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We met Janie Stapleton at WonderCon this year. On her web site, she describes her art like this: “I find inspiration in nature and people watching, and I like my work to strike an awkward balance of gallows humor and bright colors. My work explores emotional intelligence, neurodivergence, and interpersonal connection through lighthearted drawings and comics.” And so she’s created various funny-animal-themed online comics like Animal Logic and The Adventures of Anxiety & Mouse. More recently, she’s run some successful Kickstarter campaigns to release her comics in paperback book form. See if they can help you relax.

image c. 2022 by Janie Stapleton

Hi everyone! Incase you missed any news recently from the furry community, here are some highlights: DogPatch Press Article https://dogpatch.press/2022/04/25/repeat-scammer-traceponies-scandal/ Furality/FWA Announcement https://twitter.com/FurryWeekend/status/1514710091487924246?s=20&t=eGkkatoXIsQ80F7pN9GeKw Furry Writers Guild https://forums.furrywritersguild.com/t/guild-elections-2022-2023/2388 https://furrywritersguild.com/ FurEh 10th anniversary form https://forms.gle/HpwDmLcGjDThqmiD9 Furcationland https://twitter.com/furcationland/status/1516115065858138112?s=20&t=fqZW2-Y7KF9vX2h5CZLi3Q Soda City Fur Con https://sodacityfurcon.com/ Social Media: https://twitter.com/SodaCityFurCon PAWCon https://twitter.com/FurFest/status/1518606300749479937?t=KaTNDO5Dz9p6Cy9IGzEttQ&s=19 HFF5 https://twitter.com/HexFurryFest/status/1517218740319899648?s=20&t=aHqswgsBNcQnA6zr0_lHzw If you like the work I do please like/follow/share to support the channel I'm on multiple platforms https://twitter.com/GrovelHusky https://www.twitch.tv/grovelhusky https://t.me/grovelreports Subscribe to show support https://www.youtube.com/c/GrovelHusky/?sub_confirmation=1 Grovel Reports Studio made by Kydek https://twitter.com/FluffyKydek Banners used in the channel were made by Slushi https://twitter.com/Slushi3Brushi3?s=09 Music created for Grovel Husky by Whooshagg https://whooshagg.com/ Grovel Reports April 28th 2022 - New Furry Conventions + 3rd party provider? #furryfandom #furryconvention

There have been many fan-made furry/Star Trek crossovers. Some early editions of Dana Simpson’s Ozy and Millie comic were republished in Klingon language. Ever hear about Furries Vs. Klingons, a bowling tournament between Atlanta fursuiters and a Klingon cosplay group?

Astonishingly, there was OFFICIAL show crossover that’s not yet included on Wikifur’s Star Trek list, and it came before most of them. It was a complete surprise to me, so here’s a headline story for you, even if it’s a few dilithium crystals short of warp speed.

Sprinkles being a Star Trek pupcake for #FursuitFriday Maybe Data likes cupcakes too? pic.twitter.com/7NlwAdEfiX

— Derp Dawwg (@WoleverWuff) October 23, 2015

Star Trek: The Next Generation made sneaky references to early furry fandom! A tip came in from Alex:

“Hello! As I was looking at various Star Trek trivia, some of the names suddenly seemed very familiar. Apparently in one episode of Season One of ST:TNG, all the way back in 1988, someone working on the show decided to sneak in references to the Albedo Anthropomorphics furry comics! Here are some links to the furry references on the show:

• • • Erma Felna (name of a Starfleet Tactical Command admiral)
    • Steve Gallaci (name of a Starfleet officer of the USS Robert Louis Stevenson.)
    • Captain Itzak Arrat (name of a Starfleet officer of the USS Ticonderoga)
    • Commodore Toki (name of a Starfleet officer of the Advanced Technologies Division)

It might be a stretch, but perhaps the USS Omaha Nebraska that “Admiral Erma Felna” ordered miiight be a reference to Omaha the Cat Dancer?

I thought that maybe you could try to do some investigation and perhaps figure out who this possible early furry working on Star Trek might be, and maybe shed some light on these interesting references.”

I see these character names appeared in the ST:TNG episode “Conspiracy”, which aired May 9, 1988 and later won an Emmy award. The episode link’s script and story notes credit writer Tracy Tormé — (son of Mel Tormé and later creator of TV show Sliders) — adapting a story by Robert Sabaroff, with input from Robert Justman, Rick Berman, Rob Lewin, and Maurice Hurley. Their storied careers don’t tell me obvious furry clues.

The names were in background screens on a computer that showed text memos, and weren’t played by actors — those are obscure easter eggs!

Search result for “Star Trek furries.”

Military theme a natural crossover.

The names are referencing characters in the Albedo Anthropomorphics comics universe, except for Steve Gallacci, the comic founder and a technical illustrator for the U.S. Air Force. He calls himself a “milfur” (military-theme furry fan.)

Gallacci’s comic is “often credited with starting the furry comic book subgenre that featured sophisticated stories with funny animals primarily intended for an adult audience. It was first published in 1983.” – Wikipedia

Does anyone have more info about how furry references appeared in Star Trek? I wrote to Steve and hope to hear back.

Gallacci and early furry comic characters are alive and kicking in 2022!

Steve Gallacci is active in the fandom; a month ago, he posted to Furaffinity to ask for fan feedback about “diving deep into the sketchbooks and such for ‘unpublished’ work.” He only recently got Paypal and will do commissions, and has a Patreon too.

I found Albedo Anthropomorphics #1 original printings for sale between $1-2000 depending on condition; one Ebay seller has a less-than-mint copy for $2200. Some other early issues are going for hundreds. There’s high value for the first Albedo appearances of Usagi Yojimbo, artist Stan Sakai’s samurai rabbit who went on to his own fame and pop crossover:

“a highly successful comic book series drawing influence from the movies of Akira Kurosawa as well as the exploits of the legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. It is perhaps best known in the West for its close connection to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series.” (- Polygon)

Usagi Yojimbo will get major mainstream notice TODAY, April 28, 2022 with the new release of Netflix’s animated series Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles.

Comic market watchers are wondering if prices for the original furry comics might see a crazy jump to “remarkable records”.

Will Usagi Yojimbo's 1st Appearance in Albedo #2 Take the TMNT Leap? https://t.co/hfASDRfmCY via @bleedingcool

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) April 28, 2022

UPDATE for Star Trek furry references:

On the Facebook Graymuzzles group (for furry fans from the early days), Earl Bacon claimed that the cover photo of one issue of Albedo Anthropomorphics was taken on the set of ST:TNG, and it showed a copy of Albedo on Captain Picard’s desk in his ready room.

