Dan & Phil Part 19: Banging on the breakfast bar

[Winston]

In a dream world Dan or Phil tells her. what shitstorm that would be....

[Catallena]

Honestly, over the last week we've gotten 2 liveshows, a React video, and a baking collab video, and the posts on IDB have been minimal at best. I'm thinking that besides the slowing down of chatter being due in part to our Skype chats, I really do think this is proof of the damage done by their radio silence over the last couple of months. I feel like as a whole we all seem to just generally care a lot less than we all used to. Even the biggest of trashcans seems to be a lot less enthusiastic.

A lot of blogs I follow on Tumblr that used to exclusively post about Phan have now shifted their attention to other YouTubers or even completely different things like kpop or bandoms. And I feel like some other YouTubers have really risen in the last year while D&P are still kinda stuck in the same spot.

I still feel like D&P relied on the dedication the phandom too much without giving a lot in return. For a year everything was about the book and then the tour, and for the USA part they just disconnected themselves from us completely (for another book). Of course people would lose interest. They won't really be feeling it in the numbers yet, but the dedication of the phandom is the true strength behind their brand and success. And now once dedicated people aren't as into them anymore as they used to be, with some moving on to other things. And if they don't work hard right now to pull those people back in, it might end up hurting them after all.

Has the collab with Rosanna actually done anything for their sub counts (on DINOF, AP and DAPG as all three were mentioned) at all? I have trouble with imagining a real overlap in target audience but maybe I'm wrong.

Their lack of content surely has had some effect but I don't think the inconsistent posting is completely to blame. Youtube is a young audience that is constantly maturing, growing, and growing out of old interests into new ones. Three or four years ago when Dan and Phil were skyrocketing they were displacing people who had been the top tier before them, they've had a few good years of riding a high and they'll continue to ride it but youtube is a bigger playing field now. The phandom is probably feeling a fresh wave of burnout from those people who've been around for a few years - but if you want proof that new fans are taking their place in multitudes just compare how many likes/retweets a Dan or Phil tweet gets now to how many they did a year ago, even.

Yeah, old big popular blogs might have lost interest in deppy, but they're not representative of phandom as a whole - just of their "generation" of phandom. Everything is not that bleak, I promise. This forum is also probably experiencing a mini version of the same thing. We've been around since March and I'm sure a lot of people who found it awesome and a fun shiny new thing have just burnt out on posting a lot or found somewhere new to gather to talk (like the skype chat, as someone mentioned). Doesn't mean conversation here isn't worthwhile, though!

You'd think that seeing that circle of life happen to others before them would make D&P smarter about it and work harder for the longevity of their internet presence though? Instead they seem to think that it won't happen to them and focus on everything else but that (which is hard work don't get me wrong, but it won't do shit for them in the long run), relying on their fandom to keep it going. Or that's just how my bitter ass sees it.

Like I said in my post, I think numbers aren't showing much for now. People who moved on to other things probably still follow them, like their tweets and watch their videos. Normal fan behavior. You don't completely drop someone you've been stanning for the past years in just two months (unless they fucked up for real). It's a process. The problem rn is people being less dedicated, and D&P's strength has always been there instead of numbers. They've never been the biggest. As old hardcore fans leave, new fans could take their spot but (and now I am gonna go into numbers)... someone mentioned a few days ago that while Dan, Joe and Caspar reached 5M around the same time, Dan still isn't at 6M while J & C surpassed that already (with Joe even being at 7M). New fans are coming in, but not as many as with other channels from the very same generation as Deppy. And fewer new fans coming in, also means less fans reaching the level of dedication D&P need their fans to be at to stay relevant. And make money, because casual fans don't buy merch and books.

I wonder if they're really interesting enough anymore for new people to really stan. Like with their current content, there is very little to actually obsess about. The 2012/13 people reached their insane fangirl levels due to how interesting everything was. Aside from their content being fresh compared to the old clique (especially Dan and his Tumblresque subjects like shipping, memes and hating people...), there was also a lot to discover. That's what made and kept people interested. New people are still finding the Vday Video and Formspring/Dailybooth stuff of course, but everything has already been discussed. There's nothing new to bring to the table. Now all we have are these two very polished new media personalities who make videos sometimes and waffle during liveshows once a week, while they're busy with whatever new more important project they're working on now. There's not that much to talk about and if I found them these days, I would maybe subscribe but not stan.

Currently there are still more fans coming in then there are leaving, but that won't always be the case especially not at this rate. One day new audiences will want someone younger and less successful to able to relate to. Just like what happened to the top tier YouTubers before them. And then they're really gonna need to maintain the audience they have, which they're already kinda failing at. Honestly keeping an audience as deep in the trashcan as we are should be relatively easy...

oh god does she know what she's done


edit:

OH MY ACTUAL GOD this is awkward

idk Bryony loves riling up the phandom sometimes (can't blame her, I would do the same in her position), so it wouldn't surprise me if she was just taking the piss here. She sees more than we think.

