Phan - Tumblr Posts
It's done! The outline for—
—is below the cut. The goal of this project is to explore the following phenomena with as much context and nuance as I can manage, tracing our history over the past 15 years:
What about us, and what about Dan and Phil, drew in and continues to draw in a very specific audience. If they are a ranch metaphor, we are a pizza metaphor 🥗🍕🫶🏻
Why we were Like That™, by which I mean so parasocially invested in them that we became, at times, the most annoying people on the internet. Much of that reputation is undeserved, and the videos on the phandom to date have been strongly negative. So, uh, I guess I'm going to put my face on camera and (mostly) defend us.
Reblog, share in your Discord servers, reply, or send me messages/anon asks with feedback or resources if you have any! Especially if your experience being in this fandom community has been dramatically different from mine. There are TIT spoilers near the end of the outline, but I'm not tagging because certain individuals seem to be lurking over there. Thank you!
Chapters:
Full outline:
introduction
cold open
felt personally attacked jonathan haidt's last press tour
showed up to the phrenaissance 11 months late
had an unexpectedly strong response to their new content, needed to find out why
what the hell are we doing here?
- phenomenology (academics are professionally insufferable) - research question 1: what drew the audience in? - research question 2: why were we Like That™?
what we're NOT doing here
a strict content analysis or "wow we sucked" video providing sources for things best left uncirculated, thank you
reflexivity (personal biases)
- american zillennial in public health - in the youtube audience by spring 2010 - lurking in the phandom on tumblr 2013-2015, back* since 2019 - fan behavior i did and did not engage in
(----): truly necessary background information, i swear
(pop) cultural trends, tech, and their intersection
- nerd/geek identity and the first online weirdos - broadcast tv & the music industry vs the internet - defining "emo" - blogging & vlogging - early internet comedy
broader social/economic trends
- so the U.S. economy collapsed in 2007 - a decade that sucked except for rom-coms and square enix games - the flip/slide phone + digital camera + mp3 player loadout
(05-8): early youtube and early phil
youtube: a great video uploader without a clear purpose
the content on the website
- crossposts, corporations, and creative/social outlets - omg guys it's amazing phil - contemporary youtube-to-legacy success: justin bieber
the audience of "early adopters"
contemporary social media sites and forums
(2009): origin story
a wild dan appears… in the comments
the global constant that is teenagers being messy online
daring my old school district to sue me
- "one town's war on gay teens" (literal rolling stone headline!) - epidemiology 101: rates of… ugh… "unaliving" oneself - ways kids cope when it seems no adults will help them
the earliest days of dan & phil
- hello internet + pinof - a chronically overexamined timeline - file deleted ---* so how big WAS the audience at the time? ---* acceptable funny/edgy language was just different
contemporary youtube-to-legacy success: lucas cruikshank
omg it's meeeeeee
how amy & friends were using youtube ways i was just destined to end up here being in social environments with peers 3-6 years older
(2010): is it "twenty-ten" or "two thousand ten?"
youtube is a platform about to explode in popularity
- the algorithm before it was The Algorithm™, lost site features - let's take a trip through the wayback machine :3c - actual dan & phil content in 2010 - the green brothers found vidcon - contemporary youtube-to-legacy success: darren criss
social media: also about to explode in popularity
- facebook was cool at the time, believe it or not - law of equivalent exchange: 2010 amy cringe compilation - the birth of instagram and pinterest - youtube slash livejournal (the first phanfics… sort of) - shockfic and its place in the overton window
the beginning of "the great rewiring" as haidt calls it
- ways social media is about to dramatically change - third spaces become online spaces - confounding variable: changing expectations of teens
(2011): the end of an era, the start of an age
a very long tangent on fandom and pop culture
cultural exchange
counterculture and teenagers as concepts
the first british invasion: the 1960s
- beatlemania and its descendents - moral panic about the virtue of tween/teen girls - tv/film/fashion trends being imported from the uk - in parallel, star trek births the modern fandom
the second british invasion: the 1980s
- synth/new pop that came out of the punk movement (hi, emo?) - confined mainly to music and fashion - cool britannia
it's harry freakin' potter
- absolute titan of pop culture influence - the rise of online fandom: examining the horrors ---* what is "wank" ---* flaming, sockpuppeting, and general cyberbullying ---* censorship: ffnet purges, boldthrough, & strikethrough ---* other fandom shenanigans of the time (yaoi paddles, anyone?)
harry potter's over. now what?
