The Crimes of Andy Blake

[@artfulsam]

It's interesting hearing people say they had no idea Andy was in the HP fandom, because that was ALL I knew him from about a decade and a half ago. I actually read DYAD-- I was about eleven or twelve at the time, with an unimaginably strong Harry Potter special interest, (and, as a clumsy, picked-on, forgetful, neurodivergent kid, was very, very attached to Neville Longbottom, the main character of the fic,) and absolutely obsessed with fics that explored what that final year at Hogwarts was like for those who stayed and restarted Dumbledore's army. As a naive kid, I thought it was the most incredible piece of fiction I had ever read, and I wasn't the only one. I think it's important to know that this fic was /big/ in the Harry Potter fandom, and I mean BIG. Only in certain circles, yeah, but... well, to this day it has a long, intensely specific TVTropes page and, more remarkably, and a GoodReads page with 446 ratings and 69 full-length reviews, with a rating of 4.2 stars-- again, for a /fanfic./ This isn't to deride fanfic as a medium-- I write it myself-- but your average fic does not get a GoodReads page, especially not one with actual engagement. It's been reposted, archived, and printed into physical copies. People completely unaware of Andy's abuse still go on forums like Reddit to ask, "Hey, whatever happened to this fic, where can I reread it?" This is of course not the important part of this story-- the victims are, and making sure that Andy never gets this power again is what should be taken from retellings of his cults-- but for anyone curious about the fic, I reread it a few years ago in quarantine out of curiosity. (This was after learning how abysmal a person Andy was, partially because I was just a little shocked that this fic I remembered fondly from my childhood had been written by such an abusive person.) Anyway, from a now-adult-perspective, the fic isn't very good. It's very dramatic, relatively well-written, and has some very solid moments and instances of fun dialogue, so I more than understand why people were hooked on it back in the day, but it's really not great. Andy's misogyny, mentioned by David, shines through. The male characters, including Neville, all had this uncomfortably chivalrous bravado and huge rippling muscles, all the women are frail or motherly, soft and curvaceous. Women also were treated like a hive-mind who can communicate in ways men will Just Never Understand... usually meaning they could spread rumors well and were all attuned to each others' romantic interests. Andy seemed to think that the only way to show how bad the Death Eaters' control of Hogwarts was to have the torture of the students be as graphic and gory as possible, including methods like beatings, whippings, and violent sexual assaults. (Towards Lavender Brown, of course, because the fandom really hates Lavender Brown. And of course the assault is more about all the guys in the DA getting revenge on her attackers, not on Lavender's actual well-being.) There's also, of course, Doctor Hans Belsen-- yes, like Bergen-Belsen, the concentration camp, as Doctor Belsen is very clearly at least loosely based off of Mengele-- who tortures the children he teaches so horrifically that their friends will occasionally try to euthanize them midway through the sessions as an act of mercy. There's excessive gore, with people getting throats slashed, brains exposed, and kids literally being reduced to piles of clothes and viscera. The DA becoming child soldiers-- like real, "willing to die for the cause, hardened enough to be making jokes about how they won't make it out of this" child soldiers is glamorized. Not in a sanitized, shiny way-- again, lots of gore-- but in a They're Such Martyrs way. The only member to call this out and say that this has gone too far is treated like a traitorous strawman. Neville, who is of course the Real Leader of the DA because Luna and Ginny, as girls, couldn't possibly be equally in charge, becomes more and more of an absolute jackass the further the story goes, but that's okay and even noble and necessary because, y'know, War. Death is cheap and Andy uses shock to draw out emotions constantly. The only arguably effective one is the death of Renny, a young Slytherin who joins the DA despite his family and house supporting Voldemort, who gets tortured and then has his whole family killed as a result, and that's only really impactful because of the build-up and because, again, he's very young, so there's even some shock content there. Everyone whose nationality isn't English-British-- and probably upper/middle class English-- is stereotyped to Hell and back. It goes beyond "not knowing how to write other cultures" into something that sometimes feels like malice, even if I actually do genuinely think it was wild ignorance. I'm not the most qualified to talk about this, but it was... noticeable. People talk in monologues constantly. Some are good. Many are not. With brutal punishments, secret weddings, even more secret pregnancies, teen drama mixed with gritty war conflict and constant melodramatic moments, I get why it drew people in, but god is it.... something. Anyway, it's a weird fic in itself and learning the history of the author for the first time was bizarre. I never interacted with Andy, I don't think. If I did, it was a basic interaction like writing a review of the fic. As a depressed kid with a (non-terminal) heart condition and a penchant for magical thinking, I'm just very grateful that I never went deeper than reading his fic, and I'm so sorry to people who were hurt by this creep.

[@DavidMChannel]

oh my gosh its somehow worse than I expected. That's INSANE lmao thank you for telling us this, my curiosity has been sated. It's crazy how popular the fic was, I can't even fathom that.

[@cyberpilate]

Thank you for this summary!

[@artfulsam]

@@DavidMChannel No problem! Apparently the second fic is even more deranged and explicit in its shock content, along with using the actual historical Troubles as a backdrop, which seems wildly disrespectful. It's wild to think about how big this fic was in certain Potter circles. I haven't interacted with that fandom since Rowling started showing "middle aged moments" signs of TERFdom, and have avoided HP stuff since she became and out-and-proud TERF, but I know that for many Potter fic readers in the late 2000's-early 2010's, this fic genuinely was a very known entity, which is just wild to think about when you consider how incredibly brutal it was.

