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Cold eyes, lost in dreadBunny for the story’s sakeNow lies cold and dead.This poem by Mog K. Moogle sets the tone for Ryan Campbell’s anthology The Rabbit Dies First. Now, I’ve read many furry anthologies, themed by genre, species, and even the sins of the characters, but this is a new one. As the title suggests, in most stories of this anthology a rabbit dies, sometimes at the beginning of the story, other times at the end, in a few cases the bunny actually lives through several tense moments, but I’ll try not to spoil those ones for you.The first story in this anthology is Tym Greene’s “Under My Skin,” in which a 1920s gangster seduces a bunny banker in preparation for a robbery. It briefly touches upon the logistics required of gay relationships in that era: whisper networks, neighbors who don’t ask questions, keeping up appearances. But frankly, I found the ending rather predictable. Tragic, but predictable.“The Trial of Wandering Star” by David Green takes us into a fantastic world based loosely on East Asian myth where species occupy a strict caste system with herbivores, or “leafbourne,” on the bottom, predators above them, and mythical beings like qilings or kitsune on the top. Some lower-caste animals are capable of magic, but they’re highly regulated by the state, and unlicensed mages are very harshly punished, as the red panda Wandering Star discovers after she’s caught using magic. Fortunately, an organization advocating second chances for unregistered mages sends a rabbit warrior named He-Who-Tramples-Stars (Lo-Yao for short) to supervise her on a mission to recover a noble’s stolen jewelry as penance, and to act as her mentor. It presents an intriguing world that’s easy enough to grasp for newcomers, at least the parts relevant to the story, and gives a lot of room for further exploration. I’ll be watching for further works in this setting.Franklin Leo’s “End of (On)Line” initially leaves the reader as confused as the protagonist, a robot whose memories have been tampered with. This robot, Kyle, is told that he somehow killed his user, a rabbit named Milo who was planning to upload his brain and replace him, but he doesn’t remember that name, or even whether he used to be organic himself. The initial confusion can be difficult to work through; though if you can get through that initial opacity, the story falls into place.“Out the Other Side” by Jellybean starts with the rabbit, Quinn, meeting the Grim Reaper. He’s dead, sort of, but something is preventing him from passing on, and Death sets him to find out what it is. Oh, and Quinn’s girlfriend, an armadillo named Sam, was also supposed to die but didn’t, so that’s his first lead. Now, it’s not particularly surprising that Quinn doesn't remember how he died—that’s a standard ghostly trope—but it’s odd that Sam doesn’t, you would expect her to know if she’s still alive. I didn’t particularly like this one. It’s hard to tell who I’m supposed to feel sympathy for, and I couldn’t discern what Quinn ended up choosing.Mary E. Lowd’s “Black Out in Space” is self-explanatory: the power goes out on a space station. The main character is a claustrophobic buffalo-like alien who shares an apartment with a family of uplifted rabbits and finds herself in a pitch-black room with fifteen bouncing baby bunnies. The contrast between the adults worried that they’re all going to die and the carefree kids who don’t know how serious a blackout is on a space station really ratchets up the tension.“The Detective, The Wife, The Husband, and His Lovers” by Maya Levine covers the investigation of a lapine literature professor’s death by apparent suicide. Only, one of the detectives investigating was a student of his and knows he had a habit of screwing bunny does in his classes, including one of her friends, and has suspicions. I appreciated the nod to furriness in how the professor lived in an underground warren and slept in a depression in the dirt floor, but I thought the story could go further into the dynamics of an multi-species society. Sexism comes up frequently as the detective is distrusted as an “emotional female” (it’s set in the 80s), but nobody seems to care that the rabbit professor was married to a fox save that they couldn’t have biological kids and that seemingly motivated his adulteries. That seemed a little out of place.Ocean Tigrox’s “Swallowed by the Sea” starts with a crew of superstitious sailors accusing a rabbit doe of bringing a storm down on them by “whistling” of all things. Before they force her to walk the plank, she implies the captain has some other reason for throwing her overboard and curses them. Afterwards strange things happen to the captain; whether he’s haunted or hallucinating is left nicely ambiguous. I found “The Unlucky” by Sera Kaine rather opaque: it took me two reads to make any sense of it. Largely because there were three different point-of-view characters with drastically different perspectives: a black rabbit “luck keeper” who can change to human form but has to leave his warren once another black rabbit is born, a cat warrior who ridicules the rabbit’s beliefs because he knows something about the Void that consumed their worlds, and a Hunter tracking them across the multiverse at his Mistress’ command. Had to get an overview of the pieces then read it again to put them all together, but once you understand the story, it’s actually quite clever.Watts Martin’s “An Orange by Any Other Name” evokes a bit of the classic crime noir, except set in sunny Florida, and maybe a little Southern Gothic. The adopted daughter of a senile old rabbit who owns an orange field hires a “fixer” to find out who dumped several tons of sewage on top of her dad’s land before he could sell it to a developer. I’m not sure if the primary theme is rural gentrification, vindictiveness contrasted with greed, or just plain family insanity, probably a mix of all three.“The Road to Macluske” by Nathan Ravenwood takes us into a zombie apocalypse. A lone otter on a motorcycle who only goes by “The Survivor” crosses the path of a rabbit who’s just been bitten, who implores him to take him back to his settlement so he can see his husband one last time before he turns. The zombies, or “Them,” never actually appear on screen, but we see the damage they’ve wrought on society and those left behind. It raises questions of love, revenge, and finding purpose in life. Not to spoil anything, but that last scene almost had me in tears.Lloyd Yaeger goes cyberpunk in “The Snack Rabbit.” It’s another one where the rabbit is already dead, but he’s been reanimated with cybernetic implants. After he’s freed by two more cyber zombies, including one who was his husband in life, it turns out that whoever has been resurrecting the dead usually doesn’t let them keep their memories. Since the rabbit does remember his life, that makes him extremely valuable to certain parties, and brings out no small amount of romantic tension. Sci-fi often conflates identity with memories, and likes to explore the possibility of a completely different person who looks like someone else a character has lost, and this story presents a relatively novel take on the trope.“Two Blocks Apart and the Universe in Between” by Taylor Harbin takes place in an alternate universe where at some point in the 20th century some animals were spontaneously “uplifted” and have been living with humanity, with some tensions. The main character is a human screenwriter hired to adapt the first uplift-written book to film, which is about a human teacher and a rabbit student who form a friendship before things go horribly wrong. This seems to be another one where bunnies are representing innocence, but their importance to the plot is more subdued here.“The Carrot is Mightier Than the Sword” by Nidhi Singh evokes the folklore of many ancient cultures, with a smattering of modern-day knowledge such as the existence of dinosaurs and asteroids. But without the weight of tradition behind it, this story comes across more like a bad acid trip. Maybe it could pass as a children’s tale about the costs of pride and refusing help when offered, but fire-breathing dinosaurs refusing to eat carrots comes across as kind of silly.Finally, Kyell Gold closes the anthology with the Victorian murder mystery “Death on the Tile.” A rabbit working at a hotel is poisoned, and any one of the hotel’s upper-class guests could be responsible, but what could be the motive? In my view, the mark of a good “whodunnit?” story is how difficult it is to discern the killer’s identity even with all the clues available, which this accomplishes. This is also one of the few pieces of fiction that distinguishes between rabbits and hares, and it’s employed as part of the class divide with the rabbit waitstaff and the hare businessman.As I read this anthology, I noticed a few recurring themes in the rabbits’ depictions. The rabbit as prey was most common, likely due to their real life place near the bottom of the animal food chain as food for nearly everything that eats meat. It wasn’t always literal predation: sometimes you saw financial exploitation or armed robbery, even one where a rabbit was treated as simply expendable. The portrayal of rabbits as a sign of innocence frequently crossed over with that prior theme, for the innocent victim is so much more tragic than the one who “deserved it.” A few times we saw a rabbit sacrifice themselves for the sake of others, but I’m having trouble associating that with rabbits specifically. Surprisingly, there were relatively few portrayals of rabbits as sexual beings, and they tended to serve as a means for the rabbits to be preyed upon.In conclusion, this anthology is not for the faint of heart. Not everything in it might be your cup of tea, but the advantage of an anthology is that you have multiple stories in one volume.

