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submitted by Popsip
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What makes someone want be a furry? Now, I'm sure this topic has come up before, but I'm hoping to approach it a a slightly different angle. Do you guys think that some people are more prone to become interested in the furry fandom? Perhaps even a genetic or very early developmental cause that leads to, for lack a better term, "furry tendencies"?

Personally, I cannot even remember when I began being interested in "furry" things. It was long before I knew a furry fandom even existed. From a young age, I preferred movies and TV shows with anthro characters. And if a video game gave me the option, I would always play as an anthro or animalistic character. When I got a bit older, maybe 10 or 11, I began self identifying as a wolf. Furry felt like an important part of who i was and am now, long before I knew there was a name for it.

So, I want know what you guys think. What makes someone a furry? Did you do "furry" stuff before you knew there was a fandom, and if so, what did you do? Do you think someone can choose to be a furry or is it a part of who they are?

submitted by WhiskiWolf
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Here is an article, dated April 3, in The Muse, a student newspaper in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada:

http://themuse.ca/2014/04/03/investigating-the-oft-misunderstood-furry-fandom/

The article looks at the furry activities on the campus of Memorial University of Newfoundland, and features an interview with local furry Will "Chu Ward" Marshall.


Investigating the oft-misunderstood furry fandom
By Laura Howells

Furry: for some people, the term may be foreign. For others, it may conjure up a range of connotations, from the positive to the downright disturbing. In recent weeks, furry fandom has been a topic of discussion for MUN students, as posters calling for the convergence of furries in the university have been plastered around campus.

The posters are the work of MUN student and furry, Will Marshall, who also goes by the furry name, Chu Ward. Ward sat down with the Muse to discuss what being a furry means, the misconceptions surrounding the fandom, and the furry community in St. John’s.

At its core, the furry fandom consists of people who are interested in fictional anthropomorphic animal characters. According to Ward, there is no specific way to be a furry; people express their furry identity in a wire range of ways.

For some people, being a furry means dressing up in an animal costume, known as a “fur suit,” and role playing or attending public furry events. Many “fur suiters” handcraft their suit, while others spend anywhere from a few hundred to a thousand dollars having a suit custom-made. However, donning a fur suit is hardly something such furries do everyday.

“As any fur suiter will tell you, it’s actually very physically exhausting to wear one of those things because it doesn’t breathe at all and you’re in there sweating all day. It’s something that they plan in advance,” said Ward. “It’s usually in a very social context. It’s not just something they wear around the house whenever they feel like it.”

Ward says that for fur suiters, dressing up as an animal is a way to let loose and express themselves freely.

“It’s kind of like the anonymity of the internet. You’re behind a mask,” said Ward. “When people see you out in public they see a character, they don’t see you. So you can act how you would want to have your character act, instead of you just being in plain clothes like me, barking. In fur suits it’s more a performance than just a weird way of behaving.”

However, the majority of furries are not fur suiters. Many furries enjoy role-playing as an animal online, while other furries simply like to draw human-like animals or animals shaped like humans. For Ward, being a furry means role-playing online and looking at anthropomorphic art.

Ward says one of the biggest misconceptions people have about furries is that they are simply people who like to ‘dress up in an animal costume and have sex.’

“I’m not going to lie and say there isn’t sexuality in the fandom, but there’s sexuality in every single fandom out there because we’re human beings,” said Ward. “But it’s not what we’re about.” He adds that most of the hatred surrounding furries is based on ignorance and insecurity.

Just as there is a variety of ways one can be a furry, the level of connectivity people feel with their furry-identity also varies.

“Some people genuinely feel like maybe they were a mouse in a past life,” said Ward, explaining that some equate their furry identity to a form of shamanism. “Other people are just like no, it’s just a character I play as on the Internet.”

Ward says that for most people, being a furry does not mean feeling their expressed human identity is incongruous with their actual identity.

“The majority of the furries I talk to, if I were to ask them, hey are you really a wolf? They would say, uh no. There’s often a very large disconnect between what people do in the context of being a furry and how they actually feel about themselves as a person.”

When furries are figuring out what animal they should be, Ward says many are influenced by cartoons or anime they enjoyed as children; Ward’s furry animal, for example, is a Pikachu.

“There are lots of dragons, dragons is a big one. It doesn’t have to be anything real. Trying to role-play as a furry you have to presuppose some level of non-reality.”

