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Here’s a nice story of community problem solving.

Any time there’s a furry event in San Francisco, Zarafa Giraffe is there. He gets around so much, that he was the featured image (with me too) when SFGate news mentioned “furries” in a silly little story about “The Most Embarrassing Google Searches” per state.

Zarafa is iconic for SF Bay Area furries.  So it was a shock to hear that his fursuit was stolen:

SAN FRANCISCO FURRIES NOW TARGETS FOR ROBBERY.

That’s very nice personal coverage from Broke-Ass Stuart.  He’s a well known San Francisco personality who does travel writing, news blogging, TV hosting, and even ran for mayor.  The news tip came from Smashwolf.  It made great press, counting the city as a place for the wild and creative, and furries as a unique part of it.

Broke-Ass Stuart linked Dogpatch Press.  There was already a story here about the scene of the crime – a crossover between the subculturally hot Frolic furry party, the big party Bootie, and it’s venue, DNA Lounge.

Drag Queens vs. Furries at a legendary San Francisco Party – January 30, 2016.

The fursuit theft happened with a car break-in.  Furries speculated that they were specially targeted, but consensus held that the carry case was a random target.  There had already been high-profile efforts to reduce car robbery in the neighborhood with assistance from night life venues. NBC News reported about DNA Lounge: “After thieves targeted club staff, performers and guests, the promoters chipped in to hire security guard Jonathan Yancey.” (More at SFist.)

As crushing as the loss was, the stage was set for a very visible search.  (The attention shows what I take as a credo… if you don’t like what the media does, Be The Media.) The hunt was on to find a missing purple giraffe.  He’s a good fursona… how many of those are there?

So, after the Frolic/Bootie party in SF last nite, my fursuit was stolen from my locked car trunk-a random urban crime. I'm crushed. :(

— Zarafa (@Zarafagiraffe) January 31, 2016

The silver lining here is you are all overwhelming me with your thoughts and prayers and offers to help. It's a "good" overwhelming. :)

— Zarafa (@Zarafagiraffe) January 31, 2016

Stolen fursuit in the San Francisco area. Purple Giraffe. Please please keep an eye out. Contact us with any info! pic.twitter.com/dQdHrbGIpx

— Made Fur You, INC (@MadeFurYou) January 31, 2016

Everyone! @Zarafagiraffe fursuit was sadly robbed :( please retweet!
Please contact him if found!

Contact info- pic.twitter.com/bHI3kAos0c

— President Woofiss (@Woofiss) February 2, 2016

If history is a guide, a stolen fursuit doesn’t have good chance to be found.  Nobody who’d wear one would steal one, knowing how conspicuous that is.  It’s like stealing famous unfenceable art.  Nobody who’d steal one would know a use for it.  Dumping it is the most likely scenario.

Luckily, the SF Bay Area Furry scene has very dedicated movers to make things happen – none more than Neonbunny, promoter of Frolic.  Neon both put on the party AND put in search hours (with Frolic team member Skibit) to post flyers across the neighborhood. The flyer was collaboratively made by Catwoman69y2K.

One of the flyers did the job.   The sad happening was turned around when everyone worked together for a common goal.

Zarafa’s journal – From Despair to a Miracle: My Fursuit Returns!
Reddit – Unbelievably, Zarafa the purple giraffe fursuit found! A homeless lady found it and returned it! Wonderful news!
Reddit – Zafara the Purple Giraffe has been found!

He was found dumped in an alley, missing a hand and footpaw but otherwise intact, by the homeless lady living in a tent city.  She was paid with a pizza, sleeping bag and reward money.  It’s a very San Francisco story.

This sums up the current situation pretty well. Art by @EmoBurd I am near tears, but now they're the good kind. pic.twitter.com/6Jp2DGfnh4

— Zarafa (@Zarafagiraffe) February 4, 2016

Once again your humble ed-otter was lucky enough to attend the Annie Awards for 2015, presented at UCLA’s Royce Hall on February 6th. Presented by the International Animated Film Society (ASIFA), the Annie Awards honor the best of the animation industry — as selected by members of that industry. Surprising no-one, the night belonged to Pixar’s Inside Out. (It has already won almost every major award it has been nominated for, and of course it’s nominated for an Oscar as well.) Inside Out won in the Best Feature categories for Storyboarding, Editing, Character Design, Music, Character Animation, Production Design, Voice Acting (Phyllis Smith as Sadness), Writing, Directing, and (of course) Best Animated Feature. Bing Bong himself even helped to present some of the awards. (*sniff* Bing Bong…) A few other features managed to sneak in awards, and some of them were even for animal characters! The Good Dinosaur won in the category of Best Effects Animation. (It’s been celebrated far and wide for its realistic backgrounds and water effects.) And The Revenant won Best Animated Character In A Live Action Production for the bear that nearly eats Leonardo DiCaprio. Over in the TV and other divisions, furries were well-represented in several award categories. Disney’s new Mickey Mouse Shorts won for Best Storyboarding, Best Music, and Best Editing. ASIFA favorites. Dreamworks TV had two wins, as Dragons: Race to the Edge won for Best Character Animation and The Mr. Peabody and Sherman Show won for Best Production Design. Previous Annie favorites Tumble Leaf and Wander Over Yonder won for Best Production for Preschoolers and Best Production for Children, respectively. Psyop (home of those infamous Orangina commercials!) won Best Commercial for their Coca Cola ad Man and Dog, and Best Animated Game went to the monster adventure Evolve from 2K. [To save space, tomorrow we’ll tell you about the special awards presented at the Annies — and why you should care!] You can find out more about all of these and more over at the ASIFA Hollywood web site.

image c. 2016 Pixar Animation

The unthinkable has happened - a lawyer, Lee, has come into the studio for an entire show! RUN FOR THE HILLS! Once you're there listen closely as Roo and Tugs dive into the subject of Copyright - the basic terms around the world, what you can do, what you own, and what you don't. Do you own your character? Who own art commissions? What can and can't you control about your character? What about creating derivative works? Is uploading your favorite pieces of art to social networks okay? We ask all of these questions and more in this deluxe length episode! We also bring you fresh space news, an old-timey ad, The Mailbag, THE GAME, and a NEW segment! We also have a big announcement at the end of the episode, so relax and enjoy the ride!



NOW LISTEN!

Show Notes

Special Thanks

Lee, our guest!
Retro, for this episode's show cover!
Leo the Artist
Spark the Dragon
Anthrodolphin
Caudle

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: Spy Glass. 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!)
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: Have you ever lost a loved one? How did you deal with it? The next episode of Fur What It's Worth deals with Grief and Loss in the Furry Fandom. Send your emails and voice messages by February 11, 2016. S5 Episode 9 – ©opyright and the Fandom - The unthinkable has happened - a lawyer, Lee, has come into the studio for an entire show! RUN FOR THE HILLS! Once you're there listen closely as Roo and Tugs dive into the subject of Copyright - the basic terms a

[Dear Readers: In the following letter, I had my buddy Tycho Aussie reply because he's an expert on fursuiting for charities.]

Hi, Papa Bear!

I'm a fursuiter, and I'm a little wary of fursuiting without a cause. I really want to donate my time to the local charities by attracting people during their events, but I'm a little unsure of how to approach them about it. Any tips?

Gracie Cat

* * *
Hello Gracie!

Papa Bear asked me to send you a note because it sounds like your interest in fursuiting is a lot like mine. I find a lot of joy in sharing my fursuiting with the greater community, and I spend the majority of my fursuiting time outside of furry cons or even furmeets. Your question is quite timely, actually. Quite a few of us here in the Michigan area have just started a fursuiting group called the Michigan Freelance Mascots. We have been getting requests from an increasing number of charities, fundraisers, and community events, which are really, really fun to attend when working as a team. (See: www.fursuiter.org for our temporary website)

I have, in the past, been a lone fursuiter and I used to ask event organizers verbally if they wanted a volunteer mascot to add some whimsical entertainment to their event. Although this has worked pretty well, I would frequently get asked by confused people who it was that I represent. Everyone is used to fursuiters / mascots being employed by a baseball team, radio station, or other organization. The idea of freelancing is still brand new. For my first two seasons, I stayed unofficial, and relied on word-of-mouth to get event organizers to learn about me. Unfortunately, I lost of one of my most favorite venues when a nervous staff member confronted the organizer and said "We don't know ANYTHING about this person!!" After this happened, I commissioned a full-color, trifold pamphlet that described my character as well as information on the emerging hobby of freelance mascotting. I also included a short biography of real-life self. These pamphlets can be given to event managers, so that if anyone confronts them with nervousness or questions, the manager can show them the pamphlet and answer all of their questions. You can go to www.tychoaussie.com and I will try to scan and upload the pamphlet, which you can use as a template.  So, I would highly recommend that you establish written credentials. 

