Andy Blake: A Timeline
This timeline covers the usernames and pseudonyms that Andrew Blake has used over the years and the major events in which each was involved. I am leaving out a couple of brief relationships and a lot of sexuality/gender-related wank because this is not about gender or sexuality. I will use he/him pronouns to refer to Andy under all of his aliases.
If you have comments or questions about any part of this timeline, please contact me at theteablogger@gmail.com or on my tumblr.
1998
Date Unknown
Sometime between July and November, Amy Player, using the e-mail address player@widomaker.com, shares his first Sharpe fic on the Sharpe Yahoo! group. He says that he is 15 years old and lives in a "small rural part of America" without access to a library: he must wait several months for the bookmobile to bring the Sharpe books to him. Amy directly addresses Bernard Cornwell, author of the novels, in the introductory note to his fic.
September 29
Strwriter makes his first post on alt.startrek.creative. Some members of the Star Trek: Voyager and Due South fandoms will eventually get to know Strwriter as Amy Player.
Strwriter says that he is 15 years old; a college student holding down at least two jobs; and a professional actor, singer, and dancer with a national touring company. He uses the e-mail address player@widomaker.com. Strwriter writes fanfiction, does fanart, and enjoys running fanfiction contests.
November 13
Voyagerbabe makes his first post on alt.startrek.creative. Some members of the Star Trek: Voyager and Due South fandoms will eventually get to know Voyagerbabe as Ciyarra Tallaver.
Voyagerbabe claims to be an 18-year-old college student and a victim of childhood sexual abuse. He and Strwriter say that they are best friends and coworkers. In March 1999, Voyagerbabe tells alt.startrek.creative that between the two of them, they have three majors and five jobs. Voyagerbabe uses the e-mail addresses voyagerbabe@my-dejanews.com and voyagerbabe@hotmail.com and the AIM username VBabe47. Voyagerbabe writes fanfiction and helps Strwriter maintain his website and run fanfiction contests.
1999
May 5
Voyagerbabe introduces Strwriter to alt.tv.due-south.
Periodically throughout 1998-1999, Strwriter and Voyagerbabe each make posts on Usenet and Yahoo! groups for Star Trek: Voyager and Due South about the “identity crisis” between the two of them. In 1998, they claim that they are both using Strwriter’s computer to read and post to Usenet groups because Voyagerbabe doesn’t have a home computer and can’t access newsgroups at the library. In April 1999, Voyagerbabe says that he finally has his own computer. Occasionally one or the other will somehow lose internet access, so they still post on each other’s behalf.
End of July
Both Strwriter and Voyagerbabe are effectively done participating in Star Trek fandom.
October 20
Someone claiming to be Amy’s mother posts to alt.tv.due-south using the same player@widomaker.com address that Strwriter uses. There is no way to be certain as to who this really was.
2000
August 30
Strwriter bows out of online fandom altogether, allegedly having been forbidden by his parents to use the internet for non-academic purposes.
Voyagerbabe continues to participate in Due South fandom via Usenet and Yahoo! groups.
2001
Voyagerbabe’s participation in Due South fandom gradually declines throughout the year. He begins going by VBabe and the initials VB.
March 14
VB announces to Ride Forever, a Due South Yahoo! group, that he is engaged. His alleged fiancé is a real person and his name will not be mentioned here. (This is the guy who became known as “Some Ozzie Bloke” during the BoE era, though I’m almost certain that he never wrote any of the posts that were attributed to him in that group.)
May 1
VB informs Ride Forever that he has miraculously learned to draw over the course of a single evening spent with a book, so now he can contribute fanart as well as fic. Someone else in the thread points out that he’d previously posted his own good quality fanart to the list—oops!
June 3
Victoria Bitter posts for the first time to hhfic, a Horatio Hornblower Yahoo! group. He says that he is a twenty-year-old waiter and theme park portrait artist (with a birthday of 24 September), that he has been a living history interpreter for ten years, that he travels internationally for his work as an actor, and that he was born in London, England. Victoria Bitter was active at least a little before this point, but since the A&E boards for HH have long since been taken down, I can’t pinpoint his first appearance more accurately than this. He continues to use the e-mail address voyagerbabe@hotmail.com.
September 24
VB makes his last post in the Due South Yahoo! group Ride Forever (cross-posted to hhfic and probably other groups that I haven’t spotted yet). The post is about an “unknown person” who has allegedly hijacked his AIM account, VBabe47.
December 17
VB enters the Lord of the Rings fandom. He joins the tolkien_slash Yahoo! group, introducing himself as "a 21-year-old English major living in Eastern Virginia". He will later repeat on this group the lie that he is "born and raised a Brit…family from Sheffield, raised betwixt there and London".
December 21
Abbey and VB's first interaction occurs when Abbey reviews one of VB's stories.
December 27
On hhfic, Victoria Bitter briefly joins in a discussion of names found in The Lord of the Rings, Hornblower, and the works of C. S. Lewis. This is his last post to that group and his last participation in HH fandom of which I am aware.
2002
January 4
Victoria Bitter, still using the e-mail address voyagerbabe@hotmail.com and the AIM (and now Yahoo!) username VBabe47, starts the Bit of Earth Yahoo! group (henceforth known as BoE). That same day, he e-mails the webmaster of Sean Astin’s official website to let them know about the group and encourage Sean to get involved.
This version of Victoria Bitter says that he is a twenty-one-year-old college student born in Sheffield, England who is engaged to the "Ozzie Bloke" mentioned in Part I. Said Ozzie Bloke later leaves two LJ comments with an account of their relationship from his perspective.
January 8-9
"Chris", a Marine that VB supposedly met at a showing of The Fellowship of the Ring, posts twice to BoE. Chris uses the Yahoo! handle Rennie Gade and the e-mail address vivazebool@hotmail.com. I’ve already discussed why I think this is actually Victoria Bitter.
January 9
Abbey, as Orangeblossomb/Orangeblossom Brambleburr, joins Bit of Earth. Up to this point, her interactions with VB have been limited to writing reviews of his fanfiction.
February 12
"Some Ozzie Bloke" allegedly posts to BoE under Victoria Bitter’s name because VB has an eye infection and can’t see well enough to type. He says that he is reading him his e-mail and posting fic and art for him, in addition to recording all of his lectures for school. When VB has to go to the hospital, the Ozzie Bloke brings VB’s laptop along so that he can continue reading aloud to him (fanfiction, email, and messages on BoE) and communicating on his behalf. All of this leads up to someone getting one of VB’s sketches signed for him by Sean Astin. This is probably VB himself looking for attention. Mysterious medical ailments, friends and SOs who read messages/e-mails/fic and liveblog the illness, and extremely odd behavior in hospitals are by now well-known hallmarks of Münchausen by Internet.
February 17
Victoria Bitter starts a LiveJournal account. His profile lists the AIM username VBabe47. In a meme, he acknowledges that his legal name is Amy Player. This establishes the first definitive link between Amy Player and Voyagerbabe/VB, but no one realizes the significance at the time.
Sometime between February and March, VB reveals his Amazing Channeling Powers to Abbey over chat. He mentions wanting to “reach out” to LotR cast members, specifically Orlando Bloom and Elijah Wood.
March 19
Abbey says of VB, "[He] opened the doors to a world I'd only dreamed of, and held my hand at the threshold," which seems to be a reference to VB's channeling. She also speaks of talking with VB for "sixteen hours…watching the sun come up and knowing I'll be tired for a week, but being happy anyway." This is at least the fourth mention of sleep deprivation in connection with VB on Abbey's LiveJournal.
April 2
Abbey writes, "If the fellowship ever was alive, really alive, I firmly believe that their souls were reborn into these nine actors…and if they weren't…then I channeled one of them last night." Initially, she relates this to feeling "inside" a character while writing fanfiction, but also describes it as a spiritual experience.
The following are excerpts from a lengthy chatlog that appears in Appendix A of Turimel's book When a Fan Hits the Shit. This is the same chatlog quoted in "On Andy and Violence, Part I". Based on the content, the chat would have happened at the beginning of April. V is VB; O is Abbey.
"V: When you hear them whisper behind your thoughts and open your eyes on their memories.
O: When you're awake at two in the morning and you're seeing through their eyes and hearing their thoughts and saying their words for them.
V: When you strike his hand and wince in pain, and when his tears flow with your sorrow mingled in false pain and real saltwater.
O: When for a while you're not sure where you leave off and he begins.
V: When you speak with his voice and he beats with your heart and you vomit his pain upon the page so hard that nothing of your own life can curl within the space you've created, and it can fill only with more of itself until you wonder if really you're left at all as you, or if you have become a shell of flesh, a vessel possessed by a being that neveralwaysnow existed.
O: I cannot even put into words what its like to read that, and know someone else has a fucking clue what I mean"
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"V: My Master says that some of the creatures of Middle Earth – Elves, Dragons, Dwarves – existed much as described, as beings Other Than Man – long ago, because there are artifacts found beyond the capability of the cultures they are found in, and there are just TOO DAMN MANY myths from tribes that never knew each other, countries that never collided that are all the same."
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"V: [My Master] says that the surge of interest in Tolkien's Middle Earth has created a huge explosion of creational energy…not only through the fans, but through the thousands of deeply devoted people in the production itself. ...the real star-spirits and tree-spirits are reacting to it, reaching out in return. … In our case, they reach to us through the most closely identified aspects…hobbits."
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"V: She says I'm being contacted by the warrior-spirit – he's been called everything from Thor to Ares to Seti over the ages – trying to use Soldier!Merry as an avenue to tap my creational energies.
V: she says that … you're being touched by Athena/Eaestar/Isis – the Goddess of children, protection, fertility, wisdom, and youth – manifesting as Pippin … She also nailed that you've been in pain lately, both physically and spiritually, about the subject of your own fertility."
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"O: To have been reaching for The Mother, seeking her, praying to her, lighting candles…and to find out she's trying to reach me and I can't hear her!"
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"V: You know, the concept of inspired metaphorical writing in the context of the author's own reality is NOT new. HOW many sacred texts were written just that way? With the Divine empowering the author's pen somehow to write, but the author using the words and metaphors and characters of their own culture? Rami, Moses, Buddah"
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"V: You need a Master, a Guide a Shaman, an Elder…just like you said.
V: Look in the papers, ask around. Find the nearest Coven or Circle. They can put you in touch with people who at least speak the right language."
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"V: I think it's very possible that you're strong with the Great Mother, because that's the perfect opposite of the Warrior, and I'm so strong with Him. Spirits tend to seek balance."
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"V: And I've just realized that I have been unspeakably presumptuous all night. Please forgive me for this. Just had a reality check: VB, you're 19. You've never met this woman. You're a neophyte in your own religion. What right do you have to be picking apart her psyche?
O: *shakes head* VB, I've never had this experience before, and it's incredible…and right."
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"V: You know, I'm feeling daring. I think I might try something…it's only worked once before, but I've only TRIED it once before.
O: What is that?
V: It's sort of…a psychic phone call.
…
V: I'm entertaining this mad idea about trying to 'reach out and touch' one of the boys. … I'd probably go for Orli or Lij.
…
V: It wouldn't be mind reading or anything, I'll tell you that right now, nor would it be a psychic conversation or IM. … It's a spattering of sensation, of sense-images like raindrops, and a general sense of how a mind works or the shape of a spirit." [When VB actually "channels" Elijah Wood, as with the hobbits and other characters, he "speaks through her" and he and Abbey do in fact have conversations and IM sessions.]
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"V: You matter more than Sean, Sam, and BoE put together, love."
April 5-7
VB attends Connexions, where he meets many fellow fans and LJ friends. According to other attendees, he receives a great deal of attention for being a young slash fan at his first convention, and he gets so drunk one night that EMTs are called to attend to him. He also begins a brief romantic relationship with Versaphile (according to the "Ozzie Bloke", they are still together for the entirety of this relationship). VB speaks with a fake British accent.
April 8
Abbey makes an appointment with a "Minister of New Thought" regarding her channeling and other recent "psychic" experiences. She plans to print some of her chatlogs with VB to show this person.
April 19
The Great Hobbit Brain-Dump, in which VB claims to receive Merry’s soul and his lifetime of memories. "Merry" chronicles his experiences in the brandagamba LiveJournal and teaches people pseudo-Westron via chat.
May 8
VB writes that he has officially ended his relationship with Versaphile.
June 2
Victoria Bitter flies to Oregon for a week-long visit with Abbey, during which he channels LotR characters in person.
June or July
VB starts "channeling" Elijah Wood and writing as him on LiveJournal under the username PadawanS (short for Padawan Sidious). "Elijah" drops a lot of hints as to his identity, such as writing about music that the real Elijah Wood is known to like and not posting on days that he is known to have appearances scheduled. Jordan/”Elijah” spreads a lot of misinformation on LJ, TheOneRing.net, and message boards on other sites. Despite several posts that Strwriter and Voyagerbabe made between 1998-2001 regarding “their” distaste for homosexuality and slash, he alleges that he and Dominic Monaghan are in love, and in contrast to MsAllegro's claims that New Line Cinema is forcing them to remain closeted, they are actually trying to hide their relationship from New Line because the whole cast is under contract not to date each other until after the release of The Return of the King. He uses claims of insider knowledge regarding the LotR cast and the film industry to make it all sound more plausible.
July 29
The first known mention of PadawanS on Abbey's LiveJournal.
Late August or early September
Abbey flies to Virginia to visit VB.
September 5-7
In response to the drama surrounding MsAllegro’s Domlijah tinhattery, VB has Abbey post a couple of stern messages to BoE on his behalf, due to “computer problems”.
September 11
Project Elanor is announced on the BoE website and Yahoo! group. Victoria Bitter approaches Sean Astin at a 9/11 memorial event in NYC and asks him to participate in a community service project to build a reading garden for children. He is now using the e-mail address victoriabitter@bitofearth.net.
October
VB moves in with Abbey. Diamond, Sue, Shopping Cart Bob, and Little Sam eventually join them. (The group will henceforth be referred to as The BagEnders because that’s what they called themselves.) VB starts building the cult in earnest.
November 3
Victoria Bitter makes his final post to BoE and to his LiveJournal and withdraws from online fandom.
This is about the point at which the "Jordan Wood" alias first comes to light. He tells Abbey that he has taken on the “duplicate soul” of Elijah Wood. Sometimes he claims that Elijah’s split soul didn’t want to go back to his body; at other times, he says that it simply couldn’t. He tells some other people (eventually to include Turimel) that he is Elijah Wood’s cousin. Both stories are kept secret for a while. Abbey and Jordan start telling people that Victoria Bitter is dead.
Jordan also alleges that Elijah’s “abusive” family is involved with the IRA and wants to drag him into it as well. This represents just a fraction of the lies that Jordan tells about himself, Elijah Wood, and other LotR cast members. Over the next thirteen months, he will do a great deal of damage that changes the way that New Line Cinema and many of the actors involved in LotR deal with fans and fandom.
November 30
Mr. Frodo makes his first post to BoE, announcing the Line Party at Lloyd Cinema in Portland, OR for the release of The Two Towers. He identifies himself as Bit of Earth’s Public Relations Director and uses the e-mail address mrfrodo@bitofearth.net. He also has a misterfrodo LiveJournal, but like padawans, it has long since been purged.
December 18
The Line Party, AKA Tentmoot 2002, takes place. There are games with prizes, a costume contest, a raffle with proceeds going to Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), karaoke, a viewing of the animated The Hobbit and LotR movies, and more. Jordan Wood/Mr. Frodo runs the event with Abbey. They dress as Frodo and Sam respectively, with Jordan’s hair glued to their feet—they tell people that it’s from their friend who recently died. The party goes very well and everyone is excited to plan another event.
2003
January 13
Mr. Frodo posts to BoE to warn members that someone is posing online as Victoria Bitter. He now calls himself BoE’s Assistant Director.
January 31
Mr. Frodo makes his last post to the BoE Yahoo! group, congratulating Sean Astin on his appointment to a Presidential Council.
February 3
On the new BoE email list, Mr. Frodo shares some news about Project Elanor, which is planned to take place at a library. The post includes a note that the garden is being designed by "a local Master Gardener". This is actually Samwise Gamgee, as "channeled" by Jordan.
February 15
Mr. Frodo announces that Sean Astin will be attending Project Elanor.
February 20
BoE’s website message board, The Prancing Pony, is redirected to one of Versaphile’s LJ entries, which presents photographic evidence that Jordan Wood and Victoria Bitter are the same person. (The pictures have since been deleted from her site, but here they are: Victoria Bitter as Frodo from 2001, Victoria Bitter from 2002 Connexions, and Mister Frodo and OrangeblossomB from 2003. This is her statement regarding the URL hack.) Jordan is able to sweep it under the rug pretty quickly by blaming a “bitter ex”.
March
A volunteer agrees to get all of the plants for Project Elanor donated from various garden centers and nurseries. Jordan sends her the plans for the garden and promises to give her the numbers and types of plants needed within a few days. He does not provide this information until March 28, by which point she is unable to get everything they need, although she does manage to obtain the majority. When she arrives in Portland a few days before Project Elanor, Jordan informs her that the entire garden plan and most of the numbers and types of plants needed has changed. She then has to contact all the people that have been helping her with the new information, and fortunately, they are able to pivot. She later expresses to Abbey that she isn't sure how much they will be able to accomplish on April 5, the day set aside to prepare the site for the garden. Jordan subsequently tells the other volunteers via email, "'the woman who was getting the plants announced that she isn't going to work anymore.'"
March 12
Abbey announces on the BoE website that the Project Elanor venue has changed from the Rockwood Library to the Riggs Institute Learning and Literacy Center in Beaverton, OR.
March 27
Abbey announces, again on the website, that Sean Astin will be appearing at a screening of The Two Towers preceded by his short film, The Long and the Short of It, the day before Project Elanor takes place. As with any leftover donations from Project Elanor itself, proceeds from the screening are to benefit RIF.
End of March
According to Turimel, Jordan calls and tells her that the volunteer in charge of getting lumber donated for the deck in the garden "'just decided one day that she was tired of helping'" and damaged BoE's relationship with a lumber mill that was supposed to donate materials. Turimel agrees to step in and discovers that BoE is asking for immediate delivery of about $3000 worth of lumber. She eventually finds a company that will sell BoE the lumber at cost and accept payment after all monetary donations are received.
Other volunteers during the lead-up to Project Elanor describe a lack of communication, constant changes of plan, and feeling overworked and unappreciated.
April 6
Project Elanor takes place with Sean Astin and his family in attendance. Again, Jordan and Abbey run the event together. As noted above, Project Elanor does not go entirely according to plan. The money from the Two Towers screening, Sean's auction of his volunteer badge, t-shirt sales, etc., which people thought would go to RIF, instead goes to pay for supplies…but the group does create a lovely reading garden that still exists today.
The group is unable to complete the entire project in one day, and a subsequent work party is held to finish. Jordan appears with a cast on his hand so that he is unable to work. This cast is made of craft store plaster applied by an elven healer that he "channeled"; his hand is not really injured.
May 14
Along with a number of staff changes, the Hall of Fire Summer Music Festival, the Lost Palantir Film Festival, and Tentmoot 2003 are announced on the BoE website.
Sometime after the announcement, at least two different volunteers are asked to provide Jordan with demo CDs for potential bands to play at Hall of Fire. Abbey has no involvement in planning this event.
According to the page dedicated to Hall of Fire on the BoE website, Elijah Wood has been asked to emcee the festival. According to the Lost Palantir page, it will feature a "possible appearance" by Billy Boyd.
June
Jordan asks that anyone who is attending ComicCon approach one of the hobbit actors in the autograph line or at a Q&A and ask them to call him during Hall of Fire to help him propose to Abbey. A BoE member who is attending GenCon, which is scheduled for the same weekend as Hall of Fire, offers to ask Sean Astin to do it.
Volunteers (including Shopping Cart Bob) arrange for a number of local bands, as well as some from Seattle and California, to perform at Hall of Fire. Sue is also able to obtain high quality sound equipment free of charge.
June 30
The Rocky Horror Ringer Show (a RHPS-style showing of The Two Towers with accompanying live performance and audience participation) is announced as a fundraiser for Tentmoot. Abbey plans this event on her own.
July
A volunteer is asked to arrange Elijah Wood's travel to Portland for Hall of Fire. She arranges for other BoE members to donate frequent flier miles and pays to have them transferred to her account so that she can use them to purchase his ticket.
At some point early in the month, Jordan learns that Elijah Wood is in New Zealand filming The Return of the King and will be unable to appear at Hall of Fire. He does not share this information with the aforementioned volunteer until a few days before the event.
July 5
The Rocky Horror Ringer Show takes place and is a great success.
July 25
Volunteers and several bands, including at least one that has driven from Seattle, arrive at Portland's Holiday Park to set up for Hall of Fire. A park ranger then appears and informs them that no permit has been secured for the event. When Jordan is eventually located, he blames this on a specific volunteer (who later says that she was never asked to obtain permits). The ranger says that the second day of the festival can go on as planned only if BoE gets a permit. Jordan leaves to take care of this and the other volunteers are left standing around awkwardly with the bands until he returns with the paperwork.
July 26
Only two DJs and one musician show up for Hall of Fire. No audience arrives, other than the volunteers who are there to help. Jordan proposes to Abbey on stage with help from Sean Astin, who calls from GenCon as previously arranged.
The failure of Hall of Fire seems to be mostly Jordan’s fault due to poor planning, procrastination on a grand scale, and delegating tasks without giving anyone adequate resources or the power to make real decisions. The bands chosen for the festival later report that either they never received any further contact after they agreed to appear, or they were never contacted in the first place.
July 28
Jordan announces on the BoE website and mailing list that due to the lack of turnout at Hall of Fire, BoE is $2,500 in the hole and in danger of going under. They have managed to gather $1,550 from sources including members' parents and friends, members' savings, etc., but they still need $950. They promise that everyone who donates will be repaid after Lost Palantir, if not sooner. By July 31, they have the money they need. It is unknown whether these people are ever paid back.
Much later, one of the former volunteers discovers that the Parks Department returned Jordan's check for the permit due to insufficient funds. (Note the "NSF" stamp above Jordan's signature and the two processing stamps on the reverse side of the check.) It appears that Jordan altered the copy of the cancelled check that he gave to BoE's treasurer to remove any indication that it bounced. Turimel reports that the check for the balance ($890) still owed to the company that provided the lumber for Project Elanor is issued on July 28, so it seems likely that is where some of the donations went.
August
The BagEnders move from Milwaukie to Salem, OR with help from Turimel.
August 27
Jordan informs a BoE member who has offered to spread the word on Billy's official forum that Billy will officially be appearing at Lost Palantir. He asks this person to post on the forum and ask people who want to attend, to donate toward Billy's airfare. When she does so, the thread is promptly deleted and she is chastised by Billy's webmaster, who says that Billy wants to attend, but will not be "confirmed" until he has a paid ticket in hand.
Despite the thread's deletion, a number of people donate, including one who wires $500 directly to BoE. By the end of the month, they have enough money to cover Billy's airfare; however, they never buy him a ticket. At some point, Turimel personally sees an email on Jordan's computer from another of Billy's representatives, saying that he is no longer able to appear at Lost Palantir.
Jordan initially blames the "confusion" over Billy's appearance on the webmaster and claims to be working with his representatives. Finally, the BoE member who solicited donations refunds them all and warns the person who had sent $500 to cancel her wire transfer. Jordan then blames this person for everything.
September
Jordan refuses to do any advertising for Lost Palantir, claiming that the theater manager has forbidden it until Billy Boyd's appearance is confirmed. This is untrue.
September 4
Jordan claims that Sean Astin wants to attend Lost Palantir and to tour the Project Elanor garden with reporters from E! Entertainment Network. He says that Sean is trying to work things out with Billy and his representation, and later says that Billy will be appearing because of Sean's recommendation. In the end, he blames Billy's inability to come on a scheduling mix-up.
Jordan then says that Sean, Dominic Monaghan, and Viggo Mortensen have all agreed to attend. He later amends this to say that all three will make video appearances, as their schedules are now booked with PR for The Return of the King.
September 19
Jordan sends Sue from Portland to LA to pick up Sean's tape, film Dom and Viggo's appearances, and obtain autographs for the winners from all three. BoE pays for her airfare, but she covers her own lodging, food, and ground transport. Sue obtains Sean's tape at his PR office, then calls Jordan, who tells her that Viggo is doing voiceovers in a studio nearby. He says that Sue should wait there and Jordan will call when Viggo is available. Six hours later, Jordan calls back and says that Viggo is too tired, but wants to meet with Sue the next morning.
September 20
Sue waits an hour for Viggo, who never appears. She then takes a cab to the address that Jordan has given as Dominic Monaghan's home, but ends up having to redirect to the airport so as not to miss her flight back to Portland with Sean's tape. Much later, Turimel will learn that neither Dom's nor Viggo's representatives were ever contacted about anything to do with BoE.
BoE’s Lost Palantir Film Festival goes on, featuring Sean Astin's video appearance. Only 63 people show up to the 700-seat theater. The above is only part of the story regarding the debacle. Several other BoE members are taken advantage of, kept out of the loop, and then blamed by Jordan for Billy Boyd's non-appearance, the lack of publicity, and other issues.
October 1
Jordan tries to obtain an Oregon driver’s license and a Social Security card under the name “Jordan Gabriel Wood”, using an obviously fake “Certificate of Naming” from a nonexistent pagan commune in Estacada. It doesn’t work. Later, he will try this again with a falsified birth certificate based on Abbey’s real one. That doesn’t work, either.
October 3
Jordan sends the Amy Player pseuicide letter to his parents on the same day that the BagEnders move to San Dimas, CA. Turimel assists again by cosigning a loan with Diamond.
October 10
Amy Player is reported missing.
A detective knocks on Turimel’s door looking for Amy Player, who he insists is the same person as Jordan Wood. When Turimel asks for an explanation, Jordan blames Versaphile for spreading the rumor that he and Amy Player are the same person. After Turimel talks to the detective, Abbey and Jordan tell her that Amy is Abbey's ex who'd moved to Oregon to be with her, and that they'd given her a ride to the coast a week before, where she'd mailed a package back east. They then "realize" that she'd said she was "sailing into the west", meaning that she was planning suicide. Turimel passes this on to the detective. Jordan further tells her that he can't go to the police to clear things up because the IRA monitors the system the police use to run background checks and will find and kill him if they run his Social Security Number. This detective also speaks with Sean Astin at some point.
October 21
Abbey sends an e-mail (dictated by Jordan) to Amy’s parents and CC’d to Turimel, stating that Jordan Wood (BoE’s Director of Celebrity Relations) is not their daughter and that Amy has attempted to steal his identity. The e-mail also accuses Shopping Cart Bob of attempting to blackmail Jordan and other members of BoE.
Jordan spends the next month and a half being evasive and outright lying about Tentmoot preparations and his identity with Turimel, the police, and everyone. A lot of actors, artists, consultants, and crew from LotR, not to mention their agents and PR people, are put through the wringer over this, as are the BoE volunteers who are trying to help. During and after the whole fiasco, Jordan also says a lot of terribly insulting, disgusting, sometimes libelous things about these same people via e-mail and on message boards. The following is not an exhaustive account of all of this, but it covers the stories of the four celebrities who tried to fly from New Zealand to Portland via LA for Tentmoot, three of whom actually made it to LA. Note that the story of how Turimel came to pay for their airfare is simplified for clarity.
October 29
Jordan tells Turimel that he's talked to the detective and has been exonerated. Turimel follows up with the detective and learns that, in fact, Jordan has confessed to being Amy Player and to some minor property crimes. The detective tells Sue that he is not arresting Jordan because he would rather see him doing good via BoE than in jail on such minor charges. Days later, Jordan tells Turimel that the detective forced him to confess and that he did so to avoid being caught by the IRA.
November 28
Jordan emails Air New Zealand (ANZ) with a description of BoE and Tentmoot and requests the donation of 14 airfares from New Zealand to Portland, OR. He says that proceeds from Tentmoot will benefit RIF and Future Forests, and claims that the short notice is due to a promised donation having fallen through.
December 1
ANZ responds and says that they are unable to provide the requested free airfares.
December 2
Jordan calls Turimel and tells her that ANZ promised them 14 free airfares "months ago" as part of a program in which they donate 20 tickets to charity each month. Due to the increase in tourism to New Zealand, he says, they reduced the number of tickets they were giving to charity and now are not going to provide any to BoE. Turimel spends the next several days trying various means of getting these airfares at reduced cost.
December 5
Having been communicating by email with Lawrence Makoare for a while, Jordan is able to manipulate him into sharing Sala Baker and Paul Randall's personal email addresses. Jordan immediately contacts both of them to invite them to Tentmoot. He alleges that Three Foot Six (a production company involved in LotR) has refused on Paul's behalf, but that Lawrence has since told him that Paul knows nothing about Tentmoot and is interested. In fact, Three Foot Six told Jordan nothing when he emailed them in search of a contact for Paul. Paul and Sala both agree to attend. Lawrence agreed sometime prior to this. At some point, Jed Brophy hears about Tentmoot from a friend and contacts BoE to ask if he can attend as well.
Jordan spends the next several days stringing Paul and Lawrence along as they repeatedly ask for flight information, spinning stories about a flaky, confused, but generous donor.
December 8
Through a travel agent, Turimel books 14 airfares from New Zealand to LA, totaling $70,000. BoE still needs to get all the guests from LA to Portland. Additionally, they are unable to pay the $70,000 for the international flights, as (Jordan claims) the agency through which they are selling Tentmoot tickets won't release their money in time. Abbey and Jordan start contacting BoE members and asking them to provide their credit card information to cover all of this.
December 9
Jordan informs Turimel that The Black Seeds, a New Zealand band that was supposed to appear at Tentmoot, are no longer coming, thereby eliminating nine airfares. Sala Baker, he says, is flying in on his own for family reasons. BoE now only needs tickets for Lawrence Makoare, Jed Brophy, Brian Sergent, and Paul Randall, which would total $18,000. Jordan asks Turimel to put $10,000 of that on her credit cards. She pays the full $18,000 for the sake of getting the celebrities there, as there would be no Tentmoot without them. She emails all of the BoE staff to let them know she's done this, which is the first many have heard of the airfare fiasco.
A BoE staff member contacts ANZ and subsequently informs Turimel that Jordan's story was a lie: there is no program to donate airfares to charity every month, and ANZ had never promised BoE any free airfares. Turimel confronts Jordan about this. She later calls the travel agent and tells her to cancel the four tickets. ANZ assures the travel agent that they have been canceled.
Jed Brophy, Brian Sergent, and Paul Randall are already at the airport in New Zealand and have checked in for their flights, but still have two hours left before boarding. ANZ does not page them to let them know their tickets have been canceled. They fly to LA. When Lawrence Makoare arrives at the airport, he is unable to check in and is rightfully enraged. He remains in New Zealand.
Much later, when the dust has settled, the cost of the airfares that were used is reduced from roughly $10,000 to $7,800, and the travel agent is ultimately stuck paying it.
Tentmoot fails epically. Its cancellation is announced on the BoE website. Jordan commits pseuicide in front of Abbey, Diamond, and Little Sam.
December 11
Jed Brophy, Paul Randall, and Brian Sergent arrive at LAX. They are expecting to have connecting flights to Portland and try to check in with various airlines. Finally, United Airlines puts them up in a hotel temporarily. After resting for a bit, they go sightseeing in Hollywood with Abbey and Diamond. Brian meets up with family who have a place for him to stay, but Jed and Paul end up sleeping on mattresses on the floor of the BagEnders' apartment. Andy sabotages their third bedroom and blames Turimel and Shopping Cart Bob for everything. Jed, Paul, and Brian fly home the next day. Little Sam’s parents take her home soon after.
December 15
Jordan is arrested in Portland and detained for questioning by the Marion County, OR Sheriff’s Department re: identity theft. He is released the same day. No criminal charges are ever filed. Abbey and Jordan end up paying a fine and being forbidden to solicit money for charity in the state of Oregon.
January 2004 - January 2007
A lot happens offline over the course of three years. Abbey and Diamond have both written about it. To sum up: Jordan/”Elijah Wood” has “died” and the “new core" says that he’s Orlando Bloom because of course he fucking is. Recall that VB had told Abbey in 2002, during the same chat in which they discussed psychically “reaching” Elijah Wood, that Orlando Bloom would be another good channeling candidate. “Orlando” goes by Andy.
Turimel publishes her book. Abbey and Andy begin working as costumed characters in Hollywood. Diamond eventually gets out of the cult. Abbey continues to live under Andy’s thumb as he goes on channeling more and more “Others”. He moves on from LotR to The Chronicles of Narnia (starting with Peter Pevensie/Blakewell) and ends up “bringing through” a large cast of teenage WWII-era soldiers with abusive backgrounds. He legally changes his name to Andrew Michael Blake. And then…
2007
Early February
Having concocted a “plan” to move to Toronto under false pretenses, Andy and Abbey fly from LA to Buffalo via Atlanta with their bird, Boo (AKA “his son, a sparrow”). They try to walk across the border to Canada. It doesn’t work. Andy throws an incredible tantrum and the border guards let them sleep in their office. Abbey’s mother comes to the rescue the next day.
February - March
Operation Catch and Release. Abbey’s mother is beyond amazing.
March 4
Andy posts the first of many fauxpologies on the amy_player LiveJournal. No one is buying it. He explicitly admits to being both Strwriter and Voyagerbabe, but makes no mention of the name Andrew Blake.
Not long after this, Abbey and her mother fly back to Virginia. Abbey breaks things off with Andy. She takes Boo and leaves. Andy throws another gigantic tantrum and continues to harass her with letters for about a year afterward.
March 2007 - April 2008
Andy drops off the map for a while. He lives with his parents for at least part of this time and they get him into therapy.
Supposedly he is in a rock band that later becomes a wrock (wizard rock) band and one of the members prompts him to read the Harry Potter series. I have yet to find any reference to Andy’s specific role in the band other than that he writes lyrics for them.
2008
April
Andy writes “Dumbledore’s Army: Still Recruiting” in response to a fanfic challenge on The Quidditch Pitch. By June 15, he has expanded it to the 256K-word “Dumbledore’s Army and the Year of Darkness”.
Not much is known of Andy’s activities for the rest of this year (see above note), other than that he aggressively promotes DAYD on LJ and other forums and in reviews of other people’s fanfiction. He refers to DAYD as “[his] own canon” and reportedly talks about sending it to J. K. Rowling as Book 8, or publishing it himself. The few discrete events for which we have dates are listed below.
May 3
Andy participates in a podcast (no longer available) at The Quidditch Pitch. No Irish accent is evident.
June (more precise date unknown)
At this point, Andy is allegedly homeless and living in his car and/or his parents’ barn, using a local library for Internet access.
For about three weeks, Andy and luvscharlie talk on the phone daily. She allows him to use her PayPal account to collect money for his fanart commissions. They seem to have a falling-out by June 23. (Details of this were publicly available at one time, but have since been locked and I don’t have a copy.)
June 22
In a meme response on luvscharlie’s LJ, Andy claims to have a "Harry Potter lightning scar on [his] forehead" and says in response to a comment from CFC that he looks just like Harry and his parents look just like Harry’s parents. He refers to himself as a “mashup” of Harry and Neville, as well as Sirius and (I think) Remus.
Please note what Andy says about luvscharlie, her accent, lust, etc. It all calls to mind similar little flirtatious comments that he used to make to Abbey when he was first insinuating his way into her life. Also note luvscharlie’s follow-up comment, which strongly suggests that she ended their relationship.
August 19
Andy leaves the “shipperchibbies” comment at the fanficrants LiveJournal community. Choice quote:
This fandom is infested with girls. Little bubble-headed shipperchibbies who spaz all over me because I write from the perspective of a guy, as a guy. … I’ve been told that my guys are blunt, aggressive, hot-tempered, that my fics are unnecessarily violent, that my guys aren’t sensitive enough about their feelings and the feelings of the girls they deal with. Um, well, I hate to break it to you, Hannah Montana, but guys are like that, and moreover, war is like that. We do not speak the same language you do.
In this and other posts linked below, Andy also expresses contempt for m/m slash and those who read and write it, which is interesting given the quantity of Frodo/Sam fanfiction and fanart that he produced as Victoria Bitter.
September 7
Andy posts to the Dark Lord Potter forum to advertise DAYD. It begins:
It’s great to see somewhere that a heterosexual guy can be a heterosexual guy in this fandom without tiptoeing around all the fangirls and slashers trying not to offend anyone when he doesn’t want Harry weeping into his chocolate ice-cream to Evanescence because Draco hasn’t bent him over the table in the Great Hall lately or because you write that Seamus has had those kind of fantasies about the Patil twins…and so has any other red-blooded seventeen-year old boy.
That isn’t the end of the misogynistic and hetero-/cissexist comments, but it is representative. Other than that, Andy lists many of his media likes and dislikes and says that he looks just like Harry Potter (“I am 5’8, skinny, glasses, messy black hair, and a lightning-shaped scar on my forehead”). He also mentions that he hates J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, which is worthy of mention mainly because of his fandom history. In a later post on the same thread, he claims to be self-educated.
Andy’s signature on this forum reads, “Dear fangirls: Was it the beatings, the torture, the dismemberment, the sadism, the poisoning, or the graphic deaths that gave you the idea I would be so sensitive to your feelings?”
December 30
Andy submits his now-infamous application to Hogwarts sorting community platform_934. Among other things, he claims to be Irish, to have fought in militias on both sides of the Troubles, to have saved numerous lives, and to have a heart condition that will kill him in less than ten years. He speaks of having been left for another man by “a woman [he] loved for almost seven long years” (Abbey) who "took [their] son from [him] without so much as a goodbye" (“his son, a sparrow”). Despite this, he heroically doesn’t hate “the fairer sex”.
Andy also says that DAYD is the first thing he’s ever written, that he has a genius IQ, and that despite never having attended any school, he has "an astonishing breadth of completely self-aquired [sic] knowledge" and knows "4.5 languages". No word on whether any of them is Westron. In the end, the comm labels him a Muggle.
That same day, Andy begins teaching a “writing seminar” at his plot-with-plot LJ community. He says that he is qualified to do this, in spite of his lack of formal education, because “I’ve pulled off in eight months from dead zero what takes most people years - decades, if you include school - to sort of meander towards.”
After much pontificating on what “makes” a writer, Andy issues his first two assignments. The second includes the directive to go without food and any liquid other than water for three days. In future posts, he will write at great length and in detail about creating protagonists, antagonists, and plot—again, despite allegedly never having received instruction in writing and never having written anything in his life before DAYD.
2009
Late February
Andy makes an LJ post about his "very serious heart defect". He says that he hadn’t been expected to survive to adulthood and was eventually told that he had two to five years to live (from the date of the post). Recent developments, however, have led his doctor to revise his life expectancy to less than a year. He makes reference to his ex “Louise” (Abbey’s middle name) and their son “Connor” (the sparrow) and repeatedly assures his friends that he’s fine, doesn’t need emotional support, is grateful for how “perfect” the timing is, etc.
Shortly thereafter, Andy requests that his friends pay for him to come and visit them before he dies:
1. Meet as many flisters as possible
2. Get in some more traveling
3. Help as many people as possible.
Longer later, but the upshot is this…I will post 2-3 weeks in advance every time I have a 60-hour consecutive stretch or longer off of work. If you want me to come visit you in that time, you just have to get me there, and I don’t care how. …
Get me there, and for roughly two days, Than is yours…[for] anything non-sexual you can think of wanting from a handsome, intelligent, and multi-talented young man, really. I’d love to be able to offer to just go on my own, but there are a very limited number of times I can afford that, and I’m afraid I have to be very judicious with those.
February 27
One of Andy’s friends starts the than_love LJ community (now deleted) to raise money for aforementioned travel expenses. At least one of his former friends is on record as saying that she gave Andy $400 to travel to Germany and spent $250 on his artwork, but he ceased all communication when she stopped spending money on him.
March 2
The DAYDverse LJ community is created. It is owned by Andy and co-moderated by ceirdwenfc (CFC), whom Andy refers to as his “First Lieutenant”, “the very first DAYDian" and everyone’s "second mother”. The DAYDians refer to Andy by titles that include “Chief”, “Fearless Leader”, and “Supreme Commander”. Other DAYDians will later be designated as "House Lieutenants".
Sometime Later
I will not link to it or give a specific date, but at one point on the community, in the midst of a lot of DAYD audiobook casting posts, Andy asks 14- through 28-year-old DAYDians to post their pictures. He then tells each of them how much they look like this or that DAYD character and tells some of the women that they’re hot.
March 4
luvscharlie informs the DAYDians that Andy is a liar who is obtaining money from them under false pretenses.
March 27
In response to an inquiry about his claims in the app to platform_934, Andy messages LJ user birdseyeview to assure her that everything he said was true. He brushes off luvscharlie as another "bitter ex".
Andy says that he’s a US citizen from Virginia but of 100% Irish heritage and raised as an Irishman by his “Irish-born-and-bred-lived-in-Belfast-until-he-was-in-his-30s Irish grandfather”. Supposedly he grew up in rural isolation and had little to no contact with other children. Andy strongly implies that his grandfather intended to send him back to Ireland to settle a personal score related to the IRA. He claims to have spent some time living in Ireland and to have "fought with both the RHD and RIRA". He says that his accent is real, but that he hid it for years to fit in…and compares this to President Obama going by “Barry” in his youth.
Andy goes on to explain that women can’t handle bluntness and strong opinions, so he knew that his app might not go over well. He humblebrags about his allegedly high IQ and insists that his fatal heart condition is real and he has no reason to fake it. The message ends with a trademark Andy device, the “clever”, self-deprecating postscript full of irrelevant information disguised as disarming honesty. It includes the assertion that he has "a real-life lightning scar on [his] forehead".
May 11
Andy shows off his DA tattoo to the DAYDverse comm. He says that he initially did it himself with a sewing needle and ink from a pen, and has now had an actual tattoo artist go over it.
May 22 - 30
Andy travels to Germany at the expense of members of the DAYDverse community.
June 4
Andy explains to the DAYDians that he doesn’t just write the story:
I see, hear, feel, taste, smell, live it from every angle. …
The ‘writing process’ isn’t creative - it’s all there just as much if not more than my own memories…
…the character’s physical pain ‘comes through’ and I find my back aching from the decade-old scars of a flogging when no whip has ever touched me or I can barely stand because the nerves in my completely intact legs are having a field day with phantom pain and abused pressure points.
Yes, I know it’s mental. Have I ever said I’m otherwise? Kind of explains the intimate relationship I have with them, though, and why the most common refrain from readers is that they are eerily, unnaturally real. They are real to me, whatever that says about my sanity. The only level on which I can separate their ‘reality,’ their ‘memories’, their ‘experiences’ from my own is the cold factual knowledge that they never lived. Honestly, I’ve sometimes wondered if I’m hooking in to past lives or ghosts on some psychic plane and my conscious brain can only interpret it by plugging it into a pre-existent matrix of a fantasy world.
July 1
Andy encourages people to engage in dialogue directly with the DAYD characters on the comm. “Think of me as their agent…post your question here, let me know who its for, and you’ll get your response from that character.” This subthread is of particular note, as “Luna” tells a DAYDian who is attempting to treat this as a roleplaying exercise that she doesn’t know what IC and OOC mean. After he explains the abbreviations, “Luna” says, “…I guess it’s all IC, then, because you’re not talking to Andy at all here.”
July 29
Andy apparently travels somewhere else at the DAYDians’ expense.
August 16
Andy tells the DAYDians that life is about to imitate chapter fifteen of DAYD, in which Manly Warrior Neville learns that the DA has decided to relieve him of command temporarily because he is out of control. He responds by flying into a violent rage, followed by sobbing and a week or so of wallowing in isolation and self-pity before I got bored and stopped skimming. Presumably Andy is trying to communicate that he is stressed and over-committed by equating himself with Neville.
August 19
On the DAYDverse community, Andy claims to “have English, Ulster Gaelic, French, Latin, and Greek myself, as well as the thinnest smatterings of German picked up this spring and some reasonably conversational Spanish.”
August 24
Andy posts a DAYDcon proposal to the DAYDverse community. The next day, on the DAYDcon logistics post, he informs people that he doesn’t want to know if they’re under eighteen because then he’ll have to exclude them.
August 25
luvscharlie points out the podcast in which Andy participated, sans Irish accent, in 2008. No one seems to notice.
August 26
Andy informs the DAYDians that a planned-and-paid-for trip has fallen through, but that he’s received a full refund on his air travel to Ireland. There is no indication that he intended to return the money to the DAYDian(s) who paid for the plane ticket.
Later that day, he suggests that they also hold “Left Coast and/or UK/Ireland” DAYDcons.
September 1 (possibly earlier) - Unknown
Andy and many (if not most) of the DAYDians maintain an LJ chatroom, and eventually a Skype chat as well. The chatroom on LJ is known as the Room of Requirement (RoR). According to a former DAYDian, members cycle in and out such that it is active nearly 24/7. While chatting in the RoR, Andy makes a number of claims about his past and current life, including:
[I’ve] looked into a little African child’s eyes to reassure him that it would be OK as [I] cauterized a post-field-amputation limb.
I can perform a field tracheotomy with a drinking straw, and I’ve had to do it.
I’ve seen dozens of people murdered before my eyes.
I was the first male born in seven generations of women, so it’s really no surprise to my family that I have psychic capabilities.
I traveled the world almost entirely for free, partially by stowing away on cargo ships. You can travel anywhere if you’re resourceful enough!
I fucked ((I don’t remember the number, but something obscene, high double digits)) women by the time I was 18. (He shared things like this a lot, and back then (before he became ~enlightened~it was always “fucking,” not “making love” or even “having sex.” Women were dainty damsels and the essence of mother earth on one hand and conquests to be notched on bedposts at the same time. Other details about his sexual exploits include fucking a married women in the kitchen while her little children played in the other room.)
I work at a Starbucks where professors from the nearby university come in and chat with me in Ancient Greek.
When I was at work today, a coloratura soprano with a world-class opera company came into the shop and sang an aria to pay for her drink.
I just know things about people. For instance, when I was little, I blurted out that the pastor of our church was cheating on his wife (I’d just had a feeling about it), and it turned out that I was right. I ruined him. This is part of why my mother hates me.
The reason I can’t write or read “Gaelic” is because I was never schooled a day in my life. I learned to speak it because it was the only language my grandfather used with me, but I’m illiterate and really just going by sound. So if the “Gaelic” dialogue in my “novels” isn’t totally right, remember that it’s because everything I know, I taught myself.
Andy also channels Harry Potter characters and his own OCs in the RoR. DAYDians reportedly ask to speak with the character of their choice and Andy “brings them out”. Then people talk to the character and ask them questions, and Andy answers as the character, in first person. According to the former DAYDian in the comment linked above, Andy remembers every channeling experience (which differs from his claims as Victoria Bitter and Jordan Wood) and extensively lectures RoR participants about multiverse theory, spiritualism, and allegedly similar channeling practices in other cultures (all of which he used when selling Abbey, Little Sam, and Diamond on his “abilities” years before).
September 2
Andy posts to the DAYDverse LJ community to solicit money to send people to DAYDcon.
Auctions, commissions offers, and other fundraisers continue for the next couple of months, with DAYDverse members soliciting on their own LJs and in completely unrelated communities and mailing lists.
September 14
Andy participates in PotterFicWeekly podcast episode 87 (posted on the Poufwa site 9/19/09). He tells the hosts that he never attended any school whatsoever and had never written any fiction at all or any non-fiction other than grocery lists, until DAYD. He says that he writes chronologically and always just knows what will happen next. Andy claims that everything he posts is a first draft, that he never outlines, takes notes, or edits his work other than correcting typos; and that he types everything directly into FF.net or LJ.
Later, he tells his story of having been in a rock band for which he wrote lyrics, and how one of the other band members asked him to read Harry Potter. He explains that he had previously shied away from the series because he looks exactly like Harry. Andy describes himself and his friend mocking fanfiction authors and being disgusted by the extremely poor quality of what they read, prompting his friend to tell him to enter the current challenge on The Quidditch Pitch. Though Andy is quick to backpedal and say that there is a lot of great fic out there, he also makes sure to note that he won the challenge (with, again, the first thing he had ever written in his life) and that people loved his work. He says that he finished DAYD in five weeks while living out of his car.
There is a lot of talk about how dark, violent, and edgy “Sluagh” is. Andy gleefully relates, “I pride myself on the fact that I have received eight separate reviews from people who have literally, not metaphorically, gotten physically ill [after reading chapter fifteen].” He criticizes Rowling’s worldbuilding and cites Stephen King and Tom Clancy as his primary influences for “Sluagh” and “A Peccatis” respectively. Andy alludes to having lived in Belfast and says that his portrayals of the IRA and RHD are real and accurate. He also professes extensive knowledge of Celtic and Arthurian mythology.
When the subject of Poufwa host Mike arises, Andy becomes extremely hostile because their interpretations of Snape’s character differ. His comments about Mike (before Mike even arrives) include:
He’s afraid of me!
He has no idea there is a lynch mob for him at DAYDverse comm.
It’s single entendre only with that man, and yet he can bend himself around like a Chinese contortionist to try and make a loving and heroic event out of Snape chopping up kittens for dinner.
Savant. Mike is a savant.
They were lighting the pitchforks and sharpening the torches for Mike. They were, and they are, and I don’t recommend he shows his face in [the DAYDverse community].
Andy also says that, to the DAYDians and as far as the DAYDverse is concerned, “I am God.”
When Mike finally arrives, Andy asks him, “Two questions: What kind of lube do you prefer, and how do you see that Snape is a sweetheart when it is written that far up on the inside of your own colon?” He will repeat twice more, in different ways, the assertion that Mike has his head up his own ass. Eventually things become so awkward and inappropriate that the editor cuts off the end of the podcast and inserts a separately-recorded “apology” from Andy, in which he blames “the infamous Irish temper” for his bad behavior as a guest on the show.
September 17
Andy makes a lengthy post accusing the DAYDians of launching some sort of hate campaign against Mike and other Poufwa hosts. Later, he edits it to say that it was all a misunderstanding and nothing happened and no one is angry. He seems to blame a particular DAYDian who is also a Poufwa host for much of the “confusion” regarding Mike specifically. This reads as an attempt to mask or off-set Andy’s own behavior toward Mike during his appearance on the Poufwa podcast.
October 27
In the midst of a long post dealing with RoR drama, Andy states that English is not his native language.
December 5
Andy announces that two of the DAYDians are engaged, following “…a staggering monumental effort by a large number of daydians including a 190-hour marathon Skype session”.
December 10
Abbey anonymously breaks the news to Turimel that Andy has adopted the alias Thanfiction and made a name for himself in the Harry Potter fandom.
Andy is active as Thanfiction on LJ, FF.net, adult-fanfiction.org, Fiction Alley, DeviantArt, Twitter, YouTube, and (much later) Tumblr and AO3.
Later that same day, Andy sends $100 to Turimel via PayPal (transphobia warning) and promises to continue paying her $50 a month up to the amount of $1000. In exchange, he asks her to quit posting about him, unless he “ever actually cause[s] a scam or scandal” or stops paying. Turimel receives no further payment from Andy.
December 11
Turimel and Snacky make nearly simultaneous reports on Thanfiction to Fandom Wank. (Warning for transphobia in the first report and in the comments for both.)
December 18
DAYDcon begins at a hotel in Washington, D.C. (12/18 - 12/21). Activities include watching Andy draw, talking for hours, making stew in water glasses and hotel ice buckets, having a massive snowball fight, watching The Fellowship of the Ring, DAYD readings, photo sessions, and casting each of the con attendees as a DAYD character.
Part of the group then moves on to upstate NY for a day or so. This excursion is followed by a cross-country trip in a van, making brief stops in several states and finally arriving in California on 12/24, where Andy stays for a short while with Brittany Quinn and some other friends.
December 26
The "Undead Shaman Wizard" psychic battle takes place. Brittany and Andy e-mail idiomagic:
Cfc is under some kind of attack, something is trying to literally eat her kids. … there is something big and something dangerous and deadly. … the children are in the house in the woods being eaten by monsters-Andy is down and when his shield over those kids break. it. is. over.
Please note that CFC was offline at the time and had no idea that this was happening.
They ask for help, claiming that they are too exhausted from DAYDcon to keep fighting on their own. Idiomagic leads them on, asking for more info, and Andy and Brittany respond with the children’s full names, home address, and much more personal information about them and CFC. They attribute the attack to a “Spirit/Astral form of technically dead but v. powerful Seneca Sachem-level shaman, plus allies and minions. I know this sounds crazy, but is true." When idiomagic presses for more, asking about a secondary target and challenging the idea of allies/minions, they continue:
A source said that it was above ” the wheel” with each spoke a world and the hub a connection place. it was a shaman/wizard cross in late 16th possibly but that has passed from place of dead to something above that. Several targets have been hit so far. Not sure who or what is current secondary. The “allies” seem to have been neutralized by someone from the hub as a favor to Andy.
At this point, idiomagic gets tired of playing along and tells them that she knows they’re faking it and that Andy has been lying about a lot of things—including having an evil twin.
Given Andy’s claims in 2012-15 that Brittany was the first person to see his mental illness for what it was and try to help him (part of the “mutual saviors” narrative that he ties in with Destiel), I feel that it is important to point out that Brittany was the one writing and sending the e-mails to idiomagic.
December 27
This now-deleted LJ post by idiomagic is the earliest public mention I can find of the "evil twin" to whom Andy attributed all of his actions as Victoria Bitter/Jordan Wood when he discussed the December 11 Fandom Wank reports with the DAYDians. Idiomagic also mentions Andy's claims to have IRA connections and a scar from having been wounded with a Claymore during a pub fight.
December 28
Details of the Undead Shaman Wizard battle hit LJ, courtesy of idiomagic. She posts this relevant tweet on the same day.
