Something for the Furrehs

[neokarl]

Ok. This is an idea that's been bugging me for last month or so. Just want to get it out of my head and into the world.

The world backstory setup thingy
Let's get this out of the way first. It is a world of anthropomorphic animals.
There are humans in this world, but they've shut themselves in a walled city and pretend that the rest of world is a wasteland. The harshest human punishment is exile from the city (I haven't come up with a name yet, I'm going to go with Eden for the time being), usually reserved for sociopaths, insane scientists and individuals that need to be silenced (A.K.A. people who know the truth about the world and can't be bribed).
Now, the rest of the world is relatively peaceful, (compared to our world) humans are regarded as bogymen and urban legends and the various different animal-folk go about their daily business (go to work/school, worry about social standings, manage relationships, joke about stuff, play video games, *cough*[sub]yiff[/sub]*cough* etc, etc) while dealing with their animal instincts.

This is the story type thingmabob
I'd imagine that if your a furry and you woke up one day as an aniaml-human hybrid, even if it wasn't your animal of choice, you'd be slightly freaked out, but over the moon in joy. If your not a furry and that happened, you'd just be freaking out.
Now that your in the right frame of mind this is the idea (yes, I know it's a roundabout way to get to the piont)
In this world, in a animal-folk city (something like Boston or London), one of these animal-folk (either a cat or a fox) wakes one to discover he is now a human.
If it was set in a comic the first page would be him silhouetted, getting out of bed (maybe with a girlfriend in bed), going to the bathroom to brush his teeth, starts to brush teeth (he's hungover by the way), closes the medicine cabenet.
Then does a spit-take when he sees his reflection. Adventures follow.

Other stuff
Other characters would be: a human who has planted a divice in himself that, in the event of death, would release an unstoppable computer virus into the Eden computer systems (the divice only has a range of 10 miles, but the human government thinks the range is 1,000 miles), a band of animal-folk that managed to escape the lab of a crazed scientist and a teenaged girl who is half-human half-animal folk. There would probably be more, but I can't think of anything else at the moment.

Oh, before I post
*activates anti-flame sheild*
Let me know what you think.

 

[FortheLegion]

That does sound like it would make a relatively ok web comic.

 

[Kermi]

As a non furry who is judging your stories purely on their potential narrative merit, your 'suddenly human' idea seems pretty standard for any "sudden transformation" style story. Not that I think there's another way to do it, but I think generally you're going to want to have more of a background, or some sort of reason the person has transformed rather than making the fact they have transformed the entire point of the story. Maybe you already planned that, but your synopsis didn't make it seem like you had.

The other ideas don't really disclose enough details for feedback about their characterisation and motivations, so it's not really clear what purpose they'd serve in your story.

 

[NeedAUserName]

I like the idea of Humans being what they are today, but being regarded as the stuff of myth and legend, it reminds me of some of the lines in The Omega Man.

 

[Trull]

Perhaps there is a virus that turns people into furries/furries into people.
sorry, I'll let the sci fi part of me shut up.
I can see this turning into avatar, as well.

 

[BonsaiK]

I can see some potential problems. People who like furries would hate it because the main character is (physically) a human thus rendering the whole purpose of these type of stories completely pointless (think about it). On the other hand non-furries will hate it simply because it's a story about furries. Also elements of your story are very cliched. Stuff like "unstoppable" computer viruses being released for no logical reason, mad scientists, walled cities (for no clear reason too) are all very "been there done that a thousand times" type things. Also I think you're trying to add too many ideas into the one story. I think what you need is just one or two really good and original ideas, and run with those.

 

[V8 Ninja]

Umm......Okay? I kinda don't know what you're going for. From what I can gather, you want to make a story about anthropomorphic humans. Do you want us to comment on the quality of the set-up? If so, then it's Okay-ish ("You can make a good story out of anything."TM).

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

You going to do something about this idea? make a web-comic? if so good luck. Make sure your characters grow and kill any Mary Sue's before releasing to the public though.

 

[neokarl]

Hey, I did say the idea is still developing. And I'm new at this kind of thing. Some things are bound to change over time. I'm not even sure what the main character's personality is like or even his speices. I'm just showing off the concept and trying to gauge the reaction

The message I'm trying to get across is about alienation, xenophobia, a radical change of perspective and life from the outside...
OK, so I'm not that original.

