Fatlus
About
Fatlus is an internet slang term and pejorative label used to describe Western fans of the Japanese video game developer company Atlus[1] and its video game franchises, most notably Megami Tensei,[6] as well as its spin-off titles Shin Megami Tensei: Persona[7] and Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga.[8] In the MS Paint-style webcomic series with the same name, "Fatlus" is depicted as the archetype of male Otakus or Weeaboos.
Origin
The original comics featuring Fatlus as the main character were created by 4chan users as early as April 2008, when the name was referenced in a comics thread on /v/[9] (Video Games). The earliest archived instance of one of the comics depicting a heavyset blonde male with glasses wearing an Atlus shirt and playing Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3[11] was posted to /a/[10] (Anime and Manga) board (shown below) on July 15th, 2008.
Spread
In April 2008, members of the 4chan-affiliated Pool’s Closed forum[12] criticized the posters on /v/ board as being overrun with people who would identify with Fatlus. Throughout the year, the term was used on the GameFAQs message boards for both Persona 3 and Persona 4 to criticize the game developers[13] and to discuss the 4chan comics and stereotypes,[14] such as a thread[15] about a limited-release expansion pack for Persona 4 that included an XL shirt, with no other sizes to choose from.[16] In December 2008, Fatlus was used in conjunction with the term weeaboo to describe the typical audience of Persona 3 on the Escapist forum.[17] In January 2009, Fatlus was first defined on Urban Dictionary[20], again comparing the term to Weeaboos.
In April 2009, a series of the Fatlus comics were posted to the Atlus Online message board[4], resulting in similar compilations being shared on the forums for System Wars[2], NeoGAF[21] and Pinoy-N.[22] As of March 2013, there are more than 200 pages of search results for Fatlus on the Foolz Archive.[18] Additional comics can be found on Tumblr[3], deviantART[5] and Photobucket.[19]
Notable Examples
Search Interest
External References
[2] System Wars – Fatlus Comics
[3] Tumblr – Posts tagged fatlus
[4] Atlus Online – The Fatlus Thread
[5] DeviantART Search – fatlus
[6] Wikipedia – Megami Tensei
[7] Wikipedia – Shin Megami Tensei: Persona
[8] Wikipedia – Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga
[9] Chanarchive.org – Hopefully we'll get some Fatlus in here
[10] Foolz Archive – Fatlus comic
[11] Wikipedia – Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3
[12] Pool's Closed – This is what NIGGERTITS has come to
[13] GameFAQs – Goddamn FATlus
[14] GameFAQs – atlus more like fatlus
[15] GameFAQs – oh man even atlus aggres with my fatlus topic
[16] Devil Summoner Soul Hackers – Persona 4 Social Link Expansion Pack: THANKS FROM CANADA + XL shirts only???
[17] The Escapist – If it wasn't such a good game it could easily be written off as disposable Fatlus/weaboo fodder.
[18] Foolz Archive – Search results for "fatlus"
[19] Photobucket – Browse Fatlus Photos
[20] Urban Dictionary – Fatlus
[21] NeoGAF – fatlus comics
[22] Pinoy-N – Fatlus comics :funny:
Top Comments
Mothman
Jan 02, 2022 at 09:51PM EST
Cronus
Mar 12, 2013 at 01:21AM EDT