Dan & Phil Part 87: post coming out universe

Our two favourite full time internet nerds who never go outside!
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sparkle
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Oh thank god. Dan's merch is hideous. (soz Dan. Still love you xx)
:sparkle: dan howell gives me life :sparkle:
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missemma
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rizzo wrote: Thu Jul 11, 2019 5:03 pm I am of the opinion that Dan and Phil want to be perceived as separate creators at this point.
This is exactly what I think too. This was actually bought up by Dan at the first UK ii show when he said (not exact word for word) that they would be doing stuff but not always together. I’m not salty about it, I quite like solo content but I really do miss the gaming channel so much. I wish they’d just upload to it, even if it was solo videos.
liola wrote: Thu Jul 11, 2019 5:10 pm Dan continues to somehow have the same aesthetic as me yet make merch I would never buy unless I jumped back into my 2007 phase.
So much same!

I am really excited to see some photos and watch the panel at vidcon! I was searching twitter for some content but it looks like twitter gave up for now 😂
:prideheart: :gayaf: :prideheart:
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I don’t mind them being separate creators but I do love joint content so I hope they give us answer on the future of joint videos soon. I’d rather know that joint content is dead than wait and hope for it
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I didn’t get a chance to check twitter before it decided to not work properly, did anyone happen to see where the panel would be streaming? I can’t see any mention on Adcouncil’s insta about livestreaming and can’t find any mention of it on tumblr at all. Anyone any ideas/ links?
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Is Twitter down? The fuck am I supposed to do with my life now?

Dan's merch aesthetic is just so damn ugly to me. Considering 95% of my wardrobe is black you'd think I'd be more into it but instead I've liked the pieces Phil has been releasing a lot more. In a genuine 'would consider buying this if I weren't poor' kinda way. I guess my love for pretty things is stronger than my love for black. At least there isn't any unnecessary katakana to be seen this time. Progress!

I'm still less than enthusiastic about this era of being separate creators. Like I get it (kinda), but the basis of my love for them is the fact that they provide me with entertainment and and I just find them a lot less entertaining separately. Their individual content has been secondary to me since the start of the gaming channel, and I truly believe that it is their dynamic as a duo that has kept them relevant and loved for this long. Although the post coming out universe has sorta provided the phandom with a temporary boost of activity and happiness, I still don't see a great future for it without regular joint content of some kind.

I'm actually not particularly excited about Vidcon either (tho super happy for the phannies there!) simply because I expect no answers to anything I want to know. Or answers I won't like.
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knq wrote: Thu Jul 11, 2019 6:06 pm
Phil like of the Merch team:
Wow... So really no joint merch! Not even old surplus. Clearly a conscious effort not wanting to monetize D&P as a couple. Good for them—they could have cashed in hard (not that they won't either way).

Probably not the last we've seen of joint merch, but smart to give their individual brands some room to breath.

(Now if they would just unify the ordering system and connect the shopping carts for their individuals shops online!! It's borderline ridiculous they haven't implemented that yet.)
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Megancita75 wrote: Thu Jul 11, 2019 7:24 pm I did not know anything about Dan and Phil until YouTube's algorithm suggested Dan's coming out video to me when it debuted. Queer content is of interest to me, so I watched, was utterly charmed and beguiled, and then fell headfirst into an immersive Internet obsession that was both deeply satisfying and deeply distressing in how hijacked my brain felt. I am so happy I never knew about these two lads when their career was unfolding in real time because I think it would have wrecked (REKT?) me.

Re: an earlier comment. I too this week talked to my therapist about why I have fallen so hard into this universe and WHAT DID IT MEAN?

So I'm just going to brain dump here some of the stored-up observations I’ve had in reaction to both Dan and Phil’s coming out videos but also all of their other content I’ve inhaled the last few weeks.

Laugh and listen: So apparently watching other people laugh and be physically affectionate is therapeutic for me. I am completely fascinated by how much fun they have together. I’m also really intrigued by their conversational style – it reminds me of the “yes, and” idea of improvisational comedy, where you don’t steer an interaction; instead you just listen, pay attention, and respond in the moment to the other person and let that willingness and openness become the force that helps each participant discover what they are mutually creating. While I’m sure there is scripting and artifice that goes into a filmed conversation, I do think the fact that they are honestly listening and responding to each other is what gives their interactions such authenticity and vitality. That’s quite a different way from how I approach conversation – and it makes me want to try out a more fluid interpersonal approach.

Expression and acceptance: I adored the anger, the sexual energy, the absolute defiance and empathy in Dan’s video. And I equally adored the humor, the positivity, the reassurance, and the playfulness of Phil’s video. Both made me think a bit more the last few weeks about what it means to truly accept and understand yourself, rather than performing for someone else, and the bravery involved in that choice.

