#EVEN WHEN IT WAS LITERALLY JUST A SCREENSHOT OF DAN'S POST

[antiadvil]

hold on when did the subreddit add this rule lmao

[juniorsailmakermattcruse]

I’m thinking about how stupid the Doof is Phineas’ dad theory is and the more I think about it the less it makes any sense to me. like apart from it being a terrible 1 (singular) date where he “never saw her again,” when exactly do they think the conception of Candace & Phineas took place? if somehow they conceived Candace on the date they had (they didn’t) that would make them both like 30 years old and they definitely are not. and they’d have had to go back ~5-6 years later and have another kid, which couldn’t happen because it was ONE DATE THAT THEY WENT ON and ALSO. Also if he’s Candace’s dad that means he cheated on Charlene (who he was still married to at the time she was born) and left his <1 year old daughter (who he very obviously has loved thru her whole life) to go have another one with another woman. and then 5ish years later he’s like “hey I want to add a sibling to my secret other family”? or something? This really is not something he would ever do ever. I can’t even think of this hypothetically it’s so stupid and dumb

Literally the only reason I can think of for this theory is that people saw that one screenshot of a tumblr post saying “omggg guys they went on a date do you think he’s Phineas’ dad???” and they have never actually watched the actual episode that screenshot is from or even just that one scene, all they know is that they went on a date. but like literally that scene exists to negate that whole theory but it just fueled people’s belief in it instead because they did not bother to actually watch any of it they just saw that one pic and were like “omggg I just noticed that Doof & Phineas both have triangle heads maybe they’re related?????”

(to be fair if Dan & Swampy had included a single other character with a triangle head they wouldn’t be so unique but they’re the only ones not even any background characters)

anyway I just can’t get into the minds of normie fans I just cannot relate at all

[zeondraws]

ZEON THIS IS KU I JUST SENT YOU A MESSAGE ON THE WIKI DAN PINCHBECK UPLOADED THE ORIGINAL SWTD SCRIPT TO HIS WEBSITE AND IT HAS MORE ROGER DIALOGUE AND FULL NAMES FOR SOME OF THE CHARACTERS!!!

HELLO KU THANK YOU FOR THESE AMAZING NEWS EARLIER TODAY AAAAAA.

Okay Fellas, what basically happened today, was Ku found a script written by Dan Pinchbeck (former Studio Head/Creative Director and founder of TCR). This was apparently all back when the game was in Alpha and just before he left the studio in Spring 2023.

The cool thing about the script is that a lot of these lines can be found as audio files within the game. Some of these are shown in my Muir/Innes video. But finally having the proper CONTEXT to these lines brings them to a whole new level.

We also know the names of Finlay (Eileen) and Brodie (Albert). I am honestly bewildered that his name is Albert.

Interestingly there is a different spelling for McLeary in the script (McClery), which is also a cool small detail (Me going bananas over the smallest details in existence IHIUEDHLIUDHWLIUWS).

I'll leave a direct link to the word file down here and then I'll show a few screenshots and yap for a while!

Fair warning there is slight NSFW content in the script, some of which I'll show as screenshots down below.

Word file:

I was so happy when I saw that Roy is indeed called "MacNair" in the script, like omg so the name shown on the ingame door was correct!!

I am wheezing, the description of Roy someone help me-

And apparently Finlay is a welder!!! Like!!! Also she was a WRESTLER? She'd be yeeting everyone off the rig if someone breathed incorrectly. Mad respect.

Just a huge lore drop of Brodie my jaw is dropping.

Let's not forget the super interesting info of Caz and Suze:

I feel sorry for Suze, she's lost so much, but she's also a fighter. Crazy to think Caz's dad got him into boxing.

Rennick is... holy shit he let two divers die

Hearing how the control room is his domain and remembering Brodie saying "Roper's control room" make me think, dear god what was Rennick stirring up in there. I can imagine Roper must've been smoking much more to handle it, or rolling his eyes so much until they fall out.

Also I swear I am giggling at Scooby after reading some things in the script. And him being called "a total gobshite" LMAOO

I'm doing three backflips while reading this, heeeeeeeeeeeelp.

Two things that make me breath manually is additional dialouge of Roper and this man just has dad energy radiating from him.

Please just... look at this convo.. and Scooby is a fucking ballbag mates. What the fuck hahahah

It goes on for longer, but that's all I shall show for the post. Also Trots being called mum by O'Conner has me exhaling sharply BWAHAHAH.

Also the biggest mystery I have to figure out is Dunbar. If he is the pilot, why is there someone called Archie ingame? Or is that literally just Dunbar? Does that mean I need to merge their wiki pages and make a big text stating what the mystery is about. They call him Dobbar or Dobbie sometimes! This is getting even more confusing!

I see no Dobbie in the script, just Dunbar. So they probably replaced him with another character in that scene later on. I feel like this is a big rabbit hole I need to get my head around.

Also finally knowing and being able to vividly picture the old Marine Control scene makes me so happy. Just look at it!

I like how.. Roper is just pretending he can smoke ewodhweoid. Roper seems way more passive here and friendly. This poor wee lad stuck in a chair and just observing what is happening.

And apparently after this scene is when the Geological scene should've taken place? If I understood it correctly.

I need to stop myself from reading the entire script tonight, because I have therapy tomorrow and that pushes my sleep schedule. Screaming, crying, throwing hands in the air lemme reaaaaaaaaad.

There is more stuff I can yap about, like Dan was apparently in a podcast and talked about the Shape in further detail. I nEEEEDD to listen to that asap.

And I also need to edit Roper's wiki page tomorrow. The silly guyyyy

Okay I won't say more now!! Go and dive into the script and yap about the details!!! We are EATING good this week Fellas.

.

.

.

Also fuck you Rennick, I now have context to one of the audio files but also he was def supposed to eat Muir in a previous version-

[ahappydnp]

Hey so I hope this is okay to ask as i’m a bit confused and crazy atm. In the WIQYT screenshots going around again about the doc, the last one talks about Dan having self image issues. I was curious if you could possibly help spread some light on the subject maybe? I remember always seeing him posted on the proana blogs back in the day frequently, and even in Dan and Depression he says his lexapro made him “gain loads of weight” but it never seemed like anything visually changed. I know you’re not a mind reader and trying to understand another persons self image is impossible, I guess I just maybe don’t understand where this comes from. I know he used to rag on himself in videos by putting pillows down his shirt to signify that he was chubby as a kid even tho he never was from the pictures available. I’m aware this is very parasocial but I’ve been going through a lot self image wise and he never got to make his documentary where he talks about it and idk. To me, Daniel is lowkey a philosopher and i’m so desperate to hear what he has to say on the subject. Can you think of any times he’s talked about this kind of stuff? (Sorry for this being such a downer anon i just kinda feel like i need to hear about it rn and i don’t know where to look)

I hope your weekend is amazing and filled with joy and laughter!

like you said, no one knows what goes on inside someones mind especially things like insecurities. but i do think it's two seperate issues that dan has talked about (under the cut for sensitive topics)

i think it's important to remember how society treated weight in the early 00s, obviously it was muuuuch worse for women but boys would also get ridiculed for their weight regardless of their size. i assume that dan did get picked on for being bigger (more than likely he was probably just taller than his classmates but kids just really like generalizing words like "fat" and that sticks in your brain). it was such a shitty time for body acceptance as a whole and he was bullied so much i'm sure people did throw in weight comments just to add to the blow.

and like everything else that's going to stick and then when you're a little older you just repeat this truth that other people told you that "i was a fat kid and fat=bad just like gay=bad so i'm going to agree with them" of course that was suuuuuuper toxic and unhealthy and dan definitely did even more damage peddling casual fatphobia and making insensitive jokes online. but he was pretty openly struggling with his body image from the get go (all the ED comments he made in 2009) and as we know, there's generally another root cause. dan's talked about his self hatred when he was younger (particularly stemming from the bullying and his internalized homophobia) at length and it makes sense that manifested into body dysmorphia the second part is in that screenshot from WIQY he was specifically talking about gay men's beauty standards which is a whole different issue altogether. he's talked a lot about his baby face and how he's felt insecure about his lack of "masculine" features and build. he's talked about how people don't take him seriously because he doesn't look like "a man". there's also the added layer of him being the poster child for ~pretty boy twink~ who's now getting older and aging out of those very rigid beauty standards solely because he's no longer 21. but gay men can be incredibly toxic when it comes to labels and what's attractive (i mean think about the fact that grindr literally has a body type filter so you can exclude whole subsets of people). so he's not saying that he's not attractive or not the general beauty standard, it's that he came out and fell face first into gay standards discourse because he was actively engaging and consuming queer community in a new light

allll of this to say i COMPLETELY get how it can instinctively rub people the wrong way when dan howell, who was famously coined "the hot one" for years and has had people drooling over him his entire adult life, says he's insecure. it can feel like a slap in the face if you don't consider his own struggles but i do think he's self aware and healed enough to know that he's very much within societal beauty standards (tall, straight sized, white, eurocentric features) and has actually benefited greatly in his career because of his looks. and he's unpacked a lot of his fatphobia and has made a point to be vocally body positive even going back to like 2016/2017

[danrifics]

you all pestered me for it and here it is. the closeness analysis/ theory.

now if you didn't see I basically had this theory that the closer to BIG and COTY we get in the DAPG timeline the closer dan and phil sit to each other. Dan made a comment about how them playing Heartthrob being like a gay soft launch and that got me thinking of some other ways they could have done it and one of those being the idea that as time goes on you get less and less strict and worrisome about what others think of you and so they end up gravitating closer and closer.

