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You know how much we love data.  If data were a person (with apologies to Brent Spiner), we’d have a total crush on them.  We really like data.

So it is that we’re basically ecstatic to see the release of the Fur Science! e-book.

FurScience.com is the home for our wonderful friends over at the International Anthropomorphic Research Project, who has contributed to this site in several ways through the guise of Nuka/Courtney Plante.  The IARP does several studies through the internet and through conventions – and these are scientific studies, unlike our Furry Survey, which is primarily a market survey – and through the data that they have gathered, they’ve pulled together a fantastic resource for furries and non-furries alike.

The Fur Science! e-book is a fascinating deep dive into several of the studies that the IARP has done, ranging from demographics to therians and bronies, and everything in between.  If you like data just as much as we do, you’ll certainly enjoy paging through the 174 pages of graphs, charts, and explanations.  Hats off to Nuka and crew over at the IARP for pulling something like this together.

You can download the e-book for free as a PDF here, and check out the rest of IARPs information and offerings on their webpage.

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

Gods With Fur, Edited by Fred Patten, Cover by Teagan Gavet
Dallas, TX, FurPlanet Productions, $19.95 (453 Pages)

Fred Patten’s newest anthology, Gods with Fur, will go on sale at Anthrocon 2016 at the end of this month. Published by FurPlanet Productions, the trade paperback book contains 23 original stories by Kyell Gold, Mary E. Lowd, Michael H. Payne, and more, featuring the gods of anthropomorphic worlds and the anthropomorphic gods of our world.

You may know about Egyptian mythology’s jackal-headed Anubis, but do you know about wolf-headed Wepwawet? You may know about China’s Monkey King or the native North Americans’ Coyote (well, they say they’re gods), but do you know about the Aztecs’ 400 drunken rabbits?

Here are historic gods, the gods of their authors’ series (Kyell Gold’s Forrester University; Heidi Vlach’s Aligare, Kris Schnee’s TaleSpace), and totally original gods:

“400 Rabbits” by Alice “Huskyteer” Dryden
“Contract Negotiations” by Field T. Mouse
“On the Run from Isofell” by M. R. Anglin
“To the Reader …” by Alan Loewen
“First Chosen” by BanWynn Oakshadow
“All Of You Are In Me” by Kyell Gold
“Yesterday’s Trickster” by NightEyes DaySpring
“The Gods of Necessity” by Jefferson Swycaffer
“The Precession of the Equinoxes” by Michael H. Payne
“Deity Theory” by James L. Steele
“Questor’s Gambit” by Mary E. Lowd
“Fenrir’s Saga” by Televassi
“The Three Days of the Jackal” by Samuel C. Conway
“A Melody in Seduction’s Arsenal” by Slip-Wolf
“Adversary’s Fall” by MikasiWolf
“As Below, So Above” by Mut
“Wings of Faith” by Kris Schnee
“The Going Forth of Uadjet” by Frances Pauli
“That Exclusive Zodiac Club” byichael Fred Patten
“Three Minutes to Midnight” by Killick (Tom Mullins)
“A Day With No Tide” by Watts Martin
“Repast (A Story of Aligare)” by Heidi C. Vlach
“Origins” by Michael D. Winkle

Gods with Fur will be on sale at Anthrocon 2016 on June 30 – July 3, at the FurPlanet table in the Dealers’ Den, and on the FurPlanet online catalogue later in July.

–Fred Patten

• Pre-Order on Furplanet

Much of the discussion about the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie (Out of the Shadows) has centered on what a welcome addition to the film Bebop and Rocksteady have been. They have always been fan-favorite characters after all.  Well now, for the month of June IDW have given the boar and rhino their own comic book line — and a time machine.  Be very, very afraid as Bebop and Rocksteady Destroy Everything in a new 5-issue full-color mini-series. According to Comics Alliance, “…the eternal misfits of the TMNT franchise find themselves bouncing around through time itself courtesy of writers Dustin Weaver and Ben Bates, with a cast of artists that includes Nick Pitarra, Sophie Campbell, Giannis Milonogiannis, and Ryan Browne. And if that wasn’t enough, they’re bringing a few old friends along for the ride, too!” In an unusual (but probably appropriate for these guys) move, IDW is releasing a new issue of the mini-series every week through June — so get yourself caught up!

image c. 2016 IDW Comics

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Their secret seal- get it on a shirt.

