#being part of the phandom for so long is really. something

[matryoshkalex]

the phandom has gone from being insufferable (derogatory) to being insufferable (affectionate) and i love that

the comments under the halloween post are the funniest things ive ever read

[gayerthebetter]

I'm seeing so many people ask why Dip and Pip picked "so long, london" with some people even joking it's just for the name and nothing to do with the lyrics, but what if I told you that wasn't true at all (or I don't see it that way anyway lol)

First, if you have never heard the song, now is the time to pop it on and jump into my madness with me. Second thing is if you do know the song and the idea behind writing it for Taylor I want you to forget it lol, we're starting new… kind of.

See this song for both Dan and Taylor is about a break up, only the break up for Dan wasn't a romance one because in his case the break up was between him and us/youtube and how the hiatus had to happen. (now before we keep going, I just want to say that I am not saying Dan hates us or youtube, so plz no jumping to that)

Now let's jump into why that is!

"I saw in my mind fairy lights through the mist I kept calm and carried the weight of the rift"

Dan said before that he always knew II was a goodbye, that he was giving us everything he had so he could leave, for him leaving and the freedom to be himself and find out who he really was, something he said he didn't really know, was the fairy lights he could see at the end and was the thing to keep him going.

"I didn't opt in to be your odd man out I founded the club she's heard great things about I left all I knew, you left me at the house by the Heath"

Now we're onto the Youtube part, because of Dan's video we know that Youtube "loved" Dan after he came out and did use him to look good all as they told him they wanted to do all his ideas with him, ideas he said himself other people were wanting to make but that he turned down becuase he loved Youtube and wanted to work with them, ideas that he thought if he just did what they wanted they would help make real, ideas that they would all but ghost him about until they needed the next thing off him.

"I stopped CPR, after all it's no use The spirit was gone, we would never come to And I'm pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free"

Dan "stopped CPR" aka he quit youtube, he gave them everything only to see it was never going to happen so he was done with them and went off to start doing the ideas himself, first idea being his tour WAD (i hope for the show so much, i would work for free tbh)

Now let's get back to us, the fans.

"And you say I abandoned the ship But I was going down with it My white knuckle dying grip Holding tight to your quiet resentment"

Since the hiatus it was and sometimes still is very much talked about how it was Dan's fault, after all he didn't want to be "dan and phil" anymore, he didn't want to do the gaming channel even as Phil was trying to get him to do just one little video here or there, even some people were hating on his new work becuase in their eyes he "abandoned" the phandom to do that.

Only the fun and joy we got from everything they did back then wasn't always the same for Dan and Phil, with Dan even saying that back in the day people trying to find out if he was gay was retraumatizing, and how he felt like he was lying to everyone and didn't even know who he was outside of dan and phil.

We didn't know just how hard Dan was fighting to keep going, and that when he got out, the very idea of going back to the way things were was awful to him (good news is they said themselves that everything is better and more fun now, and they can just be themselves now!)

"So how much sad did you think I had, Did you think I had in me? How much tragedy? Just how low did you think I'd go? Before I'd self-implode Before I'd have to go be free"

This is once more talking about how Dan couldn't keep on going and you could also see it as how using your sadness for your art (like dan's vids) can only go so far before you're empty of anything at all, or you want to be happy and you have to let things go, sometimes your art, to do that, at least until you can work with something other then your own pain, you need to work with hope and joy and everything in you not just the bad.

"You swore that you loved me but where were the clues? I died on the altar waiting for the proof You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days And I'm just getting color back into my face I'm just mad as hell cause I loved this place"

Now you can see this both to youtube and to us, the idea of "love" but it not really being felt or shown and how dan got better but there still a sadness because he did love it all even in the bad times.

"For so long, London Had a good run A moment of warm sun But I'm not the one So long, London Stitches undone Two graves, one gun You'll find someone"

So in my mind London is youtube and the old phandom and the ways it felt with all the good and all the bad but that the best thing they ever did was leave.

(once again this is just a post I made becuase i like reading into songs way 2 much , also dan and phil had both said again and again that they loved us then and now so plz don't think i am trying to say they hate us or youtube, i really think they are having the most fun ever doing youtube like this)

[xmissemmax]

So TIT Copenhagen, I have many thoughts and I decided that I would write them here.

We weren’t due to go to Copenhagen but luckily we were hanging out with @kavat recently who convinced us (didn’t take much) and I’m so glad we went.

Firstly, the weather in CPN was so nice, the sun was shining so much and that always makes me feel nice. @calvinahobbes had organised a phannie meet up (you’re the best) and there were about 16 of us altogether having lunch. This is one of my favourite things about phandom, just the people and meeting up with them. It was really nice and people had made crafty things to hand out and ahhh it was so nice.

The show itself, well I went in spoiler free which was hard but well worth it, I had no idea what to expect.

There are sections to the show, I’ll try and remember them if I can and will put them under this read more section so I don’t have a super long post - I’m likely to waffle soz.

- The opening part. The stage design is really nice. There is a good production (a lot like WAD), good lighting and the music is good. It seemed like they had the same people working with them (Ben and James are definitely back). I really liked the build up to the entrance and it gave me goosebumps. Seeing them both on stage together again was so nice, I missed Phil.

- Who are Dan and Phil. This bit was so funny. My face hurt from laughing. The set designs were amazing and anytime they mention the two flats it makes the part of me that wasn’t fooled by them laugh a lot. They seemed to do a lot of putting the dolls on top of each other in sexual poses on purpose. They know what they’re doing 😂

- the ad-lib section maybe was next. I wasn’t too sure on this section but maybe it needs a bit of time to grow. Dan calling Phil Capita£ester though, incredible. Also the audience shouting “cum” and Phil trying to hide it on the screen was soo funny. This part is definitely only going to get stupid things like “piss” “moist” “penis” shouted out much like all the other tours.

- ice berg part. Bloody Philip lying to us 😂😂 - can you believe in the last a sleepless night with Phil he recorded the video at like 8pm and slept through the night (innocent my ass haha). This bit was kinda fun but if you’re gonna let the audience pick the options at least follow what they shouted out (the vegas option is gonna turn into the cake scene for sure)

- the ghost scare part actually did scare me, but it was funny.

- the end part of the first section about doing what the top YouTubers do to be famous, well before the break I was like helloooo what is going on here but the part after the break SO FUCKING GOOD OMG. Dan came right in front of us, it was wild. The whole part being so choreographed the way it was!! The props, their acting, my face again hurt so badly from laughing / cheering etc. Ahhh I can’t wait to see it again it was sooooo good. Phils chest literally I was dead. I grabbed poor Maikes leg about 100x as it was so funny. Phil calling Dan and Cunt, the announcer saying Phil was squashing Dan with his “massive buttocks” omg it was just sooo good.

- Phil playing subway surfers whilst Dan ranted on about his childhood again, nice I guess but rehashed from WAD (sorry) and I wouldn’t be upset if this got cut.

- Phil does his own section which was nice but he was nervous (imo) and I’m sure this will get better as time goes on. It was so sweet what he was saying and he is a genuinely nice guy.

