Syconium
193

August 16th, 2017






Name (optional):
Link (optional, and omit the "http://"):
Your comment on this,
Syconium page #193:
       


(Hide comments)

(Turn off comments)


56 . by: August 12, 2021, 11:40 pm

Yupp, still nightmare fuel
55 . by: dark kuu August 18, 2017, 5:36 am

almost irrevlent but the way smothie has his views and studied sex, I am thinking back to things I've read and email answers from Betty Dodson and things she did not write for DodsonandRoss.com

is it better to view sex as smoothie does or be so sex positive that wanting to have sex with dolphins or have "dog sex dreams" is perfectfly healthy and normal? everytime i go there to think I'm going to learn something or get my sexual persona awakened I feel like having a mental breakdown and cry in a dread filled panic. Hopefully by now Betty Dodson is pro psyiatric medication and feels that Asexuality is real.

Insted of her old "you can cure/manage bipolar with sex and asexual isn't real, you were just raised by prudes and your parents punished you to much as a child when they caught you masturbating.

her words make me feel like going dark and mentally torture her for that drivel.
(but it's perfectly fine to have dreams of turning into a male dog and humping the first dog you see, or turning into a male centaur and raping a fat guy . she even fantasizes about submitting to a pack of wild dogs, and feels my "yellow jacket wasps flying out of my vagina" dreams is "having an angry cunt")

so, there is your other option.
54 . by: kuu August 18, 2017, 5:21 am

@44 like how Quintent's "ghost siblings" were not real
that is why I brought up MPD(or DID but healthy function systems don't like to be told they have a disorder) and in some forms, a created persona (again mixed with the MPD as I had seen people typing they MADE system members)

Estrus (monster?) Fig was also something she worked on as her art right?

but this is a persona, and "not a real person"

like how some people with MPD like to view their system memebers. not a coping mechnism from trauma but "real people sharing a body,"

__________

the food analogy made before reminds me of things I've seen vegans say about animal products eating. that we should evolve beyond "mouth pleasures" and stop torturing innocents and ruining the environment. the "for a few seconds of flavor and pleasure"(because people eat the animal products because it is just too tasty to give up)
53 . by: August 18, 2017, 5:12 am

but it looked like at one point "nobody want's my art so i will quit, they want my body so i will do that"
52 . by: August 18, 2017, 2:43 am

Every time I've scrolled down to check out the comments on this page, no joke, I've gotten a little unnerved knowing that THOSE TEETH are waiting for me...
51 . by: August 18, 2017, 12:52 am

@hemlock thanks, you basically said everything i wanted to express. i dont know smoothie/XYs motives, as we already know he is involved in some kind of bet, but i also think its important to realize that hes done a lot to help her recognize and be more aware of things that she can use to help herself.
50 . by: Furrama August 17, 2017, 11:49 pm

Zero fear? Look again. Look at the white tendrils invading his space. Look at his expressions. Look at his stance, sideways and defensive. And on this page - he can't seem to get up out from under her. And this is during a lucid dream!

This might be more real than anyone expected. Or at least, this might be like the fig leaf collars, or the lightning. Not real, but real enough to trick you, trap you, kill you. A warped Art, twisted and frightening. If she is XX's accidental creation, like the hatch blush....

Well, even if he wakes up unscathed, I'm sure he gets to enjoy some new nightmares in his own head. Omnomnom.
49 . by: August 17, 2017, 10:40 pm

This to me is a pretty good metaphor of when society demonizes something like sex. Her mother, her teachers, her THERAPIST, her boyfriend. She was told so often that desire is primitive and dangerous and wrong, and yet it's also the only thing society is willing to pay her to do. How could she not internalize that? How could it not grow teeth?

I dunno, to me this arc seems to be about a woman trying to come to terms with parts of herself that her society likes to both villainize and fetishize. Shes not the sex charged maniac that Fig represents, but she's not the innocent little girl that her mother wishes she was (XX) either.
48 . by: August 17, 2017, 9:27 pm

Wait, didn't we JUST get a preview of what happens when she gets rid of her sexual side? All it accomplished was it made her feel empty and lost... then it got her written up and then beaten up.

