Mind Control Comics Forum

(http://cnt1.dvvent.com/dvv/open/mcc/sji/promos/sji-i372.jpg)

Multiple part titles tend to mean splash pages on the horizon.

Is this Dani and Jacqui relaxing with one another?  Doesn't Jacqui owe Dani practice of her new oral skills for that phone call to Derek on the Night of the Watch?  Is this the payoff of that?  Not as good as featuring at Sawyer's (back when he didn't appear to be an asshole), but this seems very VERY promising.

I for one was super, super stoked a couple of episodes ago at the notion that Miriam might be joining the harem.  The fact that she did not become one of Adrian's slaves but instead just kissed him is somewhat disappointing.  However, I am still holding out hope that whatever was done to Miriam with the crystal is just a slower-acting mind-control device than the watch, and that maybe she will start feeling more and more differently about Adrian as time passes.

Man, I'd love to see a scene where Jacqui welcomes her daughter into the harem.  That would in itself be worth the price of a subscription.

I'm definitely with you on that one :-D

The sequence isn't over yet.  This looks promising. ;)  That "So" is somebody not of the four.  Is that Ein making her way downstairs or are more of the convalescents joining the fun.

And what does this pop-up text mean?  Is it a poem?  A song lyric?

I think there are five in this room: panel 3 shows Dani, Jacqui, and Erin together and presumably panel 5 is the same scene. As far as I can tell, Johannes and Einfriður are the only other two people in the house. Unless that's Einfriður snuggled up with Jacqui and Dani is upstairs with Johannes. I get the impression Adrian isn't coming back just yet.

I have to say I will not care if Miriam finally gets down with Jacqui. Or with her temporal twin brother Adrian come to that. And from the point of view of my fetish I'd rather see members of Adrian's harem being stolen away by someone else than see their number grow. But, you know, there's much more to this than my fetish.

Stolen only by someone worthy and caring which lets the Kupplers out. Even the best of them seems to be Chet Donnelly from Weird Science (after Lisa has a run at them).

Yeah. Caring is the problem.

Adrian isn't a mind controller, as far as we know. It's true that all the women in that room are slaves to the watch. But Adrian didn't do that to them. Indeed, he runs around from one woman to the next servicing their desires. There is no mind control within the harem; there is only the induction. Beyond that there is only sex, which is more than fine obviously, but tickling the fetish is much more effective. That's why we didn't stop at bigjugs.com and instead found our way here.

The only way we get mind control is when someone gets involved who actually deploys mind control. An evil intention is better in that it means there's actually something at stake. But what really matters is that there is some mind control. I'm really happy for Erin and Dani and Mallory if caring Adrian leaves the toilet seat down, but he's no use to my fetish.

None of which is to complain about the story, because as I say, SJI is about much more than just my fetish.

I mean, I think I'm with you on that one. More mind control, and while I like it when a female subject ends up having her desires satisfied one way or another through MC, part of it is the controller controlling them - and we're still waiting for Adrian to step up to the plate with that one.

Ah, bull...ahem.  Excuse me.  In my opinion, Adrian's method is part of what makes this one of the best comics and certainly the most consistent one on the site.  We just aren't ever going to agree on this.  Which is fine, but when you bash one of the aspects I really enjoy about this comic, I get annoyed.

ETA--I think this is the gradual evolution of a guy similar to the gentlemen in Yard Sale and Housewarming.  Guys who learn to employ mind control but also fulfill and improve on their subjects' fantasies.

I consider SJI to be a comic with MC, as opposed to the MC comics on the rest of the site. This might be a distinction that is only in my head, but there it is.

That description fits my view of the thing too. And I'm more than happy with what SJI is. As I've said before, I hope nothing anyone says here has any real influence on what happens, beyond improving your ability to tease us.

Adrian isn't living my fantasy. I don't want any slaves, let alone a house full of them. And I don't judge these stories by how bearable the male lead is, or whether I would behave better than he in the circumstances. I know I'd behave better because I wouldn't be enslaving women in the first place. There: I won. What I want to see is women falling under the influence of mind control. And OK, there's more to it than that. But Adrian giving orders to a woman who is already under that influence doesn't really count for me. The whole "Master" thing doesn't do much for me either, but Adrian allowing the women to fulfil their desire to call him Master... I mean, who exactly is in control here? Beyond the hypnocock incident (you might want to have a word with Microsoft - that's still getting a red line under it) Adrian hasn't done anything that might tickle my whatsit. But I'm sure he's a nice guy.

