Dan & Phil Part 85: the phildom

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dancy
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alittledizzy wrote: Sat May 18, 2019 7:18 pm
I'm mildly jet-lagged and back from the US of A after some time in the sunshine (and thunderstorms) with my family! I think I've gone from Voldemort white to mildly cream so that is a big deal for me. A highlight was visiting 'Gatorland' where the most exciting animal was a raccoon climbing into some trash.

I did have to hold my breath on the plane home though due to a toxic perfume cloud that was so strong I think I started hallucinating. Maybe I'm still on the plane in a perfume coma and this is all a dream? AM I REAL??

I watched 'First Man' again too and almost cried when I saw the moon. 5/5

I'm gonna work on a couple of videos this weekend, for one of them I'm going to do another Q&A as it was really fun filming the last one. If you want to ask me anything you can do it here and you might be featured in the video! (might not be the next video but it will pop up at some point.)

Also here's my last vid if you missed it! It features some great dog content (along with horrifying sonic memes)

- P-DAWG
Hmm, I doubt he's just filming another Q&A so soon again just because he thought it was fun the first time around. It's probably got more to do with it just being easy to film and the fact that it doesn't require any creative thinking. I don't really mind though as I did enjoy the previous Q&A but I'm more curious about the other videos he plans on filming.

Last video did quite poorly in terms of views, just under 400k at the moment. I do hope he can manage to make his next few videos more appealing/rewatchable so the views don't go even lower..
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An anon on tumblr just pointed out to me that Bryony's ig story (not gonna post it, since she doesn't like people posting her ig stuff) look like it's in Dan and Phil's flat and she's showing off American gummy bears. I love that they got to hang and (I'm assuming) watch Eurovision!
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I don't know if Eurovision last night makes it more or less likely that the board game is with them. I don't recognize it as one they've shown us before but I'm not sure.
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I guess we'll see if they watch Game of Thrones with anyone tonight? tomorrow? whenever they see it in the UK.

I have a personal request that there not be Game of Thrones spoilers in the main thread. I will also #spon that there's a whole bunch of side threads on the forum. None for GoT, interestingly (someone could make one!), but all sorts of topics nonetheless. A good place to look for discussion while Deppy continue to lie low.
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alittledizzy
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So far the top questions on Phil's community post about his q&a are:
for the Q&A: How does it feel to have been 10 years on YouTube and without having to make an apology video for some drama? king of YouTube 😎
Who is your favourite Chris: Chris Evans or Chris Hemsworth? 🙆🏻‍♀️
you have no more excuses. tour is over, your apartment place can DEAL WITH IT. adopt a dog or iLl SuSpENd YOur fOrTnitE aCcOunT
we know that you and dan were gonna buy a house to renovate a while back but didnt, have you considered trying it again sometime?
And two of tweets that show up for me under top tweets for #AskPhil on twitter are:
A lot of people seem to just be using it like pinof and asking him to react to things or showing him pictures of themselves/their dogs. I do think that either the q&a is just easy to film or else he has a specific piece of information he wants to convey and a q&a is the most casual style in which to insert it since they aren't doing liveshows.
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A better chance to have their questions answered in a q&a video is one of the membership perks, so Phil could be making another one for that reason. His membership community posts seem to have gotten more rare, so it could be a way to make up for that.

Interesting that he’s filming out of order/multiple videos though! I really want to know what the others are.
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Dan's latest twitter like has inspired some discussions. I think it's interesting and we've known Dan's interested/has feelings about this topic so I'm not super shocked. It's related to death so I'll link it instead of embedding. Very touching thread, though.
knq wrote: Mon May 20, 2019 5:10 pm A better chance to have their questions answered in a q&a video is one of the membership perks, so Phil could be making another one for that reason. His membership community posts seem to have gotten more rare, so it could be a way to make up for that.