With these, you can now approach event managers, city and township activities directors, nursing home managers, hospital staff, etcetera, and offer them your services. They will most likely say yes - and it is a great way to learn your craft! I must caution you though, it is quite an intense but rewarding experience. You will have to be a quick study of people's reactions. Some people will engage you and want to hug you like a favorite stuffed animal, whereas others will try their best to avoid you. Don't let those reactions turn you off - because they are just natural. Some people are just adverse to fursuiting in the same way people are sometimes scared of clowns, spiders, or snakes. I find the ratio is about 1 person out of thirty will not want to interact. 

So, I suggest you tune up your fursuit, work on your most outgoing personality, and be prepared to be the salesperson, and sell your performance service to some activity managers! Think about small festivals, ask the chamber of commerce if they would want you to walk with their banner in the local parade. Go to the assisted living center and ask to meet some Alzheimer patients. These types of experiences are how I got started. They are individual and require that you bring only an assistant. In some cases, the facility itself will provide you with a helper. 

In terms of setting up at the venues, if you need a place to change, don't be shy, walk into a nearby store and ask someone. I will usually ask for the manager, explain that I am a freelance mascotter who is about to perform, and that I need a place to change. I have never been turned down. Some of the more unusual places I have changed into Tycho Aussie include:

• Back room of a gas station, next to the tire changer and an old stack of tires
• Middle level of an iron fire escape in the back of a grocery store
• Dozens of bathrooms of McDonalds, grocery stores, conference centers, etc.
• An engine repair machine shop, next to the engine boring machine
• The manager's office of The Home Depot
• Middle of a parking lot with the doors of the truck to offer me cover

This is a great hobby: I can openly fursuit without shame at my university and in my workplace, and my whole family, my aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews all know about it. 

I hope this helps, and if you have any further questions, you can contact me through Papa Bear, on twitter or even facebook. 

Good Luck!

Tycho Aussie

That’s how Image Comics describe their new full-color series Cry Havoc. “X-Men Legacy writer Simon Spurrier and superstar artist Ryan Kelly present fiends, fragility, and firepower in an all-new series, mixing the hard-boiled militaria of Jarhead with the dark folklore of Pan’s Labyrinth. This is not the tale of a lesbian werewolf who goes to war. Except it kind of is.” Over at the Image web site, Mr. Spurrier continues, “Folklore is saturated with monsters. Centuries ago these wonderful fictions were at the bleeding-edge of the Zeitgeist, but they’ve faded from relevance. Cry Havoc asks what happens when those bright-eyed and bloody-fanged stories force themselves back into the modern limelight. Who resists them, and who gets caught in the middle?” Issue #1 is available now.

image c. 2016 Image Comics

Bad Fuzz, no donut. This is a really long episode. Shiva and Savrin had OPINIONS last week, so we got a lot in return. We reply to said opinions.. and thus invite more! Truly we have entered a vicious cycle. Before that though, we talk about PAX South, half price monster titties, and Fuzz not being dead. Want to support the show? We have a Patreon! www.Patreon.com/Knotcast Episode 303 - Half Price Monsters

Guest article by M.C.A. Hogarth, a writer of anthropomorphics, science fiction, and fantasy. Her fiction has variously been recommended for a Nebula, a finalist for the Spectrum, placed on the secondary Tiptree reading list and chosen for two best-of anthologies; her art has appeared in RPGs, magazines and on book covers. She is also Vice President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

This article was originally published on her blog (Part 1, Part 2).

Let me say this first: Yes, I am the vice president of a professional association of writers. And yes, I believe that artists should be paid, and not a pittance, for what they do. I take that as given.

Having said that, though: if I want to give my work away, I have that right. If I want to sell a $1500 painting for a dollar to someone without the money to buy it at full price, that’s my right. If I want to exchange a piece of art for the opportunity to pet a puppy for half an hour, if I want to jack the price down because I like the editor, the venue, the issue, if, basically, for any reason I want to hand my work over for less than people think I should, I’m allowed… and no, I don’t think you’re in the right when you tell me I’m “de-valuing” art.

You know what de-values art? Pretending that it can be bought for money. You cannot put a price on a book that saves your soul, or a painting that gives you joy, or a piece of music that makes you run faster for sheer elation. There is not enough money in the world. When we put a price on art, we are doing something utterly arbitrary, something that has more to do with what the market will bear and what we need to buy groceries than on the value of the work.

Do I think I have an obligation to my fellow artists? Yes, absolutely. But that obligation is not to maintain an artificial price floor like some kind of union member. My obligation is to educate my audience on why art (all art, not just mine) is worth paying for. To do that, I need to understand the value of what I’m offering (see above: priceless). I need to understand that what I do, as an artist, is important: not easy given a society that gives artists mixed signals. And I need to understand business principles, so that I understand how to price my work and what the market will bear.

I understand the drum beat of “don’t undervalue yourself” is intended to combat a lifetime’s worth of conflicting signals received by young artists about whether their work is worth remuneration. And absolutely, I agree, we need to teach each other that we deserve to eat. But not by vilifying non-artists and not by reprimanding each other for our pricing choices. The answer to this conundrum is not “Have every artist set their prices the same.” The answer is to respect the intelligence and sensitivity of your audience, and give them the tools they need to make informed choices. I can’t count the number of artists who have sneered about “everyone wanting to steal art instead of paying for it” or who have told me that if I trust people to tip me for work I give away for free I am being naive because “no one pays for stuff they get for free.” (Ignoring even obvious examples of this being untrue in the existing world: people pay to get into museums. They don’t buy anything with that ticket except the ability to go in and see the work.) I can’t imagine the world these people live in, where they labor to give the work of their hearts to faceless masses they imagine waiting to starve, rob, or betray them. They must live in dark and terrible headspaces.

Because people do pay me for things I give away, generously, joyously, and eagerly. They do it apologizing for how little they have to give, or happily, sharing their own bonuses, paydays, and windfalls with me. And they do it because I tell them: “Look, this is how the art is made. Let me explain how wonderful it is, how long it takes me, how I make the choices I do, why it took me so long to learn that particular trick. Come into my world. Understand this with me. Experience it with me. And if I have given you joy of it, and if you have the money to buy me bread, I will accept it with a grateful heart.”

You do that, and you will be surprised how many people suddenly look around and say, “All this art is made by people, and now I care about the people as well as the art. Because they cared about me.”

That is the duty I have as an artist, to my fellow artists, and I do it faithfully, every day. If you really want to change the culture, if you want to see more of us earning our livings and fewer people “stealing,” then this is the work you must do.

Art is a communion between maker and audience. If you don’t think the audience is capable of valuing that communion, I question more than whether you’re hurting other artists. I question whether you should be making art at all.

No one is obligated to pay me to do what I want. We all need to work for a living. But what people need might not be what you want to give, and forcing them to pay you anyway is coercion. I don’t hold with it. Is it a sad thing when the world won’t compensate you to do something you’re brilliant at because what it really needs is someone to do data entry? Sure. But complaining about it is childish. If I don’t get paid enough to live off the work that I love, then either I make it without compensation—because I love it—or show people why they should pay for it until I can live off the proceeds. Or both. But I am not moved by artists who think that they should make a living on art because it’s what they want to do and, like Bartleby the Scrivener, they’d prefer not to do anything else. We’d all prefer not to do things we have to do. Doing them anyway furnishes us with the experiences that teach us discipline, duty, patience, and strength.

