Voting starts for the 2018 Ursa Major Awards
The 2018 Ursa Major Awards voting window has been opened! Send them your e-mail address, and you can vote for any of the nominations in 13 categories. Voting closes on Sunday, March 31. The winners will be announced at AnthrOhio 2019 (May 23–26).
Please re-post this announcement if you're on an active furry message forum or social media site!
This year's nominees are...
(* Note: an asterisk means the nominee was not submitted to the 2018 Recommended Anthropomorphics List)
Best Motion Picture
Live-action or animated feature-length movies.
- Avengers: Infinity War
- Isle of Dogs
- Mary Poppins Returns
- Peter Rabbit
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Best Dramatic Series or Short Work
TV series or one-shots, advertisements or short videos.
- Aggretsuko (Season 1, 11 episodes)
- Bojack Horseman (Season 5, 12 episodes)
- Brush: A Fox Tale (animated short by Willi Anton and Faustina Arriola)
- DuckTales (2017 Reboot, Seasons 1-2, episodes 10-29)
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Season 8, 27 episodes)
Best Novel
Written works of 40,000 words or more. Serialized novels qualify only for the year that the final chapter is published.
- Cosmic Lotus (excerpt?), by Bernard Doove (CreateSpace)
- Once A Dog, by Shaune Lafferty Webb. (Jaffa Books)
- Small World, by Gre7g Luterman. (Thurston Howl Publications)
- The Snake's Song (excerpt), by Mary E. Lowd. (ShadowSpinners Press)
- Voyage of the Dogs, by Greg van Eekhout. (HarperCollins)
Best Short Fiction
Stories less than 40,000 words, poetry, and other short written works.
- The Beating of Wild Hooves, by Dwale. (excerpt) (In CLAW, volume 1, Bad Dog Books) [Mature Audiences]
- Come To Todor!, by Fred Patten.† (In Exploring New Places, FurPlanet Productions)
- A Legend in His Own Time, by Fred Patten.† (In What the Fox?!, Thurston Howl Publications)
- Of Starwhals and Spaceships, by Mary E. Lowd. (In Daily Science Fiction)
- Uri's Bitterweet Story, by Uranium 235. (CrossTime Cafe)
(If anyone has better links to story excerpts for the last two categories, let us know.)
Best Other Literary Work
Story collections, comic collections, graphic novels, non-fiction works, and serialized online stories.
- CLAW, Volume 1, edited by K.C. Alpinus. (FurPlanet Productions) [Mature Audiences] *
- Heat 15, produced by Dark End, Teagan Gavet. (Sofawolf Press) [Mature Audiences]
- ROAR 9, edited by Mary E. Lowd. (FurPlanet Productions)
- Tales From the Guild: World Tour, edited by Ocean Tigrox. (FurPlanet Productions)
- What the Fox?!, edited by Fred Patten.† (Thurston Howl Publications)
Best Non-Fiction Work
Includes documentaries, opinion pieces, and news articles.
- The Day that Fandom died - November 12th, 2018 - Loss of a creator and a super fan (World in Rooview)
- Furries assist, help lead to arrest of Levi "SnakeThing" Simmons (World in Rooview)
- Furries - Down the Rabbit Hole (Fredrik Knudsen)
- Fursuit History, parts 1 to 5 (Culturally F'd)
- This is Life with Lisa Ling: Furry Nation (CNN)
Best Graphic Story
Includes comic books, and serialized online stories.
- Dreamkeepers, by David & Liz Lillie. *
- DreamKeepers Prelude, by David & Liz Lillie. *
- Lackadaisy, by Tracy J. Butler. *
- Rising Sand, by Ty Dunitz and Jenn Lee. [Couldn't find a sufficiently anthro page to link to.] *
- Scurry, by Mac Smith.
Best Comic Strip
Newspaper-style strips, including those with ongoing arcs.
- Carry On, by Kathy Garrison Kellogg.
- Doc Rat, by Jenner.
