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We're alive! And what a few weeks it's been. We have good reasons for our absence though.. Hope you're ready for Pokemon talk, Pokemon Go grumping, and more. We learn about Lone Star Noir, Shiva's plague, plans for the near term, and get a LOT of emails. Also lots of Savrin abuse this weekend. Poor fennecs. Want to support the show? We have a Patreon! www.patreon.com/knotcast Episode 323 - King Of The Dickies

Dave Hulteen Jr. and Jerome Green got together and formed Hulgreen Productions with the intention of making some seriously silly entertainment using puppetry, animation, and video effects. Their first creation was The Bang and Bump Show, featuring “two little monsters in a big studio”. According to their web site, “Finding two store bought and generic monster puppets, Dave and Jerome created a simple buddy style duet video naming the puppets ‘Bang’ and ‘Bump’. They were named after the respective sounds monsters make in the night. The video caused enough attention for the two to make a regular series.” They’ve since gone on to create many other humorous videos and animated shorts.

image c. 2016 Hulgreen Productions

Dear Papabear,

I have a bit of an unusual problem and I really don’t know what to do. I’m in a long distance relationship with another fur for three years (living in two different countries), we’re both trans women and despite having different schedules we both made an effort to talk to one another regularly through good times and bad. Though recently she has been responding less and less and becoming seriously depressed to the point that all she does is work (14 hours a day), make lunch, sleep and nothing else. She has no appetite and rarely drinks fluids. Nothing gives her joy anymore.

​We’ve talked about getting help but meds are expensive and therapy even more expensive. Last time we talked she was worried about her friends, one tried to commit suicide and was in the hospital. He might lose his job and can’t afford to pay the bills. Another lost his mother and another yet lost his apartment. She is usually a very helpful person but she feels she can’t even help herself let alone her friends. I’m legitimately worried about her to the point of tears. I feel so useless not being able to help her when she needs it the most, I just don’t know what to do. I know it’s not an easy problem but any advice you could give would be helpful, thank you. 

Concerned in Canada

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Dear Concerned,

You don't explain why she might be depressed, so I can only respond in general terms. First of all, yes, she does need to get some professional help. Does she have insurance? You say she works, so she may have insurance through her company. As you know, the Affordable Care Act requires you to have insurance (you're in Canada, and I'm guessing she's in the USA? Actually, if she's in Europe she is even better off). Recently, a U.S. law was passed that said insurance companies need to include 3 free consultations with a psychologist; some provide more, depending on the policy. Anti-depressants, of course, must be prescribed by a doctor or psychiatrist and should also be covered by insurance. So, saying "medication costs too much" really should not be an issue (Lexapro cost me $20 for a month's supply, and my insurance is pretty lousy). Furthermore, a little Internet research should lead you to free group or even one-on-one counseling for depression.

Your friend needs to think of her own well-being first before trying to help others. You might have noticed, for example, that Papabear has been posting less often of late. This is because I am still grieving after losing Jim last year. On good days, I will write the column, but on bad days I focus on myself and feeling better.

Therefore, my advice to her is that, while it is nice of her to be concerned about her friends, she is not in a position right now to help them (other than being a shoulder to cry on, perhaps, on occasion). She needs to try and help herself first.

The same goes for you. Stop worrying about all those other people. Are you doing okay? If so, good, and do your best to help your girlfriend. Do some research on getting her help that is at no- or low-cost. Believe me, it's out there. Be there for her, she needs you.

If I knew more about what was going on with her, I'd try to give more details, but that's as much as I can do right now. Write again if you wish to.

Good Luck,
​Papabear

Submitted by Fred Patten

Fred writes: a few reviews of furry books that I wrote in 2003 or 2004 have vanished from the Internet.  I wrote them for the first version of Watts Martin’s Claw & Quill site, which he has apparently taken down. Here they are back online.

Rats, Bats & Vats, by Dave Freer & Eric Flint. Maps by Randy Asplund.
Riverdale, NY, Baen Books, September 2000, hardcover $23.00 (388 pages), Kindle $6.99; September 2001, paperback $7.99 (448 pages).