This, exactly. Bolded for emphasis. Fundamentally, Adrian doesn't seem to pursue the objects of his desire, whatever they happen to be. While I'd argue that in the context of an MC comic it makes more sense to not worry too much about the morality of mind controlling women to be your sex slaves, as long as you're not tormenting them or gaining pleasure from their suffering, I'd be willing to accept the 'lighter touch' if it seemed like Adrian was willing to go after whatever it was *he* desired as well. The art is great, and some of the induction so far has been great, but, you know, more mind controlled sexiness is always good. And the women certainly call him 'master,' but it's almost a formality at this point, it seems.

There's plenty of ways for Adrian to be using the watch 'inoffensively' as well - MCing the women working for the enemy could be hot even in a non-sexual context (Though we hope it goes there, either from his own initiative or programming left over from their previous masters). Hell, even Dani teaching Adrian how to use the watch/crystal could be pretty hot - he'd need a subject, of course, and since he'd likely use one of his harem girls he'd have to use programming that they didn't already have - post-hypnotic suggestions and so on, just to play games with it, could be pretty steamy, like giving one of his girls a compulsion towards public exhibition or something. And then, of course, there's always the option to run into a woman who *wants* to be mind-controlled, because that's what gets her off. But we haven't seen any of that, unfortunately.

Aside from the fetish though, I do really like the idea of a group of women "convincing" each other that they belong totally to someone who didn't ask them to do that, and who then is obliged to service their needs. I mean, that's really neat.


There's all kinds of stuff in the real world that could be called mind control. Through the ages there's been a very thin line in literature between seduction and the casting of a spell. I'm sure that suited a lot of men. But seduction is mind control, kind of. So there is mind control in the real world that I have no problem with. But actually dicking about with someone's mind would be a no-no for me. In the real world. But in fantasy, in stories, in comics, absolutely anything goes. And to me, judging the mind controllers in stories is ridiculous because they're only there to make the thing happen that I want to happen. Equally, if a man makes a woman love him (or whatever) then to me it's ridiculous to admire him for the way he "cares" for her.

In truth I don't dislike any of the mind controllers in SJI. I mean, it's a story: they're all there to entertain me, not to be my friends. I do judge them, but that's part of the fun. I don't dislike Adrian either. If he were a mind controlling monster I wouldn't care at all. But that would make it a different story.

That's kind of my take as well. All of the quibbling about 'good mind controllers' I see in some of the stories on the EMCSA and so on - what's the point? We know it'd be wrong to do this stuff in real life. But it's hot to read and write about, and to act out in the milieu of sexual play in our rl sex lives.

Obviously, given MCC and MCT, my position should be obvious: Fantasy exists outside of the realm of morality, and we judge it on whether ir is hot, not whether or not it makes a good guide to life. If anyone is looking to MCC for relationship advice, please sign off now!

Most of the stories on the site are written from the perspective of: A person (usually a man) acquires a method of mind control and employs it to acquire the... um, favors of attractive women. I am very much in favor of this kind of story. In fact, I would say that essentially all of the stories on MCC are of that form, including SJI.

Now, in just about all the stories, the person who acquires the control is the protagonist, because (a) as a fantasy, we'd like to cozy up to that person because that's what we in general find hot, and (b) the controller has the best seat in the house to see what is going on.

However, stories have many forms, and perhaps another version of this story is one that is told from a different POV, from the POV of one who is not the controller. For me, it's an interesting story idea to say, "What if a basically decent (by real-world standards) person wanders into an MCC story?"

Hope you enjoy the ride. :)

Maybe what this comic needs is an "evil twin" plot arc.  Derek talks Cherry into using magic to disguise him as Adrian, and he proceeds to swipe a chunk of the harem.  Wacky hijinks ensue.  Bonus points if it culminates in a stand-off on the roof of a building with Caitlyn having to decide which one of them to shoot.  Double bonus points if you can work in a hall of mirrors too.

