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We don’t even try to explain some of the things we come across here, folks… We just pass them along to you! Like a new 5-issue full-color miniseries from Image Comics called Shirtless Bear-Fighter! Here’s what they tell us: “After being betrayed by the bears that raised him, the legendary Shirtless Bear-Fighter wanders the forest he’s sworn to protect, fistfighting bears, eating flapjacks, and being the angriest man the world has ever known! When wild-eyed, super-strong bears attack the citizens of Major City, Shirtless ventures into the human world to do what he does best…Punch Those Bears In The Face! But all is not as it seems. Someone is manipulating Shirtless…and only by confronting the demons of his past can Shirtless hope to save his future! A heart-filled, hilarious, tall tale for the ages… you don’t want to miss Shirtless Bear-Fighter!” It’s written by Jody Leheup and Sebastian Girner, with art by Mike Spicer and  Nil Vendrell, and it’s coming to comic book stores later this month.

image c. 2017 Image Comics

 

I've had nights like this. It's a beautiful new day, hey hey.
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Papabear,

Why do conventions keep choosing the dame furs to be Guests of Honor just about every single weekend and/or year?

I've been in the fandom for quite some time now and love every minute of it. But there's one thing that concerns and that is the choosing of Guest of Honor.
It says on Wikifur that a special guest is someone who puts in a lot of hard work for many many years and who is very talented.

I've noticed that many cons follow or go by that rule anymore. Just look at the past Guests and you will see some really cool names. But now it seems the same names keep on popping up. Go to a convention website and you will see that they keep the same one's over and over again.

It got me thinking why do they keep doing this? How is it fair to the rest of us who have worked really hard for many years but have received no recognition, appreciation, and awards?

Some con staff has gone far as pick someone from over-seas, mostly Europe. Now that costs a lot of money. Thousands actually. So you're telling me there are people out there who are going to fund a stranger's trip to the con?

It seems like they only pick the people who are already rich and successful before they even got to the fandom. Why don't they choose people who are very talented and skilled but down on there luck?

Some people have barely been in the fandom for like a few months and already people are making them a special guest.

I know its all about the money and how much traffic they can bring to their con. It's just it would be nice to start seeing some real changes. Choosing those that have never ever picked before and starting giving them a chance. You never know 'cause they might just surprise you.

Has anyone else noticed this repeating trend? What are your thoughts?

Anonymous

* * *

Hi, Furiend,

Furry convention organizers select special guest speakers that they think will be of interest to attendees. These tend to be people who are, for example, published authors, filmmakers, or well-known artists. They don't pick lesser-known people because they won't attract an audience.

Let's illustrate it this way: say there is a Star Trek convention coming up in Las Vegas. Who would you rather see present a talk? Patrick Stuart or Mary Smith, who has written some successful fan fiction on her blog? Even if Smith is really good at what she does, I think the answer is pretty obvious.

As to why you repeatedly see the same people, there are likely two reasons: 1) same reason you see cast members from Star Trek TNG appearing over and over at conventions, and 2) con leaders often develop relationships with certain speakers and invite them to come back.

Should furcon leaders try to mix it up a bit? Perhaps more effort could be put into that, yes. Often, it can be a struggle to find new speakers, however, who are both willing and able to attend. Also, don't forget, the furry fandom is a very specialized fandom. There are not a lot of people of any prominence who are working in this subgenre of fantasy and science fiction, so choices are limited. Even writers and such who make stuff we consider furry can refuse an invitation because they don't see themselves as furry artists.

If you really wish to influence how this works, perhaps you should get involved with a furry convention and try to get on the committee that selects guest speakers. That's one option :-3

Hugs,
Papabear
​

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Dyeing To Be With You, by Sisco Polaris. Illustrated by Edesk.
North Charleston, SC, CreateSpace, December 2015, trade paperback $12.00 (193 pages), Kindle $4.00.