Earl’s source: “Steve Gallacci himself said that the photo was taken there after filming was done for the day on one of the first episodes of Season 1 of TNG.”

I looked up the issue he named, and Albedo #14 was published in Spring 1989, around the same time. So that means the show references a furry comic… and the comic returns the reference. What’s the deeper story to how this happened?

Here’s a PDF of the Albedo comic where it talks about it being photographed on the Star Trek set. It says that a person named Rick Sternbach was responsible for taking the cover photo. Sternbach is a super accomplished pro illustrator with a long history of working on Star Trek. His tie to an early furry comic is several decades old, so what would he say about it now? A private message to his Facebook account went unanswered.

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon.Want to get involved? Try these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for news or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here. (Content Policy.)

A police raid and arrest in Australia is being added to the Dogpatch Press tag for zoosadism (which investigates animal cruelty, and the black market of animal “crush” and shock media.) The raid found “a significant number of videos depicting animal cruelty and bestiality”. Details of the abuse are so bad, that lawyers representing the suspect asked a court to suppress them, to limit publicity and avoid tainting a jury. Having read details, I would call them among the worst seen in years of covering the news. Evidence of deadly violence that surfaced on the net was judged extreme even to fringe shock groups.

• NT Independent: ‘The depravity is deeply disturbing’: NT Police horrified as bestiality charges laid against rural area man
• ABC News Australia: Darwin man charged with bestiality and animal cruelty faces court for the first time

The raid was in McMinns Lagoon, a rural area of about 800 residents outside Darwin in the Northern Territory, near Yarrawonga, Girraween, Zuccoli, Wak Wak, Bees Creek, and Humpty Doo.

Fandom connections and investigators.

This isn’t an isolated crime; it’s part of a trend backed by data. In recent years, zoosadists have been able to network like never before with technology for stealthy media trading. The trend has led to outlawing bestiality state by state in the USA, and making animal crush federally illegal with the 2019 PACT act. But far too often, they get away with it…

Putting a spotlight on this trend can show that abusers can be tracked, and complicit people can be held responsible. Their accomplices include a fandom underworld where zoophiles harbored zoosadists for decades, which only came out when a crime ring leaked in 2018. They meet in shady crossover groups with hundreds of zoophile furries, and use fandom for cover or even staff furry cons to walk among us while investigation gets backlash. Even if opposed by many furries, they have high-level apologists who promote “zoosexuality” and call opposition “cancel culture”. It’s like a Catholic Church abuse crisis, except with decentralized compartmentalizing behind denials about it. “Not our job” denials make a Catch-22 for seeking outside help, when police rarely pay attention. Even criminals who hide behind popularity like the now-disgraced Kero the Wolf get away with it.

For the Australian crime, it’s unclear how directly it ties to known rings, although it used similar methods. However, it can make a deeper look at internet investigators who gather some of the only visible info about secret zoosadist networks.

Tracking the suspect — Beyond the mainstream news.

The search process included screenshots of evidence that showed a victim dog to identify the breed. This comes from an investigator in Estonia (with minor corrections for clarity):

“How I managed to track his nasty ass is I did lots of research on the internet, posted this everywhere on the internet, until I saw one guy who seemed to know something about it. I contacted him and asked what does he know about this video or the person behind it.”

Following the trail led to a network with familiar methods:

“He said, oh I’m in a Telegram group chat with him and he posts lots of zoosadistic material there and talks to other zoosadists. I thought this is some BS, but he proved it and sent me screenshots of it.”

Abuse media traders can use what law enforcement calls a “baseball card trading system“:

“I even tried to get into the group myself but I couldn’t. It was like a share-to-join group, so I had to share zoosadistic material in order to join. But of course I don’t have any of this stuff, so I just let this other drug addict who was in the group and who I had access to talk with.”

If there was no media — there’d be no networks — but zoophiles excuse the consumer demand they make while their sources hide their ID’s:

“I asked questions from the man himself, like why is he doing this, etc. He said he hates dogs a lot and loves rape. Very f*cked up individual, I guess he didn’t even reveal much information to other zoosadists.”

The hiding takes high effort to overcome:

“So that led me nowhere until I started really look around for every detail in [evidence video] and noticed the orange collar with color changing pattern/chip. It had “Great Pets Start with you” logo on it. I did more research and found that these collars have a chip and they’re given out by council in Northern Territory, Australia. So I sent pictures of the dog to numerous shelters in Northern Territory but no one could identify the dog. I sent the pics to city council, and asked is it possible these kinds of collars are given out elsewhere? They said “No,” only we give out such chipped collars to dogs.”

Persistence had results:

“The city council asked me why do I need to know it. I told them all the information about the man, what he does to dogs, etc. The council told me they’re gonna pass it to criminal investigators, and few days later the police contact me to ask information. Like, describe what he does in the videos. They wanted me to describe everything he does to these poor dogs, like does he record his acts and post them somewhere, etc. So I did and the police said we have one 51 year old suspect who fits your description… we’re gonna raid him soon etc… a few days later the police contact me again saying they have caught the man, and all the material I sent them, they found on his devices. The police thanked me and told me I can now rest easy and breathe freely.”

The investigator emphasized that the suspect ID can’t be public yet, but told me:

“He gets extreme sexual pleasure out of animal cruelty, the videos were posted to his telegram chat. It’s quite odd why did he risk sharing these videos, as he’s not some junkie, but quite successful and highly educated and famous in his hometown.”

I verified this claim in private, and this case is very noteworthy and sure to get more news. Action is pending in court.

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. Want to get involved? Try these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for news or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here. (Content Policy.)

At a recent convention we came across the Creep Cat Toy Company — by their own description, “…founded by two independent LGBTQ+ artists with a passion for funky little creatures and a knack for design! We are a pair of artists who work mainly in craft and concept design and are trying our hand at turning our work into something larger.” Which is mainly a collection of interesting plush animal toys, often featuring species you don’t see very often — like hyenas long-legged maned wolves. The collection also includes their line of Pride Gators, designed to showcase the owner’s personality. “With each purchase from Creep Cat you are directly supporting small artists and helping us live out our dream!”.

image c. 2022 Creep Cat Toy Company

中文：国际兽圈电视与尼尔-瓦卡斯特和AwooNews的关系的声明

Papabear,

I’m new to the furry fandom. I joined when Covid started to get my mind off the pandemic. So I did not know how to get a fursuit, so I bought one from eBay. I was just starting. I did not know what to do. Is that bad? What are the best places to find a real fursuit maker? It is 2 years since I joined the fandom and I love it. I found you out by Cassidy Civet. I’m going to my very 1st fur con soon, and I will be wearing my fursuit I got, but I will be getting a real one soon. I hope, from Thunderhowl Studios. Is that a good place to start?

