I used to be a member of a furry web ring. In fact ,I still have a link to them, but I decided not to stay a member because several folks have deemed my art not so furry and I would tend to agree with them. I will now recite to you what Rikki and Tavisha, creators of Reality Check! from Sirius Entertainment, had to say in issue number nine of their comic book about the term "furry" and how it is used. After reading this, I have decided that my story doesn't really qualify as "furry", even though a few of the characters can be taken that way. But I am still definitely a fan of furry. My thoughts on this issue are placed after Rikki's comments:
"We've noticed something lately that makes us feel a bit awkward: some people think we are furry fans – that is to say members of a fan organization dedicated to the promotion of anthropomorphic (half animal/half human) characters. I've gone back and re-read our Kitty Letters pages from past RC! issues, and I don't remember EVER writing that Reality Check! is a furry comic or that we are furry fans.
"Some fans make the mistake of assuming I wrote Catreece to be acclimated to furry fandom. Maybe it's because Catreese says, "Aren't I cute, aren't I fuzzy?" in the first issue -- or maybe because in issue number two a background character says "must be some crazed furry fan". That character was added because he was meant to resemble a friend of ours who hates furry comics and was reluctant to read RC! because he thought it was a furry book. Of course, after reading it he now knows that furrydom is not what we intend, and now likes the book very much.
"It's the furry fans that label us "furry", not us. Actually, the whole "fandom" thing reminds me of old ladies going to bingo. It gives them an opportunity to come together as an intrinsic group and have personal conversations with people who share their common interests – but for some reason the fans differ from the old ladies in that the fans always try to point to analogous yet independent individuals outside their group as conscious members of their school of thought – when in fact, those individuals are not. When we make an issue of Reality Check! we do what we do because it seems funny or strangely inspiring – never do we sit down and go, "Well, time to write like a furry!"
"People find their own reasons to make associations and for forming things into groups and categories, and often go about it by basing those things they wish to group on a model of their own interests. It's the furry fans that have decided that certain conditions make the book a furry book – not us. So why should we concern ourselves with these subjective conditions? I write what I want and Tavisha draws what she wants regardless of what someone will categorize our work by. We can't stop furry fans from calling RC! a furry book, but Sirius knows that the mere mention of the word "furry" anywhere near RC! in a Direct sales catalog is like instant death. Which is fine with us that Sirius feels that way. In comic shops where RC! is placed in the furry section it just sits and dies, or a single individual gets it delivered to his or her box and it never gets seen by passing customers. However, it's the shops where RC! is placed either in the anime/manga section or general audience section where the book starts to really move. That's a fact.
"We usually don't read comics specifically aimed at the furry audience, because the presence of the target audience is blatant on every page, and the author's deep desire for acceptance of that specific audience permeates every page, making it un-enjoyable for us to read. It's not that we're TRYING not to read them – it's just that they're not our thing. That's really all it comes down to. Me, I read mostly THB, Squee & JTHM, Thieves & Kings, Plastic Little, Alita, Akiko, Scary Godmother, Adele Blanc-Sec, Starstruck (still sad it's gone), Slacker, Action Girl, & Skeleton Key – while Tavi likes reading translated manga such as Urusei Yatsura (Lum), Sailor Moon, What's Michael, and various untranslated mangas from the late 80's such as To-y and KissXXXX (and most of the books I buy as well). That's why I'm always baffled when furry fans say we must be into their scene. If we were ever part of any scene it was the L.A. Gothic punk underground scene back in the late 80's early 90's – and the Japanese Animation scene around that same time (well I guess we still are) – but that's about it.
"A lot of times furry fans will come up to us and say, "We use your book as a good way to get non-furry fans into the furry scene." Great. Good. I'm happy it's meeting someone's goal. It's not OUR goal, however. OUR goal is to get as many people as possible to read our book. That's the whole banana.
"So all we're trying to say is that scenes that people decide must be our scene are in fact not OUR scene – Just wanted to clear that up. Now go be happy."
-Rikki
To me, it made sense. Furry books seem to be, for the most part, books in which the whole population is non-human, animal-looking characters. If this statement is true, then my book does not fit this description and so it should not be categorized as a furry book. Some of my characters resemble or are a tribute to furry, but the focus is more on their powers and how the humans living here treat them because of it.
Yes, I am a furry fan for the most part; just perhaps not in the same manner as I once thought I was. I had this site linked to a furry web ring because of the furry-esque art and because some of the links relate to furry. My story is sword & sorcery/western/sci-fi and revolves around the adventures of a human boy.
As Rikki said, "Just wanted to clear that up. Now go be happy." Heh. ;)
( For an informative page on the subject of all things furry, check out: http://www.tigerden.com/infopage/furry/furfaq.txt , though I don't necessarily agree with everything said there, but check it out! )
To contact me, send e-mail addressed to TQFoxdrew followed by @trenchersquest.com . (Why?)
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