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Thanks to Ocelynk for this guest post. To submit for public access, get in touch from the About page.

As night falls in the South American jungle, an ocelot comes out to hunt. The small spotted cat’s ears perk at the sound of a snapping twig in the trees above, and the pursuit begins. Eighteen razor-sharp claws extend to grip a branch for an effortless ascent, and a tail balances every movement. With its prey in sight, the ocelot pounces, its fangs glistening in the moonlight…

Imagine if the furry fandom could develop fursuits that do all that, in addition to being friendly. Since the summer of 2018, I’ve been working on animatronic technology to make it possible.

It all started when I came across a post about fursuit technology that opened my eyes to the possibilities of fursuit animatronics. This was an opportunity to apply my experience with electronics and robotics to a new and exciting area.

• FUTURE FURSUITING: furry’s most original creations and the rise of tech-enabled smart suits.

Before long, inspiration struck. I decided that I would make a realistic fursuit with all the animatronic technology I could build. I wanted the animatronics to work without anyone actively controlling them. To decide which projects to start with, I thought about my favorite features of cats: the ears, eyes, claws, and tail. Since then, I’ve developed working prototypes for all four features.

Info display at Further Confusion 2020

Ears

I started working on the ears by reading every book I could find about feline anatomy to see how real cats move their ears. Each ear has at least five muscles that pull the ear in different directions and give it an impressive range of motion. To make the project manageable, I decided that my ears only needed to rotate to point forward or sideways.

Next, I considered how the ears would move. I noticed that real cats move their ears around constantly and often point their ears toward sudden noises. I decided to replicate this behavior with several microphones hidden in the fursuit head pointing in different directions. The ear controller analyzes the audio from the microphones to detect where sounds are coming from, and points the ears toward sound sources.

My first ear prototype had foam ears moved by small motors, and four microphones to detect noises. It had some unexpected behavior and its motion was not expressive enough, but it did show that the concept was sound. With a few more iterations, I found an ear design that allows expressive and fairly realistic movement.

Eyes

I wanted to make eyes that would do something interesting but not too obvious. Real eyes respond to ambient light: their pupils get larger in darkness to help with night vision. I realized that a fursuit could use an ambient light sensor for the same effect. Each eye uses a small LCD display to show the iris and pupil. Depending on the ambient light level, the size of the pupil changes. The color or other properties of the eyes could also vary based on input from other sensors.

Claws

I recognized that retractable claws might not be the most useful feature on a fursuit, but I decided to work on them anyway as a mechanical engineering challenge. As with the claws of real felids, my fursuit claws extend by rotating out from each fingertip. The entire mechanism needs to fit within the tight space constraints of a handpaw. To solve this problem, I tried muscle-like actuators and solenoids, which all turned out to be impractical. I settled on a simple motor mounted on the back of the wearer’s hand that pulls on cables to extend all five claws at once. To control the claws, I use a non-invasive muscle sensor that lets the wearer extend the claws by flexing their forearm muscles.

Tail

The tail presented a different kind of engineering challenge because it is a whole extra appendage that needs to support its own weight and move. I started by finding out how real cat tails work. Their basic operation is simple, with vertebrae connected by flexible joints and muscles that pull in different directions. I designed my tail to follow this model closely, with four control cables to move the tail up, down, left, and right. Two motors at the base of the tail pull on the cables as necessary.

Interconnection

While the ears, eyes, claws, and tail can each do interesting things on their own, they all need to work together to unleash their full expressive power. Real cats communicate not only through body movement, but also with eye contact, ear movement, tail positioning, and purring. Animated furry characters also have familiar forms of expressive ear and tail movement. A fursuit with interconnected animatronics could use all its features to more clearly communicate the character’s emotions and intentions. To make this possible, all my animatronic control modules can communicate with each other. Future software updates will let them use this communication to work together.

The future

Building one fursuit with animatronic ears, eyes, tail, and claws is a formidable task. Still, it is only the first step. There will always be opportunities to make the animatronics lighter, quieter, more reliable, more expressive, and easier to use. As long as I have inspiration, there will be new goals to achieve.

– Ocelynk

————————————–

More information and updates on the animatronic projects: https://feliformlabs.com/

Contact: ocelynk@ocelynk.com or Telegram: @Ocelynk

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, please follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. Want to get involved? Share news on these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for anything — or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here. NOMINATE GREAT FURRY CREATIONS FOR THE URSA MAJOR AWARDS UNTIL FEBRUARY 15, and THE GOOD FURRY AWARD UNTIL MAY 31. Let creators know they count, and maybe Ocelynk will have one soon! 

Dogpatch Press is commissioning regular new banner art — check out a gallery from past months. Each artist gets an article, with a goal to promote ones outside the USA. Last artist was Glasses Gator from Mexico. It’s a little behind schedule, so here’s catchup with both Azure Paragon (December) and Meteor05 (January.)

• Furaffinity for Meteor-05
• Twitter: @MeteorZeroFive
• Deviantart

Hi Meteor, so you’re in Mexico and have a wolf fursona — why wolf? And you teach — ever teach cartoon art?

I choose a wolf as my fursona because something funny happened to me as kid, when I entered primary school. I was kind of a hyperactive/playful kid, so, in my first class, instead of doing stuff for class, I just wanted to play with the other kids, I started to shout “hey, there’s a wolf at the window!” and ran around, but none of the other kids wanted to play and later they started to call me “Wolf”, something that I hated at the time (and hated for years LOL). I eventually started to accept it, and even liked it, until it became part of myself.

