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Our thanks to Changa Lion over at Furry.Today for letting us know about this: Mooneye Studios have recently released the game Lost Ember for the PS4 system. “Go on a journey as a wolf able to possess any animal you meet and [make them] her companion. Experience the contrasting stories of the fall of mankind and the lush life in the world that nature reclaimed.” Check out the preview over at the official Playstation web site.

image c. 2019 Mooneye Studios

Part 1 — Part 2 — Part 3

Here’s Part 3 for yesterday’s article, which asked: If you could do a furry travel tour, where would you go? When I got invited to the Adult Swim Festival in Los Angeles for their second animation/comedy/music event, I added a side trip to the nearby Prancing Skiltaire house. That’s a shrine to cartoon animal art made by the founders of the first furry con, who open it to fans by the hundreds. It was all started by an invite from “Dr. Girlfriend.”

Fan video screening at the Prancing Skiltaire

House resident Changa showed parody videos where he recut Disney’s Zootopia to emulate iconic TV show openings. There’s a channel of them that goes with curating videos for Furry.Today, one of many projects run from the house including The Confurence Archive, InFurNation and the Ursa Major Awards.

What Dr. Girlfriend says about visiting:

Going to the “iconic” furry house was interesting. Rod gave Patch & I the “nickel tour” which was awesome! What stood out to me was the vast collection of animal characters, including: ceramics, plushies, anime, drawings, zines, videos & so much more.

They told me that they have furry parties every month that have gotten to around 300 people! Whoah. Also that the local In-N-Out restaurant banned the furries from congregating there because their patio was so small. Hehe. I know a little about being kicked out of venues (public spaces?) as someone who helps organize Bike Parties, which sometimes get into the thousands of bicycle riders having a dance party on the street.

Anyways, everyone was super friendly and they even had Christmas furry art up (before Thanksgiving, but who’s counting?) These guys are immersed in the culture, and there’s even a documentary coming out about the fur-dorks that I got a mini sneak peak of! Look forward to The Fandom in 2020!

The self-proclaimed “dorks” and originators of some of the first furry cons and Prancing Skiltaire house gave us an interesting and informative look into the heart & love & art that goes into a fandom. Also we got dinner together and it was delicious and full of great conversation and good vibes.

Director of ‘The Fandom’ Ash Coyote talks about visiting for a video shoot — look for a trailer launching this week on Black Friday!

Dr. Girlfriend mentioned that we got a look at the documentary that co-director Eric Risher, Chipfox and Ash Coyote have been at work on all year, after a successful $32,000 launch on Kickstarter. Ash is excited to have a trailer almost ready to show. She sent a few words about visiting the house before us, plus photos from the video shoot of Rod and Mark. Ash says:

When we first approached the story of our community’s history, it was a little hard to find a “ground zero” for the birth of the fandom. As with many subcultures, the concepts from which they are built tend to occur in unison and then coalesce into something bigger. This was very much the case with the furry fandom.

Starting in the late 1970’s, Mark and Rod played a pivotal role in the shaping of our early community, and laid the framework for a lot of our community as it exists today. They hosted furry parties at science fiction conventions since the mid 1980’s and put on the first furry con in 1989 (Confurence 0).

Mark and Rod are the grandparents of the furry fandom. They take center stage in our project, and help us to explore our origins in animation, art and community set to the backdrop of the Skiltaire House.

After-travel chat with a few good furs

Patch: Just did an awesome pilgrimage to the holiest shrine of furry.

Chipfox: They wanted shirts from us and I felt bad that we didn’t print extras >.<

Patch: I think they have enough furry stuff though i still brought them more. Maybe enough shirts will be demanded to make more.

Aris: Where is this??

Changa Lion: Oldest furry house that started in the 80s. Prancing Skiltaire in SoCal.

Arrkay: If someone had the funds to do a travel blog, what would the stops of the “furry pilgrimage” be? Prancing Skiltaire is the obvious place to start. At least one major con per continent? Japan’s fox themed new year or cat festivals?

Cosmo: You’d have to include Anthrocon as the oldest con still running. MFF as the largest. Eurofurence for the oldest in Europe. Japan cat festivals, Chinese New Year festivals might be a good shout too.

Arrkay: Are there major art installations of anthro statues or artwork hung in galleries?

Cosmo: Actually JMoF would be a good one to hit up on the way. I’d chuck the Greyfriars Bobby and Hachiko statues on for the feels angle.

Arrkay: Corporate vacation hellscapes like Disneyland?

Cosmo: See I was about to say that, but at the same time… while they’ve had an influence on furry, they’ve had enough exposure IMHO.

Arrkay: Are there any mascot museums?

Cosmo: The Mascot Hall of Fame? I’d like to see someone do a tour of old-guard furry artists and writers, the Terrie Smiths, TaniDaReals and Olvens of the world. Fandom history’s a big thing for me, I find it fascinating.