Her sexuality might be damaging, but getting rid of it clearly didn't help either.
47 . by: ItPierces August 17, 2017, 9:06 pm

Also, I'm pretty sure that pXY is experiencing exactly zero fear. This whole thing is most likely being run through an alembic, so, no real danger. Heck, he got mangled back at the beginning of this encounter and literally didn't even acknowledge that. What does Fig have, honestly, that she can realistically threaten him with?
46 . by: 4 August 17, 2017, 9:05 pm

Glad my rambling could spark some discussion.

Didn't point this out before, but... the theories Smoothie promotes are probably a large part of the reason why society ostracizes sex workers in the first place. He's actively pushing to label sexual expression as something parasitic, gluttonous, and harmful to society. He claims to want to help Fig, but what he's actually doing is directly funding Fig's violent, abusive employers while pushing an agenda whose influence will further prevent Fig and her coworkers from ever finding a meaningful living outside of the brothel.

This is supposed to help her how?

In the story, clinging to the "White Coat" got the main character killed, so in that sense I guess it's very applicable to Smoothie.
45 . by: ItPierces August 17, 2017, 8:39 pm

Does Fig actually represent XX's sexuality, or, does she represent society's sexualization of XX--the control it imposes upon her through her own sexuality by refusing to acknowledge any other part of her personhood? Or, perhaps, the identity confusion resulting from such a state of affairs.
44 . by: Furrama August 17, 2017, 6:14 pm

Also, weird world buildy stuff, I'm not sure Fig isn't a real person? Like, we're dealing with metaphysical halo brains and Art becoming Real so....

*SHRUGS SUPER HARD WITH STUPID LOOK ON HER FACE*
43 . by: Furrama August 17, 2017, 6:07 pm

I could have been a bit clearer - this iteration of her sexuality needs to die. It is not under her control. It's like, substance addiction, to anything, even usually benign things. It might have made you happy once, but now it's destroying you. That kind of thing.

If she can divorce herself from this aspect of herself she can revisit it later, with some therapy and help and see if she can manage it in a healthy way. But it has to be under her control, and on her own terms. Otherwise she's better off without it. Again, like substance abuse.

But, that's just the first half of it, and something that (S)XY hasn't addressed at all, (and might be ignorant of in some capacity, we'll see). That of how society will view her, even if she ever gets "free".
42 . by: hemlock August 17, 2017, 5:42 pm

I've also been doing research on human trafficking, and honestly the whole situation feels a lot more similar and a lot bleaker in that context. A large portion of woman forced into jobs as sex workers were forced there by a partner or someone they saw as one, often with the caveat that they owe the person or need to make money to pay that person. People can argue that the woman made a choice, to go 'willingly' or not run away, but that discounts all the factors the women (not girls, because damn that gets infantilizing with these adult characters) have shown; no outside support, fear of physical violence, stigma as a sex worker, support or fear for their family, not to mention any mental or emotional trauma or grooming.
41 . by: hemlock August 17, 2017, 5:30 pm

Hmm, I dunno all about that. Fig is being used by XX as a representation of her sexual desires, I think maybe as a possible 'othering' to help her contextualize the trauma of living in the brothel. She may not recognize this, but Fig is not an actual separate person, and maybe in the end it's a bit disingenuous to treat that truly as such.

There's nothing wrong with sex, she's allowed to be a sexual creature if that made her happy. The biting thing is yeah, once facet of that that could use some therapy and work, but I have a hard time imagining that she would have disassociated this heavily if not for her environment. If she was in a nice place, free to do what she wanted, to practice her art, with people who supported her, and still enjoy sex. If maybe there wasn't a stigma in sex, or the expectation to be a good girlfriend, even fear of prosecution or if mental health services were a more common thing, she could have broken up with Green long ago, and sought the help needed for change.

A total excision of her sexuality would be harmful, I think. Not enjoying sex anymore wouldn't get her out of the brothel, wouldn't suddenly give her the courage to stand up to Green, and Cherry and make people appreciate her art. And even if it did, what, she goes on to live her life, never being able to healthily enjoy this thing so many others do? That's natural? She has to find a balance, learn some self control, and to do that probably she needs the support of other people, if she can't get it from society itself. Smoothie might be a start, but I am skeptical that his dedication to his work, and pre-formed mindset about sex isn't a little too rigid, old fashioned. He's had this habit of centering her behavior around her mother in a very freudian fashion, but there has to be room for the rest of XX. There's more to a person than..whatever this is.