About my work as a teacher, I really don’t teach anything relative to cartoons or art (that would be really nice though). I’m an elementary/primary school teacher, I work at the computer lab from the school, teaching kids how to use the computer (basic stuff of course). But even though my job is not fully related to art, I use it sometimes on school stuff, like the cover of my class planning book.

Can you say a little about fandom activity where you are? Do you go to meets or cons?

Here in the Mexican state where I live there is not much fandom activity. I know there are some furries in nearby cities, but I haven’t meet them, and also there are no meets around here. I have gone to one con. In the past year I went to Confuror in Guadalajara. It was my first con ever, and it was an amazing experience, I met some good friends and other cool furry artists for the first time. There were many nice activities there, mostly related to art, games, the fandom itself and much more. I loved the really good vibes at the event, it made me feel very comfortable there, like a space to be the wolf inside of me. So, I totally want to continue going to more cons or other furry related events. This year I’m planning to go to Confurtiva in Mexico City, and Confuror in Guadalajara again, and in the future I want to try to go to foreign cons.

I like the banner art you did, it’s very fun characters. Ever been in a snowball fight?

Thanks, and no, I haven’t been in a snowball fight in my whole life. Here in Mexico there are not many places where it snows, but I really want to visit a place like that someday. I want to make a big snow “wolf” man, make other snow figures or yeah be in a snowball fight, I bet it’s fun!

Do you have any words for other artists, or want to share some of your favorites?

To other artists, always work with joy and love, I know there are always hard times where we all get blocked, angry, sad, hopeless… but there’s always a rainbow after the storm, and a light of inspiration around, we just have to look for it, so, never give up, we can do anything!

For favorite artists, I could make a very long list (LOL), there are many I like but I’m going to mention some of my most favorite. Artists like Takemoto, Teaselbone, Gyntyatyatyatya and Tardor are a big source of inspiration for me. Their art styles are pretty different from each other, but every artist is very unique, and it’s hard to not enjoy every pic from them. Also I want to mention other cool artists from Mexico that are part of my favorites: DrawItAndrew, GlassesGator and Ligoni, they’re really amazing and I’m glad to be good friends with them too.

December’s banner artist:

• @AzureParagon on Twitter
• Furaffinity for Azure Paragon
• Deviantart
• Website

Hi Azure, is there anything special people would enjoy knowing about you?

My names’s Azure Paragon. Been doing art all my life, and I do illustrations, paintings, drawings, digital mediums, even print media and ceramics. For subject matter and style, it varies to the extreme, sometimes it’s not even furry. I enjoy doing dragons, monsters, figures and faces, creatures, and perhaps most prominently, environmental and surreal landscapes, including space art and dreamscapes, even fractals & experimental.

If there is anything anyone would enjoy knowing about me, it’s how I interact when it’s not serious. I do not hold back at all on my quirks. Sometimes I’m silly, others downright nutcase for entertainment, which leads me to wonder about going into cartoon character voice acting. I think that would be a lot of fun, but like visual art as a profession, I bet it’s no cakewalk either. People also adore how my character looks, depending on the depiction of my purple skydragon Azure.

You’re located in North Carolina — how involved are you in the furry community?

My days of associating with furries locally are long past. Rarely do I go out of my way to meet other furries in the state, but I want to work on that when I’m ready and more financially stable. There are a lot of other things I need to finish first.

Anything neat to say about the banner art you did for the site?

The banner art was improvised when I discovered the site in November 2019. I had a surge of energy and wanted to contribute, and thought to myself “why not?” I figured I’d contribute as quickly as possible in my trademark visual style I usually do. It’s meant to show that miracles are possible under the right circumstances.

Where do you feel you are at as an artist? In a good place already or with goals still to reach?

I always find myself walking a long and complex road. I enjoy what I do but it seems like a never ending adventure, for better or worse. Minor goals met, major ambitions always not yet met. Then again, greater things take years to truly complete.

Any words to share with other artists?

What I wrote above. If you enjoy and want to do art for positive goals, don’t ever give up. But there’s no shame in giving yourself an extended break. It might be the most needed thing in hard times. This goes for anyone with their own pursuits and careers, not just for artists and creators.

Want to share a favorite piece, or other artists who inspire you?

On the “safe for work” side, my favorite piece I’ve made was this, from November 2014. Perhaps one day maybe I can reboot it as a 3D piece!

Melodies Among the Ocean and Sky by AzureParagon

For artists that inspire me, the piece above shows how much influence Narse had on me. I looked up to him among others such as Darkgem, Hun, SpiritRaptor, Cheetah Paws, Kenket, & Rhos. For any major pieces or paintings, I would refuse to take shortcuts and do everything from rendering to writing the concepts and lore. This is important for some comic and story series I want to finish. I have some planned, and would even love to create animations or video games of them, starting with “Anthroventures,” and “Ateht Legions.” I may make music again eventually. I haven’t done that in YEARS. When I’m ready, they’ll be posted!

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, please follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. Want to get involved? Share news on these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for anything — or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here (it pays.)

