Dan & Phil Part 99: OnlyPhans

[kavat]

I realize that this wasn't posted here som let me just put it at the top of the page

[Levitating]

Dan and Phil choosing to discuss it on the show was their own choice, is what I'm saying.
[.... ]

And the point both of them made repeatedly throughout it was that they are analyzing their own internal biases and will continue to do so, that it's not something they have to do once and then never think about again. Phil's hair really is the perfect example

I also think that them choosing the topic is a sign that both of them are completely fine with the fan art. This shows that he has looked at it and simply hasn't found it appealing for his own clothing tastes. This is his current/latest claims on the topic and I feel that perhaps that's all that there is to say about it as per their sexual identities back then. People here won't go and show him clips as "evidence" that he needs to question his tastes; I just hope it's the same everywhere in the phandom because to me it would constitute a social influence that's pressuring rather than organic.
Everyone was happy (I hope) for him to keep his fringe, right? So it's something that he developed on his own.

[alittledizzy]

Dan and Phil choosing to discuss it on the show was their own choice, is what I'm saying.
[.... ]

And the point both of them made repeatedly throughout it was that they are analyzing their own internal biases and will continue to do so, that it's not something they have to do once and then never think about again. Phil's hair really is the perfect example

I also think that them choosing the topic is a sign that both of them are completely fine with the fan art. This shows that he has looked at it and simply hasn't found it appealing for his own clothing tastes. This is his current/latest claims on the topic and I feel that perhaps that's all that there is to say about it as per their sexual identities back then. People here won't go and show him clips as "evidence" that he needs to question his tastes; I just hope it's the same everywhere in the phandom because to me it would constitute a social influence that's pressuring rather than organic.
Everyone was happy (I hope) for him to keep his fringe, right? So it's something that he developed on his own.

People were encouraging Phil to ditch the fringe for years before he did! There was art for it, and everyone would make a big deal about how good he looked when he'd occasionally do a brief moment in a video with a quiff. That's why I used it as an example. Just that I think it's clear Dan and Phil are opened to a lot of concepts because of phandom, and phandom's clear acceptance, but that in the end they come to their own conclusions. What I took from the Stereo conversation was that they're both still on a journey and they know what they do and don't want to be wearing now but appreciate their boundaries being... not pushed, but exposed, and they do give that careful though. (Like Dan is opened to comfortable femme clothes, Phil might paint his nails.) It seems like a really pleasant symbiotic relationship to me, in that respect.

[Tornbetweenfandoms]

I've seen basically no stereo show phanart!
Does anyone have a tag I can go scroll through?

[glitterintheair]

I've seen basically no stereo show phanart!
Does anyone have a tag I can go scroll through?

you should go check dnp_art on twitter, there's some great art there.

[alittledizzy]

I'm gonna need that Phil video.

Anyone have guesses what it'll be?

(Yes I'm hoping by posting this it'll invoke the video.)

[Megancita75]

My only thought had been that he would use some more of the "who is more likely" questions but the last Stereo made it sound like it was a solo vid, so I'm out of ideas after that.

I also wanted to say that YouTube also recommended to me that video Kavat linked upthread about YouTubers who disappear or upload inconsistently and that I really liked what she said about the arc of creator's careers, and that once someone has a catalog of content that can create a passive income stream that it's really common -- or even desirable -- for a creator to start to want to cultivate a smaller audience and to care less about growth and pleasing the algorithm. She also reviewed some of what Safiya had written a few months ago about burnout and self-criticism and public scrutiny I still find what Safiya wrote to be quite insightful, honest, and vulnerable. I've only been around postCOU, and sometimes I amuse myself with the idea that Phil's ultimate plan is to get to a place with a smaller fanbase where he can have a PO Box again and fans can send him random candy from around the world.