Here is an older music video from the band Sun Bones [1] that uses a really weird an interesting technique. Given the band let their domain expire and their twitter is very inactive it's safe to assume they are no longer a band but this video is kinda cool. Here they are on Bandcamp: https://sunbones.bandcamp.com/album/the-years-chalet [2] [1] https://twitter.com/sunbonesband [2] https://sunbones.bandcamp.com/album/the-years-chalet
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Hot off the press! Yesterday’s article about furries and Satan was inspired by the documentary Hail Satan? — available online next week, July 23.

I saw it in May and mentioned it to Deo Tasdevil, who surprised me with a story about being welcomed by The Satanic Temple to fursuit at their Baphomet unveiling party in Detroit. They even specifically welcomed animal costumes.

Watch the movie to see their Baphomet statue made to be placed at Oklahoma’s capital. It was a free speech/equal access counter action to a Ten Commandments monument that was put on public property despite separation of church and state.

Deo Tasdevil. Did she sell her soul to them, or did they sell theirs to her?

I’d tried to reach them with a media request. It seemed like a possible story of kinship with a hairy goat-man with a sensationalized lusty reputation, who rebelled against conformity and the mainstream to be himself.

Then Deo told me: “a friend of mine, also a furry, works at the Temple of Satan in Salem, MA.”

I said: “I’m dying, this is so funny. Furries are EVERYWHERE. Even in Satan’s lair.”

