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Episode 348 - Knotcast Micro
Animalis, by John Peter Jones – book review by Fred Patten
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
Animalis, by John Peter Jones
Seattle, WA, CreateSpace, October 2014, trade paperback $12.99 (330 pages), Kindle $0.99.
Animalis begins with 17-year-old pod pilot Jax Minette, his same-age best friend and commanding officer Hank Schneps, and two other pod pilots being launched into low orbit to intercept a space plane controlled by a rat Animalis.
“At the end of the sparring field, the path turned and joined a road running through the middle of the small base, passing the armory and storehouse. Jax tilted his head up to gaze at the launch shaft of the base’s airport disappearing into the clouds. It was used to sling space planes almost to low orbit, saving thousands of pounds of fuel. It was a magnificent sight. The honey comb pattern of the beams started wide at the brightly lit base and rose up to a slender point a thousand feet in the air, like a giant had pinched the metal and dragged it into the sky.
The view was cut off as they entered the hangar beside the launch shaft and continued walking toward the Hornet. The barracks, the mess hall, the officers quarters, and the command center were all part of the Hornet – a monstrous space plane with two pod bays, four turrets, and room to house forty men.” (p. 8)
Mankind is fighting for survival against the Animalis. The Animalis are all vicious killers.
“Arena fights – Two Animalis fighting to the death. Not just to the death, but till the loser was devoured. Or worse, till the body was thrown into the crowd of Animalis watching in the stands, and they devoured the loser. The Animalis were still mostly animals, and animals needed to hunt. It was better than Animalis hunting on the streets, as long as you didn’t have to watch it.” (p. 21)
The Animalis are supposed to be savage, feral animals. Then how do they build arenas? How do they build space planes and put them into orbit? But they are clearly hostile to humans:
“Hank held his hand out to block the door: ‘Hold on.’
Jax had already expanded one of the crate icons as Hank had spoken. It expanded to reveal its contents: Weapons. Tactical, long-range laser rifles. Jax expanded more icons. Rifles, pistols, shock sticks – the whole plane was loaded with military-grade weapons. The mission had a new layer of complexity. It was illegal. They had to be Animalis militants willing to die to protect their payload. Jax could have a shootout. Blasting holes in the walls, sucking the plastic debris out into space.” (pgs. 22-23)
Jax has only heard about the Animalis and seen videos of them up to now:
“Easy – stay and watch the hole. But as Jax waited, his subconscious mind filled with the conflicting information he had heard about the Animalis, trying to prepare him for a possible encounter. He had seen plenty of videos of Animalis. Of course there were the violent and disturbingly brutal videos of the arena. In Jax’s mind, they confirmed that the Animalis were as unpredictable and unthinking as their animal counterparts. Then there were the videos of Animalis acting like humans, and sometimes super humans: working complex jobs, learning new languages, and most surprisingly, teaching other Animalis similar skills. The behaviors were likely mindlessly programmed into the Animalis through training, and if left alone, the Animalis were sure to revert back to normal animal behaviors.” (p. 24)
Jax’s first encounter with the rat Animalis belies this:
“Up close, the Animalis looked surreal. In gravity, it would have stood upright at about four and a half feet tall. It was like a human, but the proportions were all wrong: head was too big, arms too short, legs too thick, spine too long. And yet every feature had the same design language as a human’s.
[…]
But its face was where any resemblance to human beauty ended. The head was almost identical to its rodent relatives. The long, bent snout of a rat. Two large front teeth. Ears the size of baseballs. Fur that was glossy and black. But the eyes were the hardest to look at – yellow, expressionless eyes. They gave no hint to the creature’s thoughts or emptions, so Jax assumed it wanted to kill him. The image of the teeth breaking through his glass helmet and biting into his face repeated over and over in his mind.
[…]
‘What is this, human? You shouldn’t be here,’ the rat said. The dry lips stretched with large movements, revealing the two jagged front teeth. A growl punctuated its speech. ‘Don’t touch anything. On my plane, and you think this is your space? Confused, it must be confused, insane. […]’” (pgs. 26-27)
The rat Animalis’ ship escapes but Jax and Hank bring back two ferret-like animals of an unknown species they find on it. This raises the possibility that the Animalis are creating new forms of animals. Jax’s and Hank’s commander considers this important enough that he sends them with the mystery animals to Hurley Grimshaw, a young scientist he knows who is developing her own theory that the humans and Animalis can live together in peace. She already has trained Hodge, a fox Animalis, as her assistant.
Jax accompanies Hank, Hurley, Hodge, and the two quasi-ferrets as they roar off in Hurley’s plane/spaceship/flying lab to find if the Animalis are naturally savage or if someone/something is making them that way. They also learn whether the Animalis have been bred or created by the ominous Ivanovich Machine; whether mankind could have been artificially created by aliens in the distant past, and more. There are lots of Animalis:
“Just beyond the next section of desert, beside a large rock formation, were the two kangaroo Animalis. They stood talking while leaning back on their thick tan and white tails. Their khaki shorts and shirts were straight and starched, and matched the expedition hats they both wore. Straps from a harness looped over their shoulders and connected with a heavy buckle across the chest. One of them turned, noticing Jax and Hank approaching.