The Rats, the Bats, & the Ugly, by Eric Flint & Dave Freer. Maps by Randy Asplund.
Riverdale, NY, Baen Books, September 2004, hardcover $24.00 (391 pages), Kindle $6.99.

I had intended to review just the latter “sequel”. But it is such a close continuation of the former that to read RBU alone is like starting an 800-page novel in the middle. The introductory synopsis is adequate, but it is much more enjoyable to read the whole story.

Harmony and Reason is a colony planet founded on utopian ideals, which has evolved into a split between an elite upper class of founding Shareholders and an oppressed labor class of cloned “Vats”. Unknown aliens, the sea-urchinlike Korozhet, come to HAR to warn that it is about to be conquered by still other aliens, the brutal insectlike Magh’ empire. But the friendly Korozhet will share their superior technology with the humans to help them defend themselves. Among this technology are soft-cyber implants (brain chips) to increase the intelligence of animals. The two species of animal soldiers that HAR bioengineers are bats, for flying explosive devices into Magh’ camps, and “rats” (actually a bioengineered cross between rats and elephant shrews) which make fanatically vicious commandos.

It does not take long for the front-line troops to realize that the Korozhet are not the benevolent saviors they claim to be. They have engineered the Magh’ invasion to whittle down HAR’s defenses so they can safely conquer it for themselves. The creation of the bats and rats is to develop new cyber-controlled slave species. But by then, the Korozhet have gained psychological control over the incompetent Military High Command. To complicate matters, neither the Korozhet nor most humans realize that the bats and rats are more than just computer-guided cannon fodder. They are truly intelligent and are each planning their own revolt.

This may sound dramatic, but the two-volume novel is mostly a military-political s-f comedy. Much action revolves around the evasions that the front-line troops use to get around the stupidly suicidal orders from the pompous High Command so they can effectively battle the Magh’.

The main story follows Private Charles “Chip” Connolly, a Vat-bred conscript, and the handful of rat and bat soldiers who get to know each other when they are trapped behind Magh’ lines. Their friendship evolves into a popular front to unite the rats, bats and Vats at the same time that they save all HAR from the Korozhet and the Magh’.

The bats have taken human revolutionaries as their role models:

“Fluttering along behind Connolly, Michaela Bronstein tried to formulate strategy. Revolution! Throwing off the cruel yoke of human oppression! Liberty, equality and belfry! […] Of course, bats, by their very nature, had always chittered and argued about how liberation should be achieved. Eamon Dzhugashvilli was one of the notorious Bat Bund who had advocated straight and bloody murder, blowing every non-bat to kingdom come with as much high explosive as they could lay their claws on, and allying batdom with humankind’s foes.” (pg. 24)

The rats are even more anarchistic, and much more individualistic. An increase in intelligence has not changed their interest in not much besides food and sex, except to make them aware of alcohol. A rat community seems at first glance to be little different from a non-stop drunken orgy:

“‘Hello handsome,’ said the rattess who was supporting the ornamental light on the cornice. Unless Fluff’s eyes deceived him, she was wearing what looked like black fishnet stockings. ‘If you hath the money, I hath the time.'” (pg. 238)

Fluff — full name: Don Juan el Magnifico de Gigantico de Immaculata Conception y Major de Todos Saavedra Quixote de la Mancha — is a seven-inch tall galago, a lemurlike primate. He is the only uplift of his kind, a pet manufactured for a Shareholder’s daughter. It amused the Shareholders to give him the personality of a Don Quixote. But Fluff is no fool, and he uses his tiny size and arboreal abilities to aid the Good Guys. If Rats, Bats and Vats had not been published in 2000, almost four years before Shrek 2, Fluff would have looked like a shameless imitation of its Spanish-caballero Puss in Boots.

This two-volume novel, both with amusing covers by Bob Eggleton, is only about 50% anthropomorphic. But that 50%, about how Chip, other humans, and the animals propose to blend “normal” humans, high-strung bats and hedonistic rats into a joint society, is enough to put it onto any anthropomorphic reading list.

Please note that the order of the co-authors’ names is reversed on the second title. They may not be filed together in bookshops and libraries.

