#i want to think about the dan and phil games hiatus ending

[lem0nademouth]

i’m desperate for a single fucking moment to breathe so now antisemites are getting autoblocked and if you try to convince me ur not an antisemite ur just an antizionist ur also getting blocked

[danrifics]

you all pestered me for it and here it is. the closeness analysis/ theory.

now if you didn't see I basically had this theory that the closer to BIG and COTY we get in the DAPG timeline the closer dan and phil sit to each other. Dan made a comment about how them playing Heartthrob being like a gay soft launch and that got me thinking of some other ways they could have done it and one of those being the idea that as time goes on you get less and less strict and worrisome about what others think of you and so they end up gravitating closer and closer.

This post will be under a see more cos its probably gonna be long af.

I will be splitting it into stages.

2014 -15

2016 - 17

2018

revival

sorry the screenshots arent clickable to make bigger tumblr only allows for 30 on a post so i had to group them together!

(i will not be covering horror games apart from in the revival stage and i will also not be talking much about gamingmas 2023)

2014 - 15

now when i initially went to collect my evidence, i was suddenly worried maybe i kinda had things wrong because i feel like in Donkey Kong Country (the first dapg video, see screenshot below) they're sat pretty close but honestly when we get to how they sit a lot later on you'll see that this is actually pretty far apart

now here are some screenshots for the inital look at at the end of them we'll talk (this will be the layout for most of this post i think)

now of course this is only a selection of those year's videos if i screenshotted them all i fear this post would never end. now these first 2 years are a good mix of at desk videos on sofa videos. i noticed from some other videos not show here that in sofa videos they rend to sit a lot closer to each other than they do at the desk, this is kinda funny to me cos really they definitely have room for a wider frame on the couch if they wanted to sit like normal people.

2016 - 17

2016 and the start of 2017 feel like a mixed bag of how close together they are but i did notice that the more into 2017 we got the more they seemed to be shoulder to shoulder! these also started to wean out sofa sitting games (not 100% gone yet but almost). now if you're wondering why i've kept this screenshot apart its cos this is the last one in the first london apartment.

and honestly from here on out is where i believe the "soft launching" begins!

so lets finish 2017 and see if im right!

just had to single out this screenshot for a sec:

in case anyone wondered that is the face dan made during dream daddy when phil reads "we were roommates for a while too"

softlaunch?

anyway moving on

watching these videos definitely feels like something changed btw, while they still arent as close as we'll start seeing them sit, i definitely noticed more often they were shoulder to shoulder. but like a new room has definitely changed the vibe a little bit between them, and now we can move on to the next and final year of pre hiatus dapg, where things as you will see immediately start to change.

2018

like i said... immediately we are met with this, i would also like to let everyone know that 2018 is my favourite era of pre hiatus dapg

lets see what the rest of this year will bring

now i'm splitting 2018 up into parts because i need to do a whole talk about the tour situations so for now lets look at the above screenshots, now its very obvious that they are sitting so much closer to each other which i think is really funny considering how big that room is and often in this section of videos there is a lot of room either side of them so they literally do not need to be that close.

now lets talk about the tour bus. this is how close they're sitting

thats for sure a 1 person seat yet they've both forced themselves on even tho the sofa literally behind them would have been perfectly fine to sit on, and they cant give me "this is the only place to set up the camera" babe its really not theres a whole surface behind you.

okay thank you for listening to this, moving on to the final part of 2018!

(the last 2 screenshots are out of order oops)

idk about you but yeah i think they are definetly a lot closer than they were way back in 2014. i really dont have a lot to say other than that, and i have definetly proven my theory so now we've established that lets have a brief look at post hiatus dapg!

Revival

Now this is gonna be really brief its just a summary of where we are post BIG/COTY and post hiatus (things my brain still cant quite believe is real)

now here are the revival moments i wanna give a mention!

firstly sims season ep 3 when dan moves his chair away from phil and their wheels are literally locked together, pushing phil's chair too

heres dan looking into the monitor and then moving closer to phil <3

and finally

hand hold

thanks for reading all this and sorry if it didnt live up to the hype lmao

[ilovepinof]

HI! I’m currently making a Dnp Youtube playlist so I can fully introduce them to my mother (since shes going to TIT with me). Do you have any favorites/recommendations??

I’m adding more post hiatus vids since thats the energy we’re mostly getting on tour, but i’ll take anything :]

A silly bonus: The other day I gave her a short rundown of the timeline, and she pauses me and goes “Oh they live together?”, and I said yes expecting her to inquire further but she just went “Very nice.” 😭😭😭 so either shes completely clueless on the dynamic or understood it immediately, but I found that funny.

(I literally saw a big post about this yesterday I wish I could find it but alas I will try to give my best suggestions)

This post can be useful for anyone who has friends/family going to TIT with them that may not know much about Dan and Phil!

This post could also be useful to share with any friends who want to get into Dan and Phil

Feel free to pick and choose, you obviously don't have to watch every single one of these with your TIT buddy.

Category 1: Dan and Phil Lore - There are a few current videos that can give insight into past&present Dan and Phil lore without having to go super duper in-depth with her about everything.

Dan and Phil React to Every Phil is not on fire! #1 - I feel like anyone whos seeing TIT should be aware of Pinof lore but maybe thats just me because...I mean look at my username. I think watching PINOF react #1 is good enough because its the core trilogy and explains their origins well

Are Dan and Phil Connected? - I'd describe this video as taking a ton of shots of Dan and Phil lore rapidly at once, though she wouldn't understand everything she could at least begin to know stuff!

Both Pizza Mukbangs!! Here is mukbang 1 & here is mukbang 2. I feel like these two videos really encompass a lot of what Dan and Phil have gone through in the last few years and lay a good foundation of the tour.