[swofro]

Regarding the posts on IDB, I do think that the lack of content had a small effect on the forum but tbh the threads still moved at a fairy quick pace, even if we did just complain for pages upon pages about the content drought. I don't think things have got bad on here, people still post their opinions and I'm still enjoying reading them. Maybe the Skype chat has probably stopped people posting their opinions directly on here but the exact same thing happened on the forum that shall not be named. New people will come along and start posting, it's always been pretty consistent. I hope people don't fully stop posting on here though, I love reading everyone's opinions.

I think halfway through the tour (or even earlier) I am out of things to say beside whining about lack of content, which is why I don't post much anymore (not really, but not as much as when IDB started up. Haha. I don't even go through all my unread post like I used to nowadays) I swear I am going to crawl back to this place and post hundreds words of stuff if only Deppy are consistent in their content sharing (so I'll be consistent in my waffling)

It doesn't help that their liveshow is at early morning times at my place and I kinda have cured my can't-sleep-at-night illness so I can't watch it live and then I become too lazy to comment anything about it afterwards.

[fancybum]

In a dream world Dan or Phil tells her. what shitstorm that would be....

Maybe Dan could accidentally like that first tweet "in his sleep" and the internet could collectively lose its shit for a few days. Actually, if they both liked it with no further commentary or acknowledgement, I would give them a pass for literally everything and anything for the rest of eternity. It would be the ultimate meta-mindfuck, the phandom would implode. Why can't we have nice things.

idk Bryony loves riling up the phandom sometimes (can't blame her, I would do the same in her position), so it wouldn't surprise me if she was just taking the piss here. She sees more than we think.

This kind of comment made knowingly (in reference to D&P) would be at the expense of her friends though, it doesn't seem worth the "joke" (?uh?lol?) if she knew how people would take it or what would first come to mind (because unlike a lot of her followers, D&P aren't at the forefront of her mind at all times. I assume). I've seen her be more withering to dumb comments, like so:

Not so much with the intentionally provocative comments.

[blueapple_x]

oh god does she know what she's done


edit:

OH MY ACTUAL GOD this is awkward

idk Bryony loves riling up the phandom sometimes (can't blame her, I would do the same in her position), so it wouldn't surprise me if she was just taking the piss here. She sees more than we think.

Yeah, there's something fishy about it. That person doesn't follow neither Dan nor Phil on twitter so for them to know about (which is kind of an obscure reference for a non-fan to know) and Bryony not to know seems unlikely (as Bryony follows this person). Unless that person is an ex-fan and was once a hardcore stalker lol. Am I even making sense. Probably not.

I do wonder what she meant by 'the one with the "lol" in it' though. Maybe an inside joke between them? or reference to Phan not being real sorrytosuggestthat

[karma_yeah]

This is the most awkward thing I have ever read..

Oh god I'm laughing, but my heart actually sped up reading that? It's like watching a car drive into a wall right in front of you; please nobody tell her oh god. She doesn't know? I'm dying it's so awkward.

something exciting happening!!
oh god, I'll be holding my breath to see if someone tells her. I wonder if I want that to happen or not.

I find it really hard to believe she's completely clueless about the thing?! I guess she could be, but . . . (can't find the bleeping side eyes)

If she DOES know, then is she trying to stir something up?

[spaceguitar]

Looks like 'Lesley' and Bryony have tweeted each other quite a few times. They seem like friends. Interesting...

[timtam]

Don't blame skype my friends, the skype group is offtopic 99% of the time ~

I think that the content drought definitely deterred casual fans. When someone in my subscriptions box comes back from the dead, I usually don't watch. Nanalew is a great example.

I'm glad to here this skype chat is offtopic most of time bc I was getting sad that I was missing important chat because I didn't even know you guys had a skype chat. (Edit: not sure how I missed the skype thread its fairly obvious )

I definitely lost interest D&P because of the content drought. I'm probably more than a casual fan (since I'm here and all) but I think that if they increase their content again I don't think it will do much lasting damage. For example all it took was two videos on D&PGames and I'm back here (and the fact that I brought tickets to TATINOF).

Also people tend to cycle around in their interests, so they might be massively obsessed with for a couple of months, lose interest and then come back. For example I was obsessed with them in 2012-13 lost interest in them but still watched their videos in 2014 and then in 2015 became obsessed with them again (and i'm still here). People might lose their passion (e.g. blogs changing interests, less analysis here) but they still watch them, as evidenced by their good number of views on their videos.