Dyeing To Be With You is a teenage m/m romance, full of adolescent angst. Lucas, just entering Calder High at 14 years old, was the only polar bear there. The other students, all black bears, bullied him viciously, particularly the sadistic Kalvin. Lucas was a bit of a crybaby, so he took it more emotionally than he should have. He was very happy when his father was transferred to Riker’s Bay and his family left Calder.

But now his father has been transferred back to Calder, and Lucas faces returning to Calder High and its bullies for his final year of high school. He’s grown a lot while he was away – he’s 17 and nearly seven feet tall now — but he’s still emotionally weak, too dependent on his older sister Anna.

“Anna’s baby brother – that’s who he had been all his life. Not that it was a bad thing to have a big sister looking out for him. She had always helped him when he needed it. Of course, she had gotten him into a lot of trouble, too. A baby brother was a fine scapegoat when you work together to steal cookies, or (more lately) when you are sneaking out to go on a date, and you need someone to cover for you with your parents.” (p. 13)

When Anna gets a trainee job at a beauty salon, Lucas gets the wild idea of dyeing his fur and passing as a black bear during his final high school year. Anna scoffs at first, then takes it as a challenge.

‘Yeah sure, a new seven foot tall black bear. Besides, you wouldn’t just need black.’ In spite of herself, the female bear’s mind was working it over. ‘They have light brown on their muzzles.’

‘Well, I’m sure you have light brown dye at the salon,’ the male bear replied, a sly smile coming to his face. It was a crazy, insane idea, and he knew it, but it could work. After all, it was just a year, and then he would be out. He could let the dye fade out naturally, or even take a dip in some dye removal solution.” (p. 13)

They are abetted by Anna’s lively superior, Mrs. Nesbitt, who helps dye Lucas’ fur.

“‘Oh my, what a big lad you are, and so polite, too!’ the black bear said with genuine cheer in her voice as she put the brush down and walked over. She touched his shoulders and gave him a close look. The young bear blushed deeply as he was inspected. ‘Ah, a fine strapping young man. Of course, size never stopped bullies; they don’t have to hurt you to hurt you. Sticks and stones may break your bones, but names will hurt your spirit.’” (p. 28)

Lucas needs to be dyed all over. He hadn’t realized what that meant.

“He yelped as his sister suddenly ran a comb down his sheath. Nobody had touched him there as long as he could remember. Despite his discomfort at his own sister’s touch, his teenage body tingled at the attention.” (p. 31)

After a tense confrontation with his reluctant parents, Lucas gets permission to go ahead with his plan. Lucas is so keyed up on his first day at Calder High that he almost sabotages himself, especially when he finds his locker is near that of a panda named Charlie who turns out to be a friend of Kalvin. And the upbeat Kalvin determines to welcome Lucas (or “Luke”) to the school. Even Kalvin’s most well-meaning efforts, such as his attempt to get Lucas onto the school baseball team, pose hazards.

“‘Great,’ Lucas muttered half-heartedly. His plan to lay low and sail smoothly through his last year had not factored in participation in any team sports. It wasn’t so much the playing that he was worried about, or even the rather poor attitude of the team’s captain. His mother would insist on coming to every game he played and try to drag the entire family with her. Explaining why there was a family of polar bears cheering him on, oh so very loudly, would be difficult.” (pgs. 89-90)

Lucas finds out that Kalvin had a reasonable justification to be cruel to him when they were younger, which he’s matured out of. During his own growth from 14 to 17, Lucas’ sexuality has also developed. He’s turned out to be gay, which he hasn’t come out to anybody about yet. And guess who he is attracted to?

“Halfway through the first movie, the cola finally took its revenge on Kalvin. The warmth was suddenly gone as the black bear stood up whispering urgently, ‘I gotta pee.’ Lucas leaned back in his chair so Kal could slide passed [sic.] him. For a wonderful moment, his friend’s pert rump became his entire world. The soft, tempting mounds mere inches from his face, a strong hint of his musk filling the bear’s nose. He could all but taste the beautiful posterior taunting him, and the urge to lean forward and grab the delicious black mountains with both paws and pull the black bear down onto his lap was so strong he felt his paws move.” (p. 114)

Also guess how Kalvin responds to this. The scenes where they get together – at least two whole chapters — are definitely NSFW.

