#philslion

[dnpbeats]

(Almost Solid) Proof That Dan Ran PhilsLion

I'm convinced that Dan was the person who ran the PhilsLion twit and I have receipts.  For anyone who doesn't know, PhilsLion is a twitter account that tweeted from the POV of Lion. It's commonly thought that this account was run by Phil. Besides the fact that he would interact with the account, there are multiple tweets that seem to be about him and dan. Unfortunately there's good reason to believe it wasn't Phil running it. HOWEVER there are many reasons that lead me to believe it was Dan who was tweeting from it, some of which is evidence based and some of which makes logical sense.

DISCLAIMER: All tweets I've included that are ostensibly about dan and phil's relationship are in reference to things that are confirmed by d&p themselves (e.g. the fact that d&p were romantically involved when they first met). I will not discuss anything that is not supposed to be public knowledge.

First let's look at when the Twitter was created. (Note: I am in UTC-8 so all screenshots will be in that time zone. I will say what time it would've been in UTC+0 (d&p's time zone) for clarity.)

Dan’s twitter account was created in May 2009. The first tweet from him (assuming he did not delete any older ones) was May 15 at 1:18pm. Presumably this is the day he got twitter.

On May 16 2009 at 3:19am Phil tweeted that he uploaded “I was kidnapped.” 

In this video he mentions his own personal twitter account, and there is an annotation of Lion saying “i want a twitter” (20sec into the video)

About 3 hours after the video was posted (6:26am UTC+0), we get the first tweet from PhilsLion (presumably this was right after the account was created)

May 16th 2009 was a Saturday. We know from Dan’s video “THE POWER NAP” that he worked at ASDA on Saturdays and Sundays from 5am-10am. So he would’ve been awake shortly after Phil posted the video. Also note that Dan presumably had an iPhone at the time (he tweeted something about iPhones in June 2009 and had no previous tweets before that about getting a new phone). He specifically tweeted in Sep 2009 about tweeting from his iPhone. Based on the fact that Dan literally showed up to work drunk and took a nap, I don’t think he is above going on twitter at work.

While this is not proof that Dan created the account, we can see that it’s definitely possible for him to have created the account. We know he would’ve been awake at the time the account was created, and it was approx. a day after he created his own twitter account, so making a twitter account would've been fresh in his mind.

We do have proof that Phil did not create the account. First, he edited the description of “I was kidnapped.” to say that someone [else] created PhilsLion:

He also tweeted May 16th (10:35am UTC+0 if that matters to anyone) basically saying the same thing as the video desc, implying that someone else made the account:

Finally in “AmazingJason” (posted May 26th) he mentions, again, “someone [else]” creating the Twitter account (about 20seconds in, the timestamp is linked). He encourages everyone to follow it and links it in the description of the video:

So unless Phil was really pushing that someone else created it even though he himself made it, it wasn’t him.

If you want to skip to Proof™ scroll down to the next photo of Phil. Before that, I’d like to debunk the 11:11/different time zone thing–I think this is the biggest reason people have claimed that the account was not run by Phil or Dan but rather some other random fan. On May 30th at 4:12pm UTC+0 and June 3rd at 4:19am UTC+0, PhilsLion tweeted about making wishes at 11:11. In order for these tweets to be made at ~11:11 local time, they would need to have been made in either UTC-5 or UTC+7. UTC-5 is US Eastern Time. UTC+7 is a time zone mainly consisting of Southeast Asia. This includes parts of Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. I have an explanation for this, which is certainly the biggest reach of this whole thing, but it is a plausible explanation :p

It’s very possible that it was Dan who tweeted this if he was on vacation with his family at the time. We know Dan and his family have vacationed in Asia many times (at the very least they went to Thailand in 2006, India in 2010 and 2013, and Sri Lanka in 2016). So while there’s no proof (that I know of) that Dan was on vacation at this time, it’s certainly possible that he was. The location of the tweets would fit with where we know his family likes to go on holiday. Additionally, the second tweet talks about water skiing, which tends to be a fun vacation thing rather than something people do regularly (note this tweet would be at 11:19am in UTC+7)

There’s further proof that PhilsLion was not always in UTC+7. On Christmas 2009, PhilsLion tweeted “goodmorning” at 6:21am UTC+0. This would be 1:21pm in UTC+7. It makes a lot more sense for this to have been tweeted in England.

Then fast forward to January 8th 2011. PhilsLion tweets “I was up all night” at 8:05am UTC+0. This would be 3pm in UTC+7. So again, it seems that PhilsLion was not in UTC+7 at this time.

