Oh, boy. This week, Emily and V dig into yet another cult of personality and banana-bonkers conspiracy theory within fandom: BBC Sherlock's The JohnLock Conspiracy, or TJLC. From the totally normal metas dissecting why curtains are blue on the show to totally abhorrent doxxing at a convention, this episode has everything. Gay tea. Secret BBC vaults. Un... aired... specials. Were you a BBClock fan? (Given that Johnlock is the #2 ship on AO3, some of you must be!) Did you TJLC?

Happy one year of TWIFH! To celebrate the end of our first year and to give you a huge chunk o' podcast to get through New Year's Eve, this week V and Emily are holding their breaths and taking a deep dive into the strange, insidious, bananapants crazytown world of Andrew Blake AKA Jordan Wood AKA Amy Player AKA Victoria Bitter AKA VoyagerBabe AKA strwriter AKA thanfiction and his many, many crimes in the fandomspace (and outside of the fandomspace, too). Because this story deals with many heavy topics and is incredibly long and harrowing, we have split this episode into two parts.

PART I covers the first ten years of Andy thanfiction's cult of personality and Munchausen by Internet, and deals with the following sensitive topics: gaslighting, intimate partner abuse, emotional abuse, suicide attempts, fraud, mental illness, Munchausen by Internet, financial abuse, and brainwashing tactics.

PART II covers the second ten years of Andy thanfiction's cult of personality and downward spiral, and deals with the following sensitive topics: gaslighting, emotional abuse, Munchausen by Internet, suicide, murder (gun violence), gendered violence, intimate partner violence, unhealthy weight loss, mental illness, disassociation, financial abuse, and fraud.

Sources:

Andy Blake: A Timeline by @theteablogger

Abbey Stone's Wordpress blog

Happy one year of TWIFH! To celebrate the end of our first year and to give you a huge chunk o' podcast to get through New Year's Eve, this week V and Emily are holding their breaths and taking a deep dive into the strange, insidious, bananapants crazytown world of Andrew Blake AKA Jordan Wood AKA Amy Player AKA Victoria Bitter AKA VoyagerBabe AKA strwriter AKA thanfiction and his many, many crimes in the fandomspace (and outside of the fandomspace, too). Because this story deals with many heavy topics and is incredibly long and harrowing, we have split this episode into two parts.

PART I covers the first ten years of Andy thanfiction's cult of personality and Munchausen by Internet, and deals with the following sensitive topics: gaslighting, intimate partner abuse, emotional abuse, suicide attempts, fraud, mental illness, Munchausen by Internet, financial abuse, and brainwashing tactics.

PART II covers the second ten years of Andy thanfiction's cult of personality and downward spiral, and deals with the following sensitive topics: gaslighting, emotional abuse, Munchausen by Internet, suicide, murder (gun violence), gendered violence, intimate partner violence, unhealthy weight loss, mental illness, disassociation, financial abuse, and fraud.

Sources:

Andy Blake: A Timeline by @theteablogger

Abbey Stone's Wordpress blog

Bonjour! This week, Emily and V look into another fandom neither of them knows much about: Miraculous Ladybug, one of Tumblr's biggest fandoms of 2023. They look into the premise and basic plot of the show, its adorable OTP love square (with only two people), and the long and much-anticipatory road to its premiere in America. Just what makes this show such fandom bait? Do you Miraculous Ladybug?

The great game is on! And by the great game, we mean the invention of modern fandom as we know it. (Although we also discuss The Great Game, which: nerds.) This week, Emily and V go further back in the fandom time machine than we've ever gone or likely ever will. The Victorian gaslamp fandom of Sherlock Holmes lost their main man this week in 1893, and in the first documented act of modern fandom, promptly lost its shit. We take a look at what it meant to be a Sherlock Holmes fan back then and what it still means today. Are you a Sherlockian? Which adaptation is your favorite?

NSFW! No, but really, this episode is extremely NSFW. And not child-safe. If you ignore that warning, it's on you. This week, V and Emily take a trip back to a contested date in fandom history: the first usage of "tongues battling for dominance." Since there's debate about the origin of that term, they decide to go whole-hog (double entendre intended) and talk about all kinds of fanfic terminology. Especially the kind used in... smut. 

Look at us remembering to link a source in our show notes!

Let teenage girls make bad art, GODDAMMIT! This week, Emily and V beat a familiar drum as they recount the unfortunate invention of Mary Sue: she's beautiful, she's smart, she's the best pilot in the Galaxy, and all your faves are in love with her. And so what?! Who does it really harm to let girls have a power fantasy?! God forbid women do anything. And by anything, we mean write self-insert Mary Sue fanfiction about Captain Kirk and Spock and Bones all falling in love with her. She deserves it. You deserve it. We all deserve a little treat. Have you ever been accused of writing a Mary Sue? How did it affect you?

Who the hell is Bucky? Well, this week, V and Emily just have a breezy totally chill chat about exactly that question -- who is this most wet and pathetic of scrungly little meow-meows, and why does he drive fandom so absolutely, singularly insane? What makes Bucky Barnes the most blorbo? Does the MCU know what to do with him? Will Thunderbolts make V tear her own face off?!?! Ahem. The story of Bucky Barnes is one of fannish love from beginning to... the end of the line... and for this holiday week episode, we just had a good time talking about him. Join us, won't you?

Baaa, says the Yuletide Goat! This week, Emily and V celebrate 20 years of fannish Yuletide, the biggest fic exchange there ever was for the tiniest fandoms there could ever be. V, newly freed from Yuletide Jail, chimes in with on-the-ground experience while Emily gives the stats and facts as someone who's never heard of Yuletide before now. Featured are Yuletide's greatest hits: Folgercest, Wait Wait Don't Eat Me, and Re: The Snake Portion Of Your Defense, plus Anthony Bourdain and a whole mess of oceanic fears. Do you Yuletide? What did you request this year?

Chomp! This week, V and Emily get deep into them guts of the omegaverse to take a long, hard look at where it came from, why it spread so quickly throughout fandom-at-large, and how it's been adapted differently in Western versus Eastern fandoms. With Emily as a noted omegaverse Li'l Hater and V as a noted Buzzfeed-approved omegaverse aficionado, all perspectives are represented (from Alpha to omega, one might say) on this heated journey. Do you omegaverse? What was the first fandom where you encountered it?