This post will be under a see more cos its probably gonna be long af.

I will be splitting it into stages.

2014 -15

2016 - 17

2018

revival

sorry the screenshots arent clickable to make bigger tumblr only allows for 30 on a post so i had to group them together!

(i will not be covering horror games apart from in the revival stage and i will also not be talking much about gamingmas 2023)

2014 - 15

now when i initially went to collect my evidence, i was suddenly worried maybe i kinda had things wrong because i feel like in Donkey Kong Country (the first dapg video, see screenshot below) they're sat pretty close but honestly when we get to how they sit a lot later on you'll see that this is actually pretty far apart

now here are some screenshots for the inital look at at the end of them we'll talk (this will be the layout for most of this post i think)

now of course this is only a selection of those year's videos if i screenshotted them all i fear this post would never end. now these first 2 years are a good mix of at desk videos on sofa videos. i noticed from some other videos not show here that in sofa videos they rend to sit a lot closer to each other than they do at the desk, this is kinda funny to me cos really they definitely have room for a wider frame on the couch if they wanted to sit like normal people.

2016 - 17

2016 and the start of 2017 feel like a mixed bag of how close together they are but i did notice that the more into 2017 we got the more they seemed to be shoulder to shoulder! these also started to wean out sofa sitting games (not 100% gone yet but almost). now if you're wondering why i've kept this screenshot apart its cos this is the last one in the first london apartment.

and honestly from here on out is where i believe the "soft launching" begins!

so lets finish 2017 and see if im right!

just had to single out this screenshot for a sec:

in case anyone wondered that is the face dan made during dream daddy when phil reads "we were roommates for a while too"

softlaunch?

anyway moving on

watching these videos definitely feels like something changed btw, while they still arent as close as we'll start seeing them sit, i definitely noticed more often they were shoulder to shoulder. but like a new room has definitely changed the vibe a little bit between them, and now we can move on to the next and final year of pre hiatus dapg, where things as you will see immediately start to change.

2018

like i said... immediately we are met with this, i would also like to let everyone know that 2018 is my favourite era of pre hiatus dapg

lets see what the rest of this year will bring

now i'm splitting 2018 up into parts because i need to do a whole talk about the tour situations so for now lets look at the above screenshots, now its very obvious that they are sitting so much closer to each other which i think is really funny considering how big that room is and often in this section of videos there is a lot of room either side of them so they literally do not need to be that close.

now lets talk about the tour bus. this is how close they're sitting

thats for sure a 1 person seat yet they've both forced themselves on even tho the sofa literally behind them would have been perfectly fine to sit on, and they cant give me "this is the only place to set up the camera" babe its really not theres a whole surface behind you.

okay thank you for listening to this, moving on to the final part of 2018!

(the last 2 screenshots are out of order oops)

idk about you but yeah i think they are definetly a lot closer than they were way back in 2014. i really dont have a lot to say other than that, and i have definetly proven my theory so now we've established that lets have a brief look at post hiatus dapg!

Revival

Now this is gonna be really brief its just a summary of where we are post BIG/COTY and post hiatus (things my brain still cant quite believe is real)

now here are the revival moments i wanna give a mention!

firstly sims season ep 3 when dan moves his chair away from phil and their wheels are literally locked together, pushing phil's chair too

heres dan looking into the monitor and then moving closer to phil <3

and finally

hand hold

thanks for reading all this and sorry if it didnt live up to the hype lmao

[breaking-it-down]

Hi. I wanted to send this to you here because it seems the Reddit is inactive. I’m /sincerely/ concerned that a new McKenna and Co are on the rise. And no, I am not here to start drama, spread hate, or bash anyone. Simply here to tell you that a new group of problematic people are showing the beginning signs of what has been called out before. I’m hoping we can just be aware of who we are putting on a pedestal. I don’t know if this was a good place to send this or not, but I assume you know better than me in how to get this information out. I’m so genuinely concerned that we are going to keep repeating this cycle.

- jasonschmidtheads — Juliana / Jude

Since she is now a very frequent attendee of the show, and is gaining a following, here are some facts. This person is one of the individuals involved with the brownie stagedoor issue from last year. When a cast member denied taking a homemade brownie from her and another person, they drunk called and voice messaged this cast member via Instagram for hours. Keep in mind, Juliana is 18, not old enough to drink.

On top of that, I know that she has called cast members’ significant others (like Daryl and Sky) the following terms: wh*re, b!tch, stripper, etc. She has stated that various cast members would get with her if they could. She is a prominent shittalker, bootleg leaker, and rushes to claim the discounted seats multiple times a week. She has also bashed cast members in messages and in verbal conversation, especially Brody. I know she is blocked by a few cast members.

- sierrahunter13 - Sierra

This person made up an entire relationship with Brent Comer, doctored fake messages / screenshots to perceive that she is dating said cast member, and is genuinely just weird to interact with. I’m sure someone has the screenshots of her story about the cast member. She is an adult but is close with many (I mean many) minors in the fandom, commenting stuff like “My girl 😍” and “Love you 😍😍” on stuff minors post. In hindsight, not a bad thing; however, if she doesn’t truly know them outside of Outsiders stuff… It’s so weird. Flies from across the country multiple times a month and acts like she knows the cast.

- tulsatripswjess - Jessica

This person has been called out before but Jess sent her little army of people to downvote and comment. I am aware she has been posted by Outsiders social media before too, but so have many others that have been called out. That doesn’t change anything. I’m here to say that it is absolutely 100% true that this person and her mother are insufferable. Flies multiple times a month to see the show, even though she is a minor. Sits front row multiple times each trip. That’s not what the issue is though!

Jess has forced people to spam the comments of Soc Saturday for the cast to notice her. She has messaged multiple fan accounts, and has started copying their ideas, posts, and everything. Literal copy paste of someone else’s account. Her and her mother have asked cast members at the stagedoor about who their vocal coaches are in the city, which in hindsight isn’t weird to ask; however, asking an actor at their job questions like that? Weird as hell. Worst of it that I have heard is that she was yelling at her mom at the stage door: “Mommy take my picture with Dan!” “Mommy take my picture with Brody!” And will throw temper-tantrums at the stage door if certain actors don’t come out. She is also in the crowd of people who publicly make stage door ahd the fandom look unsafe and unhinged, I.E. her tiktoks of her crying at the theatre when certain cast members are on / not on. Someone even called her out in the comments and the reply was “The cast knows us.” They don’t know you. They know you from your stupid shit, your whiny attitude, and your cringe antics, which really isn’t cute or funny. She acts like she owns the fandom.