The questions remaining to Lucas are how to tell his family that he’s gay, and how to tell Kalvin that he’s really that geeky polar bear wimp that he used to torment. Like I said, adolescent angst — pages of it. But at the end, a happier finale than Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Dyeing To Be With You (cover by Edesk) is a funny-animal novel. There’s no reason why the characters couldn’t be humans instead of bears. Polaris handles the description of them as brown bears and polar bears (and Charlie as a panda – he’s Asiatic-American) nicely, but he undercuts this by too many real human references. There are real video games like Battlefield and Call of Duty; baseball teams like the Yankees; states like Alaska and Texas; movies like the Back to the Future trilogy; candy like Snickers and M&Ms. But if you don’t mind a shallow furriness, some poor proofreading amidst the generally good writing, lots of realistic teen male dialogue with four-letter words, and a lot of explicit teenage gay sex in the last half of the novel, you’ll enjoy Dyeing To Be With You.

–Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon

More and more little hints being dropped for My Little Pony: The Movie, coming to theaters this October. Next up? My Little Pony: The Movie Prequel, a new full-color mini-series from IDW (of course). “This fall, My Little Pony: The Movie hits theaters, and this prequel mini-series is your first look at the fantastic adventure to come! Danger looms over Equestria as a new villain debuts! Each issue will focus on a new character from the upcoming movie!” Equestria Daily has an in-depth look. The comic premiers later in June.

image c. 2017 IDW Publishing

Patreons will get episodes first right after recording. Just a buck gets you early access and a downloadable mp3 file! www.patreon.com/thedraggetshow Serathin's amazing Dragget Show story! - docs.google.com/document/d/1AYkJR…y8RCsCK0NjEw/edit ALSO, we're not just on SoundCloud, you can also subscribe to this on most podcast services like iTunes! Don't forget to hang out in our telegram chat, now w/ over 100 members!telegram.me/draggetshow ep. 165 - Diets Suck - Patreons will get episodes first right after reco…

O M Goodness! Halfwolrd and Lyla are in this game! This is something that I doubt the movies will ever do.
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Things are definitely getting “serious” (if we can use that word) in the world of DC Comics meets Warner Brothers Cartoons. That, or someone in the the upper echelons has come completely unhinged… Check out the these titles for upcoming series: Batman/Elmer Fudd Special. Jonah Hex/Yosemite Sam Special (featuring Foghorn Leghorn too!). Legion of Super Heroes/Bugs Bunny Special. Lobo/Road Runner Special. (Lobo teamed up with Wile E. Coyote. Can the universe survive??) Martian Manhunter/Marvin the Martian Special. And (as pictured below) the Wonder Woman/Tasmanian Devil Special. All this, plus a graphic novel reprint of the DC/Looney Tunes 100-Page Super Spectacular, a miniseries from 2000 that was the kick-off for all of this silliness. All of them arrive later this month, and CBR has a look at some of the amazing covers.

image c. 2017 DC Comics

CJ was a bad dog and wasn’t on the show this week, so Varanus joined us for a huge roundup, lots of news, and an email segment that includes a follow up.

Download MP3

Watch Video Link Roundup:

• PETA Wasn’t protesting Califur
• New Zealand researcher probes furry mental health impact
• Restaurant in Aus called “Foxes Den”
• Astronauts may wear eight-legged ‘spider’ spacesuits to crawl across the moons of Mars
• Truck rams Newark’s AnalTech; odor leads to HazMat situation
• InfoWars Would Like You to Stop Making Fun of Trump’s Totally Normal Orb Photo
• Feds Propose Changing Protections for World’s Last Wild Red Wolves
• X-Files Theme in Major key
• Zootopia 2 is confirmed: Disney will be working on the sequel
• Science Still Can’t Explain Why These Tarantulas Are Blue
• [Tom Scott] The Poison Garden Of Alnwick
• Portland’s City Council Votes to Give Furries the Right to Defecate, Mate in Dog Parks
• Dreamkeepers SKIRMISH – Shadow Wars of Anduruna
• FuzzyLogic Escape Room Needs Funding
• Social Media manager for Wendy’s Twitter handle leaves
• Furries: How unleashing your inner animal brings friendship, love, community