(Actually, the 'twin controller' idea might work in a stand-alone comic as well.  A guy goes to his twin brother's funeral.  It turns out that, unknown to him, his brother was a mind controller.  There are a lot of gorgeous women at the funeral and their programming can't distinguish between him and their now-deceased original master.  Wacky hijinks ensue...)

I was kind of hoping that Adrian was going to hypnotize Cherry to defang her, to be honest...

Given what Daphne said above, if Adrian is a "basically decent guy by real-world standards" then him actually using mind control on someone deliberately might be seriously out-of-character, even as an act of self-defense.

Unless it was another "solution out of his ass" like the hypnocock gag from the Night of the Watch.

A lot of this character development discussion feels like I'm getting a lecture from Brecht on the nature of minimalism.*sigh*

That's ascribing a very, very high value to 'decent.'

I'd be really impressed if someone with access to mind control powers to get the sex they wanted irl didn't use it. I think you'd see, like, 1% or less of people doing that.

For an example of someone taking a different approach than Adrian, see Daffyd in HK.

Yes, that's a different approach.;)

Why is it astonishing to the point of incredulity that a guy's fantasy could be bringing bliss to women by fulfilling their wildest, most fervent fantasies?

I dunno, Daffyd's going through this uncomfortable moralizing streak as of late. I mean, who says no to BE? ;-)

Erin's boyfriend?  Totally unnecessary.

I don't think anyone has expressed any incredulity that that might be someone's fantasy. But essentially that fantasy has nothing to do with mind control. So people with a mind control fetish (which you'd imagine is a fair proportion of the subscribers to this site) aren't necessarily going to get a sexual thrill out of reading about someone living out that fantasy. Such deviants might prefer it if some of those women fell into the hands of someone who was actually going to use mind control on them. To express that view is not to denigrate or ridicule in any way people who do enjoy that fantasy.


Hmmm.


As to Adrian's decency, he's still having sex with women he knows wouldn't be having sex with him (not least the lesbians amongst them) if they hadn't been exposed to mind control. In the real world he'd be in deep doo-doo for knowingly doing that.

At one time I thought that Miriam was kind of Adrian's evil twin, although that wasn't strictly in a mind controlling sense. I've gone cold on that idea. But it's ready to be warmed up if it turns out to be right.


If you're saying that that's the thinking behind Adrian's role in SJI then that's an interesting insight. I hadn't thought of it quite like that, mainly because Adrian is as much a mystery figure as many of the other characters are.

It's just the discussions about characterization feels like an excuse or a justification for starting all controllers as Bill Sykes and then letting them get REALLY crazy.  >:( ::)

On the other hand, I want mind control to be *used* if its in the story - that's where a lot of the heat comes from. Assuming a stance that mind control is by default morally reprehensible really puts a cramp in that. Adrian may be a 'basically decent guy' but he's also really passive when it comes to sex, very much about fulfilling the fantasies of the women he's with - which while sometimes hot, when it gets taken much farther than it already has, makes me wonder if I'm the right sex demographic for this story.

Well, speaking as the author of Audiophilia and Bearing Gifts (just to name two), I have zero problem with evil (or at least take-charge) controllers. :)

Take charge doesn't mean "evil."  Passive doesn't mean "good."

I don't think By the Book and Audiophilia are quite the same space as Bearing Gifts.

I think Bearing Gifts and Martian Harem ARE the same space.  The art is beautiful, the situations are hot.  But the controllers don't even admire the objects of their control as possessions.  Particularly for Martian Harem, when men speak about women, I can hear James Woods as Byron De La Beckwith bloviating about his value system, but this time it's "dogs" or "deer" vs. women.

*sigh* :'(

I guess it's a fine line to walk - the male main character of Bearing Gifts seems to take a bit of pleasure in making his women suffer - not as much as the elder Kuppler in SJI, but it still passes what I find to be particularly exciting for that exact reason (though it doesn't pass into squick territory).

Martian Harem is a bit different - I love the milieu and aesthetic, even if the male MCers are pretty reprehensible sometimes.

