Technus

Nicolai Technus (a play on the scientist Nikola Tesla) is a villain in the cartoon Danny Phantom. He is voiced by Rob Paulsen, in a voice strongly resembling that of Gilbert Gottfried.

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Contents
[ show ]*1 Character Overview
 * 2 Appearance/History
 * 3 Personality/Weaknesses
 * 4 Technus's Powers
 * 5 Trivia
 * }

Character Overview Edit
Nicolai is the ghost of a former egotistical technological genius (however it should be noted that none of either his inventions/research that he might have created during his former life has ever been mentioned in the show). In the show he is introduced the night after Danny Fenton sells some of his dad's stuff, which was covered with ectoplasm. The gadgets collected and turned into a robotic armor that Technus uses. This is probaly how he got into the human world. He is primarly Ecto-Mechanical in nature (such as Samara in the Ring film series (which featured Brian Cox (the voice of Pariah Dark) in the first entry as Samara's father Richard Morgan)), mainly linking himself to either a mechanized power armor or any other form of basic technology (such as turning himself into a Ecto based computer virus, etc..). Technus also is similar to other comic book villans such as Brainiac and Ultron in the sense that in nearly every new appearance on the show he is nearly always in some new upgraded Armor/Form.

Appearance/HistoryEdit
Technus first appears in the episode "Attack of the Killer Garage Sale". Upon his first escape from the Fenton's Ghost Portal, he declares his name and purpose to Danny Fenton, who was in the lab at the time. The ghost-boy inadvertently plants the idea for world domination in Technus' head, setting off his streak of villainy. Danny manages to apprehend him with the Fenton Ghost-Weasel, which promptly explodes, splattering Technus' ectoplasm across various devices in the lab. The self-proclaimed "Ghost Master of Science and Electrical Technology" infuses his consciousness into these machines, sold by Danny at a garage sale. He manifests himself inside the computer of Dash Baxter, summoning the garage sale items to form a robotic battlesuit. Virtually invulnerable to attack, Technus is defeated when Tucker Foley hacks into the shoddy software the ghost uses, shutting down the battlesuit and enabling Danny to apprehend Technus.

He later made a cameo (although, somehow in his battlesuit again) in "Prisoners of Love" where he, Skulker, The Lunch Lady Ghost, The Box Ghost and Desiree were in Walker's prison and after some convincing from Danny Phantom, he and all the other prisoners worked together to get out of the ghost prison.

Technus returns to get revenge in his second appearance in "Teacher of the Year", Technus once again tries to build a battlesuit, but is thwarted by Danny and his friends. In response, he abandons the suit, planting himself inside the online computer game Doomed as a player. After learning about the game's rules and objectives from Tucker, Technus goes on a race to beat the game and access the Internet, which will allow him to spread his consciousness. Tucker and Sam are unable to stop him, as the ghost can use his powers in the game. Danny, able to do the same, uses this to his advantage; he and his friends imprison Technus through a glitch of the game dubbed "Level 0", a level with only one way in, no way out.

He then appeared as a background character in "Reign Storm" (which is strange, since he should be still trapped in Level 0) as one of the ghosts Danny summoned to help him fight Pariah Dark. He still is in the battle suit he used in "Teacher of the Year".

In "Identity Crisis", Danny inadvertently deletes the game Technus is imprisoned in, freeing him into the computer's hard drive. He added a moustache and glasses to a photo of Paulina. He then uses a wireless connection to possess Tucker's PDA, and eventually the Fenton RV, doing the same drawings to a photo of Jack, building another battlesuit from supplies in a department store. With an upgraded personality that does not blurt out his evil plans, the ghost is re-dubbed Technus 2.0. Danny, separated into his ghost and human halves, is, at first, unable to stop Technus as he drains power from the city. Eventually, he possesses the mainframe computer of the Fenton's house, turning it into a walking fortress. Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom work together to separate Technus from the house where he has gained a new look. He is then entrapped by the Fenton Thermos once more.

Technus also appeared in "The Fright Before Christmas" as one of the many ghosts who helped Danny save Christmas.

Technus appeared during Secret Weapons, though only for a few (humorous) seconds. It should be pointed out however, that he does tie in with the plot: Skulker steals his electro-staff while Technus was showering as one of the items needed to upgrade Vlad's stolen Ecto Skeleton (Vlad refers to the weapon as the "Lightning Rod"). Unfortunately, it blew up with the rest of the Ecto Skeleton.