When Ward was realizing he was a furry at age 14, he felt extremely alone, figuring he was just the “one weirdo in Newfoundland.” Through the posters he is putting up around campus, he hopes to connect similarly thinking furries to the broader Newfoundland furry community.

“With all the stigma that you get on the Internet you’re convinced that there’s something wrong with you. Finding other people, tangible people, not just on the other side of the screen, but people that relate to you and have likely felt the exact same experiences you have, really feels good.”

The furry community in Newfoundland currently consists of around 50 active members and is always looking to expand. Furries sometimes gather for picnics in the park, participate in social events like bowling, or meet up at conferences like Sci-Fi on the Rock. Ward enjoys the open-mindedness of the furry community and the sense of belonging it fosters. He says that although his posters have only received a dozen serious responses so far, no one who contacted him had any idea there was a furry community in St. John’s.

“I’m convinced that if I keep at it, there’s going to be more furries out there that will know they’ve got a group of people who feel the same way as they do and they can feel welcome in that community.”

submitted by v3r50n
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submitted by Yiffing_Time
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submitted by ProfessorNope
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Comic series about a lawyer who is also a tiger. The interesting aspect is changing genres and art styles between each story.

In their words

He's a tiger... he's a lawyer. He's Tiger Lawyer! The titular legal practitioner brings his own brand of justice to the courtroom and the concrete jungle. Each issue of Tiger Lawyer features two original stories, each in their own genre and presented by different art teams.

Rating

This site contains slightly offensive material.  Chance of mild swearing and mildly disturbing imagery.

Additional links

Store

Comixology

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submitted by Foxygen
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submitted by TonyDiGerolamo
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submitted by M1JazzBass
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submitted by evol0monky6666
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submitted by Ziaki
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The title gives you all you need to know as it's pretty much a bear simulator. You play in FPB (First Person Bear) and do bear things which include exploring, eating fish and plants, striking down anything that dare stand before your might, increasing your stats, sleeping and discovering mysteries of your forest home.

Difficult to tell if this is an oncoming trend of slapstick animal simulators or just coincidence.

I am left wondering what fish simulator is like. Dodging fishermen’s hooks, jumping up stream, avoiding bigger fish…

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Dear Papabear,

I'm having a problem which is leaving me feeling pretty down and depressed and I'm not sure what to do about it. Also just a warning this letter might be somewhat jumbled as I’m bad with words.

Basically, I’m lonely, not just for a relationship but for any form of social interaction in general. After high school I pretty much lost contact with all of my friends; my only one left is my best friend but with her job and her going to college we barely get to hang out. Honestly, most of my friends are online, but I've also been losing them as well. Over half the people on my Skype I barely see anymore.

I want to meet new people and make new friends and even maybe one day find that special someone, but I’m just not sure how to go about it. I am in every sense of the word .... a shut in. I don't like leaving my home that often. Usually, I only leave if its a necessity or if a friend invites me over, and with the latter barely being an option I don't go out and do things. I have only left my house once for a job interview in the past two months.

I've read some similar letters you've answered and I recall you recommending to go out and get hobbies etc., but I don't have any hobbies or interests that could get me out of my house. The only thing I could think of is a small fur meet that goes on in my town once a month, but I've been too nervous to go because 1) I have severe social anxiety; 2) I don't know how to approach anyone there since I wouldn't know anyone and I would be kinda embarrassed to just pop up out of nowhere.

Sorry if this letter was kind of unorganized and I hope answering this wont be too much trouble or a bother to you, and thank you for taking the time to read my letter.

From Ati

* * *

Hi, Ati,

The solution to your problem is to overcome your social anxiety. No social anxiety, no blockade against meeting people, and once you are able to meet people you will make friends, and once you make friends, your loneliness will be gone.

There’s a difference between just being shy and having social anxiety—it’s a difference of degree, really. People who are merely shy can generally function in society, though timidly, while those with debilitating social anxiety find that it profoundly affects their ability to have a normal life. If you are spending most of your life “shut in” your home it will make it hard, if not impossible, to hold down a job, go to school, or have friends and loved ones in your life. And it sounds like a problem that is growing worse for you, given your statement that you had friends in high school but now are becoming more and more disconnected.

