#which was. why would you do that. very scary bc you dont know where they're going next.

[whoslaurapalmer]

twice this month we've been in the car when some other car decides they either do not see my mom's car or do not have to obey proper driving rules and almost run right into us and. I love car rides. I love being in the car. I love riding around and looking at stuff. but every time we get into the car now I am so uncomfortable and tense and very scared and it is not cool

[my-castles-crumbling]

Hi cas!!! Outed anon here

First of all i just finished calendestine and MAN that was AMAZING like literally you are a god for having the patience and motivation to write all that bcz wtf.

TW: minor mentions of alkochol use; some weird possesive acting?

Second of all i have a problem and this problem isn't even mine. So few weeks ago a sended you an ask about my friend who had been breaking the boundaries. I talked with him and we are all good again that was just an missuderstanding of some sort. But now there is a different thing and i'm not sure what to do. For me the school year started on september first (high school a scary scary place to be) and we both went to different schools. We are friends with oposite gender so i often hear we will end up together or we get nasty comments while walking fown the street with each other. Its not a possibility bcz im a girl kisser (and a nb person but thats a side note). He recently introduced me with his classmate (lets call her katie). Well, katie seemed really nice at first and i really thought that she is a good person, since they are flirting and its starting to become a situationship of some sort. I thought she treated him well and wasn't like his last girlfriend (she had some things going on with alcochol and tried to push him into it with her) which in my country is unfortunatelly a very usuall thing (most of people my age are alcocholics) (im not even 16). So yeah she seemed cool and was very friendly. It was untill i mentioned i have an ex (in my lauguage you have a gendered word for it so it was obiviously about a girl) and she was off. I aprecieted that Sam (lets call the guy bestie that) didn't outed me without my knowlege but i wouldn't mind if he mentioned it to her as a form of reasurence we dont have a romantic friendship thats so pupularised by the media. After i told her i dated girls she became dry and distant. Nasty comments and would clinge to Sam harder then before. I don't really get the reaction but after the meating ended and i got home i noticed he blocked me on facebook (so we couldn't talk by messanger). I texted him on instagram where i was unblocked with a question why he blocked me. I understand this could be an honest mistake so i want agressove passesive or anything. He answered me that katie decided he shouldnt meet me anymore and blocked me on his phone before she left?????? I thpught this was weird. At first i thought she was a homophobe but it soon became a false statemnet bc she is bi. I had exstra classrs with sam today anf he said she became really snapy and was activly hating on me to him. I dont really knoww what to do bcz as far as he told me she reacted similar after meeting every single on of his frriends after any minor mentions of having a parter or an ex. Im not sure what it means and also im kinda worried she will try to isolate him from his friends, bcz he is an exstravery anf that would have a pretty bad inpact on him. Do you have any ideas what to do? I tried to talk to him but he really likes her and doesn't see anything weird in the way she acts. Maybe im the one who is imagining things???

Help

Hi!

I'm so glad you liked Clandestine, thank you so much!

Honestly, I would ask some of his other friends of they're seeing similar things happen. If they are, you should all get together and gently talk to him. It sounds like she's trying to pull him away from his friends and that's not cool. He needs to hear from multiple people that this isn't okay. Don't make him feel ganged up on, but make it clear that it's not just you feeling this way, you know?

Sending love!

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

Hey so idk if you would know this but where did the term canyon in reference to Izzy fans come from? I feel like I just started seeing it like three days ago but everyone seems to already know what it means

lol so disclaimer that this ask has been in my inbox since september 23rd and alsoooo i might not be the best person to ask bc i am belothed by many who consider themselves part of the izzy canyon (which is their right). so if you asked an izzy fan about this you would probably get a different answer. also from what i can tell the term originated on twitter and i don’t go there.

the tl;dr that i heard secondhand from someone who identifies as izzy canyon is that at some point last year (summer or fall-ish i think) a lot of izzy fans were blocking so many people who didn’t like izzy that a lot of them ended up being unaware of general fandom trends and it became a running joke among them that izzy fans were isolated from the rest of the fandom in an "izzy canyon." and then allegedly the term expanded to just mean "if ur not a dick abt ppl liking izzy u can be in the canyon." THAT BEING SAID there are other ppl who had a very different experience with how "the canyon" originated and what kind of fan space it tends to be.