Sent in by a host of the Ursa Major awards, and co-founder of the first furry convention and oldest fan house in Southern California (the Prancing Skiltaire):

It’s that time of year again! The Furry community will honor the best of Anthropomorphic animation, art and literature, and everyone is invited to help choose the best for 2019! You make the nominations, and vote for the winners. Nominations are now open, until February 15, 2020. There is even a recommended list to help you make your choices, but you may submit anything your feel deserves the award. To nominate in any or all categories, go to https://ursamajorawards.org

Sylys Sable

Nominations for the 2019 Awards are now open and will close at midnight on February 15th, 2020.

To nominate online, go ENROLL FOR ONLINE NOMINATIONS or LOGIN if you have already enrolled.

Choose up to five nominees for each category:

• Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture
• Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Short Work or Series
• Best Anthropomorphic Novel
• Best Anthropomorphic Short Fiction
• Best Anthropomorphic Other Literary Work
• Best Anthropomorphic Non-Fiction Work
• Best Anthropomorphic Graphic Story
• Best Anthropomorphic Comic Strip
• Best Anthropomorphic Magazine
• Best Anthropomorphic Published Illustration
• Best Anthropomorphic Game
• Best Anthropomorphic Website
• Best Anthropomorphic Costume (Fursuit)

You don’t have to nominate for all categories. Fursuit nominations need a link to one GOOD photo taken in 2019, where it was taken, and who made it.

After nominations close, finalists will be compiled and announced. VOTING runs from March 1 to March 31. You are strongly encouraged to get your friends to register and nominate. After all, this is a people’s Award, and not voted by a committee. The more the merrier!

GOT IT? GO FORTH AND NOMINATE… thanks to thoughtful readers who feel like nominating Dogpatch Press for Best Magazine or Non-Fiction Work.

AS LONG AS YOU’RE AT IT… NOMINATE FOR THE GOOD FURRY AWARD TOO! It’s open for submissions until May 31.

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, please follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. Want to get involved? Share news on these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for anything — or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here (it pays.)

Boom! Studios brings us an interesting take on characters from the late Charles M. Schulz. “In Snoopy: A Beagle of Mars, Snoopy, the world-famous astronaut, heads to the stars in his most out-of-this-world adventure yet! What mysteries does the red planet hold? Will he find water? Will he find life? Will he find the time to get in a quick nine holes? Snoopy grabs his golf clubs and blasts off for Mars in this original graphic novel from the world of Charles M. Schulz and Peanuts!” This full-color graphic novel is written by Jason Cooper and illustrated by Robert Pope. Take a look over at their web site to learn more.

image c. 2020 Boom! Studios

9 Facts About Furries That Will Totally Change The Way You Think About Them

https://www.womenshealthmag.com/sex-and-love/a30611961/what-is-a-furry/


yeah more things written about furries.
-Dia

We discovered this through Upworthy.com: “Greg Sullivan says he never intended to publish his first book, Gregory Dragon Is Just The Same. It was around his son’s fifth birthday and the Los Angeles-based writer and artist wanted to create something unique for his son’s special day. At the time, his young child was going through a challenge familiar to most other kids around his age: wanting to fit in with his classmates… Sullivan wanted to create something that would help his son “…not only embrace his unique characteristics but to celebrate them.” And it just so happened that his son loves dragons. As an award-winning artist, animator, screenwriter and novelist, it made sense for Sullivan to put his professional skills toward something creative and practical for his son’s development. Gregory Dragon Is Just The Same switches up the traditional children’s book narrative. Instead having an omniscient voice making broad proclamations to a younger audience, he allows the young dragon character to take the lead: “Gregory Dragon is just like all the other dragons, or so the narrator says. But Gregory Dragon disagrees and refuses to let the story be told until he’s had his say.” Find out just what he has to say over at Amazon.

image c. 2020 by Greg L Sullivan Jr.

In lieu of the episode with the cast out sick here is Kaar's segment! Tonight he's talking about the ongoing impeachment trial and John Bolton's book. Any questions or comments can come to us@unfurled.net and be directed to Kaar. Kaar Solo 07 - Sharking it alone

Recently Marvel Comics introduced a new mobile game called Future Fight, and now they’ve created a tie-in comic series called Future Fight Firsts, starring some of the game’s most interesting characters. Including, it turns out, at least one furry — in the one-shot Future Fight Firsts: Crescent and Io, they ask, “How did Dan Bi, a young girl from South Korea, first bring an ancient mystical bear spirit into the modern world? How did this unlikely duo become the evil-smashing team known as Crescent and Io?” Written by Mariko Tamaki, with art by Ale Garza and Jon Lam, it’s available now.