Taste is subjective. The number one complaint I hear from other artists is, “I don’t know why they earn more than I do/got the contract/are more popular when my work is so much better than theirs!” I hate hearing this. It is demeaning to the person saying it, the person it’s aimed at, and all the people who enjoy that person’s work. Art by its nature is subjective. Your “better” work might not speak to the same people who enjoy someone else’s, and you know, that’s okay. It’s okay for people to like “stupid books written for the masses” and “trash movies” and “cartoons with broken anatomy, why have they never studied a real animal argh.” Your tastes and their tastes don’t align. That’s good. It takes all kinds. Cherish the people who love your work; because the people who like the work you hate aren’t going to magically shower you with their money if that other artist goes away and leaves you the spotlight.

If you want people to understand the value of art, you can’t tell them to value only yours, because they might not be suited to your work. Tell them about all the art that matters so that they can find the work that speaks to them… and your peers will start sending you the people who need your work. Be generous. Any other attitude is poisonous.

Sacrifice is relative. When I was a student I saved up for a year to buy one limited edition print from an affordable artist whose work I really liked. Seven years later, as a tech worker at a software start-up, I made that much “play money” in half a month. If you looked at our relative expenditures on art, it would have been easy to assume that Tech Worker Jaguar was the more dedicated patron of the arts. Yet it was Student Jaguar who sacrificed the most for her print. When someone offers me a dollar, or five dollars, and tells me that’s what they have to give, I believe them. I remember that I once was that person who hoped that someone else would pay for a serial episode to be unlocked so she could read it, or who had to wait four months for the library to finally get me a copy of the book everyone read when it was new. And I remember that the artists who made me feel like my $5 mattered to them are the artists I came back to when I was plump in the pocket. “You understood then. Now it’s my turn to give back.”

That cycle never ends, by the way. I have been Jaguar of Little Means and Jaguar of Significant Means, over and over. The wheel turns. Be kind to people trudging through the dark part of that cycle. If they give you their money, no matter how little it is, it matters.

Ignorance is an opportunity. I said earlier that it’s our duty as artists to explain to our audience why art is worth paying for… because I don’t think artists realize how enigmatic the process is from outside our heads. People think ‘well, they like art, how can they not get how much work it takes?’ But you can enjoy the fruits of something without understanding how it works. Do you need to know the ins-and-outs of surgery to benefit from an appendectomy? Do you have to learn how to farm, catch, or sell fish to enjoy eating one? Construction? But we live in buildings. Languages? But we speak one all the time. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that people enjoy art without knowing how it’s made.

There is nothing wrong with being ignorant; there’s too much to be known in this world for any of us to learn it all before we die. Don’t sneer at your audience for not understanding your vocation. Think of it as an opportunity to share your love and enthusiasm for what you do with people who are eager to hear about it, and be grateful those people are willing to listen.

Anyway. I don’t talk about these philosophical things much anymore, but every once in a while I see a cluster of things floating around the internet and I feel like something has to be said. Here it is: The work is sacred. People are awesome. Conduct yourself like someone worthy of a gift. Be grateful.

That should do it.

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

Scarlett: Star on the Run, by Susan Schade and Jon Buller. Illustrated by Jon Buller.
NYC, Papercutz, November 2015, trade paperback $14.99 (173 pages), Kindle $8.81.

Here is another all-ages novel by Susan Schade & Jon Buller (wife & husband) in their signature format of alternating chapters in comic-book format and in traditional-novel text. (I reviewed their three-novel The Fog Mound in 2007.) It is mostly for 8- to 12-year-old children, but it has aspects that adult furry fans will enjoy. This would be a simplistic talking-animal comic book/novel for young children, if it weren’t for the revelation that the talking animals have been scientifically made intelligent and given speech.

Is Shane Pafco, the dictatorial owner of Pafco Studios, a movie producer/director or a Mad Scientist? What year is Scarlett set in, with futuristic cars and flying spycams? When Scarlett, the cat movie star of Pafco Studios, gets the chance to escape, she is quick to take it even into a snowy, freezing outdoors. She is lucky enough to be taken in by grouchy old Frank Mole, a half-crazy, gun-waving hermit who doesn’t trust any people and hears voices. He believes that a talking cat is only part of his delusion; and when Scarlett finds out that Trotter, Pafco’s experimental talking dog, has followed her, she fast-talks Frank into believing that he needs a dog, too. Scarlett wants to be a natural cat and catch mice, until Frank’s messy, vermin-filled cabin gives her the opportunity to do so.

“I don’t know,” she muses. “Something about all that SKIN and HAIR is making me lose my appetite.” (p. 29)

She prefers to share old Frank’s monotonous diet of canned ravioli, until she and Trotter learn to impersonate his nonexistent housekeeper over the ancient landline telephone (“You should get a cell phone,” Scarlett tells Frank, who thinks he’s imagining her and ignores her) to Walt’s Grocery, and add to their diet. Fortunately Frank, who gets an automatic Social Security bank deposit, has been careful to live within his means, and even when Scarlett learns to call other stores and order more, she is careful to not overcharge his credit card.

Frank spends all day vegging out in front of his TV, watching sports games. The TV local news warns that, “Spycams continue to comb the area for several animal robots that escaped from Pafco Studios on Monday. Area residents are advised that, while these robots may look cute, they are NOT REAL. If not handled correctly, they can be very dangerous.” (p. 30) Scarlett is both insulted and frightened. If “they” are lying about Pafco’s escaped animals being dangerous robots, it can’t be good. And “several animal robots”? Who else besides Scarlett and Trotter has escaped from the studio/labs?

All is well until Frank’s horrendously unhealthy lifestyle catches up with him. He is rushed to the hospital in a coma. How long can the cat and dog go on without a compliant human to front for them? Their plight is made worse when a third Pafco animal escapee moves in with them: Vilroy, another dog who was always given a villain’s role because it came so naturally to him. Vilroy is not careful to remain within Frank’s budget, and when he starts demanding that Scarlett order expensive foods and a two thousand dollar massage chair for them, she is aware that not paying a mounting overdraft will quickly end their hidden existence.

Above all the animals’ other concerns is the overriding problem that while Scarlett, Trotter, and Vilroy are an intelligent cat and dogs, they are still instinctually domestic animals. While Scarlett and Trotter had Frank to take care of them/be taken care of by them, they were happy. Now, on their own, they are nervous and fearful, even without Vilroy to worry about. They need another human, and a more practical long-range solution.

Furry fans will appreciate the resolution. Even though Schade & Buller are Americans, this was published first as Scarlett: Star en Cavale by BD Kids in Montrouge, Paris, France in October 2013. Papercutz has specialized in “graphic novels”, with the result that several comics shops are stocking Scarlett and are listing it as #1 in a series. Papercutz is careful not to. Its advertising is all for Schade’s & Buller’s next combination of comic-art and prose, Anne of Green Bagels, coming later in 2016.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Paper Cutz
• Check out another review on Kids Reads
• Fred’s Review of Travels of Thelonius by the same writing team

Dated February 4, here is an article in The Guardian:
http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2016/feb/04/furry-fandom-subculture-animal-costumes

It describes the furry fandom, and includes words from fursuit maker Sarah Dee (of Menagerie Workshop), social psychologist Kathleen Gerbasi, and Anthrocon chairman Samuel Conway.


Furry fandom, an obscure subculture united in their passion for all things anthropomorphic, can be lucrative business – because artisanal fursuits are haute-couture.

A single design can require up to 200 hours of work and sell for thousands of dollars. The business follows seasonal trends as well: one year it’s neon colours, the next grumpy-looking characters. One season, everyone wanted to be a sled dog. It’s all, of course, about the fur – even sharks, reptiles and birds are adorably fuzzy – and Los Angeles’s fashion district has stores devoted exclusively to hundreds of varieties.

Sarah Dee, a master fursuit maker, flies out twice a year for sourcing, carefully handpicking $5,000 worth of furs (a single suit requires about 5.5 yards), dragging it across town in giant bin bags to the FedEx office and then stuffing 30-inch cardboard boxes addressed to Colorado, where she tailors suits to fulfill the fantasies of fur aficionados worldwide.

Menagerie Workshop, Dee’s one-woman fursuit empire, caters to the full furry spectra, from hobbyists content with a pair of ears or a tail to lifestylers who go all out with role play like “scritching” (scratching and grooming).

