My Very First Furry Convention! · 7:41am Sep 29th, 2013
The Convention Bureau
RAINFURREST 2013
If Only Every Fandom Could Be So Nice
By Chatoyance
I've been to many different sorts of conventions in my life. CES - suits and more suits, sell, sell, sell. Also, assholes. E3 - suits and geeks taking peeks, whores and bores. Also, assholes. NAB - Radio as an excuse to get drunk. Drunk assholes. PAX: Hello! You've got the flu! Also, GAMES! Also, assholes.
Rainfurrest - So very nice. It feels like happy. What?
This was not quite what I was expecting with my first Furry convention. I can tell you it won't be my last.
I expected to see amazing fursuits, of course. Fursuits are the stars of furry, and deservedly so. I saw a fully articulated, servo-mechanism driven, animatronic wolf muzzle. It bared it's teeth at me, wiggled it's ears, and blinked naturally. No wonder Hollywood recruits SFX talent from furry conventions. I saw one suit go by with a special tag from Paramount. So, there are a few suits at a fur con. They are offering careers.
But fursuits aren't the reason to go to a fur convention. There isn't a reason, and that is what makes furry pure joy.
I used to go to Star Trek and other Science Fiction conventions, back in the 70's and 80's. They had an annoying mood to them: GET TO THE DEALER ROOM! BUY CRAP! GO TO THE AUTOGRAPH SESSION! GET FAMOUS AUTOGRAPHS! WATCH THE STUPID BLOOPER REEL FOR THE NTH TIME!
Everything was rush, rush, go, go, get, get. At the time, I suppose it was fun, in a way, but... the point was always stuff. Junk. Many other conventions are like that - it's all about the loot.
You know what a furry convention is about?
Fun.
That's all. Just fun.
Try to picture that. An entire convention where the only reason to go is to meet people who share a common fandom, hang around, and have fun together. The dealer room is... it's OK. It's not important. There's a little stuff there. There are some panels on writing and such, they're there. You can go, if you want. There are no big stars, no big corporations with loot to hand out, no rush to get to the showing of the thing that will only be demonstrated once. There is a place with tabletop games, you can play. If you want.
I went to Rainfurrest 2013 with one of my spouses, Elde - (Aedina here on Fimfiction) for our thirtieth anniversary. I've always wanted to go to a fur convention, and we made it happen.
It was the most fun convention experience of my life.
Elde (on the right) and me (peach hair) meet the Big Good Wolf.
What did we do?
We went to the little My Little Pony Picnic, and met up with our old friend Alfalfa Door (as known on Fimfiction). We hadn't seen him in many years. He was kind enough to hang out with us for the rest of the day. At the MLP group, Elde passed out some cookies she had made, we played twenty questions, and sang songs from the show. All around us were people with animal ears, or animal tails, or animal ears and tails, and a few in full fursuits, and every single one of them was nice.
Nice. Every single person I met at the convention, ran into, or walked past was nice. They were all polite, they all behaved exceptionally well, and they all treated each other with respect, whoever, and whatever, they were.
And it was a diverse crowd. Gay, straight, trans, lesbian, bi and kink. Leather collars or prim outfits. Race? What's that mean, really, when the person next to you is an orange, winged cougar, and there is a wolf down the hall with blue fur! There was no sign of prejudice, unlike E3, where being a minority often means being ignored. There was no sign of sexism - unlike PAX where if you aren't being treated like shit for being female, you are probably being called a faggot by some insecure asshat.
Furries are an accepting, kind group. It felt like the Equestria I write about.
By the way - ponies were well represented. Surprisingly so. There was MLP based art in the art gallery. There were rare Pony toys in the small dealer's room. There were, well, ponies - pony fursuiters! You know why? Because ponies are a logical subset of furry. Hello Fimfictioneers! You may not know it, but you... you are an honorary part of furry. Well, if you're nice. If you're serious. Not if you're a prick. Look! Ponies!