[Levitating]

I discovered yesterday a playlist of unlisted-old videos and end up dreaming about them, with Dan telling me that he wanted the coming out video as a couple to be the special as a sort of "re-balancing" the V-day video which was outed against their permission and had caused such embarrassment to Phil etc. Dan wanted to "publicly" do the same for Phil as Phil had done for him, as if to be vulnerable as Phil had been that time was a way to reciprocate him because he loves him all the same

Pretending they are okay with sharing their status as a couple one day, do you think they would make an elaborated/long announcement in a video or would it be something they slowly keep up closer to, a gradual passage?

For now it seems it would be gradual and making it an announcement may not be even an option because they may fear that it would be like monetising on their relationship, but on the other side... I would totally love a video love-declaration from Dan and for them to own the whole narrative.

Seeing Zoe and Alfie about to become parents truly makes me see how much time has passed since those initial days!

[inanerat]

I discovered yesterday a playlist of unlisted-old videos and end up dreaming about them, with Dan telling me that he wanted the coming out video as a couple to be the special as a sort of "re-balancing" the V-day video which was outed against their permission and had caused such embarrassment to Phil etc. Dan wanted to "publicly" do the same for Phil as Phil had done for him, as if to be vulnerable as Phil had been that time was a way to reciprocate him because he loves him all the same

Pretending they are okay with sharing their status as a couple one day, do you think they would make an elaborated/long announcement in a video or would it be something they slowly keep up closer to, a gradual passage?

For now it seems it would be gradual and making it an announcement may not be even an option because they may fear that it would be like monetising on their relationship, but on the other side... I would totally love a video love-declaration from Dan and for them to own the whole narrative.

Seeing Zoe and Alfie about to become parents truly makes me see how much time has passed since those initial days!

I think I've talked about it before but it's hard for me to imagine them ever doing something that makes a big deal out of it. (Although plenty of people, kinda including me even though I wasn't in the fandom at the time probably thought that about coming out so ). I do have the feeling, that if it isn't abundantly clear by now, it will just sort of continue as this thing that slowly builds up, without any one big moment of faff. I expect it to eventually become something to address in like... 5 years? More or less? as they move into their mid 30s and maybe consider if they want to other life things like have kids or not tbh.

There's a lot of benefits to the slow strategy and the way it is now where,, we kind of all just like know that it's 99.999% the case, and can just vibe like that. I was watching back the 'questions I wouldn't usually answer' video today and listening to Phil's answer to the current dating life question had me thinking. I think while it's true that they prefer to keep that sort of thing private, and the fandom definitely has a history of crossing boundaries in that way, I think a lot of that potential for unwanted publicity and attention is also (or moreso) from beyond the community. The way they have it now, with nothing 100% confirmed but so many things adding up allows us to make our own forgone conclusions without giving anything concrete enough for most journalists to get a clickbaity headline out of. (Like 'Phan is finally real!', 'YouTube stars announce relationship after years of speculation', I just can't imagine them wanting that.) Like it's basically so painfully obvious but because there's not one solid statement from them it's harder for a larger public sphere to grasp onto, which I perceive them absolutely not wanting.

As to how they might actually go about it I think it will be subtle. I can see the way they've been now, continuing to grow in this post-coming out comfort eventually evolving to something as simple as a mention of 'our room' when telling a story about a dream or tripping over the corner of the bed on an insta story or something like that. Something that people in the fandom will absolutely catch and have our own personal party about, but that isn't really big enough to make a headline about.

If they ever decided to get married, I would imagine them mentioning it somehow just to have control over how the information gets out, since it definitely would surface one way or the other and tbh I could imagine something as simple as a nice joint selfie with the emoji of two guys holding hands from Phil or a very short, sweet, poetic-ish and cryptic as hell caption from Dan.

Maybe I have thought about this too much.

As Phil said in COTY "keep it low-key". That's the energy I see.

[Levitating]

I did not consider journalists and such, urgh. This space and how the phandom has grown is so welcoming and mature (albeit, I for one still feel so silly in how involved I am ahah!) that it would be truly awful for others to intrude this space.

But yeah, they want to keep that kind of specific/explicit information for themselves and that's totally fine.
I was just dreaming (literally, lol) about how it would be IF they ever changed their mind. Would they announce it in a video or would they just say - as you say - 'our room' and send out those little things to us faithful ones?