- for those who needed coming-of-age hero's journeys ---* twilight and YA dystopia waiting in the wings ---* some pretty iconic tv shows start or hit their stride ---* the mcu's phase one ---* takeaway: the rise of "geek culture" generally - for those who just wanted to go to hogwarts ---* doctor who & the wider world of bbc programming ---* british vloggers, you say? where? on youtube? brb--
end tangent, back to your regularly scheduled programming
dan & phil in the first half of 2011
- a continuation of 2010… for now - the videos - british pancakes as a case study of bad fan behavior
streaming and social media
- the birth of snapchat, twitch, and younow - netflix starts developing original programming - multi-channel networks (mcns) - digitour
dan & phil in the second half of 2011
- and they were roommates (omg they were roommates) - fantastic foursome - youtube glitches out - the super amazing project - the first proper baking video + wait, is that the bbc?
~ baking interlude 1: christmas cookies ~
the family sugar cookie (sorry, delia)
amy's 2011
(2012): why is anyone nostalgic for this
the transition from desktop to mobile
- massive growth in smartphone ownership 2011-2015 - things one might do on mobile one might not do on desktop - non-online ways smartphones changed being a youth™
what is tumblr and why is my child using it
- how the site is meant to work - fandom, memes, aesthetics, and SOME public figures - want to be anxious and depressed in peace? come to tumblr - this site seems a little……… gay ---* tumblr's very queer, very neurodiverse userbase ---* legacy media representation in 2012: bad! ---* actual academic research on tumblr users (yes, it exists) - the tumblr experience for non-native english speakers
amy becomes a vibrating mass of panic and paranoia
- in context of the above - additional rant about the american public school system
the growing dan & phil audience
- investigating the origin of the term "phannie" - more collaborations = more viewers - more video uploads = more /invested/ viewers - younow and interacting with fans - watch time replaces clicks in the algorithm
online etiquette, or lack thereof
- mid-transition from the 2000s to the 2010s - "professional internet celebrity" is still basically brand-new - lack of boundaries - various ways to be an asshole online - unsupervised kids simply do not engage in best practices
the end of 2012
- dan and phil move to london - wikipedia vandalism - tiptoeing around a top contender for the phandom's greatest sin - super amazing project DONE, now it's BBC RADIO TIME
(2013): arguably the most important year
wait. what's that six-second video platform over there--
[amy's curated vine compilation]
- a new wave of internet comedians (read: future youtubers) - the zillennial lexicon - other platforms start emphasizing short-form video content - magcon
emo is BACK - well, sort of
- fob hiatus ends, mcr breaks up. my god. you had to be there - more open ties to nerd/geek culture than in the 2000s - these things once again intersect at dan and phil
dan and phil in the first half of 2013
- siri, what's a "sex symbol?" why are you booing me i'm right-- - d&p are everywhere - radio shows, interviewing, hosting - youtube uploads on their individual channels
rapidly changing cultural attitudes towards queerness
- gay marriage will be legal in places other than canada soon - a lot of assimilationist rhetoric though tbh - parallels to the pop feminism of the decade
hey kids, let's talk about compulsory heterosexuality!!
- what is it and why do people do it - academic, tumblr-level, and anecdotal research - the dannies, the phillies, and the phannies
amy
- the closet™ - mental health stigma - 2013 dnp posts from my main blog
dan and phil in the second half of 2013
- subscriber milestones, vidcon - joint content before the gaming channel - phandom starts having a major presence outside tumblr
(2014): achievement unlocked!