‘G’day, mates! I’m Talon, and this here’s Wes. Starting bright and early today, aren’t we? So much to see.’” (p. 82)
In fact, everyone except Jax seems to know what’s going on. Jax may not be an idiot, but he seems unbelievably uneducated to be sent on such an important secret mission. Animalis (cover uncredited) is an enjoyable light s-f adventure with humans and intelligent animals mixing in equality, if not necessarily in friendship. My Little Pony fans will love the little Russian horse.
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.
Be Happy, Everyone! Or Else.
And speaking of kitties (sort of)… Here’s an interesting bit of news we got from Deadline.com: Princess Unikitty, probably the furriest character from The Lego Movie, will be getting her own TV series on Cartoon Network. Here’s what the folks at Warner Brothers say about it: “As ruler of the kingdom, Unikitty has busy days full of royal responsibilities. Unikitty is most interested in making sure everyone is happy and ridding the kingdom of negativity, but don’t misunderstand her optimism – she is one kitty not to be crossed. While she may be full of boundless energy and creativity, Unikitty is a force to be reckoned with if anyone gets in the way of spreading her positive vibes, especially if anyone makes her little brother and best friend, Puppycorn, sad. Also living in the castle are Dr. Fox, the resident scientist, and Unikitty’s trusty bodyguard, Hawkodile. Through it all, Unikitty and her friends make sure that every day is the happiest and most creative ever. The voice cast is led by Tara Strong (Teen Titans Go!) and Grey Griffin (Be Cool Scooby-Doo!) along with Kate Micucci (Be Cool Scooby-Doo!), Roger Craig Smith (Regular Show), Eric Bauza (The Adventures of Puss in Boots), and H. Michael Croner (Review).” No word yet on a premier date, but the Princess is sure to let us all know. Loudly!
image c. 2017 Warner Brothers Animation
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Commercial: Hungry Lion
Ok, Today I learned: There is a fast food chain in South Africia called Hungry Lion. Why is it that all the Lion themed chains are NEVER where I live? Dammit. Also this commercial are seriously cute.
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13 Year Old Wants to Get into Fursuiting
I found out about furries a few months ago, and I've fallen in love with it. I now would really like a fursuit. The problem is I haven't told my parents about it and fursuits cost so much, so I cant afford one. I'm thinking about making my own as I'm relatively good at DIY but first I need to tell them about it and get permission to make (and have help) one. Also materials cost a lot, so I'd need to borrow/earn some cash. I was wondering if you could give me an idea on how to tell them and if DIYing is the best approach for a beginner? I'm thinking of just making a partial suit to start.
Many many thanks.
Zagu (age 13)
* * *
Hi, Zagu,
A partial is a good idea, especially since you are 13 and still growing. One way to go with partials is to browse FurBuy (https://www.furbuy.com/listings/cat98.html) and look for stuff that could be fairly cheap. You can also buy fur and other sewing supplies on FurBuy. Other useful sights you might check out:
https://www.fursuitsupplies.com/
https://www.thedealersden.com/
In the meantime, sure, start learning to sew! A valuable skill. Can your parents help you learn to sew? I would advise that, instead of coming out right up front that you want to do furry stuff, just tell them you want to sew and learn how to make costumes (Halloween, mascots, etc.) It's also useful to learn how to sew clothing and accessories (both for daily use and for furry stuff). You can have a lot of fun with it! (I wish I could sew!).
Good Luck!
Papabear
What’s Yiffin’? – May 2017 edition of syndicated furry news.
Welcome back, Dogpatch Press readers, to another installment of What’s Yiffin’! In the introduction to last month’s update, we mentioned that due to the manner in which this series is produced, some “big” stories (such as the quagmire surrounding Rocky Mountain Furry Con) are forced ahead one month. Fear not, in case you were hoping for some “hard-hitting” fake news coverage of what is pretty much yesterday’s news by now, look no further – because the What’s Yiffin’ news team has you covered! Without further ado, here’s all the news that’s fit to yiff! Four stories to either amuse your brain, or make you sigh and lose even more hope in the fandom. Or both.
YEAH, REICH
This month’s top story is a doozy whose ripples have been making their way not only throughout the fandom, but has bled out into the mainstream as well. Denver, CO’s Rocky Mountain Furry Con (“RMFC”) was a convention that lasted exactly a decade. It has met its bitter end and transcended into that big slightly overpriced convention center in the sky. Avid members of the furry fandom (or fans of What’s Yiffin’, we know you’re probably out there somewhere) may recall a spot of controversy last year between RMFC and the Neo-Nazi group Furry Raiders. The Raiders purchased approximately 25% of the available hotel rooms at the convention, which created substantial problems for normal con goers. Like a festering wound that’s reopened, the Raiders once again reared their heads at RMFC and this time the whole convention has gone up in flames.