I am genuinely concerned that if we don’t stop these people now, we will see McKenna and Co 2.0.

i’m genuinely so done with this fandom i swear to god…

i’ve heard shit about sierra (i have screenshots too that the person who took asked me not to share so i guess you’ll have to take my word on it which…yeah, i know how that is, i know being all “oh trust me” isn’t exactly trustworthy but yk) but still that’s a bit…weird. i dunno why so many people are hellbent on saying the cast knows them and whatnot.

i used to watch soc saturday over the summer before i was pushed out of the fandom/kinda jsut stopped watching and i remember seeing a lot of stuff with “say hi to jess! can you say hi to jess?” which is odd. i know she’s a minor, does anyone know her exact age? regardless of whether she’s 14 or 17 though that’s not an excuse to complain when a cover is on or act like an entitled brat. i think her mom’s the root of the problem tho, if she’s allowing that sort of behavior. i got genuine second hand embarrassment reading the bit about her ngl, but still. you’re allowed to be disappointed if a certain cast member isn’t on, but keep it to yourself. when i went in february, brody wasn’t on and it was kinda just a “well that sucks! anyway,” moment. like yeah, not seeing your favorite cast member kinda sucks, but it’s not the end of the world. i don’t get why people who frequent are upset whenever they don’t see their favs like they’re not gonna be back the next week, lmfao. but anyway that’s not important.

i thought the brownie girl was called out already? i suppose not though. but yeah, you’re right.

this is kinda just a little message to the outsiders musical fandom but please, please, please, for the love of god, stop putting people on a pedestal. we’re all equals in this fandom. no one person is better than the other. if you’ve seen the show on eve, you’re as much of a fan and know the same amount about a cast member as someone who’s seen the show fifty times. i don’t know why this fandom keeps fostering a community in which we tolerate behavior like this. everyone’s all for calling out, but who got them to the point of entitlement they’re at? both outside factors and the community have shaped these people. stop giving these people attention, stop putting them on a pedastol, stop encouraging this behavior. stop fostering this kind of community. people complain about the fandom being “so toxic!” but then you never do anything about it. you got them to the point of fame they’re at, you put them above everyone else. i’m aware it isn’t just the fandom’s fault, but the fandom is just gonna get worse and worse and more people are gonna see it as one of those horrible fandoms if we keep allowing people to act this way in our community.

do better.

[viktorpartner]

✨ THE DAN AND PHIL LORE pt. 3✨

CHECK OUT PART 2: https://www.tumblr.com/ashleyeveerson/760707933651746816?source=share

Phil ALSO comes out! (yeah no i'm not crying what? not them feeling comfortable enough to be themselves yeah). 2019 also brings us the adoption of a fish named Norman (a cutie) AND they also post pictures about their recent trip to Japan [the photo of Phil looking up to Dan behind the camera? yeah i am so normal about it, i swear]. There is hope in the horizon still for a Dan and Phil comeback...

BAM! A certain virus runs wild and forces everyone to stay at home. Phil continues to upload solo videos which distracted so many of us during these dark times. Dan, however is AWOL and the only pic we have of him is a shitty screenshot of him in glasses and a mask helping Phil rescue an injured pigeon (lockdown was WILD).

Also, my boy Dan post a cryptic tweet that leads to the announcement of a self-help book named YOU WILL GET THROUGH THIS NIGHT (because you will <3). Nah but I can't count how many times I've sobbed reading it, just him trying to help out others who have also struggled with mental health... istg i love this man

Hey so THEY BUY THEIR FOREVER PHOUSE TOGETHER they're gonna kill me one day istg. "Dan and Phil just decided to pay a mortgage together", top 10 sentences that would kill a 2016 phan. They are slaying, they are glowing... also rip Norman the fish you will not be forgotten

So during 2014 the fates (aka a random youtuber) foretold that Dan and Phil would be married in 2022. Since that clearly didn't happen the meme PHIVORCE united the phandom once more. ALSO Dan is out there shitting on youtube (as he should) and going on his solo tour WE'RE ALL DOOMED! Which i love with all my heart and also Phil being there for him every step of the way... AHHHHHHHH

Anyways a certain video called Dan and Phil finally tell the truth hits the internet and let's just say GOD DAMN. This also starts a wonderful trend amongst Dan and Phil in which they make fun of their audience (we deserve it ngl) and absolutley SHOCK US with new information about bonkers shit from their past [apparently they were offered a threesome MULTIPLE TIMES???]

It's the end. They've decided to give up their channel "Dan and Phil Games" forever... let's take a moment and silent and mourn with a compilation of Heart eyes Howell

...

SIKE! We're back baby and we're better than ever!!! The goodbye video turned out the be an ANNOUNCEMENT of their comeback. They are back, Dil Howlter is here and Phil confesses to having dyed everything green in the house when Dan went on tour bc he missed him (OH GOD). Also, the Halloween baking video introduced us to the icon that is.... *drumroll please*

SISTER DANIEL, the queen of making everyone reconsider their sexuality... she is the moment, she is an icon and she is serving astronomical levels of cunt at all time [jokes aside, Dan being comfortable enough to do drag in public, fuck they've come so far i'm so proud of them <3].

And here we are in the future, it's present day and they are queerer and happier than ever. THE PICTURES I CAN'T ISTG. Also Dan's Birthday stream is beyond iconic. First of all my unproblematic kings make it a charity stream to donate to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund (using their public influence for good hell yeah)... And how did they raise the money you ask? WELL BY HITTING IS WHERE WE'RE WEAKEST. Sister Daniel makes a spectacular comeback, FATHER PHIL is introduced and Dan even dyes his hair red to be more Good Omens coded... which timeline are we living in again? like how is any of this real?

Also them drawing the PINOF whiskers on their faces again... they're literally growing old together I'm gonna go sob in a corner. Also the fake apology video bc they have no fashion sense in the Sims 4 is hilarious as fuck. HOW CAN THEY POSSIBLY BE SO MUCH HOTTER ON THEIR THIRTIES EXPLAIN??

anyways the phandom is still speculating wether they're erasing "i love you's" at the end of their text when they show them on videos... guess some things never change. Nah but the vibes are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NOW, they are more open than they've ever been and participate on the phan culture FULLY to the point that they're the ones terrorizing us now.

QUICK DETOUR TO TALK ABOUT PHIL'S FAMOUS BAD LUCK (and then they wonder why he's always dying in the fanfics). Nah but my poor man has had his fair share of medical problems, the most recent being...

OH GOD WHY WOULD YOU ANNOUNCE SOMETHING LIKE THAT THIS WAY?? nah like using humor as a coping mechanism and all but do they wanna gives a heart attack?! iconic i fear however

So yeah the video where they talk about it is WILD (funniest shit about the whole ordeal is that a nurse mistook Dan as Phil's son). Also I saw a tweet speculating about Phil having a hickey like... first of all what is it? 2009? Second of all IT'S MOST LIKELY A POPPED VESSEL FROM LOSING ALL THAT BLOOD YOU KNOW

They still were able to go on their vacation (aka the rodent boy summer) which gifted us with this iconic pics... ALSO they dropped a new Dan and Phil beats for summer go check out the names of the tracks istg they wanna kill their fans.

Nothing is sacred anymore, they've infiltrated twtphan, they're actively reposting memes and writing fanfiction about themselves. It's the wild west, everytime you get a notification is like playing Russian Rulet. Cringe is dead and Dan and Phil ARE COMING NEAR YOUR CITY on a tour named "Terrible Influence" where Phil's spent 300€ on silicone. It's a wonderful time to be a phan.

OKAY SO here's some stuff that didn't make the cut but that i find too hilarious to not mention. In no apparent order: DAN DRESSING UP AS A CATBOY, Dan and Phil playing technicians 1 and 2 on Big Hero 6 and two brothers on the Lion King (wtf was that also they gave the gorilas matching fringes), Dan dressing up as a golden pig (my boy has RANGE) and finally Dan being too embarassed to admit he stalked Phil and telling a reporter he was only asking for "editing tips" if you know what i mean

Also a short compilation of Dan and Phil losing the idgaf war against eachother THEY ARE SO THOUGHTFUL ABOUT EVERYTHING. Special mention to Daniel's 🧡 when Phil praised "We're all doomed!" and Dan's ranch metaphor to describe their relationship (just go watch the mukkbang video OH LORD)

SO, in conclusion... Dan and Phil's refusal to belittle their past and instead embrace it as part of their story while actively moving into the future alongside the phandom YEAH THAT SHIT MEANS SOMETHING. They're simultaneously healing our inner child while embracing us as the adults we've become i have many feelings about them

So what are they?

They're just Dan and Phil.

[tenpintsof-sundrop]

I wish you were in Tumblr headquarters to crack down on fandom. HR perhaps? So when we agree to terms and conditions, we have to abide by fandom etiquette and actually participate in fandom instead of leeching off of people silently. It really is showing your all to a group for slow blinks and no claps.

Come here, dear friend. Let me tell you a story.

As a Fandom Old - and more specifically, as a Tumblr Old, I have a lot of stories and I live my life by a set of unwritten rules due to lived experiences in fandom. And one thing I have learned is that being unhinged and lawless in fandom is just as bad as trying to impose too many laws and trying to police everyone.

Let me tell you the story of The 2012 Tumblr Tag Police.

(Which was a real thing that happened.)

