Creativity in fursuiting gets boosted when you stage it in exciting locations. And for going bonkers with intense photography, street art and abandoned architecture are a class of their own. That’s why I loved the improbable idea of combining both. I put out a call to see if anyone was doing it, and Goku rose to the occasion. He’s been sending more updates, and I love his work so much I’d love to meet him and help some day. There will be more stories from him! (-Patch)

Welcome to guest poster Goku, a furry from the Northeast US, previously seen here:

• Fursuit photography from the urban jungle: Goku’s Furban Exploration.
• Goku’s Furban Exploration goes to inner city Baltimore and Fort Armistead.

Good Afternoon Patch,

Below is another installment, this time from Denver back last April. Credit for the photos goes to @WildAcai on Twitter.

This April, I turned 30 years old.  It suddenly hit me that I’m getting older. I lamented on what I did the previous decade, and overall, I was pretty happy about it – it was a period of significant self discovery and risk that had made me a very happy person. I wanted to make sure that the streak continued, and reading one article clinched it- it was about an 89 year old elderly Japanese woman who took unique selfies by the name of Kimiko Nishimoto. I read her story, examined her photos, and realized “she is a wonderful role model”.

I wanted to be the fursuit equivalent of Ms. Nishimoto (while maintaining my own sense of flair), and I got my first opportunity visiting a dear friend in Denver, Wild Acai. Such a wonderful individual, we had a blast exploring such a wide variety of things with Acai being host- great restaurants, hockey games, a good fur community, nature galore… I can go on for a while (and I do intend to come back to Colorado soon to see more of its glory). Acai was no stranger to taking superb photos, and knew the taste I liked, and wanted to take part of the fun. With his knowledge of the city (on top of being tourists) we went to explore two areas.

• Gallery: 113 photos of the adventure in Denver.

First was a trip to an alleyway in downtown Denver that was purely dedicated to graffiti artists- I was like a kid in a candy store. In a six block stretch, Acai (wearing Caliente, a new hyena suit) and me wearing Archie the nickelodeon AWD, we began to look at each segment of the alley. It was an urban museum, and we took turns posing against anything and everything that catered to our tastes. Walls, fences, doors, dumpsters, electric meters… nothing was off limits.

At the start of our walk, one of the artists was touching up a mural and saw us walking towards him. The artist was jumping for joy, and immediately got out his iPhone to show his young children who was in the alley while he was painting. Acai and I explained what we were doing, and he was impressed to see someone besides some teenagers appreciating the murals. From this alley, I got some of the most unique shots I can recall- partially thanks to Acai’s keen eye for detail, and to the twisted minds of the people making these displays.

The next day, we went to the Garden of the Gods to experience the nature of the Rockies, and as someone who has never seen America this far west (the farthest west I’ve been before this trip was Iowa, my mind was blown. The formations, the view, getting a mild headache from altitude sickness- all of it was a breathtaking first experience, and even better with such a close friend. We spent several hours overall between hiking in different areas, driving to different sections of the park, and just basking in the glory of nature. Urban grit is what I’m comfortable in, but seeing another definition of beauty that I normally don’t see was such a privilege- I can’t wait until I make another visit in the next year or so.

Goku

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The dealership I went to and got a car has a mascot...and a suit too for said mascot...I am not the smartest....but I think the person is a furry pic.twitter.com/3qGPnHFLCr

— ThatRedDragon (@YukaiDragon) January 4, 2019

A Mazda dealership in Fort Wayne, IN, set a trap. Their mascot is a cute sheep-thing… but he isn’t just an ordinary mascot like the Carfax Car Fox. This one has the secret power to set off your Fur-dar. Look at those cute eyes… how can you resist them?

Those susceptible to his gaze can tell he was crafted by furry paws, even if he was smuggled out of fandom under cover of an ordinary ad campaign.  I’d say the difference from other mascots is he isn’t just a general character… he’s a fursona!  Leinado is his name, and he was chosen by an art contest in 2013. He’s been spreading the magic to the public ever since.

In January 2019, the trap sprung on a furry who was just there for ordinary car repair. Sharing the discovery “in the wild” won thousands of likes for Leinado on Twitter. With fur-dar tingling, furries began sniffing around the company website to trace his origin. They found the designer, and then she was revealed as a wielder of furry art magic under the name Yamer.

• https://www.deviantart.com/yamer/gallery/
• http://www.yamerpro.com/

I was browsing the gallery and found that it was a contest for the dealership's mascot design!https://t.co/m5pQ0XP95Z

— Toberal (@Toberal_Fox) January 4, 2019

Yamer’s winning contest design for Leinado became promotional ads and graphics on cars. The dealership loved him so much, that they asked her to make him into a real mascot suit.  It was a natural task because Yamer isn’t just a graphic artist, but gifted with an arsenal of talents like building anime cosplay. So Leinado was born, joining other personal fursuits you can see on her portfolio site.

Yamer was part of a fandom where working artists often aim to be “pro fans” commissioned by other fans. But she didn’t depend on that path. Instead, her talent succeeded on its own terms. It even won her a permanent job at the dealership. So Leinado wasn’t born because she was already on their staff, and they didn’t turn to an ad agency either. Furry art was just the best for the job, and they trusted her original skill.

Yay good on you, it's good to see proper mascots for companies :3

— James Abrams AKA CabCat (@cabcat5) January 5, 2019

Furry art wins contests and gets you jobs based on the talent. You should be a con guest of honor for doing good for fandom and art!

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) January 5, 2019

Marta the River Otter

This goes on a short list of mainstream commissions for furry makers, like the mascot for Schmackos in Australia, the Washington park system mascot Marta, or sports mascots covered by Forbes in late 2018. Mingling with fandom has benefits like talent and attention, but it can cut both ways, as Tony the Tiger knows! It brought a helpful comment from one fan:

Please be respectful of these people and their business. Don’t make them regret their mascot. – Petrichor Squirrel

Rising fandom can bring desirable street cred, but it also has “weird” power from stuff that corporations won’t do. I think that’s part of the success of a DIY/indie subculture and the platforms it built. It can keep outsiders at arms-length, and keeps me unworried about it losing independence when an artist breaks out professionally.

What does Yamer think about all the attention? Could it be super cool but a little scary too? I got in touch to ask more.

Q&A with Yamer

Can you share a little more about yourself?

I love many forms of art. Digital illustration is my passion and that has involved furry art, anime, fan art and all kinds of images. I also love cosplay, photography, graphic design, animation, etc.

Is there anything else cool about the story we haven’t heard?

After winning the contest, O’Daniel was thrilled to have the artwork, but they wanted a suit created. I believe they were unsure of who to contact, and after some of my friends recommended to them to have me make one, they approached me about it. I didn’t have the confidence that I was good enough to create one for them, so I initially turned them down but they approached me again. I’ve only made a few suit commissions for close local friends so I just didn’t consider myself professional enough, but a lot of my friends told me to go for it so I did. I put a lot of love and passion into the creation of Leinado’s suit and I hope that it shows.

Do you wear Leinado, and does he ever get to go outside the dealership?

I have never actually worn Leinado. I was hired to O’Daniel about 6 months after the creation of Leinado as their graphic designer. Earlier on though, we did have a “hump day” where every week we would take Leinado to a local business (with their prior permission) and take photos of him in that location and these would become social media posts to guess “Where’s Leinado?”. A lot of businesses were thrilled with his presence and I was happy to see him out and about. O’Daniel Mazda is very involved with the community so we have also taken him to several events.

@ODanielMazda

How do you feel about the attention?

It actually surprised me that so many people were thrilled that a furry is our mascot. I am just thankful and grateful to have had the opportunity to create Leinado. I’m really happy I could actually use my passion in creating art as something that helped me create a mascot they adored, and later land a job I love still to this day.

What else do you do that’s furry?

I’m a bit everywhere with my fandoms so furry is just one of them. I used to attend Anthrocon and Midwest FurFest, and I have a fursuit I created called “RocketPup”. However if I were to say I have a fursona, it would definitely be my shark girl, Brook. I also have artwork of her on the side of my car lol. So I’m a bit eccentric. (My old Furaffinity account “Yamer” has the few suits I have made.)

What do you think about furry having some mainstream success?

I love seeing positive stories about furries in media. They most often get such a bad rap, when people just need to realize that furries are just openly passionate people who have done a lot of great things.

A furry conspiracy

But wait, you haven’t heard the whole story yet! There wasn’t just a simple contest. An auto-enthusiast furry revealed:

Lol that was my old job. I helped setup that campaign and yes they are a furry friendly dealership. – Jakebunny

Jake Bunny: pro driver, racing coach

I did a quick chat with Jake while he was filling up at a station on the way to some track testing. He told me:

I did work with them through the Mazda Star racing program. And promotional work with their Chrysler branch when I was a factory driver for Chrysler too. Randy O’Daniel is well known around here in the Fort Wayne Area. I have been fairly open about being in the Fandom since 1996, and suggested the use of artists that can help flesh out a mascot. I explained how the fandom would be an EASY source for promos and mascot (fursuit) leads at a good price.

