#Dan and Phil through the ages

[danandphilchronology]

Jonathon and Mary Beth Argue + Blue Hair

Jonathon and Mary Beth Argue

Blue Hair

Happy New Year! Well, at least around the time these videos were posted on the 6th of January 2007. Lets see what we can find out about what was going on around this time! 

The song currently topping the charts in the US was “Irreplaceable” by Beyonce. But in the UK, Leona Lewis was on a three week streak at number one with “A Moment Like This”. 

Some Major Historical Events going on January 2007:

Bulgaria and Romania officialy join the EU

Steven Jobs announces the iPhone

She-who-must-not-be-named finishes the final book in the Harry Potter Series

Doomsday Clock set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea’s 1st Nuclear Test

Plenty of things going on at this time. Now, cheking back in with our buddy, way back machine (8 January 2007), top 3 featured videos were:

Ron Ronsmith and the Fake News by sxephil

Britethorn Responds! By britethorn

My Legendary Girlfriend by kee1000

But let’s talk about the videos…

Starting with “Jonathon and Mary Beth Argue", I have so many questions and after attempting to dig through the internet for answers I have come back with NOTHING! I am going to assume that this was a personal project with a friend, (whom I am assuming is Victoria who was mentioned in the previous video we watched). 

Premise: Mary Beth (Victoria) and Jonathon (Phil) are having an argument about his drinking on Christmas. Jonathan wields a sprite, takes a sip, and promptly turns into a frog the size of a chihuahua. All 21 seconds are a little cringy, but fit well into Phil’s branding that it just makes sense. Overall, this video was good and I think that it would have fit in very well this the other videos that were on youtube at the time.

EDIT: I have actually started watching the next set and I am currently editing my post, BUT I have discovered that the friend I assumed was Victoria is actual Anja! Sorry bestie!

Total Watch Time: 2m 28s

Blue Hair

Moving on to “Blue Hair”, Philip Lester, you need to tag your jumpscares. This video is simply 100 seconds of Phil messing with the settings on the camera he is filming with and documenting the changes in color and the camera's ability to film in the dark. This reminded me so much of a moment from his recent video on amazingphil where he reads his original buffy fanfiction where he says that he taught himself editing. It’s crazy to think that the 20-year-old we see playing with a camera in this video becomes the successful social media influencer we see today. 

Total Watch Time: 4m 09s

[dangerliesbeforeyou]

that article is great and full of gems but it is hilarious that it's the METRO lol...

[purpurussy]

.

[newdayslinguine]

I find it so funny how dan’s making heartstopper jokes when i am 1000% sure at least half the cast of heartstopper grew up watching him

[here-there-everyfuckenwhere]

Rereading all my old cringey comments from like 2016 on wattpad like

“Things have changed for me, and that’s okay”

[fryday]

every time i see someone desperately trying to cling on to the scraps of a hard launch i weep, idk what they're playing at but the hard has been launched, it has long since flown, they're just toying with us now, a hard launch is supposed to come out of nowhere/semi nowhere meanwhile these men have shared their phoneymoon photos and their christian roleplay with us what else is there to launch??? i'm so scared

the hard has been launched 😂😂

anon i've written and rewritten my response to this so many times and have been unhappy with every single version. please take the following, final word dump from after i'd given up trying to structure it properly. i just let the thoughts flow.

i think it comes down to what a hard launch would MEAN coming from dnp, rather than what it tells us. because technically, hard launches are supposed to reveal that two people are in a relationship, right? but with dnp we already know they are (or we're 99.9% sure. or whatever). them saying the words "we are a couple" or posting an unmistakably romantic photo like a kiss pic or something wouldn't ACTUALLY give us any new information.

but dnp MAKING THE CHOICE to say "we are a couple" or show themselves kissing is, i think, the thing that still makes a hard launch matter.

because they've been through... a Lot, with their fans. they went through the sort of Dark Age when the shipping was at its peak and the demands on their privacy were just unreasonable and dan especially was privately struggling with his own sexuality. then they (and their fans) grew out of it and into a more mellowed, settled, mature and understanding phase of their lives when everyone realised we should really just be making an accepting and supportive environment for whoever or whatever they are rather than trying to find the answers for ourselves. and in the end when dan did finally give us the answers about his sexuality and what he and phil were to each other before, it wasn't like anyone was surprised by the answers themselves. we were just grateful dan (and later phil) had reached the point where they trusted us with that information, from their own mouths. because obviously everyone had already known for years. but knowing and being trusted enough to be told are two different things.