Shortly after I first joined Tumblr, there was An Incident -

Something that you need to keep in mind is that Tumblr's tags used to be 100% chronological - this means that if someone tagged a post with something, it showed up first in the tags regardless of popularity, and every single post that came up when you searched a tag was in order of when those things had been posted. It wasn't filtered by popularity or 'relevance', everything was simply shown by most recent posts, and you could scroll through a tag and see every single post that had been made under a certain tag. So if something was fairly unknown and unpopular, you could scroll through every single post that had been made under that tag in a very short time - and even if something was super popular, you could keep the tab open and scroll through every single post that had been made under a popular tag and eventually get to the end (seeing posts that had been made years ago) because you weren't just shown the same popular posts over and over again.

It was genuinely great and I miss it. It was so fucking amazing for reading fanfiction. And it was so, so much better for posting fanfiction too, because fics weren't highlighted by their popularity. (But, nostalgia aside-)

I largely frequented tags for the Phandom - aka the Daniel Howell and Phil Lester fandom. And one day when I was on one of those tags, I saw that someone had made a post about Dan's younger brother. Apparently he had a Tumblr account that someone had discovered, and they outed his username in the post (I don't think they tagged him, but they had screenshots of his account, along with 'proof' that it was his account by showing that he had posted selfies on the account) and they were - basically telling everyone to go follow him in a very stalker-ish way.

At the time, I thought it was very creepy. I came back to the tag about an hour later, and I saw more people who also thought this was creepy, and they were saying 'hey, don't follow Dan's brother, leave him alone'. (And I believe Dan's brother posted on his Tumblr that he wanted to be left alone, but I did not follow him, so I can't confirm that part of the story.)

And this evolved into something I have never seen recreated on Tumblr since. Due to the chronological order of the tags, people wanted to flood the tags with something different so that anybody scrolling back, looking for the original post with Dan's brother's information would be incredibly difficult to find. So people created this type of... 'campaign' called Replace Dan's Bro With Tesco. (It sounds so fucking made-up, but literally, how the fuck could I make this shit up??) So people flooded every single Phandom related tag with pictures of Tesco (the shop) and long 'grocery' lists so that people would have to scroll on looking for Dan's brother's username if they wanted to be stalkers, and they would just get annoyed by the spam and leave the tags.

And due to this incident, The Phandom started something called The Tag Police. Which is one elected blog which is supposed to be - essentially Fandom HR that goes and yells at people if they are posting things on tags that are not relevant to that tag. Aka mass spamming Tesco or posting stalker attacks on Dan's brother. It's the idea that they will give you a warning and then incite harassment on you if you're posting things on a tag that don't belong there.

Sounds great, right? Everyone finds it so fucking annoying when people are tag spamming or if people post a Spencer Reid fanfiction on the Derek Morgan x Reader tag.

Well the biggest problem with any fandom trying to regulate or 'police' itself - opinions. Nobody can agree on how to follow rules when fandom is so fucking objective.

Obviously, a bunch of other fandoms followed suit, and there was actually a huge 'masterpost' blog that kept a list of all the Tag Police blogs for each fandom, and I believe the first major problem came up in the Harry Potter fandom (no surprise there). And I genuinely believe that The Tag Police era was where the use of Anti tags started. (At least to my recollection.)

But anyway - one of the Harry Potter Tag Police blogs was upset that someone was posting Harry x Snape fanfiction on the main Harry Potter tag, and there was a huge argument over whether or not it belongs there because - yes, it's technically something that pertains to the Harry Potter fandom, and a portion of the fandom might be looking for it under that tag. But 'it's gross and we don't wanna see it' and 'it's pedophilia and it shouldn't be allowed'. But the original purpose of The Tag Police wasn't to stop 'immoral' content from being posted on tags, it was to stop irrelevant content from being posted on tags.

A Dramione fic with rape, human trafficking, and abuse might be morally objectionable to a lot of people - but it still technically belongs on the Dramione tag.

This is when the purpose and concept of The Tag Police began to implode. It simply turned into a hate campaign where Tag Police blogs sicked their followers on certain people for posting things they didn't like - and it was always based on opinion, rather than based on actual outlined rules or facts.

Now as far as wishing that I could personally ban some people from fandom? I don't know.

Personally - I wish that ChatGPT and other forms of personal use generative AI (like c.ai) just weren't available to the public. I wish that you had to have some kind of major company tech licence in order to use them, and I wish that they were way more expensive to use so that the random everyday Jo-Shmo couldn't rip off fics and post gen-AI fics on Tumblr and AO3.

Other than that, if someone has different fandom opinions than me about characters or interpreting the narrative - even if they're blatantly stupid and wrong - I'll just block them and move on.

Because fandom should be more about people following everyday common courtesy rules to be polite - not about people making so many rules that it's tyrannical, and not about people being so fucking lawless that we're all monkeys slinging shit at the walls. And if someone who is just a rude shit-slinging primate needs to be called out by me, then I will happily call them out. And if someone who is new and learning needs me to politely outline some of those unspoken rules for them, then I will do that too.

Anyway - that's your fandom lesson for the day!!

[berrysemifreddo]

First of all I need to thank my artist friends @meizze-art and @annarielmidori for leading me into this brilliant software... (it's so much better than Photoshop goddang)

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I was doing a "research" this morning...😂I took notes of artworks that I really love the style of, and then also took notes of the ones that I wasn't a fan of. I also wrote what feature I'd like to learn. My note looked like this... (please don't misunderstand, these artworks are all amazing in their own way, I'm only making notes on their artstyle to decide my personal preference)

And second of all sorry it's not a Hogwarts Legacy character😂When it comes to the process of learning, I'd prefer practicing on the faces I'm most familiar with, and...that's just Dan. I'm not sure if I should switch to my Dan Stevens content only account because if I tag my friends there it'll be a bit weird...so...

Anyways, because this is literally the first time I actually do a rather "serious" colored digital art (previously my experiences in drawing are only limited to traditional methods, and most of them are either b&w pencil sketch or copying manga panels/manga art with colored pencil/copic marker), and I just got this pen tablet a week ago, so umm...I'm still exploring. This one took me too embarrassingly long, idk exactly when did I start but probably 6 hours or something. I used this photo (my favorite screenshot from "The Guest"...) as reference:

I admit that I acturally traced some part of it (like the sihoutte of his hoodie, and hair shape overall), however during my drawing I realized I actually cannot directly follow his face's jawline's contour, because the proportion would look a bit weird...so I sort of redrew that. Also on the eyes, originally I wanted to do a full realistic size, however I noticed that if I used the actual eye size, there won't be enough space for me to emphasize his eyes, so I enlarged them a little bit. I guess I'm still...leaning towards modern anime style more?

I checked my "research notes" (🤣) for many times and in the end I basically just did a 4:6 mixture of Vinland Saga and Variable Barricade (???), I wasn't planning to reference Vinland Saga in the beginning but I really really want to add his unique "aegyo-sal" in my drawing but most of the works mentioned in my notes don't really have it, so I experimented a lot and...well, Vinland Saga's method sort of works...

Managing layers is a real pain in the ass. Like previously when I was only working on Photoshop I didn't really have to deal with so many layers that constantly requires modification, and now it's like...I need to remember which is which and the logic and order of putting different parts into different layers.

(This screenshot was taken before I changed the gaze direction. In the original screenshot he was not actually looking at viewer, but I feel like it's gonna be more "fetching" (???) if he's looking at viewer, so I basically just cropped out the eyes and paint the area white and masked the cropped out eyes and fixed some details )

Well, this is only my day 2 of using CSP and I haven't even watched any tutorials of what's the proper way of drawing this kind of anime...hopefully I could get the hang of it soon.