Dralen Dragonfox: I think that right now, there would have to be a visit to Toronto during a Kerfluffle or a Howl.

Arrkay: So far the furry pilgrimage would roughly be:

• Prancing Skiltaire
• Anthrocon (oldest running)
• MFF (Largest)
• Mascot Hall Of Fame (Indianapolis)
• Disneyland/costume heavy themepark
• Furry Gathering of China
• Furry Japan
• FurDu (Australia)
• Eurofurence
• South Afrifur
• Fox Festival New Year in Japan / Cat Festival Japan
• Alternative venue furry party (Toronto’s Kerfluffle or similar)
• Plus any cool statues/art installations or relevant museums.

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.

Roo and Tugs are joined by Peter New (voice of Big McIntosh on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic), FableCharm, and Sonyalynn to discuss the conclusion of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and the future of the MLP fandom. Will Bronies merge with furries, continue on, or both?





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Opening Theme: RetroSpecter – Cloud Fields (RetroSpecter Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2018. ©2011-2018 Fur What It’s Worth. Based on Fredrik Miller – Cloud Fields (Century Mix). USA: Bandcamp, 2011. ©2011 Fur What It’s Worth. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Space News Music: Fredrik Miller – Orbit. USA: Bandcamp, 2013. Used with permission. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
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Closing Theme: RetroSpecter – Cloud Fields (RetroSpecter Chill Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2018. ©2011-2018 Fur What It’s Worth. Based on Fredrik Miller – Cloud Fields (Chill Out Mix). USA: Bandcamp, 2011. ©2011 Fur What It’s Worth. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)

  S8E20 – Friendship is Over - Roo and Tugs are joined by Peter New (voice of Big McIntosh on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic), FableCharm, and Sonyalynn to discuss the conclusion of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and the future of the MLP fandom.

Part 1 — Part 2 — Part 3

Here’s Part 2 of yesterday’s article, which asked: If you could do a furry travel tour, where would you go? It could include conventions, mainstream destinations, and special stops that a non-furry wouldn’t think of. When I got invited to the Adult Swim Festival in Los Angeles for their second animation/comedy/music event, I made it a mainstream AND fandom mini-tour, with a side trip to the nearby Prancing Skiltaire house. That’s a shrine to cartoon animal art made by the founders of the first furry con, who open it to fans by the hundreds. It was all started by an invite from “Dr. Girlfriend.”

Till next time, LA pic.twitter.com/oUvm6I1x0U

— [adult swim] (@adultswim) November 17, 2019

Festival review from Dr. Girlfriend:

The Adult Swim Festival in Los Angles was sooo much fun! I went with Patch (who was in fursuit) as Dr. GirlFriend from the Venture Brothers cartoon. I had a blast! He was the only one among thousands of goers who was fully fursuited, in his punk-rat suit, and much to my delight and laughter he got a lot of people asking if he was Chuck-E-Cheese (more like Chuck-E-Cheese’s evil twin).

One thing that stands out in my mind is when we both went to the bathroom, he was taking a whiz and someone told him, while he was in suit, “Nu-uh, we aren’t doing this in here”. Hahaha. Such a stigma with fursuits.

Another person said and pointed, “oh hell no!” , to which I quickly took out my laser gun from my garter belt and blasted him away. Other then those two haters, the festival was SUPER receptive to the giant furry rat. Multiple people came up and said they were furry too! There were even several people who recognized Patch from his blog (jeez, soooo popular… what? ever!) I’m not gonna lie, I spend hours upon hours on my costume and he still got more requests then me for pictures (jealous, not jealous).

The highlight of MY night was when someone had asked me where I bought my hat? Biiiiiitch – I made it!!  And that is one of the things I love about the furry community, that people put so much time and effort into their fursona/costume/cosplay/outfit/whatever you call it, that it is truly a work of art.

I loved dancing to music and getting to see a few of the creators of my favorite animations, like Dethklok/Metalocalypse, the new season premiere of Rick and Morty, and some Squidbillies live in action. Overall, it was a total success and we even got a picture together on the official Adult Swim twitter feed!

Posing with LA flavor, Drab Majesty band tee

Next stop: the holiest shrine of furry fandom.

The festival covered Friday and Saturday, then there was a full Sunday to visit the Prancing Skiltaire house, 40 minutes away in Garden Grove, CA.

Pure windows-down balmy-weather SoCal driving needed some vintage 1980’s New Wave tunes, like Missing Persons — Walking In L.A. (Fandom vibes: to break out on early MTV they booked their own shows and made their own outrageous Day-Glo makeup and clothes.)

Our hosts were Changa Lion, Rod O’Riley, and Mark Merlino (Sy Sable). This is Old Guard fandom — and I have to say after being at a high profile media event with attention on fursuits, these founders prove YOU DON’T NEED A SUIT TO BE FURRY.