Creative control: What I love about being a pop culture consumer is finding content that has a backbone made up of intelligence and unapologetic aesthetic commitment. I get that in spades from most – not all – of DNPs content. The stuff from this past year (videos, social media posts, marketing) in particular seems very strategic to me – a conscious uncoupling, perhaps, but with a definite creative vision. I find that fascinating, and am very curious about the logistics of it all – the conversations that go into establishing a creative arc or changing an established creative brand. As someone who isn’t particularly creative, I find the sense of ownership I get from DNP’s content to be just as interesting as the content itself.

Since I’m new, I’m not particularly invested in their private lives. My take on Dan’s video was that he was making it clear that their romantic relationship was in the past, that the present is one of platonic companionship and creative partnership, and that the future is for fucking around. I would be happy to be proven wrong, though, but in general don't want to speculate.

In terms of future content, from Phil I’d love to see him get really, really weird. I would totally watch some surreal, absurdist shit from him. From Dan, I’d love to see some highly produced video essays, even if that means like four videos a year. I do love the joint gaming content, though, and would be happy if they did more of that. If both of them decide to try other pursuits – writing, film, producing – I’d still be interested in following their careers.

A random list of things I’ve been introduced to via DNP:
  • The theory of parasocial interactions/relationships
  • The ContraPoints channel
  • A better understanding of meme culture

Things I’ve bought because of DNP:
  • The Obama Llama game
  • Ribena
  • Malteasers
-- Signed a 44 y/o woman who has been massively touched, inspired, and entertained, but would really like to get the fuck back to my life now
I really love this post lol

And yeah there's a little fantasy in the back of my head of a world where Dan in his 30s writes a really good novel or movie screenplay
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hello9217
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Idk it must be hard to try and figure out where they go from here. I mean their out now. Before, the ambiguity shielded them, are they together or aren’t they. Now we know, despite some people still thinking they are not, like how is it possible but sure. How do they do stuff together if they don’t want to capitalize on their relationship? Selling joint merch/ doing a video together would be making money off of it. I don’t really see how it’s much different than before but I could see how others might perceive it that way.
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There are a lot of questions and uncertainty but right now any kind of an answer would be nice. DnP have always been about what’s obvious so we can kind of take our queues from that but even having a joint meet and greet kind of blurs the lines a bit.
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Catallena wrote: Thu Jul 11, 2019 7:51 pm
I'm still less than enthusiastic about this era of being separate creators. Like I get it (kinda), but the basis of my love for them is the fact that they provide me with entertainment and and I just find them a lot less entertaining separately. Their individual content has been secondary to me since the start of the gaming channel, and I truly believe that it is their dynamic as a duo that has kept them relevant and loved for this long. Although the post coming out universe has sorta provided the phandom with a temporary boost of activity and happiness, I still don't see a great future for it without regular joint content of some kind.
Just want to say I agree with you. I love them and their individual content, and I'm so happy to see the phandom revived, but I do think that joint content is the way to go for them. I hope they realize this and reintroduce it soon, now that they've said what they wanted to say. Dan's line about how much they love working together gives me hope, but yeah, some solid answers would be nice.

I'm so excited and anxious for Vidcon. I don't expect any major answers, but just seeing them together is going to be amazing. I envy all of you that are getting the M&G and I'm super happy for you too!! <3

Edit to say: I have a deep dislike for Gabbie Hanna and I feel she doesn't belong within 100 feet of Dan. That is all.
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hello9217 wrote: Thu Jul 11, 2019 8:09 pm Idk it must be hard to try and figure out where they go from here. I mean their out now. Before, the ambiguity shielded them, are they together or aren’t they. Now we know, despite some people still thinking they are not, like how is it possible but sure. How do they do stuff together if they don’t want to capitalize on their relationship? Selling joint merch/ doing a video together would be making money off of it. I don’t really see how it’s much different than before but I could see how others might perceive it that way.
Yeah, the newness of the situation definitely is making it hard to guess at it. I feel like they wouldn't stop join content in the capacity that it already exists if it had to do with their relationship; I mean if that were the issue, wouldn't they have been "monetizing" their relationship for as long as Dan and Phil (as a brand) has been a thing? It's hard to believe they didn't know that a lot of people thought/suspected/assumed they were together when they did work closely together. I assumed (or maybe hoped lol) that when Dan was talking about keeping things private, he meant their dynamic wouldn't change to become a YouTube Couple, not that they'd suddenly stop appearing in videos together.

I could see the reason for them separating their brands for room to grow creatively. Still, I always thought that was the point of their solo videos on their own channels. Like they can still put out baking videos together and then have solo videos doing whatever they want without having to be branded as a unit anymore. But who really knows what the future holds besides them haha. <3
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What an amazing first post Megancita74, welcome! I also would love some weird shit from Phil, but it seems he hasn’t want to go there (at least not on his channel) in along time.

