At the L.A. Times Festival of Books we learned about Mythwalker at their big, impressive booth. Maybe it was the smiling corgi in armor that attracted our attention… Mythwalker is a geolocation fantasy RPG created by Nant Games for your cell phone. In it you can play one of three species: Human, Annu (a bird-like humanoid species), and Wulven (a canine species — from which the aforementioned corgi hails). Here is the lore: “Mytherra is a fantastical, parallel planet to Earth ─ a world where throughout history its people and mystical creatures have infiltrated the dreams of humans. Over time, these visions have formed the basis of Earth’s many myths and legends. After a prolonged period of peace, Mytherra is now under attack, which poses a direct threat to Earth as well. A powerful being, known only as The Child, has reached out through the Veil into our world seeking help. She recruits you – the Mythwalker – to uncover the truth about the attackers, explore the connection between the two worlds, and lead Mytherra’s heroes in the defense of their home.” And here is the idea: “MythWalker is a geolocation fantasy RPG adventure mobile game that brings The Child and Mytherra to life through an overworld traversal system, using real locations to tell the stories of Earth’s myths and legends. With narrative-driven quests tied to an intriguing storyline, a cast of magical and memorable characters, a deep progression system, and robust multiplayer modes, MythWalker will connect players worldwide through meaningful global gameplay.” Their web site has a whole lot more information.
Documentary review: 'Hero, A Furry Story'
Posted by Brandyjlewis on Mon 4 Jan 2021 - 18:30Picking up from where the 2020 documentary The Fandom left off, Ash "Coyote" Kreis' new 44-minute film, Hero: A Furry Story takes a deeper look into the fandom's disability community, particularly its less-looked-at subset with cancer and chronic illness, where people have found that fursuiting and its networks can create a source of happiness during a time of pain and illness. Hero is the film's star, a canine-identifying fan, diagnosed with cancer at age 22, who receives a new fursuit from the talent at Waggery Costumes.
As viewers are slowly introduced to all of the different people it takes to make a fursuit, Hero's story demonstrates what furry fans have already come to know: affirming that people in the fandom can be as family, loved ones, and mentors. Pulling itself away from the criticism that Kreis received after The Fandom, this new film's attention to disability, illness, and networked connections provides another interesting gateway into something that will surely be enjoyed by fans and non-fans alike.
Furries raise over $500,000 for charity in 2020 in spite of its issues
Posted by Sonious on Sat 2 Jan 2021 - 12:37Thabo Meerkat and Dixie Lioness have released their Charity Index finding that furries raised more the $500,000 for Charity in 2020. This is in spite of the challenges caused by the pandemic. It should be noted that information was more difficult to obtain this year, and the numbers for Virtual Midwest Furfest are not included in this tally.
Newsbytes archive for December 2020
Posted by Anon on Sat 2 Jan 2021 - 11:17Contributors this month include 2cross2affliction, dronon, GreenReaper, mwalimu, Rakuen Growlithe, and Sonious.
National Police Association embarrasses itself while going after Furries
Posted by Sonious on Thu 31 Dec 2020 - 23:49NPA 2020 Year in Review: Attacked by Malicious Media. Twitter Account Infested with Costumed Cop Haters. https://t.co/ZG2gyjRCwL pic.twitter.com/zgtfiyZvvU
Furs raise over $15,000 for widowed mother
Posted by Sonious on Fri 25 Dec 2020 - 13:01As the holidays arrive, some are disappointed in the fact that our gatherings are going to be a bit smaller this year due to the continuing pandemic. For those reluctantly separated from loved ones voluntarily, however, they may find that the greatest present is that they may have the fortune of getting together with those loved ones in future holidays. Because in a year such as this, that is a gift not afforded to everyone.
News emerged on December 17th of a furry mother, Velocity Sloth, who learned that her husband had contracted the deadly virus, and didn’t make it. This holiday tragedy has left a hole for their family that could never be filled, as a mother sloth is left on her own to care for her young. Her husband was the sole provider at the time of his passing.
Known for her volunteer work at some of our largest conventions, furs took up the call in order to try and help alleviate some of the despair wrought by the sudden loss. Within a few days, charitable furs exceeded the $15,000 goal set to help her out.
AlectorFencer wins Rudolph Dirks Award for her comic 'Haunter of Dreams'
Posted by Rakuen Growlithe on Sun 20 Dec 2020 - 12:11AlectorFencer (Claudya Schmidt) was recently awarded the Best Artist prize for Artwork in the 2020 Rudolph Dirks Award, named after German-American cartoonist Rudolph Dirks, for her comic Haunter of Dreams.
Haunter of Dreams - released at Eurofurence 25, where she was Guest of Honour - is just one of several comics and illustrations set in the world of Yria which have earned AlectorFencer honours. She received a Rudolph Dirks Award in 2018 for her work on MYRE - Chronicles of Yria Volume 1. Earlier this year, she won a silver Spectrum Award in the comic category for her illustration Flora, depicting a mythical being from Yria.
Gone in a Flash
Posted by Sonious on Wed 16 Dec 2020 - 16:43As the world still deals with the Coronavirus pandemic, political turmoil, and the uncertainty of the future, we did come into the year knowing that a major change was coming to the fandom, which has since been overshadowed by these other events. Flash is going the way of the dodo, due to Adobe dropping support for their Flash Player plugin and browsers withdrawing support in turn; and with it a substantial piece of furry history will no longer function in most browsers as of 2021.
Luckily, some of the most famous, or infamous, pieces of Flash history are preserved as videos. Remember Foxy Fluffs are Everything? Someone did “port” it to YouTube (adult language/situations warning in case you haven’t seen it). But despite the animation being saved in video format, foxy fluffs being motion tweens may not amount for much in a post-Flash world.
