'Shine', 'Awoo!' take 2021 Ursa Major Awards by landslides; K. Garrison wins three
The results of the 2021 Ursa Major Awards were announced this Sunday, with motivated fan-bases driving decisive voting in certain categories, while others were finely balanced.
Littlefur/adult baby slice-of-life comic Shine by UK artist Star ran off with Best Graphic Story; coming second was a remake of Found, another of her works under the name Toddlergirl. Both had seen strong support in last years' Ursa Major Awards.
Likewise, AC Stuart's Awoo!: Volume 1 (on Amazon) stormed the opposition for Best Other Literary Work, with four more first-preference votes than the other four nominees put together.
Netting twice the points of the next nominee for Dramatic Short Work was Frank Behring's "Nobody Does It Better", derived from Best Comic Strip Carry On. Artist Kathy Kellogg (KD Nightstar) also took Best Published Illustration for "A World of Our Own" — beating all other nominees by 50%.
So Shine WON this years Ursa Major Award for best Graphic story. https://t.co/QAZB6sPrAh Thank you to everyone who voted and supported me. The fact a story like mine could even win was just not something I imagined happening ever. Thank you @UrsaMajorAwards pic.twitter.com/FIhfVa0BVr
— Wiggly Squiggle (@toddlergurl) May 15, 2022
An Endgame variant of Rocket Raccoon (as built and played by Akela Taka) and Fur Affinity gained victory by significant margins in Best Costume and Best Website, while Best Dramatic Series (taken by Helluva Boss vs. Beastars), Best Game (Deltarune: Chapter 2 vs. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart), Best Magazine (Dogpatch Press vs. Flayrah) and Best Motion Picture (Raya and the Last Dragon vs. Luca) all saw close races.
Best Novel was a clear (albeit not crushing) win for The Captain's Oath (Rick Griffin). Conversely, Best Short Fiction was a close victory for 'Where Have All The Mousies Gone' by Mary E. Lowd, who offered perspective on her three other nominations in the category, three in Best Novel, one for Best Magazine, and one for Best Non-Fiction — ultimately won by Chris Stokel-Walker's 'This furry scientist won’t let Twitter’s COVID pessimists kill her vibe'.
Open nominations for this year's awards opened mid-January, for all works published in 2021 featuring anthropomorphic animal characters, with voting also open to the public.
Prior to voting's close, anonymous commenters disparaged Nightstar's promotional endeavours, which included visibility hacks such as posting comics as stories. But nobody could fault her for effort, with not only a nominations plug or two... or three, but numerous comic strips 'desperately' seeking readers' votes. Likewise, Shine's artist Star sought nomination and invited fans to vote, as did Rocket's builder Akela Taka. Of course, this approach was not always successful — but to some, even a nomination felt like a victory.
Ursa Major Awards organizers ALAA also run the Recommended Anthropomorphics List, which has over 90 recommendations for 2022.
About the author
GreenReaper (Laurence Parry) — read stories — contact (login required)a developer, editor and Kai Norn from London, United Kingdom, interested in wikis and computers
Small fuzzy creature who likes cheese & carrots. Founder of WikiFur, lead admin of Inkbunny, and Editor-in-Chief of Flayrah.
Comments
It wasn't just Luca vs. Raya in motion picture, My Little Pony actually had three more first place votes then Raya. It suffered a bit in the second and third place votes, though, getting passed by the Disney movies there, which both appeared on more ballots total. It's as if MLP has a small but passionate fanbase, or something.
Also, Raya's final winning score was 666 points, which you think would have been Helluva Boss's winning score..
Raya is apparently more demonic.
True, but more than that, MLP had fewer votes than Sing 2 - and, for that matter, was closer to it in points than it was to Luca. I gave MLP second preference behind Raya, but some might not be able to look beyond the subject matter - or perhaps are loyal fans of the previous generation, to which nothing else compares? As I recall the movie also wasn't all that for dragon fans.
Luca rubbed me the wrong way, probably due to its focus on integration with (and promotion of) human culture. One of its trailers didn't show scales for almost a minute. The movie itself is relatively more forthcoming - and, admittedly, some of the trailers, but they all share the movie's pro-humanity bias. Sometimes separate is better.
We had an interesting early morning Twitter discussion about Best Published Illustration voting, the upshot being that some are uncomfortable with the "vote for me" aspect, while others feel it'd be unfair considering the size of their audience.
Getting meta for a moment: this is the second time three separate contributors have written stories about a year's UMAs. (The first was for the 2019 Awards, when Goldfur took my place.)
I mean, it just feels to me that of all the categories that shows how a split vote can impact the outcome in a purely populous game.
But I think more concerning is that as there are less and less voters per year, it does make things easier to swing.
While artists may be humble about the whole thing and just let things slide, there is nothing wrong with promoting others. Heck at the very least if someone is being populist toward themselves, then the artists could at least come together and promote one of the other 4 that are being more humble, or something. Defeat selfish populism with gifting populism I say.
I will say I'm quite happy with the outcomes for magazine and nonfiction as it's clear that people were voting based on the content rather than purely based on creator promotion.
Honestly I thought the Published Illustration numbers highlighted the means [or perhaps median to be more precise] of victory the clearest. I think as far as tragedies, I'm far more okay with them taking that category than the Dramatic Shorts one... may have actually replaced the "Vampire Skyrim Expansion" beating "Dust An Elysian Tale" for the biggest oof.
Congrats to Crossie though, Fueled did beat out Fossils.
Fuelled and Fossils were the only ones I watched to completion. And I did think Fossils was better. But I just thought your criticism of a "plothole" was off-base as 1. I don't think it actually existed, and b. it kind of missed the point of a plot-lite, tonally/emotionally driven piece. That said, it was a bit "student film-y" (which, to be fair, was what I think it was, after all).
Kind of changing gears, but I almost wonder if the Helluva Boss finale is being held up at least partially because maybe they want to get it into a festival and qualify for awards, or at least they might as well at this point. Honestly, the animation is way better than it has any right to be, it has a great creation story for a fyc campaign, A24 might even back it financially as investment into their Hazbin Hotel series, and it actually has voice actors, which, honestly, would be it's secret weapon. I mean, Fuelled might come off as a little student film-y, but you look at what is nominated and has won the Animated Short Oscar since the 70s, and, a lot of it is very student film-y, and not a lot of voice acting because the film makers either are students who don't have the budget, or studios who don't give their shortsmakers budgets for that. Even if voters didn't necessarily appreciate Helluva Boss's sense of humor, a character driven animated short film with dialog might be effective counter programming to the technically impressive but plot lite tone pieces that dominate the category.
If it makes you feel any better about Dramatic Shorts, Fuelled has had cinema screenings, though I'm not sure to what extent its creators all profited from it - Fawn Chan got some contract work in 2021, Michelle Hao has since become a storyboard artist at Titmouse and Emily Xu seems to have interned at Disney - while Fossils won an award already (run by Bilibili); its creator Piti Yindee became a colourist at Studio MDHR (Cuphead).
Meanwhile The Mandrake's Quincey Baltes is an animator at Fern, and Charles Brubaker of Fuzzy Princess fame is... contributing to a SpongeBob SquarePants spoof? At least he has Patreon.
I'm starting to wonder if the reason the Ursa's voter base is shrinking is because those that would participate see things like Nightstar's wins in Published Illustration and Dramatic Short Work, the competition she was up against and the tactics she used to get there, then decide that it's not worth taking part in. It's self-defeating but...I can't fully say I blame them.
At the end of the day, people had the choice. Especially in the categories you mention. Works were available and linked. But there were only 580 votes made in Dramatic Short Work, out of the 2514 (838 voters * 3 preferences). It's likely that fewer than half - and potentially fewer than a quarter, although it's probably in-between - expressed a preference. Published Illustration wasn't much better, at 635 votes. This compares poorly to the 1235 votes for Motion Picture.
More could be done to encourage voting on easily-evaluated categories, such as embedding image and video directly. We could do some of that here, either via social media embedding or with permission. But it also seems people base votes on what they've seen already and don't wish to spend time reviewing unseen works, even if freely accessible, which is a harder nut to crack.
It might be reasonable to encourage voters who've selected one preference to pick two or three, perhaps through a UI that throws up a notice if they did this or requires active consideration by e.g. moving work to a zero vote from an indeterminate state. But I can understand not wanting to provide a poke there - and there's a risk that revamping the voting system might just lead to fewer ballots in general.
Exactly the reason (among many) why I want to expand the ALAA staff... to discuss new ideas like that.
I dropped by the relevant page while preparing this story and noticed it was quite a bit shorter than it used to be. Then again, I don't know how active con staff were outside of any involvement with their own events.
Perhaps it might help to have an advisory board rather than expanding your membership? You could invite, say, past winners or well-known figures in areas like fursuiting or podcasting without too much worry about conflicts of interest because they don't have direct power. Of course, at the end of the day, someone has to actually do the work to implement those ideas, at which point they should probably have a seat at the table. If you already have a good idea of what you want, but aren't quite sure about how to implement it, that might not be a good answer.