I'm in mostly the same boat, though I've been begging for one of Daphne's "ordinary guys" to show up somewhere anywhere in Martian Harem for...what two years now?

Cuckoo's Nest is blessedly different because the gals are the main characters and the guys who intersect with them and might be jerks are only around for an episode or two before they go off for fun somewhere else.

The guys I tend to be most comfortable with are Adrian and the two guys from Faerie Tail (although I'm waiting to see how this new gentleman develops).  The first guy knew how to walk the line between aggression and interest.  This guy is holding himself back though I can't tell if it's genuine affection or fear.  I'm hoping for genuine affection because then he'd develop along a parallel path to Adrian and I could enjoy the different choices he'd make in his universe vs. the ones that Adrian makes.

Cuckoo's nest is great for what it is, but it's a totally different kind of story. I love seeing what the Honeys are up to, though.

Daffyd is probably the controller that I enjoy the most, as some of his reactions seem pretty 'real' and he's not trying to white knight particularly hard. My only real complaint, as mentioned upthread, is that he turned back the clock on some BE.

You'll probably like the next one, then. :)

When the site started, Daffyd was my favorite character, and HK was my favorite comic.  Then the story and art of SJI really started to develop and there was that enforced furlough when folks couldn't re-up their subscriptions.  SJI became the focal point, and the art and story have merited it since then.  And some of what I really enjoyed in the early HK has been worn away as Daffyd has grown into his power.  Then, a wide variety of gorgeous comics have also come forward and absorbed some of that spotlight.

Yeah, I came to the site because someone was posting HK and BR to /d/ - those are still great comics, mind, but there's others in different styles that are great. Cuckoo's Nest, in particular, succeeds very well at doing what it does, and it's usually pretty humorous *and* sexy. SJI has really taken off, as jmundt mentioned, and the characters are good and the art keeps getting better, but there's just something about the MC heat of it that hasn't quite fallen into place for me. The only one that I out and out don't care for is Chrysalis, just because 'living doll' transformation are so eh for me, but I don't go in there and shit up the threads for the people who *do* enjoy it.

I guess the reason why I mention the things I do about SJI is that it's something I perceive as a flaw on an otherwise very enjoyable comic - I still enjoy when each page comes out, certainly.

The thing I struggle to understand is why anyone cares about male mind controllers either being portrayed as jerks in the stories, or being dismissed as jerks in discussions like this.

But then my "interest" is in what's happening to the victims - what's happening in their minds. That's probably why I prefer Free Cable to, say, Bearing Gifts or By The Book. And I like peril. So a mind controller with evil intent is inherently better. The Martian Harem, with all those dangerous cups of tea, is good for peril, although obviously you know what's going to happen every time. Beyond Rubies: all about the victims. Con'Fused and Cuckoo's Nest: endless use of mind control, and in the latter endless shifts of power, which I think is why it's my favourite of the "other" comics.

I'd freely admit if I identified with the controllers in these stories but I really don't. And I think you'd have to in order to care what they're like. To me they're only there to create victims. And to be honest I think they're bigger jerks if they think they're caring for their victims than if they have no such delusion.

Okay, help me out.  Do you read fiction outside this genre for entertainment?  What about watching movies or TV shows (outside the lamentable reality explosion)?  When I engage in those activities, I find that I put more into the book or film or tv drama if I like some of the characters than if I find them all wholly despicable.  Even if a large group of wholly despicable characters are well-portrayed and are interwoven into a well-told tale, my enjoyment of the enterprise is muted.

For instance, I find There Will Be Blood a nightmare to watch even though it is well-made because the characters are so awful.

It's part of how I read, and I can't completely turn it off when approaching Daphne's excellent work.

I never identify with characters in stories (of whatever form). I never put myself in their place. I don't care if I like or dislike the characters as people; what matters is whether I like the storytelling. I'm not a writer but I'm more interested in storytelling than I am in stories, if that makes sense.

It's not so much that, as when someone in an MC erotica story doesn't MC someone because it would be wrong. Like, I get it, and could pontificate at great length on the morality of what's going on if it came up. But not in my erotica - to me it's a little frustrating, and has an unfortunate analog to the real-world idea held by some that a man's desire for a woman is inherently harmful to the object of his affections. While obviously the actions taken in these fantastical stories push past consent, that's the kink - and the real-world manifestations of these desires, in the context of sexual play, do not.