Time is running out for those animations that are only playable with Flash on their original sites. They can however be downloaded as an SWF file to run on software that supports them. On SoFurry, Flash files already download directly as a file instead of playing in the browser itself. Soon enough it will probably be the only way to enjoy many classic pieces of furry animation from the earlier days of the fandom in their original format – if you can find a working player.
Disney's Zootopia+ announced on day Fennick's voice actor pronounced dead
Posted by Sonious on Sun 13 Dec 2020 - 13:17Disney announced some furry bait titles coming to a screen near you in 2022. One is Turning Red, a movie about a girl who is cursed to transform into a red panda when she becomes too excited. Along with this is a new animated series around the 2016 movie Zootopia, called Zootopia+, which was covered in Rod O’Riley’s In-Fur-Nation. It seems to be set up as a slice of life, reality format that will follow the lives of side characters.
But for Nick’s partner in crime, their voice may be missing from any side cast shenanigans. After showing symptoms for COVID-19, Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister passed on. The wrestler had many roles in show business. They wrestled Hulk Hogan and were featured on Star Trek, but most furries would know them as the voice of the diminutive fox with an attitude that will “bite your face off.”
It seems 2022 can’t get here fast enough, and not just for the sake of furry films.
Review: 'Wolfwalkers'
Posted by 2cross2affliction on Sat 12 Dec 2020 - 11:38Cartoon Saloon is an Irish animation studio, and they're absolutely world class. They first gained world attention right out of the gate, when The Secret of Kells became a nominee for Best Animated Feature in the 2009 Academy Awards. It wasn't the first time a foreign movie made it on the list, but it was a surprise for many casual Oscar watchers.
Of course, if you actually watched the movie, it was a no-brainer; it not only deserved to be nominated, it's part of the reason 2009's list of Best Animated Feature nominees is still one of the all time best for the category. Since then, every feature by Cartoon Saloon has been nominated in the category; Tomm Moore, director of The Secret of Kells and now Wolfwalkers, was further personally nominated for Song of the Sea.
Both earlier films feature furry elements, especially Song, which deals with selkies (Cartoon Saloon is also responsible for the very furry, very good Skunk Fu! series). However, with Wolfwalkers, Moore and co-director Ross Stewart have created the studio's most furry-friendly film yet. The titular Wolfwalkers could be considered a variety of werewolf; but this time, they're the good guys.
FA:United convention closes doors permanently due to COVID-19
Posted by Sonious on Sat 5 Dec 2020 - 11:44Fur Affinity’s flagship convention, FA: United, announced that it would be closing their doors due to COVID-19, permanently. While many other conventions have ‘suspended indefinitely’, or ‘canceled for 2020/2021’, this marks the first event to indicate a more definite suspension as a result of the pandemic.
Newsbytes archive for November 2020
Posted by Anon on Tue 1 Dec 2020 - 18:30Contributors this month include 2cross2affliction, BlindWolf8, dronon, earthfurst, GreenReaper, Rakuen Growlithe, and Sonious.
Digging up Positivity - Furry charity and good news - November 2020
Posted by Pegla on Sat 28 Nov 2020 - 19:39Welcome to the November edition of Digging Up Positivity. The nights are getting longer, and with the end of the year in sight, we can look back at a chaotic year, but plenty of good things happened too!
It started out with some good conventions, but soon things changed! Our fandom adapted with online events, fundraises, ranging from small local charities to online events with visitors all over the world. While all of
this is wonderful, some of them are not getting noticed at all! If you were part of such an event, please do use the linked contact form, and I would love to include them in the upcoming yearly charity video!
Furry art piracy website yiff.party closes
Posted by Equivamp on Wed 25 Nov 2020 - 18:25Since it began in 2015, yiff.party has been a source of ire for artists whose income has been affected by it. The website uses web scraping software to extract files from Patreon, including those meant to be restricted to paid subscribers only, and made them publicly available, for free.
Kotaku interviewed Kadath and other artists about it in 2018. Although DMCA notices were sent, legal action was threatened by publishers like InkedFur, and Patreon promised to go to bat for its users, the site remained unassailed. Now, it’s closed, but not due to pressure from these sources.
Fursuiter gains notoriety for building VR World based on infamous Four Seasons Landscaping building
Posted by Sonious on Sun 22 Nov 2020 - 13:23What happens when an outgoing fursuiting feline is stuck indoors with a copy of VRChat, Unity, and hours of time on his hands? He builds VRChat worlds of course. In his ever growing interest in VRChat worlds, Coopertom, decided to bring his building skills into the trashy alleyways of one infamous location: Four Seasons Landscaping of Philadelphia.
Because of its renowned, this VR World caught the attention of Buzzfeed and other news outlets and was featured on Twitter’s “What’s Happening” page, along with having tens of thousand of engagements.
Ha ha ha OMG! The grand debut of Four Seasons Total Landscaping was AMAZING! Thank you to everyone who showed up! pic.twitter.com/2c5KQKQwgC— coopertom (@thecoopertom) November 9, 2020
Card game with custom fursonas: 'Secret Names [Furry Edition]'
Posted by Ben Dover on Sat 14 Nov 2020 - 12:13Secret Names - Furry Edition is a Indiegogo-funded card game in which two teams try to pick words from hints to their meanings — many related to furry culture. Gameplay is similar to that of Vlaada Chvátil's Codenames, but with a distinctive furry style and artwork.
Editor's Note: The article contains promotion of content created by the article's author.
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