Vladimir "Vlad" Masters/Plasmius: Devious Sex On Legs
VOICE ACTOR: Martin Mull
AGE: His 40's
EYES: Blue
HAIR: White (formerly dark gray)
STATUS: Half Ghost Arch Nemesis/Rich Dude/Sexy Deviant
LIKES: Maddie, Danny, Green Bay Packers
DISLIKES: Jack, feeling alone and unloved, when things don't go his way
PERSONALITY: Clever, manipulative, intelligent, deviant, back stabbing, secretive, double edged sword, lonely, mysterious, jealous, bitter, desperate
POWER: Standard Ghost Powers—the same as Danny's, baring the Ghostly Wail and Ice powers, but possessing a giant Ecto twister and Ecto Disk Rays (which Danny doesn't have), business and later political powers
STRENGTH: Powerful half ghost skilled in battle, intelligent and clever—can manipulate easily, unpredictable nature makes him hard to figure out
WEAKNESS: Underestimates his foes at time, sometimes lets his own emotions get the best of him, as a ghost is at a disadvantage to various anti-ghost devices
FIRST APPEARANCE: "Bitter Reunions" (although his presences were felt as early as the first episode)
TRIVIA: Along with Jack and a bunch of other students, they had a college band, the Skunk Punks. They stunk.
GOAL: Get both Maddie and Danny on his side, kill Jack
HISTORY: Like Jack and Maddie before, Vlad’s life before college is shrouded in mystery and bad fanfiction. He was Jack’s closest friend and a quiet devotee to Maddie, the woman he loves. All three were interested in paranormal research twenty years back. Building a portable Ghost Portal, Vlad tried to confess to Maddie his inner feelings, but is quickly interrupted by work and Ecto blasting onto his face when Jack activates the device. That’s what happens when you stick your head in dangerous objects. His hair turns white and his face is covered in [Ecto] Acne. Hospital-ridden for years, Vlad vowed to get his revenge on Jack for causing the unfortunate incident and marrying his beloved. The only good outcome of all this: ghost powers.
Twenty years later, Vlad returns to the Fenton’s lives, now a handsome well-to-do billionaire, gaining much of his early money through robbery with his given powers. He first test Jack’s strength by sending out the Ectopusses(and presumably Skulker)—only for them to be defeated by the young Danny Phantom. He then invites them (and a host of others) to their 20th college reunion where Vlad secretly plots to kill his former friend and woo Maddie. His plans take a slight shift when he discovers Jack’s son, Danny, to hold ghost powers as well. He tries to persuade the boy to join his side, revealing his secret identity, but Danny remains steadfast to his loved ones, then he calls him a "fruit loop", everyone's favorite nickname, including Vlad fangirls. He ultimately stops Vlad’s plans from coming into fruition by using, of all things, blackmail, a technique Vlad happily eggs him on. "I am teaching you something after all." He declares before he leaves to fight another day. ("Bitter Reunions")
Since then, every one of the Fenton family has felt Vlad’s effect in some way, shape, or form. Maddie realized Vlad’s true feelings for her when he invited her and Danny to his Colorado-ridden cabin, begging them both to stay with him. She declines and keeps Vlad’s a secret from her jealous husband. Jack gets a chance to prove he isn’t all-fool when he takes on Plasmius one-on-one after suffering embarrassment from a million-dollar ghost chase (Danny Phantom) staged by a "mysterious benefactor" (Vlad) in order to get the skeleton key. And Jazz teams up with her brother after discovering his secret and getting into conflicts with him over it. The two outsmarted Vlad by faking a fight when forced to combat one another, proving two heads are better then one.
His plans aren’t always foiled. He may have unleashed Pariah Dark to get the Crown of Fire to compliment his Ring of Rage (which came via the Skeleton Key) for power and sure, he may have essentially unleashed a Ghostly God in the process, but he made it out alive by teaming up with Danny, gaining Valerie’s trust by confessing he was the one supplying her ghost hunting outfit, and helping the Fenton Folks build a robotic super suit. In the end, he didn’t walk out with everything, but he gained the Crown of Fire, a potential partnership with Fright Knight, and the ego that he played everyone like a fiddle. ("Reign Storm")
He gets two alternate selves. In "The Ultimate Enemy", a ten-year-older Vlad is the victim and starter of Dark Danny's birth. Taking in a sad Danny when he loses the ones he loves, he honors the boy’s wishes and rips out his ghostly half. The ghost side counters and uses the same tool Vlad utilized and rips Plasmius from Masters. He then dives into Vlad’s ghost side and merges to become Dark Danny. He kills Danny Fenton and blows up the manor. Vlad survived, but lives in constant pain of all the trouble he has caused. Meeting Danny Phantom via time travel has given him enough gumption to remove the time medallion inside him so that he can change the future.
In "Masters of All Time", Vlad’s Ecto-Acne returns. He forces it onto Sam and Tucker in order to get Danny to find a cure. Instead the boy alters the present by going to Vlad’s college days and pushing him out of the Porto-Portal’s impact. What he didn’t see was Jack getting the full blast. In the present time, Danny does not exist (nor Jazz) as Vlad and Maddie married, both childless. Danny fixes the time stream, realizing both Maddie and Jack love each other and that Vlad is much a desperate man as he is in canon. Clockwork undoes the process, but Danny successfully finds a cure for the deadly Ecto-Acne. He repays Vlad with a swift kick in the ass.
