It’s been an exciting time to be a fan (or should I say phan?) of Dan and Phil lately. They recently released a video confirming their 16-year relationship, a source of speculation for the entire Internet at one point or another, and with it have started the Hard Launch podcast. This is the end stage of a thoughtful, gradual rebrand that has marked a shift in how they interact with their fanbase. After suffering the consequences of parasocial online relationships for many years, Dan and Phil have been able to address their now-older fans and be candid about how past events have affected them. They have taken back the power and let people in, on their terms this time, and we’re already seeing more comfortable content from them as a result. But it’s taken a while to get to this point.
For pretty much as long as the joint ‘Dan and Phil brand’ has existed, there has been intense fascination around the nature of their relationship. Fans would eagerly analyse every moment of their joint content, create compilation videos, and write endless fanfiction – a dynamic not previously seen in Youtubers, especially as the platform was in its infancy. And Dan and Phil were at a loss on how to handle this. Ignoring it didn’t work. Neither did complete denial. It was inescapable, and for two real human beings who had only wanted to make comedy videos, this was entirely unwelcome. The 2000s were a very different landscape for two gay men. Homophobic bullying was rife, particularly in schools, and edgy humour was standard fare for the Internet. Their sexuality was not an area of their lives that they were willing to share, and their attempts to assert their entitlement to privacy went unheard as many of their early viewers saw the mystery as part of the ‘phan’ intrigue. The widespread attempts to unearth ‘the truth’ took a toll on their mental health, leading to their joint channel going on a 5-year hiatus in 2018. Both individually came out as gay a year later, but content was limited to Phil’s individual channel for the most part.
Which is why their return announcement took everyone by surprise, back in 2023. They went all out, filming a trailer in a real church and featuring their old Sim as a symbol of their return – new and improved, but still with the same personality. Since then, their videos have reflected on their old content, offering insight into their thought process as creatives and showing how they have evolved, alongside the more casual relationship with their fanbase. They make jokes about things we never thought they’d mention again, and now that they’ve retired their bubbly entertainment personae the content feels much more chill and comfortable for them. It’s no surprise that this shift has revitalised their dedicated fans, and the demand for content has only increased.
And with the success of their new era, Dan and Phil have only gotten more meta. Ventures such as the Terrible Influence Tour have allowed them to let people in more and reveal some of the topics of speculation, while also giving them space to get candid about the impact that the fan surveillance had on them as they grew up on camera. Once they had created a safe environment to talk openly about their relationship and set the necessary boundaries, we were finally given what people have been begging for – the Hard Launch podcast. It features stories from their past, fan-submitted confessions, and a topic generator to keep the conversation flowing. This new era is proving to be an enjoyable one, and I’m looking forward to wherever it takes us next
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