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This was a refreshing video to watch. It reminds me that the fandom alive and well, and though it's growing pains are tough, we still have plenty of good times ahead of us.
I can see why people do get worried about Furry becoming the next "Hot Topic Goth" but I don't see that happening tbh. I'd prefer a custom made Tarlo The Boar over some cheap Wal-Mart Boar head mask.
Well I bought a cheap panther head from Walmart last year, used it in a Halloween costume, and got nothing but admiration and joy from people. Except that one toddler who had no idea how to react.
My biggest fear as the culture becomes mainstream is the eventual flooding of mass produced costumes made by big businesses. Destroying the awesome creativity the fandom is known for.
Actually I totally welcome how much easier access it is to find the furry fandom then when I first started a few years ago furries are starting to become bigger and it's grab that we're finally getting some notice and even if those Walmart fursuit heads might not look the best it is a starter point and it will be a great way to introduce people to the furry fan cuz the more normal that we make it look the better off everyone will be and people will not judge
Really, the only valid fear, besides the business stuff you mentioned, for being too mainstream is that even more greasy incels will be walking up to people and be like "wow, are you even a _real_ furry?" and start quizzing them on the spot. Hate for becoming to mainstream is something that really only belongs to success hating hipsters & gatekeeping "superior fan" manchildren. People who will always insist "back in my day, I was an early adopter & lemme tell you, it was so much better. This new generation sucks ass. No one is a true fan anymore. Do you even know who [insert absurdly famous member here] is?!". Honestly, if we lose those people then the fandom will be better off.
Love this, the part where you talked about gender and how the community is so free nearly made me cry tbh. Seeing someone mention it for once was touching. I'm a guy, yes, but I'm very very feminine and basically a femboy, and gotten so much shit over the years about it. My parents abuse me about it, bully furs harassed me, but things have changed. I can wear a skirt and stockings and get compliments, blend in, I'm not just that weird guy, I'm just another furry.
That's awesome! Thanks for your comment, it's so heartwarming that furry's a space for you to feel safe expressing your truth. Spite the haters by living your best life!
0:21 idk about it being too commercialized. Like as an artist who will open commissions soon, I know there’s a good chance that lots of furries will come to me. In fact, most artists I’ve seen ENCOURAGE other artists to draw furries because they’ve always had good commission experiences and furries generally are very willing to drop almost any amount of money to see their fursona in a style they like. Idk if that counts but as far as art goes, there will always be money to make off of furry content.
This video analysis is fascinating. As someone who has dove deep into many fandoms for many years, I have to say the Furry Fandom is the one that feels the most conflicted when it comes to overall acceptance, ethics, and mainstream appeal. My guess is that this is the product of the fandom growing larger and larger and thus more ideas and points of views are coming in and sharing their own thoughts as to what the Furry Fandom should be and shouldn't be. I have seen videos where furries state that the fandom will NEVER be mainstream, that it will ALWAYS be a niche fandom, and that there will never be a way to "explain" this fandom to anyone. Then there's the infamous "Furries are toxic" video where the guy just plain roasts the fandom for its darker side and how it "accepts" those behaviors and "grooms" people into accepting what in normal society would be toxic and dangerous. And finally we have those that have praised the fandom for their creativity, their acceptance, their charity work, and how it allowed them to express themselves in a way that is totally unique to them while still feeling part of society. I feel we live in an era where fandoms are now more noticeable than they were say ten years ago, where conventions were mainly attended by a cult of fans. Nowadays, conventions are so mainstream that ANYONE can attend them and talent from all over the globe can attend them and be part of the fandom and even service them.. This is speaking from my own experiences, but at all the conventions I have attended, it has been a relaxed, more accepting and more diverse environment. Megacon, the biggest convention in Florida, hosts pretty much anyone from Disney fans, to furries, to