Remember how I mentioned that special effects houses look for talent among the furry folk? It's because furries, by and large, are incredibly talented, amazingly inventive people. I didn't see any dumb furries. Here they are, the laughing stock of the internet, mocked incessantly, and they are making DIGITIGRADE ARTICULATED LEGS. From scratch. You know, like you've seen on Farscape and Babylon 5 and many other science fiction and fantasy shows. The reason you've seen them at all? FURRIES! They invented them. For fursuiting.
During the convention, Elde, Alfalfa Door and I walked about, played a really wonderful game - called 'Pandemic', it is a cooperative boardgame where 2-6 players work together to rid the world of horrible infectious diseases. Everyone wins or loses together, as one, and the conflict is between the players and the spread of illness. It's a fantastic game, and one of the rare cooperative games that manage to be truly fun.
We had a lovely lunch, and oh - I have to tell you something my Elde found wonderful. Furries are a huggy bunch! Elde loves hugs, and hugs seem to be fairly common among furries, especially the fursuiters. It made her very, very happy. Hugs mean safety and kindness to Elde, and for a day she got to live in a world where such a simple comforting animal thing was commonplace. Now me... I like hugs, but I am very shy. It is difficult for me, because I am afraid and standoffish. But... even I got a few hugs from fursuited folks myself, and it was nice.
I met a few people who knew me, too, from my old comics days, from my software days, from long ago. It was amazing to be recognized, to know there are folks who used to follow my old works before Fimfiction, who remembered me. Fondly and with respect, I might add. That was very encouraging considering the utterly moronic crap I have faced writing pony.
At the very end of my happy day at the furry convention, I got to see the one kind of suit I wanted to see the most - a quadsuit. Quadsuits are amazing things, they use prosthetics to permit fully quadrupedal motion. They require some amount of athletic capacity, as you might imagine, but they bring to life completely four-legged characters in a way no other costume can. It was my furry grail, and at the end, I found it.
So, my conclusions?
I like the fur community. I liked this convention, I liked the people, I liked their fandom culture - what I saw of it - and I was blown away by their artistic and engineering creativity and ability. I saw zero evidence of the usual internet stereotype of perverts in crappy costumes. What I saw were genuinely polite, congenial people with amazing costuming and electronics skills, all sharing a love for impossible animal beings while being very, very nice to each other. In short, gentle brilliance.
I will go to another convention someday, and when I do, I will wear a unicorn tail and proper ears. Do you know why?
Because it is just plain FUN, that is why!
The reason to go to a furry convention is not to buy things, or meet fame, or be the first to see something - though all of that might be possible.
Furry conventions are about sharing a love of animals and animal-like humanoids, and cartoons, and animation, and animatronics, and costuming, and yes, some perversion, it's there, no denying it, and art and literature and engineering and entertainment... but mostly, it seems to be about taking the crowbar out of your own ass and actually being a little playful for a change.
And you know what?
It is wonderful.
- Petal Chatoyance, 2013
Ah! It's so GOOD to hear you had such fun! I was getting texts from Alfador (as he likely told you) about it all, and judging by the con photos up there, it did NOT disappoint!
Next year... next year, my dear friend, I'm going to be attending... Alfador's all but *insisting* I do so!
Perhaps I could bring some tea? I have this lovely chai spice blend...
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I would be utterly honored to sip tea with you, good Noble Cause. I had such fun! And Alfador was so kind to share his day with us. It just made the convention for me.
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Excellent! Again, I'm so glad you had such a good time. I'll say as a veteran of furry that I'm a little jaded (because I *have* seen the darker sides of furry, as with any fandom), but perhaps that's because I'm used to the larger cons like AnthroCon. Rainfurrest is substantially smaller. CaliFur, which Gabriel LaVedier attends in California, is smaller still.
... I may have to plan. See if I can scrape the bits together to get him up there to attend as well. It would be fantastic to have you, Eldenath and he sit down to discuss the Dames of the Tea Table muzzle to muzzle. Speaking of, he's going to be wrapping THAT story up shortly, or so he tells me.
Oh! This is going to be such FUN next year! I can hardly wait! I'll have to definitely pinch my bits and save everything I can!
There are a few things that I can tell you from being in both fandoms.
1) You must have run in with a good crowd, because ponies are a "love it/hate it" thing in the furry fandom. Those who like ponies do so tremendously. Those who don't do so often with the same enthusiasm.
