@@FriendlyWorld.Networkbeing a furry myself, (Arizonan furry) I’ve got a saguaro porcupine hybrid fursona. I’ve been somewhat obsessed with cacti, to the point where on Reddit, I’ve roleplayed as a sentient saguaro cactus for over 3 years.
THANK YOU FOR NOT BEING A HATER! as someone in the furry fandom I can declar that it does saves lives like mine, from suicidal acts, thank u for being nice, other people doing these hate furries after those experiences at a con for the first time! You are so nice and I thank you for that. - a young fur (not even 13) that is now a big fan of this channel ❤
It's nice seeing genuinely nice and respectful videos when the furry fandom is so often misrepresented in public. Thank you for contributing to show how inclusive and open-minded we really are
09:58 - I love how an interview about how furries meet their own needs differently and help others from outside the fandom to do the same, is interrupted and capstone by a furry helping a random stranger in a wheelchair get to a location several floors up. I can appreciate how this video interruption was so important to keep in the cut. Thank you!
I really appreciate people like you guys. most non furry's just go to conventions to ask out of pocket questions or just harass people so its nice to see people not a part of the community being genuinely respectful :]
Actually getting a phycological professional as well as furries from the general public is taking it to the next level. Now the haters REALLY have no reason for hating :)
Your video was suggested to me from the recommended, thank you so much for being so respectful! Your interview with Nuka was awesome and that conversation really showed what the fandom is to most of us. This video is wonderful and I'm also glad that you guys had a nice time at the con!!
VERY well done, thank you. As a point of clarity... Sy Sable actually did not create the Furry Fandom, no single person did. The fellow who said that it started in the 1960s or 1970s was... fairly close, though. Sy, to his credit, _was_ a major player in the very first days of the modern Furry Fandom, and was one of the most careful and most well-respected historians of the Fandom from within it, and he will be sorely missed. But to claim that he started it in any way -- sure, he was _there_ at the start, but that's different -- is... a rather grandiose inflation of his actual role in things. Arguably furries have been around since prehistory. One of the oldest known sculptures in all of humanity is the Guennol Lioness, depicting an anthropomorphic lion, and it dates to roughly 3000-2800 BCE -- around the time that the first cities and the earliest forms of written language (cuneiform, it was called -- essentially a system of triangles and lines pressed into clay tablets with a specialized stylus) came about, and around the time the wheel first became kind of a vaguely popular thing. Of course, cave paintings go back even farther, and somewhat in the other direction, the ancient Egyptians were (and still are) famous for their animal-headed deities. Furries in the _modern_ sense, however, date roughly to about the 1970s -- although the events that brought that about start roughly forty to fifty years earlier. The comic books of the 1920s and 1930s were somewhat unparalleled, even by the standards today of what must be mailed throughout the United States in a brown paper wrapper, lest the USPS refuse to carry it, in their raunchiness and violence. It got so bad that there were municipal comic-book-burning parties organized by local governments at the urging of "concerned citizens" groups... it really was kind of disgustingly out-of-hand. Staring their very existence in the face, the comic book companies got together and created what was called the Comics Code Authority -- basically, their own watchdog and regulatory group. The CCA created strict rules about what could be depicted in comics, and what couldn't -- and the companies that refused to play along were quickly run out of business by those who did. (That's a lot of how we got DC and Marvel as the two giants they are.) Of course, the artists and writers chafed _horribly_ under the new rules, but the CCA refused to budge, and they had enough weight to throw around that any real attempt at proper rebellion was over before it began. The CCA had a chokehold on the industry. Then, one rather unexpectedly interesting morning in 1959, the world changed. A photographic supplies company, Haloid-Xerox, released the very first practical photocopy machine. The Xerox 914 _revolutionized_ document duplication, and its follow-up models across the 1960s and 1970s only served to further cement its utility and, in the commercial space, ubiquity. Soon, machines of an earlier age of duplication, such as mimeograph devices and wax duplicators, were available on the secondhand market for pennies on the dollar -- at a price nearly any ordinary American could afford. This, in turn, led to the rise of small, independent newsletters and pamphlets, produced independently with simple cut-paste-and-tape methods, published in very small numbers on those older duplication machines, and sent all across America (and, to a somewhat lesser extent, the entire world) for the cost of a postage stamp of the appropriate size, each. These independent periodicals-in-miniature were called "zines" at the time, and often spoke to a niche set of interests. One such interest was independent comic books -- and since the CCA could not effectively stomp out such small printings, their stranglehold on the industry was finally broken. Meanwhile, animation from Japan and the Far East began to gain international recognition, and things like _Star Trek_ , _Star Wars_ , and tabletop roleplaying games such as _Dungeons & Dragons_ and _Shadowrun_ ignited the public's imagination _en masse_ for science fiction and fantasy. Conventions around these topics began to be held, as their own fandoms rose up. Within these conventions, people began to gather at room parties who were enthusiasts of what was then considered "funny talking animals" -- things like _Looney Tunes_ and _The Animaniacs_ . Notably, around this time, a "zine" began to circulate that was named after a very obscure _Mad Magazine_ reference -- it was named _Vootie_ . After about a year, probably caused by internal friction, _Vootie_ 's management kind of broke apart. Most of them got back together about a year later to create another "zine", with another, equally-obscure _Mad Magazine_ reference as its title -- _Rowrbrazzle_ . Some of the earliest furry art, in the modern sense, dates from _Vootie_ -- in particular, the very first issues of a long-running comic, _Omaha: The Cat Dancer_ -- however, generally, the line between the "funny talking animal" fandom and the modern Furry Fandom as we know it today, is drawn at the first issue of _Rowrbrazzle_ going into circulation. By the mid-1980s, enough people were attending enough furry-themed room parties -- now circulating issues of _Vootie_ and _Rowrbrazzle_ as well as original art, and screening films like _Animalympics_ -- that there began to circulate, the concept of a convention specifically for this apparently-nascent, emerging Furry Fandom. Sy Sable -- real name, Mark Merlino -- was instrumental in helping organize what became known as Confurence Zero, held 21st and 22nd January, 1989, at a Holiday Inn in Costa Mesa, California. Also among the 65 attendees was a man named Robert Hill, who worked for Disney, and was one of the first fursuiters, with a female character he wore surprisingly well, especially for the era (!!!) -- Hilda the Bambioid, an anthropomorphic deer of (ahem) rather voluptuous proportions, clothed in rather provocative black leather and matching heels. Mr Hill passed away in late 2018, and Sy / Mr Merlino, as noted, passed earlier this year, having long since taken it upon himself to try and both catalog and preserve as much of the early and notable history of the Fandom and its beginnings as he could. Confurence One was a year later in 1990, and things kind of progressed from there into what we know and love (and debate) today.