I think it’s funny when it pops up on twitter every few years. They’ve had this for quite some time. Also, not the only furry centric dealer out there! OH! And big fan of your work. Keep it up!

To end this story, Ticklepig said what I was thinking:

Found the next guest of honor for IFC lol @IndyFurCon

From Yamer on FurAffinity

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In Flux, from Furplanet and edited by Rechan, is an adults-only story anthology with four stories that feature transformation, which is, ahem, a personal favorite of mine. Yet despite two of the stories featuring kinks of mine, that are rarely touched upon, I find myself hesitant to recommend the anthology to the general transformation fetishist audience because I feel it may miss the mark.

This is not a knock on the technical writing skills of the four authors. Each story is well written and clear in their descriptions. The authors know their craft well and it shows. However, in terms of making subject matter for their audience, I can’t help but feel the anthology is lacking.

In Flux contains four stories.

Aesop’s Universe: Savages In Space, by Bill Kieffer, is a science fiction story involving a colony ship on its way to a new world that will be colonized, in part, by a tribal society of lions who are well aware of their technological setting. Huntress Thandiwe is horribly injured while hunting due to the ship becoming damaged from an accident, and her body becomes regenerated using her genes and DNA. This results in a fix to her eyes, but also an androgyn issue that went unnoticed, turning her male. This threatens to complicate issues with her Crewman boyfriend, the lion Bobby.

I love this story. Female to Male is something I enjoy, but more than that, the story goes into how the Thandiwe handles her new body and the changes, set in a backdrop of a major problem with the ship that she helps Bobby with. The story has a satisfactory, for me, ending, and manages character growth in the short few pages it has. The transformation itself isn’t described as much, but there is a video timelapse the character watches.

Wild Dog, by Franklin Leo, is a first person modern day story told from the perspective of Riley, an African Wild Dog. Shifting in this universe is common apparently, as any anthro can infect another anthro with their species. This serves as the center of the drama with his relationship with the dalmation Samantha when she nips him.

I did not like this story. The opening was promising, but the outcome when Riley confronts Samantha about the change being forced on him when he has tried to be courteous about not changing her just upsets me, and the ending feels like an out of character action for both Riley and Samantha. While transformation was at the core of the story, the actual transformation was minimal in description as it served as a plot device for the conflict.

Good Boy, by Friday Donnely. Good Boy is a first person story, a standard plot in transformation media of a revenge transformation. In this case, the speaker, a BDSM submissive, cheated on his boyfriend John while drunk at a party when a very dominant type ordered him around. The transformation to feral is fairly quick, including loss of comprehension and devolution, but what surprised me is how things proceed.

Maybe it’s a BDSM thing. I’m not into that scene. Good Boy is standard transformation fare that doesn’t in particular appeal to me, but I don’t quite dislike it either. Aside from the ending.

Never Lick a PCV Vixen, by Karl ‘Voice’ Hoch, is probably my clear favorite in this anthology. Another first person story, set in modern Japan, it follows tanuki Kaiya after she misses her American girlfriend’s desire to be dominated. It helped me identify with Kaiya because I missed it too. After relating the experience with her gay vulpine friend Seiichi, he takes her shopping where she buys the titular PCV Vixen figurine, and after fantasizing about her time with the character, accidentally summons a trapped male demon into her body, who decides to change it to better suit his needs – and what better mortal to practice on after years of being trapped than Seiichi?

This story touched a lot of my buttons as a TF fetishist, but also managed to do what I love to see in published works – be more than fap fiction by having a plot and character development. The interplay between characters, cultures, and wills was fun to read, as was Kaiyra’s reaction during the scene where she banished the demon. This was a clear favorite of mine.

In the end? If you like the stories I described, buy In-Flux. Female to Male stories are hard to come by, and Never Lick and Savages in Space are worth the cover cost in my mind. But…

If you are into detailed transformation, Male/Female relations, have a thing for embraced and desired transformations, I don’t feel I can recommend In Flux. These are not the stories I would have chosen for a printed anthology – as much as I love Never Lick and Savages, I wouldn’t have put them in as a quarter of the stories in the anthology, and by page count comprise of vast majority of the book at about 90 pages of the 125 page book.

It feels bad to say this of the anthology, both as a writer and a reader of transformation fiction. I want transformation anthologies like this to succeed, not just so I can submit my own stories eventually but also so I can read them.

– Summercat

• Buy on Fur Planet
• Cover Art by Sabretoothed Ermine

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So You’ve Become A Taur, by Johannes Knapp. $6, Jarlidium Press, 2018. Webcomic Archive #13. 24 pages, color.

Statement: I received a free copy of this comic for the collection of the Furry Library. My review was not influenced by this.

A comic about the challenges a taur face in a world meant for bipeds,  Johannes Karpp’s (aka Cervelet) takes us through the challenges a newly-taured individual faces, mixing in humor and well thought out and reasoned solutions to problems that would result from suddenly having an additional set of legs.

Originally posted online in 2015, this 2018 release from Jarlidium Press’s Web Comic Archive line includes new material, such as a backstory showing how our hapless hero became a taur, as well as a few new still images.

The worldbuilding is right up my alley, and something I think about constantly just for bipedal characters with tails. How do mass-produced store-bought pants work for digitigrade legs and tails of all sorts of shapes? What about chairs or vehicles?

Cervelet extends this “Well, what about” question to taurs and those with six limbs, and does so interestingly. It is something I will consider in the future.

The art is detailed and I get a sense of a coherent world behind the comic’s obvious PSA humor, however there are a few drawbacks, primarily with the drawn text that would have been better replaced with inked lettering.

Overall, if you’ve got a taur character, or are into worldbuilding with taurs, or just enjoy the humorous situation of a man suddenly cursed (or blessed) with new limbs, I can recommend looking at So You’ve Become A Taur.

– Summercat

• Buy on Jarlidium Press
• Buy on Rabbit Valley
• Buy on Second Ed

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On January 21, Twitter lit up with the launch of a new furry news site. It builds on a solid record of work by site owner Haven Fusky, organizer of HavenCon, FurNightATX (a furry dance party) and charity events. If you need good stories with real action, this Fusky delivers.

The welcome post brings out the mission:

“Ever said to yourself or someone else: “Gee I wish there was a website where I could find all the good stuff of the furry fandom?”

Well, here we are. Good Fur News aims to focus on the positive aspects of the fandom. From artists, musicians and creators to performers, activists and more. We want to show you what we have to offer.

Good Fur News is run by Haven Fusky a fursuiter out of Portland, Oregon who is known for creating the first LGBTQ+ geek and gaming convention of Texas. However, the news is created by YOU, the fandom – through our tips page and other avenues of communication.”

In the first few days, the site already has features on popular furry artist Paco Panda and health and motivation speaker Tax Beast.

Haven puts a lot of thought into why this work matters – and why it’s not good enough to wait for others to bring it:

“For awhile now I’ve seen quite a few folks say “We need a place where people can call out the good in the fandom and not just the bad. Some place that highlights all the awesomeness that is furry”. And I nodded and agreed, but nothing came..

I waited and waited and thought maybe some of the sites out there would step up and change things up a bit from the “norm” of call out culture and extreme reporting that only showed how awful people can be some times.

I personally have had the privilege of meeting some really great, talented, inspiring people through this fandom. And those people often go unrecognized or are drowned out by the more scandalous things that occur every so often. And it’s truly a shame. And so that is why I created a news site where we can allow those that bring their best to be seen, heard, and remembered.

It’s a major undertaking but I think it’s a much needed resource for our fandom. While I hope to find and showcase as many people as possible, I can’t be everywhere all at once, and that is why I will rely heavily on recommendations through our Tips Page.

I also will not be the end-all be-all authority of “what is good”. Everything here is done with an open mind and for the purposes of highlighting positive influences in the fandom, in whatever form that may take.

So, without further ado, I introduce you all to GoodFurNews.com. I hope you enjoy what we aim to provide here and I look forward to growing with you and learning even more about our fun little furry fandom.”

Follow on Twitter @GoodFurNews, Facebook @GoodFurNews and be sure to bookmark GoodFurNews.com.

Whoah. Look what came up by following a random link to what looked like regular music. The followers are all furries. Is this a performer who plays furry cons? Advertises to furries? Just vibes with things they like? Is he one himself?

Subculture bubbles up unexpectedly and can make you wonder where it comes from. Fandoms intersect and have many gateways. If there is “furry music”, the first question is what defines it? Music isn’t exactly made by animals, it isn’t visual, and it’s an ineffable experience to even write about. “Furry” isn’t really a music genre, but it matters enough to fandom that it’s worth treating it like one for a deeper look. A loose working definition can help get things started.

Furry music…

Overlaps with fandom. Music has culture and context – you wouldn’t go to a punk dive bar and expect opera music, right? The overlap could include stuff that goes with gaming, stuff like nerd rap (with suspiciously familiar references) or most strongly, stuff played at cons (often EDM/rave flavor). It can involve catering to furry audiences, promoting furry shows, and accompanying visual themes. It’s a tiny niche but it brings lots of love for con mainstays like Fox Amoore, Pepper Coyote, or Matthew Ebel.