- Freefall, by Mark Stanley. *
- Part Time Dragons, by Spike Parra and Donna Vu. *
- The Whiteboard, by Doc Nickel.
Best Magazine
Edited collections of creative and/or informational works by various people, professional or amateur, published in print or online in written, pictorial or audio-visual form.
Best Published Illustration
Illustrations for books, magazines, convention program books, cover art for such, coffee-table portfolios.
- Ashley Ash, Will You Be My Valentine. [Published in... ?]
- Tracy Butler, Murder in Surfer's Paradise, cover of FurDU 2018 conbook.
- Caraid, Pirates!, website art for Furry Weekend Atlanta 2019.
- Demicoeur, cover for Exploring New Places, short story anthology.
- Teagan Gavet, cover for CLAW, Volume 1, short story anthology.
Best Game
Computer or console games, role-playing games, board games.
- Deltarune: Chapter 1 (Developer: Toby Fox)
- Detective Pikachu (English release) (Developer: Creatures, Publishers: Nintendo and The Pokémon Company)
- Ghost of a Tale (Developer and Publisher: SeithCG)
- Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! (Developer: Game Freak, Publishers: Nintendo and The Pokémon Company)
- Spyro Reignited Trilogy (Developer, Toys for Bob, Publisher, Activision)
Best Website
Online collections of art, stories, and other creative and/or informational works. Includes galleries, story archives, directories, blogs, and personal sites.
- e621 (art website) [Mature Audiences]
- Furry Writers' Guild (Supporting, informing, elevating, and promoting quality anthropomorphic fiction and its creators)
- Inkbunny (art website) [Mature Audiences] *
- Lackadaisy.com (art and webcomic site) *
- WikiFur (furry fandom encyclopedia)
Best Fursuit
Anthropomorphic costumes.
- Penelope, made by Dludnerad and Paul Kidd, owned by Paul Kidd.
- Ravtrag, made by Suit-a-dile, owned by Ravtrag. *
- SonicFox, made by Yamishizen/Fursuit Enterprise. *
- Zabivaka, FIFA World Cup Mascot 2018.
Good luck to everyone! And if you have the time to vote, why not also e-mail suggestions for the 2019 Recommended Anthropomorphics List?
Comments
Thanks for the nominations. It's much appreciated.
SonicFox may have met his match with Zabivaka... that's gonna be a tough one. The other two are well made as far as design goes though, so it'll be crime that since this is a 'popularity contest' it'll be more judged on which suit had more cultural impact then design.
Umm, Twitter apparently got paid off by Disney, you guys ...
Oh, no. It's happening. Avengers is going to win and it's all my fault!
Though, actually, if it ends up beating Peter Rabbit, I mean, that's probably okay. Just not Isle of Dogs. Or, I guess, Spider-Man, which was just a better movie, even though it's technically on the same "one character wonder" furry level. I haven't seen Mary Poppins, but that also seems like more of a couple scenes with some furry stuff than actually furry, as well.
Don't get too worried. Toy Story 3 made a billion dollars, and it still lost to How to Train Your Dragon.
On the other hand, Fantastic Mr. Fox lost to Avatar ... but I think that's working to Isle of Dogs advantage. Make-up Ursa Major, I guess.
And it would be interesting to see if Wes Anderson actually cared. I mean, I don't think he'd actually be upset he lost a decade a go, if he's even aware, but he's weird enough learning he actually won the furry award might amuse him.
Also, uh, do we have our first posthumous nominee this year?
Well, technically it's the work that was nominated, not its author. It could still happen if a magazine or comic had shut down.
The work is nominated, but doesn't the author receive the award?
Yes, usually, but it could be the publisher as well, on their behalf. Or it could be sent to his next of kin; presumably his sister.
Gee, I wonder how many new-age furries are going to be furious that Inkbunny is in the nominees for best website? *eyeroll*
Not sure, we could ask them DiamondMan.