Their front door led in to an Aladdin’s Cave of treasure. Shelves, bins, statues, and framed art of anthropomorphic creatures were stacked and showcased from floor to ceiling in every media imaginable, including dead ones that haven’t existed since the 1970’s.

They didn’t need more, but that didn’t stop me from bringing gift DVD’s I got in Prague of The Little Mole (AKA the Mickey Mouse of the Iron Curtain.) The foreign toons were received with gratitude and shock at the prices written in Czech crowns, until I said “that’s not US dollars!” I hope they join the rotation of animation played at their monthly house parties.

Changa showed us his elaborate fan parody videos, where he recut Disney’s Zootopia to emulate iconic TV show openings, like the X-Files or Moonlighting. The 2010’s CG graphics were copied onto VHS tape and back to digital, and dubbed over with vintage audio for a mind-bending Mandela multiverse effect. The same was done for Zootopia VHS tapes in clamshell cases with carefully simulated labels and stickers — artifacts fit for a Museum of Furry. The Confurence Archive is the closest thing online, curated by Changa from the treasures all over their house.

After a nickel tour by Rod, 5 of us kept talking into the night, including a walk for dinner at their nearby mainstay diner. For a future article, I got to ask Mark about how Second Life accommodated furries years ago (Linden Labs recently engaged me about new outreach for 2020.)

Some of the best talk was about the house’s place in fandom.

Their monthly parties had brought 300 people in the past. It became important to limit couch crashers when things got out of hand with 8 or more long-term stayers, and cars blocking driveways or bringing late night talking and drinking on the sidewalks. Now they say attendance may be closer to 65, give or take.

Mark had been told that the house was a long-time LGBT safe space that helped launch careers for dozens of past furry roommates including animators and tech pros. He said, “That wasn’t the point, but now that I think of it, that’s true!” They weren’t chosen to live there because of identity, but shared interest; the conscious interest just aligned with their nature. Just like when that nature is strong in the whole fandom.

The old label “lifestyler”, sometimes said negatively, was just people being themselves like you can see in how their nest is put together. I’m so grateful they open it this way for monthly partygoers and our visit.

• In the main room with Changa (he’s camera-shy) and Mark. Something jazzy was playing.
• Their collection has games, movies, fanzines, comics, guidebooks, science fiction paperbacks, and Manga sets since some were rare imports in the 1970’s.
• The plushie corner is full of things left after parties for years.

• Rod poses with Mark’s art of a critter on a 1982 Subaru (rainbow background is washed out.)
• Rod showed 1980′-90’s multi-genre guidebooks that worked like a “phone book of fandom”, where you could find which shops dealt “funny animal” goods, get mailing lists that were sold to fund the guides, or network with others before the internet.

• Look up above Mark: those are bins stuffed with furry comics. Every corner is set up for the treasure hoard.
• Rod occupies the executive command center for his In-Fur-Nation newsletter run since 1991.

• No space is left un-furred. I dug the Robin Hood figures (top right). Not shown: Mark’s Otter collection that won a prize at a fair for collectible displays.

• In Changa’s room, we watch a private work-print trailer for The Fandom documentary, in progress from Ash Kries, Eric Risher and Chipfox.
• Mark and Rod pose by video shot at the house for the movie not long before this visit.

Changa, Mark and Rod reminded me of about what furry fandom is about. Those roots can inspire new watchers with The Fandom documentary, which just finished its last shoot and is going to post-production for release soon. Look for news about it here soon. Tomorrow: more about furry traveling.

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.

From 2009 to 2019, this wouldn't have been possible without the support from all of you! To celebrate and give thanks for helping us reach this milestone, we've put together a quick video featuring a reunion of our cast! 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 #TheRaccoonsDen #TRDs8 #FurryFandom

Part 1 — Part 2 — Part 3

If you could do a furry travel tour, where would you go? Try some big conventions and mainstream destinations like Disneyland or the Mascot Hall of Fame, and some special stops that a non-furry wouldn’t think of. California has ones like the Prancing Skiltaire house, a shrine to cartoon animal art made by the founders of the first furry con, who open their house to fans by the hundreds.

A travel story wasn’t my plan when I got an invite from… let’s call them “Dr. Girlfriend”, to go to the Adult Swim Festival in Los Angeles on November 15-16, 2019. The opportunity just fell on me, so I made it a casual mini-tour including a stop nearby in Garden Grove, CA to visit the Skiltaire friends.

