Furry Fandom/Sandbox

Identifying oneself as a furry is extremely loaded. It'd be nice if less geeky people naturally assumed that it just meant you happened to like stories centered around animal characters. That definition covers a good-sized majority of furry fans. It'd be very nice if most people assumed that's what you meant if you identify yourself as part of the furry fandom.

Unfortunately, the term "furry fandom" has come to cover quite a lot of subcultures, some of which are... odd. You can thank The Law of Fan Jackassery for that one though the *chans get their fair share of credit too.

Because of this, it's understandable that quite a few people who should be in this big tent don't consider themselves to be (a phenomenon called furry denial ). For example, Most Werewolf: The Apocalypse players, especially the more hardcore ones, would get along great with just about any furry fan -- doubly so after s/he drew the W:TA player's character. And posting monster girls on various online forums is just fine... until you post Werewolf-tan, when the riots begin.

In a very rough order of increasing weirdness, and keeping in mind that individual people routinely occupy more than one spot and/or different spots over time, furry fandom includes:

 * Most furry fans are people who simply like fiction/art centered around animal characters (ie The Secret of NIMH, Watership Down) or animal-like ("anthropomorphic", frequently and somewhat ironically abbreviated to just "anthro") characters (Redwall, Swat Kats, Disney's Robin Hood, Animalympics, Sonic the Hedgehog, Star Fox).
 * Most of the remaining furry fans are artists and writers whose works involve mostly animal and animal-like characters, and as such are just looking to get rich and/or famous, or simply like to draw. We really can't emphasize this enough. Even at a furry convention, the vast majority of the fandom appears to be just the artists, writers, and their fans.
 * There are also plenty of furry/anthropomorphic artists who don't associate themselves with the rest of the fandom, but think Furries Are Easier to Draw (or at least make money off of). Deviant ART is full of these, for example, and a surprising number of which are female, to boot. That may explain why the majority of "visible" furries are male.
 * Fans of people Shapeshifting into animals are pretty common.
 * Cosplayers, who just dress up for fun, are just a bit rarer but still common, and you will definitely see them at conventions. They're about as weird as anyone who dresses as their favorite character at a comic convention - but unlike people dressed as human characters, others are bound to get the wrong idea for reasons listed below.
 * Those who study animal symbolism and totemism, either seriously or as the latest New Agey fad.
 * Many of the above types will have a "fursona", or a furry character representing themselves.

Past this point is where things tend to start getting into what many non-fans think the furry fandom is:

 * People with an anthropomorphic animal Fetish. It appears to be true that over 70% the fandom has this to some minor degree going off furry surveys, but the sheer amount of furry porn produced understandably can give the misconception that this is more important to if not the point of the fandom. In the eyes of many Fan Haters, this isn't necessarily negative, but calling it a "lifestyle" or "spiritual connection" or whatever will not help you.
 * "Otherkin", a subculture made up of people who believe they may not be entirely human. That is to say, they're not just some kid browsing, say, TV Tropes, they're also, somewhere inside, a dolphin, or a dragon, a Na'vi or a bright-winged alicorn. Considered slightly nutty even by furries.
 * A subgroup, Therians, limit the possibilities to real animals.
 * Being noted here because they seem to have branched off from the otherkin concept, although they've abandoned the "furry" part: "Otaku-kin", who believe that they're fictional characters (generally anime characters, as the name implies, but characters from western media aren't unheard of), although they're typically deemed "fluff bunnies".
 * Otherkin who drop the other shoe by disowning the human race. For example, they may start refusing to answer to their human names, feel the need to constantly rant about how Humans Are Bastards, which they're obliged to because "I'm not really one of Them", and/or (if they acknowledge that they are human at all) seriously believe themselves to have been born as the wrong species. Even most otherkin, who, as previously mentioned, tend to be mocked more than the other types, roll their eyes at these guys.
 * In the very very tiny minority are people who love stuffed animals, and erotic cosplayers. It pains us to have to emphasize the fact that this segment of the fandom is very, very small. Yet, thanks to CSI, ER, MTV, American Dad, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Vanity Fair, Maxim and Something Awful, it has gotten by far the most attention of any of these groups. Apparently, even furries don't enjoy having sex in a heavy, sweaty, expensive, possibly fragile, hard-to-clean suit that partially blocks their eyesight.