 

[Kermi]

I can see some potential problems. People who like furries would hate it because the main character is (physically) a human thus rendering the whole purpose of these type of stories completely pointless (think about it).

Since when did furries not like humans?

Since the OP said in his world humans live in a walled city and pretend there's nothing outside and the furries think of humans as bogeymen.

Maybe furries or anthro animal people in fiction don't generally hate humans, but in op's world it's pretty implicit.

 

[BonsaiK]

Originality is important though. Otherwise, why would someone read your story/comic/thingy instead of somebody else's?

Start with one good idea. Make it a simple idea. Then try and flesh it out a bit with some detail about the who/why/where but most importantly the why. Don't be adding all sorts of stuff all randomly, your readers are just going to get the shits with you. And try to stay away from cliches. A bit hard I guess because anthro animals is a cliche in itself, but I have faith in you. You can do this.

 

[neokarl]

@Kermi: I said that for one simple reason. Humans ARE bogeymen. Our inability to accept change and those different from ourselves is the reason for the walled city. If you were to look at humanity from the outside, you'd be scared stiff of humans and the things we are capable of. In most fairy tales the monster is a human or is an animal that represents a darker aspect of humanity (eg. the wolf from little red riding hood was used as a metaphor for pedophilia)
I might throw a war or something into the backstory later.

I think WAY too much about this kind of stuff.

 

[Mr Pantomime]

I like the idea. Id welcome more furry webcomics. Theyre always vaguely unsettling

 

[EightGaugeHippo]

I dont quite understand your talking about... so im going to leave now.

 

[Nopenahnuhuh]

Hmmm... does the world really need another sonichu?

On a more serious side-note. The storyline has been done to death (seriously, Kafka beat you to this premise some 90 years ago), the setting is uninspired and, in all honesty, it all just seems absolutely contrived and silly. It instantly made me think of Jay Naylor, and this is not a point in your favor.

If this were a webcomic, it'd be sonichu's lesser known immature cousin with a strange fetish. Something one wouldn't completely denounce as an insult to humanity's intelligence but still something I'd not waste my time dealing with the constant inappropriate sex puns and 5 y.o. antics.

 

[Chrono212]

d-^_^-b Two thumbs up! [sub][sub]*is aware of irony*[/sub][/sub]

However, you would have to be relatively good at drawing people (humans) so that it isn't too unsettling and also be good a background set pieces to set up the whole scene.

I may refer you to Daybrakers for something similar to what you're thinking of too.

 

[busterkeatonrules]

Whatever you decide to do with this concept (webcomic, movie script, etc.), I wish you luck!

Also, love the death - activated computer virus bit! You should have a scene where the virus guy and a couple of other characters are surrounded by government soldiers in full SWAT gear and armed with grenades and huge machine guns, whereupon the virus guy pulls out a small handgun and scares the soldiers into submission - by threatening to blow his OWN head off!

 

[Proverbial Jon]

Sounds like an interesting concept, I'd certainly follow it.

As for those who are saying it lacks originality... pfft, originality it can be somewhat overated. I mean look at Avatar, quite frankly it's filled to the brim with stereotypes, cliches and predictable plot lines... (isn't Michelle Rodriguez a stereotype all on her own?) BUT it is one of the most emotionally effective movies (for me anyway!) I have ever watched and a firm, firm favourite of mine.

It's not the content, it's the message and way you put it across. If it serves as only a way of promoting the more positive aspects of the furry fandom and dispelling umpleasent misconceptions, then more power to you my friend!

I like the idea of the humans locking themselves away in a walled city as opposed to the usual, "wipe everything out with guns", approach that you see all too often. Perhaps an indication that the basis of most non-furries' hatred towards us is based mostly in fear and a lack of understanding us.

I think I'd rather follow a main character who is a human from the walled city and then becomes an animal person, just so we could see the prejudice he faces and the changes he has to make. It feels to me that an animal person becoming a human wouldn't gain quite the same response... I mean we furries are very tollerant folk after all!

But hey, it's just my opinion, I don't mean to hijack your ideas!