Stitch
* * *
Dear Stitch,

Sorry for the delay in my reply, and thank you for your excellent question. You are correct that there are good sources and bad to contact when it comes to commissioning a new (or purchasing a used or premade) fursuit. You need to be careful on sites such as eBay because there are a lot of disreputable companies out there. There are a few--especially coming out of Asia--that show photos of beautiful fursuits, but when you order it and receive it, it's actually a piece of garbage you wouldn't wear at a cheesy Halloween party. You can learn about all the fursuit scams out there by going to YouTube and typing "fursuit scammers." You will see various vlogs there from good furries like Ash Coyote, who, by the way, made a vlog, especially about eBay scams. You should also be wary of other online merchant sites such as Etsy.

If you want a new fursuit, the best thing to do is research research research. Find a legit maker with a track record whose style you like and contact them to see if they are open for commissions. You can also ask any fursuiting friends you have about who made their fursuits and if they had a good experience with the maker.  I hired Beastcub to make Grubbs because I had seen a lot of her work, so I contacted her directly. 

Sounds like you have already picked Thunderhowl Studios. Yes, that's a good maker from what I've heard. I'm going to add some more information below for the benefit of my other readers.

If you don't know where to begin, there are a couple of database sites you might find useful. The Fursuit Database is great because you can search on species and types of fursuits, see real-life examples, and contact the maker of the suit. (Here's the listing for Grubbs, for example). There is also the Fursuit Makers Database, which lists the works of nearly 500 makers.

Commissioning a full fursuit new is a long, arduous, and expensive process. Don't be surprised if it takes up to 2 years to complete the purchase. Top-notch designers are in high demand and will cost you a mint ($3,000 and up, easily). The easiest way to cut expenses is to get a partial suit. These are also good because you can wear regular clothes and stay a lot cooler than a full suit. You can also look for makers who start their work using head bases (pre-molded heads of various species that you can customize). And, of course, the best way to save money is to make a fursuit yourself, but that takes a lot of skill and dedication on your part. Finally, you can buy a used fursuit. The best place to find those is The Dealer's Den. There used to be other sites such as FurBuy, but they appear to have closed their doors.

Happy Fursuiting!

Papabear

Updated with new info (5/9/22)

A scam is targeting furry convention goers and vendors. It’s named Furry Swap Meet. Cons and fandom lawyers like Boozy Badger and Buddy Goodboy are putting out Bewares. The scam is advertising “partner” events to coincide with official events, but there’s no real partnership. It’s trying to use false impressions to rent dealer tables, compete with cons for attendance, exploit their hard work and ride their coat tails.

This isn’t a single-source complaint; it’s a united warning from many official channels. But after you read them, there’s way more to tell you. They don’t connect the history of greedy line-pushing by a practiced serial scammer behind it. You can connect the dots from this furry news story. Even if you don’t need bewares, it’s a fascinating case for how much manipulation a fandom can harbor.

*clicks through link sent to me for someone's new furry business idea*

…Oh.

Oh god no.

No no no no no.

— Col. Boozy Badger (@BoozyBadger) April 20, 2022

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

We have been notified of another organization claiming to provide vender spaces near our event.

BLFC is NOT affiliated or in ANY way connected with any other organizations offering vendor spaces.

— Biggest Little Fur Con (@BiggestLittleFC) April 20, 2022

NOTICE: We are in no way affiliated with any 3rd party ticket providers or "partner events.” All charity operations, registration, and vendor activities are managed in house. We urge you to think critically about 3rd parties claiming to be collecting donations or registrations

— AnthrOhio 2022: Tech Noir (@anthrohio) April 20, 2022

There's the boom. https://t.co/Jwp1b0Sv5I

— Col. Boozy Badger (@BoozyBadger) April 20, 2022

Okay, here’s the deal as far as I can tell: https://t.co/11CQBAu78G is an organization setting up events parallel to and unconnected to major furry cons. They work with Neil Wacaster, formerly of Artworktee, who’s been embroiled in controversy. I would not give them money. pic.twitter.com/0MhCw81CQW

— Buddy Goodboy (@BuddyGoodboyEsq) April 20, 2022

Updated with thread — A gracious thank-you to Buddy Goodboy for research and alerting the public too.

Jeffery Neil Wacaster is the person behind Furry Swap Meet, AKA Hot Fudge Husky / Neil Fox.

Jeffery Neil Wacaster — previously known as “Drawponies” — was rejected out of the My Little Pony fandom in 2015 for his “Traceponies” scandal (more on that soon). He then pivoted to furry fandom, bringing the same old tricks under a new brand. It worked, because furries haven’t reacted or documented things like bronies did. Then came problem after problem after problem…

Check out how Wacaster introduces himself on his Linkedin page:

It says expertise in guerrilla marketing… that’s a far too nice term for how shady this gets!

The million dollar sales claim also touts charity fundraising, which sounds nice. Charity isn’t always altruistic, of course; think of a robber baron building a library in his name to look good with money from plundering and exploiting people. Buying goodwill can be as effective as advertising for sales, or doing PR for damage control… but what about doing fair business in the first place?

Wacaster’s 2012 college thesis was about venture capitalism and entrepreneurship. It has a line that sums up the Machiavellian behavior in this story:

To get ahead any way he can, Wacaster now uses business brand accounts and personal account Hot Fudge Husky on Twitter, Youtube, Furaffinity, F-List, etc. It’s hard to even count how many other scam accounts he uses, as you’ll see. (Update: He changed the personal account to Neil Fox after this story came out.)

The blueprint: Methods of the original Traceponies scandal

Last decade, Wacaster’s Drawponies brand was everywhere at My Little Pony fan cons. His dealer operation reaped profits from large-scale competition against small artists. Then Wacaster was caught tracing frames of the official MLP show to crank out and sell falsely advertised “original” art.

As angry fans saw it, Wacaster had cheated to compete and took dealer space that crowded out better talents, rode on top of labor that built the events, and took advantage of volunteer mods for his own groups. Fans do this work for love… but Wacaster’s Linkedin calls their cons “Trade shows.” (Hasbro might have something to say about trade from THEIR property.)

Brony news site Horse News reported about Wacaster’s fall from grace and con bans after the scandal. It’s crazy how the news is needed again 7 years later… will he ever learn?

