The Super Amazing Project

YouTube Channel, 2011-2012

Premise - A YouTube news channel where joint creators Daniel Howell (known as the time as @danisnotonfire) and Phil Lester (@AmazingPhil) review weekly happenings, including wild news stories, paranormal sightings, twitter question responses, and some fun random game show segment hosted by Phil.

Review - I wrote about this back when I read The Amazing Book is Not on Fire, but I have somehow found another disturbingly deep obsession. This one came several years too late, so instead of watching content live, I have been back tracking through over a decade of content for everything I can possibly find. Luckily, these YouTubers have a uniquely passionate fanbase of which I can only begin to be a part of, and fans have been archiving their content for years. I found a playlist on YouTube that is over 3,000 videos long, documenting every video the two YouTubers have ever done (separate or apart) from 2006 through about 2017ish. Not including liveshows, which I've had to find separately on another YouTube channel's archive. So, essentially, my life has been devoted to watching all things Dan & Phil in chronological order. And I'm making decent progress - I'm just about wrapping up the infamous 2012.

2012 gets a bad reputation in the phandom - it's become a recurring meme, how nothing could ever be as bad as 2012 if you're a phan (Dan & Phil fan, that is). The meme is that 2012 was a dark era of internalized homophobia, defensiveness, arguing with fans, and awkward joint content. But coming from a fan who only really started getting into Dan & Phil content in 2019, and is experiencing this content drought that is 2020, being a fan through 2012 seems like heaven. Joint content galore! Perhaps you had to witness all the angry tweets and tumblr posts to really get the 2012 jokes. Perhaps it just seemed like light content in comparison to 2014-2018. But I don't know guys... I was pretty entertained. Kind of seems ridiculous that people were complaining how they weren't joined at the hip because they were in each other's videos and liveshows on a weekly basis. And, they had this joint channel, "The Super Amazing Project", throughout this era. If they seemed awkward or defensive at times, I think it was more of the fact that the phandom was projecting so much onto them. I swear, Dan would blink, and all the comments would be something like, "Oh my gosh, he hates us." I do recognize, though, that in Dan's coming out video, he does subtly refer to this 2012ish era as a time when he really shut down and got defensive. And yes, they do lie to their audience quite a bit (not just by omission) to talk about girls and girlfriends and being single. He acknowledged that himself, so there's an element of truth to it. I saw it mostly in liveshows. But looking at their official videos in isolation, it's way overblown.

"The Super Amazing Project" was nothing but fun joint content, and absolutely no toxicity. It's incredible to me how unrecognized this channel has become in the legacy that is Dan and Phil. Each video has a million views, so people were definitely watching at the time, but it seems like new fans never really saw this content. It often gets referred to as like "the mystery channel I've never watched", probably just because there is no "Dan" or "Phil" in the channel name. But don't be fooled, this is 100% Dan and Phil content that should not be overlooked (minus the fact that it was owned by My Damn Channel and they never really got to take it back...). And it still strikes me as strange that whenever I watch montages of all and Dan and Phil's best moments, this channel is almost ALWAYS omitted. But it's got everything a phan could want, minus the gaming! It's got some banter, Phil making up fun game show prizes, audience participation, Dan and Phil sitting close to each other on screen in a bathtub, and even some funny local news.

The very last episode was posted on December 24, 2012. Since then, there have been other makers of "The Super Amazing Project" posted to the same channel, but not by Dan and Phil, as they did not own the rights. But I think the core of YouTube content is with the creators, not the format, so nothing post-Dan and Phil counts. I think My Damn Channel had a lot of trouble understanding that when it came to some of their other contracts, like DailyGrace. I only watch for Dan and Phil.

So now I have my first "review" (just me raving about being a fangirl) of a YouTube channel for which I have seen every single video! This was a short-lived (3 season long, 12ish episodes per season) YouTube show, so not too big of an achievement, but still fun to know I have completed an entire era of Dan and Phil. I will continue chugging away at the rest of their content and look forward to watching every single "Dan and Phil Games" video once I hit 2014. (94/100)

Quote - "Spend your spooky happenings to doo doo doo doo doo doo doo dooo"

What to watch for - Spooky happenings sent in by audience members are always fun, and they always film it in the dark. I think my all time favorite moments have been unlisted/behind the scenes moments, like the blooper where Phil tries to say "This week's twitter question is" like 50 times before getting it right. Because it's that natural, raw content we all crave the most.

If you liked this YouTube channel, I'd recommend their other joint channel, "Dan and Phil Games"!

Created by Daniel Howell and Phil Lester

Owned by My Damn Channel

Released on YouTube