(slightly longer explanation below)

the thing with The Canyon is that to understand its origin and also why some fans have a problem with it, you gotta know two things:

there are annoying puriteen anti types on the internet who think liking certain characters make you a bad person. from what i can tell theyre mostly on twitter and tiktok. these people are annoying but also in my experience they're usually pretty easy to block and ignore.

the popularity of izzy hands is disproportionate to his narrative role in the show, and the popular fanon interpretation of izzy hands casts him not only as a principal character but as a much more sympathetic, righteous character than he is in canon. THIS DOES NOT MEAN I THINK ANYONE IS A BAD PERSON FOR LIKING IZZY. this DOES mean that i think ppl who think ed is izzy's domestic abuser are wrong. and also this is part of an age old fandom trend of fandom favoring a masc white guy who is often a side character and also often an antagonist.

so from what i can tell. in the early days of the ofmd fandom (spring-summer 2022) there was a lot of #1 going around on twitter, screaming about how if you liked izzy hands then you're a racist abuse apologist or something. at one point a throwaway account tweeted a callout for a popular izzy fan and said "we know they live in this area and work for this company, so these are the locations where they might work. everyone should call these numbers and tell their job to fire them. also we're gonna target these izzy fans next" and like, obviously this account was pretty quickly taken down. but it was a pretty scary thing and left a lot of izzy fans pretty paranoid, hence the blocking everyone who didnt like izzy.

(there was also a "izzy hater group chat" twitter account that was literally just a small group of mostly minors posting memes and also abt izzy that got accused of being connected to that whole mess. but afaict those guys have nothing to do with harassment of izzy fans they just dont like izzy)

so the thing is now that all of that has been used to justify shutting down any type of conversation about #2, or writing off anyone who posts meta about izzy that isnt like, "he works so hard and is so unappreciated despite everything he's done for ed" as an "izzy anti." analyzing izzy critically and posting this in the #izzy hands tag on tumblr is likened to genuine harassment.

oh lol and speaking of harrasment: there was also a problem with ppl on tumblr getting anon hate, and izzy fans will tell you that the anon came from an izzy hater who was targeting izzy fans bc the anon messages use "izzy critical rhetoric." however as someone who has posted "izzy critical" metas or whatever, i have actually gotten the same harassing messages accusing me of being an izzy stan and a racist abuse apologist. that's not what a targeted harassment campaign looks like. that's all been less of a problem ever since tumblr made it so you need to be logged in to an account to send anonymous messages.

anyway my stance on all of this:

i don't hate anyone for liking izzy. i am critical of certain comments/behaviors i often see from ppl who identify as izzy fans, but izzy fans are rarely the only ones who have this problem. from what i've seen tho, a lot of it comes from izzy fans.

before i ever saw even a hint of harassment against izzy fans, i saw izzy fans coming onto my posts and to posts by fans of color trying to argue that these posts were contributing to their harassment. from my perspective, it looked a lot like fans of a white character were trying to shut down conversations abt their favorite guy, especially when those conversations were being had by fans of color. i was very skeptical and oftentimes pretty dismissive abt the existence of this harassment.

since then tho ive done a pretty deep dive into the anon harassment on tumblr, and also looked at takes from different perspectives on the whole thing, and my conclusion is that there is harassment of izzy fans, however it is on the same base-level shittiness that most people experience from just... being on the internet. death threats and insults and slurs are literally just part of being on the internet. and yes, it SUCKS and it's wrong and nobody should have to put up with it, but izzy fans are not victims of specific targeted harassment. theyre victims of being on the internet and having to put up with general internet shittiness. and im sympathetic to that up until ppl start using "ive been harassed for being an izzy fan" as an excuse to be incredibly nasty (check out this tumblr acct for examples of what i mean lol). the ofmd fandom is annoying and parts of it are toxic but like, by no means is this the most toxic fandom to ever exist. we're not at "undertale fan giving out cookies with needles in them at a convention" levels just yet.

finally, tangentially related: i am inherently wary of fandom sub-groups that like, name themselves?? in my experience, the more people make being a Type Of Fan part of their identity the more it tends to lead to problems. this goes for fans who label themselves "antis" or "anti-antis" or whatever the fuck. i've personally been called an "izzy anti," an "izzy hater," and an "izzy critical fan" but like, i dont really call myself that?? it just seems weird to me idk. it gets to be very "us vs them" on default with little nuance and ive never found this kind of thing to be like, productive in fandom spaces. but that's just me.