Learning that Gemini De Chant worked there made a great opportunity to talk. (Better the devil you know…) Their subcultural spectacle was fairly new to me, but of course we would get along great.

Debauchery Level: Satan. (At Folsom Street Fair, a gated adults-only fest for such antics.)

(Patch:) Hi Gemini, thanks for talking and I’m glad Deo introduced us! 

(Gemini De Chant:) So, anything you’d like to know? In the fandom I’m Sanita Squirrel. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/sanitasquirrel/

I’m curious about how furries and Satan go together. Want to talk about experiences, gossip, philosophy?

Tons! I’m pretty open about being both a Satanist and a furry.

I liked hearing about fursuiting at the Baphomet unveiling, is that common?

As far as I know Deo was the only one that had a fursuit at the Detroit event (the Unveiling). However, there are a bunch of furries in the Satanic Temple aside from just me. I know of a few down in Arkansas, two in Boston, one in San Marco, and a couple in Kentucky.

Gemini with the Baphomet Monument in 2016

I loved the Pink Mass to turn Fred Phelps’ mom gay in the afterlife. (Phelps founded the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church of “God Hates Fags” infamy.) I’d love to stage a furry hug-in at any hate demonstration where it would be safe. I organized one for a threatened Westboro protest.

A hug-in would be a neat idea but the Third Tenet means that it would have to be with people that gave permission and wanted the hugs.

Would you like a little background on my involvement?

Oh yeah no surprise hugs, more like with each other. And sure! Before I knew of furries involved, I thought it would be fun to do an article about how Satan was the original furry. His goat legs, liberation, sexiness etc.

Interesting though that depiction is lifted from the Green Man of old Celtic area lore.

Neat. I’ll bet there was quite a bit of mixing with old Satyr myths, etc.

Quite a bit. Satyrs are also mentioned in the King James version of the Bible along with unicorns.

So, I got involved with the Temple in 2015 after Deo told me about it. I knew about the Church of Satan but the whole ‘might makes right’ philosophy they had really didn’t sit well with me. Their founder, Anton LaVey had some squirrelly ideas and this is coming from someone whose fursona is a squirrel.

So I looked them up and found a chapter in my city. I arranged a meet up, did some research before the meeting, and hit it off with the Maine Chapter.

When the Maine Chapter was still active in 2016.

Unfortunately the Maine Chapter had to go inactive because the Chapter Head had way too much going on in her life at the time. However, before hand we took a ‘field trip’ where I got to meet the Temple’s Lucien Greaves in person.

Lucien is good on camera, especially with the fundie senator he was trolling by photobombing in the movie. I really dig the live in person active vibe. Street fursuiting is my favorite thing, better than tame hotel conventions.

He is really down to earth in person. When the Salem HQ was getting ready to open I helped them out and have tried to do so every October since. Salem gets crazy busy around that time.

He seemed candid on the camera too, like not a practiced actor. A bit awkward but smart, it’s disarming.

Since then I have been doing a lot of studying on Satanism. For a religion (Modern Satanism) that is relatively new (just over 50 years old) there is a surprising amount of history.

He’s got a degree from Harvard in neuroscience. Also he will destroy you in werewolf movie trivia.

Werewolf trivia with Lucien sounds good. I love pulp horror. Lovecraft or whatever, eldritch monsters driving you mad or making bargains for your soul. Have any animalistic crossover, talking squirrel visions, furry temple tours, or fandom interest stories?

We did have a group of Boston furries roll through and I was doing my best not to ‘out’ myself while at Salem but eventually I was able to nudge the one wearing a blue wolf partial fursuit and dropped a hint that I was furry too.

Just use a dogwhistle.

That was a night when I brought a gallon of mead to the HQ. Since I was working the weekends I’d get to stay over night.

Would you say “The Satanic Temple welcomes furries” and could fursuiting could be part of another event?

The Satanic Temple totally welcomes furries! Hell, Deo is the one that introduced me. Also I need to say that while I am a member of the Satanic Temple I don’t speak for them.

It’s great talking to you! Anything else to share?

A few Salem pics.

This is me after last year’s Black Mass, Oct 2018. I’m drinking mead from a skullcap.

This was during Walpurgaist Nacht 2017

Thanks to Gemini for sharing this look at surprisingly not-too-evil activity. If you think “Keep Furry Weird” is worthwhile, I’m glad to help. – Patch

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.