[freckliedan]

omfg so im reading your linguistics paper rn and im at the part where you talk about how its taboo to post abt the vday vid or dailybooths etc. but i feel like the chains have loosened over the years so to speak? cuz like, on twitter people have just. posted full dailybooth screenshots, or reference the 2009 phan song all the time which itself refs vday. and im wondering if thats like, because the community had gotten smaller after the dapg hiatus that ppl were more lax about it, or if it felt like dnp were more lax about it, or if these are all younger fans who werent aware of this etiquette at all but since so many younger fans have been joining like post coming out they just dont see it as taboo at all? some self-policing does still occur, specifically w ppl reposting dans nakedbooths, but its def not the case of YOU HAVE TO BE COMPLETELY SILENT ABOUT THIS anymore. i havent even finished reading yet but im enthralled

OOH thank you for the question i have so many thoughts on this actually. (context)

i think there's multiple reasons why the taboo on discussing the vday vid & other deleted social media things has grown lesser? under the cut bc i got wordy.

partially i'd chalk it up to the change in phandom demographics. like, there's a way lower proportion of us now who were around for the direct aftermath of the first major leak in 2012, or who even were a part of the phandom when a majority of folks had been present for that. things were so bad and painful then & in the era directly afterwards! people still learn about that but the knowledge of how bad things got is always going to be different from the lived experience.

so that's reason one: i think that within the fandom the strongest emotional reaction to the existence of the vday video & deleted social media posts will always exist in ppl who were around in 2011-2013 & similarly deeply ingrained in folks who joined right after that in 2014-15. and i think there's still a lot of us but there's also just like.. so many less of us now, too. the vast majority of my mutuals from 5 years ago have abandoned or deleted their blogs.

i do think another part of why things have gotten less taboo is bc it's no longer something that has the potential to out dan and phil/how directly they've acknowledged the social media posts (& to a lesser degree the vday vid)?

like. dan literally used screenshots that he almost certainly got from the phan directory in basically i'm gay. they acknowledged that the manchester eye meant something to them in giving the people what they want/witl (watched them at the same time, can't remember which had that in it). i know they knew how people would react to them mentioning iconic teen dalien moments in the big wheel in the sims.

there's also the fact that like... angry phil DMs/copyright strikes are a thing of the past? i'm not going to tell people where to find the vday video but it's stupidly easy to locate on more mainstream platforms at this point in time. shit, that brings me to another point: fans who joined more recently weren't around for the era where blogs were getting taken down for what they were posting. another reason it's more chill now.

like, the openness of the secret is like, something that makes seeking out the taboo less of a thrill?

but on the other hand! learning in detail abt the vday vid and old social media posts is something i think people find less necessary now? that used to be the most concrete like... phan proof. proof they were queer. and now that they're explicitly gay and openly together to the degree that they are it's like. the value of the information has lessened.

to go in a different direction. i definitely wouldn't call it a formalized etiquitte that the youngun's just don't know, especially when it comes to the social media posts—they've always circulated and even 5 years ago when i wrote that paper they were more openly talked about even tho the vday video wasn't (though again: 5 years ago was still wayyyyy more lax than 2013/14).

ultimately there's always just been so much clout tied up to knowing about the vday video & social media posts? so even though being too blatant has always been a taboo transgressing that norm with skill has also always been a phandom value.

i'm not going to get too far into the ways that dan and phil's fandom literacy and the fan response of archiving everything play into things bc i think i covered that well in my paper but yeah!

i don't have a good conclusion but: less % of the fandom being present for the aftermath of dnp being outed by the leak + greater aknowledgement of these subjects by dnp + less value for the information in the vday vid & deleted social media posts = more casual attitude towards vday vid & social media posts and a healthier phandom overall

[adrianlyles]

time for the question I have been wanting to ask you: top 5 fave natessa scenes

and while we're at it, maybe dair, rufly, and jenate. brooklyn/ues pairing supermacy!

oh, this is gonna be a long one (+ these r all in somewhat particular orders)...

natessa:

1. 2x03 hand kiss - it's just so cute and the mood lighting of the black out just makes it so perfect 2. 2x16 "well, there's no reason. i just wanted to see you." <3 3. 1x15 first kiss - i had to put this in here, like it's just so sweet (+ i love vanessa's yellow dress) 4. 2x18 "you're watching the age of innocence?" "it's heartbreaking." "so are you." 5. 2x17 a masked vanessa knocks on nate's door - their whole plotline with c*uck is so chaotic this episode i love it and this scene is the perfect chaotic end

dair (god this one was hard, and i have so many i couldn't include):

1. 5x16 "remember when you won that essay competition, and your mother was too busy to even show up to watch you get your award? who came, even though you treated him so terribly?" "dan came to that?" "uh, see, dylan's always here for you, even when you don't even know it. no matter how you treat him, he cares about you, not in spite of who you are, but because of it." "dan loves me for me." - literally crazy. i died dead. don't even have to watch the scene and the buzz is insane. they kill me. best ship on this evil show. 2. 4x18 "with you, she was always caught up in schemes and takedowns, but that's not that's not really her. she's intelligent. she's intuitive, you know? she she weeps when she watches nights of cabiria." - they don't even have to be in the same room as each other and the buzz is crazy. + this one always has a special place in my heart when i remember when i posted terrible screenshots of this scene on twt and chair's quoted me to hell as if their ship isn't evil and named after a piece of furniture -_- 3. 5x19 "i have hit rock bottom. what is going on?" "i, uh, i thought you should get to feel like a princess one last time." - i'm crying, i'm literally crying. jaiden, i'm so sorry in advance for how i act when we get to dair's story you'll be so sick of me. 4. 1x04 "she's best friend's with this girl - blair waldorf - who is everything i hate about the upper east side distilled into one 95-pound, doe-eyed, bon mot tossing, label-whoring package of girlie evil." "no one's that bad." "she is. i would barely be exaggerating if i told you medusa wants her withering glare back." "well, if there's anything i've learned it's that usually there's something beneath the surface with people like that to make them act the way they do." - oh dair, the enemies to lovers that you are! and the rufly comparison!!! 5. 4x11 "... seeing nenette at film forum." "i'm seeing nenette at film forum." "you like french documentaries about orangutans?" "nenette is an inspiration." - an underrated pick, but important nonetheless. my twin flames <3 and yes i have seen this film before, i am a true shipper!

rufly:

1. 1x11 "and i seemed to have walked all the way from brooklyn to your doorstep… without a jacket… in the snow. so, what the hell… i miss you… and I've been missing you for a while." - oh, rufus ur crazy as hell and i love it! earth shattering scene. 2. 1x01 first scene together - idk why this one always stuck with me but it's just so good at establishing their banter and past together, i just love it. 3. 2x25 "marry me, lily. marry me. i know that would make me your, uh, fifth husband... so?" "yes." <3 4. 1x05 heartfelt convo whilst making food - i just love their domesticity, they were married before they were even married. 5. 3x05 wedding - duh, how could i not. (i hate the writers so much for making them get a divorce)

jenate (this was difficult too, i love them so bad!):

1. 3x17 "you know you can always come to me, right" + birthday cake celebration - idk what it is about this scene but it's just so cute! + the rina parallel, they're so tethered 2. 2x08 "you are not my father and you are not my brother, so why do you care so much?" "because." + kiss - i had too! like it's just such a good scene!!! 3. 1x08 heartfelt conversation - the start of their friends to lovers story and another rina parallel <3 4. 2x09 kiss + "so, does that mean you don't regret last week?" "i guess not." 5. 3x09 nate escorting jenny - my power couple

[phanyaoi]

when did you realise you had really become a Phannie™️? to me, as a new phannie, was when i could guess what year each pics/videos were from just by their hair

oh anon i have a story to tell you

i started watching dan and phil around like 2014-15 with my older sibling, but i was also like 8 years old, so i couldnt speak english and probably didnt get subtitles yet. all i understood from the vids was what my sibling translated to me.

so i watched dan and phil since the tatinof era, we watched pinofs together, we had tabinof in the house (still do lol), i still remember my favourite series was halloween baking. but well, i definitely wasnt a phannie back then, even if i talked with my older sibling about phandom stuff.

but as i grew up we stopped watching them together and they also went on a hiatus. somewhere in this time i became a queer teenager and also like really emo tm. so naturally, i made a tumblr account.

then i remembered those 2 silly little emo gay guys i used to watch as a child and started rewatching phils old rawr XD vidoes (i love all of them). and then i learned they recently came back from the hiatus and the 1st video of New Dan and Phil Games tm i watched was literally 2023 halloween baking. first i became a pinterest phannie and honestly i relearned most of the phlore from ancient posts screenshoted and put onto pinterest, but soon i also started this phannie blog. and i think i started officially being a phannie tm when i met other phannies and understood phandom jokes, because u cannot be a phannie without the phandom🫶

[bouncybrain]

Welcome to…

SESSION 2

My eyes hurt but also I’m understimulated so I’m going to overstimulate myself. Also I didn’t even finish the first “challenge” introducing us to the place so. I should finish that.

(Posting this the next day because it's late and I'm bored so I have to go do other things now.)

Mostly unedited and out of context notes and rambling to follow. Any screenshots will be at the end.

I think it’s fair and valid to say that since they couldn’t manage a dream-within-a-dream very well I don’t look forward to whatever “other spacetime” means for the story!

Janus mention!

Old ppl really are the same everywhere aren’t they

Put some damn pants on these kids I swear to god. Also pants aren’t against the culture people are we

JANUSOPOLIS??????? JANUSOPOLIS. YOU ARE SHITTING ME????? FORGET PANTS MAKE A NEW CITY NAME and also maybe shave. Why does Mr. Virtue have that fucking mustache 😭

Tribbie should have pants is what I was saying. Yeah. Also Hook. Why the hell are the Belobog underground kids not all wearing pants????? They should all be wearing pants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean I guess Tribbie could wear tights. There’s people wearing tights so like

Are you going to carry and fly us across?