Unable to deal with people who have differing political opinions, many furs requested that RMFC outright ban the Raiders and anyone associated with them from attending the convention, to which RMFC declined. This prompted a fur by the name of Deo to throw down the now classic threat of “I can’t wait to punch some Nazis.” This in turn caused someone equally as dumb on the opposite side of the spectrum to start talking about concealed carry and self defense (basically threatening to shoot someone.) The Denver police investigated these threats and determined them to be something worth worrying about, so the hotel responded by asking the convention to increase security. The problem here is that this would’ve cost RMFC upwards of $22,000 just to hire some off duty police officers to patrol the convention. Unable to handle these costs, Sorin, the chairman of RMFC, decided to call it quits and ended the convention’s 10 year run.
But RMFC’s implosion doesn’t end there. The aforementioned fur Deo ended up receiving a cease & desist letter from convention board member Kahuki Lairu. It was literally signed with a thumbprint, because like the world’s worst Jerry Springer episode, now we’ve got “sovereign citizens” thrown into the fray. For those who aren’t familiar with the concept, “sovereign citizens” disavow responsibilities to the government. This includes concepts such as taxes – speaking of which, fellow news outlet Flayrah discovered that RMFC hadn’t been paying theirs for coming up on a decade. Even better, RMFC continued to bill itself as a “nonprofit” convention, even though its official nonprofit status had been revoked by the IRS in 2011!
In the end, what do we really have to show for ourselves but yet another dead convention? How many conventions need to meet an untimely end, before we as a fandom collectively just get our act together? Or maybe this is a blessing in disguise and the demises of RMFC and Rainfurrest are the fandom’s way of cleaning up its act? After all, like the saying goes, you can’t make an omelette without cracking a few eggs.
HAVING A BLAST!
Let’s shift gears a bit and say hello to our friends in the brony fandom for a change, something we like to try and do at least once a month here on What’s Yiffin’. It’s no secret that with Friendship is Magic entering its 8th season, the brony community is starting to lose its steam, but there are still conventions and meet-ups happening all the time. One such convention — Whinny City Pony Con — took place at the beginning of April and for the most part was just a run of the mill event that carried on without a hitch. That is, until someone phoned in a bomb threat and had the entire thing shut down on Saturday night. We now know the person responsible for the call was a Twitter user by the name @slacka because he just couldn’t leave well enough alone and had to brag about his actions for e-peen points.
“Going from the concert to the panel rooms, having to shut things down because of some pathetic lowlife’s idea of a joke, was devastating.” – Charlie Worthley, convention co-chair
Worthley determined @slacka to be the culprit based upon the user’s oddly specific behavior, and the fact that he was openly gloating about his actions in the livestream of the convention itself where police and SWAT were visible during the shutdown. It is not yet known if any legal action was taken against Slacka. Information from him directly has been difficult to obtain because he blanked his Twitter account after the incident. One thing has been consistent however. That’s the sentiment toward repercussions for calling in fake bomb threats and “swatting” people; many believe more needs to be done to prevent things like this from happening. There should be better ways to tell what is and isn’t a credible threat, and appropriate actions should be taken against the latter.
After the convention was shut down on Saturday, festivities resumed the following day for the convention to at least end on a proper high note.
WATERSHIP DOWNS
Last month was April. That meant only two things: Easter, and cheap chocolate the day after Easter. For our friends in Britain, Easter also meant that Channel 5 was showing the animated movie Watership Down to celebrate the holiday. Those of you who’ve seen the movie or read the book the film was based off of know exactly why this is kind of screwed up. Those of you who haven’t, but have noticed the image over to the left, have probably pieced together that at some level something isn’t quite right. Don’t let its nature as an animated film or its cast of cute bunnies deceive you. Watership Down is a pretty horrifying ordeal; the book was written by a World War II veteran, and many believe the contents of the book are based upon his experiences in the war. That’s the level of “real” we’re dealing with here.
Watership Down holds no punches, and is quite gratuitous with its scenes of extreme violence, gore, and even literal death. To give you an idea of how far the animators went, there’s a scene where a group of rabbits suffocate underground. They went as far as to animate their deaths in so much detail that they included the bursting of the capillaries in their eyes. This is like Final Destination levels of messed up, and again Channel 5 elected to show it over Easter weekend. As you’ve probably guessed, this irritated more than a few people who bemoaned Channel 5’s decision on social media, but this wasn’t the first time the station pulled this stunt. A spokesperson for Channel 5 told British news media that they were starting a tradition, and that Watership Down would be airing on Easter every year.
Keep fighting the good fight, Channel 5. If there’s one thing that we’ve learned from British television it’s that they have no shame in showing movies and films that’ll completely ruin you for life. (See also: Threads.)
LATER, ZETA
On April 24th the Twitter account @ExposeTheFandom existed for exactly one day before shutting down. Expose’s goal was to highlight the problem of bestiality within the fandom by screenshotting profiles and conversations from the Telegram chatroom “ZooFurries Society” to put names to potentially illegal activities. Screenshots taken by Expose consisted of user profiles, as well as excerpts of conversations of people complaining about state laws or hinting/bragging about performing illegal acts. Reception to Expose was about what you’d imagine from people unaware of the problem, with most condemning the actions shown in the screenshots and applauding the unknown account owner(s) for their actions.