Phandom confessions. Good bit for audience interaction, Sister Daniel and Father Phil. Loved it, loved the outfits, loved the water gun, some of the confessions were very funny. It reminded me a lot of the past tours with the audience participation so I’m glad they have something in there. Dan looks so good in the nun outfit I’m not sorry.

- the ending. Well all night long I kept saying if they don’t do a song it just wouldn’t be right and let’s say they did not disappoint. It was better than I could have imagined. More choreographed moves (which were done wrong but it makes it all that better), the ukulele, the rave time, the lights, the thumping music fuck me it was incredible.

Things that I think will definitely improve with time, let’s not forget this was just day 2:

- their positions on stage, they seemed to be just walking into each other at times, not really sure where to stand or where to go

- Dan yaps a lot and Phil just does filler “yeahs”, I’m sure this is more of a confidence thing in the beginning. We all know Dan is a natural performer and thrives off it.

I am so ready to see it again, sadly it is not coming to the UK until January so we will just have to be patient but I’m so so so glad we have been already. I can’t wait to see how it evolves over the next few months and I’m sure January will be here before we know it.

Also, the trading cards as merch, fucking amazing idea.

Ps. I had such an amazing time hanging out with everyone as always. So grateful to Deps for bringing the best people into my life ❤️

[s0urstrawb3rry]

Danny Phantom ghost nature & manifestation headcanons

Based on a mash of different Reddit discussions and different people's headcanons, here is my own vision of the types of ghosts:

Classical ghosts: ghosts of people who died. They retain the memories and personalities of their living counterparts. However, not every person who dies can become a ghost. In order for a ghost to be created, a strong emotion needs to be present. Something that captures the consciousness that dies, and something that will become the ghost's purpose. The levels of ectoplasmic energy around where the person lives and around them at the time of their death, can also be influential to the potential of one becoming a ghost. But even if there are very high levels of ectoplasm present, without a strong emotion to tetter the ghost and allow it to form a consciousness, at best, the ectoplasm will reform into a shade.

Zone Manifested: are a separate type of ghosts. Zone Manifested ghosts are more of a high concentration of ectoplasm from the Ghost Zone, allowing for a ghost core to manifest. They are more inhuman, both in looks (like Frostbite) and in behaviour (since they were never humans to begin with, they lack certain human traits or even understanding of some basic parts of the human world). Like it was suggested in A Glitch in Time, if a Classical ghost ends up losing his connection to his humanity (can be due to a long passage of time, or other factors) the ghost becomes more akin to the Zone Manifested ghosts.

The Ancients: ngl, as I haven't watched the full show yet, I am not entirely sure what creators usually refer to as "The Ancients" in fanfiction. But I assume the term refers to beings, which seemingly are woven into the very existence of both the mortal world and the Ghost Zone (like ClockWork and the Observers). I don't have much of an explanation for their manifestation, other than that if they were to cease to exist, the world would fall apart and cease to exist along with them. (like ClockWork being corrupted in A Glitch in Time and the timelines starting to fall apart)

Now, as for the matter of Danny's obsession/purpose. In A Glitch in Time, it is established that Danny's purpose is to protect people. That has been a headcanon of the Phandom for a very long time. But I can't ignore the other very popular obsession headcanon, which I have to admit, I'm quite fond of. So, here's how I solve this dilemma. The emotion, which allows a ghost to manifest, becomes their purpose, but that's a separate thing from their obsession. Danny's purpose (here I'm slightly stealing from the fic Mortified by Marsalias on A03) manifested at the moment of his death. He heard his own scream (which later became his ghost wail) and thought that someone was in danger. Despite the pain (I mean, a literal ghost portal opened inside him) he had one single thought (agony aside) - he had to help whoever was hurting. That strong emotion, that "unfinished business", so to say, became his purpose. That was what allowed him to manifest as a ghost and allowed him to possess his own corpse before the life fully went out of it. His purpose is to protect, but his obsession is space. Now, an obsession is something almost every Classical ghost possesses. What it is, essentially, is a topic, object or person, which had been a very big part of their mortal life. (Eg: A dancer's obsession is dancing, and a sculptor - sculpting, or someone who really liked Homestuck while alive, might develop a Homestuck ghost obsession). It becomes the core of their ghost existence (not in the literal sense) and is the ghost's connection to their human life/humanity.

[tenpintsof-sundrop]

I wish you were in Tumblr headquarters to crack down on fandom. HR perhaps? So when we agree to terms and conditions, we have to abide by fandom etiquette and actually participate in fandom instead of leeching off of people silently. It really is showing your all to a group for slow blinks and no claps.

Come here, dear friend. Let me tell you a story.

As a Fandom Old - and more specifically, as a Tumblr Old, I have a lot of stories and I live my life by a set of unwritten rules due to lived experiences in fandom. And one thing I have learned is that being unhinged and lawless in fandom is just as bad as trying to impose too many laws and trying to police everyone.

Let me tell you the story of The 2012 Tumblr Tag Police.

(Which was a real thing that happened.)

Shortly after I first joined Tumblr, there was An Incident -

Something that you need to keep in mind is that Tumblr's tags used to be 100% chronological - this means that if someone tagged a post with something, it showed up first in the tags regardless of popularity, and every single post that came up when you searched a tag was in order of when those things had been posted. It wasn't filtered by popularity or 'relevance', everything was simply shown by most recent posts, and you could scroll through a tag and see every single post that had been made under a certain tag. So if something was fairly unknown and unpopular, you could scroll through every single post that had been made under that tag in a very short time - and even if something was super popular, you could keep the tab open and scroll through every single post that had been made under a popular tag and eventually get to the end (seeing posts that had been made years ago) because you weren't just shown the same popular posts over and over again.

It was genuinely great and I miss it. It was so fucking amazing for reading fanfiction. And it was so, so much better for posting fanfiction too, because fics weren't highlighted by their popularity. (But, nostalgia aside-)

I largely frequented tags for the Phandom - aka the Daniel Howell and Phil Lester fandom. And one day when I was on one of those tags, I saw that someone had made a post about Dan's younger brother. Apparently he had a Tumblr account that someone had discovered, and they outed his username in the post (I don't think they tagged him, but they had screenshots of his account, along with 'proof' that it was his account by showing that he had posted selfies on the account) and they were - basically telling everyone to go follow him in a very stalker-ish way.

At the time, I thought it was very creepy. I came back to the tag about an hour later, and I saw more people who also thought this was creepy, and they were saying 'hey, don't follow Dan's brother, leave him alone'. (And I believe Dan's brother posted on his Tumblr that he wanted to be left alone, but I did not follow him, so I can't confirm that part of the story.)

And this evolved into something I have never seen recreated on Tumblr since. Due to the chronological order of the tags, people wanted to flood the tags with something different so that anybody scrolling back, looking for the original post with Dan's brother's information would be incredibly difficult to find. So people created this type of... 'campaign' called Replace Dan's Bro With Tesco. (It sounds so fucking made-up, but literally, how the fuck could I make this shit up??) So people flooded every single Phandom related tag with pictures of Tesco (the shop) and long 'grocery' lists so that people would have to scroll on looking for Dan's brother's username if they wanted to be stalkers, and they would just get annoyed by the spam and leave the tags.