Also, meet Dr Kathy Gerbasi, social psychologist to the furs.
""'Cause, you know... furries.""
 * Accentuate the Negative: The usual non-fan take on the fandom. And some disgruntled fans' take on the fandom.
 * Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Ho boy, it can get pretty nasty with some of those sparkledogs...
 * Blue markings are particularly popular.
 * Animal Stereotypes: Interestingly, the stereotype for a particular species in the furry fandom often will be different from what it traditionally is. (Please, no examples. We used to list them here, but it fell victim to too many justifying edits and other conflicts).
 * Artistic License Biology: Often used to point out common anatomical failures. (ie, rabbits with paw pads, male kangaroos with pouches) Most people often justify it by saying "It's fiction" or "It's a toon" and pointing out that most anthros wouldn't exist in real life anyways.
 * Paw and hoof size should be mentioned; even realistic artists sometimes have a tendency to draw them as being...quite small. Realistic artists should take into account that if they wouldn't wanna get knocked over easily, they would be much bigger. (ie, around the size of a human foot)
 * Often takes the form of Single Issue Wonkery about reptiles having boobs. (But apparently horses having separate digits, birds having dicks, anything with Gag Boobs, being able to fly, and for that matter reptiles with... erm... separate orifices are all perfectly okay). Also a Double Standard - See Barbie Doll Anatomy.
 * Even though you see people raging about those, too. (such as people who refuse to interact with anthro ungulates for that very reason).
 * There are people who do stuff like categorize Walruses in the amphibian section, or hyenas in the canid section of an art site. (Hyenas are popular enough to have their own category usually).
 * Also some reptiles tend to have smooth hair-less skin instead of scales.
 * Which is often done because drawing scales takes time. But you can often see when the artist shows their work.
 * Barbie Doll Anatomy: Male characters are often drawn without visible nipples, with the conceit that "the fur covers them" or "The reptilians/avians don't have them". Even in art with visible nudity "below the belt", including porn. However, the same is rarely true of females, except on sites where nudity is against the rules and it's used as a loophole.
 * That being said, females with Barbie Doll Anatomy were a big trend on Yerf, a site that sought to be The Moral Substitute for art gallery sites that allowed adult art like the VCL. Ironically, a piece with Godiva Hair was once deleted by Yerf's admins because of the "implied nudity".
 * Berserk Button: Furries tend to get trolled because an awful lot of them are easy targets. The more high-profile furries are either epic drama queens, or the complete opposite who will laugh at trolling and take insults in stride if not flat out ignore it.
 * Biological Mashup: There's a number of furries out there that will merge two animals together, but the result will still look like a real animal, such as a folf (fox and wolf together).
 * Blatant Lies: Any story you've ever heard happened at a furry con that contains the word "elevator".
 * Broken Base: Where to even begin? Let's just say there's a lot of infighting and leave it at that.
 * But You Screw One Goat!: People who hate the fandom for its sexual side tend to have this as their reason more often than not.
 * Complaining About People Not Liking The Fandom: Partially averted. Trolls are assumed to have vastly more power than they ever actually will, but surprisingly, one doesn't see the attitude of "this is going to take over the world any year now because it's just better" that you see in so many fandoms. You'd literally be laughed at for suggesting that furry fandom is ever going to be some kind of major art movement, or the basis of a generation of youth culture like punk rock. Apparently the fandom's reputation (see Animation Age Ghetto) is just that strong that even most fanboys aren't too thick to be aware of it...
 * Complaining About Things You Haven't Paid For: For some reason, people seem a lot more critical about requests/trades than they are about commissioned art.
 * Dead Horse Trope: "All furries are wolves, foxes and cats". There's a lot of furry art featuring other species out there, even the "squicky" ones like spiders, sharks, and snakes.
 * Also, "People who play Foxes, wolves and cats are uncreative hacks for not coming up with something more personal." You can blame the Broken Base for that one, or it might be that outside of mice, canids and felids are among the animals most commonly seen by people in the world that aren't microscopic or arthropods. Seeing an animal regularly means many references and a high chance of personal attachment. (A lack of Arthropods is explainable in that a lot of people are instinctively drawn away from them as a phobia).
 * Did Not Do the Research: Some people believe that the more perverted elements of the fandom are a new development, whereas in reality, decades ago furry porn was being published in Underground Comics with names like "Bizarre Sex".
 * For that matter, most people who assume sex is the focal point of the fandom have clearly never been on ArtSpots or Yerf.
 * Deconstruction: The fiction "I Wish I Was Furry" and the "The Problems With Cross-Breeding" comics. (Both links EXTREMELY NSFW)
 * Detractor Nickname: "Skunkfuckers", back in the day, due to the mild obsession the fandom had at the time with female skunk characters. More recently supplanted by "furfags", so widely used that some furries are adopting it.
 * "Furfag" is courtesy 4chan, where "-fag" is used as a suffix for almost every community, including artists (drawfags) and veteran users (oldfags). In fact, most "-fag" nicknames, with the possible exception of newfag and summerfag, are frequently used without a negative connotation.
 * Did Not Do the Research: Some people believe that the more perverted elements of the fandom are a new development, whereas in reality, decades ago furry porn was being published in Underground Comics with names like "Bizarre Sex".
 * For that matter, most people who assume sex is the focal point of the fandom have clearly never been on ArtSpots or Yerf.
 * Everybody Has Lots of Sex: Present in some fiction and roleplaying. More common in some parts of the fandom than others.