it's time to talk about rpf
- definitions (a chance to be annoyingly pedantic) - academic perspectives and fan discourse on the ethics - when the subjects clearly aren't fine with it - so… we can acknowledge "shipping phan" was different, right? ---* sometimes the subjects are fine* with it, actually ---* how dan and phil started to handle the shipping ---* obvious differences between phan and other rpf ships ---* sharing my favorite passages as a first-time phanfic reader
dan and phil in 2014
- wikipedia vandalism 2: electric boogaloo - bbc request show → internet takeover - the 7 second challenge - youtube content, subscriber milestones, rewind - cons and award shows
tumblr reaches the peak of its influence
- yahoo's attempts to monetize the userbase - buzzfeed and aggregators steal our jokes and bait our clicks - legacy media dangles carrots and uses us for free marketing - the legend of korra breaks TV precedent, almost out of nowhere - the tumblr user experience ---* on mobile, without xkit ---* on desktop, with xkit ---* 2014 dnp posts from my main blog
gamergate and its long shadow
- trolling, renewed and revamped - algorithms push increasingly extreme content - the broad conservative backlash conglomerate - increased normalization of conspiracism in general
my greatest sin [not clickbait] [very funny]
- so, circling back to comphet… - the actual story
anyway, let's talk about danandphilgames
- a star is born: dil howlter - different types of gaming content on youtube at the time - why did 17yo amy not subscribe? well…
~ baking interlude 2: chocolate cupcakes ~
make your own frosting. it freezes well
roasting myself further
(2015): it's not queerbaiting when it's real people
facebook "pivots to video"
- mark zuckerberg lied. water is wet - causes other platforms to REALLY double down on video - the birth of musical.ly - corporate-branded creators (read: future youtubers)
queerbaiting enters mainstream public consciousness
- academic origins - early fannish and acafan writing - johnlock, destiel, and sterek - statistics 101: type i error, type ii error, and queerbait
dan, phil, and the phandom
- bbc, cons, & the brits - danandphilcrafts - phan conspiracies ---* japhan ---* body language experts ---* timeline truthers ---* floor plan investigators ---* no but seriously imagine it - regular youtube uploads ---* solo content ---* joint content ---* subscriber milestones, rewind - tatinof uk and tabinof ---* on "selling out" ---* revisiting the statistics 101 lesson: now with real people! ---* never meet your heroes (unless they're dan and phil)
amy's (temporary) exit from the phandom
- it's legal adulthood with a steel chair!! - growing discomfort with some fans' behavior - 2015 dnp posts from my main blog - the closer: final fantasy vii
(2016): season finale
vine's imminent demise
- content platforms behaving badly - content creators behaving badly
youtube after "the great rewiring" (as haidt calls it)
- version 1.0 of the modern youtube algorithm ---* deep neural networks for dummies ---* what's holding creators accountable, or not - advertising and sponsorships ---* basically every child and youth™ is watching now ---* the battle for our attention ---* regulators start to crack down on undisclosed ads - the rise of drama/tea content (and later, channels) ---* youtubers are now seen as regular celebrities ---* dan and phil as the butt of other youtubers' jokes ---* baiting the phandom for engagement
tatinof us and aus
- a proven new model for live show tours - show & documentary released to youtube red (now premium) - [sigh] the tour bus
sea change in online fandom
- the newer, sometimes queerer media in korra's wake ---* better and more representation in live-action tv shows ---* voltron (i'm sorry!!!) ---* the mystic messenger craze ---* alice oseman & heartstopper - the new dynamics of #discourse ---* proship is to anti as phannie is to phanti ---* the bad behaviors of the 00s get a new coat of paint ---* new, though: fans harassing creators ---* a personal note on ace discourse
dan and phil presence off-tour
- the internet takeover ends - regular content, subscriber milestones
so. uh. current events.
- brexit - sorry the united states is a font of chaos - ripple effects
closing out the year
- amy finally gets an anxiety diagnosis and treatment! hurray! - dapgo, rewind - bbc radio awards & the boncas - gamingmas
(2017): time for a rebrand
tangent - sit down!!! buckle up!!! today's lecture is on PSIs & PSRs!!!