Or I dunno, those were a lot of words about some stoats. Nofna's great stuff ya'll.
40 . by: Furrama August 17, 2017, 4:24 pm

There's no reason she can't be both an artist and sexual, she's just stuck in a bad position?

Aaah, this goes deeper than that. Fig put her in this bad position. XX allowed it, in the beginning. Sex is a good thing, but only in so far as it doesn't dictate you, rule you, devour you. Bite people's faces off. Look, think of her sexuality as someone's pet dog for a second. It just bit somebody. Again. For the third time. After biting and keeping the owner in her house unable to leave.

It gotta die. It's a real shame, but this aspect of her has to die if any other part of her is going to live, and hopefully recover. It's grown to be more than just a persona of her sexual desires, it's consumed all of her, and it's indicative of those desires run amok in greater society, which will cease to exist if the monster gets her way. Just like XX.

At least that's what I'm picking up from what's been laid down.

---

(S)XY feels like an aberration in this story, I think, because he's like the White Coat, in a world where everything is black or gray. Everyone else is pretty messed up in some way, though they might be likable enough, and he's like, pretty dang "pure". I think we've been taught to think people who are like that are naive, or repressed, or just want something from you. But he has extensively studied sex, this is his area of expertise. He knew quite a bit of what was going on with her without her having to tell him directly. Even she didn't know how he knew. But you know, it's like he's seen or experienced this stuff before, along with pretty good intuition, judging from how he could tell XX and Fig apart pretty quick.

He's gone out of his way to help her when he didn't have to, when she was just supposed to be a subject to study. (I mean, I'm sure all of this has been valuable info but it clearly wasn't in his original plan. Nor was the face biting off bit.) He never took advantage of her predicament, even when his scruffy friend thought he did/should have. He threw a bit of shade at (E)XY during their only meeting (and some of you are interpreting that as though he was sincere which... no.)

But as we're seeing here, ultimately, he can't help her. He's put himself in danger for her, and has clearly been afraid for the last few pages. But he didn't run, tried to stay professional and stand up for her. But this is on her.

I guess, what I'm thinking is, you can know a lot of things, and still choose to abstain. Or help. Do the noble thing, even when no one else aspires to, or when you're all alone. I mean, he's shown true love, as dopey as that sounds. And has that eye towards the future, towards society, like XX has been trying to have. And in that way, they are quite alike.

Idk. I love him and YOU BETTER NOT KILL HIM ZACH.
39 . by: August 17, 2017, 4:21 pm

one eye: poked with a hatch blush. the other? EATEN
38 . by: Kaidona August 17, 2017, 12:22 pm

@36: Yes. I do too. It's deeply distorted, chillingly so.

URL : http://kaidona.deviantart.com
37 . by: Corvidophile August 17, 2017, 12:09 pm

I agree with the point #4 is making as far as the tone of Smoothie, even though he seems to mean to help, he's been obnoxiously disregarding XX's sexuality as a real thing, there's no reason she can't be both an artist and sexual, she's just stuck in a bad position where the passion is being sucked out of her. It's easy to forgive him as "dork prude" if not for the fact that the study of sex is something he's academically into, so he's tweaking and shaping XX's feelings toward it from a position of knowledge, which is making her doubt the validity of her feelings even more.
36 . by: August 17, 2017, 2:39 am

Can anyone else practically /hear/ Fig's voice warp into a garbled monstrosity at the word "ME".
35 . by: Dani August 16, 2017, 10:59 pm

Thanks 32! I see his nose now :)
34 . by: Crescent August 16, 2017, 6:08 pm

Oh man. How will Smooth get out of this one. And how will RG and the mouse react if he starts screaming in the real world. They were told to not wake him, but if he seems in agony, someone super concerned may go against it.
33 . by: Furrama August 16, 2017, 5:27 pm

I have several issues with comment 4 but it was interesting to read.