...ahhh, yes. Sometimes I forget that TH-cam comments have a character limit. Anyways, as I was saying... Somewhat amusingly, at least to me, there's a kind of schism in the community, now, as there are furries who believe that it's in the best interests of the Fandom to try and whitewash out the raunchier side of our collective history, and divorce ourselves from that, somehow. Personally, I fail to see how any such effort could meaningfully succeed -- and I also think too much would be lost for what little we'd gain, namely, a very preciously little more traction in places that don't like us very much as it is, specifically because they are overly repressive within their own about such adult-oriented matters in some distinctly immature ways. Like it or not, we are a group with the common thread of bringing a human side to the animalistic, by way of interest and desire, and there's simply no way to have that without the more "after dark" aspects being along for the ride. Moreover, handling such matters well is a mark of maturity and adulthood in a way that, at least in America, is seen with _far_ too little frequency. Our very origins, as what is now arguably a subculture that is beginning to enter the mainstream consciousness in some very big ways, came about specifically out of a desire for greater leeway in the graphical depiction of such matters as promiscuity and violence in comic books. "Omaha The Cat Dancer" was quite literally created as a response to a reader-submitted letter in _Vootie_ specifically requesting that the content in the zine be made "more raunchy". Even today, as the effects from other fandoms that touch on furry topics, such as those surrounding so-called "Omegaverse" fiction and various communities organized around particular fantasy franchises, have given some illusion of legitimacy to those for whom bestiality is, for better or worse, a fetish or kink, has likewise caused massive turmoil within the furry community, leading to what has arguably become something of a witch-hunt at this point over zoophilia and so-called "feral" furs. The concerns are legitimate -- the fervency and zeal with which they are pursued, however, has become somewhat over-the-top in some distinctly unfortunate ways. Ultimately, we are a community of people who are all-too-often the shunned, the bullied, the quietly desperate -- the vast majority of us are LGBTQIA+ or -questioning young teens and young adults in communities sadly unwilling to tolerate such people, people with Asperger's Syndrome or other forms of autism who have a hard time socializing with others, others with some form of mental difference, and anyone and everyone in between who is just a little bit different in ways that their peers are able to pick up on and so choose to victimize. Some of us are survivors of domestic violence, or non-violent domestic abuse. Yes, we're collectively searching for our identity, but that's because a lot of us, individually, are searching for ourselves as well. Yes, the Fandom is full of drama -- of course it is, almost all of us within it are, in some way, what you might call damaged goods. We're the ones nobody wants to do a group project with. We're the ones that get absolutely _obliterated_ in grade-school dodgeball. Most of us rode the shorter school buses for most of those grade-school years, as well. But the most important thing is -- we're also a massive group where we take care of each other. That's what Dr Plante meant, I think, when he was talking about the social support group side of the Furry Fandom. We're a collective LGBTQIA+ and -questioning safe space. We're informal mental health therapy and care for one another. Look at Little Alpha Pup, or astrokim, or alvastar, or Gual Slan on furry TikTok. Look at BetaEtaDelota on Twitch and here on TH-cam. More than anything, -_-we take care of each other-_- -- because, more than anything, we're the ones who know what it's like to really struggle that way, and to have nobody to help when we need it most. There are those who feel the need to try and oppose us, to try and tear us down. There are those who say they simply aren't interested. To both, I say -- take a look at who we actually are. Attend one convention for one day. _Talk_ to us. See us as we are. You might be surprised at what you find. Even if you still feel that we aren't necessarily your kind of crowd -- if you want to hang with us, you're welcome to do so. There are places in the Fandom for those who are not furries -- that fursuit handler you interviewed was a great example. Another one is furry artists... not all of them are themselves furries, but we pay well enough that for some, it doesn't matter. To those who genuinely feel the need to attack us -- like I said, look at us for who we _really_ are, not just what others tell you. Ask questions, instead of shouting accusations, just for a little while. As I said, you might be surprised at what you find. Even if you can't bring yourself to do that, now -- that's fine. You'll mature a bit over the next few years. We were all thirteen once ;3 I know I was. See you again in four or five years, once you grow into a bit of patience and life experience, and have had a chance to take a proper look around. Who knows? Maybe I'll have the opportunity to do some art of your new fursona. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy who I am and the company I'm with -- and if you have to be angry about that, you can go be angry and shout into a pillow or whatever. I'll be here doing my thing regardless, and I'll probably be enjoying it. Regardless of who you are, or where you live, or how you feel about furries, or anyone or anything else -- I hope you have a great day today. Ya'll all take care, now, y'hear?