Halloween Baking - SLIME AND SADDNESS CINNAMON ROLLS - Dan and Phil baking is a core part of Dan and Phil content and cannot be missed. This one doubles as a fun activity! You can bake and watch Dan and Phil together! Me and my (non phannie) partner did this and it was so much fun.

Any WDAPTEO - Heres a link to the most recent one

One final option in this category would be either of the dnp react to phan twt videos because it would explain the fans more but I don't feel as if this is necessary.

Category 2: Dan vs Phil - I feel like Dan vs Phil really shows a lot about their individual characters and dynamics. I'd start her off with these videos to get her into the world of Dan and Phil a little. Here are the ones I suggest.

Dan vs Phil IS BACK! Switch Sports

Is Dan smarter than Phil?

Dan vs Phil - FALL GUYS!

PARTIAL KITCHEN REVEAL SHUFFLEBOARD SHOWDOWN!

Category 3: Misc - Videos that I could not fill a full category for but I think would still be good.

This game ended our friendship - Bread and Fred - In a similar way that I feel like Dan vs Phil shows their dynamics well, I think it's important to also show the chaos of their team work. This one was one of my favs I rewatched it so much.

Who is the liar? Dan Phil or Pj - Whats a better way to get to know someone than Dan and Phil with one of their good friends? I highly suggest any Dan Phil Pj Soph video!!

GOLF WITH SLITS - Dan and Phil Play: Golf with Friends #9 - An iconic channel series.

Category 4: (some of) ILOVEPINOF's fav comeback videos - These videos were just my personal favorites. Think of this list as kind of "extra things you could watch" because they're all reallly good videos in my opinion.

Dan and Phil's raging Trombones

Trunk Dexting with Pan and Dhil

Dan and Phil Dress Each Other

Forcing Dan to Watch MORE Tiktok Likes

THE BACHELOR PARTY - Dan and Phil play The Sims 4: Season 2 #5

[philshotcocoa]

So I was rewatching the second pizza phukbang and the whole bit about how ii (Interactive Introverts) was suppose to be the end of Dan and Phil always gets me thinking.

It makes me think about how much Dnp’s comeback has set off a sort of butterfly effect in my life, and how many things I wouldn’t have realized/not done just within these past couple of months, had they not unhiatus-ed (if thats even a word).

So I was thinking this could be a sort of sharing moment :D! I want to know how the comeback of the gaming channel has affected you! (I’ll share a little down below), but pop into my inbox/or reblog/ and share as much or as little as you’d like!

A few examples can be:

-What are some new memories that you’ve made?

-Have you made new phannie friends (online/or IRL)??

-Have your non-phannie family members/friends had to endure long rants regarding Dnp? (Just when they thought they were in the clear for five years….) (I know one of my friends was a victim of my “lore rants” during the release of all the clues for the tour).

-Has the fan-person within you come back full force?

-Have some opportunities come up for you that wouldn’t have happened otherwise?

-If you’re a new post-hiatus fan, how have you interacted with the community? Have Dan and Phil become a new fixation that you wouldn’t have found without the comeback?

(And literally anything else you’d want to share, as long as its safe for me to respond to ^_^)

Feel free to reblog if you want to share this around and get people in your own inbox/asks🤍🤍!

For me, the gaming channel comeback has honesty allowed me to move past internalized homophobia/other things I was hiding from myself. Rediscovering Dan and Phils story and seeing them be so happy being their authentic selves made me rethink the way I was treating myself. Especially because I hadn’t realized how similar me and Dans journeys were regarding queerness. It made me not feel so alone! And now with my Tumblr I’ve found so many more people and it makes me sappy to think about it too hard 😭.

I’ve also genuinely reverted back to the interests and mindset that made me so happy back before the hiatus. In the last five years I was bullied heavily for being one of those “weird kids” and I eventually caved in and hid any and all of my interests. I tried desperately to run away from what made me happy in order to appease those around me. When I found Dan and Phil again, something in my mind set off. Letting go of that old mindset and reverting back to interacting with the content that actually made ME happy has been the biggest thing i’ve realized. Dan and Phil have reminded me that I need to embrace that nerd part of myself, otherwise its not really me.

(Yes, its all sort of cheesy, but its true)

So those two along with a lot more positivity thats come into my life solely from these last few months has been absolutely lovely. My life was honestly saved and to think of all the butterfly effects boggles my mind @_@ !

Thanks for reading if you made it this far.

I’m sending good vibes 〰️ !

[freckliedan]

in your opinion do you think that now they’re not in the closet publicly anymore, it’s not that they necessarily care that people think/know they’re together, it’s just more that they want to keep their actual relationship private?

ooh this is a good question honestly! i mean, they've said it themselves that they're private, and their actions back that up too. i think a huge part of the way they've navigated the privacy for their relationship while & since coming out has been about setting a clear boundary, considering the past violations of their privacy?

but honestly i think there's another huge piece of why they've been so private over the last five years and why that's changing now! i think the gaming channel hiatus era has been their individualization era, which was important for dan especially. like, phil had some time as an adult to learn who he was before he met dan; all of dan's identity formation as an adult happened in the context of his relationship with phil.

spending your entire adult life in a relationship with someone, AND living with them AND working together AND having shared friends for the vast majority of those years? speaking from experience: you can reach a point where you're less able to identify your own individual wants and needs and strengths and dreams, even if it's a healthy and beautiful relationship.

especially if there was any level of tumultuousness in your home life lol

with the added pressure of being a public figure it makes a lot of sense to me that a hard reset had to happen for dan's exploration of who he is and wants to be and enjoys doing with his career to succeed! dan is not okay being fucked over is such a heartbreaking thing, but the time dan spent almost completely out of the public eye followed by a fully solo tour & span of his career shere he was regularly posting is like—it makes sense!

it makes sense that the last 5 years were focused on everything but their relationship! but it also makes like equal sense to me that they're returning to the gaming channel and joint content and a higher level of being open with us, too.