and i think it might be the same for people now, re: the hard launch. i think it's less about the confirmation itself than it is about knowing dnp are comfortable enough now TO confirm it. that's what matters

[jonsaremembers]

having thoughts this fine morning about dan saying that among his formative influences and reasons for how hard he is on himself is the charlotteissocoollike content he consumed as a teenager

and I remember some of that content, and what's funny about it now with 20/20 hindsight is that a lot of it WAS what dan might call "low-effort," like she filmed herself trying different flavors of baby food and dying her hair bright red and scrolling through tumblr. she also wrote original songs and had some very creative ideas but more and more as the years went on she lost this air of "I'm just doing what I want to be doing and I hope you all enjoy" and you could see her shrinking in on herself and becoming more self conscious and questioning if what she was doing was any good

and also sprinkled through this were grappling with the realities of telling the internet she'd been dating someone for over a year, creative struggles, the angst of vulnerability

(knowing now that she could have been battling some unbelievable depression or other mental health stuff as part of her gender journey makes that hit a little a lot different)

and I'm just thinking about if someone could have told them - charlotte and dan both - to give themselves grace at the time, imagine what that might have done for them

and contrasting this with phil who at a similar age was making content that WAS just "I'm just doing what I want to be doing and I hope you all enjoy" and for whom the questioning era came when he was much older (hiatus years, lost without dan) and could hide it better, perhaps

& of course it's incredibly hard to be a teenager in the internet's public eye and there was no manual back then (there maybe still isn't)

idk is this anything I'm just yapping atp

[pseudophan]

some post wad weekend thoughts...

i just wrote all this on the plane and haven't read it through so apologies for any mistakes

first of all, this weekend was incredible. i usually just kinda sit at home doing not much of anything, and this was a much needed break to actually have some fun. london in general always lifts my spirits but i suppose that danisnotonfire guy contributed a little as well.

guys i think i've met more people the past few days than i otherwise have in years. like. holy shit. i started listing people but i'm petrified i'll forget someone so i chickened out, sorry about that. but you all know who you are. i've met friends i've had for years, people i used to know but haven't spoken to in what feels like a decade, newer friends, and a frankly baffling amount of people i didn't know yet but who told me they've followed me for ages. like holy fuck you guys lmao what the hell??? and i mean did the reaction ever get old no of course it didn't. bad for my ego i'm sure but totally worth it. there's something very amusing and incredibly surreal about being chronically lame in most aspects of life and then suddenly finding yourself in an environment where you're kinda cool???? SO fucking fun oh my god, but also i do kinda feel like i've tricked you all? but hey i'll happily let you keep believing i'm cool, that is more than fine with me.

most importantly though everyone was SO lovely. like i said i don't think i've spoken to this many people in such a short amount of time in years and every single person i talked to was awesome. guys did you know phannies are kind of great... don't tell anyone but, lowkey... everyone is so funny and cool and absolutely insane but in a good way (shoutout everyone left at the gates until the very end, we should probably get some help).

and then lastly of course, mr howell himself. i talk about this a lot i feel like but fuck me that man was born to perform. whether you think he's actually funny or not, nobody can argue he doesn't absolutely thrive on a stage. he plays off the audience so well and he's so very obviously having the time of his fucking life. i'd already seen the show twice before this, and i didn't think anything would top the previous london show but man... the first night he came back out after the show having clearly been tearing up backstage, apologising for being an inconsistent absent parent, and i can't lie the "i had daddy issues and THEN i subscribed to dan howell" got me cause yeah no literally dude, you nailed it, exactly, well done. i think something about doing this show again, his magnum opus as he considers it, now after the dapg return was very special to him. he seems genuinely surprised that so many of us were ready to just jump back in like nothing happened, i don't think he was expecting so many people to still be waiting and it's... man. he comes off so grateful for us all and it's so fucking sweet. and then on the last night, i think that was my favourite, when the show ended and he got the standing ovation and people throwing him flowers.. he was so HAPPY. and clearly overwhelmed with emotion which, i gotta say, there is something honestly kinda funny about daniel howell standing in front of you trying not to cry. like no by all means dude go ahead, please, you've made me cry an endless amount of times it's only fair.

