Furry Inception

[Daryn]

I've been a Furry for a really long time. So, I got to thinking recently, what was it that first made the idea of Anthro animals being right up my alley stick? As a kid we all have seen cartoons like The Raccoons or even The Muppets and been curious about them. But I think for me it was the first time I played through Star Fox on the SNES and realized that Furries could be a tad more serious than cute. At that point I didn't really consider myself a Furry. I hadn't been formally introduced to the fandom until much later when I ended up on the internet.

I think though that without those Seeds of The Muppets, The Racoons, Fraggle Rock, and various other toons and games, I probably wouldn't have ended up here.

So I pose the question, tracing back from now, what do you think was the Inception of Furryness for you?

[Rieza]

i think i would have to say cartoons like bugs bunny and wiley coyote but i didn't discover furries til i was on my second run at college and i just happen to sit next to one

[SliceOfDog]

The usual, boring suspects I'm afraid: Disney, Looney Tunes and a bit of Pokemon as well. Before that numerous books from my childhood that all presented animals or animal characters in a positive light, lots of things about farms and parks, Dick King Smith and so on.

Came across the fandom via FurAffinity in 2007 and used it as somewhere to put drawings of my cartoon characters (A dog and a fox, so before finding the fandom I was creating anthro characters), and then the rest sort of tumbled into place. Nothing exceptional, but I'll be interested in what got other people interested in it

[Nelle Kozera]

Meh not sure, for those that know me they are aware of the fact that I grew up on a poor farm in the middle of nowhere. While I had lots of siblings many of those lived hundreds if not thousands of miles away and with my parents working more often than not animals had been around more than people for the first say 6-9 years of my life. Now that enforced the idea of animals as more than pets, humanized if you will combined with the normal cartoons digimon and pokemon franchises and what not. Oddly I have not seen very many Disney movies or other digital media beyond that involved anthropomorphic animals of some fashion (be pretty loose with anthro there)

Long story short several factors combined to making me a furry, but I would say conception and birth where the true starting places for it.

[Acton]

I know about furries since a Usenet SF board in 1999. What did it for me was CSI fur and loathing. I was involved with Conservative causes and Republican campaigning . Lets say I know how Hollywood treats conservatives and evangelicals and the problem of media bias in reporting. When I saw the episode, the first thing that came to mind was furries, along with fundamentalist and Conservatives, was a group Hollywood got wrong. during my research in the fandom and in relation to media bias, I saw furries were having to much fun to stay away.

[SliceOfDog]

Hah, quite a few people seem to have been drawn in by Fur and Loathing. I suppose we should cut it a bit of slack, for all the bad reputation it's poured on the fandom it has certainly given us some new members

And funny that you should mention that kind of logic, Acton. I have bought one or two films recently purely because of their having been badly received, since I don't always trust reviews. Can find some real gems that way.

[Rieza]

I know about furries since a Usenet SF board in 1999. What did it for me was CSI fur and loathing. I was involved with Conservative causes and Republican campaigning . Lets say I away how Hollywood treats conservatives and evangelicals and the problem of media bias in reporting. When I saw the episode, the first thing that came to mind was furries, along with fundamentalist and Conservatives, was a group Hollywood got wrong. during my research in the fandom and in relation to media bias, I saw furries were having to much fun to stay away.

I happened tell a co worker that i was a furry and she had this disgusted look in her eye and I knew immediately what knew she was thinking Fur and Loathing. Now we hang out before work everyday

[Daryn]

I've never seen that CSI episode, but I'm not too surprised that they portray furs negatively. The mainstream media doesn't like anything that happens to be different than the norm. They think that just because people have different tastes that they're immediately disturbed or something. It's odd to find out someone actually got into the fandom as a result of that slur piece.

[Rieza]

Fur and Loathing depicted the fursuit sex side of the fandom. That all furries dress up and yiff

[SliceOfDog]

I do still want to see it though. I enjoy examples of propaganda :p

And like I say, Daryn, I know a few people who joined the fandom through it. Oddly enough, often with bear fursonas o_0