– Fred Patten

• Buy Rats, Bats, & Vats on Amazon
• Buy The Rats, The Bats, & The Ugly on Amazon

In a counterpoint to last week’s show, we talk about the ways in which the furry fandom elevates some individuals to celebrity status, and how perception changes with time involved in the fandom.

Metadata and Credits Furry: Popularity in the Fandom

Runtime: 40:04m

Cast: Levi, Path, Wolfin

Editor: Levi

Format: 96kbps AAC Copyright: © 2016 WagzTail.com. Some Rights Reserved. This podcast is released by WagzTail.com as CC BY-ND 3.0.

Furry: Popularity in the Fandom - In a counterpoint to last week's show, we talk about the ways in which the furry fandom elevates some individuals to celebrity status, and how perception changes with time involved in the fandom.

In a counterpoint to last week’s show, we talk about the ways in which the furry fandom elevates some individuals to celebrity status, and how perception changes with time involved in the fandom.

Metadata and Credits Furry: Popularity in the Fandom

Runtime: 40:04m

Cast: Levi, Path, Wolfin

Editor: Levi

Format: 96kbps AAC Copyright: © 2016 WagzTail.com. Some Rights Reserved. This podcast is released by WagzTail.com as CC BY-ND 3.0.

Furry: Popularity in the Fandom - In a counterpoint to last week's show, we talk about the ways in which the furry fandom elevates some individuals to celebrity status, and how perception changes with time involved in the fandom.

Tabitha Ladin describes what she does as “fantasy, science fiction, creepy, and nature art”. We couldn’t describe it better. She has a particular affinity for mice — winged mice (especially that!), robot mice, zombie mice… but gryphons, dragons, and other fantastic animals work their way into her paintings as well. And of course, many of them are available as prints at her web site also. She’s another artist you’re likely to see displaying at fannish conventions as well, in the dealer room or at the art show.

image c. 2016 by Tabitha Ladin

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Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.  Fred writes: three or four reviews of furry books that I wrote in 2003 or 2004 have vanished from the Internet.  I wrote them for the first version of Watts Martin’s Claw & Quill site, which he has apparently taken down. Here they are back online.

Leaping Beauty: And Other Animal Fairy Tales, by Gregory Maguire. Illustrated by Chris L. Demarest.
NYC, HarperCollinsPublishers, August 2004, hardcover $15.99 (197 pages, Kindle $7.99.

Some people can’t hear Rossini’s “William Tell Overture” without thinking of the Lone Ranger. I couldn’t read Leaping Beauty without imagining it being read aloud by Edward Everett Horton as the Narrator of the “Fractured Fairy Tales” on Jay Ward’s Rocky and His Friends/The Bullwinkle Show. Leaping Beauty is categorized as an Ages 8 – 12 children’s book. Sure, and Jay Ward’s TV cartoons were for kids, too.

Leaping Beauty is exactly in the style of “Fractured Fairy Tales” except that the eight stories all feature animal casts. Some are in traditional fairy-tale settings, such as “Leaping Beauty” which takes place in a swamp kingdom with a bullfrog king & queen. At their polliwog princess’ christening, a bumblebee good fairy blesses her with a loud voice. “She will have a beautiful voice for all to hear and enjoy. Her ribbit will be as loud as a foghorn.” Old Dame Hornet, the nasty fairy they forgot to invite, wishes she will die as an exploding frog, but the last good fairy who has not used his wish yet tries to save her. So the polliwog grows up to become a weeping, sleeping, leaping beauty who hops over to demand Dame Hornet lift the curse. “The sound came right up to Old Dame Hornet’s doorway and went away again, like an ambulance driving by, and driving right back. Like an ambulance going up and down the street, hour after hour.”

Some are in modernized settings, such as “Rumplesnakeskin”:

“Down by the old mill stream, there stood a mill. In the mill there worked a miller. He was a sheep named Bubba.

