Stay away from Andy "Thanfiction" Blake!

Andy Blake, aka Thanfiction/Amy Player/Victoria Bitter/Jordan Wood and many, *many* other names, is a very dangerous liar, abuser, manipulator and predator, who has wrecked havoc in several fandoms over the last 15 years, profoundly hurt many innocent people, and never apologised for it. Do *not* be fooled by his latest "I got better" pretenses! Look instead at how what he does now is *still* the same as what he's always done.

[floshie]

Just read a quote on instagram, that “depression is a flaw in chemistry, not character”. Although this might sound exciting and encouraging, depression is a state of entrapment in negativity. Not a chemistry flaw. There is nothing wrong with your chemistry, you were made perfectly. The world teaches us to fit in. When God teaches us to take the narrow path. You are free to believe what you wish. Chemistry flaw (basically calling it a night and maybe resorting to pills). Or finding that you are deeply loved and no longer a prisoner to the evil in this world. God bless, there is always hope in Christ.

[delwynmarch]

“There is nothing wrong with your chemistry, you were made perfectly.” 

That’s not what the Bible says. There was only one person on Earth who was born perfect, remember? Everyone else is born in sin, which by definition is imperfection.

“You are free to believe what you wish. “

Wrong. Do you know your Bible? Then you should know that only Truth can make people free. Until people know the Truth of God, they are prisoners to sin. 

“Chemistry flaw (basically calling it a night and maybe resorting to pills). Or finding that you are deeply loved and no longer a prisoner to the evil in this world.“

You present these as though they were necessarily one or the other. But that is not so. Don’t you remember your Gospels? Jesus BOTH loved AND healed people. Knowing that Jesus loved them was not enough to heal people, and He never expected anyone to heal from any ailment just from knowing He loved them. So why do you?

Also, what is wrong with pills? Jesus used mud to give sight to a blind man. Why not pills?

And finally, have you learned nothing from Job’s story? You can know that God loves you, and still be both extremely physically sick and extremely depressed. You can have faith in God and still feel miserable.

You are a false teacher. You don’t preach the Gospel of Jesus. You either don’t understand or acknowledge what it means to be born in sin, and to live in a fallen world. I urge you to shut up, because as you should know, Christ does not look kindly upon those who hurt others, and especially not upon the hypocrites who use His Word to harrass and torment those who are already suffering from hardships.

[theteablogger]

No, you didn't misread it--it really depends! Cosplay is huge and diverse. Elaborate/complex costumes are more likely to be taken on by people who want a challenge or to show off their skills or enter contests, regardless of their feelings on the actual character. Competitive cosplay and "regular" cosplay are similar (and have lots of crossover) but have different focuses. Andy seems to be trying to horn in on the competitive cosplay niche.

Also, a note that while cosplay is a very very heavily female fandom/niche, the competitive side has way more men. Forums like The RPF (Replica Prop Forum), where the goal is screen-accuracy, skews heavily male. It’s more about the building than the wearing, if that makes sense?

(I am by no means a cosplay expert, but this are my observations after several years cosplaying and participating in the cosplay community online.)

Sorry, I’ve been offline the last few days and missed these! More useful information to be taken into account with the cosplay post.

I also got a message from someone who asked me to rephrase rather than publish it:

Andy has a summer job in costuming at Busch Gardens. At first when he posted about it, he claimed that the shop wasn’t air-conditioned and that he was working 10-14 hour days, six days a week, often with no breaks–but he was learning so much and it was so awesome. Then TF-talk started discussing it and someone pointed out that Busch Gardens and other VA theme parks have very strict rules about breaks and working conditions because they employ so many teenagers. All of a sudden, Andy’s posting about how the AC has been fixed and his supervisor has realized he’s supposed to be getting more breaks and everything is wonderful!

Thanks, Anon!

[delwynmarch]

If shinykari’s right, then Andy is making a strategic mistake in aiming for competitive cosplay. His goal is to gather young women around him, and apparently competitive cosplay is not where he’s most likely to find them. Coupled with the fact that Andy is fundamentally uninterested in properly learning any craft, so he’ll never be good enough at cosplay to win “true” competitions anyway (or attract the attention of the serious female competitors), I’m expecting him to drop out of that competitive side pretty soon. He’ll probably pretend that he doesn’t have enough time to engage into cosplay at that level, even though that’s pretty much exactly what he’s been doing lately...