@@laserhawk64 It's beautiful to see others who are knowledgeable and willing to educate! I need to figure out how to get a text to speech running so I can listen to this while drawing.
was recommended this, thank you for being nice to us. im glad you werent just tryna cause a ruckus. that fur science study has been on my mind for a long time. i hope you had fun at the furcon too!
Thanks for being curious, kind, and respectful. ♥🦊I've been a furry since my young teens and I'm in my 20's now. I've never felt more accepted than in the fandom. They really encouraged me to be myself, and love and accept others for who they are too. It's really all just about a loving community coming together to appreciate and create art about anthro animals. I've made some great friends and learned to be creative and start drawing thanks to the fandom. They also helped me through some hard times when I had no one else.
I love the psychology explanation part of it near the end, this is so wholesome and validating to hear very much so as a kid and the things I watched I didn’t know there was a word for it until I was maybe in my preteens and was scared that I was already a weird kid but then only got more excited after more research in bringing characters to life and the positives of it in social activities with people you may relate to and how happy they were being their mascot as kids my age or younger were generally very socially accepting before they grew that type of judgment. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t crying even then finding those type of videos and was heartbreaking I didn’t continue to go to this anthro club in high school. Bullies gathering around the club just to cause trouble to point I had to hide around in the bathroom waiting it out. If I grew some confidence then I would’ve made some friends there if I wasn’t so scared of that backlash…was already tough enough as is in high school but being apart of the fandom made it seem worst so that’s my deepest regret that I only went once and wanna at least catch my first con in FWA for my upcoming early birthday since we moved down in Georgia finally since Florida with LGBT community is just a hit and miss but hopefully I get to make it bc I’m sure it’s gonna be hype!!
This video was really confidence boosting! I think I'll finally try making a suit and going to FuzzCon, it seems pretty friendly. This video has also made some things clearer to me. Thanks for making this fun video. :3
Being in the Furry Fandom has saved my life in more ways than I can count, im a very shy person that has dealt with Bullying a lot in life, here in the Furry fandom im able to be sociable with others and not worry about being judged, besides that what brought me to this hobby/fandom i enjoy the beautiful art and have always been into Anthropomorphic types of Comics and movies, im not good at drawing but when I see others drawings it is always a happy moment, thank you for being great people and not being mean to Furries, it means a lot to me and others who enjoy this Hobby/fandom.
Good on y'all for getting a press badge for doing this video. Great coverage! Hoping I can make it out to NFC one of these years, but crossing the pond is expensive.
Got recommended this video, It's very lovely to see modern furry videos and events that show other people of the public these events with respect and dignity
Nice review, as a furry myself with 8 suits and well over 100 conventions that I've attend around the world since 2000. Thank you again for your posting!
Aaahh so many familiar faces in this video. Brings back memories... This was such an awesome con. Definitely gonna try to make this yearly! I think NFC is also a con where you don't necessarily have to be a furry to really enjoy yourself. One of my best friends was here too, not a furry but loves them. He was strolling around as a viking with a spear and was my handler! Hope that you guys had a great experience besides the interviews too! There was just a lot to do.
i love these more of these videos of people recently just genuinely curious about other fandoms/communities that exist who engage with them to show a little bit about what those communities are really like, theres been a few other cool videos on people going to furry cons and then finding out that its just a cool fun or chill thing and i hope even more of these videos exist and get more views because they are pretty cool to see different peoples perspectives and what a community means to someone either individually or as a whole if that makes sense also the undertale and deltarune music were cool
Always happy to see an open-minded and positively curious approach to furries! I've been involved off and on for 20ish years now, and I have a way of describing it that even makes a lot of furries go _whoa I never thought of it that way but it makes a lot of sense!_ Whereas mainstream society is neurotypical-normative and heteronormative, the furry community skews heavily toward normalizing and being supportive of all sorts of neurodivergency and non-heterosexual identities. Not to paint a brush on every member of the fandom, but people who need a home that society doesn't offer, or appreciate an alternate society that accepts different types of people, find a meaningful home in furry. Plus it's a world where we own our own designs and lore and IP and are surrounded by a community of people who create; it is a world nearly entirely devoid of top-down control of what you can and can't do. Hope that helps you or anyone else here who's curious, and I hope other furries don't disagree with that take too much!
i gotta admit tho, this feels like one of those bait accounts where youtube drama investigators make spoof accounts to gain the attention of very bad people to get them to either admit to doing bad stuff or get their side of the story while also not trying to get caught while exposing them. aside from that, i like this video
@@fautex47 if you know you know. like turkey toms visit to a furcon on @tomdarker or a brandonfm vid where he made a spoof account to catch a streamer admit his wrongdoing. sometimes content spoof channels are made by documentary/investigation style channels where they make these channels to bait an unsuspecting large number criminal whos getting away with stuff into doing a one on one interview in the guise to catch them in doing something illegal once and for all. kinda has that vibe but only kinda. in regaurds to this type of content and why i bring it up a quate from neffertity comes to mind: if you engage with the negative, all you'll see is the negative. this goes for every fandom and not just furries.
I thougth that this video would be like those "Anti-furry" videos where these ppl with too much free time go and bully furries But this was an amazing video!! Ty for being so nice!!
I always get so nervous when non furries go to a fur con. Because usually it's too harass or be mean. But this was definitely so wholesome and refreshing to see 💝 Would definitely reccomend anthrocon if you wanted to do another fur con! It's in Pittsburgh, pa! And it's actually one of the largest fur cons!