All hail Uncle Kage, Dark Lord and Master of Furry fandom… nah, he’s just one very visible and committed fan who wants to set an example for how to run a good con.  The real power is with many con leaders who form a shadowy, secret cabal whose name cannot be spoken.

They’re watching me. (JL Martello/ New Pittsburgh Courier)

It’s called the Furry Convention Leadership Roundtable.  And now I’m in biiiiig trouble.

I’m sharing a big list of cons below.  Compare it to the participants on the FCLR website – nearly all (with just a couple of exceptions) overlap with the formally incorporated portion of the list below.  It seems like incorporation is for cons that Have Their Shit Together.

Thanks to Fred Patten for assembling and researching the list.  He did it when I asked: is there one resource to show which cons have what structures, and when they started or ended?  It would be interesting to look at their growth over time and learn about defunct cons.  There’s a whole topic about what happens when it’s time to transfer or disband, and why. (With all the drama RainFurrest caused, everyone could learn something from it.)

Fred told me:

“My forthcoming Furry Fandom Conventions (book published by McFarland) lists the attendance of each convention, so you can see the growth; but I don’t think anyone has made a list of which conventions are technically run by which non-profit corporations.  You’ve made me curious.

This was harder than I had thought… Some of the conventions don’t name incorporations but may have them.  Some name organizations that are not incorporated, such as CaliFur’s FENEC Adventures.  I should contact each of these individually, but some never reply…

I’ve tried to include only conventions, not furmeets. My definition is that if it charges a membership fee and registers its attendees, it’s a convention. If it’s free, or charges admission but does not register its attendees, it’s a furmeet.

I’ve tried to add all the new 2016 conventions. There are a couple that have been announced that seem too insubstantial as yet to me.” – (Fred Patten)

I bolded the active cons with formal corporate structures.  The rest are unincorporated or gone.  The list is very basic – finding more data (like durations and board details) is a job for a future time. Notice a few standout details:  China National Furry Party is apparently the only one actually run by a government.  Texas Furry Con was the only one sponsored by a mainstream corporation (Shiner Bock Beer.)  Elliott’s Live Events isn’t listed, but I believe it’s specially funded by one benefactor as a privilege for all furries who may join.