Interesting that he’s filming out of order/multiple videos though! I really want to know what the others are.
Oh yeah, I haven't even really thought much about what the other videos that Phil is filming are. Hrm. My dream video would be a second viewers pick my outfit... or, honestly, maybe not, because until Dan comes back I think people are just ready to write Phil off as not enough and I'm not sure I want him to do a video like that if it gets low views and makes him unlikely to return to the concept in the future.
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Oh, that’s a lovely thread, would be amazing if everyone could have that sort of experience if they had to.

I saw a tweet about Phil’s video views that made a few new points
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flarequake wrote: Mon May 20, 2019 10:42 pm Oh, that’s a lovely thread, would be amazing if everyone could have that sort of experience if they had to.

I saw a tweet about Phil’s video views that made a few new points
I do think the stagnancy and the dreaded White Wall are part of why Phil’s recent videos might not attract as much attention, but before that he filmed from the same bed in the same tiny bedroom so it’s not that much of a change.

The major change is obvious: he’s a solo act who gained his fame as part of a duo. That doesn’t mean he can’t succeed in a solo career if he chooses, but right now the majority of his audience became his audience because we were drawn to a DanandPhil dynamic. To keep his views the same, he’d need to gain viewers interested in solo content at the same rate he’s losing viewers interested in duo content.

Phil got popular baking cookies and now he’s making coffee instead. Even if he makes the best coffee in the world he’s going to lose some of his customers. Sure there’s substantial overlap between coffee and cookie lovers, but right now practically everyone lined up outside Phil’s shop got there because they love cookies, and coffee ain’t cookies.

I know people worry, but ‘low’ views for Phil still means hundreds of thousands of people with the potential to reach millions. He’s a very good baker and barista and anything else he’d like to try being as well.
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flarequake wrote: Mon May 20, 2019 10:42 pm I saw a tweet about Phil’s video views that made a few new points
That's an interesting perspective. A lot of people in the comments seem to agree with it. I know I've personally seen a lot of people saying his videos of late seem rushed, feel claustrophobic and uninspired (I don't agree with that last one) but then others say no, people just feel that way because they're projecting the lack of other content and their feelings about that onto Phil's solo videos.

I know a popular opinion is that the views on his videos being lower is due to the hiatus/lack of Dan/lack of liveshows, which I don't doubt is part of the issue, but honestly the dip started last year, only 2 of his 5 solo videos got over a million views, and if I remember correctly it took them a while to get there. His views for this year were low before we even really got to feel the effects of the hiatus or understood that the other things weren't going to be happening. Also, three of his videos this year actually did better than some of his from last year. So I guess what I'm saying is that the evidence isn't really there to support the idea that this isn't something that would be happening regardless of the current situation.
knq wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 12:19 am I know people worry, but ‘low’ views for Phil still means hundreds of thousands of people with the potential to reach millions. He’s a very good baker and barista and anything else he’d like to try being as well.
I like the analogy you made, and agree. Despite the lower views, Phil will be just fine, his videos still make many people very happy, and I feel like he'll always be a very beloved personality in the youtube community.
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I agree that Phil's low views started even before the hiatus, although one can say it's because they started focus more on tour last year. I still love Phil's content, but I've always loved it for HIM - for his personality, for the way he engaged with it and the audience, and that's something I'm not quite seeing in his new videos, not all the times.

My main issue with Phil's new content is not that Dan isn't in it, it's that it doesn't seem like he knows what kind of vibe he's giving. His channel doesn't have a theme so he's free to do what he wants with it and take it in every direction, and that's good because he's not boxed in, but at the same time it makes it hard to engage with new viewers because they don't know what to expect. And with new viewers, without a proper theme, the only thing that can make him look appealing is his personality, but that isn't shining true with videos where he's mainly reacting to stuff for barely 10 minutes in front of a white wall.

If I were Phil's brand adviser I would suggest the following things:

1. Make longer videos. I'm not at all saying videos don't take time to make but when you're posting once every 10-14 days, posting something that barely makes the 10 minutes mark feels half assed. There's people on youtube posting 30+ minutes videos every other day. There was a time where viewers could barely stand watching an 8 minutes video but that era has come and gone and Phil's videos DO seem rushed and inconclusive and always leave me wanting more. He's fun, he's pretty to look at and he's witty, stay on camera for longer!

2. Find your niche. There's too many creators on youtube right now and I don't necessarily mean Phil needs a theme but he needs something that make him HIM. For me, again, it's his wit and personality but it's not shining through in the videos he's making. One of the videos I go back to all thr time, for example, is the DIY slime video - if I imagine that not on the bed but with more surface, that more mature humour Phil used combined with the confidence of the quiff and a longer setting, and maybe a weird story thrown in the middle, that for me is a winning video. Hell, even a houseplant meeting video where he show us all the houseplants he has, why he chose it and what name he gave them would be amazing.

None of these things have to do with Dan's absence or the hiatus, these are all things I wish Phil was doing. And it's okay if he doesn't want to do them! if these are the videos he wants to make, that's good, that's perfect, it's his channel. He's not complaining about the views so I think he's not bothered - yet. But if he were to complain about low views, I hope he realizes that yes, part of the issue is surely the phandom feeling the change deeply - but most of all, it's the phandom not seeing the right change in the way he presents his content.
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I agree with many points of that twitter post. The main problem here is the disconnection between Phil and his audience that goes way beyond his content on youtube(this applies to Dan too, by the way, but since we're talking about Phil I'm gonna focus on him).
People who are in the Phandom - or a big part of it, at least - are here because they love Phil as a person more than a youtuber; they love his personality, getting to know what he does in his life. As the person on twitter said, "a big part of the job is that you kind of have to let people into your bubble" and if Phil doesn't do that in his videos and he doesn't do that anywhere else, then what? We're not getting to see Phil as a person now, we only see the youtuber who posts a 10min video sitting in front of a white wall and then leaves. He looks more like someone who announces the news on tv rather than an Internet personality. That's why a Q&A or a Members Only Post cannot replace liveshows - liveshows felt intimate, the other two things feel impersonal.
So yeah, I'm not surprised that his views are low or that he's losing subs. I don't think that Phil is worried but at the same time I don't think that he's pleased either.
knq wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 12:19 am Phil got popular baking cookies and now he’s making coffee instead. Even if he makes the best coffee in the world he’s going to lose some of his customers. Sure there’s substantial overlap between coffee and cookie lovers, but right now practically everyone lined up outside Phil’s shop got there because they love cookies, and coffee ain’t cookies.
Very true and the worst thing is that we don't know if we will ever get to eat those cookies again, so we keep asking about it but Phil just keeps pouring more coffee into our mugs without acknowledging the change in his business.

Everytime I think about the current situation in the phandom I think about this gif (Phil is Frank Drebin and the house is the Phandom having questions and breakdowns):

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I wanted this post to be... better because there's stuff I wanted to elaborate more on and maybe isn't clear enough but I'm in a rush so blah.

I agree with that Twitter post that Phil's way of making videos isn't very stylish. With that I don't even mean his video subjects, but just the way he does things. He had the right idea with the change of sets but while the bedroom setting was somewhat amateurish and juvenile, it did give the illusion of a look into his life. The new set doesn't do that because it's such a cramped tiny space. While we previously saw a room (even if it was a broom closet), we now see a wall and some pretty decorations. That shatters the illusion that we previously had of him letting us in. To a casual viewer, it gives a message that he is closed off and maybe hiding something. That does not make people want to watch your videos.

Being closed off and not showing much of your life, is not necessarily bad if that matches the type of content you make. A video essayist might get away with it, but even in that part of YouTube the Creators bring something to the table like Contrapoints elaborate use of costumes or Jenny Nicholson's more casual and funny approach to the dressing up thing. Or even if you just roast Instagram comedians for a living, you really don't need to connect with an audience as much. But Phil is a vlogger, and that means letting people in. That's the core of what being a vlogger is. And I don't think that he's dumb and doesn't know that, but either he no longer wants to do that or he temporarily can't because it would mean addressing the elephant in the room (Dan's existence) or maybe because they'll be moving soon. If it's the latter then maybe the phandom has a chance in hell in the future, but if it's former he's gonna need to change.