This is a really heartwarming video to see. This was my first furry convention I went to and my second con as a whole, it was probably the best time of my life. I hadnt stumbled into you guys (I was on the second floor during the howling though, I was quite close!) but I appreciate such a happy and positive mood when asking about these things and not being a troll like it usually is when non-furs do this. Seriously thank you ❤
You both have such kinda smiles 😊 Glad you had a nice experience! Y’all are always welcomed in our community, even if you don’t wish to identify with it.
i love how you guys just respect what they do and not like other people that go to conventions just to cause trouble or talk about bad things in the community just for furries to get a bad rep
Awww! Does anyone happen to know who the suiter at 1:58 is? From their reaction i'd assume they *physically* are unable to speak but I wonder if it's a choice to be a mute-suiter.
@@AngelGoesWoof Oh yeah, I didn't mean it would be bad!! XD I've been intrigued for a few years, but have found it difficult to con-fur-t on my own. If I can't get to a con right away, then the next best route is probably tryna make some fur friends online. ^w^ I yearn for the day when I can feel that giant plushiness! XD
Hiya! Loved the video you were so kind and respectful! Even you talk to silent fursuiters, silent suiters are ppl who don't in suit/ character not all furries are silent suiters but a majority are.
This is a very interesting watch! Gonna be a devil's advocate for a minute though 😅 The psychologist being interviewed didn't mention this but it seems like being a furry could be negative for some because they become more comfortable (quite literally) behind a mask than they are without it. This could be a good stepping stone for some to become more comfortable in their own skin but I also see how it could cause people to become addicted to "hiding" themselves in a sense. Still, I fully support this lifestyle.
That can absolutely happen, but thankfully, the trend is overwhelmingly in the opposite direction. There are certainly people who use the fandom as a form of pathological avoidance, just as there are people who use other hobbies or interests the same way. My sense is that the people who use the furry fandom as a form of unhealthy escape or avoidance would've inevitably used something else for that if they'd never found the fandom.
Talking with people that do have fursuits, it is not uncommon to find people replying that from fursuitting they have found confidence within themselves that they have then been able to carry into every day life. While the fursuits are the most visual part of the fandom the majority of people that participate in the fandom do not have a fursuit. The fandom is a common interest that brings together people from many vastly different backgrounds.
The correct answer of when the furry fandom was found, it was back at 1940 that out from a ferry on TH-cam named sky-high studios Is that Create third suit for 11.
The furry fandom is just like any other fandom, it has people in it. And with people you are bound to meet some very vocal bad people, just like you would anywhere else in the world. All you can do is ignore those people and continue having fun
Well friend congratulations on meeting the fandom there is so much going on in the fandom it’s cool so thank you for being kind and polite❤ much love from the furry fandom
Et velformuleret og subjektiv video! Stor kudos for at sætte fokus på furry fandommen på denne måde uden at gøre nar eller udstille den på det mindste!
![[#2024MAMA] G-DRAGON - 무제(Untitled, 2014)+POWER+HOME SWEET HOME+뱅뱅뱅+FANTASTIC BABY | Mnet 241123 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ox29z5Nf1Uk/mqdefault.jpg)
Got this on reccomended, thank you for being so polite and not just there to cause trouble ❤
No problem man, we had no reason to cause trouble
REAL
@@FriendlyWorld.Networkthat’s good
Furries are very nice and inclusive. I like videos like this, glad you had a positive experience
We definitely had a positive experience!
@@FriendlyWorld.Networkbeing a furry myself, (Arizonan furry) I’ve got a saguaro porcupine hybrid fursona. I’ve been somewhat obsessed with cacti, to the point where on Reddit, I’ve roleplayed as a sentient saguaro cactus for over 3 years.
THANK YOU FOR NOT BEING A HATER! as someone in the furry fandom I can declar that it does saves lives like mine, from suicidal acts, thank u for being nice, other people doing these hate furries after those experiences at a con for the first time! You are so nice and I thank you for that.
- a young fur (not even 13) that is now a big fan of this channel ❤
It's nice seeing genuinely nice and respectful videos when the furry fandom is so often misrepresented in public. Thank you for contributing to show how inclusive and open-minded we really are
I love the fact you actually ask questions and seek answers instead of harassing people who are just there to enjoy themselves
09:58 - I love how an interview about how furries meet their own needs differently and help others from outside the fandom to do the same, is interrupted and capstone by a furry helping a random stranger in a wheelchair get to a location several floors up.
I can appreciate how this video interruption was so important to keep in the cut. Thank you!
3:48 NEED THAT TEACHER RN
i double this she seems so nice
I know her and can confirm she's lovely!
I love how respectful you are!
I really appreciate people like you guys. most non furry's just go to conventions to ask out of pocket questions or just harass people so its nice to see people not a part of the community being genuinely respectful :]
Actually getting a phycological professional as well as furries from the general public is taking it to the next level. Now the haters REALLY have no reason for hating :)
Your video was suggested to me from the recommended, thank you so much for being so respectful! Your interview with Nuka was awesome and that conversation really showed what the fandom is to most of us. This video is wonderful and I'm also glad that you guys had a nice time at the con!!
Thank you so much! We definitely had a great time
This is a very good video. Its crazy it has so low view count!
Thank you very much!
VERY well done, thank you.
As a point of clarity... Sy Sable actually did not create the Furry Fandom, no single person did. The fellow who said that it started in the 1960s or 1970s was... fairly close, though. Sy, to his credit, _was_ a major player in the very first days of the modern Furry Fandom, and was one of the most careful and most well-respected historians of the Fandom from within it, and he will be sorely missed. But to claim that he started it in any way -- sure, he was _there_ at the start, but that's different -- is... a rather grandiose inflation of his actual role in things.