Dr. Girlfriend had tickets to the second live festival for Adult Swim, a now almost 2-decades old TV programming block for absurdist comedy and alternative animation. Cartoon Network hosts it at night while young audiences sleep, unless naughty kids are sneaking it (like I used to do for MTV Liquid Television). The leading show is Rick and Morty and it rarely has anything furry. But the show creators definitely know about us, and festival goers gave fist-bumps to a 6-foot rat scurrying among them. As “Patch Packrat” (I’m usually a husky dog) I was the only fursuiter in sight at the 22,000 capacity Banc of California Stadium.

Festival concept:

I’m not a huge fan of all Adult Swim shows (I’ve seen all Rick and Mortys and sampled others) but this multi-media mutation had me saying MORE PLEASE. The lineup had music acts tied to the TV shows, with rap, heavy metal, DJ/house, and the dancy, synthy, or darker side of indie rock. Live comedy sets had talent from their own shows and voiceover artists for animation. Animation screenings mixed with creator Q&A panels like you’d see at Comic Con. The live experience included games/rides and stadium-sized sound and lighting.

The geniuses behind it created more of a rock show/carnival vibe and top-down organizing, compared to furry cons with their focus on fan-led panels, small dealers, dances and dance comps, room parties, and personal art.  Even if this much larger event was media-centric, it was full of energy you don’t get from a film fest or animation industry event. And how much would you expect furries at a rap or metal show? This hybrid event is a killer place for a furry meetup!

I was surprised to be the only one strutting my stuff in fursona, although several stealth-furs high-fived me for being bold. Here’s what I got into.

It's been great out here! I would've suited if I could! @DogpatchPress #AdultSwimFestival #furryfandom pic.twitter.com/6vE0moQaGn

— jax (the only) (@the0nlyjax) November 17, 2019

Whee! pic.twitter.com/aSnEGH2Z81

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) November 16, 2019

The music:

HEALTH was my main draw besides Dethklok because I like industrial rock, but it wasn’t a great start. It was early on Friday and the crowds were nowhere near the size it got later on Saturday. They filled a small corner of the stadium without much movement, while the band thudded on stage to try filling the void, but the emotionally-distant singing felt lost in the racket.  It wasn’t bad and made me bop a little but I’d prefer to see it in a dark cave instead.

DETHKLOK killed it. They made maximum use of the venue for their first show in 5 years. Brutal gore-toons splashed across jumbo video screens and blasted my eyeballs with shock editing. It included a couple of comedy breaks and super helpful read-along lyrics so you could laugh at the blurts of blasphemy from the singing. I only like small doses of death metal (Pungent Stench <3) so words and cartoons filled in what I’d miss by just having my ears pummeled. “Impeach God” had a hilarious live debut. The crowd wasn’t the most active, but it was OK with the 110% effort on stage.

RAPSODY was a rapper with good danceable beats and conscious lyrics that charmed the crowd. The LA crowd was different from who I’d mingle with in the SF Bay. The music made it feel good to be there, and other people must have felt the same with the air getting smoky. I barely listen to rap but this won me over.

JAMIE XX did a stellar DJ set of dance/house music that made me do a beeline to the front to make it my personal furry rave. Here too the crowd was lower energy than a fur con, but it was packed for the peak of the festival and they loved a giant rat jumping like a kangaroo. I got hugs and gave piggyback rides to people who surely wouldn’t have done it without a furry invading their ranks.

RockNYC has a festival review mostly for the music.

No really my neck is messeded up. But furries don't get old, they just get new fursonas, lol

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) November 16, 2019

jfk and jackie? more like @DogpatchPress and this bitch and this time HE LIVES pic.twitter.com/eUGbEcPuzQ

— jamieloftus (@jamieloftusHELP) November 16, 2019

Panels, screenings, and interactive stuff:

ROBOT CHICKEN had a panel with the writers and makers. Writer Jamie was on stage after she got a pic with me at the afterparty on Friday night when I just thought she was a random fun person. Seth Green took questions about the show and how to get work at Adult Swim (make your own shit to get noticed.)

SQUIDBILLIES had the show cast doing live dirty comedy country/rockabilly songs, and one doing off-kilter puppeteering of Granny Squid, dressed head to toe in the same fuzzy pink as her puppet. And a standup comic named Connor O’Malley seemed perplexed at a furry in his crowd, then did a bit about his ancestors being “ratters” who would chase the vermin in their fields.

RICK AND MORTY Season 4 episodes were on par with previous ones, but LAZOR WULF disappointed. It’s a show based on a Tumblr comic with some talking animals. I wanted to like the nifty vaporwave/future funk vibe (it has a predominantly black voice cast) with graphic objects floating in animated space, but the “so random” humor got few laughs.

Those used smaller screens, but ERIC ANDRE LIVE used the same stadium stage as the music acts, which made certain stunts so… extra(!) like pulling a random guy from the audience and making him call his ex-girlfriend live to the world.

