The cast of the Web Series and Mobile Game.
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Protagonists and Playable Characters
Main Duo
Dan
Dan The Man/The Ginger Ninja
Our Hero
The titular character. An Action Hero and Everyman, Dan finds it hard to communicate outside of his limited repertoire of kicking, punching and jumping.- Armor Is Useless: The first time he ever dons armor is also where it easily gets wrecked by the dragon.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He pretty much tends to solve or respond to almost everything around him with his fists, but it's less of him being arrogant and more of clueless on what to do next.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: While he can come up with battle strategies on occasions, this is how Dan mainly deals with his enemies as he prefers to blindly charge into them.
- Back from the Dead: In Stage 7, he runs out of extra life to spare when falling off to the Bottomless Pit, which put him out of commission for a while... until he abruptly return to the game by using spare continue on the last few seconds and shows up in his own funeral, no less.
- Bare-Fisted Monk: Fitting his Karate Kid aesthetic, his preferred method of fighting is with punches and kicks, although he's also more than willing to resort to firearms.
- Blood Knight: It's sometimes less that he's violently obsessed with fighting and more that he has no clue what to do to complete the stages without violence, but Dan's default answer to progression after trying to move to the right of the screen is to punch whoever and whatever he can see. That said, Stage 13 shows that he is fully this trope whenever fighting is the actual means of progression.
- Death Is Cheap: In a video game style, Dan is capable of shrugging off death multiple times as long as he still has an extra life to spare, which would simply send him back to the last "checkpoint". This often becomes an unintentional Chekhov's Skill as it allows him to correct his decisions from previous "lifes" on multiple occasions, such as letting Vendor free the princess after she turns out to be a Gold Digger, making peace with the drunk guy instead of beating him up when the guy punched him first, and finally siding with the peasants and their peaceful way to rescue the others after witnessing the ignorance of the resistance to save them and pursue their own goal instead.
- Enemy Mine: Given that they were his enemies prior, his cooperation with the resistance in their quest to save the peasants in Stage 8 could be seen at this. That said, upon the resistance diverting themselves from their original goal, this is quickly subverted and Dan outright rejects helping them when he returns back to the beginning of the stage.
- Fatal Flaw: His (Or rather, the player who takes the control of him) impulsive thinking and difficulty learning from past mistakes.
- Featureless Protagonist: He is a protagonist in a video game, which is played by player (also seemingly named Dan), and all of the actions the character does represent the player rather than himself. This is averted in promotional media and crossover appearances, where his personality tends to be loosely based on the one of player's.
- Fiery Redhead: Has orange hair and is very eager to fight.
- Good Is Not Nice: Most of the heroic deeds he accomplished are simply for the sake of completing the game and Dan often resorts to random violence in order to do so.
- Idiot Hero: He is the one who saves the kingdom from the villains warring for power. However, he prioritizes his fist and the game's progression over common sense.
- In-Series Nickname: While it's never shown or mentioned anywhere in-universe, the cover of the game the series takes place in refers to him as "The Ginger Ninja".
- Leeroy Jenkins: Whenever he facing his enemies, he has habit to throw himself into battle without any strategy whatsoever. Best showcased in Stage 2 where he blindly charging his way toward the giant robot who tries to destroy Josie's bar, only to be anticlimactically stomped repeatedly by it.
- Martial Artists Are Always Barefoot: He often uses kicks during his fights and always goes barefoot.
- Martial Arts Headband: Wears a yellow one with a green square logo on it.
- Messianic Archetype: After saving the kingdom from the Advisor's tyranny, Dan immediately regarded as a saviour to the peasants afterward and even worship him for it, much to his confusion as he's just trying to progress through the game, to no avail.
- No Mouth: Most of the time his mouth cannot be seen. It does appear when he has to talk, takes damage and in the middle of some attacks.
- One-Man Army: He's a competent fighter capable of defeating many enemies by himself.
- The Rival: Some promotional material depict him to be in rivalry with Barry, as he shown to have a knack to pull pranks on him. Though this subverted in the last episode of Barry's blogs, where Barry reveals that there wasn't any rivalry between them.
- Redhead In Green: Downplayed, he wears a green Karate belt and his headband has a green circle on it.
