I noticed recently that I’ve passed what is, to me, a ridiculous number of followers, approximately ¾ of which have come since I got into Critical Role. I’m overwhelmed, and I love you all. Which is one of the reasons why I’m going to signal boost this.
I’ve recently heard that a fan who goes by the name Andy Thanfiction has gotten into CR fandom. If this is someone you’ve seen on Tumblr or Twitter, and his name is not familiar to you, I very, very, very highly encourage you to read at least one of the links below.
5 Incredible Sagas of Fandom Scams & Deceptions
Fandom History, Epic Wankers Edition: Victoria Bitter/Jordan Wood/Andy Blake
I’ve been in online fandom for more than 20 years, and while I was never in contact with Andy, I watched both the LOTR and HP messes go down in real time. I’m a person who generally doesn’t do public callouts for fannish reasons – I can count the number of people I’d make a post like this about on one hand, and still have fingers left over. But we have a lot of younger fans in CR fandom, both in actual age and in terms of people who weren’t around for Andy’s greatest hits. So if you don’t already know him, please read about him, and be careful.
I do, in fact, know this man. I have for several years now. I have not deleted the information above, because everybody does have a right to be cautious. I can’t try and make your perception of a person for you.
But it is very upsetting to watch a fandom that has been so active and uplifting about battling mental illness hop right on the same train as the other communities who i have watched shut him out.
Andy has admitted everything he’s done. He has apologized. Not the bullshit kind of apology where he blames it on things being his control, or even his severe mental illness, but the kind where he accepts that he hurt people, is genuinely sorry, then as he changes his behavior away from what he did he /steps back from those people/ he hurt, because he knows they have a right to be hurt, and even as they continue lashing out he accepts it, doesn’t argue it anymore, because he honestly just wants to move on.
And I have watched him try to move on. I have watched him /continuously/ try to do better, and every time his past Big Fuckup is brought back up, it blows way the fuck up, and instead of railing against it he grits his teeth and steps willfully back from the something new that he had hoped he might be able to find a place in now that he’s got the mental stability to enjoy it as just a regular fan.
I have no right to speak for him, nor does anyone have the right to know how particular medical and psychological treatment program, nor which medications he’s talking Why would you ask that of /anyone,/ demand that they prove exactly how they’re “fit” to be part of society, ask them to reveal information that by all right should be kept between them and their doctor?
But I can say that he’s doing /everything/ we ask people who have hurt others in their mental illness to do. I can say that I have seen progress even just from where he was when we met four years to the man I know today. I can say that I am steadily watching him grow and learn and change and become a person who is learning that it’s /okay/ to proud himself and his admittedly incredible talent in spite of how badly his psychosis fucked both himself and many others over before.
I am by no means trying to invalidate the pain of the people who got hurt. They have every right to be upset, I understand that the impression he left them with is going to be with them forever. When I was younger and foolish I would argue with them about that, but I know better now.
I’m only saying that I hope at it’s core, this fandom doesn’t prove to have a double-standard in the way it treats mental illness. That it doesn’t prove to be one of those groups that talks a big game about providing support to overcome and change and battle mental illness, until said mental illness is too scary or presents in a way that you don’t like.
It’s hard. I know. There are some scary afflictions out there that make it difficult to grasp or understand people. But when we say that people are not defined by their mental illness, when we encourage people to fight it and change and get /better,/ we CAN NOT just apply that to the “easy ones.”
So in the end, all I’m asking is that you treat my friend – who had struggled and overcome and is /still/ fighting an uphill battle – with the same level of respect and trust you would address any stranger you’ve met so far who likes the same show you do. He’s excitable, he’s fascinated, and he wants to enjoy this Cool New Thing My Friend showed me.
I’m tired of watching him get shunted out of places where he belongs. I understand the fear though. Mental illness, especially those that affect others /is/ frightening. I had just hoped that if there was any group that could accept his changing, break the stigma fan communities have held over severe mental illness, and honestly just /enjoy/ the amazing creative content this boy churns out like butter at a state fair, it would’ve be Critical Role.
Oh my god, shut the fuck up. He’s not amazing and I don’t care what “amends” he’s trying to make. How DARE you try to guilt trip people into accepting a dangerous predator into fandom by pulling the mental illness card?