You’re not about to ask me to jump down, right…?

Dan Heng is finally going to be able to jump?

Fym Dan Heng Penacony poked fun at us for not being able to jump

OH SHIT WAIT TRIBBIE HAS GENUINELY SHORT HAIR I DID NOT SEE THAT

It won’t let me run away from the magical circle of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff :(

Oo. I wish I had higher graphics!!! (<-Looking at a wall)

It froze :( I can hear everything but nothing is moving :( I have to restart it

TAKE TWO

Oh good it saved me standing on the stairs staring at a wall

Oh I. I was ten steps from a fight. When I crashed. Whoopsies. OH FUCK I FORGOT TO CHANGE MY GUYS I WAS SUPPOSED TO FIX IT FOR THE NEW ENEMIES

Wait lmao I’ve been using Jing Yuan and his VA’s spouse is Tribbie’s VA. TikTok told me that

That was. A very quick battle! Anyway! Dan Heng is so salty

It very nearly crash-crashed!!!!!!!!

“Us priests would rather die in the pursuit of faith than live in a foreign land.” … uh… okay… if you say so… I guess… we should have… left this guy behind a little bit… just a little

“You’re the high priest?!” I see where your priorities lie old man. Fickle ass grandpa

WAIT LMAO THEIR CLOTHES ARE MOLDED TO THEIR FUCKING BACKS??????

When Dan Heng says something reasonable 🥰

Chrysos Heirs = Deliverers = … why they got ichor blood?????

“Don’t make miracles sound like a tool you can simply use at will.” The gameplay:

Damn right you’re not good at telling stories, Snowy.

JANUSOPOLIS fucking. Janusopolis.

Who put those children on that wall

The thump thumps made my game lag :(

Anyway not a bad way to share lore but I don’t think it’s very good. It’s vague as mythology can be, but Hoyo doesn’t have a good record with just dropping vague lore on players and having it properly pay off later. (“I’m Thirteen” anyone?)

Dromas 😍 I want a baby!!!!

“I don’t really get it” yeah because you’re the player character

Okay I’m having questions about the worldbuilding again!!!! How is Okhema the only human city left? Why is it the only one left? How long have they been traveling, exactly? How have they been sustaining themselves? Is it really so dangerous if the group is just chock-full of children and apparently literally one guy who knows how to fight? Didn’t they say the statue guys are only aggressive if you show your aggression (openly carrying weapons etc.)? That old man sure as hell wasn’t. How long have these ruins been ruins? Plant growth suggests quite a while, but these people seem to have no qualms navigating them at all! There’s still so much rubble everywhere that these can’t be frequented ruins, either.

If Okhema is the only human city left, what’s stopping them from making another one? Why has the way there not already been fucked up, and why is it only happening now?

Shout out to Dan Heng’s cloud hymn spear btw.

Why was the road so peaceful we literally just. Slept? If the city is under attack now, how were the enemies in front of us, but also behind us, when we had been literally just having a peaceful trip? There clearly were hardly many enemies in the ruins, so how many roads were there, really, in order for them to surround us on the way there? What’s with this group in particular beyond Snowy and Tribbie?

Now we’re just completely and utterly separated. Thanks.

I mean I guess we aren’t getting arrested?

Oh so we aren’t even separated. They were six steps away.

… why did we say it?????? Okay. Okay hang on. What the FUCK are the rules for the. Oh fuck what’s it called. WHATEVER IT IS. What are the goddamn rules? It’s been temporary and/or localized before—the first two times didn’t seem to happen so far out that the group saw and recognized it, and it didn’t last long, and the first time with Tribbie glitched out and left a bubble. Now there’s rubble FULLY REPAIRED by the power. I fucking called it as soon as I saw “other spacetime” you are KIDDING ME

Oh I was wondering why I heard “pious citizen” speaking while I was going backwards, the dialogue just started before I even considered going the right way

Why did I even start walking around as Jing Yuan instead of anyone else on the team???

Trianne, Trinnon, and Tribbie. Why. Why did Caelus look so concerned? I like how they’re all different! Personalities and hairstyles and Trinnon’s flower eyes for whatever reason :) but their clothes could use some work idk just saying

Wait omg I haven’t looked at their levels. They’re level 88 at the level 80 cap

“The holy cities guards are trained elites” (I forgot the rest of what he said already) anyway I have a team full of elites! Plus Dan Heng is technically a trained elite warrior who is a dragon and also Trailblazer is a walking fucking bomb.

Okay. Honestly. I have shit graphics. But I can see the vision. And I’m not mad

Y. Y’know what. I’m glad for pre-rendered cutscenes. Wow! It’s so pretty!

Anyway why are the city guards blue

Oh it’s ah-GLY-ah

Mydei should be darker. Just like any amount of visibly darker. Like now that I’m seeing him in action darker skin would be so much better. He already stands out a lot with all that red and gold and black I don’t think making him darker would hurt!

“You, what’s your name?”

My name is [player name]

I am the Galactic Baseballer!

Heh, it’s a secret!

“Is that not also strange?”

YES HE DID IT HE CALLED PC OUT ON SAYING EVERYONE HAS WEIRD NAMES

I think they actually?? Made his arms big?? With muscle?? The only other character with his model type with a shoulder out is Ratio so I’m. Squinting here but I think it’s actually bigger???

I was just looking around the room (walking towards the door we came in through tbf) after staring at his model and Mydei gets all

“What is it, outsider? Do you fear the Lance of Fury (Strife Titan)’s raging flames? Or perhaps you’d care to spar with me?”

No, thank you…

I’m interested.

Shatter them with the aftershocks!

“Avoid getting too serious with Mydei, because he means every word he says,” says Phainon, who has been like. Not helpful. “That is true. Of this, you can be assured.”

Like damn. Fine. I won’t look! Also they say the exact same thing when you go talk to him so it’s not. Unique to “leaving” and all three options have the same dialogue

Also it’s “MY-d” and “FY-non”

… fine. Castorice (“CASS-tor-riss” THE “MORTICIAN”????) gets a pass since she’s wearing a dress and not shorts.

WHY HAVE WE HAD TWO ESCORT SECTIONS WITH DISTANCE RESTRAINTS NEITHER OF THEM WALKED AT PLAYER WALK SPEED OR SPRINT SPEED RAAAAAAAAAAAA WHY IS THIS STILL A THING IN GAAAAAAAMES

The butterflies are a nice touch, though :) her effect audio balancing kinda shit. All my audio levels are identical so theoretically their voices shouldn’t be getting drowned out… but they are.

Honk shoo honk shoo WE MUST WHAT??? Like literally turn into birds or. Or. Or is this the new short-distance transport system for the world like the scrolls on Luofu and. Balls. And dream things. On Penacony.

Yeah it’s transport

Phainon crack!hc: writes fanfic. Will not expand thank you!

“You two, if you wish to retreat, this is your final chance to do so.”

It’s fine, I’ve already died a number of times before.

It’s fine, he’s already died a number of times before.

FUCK THOSE ARE BOTH REALLY GOOD THOUGH whatever he probably says the same thing

“Stand with me and become heroes!” Been there done that, buddy, sorry.

STOP WHISPERING AT ME DAMN

Oh it’s a rotating puzzle transport. Like Penacony

Damn I can’t auto battle this one :(

Ohhhhh my god the animations are so GOOD THE WATER THE FUCKING WATER HOLY SHIT meanwhile my potato graphics give me weird artifacts on the waterfalls

Wow… gold blood means you’re extra special… Aglea perceives better… I AM A FUCKING BOMB!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my god I. I was not looking at her boobs. What the fuck

Anyway! Why is she British. Like that one random Cloud Knight.