However, not everyone was pleased to see the fandom’s dirty laundry being aired out for the world to see. Namely many of the implicated. Defenders of the chatroom insisted that Expose’s evidence was fabricated, and that they were all victims of a bait and switch where they had been added to a Telegram chatroom whose name was changed to something zoophile-related and screenshots were taken to defame them. While it would be entirely possible to perform a bait and switch, keep in mind that we’re dealing with an active chatroom of over 900 furs. Occam’s Razor suggests that this simply isn’t the case here, and what we’re looking at are actual snippets from the Telegram group.
In response to Expose, GSD Lovedog (the owner of the Telegram group) closed down ZooFurries Society. The group was promptly remade under the name “The Zeta Corner” and presumably is still in operation, waiting for @ExposeTheFandom2 to inevitably make its appearance.
That’s a wrap on April’s most interesting stories from the fandom, thank you for checking us out! As always, we’d like to invite you to come check out What’s Yiffin’ when it is broadcast live as part of the first Friday show of Gatorbox, every Friday night at 9PM. Follow us on Twitch so you’ll know when we are live!
– André “Dracokon” Kon & Rob “Roastmaster” Maestro
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FA 070 Drugs and Alcohol - Buzzfeed and honesty? Are drugs and alcohol good for you? Will Metriko be banned from Anthrocon? Is this burning an eternal flame? All this, and more, on this week's Feral Attraction
Hello Everyone!
We open this week's show with a discussion on radical honesty. We look at a Buzzfeed video where couples experiment with being totally honest with one another and, after cutting through the crap of the video, talk about ways you can implement some of the ideas they have in your own life and relationships.
Our main topic is on drugs and alcohol. Within the fandom there is a heavy focus on individuals being inebriated or high, and many such activities are praised or sought after as being inclusive in the fandom as a whole. We talk about why this is not optimal for your life or for relationships, how drugs and alcohol have impacted our life (positively and negatively), and offer some advice to new members of the fandom.
It's important to note that if you struggle with substance abuse, please seek help as soon as possible.
We close out this week's show with a question whether it is a good idea to re-establish a friendship with a former partner who might still be carrying a torch for you. Should you proceed with caution, or snuff out that flame?
For more information, including a list of topics, see our Show Notes for this episode.
Thanks and, as always, be well!
FA 070 Drugs and Alcohol - Buzzfeed and honesty? Are drugs and alcohol good for you? Will Metriko be banned from Anthrocon? Is this burning an eternal flame? All this, and more, on this week's Feral AttractionThe Time He Desires, by Kyell Gold – book review by Fred Patten.
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
The Time He Desires, by Kyell Gold. Illustrated by Kamui.
Dallas, TX, FurPlanet Productions, December 2016, trade paperback $9.95 (113 pages), Kindle $7.99.
Kyell Gold’s novella The Time He Desires and novel Love Match have been written simultaneously, so neither one is a spinoff of the other. Aziz Alhazhari, the cheetah protagonist in The Time He Desires, is the father of Marquize Alhazhari, the protagonist’s best friend in Love Match.
Both are set in Gold’s anthropomorphic Forester University universe. Aziz is a 45-year-old Muslim from the nation of Madiyah who immigrated to the Union of the States with his wife Halifa and his young son Marquize two decades ago. He settled in Upper Devos (read: Brooklyn), bought a pawnshop that grows to a chain of four pawnshops, joined a mosque, became active in the community, and has been living more-or-less happily ever after.
Now he is confronted with a major cultural change combined with a midlife crisis. His son, now a teenager, has declared his homosexuality and walked out. He and his wife have been drifting apart; they are still friends but are no longer in love, and have developed separate interests. Aziz is interested in his pawnshops and his mosque – he goes there for evening prayers every day – while Halifa has gotten active in local charities.
Most importantly, and what brings the crisis to the present, is that the Vorvarts group, a huge developer, has been moving into the community. Vorvarts had previously bought two whole blocks for an Upper Devos Homeporium super-mall, “a six-story blue glass and chrome monster” that clashes with the old brownstone apartment buildings and small shops of the neighborhood. Vorvarts had to get approval from the Upper Devos Business Council, the local homeowners’ association, which had been easy. Vorvarts had promised that the fancy Homeporium would bring lots of new shoppers and trade to the community.
“But that had been five years ago, and as it happened, the people […] who’d been forced to find somewhere else to live when their buildings had been bought, they had been part of the neighborhood not easily replaced. The people who lived and shopped at the Homeporium generally stayed there, not venturing outside to quaint old Upper Devos, and when they did come into the pawnshop, distinctive in their clean, crisply cut clothes, they gawked about with the air of tourists visiting a historical monument. Aziz’s business had fallen off; few of those people were hard up enough to have to pawn their possessions, or interested in buying someone else’s memories.” (p. 1)
Now Vorvarts wants to expand into the blocks where the remaining Business Council lives and has their shops. Vorvarts is offering a generous price, but the destruction of the neighborhood would mean the end of the community. Aziz wants to stay, and so does Tanska, a Siberian tigress who has a small bakery, but he feels that it’s a losing battle.