- Stock Ninja Weaponry: A strange case in that he's not even a Ninja at all, yet Shurikens are his main ranged weapons.
- Suddenly Speaking: While he usually being silent, Dan can talk normally in full sentence toward people who also has the ability to do so as opposed to using Pictorial Speech-Bubble, which is shown by his interaction with Ana and later Josie.
- The Quiet One: He rarely speaks, even though he already managed to level up and learn how to have a speech bubble in Stage 2.
Josie
Josie
The Damsel in Distress (not really).
Dan's girlfriend, an NPC whom decided to help Dan out when he was busy being (literally) curbstomped by a giant robot; after that they pretty much hit it off. Although a small break-up happened when Dan decided to hang out with another player that had a female avatar. After that, she cut her hair short and got herself a new shirt.- Action Girlfriend: Given the way Josie introduced by defending herself against a giant robot, she has to be.
- All-Loving Heroine: Implied in her manual description in Stage 13, which states she's "full of love and kindness for all creatures". She's also one of the good guys.
- Badass Adorable: Not only she's pretty cute girl with similarly adorable high pitched voice, she is also a capable fighter like Dan.
- Badass in Distress: Despite being one of the best fighters in the series, she gets kidnapped by the Dark Master and enslaved to power the kingdom alongside the other peasants.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Her in-game Idle Animation shows her yelling at the players after waiting for too long.
- Break the Cutie: Josie has been through a lot of ordeals during the series run. From facing her lingering fear of death, being casually dumped by Dan, which followed by breaking over his apparent death, and then discovering that she just an NPC and the world they're in is just a game.
- Dark Is Not Evil: After Dan dumps her for another player character, she opts for a makeover that replaces her entire wardrobe with black-colored clothing. Still she's a caring character aligned with good, albeit a bit cynical and hardened.
- Deuteragonist: She essentially fills this role from Stage 2 onwards and just as important as Dan himself, with Josie keeping up with whatever Dan is up to as well as her own struggles throughout the series.
- Establishing Character Moment: Her response when the bar she lives in is attacked by a giant robot? Throw rocks at it in attempt to defend herself and then help Dan out when he starts fighting it.
- Faint in Shock: Josie has a knack to faint whenever she witness anything that mentally shocking to her, such as when she watches Dan fall off the platform and seemingly dying, as well as finding out that she's just an NPC in a video game.
- Foreshadowing: The fact that Josie's in-game Idle Animation involves her tapping her foot impatiently while staring at the screen before yelling at the player alludes to her eventual awareness of the world they're in being just a game in Stage 13 of the web series.
- Heroic BSoD: In Stage 7, she suffers this big time after watching Dan seemingly plummeted to his death during their argument, leaving her mentally broken for a while. Thankfully, the Light Master helps her to overcome this and move on from his death. She suffers another one when she witnesses that Dan is somehow still alive, and tries to avoid him for a while.
- Hurricane Kick: Her first and then the final upgrade for her Special Attack has her performing this.
- Identity Breakdown: Upon learning that she's just an NPC within a game, Josie could only approach Dan and sadly ask him if she's even real or not, with an actual text no less. However, she seems to be able to slowly get over this in the next stage.
- Important Haircut: After Dan more-or-less dumps Josie on the basis that she's an NPC, she decides to cut her hair into a smaller length to solidify the turning point of her being a cynic.
- Irony: Despite taking the role as an NPC in the web series, she ends up become one of the playable characters in the game.
- Kick Chick: A lot of her moves and specials in the game seem to be kick-based.
- Killed Off for Real: Subverted. Stage 8 has her, as well as the Advisor and one of the Geezers, shot to death by the Resistance Leader, but since Dan had an extra life, Josie's death was undone as well, resulting in her appearing in Stage 9 onwards.
- Made a Slave: In Stage 8, she alongside the rest of the peasants are forced to power the kingdom after kidnapped by the Dark Master.
- Medium Awareness: From Stage 13 onwards, she becomes conscious that she's inside a game and serves as its NPC.
- Nice Girl: Her kindness is one of her most notable traits and she's stated to be "full of love and kindness for all creatures". She's also pretty patient with whatever shenanigans Dan put himself into until their breakup. And even then, she doesn't hold the grudge for too long when Dan abruptly dies.