2010
January 15
Having returned from California by this point, Andy steps back “from daydverse and more or less from the internet.” Among the reasons he cites is “the wank” from December, including some allegations that he says were “proven patently false,” and some of which were “pure ridiculous rumor and slurs, others [based] on a grain of truth.” Andy also mentions his "heart condition".
Yes, I was told last year that I had a very short amount of time, and I still technically have about six weeks of that left. But I’ve beaten the odds before. Will I do it again? Will I drop dead tomorrow? I don’t know. Frankly, no one does. That doesn’t mean, however, that the way I’m living now makes sense.
Despite claims that he plans to decrease his activity online and related to DAYD in general, Andy continues to participate in RoR chats and to post fic and art to the DAYDverse community and his than_art community.
Spring
Andy flies out to California to visit Brittany. When it’s time for him to leave, he “misses his flight”. He never books another one. He and Brittany live in Sacramento until September.
September - October
Andy, Brittany, and E (another DAYDian) spend two months hiking from Santa Rosa, CA to Vancouver, BC, Canada. According to E, Andy channels during the hike and Brittany believes and supports him, affirming his stories even when Andy isn’t around.
October - November
Andy and Brittany alternate between couch-surfing and sleeping in tents or in a friend’s car.
In November, the DAYD Facebook group is created by someone who (at least at the time) is not connected to Andy in any way.
November 26 (approximation)
Andy and Brittany move into an upstairs room in the Fairfield house that Brittany co-owns with her former common-law husband. Her ex (Jason Eisenberg) and his father live downstairs. Shortly afterward, the Eisenbergs bring in another roommate who takes the other upstairs room.
2011
February 14
Andy is alerted to the existence of the Facebook group by someone on DeviantArt. He joins it and says that it can now be considered “authorized”.
March 11
Andy announces a New Zealand hike on the DAYD Facebook group and LJ community. He says that he, Brittany, and E plan to “kidnap” New Zealand DAYDian D and hike the Te Araroa trail until D’s “ransom” has been paid in donations to the New Zealand Red Cross Christchurch fund.
March 19
On her Facebook, Brittany publicly posts a note in which she accuses her father of abuse and neglect and severs contact with him. In her August 2014 AMA, Abbey says, “Oh, that letter is so disturbing. It’s Andy all over it. So much of it is just like what I wrote to my mother under his direction/coaching.”
April 2
Brittany posts to the Facebook group to say that she needs help getting gear and tickets together for the New Zealand hike. She asks DAYDians to brainstorm with her and specifically says, “I promised Andy I would make this happen and I am not going to go back on that promise.”
May 1
Andy makes a post in DAYDverse to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts.
May 6
Andy e-mails a long list of “assignments” for the New Zealand hike to Brittany, E, D, and another NZ DAYDian (M) who has decided to participate. He informs them that, “if everyone doesn’t do [their jobs], we’re all going to be fucked.” They only have about a month and a half to get everything together.
May 7
Jason Eisenberg murders Brittany Quinn and Anthony Chambers (the other person living in the Fairfield house). He tries to kill Andy and ends up shooting him in the ankle through the bedroom door. Eisenberg subsequently kills himself.
May 16
Andy posts his “eulogy” for Brittany to the DAYD Facebook group. In the final paragraphs, he says:
Brittany had her heart set on the New Zealand trek. … She used to say without really joking at all that she’d do it over her own dead body if need be.
And so I will.
…
In the next post, I will be putting up what was originally Brittany’s part of the to-do list. I think that if one extraordinary woman could do it, an extraordinary community definitely can in her memory.
For the fallen. We have lost our first.
It's worth noting that deceased members of Dumbledore's Army are commonly referred to as "the fallen" by Andy and the DAYDians, and "For the Fallen" was used as a rallying cry in DAYD chapter seven. Andy is explicitly tying Brittany's death into his fictional universe.
Andy mentions that DAYDian K is preparing to take Brittany’s place on the hike.
That same day, he posts the e-mail with the New Zealand hike assignments to the DAYDverse LJ community. (In that image, things that I thought were especially odd/questionable are highlighted in green and my commentary is highlighted in purple. My snarky comment about “getting into Canada” is in reference to this, of course.) The post again indicates that K will be going on the hike. It also says that instead of raising money for survivors of the Christchurch earthquake, they will now be soliciting donations to Napa Emergency Women’s Services.
May 20 or thereabouts
Andy moves just outside of Denver, Colorado, where he lives with K and another DAYDian (and eventually E) until early 2012.
May 23
Andy announces on Facebook that K and M will be unable to go on the hike.
May 24
Andy posts to the DAYDverse LJ community about the aftermath of the murders. He publicly thanks several DAYDians for helping him in various ways. Andy also says:
A lot of people have been asking me what happened exactly. I am more than happy to tell them in person or over the phone. I will not be giving any more detailed version of what happened in writing of any form… I WILL NOT force a blow-by-blow on any grieving victim. And putting a written version out there that can be emailed to them, linked to them, quoted out of context, sensationalized, etc is doing just that.
…despite having given his version of the events of the murder in the eulogy that he posted publicly on May 16.
At the end of this post, Andy announces that plans for the hike have changed. He, E, and D will now be hiking the Trail of Tears to benefit survivors of domestic violence.
Later that day, Andy announces a bottle drive on the DAYDverse community. He and his roommates plan to sell hot sauce “to raise money for the Brittany Quinn memorial trek”. The labels on the bottles and the accompanying brochures are to include “labels” commonly applied to victims of abuse and quotes about people’s personal experiences related to abuse. The chilies from which the hot sauce is made were allegedly given to Andy in Brittany’s memory by “local ethnic grocers” that he and Brittany used to visit.
May 26
Andy asks DAYDverse if the May contest is still on, “or did that go by the wayside (understandably!) with Brittany’s murder?” The theme of the contest is “What If They’d Lived?” He announces the upcoming June contest and solicits people to work on the wrock album, website, and cookbook.
He also announces in this post that the hike will take place from July 1 through September 1-15 and that instead of collecting funds, the group will be encouraging people to donate time or money to the domestic violence charity of their choice.
Finally, Andy says that he will not be creating any new DAYDverse material until after the hike:
One’s plans for fandom have a tendency to take a backseat to fast-tracking an attempt to help someone out of a dangerous living situation, then that situation turning violent in the form of a double homicide-suicide, getting shot, having to move, and having to re-plan a 3000K hike from scratch.
May 29
Andy starts up the It’s About Power Twitter.
May 30
Andy announces the It’s About Power website and Facebook group on DAYDverse. The website has an unsettling design that includes red text on a black background, with banner text in an intimidating all-caps font (”Morpheus”, if I remember correctly). This is the logo.
The website includes writings about domestic violence that Andy will later re-post to his tumblr, bios of the hikers, a vague pledge agreement to do something to prevent domestic violence or raise awareness, and a bio of Brittany that closely resembles Andy’s “eulogy” for her. There is also a request for men from around the world to send in video clips featuring “something that gives them power, makes them feel powerful, or that they feel is an expression of their own power without needing to take power from someone else.” I’m not linking to the archived website here because it contains DAYDians’ full names and personal information, but I will write more about it in a later post.
Andy’s bio on the website claims that he has “long enjoy[ed] outdoor survivalism as a hobby” and has “completed hikes [please note the plural] of similar length before”. At this point, the only previous hike of similar length that Andy has taken is the one with Brittany and E in Fall 2010.
June
Andy continues to post about contests, to post occasional art, and to participate in very lengthy chats in the Room of Requirement. When he posts chat logs, he cheerfully ignores his own instructions to replace people’s real names with LJ usernames.
June 4
Someone identifying himself as Brittany’s father comments on Turimel’s LJ [warning for misgendering/transphobia at the link] under the username “beachcomberbob”. He comments on Brittany and Andy’s relationship and on It’s About Power, referring to the hike as a scam. Regarding the eulogy that Andy wrote, he says that most of it is “extreme exaggerations, fanciful lies and…self-serving imaginations“.
June 7
Andy contradicts his statement of a week before by saying that he will write a custom 3000+ word oneshot in the DAYDverse for anyone who will create and share a live-action DAYDverse trailer or music video.
June 12
Andy announces on the DAYDverse comm, the DAYD and It’s About Power Facebook groups, and the It’s About Power Twitter that the New Zealand DAYDian (D) will not be able to participate in the hike. Note that this is said to be due to “unforeseen difficulties with his employment” and Andy had taken responsibility for arranging his leave of absence. D’s spot is being filled by K and the hike is now due to begin on July 15.
Andy says on the DAYD Facebook group that Brittany had wanted D to come on the hike in order to change his life, which Andy describes as “being destroyed from the inside out”. He says that D is “letting her down”. Another DAYDian makes an angry Facebook post that excoriates D for not going on the hike and blames him for delaying it in a way that makes it evident that Andy’s public statements are much more neutral than closed-door conversations he’s had about this. He really seems to have thrown D under the bus.
Andy tells D to start a blog to chronicle his own efforts to change his life. It is evident in his first few posts that D is extremely depressed about being unable to go on the hike and is blaming himself for all sorts of things. Andy never bothers to comment on the blog.
June 16
An online amateur journalist publishes an article about It’s About Power and the upcoming hike. (I will not link to the article because it includes the hikers’ full names.) The article paraphrases chunks of Andy’s eulogy for Brittany, quotes from the IAP website, and asks readers to donate gear and other items for the hike as follows:
June 23
Andy announces that the delay for which D has been so harshly criticized has proven to be a good thing. He solicits loans/donations of a few remaining gear items and frequent flyer miles…and of over 100 lbs of meat and 30 lbs tallow, as he plans to make his own pemmican for them to eat during the hike.
Late June or Early July
In a Skype chat with DAYDians [warning for transphobia at that link], Andy tries to brush everything under the rug by saying that Turimel, Amy Player/Victoria Bitter (whom he claims not to know), and his “bitter ex” luvscharlie have all been spreading vicious rumors about him on the Internet. He also makes a number of libelous accusations about luvscharlie. Previously in the chat, a friend of his repeated Andy’s earlier lie that his evil twin sister was the one behind his earlier abuse and cult-building activities.
July 1
Andy informs the Facebook group that the hikers still need more meat and 60-day cell phone plans.
July 13
Andy posts one more time before leaving for the hike. In this post, among other things, he implies:
July 15
The hike officially begins in Murphy, North Carolina. The hikers tweet and update their blog fairly frequently to keep their friends apprised of their progress. Andy writes that he (and sometimes E and/or K) gives talks about domestic violence at various churches, shelters, and other organizations along the way, as well as giving interviews to the press.
Years later, it will be revealed that when E and K tweeted or posted on the blog, “it was basically parroting stuff [Andy]’d said or wanted [them] to say.”
I don’t have enough precise dates for a detailed breakdown to be practical, so here is a summary.
July 15 - September 9
Some of the info below comes from the IAP Twitter. Most of this comes from the IAP blog, which has long since been deleted. I am not linking to the archive because it includes the hikers’ full names and other personal information.
August 6
Abbey starts publicly blogging on Wordpress. She doesn't directly mention Andy until August 18 and doesn't share much about their life together until September.
September 12
Having actually fallen in love over the course of the hike (no thanks to Andy), E and K get married in Las Vegas. Despite what he said to K before the hike, Andy will later claim that he was the rational one who thought they should wait.
E has shared various anecdotes about living with Andy from September 2011 through the end of March 2012. Andy never works during this time, other than odd jobs from Craigslist, to which he usually drags E, K, and/or their other roommate. Thus he rarely has money for rent, though he somehow manages to purchase makeup and cosplay supplies anyway. When rent is due, Andy tends to fake illnesses or mental distress, or to flip his sleep schedule to avoid everyone. E describes him as, “untidy, unhygenic, lazy, loud, inconsiderate, rude to neighbours,” and says that he “act[s] out on a daily basis.” Andy tries to manipulate E via food deprivation and regularly tries to drive a wedge between E and K and their other roommate.
At the same time, Andy is manipulating the third roommate, encouraging her to be emotionally dependent on him and then rejecting her, vague-blogging about it, and blaming it on her so-called emotional immaturity. The draw-her-in/push-her-away cycle repeats itself several times. He will continue to do this to other women both online and in person over the next several years.
October 3-8
Andy posts to the IAP blog, Facebook group, and Twitter to ask people to donate to cover the fees necessary to complete E’s immigration process. In typical Andy fashion, the post is guilt-inducing and manipulative. The first post is titled, “Are Love and Legal Immigration Worth $1?” and asks, “…please, dig through your pocket change, give up something off the dollar menu, and donate a dollar to their future.” In the end, they do raise enough money to cover the fees, but Andy’s posts result in a lot of negativity toward E and K.
Andy is pretty quiet through the rest of October.
October 14
CFC posts The Other Side of the Wank, listing a number of claims that people have made about Andy and attempting to explain and/or refute each of them. It is clear that Andy has been lying to her pretty extensively:
I do not believe that Andy would be stupid enough to write something for CFC to post, or to tell her exactly what to write, but so many of Andy's favorite talking points are present here that it may as well be in his own words.
October 30
Abbey says in her blog, "I am not going to resign myself that I can't do any good in the world because I fucked up when I was young." This is a refrain that Andy will echo many, many times in the ensuing years.
November 1
Andy joins Tumblr. It's hard to say whether this has anything directly to do with Abbey's blog, but he will later admit that he reads it. At this time, Andy's main fandoms are DAYD and Glee (although for the latter, the extent of his involvement will be brief meta posts and tagging a bunch of gender/sexuality and life-advice posts with "be who I want to be").
One of Andy's very first Tumblr posts is a reblog of an art blog's sharing the Glee fanart that he created in support of The Trevor Project. This marks the beginning of Andy's repeated and ongoing attempts to get attention from the Tumblr social justice community.
November 6
Abbey publishes Questions from a DAYDian and Twenty-One More Questions from a DAYDian. The former includes a picture of the Dalai Lama with a caption that says that living with compassion is one of Abbey's highest goals. Andy will repeat this over and over on his Tumblr.
November 9
By this time, Abbey, Turimel, and Diamond have reconnected with each other and are on the way to making amends for what happened between them. They are all blogging publicly about this and about their history with Andy.
Using a dummy LJ account, never2late2hope, Andy sends Turimel a private message in which he claims to be "a gender studies psych specialist in the Denver area," which is actually where he is living at the time. My analysis of this message can be found in the second half of this post. Turimel treats this message as a genuine effort by a third party to help with the situation. Her reply indicates that she has no hope for Andy's getting better and that she feels she's given him plenty of chances to change and make amends.
The same day, Carlanime/Necromommycon (who has commented on Turimel's and Abbey's posts about Andy, and I believe on Fandom Wank) posts about him on her own LiveJournal. She is somewhat sympathetic toward Abbey, Diamond, and Turimel, but also toward Andy, and suggests that it might be time to let things go. This post and her comment on CFC's October 2011 post titled "The Other Side of the Wank" lead Andy and CFC to contact Carlanime as a perceived ally.
On LJ, Andy sends Carlanime a private message, via never2late2hope, that includes a number of his trademarks: requesting/ordering her to call someone out on his behalf (in this case, Turimel), downplaying his abusive actions, lots of victim-blaming, and referring to himself as a "brilliantly charismatic but seriously mentally ill youth". The message ends with a credulity-straining claim as to his diagnosis: "severe gender disphoria [sic] leading to dissociative identity disorder comorbid with borderline personality disorder". My analysis of this message is here.
Under his own username, thanfiction, Andy sends Carlanime a long LJ message about Brittany. I have previously written about this message and their subsequent conversation here. Note that Andy implies that only "poor little malleable woobie[s]" could possibly be hurt or victimized by him and that any of his current friends would be happy to vouch for his blamelessness. He often repeats variations on both of these statements. He also includes another common refrain, that no one can possibly know what another person thinks or why they do anything. Finally, Andy comments, as he has many times before, that he's not very good at being a con artist, offering his current state of poverty as proof. He then brings Frank Abagnale into the conversation, saying that he was "kind of awesome in a very twisted way" and that Turimel's take on his own behavior seems Abagnalesque.
In the midst of all this, Andy forwards the exchange between never2late2hope and Turimel to both CFC and Carlanime, claiming that never2late2hope had sent both messages to him. He tells Carlanime that he'd given the anon permission to share the above diagnosis, which he says he received in 2006.
In a reply to Carlanime's comment on her LJ, CFC also asks Carlanime to call out Turimel for several reasons, including victim-blaming Brittany.
November 10
Andy makes his first Tumblr post about cooking, the start of another trend. He makes special note of his extreme lack of resources; makes a connection to a piece of media with a very large fanbase (in this case, Iron Chef); and then recounts how, in a very short time, he threw together a dish that a quick Google search reveals to be a mash-up of several recipes that had already been published online at the time. In this instance, he includes a nod to the social justice crowd as he pats himself on the back for appreciating multiculturalism.
November 12
Andy posts Good Writing = Good Life, a list of advice/instructions for writing with corresponding life tips. His life tips showcase a couple of his other behavior patterns: 1) casting doubt, by implication, on anyone who tries to warn others about him or to analyze his behavior and motives, and 2) contradicting himself by implying that he understands other people's behavior and motives better than anyone else does.
November 13
Andy says that he regularly Googles DAYD-related search terms and follows or friends everyone who speaks positively of his fic.
He begins a long, sporadic series of posts in which he pastes social-justice-relevant text onto images found on the internet. This seems to be another attempt to attract attention from the Tumblr social justice community. The earliest examples include "my female roommates are out drinking and my male roommate and I are cooking and doing chores—I am so progressive!" and "It is so amazing that I appreciate chopsticks despite being white and not watching anime!"
Andy claims that a neighbor child referred to him as "a magamagagee...like Tonks". Aside from the fact that this sounds an awful lot like the "channeled" Australian child who named a bird Kookie Buki for "kookaburra", it is unlikely that a child young enough to talk that way would remember either Tonks (a minor HP character) or the word "metamorphmagus". Additionally, Andy has only been back from the Trail of Tears hike for about a month and a half—not long enough for him to have changed his hair many times. This is just one of Andy's many stories that use children and childish mispronunciations to put a cutesy spin on something that he wants to talk about.
November 14
Andy announces that a roommate's injury means that he (Andy) can't possibly work a regular job.
Later, he humblebrags about helping people and being famous, talented, and smart, while passive-aggressively whining that these good qualities do not induce people to support him financially by paying him for art.
November 15
Andy sends Carlanime an e-mail containing the most recent version of his life story. This message is extremely long and several people have already analyzed it, in particular, LB Lee (Part I/Part II). In summary, Andy lies about his parents and his upbringing, claims that his previous online aliases were alters, retells the story of the "pagan priestess" who encouraged him to develop even more alters, makes several excuses for his behavior in Bit of Earth that include blaming others for pressuring him, tells a great number of victim-blaming lies about Diamond and Abbey, claims that Abbey used and abused him, comes out as transgender, explains away the lie about his heart condition, and says (not in so many words) that basically nothing he's ever done is his fault because he's hardly ever been "in [his] own head". He then claims that Andrew Blake is yet another alter, and that he's decided to give control entirely to him. He is literally saying that Andrew Blake is an entirely different person from the person who used to be known as Amy Player, Victoria Bitter, Jordan Wood, etc., and thus cannot be blamed for their actions. Andy closes with the plea/threat that due to "triggers" that he's planted, talking to Andrew about the wank will bring back the "original consciousness" and may even kill Andrew.
In later Facebook messages, Andy jokes with Carlanime about his "criminal mastermindedry" and "the koolaid drinking goosestepping absolute control brainwash cult of the DAYDians." He offers even more information, on the condition that it be kept secret. He also tells Carlanime that he was underage when he and Abbey met. He blames Abbey for everything that happened during their relationship and specifically ascribes many of his own abusive actions to her. He continues, over and over, to offer Carlanime validation that she has not requested or sought. He refers to himself as having "unusual abilities/disabilities of the paranormal nature" and suggests that he has considerable experience with running from the law and living off the grid. Finally, he takes credit for both predicting E and K's relationship, which developed over the course of the Trail of Tears hike, and being the rational adult who said they should wait to get married.
Of lesser importance, but still noteworthy, is that this is also the date that Andy first starts trying to attract attention from the Hunger Games fandom.
November 16
This is the first time that Andy mentions Brittany on his Tumblr, stating in two separate posts that he can't watch Brave because Merida looks like her, and asking how to block related tags. He refers to Brittany as "one of [his] best friends". He says that "she'd [she would] have loved it and she'd [she would] be squeeing that there was a princess with her hair." Remember this.
In another post, Andy vagueblogs about roommate L. After encouraging her to become emotionally dependent on him, he has started to withdraw his support, leading her to demand that he clarify his feelings toward her—at which point he rejects her. His post explicitly blames her for being upset about this. When Carlanime e-mails him to inquire about what's happening, he says that this is all because of L's emotional immaturity and failure to assimilate the messages about positive, healthy relationships in his DAYDverse fics. I wrote about this in the first half of this post.
November 17
Andy posts Supposed To, another reframing of his Brittany narrative. The frequent repetition of the phrase, "[She/I] did what [she/I] was supposed to," sets up a lulling rhythm and flow that lead the reader to connect with the piece emotionally. This makes it more difficult to take a rational view of the story he's telling and whether the details make sense based on publicly available information and the way the California legal system works. This is a device that Andy uses very often in his writing.
November 19
Andy makes a hugely problematic post about the LGBTQIA community and Glee. He asserts that "LGBT has replaced Jews and blacks as the boogyman [sic] of the American 21st century" since "the end of the Cold War, the Holocaust, and the Civil Rights movement took away the previously standard scapegoats of Communists, Jews, and racial minorities" (emphasis mine). Because as we all know, none of these groups suffers from systematic discrimination or persecution anymore. Andy complains that women have much more sartorial freedom than men, as if women are never harassed for looking 'too butch' or 'too slutty'. He implies that being "working class" necessarily means being uneducated and ignorant, but also that this makes life relatively easy for men in same-sex relationships who happen to be blue-collar (because supposedly their not fitting certain sartorial or career-related stereotypes makes them non-threatening). He says that all of the "markers of what it once meant to better yourself" have become associated with "OMGTEHGAYZ" and that bigots are trying to reduce all of US culture to "the dingy, satisfyingly simple ignorant grime on a coal miner's face." Andy then talks down to those working-class people that he's just been denigrating, explaining in paternal fashion that "life is complex" and living in fear of out-groups won't help anyone. All of this is followed with a picture of Andy's face with a rainbow phoenix painted on it, captioned, "And this can be the face of an artist, a chef, an activist, a fashionista, an intellectual, a speaker of Classical Latin and Classical Greek…" all of which are things that Andy has claimed to be. It ends with an assurance that Andy is neither gay nor evil.
November 20
Andy makes a post in which he hints that he is a minor celebrity, but that every single "fan" is important to him. It closes with a refrain that will become common in Andy's Tumblr: "You matter more than you know. To me. To the world."
November 21
For the first time on Tumblr, Andy mentions that many people "consider [him] to be a transgendered man," but he only identifies as male. He indicates that "being male, plain and simple" is different from being a male who also happens to be transgender. In a follow-up post, he clarifies that he wasn't coming out, but was standing up for the rights of "all transgendered people" because there are "more important things in this world than watching your own skin".
November 26
In an e-mail to Carlanime, Andy asks where Abbey could have heard that he was claiming that "…the person currently living in the body that is legally named Andrew Michael Blake is NOT the same person…he's a different 'soul' in that body." He seems to be suggesting that Carlanime might have shared his secret, although he doesn't accuse her directly.
November 27
The day after Abbey publishes her Letter to the DAYDians, and the same day that Diamond shares her two-part response to it (see also: some very revelatory poetry posted the same day), Andy posts DAYDverse: What we are and aren't to Tumblr, the DAYD Facebook group, and the DAYDverse LJ community. He acknowledges that the group has been running one of many recruitment campaigns and claims to have received messages from people who believe that the group conforms to a number of extreme cult practices/stereotypes. This is Andy hiding in plain sight, trying to make Abbey and Diamond sound ridiculous by presenting and summarily dismissing a distorted version of their warnings about him. Andy assures people that he/the group won't do any of the things that Abbey and Diamond have said, plus a number of other things, many of which ("Be your doctor, your psychologist, your career counselor…your marriage counselor, your professor, or your anything else that requires a professional in a field where I'm not one.") he has repeatedly done or tried to do.
November 30
Andy posts a condescending (and at times dubiously accurate) "glossary" for his Tumblr. The very first word is "performative", a word that is often used to describe aspects of Andy's behavior, and he hastens to assure people that it "DOES NOT MEAN that it's 'faked' or 'lying'". In his definition of "The ToT Hike", he refers to Brittany as "a dear, dear friend".
December 1
Andy posts about Brittany again. This is the first post in which the "M'Bidny" [sic] nickname appears. In the midst of it, he says:
I loved you. I was in love with you. In so many ways, so deeply, even if not in the only way that some people think matters and that they have the gall to pretend would have made us not matter at all and made something ugly out of everything beautiful that we were.
In other words, he may have loved Brittany, but he was not romantically in love with her, at least, not by any standard definition of the word.
December 3
Andy posts Author =/= Character and Hero =/= Perfect, in which he explains that all of the problematic viewpoints expressed in his DAYDverse writings are merely examples of how his characters are flawed, and thus why he is a good writer. Despite the misogyny; gender essentialism; and ethnic-, gender-, and sexuality-based stereotyping that he has frequently displayed while writing and promoting the DAYDverse, he claims that none of those views correspond to his own.
Later that day, Andy passive-aggressively complains that his roommates don't care about his feelings and that social media is his only outlet.
December 4
In the very early hours of the morning, Andy posts on the DAYDverse Facebook community about the wrock album. This is the first time that he claims that it was Brittany's pet project: "…it was something that was wanted very badly and worked on very hard by someone who hasn't lived to see it done." Andy wants to have the album finished by the first anniversary of the murders, and pressures L and another DAYDian to convince some actual wrock bands to record one or two songs each. He says that "all proceeds from the sale of the album [will] go to NEWS" (Napa Emergency Women's Shelter, the same organization that he allegedly wanted to support with the Trail of Tears hike). Please note that the idea that the Brittany was heavily involved with the wrock album has been refuted by the anon who posted this compilation of wrock-related DAYDverse Facebook posts prior to her death. I have also read all of the wrock-related posts (including the locked ones) in the LJ community and can verify that Brittany was not writing about it there, either. In fact, in his 2011 posts on the subject, Andy indicated that it was another DAYDian who had taken on responsibility for the project, and he still intended to use that person's work.
Andy makes an extremely self-aggrandizing post in which he says that while he has "the talent in a dozen areas...the style, the guts, the charisma, the thick skin, the passion" to make it as a celebrity, he nobly chooses to languish in obscurity for the sake of saving people. It's unclear what he is saving them from, but depression and other psychological issues seem to be part of it. He says this is because he has "penance to pay".
He also posts a picture of his version of Seamus, stating that Seamus is his favorite DAYD character because "he was a really horrible person for a while…and even still, he's been given a second chance." As he did for himself in the amy_player fauxpology, Andy hastens to justify Seamus's actions: "he didn't mean to be [horrible], he was hurt, he was out of his mind". He hopes for similar redemption and says, "Maybe all I have to do is save the world." This suggests that Andy's fixation on saving/helping people stems from a desire to atone for his past wrongs; however, it reads more as a very self-aware bid for sympathy.
December 5
On Facebook, Andy tells Carlanime, "If you don't draw the lines, I won't try to be your cult leader, but I also won't shut up for hours." He also claims that Turimel was "VERY attracted to [him], to a level that was scary," and that is why she was so angry to learn that he was AFAB-rather than the fact that he repeatedly lied to her, causing her unknowingly to mislead a detective and his parents by extension.
December 7
Andy chastises people (presumably including his roommates) for having any real-life expectations of him at all, saying that his extreme DAYDverse-related productivity is a coping mechanism and literally the only thing he is capable of doing at this time.
December 8
Andy posts Sheriff's Deputy's 20 Rape Prevention Tips For Men, which he says comes from "a law enforcement officer I know who has been on the force for 40 years." The tips sound a lot like Andy's own writing dressed up with folksy language (e.g. "no part of nobody's body") and inappropriate flippancy (e.g., referring to sexual assault as "Rape Jr.").
On Facebook, Andy informs the DAYDverse community that "the DAYDians are a disproportionately good-looking fandom." He asks, "please, don't tell me how many of you are still Hogwarts age, or I may have to cry."
December 9
On the Facebook community, Andy asks DAYDians to post about their skills or experiences that they're willing to talk about with fellow writers and artists. He says that his own areas of expertise are:
Catholicism, Irish mythology, street French, living off the grid, severe injury, getting shot, LGBTQ issues, living truly dead broke, survivalism, MANY areas of non-conventional travel, being homeless, art, writing, emergency medicine, disaster planning, bartending, leadership, running a group, cooking, extreme hiking, losing a friend [Brittany] violently, being in a fight for your life, having someone try to kill you, having your reputation systematically attacked/destroyed, horsemanship, medical recovery, heat exhaustion, blood loss, shock, what you can do with enough adrenaline, self-employment, all things DAYDverse, and a lot of other stuff…just ask.
December 10
Andy posts a GIFset of Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abagnale in Catch Me If You Can. He captions it, "I could if I wanted to. I choose not to."
Andy posts An Open Letter to You on the DAYD Facebook group and in the DAYDverse community. He reaches out to people who are "hurting" and "scared" and feeling ignored. Despite the fact that he is "supposedly some kind of internet celebrity", Andy assures these people that he sees them and he cares. He alludes to a number of coping mechanisms, listing self-harm, drug abuse, smoking, drinking, and eating disorders alongside hair dye, makeup, sex, consumerism, and group activities in general. He says that none of these things will help these hurting people feel any better, but urges them not to "quit", i.e., commit suicide. Andy says that he is not like "all the other people": he cares about them, is proud of them, won't judge them, isn't criticizing them. He just wants to know what they want ("honest, the answer you can whisper into the dark") and he wants them to succeed. He encourages people to reach out to him for help. "Because you are good enough, and you are worth it, and I saw, and I cared, and I'm not alone and neither are you." He tags a number of fandoms, as well as "it gets better" (the slogan of the Trevor Project, which is name-checked in the post). While it is not unusual for people on Tumblr to offer help to people suffering from depression, suicidal ideation, etc., Andy's long history of manipulating people with psychological and emotional issues makes this hugely problematic. His focus on teenagers and his insistence that he's "not like all the rest" are also troubling.
An accompanying post offers free art to five people if the Open Letter is reblogged at least 1000 times.
Andy also makes two posts to castigate people for criticizing anyone's efforts to help others. In one, he says, "I don't give a shit how horrible a person you think someone is...If they're trying to save someone's life, you STAY OUT OF THEIR FUCKING WAY OR HELP. Those are the only two choices for a decent human being." In other words, anyone who questions Andy's attempts to establish private communication with vulnerable teenagers is a bad person acting from bad motives. He uses the bizarre example of "a convicted pedophile child pornographer human trafficker kitten-stomping cannibal clown" purporting to assist a dying child. This extreme character seems to be intended to make Andy look nonthreatening by contrast, and to make his detractors seem like alarmists. Not for the last time, Andy states that even if the rescuer does have bad motives, it's okay because at least the victim isn't dead.
In his second post on this topic, Andy lists nine things that he "NEVER [wants] to fucking see/hear again about trying to help someone in trouble". Among other things, he claims that people are criticizing him for putting his life on the line to help others ("…and I'd do it for you. Yeah, even YOU."). Regarding his motives, he says:
"Let's say that I have every possible evil intent and want to victimize them ten different ways. They have to be alive for that. Which means that step one is me trying to save their life. Whatever the further steps are, those could theoretically be recovered from. Death cannot."
In other words, none of Andy's abusive words or actions toward a person matter if he can claim to have "saved" that person in some way. He also states that anyone who disagrees with his arguments is heartless and judgmental, and has "never been in a truly dark place". Andy still cares about them, though. "Because [they're] human. And that's enough."
Later still, Andy posts his personal Facebook, the URLs for the DAYDverse LJ and Facebook communities, his e-mail address, and his phone number. He asks people to contact him personally for help.
Finally, on Facebook, Andy informs the DAYDians, "There is nothing you could do so bad I could never forgive you for it. Nothing."
December 11
Andy posts 10 Things I Won't Tell You, a list of things that he says other people say to offer comfort, that he will never tell anyone. (TRIGGER WARNING: Although Andy did not tag/warn for anything, this post includes graphic images of war, a starving child, and people with eating disorders.) His explanations of why he won't say these things are loaded with affirmations and validation: for example, "…you're already good enough to be worth my attention…you always have more power than you may be afraid you do…you can achieve tremendous things…you can be so much more than you think you are right now." Andy also alludes to "Saving People", the fic that he wrote about Sirius sexually assaulting Hermione as a means of teaching her about the dangers of older men and the myth of "The Bad Boy Who Just Needs Love". The purpose of this post seems to be to project the ideas that Andy is different from everyone else and that Andy cares more and understands the reader better than anyone else.
In another post, Andy claims to be "an artist/writer/activist/counselor/journalist who touches, betters, and even sometimes saves lives." He bemoans the fact that he can't get paid for any of this, and that an actual job would "destroy" him, so he has no money. He also refers to Brittany as "one of [his] best friends".
Andy says that saying that someone has an agenda is "accusing them of sneaking the opinions into fun things…and making you consume something that you'd decided to hate or fear." In other words, people who worry that Andy has an agenda are just narrow-minded. He then denies that he is promoting any agenda with his work on DAYD, but claims to be sending important messages.
December 12
Andy posts a link to "Saving People", the aforementioned fic in which Sirius sexually assaults Hermione after she propositions him. (Sirius stops fairly quickly and then tells Hermione that she shouldn't have been surprised, and that had he been any other man, "by all rights" he should have done something much worse to her. After all his talk of how women stupidly endanger themselves in the vain hope of saving or changing men, and how he could have taken advantage of her in a dozen ways if he wanted to, he still verbally "teaches" her a couple of fairly graphic things about sex, and then kisses her sexually.) Andy says that he understands teenagers' feelings, especially as they pertain to sexuality, and encourages teenagers to talk to him about it. "I get it. I really do. I haven't forgotten what it was like. I'm not that old." Andy is 28 years old at the time.
Andy writes about how all of his struggles mean that he can relate to people on Tumblr who are in pain and contemplating suicide. He says, "I know what it's like to have…everyone rooting that you'll fall—even die—because you've made mistakes and they've decided you're a bad person," waving away the idea that he's hurt anyone and shifting the focus to his feelings of persecution. He says that while some people think that literally everything about him is a lie and that he's only out for personal gain, he chooses to rise above and help people anyway. The anecdote that he borrows to illustrate how important he thinks this is once again references societal fears of pedophilia.
December 15
A much younger Tumblr user expresses anxiety and discomfort over the idea of calling Andy, as he has apparently asked them to do. He chooses to publish their message along with his phone number, reiterating that it's "for anyone who wants to call about anything ever."
December 21
Andy dismisses the entire Romance genre as "dangerous propaganda"; differentiates between "Capital M Married" (ownership of a woman by a man) and "married" (an equal partnership), implying that most people can't tell the difference between the two; and announces that he writes people, and is incapable of writing something as "scary, unhealthy, destructive, all-consuming, [and] depersonalizing" as Romance. This is one of many examples of Andy's talking down to women about what (he says) they want/enjoy, why it's actually bad for them, and how what he has to offer is better and healthier.
A separate post talks about people who cry over Andy's stories, and how he wants to apologize and "stay up with them all night talking." He says that he hates hurting people, in part because "all the crying places in [his] stories come from too-real things." He goes on to indicate that he believes that DAYD and its sequels show the 'reality' of the Potterverse, which his readers (whom he seems to view as childishly naïve) never could have imagined before ("I never meant to take away your world of magical floating candles and best-ever candy stores"). In contrast, he also believes that his work shows a better, more functional wizarding world than Rowling portrayed.
The same day, Andy posts in a panic because a teenage Tumblr user that he follows is not posting at the time of day that she usually does. He writes about her as if he actually knows what her thoughts and feelings are—as if she is a fictional character that he can analyze, although he is adamant that she is a real person. At the same time, he won't name her ("I don't 'out' people for anything") and can't give enough information to make her recognizable.
Later, Andy announces that in an effort to fight back pain, he has combined Aleve, Advil, three hydrocodone (Vicodin), and alcohol. While he initially emphasizes that he did these things one at a time and at intervals, he ends up by saying that he's "so motherfucking high". Combining narcotics and alcohol is something that Andy has written about numerous times over the years.
Finally, Andy posts Girls Just Wanna Have Fun: Femininity and Sexual Power. He notes, again, that he is "high as a motherfucking kite", and goes on to write a lengthy refutation of CFC's viewpoints on several female characters in DAYD. In doing so, he obliquely accuses her of being not only unobservant, but also gender essentialist and even antifeminist because of the way she interprets these characters' feelings on and expressions of their own sexuality. In their subsequent Tumblr exchange, he informs her that she is projecting onto the characters and "throwing canon to the wind".
December 22 or 23
Andy returns to his parents' house in Virginia for Christmas. By this time, he is aware (because he reads at least some of their blogs) that former Bagenders Abbey, Diamond, Little Sam, and Shopping Cart Bob are all talking to each other and to Turimel again.
December 24
Andy posts A Mile in Your Shoes, which I wrote about here in 2014. In this post he says that he and Brittany were planning a life together, that they loved each other, and that they were "everything to each other"…but he also refers to himself as her best friend and roommate and indicates that he was lying when he told the police and hospital staff that he was her boyfriend or fiancé.
December 28 or 29
Andy returns to Denver.
December 31
Andy posts a picture of Brittany and writes about how they used to spend each Tuesday, which he says was their one day off each week. Parts of it read like the eulogy, as he describes Brittany as "working like a dog and…playing like a duchess" and says that she "never rolled her eyes at caviar or street cart tacos." He indicates that being blue collar precludes having "CLASS, in the true and gracious sense of the word" and that "living gorgeously" does not include spending time with someone who is "mentally disabled but a fantastic person" (emphasis mine).
2012
January 1
Andy once again refers to Brittany as a dear, dear friend.
January 4
Andy posts pictures representative of the ages of the youngest DA members during DAYD, "Sluagh", and "A Peccatis". He tells his followers, "This is what heroes look like. This is what changing the world looks like. So is what you see in the mirror," emphasizing that no one is too young to make a difference. This was a significant part of the message that Andy used to draw people, some as young as 15, into both the LotR and DAYD cults.
January 5
Andy responds to an ask about child abuse in the DAYDverse by writing an essay about how abuse is so often a "grey area", especially where children are concerned. I have previously blogged about this post here.
Andy says that his friends are "fighting about [him]", as if he has nothing to do with the situation. Despite how upsetting he says Brittany's loss is for him, he also says that he can write about it while "utterly fucking sedated", which is odd, to say the least. He also makes another mention of "trawl[ing] the internet for DAYDians".
Andy reblogs a side-by-side comparison of Marilyn Monroe ("This.") and a present-day runway model ("Not this.") and asks in the tags, "is that Gollum's sister on the right?" This is just one of many examples of Andy's tendency toward casual misogyny and body-shaming.
That same day, he reblogs a photograph of a woman's lower body and analyzes it as if he can possibly know everything about this person's fitness and beauty regimen from looking at a single picture. Once again, he informs the reader that while they are "supposed" to find it sexy, it really isn't.
January 6
In What do I want out of this?, Andy says that his dream for the DAYDverse is that the group will become known as "the ones who took the children's series and changed themselves and each other with it," as well as the ones who are supportive and respectful of other cultures. Again, changing oneself and the world via fandom is a recurring theme with Andy.
January 7
In one of his first Glee meta posts, Andy uses Finn to talk about men's body image issues, complaining that people talk all the time about unrealistic standards for "girls", but that no one talks about the fact that it's just as bad for "men" (emphasis mine). Andy boasts about his "very slender frame" and ability to have visible abs with minimal effort, an early example of his posturing as a slender, pretty boy to attract attention from his younger female followers.
January 8
Andy compares DAYD to the canonical Harry Potter universe, explaining that his world is larger and richer than Rowling's, that "Sluagh" and "A Peccatis" are written for adults, that his influences include horror/classic sci-fi/historical fiction/gritty realism as opposed to fantasy, and that the DAYDverse fics are meant to be as realistic as possible. He says, "The DAYDverse is shitty Harry Potter, but by that measure, Tolkien is shitty Narnia…and no, I'm not comparing myself to Tolkien," despite the fact that he literally just put DAYDverse on a level with Tolkien's vast body of work.
Evidently, the main reason that Andy can't bear to live with his parents is that he "can barely get out of bed for mediocrity" and can't tolerate people who are "content with doing being and pursuing nothing." (Andy's mother is a renowned metal sculptor; his father has worked in emergency services and disaster response for many years and has a fair bit of prestige as a result of his experience and skill. Neither of them sounds particularly mediocre or apathetic about life.) In contrast, Andy says that he can "fight mountains to dust for the impossible…do anything for the big, mad dream against all odds." Again, Andy is special, different, not like other people. His need for constant stimulation and for the feeling that he is fighting to survive and achieve underlies all of his cult-building activities over the years.
January 9
Andy writes about the difference between knowledge and belief, emphasizing, "You can never know why another person does what they do, or even to a certain degree, yourself." He says that people like to substitute "know" for "believe" out of fear, but that it makes them no less likely to be hurt and more likely to hurt others. "I would always choose being hurt over being the one to cause hurt," he says. This post seems to serve a three-fold purpose: fostering uncertainty in his readers (making them more vulnerable to manipulation), sending the message that the people warning others about Andy are wrong about him (making him seem safer), and presenting Andy as a deeply compassionate person (making people admire him and want to get closer to him).
January 10
Because many of his followers are much younger than he is and (in his words) "either newly sexually active or contemplating becoming so", and because he claims to have counseled many people on sex before, Andy makes an advisory post about healthy and consensual sex. He lectures on consent, communication, control, consequences, and compassion.
January 11
Andy publishes his phone number again, encouraging people who are "scared, alone, or in trouble" to call him.
In response to a remark in the above post, an anon asks whether people have really called Andy to verbally abuse him. He says that they have, but that he'd take 10,000 verbally abusive calls for being able to help just one person. Then he repeats that people should call him any time and any day if they are "feeling scared/alone/worthless/like no one cares/is thinking of hurting/killing themselves, or even just needs to talk to a non-judgmental adult," and posts his number again.
Andy writes about 'haters' and how he doesn't understand people who devote significant amounts of time to "studying [the people they 'hate'], taking them apart, writing about them, talking about them, blogging about them, etc." He advises that people who don't like a particular person or thing should just "walk away" because all they're doing is making their hate-objects "famous/infamous," and unlike Andy, they're not doing anything worthwhile with their lives. This is very obviously aimed at Turimel, Abbey, Diamond, and everyone who's contributed to chronicling his activities on Fandom Wank and elsewhere. In a rather unsettling twist, he mentions in the first paragraph that he can "put himself in a mental place where it makes sense how [war and genocide and child abuse] would make sense," but cannot understand 'the haters'. The idea seems to be that Andy is so compassionate that he can even sympathize with people who have done horrific things on a massive scale, but that his haters are somehow worse and/or more unreasonable than genocide, so he can't sympathize with them.
January 12
This is the point at which Andy starts blogging more frequently about grocery shopping and recipes, and generally presenting himself as a foodie. At this point, per Abbey and DAYDian E, this has been going on in real life for years, and presumably it also features on Andy's old LiveJournal.
January 16
Andy goes after the low-hanging fruit of formulaic romantic comedy films to reinforce the message that while the dominant culture "hates women," he is a feminist who loves women and understands how real love is supposed to be. Of particular interest is one of his takeaway messages from Mr. and Mrs. Smith: "someone you really love and who loves you can be trusted with your darkest secrets and will still have your back." It's worth noting that the Smiths' relationship works out only because both of them were lying about who they were, and most of all because it's fictional.
January 17
Andy posts about coerced sex as "therapy", which is something that Diamond has reported he did to her in the Bagenders cult.
In another post, he writes about keeping secrets for someone who "doesn't deserve it" and is taking advantage of his silence "to continue being a hurtful douchebag". This is obviously about Abbey. Andy is playing the martyr, and at the same time, issuing a thinly-veiled threat to reveal potentially embarrassing secrets about her. He claims that Abbey is writing about him because he's "offend[ed]" her in some way, and that her "cuntishness…will become self-evident to everyone in time."
January 26
Andy, who has a long history of taking away others' autonomy, lectures people about shaming and guilt-tripping anyone who has done things they didn't want to do and normally wouldn't have done, but did do because someone took away their autonomy.
The same day, he says that he regularly reads posts by his 'haters', that they think he's "literally sub-human", and that they want him to die. According to Andy, they don't care at all about the truth because they've already decided that he's evil. He says that the fact that they think he's a monster makes him feel good because a) they clearly don't know him, so he doesn't have to take it personally, and b) he thinks they're brave for fighting that "demon". The latter seems to refer particularly to Abbey and Diamond, to whom he still has not apologized, and he specifically opens up the possibility that they're wrong about who he is and what he's done. Andy goes on to write about how hard he's trying to help everyone in his life. He suggests that people are upset with him in part because he's letting them down, but mostly because (again) they don't really know him: "too much of me is made of other people's secrets". While he now has a job, Andy claims that it pays less than half of minimum wage, and that he's terrified, but can't talk to anyone because he can't be "human" with anyone he knows. He infantilizes and guilt-trips his friends, saying, "I've promised to give to them until they can grow up and out and past me and away and hopefully go help others. Real people, ones who deserve it. Because I don’t." He refers to having gone after some "demons" of his own, and to "keeping everyone's secrets even when they don't keep [his] and respecting them no matter how they treat [him]," at once projecting compassion and vaguely threatening that he could spill some embarrassing stories about his past targets if he wanted. All of this, he says, is because he is so noble that he has vowed to help the countless people who "need" him until there is literally nothing left of him at all.
Andy also says that he is suicidal because he's "given [his] whole life trying to help people and just keep[s] getting tremendously shafted in return." He will heroically go on bearing the pain, though, rather than hurt anyone.
January 31
On the DAYDverse Facebook group (and in private messages to friends, and on his own Facebook), Andy requests someone to provide him with "room and board, as well as round-trip travel and visa sponsorship" in exchange for "any kind of legal and ethical work for up to 60 hours a week". He says that he would prefer to be in Southeast Asia and to work as a "nanny/personal chef/personal assistant/housekeeper," and that he is willing to live under extremely spartan conditions. This post also repeats his previous claims of having had a partially Catholic upbringing and of speaking French, Latin, "Gaelic", Classical Greek, and Spanish.
February 2
Andy posts about the wrock album in the Facebook group again, claiming that Brittany had been involved in the project to the point that "it was really almost her album." He repeats his request for DAYDians to help him finish the album by the first anniversary of the murders, but this time he says that proceeds will be split between NEWS (Napa Emergency Women's Services) and "sponsoring someone for a volunteer humanitarian aide [sic] trip to China or Indonesia."
February 3
Andy reblogs an image, adding the caption, "Je suis ne sais pas ce que in all the ways that truly matter and none of the ways people think matters." The French text translates to, "I am I do not know what." Two things are evident in this post: the beginning of Andy's claims about schizophrenia and DID, and the recurring theme that no one really understands him. This is just a week after Abbey's post about The Man From Earth, which she describes as "a condensed version of what it is like to be drawn into Andy Blake's world of fantasy". I do not think this is a coincidence.
February 5
Via private Facebook message, Andy informs Carlanime that he has just discovered that "[he is] a symptom of someone else's psychosis and everything [he] thought he knew about [him]self and [his] past…isn't true." In other words, despite his earlier claims of having carefully-placed triggers to prevent the Andrew Blake persona from ever learning the truth, he has just awakened to the fact that he really is the same person who was formerly known as Amy Player, Jordan Wood, etc.—but without the "original consciousness" reasserting itself.
February 6
On the Facebook group, Andy tries to arrange "a revival of the use of the DAYDians as a support group". This is not because of his current mental health crisis, but because he's trying to quit smoking.
February 14
Andy complains that it's difficult for male writers to write female characters because literally any trait, action, or dialogue that they ascribe to those characters is held up to an impossible standard. He says that for any given aspect of a female character, some readers will love it, and others will hate it, "and often both these people will be women." He says that this is because "as soon as a human identifies female, everything's a double or triple standard," and that this is "one tenth of one percent of the shadow of the idea of what it must be like to…live as a woman." At the same time that this drives home the idea of Andy as a sensitive feminist who understands women's struggles (despite not really knowing what it's like, because he's denying that he was AFAB and lived as a girl/woman for 18-19 years), it also dismisses every complaint that anyone has ever made about the way that he portrays female characters in the DAYDverse.
March 19
Andy posts for Brittany's birthday, again referring to her as a dear, dear friend.
Toward the end of March
After several months of terrible behavior, Andy informs E and K that he wants to move out on his own because their other roommate is “triggering” to him. They simply wish him luck. That night, Andy writes a long e-mail as one of the DAYD characters, criticizing all three of his roommates. He sends it to them and to their friends. The next day, E and K tell Andy that they’re through dealing with his bullshit. Andy responds with an emotional, melodramatic fauxpology and begs them to stay with him, but it’s too little, too late. E and K move out soon after and cut off contact with Andy.
March 22
In a brief summary of why he hasn't posted much recently, Andy mentions being on unspecified prescription drugs, alludes to the fact that his living arrangements with K and E will not be continuing, and says that he has a job lined up for after he moves. He also calls Brittany a friend again.
The same day, Andy posts again about the wrock album in his Tumblr and the DAYDverse Facebook community. He repeats his claim that Brittany was enthusiastic about the project and was working hard on it before she was killed. This time, he offers original DAYD art to anyone who can help with arrangement, mixing, production, or providing a band. An interesting fact that Andy does not mention is that the art that he's offering is what Brittany won in the LJ community's art auctions to raise money to bring D and other international DAYDians to DAYDcon. He now says that the proceeds will go to "a fund set up in [Brittany's] name at the local domestic violence shelter."
March 23
Andy posts REAL strong women are not runway models, in which he dictates what a woman "should" look like. He criticizes female stars like Linda Hamilton and Sigourney Weaver for being too "masculine", and Angelina Jolie and Kate Beckinsale for having "the size-0-with-tits figure of a Victoria's Secret Angel." In contrast, he praises Brittany for having "not a man's body by any means, but a strong, fit woman's body," and goes on to describe her and Jennifer Lawrence's body parts in a way that is so creepy that I'm not comfortable quoting it here. The post is accompanied by a picture of Brittany that cuts off most of her head, which is dehumanizing.
March 25
Andy says that he is unimpressed with the Hunger Games trilogy and the first movie, as he has said of the canon for every fandom in which he has participated after The Lord of the Rings. In spite of this, he says that he wants "to do with Cinna in HG/CF what I did with Neville in DH," and that this could easily become another fan novel.
March 27
The day after Turimel warns the Hunger Games fandom about Andy (warning for transphobia at that link), he posts Me/Hunger Games ain't a ship that's gonna sail. Andy says that he is "not really in fandom anymore" and is not a Hunger Games fan because "it just doesn't zing [him]." He explains that the art and cosplay he's done and the fan novel that he mentioned don't mean that he's at all interested in the canon or fandom.
Later that day, he posts a summary of his idea for a Cinna-centric novel (cropped out of that image for tl;dr), saying that he's not going to write it because "After the DAYDverse, it really is going to be time for [him] to be more or less done with fandom."
March 29
Andy answers a meme question about "your perfect girl/boy" by saying that he and Brittany "were perfect friends and had decided to be life partners". He also claims to have "lived just about everywhere…with the exception of Asia."
In another response to the same meme, he says that he is "single by death, heart still taken." This is the first solid indication that he is claiming to have had a romantic relationship with Brittany. The meme also asks about tattoos, and Andy says that he is "planning celtic knotwork on [his] left upper arm and shoulder."
Andy posts a Tumblr giveaway for a Hunger Games commission, accompanied by a picture of Finnick, and offers extra entries in the giveaway to people who pay to commission art from him. He also reposts his Cinna novel summary, which he has reworked into a fic, repeating the claim that he will be done with fandom after the DAYDverse is finished.
March 30
Andy writes about what makes women attractive to him. This includes "women who enjoy their femininity" (represented by a woman in a big, fluffy dress) and "women with curves" (e.g., women whose body shape conforms to a particular societal notion of attractiveness, regardless of size). He says that the models in some pictures that he posted earlier for L look as if "they don't seem confident in themselves as much as in their ability to be something someone else wants." Again, he is criticizing something that a woman enjoys and telling her that he knows better about what's good for women.
April 1
Andy announces that he has been corresponding with an agent and a publisher and plans to submit his DAYDverse works for publication. He later redacts this as an April Fool's joke and says that he "almost [feels] bad" because people took it seriously. This includes Abbey and Turimel, who are furious and feel that they've been scammed by Andy yet again. In a comment on Turimel's post (warning for transphobia at that link), Abbey says:
"Andy, if you read this: I will not keep any of your secrets any longer. No victim is beholden by honor to keep their promise of silence TO AN ABUSER. Real honor is something you very literally know nothing about. Enjoy your pranks now, you dishonorable, cowardly, pathetic excuse for a human being."
April 5
On the Facebook community, Andy mentions that he will soon be moving to South Dakota with L.
April 18
Andy posts a thank-you to the DAYDians, enumerating everything that he's created for the 'verse and claiming that "over 300 [other] people" have also contributed. He pats himself on the back for "at least two weddings and a baby from people who met as DAYDians" and says that the DAYDverse is the DAYDians. It is worth noting that E told Aja that Andy brought him and K together "in the same way that Delta Airlines brought [them] together".