Ranging from SpaceX employees to artists, her average customer is in their late 20s – in the “sweet spot” where they have enough money to spend but are not too tied down by family and work – though she’s made costumes for people as young as 12 (with parents’ consent).

To this day, Dee has brought more than 300 “fursonas” (furry personas) to life – including Baltoro the Fox, realistic with taxidermy eyes, hand-molded silicon paws and muzzle and digitigrade hind legs; Zeke the Hyena, cartoonish with hand-stitched stripes and airbrushed abs; and Blaze, a vixen with flirty eyelashes and curvaceously padded chest.

“What draws people in is that they can create this character which is a better version of themselves,” she explains. “It’s fun to just be silly, to use your imagination. To not have to conform to what people think being an adult is like.”

A spirit animal of sorts, the fursona can be just about any real or mythological creature the individual feels connected to. Dogs and big cats never go out of style, though hybrids like “folves” (fox + wolf) and “drynx” (dragon + lynx) are catching on.

New costume makers enter the market every week and fursuits gets ever more advanced: at an additional cost, jaws can move, tails wag and eyes light up with LED-lights. No two creations are alike, though most can be machine-washed and kept shiny with a few strokes with a pet brush.

With more than 40 creations lined up, 2016 is already fully booked.

•••

Stereotyped as less innocent than they look by mainstream media, furries tend to get a bad rap. A 2001 Vanity Fair article brought up both bestiality and plushophilia (sexual attraction to stuffed animals), and defined furry fandom as “sex, religion and a whole new way of life”. The show Entourage presented a pink bunny fursuit as a sexual prop, and in CSI-episode Fur and Loathing in Las Vegas, furries are portrayed as fetishists mainly in it for the “yiff” – furry porn or sex.

“We researchers are horrified by that stuff,” says Kathleen Gerbasi, a social psychologist who has researched the furry community extensively. “Because it really doesn’t represent the reality we see in the fandom.”

In her experience, people have either never heard of furries or they have a wildly distorted idea of it. As a result, fur fandom have become far more stigmatized than other similar nerd niches, such as anime and cosplay.

When Dee made her first costume – a bear, out of couch cushions – eight years ago, she was reluctant to be associated with the community, even as an artist. “Even I had some preconceived notions of like, ‘Gosh, furries are a bunch of deviants; kind of weird,’” Dee remembers, laughing. “And I still have questions.”

Even today, Dee, who quit her advertising job in Denver in 2012 for full-time fursuit making, doesn’t use her real name for business.

“I do think ‘fursectution’ is real,” says Gerbasi (who does not identify as a furry), using a portmanteau term referring to perceived persecution of the fandom from outside elements. “And I think it’s because people are afraid of things they don’t understand.”

She recalls last year’s suspected hate crime at Midwest Furfest in Chicago, which was evacuated after chlorine gas was leaked into the conference venue. Last year, she came across Facebook posts of people claiming they would bring guns to Anthrocon, the world’s largest furry convention, and personally alerted FBI.

For Samuel Conway, a professional research scientist and chairman of Anthrocon, the skewed image of the furry world is explained by its defiantly personal/introvert nature: whereas all other fandoms are consumers of properties put out by studios, authors and networks, furries invent their own idols.

“Furry fandom is unique among fan cultures in that we are not consumers, but rather creators,” Kage explains. “Star Trek fans are chasing someone else’s dream. Furries create our own fandom.“

Unfortunately, Conway explains, the public tend to be very suspicious of things they don’t understand, with an inclination to presume it’s in some way perverted.

“Furry fandom is not now – nor has it ever been – born of a sexual fetish,” Conway insists. “There are no more or fewer persons of alternative sexuality in our fandom than anywhere else.”

If anything, that cliche may be rooted in the community’s inherent tolerance and proud reputation as a safe space: furry fans may simply not feel the need to hide who they are when they’re among friends who won’t judge. He cites comic book historian Mark Evanier: “Furries are fans of each other.”

“People don’t realize it, but the whole anthropomorphism is very mainstream,” says Gerbasi, who spearheaded the multidisciplinary Anthropomorphic Research Project, which has studied about 7,000 furry fans from all continents, except Antarctica (which actually had a small furry gathering, too). While there are certain demographic trends – almost 80% are male, many work in science or tech, with a disproportionate share not identifying as heterosexual – the data, by and large, shows no indication that furries would be psychologically unhealthy.

“Cartoon animals have a universal appeal,” says Conway, who fursuits as ‘Uncle Kage’: a samurai cockroach. “A love of animals and a fascination with the idea of them acting as we do transcends most national, geographic and religious boundaries.”

While the fursuits are the most visible, they only make up only about 20% convention-goers, Conway adds: the rest are performers, writers, puppeteers, dancers, artists and “just plain old fans”.

For a minority, however, it is more than that: 46% of furry fans surveyed by Gerbasi reported identifying as less than 100% human – with 41% admitting that if they could be not human at all, they would. Twenty-nine percent of them reported experiencing being a “non-human species trapped in a human body”.

The parallels with gender identity disorder, upon which the hypothesis was modeled, were striking: much like some transgender individuals report being born the wrong sex, some furries feel a disconnect with their bodies, as if they were stuck in the wrong species. The condition, which Gerbasi et al labeled “species identity disorder”, had a physiological component too, with many reporting experiencing phantom body parts, like tails or wings.

Gerbasi still has no answers to why these individuals feel they’re not human, but stresses the importance for health providers to take them seriously, and without the ridicule that sometimes afflicts even her own research.

As the furry scene continues to grow – last year’s Anthrocon attracted 6,348 visitors – the fans hope for greater acceptance.

“I want folks to realize that we are not any special breed apart, if you’ll pardon the pun,” says Conway. “We have scientists, lawyers, physicians, firefighters, soldiers, police officers, schoolteachers, construction workers, custodians, musicians, journalists – just about anyone that is likely to pass you on a city street may well be a furry fan.”

Dee too, who remains at sidelines of the subculture but frequents conventions to advertise her business, agrees that the tendency to make furry fandom shorthand for sexual paraphilia is utterly misguided.

Throughout Menagerie’s history, only one client ever asked for a suspicious alternation – a zipper between the legs – which Dee agreed to at $1,000 extra, adding that if he ever down the road needed repairs (otherwise offered at $40/hour), she wouldn’t work on it, “because that’s gross”.

For most, Dee believes, furry fandom is more about escapism than anything else.

Slipping into a fursuit can be catharsis – allowing an otherwise shy and reserved person to transform into someone, or something, else – if only momentarily.

“People seem to find a family and a friend group there – people who like them for who they are, and for who they wanna be,” she explains. “Maybe the character is this really buff tiger guy but it doesn’t seem to matter the person is a shorter, overweight, typical nerdy-looking guy.

“They put on that costume and they just become someone completely outside themselves. It gives them anonymity to just, you know, be who they are and act how they want.”

February’s Book of the Month, Claw the Way to Victory, is edited by Sean Rivercritic of AnthroAquatic and includes stories from several FWG members.

We’ve all watched sports played by humans, or have participated in sports with our human limbs and senses.

What would happen if the sporting events we loved were played by animal people?

Claw the Way to Victory looks to answer that question with a variety of stories, each showcasing a different sport and just how the instincts of an animal matched with the intelligence of a human can help or hurt a player.

Scratching? Biting?

Against the rules?

Not this time.

 

Cover art by Pac.

Parental rating General/Mature (possible violent content). Available from Jaffa Books.

And other places. Fluff Buddies describe themselves as “a team of two creative minds who adore the cute, fluffy and fun!” To that end they offer several lines of cute funny animal faces and poses on items like hanging charms, buttons, magnets, and (believe it or not) socks! You’ll find it all there on their web site.

image c. 2016 by Fluff Buddies

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

Amphibians’ End: A Kulipari Novel, by Trevor Pryce with Joel Naftali. Illustrated by Sanford Greene.
NYC, Abrams/Amulet Books, October 2015, hardcover $15.95 ([5 +] 291 [+ 3] pages), Kindle $10.49.