ugh. i'm proud of him or whatever. dick. and i'm proud of our ridiculous fucking community. i'm not sure what 14 year old nora would say if you'd told me i'd still be kicking it in the phandom a decade on, but at almost 25 (fml) i'm so so happy to be here still. you know, we get a bad rep, but i genuinely think as far as fanbases go we're pretty solid. and i love you all so much.

i believe i will have to rob a bank or something because the next time dan and/or phil do a tour i think i'll have to just show up at every date like i'm sorry but this was too good of a high we need to do it again immediately

anyway. back to work 💪

(by which i mean giffing dan and phil. i am still very much unemployed. fr though i'm two whole videos behind this has never happened i feel weird. who am i)

[sensorydephrivation]

I just spent some time doomscrolling through phannieconfessions and like. Am I the only person on here who started watching them during the hiatus?? I feel like it’s all either people who started before and think of the hiatus as The Dark Ages or people who started after and don’t really know about it. But for me, that’s not even really The Hiatus that’s just… that time when Phil was posting videos and Dan wasn’t and then that time when Dan was posting videos and doing a tour. People talk about Dan “popping out of nowhere” to “sell them things”??

I think my perspective is probably very different because a lot of people were like, waiting for Dan to return from the war lol. I completely understand that! If I had started watching him even a year earlier I probably would’ve felt the same way. But in the months post-BIG as it became clear that Dan wasn’t gonna be uploading at all I was just kinda like “well I guess Dan’s done being a YouTuber. Good for him.” I never experienced a world where Dan was posting regularly. I only saw dinof content as something of the past. I enjoyed it quite a lot, but I was aware that it was Done. I often get into TV shows only after they finish because the hype around the finale gets my attention. I kinda thought this was the same thing, that coming out was the finale of Dan and PhilTM and that was the mindset I approached everything with.

Did anyone else think this way?? I’m really curious because I’ve heard a full range of opinions on their hiatus content but not much about like, how we even define “the hiatus” (aside from literally being the gaming channel hiatus).

[dapg-otmebytheballs]

What are your favorite Dan and Phil fics?

I've been meaning to respond to this for ages but I had to compile the list first, sorry this is late!

I haven't read a lot of phanfic yet but I'm making my way through it on ao3! Here are ones that I loved so far:

They fade to nothing when I look at him by phasamtasie : (General) fluffy winter oneshot with sledging!

Come On Down To The Lavender Luck Lounge by thelezbrarian : (Mature) work in progress but it's a casino au where Phil is the casino owner and Dan is the accountant and I love this concept tons you should check it out!

again and again, even though we know love’s landscape by JudeAraya : (Mature) migraine hurt/comfort fic!! Very sweet and lovely

After the Storm (orphaned fic) : (Teens and Up) car accidents, ptsd, hurt/comfort, this one might be my favourite yet

The Edge by Japhan2024 : (General) Very sweet fic where they talk about the gaming channel return

CTRL+ALT+DELETE by ahappyphil : (General) DnP having to comb through social media and delete some memories, it's very sweet and intimate though

Of mistakes and fuck-ups by elusive_eventuality : (Explicit) post-vday vid, fight, happy ending, warning in this for self-harm and ed, but fics like these help me as someone who has similar issues so I hope it helps someone else out there too!

Leap of Faith by phanmindpalace : (Mature) another one with a warning for a suicide attempt, I think it's handled so well, especially how things are in the aftermath, and I'm sure there's others like me who need stories like this to find themselves in so this is for all of us fucked up readers hehe. happy ending tho!

after all that by cityofphanchester : (Teen and Up) another that's possibly my favourite so far, it's when Dan gets news from youtube about all his efforts being for naught. I think the very grounded but harsh facts of rejection are handled so well here, and how deeply it can hurt in a way that's all too big to make sense of. 10/10 would recommend

That's all from me for now! Thanks for the ask, I hope people find something to their tastes in this list 🌸

[alittledizzy]

i liked your dnp stuff but the fact that you still feel comfortable posting dnf is actually insane. regardless of the details of the situation why would you even want to think about those men they're such creeps.