they tried fully solo careers. and i'm sure they both know now, what they like doing independently of one another. but it's so clear to me that they've returned to the gaming channel because they genuinely love to make videos together, and it's a part of them making a fully informed choice about their future careers.

like. it actually really grinds my gears when people say that dan and phil only came back to the gaming channel for the money, tbh! because yeah, i'm sure it's one of their best options for bringing in money. but like... yall they are rich people. they absolutely have money invested. they absolutely are having their money managed. they almost certainly could pull off never working again if they wanted to.

they wouldn't phone it in just for money, not with the standards they've consistantly shown themselves to have for the work they do. like, yes, they're doing their job and making money for it. but i just don't understand seeing this as anything but a choice they made because they love working together—and because they're sure of that, having spent half a decade on solo projects.

the individuation era ending also makes the higher level of being open about their lives make sense. i've always thought we were due for a being loud about how happy they are in their relationship era post coming out and. well. this is definitely that. i can't say i ever wanted to hear this much about their sex lives but i also can't truly say i'm surprised!

i think this is an era of shifting boundaries to be at least a little more open regarding their relationship and life together and i think that's what they're boiling us about this gamingmas! ultimately they're always going to keep more to themselves than they ever share with us but like. things are changing!

[goldenpinof]

For the editing comparison, one example for me is the Incoherent video (edited by Kris) vs. pre-hiatus Santa Banter video.

Both are turn-based card games where they read stuff and think for the answer, but in the incoherent video, there’s a lot more jump cuts, zooms, edits etc. while they’re thinking whereas in santa banter, it was mostly just one extended clip from pre-reading card banter to post-answering banter. The incoherent video also cuts out a lot more of the parts where they’re pulling a card or switching an answered card for a new one. While those bits might not add much comedic value, I feel like they go a long way to make the video seem more chill and coherent in its entirety.

Also (this might just be my personal opinion) both dnp seem to talk in a more excited/exaggerated tone and cadence now? Especially in the shorter videos. They also tend to use more upbeat and prominent background music now for those, so with that and the editing combined a lot of the post hiatus videos end up feeling too quick-paced yet scattered to me :/

Cal @calvinahobbes this might be interesting to you :)

yeah, anon, i get what you mean. and thank you so much for giving an example and explaining it. content-wise Incohearent is the S tier video, editing-wise? not so much. that's what i meant when i said in tags "idc what they do now, old editing will always be there for me". post-hiatus ideas and content can be excellent, but if i feel like i have to chase the video because of the editing? bye. i'm not gonna return to it unless i need to (to take notes or gif). i have no desire to rewatch the majority of the new videos for the sake of rewatching. and i want to rewatch old videos quite frequently. maybe nostalgia plays into it as well, but also the knowledge that i won't see 100500 unnecessary jump cuts and will see the process of playing the games. even if it's slow sometimes, idc, i like the process.

and yeah, i also agree that they exaggerate more (tone and reactions). mostly Dan. i don't think i noticed Phil doing it (maybe because he does the same on the ap channel, and i just stopped pointing it out to myself). idk if Dan genuinely thinks that loud = funny, but unfortunately it doesn't usually work like that. and if he's trying to show sarcasm by exaggerating his reaction, it also doesn't always land. sometimes this loudness is on point, so i'm not saying "shut the fuck up". i'm just saying that i noticed the shift as well. he is acting on camera a little bit more, giving the people what they want. but sweetie, i don't want that. i want boring shit, i want him to yap about politics and injustice and his interests, watch the games load and pull cards.

genuinely praying for more streaming content, because that is unedited yapping and fuckups <3

[serendipnpipity]

#WADGALA Meetup

Hello, internet! My name is [Ser]. (lol sorry, Dan...)

I started watching Dan (and Phil) in spring 2018, lucky enough to catch the last PINOF and the start of the hiatus (whoops). Back then, I didn’t realize how much these two random British YouTubers would impact my life, but I knew they were a source of comfort and could make me smile on bad days. None of my friends knew about them at all, but I remember one sleepover, making my best friend huddle around my tiny iPhone 5S to watch “My Bahamas Travel Disaster” at 3am because it was the funniest thing in the world. The joy it brought me had to be shared. I still think about it every time I go through the TSA. 

And maybe there was something about Dan’s airport mishaps that really spoke to me, or maybe it’s just his knack for engaging storytelling that also made “I Nearly Blinded Myself” cement itself into my brain as *the* standard for narrative construction. The amount of times that goddamn pistachio muffin has crossed my mind while writing college essays, applications, even my own stories, because goodness that’s clever usage of a narrative callback for closure. (Side note: the pipeline from trying a pistachio muffin to loving anything pistachio flavored ever now is very, very real. Anyway.) Through that video and countless others, the hot mess of my existence looked less like the end of the world (ha) and more like a trove of stories worth laughing about and learning from. I could safely store my embarrassing memories in a drawer for later instead of locking them in a box and throwing away the key.

Of course, speaking of locked-up secrets in boxes, I could go on for quite a long time about how much BIG and June 2019 healed the baby queer kid just barely starting to allow others to see and accept her… but a lot of us have been on similar journeys, so I’ll spare you the extra ten pages. I will say that it will forever be funny to me that Dan came out almost exactly a month after I came out to my mom, though. That definitely made me feel less alone.

Fast forward five years later, I’m still here. Lucky enough to coincidentally hop back onto tumblr on the day of the great gaming channel comeback after a year of being away and just in time to watch We’re All Doomed with all of you! All those years ago, I didn’t realize two random British YouTubers could have such an impact my life. But looking at all this…

I’m so glad they did. 

Thank you, @danielhowell!!! Joke all you want about consistent uploading schedules, you have literally been a constant in my life since I was thirteen. I've never met you, yet somehow you've made me smile again during some of the roughest times of my life, and isn't that pretty darn amazing? I hope you know how much you've impacted the world, 'cause you've surely impacted mine. Thank you for that.