[LurkingTrash]

Yeah, there's something fishy about it. That person doesn't follow neither Dan nor Phil on twitter so for them to know about (which is kind of an obscure reference for a non-fan to know) and Bryony not to know seems unlikely (as Bryony follows this person). Unless that person is an ex-fan and was once a hardcore stalker lol. Am I even making sense. Probably not.

I do wonder what she meant by 'the one with the "lol" in it' though. Maybe an inside joke between them? or reference to Phan not being real sorrytosuggestthat

Looks like 'Lesley' and Bryony have tweeted each other quite a few times. They seem like friends. Interesting...

I'll be over here powering my side-eye up.
Sadly we probs won't get any answers.

[spaceguitar]

Such a strong contrast between Wirrow and Bryony's relationship to d+p fans and phan shippers. Bryony is sassy (read: bitter), and Wirrow is pretty positive- I see that a few phans have made art inspired by his and he appreciates it. Bryony+ Wirrow are a couple right? Maybe the difference is due to Bryony's past with youtube and her views of it.

[uglyamerican]

...Maybe its a lack of posts here that gives me this feeling, or maybe its bc of how unorganized D+P are
I still think I'll stick around here for a while, at least until I find an exciting new fandom.

IDK, I find the lack of organization one of the most endearing qualities of D&P. I don't want a polished media product from them - I just want "them."

[starlight-still]

Me: (wakes up from cool and casual and happily G-rated deppy dream)
Me: Whoa, gonna go write that baby down!
Me: (writes that baby down on laptop)
Me: (goes over to phone and sees blue birdy icon)
Me: hah.
Me: (reads) “Phil Lester: Caught a rare butterfree in the office (link)"
Me: (as I’m opening the tweet) Man, lucky you! I wanna catch a butterfree...you know how many of those caterpillar dudes I caught and now you ju-
Me: (sees photo)
Me: (genuinely laughs) ...you little trickster.
Me: ...
Me: Wait….they have that thing in their office??
Me: (smh)
Me: I knew it, menagerie.

IDK, I find the lack of organization one of the most endearing qualities of D&P. I don't want a polished media product from them - I just want "them."

Couldn't agree more.

[jaej]

cherry jokes are more embarrassing than llama or malteser jokes imo because it's literally the exact same thing but uncomfortable because it's something that wasn't intentionally shown to a large number of people. i can't blame bryony for getting annoyed about the fact that EVERYTHING she posts is going to be made about d+p somehow. even if she was known as an Internet personality, her current twitter is literally just a personal account about her. can't be great for your self esteem when anything you do will be made out to be about someone else

[annetamiau]

I do wonder what she meant by 'the one with the "lol" in it' though. Maybe an inside joke between them? or reference to Phan not being real sorrytosuggestthat

This also crossed my mind. I hope it's just my pessimistic nature.

[time-will-tell]

cherry jokes are more embarrassing than llama or malteser jokes imo because it's literally the exact same thing but uncomfortable because it's something that wasn't intentionally shown to a large number of people. i can't blame bryony for getting annoyed about the fact that EVERYTHING she posts is going to be made about d+p somehow. even if she was known as an Internet personality, her current twitter is literally just a personal account about her. can't be great for your self esteem when anything you do will be made out to be about someone else

Cherry jokes also come from deleted once public forumspring answers, not just the video. It is cringe yes of course, I won't disagree with you there. And yes bryony has in the past gotten annoyed with people relating some tweets back to Dan and Phil when it's not. The one that comes to mind the most was her tweeting about how multiple friends of hers are becoming engaged and someone tweeted her something like "omfg Dan and Phil?!" And she replied back with something along the lines of chill. But not every single one of her tweets are being related back to them. Does it happen every once in a while, yes. Is it fair? Not at all. But unfortunately, there's gonna be some on Twitter who don't actually like bryony as person but only follow her because she's friend with Dan and Phil and tweet her about them. It sucks, it really does and I feel for her.

[alittledizzy]

cherry jokes are more embarrassing than llama or malteser jokes imo because it's literally the exact same thing but uncomfortable because it's something that wasn't intentionally shown to a large number of people. i can't blame bryony for getting annoyed about the fact that EVERYTHING she posts is going to be made about d+p somehow. even if she was known as an Internet personality, her current twitter is literally just a personal account about her. can't be great for your self esteem when anything you do will be made out to be about someone else

Cherry jokes also come from deleted once public forumspring answers, not just the video. It is cringe yes of course, I won't disagree with you there. And yes bryony has in the past gotten annoyed with people relating some tweets back to Dan and Phil when it's not. The one that comes to mind the most was her tweeting about how multiple friends of hers are becoming engaged and someone tweeted her something like "omfg Dan and Phil?!" And she replied back with something along the lines of chill. But not every single one of her tweets are being related back to them. Does it happen every once in a while, yes. Is it fair? Not at all. But unfortunately, there's gonna be some on Twitter who don't actually like bryony as person but only follow her because she's friend with Dan and Phil and tweet her about them. It sucks, it really does and I feel for her.