The great giants of history! Greek heroes and villains. Norse myths. Religious myths. Do modern myths count? Is furry macro becoming its own mythology? All this as well as the next round of Macro Madness, listener letters, and artist spotlights. And we only get off-topic a little bit. We swear! Episode 26: "Macros in Mythology" (2019-07-17)

Another announcement we found at Animation World Network: “GKIDS, producer and distributor of animation for adult and family audiences, has acquired the North American distribution rights for the animated feature Marona’s Fantastic Tale, by film from director Anca Damian… The film features Marona, a mixed-breed Labrador, who after an accident reflects on her past homes and experiences. Journeying back through her memories she reflects on the deep impressions she has made on her owners’ lives. With Marona’s unfailing love and empathy she had provided lightness and innocence to her families. Marona’s Fantastic Tale is a beautiful and emotional story of an average dog and her extraordinary life.” The picture below doesn’t really do justice to how weird and artistically adventurous this 2D film is. Check out the trailer instead!

image c. 2019 GKIDS

This short goes out to the the scalies out there. This Sci-Fi film came from Toronto CGI artist Han Yang [1] and I get a real Traveler [2]vibe from these space ships. ...ok perhaps I only see that as i'm in need of getting back into a furry Traveller rpg campaign. [1] https://hanyang.format.com/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveller_(role-playing_game)
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Recently, furries are debating about appearing in ads, with fear of commercializing like a devil’s bargain with corporations. They’re saying “Keep furry weird“. Let’s help.

Pride month just passed. Yay, now it’s time for all the other sins!

Hey furries, go Envy some cute costumes. Have Greed for art you don’t need (but you deserve it). Be a Glutton for hugs. Lust for a fursuit crush. Give Wrath for bigots. Enjoy Sloth after a furry con. Why not? Does anyone actually want to go to heaven, the eternally boring place for goodie-two-shoes with no good parties?

Hell is where to find real fun and friends. It’s like a furry convention. If you go there for doing just ONE sin… you might as well go for broke.

Satan calling 

Of course those places are fairy tales. Bronze-age sheep herders made invisible friends to herd the masses to serve powerful elites. Superstitious storytelling is only as worthy as the meaning it brings. (Bibles can be good story sources, no argument there). That’s one skeptical opinion, anyways.

That’s why Satanists we’re talking about today don’t worship a deity. They’re just atheists with a grin, and pranksters with a point. Satan isn’t real, but they’re all about owning the power of a symbol.

He stands for rebellion against hypocrisy, nonconformity towards injustice, individual freedom, and Luciferian enlightenment. Religion vilifies disobedience, but it’s healthy to think for yourself. If a serpent gives you an apple, go ahead and take a bite, because you know what they say about an apple a day.

If you think about it, furry fandom is based on symbolism and totemism. You can even say Satan is the original furry.

The Devil and Daniel Mouse: furry animation about a musician’s bargain

Hell has a fursuit lounge

The Rebel Angel has rocked a fursona since they wrote the bible. He’s a baaadaaass goat or a ssssweet ssssnake. He was despised in mainstream media of the day (sermons, scriptures and art commissions for royal patrons), but his symbolism grew hairy legs to carry it far and wide. It’s hard to keep the devil down when he has all the fun, fashion, music and sex. Satan is a sexy beast. If you play heavy metal backwards, they don’t say 666, they say Yiff Yiff Yiff.

The furry fandom also thrives against mockery, with freakitude that keeps it independent. Furries are used to being vilified (often a socially-acceptable excuse for bullying). Meanwhile they do lots of fundraising for charity at their conventions. The Satanists I’m talking about are nice to animals too (sacrificing them is against their tenets.)

Fandoms have drama, and it’s no different for Satan’s fans. A little history is in order.

Until recently, “real Satanism” was mostly a fake accusation by overzealous Christians targeting anyone they called enemies. That caused Satanic Panic, a pop-culture influenced literal witch-hunt of the 1980’s. It was a generation after the rise of civil rights for minorities, with growing class division and fear of The Other. “Women’s lib” had both parents at work with new worry about “latchkey kids” and Stranger Danger, while kids discovered Dungeons and Dragons, heavy metal, and mature comics and cartoons (and lots of them turned into furries!)

The panic was a sensationalized distraction from unrest in society and at home. There were no sacrifices to Satan of course. The real victims were scapegoats:

In the 1980s, allegations of ritual abuse at a preschool in Southern California led to the longest, most expensive trial in U.S. history. The McMartin Preschool case — which resulted in zero convictions — became emblematic of a much more widespread phenomenon known as Satanic Panic. – Gizmodo

Fake scandals stoked conservative Think Of The Children fear-mongering. (Furries may sympathize… Yiff Panic? Judgement in a Connecticut town shows it’s still not safe to be openly furry.) Meanwhile, popes protected pedophile priests. The projection, hypocrisy and power abuse inspires protest by modern Satanists.

The Tentacles of Satanic Beliefs

That’s context, and now let’s look inside modern Satanism. It has a split between Theists who actually believe in a spiritual being, and Rationalists who follow tenets popularized by 1960’s counterculture icon Anton LaVey (who wrote the atheistic “Satanic Bible”).