And due to this incident, The Phandom started something called The Tag Police. Which is one elected blog which is supposed to be - essentially Fandom HR that goes and yells at people if they are posting things on tags that are not relevant to that tag. Aka mass spamming Tesco or posting stalker attacks on Dan's brother. It's the idea that they will give you a warning and then incite harassment on you if you're posting things on a tag that don't belong there.

Sounds great, right? Everyone finds it so fucking annoying when people are tag spamming or if people post a Spencer Reid fanfiction on the Derek Morgan x Reader tag.

Well the biggest problem with any fandom trying to regulate or 'police' itself - opinions. Nobody can agree on how to follow rules when fandom is so fucking objective.

Obviously, a bunch of other fandoms followed suit, and there was actually a huge 'masterpost' blog that kept a list of all the Tag Police blogs for each fandom, and I believe the first major problem came up in the Harry Potter fandom (no surprise there). And I genuinely believe that The Tag Police era was where the use of Anti tags started. (At least to my recollection.)

But anyway - one of the Harry Potter Tag Police blogs was upset that someone was posting Harry x Snape fanfiction on the main Harry Potter tag, and there was a huge argument over whether or not it belongs there because - yes, it's technically something that pertains to the Harry Potter fandom, and a portion of the fandom might be looking for it under that tag. But 'it's gross and we don't wanna see it' and 'it's pedophilia and it shouldn't be allowed'. But the original purpose of The Tag Police wasn't to stop 'immoral' content from being posted on tags, it was to stop irrelevant content from being posted on tags.

A Dramione fic with rape, human trafficking, and abuse might be morally objectionable to a lot of people - but it still technically belongs on the Dramione tag.

This is when the purpose and concept of The Tag Police began to implode. It simply turned into a hate campaign where Tag Police blogs sicked their followers on certain people for posting things they didn't like - and it was always based on opinion, rather than based on actual outlined rules or facts.

Now as far as wishing that I could personally ban some people from fandom? I don't know.

Personally - I wish that ChatGPT and other forms of personal use generative AI (like c.ai) just weren't available to the public. I wish that you had to have some kind of major company tech licence in order to use them, and I wish that they were way more expensive to use so that the random everyday Jo-Shmo couldn't rip off fics and post gen-AI fics on Tumblr and AO3.

Other than that, if someone has different fandom opinions than me about characters or interpreting the narrative - even if they're blatantly stupid and wrong - I'll just block them and move on.

Because fandom should be more about people following everyday common courtesy rules to be polite - not about people making so many rules that it's tyrannical, and not about people being so fucking lawless that we're all monkeys slinging shit at the walls. And if someone who is just a rude shit-slinging primate needs to be called out by me, then I will happily call them out. And if someone who is new and learning needs me to politely outline some of those unspoken rules for them, then I will do that too.

Anyway - that's your fandom lesson for the day!!

[nanaarchy]

Any ETA on when you'll post your Invisobang fic? (This isn't me trying to hurry you I am genuinely just curious so I know when to look for it)

HEY GUYS!!

first off I just wanted to say i am so so happy to see the excitement for this fic??? like its so crazy to me to see so so so many people hyped for it sbgkhskshgs i hope i deliver something good :") i think it's not gonna be what people expect it to be, it's a combination of factors that I haven't seen anywhere on ao3, so im excited to see reactions lol. im still happy so many of yall wanna read it,, soobbign... cyring....

during the IB months I wrote 6 out of 8 chapters, abt 3k words each? is that a solid amount of words per chapter? no clue tbh. plus I had to rewrite a bunch, oops. I really am Not a fast writer

and so much has been happening irl, ive been hella busy :( honestly i was very much hit with the ao3 author curse lmao

and thus, many delays. but I am currently finishing the last two chapters, and once I finish this one i'll start posting!!

soooo, ETA?

Sunday the 15th!!

or maybe monday the 16th. my posting deadline is this weekend so i wanna start sharing things already ^^ and i'll prooobably post a chapter every two days >:) yippee

shout out to @zillychu (here!) and @they-bite (here!) for making the art for this fic. theyre absolute angels, incredible jaw-dropping awe-inspiring breath-taking artists <3333 GO GO GO LOOK AT THEIR ART PIECES !!! thank you both for being so so patient with how long this fic is taking. YOU GUYS ARE ABSOLUTE SWEETHEARTS!! you were both so supportive with everything, your excitement really fueled me to keep going with this wild fic, and i am so so so grateful for having been paired with two of my absolute favorite phandom artists. the stars really aligned to put me on a team with the kindest most skilled more ingenious artists i've seen around these parts, two artists that chose to make art for my silly little goofy fic, and i am beyond thankful. yall are gems <3

thank you guys for being so patient as well!!! <3

[demonqueenart]

Hey, thanks for bringing this stuff about DnP to light! Obviously, as a someone who’s been a fan of theirs (and still is) for about ten years now, it’s a hard pill to swallow, but even when I was younger I could tell that some of the jokes/statements they made were definitely in poor taste. I never acknowledged the wider hurt it may have caused, though, and I’m definitely learning to be better than that and listen to when poc are talking about these issues.

I guess there’s definitely an element of defence, particularly in this day and age, where people immediately assume that their faves are being cancelled and they’ll rush to defend them to avoid that from happening. To be fair, I’ve been that person before in the past, but I’ve learnt to internalise that “no, people aren’t trying to cancel DnP or ruin people’s fun, and believing that is simply immature; we are simply holding them accountable so that they can make amends and make the space more inclusive to everyone.”

I know there isn’t anyone that you can fully trust, but DnP have always shown capacity for kindness, acceptance and inclusion (as a trans person, I noticed over the years how they became more and more trans inclusive with their language, which was nice to see), especially with their recent support for Palestine which so many other creators have not bothered to even talk about, so I want to hold out hope that they would genuinely want to make up for what they’ve done, and I really hope they do. We all hope that. In the meantime, it’s up to us a phandom to make the space more inclusive to poc fans and to allow this conversation to happen without getting scared or angry or defensive.

I’d also like to point out, even though I know that this isn’t in any way related to the conversation at hand, that I was personally disappointed by a tour announcement because I knew I wouldn’t be able to go. Even though the most basic tickets are technically cheap, they’re still not accessible to a lot of poor people, and considering the UK is going through a cost of living crisis right now, it was certainly a bit of a slap in the face. I will admit, I was incredibly surprised that Dan put WAD on YouTube for free, so there is obviously a growing understanding on their part that their tours aren’t accessible to everyone, so I’m hoping they’ll find a way to make this new tour accessible, but I still think this tour has a problem with exclusivity in a LOT of different areas, as you’ve pointed out. I have friends from different continents who have complained about the exclusivity of the tour, even from friends who are in Europe (but aren’t in the more Western parts of Europe; there are no shows in Greece for example, despite the fact that there’s a large number of English-speaking phans in Greece).

One last thing I want to mention, though, I saw an anon talk about the subtitles on their videos. I have sensory processing issues, and I’ve always found that their videos have proper subtitles on them. I’m not sure whether I’ve missed some videos, but I’ve watched a substantial amount of their content and I haven’t found the subtitles to be a problem, so I’m wondering if perhaps the subtitle issue might be an individual issue instead? Again, I really don’t want to assume if I’ve got something wrong, but for me personally, DnP are one of the only YouTubers I’ve been able to trust to have proper subtitles on the majority of their videos, so that ask confused me. If anyone’s able to clear up that confusion, I’d appreciate it, because I don’t want to misrepresent someone else’s experiences just bc they don’t match mine.