1. Abando – unincorporated. Discontinued.
2. All Fur Fun – unincorporated. Discontinued.
3. Antheria – unincorporated. Discontinued.
4. Anthro New England – Anthro New England, Inc.
5. Anthrocon – Anthrocon, Inc.
6. Anthrofest – unincorporated. Discontinued.
7. Arizona Fur Con – Arizona Fur Convention LLC
8. BerliCon – unincorporated. Discontinued.
9. Biggest Little Fur Con – Reno Area Anthropomorphic Arts and Recreations (RAAAR), a.k.a. BLFCorp.
10. Brasil FurFest – unincorporated
11. C-ACE – unincorporated. Discontinued.
12. Cal-Furr – unincorporated. Discontinued.
13. CaliFur – FENEC Adventures (unincorporated)
14. Camp Feral! – Toronto Role-playing and Anthropomorphic Animal Costuming Society (TRAACS)
15. Campfire Tails – unincorporated
16. CampFur – unincorporated
17. Central Midwest Furmeet – unincorporated. Discontinued.
18. Central Plains Fur Con – unincorporated
19. Central Plains Fur Meet – unincorporated
20. ČeSFuR – ČeSFuR
21. CH-on – unincorporated. Discontinued.
22. China National Furry Party – government
23. Condition – unincorporated. Discontinued.
24. ConFurence – unincorporated. Discontinued.
25. ConFURence East – unincorporated. Discontinued.
26. ConFurgence – Australian Fandom Conventions
27. ConFuzzled – ConFuzzled UK
28. Conifur Northwest – unincorporated. Discontinued.
29. EAST (Episches Abfeiern Streunender Tiere), a.k.a. EAST-CON – Sachsenfurs e.V.
30. EuroFurence – EuroFurence e.V.
31. FA: United – Northeast Anthropomorphic Association
32. Fangcon – unincorporated
33. FinFur Animus – unincorporated
34. FranFurence – unincorporated. Discontinued.
35. Fur Reality – Ringtail Productions LLC
36. Fur Squared – not for profit organization, but are they incorporated?
37. Fur the ‘More – Mid-Atlantic Anthropomorphic Society
38. Furbest – unincorporated. Discontinued.
39. FurCoNZ – unincorporated
40. FurDU – Australian Fandom Conventions
41. Fur-Eh! – Fur-Eh! Organizing Committee
42. FurFright – FurFright, Inc. Discontinued.
43. FurIdaho – unincorporated. Discontinued.
44. FurJAM – unincorporated
45. Furlandia – RAIn, Inc.
46. Furlaxation – Furlaxation, Inc. Discontinued.
47. Furloween – unincorporated
48. Furnal Equinox – Anthropomorphic Events of Ontario (AEO)
49. Furpocalypse – ? (continued from FurFright, Inc.?)
50. Furry Connection North – Furry Connection North, Inc. Discontinued.
51. Furry Fiesta – Dallas Regional Anthropomorphic Meeting Association (D.R.A.M.A.), Inc.
52. Furry Migration – Minnesota Furs (MNFurs), Inc.
53. Furry Spring Break – unincorporated. Discontinued.
54. Furry Unlocked – Wasatch Regional Anthro Arts and Entertainment (WRAAE), Inc. Discontinued.
55. Furry Weekend Atlanta – Furry Weekend Atlanta, Inc.
56. Furry Weekend Holland – unincorporated
57. FurryCon – Kanouse Entertainment Group
58. FurryLah – unincorporated
59. Furs Upon Malaysia – unincorporated
60. Furstivus – Furstivus®. Discontinued.
61. Furstock – unincorporated
62. Furtastic – unincorporated
63. Further Confusion – Anthropomorphic Arts and Education, Inc. (AAE)
64. FurVention – unincorporated
65. FurWAG – Australian Fandom Conventions
66. FurWanted – unincorporated
67. Fur-Xoticon – unincorporated
68. Futerkon – unincorporated
69. Futrzakon – unincorporated
70. F3 Convention – Missouri’s Furries FurAffinity Group. (Discontinued?)
71. Gateway FurMeet – unincorporated
72. Gdakon – unincorporated
73. Golden Leaves Con — unincorporated
74. Great Lakes Fur Con – unincorporated
75. H-Con – unincorporated
76. Ibercamp – unincorporated. Discontinued
77. IndyFurCon – WhoozFur, Inc.
78. Infurnity – unincorporated
79. Japan Meeting of Furries – unincorporated
80. Kemocon – unincorporated
81. Kemono Square – unincorporated
82. Kigukemo – unincorporated
83. Maltese Fur-Con – unincorporated. Discontinued.
84. Megaplex – Pawpet Live Experiences, Inc. (PLEx)
85. Mephit FurMeet – Mid-South and Tennessee Anthropomorphic Arts Association (MST3A)
86. Mephit MiniCon – FurCon e.V.
87. MiDFur – unincorporated
88. Midwest FurFest – Midwest Furry Fandom, Inc.
89. Morphicon – Morphicon Corporation; renamed after 2015 to AnthrOhio
90. Motor City Furry Con – Motor City Furry Con LLC
91. NordicFuzzCon – unincorporated
92. Oklacon – Oklahoma Association of Anthropomorphic Arts, Inc. Discontinued.
93. Pacific Anthropomorphics Weekend – Pacific Anthropomorphics League, Inc. (pending)
94. Philippine Anthro Festival – unincorporated
95. RainFurrest – Rainfurrest Anthropomorphics International (RAIn) Inc. Discontinued?
96. RBW – unincorporated. Discontinued.
97. RivFur – unincorporated. Discontinued.
98. Rocket City FurMeet – Rocket City FurMeet, Inc. Discontinued.
99. Rocky Mountain Fur Con – MidAmerica Anthropomorphics and Arts Corporation
100. Ruhrcon – unincorporated
101. RusFURence – unincorporated
102. ScotiaCon – ScotiaCon UK Ltd.
103. Texas Furry Con – sponsored by Shiner Bock Beer. Discontinued.
104. TransFur – unincorporated. Discontinued.
105. Tropicon – unincorporated. Discontinued.
106. UralFurence – unincorporated
107. VancouFur – unincorporated
108. Western Pennsylvania Furry Weekend – unincorporated
109. What the Fur – unincorporated
110. Wild Nights – Missouri Exotic Species Art Association (MESA)
111. WUFF – unincorporated
112. Zampacon – unincorporated
113. ZodiaCon – unincorporated

