Online creator Daniel Middleton is nearing 30 million subscribers on his best-known channel DanTDM. He's totalled almost eighteen years on YouTube, starting sharing his creativity with the world in the form of animations and his love of music in 2006. Dan started regularly uploading in 2010, with a new channel dedicated to the Pokemon trading card game, known as PokeManDanLv45. In 2012, The Diamond Minecart was launched as a Minecraft gameplay side channel, initially with his brother, who introduced him to the game.
The channel, fully renamed as his username DanTDM in 2016, soon grew into the icon that Dan's been known for for over a decade. His two main recurring characters across many mediums, Dr Trayaurus the zany scientists and Grim the skeleton wolf, as well as their lab, were introduced before the end of 2013. 2014 saw the cementation of Dan's winning formula, combining reviews of Minecraft mods with character stories, a series which reached its height in 2015 with Custom Mod Adventures.
Amidst burn-out from two carefully-crafted videos a day, as well as other gaming content and vlogs, Dan soon skyrocketed to many achievements, including two global tours, many convention appearances, a graphic novel, toys, Guinness World Records, work with the BBC and Sky, voice acting in Ralph Breaks the Internet and as his own character in the Telltale game Minecraft Story Mode and plenty of recent accomplishments we'll get to shortly. His greatest achievement though has been his unwavering support of child safety, offering inspiration and a haven for two generations now. He's avoided any controversy or drama, despite recent efforts from KSI following Dan's stance on Lunchly 'snack kits'.
What happened to YouTubers man..
— ᴅᴀɴᴛᴅᴍ💎 (@dantdm) September 16, 2024
I can't not say anything anymore. This is selling stuff for the sake of making money, simple. How does this benefit their fans?
This is selling crap to kids who don't know better than to trust the people who are selling it to them.
Do better. https://t.co/Uzz27bcxTA
That tweet was a rare and valuable piece of outspokenness from a man who's usually happy to do his important work subtly and from behind the scenes. In the latter half of his decade of online fame, Dan's content has slowed down and calmed, matching his fans growing up, and also his pace of life as a father of two. Despite the variety now showcased beyond stories for children, Dan has always maintained his family friendliness on his channels. DanTDM is one of five under the TDM brand.
One of those five, Dan and Tray, is a recent development. 2024 has seen Dan return to his Minecraft roots in a big way. He's started a new survival series, exploring recent updates to the game with added twists, and has returned to his classic storytelling, revisiting his Minecraft-originated characters in the story world of The Lab, last seen in 2017.
Dan has also remained an ambassador of the Minecraft community. He featured in the pre-show for this year's Minecraft Live, the virtual convention which celebrates all things related to the game and reveals new updates. (Skip to about six minutes in, for a good montage of all the achievements mentioned above).
Dan mentions how shy he was as a child, a teenager, all the way through secondary school. He says how telling his stories, meeting new people, and the opportunities that came to him because of his videos all allowed him to grow massively as a person. “I don’t know what I’d be doing now, if I hadn’t played the game.”
Dan certainly wouldn't be visiting the set of the upcoming Minecraft Movie, without the game. With a group of other longstanding creators, Warner Brothers brought Dan to New Zealand. He was shown the many sets and props, met the stars Jack Black and Jason Momoa, and watched that day's scene being shot.
Whilst returning to and celebrating his origins, Dan has also expanded out in new directions this year, talking openly about mental health, showing younger fans, and those who have grown up with him, how to be open and reflective, how to seek help and move forward. He's talked openly about the struggles of having children during pandemics, his marriage, and suicidal thoughts, advocating therapy. Most recently, Dan was on We Need to Talk:
Beyond anything recorded, Dan has also helped countless children through charities like the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Last month, Dan donated to Great Ormand Street Hospital.
Fittingly, money from one diamond-encrusted cart made for a logo has funded one-hundred and twenty for children who need them. If that doesn't make Dan a YouTube gem, I don't know what would.