Here is the conclusion of this rousing Young Adult trilogy of warfare between the defending poisonous frogs of the Amphibilands and the invading arachnids of the Outback desert. “Frogs and Platypuses versus Scorpions and Spiders”, says the caption in the full-color list of characters.

In An Army of Frogs and The Rainbow Serpent, the first and second volumes of this novel in three parts, teenage frog warrior Darel and his friend Gurnugan (Gee) find themselves facing all the adventure they have ever wanted when the desert spider and scorpion armies unite under the latter’s power-mad leader, Lord Marmoo, to invade the lush green Amphibilands. Darel had always wanted to become a Kulipari warrior, one of the band of legendary invincible defenders of the Amphibilands. But the Kulipari had all disappeared a generation ago.

When the endless scorpion armies reappear out of the desert, and Gee is captured, Darel thinks that the Amphibilands’ only hope of salvation is to find where the Kulipari have vanished to and persuade them to return.   The Rainbow Serpent introduces little Pippi of the platypus village and her search to find the mysterious frog warrior Darel, whom their elderly seer has had a vision of as being their savior. The book mixes Pippi’s adventures with Darel’s own with the Kulipari. He’s found them – but unfortunately they aren’t as invincible as legend has built them up to be. Can Darel’s joining them restore them to greatness?

Amphibian’s End is the climax. The mystic Veil that the now-dead turtle King Sergu had placed around the Amphibilands to hide them from the scorpions and spiders has been torn by the spider’s evil Queen Jarrah. Yabber, the turtle king’s Dreamcaster heir, has restored the Veil; but now that Lord Marmoo knows where to look for it, how long can the Amphibiands hold out?

“‘The spiders tore the Veil once,’ he [Lord Marmoo] snapped. ‘They can do it again.’

‘But Queen Jarrah is dead,’ Pigo said, his voice soft. He knew better than to mention that Lord Marmoo himself had killed her.

‘So they need a new queen.’ A tattered sneer spread across Marmoo’s face. ‘Or a king.’” (p. 7)

Darel is now the frog’s hero, but when he joins them in beseeching the heavenly Rainbow Serpent to maintain the Veil that hides them, he is aghast when the visions indicate that they should discard the Veil instead.

“‘I …’ Darel swallowed. ‘I saw the Serpent on the mountaintop. And then again outside the platypus village, after the chief sacrificed herself to beat Marmoo. The Stargazer showed me a rainbow on the river – and that’s when I knew. That’s when the Serpent told me, Lower the Veil.’

‘Why?’ a Baw Baw asked.

‘I don’t know. Maybe because we need to face our enemy once and for all. Maybe we need to stop hiding and rejoin the outback. Maybe … I’m not sure. All I know is, we have to have faith.’” (p. 12)

Kulipari (assuming that all three books are to be taken as a single novel) is an annoying mixture of the overly dramatic and desperate, and the overly playful, with words like amphibitastic, platyperfect and platypretty, and dialogue like:

‘I am serious. Haven’t you heard the saying ‘An army marches on its stomach’?’

‘I think that only applies to gastropods,’ Darel said.” (p. 33)

If they aren’t to have the Veil to protect them, what are the frogs and platypuses to do? Darel leads a mission outside the Amphibilands, hoping to find new allies among the possums, lizards, and emus, while Marmoo is sidetracked trying to make himself the new king of the spiders despite the unwilling cooperation of the dead Queen Jarrah’s own heir apparent, Lady Fahlga. As you can see from the cover illustration, things look increasingly bleak for the frogs – until the end.

To repeat the information from my review of An Army of Frogs: “Trevor Pryce is best-known as a NFL veteran for 14 years as a defensive end for the Denver Broncos, the Baltimore Ravens, and the New York Jets. Joel Naftali is the author of both Young Adult novels and career guides for recent high school and college graduates. Illustrator Sanford Greene is a currently “hot” artist of realistic adventure and costumed-hero comic books for DC, Marvel, and Dark Horse.” The three books are illustrated in full color on glossy paper throughout, and have color-tinted text pages: forest-green in An Army of Frogs, watery-blue in The Rainbow Serpent, and fiery-red in Amphibians’ End.

Kulipari: An Army of Frogs is also coming as a 13-episode animated program to Netflix in 2016. It is being produced by the Paris-based Splash Entertainment animation studio and Pryce’s Outlook Company. Pryce originally developed the plot in 2010 as a proposed animated movie for Sony:

“‘The movie idea was a lot heavier and a lot darker than this,’ Pryce told USA Today in 2013. ‘I had pitched it as ‘300’ but with outback animals. It was like an action-adventure movie, just animated.’”

Pryce was quoted in an article in The Caw, the news site of the Baltimore Ravens football team. When it failed to sell as a movie, Pryce rewrote it into a Young Adult trilogy and a TV animated series. There will also be the usual merchandising based on a children’s cartoon series: toys, action figures, etc.

–Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon
• Learn more about the book on Abrams
• Fred’s Review of Book 2: The Rainbow Serpent
• Fred’s Review of Book 1: An Army of Frogs
• Learn more about the Kulipari
• Learn about the Netflix Animated Series
• The Animated Series Announcement
• More news about the series
• And even more news about the series (Take your pick)

Nathan “Crookedwolf” Johnson admits that art is not his full-time job (yet?), but he likes to work on commissions as often as possible. “I love painting imaginary things and I like painting them with a combination acrylics, watercolors and pixels,” he says on his web site. “Starting with wall scribblings and school book additions my mind has always been wandering about fantastical places filled with monsters and creatures of all sorts. Illustrations for video games and the art that goes into them has always been my biggest influence. The drawings that Samwise Didier and Mark Gibbons did for Warcraft 2 were among my first obsessions. Many of the artworks done for the Games Workshop tabletop games had a big effect on me and are now also wandering about somewhere in my head.” You’ll find him as Crookedwolf on FurAffinity and Deviantart, also.

image c. 2016 by Crookedwolf

Hello Everyone!

This week we have a more lighthearted discussion about Netiquette. While much of what we say might be seen as common sense, it is important to go over it from time to time. How do you tell someone that their artwork turned you on without turning them off to you? Should you send porn to Tony the Tiger? Also, how do you handle a breakup?

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

Thanks and, as always, be well!

FA 004 Netiquette - How should furries behave on the internet

Headlines, links and little stories to make your tail wag.  Guest posts welcome. Tips: patch.ofurr@gmail.com. 

Fabfelipe on DA

Site goes down with high traffic for #tonytigergate – and the hits keep coming.

The Twitter joke of #tonytigergate drew enough mainstream curiosity to overload this site. (An upgrade may hopefully prevent that next time.)  After the story about it was posted here, it kept getting mainstream traction – highlighting a cheeky dichotomy. On one hand, there’s reputation concern – on the other hand, tickling an audience is kind of validating. It’s two sides to the coin of furry subculture and I don’t think that will ever change.

• Slate.com: Avid Furries Pit Tony the Tiger Against Chester the Cheetah in Junk-Food Sex War.
• Theblemish.com: Chester Cheetah Is Down With the Furry Lust Rejected by Tony the Tiger.
• Gay Times: Tony the Tiger is sick of Furries sending him porn.

It reminded Fred Patten of something else:

Dear Patch; I vaguely remember that during all the news and publicity in 1987 for  Who Framed Roger Rabbit, there was a report that Charles Fleischer, the voice actor for Roger, got many NSFW erotic invitations from women, addressed specifically to Roger, not to him.

For National Hugging Day, the new episode of Culturally F’d is based on a Dogpatch Press article.

National Hugging Day is every January 21 for normal people.  (It’s every day for furries.)  I propose making a special occasion of it next year. And it was like a big fuzzy hug to get surprised with an entire video based on my article – “Hugs are the handshake of furries.” Wow thanks Arrkay and crew, nice to see you used it!  Anyone can freely use any content on this site that way.

Hero Cop stops suicide with a hug. It’s another way to suit up and make a difference. They need a whole squad for this… I know some willing volunteers.

Adafruit does a panel at Further Confusion 2016.

