Sinfest

It makes me wonder whether Tats is trying to slowly retcon Criminy out of the comic. He's a male who has never done anything wrong — we can't have that!

On the other hand, his continued existence is still a reason for Fuchsia to dislike and distrust Amber.

"Sinfest Presents (bum-bum-bum):

The Death Of Crimnee! (Theremin music plays)"

https://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2019-09-21

Oh come off it, this plot is ridiculous. Amber would have to have the investigative skills of a chopped tomato to think this is a good idea

Edited by NeedsAirCon on Sep 20th 2019 at 4:37:16 PM

"And then get the ever loving shit bomfed out of you by your old boss in front of those millions, because otherwise this stupid ass scheme is ENTIRELY reliant on The Devil and those loyal to him (or at least eager for brownie points) not having one TV between them!"

"Ohhhh! I get it now! Your parents were siblings!"

No two ways about it. She's either trying to murder the hypotenuse, or she's mind boggolingly stupid. Because I can't, for the life of me, envision any other way someone could come up with a plan that makes Boronir's retarded idea seem sane and sensible.

"Bold, rebellious women," huh? Well, I'd argue that Monique is about as far away from bold as you can get. She is incapable of taking criticism and literally blew off her oldest friend because he pointed out the obvious (going around telling people they are all inherently bad doesn't win you any friends) and needs her arm candy to constantly prop up her ego. And as for rebellious? Please. Her acts of "rebellion" amount to nothing more than standing on street corners spouting random slogans and patting herself on the back for sticking it to "the man." I've yet to see her do anything that would put her in actual danger. As far as I've seen, she just wants to look like she's this revolutionary figure without actually doing anything meaningful.

THIS.

So basically a female Tatsuya...

I do believe Tatsuya is a true believer, but it isn't because he actually believes in it strongly enough. Believing in his vision of reality is much easier for him to handle than actual reality.

If he was capable of actual introspection the regret of his life's actions would crush him.

Edited by Gibson35 on Sep 21st 2019 at 12:58:45 PM

Yeah with any other comic I'd see it maybe going for exposing how much of a sham that "rebelliousness" is, but with this guy, that's going to be played up as totally true.

Well put!

Tats is shilling his lesbian author avatar again. This plot line is so stupid it hurts to watch.

I'd really like to see Fuchsia say "What part of "I'm in hiding from YOUR BOSS" don't you get, you dimwit?"

Then again, the last panel makes it pretty much clear that the idea of appearing in public scares the quck out of our resident runaway devilgirl...

If he was capable of actual introspection the regret of his life's actions would crush him.

Wait. How do you know it hasn't?

That could explain a lot, especially *IF* he's in a submissive relationship with Someone Else.

You know, there's another way to go with this.

The interview makes Fuschia such an "It" girl that the Devil can't just get rid of her, allowing her to come out of hiding but also be safe from retribution. We know there are Deviltech employees who want to keep Fuschia safe.

If this were real and I were Satan ... I'd simply kidnap Fuchsia at 3:00 a.m. And golly! She would never be seen again.

If Satan were accommodating and nice, he'd turn her over to Blue with the instructions: "She's all yours. Do whatever you want with her. But don't let her leave the Mansion, and don't let her communicate with the outside world. If she escapes, you and she will suffer the same fate when I capture her again. Trust me, you do not want her to escape."

I still want to know why Fuchsia is jealous and suspicious of Miss Amber, when an attractive, sexually active human woman — the Nameless Orphan Hooker — is sharing living quarters with Criminy.

Edited by Hexapodia on Sep 21st 2019 at 5:32:52 AM

Hexopedia: once again, it is more of a general feeling, but I am very big into locus of control (internal verses external). Locus of control refers to your sense of autonomy. A person with an internal locus of control would look at himself and say "what am I doing to make things go bad?" Someone with an external locus would say "what is happening to make things go bad for me?" A person with an external locus of control pushes responsibility outwards while an internal looks inward, regardless if it is good result or bad. For example, if someone did good on a test they would say "I studied really hard" if you are internal or "it must have been luck" for external. If they failed it would yield "I should study harder (internal)" or "the teacher didn't prepare us for this test well (external)".

If you look at Tatsuya and his portrayals of all the failings he's had, it is all external. His breakup wasn't because of him, for example. It was because he was conditioned by society to want porn.

A couple things about external focuses: those who have an external focus have that tendency to seek out mass movements because they offer an explanation outside of the self. It's not that Tatsuya is wrong about the world selling us sex. But he's a buyer. He had a choice. He is merely placing the blame of his choice on an external subject to avoid looking deeper. Also, I highly suspect that his wife/girlfriend didn't just leave him for his addictions. This man has a LOT of red flags which I imagine are issues he prefers to avoid.

Another thing about external focuses: they focus on grand social change which is slow moving. Fixing the self is more likely and faster to lead to happiness, but it's more painful which is why people avoid it. Keep the theory of locus of control in mind if you ever read more Hoffer again, because looking at it through that lens gives it a deeper insight.

PS: that is another thing about big movements: it gives you the sense that you are doing something when really you are placing the act of change into an outside force's hands.

So that is why I suspect he hasn't had that change. All his locus of control has been external. He has taken no responsibility for where he is. He hasn't faced it yet and probably won't.

PS: here is the Wikipedia entry on locus of control. I first learned about it in a health psychology class and the idea really resonated with me. I'm just letting you guys know this isn't a religious thing. There have been studies done on it. One such example is the health of patients and their obedience to medicine-taking habits. Those who have a higher tendency towards the internal are more likely to take their medicine because they feel that their personal accountability has purpose and effect.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locus_of_control

Edited by Gibson35 on Sep 21st 2019 at 12:35:18 PM

Again another forced plot point brought to you by Tats.

