FatFantasy.Net Erotic Web Site Review

My my, have things changed over the last few years. When The Rotunda first went online, there was virtually NO fat related material on the Net of any kind. Now, however, we have choices galore.

The problem there is the sheer volume of it all. There are a lot of One Size Fits All porn sites dedicated to collecting money or hits so that money can be collected from advertisers, who in turn are trying to get your money or hit so...well, you get the idea.

Until the industry matures a bit, there will continue to be a lot of circle jerks out there that serve no other purpose than to collects stats and email addresses to con people out of advertising money. In the meantime, where's the GOOD stuff, size-wise? What's worth the money?

I've decided to use my extensive knowledge of the web to blaze a trail for people interested in web sites that celebrate people of size, male or female. I want to do this at least once a month, though I might do one sooner if the spirit moves me, or later if I lack time.

The Rating System

The problem I have with most rating systems is that they try to cram too much into too little. Thumbs up or down, 1 through ten, 1 through 4 (or five) stars.

I ran into a site that had rating for erotic anthromorphic stories (think funny animals shaped like humans having sex...it's weird, fun stuff :) that used a system that rated stories in several categories. I want to do the same thing, with 5 circles (0) being best, 1 Circle being worst, and a flat (_) indicating something so horribly bad it defies rating (Rolling Stone has a similar system for albums. :)

The three categories are:

Freshness: New photos? Updated regularly? Is the site interesting? Different types of people?

Format: How "nice" is the site design? Is it easy to get around in? Are updates easy to find? Is it easy to subscribe or un-subscribe, log in, etc?

I first ran into refrences for this site in the binaries newsgroups. I wasn't very impressed at first, as the only model they had was a nice looking blonde, about upper mid-sized range, who wore entirely too much make-up.

Then they started posting ads with more models, including super-sized models. I noticed they were ALL people I had ever seen before, which was intriguing -- a lot of sites tend to buy their images in bulk and regurgitate them under their own brand name.

When the site opened, I waited: First, to see if the site would seem to grow, also to give them a chance to shake out the bugs. Unfortunately, they weren't able to quite do that, as I'll explain later.

Freshness: OOOO

The models all look new to modeling...in other words, they aren't so slick as to be plastic looking. As I noted, Daytona Babe is wearing too much makeup, but several of the models wear minimal or no makeup -- a pleasant change from other sites. "Stevena" is one model in particular that looked wonderful sans gunk on her face.

The layouts range from single women in multiple poses, several girl/girl "bi" spreads (though the jury is still out on whether this is true bi, or just that straight male bi chick fantasy), a couple of male/female XXX spreads (involving actual sex and oral/genital, genital/genital contact). There are a couple of sets that I would call BDSM light, which have some lightweight nipple clamps, simple bondage, and menacing poses of large women in leather. "China Doll", a horrible handle for a very lovely lady, looks very attractive in her leathers.

The site is being updated constantly, with the photo count going from 7900 to 9300 in two weeks. While some of the photos seem repetitive...I get the feeling they're publishing everything they shoot...they are varied enough to keep your interest.

There is a webcam for members, with a 30 second refresh...so far I haven't been lucky enough to catch any actual action on it. I think that's more bad timing on my part, though.

Format: OO

A sure sign that this is not a product of some pornmeister somewhere shows in the hobbled together feel of the site. From the incessant black backgrounds (ugh!) to the constant problems dealing with broken links and links directing you to the wrong page, you know that someone is working on this site in their bedroom somewhere in Florida (the location of all this fun, apparently).

Adding to this is the incredibly strict security/access measures they've implemented -- When you subscribe, either by credit card or 900 number, they give you a subscription number. You use this number to get a randomly generated user name and password to access the site, and those are only good for an hour. While I understand that there are some pretty serious problems with assholes passing around usernames and passwords (having experienced something similar with the Rotunda, I sympathize!), there has to be a better way. Cookie confirmation, perhaps?

Anyway, I'm willing to forgive a lot as far as production values are concerned. They seem to at least TRY to fix things daily, and the subscription cost is pretty low...about 10 dollars a month. Considering that your average fat-porn mag is between 5 and ten dollars for perhaps a few dozen pictures, the monthly cost is a steal.

One word of warning: This is a recurring charge, so you have to specifically ask to discontinue the service if you use a credit card. They allow you to do this online. The 900 number charging system is good for only 30 days at a time, so if you just want a one time romp and a ten dollar higher phone bill, or you don't like to use Visa or Mastercard (they don't take Amex), this is the way to go.

Ok, I have to admit the clumsy design dampens my enthusiasm for the site a bit. For one thing, there's no easy way to download a single model for offline viewing, which can be frustrating for one-handed surfers, or people who don't want to wait to see each individual shot.

The slow refresh on the webcam is frustrating as well -- not to mention that it's sometimes hard to find the cam page link. They should consider adding live model chat at some point, if not actual streaming video and/or sound.

Also, the model pages have those corny "I WANT YOU NOW" type headings, in all caps, that just struck me as funny...not erotic.

Notably absent were advertisements -- those stupid banner ads for things that make you shake your head in wonder at the strange sexual tastes not your own. They do link to ads for videos of their own models, but that's just fine, especially if you want to see them doing something other than vogue for the camera.

The low cost and the feeling that actual FA's are behind the site tends to push me toward the side of recommending it. If you're uncomfortable with bad links, or demand a slick, professional look, then don't go for it. If you aren't afraid of glitches, check out the preview pages -- they're actually quite extensive, and offer some of the "softer" images at sizes large enough to make a personal decision.

FatFantasy.net is at:

http://www.fatfantasy.net

Note that fatfantasy.com is another story...one that will have to wait for a future review to give it the panning it so richly deserves.