April 23
Andy's grandfather dies. Although Andy has repeatedly claimed that he was Irish, spoke with an accent that he passed on to Andy, had old scores to settle regarding the Troubles, etc., his obituary reveals that he was born and raised in Iowa, US.
April 26
In honor of the anniversaries of the Battle of Hogwarts and Brittany's murder, Andy announces a giveaway of sorts. He names several tasks that people can do to earn "points" toward art commissions. The tasks include volunteer work, raising or donating money for charity, and blogging or writing fic about domestic violence or child soldiers.
End of April
Andy and L move to South Dakota.
May 2
Andy posts on Facebook for the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts. He asks people to "think of those [they] love…and what [they] would regret if they were lost to [them] without warning," because such sudden loss can happen to anyone, of any age, anywhere. He says that they should already understand this because they've read the DAYDverse stories.
May 8-10
Andy travels to Virginia for his grandfather's funeral.
May 10
Andy posts a "fairy tale" that seems to portray the great and noble things that he claims he does for women. The maiden in the story is depressed and has no self-esteem, traits that Andy claims to find unattractive, but specifically looks for in his targets. Naturally, all Andy's self-insert knight wants is to help her overcome these problems. Andy has the knight dismiss "what the maiden [wants] to be" as "what others [want] her to be," as if a woman isn't capable of determining what she wants for herself. He also says that he has only brotherly feelings for her, something that many women have heard from Andy after weeks or months of deeply personal conversation, flirting, and boundary-straining physical contact. It is also telling that the knight feels that an extravagant gesture on his part should be enough to overcome feelings that the woman's had for years, as if his opinion naturally ought to enormous weight with a person he's just met. The maiden's rejection of the gesture (which he accompanies with a declaration of everything he's done "for her") is framed as if it could only be an act of cruelty or further self-hatred; the idea that the knight's actions might be excessive and inappropriate isn't considered. Finally, another character has to suggest to the knight that maybe he should just try being friends with this person—although he frames it with, "you did all a man can do," rather than, "calm the fuck down and stop making this about you and your feelings." Andy says that he's going to post an essay to accompany the fairy tale, but it never materializes.
May 11
While preparing for his grandfather's funeral, Andy pauses to write about turning his father into a Gleek. He posts a picture of himself in some vintage clothing of his grandfather's, accompanied by a picture of Chris Colfer as Kurt Hummel in a similar outfit, and says that this is a "sign" that he was right to introduce his father to Glee.
Andy reblogs a photoset of Karen Gillan, who played Amy Pond in Doctor Who, and adds a horrifying caption stating that the fact that, in Rory's absence, the Doctor didn't use his "complete control over time and space" to "TAP SOMMA THIS" is proof that the Doctor is a good man.
May 12
Andy says that he will be living in a tiny room in rural South Dakota for the next several months. If he still had the plans he'd made before the murders, he'd have "an apartment in San Francisco with Brittany and a walk in closet and places to look awesome and people who would appreciate it." (Capslock eliminated.) This is consistent with his eulogy to Brittany, in which he said that after the New Zealand hike, they'd planned to work for a while in a Napa Valley vineyard and then get an apartment in the Bay Area.
May 20
Andy explains that the reason he is in rural South Dakota is to work at a summer camp. He also has a potential job as an online "art consultant" for a company in Africa. If it goes well, he says he'll be relocating to Nairobi, Kenya. He never mentions this job again, but someone on the Facebook community suggests that it is probably a scam.
May 21
Andy posts his "I speak fandom" image for the first time, demonstrating that although he's said he's "done with fandom", he still sees no problem with using it as a quick and easy way to get close to people.
June 3
Andy has officially started working at the summer camp by this date.
June 24
A little over a year after the murders, Andy shares a picture of his memorial tattoo for Brittany. He also mentions plans to bring T (who is one of the PotterFicWeekly hosts from the infamous interview, and a DAYDian who came to help Andy after Brittany's murder) to South Dakota for a visit, and for himself to see a Broadway show in August.
July
This the month in which Andy will later claim that he "got [his] mind and life back" (10/27/2014).
This month, Andy starts posting a lot more about rape and rape culture. For some reason, he tends to make quote-style Tumblr posts about it that feature his own writing (and not even things he's posted before). Some of these are reworded quotations by prominent feminists; others are ideas that have been generally accepted by feminists for years. None of them can truly be said to be original to Andy. Please bear in mind that Andy is an admitted rapist, though he has not yet admitted it at this point in the timeline, and both Abbey and Diamond say that he has done worse things to them than he has confessed.
July 1
Andy allegedly is fired from his job at the summer camp when his supervisor becomes aware of his history. He returns home to live with his parents, who put him into therapy again. This is the point at which he becomes extremely prolific (both in terms of original posts and reblogs) on Tumblr.
July 6
Beneath a quotation from the Dalai Lama, Andy posts an implausible story about meeting an elderly Buddhist monk at Union Station, while on his way back to Virginia from South Dakota. Supposedly the monk buys him dinner, brings over a younger monk to haul Andy's luggage to the appropriate train platform, and has tea with him. At the end of the encounter, the monk (who has heretofore communicated only with smiles and gestures) allegedly speaks to Andy for the first and only time, "carefully and slowly enunciating" the word, "com-pa-shun." Like many of Andy's stories, there may be a grain of truth to it (e.g., he may have spotted a Buddhist monk during his travels), but this account of a person of color conveniently placed to assist a white man and teach him a valuable lesson reads like a page from Andy's fanfiction.
Later that day, Andy asks people to point him at new (to him) fandoms that they think he'll enjoy. He promises to give a "thorough try" to the one that he finds most interesting and one that is far outside his usual interests. Again, this is despite saying more than once that he is done with fandom.
July 7
Andy responds publicly to an anon message that he claims to have received from someone who is being abused. He mentions having run It's About Power as if that makes him some kind of authority on abuse. He brings up the possibility that the abuser doesn't know they're being abusive and provides several excuses for male abusers based on societal expectations of men. He goes on to explain gaslighting, a practice in which he himself has engaged many times, and reiterates that the abuser may have been "taught" by society to do this. Even as he assures the anon that they aren't obligated to "fix" their abuser, he refers to the abuser as "infected", as if he can't help what he does, and reinforces that he might not have known any better than to be abusive. He closes with a series of affirmations.
In another post, Andy addresses people who have just read DAYD. He directs them to the rest of his DAYDverse writings, the wiki, his YouTube channel, his DeviantArt, and the LJ and Facebook communities. He also posts his phone number so they can call him about it.
July 8
In a post that is ostensibly about not making judgmental assumptions about people using food stamps, Andy veers off into self-aggrandizing territory. He says that he's "been on his own since he was a teenager," when the truth is that he went off to college at 16 (a little early, but not out of the ordinary for a homeschooled student) and lived with a cousin for a while, failed a bunch of classes and switched schools, and then moved to Oregon, where he started a cult and faked his own suicide in hopes that his parents would leave him alone. He repeats his claims about speaking French, Spanish, Classical Greek, Latin, and "Gaelic", and pats himself on the back for doing a number of things that are very common, including keeping rice and lentils in the pantry and buying and modifying thrift store clothing.
July 9
Andy gets angry at the idea that his DAYDverse writings are "just" fanfiction, and compares himself to Shakespeare, Homer, and Tennyson.
Later, he lists many of the female DAYD characters along with their interests, professions, personality traits, and major accomplishments. He says that he's tempted to "take up Goddess worship, because DAYUM!" and tags the post, "sexy sexy ladies".
July 10
Andy posts a lot of ways that he wishes his and Brittany's relationship had ended, rather than with her murder. Up to this point, he has described their relationship as a friendship, and sometimes as such a close non-romantic friendship that they had decided to become life partners. Only once, in a response to a meme, has he implied that it was romantic. The list includes, "I wish you'd cheated on me," "I wish you'd found someone better," and "I wish you'd come out as a lesbian." He says, "…we didn't decide that it wasn't going to work out or just to be friends," (emphasis mine) and says several times that he loves her. Andy is now openly claiming to have been romantically and perhaps sexually involved with Brittany. Incidentally, this post is also the first time that he acknowledges that anyone else has been affected by Brittany's murder. Previously, he has focused on his own loss, and once or twice on the DAYDians' when he wanted them to help organize a hike or work on the wrock album.
July 11
Andy makes a post to the effect that people are undefinable and that any attempt to label a person in any way is both futile and unnecessary. This is accompanied by another recitation of his seemingly contradictory traits, such as living on next to nothing and having expensive taste.
July 13
Andy announces that he loves literally every other human. "I may not know your name, but we are already in this together, and I already love and value you."
July 14
Andy receives an anonymous ask saying, "you love all those 7 billion strong puzzle pieces. then you get to know them and don't love them as much anymore." He responds first as if the anon is a former friend with whom he has "some kind of unfortunate history", and then as if the anon is sending the message out of self-hatred. His former-friend response can be summed up as follows:
1. Andy has changed, with a reminder of Brittany to tug at the anon's heartstrings. Even if this anon isn't a former DAYDian, many of whom were friends of Brittany, Andy's exploiting her memory in this way is still unacceptable.
2. Andy loves and forgives the anon—but because he doesn't even know who they are, these are empty words. Note that he does not bring up the possibility that they aren't friends anymore because he hurt the anon; it's all about how they may have hurt Andy and how he can magnanimously forgive them, no matter what. Since he mentions Brittany's killer as someone that he forgives, please see this post of mine for a recap of Andy's opinions on him over the years.
3. Although he loves the anon, Andy isn't going to look for them. He implies that he's watching a number of former friends on social media, and that he knows enough about their lives that he can determine whether they would benefit from talking to him again. He also raises the possibility, again, that the anon has hurt him.
4. Andy needs to know that the anon has changed—because again, they probably hurt him.
5. The anon has probably done some things that Andy doesn't approve of and that would make him angry.
6. Andy doesn't think the anon should kill themselves; he just thinks they need to change.
7. Andy wishes he could help the anon, but he's not convinced that they really want help.
8. Andy would never hurt the anon.
His self-hatred response indicates that the present is all that matters, and contradicts what he's said earlier by suggesting that the anon might be a former friend and that he might be willing to give them another chance if they let him into their life now. He says that he's had to forgive himself and others for terrible things, but makes no mention of atoning or apologizing for past wrongs, or seeking forgiveness from others.
July 16
Andy expresses shock that so many of the people he's been "hanging out with" on Tumblr are "babies who are all talking about their sexual fantasies" (capslock eliminated). By "babies" he seems to mean junior high and high school students. He asks people over 25 to reblog, but expresses no intention of unfollowing younger people or asking them to unfollow him, despite supposedly being disturbed by their ages.
The same day, Andy posts about suicide. He says that he has tried to kill himself multiple times, which may or may not be true, but omits the fact that he faked his own suicide twice in 2003: once by sending a suicide note and a box of his belongings to his parents, and again after his deception regarding Tentmoot was revealed. His technique for discouraging people from committing suicide is not exactly sound: he tells them that the afterlife might be an eternity of horror, that they might face "cosmic punishment", and that the people they're trying to punish with their death might not care or might be happy. After this litany of fearmongering, Andy suggests that although life is terrible, suicidal people may as well take a gamble and keep on living because "better the devil you know." In stark contrast to the message of the Trevor Project, which he has previously espoused, he says, "I can't promise it will get better." It is neither acceptable nor appropriate to inflict further psychological trauma on someone who is contemplating suicide, even if you claim to be doing so as a means of "saving" them.
Later that day, he reposts his phone number and other contact information, saying, "I'm here. I care. I'll listen. I won't judge. I won't tell. You can talk to me." Again, despite knowing that many of his followers are minors, he is encouraging them to give him their personal contact information and confide in him.
July 17
Andy posts Colored Children May Not Play Here, an obviously fictional account of an encounter with a child at the amusement park (most likely Busch Gardens) where he is working as a caricature artist. Allegedly, the child displays self-loathing and internalized racism, which Andy heavily implies have been passed on by his mother. Andy the Enlightened White Man resolves this with an inspiring speech, and the child is happy again. To drive the message further home, Andy writes that the child decides to be portrayed as Captain America, the ultimate embodiment of what the US is supposed to be. This is the first time that Andy mentions the MCU on Tumblr.
July 19
Andy offers cheap Avengers commissions, saying that he needs to get used to drawing them for work (he is a caricature artist at Busch Gardens). He posts his first Captain America art the next day.
July 20
Andy hears about the Aurora, CO shootings at the Batman premiere and asks his followers to help him confirm that several people, including two of his former roommates, are all right. He publicly shares these people's full names. Andy posts about this several times, saying that he is "rapidly decompensating" and retelling the story of his "dear friend" Brittany's murder in a brief and oddly flippant manner. Luckily, all of his former friends are fine.
July 21
In a post addressed to his new followers, Andy makes a number of claims about himself, including that he is an advocate for human rights, for LGBTQIA rights, and against rape and domestic violence. He also repeats that he "isn't 'into' any fandom" and mentions that he's "done things [he's] not proud of," but is "doing things [he is] proud of now."
July 22
Just as he used to do on LJ, Andy has been answering, in-character, questions addressed to the DAYDverse characters on Tumblr. There are too many for it to be worth noting each one individually. This is the date on which he compiles the questions and responses and posts them to Facebook and the LJ community.
Andy posts Fuck the Gender Police, the latest of many assertions that he is in some way transgressive with regard to traditional gender roles, and that other people are threatened by this. He says that he is currently working on a One Direction art commission, which does not make him a girl or gay, but there's nothing wrong with being either of those things. He goes on to insult misogynists and homophobes in ways that call into question his claim to love literally every human being. No one was aware that Andy was doing anything related to One Direction until he mentioned it here, so no one has had a chance to say anything about it at all. That makes this entire post seem extremely defensive, which rather contradicts the point that he's trying to make.
July 23
This date marks the first time that Andy watches Supernatural, although he's only watching a single episode for an art commission.
This is also the day that Andy officially announces that a few of his friends will be conducting tea ceremonies in Brittany's memory. He lists the teas that he is sending them and why each has been included. I have written about this post and the tea ceremonies here and here (see last big paragraph), and also mentioned them here. I have read tea ceremony posts by three of Andy's friends. One of them, a DAYDian from the LJ community, writes in a fairly straightforward fashion, mostly describing her reaction to the taste of each tea. When she writes about Brittany, she acknowledges that they'd never met, but that they'd talked a little and she'd read a lot about her, and she could personally relate to Brittany's experience of abuse by a partner. CFC writes about her troubled relationship with Brittany, then describes Brittany as reaching out from beyond the grave to heal the rift between them, and to help her to be the person she wants to be. She describes Brittany as "one of many faiths [she has]" and specifically connects her with her religious journey. Tumblr-era DAYDian A, who never knew Brittany at all, writes about visualizing Andy and Brittany with them. With one cup, they "see" Andy and Brittany sitting on either side of them and holding hands behind their head. With another, they "see" Brittany at the table with them and ask her to help Andy (and them, if she can manage it) with her "healer's hands". "How deeply I understand you now," they write.
A popular meme makes light of annoying Tumblr stereotypes. In an effort to demonstrate his sensitivity and "protectiveness", Andy decides to take it absolutely seriously and responds as if the girl depicted were a real person whom he needs to save from some evil Tumblr hivemind. He assigns himself some over-the-top hypothetical dialogue and then says that he has "a saving people problem", but that this is absolutely something that he would do in real life.
Finally, Andy posts about the wrock album again. This time, he claims that Brittany had been working on it for two years before her death (so from 2009-2011), that it was "THIS close to going somewhere when she was murdered," and that now it's finally going to be finished.
July 24
Andy informs us that his emotions are not those of mere mortals. Other people "cling to things, and they project that on [him]," so they think he's more unhappy than he really is. "Emotion come, emotion go," says Andy. "I don't cling to hurty things...it's like holding on to the blade of a knife."
July 25
Andy posts 10 Things I Want To Tell You About Your Rape, a piece that directly addresses rape survivors. As if he were an authority on sexual assault, he talks about things that other people or a nebulous "they" will tell rape survivors, but he won't—again, setting himself apart as exceptionally enlightened and sensitive. He also talks about potential motivations of rapists, as if there is any explanation or excuse that is adequate for their actions. One of the motivations that he lists is mental illness, which he has repeatedly attempted to use to excuse his own abusive actions. He says, "People who are truly ill like that are not truly responsible for their actions and need serious medical attention." He also specifies that rape is not a means of helping people "get past hangups", although that was one of his excuses when he raped someone in the Bagenders cult. Amidst a number of other points cribbed from literature written by actual advocates and experts, Andy goes on to say that a rapist may "genuinely be a good person who did something terribly wrong but might be able to be helped with education and therapy to never do it again." Again, Andrew Blake is an admitted rapist who has a vested interest in sending this message. Whether rapists can truly be rehabilitated or not isn't the point. Andy is not someone who should be speaking authoritatively on the matter, and especially not directly to rape survivors.
July 26
Andy's 29th birthday.
July 27
Having read about Kristen Stewart's cheating on Robert Pattinson and the ensuing fandom fall-out, Andy (who has previously taken every opportunity to mock Twilight and its fans) chastises his friends for being less compassionate and tolerant than he is. His friends have been laughing at the angry Twilight fans, but Andy says that he recognizes that those people (all of whom he seems to assume are children or young adolescents) have just had their entire worldview shattered, and he wants to support them. Like Jesus would, or Wil Wheaton. Fortunately, Andy is unaware that while you can use as many tags on a Tumblr post as you want, the post will only show up on the tag pages for the first five. He therefore fails to attract the attention of any young, emotionally vulnerable Twilight fans.
July 30
Andy lists a number of 'wrong reasons' to be in a relationship (some clearly legitimate, others debatable) and says that if any of them applies to the reader, they need to "seriously evaluate [their] situation." Some of these are things that he exploited to try to get Abbey to stay with him in 2007-2008.
July 31
Andy posts about Brittany again, saying that he misses having her as a friend because she was "a peer, an equal…and [not] Fraught With Drama." He says that he'd never had that before and doesn't think he'll ever have it again, thereby denigrating all of his past and current friends and partners and denying his own part in the drama that constantly surrounds him.
August
Andy starts posting art that crosses DAYDverse with various other fandoms, especially Torchwood, apparently in an effort to attract more readers. (This is aside from/in addition to the litany of fandoms that the Creevey brothers frequently reference.) He will eventually insert Torchwood and Supernatural cameos into "A Peccatis".
August 1
Andy reposts 10 Myths About Domestic Violence, originally from the It's About Power website. Please read this message, from an actual domestic violence advocate, about IAP and this post in particular.
Despite his frequent complaints about being broke or poor, Andy posts about a day of "retail therapy" that includes:
…three bags from Wal-Mart, one from Target, two from Claires…one from Calvin Kline [sic], two from GAP, one from JC Penny [sic], one from Nautica, one from the Levi Store, one from Banana Republic, and one from Van Heusen.
August 3
Andy posts another implausible story from his job at Busch Gardens. Supposedly, a fifteen-year-old boy who "could seriously make a living impersonating Josh Hutcherson" (Peeta from The Hunger Games) appears and becomes "hysterical" when he thinks that Andy is going to comment on the resemblance. A "girl's middle school band camp" is at the park and apparently has been harassing him all day. This is reminiscent of Andy's 2008 ranting about "bubbleheaded shipperchibbies"—evidently, young Hunger Games fangirls are still fair game. Luckily, Andy is there to save the day by paying for the kid to get his face painted like a Marvel character.
August 5
Responding to an anon who asks what smaller-fandom canons interest Andy, he repeats that he is not interested in any fandom but DAYDverse. Although the vast majority of his posts concern some fandom in some way, he explains away his interest in every one of them as if he's above it all (e.g., "sociology fanboying" in Glee, having an attachment to Star Trek for "Father Reasons", saying that he watched XYZ shows because he had "roommates with addictions").
Sometime between August 6-9
Andy and his mother go to New York City and see Wicked on Broadway. Former roommate L was supposed to accompany him on this trip, but it is unclear whether she went.
August 10
Andy, a cisgender, straight, white man, makes a lengthy post about the acceptability of various forms of insult. For some reason, he separates "religious, ethnic, and sexual insults" and "gendered insults" (both of which he says are sometimes acceptable), as well as "sexist insults/misgendering insults" (not acceptable), from slurs (which are "FUCK TO THE NEVER" acceptable). He says that this post came about because someone took exception to his calling a friend a cunt, and makes it clear that he believes that the problem was not that he used the word in the first place, but that he didn't realize that people would see it.
August 11
Andy answers a long list of questions from an anon. Of particular interest is his statement that even if he had a time machine, "[he'd] not want to go backwards because there's nothing [he'd] want to change." Also of note is that Andy says that if he had to pick any place outside the US to start a new life, he would choose Vancouver, BC, Canada. Vancouver just happens to be the shooting location for many movies and TV series.
He also posts some DAYD/Supernatural crossover art.
August 12
Andy starts the DAYDverse tumblr community.
August 13
In That's what makes you beautiful, Andy writes about many different ways in which he says a woman can be beautiful, regardless of body type, style, and sexuality. He sets this in contrast to how "They" say a woman should look. The problem with this post is that while Andy is purporting to send a positive message, what he is actually doing is mansplaining and condescending to women, about themselves. He is also making several enormous assumptions:
1. That he has any right to decide what makes women beautiful or not.
2. That women necessarily want him to think of them as beautiful.
3. That he knows more about what is good and healthy for women than women do.
4. That women should care about his opinion.
Also problematic is his suggestion that some women are not beautiful due to things beyond their control, such as symptoms of illness, aspects of the natural aging process, physical effects of hard work, and low self-esteem. Finally, Andy's use of the word "pussy" toward the end is very jarring, after all his efforts at gentle, non-threatening language and imagery. He has a habit of using slang terms, many of which are pejorative, for female genitalia.
August 16
An anon asks how Andy knows so much about the DAYD characters and how he keeps track of the stories. He repeats what he's said all along (emphasis mine): "I just DO. … I just know it, the way I know things about anyone else I know IRL. … The information comes with the exact same tone and feel from the exact same part of my brain. … I don't think about it, I don't build it, I just know."
In a related post, he says that the DAYD characters are "shoving at the inside of [his] head," demanding to have their stories told. Andy implies that they are real people whom the rest of the world does not acknowledge as such, so only he understands how important they are. "As long as there is breath in [his] body," he says, he will keep telling their stories, although it impedes him from having a "normal" life. Abbey, Diamond, and former DAYDians have described how in both the Bagenders and DAYDverse cults, Andy gradually built up to the "channeling", never outright telling anyone of his so-called abilities, but dropping in bits of information and suggestions here and there until they "worked it out for themselves". These two posts look like the early stages of that process, as if perhaps Andy is hoping to build up a new DAYDverse cult among his Tumblr followers.
Andy makes the ludicrous claim that he once performed oral sex on a woman for six hours continuously, giving her 54 orgasms.
August 18
Andy complains that as "an articulate, educated, reasonably attractive guy", he cannot find a woman with whom to engage in a completely platonic friendship and have fun together. He makes a token acknowledgement that a guy would be fine, too, but might "get his masculinity in a twist about it." He insists that he isn't a Nice Guy and doesn't feel entitled to anything from women, and that he finds all of this hilarious. The implication seems to be either that there are no women anywhere near Andy that share his interests, or if there are, they all want him sexually.
August 22
In another tale of Fandom in Real Life, Andy says that someone at the doctor's office referred to him as "Mr. Anderson" (as in Blaine Anderson from Glee) because he had completely unintentionally dressed like him. The selfies that he posts indicate that at this point, he deliberately models his overall look on Blaine's on a regular basis, bowties, gelled hair, and all.
September
This is the month in which Andy will later claim that he had a “breakthrough” and fully integrated all of his “alters” after just two months of therapy. (From Aja Romano's article, "The Strange Lives of Andrew Blake," which I will not link here.)
September 4
Andy tells another unbelievable story from his work at Busch Gardens. This time, he claims to have encountered a guest who exhibits roughly equal numbers of stereotypically "male" and "female" gender markers, leading him to assume that they are nonbinary. Andy asks for their pronouns and is met with hostility and insults as the guest storms off, offended. The next guest to approach is "more or less the prototype for Burt Hummel" (Kurt's father and Finn's stepfather in Glee). Andy portrays him as not terribly bright, but full of folksy wisdom. While Andy draws his children's caricatures, this man pontificates in southern dialect about how people like the previous guest make things harder for the rest of the LGBTQIA community by throwing well-meaning people's efforts to be respectful back in their faces, "and that ain't right." He includes an example of "a lady at the station who used to be a guy" and a metaphor about peeling the labels off cans. This man sounds exactly like the sheriff's deputy in one of Andy's earlier posts. While the deputy served to lend Andy's words an air of legitimacy and authority, he seems to have created this character simply because he thought his message would get more attention if it came from someone who wouldn't ordinarily be expected to say such a thing—and from someone easily tied in to a fandom.
September 5
After Andy complains about not having anyone with whom to attend Fashion's Night Out, an anon says that they'd love to go with him if he could get to Seattle. As he has done many times in the past, Andy responds with an "offer" to travel anywhere, "even if it's overseas", if someone else will pay for it.
September 10
Andy conflates fandom with activism and politics, writing that the existence and popularity of Glee mean that the Republican party has "lost the culture war". Regardless of whether Romney and Ryan win the 2012 Presidential election, he says, "it doesn't matter in the long run" because their brand of bigotry is on the way out. This waving away of very real problems and fears, and smug condescension about taking the long view with regard to politics and social issues in the US, will repeat themselves in 2016.
Andy repeats that he "[doesn't] really like the Harry Potter series much at all and [has] only read each book once".
September 11
Andy leaves for San Francisco to visit DAYDian A. A is a non-neurotypical person who has been uprooted from their life in the US and moved to a faraway country, amid a great deal of family turmoil. (Andy visits while they are back in the US for a very short time.) Since then, they have also experienced a traumatic end to a serious romantic relationship. A has recently turned 18 at the time of this visit, and for most of the time that they associate with Andy, they present and identify as female. All of these things make them especially vulnerable to Andy's usual forms of manipulation. At some point during this visit, A gives Andy a backrub and he tells A that they have "Brittany hands".
September 17
More than two months after he last saw L, Andy says that he has just learned that her stepmother has thrown away a box of "all [his] most precious belongings from [his] entire life", including childhood and family mementos and his correspondence with Brittany. He announces his intention of traveling to the city where L's family lives and digging through the landfill until he finds Brittany's stuffed gorilla—and he actually purchases a Greyhound ticket for this purpose. He says:
"I am, in a way, more heartbroken about this than about Brittany's actual physical death, because…this is the loss of everything I've saved that gave me succor from a lifetime of losses, including hers. Including the loss of everything that soothed in any way the loss OF her."
Despite the importance that he ascribes to this box, Andy apparently left it at L's family's house well before leaving South Dakota (possibly in May or June, when he started working at the camp) and has made no effort whatsoever to retrieve it in the meantime. There is also no indication that L had any idea prior to this date that the box had been thrown away.
In a later post, he adds that he also left with L's family a bag of all of his important (and in some cases irreplaceable) clothing, shoes, and a lot of other memorabilia. That bag is gone, too.
September 19
On Facebook, Andy says that he is being made to spend a three-hour counseling session explaining and justifying his deep investment in the DAYDverse to his parents. He guilt trips the DAYDians by mentioning that he's lost "family irreplaceable things" that he entrusted to them, spent a lot of money on them, and devoted an enormous amount of time to them that he could have spent on other things. Then he asks for fic and art reviews to make him feel better after the session.
In another Facebook post, Andy says that he may have to "choose between the 'verse and [his] family."
September 20
Andy receives a series of anonymous asks (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) on Tumblr from someone who expresses loneliness, self-loathing, and suicidal thoughts. They say they have "lost the most precious thing in [their] life" because they hurt someone unintentionally. They don't want to go on living without this person. Andy is supportive and caring until he realizes who the anon is, at which point he says that they're not really suicidal and just want attention, although he'd asked them not to contact him again after they betrayed him. He refers to the anon as a "creeper" who has taken advantage of him. This anon is L, and the person she unintentionally hurt is Andy.
On Facebook, Andy posts about bad things that have happened within the last 24 hours, including, "[His] mother is trying to make [him] choose between the Daydverse and having a place to live." He describes the counseling session as being "trapped in an office being told the Daydverse was evil and exploiting [him]." He also mentions that the governor of South Dakota has officially banned him from entering the landfill to search for the missing box, and accuses L of deliberately ignoring messages from people trying to help him retrieve those of his possessions that she still has. Andy tells the DAYDians, "I am fighting for you guys. You are worth it. I won't let go."
Later, he posts A N00bs guide to the Daydverse, an attempt to attract new people to his "fandom family". He promises them immediate and complete love and acceptance by the group.
He also posts about body image in the DAYDverse, saying that someone on Facebook has called him out for repeatedly making a point of how trim and athletic everyone in his version of Dumbledore's Army is. Andy justifies this with talk of their military-style training, an unreliable narrator, changes in the characters' bodies after the war, and so forth. He also uses his long-standing obsession with curvy women as a defense. Andy ignores many other valid criticisms of his physical portrayals of the DAYD characters, including his constantly using models and Hollywood actors to represent them in his art, and in-text moments like the revelation that Hannah had a perfect hourglass figure and her robes had somehow made her "look fat".
September 22
Andy thanks several friends for contributing to have his remaining things shipped from L's house. He also thanks L for sending them, glossing over all of the hateful things that he said about her before. He claims that he had actually gone to catch the Greyhound to South Dakota when he heard about the box, and that some sacred or supernatural force kept the bus from coming. While his earlier post said that the state governor had banned him from the landfill, this one ascribes the ban to officials in two South Dakota cities.
Andy hijacks a post written by a person of color about racism in the Harry Potter series, in order to promote the DAYDverse. He talks about how much more diverse his work is than Rowling's, and suggests that he can "offer [the OP] a little bit of the magic back." He immediately follows up by saying that he's not trying "to play Great White Savior, to 'earn cookies', or to pretend that what [he] write[s] is 'post-racism' or beyond critique."
Later, he posts a list of DA members from the DAYDverse fics, accompanied by the "diversity bingo" labels that pertain to each of them.
Finally, Andy posts about a DAYDverse character who was very clearly inspired by Mengele. Andy even went so far as to name him Belsen, after a Nazi concentration camp. After recounting the character's backstory in graphic detail, he talks about A's having come across a sketch of Belsen when he visited them in San Francisco. A is Jewish and the grandchild of Holocaust survivors, and has other family members who did not survive, so they were very disturbed by the sketch and by Belsen's life story, which Andy recounted to them before sharing it in this post. Together, Andy says, they conducted a religious ritual that included burning the sketch, saying a prayer, and cursing the land on which they did it. He tries to justify this by suggesting that Belsen's story was about all the real criminals of the Holocaust who escaped justice, and that the ritual was about all of the victims whose stories will never be told. I believe this is true from A's perspective. For Andy, I believe that Belsen was just another easy means of eliciting an extreme emotional response from his readers—as if having Nazi analogues in the Potterverse weren't enough, he added a literal Nazi. In creating the character in the first place, Andy knowingly and deliberately connected his fictional universe to real horrors that have been suffered by real people and continue to affect their descendants in profound ways. In conducting the ritual, he made that connection even more immediate and personal for A and invested it (and their relationship) with an element of the sacred.
September 23
Andy says that he is not doing well emotionally in the aftermath of losing the box, although he had previously been on the road to recovering from Brittany's murder. He asks whether his followers think that medication might help.
When an anon suggests that Andy ask a professional for help, Andy says that he is seeing a therapist, which his parents are paying for, but that the therapist "doesn't believe in meds unless it's a massive last resort thing." He says that he can't afford to see an actual psychiatrist.
September 24
Andy reveals that his visit with A involved extreme sleep deprivation as he gave them an enormous info-dump about their favorite DAYDverse character. At their request, he shares a lot of backstory about Li's family and a story from her life, which ends up revealing his vast and prideful ignorance about Chinese history and culture and his reliance on stereotypes.
September 27
Without a trace of irony, Andy—who has frequently retconned aspects of various DAYDverse characters when he realizes he's made a mistake—criticizes Rowling for "retconnbackpedaling" and engaging in "that's-not-what-I-meant-it's-just-what-I-wrote crap". He repeats that he doesn't actually like Harry Potter.
On Facebook, he says, "I see the entirety of DAYD/Sluagh/AP/Etc in my head like a film…but that's totally separate from the way I see it as a 'real thing' which is just very straightforward and not at all 'artistic.'" He clarifies that his fic writing is him seeing DAYDverse events as they play out and chronicling them, but that he also "sees" a more artistic version similar to a film adaptation. This seems to be the first step in moving away from his former assertion that the DAYDverse was real, which had been the basis for his second fandom cult. Andy still has some long-term DAYDians left, and if he comes right out and says it was nothing but fiction all along, he might lose them. He has to ease into it.
September 28
Andy laments that all the other Glee fans aren't as clever as he is and even his "favorite glee pundits" just aren't knowledgeable or 'deep' enough to write the meta that he thinks they should.
October
Sometime in late September or early October, A says that, like Andy, they are starting to channel a DAYD character:
...Andy appears to have, shall we say, infected me during his visit with one of the dozens of lives that coexist inside his head. I have the better part of a life cut short living in my own mind, and a Dubliner’s accent whispering in my ears whenever I try to rest: Tell of me, tell of me…
The character is Icarus Utterson. A says that they are working on an essay/biography about Icarus, but they “see so much more of him in [their] mind than [they] could even begin to put into words”, and they’re afraid that only Andy will ever understand. They end by directly addressing the character as if he were a real person: “Russ, if you ever see this or the paper itself, I hope you’re happy with what I’ve done.”
October 1
Andy posts "Real-Sized Woman", allegedly in response to a fanmail that asked his opinion of that term. He uses his version of Luna Lovegood as an example and discusses her eating and exercise habits, which amount to moderation in diet and exercise and eating organic whole foods. He says that her resulting size and body shape are "the equilibrium reached by just being healthy…not by starvation dieting or working out like crazy, but also not by being sedentary and pouring crap into herself."
In a comment on the above post, someone points out that this implies that female athletes can't be "real-sized" because they work out all the time, and that women who are wheelchair bound and gain weight as a result can't be "real-sized" either. Andy's response is notably defensive. He says that this person is correct, but that he's not making a value judgment or saying that "real-sized" means "beautiful, sexy, desirable, worthwhile, responsible, virtuous, healthy, intelligent, [or] valuable." He actually did say that it was healthy, and some of those other adjectives (particularly "responsible" and "virtuous") were clearly implied in his post and the accompanying illustration.
An anon tells Andy that his post upset her and that there's no such thing as a "real body type". She talks about the unfairness of classifying people based on weight. Andy gets defensive again and apologizes for her being upset—but not for the fact that his words caused that feeling. He ignores the issue at hand (that it's ridiculous and offensive to talk about "real" body types/sizes) and focuses instead on the phrase "real woman" that the anon used. He assures her that she is a "real woman" if she identifies as female and that this has nothing to do with her size, and repeats what he's already said about "real-sized" not meaning "beautiful". He piles on the affirmations, not only assuring the anon that he finds women of all sizes to be beautiful, but telling her that she is "valuable…[and] worthy of respect and appreciation and attention," and may describe herself however she wishes. None of this addresses what the anon was actually saying.
Another anon expresses doubt that Luna can weigh what Andy says she does, at her height, with the diet and exercise habits that he describes. Andy responds that Luna's height, weight, figure, and lifestyle correspond to DAYDian A's. Given that he had not previously described these attributes of Luna's in his DAYDverse writings, it seems likely that he deliberately based them on A both to flatter them and to have a "gotcha" answer in case he got a response like this. He closes with a comment about how A looked in the stockings and corset top that they wore to an event that they attended together. Again, A is just over 18 and Andy is 29.
Andy also makes a lengthy post about what racism really is and white people's responsibilities in dealing with it, and gets extremely defensive when an anon calls him out for his never-ending self-congratulations on the diversity of the DAYDverse. His response includes the obvious falsehood that he's "never accused JKR of anything" (see September 27 above for one example) and another reminder that he doesn't like or care about Harry Potter at all. What the anon misses, and what Andy doesn't address in his litany of justifications, is that half of his PoC characters die in DAYD and two more are severely maimed. These are not canonical deaths and injuries. Andy himself decided that every one of the 50 unnamed Battle of Hogwarts casualties was a student (although faculty, Aurors, Order of the Phoenix members, Hogsmeade villagers, and residents of the Forbidden Forest were also fighting), and he decided exactly which ones should die. When you break down Andy's DA by other minority categories, as Andy has done on several occasions, the numbers are even more striking. For example, 3/4 of his LGBTQIA characters die, and the survivors' sexualities and gender identifications are informed-only: that is, they are never evident in the main texts or side stories, and are only mentioned in "20 Random Facts" lists (or in one case, a Tumblr post) because Andy decided to squeeze in a little more diversity after the fact.
October 3
In a reblog of a post linking to videos of the Avengers cast singing, Andy writes a couple of song parodies about Joss Whedon and an Avengers musical.
October 4
Andy writes a rather condescending post about how his fanfiction fills in narrative gaps and fleshes out complete personalities from the limited information that canon provides about side characters. He says that most people who criticize his portrayals of Harry Potter characters in DAYD either don't understand this concept, or the concept of the unreliable narrator, or of limited viewpoint—or they're just plain unsettled and can't handle it. He also suggests that these readers lack curiosity and imagination and are more interested in what characters are than in why they are. Andy has said before that he thinks that the vast majority of non-DAYDverse fic is shallow, facile shipper nonsense, and he seems to be unaware that at least an equal proportion of fanfiction is written for the reasons that he's described in this post, and more.
October 5
Andy posts his infamous response to an anon ask that calls him "fucked in the head" because of "what [he] did to those people". As 1purp0se said in their excellent breakdown of this post and others by Andy:
Andy doesn’t say he’s ashamed of what he did, he doesn’t say he’s sorry. For every admission in this post, there’s an accusation to cancel it out. He says he has “gotten past it”, “sought help” and therefore he is now “proud”. You know why? Because this overcoming-of-obstacles storyline is just another tale Andy is telling. Stories like that usually end in pride that a person has overcome their problems, and that’s the story Andy wants us to believe. What he has not addressed here is that he was the problem that other people had to overcome. Abbey Stone has a right to be proud; Andy does not.
To this, I will add a healthy dose of skepticism about Andy's claims regarding therapy and medication. Since his return to Virginia from South Dakota in July 2012, Andy's parents have been making him see a therapist again; however, he said on September 23 that this therapist does not believe in medication and that he has not been seeing a psychiatrist. Even if his parents added a psychiatrist to his treatment roster between 9/23 and 10/5, and that psychiatrist prescribed him medication, he cannot have attended more than a couple of sessions within those twelve days, and definitely cannot have been medicated long enough for it to make any difference. Moreover, Andy is still talking about the DAYD characters as if they are real people. He is still using the same manipulation techniques in his Tumblr posts that he used on the Bagenders and the DAYDians—love-bombing, breadcrumb trails of clues leading toward "revelations" of his so-called supernatural abilities, telling teenagers with psychological and emotional issues that he's "not like all the rest" and won't judge if they share deeply personal secrets with him, plying people with affirmations and unasked-for validation, and more. He is still lying about his past and his identity and—even in this very post—evading blame and mingling accusations with admissions.
This claim, and Andy's later claims that he overcame his past and his alleged mental health issues with medication and therapy by the end of September 2012, are obviously not true. Andy is setting up a redemption narrative for himself, but it is not a redemption that he has earned.
October 8
In response to an anonymous ask, Andy says that he has never read a comic book because he thinks they're boring, and that he is not in the Avengers/MCU fandom.
October 10
Andy says that Brittany was his "perfect soulmate", that they had "perfect chemistry" and all the same hopes and ambitions and interests, and that he was "madly in love" with her and she loved him, too. He calls Jason (her ex and murderer) a "twisted selfish cowardly motherfucker" and says, "I like the idea of hell just fine as long as he's in it." (Again, please see this post of mine regarding the way Andy writes about Jason.)
In the midst of an otherwise unremarkable recipe for hot chocolate, Andy drops a creepy simile: "…start gradually adding the milk in a slow, smooth, steady stream as thin as the white silk ribbon edge of a girl's knickers."
October 11
Andy draws and posts an unsolicited pin-up style picture of G, a much-younger female follower of his, wearing lingerie.
October 12
One of Andy's followers asks for advice on writing. In his response, Andy says that he has no training at all in writing and has "never properly gone to school." (He did attend college at Christopher Newport University and George Mason University during the early 2000s.) He repeats that he sees everything happen in his head and just transcribes it, and that he doesn't edit. This is also the point at which Andy starts acknowledging that the way he's described his relationship to the DAYDverse and his fixation on writing in it is unhealthy. He says, "I'm not inspired, I'm obsessed. … I am quite aware that it's probably closer to a form of mental illness than an artistic thing, but I can't give it up." He briefly touched on this idea on September 19, but this is the first time that Andy has expressed it as his own opinion rather than an argument that he is trying to refute. Finally, he reiterates that he doesn't like Harry Potter, and in fact, only skimmed the books before writing DAYD.
October 13
In I have "Girl Problems", Andy writes at length about the many accusations of sexism that have been leveled at him and his DAYDverse writings. He comes up with several lists of questions to determine whether he as a writer and/or his work in the DAYDverse really is sexist, and mostly concludes that the answer is "no". He does point out that he gives female characters substantially less "screen time" than male characters, but then provides himself with a number of justifications and mitigating factors that make it not really his fault (e.g., the novels are written from Neville's POV, the women just aren't as popular, he's scared to write women because he's seen so many women write men poorly, he loves women so much that he has trouble portraying them with flaws, people will complain about female characters no matter what you do, etc.). His lists ignore many specific issues that have been pointed out that have absolutely nothing to do with the POV character and everything to do with Andy's misogyny and gender essentialism.
Later, Andy calls out some female DAYDians for responding to the previous post by telling him that they don't think he's sexist.
October 14
Andy posts a brief analytical response to a post about Supernatural, although he is not yet watching the show at this time.
Andy posts a picture of his ass and claims that a "random shopper" at the GAP compared it to Blaine Anderson's.
October 15
An anon calls Andy out for pretending to be a "Super SJ Warrior" and hoping that people will just forget about his homophobic and misogynist words and actions on LJ. Andy turns it around on the anon, accusing them of ignoring the fact that he's changed, of discouraging others from changing, and of being ignorant about the "progressive movement". He also claims that all of the problematic behavior that the anon cited happened "in 2008 within six months of [his] joining this space". Since Andy has only been on Tumblr since November 2011, "this space" presumably refers to fandom. He apparently thinks that no one realizes that he has been involved in one fandom or another since at least 1998.
October 16
An anon asks whether Andy believes that he's a better writer than J. K. Rowling, or believes that he represents her characters in DAYD better than she does in canon. Andy tries to cover up his many previous criticisms of Rowling by saying that they're writing in different genres ("children's fantasy" vs." supernatural realism"), so they're not really comparable—also, that he doesn't like Harry Potter specifically because he doesn't like the genre.
October 20
Andy defends himself against an anon who calls him out for sharing, unprompted, two female characters' bra sizes and discussing another's breasts in detail, but refusing to disclose who has the biggest penis in DAYDverse. Andy says that talking about female characters' breasts is perfectly acceptable because breasts are "readily visible in our culture", while penises are not. He talks about "invasiveness", as if the DAYD characters are real people who would be embarrassed by having such information shared. He later adds that the initial question was obviously asked out of a "ridiculous hyuck-hyuck 12 year old gotcha mentality" and that it would have been harmful to answer it. He says that talking about the female characters' breasts addressed "valid characterization issues", but talking about a male character's penis size wouldn't.
October 22
Andy somehow manages to read Clive Barker's "The Forbidden" (the basis for the Candyman movies) without realizing that it is set in Liverpool, England, rather than Chicago (as in the movies). He is extremely offended and chastises Barker for whitewashing, erasure, and "OTT self-aggrandizing purple prose", something for which Andy himself has repeatedly been criticized. In a separate post, he complains about the many Briticisms in Barker's story and asks if these sort of "common fanfic mistakes" are also common in pro fiction.
In It's A Cold And It's A Broken Hallelujah, Andy says that other than some technical issues, the only real problem with DAYD is the tone. By imitating Rowling's tone, he made his readers perceive the world of DAYD as a fairytale world, as he says the Potterverse is, and people's problems with the story stem from their trying to apply Rowling's fairytale rules to his gritty realism. That, he says, is why people believe that Neville's thoughts and words echo Andy's beliefs, that his portrayal of Lavender's rape is inappropriate and offensive, that her rape and the extreme violence of the story were used for shock value, etc. Andy isn't saying anything new here: it's the same old, defensive protest that "you're reading it wrong!" recast as "I made you read it wrong." It has been less than a month since he criticized Rowling for "that's-not-what-I-meant-it's-just-what-I-wrote crap".
October 23
Andy follows up the previous post by explaining at great length why his portrayal of Lavender's sexual assault was perfectly fine. He starts by once again blaming all of the objections that people have raised on the tone of the story, then lists ten of said objections and dismisses each in turn. Most of it comes down to his old excuses of gritty realism, the harsh facts of war, third-person-limited narration, and oops-I-got-the-tone-wrong.
In response to his post blaming DAYD's issues on its tone, an anon sends a four-part series of asks that take Andy to task for his depiction of Lavender's and Hermione's rapes in DAYD and "Sluagh", respectively. Andy has repeatedly talked about how (he says) he was unwittingly misogynist, gender essentialist, homophobic, and generally unenlightened when he wrote DAYD, but has since changed. In marked contrast to those claims, his dismissal of every one of this anon's complaints revolves around the idea that when Andy wrote DAYD, he was extremely aware of stereotypes and tropes surrounding rape and rape survivors, and deliberately chose to invoke them for reasons. Regarding Lavender's rape, Andy shifts some of the blame to Rowling and "half of [his] readers" for "slut-shaming" her, because apparently ascribing problematic elements in fiction to the POV character and the effects of third-person-limited narration is only acceptable when Andy does it. His defense of the level of graphic detail in Hermione's rape scene, despite the fact that his POV character was in mid-battle at the time, includes "[rape] kinda gets your attention". In the fourth part, he accuses the anon of not even having read his work and then digresses into an explanation of how he doesn't want to humanize the Diabhal Dubh.
In Age is just a number, Andy offers some condescending advice to teenagers and young adults. He tells them that no matter how grown-up they feel, and regardless of the fact that they do currently have a broader perspective on the world than they ever have before, no one is ever really done growing and learning. He emphasizes that he isn't trying to deny them anything or to be parental and that he isn't so old that he's "forgotten how to dream", but also says that he knows they're only going to ignore his sage advice. Andy tells them that he can tell them all of this because "[he was] that ridiculously intelligent, so mature for [his] age, been through so much already so old for [his] years seventeeneighteennineteen year old." This echoes the 2007 Amypology—and just as in that LJ post, Andy says here that the reason he caused "[himself] and a lot of other people a tremendous amount of pain" was that he was brilliant and advanced and couldn't accept that he "still had a lot to learn".
October 24
An anon comments on Andy's having said that all of DAYDverse is "perfectly set out in [his] head", and suggests that DAYD's problems are due to his being a "developing writer" who sometimes forgot that he needed to explain everything clearly to the reader. Andy agrees with this, and adds another call-back to the "genre issues". He also suggests that people who take issue with the fics subsequent to DAYD do so because they "have made decisions about what kind of person [he is] and they read towards that."
October 25
Andy finishes a YouTube video in which he makes breakfast for his parents by saying, "…you see why I get to live here for free." The truth is that he lives there for free because that way, his parents can keep an eye on him and keep him in therapy.
October 26
Andy offers advice on safety when meeting online people for the first time. Most of what he says is common sense and fairly standard; however, he closes with this:
Being underage and meeting someone way older than you (double points if they're married, triple points if you're queer, neuroatypical, or anything else that fucks your self esteem and makes you feel lonely and othered, all the points in ever if you think you're already a couple based off of things online and/or it's been sexual) who says they love you and want to be with you because you're a special snowflake and/or make them feel like a special snowflake is still INCREDIBLY stupid. … You have no idea how badly I and uncountable others have been burned by that last one.
While he doesn't name names in this post, this is exactly how Andy has reframed his relationship with Abbey, first for the DAYDians and now for Tumblr. He has already lied to Carlanime (and everyone else who received a version of his November 2011 email) by saying that he was underage when he and Abbey met, exaggerating their age difference, claiming that Abbey was the abusive one in the relationship, and blaming most of what he did on trying to satisfy her "whims". He has also specifically said (again, in the aforementioned email) that Abbey "must at all times be Special" and forced him to switch from one alter to another as she pleased, while he was incapable of fighting back.
October 27
Andy posts what he says is a transcript of a conversation with a friend of his grandfather's, regarding Steve Rogers's sexuality. Like the sheriff's deputy from a previous post, this man's speech reads very much like dialogue from Andy's own writing. The phrase, "less understanding of sex than a five year old who's seen a Britney Spears video," is especially odd. For some reason, this WWII vet is unaware that as early as 1940, throughout the Armed Forces, educational films on sex and "venereal disease" were mandatory viewing, and pamphlets and posters on the same topics were heavily circulated.
He follows this with an offer: "…if anyone wants to know something in particular about Cap and his era from someone who fought in that war and remembers the original comic books coming out," Andy will relay their questions to his grandfather's friend. The closing quotation, again, reads like a line from Andy's fanfiction. While I realize that not everyone is the same and that anecdotes are not evidence, I feel that it is relevant to mention that both of my grandfathers and most of my great-uncles served in WWII (Army and Navy), and not one of them was ever willing to talk about it beyond the most general information about where they served, even on the many occasions on which I visited military museums with my grandfathers. Even my grandmother, who worked with German POWs on a stateside Army base, shuts down when people mention the war—I'm 35 and until last year, I had no idea she'd done that. It seems extremely unlikely to me that a WWII veteran would make an open offer to answer questions about his wartime experience from random people on the internet.
A skeptical anon questions the veracity of these two posts. Andy gets defensive and tells a ridiculously long version of the story behind them. He seems to be trying to bury the anon in a million details that he thinks will make him appear to be truthful beyond question; however, the massive amount of unnecessary and unasked-for information has the opposite effect.
October 28
In another post about the MCU, Andy shares an excerpt from a chat with a friend about Steve Rogers and Tony Stark.
Andy writes that he is "sobbing with rage and hurt and incredulity" that some younger people are saying that they wished they lived in the '40s or '50s. Most of these people are likely expressing a love for the fashions, music, and movies of that era, but Andy takes them absolutely literally. He lists a number of negative aspects about life during those two decades that he says these people are ignoring. He then takes to task any women, people of color, LGBTQIA people, people with disabilities, neuroatypical people, and non-Christians who feel nostalgia for the '40s and '50s, saying that they are "spitting on" everyone who has ever fought for their rights. Meanwhile, Andy is "slam[ming his] hands into the wall with tears running down [his] face" in response to their shallowness.
An anon says, "People have a right to know if ur trans," and Andy responds that no one has a right to any information about anyone's body. Echoing a post from 11/21/11, he adds that he is not outing himself by omission, but "standing up for the rights of everyone to have ownership about their bodies".
After recounting a number of movies, books, and TV series that he has or has not enjoyed, Andy asks his followers, "Do you think I'd like Supernatural?" Of particular note is that he says that he doesn't like Harry Potter (again) and that LotR "makes [him] want to vomit [him]self to sleep". With regard to Doctor Who, he says that he felt for Rose and the Tenth Doctor specifically because of "[his] own issues about losing a companion". He says that his interest in The Hunger Games is long since over and repeats that he watches Glee "for cultural relevance".
October 30
Andy says that he loves all of the non-DAYDians who follow him, as well as all the DAYDians, everyone who talks to him, and everyone who doesn't. Essentially, Andy loves everyone. He notes at the end that this is a drunk post.
Later, Andy says that if his followers were present with him, he "would probably make out with most of [them]." He acknowledges that many of them are underage, "so there would be jail." He says that he would even make out with some of his male followers, because "you don't have to be sexually attracted to someone for making out to be fun". This is the sort of ambiguity that some of Andy's former friends have cited with regard to sexual behavior and attraction, and which he uses to keep people on an uncertain emotional footing that he can turn to his advantage.
November 2
In a long post analyzing anonymous Tumblr bullies and what their nasty comments reveal about them, Andy makes an off-hand allusion that reveals something about him:
Like the gentle, lulling shrieks of dingos vomiting the tough bits of the neighbor's toddler into the magnificent vastness of the Australian night (those light-up bits on the shoes are hell on the digestion)…
This refers to the death of Azaria Chamberlain, a two-month-old baby who in 1980 was dragged away from her family's campsite at Uluru by a dingo, which subsequently ate her. Azaria's mother Lindy (who actually saw the dingo take her) was blamed, convicted for her murder, and imprisoned for over three years before additional evidence was revealed that substantiated her story of what happened. Most people our age are familiar with the case because it almost immediately became a "joke" that to this day continues to recur in pop culture, which has to be awful for the family. It was just five months before this post that the case was finally, completely resolved. And here's Andy, Mr. Sensitive, glibly mocking the very real and horrific death of an infant just to make himself seem clever and witty.
This is also the date on which Andy starts watching Supernatural. He immediately starts making connections between SPN and DAYD.
November 3
Complaining about a terrible haircut he's received, Andy says:
I love expressing myself with my appearance, I love making statements with clothing and fashion and costuming, but I rarely actually like the way I look; I like what I perform.