comic book fans, to movie fans, and accepts every member of the community, whether it be African-American, Latino, or LGTBQ+. Heck, last year's show had the entire cast of Steven Universe just as the series was revealing its big spoilers and the fandom was becoming toxic to some and it was being watched by a whole set of people because of how possessive and even abusive they were becoming. And everyone attended the show, celebrated the series, met the cast, attended the panels and no one felt the need to yell at the talent because of the show's decisions. And I like to think it's because fandoms have become more mainstream and thus more people are able to join without feeling judged. Of course there will be elitists and idiots that will try to "speak" for the fandom and will be the first to yell "SELL OUT" the minute the fandom becomes mainstream. I remember when the likes of Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z were airing on Cartoon Network, and the die hard anime fans looked down upon those fans because "they were not true anime and manga fans", and proudly showed off their bootleg fansubs of hardcore anime, or hunted down rare releases of Manga video dubbed tapes of shows like Vampire Hunter Z or Evangelion. But the thing is that thanks to those shows becoming more mainstream, more and more series become localized and aired on TV and were released on DVD and Blu Ray. It even allowed the creation of an anime streaming service for many old and new series for people to discover. And it was all because anime slowly became more accepted and more mainstream. What I am getting at is that fandoms becoming mainstream DOES allow for more opportunities for it to flourish, welcome new talent, and new fans. If we let a fandom just stay hidden in a corner somewhere where only the true fans can exist, then the fandom will just die out. And what does all that I said relate to the Furry Fandom? Well, it IS in the process of becoming more mainstream and finding its own identity. There are many furry youtubers that are teaching the fandom how to behave at conventions, how to get a suit, how NOT to get a suit, how to behave with other furries, and the most important one of all...THAT YOU DON'T NEED A FURSONA OR A FURSUIT TO BE PART OF THE FANDOM. Heck, some of them even say that you don't even need to attend big conventions if you are more of a casual furry. And I feel that is because the fandom is slowly becoming more mainstream and creating its own identity. Of course people will object to it, others will still feel elitist towards the idea, and others will flat out say that the fanbase is way too toxic or too niche for it to become mainstream. But I do feel that with time, the fanbase will find somewhat of a happy medium where they will learn to present themselves better while still learning new things. After all, we went from the infamous CSI episode to major newscasts talking about the fandom as just a fandom and people literally walking a mile in a fursuiter's steps just to feel what it's like. There are still MANY ways to go, but considering where it all started, there is progress being made.
If being mainstream would mean ruining the fandom then it would have been ruined a long time ago. Obviously it's not mainstream to be a furry but let's face it most people know what we are at this point. We are seeing some negatives with the growth of the fandom with all the drama going on daily but aside from that the fandom has gotten better as it's crawling closer and closer to being mainstream. More people means the cons can make more money, artists can get more commisions and the community can expand out giving us more sub communities within other communities (for example furry clans in MMO games). Sure there's downsides but really it's more positive as long as you ignore the drama :P
What people fail to comprehend is that a larger furry fandom means a larger set of DIFFERENT people. Essentially, it is a community and people should start realizing that there will be more and more gaps to the broadness of the fandom, and the interactions within. Even now, we sadly have a lot of unnecessary political arguments and more of bad eggs. The media prefers this kind of mainstream culture. Edit: To clarify, what i mean by "gaps" within the fandom is that there would be more different mindsets, which may cause some disconnection OR new fresh ideas(!) that can either drive or drown the fandom's ship. Furry has always been broad (being just general anthros) and it being mainstream will make it encompass a broader spectrum (due to more people with their own preferences).
I don't want to get one of those cheap heads cause like are they safe? Do they have good breathing? Do they have good vision? Do they have toxic materials in them?!?!?!