image c. 2020 Marvel Comics

Jeremy Newton’s A Wolf Asunder is roughly the size of a Lord of the Rings novel, but it moves so quickly I barely noticed the length. The first of the author’s Shadow Wolves series, it takes place in a high-tech kingdom of lupine anthros called “wolfen” divided between four tribes. We open with the protagonist, a “Fenrir” super soldier of the Feron tribe named Kaltos, as he receives an order from Warlord Fennis to slaughter a patrol from another tribe. If you’re having trouble keeping all the “fe” names straight, you’re not alone. Realizing that carrying out that order would start a war between the tribes, Kaltos defies orders and deserts, crossing the border and turning himself in to the neighboring tribe. From there he gets embroiled in inter-tribal politics that take him to the capital and a meeting with the young queen. Then they work out a plan to head off a war embroiling all four tribes by letting Kaltos take the fall for the incident, though the queen’s attempt to shield him from real punishment is partly derailed. And that’s just halfway into the volume; afterwards there’s a two-year timeskip where Kaltos has taken up work as an anonymous caravan guard, until he accidentally draws the crown’s attention again.Spoilers ahead:While on a job, Kaltos comes across across an older male wolfen beating a younger female and decides to put a stop to it. Unfortunately the male turns out to be a politician Kaltos met after his defection and he files a complaint that threatens to expose the queen’s ruse. Said politician is soon found dead in his apartment, but his daughter Jezelaire becomes obsessed with the rogue Feron who saved her. When Jez and the royal guard track him down Kaltos decides he’s done hiding and enlists their aid in building his own private army, the Shadow Wolves referenced in the series title.Spoilers end.While this book bills itself as the start of a series, it could have easily been split into two, if not three novels by itself. The size of the volume aside, Kaltos’ trial seemed a natural stopping point even before the timeskip, after the timeskip it feels like an entirely separate episode in the series with all the new characters and events. I will admit it was an entertaining read with more action than many Schwarzenegger movies, and I will be looking out for the next installment. Kaltos seems to have a few “cliche action hero” traits, such as being practically unbeatable in a fight, oblivious to every female character crushing on him, and an unusual eye color (green), though some of it is justifiable by his being essentially a lupine version of Master Chief. Taken from his family at a young age and subjected to surgical and genetic modifications that made him very strong, but killed half his class, and given elite training that left him no time for a social life. At one point he claims that the Fenrir project made him unable to develop feelings for anyone, but next chapter he runs halfway across town into battle with another Fenrir to save Jezelaire. Newton seemed to be building the world as he wrote; I thought the four tribes were separate political entities until the royal guard showed up. I’m still unclear whether the world is post-apocalypse or somehow developed gas engines and genetic engineering with a quasi-feudal government that considers ranged weapons “dishonorable.” I will say that the Feron tribe seems to be an effective deconstruction of the “proud warrior race” trope, everybody else hates them and the only place they seem to be advanced is in unethical biomedical experiments, while their leader wants to start a war he’s unlikely to win.In all, A Wolf Asunder is an entertaining read, despite whatever flaws the story and characters might have. Kaltos’ arc is clearly not complete, and I’ll be keeping watch for the next installment.

Gonna be honest, we weren’t happy with how this episode turned out in the end. That’s why the next episode will be published with this one. Good roundup though!

Download MP3

Link Roundup:

• Vine 2: Byte
• The FC domestic violence incident made it to CNN
• TikTok Balls Dipping Trend
• Telegram Polls 2.0
• Telegram QR code scanning in beta
• FurFest releases official attendance numbers
• Further Confusion raises $420.69 worth of donation money
• Trailer for Visible: Out on Television from Apple TV+

News:

• Researchers Calculate Fear Reduction with Magic Mushrooms
• Nudes For Australia
• Australian Spiders are on the Rise
• Outlet Challenge

[Live] Kid Residue

https://dogpatch.press/2020/01/23/martial-arts-hero/

The Furry Karate Hero who stopped an assault at Fur Con
by Patch O'Furr
“I threw my paws to the ground and took my head and collar off” — The last thing they see before the furpile.



In San Jose on January 17, fursuiters were cooling off outside Further Confusion‘s main hotel. That’s when a car stopped short, and they heard the driver screaming “Get out!” She was being beaten. Onlookers ran to the car and pulled a male passenger off of her.

“Among the first on scene was the pink dinosaur, who wrested the suspect by the head and shoulders while a massive tail bobbed in his wake” – The Mercury News

Kin Z. Shiratsuki is the furry they quoted: “This guy was just walloping a lady,” Shiratsuki said. “He had to have hit her 10 times.” But wait, pink dinosaur? She’s a KOBOLD/ROO (also sometimes a purple gryphon). Get it right… read furry news!

The group of helpers show that not all heroes wear capes — some wear fursuits. They can join the ranks with furries in a past story who helped crash victims escape a car on fire.

Kin is often at local SF Bay Area meets and responded to a Q&A.

Hi Kin. Did you see the video of the incident went around a lot? It even made CNN’s front page.

Oh gosh it did, meep meep I did not see. I just saw one Twitter post and a Facebook post. I’m just glad that the cops came and arrested the guy.

What’s the story from being on the scene?

I was walking around the corner in suit with a friend. I heard some people talking, and focused on two in the car. As soon as I saw what was happening I yelled at the group of people, “get the car door open, get him out of there!” and they acted. I told people to call 911, and called myself.


The people who were trying to get him out of the car couldn’t calm him down, or handle him, and he started getting aggressive to them. I threw my paws to the ground and took my head and collar off and ran over to help.

Since I have been studying two forms of martial arts my whole life (taekwondo and karate) I was able to pull him from the vehicle and detain him on the ground with minimum violence needed.

I even tried to let him get up. I was telling him “calm down, get it together” and tried to let him up two times. Both times he just kept trying to attack me or somebody else. The last time I pinned him down and security finally came over and escorted him over to an area until the police arrived.

From the stories I was hearing, it was her lover. He very much was either very drunk or on something. When the police were putting him in the back of the car, he was screaming at the top of his lungs like a kid “I’m not resisting arrest!”