I'm happy to hear you liked my Dan and Phil stuff!

Unfortunately I think we're just going to disagree on the rest of your message. The fact that you think they're creeps indicates to me that you're being very truthful and you don't care to look into the details of anything, which we differ on. The details of the situation are actually very important to me, and not at all something I want to disregard.

Here's a fun detail: did you know the campaign against Dream, the root of all of this public opinion about him, started on Kiwi Farms? I'm not going to link it because it's a vile site, but if you've never heard of it you can google for verification. It's an alt right hotbed where the users orchestrate mass harassment and doxxing of anyone they don't like. This is not an insubstantial fan defense of Dream - like I said, you can literally google it. You can look at the thread on him, the over five hundred pages of it. You can see them planning how they'll take him down and spread the lies/rumors.

Can you guess why they might not like an openly queer, neurodivergent content creator in the gaming space? Their actual goal was to try and see if they could get him to kill himself. They set out to start enough rumors that would go mainstream and spread enough about him (doxxing him, his family, etc) and it worked, to an extent. He didn't kill himself, but they absolutely succeeded in making people who aren't familiar with him genuinely believe he is an awful person though none of the facts really stand up because his story is just like most other people's. He grew up in a conservative home and had some dodgy posts about politics from when he was fifteen. (Did you know Phil Lester did the same thing?) That's been warped into "Dream is a Trumper Republican." when he's absolutely not. He's not perfect, but he's literally just a human being who has had a growth trajectory that people want to ignore because it doesn't fit the "creepy" box they think he belongs in.

He was in an abusive relationship as a teenager (where he was abused) and he had some messy situationships with other people his age. Most people with a high school/teenage social experience also go through that. But Dream's actions at 17/18/19 are held on a pedestal compared to real life (not online) adult relationships instead of other messy teenagers. None of the allegations about him are true. They came from fans who couldn't provide any proof, and burner accounts. They were all dropped and recanted. But people don't want to hear him clear things up. They don't want to see that people admitted they were lying. It doesn't fit the narrative of creepy.

Anyway - like I said, I'm glad you liked my dnp stuff, and I wish you the best! But I'm just not someone who is going to distill people down into one specific category or drop anyone based on public opinion without looking at the facts myself and coming to my own conclusion.

[snebsy]

dan and phil saying 14 is the worst age is SO REAL the only thing that got me through it was watching them

[slitsfordan]

Slime in Slime (2024): An Analysis

Dan and Phil could’ve chosen literally any craft for the fourth installment in DanandPhilCRAFTS, and they chose slime. Surely this has to mean something, right? Right.

For any young person in 2015-2017, slime should bring back memories. It was everything and everywhere. Literally every single time I hung out with friends, they’d want to make slime. The use of slime in DanandPhilCRAFTS, and the age group of the majority of their fans, forms an association to this time period. 2015-2017 also happens to be when The Amazing Book is Not on Fire and Interactive Introverts were created, and one of the peaks of the DanandPhil™️ brand. It also happens to be around the time DanandPhil crafts was birthed. By calling back to this era in a craft video, and using the slime for ritualistic sacrifice, Dan and Phil are acknowledging the harm of the DanandPhil™️ era personas and the phandom perceptions. By pouring the slime into the fire, Dan is firmly establishing this era as a thing of the past, representing the authenticity of Dan and Phil in this new era.

Slime also has a clear connection to Slime and Sadness Cinnamon Rolls. This video shares satanic imagery with the craft videos, of course (Lucifer Lester moment) but the theme of authenticity is also present. The way Dan acts as Sister Daniel in this video was the largest display of gender nonconformity and horniness by Dan and Phil at this time. Halloween baking and authenticity also brings us back to Monster Pops, and the aftermath: the post-baking universe. This marked a shift in Dan and Phil’s content, where they began to cut less gay shit and horny shit from their videos (like Dan’s fake orgasm during the video). If you really wanted to, you could even consider post-baking to be the beginning of the softlaunch. Both of these are events in which the horniness of Dan and Phil’s content was ramped up, and honestly the slime video has so much phallic imagery with the knives, but it’s also a representation of less censorship (if you’d like to call it that) by Dan and Phil.