I think this is true and probably explains (but doesn't excuse) a few things about Andy's history. Unfortunately, he also says that "no non-ephebophilic woman in [his] own age range would consider [him] a sexual being", which feels like another thinly-veiled jab at Abbey, as well as all the other women that he claims to have been with sexually. (Ephebophilia is an adult's sexual attraction and preference for mid- to late-stage adolescents, so Andy is saying that only women who are primarily sexually attracted to 15- to 19-year-old boys would be interested in him sexually.)
November 7
Andy puts on some perfectly normal outdoor work clothes and decides that Dean Winchester has taken over his fashion sense. He says, "If I start scoping classic cars and downloading excessive mullet rock, I'm calling Imperius…or I guess you guys would call it possession."
November 8
Andy posts another implausible story of a fandom-related encounter, this time from Starbucks. The misogynist quotation appears to be something that Andy came up with himself, that he thought would get more attention on Tumblr if he attributed it to a seemingly unlikely person and threw in a fandom reference.
November 9
Andy writes about rape culture and how "someone can be a rapist without knowing it." One of the ways he says this can happen is, "…you can be so deep into…mental health issues that you don't remember or understand your own actions." This is a claim that Andy will make over a year and a half later, when he finally admits to being a rapist himself. In this post, he goes on to say that regardless of why someone doesn't know they're a rapist, they are still a rapist, what they did is not okay, and their friends have a responsibility to educate them about what consent is and why it's absolutely necessary. He also suggests that there is no obligation to contact law enforcement unless the person is caught "in the act of a violent crime", which is very bad advice.
Andy literally draws a demon trap around/under his laptop with Kosher salt because Tumblr has not responded to a Glee episode as he expected.
Andy posts his first Supernatural meta post, although he doesn't tag it as such. He compares Sam and Dean to Neville and Seamus in "Sluagh", and talks about why the audience/reader "should" like Sam and Neville the best, but Dean and Seamus are actually more popular. He also makes a couple of "what is DAYD" type posts on this day, one of which he will reblog and copy-paste many times in the future. That post includes the claim that DAYD was "written up favorably in the Atlantic Monthly as an example of good fanfic." Andy has repeated this over and over, and it is not accurate. Here is everything that Atlantic Monthly article had to say about DAYD:
Some stories remain faithful to the original material, choosing to carve out a niche in some unexplored territory. Dumbledore's Army and the Year of Darkness, for example, explores the lives of Hogwarts forgotten B-list characters during the Deathly Hallows as they prepare a revolt against Voldemort.
That's it. Not a write-up, but a one-line mention in an article about Harry Potter fanfiction in general and how it's helped to keep the Potterverse alive and as popular as ever. The writer says far more about Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality than about DAYD.
November 10
Andy gets a job at Yankee Candle. At some point, he will also get a seasonal job assisting a mall Santa.
November 12
Andy reposts his DAYD/SPN crossover art and announces that "A Peccatis" includes a brief DAYDverse/SPN crossover.
November 13
Andy announces that he is the DAYDverse equivalent of Misha Collins.
He also announces that he intends to write a "big SJ infomercial" on gaslighting, a tactic that both Bagenders and former DAYDians have reported Andy using against them.
Andy draws Captain America fighting alongside the internet-famous Tiny Princess Captain America.
November 14
When an anon asks whether any of the DAYDverse characters' children are LGBT, Andy responds as if they're talking about real people and it would be inappropriate and invasive for him to speculate. A follow-up asks whether this means that Andy thinks the DAYDverse is real. He says that he doesn't, but also that he "[doesn't] make a lot of conscious choices" about the content, that the 'verse's past and present are clear but the future is not, and that he would have to guess in order to answer any such questions. In response to a third ask, he talks about how he's okay with explicitly discussing DAYDverse characters' rape, abuse, self-harm, etc., because they would be okay with bringing it up in a support group setting. This is another step away from his claim that the DAYDverse was real, while still leaving room for uncertainty.
Andy has now decided that Sam and Dean are basically the grown-up Creevey brothers from DAYDverse. He creates a poster for a crossover called "Netherland".
This is the first post that Andy actually tags, "supernatural meta," although it has nothing directly to do with SPN.
After posting his Tiny Princess Captain America art, Andy had asked people to try to get it to the Tiny Princess herself. Someone did. In his gleeful response, Andy says, "…it's a sad yet funny thing when a guy my age has to amend, 'but not, you know, in a Nabokov way' when he says he's a total sucker for little girls. But I am." That is a really fucking creepy thing to bring up out of nowhere—and honestly, the situation is much sadder for little girls who are exploited by adult men. There's nothing funny about it.
November 16
Andy informs Tumblr that he "won't be fandoming" for Supernatural.
November 19
Andy repeats that he really does "just know" everything about the DAYDverse and the DAYD characters and names several friends whom he says will be happy to vouch for him. One of them later sends an anonymous ask to support this, and says, "…he'll sometimes do things w/out 100% realizing, while having a convo about something else. So crazy it can't be a lie." This echoes arguments that he, Abbey, and Diamond used when constructing the info packet for recruiting new people to the Bagenders cult.
November 20
Andy complains that "misogyny sucks for men" because society dictates that only women can acknowledge each other's "beauty and sexiness", and be physically affectionate with each other, while still being heterosexual. He also says that he "never 100% gets [physical affection without sexual desire] from a woman of reproductive age." In other words, literally every woman between puberty and menopause wants Andy sexually on some level.
November 21
In response to a meme question, Andy says that his Tumblr crush is G, the same much-younger woman of whom he posted an unsolicited pin-up on October 11.
November 23
Another implausible fandom story from Andy's job, this time at Yankee Candle. He claims that a woman in the store had toddler-age twins with her, named River and Castiel after the Doctor Who and Supernatural characters.
November 27
Andy says that it's hard being "young and pretty" because it causes people to treat him badly. He claims that highschool girls regularly give him their numbers, that women his own age lust after him in a predatory way because they think he's much younger, and that "cougars" are constantly "pervprowling" him.
When an anon asks whether Andy ships Destiel, he responds by breaking their relationship down into five types of love: Storge, Eros, Philia, Agape, and Venus. He never actually says so, but he's cribbed this from C. S. Lewis; the inclusion of Venus makes it obvious. The first four are ancient Greek words for different types of love, and Lewis separates Venus—sexual desire or lust—from Eros—romantic love. Andy, who claims to be a scholar of Ancient Greek, doesn't seem to be aware that there is a Latin word on that list. He talked about these types of love a lot in discussions of DAYDverse Mike and Terry.
November 29
Andy maintains that he's not that into Supernatural and that he's "not becoming a 'Destiel Shipper' or whatever the term is for a Supernaturalian".
Andy tells an anon that if he could have anyone show up in his room at that moment, it would be Brittany, and he would "find a way to get to Vegas and marry her like immediately."
He starts talking about a "Daydwoodnatural" crossover (DAYD, Torchwood, and Supernatural), later saying that he intends only to outline it and write a few one-shots.
November 30
Much as he once did on the DAYDverse LJ community, Andy pretends not to understand what "shipping" means. He continues to discuss this while pretentiously using terminology that he picked up from Lewis's The Four Loves, without acknowledging his source.
The same day, he informs Tumblr that DAYDverse Mike/Terry, Johnlock, and Destiel are "pretty much the same relationship".
DAYDian A posts a picture of themself doing "Andy's signature head-tilt-pose-of-magical-attractiveness", which is evident in nearly all photos of him, and which Abbey has said he often does in real life as well. They seem to be seeking Andy's approval, but he does not respond.
December
At some point this month, Andy meets Winjennster. From her 2014 Q&A:
I met him in December of 2012. I had on an SPN shirt and we starting talking about the fandom. First time we hung out was about a week later and he spent the later half of the day telling me everything about Brittany. I went home that night and looked him up. My brain said HEY THIS GUY IS TROUBLE WALK AWAY. But, my husband was in Afghanistan and I was stupid lonely, so I chalked it up to PEOPLE CAN CHANGE.
Also during December, A refers to Andy as "one of their best friends". When another DAYDian expresses guilt for living so near Andy, A says that living close to him is a “blessing” and that they are envious but happy for this DAYDian.
December 1
Andy shows a decent awareness of current MCU fanon in his reblog of "avengers at the beach headcanons".
A quotation that purports to be from an "FTM friend" of Andy's sounds exactly like Andy himself.
December 5
Andy posts about Brittany and Brave again, saying, "The fucking Glock factory doesn't have this many triggers." This seems like a pretty callous analogy, given that he's said that Jason killed Brittany, their other housemate, and himself with a Glock.
In an art post, Andy incorporates the MCU into his Daydwoodnatural crossover.
Once again, Andy "offers" to visit anyone who will pay for him to get there and back, and for his food and accommodations (which he stresses can be Spartan), and says that he will "belong" to that person as long as he's there, for almost anything that they want to do. He adds that he will not have sex with anyone, will not do drugs or get drunk with anyone (although he gets very drunk with and buys alcohol for at least one of the under-21 friends that he visits within the next couple of months, as well as her friends), will not commit a crime, and will not sleep or be alone with anyone under 18.
In his response to an anon who calls him a "total Bishonen", Andy says that he "would have said yes…in a heartbeat" if Brittany had wanted to marry him. He repeats that he is looking for a platonic relationship with a woman who will be his "shopping/cuddling buddy".
December 6
While asking for fanfic porn recommendations, Andy says, "my brain ships Destiel", but explains that he doesn't find it hot. He also says that he can't enjoy "conventional porn" because of his involvement in feminism, but unironically refers to women on Supernatural as "curvylittlethingoftheweek".
Andy offers free art to anyone who is "a somebody in Destiel" and is willing to promote his work.
December 7
Andy posts that while he is heterosexual, he has "a rampaging crush on Castiel" (although not on Misha Collins).
In a post purporting to educate an anon about sex, gender, and sexual orientation, Andy displays stunning ignorance and prejudice about transgender identities. For example, he suggests that there is some extent to which genitals determine one's gender, and specifically states that transgender women have "male bod[ies]". He goes on to say that as a heterosexual man, he is "only sexually attracted to those [women] who are sexually women"—again saying that transgender women have male bodies. Further, he says that he is aroused by "the bodies of transmen who are still physically feminine"—stopping just short of saying that transgender men have female bodies, perhaps because he was AFAB himself. He then tries to mitigate this by assuring the reader that he "still fully back[s] [trans people's] gender identity". Finally, Andy talks about his crush on Castiel in what amounts to a verbose and circumlocutory "no homo" disclaimer. This leads me to suspect that this is one of Andy's trademark fake anons that pop up whenever he wants to discuss something without appearing to introduce the subject himself.
Ten days after his latest insistence that he isn't a Supernatural fan, Andy announces that he is a Supernatural fan and "sincerely shipping Destiel". He assures the DAYDians that the DAYDverse "remains my baby and my love and my heart's devotion" and says that he intends to try to convert some SPN fans into DAYDians.
This is the date on which the later-infamous "Scotty's last convention" is first mentioned: Andy says that when he was "very young" his father took him to see "Jimmy Doohan's last appearance". (He also claims that this is the first time since then that he's wanted to go to a con, which is obviously a lie because of Tentmoot.) Given the existence of this post, I believe it is possible that Andy and/or his father really thought that long-ago convention was Doohan's last. But given the evidence that an anon presented three years ago when the controversy arose, I also believe that Andy fabricated text messages in 2014 to support that assertion.
This is also the date on which Andy introduces CFC to Supernatural.
December 8
Despite just having made two separate posts insisting that he is straight and therefore doesn't find Destiel sexy at all, Andy asks for Destiel fic recommendations and says that smut is okay.
Someone asks Andy which SPN character he would be, if he could choose any of them. Andy claims not to understand the concept of "being a character". This person follows up with a clarification, and Andy says that he'd like to body-switch temporarily with Dean, adding that he "could easily survive his life" but that Dean might have trouble surviving Andy's. Although Andy will later claim that he was only about three months out of his complete and unprecedented recovery from DID at this point, this somehow is not triggering to him at all.
December 9
When asked if he wants to finish "A Peccatis", Andy says that he does, and that he feels guilty about it, but that he is busy and also doesn't get as much feedback on it as he wants. Also, SPN is shiny.
December 10
Andy announces that he is backing off DAYDverse in favor of SPN, but that his doing so actually increases the chances that he will finish "A Peccatis" because he feels less pressure and gets more interaction in that fandom.
Later, he gets drunk and asks Destiel fans to love him. He says, "I present myself to you with less shame than a truck stop waitress writing her phone number in chocolate sauce next to a slice of free pie for the green-eyed bad boy in the classic car." In response to an ask, he states, "I cant believe that this fandom hasnt jumped me like a cheap hooker yet. I'm splayed all over their otp and I'm a damned good arist [sic]."
December 11
Although he is new to the fandom and admits that he's only read a few fics, Andy informs SPN fandom that everyone is writing Castiel wrong.
He also writes at length about how sleep deprivation enables him to see through Castiel's eyes.
Andy announces that he is writing a SPN fic and asks a few questions about writing in the fandom.
Responding to an anon who says that he is "perfect" and questions his reality, Andy mentions that he has "a Winchesteresque list of traumatic shit that [he's] been through" and that he has "a dead life partner [he's] still not over".
December 13
Andy gets defensive when an anon chastises him for suggesting that he's become the Bobby of the SPN fandom. He also receives an anon telling him to get out of the fandom.
Andy says that it doesn't matter whether Destiel can be "proven" and that it is wrong to try to force people to see it as canon. In spite of this, he will later write many meta posts claiming to present evidence that Destiel is "canon endgame".
An anon tells Andy to "ignore the haters". His response is very telling: he mentions going through "10,000 levels of personae"(an allusion to his previous online and real life identities) and says, "You'll be hated for 10,000 things that aren't true and 10 things that are" (a claim that he has repeatedly made about himself). This is immediately followed by, "You'll be loved for the same. The latter will be worse," which seems to refer to Abbey. He closes by stating that he learned to "ignore the haters" and just live his life entirely because of Brittany, both directly and indirectly.
December 19
Andy receives an anonymous ask chastising him for using the term "life partners" to describe his relationship with Brittany. He says that the term is not exclusively for use by LGBTQIA people, and adds that his relationship with Brittany was "beyond best friends" and was going to be a lifetime arrangement, but they hadn't decided whether that would include marriage or sex. He implies that it was somewhere between "just friends" and an engagement, and that most people wouldn't understand.
At the beginning of a post about gun control, Andy claims that he is "familiar with everything from a matchlock musket to a Glock 17" and has "protected [him]self and loved ones with a gun."
December 20
In Boundaries, we can has? Andy announces that he is not only not interested in having sex with anyone, but that he's also unavailable for "emotional intimacy" and not interested in getting close to much younger people, married people, people with mental illness, or other potentially vulnerable people—in other words, the (female) populations that he generally targets. He goes on to say that he isn't perfect and doesn't want to be anywhere near anyone who believes that he is. He says that his teens and early 20s were fucked up because he got too close to fans and people who admired him instead of letting them "sob out [their] crush from a safe distance". He is now writing off everyone he's hurt in the past as a crazed fangirl who hurt him, and saying that he needs to establish boundaries to protect himself.
An anon lavishes Andy with praise, telling him that he is "an incredible, incredible person" and that Brittany would be proud of him. He subsequently receives an anon telling him to stop praising himself on anon. In response, Andy suggests that his 'haters' are tinhats who think he's "a Disney villain of evil vile evilness" and that nothing will ever convince them otherwise because of confirmation bias.
Another hostile anon tells Andy to leave Destiel fans alone. He tells them they're welcome to stop reading his blog and that they have boundary issues.
A third hostile anon calls Andy "a creep and a con-artist" who manipulates young women. Andy laughs this off, describing what he says is the innocuous content of his tumblr, telling them they don't have to engage with him if they don't want to, and assuring them that he is "harmless".
A follower of Andy's sends him an ask expressing anger toward the aforementioned anons, accusing them of cowardice and "mindless hate". Andy acknowledges that he's "done some amazingly shitty things in the past" but immediately excuses that by saying that he was "young, stupid, and mentally ill" at the time. He also says, however, that the vast majority of the reason people don't like him has to do with "the rumor mill" spreading "stratospheric levels of bullshit", generalized hostility and rudeness on the internet, anon bullies, and especially the fact that "fiction is comforting…and social fandom gossip is, for many of them one of their fandoms." He adds his tagline, "Truth IS stranger than fiction," and talks about how "complicated" and "messy" the truth is.
December 20
In another ridiculous tale of fandom in the workplace, Andy recounts a conversation that he allegedly had with a four-year-old girl at his job as an "elf" working with a mall Santa. Andy claims that the little girl makes reference to "fighty elves like Legolas", then talks about how the Elf on the Shelf seems to be just a toy but could still move around because "there's Buzz [Lightyear]". When Andy explains that "toys can only move when you're not watching," the little girl immediately leaps to the conclusion that they're weeping angels (from Doctor Who). For some reason, he tags this as "supernatural meta".
December 22
This is the point at which Andy starts claiming to have been a sex worker. When an anon expresses extreme skepticism, he says that he's "done a couple of photoshoots that didn't involve clothes or art" and worked on gay and straight phone sex lines. "And that, fucktard, is as far as you're getting into invading my privacy," he says, implying that there's more. He responds to a few more anons, mostly regarding phone sex, and when one of them says that he makes phone sex sound "pretty dubcon", he equates himself with actors performing sex or full/partial nude scenes.
December 22
Once again, Andy claims to have had a fandom encounter at work, this time in Yankee Candle. He posts a picture of "Santa's Workshop", which includes a binder set up as a naughty and nice list, on which people can write their names. Supposedly, he discovers that someone has written "[Jimmy] Page" and "[Robert] Plant" on the naughty list, and placed Castiel's sigil halfway between naughty and nice. Aside from being extremely famous musicians, Page and Plant are aliases that Sam and Dean have used in SPN. The ways in which "Page" and "Plant" are written look very much like some of the handwriting styles that Andy used to represent various "Others" when writing to Abbey. Andy obviously wrote their names on the list and drew the sigil as well. His post includes a short fic about Sam, Dean, and Castiel browsing in Yankee Candle, and Castiel adding their aliases and sigil to the list.
December 25
Andy indicates that he can tell what the SPN actors are thinking and feeling.
Andy says that his sister has ruined his Christmas with a combination of temper tantrums and bizarre accusations, and that his parents have enabled her to do so.
December 30
Andy mentions "effemephobia" for the first time in a response to an ask about Dean. When someone asks him to define the word, he says that it is "a strong, irrational fear of or negative reaction towards things designated as feminine, or of being perceived as feminine." Andy says that this often manifests as homophobic behavior, but is actually neither homophobia or misogyny. Effemephobia (or effeminiphobia, or femmephobia) is a term that originated in the LGBTQIA community to describe cisgender gay men who are strongly prejudiced against other gay men who behave in a manner that they consider to be effeminate. It is far less commonly applied to people outside the community, and when it is, "misogyny" or "internalized misogyny" is usually more appropriate. Andy's rejection of effemephobia's roots in misogyny, and his insistence that they are completely separate and different, are incorrect and inappropriate.
2013
January 4
Andy posts about the DAYDverse wrock album again. He says that it started when he was involved in a wrock band (wizard rock based on Harry Potter), which died "due to return of bandmate's ex-girlfriend," leaving him with a bunch of lyrics and melodies, but no one to arrange or record them. Andy claims that Brittany was excited about the album to the point that she had professional musicians signed up and had arranged for a producer and studio time. He says that they were due to start recording two weeks after Brittany was killed. Andy calls the album "a symbol of all the things [Brittany] left unfinished" and asks for help to complete it by May 7, 2013. For at least the fifth time, there is no record that Brittany had any involvement in the wrock album whatsoever. Andy refers to Brittany as his life partner in this post.
January 5
Andy posts two twelve-question surveys for Supernatural fans. One asks, "How sexy is Castiel/Misha Collins" and the other asks, "How sexy is Dean Winchester/Jensen Ackles". He never says what the purpose is, other than "some stuff I'm working on".
Andy also posts to assure people that he isn't ignoring them; he just follows a lot of blogs, gets a lot of e-mail, is terrible at answering the phone, etc. He repeats that he isn't ignoring the DAYDverse, but Supernatural and Destiel in particular are "hitting parts of [his] brain that make [him] a better person", and Destiel works better than his antidepressants did.
January 8
CFC's water heater dies and Andy asks people to contribute money (to CFC's PayPal account) to have it fixed. In return for donations, he offers to do "pretty much anything even remotely legal, moral, or reasonable that you want". Although he says that he can't disclose her name, he includes CFC's e-mail address in the post, which makes it obvious. His follow-up post is tagged with "random acts", the name of a charity founded by Misha Collins.
January 9
CFC receives an anonymous ask telling her that Andy is using her family to scam people out of money and has hacked her PayPal and/or e-mail in order to collect it. While people in fail_fandomanon have been discussing his posts, no one has suggested anything like the anon's accusations. CFC responds by defending Andy, scolding the anon for being angry about something that happened ten years ago. If she is referring to Tentmoot, this would be the first time that CFC has mentioned it without including the disclaimer that Andy had nothing to do with it. She shares many unnecessary details about her family's financial situation, indicating that the anon has "forced" her to do so. Finally, she says, "This also isn't the first time [Andy's] given me all that he had." I strongly suspect that Andy sent CFC this ask in order to prompt her to make another public post in his defense.
Over the next several years, some of Andy's other friends will receive anonymous asks that are even more bizarre and sometimes very offensive. (A few are actually sent to Andy, about his friends.) Many of these appear at times when the recipient's friendship with Andy appears to be strained. Each one tends either to prompt the recipient to post an angry, passionate response that defends Andy and/or themselves, or to set Andy up to make a long, eloquent post about how wonderful his friend is. Either way, their friendship is strengthened, and the recipient of the ask is left feeling that Andy was right and there really is an irrational "pitchfork mob" out to get him and his friends. I also believe that Andy sent many of these asks.
Later that day, Andy posts Someone exists, in which he writes about online bullies who tell people to kill themselves or say that someone should be killed. He says that he hopes that they're thinking of these people as fictional characters, because when a real person dies, "someone" is always affected by it. He describes (sometimes graphically) things that "someone" will have to do or put up with, from moving the body, to informing the person's family and friends, to being gossiped about and blamed for the person's death. This is interesting, coming from a person who has committed pseuicide twice. He doesn't get around to talking about the actual (hypothetical) dead person until the end.
January 15
Andy compares Castiel fans to himself as a six-year-old.
January 17
CFC is either watching or about to start watching Supernatural at this point, and Andy makes a number of predictions about her approach to the show and participation in the fandom.
January 18
Andy invites any and all random people 18 and older to come to his house to watch the LARP-themed Supernatural episode and have a party, possibly a sleepover. Two days later, he reformats and reposts the invitation.
January 23
In Is this the real life or is this just fantasy, Andy writes about hallucinations/delusions in response to the way some Supernatural fans have been discussing certain episodes. Some of the things he says are factually correct, but are also justifications that Andy will later use to explain away everything he did to the Bag Enders, the DAYDians, and others whom he's taken advantage of and hurt. Much of this will reappear in subsequent fauxpology posts. His points include:
· It is perfectly fine to respond to a hallucination as if it were real, no matter what you do as a result, up to and including murder.
· Some people have "known things to be factually real that most people would call crazy" ("truth is stranger than fiction!"), and that makes it harder for them to tell they're hallucinating.
· In contrast to what he will later say about Brittany in relation to his mental health, he says that "loving someone 'enough'…being a magic cure" is "just NO. It doesn't work that way."
· It is never okay to tell a person who is hallucinating that something is real, when it isn't. He calls this a betrayal and says, "It's one of the very few things I really, really, really, really struggle to – and don't always succeed – forgive." This is most likely a reference to Abbey and an attempt to reframe his cult-building activities as evidence of a mental illness that she made worse. He repeats this point a couple of times, in different words.
· Having frequent hallucinations can lead to "living in your own set of rules." There is nothing wrong with this.
· It is completely possible to have a mental illness like this under control. It's also possible to think it's under control, when it isn't. No one can tell which is the case.
January 25
Responding to an anonymous ask about his "type", Andy makes a creepy post about what he finds attractive in women. Perhaps the most disturbing line:
I've seen beautiful girls where the ink is still wet on their certificate of completion from puberty and their breasts still have packing peanuts clinging to the nipples and I've seen equally beautiful women who are great-grandmothers several times over.
In contrast to earlier posts denigrating women who are "too thin", Andy says that he finds women beautiful "who weigh eighty-five pounds or four hundred. … breasts that overflow two cupped hands or those that are barely suggested, wide hips and thick legs or birdlike shoulders with fragile collarbones." He also makes sure to point out that he considers "some trans* women" to be beautiful, despite the fact that he previously referred to them as having "male" bodies. For some reason, he tags this post as "supernatural meta".
After watching episode 4.11 of Glee, Andy creeps on Unique (a high school student on the show). "She's too young for me to hit that, but I'd be such a terrible flirt if I got anywhere near her. I want more of her."
January 28
Instead of privately responding to an ask, Andy publicly posts his home address (which is also his parents' residence) on Tumblr so that another user can write to him.
February 3
I include this post only because one of Andy's hallmarks is expressing extreme frustration with lots of capslock and a mixture of sex-related insults, Christian theological references, and "lol random" nonsense. This example only lacks five or six permutations of the word "fuck" (usually within or appended to other words).
February 6
Andy responds to an anon ask that says that he looks like a girl by calling himself a "bishonen" and posting several pictures of himself wearing makeup. ("Bishonen" is a Japanese term meaning "beautiful youth/boy", and refers to teenage boys that are considered to exemplify androgynous beauty. A more appropriate term for someone Andy's age would be "biseinen", or "beautiful man".) He also mentions that his eyelashes are so long that they're smearing mascara on his glasses—this is something that Andy brings up a lot. He talked about it several times in 2012, but the posts were inconsequential and didn't make it to the timeline. I am fairly certain that Andy sent himself this ask so that he'd have an excuse to post these pictures and talk about how pretty he is.
Later, an anon complains that in addition to other attributes that they admire, Andy is also prettier than them, and they "just can't". Andy apologizes for being pretty and posts a picture of himself in a flamingo hat.
February 9
Andy posts Hello, young lovers…, an introductory post that lists twenty things about him for some new followers. In point one, he says, "I have lived through a lot of crap that has reduced my giveashitwhatpeoplethink to Misha Collins levels." He mentions that his job at Yankee Candle is in "off-season hiatus" and that he plans to go to college in the fall, which he says will be the first time he's had any formal education, although he attended college before moving in with Abbey in 2002. Brittany makes the list, referred to as his "dearest companion and life partner". He also posts his phone number again.
February 10
In Ain't My Bitch, Andy talks at length about what he calls "Dean's effemiphobia". He describes how he used to be extremely liberal, but also the most manly of men, who had time for women and gay men only if they conformed to butch/masculine stereotypes. This, he says, is because he was effemiphobic until he learned about the concept and it changed his life. He enumerates the reasons that he feels effemiphobia is even more deeply ingrained in Dean Winchester than in most men, mainly concerning his upbringing and life as a hunter, and the fucked-up ideas that's given him regarding women and femininity. At the heart of the post is Andy's implicit insistence that neither he nor Dean Winchester can be accused of misogyny (or homophobia, but he's mainly concerned with misogyny) because effemiphobia is completely different.
February 11
In the name of making a point about friendship, Andy negs the hell out of CFC. After stating that "there are quite a few drop-dead gorgeous young women on this website" that would like to have sex with him, Andy goes on to denigrate CFC's appearance, disclose her mental health issues, talk about her financial problems, and claim that he is the only reason she is at all noteworthy in fandom. He then says that he loves her; mentions that he paid for her trip to Wales; and claims that when she is hurt, he becomes upset to the point of being unable to function. The barely-implicit message is, "I (an intelligent, attractive, and popular person) am friends with this woman and have done tremendous things for her despite her many, many shortcomings! You don't want a shallow friend; you want a friend like me."
Two anons take issue with Andy's post about friendship, and he accuses them of "faux white-knight shit stirring" and missing the point.
February 12
An anon accuses Andy of trying to emulate Misha by being "OMG LOOK AT ME I'M SO QUIRKY AND SPESHUL". He responds by posting a short YouTube video of himself listening to Kpop while wearing a rainbow tribble scarf and a penguin hat. This video has been cited several times on Tumblr and in fail-fandomanon as an example of Andy's artificiality or performativity.
February 13
Andy arrives in G's city for a brief visit. G, again, is the much-younger Tumblr user of whom Andy drew and posted a pin-up style portrait in 2012. While he also describes her as nice, Andy's first in-person impression of her is mainly concerned with her being "pocket sized", pretty, and curvy.
When an anon asks whether he's abused anyone recently, Andy responds with hyperbole, implying that the idea that he has abused anyone is ridiculous. He mentions, "…have you stopped beating your wife?" as an example of a loaded question, further implying that the anon's question is fallacious, unfair, and misleading. That doesn't necessarily mean that he has never abused anyone, although that is probably what he wants to convey.
February 14
Late at night, Andy posts a picture of himself in makeup, saying that an employee at the Nordstrom MAC counter had asked if Andy would let him "play with" his face, and then asked him to dinner (which he declined). He includes his phone number so that anyone in G's city can contact him to hang out.
Despite his frequent complaints about being broke, Andy offers two free tickets to see The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway to anyone who writes in and tells him why they'd like to go—he will give the tickets to whomever he thinks will enjoy them the most. Andy notes that he "like[s] to give away experiences" and has previously paid for several people to go on trips and bought people tickets to various events. Later, he announces the username of the winner and offers free art commissions to everyone who wrote to him and didn't win the tickets.
February 15
An anon is skeptical about Andy's makeup post, saying that no MAC employee would offer to do someone's makeup for free, without their buying any product. Andy responds in typical defensive fashion. He receives further anons about it, some agreeing with the first one, and others defending him.
Another anon complains that Andy constantly brags about how "stunning playboy models and pathetic gay men" allegedly hit on him all the time, and says that he's obviously lying. Andy criticizes the anon for being judgmental and problematic. He mentions the expression, "Your kink is not my kink and that's okay," and says that he thinks of it whenever he sees someone whom he considers unattractive, but who seems to have decent self-esteem—as if sexual kinks were the only reason that anyone would be attracted to them, and as if being attractive to someone were the only reason they could feel good about themselves.
Later, the first makeup anon writes back to apologize for their tone, which did not come across as intended. Andy sort of acknowledges his defensiveness, ending his response with, "Sorry, and I apologize for being all 'bitch, don't even!'" For some reason, I neglected to take screenshots of any part of their exchange.
An argument ensues between Andy and one or more anons, starting with someone who calls him out for using derogatory terms for women ("bitch, don't even"). Andy makes a classic non-apology for the anon's feelings, adding that his use of the word "bitch" doesn't matter because he didn't mean it (and never means it) in a negative way. He cites "a specific behavior trope that comes with the z-formation snap", which he says originates from queer culture, but it's okay for him to use it because his gender expression is non-heteronormative. (NB: "3 snaps in a 'z' formation" originated in the '90s with Damon Wayans and David Alan Grier’s "Men on…" skits from In Living Color. At the end of this interview, Grier talks about the inspiration for the snaps, saying, "I don't know if it was a gay thing, but it was also a very black thing.")
Andy then receives an anon calling him out for hypocrisy, to which he says that he is allowed to disagree with women, LGBTQIA people, etc. in the course of respectful discussion.
Another anon directs him to a post about how allies still benefit from the systems of which they disapprove, and how they need to be careful not to give themselves back-pats or to speak over people who are actually oppressed by those systems. Andy basically says, "Duh, I know, I am so careful about all that stuff, and also very humble about it." The same anon writes back (part one, part two) to point out that while it's good that Andy is a feminist, etc., "it does get annoying to see someone who knowingly benefits from the system whinging on about it." Andy's response is clueless and tone-deaf, beginning with an assertion that he's not like those other cishet men who only pretend to care about feminism in hopes of getting laid—but alas, he can't make anyone understand that. He then says that he feels an obligation to speak out against "the system" because he cares about people. His use of quotations by two prominent civil rights activists in this context feels like an attempt to validate himself, and to ascribe bad motives to anyone who disagrees with him.
Andy goes on to make a post about how he doesn't have to belong to any of a list of minority groups to know that the way that society treats them is wrong. He concludes, "I don't have to speak up when I see Someone Else's Problem. But I choose to. Because I do have to live with myself." Self-righteous posts like this one are exactly why Andy is so frequently accused of seeking social justice cred, "cookies", back-pats, etc.
An anon expresses disgust that Andy quoted Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to support his point in this argument, and another suggests that Andy misunderstood the post about allies. He continues to be defensive and to misinterpret (deliberately, it seems) what the anons are saying. Unfortunately, I don't have screenshots of these two asks.
Andy then receives an ask stating that his post supports the idea that he's only expressing social justice concerns to get attention, and that Tumblr posts do not constitute activism. Andy accuses the anon of wanting to "punish people for not being assholes" and says that they are the problem. Although he suggests that he engages in some sort of real-life activism, he doesn't say what he's doing.
Andy receives several more asks about the aforementioned quotations. Some anons support him; others try in vain to educate him. At some point, he sarcastically asks whether it's appropriative for him to quote Mark Twain. He then decides that it's a good idea to publish, without comment, an ask from "a female, anti-feminist egalitarian" who snarks about other people's "[using] race, gender or orientation against each other" and "women want[ing] to be treated like delicate children."
In response to this anon, Andy continues to portray himself as having been attacked for taking a noble stance against discrimination. Among his other points, he asserts that the only reasons that he doesn't write about "interact[ing] with [people] in activism spaces" are that a) he is concerned about their privacy and won't do it without their consent, which it would be gross to ask for, and b) people aren't "'social justice brownie points' to prove [his] Cred to anons on Tumblr." This is ironic in light of some of his other Tumblr posts over the years.
An anon who identifies herself as a black woman says (part one, part two) that she is annoyed at "seeing a white man quote MLK to settle a petty dispute" and then attempt to "persuade [her] to 'ignore the color of his skin'". She points out that no one knows whether MLK would have agreed with Andy's stance or not and that Andy shouldn't take his words or Elie Wiesel's (whose name he didn't even spell correctly) to give credence and weight to his own viewpoint. Andy responds by suggesting that this anon is saying that he may only use quotations from straight, white men and that white people should never quote people of color. He subsequently publishes, without comment, an ask from the same anon in which she notes that his post about quoting Mark Twain was disingenuous. Finally, the same anon wonders whether Andy actually didn't understand her point about his use of the King and Wiesel quotations, or was deliberately feigning ignorance. Andy claims that neither is the case and that their disagreement is due to the medium in which they are communicating.
Another anon sends Andy a two-part ask about "me-ism". The anon says that Andy appears to be displaying this trait because he can't seem to understand why other people don't appreciate his portraying himself as "this 'Social Crusader' and 'Leader of my Own Fandom'…[which] comes off as VERY delusional and self-centered." Andy misses the point and says that he understands why people might feel that way, but they're wrong because he really does have his own fandom and has never literally called himself a social crusader.
Somewhere in the middle of all this, Andy posts a list of food that he's purchased as part of his mission to stock G's freezer with a month's worth of meals. This is a nice thing to do, but he's a little condescending about it (post is from 2/14). Andy also lists his current favorite blogs, the first of which is G's. (BNF = Big Name Fan, MNF = Medium Name Fan.) Please note the backhanded compliment to the first set of SPN bloggers: their original content is good, but their "great talent" is just reblogging stuff.
February 16
Sometime in the early hours of the morning, Andy uses G as "a social justice brownie point to prove [his] Cred" to an anon who says that people of color and people on the LGBTQIA spectrum find him disgusting.
Several hours later, he posts about the "pile of delightful young persons" with whom he is hanging out, drinking, and having fun at G's place. One of them is wearing his pajamas, and he says that she "looks SO much cuter than [he] ever possibly could" in them.
Not long afterward, he complains that "tequila takes away all [his] mouth filters". Here's another post on the same subject. He seems to be pretty drunk. Not only has he disregarded (as he routinely does) his own advice about meeting internet people for the first time, but this is just about two months after he said that he wouldn't get drunk with any of his online friends that he visited. G and her friends are under 21 and Andy bought the alcohol. Andy is five months shy of 30 at this point.
Much later, Andy posts about the party that he, G, and her friends had the night before (and into the morning). He mentions "a hungover snuggly heap"—sleeping or resting in a pile of people, usually majority-female, is another common theme with Andy.
A self-identified queer woman says that while Andy's being an ally is appreciated, his "bandstanding" is not, especially as he identifies as a cis, straight man and therefore doesn't understand what daily life is like for LGBTQIA people. Andy claims to have no idea what she means by "bandstanding" or "grandstanding", despite having been called out on it the day before.
Andy posts a video (cropped out) of G and her friend (who, he says a second time, "is so much cuter in [his] pajamas than [he] ever will be") doing the Macarena during the party they had earlier. Barely 15 minutes later, he receives an anon criticizing him for "creeping on vulnerable teenage girls" who are "clearly drunk and way too young for [him]". Andy defends himself by talking about how he has friends of all ages and would rather have friends than a sexual relationship. He then claims that the anon has accused him of rape and is therefore the real creeper.
February 17
Andy reblogs a photoset of a plus-size model. Twenty minutes later, he publishes a response to an anon who calls him out for posing as "super feminist" and then reblogging "some bitch shoving her tits at the camera". This gives him the opportunity to talk about how a feminist can appreciate the beauty of women and their breasts as long as they treat women as whole human beings and respect their feelings and their rights. This and the previous ask both feel like Andy's characteristic hiding in plain sight. He has made himself vulnerable to criticism for having spent the last couple of days in the company of no one other than some number of women who are about ten years younger than he is. He has also failed to carry his point in a prolonged argument with several people about his treatment of social justice issues, so now he needs to make himself look like the greatest of allies again. I believe that Andy sent himself these two asks, presenting and shooting down extreme versions of remarks that hypothetical detractors might make, in hopes of making anyone who speaks out against him on either of these fronts look ridiculous.
In response to a series of anon questions, Andy refers to the DAYDverse wrock album as "Brittany's album project". The truth is that it was Andy's project from the beginning. He wrote most of the lyrics and melodies: two songs were entirely the work of other DAYDians, and a DAYDian helped Andy with some of the melodies, but none of those people was Brittany. And while he was trying to talk people into arranging the songs and either recording the album themselves, or getting one or more existing wrock bands to do it, Andy posted recordings of himself singing the songs. There is no record of Brittany's having any involvement with the album.
Although he routinely used to refer to Supernatural as a "schlocky horrorsoap", Andy now invokes Shakespeare in defense of the show when an anon calls it stupid.
In Real men do eat quiche, Andy lists a number of characteristics and behaviors that he attributes to himself, including:
"I have never met a small child I can't win over…" (which some suspect is the reason he likes children so much)
"I am most favorably described as pretty, with full lips and eyelashes that are so long they mess up the insides of my glasses." (again, this seems to come up an awful lot)
"I can keep house so well that I've been asked to provide lists and guides by friends setting up their first apartments." (although pictures of his various residences suggest otherwise, and former roommate E describes him as untidy and unhygienic.)
He also mentions bargain-hunting, baking, compassion, and his bullet wound. This post is apparently meant to convey that "effemiphobia is weak" because gender stereotypes are stupid.
When one of his followers replies to the above post and asks how he got shot in the ankle, Andy responds with an oddly flippant description of the murder and its aftermath.
February 18
Andy returns from visiting G and writes about an encounter that he claims to have had at Union Station that day, in which a man mistook him for a girl and sexually harassed him. Andy describes this man as overweight, smelly, and unattractive, as he often describes the "villains" in his stories. In closing he says, amid several disclaimers, that this incident has given him a "little glimpse" of what daily life is like for women, that it was "incredibly eye-opening, and made [women's posts about harassment] so much more real." He vows to do whatever he can to make the world better for women. There are a number of problems with Andy's story, aside from its implausibility and his relentless stereotyping. It reads, especially given the timing, as an attempt to show that despite identifying as a cisgender man, he is qualified to talk about social justice issues involving women because he now understands. Ironically, it ignores that he was AFAB and was treated as a girl/woman by everyone around him for over 18 years. Andy's assertion that revealing his gender would have been the safer option in this situation also rings false, given the high incidence of harassment and violent crime against trans people—and people who are perceived as trans—of which he cannot possibly be unaware. All of this is discussed in depth in this subthread at tf-talk.
At about the same time, he makes a brief post about a little red-haired girl asking a teenaged Black girl, "Are you Princess Obama?" This is exactly the kind of twee, "out of the mouths of babes" glurge that Andy regularly makes up.
The train station harassment story doesn't immediately get much of a reaction from Tumblr. A short time later, Andy receives a suspiciously over-the-top hostile anon, to which he responds in typical condescending, faux-compassionate fashion, with more "I'm not like other guys" in the mix.
Another anon suggests that the previous one was skeptical about Andy's story because it seemed too convenient for him suddenly to acquire an "insider's perspective" regarding misogyny and harassment. Andy's reply ignores the fact that he did use the anecdote to emphasize how much he is different from and more enlightened than other men. He repeats his assertion that the anons of three days before were persecuting him for being a caring and compassionate individual, just because he's a white man.
February 19
An anon asks Andy, "how is your son," apparently referring to "his son, a sparrow". Andy responds as if he has no idea what they're talking about.
February 21
Andy makes a Supernatural meta post about how John Winchester was neglectful and abusive to Sam and Dean. After establishing that "reasons are not justifications do not make it ok," he goes on at length about elements of John's personal history that led him to be an abusive parent, and about how he actually still loved the boys very much. He says that "the lines of good people and terrible things can be blurred with tears until they don't matter." This is interesting in the light of Andy's earlier post about how child abuse is such a grey area. It also seems disingenuous for Andy to write about how abusers can still be good, loving people (and vice versa), given his history.
He also posts about how he "somehow" has started writing SPN meta. "I don't know how it happened," he says. "One minute, I was selling ad time on AM radio, the next I was chained to a comet." In SPN, Jimmy Novak sold ad time on AM radio before he became a vessel for Castiel, which he described as "kind of like being chained to a comet."
In another post, he indicates that he's become obsessed with Supernatural: having nightmares; developing a taste for hair metal and muscle cars; being overwhelmed with his feelings about Castiel; and spending hours researching theology, philosophy, and mysticism. Like his identifying with Jimmy/Castiel in the previous post, this wouldn't be too remarkable if not for Andy's history of getting deeply involved with fandoms, over-identifying with fictional characters, getting close to other fans, using and abusing them, and then trying to blame it all on being unable to distinguish fiction from reality due to mental illness.
Andy posts a review of SPN 8.15 in which he refers to vulvas in a way that some people find offensive. He has since removed the phrase in question from the review, but he quotes it here.
February 22
An anon informs Andy that the phrase "tuna taco buffet" is rude and that they don't appreciate it. Andy claims ignorance as to why it might be offensive and lists a number of other euphemisms for vulvas that he finds acceptable, some of which are also pretty distasteful. He says that he's happy to change it if the anon can give him a good reason—because apparently, "this is an inappropriate thing for a man to say about a woman's body," is not adequate.
In another ask, of which he never publishes the second part, someone (perhaps the same anon) explains the specific problem with "tuna taco buffet". Andy acts like he's never heard anyone make derogatory comments about a fishy smell, although so-called jokes like that are pretty common, and decides this is an opportunity to talk about how much he loves performing oral sex on women.
Andy publishes two of his major Destiel meta pieces on this day. In one of them, he writes at length and in detail about the many reasons that (he says) the writers and showrunner intend to make Destiel canon by the end of season eight or the middle of season nine, and are currently laying extensive groundwork for it. Without actually saying so, he gives the impression that he has an intimate knowledge of the film and television industry and experience with TV storytelling and scriptwriting. In the other post, he gives many specific instructions for how fans should and should not communicate with "the powers that be" about making Destiel canon. Andy has been in the fandom for maybe ten weeks, and he's already addressing his fellow fans with authority, trying to position himself as the voice of reason.
Andy posts about Misha's charity, Random Acts, and how things like giving a homeless person a flower may seem unhelpful, but actually help a great deal by making that person feel valued as a human being. This is actually a good point, and he's right about the way that poor and homeless people are treated in the US. In the midst of all this, though, he denigrates people who try to help in more practical ways. Andy writes them off as offering begrudging, self-serving charity instead of kindness and compassion. It's startlingly similar to the insensitive way he wrote about Brittany's family's mourning process and funeral plans in his eulogy to her. At the end, he lists a number of ways in which he's provided people with small or large luxuries instead of practical assistance, heavily implying that this makes him more compassionate than others. (For what it's worth, a lot of the people who give away "prison-style Personal Care Box[es] with…trial-size toiletries and…one size fits all cheap stretch underwear" can't afford to buy a ton of full-size or brand name products, so they choose inexpensive options in order to be able to help as many people as possible. They don't do it because they think poor people don't deserve to have nice things.)
Shortly thereafter, he posts an extremely gushy anon ask that calls him compassionate, pure, and such a beautiful person that it brings the anon to tears. This gives Andy the opportunity for more self-aggrandizement. He attributes his compassion to his having been "a very ugly person" and having been "to the nastiest places" in the past—he ties in Sam, Dean, Bobby, and Misha at this point. Andy also reminds us that people have been absolutely terrible to him, but he takes the high road and reacts with compassion in the hope that it will inspire them to become better people.
This is also when Andy starts stanning Kevin Tran, another character from Supernatural. At this point, it has been roughly five months since he allegedly had a "breakthrough", integrated all of his "alters" and realized that everything he'd believed about himself for most of his life was completely wrong. But for some reason, illness- and insomnia-induced hallucinations don't trouble him at all. Nor does his sudden ability to see "patterns" in absolutely everything, or his manic writing, both of which have figured into the establishment and maintenance of his fandom cults. Instead, he is happy and excited about it.
February 23
While explaining how he learned about the entertainment business and storytelling, Andy indicates that much of what he's been saying comes from his time in LA in "high proximity" to the industry (as a character ambassador on Hollywood Boulevard, and at the time that his mental illness was allegedly at its worst) and from his experiences with the DAYDians. For the latter, he indicates that he researched storytelling, narrative structure, et al.
When asked for resources on effemiphobia, Andy can't provide any because he can't remember which videos, articles, etc. that he's used and apparently he doesn't bookmark them. He says that he does so much intense research in such a short time, and his lateral thinking ability is so great, that he can pass for a having anything from a university minor to a graduate degree in whichever area he's been researching. The next day, an anon calls him out for this display of ego, but Andy brushes this off because he didn't say that his 32 hours of research was literally equivalent to a degree. He then blithely sums up his years of abusing and taking advantage of people as "[having] something of a Frank Abagnale streak." It's worth noting that as a con man, Frank Abagnale was more remarkable for his audacity than anything else.
Another anon asks Andy how he's reached "Misha Collins levels of I-don't-give-a-shit-what-people-think-of-me." His advice is interesting, especially the part where he includes Stephenie Meyer on a list with Stalin and Pol Pot. What it comes down to is that nothing that anyone says about Andy means anything unless they know him personally, right now. He can dismiss things like this timeline, although everything in it is supported by his own words and the testimony of people who lived with him and knew him well, because I've never met him. He can even write off everything that Abbey says because they haven't seen each other in over fifteen years (thank fuck), so as far as he's concerned, they may as well be strangers.
Someone asks Andy whether he would consider his portrayal of Michael Corner and Terry Boot's relationship to be queerbaiting. Naturally, he says no; it's just that it was so complicated. Please see this post and this follow-up for my take on Michael and Terry in DAYDverse.
February 24
In another of his major SPN meta posts, Andy states again that he is very sure that the showrunners are going to make Destiel happen. He lays out and explains, in detail, five different points at which he thinks it would make sense for them to get Dean and Cas together. In the second paragraph, he snarks about how it's not going to be "a beautiful cuddly love story where they are sipping a chocolate malted together and slow dancing in the bedroom of their charming Vermont B&B." This is reminiscent of the way he used to mock "shipperchibbies" in Harry Potter fandom for wanting to read about things like "Harry weeping into his chocolate ice cream to Evanescence because Draco hasn't bent him over the table in the Great Hall lately".
February 25
Andy posts a list of tattoos that he currently has, including "a Raven Mandala in Haida style" to commemorate his Pacific Coast hike with Brittany and E. When asked whether he wants to get any more, he mentions two designs that he's planning, neither of which bears any resemblance to the suspiciously Bucky-like arm/shoulder tattoo that he will start on in 2017, which allegedly has been in the works for years.
Andy posts a long diatribe against people who say that Dean and Castiel's friendship would be cheapened or sullied by their having sex. He says that this idea originates from misogyny more than anything else. This rant is difficult to summarize because Andy is sort of all over the place and writes in very general terms without ever indicating which culture(s) or era(s) he means, although he seems to be referring to Christians in Europe and/or the US. Among other things, he brings up the belief that women were inherently inferior to men, and in the best case scenario could be their objects of love, abject worship, or paternal fondness, but never their friends. Thus, he says, "masculine hyper-friendship" or spiritual marriage between men became the ideal, but of course these men could never have a sexual relationship because it was against "The Natural Order". A watered-down, somewhat modernized version of this worldview is exactly what C. S. Lewis propagated in his writings about the "four loves", to which Andy frequently refers without ever citing them. "A man to marry with their heart and…[a woman to] satisfy their sexual needs" pretty well describes Mike and Terry's relationship and Mike's attitude toward his girlfriends in DAYDverse, so Andy has been into this idea for quite a while. I happen to have studied early and medieval Christian marriage and sexuality in depth, and I can tell you that he is missing a tremendous amount of nuance, is just plain wrong about some fairly major points (especially with regard to spiritual marriage), and obviously has done very minimal reading. This is a classic example of Andy's "overnight expert" claim in action. He mentions all the right buzzwords and his argument might sound pretty good at a glance…but if you read closely, and especially if you have more than a passing familiarity with the subject matter, it doesn't make sense and shows a glaring lack of self-awareness.
Most importantly, this is the day on which Tumblr user F makes the first warning post addressed to the SPN fandom with regard to Andy, in response to an anon ask that refers them to Abbey's and Colleen Doran's blogs. F sends Andy a couple of private messages regarding these allegations, and when they don't receive an answer, they publish a response to the ask in which they include links to the posts the anon mentioned, as well as some other references, and suggest that people read them and draw their own conclusions.
Andy gets aggressive with F, referring to the content of the warning post as "scandalous allegations" that need to be removed or made private. He claims not to have received F's messages, chastises them for not calling him instead, and tries to get them to take the conversation to Skype or phone. F refuses, finding it disturbing that Andy has immediately asked for "personal, offline identifying information" from them, and says that any discussion between them will need to occur in public space. They later publish a message from Abbey and direct readers to her blog.
Andy responds to an ask about the warning post. See my analysis of this response here.
CFC also posts a lengthy defense of Andy, hitting the same notes that he does in his post, with specific examples of things he's done for her and repeated insistence that Andy's demanding a call via Skype or phone is not creepy. They have obviously discussed this and he's given her some helpful talking points. She then publishes an anonymous ask that is clearly written by Andy. Specifically mentioning Abbey's "degree in psych and gender studies" is a tell, as are lying about Andy's age when they met, collapsing the timeline, and blaming Abbey for Andy's own actions.
In a subsequent post, Andy praises another Tumblr user for deleting their reblog of F's warning post. He validates them as "a good person" and writes off F and anyone else who reblogs the post as a wanker who only cares about gossip. He even throws in his old favorite catchphrase, the "pitchfork mob". Significantly, Andy suggests that F is actively harming SPN fandom, and Destiel fans in particular, by making them look irrational at a time when they're reaching out to the showrunners—as if to say that when Destiel doesn't happen, it will be all their fault for not shutting up about his past so as to make the fandom appear to be harmonious. He magnanimously offers validation and forgiveness to anyone else who chooses to delete their reblogs, and suggests (nonsensically) that this person's deletion might somehow have caused more rumors and wank if he hadn't said anything.
Finally, in this post, Andy links to his prior two statements and to CFC's defense of him. He posts his phone number and Skype name again and promises answers and honesty to anyone who is willing to call him. He insists that he doesn't care about "fandom popularity", which is true in a way. It has never mattered to Andy how many people follow him or are part of his inner circle; what matters is the level of influence he has over individuals, the things he can persuade them to do or say or believe, the amount of attention and adulation they give him, and so forth.
While all this is going on, Andy reblogs a few posts that he thinks are relevant to the current situation. Among them are the post assuring people that the DAYDverse isn't a cult, a post that portrayed Abbey (anonymously) as an internet predator who took advantage of poor Andy, and one of his posts about how it's wrong to criticize him because he's just trying to help people.
Abbey's blog traffic drastically increases in the wake of F's warning post. This is the day that she ends her unofficial hiatus and makes her first real Tumblr post (as opposed to a placeholder).
