when/how did y'all first get into the phandom??

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alittledizzy
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(I also feel like I have said this way too many times, but here we go.)

I was into Dan in mid/late 2012. I liked his videos a lot, and his accepting and (what felt like) unique acceptance of fandom warmed me to him. A couple months in I decided to start watching his liveshows and I was terribly turned off by what came across as homophobic disgust in response to the 'are you gay' questions he seemed to get frequently. I had no idea about Phil or any kind of phan background but I was so bothered by Dan's attitude that I spent the next three years pretty much avoiding him and being lowkey annoyed at the phandom constantly. I'm active on tumblr so I kept up with them peripherally just because they were hard to avoid and I'm a fan of youtube in general but I really viewed him as a homophobic straight guy and didn't know how his fans could deal with that and still ship him with someone. (Poor Phil, I just assumed his straightness by default and association with Dan.)

Then some time around 2015 I had a dream with Dan and Phil in it and woke up with the weird craving to see what they were up to. (I think they'd appeared in someone's vlog that I'd just watched, maybe.) That led me to GG and the phandirectory and I spent the next few weeks revision my previous opinions on Dan with all the new context I found.
whoknows
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Sadly I think I found them maybe thru finebros? I used to somewhat watch gleamers to avoid real life. I think I started watching DP in Jan 2015. And stopped watching gleamers....tho since lack of content and trying to get out of phandom hell i many have started watching some gleamers again ugh.....

Whatever they are just pretty and I want to pet them, in a non sexual way ofc.
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alittledizzy
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whoknows wrote:tho since lack of content and trying to get out of phandom hell i many have started watching some gleamers again ugh.....
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whoknows
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alittledizzy wrote:
whoknows wrote:tho since lack of content and trying to get out of phandom hell i many have started watching some gleamers again ugh.....
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:gg: you are an evil creature...I may not pet you as much
shikaritrash
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That was only last october for me i feel like such a newbie.

I remember them from around 2010 though, especially Dan. Being in the MCR fandom, I remember him being really popular and stuff and seeing lots of his tweets on my TL.
And then last october I was just going through some french videos on youtube and I decided to look them up because damn, I sure have seen these username a lot those past years.

I think I first looked at some AP videos, wasn't really into it (still isn't that much into it tbh but I have nothing against him and I like him) and then some dinof and then ALL of dinof and here I am. This happened around the time I arrived in London and wasn't really confident about my accent and my english altogether. Good timing if I must say, Dan's videos really helped me about that and I think it's great. Today some colleague told me he couldn't tell I was french because I had no accent and I was like... :-D thanks! (even if that's not true) Anyway.

That might also have been an excuse to watch all of his content and lots of things he appeared in in about two weeks. :lol: Kinda was obsessed ngl.

Like I was saying Dan&Phil made me realise it's okay to be in your twenties and basically be a nerd. Which I think is making me happier and enjoy the little things a little bit more. Which isn't easy. Also fond of dinof's whole meaning of life/existential crisis because relatable af on a deeper scale unfortunately.
I often find myself rewatching some videos to avoid bad evenings/nights. (and then it makes me sad because i'm jealous of what they have but let's not go there)

I think they actually mean quite a lot to me and I wouldn't know how to explain it properly but
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ dan senses tingling 24/7 soz ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
corn flakes
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Seeing as everyone is sharing their story:

I still don't know how but I watched Connor's videos for like a month(two)? Just in that same period I discovered gg because some youtubers that I know revealed a scandal. So out of curiosity checked Connor's thread and people were comparing Deppy with Tronnor (another pairing that I discovered thanks to you). Now I didn't like their collab but me being me I wanted to check. Lurked in Deppy thread for some days and finally decided to check Dan's channel...loved it and the rest as some will say is history.
So at the end of the story I blame you for my recent (August 2015) interst in them
English is not my first language: half of the mistakes are typos ,half are me
random
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I can thank thefinebros for my D&P obsession. I remember first watching a few episodes of Youtuber's React and thinking that their friendship is cute. I finally got hooked after watching Teens React. Phil's personality was right up my alley and I loved Cringe Attack. After that, I guess I watch a few danandphilgames videos. After I watched Dan's Outlast vid, I binged through quite a few of his videos. Then I checked out Phil. I guess the rest is obvious. I am DP trash.
icklebrina
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I've long been a fan of hillywood, and so when they did the Dan & Phil video I thought to myself 'Who's that?' and went looking. I didn't look very hard, and left mostly confused as to why they were so popular.
Fast forward a few months to me suddenly realizing who this phandom that I saw everywhere was, and I got curious again, watched a few videos, was still confused as to why they were popular and so started reading youtube comments, which led to seeing lots of comments about not talking about THAT THING WE DON'T TALK ABOUT, which led me to gg (maybe in January?), which led me to minor obsession thanks to how interesting y'all are, which led me to here!
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Catallena
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I've actively been watching YouTubers since 2009 (before that I just used it to watch anime and upload my crappy AMV's) and I was actually first introduced to Dan and Phil in 2010 when they appeared in CTFxC's Jamaica vlogs, but I apparently wasn't that interested. I don't think I checked out their channels, though I vividly remember calling them 'the British emo guys' lmao. Even after I got dragged into Phandom hell, it took me a while to realize they were the same boys I saw back then in the vlogs.