Another split is The Church of Satan vs. The Satanic Temple. The Church gets criticism for being lame, irrelevant supporters of fascist-like misanthropy. (UPDATE: Thanks to Troj for sharing a better informed opinion to say don’t judge so fast.)  The Temple eschews that to focus on entertaining, artistic stunts, shows and protests for actually liberal goals. Their Satan isn’t just a symbol for shock value, he stands for positive action.

Reddit looks at the humanism behind the symbolism.

The Satanic Temple acts for free speech, separation of church and state, and enlightenment. Their After School Satan program uses equal access by law to school facilities, to spread free-thinking against Christian evangelism. They protested a Ten Commandments monument at Oklahoma’ capital as unfair use of public property for one religion. Hilariously, they built an amazing sculpted bronze Baphomet monument to put next to it. The IRS counts them as a tax-exempt religious organization!

To be honest, this all used to strike me as “edgy” as heck. I’m not an edgelord (shhh, don’t tell anyone about the shirt I wore in the 90’s that said “Smoke Crack and Worship Satan”.) Then I saw the absolutely delightful documentary about The Satanic Temple that came out in 2019.

When I saw it, my one criticism was wishing for more in-depth looking at the 1980’s Satanic Panic, perhaps by interviewing victims — but of course that would take more time and budget than just a small glance in a very well made movie.

Go see the movie. It inspired me to chat with a Satanic Furry who is actually at the Temple in Salem, MA. Come back tomorrow for that. Or else.

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.

I feel some weird nostalgia but I've never heard his name .... ???? Also, Is this why awwwoo has been made illegal as wolves have been calling down aliens?
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Word has been going around that the Ursa Major Award-nominated video game Cuphead (developed by Studio MDHR) is now being turned into an animated TV series. We got this from Animation World Network: “Netflix has joined forces with King Features on The Cuphead Show!, a new kids series based on the Studio MDHR video game. The show will expand upon the characters and world of Cuphead, with an animation style inspired by the classic Fleischer cartoons from the 1930s… The character-driven comedy follows the unique misadventures of the impulsive Cuphead and his cautious but easily swayed brother Mugman. Through their many misadventures across their surreal home of the Inkwell Isles, they’ve always got one another’s backs. The series will be produced by Netflix Animation and is executive produced by Emmy and Annie Award-winning producer, Dave Wasson (Mickey Mouse Shorts), with Cosmo Segurson (Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling) serving as co-executive producer.” That’s some good talent behind the project! No word on a planned release date yet.

image c. 2019 Studio MDHR

Back from Anthrocon, we haphazardly review our awesome experience. Fayroe then bursts into the studio with a story about his bad day.

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Link Roundup:

• Anthrocon 2019 Floor Wars
• Goodbye to FurryMap
• FurryMap Twitter
• Furries at San Fran pride
• Anthrocon Articles:
  • Furry invasion closes in on Pittsburgh
  • Furries feel the love from Pittsburghers as Anthrocon begins
  • Anthrocon Kicks Off With Fursuit Parade And Special Starbucks Drink
  • The origin of how Pittsburgh and furries fell in love with each other
  • For Some With Autism, Furry Culture Offers Comfort And Acceptance
• HIV Breakthrough
• Telegram Animated Stickers
• Crash on All Stars
• Converse Site
• Revit’s Anthrocon 2019 Con Video (4K)

News:

FurBuy down for ‘months’ after spat with security researcher

[Live] Schrödinger’s Adventure

We found this one thanks to Furry.Today: Mustard & Ketchup are a pair of male badgers in a long-term relationship — created by Iain Gardner of the studio Animation Garden. Recently they made their “grand entrance” as the stars of “Farfisa Song”, a video for the band Looper (featuring Stuart David from the band Belle and Sebastian). Take a look at Animation Garden’s portfolio to see what else they’re working on. And follow the badgers on social media!

image c. 2019 Animation Garden

For Friday we got a music video from the band Looper starring Mustard & Ketchup the same-sex married badger duo. This was their first introduction to the world where they try to create a music video but due to the couples low budget they end up with some with some creative differences. Mustard & Ketchup was created by Iain Gardner of Animation Garden [1]. You can also find the adorable duo on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GayBadgers/ [2] https://youtu.be/YoQ1hRFrSHc [1] https://animation-garden.com/about/ [2] https://www.facebook.com/GayBadgers/
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Followup to Get furry at San Francisco Pride 2019. See the Pride tag for much more.

Photo by Zenith

Photo by Wusky Husky

For the 2019 San Francisco Pride parade on June 30, the Norcal Furries had their biggest turnout yet. A hundred members made the street their stage with cheering audiences on both sides. They won the “Absolutely Outrageous” award out of more than 200 parade contingents, their second year to get an award.