Through both of these associations to slime itself, Slime invokes moments in Dan and Phil’s history where their performing personas were dropped in favor of a more authentic representation of self, like when Dan and Phil drop the craft channel personas to perform the ritual. This does, of course, connect to their coming out, and the handholding in Slime- slime as an object is connected to their authenticity, and so is the video Slime.

[phanfictioncatalogue]

Tooth Rotting Fluff (4) Masterlist

part one, part two, part three

a little bitter, mostly sweet (ao3) - antiadvil

Summary: Dan is a barista working the closing shift; Phil is the only customer who still drinks caffeine that late in the day.

for your eyes only (ao3) - blossomsphan

Summary: and they were roommates

(the fluffy tatinof bed sharing fic no one asked for in 2024… or did they?)

His World (ao3) - Sinninghowlter

Summary: Dan opens the door and before him stands his world.

He's finally home.

Home Is Wherever I’m With You (ao3) - howell_slide

Summary: “You being here is the best birthday present I could ever ask for,” Phil murmurs.

Or, Dan flies home from his tour to come celebrate Phil’s birthday.

Honeybee (ao3) - Scuddleduck

Summary: Dan sings a sweet silly song to Phil in the kitchen.

I missed you so much I dyed the towels green (ao3) - chuuyaswife

Summary: A few of Dan’s shows get cancelled while he’s on the WAD tour so he decides to surprise his boyfriend back home for a few days. Fluffy reunion ensues.

just stay here in this moment (ao3) - trademarkblue

Summary: After a few minutes of silence, Phil drawing patterns on Dan's arms with his finger, Dan pushed away from him. Phil looked up at him expectantly, his hair falling into his face. "We should film a house tour," Dan said.

lie with me (sew your heart to my sleeve) (ao3) - trademarkblue

Summary: You make me feel safe, Phil. I've never felt like that before. Safe like this. Not for a long time, at least.

A ficlet about comfort and new love.

Mistletoe (ao3) - undertalednp

Summary: Phil was a sap. And Dan basked in it.

Need (ao3) - orphan_account

Summary: Dan wants Phil's attention, but Phil is too busy editing. Dan decides that he is tired of waiting, and takes matters into his own hands.

New Addition to the Family (ao3) - mani_txt

Summary: Dan and Phil get a dog. Finally.

now i smile and face the girl who shares my name (ao3) - plinth_of_life

Summary: kath meets her newborn granddaughter.

one of those days (ao3) - nivi_chip

Summary: Phil has a dizzy spell and Dan takes care of him.

Or, Dan is the man with the plan (rip the stereo shows imy)

pigeons (ao3) - SylvesterLester

Summary: Dan is wondering if it’s too late to admit he really doesn't care for pigeons all that much.

Or, it's 2017, and the two just moved to the new flat which has a balcony and a new hyper fixation for Phil.

quiet morning (ao3) - Tarredion

Summary: Dan wakes up in the forever home, Phil breathing softly next to him

silent and sure, keeping watch in the night (ao3) - gaydreaming

Summary: Phil has always loved being on tour. The adventure, the sounds of the tour bus, the way his quality time with Dan takes on a different shape. On the road between Oslo and Helsinki, he sees some beautiful stars through the bus window and wakes Dan up in the middle of the night to enjoy them with him.

sweetie (ao3) - omgitshelena

Summary: a ficlet about pet names

The Guy Next Door (ao3) - Tarredion

Summary: Apartment nr. 7's new resident is a pretty, pretty guy about Phil’s age, height, and just his type... He also happens to be real charming and takes a liking to Phil - despite having (accidentally) just met, he's eager to join him in a Buffy marathon, as long as Phil doesn't eat all the popcorn beforehand. Maybe a date is in order?

the hoodie bow incident (ao3) - antiadvil

Summary: they were kissing.

The Phat (ao3) - gaydreaming

Summary: When Dan and Phil find an abandoned cat on a late-night walk to Dominos, Dan insists that they aren't going to keep him. After all, they know nothing about taking care of a pet. Dan will have the self control to put his foot down when faced with both Phil's big eyes and the cat's, right? ...Right?

three of us (ao3) - SylvesterLester

Summary: Phil is ready to make the next step. Dan isn't so sure.