[lowkeiloki]

kung fu panda 4 review - spoiler free

it was solid, not as good as the first three movies, but the og triology set the bar so high even a 'not as good' movie is still a fun watch. The animation is beautiful and you get quite a bunch of awesome action scenes out of it

zhen is a lot more likable when not voiced by awkwafina (croatian dub saved me ✊️) but even that wont save her from her character being pretty bland. ironically the same criticism for her design could be applied for her character as well, not bad, likable enough, just fails to stand out and ive seen it done better a lot of times already

chameleon... oh boy... so much potential, such incredible built up, such luckluster execution... ill talk more abt her in spoiler section, but honestly she was the weakest link of the movie

dont get your hopes up for furious five, they only really exist as a cameo, what you will get is mr ping and li being a very married couple and personally if theres anything worth seeing the movie for its them (still im hoping for at least a short abt the furious five, cmon theyve been non existent since kfp 3)

the pacing was too fast, and there were too many comedic and too little serious moments, glad im not the only one that noticed

ive seen a lot of complaints about tai lung and other past villains not being in the movie enough, but honestly im happy for that bc its not their movie, they all had their own movies to shine and i really feared this movie would rely too much on them to carry the hype and im glad that wasnt the case. PLEASE stop asking film studios to spoonfeed you familiar content

end of spoiler free review, spoilers under cut

the chameleon rant

you know, i believe the kfp movies are heavily carried by their villains. they're the ones that set the tone, bring the stakes, and not only are they a foe for po to defeat but represent his internal conflict (tai lung being self acceptance, shen being overcoming grief and kai being self discovery) so to have the villain be the movie's weakest spot is... not great at all

firsty, the chameleon is the first movie villain in the franchise to not have any beef with any of the main characters (like tai lung had with shifu, lord shen with po and kai with oogway) and that couldve been great, give us a villain that doesnt care about po or anyone else and is just doing their own thing, its something new and an unexplored territory, but then they do nothing with it.

what does she want? to rule the valley of peace? all of china? ok and then what? the city shes already rulling doesnt look like its doing too bad to me. why should i care about her being defeated? yeah shes mean, but where are the STAKES

and how does she reflect po's conflict? because its about accepting change and she's a chameleon? weak, that only connect on paper and only barely. is it how she was never accepted to train kung fu because of her size? that's such a lame motive. really? not a single kung fu place wanted to take you in for your size? in a franchise full of all the different characters of all different shapes and sizes being kung fu masters? yeah ok sure

what i did like about her is how they made her get her way through manipulation and intimidation. she's not strong, she's not a skilled fighter, she's not inherently scary, but she uses smoke and mirrors to intimidate people around her and manipulative tactics to get her henchmen to listen which ties nicely into her shapeshifting abilities, just wish theyve done more with it, show us how she spreads horror stories about herself, show us the influence she has over the townspeople, show us just how manipulative she is of zhen, hell have her be all kind and nice to her in moments to bait her to stay under her wing (yk as abusive parents do)

nothing much more i have to say so spoiler part was rly just abt the chameleon but i needed to rant abt her more in depth bc i had high hopes for her

[definitelynotshouting]

grian snacking on Card Game Rage might even be a good long term thing as part of getting him to eat better, like, instead of limiting himself to just positive emotions he might realize there's a wide array of ethically sourced negative emotions including but not limited to "frustration at a contraption not working", "ARGH MOB", Card Game Rage, etc and there's a wide array of events other than MCC he can poke his head into for a meal