I'll be honest: my ideal ending for a mind control story is when the MCed 'victim' ends up a happy slave or servant of her master or mistress (I mainly find female-subject stories hot, with a few exceptions here and there, though the controller could be of either sex). Some struggle and trial and travail along the way? Certainly. But I'm not particularly invested in the idea of being MCed as a 'bad end' or whatever people are calling it these days. For me, a mind controller with evil intent can take the fun out of the story - if we had to read about the elder Kuppler as the main character in SJI, with him MCing his slaves to walk to the edge of tall buildings and reveling in his ability to have them jump, if he so chose, I'd be pretty turned off. Even what the main character of Bearing Gifts does is kind of meh for me - I mentally fast forward through the humiliation and degradation bits. However, I definitely like to see a main character interested in using his or her MC capabilities to bed women - and the MC-induced receptiveness of the women certainly makes it hot. If the controller cares about their subjects, so much the better - again, inasmuch as these fictional stories are holograms of our real-life behavior, I don't think that the dom in a relationship with a strong dom/sub character is deluding himself when he cares about his sub. For my part, I have a hard time being sexually attracted to someone on any level except the most purely physical unless I care for them on some level, and mixing that with an mc kink produces an opinion as I've described.

As far as identifying or putting myself in the place of the controllers in these stories: I wouldn't say that I put myself in the place of them, but for whatever reason if they're too sadistic (or too passive) the story just won't have heat for me.

I don't know that liking necessarily means identifying with a character.  Although that line would be hard to draw.  But basically what I'm taking from this is that you'd like Sinclair Lewis' satires as expressions of art and skill because he tells his story well and the aspects of traits or behavior of particular characters like Elmer Gantry or Babbitt are of little importance.  This is edifying.  It's very different from the way I read...I don't know if I was taught to read that way or it's a force of habit, or some combination of them.

I think I'm along the same line as Haight, but perhaps not as far down it which makes me pricklier about characters.

But again, yes following Jakob's exploits sucks all the fun out of the modes of mind control.  Now, the guy from Faerie Tail 1 is more entertaining (so far) than the guy from Faerie Tail 2.  But, the experimenter from Chrysalis is more fun and less aggressive in the current continuum than he is in the guest pages where he's so bored, he can't find amusement even in blissful sensation, and that ennui tends to make him cruel or dismissive (which is a couple steps away from Jakob or Bertram).

As in all things: it depends what you mean...

I think if you've deliberately made someone dependent on you (by MC) and you believe you're being a caring person by being there for them to satisfy the needs you implanted - if you're giving yourself a pat on the back for treating them so well, then you're kidding yourself. That's what I meant.

I don't want stories to end at the point a watch is waved in someone's face. But equally I really don't need to read about the second time the controller and the victim have sex after the watch has been waved. That's a generalization but you get the idea - by that point the mind control is done. I bang on about the peril thing; I don't really understand it. But someone falling into a trap is one aspect of it - drugged drinks being a classic example. But as a reader you don't necessarily know what the trap is. I don't see mind control as an ending in itself; you have to see what the consequence is. Obviously because stuff happening to women's minds gives us those climbing-the-ropes feelings, it doesn't trouble us. But yeah, sometimes you start to suspect that the author hates women and that becomes a problem. With Jakob, I think the impression has been given that he's a cruel and crazy bastard. But I don't feel his exploits have been presented to us for our masturbatory consideration, if you see what I mean. He's just a cruel and crazy bastard who happened to find himself in an MC story.

I rarely seem to encounter MC stories where characters have qualms about what they're doing. It doesn't bother me if a writer wants to explore that - but, yeah, it probably won't be a particularly hot story. I actually don't think the kink for me is anything to do with consent; I think it's about the loss of control and the shift of power. I think that's why I'm not really interested in the character of the controller - or at least why I don't set moral standards for him (or preferably her) to live up to. It may also be why the peril thing appeals.


I'm British. I don't actually live my life; I detachedly watch it happening and note each of its ironies. Why would I read stories any differently?