I subscribed in May 2012. Months before that gifs from their videos (mostly Dan's, someone I used to follow was creepily obsessed with him yikes) started appearing on my Tumblr dashboard and I thought they were funny but didn't bother looking them up because I'm lazy. Until a few months later I came across YouTube's 'Next Vlogger' program where both of them were amongst those picked by YouTube as promising upcoming YouTubers I guess? I dunno, I think they got money out of it to upgrade their equipment and they got lessons from famous YouTubers?? Interestingly I never heard them talk about those lessons but whatever. They made introduction videos for it and after I realized they were the funny guys I had seen on Tumblr I subscribed :D

My life hasn't been the same since. *dramatically looks out of window*
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trashqueen
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mine's complicated, i think i first learned about their existence in late 2010, but it might have been early 2011, i watched a couple of videos and forgot about them, didn't even have a youtube account at the time, then in mid 2011 i found them again and became a casual watcher (still not subscribed bc i couldn't be bothered to make an account, but i checked their channels regularly like once a week, and i followed them on twitter at some point), on mid/late (idk) 2012 i made a youtube account and finally started using the subscription box which meant i watched everything as soon as it was posted and got more involved in the tumblr phandom for a couple months, but ended up moving on because i hated it so much, then i continued to be a fan while aggressively ignoring the phandom (found it cringe af, all tumblr's fault) all the way until mid 2015 when i found gg, read through most of the threads, felt like i had finally found my place in the world (a place where people discussed d&p like civilized humans and didn't baby them! yay!), and joined, and here i am
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Dan Howell wrote:'[someone] just sent me a message saying 'Phil'..... same'
aosagi
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I also found them through Youtubers React (one of the kpop ones) last summer. I really liked their chemistry and so i binge-watched their sims series in two days. I know their new sims videos are one of the least liked dapgames videos here, but i feel like their early sims videos are great to get you hooked on dan and phil - such great, domestic bants (wow, does anyone else's autocorrect try to change bants into bangs too? :lol: )
Then i started watching and liking Phil's videos, which is still weird to me, since my humor is more like Dan's. And if i would meet a person like Phil in real life, i wouldn't quite know how to make conversation or react to their weird humor.
I started watching DINOF videos and after watching the 'i talk to myself video' i was sold (i do that a lot :roll: ).

Still for me, what keeps me in interested in them is their relationship and chemistry. I wouldn't be as invested in them if it wasn't for their ambiguous relationship. (time to finally use that emoji)
Trippy
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I think my intro to the phandom is a lot like trashqueen's— complicated. I've been watching youtube for what feels like forever I spent most of my time watching hoiitsroi/Wassabi Productions videos if anyone knows who they are. xD I'm not entirely sure exactly when I became aware of them, but my interest has always fluctuated. I do recall watching their videos after seeing Dan in collabs with Tyler Oakley and Louise or watching them when the Photobooth challenge was a thing (I have a no concept of time everything kinda flows together) and then losing interest. I think what finally drew me in was when their gaming channel started.I found the adventures with Dil hilarious and I really enjoyed their chemistry. I would check pretty often for new Sims video's despite their terrible track record for uploads :|. When there was nothing new on the gaming channel I binge watched Dan's videos then moved on to Phil's after watching their respective reactions to their old videos.

It wasn't until I found the thread on GG (around the last Vidcon is when I really started to pay attention and lurk more) that I realized how big the phandom (and amazing) actually was and the extent of their reach which is massive. I've never experienced the cringy side of the phandom that exists on tumblr (which is crazy because I spend a lot of time on tumblr) and from what I hear I'm thankful :lol: .

If you couldn't tell from this post, my interest in the phandom is very Dancentric which is a shame because I do think Phil is lovely. I think its because I relate to Dan more (as in being awkward af and the existential crises). This post feels very disjointed and weird.. sorry about that!