Some people believe that the advent of the Internet and social networks can be the solution for social anxiety because you can interact safely through a keyboard or webcam. But, as you are discovering, this notion is fallacious. As you become more disengaged from life (you have no hobbies or interests because you are not interacting with the real world around you and, thus, become remote from it, intellectually and spiritually) you have less and less to talk about. People, quite frankly, will find you boring and uninteresting to interact with. This explains why you are losing friends and contacts.

Papabear is finding this an increasing problem in the furry world, and, likely, the rest of American society as well. I’ve lost count of how many text conversations I’ve had like this:

Furry: hi

Papabear: hello

Furry: how are you?

Papabear: I’m fine, thanks.

Furry: what are you doing?

Papabear: I’m working, how about you?

Furry: chillin

Papabear: Great. Did you want something?

Furry: just to chat

Papabear: Okay, what do you want to chat about?

Furry: I dunno

Papabear: Well, I better get back to work then

Furry: Don’t go I want to talk

Papabear: Sure, what about?

Furry: dunno

Papabear: (making an excuse) Oh, gtg, my boss is calling me. Bye!

If this sounds like you, then maybe you can see the problem. It’s not fun to talk to someone with nothing going on in his head. The way to do that is to get involved with your life, so here are some things you can do to overcome your anxiety:

• Start by getting yourself the self-help book Overcoming Social Anxiety and Shyness by Gillian Butler.  You can buy a used or Kindle copy for under ten bucks.
• If you can, find a therapist to help you.
• Social anxiety is based on your fears of what might happen should you interact with others, rather than what is actually happening. People suffering from this get freaked out because they believe people are constantly judging them. This is because you’re filling your head with negative thoughts of how people will see you. You therefore need to be aware of when you have these negative thoughts and, when you do, stop yourself and force your outlook into positive mode. For example, say you’re going to that interview, and the thought enters your head, “They won’t want me; I haven’t worked in a while and don’t have many skills....” Stop yourself right there and tell yourself, “I don’t know that. I can be a hard worker, and I’m willing to learn or do anything for this job, I’ll promise to do my best and look forward to working my way up the ladder!” Going to an interview with this outlook will give you a confident appearance which, I can tell you, is very appealing to a potential employer.
• Start working on slowly, very slowly, getting out of the house and meeting people. Try a one-on-one before you go to a furmeet, for example. Try inviting a local furry to your home to do something innocuous like play a video game. After a little of this, try a small gathering of 2-4 friends, and work your way up to things like meets and cons.
• Don’t get freaked out if you have a setback of some kind. Take a deep breath and get back on the horse and keep trying.

There is nothing more dull and isolating than being a hermit. Interacting with people is how you learn things, and when you learn stuff you gain an interest in this incredible world around you that is filled with fascinating, wondrous things to get excited about, and when that happens, you will have begun to live again, and part of living is finding friends and falling in love.

It’s all interconnected, Ati, but you have to take the first step.

Hugs,

Papabear

The piece does not give much away in terms of what is going on, but it does leave to your imagination world building where there are criminal gangs denoted by their chosen mask. In many respects I like how the story goes nowhere, because I am left to my own thoughts on what the backstory and context is between these groups. I would be stoked for a Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels style caper.

Directed by Adam Hashemi DP(s): Mandy Walker / Max Malkin Editor: Adam Pertofsky Music: House of Hayduk Producer: Julien Lemaitre Prod. company: Furlined Agency: Wieden + Kennedy

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Do people actually get hippo soft toys as kids rather than collectors? Still that hippo is hipping and hopping, so to speak.

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I thought this might be of interest here because it features a fur who's way too much into being his fursona

So I really want to get a commission of my dragon character done, but my problem is I am not old enough to get a credit card so I am not old enough to get a paypal account, thus making it basically impossible to get a commision done! Is there any way I can get one done?

submitted by Furrian
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Author: Hello Papabear, This question has been on my mind for quite a while. Like you, I’m trying to help others by listening when an ear is needed, and giving advice if that might give the other a better life. This probably stems from my past, which I won’t elaborate too much on; it might […]

Here is an article from April 2, in the Central Florida Future, the student newspaper of the University of Central Florida:
http://www.centralfloridafuture.com/variety/furries-find-acceptance-friendship-among-active-community-1.2862872#.Uz1AEDk1yBs

The article describes the regular furmeets in Orlando, Florida, and interviews local furries Diedrich Wolff (unofficial leader and "popufur" cough-cough), Jonathon Ray (costume design assistant), Austin "Isaac" Beard, and Tyler "Dante" Smith.


