Phan (pairing)

For other definitions, see Phan (disambiguation). You may be looking for Phandom (disambiguation).
Phan is the portmanteau ship name for the Dan Howell/Phil Lester (or Danisnotonfire/Amazingphil) RPF pairing in YouTube RPF fandom. 
While the ship was long considered a tinhat conspiracy much like the contemporaneous One Direction Larry ship, the two were confirmed to at least have had a prior romantic history in June of 2019, though it is unclear what their current relationship status is.
== Gen Use == 
'Phan' is sometimes used in fandom as a general term for Dan & Phil's platonic friendship pairing as well as the romantic ship. It has been used outside of fandom to name things related to Dan & Phil in general, for example in the BBC Radio 1 page announcing the return of their radio show, titled "The Phan boys are back!"bbc.co.uk, The Phan boys are back!, posted Oct 2, 2014. However, fans' reactions suggest this is an incongruous use.namrachel, Tumblr post: the Phan Boys…… Now who is the biggest phan shipper. posted Oct 2nd, 2014.btwhowell, Tweet: ive finally stopped crying but im laughing at 'the phan boys are back' bbc pls, posted Oct 2, 2014.
== Canon History ==
Moved to Phandom's Canon History.
== Canon Resources == 
Considering how intertwined Dan and Phil's lives are, the amount of canon is immense. They make frequent appearances in each other's videos, tweets, liveshows etc. 
Their official joint projects include:
* Phil is not on fire playlist (starts 2009)
* AmazingDan and AmazingDan 2 (2010)
* The Super Amazing Project (starts 2011)
* Dan and Phil BBC Radio 1 episodes (starts 2011)
* Dan and Phil vs. Tumblr and My Tumblr Tag (2013), My Tumblr Tag 2! (with Dan) (2014), TUMBLR TAG 3! (With Dan) (2015)
* DanAndPhilGAMES (starts 2014)
== Ship History ==
Pin-pointing the exact moment the ship took off is tricky due to fans being spread out over various sites, some of which are now defunct. According to the Wayback Machine, speculation about their relationship is documented as early as mid-2010 on their Youtube Channels. pinof 1 june 2010 The (friendslocked) youtube-slash community featured Dan/Phil stories as early as Sept 15, 2010. The term "Phan" appears soon after, and as early as Oct 29, 2010, seems to have become the accepted smushname.LJ user in locked 29-10-2010 youtube-slash post: Previously, I had severe annoyance of the brain when I realis'd that we know DanIsNotOnFire's surname... but not AmazingPhil. Now, thanks to KickthePJ I now know that it is Lester. So, when typing out Dan/Phil in full, just in case there are any other Dans or Phils that pop up, and to save us having to type out Danisnotonfire and Amazingphil, we can now write Dan Howell/Phil Lester. Thank you, KickthePJ!! <3 (Of course we could just type Phan, which is what the pairing is called... but where's the fun in that? :D) (retrieved Oct 2, 2014). The oldest fic still extant from the comm is Dan is On Fire by lucy_and_ramona, which was posted in November of 2010, but as the term was in use before that date it's likely that there were earlier fics that did not survive the deletion of the comm. Tweets from prominent members of the community also go back to November of 2010, with most implying that the term had been in use for some time, as there is no extant discussion on Twitter of what to call the ship.Tweet from @CarlyCantSTFU: "@glitter_hippie Awh, thank you! :D And hm, that's a nice idea... I havent written any real phan in a while... hm..." Posted Nov 14 2010, accessed March 09 2019.Tweet from @spibsy: "@glitter_hippie WE SHOULD /ALWAYS/ POST PHAN." Posted November 7 2010, accessed March 09 2019.Tweet from tylersneeze: "Just wrote a Phan based off of an inside joke." Posted Nov 06 2010, accessed March 09 2019. Other anecdotal use on twitter appears as early as 2010, but the ship really seems to take off in the Spring of 2012.dan + phil + phan since 2010-01-01 Twitter search, retrieved Oct 2, 2014.
The first Dan/Phil posted to AO3 is dated March 26, 2011,namelikefairytale, you could go swimming in those eyes, posted 2011-03-26 (retrieved Oct 1, 2014). but the fandom remained quite small on the site until somewhere in 2015. That year, the Phandom made the list of most active fandoms on AO3: in their yearly statistical round-up of works posted to the archive, destinationtoast identified it as having posted 3693 works on the archive that year, which represents 82% of the total works on the site for the pairing.Toasty Stats Year in Fandom:2015 Gdocs spreadsheet, accessed Jan 12, 2016. Similarly, the most popular Phan story extant on Wattpad was posted in July of 2015Sinking by lattelester. Posted July 20 2015, accessed March 09 2019. and most activity on that site seems to trace back to around that time. The first Dan/Phil story on FF.net was published on Jan 2, 2012, which seems to indicate that prior to Dan and Phil the majority of the fannish activity was on sites such as Livejournal and FF.net rather than the now popular AO3 and Wattpad.phantales, Would You Rather?, published Jan 2, 2012 (retrieved Oct 1, 2014).