“Adafruit visits FurCon San Jose.” The 50-employee company calls itself “the best place online for learning electronics and making the best designed products for makers of all ages and skill levels.” They have a large category of electronic products to assist Cosplay/Costuming. Phil B says Furries are ‘power users’ for that:

What really sets this group apart is the emphasis on world-building and personal characters. Also, there’s more costume electronics…and more Adafruit electronics especially…at this one convention than I’ve seen in an entire year’s worth of anime, comics and steampunk events.

Super Smash Brothers at FC 2016.

‘Our Fuzzy Neighbors: Further Confusion 2016‘. On the weekend of Jan. 15, there was a national tournament series for Nintendo’s crossover fighting games on the other side of the San Jose convention center. It was ‘one the largest most spectacular events Smash has ever seen’.  eSports Writer SmashCapps was welcomed as a guest to Fur Con.  He said it was the most warm welcome he had ever received.  He enjoyed a guided tour, borrowed a fursuit, and went to the dance. He covers ‘what the furry community can teach us on running better events’ in his Part 2 to the article.

FC2016 wrapup. 3,536 attendees, 760 fursuiters, and a move to an expanded con center next year.

FurnightATX in Austin – first show is a success.

A blog post looks back on the show.  This newest ‘Furclub’ dance was pre-announced here. “Attendance was amazing” at around 100 with 25 fursuiters.  The 2010’s growing movement of furry dance nights gets a lot of notice in my articles – I think it’s really exciting to see a first-time show start bigger than some well established ones, like Foxtrot in Denver.

Furry Con History Map. Huscoon is a fursuiter and Professional Data Analyst.

The History of Furry Conventions in North America. In map form. pic.twitter.com/tZKbMSdKAl

— Ian Huscoon² (@Huscoon) January 20, 2016

Rightwing ranter picks on furries.

His actual profile pic wasn’t singled out to show constipation. That’s built in.

Make-believe is fun. Paranoia about imaginary threats is disturbing.  The Gay Agenda and the even more bizarrely imagined Furry Agenda are what grinds the gears of Phil E. at “World Net Daily.”  His spirit animal must be a potato… he can’t get his mind out of the dirt.  He would have little to say if he couldn’t rant about the sex lives of strangers, as if anyone asked for HIS opinion.

The furries are coming!  Phil fears they’ll hug his manhood away.  But he’s not going to take that fluff like a little girly-man. He’s getting steely hard to beat us off.  Some people with pent-up aggression bully the weak or kick puppies… this guy picks on people who role-play as puppies.  Out of anyone, why would he target a tiny and harmless subculture (instead of fighting crime or terrorists to save us all?)

Oh, I found out why.  He’s been stalking a Furry for a year with a grudge, because that one mocked his writing in a news column that had nothing to do with furries. He seems to take these things badly. (There’s more silliness at Encyclopedia Dramatica.)

People get negative like this out of deep insecurity.  Actually, I sympathize for Phil.  I’m sorry that Disney is catering to us instead of making manly wrassle-fests for him.  This is happening.  We’re just cool, and he’s not – cool with ourselves enough to dress how we want.  We have friends and fun.  We’re not mad.  That’s what being big is about… being a cool cat no matter what Spudboy thinks.

Movie seeks furries… furries not OK with it.

At the Rochesterfurs forum, old school greymuzzle PeterCat reports reading a movie script. Ron Perlman (Hellboy, etc) is involved. PeterCat says to avoid the same old, same old tasteless cliches in it.  But apparently a pair of furries ignored taste and appeared as fursuit extras in the film.  That’s under Non-Disclosure, so no more will be said for a while… but just so you know, Hollywood has some crap coming through the pipes.

Searching Joan Jett’s ‘Bad Reputation’ + Furry gets this.

______________

AMAZING FURRY NEWS COMING SOON –  #7 Will Make You Roll Around Like A Hedgehog!

______________

Toys R Us Accidentally Puts Bad Dragon On Hot Christmas Gifts List

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) September 30, 2015

Scandal Erupts When ABDL Furries Keep It In Their Rooms And Can't Be Glared At In Public

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) September 29, 2015

Hotel Guest Trapped In Elevator With Furries No Longer Recognizes Relatives, Has New Family Now

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) September 30, 2015

Fursuit Parade Followed By Guy With Shovel

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) October 1, 2015

Wall Street Journal Covers Mounting Business For Bad Dragon

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) October 1, 2015

Reviews: Which Mutagenic Ooze Is Best For Your Fur?

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) October 1, 2015

Savannah Horrocks is an illustrator of fantasy and furry works that are of a notably spooky nature. She has created both single works and comics, and she’s even been a guest artist on such well-known comics as Prydwen and Peachy Keen. Lately she’s been branching out into creating original creature dolls as well, which you can see displayed at her web site. She has an Etsy store, a Redbubble store, and a Society 6 store as well (whew!), and there you can see her works on pillows, t-shirts, prints, and other such stuff.

image c. 2016 by Savannah Horrocks

At the time of writing, I have just seen somebody posting a picture of a Nick Wilde (the fox from Zootopia) plush they have bought. This is not an uncommon sight in the fandom, at least for those following the furry side of social media. It’s a curious purchase, because the plush was sold based only on marketing.

The Nick Wilde plush exists only in relationship to what is, currently, a promised other product. To me, merchandise comes after the fact, not before. What I mean by this is the following: Merchandise is something you buy having already read the book, watched the film, played the game, etc. Merchandise is, in theory, meant to be a form of memorabilia, and supports the creation of something you’ve enjoyed. Note the past tense of enjoyed. It’s not something bought on the idea of going to enjoy it. And that going to enjoy as opposed to have already enjoyed is my concern with Zootopia (known as Zootropolis in some countries).

People are already buying merchandise for a film they have never seen, and spending money on representations of things they have not yet experienced.

You may ask, “Well, what’s the problem with this? People are free to spend their money on what they wish? Why does it matter?”

That question deserves an answer.

Definition:

To begin, let me define what I am referring to when I say “hype-culture”. It is important to distinguish “hype,” from “excitement”. For the purpose of this article, hype is the state of mind in which a person is willing to invest in a franchise or product before having direct experience of it, excluding, of course, any investment that may be required to gain aforementioned experience. For example, hype, would refer to buying anything related to a film prior to having seen said film, excluding the cost of the ticket required to see it. To a lesser extent, time can also be considered an investment. If a significant amount of time is spent in relation to a product before direct experience, this could be considered hype. An example of this would be creating fan-art for a film before having seen it.

Hype, can also be distinguished in mind-set. The difference between “being hyped,” and “excited about” is the surety of the quality. Somebody who is excited will be of the mind-set of “I think that this is going to be good, but I readily accept that it may not.” A person who is hyped will be of the mind-set: “This will be good.” The difference is that an excited person is fully aware that the product may not meet expectations, whilst somebody who is hyped will not seriously entertain such a notion.

A note on these two qualifiers (investment—financial and temporal—and surety of quality): Only one of these conditions needs to be met for something to be considered “hype-culture.” If somebody has met the surety criterion, but not invested, this still ought to be considered hype. The same is true in reverse; one can invest without absolute surety, and this to, ought to be thought of as hype.

“Hype-Culture,” a Marketing Department’s Dream

The first issue around hype is the message it sends to companies. It embodies the mind-set of “our marketing is more important than our product.” So long as bums are in seats and toys are off shelves, the quality of the film becomes irrelevant.

People may be joking or serious when they say “the creators care for the fandom,” (or something to that effect) but this is an unhealthy mind-set. The creators want money. Whatever they think of furries does not matter. If they like us, great, but never forget that their eyes are aimed at the cash.

Zootopia is, above all else, a commercial endeavour. There’s nothing wrong with that, commercial endeavours can have artistic merit and/or become beloved cultural works. But as a consumer, you owe it to yourself to remember why the film exists, what the producers want out of you, and to cast a critical eye when you part with your cash. At the end of the day, we want good products, not good marketing campaigns. A consumer’s money should reflect that. My advice would be to wait until you’ve seen the film, and decide whether you enjoy it, before you buy anything other than the admission ticket.

The temporal investment of fan-art is a similar, since it’s essentially doing the job of marketing departments for free. It shows that all that needs to be done is sweep people away with a good marketing campaign, the final product mattering less. If you follow enough furries on social- media, you will see a great many fan-made advertisements for a film which they have not seen. This is an endorsement for something that has not yet been directly experienced. If, after having seen it, somebody decides they wish to promote it in this way, then there’s nothing wrong with that, and it’s good that somebody enjoyed something so much.

