Here’s an intro you’re going to notice: “Antifa meets Richard Scarry in this epic fantasy story of a perma-stoned wizard bear’s quest to save their beloved magical island from evil robber baron cults.” What the heck? It’s Soggy Landing, a full-color graphic novel (written by The Brothers McGovern and illustrated by Ian Densford) available now from Oni Press. “Not very long ago, Soggy Landing was an island paradise. Now, it’s a brutal settler city ruled by a group of wealthy, cultists called ‘The 13’ who are immune to a leafy plague ransacking their community. As a battle between the haves and the have-nots comes to a head, a free-spirited wizard bear named Otso and her friend, Slipper, join The Broken Wheel in an uprising against colonial forces controlling the magical island they love.” Find out more over at Simon & Schuster.
Review: 'The Wild Robot'
Posted by 2cross2affliction on Wed 16 Oct 2024 - 08:05Chris Sanders has only directed four animated features (plus a live action adaptation Call of the Wild), and the previous three (Lilo & Stitch, How to Train your Dragon and The Croods put him in four way tie for most nominations without a win in the Best Animated Feature category at the Oscars. It feels pretty certain that The Wild Robot will be the movie that finally wins him that Oscar, but we'll keep such speculation to a minimum.
Sanders's first feature, Lilo & Stitch, is probably the only truly great movie to come out of Walt Disney Animation Studios in the first decade of this century. (To be clear, you're allowed to like other movies from that decade, but most were flawed.) Anyway, the upshot of Lilo & Stitch becoming a beloved classic is that its directors, Sanders and his writing and directing partner, Dean Deblois, were driven out of Disney by John Lasseter a few years later (I don't like that guy).
Sanders and Deblois took their talents to DreamWorks Animation, where they delivered How to Train Your Dragon to the studio, often seen as one of the highlights of its output.
I've often seen Sanders cast as the "idea guy" in the Sanders/Deblois partnership, as well as being the guy who brings a lot of unique visual aspects to his projects, while Deblois is the more story-driven member of the partnership, bringing in the emotional aspects. I'm not so sure about that, especially after this movie, which features an emotional story just as potent as Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon, sans Deblois. The Wild Robot also features a visual design that echoes the original illustrations of the book it's based on, by Peter Brown, showing Sanders is more than just a recognizable art style.
Carolina Furfare cancelled after area devastated by Hurricane Helene
Posted by Sonious on Sat 5 Oct 2024 - 15:36In the wake of the devastation rendered by Hurricane Helene, Carolina Furfare released a newsletter on October 1 stating the cancellation of the event that was to occur this weekend, and indicating that the hotels and facilities were needed in order to assist with rescue and sheltering efforts after the Hurricane hit the mountainous region.
This weather event hit the top ten most fatal and costly hurricanes in the United States even before full recovery efforts could be finalized. People who pre-registered have been given the option to roll over to next year, or to Bewhiskered 2025; due to the cancellation being so close to event day they cannot guarantee refunds for now.
Complete List of Animalities in Mortal Kombat
Posted by 2cross2affliction on Thu 3 Oct 2024 - 20:11Animalities have returned to Mortal Kombat. Players of the infamous fighting game series can finish a defeated opponent off by transforming into an animal and brutally mauling them death for the first time since 1995's Mortal Kombat 3 with the "Khaos Reigns" update to Mortal Kombat 1.
So, what follows is a list of every Mortal Kombatant's fursonas, basically, from Mortal Kombat 1. Two warnings: In explaining different characters roles, there may be spoilers for the games, and also, extreme, over the top violence and gore is the point of Animalities.
Newsbytes archive for September 2024
Posted by Anon on Tue 1 Oct 2024 - 20:39Contributors this month include 2cross2affliction, Acton, dronon, GreenReaper, and Rakuen Growlithe.
Digging Up Positivity - September 2024
Posted by Pegla on Sun 29 Sep 2024 - 12:35In this episode!
- It’s high season for conventions, and it shows in the amount raised for charity world wide!
- Learning about neurodiversity through cute animations
- A wonderful interview how the fandom changed an aspiring cartoonist
But first, the latest charity news from the fandom in this September edition of Digging Up Positivity!
Bad Kitties (or, Not Everybody Wants To Be A Cat)
Posted by StratoKasta on Mon 23 Sep 2024 - 18:45It always pleases me to say, particularly to furry audiences, that a hiatus was taken for less exciting and dramatic reasons than those they may have cooked up. In this case, I’m glad to return to posting an occasional media review here and there after five years of being between smartphones, plus the additional snag of quite the dry spell in terms of worthy things to write of. (Thanks for holding back on Jackbox, guys.)
Making use of snazzy resources, both analog and digital – remember your local libraries, folks – takes you a long way. It certainly brought these two disparate cat stories back to my attention.
Movie review: 'Icare' ('Icarus')
Posted by Sobol on Sun 22 Sep 2024 - 17:43When discussing modern adaptations of classical Greek myths, you can frequently see people complain about the changes the authors made: "That's not authentic, not traditional; that's not what really happened in the original." In fact, reinterpreting old stories, giving them a new, contemporary meaning, weaving several different tales into one - is the truest, most authentic Ancient Greek tradition. That's what Greek (and, later, Roman) writers always did.
Of course, some older texts - Homer, in the first place - were regarded higher than others, but there was no 'canon', no Old Testament; no single authority on what 'really happened'. In one of Euripides' tragedies, Helen of Troy is a callous, cynical adulteress; in another by the same poet, she's a woman of the highest moral qualities who's never even been to Troy. That's because, when writing these two plays, Euripides set very different tasks before himself.