• DRAWPONIES SCANDAL! Popular artist caught tracing the show… by his own fanclub!
• DrawPonies Scandal Day 2: Damage Report
• Drawponies Scandal Day 3 – The final word on #traceponies

The pivot: Artworktee (no longer owned by Wacaster)

With Drawponies done, founding a new merchandise business could have been a clean slate for clean methods. Serving the fandom from within is desirable to many artists. Artworktee had that demand, and, because a new person owns it in 2022, it’s worth being careful not to hurt the brand and its users.

Wacaster is no longer there, but his former management can still get put on record. It used shady methods like systematically spamming “popufurs” with generic marketing (targeting them by follower count, like cogs in the influencer industry), and underpaying artists. Some criticism was temporarily soothed by team PR. Some was reported here with focus on cut-throat “growth hacking” like mainstream startups do (is fandom just for grabbing customers?)

• ArtworkTee issues and the heart of the furry economy (2018)

Wacaster’s marketing reached people who must have had little idea about what was under the hood. “Popufurs” joined to have their merch represented. Many put their faces on a “<Fursona> Fan Club” line of shirts. But then it gained criticism for allowing merch of the racist, pro-fascist 2 Gryphon. Artworktee added a “we don’t support him” label (while it stayed for sale on the site) — until the label was pointed out as quietly removed (while it stayed for sale on the site) — and then 2 Gryphon was dropped. Read between the lines to see only caring if it looked good.

Apart from that stumble, an animal charity crowdfund was launched and supported by popular furries, reaping goodwill for Artworktee with $66,156 in donations in June 2019. But greed doesn’t stay satisfied…

Kickstarter trouble and the LGBT “Furry and Proud” campaign

The charity success coincided with a separate huge crowdfund that Wacaster undoubtedly envied. Fursona Pins had a record six-figure Kickstarter fund for LGBT Pride-themed pins, shooting up to $249,610 on July 1, 2019. 3 months later, Artworktee imitated this with a Pride-themed shirt line on Kickstarter, resembling something for charity. It was actually for profit, and used careless methods that Fursona Pins took care not to do.

• A Tale of Two Kickstarter Campaigns, and the Selling of Identity by Artworktee (2019)

Some supporters complained about being misled, with receipts on the Know Your Meme page for the Furry and Proud line.

@PartyPrat

I didn’t follow the Furry and Proud campaign after it ended at $35,511 in support, but a year later, comments piled up about failure to deliver shirts and shirts being sold on the store before being delivered to backers. In the next year, Artworktee went bankrupt, and Wacaster is out. The new owners mentioned a “Kickstarter Debacle.” Perhaps bankruptcy could be counted against Wacaster, but it also was the year of Covid-19, and Artworktee serves a real demand (wouldn’t it be nice to build small fandom business to do service, not grab power?) It has a clean slate to reorganize now.

• A new era for Artworktee, a standout fandom merchandise brand with new owners (2022)

Furrymemes: Systematic art theft for clout 

Wacaster’s methods for boosting sales and crowdfunds were more shady than most people knew. Here’s a great scam you can repeat forever:

• Scrape industrial quantities of “memes” from the most popular furry Reddit posts. (Read: stealing art from the original makers.)
• Use a bot to repost memes to Twitter as insincere fan love, but only offer to take down stolen art if noticed. (Read: clout arbitrage.)
• Pump Furrymemes account over 10k followers, because people follow and share without thinking.
• Switch the account to a store or other front, then take the old name with a new small account. Pump it up again.
• Repeat forever using the same name, profile pic, and scraped content. Sharers won’t notice the switching.
• Shill merchandise with the deceptively pumped up accounts, sometimes selling extremely problematic products…

This scam was also behind switching Furrymemes to a furry news site (Awoonews) with attached Patreon. It sputtered and died from exploiting volunteers to write for free, reposting more stolen art, taking Patron money for it, and shilling merchandise until that backfired. Awoo News is now a suspended account.

More screens here.

Accounts like these, despite linking to the artist, basically divert traffic away from them in a "this account posts art almost daily with credit so there's no need to follow the actual artists" kinda way.

An example being in them having 13k+ followers and you only having 5k.

— Jennah Saburashii (@JENNAAAAAAAAHHH) February 10, 2020

Bot-powered industrial clout-chasing and aggressive “growth hacking” is the opposite of what personal fandom is for. (Furries are born when they think: “I can have my own unique fursona with my own art…”)

This led to incidents like posting scraped “memes” that were hateful chan posts — which tells you the quality of clout-chasing content — and a mini-scandal when a Furrymemes account switched to a sex toy store.

Furrysexshop tries to cash in clout, gets backlash up the butt

Stolen art could transform to profit, Wacaster hoped, if a switched account could shill drop-shipped buttplug tails. Drop-shipping is a business method where an outside business fulfills products by mail. The seller never touches them, so quality control is nonexistent. The seller collects money and maybe the buyer has no idea, except it’s hard to get refunds.

For Wacaster’s Furrysexshop, cheap chinese sources were meant to provide “faux fur” tailplugs, but the products held a surprise…

Answers about what the next one would be rebranded to — a drop ship operation https://t.co/3cxwpsub32

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) December 29, 2019

to someone for having made 3 clics and have no guarantee about the product
I call this a scam
Plus their communication is made through a transfomed twitter account + @furry__memes

— Silou SnowCat (@Silou_Atien) December 18, 2019

The “faux fur” sold through markets like Alibaba was believed to be real animal parts from shady chinese fur-farms. Animal welfare laws? Who needs those when your art theft/clout scam can make a buck? The backlash made Wacaster delete the store.

Advanced clout chasing: Awoo News and Global Furry TV

Think of how shady it would be to run scams on the fandom, AND run one of the few news sites that could report on them… what a conflict of interest and treacherous control of the narrative!

(For example, see the Washington Post owned by billionaire Amazon owner Jeff Bezos… Dogpatch Press is proudly independent of any other fandom business.)

Filling Awoo News with fan-made news lacked a crucial ingredient: having volunteers naive enough to work for free for Wacaster implies lack of insight for news. It’s like hiring the blind to draw your art. It led to getting a teenage editor with his own hobby channel called Global Furry TV, who announced their partnership (with no transparency about editing Awoo News too, Wacaster’s for-profit business or how it was pumped by clout scams.) The former Awoo News editor/partner carries on the quality with both-sidesing to defend shady figures, partnering with other shady figures, and even spreading defenses for groups like the Furry Raiders while accusing the fandom of “politics” or division in “controversies”. (There’s no controversy in rejecting malice and scams, of course.)