It’s made with furries: It may or may not reveal furriness. It can be hidden Easter Egg style or lesser known to fandom, like Mick Collins (better known in the music profession for his bands like the Dirtbombs). It’s also worth mentioning musicians who simply throw fursuiters (or faux-furries) in music videos for quirky appeal – there’s too many to count, and they undeniably have photogenic power that makes it work.

Shares a general theme: Like science fiction, cartoons, or nature. It doesn’t have to have anything to do with fandom and may not be made by furries. (Example: Pink Floyd’s Animals album, or werewolf songs).

For examples, it can be hard to know where to start, but Rate Your Music has a curated list of furry musicians. Wikifur has a category for musicians. Here’s a music video list (updated to 2016.) Zoofonix is a new furry musician interview podcast. And there’s a page on Furaffinity for Furry Musicians. To learn more, you don’t need more music talent than a cave man banging rocks together – ask musicians themselves.

That led to Q&A’s with:

• Matthew Ebel and Microdile
• Pepper Coyote and ABSRDST
• Tenkitsune and ZERØ (coming soon)
• EdgeDestroys (Runetooth) and Bandit Raccoon (coming soon)
• Fox Amoore and Bob Drake (coming soon)

Click through for answers (some will post in the next few days) and rock on.

Prepare for evil…

Part 1 of this series of short Q&A’s asked: what defines “furry music”? Furry dance parties are one of the strongest real life furry movements besides conventions. In a growing fandom, con stages now use millions in equipment and are the crossroads for congoers. Sound is half of the performances and videos furries love. But music isn’t exactly made by animals, it isn’t visual, and it’s an ineffable experience to even write about. “Furry” isn’t really a music genre, but it matters enough to fandom that it’s worth treating it like one for a deeper look. Start with a loose working definition: It overlaps with fandom, it’s made with furries, or it shares a general theme. Then comes the fun part of asking musicians about it. (See part 1 for the full list):

1. Are you a furry musician?
2. What is furry music?
3. Can you share a cool fact or story about your music?

Matthew Ebel: Piano Rock singer-songwriter who recently branched out as EDM/progressive house act Avian Invasion, beloved by audiences over many years as a convention mainstay. 

• Yup, definitely a Furry musician. If playing shows at cons for the last 12 years wasn’t definitive enough, now I play on club stages in a bird mask. Pretty sure that’s enough evidence to convict.
• Furry music is, in my opinion, separate from Furry musicians. There are plenty of proud Furry musicians who don’t write songs about the fandom or animals… Furry music is, like all furry art, something that expresses the creator’s particular affinity for critter characters.
• I once had a talk radio network in South Africa use one of my songs as their network theme song for two or three years. I didn’t bother telling them the whole album was written about The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy… I’m pretty sure that would’ve just weirded them right the fuck out.

Microdile (AKA Audiodile): Music producer and fursuiter in California with prolific mixing and DJ experience.

• What is furry music? I guess it depends on how you want to define it, to many I think it would mean music with some kind of thematic element that reflects the things we celebrate: animals, being an animal, animalistic traits and wordplay. I think by that definition, it can be tricky to be clever and eloquent without unintentionally veering into the cliche or naive. To be fair, shortly after I entered the fandom many years ago, I wrote a poem that I wanted to be grand and meaningful and in reflection contains some cringy moments I am embarrassed of now, so I think sometimes an honest sentiment can be heartfelt and still not exactly of high quality.
• Am I a furry musician? That’s a tough one. I have certainly written a few songs that are: “Blue Fox Group” and “Domesticated” for example, but by far most of the music I play at conventions isn’t particularly furry except occasionally lyrically. I think when it comes down to it, most furries aren’t radically different from anyone else: they’d rather hear something of high quality than something that is hypothetically “geared for them” content-wise. If you can check both boxes, that’s the stuff I think that will get people really excited. I think there is DEFINITELY some excellent music being made by furries, but I think almost all of that has intentionally avoided seeming too furry, whether that’s because of the desire to appeal to a broader audience or simply because the artist chose not to write to that aspect of themselves.

As much as we want to be proud of our fandom and see that the media is slowly becoming less prone to sensationalism, I think many of those with a serious amount of talent are reluctant to introduce much “furriness” into their music for fear that it will turn people off or automatically be cringy, even if they really ARE into the culture. It’s one thing to rap about what a hard gangsta you are since it makes you seem like a badass, it’s another to sing about how awesome fuzzy cartoon animals are without making eyes roll and channels change.

But it’s kind of amusing to see DJs like deadmau5 and Marshmello rise to fame wearing costumes, I think it goes to show you how liberating and fun it is to let the music speak for you and let people speculate on the person behind it all. Furry is slowly permeating the mainstream because the reality is, what’s not to like about cute sexy animals and people spreading love, being goofy and having fun? That’s easy to market, you know?

• Cool fact: I owned a record collection at 6, I was making shitty tape deck pause button edit remixes at 10, I made a bunch of generic dance track demos at 19, AudioDile was a name I came up with trying to be clever with plays on crocodile and audio dial. The first time I actually DJ’d was probably the first Further Confusion in 1999 when I filled in for someone who failed to show up, but my first experience as a DJ was assisting a local wedding DJ (who used only cassettes!) when I was about 12. So, this was probably like 1989? I’m not sure if he let me help out because I was into it or because it meant he could drink more and pay attention less, but we were getting ready for the bridal dance and all the cassettes he used had one track on the front and one on the back. I was supposed to play some sappy sweet love song to slow dance to, but I put the wrong side on and when the big moment came, Young MC’s Bust A Move started playing. I was horrified but after a brief moment of confusion, the bride shrugged and the entire bridal party came onto the dance floor and had a blast with it. The DJ couldn’t be too angry with me because it ended up being something that probably ended up being all the more memorable to them because it was so unexpected and funny.

Part 1 of this series of short Q&A’s asked: what defines “furry music”? Furry dance parties are one of the strongest real life furry movements besides conventions. In a growing fandom, con stages now use millions in equipment and are the crossroads for congoers. Sound is half of the performances and videos furries love. But music isn’t exactly made by animals, it isn’t visual, and it’s an ineffable experience to even write about. “Furry” isn’t really a music genre, but it matters enough to fandom that it’s worth treating it like one for a deeper look. Start with a loose working definition: It overlaps with fandom, it’s made with furries, or it shares a general theme. Then comes the fun part of asking musicians about it. (See part 1 for the full list):

1. Are you a furry musician?
2. What is furry music?
3. Can you share a cool fact or story about your music?

Pepper Coyote: Solo musician and collaborator since 2010 with bands like Look Left and Foxes and Peppers. 

Hi. I’m Pepper Coyote, and I am a furry musician. To me, music in the furry fandom is just music that happens to be done by furries. That might seem obvious, but I have never seen any kind of gate keeping in the fandom based on what one’s music is about. I see music in this community as yet another example of how we are a fandom that cannot be bought and sold, and one that is not based on any corporate entity. It is our own.

The most helpful information I ever learned as a musician, was that you don’t need anyone’s permission to create. You don’t need a label’s approval to put out a CD, and you don’t need a company’s permission to start selling or shipping said CD. There’s never been a better time to be a musician. Your audience might be out there waiting for you, even if you don’t know who they are yet.

(Edit:) Cool fact about my music: This song was written about a book, Save the Day, by D.J. Fahl. It’s a super hero story done with animal people and I couldn’t help myself. It was hugely inspiring and lead to one of my more complicated arrangements. I’m proud of this one.

ABSRDST: “Gay duck who sings and produces”, indie pop with 100,000 monthly listens on Spotify.

Part 1 of this series of short Q&A’s asked: what defines “furry music”? Furry dance parties are one of the strongest real life furry movements besides conventions. In a growing fandom, con stages now use millions in equipment and are the crossroads for congoers. Sound is half of the performances and videos furries love. But music isn’t exactly made by animals, it isn’t visual, and it’s an ineffable experience to even write about. “Furry” isn’t really a music genre, but it matters enough to fandom that it’s worth treating it like one for a deeper look. Start with a loose working definition: It overlaps with fandom, it’s made with furries, or it shares a general theme. Then comes the fun part of asking musicians about it. (See part 1 for the full list):

1. Are you a furry musician?
2. What is furry music?
3. Can you share a cool fact or story about your music?

Tenkitsune: Vietnam based music producer with 15,000 followers on Soundcloud and an upcoming tour with Maltine Records. 

1. No, I am not a furry musician, I am just generally a musician, however I am very deeply involved with the community and the furry fandom and myself have worked with and would love to work more with many amazing content creator furries.
2. To me, in my perspective, furry music might be produced /composed and arranged by furries within the fandom. However it is also what makes this community become more vibrant with the creativity and work of furries who deeply love music and the music culture in general.
3. My music project was originally having a fox fursona as my music branding for the longest time since the start of it. That’s how most people found my music! I get art commissioned frequently for music covers, and probably just a character look over time. Most of the time people know Tenkitsune as a fox figure. As it keeps evolving everyday and I’m getting signed with great record labels like Warner Music Hong Kong, Trekkie Trax, Maltine (all great electronic music recording label from Japan with love), I find it slowly disconnects the fursona as music branding when it comes to working more closely with people from the music industry, so I slowly put down the picture. It’s really good and it made me very happy when people still come to me about the fox character, when people find my discography.