I’ve never understood that grid and random floating objects aesthetic and that cross body bag looks horrid on. My husband also commented last night that they both seem to genuinely like their merch and for some things that’s totally understandable, they should be proud and for others, just why...? (I’m looking at you UGH backpack). I do like the skeleton art quite a lot, but I don’t think I would really wear it and I would snap Phil’s constellation shirt up if I was an Aquarius. I don’t even know any Aquarians.

Catallena and Ablissa: yeah even my husband, who doesn’t care about the nature of their relationship, just wants joint content back because they are funnier together. Hopefully we’ll get the gaming channel back before the end of the year.

The future is unclear but at least it will be queer :gayaf:
Last edited by autumnhearth on Thu Jul 11, 2019 8:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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hownottodrive wrote: Thu Jul 11, 2019 8:25 pm
hello9217 wrote: Thu Jul 11, 2019 8:09 pm Idk it must be hard to try and figure out where they go from here. I mean their out now. Before, the ambiguity shielded them, are they together or aren’t they. Now we know, despite some people still thinking they are not, like how is it possible but sure. How do they do stuff together if they don’t want to capitalize on their relationship? Selling joint merch/ doing a video together would be making money off of it. I don’t really see how it’s much different than before but I could see how others might perceive it that way.
Yeah, the newness of the situation definitely is making it hard to guess at it. I feel like they wouldn't stop join content in the capacity that it already exists if it had to do with their relationship; I mean if that were the issue, wouldn't they have been "monetizing" their relationship for as long as Dan and Phil (as a brand) has been a thing? It's hard to believe they didn't know that a lot of people thought/suspected/assumed they were together when they did work closely together. I assumed (or maybe hoped lol) that when Dan was talking about keeping things private, he meant their dynamic wouldn't change to become a YouTube Couple, not that they'd suddenly stop appearing in videos together.

I could see the reason for them separating their brands for room to grow creatively. Still, I always thought that was the point of their solo videos on their own channels. Like they can still put out baking videos together and then have solo videos doing whatever they want without having to be branded as a unit anymore. But who really knows what the future holds besides them haha. <3
I think the difference in before and after is a matter of perception for them and that probably does feel very different. The perception - obviously, not the reality, just the perception - was that Dan and Phil were thought to be together by 13 year old girls on the internet. Dan and Phil had a certain amount of shielding from scrutiny just based on the fact that people think anything young girls like must be untrue or wrong.

Now the relationship is a matter of fact and when they step in front of a camera it's going to be knowing that everyone Knows. I agree a lot with hello9217. I think lack of joint content right now isn't some grand statement about the future but just them very carefully navigating how they handle them together, and that when they feel like they've had a few minutes to breathe from how emotionally draining the coming out process probably was (because even happy things can be draining) they'll start re-introducing the joint content until we're back at a level that's normal.

(And I feel like I should add that I'm not counting last year as normal. For the duration of their career, Dan only appearing on Phil's channel was not standard; I'm considering 2017 and beforehand as normal - Dan and Phil as individual creators who put out individual content while also doing projects and working together.)
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Ablissa wrote: Thu Jul 11, 2019 8:21 pm Edit to say: I have a deep dislike for Gabbie Hanna and I feel she doesn't belong within 100 feet of Dan. That is all.
You're in for a treat, cause she's ain't just at the mental health panel but also at the Night Of Awesome thing. tbh that whole thing is just People Who Generally Annoy Me Or I Don't Know ft. ma boy Danny Fire. I'm already feeling the cringe.
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GalaxyDarling
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Is Gabbie Hanna the type of girl who would try to hit on Dan in spite of him being gay? :dead:
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hello9217 wrote: Thu Jul 11, 2019 8:09 pm Idk it must be hard to try and figure out where they go from here. I mean their out now. Before, the ambiguity shielded them, are they together or aren’t they. Now we know, despite some people still thinking they are not, like how is it possible but sure. How do they do stuff together if they don’t want to capitalize on their relationship? Selling joint merch/ doing a video together would be making money off of it. I don’t really see how it’s much different than before but I could see how others might perceive it that way.
I agree with your post!

I've also seen the thought floating around that making videos/merch together is making money off of their relationship, and like you, I disagree with that sentiment? I've seen youtuber couples (I'm blanking on the names right now) whose brand seemed to be that they were a couple, and they did boyfriend tags and kissing challenges, etc. Or like, "we hit 3M subscribers, here's a romantic-themed video!" If a couple like that had joint merch, yeah, I'd say they were capitalizing on their relationship.