For interactive fun there was a “bull ride” with a hot dog, and cat-jousting. I avoided that and the giant inflatable slide in fursuit… wouldn’t want another hole knocked in my ear or get tossed and have my tail caught. The “Meatwad dome” was very worthwhile for trippy animation projected across the inside, and there was an elaborate rig to 3D-scan your dancing and add it to a scene of Rick and Morty doing the “Show Us What You Got” dance for “Get Schwifty.”  They said they would try the extra high-def scan for my fursuit but it didn’t seem to scan that well and the app won’t play on my phone. Get furries to test it next time?

Squeezing out high street value furry sweat from #AdultSwimFestival pic.twitter.com/7w3Sa8rc0U

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) November 17, 2019

Location, crowd, and fursuiting:

The LA weather was as mild as could be. The stadium entrance level was a ring you had to circle to reach the stairs for access to the lower field level, sending you past all the vendors for merch and food with festival prices. If I was a poorer rat, for $14 beers I might fill up on cheese before the show or scurry in through the sewer (don’t do that, the entry cost was nice). Decent choices though. I like trash, but a grilled chicken sandwich felt healthy. That vendor had no line and was sympathetic to my sweaty costuming, handing me free beers for both paws.

To know where to go, the festival app had super useful multiple views by time, place, a visual view, a “favorites” list and an RSVP list for panels with limited capacity. The stadium seating always had space for breaks. A fursuit lounge could have been nice but at no point was I ever pressured by crowding. Attendance started slow but by late Saturday everything was raging.

The crowd was half normies in street clothes, and then nerd/comic/anime types with only moderate cosplay, like casual Ricks. Staff was abundant in standout color. There wasn’t a fursuit everywhere you turned, so anyone like Dr. Girlfriend stood out nicely. It wasn’t nearly as queer/misfit/young as fur con goers, and there was some funny side-eyeing at my fur but not enough to get ugly, and appreciation too. There was fandom magic. Shoutout to the nice woman who called me brave and said she was too shy to come in partial suit!

I lied a little about this trip being casual. Making news means eye for opportunity, so I asked ahead to the festival’s media/partnering contacts about interviews or backstage access. Of course they don’t care about a mere furry blog when big Hollywood people do their thing there every day. This fandom is the size of a flea on a dog to them. Something else worked: being there.

They didn’t answer when I tried asking for a little face time, but they kind of made us the ass of the fest. I’m so honored!

Till next time, LA pic.twitter.com/oUvm6I1x0U

— [adult swim] (@adultswim) November 17, 2019

Can’t wait to go again! Tomorrow in Part 2: A review from Dr. Girlfriend, visiting the Prancing Skiltaire, and more about furry traveling.

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.

Here’s one from last year we somehow missed, but we’re glad we found it now: Atomic Frenchie, a full-color graphic novel series. “When Kirby, a French Bulldog with a serious Napoleon Complex, moves to a new home in the quaint New England town of Strasburg, Massachusetts, and stumbles upon a forgotten secret laboratory, he realizes that his dreams of Planetary Conquest are finally within paw’s reach. But, suddenly, Kirby realizes he isn’t alone. Seemingly out of nowhere, a strange group of people appear, exhibiting what Kirby can only describe as superpowers! Kirby must rise up against all who stand in his way to emerge victorious in this ultimate quest for world domination.” We’re up to Volume 2 by now, written by Tom Sniegoski and illustrated by Tom McWeeney. (Look, we don’t make these things up…) Both volumes are available now in hardcover from Insight Comics.

image c. 2019 Insight Comics

We run through a decent bit of news, then Fayroe and Aureo have a Taco Tantrum.

Download MP3

Link Roundup:

• SonicFox wins esports award for console player of the year
• Chik-fil-a ending donations to anti-LGBT organizations
• Conservatives melt down after Chick-fil-A says it will stop donating to anti-LGBTQ orgs
• Half-life Alyx announced
• #FurryAndProud trended for a while
• Dragons won’t fuck the tesla cybertruck
• Furry version of Saturdays are made for dads
• Pizza Hut brings back knots
• Ronnie’s sinkhole selfie near Anthrocon
• BBF livestreamed his EF video

News:

• British Man Attempts Robbery
• Florida dog drove in circles in car in reverse
• Terminally-Ill Scientist Aims To Become “First Full Cyborg”
• Zootopia is Zootropolis
• Arizona Man Narrowly Avoids Bullets due to Taco

[Live] Taco Tantrum

Bandit shares a montage of his adventure from FC ’17. 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 #FC2017 #FurCon

Posted by a friend: “Marked all my videos as unlisted — Will delete them later — I’m sorry to disappoint everyone but the voice acting video is canceled due to the new law.”