ZERØ: Electronic musician in Kansas producing under the name since 2014.

1. I’d consider myself a furry musician, in the sense that I’m a furry and I produce music! I’ve even used my fursona and some of my other characters in the artwork for my music and as representation for my label, which I’ve also created myself. It’s great being connected to a community of understanding people from a wealth of different backgrounds with a common interest in cute furry characters. It’s great to have a group of people that will support you in whatever you try to do!
2. This is a tricky question to answer because there are so many different types of furry music out there! A lot of it has a very DIY feel, and you can tell that the musicians and producers put their heart and soul into their music. Most of the more popular stuff seems to be based around electronic music, using well-known digital audio workstations such as FL Studio to create things such as breakcore or happy hardcore, but there are also a ton of other things out there from harsh noise to indie pop! It really is a very interesting scene, and definitely more about the creators behind the music than any particular genre, which I think is really cool.
3. Well, I actually started making music a long time ago in about 2005, at the age of 12 or so, and almost everything I’ve learned since then has been self-taught. My mother sings but other than that I don’t really have a strong musical background in my family, and I’ve never been a fan of watching tutorials to do with music production because I just prefer to do things my own way, which leads to a really interesting perspective on how I approach music making. Recently I created Voidcore Productions as a way of re-branding and allowing more freedom with how I represent myself, using more furry characters, etc. and it’s really been a lot of fun! If someone wanted to check out my stuff I’d definitely recommend one of the singles compilations on that label, and I hope to have more music out in 2019 sometime, so look forward to that!

From E News interview (Fox/Getty)

Dogged persistence seems necessary to win success as a standup comedian. In school, the class clown might not be who you expect to become a household name. That’s why one like Margaret Cho can be extra fascinating among mainstream celebrities. She’s got layers. Fabulous, fluffy layers. 

Live touring, TV, movies, fashion and music are all part of her creative canvas, with a palette of adult humor colored by mentors like Robin Williams, 1970’s San Francisco childhood, 1990’s alternative culture, Korean-American experience, female and LGBT identity, and enduring love for non-conformists. Her bio includes Grammy and Emmy nominations, accolades from the New York Times, and awards for representing the LBGT community among other activism for social progress. With such an arsenal of badassery at her disposal, she still graciously got on the phone with a little furry blog. 

Research for our chat turned up a few interesting facts: The show format (guessing the hidden performer) originally came from Korean TV, and she was tuned in to it before being cast. Despite the comedy label, her background includes burlesque and serious study to create comedy music on the level of pros like Weird Al or Flight of the Conchords. You can watch her on Season 1, Episode 4 of The Masked Singer on Fox.com. Enjoy – Patch

She fooled us all! @margaretcho was the voice behind #PoodleMask. #TheMaskedSinger pic.twitter.com/40GvLGstMC

— The Masked Singer (@MaskedSingerFOX) January 24, 2019

(DP:) Hi Margaret. I just saw you being a singing poodle on The Masked Singer, and it made sense to ask you about it. I loved the cartoon space glam vibe of the show, and the Poodle seemed very You. It was so bold and fluffy but with hard edges like a robot. Can I ask you about performing in costume and how it fits in your career?

(MC:) It’s something that I have done in the past. I was Hello Kitty at FAO Schwarz years and years ago, which is a very difficult costume because you can’t see anything and the head is so large, and you need assistance to walk around.

The Poodle was a little bit easier, although still I couldn’t really see anything and it was very hard to actually do choreography because you weren’t really sure spacially where you were on the stage. And also to listen, I had an inner microphone that was allowing me to hear the music because you couldn’t really hear anything that was going on outside of the costume. So performance in this thing was pretty challenging, also because we had to have an additional spandex mask over our face and neck to conceal the bottom parts of the mask, because the mask only covered the top half of your head. So it was just a lot of costume, but it was also fun and special to be able to be in a costume and be kind of hidden away.

Is it unusual to talk to a little fan blog, and what do you think about the furries?

I love the furries, I think furries are so adorable, and I’ve been to a couple of furry events. One was a big one in San Jose, which was a very large convention. That was quite a few years ago. And then I’ve attended two of them in Salt Lake City, so I’ve been around the furry community a little bit. From what I know, it’s so cute, and I’m a big animal lover so it’s just like having giant adorable animals around you with very human qualities. And I think it’s great.

Do you have any pets?

I had three rescue dogs. All of them have since passed away. They all lived to the ripe old ages of 16, 17 and 14. And I actually don’t have any animals right now. My last chihuahua just died a couple of months ago. So it’s very strange to actually not have animals in my life currently. I’m still grieving the little ones death and so it’s a little bit hard for me to think about having another one so soon.

On the Masked Singer, you sang Time After Time and I thought you had the most emotion of all the singers. It’s a very poignant song, and it’s funny how a costume can help express emotion in a pure way. Before were unmasked, you said you loved the anonymity of it, and that’s something that furries talk about too. They talk about looking like you feel inside without being judged for your face. It makes an interesting comparison for how you confront identity in your work. I wanted to ask if you have any thoughts about being a minority or an outsider, or even media whitewashing, and how do you play with or subvert those barriers?

It’s hard to say because I don’t know what anything would be like from a different perspective, except for being in the poodle costume, there’s no kind of baggage that you put on the animal. There’s no race, I mean gender is there I guess, but in terms of race and class and age and all those kinds of things that people categorize us with, those don’t exist exactly. So it’s a very interesting kind of lesson in how would I be perceived if I was something different than I am who I am racially, who I am in my life. I kinda got into that, like we’re taking all of those ideas that we put on ourselves of who we are and change that, and where do we come out in the end? Like what does that identity look like if you can’t see the person, what does that sound like?

And I think that’s one of the great fun aspects of being on The Masked Singer. You get to sort of sidestep all of those assumptions that people may have already made about who you are from what you look like.

I love the fun aspect. Your comedy has that too. But speaking of stereotype, it makes me bring up that furries have a sexy reputation and sometimes we get shit on for it. Your comedy can be really explicit and I was wondering, do you have any advice about owning a reputation like that, or what do you do when you have to choose between expressing yourself or toning it down to fit in?

I think for me being queer, my sexuality is very politicized. And so when you have to fight society to be accepted for who you are, then those things become very political and very important. Sexuality is a really important aspect of my life because having to combat all of these stereotypes and assumptions and ideas that people have about queerness and about Asian American women and all of these things you have to deal with, that fight to retain that autonomy, that right to that pride is really important. So I think when your sexuality you feel is under attack, the expression of it becomes so much more important.

You have a good singing voice and it makes me ask, are you interested in doing more voice acting for animation?

Oh, yes. I’ve done a little bit. I really enjoy it and love to do that kind of stuff as much as I can. I’ve gotten to do a few fun things here and there. Whether it’s the Family Guy, or I was even in the Rugrats movie years and years ago. So there’s stuff that I’ve gotten to do that I really treasure and hopefully I get to do more of it.

You’re one of the biggest names who has ever come to a furry convention. Recently I interviewed Jello Biafra, ex singer from the Dead Kennedys and he DJ’d our furry party in San Francisco. I’m wondering if you would ever be interested in performing or just coming to one of our parties? I know it can be a bit expensive for that kind of thing…

I’d love to. I think it’s so much fun. I love to see the creativity that goes into people’s costumes. It’s so incredible the way that people go all out and the animals that they come up with, their own creations, I think are really impressive. And it’s a real passion for people who love it. It’s a huge fandom that is really about creating your own and I really appreciate that.

Selene Luna as Tía Rosita in Pixar’s Coco

Do you have any cool shows or performances coming up?

I’m still touring, I’m on the road a lot and I’m doing a lot of standup comedy all over the country. And then I’ll do some music still. Actually I’m doing the songs of Twin Peaks, the television show, and some of the songs from Wes Anderson films in New York with the Red Room Orchestra on February 15th and 16th at the symphony space there.

So I do a different kind of very eclectic music events along with stand up comedy. I’m doing that yet still touring, and directing a comedy special by a great comedian named Selene Luna who is awesome. She’s out on the road with me a lot and I’m doing that this weekend.

Would you ever get a chance to take the Poodle home and wear it whenever you want? 

No! I’m very sad about it. I thought I was going to be able to keep the Poodle and then I can have the costume, it just seems like it would be a natural thing. Because it fit perfectly for me, I don’t know who’s going to wear it. I have a very oddly shaped head and it fit perfectly for my head so I don’t know exactly who is going to be putting that on, but they did not allow us to keep the costume, which is really unfortunate because I really loved my costume and grew very attached to it.

I feel like the show will go into other seasons, so maybe the costume will come back somehow in the mythology of the show. I don’t believe that people wear the same costumes, but I think maybe they’re going to have a gallery somewhere of all of the former contestants, but who knows. Those costumes are very elaborate. Some of them like the Unicorn or the Peacock are very, very fancy. So I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re going to be in a museum somewhere.