Ever had to use martial arts by surprise before?

This was actually the first time.

What do you think about being in the news and being called a dinosaur?

I’m just happy the lady is okay and if they called me a dinosaur that’s okay. I just was doing it to help the lady and defuse the situation. I am glad I could help and get her away from him.

According to police, a 22-year-old San Jose resident was arrested and booked into the Santa Clara County jail on suspicion of domestic violence. Fur Con went on with 4,509 furry fans from around the world, and raised $20,452 to benefit the The Billy DeFrank LGBTQ Center.

Another season is ending, what better way to spend it than with a look at last year's furry beach bonfire? SEE MORE AT: http://www.TheRaccoonsDen.com FACEBOOK: http://www.Facebook.com/TheRaccoonsDen TWITTER: http://www.Twitter.com/TheRaccoonsDen FURAFFINITY: http://www.FurAffinity.net/user/TheRaccoonsDen INSTAGRAM: http://www.Instagram.com/TheRaccoonsDen #TRDs8 #BeachBonfire #Furmeet

Posting from the road! We'll add details later! S8 Episode 22 – Gratitude 2020 - Posting from the road! We'll add details later!

“I threw my paws to the ground and took my head and collar off” — The last thing they see before the furpile.

In San Jose on January 17, fursuiters were cooling off outside Further Confusion‘s main hotel. That’s when a car stopped short, and they heard the driver screaming “Get out!” She was being beaten. Onlookers ran to the car and pulled a male passenger off of her.

“Among the first on scene was the pink dinosaur, who wrested the suspect by the head and shoulders while a massive tail bobbed in his wake” – The Mercury News

Kin Z. Shiratsuki is the furry they quoted: “This guy was just walloping a lady,” Shiratsuki said. “He had to have hit her 10 times.” But wait, pink dinosaur? She’s a KOBOLD/ROO (also sometimes a purple gryphon). Get it right… read furry news!

The group of helpers show that not all heroes wear capes — some wear fursuits. They can join the ranks with furries in a past story who helped crash victims escape a car on fire.

Kin is often at local SF Bay Area meets and responded to a Q&A.

Hi Kin. Did you see the video of the incident went around a lot? It even made CNN’s front page.

Oh gosh it did, meep meep I did not see. I just saw one Twitter post and a Facebook post. I’m just glad that the cops came and arrested the guy.

What’s the story from being on the scene? 

I was walking around the corner in suit with a friend. I heard some people talking, and focused on two in the car. As soon as I saw what was happening I yelled at the group of people, “get the car door open, get him out of there!” and they acted. I told people to call 911, and called myself.

The people who were trying to get him out of the car couldn’t calm him down, or handle him, and he started getting aggressive to them. I threw my paws to the ground and took my head and collar off and ran over to help.

Since I have been studying two forms of martial arts my whole life (taekwondo and karate) I was able to pull him from the vehicle and detain him on the ground with minimum violence needed.

I even tried to let him get up. I was telling him “calm down, get it together” and tried to let him up two times. Both times he just kept trying to attack me or somebody else. The last time I pinned him down and security finally came over and escorted him over to an area until the police arrived.

From the stories I was hearing, it was her lover. He very much was either very drunk or on something. When the police were putting him in the back of the car, he was screaming at the top of his lungs like a kid “I’m not resisting arrest!”

Ever had to use martial arts by surprise before?

This was actually the first time.

What do you think about being in the news and being called a dinosaur?

I’m just happy the lady is okay and if they called me a dinosaur that’s okay. I just was doing it to help the lady and defuse the situation. I am glad I could help and get her away from him.

According to police, a 22-year-old San Jose resident was arrested and booked into the Santa Clara County jail on suspicion of domestic violence. Fur Con went on with 4,509 furry fans from around the world, and raised $20,452 to benefit the The Billy DeFrank LGBTQ Center.

Then she started talking to me about the incident where the furries citizen arrested that guy and I was like “oh yeah I saw that on twitter, what happened was—“

— ellome @NieR Orchestra!! (@automatonprince) January 21, 2020

pic.twitter.com/7QVA01UYO1

— ROBBIE! (@robbiesets) January 18, 2020

Several members attending a furry convention in California on Friday helped restrain a man who was assaulting his girlfriend until police arrested him, according to officials https://t.co/NRyKmdLjGI

— CNN (@CNN) January 22, 2020

Thanks to Spacebear

• The Mercury News — San Jose: ‘Furries’ pulled assaulter out of vehicle, sat on him
• San Gabriel Valley Tribune — Azusa man and ‘furries’ pull man out of vehicle, sit on him until police arrive
• NBC Bay Area — Fight Unfolds Outside Furry Convention in San Jose
• CBS SF Bay Area — ‘Furries’ Stop Assault Of Woman On San Jose Streets
• SFGate — Video: San Jose furry convention attendees help make domestic violence arrest
• Fox KTVU — FurCon video: Domestic violence suspect restrained by ‘furries’ until police arrive
• KFI AM 640 — Furry Fight In San Jose Caught On Video
• CNN — A group of ‘furries’ stopped a domestic violence assault and helped police make the arrest

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, please follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. Want to get involved? Share news on these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for anything — or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here (it pays.)

