So I've Noticed a Trend in People's Furry Avatars

[Owyn_Merrilin]

-snip-

I think you might be right about the name of the comic. But I don't find the furry aspect of the comic unnerving as such it's the fact that all the characters get changed from human into a furry form of the opposite gender and those in-between just become furries. It kind of makes me want to respond with... Wwhhaaatttt?

Like I said, it's weird, and the furry aspect is one of the more normal points. But it's also a good read, if you can get past the point that the author is turned on by a lot of the stuff he draws. It's certainly not presented in a sexually gratuitous manner.

Edit: There's also a whole lot less furry stuff than there is gender bending (also shrinking; like I said, it's weird.) The last time I read it, there were a grand total of two characters who regularly turned into some sort of furry, but almost every character had had their gender temporarily swapped at some point. It's not so much a furry comic as a comic that expresses every fetish of the author, and as a result, the furry thing is relatively minor.

Edit Edit: It's also not some bizarre ecchi/hentai comic. It's got a pretty good plot which mixes fantasy and sci-fi, it just includes some of the author's sexual proclivities because hey, why not? It's not much different from the way the scantily clad women in the old Hercules show were meant to appeal to straight men.

 

[Gizen]

VG Cats is a furry comic

The hell it is. Anthropomorphic =/= furry. Bugs bunny is not furry, Anubis is not furry, Sly Cooper is not furry.

Actually, all those things ARE furry. This is basically the reason why furries get trashed so much is that people assume that furry = crazy fursuit wearing perverted weirdo, when what furry actually means is 'person who is a fan of anthropomorphic animals'. It's the same thing as when somebody shoots up their school and the news media immediately jumps on the fact that they just so happened to play Doom or Counter Strike once or twice to brand all gamers as violent sociopaths just waiting to explode. You get a few freaks who ruin it for everyone.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

VG Cats is a furry comic

The hell it is. Anthropomorphic =/= furry. Bugs bunny is not furry, Anubis is not furry, Sly Cooper is not furry.

Actually, all those things ARE furry. This is basically the reason why furries get trashed so much is that people assume that furry = crazy fursuit wearing perverted weirdo, when what furry actually means is 'person who is a fan of anthropomorphic animals'. It's the same thing as when somebody shoots up their school and the news media immediately jumps on the fact that they just so happened to play Doom or Counter Strike once or twice to brand all gamers as violent sociopaths just waiting to explode. You get a few freaks who ruin it for everyone.

They're furry in the way The Sex Pistols are grunge, Quake is built on the Source engine, and BB King plays heavy metal. In other words, just because they're related doesn't mean they're equivalent.

 

[CptJackRabbit]

VG Cats is a furry comic

The hell it is. Anthropomorphic =/= furry. Bugs bunny is not furry, Anubis is not furry, Sly Cooper is not furry.

Actually, all those things ARE furry. This is basically the reason why furries get trashed so much is that people assume that furry = crazy fursuit wearing perverted weirdo, when what furry actually means is 'person who is a fan of anthropomorphic animals'. It's the same thing as when somebody shoots up their school and the news media immediately jumps on the fact that they just so happened to play Doom or Counter Strike once or twice to brand all gamers as violent sociopaths just waiting to explode. You get a few freaks who ruin it for everyone.

Everytime I read / hear the fursuit fetish argument, I always want to add... do youknow how much those damn suits cost? literally thousands. If someone wants to engage in any real physical activity, thats just not bright.

 

[Gizen]

They're furry in the way The Sex Pistols are grunge, Quake is built on the Source engine, and BB King plays heavy metal. In other words, just because they're related doesn't mean they're equivalent.

I'd argue that it's the other way around. Since being a fandom of anthropomorphic animals was how it started, and people began to associate the term with the more bizarre aspects of the culture as the internet and various other media dragged it out of the shadows for shock value while searching for new acceptable targets for mockery. And since nobody actually cares enough to investigate on their own, most people refuse to see the term as meaning anything else.

 

[IDK112]

This is actually a robot avatar...