[simplydnp]

you don’t have to answer this if you want to keep the discussion pretty quiet i just wanted to add some perspective

the fear probably also comes from being in this similar situation before. when they finished ii and released the dvd that’s the same time they started the hiatus so i think it’s natural to have a daunting feeling like that’s what’s happening again

however last time was the time dan needed to take a step back and deal with life etc with his coming out journey and this time while anything could happen i really don’t think they’re playing on slowing down just yet :)

thank you anon!

i would agree. i really want to be excited but i just can't quiet the doubtful sliver in my brain, and i think it comes from being here before. even though we can look back now and see the signs, i really wasn't expecting the hiatus. and even though i believed them when they said they'd be back, it was still almost five years.

my brain is deciding to be a little over-vigilant i would say, because it almost seems like it failed to catch it the first time, and doesn't want to do that again.

there's been a lot of talk of sponsorships lately, which i think is at worst fine and at best extremely healthy for us to be doing, but the talk of 'what are they saving for' while fun, i think has also given my fear an out with 'theyre leaving'. even though it makes so little sense. they dig up the gaming channel--and not even in a half-assed way! full spookyweek, baking, calendar, art commissions from the community, gamingmas, dan vs phil return, revival of sims, google feud, wikihow, would you press the button, regular uploads--intentionally for only 4 and a half months? it really doesn't make sense. especially with how much fun they've been having with it.

i know the hiatus was less about dapg and more about personal and career growth, discovery, and independance. they don't owe us talk about it, obviously private, but i'd be lying if i wasn't extremely curious about the discussion that went into bringing it back. (we've hashed this out before that obv marketing plays a role but dammit dan and phil raised me to be a nostalgic and sappy mfer so sue me if i want to know how our dads got Professionally back together)

i don't see it ending soon. i don't think it'll go on forever, obviously, but i think once the wad showing happens i'll feel the most secure i've been since the return.

[lemmilemura]

This is gonna be a kinda long rambly type post about TIT and Dan and Phil in general.

I can‘t sleep. Maybe it‘s my worsening sleep schedule these past few days (I blame Goro Majima), maybe it‘s the excitement of tomorrow. The fact that in less than 19 hours I‘ll be seeing Dan and Phil live. I‘ve never seen any content creator live and in person before, closest I got was getting a picture with Tom Felton a couple ears ago, 2018 I think. Sure I don‘t have any VIP or meet n greet tickets for tomorrow, but it‘s still going to be such a surreal evening.

I first started watching them during their gaming channel hiatus, maybe 2020 or 2021, I think my first video was their dog calendar which I found years after it was posted. I remember being so disappointed that I found them too late to get one myself. Now I‘m sitting here on my bed, my Dan and Phil and Cats calendar hanging above me.

So many times have I been too late to go to a show, a tour, a meet n greet. But now, finally, I‘m on time. I‘m so happy that I‘m going to the tour, and the first show nonetheless! I‘m hoping to maybe get one of the merch jackets they‘re selling, but I don‘t know if my mom will get it for me.

I‘m wondering how it‘ll go tomorrow, bringing my mom along. We‘re not native english speakers, and she struggles with it more than me, especially when the person speaking has a british accent, so that‘ll be interesting xD She also has no idea who Dan and Phil are, except the fact they‘re the guys on my calendar. She did once see me watching them in the livingroom, asked if they were the guys on my calendar, then said „They‘re together right?“ and I couldn‘t help but laugh. I told her no, they‘re not. They are both gay but not dating. I doubt she believed me.

They showed some fishnet tights in the new ‚trailer‘, which makes me think we‘ll be seeing Sister Daniel again. Makes me wonder how my mom will feel when she sees my reaction to Sister Daniel. I‘ve always loved her, I practically died when I saw the thumbnail of the Halloween baking video.

I don‘t know what I‘ll wear yet, but I do know I‘ll wear my two bracelets. They‘re those bracelets you‘re probably supposed to share with someone, being all one type of stone with one switched. I bought them at my favorite place in the world just about a month or so ago. It wasn‘t until like 15-20 minutes later, when I put them on, that I realized one was black/gray and one was orange. WAD colors. I didn‘t even get them for that reason, but I knew I was gonna wear them when I went to see them.

I practically begged my mom to get tickets. They were going live during my lunch period at school, and I remember texting my mom asking how it was going. She called me and bought them. I was so happy for the rest of the weekend. The fact that the first show was somewhere we could go, only about a 3 hour drive away, was almost magic to me. Like I was meant to go see that show. Like it was destiny. Crazy, I know.

A couple weeks ago, my mom got an advertisement e-mail by the venue. February 2025 they‘re hosting The Phantom of the Opera performances. They were expensive, but she got tickets anyway. I almost cried on the spot when she told me. POTO is one of my favorite musicals, and it is the musical I want to see the most. Sure, I love Beetlejuice and Heathers, but Phantom is Phantom! For most it‘s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

I kinda trailed off at the end there, apologies. I‘d be shocked if anyone even read this far. If you did, thanks. If you didn‘t, that‘s okay too. I just wanted to rant for a little :)

I hope everyone has fun at TIT, and to everyone going to the Antwerp show, know I‘ll be there in the crowd somewhere :D

[phanfictioncatalogue]

Are there any domestic/fluffy fics set between the time since they've come out to now?

Yes! There’s quite a few! Here’s some of the ones I could find!

A Sleepless Night With Phil (ao3) - not_joeys_secret_account

Summary: A jet-lagged Sleepless Night With Phil

all of these small things (ao3) - possumdnp

Summary: It’s Dan’s first day back from his American tour, and Phil can’t believe how much he’s missed him.