February 26
An anon asks Andy when he realized that he was mentally ill and when he got help. His response begins with a drastically scaled-down version of what he told Carlanime in November 2011—but without mentioning "alters", gender dysphoria, or Abbey. Interestingly, he now claims that he first came into contact with someone who was "compelled and fascinated by what was happening in [his] head" when he was 14. While my research indicates that Andy was already spinning stories about past lives when he was in the Horatio Hornblower fandom (roughly ages 16-18), his lies before that were of an entirely different nature, having to do with pretending to be multiple people online, living in extreme isolation, being a professional actor/singer/dancer, and suffering severe childhood sexual abuse at the hands of his parents. His fauxpologies up to this point had cited the Pagan Priestess that he supposedly met at 17 as the first person to encourage his alleged hallucinations and delusions. Then Brittany comes into the story. Andy claims that Brittany was "only the second person who saw and valued ME under all the nutshit crazy without putting conditions of 'so if you want me to still love you, stop being crazy.'" (The latter is a thinly-veiled allusion to Abbey and his parents, and possibly other former friends.) CFC, he says, was the first, but couldn't do much other than empathize because she was dealing with her own issues. He tells the anon that Brittany was strong enough and good enough to help him "climb out" of his mental illness, and that she was the first person to love him as he truly was…and then she was murdered. After a year and some more professional help, he says that his problems turned out to be "so easily fixable it was horrifying"—problems that he has repeatedly claimed were so severe and debilitating that they caused him to lose many years of his life to "alters" and hallucinations and to abuse people in two different fandom cults, even during the year after her murder, when he says he was trying to get back on track. Easily fixable, just like that. But he was still emotionally fragile, he says, and was on the verge of having another breakdown when God and/or Brittany sent him a sign that involved Dean and Castiel and led him to start watching SPN. (For the way it actually happened, please see July 6 and October 28 – December 7, 2012, in Part V.) As he has done with every one of his fandoms, Andy talks about how SPN has taught him so much about himself, about redemption, about his writing talent, etc., and how it "saved" him. He says, "I have to hug Misha Collins and thank him for my life and tell him Brittany says thank you, too, even though he won't know who she is." The message is that Brittany was the Castiel to his Dean, basically. He closes with the usual string of validations and platitudes.
Andy responds to an anon who asks why he doesn't just say that the accusations against him are false, if that's the case. See my analysis of this response here.
Andy receives two convenient anon asks that address claims made by an anon on Abbey's Tumblr. He assures the first that he is not a vessel in the sense that the word is used on SPN. Six minutes later, he answers the second anon, acting as if he has no idea what the Winchester Gospels are. Other than the ask on Abbey's Tumblr, I've never seen any indication of Andy's actually claiming to channel Castiel or any other SPN character—although he seemed to be heading down that road, in my opinion—or saying anything about the Winchester Gospels.
February 27
Abbey grants Andy permission to make public any aspect of their history together that he sees fit.
Andy makes an oblique reference to the alleged Pagan Priestess in an ungrammatical and deliberately abstruse response to an anon regarding Christianity and mental illness.
When asked about body image issues, Andy takes the opportunity to talk about how attractive he is, in the guise of complaining about his appearance: he’s just too pretty, slender, and young-looking.
Andy receives another anon asking for clarification on the nature of his relationship with Brittany. In typical Andy fashion, he doesn’t give a direct answer, but says that it was "complex" and "complicated", tying it in to Destiel again. He describes them as having been "the very deepest of friends" and essentially perfect counterparts to each other. Andy also feels the need to inform everyone that he and Brittany shared "strong sexual tension and physical attraction" and that they did indeed have sex once. On the other hand, he says that while they’d discussed that marriage might make certain practical concerns easier to manage, and they were "committed to sharing the rest of [their] lives together," they weren’t dating or in a romantic relationship and didn’t plan to be any time soon. They were "best friends", but also "life partners", and they were "in love with each other", but "not ‘all the way’". Essentially, Andy contradicts himself at every turn, obfuscating the issue as much as possible. When he finally says that they didn’t have a romantic relationship, he implies that maybe they did, but society is simply too backward to see it that way. In that very same sentence, he defends Brittany against the accusation (which the anon has not made) that she "deserved" to be killed by Jason because she’d thrown him over for Andy, and defends himself against the accusation (which, again, the anon has not made) that he became involved with Brittany while she was still with Jason.
An anon asks Andy if he’s sorry for the abusive and harmful things he’s done to people. Immediately, Andy informs the anon that even if "the worst of the rumors" are true, the things he’s accused of are obviously things that only a person with severe mental illness would do. He compares himself with a person who is stigmatized and judged for committing self-harm, and with someone who drowns while another person watches passively and later mocks them for calling out for help. He accuses people who refuse to accept that everything he did was because of mental illness of "othering…shaming, avoiding, and persecuting" him, and explicitly wishes harm upon them. He quotes from a previous non-apology and refuses to be more specific about anything, supposedly in the name of protecting his victims’ privacy. He closes by informing the anon that they have many issues for which he hopes they get help, and condescendingly offering up a Buddhist proverb about how people harm themselves by hating others.
Yet another anon tells Andy that no one’s going to believe he’s changed as long as he keeps posturing about saving people as a means of seeking attention. Andy chooses to interpret this as a statement that having a "drive to be seen, heard, loved, matter, and to use those things to try to help and save people" are bad. In other words, he only wants the level of attention that he demands from people because he is extremely compassionate and feels he can somehow use that attention to help others, and the anon is ignorant for not recognizing this.
When an anon asks Andy to stop bragging about how underage girls want to have sex with him, Andy responds by asking his teenage female followers to confirm publicly that they would like to have sex with him.
An anon inquires as to why Andy won’t talk about anything that happened before 2007, although Abbey, Diamond, Turimel, and Little Sam (on Turimel’s blog) have all spoken out about it. Andy claims that he won’t discuss what happened back then out of respect for others’ privacy, implying that he is taking the high road even though they’ve shared all kinds of information about him. "I can’t control how others treat me. I can control how I treat others," he says. He adds that sharing his side of the story would do nothing to stop the gossip and accuses the anon of putting him in a ‘damned if I do, damned if I don’t’ situation.
February 28
Megan finishes reading DAYD and Andy gives her an abbreviated version of its origin story, describing himself as "[his] own Scheherazade" who kept writing the story to prevent himself from committing suicide. (Megan is now Andy's wife; they were married in 2020.)
An anon asks, "So what’s the deal with you and Misha Collins?" Andy takes the opportunity to talk about how great Misha is and how similar they are: supposedly he’s been trying to do the same things as the Random Acts charity for most of his life, and he’s learning from Misha "how to balance ‘I’m never going to be like other people’ with professional functionality". Andy also mentions how good SPN and Castiel in particular have been for him. At the same time, he recasts his desire to meet Misha and "thank him for [his] life" as a wish to "let him know that his work and his public expression have been meaningful to [him]," and says that his relationship to Misha is the same as that of most other fans.
March 1
Andy makes a post for Self-Harm Awareness Day. The structure is reminiscent of many of his other social justice posts, particularly in the extensive use of repetition and in the way he directly addresses people suffering from self-harm. In another feature common to many of Andy’s outreach posts, he sets himself in opposition to an unspecified other. "They" don’t understand what self-harm sufferers go through, and "They" try to minimize it. But Andy understands and wants to help.
In "19th Nervous Breakdown", Andy lists eleven things that he wants people to know about mental illness. See my breakdown of this post here.
March 3
Andy claims that he knows six languages at least well enough to speak with children.
March 5
After Andy posts about the DAYDverse again, an anon suggests that continually advertising it is impeding his efforts to repair his image. Andy informs them that it is problematic to tell him to stop bragging about DAYDverse. He informs the anon that they are "shaming ambition, self-promotion, attention-seeking, and the desire to be loved and to have [his] work matter", as well his desire to matter in and of himself. Rather than address anything specific to the abusive history the anon is obliquely referencing ("if you’re wanting to make people think you’re a decent person"), Andy generalizes it, accusing the anon of contributing to a societal problem of prejudice and oppression. He invokes gender, racial, socioeconomic, and other forms of discrimination as a further smokescreen and to vilify the anon as thoroughly as possible. As in many of his other posts, Andy’s pontificating on social justice issues isn’t off-base and isn’t anything that others haven’t said before, but it’s also very superficial and self-serving.
March 6
When one of Andy’s followers asks where the DAYD universe came from, he says that it was "between balls-out mental illness and supernatural inspiration. … like I’d received a massive download from the Matrix." This follows the trend that he established in September through November of 2012, when he gradually started hinting that DAYDverse wasn’t real and that the way he approached it had a lot to do with mental illness. Continuing to bring up the "supernatural" aspect of it is a means of emphasizing his specialness and giving himself an air of mysticism.
Subsequently, Andy receives an ask about whether he sees a connection between mental illness and creativity. He states his diagnoses as "ADHD, situational depression, a form of schitzophrenia [sic], high IQ, and dyscalcula [sic]" and says that the connection the anon is asking about is essentially a myth. It’s telling that despite having mentioned the diagnoses he claims (highlighting his allegedly high IQ, of course), Andy doesn’t use his own experience to illustrate any of the points that he makes. He points out that mania and hyperfocus can produce poor quality work, that being neuroatypical doesn’t make one’s insight any deeper than a neurotypical person’s, that heightened emotional states can be counterproductive, etc., but he never connects this to his own creative output. He doesn’t bring himself back into it until the end, when he talks about how much more he could have accomplished if he didn’t have to live with mental illness.
On the DAYDverse LJ community, CFC posts the compiled results of Andy’s having answered quite a number of DAYDverse questions on Tumblr over the course of two days. This is later cross-posted to the Facebook group.
March 8
An anon quotes this post of Abbey’s and asks if Andy has any defense for his repeated posts encouraging teenagers with mental health issues to call him. Andy immediately throws in a SPN reference, a call-back to his January 23 post about hallucinations. He argues that Abbey can’t know what he was thinking or why he did anything he did during their relationship, so she can’t say that he was deliberately being abusive. He admits that "unhealthy and harmful and even abusive things happened", but will not admit that he was abusive to her and others. He then says that he hasn’t been targeting teenagers, ignoring the facts that a) teens and young adults up to age 24 have always made up one-third to half of Tumblr’s userbase, and b) Andy has made a number of posts specifically addressing teenagers and telling them how much he understands and can relate to them. Andy goes on to imply that suicide hotline staff are a bunch of Pollyannas who have never known true pain and can’t relate to suicidal people the way that he can. He then reiterates an earlier point, that even if he really is just out to exploit and abuse people who reach out to him for help, he first has to "[talk] them into not killing themselves" (capslock omitted). This, apparently, makes it all okay, and means that anyone who questions the appropriateness of his actions thinks that people are better off dying rather than getting support from him. Because Andy is the only other option.
Another anon is frustrated that Andy continues to solicit teenagers with suicidal ideation and other psychological issues to turn to him for support at nearly thirty, while admitting to having his own mental health issues, while being openly accused of abuse, and without having been trained to provide that kind of support. Andy implies that calling him is actually better than calling a mental health professional or a suicide hotline with trained staff, because he isn’t a mandatory reporter and it isn’t just a job to him.
March 10
Andy posts a porn drawing of two of the hosts of Profound Radio, a popular SPN podcast (I haven’t asked their permission, so I won’t repost it here). This is not quite as weird as it might sound. People actually are shipping the two of them (and other Destiel BNFs as well), and in the previous night’s episode, they complained (jokingly, I think) that another fanship had porn written for it and theirs didn’t. One of the hosts in Andy’s drawing had then posted photo references and some notes about her physical characteristics for anyone interested in creating fic or art. Andy isn’t the only one who posts art for this ship, though his is the only explicitly sexual picture I found. The Profound Radio hosts were already aware of his SPN meta, but this picture appears to be the way he initially got close to them.
March 12
When an anon posts about Andy’s love of babies and young children, his reply suggests that their chief appeal to him is that they take people at face value and trust anyone who behaves kindly toward them. The line about adults "consider[ing] it ‘suspicious’ or ‘too good to be true’ if [he] want[s] to make them happy" is something that Andy has said about some of the women that have rejected him before he had a chance to get close, and also about people who warn others about him. It implies that these women spurned him because all the other men in their lives have treated them so badly that they can’t conceive of someone being as good, sensitive, and thoughtful as Andy is—certainly not because he was abusive.
March 13
In contrast to his March 3 claim of being able to carry on conversations with children in six languages, Andy lists five that he says he can speak to varying degrees of fluency. Latin is among them, despite its not having been a spoken language for over a thousand years (other than ecclesiastical Latin, but Andy isn’t a member of the Catholic clergy).
Andy writes sort of a prose poem about friendship, and how some people don’t understand that his online friends are no less important because they aren’t physically with him. It’s interesting that his definition of friendship begins with other people trusting him with "their dreams and hopes and fears and crushes and lusts and loves and secrets and tears and stupid laughter"—all of which he used to manipulate and abuse the Bagenders and DAYDians, by the way—but makes no mention of mutual trust.
March 14
In DON’T get me to the church on time, Andy talks about how hard it is for him not to be completely selfless and to say "no" to people—or to stop himself from volunteering to do things people haven’t asked for, even when he knows he won’t be able to do them. Because of this, Andy says, there’s a lot of effort involved in not "find[ing] someone to make [him]self fall in love with" (emphasis mine) so he can spend the duration of their relationship doing absolutely everything for them and nothing for himself. This echoes the way he described his relationship with Abbey in the form letter that he was sending around in 2011 (minus the bitterness, vitriol, and extreme victim-blaming). Then Andy informs his friends and followers that they are responsible for monitoring him and intervening to prevent him from becoming romantically involved with anyone.
March 15
In the guise of encouraging younger people and informing them about adulthood, Andy plays up his Misha Collins-esque persona. He alludes to his trip to visit G a month earlier, claiming that his style and charisma got him "gorgeous service" in high-end places where he couldn’t actually afford to shop, after which he got silly-drunk and did wacky things. The paragraph about doing taxes is meant to show a flip side to that, but feels more like "look how scrappy and resourceful I am!" even as he mentions being broke, missing out on fun things, and eating lousy food. It’s noteworthy that he’s living rent-free with his parents at the time that this is posted.
Using the excuse that many of his followers (and one in particular) are stressed, Andy posts a detailed, guided meditation that he says will help them relax. This entails entering a meditative state via a process designed to simulate extreme intimacy with Dean Winchester or another favorite media figure, and then imagining oneself undressing and massaging Dean, Sam, or Castiel in as much multi-sensory detail as possible. At the end, he stresses that this isn’t "just some silly fan thing", and that the reader has "an innate trust of these men" because she is so deeply connected to the show.
March 16
Andy writes that his "big problem with no" has caused him to have sex with a person he met at Wal-Mart, to whom he was not attracted in any way—in fact, he didn’t even want to talk to this person and hopes never to see her again. He says he did it "because [he] felt too guilty about how behind [he is] on [his] fanfic obligations and the fact that…[he] can’t call [his] friend when she’s sad." This is, in my opinion, a passive-aggressive means of making people feel guilty for wanting anything from him as a writer or a friend. He claims that he has a history of doing things like this not because he needs validation, but because he selflessly wants to validate other people and give them pleasure. This story is questionable, to say the least.
Shortly after the above post, Andy reblogs CFC’s lengthy "love letter" to Supernatural, in which she explains how much the show means to her and how Andy introduced her to it. She describes her first viewing as follows (bolding mine):
"I spent the next two weeks watching every waking hour. Constantly. I left the Netflix long enough to eat, although I think I actually lost weight and to use the bathroom. I only showered if I was leaving the house, and only left long enough most days to attend Mass and then come back to my waiting headphones. … Some days, though, it got really bad, like a bizarre drug trip. Every couple of hours (or every couple or three episodes), I'd get a phone call [from Andy, to discuss the episodes]… I began to see Supernatural everywhere. I dreamed Supernatural. I saw demons in Target. Seriously, they gave me the heebie-jeebies; I finally had to walk out and take a couple of hours off from viewing. I couldn't go back to Target for two days."
Andy receives two anonymous asks that point out that he’d never mentioned his alleged history of ill-judged one night stands until he started watching SPN and started over-identifying with Dean. He responds by taking offense on Dean’s behalf and his own, invoking Brittany’s murder (calling her his "monogamous life-partner relationship"), and claiming that the sexual encounter at Wal-Mart was "in fucky consent territory".
An anon questions Andy’s claim in one of the previous posts that he was less than ten feet away from Brittany when she was killed. He posts an MS Paint diagram of the part of the house in which the murder occurred and retells the story again. This version differs in some ways from things Andy has previously said about the murder.
· He says that just before Brittany was killed, they had been discussing plans for the weekend (it was Saturday morning) and an upcoming farmers’ market. In the eulogy that he posted just a few days after Brittany died, Andy had said that they’d spent the morning talking about Brittany’s court case against her ex, plans for the New Zealand hike in June, and what they were going to do in the months afterward. Andy also claimed in the eulogy that Brittany had enrolled for pre-med classes that morning and was going to start her grant applications after making tea and giving him a foot rub.
· He emphasizes that they couldn’t hear the killer (Jason) coming at all, though the eulogy specifically mentioned "footsteps on the stairs".
· While the eulogy said that he’d tried to "talk [Jason] down", Andy states in this account that he just held eye contact with him.
· This is the first clear description that Andy’s given of exactly how he was shot in the ankle: the gun misfired and Jason left the room in frustration; then Andy barricaded himself in the room and Jason shot him through the door. This is consistent with various news articles published in the days after the murder. In "Supposed To" (11/17/11), Andy said that Jason shot him while they were in the same room.
When an anon asks why Andy feels that the sexual encounter at Wal-Mart was not consensual, he replies, "Because I said yes but I didn’t actually want it. It was consent, but not good consent." It is unclear whether he means that the other person was in some way responsible for this. He then guilt-trips the anon as if they had accused him of lying.
As he begins to receive more critical asks about the Wal-Mart story, Andy attempts to shame people into shutting up and leaving him alone. He gives a litany of reasons why he’s having a hard time emotionally, including:
· the loss (six months ago) of the box of his and Brittany’s "important things" that he left in South Dakota and made no attempt to retrieve for over two months
· his failure to finish writing A Peccatis
· not many people reading his DAYDverse fics anymore
· having his phone cut off because…
· he gave all his money to a friend (guilt trip!) and can’t pay the bill
· two of his family’s cats died within the last few months and his fish also just died
· he’s supposedly banned from GISHWHES and conventions because someone told Misha’s "people" and Creation Entertainment that he’s a con artist
· his sister is visiting
· he’s having a hard time writing SPN meta at the moment
He also expands on the Wal-Mart sex story, saying that he performed oral sex in the parking lot, on a person "[he] could hardly stand to look [at] who stank and oozed stuff under their gut fold". This is quite a troubling description, coming from someone who claims to be "pan-aesthetic" and to have love and compassion for literally everyone in the world. It hits on three very harmful stereotypes: that fat people are ugly and undesirable, that they stink, and that they have terrible hygiene. This is fat-shaming, and it’s all the more disturbing given that he has a number of close female friends (current and former) who are plus-size. Andy also alleges that this mystery woman thought he was sixteen, which would indicate that she is an ephebophile. It’s worth noting that he seems to have a preoccupation with looking young (sometimes complaining about it and sometimes boasting), and has said that "no non-ephebophilic woman in [his] own age range would consider [him] a sexual being."
March 17
Andy answers an anon so openly hostile that it comes off as fake. This one message is a distillation of everything that Andy often accuses the "online rumor mill" of saying about him. The anon accuses him of "MsScribing [his] fanclub" (that is, sending messages to himself anonymously and/or from "sockpuppet" accounts) and not-so-subtly suggests that he should kill himself because he’s "a fucking psycho life ruining predator" who got Brittany killed. Andy claims to have about fifty anonymous messages like this, as well as a lot of compassionate messages.
CFC reassures Andy that he can still get back on the "no wagon" and move on with life. He responds that at least he did "make someone feel more worthwhile and valued," glossing over the fact that according to his story, he was violently repulsed by this woman during the whole of their interaction, and afterward fat-shamed her on the internet. If the story is true, then at best, what he gave her was disgusted pity.
In response to an anon challenging the veracity of the Wal-Mart story, Andy provides more detail, which only makes the story more implausible and makes him look worse. Allegedly, a conversation about non-dairy milk substitutes turned into a grown woman, a stranger, pouring out her heart to Andy, who immediately told her (not "asked", told) that they were going to have coffee right then and there so she could tell him more. While an earlier post seemed to indicate that this woman thought he was sixteen when they had sex, he now says that she made the comment about his age before they had coffee together, and he told her he was about twice that age. He says, "She felt unwantable, like…she’d never be someone who someone else could desire." So Andy, the savior of women’s self-esteem, had oral sex with her in the parking lot in order to "make her feel like she mattered." Then he came home and informed the internet that she was right, and the whole time he was with her, he secretly thought she was hideously ugly, smelly, and unwashed. "Happens to me all the time," he says.
Andy tells a supportive anon that he is working on a painting of Brittany that he wants to post on her birthday. It never materializes and he never mentions it again.
Someone points out that it’s very doubtful that Andy would have been banned from GISHWHES and/or conventions based on hearsay. He tells them that "someone who works with the conventions" sent him an e-mail informing him of the ban based on his past behavior, threatened him with a restraining order, and then removed him from a couple of official mailing lists.
Another anon asks Andy about the past behavior mentioned in the previous ask. He describes his actions in the Bit of Earth days as "some massive mistakes several years ago", and the DAYDverse cult as "a series of larger and smaller ones". He ascribes all this to mental illness that was untreated at the time, but that he hastens to assure the anon is now totally under control. He also blames "misunderstandings, gossip, and downright falsehoods" that led to "wank" that occasionally recurs. He closes with an abbreviated version of his usual recovery-and-redemption shtick.
An anon who says they work with conventions tells Andy how it actually works when someone is banned from a con. The ban was a hoax. Andy says he will follow up with Creation the next day.
March 18
Andy tells an anon that when he hurts people, it’s often a result of his being so "brutal" to himself and seeking validation by giving ‘til it hurts.
Someone calls Andy out for fat-shaming the woman he allegedly had sex with at Wal-Mart. Andy tells them that actually, the story wasn’t fat-shaming at all, and he immediately suggests that the anon is truly at fault. But the anon doesn’t say that a bad smell and "stuff oozing from under their gut fold" are "inevitable on larger women", or that Andy "find[s] larger women gross"—Andy brings those ideas up on his own. This, and his patting himself on the back for finding some fat women attractive, are meant to shift attention away from the fact that Andy is the one who used harmful stereotypes to describe the Wal-Mart lady in the most unflattering terms possible.
March 19
An anon asks whether Andy is Catholic. Part of his answer is that while his childhood was split between Catholic and "Charismatic Evangelical Protestant…Southern Baptist" traditions, and he doesn’t really identify with either, he has a preference for Catholic traditions, rituals, and prayers. At this point, Andy is still claiming that he is of 100% Irish ancestry. His parents are Protestant. His maternal grandparents, who were of Irish and English ancestry, were Protestant and attended an inter-denominational church—but his paternal grandparents were Catholic. Andy’s paternal grandmother was of Portuguese ancestry, via her grandfather and great-grandparents (Andy’s great-great grandfather and two sets of 3x-great-grandparents). Interestingly, Andy identifies more closely with the faith of his father’s side of the family, even as he denies their cultural/ethnic heritage.
Andy announces that it is Brittany’s birthday. "Waves to Russia" is a reference to S, one of the hosts of Profound Radio; they have been talking a lot recently.
Andy publishes a hostile anon who accuses him of cuckolding Brittany’s ex (who murdered her) and of holding a "pity party" on Tumblr to get attention. Andy’s initial response is understandably full of rage and obscenities—but only a minute or two later (based on "last modified" timestamps), he edits his response, offering the anon an apology because "those who hurt us are usually the ones most needing of compassion". He posts his phone number and e-mail address and suggests that the anon talk to him privately so that he can correct some elements of Brittany’s story that he says the anon is "mistaken" about. Andy closes with a Bible verse and a quote from Castiel in Supernatural.
An anon asks Andy, "What would you want to be when you grow up if you could be anything?" His response includes the claim that as a teen, he submitted a half-dozen spec scripts (that were never picked up) for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. He then says something that he will repeat over the years: that he's not good at creating anything original himself, but is "awesome" at "plots and arcs and character development and world expansion and mythos building" within universes that others have created.
Andy says that he likes that Thomas Padalecki (Jared Padalecki's son) has the same birthday as Brittany, but hastens to add that he doesn't believe Thomas is Brittany reincarnated.
In response to a gif someone posted of the text "rapists do not deserve sympathy", Andy says that actually, they do because they're human beings and not treating them with sympathy "reinforce[s] the very thing that lead [sic] to the rape in the first place; the idea that there are humans who matter and humans who don't". He eventually concludes that if everyone saw each other as fellow humans, fewer rapes would happen, and isn't that more important and meaningful than just "hurting someone back"? It's self-righteous and utterly tone-deaf and I am not the best person to explain the problems with it. I'll just say that a Tumblr reblog of a gif that, for all he knows, could have been made by a survivor of rape, is not the place to make the point he's trying to make.
An anon objects to Andy's insistence that rapists deserve sympathy. His response is defensive and just as self-righteous as the initial post, closing with the statement that vengeance against someone who has wronged you "[perpetuates] the idea and culture of their act", which is a horrific thing to say in this context. Andy is essentially policing the responses and feelings of rape survivors.
An anon brings up Andy's statement that he'd wanted to step on Brittany's killer's face as he was dying and says that he surely wouldn't want him to be treated compassionately if he'd lived. Andy admits to having said that. He then proceeds to write authoritatively about Jason's motivations and what he was thinking and feeling (something he routinely derides the Andy Awareness blogs for doing) and says that he needed sympathy and treatment. As I have previously documented, this is just three days after Andy said that he was glad (at the time of writing) that Jason suffered before he died, and the same day that he called him an "abusive bipolar asswipe".
When an anon calls him amazing for having compassion for Jason, Andy responds with false modesty.
In a post that I unfortunately did not capture, Andy directly contrasts a character from SPN with the Steubenville rapists in a further attempt to make his point. Another anon points out how disgusting it is to use a currently ongoing rape case, in which people have been saying horrible things about the survivor on national news platforms, to support an argument that people should have compassion for rapists, and to equate that case with a fictional TV character. "Using a vampire to discuss rape culture" is very different from "making a direct comparison between a vampire and a specific, recent instance of rape". Andy continues to miss the point.
March 20
Andy writes a lengthy meta post that boils down to "celebrities have the same privacy rights, and should be able to have the same expectation of privacy, as anyone else; also, a celebrity's public face does not represent their entire identity and that's okay." The post is notable mainly because Andy says at the beginning that he considers himself to have joined the entertainment and journalism industries by posting his SPN meta on Tumblr.
Later that day, he makes an extremely sarcastic post that appears to mock people whom he considers to be online bullies. Because breathing is something that is literally necessary in order to survive, using it as an analogue for posting on Tumblr (or whatever it is) doesn't make a lot of sense.
March 21
Andy argues at length and with a great deal of condescension that SPN is not queerbaiting and that no one can legitimately say it is until the show is over, and probably not even then. He tells his readers that the reason they think it is, is that they're conflating fanfiction writing with television writing, and they obviously don’t know how TV storytelling works. He subsequently replies to an anon with more of the same, with a side of "stop being so emotional about it".
Apparently only people in fandom think about LGBTQIA representation in media or assume that anyone they see is anything other than cishet.
Andy talks down to an anon who's losing hope that Destiel will ever happen, chastising them for being too emotional about it.
March 22
Andy makes more creepy remarks about Unique from Glee and excuses this by equating a 29-year-old man sexualizing a teen girl to a 16-year-old girl crushing on Robert Downey, Jr.
He tells an anon that he identifies with Dean because of how stupidly and unfailingly selfless they both are: "the source of all the stupidest most hurtful things I've ever done in my life has been putting other people ahead of everything…and many years of only valuing myself in terms of what I can do for others."
This is the date on which Andy makes one of his most infamous posts, "You're My Best Friend And I Love You". In this post, he tells the story of how he and Brittany met, became friends, and eventually (allegedly) fell in love with each other and decided they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. He glosses over a lot of things, like the undead shaman wizard battle (see Part III of the timeline), exactly how he ended up living with Brittany, and the other friends he took advantage of along the way. The constant, fake channeling is summed up as, "I had mental health things going on." He makes sure to mention that they had sex once, though, and to talk about how great her ass looked. His description of Brittany toward the end of the post is remarkably similar to what he wrote in his eulogy to her. Most importantly, Andy draws an explicit parallel between his relationship with Brittany and Dean's relationship with Castiel. He emphasizes that (in his opinion) both relationships consist of deep platonic love and romance/sexuality, and that neither aspect diminishes or negates the other. He also describes his and Brittany's relationship with the phrase "profound bond", which is specific to the Destiel fandom, and tags the post with "destiel" and "deancas".
Not long after that post goes up, an anon calls Andy out for using Brittany (referred to as "[his] dead ex") as "just another character". He tells them to "Fuck off. Compassionately." Interestingly, he tells that anon that he and Brittany "spent almost two years together almost 24/7." As noted in "You're My Best Friend…", they rarely interacted before DAYDcon. That was where they first met in person, on December 18, 2009. Andy was back in Virginia by January 15, 2010, and stayed there for a while, returning to Sacramento sometime in April. Brittany was murdered on May 7, 2011. They knew each other for about seventeen months, less than a year and a half, and were physically together for about thirteen or fourteen months. This is not to say that two people can't have a meaningful relationship in that amount of time; I'm just pointing out the exaggeration.
March 23
"Every Word Was A Piece of My Heart", one of Andy's longer pieces of SPN meta, boils down to, "Most of the fandom is watching the show wrong. Let me explain to you how TV in general, and SPN in particular, work."
March 24
Andy receives an anon ask that could be legitimate, but throws up a few red flags: the abuser mentioned is a Marine (Andy is obsessed with the military and has pretended to be/to have been in the military before), the writing style sounds a bit like him, and it gives him an opportunity to make excuses for himself. After addressing the anon's specific situation (and naturally throwing in a SPN analogy), Andy sets up a dichotomy between "abusive people" and "people doing abusive things". "I have been an abuser. I am not an abusive person," he says. He goes on to claim that as long as he is in treatment it's perfectly safe to be friends or in a relationship with him.
Andy tells a gushing anon that writing SPN meta has been good for his mental health and that he feels he's helping people who are hurting. This will become a trend.
March 25
Andy posts an image of a "skeletal" runway model followed by a softcore porn image of a woman who is less thin but still very much conforms to American societal beauty standards. He demonstrates a lack of understanding of eating disorders, assuring female identifying readers that most guys would rather fuck someone who looks like the second image than the first, so they shouldn't be trying to "starve [themselves] into" looking like that model in hopes of gaining male attention. He recommends that they go look at porn for examples of what the average man wants. Then he immediately backpedals, stating that actually, porn stars shouldn't be used as examples of what women should look like, and actually, women shouldn't define their self-worth by whether men find them attractive. He caps this off by further othering the runway model, claiming that most men would just want to give her a sandwich. This is the man who claims to be "panaesthetic".
Andy posts "AC/DC", a long SPN meta post in which he argues that Dean is bisexual.
Andy posts several excerpts from DAYDverse stories, attempting to attract SPN fans to "his own fandom".
March 26
Andy suggests that he might write a screenplay for a fan-produced episode of SPN, with the purpose of surprising the cast with it at a convention. This idea never comes to fruition.
March 28
Andy gets some backlash over the 2008 LiveJournal post in which he referred to female Harry Potter fans as "bubble-headed shipperchibbies". He argues that his post was effemiphobic, but not misogynistic, as if there were a meaningful difference between the two. He then blames society and how hard his life was at the time (the "worst dumping of [his] life" was when Abbey left him in 2007), and then doubles down on his argument about effemiphobia.
Here is the entire aforementioned LJ post, as shared by Andy a little later the same day. When he shares the post, he adds poor word choice to the list of reasons why it really wasn't his fault. He then points out that the section most people quote is "less than half of one paragraph", as if there's nothing wrong with the rest of it.
Later still, Andy posts that he has mixed caffeine pills and whiskey with the goal of staying up late to write his SPN screenplay. He claims that he has over 200 new Tumblr messages about that night's SPN promo.
March 29
An anon asks Andy whether he's ever been diagnosed with either Narcissistic or Borderline Personality Disorder. He replies that his diagnoses are "situational depression, ADD, PTSD, and paranoid schizophrenia with delusions".
Andy insists, again, that SPN is not queerbaiting and heavily implies that fans who make that accusation are just whining. Despite not identifying as part of the LGBTQIA+ community, he feels it is his place to lecture people on the inappropriate use of words including "–phobia, -ist, -ism, hate, silencing, and queerbaiting".
March 30
Halfway through a 24-hour writing binge, Andy pauses for self-aggrandizement and backpats. When an anon suggests that he rest for a while, he insists that it's "so worth it" and not a problem.
March 31
An anon asks why Andy lives with his parents. His explanation glosses over the facts that he lost his last apartment situation because he was a nightmare to live with, and that he lost the seasonal job with room and board because the owner found out about his history. "Life happened, and I roll with it," he says, absolving himself of all responsibility.
Someone wonders whether JKR might have heard of DAYD and how Andy would feel about that. He claims that it was "referenced in the Atlantic Monthly as an example of good fic" and that Matthew Lewis and Devon Murray (Neville and Seamus from the Harry Potter movies) have both read DAYD and Sluagh and liked them. For the second time in this timeline, here is the entirety of what the Atlantic Monthly had to say about DAYD:
Some stories remain faithful to the original material, choosing to carve out a niche in some unexplored territory. Dumbledore's Army and the Year of Darkness, for example, explores the lives of Hogwarts forgotten B-list characters during the Deathly Hallows as they prepare a revolt against Voldemort.
The writer made no value judgment about DAYD one way or another; they simply gave it a one-sentence mention in a much longer article about HP fanfiction, in which they devoted significantly more space to another infamous fic.
In response to another ask, Andy tells the story of how someone allegedly gave hard copies of DAYD to the aforementioned actors at a convention. He adds that Matthew Lewis told a fan that he liked DAYD and that Devon Murray went so far as to send him a personal note about Sluagh. The only part of this that is plausible is that someone might have given a copy of a fanfic to actors at a convention. Everyone meaningfully involved with a major franchise property like Harry Potter is required to sign numerous NDAs and other agreements, which for years now have included clauses prohibiting them from reading fanfiction. It is not worthwhile for them to risk violating those agreements, let alone to admit it if they did.
Hours later, Andy offers to send homemade salted caramels to anyone who has started reading DAYD within the past three months, or starts reading it that day.
April 1
Andy piggybacks on Misha Collins's April Fools tweet.
April 2
Andy posts "Stuck in the Middle With You: The Case for Canon* Destiel at 9.10". In this meta, he argues that Dean and Castiel are going to kiss in the middle of season nine. Specifically, he says that he expects "a big, passionate, open-mouthed, groped by an angel, headline-ready, you-can-tell-what's-going-on-even-in-a-thumbnail-image KISS," but with some kind of "out"—although, as usual, he immediately adds that the showrunners aren't "[queer]baiting".
Andy tells an anon why he doesn't like the LotR movies, omitting any reference to real life events.
He tells another anon that he started writing Star Trek "spec scripts" at eight years old, while he previously said this happened "as a teen".
Responding to an anon, Andy equates his writing SPN meta and responding to Tumblr asks about SPN to preventing suicide.
April 3
Supposedly Andy's father recognizes and comments on the bond between Dean and Castiel, even comparing them to "those poor boys in Brokeheart Mountain". Minutes later, Andy posts a further snippet of dialogue in which his father makes a pithy remark about the value of LGBTQIA representation in media. His father is portrayed as well-meaning but clueless, and everything he says is just too perfectly worded, too on the nose. Both of these posts are reflective of popular Tumblr trends in which people would post about how their cishet, often conservative parent unwittingly made a comment in favor of a popular slash pairing, or sometimes even shipped it. Andy puts a slightly different spin on this by actually asking if his father could see Dean and Castiel as a romantic couple, but these are no more plausible than any other post in this vein.
April 4
This post exemplifies the tone of much of Andy's SPN meta: authoritative, a little condescending, and operating under the assumption that he's talking everyone back from the edge.
April 6
Andy tells an anon that he has received confirmation from someone at Creation Entertainment that his being banned from conventions was a hoax.
Someone asks Andy why people describe him as manipulative and emotionally abusive. He doesn't admit to being or having been manipulative and emotionally abusive, but says that he acted in those ways—and he blames it entirely on mental illness, even as he claims to have taken responsibility for it. He also makes sure to point out that the people making these allegations haven't known him for a long time. Finally, Andy repeats the same SPN analogy he used in his January 23 post about hallucinations and the March 8 post in which he defended himself against an allegation that he was targeting teenagers with mental health issues. He argues that one can't make judgments about a person's likely future actions based on something they do while hallucinating, an argument that doesn't make sense whether you accept that all Andy's past behavior was the fault of mental illness, or not.
Megan posts about spending the day with Andy. This is the first time she's met him in person. Among other things, she says that she "learned a lot about saving money while finding awesome things" (a common theme with Andy) and "learned a lot about, well, everything." In the tags, she says, "#i was speechless almost the whole time #like what could i even say," and she describes the day as "#fascinating amazing #mindblowing #best day in a long time".
April 8
When an anon comments that his meta should have "thousands upon thousands of notes", Andy's response boils down to, "my meta doesn't get a lot of notes because it's too smart and not emotional enough for most people".
April 9
Andy puts out a call for a producer/director for his SPN screenplay.
April 11
Andy claims that someone has sent him crime scene photos from Brittany's murder, and specifically of her body. He also receives an improbable anon about his response. This whole thing is highly unlikely to have happened. Someone within the Fairfield Police Department would have had to release the photos, which rarely happens (most present-day crime scene photos that get passed around online are from outside the US), and then someone else would have had to find them, identify the subject as Brittany, and send them to Andy—or someone from the PD would have had to send them to Andy directly. Neither of these scenarios is particularly plausible. I'm uncertain what motive Andy might have had for lying about this, other than to garner sympathy. It doesn't seem like anything major happened around this time that he might have wanted to distract people from.
April 12
Andy contrasts himself to other fanfiction writers in a post that is at once self-aggrandizing and incredibly creepy. Other writers, he says, have emotional motivations: they want to make the characters they love safe and happy and to interweave their smut with romance. He, on the other hand, is purely cerebral and scientific, wanting to test the characters in various ways to learn more about their inner lives and to use them as a lens through which to view and understand real people. It's not so different from the "bubbleheaded shipperchibbies" post, except that he's employing implications and backhanded compliments instead of blatant insults. It's also worth noting that what he writes about his treatment of fictional characters is what he has psychologically done to other people in the past.
An anon asks whether Andy has ever shipped other characters in fandoms besides SPN, and Andy's response pointedly does not include any mention of The Lord of the Rings.
April 13
In response to an anon who suggests that he be more careful about posting his private information, Andy posts his private information again, along with a picture and some posturing about how noble he is for making himself so vulnerable.
April 14
Andy posts about Destiel again, emphasizing that he believes it should and will happen and that the show has been giving "strong indications that it will"; however, he says that this is not the right time for it. The repetition of "I believe…", which he writes ten times in this post, sounds like a liturgy or a series of religious declarations. At the same time, it is a rhetorical technique similar to those that he uses in many of his fauxpologies and other posts in which he is attempting to convince an audience of something. This is interesting because he is addressing a community that already supports Destiel. It reads as if Andy is encouraging others to look at him as the voice of reason and hope among Destiel fans, a position that he already seems to have taken on in his own mind, as he frequently writes about "talking people down" after each new episode of the series.
April 15
Andy invites SPN fans to watch the season eight finale and stay the night at his parents' house.
April 19
Andy tells an anon that he is not claiming and never has claimed to be "the true vessel for channeling Castiel".
An anon asks Andy whether the post going around about him is true, referring to 1purp0se's first post, which was published on April 16. He says that he hasn't seen it and denies that he's ever claimed to be a vessel, channel Castiel, or have any "Winchester Gospels". He also refers the anon to two of his friends and links to a number of his previous posts on the subject.
In his reply to an anon who accuses him of driving Brittany's ex over the edge and causing her murder, Andy refers to said ex as "a verbally, physically, and emotionally abusive, dangerous, unstable bastard". This is exactly one month after he said that the ex hadn't been a bad person and had just needed help and compassion. His response to the anon is interspersed with a variety of insults.
April 20
Andy receives an anon that gives him an excuse to go into a long diatribe about the "pitchfork mob" and the dangers and folly of "naming and shaming" people on the internet, without making it directly about himself.
Supposedly Andy has been helping a young writer who admires him and wants him to work with them on a project. Andy is very insulting about it, calling it "so incredibly, incredibly formulaic that it doesn't even exist" and a "complete trope-fest" that lacks any originality or any semblance of personal style. He is similarly insulting about this alleged young writer's overall common sense.
April 21
Andy posts an effusive apology for repeatedly insulting the anon who accused him of driving Brittany's ex over the edge, including a declaration of love. It is not possible to love a person when you don't even know who they are; that is not how feelings work. One might say, "I love all of humanity and you are a human; ergo, I love you," but that would be a much more abstract and impersonal kind of love than Andy is expressing here.
April 22
For at least the last month, Andy has been having marathon Skype sessions, sometimes as long as ten hours, with S, one of the hosts of Profound Radio. This is his recounting of one of their sessions, which included "lying around naked" and "bathing together". He gives his readers permission to ship or brotp it, depending on the host's gender at the time.
In "If You Like It You Don't Have To Put A Ring On It", Andy claims that roughly a dozen people have just asked him to tell them what their sexuality or gender identity is, and posts advice for them.
April 25
Andy posts "My Angel Wings Were Burned and Restrained". See my analysis of this post here.
April 26
Andy posts a beginner's guide to menu planning and grocery shopping that gets more attention than usual after it's reblogged by fuckingrecipes.
April 27
Andy posts pin-up art of S. (Image not posted because that would be identifying.)
April 28
Andy photoshops the aforementioned pin-up into a SPN screengrab. He tags it with her username and "sam for the last time if you're gonna buy me a Russian hooker tell me first!"
A, the DAYDian who said in October 2012 that they were beginning to channel Icarus Utterson, begins "Operation: Fifteen Years to the Fallen" on the Facebook DAYD group. They propose writing letters to the deceased members of Dumbledore's Army (according to DAYD) about what the world is like now, thanks to their sacrifice.
May 1
Someone using a burner account tells an Andy Awareness blogger that they have friends who are former DAYDians and shares some information about what happened behind the scenes. Abbey confirms Andy's habit of bringing people into his inner circle, fostering their emotional dependence on him, and then unceremoniously dropping them.
May 2
Andy posts "Intro to the Daydverse", in which he says, "Supernatural is fulfilling short-term emotional needs for me that are going to allow me to get back into the Daydverse during its hiatus".
Osric Chau, who plays Kevin Tran on SPN, has a roommate who uses Tumblr. After a particular episode airs, this roommate asks people to reblog a post of theirs with reactions to the episode that they will pass on to Osric. Andy makes a very long post praising his portrayal of Kevin. Osric later tweets at Andy to thank him for the post, which he says is "superbly written".
May 5
Andy announces that his toddler cousin has died in an accidental drowning.
Andy posts about a number of death-related events all coinciding at the beginning of May, including (in this order) the Battle of Hogwarts, the Battle of Druim Cett (DAYDverse), several SPN plot points, his cousin's drowning, the anniversary of Brittany's murder, and the death of a friend. In the tags, he preemptively chastises people for "attacking" him for "using fandom words to talk about it", as if it's in any way reasonable that he's just put the deaths of three real people on the same level with the deaths of fictional characters.
In a series of responses to asks, Andy argues with other members of the SPN fandom about the incident described at the beginning of this article. He equates the fan's question to asking something that sounds like an inquiry about Jensen's penis size, says that her behavior was "foolish…and inappropriate", and insists that saying anything at all about Dean's sexuality would constitute a spoiler and a breach of contract on Jensen's part. Andy's viewpoint, which at the time was questionable at best, has aged like milk. He also says, "And oh sweet Jesus God do I know what it's like to have the cybermob come after you for a misphrased this and an out of context that combined with a dose of legitimate misconduct, intentional or not."
In the middle of the aforementioned argument, Andy claims that a "Sherlock!Asshole Anon" has found his cousin's full name (which he modified and partially censored in his original post), called funeral homes in San Diego until they located the body, and threatened to post about it. This is most likely false and an attempt at distracting people from the wank in progress.
May 6
Andy writes about his late cousin's mother's request for a memorial painting. People do not take it well. I have previously written about this incident here.
Andy posts about Brittany's serving Jason with legal documents, his threatening to kill her, and the Fairfield Police Department's inadequate and problematic response. This is the beginning of his hour-by-hour recap of Brittany's murder.
May 7
3:03 AM. Andy's recap begins with the underwear Brittany was wearing the night before she was killed.
Breakfast. Immediately, Andy's story begins to differ from his previous accounts of the murder, as he describes himself and Brittany having oatmeal and tea. In a post to the DAYDverse LJ community not long after the murder, he said that Brittany had skipped breakfast that day. Note, also, that he once again describes her attire right down to her underwear, which seems invasive.
An hour left. Andy describes a conversation about their alleged plans to hike around the world (separate from the New Zealand hike) after Brittany's court case was over, which he said would be in a matter of weeks. This differs markedly from what he said in the "eulogy" that he posted to the DAYDverse LJ community and Facebook group days after the murder. Back then, he claimed that, after the New Zealand hike, they were going to work in Napa Valley vineyards for the grape harvest and bottling, then get an apartment in the Bay Area and finish the court proceedings.
Half an hour left. In contrast to the Bay Area apartment mentioned in the "eulogy", Andy talks about a Napa caretaker's cottage he and Brittany supposedly were planning to live in between settling her case and starting their 'round-the-world hike.
Fifteen minutes left. Note all the things that Andy says he and Brittany talked about that morning, in this and the last two posts. It can be argued that some of his previous accounts match up closely enough, at least in part, to what he describes this time—but nowhere in this hour-by-hour account does he say that Brittany enrolled in pre-med classes with plans to do Doctors Without Borders, as he claimed in the "eulogy".
Less than a minute left. Notice the kind of tea that Andy says they are going to have. See my Tea and Sympathy post for why this little detail is a big deal.
A photo spread and an epitaph.
Andy sits, zip-cuffed, on the curb.
Andy is interviewed at the police station. He describes himself taking the news of Brittany's death calmly and then field-dressing his ankle.
Andy has taken care of his ankle.
"I'm a novelist. I write death." Even more than all the discrepancies from his various accounts of Brittany's murder, this is the one line that has always stayed with me. That is the kind of remark that raises red flags with law enforcement, and I doubt very much that Andy actually said it. He brags about how "comprehensive, detailed, [and] articulate" his testimony allegedly was, and then tries to make himself sound like some kind of intellectual badass on top of it. And of course the officer he's speaking to has a pithy reply at the ready.
In response to someone's asking whether the stories he's posting are true, Andy shares pictures of his ankle x-rays and Brittany's grave.
Andy talks some more about cleaning up his ankle.
Andy says that posting this highly detailed, hour-by-hour account has been a coping mechanism in various ways. Per a couple of psychiatrists I've talked to, this would not be a good idea at all for anyone suffering from PTSD, regardless of the other conditions Andy claims to have, and especially when done publicly. I'm not trying to say that Andy doesn't have PTSD; I'm saying Andy is not reliable when it comes to what is or is not a healthy coping mechanism.
May 8
This description of Dean, excerpted from one of Andy's meta posts, is strikingly similar to the way Andy tends to describe himself.
May 10
Andy offers to trade meta, art, or recipes/cooking tutorials for various SPN music videos, DAYDverse art or meta, or help with the wrock album, which he says he promised Brittany he would finish.
May 13
Andy posts a picture of himself using a carrot to simulate a blowjob, which he says he made as an art reference. This post seems to be a combination thirst trap and "look how secure in my masculinity I am!"
Later, he posts pictures of himself putting an entire Sharpie in his mouth to demonstrate his lack of gag reflex, apparently with the goal of making S giggle and blush.
Andy equates himself, as the writer of the DAYDverse, with various writers including Shakespeare, Ovid, and Homer.
Andy criticizes "white social justice bloggers" for complaining about the way SPN treats people of color, when they themselves don't create fic, art, gifsets, etc. focused on those characters. Apparently it is okay that Andy ignores nearly all of the POC characters because he doesn't complain about how few of them there are or the way they're portrayed. A POC fan replies to point out some flaws in Andy's argument, including that he has no way to know whether the people he's complaining about are actually white. Andy ignores the points she makes and doubles down, openly claiming that said fans are racist and throwing in a racial slur for good measure.
May 15
Andy posts a picture of himself in a cowboy hat because he knows it is a major turn-on for S.
May 18
An anon attempts to warn Megan about Andy, linking her to the first SPN warning post about him. She says that she isn't afraid of him and won't believe that he's really a bad person unless he directly confirms everything in the warning post.
S posts a picture of herself (cropped out) wearing a pair of short-shorts that she made. Andy replies. Later, he reposts the picture, cropped to show just her ass.
May 21
In the midst of a post complaining about capitalism and the American healthcare/insurance system, Andy self-aggrandizes in a very revealing way:
"… I am a weaver of word-magic to a degree that verges on dangerous in my understanding of exactly what I'm doing as a storyteller and rhetorician. I can get inside people's heads. I can sell you realities."
He also not-so-subtly implies that he is somehow better than other people who have jobs like the one he currently has, which he says is "so fucking below [his] capabilities that it makes [him] want to scream".
As "paybacks" for S, Andy posts a picture of himself from behind, wearing only boxer briefs, with his hands bound with a leather belt.
May 27
A typical exchange between S and Andy.
June 1
Andy is extremely harsh with a young anon who asks for advice on emigrating to the UK and transitioning. The anon admits that he doesn't have a plan and doesn't know what to do. Andy's approach is to tell him that he is "spectacularly ignorant and immature". Without knowing why the anon doesn't want his parents in his life, Andy assumes that he has no good reason for it and tells him that cutting them off is "a dick move"—this is the same person who cut his own parents out of his life by means of a fake suicide letter. His advice other than that isn't bad, but he certainly could have been kinder about it.
June 11
After Andy posts his phone number, an anon points out how easy it was for them to use it to find a great deal of his other personal information. He responds by posting his full name, date of birth, current and last three addresses, parents' names, previous employers, and other information including his alleged diagnoses. He claims that every bit of this information has been released before by other people, which is inaccurate. His address at the time of Brittany's murder was released in some news articles about it, and Turimel released another of his addresses when she posted a picture of his then-current driver's license on her LiveJournal. She also released his full name, date of birth, and parents' names, and one or more of his employers. I am unaware, however, of anyone's having released any of Andy's other previous addresses, most of his previous employers, the cars he owned, his doctors' names, his diagnoses, the medication he's on, or any of the info he provides about his physical appearance. (Abbey has since disclosed his diagnoses at the time they were together, but that was years after this post.)
Andy describes his current social circles.
June 18
Andy states that after completing A Peccatis, he will be quitting the DAYDverse because Brittany's murder has effectively ruined it for him.
June 24
Andy says that he would like to have casual sex with some of his Tumblr friends.
June 29
Andy posts about three of his female friends having a shirtless marshmallow fight. Later, he posts pictures (cropped out). He contrasts these women with the "spray-tanned, bleach-blonde, botoxed size 0 models with giant breast implants" that he says "certain people would like to shove down our collective throats". Following an old pattern, he says that these women are representative of what is "REAL sexy and REAL beautiful". And in what will become a new pattern, Andy bets his friends that they will become "Tumblr famous" as a result of his post.
An anon opines that Andy probably does not have a genius level IQ because they would have heard of him. Andy defends his "very high genius level".
June 30
Again, Andy equates himself as a fanfiction writer with Shakespeare and other iconic poets.
July 1
An anon calls Andy out for sexism in DAYD, pointing out that both he and CFC have previously tried to explain it away as "an attempt at following JKR". This time, he puts it down to realism. He writes about it as if he gave this a great deal of thought and approached issues of race, sexuality, and gender very carefully as an author, in marked contrast to the way he used to say that everything in DAYD just came to him. He closes by bragging about having read the Harry Potter series and the works of King and Cornwall only once, and having watched each episode of SPN only once, even as he claims he isn't bragging.
July 6
An anon asks Andy why he is ignoring DAYDian A (discussed in Part V of the timeline, particularly in September 2012). A appears to be emotionally dependent on Andy and desirous of his approval, and they frequently feel ignored by him, to the point that they have a tag for it on their Tumblr. One of their posts on this tag reads:
"I doubt you’ll see this, but I hope you will. It’s not funny anymore. It never was funny. In fact, it’s actually really painful. I’ve waited a long time. A very, very long time, and you know that. I don’t know what I have to do to get your attention, but please. Please, please, please, PLEASE… stop ignoring me. Or if you’re doing it on purpose, I would really appreciate you telling me why."
In this instance, Andy tells the anon that he has had to distance himself from certain friends for mental health reasons and that he will resume those friendships when he feels more stable. This seems reasonable; however, between the lines, Andy is acknowledging that he has cultivated relationships in which people have become overly dependent on him, unable to tell him "no", and unable to recognize when his behavior is harmful to them. This is a pattern that goes back to Andy's LotR cult, and he still doesn't see anything wrong with it. Cycling between love-bombing and ignoring friends is also a long-standing pattern of Andy's, so his explanation is hard to believe.
July 8
Andy posts a list of ten reasons why, if he ran the show, many Destiel fans would hate him and complain about exactly the same things for which they deride the actual showrunners. This is another example of his positioning himself as an authority on television writing/production and the voice of reason among SPN fans, and Destiel shippers in particular.
July 12
Andy announces the Men of Letters-themed SPN season nine premier party, inviting anyone 18 and over to attend, whether he knows them or not.
July 13
Andy appears on an episode of Profound Radio. No "Irish" accent is in evidence. In terms of this timeline, little of interest happens during the podcast, but there is a fair bit of talk about shipping Andy and S, and Andy mentions the "neobuttism" Tumblr tag (on which they post things intended to appeal to each other's kinks) no fewer than three times.
July 14
An anon asks Andy what happened to the "Irish" accent he had during the Potter Fic Weekly podcast on which he was a guest. Andy's answer elides the obvious phoniness of the accent. When the anon follows up by asking if he's not actually Irish, Andy repeats his old lies about being 100% Irish and having been raised by his Irish grandfather. He notably omits any mention of having fought on both sides of the Troubles.
July 21
As Comic-Con begins, Andy posts some very patronizing advice to SPN fans.