Anyway, I’m really sorry for the long ask. Again, thank you for bringing this all to light, and I really hope things improve. I will always love Dan and Phil, and I trust that their hearts are in the right place the majority of the time, so I really do hope they grow from this. I’ve seen genuine growth from them over the years already, but there’s still a way to go, and none of us can shy away from it no matter how much we want to.

Stay safe, and have a nice day!

I'm glad I can be the one to shed light on racism and normalize talking about it in this community. Back when we weren't able to have this discussion properly, I would have never expected people to ever understand or accept me in this community again. I was told by many of my well-intended friends who've been here longer than me that the only way to move forward was to make peace with the racism that was happening here. (And don't get me wrong, they meant well and they’re a very good friend of mine for that. They didn't have to support me when I was at my lowest, when I was so damaged from it I could hurt them so easily. But they did it anyway because they cared. Some of them may not even share the same worldview as me, but that has never been a barrier for them to reach out and say they support me.) What I'm trying to say is, that the phandom was that bad before: The only way to survive as a poc who's being oppressed by this community in the past was to shut up about our experiences, or leave.

So when I saw your ask, able to articulate a full understanding of the situation of what's going on here, it feels like I had served my purpose. For the past fifteen years of this fandom's existence, we have never been able to talk about this until now. And yet, me and other blogs talking about this have managed to make an impact, enough to make us finally open up about it. A lot of you feel safe enough that you no longer chose to go anon by it now. That is fucking amazing. I hope that it has been healing and educating for all of you, and that we as a community will be able to move forward in the right direction this time :)

As for the subject of subtitle issues, I would admit I don't know a lot about it too much, since I never have to use it. From what others have said in the tags, it seems older videos had proper subtitles, thanks to the free community captioning. But ever since the hiatus, everything has been all over the place and they might not have that proper system to rely on anymore?? I don't know much, so if anyone is interested in expanding more on the subject, or more to where the op of this ask can be coming from, I would love to hear more. We should know what exactly happened so we can bring this to dnp to see where we can improve. (Also, I’m glad that ask opens more discussion about this now. And I didn’t realize it’s disability pride month, yay!)

[ID/ a banner with light blue sparkly background; the disability pride flag slides in from the left and darker blue text pops in reading "Make some noise for Disability Pride Month!!" /end ID]

Banner by dapg-otmebytheballs

Auto-message: This ask’s purpose is to acknowledge dnp’s past/present exclusivity, not to cancel them! But to embrace mistakes that they’ve made so that 1. we won’t exclude people in need in this community, and 2. we can normalize bringing up exclusivity so that improvement can happen. Hopefully this will one day help dnp realize that this is a safe space for them to talk about their mistakes, so that this space can become safe for people of all kinds too <3

*If you don’t understand what is happening, scroll through my blog for context. And I’ll be taking time to answer my asks, so don’t think I’m ignoring youuu*

[dross-the-fish]

First of all I just really want to say I absolutely LOVE your art and specially the way you draw Erik, Leroux-Erik my beloved 😭💕

Ok ANYWAY. I saw your posts discussing about Erik and how the Phandom portray him and Raou, and I really want to point out some of my views (in the healthiest and most polite way possible!!!)

I'm not trying to deny Erik's flaws nor that I have an obvious bias since he's my favorite character ever AAAND Raoul is a character I dislike a LOT for multiple reasons lol but, I want to adress that: Erik is a person that endured multiple ways of abuse and humiliation in his life, since he was a child. He has multiple scenes of trauma response and, as you pointed out your post, acts impulsively many times and also shows clear remorse for his actions. What I think separates him from Raoul is (aside from the obvious class diference and the fact that Erik has a whole history of trauma and evidences of mental illness) the fact that Erik learns something from his selfish, self-destructive behaviour. He *had* a chance to end up with Christine if he didn't so shitty with her, and this is very impactful in the end specially because Leroux didn't treat him as a villain who deserved punishment, but as a traumatized AND completely abandoned person who fucked up pretty bad

Obviously, despite my personal beef with Raoul, I don't think he's some sort of abusive devil or any shit like that. I just think Christine would be better at her own. Forgetting Erik's flaws for a minute — Raoul *is* very manipulative, childish and uncaring towards Christine. He, unlike Erik, doesn't learn from his mistakes and presents the same behavior until the end of the story. Idk my girl Christine could be better at her own, single, following her career. The fact that Raoul was born in a rich family in the 19th century and didn't face any of the poberty or struggles that lower-classed people like Daroga, Erik and Christine had also make his character waaaay more difficult to like in my point of view. I'm NOT SAYING THAT "being rich makes you evil" (duh) nor that Erik's actions are ok, just to be clear! It just bothers me how so many people treat Raoul like a saint little puppy and Erik as a monster, like COME ON

Now, back to Erik: I'm not saying you intended to mean that, but I have a huge problem with how part of the Phandom thinks Erik had malicious intentions when approaching Christine, or that his feelings for her are fake. The "Erik knew precisely what he was doing since the start" really makes sense considering how his redemption arc went in the novel. Obviously this changes a lot in many adaptations (for example he's clearly much more self-aware and manipulative in the musical). But Leroux-Erik *genuinely* believed he was doing the right thing. Maybe he had an idea of "uuuugh maybe this is pretty bad maybe i should stop" but the self-destructive-fear-of-abandoment-everything-is-fine voice spoke louder. Let's not forget that what turned Erik into having such a violent mental breakdown was not "Christine doesn't love me and I must punish her" bullshit, it was when he heard her speaking not so many cool things about him and his appearance at his back (NOT BLAMING OR HATING HER, I love Christine, I'm talking about Erik's pov). If Erik didn't love Christine, or if he was a monster, he wouldn't feel any guilty for his actions. The most impactful thing in the ending of POTO is that Erik realized he had treated the woman he loved like trash and even still she showed him the compassion he needed

Ok ending this long ass text, I just wanted to state that I agree with a lot of your points specially how the Phandom tends to summarize everything to black and white even though most of the characters are all morally grey. I wanted people to stop dehumanizing a mentally ill abuse survivor like Erik while also stop hating on a poor woman who never asked to be put into Raoul's or Erik's bullshit lol thanks for having the patience to read, I'm really curious to know what your thoughts about this are 💕💕💕