 * Also, any classification of furry which can be considered a subset of another classification will be regarded as complete and utter loons by the larger category. Finding out just how deep this goes will leave you chasing recursions until the heat death of the universe.
 * Everyone Is Bi: More true the deeper you go. A disturbingly large amount of furries settle into Anything That Moves territory, especially in the cast of sexual roleplaying. According to the 2009 Furry Survey, just over 40% of participants are straight, although there is a significant sampling bias to that; a true number could very easily be larger, but we have no way of finding out.
 * Follow the Leader: Since many fursonas seem to start as glorified fancharacters (very few will admit this), it may be possible to predict the trends of the fandom by the latest anthro-animal related media coming out.
 * And that includes webcomics. Let's just say an awful lot of cubi came out after Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures...
 * The Sonic the Hedgehog series is probably probably more or less single-handedly responsible for a very large portion of the furry fandom.
 * The mock essay "How to Be a Furry" had a lot of fun with this, pointing out who allegedly set the stage for various character-design trends.
 * Ever since the debut and popularity surge of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, a high number of furries have created alternate pony characters for themselves.
 * Freaky Is Cool
 * Fridge Horror: Most anyone with a furry character belonging to a real-life endangered species (say, one of the galapagos tortoises) will implicitly acknowledge there are fewer of them.
 * GIFT: There's a pretty damn perfect correlation between people that think anything worthwhile can ever come out of the fandom, and people that have ever attended any fannish events outside of the internet.
 * God Mode Sue: Most mythical species (dragons, phoenix, ect) have a bad reputation as some people choose them not only to be "special" but as an excuse to god mode by using their "mystical powers". Adding "wizard", "ninja", or nanotech to any species can also result in this.
 * Half-Human Hybrid: Duh.
 * Mix-and-Match Critters, Heinz Hybrid, & Interspecies Romance: Furry "species" seem to be more analogous to human races than actual biological species, seeing as they're able to mate, interbreed, and even have viable children. (This is referring to furry characters, of course, not actual furries - those are still human. It should also be said that not all furry series allow for Biological Mash Ups. Just most of them).
 * Hatedom/Fan Hater (amounts to the same thing, since this is a fandom): A particularly loud and obnoxious variant, spearheaded by many users of the sites Something Awful and Encyclopedia Dramatica, who remain firmly in the Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch category. Unless you check IPs and discover that the people complaining are also on the various websites making requests. However, the furry hatedom, so to speak, long predates SA and ED. The exact same phenomena were taking place on Usenet message boards and in science fiction conventions 15+ years ago.
 * Hate Dumb/Fan Dumb: Where to begin?
 * Humans Are Bastards: Present in almost every single furry fiction that has humans as a major race. There are aversions where the one human character was a visitor from another dimension or the last of his species.
 * Even Kevin and Kell admitted that their furries were just as bad as humans.
 * Humans Are Ugly: Stated by a huge number of furs with varying degrees of seriousness (which other furs inevitably fail to notice). By definition, though, you have to at least think there's some appeal to the idea of not being completely human.
 * Hypocrite: Those participating in the sexual parts of the fandom sometimes criticize other peoples' fetishes as being gross and/or wrong despite what theirs might be.