Okay, now onto much more solid evidence. First, the handwriting of PhilsLion. This is the most tangible piece of proof. On June 25th 2009 Phil posted “AmazingAlex,” where Lion can be seen behind him in one of Phil’s shoes:

Lion tweeted a photo the next day, saying “I’m on a boat :)” in reference to being in Phil’s shoe

Note that the drawing/writing does not appear in the video and therefore was done by whoever runs PhilsLion. Here is some of Dan’s writing (found in TABINOF) for comparison:

This is from the “how to draw cat whiskers” page. Notice how the As all have the crossbar quite high up, just like in the twitter picture. Additionally, the top loops in the Bs are all very skinny compared to the bottom loop. Here’s another one of Dan’s capital Bs from the blindfolded portrait page, which is similar to Lion's writing:

I’m not a handwriting analysis expert, and yes it’s different drawing on MSPaint vs. a piece of paper, but the handwriting certainly has similarities.

And now, the more circumstantial evidence, but things that seem (imo) to be too big of a coincidence to not have been written by Dan (FYI these are going to be added in order of how much of a reach they are, not chronological order, lol). First we have “I month you”:

This tweet is proposing an alternate word for “love” and ends with “I month you” (i.e. is replacing the word love with month), and was tweeted on November 19th 2009. AKA exactly a month after dan and phil met IRL for the first time.

Another one that seems very related to Dan and what we know of his situation is this tweet about “Lion’s” dad:

In Dan’s own words in BIG: “I didn’t think I could ask my family for help or share my feelings about this, mainly due to my dad. Funny guy, kind of a woke hippie who did and said a lot of things I did respect but at the same time used to walk around the house saying how he hoped someone he had a problem with at work would 'die of bum cancer.' Yep, so picked the one area to be a bigot that would further traumatize your child. Nice! This experience coming from a childhood hearing the word gay meaninglessly thrown around as an insult at home[.]” 

Note that Dan was still living at home at the time, so if this tweet was made by him, it wouldn't have meant literally “getting away.” Also, Dan was at home when this was tweeted but it was 3 days before he was going to see Phil.

Next there’s this tweet:

The “admirers” thing could be referring to anything really, but was tweeted during the time that Dan (and Phil) were in the Clipstar video contest. Also, Dan posted this dailybooth two days before this tweet, and most of the comments are just gassing him up, so lol (the pic doesn’t load but based on the comments I think it was a screenshot from his clipstar vid).

This tweet from Christmas Eve 2009. Dan and Phil were together and filming the interactive Christmas adventure:

Proof they were together if anyone needs it:

This tweet (tweeted November 26 5:45am UTC+0)

Many things to note here. The song linked is called “When I See You Again.” It’s by Dave Bullas (one of the founders of SiTC), whom d&p were/are friends with. (They had other friends who were friends with him as well. PJ has the top comment on the video.) The lyrics of the song are not really happy as they insinuate a breakup. But it’s interesting to think about them in the context of wanting to see someone who you are not able to. This tweet was 3/4 days after the “I wonder how biology…” tweet and 3 days before Dan went to see Phil.

Also, Dan just LOVES recommending music to people. He does it a lot.

(^ Proof Dan was seeing Phil on the 29th if anyone needs it)

Now a tweet exchange which doesn't technically prove anything, but I thought was curious. Phil tweeted December 29 2010 about getting a new camera:

Lion tweeted in reference to this 20 minutes later:

I find this interesting because Phil made no comment anywhere about manuals or ignoring them. So it could just be PhilsLion making schput, but a lot of the other Lion tweets are in direct reference to something Phil said/did. It would make sense if Dan ran the twitter acc and he was talking about something that he witnessed Phil do that we don’t know about. Also note “my new camera is here” vs. “phil picked up his new camera” (Lion giving more specific detail than Phil in terms of the manner in which he obtained the camera).

Some Tweets (1, 2, 3) which aren’t proof of anything but just sound like things Dan would say:

For context, this is about floods that happened in Queensland. Again, I have no way to prove Dan said this. But if you’ve ever read, like, anything Dan has said in a print interview ever or watched any of his liveshows, you know that he often tries to say stuff with superfluous/pretentious language and then ends up not making a whole lot of sense. Things that he’s said have been misconstrued so many times, or just outright don’t make sense to anyone but him. So this series of tweets checks out, if it is Dan who ran the account.

This Twitter exchange which doesn’t actually prove anything but is very sweet if it is dan who tweeted it:

The photo is a screenshot from “AmazingJason”:

Note that two weeks later (October 23) in “Life without the internet!?” Phil says the internet led to him “meeting the best friend of [his] life.” The comments all assume he is referencing Dan, but in the video he holds up Lion, so presumably that’s actually who he’s talking about. That is, unless Lion represents Dan :p

Lastly, this tweet which is a Fall Out Boy lyric, but again would be cute if it was Dan:

There's a few more tweets that are interesting to think about being from Dan but don't actually prove anything so I won't put them here lol.