PLEASE STOP FOLLOWING THESE ACCOUNTS

@.Artworktee & @.Awoonews are made by a notorious scam artist, w/ this being their newest endeavor

If you see content from any other "furry meme" sites in their RTs, assume they're all part of the same scandal.

STOP supporting them!! https://t.co/Z0oTHGBDtd

— Zahzu-Lemur & a Zebra || (@Zahzu) December 30, 2019

Hazbin Hotel Fanworks: Youtube channel that uses fan art to pump crypto investing, but the channel was ironically stolen.

Wacaster’s move after bankruptcy with shirts was to build a 185K follower video channel: “Comic Dubs for the Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss Universes.” The fandubs takes fan-made comics from an indie property (so, probably lacking lawyers to defend the property) and applies new voices. There’s a sneaky way to upload/recycle a bunch of content you didn’t create, say you’re adding something original (or call it fair use), and ride the coat tails up to 185K followers. Maybe a lot of them are kids.

Did you think this is about enjoying fandom with them? Ha ha!! Wacaster’s co-admins had their marks lined up. With 43 million views for comics, it doesn’t matter what they’re for; that can drive a lot of traffic for crypto investing scams the channel also pumps.

Wacaster’s access to 185K followers was cut off when his crypto scam partner (Crowley) stole it from him and locked him out on Youtube, leaving him a small 3K Twitter for the channel. It led to dueling accusations about theft and legal battle. The Youtube now just posts game streams with cratered views.

If Wacaster knew Crowley was a criminal during their partnership, is it only told now to get back at him? How many kids followed the channel…

More about Furry Swap Meet and Hot Fudge Husky / Neil Fox

Here we are back at the latest scam. It changed after bad notice; it might have some kind of too-late spin about being nonprofit.

Wacaster did have a nonprofit set up, Fandom Fund. That nonprofit was supposedly based in Arkansas. No nonprofits by that name are registered in Arkansas. Fandom Fund Inc is dissolved in Indiana as of March 2022. I don’t know if there is reorganizing going on, but cons weren’t even asked first, and the launch debacle was spammed at people who should now read this story and think hard before supporting any such thing.

UPDATE: The Furry Swap Meet site is taken down. Wacaster’s Twitter for Hot Fudge Husky deleted all activity for the scam, and replaced it with a message that Crowley hacked it (despite coordinated marketing from Wacaster’s other accounts.) REPEAT: MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS.

Here's the "partner event" email and the commission cold call email from a few days ago.

Different emails, both signed by Hot Fudge Husky. pic.twitter.com/s5niwAWwaW

— Ash! (@ashenwhiskers) April 20, 2022

When you know how the Furrymemes scam works, isn’t it funny how the Hot Fudge Husky twitter has 11.5K followers but almost no content? — UPDATE: Hot Fudge Husky is rebranded to Neil Fox. Neil Fox is the result when you search the original account name @furry__memes. 

CONCLUSION

Some previous coverage here about Wacaster erred on the side of being lenient and forgiving. It’s great that cons coordinated official responses this time, making it not just my opinion that this guy needs to stop.

He obviously has impressive skills, along with astonishing lack of limits or respect. Why not build a small business to deliver joy and satisfaction to people instead of trampling them in a rush to dominate a market?

Maybe he’ll read this and dismiss it as an unfair hit piece (or just call it “drama”.) Well… a good time for getting his side and letting him explain could have been after the first disaster. After 10 times, why should we get both sides about an UNCHECKED RAMPAGE OF GREED?

It’s not the job of unpaid volunteers and fans to be the conscience, when someone keeps doing aggressive schemes until they fail and make an ass out of everyone who trusted them.

Meanwhile, Wacaster claims a million dollars in sales and had an ENTIRE PR TEAM response for disasters before. That’s unfair to everyone else in the same market, like little artists competing for notice. It isn’t equal, and I don’t have time to waste on wishy-washy both-sidesing like a nice, polite fence-sitter. Polite and kind aren’t the same thing, and it would be UNKIND to the public to hold back news of all this nonsense and deception.

Anyone who calls this drama or unfair is on the hook to give real answers for why this keeps happening, and when will it stop?

UPDATES: Wacaster’s response connects more background of the Hazbin Hotel Fanworks scams.

Buddy Goodboy’s thread is added (it was overlooked during parallel research), give him a follow. And we have new insight on Neil Wacaster’s response after the scam emerged — Wacaster is backpedaling with claims about “lies” and being “hacked”:

(Personally, I think this is just a backpedaling attempt, but I suppose we shall see)

— Trick | Badge comms open! (@TrickTheHyena) April 22, 2022

To unravel these claims, more info is in a video posted by the Hazbin Hotel Fanworks replacement Youtube channel. If you recall the background above, Hazbin Hotel Fanworks was a partnership between Neil Wacaster and a crypto scammer named Crowley, who took their first channel of 185K followers. The replacement has 6K, and its spin about this requires reading between the lines. UPDATE: The replacement channel, still under Wacaster’s control, took down the team’s explanation. The below summary of the contents was posted when the video was still live and comparable. If anyone claims it isn’t true, ask why the evidence was deleted.

The hour long video reveals about Crowley and Wacaster’s partnership:

• Wacaster was living with Crowley, a sex offender on parole.
• The restrictions of living on parole show WACASTER KNEW HIS PARTNER WAS A CONVICT.
• (5:20) In November 2020, Wacaster started Hazbin Hotel Fanworks out of a “meme furry channel.”
• They were 50/50 partners in the Hazbin “company” (how is this connected to the real property owners? What???)
• They did panels at furry cons together, and hosted house parties that brought some staffers.

How staff were mismanaged:

• Crowley, the sex offender, was head of staff.
• Wacaster promised to pay staff if they started out with free volunteer work.
• Pay promises depended on investing that never came (for a fan channel using other peoples art? What???)
• (9:00) The team treats it as overpromising, rather than a history of scamming by Wacaster.
• As a Plan B, Wacaster hired cheap overseas editors for “cost saving”, who badly communicated with the team.

Things get bad:

• Crowley started his Cryptogod crypto-investing channel that was pushed on their channel.
• Meanwhile, free volunteers were overworked for roles they were never trained for.
• Crowley failed to pay them for weeks and weeks, excusing it because crypto prices fell.
• Volunteers spent all their savings to live while working full-time.
• Wacaster blamed Crowley for failing to pay, like he had no idea at all. (Sure…)

It turns into a crisis:

• Wacaster and Crowley split up, and 40 volunteers had to reorganize into 2 teams.
• (16:25) The 40 volunteers had been pitted against each other to work with “tribal”, “cut-throat competition”.
• Volunteers had been forced to stay up extra late by exhausting motivation meetings to hype up the team.
• Most of the volunteers left with Crowley, while Wacaster made new plans with his Furrymemes channels.
• (20:30) Crowley’s team locked out Wacaster’s, breaking their agreement to share channels.

