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Like last month, this month's best item is a big reprint book from
Fantagraphics, this time two years of Pogo. Buy it buy it buy it. The
Mickey Mouse hardbacks are impressive too.
The diversity of sources continues. This includes some items from Kids
Can Press, a Garfield thing from Papercutz, one from Toon Books, and a

submitted by DangerMouseUS
[link] [17 comments]

submitted by chibirdlover
[link] [1 comment]

submitted by intp37
[link] [33 comments]

submitted by Broadconcept
[link] [8 comments]

submitted by r3drocket
[link] [4 comments]

submitted by Iscin
[link] [6 comments]

submitted by AstronotusOcellatus
[link] [1 comment]

EVERYONE JUST SHUT THE HELL UP ABOUT IT

submitted by critrockets
[link] [14 comments]

Issue #141 of the multi-award-winning black & white comic book Usagi Yojimbo marks a special milestone: It’s the 200th issue over-all of the series created, as always, by Stan Sakai. And to celebrate, Stan has created a special self-contained story for this historic issue, 200 Buddhas. “With a ruthless gang terrorizing his small town, a humble stonecutter receives a vision and sets out to carve two hundred stone figures. Just as he has finished the 199th, a long-eared stranger comes to his door seeking shelter from the rain!” That long-eared stranger, of course, is the warrior rabbit that furry fans love. Usagi Yojimbo #141 hits the stands from Dark Horse Press this October.

image c. 2011 Stan Sakai

I think the first half of the show was so crazy it wasn’t even a show. But oh well! Some good points made, and one of the most confusing emails we’ve ever received in the second half. Have fun!

Download MP3

News:

• Glowing Kittens Fight Feline AIDS
• Elk rescued from tree
• Is that cow really a tank? Kill it!
• Furries: are we trending?
• Cuddly Like A Fox: Meet Gizmo, A Pet Fox, And His Keeper

E-mails:

• Anonymous – “A simple yet difficult question”
• Short Wolf, Matt – “Is it okay to want to be gay”
• Troll – “MUST HAVE INFO”
• Anonymous – “Dear Furcast”
• Arctic Wolf, Isaiah – “A God Complex & Apathetic Parents
• Arctic Wolf, Bael – “Question that has been bugging me for a while”
• Dragon, Zelig Wiegand – “That email”
• Klein Loutre – “Furries and Therians and… I can’t think of any-fucking-thing else…?”
• Skyler – “Convention info requested”
• Black Foot – “Hyptnotism VS. Mateship2″

Shout-outs:

• Dashofweak – “I need advice”
• Rabbit, Sume – “Thank you and here’s more!!!”
• Wolf, Gunnolf – “Amazing Therian/Furry books for all (Contains romance & wolves)”

FC-53 Vowice Actow - I think the first half of the show was so crazy it wasn't even a show. But oh well! Some good points made, and one of the most confusing emails we've ever received in the second half. Have fun!

I think the first half of the show was so crazy it wasn’t even a show. But oh well! Some good points made, and one of the most confusing emails we’ve ever received in the second half. Have fun!

Download MP3

News:

• Glowing Kittens Fight Feline AIDS
• Elk rescued from tree
• Is that cow really a tank? Kill it!
• Furries: are we trending?
• Cuddly Like A Fox: Meet Gizmo, A Pet Fox, And His Keeper

E-mails:

• Anonymous – “A simple yet difficult question”
• Short Wolf, Matt – “Is it okay to want to be gay”
• Troll – “MUST HAVE INFO”
• Anonymous – “Dear Furcast”
• Arctic Wolf, Isaiah – “A God Complex & Apathetic Parents
• Arctic Wolf, Bael – “Question that has been bugging me for a while”
• Dragon, Zelig Wiegand – “That email”
• Klein Loutre – “Furries and Therians and… I can’t think of any-fucking-thing else…?”
• Skyler – “Convention info requested”
• Black Foot – “Hyptnotism VS. Mateship2″

Shout-outs:

• Dashofweak – “I need advice”
• Rabbit, Sume – “Thank you and here’s more!!!”
• Wolf, Gunnolf – “Amazing Therian/Furry books for all (Contains romance & wolves)”

FC-53 Vowice Actow - I think the first half of the show was so crazy it wasn't even a show. But oh well! Some good points made, and one of the most confusing emails we've ever received in the second half. Have fun!

I think the first half of the show was so crazy it wasn’t even a show. But oh well! Some good points made, and one of the most confusing emails we’ve ever received in the second half. Have fun!

.postlink:link { color: #ff9900; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; } .postlink:visited { color: #BB5500; } .postlink:hover { color: #ffBB00; } .postlink:active { color: #ffffff; }

Download MP3 (Right-click, Save)

News:

• Glowing Kittens Fight Feline AIDS

• Elk rescued from tree

• Is that cow really a tank? Kill it!