I appreciate your courtesy, I understand where you are coming from but there are a few points i'm not sure I fully agree with. While it is fair to depict Erik as traumatized or mentally ill, I feel these are ultimately reasons for his behavior, not justifications. I agree that he is a sympathetic character and his story is a tragic one, I also agree that Erik had a great capacity for good under better circumstances. Leroux says "he had a heart that could hold empires but had to content himself with a cellar," or something to that effect and I believe that's true. But some of Erik's behavior cannot be written off as impulse or trauma response. He was still an assassin who built torture chambers and even when no longer in Persia he still had a torture chamber in his home that he made use of. He has enough agency that he can still be held responsible for all of the death and destruction he caused even as we acknowledge that he doesn't enjoy killing and feels remorse. How he deals with his remorse in particular is a bit of a sticking point for me. Erik's consistent ability to willfully "forget" what he does or completely deny the severity of his crimes is very likely a product of guilt but the presence of guilt is not a sign of virtue and after awhile it starts to feel like he is first and foremost dodging accountability. He never feels guilty enough to stop and prefers instead to alleviate his internal discomfort by emotionally distance himself from his actions. I also think it's important to acknowledge that Erik is a villainous character and he is violent with Christine. He does try terrorize her and coerce her into marrying him by threatening to kill her and everyone else. To be honest that's why I like his redemption, because he actually NEEDS to be redeemed. You can't redeem a character that never fell from grace. If we can't hold him accountable for his choices and acknowledge the full harm he did then his redemption is hollow. On the subject of Raoul, Leroux tends to write him as being kind of young and stupid and most of his boorish behavior the product of youthful impulse and the older I get the more I'm inclined to agree. This doesn't make Raoul right or even necessarily likeable but if we're giving Erik grace based on the author's sentiments towards the character we should probably give some to Raoul as well. Ultimately I feel Raoul redeems himself by proving he's willing to die for Christine. He throws himself into mortal peril to save her because he does love her. Yes, he has a lot of privilege compared to other characters and it certainly contributes to him coming off spoiled and bratty at times but at the end of the day he and Christine do love each other and he is who she chose. I'll admit I sometimes feel compelled to defend Raoul even if he's not remotely close to my favorite character just because the fandom tends to over inflate his flaws and hold him to the worst faith interpretation while making every excuse under the sun for Erik. The phandom will go to great lengths to see nuance and humanity in Erik's behavior but not in Raoul's and, while I have my own character preferences and Erik is certainly my favorite by a long shot, I try to be fair and empathetic to ALL the characters in the story, whether I actually like them or not.

[natigail]

Dan Howell raised me (questionable, but let's go with it) to be a yapper and so I shall never fucking continue to stop yapping how delighted it makes me when DnP engage with us like this.

It might just be because I have never been in a fandom like the phandom before but the mutual teasing and respect and trust between creator and audience is something I hold so dear. It's never been flawless but I would argue at the core of it there's something so sincere, stemming from a place of love.

It's a parasocial relationship, it's not real love like you might think it, but I almost want to argue that it's a version of love, even if it should never be taken to far. There are so many people who adore, appreciate and love Dan and Phil, but I don't think it would be as fun if it wasn't just a smidge reciprocal.

As a whole, they love their audience. In what it has done for them in terms of gaining recognition and fame, but also just all of the shit that we've indirectly helped them with by sticking with them for so long. There is a bond that has been created between us and with the 2023 return of the gaming channel, I feel like they came close again.

They've created us. Sure, part of that is true. I joked about being raised by Dan but the truth isn't that far away from the joke. Him and Phil made me realise a lot of things about myself, through them I found friendships I treasure so deeply and they have inspired me to write so, so much. The person I am today is in part because of those two tall dorks.

But the creation didn't just go one way really. As a collective, their audience helped "create" them too. Creators generally want to share their creations and part of making and sharing something is wanting to see how people react to it. The Dan and Phil we see today? They wouldn't be those people without all of us.

And isn't that a beautiful thing, to leave an impression on each other? To know that in some small part, all of the cool and good work Dan and Phil have been doing, is because of the people who've stuck by them? The dedicated audience who watch and engage right back with at them.

Whether it be showing up to their shows, posting at or about them on social media or watching their videos and other content, all of that contributed to it. They know there's a whole space out there amongst their audience where we just engage with each other.

They also mostly respect that because it's not really a space for them, even if it's partly about them. It's a space for us. But I still love when we both agree to have a little overlap and share what's going on, even if it is "just" silly memes.

[philsmeatylegss]

please yap about dip and pip's relationship with pj, I want to know more

FUCKING YESS!!! WHOO HOO!! I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS DAY!!!

Okay so I haven’t brushed up on my PJ lore in a while, so correct me if any of this is wrong, but I’m sticking with the basics.

What gets me about their friendship is that they’ve been through it all together. Once again, correct me if I’m wrong, but him and Phil were friends before Dan started making videos, correct? It could’ve been after. Point is, he was there pre youtube era, bat shit insane era, and out era. And there’s proof they’ve stayed close through it all. I cannot imagine the pressure of maintaining a normal friendship under the circumstances they were under. I will fully admit myself I am one curious mf first thing I would ask is if they were together. And to have a bunch of 13 year olds yelling at you to do so, I can’t imagine just seeing all of that and then casually heading out to see a movie or get dinner.

I have a head cannon which I feel like I have enough reason to treat it like cannon and that’s that dnp only were close to YouTubers who didn’t care about their sexuality/relationship. You had to be there, but the 2014 british youtuber boom, dnp were making collabs with people who just were so different and it showed. And I don’t think people will understand if they weren’t there how big of a thing “phan” was. They were described usually something along the lines of “those friends with the matching hair that fans think are together.” So when you mix personalities that, to no one’s fault, just don’t blend, mix it with the pressure of five million thirteen year olds, and mix it with people who one has a lot wrong with them, that’s a really bad mixture to set up a friendship. I believe other than Louise and PJ, who dnp knew before hand (pretty sure louise, might have been at the start of their career), tyler oakley and Anthony seem to be the only creators they seemed comfortable around. I forgot why I started talking about this. Oh, the conditions in which friendship had to stand under.

I truly don’t know how to explain how insane the phandom used to be. And how widespread. As someone approaching the age they were when they started to blow up, I am amazed they didn’t leave the internet.

This whole long rant is to say that it was overwhelming to even be in the vicinity of dnp. The amount of pressure is something I truly cannot describe. And it’s hard to explain if you weren’t there, but I cannot imagine an outsider maintaining a relationship with the two of them with the pressures both within the relegation ship and outside. Because let’s also not forget Dan’s mental health and trauma was triggered every time a “phan is real” comment happened. It was truly such a chaotic time and I think the reason they didn’t have a lot of friends was because they couldn’t.

So it’s just that it must have been so fucking hard. And they must have a very close bond to have survived what their friendship endured. It was such a unique scenario to be pulled into and deciding to come along for the ride is something I find so admirable.

I also think PJ has been a part of their journey with sexuality and how public they were about being together. From what we know, Phil and PJ filmed together back when it was just millennials. To as recent as filming April Fool’s. That experience of watching that dynamic rise and fall and having to just follow and work with must’ve been crazy

If you look at a lot of the credits in dnp’s more professional videos, PJ is often in the credit and often has a big role. Really, it’s mostly the same people who dip and pip work with which gets me the most. It’s obvious they feel comfortable and genuine around him. We’ve seen behind the scenes how they discuss ideas. It’s just very relaxed, which is something dip and pip were deprived of as soon as they started blowing up. Everything had to be planned and thought through. And I think having an old friend who they were likely open to about their relationship and sexuality probably kept them sane. I do believe they are a lot closer than they put forward online and good for them. I think that’s why they’ve stayed friends for so long.

A lot of this is pure speculation. But it must be so cool to have watched your close friend go through the journey pip did, all the while being with someone he loved. But also helping them through it and helping them express themselves within their own boundaries.