“He looked back into her [Tanska’s] eyes. ‘I want us to stay,’ he said. ‘But I can’t see any way to make anyone else stay. We spent thousands of dollars researching the community laws to see if we had legal grounds to prevent it. Fighting it in court would take hundreds of thousands, more than you and I have, and if we did that it would destroy the community anyway; the rest of the Association would hate us for delaying their payments.’” (p. 22)
Aziz’s best friend Doug, an elderly Prevost’s squirrel who runs a bookshop, is ready to take Vorvart’s money and retire to the sunny beaches of Coronado on the other coast of the States. Aziz’s wife is also ready to sell out and move. She can find charities to become active in anywhere.
“‘You know that the smart business decision is to sell. The money we would make by staying open in this location for another year or two, as people move out, would not come close to the price they’ve offered us.’” (p. 24)
Their disagreement, although peaceful, brings their marriage to its end.
But this looming decision, while important, is not the major plot of The Time He Desires. A frantic red fox, Benjamin Tonnen, comes into Aziz’s pawnshop looking for a video camera that his husband Gerald DeRoot, a cougar, pawned a year ago with their honeymoon film still in it. Aziz is polite, finds the camera, and sells it back to Tonnen. But this gets him thinking about homosexuality; the States’ changing social attitudes towards it, Islam’s teachings about it, how it took their son from them, and what Halifa really thinks about it (as opposed to agreeing with her husband like a good Muslim wife). Aziz wonders why Tonnen’s cougar husband sold the video and their honeymoon footage if their gay marriage is still secure, so he finds DeRoot and hesitantly asks him. What he learns from Gerald, and how he and Gerald – a homosexual, who is supposed to be shunned by Muslims (but Muslims are also supposed to abstain from alcohol, and most Muslims, especially those in the States, don’t worry about that restriction) – come to feel about each other, helps Aziz to make his decision about how to react to the changing community.
The Time He Desires (cover and five full-page illustrations by Kamui) is another high-quality story by Kyell Gold. It differs from his others by looking at homosexuality from a Muslim rather than a Christian attitude. There is an “About This Book and Islam” afterword for those who want to learn more.
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.
Just A Woman And Her Kitty-Khat
Rose is a new full-color fantasy comic series from Image. Here’s what they say about it: “A classic fantasy tale about a girl trying to restore balance to a broken world. Rose must connect with her Khat — Thorne — to become the Guardian the world needs. But things aren’t easy for Rose and Thorne: The powerful sorcerous Drucilla has many powerful and demonic allies — all of them focused on stopping one scared little girl who’s desperately trying to stay alive and do what’s right. Written by Meredith Finch (Wonder Woman, Little Mermaid), and drawn by fan-favorite artist Ig Guara (Batman: Arkham Knight, Blue Beetle).” If you’re curious, Comic Book Roundup has a whole series of reviews for Rose.
image c. 2017 Image Comics
Ponyville Confidential: The History and Culture of My Little Pony – review by Fred Patten.
Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.
Ponyville Confidential: The History and Culture of My Little Pony, 1981-2016, by Sherilyn Connelly
Jefferson, NC, McFarland & Co., March 2017, trade paperback $18.99 (x + 254 pages), Kindle $8.99.
Order at McFarland’s Website – order line 800-253-2187
Ponyville Confidential doesn’t contain any artwork. That’s a tipoff that this book has not been authorized or approved by Hasbro, the copyright holder of the My Little Pony franchise.
Connelly emphasizes and re-emphasizes in her Introduction that although she is a fan of the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic TV program and the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls movies, she is not a My Little Pony (note the lack of italics) fan. As a child in the 1980s, she hated being talked down to, particularly as a girl-child, and this included all of the girls’ TV cartoons of the time; Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake and especially My Little Pony ‘n’ Friends. She didn’t watch it. She didn’t start watching My Little Pony until Friendship Is Magic in mid-2011 (after Season 1 had finished its initial broadcast), when friends had told her, “Hey, it’s a girl’s toy commercial, but there’s something here.” By then Connelly was a film critic for The Village Voice and SF Weekly (an alternate newspaper for the San Francisco Bay Region, not science-fiction), so she was prepared to study the entire My Little Pony phenomenon, including the Bronies, as both a professional outsider and as a fan – of the post-2010 MLP:FIM, anyhow.
“This book is divided into five parts. Part 1, ‘Family Appreciation Day,’ looks at the history of the franchise from the release of Generation 1 in the early 1980s through the late 1990s, showing how long after both the toys and cartoons had ceased production, My Little Pony continued to be criticized in the media as the worst of children’s entertainment in a way that similar brands marketed toward boys were not.” (p. 4)
Hasbro must have not liked that part alone. It begins with “Ponies: Grosser by the Gross”, about Hasbro’s attempts to merchandize as many ponies as possible, and to cram them all into TV cartoons to maximize their tenuous individualities.
1981 was when Hasbro began the Pony concept with My Pretty Pony toys for girls. They were larger and harder dolls, in realistic horse colors, without combable manes or accessories. The marketing decision was made to redesign them as smaller, softer fantasy toys including unicorns and pegasi in bright colors with combable manes, and a TV cartoon series to promote them as individuals – collect ‘em all. The first TV cartoon, as a 22-minute TV special with 8 minutes of commercials, wasn’t until 1984.