You want to talk respect? How about respect for his victims? No creative output can ever be so amazing that people should willingly accept someone like him in fandom. And nobody is entitled to be accepted in fandom. Not him. Not you. Not me. Not anyone. If he really wanted to make amends, he would stay AWAY from fandom, not keep participating in it.
You should be ashamed of yourself for writing this ridiculous bullshit defense.
#oh jesus the idea of him being in a fandom where people often break off into #like #fucking TABLETOP GROUPS #SMALL ISOLATED GROUPS OF PEOPLE DEEP INTO THE STORY THEY’RE CREATING TOGETHER #is fucking horrifying #nope nope nope nope #side note: everything this person writes sounds exactly like Andy #he has a history of defending himself using followers as mouthpieces #this is suspicious as hell #and getting moreso the more they post
Reblogging these tags because they make a very good point.
Also, I was IN the Bit of Earth community when most of the VB stuff went down. I was friends with him. And I probably would’ve gotten fucked over a whole lot more as a trusting, impusive, miserable-at-home young person if I’d had money or the ability to travel anywhere on my own. And you know what I’ve noticed, following him over the years?
He has yet to actually change. His STORY changes a lot, he changes what mental illnesses he’s struggling with to fit whatever is most sympathetic given everything people know, but that’s changed WILDLY over the years, and a number of people who actually HAVE most of those mental illnesses have called him into question, not because they dislike him but because his portrayal of that mental illness is SO different from what it’s actually like to live with it.
He has not changed his modus operandi much in the last decade+, though, is the main thing – he gets into a fandom, he gathers a bunch of young and/or vulnerable fans around him who look up to him as a creator and often a mentor of sorts, and when criticized, they leap to his defense, often using suspiciously similar wording to what Andy himself has said. I’ve seen this happen OVER AND OVER AND OVER again.
So considering he doesn’t seem to have changed his actions, why in the WORLD should I believe he’s changed his motivations?
Sorry, but no – Andy Blake aka Thanfiction is an abuser and has been basically the leader of a cult of personality surrounding himself multiple times. I’ve known him, and I’ve known people like him, and I don’t trust him as far as i could throw him, and I will ALWAYS recommend people be extremely wary of him at the absolute minimum.
One of the people involved in this exchange alerted me to it a few minutes ago. This is absolutely correct: Andy’s history of abuse is well documented and his methods have changed very little over the years. If anything, they’ve become a little subtler and more refined with every iteration of his cult of personality–but only a little.
The excuses that Andy’s friend makes above are the very same ones that Andy used to post in his fauxpologies, and that his friends parroted on his behalf. He’s so very talented! So tragically mentally ill! So misunderstood! So noble in his suffering! If only you and your fandom were willing to give him a chance, you’d see what an incredible, selfless person he really is! And if you don’t, you’re just a bunch of narrow-minded hypocrites.
I’m not going to pick this person’s post apart in great detail because other people have already called them out (thank goodness), but I just want to point out a few classic Andy excuses and deflections:
“I have not deleted the information above, because everybody does have a right to be cautious.”
Since the advent of the Andy awareness tumblrs, Andy has been fond of telling people that he isn’t trying to hide anything and that they have the right to know about his history. At the same time, he’s tried to discredit much of the information available about his past, and to portray anyone spreading the word as a “bitter ex”, a “hater”, a “stalker”, or some kind of bigot.
“Andy has admitted everything he’s done. He has apologized.”
Andy has made exactly one apology to a specific person who said that she was fully satisfied with it. Other than that, his “apology” posts have been riddled with excuses and half-truths, and have focused on his own alleged suffering as much as, if not more than, his abusive actions. Nevertheless, when he was still posting on tumblr, he liked to link to his previous “apology” posts whenever people called him out.
“…
even as they continue lashing out he accepts it, doesn’t argue it anymore, because he honestly just wants to move on.”
This portrays the people Andy’s abused as being unable or unwilling to move on, as seething with hostility and needlessly continuing to rehash ancient history. He likes to say that his critics have no lives.
