1. Is Andrew Blake your real name? 

Yes. Straight up full fledged legal driver’s license name. Thanfiction is my handle on fanfiction.net, Deviantart, Facebook, AO3, and Twitter, and I use Andythanfiction here because thanfiction was taken.

2. Were you ever known by any other names?
Yes, including Jordan Wood and VB, but Andrew Blake has been my name and Thanfiction/Andythanfiction have been my exclusive internet handles on all forums, fandoms, and social media since 2008.

3. What’s the posse?
A group of about 20-40 really diverse people ages 18-40+ ranging from Virginia Beach to Richmond to Northern VA who have a variety of overlapping Venn diagrams of fannish interests and occasionally gather 5-10 times a month in groups of 3-20 to watch our shows or hang out. We were named by Winjennster.  Some of us met online, some were friends for years before, we met at least one through a Korean restaurant and spontaneous nudity.  No one’s really in charge, but most of the ideas tend to come from me, Winjennster, Lethalsoup, or Captainchesskelly.  Often, there is food and cosplay.  Think grownup theater kids without the structure of a drama department.

4. Do you/did you run a cult?
2-15 years ago I had some phenomenally toxic relationships that definitely had some extremely cult-like elements. There’s a lot more on that and what I’ve done to make sure it isn’t happening now and doesn’t happen again here at this long as fuck post.

5. Were you abusive and manipulative to people?
As much as it horrifies me to say so, yes, absolutely. What I thought at the time is completely irrelevant. My actions with many of my friends and with at least one romantic partner from 1999-2012 were mentally, emotionally, and verbally abusive and caused serious emotional, mental, and psychological damage. I am incredibly sorry for this, and am actively working to ensure that it never happens again, which has included extensively educating myself on domestic violence and abusive behaviors so that I can check myself.

6. So you’re crazy?

yep. Fortunately, I’ve got great family support and a great care team and it’s really well controlled as I work towards active recovery.

7. Mental illness doesn’t absolve you of responsibility for what you did!
Not in the slightest. All it is is the reason that those actions made the most sense to me at the time or the reason that I thought reality was ways that reality isn’t. The things I did in those perceived situations are still fully my responsibility, and no matter who I THOUGHT I was, I am still responsible for all my own actions at all times and all the consequences of them. I talk about the mental illness because it’s the only way what I did makes any goddamned sense, not because it’s some get out of jail free card, which it isn’t. If anything, it makes me MORE responsible because I can’t just “decide not to do the shitty thing,” I need to keep my illness under control so I don’t do shitty thing AND figure out all its tendrils and root those out too.

8. Have you ever apologized?/ You ____ me and you haven’t apologized!
I have absolutely apologized, multiple times in multiple public forums. I have apologized generally, apologized specifically for particular actions, contacted anyone I could find who hadn’t told me to fuck out of their lives and apologized specifically, and sometimes, if they wanted me to, apologized specifically AND in public. If there’s something you think I need to apologize to you for (entirely possible, there’s plenty of people I have no idea how to even start finding and others who told me to leave them alone but I’d still apologize to in a heartbeat if they let me) let me know in an ask and give me a way to contact you!

9. Did you get someone killed?
No. I was present at the murder of my dear, dear friend and life partner Brittany Quinn, who was killed by her ex, Jason Eisenberg, who also shot me in the ankle and killed his own friend, Tony Chambers. It was a dispute wholly between Jason and Brittany over division of property, she had left and sued him before ever meeting me, and I was never even deemed a person of interest by the police, though I was extensively interrogated as the only survivor of the incident.

10. Have you sexually assaulted your body paint models/any member of the posse?
No. Never. Not in any way, shape, or form. My body paint masterpost is here or you can check the body paint tag on my blog. Every single one of the models has spoken clearly about how positive their experience was and repeatedly stated that I have never been in any way inappropriate. Models decide their own level of nudity, there is always at least one other person present at all times, and they are completely in control of the entire completely non-sexual experience.

11. What makes now any different from what you’ve done before?
In some ways it’s different: I’m in treatment and no longer think I have superpowers, can channel other beings, perceive other planes of reality, read minds, am on a mission from God to fulfill His will on earth, am being hunted by the government and various terrorist factions who want to use my powers for nefarious means, etc, and am 13000% better at telling fantasy from reality in general, which means I’m no longer looking to build a team of trusted individuals who will help me save the world and bring justice to alternate realities while hiding my secrets and obeying my every demand. In others it’s not: I’m still a snarky, massively extroverted bastard who likes abnosomeness, fandom, and making stuff. Also still a mammal. I think the first bit is the part that matters, though.

12. Are you targeting X fandom/actor? I’m going to warn them about you!
If by “targeting” you mean have I seen the media it’s based on, enjoyed it, and may be reblogging some things, creating some things, and exploring the things other people say and create about it? Or that I enjoy and admire a celebrity’s public persona? Quite possibly! Share some of your favorites? If you mean “having delusions that I am soulbonded to X celebrity, the world of ____ is real and I can become characters derived from it and searching for people within the fandom who will believe me?” No, thank all the fucks! As for warning them, feel free, though I’d ask you be really careful to avoid speculation, hyperbole, discredited sources, or other things that tend to turn “sensible awareness” into “witchhunt” very quickly. The last “warning” that went around about me literally turned into me being called a convicted felon rapist murderer and people saying I should be beaten into the hospital on sight if I ever went to a con. That’s not fucking ok.

13. According to _____ blog you _____!
And according to plenty of blogs, Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles are having a torrid affair in which Gen and Danneel are beards forced upon them by PR, vaccines cause autism which is worth dying to avoid, and Fox News is quality journalism. There’s a LOT about me on a broad spectrum from truth to subjective opinion to misunderstandings to hyperbole to speculation to bald faced trolling bullshit.  I can’t control and am not going to try to control everything that is said about me, I’m just going to do the best to live my life without hurting anyone and let my present actions speak for themselves, and if you have any more specific questions that aren’t just about someone else’s opinion of me, see below…

14. I heard _____, and you haven’t addressed that here!
Send me an ask, and if you’re not a doucheturkey about it, I’ll probably answer you, though it’ll be private because the whole reason this FAQ exists is that I’m trying to move forward with my life instead of re-circling the same decade old drama every few weeks when new people discover it.

15. What do you want, anyway?
To enjoy media properties and celebrities and share that enjoyment with others who also enjoy them. To reblog things that interest me. To publish my thoughts about life, my hobbies, current events, social justice, and interesting media on my blog. To not have people say things about me that aren’t true, try to hurt me on purpose, or hurt my friends. To hang out with my friends, be a good friend, and enjoy shared interests. To get a good career. To have a nice apartment and a cat and a human I love who loves me and travel some. To work out more and like my body. To have an awesome kitchen. To do random acts of kindness. For people to like me and think of me as a positive thing in their lives. To eventually get on top of the to-do list.

Also, world domination.

If it’s not on here and not elsewhere on my blog (sorry I don’t tag for shit, but you can google and I swear I’m gonna try to fix some kind of tagging something), ask off Anon without being an asshole.  If you ask about this or any other wank like an asshole or on Anon, I won’t answer.  If you ask like a not-asshole off Anon, I will answer privately or direct you to where an answer is.  But unless you are someone who was personally involved in my past mess or unless something new has happened, this is the last I have to say about any of it.