Yikes! That’s not a nice thing to post, and plenty of others are feeling afraid of being fined under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA.) The law is around 2 decades old but was recently used for major action about violation by Youtube. It seems to threaten a growing scene for furry Youtube creators:

• Furries are winning Emmys and Youtube Creator Awards.
• More Furry YouTubers You Might Not Have Seen
• Furry YouTubers You Might Not Have Seen

Sadly I might have to say goodbye to youtube. The new COPPA laws may put a lot of furry youtubers under fire and possibly a $45,000 fine for each video from what I understand. :*(

— Ino89777 (@TheInodog) November 19, 2019

About the law and changes to Youtube, PCGamer reports:

YouTube is changing significantly in January, and video creators are afraid they may lose income and even be fined by the US government for making videos about, among other things, videogames.

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act is a federal law in the US which forbids the collection of data about children under 13 without parental consent. Generally, that’s simply meant that social media sites like Twitter ask for your date of birth when you sign up, and boot anyone who says they’re under 13. A kid can lie, of course, but the Federal Trade Commission allows for that reality.

Starting in January, however, it won’t allow “content made for kids” on YouTube to include targeted advertising or employ YouTube’s social features.

There’s several problem here. First there’s the idea of the government coming after any average creator.  But not so fast: that probably isn’t going to be a worry for anyone on the small and personal level, or furry fandom level. If you aren’t running a huge network that does shady things for money, you’re probably OK:

Heard about new COPPA rules for Youtube? Don't panic! Many Youtube furries are upset, but may not understand the situation. Don't delete your channel — the COPPA panic may be Youtube's own creation. This video explains. (Tip: @sturmovikdragon) 1/https://t.co/HSalqdYrDZ

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) November 22, 2019

Next, is the issue of how to comply with this law, with creators being held responsible for notification about if their content is for kids. That can be a VERY murky condition to meet. Furries know that animation is often treated as kid stuff by default, even when loved by grown-ups.

The Verge reported:

Some of YouTube’s most popular categories falls into a gray area for the policy, including gaming videos, family vlogging, and toy reviews.

Lastly, apart from what the government expects, Youtube is putting in more automated flagging of videos that will surely create a lot of false positives. This isn’t what the government asked for; it’s something Youtube is doing to benefit itself more than its creators.

For those final two problems, and the fallout on creators with Youtube making it hard to monetize and support themselves, we can only wait and see how things go. But the idea that the government could fine you may not be a reason to stop creating on the fandom level.

UPDATE: this lawyer’s video confirms it. The problem isn’t the FTC — the FTC recognizes “general audience” content that appeals to either kids or adults. The problem is Youtube is not giving an option for creators to put their content in this category, to protect themselves.

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.

Online registrations may be over, but if you still crave to be part of the robot apocalyptic war, or the guest-of-honour Uncle Kage’s story times and drinking moments, Malaysian furry convention Furs Upon Malaysia has got you covered. For the first time, they will be opening a limited walk-in registration for the furcon. The details […]

Is your identity a stretch goal?

On Flayrah, Sonious wrote two articles about Artworktee, a popular furry t-shirt company with many happy customers. In May 2019, he wrote a positive story about their charity benefit campaign. Now in November 2019, a shirt selling campaign is not so positively covered. The difference — no charity this time.

• Flayrah: ArtWorkTee’s T-Shirt Campaign and the Selling of Identity.

After being asked to write, Sonious felt conflicted about giving them “blatant advertisement” as news. It could have been turned down, but wait; there’s more. He found reasons to criticize their campaign launched on October 22: “Furry and Proud Shirts! Show your furry pride with ArtworkTee’s new line of LGBT+ shirts!” On Kickstarter as I write, it has 396 backers pledging $24,758 — likely in the top few percent of furry crowdfunding.

The article digs into the ethics (and sincerity) of selling things to special communities, and who reaps the rewards. The problem is, the campaign sorts sexual identities into money tiers/stretch goals, letting popularity rule who is included. Demand gets more and more divisive the more obscure the identity is.

Imagine sorting by race, or other legally protected class (a specific list that excludes politics) and leaving out the least numerous. Many places in life need separation from market demand — what if this was dividing LGBT medical care by popularity? Luckily it’s just shirts, but it’s a jump-off point to bigger topics.

Of COURSE discrimination isn’t the intention of Artworktee (assume good faith). But arguably, it shows a profit motive that isn’t about identity or pride at all. They could be selling flavors of soup, or rare Pokemon cards just the same, and who likes being a token?

Fursona Pins: “Your identity is not a stretch goal.”

Sonious will be interested to see the angle he found has been taken seriously by other businesses.

That’s the case with Fursona Pins. In February 2019, I was asked to do a news article about the business; and I also avoided advertising by reposting their own story, and did an informative Q&A instead. (Business news is news.) Fursona Pins went on to launch an LGBT furry themed Kickstarter campaign in June 2019.

