Traveling to the Midnight Dimension - Furpocalypse 2025

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More than 3,100 furries in the northeast United States converged towards downtown Stamford, Connecticut, last weekend for Furpocalypse 2025, according to the convention’s registration figures.

Furpocalypse Presents: The Midnight Dimension, the theme for this year, is an homage to the legendary CBS anthology series The Twilight Zone from 1959. Across the convention space were graphics inspired by the show’s distinct imagery, drawn by artists and guests of honor Hoosier Steyn and Clyde K. In the hotel’s restaurant, episodes from the show played on televisions; on the main event stage, a white door, emblematic of The Twilight Zone’s opening sequence, had been placed at the rear and brightly lit.

Once again raising money for Q+, Furpocalypse attendees pulled together $18,000 for the LGBTQ+ youth support organization. This is the fourth year in a row that the charity has been the beneficiary of the con.

The Colorado-based art group Animal Art Crimes returned to Furpocalypse with a multi-night popup in the underground parking garage of the hotel, sanctioned by the convention. During the charity auction, members painted on the white door, theatrically avoiding a black cat ‘hotel manager’ with a faux door made of cardboard. (The real door raised $1,800, consisting of a tenth of the total amount to Q+.)

The continuing gifted curse of growth

Furpocalypse, like all furry conventions, has been seeing immense growth since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. The amount of attendees continued to strain some of the convention’s capabilities.

Thursday’s registration line, for example, was more than two hours long. Snaking outside of the room packed with queueing attendees, it stretched through the nearby artist’s alley. Checking people in at registration has been hampered by the limited number of licenses on a product no longer sold, a purchase the convention said it made around 2016. The registration team is considering using open-source registration software used by other cons, or to build one in-house.

The fursuit parade had 870 participants, and the line to get there was similarly extensive. Fursuiters were to gather in the main events ballroom on Saturday, but the line to enter the holding space took up what was the entire registration line, going backwards and again out into the artist’s alley. This year, the route differed, going from the back of the hotel and wrapping around the front. Due to the rain, and despite a full sunny day in between, the lawn where the photo was taken was still damp enough to wet some fursuiters’ feet paws.

Overlapping on Halloween once again, Furpocalypse held its costume contest and hotel room trick-or-treating on Friday, October 31. Three dozen people dressed up for the contest—some in pairs, some out of fursuit—to compete for likes on Bluesky. Ponkers, a raccoon from Boston, won in an Octoberfest drag costume.

Hilton? No, DoubleTree by Hilton

The Hilton was rebranded to DoubleTree by Hilton. (Flayrah/Eberra Wolf)

The convention returned for the second year in a row at the same venue at 1 First Stamford Place, only the building name was rebranded from a Hilton to a DoubleTree by Hilton. Rebrands are not new to the Connecticut convention, which held its inaugural event in 2014 at 100 Berlin Road, in Cromwell. That venue cycled through three brands during Furpocalypse’s time there—until the contract ended in 2019 and the hotel was closed by the state for tax nonpayment months later. Following that, the convention then set its sights to 2701 Summer Street, in Stamford, which also underwent rebrandings. (Both 2020 and 2021 conventions were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, like nearly every other furcon.)

As hotels age, they sometimes rebrand to match the quality of the building. Wear and tear was evident throughout the hotel, manifesting nearly everywhere: many doors were broken with signs saying so; wallpaper in places was peeling; my shower’s plumbing wasn’t affixed firmly. This is not new to the convention or to longtime attendees, either. 100 Berlin Road became increasingly dilapidated over time, with the final year in 2019 reaching a breaking point.

On Thursday, rain poured down, showering arriving attendees, some who walked from the nearby train station to the hotel. One attendee, Brimstone Hyena, walked from the nearby LaQuinta hotel in fursuit. The glass-roofed lobby atrium leaked water, some of which pooled in a corner. In another part of the building, water leaked through the roof and onto carpeting by the registration line.

Worse, the permanent outdoor structure over the dealer’s den partially flooded. “At this time, we have only been notified of one vendor who had a few items damaged during the flood,” the convention said in a statement. In his convention president’s feedback panel Sunday night, Mr. DeWolfe said he expects the hotel to reimburse the damaged items, adding that “I was there when the dam broke.”

“The curse of the Red Lion,” as it is known to a few staff and convention attendees, that dogged the convention for so long with hotel problems, may be over. Compared to last year, the hotel was much better at accommodating the convention, multiple attendees and staff members said. Only one elevator broke of the five throughout the whole weekend, good for a furry convention. In addition, the hotel will begin a complete renovation sometime next year. It is unclear how the hotel will undergo construction, and whether it will mean a reduced room count for next year’s Furpocalypse or if some spaces will be unavailable.

Complaints about food and beverage from last year were largely resolved. A few attendees had complained about the quality of food last year. People reported getting charged differing amounts at the concession stand last year, and that the bar cocktails were inconsistently made or made without the right ingredients.

“This place is well-loved, and need[s] a refresh,” Mr. Dewolfe said in an interview with Flayrah, “And I think it will be back up to the brand standard they need it to be.” In regards to last year’s rocky start, this year the staff was “much more aware of what this convention is and how it can tax the utilities on the hotel. After understanding exactly what this event is, they were much more prepared, and I’m very pleased with that.”

Gianmarco Soresi: now a furry

A special guest was booked by Furpocalypse on Sunday night: the comedian Gianmarco Soresi. Like the lines for registration and the fursuit parade, it was lengthy, wrapping around the perimeter of the spacious lobby. More than 250 people had lined up for a space with a capacity of just over 200. The first people in line got there around an hour and a half before the doors opened, at the start of closing ceremonies.

Soresi performed a special furry-centric standup show for the audience, many wearing their fursuit heads throughout. He opened by informing the audience that he studied up on furries by watching “CSI”, in reference to an infamous CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode, eliciting hearty laughs. Soresi learned many things that night: how to dance like a furry, the difference between furries and pups, how to give a lap dance. He tried on an attendee’s fursuit, remarking that it was—big surprise—very difficult to see in.

“Pokemon aren’t known for their cocks,” Soresi offhandedly and seemingly-sincerely said at one point. The packed furry audience responded with a collective noise that cannot be described with words. Hearing the reaction, he appeared to have a stark realization.

Near the beginning of the set, Soresi offered three options for what his fursona might be: a wolf, a tabby cat, or a flamingo. Soresi showed wolf and cat badges worn around the neck someone had drawn for him. The audience, he told them, were to pick his fursona for him at the end. His girlfriend, he added, thought of him as a wolf. The audience largely preferred the tabby cat during an initial poll. But in the end, a flamenco was chosen. “One of us! One of us!” the crowd chanted after Soresi commented that he wanted a fursuit.

The audience loved Soresi’s jokes. Someone gave him a red “Ask me about Furpocalypse 2025” t-shirt near the end. After the set, for more than an hour, Soresi stood in front of a Furpocalypse wall sign taking photos with dozens of fans until he had to leave.

Attendees who spoke to Flayrah reported enjoying their time over the weekend. Furpocalypse will return to the same space with Furpocalypse: Rock ‘n’ Roll Nightmares in the DoubleTree. Dates have not been released, but a source familiar with the convention's plans says that “one can assume” it will be October 29 through November 1, 2026.