Oh!! So actually, this is something i want to mention about Watcher feeding habits and how they work, because i dont think i really expanded on this in any of my other posts laying out the lore and mechanics and whatnot

So when a Watcher feeds, its actually less about the emotions and more about the hertz frequency those emotions are occurring at on the electromagnetic spectrum. Beta brain waves hit around 18-35 Hz, which is about the hertz frequency that Watchers can "feed" off of as well. In truth, its less "feeding" so much as it is resonance. Watchers have very brittle code that takes a lot of time and energy to shape, and a lot of maintenance to keep from falling apart. Where Player code is super flexible and tends to repair itself just fine, Watchers have to resonate with a certain hertz frequency to repair their code manually. This hertz frequency basically happens to coincide with beta brain waves in Players, which in turn is related to high intensity emotions and agitation in the brain.

Watchers can "bump" this frequency slightly by a few hertz, and then keep their prey at that level of agitation for extended periods of time while they repair their code. Anxiety becomes a panic attack that goes on for hours. Irritation becomes rage that wont stop. Excitement becomes a manic high. The problem with feeding on one person, or even just a few people at once, is that it will quite literally fry their brain-- this is why Watchers tend to bring together larger groups of people, agitate their brains a bit (the effect is lessened over a large group of people), and feast on the resulting frequencies all around them.

So in truth, Grian feeding on Doc's rage would actually enhance and lengthen it, which is both dangerous for him, and everyone else around him. This is why Grian was so hardcore about only feeding on "positive" emotions-- putting together some silly events or fun games and then stirring their brains up is a little less dangerous¹ for everyone (but especially them) than making them all very scared, very sad, or very angry. That, and he loves them-- he doesnt want them to hurt. The fact that he fed on their suffering in the Life games quite literally haunts him.

¹ obviously, mania is its own problem, can be just as scary and dangerous, and has its own potential for terrible accidents-- but this is being written from Grian's pov, who views it as the lesser of two evils. The point of this au ofc is that its a terrible, horribly messy situation where there are no clear cut answers, solutions, or faults; Grian has a right to his own survival, and the hermits have a right to not get their brain chemistry altered without their knowledge or consent. So while it might seem like the things you mentioned are ethical choices, the truth is that if Grian were to feed on them, he would be extending and enhancing those emotions to an extreme degree-- hence why he tried so hard to only feed off of positive ones, and why MCC was a good feeding option in his mind bc emotions are already very high during those games, and few people are gonna notice their adrenaline pumping while they're playing or cheering their fave on.

(Altho, something i havent mentioned yet is that i HAVE come up with an eventual solution for him. And ironically enough, Doc is the one who makes it. I dont want to spoil it too much yet tho, so just know i do have something in mind that will help him get back home<3)

[iremiari]

anyway, time to ramble abt life and stuff

Remi Rambles 1: Responsibility and Diligence - The Difficulty of it All

does anyone else know that one meme where there's a teacher in a music theory class captioned "come on it's not rocket science" and then on the bottom image it's a teacher in a rocket science class going "come on it's not music theory" like i get it's supposed to be a joke but it just makes me think about how subjective we determine the difficulty of something.

like yeah thats a given, but if you really think about it, it's really cool, and weird. because two ppl from completely different backgrounds can also find this one thing easy but someone else finds it difficult and it just blows my mind. and i find it interesting to observe this in the way people practice morals.

i feel like the only reason i find it interesting is because so many people that i know are responsible and actually do their requirements for school, studying for exams and quizzes, yk everything, but i find it so difficult to do that for whatever reason. call it the burned out gifted kid effect but i do know how to study i just dont. do it often. bc i assume everything will be alright and did not actually experience the consequences of my laziness, and i still dont.

yeah im doing average in school and i could get better grades and i want to do that, but at the same time, why should i? where do these people find the motivation to do good in school? they say it's out of necessity or urgency because if they dont then they'll get punished but i feel like?? that's the way to more burnout??? and i dont really ever get punished for low grades so i cant use that as motivation.