Pride Pins became “the #1 most funded enamel pin Kickstarter in history, and the most funded LGBT project live on Kickstarter right now.” During its open month, 5,304 backers pledged $249,610. Whoah!  (I’m shocked I hadn’t noticed this already when I talk about high fursuit auction prices being a sign of fandom activity.)

Notice: the campaign unlocked tiers for animal mascots, not identities. They just got recolored to represent whatever identity is wanted with no limits on 15 flags. It came with a repeated promise:

Now I’m wondering if Artworktee saw the huge pledges to Pride Pins with dollars in their eyes, and rushed to get in the same game, but missed the point of it. A mistake… or part of a history? Sonious only touched ONE Artworktee campaign, not even getting to a lot of extra context behind it. That’s why I made a ANOTHER response on Flayrah, with another article’s worth of info (read on).

There’s nothing wrong with shirts, cool art, furries, or being LGBT of course. Some of Artworktee’s supporters and shirt models are friends I really love. My response isn’t a “beware” to tell you to stop getting shirts or supporting the company now. Please don’t cancel anyone; it’s to just make you think and look ahead, and ask, what business will you support in the future? And why does it matter? You can ask them to improve, and vote with your dollars.

• On Flayrah, my other response covers a lot more than one sale campaign — read it here.
• This updates my August 2018 article, ArtworkTee issues and the heart of the furry economy.

In short:

1. Furries have a history of going independent from the mainstream to be a subculture that resists commercializing. Instead it acts like a collective project, and a real community (not just a consumer group) where people pitch in together, and capitalizing on it too much is kind of cheating.
2. Artworktee isn’t like other fandom projects, it uses aggressive tactics that look like bootstrapping, growth-hacking, or SEO targeting you’d expect from mainstream startups. Before it was Artworktee, it was “Drawponies,” an art operation involved in a scandal of tracing to crank up production. That was rediscovered and they did PR effort to fix things.
3. Then Artworktee kept using shady tactics to farm followers, boost traffic, and push merchandizing with other accounts (Furrymemes, Awoonews).
4. It’s a problem because of Part (1). This fandom isn’t just business, and what about hard work of small creators who don’t use those methods? Talking about commercialism can help them when there’s a market grab.

Commercializing of the fandom worries some because of the risk of outsiders coming to make a quick buck, while not caring what it’s about, grabbing market from those who do. It’s a good idea to watch out for the tactics here if you see them again.

WHO COULD HAVE PREDICTED THIS? Artworktee/Furrymemes/Awoonews ripoff issue.

Background: in 2015, an artist who aggressively monetized brony fandom was caught tracing. https://t.co/pw94VgnfKI

In 2018, furries learned the artist was aggressively monetizing them as Artworktee. 1/ pic.twitter.com/PFYHsY8boC

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) March 23, 2019

Good news sites are welcome, the more the better. Mine has years of sharing original content no matter what size of audience. Isn't news for reporting, not building audience by shady methods? There will be promises to do better, but why multiple times? @EquestriaDaily

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) March 24, 2019

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.

So how did we miss this one… And, what is it?? It’s the first black & white issue of Cerebus Woman, that’s what. “Epic-length all-in-one 24-page issue! Ever wonder what the illegitimate daughter of Batvark and the Whore of Babylon would be like? Gosh! Who hasn’t? Get ready for Cerebus Woman, the tyrannical queen of Real Amazon.com Island and her legion of Mason-Dixon Greek Man O’Horsies! First appearance of her invisible robot bulldozer! First appearance of the ancient Greek Real Amazon.com national anthem! Jingles, everyone’s favorite CGC-dog comic collector, as Cerebus Woman’s interspecies love interest! Don’t miss Cerebus Woman tied up with her own magic lasso!” Have you… got all that? It’s written by Dave Sim (of course) with art by Mr. Sim and Gustave Dore. Published by Aardvark-Vanaheim (also of course), it’s available now.

image c. 2019 Aardvark-Vanaheim

For those unaware, the FWG forums have been successfully transferred to their new home (thank you Sean and Makyo!). While there remains work to be done to restore their former functionality, they are operational and open to use.

 

For security reasons, passwords were not transferred over; you will need to log in with your email, then set a new password. To do so, once you have logged in, click your avatar in the upper right-hand portion of the screen, then click your name in the drop-down menu and select “preferences.” The password-setting process can be a little tedious, so please be patient.

 

A consequence of the move/merger is that many accounts were automatically deleted by the system. This was more likely to occur if you had not used the forum for some time. If that is the case, you will need to make a new account. We apologize for the inconvenience.

 

The link to the new forums will follow. Note that we plan to change the URL in the future.