News:

• Sleep Deprivation Makes The Brain Go Into Overdrive And “Eat Itself”
• People With Creative Personalities Really Do See The World Differently
• Man Who Hates 7-Eleven With A Passion Opens Up 6-Twelve Instead
• Habitual sub eater may move lunch spot because of Tonawanda resident’s gripe
• Stranded Amtrak Passengers Order Pizza To Delayed Train
• Machete-Wielding Clown Tries To Hitchhike Along Busy California Highway

Emails:

• Piggu – “Re: ^( ?( ? ?)? )^ [Follow Up]”
• Hachi Shibaru – “Something Fun”

FC-268 Terminal Creativity - CJ was a bad dog and wasn't on the show this week, so Varanus joined us for a huge roundup, lots of news, and an email segment that includes a follow up.

CJ was a bad dog and wasn’t on the show this week, so Varanus joined us for a huge roundup, lots of news, and an email segment that includes a follow up.

Download MP3

Watch Video Link Roundup:

• PETA Wasn’t protesting Califur
• New Zealand researcher probes furry mental health impact
• Restaurant in Aus called “Foxes Den”
• Astronauts may wear eight-legged ‘spider’ spacesuits to crawl across the moons of Mars
• Truck rams Newark’s AnalTech; odor leads to HazMat situation
• InfoWars Would Like You to Stop Making Fun of Trump’s Totally Normal Orb Photo
• Feds Propose Changing Protections for World’s Last Wild Red Wolves
• X-Files Theme in Major key
• Zootopia 2 is confirmed: Disney will be working on the sequel
• Science Still Can’t Explain Why These Tarantulas Are Blue
• [Tom Scott] The Poison Garden Of Alnwick
• Portland’s City Council Votes to Give Furries the Right to Defecate, Mate in Dog Parks
• Dreamkeepers SKIRMISH – Shadow Wars of Anduruna
• FuzzyLogic Escape Room Needs Funding
• Social Media manager for Wendy’s Twitter handle leaves
• Furries: How unleashing your inner animal brings friendship, love, community

News:

• Sleep Deprivation Makes The Brain Go Into Overdrive And “Eat Itself”
• People With Creative Personalities Really Do See The World Differently
• Man Who Hates 7-Eleven With A Passion Opens Up 6-Twelve Instead
• Habitual sub eater may move lunch spot because of Tonawanda resident’s gripe
• Stranded Amtrak Passengers Order Pizza To Delayed Train
• Machete-Wielding Clown Tries To Hitchhike Along Busy California Highway

Emails:

• Piggu – “Re: ^( ?( ? ?)? )^ [Follow Up]”
• Hachi Shibaru – “Something Fun”

FC-268 Terminal Creativity - CJ was a bad dog and wasn't on the show this week, so Varanus joined us for a huge roundup, lots of news, and an email segment that includes a follow up.

CJ was a bad dog and wasn’t on the show this week, so Varanus joined us for a huge roundup, lots of news, and an email segment that includes a follow up.