Fallout from the crisis:

• They discovered employee wage funds had been dishonestly invested in crypto instead.
• This halted video production for Crowley’s channel, and it’s unclear what happened to the team.
• There is talk of legal proceedings and “it’s like a Looney Tune skit.”
• Wacaster is still leading these volunteers while Crowley is blamed.
• (45:45) Crowley is claimed to be Noah E. Akins; his parole meant he wasn’t supposed to talk to minors on social media. Yet Wacaster had him managing!

This shows the volunteers as victims too, but sorry friends… the bottom line is: don’t ever do free work for a “fan” project using someone else’s property, and if the people behind it are both scammers or criminals, do your due diligence first. Hopefully this story can help other people for the future.

EVEN MORE UPDATES, 5/9/22: New scams and insight from Indiana

Claims emerged about Wacaster offering art commissioning as a middleman scheme — Charging full price, while advertising art created at a discounted price by an outsourced artist in a cheaper place — then pocketing the difference without crediting someone else’s art.

I hope this makes sense. This person set up a fancy site I filled out for a commission, then did not pay their artist and ran. I will find a way to pay their artist but please don’t work with this person. pic.twitter.com/bd3xAsnduq

— Splat @FWA+MEGAPLEX (@SplatFennec) April 26, 2022

Not only HotFudgeHusky has been taking art that it's fully mine without my permission, but he is making money getting fake commissions using my work as an example

— Kaya (@KayaUnderTheSun) April 26, 2022

Wacaster’s Neil Fox account is now taking the title “journalist” to retaliate at a group called Italian Furposting for flagging his content. He is threatening them with a misinformation campaign that would use targeted ads to pose him as a victim of anti-journalist censorship. Is anti-spam action now censorship?

Remember the use of threats, it comes up again…

Indiana fans reached out with feedback on this story.

“Extra context: Neil has a disability so he’s unable to work ‘typical’ jobs. He does have legitimate skill as a businessperson. He is good at managing books and finances, and knows a lot about SEO and marketing, and when he’s not fixated on a money making scheme, he’s nice to be around. He hosts local fur meets at his house (“The Fox Den”). People seem to have positive experiences at his meets, and he genuinely seemed to make the meets safe — strict alcohol rules, a clearly denoted time for when NSFW content would be allowed, etc.

The @hotfudgehusky account, @awoo_news, and @furry__memes — these are the same account carried over. At one point, the account did make half-hearted attempts to credit the original post and direct users there for an artist source, but would fail more than half the time. Neil shrugged it off. He also ran a Tiktok account that clipped and edited furry dance videos for reposting. He wouldn’t ask permission before using someone’s content, but believed that was ok because “message me to remove it.” He is rebranding that account. The new tiktok name is @thefurryfandom.co and the new profile pic is his face… not sure what the angle is, but the account has 107k followers and 2.3M likes to leverage the algorithm for whatever it is.

Regarding the “Furry and Proud” crowdfund — He had walls filled in his garage with boxes of t-shirts from this. He couldn’t sell them because the shirts were the property of someone else and involved in an active legal battle (Artworktee), but Artworktee didn’t collect the property from him (?) The full run of shirts were actually produced, just… never shipped for some reason, and Artworktee may not be collecting them or lacks the funds.

Regarding Hazbin Hotel Fanworks — This was the biggest source of ongoing drama in his house and social circles. Crowley’s parole required him to inform people he is living with that he is a convict… unfortunately, Crowley violated his parole by not doing that. No one in the home, Neil included, was aware of his sex offender status until after he had already been living in the house for several months. Prior to this, he was known to have been in prison but refused to talk about why.

Was this Neil’s story? Scammers can play very sympathetic and persuasive, and always play the victim while blaming someone else. Claiming lack of knowledge about Crowley is hard to believe because:
(1) Probation can mean ankle bracelets and the PO knocking at any time to come in.
(2) They can check for devices with someone not allowed around certain devices.
(3) Crowley’s crime was openly published in the news, and that’s hard to hide.
(4) The news reported he “cannot drink any alcohol while on probation, or he will finish the sentence in prison.”
(5) Did Neil act like Crowley moved in without a real name or basic googling to screen a roommate?

It’s all hard to buy, but the source continued…

Around the same time as when news broke about Crowley’s sex offender status, is when the business partnership broke. Neil evicted Crowley from the house over his sex offender status, and his deciding to dump channel funds into an “investment” (crypto scam that he lost out on), and failure to pay bills in the house — according to Neil. He received several not-so-veiled death threats from Crowley, and so Neil kept quiet about everything until Crowley was completely out.

Once Crowley was gone, Neil was happy to leave well enough alone, but it seems Crowley had maintained access and hijacked the channel. The Youtube channel was Neil’s only source of income, so he got a lawyer to get the channel back. Crowley was served legal paperwork, with the deal being that Neil would keep quiet about Crowley’s sex offender status and not notify his parole officer of his violations, as long as the channel was returned to Neil. Crowley decided to take everything to court, and that’s when posts about Crowley’s status as a sex offender started going public. Maybe Neil hoped that social backlash would solve the situation, but it did not, and that legal battle is still ongoing.

This story about threats and staying afraid and quiet because of them is convenient… then Neil using a threat to spread info about Crowley is very shady when you look at other threats to run a targeted ad campaign against Italian Furposting for flagging his content. So he’s afraid, but making threats himself?

The source claimed Neil may start:

• Trying to attach ads to captcha systems (because you can make the internet worse by requiring people to look at an ad to prove they’re human).
• Buying land outside of the city to grow and sell CBD products, and selling camp sites on the land. Neil also wanted to go further and have “Furry” recognized as a religion in the state so he could get a religious exemption to produce THC products also, and sell “religious experiences” to people. Basically, a roundabout way to sell THC in a state where it’s not legal, and leverage the furry fandom to legitimize it.
• Crypto scams. One of Neil’s other partners is shilling dogecoin endlessly to Neil and his social circle.

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. Want to get involved? Try these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for news or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here. (Content Policy.)