And once again, I’m laughing at how Andy TOTALLY doesn’t read tf-talk and all the other places where he’s being discussed. Nope, not him, nuh-uh.

[kumquatwriter]

Wow. Wooooow. Okay, so 50 shades of fucked up already bothered me for infinity reasons that have been well explored just about everywhere. But this video particularly nails it. Handy bonus for Andy victims - how well does this line up for your experience with him? Because it’s damn near perfect for me, and I’ll go ahead and say it was pretty much dead on for Diamond’s experience too (I mean, I WAS there, and she IS one of my closest friends)

[delwynmarch]

There’s a reason I have “Andy Blake is a cult leader” as a (much too often used) tag.

Excellent video. Great demonstration of how to apply the steps described in cult awareness books into a “real” setting.

(Also: I know I have other survivors of extreme psychological parental abuse among my followers, so very specific trigger warning for a passing joke about how the cult/abuse techniques discussed in the video “look like my mother’s parenting skills”. I wasn’t expecting it, and it really shook me up.)

[theteablogger]

I don't know if anyone has already said this, but Andy has very recently started working his way into the Game of Thrones fandom (at least in terms of costuming at a major U.S. fandom convention).

He’s done some other things related to Game of Thrones before, including a meal for a season premiere, a feast, and a whole bunch of posts about his thoughts on Brienne’s gender and sexuality. Now he’s made GoT cosplay for several people and has won an award for his own Viserys cosplay (a character choice that was a little too on the nose if you ask me). I don’t think that Andy’s necessarily trying to join the fandom, though. He has reached out to GoT cosplayers at least a couple of times on Facebook, but they read more as attempts to impress them than to become one of them.

Keep reading

[delwynmarch]

Loved the whole post. Just want to comment on one thing:

He’s also been selected for season two of Viva La Cosplay, which ought to be…interesting.

If I had to make a bet, I’d say that this is going to end up being a disastrous move for Andy. I can’t imagine that he will manage to keep his asshole side from showing all the way through. In other words, he’s going to make his own Andy Awareness Campaign in the cosplay community.

One question though: does anyone know if the people on that show are aware of Andy’s abusive ways? If they already knew about them when they chose to take him, then fine. But if they didn’t research him, then I don’t feel right letting them step into that trap without at least giving them a heads-up.

[kumquatwriter]

I also wondered if the show knew his history. I’m rather surprised he’d go for a show anyway, given his general affectation of hating the spotlight and his history of avoiding being televised (e.g. refusing every documentary on Hollywood Boulevard).

[delwynmarch]

Re: “his general affectation of hating the spotlight“: the best part is that he wasn’t just accidentally selected to participate in that show. He volunteered for it.

So, uh, yeah.

[capn-mactastic]

It’s possible I’m being overly suspicious, but I wonder if he’s banking on someone bringing his past up with the producers and them dropping him - rather than ‘casting for the crazy’ - so he can play up that “persecution” is causing him to lose opportunities.

[delwynmarch]

*snort* If that’s what he hopes for, then he’s being particularly pathetic.

Re: “being overly suspicious”: you can NEVER be overly suspicious where a Narcissist is concerned. Your suspicions can be wrong, of course, but they are never unfounded as long as they are based on 1) actual facts, and 2) recurrent behaviours previously observed in the Narcissist in question. In this case:

- Andy *has* volunteered to participate in the show;

- This is at odds with his decade-long habit of avoiding being filmed;

- He *has* claimed many times that people persecute him in real life, and he’s given many opportunities for people to do so (releasing loads of personal info, all but naming the college he’s going to and the art school he’s (was?) aiming for, and so on).

Given all this, I count your suspicion as a reasonably founded one. It may be completely wrong, but it’s not unfounded.

[theteablogger]

I don't know if anyone has already said this, but Andy has very recently started working his way into the Game of Thrones fandom (at least in terms of costuming at a major U.S. fandom convention).

He’s done some other things related to Game of Thrones before, including a meal for a season premiere, a feast, and a whole bunch of posts about his thoughts on Brienne’s gender and sexuality. Now he’s made GoT cosplay for several people and has won an award for his own Viserys cosplay (a character choice that was a little too on the nose if you ask me). I don’t think that Andy’s necessarily trying to join the fandom, though. He has reached out to GoT cosplayers at least a couple of times on Facebook, but they read more as attempts to impress them than to become one of them.