I don't think there's enough TV shows that show Furries in a positive light. The one show that probably most normal people think of is that episode of CSI. Whereas on the other hand the only other episode of TV show with a similar plot to that one CSI episode is the penultimate episode of season 3 of Lucifer. However the main differences arr that in Lucifer the people at the con they go to are a bunch of real fursuiters just acting like they would at a real convention, one of the characters uses furry lingo such as normie but jokingly says that it's just something that hear that furries say which kind of implies that she's secretly a furry, they also mention that the furry fandom isn't about sex and I'm pretty sure that they say that not all furries dress up as their characters. They also don't have the title character make fun of furries instead opting to put Lucifer in a side plot where he basically has a day off and goes to an amusement park for the day with a friend and had a joke where he tries to sell some t-shirts with his friend's on-ride picture from one of the rollercoasters
I feel like I can say with a decent amount of certainty that if furs weren't at least accepted into the mainstream, Zootopia wouldn't have happened. It's hard not to see that as a positive side effect. To be honest, though, there is a certain amount of pride I feel in being part of a fandom that's always seen as the oddity, because myself and all others that decided to take that leap into the unknown were rewarded for it. That said, I very much agree that welcoming new people into the community because of mainstream media, like Zootopia, would be a wonderful thing in the end. As long as everyone's respectful and kind to newcomers, we can keep being awesome fluffs.
I like this video. I've had some mixed thoughts on furry becoming more mainstream most of my feelings prior have been positive. I've noticed a lot more people considering furries to be weird at worst, rather than all the hate we used to get. Things are improving inside and outside the fandom and normalizing it I believe is very helpful for all demographics.
Nice video. another topic to fit in with gender, and I am unsure if there are statistics to show this, but I would be comfortable with a guess that 75% of all fursuit makers who make them for a living identify as female. Its great how more and more females have been enjoying the fandom over the years
Well if furry becomes common place then saying you are furry loses the taboo feeling. I'm a odd ball in the fact I'm open about who and what I am. I know not everyone can be like that. And it can be hard for people to say "this is me, don't like then move on. "
One thing I don't want to see is the fandom becoming mainstream where normies will jump on the bandwagon just to be cool. How would furries like it if they weren't able to attend their favorite fur con because it was sold out due to normies? While thankfully it hasn't happened in the furry fandom, it has happened to Comic Con. I used to attend Comic Con every year since I live less than 5 miles from the convention center but after 2013, I was never able to register again due to it becoming mainstream. Also, a lot of furry booths at Comic Con left due to the high prices thanks to the giant corporate media companies buying huge spaces at the exhibit hall. Surely the furry fandom would not want huge corporations taking over the dealers den and forcing smaller furry businesses out. Being accepted in the public eye is a pawsitive thing but being mainstream is not.
Okay, you had me until you went full intersectional feminist. Yes, different people have different experiences, but you can't predict what someone's life is like based on their skin color, sex, sexual orientation, etc. Your entire message would be better if you focused on individualism; the fact that everyone has different circumstances, and being something like a furry is easy for NO ONE. Right now, you're speaking on behalf of me as a male as well as friends/family of mine who are black, gay, trans, female, etc. and they all disagree with this oversimplified, social justice perspective. Stop collectivising people based on what they are and treat people based on who they are and what their unique circumstances are.
Culturally F'd is a lot of work to make, please help support the channel over at www.patreon.com/culturallyfd
We also have merch over at www.culturallyfd.com
This was a refreshing video to watch. It reminds me that the fandom alive and well, and though it's growing pains are tough, we still have plenty of good times ahead of us.
Imaginatively Unimaginative (hi mr.Zillion i really appreciate your art videos)
I can see why people do get worried about Furry becoming the next "Hot Topic Goth" but I don't see that happening tbh. I'd prefer a custom made Tarlo The Boar over some cheap Wal-Mart Boar head mask.
Well I bought a cheap panther head from Walmart last year, used it in a Halloween costume, and got nothing but admiration and joy from people. Except that one toddler who had no idea how to react.
I'm almost poor, so until I have a stable well paying job, I'm just gonna make do with what I have.
My biggest fear as the culture becomes mainstream is the eventual flooding of mass produced costumes made by big businesses. Destroying the awesome creativity the fandom is known for.