"Flirting with Disaster" marks Technus's most recent appearance, in which he(now sporting a mullet) cracks a ten-thousand digit access code to gain access to a satellite orbiting the Earth. He is able to keep both Danny and Valerie from catching up with him by manipulating them into a relationship, and possessing Valerie's ghost fighting suit. Technus eventually breaks the code, and uploads himself to the satellite, spreading clones of himself and causing worldwide chaos. Danny manages to destroy the satellite after an extensive space battle, neutralizing the clones and stopping Technus's takeover.

Technus manages to defy death(because he is a ghost and therfore already dead) and appears near the beginning and end of the series finale, Phantom Planet. He's first seen reduced to petty theft, robbing an electronics store for DVDs and electronic equipment; Danny attempts to stop him and fails when Technus creates a new, remotely controlled battle suit made of a taxi and computers ("The Car-Puter!" it will drive you... TO YOUR DOOM! Ha, Ha!) Interestingly, this resembled several characters from the "Transformers: Alternators" toys. Both Technus and his Carputer are stopped by Vlad's team of Ghost Catchers, the Masters Blasters. Technus appears in the episode's countdown as one of the many ghosts to assist Danny and Skulker by turning the entire planet intangible, so that an asteroid may pass through it. (If one has a keen eye, you can at one point see Technus 2.0 holding onto the tower directly beside Technus 1.0 in his battle armor from "Teacher of the Year".)

In an alternate future (The Ultimate Enemy), Technus fused with Skulker's armor to become Skulktech 9.9. Skulker composed the main body while Technus ran as the operating system with his face on the torso. Oddly enough, if one looks closely they can also see SkulkTech 9.9 aiding in the effort to make the earth intangible as well.

Personality/WeaknessesEdit
Although a genius in his own right, Technus is an incessant braggart, usually broadcasting his plans to his enemies before he has a chance to act them out (although this flaw was somewhat dulled upon his upgrade). He also has a penchant for using painfully outdated slang, such as "hip" and "far-out." Outside of a machine, Technus is physically weak, and Danny is usually able to capture him with near impunity, though recently he seems to have gotten somewhat stronger. He hates human felt emotions, but knows how to use them to his advantage.

Technus's Powers Edit
In addition to the standard array of ghost-powers (intangibility, invisibility, flight, and overshadowing), Technus' main power is his ability to telepathically command and control machinery and computers (technopathy). With this, he can animate electronic devices, convert harmless machines into weapons, or combine them into a larger form (usually a battlesuit). He has also demonstrated being able to conjure machines out of thin air, as he did in "Attack of the Killer Garage Sale". He is also shown able to posses machines and give them great powers, as well as his own standard ghost powers.

He is also able to fire green ghost rays and create green ghost shilds (That resemble circute boards), he can also use his shields to entrap things, and electrocute them, while in his battle suits he can also fire purple and blue blasts.

Technus is also able to possess machinery, traveling through wiring and other channels between devices. In his upgraded form, as seen in "Identity Crisis", "The Fright Before Christmas" and "Flirting with Disaster", Technus has demonstrated the ability to control electricity, absorbing it and wielding it at will. In "Flirting with Disaster" it is also revealed that he is capable of altering his physical composition into electrical wires and cords, give part of his powers to another like how he did with Valerie, as well as crack computer codes and transform himself into data. He also becomes stronger and faster, and his ghost rays are increased to blue. Technus' persistence should be counted among his strengths.

Trivia Edit

 * Technus has some similarities to the Spider-man villian Doctor Octopus. Both are obsessed with technology, and at some times, Technus uses mechanical attachments similar to Octopus's own mechanical arms.
 * His full name is a reference to Nikola Tesla.
 * On some of the captions, it's spelled "Techness".
 * Technus is a playable character in SpongeBob SquarePants featuring Nicktoons: Globs of Doom. He has a laser blaster that takes up most of the lower part of his arm, and is dressed in his Technus 2.0 outfit.
 * Due to the way he dressed, in can be assumed that Technus, when he was a alive, was a Russian scientist and inventor who was killed in a lab accident, although no accent appeared in his voice.
 * Due to his habit to brag, Danny has called him the "Master of long-winded introductions."
 * Technus' voice is a parody of that of actor/comedian Gilbert Gottfried.
 * Technus is the first ghost introduced to have world conquering goals.