Look, there’s no way we can describe The Misewa Saga better than the publishers do — so here’s what they say: “Narnia meets traditional Indigenous stories of the sky and constellations in an epic middle-grade fantasy series from award-winning author David Robertson.” The first book in the series is called The Barren Grounds. Two children of the First Nations in Canada find themselves torn away from their families and forced into foster care by the government — a sad reality for many indigenous children in North America. Unhappy with their new “home”, the children search for a haven… and instead, find a magic portal into another world. There, they meet an anthropomorphic fisher (big weasel!) named Ochek, who sets out to teach them how to survive in the frozen wasteland that surrounds his village. Soon, accompanied by “a sassy squirrel”, the two humans set off on a dangerous mission to bring summertime back to the barren grounds. More books follow in the series as well, so look for them.

image c. 2022 Penguin Random House

We're back and full of words.

This episode - Savrin has thoughts about time, a member of the US Army makes a threat against FWA, furry solidarity is the way, and then the back half is more pleasant media discussions.

Links!
Southpaws is creating and promoting The Queer Agenda | Patreon
Telegram Fan Chat - https://t.me/+6pbv_U1AY95jOWU5 

Episode 516 - Time In Your Purse

This week, Sammy and Nuka are dusting off and pulling out the game boxes. Don’t know what to bring to game night? All your old games missing pieces or falling apart? Join us and our guest, Tenax Raccoon, as we talk about our favorite board games. Of course we’ll be talking about our favorite furry-esque games.





NOW LISTEN!
SHOW NOTES
SPECIAL THANKS

Tenax Raccoon

PATREON LOVE
The following people have decided this month’s Fur What It’s Worth is worth actual cash! THANK YOU!

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Rifka, the San Francisco Treat and Baldrik and Adilor and Luno

Deluxe Supporters Tier

 

Guardian Lion and Koru Colt (Yes, him), Ashton Sergal, Harlan Fox

Plus Tier Supporters

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McRib Tier Supporters

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MUSIC

Opening Theme: RetroSpecter – Cloud Fields (RetroSpecter Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2018. ©2011-2018 Fur What It’s Worth. Based on Fredrik Miller – Cloud Fields (Century Mix). USA: Bandcamp, 2011. ©2011 Fur What It’s Worth. (Buy a copy here – support your fellow furs!)
Break: Mystery Skulls – Ghost. USA: Warner Bros Records, 2011. Used with permission.
Closing Theme: RetroSpecter – Cloud Fields (RetroSpecter Chill Mix). USA: Unpublished, 2018. ©2011-2018 Fur What It’s Worth. 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!) S9 Episode 21 – Dogopoly - This week, Sammy and Nuka are dusting off and pulling out the game boxes. Don’t know what to bring to game night? All your old games missing pieces or falling apart? Join us and our guest, Tenax Raccoon, as we talk about our fav

MOOBARKFLUFF! Click here to send us a comment or message about the show!

Moobarkfluff!  So hard to believe this is our last episode of Season 2. We couldn't do this without all of you lovely listeners. Bearly and Taebyn reminisce about the past year, we tell some jokes, talk about life in general and Taebyn reads a new sound book.  We have a great discussion with Star Raccoon and his new friend Bund the Bunny! Join us for some good times and some sad times as we close out this season.  Be sure to tune in again next week for Season 3! Moobarkfluff!

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Thanks to all our listeners and to our staff: Bearly Normal, Rayne Raccoon, Taebyn, Cheetaro, TickTock, and Ziggy the Meme Weasel.

You can send us a message on Telegram at BFFT Chat, or via email at: bearlyfurcasting@gmail.com

Bearly Furcasting S2E52 - Season Finale, Special Guest Star Raccoon, Storytime, Jokes

Phoenix Baldwin is the writer and illustrator of Dinotoons, a series of illustrated books for young readers. The first title is Here Comes The Moon, where we meet young Peter Protoceratops — lost in the woods and trying to find his way home. The most recent book in the series, though, is called Formerly Known As Ella. Peter’s best friend Ella the einiosaurus decides to come out as non-binary, changing their name and pronouns. Peter, young as he is, tries to learn to understand and finally accept this. All these stories and more are available from Bookbaby.

image c. 2022 by Phoenix Baldwin

Artworktee.com

Establishing a brand across many convention dealer dens is a big deal for the personalized, self-creating furry fandom. Artworktee has grown an impressive presence for serving furries with merchandise made within and representing them. It hasn’t always been smooth, but things are looking up.

“We’re not a 7-figure company”, laughs the new owner Raphael when I ask about the size and how many staff they have. “Well actually it was at one point when Neil ran it, but we’re reorganizing.”

Raphael is attentive on the phone, with an easy laugh and straightforward answers about business structure. He’s based in California and took over Artworktee in mid-2021, since the company went bankrupt after running for several years under original founder Neil Wacaster.

The 2020 bankruptcy followed losses from Midwest Furfest plans that went badly (that’s no surprise with the Covid-19 pandemic); and a “Kickstarter debacle”. Readers who follow the turbulence of social media may be familiar with controversy about Wacaster’s practices that had coverage here — (with some charitable understanding for staff and artists invested in using Artworktee) — but the bankruptcy and reorganization took Wacaster out of ownership.

• ArtworkTee issues and the heart of the furry economy (2018)
• A Tale of Two Kickstarter Campaigns, and the Selling of Identity by Artworktee (2019)

Previous partnering practices had involved blitzing generic appeals to anyone with over 3K followers on social media, but that’s ended now. Paying artists was an issue, and the new ownership is committed to paying fairly.

I questioned Raphael more about company ownership in case Wacaster still had input on the board, profit sharing, or other ties. It satisfied me that there weren’t any, just cooperation for handing things over. That takes time (such as when old services are under old names), and not everyone is aware, but it sounds like the company is firmly in the care of Raphael and his small team.

Programs and relationships had to be dropped and restarted. The website is getting renovation. New organization has finances back in order with new investors. It was accomplished with some cuts to staff, and Artworktee was re-incorporated in California in 2021. The team includes:

• 1 warehouse helper
• 1 full time operations staffer
• 1 social media manager
• 1 supply relationships broker (Asia and Pacific)
• 1 co-manager who also does supply relationships for Europe
• A web developer and 5-6 regular con booth helpers.

“We have some great new plans coming up”, Raphael told me. One of them will be a new feature for uploading art to create your own products. Many people do it with services like Redbubble, but Raphael intends this to come with more personal service, representation at cons and quality at similar price point.

There will more con vending, and potentially helping to run an official con store. Other plans include expanding merch lines, a better located warehouse, and an optional website version for NSFW goods. There could even be partnership with retailers like Hot Topic if the stars align. (Some of these are in early stages, so allow for development.)

“We’re trying to be good to our artists and the fandom”, says Raphael. Service by fans, for fans is definitely what a lot of people want.

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. Want to get involved? Try these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for news or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here. (Content Policy.)

2022 GOOD FURRY AWARD –  Vote HERE until May 1

This annual award is run by Grubbs Grizzly to recognize furries who make outstanding positive contributions to the fandom. The first one in 2019 went to Tony “Dogbomb” Barrett. In 2020 the award (and a $500 check) went to Ash Coyote. In 2021, Cassidy Civet won. Each winner gets a check and a trophy.

Winners for this 4th annual award will be announced at Biggest Little Furcon in June.

This year there will be a new Lifetime Achievement Award, selected by Uncle Bear Publishing in addition to regular awards.

The awards will be presented live at BLFC, and Pepper Coyote also wrote a theme song for the award.

Grubbs explains why he started the award on the nomination page:

The Good Furry Award is about community spirit. This is not an award for who is the best fursuiter or artist or writer. It is not about being the most popular or being the furry who is seen on news broadcasts. It is about furries who do good works to promote and sustain the fandom and who represent the best in furry. Examples might be a person who does extraordinary work as a furcon volunteer, or who runs a charity, or who has done a lot to help furries in need, or who does something to promote a positive image of furries to the mundane world. I’m sure you understand the phrase “community spirit,” so nominate people based on that concept. The same goes for groups of people, organizations, and even businesses that help out furries.

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. Want to get involved? Try these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for news or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here. (Content Policy.)

Thanks to Animation World Network we’re learning more about the upcoming Ted TV series: “Peacock has announced the cast of Ted, Seth MacFarlane’s live-action comedy series based on his hit 2012 film of the same name and its 2015 sequel. In addition to serving as director, writer, co-showrunner, and executive producer, MacFarlane will reprise his role as the voice of the titular character — a foul-mouthed teddy bear who was first brought to life by a wish from his owner and best friend, John Bennett. In the films, John is played by Mark Wahlberg. In the new series, which serves as a prequel to the events of the first film, John appears a 16-year-old boy.” Here’s the official synopsis: “It’s 1993 and Ted the bear’s moment of fame has passed, leaving him living with his best friend, 16-year-old John Bennett, who lives in a working-class Boston home with his parents and cousin. Ted may not be the best influence on John, but when it comes right down to it, Ted’s willing to go out on a limb to help his friend and his family.” No word yet on a target release date for the show.

image c. 2022 Universal Pictures

中文： 美国政治家为猫砂盒的谣言道歉

中文：兽展更新 2022-4-18

Well here’s something we should have been covering for… quite a while now! In 2005, no less, Nick Bruel created the first Bad Kitty book — featuring the adventures of “…a housecat who wreaks havoc around her owner’s home when she is in a bad mood, hence the name,” according to Wikipedia. Turns out there have been Bad Kitty books and graphic novels ever since — the most recent including Bad Kitty Gets A Phone and Bad Kitty For President. All coming your way from Roaring Brook Press. So you’d better look out!

image c. 2022 Roaring Brook Press

Papabear,

I feel very conflicted on my sexual orientation at the moment. All my life, I thought that I was hetero and attracted to females. I went to a Furry convention nearby and found that I resonated with the sentiments that the others had felt. I, however, felt that I was being ostracized by society, even my own parents. I was kicked out the house, and my parents threatened to disown me, because I wasn't normal. I want to feel normal again and embrace my personality. I want people to refer to me as Kanba Kanna Jothibass and not as the "monster." How do I overcome societal pressure and expectations?

Kanba (age 32)
* * *
Hi, Kanba,

While I'm sorry to hear your parents are not accepting you for you, at 32 years of age it is a good thing you are moving out of your parents' home. As with your process of discovering your gender identity, you need to discover who you are as a person, and the best way to grow and do that is to live on your own and on your own terms, so I wish you luck with that.

It should come as no surprise, sadly, that society (including your parents) does not, for the most part, accept people in the LGBTQI+ community. Society is all about conformity, and those who do not conform to society's artificial standards are typically rejected by the population. Your parents have proven themselves to be just as shallow and judgmental as society, putting conditions on their love for you, with that condition being you must be "normal." Sorry, but you have bad parents when it comes to this important topic of identity. Good parents love their children unconditionally for who they are.

You want to feel normal? I wouldn't go there if I were you. "Normal" people are boring conformists. The people who truly move the world are the nonconformists, the iconoclasts, and the heretics. These are the artists, inventors, and dreamers who improve our society. They are the scientists, revolutionaries, and innovators who take us to new heights.

Don't be normal, Kanba. Be special. Be unique. Fuck "normal." When you say you want to feel "normal," you mean you want to regain acceptance from your parents and others. All humans want to feel accepted because we are social animals, and we crave acceptance from our parents because they are the ones who nurtured us as children. But when parents and society reject us for being special and different, they show themselves to be just one of the crowd.

"How do I overcome societal pressures and expectations?" is your question. You do so by first recognizing that those pressures and expectations are not necessarily right just because a lot of people agree to them. You are not placed on Earth to please others and do their bidding. Each of us is placed on Earth to discover who we are and what is truly important in life. We are here to experience life. To interact with others. Doing so will help you learn the things that are correct and the things that are incorrect. How do you know which is which? Well, it might sound like a pat answer, but your conscience will tell you. 

Look, Kanba, there are only two rules you need to know: 1) The Golden Rule, 2) The Wiccan Rede. The former says to treat others as you would have them treat you, and the latter says that as long as you aren't hurting anyone (this includes yourself, so don't take drugs, etc.), do whatever you feel like doing. Or, as Patrick Swayze said in Roadhouse, "Be nice."

All the other "rules" that society piles up on you are mostly B.S. Now, obviously, there are laws out there that are for the good of everyone, and the best laws are the ones that are related to the Golden Rule and the Wiccan Rede, such as killing, stealing, raping, and pillaging are all bad. But rules like "You have to get a college degree to succeed in life," and "You have to make huge profits in business and take advantage of others in this dog-eat-dog world," or "You have to marry a proper woman (or man) and have children to maintain the family name" are all designed not for your benefit but for others.

Stop worrying what others, including your parents, think of you. Your life is for you. That's not being selfish. Discover yourself and discover your purpose in it. This is the only way to lead a fulfilling life.

Oh, and if people are seriously calling you a "monster," avoid such people at all cost. That's just ridiculous; such opinions are not worth your time to address. You are not a monster.

Bear Hugs,
PapabearOh, and if people are seriously calling you a "monster," avoid such people at all cost. That's just ridiculous, and such opinions are not even worth your time to address. You are not a monster.