Flayrah is of course a fine venue, but I can appreciate the desire for something a little more focused, and perhaps more private. In the past, LiveJournal was a thing (alas, several reasons meant people left even before this year's events), and there was a mailing list - and I'm guessing you still have something like that for the committee, but if you want to engage a group today, perhaps a more modern option like Telegram, Discord, or a self-hosted Matrix or a Discourse server would be suitable?
Ah yes... the someone to "actually do the work to implement those ideas" is precisely the problem we've run into, more than once...! All of us at the ALAA have Real Jobs, and none of us is getting younger... time and energy are becoming harder to get. But we carry on because we want to see the Ursa Majors keep happening. Furry Fandom is big enough that it deserves its own Hugo Awards equivalent.
I think most people don't care, and if anything, somebody asking people who wouldn't have voted on anything if they weren't specifically asked to probably kept the total number from going lower.
Honestly, guys, this is how Awards work; the problem is not that one artist wanted the award bad enough they were willing to campaign for it. The problem is that only one artist wanted the award bad enough they were willing to campaign for it.
Shaming the only person who actively gave a shit about the award for giving a shit is not going to encourage others to give a shit in the future.
My experience is you not only have to want to win, you have to show you want it, at least a little. As the Twitter link above shows, some were more than satisfied with a nomination.
I've been doing some investigation to go over this, and while there may be a decline in the last few years, overall the voter base has been pretty flat, if not volatile since they started recording votes.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X2k6Z-FQNVSTqz8YixC4-6KaXhtyVtq-GMN9bZg0...
Now, when there is a stagnation of these compared the growing basis of the fandom via the growing convention attendance (even post Covid) it could be a bit more concerning that the voting furries is on a declining as a percentage of the fandom.
It really depends on the extent to which people promote it, although I must admit that this year the war in Ukraine has been something of a distraction too. 2014 was very obviously CollegeHumor promoting Furry Force (per Patch quoting Sy Sable at the time - but also, just look at the stats). And hey, it might have led to Furry Force 3.
I suspect over time we'll see specific areas of the fandom having their own awards, just as rather than one convention or website getting bigger and bigger we have lots of them. But the UMAs could be bigger or smaller depending on what\s done to support it.
I think the UMAs would get a lot more votes and nominees every year - and the voting might be less subject to promotional swings - if they just emailed people who they knew were interested enough to vote last time to tell them when they could nominate and vote the next year. Heck, maybe email to tell them who won, too? If there's concern about privacy and/or spam, add a checkbox to let people decide if they want to be informed, and have an unsubscribe link in the MIME header so it's easy to do so.
Also, to provide more detail for your graph: in 2008 (presumably the 2007 awards), there were 203 ballots, which was then considered quite high. It then increased to 270 for the 2008 awards, before "nominations and votes were recorded from over 1,100 fans" for 2009, 1,372 for 2010, and 1,782 for 2011. I think by then it was thankfully a less-manual process.
I stumbled across this conversation on Dogpatch Press where Fred Patten himself raised concerns about voting:
I should probably have remembered this, considering I made several comments there, but four years is a long time!
On one hand, I agree with Fred's main point in the article, and can see why he especially would view this with chagrin, but on the other hand, the smaller voting pool seems to award and nominate better nominees and winners, at least in the movie category (I guess someone better versed in the literary/comics/video game categories can judge if that's gotten any better/worse/whatever).
Last year's win for Wolfwalkers just plain would not have happened a decade ago; it would have struggled for a nomination, honestly. And, okay, sure, the Disney movie won this year, but it was the early in the year critical darling/box office flop that beat the late in the year less well reviewed/box office hit Sing 2 (which ended up barely a footnote), and the late in the year box office hit Disney movie that wasn't really actually furry wasn't nominated for once. We recently had a completely non-English nominee that, while definitely in the "just an honor to be nominated" category, was nominated on the grounds that it was actually furry and adult-oriented. Holy shit, furries going out of their way to nominate furry, even if they had to dig for it?
Seems like the people who care, you know, care. Worrying about the people who don't care is how you get shit like "The Flash Enters the Speed Zone" at the Oscars. (That being said, there is a line between not worrying about those who don't care and just not promoting yourself, period, and Fred is kind of complaining "why is no one coming to this thing we didn't tell them about?" here.)
Well, I must say, there were some unexpected turns. For example, I thought Marie Croke was going to win because she was the odd one out, but ended up getting second. I guess that particular Mary E. Lowd story struck a chord with some people. Maybe next year.
Of course, there is also the surprise that Beastars actually lost to Helluva Boss this time. At first, I started to wonder if people did not like the second season as much as the first, but if the fact that there are less voters is any indication, it’s clear that the Helluva Boss fanbase is more persistent than Beastars.
It is also interesting to see how the votes technically had My Little Pony: A New Generation as somewhat of the lead, but then factoring the other types of votes causes Raya and Luca to ending getting spots over it. I must say, I thought Raya was a little less likely, because I’ve seen quite a few detractors of that movie for one reason or another (Saying the message wasn’t told well or that Sisu was annoying), but maybe those are more of a vocal minority than I thought.
And of course, I cannot forget the unsurprising yet still disappointing win of that Carry On slideshow. And please don’t take this the wrong way. My problem was not that any of her works were nominated or even that she campaigns the way she does. I just have a problem with such blatant use of the least amount of effort as possible to make some sort of video, even if there is an original song attached to it. I am not asking Kathy to go away, I’m just asking her to actually step up her game creatively and either get into animation or hire people to do the work for her. Because now, based on the comments here, she is definitely going to be scrutinized a bit more for what has recently transpired, whether she deserves it or not.
So, anyways, now that the awards have come and gone, I want to try and create a list that could highlight some potential candidates for nominees and explore the possible outcome for the 2022/2023 Ursa Major Awards. Obviously, I can’t follow everything, so I went with Movies, Shorts, Series and Games. I may have missed a few, but I have at least covered the big ones. So why don’t we jump right on in.
Movies
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania
First three didn’t get any noms, why would this one?
The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild
No, just no. Even compared to the previous movies, NO!
The House
It’s a well done arthouse movie with furry elements in two of the stories, but these are rarely nominated here, I’m sorry to say.
Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness
Well this one caught me off guard. It does look okay enough, if a bit generic. But I think this one can more than easily get lost in the crowd.
Turning Red
Our first real contender. This movie is certainly being talked about both for the right reasons and the wrong reasons. But I think the questions relevant here are “Will it be nominated?” and “Will it win?” On the former, oh most definitely. Pixar movies have to be either extremely lacking in any sort of even marginally sufficient furry related content, or just nearly unanimously disliked (Cars franchise, anyone?)* in order to not be nominated. Latter, however, might be a bit harder to say. From my point of view, the Pixar movies have only really won if there was really nothing better to win. How else do you explain Brave winning, even when some people have listed it as one of the lesser Pixar films? Not saying it doesn’t have a strong chance, it does tackle a subject that not many people explore, let alone in animation, but there is some competition to consider here.
*Yes, I know the first one got a nom, but hindsight hasn’t really been kind to the franchise since then.
Odd Taxi: In the Woods
Hey, the show did get an Ursa nom. But a nom for this is probably not going to happen due to overcrowding.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Well, this could still be competition. Even though the results seem to be on par with the first movie in terms of reviews, maybe slightly higher in some ratings, there still appears to be a lot of excitement and love from the general public. The addition of Tails and Knuckles does help out in the furry factor (amongst others that I probably shouldn’t mention). I just wonder if it actually has a chance. The first got pretty close, but Wolfwalkers got in over it, even though it was on a streaming service I didn’t think that many people had (unless they pirated it). However, the nomination boost might have been the result of two factors. 1: The design change won over many people. 2: At the time, there weren’t too many movies to choose from that a lot of people saw. But yeah, I think a nom is still possible, but a win is probably not as likely as some would have hoped. I did watch it, and yes I enjoyed it, but I would not say it is one of the best. Maybe if Sonic Frontiers is really good, it can boost people into getting it more votes, but that is a big “if.” Even then, it’ll still have to contend with-
The Bad Guys
Now this film, I think it’s a real contender. Dreamworks alone has actually been a big winner in the Ursa Major Awards for some time, but has kind of slumped away the past few years. This film might be the company’s comeback. I say this because I remember when the film trended on Twitter, it was trending under the name “Zootopia,” but it wasn’t just for comparison. Some people came out of the woodwork to say that they felt Zootopia was awful and didn’t deserve the praise it got back then, especially taking issue with the fact that the two main leads-
(SPOILERS) -end up becoming cops at the end. (END SPOILERS)
Not to mention that the abortion comic, though fanmade, really turned some people off from Zootopia. Also, many people who have seen the Bad Guys movie are legitimately enjoying it. So I think this Bad Guys project not only will be nominated, I think it has a very good chance of being the winner.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
This one will be a bit tougher. It has been shown that not all superhero movies with anthropomorphic characters make into the view of the furry public. Look at The Suicide Squad. In the case of this movie, a Minotaur character appears to be a character in the movie, but seems to not be major enough, since I don’t hear people talking about him. Marvel does seem to still be in people’s good graces, however, so it may have a chance at being nominated. But it’s still a slim one.
Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers
This is probably the one movie that has people excited, confused, and scared all at the same time. It does seem to have a lot of elements I and some others would have liked to have seen in a movie like this. However, does this really fit “Chip ‘n Dale,” let alone “Rescue Rangers?” Well, it does seem to have good reviews right now, but still, I think soe furries will skip this.
Lightyear
This one could be a bit tricky. Nothing about it seems really furry, except for Sox the robot cat. But that’s the thing, it’s still a robot, and that can be a bit tricky. I think most of us would never really think, say, Terminator or I Robot would deserve a furry award, correct? Cars and Cuphead at least still have those ideas of anthropomorphizing something that you would not expect to ever be “alive.” An “anthro” robot, by itself, is not really that foreign of a concept. But an anthro robot that is less human looking, that might be different. I do remember WALL-E getting a Ursa nomination, even though it seems to be as far away from “anthro animals” as possible. But at least the robots don’t look very human-like, unlike, say, Baymax from Big Hero 6. Or maybe Hal the cockroach was what got WALL-E it’s nomination, despite neither not really being that anthro nor being in the movie for that long. Who knows? Then again, despite characters like Rex, Hamm, Slinky, Bullseye, Wheezy, Trixie, Buttercup, Mr. Pricklepants, Lotso, Ducky and Bunny, some questioned if the Toy Story films deserved noms. So I can see some scrutiny in that case.. Also worth noting, the first beta version of the Ursa Majors had Transformers Beast Wars as a nominee, so maybe the idea of robot animals is not that major of an obstacle to get this movie nominated. It all depends on, besides reviews of course, how the other movies fare with furries.
Minions: The Rise of Gru
I think Despicable Me 2 was another baffling choice that got a nom. I know it wasn’t the furriest year that year, but that one in particular really stuck out like a sore thumb. Was it the Minions? Was it the Minions turning purple? Was it El Macho turning into that hairy monster? Well, speaking of turning into things, the recent trailer revealed that both the Minions and the main villains (or I should say antagonists, since the protagonists are also supposed to be “villains”) transform into animals based on the Chinese zodiac. However, I think Minions have become the new Cars franchise, if you know what I mean, so unless it really is slim pickens, I honestly don’t see furries willingly giving this a nom.
Thor: Love and Thunder
So, this is not only a new Thor movie, but it is also supposed to be a followup to-
(SPOILERS) -Thor apparently joining the Guardians of the Galaxy. (END SPOILERS)
While Rocket Raccoon has been the major reason why the Guardians movies got their wins and the last two Avengers movies their nominations, I think this time it won’t be so easy. That is because while Avengers is supposed to equally highlight the heroes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe leading up to that point, this is supposed to be a “Thor” movie, as in “Thor featuring some appearances of The Guardians of the Galaxy.” I doubt they’re getting that much screen time. The trailer proves that with how small their scenes were. Also of note is that the major “furry” character, Rocket, did not even get a line. Besides, another project involving the Guardians might divert attention from this film. We’ll get to that later.
The Sea Beast
Looks somewhat interesting, and has the co-director of the Ursa winning Bolt, as well as Big Hero 6 and Moana. The Sea Beasts don’t look very anthro, though, so I wouldn’t put too much stock in it.
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank
This movie has been in development hell for years now. In fact, you might remember it originally being titled Blazing Samurai, a take off on Blazing Saddles. It’s from one of the directors of the 1994 Lion King, as well as the Stuart Little movies and the Mt. Peabody & Sherman movie. I will say though that at this point, I either expect it to be another Rock Dog or another Artic Dogs. The former because it was rather bland, some people didn’t mind it and it was the most furry movie 2017 anyways. The latter because it was definitely the most furry theatrically released movie of 2019… but it was undeniably bad. So yeah, let's see what happens with this picture.
DC League of Super-Pets
Depending how it’ll go, this could get a nom. However, some people are not exactly excited about the jokes nor designs of this movie. Also the makers of the movie have been hit and miss with previous projects. It would be disappointing to see this fail. Especially considering the Krypto TV show that came out more than a decade ago does have a cult following.
Luck
Now I’ll admit, a story exploring “Luck” is an interesting idea, and the concept art does have some promise. This does come from a new animation studio, Skydance, which is having another movie being made this year too. Some of the creative team have some spots on their records, but the product could still give us the best in them. I think the thing that could potentially hold this film back from getting a nom is the producer, John Lassater. He might be good in business and some creative works, but as a person, people might be iffy on that to say the least, and may not want to give him much attention. It is possible that point will be ignored if the movie is good enough. It’s another case of “wait and see,” but that one factor can still be off putting to some people.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
It’s been over a decade since that last film. Within that time, the franchise this version of Puss in Boots originated from, Shrek, has become somewhat of a laughing stock. Also, since Dreamworks is under Illumination’s Chris Meladandri now, this could be seen as “testing the waters” to find out if more Shrek is necessary, considering he has admitted to having plans for reviving the franchise. However, I do remember believing that people were done with anything relating to Shrek when the first Puss in Boots came out, but not only did it get an Ursa nom, it came in second behind Kung-Fu Panda 2. The trailer for this new film did get some positive reactions too, so maybe this is just another sign that Dreamworks is making a comeback.
Spellbound
The other Skydance animated movie that could come out this year. From the director of the Oscar and Ursa winning Shrek and the Oscar and Ursa nominated Shark Tale. In other words, it could go either way. Might not even really be worthy, because we don’t know if there is anything even remotely anthro in this one. Creatures, yes, but not sure about “anthro.” And while he is not as involved with this one as he is with Luck, the fact that John Lassater might still benefit from this could still be off putting to some people. But that latter point might not even cross some furries minds. We’ll find out later.
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile
This is an odd one. It might be a surprise hit, but it could also fall into the territory of the live-action Chipmunks and Smurfs. Also, the people behind the film might not be the best creatively at this point. They had Blades of Glory as kind of a hit, but their films have not been as successful or fondly remembered since then.
Strange World
From one of the directors of Raya and the Last Dragon, who also did the last animated Winnie the Pooh movie, Big Hero 6, and some of Moana. Have no idea if this will be considered even on the level of anthroness of, say, Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon or Sven from Frozen. All I know is that “strange” creatures will be this “Strange World.” There is one major problem, though. Disney is in major hot water right now with that Florida bill. So even if there is something furry anthro here, the furries may still not want to directly or indirectly support Disney. Matter of fact, the same could be said for other films from companies under Disney, but at least Pixar was given some praise for what they revealed about what they had to cut out of their films while they make films under Disney, so some slack may be given in that regard.
Avatar 2: The Way of Water
Oh look, it’s the long awaited and anticipated sequel to Crossaffliction’s most favorite movie to ever exist of all time ever. I’m sure he is singing and dancing with joy at this very moment. ;)
Seriously speaking, I am wondering how this would go down. Due to a Chinese theater showing not too long ago, Avatar regained its “highest grossing movie of all-time” position, and now we’re getting this sequel that seemed to take almost as long as the original to make. However, in that time, reception of Avatar has kind of fizzled as of late, and even if you still like it, you may have the thought of “is this really something you can make a franchise out of?” I do have a feeling that this film will not be as big of a hit as the first movie, and even though there is a precedent to have the follow-up of an Ursa winner be nominated also, it does not always come to fruition. Epic Mickey won the 2010 Game Ursa, but then the sequels didn’t even get nominated. Unless the number of good anthro movies ends up being low, that same fate might happen to this movie as well. But, and this is a big “but,” if the wow factor on IMAX is enough, it could maybe, possibly, still get a nom.
Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
So a special involving Guardians of the Galaxy and some sort of holiday. Obviously, this is going to be a take off of the infamous “Star Wars Holiday Special.” Not sure how long it's going to be, could be long enough that it has to go in Movies, or just not long enough that it would be better to put it in Shorts. There is also the issue I brought up last time that maybe some people are a bit put off by James Gunn now. But if that’s not the case, they may still not vote for it because they want to wait for the REAL Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3.
The Amazing Maurice
An adaptation of a Discworld story. Might turn out fine, might not, but either way, there’s too much that it might not stand out. Then again, the original book did gain an Ursa nomination all the way back in 2001/2002, so it has that going for it.
Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio
Remember the thing I said about Furries possibly not liking films that are “too realistic?” Well, the fact that The Shape of Water is a Oscar Best Picture winner yet did not even get nominated for an Ursa is another reason why I believe this to be the case. I’m sure there are some furries who would like to legitimately give Guillermo Del Toro an Ursa nom or even win. So his long in development version of Pinocchio, with its cricket, fox and cat, might be the excuse to do just that.
Wendell & Wild
Might not be furry/anthro enough, but Henry Selick is a creative enough director that some may look past that. I still have to say “probably won’t be nominated.”
My Father's Dragon
Cartoon Saloon’s newest production after their Ursa winning Wolfwalkers. I have looked up the story the soon to be film is based on, and it already has an anime adaptation. The dragon is definitely a talking dragon, and there are other talking animals too, so if the film gets to be released this year, you bet it’s getting a nom.
Shorts
The Rhino and the Redbill
Sonious mentioned that this was his pick last year, but it didn’t fully get released until this year. I can see why. The animation is not the greatest, but still pretty dang good for an independent production, and the story was pretty nicely done.so I can see this getting a nom.
Lackadaisy
This one is on a lot of people’s radars, I’m sure. It has a successful Kickstarter, it is from an online comic that is an Ursa Major winner. There would have to be something that really stands out for it to lose. Then again, it might not even get nominated, considering that it was planned to be released last year, but clearly more work needs to be done.
True Tail
This is something I’ve seen on and off again for a while. This was from the guy who made that Double Rainboom short, which, while ambitious and impressive in some ways, tended to fall short with most people. However, there are people who are still excited for this idea to finally come to fruition, and the Kickstarter campaign that made its money back made it seem like it could happen. However, the planned release date was in 2020, but considering what happened, it’s understandable why it didn’t make the date. But very little has been updated since then, and each time they seem to get closer to something happening that will get it closer to release, they backtrack. That certainly left a bad taste in some people’s mouths, but then some news came out that three of their top tier backers in Kickstarter were just trolling them, and ended up not giving the money after the legal battle. That is admittedly a crummy situation these people had to go through. If True Tail does somehow get released, let's pray for something worthwhile.
Bidoof’s Big Stand
It’s a cute short. But I think people are going to mainly use this category for independent works unless something truly eye-catching pops up.
Bug Therapy
I learned about this last year, and I was interested since there aren’t many pieces of furry media that are fully about bugs. I don’t believe one like that has even been nominated for an Ursa, correct me if I’m wrong. Maybe it will get a public release soon, but I’m not going to lose sleep if it doesn’t.
Mystery Skulls Finale
The Ursas finally got one of these nominated two years ago, and considering the steady “every other year” rate they have been coming out, this one should be getting released sometime this year. Whether it will be nominated or not depends on how they utilize the dog/kitsune character.
K Garrison
At this rate, it’s inevitable, so might as well be somewhat fair and acknowledge the possibility.
Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
See Movie section. Otherwise I’d be repeating myself.
Emaho
I literally just found out about this not too long ago. I don’t think it has a chance. Not saying it’s bad, it just looks a little like it’s from a bygone era.
Out O’ the Inkwell
Not to be confused with the Fleischer short of a similar name. This one is about a cartoonist whose creation comes to life and wacky hijinks ensue. Could be a nominee if certain things don’t come out. Seems cute enough.
The End ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uuua5lVrdP0 )
This short clip, posted by “Finale,” is the true final production by people from the original Blue Sky team. Not something commissioned to do, but something these people decided to do on their own time and their own dime. Lets just say, they gave closure to Scrat. Don’t know if that can be squeezed in somehow.
Series
Chikn Nuggit
It’s guaranteed a new nom due to the introduction of a new and rather intriguing character, which seems like nice timing with the release of The Bad Guys. Winning. Though,that may not be in the cards.
Helluva Boss
The final episode is in production, as well as Season 2, so unless Hazbin Hotel is pulling production away and HB doesn’t have its episodes released this year, I am thinking it will be the winner.
Amphibia
This show has been Ursa nominated before, but most shows tend to be one season wonders. The fact that it is ending soon may give it a boost.
Hazbin Hotel
Speaking of Hazbin, if it does start getting released this year by surprise, I could see some furry bait characters allowing it to get a nom.
Learning with Pibby: Apocalypse
Speaking of released this year by surprise, pretty much the same applies with this.
Cuphead Show
There were people who took issue with the game being nominated, so I suspect this show will not get a nom.
Ice Age: Scrat Tales
Well, this is receiving a positive reaction from the trailer alone and is officially the final Blue Sky production (not counting any unfinished or productions the members made after the closing). I could see people voting for this as an “f.u.” to Disney for shutting the company down.
Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight
The movies may be popular, one even winning an Ursa, but the two TV series that have been created haven’t really made much of an impact. However, what sticks out about this newest one is that unlike the previous TV shows, Jack Black is reprising his role of Po. Whether that’ll be enough attention remains to be seen, but it is a bit of a surprise.
My Little Pony: A New Generation spin-offs
The My Little Pony brand still seems to have some spark in itself if the nomination of the movie is anything to go by. But will the spin-offs Tell Your Tale, Make Your Mark, and Winter Wishday be able to maintain that spark? Sometimes the spin-offs don’t get the attention that the movie it spun-off from does. But the ponies could be one of those exceptions. We’ll just have to wait.
Daniel Spellbound
Not sure if the anthropomorphism in this show will be enough.
Sharkdog
Wait, from Eek the Cat!? Obviously not. Probably will be lost in the crowd.
Battle Kitty
I get the feeling this one won’t be remembered well
Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles
Remember when Usagi Yojimbo won in the Comics category over and over? Wonder if people will want to do the same in Series form. Unfortunately, however, this is more of a sequel rather than a true adaptation of the original comics, so maybe furries will skip out on this.
Dead End: Paranormal Park
I remember watching the pilot on Cartoon Hangover long ago. The reaction at the time seemed to be positive, but mostly “just okay”. Although maybe I’m projecting, because I thought the pilot was not the best, but not horrible. Then again, I thought the original Adventure Time pilot wasn’t anything too special, and it clearly turned out to have a pretty nice series, at least for the first few seasons in some people’s eyes. Maybe this’ll turn out great, though it may get lost due to other competition.
Sonic Prime
Hey, another Sonic show. If hype with Sonic is still strong, maybe it’ll have a chance. But Sonic shows haven’t always piqued the furries' interests, so I cannot say for sure. I will say the guy they got to voice Sonic is actually pretty good.
Zootopia+
Well, given Zootopia’s impressive results when it was nominated in the Movie category. Maybe Zootopia+ will do the same. Though like I mentioned earlier, there are some people who had some issues with the property for various reasons now, and again, Disney as a whole is also under some rather intense controversy. So maybe a nomination won’t be a sure fire lock as some would have expected. Not to mention sometimes extensions of something popular don’t always hold the same excitement that the original creation does.
Games
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Some people may disagree, but I feel the way the gameplay is implemented, it kind of loss the “furry” aspect, focusing more on controlling the humans instead. Also something else got announced for this year. So I think the nomination chances are a bit slim for this.
Fixfox
Some interesting concepts and game play. It could get lost in the crowd, though.
Grapple Dog
I have heard this name pop up a few times, and it does look neat. I am just not sure it will get enough attention to warrant a nom. It currently doesn’t even have a Wiki page. Though clearly that does not always ruin a game’s chances. Look at Major/Minor. Though in that case, the maker of that game has a large following. I will be pleasantly surprised if it does make it, however.
Chocobo GP
It already has some controversy behind it for a few reasons, so I doubt it will even get recommended.
Tunic
From what I have read, this game has been in development for nearly 7 years, maybe longer, thanks mainly to one man, Andrew Shouldice. He managed to get it published by the same people who published the Ursa winning Night in the Woods. While there is quite a bit of furry content in video games this year, this one may rise above the crowd just a little bit. Plus his impressive accomplish alone should be acknowledged
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Kirby himself may not be considered “furry enough.” The bosses, on the other hand, could help if people really want it. Still, I am going to lean towards “unlikely.”
Lookouts
Art looks interesting, but might not be enough.
Moss: Book 2
Original didn’t make it, most likely this won’t either.
Pocky & Rocky Reshrined
Boy, it’s nice to see a niche video game get revived, isn’t it? I could see this getting some attention, but it may just as well not. I haven’t seen any super big fans of this series, but maybe I’m just not looking in the right places. Speaking of niche series, however-
Kao the Kangaroo
Wow, yet another property being revived. It’s a nice looking redesign, and people look excited. I’m just not sure if it will make it on the nominees. I will admit that more people have the trailers for Kao than they have for Klonoa, but then again, it doesn’t seem like the fanbase for that is as dedicated as Klonoa’s is.
Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series
Now I’m sure some of you are aware of this series, but is it enough? Klonoa has had almost this curse where the games have been praised as great games, if not downright masterpieces, yet they end up getting poorly marketed and do jack all profit-wise. While the Direct did give Klonoa some new found exposure, some people didn’t even bother highlighting it, and a few people even went as far as to say “this a Sonic rip-off” or “this a Kirby rip-off.” The latter doesn’t anger me as much as the former, even though the gameplay is still different from both, but there was still this air of disinterest with some people. That is not to discount the people who were legitimately surprised, excited, and/or interested, and there were quite a few. I still hope it is enough, though. Even still, will it even get an Ursa nom? It would be nice for it to win, albeit a bit unfair for some of the legitimately new games. But if you look back, the only time any of the games for Klonoa even got RECOMMENDED was the second GBA game. I don’t know if it got any votes even, but that was one of those years where there were only 4 nominees due to too many ties. It feels very disheartening that even furries are not as familiar with Klonoa. I would like for that to change this year, and it may sound silly, but an Ursa nom could help with that. Only issue is that the Ursas seem particularly American, and in America, it appears that this remaster is only getting a digital release, which may hurt some sales, and make some voters not buy the game. I feel Klonoa deserves better than that.
Freedom Planet 2
Ah, this game is finally getting a sequel. I am curious though, there were just as many people unimpressed as there were those who loved it, and I remember the first game being last place in the 2014 Ursa Majors. Then again, that was the year the Furry Force incident happened, and maybe furries did get it nominated, but there were a lot of “non-furries” that participated in the final vote, lets put it that way. Still, is the game popular enough that the sequel will make it this time, as things seem to be a bit crowded this year? It’ll all depend on what actually gets released and what gets good ratings. Either way, don’t expect it to win.
Kingdoms of the Dump
Just happened to come across the game while looking for potential contenders, but that is the thing, I had to look for it. No one has mentioned it before. Could be fun, has some furry party members. But it may get lost in the crowd.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
A new game just as the new movie is getting released. I have doubts it will get a nom. Just mentioning it just in case.
Beyond The Edge Of Owlsguard
I found out about this from someone on a stream. It does look interesting, and reminds me of those King’s Quest games. However, I don’t know if it’ll be released this year. If it does, it still has a lot of competition.
BROK the InvestiGator
Another one I just happened to find while looking for potential contenders. It could be a good game, but again, may get lost in the crowd.
Cult of the Lamb
Saw it in one of those Indie showcases, but it could be another case of “too much released in one year.”
Digimon Survive
I dunno, Digimon hasn’t had much luck in the Games category, even though it made some good ones. There has just always been something more popular. But hey, I’d be pleasantly surprised if this does break the mold.
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
Well, like I said, Mario hasn’t had a presence in the Game portion of the Ursa Majors, and Rabbids didn’t help last time. This probably won’t either.
MultiVersus
Most likely not. People who vote in the Ursa Majors tend to prefer more “fully anthro” games anyways.
Panzer Dragoon II Zwei
Might get some interest, but I doubt it’ll get a nom.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Boy, this franchise went from being completely ignored, to being a three time Ursa winner (four time if you count the Detective Pikachu movie), and it did slow down in more recent years. Maybe the surprise announcement will be a comeback, and by comeback, I mean win. Though still, that’s possibly just wishful thinking.
Sonic Frontiers
Speaking of franchises that have been ignored for a while, Sonic has an interesting case where the games were not nominated until 2007, and they were few and far between. Even still, when they did get nominated, according to recent pollings, they were getting fourth place. The highest voted Sonic related thing was the movie. Will this finally get Sonic an Ursa win? Well, it depends on if it is even worthy of a nomination. There was a reason this was ignored for a time, and that was because the Sonic games have debatably been rather… crummy. Some more obvious than others, of course. And people are already having problems with this game. Very little gameplay footage exists, and what does seem to be available seems to indicate that Sonic Team have still not learned their lessons. Sonic Forces tried to import engines from one game to the next, but it didn’t work, causing that rushed subpar at best finished product we got. People are saying they are now just importing assets from Forces to Frontiers, which further indicates that they’re making the same mistake. Also, people have complained about the stories of some previous games in the past. And yes, Ian Flynn is apparently the writer for this one, and he has been mostly well liked, but if the gameplay is garbage, it ain’t going to matter. We can only hope that this will be one of the Sonic games that actually proves to be a worthy game to play. I’m just not holding my breath.
Splatoon 3
Well, the games are good, but people would argue if it really is “furry” or not. Also the first two games received no nominations, so this one probably won’t either.
Stray
This is a rather interesting looking game where you’re playing a cat, exploring this weird world and solving puzzles. Honestly, I think this has a good chance at a nomination, maybe even a win, if it gets released this year. But a date has not been secured, last I checked.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
A game based on those awesome Konami games? Sign me up! The arcade game was one of the best licensed games ever to be created. Only question is that will there be enough space for this to get a nomination?
Trifox
A fox shooting down foes. Could be fun. But again, could be too crowded, and there is no Wiki page.
Miscellany
Cat Burglar
Putting this here because I’m not sure how to place it. Is it more “Movie,” more “Game,” or more “Short?” Either way, may have some interesting moments, but probably won’t get much anywhere.
And that’s pretty much the list. Keep in mind that these can all be subject to change, depending on how the products are received and if they get delayed for one reason or another. If I missed anything you think is important, or you agree and/or disagree with something I said, let me know.
If you want to know what my top five predictions are (I know it could go to six or seven, but that’d be wishful thinking), they are:
Movies:
Avatar: The Way of Water (Or Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, or
Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio)
The Bad Guys
My Father’s Dragon
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Turning Red
Shorts:
Bug Therapy
Lackadaisy
Tales From Scorchwater Valley - The Rhino and the Redbill
True Tail: School of Heroes
Whatever K. Garrison puts together this time
Series:
Chikn Nuggit
Helluva Boss
Kung-Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight
Toss-up between Ice Age: Scrat Tales and My Little Pony: Make Your Mark
Zootopia+
Games:
Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series (Or Grapple Dog)
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Sonic Frontiers (Or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge)
Stray
Tunic
Whoah, whoah, whoah, making really ridiculously long comments and/or predicting awards a year out is my thing, there, buddy! (Seriously, Green Reaper, if you don't mind, can you get out your ruler or whatever it is and check, we might have a record here.) But, no seriously, I like our new anons better. Though I guess there are some hints that "new" may not be the right word.
I wonder if there was a bit of a backlash against Beastars/pity vote for Helluva Boss as essentially the first season of Beastars won two years in a row due to translations counting separate. Even people who like Beastars more might've felt "yeah, in hindsight, that was kind of stupid." And I guess I might as well go there, but this is where I wonder, do I get some credit here? I mean, I did post Flayrah's first article about Helluva Boss early in the year, and even pointed it out it should already have won an Ursa, but, yeah, translations happened. I also wonder if I gave Raya the final push it needed by choosing it as my Furry Movie of the Year (in addition to just Movie of the Year, Period). In fact, I have a pretty good track record matching Furry Movie of the Year with the Motion Picture Ursa Major, though this could obviously be because I'm just another basic furry with basic furry tastes. I have other doubts, as I myself obviously split the base a bit (hey, look at all those nearly automatic one stars on my comments above!), and, also, setting aside even me, I mean, how influential, actually, is Flayrah, when we can't even win the category Green Reaper petitioned the ALAA to create so Flayrah could win an Ursa Major? Also, getting back to Beastars vs. Helluva Boss, if I do have an influence, then I'm a bit to blame for the Beastars double dip as I actually pointed out in a comment here that it was eligible again.
I was going to blockquote the bit you talked about how it was surprising Sing 2 was such a non-factor in the end, but it was such a non-factor in the end you didn't even mention it. Boy, the backlash I got for having the nerve to say "meh" to that movie was wild, and apparently I wasn't the only one; Sonious retweeted a Saberspark tweet at me where the guy was just fucking getting mobbed for the same thing. And it managed to make the top ten of the Academy's stupid Oscar Fan Favorite vote as the only animated movie in that list (though, to be fair, maybe it was getting another "pity" vote for not getting nominated in the real Oscars). And, yeah, the box office was good, but, I mean, it was probably a lot of "Oh, Spider-Man's sold out? What else am I going to take the kids too? Singing pig movie? Singing pig movie." But, apparently, "meh" is actually the normal response, but it has a weird ride-or-die cult thing going on (oh, look, another one star comment rating!).
Well, yeah, I mean, none of the K. Garrison stuff was actually very good when it came down to it (the Carry On illustration was also pretty weak). Also, I have to point out that that was not an original song. If it was, that's actually a really good song, and would totally be worth it!
Yeah, pretty much this. I'm thinking this is kind of like my original Ursa Major prediction all the way back in 2011, when I said "Rango's better, but Kung Fu Panda 2 will win." Cause that's my feeling; which also means I'm predicting my "Furry Movie of the Year winning the Ursa" percentage to go down this year, as, also like Kung Fu Panda 2 vs. Rango, I do like both, but do think one is better but a bit more ... challenging? (If you can say that for a bunch of kid's movies.) Also, like 2011, late-breaking Puss in Boots movie coming along late in the game to possibly shake things up ...