someone once said, that responsibility is the standard to which we do what is expected of us, and going the extra mile just means you know very well what is asked of you so you do it well. like say, and i apologize for the odd analogy, if someone asks a banana from you: giving them the banana is you being responsible, but peeling the banana for them means you know that they're hungry so you're being extra responsible. they explained it better than i did but you get the general gist, right?

so, i guess the question i need to ask is: "what is expected of me as a student?" because i get good-average grades, but most people would call me lazy and would not entrust any major assessments from me (but i guess that's just because i submit things late). but in the rare occasions that i do submit on time, most people would still call me "smart but lazy" and. i dont know. it's just odd because most people would definitely not call me a particularly responsible student even if i submitted early.

and ive thought of it, and even if i got better grades, they would not call me a particularly responsible student. so, once again, that leads us to the question: "what is the responsibility of (or standards for) a student?"

it's not to get good grades, because i do that, i still learn but people would just call me attentive instead of responsible. and maybe it's to show due diligence in my studies?

because when you think about it, most people would call someone who follows their schedule and exceeds expectations as "responsible" because they go the extra mile in their responsibility as a student. but maybe diligence is the key so that i can get people off my back..?

diligence is a thing that i find... scary to apply in my studies. because then it'll be really hard to find that work-life balance since i tend to get carried away in my pursuits, and once again, burnout.

i guess what i can try to do is think that my schedule is for the whole year to make sure that im not too engrossed in it and allow some more room for fun.

yeah, maybe i'll do this actually. im posting this for archiving reasons and for future me to read again. future remi, if you're reading this follow through w your damn plans mf. and remember to be urself <3

and for the poor unsuspecting stranger reading this, im sorry and i hoped this helped ! if it didnt then welp, tough luck.

[petcr3]

salem's lot takes below the cut bc i need to get my thoughts out

things i hated:

erasing/dulling down ben's relationship to the marsten house. that absolutely killed me. something so powerful about the book, to me, was the profound impact the house had on ben even into adulthood, and how that reflects in mark! ben going to 'find himself' is nowhere near as compelling, imo, as the like sheer gravitational pull of the house

no development of ben's relationships. matt should be a heartbreak, susan should be a heartbreak. and lewis is selling it but it sort of feels odd. we don't even get much time to care about anyone. i know time constraints mean you have less time to spend on these things but like that's what makes horror work; you have to care about these people. we needed ben and matt at dell's together, i think. just a little time with them together to show us that there's that kinship

no miranda! i think ben's grief is actually majorly important?? and it makes him a little shy with susan and idk i think it's a very good addition to his character what can i say

at some point they have mark call salem's lot 'salem's' for short which just sounds?? so wrong

ann norton shooting dr cody. her being the delusional new version of straker did not sit right for me. "you goddamn outsiders!!" felt unnecessary. like we reeled way back on the outsider ben thing, and then to lump that sentiment in with like antiblack racism felt... so weird. like that could have worked with proper setup but there was none

the ending :/ mark and ben leaving together has significantly less meaning to me when you take away the prologue. that's his son!!! where is 'do you love me?' 'yes. god, yes.' COME ONNNNN

things i could take or leave:

i thought it was nice that they gave susan a concrete career aspiration, although i did like that the book kind of confronted her realizing that she didnt necessarily want to stay in town and marry floyd tibbits even though thats what was what was expected of her.

i don't love how they did straker. he served his purpose and there's something successful about like the faux-genteel thing he has going on but i thought the coldness he has in the book is WAY scarier

killing parkins gillespie. like? why? doesn't feel necessary

susan insulting ben's book before she realizes it's him. like.... there is the world's biggest picture of him on the back cover... seems.... weird to not recognize him. and like i understand the power dynamic in the book is a lil off because she loves him so much but like... i think it would have been sweet for her to be like late looking up like 'sorry, just let me finish this last sentence...' and then being like lmao oh my god?? hi??

the drive in. theyre not cars they're coffins is GREAT, but susan not burning when he opened the trunk seemed a little odd even if the sunlight isnt direct? felt like there should at least be a lil sizzle. (also they dressed one of the vampires so similarly to susan's death outfit that i thought for a second they had ben kill her with zero fanfare lmao)

barlow's whole deal. he didn't feel very scary but what can you do?

