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Furries.....
http://forum.alienslegacy.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=17927		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  SimonT [ Fri Dec 21, 2018 5:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Furries.....
Hope this isn't going to be too much of a controversial topic, but I just don't get what "furries" are supposed to be about?

If you go to a lot of comic cons, you've probably seen them. People who go around dressed up as furry cartoon-like animal creatures that walk upright.

I initially paid no attention to them as I assumed they were characters from some cartoon or comic book or other, that I hadn't heard of before (as I primarily only watch horror and sci-fi stuff theres a lot of characters in popular culture I am unfamiliar with). But no, these are people who just like dressing up as furry critters.

What I don't get is why?

I can understand people who dress up as their favourite Movie, TV or even comic book character, but furries are a whole different thing as they don't appear to be based on characters from popular culture.

So whats the attraction???

And considering these aren't based on characters from popular culture, why are they attending comic cons?

Call me an old fuddy-duddy, but it just seems strange and peculiar to me...

Anyone else got an opinion on the subject?
Author:  StephenDutton [ Fri Dec 21, 2018 7:54 pm ]
Post subject: 
I've never really understood the phenomena either. I've seen a fair bit of art based on them, creating images of characters from various sci-fi universes that are animal versions of the usual characters or just humanoid animals in various settings. Frankly I sum the whole thing up as "does not concern me." I've no interest in them myself and pay them no attention as far as possible.
As for attending comic-cons dressed like that, if that's what they want to do then fair enough. The idea of furries now seems to be a form of culture all to itself so I suppose they may have their place. A lot of the steampunk costumes seem the same, I'm not really aware of movies, TV shows or comics based on the idea but there are plenty of costumes that often mimic things from other franchises in the same way as furries do sometimes. If people can turn up to a dedicated Star Trek convention dressed as Deadpool or an Imperial officer from Star Wars then why not? Yes I did see both of these at Destination Star Trek in October this year where I was Captain Kirk with the bamboo cannon that shoots diamonds.
Author:  septic [ Thu Jan 03, 2019 10:50 pm ]
Post subject: 
For some, it's Rule #34

Everyone's got their own foibles & kinks. So long as you're not hurting anyone, fill ya boots, I say.
Author:  Scapey [ Fri Jan 04, 2019 1:37 am ]
Post subject: 
How about re-enactors? They're not dressing up as anyone specific either, a lot of the time. They just like the aesthetic of whatever historical group they've chosen to represent.
Same goes for many of us right here - We're not performing as Hicks, Hudson, Ferro , Vasquez or hsssssssssssssss; we're inhabiting Marines of our own creation - Sgt Scapey, Abe The Alien, and so on...

Furries can take it a little further - Many feel that their "true self" is the anthropomorphic creature they've created, and the fursuit is a way to better inhabit that persona ( Fursona. )
I don't get it, but who are we to judge? After all, a significant proportion of the population still talk to their imaginary friends on a weekly basis... ;)
Author:  Ttaskmaster [ Fri Jan 04, 2019 12:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re:
Scapey wrote:
I don't get it, but who are we to judge?

Well 'we' aren't anyone... but Chris Judge is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aTnhO5b8zk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhiC59H8Mzg

Hilarious as that was, I expect he was only given the stereotypical capsule definition, though...

>And considering these aren't based on characters from popular culture, why are they attending comic cons?
This is probably the simplest bit to answer - The whole concept, as you'd define it in today's incarnation, supposedly began at a sci-fi & comic con when Steve Gallacci's painting of Erma Felna (from a series about bioengineered animal soldiers in a space war) prompted a lot of discussions around anthropomorphism in comics, cartoons and general sci-fi. These concepts took off, discussions groups (like this one you're reading) formed and, like with many other SF&F con things, people get well into it to the point of dressing up and 'becoming' characters in those universes. So too the furry side of things developed among attendees of SF&F cons. It was born there, it grew up there - Why wouldn't they attend? :)

>So whats the attraction???
Cosplay, Crossplay, LARPing, RenFaire, re-enactments, Living History, dressing up as a xenomorph with a name and a dedicated Facebook page - All the same thing, in essence.
There has been a massive amount of misrepresentation and misinformation of furry fandom in the media, typically focussing on the sexual fetish element alone. This element is actually quite a small niche within the wider scene and probably about as proportional (and representative) as Star Wars porn is to the wider Star Wars fandom.
As Septic said, that's just the Rule #34 part.

In essence, it's a blending of the zoomorphism and anthropomorphism that most people exhibit to some (usually lesser) degree anyway, just made a bigger feature of a person's life. Think how kids learn to emulate animals in playschool and just expand on it. Some limit it to just drawing, some collect furry memorabilia, some run large fan groups, some dress up at cons, some create whole personas and some define their entire lives by it. Like anything else, each individual takes it as far as they like.

I could discuss it a lot more in terms of psychological theory, and the different forms of animal fandom, but that might turn this into a long, rambling thread. So here's a couple of good quick reads that offer a bit more of a balanced insight:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8355287.stm
http://www.flayrah.com/4117/retrospecti ... -1966-1996
Author:  Pug50 [ Fri Jan 04, 2019 10:27 pm ]
Post subject: 
I'm a tad disappointed when people say, essentially, "Furries, I don't get it. Weird, innit?". It suggests they are yet to encounter things in life significantly weirder than furries... ;)

For my part, having been taken to Alien War as a young kid, the Alien infested my dreams and became my obsession long before I saw the movies. And I projected aspects of my psyche onto the creature long before I got a ("proper", non-binbag) Alien suit. And when I did get a costume, Abe really became a creature of his own and somewhat separate to my own personality - enabling an escape from the shyness, awkwardness and fear of crowds/"the public" that plagued my teenage years.

Abe is a creature from a movie but much of my thinking about the character came before I'd seen the films. So, I am a furry and Abe is a fursona.

And to satisfy everyone's favorite CSI-driven preconceptions... a good proportion of my sexual experiences (including a fetish convention in Florida) have been experienced by Abe! :P
Author:  septic [ Sat Jan 05, 2019 1:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re:
Pug50 wrote:
... a good proportion of my sexual experiences (including a fetish convention in Florida) have been experienced by Abe! :P

Haha, that's awesome! Cheers for sharing. 8)
Author:  Paul123 [ Thu Jan 17, 2019 12:11 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Furries.....
As long as everybody is okay, everything is cool. :)
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