Yeah, I've seen it, not a contender. I will say that I really was surpised at how much I liked this movie (never really been a fan of Sam Raimi's superhero stuff, though Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness are wonderful horror comedies) and then surprised to find out that it's actually not going over well, because I think it's the best MCU movie since Thor: Ragnarok (which I also don't think Thor: Love and Thunder will be much of a contender).The minotaur is not important, though, mild spoilers, he's one of the few survivors.
Oh, so, you're going to take my schtick, my possible record for longest comment, and then you're going to taunt me. Very cheeky.
But I am very curious to see how this thing plays out, both in fandom, and out. My guess right now is that it succeeds, but probably doesn't do as well as the first one, or even Avengers Endgame, but despite making more money than any of us will ever see in our lives, it's still considered somewhat "disappointing" for not. I don't see it being a contender at the Ursas (and probably less of one at the Oscars than people think, for different reasons), because it just didn't keep being a big deal, either in fandom or out (I'm reminded of the Jenny Nicholson video about visiting the Disney theme park based on Pandora, and overhearing a conversation in which a father had to explain to his son that, yes, there's a movie this is all based on), and also I may have been the loudest, but, like, the furry fandom of 2010 being unable to pick their own genre out of a lineup hasn't gone down as the most fondly remembered choice made at the Ursas. So I don't think it's even in for a nom, but if the damn thing goes for 3 billion at the box office and it not only wins Motion Picture, but its artbook wins best Non-Fiction, I mean, that's a possibility.
I follow Tomm Moore, one of the directors, on Twitter, and even he was tweeting "just sign up for the free trial, watch our movie, then quit your subscription, honestly". Which isn't pirating, but Apple+ still isn't the greatest streaming service (I do not know how the fuck they won Best Picture this year) and I'm so glad that GKIDS was able to get a Blu-Ray out, even if it was part a box set (I mean, it's not like the other two movies suck).
I'm going to remain somewhat positive and just put in Puss in Boots over Avatar 2, with the negative caveat that if it does remain a thing, it's probably My Father's Dragon that gets the boot, rather than Puss.
Is it now safe to say that the comic itself really isn't that great? Or at least, it's gotten very dated. There was a recent development in it that rubbed me the wrong way, where the lead character basically gets slut-shamed and it's depicted as her coming to her senses. Can't call myself a fan.
Really, the Comic Strip category as a whole's in a sore spot. Housepets! dominated for a literal decade and Griffin himself has said that he doesn't consider it a comic strip and it hasn't been one for a while. Innovative furry strips like Duncan and Eddie are being published on social media to acclaim while the category still continues to be the domain of strips stuck in the worldview (and web design) of the late 90s. It's no wonder Cross Time Cafe, a forum siloed off from the majority of the furry fandom, continues to dominate in the category and by extension the rest of the awards. Really, the separation of Comic Strip and Graphic Story can get odd with the "continuing story arcs" business; isn't "Carry On" technically a graphic story? "Newspaper-style" isn't a thing when we're talking about online publication. This distinction feels like a holdover from when the category was for Comic Books, which are easily more distinct than Strips.
I didn't read any of them, so I can't say a damn thing.
I'm no expert, either, but Carry On is definitely "in the style of a newspaper comic strip" to my eyes, despite its ongoing story, and often has a gag per strip, which is another hint. I don't see why the demise of newspapers need change this, though it might be confusing to those who never read them. Conversely, other works that are classified as graphic stories, while often retaining panels, tend to have a full-page presentation, many going well beyond a "Sunday-style" expanded layout or eschewing frames - and gags - completely.
As for whether it's any good, that's always going to be a personal decision. It handily beat at least one other comic that tried to promote its own nomination (Friends You Are Stuck With), but came reasonably close to being beaten by those which didn't (Foxes in Love, whose score was only 25% lower, and the perennial Freefall, which was 1/3 lower).
Clearly Duncan & Eddie is popular, at least within a certain group. But it was not nominated, and indeed not even recommended for last year (though it was for 2020). There is no sign that the possibility of going for an Ursa Major has been brought up by the artist, or to them. Perhaps if there were a larger number of disinterested people making nominations, it might get in, but in practice you have to want it to win it.
I don't think I remember seeing it before you mentioned it - I read Out-Of-Placers, DMFA, Learn to Live and TwoKinds, as well as the varied comics of InfinityDoom and GrimArt. I think OOP at least deserves an award (it established yinglets as a character species), but it won't get one unless it's nominated next time, and that probably won't happen unless the author asks for it.
Of course, should the ALAA wish, they could make an endorsement through the ALAA Choice Award. But they might hesitate do so for such comic strips, which by their nature tend to have another chance to win (as we have seen this year with both Carry On and the long-running graphic story Shine, which were nominated and had significant support in prior years).
It's actually only the third-longest. It's perhaps telling that then top four are anonymous, although Nuka wasn't trying to hide, he just didn't have an account. Personally I think anything more than a page is more than people will read, although that hasn't always stopped me going over 5000 characters.
The best part about this is you could sometimes get him to do it on random furry forums in conversations he wasn't even a part of.
This comment may have been a bit long, but it is mostly a long list rather than a wall of text.
I think Crossie was asking more about the length as in screen space. Though that's a bit unfair and we certainly don't want people doing things like:
...
...
...
Given the above has more formatting and subtitles and other formatting items where the top two comments are more densely written I think it takes up more screen space.
I will note you can use HTML in the comments so using H5 for your subtitles would help if formatting like that.
Also I am none of those comments, which given how long winded I criticize myself in being, is surprising to me.
Perhaps, but this is the only length that can be trivially calculated - I have a function I whipped up to determine how to size the userpics, but it's probably not sophisticated enough to determine length in general. Of course, links add considerably to the total (thankfully for the purposes of data transfer they compress well, too).
You're probably not in the list because you put said length into your stories instead. ;-)
But if you were, this one would take the biscuit; at 8427 characters it's 56% larger than your two prior efforts.
You're taking the ruler joke too literally.
You should submit what's not already there to the Recommended List, since you put a lot of research into this.
https://ursamajorawards.org/ReadList.htm
It's been a surprisingly busy week and a half since the original comment, actually, so we know a little more about a couple things.
Yes, I think some furries skipped this. It's definitely better than the cynical takes would have it, but at the end of the day it's a straight-to-streaming movie, and it's not really worth either the anger or the nomination.
Just setting aside anything else, the fact that their are two big Pinocchio adaptations coming out this year to rival streamers (Netflix vs. Disney+) that unlike Chip 'N' Dale probably should be completely theatrical but that's just not how the world works anymore directed by former Best Picture/Best Director Oscar winners means that they probably just blew each other's awards chances. I think Del Toro still might get into Best Animated Feature if it's even semi-okay because Netflix will campaign and the nomination voters really do actually pay attention to that sort of thing, but Ursa Majors voters, not so much, and will probably not care a lot to begin with and confused if they did care.
Of the two, the Disney+ version will probably fare worse for about the same reason Chip 'N' Dale has a solid hate base; it's a Disney remake/reboot/thing they're doing with their IP, and people hate that shit reflexively. Also, I mean, let's be honest, when was the last time Robert Zemeckis made a good movie?
Going to reply to Mink's comment here, too, but yeah, the fact it was a solid fourth place finisher was also surprising. Like, it felt like if it didn't win, it would be a close second, at least.
Well hey, I wasn't trying to steal your thunder or anything. I am surprised myself that I made as long of a comment as I did, weeks if not more than a month in the making. ^^; Although, I am a bit disappointed that some people were more interested in the length of the comment rather than the contents of said comment.
I just wanted to highlight the potential nominees coming out this year, as I believe there is a ton, and I just got excited. The number of contenders is definitely the reason why it is as long as it is.
I do apologize for taking so long to reply. Life happens. But now I have the time to comment.
Yeah, realizing the song was actually not an original creation does not make the situation any better for me. It just further exemplifies how minimal effort is being used here just to get something up for rewards. And you know what? Next time I email the recommendations, I am going to “recommend” that they do not ever accept those types of videos, from Kathy or otherwise, ever again. How can we encourage more great independent creations if we are awarding bottom-tier material? Furry Force is better than that.
Yes. I had planned that joke ever since knowing that a sequel was definitely happening soon. It’s what guys do, right, lighthearted jokes at each other?
And about Avatar 2, we don’t know if James Cameron maybe, possibly, heard the criticisms lobbied at the original film over the years and tried to improve it. It can be done, look at Top Gun Maverick. I get how you say you don’t believe it to be furry, but some furries did. We cannot discount the possibility that maybe it will turn out to be critically acclaimed, just like Sing 2 somewhat surprisingly did on Rotten Tomatoes. And even if it isn’t a big deal like it once was, also like Sing 2, interest could reignite.