Furries find acceptance, friendship among active community
Underground world of roleplay brings students together

By Bernard Wilchusky
Contributing Writer

Published: Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Updated: Thursday, April 3, 2014 00:04

A dog, a bear and a fox walk into a bar, but that isn’t the beginning of a joke.

It is, however, a little slice of what one might expect to see at the Oblivion Taproom on Tuesday evenings, when an average of 30 to 60 members of Orlando’s “furry” community meet at the bar for their weekly gatherings.

But what, pray tell, is a furry?

A furry is a person who dresses in a head-to-toe animal costume.

“A furry is anyone with an open mind,” said Diedrich Wolff, the unofficial leader of the Oblivion Taproom gatherings and a student at Valencia. “It’s a very diverse community. A lot of people are attracted, initially, to the art, but people come for all sorts of reasons.”

Wolff is known as a “popufur,” an informal title given to members of the furry community who are well-liked or renowned. He noted how the community has blossomed over the years, going from small get-togethers featuring around 10 of his friends to the large gatherings at Oblivion today. He estimated that Orlando alone boasts a community of more than 100 furs, with dozens more scattered throughout groups in Tampa, Miami and elsewhere.

“It used to be just a few of us,” Wolff said. “We’d get together at Steak ’n Shake and catch a movie at the dollar theater. Last year, the community exploded. One time, we had almost 90 people here at once.”

Indeed, on Tuesday nights the bar is replete with cat ears and bushy tails. And sometimes, a pair of furries in full-body costumes — known as “fur suits” — can be seen hugging and prancing about.

The fur suit is perhaps the most recognizable icon of the furry fandom. The suits, which each take about a week to make, can cost close to $1,000. Some have modifications that allow their jaws to articulate, their eyes to light up and even integrated speaker systems to project the wearer’s voice into the outside world.

“You know how brides go crazy over their wedding dress?” said Jonathan Ray, a costume design assistant. “The same thing goes for a suit. People want measurements, they want cloth choices, fiber choices, the works.”

Ray said that donning a fur suit comes with its own unique set of challenges. The headpieces restrict the wearer’s peripheral vision, and the fur on the suit’s outer layer causes its interior to become hot. Suiters often travel with a spotter who helps guide them through crowds and watches for signs of heatstroke or exhaustion.

“We always emphasize that fursuiters should have a spotter, especially if there are kids around,” Ray said. “No one is going to be happy if a suiter knocks over a little kid that they couldn’t see. Spotters are the ones who drag you away if you need to cool down and take a break.”

But furry art comes in many forms, and websites such as Fur Affinity, Inkbunny and DeviantArt provide portals for members of the community to connect and share their passion. In fact, the art provides the one common substrate among this community composed of performers, engineers and people from virtually all walks of life. All furry art features, in some form or another, the image of an anthropomorphized animal.

This animal character, personified with human characteristics, serves as the alias through which people operate in the fandom. And when furries aren’t donning their fur suits, they can often be spotted with their furry badges, emblazoned with the names and images of their animal aliases or fursonas.

For Austin Beard, a health sciences sophomore, his fursona, Isaac, is a character whose extensive background he developed through online roleplaying. Before he moved to Orlando, there just weren’t any real-world outlets for him to participate in the community, he said.

“Most of the people I’ve met, I’ve met on Twitter or online,” Beard said. “Getting to meet them in real life is great — you get to see them in person, and it’s like [your relationship] doesn’t even skip a beat.”

Still, he admits that he was hesitant to become a more active participant because of the historical stigma surrounding the furry fandom. Television shows such as “Dr. Phil,” “The Tyra Banks Show” and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” portray furries as mentally unstable or sexually deviant people who wear costumes as a means to fulfill their perverse fantasies. Beard, in his six years participating in the community, has yet to see a single act of “yiffing” — costumed sexual intercourse — that the fandom was made notorious for.

“Everyone thinks we’re weird; they think we do weird stuff,” Beard said. “That’s not what it’s about. Furries are just different people with a different sort of hobby — it’s no different than collecting stamps or RC cars.”

So what is it that has people participating in the furry fandom?

Without exception, the word on everyone’s lips was friendship.

“This is such an open and loving community,” said Tyler Smith, a sophomore marketing major who goes by the fursona Dante. “No matter what race, religion, sexual orientation or political views you have, no matter who you are, you’re going to find friends.

“If you have a fur suit, you’re loved.”