Now Bubba had a beautiful daughter named Norma Jean. Her fleece was as yellow as a field of dandelions. Furthermore it was naturally curly. When she went for a drink in the millpond, she tossed her flaxen locks and admired herself in a mirror. ‘How like a movie star I am!’ she said. ‘If only I could be discovered!'” (pg. 175)

She changes her name to Beauty and is discovered by a stag king who is a wannabe horror movie director and promises to star her in it. But he is really more interested in her spinning gold to finance it:

“The king stag chattered all the way to the studio about camera angles and foreign rights and how genius usually ends up on the cutting-room floor. ‘You’ll be a big star one day,’ he said to Beauty. ‘You’ve got the looks. You’ve got the curves. I’ve got a serious case of the nerves. Spin me some gold, sweetheart. All the world will thank you for it.’

And off he went, locking the door behind him.” (pg. 178)

Some stories involve gender reversals. “Little Red Robin Hood” is a boy, not a girl. A boy with an overactive imagination:

“Little Red Robin Hood pretended he was a superhero with special superpowers. Sometimes he wore a little red cape with a red hood. It was his superhero costume. It made a nice fluttering noise when he flew, like the sound of baseball cards slapping against a rotating bicycle wheel.” (pg. 107)

When he is sent to bring a basket of goodies to Grandma Robin “in a retirement village for old birds on the other side of the forest,” he is alert for the opportunity to confront any supervillains he may meet on the way.

The stories embrace all animals and locales. “So What and the Seven Giraffes” is an African tale about a chimpanzee prince of baboon parents, a gorilla evil stepmother, and seven female giraffes who are bespangled performers in the local circus. “The Three Little Penguins and the Big Bad Walrus” takes place at the South Pole. Or maybe the North Pole (does it matter?):

“Once there were three little penguins who lived in an igloo with their mother.

“The oldest penguin liked to eat fish.

The middle penguin liked to eat fish.

The youngest penguin liked to get dressed up in a ballet costume and put on a show. This was not usual for penguins, and it worried old Mama Penguin a lot.” (pg. 129)

The remaining three tales are “Goldiefox and the Three Chickens”, “Hamster and Gerbil”, and “Cinder-Elephant”. Betcha can’t read these without imagining them narrated by Ed Horton, and drawn in the Jay Ward art-style (which is pretty close to the illustrations in this book anyway). If you remember the “Fractured Fairy Tales” from 1960s TV and later video releases (they just came out on DVD), that should be all the recommendation you need for Leaping Beauty, and Other Animal Fairy Tales.

– Fred Patten

• Buy online

Frank Forte is a professional storyboard artist who has worked on projects as diverse as Bob’s Burgers and Despicable Me 2. In his spare time he paints largely-monochrome works that are often very funny-animal oriented… and very, very strange. He offers many of them up as prints through his company, Asylum Press. Visit his web site (if you’re an adult!) and see what we mean. You might also see his works at local art galleries or fannish conventions. It travels a lot!

image c. 2016 by Franke Forte

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Two Old Furry Fans, Episode #3b: In which Mark gets his “skiltaire” put in a role-playing game, and helps to start anime fandom in America, while Rodney gets started down the path to Furry Fandom thanks to two Disney mice. Meanwhile, rabbits go to war, and Ralph Bakshi actually makes a good movie.

Download file | Size: 123M

TOFF Episode 3b

New members

Welcome to our newest members: Kris Carver, Jay “Shirou” Coughlan, TJ Minde, and Mog Moogle! If you’re not a member of the Guild and you’d like more information about joining, read our membership guidelines.

Member news

Sean Rivercritic has started a new publishing imprint, Goal Publications. (Also see Market News, below.)

The novel From Winter’s Ashes, co-written by member Patrick “Bahumat” Rochefort (with Keith Aksland), is available on Amazon as an ebook.

Editor Fred Patten was interviewed on the Furry Times blog.

Madison Keller’s steampunk short “Poppy and the Great Expo,” originally in the 2016 Furlandia program book, is now available as an ebook. In addition, her novella Snow Flower is now available as an audiobook.

Member (and past president) Renee Carter Hall launched a bimonthly newletter.

Kris Schnee’s novel The Digital Coyote has been released in ebook and print form.

Mary E. Lowd sold two stories in July, one to Daily Science Fiction and one to Analog (which she notes is a furry story, “about a dragon/lizard-like alien”).