It's like Extreme Metal, so different from the norm that it will never be truly/fully mainstream
I hope furries become more mainstream. I completely agree with your statement that "there shouldn't be an age limit for fun" :)
Actually I totally welcome how much easier access it is to find the furry fandom then when I first started a few years ago furries are starting to become bigger and it's grab that we're finally getting some notice and even if those Walmart fursuit heads might not look the best it is a starter point and it will be a great way to introduce people to the furry fan cuz the more normal that we make it look the better off everyone will be and people will not judge
I needed this after the day I've had plus I'm recovering from a Surgery so well done man! You made my day yet again!
Really, the only valid fear, besides the business stuff you mentioned, for being too mainstream is that even more greasy incels will be walking up to people and be like "wow, are you even a _real_ furry?" and start quizzing them on the spot.
Hate for becoming to mainstream is something that really only belongs to success hating hipsters & gatekeeping "superior fan" manchildren. People who will always insist "back in my day, I was an early adopter & lemme tell you, it was so much better. This new generation sucks ass. No one is a true fan anymore. Do you even know who [insert absurdly famous member here] is?!". Honestly, if we lose those people then the fandom will be better off.
@Arom Komondor 1. Learn English before you try to fight me.
2. The fuck you even talking about.
Love this, the part where you talked about gender and how the community is so free nearly made me cry tbh. Seeing someone mention it for once was touching. I'm a guy, yes, but I'm very very feminine and basically a femboy, and gotten so much shit over the years about it. My parents abuse me about it, bully furs harassed me, but things have changed. I can wear a skirt and stockings and get compliments, blend in, I'm not just that weird guy, I'm just another furry.
That's awesome! Thanks for your comment, it's so heartwarming that furry's a space for you to feel safe expressing your truth. Spite the haters by living your best life!
@@CulturallyFd Hell yeah ^-^
0:21 idk about it being too commercialized. Like as an artist who will open commissions soon, I know there’s a good chance that lots of furries will come to me. In fact, most artists I’ve seen ENCOURAGE other artists to draw furries because they’ve always had good commission experiences and furries generally are very willing to drop almost any amount of money to see their fursona in a style they like. Idk if that counts but as far as art goes, there will always be money to make off of furry content.
This video analysis is fascinating. As someone who has dove deep into many fandoms for many years, I have to say the Furry Fandom is the one that feels the most conflicted when it comes to overall acceptance, ethics, and mainstream appeal. My guess is that this is the product of the fandom growing larger and larger and thus more ideas and points of views are coming in and sharing their own thoughts as to what the Furry Fandom should be and shouldn't be. I have seen videos where furries state that the fandom will NEVER be mainstream, that it will ALWAYS be a niche fandom, and that there will never be a way to "explain" this fandom to anyone. Then there's the infamous "Furries are toxic" video where the guy just plain roasts the fandom for its darker side and how it "accepts" those behaviors and "grooms" people into accepting what in normal society would be toxic and dangerous. And finally we have those that have praised the fandom for their creativity, their acceptance, their charity work, and how it allowed them to express themselves in a way that is totally unique to them while still feeling part of society.
I feel we live in an era where fandoms are now more noticeable than they were say ten years ago, where conventions were mainly attended by a cult of fans. Nowadays, conventions are so mainstream that ANYONE can attend them and talent from all over the globe can attend them and be part of the fandom and even service them.. This is speaking from my own experiences, but at all the conventions I have attended, it has been a relaxed, more accepting and more diverse environment. Megacon, the biggest convention in Florida, hosts pretty much anyone from Disney fans, to furries, to comic book fans, to movie fans, and accepts every member of the community, whether it be African-American, Latino, or LGTBQ+. Heck, last year's show had the entire cast of Steven Universe just as the series was revealing its big spoilers and the fandom was becoming toxic to some and it was being watched by a whole set of people because of how possessive and even abusive they were becoming. And everyone attended the show, celebrated the series, met the cast, attended the panels and no one felt the need to yell at the talent because of the show's decisions. And I like to think it's because fandoms have become more mainstream and thus more people are able to join without feeling judged.