On Tumblr, the 'Phan' tag was used as early as Jan 2011, before Dan and Phil moved in together.phanblog, Bridge!, posted Jan 21, 2011, retrieved Oct 2, 2014. The tag was sparsely populated at first (mostly occupied by posts about YouTube makeup guru Michelle Phan) before becoming a major fandom tag in later years. The Phandom is now particularly active on Tumblr and in 2015, Dan & Phil made the "most reblogged ships" on Tumblr list[ and ranked number 2 in 2016. The pairing was still extremely popular two years later in 2018, although they lost their place at #2 to Reylo and came in at #3.
A 2015 auto-generated fan-organized survey that recieved over 30,000 responses estimated that 84% of the Phandom ships Dan and Phil. The numbers had dropped by the 2017 survey, however, to just over 50% of the fandom. This drop in shippers between 2015 and 2017 could be attributed to the release of The Amazing Book Is Not on Fire in October of 2015, which left many people feeling that Dan and Phil had queerbaited the Phandom in order to keep interest in their content.
Around 2016, fans of Dan and Phil (and particularly their shippers) started to become known as Phannies. According to the recollections of one Reddit user, this term was originally derived from Larries.https://www.reddit.com/r/danandphil/comments/hqoayu/how_did_we_become_phannies_i_dont_remember/ https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=phannie The related term Demon Phannie (based off the counterpart of a Demon Larrie) also emerged to describe members of the community who engaged in conspiratorial thinking, violated the privacies of Dan and Phil and their families, and generally participated in toxic behavior. https://www.reddit.com/r/danandphil/comments/hqoayu/how_did_we_become_phannies_i_dont_remember/https://www.urbandictionary.com/author.php?author=amazinghoe
== Confirmation == 
June 13th 2019, Dan uploaded a video to his main channel after a year long hiatus titled "Basically I'm Gay" : "Basically I'm Gay" where he comes out as Queer and discusses his personal relationship with Phil saying "Obviously we were more than friends." He discusses how shipping culture affected him, and does not give details as to what their relationship is like now to maintain privacy. 
Phil later retweeted the video, adding "Me: When I make a video about my sexuality at some point it’ll be pretty low-key y’know. Dan: Hold my pride flag- *45 minute masterpiece later*." : "Phil's June 13th Tweet" Two weeks later, he uploaded a video titled Coming Out To You : "Coming Out To You" where he talks about his experiences growing up Gay and the need to keep coming out throughout your life.
== Controversies ==
The pairing taking off went hand-in-hand with fandom in-fighting and wank. As a general rule Dan and Phil go to a lot of effort not to address or feed the wank, and take care to acknowledge their fans and fandom in a respectful way. Some examples of controversies in Dan/Phil fandom are:
=== 'Dangirls' vs 'Philgirls' ===
See Phandom for more information.
=== Pre-2019 Tinhatting ===
Just like in many other RPF fandoms, there was a contingent of Dan/Phil tinhats who maintained the belief that "Phan is real" while they were closeted and their relationship history had been a source of speculation."Phan is Real" since 2009-08-01 Twitter search, first use: Feb 6, 2012. (Retrieved Oct 2, 2014.)elligalaxies, Tweet: Does it actually matter if Phan is real or not? Stop causing fandom wars over it omfg. Dan and Phil would be ashamed of you lot., posted June 22, 2012 (retrieved Oct 2, 2014.) Speculation began with the reconstruction The Phan Timeline made by The Phan Directory, which documents every interaction Dan and Phil left a trace of on the internet beginning the moment they met. As they met over the internet, lots of people within the Phandom can see themselves in the image of Dan as the youtube fanboy who managed to become friends (or more) with his favourite Youtuber, AmazingPhil, who he then began a romantic relationship with before moving in with him permanently. Documentation is incredibly important in the Phandom, due to the fact Dan and Phil have been known to erase and remove videos, tweets, and anything to do with their history before they were an on track brand. This lead to the cataloguing of every video on a Phandom circulated Google Doc in addition to the 2009 Timeline, etc, as well as a fan-run forum with an immersive FAQ section documenting every discourse and history new fans may inquire about. IDB 
 They will also save and archive anything posted to an ephemeral social media such as Snapchat or Instagram Stories that they think supports the theory that Phan is real.
