Crush...Yiff...Destroy!

RailFoxen · Vociferator Joined: 01 Jan 2005 Posts: 625

Fake studies show fursuiters more likely to survive vehicle accidents. With their natural suit of armor, they could outlive us all!

Rankin · TOP POSTER! Joined: 03 Jan 2004 Posts: 1659

Tell that to the CSI raccoon. :mad:

Dr. Dos · Vociferator Joined: 11 Oct 2004 Posts: 718

that wasn't a costume, it was a six foot condom.

weird_guy_in_the_corner · Vociferator Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 708

It would've been interesting if the accident actually caused severe damage. Admit it: wouldn't you want to see pictures of severed, fur-covered body parts?

RailFoxen · Vociferator Joined: 01 Jan 2005 Posts: 625

Now that'd make a Photoshop Phriday to remember.

And that's what he gets for appearing in a CSI episode. Be that a lesson to you all.

SquareMoogle · Vociferator Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 357

I lost interest..... here

Have you taken a look at the other fandoms lately?

Edit: Wait, I KNOW I posted this in the other thread. :?

Kadius · Needs to get out more Joined: 10 Feb 2004 Posts: 911

I think the main reason furrydum is as pathetic as it is. Is because there's no outside influence, no higher authority. No one going 'that's how it is'. Nothing to really base their 'fandom' on. No comic, no tv show, no movie.. nothing. (I'm talking as in a whole.) Star Wars fans have George Lucas. And Trekkies have... the writers of Star Trek. Nobody is doing that in the case of furries. So, they've just gone insane. Writing their own little fantasy world instead of being in someone else's. And we know how shitty most furries are at writing.

mouse · Needs to get out more Joined: 13 Jul 2003 Posts: 1192

I think the main reason furrydum is as pathetic as it is. Is because there's no outside influence, no higher authority. No one going 'that's how it is'. Nothing to really base their 'fandom' on. No comic, no tv show, no movie.. nothing. (I'm talking as in a whole.) Star Wars fans have George Lucas. And Trekkies have... the writers of Star Trek. Nobody is doing that in the case of furries. So, they've just gone insane. Writing their own little fantasy world instead of being in someone else's. And we know how shitty most furries are at writing.

Well just technically, Star Trek and Star Wars (among many many others) fans are limited by definition of what they are.

Writing fan fiction is fine, but thats all those fandoms will ever produce.

SF/F/comics/Anime/Furry, being fans of a genre/style/medium all can basically do whatever they want.

Whether that potential is being utilized in specific cases.. Im not going there. Not right now anyway. :)

Fuck George Lucas.

ZenZhu · TOP POSTER! Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 1510

I think the main reason furrydum is as pathetic as it is. Is because there's no outside influence, no higher authority. No one going 'that's how it is'. Nothing to really base their 'fandom' on. No comic, no tv show, no movie.. nothing. (I'm talking as in a whole.) Star Wars fans have George Lucas. And Trekkies have... the writers of Star Trek. Nobody is doing that in the case of furries. So, they've just gone insane. Writing their own little fantasy world instead of being in someone else's. And we know how shitty most furries are at writing.

This is something that's been thrown about before. I think the vague consensus is that furry is just too broad a concept. I don't know exactly what separates its fucked-uppedness from other broad fandoms, like SF or fantasy. SF has its Slave Leia getups and Klingon bondage. Fantasy has its warrior maiden BDSM (NSFW... seriously, just when you thought you'd seen everything :shock: ). Still, they manage to not be quite as prominent as the fetishism and such in furrydom... yet all three are pretty a pretty broad genres in themselves.

Perhaps, however, furry is simply much broader. It's limited in that it focuses on anthro animals, true.... but within that context, it incorporates both anime, SF, fantasy, horror, and whatever else... fetishes included. With SF, you know Robin Hood isn't really a part of that.. unless he's part of some holodeck simulation gone awry. You know the Enterprise is out of place laying seige to Mt. Doom. But, with furrydom, you have furry anime, furry Star Wars, furry Star Trek, furry medieval fantasy. All furry really does is take other fandoms and slaps a cat tail and ears on the characters. Some will argue with this, but it strikes me that furry is still a broader umbrella than SF, fantasy, or anime... as it also draws from those three.

To draw an analogy - SF, fantasy, and anime can be compared to liking a culture. Some people are into English culture. Some are into African culture. Some are into Japanese culture. Some are into Chinese culture. Furry, on the other hand, can kind of be compared to liking a race.... liking all cultures with the white race... America, Europe, Russia, etc... or all cultures with Asians... Japan, China, Thailand, Indonesia, etc.

To say anything with anthro animals is okay is just too vague, and leaves the door open for everything.

Alternately, I think it's also a case of furries being unwilling to say "this is generally accepted, and that is not." Not to say one should suggest Redwall is furry, while Wind in the Willows is not, but at least maybe choose some kind of focus, like anthros in 'toons and comics, but not in historical cultures. Anime, for example, focuses on characters in anime and manga. While those include space ships, you don't see the medieval tapestries featuring men in mysterious flying machines being included. The Nazca lines don't fall under anime simply because they were referred to in Cowboy Bebop. Those things don't even pop up that much in SF, except at the table with the guys in tinfoil hats.

All it really would have taken was for the people that rose to prominence... the artists, con staffers, and archive site hosts to set some boundaries.

Hmm... you could kind of say furrydom is like children. Kids need boundaries, or they run rampant. Furry has done the same.

Do you suppose any of this has to do with the time frame in which the different fandoms evolved? SF and fantasy have been enjoyed for decades.... SF particularly being a kind of fandom since the 1940s, and fantasy since maybe the late 60s or early 70s. Anime is fairly new as a recognized fandom, but you had the pockets of folks that liked Gigantor or Speed Racer in SF for a while. Could it be the time frame in which furrydom really took off that influenced its present development? Could it be that many of the "founding fathers" of furrydom were children during the 60s and 70s and influenced by the "sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll" culture of the time and the Dr. Spock generations?

Or could it be the childlike things we've mentioned about some parts of furrydom before? Animals appeal to us on a very basic, childlike level. As adults, of course, many people still like animals. They are interesting to study and learn from, and they are all around us as fellow creatures. But, the enjoyment many adults derive from animals is not the same as when we are children. As children, the are sources of wonder and mystery. We think of them in very basic terms... their iconographic and stereotypical terms, often. As adults, our enjoyment and interest in animals is often a bit more intellectualized. We no longer see a pileated woodpecker as merely a "pretty birdie," but also take interest in its behavior, movements, and such.

Anthropomorphic animals, fundamentally, appeal to the child in us. They're used to sell us merchandise because of the associations we have. Financial firms liken themselves to the stereotyped nobility of a lion or stoicism of an eagle. Snuggle fabric softener taps into our childhood memories of the feelings of security and comfort we derived from our teddy bears. Cartoon animals appeal to us as children as sources of wonder and comfort. Their brightly colored misadventures distracted us from some of the hard knocks of growing up and gave us a "happy place" to be for a few hours on Saturday morning.. before freakin' Soul Train came on and we knew it was time to go out and get some exercise before our parents all but drop-kicked us out into the back yard.

So... could this be a clue here? What is there in the mind of a furry that makes the separation between liking anthro characters as a novelty and a hobby, and fixating on them... these symbols of childhood security and "happier times" free of adult concerns... to the point where they become perceived as a religion (not counting those that already feature anthro figures, like Hinduism) or a "lifestyle." Are the furries stuck in this Peter Pan-esque world... where their biggest concern is not getting to work on time or paying bills, but making sure they have enough money to get to the next con to dress up and play fuzzy make-believe... as a result of their interest in anthro animals? Or, is the extreme interest in anthro animals simply a manifestation of their refusal or inability to grow up?

Mind you, I'm not equating "growing up" to becoming excessively grounded in the real world. It's entirly possible to be an average 9-to-5 joe and still enjoy watching Balto or The Lion King. I'm talking about the difference between developing into a mature adult that enjoys their respective hobbies (after all, I'd dare say NASCAR is just as childish an interest as watching Rurouni Kenshin).... and the kind of person that lives with their parents for the bulk of their lives and never aspires to more than an entry-level job because that would otherwise restrict their ability to attend conventions.

So... does an extreme interest in furries result in this whole Peter Pan complex we see? Or is the extreme interest in furries an expression of other issues, such as mental and emotional problems hindering someone from maturing as a person? Is furry retardation a cause for these behavior, or a clue that something else lies deeper?

From there, you have the questions raised by the juxtaposition between this focus on childlike things and an individual's developing or established adult sexuality. That's a whole other can of worms.

Skunkfuckers Inc. · Needs to get out more Joined: 20 Jan 2004 Posts: 1006

Uh... hey, guys.

What just happened in this thread? The last few posts seem to have come from totaly different one :?

RailFoxen · Vociferator Joined: 01 Jan 2005 Posts: 625

Supposedly replies to this thread over here.

Edit: Wait, I KNOW I posted this in the other thread.

Skunkfuckers Inc. · Needs to get out more Joined: 20 Jan 2004 Posts: 1006

Supposedly replies to this thread over here.

Edit: Wait, I KNOW I posted this in the other thread.

Yeah, I noticed that :roll:

I was wondering how it happened.

SquareMoogle · Vociferator Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 357

It must be the internet-fairies casting their internet-magic on my pinpointing of the exact sentence the LJ entry from the other post went downhill.