Andy writes an extremely condescending piece of meta about television scriptwriting. This is yet another instance of his positioning himself as an authority who understands the show better than all those other fans.
July 22
In response to an anon who says, "You've told a lot of lies," Andy repeats many of his favorite justifications for his past behavior. He blames mental illness, and also claims that a lot of the evidence of his lies was really just "writing exercises, jokes, sarcastic private emails/chats, or roleplaying stuff" that his detractors are taking out of context. He calls his Tumblr "the most honest thing [he's] ever done" and says that he's as honest in real life as it's safe to be.
July 23
When an anon asks about his "big writing credits", Andy repeats his story about sending in spec scripts for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager—except now he was between eight and eleven, not a teen, and this time they were so impressive that famed scriptwriter Jeri Taylor had someone call his mother to confirm that a child had written them, and then wrote him a letter encouraging him to keep writing. He also talks about DAYDverse, his SPN meta and the script for the fan-made episode that never happened, and concludes that he is the scriptwriting equivalent of a gymnastics coach.
Andy posts an open invitation to the Men of Letters LARP/SPN premiere party. Any fan 18 or over may attend. Later, he answers some questions about casting.
July 25
Andy posts a long list of responses to asks he claims he's received about Castiel having sex, again portraying himself as the voice of reason among Destiel shippers. "…I have a memory longer than your average goldfish stereotype", he says, and goes on to refer to a blowjob as "a full Bill Clinton", which is gross and inappropriate. He insists, again, that the show is not queerbaiting. Toward the end, he calls people who are upset about Cas having sex "dumbfucks".
July 26
On Andy's birthday, S mentions having had a 25-hour Skype session with him.
July 27
In response to an anon who says that he almost certainly has Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Andy insists, "I've never been the patient of a licensed clinician who even had it on their short list of things wrong with me". According to Abbey, this is a lie.
August 1
Andy posts the scenario and character list for the Men of Letters LARP. Later, he explains how the event is going to work.
August 7
Andy tells an anon that having been an abuser makes him all the more qualified to talk about abusive relationships. Once again, he blames mental illness, but stresses that if the content of his "paranoia and delusions" had been true, he would have been a hero for the things he did. He also claims that he was being abused at the same time that he was abusing people.
Andy posts about S, who is a queer person living in Russia, in order to self-aggrandize about being a better ally than any other Destiel fan. He suggests that all Destiel fans believe that shipping Destiel and blogging about it makes them "goddamned rainbow superhero[es]", but that they don't truly care about the real LGBTQIA community or about its current situation in Russia. He suggests that no one but him cares enough to notice if S suddenly disappeared from Tumblr and Profound Radio, and that they would be far more concerned with whether Destiel became canon than with her fate. Then he lectures an anon on how to be a proper ally. His advice is patronizing at times: for example, he tells the anon to spend at least as much time educating themself on what's happening in Russia as they would on reading a fanfic, and to put "at least half the passion into [writing to a politician about Russia] that you would if it was a Destiel meta".
August 8
Andy writes about whether Destiel is a healthy relationship. He stresses that abuse isn't necessarily easy to define and that an abusive relationship isn't the same as an unhealthy one. He repeats his old refrain that "abuse is about power".
In response to a skeptical anon, Andy doubles down on his claims to have seen a double-digit number of friends die violently, and to have been "left for dead more than once".
August 10
Andy posts "Why Can't This Be Love?", a short meta about why, in his opinion, Dean fell in love with Castiel.
August 11
Andy posts a picture of his GISHWHES go bag, which he says used to belong to Brittany. He dedicates the competition to "M'Bidney", saying he's "in it to win it". He is competing on Team Profound Radio.
August 11-18
Winjennster will later report that during GISHWHES, Andy deliberately stops taking his medication so he can stay awake. His behavior is so consistently awful that he makes most of his friends cry—she says he is especially terrible to two members of Profound Radio, one of whom isn't even on the GISHWHES team. One night, while Winjennster is in bed with a migraine, he convinces her 15-year-old son that he (her son) is gay and then uses that to attack her.
August 18
Post-GISHWHES, Andy makes a post indicating the level of sleep deprivation experienced by himself and his team. Significantly, he says that he is writing a "wrap-up email" that he thinks will help Winjennster get to meet Misha (part of the prize for the winning team), implying that this was his main goal.
Later, he makes a post in which he appears to take sole responsibility for their team losing, while backhandedly blaming it on others. Because of the way he approached them, other members didn't do as much as they could have. Because he "pissed off [the] editor", they didn't do what they were supposed to in a timely manner. Winjennster supposedly expected him to "keep [her] happy and eagerly participating and on an even emotional keel and fix her house and manage her family and provide for her needs" during GISHWHES. He vows to find a way to get Winjennster to meet Misha because he says he promised.
Megan writes a thank-you post for Andy, in which she gives him credit for drastically changing her life. She says that before she met Andy, and through him, her close-knit group of friends, she was "depressed, to the point of self-harm, having trouble making it through work days." She thanks Andy for bringing the group together and says that his abilities have "blown [her] mind…amaze[d], fascinate[d], and sometimes scare[d] [her] a little." She concludes, "I consider you my life saver."
August 19
Andy begins a much longer post-GISHWHES write-up by insisting that he never wanted to win the competition for himself: it was all about the challenge. He says that GISHWHES is "the closest thing there is to making [his] personality an Olympic event". He then explains that while his team thought they were all on the same page, they actually misunderstood each other and had very different goals and motivations, of which his were naturally the most ambitious—not that anyone else's were wrong or unimportant, of course. "…for some people, swimming one stroke, biking one meter, and running one step ARE Ironman levels of effort…but that's not ME. Not me is ok for you." Andy goes on to clarify that he had a team of non-participants helping him on the items that he did, to list some of the items they completed, and to backhandedly blame the editor again for not getting everything finished on time. He alludes once again to the email that he is sending to the GISHWHES judges and repeats that he will find a way to get Winjennster to meet Misha because she "DOES care a lot more about meeting the SPN actors than [he does]." He also makes sure to emphasize again that he really doesn't care about meeting Misha, no, really. See 1purp0se's analysis of this post here.
The following year, when Andy is talking about doing GISHWHES again, a member of his 2013 team posts this about her experience on a team with him. Another one speaks up here.
August 20
Andy acts as if he's never been to college before and has no idea what to expect.
August 24
Andy links to a particular SPN fic in order to "make a gorgeous person in Russia make a really sexy noise". This is a reference to S.
September 5
S's Tumblr tags explain a key element of their relationship.
September 7
Andy posts his phone number and invites anyone who wants to, to join him for Pass Holder Appreciation Day at Busch Gardens.
Andy listens to the first episode of Welcome to Night Vale and is unimpressed.
September 10
Andy posts a list of predictions about SPN season nine that he says he's gotten right.
September 16
Andy posts a picture of himself closet-cosplaying as Blaine from Glee.
September 20
After Andy posts about preparations for the Men of Letters LARP and talks about the people running it with him, another Tumblr user says they wish they could attend. Andy's response alludes to a four-day LARP planned to coincide with the season nine finale.
September 24
While introducing herself on the Tumblr dedicated to the Men of Letters LARP, CFC repeats that when she was initially getting into SPN under Andy's direction, she hallucinated demons at the store.
October
By this point, Andy has started doing bodypaint and posting photosets of it on Tumblr.
October 1
Andy posts a photoset of himself cosplaying as Cecil Baldwin from Welcome to Night Vale.
October 2
Andy complains that people should not criticize the SPN writers unless they are as educated on television writing as he is. This is one of the few times that he specifies that everything he knows about it is self-taught.
October 6
During preparations for the LARP, Andy starts referring to himself and Megan as Megstiel (cropped from a longer post with a lot of people's names in it).
October 8
The Men of Letters LARP/SPN season nine premiere party takes place. It seems to go very well.
October 12
Following the episode of Glee that addresses Corey Monteith's death, Andy posts a photoset of Brittany and a picture of his memorial tattoo. An anon then accuses him of exploiting her death for attention and using it to "scam the gleeks". The points that Andy makes in this post stand in marked contrast to the way he has previously tried to make Destiel about him and Brittany.
October 14
Andy shares some pictures from the LARP and mentions the planned 2014 season finale event.
October 24
Andy makes a long, sarcastic, and condescending post in response to an anon asking about a remark a SPN guest director made about Destiel.
October 29
Andy refers to Megan as "[his] favorite demon, muse, model, personal assistant, and the XO of most of [his] shenanigans".
October 30
Andy posts "Troll Lemonade". He begins by invoking Mother Theresa, Misha Collins (of course), Stephen King, and the Dalai Lama, and writes about how he likes to remind himself there are people out there who hate and disparage them regardless of their talent or the good they've done in the world. He says that their success in spite of the hate is inspiring to him. Then he talks about having compassion for the haters because of "the deep place of being hurt or being afraid" that they must be in, in order to see those people so negatively—he even says that he loves and admires them for "trying for what they see as right – even if I so wildly disagree with it – after they've been hurt so badly as to be in such a dark place." This is exactly what Andy has repeatedly said about people who speak out against him.
November 7
Andy posts about an Avengers/SPN crossover.
November 12
A Tumblr user shares their friend's experience with Andy back when he was starting out in Harry Potter fandom. They mention Andy's relationship with luvscharlie, during which he was openly American, and then explain how he "became" Irish using research that he'd done with an Irish friend of theirs under the pretense of wanting to write a fic about Seamus. Apparently Andy had even tried to persuade the writer's friend to take him in so that he could live in Ireland.
An anon asks Andy how he got help for his mental illness. He alludes to "getting outside validation" of his alleged schizophrenia symptoms, which is an obvious reference to Abbey and the other Bagenders. He then gives Brittany credit for helping him, notably omitting any reference to her stance on his "channeling" abilities—recall the "undead shaman wizard battle" and that, according to a DAYDian who knew her, she believed in Andy's channeling. Finally, he refers to July 2012 as the month that he was finally honest with a mental health professional and got the help he needed. "Meds happened really fast after that, [and] the effects were almost immediate," he says. He will stick to this narrative in future posts, although it appears to contradict things he wrote in July-September 2012 (see Timeline Part V).
November 13
A friend of Andy's posts pictures on their own Tumblr of the aftermath of Andy and his friends playing a SPN drinking game while watching an episode. In one picture, captioned "Andy faceplants", Andy appears to have fallen facedown onto Megan's breasts. Andy then receives an anon accusing him of "sexually assaulting a drunk girl". Megan refutes these allegations on her own Tumblr. Andy subsequently lectures the anon on the inappropriateness of their response, if they thought sexual assault was actually happening in the pictures.
Very shortly after, Andy receives another anon shaming the group for allegedly having children around while drunk. This understandably incurs the anger of Winjennster, the mother of the children in question.
November 14
Andy receives another anon about one of Winjennster's children, this time criticizing him for posting a picture of her in cosplay with bodypaint by Andy. This receives a response from both the child's parents.
November 15
An anon suggests that CPS should be called on the basis that Andy was allowed around someone's children.
Another anon calls the same child mentioned above a "racist furry whore". Andy posts this response shortly after. I strongly suspect, but cannot prove, that at least some of these anons came from Andy himself.
November 19
Andy has an extremely fucking weird response to an anon thanking him for inspiring them and being a role model.
November 20
Andy makes a SPN/MCU crossover post.
Andy writes about "Fandom Canon Destiel" in terms reminiscent of his complaining about "bubbleheaded shipperchibbies" in the Harry Potter fandom. He argues that there is a "side of fandom" that lacks a basic understanding of what the show even is and therefore "wants to see Dean and Cas snuggling on the couch watching movies and talking about their feelings, etc." It boils down to "other people are doing Destiel fandom wrong".
November 22
Andy posts pictures of himself, Megan, and another friend cosplaying for the premiere of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
November 23
Andy posts a fic about Sam and Dean taking Kevin to see Catching Fire.
November 24
Andy tells an anon that he and Megan will never be romantically involved because of their age gap, but reveals that "the posse makes a lot of 'Megstiel' jokes" about them. "The posse" is what Andy's local friend group call themselves.
December 3
An anon asks whether Andy has ever tried to redeem himself of his past wrongs. Andy says, "Yes, in whatever manner has been most appropriate to what happened."
Andy posts a series of photos of Megan in bodypaint, in cosplay, and in a few GISHWHES items that he created. The caption is framed as being body-positive, but actually denigrates women with certain features, such as those who have a stereotypical model's figure, or who have had plastic surgery, or who tan. The post celebrates Andy more than it does Megan, setting him above other artists, who he says would reject such a model because "their art is too small for [her]", while Andy has declared her his muse.
Andy posts "The Magic Eight Ball Wants to Know Why You Fucking Even Need to Be Told This", a meta in which he is not only incredibly condescending toward people who are upset about the death of yet another person of color on SPN, but accuses Misha, Osric Chau, and Osric's roommates of spoiling Kevin's resurrection (which Andy swears is inevitable).
December 4
When people get angry with him for the accusations in the aforementioned meta, Andy edits in an "apology" to Osric and Osric's roommates, in which he never actually says he's sorry, but doubles down on the insistence that he is right and everyone else is irrational. He also makes the edit into its own separate post.
December 5
Andy posts "POC on SPN: Wanted, Dead or Alive". He begins with a numerical analysis of people of color and women on SPN and their various fates vs those of white and/or male characters. Then he argues that nothing about Kevin's death was racist: "If we want rich, fully developed, integral-to-the-plot POC characters on a show where two out of three characters die, we have to be ready to lose them," he says. Andy goes on to tell people of color how they "should" be acting in the aftermath of Kevin's death. This does not go over well.
Someone replying to Andy's post points out that Kevin's name was written in "ridiculous Chinese fast food font" in the note left by Metatron, which seems pretty racist. Andy ignores this.
A non-white fan tells Andy, "please let discussions of race be held between those who it actually affects". Andy basically cries "reverse racism" in response, telling said fan that she has no argument and is just calling him out for being white. She replies, "it's not my responsibility as a person of color to educate you," and points out that he has no idea what it's like to experience racism.
A number of other fans call Andy out for his post. This is just a small sample.
December 6
Andy implies that SPN fans are in some way hypocritical for complaining about racism on the show and then not posting enough about Nelson Mandela's death.
Andy writes an extremely long post exploiting Nelson Mandela's death and posturing about what an Enlightened White Person he is. He heavily implies that the reason people are angry with him is that they're overly emotional, and even though he was right, he wasn't compassionate enough about their feelings. It's incredibly condescending and whitesplain-y. And then it gets worse, as he explores a variety of reasons why he says the fandom is overly emotional. They are best summed up as follows:
1. People over-identify with characters and feel like what happens to said characters in the show will somehow have real-world effects.
2. Nobody understands that the fandom on Tumblr is an echo chamber and not reflective of how things actually work on the show, and maybe some people should just quit watching if they can't handle it.
3. Nobody understands TV writing or general storytelling as well as Andy does.
4. Some people are misusing social justice issues that they don’t actually understand in their criticism of the show, and some people are getting angry because it's "safer" than expressing their true pain.
5. Gosh, there's just so much miscommunication going on, you guys.
Andy complains that a line from his meta about racism in SPN is being taken out of context. The line in question is, "Kevin's death wasn't racist. Nothing about it was because of or influenced by his race. He didn’t die from choking on a wonton or because his chi was out of balance." He accuses people of misrepresenting the point of the meta. Someone replies to this post, once again bringing up the writing on the note left by Metatron, but Andy continues to ignore that point.
People on Tumblr and in other fandom spaces continue to be angry with Andy.
December 7
Another fan calls Andy out for co-opting Nelson Mandela's death and shaming people for disagreeing with him. He says he's already apologized for this.
Someone sends Andy a picture of the note from Metatron, pointing out the lettering. Andy claims that his TV screen wasn't good enough to render the note clearly and that this is the first he's seen or heard about the note. He argues that this level of racism is in-character for Metatron and that everyone is still wrong about Kevin's death and the show's treatment of non-white characters. The backlash continues.
Mysteriously, Wincest and other content uncharacteristic of Andy start appearing on his blog. Later that day, Andy's friends announce that his Tumblr has been hacked.
Andy posts his phone number again, claiming that he’s been at work without access to his phone for several hours, so he couldn’t possibly have had anything to do with what happened. The "hacker", who supposedly gained access via Andy’s e-mail account, has also changed his URL and bio, cleared his inbox, and unfollowed everyone he’d been following. His friends help him fix everything. Andy says that the hack could only have been accomplished by someone who knows him personally.
Someone says they don't understand why the hacker has a problem with Andy because he's so kind and respectful. Andy tells them that people are afraid of him because his past has "gone through the rumor mill heavily", with "layers of exaggeration, telephone game, embellishment, and misinformation". He says that he extends "unconditional compassion and forgiveness" to these poor, misguided people.
Andy admonishes people for being angry that he was hacked, nobly asking that people commit random acts of kindness instead of lashing out if they're upset. Later, he claims to have received over two hundred messages of support.
December 8
After getting his Tumblr fixed post-hack, Andy refers to himself as Cas.
People in spnanonhaven express doubt that Andy was really hacked and anger at his posts on race in SPN.
An anon asks Andy about his "fucked up and emotionally abusive cult". Andy equates this to people believing Obama was born in Kenya. Another anon calls him out on making a ridiculous analogy and evading the question. Andy denies having been a cult leader, but says, "I'm not going to disrespect anyone who knew me then who finds healing by addressing it from that perspective". This is an obvious reference to Abbey and implies that Andy is generously allowing her to cling to a delusion for the sake of her fragile mental health. He then suggests that he could say a lot more, but will refrain not only for his own sake, but out of respect for Abbey's privacy—as if he is holding back from revealing some damaging secret about her.
December 13
Profound Radio has broken up at some point since the end of GISHWHES. An anon accuses Andy of being responsible for this and of attacking one of the former hosts. Andy categorically denies this. He refers to their interactions during GISHWHES as "emotional clashes with exhausted, keyed-up people" and says there are "no hard feelings on any side". After establishing that the host was just an internet acquaintance of his, he goes on to say that he'd take a bullet for her.
December 14
An anon follows up the previous message by bringing up Andy's relationship with S and suggesting that it had something to do with the breakup of Profound Radio. Andy equates this to accusations of witchcraft and conspiracy theories, then pretends to believe that the anon is accusing S of exploiting him. He reduces their relationship to "occasional Skype buddies, GISHWHES teammates, and art collaborators" and says that they "have openly mocked and laughed at those who would 'ship' [them] because [they] are very, very not interested in one another that way." This belies the fact that Andy encouraged people to ship it or brotp it and that S responded positively to asks about shipping her and Andy. It also ignores their constant flirting, Andy's comments on S's body, and Andy's frequently posting things with the intent of pushing S's kink buttons (e.g., the picture of him in nothing but boxers with his hands bound above his head).
December 16
Andy posts pictures of his tattoos, one of which is a Tlingit-style raven design that he describes as a "mandala". Note that he previously said that this tattoo was in Haida style.
A Cree/Ojibwe anon tells Andy that the raven tattoo is appropriative and explains why. Andy tells them it isn't and claims that it was designed by "a 100% full blooded Tlingit artist in Vancouver" and commemorated not only his, Brittany's, and DAYDian E's hike up the Pacific Coast Trail, but a First Nations soldier he and Brittany knew who was killed in action. I strongly suspect, but cannot prove, that the artist was someone that Andy "channeled" and that the soldier was the character Stephen Cornfoot from DAYD, who died in the Battle of Hogwarts. The anon later writes back to point out more problems with Andy's story, and of course he has another pat explanation.
December 20
An anon asks why people equate believing Destiel will happen with being in a cult. Andy blames us-vs-them thinking, which is one of the means he has used to control people over the years.
December 21
Following an injury at work, Andy posts about mixing rum and painkillers.
December 26
Andy begins reading Winjennster's Destiel fic "Cooking With Gas" and liveblogging it. The very first sentence of his liveblog reads, "Definitely going to have to read this with the mindset of 'this is original fic where some names happen to be similar,' otherwise I’m going to tear out something I’ll need later." It does not get better from there. More excerpts:
"I wish I had read more romance novels. This is following a formula. I can FEEL it."
"I keep getting yanked back and forth out of any ability to emotionally invest myself in the narrative, because just when I’m starting to get into these new people, something jumps up and goes HEY REMEMBER THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE CONNECTED TO SUPERNATURAL really, really obtrusively and - it feels to ME because I guess I don’t know any better – unecessarily [sic], but on the other hand, if I try to follow it as anything like SPN, it feels even more unmoored and I’m non-stop "no, no, no, no, no, that’s not THEM, that’s not RIGHT, etc."
"I really, really, really want to like it, I swear I do. Maybe if I knew more about the framework you’re following?"
"A page in, I was flailing. I didn’t know what to do. I KNEW Jenn knew how to write. I KNEW she knew how stories worked. We’d talked too much nuts and bolts for me to think she didn’t. But she was throwing the most basic rules out the window in favor of…a lot of stuff that I’d generally thought of as "awful fanfic cliches" except clearly written not in ignorance, but very deliberately. Here was the thinly veiled self-insert, the authorial gaze, the constant callbacks to the source material without actually connecting to it, the blatent [sic] wish-fulfillment…and no central conflict! No driving plot arc! What the FUCK?"
"But if Jenn were to write a story about someone who just happened to share certain traits that she liked and basically spoke in her voice (well, the esprit d'escalier version we all like to think is our voice) […]? She’d be laughed off the shelves as fast as you could say Mary Sue Bullshit. So she calls her protagonist Dean Winchester and writes it anyway, with regular taps back to the 'source' material that allow everyone who gets it to wink and nod and call it fanfiction."
"Again, one of those things that made my head spin around on the first read. Third (short) chapter in, and you’ve resolved the only thing you had that resembled a conflict by shrugging off internal homophobia, smoothing over the class issues between them and initial bad blood, establishing a friendship, and making the attraction overtly mutual? THE FUCK?"
"This is the first chapter that was basically what I’d expected, and the interesting thing is that it’s the first one that is lifted almost wholesale from romantic movie/novel cliche and the first one that came directly from the source prompt. It’s a sexy cooking sequence. *shrug* Workmanlike execution, I guess."
"My initial instincts say that most of this could be cut because we already know where they’re going and we don’t really get anything here that’s particularly relevant to being said NOW…"
"These were so much the same thing that I think they mostly just got split because the phone call was such a nice breaking point and the chapter length seems to be mostly dictated by how much Jenn can write at a go."
"There may have been a lot of skimming. Skim skim skimmity –"
"And I’m not going to say anything about the mechanics of the subsequent emotional rollercoaster other than I could call every bend in the track before it appeared because I’ve seen it before."
"More skimming. Please don’t be offended by the skimming."
"And it’s not about Dean. It doesn’t even pretend to be, it just uses his name and the references to the SPN framework to buy privileged social approval for everything from Jenn’s favorite movies to Jenn’s favorite foods, her cigars and her albums, her collectables and her quotes. Every character either speaks in her voice or in archetypes of approval or disapproval, love and hate, with us or against us."
Winjennster is liveblogging DAYD at the same time that Andy is liveblogging her fic. Her liveblog is nothing but flattering and supportive. Andy gaslights her and his other readers about the many backhanded compliments and outright insults in his liveblog by saying that they are both struggling to read each other's fic and neither is mad at the other (as if he can speak for her). The difference is that in Winjennster's case, the difficulty is because she's having trouble mentally switching gears back to the Harry Potter fandom from SPN, and she makes it abundantly clear that she thinks Andy's fic is excellent.
December 30
Andy announces Camp Orouboros [sic], the "three-day LARP and zombie apocalypse" planned to coincide with the SPN season nine finale. The event will include training "(by real members of the US armed forces) to fight the imminent Croat invasion", workshops hosted by "experts" in a variety of fields, and a paintball battle, followed by a viewing of the finale episode. Up to 100 people will be in attendance and anyone 18 or older is invited.
December 31
Andy posts the staff list for Camp Ouroboros, including two positions that are still open. Notably, Andy is listed as the Event Director.
2014
January
Following an ultimatum from Andy, Megan goes into therapy, partly to address her emotional dependence on him.
January 1
After 1purp0se makes a post about Camp Ouroboros, Andy receives an anon that conveniently allows him to address many of their points. 1purp0se makes a follow-up post here.
Another anon takes issue with the idea that Camp Ouroboros has anything to do with the military. Andy responds with details about Megan's and Chris's service.
January 2
Aja Romano makes a post warning the SPN fandom to avoid Andy and not to sign up for Camp Ouroboros. Much of it has to do with Andy's "history of being unable to safely maneuver reality and fantasy play", although she does call him a cult leader. Oddly, she says that he has "a track record for extremely intense LARPing that blurs the line between 'group social activity' and 'mini-cult led out of Andy's bedroom.'" The Men of Letters event is the only LARP in which Andy is known to have participated, so this sounds as if she's conflating his fake channeling with LARPing.
Andy uncharacteristically tells people in crisis to use a hotline or 9-1-1 if they need help, instead of asking him.
January 3
Andy receives a conveniently timed anon that allows him to say, essentially, "Wait, I was wrong! It's not a LARP after all and thus is totally safe!" He makes a point of saying that he won't be acting like the zombie apocalypse is real. (To clarify, I believe the other Camp Ouroboros staff when they say it was never intended to be a LARP. What I take issue with is the way Andy responds to people's concerns.)
January 4
Andy responds to an anon he says he's received, in order to drive home the message that no one needs to worry about him LARPing. He agrees that an actual LARP would be "incredibly unhealthy and dangerous" for everyone—but concludes by pointing out that he participated in the Men of Letters LARP and everything was fine. He also indicates that all of his abusive behavior involving blurring the lines between fantasy and reality took place ten years ago, which is untrue.
January 5
An anon ask gives Andy another opportunity to emphasize that Camp Ouroboros will not be a LARP, but a themed event.
Another anon asks Andy why he never actually says what he did wrong in the past, pointing out that this makes his apology posts not proper apologies. See my analysis of his response here.
January 10
An anon calls Andy out for the fact that most of the representation he talks about with regard to DAYD is actually in side stories and meta and doesn't show up at all in the main trilogy. Andy argues that the entire DAYDverse is "a work as a whole" and deserves to be considered as such. He closes by saying, "But maybe what I should be asking is for you to give me a link to where you do it better." The idea that no one is allowed to criticize someone else's work if they haven't done the same thing flawlessly themselves is ludicrous.
January 16
Amid continuing backlash and discussion about Camp Ouroboros, Andy announces that it is canceled and he has withdrawn from his friend group "due to the need to prioritize health issues". He does not actually withdraw from the posse.
An anon asks Andy if he's seen the post circulating about him. Andy lists 23+ posts that he says are or recently have been circulating about him. See my breakdown of this post here.
January 26
Andy explains teenage sexuality to an anon and says that if he wouldn't "get in all the trouble ever" for doing so, he would provide people starting puberty with a kit that included porn and sex toys. He also says that he was statutorily raped by someone in their 40s at the age of 14.
January 27
When an anon asks him to explain the difference between romantic and sexual attraction, Andy uses DAYDverse Michael Corner as an example. His explanation glosses over all the queerbaiting that went on with Michael and Terry in DAYDverse. He then brings up Destiel. Throughout, Andy relies heavily on C. S. Lewis's "four loves" concept.
January 28
Andy claims that his therapist has read the entire DAYDverse, including his outline of A Peccatis, and that they discuss it in depth during his sessions. He also claims that said therapist told him, "they're all going to try to kill you," because of what Andy plans to do in the final part of the trilogy. Either this is a lie, or Andy's therapist is spectacularly unprofessional and irresponsible.
Someone asks, "weren't you supposed to be swearing off the DAYDverse forever?" This seems to be in reference to the previous fall, when Andy's parents were trying to get him to give up the DAYDverse, which obviously didn't happen (see Timeline Part V, September 19-20, 2012). A few months later (December 10, 2012), Andy said that he was backing off DAYDverse in favor of SPN, but that it actually made it more likely that he would finish A Peccatis. Since late September 2012, Andy has been gradually moving away from his former assertion that the DAYDverse was real, and now he breaks with it entirely, as he talks about his claimed diagnosis of schizophrenia being "an inseparable part of its process" to the point that he couldn’t engage with it anymore. He then compares himself to Peeta in The Hunger Games and claims that writing Supernatural meta has been good for his mental health. He goes on to say that "hateful, hateful Anons" and the Andy Awareness bloggers are basically ruining SPN fandom for him, and that he's turning back to DAYDverse because he is "the fucking Chuck [God] of that fandom" and no one can take that away.
In response to another anon, Andy expands on how (he claims) his schizophrenia tied into the DAYDverse. He says, "I basically just got to try my best to transcribe what the characters did seemingly on their own, what I saw and felt and heard and remembered in memories seemingly not mine," which matches up with ways that he described his process at the time. The difference is that previously, he ascribed this to channeling and regularly lectured his followers on spirit channeling in other cultures and on multiverse theory—now he says that this was all the product of his mental illness. To justify his alleged hallucinations taking the form of a coherent story, Andy says that he just happens to have "a basally deep understanding of How To Story", so it was only natural that would happen. In the tags, he says that he could even "subconsciously induce hallucinations" to explain how he was able to "channel" characters at will when people wanted to ask them questions.
Andy describes Lewis's four loves (plus Venus), once again failing to cite where these ideas come from.
January 30
Andy receives an ask from someone who says he destroyed their life and owes them money. "I was a fucking kid and you ruined my trust in humanity," they say. This may be Little Sam, one of the Bagenders. Andy offers to discuss this off anon. He closes by making himself the victim again: "I was 16 when I started getting screwed over royally by my own brain, and there were definitely people who, to put it as kindly as possible, didn't help that situation." This could be a reference to the so-called Pagan Priestess that he used to talk about, but it's most likely an allusion to Abbey.
February 1
An anon who indicates that they used to follow Andy on LiveJournal calls him out for "pretending to be some kind of uber feminist paragon of sensitivity" despite having said horrible things about women in the past. Andy says that it's been at least five years since he was on LJ and that "spending time in feminist spaces" has made him "an actual (if still learning) feminist". Then he links to his SPN meta about effemiphobia, Ain't My Bitch.
February 3
An anon tells Andy they're in love with his blog. Andy replies, "You're human, so I'm kind of in love with you."
February 4
Andy tells an anon about his regrets regarding the DAYDverse. Significantly, he says that he regrets killing off Jack Sloper. Andy used to say that he literally saw, heard, and felt everything in the DAYDverse and just wrote it down exactly as it came to him. Even now that he's claiming that was all hallucinations instead of channeling, he's stuck to the idea that he just transcribed everything and had no control as a writer. Now he is saying that he made the deliberate choice to kill this one character because he "was afraid there would be SJ backlash if [Andy] confronted the consequences of [Jack's] actions". That doesn't make any sense. When he goes on to talk about pairings, Andy suggests that he wasn't fully in control of what happened "through the larger turning of the story's wheels", but also talks about having "this huge tapestry for the 'verse", which would seem to indicate a high level of control.
February 5
In response to an anon who mocks his fascination with the military, Andy writes about his grandfathers and friends of his who are in the military. He also claims to have "extensively interviewed over 100 soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines under the age of 20" while writing DAYD. This is something that Andy has never mentioned before and I find it highly unlikely.
February 9
Andy posts a picture of his family's caretaker and his girlfriend (cropped out) along with a picture of Kristoff and Anna from Frozen. He says that if the post gets 10,000 notes, they will let him post pictures of them cosplaying as the characters. This is another instance of Andy telling people he will make them Tumblr famous.
February 10
Andy invites anyone 18 or older who wants to, to join the posse for "a week of shenanigans" to celebrate Megan's 21st birthday.
February 11
An anon criticizes Andy for killing off most of his LGBTQIA characters in DAYD. Andy responds poorly and is called out for it by another Tumblr user. He proceeds to get more defensive about it and then chastises the anon for "trying to hurt [him] or make [him] look bad". I have previously written about the fates of the LGBTQIA characters, as well as diversity in the DAYDverse in general, in this post.
February 12
Andy informs another Tumblr user that he has read A Song of Ice and Fire and watched the show.
Andy lies about his age when he was with Abbey, describing himself as "a staggeringly mentally ill underage teen boy".
February 14
An anon asks Andy for an opinion on their underage friend's relationship with a much older man. Andy makes some points regarding balance of power and brain development. Then he lies about his age while he was with Abbey again. This time, he specifically says he was 16 when their relationship started and 17 when it turned sexual. The truth is that Abbey didn't even know that Andy existed until she commented on his LotR fanfiction on December 21, 2001, when he was already 18 years old. They didn't meet in person until months later, when Andy was almost 19.
February 20
Despite the fact that Andy is pretending that his current stint in college is the first time he's had any formal education, and despite the fact that he's living at home, Andy has lots of advice for someone who is going away to college soon.
February 21
Andy tells an anon that if someone enjoys doing malicious things, it is because of mental illness. When the anon writes back to point out that this leaves no room for the possibility that someone could act out of selfishness or malice, Andy doubles down. This seems to imply that, in Andy's mind, no one who acts that way is responsible for their own actions.
February 22
An anon accuses Andy of being "INVOLVED in the death of THREE PEOPLE and [trying] to benefit from their deaths". Andy explains the actual circumstances of the double murder suicide. Please note that it is true that Brittany left her ex well before she met Andy. I cannot comment on any legal matters between Brittany and Jason. Andy did mention in Brittany's eulogy that her family was asking that people donate to NEWS in lieu of flowers, but immediately after that, he proceeded to denigrate their memorial and grieving process and make everything about himself and the New Zealand hike he wanted to make. Please see the Trail of Tears hike condensed timeline for accurate information on events surrounding the hike.
Bizarrely, someone (probably the same anon) claims that Brittany's death was a suicide. Andy responds with a graphic account of the murder. This time, he says that Brittany was shot four times; previously, he has said that she was shot twice (March 16, 2013 and May 6, 2013). He points out (correctly) that the police only ever treated him as a survivor and a witness and makes some assertions about Brittany's family, on which I cannot comment. Finally, he says that he never profited from Brittany's death and accuses "vicious little bullshit-spreading gossip-mongers" of hurting Brittany's family by insisting that he did. It is true that Andy didn't make any money as a result of the murders, but he did use Brittany's death to manipulate the DAYDians for years after the fact (see July 23, 2012 in Timeline Part V).
The anon writes back again, this time about the changing circumstances around the hike. To the best of my knowledge, everything that Andy says in this post is accurate, except that it is highly implausible that they would have been able to pay for their flights to New Zealand with money from Brittany's court case. They were planning to leave on June 21, 2011, and news articles indicate that Brittany's ex was served with notice of her lawsuit the day before she died, May 6. The idea that the case would have wrapped up in such a short time is unrealistic, to say the least. That doesn't necessarily mean that Andy is being dishonest in this post, but it does make it highly unlikely that their plan would have worked out—and given Andy's history, it is not unreasonable to think that the next step probably would have been to ask the DAYDians to donate or help raise money for their flights.
Andy tells an anon that he had no formal education at all until several months ago. He was actually a student at two different colleges before moving in with Abbey in October 2002. Unfortunately, I do not have a screenshot of the anon's previous message for context.
Andy claims that he was doing most of the cooking for his family by the age of eight, being entirely self-taught by way of Julia Child.
February 23
Andy posts about Teen Wolf for the first time.
February 24
An anon asks about the changing terminology Andy uses to describe his relationship with Brittany. Andy talks about how complex their relationship was and then claims that they described themselves to other people as partners, so he's decided to continue using that word. Note that he says that they hadn't decided whether they wanted to have a romantic relationship.
Andy receives another anon from someone else who is confused about his relationship with Brittany. He goes on at length about how allegedly, Brittany was angered by words like "boyfriend", "girlfriend", "husband", and "wife" because of how she'd been raised, her experience with her ex, and how other people were telling her she should deal with the end of that relationship. (Please note that I cannot speak to anything involving Brittany's family or upbringing.) Andy says that he and Brittany were in love, that they "wanted to keep living together for the rest of [their] lives exclusively" and had "future life goals" as a couple. He makes sure to mention, again, that they had sex once. He also says that they were "both horribly burned by [their] previous relationships", suggesting that Andy was traumatized by his relationship with Abbey. Andy then goes on to suggest that anyone who describes their relationship in terms of "boyfriend/girlfriend" or "husband/wife" is in an unequal relationship involving "subordinate gendered structure". Taken in context with the previous post's point about their possibly not having a romantic relationship, this only serves to further obfuscate the issue.
Another anon expresses confusion about Andy's use of the word "partner". Andy suggests that this person and the other anons are "[devaluing] a lifetime committed, deeply loving relationship structure just because it wasn't the traditional paradigm for heteronormative social expectations".
Andy's response to another Tumblr user gives some insight into his level of extroversion and how he meets new people.
An anon speculates that Andy was interested in Brittany for the money she was possibly going to be rewarded in court. Andy clarifies roughly how much money she was actually due and scoffs at the anon for believing this, given the circumstances in which Brittany was living. It's unclear why he says he was in Orange County and the Napa Valley for three years. He was actually in California briefly from December 2009-January 2010 (see the end of Timeline Part III) and then from sometime in Spring 2010-May 2011 (Timeline Part IV).
February 25
Andy posts a list of ways that he wishes his and Brittany's relationship had ended, and things that he wishes had happened in the aftermath, rather than her murder. This is similar to a post that he made in July 2012.
February 28
An anon asks Andy his opinion on the reality of channeling, soulbonding, et al. Andy leaves room for the possibility that these things might be real, but recommends getting mental health treatment if they are having negative effects on one's life or the lives of others.
Andy advertises hard copies of DAYD and Sluagh.
March 3
Andy offers emotional support from himself or DAYDians for anyone currently reading any DAYDverse fic.
March 4
Someone asks Andy why DAYDverse is so gory and contains so much sexual violence, abuse, and "tragic childhood story". Andy first claims that the amount of gore is "low to average" compared to the adult urban fantasy genre, then proceeds to justify his fixation on those themes as realism and representation.
March 5
Andy posts another SPN meta in which he writes authoritatively about television writing and showrunning. Toward the middle, he says of kids of 15 or 16 years old, "Their own bodies have started teaching them pretty damned explicit things, and […] the only way they haven't seen a decapitation and a blow job is if you've sheltered them to the point of crippling them." He also uses the episode "Freaks and Geeks" to further his argument that Destiel will become canon during season nine.
March 6
Andy tells someone that he has listened to a couple of episodes of Welcome to Night Vale and neither liked nor disliked it.
March 12
Andy posts "It's Only Paranoia If They're Not Out To Get You", in which he announces that he has temporarily been taken off the medication that controls his anxiety and paranoia. He lists what Abbey describes as "a lot of shit that he did while with [her]", as well as things he told the DAYDians, all of which he says was the product of his mental illness. This, by implication, absolves him of responsibility for everything he did while running those two cults.
March 13
An anon asks Andy what happened to his "Oirish" accent. Andy says, again, that he picked it up while living with his grandfather, who was from Ireland. He also claims to be "full blood both sides Irish AMERICAN". These are both lies: his grandfathers were born and raised in the United States, and Andy is not of 100% Irish heritage.
In response to an anon inquiring about people saying things like "I'm just a woman/man" instead of identifying as cisgender, Andy says that would be "an asshole transphobic thing to say" unless it came specifically from a position of rejecting any division between cis- and transwomen/men.
March 17
Andy writes that he spent the previous night on Skype with S until 5AM, both getting drunk on vodka.
March 18
Andy tells an anon that "every drop of [his] blood originated [in Ireland] on both sides". This is a lie.
Andy lectures another Tumblr user about using the phrase "white culture" and equates his being offended by "potato famine jokes" to a Jewish friend's being offended by holocaust jokes.
Someone asks where in Ireland Andy's grandparents are from. He lies again.
Andy posts a list of his spice collection that he's had to throw away due to mold.
Andy says that he is going to start watching Teen Wolf because of his friends.
March 19
Andy posts a story about Brittany's last birthday and a recipe for carrot cake, which he says she told him was "the best she ever had".
Andy posts a video that Brittany sent him on Valentine's Day 2010.
Andy tells a story about his childhood that, if true, provides some interesting insight and makes his mother out to be irresponsible and neglectful. He claims that from the age of 7 or 8, he would approach and befriend random adults and lie about who he was to see how much he could get them to believe. Abbey has said that she learned from his parents that Andy lied all the time as a child, for no apparent reason, and this story fits with that.
An anon is confused by Andy's saying that his carrot cake was Brittany's favorite. Andy lists what he says were her favorite dessert, cake, cupcake, ice cream, gelato, and frozen yogurt.
Another anon writes that they wish Andy would respect Brittany's family's wishes and stop posting about her. They also say, "She hated anything with coconut in it." Andy says that Brittany's family has never contacted him and makes some claims about her relationship with them. He adds, "I know she hated coconut. I do to [sic]. It's one of the things we bonded over." Soon after, an anon on lol-meme reveals that they made up the coconut thing, casting doubt on Andy's truthfulness.
Still another anon criticizes Andy for exploiting Brittany's death for attention. Andy says that he spent "almost every day of [his] life with [her] for 18 months"—it was more like thirteen (see March 22, 2013)—and uses the Destiel catchphrase "profound bond" to describe their relationship. He also talks about the popularity of his blog and how many notes his posts get, to argue that he isn't blogging about Brittany for attention.
Andy castigates people, especially anons, for sending him negative/critical asks on Brittany's birthday. In the tags, he quotes from Firefly: "If I ever kill you, you'll be awake, you'll be facing me, and you'll be armed."
An anon says that they felt bad for Andy until they saw the tags on the previous post, accusing him of making light of murder while exhibiting grief over Brittany's murder. They ask whether he feels guilty about "exacerbating the emotionally tense situation that led to her death". Andy dismisses their concern about the quote and denies exacerbating anything. This is one of a very few times that Andy ever mentions the other person that Jason killed the day he murdered Brittany. He then makes a number of statements as to Jason's state of mind and why he killed Brittany, which contradicts his frequent assertions that no one can know what is in another person's mind or what their motives are.
March 20
An anon asks Andy to explain why it is unacceptable for an adult to tell a minor that they can have sex once the minor turns 18. Andy's answer uses a minor friend of his as an example and talks about balance of power, coercion, grooming, etc. He then says that he has turned down sex from "an extremely willing, extremely eager, eyeball-melting more-curves-than-a-geometry-textbook hot technically-legal 20 year old" due to the imbalance of power between them, and it almost cost him two friendships. This seems to be a reference to Megan, based on the way he has described her at other times. It seems odd, to say the least, to say that a sexual relationship between them would be inappropriate, and then to talk about how hot he thinks she is.
Another anon asks a follow-up question about age gaps. Andy once again lies about his age when he was with Abbey. He claims that they became friends when he was 16 and that it became romantic and sexual when he was 17. Andy was already 18 before he and Abbey met online.
Andy, of all people, lectures an anon about tinhatting.
March 24
After Andy receives a couple of snarky anons about it, Megan confirms that the 20-year-old in his March 20 post was her. She also defends him against some allegations that Andy may have behaved inappropriately during body painting sessions.
March 25
An anon asks Andy about his defining moments. These include:
· Sending a spec script to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at the age of eight or nine and receiving a letter from scriptwriter Jeri Taylor about how impressive it was. DS9 actually started airing in 1993, but Andy will later attribute this to a late-night error
· Sending Clive Cussler a signed copy of Sluagh and having Cussler remember him from a brief encounter nineteen years prior
· Being statutorily raped by a woman in her 40s at the age of 14
· Developing schizophrenia at the age of 15
· "From 2000-2007, undiagnosed schizophrenia ate my life and took some really awful bites out of everyone my teeth could reach."
· Writing the DAYDverse
· Getting diagnosed and treated for schizophrenia
· Allegedly contacting people he's hurt, apologizing, and making amends
1purp0se brings up some good points about this post here.
Abbey responds to Andy's post by issuing an open invitation for him to apologize to her.
Andy compares people who warn others about him to hateful middle school students.
March 26
An anon points out that some people whom Andy has hurt have said that he has not apologized to them. Andy talks about how hard it is to remember who people are and track them down after so many years, and about how some have told him never to talk to them again. He then says, "You apologize for what you did, why you did it, and the reasonable ramifications and pain it caused them, not for what they think you did and why they think you did it." In other words, as 1purp0se says here, "Andy is saying he gets to decide how much people should feel hurt by his actions. Not them. Him. And that’s all they’re getting from him." See also: Abbey's post about the "reasonable ramifications" of what Andy did to her that she still deals with on a daily basis.
In response to another anon, Andy lies yet again about how old he was when he was with Abbey and implies that she is the one who took advantage of him.
March 27
Referring to his "defining moments" post, in which Andy mentions several alleged suicide attempts, an anon tells him that the attempt in 2003, after the Tentmoot crash, was clearly not legitimate. Andy compares it to a couple of scenarios in which a person didn't have the requisite knowledge to succeed in killing themselves, which is interesting given that he often touts his alleged medical/first aid expertise. He accuses the anon of being disappointed that he isn't actually dead.
An anon calls Andy out for never "straight-up [acknowledging] wrongdoing" without making excuses. Andy claims that he has apologized repeatedly without qualifiers and without "wiggle room". He issues a brief, nonspecific, blanket apology "for all the hurt [he] caused to everyone throughout [his] life and especially during [his] period of untreated mental illness", which only seems to prove the anon's point. He says that he refuses to apologize for anything he didn't do.
An anon asks why Andy used to tell people his birthday was on July 30, when it's really on July 26. Andy claims that this was because his mother made him swear not to put his real birthday on LiveJournal. In fact, July 30 is the birthday of Neville Longbottom, the main character in DAYD, with whom Andy was overidentifying at the time.
March 31
In asks and posts, CFC has been defending Andy's provably false allegations about his age while he was in a relationship with Abbey. On this date, Andy posts what will become known as the Andypology for what he calls "the wankstorm". In it, he manages not to retract the statement that he was underage at the time and not to apologize for it. 1purp0se has an excellent analysis of this post here, with some additional thoughts by Abbey.
April 2
An anon asks about Andy's alleged Harry Potter scar. Andy says that he really has one and posts a picture. As he used to do when he was in the Harry Potter fandom, Andy couples this with a physical description of himself that closely matches Harry. Note that Andy's natural hair color is actually brown.
April 5
Andy receives an anon asking how to apologize for hurting people without seeming to blame it on mental illness. He talks about wording and potential legal ramifications before anything else.
Andy alleges again that he used to be a sex worker.
An anon tells Andy to be more specific than just calling himself a former sex worker because they are a stripper and he used to be a phone sex operator and occasional nude model. Andy takes this person to task for being dismissive and insulting. He indicates that his modeling, at least, took place ten years ago, which would have been while he was with Abbey. Abbey has said that while they were together, he did one single modeling session that he said included some nudity, but that was all, and he never had a phone sex job then.
April 6
For a "100 happy days" meme, Megan posts a picture of Andy and says, "It's safe to say that I have no idea where I would be without him."
Megan posts pictures of Andy's first Game of Thrones feast for the season premiere.
April 7
Andy praises DAYDverse fans for being so accepting of how he portrays Mike and Terry's relationship and those of queer couples.
April 10-13
Andy starts posting more frequently about Games of Thrones and the MCU.
April 19
Andy is named as CFC's godfather at her baptism and confirmation into the Catholic Church.
April 25
Andy makes his first Bucky post, a speed sketch.
April 26
Megan tags a suggestive picture of herself and Andy with, "#this is not what it looks like #with us it never is".
April 27
When a friend of his commissions a Teen Wolf picture from him, Andy is pleased that this will get him "a new circle of exposure".
May
Rumors start circulating that Andy has recently sexually assaulted one of his body paint models. These rumors have never been substantiated.
May 2-4
Andy attends DC Con 2014.
May 3
Andy posts that he has won a contest for best Castiel cosplay, judged by Misha Collins, as "true form Castiel". See a video of his portion of the judging here (I couldn't find a video that showed Misha actually announcing the winner). He elects to split his winnings with two other Castiels, one of whom I will call R.
May 5
Due in part to his behavior at DC Con, which included being extremely rude to people, chasing Osric Chau, and mistreating Megan, Winjennster announces that she and Andy are no longer friends.
An anon writes that they were "totally shipping" Andy with R, the Castiel with extendable wings who also competed in the cosplay contest. Andy writes that they've already named the ship and that they "would basically be bromance-dating by now" if they lived near each other, but that their orientations are non-compatible. Then he muddies the waters by praising R's pretty eyes and adorable giggle.
May 6
Andy addresses some "con rumors" that he says have arisen about him and R. Among other things, Andy denies that he is gay or bi, dating R, fucking R, stalking R, or trying to coerce R into doing anything. He also denies that R is a girl or a stripper (he is a burlesque performer). Other than the bit about Andy stalking Osric Chau at DC Con, I have been unable to find any mention of these alleged rumors at all outside of this post.
Andy posts about Brittany's murder for his new followers, linking to several older posts about it and about their relationship. He adds that he's just had a dream about being at DC Con in a "giant cuddle pile" with the posse and R, who covered them with his wings.
Andy posts pictures of the angel tablet prop from his Kevin Tran cosplay from DC Con (cropped out because other people were in some of the images). He's had it signed by Osric Chau and is "auctioning" it off in exchange for volunteer hours and/or monetary donations to Random Acts.
Andy reblogs a photoset of R from DC Con and capslock-rants about how great R is.
May 8
In response to an anon, Andy reiterates that R is neither a stripper nor a woman and that he has a right not to be mislabeled. Again, I have never found a single mention of any such rumors anywhere except on Andy's blog.
May 12
Andy invites anyone 18 or older to come to his house for a SPN season nine finale party.
May 17
An attendee of DC Con makes a warning post about Andy, directed at the Supernatural fandom.
May 22
This lengthy response to an anon is the first time that Andy admits to having run a cult, although he immediately specifies that it wasn't on purpose. He names his diagnosis as "a form of paranoid schizophrenia closely related to DID", which is nonsensical—the two are in no way related, and DID is not a schizoid disorder, as he says his psychiatrist believes. Andy then says that because of his mental illness, he "believed several things…that were snarky rhino-fisting Jesus on a ham sandwich WRONG." This attempt at humor makes him seem insincere from the outset, and indeed, the tone of the entire post is downright jovial. He then lists some of his alleged delusions, which correspond to things that Abbey and former DAYDians have described hearing from him, and to posts that he made in the DAYDverse LiveJournal community. Andy insists that he completely believed all of these things, and that he still has trouble sorting out fantasy from reality when it comes to his memories. He compares himself to Peeta from The Hunger Games and to Sam from SPN, making himself out to be a tragic figure. Then Andy breaks down what (he says) he did—which does largely correspond to Abbey's descriptions of her life with him and to things former DAYDians have said—why it was wrong, and what he says he's doing differently now. At every step, he emphasizes that this was all because of mental illness and that he really believed that everything he did was necessary and for some higher purpose. Andy frequently notes how hard things were for him. He also makes sure to specify that not all of his relationships were "tainted or completely consumed by mental illness", presumably referring to Brittany and to DAYDians who are still friends with him, like CFC. Finally, Andy thanks a laundry list of people for helping him, including Misha Collins and Osric Chau.
An anon asks about Andy's comment in the previous post that Osric Chau had "pinned him down" at DC Con. Andy claims that Chau not only "lectured [him] for a solid five minutes about owning [his] past" and encouraged him to get into professional writing, but kept bringing it up again every time they ran into each other. According to others who were at DC Con, Andy spent much of the weekend chasing Chau and trying to get his attention.
Another anon asks Andy if he's as dangerous as people say he is. He denies having done a number of things, including deliberately running a cult or having an abusive relationship, stalking anyone at DC Con, and claiming to have insider knowledge of the SPN writing staff or production. Andy then says that he's had cult-like and abusive relationships, but that was solely because of mental illness. The use of "cult-like" seems to undermine his earlier admission to having actually run a cult. He assures the anon that he is no longer a threat to anyone, but recommends "common sense and good boundaries" in a way that suggests that his victims are at fault for allowing him to do what he did to them.
An anon tells Andy that his post blaming mental illness for his wrongdoing comes across as manipulative. Andy asks them what he should have said differently. When another anon responds that it actually provided "grounds for forgiveness, but staying aware", Andy says that he wants people to be aware of what he did and to monitor him for continued signs of those behaviors. He claims that telling people that he is a liar, serial abuser, et al. is actually dangerous and once again brings up the comparison to Sam in episode 5.02 of Supernatural.
May 26
In response to an anon suggesting that he thinks the DAYDverse is better than the actual Harry Potter series, Andy talks about how much better representation is in his writings, ignoring that much of said representation doesn't exist in the main trilogy or is poorly handled. See this post for a breakdown of diversity in the DAYDverse.
May 31
1purp0se receives an anon saying that Andy and a friend of his have been asking people to write to "'hostile' blogs" in his defense, even giving them talking points.
Andy instructs people not to send anyone anons on his behalf for any reason, and asks that anyone who has done so apologize (off anon) to whomever they sent the anon message(s). "I do not send Anons. I do not send people to send Anons. I do not send people to say things for me," he claims.
An anon says that Andy sent them and others messages that implied that he wanted someone to "argue back" against the Andy Awareness blogs for him. Andy denies ever having done this.
June 1
An anon on lol_meme shares some e-mails that they claim to have received from a friend who’s been a bodypaint model for Andy. The e-mails say that during some bodypaint sessions in which no one else was present, Andy "talked [the model] into stuff [she] wasn’t comfortable with" and that he "really crossed a line." When the model tried to discuss this with Andy, according to the e-mails, "he freaked out on [her]. he said [she] was a liar and that [she] took advantage of him and he had people who could vouch for him…it’s like he was a completely different person." Other anons say that they know of other women who have talked in more specific terms about having been sexually assaulted by Andy.