“…
every time his past Big Fuckup is brought back up, it blows way the fuck up, and instead of railing against it he grits his teeth and steps willfully back from the something new that he had hoped he might be able to find a place in now that he’s got the mental stability to enjoy it as just a regular fan.”
Here’s the thing: Andy’s abuse of other people has taken place in at least half a dozen fandoms over the course of nineteen years. Because of this, many of us have said that he needs to get the fuck out of fandom if he’s serious about changing and doing better. Even if we were to assume that he’s telling the truth about his mental illness, he still needs to stay out of fandom because he can’t seem to stop conflating himself with fictional characters. It’s not so long ago that he was talking about having “sense memories” of things that Bucky would have remembered from New York City in the ‘30s, that he ~couldn’t possibly have experienced~! Same shit, different day. He’s just more cautious about how he discusses these things now–he always leaves room for plausible deniability because he knows people are watching.
“I have no right to speak for him, nor does anyone have the right to know how particular medical and psychological treatment program, nor which medications he’s talking”
That warning post made no mention of wanting to know Andy’s diagnosis, meds, or anything else. It didn’t mention mental illness at all. But this is one of Andy’s favorite talking points, so of course it’s coming up again. Yes, some Andy awareness bloggers have written a lot about the diagnoses that Andy has claimed to have (they’ve changed quite a bit over the last few years) because they don’t actually make any sense based on his behavior and what he says his symptoms are/were. And none of his claimed diagnoses explains or in any way excuses the fact that he is a serial abuser and admitted rapist who continues to try to insert himself into fan communities consisting mostly of much younger women and girls. But no one has demanded that he display proof of any diagnosis on paper, or show the labels on his drugs, or name his doctors. No one’s ever asked to see his “paperwork”, but Andy likes to act as if it happens constantly.
I could go on, but I think that’s more than enough. People need to stop enabling this asshole.
And the cycle continues to repeat! I WISH HE WOULD ACTUALLY CHANGE because this is BORING REPETITIVE BULLSHIT. And yeah, I’ve moved on. Once again I adapt a quote from the Skeptical OB – Andy is like a bug on my windshield. Long ago squashed but still occasionally visible.
And no, he has not actually apologized to me. He set up a situation that allowed him to say “I’m sorry for everything,” but that does not an apology make. Trust me, I’ve made plenty of sincere apologies. I know the difference between a real one and a load of bullshit.
The hypocrisy in this fandom never ceases to amaze me. Every last one of you should be ashamed of yourselves. This man has overcome mental illness and only wishes to move forward. He did bad things. He got help. He got better. He’s paid his debt to society and you all need to leave the man alone. Let him get on with his life.
I will let Andy Blake get on with his life when he STOPS REPEATING THE SAME CYCLE OF ACTIONS AND ABUSE.
He has not yet done so, ergo I refuse to stop warning people about what he does. This has been going on for nearly TWO DECADES and it’s still happening in almost exactly the same way. The only thing he’s changed is the details of his sob story and the fandom he’s peddling it in.
What I think some people don’t realise is that for him, fandom isn’t escapism, it isn’t a joyous special interest that he’s entitled to engage in without censure. For him, each new fandom is a HUNTING GROUND. Each new person he meets is prey. For him, it isn’t about making friends. It’s about power, it’s about control, and it’s about manipulation. That’s what he enjoys. For you, you’re excited about the characters, the ships, the canon, the fic. For him, it’s about taking those things that you love and using them as a crowbar to insert himself into your life. He never values connections for the sake of themselves. They’re only about what he can get for himself from them, and he twists you round so much that you’ll empty your life of everything of value and give it to him just to bask in his favour, and won’t even realise how it happened. This is how people like him WORK. And to be honest, every new supporter that comes out of the woodwork to ‘defend’ him – there is a long line of literally hundreds of people that were saying exactly the same things as you not too long ago. The lucky ones got out with their worldview shifted, with a new-minted distrust. The others, well. I know one who forgoes fandoms althogether now. Others lost money, good friends, living situations, joy in something they used to love. Some got taken for all they were worth, got doxxed, got dogpiled. Some got assaulted. Three people wound up dead. I look at the people defending him, and to be honest, my hope is you get out alive.
knitting in the dark 