Of course there will be elitists and idiots that will try to "speak" for the fandom and will be the first to yell "SELL OUT" the minute the fandom becomes mainstream. I remember when the likes of Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z were airing on Cartoon Network, and the die hard anime fans looked down upon those fans because "they were not true anime and manga fans", and proudly showed off their bootleg fansubs of hardcore anime, or hunted down rare releases of Manga video dubbed tapes of shows like Vampire Hunter Z or Evangelion. But the thing is that thanks to those shows becoming more mainstream, more and more series become localized and aired on TV and were released on DVD and Blu Ray. It even allowed the creation of an anime streaming service for many old and new series for people to discover. And it was all because anime slowly became more accepted and more mainstream.
What I am getting at is that fandoms becoming mainstream DOES allow for more opportunities for it to flourish, welcome new talent, and new fans. If we let a fandom just stay hidden in a corner somewhere where only the true fans can exist, then the fandom will just die out. And what does all that I said relate to the Furry Fandom? Well, it IS in the process of becoming more mainstream and finding its own identity. There are many furry youtubers that are teaching the fandom how to behave at conventions, how to get a suit, how NOT to get a suit, how to behave with other furries, and the most important one of all...THAT YOU DON'T NEED A FURSONA OR A FURSUIT TO BE PART OF THE FANDOM. Heck, some of them even say that you don't even need to attend big conventions if you are more of a casual furry. And I feel that is because the fandom is slowly becoming more mainstream and creating its own identity. Of course people will object to it, others will still feel elitist towards the idea, and others will flat out say that the fanbase is way too toxic or too niche for it to become mainstream. But I do feel that with time, the fanbase will find somewhat of a happy medium where they will learn to present themselves better while still learning new things.
After all, we went from the infamous CSI episode to major newscasts talking about the fandom as just a fandom and people literally walking a mile in a fursuiter's steps just to feel what it's like. There are still MANY ways to go, but considering where it all started, there is progress being made.
If being mainstream would mean ruining the fandom then it would have been ruined a long time ago. Obviously it's not mainstream to be a furry but let's face it most people know what we are at this point. We are seeing some negatives with the growth of the fandom with all the drama going on daily but aside from that the fandom has gotten better as it's crawling closer and closer to being mainstream. More people means the cons can make more money, artists can get more commisions and the community can expand out giving us more sub communities within other communities (for example furry clans in MMO games). Sure there's downsides but really it's more positive as long as you ignore the drama :P
What people fail to comprehend is that a larger furry fandom means a larger set of DIFFERENT people. Essentially, it is a community and people should start realizing that there will be more and more gaps to the broadness of the fandom, and the interactions within.
Even now, we sadly have a lot of unnecessary political arguments and more of bad eggs. The media prefers this kind of mainstream culture.
Edit: To clarify, what i mean by "gaps" within the fandom is that there would be more different mindsets, which may cause some disconnection OR new fresh ideas(!) that can either drive or drown the fandom's ship. Furry has always been broad (being just general anthros) and it being mainstream will make it encompass a broader spectrum (due to more people with their own preferences).
I always enjoy your videos, great stuff this time!
Great video. Like drinking warm tea.
6:08 that explains why I’ve gotten so many IMVU ads on FA and why a lot of the ads I see for it on and off FA are with furries
I don't want to get one of those cheap heads cause like are they safe? Do they have good breathing? Do they have good vision? Do they have toxic materials in them?!?!?!
7:18 makes me happy that the majority of ads I see on FA are bought by FA users promoting their art commissions being open tbh
This channel is so underrated
Help us out by sharing your favourite videos with your fur friends
I miss furries in the Media
If furries are becoming mainstream, then I'm ready for it. It'd be nice to not slightly worry about people knowing.