I...I was about to say he didn't implant them, and he's been a considerate skilled and caring lover in a situation that he's been told is intractable.  You've just seen him pump the brakes when the viewing public (including me) would prefer that he didn't (particularly given the alternative that Pearl's about to choose).  Incidentally, how many times have Erin and Adrian had sex now?  Has any of instances not been scorching hot?

I like controlled aggression in the controller, but it should be in the service of actual passion.  Most of the vids and comics that I'm lukewarm on have gentlemen controllers who give the impression "I'm having sex with my thrall...ah, damn, did I check my fantasy league before kickoff?  Where's my IPad?"  They don't care about the women or the pleasure, and they're so bored with the very dullness of life that they can't even satisfy their own egos.  Does this mean they've become "Continental?"  Or just insufferable pricks?

Anyway... 8)

I'm definitely leery of stories that open with 'and my boss is a bitch, so imma mc her to punish her.' But some stories that start that way have gone interesting places. In a counterpoint to you, I like to see the results of mind control, the day after, and the day after that - reading about a female character who's been mind controlled to be a happy slave to her master, and knowing that was the result of mind control, is super hot. It's even hotter if the *character* is aware of it, and ok with it, and then we get into serial recruitment stories that can be pretty interesting. Peril is fun for me, to a point, but there's a point at which it becomes too negative of a thing for the female character to have heat to it; sex-as-punishment is not a hot story for me.


I'm very much in favor of stories that focus on what the female MC subject is feeling - sometimes you can have a story that is only peripherally about or involves little sex and have it still be hot as hell. I'm not sure if the kink for me is consent; I find stories involving explicit nonconsent to be turnoffs. Mind control was something I've been in to since I was very, very young - the hypnosis in Tintin comics was something that I fixated on before I even really understood sex or sexuality, for some reason. For me, a good part of the heat of MC is the changing of a female subject's desires to match with that of her controller, and for her to be happy serving him from then on. There's all sorts of my most base desires that come out in this kink; the desire to have multiple women who are exclusive, master/slave relationships, that sort of thing. For a woman to not be jealous at all of her male partner's extracurricular activities, in fact to be supportive, yet to have the desire to have none herself, is one of those fantasies that I hope is self-evidently hot, and combining that sort of thing with my own weird fascination with mind control results in part of my kink set. So I think what makes it hot for me is the changing of what a female subject wants - for you it's about the loss of control, for me it's about the willingness to surrender control, I guess?

So, with full understanding that you are allowed to find whatever you want hot, that would seem to be kind of a good summary of SJI, but it seems to be missing the mark. I'm curious (really! not poking!) as to what might be going on there.

As I've said before, if looking at people having sex was enough, why would I be here?

I'm pretty sure Adrian cares about people. Since he's not a mind controller, the observation I made before about caring is irrelevant. It was about mind controllers, not Adrian.

The "complaint" against Adrian is not that he doesn't care; it's that he's not a mind controller. My penis doesn't care how nice Adrian is.

So... as I tried to clarify, there's a lot about SJI that I *do* find hot, and perhaps I overemphasized my dislike of certain elements of it. So... pretty much immediately after a whole bunch of women got MCed, which was super hot, a plot in which a really despicable person (Jakob) was out to get some of the main characters and subject them to a fate quite possibly worse than death, and kill some of the others, developed. It's totally reasonable to me that the SJI gang would circle the wagons, worry about sexiness later, and worry about the people out to get them . I'm oversimplifying; the plot of SJI is pretty complex, by design, and there was a lot of sexiness going on there in the interim. But they've been in crisis mode for a while; not so much time to sit back and enjoy the sexy situation they've found themselves in.