Then again, the last panel makes it pretty much clear that the idea of appearing in public scares the quck out of our resident runaway devilgirl...

Really? She seems to be blushing to me, making her look like she's very interested in the idea.

My take on Fuschia is that she is supposed to represent Tatsuya as himself during his insecure phases of his career. Mostly it was Dark Horse telling him his work wasn't good enough. Regardless, she/Tatsuya persists. Probably the invitation for him to "go on tv" is akin to him either starting Sinfest or coming out with his feminism stance. So, it is trepidation that I see as well.

He is a self-declared introvert. Being watched or giving a presentation is probably the most terrifying thing in the world to him.

In fact, any interview he has done (and I think there's one or two) were only done via email or private chat.

In addition to that, him getting on Spinster is actually a pretty big step for him. Even if it is to protect himself from deeper issues, his beliefs mean a lot to him to endure that.

Edited by Gibson35 on Sep 21st 2019 at 7:02:40 AM

Sunday page: https://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2019-09-22

The Last Temptation of Fuchsia.

And of course, Crimmy is nowhere to be seen in her fantasy.

Gibson35, you know my ongoing theories about Tats' conversion to extreme radical feminism. I think they might provide an explanation for his behavior and plotlines for the past few months.

For several years Tats has been giving us tantalizing bits of backstory regarding Li'l Evil, Lilith, Hekate, Vainglorious, and Satan, and that fragmented history has seemed like a Chekhov's Gun. But it had remained unfired, and I came to believe that Tats would never fire it because the backstory would show Hekate — not just a Woman, but a Goddess! — in a bad light. Suddenly Tats took up that fragmented plot arc and began to explain things in an almost linear fashion, without major digressions into TERF territory. Then just as suddenly, Tats dropped that plot arc in favor of Fuchsia and Miss Amber. Why?

Also, for several years I've wondered why Tats often seems to be sabotaging his own message — the "sheroes" (all female, of course) seem like people you'd want to avoid, while the flawed and villainous males seem like pretty nice guys, even Satan! Why?

Unlike some people here and in the Discord group, I don't think Tats is stupid, and I don't believe that he just makes up everything on a spur of the moment basis as he creates the comics. Some of this stuff is definitely planned well in advance, and he's put some thought into it.

Try this on for size: Tats, a man in his mid-forties, is aware that relationships aren't always perfect and eternal. I think he's been influenced by Someone Else since 2011. His own radfem beliefs might not be as extreme as SE's, but for one reason or another SE has called the shots on the direction of his comic. I suspect that Tats has a plan to be able to retcon Sinfest and perhaps even to repudiate radical feminism, as a way of dealing with the possibility of a breakup with SE.

My guess is that a few months ago Tats' relationship with SE hit a rough patch. He might have taken up Li'l Evil's origin story as leverage over the relationship, or simply out of a sense of relief that he would finally be allowed to tell the story.

And Tats dropped that plot arc after he and SE reconciled, and now we have Fuchsia trying to deal with the corrupting temptations offered by Miss Amber, Unwilling Tool of the Patriarchy.

A vest and tie. I don't know why, but that bugs me more than the lack of Crim in the fantasy here.

Yeah, especially since during the late 2000's and early 2010's, their relationship had a huge arc around them. It's just sad that's shoved to the corner, since he doesn't fit the narrative of there being no male allies.

and Good call, both of you. Crim isn't even in the background. Perhaps that is a bit telling about what the future has in store from Criminy.

Hexopedia: I actually go back and forth between my theory and your theory in varying degrees. I even still occasionally go back to an old theory about it being his kid or something that took over for him and he lends a helping hand with direction once in a while.

Yeah, I think I might have to reluctantly agree that he didn't just come up with some things on the spur of the moment. Perhaps he does when he is so directed by Someone Else or when he goes into attack mode. You know, what if it's one of those things where Someone Else says "Hey, you know what would be great?" And Tatsuya, wanting to take their opinion as valuable, says "You know what? Let me slide that in there and I'll fit it into the story somehow. He did say at one point "I just draw what feminists tell me to draw." I never forgot that.

So yes, not everything is spur of the moment. The first reference to L'il E's mom being a ghost in his house was almost five years ago for crying out loud. But could his story have been sidetracked THAT long by SE? Yeah. It's totally possible.

With your Somebody Else theory, I think it is the next person that came along after his divorce/break-up/separation from his first muse. For a while, I strongly suspected it was Fan Number One from the Sinfest Forums.

A turbulent on-again-off-again relationship sounds extremely possible with a shut-in romantic and loony fan girl.

Seems like Tats has really changed tack lately, hasn't he?

I've been saying Somebody Else, but things may be more complicated than that. I suspect that several Somebodies may have interacted with Tats and influenced Sinfest. The following possibilities are all based on tropes and recurring themes found in Sinfest ...

A: An ex-wife or ex-lover. The Cartoonist refers to an "ex" several times. The breakup could have occurred at any time between 1995 and 2010. She might be the woman shown here (and elsewhere).

B: Someone who might have entered puberty around 2006, when the "crippling menstrual cramps" strips started. Possibly Tats' daughter, if he married soon after graduation from UCLA. Conceivably someone from earlier in his life — Tats' sister, if he has one, or a lover from the 1990s — and he remembered her cramps, and he was desperate for a topic.

C: The woman who somehow converted Tats to radical feminism, probably a lover, possibly someone who is dominant in their relationship. If she isn't a lover, she may be his ex-wife who somehow has a hold on him.

D: A young woman who came out as a lesbian and was incorporated into WokeMonique. (WokeMonique announced "The sun is out ... and so am I" and was celebrated by God.) This might be the same person as B and/or the daughter of C.

Edited by Hexapodia on Sep 22nd 2019 at 1:55:16 AM