- One-Woman Army: Especially in the game, in which she can take down multiple enemies by herself.
- Pregnant Badass: After Stage 4, she discovered to be impregnated by Dan, yet she's still capable of fighting various enemies.
- The Smurfette Principle: While there's occasional female characters here and there, Josie is only lead female character and a recurring one throughout the series.
- Suddenly Speaking: After she learned the truth of her existance in stage 13, Josie suddenly gains the ability to speak normally as opposed to her usual Pictorial Speech-Bubble like the other NPCs.
- Technical Pacifist: In contrast of Dan, Josie rarely engages herself into battle and only resort to it for either self defense or protecting people she's care about.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Josie ends up stuck with this look when she suffers Despair Event Horizon after seemingly losing Dan.
- Took a Level in Cynic: It's very subtle, but after breaking up with Dan, she's not as chirpy as she used to be and can get a bit moody at times. Additionally, she no longer shows the same loving enthusiasm towards Dan when they properly reunite with each other. This is even reflected with her outfit change.
- Women Are Wiser: She's much more levelheaded and calmer compared to Dan who tends to be reckless.
Additional Playable Characters
Barry Steakfries
Barry Steakfries
Guest Hero
A Guest Fighter from his own series of games. While he doesn't appear in the Web-Series, he plays a significant role in the Fright Zone arc of the video game.For tropes pertaining to Barry in Barry Steakfries games, see the series Characters page.
- Ascended Fanboy: According to one interview
, he is a huge fan of Dan The Man (Which is an Arcade game from the 80's In-Universe). The story behind the video game version is that he went back in time, yanked an arcade machine, and ported it to mobile phones, inserting himself into it in process. - Author Avatar: In-Universe, Barry was the one who ported Dan The Man to mobile phones, but he also took the liberty of putting himself in the port.
- Big Damn Heroes: His first appearance in Fright Zone has him save Dan from the horde of zombies.
- Downloadable Content: Only available as a paid-for unlockable in the Dan The Man mobile game.
- Guest Fighter: Originated in Halfbrick's Barry Steakfries video game series, appears in Dan The Man as a playable character along with his trusty pump-action shotgun.
- Mechanically Unusual Fighter: His moveset is notably different from the other playable characters. The attacks that he shares with others are slightly weaker, which is compensated with several Area of Effect moves, as well as a shotgun with an unlimited use.
- Recoil Boost: Obviously due to being a playable character, his iconic Machine Gun Jetpack isn't far behind.
- Sleeves Are for Wimps: Like in his source material, Barry's suit lacks sleeves. As a reference towards that one music video where he constantly rips off his sleeves, one of his Idle Animations has home put on some sleeves... and then rip them off again while looking at the viewer and chuckling.
Custom Character
Custom Character
The fourth playable character in the video game, whose name and looks are up to the player.- Character Customization: You can create your own custom character in the game with multiple customization options available as most of them also gives your character additional buffs.
- Rainbow Pimp Gear: Each article of clothing you can get for your custom character has different effects from increasing gold drops, damage resistance, increased damage towards enemies, and other things. But the combinations can be rather... interesting.
- Virtual Paper Doll: They are a Custom Character for a reason. By default they appear wearing white wear, no gloves and being barefoot, which can be changed with all the clothing available for them.
Supporting Characters and NPCs
The Geezers
Bald Geezer and Geezer with Hat
Furious Pelvic Thrusting
Two bar buddies whom try to teach Dan on how to make love with Josie in Stage 4. They later on become recurring characters in Stage 8 both in-game and in the official video.- Grievous Bottley Harm: In the video version of Stage 8, Hat Geezer breaks one of the bottles he's carrying and uses it to beat one of the Cyber Attack Dogs biting Dan.
- Manchild: They're not the most mature adults. We mostly see them drinking, thrusting their pelvises and generally not doing much. Though this a much more positive example as they are genuinely Nice Guys.
- No Name Given: Their real names are unknown, and when they were added as a costumes for Custom Characters, they were referred to as "Bald Geezer" and "Geezer with Hat".