“Once again we beat corporations who spend thousands on their floats with just a bunch of GoFundMe donations, and a couple of people looking very fuzzy!” (- Vance)

It’s rare to get a public spotlight like this anywhere outside of convention hotels. There was no cost for just showing up to join. It was the first Pride for many members, and it wasn’t just about queer visibility, but also engaging allies and freedom of self-expression for all. It looked like a party but the reason for it wasn’t forgotten. 50 years ago, Stonewall was a riot against hate, but fun without fighting is an answer to the question — what did they fight for?

It’s spreading. This weekend there will be a new furry float at San Diego Pride. The organizer told me about wanting to bring it to LA Pride and draw Norcal furries there too. (Look for a story about that soon.)

After the parade, the Norcal Furries regrouped at the back of a tapas restaurant that was reserved just for them. Paella sizzled and sangria splashed while core supporter Spottacus stood up to speak.

Spottacus said the float didn’t just exist to get on and ride it. It happened because every one of them made it go, almost like they pushed it with their own paws. They were pushing change over time too. The enthusiastic turnout was way different from the first time furries were in San Francisco Pride.

The Absolutely Outrageous award that the furry float/contingent won at the San Francisco Pride Parade today, thanks to Bay Area Furries, @Zoren, @RelayRaccoon,@Spottacus, @patch_packrat and others pictured at the after parade dinner celebration. pic.twitter.com/HSEUAKNLow

— Spottacus Chee ( CC, EF, Burn) (@Spottacus) July 1, 2019

https://t.co/oWpE2L29OT #FlashbackFriday #SFPride 2002 Pride Parade Furry Contingent pic.twitter.com/Y5AzMolpcF

— Brigus St. John (@brigusdawg) July 5, 2019

In 2002, the community was torn by infighting. Nobody was more against it than other furries. They didn’t even want the group name to be used with so-called “sexual” implications, as if that should be dictated by outsiders with no interest in what the group does. It was documented on the local mailing list. (Brigus, an original organizer, told me he wants to dig up key documents to show it.)

After 2005, furries stopped being in the parade due to low resources — every helping paw matters if the burden rests on a few. Then another original organizer, Bos’n Otter, helped my effort to bring back a float. He was proud to have others pick up where he left off. (I’ve been helping to organize Pride meets since 2012.)

If you ever hear complaints that Pride doesn’t matter any more, that’s the sound of dead weight holding you back. Some people would even stop you from openly using the name “furry”. If you can’t enjoy something as simple as your hobby, what more is on the chopping block?

Good crew today #SFPride pic.twitter.com/KT2llkANSR

— Ringtailed Pan of Bi-Shaped Fun (@RelaxingDragon1) June 30, 2019

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#NorCal #furries #pride #sfpride #sanfrancisco

A post shared by Alexa (@alexadotphoto) on Jul 1, 2019 at 12:28am PDT

Another good video from Tamara of #Norcalfurries at #sfpride2019 @sfpride pic.twitter.com/7BM89OUwGt

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) July 12, 2019

Here’s how the 2019 parade looked for Candy, a first-time marcher with the furries:

“The streets of downtown San Francisco were lined with tens of thousands of people for the 50th annual Pride parade. The Norcal Furries contingent had over 100 members with around 35 riding the float.

My favorite thing at the parade was the fursuiters interacting with the crowd. A dragon/shark-esque creature was zooming around on his scooter, doing laps around the group. A purple bunny with a matching purple backpack was going around giving high fives and hugs. A pink bunny, a tiger, an alligator and many more creatures were bouncing on top of the 14 feet tall Bounce Car which was adorned with elephants holding disco balls on the sides and pumping party music.

At one point we were worried that things like antler horns or big fluffy ears might hit the overhead cable car wires that San Francisco is known for. Can you imagine a cute bunny just going POOF! and turning into the Energizer Bunny?

There were tigers and lions and bears (oh my!) and dogs and wolfs and cats, and so much more! The fursuiters were well received by the spectators and many high fives and hugs were given out along the parade route. Much of the crowd was decked out in rainbow clothing, flags, beads, hats, makeup, bandanas and boas. The theme of this year’s parade was Generations of Resistance. And furries showed how to resist hate with the freedom of self expression. The contingent even won the Absolutely Outrageous award! (Last year they won the Absolutely Fabulous award.)”

– Candy

@GiaGunn from @RuPaulsDragRace and JT from #NorcalFurries at @sfpride. JT's not on Twitter so I'm passing on some fluffy hugs! Photo by Candy. #sfpride2019 pic.twitter.com/AApBV8ZwmU

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) July 2, 2019

Spottacus was energized to spread the magic even better next time:

“Heya furry marchers: this was the 6th year of consecutive pride floats… And the best one yet. But instead of sitting still, let’s all think about how to up the game for next year. There are options for expanding, and if we have a compelling, exciting plan, we could be even more impactful. The crowd loved our exuberance, our variety (from dancing floatsters to paw-pressing street furs to scooter-riding sharks to charity-promoting suiters and friends, we were fun and interesting to watch). We’ve even been ribboned twice now.