So, at the end of the day, could it be some random fan* who made the twitter account? Yes. But in my opinion there isn’t really anything proving it’s not Dan. On top of that, there are enough things that fit with what we know factually about d&p now, but were not well known at the time, that make it seem much more likely that Dan ran this account vs. a random person.

*technically when the account was started, Dan himself was a random fan. So there’s that too ;)

P.S. best practice is to not interact with old tweets, so pls don't go on a retweet spree

#this has the exact limit of photos you can put in one post lmao #I spent way too much time on this so I hope u enjoy my investigative skills <3 #dan and phil #dan howell #phil lester #daniel howell #amazingphil #d&p #wordvom.txt #phan #<- lol #idk the last time I used that tag #philslion

[ahappydnp]

I saw u reblogged my post about dan running philslion and I just wanted to let u know it was actually your fic that sparked my whole deep dive into the account so thank you 🤟🏻🤟🏻

whaaaatttt 🥺🥺🥺 omg i’m honored wtf thank you!!!

[yonpote]

that one amazingphil roleplay livejournal account that i legit thought was phil's livejournal for a solid month at least has nothing on philslion

[toastysandhamwich]

filming flat :) -tarotphil

filming flat - what's your favorite dnp conspiracy theory?

okie I just answered this but I have another one :O philslion!! @dnpbeats made a ton of posts and has convinced me like 100% that it was run by Dan. honestly I'm so convinced, idk that it's even a conspiracy anymore, its just the truth xD

#toast talks #thank you for the ask!! #dnp

[polar-bears-making-pancakes]

🚨🚓🚨🚓hi there. There’s a community of us (<-lying. it’s just me) that have banded together to tell you, fellow tumblr user, what you can and can’t do. any meanies will be reported. Anyways, i can’t help but notice your tags on your previous post about dan (NOT phil.). I frankly don’t think you put enough tags on there. please add the following tags #amazingphil #danisnotonfire #danandphil #phan #philslion #philsquiff #danscurls. please be respectful in this time and do exactly what i tell you to 🚓🚨🚓🚨

Oh no they are here 😱 they got me ! What can I do now ! Surely start adding tags that ARE actually irrelevant and actually break tumblr guidelines like #pokemon #cute #cottagecore #boy #happy #smile ❗❗❗❗

I'm so glad we have tumblr police that takes care of that and wants to "make Tumblr better for us all"! *swoons dramatically*

#dan and phil #but seriously acab #pancakesanswers

[10yearsofdnp]

October 17, 2009: This is the cutest damn thing alright 💗💗💗

#phil #philslion #via:twitter #y:2009 #10yearsofdnp

[tarredion]

it hurts me to be near you, emotional and physically. You’re beautiful and grumpy and beautiful when you are grumpy. <3

#philslion #dnp #phandom #phil

[deadandphilgames]

do we actually know that philslion was phil? i feel like i've seen a lot of arguments and evidence that he probably wasn't

idk ive never looked into it honestly

#someone else with more dnp knowledge probably knows #I thought it was but idk #asks #anonymous

[templeofshame]

i’m still curious about the faith in philslion, like is it just more fun to believe it was him, or do people have like reasons they believe that? was the time zone thing disproven or forgotten or what? 

[euphanisms]

where are “despite everything that’s gone horribly, horribly wrong, I wouldn’t change it for the world because I’m here with you.” and “it hurts me to be near you, emotionally and physically. you are beautiful and grumpy and beautiful when you are grumpy.” from?

the first quote is from a segment in an ii show (not sure which one) & the second is a 2009 tweet from @philslion which may or may not actually be phil 🤷🏻‍♀️ regardless, all very cute & i crie

#asks

[phanfictioncatalogue]

Outside POV (4) Masterlist

Links Last Checked: September 12th, 2022

part one, part two, part three

All The Very Best Of Us (ao3) - snsk

Summary: This was what she had fallen in love with: video game acronyms she did not understand and the way he would hum a piece of music in her ear, over and over, and tell her exactly how it fit into the album as a whole, what it meant in the story they were telling.

An Act Of Infinite Optimism (ao3) - phloridas

Summary: Raising an exuberant child is easy. Raising a moody teenager who wants nothing to do with you, though, is another thing entirely. But maybe Dan's fascination with a certain 22-year-old can teach Karen a thing or two about being a mother—and herself.

Bared Borders, Bottomless (ao3) - keeplovinanyway

Summary: It's 2014. She's a therapist. Her client is Mr. Howell, who has steered relatively clear of who he shares his life with. Today, he talks about Phil (a bit).

Changes (Turn And Face The Strange) (ao3) - happy_hufflepuffle

Summary: Kath likes to think she doesn't miss things when it comes to her family. But maybe this time she did. Or, Kath watches Phil through the years.

Devil’s Backbone (ao3) - CapriciousCrab

Summary: How far will they go when someone from the past makes himself known?