 

https://fwg.makyo.io/

 

A thread for suggestions regarding the forums is here: https://fwg.makyo.io/t/discourse-ideas-tips-and-questions/2168

Dogpatch Press is commissioning regular new banners — check out a gallery from past months. Along with the art, each artist gets an article with a goal to promote ones outside the USA. Last month, Magferret from the UK was featured with a spooky Halloween banner. Now, Mexican cartoonist Glasses Gator is here with an homage to Disney’s Frozen 2 to coincide with the movie’s wide release later in November. (We could have an American Thanksgiving theme, but this is for fandom. The only colonizing here is by love for talking animals that has no borders.)

(Staff:) Hi Glasses, can you give a little intro about yourself, where you live, and where to find you on social media?

Hi, I’m GlassesGator, I’m 25 years old, I’m Mexican but also 1/4 Chinese. I live around Sonora, and normally you can find me on Twitter as @Glasses Gator. I also have a DeviantArt and FA account but I kind of stopped using those for a while, been wanting to update but it will take me lots of posts.

On your personal profile, I found at least four different alligators* that look like your fursonas or original characters (OC). Do you consider yourself a scalie or a furry?

Well one is an iguana, and no, they aren’t my fursonas. The aqua colored alligator I consider it my mascot, I use him freely for anything and it pretty much represents my gallery and myself in situations (It’s more fun to me than humans in my opinion, making anthro animals expressive are easier than humans for me).

As for the other three reptiles, they are characters for three stories I’ve been working for years, they have slow development but still progress as much as I can. And no, I don’t consider myself a scalie. I simply have fun drawing cartoon animals, it’s easier for me than humans, and of course fun, pretty much it’s what works for me. Reptiles are my favorites of course but I also like other species.

Do you mostly do art in furry fandom, or somewhere else for non-furries? Do you do it for a living, or just sometimes for money, or for fun?

I can draw humans but I still need more practice on those, when I get time. So I don’t do art for any specific Fandom, it’s just art I choose to work on, and most of my commission clients happens to be furries, it doesn’t bother me though.

And it’s a mix of fun and money, and to show stuff I like and my original ideas. Drawing can be fun (and tiring at times). But I also need the money for expenses, and games of course. “For a living” — it’s hard to say honestly, I still don’t know what I wanna aim for exactly with my art.

I've been in a superhero mood for a while so here I drew some doodles of my Superhero OC, Victor!
These took me a while but I had fun doing these, nice warm up to return to art too!
Included a few special guests OCs from friends. pic.twitter.com/uPdP1qgjgn

— Alegator (@GlassesGator) July 29, 2019

Do you think we might have a chance to see you at any furry conventions? Are you interested in such events? Maybe as an artist/dealer?

Well I would like to go to some con someday, always been wanting to go to one, but they’re never nearby to where I live, so it would require expenses to go to a far one. As for me as an artist dealer, I don’t know, the idea sounds nice. But I probably feel too embarrassed to do it since I’ve never done such things, so of course I’d be reluctant. I wouldn’t mind going to a fur con as a regular goer because I might find some good art and other interesting stuff.

Do you have local friends who like cartoon animals like yourself?

I do have a local friend who likes the concept of cartoon animals, but they live in another city not so far from where I am.

About the banner you made for the site, it’s clearly a furry parody of Frozen 2. Is there any other ‘furry’ parody you could imagine?

That pretty much depends, in my opinion. Like, if you’d tell me to imagine an anthro animal parody of the Legend of Zelda, then the obvious choice for Link is a wolf, and a boar for Ganondorf, and for Zelda herself any graceful animal.

So thinking of furry parodies can depend for sure. Some would be easy and some would be hard.

Is there anything you want to add?

Nothing I can think of, but thanks for the interview, I’ve never been interviewed in art related stuff, so it feels nice.

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.

Today we have the honor of hosting author Kyell Gold, talking about his new book, Titles, as well as covering the stories behind the Out of Position series, the political climate of the new book and what's next for Kyell and his writings. Follow Kyell! https://twitter.com/KyellGold Pre-order the book! https://furplanet.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1066 Find us on Twitter: @South-Afrifur, https://twitter.com/southafrifur, on Tumblr, http://south-afrifur.tumblr.com/, and on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/southafrifur Also, for more local news, check out the Zafur forums! http://forum.zafur.co.za/

Bags (or a story thereof) is a new full color graphic novel from Boom! Studios. We’ll let them tell you about it: “This is the tale of John Motts. He is a man who had a dog, but now that dog is gone. John searches his house, his street, and his town, but the dog is nowhere to be found. John soon realizes that he must travel further, past the road and into the trees if he’s ever to find out the truth of what happened to his dog. BAGS (or a story thereof) is a journey of love and suspense as John Motts searches through the world he knows, and a world he doesn’t, weaved together beautifully by Pat McHale, creator of the Emmy Award-winning Cartoon Network series, Over The Garden Wall, and Gavin Fullerton (Disney’s Space Chickens in Space).” Look for it now — and check out the free preview over at Boom! as well.

image c. 2019 Boom! Studios