• Furries: are we trending?

• Cuddly Like A Fox: Meet Gizmo, A Pet Fox, And His Keeper

 

E-mails:

• Anonymous – “A simple yet difficult question”
• Short Wolf, Matt – “Is it okay to want to be gay”
• Troll – “MUST HAVE INFO”
• Anonymous – “Dear Furcast”
• Arctic Wolf, Isaiah – “A God Complex & Apathetic Parents
• Arctic Wolf, Bael – “Question that has been bugging me for a while”
• Dragon, Zelig Wiegand – “That email”
• Klein Loutre – “Furries and Therians and… I can’t think of any-fucking-thing else…?”
• Skyler – “Convention info requested”
• Black Foot – “Hyptnotism VS. Mateship2″

Shout-outs:

• Dashofweak – “I need advice”
• Rabbit, Sume – “Thank you and here’s more!!!”
• Wolf, Gunnolf – “Amazing Therian/Furry books for all (Contains romance & wolves)”

FC-53 Vowice Actow - I think the first half of the show was so crazy it wasn't even a show. But oh well! Some good points made, and one of the most confusing emails we've ever received in the second half. Have fun!

Hope you all like it :3

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4997880

submitted by narfvader2
[link] [9 comments]

Fox Tech Ltd. is a small, but notable company that is the leading force, driving more mobile based applications for members of the furry fandom and is currently working on a mobile application for FurAffinity. Fox Tech has made what was a dream to some become a reality. While the iOS version may not be in development for some time, the Android version of the app is currently available for free. You can now browse, favorite, and even comment on artwork while on the go, using this app.

Fox Tech would like to develop apps for Apple products in the future, however acceptance into the App Store seems unlikely because of FurAffinity’s mature content as demonstrated by the rejection of the FurryNewsNetwork app.  If there is enough user support of the Android app, there will likely be development for a version in a third party iOS app store.

Chip Fox, the owner of Fox Tech, would like to improve Fur Affinity Mobile by working together with some of the FA moderators. Working with FA means that the mobile application can continue to grow along with FA without unexpected crashes or interruptions of service occurring from any website changes. Fox Tech would like to help FurAffinity develop an open FurAffinity.net API for all furries. Even though no offer of support has been received from the moderators of FA, Fox Tech is still open to a partnership to provide a better application for all members of FA and the furry fandom as a whole.

Currently Fox Tech Ltd. is working on fixing known issues with the application. Most of the application’s features work as they are intended, but there are still a few tweaks and errors that need to be addressed. While the application is in development it will be ad-free, but once the official release of the app is available, ads can be expected on some of the application’s pages.

While a free version will be available, there will also be a pro version of the FA app that will provide ad-free browsing for only $1.99/mo. The proceeds will be used to maintain the Fox Tech website, to help keep the app up-to-date with any patches and fixes that need to be made, and to add special features that don’t yet exist on FA such as social networking tie-ins. Be assured that if for any reason there is an interruption in service due to the fault of the application and not of FA itself, while using the pro version of the FA app, a full refund can be expected.

Fox Tech has many plans for the future, and hopes to branch out into many additional areas of the furry community. “Furries have always been a very tech savvy community, finding all sorts of ways to connect with each other. Unfortunately, the community has always had find workarounds for the lack of mobile device support. FoxTech would like to provide software just for them whether they’re on or away from their computers.” says Chip Fox. Chip Fox has begun working with several generous and talented furry developers who are donating their time to Fox Tech to help support and promote the furry community. With each of their contributions, we come closer to having the app fully running. We look forward to seeing what the future holds for additional projects for the furry fandom.

Find FoxTech on FA – ChipFox

Download from the Android Market HERE!!

submitted by Slapcock
[link] [5 comments]

Hey guys, just a reminder to anyone who didn't think we would not hit the cap at FF this year we have over 1000 pre reg. If you are going and have not registered, do so ASAP with pay pal tonight. Once we sell out at the door we will have an extremely short amount of day passes available....DONT miss out! All three hotels are fully booked, this year is going to be amazing, be sure to come to the dealers cashier and check out the AWESOME FF shwag we will have for this year!

submitted by Slidewolf
[link] [3 comments]

submitted by furbag
[link] [10 comments]

Author: Sonious

My Little Pony">The Bronies (the chosen name of post-adolescent My Little Pony fans) rejoice as a second season of the hit cartoon show Friendship is Magic begins tomorrow on Discovery Channel’s cartoon channel The Hub (9 AM EDT). But before it comes out, it might be a good time to reflect and review what made the show such a hit in its first season.