"parasocial" as defined by the current zeitgeist
- summing up youtubers' and laypeople's opinions (not dan's) - an unfairly negative stance overall, imo
older academic literature
- the 1956 paper (yes, 1956) - with traditional celebrities - with fictional characters
current academic literature
- with youtubers and other content creators - positive effects on the audience - negative effects on the audience - broader societal implications
fandom spaces as a parasocial experience
- parasocial and truly social interactions with each other - phandom as a supportive, welcoming space for oddballs - what research i can find about neurospicy folks, + anecdotes - me and everyone else on planet earth move to discord
inherent transactionality
- the nature of celebrity - positive effects on creators - negative effects on creators
reexamining early phandom through a parasocial lens
- the good, the bad, and the ugly - the role audience demographics played in all of this - entering, exiting, and remaining in the phandom
end tangent, back to your regularly scheduled programming
vine is well and truly dead
- some had prepared to become primarily youtubers (smart) - some move to musical.ly, insta, facebook, or snap (less so)
the sun sets on danisnotonfire
- i am very normal about dan's hobbit hair, i swear. - the last dnp content before the rebrand - new apartment, new floor plan investigations
adpocalypse now
- youtube has become the village elder of platforms ---* increased scrutiny, increased responsibility ---* some youtubers had been getting away with !#$!#@% - the scandals ---* pewdiepie + logan paul ---* elsagate and being "family- friendly" (read: ad-friendly) - censorship and monetization ---* adsense revenue goes down as advertisers pull out ---* the glory days of posting whatever and making bank are over
amazingphil and ~daniel howell~
- youtube & younow content - that week in march - vacations and conventions - conjoined baking and the concept of a "soft launch" - daniel & depression → dan as a mental health advocate - truth bombs, ii announcement, rewind
(2018): the phandom vs the hiatus they told us not to worry about
interactive introverts
- "giving the people what they want" - in hindsight… - let's talk about dnp fans from the global south
youtuber burnout
- it wasn't just dan: (more examples than header fits) - the old model was simply not sustainable - newer contributing factors - research on burnout, plus personal anecdotal experience
other dan and phil content
- younow/rize lives - dan's last videos before… you know… - phil's solo content in 2018 (quiff!!) - pinof → wdapteo - the gaming channel
other stuff happening online and in the world
- youtube raises the barriers to monetization - many "pivot to video" creators are now independent - the modern youtuber's multiple streams of income - continuations of societal trends in 2016 - musical.ly becomes tiktok - notable: she-ra and the princesses of power
the hiatus™: part myth, part reality
- how long dan was actually offline - major confounder: tumblr implodes almost overnight - major confounder: perception of content density from '13-'16 - major confounder: rapidly maturing audience - major confounder: our temporal awareness is about to go way ↓↓
~ baking interlude 3: scotcheroos ~
minnesotans and their obsession with "bars"
amy has one last existential crisis (you know, to date)
(2019): demolishing the closet with a nail bat
phil videos in the first 5 months of this very important year
basically i'm gay
- my thoughts - its legacy in the canon of "coming out" stories - multiple things can be true at once
coming out to you
- my thoughts - its legacy in the canon of "coming out" stories - why phil waited (actual explanations, speculation)
amy's 2019
- return to the audience, not really to the phandom (rip tumblr) - strange coincidence that i also had a major life transition
dan and phil: still here, freshly queer
- twitter becomes the main nexus of phandom, by default - regular phil uploads + brief return to younow - vidcon
(2020): go home and stay there
so it's a goddamn global public health crisis
- infectious disease perspective - effects on overall well-being of adults - effects on kids and teenagers (sorry to all of you) - political and economic impacts
hitherto unforeseen levels of online content consumption
- tiktok replaces basically all short-form video content - yet another wave of new (otherwise unemployed) youtubers - you're watching a video essay. these got really popular now. - being young and isolated: thoughts from younger phannies
the Content™ bc that's the one word we use for this now
- phil's videos - when dan is around - that attitude magazine interview - pour one out for the phil solo project(s) the panini wrecked
further political disaster… avoided?
- checking in on the state of social issues previously discussed - unfortunately,
(2021): welcome to the 2020s, we have lingering trauma
THE PHOUSE?!?!?
- social media posts - the stereo shows
other dan and phil videos
- phil's solo videos - gay and not proud - hometown showdown - other joint videos - phil's #shorts (sounds normal in american english)
panini updates
- vaccines soon, uwu??? + entrenched misinformation - pros and cons of remote work - pros and cons of remote school - pros and cons of remote socializing
you will get through this night
- younger me really could have used this book too, dan - thoughts as a professional in a related field - reflecting on some of my more unique circumstances
daring my old school district to sue me (again!!)