Great vid
I am a reconnaissance (recce for short) observer hiding in the woods behind the old oak tree
@8:26
instagram.com/markwakehamdraws/
your's truly~
I don't think there's enough TV shows that show Furries in a positive light. The one show that probably most normal people think of is that episode of CSI. Whereas on the other hand the only other episode of TV show with a similar plot to that one CSI episode is the penultimate episode of season 3 of Lucifer. However the main differences arr that in Lucifer the people at the con they go to are a bunch of real fursuiters just acting like they would at a real convention, one of the characters uses furry lingo such as normie but jokingly says that it's just something that hear that furries say which kind of implies that she's secretly a furry, they also mention that the furry fandom isn't about sex and I'm pretty sure that they say that not all furries dress up as their characters. They also don't have the title character make fun of furries instead opting to put Lucifer in a side plot where he basically has a day off and goes to an amusement park for the day with a friend and had a joke where he tries to sell some t-shirts with his friend's on-ride picture from one of the rollercoasters
I feel like I can say with a decent amount of certainty that if furs weren't at least accepted into the mainstream, Zootopia wouldn't have happened. It's hard not to see that as a positive side effect.
To be honest, though, there is a certain amount of pride I feel in being part of a fandom that's always seen as the oddity, because myself and all others that decided to take that leap into the unknown were rewarded for it. That said, I very much agree that welcoming new people into the community because of mainstream media, like Zootopia, would be a wonderful thing in the end. As long as everyone's respectful and kind to newcomers, we can keep being awesome fluffs.
I think if the fandom would become mainstream the sexual side would lose its importance, which would make being a furry much easyer.
I like this video. I've had some mixed thoughts on furry becoming more mainstream most of my feelings prior have been positive. I've noticed a lot more people considering furries to be weird at worst, rather than all the hate we used to get. Things are improving inside and outside the fandom and normalizing it I believe is very helpful for all demographics.
tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ItsPopularNowItSucks
Furry used to be mainstream (under the term funny animal), then fans started making stuff.
Maybe it's the kind of thing that oscillates, coming into fashion then fading back and repeating.
Nice video. another topic to fit in with gender, and I am unsure if there are statistics to show this, but I would be comfortable with a guess that 75% of all fursuit makers who make them for a living identify as female. Its great how more and more females have been enjoying the fandom over the years
Well if furry becomes common place then saying you are furry loses the taboo feeling. I'm a odd ball in the fact I'm open about who and what I am. I know not everyone can be like that. And it can be hard for people to say "this is me, don't like then move on. "
You are like cultural furry Vsauce... Fsauce!
Pawsome video!!!! =^.^=
MEME THUMBNAIL
One thing I don't want to see is the fandom becoming mainstream where normies will jump on the bandwagon just to be cool. How would furries like it if they weren't able to attend their favorite fur con because it was sold out due to normies? While thankfully it hasn't happened in the furry fandom, it has happened to Comic Con. I used to attend Comic Con every year since I live less than 5 miles from the convention center but after 2013, I was never able to register again due to it becoming mainstream. Also, a lot of furry booths at Comic Con left due to the high prices thanks to the giant corporate media companies buying huge spaces at the exhibit hall. Surely the furry fandom would not want huge corporations taking over the dealers den and forcing smaller furry businesses out. Being accepted in the public eye is a pawsitive thing but being mainstream is not.
too bad since this been happening i havent see Dj zing's hedgehog self return ;3;
Okay, you had me until you went full intersectional feminist. Yes, different people have different experiences, but you can't predict what someone's life is like based on their skin color, sex, sexual orientation, etc. Your entire message would be better if you focused on individualism; the fact that everyone has different circumstances, and being something like a furry is easy for NO ONE. Right now, you're speaking on behalf of me as a male as well as friends/family of mine who are black, gay, trans, female, etc. and they all disagree with this oversimplified, social justice perspective. Stop collectivising people based on what they are and treat people based on who they are and what their unique circumstances are.
Gender is the new, twisted individualism.