At the turn of a page (ao3) - Tarredion

Summary: Phil’s had his reasons for not continuing liveshows during lockdown, but they’re ready for a comeback—a domestic one, at that

Basically I'm Gay (ao3) - ChainedKura

Summary: Dan is editing his coming out video when a deep sadness takes over his body. Lucky for him, he counts with a Phil Lester on his side that will do everything in his power to make his partner feel better.

distracted (ao3) - sunflowerwitches

Summary: phil telling dan a story but dan isn't paying attention at all because he’s too busy thinking about what a cutie phil is.

fools before april (ao3) - okaydoomer

Summary: April fools day 2023 was in a few weeks and Dan and Phil still weren't sure what they wanted to do.

Haunted Hearts (ao3) - vanilladolli

Summary: Dan & Phil find that their apartment may be haunted.. In the midst of this they comfort each other while filming spooky week videos and trying to expell the unwanted ghosts from their home

- time set in 2023 after the hiatus ended

I can't help falling in love with you (again) (ao3) - Findus26

Summary: It's 2020, the world is falling apart and Dan can't help thinking back to October 2009 when everything was new and exciting. Phil finds a way to recreate the feeling

In another life you still would’ve turned my head (ao3) - natigail

Summary: Dan comes across old black and white photos of two queer men messing around, one playing with the other's hair, just like he did in a recent video with Phil. He gets caught up in the emotions that he would have fallen in love with Phil in any universe. He crawls into Phil's lap and tells him exactly that.

Our Little Quarantine (ao3) - Spring_Haze

Summary: Life is different but no less comforting for Dan and Phil when locked down at home together; the couple decides that there is no safer place in the world than each other's arms.

perfect accident (ao3) - maestronomy

Summary: after dan and phil filmed the new gaming video about heart throb - and they realise they weren’t as secretive as they thought.

phuture phusbands (ao3) - N_Chu4Ever

Summary: Dan’s opinions on weddings are pretty clear — marriage is piece of paper with some benefits, and organising a big fucking wedding is exhausting, and really, Phil, do we need it? Do we? The answer, of course, is no, and yet Phil is still thinking about it. As Dab and Evan’s Sims 4 wedding approaches, that thought process goes into overdrive.

Or: Phil proposes to Dan just after the Devan wedding is filmed.

pyjama week (ao3) - possumdnp

Summary: Dan and Phil enjoy a relaxing day during their annual Pyjama Week.

quarantine date night (ao3) - calvinahobbes

Summary: Exactly what it says on the tin. Dan and Phil have a date-night in during the corona virus lockdown.

Santa Buddy (ao3) - philsbignaturals

Summary: In which the boys host joint family Christmas in their forever home

what a great day to be gay (ao3) - natigail

Summary: Dan just published Basically, I’m Gay last night and he wakes up with a lighter feeling in his heart and a pair familiar of warm arms ready to wrap around him. It’s a great day to be gay.

***

Phil just published Coming Out To You last night and he wakes with a sense of accomplishment in his heart and so much love for the boy sleeping next to him. It's an appropriate time to share a photo of him bathed in rainbows.

Welcome home! (never leave that long again) (ao3) - natigail

Summary: Dan comes home from tour and stumbles right into Phil’s arms. He is more touch starved than he’d realised.

Worth the Wait (ao3) - JudeAraya

Summary: It's pretty hard to stay mad at Phil, even when he's forgotten date night.

would it be okay if i came home to you: part 2 (ao3) - danhoweiis

Summary: dan comes home after the final tour date

-Rae

[dulrond]

im guessing from your post that you dont keep up w dan and phil so ill explain some recent events??

they came out in 2019 as gay and dan said him and phil were in a relationship but that they wanted to keep their current personal life private

dan then went on a whole bunch of solo projects like writing a book and doing his own solo theatrical stage tour. phil continued his personal youtube channel and dan featured in some videos.

during this time they had designed and built a house together and after quite a bit of delay they eventually moved into the house (known as the phouse). also at the end of 2018 they put their joint gaming channel on hiatus this is important info. so dan did a bunch of solo work phil continued youtube their house was under construction.

then last year after dan wrapped up most of his solo projects they suddenly unpaused the joint channel and brought it back! early on they mentioned how the channel would be kinda different now as everyone (dnp and audience) was grown up and openly gay. importantly as well they brought the channel back because phil really missed it and just wanted to give it a go again together and dan agreed. they didn’t really think a lot of people would care or come back to watch it at the time.

um i think one of the big shifts in the channel was their 2023 halloween baking video. the vibes are just way different from before and they seem so much more relaxed with making jokes

the content just kept going from there. i dont know how much dnp lore you know but they have an april fools channel where they make crafts except it’s actually a cult. well that also went on hiatus when they took a break from the dan and phil brand. then it came back this year and it was their best yet. it was also very gay.

then BOOM they announced they were going on their third joint tour together. again dont know how much lore you know? but their tours are always theatrical with like a musical singing element and a storyline. this time they are reflecting upon the dan and phil brand and the parasocialness that came from it.

so that brings us up to today (the day before tour begins). one of their recent gaming videos they played a couples cardgame. it was a gifted game from their sponsor so. they have never really done anything like that where it is so explicitly this is for Couples. this is to play with Your Partner. this is a Date Night Game. and like yeah it was gifted so there was a reason to play it other than that. but everyone in the phandom did not expect that kind of video. i mean the cardgame company (called relatable) gifted them other games months before so we knew about the date game as well. and then someone realised they own it as it was in the background of a photo/video i forgot. so we all joked like haha what if they play that,,, but then they did????

and then moreee recently is phil asked people for questions for a q&a. specifically he asked for tour or life update questions. it was very casual. for a bittt more context previously phil asked people to submit their favourite most popular dan and phil conspiracies they have ever heard about as it will be used in a segment in the tour. a HUGE theory back in the day was that dan and phil got married in japan in 2015-2016. so back to the q&a video. dan and phil immediately open it with will you address the japan conspiracy. there’s no more detail than that. and then they go what the one where we got married in japan? so first they know specifically which one but then SECOND phil says we’ll be addressing it as part of the tour.