(Is this like the new Where's Waldo?)
Not every anon is a diamond in the rough.
Nah this ain't him.
I thought DiamondMan was the idiot who comes here abd constantly pisses his pants and cries about cub stuff existing?
I don't know, but he sounds really cool.
...You do realize who owns this site, right? You do realize what other website he owns, right????
Wikifur! Therefore, everyone who has a page about themselves on Wikifur... uhoh
I'm talking about Inkbunny. :V
I don't understand how you could work for a person who also hosts a site that allows cub art, when you yourself believe cub artwork is "Literally pedophilia OMG!"
It's kind of dumb, isn't it?
"The only way to save the agency is for the good people to stay, that's how I see it." - Sam Carter; Deus Ex
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4-xnw6hwLA
So...what are you trying to save, here?
Do you seriously think cub art/stories = Pedophilia???
I just think there's more to the fandom than dying on a fictional hill about fiction, despite some people's concerning obsession with it.
Yeah, sorry, but when people try to say that we need to bring back concentration camps and death camps for anyone into cub (like me), and that people like me, into fictional artwork, should all be hunted down and murdered in our homes, along with anyone who is neutral about cub art existing, I tend to get just a little bit concerned and very much defensive. :V
Are you saying that if it wasn't for you staying here, still writing stories, GreenReaper would turn this site into some kind of paradise for cub-lovers?
Nope. If I left it to GreenReaper Flayrah just wouldn't post anything, like what happened when he was the sole editor when he took over InkBunny.
But the diversity of opinion as passionate as they are is Flayrah's strength, not its weakness.
It's also good for the community because it means less segregation. There are other furry sites which are incredibly segregated and ideologically uniform. Knowing people with different views can sometimes help keep things in perspective.
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~
(Says the guy who wanted reviews moved to their own section ...)
That would've just been organising content. It's still all the same people on the same site.
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~
Just like you organise your own little empire back home... closing off stuff to non-members because you're so paranoid the people you've pissed off all over the place might come there and give you some much-needed comeuppance. Hmmm
I'm starting to believe this guy is not Keemstar.
What I'm trying to point out is that by making ties between different websites, based solely on who the admin is, ignores the individual opinions of the site's members. By your argument, everyone who has a page on Wikifur automatically supports Inkbunny too. I don't like cub artwork, true. Also, you're misquoting me.
How about this: If you use F-List, e621, Fchan, or Furry Network, then you support people shoving fantasy-shaped dildos up their asses. Or if you attend [insert name of furry con here], then you support [random member of con's staff] and [anything that their Guests of Honor support].
You can be a Catholic without supporting the not-so-good aspects of the Church and its leaders. You can be a Republican without supporting the ideologies of politicians currently in power. Flayrah itself has had at least two admins before GreenReaper, and I created my account before his tenure. In all that time, whatever his outlook on Inkbunny is, he's never tried to impose it on me, nor has ever asked me for money. I don't have an account on Inkbunny, and as far as it and Flayrah are concerned, it's like apples and Brussels sprouts.
I really needed that one today dude lmao
So you really do believe that anyone into cub artwork is a pedophile? Do you realize who owns the site you write for? Do you realize how silly that logic is?
By your own reasoning, you're writing for a site owned by a pedophile. Do you not understand how little sense that makes?
Oh my god. Please lurk more. Crossie is making a joke in reference to a comment made elsewhere.
The law is still too slow to catch up with technologicl progress..
Just because nowdays, anthro animals are being used in lieu of real children, doesn't make it any less illegal or morally wrong.
Uh, probably the same people who were furious when it was nominated the last two at least...and won in 2017.
I'm not sure how much it actually deserves to be, it's seemed pretty much a ghetto for a certain kind of people any time I've tried it so I've beyond lost interest.
Uh..."a certain kind of people?" A "ghetto"????
Would you care to explain at all?
Are you implying that anyone into "cub" belongs in a ghetto?