[@kiogenic]

I’m incredibly curious as to what the plot was and would love to hear someone talk about it and break it apart. I know I could just find a reupload but my god I don’t think I have the strength but I’m incredibly morbidly curious

[@danimoth9449]

You could have easily made a 6-hour video on Andy, so the fact that you managed to condense everything down to an hour and still hit all the major points is incredible. Kudos. And yeah, there are a lot of fandoms keeping a very close eye out to make sure he can't do this again.

[@DavidMChannel]

Believe it or not I assumed it was going to be shorter than this, I didn't realize how long it was going to be until about half-way through editing xD And deciding what to include was HARD. I had to make some really tough calls/simplified a lot of details because oooh boy there was just so much. But Im glad it was clear and you enjoyed!

[@casihamilton3773]

What I find fascinating about this is that if it wasn't connected to a fandom, it would probably have a netflix documentary by now.

[@vlbarbara]

damn, i was familiar with the first part of the story from strange aeons's video, but i had no idea that it got even worse. when you were talking about the shooting and andy exploiting the deaths, my jaw literally dropped. i honestly think andy should be banned from the internet or something, that's just horrific

[@merliiiinn]

yeah, same... I was aware it was gonna be bad, but I certainly never expected THAT.

[@darla1aeryn1fan]

@vlbarbara Strange Aeons did a second video on that! It's called The Cult of DAYD, if I recall correctly.

[@annahks]

oh my god ever since strange aeons made that video discussing tentmoot I’ve just been OBSESSED with this man

[@annahks]

I spent like five hours reading the timeline of his online behavior until 2012 lmao literal insanity

[@asmrtpop2676]

Another Final Fantasy House omg. Also I had an ex who also did the whole wearing you down, keep you up long hours of the night, slowly reveal they ARE fictional characters. These videos are scarily relatable to a bad time in my life. So well researched and presented! Messed up but, wow, loved this episode.

[@DavidMChannel]

glad you enjoyed! And yeah- I wouldn't be surprised, with the rise of concepts like otherkin or shifting in some fandom spaces, combined with the natural emotional investment people already have in these properties, for this kind of thing to be a bit more common than we think. I'm sorry you had to deal with that and I'm glad your in a better place now by the sound of it.

[@fuzzydays5699]

I wasn't aware of Andy's HP era. But it's absolutely heart breaking that it ended up that way. Really glad that tumblr makes it harder for him to have a hold on fans

[@DeathTheKidWazHere]

Insane that this big piece of internet history happened just a bus ride away from me

[@DavidMChannel]

the moment I realized I could make the trip(s) to both locations with some time and effort I just knew I had to xD

[@ObsidianNebula00]

I'm amazed at how succinctly you were able to summarize such a long and convoluted shitshow! And I'm glad you called Jeanine out for the messed-up way she treated those kids after getting burned, hounding the abuse victims while intentionally deadnaming Andy and equating transness with deceit. Her anger and sense of betrayal are understandable and valid; how she dealt with those feelings, especially as the responsible adult in the situation, was not.

[@DavidMChannel]

the book is viscerally unpleasant. Jeanine can write well, but it feels exceptionally mean spirited. I couldn't even finish it. I really hope she has some regret about her actions so many years later but I somehow doubt it.

[@emmettyoung7603]

i was on jeanine’s side until she started hounding the victims and acting transphobic. if she had just been less vitriolic i would’ve been on her side. it’s tragic that her actions lead to people suffering around andy longer

[@Sailormac2]

I was horrified when I found out the stuff that Jeannine had been putting in the E-mails she was sending to the teenage cultist Andy had put in charge of dealing with her. “Every time you watch LOTR, know that every person on that screen hates your guts.” WTF????

[@DavidMChannel]

The funny thing is Jeanine was also pulled in by Andy's lies and manipulations. Why else would you do half the stuff she did? No she didn't join his cult but she still fell for his bullshit. She's not really in a place to judge the victims in the slightest (nor should she one way or the other)

[@sophitiaofhyrule]

Jeanine thinks she's the hero but really she traumatized these kids almost as much as Andy did

[@kiereanm3254]

One thing that always intrests me about these stories is that despite being apparently unemployed Jordan moved around A LOT, across the country more than once . I get it that in the early 00s things like the cost of living was much lower but I guess it's also a testament to Andy's ability to manipulate people into financing his travelling as well

[@redblaquegolden]

45:33 clearly Andy preyed on people who were prone to magical thinking. This is the reason he should not be in fandom spaces.

[@DavidMChannel]

One thing which scares me is how when you get into a lot of his posts he's not only saying stuff that's so absurd it's got to be a lie, he also doesn't exactly hide his ego at all. He's obviously narcicsitic and yet, people were drawn to that...

[@epicskyline]

This is a great video! You really hit all of the highlights of his terrible deeds. I think that you're right about Tumblr being a hard platform for him to recruit new cult members. I recall in Supernatural fandom, he made a post with his phone number and said that anyone struggling with their mental health could call him for support - which is legitimately horrifying.

[@DavidMChannel]

yessss the phone number! There was so much stuff he posted to tumblr that had nothing to do with the video which was just so absurd. He once claimed homophobia was over because....of Glee, the tv show. Yes- really.

[@zeke8851]

i used to read DYAD back in the day, though i never actually interacted with the community. i didn't even realise he was the author of DYAD till you said as much. so it's honestly absolutely WILD hearing about all the shit he's done, like i'm honestly shocked. especially to hear he's just- still around?? like, it feels like somebody like that should be in jail or something, though i guess he never really broke any laws..? still. what a horrid person. hopefully he stays far away from people, and never tries this shit again

[@DavidMChannel]

according to his twitter he's married again and I honestly worry about his spouse. But he's mostly kept to himself besides ocassionally trying to justify and excuse his actions (accusing his victims of lying, that sort of thing).