2) Each fandom has it's bad side, and the furry crowd can be more so than the pony fandom can be. Explicit images are slightly more common and four of the five biggest writers are almost exclusively pornographic, not to mention that-company-which-shall-not-be-named.
3) Excluding #1, most do tend to be friendly. I have been to a few furry conventions and it seemed like everyone there was quite nice. As you said, race doesn't tend to be an issue considering most go by fursona rather than race. Despite this being a good thing (and quite often a plus in the fandom's favor), the bronies tend to be nicer and friendlier.
4) Artistry in the furry fandom is elitist. You draw well enough, you get famous, but if you're just below that line, sucks for you. Artistry in the pony fandom is encouraging. You draw well enough, you get famous, but if you're just below that line, you'll still get comments of people who enjoy the work and sometimes pointers. Same with writing; the top furry authors get favorites and watchers while the rest rot until they put out decent porn, while top brony authors get favorites and watchers while the rest are often given chances by others.
5) The digitigrade thing wasn't entirely invented by furries. The fandom was underground in the 1970s and 1980s and didn't come into the mainstream until the 1990s, after digitigrade pieces were being used in filming. They simply use the technology/structure enough.
6) To even things out, furries have more diverse imaginations and often more creativity and leniency than ponies do. You write pony, you're expected to write pony and do so with a minimum of personal touches, and to even think of messing with a ship is often treated with disgust by those who don't like the new ship. Furries are OC-friendly, new ship-friendly, and don't care what you throw into your work so long as you can justify it through creativity or ingenuity.
7) Furries do not go crazy over small releases like pony lovers do. Someone changes something in a pony work, everyone goes mad and the resulting chaos can take months to dissipate. Someone changes something in a furry work, most go 'meh' and roll with it and it dies down extremely quickly, often within a week.
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Califur's gotten large; over 1000 attendees on a normal basis. Still small compared to AnthroCon, which gets 3000 to 5000 visitors per year. I've always wanted to go to one of the larger ones though; Further Confusion up in San Jose gets 1500 attendees in a venue about as large as Rainfurrest.
It's great to hear you had a good time at the con, they do tend to be a really good time with seeing every thing and meeting everyone. The only con I've been to is Anthrocon since it is semi local for me here in western Pennsylvania, attending for around 7 years now as a puppeteer and fursuiter. Hope to see you at one! :)
So glad that you enjoyed your first furry con. My first con was Confurence 10, back in 1998. It was a lot of fun meeting everyone and such. Hearing about your adventures at Rainfurrest make me wish I had gone myself. I have several friends who all went, and now I'm envious.
In regards to something Revenant Wings said, something to keep in mind about furry as opposed to pony, is that Pony is focused around a show/toyline. Furry has no focus, no central corporation to make changes for furries to get upset about. It's the only 100% fanmade fandom. It's debatable whether that's a good or bad thing. Some would say once Friendship is Magic ends, the whole brony thing will end. Didn't happen to Disney's Gargoyles. "The Gathering Of The Gargoyles" was going on for 12 years (13 conventions) after the show ended. And Star Trek, oh my
don't get me started on Star Trek.
(Why do we still not have a Luna emoticon?!?)
I got my hands full attending the few cons I do attend down here in Australia (1 anime convention, 1 pop culture convention and the newly started roaming MLP convention), both physically and financially. I'm sure we have Furry conventions even in my little remote city but I'm not sure I would attend.
For one I would be going alone. Secondly I tend not to handle physical contact well, litterally freezing up and being unable to think of what to do. Third I wouldn't consider myself a full Furry despite my (exceedingly) open mind about attraction.
The younger local bronies are huggy enough; they've freaking tackle hugged me for crying out loud.
I'm glad you and Elde enjoyed yourselves though. Maybe next time you can rope the entire family into it?
I've never been to a fur convention, and it seems unlikely I ever will. I've been to professional conventions that weren't assholey, though - maybe because the content was so interesting that hardly anyone had down time to socialize badly with.