Due to second life (job) interfering with our ability to get the end of season recap done, we recorded this episode instead. It's a RAW episode of FWIW! No edits. Just Roo and Tugs. We discuss various topics, play Space News and Get Psyched!, clear out the mailbag, and see the return of a couple jokes missing from last season. Roo also lets us know how much he likes being...well, you know.


NOW LISTEN!

 

Show Notes

Special Thanks

To those who waited so patiently for us to get them out of the mailbag! Afteel Nifty, Bluue, and Maverick!

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!)
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: It’s the Season 5 Recap! Tell us your favorite moments of the 100th episode season by July 5, 2016! S5E17 – FWIW: RAW! (Lost Episode VI) - Due to second life (job) interfering with our ability to get the end of season recap done, we recorded this episode instead. It's a RAW episode of FWIW! No edits. Just Roo and Tugs. We discuss various topics, play Sp

More from Animation World Network: “UK and LA-based family and entertainment production company, Komixx Media Group, announced it has secured the worldwide rights to stylish children’s author and illustrator William Bee’s colorful series Stanley. Komixx will create an animation series that will follow the adventures of Stanley the hard-working hamster and his furry friends. The lovable series [Stanley the Builder, Stanley the Farmer, and so forth — Ye Ed-Otter] comes from the British-born author and illustrator Ian Bilbey, who writes under the name William Bee. Komixx Entertainment has brought Bilbey on-board as its art director to develop Stanley into a much-loved animation character for preschoolers.” According to Andrew Cole-Bulgin, joint CEO and Head of Film & TV for Komixx Media Group, “Stanley is an independent, paws-on hamster who’s used to running the show… It’s going to be a lot of fun for Stanley, Hattie, Myrtle, Little Woo, and all their furry friends.” The show goes into production in 2017, then of course it will be looking for world-wide markets.

image c. 2016 Komixx Media Group

Without much news, we have some chilled out discussions and plan for AC. See you all there!

Download MP3

Watch Video Link Roundup:

• Examiner.com’s 7 signs your lover is a werewolf
• Random cool anime furry thing what is this
• Why is everyone taken tweet

News:

• Zombie Genes That Wake Up After You Die Could Help To Predict Time Of Death
• Restraining Order Against God – Filed
• Murder Suspect Eludes Arrest By Ditching Prosthetic Leg With GPS Tracker
• Truck Carrying 40,000 Pounds Of Biscuits Overturns, Twitter Reacts Accordingly

Emails:

• Dugan – “New Fur Commuting to Con”
• Grizeus – “Query: Knots and the Real Thing?”
• Jared Tamana – “Organize a Furmeet…?”
• Kit Fox – “Fatigue with everything Happening”
• Timber H Wulfy – “The fandom, my friend, and a special request.”

FC-238 Sexy Mike - Without much news, we have some chilled out discussions and plan for AC. See you all there!

Without much news, we have some chilled out discussions and plan for AC. See you all there!

Download MP3

Watch Video Link Roundup:

• Examiner.com’s 7 signs your lover is a werewolf
• Random cool anime furry thing what is this
• Why is everyone taken tweet

News:

• Zombie Genes That Wake Up After You Die Could Help To Predict Time Of Death
• Restraining Order Against God – Filed
• Murder Suspect Eludes Arrest By Ditching Prosthetic Leg With GPS Tracker
• Truck Carrying 40,000 Pounds Of Biscuits Overturns, Twitter Reacts Accordingly

Emails:

• Dugan – “New Fur Commuting to Con”
• Grizeus – “Query: Knots and the Real Thing?”
• Jared Tamana – “Organize a Furmeet…?”
• Kit Fox – “Fatigue with everything Happening”
• Timber H Wulfy – “The fandom, my friend, and a special request.”