[@crystalsandersart7620]

Sorry I only just got around to watching this, but I had some free time to draw and figured I would pop it on. And Jesus CHRIST this is insane. The more I hear about fandom spaces, the more glad I am that I stayed away from them when I was younger. This stuff gets scary really quickly. Also, great job on the vid!! You always manage to explain things really well and you treat the topic with a lot of respect. Can't wait for the next one! :)

[@weirdandproudofit1]

I didn't know about the hp era. All the love to everyone reading and to David for making this

[@junkin456]

omg u went to the place where that event took place!!!!! love that addition!!

[@SummerSommerSummer]

Damn so much crazy shit that I missed because I couldn't really speak English back during my Harry Potter days

[@hezzabeth]

I’ve seen videos about this before and this one was fantastic! You’re right the book was vindictive

[@hezzabeth]

This video was so good I forgot to write today

[@SacrificingNothing]

Another thing to keep in mind is that “Turimel” was a 40 something year old professional and everyone else involved is 18-21 (although one person was a minor). Turimel was a victim especially of financial fraud but I also side eye the shit out of her getting so enmeshed with this group of kids and using money to pull their strings. She is far from clean here imo.

[@DavidMChannel]

I mean, I have more than a few friends who are 15+ years my senior 🤷‍♂️Im not gonna side eye her for making friends with people of a different age than she is. but she was old enough to take responsibility for her own actions in a way she simply didnt

[@SacrificingNothing]

@@DavidMChannel I just meant the way she used the debt to intimidate much younger people especially the minor that was more explored in strange aeon’s video. There is so much lore it’s hard to keep up with it all but she threatened that girl with cops and called her job and parents etc. She just seems very immature and petty considering her age. Again the minor is my main thing. I think being friends with someone 15 or 20 years plus at age 25 is one thing but quite another when it’s a child with a 40 year old. I know you didn’t mean it was okay for a minor btw I’m just clarifying for others reading who may not know much about that part.

[@DavidMChannel]

@@SacrificingNothing oh, yes, 100%. If a teenager is hanging out randomly with *other adults* who arent related to them I'd be....concerned, yeah. And ditto about there being so much lore, simplifying it down to this single hour was HARD. Sorry I misread that

[@SacrificingNothing]

@@DavidMChannel you did an awesome job! You included things that weren’t in the Strange video so it was definitely worth while watching even if you’ve seen hers. I love your videos!

[@jasminv8653]

I've heard about a lot of the lotr era stuff because that was more my thing when I was younger and into fandom, and I think that that's got more attention online in general. I'm glad you covered the HP part of it all as well. It's honestly terrifying how bizarre much of the cult leader textbook behaviour seems, but at the same time how easily it actually works on a lot of us.

[@DavidMChannel]

I suppose there's a reason cult leaders all use the same playbook- it does in fact work for whatever reason. this sort of fandom cult is something we should probably be wary of nowadays- I can see how a mixture of social isolation, plus a pre-existing enthusiasm for a property, can make someone very online susceptible to this kind of thing

[@juliet__o_O]

AYYYYYYYYY BIT OF EARTH TIME!!!!!!!!!!!! If you want even more, StrangeAeons also has a great video about all of this.

[@juliet__o_O]

though it doesn't go into all of the hp stuff

[@zoe_astra]

I think she’s making a part 2 for all the hp stuff

[@demetriam2408]

Her video goes much more in depth on specific details, like the people involved besides Abby

[@britnicox3929]

Holy shit this is insane…it reminds me of that final fantasy house but with a lot more real world impact with them actually screwing over the actors involved

[@AislingBlack]

Yeah I thought of the FF house as well.

[@ShortForMertchel]

It really sucks that the best you can do to defend from people like this is warn potential victims of the harm they've already done and hope your warnings take root.

[@DavidMChannel]

It seems like people have started listening now- he hasn't succeeded since his DAYD cult which faded away in 2012/13. People seem more open to listening now, for whatever reason. He's not really even attempted anything for about 5 or 6 years now as well, so I hope he's moved on with his life, in some capacity. I actually had a friend of mine who I discovered followed him on twitter whilst researching this (she's into costume design and he is a costume designer these days and she was shocked to discover this), he's been relatively quiet about fandom stuff for awhile.

[@ShortForMertchel]

@DavidMChannel That's good, I'm really glad he doesn’t seem to be victimizing people anymore, and I think I maybe wasn't clear enough in my comment that it sucks that people have to do damage before they can be prevented from doing damage. And it sounds like he did some significant damage

[@DavidMChannel]

the thing is all we really can do is risk mitigation for this sort of thing- spread word of what defines a cult, what defines a narcicist. But it's sad so much damage had to be done for this individual, at least, to be stopped.

[@Pharm2be]

I’ve literally never heard of this person at all. 😭 Everything he does is textbook grooming for a cult (not child grooming, slight difference) I’m so glad that momma got her daughter away and my heart breaks for the others.

[@epicskyline]

It was either Little Sam or Diamond who was like 15 years old when she lived in the cult with them, so child grooming is not that far off.

[@DavidMChannel]

Little Sam was a minor who, in her own words, threw a fit and 'acted like a total brat' until her parents let her move in with them. Really awful stuff.

[@suunnnnyd]

It's extremely unfortunate because 'the bagenders' is such a hard name for a group 💀

[@windsroad-]

i was trying to remember where I'd heard of him before and couldn't figure it out until you mentioned critical role... yes! that's where I'd heard of him. I'd read a callout/warning post about him in the CR fandom.

[@dimitrif.m.4091]

Been looking forward to this video! I know a little bit about this guy, but not an hours worth.