Interesting things we found at this year’s Anime L.A. convention. The artist Ryan Zanfei has gathered together a small crew to sell her creations through a collective known as Tasty Peach Studios. And what are her creations? Cute! “Tasty Peach Studios… is a sweet, unique boutique that sells cute merchandise inspired by Japan! We started out selling small hand made clay charms and commissioned artwork through our little Etsy shop in 2007. Since then we have grown exponentially! We now attend upwards of 70+ anime conventions a year & ship high quality acrylic items, professionally made products and more world wide every day!” Those high quality items now include t-shirts, plushies, enamel pins, and even wigs — and more. Visit the Tasty Peach web site to see what we mean.

image c. 2020 Tasty Peach Studios

We are happy to announce that we have found an acting chairperson for the Cóyotl Awards. Please give a warm welcome to Linnea ‘LiteralGrill’ Capps! With a new acting chairperson at the helm we are proud to say the 2019 awards will be taking place this year!

We have decided to move the Cóyotl Awards from their own website to their own page here on the Furry Writers’ Guild site itself. This will allow us easier hosting of Cóyotl Awards related content as well as offer overall cohesiveness for the guild.

With all of this in mind nominations for the 2019 Cóyotl Awards are now open! While previous voting took place on the old website we have chosen to simplify the process by using a Google Form. These forms will be asking for your email address which we will compare to our FWG Database of members to confirm votes. 

If you believe your email is not up to date or simply want to be sure we have the correct email please fill out this form. Now without further ado…

 

The 2019 Cóyotl Awards Nominations Form

 

Nominations will be open for one month, January 22nd until February 22nd. Please remember that there can only be three nominations per category. All nominations per form past the first three will be discarded. 

Make sure to stay tuned for future updates on the awards. We will get information up for the official vote once the nominations are tallied. We could still use volunteers to help so if you are interested please contact Linnea on Twitter or Telegram – @LiteralGrill. 

Thank you for your support of the guild and the Cóyotl Awards both past and present. Here’s to strong nominations from the previous year and fantastic new stories to be written this year!

Fursona of Rastin, a furry in Tehran

The Iranian people seem pretty cool: Just last month, they were doing huge anti-austerity protests. Then they marched with over 1,000,000 to mourn the death of a military leader. Now they're demanding their gov't resigns after killing 176 civilians. https://t.co/2rzzxZ2l5O

— WHITEY OwO BULGER (@Kamunt) January 13, 2020

Governments are supposed to represent their people. Instead they often end up representing a few haves against many have-nots. It might put oligarchy and corporate greed first, or theocracy and military power. You can read between the lines of headlines about the USA vs. Iran.

But how often do people in both places talk to each other directly without borders, filters, propaganda, stereotyping, and forced conflict? And when they’re pitted against each other, what could these different societies possibly share in common?

Pizza time! Pizza battle! Which one do YOU prefer?

— Rastin (@Rastin_Woof) January 7, 2020

Like pizza, you don’t need to speak the same language to love art. So furry fandom builds bridges around the world. That’s how Croc (@Microdile), a California furry, first made friends with Rastin (@Rastin_woof). Rastin is a 16 year old member of a generation living after the 1979 Iranian revolution, which put religion and laws together, unlike the USA which separates church and state (at least in theory.)

In the following Q&A, Rastin uses forbidden internet contact to discuss forbidden topics — criticizing authority, oppressed LGBT identity, parents who don’t understand, and fandom that isn’t shared by anybody near him. His fursona species isn’t even tolerated (dogs aren’t loved pets in Iran.) What stands out more than differences is the universal stuff in common: creativity and self expression, and wishes to escape to a more peaceful world.

When I saw he was from Iran, I was immediately curious.

All I'd ever heard about Iran my entire life, was that they hated us, supposedly hated our way of life. It was just a place of war and religious authoritarianism.

Here was a chance to actually learn something first hand.

— Emotional Support Animal (@microdile) January 8, 2020

(Dogpatch Press:) Hi Rastin, I was looking for Iranian furries when Croc tweeted about you. Do you know any others?

Hello, unfortunately I don’t know any other furries who live here.

I have heard of a few others, but I’m guessing they’re rare so there probably isn’t any community for it besides online. It may be mostly ex-patriot Persian people in other countries, but I’m glad to find you! Can you give me a bio in a few lines about yourself?

I’m 16 years old. As mentioned in the tweet, I live in Tehran and have for all of my life. I’m currently in 11th grade and yeah, trying to find a way to transfer to a foreign school. Regarding the ex-pat situation you mentioned, it’s fairly accurate, most with a well off income or wealth (of their parents) tend to leave Iran rather than invest their money here.

How did you find furry? Was it from Croc?

Croc wasn’t my first encounter with furry but it was most certainly an encouraging one. The first time I remember seeing anything about furry is when pictures of Cosmic Wuffy showed up on my private Instagram. His photos and videos led to me searching for them on YouTube, considering it’s a platform of which I spend a lot of my time on, and I found the ‘Paws’ furry music video.

How easy is it to look at where you are? I was curious about internet access, if they specifically block furry stuff or it has to be kept hidden.

As of late, that has been a very inconsistent topic considering Iran’s government has gone back and forth but also has permanently blocked out websites such as Twitter, YouTube and Telegram. The difficulty of getting around it is nothing significant considering it only requires a working VPN. So it may not be ideal for me, but I personally don’t have any struggles when it comes to being able to get ahold of furries and furry content.