Daniel Potter published the second volume in his successful Freelance Familiar series, Marking Territory.

New markets

• Seven Deadly Sins: Furry Confessionals, themed around Dante’s seven deadly sins. Publisher: Thurston Howl Publications. Length: 2,500–8,000 words. Payment: contributor’s copy. Deadline: December 1, 2016. Submission call.
• Species is a projected anthology series in which each volume presents three sections—folktales and myths, reprints, and original stories. The first volume is Wolves. Publisher: Thurston Howl Publications. Length: 2,500–8,000 words. Rating: PG-13. Payment: contributor’s copy. Deadline: January 1, 2017. Submission call.
• Heat #14, annual anthology “in which sex or romance play an important role in the overall plot but are not the sole purpose for the story’s existence.” Editors: Dark End and Teagan Gavet. Publisher: Sofawolf Press. Length: 4,000–8,000 words. Payment: 1¢/word. Deadline: September 19, 2016. Submission call.
• While Goal Publications has wound down their eponymous magazine, they are now looking for “full-length works,” novels and novellas. Submission guidelines.
• The Symbol of a Nation, anthology themed around “furries that are the national animals of country.” (The guidelines get somewhat complex.) Editor: Fred Patten. Publisher: Goal Publications. Payment: 1¢/word. Deadline: December 1, 2016. Submission call.

For ongoing markets previously covered but still open (and occasionally, open in the future), visit the FWG web site:

• Paying short story markets
• Non-paying short story markets
• Novel/novella markets

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 ends

Member Malcolm F. Cross appeared in a brief profile on seminal science fiction blog File 770.

The World Fantasy Convention programming this year offers an “animal fantasy” panel which refers to Watership Down and The Book of the Dun Cow as being “in recent years.” We have a lot of work to do, people. (With some pressure, they added Kij Johnson’s The Fox Woman, so they’ve at least hit 1999. Progress! That also nearly doubles the number of women authors their programming refers to.)

The Tuesday Coffeehouse Chats have been successfully transplanted from the FWG forum shoutbox to the now-official FWG Slack. If you have no idea what any of this means, you haven’t visited the forum in a while, have you? Go visit it. There’s cool stuff there.

The FWG Goodreads group needs more love. Go add things to our members’ bookshelf (see the instructions here on how to do that). Start conversations. Put subversive happy faces with cat ears in your reviews of non-furry books. (No, don’t do that.)

The FWG blog also needs more love. If you would like to love it, consider writing a guest post. See our guidelines for the details.

Have a terrific month! Send news, suggestions, feedback, and steampunk bats to furwritersguild@gmail.com, or leave a comment below.

From Cornbread’s photo gallery

Sports fans are notoriously devoted.  Fursuits are incredibly photogenic.  Mascots and fursuiting make a powerful crossover when they meet.

It happens at games when fursuiting fans get noticed for national TV.  Sometimes a furry gets to be a mascot with the sweet moves and personalities that seem to spring naturally from our cons.  There are even official, high-profile team characters commissioned from fursuit makers.

That’s all covered in the article series continued in the recent Q&A with Uncle Kage and Kodi of Midwest Furfest.  It started with 1) The beginning of mascots and fursuiting, 2) Fursuiting crossover with pro sports, and 3) The National Mascot Hall of Fame.

Cornbread Wolf brings the voice of a true furry fan to this story.  This isn’t about ordinary furmeets, or a safe way to support teams like everyone else.  He stands out in the crowd in a super powerful way by following two passions to the same place.  It’s a great example of my favorite thing, Street Fursuiting.  Find him on Furaffinity, Facebook, and Twitter.

From Cornbread’s photo gallery

Cornbread explains how it started:  

“I’ll be honest – I was initially inspired by someone else to start suiting at the college games. It was Fall of 2012. I was pretty new to the fandom and didn’t know very many people in the area or even the state. At the time I was a sophomore at GA Tech, and had just commissioned a partial from Syber.