Arguably furries have been around since prehistory. One of the oldest known sculptures in all of humanity is the Guennol Lioness, depicting an anthropomorphic lion, and it dates to roughly 3000-2800 BCE -- around the time that the first cities and the earliest forms of written language (cuneiform, it was called -- essentially a system of triangles and lines pressed into clay tablets with a specialized stylus) came about, and around the time the wheel first became kind of a vaguely popular thing. Of course, cave paintings go back even farther, and somewhat in the other direction, the ancient Egyptians were (and still are) famous for their animal-headed deities.
Furries in the _modern_ sense, however, date roughly to about the 1970s -- although the events that brought that about start roughly forty to fifty years earlier. The comic books of the 1920s and 1930s were somewhat unparalleled, even by the standards today of what must be mailed throughout the United States in a brown paper wrapper, lest the USPS refuse to carry it, in their raunchiness and violence. It got so bad that there were municipal comic-book-burning parties organized by local governments at the urging of "concerned citizens" groups... it really was kind of disgustingly out-of-hand. Staring their very existence in the face, the comic book companies got together and created what was called the Comics Code Authority -- basically, their own watchdog and regulatory group. The CCA created strict rules about what could be depicted in comics, and what couldn't -- and the companies that refused to play along were quickly run out of business by those who did. (That's a lot of how we got DC and Marvel as the two giants they are.) Of course, the artists and writers chafed _horribly_ under the new rules, but the CCA refused to budge, and they had enough weight to throw around that any real attempt at proper rebellion was over before it began. The CCA had a chokehold on the industry.
Then, one rather unexpectedly interesting morning in 1959, the world changed. A photographic supplies company, Haloid-Xerox, released the very first practical photocopy machine. The Xerox 914 _revolutionized_ document duplication, and its follow-up models across the 1960s and 1970s only served to further cement its utility and, in the commercial space, ubiquity. Soon, machines of an earlier age of duplication, such as mimeograph devices and wax duplicators, were available on the secondhand market for pennies on the dollar -- at a price nearly any ordinary American could afford. This, in turn, led to the rise of small, independent newsletters and pamphlets, produced independently with simple cut-paste-and-tape methods, published in very small numbers on those older duplication machines, and sent all across America (and, to a somewhat lesser extent, the entire world) for the cost of a postage stamp of the appropriate size, each. These independent periodicals-in-miniature were called "zines" at the time, and often spoke to a niche set of interests. One such interest was independent comic books -- and since the CCA could not effectively stomp out such small printings, their stranglehold on the industry was finally broken.
Meanwhile, animation from Japan and the Far East began to gain international recognition, and things like _Star Trek_ , _Star Wars_ , and tabletop roleplaying games such as _Dungeons & Dragons_ and _Shadowrun_ ignited the public's imagination _en masse_ for science fiction and fantasy. Conventions around these topics began to be held, as their own fandoms rose up. Within these conventions, people began to gather at room parties who were enthusiasts of what was then considered "funny talking animals" -- things like _Looney Tunes_ and _The Animaniacs_ . Notably, around this time, a "zine" began to circulate that was named after a very obscure _Mad Magazine_ reference -- it was named _Vootie_ . After about a year, probably caused by internal friction, _Vootie_ 's management kind of broke apart. Most of them got back together about a year later to create another "zine", with another, equally-obscure _Mad Magazine_ reference as its title -- _Rowrbrazzle_ . Some of the earliest furry art, in the modern sense, dates from _Vootie_ -- in particular, the very first issues of a long-running comic, _Omaha: The Cat Dancer_ -- however, generally, the line between the "funny talking animal" fandom and the modern Furry Fandom as we know it today, is drawn at the first issue of _Rowrbrazzle_ going into circulation.
By the mid-1980s, enough people were attending enough furry-themed room parties -- now circulating issues of _Vootie_ and _Rowrbrazzle_ as well as original art, and screening films like _Animalympics_ -- that there began to circulate, the concept of a convention specifically for this apparently-nascent, emerging Furry Fandom. Sy Sable -- real name, Mark Merlino -- was instrumental in helping organize what became known as Confurence Zero, held 21st and 22nd January, 1989, at a Holiday Inn in Costa Mesa, California. Also among the 65 attendees was a man named Robert Hill, who worked for Disney, and was one of the first fursuiters, with a female character he wore surprisingly well, especially for the era (!!!) -- Hilda the Bambioid, an anthropomorphic deer of (ahem) rather voluptuous proportions, clothed in rather provocative black leather and matching heels. Mr Hill passed away in late 2018, and Sy / Mr Merlino, as noted, passed earlier this year, having long since taken it upon himself to try and both catalog and preserve as much of the early and notable history of the Fandom and its beginnings as he could.
Confurence One was a year later in 1990, and things kind of progressed from there into what we know and love (and debate) today.
...ahhh, yes. Sometimes I forget that TH-cam comments have a character limit. Anyways, as I was saying...
Somewhat amusingly, at least to me, there's a kind of schism in the community, now, as there are furries who believe that it's in the best interests of the Fandom to try and whitewash out the raunchier side of our collective history, and divorce ourselves from that, somehow. Personally, I fail to see how any such effort could meaningfully succeed -- and I also think too much would be lost for what little we'd gain, namely, a very preciously little more traction in places that don't like us very much as it is, specifically because they are overly repressive within their own about such adult-oriented matters in some distinctly immature ways. Like it or not, we are a group with the common thread of bringing a human side to the animalistic, by way of interest and desire, and there's simply no way to have that without the more "after dark" aspects being along for the ride. Moreover, handling such matters well is a mark of maturity and adulthood in a way that, at least in America, is seen with _far_ too little frequency.