What are the security policies about communication?

Their version of secure is “don’t use them”. It’s fucking garbage and pisses me off so much. “Oh Americans, use Telegram to talk and talk about politics too”, so Telegram should be banned in Iran. Which it is. We have to use VPNs to bypass it. Also of which they are trying to block, break and ban.

What does furry stuff mean to you, why do you like it and how important is it?

I feel like I’ve been drawn to ‘furry related’ subjects from a very young age and didn’t even know that until my mother pointed it out. I guess the reason I joined the fandom was the sheer amount of creativity and diversity there was along with all the cuteness that came with it. But the reason I stayed was the immense amount of love and acceptance that the fandom has which I am very thankful for.

Can I ask more about you as a furry, like your fursona or how it makes your life better?

Furry to me is a community of kind and accepting people who ALSO have an interest in anthropomorphic animals. To me the anthro part comes second. I think with most fandoms, you get absorbed because of the thing that the fandom loves. But whether or not you stay is up to how the community of people treat you. The furry community has had a lot of ups and downs for me emotionally, mainly having to do with the support of others and on the other hand, the immense amount of FOMO that has come with it.

French-made animated film based on Marjane Satrapi’s comic about growing up during the Iranian revolution.

Does it have any connection to where you live… like is there animation in Iran that you like?

Furry is probably the most foreign in Iran, there are no events, there are no cons, I’ve never seen someone in a suit here either. I’d say Iran and its religious beliefs are the furthest things from furries.

Luckily I was mainly raised by Americans (aside from mom who is Iranian) and that in particular is one of the reasons I’ve been told that I look and act like a foreigner in my own country. Iran has NO regard for copyright when it comes to foreign content, which led to me watching a lot of the cartoons and shows that an American kid would watch. (Most of the cartoons sold here were stolen from Disney and whatnot.)

I have also been lucky enough to have access to satellite, which in Iran is considered a crime but it’s not taken too seriously. That also had a huge impact on me. Iran has made several attempts at making their own animations but their efforts are anything but plausible.

How is furry regarded there, if anyone you know knows about it?  

This one’s a mixed bag, no one in my family and relatives knew about it until I explained it to them. My mom did some research on her own, and at one point was thinking that it was all about sex, and that Croc was a pedo. I calmly explained it to her and changed her mind. My father never really cared for much of my interests, so he just thought it was weird and insults me here and there about it to this day. Some of the kids at school who knew also knew it as only a sexual fetish, but some of them are far too stubborn for me to want to try and change their mind about it.

Where do you see yourself in furry fandom in the future? Would you go to cons, get a fursuit or start a Youtube channel?

It very much depends on whether or not I can leave this country or not. I CAN’T go to 95% of the cons even if I wanted to, they don’t grant visas to Iranians for most of those places. I can’t get anything from other countries SHIPPED here because of the sanctions, we don’t have international post like EVERYONE else. YouTube is very much a hassle in my country, not to mention that there is no way I could generate revenue from it.

How about just writing or drawing?

I designed and drew my own ‘sona. I did get help with a body reference but I’ve been practicing it here and there. (The one in my icon is commissioned.)

It makes me wonder if there is much nerd stuff in Iran… science fiction, comics, gaming? And if so, is any of it home grown, or is it mostly from elsewhere?

Considering how bad and half-assed most of Iran’s products are, most are influenced by foreign markets.

I watched this travel documentary to help ask questions: Rick Steves’ Iran: Yesterday and Today. 

“Join Rick as he explores the most surprising and fascinating land he’s ever visited: Iran. In a one-hour, ground-breaking travel special on public television, you’ll discover the splendid monuments of Iran’s rich and glorious past, learn more about the 20th-century story of this perplexing nation, and experience Iranian life today in its historic capital and in a countryside village. Most important, you’ll meet the people of this nation whose government so exasperates our own.”

The show talks about people having vacations, and if you cant leave the country there seem to be lots of places with amazing sights to see inside. They went to 3 or 4 cities. Have you done any trips you liked?

More than 70% of iranians don’t even have passports. With how bad the economy and incomes are, only the wealthy can afford to travel let alone stay in hotels and fly. So, a considerable amount of them are rich enough to find a way around it. The people who can AFFORD it are also the only people who will complain about not being able to do it.

What kind of animals might you be close to in Iran? Wildlife, zoos, or pets?

First off, dogs are considered sinful animals, especially as pets. I think that’s absolute BS and I adore dogs. Same goes for pigs, meat from the pig is considered as very sinful and dirty. Same goes for alcohol.

The travel show visited a book store that had a lot of poetry. It reminded me of hearing that some Islamic culture avoids showing humanlike intelligent animals because of religious teachings, and it had to do with art being geometric with beautiful patterns and less emphasis on humans. I wonder if art around you is traditional without much place for stuff furries like, or is it no big deal to talk about cartoons and stuff like that? 

Satellite and cartoons and stuff are thanks to me using it as a way to learn English at a very young age. It’s not the fact that we can’t talk about it, but when it comes to animal related stuff, very few people are enthusiastic about it. Also, something you might not know, with dogs being considered as sins, very few people own pets and interact with animals. Therefore that idea is not that popular either for that reason.

No cats either?

Some do but very very few.

I saw horses and sheep in the travel show, and the shepherd had a working dog. That’s not an every day city thing though.