In This Town Of Glass And Eyes (ao3) - fairytalelights

Summary: the one where Dan goes on a family holiday and it's not that easy.

I Think I Chose The Right Parents - anonymous

Summary: N/A

Lester Family Hospitality (ao3) - yikesola

Summary: The morning’s misty rain has turned into a genuine Manchester autumn downpour. As Kath walks past a novelty shop, she spots a young man facing the brick wall of the building. His arm is bent against the wall, and he’s leaning his forehead against his arm, and the poor thing is shaking with what Kath fears might be sobs. An au fic about hot meals and serendipity.

Maybe Next Year (ao3) - TwistedRocketPower

Summary: The honeymoon phase has to end eventually… Right?

Pride (ao3) - watergator

Summary: Phil growing up gay through the eyes of his mother.

Puppy Makes Three (ao3) - theoreoqueen

Summary: The story on how Dan and Phil get a dog, as told from the dog's point of view.

Thank You For Loving Him (ao3) - Ablissa

Summary: Her boys. They've both changed so much over the years, but some things always stay the same... like the way they look at each other.

Phil's birthday is tomorrow. Dan, Phil, Martyn and Cornelia are visiting the parents on Isle of Man. Written in Kath's point of view.

Too Spoon, Bro. Too Spoon (ao3) - stylinshaw

Summary: “Yeah, just these two guys fighting about forks.”

*

(or, PJ works at Ikea, and Dan and Phil have a domestic spat about cutlery. And they make out in a closet.)

Through The Wall (ao3) - Iittlesparkle

Summary: Frank just want to unwind after a long and boring day, but his noisy neighbours wont let him.

Unnatural (ao3) - ahappyphil

Summary: @philslion “Getting away from my father’s pride was one of the best things I’ve done. Nice to be with Lioness by ourselves no matter how unnatural.” On growth and changed perspective.

#phanfictioncatalogue #phanfiction #phanfic #phan #masterlists #outsidepov #outsidepov masterlist

[dnpbeats]

ACTUALLY VERY SOLID ADDITIONAL PROOF DAN RAN PHILSLION

I was doing a little perusal through the philslion Twitter again just because I needed something to do while procrastinating and I saw this tweet:

Now I didn't think much of this before, but upon seeing it again I was like "well what was the weather like in Wokingham that day?" just because might as well!! And I'm sure you can guess where this is going based on the title of this post!

I found this website that very helpfully has weather data for Wokingham going back for years. Here is the data for June 2009, and here's what we can see about June 15th:

A "1" means "yes" so there was thunder in Wokingham that day. On the exact day philslion tweeted about there being thunder at his location (note his next tweet asks what the weather is like where other people are, so it's only logical to assume philslion was tweeting about thunder because it was thundering where he is)

So yeah. Obviously there was thunder in other parts of the world on this day, but it feels like a pretty big coincidence that there just so happened to be thunder where dan lived on the exact same day that philslion tweeted about thunder. So I'm adding this to my proof pile <3

#dan and phil #daniel howell #philslion #dan howell #at first I could only find data for reading where it wasn't thundering so I fully thought my philslion dreams were dead #but then my man bernard burton came through and with him a beacon of hope 🙏🏻 THANK U SIR

[ahappydnp]

hm from phils video I actually thought his parents figured it out earlier, like pre-dan bc of the way he connects it to the previous story timing wise and says they figured it out from the people he was hanging out with and “staying the night a lot” where the problem w this is that it’s ambiguous as to whether phil was the one staying the night w guys or whether someone was staying w him, but yeah, I figured they knew by the end of uni so a few years before dan

I guess my thinking is that he stated that he was deeply closeted until uni and didn’t have more than “a few spin the bottle games” in his teen years. And then obviously they didn’t know what he got up to at uni.

So they wouldn’t have taken notice until after he came back from uni in 2009 and was 1) actively not trying to hide his sexuality and 2) in his first proper relationship with someone who was staying over a lot

#anon ask #I mean the tweets around this time too #the philslion about his dad saying it was unnatural #I think we can forget sometimes how quick people are to overlook queer overtones especially in teenagers #he could have all but flat out said it at 16 and his parents may have just been like....mm yes late bloomer #which is a phrase he uses A Lot and it makes me feel like it was drilled into him from somewhere

[heterophobicdaniel]

i think about that i month you tweet everyday of my life it’s just so...unbelievably sweet

thinking about the philslion twitter in general

for reference:

send your favorite rare/obscure phan moments!

#obscure phannie mems #Anonymous

[philodandrons]

Also that philslion tweet was 11/22

#ijs #i #j #s

[pinof]

I just read all of PhilsLion 's Twitter as you do. We don't talk enough about Phil was lonely and sad before Dan.

It’s nearly 6am how could you do this to me

I’m in PAIN

#you’re right though we don’t :( #taylor talks #anon #this twitter makes me cry every time