>>99648106OP let me tell you something I've learned about Hartman from watching his youtube channel and listening to him talk about himself and his creative process: he makes it up as he goes.
For him, creativity is not some deep spiritual process.
His characters are important to him, sure, but they are not a part of him.
He described his inspiration for Danny Phantom happening because he wanted to pitch a new show to Nick and he had to help his mom move across country.
So along the way driving back he took inspiration from things that he saw.
There are spontaneous creatives and inspirational creatives, although most are a mix of both.
Butch just thinks cartoons are supposed to funny and entertaining, and that's fair enough.
To him it is a job at the end of the day, and that's why Fairly Odd Parents dragged on so long and why he added Poof and the dog and eventually Chloe.
In response to criticism, he said in one of his videos something like, "I made them because my bosses told me to and for those of you that want to get into this industry one day you'll have to listen to your bosses too."
Personally, I would never.
But that's why Butch stayed with Nick as long as he did, and they probably regret parting ways with him now that they had to kick Dan The Toeman Schneider and they've lost most of their old blood in the studio.
So what I'm saying is OP, of course the ghosts in DP are actually ghosts.
Iirc Butch just changed his mind because he became a born again Christian.
Is it a retcon? Yeah, I guess. It's trying to change the definition of what "ghost" is at least in the show.
Should you really care or view the source material differently? I don't think you should let it bother you too much.
Pic unrelated.