One Saturday I started watching the University of Georgia game (they’re our rivals). At one point the camera panned over the student section. On the outer edge of the screen, I saw a tiny, dog shaped blip of blue and green in all that awful red and black. At that moment I was completely convinced I saw a fursuiter in the uGA student section. However, they never really panned back over that section again. I eventually started to doubt what I had seen. There was no way that there was a fursuiter in that crowd.

So I eventually reached out to /r/furry in search of this mysterious fursuiter. Within 24 hours I got my answer. It was true. His name was Alec. It made me feel this sense of awe. There was a fursuiter? At uGA of all places? I was pretty impressed. uGA is not nearly as progressive as GT in terms of something like this. So that day I told myself I would start suiting at GT games as soon as I could. I was not going to allow furry to be represented front and center at a school in bumble fuck Athens and not in the heart of Atlanta, known for being much more progressive. (Excuse my french!)

That is basically my motivation for why I started suiting at the games. I wanted my fandom to be represented on my campus, especially if it was being so openly displayed at uGA.”

From Cornbread’s photo gallery

Like Superman does his thing.

“Running around in suit was quite a fun time. I tend to treat fursuiting the way superman does his thing. I’d throw the suit on in my dorm and try to quickly run out. That way no one knew who this crazy wolf guy was running around during home games.  Being in the middle of a college gameday, while wearing a giant dog suit, is pretty exhilarating. So many children smile and run up to you wanting pictures or high fives. I would even heckle the opposing teams fans, steal their hats playfully, basically anything to stir up friendly banter. It was rewarding to see the children and even the less sober adults laugh and smile as they interacted with me. That’s the part I love the most.

As for getting into the stadium, I never contacted anyone about being able to wear a mask in the stands. The first try was terrifying. I had no idea if they would let me in. However, it worked flawlessly. Plus I wasn’t asked to remove the head so I didn’t even have to break character! Once you get in the gate it’s a mad dash to see who gets to claim the front of the stands. That’s the best seat in the house, right in the front of SWARM (the student section).

I would stay in suit the entire duration of the game. Some of the earlier games in the season were giant fursuit endurance tests, but I had no desire to give up my front a center view of the game. Every now and then I would get on the big screen inside the stadium. I could be seen on ESPN a few times, and I was once featured on ESPN’s weekly “Super Fan’s” gallery.

All in all I loved every moment of it. I am extremely thankful that I saw Alec that day. Without that I know for a fact I never would have pursued this and I owe it all to him.”

Thanks Cornbread!  Have a bunch of hugs for sharing this slice of life, and keep doing what you do. 

Sarah Clemens is an all-around artist (being a medical illustrator pays the bills) who has chosen to focus her talents on creating oil paintings that are almost photo-realistic. Not only of friends, family, and landscapes, but also of numerous fantasy topics. If you visit her web site you’ll find a special fantasy gallery — and it doesn’t take long to notice that she has a special affinity for both cats and dragons… often in the same picture! Her two favorite characters — named Magnus and Loki — even have their own special web site. Ms. Clemens displays at art galleries and convention art shows throughout the US, but of course many of her works are also available as prints on her web site.

image c. 2013 by Sarah Clemens

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Hello,

I'm not a Furry but I don't know anyone else I could ask. (Besides people on FA but I don't want to make an account since I would only use it once). She's 16 I'm about 15.

About 4 months ago I met Angelina. Her parents are furries, and she got her first suit, and it's not too ackward, because she doesn't wear it in public around me, so props for that, But she asked me to go to a furcon, and to go with her to furry meets, and trying to introduce me to the fandom, and I don't want to... But should I? I don't want to break up with her.

Eric (15)

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​Hi, Eric,

Thanks for your question. You don't have to be a furry to have a furry girlfriend. My late husband was not a furry, but he was very supportive of me. I would suggest you join her at a furcon or furmeet for the one reason that you should probably get a better idea about what furries are before you make further judgments about them. You will see that we are just normal people with an unconventional interest that's really no stranger than, say, being a Trekkie or being obsessed with World of Warcraft. We're just people--like your girlfriend :-)

She obviously has qualities about her that you like a lot and you want to continue the relationship. Be supportive, just like--I would hope--she would be supportive of you if you were interested in something even if she wasn't.

Make sense?