Download MP3

Link Roundup:

• PETA Wasn’t protesting Califur
• New Zealand researcher probes furry mental health impact
• Restaurant in Aus called “Foxes Den”
• Astronauts may wear eight-legged ‘spider’ spacesuits to crawl across the moons of Mars
• Truck rams Newark’s AnalTech; odor leads to HazMat situation
• InfoWars Would Like You to Stop Making Fun of Trump’s Totally Normal Orb Photo
• Feds Propose Changing Protections for World’s Last Wild Red Wolves
• X-Files Theme in Major key
• Zootopia 2 is confirmed: Disney will be working on the sequel
• Science Still Can’t Explain Why These Tarantulas Are Blue
• [Tom Scott] The Poison Garden Of Alnwick
• Portland’s City Council Votes to Give Furries the Right to Defecate, Mate in Dog Parks
• Dreamkeepers SKIRMISH – Shadow Wars of Anduruna
• FuzzyLogic Escape Room Needs Funding
• Social Media manager for Wendy’s Twitter handle leaves
• Furries: How unleashing your inner animal brings friendship, love, community

News:

• Sleep Deprivation Makes The Brain Go Into Overdrive And “Eat Itself”
• People With Creative Personalities Really Do See The World Differently
• Man Who Hates 7-Eleven With A Passion Opens Up 6-Twelve Instead
• Habitual sub eater may move lunch spot because of Tonawanda resident’s gripe
• Stranded Amtrak Passengers Order Pizza To Delayed Train
• Machete-Wielding Clown Tries To Hitchhike Along Busy California Highway

Emails:

• Piggu – “Re: ^( ?( ? ?)? )^ [Follow Up]”
• Hachi Shibaru – “Something Fun”

[Live] Terminal Creativity

Disney Magical Dance is a new black & white manga written and illustrated by Nao Kodaka. “A young girl joins a dancing competition with her fellow students and soon realizes that she has two left feet! She spends a lot of time practicing but is discouraged by her results. Because of the young girl’s passion and dedication, Tinker Bell appears to grant her a wish. When Tinker Bell casts a spell on a magical card, the young girl enters the magical world of Disney and learns the joys of dancing!” The first volume is coming from Tokyo Pop next week, and it’s available for order on Amazon now.

image c. 2017 Tokyo Pop

Meep!
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The writers’ group known collectively as Erin Hunter (Warriors) have returned with Broken Pride, the first book in their new series Bravelands. “A lion cast out from his pride. An elephant who can read the bones of the dead. A baboon rebelling against his destiny. For generations, the animals of the African plains have followed a single rule: Only kill to survive. But when an unthinkable act of betrayal shatters the peace, the fragile balance between predators and prey will rest in the paws of three unlikely heroes. Set in an epic new world and told from three different animals’ points of view, Bravelands will thrill readers who love Spirit Animals and Wings of Fire, as well as the legion of dedicated fans who’ve made Erin Hunter a bestselling phenomenon.” It’s coming later this month from Harper Collins. Check out their web site for more.

image c. 2017 Harper Collins

Bonus video for today! Wait, I thought the Dinosaurs were extinct due to yodeling? Thanks to BlueJaguar for the tip.
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Seems legit.
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“the truth” – @tinydeerguy

Tinydeerguy’s tweet shows his character being unhappy that being tame is less popular than being sexy. It has thousands of likes and the comments agree. They look down on this situation, or admit it’s true by asking him to take it all off.

Tinydeerguy’s FA gallery demonstrates it with view numbers.  The first page has many tame cartoons with a range of cute stories, but about one in eight are labeled “oh look porn”, “yay another porn,” etc.  They don’t tease, they get right to the point – dicks! Art in the dirty 1/8 gets twice as many views.

Honestly, I think the ratio of  7/8 cuteness to one boner is perfect. If that’s what you want, it’s rewarding without being a one-trick pony. If you don’t, it’s mostly just cute. Pure porn would be monotonous, but the context gives it great variety and it all fits together for the character.

The dirty 1/8 seems to be judged less valuable with titles that are less thoughtful than others.  But Tinydeerguy is enjoying the attention and pointing it out at the same time.  (You could call that a wee bit hypocritical, but I think it shows social shame, not personal cynicism.)  The many likers/judgers are doing that too.

Isn’t that kind of self-hateful?

Adult art has always been popular like that, and liable to get hate.  The Burned Furs made an entire puritanical crusade against it. They claimed it was degenerate. They were wrong.