The contrast to Fur conventions, though, remind me of the maxim that if you want to see whether a game is fun, take away the reward, including stat increases (the Farmville test). Here, it's sort of sideways - if you want to have fun, take away the mass-media carrot. What's left is distilled fun.
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Or for that matter, a non-trollestia Celestia.
1382410
This guy pretty much tackled some of the things I was going to mention. Trust me, I've met a furry who was an asshole. Granted, said furry didn't like me BECAUSE I was a brony, but hey, EVERY group has assholes.
Some assholes just have better manners. I'm sure if you were to interview EVERYONE on their lonesome at Rainfurrest you'd find an asshole. Chances generally increase the larger a number of people you have present. Heck, you might bump into someone who could tell you of a time they were at a furry convention and had a bad time.
Of course, what makes a person an asshole truly is if they're able to ruin your good time. A person who acts like an asshole but doesn't keep you and your friends from enjoying things is not a true asshole, because a true asshole WILL ruin your day.
However, it is good that you had a great time. Regardless of the type of convention or fandom or your reason for being there, frankly as long as you have a good time and helped others to have a good time, that's all that matters. If I came off as being a downer at all, I apologize, Its simply a habit of mind to notice both sides of things in life, to point out both good and the bad.
Also, maybe I'm having trouble with colors or the camera messed with it, but that looks more Pink than peach. Looks about the shade of Fluttershy's hair.
1382379
Have a cup of tea for me please!
Sounds fun. I'd personally wish I could be able to join (1 because I love tea, Azteca Fire being my current favorite) and 2 because it would be far more interesting to chat with such an interesting and engaging person as you Chat. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in the Midwest
Also, if you have more, I demands more pictures.
Yay! Glad to hear you had fun, and there were no "Tumbles the Stairdragon" type incidents to wreck things for you.
1382410
Is that the company with the special toys?
I've been a furry ever since high school. It's how I got into ponies in the first place. Like Noble Cause above, I have seen evidence that there are assholes in the furry fandom like any other culture (or at least people prone to melodramatics and poor social skills). But I'm happy that you were lucky enough to avoid that here.
As a previous blog entry has indicated, I had a similar experience going into Bronycon back in August. I barely bought any swag at all, and I wasn't looking to get an exclusive look at anything. I just wanted a place where I could meet people who shared my dearest obsession, and be somewhere offline where I didn't have to feel like I was hiding myself from others. It's a wonderful feeling, isn't it?
Glad to hear you had fun! I've heard from a few reputable sources that smaller conventions are the way to go.
I want to find that individual that engineered those digitigrade legs so I can tell them, "YOU ARE AWESOME." In one breath. All at once. Those are just lovely.
Huh. Neat. I'll be honest, furry never really appealed to me until FiM, and even now, it's more "in spite of" than "as well as." Still, I'm very happy that you had such fun and were surrounded by such niceness. Fursuit hugs actually sound nice. So fluffy.
Oh, and the articulated legs are cool, if uncomfortable looking. And the glowing eyes...
Yeesh. Creepy with a capital everything. But also cool. But creepy.
One last note: from the moment I read "I am a unicorn!" I found myself humming your Unicorn Song, up until the end of the blog. I don't know whether to curse you or thank you for getting that stuck in my head.
I'm so glad you and Eldenath had such a good time. And happy 30th anniversary to you both!
1382379
And here I've been describing it as you being kind enough to let me hang out with you all day long.
Glad you had fun ^_^ will you also be attending EverfreeNW next year? I would love to get the opportunity to hug you there!
I could not be happier for you. Starting out as a furry myself, I can say that the community has always been one of fun for me, and I never regretted attending all of the conventions I could.
Working with ROTLCON (Running of the Leaves Convention--I hear they tried poking you a while back since I made everyone aware of TCB), I hope I can make it as good as what I have seen, and more. There is simply nothing else for me to try, but to bring happiness.
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Yes, that one. *shudders*
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Oh, I'm aware of the size boost CaliFur's gotten. I was attending some years back and they had a hard time breaking 700... but they're still smaller by a factor or two compared to AC.
1382773
Oh Tumbles. You shall forever be infamous for failing.
I migrated from the furry fandom to Bronydom a few months back, I've straddled the two for about a year now as well.