That’s what I was yapping about at the start. I think the few YouTubers dip and pip remained close to Anthony, Louise, and Tyler, is because they seemed to like dan and phil because they liked dan and phil. There was no ulterior motive and they genuinely didn’t give a shit their relationship or what fans said. If I were dnp, I would have become very guarded with my emotions. But, at least from what we’ve seen, they seem very comfortable with Pj and his gf I forget her name but she’s so pretty.

When I think of friendship I think of what Peej has with dip and pip. There was so much obvious discomfort for so many years and being able to adapt to that is something special. Balancing public versus private. And just having such long history together. Once again, I’m not up to date on my lore, but I’m pretty sure Phil and Pj knew each other before Phil knew Dan. Or at least it was very close. Like they have been friends from the start. Pj was there for every stage. Every stage. And having a friend who remained neutral during it all probably really helped dip and pip not go nuts.

I truly cannot put into words how out of control the phandom was. Like I don’t even know how to phrase it. It was such a unique phenomena that I have never seen anything even close since. So it’s hard to really get across what it meant sticking with dip and pip during the height of their career, but it must have been so fucking hard on all sides.

And to just see after that chaos that they are still close, that they still film together, that they just hang out,,, I just find that very neat. And admirable. And I’m so curious to know more about it.

I’m not rereading any of this so enjoy the typos

[bish-plz-haha]

I need to vent; another tangent

I'm watching a video that is making me cry.

So there's a video I just found that was made after Dan Howell came out - back in 2019 or whenever it was - and there's a lot of videos online of Dan answering fan questions on live videos between 2013 and 2017 or whatever where people were constantly like "are you gay?". He used to get those a lot. There's also one video from a live where he is talking about how much he didn't like himself - if you know you know. His story when he came out really hit home for me - still does - but my mind completely forgot about the "I hate everything about myself, ask anyone who knows me" thing until I watched this video. Just, thinking back on a lot of that stuff, a lot of shit Dan has said has really hit home for me.

And I would like to say that Dan is a very aesthetically pleasing person to look at. Like he is a very gorgeous human being. And I'm not sure why but it's just really hitting home and just full on punching me in the face that Dan hated himself so much for so long and a lot of it was because of this thing that he had no control over. And through his childhood, he was told that this thing is a bad thing. As a person who has gone through the fear of questioning one's self, I'm thankful that I never dealt with that. I had people who supported me for who I was and never told me that I couldn't be this thing because it was bad. And to see this guy come out of nowhere - just sort of rise out of the ashes - and be like, "I'm here." But still hate himself so much and try to supress a part of himself and yet have all these people just hounding him and pointing out this thing he hates about himself.

As a part of the phandom, I was never one of those people. I will say that with confidence. I just kind of kept to the shadows, as I do today. I didn't care if he was gay, straight, an alien, a worm - my point is it never mattered to me. And it still doesn't matter to me someone's sexuality. But it just hit me tonight, hard, that the incredible Daniel Howell hated himself for so long over something he couldn't control. And people were constantly hounding him about this thing he was trying to hide about himself... and now he's happy. I mean, happy enough to be who he really is. He's been dealing with depression for a long time, I know, but he's able to be here and be queer.

The recent gaming channel videos have been getting me. Dan has been laughing - genuinely laughing. And just being himself. And it brings me a lot of joy. I just really fucking love Dan.

If I ever get a chance to meet @danielhowell I just wanna tell him how proud of him I am. I've been watching Dan and Phil for, god, 10 years now and I remember a lot of these moments that Dan has had on his livestreams. I was there. And it's only now just hitting me. It's been 4, almost 5, years since Dan came out. And as a fan of his: I'm proud.

I'm so very proud of him and his journey to self acceptance. I love Dan so much, and maybe it's because I've related to him a lot in my life, but I absolutely love Dan - and I will say this as many times as I need to. He's an inspiration. And I wish I could tell him.

[phanfictioncatalogue]

(TW) Drinking Masterlist

50 notes to unbox (ao3) - dylaesthetics

Summary: Dan moves out of his parent's home to start university and his older lifelong best friend Phil is rather an efficient help when it comes to helping Dan unpack, as well as a regular visitor of Dan's studio. What happens when Phil stumbles upon Dan's piggy bank for university savings he crafted as a child and finds it a new purpose? What happens when the truth comes out when it's so needed?

OR an overly cute, long and coming of age multiple part one shot you better read now.

Anthropomorphic (ao3) - Sifi_Ducks

Summary: Just them getting drunk during lockdown

Designated Driver (ao3) - aby55al (orphan_account)

Summary: Pastel Dan runs into a drunk punk Phil at a party. Then they have sex.

drunk words are sober thoughts - danhasacrushonphil

Summary:  The opportunity of a life time comes in the form of Phil Lester actually showing up at a party, all tattoos and bright blue eyes. Dan’s been crushing on him for far too long, so getting the chance to play Never Have I Ever with his crush? Yeah, he can’t pass that one up. What could go wrong?

i don't know why (i can't keep my eyes off of you) (ao3) - orphan_account

Summary: Starting a new university is hard enough without Phil having to convince his best friend PJ he doesn't have a crush on their other flatmate, Dan. He definitely does not have a crush on Dan.

i don't know you, but i would love to meet you (ao3) - orphan_account

Summary: It didn't work out with the guy at the bar, but Phil struggles to mourn his loss when the guy across the table won't stop staring at him.

I Wonder When We're Gonna Make It (ao3) - AnironSidh

Summary: When a new neighbor moves into the town that Daniel Howell has lived in his entire life and finds his safe spot in the town's vineyard, he will challenge Dan's view of himself and his town. Soon enough, they find themselves in an attraction nothing like Dan's ever known and one that those around them cannot understand. This may be Dan's only chance to escape and truly be himself. - A fic for a phandom reverse bang 2020 prompt in which Dan and Phil live near a vineyard, sneak grapes, drink stolen wine, and fall in love despite the times (1980s). Also, in which I project my love for queen onto Dan, because Muse doesn't exist yet and because I can.

Keep These Secrets In A Lie (ao3) - CanDanAndPhilNot (enbycalhoun)

Summary: Dan and Phil are friends. But friends don't act the way they do.

knowing the way (ao3) - watergator (orphan_account)

Summary: dan meets phil at a party

based on the line in BIG, "trust me, i've known a lot of straight guys until a couple of drinks, some deep conversation and lingering eye contact, and suddenly they just start leaning in."

Les Règles du Jeu (ao3) - danfanciesphil (thejigsawtimess)

Summary: Games night at PJ's. Phil wants to play.