Vlad’s most desperate plan comes to fruition when Danny discovers clones of himself, each a stepping stone to the perfect one. The one before is the free-willed Danielle (the series’ worst character ever). Again Danny stops his plans, destroying the entire clone lab with a Ghostly Wail after converting Danielle to the good guy’s side—including the perfect clone. Devastated beyond belief, Vlad goes batshit insane and nearly kills them both if not for Tucker and Sam’s timely rescue. Well damn. ("Kindred Spirits")
In turn, Vlad no longer views Danny as the son he wanted and declares him his full enemy. Running and winning for mayor, Vlad from that point makes his home in Amity Park and proceeds to torment the boy and those around him ("Eye for an Eye"). Season Three puts him at his most frequent appearance with a bare minimum development. He steals important documents ("Infinite Realms"), enrages both a storm and plant ghost ("Torrent of Terror", "Urban Jungle"), gets stuck inside Nocturn’s plots to rule the waking world ("Frightmare"), almost kills Danielle again ("D-Stabilized"), and unintentionally, but not as regrettably sends a giant Ecto-induced asteroid hurtling towards Earth. With little time at hand, Vlad reveals his ghost powers to the public, planning to save the world in exchange for it...and $500 billion dollars. Yes, I know, bear with me. Riding the Fenton Spaceship, Vlad finally takes this time to confess every single feeling of disgust he has ever held on Jack. Must be good to get that off his chest. His plans to phase the Ecto-Asteroid fails because...well, it’s coated in Ecto, his powers can’t work. Jack, upset over his former friend's poor choices, strands him in space, leaving him regrettable for his past sins. It’s a beautiful tragedy (after all the other tragedy of derailing his personality during this horrid season), even if his very last scene was degrading. ("Phantom Planet")
PERSONALITY: On the outside, Vlad is what he looks: a sexy celebrity billionaire who reeks of debonair, charm, and grace. Gold Diggers swoon for his money and upper status, Jack thinks of him as his best friend, but only Danny sees him for what he truly is. In the inside, he is a manipulative, devious, cunning mastermind of emotional and wily manipulation. He treats all his players like chess pieces, moving them one by one to complete the numerous and complex plans he makes.
Yet all his intentions are purely to gain the one thing money can’t buy: love. Instead of pursuing it like a normal person would, Vlad uses dark methods to gain it. Specifically because the love of his life is married to another and the boy he wants for his son refuses to budge. To that end, Vlad has no regret attempting murder, stealing, and generally causing painful problems to get what he wants. With no respect to the other’s feelings, Vlad is a desperately selfish man. He is a double-edged sword. Vlad isn’t above redemption, his goals are straightforward and pure; he just has a lot to learn about proper human contact, something he unfortunately never gets.
In a fitting irony, he is sent to the emptiness that he has feared all throughout his life.
OPINION: Vlad is my favorite character. I could easily just leave it as that and move on, but I could fill paragraphs of this man. Let’s get the obvious out of the way: he’s hot. For a cartoon, that is. I have a fetish for suits and while I’m irked by his goofy red tie, he makes up for it with that sleek black number...and goatees. Can’t forget that. His Plasmius form isn’t half bad either, but what girl doesn’t like the vampire look? At least sexy manly badass ones, ya know, the kind that doesn't fucking sparkle. The beauty is that this was meant to be intentional. Vlad is supposed to be a very good looking man, the bane of normal guys everywhere; he’s got that perfect feel. So it makes sense his inside is sick and twisted.
His problem is that he takes the wrong approaches to get love because he feels that is what he is due. He’s been cheated out of a good future and he spends little time hesitating to gain it. But even in an alternate future, Vlad’s marriage to Maddie ends in sordid details, proving she was never the woman for him—he treats her like an object to gain then a love interest. He may have fallen in love with what he thinks he saw in her instead of who she really is. He has many layers to his complex personality and nearly every episode (except Season Three) explores this in full—including with each individual Fenton family. World domination is far from his mind and I like that he doesn’t keep a typical goal like that (for the time).
If anything, he’s more in tune with Danny who share common traits. I like to play up the similar father/son relationship between the two in canon, it's a constant element explored in the series, much to my entertainment. In another time, I can see them both getting along. Of course, that "other time" usually involves me shipping the death out of those two. We all know Danny is a girl who wants some Vlad ass and Vlad's just counting the years until he's legal.
Then Season Three came and made a mockery out of everything that made him great. The idea of Vlad and Danny being rivals after that incident with the clones added a different, but interesting plot to the series (and with his mindset over having Danny as a son gone, this made the Vlad/Danny shipping easier). I figured we could see some real intensity and culminations to everything the two had fought for and/or saw in each other. Danny has seen Vlad’s weakness and good side a couple of times, perhaps Season Three could finally wrap that up? No, they didn’t. They did worse. They turned the complicated, sly villain into Dick Dastardly.
Out of the blue, his desire to conquer the world became centerfold with little explanation. He would arse around trying to find his destiny with the Infi-Map when Vlad is usually the type who makes his own destiny. His complicated plans were destroyed for simpler approaches, and he turned from a rich man who is not grounded by his materialism to one who prides in money and his own looks. How aggravating it is to hear Vlad demand $500 billion dollars for no discernible reason other then writer thinking it's "evil". His manor in "Livin’ Large" is peppered head to toe with paintings, statures, and photos of him and him alone. Vlad isn’t money hungry, he isn’t shallow, and importantly, he is NOT a narcissistic. And the less said about his ending, the better. What a load of bullshit.
Unfortunately any future plot device that was hinted during Season Two was also dashed away. The Fright Knight partnership, what would he have done? The Underground lair, first seen in "The Ultimate Enemy" in his bad future, built in canon time during "Eye for an Eye"—hell, even his plans for future clones in "D-Stabilized" seem to contradict what he was currently doing during Season Three. You can’t tell me there wasn’t a story there.
His Season Three persona doesn’t stop me from enjoying his presence on screen. When he gets down to it, he really gets down to it and overall, he’s a mass of jumbled personality and character development that keeps the series interesting and suspenseful. It is a shame he ended the way he did.
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