Keep reading

[delwynmarch]

[...]

[lb-lee-deactivated20180415]

I’m just deeply amused by him claiming he dislikes fantasy when he’s infamous for his bullshit in Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Supernatural fandom.  It’s like dude, you PORTRAY yourself as an urban fantasy anti-hero; you can’t exactly be very convincing in your dislike.

[delwynmarch]

Yeah, I don’t know what he’s going for with that claim. I’m sure there must be a logical (Andy-logic, but logic anyway) reason for that, but I can’t be arsed to look for it. That reason will become obvious anyway sooner or later if he’s trying to hide something big with that lie. In the meantime, I’ll just keep LOLing at the stupidity of it all.

[theteablogger]

I don't know if anyone has already said this, but Andy has very recently started working his way into the Game of Thrones fandom (at least in terms of costuming at a major U.S. fandom convention).

He’s done some other things related to Game of Thrones before, including a meal for a season premiere, a feast, and a whole bunch of posts about his thoughts on Brienne’s gender and sexuality. Now he’s made GoT cosplay for several people and has won an award for his own Viserys cosplay (a character choice that was a little too on the nose if you ask me). I don’t think that Andy’s necessarily trying to join the fandom, though. He has reached out to GoT cosplayers at least a couple of times on Facebook, but they read more as attempts to impress them than to become one of them.

Keep reading

[delwynmarch]

Loved the whole post. Just want to comment on one thing:

He’s also been selected for season two of Viva La Cosplay, which ought to be…interesting.

If I had to make a bet, I’d say that this is going to end up being a disastrous move for Andy. I can’t imagine that he will manage to keep his asshole side from showing all the way through. In other words, he’s going to make his own Andy Awareness Campaign in the cosplay community.

One question though: does anyone know if the people on that show are aware of Andy’s abusive ways? If they already knew about them when they chose to take him, then fine. But if they didn’t research him, then I don’t feel right letting them step into that trap without at least giving them a heads-up.

[kumquatwriter]

I also wondered if the show knew his history. I’m rather surprised he’d go for a show anyway, given his general affectation of hating the spotlight and his history of avoiding being televised (e.g. refusing every documentary on Hollywood Boulevard).

[delwynmarch]

Re: “his general affectation of hating the spotlight“: the best part is that he wasn’t just accidentally selected to participate in that show. He volunteered for it.

So, uh, yeah.

[theteablogger]

I don't know if anyone has already said this, but Andy has very recently started working his way into the Game of Thrones fandom (at least in terms of costuming at a major U.S. fandom convention).

He’s done some other things related to Game of Thrones before, including a meal for a season premiere, a feast, and a whole bunch of posts about his thoughts on Brienne’s gender and sexuality. Now he’s made GoT cosplay for several people and has won an award for his own Viserys cosplay (a character choice that was a little too on the nose if you ask me). I don’t think that Andy’s necessarily trying to join the fandom, though. He has reached out to GoT cosplayers at least a couple of times on Facebook, but they read more as attempts to impress them than to become one of them.

Keep reading

[delwynmarch]

Loved the whole post. Just want to comment on one thing:

He’s also been selected for season two of Viva La Cosplay, which ought to be…interesting.

If I had to make a bet, I’d say that this is going to end up being a disastrous move for Andy. I can’t imagine that he will manage to keep his asshole side from showing all the way through. In other words, he’s going to make his own Andy Awareness Campaign in the cosplay community.

One question though: does anyone know if the people on that show are aware of Andy’s abusive ways? If they already knew about them when they chose to take him, then fine. But if they didn’t research him, then I don’t feel right letting them step into that trap without at least giving them a heads-up.

[theteablogger]

omg, so this just occurred to me but a while back on andy's tumblr someone asked him if any of the characters in the daydverse had abusive parents and I remember his answer skeeved me the fuck out. I'll look for the post, but he did this long spiel about how abuse "isn't clear cut" and is "hard to define". Had lines like "are Ernie MacMillan's parents abusive because they made him work 12 hour shifts on the farm from age 10 on?" and (1/2)

 "is Derek’s dad abusive because he’ll kill Derek if Derek tells him he’s gay?“ AND A LOT of other weird examples that I looked at and was like, “uhhh yeah that is definitely child abuse????” that he was trying to paint as a “grey area”. I’ll try and find it (2/2)

FOUND IT!!! /post/15341747487/child-abuse-in-the-daydverse

Thanks for pointing that out, Anon! The post in question is from January 5, 2012, and…wow, there’s a lot to unpack there. I’m sure there are many things that I’ll miss or that I won’t be able to explore in detail because of my lack of expertise in this area (I’ve done a lot of reading for personal reasons, but that doesn’t make me an expert), so I hope that others who are more knowledgeable will add their input.

I’m going to go ahead and put this behind a read-more because it’s going to be long and possibly triggering for some people.

Keep reading

[mostlycatsmostly]

[tastefullyoffensive]

This is your cat. This is your cat on drugs.

[theteablogger]

An Anonymous DV Advocate’s Thoughts on It’s About Power

An Anon e-mailed me earlier this week regarding Andy’s writing for the IAP website and has given me permission to share her message. As someone who works in domestic violence advocacy, she is able to comment from a much different perspective than I can as a layperson. It’s interesting to see the contrast between the way that the larger DV community approaches advocacy and the way that Andy writes about it. This Anon’s commentary shows that he did not bother to educate himself at all before trying to get attention as a knowledgeable advocate for survivors of abuse and domestic violence.

Thanks, Anon!

Keep reading

[ashleighlaurenn]

Friday at AwesomeCon!

[andythanfiction-deactivated2017]

Me, my lovely sister, and that treasonous asshole of a brother in law with the terrible taste in hate.

[delwynmarch]

“I’m totally trustworthy now because I’ll always stay faaaar away from the line between fiction and reality.”

But hey, it’s already been, what, 3 years since you’ve been magically cured? And you only spent about an entire decade supposedly being convinced that you were other fictional people, or channeling them. So yeah, I suppose it’s completely fine for you to pretend to be a fictional character again. It’s just for one small post after all, right? And it was just for one small convention... No way this could go wrong...

[shazampanic-deactivated20190720]

i don’t understand people who complain about “sj bullshit”/“political correctness gone wild” in comics? 

you’re literally reading a bunch of stories about heroes who fight for the greater good of all humankind? you are reading about literal Warriors for Justice. like, complaining when wonder woman gives a speech about treating women with respect? that’s the point of her character. that’s who she is. the punching is second to the respecting women bit. 

how in the hell can you go around saying “yeah, i want my violent bloody fights for justice, with a little less, you know, justice?” you want to see superman punch a nazi in the face, but you don’t want superman to be doing it to protect a jewish character because that would be ‘too preachy’? 

how do you not feel like a batman villain when you complain about too much justice motivating the violence. how do you not realize you sound like the joker when you say “i want more graphic, bloody violence, but can you put less justice, compassion, and kindness in the reasoning for it?”

[andythanfiction-deactivated2017]

Because traditional geekboy culture has fuckall to do with actual justice. It’s “Revenge of the Nerds.” It’s the power fantasies of socially awkward straight white boys who were picked on in high school and don’t realize that their persecution was a side effect of the system too so they create superpowered hypermasculine white avatars who beat up all the bad guys and get all the women, and implying in any way that they’re in some ways the ones who have privilege or that they’re the bad guys to others pisses them off beyond all comprehension and reason because it ruins their fantasy.

[delwynmarch]

Andy Blake knows AAAALLLL there’s to know about “creat[ing] superpowered hypermasculine white avatars who beat up all the bad guys and get all the women“, that’s for sure! Let me rec one-heck-of-a-ride once again.

[andythanfiction-deactivated2017]

Avengers sexual orientation headcanons

From a discussion at con that seemed Tumblrish enough to post.

TONY - Considers himself straight, but during some of his wilder parties and clubbing has, while under the influence, made out with (or more) more genders than he really has a list of.

THOR - loves Jane monogamously, but hasn’t really put any consideration into the idea of human gender and aesthetically appreciates all the delightful forms the people of Earth take.

BRUCE - theoretically considers himself capable of falling in love with anyone (the whole other guy thing aside) but has only actually experienced love and attraction for women.

NATASHA - has seduced men, women, and whatever else she needed to in the line of duty, but is only just barely beginning to poke at the idea of what SHE likes and doesn’t consider herself to have enough data for a label yet.

CLINT - likes women, doesn’t care what you like, doesn’t mind when guys hit on him unless they don’t take no for an answer but not because homophobia, because he’s fucking married.