An unusual partnership

Before the show grew in massive popularity, some of the cartoon community had criticized that Laurn Faust’s career move to a partnership with Hasbro was a sign that independent cartoonists who created original content were on the collapse. Particularly when the My Little Pony cartoon franchise had a history or creating characters that were just about as plastic as the product itself.

However, after looking through these first season myself, I can honestly say that the fears of these initial criticisms were not well founded. In fact, the concern should probably be inverted. It’s not a toymaker saving the cartoonist in this case, Hasbro probably got much more out of the cartoonist then the other way around. It seems to me toys are in far more danger as an industry then animation is in this day and age where children are more computer savvy (entertainment, there’s an app for that) and parents can’t buy as many toys as they used to.

Character

Ultimately, the success of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comes down to one simple principal. When you have well rounded and complex characters, the stories will write themselves. The cartoon starts out simple enough with one main protagonist, Twilight Sparkle, who is a bookworm complete with the introvert tendencies as she is told to go off to Ponyville to help with a festival there. She is also told to make friends, something she is very not happy with doing as she finds more comfort in her books then hanging around with other ponies. I guess that’s why I shouldn’t be to surprised that I got her on the pony personality quiz, I suppose. It might also be why I was able to relate to the show early on, as I could already see reflections of my own personality in the, at this point, main protagonist.

Through Twilight we meet the other main characters of Ponyville. Each of their personalities are easily identifiable, and at first glance we certainly get their main qualities. The randomness of Pinkie Pie, the boldness of Rainbow Dash, the shyness of Fluttershy. Though as we hang out around the characters more, we learn that while they may have a signature trait there are interesting quirks to those traits which can surprise people. On our introduction to Fluttershy for instance, we note that while she has trouble speaking to other ponies with any sense of forwardness, around other creatures she seems to come out of her shell. Certainly that isn’t the only quirk she has, and in my opinion her quirks were the most surprising of the group as the episodes went forward.

Many of the episodes deal with how the diverse cast overcome their differences, sometimes as a whole group dealing with one situation, or in some episodes highlighting a particular one of the six ponies dealing with an issue. Sometimes its interesting to note how even characters set up to be so different have so much in common. For instance while Rarity and Applejack clash in one episode over one being a neat freak and the other being more rugged, they each outwardly show a “workaholic” nature and how it gets the best of them in two separate episodes.

Finding One’s Way

Also, a recurring event in each show is of course some kind of lesson that was learned by the characters involved. While some of them are obvious ones that most adults know such as “Not judging books by their cover” and the like, some of them are very good ones to take away even for adults.

My favorite one was actually from one of my least favorite episodes (Dressed for Success), as I’m not a huge Rarity fan: “If you try too hard to please every pony, you’ll end up pleasing no pony, especially yourself.”

One of the main themes of the show in the first season, through the Cutie Mark Crusaders (young ponies who become main characters in the show who go an a quest for their “cutie marks”) and the episode Winter Wrap Up, is trying to find one’s place in the world;a very strong theme to have, and certainly pertains as much to adults as it does to children. We all try to find something that we’re not only good at, but enjoy doing, and while sometimes we may not see what we’re good at, we certainly know what we enjoy doing. I know many people, including myself, who sometimes go about doing random things trying to find something that will leave a mark on the world around us, sometimes ignoring our strengths to try something new. So in a way we can all relate to being in their shoes, trying to find that thing we’re good at, that we can use to establish stability in our lives.

In essence, though, it all comes down to the Wear Sunscreen quote:

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don’t.

Social dynamics

It’s interesting to see how quickly a show can have an intimidate impact on the social dynamics both within and outside the fandom. Certainly one could write an article in and of itself revolving around the furries and non-furries that love the ponies, and furrys that hate ponies. The reasons for the later are usually highly variable. One I spoke to for instance didn’t like MLP because of it’s nod to /4/chan with the introduction of Derpy Hooves (an animation mistake cross-eyed pony who became a “Where’s Waldo?” type character in the show after people noticed it).

My response to this was that one should probably not base their like and dislikes based simply upon the likes and dislikes of another. I like the show not because it is popular, because /4/chan likes it, because furries like it, because my nemesis hates it, or to be part of some fangroup or anti-fan group. I like for being a children’s show with depth. I like it for painting women as the complicated creatures they are. I like it for being a cartoon with animals that seem more human then certain cartoons with human characters.

But in the end it all comes down to lesson from Dressed for Success. The show will not be everyone’s cup of tea; some like cartoons that are more random than coherent, or more aesthetically gritty rather then pretty. For those individuals, MLP:FiM would likely not be your kind of show.

