Andy Blake, better known on Tumblr as andythanfiction, is not at all what he seems. Presenting himself as a friendly, enthusiastic, artful member of the supernatural fandom, Andy would appear to be harmless and even comes off as extremely cool and likable. This could not be farther from the truth. Andythanfiction is a harmful, dangerous cult leader. Yes, for real. Cults still exist. I know, I was shocked, as well.
My intent in writing this post is twofold:
Warn and protect the friends I made at DC Con
Warn and protect the cast of Supernatural
I met Andythanfiction at the most recent Creation Ent. Supernatural Convention, in Washington DC, where he not only won the cosplay contest for Best Castiel, but also donned an extremely good Kevin Tran cosplay (pictured above) for most if not all of Friday and Sunday. He was delightful. He was impressive. He actually got Mark Sheppard to use props in a photograph. I liked him.
Earlier today, I remembered where I’d heard his name before. It wasn’t, as I’d suspected, from reading his Destiel meta. No. It was something far more sinister.
I remembered reading an article about a man who liked to flit from fandom to fandom, become popular and well liked, and slowly begin to draw in a “posse”. A group of friends. A following. And then proceed to use them, leech them of their money and identity, take what he wanted from them, and when they began to catch wise, dump them out of his “protection” with no money, no friends outside the cult, and no idea of who they were without him.
I thought to myself that it couldn’t have been the Andy I met. And then I checked my blog. Not, as you’ll notice, this blog. And I found the post I’d been thinking of. I will not link it here, as to not endanger the author of the original ask post. They’re a dear friend of mine and the entire point of this post is to keep the people I love safe. But, I will copy the text of it, below.
Anonymous asked: who is that andy guy? what did he do? i never heard of him
I included a link in that post — though I’d say it’s probably best that if you haven’t heard of him, not to trouble yourself with reading into it. Unless you like reading about sociopaths and cult leaders. In that case, it might be considered an interesting read.
Suffice it to say he is a well-known destiel meta writer on tumblr and years ago he did some very awful things in another fandom, and I am worried for my own little SPN fandom. I am also vaguely worried about Misha, but I don’t think that one’s a very valid worry. You can read the information in the linked post for more information.
Go on and read the linked post. I’ll wait. While you’re there, feel free to click on the other posts that one links to. Trigger Warning for gaslighting, brainwashing, sexual assault, sexual abuse, cults, and emotional manipulation. If I have forgotten to warn for something, please do message me and I will append this paragraph.
The above post was written in October of 2013. At that point, Andy had not gone to any Supernatural conventions, and was still in the process of assimilating himself into our fanmily.
He has now begun to escalate, as he has done before. At this last convention, he was buddying up to Osric, and telling fans that Osric gave him his phone number. This is yet to be confirmed, but if he has, the situation is even more troubling.
Andy has been working on gaining the trust of not only Osric but of many fans of the show. One way he earns people’s trust is by playing the victim card. He then uses that trust to victimize others. If you doubt that he could, then he has probably gotten to you.
Because he’s likable. He really is. You may read the post above and think, “Wow, what a monster, I bet he’s actually really creepy.”
He is not. He is very good at what he does. If he was noticeably creepy, even to one’s intuition, people would not trust him, and he would not be a threat.
If you met him at the convention a couple of weeks ago, you may already like him. You may already consider him a friend. You may even be going to his Season Nine party, or traveling with him to San Diego con.
Even if you tell yourself that you do not and will not trust him, do not go near him. Keep. Your. Distance. He will weasel his way past your guard just as soon as you’re not looking. He will find the cracks in your defenses and slip silently in through them and the next thing you know, he’ll be inducting you into his Posse and you’ll be telling yourself that he really isn’t so bad, and then I fear it will be too late for you.
He WILL play the victim. He WILL say that this and all other posts exposing him are unfair and ruining his life. He WILL refuse to own up that he is only ruining his OWN life by continuing to act this way and follow these patterns of behavior. And if he DOES own up it will only be to say that he’s changed now. But do you see how his “friends” call themselves his “posse” now? How he refers to them as a herd?
By the way, none of this is to blame any of his friends. It is extemely important to remember is that they are not foolish people. They’re intelligent, good people. Do not think that by being “smarter” or “more careful” than them that you can avoid the harm that Andy inflicts on the people around him.
The ONLY way to avoid harm is to stay away from him. If you do know him, immediately do everything in your power to cut ALL contact with him.