I agree with the cringe-ness of cherry jokes.

But I don't actually think this person tweeting Bryony yesterday was referencing Dan or Phil at all. This person has other fandoms in common with Bryony and seems to be an adult completely unassociated with phandom/youtube fandoms.

I don't see Bryony engaging with or humoring someone in the phandom/that she didn't know tweeting her a Dan and Phil reference. She's very distanced from youtube and seems content with it.

[corn flakes]

I may be the only one that doesn't see how they could be brothers

Bryony:I don't think she knows the reference, it's something pretty deep and I can't see telling her, in one ls they did togheter she didn't even knew about the beyonce reference or the placenta one. Still she seems enough level headed to not be bothered by something like that, it's the internet.

[LurkingTrash]

I may be the only one that doesn't see how they could be brothers

I'm happy that they remembered to mention the radio show, it's such a big thing and people forget it when talking about deppy.
I'm laughing at the whole thing about them not really doing separate content anymore too true
I don't see the brothers thing either, but people always seem to assume that if your haircut looks alike, been there too many times.

[offtopic]Did we fully migrate now? I was so sad this morning when I couldn't access IDB, lol[/offtopic]

[000dia000]

I may be the only one that doesn't see how they could be brothers

I'm happy that they remembered to mention the radio show, it's such a big thing and people forget it when talking about deppy.
I'm laughing at the whole thing about them not really doing separate content anymore too true
I don't see the brothers thing either, but people always seem to assume that if your haircut looks alike, been there too many times.

[offtopic]Did we fully migrate now? I was so sad this morning when I couldn't access IDB, lol[/offtopic]

I honestly thought that they were brothers at first. My father thought they were the same person and just playing different personas.

[SquishPhan]

I may be the only one that doesn't see how they could be brothers

I don't see it either, apart from the same haircut they do not look alike, totally different faces.

I did like how they were described, seems pretty accurate, especially them pretty much doing everything together these days.

[alittledizzy]

I may be the only one that doesn't see how they could be brothers

I don't see it either, apart from the same haircut they do not look alike, totally different faces.

I did like how they were described, seems pretty accurate, especially them pretty much doing everything together these days.

It's funny that the haircut is what makes them look like brothers, since I don't know many siblings who aren't kids that go for identical/matching hairdos. But I do agree that for people who see them as brothers it's probably the hair.

Those descriptions of Dan and Phil made me laugh. Started out as roommates with individual channels, inseparable now. Watered down but ultimately accurate and about what I'd expect.

[coffee pig]

I may be the only one that doesn't see how they could be brothers

I don't see it either, apart from the same haircut they do not look alike, totally different faces.

I did like how they were described, seems pretty accurate, especially them pretty much doing everything together these days.

It's funny that the haircut is what makes them look like brothers, since I don't know many siblings who aren't kids that go for identical/matching hairdos. But I do agree that for people who see them as brothers it's probably the hair.

Those descriptions of Dan and Phil made me laugh. Started out as roommates with individual channels, inseparable now. Watered down but ultimately accurate and about what I'd expect.

Agree about the haircuts, how many people have the same haircut as their sibling? I know a few couples who rock quite a similar look, though. I know a couple who have been together so long that they have the same hair and the same wardrobe. The girls have merged into one. More proof that are actually lesbians.

[flarequake]

oh god does she know what she's done


edit:

OH MY ACTUAL GOD this is awkward

idk Bryony loves riling up the phandom sometimes (can't blame her, I would do the same in her position), so it wouldn't surprise me if she was just taking the piss here. She sees more than we think.

Yeah, there's something fishy about it. That person doesn't follow neither Dan nor Phil on twitter so for them to know about (which is kind of an obscure reference for a non-fan to know) and Bryony not to know seems unlikely (as Bryony follows this person). Unless that person is an ex-fan and was once a hardcore stalker lol. Am I even making sense. Probably not.

I do wonder what she meant by 'the one with the "lol" in it' though. Maybe an inside joke between them? or reference to Phan not being real sorrytosuggestthat

Lollipop? From Shirley Temple's song and tap dance "The Good Ship Lollipop".

[eevee]

[grannypants]

cute af. as someone who didn't get a chance to experience tatinof live, i'm v excited about this.
and they're editing it themselves? nice one lads