- Promoted to Playable: A variation, one of the events has them as a costumes that can be won or purchased. This allows you to customize your character to cosplay as the Geezers.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After the Resistance Leader kills one of them, the other picks up a gun and stars mowing down resistance Mooks, hell-bent on avenging his fallen friend.
- Those Two Guys: Both guys are almost always seen together and are relatively minor characters, especially in the web series.
The Drunk Guy
The Drunk Guy
A man with a problematic childhood who decides to drown his sorrows in the local pub.- Abusive Parents: Had one, an alcoholic dad who beat him and killed his mom.
- The Alcoholic: He has a huge drinking problem.
- Alcoholic Dad: Not him, his backstory reveals his father had a drinking problem.
- Back for the Finale: He conducts the train in one of the levels in the game.
- Freudian Excuse: At first, he is introduced as some drunken asshole who punches Dan in the pub. Then it's revealed that his father was an abusive drunk who killed his mother.
The Light Master
The Light Master
An unknown white-colored sprite that seems to look like he belongs in older video games. He serves as the stereotypical sensei character.- Light/Darkness Juxtaposition: While he is completely white, his sword is black. The opposite goes for his nemesis, Dark Master.
- Light Is Good: In contrast to the Dark Master, he helps Dan and Josie overcome their troubles.
- Mentor Archetype: To Dan, training him for the battle against evil.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Unlike the other characters, Light Master (and Dark Master) seems like he came right out of an Atari game.
The King
The King
Would rather be partying than ruling.
Crude, rude and occasionally nude. The king is completely oblivious to the needs of his people and the evil plots hatched in his name.
- The Alcoholic: He spends just about all his screen-time being drunk.
- Cool Crown: To show that he's a king, he wears a golden crown which the Resistance Leader steals in the game and one of the stages.
- Fan Disservice: Wears an open bathrobe that shows off that he's wearing nothing but a speedo underneath for all to see.
- Guns Akimbo: He manages to wield a pair of automatic rifles, and is rather enthusiastic about them.
- My God, What Have I Done?: He suffers this when he was shown the Hamster-Wheel Power system beneath the castle.
- Narcissist: He has shades of this by having his likeness plastered all over the kingdom that tries to portray him as more brave and courageous than he really is. This ranges from mere statues to the very coins you collect throughout the game.
- Nice Guy: Despite his laziness, narcism, and obliviousness, he's shown to be very nice towards Dan and Josie. When he discovers that the Advisor was enslaving peasants he visibly bursts into tears and frees them. From Stage 10 onwards he becomes Dan's more prominent (although not fully competent) ally.
- Pointy-Haired Boss: He pretty much does no actual ruling, mainly just getting drunk and partying while his cabinet of executives do all the actual work.
- Puppet King: It becomes very clear later on that the Advisor is the real guy running the kingdom while the King just parties all day. Stage 9 shows that he was completely unaware of the Advisor's doings, and turns against him upon finding out.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: While it isn't really shown at first with how he spends most of his time partying and getting drunk, the very moment he finds out about the Advisor's scheme to enslave the peasants, the King wastes no time in taking action against it. This is taken further in the following stages as he's willing to dive himself into battle alongside his army to fight against the cleric's soldiers.
- Took a Level in Badass: From Stage 10 onwards, he solidifies himself as Dan's active ally and partakes in the battle against the Chicken God clerics, even if he's a bit inefficient.
- Trigger-Happy: The King is a bit too eager to use his dual rifles to fend off the Chicken God cleric soldiers.
Peasants
Peasants
People whom are always on the short end of the stick in the King's list of concerns.- Butt-Monkey: They're always on the receiving end of the large amount of abuse by the King's Guards and the Cultists.
- Hobo Gloves: The Villager Costume can get you a pair of brown ones for your Custom Character. They are clearly an example of the Poverty variety.
- In the Hood: Of the (obviously) peasantry variety. All of them wear brown hoods.
Antagonists
The Resistance
In General
- Arch-Enemy: They already have feud with Dan ever since the first stage of the web series.
- Enemy Mine: At first they seem to get along with Dan on their quest to free the peasants despite their history of being his enemy. While Dan initially accepts their offer to help them, the diversion from their original goal quickly subverted this to the point of Dan outright rejecting them when he returns to the beginning of the stage.