Anons who appear to be friends of Andy’s aggressively defend him against accusations that he’s accused Abbey of abusing him (which he has, both on tumblr and in messages to Carlanime, although he didn’t always name names). Carlanime then starts sharing excerpts from Andy’s e-mails to her on lol_meme, anonymously. His friends make legal threats on meme and demand that people respect his privacy. It’s important to note at this point that everyone on lol_meme is anonymous, so there’s no way to tell who posted any of these things (other than Carlanime) or to verify what they are saying.
June 2
Abbey receives an ask informing her that Andy has some members of the posse questioning all of the bodypaint models and posting demands that his accusers identify themselves if they want to be believed.
That same day, she receives a series of asks from finelookingcat (FLC). FLC says that she’s spent quite a bit of time with Andy and the posse because a friend of her BFF is a posse member. She claims that Andy has repeatedly told her and others that she was wrong about her sexuality and that he wanted to "help" her with some kind of therapy similar to what he did to Abbey and Diamond. She claims that he got "puking blackout drunk" one night and tried to coerce her into taking off her clothes and getting in bed with him. When she refused, saying that she "wasn’t into him or women" (that’s the redacted text), he subsequently told everyone that she was a homophobe (not a transphobe, presumably because he didn’t want anyone to know he was AFAB) and fatshamed her. Later, she says, she let Andy photograph her in a bikini for a series of paintings that he was doing, and he tried to take off her top despite her repeatedly saying "no". FLC says that she smacked his hand away and he accused her of assault, then sent her e-mails threatening to press assault charges if she told anyone what he’d done.
At some point, Abbey talks on the phone with FLC.
Over the next several days, Winjennster receives anons from either Andy or posse members, accusing her of being behind the FLC allegations and asking her to retract them.
Subsequently, Andy and the posse start poking holes in both FLC’s and the bodypaint model’s stories. FLC has given enough personal details (height, weight, job, etc.) that Andy’s friends can say they don't know anyone who fits that description. Because she mentioned going out with the posse for Andy’s birthday, they note that they weren’t known as the posse then, and CFC is able to account for Andy’s whereabouts and the people he was with on both possible birthdays that it could have been. As for the bodypaint model, they say that Andy has never done a solo session with anyone, so her story can’t be true.
In a post that has since been deleted (so I won't share a screenshot), Megan says that if FLC wants to be believed, she will have to identify herself to one of the posse. She adds that the reason she is so angry about these accusations, and that she believes that Andy would never sexually harass or assault anyone, is that she was called out for sexually harassing Andy about six months earlier. Megan describes Andy as having cartoonishly over-the-top reactions to her advances, such as "almost crashing the car" when she "purposefully flash[ed] way more leg than necessary", but also as clearly telling her "no" every time. Then she says that she finally pushed him into saying "yes", but that it would mean that he'd also have sex with literally anyone else who asked him—clearly a manipulative tactic, but one that worked to make her stop coercing him. Megan is adamant that if he were the kind of person who would sexually harass or assault someone, he would have given in to her advances, adding that they "have always been stupidly attracted to each other, just not acting on it".
June 3
Andy posts "Lights on, curtain up, masks off". After writing at length about "the near constant stream of wank and rumors", how it's hurt him, and how he's tried to deal with it, Andy comes out as AFAB, albeit indirectly and in a transphobic way. He suggests that being a trans man amounts to being part of "a special category, a sub-group, an almost but not really" and says that he wanted to "just be a man. No asterix [sic], no prefix, no warning labels, no conditions." Then he singles out four friends, including Megan and R, to thank for accepting him as he is. When he gets to R, he says that R "threw 30+ years of firm heteroallfthethings into re-evaluation". He specifies that he still doesn't identify as "any form of queer or trans".
In response to another Tumblr user's reaction to his previous post, Andy denies being trans, saying that he's been "trying [his] damndest [sic] for many years to live as just a man" (emphasis mine), which is transphobic. He then gives a breakdown of who the bodypaint model accuser could possibly be and a refutation of FLC's accusations based on factors including her description of herself and where he was on birthdays past. In doing so, Andy indirectly confirms that Brittany was deeply involved in the Undead Shaman Wizard incident of 2010.
June 5
Andy defends himself in a post that, among other things, compares the situation to Misha Collins’s hypothetically being accused of rape and reveals that he's dragged L (see Timeline Part V) into the discussion.
Andy posts "Sex, lies, and mental illness", in which he admits to having committed rape and sexual assault in the past. See Delwynmarch's excellent breakdown of this post here. This is Abbey's response to Andy's post, and this is Diamond's.
Things are getting a little confusing, so someone on fail_fandomanon posts this to clarify the situation.
FLC comments on fail_fandomanon, expressing distress at being accused of "trans fail".
CFC has spent the day arguing with people about whether Andy was underage when his relationship with Abbey began (again, he was 18 when they met online, 19 when they met in person) and about how large their age gap was (five years). Her posts are judgmental and victim-blaming and seem like another distraction from the issue at hand.
June 6
FLC posts this on her tumblr (screenshot is from a copy at fail_fandomanon), acknowledging that her comment to Andy was transphobic and expanding on her feelings about her asexuality, which she said Andy had harassed her about.
Later, FLC sends Abbey an ask saying that she (FLC) has received anon asks claiming that Abbey has been asking for more information about her story. She wants to talk to Abbey on the phone. Abbey denies this and says that she isn’t comfortable talking.
At the same time, FLC is sending other people asks demanding that they call her, but not responding when they ask for her number.
FLC then sends Andy an ask that says, "YO CALL ME. ABBEY IS A CUNT."
It now seems clear that FLC has not been acting in good faith. This puts Abbey in a situation in which she feels that she has no choice but to apologize to Andy.
Andy takes Abbey's apology as an excuse to respond to her directly for the first time in years. He "offers" Abbey further contact and a public apology that never materializes, and extends the world’s weakest-ever blanket apology for years of abuse: "I’m sorry for everything."
An anon points out to Andy that some of his beliefs about trans people seem to be transphobic. They ask him to explain himself further. Please see this analysis of Andy's response by Delwynmarch, for why Andy's explanation is deeply problematic.
June 7
Andy posts an MCU ficlet.
June 22
Andy tells an anon that although he's watched Teen Wolf and is attending a premiere party for it, he doesn't consider himself to be in the fandom.
June 23
Andy asks Tumblr for a variety of Teen Wolf recommendations because he is "on the fence about the fandom".
Andy's ride to the Teen Wolf premiere party falls through and he "really [doesn't] want to watch without a pack".
Andy bakes cupcakes and writes a short Teen Wolf fic.
June 24
Andy announces that he will be liveblogging his first live episode of Teen Wolf.
An anon asks, "so now you're a fucking teen wolf blog?" Andy indicates that his interest is purely casual.
June 25
Andy writes about GISHWHES 2013, which he says was "both an awesome and a terrible". (I've cropped out the pictures of his GISHWHES creations because they include other people.) He blames the choice to go off his meds on having been "schedule-borked" and claims that he was paranoid and hallucinating during the competition. Andy then states that he wants to do GISHWHES again and asks people to let him know if they would like him to be on their team.
Andy begins liveblogging another of Winjennster's fics. Like the first liveblog, this one is full of backhanded compliments. He also continues to insult her story that he liveblogged previously.
June 27
An anon says that they are considering asking Andy to join their GISHWHES team, but are concerned about his mental illness. They ask why he thinks it is safe for him to do GISHWHES again. Andy says that stress factors are not the same for everyone—what relaxes many people is stressful for him, and what makes him "so fucking zen" is stressful for others. Despite how badly he went off the rails in 2013, he says that GISHWHES is actually good for him and that he and his "care team" have set guidelines to ensure that it doesn't go wrong again. In his description of how 2013 went, Andy overwhelmingly emphasizes how bad things were for him: he "yelled at a few people", yes, but he cried, didn't get enough sleep, heard voices, etc. He claims that the worst case scenario is that he might push himself too hard and "kind of [be] an asshole", which he calls "acceptable risk", and that he deserves another chance.
Andy posts a photoset of his life. The left side, he says, represents the social/creative side of him, and the right side represents his mental illness.
A member of Andy's 2013 GISHWHES team speaks out on 1purp0se.
An anon asks if Andy is pretending to channel a friend's deceased family member. He says that he isn't and that it's been over a year since there were any "channeling" incidents at all. Note that he specifies that he's never "channeled" for anyone in the posse—Andy is still friends with some DAYDians for whom he "channeled", including CFC and A.
An anon tells Andy that in order to be properly apologetic for having abused people, he should not deliberately put himself in a position to abuse people again; thus, he should not participate in GISHWHES again. Andy denies having abused anyone during GISHWHES 2013, insisting that his behavior was only "dickish" and that "the worst of it, by far, was directed at [him]self". He claims that his 2013 team and his "care team" ("three professionals with five PhDs between them") agree on this and doubles down on his insistence that participating in GISHWHES is an "acceptable risk" by means of a tortured analogy about leather pants. He also heavily implies that the people saying he should not participate in GISHWHES again don't want him to be permitted to do anything at all. Essentially, in this post, Andy is putting his own enjoyment over the emotional/psychological safety of other people.
An anon calls Andy out for blaming his past wrongdoing on mental illness. Andy writes that the things he did "may or may not have been prompted by…symptoms of mental illness" (emphasis mine), but that he takes full responsibility for all of it. He makes another analogy that allows him to minimize the situation and misdirect readers from the issue at hand. In the next paragraph, significantly, Andy seems to back off from his previous admission of having committed rape in the past, reframing it as a matter of "bad consent", which he says would only be rape if his partners chose to retract their consent. Recall that Diamond has explicitly stated that she never consented. Then he blames "the public spectacle" for much of the harm his past victims have suffered and says that he will never publicly confess to exactly what he did because he nobly wants to leave them out of "the wank and drama", despite naming some of them in this very post. Finally, he links to a dozen apology posts that he has made in the past.
Another anon tells Andy to stop sending anon hate to members of his 2013 GISHWHES team. Andy denies that he or anyone he is close to is doing this and suggests that one or a few people are trolling to cause further "drama".
Not long after Abbey answers these asks, which raise the issue of whether the "particularly irrepressible two-year-old" who called Brittany "M'Bidney" was a "'channeled" character, Andy conveniently receives an ask that allows him to address exactly that question. He claims that the child was real, and as evidence of this, uploads an audio recording made by a former friend of his, without that person's permission. This person is T, a former DAYDian who helped Andy after Brittany's murder, and the Poufwa co-host whom Andy blamed for the drama sparked by his appearance on the podcast (see Timeline Part III, September 14-17, 2009). The recording feels very personal and clearly was not meant for public consumption. Note that the "M'Bidney" nickname does not appear at any point in the recording.
June 28
When someone questions him about the circumstances around the aforementioned recording, Andy says as part of his response that he's "literally scheduled a fucking interview with a fairly major fandom human" to try to get his side of the story out about everything. This is a reference to Aja Romano. Andy also shares more personal information about T in his replies, including a mental health diagnosis.
Andy says that he needs help dealing with the mess in his room and asks any random, local people who want to, to come and assist him with it. In exchange, he offers to "bake, draw, cook, or write you the thing you want baked, drawn, cooked, or written."
Andy posts an apology to the DAYDverse LiveJournal and Facebook communities. He begins by saying that he is mentally ill and that for much of the time he was working on the DAYDverse, he was "reeeeeeeeally fucking far on the scale of delusional schizoid disorders and didn't even know it." Schizophrenia and schizoid are not at all the same and Andy should know this if he is genuinely receiving treatment for schizophrenia. He goes on to say that he believed that the characters were real and that he could "channel" them, and that he ended up hurting people because of this, but he doesn't get any more specific than that. He claims that he has "huge blank holes in his memory" that prevent him from knowing whom he hurt and how. Andy makes sure to emphasize how much he loves the DAYDians and that he was only ever trying to help them, claiming to be "sobbing in shame and guilt". He offers direct, personal apologies to anyone who asks for them and posts his phone number.
Andy posts "Burn everything you love and burn the ashes", in which he pats himself on the back for his blanket apology to the DAYDians. He sets people up to feel sorry for him and praises himself and his writing before he ever talks about his harmful actions. Then he emphasizes that "most of the Daydians had no idea" that anything negative was going on, which may or may not be true. He says that he needed to apologize, not that his victims needed or deserved an apology, which suggests that he did this primarily for his own sake. Then he suggests that apologizing might cost him "the esteem of every single person who has ever read the damned thing", in a display of martyrdom, immediately followed by more praise for himself and diminishing of how many people he may have hurt: "(which is ridiculous because the number of hits and follows and faves and reviews vs the number of active Daydians…)". He ends with a reminder that having to apologize "sucks. Tremendously," highlighting how hard this is for him.
Andy asks for meta or character exploration fic about certain characters on Teen Wolf.
June 30
Andy requests advice in navigating the Teen Wolf fandom.
Andy posts an opinion about relationships in Teen Wolf.
Andy posts an MCU ficlet.
July 1
Because discussion has been going on about Andy's care team since he mentioned its alleged composition on June 27, he receives an anonymous submission that conveniently allows him to discuss it in more depth. I am not qualified to make any statements as to how likely it is that any of what Andy says is true, but I will make a couple of general comments. It is interesting, given his fixation on the military, that he specifies that one of his doctors "works mostly with special military cases". Andy also indicates that another of his doctors is "a specialist in schizoid disorders"—again, schizophrenia is not, and never has been, classified as a schizoid disorder. They are two different things. Andy should be aware of this if he is in treatment for schizophrenia and able to speak so authoritatively about his care team's qualifications. Of further interest is that Andy says he doesn't have a social worker on his team because "[he's] not on any form of social assistance and [has] never even been charged with a crime." As someone points out in the notes, "licensed clinical social workers provide the vast majority of the psychotherapy in the US," regardless of their clients' financial circumstances or criminal backgrounds. Andy ends by bragging about his father's connections in the medical system and about what an interesting case he is.
Andy replies to the note about social workers in his previous post and doubles down on the idea that utilizing them or not is a matter of privilege or obligation. He seems to miss the point entirely.
July 3
An anon recommends some Teen Wolf blogs to Andy.
Andy starts messaging various Teen Wolf blogs to let them know that people have recommended them to him. Someone in the fandom makes a warning post about him.
Andy starts recommending Teen Wolf fics.
Andy requests prompts for ficlets, meta, etc. in various fandoms.
July 4
Someone asks Andy to stay out of Teen Wolf fandom. He mocks them.
July 5
Andy posts a public apology to Little Sam, the then-fifteen-year-old who moved in with him and the other Bagenders during his days in the LotR fandom. Throughout, he alludes to his alleged mental illness without actually mentioning it. He blames "others" for some of his worst offenses, such as helping her "retrieve" false memories of abuse by her family. He also makes sure to mention how much he cared about her even as all this was happening.
July 6
Andy posts a screenshot of a message from Little Sam to prove that she wanted his apology to be made publicly.
July 7
Andy says that he is turning anon back on for 24 hours and will answer any and all questions "including matters of the wank and my personal history". He says that afterward, he will make an FAQ post about it, to which he will link in his profile. He tags "teen wolf" on this post.
In response to an anon, Andy mentions having "channeled" elves, hobbits, ghosts, and other non-human entities.
An anon asks, "Did you change genders?" Andy specifies in his answer that he does not identify as "transmale or any other suffixes, prefixes, etc". Another anon asks for clarification, and in his response, Andy makes a rare acknowledgement of the fact that he was raised as a girl.
An anon asks whether Andy really has Borderline Personality Disorder, as he told Carlanime in 2011. Andy says that he's never been diagnosed with it, which seems to contradict what he said in that message. When another anon requests clarification, Andy repeats what he told Carlanime at the time.
An anon asks why Andy tried to bribe Turimel years before when she learned that he was the same person as Jordan Wood. Andy acts as if he has no idea what they're talking about.
An anon asks, "Don't you think that all of the people you've hurt have more of a right to be proud of what they've overcome than you do?" Andy says that everyone has the right to be proud.
July 8
An anon asks, "Was the reason you pretended to kill yourself because of your gender, then?" Andy drops a Castiel reference into his answer and claims that the vast majority of asks he's received since turning on anon have been about gender.
An anon asks about the double-digit number of people that Andy claims to have seen die by violence. He says that he and his care team are still trying to figure out how much of that is real.
An anon asks why Andy doesn't care how old he was when his relationship with Abbey became physical. Andy says that he can't remember how old he was and that he has no concrete proof of it. Again, there is ample evidence that Abbey didn't even meet Andy online until he was 18, or in person until he was 19. He talks about the "balance of power" when he was the one grooming Abbey online to be emotionally dependent on him and to believe that he had powerful psychic abilities.
An anon asks why Andy continues to participate in fandom and meet people online, when he acknowledges that he's engaged in abusive relationships with people he met that way. Andy says that these things are safe because the only real problem was his mental illness.
An anon asks about the "core changes" and Andy's lie that Amy Player was his sister. Andy claims, as he always has, that he believed all of the "core changes" to be completely true and real, that he believed his original self was "psychically and spiritually dead", etc. As 1purp0se has pointed out, when he talks about why he lied about his identity during the height of the DAYDverse, he talks about "us", as in him and Abbey, using her to elicit sympathy and positioning himself as a victim alongside her.
An anon asks, "How was your surname Player if you're 100% Irish on both sides?" Andy seems to take offense at this question. See this comment, archived from fail-fandomanon, for proof that Andy is not 100% Irish as he claims.
An anon asks how Andy is getting by financially and what his career goals are. He indicates that his parents are supporting him and that he wants to live in the Pacific Northwest, working in writing, illustration, or sales/customer service.
An anon asks whether Andy's parents or care team ever check in to what he's doing online. Andy claims that they follow his blog, that two members of his care team have all of his login information and do random checks, and that they also randomly check his internet history. As 1purp0se has noted, if his online activity requires that level of supervision, it seems unlikely that they would recommend his being online at all.
An anon asks about the picture of Andy as Jordan Wood from a post-Project Elanor work party, in which he is wearing a cast on his hand. Andy says that it was DIY and for a real injury. Abbey responds to this here.
In his response to an anon who says they think it's fair for people to warn others about Andy, he mentions that he's recently "[given] extensive interviews to several well-respected fandom journalists". By "several", he means "two". One of these is Aja Romano. The other is not actually a journalist, but another Tumblr user who has recently inserted themself into the Andysphere as an apologist.
An anon talks about a screenshot of Andy bribing Turimel to leave him alone. He claims not to remember doing this. His response includes another reference to Peeta from The Hunger Games.
An anon asks how Andy feels about Abbey's having to work with a cult deprogrammer after the end of their relationship. Abbey responds to this here.
An anon asks what Andy would like to say to a younger version of himself.
An anon asks about Andy's making fun of Abbey's body. Abbey has responded to his claims here.
Andy writes that he is almost done answering questions about "the wank" and will soon post his FAQ. He also mentions a post about "badthink", which I unfortunately have not captured, but it is supposed to be about recognizing delusional thinking in oneself and others. Andy additionally mentions "the two huge interviews" that he has recently given. He emphasizes how hard it's been for him to talk about how he's abused people and sets himself up as an object of pity.
An anon asks why Andy lied about his identity when Abbey revealed that Andrew Blake was the same person as Jordan Wood, and why he chose his last name. Andy says that his name change was based on a porn director and producer of the same name, and that "Andy felt like a very comfortable first name for [him] and Blake was already a family name". Abbey has said that "Andy" was a nickname that came about when Andy was "channeling" the "duplicate soul" of Orlando Bloom and that "Blake" was a shortened form of "Blakewell", the "real" name of the Pevensie children from The Chronicles of Narnia.
An anon asks about GISHWHES and why Andy and his care team feel that the benefits of his participation outweigh the risks. Andy understates what he did during GISHWHES 2013 and says that the only risk this year is that he might have to pull out, as if there is no risk that he might be abusive toward his teammates again.
Andy receives an anon from someone who identifies as a victim of abuse, who says his "journey" is helping them as they are torn about whether to forgive abuse and believe people can change. Andy instructs this person never to forgive abuse or tell victims how to feel, then writes at length about all the complicated factors that might contribute to someone's becoming abusive and about how definitions of abuse are evolving. He writes authoritatively, as if he has some kind of education or expertise in this area, when the reality is that he does not.
Andy posts "FAQ About That Thing You Heard About Me". In the original version of the FAQ, he states his diagnoses as "Severely paranoid delusional schizoid spectrum disorder combined with ADD, PTSD, and situational depression."
July 12
Andy tells people what is okay and not okay to criticize or mock about Dashcon. In the tags, he mentions Tentmoot and the "pitchfork rumor mill", as if that "failed convention" is the main or the only reason that people are still talking about him.
July 13
Andy asks Tumblr at large to call or text him if they would like to come to an event for his birthday.
July 16
Andy makes an MCU post that gets a fair bit of attention.
July 17
Andy writes that he wants to fly R in for his birthday, but that he and Megan have run into a military travel scam in the process of making arrangements.
The Tumblr user who interviewed Andy posts a transcript and audio of the first part of the interview. The entire interview has been heavily criticized for disorganization, lack of fact-checking and prior research, and evident bias toward Andy.
July 18
Sometime around this date, Andy edits his FAQ to say that he has "Severely paranoid delusional schizophrenic spectrum disorder combined with ADD, PTSD, and situational depression."
Andy makes a post suggesting that he is the only rational Destiel fan.
Andy asks people to figure out a way to get R to Washington, DC for his birthday gathering, which will start out at the National Zoo. When someone replies that they need a Kickstarter, Andy puts them in charge of creating it. This person later posts about it and says that they have set up a PayPal to take donations toward R's flight.
Andy posts "Scotty Doesn't Know". This post refers to his statement in the interview posted on July 17 that his father took him to James Doohan's last Star Trek convention when he was six or seven years old. In fact, Doohan's last convention was in 2004, when Andy was 21, and Andy and Abbey attended part of it. Later in the month, Andy will share an alleged text message conversation between him and his father about this—which someone at fail-fandomanon points out matches up perfectly with images from a fake iPhone message generator (note the signal and battery level). The significant point here has nothing to do with James Doohan; it's that Andy is still lying and then doubling down with additional lies when confronted about it.
Amid continued discussion of his claims about his care team, Andy posts that he has incorrectly conflated an MD with a PhD. He does not clarify what degrees his care team actually has.
Andy posts another defense of SPN against accusations of queerbaiting. Destiel never happened during season nine as he had predicted, so his new prediction is that no one has any specific plans regarding the ship, but that they will address it at some point and that "Dean and Cas together in a love based sense…is endgame". He uses Lewis's four/five loves again to write about this. He has a brief discussion about it with another fan.
Andy posts "Land of Milk and Fundies", an essay about the situation in Gaza that he says is written by an Israeli-American currently living in Israel and serving in the Israeli military. There is a lot of speculation on Andy Awareness blogs and in anon communities that this soldier is someone "channeled" by Andy, but it is actually DAYDian A.
July 20
Andy posts "Tree, House, Person, Holes", about people's misconceptions regarding mental illness. This post has been discussed here at fail-fandomanon and here on Tumblr.
July 22
By this point, R has told Andy that he will be unable to make it to the DC area for his birthday. Andy posts that his birthday celebration at the National Zoo is still happening.
July 23
Andy posts a proposed script for a trailer and a mock-up of a poster for a Black Widow MCU movie.
July 26
Andy posts "Cooking Fast and Fresh in Night Vale", in which he cosplays as Cecil Baldwin from Welcome to Night Vale. The title references a series of YouTube videos in which Misha Collins cooks with his son. Later, he describes this as something low-effort that he did just for Megan, but also offers to do a couples cosplay if anyone is available to play Carlos.
July 27
Someone makes a warning post about Andy for the Welcome to Night Vale fandom.
July 30
Andy tells the Tumblr user who interviewed him that he has never "watched" Welcome to Night Vale, but has only ever listened to "part of one podcast of it". This user later shows screenshots of texts between them in which Andy confirms that he thinks it's an online TV series. This is all a lie. Andy listened to the first episode of WTNV on September 7, 2013. On March 6, 2014, he told someone that he'd listened to a couple episodes, but wasn't really into it.
August 4
Andy posts "A Feast of Ice and Fire", a photoset of a Game of Thrones dinner party he held on the previous evening.
August 9
Andy shares his contributions to GISHWHES 2014 (cropped out because other people are in the pictures).
August 10
The Tumblr user who interviewed Andy posts the audio files of the rest of their interview. No new information comes from this interview. This thread at fail-fandomanon contains some highlights from parts 2-5.
August 15
Andy posts a dialogue between "White Americans" and "Black Americans". Later, he announces that at least for the night, he is going to focus on the situation happening in Ferguson, MO. This is the beginning of a marked shift in Andy's blogging to center on social justice issues.
Andy posts pictures of several friends of his who are "considered 'black'" and implies that having black friends gives him a special understanding of racism that other white people don't have. I do not have a screenshot of this post, but it is preserved here, with my commentary.
August 21
Andy says that he will be blogging significantly less at least until November, when his portfolio for college is due.
August 24
Andy posts a list of items he's assembled for a project for his portfolio, including "high quality photo prints of 23 pictures of Misha Collins". He is creating a sculpture of Misha.
August 27
Andy makes various claims about his history with law enforcement.
August 28
Andy posts about a guy in his history class. I have previously written about this here.
September
Megan moves into Andy's parents' house, where Andy also lives. She says that this was his parents' idea, that Andy initially had objections to it, and that they aren't actually seeing much of each other.
September 18
Andy blogs about a difficult exam. I have written about this and other college stories of Andy's here.
September 20
Andy requests resources for nonbinary Muslims.
September 21
Andy posts the infamous "Cradle to Grave" poster, which ends up getting nearly 100,000 notes, in part because he tags "racism". Evidently, the poster is supposed to be an example of propaganda, but his caption does not make this clear.
September 24
Andy defends himself when people get angry about the aforementioned poster. Despite having tagged "racism", he claims that he never expected it to attract so much attention. I commented on this post and a follow-up post here.
September 25
Andy tells a story about a girl in his bio lab. See my post about Andy's college stories for my commentary.
ca. September 30
Andy makes a nude sketch of Megan for his portfolio and posts it, as well as some photos, with her permission, waxing lyrical about her body. For obvious reasons, I do not have screenshots of these posts. Andy ends up deleting the photos after a day or so because Megan is still in the Navy and someone points out that her chain of command may have a problem with the post.
October 7
An anon asks if Andy is living with Megan. He says that their situation is more like next door neighbors than roommates.
October 22
Andy posts about Brittany's murder in relation to an episode of Supernatural he's just watched. I have previously written about this post here.
October 25
Andy sends an anonymous ask to someone who has occasionally blogged about him, trying to get them to call out an Andy Awareness blogger.
October 30
Andy says that this is his last day to finish his portfolio and asks his friends to alert his parents if he starts repeating the old behaviors that he claims were symptoms of his mental illness.
Andy hijacks a post about racism to promote a cosplay shoot that he recently did with a black friend of his and to talk about the efforts he made to protect her.
November 3
Andy is caught having sent the anon ask of October 25.
November 16
Because people who have the mental illnesses Andy claims to have, have been blogging for quite some time about how his reported symptoms do not align with genuine symptoms of those illnesses, Andy posts about how no one can legitimately compare their symptoms to someone else's. This is irrelevant because they are not comparing Andy's symptoms to their own; they are comparing them to actual diagnostic criteria, with which they are intimately familiar.
November 17
Andy suggests that people contact his school and complain about a course/assignment.
November 18
When an anon tells him that the previous post was irresponsible, Andy claims that he didn't mean that people should complain on his behalf. He says that in fact, he has no issue with the assignment or with the professor, and ends by insulting the anon's reading comprehension.
November 21
Andy posts about Ferguson again, appealing to Tumblr's social justice community with low-effort, flippant humor and a fandom tie-in.
November 22-23
Andy attends VA Comicon, where he meets the White Tiger Filmz crew, who have a web series called Viva La Cosplay. He wins an award for his Mad Hatter cosplay.
November 26
Andy starts asking people not to share the "Cradle to Grave" poster, again acting shocked that it went viral, despite his having tagged "racism" in the original post. Here are a couple more asks about it.
December 2
Andy responds to an anon about the poster, explaining the circumstances under which it was made. Yet again, he claims to have had no idea that it would blow up the way it did.
Andy posts about the poster again.
December 3
Andy writes that he has found an ideal material for making a metal arm for Bucky Barnes cosplay.
December 4
Andy posts a piece of DAYDverse artwork for CFC's birthday, identifying her as "the very first Daydian and [his] very best friend".
Andy whitesplains about true crime media. I have previously commented on this post here.
December 6
Andy attempts to get Misha Collins's attention on Twitter.
December 8
An anon suggests that Andy add a note about the poster on his sidebar, but he says that it's "faded off on its own". Minutes after I point out that it is appearing on other social media sites, Andy posts that "someone" has told him that very thing, so he's decided to put it on his sidebar after all.
Rather than address his concerns with the people on Facebook that he's talking about, Andy posts on Tumblr, where he knows people will agree with him.
Andy posts about wanting to "make this time a little easier for [his] black American friends/followers". This doesn't get much of a response other than negativity from the Andy Awareness bloggers. He then receives a convenient anon ask that allows him to talk about how he has been helping "The Cause", but also wants to help people individually. I have written about this post here.
December 13
Andy tweets about the "Cradle to Grave" poster.
December 16
Andy comments on the Peshawar school massacre. Here is a response to his post from a Muslim person.
December 22
Andy posts a quote that he claims is from "a police officer friend," that compares people of color to dogs. See this post for my commentary.
December 27
The "affectedbyfake" Supernatural fandom pseuicides are happening, and Andy begins weighing in with this post about death as redemption. This message, and others that Andy will post on the same day, just happen to line up perfectly with the version of his personal narrative that he's been pushing for the last couple of years.
Andy posts "Lean On Me", a lengthy list of advice for people offering support to those affected by what he seems to believe is a genuine campaign of anonymous hate.
Not long after, Andy says that he isn't in a position to help anyone himself, but offers up some platitudes. He tacks on the popular SPN quote, "Family don't end in blood," which is often used to promote a sense of closeness among the fandom. It feels especially artificial here.
Andy reaches out again to the SPN pseuicide bloggers, advising them to remember that "repetition doesn't make something more true". He has a vested interest in promoting this message.
An anon tries to explain to Andy that the pseuicides aren't real. Andy does not respond positively to this message. Later, he writes about his own faked suicide attempt of 2002. I have previously written about these posts here.
December 30
Andy posts "An Open Letter to the Undead: How to survive surviving". I commented on this post here.
December 31
Andy changes his tune and is critical of the SPN pseuicide bloggers, saying, "it is so not ok to fake suicide because it takes resources from the real thing."
Andy reblogs a list of signs of emotional abuse, including a number of behaviors in which he has been reported to engage. He stresses that "not all abusers are abusive on purpose, want to be, or even know they are," and encourages giving people who engage in these abusive behaviors a chance to change.
Andy posts something very telling about Tangled vs Into the Woods. Some other bloggers and I discuss this post here (the very end of the main post, plus the reblogs).
2015
Andy posts far less frequently this year than he did before.
January 6
Andy posts about the militarization of police, employing another analogy that equates or compares people of color to animals. Such analogies have been a common feature of hate speech and white supremacist rhetoric for centuries and should never be used.
January 21
Megan asks for ideas to change her URL. Andy suggests topographical-curves.
January 23
Andy writes that he has less and less time for fandom lately, as he gets more involved with school and other real-life concerns, and that this is actually making fandom more enjoyable for him.
February 7
Andy attends VA Comicon again. Two costumes that he's made for other people win awards.
February 13-15
Andy attends Katsucon.
February 20
Andy says that "fandom is taking the right place in [his] life as a hobby and a source of entertainment, not a higher priority."
February 22
Aja Romano's article about Andy, "The Strange Live of Andrew Blake" is released. The article is heavily criticized for many reasons, including:
· that it contains next to nothing from Aja's interviews of former DAYDians and other former friends of Andy's,
· that it conceals Andy's old identities,
· that it questions absolutely none of Andy's claims about himself or his detractors,
· that it allows Andy to use Brittany's story to garner sympathy again,
· that it makes false and prejudicial statements regarding the Andy Awareness bloggers and their stated opinions,
· and that it presents Andy as a mysterious, intriguing figure with potentially valuable prizes for anyone who chooses to play on his terms.
Later in the day, Aja posts about her article. She claims that the published version is "very different in tone and especially in focus" than her original draft and says that she will be releasing the interviews she conducted for it. She never releases them, and apart from the vitriol directed at the Andy Awareness bloggers in the published version, the tone of her original draft is not significantly different. See this post for a condensed version of my commentary.
March 15
Andy responds to an ask about having lied to Winjennster that his sister was Amy Player. Andy admits that this lie had nothing to do with mental illness, but says that it was because he was afraid of his friends finding out that he was AFAB. When another anon says that they feel like he's making excuses, Andy denies this and explains himself further.
March 17
For St. Patrick's Day, Andy posts on Facebook about how the locations and a phone number used in Sluagh (which he misspells) were totally real.
March 24
On Facebook, Andy refers to Brittany as "one of [his] closest friends".
April 7
Andy refuses to give his opinion on Destiel again, telling an anon that he's said all he has to say about it.
I receive an anon stating that Andy has emailed someone about starting an MCU roleplaying group. Half an hour later, Andy receives a convenient anon ask about joining his MCU RP. Andy says that he thinks they have the wrong person.
Abbey receives a similar anon message, as well as one telling her that Andy has instructed this person to send her anon hate. Both of us find IP addresses known to pertain to Andy or posse members in our blog stats. Other Andy Awareness bloggers also report getting weird anons.
April 8
Andy claims that someone is impersonating him in the MCU fandom. He denies sending anons or telling anyone else to do so.
It is generally agreed that this has all been an attempt to distract from the interviews (1|2) that two former DAYDians have recently released (pertaining to Aja's article) and the Q&A that a DAYDian who went on the Trail of Tears hike is currently doing in fail-fandomanon.
April 13
Andy announces that he is deleting his thanfiction LiveJournal and archiving the DAYDverse community prior to deleting that, as well. He never actually deletes the DAYDverse community.
Andy announces on Facebook that he plans to delete the DAYDverse LiveJournal community.
Andy announces that he is deleting much of the content from his DeviantArt account.
Andy announces that he has taken the DAYDverse off of AO3, aside from DAYD and Sluagh, and that he will be taking down all of his adult Destiel fanfiction as well. He says that "someone" has recommended that for the sake of his future career, he take down anything that "could be seen as fandom porn".
April 14
Another Tumblr user tells Andy that they've never been given any such advice, and that some of their art school professors even engage in "more risqué fandom activities". Andy says that he was told that while general fandom content isn't a liability, adult fandom content could be one in terms of getting internships, etc.
DAYDian A asks Andy what will happen with A Peccatis now that he's taken most of the DAYDverse off of AO3. He explains that A Peccatis will still go up on AO3 and reiterates that the entire DAYDverse is available on fanfiction.net.
April 21
Andy makes another post about racism aimed at Tumblr's social justice community.
April 23-25
Megan answers anon questions about Andy on her Tumblr. Among other things, she says:
· Andy has never tried to isolate her from her family or suggest that they're abusive
· she doesn't know anything about the alleged MCU roleplaying game
· Andy did ignore her at DC Con
· Andy is driven, motivated, motivating, intense, and can be overwhelming and scatterbrained
· she feels that Andy handles disappointment well and takes responsibility for his mistakes
· she reads tf-talk and some Andy Awareness blogs
· she believes that Andy has tried to apologize to Abbey
· she feels that her friendship with Andy has greatly improved her life and her as a person
April 30
Andy reports that he has just attended his last community college class. He will actually end up doing another semester of community college before transferring to a university.
May 1
Andy advises an anon on switching pseudonyms in a new fandom.
Someone asks Andy's Destiel-related thoughts on an episode of Supernatural. Andy says that he's still behind on the show because of school, so he can't answer the question.
Andy says that he has "closed [his] emotional and mental book on the Daydverse" aside from finishing A Peccatis.
An anon asks Andy, "how bad is it to give in to delusions if you're not hurting people with them?" Andy advises this person to see a mental health professional.
Andy announces that he will be working this summer and has a lot of cosplay to do, so he won't be doing any fanart or fanfiction for a while.
May 2
Megan reports (pictures cropped out) that she has developed an abscess on her ear, which Andy drained at home. She then goes to the ER and ends up having to stay in the hospital. She receives a number of anons about Andy's treatment of her ear and about the possibility that he might be "channeling" medical professionals again, and between that and the off-Tumblr discussion about the incident, she gets angry and stops reading tf-talk.
May 4
Andy clarifies that the DAYDverse has not been published, but is available through a print-on-demand service.
May 7
Andy posts about the anniversary of Brittany's murder, calling her his "special and still much loved friend".
Andy posts about enjoying something more, the less he has to do with the fandom.
May 9
Andy says that he is inspired by Robert Downey, Jr.
Andy writes about having gotten over his need to be special and to act as if he knows everything all the time. He says that he's "learned how to learn [and] learned how to be normal". He also says that he doesn't need fandom anymore or even enjoy it much, other than cosplay. Andy wants to get into a college art program and to "go into the field as a real career with a 9-5 job".
May 11
Andy posts about wanting to do a cosplay photoshoot at a local mosque, and asks his Muslim followers if there is an appropriate way to do that.
May 12
Another Tumblr user advises Andy to talk to the Imam or community relations person at the mosque, rather than asking Tumblr for opinions. Later, Andy says that someone has directed him to a restaurant that has the look he wants for the photoshoot.
May 16-17
Andy attends VA Tidewater Comicon, where he meets the White Tiger Filmz crew again and sets up an audition for season two of their web series, Viva La Cosplay.
May 21
Andy asks, "does anyone involved in fandom any more actually, y'know, ENJOY the thing they're in fandom about?"
June
Andy starts a cosplay account on Facebook, Andy B. Cosplay.
June 1
Andy is pictured and quoted in a post about AwesomeCon on the Kojo Nnamdi Show Blog, in which he denigrates other cosplayers: "There are a million Jon Snows and you can’t throw a rock at a convention without hitting a Daenerys."
June 4
Andy posts his headcanons about the Avengers' sexual orientations.
June 11
Andy says that he is working as a costume tech at Busch Gardens for the summer.
June 14
WTF Studio announces that Andy will be a cast member for season two of Viva La Cosplay.
July 24-26
Andy attends Otakon.
September 3
Andy tells a couple of people that he is no longer active in fandom.
September 4-7
Andy attends Dragon Con.
September 19
Andy says that A Peccatis is "on indefinite hold" but will be finished.
September 25
WTF Studio begins sharing episodes of season two of Viva La Cosplay on YouTube. I have reviewed Andy's appearances in the series here.
November 21-22
Andy attends VA ComicCon with the rest of the Viva La Cosplay cast.
November 27
Andy posts his acceptance letter from the Department of Theatre at Virginia Commonwealth University.
December 18
Andy posts his transcript for his last semester of community college and says that he has moved to Richmond for school (photos of his room cropped out because there are other people in them).
2016
January 19
This is Andy's first day at Virginia Commonwealth University. He majors in Costume Technology. According to a fellow student, while attending VCU, Andy:
February 2
By now, Andy has begun assembling his first Bucky cosplay. He writes about using real vintage items for it.
February 12-14
Andy attends Katsucon, where he cosplays as Bucky for the first time. During the convention, he allegedly has an unfortunate and painful incident related to binding.
February 23
Andy creates a GoFundMe to pay for top surgery and announces it on his Facebook. See this post for my analysis of his GoFundMe announcement. He claims that his landlord has agreed to lower his rent to help him pay for the surgery. It seems odd that a landlord would offer something like that to a new tenant who’s a student with a low credit rating. It’s also puzzling that after over a decade of hiding, and in the midst of starting a fundraising effort that he is adamant must be kept secret by everyone, Andy would spill his guts to his landlord.
February 24
Andy posts pictures of his first Bucky cosplay. He says that he is getting martial arts training to prepare for the Dragoncon version.
February 27
While in cosplay, Andy supposedly has an encounter with an elderly veteran who "thought he had seen a legitimate ghost".
March 1
Andy posts a picture of the invoice that he received at his consult that day. In this post, he explains that he is “fully approved” and “a picture perfect candidate” for the surgery. Unfortunately the doctor is so heavily booked that he can only have the operation in July, which would interfere with an upcoming internship, or on the following Tuesday (March 8). The latter date is only available due to a cancellation in the doctor’s schedule. If he accepts that date, Andy’s pre-op would have to take place the next day, March 2, and payment in full would be due at that time. He says that he has no way to get the money, as his credit isn’t good enough for a loan and his parents can’t help him. Several things immediately stand out to me upon reading this post:
In several more anxious posts on that day, Andy drinks and counts down the hours until he has to confirm or reject the March 8 surgery date, expressing faith that everything will work out somehow. At one point he mentions that Meg is attempting to take out a loan for him. Again, while he does not actually say, “Someone needs to give me all this money RIGHT NOW!” this countdown of mingled optimism and desperation represents a lot of emotional pressure for “some angel” to come through for him. Eventually, with about an hour remaining, “one of [his] amazing friends” agrees to lend him the full $7000 for the surgery. Andy reposts the GoFundMe announcement, adding a note that he now needs the money to repay the loan.
March 2
Andy has his pre-op appointment.
March 4
Andy posts in response to some concerns that were raised in tf-talk. True to form, he does not mention the community by name or acknowledge that he’s read anything related to “Andy Awareness”; instead, he claims that he’s “gotten these questions from several people”. Because the post is locked, only Andy’s friends can read it, so it seems to be a pre-emptive measure in case any of his friends see the discussion on tf-talk. Here are the “questions” as he words them, with links to pertinent tf-talk comments and summaries of his responses.
(Person I know) was down for weeks after surgery! What about school?
This is explained by the type of surgery he is having (keyhole, which has a short recovery time). Pretty straightforward.
How did it go from a normal fundraiser to “OMG NEED MONEY NOW” so fast?
Andy says that when the GoFundMe reached the halfway point, he “figured it was time to start seriously talking to a doctor and figuring out a timeline,” and then discovered that his options were either July or March 8. He makes no mention, at this or any other time, of having considered waiting until his internship is over. He then notes that he didn’t actually ask anyone for an immediate loan of thousands of dollars–see my points above.
Why not choose another doctor?
He says that this doctor is “hands down, by all research, the best in the area”.
What about a credit card/insurance/your parents?
Bad credit, transition surgery not covered by insurance, parents just bought a house. Again, this part has always seemed reasonable enough to me.
You only got upset about it so someone would rescue you.
Andy explains why he had the emotional response (disappointment, anxiety) that he did. But the real issue is not that he “got upset” in the first place. It’s that he expressed it in a series of posts that gradually ratcheted up the pressure for someone to swoop in and fix everything.
What if the gofundme doesn’t raise enough?
Andy is convinced that it will all work out based on what people have pledged to donate after tax returns, etc., and he will pay back any remaining balance “as soon as [he] can,” which may involve taking out a loan somewhere. I do believe, as does my source, that Andy intends to repay this person in full. But when you say that your plan to reimburse a friend who lent you money includes taking out another loan because (implied) you’re just that broke, that puts pressure on the lender to give you more leeway than perhaps they ordinarily would, or can afford to give. This is especially inappropriate coming from someone who has a history of not paying money that he owes and of soliciting money from people under false pretenses.
Andy posts a picture of his landlord around this time and talks about how great he is. This also appears to be a response to skeptical commenters on tf-talk.
March 8
Andy has his surgery.
March 10
Andy writes that the compression garment he was given by the doctor’s office is so tight that, “the ripples it forms have literally been bending [his] ribs [and his] lower ribs have been forced to touch in front.” He says that he cannot breathe or eat and that he’s finally been forced to take it off. Later, he posts again to say that the doctor’s office has replaced the garment, which was a size extra-extra-small for a 30″ chest, with a size medium for a 38″ chest. As with so many of Andy's stories before, this appears to have been exaggerated for dramatic effect. I have read these two posts to a doctor, who says that while it’s certainly possible that the doctor’s office gave him the wrong size pressure garment, which could have been extremely uncomfortable or even painful, the idea that this would cause his lower ribs to touch in front just isn’t plausible.
March 14
Andy posts on Facebook that he is writing a journal in character as Bucky as a prop for his cosplay.
March 15
Andy exerts still further emotional pressure on his lender and all of his friends when he gives them permission to share his story, the GoFundMe link, and any relevant updates. He says, “My friend went out on a limb for me. I’m gonna go out on one for him.” In other words, Andy is putting himself at enormous risk only for the sake of this person who helped him. Why is this such a risk? Because he’s afraid of the “cesspool of assholes” on the Internet who might find out about his personal business. The thing is, we assholes are already well aware that Andy was not AMAB; we have been for years. Very little of his history is a secret to the Internet at large. And he knows that the news of his surgery has been in tf-talk practically since the day he started the GoFundMe. This post casts his friends in the role of secret keepers, which is not necessarily unusual or unreasonable for the average trans person, but is very disturbing when you know about the secret-keeping that he insisted on among his Star Trek/Due South friends and the BagEnders and the DAYDians. It also sets up an “us against the world” dynamic between Andy’s circle and anyone on the outside who is not immediately sympathetic. It predisposes friends who are not aware of his history to doubt anyone who brings up any of it.
March 18
Andy clarifies that his Bucky journal is not a fanfic, but "free writing, unplanned and organic, a mind knitting itself together". Later that day, he complains about how hard it is for him to write it.
March 24
Andy claims to have very specific sense-memories of New York in the 1920s and ‘30s, but brushes it off by saying that he probably picked up some information during “the gap-filled years”, which he feels makes him even more like Bucky. He tells one of his friends that he's glad to have them on his Facebook because "[they] better than anyone else could recognize the signs if [he] was sliding", indicating that he is relying on friends to safeguard his mental health—something he swore he would never do again.
March 25
Andy says that his hair has changed on its own to be exactly the same color as Bucky's, in much the same way that it allegedly changed when he "became" Elijah Wood and Orlando Bloom.
An acquaintance of Andy's has been blogging about his recent activity, and Andy responds to one of their posts. He claims that writing the Bucky journal has actually been good for him because the entries are short, he can take breaks in between, and it requires research. He says that he is checking in with friends to ensure that he remains grounded in reality, and that working on the Bucky costume is also helping. Finally, he dangles the possibility that he might one day finish A Peccatis. See watchfulnonny's take on this post here.
May – August
Andy has an internship at a community theatre in Tennessee.
ca. May 7
According to watchfulnonny, Andy has a breakdown around the anniversary of Brittany's murder, having flashbacks and saying that he fears for Meg's life while she is at work. Although his friends are concerned and express sympathy, none of them intervenes in the way Andy has said they would if he started exhibiting mental health symptoms again.
June 27
Andy, who identifies as cisgender and heterosexual, speaks up about inclusivity in the LGBTQIA community.
June 29
Andy writes about LGBTQIA inclusion again, concluding that only an individual can decide whether they are queer or not. He says that the only requirement for being queer is that "the cisheteronormative model of gender and/or sexuality and/or relationships doesn't work for you," which, considering how he has written about his and Brittany's relationship, sounds suspiciously like an argument for why he should be considered queer even though he identifies as cishet. It appears that Andy wants to have it both ways.
June 30
Andy responds to an ask about how his "meat-space life" is going.
July 4
By implication, Andy equates not treating (for example) neo-Nazis with empathy and compassion, with racism, sexism, and other –isms.
According to watchfulnonny, Andy has another PTSD-like episode and deals with it by getting extremely drunk. Again, although friends are sympathetic, none of them intervenes. And despite the alleged quality of care Andy has received/is receiving, he is unable to come up with a better coping mechanism than alcohol.
July 12
Andy invokes Hitler in a post against suicide.
July 13
Andy tells Tumblr, "Don't worry—no matter what, someone, somewhere fetishizes you!"
August 5
While Andy makes a fair point about people not being "born woke" in this post, it's worth noting that he has a vested interest in convincing others that it's best to forget about problematic things that people did years ago.
Late August
Andy's internship ends. He and Meg get an apartment together in Richmond and adopt two kittens.
September 9
Someone "helpfully" sends Meg an anon telling her that she can't trust her friends.
September 9-11
Andy attends Wizard World Comic Con Richmond and spends most of the day with his shoulder dislocated for his Bucky cosplay. This is dangerous and extremely ill-advised.
October 13
Andy mocks other con artists for not being as good at it as he allegedly is. His post ignores the fact that many people, particularly the elderly, are taken in by these scams and suffer greatly because of them.
October 17
Andy does a photoshoot in Brooklyn with a Captain America cosplayer. Later, he posts on Facebook and Tumblr to solicit more photo ideas and to try to get more followers for his cosplay partner. Despite saying that he doesn't want to do anything to make his cosplay partner's fiancée uncomfortable, he tags the Tumblr post "steve x bucky", "stevebucky", and "stucky".
October 18
On his cosplay Facebook, Andy says that he has "no real interest in maintaining the big public persona fandom thing".
October 22
The "#buckyhair" tag starts appearing on Andy's Instagram.
October 23
Andy posts an FAQ about him and his cosplay partner, emphasizing that they can't do Stucky photos because of his and his fiancée's boundaries.
The same day, he posts an extra picture from one of their photoshoots and reminds his partner's fiancée, "he goes home with you."
Andy posts that cosplaying Bucky has motivated him to work out consistently. He tags Sebastian Stan.
October 24
Andy reposts pictures from his 2014 Game of Thrones feast. He mentions DAYD in the comments as "a fairly popular HP companion novel".
Andy changes his Facebook profile picture. He replies to a friend's innocuous comments ("Dude…" and "LOL") with a line about how all "mayo humans" look alike.
October 25
Andy posts an anti-Trump/Bucky fanart image on Tumblr and Instagram. The text is a paraphrased quotation from The Avengers, from the scene in which Captain America saves the life of an elderly German man (by implication a survivor of the Nazi regime) who is the only one brave enough to stand up to Loki.
On Instagram, Andy posts a photo and a video to welcome some Russian Bucky fans that have recently followed him. He says in the video that he will be taking Russian in college because it should be useful to him as a costumer, since so many films are made in eastern Europe.
On Tumblr, Andy complains that he is learning nothing from most of his college classes and that they are a waste of time and money.
October 26
Andy posts on Instagram about how many new Russian Stucky fans have followed him recently. He gives them credit for "spit[ting] in the face of oppression and bigotry to celebrate love and demand freedom where it is forbidden", equating fandom with real life activism.
On Instagram, Andy posts a shoulders-up picture of himself straight from the shower. He says this is to fulfill a request from a fanartist and offers to take pictures of his hair in various conditions for anyone else who needs a reference.
Andy starts an account on VKontakte, a Russian social media site.
October 27
Andy posts a picture of a receipt on Instagram and says that having to spend money on supplies for his classes has ruined his plans to attend VA Comicon. A follower expresses disappointment and Andy replies, "unless you know a magic money tree or a way to get free tickets…".
Andy posts a picture of himself in a "POW/MIA" shirt, which he tags (among other things) as "#honorourvets", "#marvelcosplay", and "#buckybarnes".
Later that day, he posts on Instagram about having back pain and taking OxyContin with wine. Mixing opiates and alcohol is a very bad idea, especially considering that alcohol would also interfere with the psychiatric drugs that Andy is allegedly taking.
October 28
On VKontakte, Andy posts a video of himself making pot roast. He appears to get salt, pepper, meat juice, and tomato paste everywhere; says that sea salt is the same as kosher salt; and contaminates everything he touches because he doesn't wash his hands after handling the raw meat.
October 29
Andy posts another picture of himself cosplaying as Bucky in a POW/MIA shirt. If he really wanted to honor military personnel, a minority group, etc., he wouldn’t use them as props to draw more attention to himself. Among the tags is "#vacomicon", but it is unclear whether Andy actually attends the con.
November 1
Andy posts on VKontakte that he wants to travel to Russia/Eastern Europe in December 2017. He asks for advice on where to go and what to see, and indicates that he plans to cosplay as Bucky during the trip.
On Instagram, Andy posts a screenshot of a DAYD quotation that is going around on Tumblr and promotes DAYD in the comments. He repeats the lie that it was "praised" by the Atlantic Monthly.
November 3
Andy posts on Instagram about his intention to "get in on all the fan thirst action" after he's gone to the gym for a few more months.
November 4
Andy admires a Bucky photomanip in someone's comment on VKontakte and inquires about the source.
November 5
Andy tells VKontakte that he will be appearing as Bucky at a child's birthday party.
November 7
Andy posts a video on Instagram in search of a Captain America cosplayer "who is willing to help [him] be a tree by that river of truth that says #loveislove"—in other words, he wants to cosplay Stucky. In the video, he repeats that he can't do that with his present cosplay partner because his fiancée "is not comfortable with anybody else getting their hands on her man". He says the photoset he's planning will "support LGBT equality, especially for [his] fans in Russia". Andy is hardly the first person to equate being a slash fan with political or social activism, but this is highly questionable, considering his history. It also sounds a lot like he is criticizing his cosplay partner and his fiancée for putting their relationship above "being a tree by the river of truth".
November 8
Andy posts on Tumblr, Instagram, and Facebook to tell people not to kill themselves if Trump wins the election. "We are winning. Even if we lose this," he says.
November 9
On Tumblr, Andy posts, "There will always be men like you, Mr. Trump. And I will not kneel."
Andy posts on Tumblr to reassure people that the world isn't ending because Trump won the election. Aside from the facts that his post is dripping with condescension toward younger people, and that he is speaking for the LGBTQIA community while identifying as cisgender and heterosexual, another user points out that he is handwaving the suffering and deaths that are possible if Trump succeeds in undoing much of the progress that has been made over the last several decades. Andy does not take this particularly well.