I noticed that you were involved in fashion design in the past. Do you have anything else to say about fashion or design?

I think it’s something that is really a passion that is very deep, and I worked for years on Joan Rivers’ show Fashion Police. After her death I was able to take over for her and so I will always love to have a hand in it. I don’t have anything coming up in terms of design, because I’m so busy doing comedy stuff. But I would love to pursue it at some point.

This has been a real honor, you’re so multitalented and I wish you lots of love. Thank you very much.

Part 1 of this series of short Q&A’s asked: what defines “furry music”? Furry dance parties are one of the strongest real life furry movements besides conventions. In a growing fandom, con stages now use millions in equipment and are the crossroads for congoers. Sound is half of the performances and videos furries love. But music isn’t exactly made by animals, it isn’t visual, and it’s an ineffable experience to even write about. “Furry” isn’t really a music genre, but it matters enough to fandom that it’s worth treating it like one for a deeper look. Start with a loose working definition: It overlaps with fandom, it’s made with furries, or it shares a general theme. Then comes the fun part of asking musicians about it. (See part 1 for the full list):

1. Are you a furry musician?
2. What is furry music?
3. Can you share a cool fact or story about your music?

EdgeDestroys (AKA Runetooth): A fandom commenter, graphic artist and musician.

1. Yeah I’m a furry musician but I don’t write music about the community, at least not yet. I have a lot of music projects though so I suppose there’s nothing stopping me from starting a new one to do it in the future.
2. As far as what furry music is, I don’t think there’s one answer that’ll do everyone’s perception of it justice, just like it’s hard to really define the community at large and make everyone happy. Furry music could be music with lyrics deliberately written about the fandom or just music written by furries, I personally write stuff to be accessible to everyone so I don’t know if I would count mine as furry music even though I am a furry. I feel like a more nuanced way of looking at this would be something like a venn diagram of music BY furries VS music FOR furries and the overlap between those. With the community at large, I think that overlap and the FOR furries parts are probably what’s perceived as “furry music” and thus tend to get more support which has always bummed me out because I’d like to see every facet get lots of support but I don’t wanna drag this out into some huge existential tedtalk.
3. As for a fun fact about my stuff uh, one of the songs that got me like, a very tiny bit of attention was a remix I did of Bonetrousle from Undertale that ended up being officially licensed through Tiny Waves and Materia Collective and released on a remix compilation album. Myself and several other artists on it got together at Anime Festival Orlando to sign it and send it to Toby Fox so Toby Fox has a CD with my signature probably somewhere in some warehouse under a mountain of millions of other things he’s been sent from fans haha. That same remix (and the rest of the album) was played at Awesome Games Done Quick last year so that was cool. If people wanna check it out I have a soundcloud and if EDM isn’t your thing I goof around with tons of other genres, ambient, metal, my newest project I’m hopefully releasing soon is easycore/chiprock so I probably have something for everyone.

Bandit Raccoon: SoCal based artist, creator and host of The Raccoon’s Den web series. 

1. Considering I am a musician in the fandom, you could say I am a furry musician. I’m fine either way.
2. I would say “furry music” could be seen as music by furries, whether or not the tracks are fandom-themed. Don’t see why it can’t be both! I see more songwriters and producers than I see singers, personally, but if I was hearing some furry slang in the lyrics, I’d definitely consider it ‘furry’ music.
3. I never learned how to read music or play an instrument, throughout my childhood I had a couple keyboards I’d experiment with, playing by ear and figuring out my way around the keys. They broke down and for a few years I had no access to any instruments, then after a couple years I was occasionally left with a babysitter who owned an upright Wurlitzer and for the few times I was there I would just do what I did before, play by ear, except now staring at a large painting in front of me and just playing something that seemed fitting with the artwork. Everything I’ve produced for myself and for others was all by ear, I’ll think of the melody I want in my head, then I’ll try to create it. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn’t and I end up picking up another vibe and just go with that one. It was a huge insecurity for me, after my first record I found myself collaborating with a few friends for fun, and over a few years, I ended up looking back on the milestones: four projects, nine albums, twenty-six tracks.

Part 1 of this series of short Q&A’s asked: what defines “furry music”? Furry dance parties are one of the strongest real life furry movements besides conventions. In a growing fandom, con stages now use millions in equipment and are the crossroads for congoers. Sound is half of the performances and videos furries love. But music isn’t exactly made by animals, it isn’t visual, and it’s an ineffable experience to even write about. “Furry” isn’t really a music genre, but it matters enough to fandom that it’s worth treating it like one for a deeper look. Start with a loose working definition: It overlaps with fandom, it’s made with furries, or it shares a general theme. Then comes the fun part of asking musicians about it. (See part 1 for the full list):

1. Are you a furry musician?
2. What is furry music?
3. Can you share a cool fact or story about your music?

Bob Drake: Musician, furry artist and fursuiter in France who has worked with George Clinton and Ice Cube, who some consider to be a seminal figure in the avant-progressive music scene.

• I’m furry, and a musician, so I’m not sure. Tee hee. Seriously I’m a life-long furry, been playing instruments since the 60‘s, and it’s all a deep and exciting part of the same mysterious and lovely something!
• Whatever your imagination wants it to be. I used to listen to records when I was a kid and imagine it was a story about some anthropomorphic critters. In my own work I haven’t aimed at making music specifically for a furry audience, I just do what I like and it’s got a lot of furry in it.
• When I do my solo shows, I wear a rainbow-stripey tail, fuzzy footpaws and a furry hat with long earflaps. People really seem to respond to and enjoy that, even if they know nothing about the furry community. And anyone who has come to record at my home studio knows I love stuffed animals and critters… I’ve got them all over the place! That said, I don’t constantly flaunt it either, anymore than I would constantly talk about instruments or songwriting with people who aren’t interested in those things. You can find all the info about my albums at: bdrak.com. I’ve performed in my fursuit with different bands too, none of them “furry” bands.

Here’s one fursuit performance – and another:

Fox Amoore: Scottish composer for video game and TV titles, working in the soundtrack genre, fursuiting and even animation collaboration. 

• I’m Fox Amoore, and I’m a furry musician. Very quick background about me. I’ve been in the fandom for around twelve years, I frequently perform at conventions and shows on my own and with a band called Foxes and Peppers. I’ve recorded a few studio albums, perform constantly and I LOVE to travel.
• One of the most frequent questions I’ve been asked on my travels is “What is furry music?” As a performer whom works and performs with a fantastic lyricist on writing about furry, furry scenarios and furry events all the time (name drop PEPPER), we’ve had a bit of experience writing for such a topic. Yet, it’s still not an easy question to answer. It could be a Stereotype where you look at a lion and would think African instruments (Lion King), it could be a symphony written for a fox, the music featuring all the ensemble, theory and melodies that a composer felt needed to be there, to represent their lifetime of experience with foxes. Or simply, the lyrics sing about a furry situation where only WE know what those lyrics represent or mean. Seriously, there should be a whole essay that should be done about this topic, if it hasn’t already. Bottom line, at least for me, furry music is whatever you want it to be. Like all kinds of art, each person can perceive it, feel it, or take it in whatever way is most important to them.
• I’ve been very fortunate to get to do a lot of cool things in my musical career, but one of the best memories, as a massive fan of the Beatles (sorry mum), was getting to perform at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, on my 21st birthday. Birthday presents, if yer a Beatles fan, doesn’t come much better than that!

Creativity in fursuiting gets boosted when you stage it in exciting locations. And for going bonkers with intense photography, street art and abandoned architecture are a class of their own. That’s why the improbable idea of combining both seemed like a good idea. A call went out to see if anyone was doing it, and Goku rose to the occasion. He’s been sending regular updates and there will be more stories from him. – Patch

Welcome to guest poster Goku, a furry from the Northeast US, previously seen here:

• Fursuit photography from the urban jungle: Goku’s Furban Exploration.
• Goku’s Furban Exploration goes to inner city Baltimore and Fort Armistead.
• Goku’s furban exploration – A visit to Denver with Acai the Wild Dog.

Afternoon Patch,

I have some downtime at the office, so I figured I’d write another article. I’d love to do this with you sometime when our schedules align- your intro in the Baltimore article brought a tear to my eye and I’m so appreciative to collaborate with you!

Below is a short story with how I became involved with the types of photoshoots I do now. Photos with watermarks are courtesy of @antnommer or his fiancé, @mimosamoth on Twitter. Any photos with no watermark were taken by me or a normie bystander.

When I really started to get into fursuiting a few years ago, I just went with the flow with everyone else- going to cons and major public outings, just hoping the right photographer would take a shot of me. I had no style, no substance, and just like everyone else, I wanted to be noticed. My attitude began to change when I went to Waterfire, an arts and crafts festival held in the town of Sharon, a small place between Pittsburgh and Erie, not far from the Ohio/Pennsylvania border.

• Gallery: 23 photos of the adventure in Sharon.

Myself and a number of other locals went there on a whim from a request of a local fur who thought it might be a great outing for fursuiters. Reflecting back, it certainly was. I got to relax in a new place for a day, we had some great food, and saw a quaint town of yester-decade. (The one diner in town looked like it was straight out of the 1950s, and I actually got shooed away from the department store because it sold women’s apparel only, and I wasn’t allowed to just browse). But for me, wandering down one alley was the catalyst of what started to bring me a lot of joy- graffiti.