Well sure but one in 1 million people do that. Keep in mind I said it’s a sin to have them as a PET. I really love dogs.

People in the USA think of Iran as religiously repressive. I was hoping to help people understand another person like them living there. I suspect the government isn’t the same as how people really think. 

A lot of the religion brings up dumb rules. However the society itself doesn’t bring a lot of enforcement on it. Even in situations where they should. So suuure alcohol is illegal and you would go to jail if cops found some in your house, but we still have it. You can’t easily purchase it, hence why some people try and make it themselves, but it really isn’t taken THAT seriously for people to completely avoid it. It’s like the law is there but everyone is just walking past it. You’ll only have issues if you run into it. And yes, it’s the government that is forcing us, those of us that aren’t crazy religious hate it too.

(Markus Scholz/AFP/Getty Images). Slate.com: What Iran—Yes, Iran—Can Teach America About the Fight for LGBTQ Rights. 1970’s Iran was islamic but inching towards gay rights, which was rolled back. Today it’s illegal to enter the country for that, do activism inside, or blog about it.

Can we talk about LGBT stuff?  I read this: LGBT rights in Iran. Let me know if anything is off limits or scary or might cause trouble… will the government take notice of you talking about this if an American furry news site publishes it? 

I’ve read it before, and know it very well. And it’s not like nobody dares to do anything in private. It’s one of the dumbest things in the Muslim culture and especially how much it’s enforced in Iran. For the government, I’m safe to answer any questions I feel comfortable answering.

The travel show showed so much history, but the cities looked modern. The biggest difference was theocracy at the top, which hands down difference in how people relate to each other, like restricted public display of affection (PDA). Furries are known for hugs when they meet, so that must be interesting to see. Like you say, the government can’t watch everything in private so I wonder how much unapproved socializing there is, even if people are badly punished if things get too high profile. Can you say anything about the private side, like how do people meet if it’s not approved?

The part about religion and government is so true to the point where it hurts me to even watch the news. But if found out, LGBT stuff is taken very seriously, I did get removed from my last school because of it (they didn’t expel me because they didn’t want to ruin their brand.) It’s serious if you get caught. But it’s hard to get caught unless someone is really out to get you or you’re doing it in public.

About religion, is worship expected a lot or just a little for you?

Unfortunately for me, I went to a very religious school from 5th grade to the beginning-ish of 10th grade. The schools before that were a bit religious too. In that school you had to go to the school’s mosque. We would sometimes hide away from the teachers so they couldn’t take us. But it was mandatory.

For what it involved besides praying, I don’t think this is something that exists where you are, but we have a whole subject for religion in school, that we have to give exams for and stuff. And also, before 10th grade we had to be able to read the Quran well and memorize some of it. It’s actually taken very seriously. Even the private schools that I go to — (public and private schools are different from the definition around the world) — are still looked after by the government, so it’s mandatory and taken very seriously.

I guess you have to be very involved with it to have any job in military or government.

Not so sure about the details of that, because I haven’t looked into it. But private jobs mostly don’t care. By private I mean not involving the government.

I saw there are some political parties interested in making things more secular (opposite of religious) from some parties that might not be the powerful ones. Like the communist or green parties saying LGBT people should be free to choose relationships, or similar words.

Personally, I didn’t even know that. So that should tell you that they have nowhere near enough power and traction to do anything. The only thing that I have ever seen or heard of are protests and that didn’t involve LGBT. It was just about women’s dress code.

But he didn't want to be a victim. He kept trying to help people, even getting robbed & beaten when he stopped to help someone, which turn out to be a trap.

He father didn't care whatsoever, resentful that his son would dare bring shame upon him.

He paid his own medical bills.

— Emotional Support Animal (@microdile) January 8, 2020

Croc wrote about you having hardship, like bullying in school, disapproval of parents, and getting beaten and having to pay the medical cost.  How much of a worry is that? Is there anything you need or people can do to help?

People can help by not being selfish cruel assholes. The hardships are significantly more serious than bullying or harrassment, but that is as much as I want to say about what happened to me. As for parents, they don’t support it, my dad is kind of in denial. My mom is disgusted.

I’m sorry to hear that, I hope things change. Have you seen any signs of hope or is leaving the country the best hope?

Honestly? No. The economy and the relationship Iran has with other countries is getting worse by the day. At this rate I don’t think I can even go to Canada if for whatever reason Iran goes to war with the US.

I hope it doesn’t. Canada is a great place that is welcoming if it can be done.

Let’s hope it stays that way for another year or two.

Related:

• Fandom grows in Southeast Asia – could it bring culture clash with Islam and authoritarianism?
• Dwale’s critical review of “Red Engines”: When furry fiction becomes islamophobic propaganda

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[Hello there! Back from Further Confusion 2020 with lots to talk about. First a little catching up to do though…] Last fall brought us the very first graphic novel adaptation of George Orwell’s famous barnyard allegorical novel Animal Farm — illustrated in full color by Odyr. From the New York Times Book Review: “Animal Farm has previously appeared accompanied by drawings, by famous illustrators…But Odyr, using a bright palette, has fully adapted what Orwell called ‘a fairy tale’ satirizing Stalin — and the result is elegant and heartbreaking… Instead of a reduction of the original, Odyr’s imagined barnyard world adds to the depth of the characters…” It’s available now in hardcover from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

image c. 2020 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt