Recently an opinion piece was published here by Cassidy Civet about alleged fraud in the fandom and its infestation of furry spaces. I feel many would believe that it is beneath this platform to have released it to the general public as it is “obvious” that its intention was not to foster improvements within the community, but instead to act as a platform for the author herself in order to rant about the situation she finds herself in when it comes to her desired musical career in the fandom. Which we'll cover is mostly true. However, I do think allowing such a piece to publish can act as a springboard for a larger conversation on situations that actually has come up in the fandom from time to time.

This is where someone with a stage addiction gets caught up in the euphoria and gets poisoned by narcissism and typically guises it as altruism and virtue.

This may seem harsh as a counter statement to Civet’s article, especially since sprinkled in there are genuine concerns that other furries do hold. But the way in which they are presented leads to her own words countering herself in such a way where when all of them are put together, all that truly remains is a rant about our convention boards having agency on those they are allowing to have a stage and what can appear to be purely sour grapes towards those that are getting it.

So let’s take these issues from another angle to try and separate the chaff from the wheat.

Furlandia announced on February 23 that Ursa Major Award-winning furry author Mary E. Lowd was removed as a guest of honor, citing her use of artificial intelligence to create her work’s cover art and the ensuing backlash.

Despite the strong response to her use of AI, the announcement’s second paragraph seemed to suggest that Furlandia is neutral on AI art itself:

Dear Furlandia Community,

Earlier this week we made the difficult decision to remove our Writing Guest of Honor for 2024, Mary E. Lowd. This is a decision we do not make lightly, and is all the more difficult for us as they have been a long time supporter of Furlandia. So why have we done this? It comes down to their decision to use AI-generated art as a tool in the creation of things such as book covers, the professional backlash that has accompanied it, and the general attitude towards this topic in the fandom.

Undoubtedly the topic of AI-generated art is incredibly divisive and controversial in our fandom at this time, and a lot of people have very strong opinions about it. We’ve made this decision not to push a particular opinion, but because our goal is to bring people together to celebrate the furry fandom, of which artists are the undeniable backbone. Continuing with Mary as a [Guest of Honor] would have made the people understandably uncomfortable and that’s not something we want. This is not an easy thing for any convention to have to do and we hope anyone who’s disappointed will understand.

Thank you,
Furlandia Executive Staff

A brief press release made by IndyFurCon on April 27th announced that Cassidy Civet would no longer be their Guest of Honor at their 2023 gathering slated to happen at the end of August this year. No reasoning was given by the board for the decision in their press release.

Cassidy, in response, took to social media to express her shock at the announcement:

I feel completely blindsided. Being asked was such a rush, I canceled my Furrydelphia 22 to attend and be announced at closing ceremonies at IFC 2022. Then complete silence from the con for months, I reached out, then today the rug got pulled out from under me.

I’m in shock.
-Cassidy Civet - April 27, 2023 7:03 PM

Flayrah's accomplished reviewer Fred Patten has been invited to contribute to cartoon historian Jerry Beck's revitalized blog, Cartoon Research. He's since reviewed his own history, along with that of Osamu Tezuka, Astro Boy and Atomcat, and described how home video created anime fandom (including a brief mention of Mark Merlino and the C/FO).

Beck co-founded Cartoon Brew nine years ago, but was 'bought out' last month by co-editor Amid Amidi, who plans to "evolve the site while retaining its candid and authoritative voice". The move was discussed at Deadline Hollywood and Toon Zone; FLIP has a brief interview.

Fred was also recently named Fandom Guest of Honor at Rainfurrest 2013 for his extensive history within furry fandom. Their other guests are Soulscape, Temperance and Fox Amoore.

Wildlife/fantasy artist Nambroth (Jennifer Miller), artist, costumer and sculptress Miss Monster (Melita Curphy), and fursuit builder and artist FirestormSix (Den Barrett) were interviewed last weekend at Midwest FurFest's "Meet the Guests of Honor" panel, hosted by Takaza and Perro.

First, they were asked to identify themselves, and the name of their microphones . . .

FirestormSix: I'm FirestormSix. My microphone is Spike.

Miss Monster: I make stuff in my basement, and it's awesome. My microphone is Applejack.

Nambroth: Nambroth, Jennifer Miller, I'm cool with either. I draw fantasy and wildlife professionally full time. I have Rainbow Dash.

Takaza: What brought you into the fandom?

FirestormSix: Basically the artwork, I started seeing the costumes a few years later; my first commission was six years ago, then I started getting a interest in building things, 4/1 2 years ago did a Dakota Wolf.

Nambroth: I got the Internet when I was 14 and was really into Gargoyles. I didn't know it was furries. I got into Yerf without realizing what I was doing, it was just "the animal people" to me.

UK furry convention ConFuzzled has named Kyell Gold as its second Guest of Honour for 2013. Gold is a prolific and popular furry author whose work includes the Out Of Position series and contributions to Heat. (See Flayrah's coverage.)

Gabapple, furry artist and creator of the webcomic Dangerous Cute, was the first 2013 GoH to be announced.

ConFuzzled 2013 will take place Thursday 30 May–Monday 3 June in Hinckley, Leicestershire.

Anthrocon has announced both its 2011 charity and guests of honor.

Joining attendees will be Peter S. Beagle, author and screenplay writer of The Last Unicorn, and Andy Runton, creator of Owly.

The convention's charity events will raise money for the ToonSeum, a cartoon art history museum just a block away from the convention.

Midwest FurFest 2010's guests of honor – Vantid (Amber Hill), Redstorm (Alexis Rudd, aka The Blue Hyena) and Kipper Otter – kindly allowed me to record their answers in the "meet the GoH" panel, hosted by MFF chairman Takaza. So here they are!

Anthrocon has announced their second 2010 guest of honor: children's TV director, producer and puppeteer Jim Martin.

Mr. Martin has worked in a variety of roles since the foundation of his own puppet company, the Pupplets (photos), in 1973.

He became a director on PBS' The Puzzle Place, and went on to become a Sesame Street's muppeteer and director, sharing Daytime Emmy wins for Outstanding Directing in a Children's Series in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2009.

In recent years, he has also acted as director and supervising producer of Disney's Johnny and the Sprites, gaining further Emmy nominations.

Anthrocon's first announced guest was James Gurney, creator of Dinotopia.

Morphicon 6: "Inner City Critters" May 15-17, 2009
Holiday Inn Columbus-Worthington, OH
Honoring: Joey Poey

In this issue:
Morphicon Freefall Picnic
New Chair
GOH Selection and 2009 Theme
Morphicon Staff Recruitment Drive!

Furry Weekend Atlanta 2009 has announced the Guests of Honor for the sixth installment of the convention: Matthew Ebel a.k.a. Hali of Firpine and, Moonstalker a.k.a. Richard Foley.^[1]

Manchester-based furry convention ConFuzzled has selected a guest of honour: German artist, DJ, photographer and fursuiter BigBlueFox, known worldwide for his DJ sets and convention videos, and locally for his live DJ'ing at Eurofurence and Mephit Mini Con.^[1] ConFuzzled will be his 26th convention.^[2]

Additional events were also announced, including an instructional panel on filming furries, and a pub quiz based on facts from WikiFur.^[1]

ConFuzzled is to be held June 20-23 2008, at the Manchester Youth Hostel in North West England. A maximum attendance of 144 is planned.^[3] As of December 5, over 40% of those registering had indicated that they were fursuiters.^[4]

The Northeast Anthropomorphic Association and Fur Affinity present fa:United!

FA United 2007 is a furry convention scheduled for August 10-12 in Newark, New Jersey.

Midwest FurFest released information about the convention theme and guests for honor today. The convention also announced its newly-revamped website at www.furfest.org.^[1]

The convention theme is to be "Critters on the High Seas", which could include pirates, sailing ships, and all things nautical.

The Guests of Honor include artists and illustrator Cara Mitten, artist, illustrator, and costumer Jill0r, and author Will Sanborn.