Part 2, ‘The Lost Generations (1998-2010)’, covers the attempts to re-launch the My Little Pony franchise between 1998 and 2010. They were lampooned by the media as attempting to breathe new life into a corpse, but Hasbro ignored these on the grounds that little girls didn’t follow media editorials. There were both toys and other merchandising such as music CDs for new little girls, and events for older fans like the first International My Little Pony Collectors’ Convention in Morecambe, Lancashire, England on November 27, 2004. They were successful as individual events, but they didn’t work as reinvigorating the franchise until Lauren Frost was brought on board.
Part 3, ‘Twilight’s Kingdom’, is a reference guide to Seasons 1 through 5 of the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic TV series and the three Equestria Games movies; everything to date. It presents the Season and Episode number, title, writer, date first broadcast, a one-line summary, and Connelly’s grade (mostly A+ to B-, though there is one D-).
Part 4, ‘The Foal Free Press (2010-2015)’ covers the media coverage of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and the movies, from the first notices and reviews that dismissed it as just the 1980s TV cartoons revived – or bewailed it as the return of disguised toy merchandising – to the confusion over just what it was (does it promote feminism? does it promote gender diversity?) and “Look at all the Bronies; ha, ha!”, to the reviews and analyses that took it seriously. Connelly talks about the initial reactions of her acquaintances who assumed that her book would be a condescending putdown of the Bronies and any other adults who enjoyed a cartoon little girls’ toy commercial.
“Sure, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is about fucking cartoon ponies, and the Equestria Girls movies are just about teenage girls, but by that same logic, all that needed to be said about the critically acclaimed Battlestar Galactica reboot – which Time had frequently listed as one of the best shows of the given year – was that it was about sexy killer robots in space. See? Being reductive is never wrong.” (p. 4)
Part 5, ‘Battles of the Brand (2012-2016)’ focuses on both the program’s non-Brony fans, and on the Bronies:
“…many of whom are less interested in Friendship Is Magic as a series of 22-minute character-driven stories with a beginning, middle, and end than with the trappings of the fandom – the fan art, the remixes, the social aspect, and a cult that grew around a certain gray mare.” (p. 125)
It describes how the TV program’s producers have listened to the fans and molded the characters’ personalities and story events on fan reaction, and on the copyright and trademark battles between Hasbro and those (mostly Bronies) who make their own My Little Pony merchandise, much of it off-model if not NSFW and all of it unauthorized.
Connelly points out at the beginning of her book:
“It should also be noted that the words ‘Brony’ and ‘fan’ are not used as synonyms.” (p. 1)
Furry fandom is mixed all through Parts 4 and 5. Connelly explains the difference, but notes the often dubious implication or explicit misidentification that furry fandom and My Little Pony fandom and/or Bronydom are the same thing.
“On March 3, 2011, the eve of the mainstream media becoming aware of Bronies, transgender activist Kate Bornstein was interviewed by Steve Scher on the talk show Weekday on KUOW 94.9FM in Puget Sound. Despite her best efforts, the conversation kept returning to Bornstein’s BDSM activities160; Scher asked her to explain the concept of “ownership” in a master/slave relationship, and mostly keeping her exasperation in check, she replied, ‘Well, like I was saying, sexual orientation doesn’t necessarily depend on the gender of your partner. It can depend more on, what is it you like to do? For example, furries. Do you know…oh, good!’161 Bornstein paused, and if you listen to the podcast, and you can all but hear her eyes widening in feigned delight. ‘Steve, you’re a closet furry! Oh, look at your bushy tail!’162” (p. 113)
Ponyville Confidential (cover by InHaSemiankova/iStock) is an excellent history of My Little Pony from both a business and a fan aspect, from the beginning of Hasbro’s toy line in 1981, not just of Friendship Is Magic in 2010. The confusion and differences between MLP:FIM fandom, Bronydom, and furry fandom are clarified. Even if some may not agree with those distinctions, they are good arguments. Even furry fans who are not interested in MLP:FIM should find this worth reading. There are extensive chapter notes, an 18-page bibliography, and an index.
Connelly may not have been able to include any illustrations because of lack of permission from Hasbro, but this review is not similarly constrained.
- Order at McFarland’s Website – order line 800-253-2187
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.
Mature: Watsky – Stick to Your Guns
Ok, this video is full of of cartoon murder. It does look like somebody is a really bad shepherd.
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Guild news, May 2017
We had one new member join the FWG in March, and one associate member. Welcome to Blarginator, and to Adam Kellogg of Taomerle Publishing Association! If you’d like more information about joining, read our membership guidelines.
Member newsMiriam “Camio” Curzon, TJ Minde, Jaden Drackus, and Skunkbomb have had stories accepted into Fang 8. Jaden’s story “Prelude to Adventure” also appears in the Fur The More program book.
TJ Minde, Mary E. Lowd, and Madison Keller will appear in the Arcana tarot anthology edited by Madison “Makyo” Scott-Clary. In addition, Madison had a story accepted into Roar 8, and Mary’s story “Missing: Friendly Spook” appeared in the April issue of Fantasia Divinity.
Allison “Sibir” Thai also has a story forthcoming in Roar 8, as well as in Symbol of a Nation and Werewolves vs. Fascism.