So, we’re asking for ideas, and volunteers, to expand the art, the energy, the relevance. Let’s make next year even MORE fabulous and outrageous.”

– Spottacus

Want to get involved? Leave a comment here, or message @ZorenManray or @Spottacus on Telegram.

Here’s the full clip from yesterday!
#furrypride #FurryFandom #owo #fursuit #fursuiter pic.twitter.com/c7HwsAWVtG

— Cody Boopers MEGAPLEX (@CodyBoopers) July 1, 2019

VarekWolf tells why his first time was so special:

“SF Pride 2019 wasn’t just my first Pride march, it was my first Pride event of any kind. I’d recently arrived at the realization I was Ace and probably bi-romantic as well, so Pride was naturally a way to celebrate my newfound confidence in myself. When our contingent turned the corner onto Market Street and we were surrounded by cheering spectators, masses of colorful flags, and exchanges of “Happy Pride!” I felt connected not just to other Aces but to a vast, supportive, and diverse community of individuals all across the LGBTIQA+ spectrum. Pride was one of the most personally meaningful things — as well as one of the most strenuous fursuit outings — I’ve ever done. I’m looking forward to SF Pride 2020.”

– Varek

Member photo galleries:

• Wusky Husky
• Trip E. Collie (“Enjoy and feel free to use but please credit”):
• Zoren

From the Telegram group for furries at Pride, I organized pics and vids into this channel (plus some interesting reactions): @sfpride2019. Here’s some selections.

Brigus and Soulfire Jackal – Photo by Super Jayhawk

Archai and Microdile supporting Dogbomb. Behind from the left: Natalie from the ALSA, Trip E. Collie, Soulfire Jackal, and Trip’s husband Direwolf in cowboy hat. — Photo by Walter Ringtail

“Just wanted to say, can’t thank all of you enough for the warm welcomes and hellos today meeting you! Really glad I was able to say hi to a few of you and meet ya (more glad our Disney float was right next to yours). Thanks again for being so sweet everyone. It was bittersweet for me leaving back to L.A. today. Made me miss living up in the Bay Area in general but more so because I got to meet some of you amazing, friendly and fun folks. You REALLY made my pride beyond memorable.”  – Wusky Husky

“Thanks for the volunteers who put this event together! This my first time going to Pride and I totally loved it!” – Bill Trail Horse

“Thanks to everyone who put this together. This was my first time and I had an awesome time (though my ears are still ringing).” – Ryu Raccoon

“I had so much fun. Thank you everyone for organizing and setting all this up! All the contingent monitors deserve huge props as well, trying to organize us, and checking up on the suiters!” – Opda

“Thanks to the organizers and the volunteers running water around and cooling off suiters with leaf blowers. ” – Aidan Jackal

“It felt amazing to see a non corporation float. You all are life savers!! We need 5 more furry floats! Thank you for the fuzzy feelings.” – Jessica

“I like how our contingent looks so chaotic and diverse. Very non corporate and non regimented.” – Amenophis

“Isn’t it beautiful? I love the non corporateness and pure creativity.” – Joe G. Bear

“It was beautiful, and such a huge juxtaposition to the overly corporate floats with their big logos and color coordinated T-shirts.” – Tizzy

“Also thanks to all of you for being there. It is all of you who truly won the absolutely outrageous award. Combining it with the prior years award that means we’re Outrageously Fabulous.” – Zoren

“Thanks a bunch again, organizers and volunteers. I had a great first time at Pride, despite being a bay area native.” – Ray Ting

“I’d like to express my amazement, respect and heartfelt gratitude to everyone. To the organizers: it’s no small feat to coordinate all this, believe me I know. You did an extraordinary job. The float was awesome, the sound was badass, and the setup/teardown/operations crew obviously had their shit together. To the folks running around with water, straws, leaf blowers (best idea ever!), and just generally checking up on us: you were essential and AMAZING. To the folks guiding us crowd-focused, half-blind, mostly-exhausted furbags, your always-friendly-but-insistent direction/wrangling was extremely necessary and helpful. Thanks for the excellent work and PATIENCE! To the wheel monitors, you kept us from DYING! (OK, all the contingent monitors did that one way or another, tis true.) And to everyone who marched, you ALL did a bangin job of showing Furry’s best and most outrageous side to San Francisco, the LGBTQ+ community, Twitter, the Internet and the world (maybe?). Obviously the crowd and the parade itself loved us. This was my third time marching in the furry contingent in the pride parade, and the last time was 16 years ago. I gotta say, we’ve come a long way baby, and it was a joy to participate. So many good vibes and positive energy. Keep being who you are and be proud! I know I am.” – Brigus

Special thanks: to organizers Zoren, Clinton, Groggy, Trip, Roman, Mr. Disk0 and Buster for working with The Bounce Car and crew, Kado Husky for art, Spottacus and Relay for hosting and dinner, every Gofundme donor, and Natalie and Denise (ALSAOCC director and manager) for coming in honor of Dogbomb, and the supporters who made it possible (especially those who came from far away or aren’t furries but allies.)