Good luck!
Papabear

Ocean runs off to AC 2016 and ends the con in a hotel room sitting around with other authors, editors and publishers. The gloves are off, the drinks are out and we’re ready to unwind and shoot the breeze. As usual, there’s an explicit advisory warning with our SWS shows. Otherwise, enjoy!

 
Send us your feedback, questions, concerns, complaints:

@FangsAndFonts

Facebook.com/FangsAndFonts
 

Fangs and Fonts

Click below to Listen http://www.fangsandfonts.com/FnF/Episodes/Ep68-ACSWS.mp3

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Ep 68 – ACSWS - Ocean runs off to AC 2016 and ends the con in a hotel room sitting around with other authors, editors and publishers. The gloves are off, the drinks are out and we’re ready to unwind and shoot the breeze. As usual, there’s an explicit advisory [...]

The National Mascot Hall of Fame is coming in 2017.  This mainstream event might deserve furry attention. It’s a series here:

1) The beginning of mascots and fursuiting.
2) Fursuiting crossover with pro sports.
3) The National Mascot Hall of Fame.

Could a full time mascot-based tourist attraction include furries somehow?  Maybe they will indirectly benefit.  Imagine an exhibit dedicated to hobbyist costuming, and how it’s an institution in places like Pittsburgh.  If that happened, Uncle Kage would surely be one of the first asked to help connect furries and pro mascots. And it’s interesting that the NMHOF is close to Midwest Furfest (imagine an exhibit coordinated with the con.)

I contacted Kage and MFF about this. Here’s followup to the stories above.

From Raymond Entertainment Group

Mascot Boot Camp is run by NMHOF founder Dave Raymond (the original “Philly Phanatic”).   It’s in Kutztown PA- 3 days for $399.  Fursuiters, check that out.  And you can hire it to come to you (wouldn’t it be amazing to have such a workshop hosted by a con? Although cost per person would be huge.)  Check Dave Raymond’s group of companies for a look at professional mascot building and more – Raymond Entertainment Group.

Furry sports fans on national TV – have you seen this going around as a popular meme? (Tip: Chakat Shorttail.)

Here’s the story from 2014: Dallas Stars Fans Dress Up as Furries, Taunt Bruce Boudreau With Taco Sign. Hockey fans loved it on Reddit’s r/hockey. And here’s some reaction from Reddit’s r/furry. Find Vermy Fox and Dario Mouse on FurAffinity.

Uncle Kage answers a few questions about The Mascot Hall of Fame.

(Patch:) Do you think there will be any outreach to furries, directly or subtly?

(Kage:) I have no way of knowing. It would be nice if someone out there recognized that there is a fandom built up around anthropomorphic animals, and that mascotting is a perfect example of the genre.

(Patch:) The San Diego Chicken made a fantastic Guest Of Honor at Anthrocon, can we look forward to more?

(Kage:) It’d be lovely if he would return to join us. Perhaps in 2017, when we are planning a baseball theme.

(Patch:) Is this part of mainstreaming furries, with stuff like Disney’s Zootopia?

(Kage:) Furries are already mainstream. The rest of the world just hasn’t caught on yet.

I met the chicken!

Q&A with Kodi, MFF media contact and Director of Programming & Marketing.

(Patch:) Have you guys heard of the National Mascot Hall of Fame opening nearby in the Chicago area? Would you have anything to do with it?

(Kodi:) I was aware of the hall of fame opening, though we didn’t have anything to do with it – such a small percentage of our attendees perform in costume (it’s a large number, but not normally more than 25% of con attendees)

(Patch:) Do you think it will bring interest in what furries do, or even involve them?

(Kodi:) I think it could certainly interest some of our attendees, though I don’t expect they would ever formally involve us – their hall of fame seems to be more tailored to sports mascots, not amateurs.

(Patch:) Anthrocon’s GOH was the San Diego Chicken who is credited as making sports mascots popular.  Has MFF had anyone similar, or will you?