STEVE - knows he likes women (especially Peggy), and is just starting to learn about the modern sexuality spectrum, but possibility of identifying bi is tied up in Bucky which is tied up in more pain and PTSD than he can cope with right now with so much unresolved, so he just star spangled nopes right back to duty and distraction.

[delwynmarch]

And as proof that Andy is still as misogynistic and homophobic as ever, I offer this:

Look at Clint. Clint “doesn’t mind when guys hit on him unless they don’t take no for an answer but not because homophobia, because he’s fucking married.” Okay. But what about when people other than men hit on him? Does he mind then? 

If the only reason he minds when men (and ONLY men) hit on him, is because some of them won’t take no for an answer and that’s a problem because he’s married, then he SHOULD mind when WHOEVER hits on him and won’t take no for an answer - including women, even if he likes them.

But that’s not what Andy says. Andy says that Clint’s marriage only interferes with his being hit on by persistent men.

How can that be? Let’s examine the possibilities:

1. Nobody but men ever hit on him. Women, in particular, never do. Good old misogyny, here.

2. All kinds of people hit on him, but only men can be persistent enough to bother him. In other words: only non-straight men don’t respect his boundaries. This is blatant homophobia.

Any way I look at it, I can’t find an explanation that isn’t based on either “women never act like some men do in seduction matters” and/or “non-straight men can be sexually predatory to other men”.

Misogyny and/or homophobia.

As usual.

[lostlegendaerie]

[continuallynomadic-deactivated2]

This is so much better of a way of putting it.

[delwynmarch]

Hey, Andy? Reblogging a post saying, “Thing X is really bad” doesn’t magically absolve you from having done Thing X over and over again, to horrifying degrees. You, Andy Blake, only know how to express “masculinity” through violent homophobia and misogyny, as anyone who’s read your fic knows only too well*. So DON’T BE A HYPOCRITE ABOUT IT ON TOP¨OF IT, FFS!

* I invite people who don’t feel like reading Andy’s fics but still want to get an idea of how profoundly homophobic and misogynistic he and his characters are, to take a look at one-heck-of-a-ride . Don’t forget to bring a barf bag, though; you’ll need it, sooner or later.

[theteablogger]

Wow, that logo is terrible. :( In what world is a fist covered in blood an appropriate logo for an anti-dv organization??

(I started to answer this and then just shrugged and threw my whole write-up on the IAP website in there. Sorry, Anon!)

In the world of Andrew Blake, Paragon of Sensitivity.

Most organizations that oppose domestic violence or advocate for survivors’ rights have logos that are text-based or that feature symbols like open hands, open arms, ribbons, houses, and so forth. They represent safety, support, caring, nurturing, shelter. Those logos that aren’t completely neutral evoke a sense of empathy for survivors of abuse.

Andy’s logo is of a bloody fist, a symbol of aggression, oppression, and violence. No one looking at this logo is going to feel cared for or protected; rather, it evokes feelings of fear and revulsion. Instead of indicating empathy with the person suffering abuse, this imagery suggests that the organization is taking the side of the abuser.

I don’t believe that E, K, or anyone else who was involved with It’s About Power feels especially sympathetic toward abusive people. But does Andy?

Well, yeah.

Keep reading

[theteablogger]

Does anyone happen to have a screenshot of any part of the It’s About Power website (Edit: with banners, etc., as it was before it was taken down) that they’re willing to send me? I’ve been working on a more detailed post about the site and Andy’s pontificating about abuse, and it’s hard to convey how weirdly dark and intimidating the design was without being able to show it. I would censor names/personal info, of course.

[theteablogger]

what happened to "this isn't about me" and "don't wanna get personal"?

Despite my best intentions, I think it’s become pretty clear that I do take certain things personally and I do sometimes make things “about me“ when I shouldn’t. I try not to, but as several very kind people pointed out last month, I’m human. I have issues like anyone else–issues that are part of what got me into this, for all that I tried to fake detachment–and they sometimes cloud my judgment. That’s something I’ll always have to work on, I’m sure, and I may as well be honest about it. Especially if sharing might help someone else.

That said, at this point I’ve shared way, way, WAY more than I ever wanted to on this blog, so this will be the end of “TB airs their dirty laundry.”

[delwynmarch]

Shocking news! A troll on the internet uncovers a stunning secret: someone behind a Tumblr account is not in fact an emotionless robot, but only an imperfectly rational human being! Can the world cope with such a let-down?