First of all, it’s nobody’s business to judge. Sex is healthy and drawing it is more creative than any other depiction.  For furry art, it’s a feature not a bug:

“I adore furry porn,” says The Dog. “I much prefer it to images of real life humans. I think it’s worth mentioning that furry porn tends to have more humanity than a lot of ‘regular’ porn. Since it’s a drawing, the artist has to bring emotion and humanity into the image in order to make it relatable on some level.” Furry porn endeavors toward emotional narratives, and most mainstream pornographic films still don’t employ that strategy.

– Emily Gaudette, “Furries Are Having Future Sex” (Inverse.com)

Secondarily, I think adult art isn’t unfairly rewarded, because comparing it to tame art isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison.

Look beyond the one example of Tinydeerguy. Popufur.com ranks the most popular furry artists on FurAffinity. (The site seems broken and I can’t tell when it was last updated, but you can still see a list that demonstrates the point.)  The top 20 artists on the list all have porn in their galleries.

You HAVE to draw porn to get popular, right?

Wrong… that’s not looking high enough. Fandom isn’t the whole world.

Look at a list of prestigious convention guests of honor.  You can find many who are honored for achieving in the mainstream.  They may not be furries, it’s true, but they’re adjacent by accepting the invitation to mingle. They’re artists and fans too, with careers that many furry artists aspire to.

Those guests of honor don’t have to draw dirty to get professional. (Actually, some do it privately – It’s best to keep it separate from a portfolio, but I’m pretty sure that it’s not so stigmatized these days as it used to be.  Companies understand that artists work for passion or take many different kinds of jobs, and furry is even a cool marketing thing now.) They succeeded with tame art – and so can you.

Being “forced” to draw dirty is more like making a choice between getting good enough as an artist to win recognition – or delivering a type of content in demand. It’s not even a dichotomy if you’re a professional with separate accounts.  Of course, art is hard and competitive and involves doing stuff that isn’t personal passion, but that’s just part of the job if you choose it.  Mainstream pros are no less prone to feeling pigeonholed by assembly-line work.

Chasing popularity. Art by Tinydeerguy

OK, success has different standards for different kinds.  So why is dirty furry art so popular, again? Is the group filled with lust-driven pervos?  I would say they’re just more liberated and confident about following what they like than the average person. And the mainstream doesn’t have a place for adult furry content.  It’s not on the same playing field.

Tame stuff already has the mainstream to support it. Dirty stuff flourishes in a niche we created. The growth has been incredible, making opportunity for hobby artists to get chops and move ahead without mainstream patronage. Thank the freaks for making MORE opportunity for tame artists.

That’s why dirty art does so well in fandom. It’s not just about cheap thrills, it’s also about independent freedom. That’s the value of WTF.

The last thing I want to say is that it’s not a competition.  If a dirty artist gets 1,000 likes and your tame art gets three… Someone likes you.  Appreciate the RIGHT someones. Don’t chase popularity, let them find you.  You don’t need the same likes as the other guy, because you don’t need to draw the same as them.  Do it your way.

I love this fandom because nobody decided to make it happen – you did it your way.

To support writing by furries, for furries, please visit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, and support all of the team’s news and reviews.

Recently Animation World Network helped guide us to Secret Agent 00K9, a new independent CGI animation project. “Join Secret Agent 00K9 and be whisked away to a world of fun animal characters and ‘who dun it’ mysteries.  Using state-of-the-art spy gadgets and his own cunning instincts for adventure, 00K9 plies skills of detection across the city of Furrywood, a wild and wooly metropolis filled with animals of all shapes, sizes…and schemes! Creator Brian Hoff is a long-time artist, producer and teacher in the animation community. He’s building a grassroots following for 00K9 to honor his original inspiration – his dog!” Mr. Hoff has created a Patreon page to help finance the project. The AWN article includes an interview with Mr. Hoff as well as a preview video.

image c. 2017 by Brian Hoff

 

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