I think the only real problem with (S)XY as a character is that we, the viewers, don't know much about him outside of his interactions with Fig and his job- I mean, we can glean a bit, but not as much as we'd probably like. But that was true for characters like Nutsedge (right up until the end when we got dunked with feels). So I'll reserve judgment on this issue until the story is over.
32 . by: August 16, 2017, 11:56 am

@31 Smoothie's face in the corner, he's being pressed down on by Fig.
31 . by: Dani August 16, 2017, 11:54 am

Can anyone clarify what exactly we are looking at in Panel 1?
30 . by: August 16, 2017, 8:05 am

@23, Yeah I think the lyrics work really well, but I'm not sure the tone of the song matches the tone this comic gives off.
29 . by: August 16, 2017, 4:43 am

@4, that is an incredibly well worded analysis.
28 . by: Downhill August 16, 2017, 4:16 am

@4 Oh man, this is so good. I think you've really nailed why Smoothie's part in the story feels so weird.

I mean, what's going to happen if they defeat Fig and bring XX back in control here? We've seen what happened to her coworkers who left or tried to leave the brothel. Their lives weren't ruined by wild instincts- they were ruined by society, by credit, by their workplace.
Maybe this fight is kind of a red herring, like how a lot of people thought Nutsedge was the bad guy in Secretary at first... though Nutsedge didn't bite dudes' faces off.
27 . by: August 16, 2017, 4:00 am

shrug emoji fail
26 . by: August 16, 2017, 4:00 am

dude these teeth are so much scarier than the last time we saw them for some reason, something about that angle is srsly wrong. i should be asleep but now?? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
25 . by: hemlock August 16, 2017, 3:16 am

@4 Great write up!

Also teeth.
24 . by: August 16, 2017, 1:05 am

@ItPierces I dig it, thanks for the tunes
23 . by: ItPierces August 16, 2017, 12:30 am

I'll try and add my own thoughts later. If I don't...
For now...

Battle music!

Other songs have handled Syconium's various themes better and more deeply, (and the technology references in this one are somewhat regrettable), but I have yet to see anything else that touches on so many, and with such clarity:

URL : http://youtube.com/watch?v=cQKGUgOfD8U
22 . by: Furrama August 16, 2017, 12:13 am

@21 Pffffft!
21 . by: August 15, 2017, 11:33 pm

@Furrama: And Fig's teeth grew three sizes that day
20 . by: August 15, 2017, 10:44 pm

My cellphone wouldn't scroll down for a moment, so there was an amazing fearful pause before the, "ME".
19 . by: Mutt August 15, 2017, 10:16 pm

@11 has a pretty accurate summation of what I'm feeling right now.
18 . by: August 15, 2017, 9:56 pm

I'm getting some major 'the cat with hands' vibes with the cray mouth actions- ready for some hyper extended jaw action
17 . by: August 15, 2017, 9:37 pm

I wonder if this will be enough to wake XY up or if he'll regenerate from the bite. But it feels like there's more that will come from this scene than for him to suddenly wake up this way.
16 . by: Kaidona August 15, 2017, 8:24 pm

Well, good thing this is a dream-extension of XY and he can regenerate his face. ._.

URL : http://kaidona.deviantart.com
15 . by: Witticaster August 15, 2017, 8:08 pm

Hold the phone... did someone just say EXTREMELY LARGE TEETH?

URL : http://i.imgur.com/V7vVfQf.png
14 . by: Kai August 15, 2017, 7:44 pm

Oh boy, this guy's about to know a world of pain...

Last panel reminds me of the smile.jpeg dog.
13 . by: Seven August 15, 2017, 7:31 pm

Oh well, nice knowing you, Smoothie, ;.;
12 . by: August 15, 2017, 7:23 pm

@4 love it, thanks for writing up your ideas!!
11 . by: AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH August 15, 2017, 7:17 pm

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
10 . by: August 15, 2017, 7:16 pm

Oh hey this turned into FNAF
9 . by: kuu August 15, 2017, 7:00 pm

i had a feeling things were going to get nightmarish/weird/creepy as he stay longer, like one of those bad weird scary dreams one could have if on some medications
8 . by: August 15, 2017, 6:33 pm

RIP Smoothie's face
7 . by: Furrama August 15, 2017, 6:32 pm

By the way, off topic, silly I know, but doesn't Fig in panel 11 look a little... Grinch-ish?