[@GrimmDelightsDice]

Ah, good, another video on the guy I somehow managed to be two degrees of separation from + barely avoid being part of a spinoff fandom microcult of. I love it when people come for this guy ♡

[@DavidMChannel]

I'm sorry WHAT you must share more details if you're willing xD

[@GrimmDelightsDice]

​@@DavidMChannelWhen I was about 15-17 (so about a decade ago), I met and became very close friends with a couple who were 10-15 years older than me online. We were all in the DID/multiplicity/plural community, which prior to my time there was pretty well married to the "channeling" community and related communities, especially on LiveJournal and fansites. The couple (DD & HB) had been in close contact with the communities Blake was in (and variously claimed to either be previous online friends with him or bitter enemies depending on their mood). They were really entrenched in the whole "I *am* this fictional character" thing and looped my abused lil idiot teenage self in pretty easily. By the time I was 17, they had me move across the country to move in with them to a luxury apartment they expected me and my (only a few years older than me) partner to mostly pay for. Every day was pretty much the same manipulative hell, where they decided which character was "out"/"fronting" and demanded we matched them to roleplay out their chosen scenarios for the characters (or actors, or band members) they were that day. They actually held up Andy as an example of "someone who was way worse than them" whenever my partner or I tried to bring up issues. By about 5 months into the lease they were trying to bring in another person as well, another 17/18 year old who'd gotten enchanted with one of DD's "others". Neither I nor my partner had a mother like Abbey's unfortunately, but thankfully we had each other and were disenchanted with the pair enough by the time they started trying to bring the other kid in that we knew we wouldn't be resigning the lease even if it meant we'd have to be homeless with our cats for a while. Lucky for us (extremely unlucky for him), DD's brother had a really bad drug relapse that meant DD's parents made the two of them move back into the family house to watch out for him during the last month of the lease which gave us enough time to both pick up extra jobs and sleep enough that we could figure out a (horrible) studio apartment to move into for the next year while we got back on our feet. It was all your typical fandom microcult stuff in addition to the character play- they kept the apartment cold enough that in our room (which was on the outside of the building and had next to no insulation) our cats' water froze multiple times, they had us keep our cats in a single room while their dog had the run of the apartment because they never made an effort to not let him try to kill our cats (and got angry when we grabbed him the few times our cats tried to escape the freezing room and he went after them), we had to walk their dog despite one of them not maintaining a job, they wouldn't let either of us sleep more than two or three hours, everything we did was wrong if we didn't read their minds on just about every topic, we weren't allowed to cry or be upset unless it was "in character", we had to consume their preferred media no matter what it was, read their fanfiction and become characters from it, we couldn't eat their food without paying for the entire meal but they could eat ours, etc. Last I heard of them, they sent the kid they were trying to move in with them when we left (and who apparently they did start living with after us) to act like she was losing her grip with them so they could get info on where we were and if they could get us back into the household. She immediately reported back to them and they made a few attempts to get us back but we were thankfully not falling for it again. They kind of ruined the concept of roommates for both me and my partner. But thankfully we're still together! And our cats are still alive and okay after all of it. So it was a bullet dodged, or at least that only grazed us.

[@DavidMChannel]

oh, wow. This was a much sadder story than I anticipated. I'm really sorry that happened to you, but I'm glad you're out of there. It's frightening, in a way, to realize Andy was clearly an influence on them in some shape or form. That's horrific. I hope you're both in a much safer place now and you weren't stuck there for too long

[@yowahana]

Oh I’m so excited to see you uploaded! I love listening to your videos while I work! Great job!

[@StCrimson667]

It really is just astonishing that these people just go from fandom to fandom just causing havoc. I honestly have to wonderful if this really even happens this much anymore with the rise of social media and, especially, the increase in popularity of "receipts". It seems that, nowadays, the moment someone like this popped their head up, a dozen people would fire off warning flares and honestly THANK GOD! We do not need more of these people going around anymore!

[@dismurrart6648]

Yeah I think absolutely some people need to let some stuff go, but that's the stuff like one time when someone was a teen they made an edgy joke. The good side of this is people like this guy have a harder time starting cult after cult after cult.

[@DavidMChannel]

I wouldnt be surprised if micro-cults in fandom still occasionally form but I doubt it’s ever happened again on this scale. Although- I seem to remember hearing the Final Fantasy House lady got a new start in the Hannibal fandom in 2015 or so but I can’t recall the details

[@lindseyb2777]

Microcults definitely still form- especially on discord. I was in one when I was 15, luckily I got out in a few months and was unable to physically meet the leader. Same repackaged spirituality bullshit that Andy used; he’d claim we knew each other in past lives and that he was astrally projecting to visit us. It was a mess.

[@emiliobustamante2401]

Kinda like that final fantasy house lady, supposedly, trying to recreate her... thing... in the hannibal fandom. Curiosuly, I remember hearing on a podcast about that "inccident" that the person that exposed her (Jennifer Cornett was her name I believe) was also kinda of a POS like Jeanine Renee tur ed out to be. History rhymes and all that

[@DavidMChannel]

the Hannibal thing is something I'd love to do a video on but I have to confess last I looked detailed sources were scant.

[@rae3781]

Oh god... This story is insane. Can't wait to watch it when it isn't in the middle of the night 😂 (I really wish they hadn't involved Sean friggin Astin in all of this 😭)

[@nurulizzati971]

Your narration and storytelling of the whole thing is really succinct and easy to follow! I have to admit that I already know of this whole situation from Strange Aeons channel but I had a bit of trouble following the entire thing since there were multiple personalities, names and people, it got confusing fast for me. Thank you for this vid, the disastor of all of that was entertaining!! Keep it up!

[@CQSTER-IE]

Hearing his fake accent as an Irish person myself, I screamed Great video!

[@DavidMChannel]

Once I knew there was audio of him using it I just knew I *had* to include it. But it makes me wonder if he attempted to use it around his fans as well or if he claimed that was just him 'channelling' seamus finnigan or something. And thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed

[@Sqwirrel_Bonez]

I’ve been interested in this whole clusterfuck of a situation since Strange’s video on it You did a great job explaining everything

[@yourmusekay3492]

Watching your take on this is fascinating, I feel like I have a better picture of things than with other recaps! Also it is remarkably chilling to hear about this in the context of comparing to my own life, I think I had a fried who, if he were more adept at the games of social dynamics, could have turned out a lot like Andy. He already had a minicult almost an almost Abby-like figure before he blew it up.

[@yourmusekay3492]

Also: JEEZ that misogyny is so wild to me. Like. Wow... (Weirdly also a thing my ex-friend had going on? Though his 'excuse' was that he was gay...)

[@DavidMChannel]

someone who isn't me (read: cis) could probably talk in a bit more detail about the fact a trans person came out and took on the most toxic traits of of the gender they transitioned to, because it's just kinda weird to me? And man, this is the third comment under this video alluding to some sort of experience with a micro-cult. It may be more common than we like to think

[@yourmusekay3492]

@@DavidMChannel I'm transmasc myself and honestly yeah if I find the time and strength of spirit, I might try to parse the taking on of masculine toxicity as a trans man! It's been seen before with a notable example being Kalvin Garrah's weird toxic masculinity and gatekeeping but the specific INTENSE misogyny and leaning into heterosexuality kind of baffles me to be honest! Worth digging into maybe. Yeah I think it is in fandoms for sure! I think it can especially prey in 'kin' spaces because even though I believe that it's valid, it is undeniable that there's not massive potential for brainwashing and abuse!

[@DavidMChannel]

wow, Kalvin Garrah- that's a name I've not thought of in forever. I suppose it's not that different from internalized toxic masculinity cis gay men suffer from though. Just a lot of inseccurities about your identity as a 'man', probably made worse by external transphobia in the case of trans men....but again, not really my place to comment so I hope that's not too forward or presumptuous of me to say. I'd definitley watch the video if you made it, in any case!

[@yourmusekay3492]

@@DavidMChannel No no, I really appreciate the note of similarity and relating! We're all in this society together, it's gonna mess us up in similar ways. I'd have to look into trans communities from the time, but I know that some of the radfem poisoning of the general zeitgeist can lead a lot of transmascs today (myself included) to struggle with masculinity/manhood while trying to also be a feminist but somehow get anyone to acknowledge we're not the enemy (there are some who see all men/masculinity [trans or cis!] as evil while respecting and idealizing all women/femininity [trans or cis!] and it's disheartening!). I can see someone giving up the fight and leaning full tilt into misogyny, especially someone like Andy :/ Regardless, thanks! I'll see what I can do, but my video essay 'want to make' list is LONG lol

[@emmabrandel9870]

once again, another great video! i'm really loving this channel and i can't wait to see what's down the road for you! i'm also so glad you chose to cover this topic. strange aeons made a great video about the lotr-period of andy blake's career in chaos, but didn't look at his time in the hp fandom, so i'm glad you covered that part, i've kinda been dying to know more about it! so yeah, keep up the great work!

[@laches1123]

Always appreciate the time and dedication you put into your subject matter.

[@sapphosscullerymaid4856]

just catching up with this upload, I'm loving your fandom history coverage, so glad I found your channel!!

[@annjepsen1621]

"Recovering Christian" made me giggle. I grew up in the church and would constantly get in trouble for asking too many questions (questioning anything was not okay). I have lots of trauma from those years and I'm definitely going to use "Recovering Christian" in the future.😊

[@DavidMChannel]

This was a simplified explanation of Abbey’s religious journey tbh- apparently her family wasnt especially religious but basically all her friends were church goers so she got involved as a teen. And ‘ey! Love to hear from another person recovering from their religious past (I was raised Orthodox Jewish personally). I hope you are healing and coming to terms with it all. :)

[@DavidMChannel]

PS: I stumbled so many times over that part of the script I ended up settling on “recovering christian” as the simplest way to get my point across even if it was a bit reductive xD

[@flynnferal5878]

"questioning anything was not okay" ayooooooo I remember that too. they really don't like it when you believe in evolution

[@anjaliprasad5960]

honestly your voice is so soothing to listen to in the background. Looking forward to the 3rd draco trilogy video

[@acsaudiodramas]

This is real commitment here. You even traveled to the garden. That whole history is a real beast to research and unpack.

[@saulBBQandFootMassage]

Thank you for your coverage of this story--- I remember hearing about Andy years ago after I learned about Jennifer Cornet in the Hannibal fandom. The parallels between the two of them are crazy. I went and binged all your videos actually and I'm amazed with your patience. Especially going through all the old harry popper fandom stuff and the draco trilogy. Count me a new subscriber!

[@TrulyMadlyShallowly]

Wait. Is Jennifer Cornet Final Fantasy House Jen? And is she STILL ACTIVE?

[@oldamongdreams]

I was a huge PotterFicWeekly fan back in the day. The episode Andy did with them was SO WEIRD compared to all their other episodes. It's also the only time they had to cut an episode short because the author they were interviewing was aggressive to the hosts.

[@DavidMChannel]

I heard about things getting nasty later in the episode- it's mentioned on the timeline- but I honestly didn't see a point in bringing it up- especially because the episode was SO. LONG. I didnt want to wait around for it. But the vibe is definitley odd, I couldn't tell if they found him absurd or if they actually believed his claims about looking like Harry.

[@AislingBlack]

This was a great video. You were very tasteful in the way you handled talking about this. I waited all day to sit down with a soft pretzel and enjoy this, and I was not disappointed! Another interesting one for sure. I think it's essential stories like this get told, as the world becomes more and more online, I feel like the chances of another Andy Blake rising up are very good, and I hope these videos and others about him help educate people about this form of cult. I also found the Fan hits the shit to be in really poor taste as well. I am kind of mad I bought it, I wish I had researched it or read more reviews, I really do not care for the transphobia and dead-naming either. I know she was angry, but she should have just sued them and moved on. Can't wait to see what you cover next!

[@DavidMChannel]

iirc you mentioned owning the book in an old comment which may have triggered my interest in the topic, funnily enough! But yeah- it was unpleasant. I actually only got about 20 pages in before I decided that it had more detail than I could handle and that Turimel's depiction of Andy was....awful. Just constantly talking about how 'thin' the bones in his hands were, that sort of thing... As for other cults, there's been a few other comments down here which suggest that others have tried, using very similar tactics. eesh.

[@AislingBlack]

thank you for going to the actual locations, that was really cool. Also the hair being glued to their feet makes me feel gross haha. Yeah super angry I bought the book, don't really enjoy supporting transphobic people. I read all of the blogs about Andy though. Also, I wonder what happened to the bird that Andy lied about being his son? It's been interesting reading other people's comments who were in the Dayd fandom. Someone else mentioned final fantasy house, and yes that is another one of those weird fandom things I think of. Hope you are having a good day/night :D @@DavidMChannel

[@DavidMChannel]

It seems like Abbey took the bird when she and Andy split- the full lie being that Abbey had 'taken his son' away from him. And they did refer to the bird as their 'son', but eesh, come on. that's just inaccurate. And thanks! I live in Portland now, and once I realized I could easily locate the garden and the theater (the llyod center is a famous shopping mall actually but it's kind of dead and quiet nowadays though I kinda like it that way lol), I knew I needed to make the trip. It took ages but man, was it worth it. And I knew the book was going to be transphobic, I bought it mainly as a primary source, but like....I was not expecting it to be *that* transphobic, to go in Andy's identity so hard over and over again. And I suspect Jeanine doesn't have any regrets about doing it either.

[@AislingBlack]

I don’t think she regrets it either. I think she only made up with the rest of the bagenders to have more allies against Andy. Yeah Andy screwed her over, but also, I hate to victim blame but she was old enough at the time to know charging thousands to a credit card for that reason was a bad idea. I don’t know if she is angrier Andy is trans or that she got caught up in the excitement and did something really dumb. Maybe she’s just mad about both. I don’t think she should have been put on the spot and I know Andy was very persuasive and literally was a cult leader but at this point I would hope she is old enough and far away from it enough to let some of this go. I would be interested to know her current feelings. I wish abbey had written a book on this topic instead but I understand it’s a very personal thing for her and she has written about this a lot in her blogs. I also wonder what Andy thinks of the current videos about him. My hope is he is not as online as he once was, but I doubt it he seems like a serial fandomer

[@DavidMChannel]

He's posted about this time in his life, trying to make excuses for it after it's come up in some capacity, in the past, but he hasn't since Strange Aeons put up her video which is when I imagine he would have. Abbey's stated she's considering writing a book as well which I will definitley read if she feels she's up for it.

[@Stonedandbookish]

I'm so glad to see KZbinrs outside of strange cover this. I love strange aeons but I wish MORE people talked about it bc it's INSANE.

[@DavidMChannel]

fun annecdote: I’d literally sat down to research this and then checked my phone to discover she’d uploaded her BitOfEarth video. I had the book in my hand and nearly dropped it from the shock

[@Stonedandbookish]

​@@DavidMChannelRewatching this bc I lost your channel to the algorithm before I remembered to follow and found this recommended to rewatch. This person and their crimes live in my head rent free

[@jenniferri7735]

i met abbey by chance when i was living in eugene and working at a prominent thrift store. she came in as a customer and i rang her up. she was buying several things and it took a bit of time, and while i was going through it all, i KNEW i knew her from somewhere, just couldn't place it. when it hit, my facial expression obviously changed, because hers did as well. she just smiled sweetly at me and took my hand, and i squeezed it back and mumbled something about how proud of her i was. she said thank you and continued smiling, very warmly. i finished ringing her up and she left, and i will never, ever forget that day.

[@DavidMChannel]

this is such a lovely story!! I'm glad she didn't panic after getting recognized. this is so nice, thank you for sharing it.

[@ghostboy8394]

another great video! thank you for covering this in depth, but also with such sensitivity

[@DavidMChannel]

my pleasure! I'm glad you liked. And yeah- this is a topic which is easy to sensationalize or to just focus on the "CRAZY" parts of it but the actual harm outweighs that in my mind.

[@lidu6363]

Internet History is a very important field of study to me because it helps me understand the times before I could speek English fluently... Thanks for your hard work! 😁✨

[@debdebberton]

what an important reminder that toxic masculinity and abusive pathologies are not assigned at birth.

[@Thunderthighhighs]

Yeah I've had a few of the most toxic, predatory people I know end up transitioning and it's not a good feeling. I don't want to be lumped in with freaks like that.

[@sarahhirsch8919]

This story has been a WILD RIDE.

[@haileyshannon7548]

They started in fandom in the late 90s I think the first fandoms they were in were Star Trek: Voyager and Due South. Who remembers Due South?

[@DavidMChannel]

I dont recall reading about involvement in Due South but iirc Andy was involved in the fandom for some series of historical nautical novels I dont remember the name of. the pre- BitOfEarth stuff wasnt as much of interest but it wasnt there first scandal (though the stuff before that point is small potatoes in comparison)

[@EzrasMoon]

It’s fucking wild to me how close I got interacting with this dude. If he hadn’t been run out of the critical role fandom, I might have genuinely been sucked into his orbit. I tried to look up what characters and stuff he was into, but it seems like he tweeted at the cast once or twice and then people immediately put out an APB on him. 2020 was a horrible time for me, as I’m sure it was for a lot of people, and CR is still one of my highest comfort medias and special interests. Hell, I GOT sucked into an abusers orbit and only recently got out of it. The guy I was talking to wasn’t a cult leader but he was a manipulative jackass that bullied my best friend because he was trying to turn me against everyone. I genuinely got scared when you said critical role, because of all of this. Anyway, long rambly comment over. Great video! 😂

[@DavidMChannel]

oh jeez. im really sorry to hear that and Im glad you’ve cut ties by the sound of it. we all kind of regressed or over-indulged in our comfort media in 2020 (I binged a LOT of Classic Who) and its not surprising to hear you were vulnerable because god that year was isolating (I ended up in a long distance relationship with someone who wasnt abusive but was somewhat emotionally neglectful so perhaps Im projecting). It’s not really hit me until I’ve read the comments section here how susceptible people in online fandom can be to bad actors and abusers. i suppose Andy acts as a rather extreme cautionary tale in that regard. in any case, I’m glad you enjoyed the video!

[@fennixari]

first video ive seen from you, its great! keep it up man

[@DavidMChannel]

thank you!

[@veronicaa7040]

I remember meeting him when he was presenting as female and English. Which I suppose makes it even funnier that he once claimed he personally fought on both sides of The Troubles. (He was trying to join a Harry Potter LJ community at the time. They didn't believe him.)

[@quincey5917]

I wouldn’t be surprised if he *is* still active online and growing another cult. Lately, Discord has made creating insular & isolated groups very easily, just like in the Livejournal days. People like him have certainly done the same.

[@DavidMChannel]

he's on twitter and hasnt talked about any of this for some time so....fingers crossed. but you never know

[@dismurrart6648]

I find andys letter where he says that it wasn't the a he got by studying that excited him, but rather the a he stole that excited him. Dude should have just become a poker player

[@RhapzodyCayneArchives]

Stories about people like Andy are always fascinating to me because I almost lived something kind of similar. Luckily, a bunch of factors made it so it didn't wind up spiraling into full cult status. It was just me and a friend (both of us lonely outcasts with issues at home) who were almost subjected to all this by a girl who was friends with both of us at the time -- that time being when we were in middle school, 7th-8th grade specifically. That, and the fact that the girl who was the "ringleader" so-to-speak didn't have an online presence/a bigger presence at school, is what stopped this from going haywire. I shudder to think what may have happened if this had started when we were adults, or even late high school! I truly believe that the inability to do things like move in together and be kept awake for days on end really helped me and the other person involved stay connected to reality. Not to say that it would have been impossible, though. I'm sure similar things have happened to people that age and I definitely don't want to discount or minimize that. Those things just helped in my case.

[@sapphosscullerymaid4856]

this is a wild story, reminds me a lot of the final fantasy house (fredrik knudsen has a good video about that whole mess)

[@aurea.]

Never heard of that person before. What a scary individual.

[@merliiiinn]

One of Andy's fixations with being Irish is so strange? He claimed he was on the run from the IRA because of family involvement during the Tentmoot days, which is why his victims were scared of reporting him to the authorities. He also claimed to be Elijah Wood's cousin, which implied Elijah Wood was also involved in the IRA?? And then the Irish accent? What is it with being Irish for him? Secondly, his intense misogyny and homophobia (not to excuse it!!) imo might've stemmed from internalised homophobia, internalised transphobia, fear of being perceived as female, ect... I read those rants of his and as sad as it is, the words resonate with me as I also used these toxic rhetorics and had those opinions when I was struggling with my identity to overcompensate for my insecurities. I can't help but wonder why his parents, whom were informed enough to help out the first time, never did anything to help or to just keep. him. offline. If anyone wants an incredibly thorough deep dive on every single lie he told during his LOTR days without supporting a transphobe and buying her book, Strange Aeons made a very good video on that specific time. I'm really glad you continued into his HP fandom days, I had NO idea this whole situation got even worse.

[@DavidMChannel]

Andy’s had a habit of lying from a super young age, even about things like what he had for dinner to people who knew what he’d actually eaten. I can imagine he was not easy to live with, even for his parents-the timeline I used mentions he was probably living out of his car for a period between Abbey leaving him and the formation of DAYD. But multiple victims have talked about how they’ve been frustrated by their in-action so you’re onto something I suppose. I imagine they just want a relationship with there kid which has as little drama as possible- for them. As for the mysoginistic rhetoric…yeah I figured it’d be something like that, insecurities around his identity or being outed. but even so its pretty extreme and at that time, kinda pointless because its not like anyone online knew anything about him.

[@merliiiinn]

@@DavidMChannel I kind of theorised about his parents because they were certainly involved enough (for a while at least) to take him back in, and they obviously knew what he was doing. However I can of course not even begin to imagine what their relationship could've been like and how straining it must have been for the parents, too. I just think that they should've started intervening way, way earlier in his life. He definitely would've benefitted from it, but once he became an adult there was of course little they could've done. I can also guess that he wanted as little as possible to do with people who actually KNEW he was constantly talking bs, so nobody new could be informed. I just think that, especially after the Bag-Enders fell apart and they learned everything, they should've kept a closer eye on him. Some level of responsibility remains, and they were clearly aware of his antics :(

[@ani_anonymuncle]

Wow, that failed convention. I wonder if there were any extra orcs in the ball pit.

[@DavidMChannel]

This is such a sad story, but, I just had to say- this made me laugh despite that

[@pharoahcaraboo9610]

while anything is possible i feel like current atmosphere around media+andy getting older is going to really hamper any further cult building. by that i mean andy seems attracted to massively popular live-action fantasy media... but in the current era of streaming, there's been fewer and fewer long lasting cultural impact type franchises being made, and fandoms around newer media doesn't last very long. and not to say there aren't people within andys age bracket that couldn't be manipulated by him, but it's going to severely impact his ability to get marks as younger fans are coming up much more suspicious of older fans in general. he'd have to hard pivot to like. idk minecraft or something LOL...

[@x.ofelia]

i drive past the regal like EVERY DAY lmfaooo i never connected the dots despite being quite interested in this saga

[@DavidMChannel]

that's WILD. It's a minor bit of the story, so I can see why it's easily forgotten, but it'll be something for you to remember on your way to work I suppose xD

[@carricknisbet9019]

Can confirm that the flight from NZ to LA is an abject nightmare.

[@fenrik8178]

I have no idea who this Andy person is, but still watching the video anyways since I tend to really enjoy your content :)

[@zebbr0s]

I wish youtube had the ability to embedd gifs in the comment section because I want to put the guy who goes "???" in here because that was me throughout most of this video. What a wild ride

[@CurNotKeer]

I wonder if Andy is tickled by someone walking around and being like “wow, he could have been standing right here!” like he’s some figure of note worthy of pilgrimages to sites he’s been a dirty gross scammer. Missing the context that he’s an abusive lame weirdo and latching onto the fact that people know who he is

[@niichimera1344]

This video would deserve way more views.

[@manxie1897]

The resear here is MUAH chefs kiss

[@nbnb382]

I had never heard about this guy before but the fact that people in the comments are saying this is well condensed is crazy to me. Like this is enough for those poor people to be put through! (also what is with the irish accent? why not just be english? what does northern ireland have to do with harry potter?)

[@DavidMChannel]

the irish accent is a throwback to when he was claiming he was related to an LOTR actor back in his Bit Of Earth days- same with the claim about having relatives involved in the Troubles. But he didn't bother doing an accent back then so I have no clue what's going on there. As for how condensed this is, there were so many more details about Andy's belief system, the organization of Tentmoot, not to mention the other events the group put together (because there were several others) that I just didn't get into. And I didn't even touch a majority of the insane crap he did and said on tumblr. Figuring out what was important was HARD xD

[@nbnb382]

@@DavidMChannel thanks for the info! You did a great job on this video, I feel like I got the overall spirit of the whole thing

[@DavidMChannel]

I'm glad to hear it! It's a sad story all around, but also one so overwhelming in scope and it's strangeness it's hard to wrap your head around it in some ways.

[@InvaderGIR98]

Could you do the Final Fantasy House next?

[@DavidMChannel]

I've been deliberately avoiding topics I know others have covered- the down the rabbit hole video is basically perfect in my mind. It's an idea, but I'm unsure if there'd be much of a point necesarily.

[@jasminv8653]

WAIT ANDY AND THANFICTION ARE THE SAME GUY???

[@flynnferal5878]

this is petty but tbh I just hope Turimel knows full well what an idiot she was by now

[@Sailormac2]

Andy Blake is a con artist who wasn’t after money or success. His cults were about three things - power, control and attention. I am of the opinion that he was never actually emotionally invested in any of the fandoms he was part of - he just picked big, popular properties with a high number of highly devoted fans, researched the canon, wrote some fanfics to attract attention, and started reeling them in. Then, once they had sworn loyalty, he’d start the sleep and food deprivation and unveil the “channeling abilities.” If you look into how Charles Manson built his murder cult, there really is not much difference between his tactics and Andy Blake’s. (Fortunately, Andy wasn’t homicidal). Very nice job summing this all up in a manner that was compassionate and respectful to his victims.

[@DavidMChannel]

the manson connection came to mind during writing this as well. I'm not fully versed on the details of his case but the similarities are still clear on a surface level- the use of isolation, pulling people in with your charisma, that sort of thing. And thank you, wrt how I tried to handle the story- I think people focus on the more absurd aspects of the story and lose site of the fact that people were hurt by all this, and in a way, the fact its so bizarre kind of makes Andy all the more scary to me.

[@LouisAndPillz]

This video is very interesting. I was only able to finish part of it, but I'll make sure to finish the rest in the shower. I do all my best listening and thinking while butt naked with hot steamy water running down my body.

[@wickedcoolghost]

I lost my phone.

[@DavidMChannel]

okay, message me when you find it.

[@burkyoungston5914]

😕 'Promo sm'

[@OpenOceanOnly]

P

[@enyomi.i6353]

I feel like a lot of the words you wrote when not reading out a quote was really strikingly similar to the way strange aeons phrased her sentences and thoughts, it took me out of the video. You have a lot of potential but maybe don’t watch too much of other creators videos or you might accidentally write the same content

[@DavidMChannel]

I literally avoided her BitOfEarth video until I finished this (I watched it a week ago). Any similarities are coincidental

[@redblaquegolden]

There will be similarities in reactions to this story, and way that people tell a similar story. But, particularly for the second half of this story, it's important to remember this was posted a month ago, before strange posted her second half. This critique was not warranted.