This may come across as a cynical view, dampening hopeful spirits, but I would say the reverse is true. It argues that people are smart enough to be active, thinking, consumers, not being taken in by a wave of hype, able to look at a company and say “I’ll give you my money when you show me you deserve it.”

Furthermore, ask yourself this: “How does generating hype help consumers?” The answer is that it doesn’t. Hype exists purely for corporate benefit.

Zootopia in relation to the fandom

My second point is more focussed around the fandom. The furry fandom is bursting with creative minds; artists, writers, fursuit makers, etc. The community would not exist as it does without this creativity. However, the hype around Zootopia feels to me like people are turning their backs on what built the fandom, focussing their attention and giving their money to a large corporate venture. There’s nothing wrong with liking products that exist at the corporate scale of Zootopia, many of those are important to the fandom (Robin Hood, The Lion King, etc.). My issue is that I feel, for a community with humble, home-grown roots, suddenly jumping onto a purely commercial product feels wrong.

The premise of Zootopia isn’t unique (furries have imagined what a society of anthropomorphic animals would be like countless times before Zootopia). It probably won’t be a revolutionary, insightful, cultural classic. Yet furries seem to be holding it up, not because of its quality, but because it’s mainstream. Within the community, more interesting and creative products can be found. In fact, the non-mainstream aspect of furry allows for these more interesting products to flourish.

My concern is that people are pushing aside art and stories created by others within the fandom, based on a belief that Zootopia the first “furry-targeted” film aimed at the mainstream. Liking Zootopia is fine, and it’s likely it will be a decent film; nothing revolutionary, but enjoyable whilst it lasts. However I feel it is important that it doesn’t take too much attention away from the individuals in the fandom.

Conclusion

As companies become better at manipulating social media, and generating a culture of hype around their products, it is the responsible consumer’s duty to look through a critical eye. There is nothing wrong with being excited for Zootopia, or whatever else Disney or other companies produce, but it is important to temper that excitement with the behaviours and spending tendencies that lead to a better, more consumer-friendly environment.

Hello, Papabear.

In the past two months, I've started seriously contemplating my religion, the reason for human existence and my fandom. The more I think about it, the more I understand how exactly inferior and stupid those things are (mainly applied to humanity, the other two aren't as bad). And it has a effect on me, I feel disappointed and sad...

I will try to make this letter as short as possible, sorry if it's too long.

I will start with number one of course, humanity.

Now, first I will need to share a part of my childhood with you and other dear furries... Yes... I was SUPER OBSESSED with animals and anthropomorphic animals, mainly because of the cartoons I've used to watch (Disney and other). There wasn't a single day without thinking about anthropomorphic animals and creating new worlds and scenarios. Everything that had humans in it was a no go. Later, when I turned 10, I've found furry porn and got attracted by it... To make it short, I have literally woken up one day (I was 13 then) and started to think about how humans are cool (what, how is this possible)... While I still had the same love for anthros, I don't love them as much as I love humans nowadays (yeah yeah, you guys must think that I'm the most boring person on earth now, no lying :-) ).

Okay now, I don't want to call our species "monsters", but something close to that. I don't know why I love humans, but I'm sure that this is who I am.

Here is a question for you Papa, what makes humans, well, humans. What is the only difference between us and other species? I will answer that for you: Nothing. There is literally nothing that we can do other species can't do 1000x times better than us. I used to think that we were smarter than animals but I was, sadly, proven wrong. As much as I don't like to say this, yes, animals are SMARTER than us. Shockingly enough, crows are smarter, lions are smarter, even rabbits are, come on mankind?!Why do you suck so much? The point is, everything we do, they can do, except they do it 1000x times better.

Here is a small note for everyone that says humans are "superior." We need animals and plants, but they don't need us. If we disappear right now, nature would rebuild in 5 years. But if those so called "pasts" disappear (aka insects or any other animal), the ecosystem falls apart. Tell me, what is a human being without technology and machinery? Just a harmless bone bag, a sack of meat ready to get executed by a rat or a cat. So much for human anatomy. You may think that we are the best ... just open your eyes and you will see that we are plainly the worst. P.S. Even with technology, we get annihilated by the most "simplest" of animals. Enough said. We are only good for wars, not even in that.

Second, we have religion. Maybe the only thing that makes us differ from other species. Not something to be proud about, I think that YOU already know a lot about this topic. Other animals can practice religion throughout telepathy for all I know. I love my religion (Christianity), but sadly, just like any other thing humans invented, it is very much flawed and abused. The crusades are a good example. Such as any other religion. Again, enough said.

And third, my fandom, the anime fandom (the most inferior of them all). I don't know if you interacted with my fandom in the past and not exactly sure if you know much about it, I assure you, there are many things flawed with my fandom. It's not the worst thing in the world, I enjoy the content and the community (even if I am not active yet, just decided to become one last year.) but oh man! The majority of my fandom is great, just typical anime fans who don't feel the urge to sleep with a anime character, marry them and "become Japanese" . The ones who don't place a shrine of an anime character inside of their house and finally, the ones who won't go around saying that they have a soul of an anime character inside them regardless of the time when the anime was created... Ahhhhhhh... Weaboos, otaku, otakukin, waifu and God only knows how more of... I can't, I can't bear to hear about weird people like these (otakus aren't that bad ,though) who happened to destroy our reputation and made other people call us weaboos...

Just as Uncle Kage said: "Anime conventions have entire booths dedicated to tentacle rape.” As much as I dislike his statement, I don't want to issue a selfish remark so I'll accept it like a man. 

I don't understand anything anymore, I'm confused and don't know what to think anymore. 

What is wrong with me exactly? Why didn't I find a normal hobby?! Why aren't I a furry, that is far more normal from the shit I'm into! Why are humans so bad?! Why does religion make no sense sometimes?! I don't understand anything anymore!

How come that the furry fandom is so good and my fandom sucks...how?

Sorry for the lengthy one and for the God awful grammar...

That's my part, now here is where you, Papabear, step in!

Iro (age 15)

P.S. It may sound like I don't have hope in humanity but it's quite different, I still love all the things I've mentioned, it's just that I needed to show you how exactly flawed they are.

* * *
 
Dear Iro,
 
I’m not sure what has gotten you so upset about anime or humanity since in your letter you simply say how you are so frustrated by how sucky they are but you never explain why you feel that way (except maybe the tentacle thing).
 
I’m not a huge fan of anime, but that’s just me. I have no objections to it, it just isn’t my thing. Because of this, I don’t feel I can discuss anime with you with much of a sense of authority, so let’s just talk about humanity and religion.
 
I would have to disagree with you that humanity is inferior to all animals. Let us just say that all species have their part in the world. Humans evolved large brains because they lacked wings, fangs, claws, and other adaptations that would have helped them survive, so, instead, they evolved large brains to help them build tools to survive, and the other thing they did is develop strong social structure (strength in numbers). You might argue that a rabbit can run faster, a bird can fly, a tiger can easily kill a human, but together humans can do all these things (go fast in a car, fly in a plane, invent a spear or a gun). For many eons, we did not have sophisticated technology. We survived with spears, knives, bows and arrows, pottery, fire, the ability to adapt using shelters and clothing. It is our adaptability to different environments that also makes us successful as a species. Where many animals need a forest or certain types of food sources to survive (e.g., mow down all the bamboo and the pandas perish), we can live pretty much anywhere (the development of agriculture was a huge step, too). So, I would say, humans are not inferior to other species, we have simply learned different ways to survive. We are, really, an evolutionary experiment. Whether that experiment succeeds or not remains to be seen. We could easily go extinct, and, if we do, something else will take our place. That’s how nature works. As long as the planet is habitable, there will be life on it.

I disagree, too, that if humans suddenly disappeared it would not have an averse effect. Actually, because we have changed the environment so much, if humans suddenly disappeared there would be a period of several hundred years before Nature would be able to achieve a new balance because things like weeds, invasive animals, etc., that we are currently controlling to some extent would run rampant, devastating many ecosystems until a new equilibrium could be achieved. The main difference between humans and the rest of nature is we can adapt rather quickly, while Nature takes more time.
 