- Good All Along: Subverted. After being the antagonists in the first four Stages, they are revealed to have been fighting to free the peasants from an oppressive regime. Unfortunately, they, including the leader, are just out for power and riches.
- Good Guns, Bad Guns: To further show that they are not all they seem to be, most of the members are armed with AK assault rifles.
- Highly-Visible Ninja: Although they dress like ninjas, they are not very stealthy and prefer to use guns.
- La Résistance: They fight against the kingdom for the peasants. At least they seem too.
- Put on a Bus: All of them run away at the end of Stage 8 and never seen again since then, with the Chicken God Cultists taking their place as the main antagonists.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: They are willing to kill hordes of people in pursuit of freedom, and their leader ultimately turns out to be a wannabe dictator.
- Running Gag: The mechs they make have a habit of not lasting very long either against Dan and his allies or even against the King's Guard.
Resistance Leader (Spoilers Unmarked!)
Resistance Leader
The leader of the freedom fighters, though he looks indistinguishable from the rest of them, until he executes the king and takes his crown.- Asshole Victim: He deserves zero sympathy after being beat up by Dan or the Player Character (assuming Dan wasn't chosen).
- Battle Strip: Rips off his top (and the lower part of his mask) before being fought as the Final Boss.
- Big Bad Ensemble: He fights against the Advisor for control of the kingdom.
- Disproportionate Retribution: He shoots one of the Geezers just for calling him out on murdering the King and taking his crown.
- Evil Versus Evil: He is ultimately just as bad as the Advisor, wanting the crown for himself and being willing to kill to get there.
- Killed Off for Real: Gets killed by Dan at the end of Stage 8, resulting in the rest of the Resistance running away. Though this is subverted at the beginning of Stage 9 as he simply runs away like the others.
- No Name Given: He is never named in the story.
- Rebel Leader: He leads the resistance in fighting against the kingdom.
- You Kill It, You Bought It: After shooting the King in cold blood, he decides to crown himself the new king.
The King's Forces
The Advisor (Spoilers Unmarked!)
The Advisor
- Asshole Victim: He deserves zero sympathy after being killed by the Dragons.
- Big Bad Ensemble: He is the one behind the kingdom's corruption and enslavement of the peasants and the Resistance Leader's main opponent in the war.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Leads a whole group of them, and does things such as enslaving an innocent dragon (and later, the peasants), forcing them to work to provide power/electricity.
- Dirty Coward: At the end of Stage 8, he holds Josie hostage in an attempt to escape from Dan. In the game, he instead holds the Bald Geezer hostage.
- Evil Chancellor: While he does not have the official position of Chancellor, he effectively serves as this - he does all the ruling, and carries out the Evil Plan to enslave the peasants, while the King gets drunk and parties all day.
- Evil Versus Evil: He is the greedy tyrant that the equally power-hungry Resistance Leader aims to overthrow.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Always seen wearing a pair of shiny glasses, and he's definitely one of the more despicable characters in the series.
- Killed Off for Real: Gets shot to death by the Resistance Leader in Stage 8. Subverted in that it was undone by Dan having an extra life. Double Subverted when he gets killed by the Dragons in Stage 9.
- Lack of Empathy: He has no compassion for anyone, having no qualms killing peasants.
- Laser-Guided Karma: In Stage 9, he ends up killed by the same dragon who he ordered to kidnap and enslaved to power the kingdom back in Stage 5 alongside its mother.
- Non-Action Big Bad: He prefers to leave the fighting to his minions and the Dark Master; in Stages 8 and 9, he is killed by the Resistance Leader and the Dragon respectively instead of being fought. Downplayed in the Christmas DLC, however, where he does fight inside a mech.
- No Name Given: He is never named in the story.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: It's heavily suggested that the Advisor is classist, as he has no issue mistreating and killing the peasants. Also, a poster near where he works says "NO POVS!" which has an image of a crossed-out peasant.
- The Stoic: He always remains calm and emotionless throughout his appearances, safe for a few moments where he needs to order the king's guards around.
- The Unfought: In the main story, he is killed twice: by the Resistance Leader in Stage 8 and by the Dragon in Stage 9, before he could be fought. Averted in the Christmas DLC, in which he is the boss of the mode and is fought twice (piloting a Santa mech he stole).
The King's Army
The royal army serving for the King, which the Advisor took over behind his back. They serve as a recurring enemies you're facing in the game.
- Mook: They are recurring enemies fought throughout the game.
- I Shall Taunt You: If you leave them unharmed within their sight, the guards would occasionally taunting you. All ranged from simply challenging you to come in, to showing their cracks at you.
- Punch Clock Villains: While some of the guards gets a bit too carried away with it, the reason they antagonized the peasants in the first place was because the Advisor told them to enslave them in order to power the kingdom, otherwise they're relatively friendly. Notably, they become Dan's lasting allies from Stage 9 onwards after the Advisor is Killed Off for Real.
Chicken God Cultists
In General
A cult organization holding grudge against Dan for indirectly dispatching the peasant's faith in the chicken god and making them worship him instead. They are the main antagonists from Stage 10 onwards.
- Create Your Own Villain: Dan's reckless actions in demolishing the chicken statues and being worshipped by the peasants in general are indirectly responsible for their antagonism toward him and the peasants.
The High Priest
The High Priest
The leader of the chicken worshipping cult.- Asshole Victim: He deserves zero sympathy after being stabbed by the child peasant and pecked to death by Gustavo himself.
- Bad Boss: He initially attempts to execute one of his priests when warned about Dan worshipping movement out of disbelief and only stops when the other clerics confirm said movement. Later in Stage 16, he attempts to sacrifice one certain priest during the Chicken God's summoning ritual for encouraging everyone to make peace with Dan and the others.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: While being stabbed by child peasant doesn't kill him, being pecked to death by the chicken god does, to the point of making huge hole in his body and bones sticking out.
- Death by Irony: He ends up pecked to death by the Chicken God upon it's summoning, which is the very thing that he worships.
- Large Ham: Most of the sounds that come out of this guy is him screaming on top of his lungs.
- Would Hurt a Child: He's willing to use a child peasant as a sacrifice for the Chicken God's summoning ritual.
Gustavo (Spoilers Unmarked!)
Gustavo the Chicken God
A Chicken monster worshipped by the cult.- Asshole Victim: Just like the High Priest, he deserves zero sympathy after being headshot by the king.
- Boom, Headshot!: This is how he is finished off by the King, who happened to be on his side after falling from the temple.
- Breath Weapon: He can shoot fireballs out of his beak.
- Fireballs: He can shoot ball-shaped fire out of his beak.
- Fluffy the Terrible: Despite being a threatening chicken god, his name is a relatively mundane "Gustavo".
- Jerkass Gods: The first thing he do after being summon is pecking the high priest to his death, followed with him rampaging against everyone in his sight, including both the cultists and the king's army.
Others
The Dark Master
The Dark Master
A mercenary that is the complete opposite of the White Master.- Dark Is Evil: In contrast to the Light Master, he sides with the Advisor and directly opposes Dan.
- The Dragon: To the Advisor, who pays him to kidnap peasants and eventually get in Dan's way.
- Evil Counterpart: Of the Light Master.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Like the Light Master, he seems like a character right out of an Atari game.
Professor Brains
Professor Brains
The Arch-Enemy of Barry Steakfries, hell-bent on world domination. He appears as the antagonist of Fright Zone DLC, invading the kingdom with his army of zombies.For tropes pertaining to Brains in Barry Steakfries games, see the series Characters page.
- Disney Villain Death: He falls off the cliff after being chased by Dan and Barry at the end of Fright Zone. This isn't his first death, however, and he continued appearing afterwards, both in Barry's series and other crossovers, including the Jetpack Joyride Event held in Dan The Man.
- Mad Scientist: He created the zombies to invade Dan's kingdom. He is also the CEO of Legitimate Research.
- Promoted to Playable: Like Geezers, the video game gave him his first ever playable appearance as a set for a Custom Character.
- The Unfought: After defeating his Frankenstein robot, he runs away from Dan and Barry before being cornered near the cliff and suffering Disney Villain Death. Averted in the last level of Jetpack Joyride Event, where you get to properly fight him.