It’s always weird to see Hoyo commit to short hair

SHE ASKED ZERO QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BEACON?????? Her butter underlayer to her hair is distracting ngl

… this is not who I entered battle as. I did not have TB on my team. Where is my general

Oh are chests here now?? Treasure?? Goodies?? WHAT IS A SPIRITHIEF

What’s this new listening thing? ASMR ass

“I’ll go treasure hunting later” the treasure chest right next to Algea:

CATCH FUCKING BUTTERFLIES????? I THINK THIS IS WORSE THAN THE FUCKING ORIGAMI BIRDS THEY DONT MAKE SOUND AND ONLY HAVE DIALOGUE BUBBLES OF WHICH IVE ALREADY MISSED BEFORE WHEN ATTAHED TO AN NPC

Note taking on the lore butterfly: 3 6 7 Kephale is a theyfather there are not seven. Don’t say there’s seven. Kephale, Cerces, Mnestia made humans apparently. So that’s another important three. Trickery, Strife, and Drath… just “fell upon the world” with?? No other explanation?? Ambrosia inebriation mention! Wrath of the gods! What gods. This is important which ones HALFWAY THROUGH THE STORY????? HOW FUCKING OLD IS THIS

They are literally calling out players and themselves. “Purple prose” just say you’re tired of writing for your game and want more money damn. “Please narrate in a style our guest prefers” BECOMES A HIGHER PITCHED VOICE FOR NO REASON I HATE THIS OH MY GOD I HATE THIS NARRATION PUT IT BACK GIVE ME THE PURPLE PROSE

Oh so it is all separate threes. So we’re up to 12 now, with three “evil” ones. Listen. Listen I like the number three as much as the next person but good fucking lord. Also three heroes. Tripartite prophecy. Tribbie times three. Ughhhhhhh

“Looks like you’re a bit hard to please” no the writing is bad

Also we 100% walked in that bath with our shoes on and we have so many outerworld germs

“You have a very considerate partner” I think Dan Heng is done socializing actually and that’s okay I’ll take it in the elevator has bubbles!

“You can move a little to your left. The water is warmer there.” It’s also closer to her >:(

Did she just. “The golden threads of Mnestia (Romance Titan) entwine us, capable of sensing even the slightest quiver. We are bound to speak the truth to each other this way.”

I’m sick and tired of forced relationships with the characters 🤪🤪🤪🤪

“I apologize if this ritual upset you” 🤪🤪🤪🫠

Never mind “Mr. Dan Heng’s worrying has created ripples in the water.” Dan Heng!! Dan Heng always got me!!!

Dan Heng you offer so much better information than March thank you

I’m getting too many damn achievements good Christ

Ah so we are special for chanting. Dan Heng you don’t need time magic you have cloud hymn magic it’s fine

Oronyx!!! Oronyx’s prayer! Or whatever

Damionis… dudebro…

Well I guess we’re Dan Heng-mandated from Thalassopolis…. Now I only know English but I have a feeling this isn’t as creative as it seems

ALSO THE SECOND FUCKING PERSON WE TALK TO IS LIKE “I thought you were from beyond the sky :(” THIS IS CLEARLY NOT THE SECRET THEY WANT US TO THINK IT IS AND I AM ALREADY SURE THEYRE GOING TO DRAG IT OUT WAY TOO LONG FOR THE OBVIOUS CONCLUSION!!!!!!

… Assassin’s Creed reference, I see you

Oh that’s a Spirithief I see I see the design is nice the mini game is fine but y’know. I’ll save it for later.

I spent WAYYYY too long staring at the market. There are WAYYYY too many sparkling things!!!!!!

Dan Heng now has spear back!

“Why don’t you two look around some more?” I am afraid I have looked at too much

Side quests……………..

Side quests……

I think I’m bored now! I’m done!

Closing remarks!

Wow, that was a lot of people and information to introduce in one go! Could’ve been better but at least we know enough stuff to jump off from. And then a load of nothing. It’s been like three hours I’m so BORED

They went from HIGH OCTANE ACTION to “sit in a bath and also look around the city” that’s like slamming on the breaks way too hard in a single story update IMO!!! Also I do have ADHD.

Anyway a selection of screenies:

[bluebirdlester]

some of the potential in this

its like the phan twt videos. we can (in a filtered nonthreatening way) let them in on our goofs and japes that extend beyond a single post easy to show in a video. i wish this post was real rn so we could broadcast WT MD IF to all of phanniedom and find who did this

you know how we love their react videos cause its such a wonderful parasocial watching videos with my besties feel. dnp react to phannies react. we can do more layers

segment called "what is the weirdest place you have watched a dan and phil video"

all the little indirect ways they have impacted us that we wouldnt necessarily comment. both heartwarming and cringe. my first ever boy haircut where i brought in a pinof screenshot and got a Karen. the specific mutual follows ive carried across MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS AND PLATFORMS from when i was first in the phandom TEN YEARS AGO. the domino chain that led to me getting an award in high school for the best student from all the teachers in the english department based, humiliatingly, on the phanfic i didnt even bother to change names before submitting for assignments and at least one passionate essay defense of rpf.

get specific! about the themes and concepts of this current era!

i do think it would be kinda funny to watch someone squirm as dnp grill them like "how many words of phanfic DID you write". questions like that: not specific enough to be weird but pointed enough to tell them exactly what kind of parasocial demon theyre speaking to today

i'm generally fascinated by how attention online can feel like a single sentient creature. anyone who's ever been dogpiled knows this, for one example. when you're facing a wall of Commentary on something you've done, it's impossible to pull out just one person without really making a specific effort to do that. it's just the wall of opinions, and the Vibe of that wall. maybe it could be interesting to pull individual voices out of a crowd, this monolith that is "phannies" and the stereotypes that have grown up around us and examine them closer.

something about now that we're old, we understand them better. it's something, to be 24 and look at 2012 dan and be like oh. you're 21. that explains literally everything. when i was 12 back then, i could not have possibly gotten it but think i get it better now.

the playing field is more equal than its ever been, possibly? not fully equal & never will be obv but one would hope all of the following: we are more grown up/emotionally mature/willing to listen when they express boundaries, they are more stable careerwise and less scared of us leaving or turning on them or w/e (based on some comments in the suit podcast) and also they are no longer closeted

this is a persistent theme/unresolved trauma for me personally but i would wanna talk to them about what it was like to be the point of obsession for specifically an audience of overwhelmingly teen girls (at their peak. many of us are no longer girls etc), when "anything that teen girls like" is such a societally derided category. i got a lot of weird misogyny directed at me for talking about how much i loved watching dan and phil. how did they experience that? i think they must have in some ways, because misogyny and homophobia are so deeply entwined.

oogh this turned into projection city fast but feel free to add your own. what would you do if you were interviewed by dnp

i think the next step in the dnp mutual parasocial relationship journey should be them interviewing US

[finalfantasyix]

Meet The Team Working On A Final Fantasy 9 Remake You’ll Never Get To Play

Final Fantasy 9: Memoria Project is a fan homage like nothing we've ever seen before. “It is no secret that fan projects get shut down all the time,” Dan Eder tells us about Final Fantasy 9: Memoria Project, a fan-driven love letter to the classic JRPG. It isn’t aiming to be a playable remake of the epic adventure though - instead, it’s an aesthetic homage to its timeless world and characters.

It’s somewhat anomalous in the world of community creations, but Eder wants to use this distinct identity to craft something truly special, even if many obstacles stand in the way of making it a reality. But the team keeps moving forward: “Without a doubt, some of the most frequent comments we get from naysayers is ‘have fun with it while it lasts’ or ‘cease and desist incoming’”, Eder explains. “People are understandably skeptical of the longevity potential of yet another passion project. The key difference is that, unlike those projects, Memoria is essentially an elaborate piece of fan art, nothing more - it will have no actual gameplay, will never be released to the public, and is nothing more than a ‘what-if’ scenario. [It’s] no different from any other fan-made piece of artwork. We have never, and will never, make a single dollar out of this project, and are basically doing this for the personal gratification of the fans.”

The genesis of Memoria Project dates all the way back to Eder’s younger years, with dreams of a potential FF9 remake entering his imagination soon after the original game’s launch. That’s no great surprise - millions still regard Final Fantasy 9 as the series’ finest hour. “While it's true that the project really started to pick up steam a few months ago, it wouldn't be a stretch to say I've been planning it since high school,” Eder explains. “I remember scribbling ‘FF9 remake’ on my notepad during classes and writing imaginary new features and battle system mechanics, starting online petitions to remake FF9 for the PS2, sketching drawings depicting scenes from the ‘FF9 sequel’ and whatnot. I could confidently say that my life would probably have been completely different had my older brother not borrowed this game from his friend in the summer of 2000.

“As a non-native English speaker who had never played an RPG up until that point, my first playthrough was a challenging experience to say the least, and I can honestly say that I understood literally nothing of what was going on the first time I finished the game (how I even managed to beat it is a mystery in and of itself). It didn't really matter to me though, since I was absolutely enamored with the incredible cast of characters, jaw-dropping FMV sequences, mesmerizing music, thrilling gameplay, and just the overall atmosphere and charm it exuded at every step. My unconditional love for this game persisted throughout my entire childhood and adult life, and it is one of the central reasons why I chose to become a 3D character artist in the video game industry. In short, this project is my way of thanking this game for everything it has done for me over the past 21 years.”