And I noticed you’re hoping Puss in Boots 2 would get the spot over Avatar 2, but didn’t you say you were worried about the art style is not fitting with how the original films looked?
Oh and Pinocchio. I kind of forgot about the possibility of that “live-action” version, thinking it wouldn’t come out this year. But I agree, it ain’t a contender. People took one look at the trailer and can already tell that “it looks creepy.” I thought that maybe Del Toro’s Pinocchio might have designs for the animal characters that are interesting enough to grab some furries attention. Then again, seems like unless its Aardman, stop-motion has mostly been ignored in the Ursas.
One more thing, don’t expect a similar list for 2023/2024. It was just an experiment for myself, and I don’t see near the number of contenders next year anyways.
Whether such works should be accepted is a tricky question. It might be fair to say that it should not be permitted because it is an outright derivative work, presumably without permission. I think we should allow work like "Pop-U-Fur", even though it is arguably derivative, as it is also a parody. Likewise, furry works such as Incontinent Student Bodies, which was derivative to some extent and also a parody of Associated Student Bodies. Furry Force was great and deserved its award - as a commenter said at the time, "smart people become curious, and look stuff up." Heck, Victor Vivisector did an AMA on Furry Reddit to promote their nomination, which is worth reading - we're talking about people who grew up on FurryMUCK, at least to some extent.
Sorry to derail the conversation with asides about comment lengths.
Well, even if I accept that a story about a human transforming into an alien species with vaguely animal characteristics is furry ... then District 9 should have won.
But this year, I'm not super worried about Avatar 2 at the Ursas yet, because it's been a decade, and the voting body has changed (Sonious has a chart and everything in another article!). That, and while Wes Anderson has a personal style that just wasn't doing it for people back in 2009, this year we have contenders like The Bad Guys, which is a a bit less "acquired taste" than Anderson.
As far as Puss in Boots 2, well, that was meant as more of a prediction, though, yes, right now I'd prefer Puss 2 over Avatar 2. Yes, I'm worried about the "3D models made to look 2D" trend, and especially in a movie franchise that is over two decades old and six movies in that has never done that style before, because something being trendy just because it's trendy doesn't always age well. But, qualms about the use of an art style aside, the trailer was funny, Antonio Banderas seems to genuinely enjoy the part and is having as good a time as ever as far as I can tell, and, unlike Avatar 2, I liked the first movie. Oh, and it's actually furry.
On stop motion, I thought maybe LAIKA's Kubo and the Two Strings had been nominated, but then I looked it up and remembered, oh, yeah. 2016. There was some competition. And that's the only one they've done with a lot of furry characters; and none of the other big stop motion things from anyone were that furry, either. Even a lot of Aardman isn't that furry. But you are forgetting Wes Anderson, who has been nominated twice and won once. So I think it's less a furry disinterest in stop motion as just a rarer overall form of animation.
Pinocchio could be good (the Netflix one, not the Disney one), but I'm not super excited about it because I'm not actually that big a fan of Guillermo Del Toro's movies; I like him, he seems like a genuinely nice guy who also genuinely just likes movies. But, honestly, even movies like Hellboy (I love the comics) or Shape of Water (which is basically as close to, if not actually, a furry Best Picture as we'll probably ever get), which I should love, I'm like, "eh, it was okay" at best. That, and, honestly, Disney kind of nailed Pinocchio in one before WWII, so I don't know why we're still messing around with it. But, going back to Del Toro, well, if there was one mainstream director who might actually publicly acknowledge being nominated for an Ursa Major, it would be
James GunnWes AndersonGuillermo Del Toro.Well, stuff happened again.
So, I'm thinking, yeah, this looks like it ought to be a player. I mean, there's a wolf bounty hunter who is kind of all "hold my beer" to Mr. Wolf in The Bad Guys' "furries are going to go nuts for me"; with the red eyes, he's basically the distaff counterpart to Loona from Helluva Boss. So, that'll probably be a thing. Though I wonder who the hell he's supposed to be? This series already has a Big Bad Wolf ... though it also already had very different three bears ... are there going to be two self-proclaimed DreamWorks "Big Bad" Wolfs this year? One who might possibly be into drag?
As far as the 2D/3D stuff is concerned, it mostly looks pretty darn good here, and is being used to "pump up" the action scenes, so there does seem to be a point. On the minus side, we've already seen two of the jokes featured in this trailer in the last movie, so that's a bit worrying.
Also, I want to predict the little dog sidekick character is actually the bad guy. I don't know, I'm not too confident, but it could happen, and I want to brag about calling it in a couple months if it happens. If it doesn't happen, well, the random guy who one-starred me will get this shit folded, so it'll be hidden, so it all works out.
The stop-motion aesthetic in the action scenes really turns me off. Like they didn't have enough money to render all the in-betweens. Another fur thought it looked like Into The SpiderVerse, so maybe that was the goal.
Yeah, you're kind of playing catch up on this conversation ...
Into the Spider-Verse (don't forget your hyphen!) had a style of flattening out the 3D animation, so despite being rendered in CG, it appeared semi-sorta like hand drawn animation. Basically, this allowed the kinetic energy of computer animated modern superhero movie action scenes to also mimic the hand drawn art-style of comic books. In other words, it's not supposed to look like stop motion puppet animation but rather hand drawn, and also it's not actually a quality thing but a deliberate decision.
Spider-Verse was praised for it's use of stylization in it's animation, not going for realism, but using different styles of animation to differentiate characters, so Spider-Ham is animated in a way that is reminiscent of classic funny animal cartoons, Peni Parker like anime, the more human characters in a way reminiscent of comic book art, and Spider-Man Noir in a black and white comic strip style. For many, it felt like a breath of fresh air after a decade of CGI movies playing for as high a level of realism as possible (which is perhaps even arguably missing the point of an animated movie to begin with), and it had the good luck to come out in a year where neither Disney Animations Studios nor Pixar had original movies, so it managed to actually win Best Animated Feature.
More recently, The Bad Guys featured a similar style, though not quite as variable. I'm a little on the fence about this style myself in general, because it can look cheap and not good when done badly. Quite a few lower tier Japanese animation studios have been using a similar technique of animating in CG and then kind of tracing over it, and it generally looks like crap, such as the Godzilla anime trilogy, which are just crap for other reasons; also, they did it in the Chip 'N Dale movie as an obvious cost cutting move that didn't look very good, either, though it was a straight to streamer. Spider-Verse had a definite reason for doing it, and The Bad Guys is also a new movie based on a comic, so it's fine there, but I'm more specifically down on Puss in Boots using it because, well, it's a pre-established franchise that already has a preexisting style. So it kind of feels like they're chasing a trend that we might all get sick of in a few years, and also kind of a case pretty blatant copy of what someone else has already done.
There's been a similar praise/backlash for movies like Turning Red, which is not doing the 3D to 2D conversion thing, but has a much more stylized look than a lot of last decade's Disney/Pixar output. Basically, the trend last decade was to make everything as realistic as possible, and apparently this decade the reaction against that is going for a more stylized, cartoony look. Of course, there are people who are going to prefer one over the other no matter what the trend is, and also there were obviously stylized animated movies last decade and there will be "realistic" animated movies released this year (heck, tonight, Lightyear is hitting theaters). And, also, obvious caveat that this is very much American CG animation trends.
And, also, purposely cutting out "in-between" frames in live action is called "ramping", and is a technique that's been used for decades to give action scenes an extra "kick" or whatever. That's another technique that is very, very take it or leave it, but once again, if that's more what you're talking about/not liking, it's on purpose.
So, do you feel the same way about, say, Lilo & Stitch, or the Ratchet & Clank games? That they are not "furry" enough? Just curious.
I was thinking though, if Avatar 2 does get nominated, wouldn't it be satisfying to you if it actually LOST to another film? I thought that maybe that possibility would give you some form of satisfaction.
I am also thinking that it would be nice if, somehow, someway, people coordinated their votes in order to at least get six or seven nominees in some categories. That way, Puss in Boots 2 for example could still get a nomination even if Avatar 2 ends up being the more likely nominee.
Okay, that was my bad to forget about Wes Anderson, but in my defense, Aardman has been doing their animated movies for far longer, and Anderson has only made two. But I guess my thoughts went to Del Toro's Pinocchio as a possibility mainly as a "sorry" for not nominating Shape of Water. However, I admit I am not always right. I at least have enough foresight to realize it wouldn't be in my predicted top five. At best just a potential replacement in case certain films turn out worse than we thought they would.
In the end, I’ll just say that this is a pretty exciting with all these anthro or anthro-like movies being released, and I hope this year will be one of the most exciting years for the Ursa Majors yet.
Oh, you are just trying to get me in trouble.