I think it has something to do with the nature of the beast as far as mind control goes; if one were to write, say, a story with foot fetishism as its primary draw, by nature the characters in the story would have to be into feet. With mind control, that's not the case, though often by default the MCer in these stories is in to mind control because it gets them the sex they want. Adrian is, apparently, not that kind of guy. What that means for the story is that he tends to not be involved in the mind control that happens, since when women get added to his harem it's because something happened without his noticing. Some of the characters still seem like they're aiming to maintain a 'normal' life (more than just appearances) instead of being an MCed harem. I *do* like that the girls get plenty of characterization, because there's nothing particularly exciting about reading about the enslavement of hypno-bimbo #43. I do, also, kind of wish that we knew more about Adrian, both in terms of what kind of a sexual animal he is and what he's like as a person - because seeing an MC subject respond to her controller's desires is hot (also because his past is an enigma wrapped inside an obfuscation, to be honest). As the controller of a harem of MCed sex slaves, you'd expect him to be going for what he wants more, sexually. That he's not is understandable, both considering the authorial intent and the fact that he clearly is terrified of hurting the women he has power over (which is a perfectly reasonable stance for a moral dude in his position to take). I can't help but imagine that Adrian might find his life more than a bit saner if he was dating someone without MC being involved in the relationship, despite all the sex he's getting now. Worrying that you'd hurt someone you're in a sexual relationship with too easily is no fun, and to be honest that's a feeling that's a little too real for me; that pathos getting in the way of sexytimes is not something that I like in my erotica.

Taking a moment to imagine myself in Adrian's shoes, I'd probably be stressed out to hell: malefic foes out to get me, and a harem of women, some of whom, while sexy, have been through some shit that would turn your hair white, and you might be re-victimizing. The major difference that I'd have from Adrian's behavior is I'd be MCing people left right and center just to get some truthful information out of them, if nothing else; whether my conscience would prevent me from doing something worse is a question that'll thankfully never have to be tested.

The comic is very decompressed, which is fine, and while there might not have been time in the narrative so far to have more 'harem life' episodes, I hope to see some of those. For example, while Mallory may have been bi, Marliese at least was heavily implied to be 100% gay before the watch incident, and in any case they were seeing each other before the episode. How can the characters deal with that? Is there a way to do it without it seeming soul-crushing? (I'll freely admit that I find 'lesbian couple MCed to have sex with male controller' to be a sexy narrative, even as I'm painfully aware that there are men irl who are convinced that lesbians don't exist, merely women who haven't had good enough sex with a dude yet, and are incredibly obnoxious at the minimum and dangerous at the extreme). While Adrian and Erin seem to have this 'destined twu wuv' thing going on, is it true that they share a special bond that transcends what's going on in the harem? How do the other girls feel about it? I know this might seem like not the most immediately hot thing in the world, but it's that sort of thing, with the acceptance and acknowledgment of the MCed master/slave relationship, that can get really hot (obviously interspersed with lots of lewdness). Maybe my opinion is in the minority on this topic (and even if it isn't not every comic needs to be for everyone, and I still enjoy SJI for the plot and over-the-top sexy characters, if nothing else), but the biggest thing for me is that Adrian wants to deny that he's in an MC story, sometimes, and just pretend he's got 8+ girlfriends... just because, I guess. Perhaps that's where you were going with it, though - 'average dude finds his way into an mc story' or somesuch.

Thank you for the long detailed answer! There's a lot on this and other threads I can't reply to because it's easy to start discussing things that are to come, or things that I'd rather the readers decide for themselves, but I very much appreciate it!

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Fantasy, even sexy fantasy isn't just "masturbatory material."  You could make almost anything into such an aid with imagination and desperation.  It's a vacation from daily life, and it is sexy, but it is and should be slightly more than that.  But that's a different debate.

It looks as if the harem might be starting to grow again as a defense mechanism, and I think sound arguments could be made that Raven, Pearl, Cherry, and Ein would have much better, happier, and more fulfilling lives if they joined.  Poor Raven's been all but forgotten in this current crisis.  Joining the harem would, if nothing else, guarantee her fuller and freer access to her Mistress.

I masturbate a fair amount - I'm never desperate. I'm not even sure there's strictly a fantasy element to this for me. Like I say, I wouldn't want to be in Adrian's shoes and I don't fantasize about being there. Stories about women falling under mind control feed my fetish. Ultimately there's only one reason I'd read something that was designed to do that.

It's because of that imagination thing though that you really don't have to provide a justification for wanting to see the women pulled into the harem. And I have to say Einfriður's life seems fine to me.

We haven't seen behind the curtain into Johannes' game though.  It could easily be just as twisted as his brother's.  I'm leaning toward that construction of available facts.