Eder’s passion for this game can be found across several industry professionals who grew up with games like this and wanted to replicate them, or create something entirely unique to live up to their brilliance. This is very much how Memoria Project found its feet, beginning life as a trivial side activity before blossoming into something infinitely more ambitious. It still has a long way to go, but there’s little urgency to reach the finish line, so the team can take their time and just enjoy the nostalgic indulgence of it all.

“Memoria actually started unofficially as a side project when I reached out to Colin Valek [of] Sucker Punch Studios in early 2020 after I came across his fanart of an environment from FF7,” Eder says. “I had already modeled Princess Garnet, and thought it could be a fun idea to combine our talents to reimagine the opening area of Alexandria. Initially, it was progressing at a snail's pace - we were slowly chipping away at it for over a year without making a lot of progress. While Colin continued modeling the buildings, I created another character - Vivi.”

This glacial pace received a resurgence of sorts in January when the Alexandria scene was finally complete, with Eder and company finally being able to see how much potential the project had if it was opened up to a larger range of creators. “When I posted that WIP screenshot, the response from fellow FF fans was overwhelmingly positive, more than we could have imagined,” Eder remembers. “Very quickly, other people from the gaming industry started reaching out - environment artists, animators, riggers, concept artists. That's when I decided to turn this side project into a full-fledged modern reimagining of the original game, while always making sure to emphasize the fact that this is a non-playable proof-of-concept, since we never have any intention of doing anything to violate Square Enix's copyright. Four months after officially announcing the project, we've grown from a couple of FF fanboys to a huge team of over 20 industry veterans working collaboratively to honor this masterpiece, fueled by our love and adoration for the source material.”

Now, the project has over 20 developers from Sucker Punch, Ubisoft, Rare, Unbroken Studios, and more all diving into this labour of love in their spare time, with composers and voice actors also contributing their talents to help make this glimpse into the world of Final Fantasy 9 worth celebrating. But Eder is aware of being overly enthusiastic, knowing that fan projects like this often doom themselves by undertaking something that isn’t feasible with so few resources.

“One of the most common traps for these kinds of fan projects is being overly ambitious,” Eder says. “Since all of us are actively working in the video game industry, we understand the importance of milestones, short term goals, and taking things one step at a time. For now, we are focusing our efforts on the opening sequence of the game, which mainly revolves around Vivi and his exploration of Alexandria. Where we go from here is still being discussed, but one thing I can say for sure is that Vivi will not be the only main character we're planning to include.” I’m told that Memoria is aiming to look indistinguishable - at least from a graphics perspective - from something you’d see in a triple-A blockbuster, and it seems the team has the pedigree to back that claim up.

Visuals are the entire point after all, since turning this project into a playable piece of media would require far more resources to create. By narrowing its focus, Memoria is able to deliver something special while also hopefully avoiding the ire of Square Enix. “The fact that this is a non-playable project definitely makes it easier for us to tailor the experience in a way that would truly allow the audience to be fully immersed in the world without having to worry about technical limitations,” Eder tells me. “Creating actual functional gameplay is a completely different ball game, one that we never had any intention of even discussing given the copyright limitations. This gives us a lot of leeway with how we are going to portray the world of Gaia in terms of character interaction, camera movement, [and] scene transitions. We have a lot of cool plans for the near future - please look forward to it!”

As for the sad truth of fan projects like this often being wiped from existence by publishers throwing out cease and desist letters, Eder is confident that Memoria occupies a niche where this won’t happen. It’s not a commercial or even playable product - it’s a piece of fan art, albeit an endlessly elaborate one. If the tides were to change, Eder believes companies should welcome the enthusiasm for experiences like this.

“If I were to be completely honest, I think it could be a potentially brilliant decision by Square Enix to do something wildly unexpected and invest in a project like this,” Eder states. “There's a considerable amount of hype, talent, motivation, and pure, unadulterated passion behind it. It's not something I would expect, but I think it could be incredibly helpful in regaining some of the trust and reverence that this legendary company was known for during its golden years.”

(source)

[feelingofcontent]

DNP Rewatch: Phil Reacts to His Old Videos

Date video was published: 06/22/2015 (X)

DNP Main Channel Rewatch: 273

It had been a while since either DNP had posted a video. In mid-June they celebrated Dan’s birthday, of course (1, 2, 3). They went to see Matilida the musical and did a puzzle/escape room with friends. DNP also hosted a live event with John Green for the Paper Towns movie (1, 2, 3).

So then we get to Phil watching his old videos! Dan had done his video like this back in January of 2015. (A somewhat rare instance where Dan does a video before Phil, rather than the other way around.)

0:00 - starting off with an itchy nose and dramatic music, lol. Also, he’s got way more stuff left on his bedside table than usual when he films a video

0:06 - and now it’s over 15 years old. wow.

0:18 - Phil is already cringing at himself and he hasn’t even started

0:23 - lol king of comedy Phil there including the other tweet

0:33 - Phil is constantly sidetracked 😂

0:36 - wow, really old YouTube (also, I never noticed that Phil had stars in the background of his channel, and when Dan started making videos, he also put stars in the background of his channel. Hmmm...)

0:37 - Phil has watched over 15,000 videos at this point! And he has 5,649 subscribers. This was his channel sometime in 2008, as he says Faintheart is upcoming, and that was released in January 2009.

0:38 - none of the videos in the screenshot are still public. (Although he does show clips of the “extreme weather” one in Reacting to my DELETED VIDEOS! in 2018.)

0:44 - awww, PJ mention! And aww at Phil being jealous of their hair.

0:49 - yikes old YouTube comments

0:56 - “not the literal birth” ...thanks for clarifying there

1:00 - have to start with his first vlog of course: Phil’s Video Blog - 27th March 2006 

1:05 - awww, he’s already got a cringe-face

1:09 - he does sound pretty different! I don’t think his face looks that much different.

1:22 - Phil, I’m not sure you can talk about bad gifts for Kath still...

1:35 - lol, Phil is bored of himself

1:41 - Phil remembering his nervousness is cute. But by the next video he talks about here (from 3 years later), his editing skills are SO GOOD.

1:50 - good advice there.

1:58 - of course Phil thinks “ghost.” Definitely couldn’t be air from the radiator that’s right there...

2:00 - yeah, Lion didn’t appear until later. Awww at Phil liking the animal noises part 🥺

2:08 - ahahaha, Phil laughing at past-him for thinking that’s long

2:24 - Phil immediately smiling when he sees Dan’s video playing next

2:27 - I will never be over him letting this play and then leaving it in the video. And the fond little smile his face as he watches. 😭

2:33 - too much 😭😭😭

2:37 - “I just wanted to see that bit” christ.

2:41 - Phil doesn’t know what to say here at the start of A Static Lullaby - Toxic

2:44 - hilarious, considering he almost forgot to make his bed a couple videos ago. His background/room was often very messy in his old videos

2:56 - he’s so embarrassed at himself but I’m sure that video was very popular for...reasons. 👀

3:06 - “I saw a bit of chest hair then.” ...reasons 

3:13 - he really is flirting with the camera in that video

3:20 - “I could be in a screamo band” help 😂😂😂

3:22 - even Phil doesn’t know why

3:44 - I would have loved an explanation for the idea for this Phillippa video. Such an embarrassed smile before it even starts

3:49 - he’s already slightly horrified

3:59 - why DID you make this video, Phil?

4:02 - “I look quite good as a girl” ...he’s not wrong. Although the makeup is something

4:06 - I love that he didn’t ask Kath to borrow stuff 😂

4:20 - jump-scared by his own editing

4:32 - love his ownership over the cat whiskers. Love that he likes the eyeliner!

4:46 - he’s so disturbed at himself

5:01 - “the weirdest video I’ve ever made” ...that is a bold claim when thinking about some of his old “experimental” videos

5:05 - that one is a choice to leave public

5:26 - PHIL what.

5:46 - he loves toast so much

5:55 - love the random creepy ending

I really love this video. Phil had way more old videos than Dan to choose from for this, but I wish he would have done Snokoplasm. I would love to see a post-coming-out version of Phil reacting to old videos!

When Phil posted this, DNP were both visiting Phil’s family for a few days (probably for Father’s Day). Dan posted a photo and commented on a slightly horrifying childhood photo of Phil they must have found. This was also the trip when they fed horses and Dan’s eyebrow was missing, lol. Also the first time in a while where they publicly acknowledged Dan going with Phil to visit his family.