FC-238 Sexy Mike - Without much news, we have some chilled out discussions and plan for AC. See you all there!

Without much news, we have some chilled out discussions and plan for AC. See you all there!

Download MP3

Link Roundup:

• Examiner.com’s 7 signs your lover is a werewolf
• Random cool anime furry thing what is this
• Why is everyone taken tweet

News:

• Zombie Genes That Wake Up After You Die Could Help To Predict Time Of Death
• Restraining Order Against God – Filed
• Murder Suspect Eludes Arrest By Ditching Prosthetic Leg With GPS Tracker
• Truck Carrying 40,000 Pounds Of Biscuits Overturns, Twitter Reacts Accordingly

Emails:

• Dugan – “New Fur Commuting to Con”
• Grizeus – “Query: Knots and the Real Thing?”
• Jared Tamana – “Organize a Furmeet…?”
• Kit Fox – “Fatigue with everything Happening”
• Timber H Wulfy – “The fandom, my friend, and a special request.”

[Live] Sexy Mike

Night in the Woods is an upcoming adventure game from Infinite Fall, featuring dozens of animal characters, a hand-drawn world filled with things to interact with, and an intriguing story filled with wit. After a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2013, the three-person team is finally getting close to releasing its creation, with a planned release on PC and PS4 this year. 

The team was at E3 to show off the game, which garnered lots of praise while there. Alec Holowka from Infinite Fall sat down with PlayStation.Blog to show off the game and talk about what to expect when it releases:

Discover more about Night in The Woods and download a "ghost story" for the game that you can play right now: http://www.nightinthewoods.com/

1. Tell us about your most recent project (written or published). What inspired it?

I’ve been working on a short story cycle that follows the residents of a fictional small town on the Oregon coast. Cannon Shoals is typical of such towns, intimate but clannish, full of people who are trying to balance their dreams against the reality of economic depression and the sense that the world is passing them by. I was inspired by my summers spent in the Santiam Valley, and all the little towns you drive through on winding, lonely highways — places where the water dried up or the railroad left or the mill closed and things just, as the poem goes, “fell apart.” Yeats was talking about the cataclysm of the Great War, but I think that for many places the apocalypse is more subtle and more drab. There are a lot of interesting stories to tell there.

2. What’s your writing process like? Are you a “pantser,” an outliner, or something in between?

I believe in outlines. I say “believe” because it is something like faith! Generally when I start I try to know roughly where I’m going, even if I don’t end up getting there. I find it hard to begin writing with an empty page.

3. What’s your favorite kind of story to write?

My favorite kind of story is the kind where world-curious, upbeat animal-folk learn that there are few problems one cannot solve through the twin powers of good-natured optimism and clever banter. A lot of my stories are ones where I count it as a success if my readers come away with a smile, a lifted mood, and knowing some obscure bit of trivia that they didn’t know before.

4. Which character from your work do you most identify with, and why?

Teobas Franklyn starts my story An Iron Road Running as a starry-eyed, irrepressible kid on his first day of his dream job working on a railroad. Over the course of the novel, the work becomes more trying and he finds himself well out of his depth, but by keeping his wits about him he matures into someone people look to for help, guidance, and solutions to difficult problems. Teo, who ends the story still excited and optimistic, but with his optimism guided by world-wisdom, is the kind of person I’d like to grow up and become.

