I have been watching this comic for a while, and I'm finally going to break my silence.
I dare say that Belt Buster's "Domino Effect" so far has the best writing among any (reasonably) realistic, long form weight gain comics. The somewhat relatable and likable main character, being subtly pushed into the center of this romance drama mystery at the start really earned my attention. I dare say that the slow pacing, and non-weight, non-romantic story aspects help build the immersion of realism and often improves the story.
And while Belt Buster is a great artist, I (and possibly others) do not like any art of blob-fats. Getting to see his art of female weight gain without the inclusion of any beyond USSBBW (so far), is great.
I suppose it is kind of obvious now that either Emma or Tanya will get paired with Nikolai by the end of the comic. Mari was a possible candidate at the start, but quickly lost viability due to the lack of screen time and then presumably having questioningly consensual sex with Fredrick. Marie-Anne looked like a fourth candidate, but she also lost viability due to both the lack of screen time, and the reveal of her morally-dubious role in her brother's plus-size modeling agency. And Nina was simply far too rude towards Nikolai, and joined way too late to have any real chance with him. But we could all be wrong. I just hope there is no harem ending for Nikolai. That would just be tasteless.
Also, even ignoring the lack of fat fetish content, the comic still has some problems.
1. Nikolai reverting to an animalistic state and groping Emma, then Tanya, and then fighting with Elijas, on three seperate occasions, and getting away with it each time, feel like bad story writing decisions. Mari's earlier lecture to Emma, Tanya, and Marie-Anne about men repressing their emotions and then lashing out, is just a crappy excuse for enabling certain incel. behavior. If this flaw of Nikolai comes up again, I hope he gets properly confronted for any such degenerate behavior as he realistically should, and then learn to control his primitive urges.
2. The fight scene between rabid Nokolai and Elijas was just stupid and cringe-y on its own. Some stupid stuff is permissible, given that all the main characters are young adults, but that scene was just bad and pointless. I'm glad it was kept short.
3. As a heterosexual male, I can understand why any male weight gain would be unpopular, and inferior to female weight gain. However, I feel that none of the male weight-gain has been given too much focus, and can simply be ignored. It's an integrated part of the story's plot, and I suggest just to deal with it. It's not that bad.
4. The inclusion of the Obnoxious American Tourist that was introduced in;
>>267556>>268410I doubt think Belt Buster could have unintentionally screwed up a believable American stereotype so poorly. Even so, there are so many other stereotypes he could have used, some as suggested here.
>>2685331. Have the American dress and act like bandit Keith, and have him CONSTANTLY boast about how much greater the United State's military, guns, measurement units, industrial complexes, fast food, legal freedoms, and culture, are APARENTLY so much better than that of any other nation.
2.
Make the American tourist a blatantly bigoted, politically far-right, arrogant fool who wears a cheap leather hat and speaks in a fake Southern United States Accent.
3.
Make the American tourist a blatantly bigoted, politically far-left, pathetic fool with their hair dyed some bright unnatural color, who constantly self victimizes themselves, calls others bigots, and makes baseless legal threats.
4.
Have the American act like one of those spoiled, ignorant, disrespectful nuisance streamers who have no idea what they are doing.
Or my favorite American stereotype:
5.
Just have the three American tourists be comically fat, rude, and unwilling to compromise. Then, being in theme of this weight gain comic, have the three male tourist's have American girl friends who are all comically fatter than them.
(I'm so proud to be an American citizen)
Really, Belt Buster screwed this up so badly, it's ironically hilarious.