I always enjoyed graffiti as a kid. My late father was a pothead, and I remember we used to take car rides together to a particular bodega in Jamaica, Queens so he could get weed. It was stereotypical- a dingy shop on a secondary street, you said a key word, slipped the cash, and you got your drugs. Sometimes I went in, sometimes I was told to stand my the car and wait for a few minutes. When my Dad instructed me to wait without him, I always paid attention to my surroundings, and usually the first thing that grabbed my eye were the uninspired tags of local assholes or gangs trying to put their mark on a block.

As remedial as they were, they sparked an interest with me. When my Dad would come out, he usually had some candy for me that he gave when we hopped back in the car. The clerk was always keen on giving me bubble gum beepers for some reason, or stale Now & Laters (probably there since the late Edward Koch was mayor of NYC). Nonetheless, it was free with a few grams of Mary Jane, and while I tried to make the candy edible while furiously masticating it (which pissed my father off to no end), I would look at the more elaborate and talented graffiti around Jamaica as we drove back into suburbia. I always admired it in silence. I never tagged anything in my life, do not have any artistic ability, so I always appreciated the talent of others.

Back to Waterfire… I saw so many prime examples of graffiti when I led a group of suiters down a random alley. None of it was really “to die for” in terms of what real galleries look like. However, all of the subtle tags and crude signs called to me slowly, and I just wanted to be a part of it all. The alley was a gem you’d find in a jewelry shop, but not the one that was polished with a huge price tag- it was that neglected rock that had decades of dust and grime. The alley was that old gem for me, and I wanted to be on top of the world with it.

Against every rational instinct about keeping my fursuit clean, I started to climb and pose on everything. I came like Miley Cyrus on an old pole in the alley. I spread myself across three slimy recycling cans (why be furry trash when you can be furry recycling?) I stuck myself in doorways, climbed fire escapes, and ran around like it was a playground. When the photos came out I was floored. This brought me more happiness than being in conspace or a parade.

I am an addict of subtle pleasures… I smoke American Spirit cigarettes, drink black coffee, and love to put myself in the settings that few would tread in (while in fursuit). This is where it began, and through the help of excellent photographers, suiters, and friends, the chapters will continue. I’m always happy to find a new place to explore, whether in a new city or right in my backyard… eventually, I’ll get one of my fursuits on and explore. I can’t overturn every rock, but each one I do leave my mark in makes me feel like I’m doing something that leaves a smile on my face.  (Well, you’d be able to see it if I didn’t have my fursuit head on).

-Goku!

A fleshie pounces on prey at Vancoufur.

Fleshies are everywhere. They’re sneaky yet prolific primates who trim their fur, mask their scents, and cover their body parts to hide the weird things they do when you’re not looking.

They come in various shapes and sizes, but often compete to see which kind is superior. They have elaborate rules that keep changing. It may be about the color of their disturbingly smooth hides, or what territory they inhabit. It often involves collecting piles of green stuff.

They’re an invasive species. Like parasites, fleshies infest the shiny armored organisms that run on paths between their hives and honk at each other.  When their hosts stop at feeding-stations and sleeping-lots you can see them swarm out.

Swarmed by larval fleshies

Some call them helpful pets who dispense food if you train them. But don’t bother them if you see them in the wild. They’re usually docile if left alone, but getting too close may result in sudden attacks to steal furry hugs.

Here’s some tips for what to do if they’re nearby:

• Ones who show up at furry migration places can be herded and hypnotized by dancing. EDM music helps.
• Their young have especially grabby paws – look down low and protect yourself from being captured by the tail!
• If you’re cornered by one that looks dangerous, try not to look scared. Stare them in the eye and don’t blink.
• If they bare their teeth at you and come closer, you might frighten them off with a dose of natural furry musk.
• If one of them does hug you, don’t panic – it can be very soothing to them, and sometimes they even leave their savage ways to join the civilized furry world.

Fleshie populations are expanding around the world. Pest control solutions are currently mostly illegal, but they may neutralize themselves. They’re obsessed with collecting green things until their habitats deteriorate, while they lock each other in zoos or behind walls instead of having healthy hives. They put so much effort into breeding their shiny, armored host creatures that those may develop immunity to live without them. If fleshies go extinct, furries may inherit the earth.

Of course, they’re a crafty species with many powers of adaptation. In time they may gain true intelligence, and sharing the planet with them might bring a colorful and interesting future.

GuineaPigDan

Dogpatch offers community access for guests, but steers towards informative stories. That led to a Q&A (rather than a repost) for this submitted article:

Fursona Pins Are The Fandom’s Next Trend – by Cy Mendoza.

Cy’s business, Fursona Pins, has standout quality worth sharing. In under a year, raising over 10,000 followers on their Twitter, 640 Patreon supporters, and a 400-strong Telegram group shows something with demand. It even seems like a successful niche that could support a “pro-fan” career.

Enamel pins look wearable, durable, easily shareable, unique and collectible. (A monthly subscription to get them is smart.) Making a batch has potential unlike single art commissions, and collecting these would be easy (there’s only so much room for art prints). They look like good “swag” and there’s themed ones (like Pride flag character pins) to express yourself.

We chatted about the business:

(DP): Was this a happy surprise or did you carefully plan to get so much interest?  What was the startup process like?  

(Cy): I began the business out of a desire to make enamel pins for myself and my friends, resulting in the first five designs Fursona Pins produced: Byte (my fursuit by MulticolorBark/AutumnFallings), Telephone, Omnom, Splat, and Treble.

I was a big fan of enamel pins at the time and daydreamed about the possibility of trading pins made after fursonas. Back when I played sports, our teams would always get custom pins made and we’d trade them at big regional events, and this was a lot of fun, so the daydream became hundreds of people having their own pins and trading them at cons.

It seemed the idea resonated with the customers: my Patreon grew to over a hundred subscribers in the first month (May 2018) and we launched our first commission opening by filling all twenty slots in less than thirty minutes. It was a runaway success.

Why do people love these pins and what makes a really good one?  

People love collectibles. The fact that there are now so many Fursona Pins made of recognizable fandom characters has encouraged people to collect them. With our collection now over 300 pin designs in a little over six months, there are plenty of pins floating around that allow even the most casual collector to amass quite a pile to be proud of.

In terms of what kinds of pins appeal to customers the most, wolves seem to be very popular, as are foxes and dragons. Visually appealing color schemes are important. I’ve noticed a preference among customers for pins that have their “toe beans” showing.

Are there any interesting metrics you can share, like where Fursona Pins stands among fandom businesses, or how many cons have them in the dealers den?

Fursona Pins has gotten to the point where other businesses have taken notice of its success and want a piece of the fun. We’ve had multiple cons approach us to commission custom pins for their con — Motor City Fur Con, Denfur, Anthro New England, Painted Desert Fur Con, and Aquatifur, to name a few.

We’ve also noticed a rising interest from fursuit makers, who like including their mascot enamel pin with their fursuit commissions. Heads & Tails Studio and Skypro Costumes have both commissioned mascots. Some familiar dealers in the Dealer’s Dens of cons have also gotten their business mascots, such as Warhorse Workshop and Soap Pony.

Is it a full-time occupation to run this, or just as much a labor of love?

It’s both. It’s a full-time job to micromanage all forty commissions a month (quite an undertaking!) and ship out over six hundred packages a month to the Patreon subscribers, but at the same time, it’s a labor of love.

I often spend 10-12 hours a day actively marketing Fursona Pins, managing its accounting, shipping orders from our store, planning for new content, communicating with my manufacturers, and networking with the customers.

Do you have any stories about business experiences that were super positive, or difficult, or good for learning?

The Kickstarter was an absolutely positive experience — it was a roaring success, bringing in $23,000 for a 24-pin set. It has shown that prior marketing (and having a solid customer base) can definitely help in propelling a Kickstarter into success.

In terms of difficulty, sending out the Patreon shipments used to be incredibly difficult. Shipping out hundreds of packages on your own can be a real challenge, but I’ve learned a couple of tricks to make life easier: importing Patreon data into Excel and converting it into a readable CSV file for Stamps.com, allowing me to import Patreons by their tier and print them out with one click. I also got my paws on a Zebra shipping label printer, which made label printing a breeze.

These tools are a big improvement in quality of life. I went from taking nearly eighteen straight hours (no breaks!) sending out about two hundred Patreon packages to being able to ship six hundred in about five hours.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to start an independent fandom business?

Look for an untapped niche, and bear in mind that the fandom thrives on custom work. There are always business opportunities. Find out the things that people want and need in their life, and never be afraid to try something new. I was convinced nothing would come of my pins, that communicating with Chinese factories would be difficult or impossible. It’s a learning curve, and I struggled in the beginning, but I figured it out.

If you identify something the fandom wants, don’t let challenges slow you down. You just need to take them one at a time and brainstorm some solutions. You can do it.

Visit FursonaPins.com or follow them on Twitter or Patreon.

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, please follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. For a great event, get tickets for Galactic Camp: a Space Themed One Day Furry Con, Feb 23, 2019 on an Aircraft Carrier on the San Francisco Bay. DJ’s, Cocktails, Art, Fursuiting and more!

*** Get tickets here for the event in Alameda CA ***

Article photos by Loboloc0 and Amenophis.

How do you describe a one-day, space-themed furry convention on an aircraft carrier? It’s such uncharted territory, you might need a satellite view.

Galactic Camp was formerly Space Camp Party, their first event on the San Francisco Bay waterfront in March 2018. The name was changed to avoid a trademark conflict. Besides a shiny new name, it’s back with the same crew, and ambitions that go as high as putting pawprints on the moon.

Here’s Chatah’s video from the first party:

What to expect at Galactic Camp: A dance with spectacular production including a video wall and stellar DJ lineup, food trucks, Burning Man art cars, and a top-shelf craft cocktail menu better than any furry event has had before. And the biggest feature is the venue, the USS Hornet. It’s a floating museum and visitor attraction, even before you throw a horde of colorful party animals on top.

Nacho Husky, the event organizer, said:

The USS Hornet has done events like weddings or scout camp sleepovers, but we’re doing something cool and different. No other furry group has run a con on an aircraft carrier. This isn’t like a typical event in a hotel. We’re pushing boundaries of what a con can be. That’s the magic of the event and why people are so excited. You could say it’s a small step for a furry, but a giant leap for furrykind.

More features of Galactic Camp:

The event is 18+. Expect 700-1000 attendance, with emphasis on social spaces to gather and hang out, a big fursuit lounge, a Cuddle Dome, and the same main stage setup as Further Confusion by the same crew. Dealers and tables will include BLFC, PAWcon and Frolic Party (a favored home of many of the DJ’s.)

Three food trucks will be hosted. Hula Truck has burritos, rice dishes, lumpia and more. Royal Egyptian has gyros, shawarma, and vegetarian options. Grilled Cheez Guy has melts of all kinds. And there will be three bars on the ship with a drink menu full of surprises for those with ID. How about a Greyhound, a Red Rocket or “Nacho Average Negroni”?

Cat of a Different Color is the Cheshire cat themed, lighted Burning Man art car that will be parked right by the dance floor. This event is planned to mix with Burners, a whole separate subculture that crosses over with fandom.

I’ve been very hard at work designing the craft cocktail menu for the Super Sponsor fantail patio lounge at #GalacticCamp our beverage partner @MonarchSF is amazing! I don’t want to overpromise but this is going to be next level! This is only 1 of 3 bars. Others more basic drinks pic.twitter.com/FntB1TrGNL

— Nacho @Galactic Camp! (@NachoHusky) February 2, 2019

USS Hornet history: The ship picked up the Apollo 11 astronauts (the first people to walk on the moon) on their return from space. The dance floor will be surrounded by space program artifacts.

It was built for WWII in 1943 by many women laborers (the Rosie The Riveter museum is nearby in the SF Bay.) It was the first in the navy to have a dedicated women’s restroom, built for a visit by Nancy Reagan. It was decommissioned in 1970 and opened to the public in 1998. For Galactic Camp they agreed to have all-gender restrooms for the first time. The ship is managed by a nonprofit, and federally-owned (so don’t use certain California-allowed substances there!)

Volunteers can get free admission!

Interesting info about planning the event: An invitation to the Furry Convention Leadership Roundtable is a thumbs up from the world’s top cons. But it’s costly to arrange an event like this. Staff member Amenophis commented: “I’m impressed by the leap of faith you’re taking with the budget. Kudos for the balls to put this together.” 

With regular hotel cons, paying for rooms helps cover low-cost weekend admission. Here the cost has to be covered by the ticket. Part of the secret to success is getting premium sound and light equipment with “furry bang for the buck,” and the same quality from the beverage vendor, who typically does big events like Cirque Du Soleil that are levels above fandom. Galactic Camp will actually be one of their smallest – they just love the concept that much. That’s how this will bring curious people who have never attended a con before.

While it sounds like it’s reaching the edge of mainstream, the support of fandom brings it all together. The staff of over 60 volunteers is responsible for service like a reg system made to run fast and smooth.

For sponsors, Nacho Husky put in a lot of effort to arrange high quality swag, not cheap stuff that wears out or gets forgotten. That includes Nalgene bottles with the event logo that glow in the dark, are made in America and give many years of use. He said that one tweet about them brought $1000 in ticket sales.

The staff is very hopeful about establishing something great for the fandom. A successful event can come back again, afford to file for nonprofit status, maintain a budget for future events, and apply for running a tent at big street fairs locally. (How much better can this get in time? The USS Hornet has had ziplines and 50 bouncy castles on the top deck before.)

Now all it needs is you.

*** Mission Accepted? Get on board for an unforgettable experience. ***

My grandfather was stationed on it! He was an Admiral on it!!

— Rev.Underskor (@UnderskorGryp) February 12, 2019

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, please follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. For a great event, get tickets for Galactic Camp: a Space Themed One Day Furry Con, Feb 23, 2019 on an Aircraft Carrier on the San Francisco Bay. DJ’s, Cocktails, Art, Fursuiting and more!

Thanks to Summercat for starting this story about a long-lived and frequently-shared meme. He chatted with Durango Dingo, who is pictured in a suit from Fursuits By Lacy and Nick (Fursuiting.com.) This meme continues to spread from the heyday of Myspace to now, like when it was shared in 2018 by “Swift On Security”, a 263K follower mainstream Twitter account. (- Patch)

Summercat on Twitter

Summercat:

Hi Durango. I’ve been wanting to get the background from you on the “Furries Make The Internets Go” picture for a while. When was it taken? Where was it?

Durango / Riverton:

Oh LOL. Took that at work one day on Halloween, back in 2007. I did the whole wear fursuit at work thing. One of my roommates at the time put the text on it and posted it online someplace. It just took off from there.

Summercat:

Do you feel comfortable sharing where it was? It’s perfectly fine if you don’t want to; I try to avoid saying who my current employer is. Also how did your coworkers react to it?

Durango / Riverton:

Durango’s other fursona, Riverton Otter (Durangodingo.com)

I used to run a data center in Atlanta. We sold it, so I don’t know what the status of the place is any more.

I passed out candy to everyone. We all had fun with it. We didn’t have very many employees at the time.

Summercat:

Who made the Durango suit?

Durango / Riverton:

It was one of Lacy’s first.

Summercat:

What’s been your reaction to seeing the picture explode into the net?

Durango / Riverton:

I get a laugh out of it really. I’m surprised it’s still making the rounds this many years later.

“Behind the meme” continues the topic from Summercat’s previous story: The truth behind a famous, misinterpreted “nazi furries” photo.

The “Nazi furries” story revealed how a meme from 2009 was taken out of context from a museum visit. It wasn’t made to praise neo-nazism. That was a relatively major twist to frequent sharing. Every month or two, someone discovers the photo and posts it to Reddit, getting thousands of views. Incoming traffic from those reposts shows that they now get balanced by Summercat’s story in the comments, debunking popular misunderstanding. It isn’t just a fun story, it’s also an antidote to internet misinformation.

But the story wasn’t that simple, either; the photo gained further context showing that nazi furries actually WERE part of the community the photo came from, so the popular misunderstanding wasn’t completely off base. It was funny that debunking of the story needed debunking, too! Subjects of the story popped up to offer their own takes on the whole thing, making a very successful investigation of internet culture.

Not so successful was an attempt to investigate another long-lived meme – the “furry comes out to disappointed parents” cringe photo. This one gets thousands of views in reposts and has a Know Your Meme page. The photo subject was contacted but didn’t seem very enthusiastic… 

Patch:

Hi (anon furry),

At Dogpatch Press, recently we did a story covering a famous “nazi furries” photo from 2009 that was spread around a lot without permission of furries in it. It told the true story.

There’s another widely spread photo like that with you in it. You know the Christmas photo with parents? Some people don’t believe that the photo actually shows them being disappointed, just that it was a candid moment in between happenings on a busy holiday.

Would you chat about it to help make a sympathetic article telling the story about the photo, so people can know the truth? This can help in the future, if someone starts spreading a photo, people might say “wait a minute, let’s find out if this is real or not.”

Anon furry:

K

(- Patch)

Do you know other memes that could make a good investigation story? Let us know!

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, please follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. For a great event, get tickets for Galactic Camp: a Space Themed One Day Furry Con, Feb 23, 2019 on an Aircraft Carrier on the San Francisco Bay. DJ’s, Cocktails, Art, Fursuiting and more!

Contraindications by Pen Darke. Illustrations by Ash Finley. Published by Furplanet

TLDR: Erotic gay muscle growth. If that interests you at all, I 100% recommend this.

Matt Stafford is a perfectly normal looking otter, lithe, slightly toned, and adorable. He hates it. Several years at the gym have been for naught, and even his libido is weak. His boyfriend Stetson, a more muscular rabbit, sticks with him, but both wish that Matt’s sex drive was bigger.