Misery and Malibu (ao3) - dip_the_pip

Summary: Going home to Wokingham already made Dan miserable, but being around his old school friends is somehow worse, especially when Phil experiences firsthand the harsh words that were thrown at Dan all his life.

party poison (ao3) - howellesterfics

Summary: Dan wants to get properly drunk on New Years to celebrate the end of a decade, things don't go exactly to plan because he's kinda dumb

Renewable Energy (ao3) - Septic84

Summary: Dan and Phil hated working with each other since a bad business venture, now they are forced to do so again in America. They will need to team up and work together to beat the competition, but can they stop bickering long enough to do so?

something visual, not too abysmal (ao3) - sierraadeux

Summary: Dan and Phil get ready for the late night, double feature picture show.

the man of my dreams (ao3) - mel_m_a_o

Summary: He first dreamed about this man maybe two months ago. The dream wasn’t really something out of the ordinary and Dan didn’t really remember what it was about, but it stuck out to him, because he wasn’t usually someone who remembered his dreams. He often thought he just doesn’t dream at all, but that certainly changed. He keeps dreaming about the same pale, black haired man and his bright eyes that make Dan wake up in a sweat. He starts to see the face everywhere all the time until he actually does.

vampires will never hurt you (ao3) - howellesterfics

Summary: Dan is embarrassed by his mistake of a Halloween costume, but not everybody has such negative feelings towards it.

we have more in common than i thought (ao3) - manicpixieidiot

Summary; bad boy!dan has a bit of a secret crush on nerd!phil, and when grouped with him in class he uses the opportunity to convince him to come to a party. (what happens next will shock you!!) (not really, no shocks don't worry)

featuring a latin class, a party, becky&jessica, flustered drunk boys. and more softness than intended.

When the Weather Breaks (ao3) - sierraadeux

Summary: Sitting across from Phil on that worn out velvet Starbucks sofa, sharing sickeningly sweet coffees and what they would like to think were hushed giggles, was the first time Dan felt a glimpse at what real love could feel like. or Perception checks, pining, and peppermint mochas.

[cdaae]

Thank you for speaking up about the very real issues in tPotO fandom. You are not the only one to feel unsafe and unwelcome in it from fake allyship. Everyone wants to be an ally until it’s time to do ally stuff. I guess many would rather look the other way to keep the peace but how does that feel to the people affected by these things? I wish this fandom would do better. But from what I have seen I am not hopeful.

This phandom can be so great. I've been here for a long time and I've made some many friends and changed and grown so much over the years. I was young when I first got here and I didn't see a lot of the problems. Then I stepped back for a bit. And now that I'm here as an adult and I’m active again, seeing some of the things going on that don't get addressed... it's disheartening. There are a lot of people here that don't get involved in this kind of thing and I get that. It can be messy and honestly fucking scary to call someone out for being shitty. I still get anxious talking about the Jessica situation- she has a documented history of going after people who try to speak up against her. But it also gets to a point, for me anyway, where I feel like I need to say something. And I don't expect anything from people here. Sometimes I'm just venting. Sometimes I'm trying to give people here a heads up about someone they might come into contact with. It doesn't happen very often. Insolentboi was a big one and now Jessica. And if people don't interact with my posts- there could be many reasons. I don't judge, I don't care. I feel like I've done what I can by speaking up. But what does suck is the people who interact with the posts and act like they care and even share the posts in order to spread awareness and then turn around and continue to be friends with her. I know they know that she's a racist, homophobic bully. So do they not really care? Is their e/c fix more important than not supporting someone like that? As a member of the lgbt+ community, seeing someone pretend like they care here and remain friendly with a homophobe makes me feel unsafe. I know I can't trust you now because whatever you're getting out of her content is more important. Even if her book was really good, I can't understand this.

I had a conversation with someone recently that I'd been friendly with in the past. I showed them some of the things Jessica has done and they acted horrified and were so grateful that I informed them because they wouldn't want to interact with someone like that. And yet... she still goes out of her way to be nice to Jessica. I've talked to a few people about it and it's not because I want them to block her necessarily but because I would want to know if someone I was interacting with was a racist, homophobic bully. But what bothers me is the fake show- when someone reacts just absolutely horrified, when they reblog posts, and say things like "oh I'm definitely not going to read her book"... and then they leave a comment telling her how wonderful her book is. It's the people that know, act like they care, but still continue to show her support that are getting to me. This is the fake allyship- trying to convince me you care about the issue but continuing to openly support the problem.

Sometimes it can be frustrating to try and draw attention to a problem and people here don't say anything. I do wish more of the community would be an active part of these things, because that's how we make change. Jessica wasn't blacklisted from the supernatural fandom until the community spoke out on a large scale and drew attention to the things she was doing. I hope to god we don't let her behavior get as bad as it's gotten in her other fandoms before we finally do something or worse, that we never do anything. Everyone deserves to feel safe in fandom.

Thank you for your message. I'm sorry that you're experiencing the same feelings. Phandom can be so great for sharing ideas and making art and just having community, but there are the ugly parts too.

[oldphanny]

Heyyooo I can help with that!

So the Phandom has been huge on Tumblr for over a decade now, I've been around for about 11 years but I'm sure there have been people here wayy longer. Back in the day, the Phandom on Tumblr specifically was very problematic when it came to respecting Dan and Phil's privacy regarding their sexuality and relationship status (among other things like doxing, stalking etc).

It would have caused a lot of discomfort for them since they had not come out as gay during their peak on YouTube (around 2014-15 mainly, but honestly anytime prior to 2020). I would say that was the same time that shipping on youtube in general was at its peak and real person shipping and fiction was kind of a new ballpark for so many people/teens.

From my experience, I feel that there were many people treating Dan and Phil like characters from fiction rather than actual people and fans weren't as aware of the effects such online gossip could cause. The Phandom was a lot younger back then (from memory most people I followed were under the age of 20) so I think that a lot of it came from immaturity and that disconnect you have watching people through a screen.

Dan specifically struggled significantly with coming to terms with his sexuality (Dan's coming out video can give you insight into his journey). I can imagine that the kinds of things that phannies were saying on Tumblr prior to them both coming out as gay in 2020 (here's Phil's coming out video too) would have greatly impacted their self esteem, mental health and frankly their sense of safety.

People would post all sorts of photos from catching them out in public implying that they were a couple which I'm sure would have made them felt unsafe. Especially since being gay back then was not as accepted as it is now. Not to mention the absolute over analysing of everything they ever featured in.

However, I think since their hiatus, a significant portion of the phandom has moved on while the die hard phans have stuck around and aged gracefully (if I say so myself lol). There's been a major shift in the Phandom since their relaunch of the gaming channel a year and a half ago because now we are aware of the impacts we can have. I would say most of us are in our 20s or older now so we've had the chance to mature and learn from our mistakes.

It's kind of the collective idealogy now that if we want Dan and Phil to continue making content on YouTube, we should treat them with kindness and respect (which should have been the case from the beginning but hey at least we got there). I've certainly seen the change and it's really become such a supportive fandom to be a part of!

Dan and Phil in this video recently acknowledge how chill the Tumblr Phandom is now, compared to the olden days and the current Twitter Phandom (which is considered problematic in very different ways but this post is already very long so I won't bore you with that lol). I find it so awesome that they've noticed the change too and hence my original post :)

Sorry for the long spiel but Dan and Phil and the Phandom have a very long history and I hope I've explained it well. If any other phannies see this, PLEASE chime in if I've missed something or explained poorly, I know some of you have wayyy better memories than I do!!