Kris Schnee’s novel Thousand Tales: Learning to Fly is now available from Amazon.
CopperSphinx’s poem and illustration will appear in Furlandia 2017’s convention book.
Sean Rivercritic was interviewed by the “South Afrifur Pawdcast” (link goes to audio on YouTube).
If you’d like to be listed here, please post your sales/publications to the Member News section of the FWG Forum! It’s the primary source for these news bits.
New marketsThere are no new furry-specific markets that we’re aware of that opened in April (although there’s at least one that’s opening in May: check the forum thread linked below). We update the listings on the web site fairly frequently, so check to see what is (and isn’t) listed there:
Also, Thurston Howl maintains a Google Calendar with submission opening and closings for both furry and “furry-friendly” anthologies.
Remember to keep an eye on the Calls for Submissions thread on the forum, as well as other posts on the Publishing and Marketing forum.
Odds and endsIt’s election season! The FWG election is underway, slightly late but on schedule to wrap up on time. Currently, there’s one candidate declared for president (Makyo) and one for VP (Chipotle, the current president). The declaration period runs through the end of this week, May 12th. Check the forums and Twitters for more information.
Thanks to Sean Rivercritic of Anthroaquatic (and a past FWG president and current forum administrator), the FWG now has a forum dedicated to offering Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) of member works.
The Tuesday Coffeehouse Chats continue to take place on the FWG Slack channel, while the Thursday chats continue to take place on the shoutbox.
As usual, we’d like to keep recruiting you to the FWG Goodreads group: add things to our members’ bookshelf (see the instructions here on how to do that), start conversations, draw rabbit ears on other authors’ head shots, and so on.
Have a terrific month! Send news, suggestions, feedback, and Zootopia emoji to furwritersguild@gmail.com, or leave a comment below.
TigerTails Radio Season 10 Episode 23
A Common Problem: Being Abandoned by an Online "Friend"
First, I'm sorry if I make some grammatical mistakes here and there. English isn't my first language, but I try my best.
I've been wanting to ask something for a long time, but I always thought at the last moment that I'll just ask some other time and I can handle the problem myself. But now I'm starting to lose hope, so I finally decided to write to you.
I'd also like to say, before I start, that I had never met the person that I'm going to talk about, in real life.
It's about a friend of mine. Or, at least, he's a friend FOR ME. He doesn't call himself a friend of mine anymore.
He's ignoring me. I met him in an online game in the second half of 2014. We had been talking for a few months, Then FNAF [Five Nights at Freddy's] came out. Long story short, he managed to get me in the furry fandom thru FNAF. (Quite cringy, I know.) I created a furry Steam account, that I started using as my main account for that app. He helped me find my first furry friends online, got me in some furry groups, etc. It all was perfect, we talked a lot, we were great friends overall. But then he started to get busier and busier.. or at least he said that to me. We started talking less and less because he wouldn't respond.
End of 2014 comes. I was at a party with some IRL friends. They ask why my steam acc is so cringy, if I'm really a furry, if I'm bisexual, etc., etc. I decide to take ALL furry stuff down from my account because I don't want to lose the only people I talk to, in real life. Even though they weren't great friends, I still cared about their opinion.
In the year 2015, nothing much happens. Me and him barely talk. He seems to forget about me, and removes me from Steam at the end of the year. (I didn't notice it, hadn't checked.)
2016 is here. I was wondering why hadn't talked to me for a long time. I checked and realized that he had removed me. I try to regain contact with him thru the online game which I met him in. He still has me in his friend list (never removes me there in the future, too), but he clearly ignores me.
Second try. I try to regain contact thru his friends, befriending them, asking if they could help me and such. He had told his friends that I was some random stalker.
I'm almost done at this point, I try one final time - I try to get my friends to talk to him. They all end up blocked by him.
I still to this very moment try to talk to him on a messaging app called Telegram from time to time. The funny thing is that he hasn't blocked me. He READS my messages. Never replies, though.
Sometimes I just start thinking about him, thinking how much of a great friend he was. Then I feel like shit. I feel like it's all my fault. I may even cry. This happens about 1-2 times a month.
I just want to know what should I do. I can't simply forget him and move on. Everyone has already told me to do it, but I can't. I want to talk to him at least once more, ask him why he's being like that, why he's ignoring me. But it all seems impossible.
Zen (age 15, Estonia)
* * *
Dear Zen,
(BTW, your English is quite good.) Papabear gets many, many, many letters like yours. I hear this story all the time about some online furry friend who seems great at first and then, suddenly, ignores and drops out of the life of the furry friend. Repeated efforts are made by the letter writer to reestablish the friendship—all to no avail. The person writing to me is left wondering what went wrong, with no sense of closure, and yet still wanting to be the friend of the person who snubbed them.
So, here is my advice.
- Realize that in life you will have many friends who come and go.
- It is NOT YOUR FAULT if they leave your life. It is THEIR choice. There could be many reasons why they did this, and most likely it is for selfish reasons.
- Continuing to pursue them is just going to frustrate the heck out of you. You will only drive yourself crazy by continuing to do this.
