam to point it out and prove he’s wrong and she’s right? Sam seems to be made into some "Angel" and it peeves me off greatly that they had to resort her to be some near flawless Goddess who even pushes out Tucker for a better spot in the show. Even her romance with Danny became so awkward and forced, playing center stage in several Season Three episodes when the current plot feels no need to drive the two together. Any chemistry the two held in the previous two seasons washed away from their recent execution, leading me to care even less about the pairing then I did before.
It’s gotten to the point where I may hate Sam as a character or at least the character she became. I can tolerate her role for the first half of the series, but like Tucker’s character, it just goes downhill. I didn’t want to label this on her—I don’t want to label this on her—but Sam became a blatant Canon Sue. And that’s no good.
But she does make a good Danny; we all know Danny's the chick and Sam's the man.
Back to the Characters PageArticle written revised in: Jan. 12, 2009
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