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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

Thanfiction – Fanlore entry

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.

He is my friend. He does cool stuff I can’t, which I just think it’s pretty amazing. We each have to decide whether we believe someone has suffered mental illness, or whether they are willfully malicious and masquerading as such. The behavior I’ve seen and the boy I know now leads me to believe what I believe. I can’t fault anyone else for believing otherwise, I only ask that each person listen to all of the information and make their own decision.

I can’t speak to the before, but in the for years I’ve know him he /has/ stopped engaging in every fandom that’s asked him to. I’m just asking that people in this one give some thought to it before they ask him.

No, we don’t have to decide anything. We don’t have to listen to his side of the story. We’ve done that quite enough already, and not enough listening to the people he’s hurt.

We have 20 years of history, delineating all the ways in which this man has psychologically and sexually abused countless people and preyed on the vulnerable. All the mealy-mouthed “but I’ve changed, you guys!” deflecting in the world does not change that, especially because he hasn’t changed. He hasn’t made actual amends to the people he hurt aside from blanket apologies and vague promises of recompense. He continues to join fandoms and latch onto the characters that young women and girls care about the most, so that he can get close to them and suck them into his cult of personality.

You think he should get accolades because he leaves fandom when he’s asked to? Really? It hasn’t occurred to you that he should stay the fuck out of fandom in the first place?

He is not a boy. He is over 30 years old. He is an adult.

How can you sleep at night, knowing you’re close friends with a sexual predator and serial abuser? You’re almost as much of a disgusting piece of shit as he is.

Former HP person here – this is nothing about ‘second chances’ or mental illness, this is about a legitimate threat. This person is a predator. He draws susceptible and vulnerable people in, convinces them that he is misunderstood, and starts the cycle of cultish recruitment all over again. He has not changed, he will not change, and he has a long track record of destroying those he dislikes or no longer has any use for. He is a con artist who scams people for money. He is a scorpion in a human skin suit who is only ever out for himself. Stay the fuck away.