I love the costuming aspect of furries, the conventions even more so as there's a real sense of camaraderie and as you've said, the emphasis is on fun. However furries in general can be just as problematic as any other group, my decision to move away from it, at least for the time being was fuled by unpleasantness in my local community.
Furry's biggest asset is also its biggest downfall in that it is very broad in terms of what it can encompass and takes tolerance to extremes even the most obsessive brony wouldnt dream. The cosplay and suiting side of things, the artwork, the stories, the music etc. it can bring people together but it equally drives them apart and due to its sheer size alone, conflict can seem rife.
In my 5 years as a furry I was lied to, taken advantage of financially, embroiled in personal wars of slander and outright bitchiness and on one occasion even preyed upon sexually by a rather unscrupulous individual. (Inviting yourself into the hotel room of an alcoholically impaired individual with a mind towards intimacy is NOT acceptable even when you know each other well, let alone when you first met only a month before)
I don't regret my time as a furry, by any means, however I've found my self far happier with the more focused goals and shared interests within the Brony community than I did as a furry.
I suppose that could also be contributed to how relatively small this community is compared to the furry one, but I like to think we're a more gentle folk than our non-equine obsessed cousins.
I'm glad you had fun.
Ah its nice to hear something went well for you for a change Chatoyance. Glad to hear you had fun.
I'm glad you're having fun Chatoyance. Are conventions really that fun though? I've never really been to any before.
lolfurries
but i'm glad you're having fun
1384556
My direct experience tells me that furries got a bad rap. They're the good guys and the cool people. The jerks who put everyone down... are actually jerks after all. Direct experience is... direct experience. It's real.
Over the past two years I have been taught something powerful.
People who have real creativity, real intelligence, and real brilliance make, and write, and draw, and create, and do all kinds of bizarre, incredible, strange, wonderful, and unusual stuff. That's beyond cool. That's awesome - even the most ridiculous things are awesome, because it means somebody got off their ass and bothered to actually try. That alone is worth respect.
People who make fun of others are a waste of time, of skin, and just bring truly clever people down. Maybe they're jealous. Maybe they're just immature. Maybe they're sort of 'tarded, emotionally. But one thing is true: such people are losers. They are Fail. They... are boring, and that is the most pathetic thing anyone can be. Boring. Even rocks can be boring.
Being a furry is a badge of pride. At least furries do amazing stuff and have incredible fun, together. Life sucks a lot, fun is better.
For forty years, I've called myself a unicorn. It's been my symbol, the way I sign my signature, my totem, my personal Ideal. It's an impossible animal, but it means more to me than anything else. It is my nation, my persona, my ambition.
Now I've got a new way to play with that. HUZZAH!
So... I am proud to be furry.
Because, hell, looking at my life? I apparently am. I just didn't know what to call it, and when I did know what to call it, there was this stupid internet crowd telling me it was 'bad'. They are wrong.
It's always cool to learn new things.
Especially when they are fun. I like fun. Fun is good.
Now I feel like a jerk - and I should - for some of the jokes I've done about furries.
Like this:
pasteldefender.com/images/jesus%20cures%20the%20leopards.jpg
Okay. I still think that's funny. Forgive me.
Oh... I had to add this, too, because I discovered it when I tried to find my furry joke:
pasteldefender.com/images/cooters.jpg
I have done some weird art. Like this:
pasteldefender.com/images/churchsign.jpg
1384700 About the Jesus image, did you know there are Christian Furs? The sites linked in that page were some of the most interesting I browsed a few years ago, back when I learned about the existence of furries and became curious about the fandom. Some even worship Jesus as Narnia's Aslan.
1384700
^dubs
Anyway, you have to admit the furry fandom has drawn a lot of negative attention to itself over the years, with nazifurs, cub porn, and diaperfurs as some examples, as well as their frequent run-ins with the chans, Encyclopedia Dramatica and other bastions of internet-style humor. These people often do little harm to others, but they're just so out there that it's difficult to accept them as serious if you're just getting familiar with them (and sometimes, even if you are familiar).