For now it really seems that would be the path. They would not announce it; they would just integrate it more more until the use of "couple language" becomes explicit (our room, our niece* etc)

Marriage announcements on the other hand....! Do you think they are marriage kind of people? Even before Dan's talk about commitment issues and stuff, I still did not see him as someone who would want to get marry? His parents certainly haven't' shown him that marriage=love. Nor Phil. Martyn is not married. Is Phil traditional? Would his social anxiety enjoy a signature?
They do not seem people who would get marry, in my head! WHy is that? And why do you (if anyone) sees them as marriage kind of people?

For now, I do not even see adoption in their life. Not because of lack of paternal istintcs per se, but because Dan has suffered so much that perhaps his internalised homophobia does not even allow him to think that him as a gay person can adopt. And, again, because of the example his family is. Is Phil someone who would like to have children? I totally do not know.

*Did you notice that the question about Freya seem... a bit too much? Or was it just my impression? I had the impression they were not comfortable in including her in the conversation. Phil basically repeated what he had already said about her, nothing new, perhaps as if to show that this is all he will say about her? Perhaps Dan already feels like an uncle himself and thus there was a moment of reminding himself that he actually cannot talk about her because they're not 'officially' out as a couple?

[fruitcriminals]

It's hard to say isn't it. I was surprised by Phil making COTY as he technically didn't need to. And them mentioning the house is specifically bought and designed by them.

More recently I was surprised not only by the shotgun wedding comment but that Phil was either chill about it (or literally not listening).

What I found really random though was that he shared that heartthrob artwork someone had made with him and Dan as the heartthrobs that literally listed 'commitment issues' or similar as Dan's flaw. I was like...Phil..bestie...don't all your family and all your mates, bbc colleagues etc. all FOLLOW your instagram story? Is this not going to get you some random questions from people in your real life? Imagine Tom Daly replying like Phil mate, do you need to talk? Are you guys ok? Lmao

On one hand I think they would prefer to keep things private on the other hand they *always* accidentally let something slip beyond the things they purposely 'let slip' that aren't really accidents.

Long story short I've got no ideas, I just want Phil to hurry up and post that video cos I am bored.

[inanerat]

I hadn't put that insta story thread together but it does remind me of Phil mentioning the hot/creepy monster poll?? And how people from his actual life (who missed or didn't remember the previous post that it was in reference to) were like '???' lmao. Phil forgetting that people who know him irl and don't keep up with his every weird insta story follow him and might think he's actually got the hots for some tentacle-y cephalopod

Also yeah on the keeping things private and letting things slip I've always thought that the house is basically their big chance to just drop the bedroom discussion and never mention it, it's not part of their videos or anything. But the thing is, they never seem to manage to keep the lid on those sorts of things as well as they initially plan to. Like when they moved in 2017 and eventually over time, through some slip ups and mostly lazyness/not wanting to bother going over to the filming flat it sort of slowly fell apart. So we'll see.

I did notice the Freja question and Dan was... very quiet. The voice message mentioned Phil specifically, which while I understand kind of disappoints me 'cause I would love to hear Dan's thoughts even if it's not saying much. Like, maybe I just come from a family that's a bit less conventional about definitions of 'family' but in my family someone in a position like Dan would absolutely be considered an uncle, regardless of romantic connection to Phil.

Also yes blease Phil I am not having a great day and craving a viddy

[dumbslet]

I've been watching random Phil videos from the last year and the weird Instagram hacks one just made me think he would be a great Wiggle. Just the corgi sweater and the Presenter Voice lol.

Much prefer adult Phil, but I can't stop imagining him as a Wiggle and it makes me laugh.

[Catallena]

But... you started it?? Why else post that filter? What? Fight me Howell.

[fruitcriminals]

The thought of even a couple of his mates thinking he's having a relationship crises re commitment and has a weirdo crush on a fictional monster is bloody hilarious.