- updates: racism and transphobia - updates: right-wing freaks take over the school board again - residents vote against improving mental health resources
(2022): dan returns (still not on fire)
hey so politics are um getting worse
- americans lose the right to reproductive freedom ---* the quickest of histories on where these freaks came from ---* this shit kills people. - trans kids become the punching bag of culture war discourse ---* fuck off! (gently) ---* fuck off! (i have a knife) ---* checking in on terf island
we're all doooooooooooooooomed
- dystopia daily my beloved - the style, the substance, the metatextual analysis-- - not everyone loved it, though. why? - the promo - dan on tour + sister daniel
amy's 2022
- i got covid - then i got long covid: brain fog, pots-like symptoms
some more news (i will work on my warmbo impression)
- dan joins tiktok + danisnotinteresting uploads - phil: uploading less, busy doing remote crisis management - twitter is acquired by an idiot jackass - heartstopper on netflix! ---* the show and what it means to people ---* drama (revisiting "real people can't queerbait") ---* why this has anything to do with the phandom
~ baking interlude 4: cinnamon rolls ~
- lovingly, recipe changes and corrections :) - if i have an opinion about anything, it's sweet yeasted breads
(2023): the phrenaissance
phil
- joins tiktok! - youtube uploads through september - what even is phannie tiktok. i've never used this app. help.
dystopia daily b-sides
- dan memes of 2022 - the 2023 dystopia daily episodes
amy: the doctoral candidacy process
- purgatory, privilege, poverty, and free pizza - checking in on what this is like outside the united states
pretending the panini is over
- complaining about post-adpocalypse censorship standards - honest take about "giving up" on covid - who gets the short end of the stick
the youtube algorithm is BAD and UNINTELLIGENT, actually,
- unhinged rant about not hearing about the gaming rephrival - because i was offline from other platforms. like, @amyoffline.
pov: you are a phannie (not me) on october 15th
- what i was doing on october 15th - saying goodbye forever, spooky week, and november - gamingmas - phil uploads through december
(2024): fifteen years of terrible, terrible influence
hey what the fuck is going on
- dan and phil ---* joint and phil videos ---* jokes they never would've made ten years ago ---* a collection of emotional posts about how far they've come ---* people want fun and silly content again. we'll get to why ---* nostalgia, hope, and other warm and fuzzy feelings - the phandom ---* ancient parasocial attachments, reactivated instantly ---* people are way more normal now. let's discuss why ---* tumblr vs twitter vs tiktok phandom
we're all doomed, youtube version
- my thoughts - thoughts on "dan should/shouldn't" do video essays - i can't objectively evaluate anything he makes bc [gunshots]
terrible influence tour
- legally phlonde - the concept: healing one's inner child / taking it back - we gotta talk about phannies in the global south again - no but seriously imagine it? ---*ogres are like onions, they have LAYERS ---* [placeholder for whatever does(n't) happen]
anglosphere current events once again
- the likely us tiktok ban - the tories get fired - [placeholder for whichever hell americans manifest] - witnessing genocide and feeling powerless
ffx full-circle moment to the intro of this video essay
- the night i found out they came back - why i am doing this, now with context - reflections on a nearly 15-year (parasocial) relationship
whatever youtube uploads we get during fall/december
AMY SEES TIT (nov 14)
- the vibes at the phamily reunion - buying merch to apologize for eternal ublock origin use - how much should i document?? (not during the show) - phanspiracies confirmed - atlanta confessions - favorite bits - the alternate universe where i went to tatinof and/or ii
(2025): the horrors persist, but so do we
whatever 2025 content is out while i'm still working on this
our parasocial social club
- let me be philosophytube for a second ---* every interaction has a parasocial element ---* what are we obligated to do as a phandom, actually? ---* as people who parasocially care about these two dorks? ---* what else should we be doing socially to be at our happiest? - "they're my gay uncles" vs "i'm a little in love, even now" ---* riffing about the boundary/overlap between these camps ---* sibling reads me for filth in a single text (sister daniel...) ---* at least we're all in this together
what's going to continue to draw people in