But that's not what D&P have been in the past, and it's not where their content is going. They're not going to be like, "we're together, so buy a shirt!!1"

Are they going to reference being gay in future videos? For sure. Are they going to make joint videos with queer content? I hope so! (plz give me the Dab-Evan wedding ;_;) Might they even make references to being together, like yesterday's butt-appreciation content? (...how is this a thing I just wrote) They might! I've stopped trying to predict what the future might bring because wow, this past month has all been unexpected.

But them being openly gay and us knowing that they're a couple... is not taking advantage of us/our money??? It's them living their lives. And it's not going to be the focus of future joint content, it's not going to be the main reason we're watching them, and to me, that's a big difference. I guess I just don't see why them confirming that they're together changes things/makes it so that they're suddenly exploiting their relationship for money? Like, a lot of us already knew. And yet joint merch wasn't a big deal before? I don't get it. :shrug:
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GalaxyDarling wrote: Thu Jul 11, 2019 9:01 pm Is Gabbie Hanna the type of girl who would try to hit on Dan in spite of him being gay? :dead:
No she's just an annoying scammer, hitting on Dan would be the least awful thing about her
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Amiaw
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I don’t think the separation has to do with monetizing their relationship because if that was the case then sharing the bts of Phil’s photoshoots would feel a lot less fun for me. I think they’ve made these changes for privacy reasons and they didn’t just start making these changes this year - we saw the shift when they moved. We’ve never seen the whole apartment, they stopped telling us in detail about gifts they’ve received, details about their outings became scarce, etc.
I think it just feels more bleak now because of the gaming channel being gone.
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the panel is happening in literally less than 10 minutes and i have no idea where to watch it and it makes me sad because i made me a coffee and now i am going to drink it in frustration.
anybody know where we can watch the pannel?
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Hi. I’m new. Sort of. I’ve watched them both from around 2009 and lurked basically anywhere they’ve inhabited personally or by proxy since. I’ve made one post here that is not worth going back to look at lol.

While I enjoy their individual content (even recent Phil is just as funny and smile worthy to me), I think they balance each other so well and I’d be disappointed not to have joint content just because they’re together more officially. Hearing the II directors cometary of Dan wanting to produce something thought provoking and Phil just like let me do some magic... it feels such an embodiment of why they work so well together! They’re creative in different ways, they’re humorous in different ways, they see the world in different ways and it’s so complimentary! And I think largely that’s why people enjoy watching them together, not because they are invested in their relationship outside of the screen (or is that my asexuality showing). The reason I’m excited they’re together (obviously aside from just being happy they’re happy) is that it means they won’t grow up into different lives like adults they’re ages often do.... so there’s no real potential outside catalyst for ever stopping their duo dynamic (unless they break up but I think coming out in a way that confirmed the relationship is a sign they feel pretty solid and committed to a future together personally... I do think they were concerned about the potential for a public break up early on, especially considering they got together around the era of things like PJ and Lex... I can still hear Dan in Becoming YouTube “awkward”).

In my mind monetising their relationship would look very different to their past content which is more monetising their personalities lol. The content would make sense whether they were a couple, friends, brothers or simply professional comedy partners and they’ve been perceived as all of the above by different people. So just do it lads lol.

Or I would so love a podcast. And if they need it to be; they can have their individual YouTube brands and then a podcast space completely seperate... together... win win.
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snoopysadie wrote: Thu Jul 11, 2019 9:24 pm the panel is happening in literally less than 10 minutes and i have no idea where to watch it and it makes me sad because i made me a coffee and now i am going to drink it in frustration.
anybody know where we can watch the pannel?
i believe it’s going to be streamed @adcouncil on instagram
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watching this for some reason reminds me of old school dan mannerisms and then I rmr that lil kid is still in there exactly the same as always, just... he can be himself now, and then I feel rill emotional about it. Dan :( <3
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it is an endless source of entertainment for me that dan considers himself to have really great taste, especially in aesthetics, but continues to produce really awful merch
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laurenbacall wrote: Thu Jul 11, 2019 9:39 pm it is an endless source of entertainment for me that dan considers himself to have really great taste, especially in aesthetics, but continues to produce really awful merch
ugh this, this this - literally who is going to buy that bum bag. nope
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Completely offtopic, but according to doesfollow.com dan and pewdiepie no longer follow each other. the website says that this happened in march but i don't think this is true as i checked more recently than that and they were following each other. regardless, this makes me super happy (i've been patiently waiting for dan to unfollow him since at least 2017 lmao), i'm glad he finally saw sense.

(phil sadly does still follow pewdiepie, but pewdiepie does not follow phil lol)

also yeah re: merch - how much of it do you think is designed by dnp, and how much is outsourced? i've personally never been a fan of almost any of their merch tbh. phil's is getting better, but the rest of it has always been fairly unappealing to me which is frustrating bc i reckon they could do so much better!!
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