 * Hypocritical Fandom: Most trolling done to the Furry Fandom is done by other furries. Most furries themselves are on the lookout for Acceptable Targets. If you don't want to get trolled in the fandom, it's best to pretty much be an utter bastard Caustic Critic who never interacts with 90% of the fandom. (that is, start trolling yourself. Hey, if you can't beat em...) Course this is also the internet - where perfectly nice people are turned into perpetually angry sociopaths because they don't suffer consequences.
 * I Just Want to Be Normal: "I am new to the fandom. How can I tell my parents about being a furry?" (Answer: you don't).
 * Image Boards: Fchan, Ychan, The Goddamned Furry Board, Paws and many more not listed here. Some of these host... frightening art, so Google at your own risk.
 * A lot of the Furry Fandom hate can be traced back to a favorite "pastime" of... a certain imageboard whose name is best not uttered in such a sensitive article.
 * Internet Backlash: As said above, openly identifying as a furry is loaded. Although acceptance seems to be spreading, and even Something Awful tolerates open furries if they're civil (ie: not an Attention Whore or complete nutcase, those are banned once they stop being entertaining). However, a good deal of the more civil sites seem to accept or ignore furries nowadays, it seems it's fairly safe to be a furry nowadays so long as you don't walk into the lion's den.
 * Male-to-Female Universal Adaptor: Sometimes played straight in porn with animals that should work differently. Yes, this can and does proceed to its [il]logical conclusions, in the form of Interspecies Romances and Biological Mash Ups. It seems that "species" of furries are more like human racial groups than actual biological species (which, for the record, are completely different) . This leads to the question of why there even are still distinct species in this fictitious 'verse.
 * Some people actually explain it. For example, there are a few furry sub-verses where there are interspecies romance, but the offspring is either the mother or the father's species. This makes things much less confusing.
 * Memetic Mutation: "Zomg Furry", "Furfag", etc, as well as the majority of the nonsense about the fandom (see the note about "Fursuiters" above). The main reason why Werewolf-girls are the only Cute Monster Girl type to be mostly ignored by Image Boards.
 * Mix-and-Match Critters: Some furries just can't make up their damn minds. Convoluted family trees and Hot Skitty-On-Wailord Action (Fetish Fuel in itself to some) are usually used as a Hand Wave.
 * Some hybrids are commonly seen enough to have a Fan Nickname. For instance, a fox/wolf hybrid is a "folf", and a skunk/fox hybrid is a "skox".
 * Money, Dear Boy: Even if you don't really identify with the fandom ('My fursona is a human!') there's a pretty good amount of money to be made if you're a remotely talented artist willing to draw other people's fursonas. The more you're willing and able to contribute to draw naughty stuff, the more money to be made...
 * The Moral Substitute: There are communities of Christian furries.
 * Also, Yerf was founded specifically to be a depository for "squeaky clean" furry art. It was essentially the VCL (which predated it by about a year) with content restrictions. ArtSpots, its Spiritual Successor, is essentially Fur Affinity with the same restrictions.
 * Most Writers Are Human: Probably how the whole Furry Fandom got created was because of this fact. Also, no matter how hard somebody tries to convince you that they are wolf, dragon, cat, hamster, raccoon, otter... they're still humans at their computers, desks, and whatever else.
 * Nightmare Fuel: What some Fetish Fuel might become to other people. Also, don't forget werewolves and dragons.
 * Fursuits are either this or Narm to some people. Sometimes, less is more.
 * Badly made fursuits can go deep into the Uncanny Valley even for those who enjoy fursuits. A well-made suit isn't enough to save you, however. A suiter with a good suit can still cause this effect if s/he is bad at performing.