so whilst dnp were very like. we aren’t sharing a lot about our relationship in 2019,,, since the revival of the gaming channel they have been slowly wanting to talk more about stuff. and now we are like ? are they actually going to talk about it explicitly and openly as part of tour?

im so sorry that was so long but i had no idea how else to explain it without all the context 😭

omg this must have taken you so long to write thank you so much 😭 i actually keep up with them but i hadnt watched the new videos yet and kept seeing gifs and prints from them and people were like being really cryptic ab what they were saying and doing do i was super confused 😭

[the-gayest-tree-you-ever-did-see]

I'm more mentally prepared for it to not be a dinof than I was expecting. I feel like BIG kinda marked the end of that era, and now he wants to focus on using his platform to be a positive and safe space for queer people more than anything else. I joined the phamily(I love that term) after he came out, so it might just be that because this is the only dan era that I've really known the transition is easier, idrk. I joined about a week after something we want to tell you came out, and I was just in time for the stereo era, so that is a very likely possibility if that makes sense. Idk I'm just really happy to have made it in time to see the two of them happy

🥺 i knowww

i was part of the phandom for a really long time, but i was always kind of in the background and never really active, up until big came out, and then i was like oh. he's like me and made more of an effort to give it more time, and then phil, and the hiatus, and when lockdown started and i was plunged into a perpetual state i dont know please help me i dont know how to do this whats happening please i dont want to die unless its on my own terms and just general panic, and my mental health did a barrel flip off a cliff screaming sayonara, so i used their old videos, mostly the gaming channel, as a kind of anchor, and it reminded me why i cared about them in the first place! and then we got the stereos and one thing led to another and now we're here! and its great!

i completely agree with big being the end of an era, but i think i always had this mindset of oh of course he'll take a break but he'll be back and then he wasn't. and he wasn't. and he wasn't. and now he's going to be! and i never had the chance to tell myself it would be different, so i assumed it would be a proper Dan Video, maybe like phil's one year later video, and now we've hit the second anniversary!! and things are so different!

and im so happy that theyre happy, bc its honestly... amazing. like not only everything we know about them and everything theyve done and everything theyve been through, but even just the basic, overhead view of queer people living happily and healthily, and being so lovely and loved and loving, its like... i dont know, ive been taught for so long that queerness = hate. and sometimes i still struggle with that. even though i push my pride out so often and i like to think im pretty unapologetic about it, i still wake up sometimes wishing i was straight and cis, bc its so much easier. and here dan and phil are, screaming at the tops of their lungs that queerness = love, and happiness, and theyve wrapped it all up in so many different kinds of love and held it up to the world like i dare you.

and its so fitting that two years after dan came out and all of this happened to them and to us, that he's teaming up with so many other queer creators like him who have audiences who probably love them the same as we love dan and phil, who are so incredibly grateful for the simple fact of their existence, and that theyve chosen to exist in the way that they do, and theyre all going to be doing something together to kick it all off again!

and all i can really feel is love. and thats amazing

[shookethbrooketh]

phil’s q&a: a summary!

i know it’s quite long so the major points are bolded! 

tony is now in a massive tank phil bought with automatic feed because he refused to let him die while he was gone 

someone wants phil to make amazingphil vases

he came out now because he thought his story would help other people :( 

he’s been to EIGHT vidcons and his first was his favorite because he felt cared for and got to meet his idols i love him 

phil talked about how he stans safiya 

one of phil’s favorite videos to make was the tour of his brain and another was his coming out video, which was what he was the proudest of

he was worried about posting his coming out video but he got such a positive reaction from both us and other people that he’s really happy he did :’(

phil’s advising that rather than trying to copy other creators and focusing on views and numbers you should focus on what you want to make and the impact you can make on even one person

phil says that he doesn’t worry about people missing his channel because he trusts that we know that he’s always working on something even if he’s not putting out constant uploads

phil is working on a ~mystery project~ and he has written part of a script for something that he’s wanting to get made and has pitched to people..... hmm 

they asked how much he keeps up with the phandom and everyone started worriedly mumbling sjfksdfsk 

he said he wants to let us have our space because he knows we don’t want him looking over our shoulders and won’t see/check anything if we don’t @ him in it, although he does check his @’s and appreciates the phandom’s art greatly 

his favorite meme is anything involving a dog

“i would love to get a dog” he’s not quite ready for the responsibility of a dog yet, but he wants to get one in the future and is considering graduating from tony to a slightly larger animal if tony is alive when he gets back 

he literally told his concierge that he’s leaving tony and he should save tony in an emergency i love him so much 

phil got his socks out for the lads.......they were waffles 

awkward storytime: phil was on a train and sat beside a woman and she started rubbing phil’s leg and it turned out she had her eyes closed and thoughts he was her boyfriend who had gone to the bathroom...... press f for phil 

phil’s midway through stranger things season 3 

phil’s advice for writer’s/creative block: it happens sometimes, and it really depends on the person, but for him it helps to talk to someone, go out for a walk, or take a break. 

phil wasn’t really scared of performing at ii because he knew everyone watching him already loved him and it just felt warm and fuzzy and he never wanted it to end :( 

phil never had a “burnout” moment where he wanted to quit youtube, but he did want to disappear from the internet once when he was in a car insurance ad and people recognized him from the annoying commercial rather than youtube and he was afraid of fame (this was pre-dan)

someone on twitter said they loved him and he said “love you too” :(

phil’s advice on social anxiety: everyone else has their own anxieties and thoughts rather than focusing on you and your insecurities. “your brain is lying to you” and not everyone is staring at you. you should also push your comfort zone at times because maybe it’ll be easier than you think! 