Basically, no, Lilo & Stitch is also not technically furry, and Ratchet & Clank ... well, I've never actually owned a Playstation in my life, so I can't really claim first hand knowledge ... but also probably no (also, for that matter, The Shape of Water). For me, I need a specific animal being anthropomorphisized, and Stitch, the Na'vi, the lombaxes, wookies, whatever, are something different. That being said it's very obvious that furries just like non-human creatures in general, and I'm not interested in having anyone hand in their con-badges. I actually voted for How To Train Your Dragon (which isn't even anthropomorphic) in 2010 (because, honestly, the good stuff wasn't really furry, and the furry stuff wasn't good that year), though you'll notice that I specifically did not review either sequel for Flayrah. Didn't think they were furry enough. On the other hand, when dronon or someone else reviews something else I don't consider "actually" furry, I'm not in the comments complaining about it.
As far as "satisfaction" over it "losing", I feel not being nominated, period, is the bigger L. It's still an "honor just to be nominated", as they say at the Oscars. Also, something I like might get bumped.
I agree it might be a banner year, even if a lot of the smaller stuff (like My Father's Dragon or the Del Toro Pinocchio) gets ignored and it's a DreamWorks/Disney-Pixar slugfest.
Okay, probably the last reply I’ll do for this, but something else was on my mind.
But first, if I may play anthro advocate, I kind of see Toothless on a similar level of “anthropomorphic” as Pluto. They both are more animalistic, but do certain things and express certain emotions that are more than what the original animal is capable of. Some parts include Toothless expressing happiness and annoyance, one part in the second movie where Toothless throws a pebble at Hiccup, and the part in the third movie where Toothless tries to court the Light Fury. May not be to your linking, but to me, it still indicates higher intelligence than most animals.
Speaking of that, though, that made me wonder, what is your opinion on counting mythical animals? Like dragons, unicorns, pegasus, and phoenixes? I know some of them are based on real animals, but regardless, they still don’t exist. So if aliens that are furries/animal-like don’t count in your eyes, is it the same for mythical animals too?
Hope you don’t mind me asking.
I was going to say… it's hard to decide whether HTTYD is anthropomorphic when we don't know (and indeed part of the series' conceit) is that people don't know enough about what dragons in their world are capable of to start with. One might even call it zoomorphic due to how much effort Hiccup and his friends go to in order to adapt to their dragons (e.g. the maze test).
I guess this could be applied to aliens, such as my character - we think we know what Earth animals are capable of, and so know when they have human characteristics; but what of others: are they just like that normally? Or is what matters that they have 'human' characteristics, regardless of whether they are innate? (Mind you, most Norns have a far more limited vocabulary.)
Now I can admit it: I honestly thought that Sing 2 was a shoo-in for Best Motion Picture. Not just because of its quality, or because of it's legion of dedicated fans, but also because it was released late last year -- and that tends to help when voters have short memories. But instead they went for one of the FIRST films from last year. You never know.
Just kind gonna do this in the middle of both (edit: or not, threading problems) but, yes cartoon animals tend to act cute, but at the end of day, they're still animals. Hiccup is a glorified horse, as is Pegasus from Hercules. Sisu from Raya and the Last Dragon or Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, are people (never mind Sisu's word for humans seems to be "people"). Once they start talking, then they become furry (though even that's not a hard and fast rule). I can throw a rock at my real cat and she'll let me know she's annoyed, but she remains a cat.
As far as "liking" is concerned, that's not the dividing line. It's not personal preference. If we're going to use a definition, then we should use it. Otherwise, you're doing the Martin Scorsese "that's not cinema" thing. It honestly would be better if he said the MCU was crap cinema than not cinema, because quality should not be a qualification for inclusion or exclusion, which is subjective. Saying "I don't like this" is one thing; saying "I don't like this, therefore it doesn't count, and only what I like does" is something very different. Using a strict definition may sound arbitrary, but personal preference is actually way more arbitrary.
Anyway, going back to mythical creatures, well, I kind of indirectly answered this, but a fictional species of animal can be furry, if it is anthropomorphisized. So a dragon in not automatically furry, until it is. So, can a Pokémon, for instance, be made furry, though not automatically. Or norn, probably. An intelligent alien species is already anthropomorphic, but it was never an animal.
I guess that's what my argument. If furry is about "anthropomorphic animals", merely being an animal, or merely being anthropomorphic is not enough, you need both. Though both seperately hold appeal to a furry fan, and are of interest to them, so liking How to Train Your Dragon makes sense (cool animal with some cutesy emotional reactions), and liking Lilo & Stitch makes sense (cool anthropomorphic characters with some non-specific animal traits), but they're "things furries like" rather than "actually furry."
Also, this pretty much only applies to stuff not made by members of the furry fandom. If a furry makes something and says it's furry, I'll pretty much take their word for it.
Actually, this is a good place to bring up Lightyear, which is an unusual case, in that it does contain an important "furry" character, but not the main character, and also they're a robot on top of being a cat. Basically, I'm not reviewing it (partially, to be fair, because I just don't have too much interesting to say beyond, "eh, it was okay"), but my justification there is that Sox isn't the main character (if he was, I would) and unlike, say, Rocket or King Shark or Peter Porker the Amazing Spider-Ham, he's not just an anthropomorphic animal. The robot part puts him at a bit of a remove. Also, I didn't review Toy Story 4, which has a similar, but also distinct reason; the main characters are human, and the supporting animal characters are anthropomorphic toys first, anthropomorphic animals second (also, I don't remember having anything interesting to say about that movie either).
There are a few interesting things to say about Lightyear that don't actually have anything to do with the movie itself, so I'm just going to use that to say them here. It's apparently kind of flopping at the box office, which is surprising, and their are a number of theories going around. First off, there was a conservative backlash due to Chris Evans replacing the openly politically conservative replacing Tim Allen as the actor voicing the title role, as well as the inclusion of a gay family (and not like "if you're paying attention, you'll notice those antelopes in the background are gay", but like "important character is explicitly in a same sex marriage"), and just Disney versus DeSantis was a thing recently, so there were the usual expressions of boycotting or whatever, and actually, maybe, it probably didn't help, but I doubt it really hurt anything and anyway there would have theoretically been an equal liberal backlash to the backlash to offset the losses, so ... that was a long sentence. The point is, I don't think that was a make or break issue.
Second theory is that nobody cares about the character of Buzz Lightyear, and like, what? I mean, really? Obviously, you (whoever you is in this case) may not actually care about the character that much, but for your theory about the movie about nostalgia for a movie from the 90s to hold up, you kind of need it not to get whooped in the box office by a different movie about nostalgia for a movie from the 90s. And Jurassic World Dominion literally features five heavily advertised characters being brought back from the original movie (six, if you count the T. rex, plus the return of the Dilophasaur species which hasn't been seen since that original), including one that literally inspired the line "See, nobody cares [who you are]." in the original movie. So I don't think it's because nobody cares about Buzz Lightyear.
Third theory is that, after the last three Pixar movies were straight to streaming, Pixar's maybe gotten the reputation of being, well, the straight to streaming Disney movies. Like, people are used to these things on Disney+ now, they can wait. This one is popular with a lot of the box office pundit types and animation fans and whatnot. You reap what you sow, I guess. And I love the irony of three well-respected Pixar movies getting the streamer label being sandwiched between the "meh, I guess" combo of Onward and Lightyear (haven't actually seen Luca yet, but I heard good things!). It's like a sandwich with the bread on the outside!
I also think it's 80% on Rotten Tomatoes isn't helping; Pixar's reputation is at least partially based on being the one thing both the "critics" and the "public" agree on as great. A lot of animation studios would kill for a "Certified Fresh" 80%, but for Pixar, that's worse than a 50% "Rotten" for a Minions movie. [Edit: Oh, wow, it's actually down to 76% since I last checked.] Whatever happened, I mean, this could honestly straight up kill Pixar. I spent the last decade and change grousing about them, and now it's maybe actually happening, and I'm like, uh, oh, I didn't really mean it.
On a lighter note, the conceit that this is actually a 1995 movie that Andy watched and wanted an action figure from is actually a bit weird, because ... this is just not a 90s movie. They're not even trying for a 90s aesthetic, even setting aside the cultural stuff like the gay subplot. I don't even think they would have allowed for Taika Waititi's accent back then. A lot of the space stuff is very clearly coming from a post-Gravity world, as well. Not to mention touchscreen stuff that really wasn't a thing back then. And it's obviously questionable if any of this was possible in 90s special effects. It's very much a 2020s movie.
https://www.crosstimecafe.com/viewtopic.php?p=729789
She made an entire post just because "Carry On" wasn't immediately on the recommended list yet. The RECOMMENDED list. Strikes me as someone hungry for constant validation if this is enough to set her off. Just submit yourself if it's that much of an issue, don't make sad eyes at your fans to do it. Weird.
Also love the forum members that assume a comic simply isn't famous enough or flat-out good enough just because they, in particular, haven't heard of it. Foxes in Love isn't the only one getting those kinds of numbers, folks.
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