 * Noodle Implements: Crowbars used to be used as a symbol of ultimate sexual perversion, in reference to an old joke about two female characters from the Albedo: Erma Felna EDF comic book getting it on (the implication was originally that Toki would have to use a crowbar to pry Erma's legs apart; the artist, Steve Gallaci, lampshaded the 'Erma Felna with a crowbar' joke by producing two pictures, one in a pinup style, the other reminiscent of Frazetta, of Erma posing with a crowbar). This joke even found its way by Woolseyism into the NES game Nightshade (which is one of those games that would be completely impossible to enjoy if it wasn't for how weird the localization is).
 * Precious Puppies
 * Rousseau Was Right: Yes, there are actually nice furs who gladly take requests if their friends give them ideas, or actually don't lose their cool. You just don't hear about them for the same reason you don't hear about the nice people in real life.
 * Rule of Personification Conservation: Generally, a character or a cast of characters should only be animals if the plot requires it to (unless the author happens to be a furry, of course).
 * See also Rousseau Was Right. A lot of furs are actually very nice people, you just never hear about them for the same reason you never hear about nice people in general.
 * Small Name, Big Ego: For some reason, the furry community is a Small Name, Big Ego generating machine, particularly in the artist and fanfic side of things.
 * Wikifur.com is a major testament to this. Keep clicking "random article" and you are likely to find an article about a person who has no business having an article, which (s)he wrote him-/herself. Bonus points if it mentions the person being "known for" something.
 * Special Snowflake Syndrome: Once the fandom took off, it seems like everyone's fursona has to stand out in some way- wings, tentacles, more wings, obscure species, cross-breeds, bright colours, beautiful Blue Jay-patterned Angel wings... lately, having your character be a mundane, common species is what stands out.
 * Sturgeon's Law: Applies to every single facet of the furry fandom. Including the furries themselves.
 * Tabletop Games: Ironclaw,Furry Pirates, Lands Of Luste(quite NSFW) and Albedo. Not to mention that houseruled furry races are fairly common in D&D.
 * Transformation Comic: You see some that get rather adult; but there are plenty of "G"-rated ones. You just never hear about them.
 * Troll: Oh dear god! The trolling of the furry fandom on common web-sites has gone well beyond Acceptable Targets into rather horrific Memetic Mutation. Look at any video in YouTube featuring furries in any way--the amount of trolling you get is simply astounding Some of them are rather normal (in trolling standards), the others are rather extreme. Then there's the furries who troll furries, and the trolls who troll furries who troll furries...
 * Unusual Euphemism: All over the place, in both the traditional "awkward topics" sense and in more innocent things. Hands will be paws, feet will be footpaws, spouses will be mates, and some furries even prefer sillier euphemisms like "headfur" for hair. Go even deeper and you can find much more frightening euphemisms like "pawing off". Also "tailhole". There's a bit more tolerance for Puns than most fandoms have.
 * The head fur one is sometimes justified. Many artists/Writers prefer to use furry characters that lack actual hair (Think Star Fox),meaning the term headfur, refers to the actual fur on the characters head.
 * "Strategically Placed Holes" refers to holes that are strategically placed on a fursuit to enable intercourse.
 * What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: Goodness, the reason why there's so many foxes, wolves and cats in the first place. It's also why birds, insects, spiders, Fish People, and whole lot of reptiles are rare in the first place.