Our very origins, as what is now arguably a subculture that is beginning to enter the mainstream consciousness in some very big ways, came about specifically out of a desire for greater leeway in the graphical depiction of such matters as promiscuity and violence in comic books. "Omaha The Cat Dancer" was quite literally created as a response to a reader-submitted letter in _Vootie_ specifically requesting that the content in the zine be made "more raunchy". Even today, as the effects from other fandoms that touch on furry topics, such as those surrounding so-called "Omegaverse" fiction and various communities organized around particular fantasy franchises, have given some illusion of legitimacy to those for whom bestiality is, for better or worse, a fetish or kink, has likewise caused massive turmoil within the furry community, leading to what has arguably become something of a witch-hunt at this point over zoophilia and so-called "feral" furs. The concerns are legitimate -- the fervency and zeal with which they are pursued, however, has become somewhat over-the-top in some distinctly unfortunate ways.
Ultimately, we are a community of people who are all-too-often the shunned, the bullied, the quietly desperate -- the vast majority of us are LGBTQIA+ or -questioning young teens and young adults in communities sadly unwilling to tolerate such people, people with Asperger's Syndrome or other forms of autism who have a hard time socializing with others, others with some form of mental difference, and anyone and everyone in between who is just a little bit different in ways that their peers are able to pick up on and so choose to victimize. Some of us are survivors of domestic violence, or non-violent domestic abuse. Yes, we're collectively searching for our identity, but that's because a lot of us, individually, are searching for ourselves as well. Yes, the Fandom is full of drama -- of course it is, almost all of us within it are, in some way, what you might call damaged goods. We're the ones nobody wants to do a group project with. We're the ones that get absolutely _obliterated_ in grade-school dodgeball. Most of us rode the shorter school buses for most of those grade-school years, as well.
But the most important thing is -- we're also a massive group where we take care of each other. That's what Dr Plante meant, I think, when he was talking about the social support group side of the Furry Fandom. We're a collective LGBTQIA+ and -questioning safe space. We're informal mental health therapy and care for one another. Look at Little Alpha Pup, or astrokim, or alvastar, or Gual Slan on furry TikTok. Look at BetaEtaDelota on Twitch and here on TH-cam. More than anything, -_-we take care of each other-_- -- because, more than anything, we're the ones who know what it's like to really struggle that way, and to have nobody to help when we need it most.
There are those who feel the need to try and oppose us, to try and tear us down. There are those who say they simply aren't interested. To both, I say -- take a look at who we actually are. Attend one convention for one day. _Talk_ to us. See us as we are. You might be surprised at what you find. Even if you still feel that we aren't necessarily your kind of crowd -- if you want to hang with us, you're welcome to do so. There are places in the Fandom for those who are not furries -- that fursuit handler you interviewed was a great example. Another one is furry artists... not all of them are themselves furries, but we pay well enough that for some, it doesn't matter. To those who genuinely feel the need to attack us -- like I said, look at us for who we _really_ are, not just what others tell you. Ask questions, instead of shouting accusations, just for a little while. As I said, you might be surprised at what you find. Even if you can't bring yourself to do that, now -- that's fine. You'll mature a bit over the next few years. We were all thirteen once ;3 I know I was. See you again in four or five years, once you grow into a bit of patience and life experience, and have had a chance to take a proper look around. Who knows? Maybe I'll have the opportunity to do some art of your new fursona. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy who I am and the company I'm with -- and if you have to be angry about that, you can go be angry and shout into a pillow or whatever. I'll be here doing my thing regardless, and I'll probably be enjoying it.
Regardless of who you are, or where you live, or how you feel about furries, or anyone or anything else -- I hope you have a great day today. Ya'll all take care, now, y'hear?
bro props for this comment even if its a copy and paist
@@adriana_loveless le wut? I wrote that by hand, _in situ_ .
@@laserhawk64 It's beautiful to see others who are knowledgeable and willing to educate! I need to figure out how to get a text to speech running so I can listen to this while drawing.
@@mustard9808 ...do you mean, my comment, or do you mean, the video itself? Coz the video's audio works fine for me.
the squeaking one at 2:17 was a species called a "dutch angel dragon" and the suiters that wear that species are known for squeaking like that :]
was recommended this, thank you for being nice to us. im glad you werent just tryna cause a ruckus.
that fur science study has been on my mind for a long time. i hope you had fun at the furcon too!
I want to see your funny mage hat! Maybe next year you will complete your quest. Or they show up to other conventions :0
Haha, hopefully!
I saw a Fluke the husky and Tirox. UwU
2:05
Thanks for being curious, kind, and respectful. ♥🦊I've been a furry since my young teens and I'm in my 20's now. I've never felt more accepted than in the fandom. They really encouraged me to be myself, and love and accept others for who they are too. It's really all just about a loving community coming together to appreciate and create art about anthro animals. I've made some great friends and learned to be creative and start drawing thanks to the fandom. They also helped me through some hard times when I had no one else.
I love the psychology explanation part of it near the end, this is so wholesome and validating to hear very much so as a kid and the things I watched I didn’t know there was a word for it until I was maybe in my preteens and was scared that I was already a weird kid but then only got more excited after more research in bringing characters to life and the positives of it in social activities with people you may relate to and how happy they were being their mascot as kids my age or younger were generally very socially accepting before they grew that type of judgment. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t crying even then finding those type of videos and was heartbreaking I didn’t continue to go to this anthro club in high school. Bullies gathering around the club just to cause trouble to point I had to hide around in the bathroom waiting it out. If I grew some confidence then I would’ve made some friends there if I wasn’t so scared of that backlash…was already tough enough as is in high school but being apart of the fandom made it seem worst so that’s my deepest regret that I only went once and wanna at least catch my first con in FWA for my upcoming early birthday since we moved down in Georgia finally since Florida with LGBT community is just a hit and miss but hopefully I get to make it bc I’m sure it’s gonna be hype!!
It’s also funny seeing you walk past some really popular furs but you not knowing
Yeah, we realize reading the comments, hahaha
This video was really confidence boosting!
I think I'll finally try making a suit and going to FuzzCon, it seems pretty friendly.
This video has also made some things clearer to me.
Thanks for making this fun video. :3
That is awesome
Always a pleasure to see you interviewing fursuits in Sweden 🇸🇪!
Its always nice to see people from outside the fandom being interested in what we are and what we do without being weird about it.
Being in the Furry Fandom has saved my life in more ways than I can count, im a very shy person that has dealt with Bullying a lot in life, here in the Furry fandom im able to be sociable with others and not worry about being judged, besides that what brought me to this hobby/fandom i enjoy the beautiful art and have always been into Anthropomorphic types of Comics and movies, im not good at drawing but when I see others drawings it is always a happy moment, thank you for being great people and not being mean to Furries, it means a lot to me and others who enjoy this Hobby/fandom.
So excited to give this a watch! Commenting for algo but I’ll be back!
Hell yeah! Let us know what you think
Good on y'all for getting a press badge for doing this video. Great coverage! Hoping I can make it out to NFC one of these years, but crossing the pond is expensive.
Got recommended this video, It's very lovely to see modern furry videos and events that show other people of the public these events with respect and dignity
i was originally so terrified to click on this video, but this is awesome! great job guys :)
Did anyone spot fluke husky and tirox!? Time is 2:05
I saw that too lol
This is a very respectful video! Very nice seeing the genuine curiosity from yall, especially with the quad-suiter who didn't break character 💕
Nice review, as a furry myself with 8 suits and well over 100 conventions that I've attend around the world since 2000. Thank you again for your posting!
Aaahh so many familiar faces in this video. Brings back memories...
This was such an awesome con. Definitely gonna try to make this yearly! I think NFC is also a con where you don't necessarily have to be a furry to really enjoy yourself. One of my best friends was here too, not a furry but loves them. He was strolling around as a viking with a spear and was my handler!
Hope that you guys had a great experience besides the interviews too! There was just a lot to do.
Thank you so much for actually being respectful and open towards furries!
was that telephone who was doing the squeaky toy sounds???!
The Undertale/Deltarune music in the background adds to the vid so well
that kitty with the brown stripes is dreamy. beautifully made. one of my faves.
yo this vid should be viral :D
Haha, thanks man
Thanks for being a positive person at one of our conventions it's rare seeing people like you at our cons so we as a fandom thank you ^.^😄
love that you were able to talk to people who were very knowledgeable about the beginnings of the fandom. 🙏🙏
i love these more of these videos of people recently just genuinely curious about other fandoms/communities that exist who engage with them to show a little bit about what those communities are really like, theres been a few other cool videos on people going to furry cons and then finding out that its just a cool fun or chill thing and i hope even more of these videos exist and get more views because they are pretty cool to see different peoples perspectives and what a community means to someone either individually or as a whole if that makes sense
also the undertale and deltarune music were cool
Always happy to see an open-minded and positively curious approach to furries! I've been involved off and on for 20ish years now, and I have a way of describing it that even makes a lot of furries go _whoa I never thought of it that way but it makes a lot of sense!_ Whereas mainstream society is neurotypical-normative and heteronormative, the furry community skews heavily toward normalizing and being supportive of all sorts of neurodivergency and non-heterosexual identities. Not to paint a brush on every member of the fandom, but people who need a home that society doesn't offer, or appreciate an alternate society that accepts different types of people, find a meaningful home in furry. Plus it's a world where we own our own designs and lore and IP and are surrounded by a community of people who create; it is a world nearly entirely devoid of top-down control of what you can and can't do. Hope that helps you or anyone else here who's curious, and I hope other furries don't disagree with that take too much!
Glad to see y'all had a great time! Here's to many more adventures, great content!
Happy to see someone be nice to furries. I wish more ppl know it’s just a cosplay :/
i gotta admit tho, this feels like one of those bait accounts where youtube drama investigators make spoof accounts to gain the attention of very bad people to get them to either admit to doing bad stuff or get their side of the story while also not trying to get caught while exposing them. aside from that, i like this video
Can you please explain this further?
@@fautex47 if you know you know. like turkey toms visit to a furcon on @tomdarker or a brandonfm vid where he made a spoof account to catch a streamer admit his wrongdoing.
sometimes content spoof channels are made by documentary/investigation style channels where they make these channels to bait an unsuspecting large number criminal whos getting away with stuff into doing a one on one interview in the guise to catch them in doing something illegal once and for all. kinda has that vibe but only kinda.
in regaurds to this type of content and why i bring it up a quate from neffertity comes to mind: if you engage with the negative, all you'll see is the negative.
this goes for every fandom and not just furries.
I thougth that this video would be like those "Anti-furry" videos where these ppl with too much free time go and bully furries
But this was an amazing video!!
Ty for being so nice!!
You are both so sweet and respectful! Loved this video
I have the highest respect for you going in and educating yourself instead of just harassing people props to you 2 ❤
I always get so nervous when non furries go to a fur con. Because usually it's too harass or be mean.
But this was definitely so wholesome and refreshing to see 💝
Would definitely reccomend anthrocon if you wanted to do another fur con! It's in Pittsburgh, pa! And it's actually one of the largest fur cons!
This is a really heartwarming video to see. This was my first furry convention I went to and my second con as a whole, it was probably the best time of my life. I hadnt stumbled into you guys (I was on the second floor during the howling though, I was quite close!) but I appreciate such a happy and positive mood when asking about these things and not being a troll like it usually is when non-furs do this. Seriously thank you
❤
That was very good and informative.
Love it when people visit our cons with respect. Thank you.
I think it's cool that there's a psychology research, about how it could save lives! + positive point for the community ❤
Amazing! You guys were so respectful and captured such a great representation of this community ❤
love the respect and the vibes u give there should be more people like u interviewing furries in a nice and respectfull way then hate on them
you two are so sweet, im glad to see how polite and amazing you were, i instantly subscribed. I hope you had fun!!!
You both have such kinda smiles 😊 Glad you had a nice experience! Y’all are always welcomed in our community, even if you don’t wish to identify with it.
Thank you for being so respectful! Hope you had A great time. ^^
i love how you guys just respect what they do and not like other people that go to conventions just to cause trouble or talk about bad things in the community just for furries to get a bad rep
Awww! Does anyone happen to know who the suiter at 1:58 is? From their reaction i'd assume they *physically* are unable to speak but I wonder if it's a choice to be a mute-suiter.
hey I was at that con! didn't see you guys though 🥺
Ah, that sucks! Hope to see you another time
I love that I don't remember bullying someone with a carrot ( 8:40 ) haha :D amazing video
Hahaha, it was fun
I want to hug a furry! DX I feel like the moment I do, I'll become one. Cuz they seem so nice.
Nothing wrong with being one lol and id reccomend it, fursuits are super soft like omg it's like hugging a giant plushie!
@@AngelGoesWoof Oh yeah, I didn't mean it would be bad!! XD I've been intrigued for a few years, but have found it difficult to con-fur-t on my own. If I can't get to a con right away, then the next best route is probably tryna make some fur friends online. ^w^ I yearn for the day when I can feel that giant plushiness! XD
Thank you for being so understanding and respectful!!! It’s always nice to see “normies” be nice to furries
NFC was such an amazing time!!! I am going next year as well defently!!!!
You met UK_Kitty! Im so jealous her fursui i's so pretty!
this channel is completely underrated!!! wholesomest video ive seen on furries in a while :3
"if being a furry saves lives, is it then a form of medicine?" was the most danish thing i have ever heard
2:04 FLUKE AND TYROX!!!
Does anyone know the suiter at 1:57? Obsessed with this poor little meow meow coded creature
Same! I'd love to know who they are.
Ngl being a side quest guy seems so fun 🤣
(OMG IM YOUR 300th SUB CG’s!)
Eyyy! It’s a start.
We appreciate your support!
thank you for being so respectful!
I love that you’re so pleasantly clueless you are so sweet! 😊
Hiya! Loved the video you were so kind and respectful! Even you talk to silent fursuiters, silent suiters are ppl who don't in suit/ character not all furries are silent suiters but a majority are.
2:06 I saw fluke husky and Tirox!!
This is such a cute video. Im going to a furry convention soon (2-3 weeks from now) and this really boosted my confidence on how fun itll be!
nooooo way he got fluke and tirox on cam XD
4h..... dude whent to the convention hall on the wrong week lol
This is the best vid I've seen about furries in a long time- thank you. ❤🐾🦊🐾
This is a very interesting watch!
Gonna be a devil's advocate for a minute though 😅 The psychologist being interviewed didn't mention this but it seems like being a furry could be negative for some because they become more comfortable (quite literally) behind a mask than they are without it. This could be a good stepping stone for some to become more comfortable in their own skin but I also see how it could cause people to become addicted to "hiding" themselves in a sense. Still, I fully support this lifestyle.
That can absolutely happen, but thankfully, the trend is overwhelmingly in the opposite direction. There are certainly people who use the fandom as a form of pathological avoidance, just as there are people who use other hobbies or interests the same way. My sense is that the people who use the furry fandom as a form of unhealthy escape or avoidance would've inevitably used something else for that if they'd never found the fandom.
Talking with people that do have fursuits, it is not uncommon to find people replying that from fursuitting they have found confidence within themselves that they have then been able to carry into every day life.
While the fursuits are the most visual part of the fandom the majority of people that participate in the fandom do not have a fursuit.
The fandom is a common interest that brings together people from many vastly different backgrounds.
Yayy love furries, sending much love have a happy spring everyone ❤
Yo i saw fluke and tirox
That was so wholesome! Thank you!
Love this video so much! thanks for being so respectful and cool about everything
I love being a furry, its so fun
Hey there another network man, how did you like all my suited up best Servent buddies there?
1:43 @DantheLion it’s u!
Just saw this my reccomendations this morning,
your content has a lot of underration, :P
Very eye opening, great video!
love it. i hope i can go to fur con someday...
Lol i saw fluke and tirox... But anyway such a big respect for you.
i thought the howling at the moon event was a joke lols! 2 seconds later............
Очень мило и красиво, как Касплей
The correct answer of when the furry fandom was found, it was back at 1940 that out from a ferry on TH-cam named sky-high studios Is that Create third suit for 11.
The last part made me so happy awoooooooo !!
The furry fandom is just like any other fandom, it has people in it. And with people you are bound to meet some very vocal bad people, just like you would anywhere else in the world. All you can do is ignore those people and continue having fun
I really love this video, yoy did a hell of a job. Very good
Well friend congratulations on meeting the fandom there is so much going on in the fandom it’s cool so thank you for being kind and polite❤ much love from the furry fandom
Excellent video, guys. I wish I could attend a furry con some day.
Hello horse button up shirt where did you get its so cute !!
very cool going in with a clean mind with no bia's and trying to learn about furries.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 That was the fastest slow sloth I've ever seen. Awesome. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Et velformuleret og subjektiv video! Stor kudos for at sætte fokus på furry fandommen på denne måde uden at gøre nar eller udstille den på det mindste!