One accident at a nutrition supplement store, Matt’s question of when will he start growing quickly changes to “Will I stop?”

Contraindications, by Pen Darke, is a story of muscle growth, some character development, wish fulfillment, and just about everything I love in a story. Originally published on Sofurry, the story got an editorial revamp and illustrations from artist Ash Finley. Illustrations that are wonderful, incredible, and mesh well with the author’s lovely use of descriptive language for Matt’s growth and larger form.

As a writer of muscle growth erotica myself, Contraindications has been one of the gold standards I wish to someday equal. Each chapter drives both the plot and the growth further, without a single wasted scene or moment.

I may be a bit biased because like Matt, I too am a small twig of an otter who wishes to be big, but this story has been one of my favorite stories for years, and I am glad to see it in print.

If the subject matter – gay sex, subtle musk based hypnosis, otter muscle growth – interests you at all, I highly recommend Contraindications.

– Summercat

• Buy on Furplanet

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, please follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. For a great event, get tickets for Galactic Camp: a Space Themed One Day Furry Con, Feb 23, 2019 on an Aircraft Carrier on the San Francisco Bay. DJ’s, Cocktails, Art, Fursuiting and more!

From the archive: Fred Patten, who passed away in late 2018, was a furry fandom founder who was also key for importing anime to the USA in the 1970’s and preparing it for English speaking audiences. As a historian and fan, Fred spoke to fellow researchers overseas. This led to discussing obscure traditions and customs. Occasionally they would come up about stories he was considering, but were too footnotey to add to the main articles. Below is the first of two interesting side topics, Happy Science of Japan. Coming next is Mandaean religion of Iraq, with 60-70,000 members worldwide. Fred suggests its mythology could be “a whole new area for furry artists and writers”. – Patch

From a story by a Japanese reporter about a visit to a 1994 “Happy Science” ceremony at age 15. The religious leader, riding on a dragon stage prop, ranted about a Japanese term for pornography which reveals the hair of a woman’s nether-regions.

Fred’s Happy Science story (6/25/15)

Dear Patch;

I don’t think I’ve ever told you about my encounter with the Happy Science religion.

This is more anime than furry-related.

Around 1995, give or take five years, I was contacted by a Japanese group.  They had just released an animated theatrical feature in Japan that was #1 at the box office for two weeks, and they were trying to get U.S. distribution for it.  They were about to have a Japanese-community screening of an English-subtitled print.  Did I want to attend it?  I did.

There were about 100 people present, all Japanese except me.  It seemed less like a gathering of anime fans than a church service.  It was.  I soon realized that I was also the only non-believer present, and that it was a Japanese extremist religion roughly equivalent to Scientology.  The movie was about the Greek god Hermes, but in this he was presented as a historical figure.  He was friends with Thesus, and the bull-headed Minotaur was also a historical figure.  I don’t believe in laughing about another religion’s beliefs, especially when I’m surrounded by its believers, so I kept a straight face.  After the screening, I was given a copy of their Bible, The Laws of the Sun, which I still have.

The movie, Hermes: Wings of Love, never did get U.S. distribution, but it’s on YouTube today.

According to The Laws of the Sun, humanity migrated to Earth from Venus in flying saucers.  Satan is a furry; an immortal evil cat-man general from the Andromeda galaxy.  The reason the dinosaurs vanished was that they were big-game hunted to extinction by Satan’s followers from their flying saucers.  The Laws of the Sun is written by the head of the Happy Science church, a.k.a. the Institute for Research into Human Happiness or several other translations.  He claims to be the reincarnation of Gilgamesh, Moses, Solomon, Homer, Socrates, Plato, Hermes, Aristotle, Julius Caesar, Jesus Christ, and several other famous people including Sir Isaac Newton and Thomas Edison.

Happy Science is tiny in America, but it claims ten million parishioners in Japan.  Every few years it raises enough money to commission Toei Animation, the largest animation studio in Japan, to make a top-quality theatrical feature.  All of its parishioners go to see it, so it’s #1 at the box office for two or three weeks.

The reason that I’m bringing this up now is that Happy Science is about to release their latest movie on October 10th in Japan, and they’re looking for a U.S. release again.  The Laws of the Universe, Part 0.

Ray, Anna, Tyler, Halle, and Eisuke are five high school students who are suddenly wrapped up in a mysterious incident. An alien species called Grey abducts Halle’s sister and embeds her with a special chip inside her brain. The five stand up to save Halle’s sister and try to reveal the existence of aliens, but continue to be met with mysterious events.

The high school students’ story progresses into a shocking development!

What truths hide on the dark side of the moon? What are the true intentions of the aliens that are infiltrating America, Russia and China? What is the true crisis that is closing in on Earth and what hope can we have towards the future!? Going beyond the last movie, The Mystical Laws, – The Laws of the Universe – Part 0 reveals stunning truth from beyond the star in animation form!

People of Earth, you cannot afford to miss this movie!

I don’t think that there’s much that could be called furry here — maybe the alien species called Grey?  Anyhow, I can probably get you more information about it, especially closer to the release date.

Best wishes;

– Fred

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, please follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. For a great event, get tickets for Galactic Camp: a Space Themed One Day Furry Con, Feb 23, 2019 on an Aircraft Carrier on the San Francisco Bay. DJ’s, Cocktails, Art, Fursuiting and more!

From the archive: Fred Patten, who passed away in late 2018, was a furry fandom founder who was also key for importing anime to the USA in the 1970’s and preparing it for English speaking audiences. As a historian and fan, Fred spoke to fellow researchers overseas. This led to discussing obscure traditions and customs. Occasionally they would come up about stories he was considering, but were too footnotey to add to the main articles. Previously posted was the first of two interesting side topics, Happy Science of Japan. Below is Mandaean religion of Iraq, with 60-70,000 members worldwide. Fred suggests its mythology could be “a whole new area for furry artists and writers”. – Patch

Art of Krun, by AtmaFlare

Mandaeism is a living religion bursting with fascinating mythology and magic (and loads of magic realism). I contend this Gnostic religion provides some forgotten gods that could be very useful for today’s culture where imagination, inventiveness, and wonder are evanescing under the crushing gravitational pull of global idiocracy caused by the Archons of this age. – (This Forgotten Gnostic God Could be the Cure for Today’s Idiocracy – by Miguel Conner)

Fred’s Mandaean religion story (8/10/15)

Dear Patch;

On March 20, 2015 the astronomical community put out a call for new names, and votes for names, for the features of Pluto and its moons since the New Horizons space probe was due to fly past and send back the first closeup pictures of it soon. (This happened in July.)  The traditional names of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses used for astronomical features have been used up.

Rutgers professor Charles Haberl started a campaign to begin using names from Mandaean mythology, since the astronomical community had never used Mandaean names before.  I had never heard of the Mandaeans, but Wikipedia says, “The Mandaean community of Iraq and Iran is one of the few communities from the Middle East that still preserve the ancient Babylonian tradition of divination by the stars and heavenly bodies (Astrology), directly from its source, even retaining the traditional Akkadian names for the stars and the visible planets. Despite this unique distinction, the Mandaeans had previously been unrepresented in astronomical place-names.”

Haberl’s campaign has been successful, and one of the newly-discovered features on Pluto has been named Krun, after the leading Mandaean lord of the underworld.  The Mandaean religion recognizes five lords of the underworld, listed in the title.  Only Krun is described, as an anthropomorphic giant louse.

He is represented by the image of a lion on the skandola talisman, which is used to seal the graves of the newly dead, but according to an oral account collected by E.S. Drower, his appearance is that of a giant louse. – (Miguel Conner)

This seems to be a whole new area for furry artists and writers, who have been focusing on Anubis, Bast, Actaeon, and the other animal-headed gods and goddesses of Egyptian mythology, the humans turned into animals of Greek and Roman mythology, and the African and North American trickster spirits like Anansi the spider and Nanabozo the giant rabbit.  (Unfortunately, only Krun is described on Wikipedia.)

Wikipedia says that the Mandaeans are highly secretive and dwindling, although some have recently emigrated to the U.S.  “During the last decade the indigenous Mandaic community of Iraq, which used to number 60-70,000 persons, has collapsed due to the Iraq War, with most of the community relocating to nearby Iran, Syria and Jordan and forming diaspora communities outside of the Middle East. According to a 2009 article in The Holland Sentinel, the Mandaean community in Iran has also been dwindling, numbering between 5,000 to 10,000 people, with approximately 1,000 Iranian Mandaeans emigrating to the United States since 2002, after the State Department granted them protective refugee status, which was not accorded to Iraqi Mandaeans until 2007. However, Alarabiya has put the number of Iranian Mandaeans as high as 60,000 in 2011.”

Assuming that I can find out anything else about Mandaean anthropomorphic mythological figures, is there a feature in this?  Or would you be interested in all of the various anthro mythological characters that furry writers and artists have used and might be interested in?

Best wishes;

Fred

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, please follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. For a great event, get tickets for Galactic Camp: a Space Themed One Day Furry Con, Feb 23, 2019 on an Aircraft Carrier on the San Francisco Bay. DJ’s, Cocktails, Art, Fursuiting and more!