I just wanted to add that its been interesting reading how everyone found them. The internet is a strange place. x]
daphenaxa
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I begun watching them in 2012 and discovered them through the Super amazing project actually. I was looking at weird animal videos on youtube and found "surfing goat" for some reason.

I watched all of SAP and then their individual videos. I realised that I actually had already seen some of Phil's videos but hadn't recognized him.
After that I became more and more invested bit by bit both because of their videos and from the phan back story. I also became a fan of Crabstickz because of D&P at that time.

By 2013 I was a huge Dan girl (still am), stalking phandirectory and a lot of other big tumblr accounts.
In 2014-2015 I actually took a step back. I was still watching all their content on youtube and radio and younow but didn't follow the phandom closely.

Then idk why/how I found GG in october 2015. I don't remember what I was searching and how i ended up there actually but signed up instantly and begun posting right away, as well as reading back all the old threads.

Now I am probably the most obsessed I have ever been with them i think.
If you’re attracted to somebody, you’ll want them to sniff you eventually - Dan
*Phil is turned on by Dan's brilliance* *they kiss* *they have sex in the microwave* - Oqua (actually Phil)
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starlight-still
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When I discovered them: I don’t actually remember what day I found the first video but was the week between my birthday and Valentine’s Day this year. I know this because I saw some comments congratulating AmazingPhil on his channel’s 10th anniversary and I was like, “oh, that channel has the same birthday as me!” and I remember the Undertale dating sim being the first video I watched right when it was released. I want to say it was the 12th?

First video: I was looking for Sims 4 let’s plays and stumbled upon Dil. Yes, "Meet Dil Howlter" was the gateway drug.

First impressions: "Oh, this is cute, it’s like a British guy and...an Australian guy? They’re pretty funny. Aussie guy’s kinda hot, ngl. Oh wait…no, that’s a Northern British Accent. The Northern Accent. Stop taking advantage of my weaknesses, universe. The other one sure knows how to turn a colorful phrase." i was complete and utter phil from day one and it only got worse as i saw more and more of his personality/creativity/strange unearthly energy that draws me in like cough cough where was i?

Etc.: I danced around some of the YouTubers’ content via other fandoms (e.g.- charlieissocoollike doing some Doctor Who thing, crabstickz’s Sherlock parody, sWooZie’s Confessions of a Disney Employee, nigahiga doing something way back when) for years before actually discovering their whole little world. are, by far, my favorite of the bunch and, while I wish I’d discovered them sooner so I could have been along for more of the journey, I’m very happy to be here now
colfreckles
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alittledizzy wrote:(I also feel like I have said this way too many times, but here we go.)

I was into Dan in mid/late 2012. I liked his videos a lot, and his accepting and (what felt like) unique acceptance of fandom warmed me to him. A couple months in I decided to start watching his liveshows and I was terribly turned off by what came across as homophobic disgust in response to the 'are you gay' questions he seemed to get frequently. I had no idea about Phil or any kind of phan background but I was so bothered by Dan's attitude that I spent the next three years pretty much avoiding him and being lowkey annoyed at the phandom constantly. I'm active on tumblr so I kept up with them peripherally just because they were hard to avoid and I'm a fan of youtube in general but I really viewed him as a homophobic straight guy and didn't know how his fans could deal with that and still ship him with someone. (Poor Phil, I just assumed his straightness by default and association with Dan.)

Then some time around 2015 I had a dream with Dan and Phil in it and woke up with the weird craving to see what they were up to. (I think they'd appeared in someone's vlog that I'd just watched, maybe.) That led me to GG and the phandirectory and I spent the next few weeks revision my previous opinions on Dan with all the new context I found.
I'm literally blushing as I post this, but I have YOU to blame for getting me into the phandom -- I've followed your tumblr for a long time and suddenly you were posting all this Phan, and the rest is history.
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alittledizzy
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colfreckles wrote:I'm literally blushing as I post this, but I have YOU to blame for getting me into the phandom -- I've followed your tumblr for a long time and suddenly you were posting all this Phan, and the rest is history.