5. Which authors or books have most influenced your work?

Robert Heinlein and Rudyard Kipling, for the knack they have at celebrating and lauding individuals with indomitable spirits. Other golden-age SF writers, too: Leiber and Asimov and Cordwainer Smith. I know they seem archaic and even naïve now but I feel like that sense of optimism and grand adventure needs to be recaptured. That we should look with wonder and excitement to every new horizon; that frontiers still await us, be they physical or technological or scientific or philosophical — and that, moreover, through ingenuity and dedication and willpower and intellect, such frontiers are our birthright. Furry is such a singularity of great writers that it’s hard to name specific ones in fandom, but pretty much every time I sit down at a keyboard I wish I could write like Huskyteer and Cinnamon, or that I had the same honed gift for ideas as Rechan and Kyell Gold. Those are really the furry authors I look up to and who influence me.

6. What’s the last book you read that you really loved?

It’s a bit older now, but I finally finished Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August on a long plane flight and it’s absolutely spellbinding. It describes the process by which Europe fell, with equal parts inevitability and stupidity, into the Great War. Her ability to distill the competing factions that conspired to destroy the continent is masterful! Even if you’re not historically inclined, it’s the kind of timeless book that still makes for great reading. And, quite probably, it’s still instructive — the way something that now seems inevitable was shocking and incomprehensible at the time is likely to have some parallels for future historians of our present day.

7. Besides writing, how do you like to spend your free time?

Photography and cycling, particularly as the weather gets warmer and it’s more pleasant to be outside. In Berlin, the summer evenings last forever and there’s plenty of soft, golden light drenching every tree and building and park. It’s a great time to just be out in the world.

8. Advice for other writers?

Write now, worry later. I firmly believe this world is better with more stories in it. Tell them. My advice is that if you come to a fork in the road, and one path leads to putting down words on a page, take that one. Don’t worry if it’s been written before, or if your readers won’t like it, or if you’re doing something wrong — those are problems for Future You. And ignore anyone else trying to do your worrying for you. Every so often articles get passed around about the Things You Shouldn’t Do: the characters you shouldn’t write, the plot devices that are tired, the settings that are overdone, and so on. I say that’s also a problem for Future You: write now, worry later.

For some writers, writing comes easily. For others, and I’m one of them, writing is a constant, unending, and quixotic battle against all the forces arrayed against my keyboard. You can always edit out the things you don’t like later — but the words need to get written first. So when you read or hear or feel something that purports to be advice or guidance but actually keeps you from writing, recognize it for the traitor it is and ignore the impulse to listen. Write now, worry later.

9. Where can readers find your work?

SoFurry. I’ve been a resident there long enough to claim citizenship!

10. What’s your favorite thing about the furry fandom?

I love how creative it is, and — as a consequence — how its creativity seems to beget creativity. I tend to write for furries, and in online venues like SoFurry, which means I’m writing to, for, and with other writers. There’s a direct feedback loop that means that I know when my readers like a particular plotline or have ideas about how it should be developed — an intimate link between creators, co-creators and consumers that wasn’t really possible in the past and seems particularly strong here. I know in the past it was more common to be downbeat on furry writing, and that’s very unfortunate because the fandom has a wealth of tremendously talented individuals in it. It is simply not possible to look at the creative spark at the very core of furry and not come away inspired.

 

Check out Rob Baird’s member bio here!

Furry is “fractured” among several different sub-communities like therians, transformation fans, authors, artists, and many other groups. Is this a problem for the furry fandom as a whole, or does it work to our advantage?

Metadata and Credits Furry Community II

Runtime: 35:22m

Cast: KZorroFuego, Levi, Near, Wolfin

Editor: Levi

Format: 128kbps ABR split-stereo MP3 Copyright: © 2016 WagzTail.com. Some Rights Reserved. This podcast is released by WagzTail.com as CC BY-ND 3.0. Podcast thumbnail is by Adrian van Leen under the RGBStock license, used with permission.

Furry Community II - Furry is “fractured” among several different sub-communities like therians, transformation fans, authors, artists, and many other groups. Is this a problem for the furry fandom as a whole, or does it work to our advantage?

Furry is “fractured” among several different sub-communities like therians, transformation fans, authors, artists, and many other groups. Is this a problem for the furry fandom as a whole, or does it work to our advantage?