No, I'm pointing out that one exists (due to both external and self-imposed factors.).
I don't see how that means it's a "ghetto" considering the site has more features and better stability than FurAffinity does (Like tag blocking, which every "Inkbunny is for pedos!" nutjob forgets you can do). Must be a pretty well-kept ghetto. Which is a contradiction.
You know, I was kind of in the mood to elaborate on the subject, but you're being hostile and weird all over this article, and this is completely off-topic anyway, so I'll just go ahead and thank you for sharing.
To copy what I said to Sonious:
"Yeah, sorry, but when people try to say that we need to bring back concentration camps and death camps for anyone into cub (like me), and that people like me, into fictional artwork, should all be hunted down and murdered in our homes, along with anyone who is neutral about cub art existing, I tend to get just a little bit concerned and very much defensive. :V"
Bring back death camps specifically for people who annoy me on the Internet.
So you're saying you want to murder me? Really????
Are you fucking defective?
You're the one who wants to put me in a death camp just because I wanted to know if you really consider me a pedophile for liking drawings of small animal people. :V
Are you serious right now? All I did was ask you if you irrationally hate cub to the point of considering it pedophilia, and you want to murder me for that? Are you serious???
Do you think Cub = Pedophilia? :v
This is an article about the AALA Awards.
That's not an answer to my question. It's "Yes", isn't it? :V
http://wondermark.com/1k62/
To copy what I said to Sonious:
"Yeah, sorry, but when people try to say that we need to bring back concentration camps and death camps for anyone into cub (like me), and that people like me, into fictional artwork, should all be hunted down and murdered in our homes, along with anyone who is neutral about cub art existing, I tend to get just a little bit concerned and very much defensive. :V"
Dude, relax. If you think anything said on this website is a sign of anything that's going to snowball into witch-hunts and government crackdowns, that's unnecessary paranoia.
I mean, just pretend you're Canadian. According to section 163 (8) of the Canadian Criminal Code, if anyone in Canada makes, posesses or circulates any content - even fictional - that combines sex with the subject of crime, horror, cruelty or violence - that's technically illegal.
Forget Inkbunny. If anyone in Canada browses FurAffinity with the SWF filter turned off, whatever's been randomly uploaded in the past couple of minutes could get them arrested.
So, anything nice happen to you lately? Got anything positive to say about... I dunno, anything? Here, I'll go first. Last week I surprised my best friend from high school by dropping by his book-reading event, he was promoting his comic book, a biography of an expressionist painter. Then we hung out and I bought him a slice of pizza. We didn't talk about furry stuff because that's not his thing. Good times.
"So, anything nice happen to you lately? Got anything positive to say about... I dunno, anything?"
I passed my first GED test out of four a week ago. Going for the second one this week. Everyone's confident I'll pass that one too. That's about it.
So to make it on topic, the AALA Awards banned cub works in 2009:
https://www.flayrah.com/2880/2009-ursa-majors-open-not-all
So it's safe to say it has been off topic for the AALA for a decade now.
I don't care about the AALA, I care about if the people here legit think that I'm a pedophile for liking drawings.
People are not a hive mind your answer is going to very from person to person.
Do you think you're a pedophile? You seem to be obsessing over this label.
Like I've stated before, I've had multiple unfortunate encounters with people who just LOVE to slap me with that label for the crime of having an interest in drawings, and then loudly stating that they want to murder people like me for it.
Case in point, this idiot's reaction to a random person: https://twitter.com/Kestrain1/status/1100634986980478978
So my answer would be this:
If you inject your dick into a child with the manner you inject the topic of cub porn into every unrelated thread then yes you are a pedophile and are going to jail.
But if you showed restraint and didn't do that, people would give less of a damn.
That clears things up. Thank you.
And thank you for not telling me that I'm the reason guns exist or that I should be hunted down and murdered like an animal, and that it'd be legally justified, as in that tweet.
Nope, I believe in the criminal justice system. So if you did stick you dick in a kid, you'd be behind bars not shot dead.
The fact that your reaction was 'you want me dead' makes me think that the 'if' part of my statement is correct...
It's not correct is it?
Jesus Christ no it's not correct
You don't think GreenReaper and the Inkbunny admins fuck kids, do you? I'm literally no different, I just like drawings of animal people.
No, see, this is the shit I was talking about.
Saying you're acting weirdly defensive about the topic by vehemently denying something nobody here accused you of out of nowhere, is EXACTLY WHAT THE NAZIS DID
Yes I already figured out that you think I'm a pedophile because I like cub art, you don't need to make fun of me for it.
Youre doing it again.
And you've yet to make any attempt to prove my assumptions wrong.
Then it will continue to be your problem, I guess. Best of luck healing from such ~~mental scars, oh and your GED too.
Really? You're going to insult me just because I'm working on a GED? Are you really that petty???? Seriously?
Like, gee, I'm terribly sorry I wasn't able to graduate high school due to various physical illnesses, but I guess that means I'm somehow retarded and deserving of ridicule???
The thing is, DiamondMan, you have used tactics against the content providers of this site that are abusive. You have sock-puppeted, brought up conversations that are irrelevant to the topics at hands, made nasty statements about Flayrah as a site while continuing to use it in ways that are hostile.
You know that statement I made about YouTube cutting people out that are taking up more resources than they are giving in the Keemstar article? That applies to you as well.
Because of this abusive behavior it is making even myself more believing that you are capable of abusing a child if it was in your power to do so, because you are trying to abuse adults, despite most of them having dealt with your kind before and having your number so hard we may as well be the yellow pages.
Even as you seek empathy here, it is of my believe you are merely staging in order so that when eventually you do get yourself banned you can go and point and 'see how mean these guys are.'
For your reading reference.
I'm kind of done with this, and I implore you get your self out of this hole with a rope and not a shovel. Stop digging.
Oh god for fuck's sake I'm not DiamondMan. DiamondMan hates cub, I like cub.
For fuck's sake, I'll make a goddamn account and link it to various sites if it'll prove I'm not that fucking idiot who trolls this site every day
Diamond Man defends cub, not dislikes it. You're not him but you're more like him than you might wanna think. Diamond Man has never contacted me on any other website though so that's a new one.
Oh my god this is making me just want to fucking kill myself to get away from all this stupid bullshit
What is wrong with you people jesus christ
Just when I think everything's done, now suddenly everyone's accusing me of being some random fucking retard
I have to go to class tomorrow, I literally cannot be up all night dealing with this stupid shit and yet here I fucking am, getting yelled at by random people who are calling me somebody I'm not
You know you could just try ... leaving, right?
(The comment notification email thing is annoying, though; next time, try unchecking the "notify me when new comments are posted" box, though since you already didn't and you're an Anon who can't "unsubscribe" from comment sections manually, you're just kinda screwed on this one.)
Like, even fucking GreenReaper and Equivamp told you I'm NOT him, so why do you think I am?
[attempting to locate where i called you "retarded and deserving of ridicule" for getting a GED]
You didn't he's gas-lighting.
I'm not diamondman for fuck's sake, how do I prove that to you? Holy jesus fuck.
Whether you are or are not does not mean you are not gas-lighting. I am merely taking all Anon comments in this segment.
You accused me of wanting you shot dead, you've accused Equipvamp of calling you retarded. You are trying to twist our words to gain empathy, and it is not appreciated no matter who you are.
"You accused me of wanting you shot dead"
No see, when I said "And thank you for not telling me that I'm the reason guns exist" and so on, I was *literally saying* "Thank you".
That wasn't sarcasm or a joke. It was a legit thank you. :V
Misread the comment it seems... sorry about that.
?????????????????????????????????
Then here's my last bit of advise, from a college educated person to a person who is just getting their GED. If someone says "If you stick your dick in a kid" your response should not be as if that statement is true if it is not true. It should have been, "nope it's fictional fantasy I engage in with adults playing characters or fictional characters only".