On the second season

In that regard I do hope the nods to the internet fanbase remain just simplistic like the Derpy Hooves cameos. For instance, what happened with Fluttershy in the final episode has me raising a caution flag as the motive for her behavior seemed a bit outside the bounds of her character. I won’t go into why that is to keep spoilers low for those who hadn’t seen the episode.  It felt like an attempt to have her character do something just for the sake people wanted to see more of it, to me anyway. It made me question if her quirk had become so adored in memes that it completely changed the purpose of her character. However, since it was the last episode, this question has yet to be answered.

While I loved the first season, I come into the second with caution. They started the first season being themselves like Rarity creating the first batches of dresses for her friends. As they’ve grown a diverse fanbase, each having their own tastes, they run the risk of getting too much feedback or taking too much of it to heart. Or being worried about maintaining the fanbase rather then concentrating on the original formula that made the show good.

The other concern of course being not of the fanbase, but of the corporation Hasbro itself, as Laurn Faust has stepped down as Executive Producer for the second season (the rest of the team remains intact). The article writer for Equestria Daily seems to believe that the toymaker may try to take the successful show in a more “marketable” direction.

So as the second season begins, and many bronies start to watch, it will certainly be interesting to see if the show overcomes the outside pressures to retain “ze Magics” that made the first one entertaining, fun, and thought-provoking.

09/16/2011
By: bluebarker

http://wolfquest.org/ – Learning about ecosystems boring? I bet it is, so Minnesota Zoos and eduWebs have teamed up to give us WolfQuest. A truly 3D, CG simulated immersive environment. Allowing up to single play through two action packed episodes or group play which allows you to form a pack with up to five of your friends. You’ve never heard kids howling in class to get in all of the excitement. WolfQuest takes place primarily in YellowStone National Park where you, the player become a real-life Wolf (virtually-speaking of course, but a little imagination never hurt nobody).

Being a wolf is not all fun and games, raves and yiffs; but struggling to survive is a whole different ball game. Jack London’s “Call of the Wild” never heard of rough until you’ve played this. Struggling to provide, pack wars, caribou hunting, Alpha Trials and the thrill of the hunt was never this exciting, beats having to freeze in Eight Below freezing.

Start off making a wolf, how cool is that. Customized features include: name, fur texture, fur color, Wolf Stat Sliders, and gender. And just like that you have a wolf to play as in the world. ***Your name is unchangeable past this screen, you have been warned or you will have to make a new wolf for a new name*** The game play is very straight forward with some extra features as well. As a wolf you have access to Scent Mode that enables you to find the nearest bears, elks or other wolves. You can walk or run You accept quests that get displayed in the screen. Before you can find a mate and work your way up the wolf social hierarchy you must first do one of the beginner quests which entails you to go to different areas of the pack’s territory and make foreign wolves leave your pack’s territory. By following scents and tracking markers you make it to your first enemy wolf who wants to come in and take over. You need to make him leave and you enter Battle Mode which is turn-based depending on what commands you give your wolf. Your wolf’s features changes according to the actions giving (which are all scientifically accurate, for the most part). Either by making it give in or by defeating in cold blood you become victorious and are inclined to find a late. you find your pack and sniff out the most eligible mate. Its all rather fun and very insightful learning about the balance of nature within your territory. True you can go read wiki articles, or you can play and interact it all out, the choice is yours.

Education Standpoint:8/10 – With the majority of all the player’s actions in accordance to the wolf’s onscreen it is very true to nature. Being backed by eduWebs, its no wonder this game is one of the better Ecology Educative games I have seen recently. This was very rough in the beginning since its start in 2005, but I believe it has gone through some major changes to ensure playability and focus on both the interactivity and the learning aspects it strove to accomplish.

Art Ascetics:6/10 – Being rather generous one may think this is a game made for Windows 98 and that era of games. Although the engine is working and not crazy lagging, although rendering takes some time, its a small wonder as to how rendering takes so long with the same trees copy and duplicated across a semi-stale environment. The environment isn’t anything to win awards over, but the wolf interactions are probably the best part and what you are really playing for, that and the learning aspects.

Game Design:8/10 – Following the five major Elements of Game Design: Space, Components, Mechanics, Goals and Rules, WolfQuest stays true to all its values. Having a nice balance between Design and Play, making sure its not too easy, but challenging enough to have the most seasoned of gamers working a sweat; fighting other wolves, hunting and mating is all true to life. Now the element that might get people a bit frustrated is the limited amount of options, now in all fairness these are realistic wolves; not elemental, not mutant nor heroic.

WolfQuest: Learning About Wolf Ecology Just Got More Fun by VG (bluebarker) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.Based on a work at www.wolfquest.org.