(Kodi:) We were thrilled to see that Anthrocon was recognizing the San Diego chicken! I think he’s a stellar example of true professionalism! Midwest Furfest prides itself on first and foremost, recognizing the achievements and leadership within our community directly – I would never say never, but at least right now, our focus is more directed at recognizing achievement within the fandom

(Patch:) Would you agree crossover of furry and mainstream stuff seems to be growing? Have any other comment about that?

(Kodi:) I think there are certainly parts of the mainstream world that seem to recognize the fandom, and a lot of the hard work our performers, artists and businesses do (perhaps more now, than in previous years). However, I also think that’s a consequence of the growth of the fandom as a whole – we are becoming a larger entity, which invites more opportunity for ‘cross over’. Ultimately, Midwest Furfest’s goal is to continue providing education, fun and a really great event for our attendees. We aren’t directly focused on our growth, nor do we really spend a lot of time looking at how other fandoms or other parts of the community may choose to portray us. We truly believe that we have an exceptional group of staff and attendees that’s helped make our events a lot of fun, and we couldn’t be more appreciative!

Tomorrow: Cornbread Wolf talks about his hobby of fursuiting at sports games.

Roo and Tugs re-arranged the studio and put on their asbestos suits to prepare for this episode and preserve the history of the fandom - Burned Furries! We are joined by first hand witness to the events, Sophianna Katana, who joined the furry fandom in 1991. While she's no longer part of the furry fandom, it doesn't mean she doesn't have mesmerizing stories to tell. This is the story of the Burned Furries like you've never heard before. We also have a NEW segment, Space News, and Get Psyched!

Programming note: Due to the studio re-arrangement, we do have some small audio hiccups in this episode. We're sorry!



NOW LISTEN!

Show Notes

Special Thanks

Alix Dialca
Bluue Husky
Dronon, for taking it upon himself to prepare some notes for this episode to guide us.
Sophianna Katan, our guest! If you want to support Sophie in her efforts, consider attending the Bay Area Brony Spectacular (BABSCon).

Music

Opening Theme: Husky In Denial – Cloud Fields (Century Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2015. ©2015 Fur What It’s Worth and Husky in Denial. Based on Fredrik Miller– Cloud Fields (Radio Mix). USA: Bandcamp, 2011. ©2011 Fur What It’s Worth. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Some music was provided by Kevin MacLeod at Incompetech.com. We used the following pieces: Inspired . Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.
Space News Music: Fredrik Miller – Orbit. USA: Bandcamp, 2013. Used with permission. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Get Psyched! Music: Fredrik Miller – Universe. USA: Bandcamp, 2013. Used with permission. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Closing Theme: Husky In Denial – Cloud Fields (Headnodic Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2015. ©2015 Fur What It’s Worth and Husky in Denial. Based on Fredrik Miller – Cloud Fields (Chill Out Mix). USA: Bandcamp, 2011. ©2011 Fur What It’s Worth. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)

Next episode: What got you into the fandom? This is a listener suggested topic and we can't believe we haven't done it yet! So send us what got you into the fandom by August 9, 2016! S6 Episode 1 – I’m on FIRE! - Roo and Tugs re-arranged the studio and put on their asbestos suits to prepare for this episode and preserve the history of the fandom - Burned Furries! We are joined by first hand witness to the events, Sophianna Katana,

This we got from Deadline: “Former ToonBox exec Jay Ahn [The Nut Job] and animation industry veteran Chris Henderson [Disney’s 101 Dalmatians TV series] have launched Astro-Nomical Entertainment, a development and production company aiming to make high-quality independent animated family films. Its first project in the works is the feature film Mean Margaret, based on the children’s book by Tor Seidler [A Rat’s Tale, The Wainscot Weasel]. Mulan co-director Barry Cook is in talks to direct… The Mean Margaret books center on a cranky toddler from a family of nine who is taken in by two woodchucks and raised as their own among a community of wacky animal characters.”

image c. 2016 Astro-Nomical Entertainment

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Amy Wascher is a sculptor and mold-maker who works extensively with Super-Sculpey. Of late her subjects have been leaning towards pop culture in general, and cartoons in particular. And yes, that means funny animals too. Visit her web site, ClayBrushes.com, to see her current stuff plus what she’s working on now.

image c. 2016 by Amy Wascher

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