My day is made better knowing that I have unintentionally converted someone. If you ever want to chat about phan stuff, hit me up on tumblr! (Or here. :D)
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albion
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my story is also confusing. Kind of.
I've always been a v internet-y person and overall, v into fandoms. my fandom was MCR and i was jailed to that from around 2007 to 2012 which i think in hind-sight, ate a lot of my time but :roll:

around 2009 i remmeber a friend mustve sent me Phil's iconic Toxic video, or maybe i was lurking bc of that song and I saw Phil's. I mustve forgot about it because when i saw it later on when i was already into dan and phil, i was like h my god i totally remember this.

either way, during my mcr fandom years i was v into nigahiga, charlieissocoollike and nerimon, so i kinda knew the existance of d&p. I also knew Dan because he liked to namedrop MCR a lot, so i was aware of his existance as the 'boy who likes mcr'

then i was very into the vlogbrothers and that's when i started watching dan and phil. i remember in 2012 when dan started doing liveshows, i would ALWAYS miss them and being 17 at that point I was always pissed off I could never catch on with them, but also i thought the phandom was very cringe-y and i didnt want anything to do with them lol so i dropped watching youtube altogether.

Then I went to uni and i legit didn't have wifi for a year, but then when i had it back, around two weeks of Me back into the internet, one of my mutuals on tumblr reblogged a dan and phil gif and was like oh i remember them, what are they up to?, this was around early 2014, march-april. And it's like i was abducted and i haven't seen my family in two years help me.
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brq
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I started watching Phil casually around 2008 and then more in 2009 with Apartment Red and all that, and then Dan as soon as he had a channel. My interest in YT has waxed and waned but I have followed them both there and on their social media since around then. YouTube was so different until like 2011 :?
edited: clarity
:prideheart2:
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RachelPhan
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I only recently got into YouTube over the past couple of years while on Maternity Leave and started watching Louise and the Gleamers. My sister then mentioned she wanted to go see some on tour but had no-one to go with so I said ok fine I'll go. She sent me a playlist of videos to watch and it was a downward phan spiral from there. I am an old lady (well 34 :oops:) so being surrounded by 13-16 year olds at TATINOF was interesting but I had a hoot (apart from giant dil when I nearly walked out in fear). We are waiting for the next lot of tour details as we will happily fly anywhere in Europe to get VIP ( )
Boterham
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I used to have a instagram anime fan account where I frequently found funny things. My friend and I had some sort of fight which Anime was better: Black Butler or Free, so when I found a Free-hate meme I wanted to show her that. I couldn't find it anymore on IG and decided to check Tumblr, when suddenly I saw two dorks showing up in the Free! tag (a pic of them in Japan) I decided to watch them bc they watch Anime.

So yeah, that's how it happened.

( I already knew who they were, but i don't know how anymore. I think it must have been via Instagram, since when I go to the #FairyTail tag it doesn't take long before I see some trace of the phandom.)
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SquishPhan
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I got into them around this time last year, as I saw them around on tumblr and thought to check them out. From tumblr I knew that people shipped them (never thought I would be one of them, yet here I am) and that newcomers should check out their pinof videos. So I did that, and got hooked on them. It helped that soon after I started following them, the Easter baking video came out and then the Japhan ones, those really sold me on them. Well that and their gaming channel. I instantly loved their chemistry and banter, and was hooked on them before I knew it.
A really great tumblr also helped my obsession even further.
A link here if you want to check it out, although it hasn't been active for a few months now sadly. http://lineofsymmetry.tumblr.com/
It is a year later now and it doesn’t seem like my obsession has diminished at all, it may even be bigger than ever, partly thanks to this forum.
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angrymob
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I followed Phil because of this video (90% sure), but had probably watched a few of his videos that had shown up in the related videos sidebar before that. I didn't have high standards for following youtube channels back then. I found Dan later through Phil, of course.
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Winston
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I found them mid January this year. I was sick at home and found them by falling into the bottomless pit that is YouTube. Last year I found Rhett and Link, this year these two. I was watching Tyler O and watched his videos with Dan, and thus my plight into the abyss that is the world of .

I was out of work since January, including some hospital stay and basically watched everything I can get my mits on. Like Dan, once I get into something I need to watch/read/experience all I can, and I had A LOT of time on my hands....

Feeling better now, but my enthusiasm for them has not faded. So I guess I am here for a while... :D
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CeramicBitch
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I'm on Instagram a lot and my online friends would post stuff about Dan and Phil. Around late 2014/early 2015 someone posted a gif of them that I thought they looked 100% adorable in, so I started watching them. And then, this happened: and now I'm here
willing to fight dan howell
CeramicBitch
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I'm very active on Instagram (as a taylor swift fan page ahaha, but i post about d+p a lot when i spam) and my online friends had always posted about dan and phil. Around late 2014/early 2015 someone posted a gif of them being 100% adorable sO i decided to start watching their videos.
willing to fight dan howell
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