the song sundown. it was really fucking sick in the trailer and then to hear it used as the bookends to the movie it was like oh that becomes super lame then because it is so audibly a song about 'dont you go fuckin my girlfriend or ill kill you' like??

things i loved:

visuals of the lot emptying out: the gathering milk bottles/newspapers on the steps, the empty excellent cafe

what makenzie leigh brought to susan! she just kind of gave her a bit more personality, made her more legibly/consistently headstrong. she was just so charming, i loved her

the inclusion of black characters! it adds to the story that mark isnt just being bullied for being new, like it's also straight up bigotry

alfre woodard as dr. cody was just great. i appreciate that she leaned into not being overly stoic. like. who would be?? that's an insane reaction.

the mrs. petrie in the morgue scene. i liked how they did that one. very eerie, and i loved that susan was there, the chaos of the popsicle stick cross. chefs kiss!

that double staking where ben tossed a vampire off of him and in a like direct kebab onto the one he just killed

mark mowing down the movie screen!! that absolutely slapped. loved ben being saved by mark

ben being just absolutely balls-out terrified, espcially in the drive in scene

the visual of mark sitting in the headlights of the cars under the projection screen just kind of shivering after ben stakes barlow

[alteregowo]

Hi! I love Dan and Phil, individually and together, but I think they're not trying to hide a romantic relationship. Don't you think that after ten years, they'd finally come out if they were? I mean there are a lot of gay couples on youtube and it would not be that big of a deal today than it was in 2007. Just wanted to hear your opinion on that. Have a nice day!

before i answer, disclaimer: i have ADD and this post might get messy since i find it difficult to concentrate and phrase myself properly (and english isn’t even my main language!)

well, i’m not gonna try and force my own views down your throat or anything but let me ramble a bit about why i wholeheartedly believe dan and phil are in a relationship;

i think i’ll start with the very fact that they recently moved to their third shared home together. say whatever you want to say but if they were indeed just friends, considering they’re in their mid 20s and 30 dont you think they’d want to move out separately and get going with their lives? and dont you think they wouldn’t be so keen on making comments about keeping living together in the long run (or forever….  a forever home say whaaaat). 

now, you might argue with the good ol’ “but they benefit from living together regardless of relationship status”. fair enough. however, let me point out that it has became as clear as day especially in 2017 that they share a bedroom. i don’t know about you but i don’t think two strictly platonic friends who just moved into a duplex would want/ need to share a bedroom unless they’re uhhh mayhaps in a relationship and love to cuddle? i know a wild concept…….

and i’m sorry but if you want to argue against the shared bedroom fact with the shoebox phil claims is “his room” i have nothing to say but shake my head. no way phil actually lives in that room that has no windows and no space to move around and why is the entire room crammed in this one corner… where is the rest of the room……. and why is that room has no personal touch to it…. it’s literally just AmazingPhil props and things……… feels much more like a set to me than an actual bedroom. (also we saw phil’s mirror and hair straighter in the moon room aka “”dan’s bedroom”” which i think we can all collectively agree is simply “the bedroom”)

another thing that strikes me is how dan joins phil’s family vacations (especially in 2017) and how he seems to become part of the family much more than anyone who’s classified as “platonic” to phil would have. dan is just as much of a lester as cornelia is? dan joins the lesters just as much and as frequent as a spouse would. in fact, dan joins the lesters so much on their adventures that if im not wrong, the longest dan and phil spent apart in 2017 was not more than a weekend? that’s whack!

now these were just three things that were very prominent in 2017 regarding the belief whether dan and phil are in a relationship or not that were “behind the scenes”as in going on in their personal lives, kind of? i mean sure we see the  shoebox on AmazingPhil and the moon room in some liveshows and we get pictures from their shared vacations but now i will move on to what we see on screen across their channels

i’ll start this with a throwback to the boncas bc i think that damn speech is enough to debunk any “uwu platonic” argument, ever. i don’t think phil would have done THAT if dan didn’t mean a whole lot to him and i think saying the universe would rip in half in they go apart is a concrete proof that they themselves can;t and don’t want to imagine a life in which they are not joint at the hip. 

