| “ | Nerds are allowed to love stuff, like jump-up-and-down-in-the-chair-can’t-control-yourself love it. Hank, when people call people nerds, mostly what they’re saying is ‘you like stuff.’ Which is just not a good insult at all. Like, ‘you are too enthusiastic about the miracle of human consciousness’. | ” |
―John Green | ||
John Green (born August 24, 1977) and Hank Green (born May 5, 1980) are known on YouTube as the Vlogbrothers. The channel was originally made in 2007 to host a project called Brotherhood 2.0, but has continued on since then in a similar format.
Hank Green is a musician and entrepreneur, while John Green is an award winning author. As well as Vlogbrothers, they run the educational channels Scishow (Hank only), Mental floss (John only) and Crash Course, a gaming channel called hankgames, a podcast called Dear Hank and John, and a video quiz show called Truth or Fail.
Brotherhood 2.0
Brotherhood 2.0 started on January 1 of 2007. John Green was interested in video blogging, and wanted to start a YouTube channel with his brother. The basis of the project was to stop all text communication, and use vlogs instead. Videos were posted every weekday, and had features such as song Wednesdays, when Hank would sing about various things, such as Harry Potter. It was the song "Accio Deathly Hallows," made for the seventh Harry Potter book, that brought the Vlogbrothers into the spotlight and increased their popularity. Although they were meant to end their project at the end of 2007, their popularity and enjoyment of vlogging meant they decided to continue making videos, but less frequently, and continue to do so now.
Nerdfighteria
Nerdfighteria is the community that has grown around John and Hank's videos. The term "Nerdfighters" was made when John misread the name Aerofighters on an arcade game, and was reminded of a term created by one of his favourite YouTubers Ze Frank. The name stuck, and now is a well known name throughout online communities.
Nerdfighters adopt terms such as "made of awesome" and "French the llama" to both describe things and identify with other Nerdfighters. A catchphrase that Nerdfighters use a lot is "DFTBA", an initialism that stands for "Don't Forget to be Awesome." It is often used as a way of saying goodbye to someone, or is written on blog descriptions so others know they are a Nerdfighter.
In the words of John and Hank, the way to tell you are a nerdfighter that when you become a nerdfighter, you "stop being made of bones and muscle and stuff, because you're made of awesome."
There are often gatherings that Nerdfighters have, sometimes joined by Hank and/or John. The gatherings involve going to historic landmarks, museums, discussing things, or just singing and dancing. If Hank and/or John are there, then John may read from one of his books while Hank sings songs. In the past, there have been two tours called "Tour de Nerdfighting", in which Hank and John toured around America to read from John's most recent book, sing songs, do signings, and meet Nerdfighters. The possibility of a tour in another country has been considered, but John thinks it would be too hard, as he has a very young son (Henry) and a one-month-old daughter(Alice).
Other popular YouTubers, such as charlieissocoollike, and nerimon, are considered Nerdfighters, due to their association with the brothers.
Projects and Charity
John and Hank created the convention Vidcon, in which YouTubers can perform comedy, songs and do signings. It started July 9–11 of 2010 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, and 1,400 people attended. In 2011, 2,500 people attended on July 29 and 30 . In 2012, between 7,200 and 8,000 people attended (Too many people for a solid number!) In 2013, 12,000 people attended. Vidcon 2014 is going to be held at the Anaheim Convention Center, June 26–28
John and Hank are big supporters of the charity This Star Won't Go Out, a cancer charity founded by the parents of a Nerdfighter (Esther Earl) who died of thyroid cancer in 2010. They sell the wristbands on their website dftba.com, and can always be seen wearing them. During 2013, it was also announced the Ester's book, also titled This Star Won't Go Out, would be released.
Every year they host the YouTube event Project for Awesome, in which many YouTubers try to get the event to be on the front page of YouTube to raise support. Livestreams are done by popular YouTubers, where they will do challenges to get people to donate. An example of this is John drawing all over his face with Sharpie, which has become a popular video amongst the Nerdfighter community. Other people will make videos advertising a charity of their choice. People will vote for a charity and donate. The charities with the most votes will get a share of the money.
John and Hank have also started NerdCon: Stories. Which is a convention where people share stories with other story tellers.
Their podcast Dear Hank and John is sometimes called "the Comedy Podcast about Death" because though the podcast is categorized as comedy, it constantly returns to the overarching theme of the inevitability of oblivion.
Watch Mojo's "TopX" Series
Top 10 YouTube Lifestyle Vloggers
Hank and John were ranked 4th in this episode