- You are probably better off without such people in your life (the kind who abandon you).
- You say you can't let it go? Yes, you can. Try harder.
Is this all disappointing? Of course. Life is full of disappointments. If you can, learn from them, and then move on.
Good Luck,
Papabear
Nova Seed movie review- a rare find of sci fi animation.
Gonzo, trippy, visionary sci-fi is a rich mine for cult movies. A new gem has come to light.
Nova Seed is a great hand-drawn cartoon. You can’t tell from the high quality, but it was animated to feature length (63 minutes) by just one guy in 4 years. (There were a few helpers for stuff like music). I’m writing for furry fans, and furries love art that’s not mainstream but is full of guts and talent. That’s how this movie works inside limits to exceed expectations. If your animation gold standard is a blockbuster like Zootopia, gold is common compared to a gem like this.
It’s post-apocalyptic, anthropomorphic sci-fi (that’s a mouthful)… Call it “Zoodystopia”.
The protagonist is Nac, a genetically engineered lion-man. They call him a “neo-animal”. The world is on the edge of destruction and he’s enslaved to fight for the human population. A deadly weapon is being built under the earth and Nac is the one who can stop it. Humans treat neo-animals with fear and suspicion, so he’s due to be terminated at the end. They’ll take the life crystal embedded in his chest. Obviously, he’s not too happy about that, so he soon turns from slave to fugitive. He defies captivity and pursues his mission under fire from all sides. What secret will he find in the lair of Dr. Mindskull?
Dr. Mindskull is the antagonist building the secret weapon, the Nova Seed. He’s like a Furry Skeletor. The cast is rounded out by a mysterious girl with uncanny power, a treacherous mutant fly, masked soldiers, a grizzled assassin, and newscasters standing in for the masses. A talking pig makes a funny cameo.
It’s a cyberpunk world of flying gunships and desolate deserts. It’s a decadent future resembling a Moebius comic or Heavy Metal the movie. Apart from the neo-animal scenes, the world building happens with media fragments efficiently cut between action. Staticky news and surveillance mix in a trippy way on many screens at once, with a motif of breaking glass (which gets important later). Without a huge budget to create an epic world, it makes effective use of minimal exposition. It only tells you just what you need to know while the action moves forward.
Furry fans will love how the lion-man animation shifts from weighty and powerful but mostly human acting, to lunging and leaping like an actual lion during bursts of action. Fast pacing makes changes so smooth that it all fits his personality. He isn’t drawn with no tail as in Bojack Horseman – often his lashing tail tells his mood. It’s top notch anthropomorphism.
There’s bonus furry points for an epic hug that saves the world.
I was blown away by how the animation is deployed inside limits for effective mood and story. No need for zillion dollar CG crowd shots here. But there are plenty of money shots with vehicle and effects animation. A comic booky look is achieved with flat color blocks enriched with subtle gradients. (I assume assistants were valuable for ink & paint.) “2 1/2D” style compositing fleshes out the layouts with sophisticated depth of field and cinematic lighting. (Sorry, those are boring terms…) I mean nothing feels flat or dead. Shots with no character animation have lighting playing across surfaces with flickers and electric glares. It pushes storytelling with mood and color design. Unlike many low-budget productions, I never felt taken out of the movie by short cuts to avoid labor. The art sings like Judas Priest.
The voice acting is a fine support for good animation. If I can point out one flaw, it might be sound production that makes you have to pay careful attention to what’s said. Otherwise, I give good points to effects and composing that improves the story with synthwave music.
You’ve seen high quality sci fi anime, but North American animation very rarely does anything like this. (This movie is supported by a small but strong Toronto scene with French and European influences.)
Does this perk your ears? Are your whiskers twitching? Nova Seed looks like what I imagine could come out of my favorite art subculture some day – something like this is a holy grail of furry art. This movie kicks so much ass, it’s a strong contender for my favorite in animation. I’m excited to introduce it. Nobody gives support like furry fans, and if it gains more love, I hope it leads to bigger budgets and a great future for this director.
UPDATE: As Arrkay comments, buy the movie direct from the artist’s site for extra bonus features and to give support. You can also find the soundtrack by Stephen Verrall/Lakeshore Records at Bandcamp.
(Vice has a great article about Nova Seed. I know of only a handful of indie creators attempting such projects. Keep an eye out for news here about these similar 2D animated features in production: Dawgtown and The Saga of Rex.)
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.
The Secret History of Equestria
IDW has brought forth yet another new title in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic family, following the success of Guardians of Harmony. Now there’s My Little Pony: Legends of Magic, which premiered last month. “The origins of cutie marks, friendships, magic and more are available in this new ongoing series devoted to revealing the secret history of Equestria! In this opening story arc, we travel back in time to uncover the secrets of Starswirl the Bearded and his magical friends!” It’s always good to see him turn up. Written by Jeremy Whitley with art by well-known pony artist Brenda Hickey.
image c. 2017 IDW Publishing
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ep 161 - Little Nazis - We're back into the swing of things, expect new e…
We're back into the swing of things, expect new eps posted here Sunday night/Monday morning! 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 161 - Little Nazis - We're back into the swing of things, expect new e…