Andy makes two Tumblr posts downplaying the implications of Trump's win, asserting, "This country is a lot less fucked than this election makes it look, and people as a whole are always kinder than you fear." He does not cite any sources for his voter breakdown.
On Instagram, Andy posts a video reassuring people that this is not the darkest time the country has ever faced and that the majority of the country did not vote for Trump. In the caption, he invites anyone in the Richmond, VA area to come to his and Meg's place if they need support.
On VKontakte, Andy tries to explain the election to his Russian followers.
Later, he tells VKontakte that he is still planning to travel to Russia for a month in December 2017. Another user invites him to sleep on her couch.
On Instagram, Andy posts the photomanip that he admired on November 4, without crediting the creator. He captions it in Russian and a Russian follower tells him it's hard to understand. Run through Google Translate, the caption reads (bolding mine): "I’m sorry that my Russian is bad, small and new. I’m grieving for America tonight. I do not believe in religion. I believe in God. I do not think I found this place by accident. Here I learned that a place can have bad leaders, bad laws and good, strong, kind people. It’s Russia. Now it will be America too. I hope we can change and have good leaders and good laws."
November 10
In response to criticisms of his viral post on the election, Andy tells Tumblr that he addressed the LGBTQIA community specifically in order to save people, and that he has the right to address the community because he was AFAB. In saying that he "choose[s] to identify male with no prefixes", he ignores the fact that he has repeatedly and specifically identified as cisgender.
On Tumblr, Andy posts about how to manipulate a narcissistic president.
Andy makes another Tumblr post alleging that Trump's win isn't as big a deal as people think it is, this time claiming, "Half the country does not actively hate [the LGBTQIA community, people of color, etc.]. Approximately 8% does." Again, he does not cite any sources for this information. When he makes the same post on Instagram, it's accompanied by a screenshot of a tweet from a fake "Ellen DeGenres [sic]" account that doesn't cite its sources, either. This comment on tf-talk does a good job of summarizing the issues with this post.
Another Tumblr user asks Andy where he got some of the data from his previous post. Andy says that he can't remember.
Andy makes a similar post on Facebook, again failing to note where any of his information came from.
November 11
Andy posts on VKontakte for the last time.
On Instagram, Andy says that he was going to post a photo set highlighting real veterans' problems by means of superhero imagery, but that idea now seems "silly, even disrespectful after recent events". He still posts a picture of Captain America, though.
November 12
Andy addresses "white, straight, Christian, and/or male" people on Tumblr, making excuses for any who voted for Trump and asking them to show support for the communities that are afraid in the aftermath of the election.
November 15
Andy pontificates about Trump's ego on Facebook, closing with a nonsensical Lord of the Rings reference.
December 3
Andy again equates himself to Bucky, which is concerning behavior given his history of "channeling" both fictional characters and real people and claiming to take on their appearances and abilities.
December 9
Andy cosplays as Marauders-era Sirius Black for a Yule Ball event at Barnes and Noble.
2017
January 13
Andy shows off his new biomechanical tattoo, which he claims he's "actually wanted long before [he] cosplayed Bucky". The design and his plans to extend it to a half-sleeve just so happen to perfectly coincide with the placement of Bucky's metal arm.
January 21
In the comments on one of his long, political Facebook posts, Andy promotes DAYD.
January 23
Andy promotes DAYD again (and denigrates Harry Potter canon) in the comments on another political post.
January 26
Andy changes his Facebook profile picture to a reference to Captain America's "tree beside the river of truth" speech.
February 22
In Instagram comments, Andy talks about keeping his shoulder dislocated for up to twelve hours at a time for the sake of his cosplay. Again, this is dangerous and a very bad idea.
February 23
Andy posts about the colored contact lenses he's purchased for his Bucky cosplay, tagging Sebastian Stan again.
March 1
In his Instagram comments, Andy talks in more detail about dislocating his shoulder for cosplay.
March 8
Andy cosplays as Bucky for International Women's Day, following his pattern of using people and issues as attention-getting devices.
March 10
Andy posts in honor of Bucky's 100th birthday.
March 11
Andy and CFC try to talk Andy's friend Chris into running for public office.
March 19
Andy posts a picture and a video of a seven-year-old Romanian child, claiming that the child is a huge Captain America fan who'd love to hear from Sebastian Stan (whom he tags). All the child talks about in the video is one of his Pokemon creations, as Andy tries to drag the conversation around to Captain America, and the child is also surrounded by his Pokemon drawings in the picture. It seems likely, given his past behavior, that Andy is using this child (who may or may not be interested in Marvel characters at all) to gain the attention of the actor who plays the character around whom his life currently revolves.
March 28
Andy again equates himself to Bucky, calling himself a superhero in a post about injuring himself at the gym.
April 14
Andy over-dramatizes his actions while being hit by a slow-moving car to make it seem as if he responded in much the same way that a highly trained supersoldier would. Someone replies, “You are literally Bucky oh my god are you okay??
April 15
Andy posts a photo of himself at the gym, 12 hours after being hit by a car, tagged, "#noexcuses". Although he says in the April 14 post that he's been checked by EMTs, intense cardio or weight training could be exacerbating damage of which he is unaware. This is an extremely bad idea.
April 17
Andy posts (1|2|3), without a trace of irony, about how back in the day, only intelligent, right-thinking people had the ability to share their opinions with large numbers and wide ranges of people—but now any jackass pleb can get on the internet and spin anything in any way that they want, to reach any nefarious end. "Credentialed experts, not Instagram gurus. Data, not anecdotes." He is, yet again, hiding in plain sight.
May 1
On Facebook, Andy posts a link to an article titled, "20 Diversion Tactics Highly Manipulative Narcissists, Sociopaths And Psychopaths Use to Silence You".
May 7
Andy posts a picture of his Brittany memorial tattoo on the anniversary of her murder.
June 7
Andy plays Dungeons and Dragons for the first time.
June 19
Andy tweets at Lupita Nyong'o with a picture of a friend of his in a Nakia costume from The Black Panther and tags "#blackgirlmagic".
On Instagram, Andy posts a picture of himself with a Seven of Nine cosplayer, harkening back to his days in the Star Trek: Voyager fandom.
June 20
Andy announces that he has created a Patreon for cosplay tutorials.
June 21
Andy posts a picture of himself with a head massager stuck in his hair, using this as an excuse to humblebrag about his allegedly high IQ.
June 27
Andy is caught liking an underage fetish video on YouTube. See my post about this, and about his history of inappropriate sexual behavior toward younger people, here.
July 12
On Instagram, Andy tags Lupita Nyong'o on a picture of his friend in the Nakia costume. He tags "#blackgirlmagic" again.
July 31
Andy claims that a child at NOVA Con insisted that he was the real Bucky Barnes.
August 9
Andy asks a question about something that ought to be obvious to someone as invested in social justice issues as he claims to be (the answer is "rape culture"). In a comment, he equates people with mental disabilities to children and intoxicated people.
August 14
On Facebook, Andy posts about the controversy over Confederate monuments, arguing that they do not exist to preserve history but to honor and idealize people who fought to preserve the institution of slavery, and that they should be taken down. Then in the comments, he argues that Robert E. Lee should have four life-size statues to commemorate him. This brings to mind things that Abbey has shared about Andy's fascination with the Confederacy and how he wove it into the latter days of the Lord of the Rings cult mythology.
October 3
Andy engages in intellectual posturing, including the highly dubious claim that he was "discussing the Federalist Papers with the country's leading authority on Thomas Jefferson at age 7". His use of the word "parsimonious" is, ironically, questionable at best.
October 15
In an unrelated photo, Andy reveals that he has completed another part of his totally-not-Bucky-inspired mechanical arm tattoo.
October 25
On Instagram, Andy mentions Critical Role for the first time in a post about Meg learning Cyrillic to help him with his Russian class.
October 31
Andy joins the Critical Cosplay Facebook group and tells them that he is working on "a super super accurate and detailed version of Percy's costume and gear" for school.
November 2
Andy watches Critical Role live for the first time. He tags Travis Willingham in his Instagram post about it.
November 6
On Tumblr, Andy announces that he is about to deactivate his blog and delete all of his non-DAYDverse fic from AO3.
November 7
Andy confusingly tags a post "#immigrantswegetthejobdone" (emphasis mine). Andy is not an immigrant, and neither are his parents.
Andy posts a picture of another part of his mechanical arm tattoo, claiming that it has nothing to do with Bucky. He sums up his abusive, problematic past as "I was a very, very fucked up younger person" and hints at a redemption arc: "nothing is too broken to fix if you're still willing to try".
On Twitter, Andy says, "Redemption arcs done right give us something to bite down on while we cut away at the gangrenous mistakes in our own lives."
November 14
Andy posts about his hair, tagging Matt Mercer, the Critical Role DM.
November 28
For the first time, Andy admits that he is not of 100% Irish ancestry. In a post on Critical Cosplay, he mentions "a Portuguese priest in [his] personal lineage" that gave him "Latino hair".
Andy tweets that he is scheduling interviews with costume shops in LA.
Later, he tweets that he hasn't been to a concert since the age of three. Presumably, Hall of Fire didn't count. Abbey also tells me that he attended a Zwan concert with the Bagenders in 2003.
December 1
Andy tweets pictures of a friend movement-testing a mock-up of his Percy de Rolo costume, tagging the official Critical Role account and Taliesin Jaffe, who plays Percy.
Andy also posts these pictures to Critical Cosplay. In the comments, he reveals that the costume is his university capstone project.
December 3
On Twitter, Andy indicates that he is struggling with the urge to self-harm. His arm reads, "I'd like to live long enough to be someone else".
Andy replies to a tweet by Matt Mercer saying that he will be moving to LA in August 2018.
December 5
Andy tweets that he has succeeded in arranging interviews with LA costume shops.
December 7
Andy tags the official Critical Role account, Geek and Sundry, Team Alpha, Taliesin Jaffe, and Matt Mercer in a couple of tweets. Geek and Sundry (as of this point) broadcasts Critical Role and Alpha is the streaming service on which it airs.
December 8
Andy tags Geek and Sundry in a tweet thanking them for giving him the courage to be his "real Too Much polymath self". This and his emphasis on his "weirdness" seems to be the beginning of Andy drawing parallels between himself and Percy from Critical Role, as well as between himself and Taliesin Jaffe.
Andy replies to a tweet by Liam O'Brien.
Andy quotes DAYD on Twitter and gets a reply from Erika Ishii, who is involved with Geek and Sundry. He hastens to assure her that he is a Gryffindor.
Andy tags Geek and Sundry in another tweet, this time crediting them with being "the entire reason" that he decided to "just be [him] without masks" during his upcoming costume shop interviews. He gets another reply from Erika Ishii.
Andy tags the official Critical Role account and says it introduced him to Dungeons and Dragons.
Andy tweets a picture of his Dumbledore's Army tattoo, tagging Erika Ishii and Taliesin Jaffe.
Andy tags Taliesin and Matt Mercer in yet another tweet.
Andy replies to a tweet by Taliesin.
Andy reacts to Gather Your Party, tagging Erika Ishii and Geek and Sundry. He talks about "[his] weird" again.
Andy tells someone on Twitter, "I've eaten shit at rock bottom too. Family – blood or bond – is the only way up."
December 9
Andy engages in conversation with David Nett, another person involved with Geek and Sundry.
December 10
Andy calls himself a polymath again.
Andy approaches Satine Phoenix about donating to a literacy charity with which she is affiliated.
December 11
Andy quotes Captain Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager in a reply to the official Star Trek account on Twitter.
Andy has previously shared some of his Critical Role fanart on the Critical Role Fan Club Facebook group and now offers a free sketch to a randomly chosen person who comments on his post.
Andy tweets at Taliesin and gets a reply.
December 12
Andy tags the official Critical Role account and Geek and Sundry in tweets about how they're helping him "by saying that weird and extra is not a failing and there is no such thing as karmically irredeemable and live to be a better me". He also offers an excuse for his already obsessive behavior toward the CR cast and others affiliated with Geek and Sundry.
A Critical Role warning post about Andy starts circulating on Discord and Tumblr.
Andy tweets about the warning post, "It's a lovely feeling when the internet reminds you that you'll never get to be more than your darkest hour."
Andy engages in conversation with another Twitter user. He tells them that he's repeatedly apologized and taken responsibility for his past actions, has gotten professional help, and has changed. He claims that he isn't worried about his reputation in fandom, but among industry professionals, and that he has no idea what bad behavior people could possibly be talking about from 2014 (a time when he was actively targeting young people on Tumblr to contact him offline to talk about their personal and mental health problems). He also compares himself to Robert Downey, Jr. and Stephen King.
December 13
Andy announces on Twitter that he is deleting all of his fandom content on every platform because "it's time to burn the ships".
Later, he tweets, "…Sometimes you fuck things up you can't get back. No matter what I do now, fandom isn't something I can 'do better this time.' I'll miss it, but I have to stop trying to do it 'right.' … I'll miss fandom, but that's the cost of what I did. And I accept that."
On Tumblr, Andy says that he recognizes that his reputation in fandom can't be earned back and that he has to move on in "completely non-fandom spaces". He repeats, "It's time to burn the ships."
December 14
On Facebook, Andy claims that he is leaving fandom entirely, that he is removing all of his old work from the internet, and that he will no longer be cosplaying or attending conventions.
Andy gets a drastic haircut and tweets a picture of it.
On Facebook, Andy says that this haircut has made a huge difference to him: "…for literally the first time in my life, I'm looking in the mirror and out of costume and makeup being completely happy with what I see."
Andy tweets that his haircut makes him feel "like [he] belong[s] 100% to [HIMSELF] now, owing nothing to any character/cosplay." In a follow-up, he hastens to clarify that he "wasn't trying to BE Bucky (or anyone else)".
Andy's friend Chris answers a Tumblr ask about Andy's having "paid his debt to society". Interestingly, he reveals that rather than deleting his fandom accounts, Andy has given them to a friend.
December 15
Andy reminds Facebook that all of his fanworks are being deleted and says that his YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter "have already been purged".
December 16
Andy and Meg visit Los Angeles.
December 17
In an Instagram post, Meg indicates that she and Andy both plan to move to LA in 2018.
Andy tweets that his obsession with fandom is a good thing and a strength because it means that he can create amazing things within the scope and rules of someone else’s pre-existing universe, which directors and showrunners will love–and also fanfiction is just like Homer and Shakespeare.
December 26
Andy tells people that it's okay to save and share his fanworks, although he's deleting them. He says that he simply wants to "make a firm statement that [fandom] is a creative space I no longer intend to participate or maintain a presence in."
December 31
In a post about the new year, Andy says, "I lost so many years to my own toxic bullshit, but I finally know where/who I need to be and have done the work to get there, literally and figuratively." He makes no mention of the other people who were hurt and lost so much due to his "toxic bullshit".
2018
January 1
Andy retweets, "let the past die. kill it if you have to. it's the only way to become who you were meant to be".
January 11
Andy posts on Facebook that he is giving away all of his cosplay and crafting supplies except what he needs to finish some outstanding commissions and school projects.
January 12
Andy tweets about, and tags, Critical Role, despite claiming to have left fandom.
January 19
Andy tweets a Critical Role reference.
January 31
On Tumblr, Meg posts a sketch of Caleb, a character from the second Critical Role campaign, that Andy did for her. She does not identify Andy in the post.
February 8
Andy tags Team Alpha in a couple of tweets.
February 14
Andy changes his Instagram and Twitter usernames to @AndrewMBlake.
Lupita Nyong'o reposts Andy's photo of his friend cosplaying Nakia on Instagram and Twitter.
February 15
Andy posts fanart of Mollymauk, Taliesin's character from Critical Role's second campaign, on Facebook. See my commentary on this situation here. Soon after, a friend suggests that she could send it directly to one of the cast members (presumably Taliesin) and Andy is strongly in favor of that idea. See this post for reasons why I believe Andy has now fixated on Mollymauk.
February 16
As word has gotten out that he will be attending Katsucon, Andy makes a Facebook post to do damage control. He also states that he will be removing anyone that he only knows through fandom from his friends list. Over the next several months, I will hear from a number of people whom Andy only knows through fandom, who are puzzled as to why he still has them among his Facebook friends.
February 23
Andy posts a picture of Meg and one of their cats watching Critical Role as an excuse to tag Team Alpha again. Team Alpha replies.
February 24
Andy tags the official Critical Role account again, under the guise of promoting Meg's fic.
February 25
Andy claims that he has gained a lot of followers as a result of Lupita Nyong'o's posts and says that he no longer participates in fandom.
February 27
After I respond to an ask about his alleged increase in follower count, Andy makes an Instagram post about it. See my commentary on it here.
March 6
Andy promotes Meg's fic on Twitter again, tagging #MightyNein, #CalebWidogast, and #Mollymauk.
March 9
Andy posts on Facebook about how his continued involvement with Critical Role is all about Meg. He obliquely threatens to ruin the fandom for her if any of his Facebook friends shares what he's doing with the public.
March 12
Andy jokes about how his abusive actions have (he claims) always been done with the best of intentions.
March 15
Andy makes a friends-locked post on Facebook about his current struggle with depression and the resultant horrific state of his apartment. This is far from the first time Andy has described himself (or has been described) as living in squalor. His SO while in college described similar living conditions; Abbey’s house was like that by the time the Bagenders moved out; he claimed that he ended up letting his apartment get like this after she officially ended their relationship; one of his DAYDian roommates described him as notably untidy and unhygienic; and while in SPN fandom, he once asked his friends to help him clean because his bedroom/bathroom were so bad that he couldn’t handle it alone. Someone puts Andy's Facebook post on tf-talk and discussion ensues, complete with anons calling animal control.
March 16
Andy is furious about the tf-talk situation and announces that he is culling his Facebook friends list to only people he knows closely. In the comments, he reaffirms that this means he is cutting all of his "casual friends".
Later, Andy posts that he had cut his friends list from 500 to 150 after leaving fandom, and that he's cutting it further now. He adds, however, that if anyone sends a friend request after being cut, he will take their word for it that they weren't the one sharing his friends-locked posts.
March 21
On Tumblr, Meg posts a watercolor of Caleb Widogast that Andy has made for her. Again, she does not name him in the post.
March 22
Meg posts a watercolor of Mollymauk by Andy, continuing to keep him anonymous.
March 23
Andy tags Taliesin on Twitter again.
March 24
Andy tweets about his "'non-traditional' model friends" and the advantages of working with a variety of different body types and skin colors.
Andy replies to a tweet by Matt Mercer, claiming to have lost a trans veteran friend to suicide.
March 28
Andy tags Team Alpha in another tweet.
March 29
Andy offers a discount to sex workers who want to get into cosplay.
Andy replies to a tweet by someone affiliated with Geek and Sundry to tell her that her appearance on The Wednesday Club (a G&S show) has "revived [his] passion" for becoming a specialty costumer. The "scary change" that he refers to is almost certainly his leaving fandom.
March 30
Andy tags Taliesin and Erika Ishii on Twitter.
March 31
Andy tags "#GatherYourParty" on Twitter.
Andy tags Team Alpha and Darin DePaul on Twitter. DePaul replies.
April 16
Andy gives a rundown of various stages of his life. He describes himself from the ages of 18 to 29 as a "toxic apocalyptic disaster".
April 19
Andy tags Taliesin and Wil Wheaton on Twitter.
April 22
Andy claims to have confirmed that he has work in LA for the whole summer.
April 24
Andy recommends Kyle Hill's YouTube videos to Meg.
Andy tells someone on Twitter that Taliesin has been "a major factor" in teaching him "basic humaning". (1|2|3)
April 28
Andy tells a story about his one day of attendance at an actual school, with the implication that he was too smart for the other kids.
May 9
Andy tweets a picture of a friend and tags "#BlackGirlMagic".
May 11
Without a trace of irony, Andy tells someone off for trying to get "celeb exposure". (Further context: 1|2)
May 14
Andy mocks people who are worried about his cats.
Andy solicits commissions and contacts from people in LA.
May 22
Despite his history of body-shaming people of all sizes, Andy opines on people's right to feel attractive.
May 25
Andy solicits Krystina Arielle for recommendations of black D&D players for a friend to follow on Twitter. After he gets some replies, he responds by posturing about what a great ally he is.
In contrast to his tweet from May 22, Andy denigrates people who like to tan.
May 27
While driving to LA with his father, Andy tweets a Supernatural reference.
May 29
On Tumblr, Meg posts two pieces of fanart that Andy has done for her Critical Role fic.
May 31
Andy arrives in LA.
June 1
Andy meets up with his host, Molly, who has agreed to let him stay in her house for a week. He ends up staying longer than that without even asking her permission, telling people that her house is his "home base" for the summer and that he will be staying with other people only if he's making commissions for them.
While staying with Molly, Andy will, among other things:
June 2
As a self-identified cisgender, heterosexual man, Andy feels it is permissible for him to use the word "dyke".
Andy tweets that all men are taught to be rapists. This feels like yet another attempt to excuse or explain away his history of sexual assault and abuse, despite the fact that Andy was AFAB and raised as a girl.
After getting some pushback on the previous tweet, Andy calls everyone who disagrees with him a sea lion who is denying the existence of rape culture and toxic masculinity.
June 4
Andy humblebrags about how knowledgeable he is.
June 5
Andy lectures white costumers on working for POC clients.
June 9
Andy perpetuates stereotypes about Latina women.
June 12
The Stickening occurs: Andy deliberately sticks a branch of Molly's orange tree into his hair, breaks it off, and then uses it in an attempt to get attention first from Molly, then from her fiancé, and finally from Twitter, all while humblebragging about his allegedly high IQ.
Andy solicits commissions from people attending the Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball, particularly people who are POC, trans, drag performers, or disabled—and especially if they're internet famous so they can promote him on social media.
June 15
Andy tweets that he would be honored to work for a company like Nerdist, which partners with Geek & Sundry, which (as of June 2018) broadcasts Critical Role.
A friend of Molly's remembers Andy from the Lord of the Rings fandom. She sends Molly and her fiancé a very long and detailed text about Andy's history. Molly was extremely uncomfortable and unhappy with his behavior, and this text affirms for her that he is not someone she wants in her home. She contacts her fiancé and a couple of other friends, who place Andy's belongings neatly in the front yard and wait for him to return to the house. When he does, they inform him that he needs to return his key, pack up his car, leave immediately, and never contact them again.
Andy posts about what happened on Facebook. See my analysis of this post here and here.
June 17
Andy makes a lengthy Facebook post (1|2|3|4|5|6) in an attempt to refute everything the Andy Awareness bloggers and anon communities have ever said about him. See my analysis of this post here.
Some of Andy's friends create the Andrew Blake FAQ Facebook page, which they say is intended to "provide an accurate accounting" of who Andy is, to counter the "cyberbullying" they say he is suffering. Their first post repeats some of Andy's same points from earlier in the day.
June 18
Molly shares her side of the story on Twitter.
Andy's friends begin posting "testimonials" about their experiences with him to the FAQ page. In total, there will be five of these posted: one from Chris (1|2|3|4), one from Meg (1|2), two from people who have known Andy for a couple of years (one of whom appears to have met him only once), and one from someone who hasn’t known him for very long and has never met him. They respond to specific issues that Molly has raised and some make a point of highlighting what an excellent houseguest he was when he stayed with them. Andy's ex-friend Winjennster comments to correct some misinformation given in Chris's testimonial, but Chris deletes her comments.
June 19
In her testimonial, one of Andy's friends has repeated the lie, which has been repeatedly debunked, that Andy was a minor when Abbey met him. Instead of ceding the point, she doubles down when Abbey tells her that Andy was eighteen when they met online and nineteen when they met in person. She victim-blames Abbey, and by implication, everyone else who’s been involved in either of Andy’s cults. Other friends of Andy’s join in over the next week, accusing Abbey of victimizing Andy and going so far as to say that she "smuggle[d] [him] across the country and use[d] [him] as the figurehead of a cult"! It becomes clear that they believe that Andy did very little wrong and that his abusive behavior ended when he and Abbey broke up, that they haven’t read much (if any) of Abbey’s posts detailing her experiences with Andy, and that they have absolutely no interest in anything that might challenge their rose-tinted view of him.
June 24
Molly posts about Andy on Facebook (since screened or deleted). In the comments, she reveals that Andy did not have a job in LA, as he said he did. He was told that he could come in to work for someone on an as-needed basis. There was no regularity to his schedule and no agreed-upon number of hours, and his “employer” did not consider it to be an actual job. So when he said that he had a job and housing in LA for the whole summer, Andy was lying, or at least stretching the truth beyond all reasonable bounds. Andy's "employer" has informed him she will no longer be giving him work because she's heard about his past. She has also said that he vastly over-represented his skills when applying to work for her. Andy's friend Chris shows up in the comments on this post to defend Andy and demand "rock solid proof" of Molly's and her friends' accusations against him. It is evident from what Chris says that Andy has not been honest with his friends about what happened in LA. Chris will spend the next couple of weeks continuing to defend Andy on his own Tumblr.
July 3
Molly posts on tf-talk to clear up some misconceptions and answers a few questions there.
July 6
A friend of Molly's posts her own chronology of events.
Andy emails me as follows (emphasis mine):
I would like to extend an apology to Molly and anyone else who has felt wronged or harmed in any way by me during my time in LA, but have been unsure of how to do that in a way that would not violate Chris’ request to not contact any member of “his family”, which I took to mean her and the extended friend circle as well. You are the only person of whom I am aware who has contact with her who would not fall into that category in any way, and I do not want to default to making it a public apology as I do not want it to be seen as a PR effort but as a sincere personal gesture. Would you be willing to let her know that I would like to apologize to her and her friends and to ask her if she is willing to allow that and if so in what form she would like it (personal email, phone call, in person visit, public post, private post, text, etc)?
Further, if you know of anyone else who feels they have been wronged by me who would like an apology, I am more than willing to be placed in contact. I am not a particularly savvy internet sleuth and have done the best I can to reach out over the last several years to those whom I have known have felt harmed who have not asked me to leave them alone, but my success rate of finding or contacting them has not been great.
I would also like to apologize for any drama or harassment caused by Chris C[redacted] or anyone else acting “on my behalf.” Although I gave my friends permission to post their own page describing their personal experiences with me, I specifically and repeatedly have asked that they not argue with anyone else’s personal account of me or engage/harass/argue with with the Andy Awareness bloggers. Anyone who is doing so is doing so against what I have explicitly asked.
I reply:
I don't think it would be appropriate for me to reach out to anyone on your behalf, especially those who have asked that you not contact them again. If you want to apologize, I would recommend that you make a public post. The reasons that your previous apology posts have been perceived as insincere has nothing to do with their having been made publicly.
Andy responds:
I will either let the matter go completely unless requested otherwise then, or perhaps make some form of public apology statement. It will require a great deal of thought in terms of the course of action that will be most appropriate for those I hurt, because I want to do what is best for them.
July 7
Andy posts the following to tf-talk (since deleted):
I’ve never posted here before, but I frankly cannot think of any other way to do this as I no longer have a Tumblr and don’t want to start a new one.
I said that I was willing to do whatever was asked of me to do right by those I most recently hurt. One of the requests that was made (others were made that I am still working on) was to make specific amends with those I hurt in the past. I have tried this before, but a great deal of time has passed and I’m trying again. I am not going to just make a blanket public post because it would either have to be so general as to be meaningless or so specific that it would very likely be an invasion of privacy for people I have already harmed. I have reached out again to Abbey with an offer of apology, am doing so for others whose contact info I can find, and although I do not have a way to contact any of the following people (in some cases because I do not remember their full real names or know where they are now) I want to offer my apologies to them and urge them to contact me at [redacted] if they would be willing to receive a personal public or private apology:
[List of names redacted]
Anyone else who has been offended, hurt, or wronged by me in any way at any time
This is not an attempt to start any kind of debate or to engage with anything else posted here. Again, it is simply the only forum I could think of that might reach my past victims in accordance with the request made by those I have recently wronged. If you know of a more appropriate place to post it, I would appreciate being made aware.
Andrew Blake
Andy makes two public apology posts on Facebook: a relatively brief one, and a longer one addressing specific points raised by the people whom his bad behavior in LA directly affected. He tweets links to these posts as well. In the longer apology, he begins by repeating his old refrain that he can't make "specific and direct apologies" to everyone he's harmed in the past because he either can't find them or has been asked not to contact them. He encourages anyone who has "felt hurt" by him to reach out so that he can apologize personally. He blames lack of social skills (despite having run two cults) and improv training ("yes-and") for his actions while among Molly's friend group. When he moves on to apologizing in specific detail, Andy indicates that he is relying on other people's accounts of what he did wrong, which suggests that he still has not taken ownership of his actions. These apologies are rife with minimization (e.g., "I was a messy houseguest" and "my work on K's costume was not satisfying") and twisting of facts ("I gave inappropriately large or intimate gifts and gestures"). Andy glosses over his constant pushing for Molly to introduce him to the Critical Role cast as "I pushed too hard to be introduced to people, included in events, opportunities, or social groups". He also claims that he doesn't remember telling various lies and has no idea why he would have done so, suggesting that he just wasn't paying attention to what he or the other person was saying, which is absurd. Within three weeks, he has deleted or screened both apology posts.
Andy goes quiet for a long time after this. At some point, he returns to Virginia.
November 6
Andy posts an "I voted" photo in which his overall look is very similar to Taliesin's, suggesting that he is still fixated on him.
December 12
On tf-talk, an anon shares a detailed description of what it was like for them to be love-bombed by Andy. Many of Andy's old behavior patterns are evident in their post.
2019
January 29
Andy contacts one of Molly's friends via the one social media account on which she had forgotten to block him, to assure her that he isn't stalking her. See my analysis of this message here.
February 6
Andy is required to tweet something for school, then returns to his "previously scheduled lack of being". At some point between now and March 18, he makes both his Twitter and his Instagram private and his online resume goes down.
May 11
Andy announces on Facebook that he has graduated from VCU.
May 17
Andy tweets photos of his VCU tattoo and of himself at graduation.
June 22ish
Andy and Meg move to LA.
June 27
Andy lists two dresses that he made on Etsy, one of which is his Daenerys Targaryen inspired Victorian ballgown. He claims in the description that it was only worn once for grading purposes, omitting the fact that he had Meg wear it to Katsucon.
July 12
Andy posts some photos to a "Portfolio" album on Facebook, including one in which he has painted one of Mollymauk's tattoos on himself and Photoshopped a pointed ear.
August 12
Andy offers the two dresses for sale on Facebook.
August 13
Andy makes a Facebook post that indicates that he has a regular job.
September 7
Andy posts a meme on Facebook. It reads, "If I ever tell you about my past, it's never because I want you to feel sorry for me, but so you can understand why I am who I am."
September 11
Andy posts on Facebook about his past as a "disaster drama" who blew up his own life and some other people's and allegedly believed the government was surveilling him. He laughs at the idea that "a bunch of people, almost certainly including some variation of government" are watching him now.
September 16
Continuing his fixation on redemption arcs, Andy posts a meme that reads, "I'm slowly becoming the person I should've been a long time ago."
September 21
When "Aaron [sic] Eisenberg" passes away, Andy takes the opportunity to post about his character from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
October 5
Andy posts a meme that says, "I apologize if I ever was a toxic person in your life, I'm maturing more everyday, correcting my wrongs and slowly but surely becoming a better version of me."
October 9
Andy posts about his hairstyle, claiming that he uses it as a means of expressing opposition to “exploitative capitalism and kyriarchy”, as well as cis- and heteronormativity. Other than the length, his hair and overall look are strikingly similar to Taliesin Jaffe's. In the pictures attached to this post, he reveals a Mollymauk-inspired tattoo: a peacock feather with the text, "Leave it better than you found it".
October 15
Andy humblebrags about his allegedly wide range of knowledge.
October 25
Andy broadcasts a client's size on Facebook.
November 4
Andy reposts a picture of a piece of drapery created and originally posted by a Japanese artist (translated). He asks if anyone would like a gown with an overlay pleated to look like a skeleton, as in the picture. Andy does not mention that it is not his original idea or creation.
Andy starts a new Instagram account for his costuming work. In his bio, he claims to be 705 eligible (that is, eligible to join the Local 705 Motion Picture Costumers Union based on the number of hours he has worked on union jobs).
Andy reposts an old picture of one of his Hunger Games cosplays to his new costuming Instagram, recasting it as a "glam rock look".
On Facebook, Andy postures about being more culturally aware and less basic than other people.
Andy posts on Facebook about having worked on costumes for The Little Mermaid Live.
November 8
Andy posts a meme that says, "Never be a prisoner of your past. It was just a lesson, not a life sentence."
November 10
Andy posts a meme about people who only know "old versions" of him and nothing about who he is now. Andy posts a lot of memes about people changing, not being held back by the past, redemption arcs, et al; I am including only about a third of them.
November 11
On his costuming Instagram, Andy posts pictures (1|2|3|4) of a dress he has made for a commission based on the photo he posted on November 4—which, again, was not his work. He fails to credit the original artist or to acknowledge that the drapery design is not original to him.
November 16
Andy denigrates Eastern European women.
November 26
Andy posts pictures of several small tooled leather pieces he has made, including one based on Mollymauk: a peacock feather with the text, "Be the chaos".
November 30
Andy posts pictures of himself in a new coat he's made and a hoodie he's refurbished to look like Mollymauk's coat.
December 5
Andy posts about Critical Role and Discworld.
December 14
Not for the first time, Andy posts (1|2) that he has nothing to say as an artist/creative person, but that he's great at working to other people's specifications and with other people's designs.
December 31
Andy attends a New Year's Eve event dressed "halfway between Mollymauk and the Emcee from Cabaret".
2020
January 1
On Facebook, Andy claims that his acting cocky and confident, as well as the way he responds to compliments, are just coping mechanisms for his "crippling insecurity and fear of being considered full of [him]self".
January 24
When a number of his clients have severe personal and family problems—up to and including death—and some other projects get postponed, Andy makes it all about him.
Andy claims that someone has sent something "extremely inappropriate" to his father with the intent of causing Andy harm.
February 23
Andy posts that his employer has granted him a space to build his own "fully tricked out personal fabrication workshop".
February 24
In the midst of a public post about something else, Andy lets slip that he and Meg are engaged.
February 27
Andy posts a meme about walking away from "people who put you down…[and] fights that will never be resolved."
February 28
Andy posts a quotation misattributed to C. S. Lewis: "You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending."
March 4
Andy posts a picture of the mask he made for his Percy de Rolo costume, suggesting that he would make something like it to protect him against COVID-19.
March 14
Andy designs a t-shirt that says, "I PROMISE IT'S ALLERGIES," and offers it for sale on teespring.
April 6
Andy posts an obviously filtered photo of his face and complains about his "ridiculous bullshit anime eyes". In the comments, one of his friends says, "This explains a lot about your past," because "…some people are susceptible to big anime eyes."
April 17
Andy posts a painting on his costuming Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. He tags it "#plaguedoctor", but it bears a striking resemblance to sketches he's drawn of Percy's mask from Critical Role.
April 24
Andy tweets at Tim Russ, the actor who played Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager.
May 7
Andy posts on Facebook about the anniversary of Brittany's murder, calling her "someone [he] cared about very deeply".
May 12
Andy tweets at Robert Picardo, who played the Emergency Medical Hologram on Star Trek: Voyager.
May 13
Andy claims that someone is using his contact info and picture in various "fetish spaces".
May 30
Andy postures about being a great ally and very smart.
June 1
Andy tags 52 of his friends in LA and asks for a place to stay during the Black Lives Matter protests so that he can participate without putting Megan or their housemate at risk. This never pans out.
June 2
Andy lectures Twitter on how best to support black-owned fashion. Ironically, he tells people that "'black girl magic' AAVE slogans…are not for you" despite having tweeted exactly that phrase multiple times in the past.
June 8
Andy tweets at Jeri Ryan, who played Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager.
June 17
Andy posts that he and Meg are now legally married, although they won't have the ceremony until December 18.
June 19
During quarantine, Andy shames people for DIY haircuts. When a friend calls him out on it, he backpedals and tags another friend as an appeal to authority.
June 22
Andy tweets at Sarah Silverman.
June 23
Andy tweets at Tim Russ again. He also reposts it to Facebook.
June 24
Andy tweets at the band They Might Be Giants.
July 24
In the midst of making a decent point about people with specialized, niche skillsets, Andy name-drops and flatters several of his friends and professional connections.
July 25
In a Facebook post, Andy tags Michael Westmore, who did makeup on several Star Trek series.
Andy posts pictures of one of his GISHWHES items on Facebook. When a friend asks for context, he goes out of his way to avoid any mention of GISHWHES.
Andy denigrates women who don't wear sunscreen.
August 9
Andy posts pictures of a friend in costumes that he made on a thread about black women in fantasy photography. These pictures are later featured in a BoredPanda post.
Andy tweets at comics writer Gail Simone.
August 11
September 2
Andy claims that the early 2000s internet and social media did a lot of damage to him.
Andy tags The Rock in a tweet.
September 16
Andy replies to a tweet by Jeri Ryan.
September 22
Andy claims that he was put in Colonial Williamsburg's "African American program" when he worked for them as a child.
September 28
In a Facebook group, someone posts that they hired Andy to fix up a dress for an upcoming event, they paid him, and he ghosted them for almost eight months as they made repeated attempts to contact him. Andy blames executive dysfunction, saying that the dress has been done for months, but was accidentally put into storage when he and Meg moved. He says that he’s just sent the customer a 300% refund and will ship them the dress the next day.
October 13
Andy posts a meme that reads (punctuation and spelling changed for readability), "Did you know that some people hate you because somebody lied to them about you?" He claims to have PTSD because of this.
December 13
On his costuming Instagram, Andy says that the dress with drapery that he ripped off from a Japanese artist has been featured in a Japanese fashion magazine.
December 28
Andy and Meg buy a condo together.
2021
February 26
Andy posts about radical compassion.
March 3
Andy posts a meme that reads, "imagine how many people dislike you because they didn't hear your side of the story". His friends respond sympathetically.
March 12
Andy tweets about how smart he is and what a lonely childhood he had.
March 13
Andy, who blamed his own problematic behavior in 2018 on lack of social skills and reliance on improv training, tweets that there is no excuse for "racist/sexist/homophobic/transphobic/etc." behavior.
March 23
Andy tweets about Brittany's murder, referring to her as his "previous partner".
March 24
Andy tweets about making costumes for people other than "size 0 white ciswomen". One of the models whose picture he includes is someone whom he repeatedly bodyshamed during the bodypainting process.
March 25
Andy makes an extremely performative tweet about being friends with "women, non-binary queer [people],… gay men," and sex workers, all of whom are "FULLY PEOPLE" to him.
March 27
On Twitter, Andy claims that having ADHD taught him "to casually lie A LOT", and that this combined with "bad self esteem, trauma, and people pleasing" explains his long history of dishonesty. He also blames "the tendency of [neurotypical] ppl to read manipulation into statements meant literally".
March 28
Andy says that he was just diagnosed with ADHD, despite having claimed that diagnosis as far back as 2013. He says that other diagnoses "didn't last", but it isn't clear which he's referring to.
Andy speaks authoritatively about fatness and fatphobia.
March 31
Having gotten some pushback, Andy "clarifies" his March 27 tweets about ADHD. Now he says that it didn't directly cause his lying, but that ADHD has "put [him] in a lot of situations where [he] got in trouble and honest explanations were rejected," causing him to develop "a habit of small, reflexive lies" that has been difficult to stop.
On Transgender Day of Visibility, Andy tweets about being AFAB and not identifying with "trans" as a label. He blames his history of misogyny and some other past problematic behaviors on "psychiatric gatekeeping". Most significantly, he suggests that he is not actually a rapist, but labeled himself as such because he was not out to all of his past sexual partners and bought into TERF rhetoric about that. Again, Diamond has clearly stated that she never consented to have sex with Andy, and that is what makes him a rapist.
April 13
Andy claims that he "almost died of the grief" when his relationship with Abbey ("the worst relationship of [his] life") ended.
Andy tweets about how knowledgeable he allegedly is on a wide variety of subjects.
April 15
On Twitter, Andy claims, "I started formal apologetics when I had baby teeth."
May 2
Andy lectures people on how to make things for people of color without perpetuating harm.
May 6
Andy tweets and posts on Facebook about the tenth anniversary of Brittany's murder, referring to her as his partner.
July 2
In response to someone's asking on Twitter, "What older man would you seduce?" Andy claims to have been hit on by Sir Ian McKellen. He says, "I *almost* considered it just for the Say I Did factor," which is gross. See my commentary on this tweet here.
July 8
Andy tweets about "learning that MANY of your fuckups are due to being [neurodivergent]".
September
Andy's tweet of the GISHWHES picture of Meg wearing an outfit made entirely of toast goes mildly viral.
September 25
Andy retweets Kate Mulgrew, who played Captain Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager.
September 30
Andy claims that people only think he's manipulative because being neurodivergent means that he fails to grasp social cues and doesn't recognize when people are telling "social lies".
October 3
Andy tweets about Brittany again.
October 7
Andy makes fun of Eastern European women.
October 10
Andy tweets that he is "filming with Walter Koenig", who played Chekov on Star Trek: TOS.
November 5
Andy tweets about Critical Role.
2022
February 18
Sometime between November and this date, Andy changes his tagline on Twitter to "Just A Simple Artificer", a reference to Garak from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. See this reblog and this response to an ask for my thoughts on the significance of that.
July 6
Andy tweets a checklist and a chart (1|2|3) that he's made for Meg to use when she's feeling "distressed". Some of the instructions (e.g. "Bathroom: go to the bathroom") are so basic and obvious that they feel patronizing; others have to do with issues too complicated to cover in a simple chart.
August 13
On Facebook, Andy posts that he was out of work for all of July for medical reasons and that the entire household (him, Meg, and their housemate) currently has COVID-19.
August 20
Andy says that everyone is now COVID-negative.
August 21
Andy says that he is suffering from brain fog as a result of COVID-19.
September 1
Andy tweets about the definition of love bombing, something that he has done to many people.
September 2
Andy says that COVID has left him with brain damage.
September 30
Andy tweets about how sad he is that he's "accidentally hurt" people by saying or doing things he wasn't aware were "predatory dog whistles". He prefaces this by stating that he is neurodivergent, was homeschooled, and worked at Colonial Williamsburg as a child, in contrast to the "very queer and women-dominated art spaces" he operates in now.
October 3
On Facebook, Andy says that long COVID is preventing him from working.
October 8
Without a trace of self-awareness, Andy tweets about how silly it is that some people identify so strongly with Hogwarts houses.
December
Andy and Meg have their wedding with family and friends.
December 6
This is the last day Andy is able to work due to complications from long COVID.
2023
January 7
Meg tweets that Andy has been bedridden for over two weeks with COVID.
Andy tweets that he is having some kind of eye problem due to COVID.
January 30
Andy tells his COVID story on Facebook (1|2). He says that he's been "just shy of fully bedbound…for six weeks".
April 18
Andy has been posting about dental issues resulting from COVID, saying that opportunistic infections have led to his needing extensive oral surgery. Today, he says that the infection has been halted, but not before destroying significant portions of the bone in one side of his upper and lower jaw. He states that "portions of [his] face are as fragile as the finest porcelain teacups" and that the infection came within 1mm of entering his brain.
April 19
On Twitter, Andy says that he's had a couple of things go viral and doesn't know how to feel about having gained so many new followers. "The more you're seen the more ugliness, the more shit gets out of hand," he says.
Andy tweets about how smart he is and the importance of admitting when you don't know something. He says, essentially, that he ended up leading two separate cults because he was just too smart and "[his] whole identity, [his] worth was wrapped up in being the Smart Kid," so he lied and manipulated rather than ever admitting that he didn't know something. He claims that because he couldn't just let himself not have all the answers, "[his] brain [would] FIND patterns and supply them, GRAB answers offered & make them work, & [his] confidence in them [would] make others believe." This absolves Andy of a lot of responsibility for what he did and severely minimizes the harm that he did to other people.
April 20
Andy changes his Twitter handle from @AndrewMBlake to @CraftyCatDad.
Andy says he's a kind person because "[he's] both seen cruelty and people have been cruel to [him]", eliding the fact that he has been cruel to many others.
April 23
Andy makes his Twitter private for a while after a thread goes viral.
April 26
On Facebook, Andy says that his T-cell count is 180, "aka similar to an advanced AIDS patient".
April 28
By now, Andy's Twitter is no longer private. He tweets and posts on Facebook about a sparrow hatchling that he and Meg have taken in and are attempting to raise.
April 29
Andy claims that he changed his Twitter name because he's "gonna scrap w bigots" and it's too dangerous to put his full name out there.
May 1
Andy thanks people for not retweeting Nuggie (the sparrow) because he doesn't want it to go viral.
May 8
A Twitter thread of Andy's (1|2|3|4) about how cisgender people get gender dysphoria goes viral on both Twitter and Tumblr. In the context of his history, this is disturbing.
May 12
Andy repeats that he changed his Twitter name to keep himself and Meg safe.
May 13
Andy tweets that he has been out of and away from fandom for over five years and it was definitely the right choice.
Andy indirectly responds to this post about him (1|2|3), claiming that some of what's being said about him is true, "some is conjecture, some is exaggerated, some is 20+ year game of telephone false." He claims that he's been "outed/deadnamed across half of Tumblr/Twitter" and that people are implying that his not disclosing his transness is a "'deception' [and] proof that [he's] Up to Something or Deviously Hiding [His] Past". As noted in this post of mine, no one that I am aware of has deadnamed Andy or claimed that his trans status is a "deception", and this feels like yet another misdirection on his part.
May 15
In response to this reblog of my post, Andy tweets about journalists who deny outing, misgendering, and deadnaming people while linking to sources that do just that. As has been repeatedly noted, and as the writer states in the linked post, it is impossible to talk about Andy's history without mentioning his former names and aliases, some of which were feminine.
May 19
Andy retweets a meme that reads, "You will always be the bad guy when the wrong person tells your story."
Andy tweets that he is making his Twitter private because someone on "one of the scarier troll boards" is posting about him and suggesting that he might use Nuggie to lure children. I have no idea what this is in reference to, as I do not visit any such boards.
Andy follows up (1|2|3), saying that this person has posted his full name and social media and is calling him "a pedo, groomer, and predator". He tells someone that he's made the LAPD aware in case he gets swatted. He further states that he is considered a "lolcow" because of the fallout from a "psychotic break" in his late teens, and describes some of his "beliefs" from the Bag Enders and DAYD eras.
May 24
Although he and Meg had intended to free Nuggie, and then discussed rehoming him when the extent of his disability became apparent, Andy says that they are now planning to keep him (1|2). He gets his Twitter followers to buy all the supplies they need faster than I've ever seen anyone crowdfund anything.
May 25
Andy says that he used to do "street corner tarot and cold reading" to make money. (Context: he has lost his keys, and having failed to find them anywhere, has requested supernatural assistance.)
Andy posts a Discworld thread (1|2|3).
July 5
Andy explains Brittany's murder to someone on Twitter. He calls her his "former girlfriend", despite what he has previously claimed about their aversion to that word.
July 14
July 20
Andy creates an Instagram (@craftycatdadmakes) for the embroidery that he is currently selling on Twitter. He never posts anything there.
July 26
Andy turns 40.
August 6
Andy tweets, "You can never win fighting against the version of you in someone else's head, because they can shift to whatever that person wants to be true about them, and you can only be yourself." In other words, he can't prove that any of the things people say about him are wrong, but that's our fault, not his.
August 20
Andy retweets something mocking the idea of "people pleasers" (which he has long claimed to be) being manipulators.
August 26
Andy floats the idea of selling Nuggie merch. Later, he posts a poll about whether he should make and sell Nuggie pins.
September 27
Andy complains about people trying to "decode" completely innocuous things that he says.
October 23
December 7
Andy tweets about his COVID anniversary.
December 15
Andy tweets about everything that COVID has taken from him.
December 17
Andy retweets, "You're allowed to unlearn who you've been if it isn't who you are or want to be anymore".
December 25
Andy retweets a meme that reads, "My therapist told me yesterday: some people (esp family) will choose to remember and recognize only the version of you that they held the most power over, no matter how long it's been or how much you've changed."
2024
January 8
Andy tweets videos of Nuggie singing and tags Coldplay and MGMT.
Andy tweets that the above videos "got algorithmed". Instead of fretting about going viral again, he points people to his timeline for more.
January 18
Andy posts another Nuggie video and tags Josh Ritter.
January 24
Andy says that taking care of the house, him, and their pets is all on Meg now because of his long COVID.
February 6
Andy tweets about Tracy Chapman's outfit at the Grammy Awards. His commentary goes viral.
February 7
Andy says that he didn't expect the Tracy Chapman tweet to get so much attention and makes his Twitter private for a while.
February 11
Andy requests help from local people for Meg to catch up on household tasks (1|2). He posts his PayPal for people to contribute toward paying for the service or for their cooking ingredients.
February 12
Andy tweets, "I'm not any kind of influencer but my bird and my cat are and tbh that's as it should be."
February 22
Andy makes a couple of tweets that suggest that he doesn't really neg or fetishize people, as has often been said in the past; it's just that he genuinely finds beauty in things that are "culturally vilified".
February 23
Meg tweets that Andy helped her self-diagnose with autism. This is worrying, given his long history of diagnosing people with a variety of psychiatric problems they didn't really have.
February 27
Andy tweets that he "effectively" led two separate cults by accident because of an “echo chamber” that affirmed his erroneous beliefs, when all he really wanted to do was help people (1|2|3). He suggests that his hiding the fact that he was trans made him especially prone to going off the rails and ending up as a cult leader somehow. Twice. He warns people to be wary of an individual claiming to have “a Great World-Changing-Reality-Shifting TRUTH” as if that’s what he did from the start. See Abbey's blog and my cultbuilding tag for information on how Andy actually drew people in to his cults. As pointed out in this Tumblr post, his advice doesn't even make any sense.
February 29
Andy reposts a tweet about people misinterpreting others' words and getting angry about them for no reason.
March 10
Despite having professed distress about the attention he got for his Tracy Chapman tweet, Andy decides to post commentary on people's outfits for the Oscars. His tweet about America Ferrera goes viral.
Andy asks how to "shut down" a tweet without removing it or locking his account, turns off comments, then deletes it anyway, saying, "I just don't like that much attention."
March 12
Andy asks for advice on setting up a work-from-home business without attracting more attention to himself. He later posts a bio and list of services that he's put together.
March 14
Andy tweets that he's just finished his first costume consultation.
March 15
Andy says, "I've taken 'overinvested in fictional universes/characters' to literally pathological levels in my past," and says that can hurt real people.
Andy tweets at Eugene Yang, supposedly on behalf of his mother.
March 17
Andy complains that another tweet has gone "'way too viral'".
Andy says that he has an opportunity to get a job developing a curriculum "to get cosplayers and garment workers into professional union entertainment costuming."
March 19
Andy tweets again about not being an influencer.
Andy says that another post has gone over his "too viral" limit.
A member of an IATSE costume union contacts me about the potential job Andy mentioned on March 17. They have checked with Local 705, the union for which Andy says he is eligible, and they have said that a) he is not a member, and b) they do not endorse paid programs for costumer training. This makes that potential job sound rather sketchy.
Andy posts more information about the job, which he says is for a non-profit organization. His wording in these tweets is very careful: he says people who go through the curriculum will be ready to seek employment and pursue union membership, which is different from what he previously suggested. He shares a cleaner, more readable version of his bio and list of services (1|2|3|4|5|6).
March 20
Andy posts a long thread (1|2|3) about how building a following on social media is essential to his survival as a person with a disability who can't work, how fucked up that is, and how he has to balance that with not wanting to draw too much attention to himself.
March 26
Andy says that another tweet has gone too viral and has been deleted.
April 3
Andy says that his potential job is currently on hold.
Andy says that he used to have a problem with lying that ruined his and others' lives, and now he's struggling with "the temptation to break [his] truth sobriety" for the sake of getting a work-from-home job with flexible hours.
Andy posts a thread lecturing people on how to apologize and the difference between reasons and excuses (1|2|3|4|5). See this post for an excellent breakdown of the thread and the many problems with it.
![many people "consider [him] to be a transgendered man,"](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://i.imgur.com/MoJG1tP.png&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1791675040425123&usg=AOvVaw2C8VnOFU2RC6djid9orAHF){kind=link}
![his friends are "fighting about [him]"](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://i.imgur.com/CEwkIgM.png&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1791675040485527&usg=AOvVaw2mokZCCtE8EH4aaLPeUIV5){kind=link}
!["all [his] most precious belongings from [his] entire life"](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://i.imgur.com/vePzBTt.png?1&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1791675040635645&usg=AOvVaw3Sf82lq2P242Ipm10kc2p_){kind=link}
![all of DAYDverse is "perfectly set out in [his] head"](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://i.imgur.com/zZz3f2O.png&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1791675040710526&usg=AOvVaw0bjRtq_jwAaSmnpNlGUp2m){kind=link}
![he "would probably make out with most of [them]."](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://i.imgur.com/oBrOKeJ.png?1&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1791675040727266&usg=AOvVaw2Z9ut-kYFXiut3-9lsCS1k){kind=link}
![tequila takes away all [his] mouth filters](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://i.imgur.com/N6i6aiM.png?1&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1791675040867604&usg=AOvVaw2jjlkFIvpzsD13gXLhH7Fw){kind=link}
![really [doesn't] want to watch without a pack](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://i.imgur.com/ioZEoMY.png&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1791675041362075&usg=AOvVaw3MqliQ0vHTiw_VydDMUa_-){kind=link}
![smuggle[d] [him] across the country and use[d] [him] as the figurehead of a cult](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://i.imgur.com/Ly0VM2m.png&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1791675041727760&usg=AOvVaw31RPOImbX7F4VhWQ-iTDf7){kind=link}