I hope you do end up getting into the Phandom! We'd love to have you, I think the best place to start in terms of getting into Dan and Phil would be DanAndPhilGames and going through the videos they've posted since returning to YouTube! I personally think they have the best vibes and you get to get to know them today before working backwards. But I'm sure everyone you ask will have different answers :) the "Phil is not on Fire" series on the AmazingPhil channel is also very important! Best of luck to you <3

dan and phil officially acknowledging that tumblr is chill now has healed some part of me I didn't know needed healing

[phregnancy]

Hey I'm new to the phandom, what's wrong with the misunderstood tweet fic? Is it in relation something that happened in the past?

the issue is that it’s an absolutely ridiculous response to people’s valid criticism. dan has a long and relatively recent history of making racist remarks, it was not a huge leap to assume that he was making another racist remark. his initial ‘no homo’ response was flippant and insensitive, given how important they knew that was to so many people. it shouldn’t have been addressed until he could write out a longer explanation. then his response to the backlash was poor. if he kept it to ‘this is the situation, we won’t adjust parts of our show for systemic homophobia, i’m sorry’ - that would’ve been more than enough and it would’ve been a good, professional response. but then he added how he feels he should be allowed grace to being told his ‘existence isn’t welcome’ for being gay, which i have a problem with for a few reasons but i suppose none of which are relevant to the fic. the fic is shit because to see all of this, experience it, and have your take away be “aw poor dan :( it must be really triggering for a white man in his 30s to face backlash again :( let me write a hurt/comfort fic where phil validates him :)” is extremely out of touch

[fanghur]

I might have had a particularly crackish idea for crossovers, but spoilers for RWBY volume 9. Fair warning, it’s a doozy of a ramble.

So, the Danny Phantom fandom (Phandom) has created Little Baby Man Danny, which I think is initially @tourettesdog ‘s brain child, but add variations to the idea of it being a contagious condition.  

Consider, if Danny uses portals to other worlds, and being half alive/human, could infect other humans that have, in some way, shape or form, died before,

Example, since the Phandom is on a massive DC crossover kick, Jason Todd being bitten by a little black and white blur, and suddenly, Little Baby Man Red Hood

But let’s go farther afield, shall we? I personally love the Artemis Fowl series, so, Artemis, post Last Guardian resurrection, either doing something he shouldn’t, or something that just happens out of the blue to him (let’s face it, it’ll be funnier), and poof, Little Baby Man Arty, who’s absolutely feral. Everyone else is freaking out because even after developing Atlantis Complex, no one would expect Artemis to turn into a biting, scratching, no-thoughts little chaos creature, Ghost equivalent of rabies or not. And that he keeps hiding in the Fairy Roses, or even growing more anywhere viable for their growth that he settles on (which admittedly isn’t often). Even the most chaotic cat has nothing on a little guy that has ghostly abilities, genius intellect (at least in planning the chaos) and a new disregard for dignity or self preservation to everyone’s, but especially Butler’s and Holly’s dismay (like a fallen bookshelf would be what causes his second death? Ha, no)

The one that really got me on this train of thought, though, is Ruby Rose of RWBY after, well, the Ever After. Ascension, to me, at least, would count as death at least a bit, even if not in it’s base process than certainly with Ruby doing so in a parallel, if not outright, a form of suicide. Yes, it’s still a strech, but let me have this. Little Baby Man Ruby flitting around with her semblance + ghostly flight for maximum chaos, and reverses the whole ‘rest of the team got shrunk and are metaphorically and literally on her shoulders’ from v9, instead team WBY is trying to prevent their leader from disassembling any vaguely interesting weapons in a ten mile radius because interesting and devouring any cookies in an area twice that radius. Bonus for Neo, however you’d like to imagine her post-ascension, or just her appearing just to nope out at seeing this shit. Little Baby Man Ruby annoying Salem and/or Cinder into defeat because their magic ain’t got shit on a tiny ghost thing with Silver Eye anti-Grimm eye blasts the moment either look at her family.

Possibly my favourite part is how a crossover with all of these could work when shoved together. DP and DC crossovers are very popular atm, at least for the Phandom, RWBY and Batman (and the JL as a whole) have official crossovers, and Artemis Fowl also for crossovers but also just a long time fav. 

Listen, I just want to imagine LBMRuby and LBMArty becoming best friends without their repressing emotions or the weight of their worlds and legacies on their shoulders. Let them be little chaotic rose-themed creatures together!! Red Hood, tbh is more to connect as a connection to Batman (Team _WBY running into him again after whichever official crossover and just, ‘Red Hood and Ruby got turned into What?’). Ruby and Jason as Red Buddies, Artemis and Danny being a disaster duo that are both Prime Wayne Adoption material (in their normal forms), Ruby and Danny as Heroes, Artemis and Jason as Criminals, etc..

And the others! Sam bonding with the fairies and Damian over being vegetarian and being eco-friendly, Tucker and Foaly getting a rivalry over tech and their names (’There can only be one Foaly/Foley!’) and Oracle just hacks them both. Jazz taking only look at WBY and the Bat Clan and siting them down when things have settled a bit for some impromptu therapy. Butler, Yang and Blake talking shop about guns, drawing in Damien and Weiss when it extends to bladed weapons (and the Remnantian philosophy on ‘it’s also a gun’ for weapons), before everyone else is giving their two cents in non-lethal weapons.

And for how Little-Baby-Man-ism gets cured? Maybe it’s just time, maybe they swing by the Ever After and chuck them at the Tree for Ascension and free therapy, or maybe a trip to the Far Frozen since it is a ghostly disease. Maybe the others get ghost powers like Danny’s, and shenanigans continue in a different form. 

Like, Artemis gets a ghost form that looks more like the depictions of Fairies as the Fair Folk of lore, all graceful looking and ethereal, with orange roses integrated. Or he ends up like a vampire, though different from Vlad, and that becomes a whole thing. Also, he accidently turns intangible and falls until he lands in Haven City. No one is amused by the idea of Mud Men just falling into their city, least of all the Mud Man in question.

Ruby, ironically, has less of a rose theme when she develops a ghost form, but it leans heavy into plant-like with Tree-likeness instead, and her colours turning from red to the green-red-purple combination of the Leaves. Her arm turns invisible once and Yang uses it as an excuse for all the hand puns she can make esp. referencing her own prosthetic. (”Say that you’ll give me a hand one more time, Yang, and I’ll tell Dad to show Blake all your baby photos” “C’mon, Sis, just gotta lighten up” “was that a pun on my ghost glow?” “Nah, the flying” starts dialing Taiyang “Wait, Ruby!”)

Not many thoughts on Red Hood tbh, I’m not part of the DC fandom specifically, though I enjoy the content, but it seemed rude to ignore him. I’d rather not accidentally butcher him. 

New plants are grown at each of their homes, orange roses and a sapling tree with odd-coloured leaves each give Artemis and Ruby a way to fast-travel to each other’s homes, and Wayne Manor and Amity Park (Sam's greenhouse?) while Danny and Jason are stuck to ‘traditional’ portals. Maybe RWBY’s the only one from a different world, or the others are all from different Earths.

I’ve got a lot of thoughts, obviously, but fuck it, I’m not gonna actually write it into more concrete existence, as opposed to continuously rotating it in my brain. Y’all can take what you’d like, I just want to see if anyone makes anything of this.

TL;DR Give Artemis Fowl and Ruby Rose ghostly Little Baby Man forms alongside Danny. Also Batman’s involved ‘cause why not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