'Icare' (2022) is a French-language feature film mixing 2D and 3D animation. It was made by Luxembourg studio The Iris Group, directed and co-written by former Pixar employee Carlo Vogele. The movie was the Luxembourg's "Best Foreign Film" submission for the 2023 Oscars. It tells the story of Icarus, son of the illustrious artist and inventor Daedalus, entwining it with another famous Cretan myth - that of Asterion ("stellar", "star-like"), more commonly known as the Minotaur.
Movie reviews: 'Princesse Dragon', 'Dragonkeeper', 'Even Mice Belong in Heaven', 'The Concierge', 'Mars Express'
Posted by dronon on Fri 13 Sep 2024 - 01:56It's a flood of reviews! Today's trailers are for:
Dragonkeeper,
Even Mice Belong in Heaven,
The Concierge,
and Mars Express.
Those are in increasing order of recommendation. The first three are for kids, the fourth is anime, and the last one isn't furry but is worth mentioning!
BC fur who met 12-year-old on FB pleads guilty to five counts
Posted by GreenReaper on Fri 6 Sep 2024 - 11:55Adam Woolacott of Burnaby, British Columbia, known as O'hare-ah and vivalink in furry fandom, has plead guilty to five of nine charges against him related to sexual offences involving a young teenage girl, after failing to get evidence thrown out over an incorrectly-issued warrant.
Adam - who was then 35 - made contact with the child in December 2019 on a furry Facebook group, and reportedly continued to interact sexually with her through text messages after learning that she was 12. He later met her in a park and touched her breast through clothes, before inviting her to his townhouse where they had sex and he showed her a dragon sex toy.
The girl met Adam in his hotel room at VancouFur 2022, and after further sexual touching sought sex with her again, telling her he had condoms; but she just wanted to hang out. Becoming upset, she left the room and told the event organisers, who contacted police. Adam went missing for a time after the convention, causing friends to request help to find him.
Good Furry Awards open for voting
Posted by Grubbs Grizzly on Wed 4 Sep 2024 - 03:29The 6th Annual Good Furry Awards have completed the nomination process - you can read about the nominees. There will be four awards this year:
- The Good Egg Award for volunteer work
- The Image Award for promoting a positive image of the fandom through the media
- The Furtastic Award for general pawsomeness, and
- The Lifetime Achievement Award, selected by committee
Voting for the three popularly-selected awards is now open through the end of September.
The winners will be announced at Biggest Little Fur Con in Reno on October 15.
Good luck to all the wonderful nominees!
Digging Up Positivity - August 2024
Posted by Pegla on Sun 1 Sep 2024 - 13:02In this episode:
- A very squeaky expansion for Magic The Gathering
- So many furry charities!
- The new very creative and inclusive Winter Olympic mascots
- Results Pride Shirt Giveaway
- Cool animation news, and
- A lovely interview with Shrapnel Vagr, an amazing bean from Cardiff!
But first, the latest charity news from the fandom in this August edition of Digging Up Positivity!
Newsbytes archive for August 2024
Posted by Anon on Sat 31 Aug 2024 - 18:24Contributors this month include 2cross2affliction, Acton, aquariusotter, dronon, earthfurst, GreenReaper, and Rakuen Growlithe.
And what a busy month - Thank you everyone for your contributions and updates to multiple unfolding situations!
Fur Affinity access restored after domain nameserver hijack
Posted by Wolfmanfur on Thu 22 Aug 2024 - 15:30"Fur Affinity is now online and may be accessed safely", according to a journal on the now-accessible furry art community, recounting details of the hack that preoccupied much of the fandom for the best part of two days - and urging users to leave the FBI to investigate rather than pursue vigilante justice.
Meanwhile, the "Honoring Dragoneer's Legacy" fund approaches $200,000 - including five-figure donations by Paw Maltz and Bad Dragon - although there is still some way to go to the $221,800 target.
Ranking furry skins in 'Fortnite', Part 2
Posted by 2cross2affliction on Wed 14 Aug 2024 - 18:59Back in April 2020, I ranked the then-existing furry and furry-adjacent "skins" in popular online "battle royale" game Fortnite. Since then, the number of purchasable animal-themed skins has doubled; there are also far more anthropomorphic animal skins running around. The following is a ranking of skins that appeared since the original list, to try and keep up with the growth.
Fur Affinity owner Dragoneer, 44, dies after acute illness
Posted by Sonious on Sun 11 Aug 2024 - 01:04In the final hours of August 6, furry art community Fur Affinity released a brief news post announcing that its owner, Dragoneer, had passed away, after a nasty respiratory disease that he had posted about publicly on social media. During this time the purple Digimon gave a hopeful prognosis on his last Fur Affinity journal, believing he’d recover in one to two months, but also showing how serious the situation was on Bluesky with anxiety about getting appointments as the condition worsened. A July 15 post indicated he had suffered pneumonia-like symptoms since mid-June, but didn’t seek help prior; likely fearing the cost, being uninsured.
Sean “Dragoneer” Piche was a foundational individual in a new generation of furry community leaders, fostering a struggling art site called Fur Affinity to a dominant position in the fandom - as well as promoting and later taking over responsibility for a companion convention, FA: United, before COVID-19 caused the difficult decision to permanently cancel the con.
Mink — 18 hours 40 min ago
SLFC (visitor) — 3 days 6 hours ago
SLFC (visitor) — 3 days 6 hours ago
2cross2affliction — 6 days 9 hours ago