FlyingFoxandwings AMA

“ I went to Sobesky academy the same year as he graduated. The freakiest part is that all things considered he seemed relatively normal. He seemed to have some issues when it came to academic retention, but he wasn't so-called delusional at the time. It's pretty sad growing up knowing him and then seeing what he became. ”

FlyingFoxandwings' post on Reddit.

On January 24th, 2024, Reddit user u/FlyingFoxandwings would post to the r/Daniellarson subreddit, revealing themselves as one of Daniel's schoolmates during his time attending Sobesky Academy. After revealing themselves, many users would ask them questions regarding Daniel, to which they’d answer.

During this AMA, they dispelled rumors of Daniel ever being bullied at school, due to Sobeskys students being extremely understanding of his issues given that most, if not all, students were going through something similar to him, among other rumors.

AMA

Question 1

u/OtherCypress42: Was he bullied alot in school?

u/FlyingFoxandwings: Contrary to what he may say, people were actually quite respectful towards him. We all knew we had our own issues, and for the most part, nobody meant any harm towards him. Whenever he was called Danny phantom, there was no malicious intent. He didn't even really react to it. I guess that's more something that came after he graduated. But no, not really anybody bullied him. This particular school was quite small, so when I say that, not really, anybody bullied him, I mean, there were about 18 of us in the high school. Even the biggest bully in the school didn't really pay much mind to him. He was just that reserved.

Question 2

u/Peapers: Is Sobesky filled with people like Daniel? r u guys like him too? (genuinely unaware if sobesky is a short bus school or something else)

u/FlyingFoxandwings: Sobesky holds kids with a wide range of conditions. I was there because I had attempted suicide. I'm fully rehabilitated and I'm not suicidal anymore. I'm now a law student in California. Most of the other people had issues just like regular delinquency and fighting. You didn't see many severely ill students like Danny, but when you did it was obvious.

Question 3

u/Clock-Apart: Any interesting high school lore? Was he deranged? Creepy. Please make a post describing the former celebrity’s early teenage yeara

u/FlyingFoxandwings: He wasn't creepy, actually. He seemed pretty normal. He really had some issues with academic retention and he was very reserved. He often times would have an escort, and his escorts would call him Danny. It's kind of just habit to call him Danny at this point rather than Daniel. He didn't cause very much trouble, however, there was the occasional "close and lock". But it was pretty normal for kids to cause such events. He was definitely suppressing the urges and such we see today, however, because post-graduation it was like night and day. He went from robotic to the way he is today. It was a rapid turnaround.

Question 4

u/Tewpy: Is there a reason why he dislikes being called Danny? He hates it and will block anyone calling him that

u/FlyingFoxandwings: Well, everyone referred to him as Danny at Sobesky. Maybe that had to do with it. It's hard to see what goes on behind each students case, and or that reason it's hard to really point a finger at a particular incident. He was also called Danny at Tennyson, so that could be the root cause because from what I've seen Tennyson is not all sunshine and rainbows. One of my closest friends was sent there, and it traumatized her to her core.

Question 5

u/DorkDiariesBad: Was Daniel ever violent at all? Did he have any friends? Any major incidents? I remember hearing that Sobesky wasn’t a school that really intended to have kids graduate from, but to have children reintegrate back into public schools. Any truth to that?

u/FlyingFoxandwings: It is very true that Sobesky is what is known as an alternative transitional school. The main goal is to rehabilitate difficult students and help them sort through their issues to attain academic success. However, there are two situations where one will graduate from this actual school: reason number one can be that they came super late in their high school career, and they just weren't able to get rehabilitated enough to transition prior to their graduation. The other is that they made no progress whatsoever and had gone to the school for most of their career. It's actually somewhat sad, but not all hope is lost for those who graduate from sobesky. Most of those who have lived their own lives now. Some even have families, and others even have regular careers. Danny just went a different way. It's already been speculated that during the time he was at Sobesky that he was heavily medicated. I could see this being true. Again, it was put in place that no students know any details of one another's case. So that's merely speculation, as it would explain the complete 180 turnaround. For the most part, he wasn't violent. He wasn't really violent towards the staff, however, in rare situations, he was violent towards himself.

Question 6

u/fnaffan110: Did he ever talk about Grace Vanderwaal?

u/FlyingFoxandwings: Nope, not in the way that he talks now. He still had an obsession with singing but Grace Vanderwaal was actually not a well known thing about him yet because he suppressed such obsessions and delusions

Question 7 (+ 8 + 9)

u/Clock-Apart: Interesting. No weird female obsessions or masturbatory habits? No rage freak outs? Hitting himself?

u/FlyingFoxandwings: There was some hitting himself on occasion. That's what would trigger the close and lock. But he was NOTHING like this at the time.

u/AggravatingCat1257: I'm sorry, but what exactly is this "close and lock"?

u/FlyingFoxandwings: Essentially a "close and lock" was when a student would get so unruly and out of control that they would have to secure all of the students in the classrooms. Nobody was allowed to leave, and essentially the building would go on lockdown. It happened on a pretty regular basis, and one time, a kid, even Caused such a ruckus that we went the entire day in a close and lock. There were a few situations where this kind of emergency would happen. Brawls between students, self injury, and violence towards the staff were some of the primary reasons that they would call a close and lock. I personally never caused a close and lock. I was one of the few students that didn't ever get into a physical altercation that caused an event such as that. But often times the authorities would be called, and typically an arrest would be performed. It was pretty common to not have students for weeks, because of the fact that they were in jail. Fighting and delinquency were some of the main reasons people were there.

u/AggravatingCat1257: Ah ok thank you for answering me 😊.

If you don't mind can I ask, did Danny have any friends and did he stink in school at all? He never showers nowadays and did he pick his nose with his tongue back then too?

u/FlyingFoxandwings: I answered this earlier, his hygiene was definitely not up to par. That being said, it was definitely not as bad as it is now. He definitely still had a nose, picking habit, and occasionally you would just get a glimpse of him picking his nose. In a certain way, it was almost common at the school. You had a lot of developmentally, disabled children, as well as depression sufferers, and others that had conditions that can have the side effect of poor hygiene. After a while, your nose just kind of got numb to the poor hygiene. So yes, there was one time that I also saw him put his tongue in his nose like he does today. When I say that he seemed relatively normal, I mean in the sense that he didn't stand out as much as he does today.

Question 10

u/Dangerous_Pepper_125: Has he always been obsessed with kids years younger than him?

u/FlyingFoxandwings: Not that he made available at school. That would be something more that his case manager would know. That and he was more on the reserved side anyways

Question 11

u/Creshtins: Were you in the same class as him? Did he have any freakouts there?

u/FlyingFoxandwings: Not that I witnessed firsthand. He was 4 years older than me so having classes was rare. The only one I had with him was back in 2017 when I was taking Algebra II. He was incredibly quiet, and was a total wallflower.