- grown adults drawing our cat whiskers back on - updates on queer/nd kids - updates on anxiety/depression rates - updates on tech and the broader environment of content - world still feels doomed
tangent - the "hard launch" and why people want it
what are people referring to, exactly
- general definition and other examples - when it comes to dan and phil - maybe they hard launched already and we just missed the memo
the ludonarrative of phandom
- if you got here early on - if you got here in the mid-2010s - if you got here after they came out - if you got here post-hiatus - final fantasy comparison: ffvii's chokehold over first-timers
a rom-com for the ages
- the tropes in play - brief tangent on the evolution of the genre - queer romantic comedies - final fantasy comparison: ffviii's plot and squall/rinoa
phriends… or…
- wholesome influence, slice-of-life - projection - final fantasy comparison: ffxv's gameplay loop, the chocobros
humans don't like ambiguity
- from a media perspective (narrative tension) - research from the hard sciences - final fantasy comparison: fanille ---* the first gay final fantasy characters, actually ---* ffxiii's character development process ---* fang and vanille in the text. brb, clawing at the walls ---* so, if anyone is looking for a phyuri au prompt…
tl;dr: reality is not fiction. make peace with not "knowing"
end tangent, back to your regularly scheduled programming
the phuture
- phil's big solo project when??? - dapg is just the joint channel now - youtube has changed since when dan last "regularly" uploaded - nothing lasts forever, and that's okay
~ baking interlude 5: ranch + pizza ~
- ranch propaganda and ranch metaphors - showing off my dough and sauce skills
conclusions
- a lot has happened in 15 years - [placeholders: don't write your conclusions before you do your research]
Proof this project can only be done in consultation with Tumblr: no other platform we're on could accommodate a post of this length and formatting detail lol
Only one day until the thing on the day O.○ ashdsh
I managed to get silver VIP, not gold, but I'm still seeing TIT and I had to draw the promotion picture cuz they both look so good!
HE'S GOT THE WII REMOTE IN THE WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME WITH A WRONG FACIAL EXPRESSION
I PICKED THE WRONG TIME TO PAUSE THE VIDEO
YOU OK THERE PHIL?!
Hey guys i really need some work right now. I'm looking for people to commission for. Just dm me if you want anything done. Nothing is really off limits for me besides nsfw. Please reblog this thanks 😎
Gonna tell my kids this was Troye Sivan
Oh no, here we go again
[sorry for any spelling/gramma mistakes, I have smol brain]
@nastyburger I just want to say I love you and thank you so much for the food. I’ve been happy crying for the past hour going through looking at all the new Kyle and Wes content while listening to the ear-rape version of the Thomas the tank engine theme song. :,)
Also, Kyle would have/want to get his ears pierced. And Easton totally got his nose pierced when he lost a bet to Jazz. Don’t @ me.
Also also, can I mention that we’re finally giving our boi Wes some clothes??? Like, finally??? He’s been wearing that bloody basket ball outfit for who knows how long.
Expect more doodles, cuz I’m not letting this die.
~bonus~
I'm so happy than Dan Howell is happy and is comfortable with him self I might cry
This might be a bit annoying y'all but just a reminder its on ao3, :D
Ik it's unfinished but comments and Kudos motivate me to keep going y'all.
Basically Flint Hatcherfield moves to Paris and buys the burnt remains of the Opera Garnier with plans to renovate. To leave behind a dark past is never easy. But when a certain heartbroken opera ghost gets disturbed that makes everything harder! Will romance perhaps blossom or are they both too messy for that to happen?
I promise I won't make many posts about this!
Phantom of the whiteboard
I had to draw the main three on a whiteboard!!
They are those people that leave the curtains open and they have big ass windows in the most lived in spaces and im supposed to “NOT” look
i just think like.....the door is open...but we arent allowed in yet so we're just staring at the open door as dan and phil stand in the doorway pointing and laughing at us
Please another phuckbang video
Philip I mean this with as much love as my soul can make. don't call it a phuckbang
We just took photo when we noticed that we unknowingly copied Dan and Phil
Sneak peak of the new project I’m working on
this is old but enjoy it anyways I guess 🖤