Not to play armchair psychologist, but I think it's a bit of both. Online he can pretend to be a great savior helping people out of hard times while simultaneously keeping the "SJW menace" from committing genocide over shows for children. But that's all he has. Offline he has nothing going for him, he's just Socially Awkward Unemployed Furry/Brony #19518373. Rather than do anything to change that like getting therapy to work on his social skills, finding employment, and enjoying age-appropriate material, he's decided to double down on his Tumblr schtick. So when people criticize how he conducts himself on Tumblr, they're essentially criticizing the one thing he thinks he's good at, the one thing he's decided to pour so much of his time into. That's why he takes it so personally and gets so defensive.
Do you and
@Skipjack happen to have any chat logs? The 60 message tirade sounds especially interesting.