Metadata and Credits Furry Community II

Runtime: 35:22m

Cast: KZorroFuego, Levi, Near, Wolfin

Editor: Levi

Format: 128kbps ABR split-stereo MP3 Copyright: © 2016 WagzTail.com. Some Rights Reserved. This podcast is released by WagzTail.com as CC BY-ND 3.0. Podcast thumbnail is by Adrian van Leen under the RGBStock license, used with permission.

Furry Community II - Furry is “fractured” among several different sub-communities like therians, transformation fans, authors, artists, and many other groups. Is this a problem for the furry fandom as a whole, or does it work to our advantage?

Dear Papabear,

It's me again, and I feel bad for taking your time with this odd question, but there's this guy I like. He is kind and sweet and we listen and help each other with our problems, I told him about me being gay and he was like "no surprise there, I knew it for a while now", I asked him how he knew and he just said he had a feeling. I thanked him for having the decency to wait until I told him instead of pestering me like my other friends did. Anyway, I really like him, and he is bi, so I was wondering how do I ask him out. Every time I try I get all tongue tied and nervous because he is my first guy crush that I can actually talk to. So sorry about the two questions but how do I ask him out and how do I get over my nerves when even thinking about it gives me butterflies in my stomach?

Yours truly,
Austin

* * *

Hi, Austin,

I suspect you get butterflies because you're thinking too far ahead: that is, thinking to yourself, "What if we end up in bed?" Instead of thinking about that, I would suggest you take it slowly. Just ask him to join you to see a movie or do some other fun activity together, maybe lunch or dinner added to the mix, but don't go so far as to ask him to your bedroom (the old comical line of "Want to see my etchings?" or, perhaps more understandable to your generation, "Wanna come inside and play some video games?") In fact, don't go into either one of your homes.

Once you remove the nerve-wracking thought of sexual romance, you should be able to calm down enough to ask him out because it is a non-threatening "dinner and a movie" proposition. Do this a few times until you feel more comfortable, and then you can consider going to second base.

Good luck!
Papabear

(Sorry: We didn’t come up with that one!) Legend is a new full-color science fiction series from Z2 Comics. “What if a biological terror agent wiped out most of humanity, and our domesticated animals were left in charge? How would our dogs and cats set about ruling and rebuilding the world? Ransom, the leader of the Dog Tribe, has been murdered by a creature known as the Endark. An English Pointer named Legend reluctantly rises to lead in his place, vowing to kill the monster once and for all. From acclaimed novelist Samuel Sattin and award-winning illustrator Chris Koehler comes Legend, where cat technology rules, dogs partner with hawks, and humans may be the most beastly creatures of all. ” According to Bleeding Cool, the first run of issue #1 has already sold out and gone to a second printing. My, people like their post-apocalyptic pets, don’t they? Check out the article for a preview trailer created by Z2 as well.

image c. 2016 Z2 Comics

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Co written by Patch and Fred Patten.

Happy Pride month!  Check out this short animation, Flamingo Pride.  It screened in the 2012 annual Animation Show of Shows, an international touring festival. Read on about why the festival deserves your attention, and what this means to furries.

Ron Diamond, producer of The Animation Show of Shows, contacted Fred Patten:

Dear Fred, I want to thank you for the great write up on The 17th Annual Animation Show of Shows. I was delighted about the kindness you extended to me and the filmmakers in covering an otherwise unorthodox medley of quirky international animated shorts. I’d be grateful if you can share this with your readers, to help build awareness of alternative animation that has a message that pleases and inspires. Warm regards, Ron

The 2016 Animation Show of Shows will be the 18th annual edition.  Fred has previously reviewed it for various animation websites (here’s reviews from 2013 and 2015.) Diamond is president of Acme Filmworks, an animation studio in Los Angeles that produces animated TV commercials in a wide variety of styles. His curation of the Animation Show of Shows is well known. It consists of about a dozen short films, some from big studios like Disney and Pixar, but most by independent animators and students from colleges around the world. Most or all are prize winners at international festivals.  Many have gone on to win next year’s Academy Award Oscar in the Short Film (Animated) category.  They show Diamond’s stellar record for predicting success.

Up to now, Diamond has shown this festival at major animation studios and animation colleges mostly in North America, but also in some other countries with large studios or chapters of ASIFA (Association Internationale du Film d’Animation; the International Animator’s Association). Now Diamond is trying to raise enough funding through a Kickstarter campaign to get it into theaters where it can be seen by the public.