I think it's the eyebrow. It's probably the eyebrow.
6 . by: Destrustor August 15, 2017, 6:26 pm

Jegus she bit his whole face off.
5 . by: August 15, 2017, 6:08 pm

AAAAHHHHHHHHHH
4 . by: August 15, 2017, 6:06 pm

IT'S NIGHTMARE TEETH TIME!

It's also time for a novel... I think I finally can articulate why Smoothie's whole approach just seems so off.

So like, imagine if we were following Chef Stoat from back on page 106. Imagine if he went from being a highly-regarded, self-employed chef to being trapped in a minimum-wage burger flipping job with long hours, no benefits, and management that physically attacks employees who step out of line. He loses his home and has to live in a back room in the restaurant and he's not even allowed to leave the premises without a tracking collar.

Now imagine that some guy starts going through the checkout line, over and over, buying random stuff but not eating it, just so he can chat up Chef Stoat while he's trapped behind the register:
"I think you're unhappy. And you must be unhappy because... you've devoted your life to food!"
"Indulging in the taste of food is a relic from our past... it's unnecessary in today's society and leads to greed, waste, and gluttony..."
"That urge that feels so good comes from an ancient compulsion to KILL AND EAT living people...!!"
"Food will possess you... just look at the situation you're in... it's totally taken over your life..."
"Society isn't about food, it's about what's coming next... food is just something that happens along the way, to help pass on those ideas to the next generation..."
*gives tons of money to the food industry so he can buy time to chat up Chef Stoat* "Supporting food is bad for society..."
*throws burger on the ground that Chef Stoat put love and care into despite his horrible situation* "I'm STRONGER than food... I believe you can be too..."

And then it's revealed that the guy is doing a thesis on Soylent.

When XX first started sex work - on her own terms - she seemed happy. Her 'day job' didn't interfere with her art; in fact, it gave her the financial security to buy nice tools and she was doing huge, cool paintings during that time. She seemed happier and more 'herself' having sex than she did while abstaining. It was only after she became trapped in a horrible dead-end situation being exploited by horrible people, being unable to say 'no', that there was any indication of distress or a split in personality. Sex work didn't take over her life - Greenie and the brothel did!

And yet, Smoothie chooses to ignore the obvious. He makes a cutesy comment about worker satisfaction while he watches her employer literally tie a noose around her neck while her boyfriend jokes about strangling her. Then he immediately launches into a long spiel trying to get XX to admit that the REAL reason she's unhappy is because she's doing the nasty with random strangers.

Yeah, that's the problem. You nailed it, dude.

To me, the way XX perceives Cherry 2 heavily suggests that this nightmarish 'Fig' is simply her mind's metaphor for her current environment/society, how it is huge and overwhelming and impossible to stand up to and is destroying her. There's no solid evidence (aside from Smoothie and the mole's Victorian-era opinions) that sex is really the main problem, any more than enjoying food would be. Her situation would be destroying her no matter WHAT her job was. To me, it feels like defeating Fig isn't about defeating sex, it's about defeating those who would compel her to sublimate her own self in deference to their goals. That's been her true roadblock all along, in my opinion.

But in this case, Smoothie could help even if he's horribly off the mark - there are countless stories of people who finally leave abusive situations, not because THEY'VE had enough, but because they want to protect their children/partners/friends. They aren't worth it, but those people are. If XX can find the strength to stand up to Fig (and, by extension, her horrible real life situation) for Smoothie's sake, maybe that's the crucial step that will let her stand up for her own sake too.

Anyway, long comment is long.
3 . by: Furrama August 15, 2017, 5:58 pm

Well. I wasn't wrong a couple of pages ago.

XX GET UP! BITE HER ASS! SAVE YOUR FRIEND! WHAT'S LEFT OF HIM ANYWAY....
2 . by: August 15, 2017, 5:52 pm

i guess i didn't need to sleep tonight anyway.
1 . by: hazard August 15, 2017, 5:50 pm

HECK YEAH XX!!!!!! DON'T GIVE UP XX!!!!

also: vagina dentata