-

Set after Dan comes home from WAD.

waking up to a dream (ao3) - queercatwithhat

Summary: "I missed you..." Phil mumbled against Dan's jacket, reveling in the familiarity of his smell. "I missed you more," Dan whispered warmly. Phil vehemently shook his head, "Not possible." Dan chuckled. Phil found that sound so sweet and endearing that he pulled him even closer.

You're the only story that I've never told. (ao3) - DumbGayVampires

Summary: Watching him, Dan felt the familiar grudging affection that came with a lifetime in each other’s company…

[likeastormagain]

Are there any phannies in their 30s that are going to the Boston show? Or any phannies in their 30s in general? 😔

And if so, do you want to be friends and chat about being old and gay about Dan and Phil together??? 👉👈

Honestly, I could really use some queer friends around my age to be parasocial about dnp with. Or to just nerd-out with in general. Especially now when community is going to be key to getting through the next 4 years (and beyond 😔).

I've realized that life is just too short to have anxiety about connecting with people.

So, older phannies (or, you know, people who are dnps age ajsjs) hmu 🗣🗣🗣

[fryday]

RE: Phil being quiet and Dan making the innuendos and winks, I actually think the opposite.

Phil said in his coming out video that he had been out and comfortable with himself for years and would have preferred to do a short video just talking from inside an actual closet lol

My interpretation is that he would have been ready and comfortable to be out as a couple this whole time but since Dan wasn't (isn't?), he deferred to Dan's comfort level. He let's Dan make the jokes because he gets to set the boundary.

I think the comment about doors was like, an agreed upon message. Almost like a press release statement lol I think they talked about it and decided that was the messaging. Especially since they referred to it in the mukbang 2 video.

Anyway that's just my interpretation. Hope that makes sense. I love scrolling through your theories! I'm the same age as Dan and I've been a phan since 2010 so it's nice to see the phantom come back more mature and kind that it was before.

(x) sorry for taking so long to respond to this! i think that is a really good interpretation of it, yes! one which i hadn't thought about at all

a counter-proposal re: how phil would've been happy with them being out as a couple long before, would be that phil is generally quite a private person and the stuff he shares with us on amazingphil, when he's acting purely on his own instinct and isn't interacting with/playing off of dan, is anecdotal but not necessarily revealing about himself as a person or his life. and i feel like he's quite professional in that way, that he shares what's pertinent to him doing his job well ie comedic stories, but doesn't go beyond that.

we also know that for the longest time he didn't actually feel the need to talk about his sexuality online at all because, as you said, he had already been out to some people in his life for a while by then and (a) thought that he was happy the way things were and (b) didn't really think it was a big thing that needed to be addressed on his public platform. but we know from COTY that part of why he was making it was so it could help people who might need it, and we know from his opinions in hindsight that actually coming out online DID make a difference in how free he felt after all. but perhaps, his relationship with dan was not something that could HELP people in any obvious way, and at that point it might have seemed irrelevant to him anyway from a freedom of expression standpoint because dan was hardly online/was hardly going to be online with him anyway. so he might not have felt the need even then to be transparent about them as a couple.

tl;dr - to me, phil comes across as a generally private person even if we're not talking about his relationship with dan, so he MIGHT not have found it relevant for them to be out as a couple before anyway.

but that's all speculation to do with the past! as things are now, if they actually have agreed to hard launch and are leading up to it, i totally see your POV and am inclined to agree with it! it seems to fit with what we know of them as people and as a pair, that phil would allow dan to set and push the limit as he's comfortable with it, because phil is the one who would be more chill/indifferent about it/what they share about it either way.

that was all just me thinking out loud though!! i don't have the answers, obviously, and i haven't kept up with dnp as closely in recent years as a lot of others around here have, so i'm def open to hearing other opinions :)

(also thank you! i love talking to people about their theories too. it's always v insightful and interesting! and i agree that the golden era of dnp and the phandom is now; overall i feel like there's a lot more to learn and gain from the experience of being here now vs before!)