While the opposite sides of the fanbase have clashed on many topics, a hot button item has been since it's leak in 2011, the Valentines Day Video. about the supposed relationship between Dan and Phil, although none of them have ever confirmed this relationship to be real or not. YouTuber Evan Edinger once tweeted that many YouTubers have seen the Valentine's Day video and "talk more than yall [sic] behind closed doors" in response to someone asking if he's seen the videoImage of a now deleted tweet from Evan Edinger. Accessed May 09, 2019. and Dan's younger brother, Adrian, was also harassed off of tumblr by Dan and Phil fans in 2013, with many of the question being about the relationship between the two.Daniel Howell's Brother Adrian Now Has A YouTube Channel by Mia Collins. Accessed March 09, 2019. 
Phan has historically also had an anti-tinhat segment of Phandom who go to similar lengths as the shippers to prove that Dan and Phil are not dating through lengthy video analysis and collection of evidence they believe proves their point.Dan's younow moments (are you gay?) by phantiblog. Posted Jun 1, 2014 and accessed March 09, 2019. Much like the people who believed Phan is real heavily relied on the Valentine's Day video as their proof, Phantis rely on Dan's now deleted "Customer Service Department" blog where he went on several lengthy rants reflecting his frustrations with invasions into his and Phil's privacy. He later touches on this in his 2019 video, Basically I'm Gay, saying his intention was to tell people to back off, rather than that he was totally straight. 
== Genres and Tropes ==
* Hurt/Comfort, often with Dan as the woobie,
*Fluff, specifically fluff resembling fanon or near canon is very popular.
*Alternate Universe fic is diverse, the most popular Phanfiction on Ao3 being a royalty au featuring Phil as a prince who meets Dan at an anti-bullying campaign. Six Ravens on Ao3 
* Deathfic, as bemoaned by Phil himself,See My Tumblr Tag 2! (with Dan): "Why am I always dead? I swear whenever I read fanfiction I'm dead!"
* Shockfic, while not a popular read within the Phandom, is referenced often as in-jokes both by the fans and by Dan and Phil. The infamous Skin Fic, a ficlet in which Dan peels off Phil's sunburnt skin and eats it, Dan and Phil discussed the Skin Fic on several occasions, such as Dan & Phil vs. Tumblr dramatic reading of "The Skin Fic", posted July 11, 2013 and follow-up Dan & Phil discuss the "Skin Fic", YouNow livestream extract posted by omgitsphan on July 11, 2013 (retrieved Oct 1, 2014), and other Darkfic like the Chair Fic, in which Phil tortures and abuses Dan in horrific ways.See phanfic's infamous fics list, with the Skin Fic, Chair Fic & others.
*Punk AU historically was fairly common, often with Phil as a punk and Dan as a pastel, though mostly phased out by 2016.
* Like most fandoms, High School AU is abundant.
== Example Fanworks == 
=== Phanfic === 
===Shockfic===
Infamous Phan shockfics that are still often talked about, read and shared today. These fics are described as disturbing and are often followed with a "do not read it!" and other warnings (do heed the warnings), which of course just encourages this phenomenon further. Although most have now been taken down by the original authors, they are often reposted by phans. Dan (mostly) and Phil have read and/or are aware of their existence, sometimes referencing or mentioning them in their vids., Dan and Phil Present : A Dramatic Reading of 'The Skin Fic'.
===Art===
===Vids=== 
=== Fan Songs ===
A number of songs about the ship have been written. In the 2010s, YouTube user LikeTotallyEden and her friend Katherine created a number of these songs such as "2009"; "2012"; "2022"; "Long Distance Love"; and "The Balcony" (which is said to have been based off a fanfiction). The Like Totally Eden YouTube account has been deactivated as of 2025 but archived versions along with other videos using the songs remain.
==Fandom Resources==
*Dan and Phil HQ: Archive of Dan and Phil Pictures
*UpdatedPhan: Dan and Phil live updates
*danisnotonfirevyou1 Liveshows summaries and general clips.
*Phanshows Liveshows and Radioshows.
*Felucca Playlist of vlogs they appear in, liveshows, vyous, all their videos, etc.
*AmazingFire Project: The masterpost to all of AmazingPhil and Danisnotonfire audio/videos
*Dan/Phil AO3 tag
*phanfic.tumblr.com
*danandphilproject.tumblr.com
==References==
Category:Slash Pairings
Category:RPF Relationships
Category:YouTube RPF
Category:Dan and Phil
Category:Social Media Feature-Ship Sunday