Old Fandom Drama: Andy Blake & the CR Crew
So, there are some CR fandom drama instigators that get talked about fairly often (losebetter, freckledhobo, Tess Fowler, etc.) but does anybody else remember when notorious con artist and fandom cult leader Andy "Thanfiction" Blake tried to ingratiate himself with the CR cast?
I think this happened like seven years ago, during Campaign 2, but I remember following it online a bit and it was so strange. Essentially, AB (who is an insanely shitty and dangerous person) started trying to ingratiate himself into the fandom by doing fanart and Percy cosplays, tagging various cast members on social media to get their attention. He went so far as attempting to relocate to LA and tried to worm his way into the social circle of somebody who knows the CR crew (Molly McIsaac), even convincing her to let him stay as a guest in her house for a few weeks. While he was there, he tried to get Molly to host a dinner and invite all the CR cast, planning to cook them an elaborate meal with a batshit insane menu (including actual guinea pigs he wanted to buy from pet stores and slaughter, plus wild peacocks he would "hunt in the Beverly Hills").
The dinner never actually happened, because Molly caught on to his creepy bullshit and kicked him out of her house (she talks about it on Twitter here) but it was a wild time. Various people alerted the CR cast and they stopped responding to his tweets/featuring his fanart, and Andy essentially slunk off with his tail between his legs. There's a longer recap of the events here, too, if anybody wants to go down the rabbit hole.
I've been following Andy Blake's shitty hijinks for a long time and he has a long history of trying to use actors/creators/artists to legitimise his shady activities. He's probably most infamous for the LOTR BitOfEarth fiasco where he ran scams, faked his own death, and became an abusive cult leader. He also started the DAYD cult in the Harry Potter fandom and, eventually, tried to stalk and get close to various actors from Supernatural. I think CR was probably a very attractive target for Andy, given how close the cast has been to the fandom and how open they've been to collaborating with various fans.
Bit ominous to imagine what he might have been planning for CR besides the world's worst dinner.