How did you discover anthropomorphics?
Posted by Anon on Mon 17 Sep 2001 - 12:24 — Edited by Aureth
Through written-word books.
9% (13 votes)
Through comic books.
11% (16 votes)
In movies.
1% (2 votes)
In cartoons or TV shows.
27% (38 votes)
Through mythology.
1% (1 vote)
Through friends.
5% (7 votes)
By complete accident.
32% (46 votes)
Anthropomorphics? What's that?
1% (1 vote)
Feren.
13% (19 votes)
Votes: 143
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I first learned of them when I was a little child learning to read. Most of the books had anthropomorphic animals enacting what the text describes. Did anybody else have that?
Comic ~ Deer Me
Yep. Winnie the Pooh was an early influence. And I used to read every Thornton Burgess book in the library. We moved a lot when I was in grade school, and the first thing I did when I got into the school's library or the public library was go look to see if they had Burgess's books. :)
--Gene
Anthropomorphics are such a intrinsic part of our culture, that it's hard to say where I first noticed them. Indeed, children's books are shock-full of anthro-animals, such as in the case of C.S. Lewis' Narnia books, which I loved dearly.
I guess a more easily-answered question would be, "How did you discover anthropomorphic-animal fandom?" I suspect that most people would blame the internet. :)
Furry fandom came and found us. We were publishing a little zine that just happened to have anthropomorphic animals (along with humans and aliens) and had no idea there was an active fandom until they found our zine and flooded us with subscription requests.
And it was some of them who introduced our then-editor to GEnie (this was in the days before the web, but not before the net) where we found more people. And things just snowballed.
--Gene
I'm sure this will be the next poll question. ;)
I found out about them when my brother and I were surfing the net and came across a furry game...We were introduced to furries/anthropomorphics, and later on, we were introduced to the fandom :)
HollyAnn,
Furry Artist since 1997
http://www.ki-tera.com/hollyann/
You need an "all of the above" box to check. My parents got me a subscription to "Walt Disney's Comics & Stories" when I was 4 or 5 years old. I read all the s-f & fantasy I could find from my teens on, including both juvenile & adult s-f and fantasy with intelligent &/or talking animal characters. Movies & TV: "Kimba", "Mr. Ed", "Robin Hood", "Watership Down", "The Shaggy Dog", "The Incredible Mr. Limpet" were just a few among many s-f & fantasy movies & TV. When did those with anthropomorphic characters and themes start to stand out among all the others? I dunno, but definitely by the late 1970s.
Fred Patten
I would have to say, Kindergarten. That is when I discovered such things as Beatrix Potter books, Winnie the Pooh and My Little Pony on TV, Disney movies, things like that. Although I'm sure the influences were around before then, I don't really remember any of them.
Incidentally, anthropomorphics introduced me to Feren. Aureth helped :)
I have always been here.
-Feren
"We use them for divine retribution."
Myself, it was mainly the Narnia stories as well as the Jungle Book (the original, not the animated Disney movie), that got e interested in furriesd as such. Though I didn't get into the fandom itself (or even learn that one existed) until I read Gallacci's Albedo and Vicky Wyman's Xanadu. Which was also where I learned that cartoon/comic characters could be sexy...
Ardashir
Some of the following is my opinion. Probably not everyone here will agree with it. If you're one of them, feel free to discuss.
The use of animal characters in children's literature and programming is so common as to not really qualify as "furry" material, nor does an interest in them by children really qualify them as furry. Wait -- that's not really true -- why shouldn't anthropomorphics in children's literature qualify as "furry"? I guess my point is that among older furry fans I would only give such works consideration to the extent that they appeal to more than just children. Furthermore, a real furry fan is one who retains, even increases, their level of interest in anthropomorphics once they're beyond the age when the "child appeal" factor drops off, especially if their interest transfers to anthropomorphic works and activities that are clearly not meant for children.
Another angle -- most children have been exposed to Winnie the Pooh, Thornton Burgess, numerous cartoons with animal characters, and many have loved these works and for a time become big fans of them, yet the majority of them did not develop any particular lasting interest in furries. How was it different for fur fans? THAT would be an interesting question to try to answer.
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