That, and the extreme responses of some to the (arguably) inevitable criticism of the fandom's excesses is noteworthy. In particular, furries are often stereotyped as being overly dramatic, and for good reason: the fandom attracts a large number of immature people wishing to differentiate themselves from "mundanes" by joining in something that arouses significant controversy. Then you have the occasional nutjobs that you find in any fandom, and of course bronies and sonic fans are both worth volumes of psychoanalysis on their own...
But I recognize that most of the mockery of the furry fandom isn't serious enough to get upset over. All fandoms receive some criticism and nastiness at some point; some more than others. As bronies, it's important to recognize that however much we may love the show, people just aren't going to take seriously a bunch of adults fawning over a TV show for little girls, no matter what we do.
It's the same with anything that gets people upset. The people dancing naked on floats during pride parades and wearing two foot mohawks in the suburbs have the right idea--to have fun and revel in who they are.
The problem comes when people fail to understand why their extreme behavior upsets some people. This is part of why furries are the target of so much mockery: many of them are incredibly defensive about being made fun of for anything furry-related, and tend to retaliate with excessive anger to minor upsets. This, of course, is unhealthy, because anything anyone can do can be subject to mockery at some point (you should hear the jokes my law professors tell about lawyers) and overreacting the way some parts of the furry fandom do just draws more negative attention.
As a person who enjoys a cartoon for little girls, I can't take myself seriously. I don't think anybody should, and to get upset over being giggled at for wearing an animal costume is a waste of time. There are better things people can do with their effort than get mad about something like that, in my opinion.
1385245
That was a well said, well considered post, and I see your point. It is rational that any fandom should have it's problem children, so it's rational that my exceptionally good time cannot be indicative of the overall nature of Furry. There's going to be some bad apples in there, and I will undoubtedly encounter them as some point. I will beware.
I agree about not taking things seriously, especially one's own self.
I do maintain though that hurting people's feelings for shits and giggles is pathological, and that it is possible for people who don't take things seriously to still be hurt by such behavior. Why? Because cruelty is just plain wearing. It wears people down, and it takes all the fun away. Has nothing to do with taking things too seriously - it has everything to do with the fact humans are social apes and are genetically programmed to be affected by other humans emotionally... whether they like it or not.
That, I think, is the thing all the Dramatica and 4Chan and so on bastards don't grasp. They don't get it that when they bring some 'weirdo' or 'freak' to tears, it very often has nothing at all to do with their target of abuse taking some thing or other 'too seriously'. (pretty judgemental crap there, being able to determine such a thing for someone ELSE.)
Social apes get hurt because being trashed just plain hurts - because social animals are tuned to respond to social input. A lot of lulz are being justified falsely - there is no justice in hurting a fragile monkey who can't help being programmed by evolution to care about what others think. That same circuit is the basis of all civilization. Abusing those who have more of that function is like pissing into the communal water supply. It's awful.
Robert A. Heinlein:
"This sad little lizard told me that he was a brontosaurus on his mother's side. I did not laugh; people who boast of ancestry often have little else to sustain them. Humoring them costs nothing and adds to happiness in a world in which happiness is always in short supply."
Every time the bastards rag on some poor soul who likes to pretend he is whatever, or likes to dress as whatever, or is bizarre for whatever reason... it says more about the bastards than the poor weird soul who has nothing better in their life.
It says, clearly, that the bastards also have nothing of value in their own lives, besides hurting others. You know - evil.
I'll happily side with a truckload of harmless folk who like weird things over the best (is there such a thing?) rotten bastard who likes kicking people down for lulz.
Because sociopathy is the opposite of civilization. By definition, it is truly misanthropy.
1385458
"This sad little lizard told me that he was a brontosaurus on his mother's side. I did not laugh; people who boast of ancestry often have little else to sustain them. Humoring them costs nothing and adds to happiness in a world in which happiness is always in short supply."
Awesome quote! Thank you very much!
Ooh, and who could forget singing "Smile Smile Smile" and mangling half the transitions because I hadn't practiced it much at all...
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I was impressed by your singing voice. I can't sing worth crap anymore - it's one of the things I lost in exchange for my life. I kind of admire people who can sing. Your voice was great, Alfador! You sounded wonderful.
1393143
Thank you!