I did notice the Freja question and Dan was... very quiet. The voice message mentioned Phil specifically, which while I understand kind of disappoints me 'cause I would love to hear Dan's thoughts even if it's not saying much. Like, maybe I just come from a family that's a bit less conventional about definitions of 'family' but in my family someone in a position like Dan would absolutely be considered an uncle, regardless of romantic connection to Phil.

Also yes blease Phil I am not having a great day and craving a viddy

Yeah that bit about Freja was odd. I wondered if it was just because they have actually met up in a park for a walk or something (bending of lockdown rules they don't want to admit). I agree, surely he'd be uncle dan regardless, he spends more time with the lesters than his own family, holidays with them, works with them. Would be kind of weird if he wasn't called uncle dan tbh.

Re Dan's insta story. You have to lol at the blatant yet bizarre thirst trap techniques. The old 'don't do...' well obviously i am now inclined to do that exact thing. And that oooh I'm in a bubble bath. Ok cool, so now we're all thinking about you in the bath. We get it dan, we also post instagram stories for 1 specific person to see too.

[Levitating]

On one hand I think they would prefer to keep things private on the other hand they *always* accidentally let something slip beyond the things they purposely 'let slip' that aren't really accidents.

This is definitely their stance now and how they'll keep going for now.

Mine was mostly a prompt based on "what if". What if they wanted to be explicit about it? Would they be explicit by saying "our bedroom/I do not even remember what it is being single" or would there be an announcement? As they would both made me hysterical (of joy), I'd say I'd enjoy a full on video, but even in that imaginary world of DnP wanting to declare their life as a couple, I still do not see them making it through a whole dedicated video It would be so cute!

it's the same reason why I LOVE the way they keep bringing up old times. I now want to relive (... as if it was my life, okay! ahah) those past moments with the current understanding of their sexuality (and, in the future, of their relationship as a couple). Please Phil, keep retrieving all those past memories

We get it dan, we also post instagram stories for 1 specific person to see too.

[fruitcriminals]

This is definitely their stance now and how they'll keep going for now.

Mine was mostly a prompt based on "what if". What if they wanted to be explicit about it? Would they be explicit by saying "our bedroom/I do not even remember what it is being single" or would there be an announcement? As they would both made me hysterical (of joy), I'd say I'd enjoy a full on video, but even in that imaginary world of DnP wanting to declare their life as a couple, I still do not see them making it through a whole dedicated video It would be so cute!

Yeah I get what you mean, I think I was just rambling around the fact that I legit have no idea what those two would do at some point. So much has changed recently. Including content I honestly never thought I would get to see after the second time that video leaked.

I don't even dare to dream at this point. Although Phil really could have done me a solid favour and posted that viddy today, what a tease!

[alittledizzy]

I want this.

[Dnptrash237]

Hi, not related to conversation at all, but remember a few weeks ago when D&P posted those delicious looking desserts they had ordered? Does anyone remember the name? I'm trying to order something for my friends birthday and I thought she'd like those. Thanks!

[Megancita75]

Hi, not related to conversation at all, but remember a few weeks ago when D&P posted those delicious looking desserts they had ordered? Does anyone remember the name? I'm trying to order something for my friends birthday and I thought she'd like those. Thanks!

https://www.evemousse.com/

[fruitcriminals]

A is for America's Ass. God I love Phil lmao

[alittledizzy]

Did you know Phil is gay? In case you forgot... m



But seriously, fun a little video!

[Megancita75]

That was pretty endearing, actually. I wonder if he got the idea from playing Heartthrob. Also, I love the idea that he wanted to dress like the Fresh Prince of Bel Air at one point.

[soveinco]

Dan DOES burst into song constantly like he's in a musical, and Phil usually duets him, so I feel like that objection to Zach Efron in HSM is null and void.

Wow, Phil really likes muscles, doesn't he, haha! And adore the idea that his wish to be Will Smith in Fresh Prince has shaped his fashion sense even unto this day.

[fruitcriminals]

Um...so. Wording of the meme at 2.29 anyone?