 

[Yoshemo]

Mine doesn't smile. That doesn't mean I'm not happy though~

 

[Neosage]

I agree with that part where it says in the OT that furry avatars have the character smiling in a whimsical way. Personally, I find whimsicalness and quirky characters to be annoying if this is their prime trait.

For any furry, I have a question:
I think that minators and werewolves are awesome. I do not find them sexually attractive in any way shape or form, but there is a slight fascination towards these badass creatures of destruction. Is that being a furry?

Certainly not. That makes you normal, (or at most, a bit of a geek for cool monsters).

Spoiler: B.A.M.F

That's like saying I'm a furry because I think Minotaurs are badass.


[sup]Imagine that thing with shades...[/sup]

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

They're furry in the way The Sex Pistols are grunge, Quake is built on the Source engine, and BB King plays heavy metal. In other words, just because they're related doesn't mean they're equivalent.

I'd argue that it's the other way around. Since being a fandom of anthropomorphic animals was how it started, and people began to associate the term with the more bizarre aspects of the culture as the internet and various other media dragged it out of the shadows for shock value while searching for new acceptable targets for mockery. And since nobody actually cares enough to investigate on their own, most people refuse to see the term as meaning anything else.

So you're honestly saying the Egyptian god Anubis is a furry?

 

[Gizen]

So you're honestly saying the Egyptian god Anubis is a furry?

By himself? No, I guess not. Once you start populating an entire world with anthro animals where every character, or almost every character is one (i.e. Bugs Bunny, Sly Cooper, Disney Robin Hood, etc.), then I would say yes.

 

[Azhtek]

does it matter that there are furrys here?

A more important questions might be, does it really matter that they're furries? So long as they're good people, then the universe is in order, unless some bigot is out for cyber blood and wants to flame someone based on their interests.

As one of "them fuggin' furries", by technicality, and running a website full of them, I felt it my honour-bound duty to scour my friends lists for some of their character pictures. Honestly, only about 8% or so had the smile, and I perceived it more as a happy and comfortable smile than creepy. Comes down to the artist, I suppose.

To add to the topic further, while furry is another little niche for people to throw their interest, which fits in nicely beside many forms of media (cartoons, books, comics, some movies), as is mentioned, an arguably low percentage are in it just for the hwat sybrz an yiffinz. Sure, that percentage is the loudest, but they are by no means the ones who rock up with their junk out to every comic/furry con on the planet in hopes of collecting every single STD known and unknown to mankind.

There are varying levels of interest in the fandom, ranging from passing interest due to liking a type of character (EG an interest in werewolves, or even Pokémon), to the sort who just enjoy the escapism and the type of community, people who like to roleplay (Sexual and non-sexual inclusive), who love the art and artists, the (admittedly, sometimes glinting) ingenuity of some characters and stories that people come up with. This list continues down the line till you get to the sex fiends and the fursuiters out for holes. I shan't touch on Therians in this group, just because I know little to nothing about how they identify themselves; I'll leave that part to them, if there are any monitoring this thread.

The people I've come across, in the greater majority, are good people, and wouldn't identify themselves by saying, "Hi, I'm Joe. I'm a fox online." They're regular people who have hobbies, that really aren't that different when you look at them objectively. They slide comfortably in between the groups of escapism, roleplay and art.

While the community is far from perfect, and no community is, with permeations of drama under every stone and general trolls, morons and flamers, it is, from what I've perceived and experienced, a solid community of well-intentioned people just trying to enjoy themselves.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

So you're honestly saying the Egyptian god Anubis is a furry?

By himself? No, I guess not. Once you start populating an entire world with anthro animals where every character, or almost every character is one (i.e. Bugs Bunny, Sly Cooper, Disney Robin Hood, etc.), then I would say yes.

You might have a point with Sly Cooper, but both Looney Toons and Disney's Robin Hood predate the furry fandom by quite a few decades. Looney Toons in particular isn't furry at all; the animals are cartoon talking animals, and they're hardly the only type of character in the series. I'll give another example; it's like saying most Roman men were gay because they had sex with men. They weren't; people didn't have a concept of homosexuality back then, and it would take me quite a bit of writing to describe what Roman ideas of sexuality were like, because they were so different from our own, despite being ways of describing some pretty similar things.