Well there's your problem - You were hanging out with people who need an excuse to get drunk. They're called "squares" and are to be avoided whenever possible.
I'm really glad you had a good time and I hope this helped lift some of that depression. For a person who's really rocking the human capacity for empathy, sensitivity, and deontological morality, I can only imagine the balm a milieu like this must have been. That quadruped suit is really something, and I've seen articulated legs similar to those in a documentary, and when they interviewed the inventor, from what she said of her dreams since she was a kid, it was obvious she was a furry.
Your observations about conventions are on target, I think - There's something off about them, in general, I feel. I went to GenCon once as a kid, and a Star Trek convention once, and they were fun, but in college and now afterward, I've had to go to them to promote comics and graphic novels I've worked on, and after the first couple times it's just been... I dunno, really depressing. It's a big part of the reason I'm trying to break into captial-F Fine Art. I had to go to Wizard World here in Chicago last year to promote something, and I only bought one thing there, a series of woodcuts about drinking, at the individual vendor tables, called "Man v. Liver," because it was the only thing I felt was "real" (it's been a great coffee table book; everyone picks it up). But I've been trying to explain that ennui to people, and I think you've pointed out some of the symptoms I overlooked in just trying to diagnose the overall malaise. It's like... OK - We have these universe-spanning imaginations and can create all kinds of wondrous, breathtaking adventures and scenarios, but you go to a convention, and it's just all T-shirts with jokes about the Death Star or Mario Kart, the same "stubby cartoon" lazy geek shit that clutters my Facebook feed. It's too... "codified." Real dreaming, real imagination about worlds and adventures that never were, except in the human soul - That's something you share with your friends up in a treehouse or late at night at a sleepover after the adults have told you all to go to bed, or in a dorm room while passing a bong one way and a controller for a turn in GTA the other, or all lying on your backs on the carpet of your apartment, sharing a couple cases of beer and trying to outdo one other in creativity and imagination. It's something very intimate and special, and not just a little bit illicit, and seeing it turned into a real culture with real rules just... I dunno, did you see "The World's End?" It's like being Simon Pegg's character and going to see all your old friends only to find out they've all settled down and become Respectable. I realize his character is held up as an object of ridicule, but I'm talking about the little part of all of us that's supposed to be like that. ...I dunno.
I realize the irony in that this video is from a convention, but when it's just you and your true friends in an intimate setting, it really does feel like this (notice the symbolism of the Macross battle over the background of a coffee shop), but seeing it all, in T.S. Eliot's phrase, "etherized upon a table" at a convention is a bit of a slap in the face in terms of an unavoidable question of how you're spending your life. Maybe I'm just a huge hipster and miss it being a furtive, private thing. Maybe that's part of why I got into Ponies. Naw, it's because them shits is adorable.
People certainly do make fun of furries, but I think - at least nowadays - a lot of it is in good fun. I certainly cracked a lot of jokes at their expense, in the same vein as that comic you posted, and once flying-tackled my best friend at a party when he joked about being one, but I never really had any animus against them; they were just a good whetstone for snark. I don't do it anymore, though, because A) I'm a fucking adult now B) I worked as a private drawing tutor and had a couple kids as clients who were furries, which kinda desensitized me, and C) people seem to just be kinda... over it. But it's one of those things that's far enough outside of the mainstream that some teasing, even mostly friendly, is just the friction that any "point" would experience for positioning itself there in culture-space. To maintain otherwise is, I think, to fall into the "decadent" version of social justice embodied by the popular image of Tumblr, that would sand off all the world's corners and remove all relative evaluation of any action whatsoever. Obviously genuine malice or cruelty shouldn't be allowed or condoned, but to also block all teasing or avuncular mockery would, I think, be ultimately self-defeating and impoverish people's perspective of social possibility.
But that point you make about the psychology of interpersonal status - that people care what others think of them - I think explains more than it first appears. The people who give shit to furries aren't ultimately doing it to put them down and make them feel bad about themselves, but to raise their own relative status in the eyes of their peers. They're doing it precisely because humans care what other humans think. It's that same Janus-faced nature of human morality, much in the same way that the vast majority of violence is committed not out of selfishness or cruelty or greed, but to right a perceived wrong or avenge an insult.