moving on to gamingmas, which i will forever find so significant?? they broke a lot of boundaries during that month regarding of invading personal space, a bit of a more mature humor (esp on phil’s account), casual touching and a whole lot of flirting and a lot less (almost none at all) looks straight into the camera to show they are aware this is filmed or to do a “wtf is this lol” kinda thing. gamingmas was a turning point. i will forever firmly believe they did all of that in an attempt to normalize this kind of behavior on screen (and it definitely worked!)

dan and phil continued the vibes of gamingmas well into 2017 and the casual touches, lingering gazes and flirting (as well as expressing affection towards males in specific) is now the normal running theme over at dapg to a degree where we don;t even lose our shit anymore. we joke and meme but nothing strikes us as overwhelming bc we are “used” to it, which i think dan and phil aimed for i genuinely think they wanted to get to this stage of showing more comfort and more intimacy on screen without everyone and their mothers going whack over “pHaN iS rEaL!!!!!1″ and for it all to come across as oh so casual and chill! 

so now you ask, “they go through all that why not just come out lol”

WELL, in my honest opinion, dan and phil will never officially come out as a couple. and you know what, maybe things would have been different if The Video didn’t leak and get spread around (twice, mind you.) but things happen and one thing lead to another and after all they have been through and how they were shaped as people and their experiences with guarding and protecting themselves and their privacy any sort of statement about whether or not they are a couple or just friends or even paid actors  (let alone labeling themselves and their sexuality bluntly) is highly unrealistic. so if you are waiting for a coming out video or whatever to convince you that won’t ever happen i’m afraid. 

dan and phil value their privacy and they have every right to do so.

so yes, maybe in the early days of 2009/10 they were very flirty all across social media and on camera and maybe just maybe you need to consider the few following things regarding why they stopped with that:

The Video leak. like honestly? can’t and won’t find any more justified reason to feel the need for privacy and shielding yourself and making comments on how ‘het’ you are  for instance just to brush off the most intimate thing imaginable that since has been glorified and memorized by millions(?) of people who were never meant to even know this video and that declaration of affection even exists. is it scary. and i fully understand the “no homo howell” phase and how awkward they appeared together on camera for awhile, very very proud of how far they;ve came esp in 2017 though. 

the radio show! is it a little tied to The Video leak since the second leak happened when the radio show was still fairly new but before they moved to london (into their second shared home coughs) they weren’t all that big, you know? but with the popularity of the radio show came the increasing popularity of their youtube channels and their followers/ subscribers count went up and up and their content became exposed to a much larger range of audience and these new audience/ fans were not familiar with the past (at least not at first glance) and dan and phil needed to leave “good” impression (not that being flirty and dumb wasn’t good impression but it wasn’t all that professional and now they’ve grown big enough to be in need of professionalism.)

these two things were a turning point to how dan and phil view themselves on camera and their content itself (phil sticking to the AmazingPhil PG persona) (dan with his struggles with creativity and integrity zzzz) and really, considering their story  (and how well known the early days are, and how dan and phil are aware to that…) it suddenly makes perfect sense why dan and phil aren’t in any sort of rush or need to ever come out.

however though, i think that the “post baking universe” as in the halloween 2016 baking video, the boncas speech, the european leg of tatinof, pinof 8, and gamingmas were a prep to this switch in dynamics we have seen in 2017 and that keeps very steady so far. feels as if late 2016 was so “wild” bc they were testing the waters and our reactions to see if they wanna pull through with this change. 

so, even if they will never officially come out, their dynamic both on and  off screen screams that they are literal boyfriends and they don’t need to spell it out for us to know and see. anyone who cares enough about their relationship status and look at their content with it in mind can very obviously and easily see how in love these two dorks are. same love from the early days of 2009/10 only now it has shifted into a steady, secure, safe, most wonderful thing and you can see that their love towards each other in filling their hearts with pure joy.

so yeah, dan and phil are definitely in a relationship and that doesn’t seem to change anytime soon, if ever at all.

(THAT WAS SO MESSY IM SORRY BUT I HOPE MY POINT CAME ACROSS?)