Andy's latest version of his history: he "effectively" led two separate cults by accident because of an "echo chamber" that affirmed his erroneous beliefs. All he really wanted to do was help people! And remember, he was hiding the fact that he was trans, so that made him especially prone to going off the rails and ending up as a cult leader somehow. Twice. If only the people following him had known to be wary of an individual claiming to have "a Great World-Changing-Reality-Shifting TRUTH" because that's totally what he did right up front!
The reality is that he literally led two separate cults, which he built and maintained using time-honored techniques right out of the standard cult leader playbook, and he abused people within these cults. Read Abbey's blog for a high-level overview of how he drew in her and the Bagenders, his Lord of the Rings-based cult:
[Andy] was very skillful at letting other people draw conclusions that he controlled. With time and perspective, it was a clear and obvious pattern. He’d spend as much time as possible isolating his next target, taking extended walks and talking for hours and hours. Eventually, he’d start weaving in all the supernatural stuff and then suddenly someone else “had figured it out.” Which, of course, was more proof; they hadn’t been told, they had put it together independently. And once we believed, we believed.
Oh, and this should go without saying--but trans people (including those who are closeted) and people with mental illnesses are in no way more prone to cultbuilding behavior than anyone else is. It's unconscionable that Andy is still using these things as excuses for what he did.
