Sinfest

Remember how Devil!Slick was supposed to be Slicks inner conflict?

Well, that metaphor broke long time ago and at this point it's not even broken, it's non-existent. Seriously, metaphors can only work as long as they remain consistent, but Tat's has this uncanny way to create a metaphor... and then somehow retroactively make it broken.

Gender Binary went from "Clever show what are expected of people" to "Pretty sure it's Monique's delusion at this point" and Devil!Slick went from "internal evil" to "Alternative universe devil"

edited 3rd Oct '14 10:00:19 AM by Mandemo

It's actually a property of Sinville that ideas slowly shed any metaphorical component and start wandering around as real things. Maybe we're seeing the process in action?

Since when has that been a property? In Sinfest there were always metaphorical concepts from the Real World(tm) walking around. That's not what's going on here. How Tats is fucking up here is that he's making metaphorical in-universe concepts suddenly real.

Like Slick bowing down before the "altar of masculinity" was supposed to be metaphorical since he was dreaming at the time. Yet since we see the mirror-world suddenly busting out and taking stuff over that can't be the case. So it must be real and a place you can visit if you want to. But only when Tats wants it to be?

There is no consistency anymore. Tats is just pulling whatever concepts he wants out of his ass without having a long-term plan for it. It's bad storytelling.

So around what point did this series turn into a giant feminism advertisement?

Sometime during the course of 2012 I'd say.

It can actually be pinpointed to a single strip, imagine or not.

It's the one where Monique decides to take the pill. From there, it has been downhill apart from few Hope Spot

edited 3rd Oct '14 4:59:07 PM by Mandemo

October 3rd, 2011. A day written in internet infamy. The appearance of one of the most divisive characters in webcomic history.

Click me if you dare

I've been wanting to take a stab at rewriting the description on the comic's page for a while now...might do that this weekend.

edited 3rd Oct '14 7:44:47 PM by Willbyr

Go for it. Just make sure to post results.

This is actually where it started. The one you posted and the one right after it are actually par for the good old Sinfest's course. In those, she's portrayed no different than Seymour. Yeah, she might have a point or two, but it looks like she's being portrayed as over-the-top and taking it WAY too seriously. Only in this third strip does it look like we're supposed to be agreeing with her.

edited 3rd Oct '14 8:08:17 PM by daveshan

http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2014-10-04

Well, I gotta applaud Tats for sticking with ths for two days now. Guess the Ritalin finally kicked in.

Plus, it does show to just what degree of douche Devil Slick is, so it serves a point.

Ah yes, now THERE'S a comic that sums up a LOT of the issues with Xanthe. Writing off arguments against her as "mansplaining" and rather than actually dumbing down her language so that people know what the hell she's talking about, (Seriously, my vocabulary is extensive and even I don't have ANY idea what the hell she's talking about with that definition.) she just insults Slick and tells him to look it up.

I'm still confused as to why Tats thinks we should like her or most of her bike riding cult.

edited 3rd Oct '14 8:59:48 PM by Metalix

New comic:

http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2014-10-04

Evil!Slick, you dick.

EDIT: Argh, 'd by a few seconds.

edited 3rd Oct '14 8:59:17 PM by TargetmasterJoe

How's this? Sandbox.Sinfest

One of the last instances of funny Monique.

I think it's pretty good. Hits all the major points while still being objective. It's better than most anything I can write, that's for damn sure.

edited 3rd Oct '14 10:16:02 PM by Raylas

Yeah, let's be honest, if most of us made an attempt at that I'm pretty sure it would be a LOT more flamey. Good work all around Will.

edited 4th Oct '14 12:52:29 AM by Metalix

Well, we reacted to it fairly well. The only question now is what the rest of the world will think.

Because I keep vanishing from the surface of the Earth, could someone tell me what Slick and Squig's job is?

And why do I get the feeling that its working at the misogyny factory?

They work at the drone factory

How is Squigley not noticing the horns and the tail?

And is Tats playing PTSD for laughs again or am I too soon with my judgement?

@ daveshan

For me the moment where Sinfest took a nosedive was the comic I linked, but to be fair, it was in hindsight. I remember first seeing it and thinking "what the hell", but not thinking too much of it since Tats has been known at that time to make odd political jokes. (like his Obama fanboyism for quite a while) In hindsight however it seems he wasn't joking at that point at all.

@ willbyr

It's a pretty good summary, but I think you understated just how much the characters have changed. I'd say all characters have had major changes to them, either in characterization or in number of appearances.

edited 4th Oct '14 5:17:31 AM by hayate666

Squiggly DID notice the tail and horns. Most likely, he's just decided not to comment on it because he sees weirder crap on a regular basis.

This also seems to be the first time Tats hasn't used Squig's trauma for a joke. Normal Slick would've given him that hug.

That was kind of the point - too much detail about those aspects could lead to it being overlong and complainy. The YMMV page is where the in-depth explanations of those issues needs to be. I'm making a few more tweaks.

edited 4th Oct '14 10:07:01 AM by Willbyr

I was thinking of an impartial mentioning of the changes. Whether you like them or not, it's hard to argue the characters haven't changed radically.

I see the latest edits you've done and I think it's more on the mark now. The changes you mention are a good callback to the characters you named one paragraph back. I like it!

I think the new description works well. Most can agree that it was sometime in October that readers started having the crushing realization of "....oh shit, you're serious aren't you Tats?"

Looking back at the start of darkness in Sinfest, its actually horribly depressing. The final Sunday strip before the Sisterhood invaded? A Fuchsia and Crimminy strip. The following day, Xanthe shows up. I actually dug through the archives on this thread, and found zero hour. Would you believe we used to not comment on this strip daily? Some thought that this was going to be like everything else, not taken to seriously and something new to make fun of. Others thought something was...off about this. The first Sisterhood Sunday strip hit and something really felt off. It went away for a week, then returned as more and more readers realized with horror what was happening. That Tats was serious.

Oh for crying out loud, THAT Sunday strip! Yes Tats, because schoolyard teasing and claims of goddamn COOTIES is such a HORRIBLE EFFECT of the Patriarchy! Not to mention that drawing. Dad, Incubator, Minions. Good lord, he didn't just drink the kool-aid provided by Tumblr SJ Ws, he filled up a pool and dove right in the freaking deep end.

And all of this being explained by a little brat on a big wheel.

The "Dad, incubator, minions" one is what pissed me off the most.

I mean when I called my mom an incubator and pledged loyalty to her as Dad's minion, she got cross with me. When I explained she was wired into the Patriarchy matrix she had me committed. It was the best Christmas ever!