It is not I who is confusing fantasy with reality. It is me saying if you're not doing these abhorrent acts in real life then no one fucking cares. Like most sane people know the difference between "Grand Theft Auto violence" and actual carjacking in the real world.
So your response to that should not be equating these two. From what I can tell, the 'protect the fictional kids' laws have only been used in conjunction with real abuse pics being found on the perp's computer.
Seriously, go watch some "Furries and The Media" panels and take some lessons. If you acted with the mainstream press as you're acting with the furry press you're going to be doing a lot of unnecessary damage to yourself and others.
And if you ever find yourself in the situation where you are arrested, hopefully you take your Miranda Rights more seriously than you do on the Flayrah's comment section. You can talk about what is being talked about here and contribute to actual topics that won't be used against you. It's a thing.
WTF is a new-age furry? New age meant something pretty different to me than what it seems to mean to you. Therians and Otherkin from the 90's might've been new age but furries overall aren't and never were.
"new-age" as in all the under 20 somethings joining the fandom and then getting mad that there's stuff they don't like in it, and then trying to "clean up" the fandom.
WRITING PRO-TIP: For clarity's sake, don't use a term that already has its own meaning (in this case, "new age") to describe something without any connection to that meaning. This goes double when much more descriptive terms are already right there (in this case, "under 20").
I heard the term "Third Wave" to refer to them.
"First Wave": Joined Founding - 2000
"Second Wave": Joined 2001 - 2010
"Third Wave": Joined 2011 - Present
Wasn't third wave also something else? Or maybe I'm thinking New Wave.
Note that Mark Stanley's Freefall is in fact regularly done in color as well as in black and white. You have a link there to the black and white version of Episode #3086. The color version of the same strip is:
http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3100/fc03086.htm
The Freefall color strips still say "Color by George Peterson" even though I am pretty sure Mr. Stanley has been doing his own color for several years now. He's just modest, so the old credit is still up.
Anyway, Florence Ambrose definitely looks better in color, I think, so hopefully this will offer a more equitable voting comparison.
(Four out of the five nominees this year are in my list of favorite comics, so I'm NOT just plugging Freefall!)
Speaking of the nominees, did Rick Griffin withdraw himself from eligibility this year? Housepets has been winning this category pretty much forever, but I can't find anything confirming whether he withdrew his name, or what happened.
Fixed! Sorry about that, I read my Freefall in black-and-white (a hold-over from the old days of printed zines) and I forget there's the color version. I'm surprised Rick Griffin's not on the list this year, now that you mention it...
The amount of nominees with asterisks is interesting.
Furry Times is now publishing furry stories and no other site will do that, if you want more furry stories to win awards please send them to furry times
https://furrytimes.net/category/furry-stories/
No other site publishes furry stories? Not even SoFurry, which hosts the cub pornography stories which you'd never publish, except when you steal it and misattribute it to a "Horatio Husky"?
I don't know what the biggest issue here is:
1) Furry Times news site posting adult works involving under-aged characters in intercourse situations.
2) Furry Times posting stolen work falsely attributed.
3) Furry Times, as a news site, posting content that was created 7 years ago.
That's strange. I wonder where I've been posting furry stories the last few years. Guess it can't have been any of this list of sites that publish furry stories.
https://www.flayrah.com/3734/survey-furry-story-sites
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~
Nice! (this was comment 69 by the way, apparently it renumbers when threads above are added too... dang it)
A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo did not get nominated. What a terrible oversight on the part of Furry Fandom :(
How many votes will it even take for most of those nominees to win? Like 10? Lackadaisy is obviously getting one. People will vote for their favorite fap art site, the movies listed all universally sucked none deserve an award, not even one as insignificant as an Ursa Major. The rest are pretty obscure. At least the nominee list gives people some sugestions of things to go check out. That's about the only real purpose this self congratulatory circle jerk has.