 

[jovack22]

Does my avatar count?
Hydralisks have somewhat of a leer.... (lowers defense).

 

[my-brainisfullof-lag]

um my avatar has a dog and his owner?? and they are smiling and even though the dog is really big but its not like this 'furry' thing! is it? because its a human and a dog no morphs or anything....they are just happy :3

 

[Gizen]

You might have a point with Sly Cooper, but both Looney Toons and Disney's Robin Hood predate the furry fandom by quite a few decades. Looney Toons in particular isn't furry at all; the animals are cartoon talking animals, and they're hardly the only type of character in the series. I'll give another example; it's like saying most Roman men were gay because they had sex with men. They weren't; people didn't have a concept of homosexuality back then, and it would take me quite a bit of writing to describe what Roman ideas of sexuality were like, because they were so different from our own, despite being ways of describing some pretty similar things.

The fact that Looney Tunes and Robin Hood predate the furry fandom doesn't exclude them from being furry things. I think we could both agree that video games have their own fandom, could we not? However, certainly, that fandom didn't exist yet when they made the first video games. Would Pong not fall into the same general category of video games?

And besides, I'm not even talking about the furry fandom so much as furry in general. Someone could play video games casually but not consider themselves a part of any video game fandom, and likewise someone could like something that's furry without considering themselves a part of the furry fandom, but it would still be lumped into the same general category.

 

[Neosage]

um my avatar has a dog and his owner?? and they are smiling and even though the dog is really big but its not like this 'furry' thing! is it? because its a human and a dog no morphs or anything....they are just happy :3

Fairly sure that justs makes you a Narutard (I'm kidding), but seriously that's not being a furry. I don't think even Kiba is a furry.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

You might have a point with Sly Cooper, but both Looney Toons and Disney's Robin Hood predate the furry fandom by quite a few decades. Looney Toons in particular isn't furry at all; the animals are cartoon talking animals, and they're hardly the only type of character in the series. I'll give another example; it's like saying most Roman men were gay because they had sex with men. They weren't; people didn't have a concept of homosexuality back then, and it would take me quite a bit of writing to describe what Roman ideas of sexuality were like, because they were so different from our own, despite being ways of describing some pretty similar things.

The fact that Looney Tunes and Robin Hood predate the furry fandom doesn't exclude them from being furry things. I think we could both agree that video games have their own fandom, could we not? However, certainly, that fandom didn't exist yet when they made the first video games. Would Pong not fall into the same general category of video games?

And besides, I'm not even talking about the furry fandom so much as furry in general. Someone could play video games casually but not consider themselves a part of any video game fandom, and likewise someone could like something that's furry without considering themselves a part of the furry fandom, but it would still be lumped into the same general category.

But furry is a concept defined by its fandom. Look at my example of Roman sexuality again. In Ancient Rome, there was no idea of homosexuality versus heterosexuality. Roman men were free to have sex with other men while still having sex with women, and the only way they might get looked down on for it is if they were the ones getting it, instead of the ones giving it. This is, incidentally, why freed male slaves didn't have as high of a social status as people of the same rank otherwise who had never been slaves -- the assumption was, if you were a slave, you were taking it up the butt. Their masters, on the other hand? They probably got high fives from their buddies for what they did to their poor slaves. But the thing is, the terms "gay" "straight" and even "bisexual" are really inappropriate to use here, because they describe concepts wholly removed from the reality of Roman sexuality.

Do you see how this applies to the concept of "furry"?

 

[my-brainisfullof-lag]

um my avatar has a dog and his owner?? and they are smiling and even though the dog is really big but its not like this 'furry' thing! is it? because its a human and a dog no morphs or anything....they are just happy :3

Fairly sure that justs makes you a Narutard (I'm kidding), but seriously that's not being a furry. I don't think even Kiba is a furry.

YEAH NARUTARD FTW !! ok cool i was just wondering.

 

[spiney]

Does mine have that creepy smile?

 

[Seriphina]

Is the smile not just suggestive? Flirty i fancy you but I might molest you as well type of a smile? I know what you mean tho. It's meant to be promiscuous (sp?) i think.