I still don't think Phil's content is the biggest problem though. More like Phil's content is suddenly a problem because it's an easy target since it's the only thing we have. The problem is that Dan (he's just as much of a 'guilty' party in this) and Phil have massively fucked up their own ecosystem. They had such a good thing going with spreading content among three channels. The gaming channel, while the views may not have been stellar in her last months, kept the phandom alive. It allowed Dan to get away with never uploading and Phil to get away with whatever he wanted to do. It kept people engaged, and it's what made the Dan & Phil brand as strong as it is (or was). Now Dan is still not uploading and Phil is still doing whatever he wants, but without the gaming channel. And there is nothing to replace that. No tours or radio shows this time. Not even a liveshow. Just silence. But because Dan is basically impossible to reach these days (and also because the phandom has never ending patience with his bullshit and is obsessed with him moving on to 'better' things) Phil gets most of the criticism now. I'm not saying that Dan doesn't get criticized at all of course, but it's easier to criticize the guy who is actually trying to do something. Complaining about Dan is about as effective as talking to a wall, so much is clear after 5 months of this 'hiatus'. If the ecosystem was still working, I genuinely don't think I'd be reading as many hot takes on Phil's content.

I still like Phil and most of his content, but they're not the best videos I can watch on YouTube these days. They're a nice snack, but that's not enough to sustain a fandom when you've already peaked in terms of relevance. I definitely agree with the changes that liola would make. But I'm not convinced that will ultimately make things better than they are now. As much as we say we support their solo endeavors, the fact is that we survived just fine without Dan's videos for a year. But a few months without joint content made shit hit the fan. Without regular joint content I see no future for the phandom or the relevance of Dan and Phil.
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alittledizzy
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I appreciate all the meta conversation but I gotta interrupt to share this nightmare fuel.
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alittledizzy wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 6:19 pm I appreciate all the meta conversation but I gotta interrupt to share this nightmare fuel.
I was having a not-so-great day. Thank you so much for posting that :rofl:
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I...sorry, who?????? Why?????? I feel like if you look at those dolls for too long they suck out your soul lmao
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Jfc, as if dolls aren't horrifying enough.
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alittledizzy
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obsessivelymoody wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 6:46 pm I...sorry, who?????? Why?????? I feel like if you look at those dolls for too long they suck out your soul lmao
I think all American Girl dolls have that effect on me. I do have to say, I found the original listing, and I'm super impressed that someone literally made these. I think part of the problem is that they're almost too good? Like, uncanny valley kind of resemblance, especially with the Dan one.
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I... I have no words. Those have rendered me speechless in the worst way. Someone buy them and give them to them. What the FUCK
Will probably never be over the BONCAS and the beauty of Phil Lester.

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The thought of them being given them reminds me of Dan's almost-another-lifetime-old Dan Mail vids and the weird mix of doll pieces and, thankfully clean, tampons one group kept sending him. I'm sure they'd be thrilled ;)
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Wow I’m actually screaming—I had a brief stint in the AG doll collectors’ corner of the internet in actual 2009, when I was 12 and my parents were divorcing and I didn’t wanna grow up lol. But yeah no, even 12 year old me would be creeped tf out by those. And for $220?? I’m sorry but why???
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Those are... really something! The effort that went into customizing them is amazing.
"Dan has been cleaned and is ready for play." I love it.
Apparently dnp have seen them - the details of the listing says they featured them during one of the crafting parts of a TATINOF show. :lol:
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Oh my god, this just made my day! :rofl: Good luck for me trying to sleep in an hour!
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alittledizzy wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 6:19 pm I appreciate all the meta conversation but I gotta interrupt to share this nightmare fuel.
brb buying these
I love creepy dolls and these are PERFECTION
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alittledizzy wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 6:19 pm I appreciate all the meta conversation but I gotta interrupt to share this nightmare fuel.
Yikes. Why? :|

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