Last year there were just under a thousand voters (which was a significant decrease)
...Well yeah, the point of the Awards and the Recommendations are to help furry fans hear about things to check out. We're a scattered fandom with diverse interests and no central source of information. You can always step up to help, offer constructive criticism and improve things if you're not happy with it? 'Cause whining about it here certainly won't change anything. Making 10 people informed and happier is better than zero. Or do you place more value in negative criticism?
Well, I'm a little surprised that Spyro made it in. Makes me wonder more about how Crash did not get a nom last year. I wonder, did it have something to do with certain designs?
May I also say that I'm glad Mary Poppins Returns got its nomination? It definitely won't win, it's a three-way race between Infinity War, Isle of Dogs, and Spider-Verse. However, Mary's nom makes me so happy because I very much missed those types of anthropomorphic character designs, and especially the 2D animation. Seriously, 3D can do good, but sometimes the classics can be just as, if not more, wonderful in presentation.
I laughed when I learned that Disney had to farm out that sequence of animation because they literally do not have the equipment in-house to make something like that anymore!
For furry fans, that sequence alone is worth the price of admission.
Some updates! Added story excerpts for:
- Dwale's The Beating of Wild Hooves
- Mary Lowd's The Snake's Song
- Bernard Doove's Cosmic Lotus (not sure if this is an excerpt or an early draft)
And fixed the video game link to Deltarune.
My story is missing:
Catching Suzy Snugglepuss in the dark by A.Non.Ymouse
Here is how I will be voting for the Ursa Major Awards once I recieve my voting key and why.
First off, some stuff was kinda strange. There's no Housepets this year? Then I was a bit dissapointed with some categories. Some of the fursuits and artwork are just average. They aren't bad but aren't these supposed to be the best examples that are up for awards? But still...
Best Dramatic Series or Short Work
1) My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Directed by Denny Lu and Mike Myhre, Season 8 Episode 1 to My Little Pony: Best Gift Ever)
I'm a huge MLP fan and there were some great episodes in season 8, particularly the finale! The Christmas special was also a lot of fun, although nothing spectacular.
Best Non-Fiction Work
1) Furries | Down the Rabbit Hole (Created by Fredrik Knudsen, August 13)
First off, great title for a furry documentary. I noticed a mistake here and there but overall I thought it was a solid look at the origins of the furry fandom and it went into details that I wasn't aware of before. Perhaps it spent too much time reading old posts but they were fascinating; not just at the amount of invective but to see that the same nonsense was being spewed back then as it is now.
2) Fursuit History (Culturally F'd, videos; parts 1 to 5, February 16 to December 11)
Very well done and well presented. I never really thought about where fursuiting came from and it was nice to learn those historical aspects.
3) This is Life with Lisa Ling: Furry Nation (CNN, video; November 18)
This was also pretty good but, as I said when it originally came out, I think misrepresented furs in general as broken and needing help. The fandom plays that part for some but it's not representative. Still, positive mainstream content is welcome.
Best Magazine
1) Flayrah, edited by GreenReaper, Sonious, and Dronon. (Internet; January 1 to December 31)
No bias here! :p Still the best place for fandom news and views.
2) South Afrifur Pawdcast (You Tube videos, January to December)
I was a guest on the Pawdcast twice and I helped recruit some of the early guests as well. I'm really impressed with what they've managed to achieve.
3) Culturally F'd (YouTube videos, Sonic OC Rusty Knucklesfur to Fursuit History Part 5: Cosplay)
I've meant to follow them more closely ever since they were on South Afrifur but I kept doing other things. I took a proper look for their Fursuit History nomination though and it's reminded me to watch more.
Best Published Illustration
1) Caraid, Pirates!, website art for Furry Weekend Atlanta 2019.
Just a really beautiful picture. Great colours, great shading, expressive. Excellent.
2) Tracy Butler, Murder in Surfer's Paradise, cover of FurDU 2018 conbook.