Photo by Aidan

Photo by Takula

Photo by Soulfire Jackal

Photo by Christina. “Thank you everyone!! My daughter had a blast. We will never forget this day.”

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.

Comic publisher Humanoids have a new all-ages imprint called BIG, and the first publication from it is called Bigby Bear. “A series of vignettes on imagination, science, mathematics, and the life of our planet…shared from the perspective of a curious bear and his furry, forest-dwelling friends! Bigby Bear lives peacefully in the lush mountains where he was born. Struggling to figure out nature and its elements, Bigby engages in silly experiments of all kinds. Accompanied by his loyal rabbit friend, he gives us the secret to living a happy, simple life: To follow your curiosity, and make friends along the way.” Written and illustrated by Philippe Coudray, Bigby Bear is available now in hardcover.

image c. 2019 BIG

Furries set to break Pittsburgh attendance record
https://www.wtae.com/article/furries-on-parade-in-pittsburgh-this-saturday/28294302

Post about AC.

PITTSBURGH —
If there seem to be constant sightings of fur-wearing visitors, there's a reason.

Organizers of the 14th annual Anthrocon convention say they're expecting to break last year's attendance record with up to 10,000 visitors this year.

They've come from many cities across the U.S. and from more than 20 countries, according to a spokesperson for the convention.

The theme for this year is "Surf Pacific," so be prepared for some festive summer outfits in this year's parade.

The fifth annual Fursuit Walk will take place Saturday, July 6, at 2 p.m.

2,132 "fursuiters" paraded around the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

A meet-and-greet with the "fursuiters" was also held following the parade.

“We are excited to welcome back Anthrocon for the 14th year, as this convention continues to be a summer highlight in Pittsburgh,” said Craig Davis, president and chief executive officer of VisitPITTSBURGH. “Since 2006, and including 2019, Anthrocon has contributed $71 million in direct spending to Pittsburgh’s economy. We thank the Anthrocon organizers for continuing to choose Pittsburgh to host their convention.”

Since 2006, Anthrocon has raised nearly $295,000 for animal-related charities in Pennsylvania, leaving behind a legacy of philanthropy in Pittsburgh. This year, the convention has selected PEARL Parrots Rescue as the charity it will support.

Other Links:
http://www.pittsburghcc.com/events/anthrocon-2019/
https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2019/07/04/anthrocon-2019-kicks-off-in-downtown-pittsburgh/
https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2019/07/06/fursuit-parade-and-furry-ccino/
https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/pittsburgh-furries-furries-descend-on-pittsburgh-for-anthrocon-19/956066098
https://www.post-gazette.com/life/lifestyle/2019/07/06/Anthrocon-2019-Furries-Parade-Pittsburgh-FurScience-Sharon-Roberts/stories/201907070067
https://heavy.com/entertainment/2019/07/anthrocon-furry-convention-pittsburgh-schedule/


-J

Here, have a short animated documentary on wolves.
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Love it or loathe it, Disney’s new CGI (we here at IFN refuse to say “live action”) version of The Lion King is coming soon — and the merchandising machine is in full swing. Along that line, we came across The Lion King: Wild Schemes and Catastrophes, a new full-color graphic anthology in trade paperback. “Journey through Pride Rock and beyond in four stories focusing on the life of Simba as a cub and what awaits him on his path to become the lion king.” Written by John Jackson Miller (Star Wars, Mass Effect) and illustrated by Alexandra Fastovets, Danilo Antoniucci, and Timothy Green II, it’s available now from Disney Comics and Dark Horse Books.

image c. 2019 Dark Horse Books

This year’s edition of Anthrocon has ended recently, and as usual had plenty of fun activities, and many warm furry times spread too. This year’s theme was ‘Surf Pacific’ and had many in the mood for dressing up in festive summer outfits, most notably during the fursuit parade. Since its origins in 1997, we’ve seen […]

A free to play battle royale game that is humans VS werewolves ... yes you get to be on the werewolf team. That is all. "Don’t Even Think is an asymmetric PvP survival game. The game gives the battle royale genre a different concept. During an intense battle, fighting alone will not be a wise decision. When the time is right, you might get an unexpected result by cooperating with other players. Collect information, analyze the information, and make your strategy work will be the key to your victory. Humans need to find weapons and ammo during the cold night. They need to collect the resources and keep themselves warm while looking for the information that will help them escape. By boarding the plane by the dawn, the humans will claim the victory. Werewolves need to find rotten bodies and drink their blood to acquire powerful abilities. They need to locate the humans by the light and smoke, hunting them down when the time is right. By eliminating the humans and stop them from escaping, werewolves will be able to claim the victory."
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