he is against the storming of area 51 and doesn’t want to get shot. he does, however, love the alien in the doorway meme

someone asked if the gaming channel was going to come back, and phil said they took a “hiatus” because dan didn’t want to to any youtube until he came out. he also said they just wanted to take a break and think about what to do next, which is something they haven’t done yet. they also have realized that we enjoy the bants more than the games, so they may bring it back as a gaming channel or as something completely different. they just want to try different things and move forward however they see fit, and they haven’t quite figured that out yet. so (my interpretation) it’s going to be a little while still, but they do have all the plans in the world to bring back the channel, even if it doesn’t come back as “gaming”. 

there is apparently a tiny pig at vidcon and it is adorable--go on grace helbig’s instagram for a pic 

phil’s advice to teenagers: don’t stress out about really small things that are in your head at any particular time. think of whether it’ll matter in a month or a year, and if it won’t try to realize that it’ll only matter for a little while longer and move on. 

phil’s youtube “guilty pleasure” is cooking videos despite the fact that he cannot cook (another guilty pleasure is cat videos) 

phil’s favorite piece of merch is the candle 

favorite tour memories: new zealand in general and the tour bus; they’re also gonna hopefully meet up with their tour crew 1 year after the show awh 

phil loved going to vegas and manila, and he still wishes they got to go to mexico 

phil watches jenna marbles 

phil’s advice for mental health and social media: consume the content that makes you happy and not the content that doesn’t! you don’t want to wake up and look at things that hurt your mental health; create your social media so that it’s as positive of a space as possible 

if he could only have one social media other than youtube, he would have twitter so he could interact with us :( he generally sees the twitter phandom as a positive place within his @ replies 

on the plane, before they took off, the pilot came on and said they were having an issue. in this pilot’s 20 years of flying, he’d never had this problem before. someone’s toiletries had just been yeeted onto the wing of this massive two story plane. they were delayed for TWO HOURS while they got a CRANE to get the bag off of the wing. others were panicking because they didn’t know what was in the bag, but dnp just seemed to find it funny. 

phil’s proudest of their two tours, especially ii :( 

according to phil, they’re not planning another tour right now, but “never say never.” he doesn’t want to jump into another tour, but he says that they may do another one when it feels right. 

phil currently has $42 in his wallet. thank you alana and anush.

phil would be happy to collab with safiya, jenna, and anthony 

he said he hasn’t filmed a video without uploading it except for a long, boring personality test 

phil was asked what we’d be called if we weren’t the phandom and he just said he liked the phandom skdfljsdkf 

phil’s senior quote: there is never too much candy. 

phil’s advice on rejection (especially related to collabs): don’t take it to heart; people might not realize how important it is to you! rejection will lead to a better success. 

phil submitted a pitch for a “show” he wanted to make last year and got rejected excuse me what?? 

he thanked everyone for coming to the q&a rather than the other exciting stuff at vidcon :( 

[homodnp]

my dudes, my guys, my fam (i refuse to say “pham”),

phil did not say that they’re no longer collaborating at all. that is just factually what he did not say. Dan And Phil™ is not over or “dead”.

a lot of people have been confusing what phil said about big projects together with what he said about general content together. but he did not say the same thing for each, he distinguished quite clearly between the two in both their natures and their futures!!

because evidence is important in an argument, but also because a lot of people forget exactly what he said, then get caught in mass hysteria when the phandom’s collective lasting impressions of his statements become twisted, here i shall analyse exactly what phil said on the future of Dan And Phil™ as four main points.

1: 17:26 - 17:48 “So what next? We both wanted to have a think about what was next for us, and Dan began another epic quest of his own to make a 45 minute long video! So, we decided to pause the gaming channel, which we knew would upset people who love it as much as we do but we had to hope they would understand why. The thing is, most people love Dan and Phil Games just for being funny and the couch banter rather than hardcore gaming skills action.”

all of this is stuff we’ve already heard and known for a while now, it’s nothing new or revolutionary or shocking. phil said all of this already at vidcon and that wasn’t too upsetting at the time, was it? also, note that he said that they both love the gaming channel!!

2: 17:48 - 17:57 “So I think if we did feel like having that thing on the side again, maybe it could transform into something new in the future - but on the other hand, I think that final Sims video was definitely a perfect ending if it is.”

they don’t know what they’re going to do with the gaming channel. it might continue, it might not, it might be used for something new/different. they don’t know much better than we do, and again this is something he has already told us at vidcon.

whatever the case, however, remember the context: here, he is just talking about the gaming channel, not any and all possible videos together. this makes sense because in the next bit he does address the future of big projects together, which the gaming channel does count as one.

3: 17:57 - 18:06 “As Dan and Phil, we definitely feel like we've done every genre of big project we could do together over this five years, apart from maybe a cook book but we all know how much of a disaster that would be.”

they have exhausted the list of possible big project genres, “big projects” meaning: the radio show, books, tours (and possibly the gaming channel). we probably won’t get another tatinof or ii or tabinof or dapgo, but let’s be real, at this point in time what most of us want for them (based on what i see people hoping for/theorising) is a house and a dog, WHICH phil mentioned as something he wants!!! so basically, his forecast for big projects is neither world-ending nor surprising.

4: 18:06 - 18:13 “So while we love creating together and we'll continue to pop up together on YouTube for more classic content, maybe for the next secret big project, it's time for Philly to think about the big dreams he's always had!”

THEY LOVE CREATING TOGETHER. THEY’RE GOING TO CONTINUE YOUTUBE COLLABS. THE BANTS AND FONDNESS SHALL PREVAIL. NEED I EXPLAIN MORE. 

in summary, this is what we learned about D&P™’s future from DML 2:

they put the channel on hiatus to have some thinking time. (already known)

they don’t know for certain what they plan to do with the channel. (already known)

we probably won’t have any more joint tours or books or stuff like that... (which a lot of us already expected, we’ve all been thinking that they may want to ‘settle down’ soon anyway)

...BUT there will be more joint youtube collabs. (what we want!!)

all of this falls under three categories: what we already know, what we’ve already suspected, and what we want. this is not scary stuff.

so overall, please stop worrying both yourself and others because Dan And Phil™ is not over!! if you want an idea of what it’ll be like, it’ll be like that phase between the end of tatinof and the announcement for ii: they don’t have any big schemes on the go but they’re still very happy producing content together. the world of dnp is not turning upside down, we’re still going to get joint content, they’re fine, we’re fine! :)

[pinof]

hi i know it’s dumb to be sad about all of this but i can’t help but feeling like this is an ending EVEN THOUGH I KNOW ITS NOT but like i’m sad and i just want to know what u think about all of this

it’s not dumb! your feelings are completely valid and trust me, i once had similar thoughts because of how long the hiatus was

my perspective just changed after dan’s coming out video because i finally understood why the break was necessary and that they were doing what was in the best interest of everyone, in the long run

i don’t think of it as an ending anymore

i think of it as a new beginning

there was the early days era, radio show era, tatinof era, ii era, gaming channel era, and now we’re entering “the future” era

dnp are mapping out things they’ve wanted to do for a long time, but haven’t had the chance before

they came out, are working on things that interest them personally, and are planning out what they want to do with the rest of their lives (thoughts of a forever home, dog, etc) putting themselves first, for once

phil said that he’s put work above everything else and always said yes to everything, which caused him to push away friends and do things he wasn’t always passionate about

now they’re stopping that, putting out content that they actually enjoy making, and posting it at their own pace to ensure that they’re giving us the best stuff they can

it was confirmed in yesterday’s video that them being in videos together on youtube isn’t going to stop

lots of people don’t like that they’re not uploading as frequently but if they didn’t stop doing that, they both said at vidcon that they’d still be stuck in that rut (feeling as though they were never changing or growing)

change is hard to accept, but this really is for the best

remember that we had to close the chapter on all those other eras once upon a time and look - we made it out alright

like phil said, you never know what secret projects they have planned for us

i have no doubt we’re going to love whatever’s coming

now onto the future - it’s bright, clear, and queer 🥂

[goldenpinof]

Gonna tinhat in your asks just because

I feel like it really WAS supposed to be a hiatus. They stepped away from the gaming channel and joint content bc Dan had a lot of projects he wanted to work on (the more serious content like big, the YouTube show, maybe even the solo tour) just to stretch his creative limbs and bc they needed to sort out the house/move, and uploading through all of that would be stressful. They were probably thinking 2-3 years tops. And then the world blew up and half of Dan's plans blew up with it

I feel like this return is GENUINE, like they've wanted to do it and just haven't been able to yet because Dan wasn't done with his stuff

i see that you have good points. it was very convenient to not have a gaming channel when they ended up living in a filming apartment with 0 space. but Dan constantly saying (through Phil sometimes) that he doesn't want to make that type of content anymore and doesn't want the gaming channel to return... it was very telling. only Phil was saying "maybe" because he was the only one actually wanting and needing it. that "maybe" was saved in case everything else went down. like a safety blanket that they always could pull out. which they did.

i understand Dan wanting a hiatus of sorts. he was burnt out. 2018 was a crazy year! it's just.. the vibes we started getting right after were very final. "Dan doesn't want it" was a final statement. and maybe he didn't want it because of other projects. he basically killed DanandPhil brand at some point, it was very apparent that he wanted to get out of that label. that he wanted a name outside a very successful duo they built throughout almost a decade. and it was fucking hard for him, you know. i understand that. the 1st project was ruined by youtube and covid. the company that he gave 10 years of his life let him down. it's a rough fucking start for a name building.

i'm simplifying a lot here, bear with me :))

i think the wad tour opened Dan's eyes a little bit. and i will take it as a win in the end of the day. it was starting very well and promising. the concept and 1st promo materials were well done. but then everything started wobbling and neither Dan nor his team was ready to deal with problems fast enough. and in contrary to how fuckups didn't really make a difference during ii NOW they made a difference. Dan couldn't make a name between 2019 and 2022, so he started going back and forth with his content. sometimes it wasn't clear who was the main target for videos, announcements and promos. i still don't know who initially was the target audience for his book. it can't be us! we know everything he wrote there. but marketing was so non-existent, it's scary how it could flop if he didn't have an audience based on DanandPhil™. his tour had somewhat of an audience also only because of the branding he was so determined to escape. although, there was a moment when he tried to advertise it for a wider audience, wasn't it? especially in the UK, where they had actual posters in the cities outside the venues. i remember having questions about why marketing shifted throughout the tour (while the script stayed the same! loser). i can't say that dystopia daily even had a target audience in mind rfbhfjekeeo

what i'm trying to say is, something changed in Dan's mind. there was a series of events that made him realise that coming back to dnpgames wasn't actually a bad idea. the European leg of his tour was the biggest mess i've ever seen. the fact that Dan explicitly threw shade on people he worked with only confirmed how bad things were. the search for a new management team, constant postponing of wad dvd, Phil's recycling content, and god knows what else – maybe it made him realise that a familiar content on a channel that everyone loves so much and will give views (and money) is what's best right now. new projects are always a risk. dnpgames isn't. and he still can work on something alongside. especially if he finally has new managers who will fight for his interests and property communicate with people they happened to work with. (allegedly. we don't know if he actually got new representatives).

if he actually had a 2-3 years plan (even 5 years plan, idc), the communicative language should have been different. but the only vibe i was getting from him right till yesterday was "i don't what to do what y'all are suggesting. period." and then he is talking about hope on twitter?! bro, as if it wasn't in your hands all this time 😭 i love him and i wish him all the best, and i'm rooting for his career more than for my own. but damn, does he not make it easy 😂

P.S. if turns out i'm wrong, forget i ever said anything. Thanos your memory out <3