The face looks a bit weird but it doesn't completely detract from a good picture. I love the old-fashioned theme it has and the faint blue wiht a mostly colourless background gives it a wonderful feel.
3) Teagan Gavet, cover for CLAW, Volume 1, short story anthology.
There's something about the angle and energy in this one that appeals to me.
Best Game
2) Ghost of a Tale (Developer and Publisher: SeithCG)
While it has its flaws gameplay wise, this is still a beautiful and charming game. Don't forget to read my full review of it here.
Best Website
1) Inkbunny (art website) [Mature Audiences]
It's got a good interface and I feel like it is more faster and more responsive than any other furry site. It's generally a pleasure to use.
2) WikiFur (furry fandom encyclopedia)
I use Wikifur from time to time when I need to look up important furs or conventions. It's a great source of information that would otherwise be either lost or very difficult to find.
3) e621 (art website) [Mature Audiences]
I know not everyone is a fan of it but e621 is a great way to find pictures since it aggregates off many different sites. I often use it to discover artwork and then follow the links to the original source.
Best Fursuit
1) SonicFox, made by Yamishizen/Fursuit Enterprise.
I suppose everyone's heard his name at some point over the past year. He's brought some good publicity to the fandom and you got to respect his gaming skills. It's not the best suit I've ever seen but it's probably the best in the nominations.
2) Zabivaka, FIFA World Cup Mascot 2018.
It's only a mascot but it doesn't look half bad.
3) Ravtrag, made by Suit-a-dile, owned by Ravtrag.
It was hard choosing the third place but in the end, Ravtrag is a full suit.
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~
"Down the Rabbit Hole" is the name of the show. Which talks about rare internet cultures from a historical perspective. It's not exclusive to the furry episode as a subtitle.
I would agree that it was the one I found most interesting. The fact it was done by someone outside the fandom and that it was pretty well researched about older community items was good.
Well now I'm just disappointed. :(
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~
Shame baby... cry us a puddle won't you
I love how some random guy comes by 7 days after this post to insult and harass people for no reason at all
Are you "Just Nonsense" under a different name?
Yeah, I'd been watching it for a while, and then for some reason YouTube skipped that episode in my recommended videos because YouTube is dumb. But I got around to it eventually.
The Down the Rabbit Hole thing is basically a kinder, gentler version of Portal of Evil; more empathetic or at least journalistic rather than antagonistic; heck, a lot of the stuff was featured on PoE at some point.
I voted with a focus on a) feral characters, b) being funny/informative/cute, c) fan work, d) technical quality and e) red pandas
Motion Picture
Dramatic Short Work or Series
Other Literary Work
Graphic Story
Comic Strip
Magazine
Published Illustration
Game
Website
Non-Fiction Work
I think putting Lackadaisy.com in as a website as well as a graphic story is... dubious. Granted, it is a well-constructed website, and does contain artwork beyond that strictly within the graphic story. I thought they might be thinking of the forum, but that's actually on a different domain. Nonetheless, it is up to ALAA to determine suitability in the first instance, and ultimately the voters in the last.
Going in, I thought I'd be tempted to bury my vote by not using all of them where I truly had a ranking on the basis that it might stop my first or second choices winning (arguably a flaw of the current system) but in the end I either didn't have an opinion/knowledge of a work or couldn't pick. I'd prefer being able to score all nominees (as you can do for comments here), not because that's particularly less amenable to gaming, but rather because the current system prevents you from expressing opinions on more than three works, or giving roughly equal values within a category.
As I have said many times those who would normally care about such things actually despise Ursa Major (and I am really toning this down), it can never be a major award and it is time to call it Ursa Minor. https://furrytimes.net/2019/04/03/the-ursa-major-awards-controversy/
I don't know if I want to click on the link with the word minor so close to it.
Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice...
What are you afraid of man....
Hello Ahmar.
I also think this stuff is a crock of shyte...
I think its time to rename it yes?
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