What does it have to do with furry fandom?

The Animation Show of Shows has had anthropomorphic animation in the past, such as Flamingo Pride. But none of it can be credited to furry fandom.

Furry is growing. Wikipedia’s “list of subcultures” includes over a hundred such as Furry and Brony fandoms. A common aspect of these subcultures is that they have grown enough to support their own independent movie making.  (There is movie making for punk, hip hop and heavy metal music – sci fi, trekkie, and horror fandoms, among others.)

Furry fandom has made short films for some years now, but in 2016 (“The Year of Furry”) the influence of features has come closer and closer to a fertile mutual relationship.  There was the high-profile embrace of Disney’s Zootopia (which had headlines for publicity outreach to the furry community), and the furry-made production of the Fursonas documentary.  Perhaps a path is being blazed, with works like this fan music video that got over 10 million views:

The maker seems very furry-influenced but might not say so.  However, it was widely furry-supported. It’s success led to her working on Dawgtown, a forthcoming indie 2D-animated feature. It’s under the radar now but I sense potential to break out for mainstream success – and if it does, it’s guaranteed to be embraced by furries. (The director did an interview for Dogpatch Press.)

Can the first furry animated film be far off?  Bronies already have Children of the Night. Furry fandom has produced live-action films as EZ Wolf’s 2012 Merry XXXmas from Room 366 and his 2013 Bitter Lake, RusFURence 2012’s Psc/Fnk, and furry convention music videos like Anthrocon 2014’s Compass. When will furry fandom’s first animated film appear?

Hopefully the trend will continue. Supporting indie animation is a great path to more, and Ron Diamond’s Animation Show of Shows awaits.

More about how fans can help:

The Animation Show of Shows, Inc. is dedicated to the restoration, preservation and promotion of animated short films. It was founded by Ron Diamond in 1999, and in 2015 it was established as a nonprofit organization.  In May, it received a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation.

 Their Kickstarter campaign has a goal is to bring the best new international animated short films in a theatrical setting to people around the world:

“The 17th Annual Animation Show of Shows was an incredible milestone,” says founder Ron Diamond. “For the first time, the showcase of 11 shorts and four mini portrait documentaries was presented in 47 public theaters in 4 countries, which gave general audiences the chance to see great animated short films on the big screen. With this new campaign, we hope to reach an even wider audience by increasing the number of venues and expanding our publicity to make sure that everyone can share in the magic of the short films in The 18th Annual Animation Show of Shows to be released this September.”

Ordinarily, Dogpatch Press doesn’t share crowdfund appeals.  Fred and Patch feel that this one is something special apart from others.

There’s only a week left.  If you think that furry fans would enjoy and benefit from it, share it to others from their Facebook Launch Post and Launch Tweet.

Hello Everyone!

We open tonight's show with a discussion about what virtual sex might be in the future. Is it possible that the furry fandom might be getting how to roleplay right, or are we doomed to yiff in cyber hell for eternity?

Our main topic is on how to translate online kinks (or kinky fantasies) into real life activity and play. Many furries struggle with finding a healthy balance between play and pretend, and while having fantasies is both incredibly healthy and normal, sometimes it can be difficult to incorporate your kinky fantasies into your everyday sex life.

How can you differentiate between a realistic and unrealistic kink, how can you adapt the more unrealistic kinks (like vore, macro/micro, and inflation), and how can you back away from a kink you mentally enjoy but are turned off by in meatspace?

We close out the show with a listener question about how to handle an odd predicament in their D/s relationship. They have a pet who also has a pet who also happens to be the listener's Master. Confused? So are they, and they want to know if this is acceptable, how to proceed in an ethical fashion, and if this makes them poly. 

For more information, including a list of topics, see our Show Notes for this episode.

Thanks and, as always, be well!

FA 024 Kink Fantasy vs Reality - Are furries leading the future of virtual sex? How do you translate online kinks to real life play? What happens when the pet of my pet is also my master? All this and more on tonight's episode.