Not sure, though, if I agree with ponies being inside the Venn circle of furry. There's certainly a resemblance, but I think it's like "reptiles," in that it's not a true clade but a "grade" of things that are easily taken as part of the same type of thing. Like arachnids vs. insects. To me, MLP is more "talking animals," along the lines of Watership Down or Rudyard Kipling, while furry is more (this sounds negative but I assure you it's just shorthand) "Dr. Moreau"-type anthropoid renderings of stylized takes on admirably graceful mammals. Frankly I find "anthro" stuff to be kinda gross, but I certainly don't begrudge anyone their enjoyment of it.
IIRC you're in Olympia, and I'm currently working with some people in Seattle, one of whom I hooked up with that job through some other people I know there (all of whom are trying to get me to move there), so if I ever am in the area I would totally be down for meeting up with you and any family you wanted to make the jaunt up there with you (I'm still too starving of an artist to own a car).
But anyway, yeah - I hope this was what you needed to get ba (I can't believe I'm doing this) back on the horse and to that place of joy you mentioned you need to be in to write. Assuming that's what you feel you need to do.
Considering the caption for one of those images, this is rather hilarious...but I would love to know...
What bug is being cosplayed there? Seriously, not knowing what sort of bug that is is actually bugging me.
...now my head hurts.
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I honestly do not know!
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That is just evil then. Now I will forever be sad for never finding out what the mystery person in a bug costume was supposed to be. My life shall be plagued by this mystery for all my time on this Earth
It is however, a very good costume. Almost makes me think he came from a Sci-Fi convention of some sort. I could see an alien like that on Star Trek or Star Wars. Bet that thing took a heck of a lot of work to get to look right.
It paid off though
I'm a few months late on this, but yeah, I've gotta say, there's something pure and magical about furry cons for me, for the same reasons you list. I cut my teeth on some old sci-fi/fantasy cons back in the days before the Internet, when they were just regional geek gatherings where you got to meet actual professional authors and artists if you wanted but you could also go hang out with folks dressed as Klingons or furries in the room parties, watch the hall costuming, etc. Furry was all that, but as a young and earnest Otherkin, it also contained folks who were my tribe, and the ones who weren't were all there to be creative and celebrate creativity. Furry is the only fandom I've found in which there is really no canonical source material. It's all DIY. How remarkably egalitarian! It has its own celebrities, yes, but they always were avoidable if you wanted to just go and find cool what you found cool.
You can still get that sort of feeling in smaller sci-fi cons — Convolution in the SF Bay Area has been awesome, for instance — but the instant you start throwing celebrities and crowds in, people go because of the celebrities and become part of the crowds, and the magic goes away. (I'd rather hit myself in the genitals than attend Comicon. *shiver*) Furry's been consistently enjoyable for me. Pony cons … eh, honestly, if it weren't for fanfic I'd skip them. There's so much focused around the showrunners that it feels like the fan community has to throw a few elbows to get the attention it deserves.
Everfree NW has been an awesome exception, what with having, for instance, an entire panel track about writing/fanfic topics rather than a single "meet these biggish-name authors" event. (I paneled this year and am on staff for 2014.) It's also held in the same hotel as Rainfurrest and has a significant amount of staffing crossover, so there you go. It's just something in the Seattle water.
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(Don't feel bad, I remember the days when FC struggled to hit 2000 myself.)
Man, those numbers date you.
Further Confusion is the largest west coast con. 2013 attendance was 3,232. (Anthrocon was 5,577.) What amazes me most consistently is that furry fandom has grown in size so gracefully.
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You … don't happen to be the Solitaire from AFD, do you? Long shot, but I have to ask.
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I don't know what AFD is. Sorry.
Also, I kind of get what you're saying with regards to pony cons, but like I said, I had good friends, I was able to meet fellow fanfic writers like Applejinx and Present Perfect, and I still have the card drawing of my OC I got from Katie Cook. I don't regret meeting her at Bronycon.
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I don't get drunk even with excuses, because I still can't get over how terrible alcohol tastes. What does that make me?