Another difference between humans and other species (at least, as far as we know) is religion. While it has been shown that animals can have emotions (something people in the past once denied), no one has ever seen a bear going to temple or a crocodile participating in communion. Does religion have some kind of evolutionary benefit? I believe that evolution is not merely biological but also has to do with the progress of consciousness. Biologists and psychologists know that as you move up the evolutionary scale, species’ consciousness evolves, too, kind of like this (except I added the last step):

• Reactionary: not really being consciously aware of the environment, but being able to react to it, such as is done by plants or single-celled organisms. For example, when night falls, flowers on a plant will close their petals.
• Externally aware: being able to consciously perceive what is outside the self. Such as an animal that is hunting for food.
• Self-aware: being able to recognize the self, that one is a unique individual. A good example of how this differs from externally aware animals is the mirror experiment. Place a cat in front of a mirror and it will think the reflection is a different cat and it will hiss or react in some way accordingly; however, put a chimpanzee in front of a mirror and it will recognize the reflection as being itself. The chimp is more consciously evolved than the cat.
• Spiritually aware: humans are all of the above, plus they are aware that there is something beyond the physical and beyond themselves. They recognize that there is a spiritual consciousness. Religions are attempts to define and understand this spiritual consciousness. As far as we know, human beings are the only creatures on this planet to have achieved this level of conscious evolution.

 
Religion, too, undergoes evolution. Mostly, in our history, we see it going from polytheism to monotheism. The predominant trend at the moment is for monotheism that is blended with cultural constructs. It is the contamination from cultural constructs that cause misunderstandings and lead people to fight with and even kill one another. (The other reason for war, of course, having to do with money, power, and the struggle for natural resources, which are all the result of people being misguided into believing that the physical world is the only important world).
 
I believe that humans are not yet done with their spiritual evolution. Indeed, one sees some signs now of the next step, which is to realize that God (or whatever you wish to call it) is not a being who is separate from us (monotheism) but, rather, God is Everything (what I like to call ultratheism). We are a living piece of the Great Spirit, and God is evolving through all of us and through every living and “inanimate” thing that exists. Our consciousness is a synapse in the Mind of God. God thinks, dreams, imagines, and evolves through us and we through God. We are a part of one another and are, therefore, connected. Monotheism requires a priestly class (or a Christ figure) to serve as a liaison between God and humanity because in this system the two are not connected; ultratheism has no need of priests, religious rulers, and prophets (or a Son of God) because it recognizes we all have a direct connection to one another. Once we all realize this, wars will cease and our violent acts against the natural world will end because we will recognize that we are all a part of the Body of God and that killing and harming others is the same as killing ourselves.
 
But we aren’t there yet.

We are here, Iro, to learn and to grow. Each of us has his or her part in it. We are on a path to a higher end, but we are only partway done with the journey. You are frustrated because you see the world in its current, progressing state, but don’t be angry at humanity because it hasn’t finished its journey yet. Instead, what we should all do is try to help it along. See the good in humanity and try to help mend the things that are wrong with it. Humans are capable of some wonderful things (I always think of music and the other arts as wonderful examples—art is the expression of spirit in our hearts), and, yes, we are capable of horrendous things (but, actually, so are other animals).
 
Nothing is perfect. You seem to see the furry fandom as better than anime. That’s probably a skewed viewpoint: neither one is perfect, both have their good points. The same is true for all things. Life is a progression; life is evolution; life is the gradual awakening of God to a higher state of mind.
 
And you are a part of that greatest evolution of all. Embrace it. Live.
 
Hugs,
Papabear

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

My Little Pony: The Art of Equestria, by Mary Jane Begin. Foreword by Jayson Thiessen. Illustrated.
NYC, Abrams, October 2015, hardcover $29.95 (215 [+ 1] pages), Kindle $13.49.

Furry fandom has had a sometimes adversarial relationship with the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic TV series and its fandom, or at least its Brony often-extremist fans. The TV animated cartoon series that premiered on October 10, 2010 is in its fifth season/year now. It has won the Ursa Major Award as the Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Short or Series for 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013, resulting in screams of both (from within furry fandom), “Oh, no! How could it have lost!?” (in 2014, to Furry Force), and (from Brony fandom), “How dare you furry fans try to hijack our program!? MLP:FIM is totally unanthropomorphic! The ponies of Equestria can just talk and sometimes fly, that’s all!”

My Little Pony: The Art of Equestria is an Everything You Want To Know About MLP:FIM, lavish, heavily-illustrated, full-color coffee-table art book. It has already been reviewed and analyzed in detail by the MLP:FIM fans, to general praise. Here is a review for furry fandom.

The book is a how-to and how-it-was-done about the TV animation series and the development of its world of Equestria, rather than an exploration in detail of Equestria and the “Mane Six” ponies, although the reader does get that, too. It begins with a double-page map, described below. A Foreword by the Supervising Director at DHX Media, the animation studio in Vancouver, outlines on one page the basic framework of the series.

“Equestria is a land where the dominant sentient life-forms are derived from the genus Equus – basically, horse-like creatures. Since there are no humans in Equestria, everything that was ever designed or built in this world had to be done by ponies, for ponies. Tables, chairs, doorways, props – all have to work in a way that befits a world existing under this premise. […] There are three basic types of ponies: Unicorns, Pegasus ponies, and Earth ponies. Unicorns, as we all know, are horses with a single horn on their forehead that can cast magic. They are the upper-class elite who live in the mountains. Their cities are made of more robust and expensive materials: stone, granite, and marble. Everything is polished and shiny. Pegasus ponies are winged, they fly and live in the clouds. So their cities are literally made of clouds and are built with fliers in mind: No stairs are needed, and roofs are optional since it doesn’t rain above the clouds. There is a distinctly ancient Greek aesthetic about it, with all the architecture, and this is a nod to the Greek mythological character for which they are named. Finally, there are the Earth ponies, who keep their hooves planted firmly on the ground. They are regular ponies without any fancy appendages who live in more traditional-looking houses and towns like we are used to seeing and deal mostly with earthbound issues such as agriculture and animals. All of this is kept in mind when we’re designing locations to ensure that it feels logical that those characters would actually live I the environment hey are placed in.” (p. 9)

There are seven main parts. “Pony Evolution” is the history of Hasbro’s My Little Pony from 1983, when the toy line was launched, to the present. “Everypony” is a profile of “The Mane Six” characters of today (Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie), and their “extended family: Spike, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and the other major characters. “Foils & Foes” describes some recurring villains like Ahuizotl, King Sombra, and Lord Tirek. “Creatures & Mythical Beasts” lists some of the dangerous non-sentient wild animals of Equestria; classic beasts like the Cerberus, Chimera, and Minotaur, and new creations like the Timberwolf (a giant wolf of living wood), Cragadile, and Sea Serpent. “Exploring Equestria” examines some principal cities and towns such as Ponyville, Cloudsdale, the capital of Canterlot, and specific locations like Twilight Sparkle’s Golden Oak Library and Applejack’s Sweet Apple Acres. “Behind the Scenes” is technical information. And “Pony Revolution” looks to the future.

The art includes many artists’ rough sketches, including creator Lauren Faust’s presentation that brought Hasbro’s existing toy line & TV cartoons into the present. There are discarded early designs of some main characters showing what they might have looked like. And there is that double-page map that leads the book off. The series’ developers clearly had fun creating equine-based place names mimicking those around North America, from the metropolises of Manehattan and Filly Delphia on the East Coast to Vanhoover and Los Pegasus in the West, and landmarks such as the San Palomino Desert.

My Little Pony: The Art of Equestria is designed for both the casual fan and the regular watcher of the TV series. “My Little Pony: The Art of Equestria is the ultimate guidebook, collector’s item, and fan keepsake.” (blurb) Well, it should satisfy everyone except the fanatic followers who want an illustrated profile of all 117 (as of press time) episodes.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon
• Learn more at Abrams
• Learn more at the MLP wiki
• Check out a video review by Sketchy Talks
• Learn more about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic here