The ULTIMATE Furry Fandom Iceberg EXPLAINED (Part 1) 🐱

01:05:05
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtn8QivdoeM

Summary

TLDRThis video provides an in-depth explanation of the furry fandom through the lens of an "iceberg" metaphor. It starts with an introduction to both the furry fandom—a community interested in anthropomorphic animals—and the concept of an iceberg chart, which categorizes elements from public knowledge to hidden depths. The video outlines the importance of various cultural and media touchstones in the furry world, including conventions, role-playing, and specific shows and games like "Zootopia," "Sonic the Hedgehog," and "My Little Pony," which have contributed to the fandom's growth. The video also discusses the history, culture, and common misconceptions about the furry community, addressing both positive aspects and controversial topics. Additionally, it shows how different layers of the iceberg chart help unveil the deeper cultural significance and breadth of the furry fandom, from its public activities to the obscure tidbits appreciated by hardcore fans.

Takeaways

  • 🔍 Iceberg charts explore topics from well-known to obscure.
  • 🦊 The furry fandom is interested in anthropomorphic animals.
  • 🎥 Media like "The Lion King" and "Zootopia" have impacted the fandom.
  • ↩️ Furry fans often participate in role play, expressing their fursonas.
  • 💼 Furry conventions, such as Anthrocon and Midwest Fur Fest, are central to the community.
  • 🎨 Fursonas are creative expressions for many in the fandom.
  • 🔄 Fursuits are costumes representing one's fursona, popular at conventions.
  • 📖 Fan fiction played a role in early furry community development.
  • 🎮 Games like "Sonic the Hedgehog" provide an entry point to the fandom.
  • 📚 Documentaries like "The Fandom" explore the furry community's history.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The video begins with an explanation of the furry fandom, which is a group interested in anthropomorphic animals, and iceberg charts, which list topics from the most known to the obscure within a theme. The creator expresses issues with existing furry icebergs for being too surface-level, too new, or focusing on negative aspects. This video aims to explore deeper layers of the furry fandom, tracing its culture back millennia.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    The first layer of the iceberg explores werewolves, defining them as humans who turn into wolves and tracing their origins back to Europe and other earlier cultures. Werewolves are common in fiction and have given rise to other 'were' creatures, like werecats and werehogs.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    The video continues with a discussion on Pokémon, highlighting its cultural and financial impact since its inception in 1996 as video games, as well as its anime's role in globalizing anime. Pokémon's portrayal of creatures with human-like traits contributes to its significance within the furry community.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    Zootopia, known for its anthropomorphic characters and culturally rich narrative, is discussed next. Since its 2016 release, it has become a staple in the furry fandom. Furthermore, its development into spin-offs reaffirms its impact on furry narratives.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    Night in the Woods is introduced as a 2017 Adventure Game with a central feline character navigating life changes. It is significant for bringing people into the furry fandom through its nuanced, mature storytelling, and for resonating with adults.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    The concept of a 'fursona' is explained, detailing it as an anthropomorphic character that represents an individual's personality or desires. Although not essential to being a furry, fursonas aid in creative expression and personal exploration within the communities.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:35:00

    Furry conventions, or furcons, are described as large gatherings that celebrate the furry community, complete with gatherings, vendors, and charity work. These conventions have grown dramatically since the first in 1989 and play a significant role in community building.

  • 00:35:00 - 00:40:00

    Connecting anime and furry cultures, the term 'Nya' is discussed. Initially from anime, it is an expression of pleasure or excitement and illustrates the cultural overlap between anime fans and the furry fandom.

  • 00:40:00 - 00:45:00

    Role-playing (RP) is highlighted as an activity where participants assume different personas for various purposes, including entertainment, therapy, or empowerment. It is a significant part of both gaming and online cultures, aiding in creative exploration and community engagement.

  • 00:45:00 - 00:50:00

    The 2022 film 'The Bad Guys' is noted for its nods to and recognitions of furry culture, integrating memes and community-specific humor. Its clever play on typical narratives with a furry twist highlights the increasingly diverse representation of furries in mainstream media.

  • 00:50:00 - 00:55:00

    Fursuits, costumes representing one's fursona, are discussed as a significant and expressive aspect of the fandom. Not without controversy, they represent a unique form of identity and articulation within conventions and beyond, becoming an emblem of personal and communal values.

  • 00:55:00 - 01:00:00

    The term 'bears' in gay culture, referring to large, hairy men, is analyzed for its possible cultural parallels to the furry fandom. Although distinct, the shared appreciation of identity expression in both communities is seen as noteworthy in the context of welcoming diversity.

  • 01:00:00 - 01:05:05

    The video touches on 'Warrior Cats,' a book series that led children to animal-centric anthropomorphic stories, feeding directly into later appreciation for furry fandom. These books are pivotal in creating interest among younger generations, showing how early media shapes fandom pathways.

Show more

Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • What is the furry fandom?

    The furry fandom is a community of people who have an interest in anthropomorphic animals, which are animals with human-like characteristics.

  • What is an iceberg chart?

    An iceberg chart is a visual representation of topics related to a theme, descending from well-known or non-controversial topics to more obscure or sensitive ones.

  • Why does the furry iceberg exist?

    The furry iceberg exists to explore the various aspects, from popular and accessible to obscure and controversial, within the furry fandom, potentially offering new insights and historical context.

  • What are fursonas?

    Fursonas are anthropomorphic animal characters created by individuals in the furry community to represent themselves.

  • What is a fursuit?

    A fursuit is a costume that is designed to look like a person’s fursona and can be either a full body suit or partial pieces like heads or tails.

  • Who are bronies?

    Bronies are fans of the "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" series, typically older males, although the community includes females as well (sometimes referred to as pegasisters).

  • What is role play (RP) in the furry community?

    Role play in the furry community involves assuming roles, often as one's fursona, for entertainment or self-expression.

  • What is first speech?

    First speech refers to the specific colloquialisms and idiosyncratic language often used by members of the furry community.

  • What is anthrocon?

    Anthrocon is one of the largest furry conventions worldwide, held annually in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

  • How did The Lion King impact the furry fandom?

    "The Lion King" served as a major cultural influence on the furry fandom, providing an entry point for many enthusiasts through its anthropomorphic characters.

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  • 00:00:00
    the furry fandom Iceberg explained
  • 00:00:02
    anyone who's clicking on this video
  • 00:00:04
    probably already knows what those two
  • 00:00:07
    things mean furry fandom and Iceberg
  • 00:00:10
    explained but as a little bit of an
  • 00:00:12
    introduction let's go over both of them
  • 00:00:15
    the furry fandom is a group of people
  • 00:00:16
    with an interest in and an appreciation
  • 00:00:18
    for anthropomorphic animals an iceberg
  • 00:00:21
    chart is a chart of topics related to an
  • 00:00:24
    overarching theme group of people fandom
  • 00:00:27
    franchise and so on Iceberg charts
  • 00:00:29
    typically descend from the most commonly
  • 00:00:31
    known or least controversial topics down
  • 00:00:34
    to the more obscure or uncomfortable
  • 00:00:36
    topics surrounding that particular theme
  • 00:00:39
    if you want to jump into the iceberg
  • 00:00:41
    itself you can go to the time code on
  • 00:00:43
    screen right now but if you want to
  • 00:00:45
    understand some of the background for
  • 00:00:46
    this particular Iceberg and why it
  • 00:00:48
    exists in the form that it does keep
  • 00:00:50
    watching so two things I want to get
  • 00:00:52
    into first why does this exist well if
  • 00:00:55
    you look up furry Iceberg on YouTube
  • 00:00:57
    You're gonna find that several other
  • 00:00:59
    fairly large videos have popped up over
  • 00:01:01
    the past couple of years videos about
  • 00:01:03
    icebergs have been popular since about
  • 00:01:04
    2020 or so really kicking off with the
  • 00:01:07
    Super Mario 64 Iceberg which was first
  • 00:01:10
    covered by mishkas and then later by
  • 00:01:12
    nesc retro in a much longer video and
  • 00:01:16
    most of the videos particularly about
  • 00:01:18
    the furry fandom I have watched they're
  • 00:01:20
    all good videos don't get me wrong but
  • 00:01:22
    all of them have one problem for me and
  • 00:01:24
    that's the icebergs themselves I highly
  • 00:01:27
    recommend you go and check out the
  • 00:01:28
    videos by Seether court and Sarah's
  • 00:01:30
    things among others the thing is most of
  • 00:01:33
    the more well-known icebergs related to
  • 00:01:35
    the furry fandom that I can find or the
  • 00:01:37
    ones covered in the previously mentioned
  • 00:01:39
    videos are either a to surface level B
  • 00:01:42
    to new as in they don't cover anything
  • 00:01:45
    really before about the year 2000 and
  • 00:01:48
    honestly in a lot of cases that's
  • 00:01:49
    stretching it or C they spend too much
  • 00:01:52
    time for my taste focusing on Bad actors
  • 00:01:54
    and criminals who also happen to be
  • 00:01:57
    furry fans this Iceberg was cobbled
  • 00:01:59
    together by two of the top results when
  • 00:02:01
    you search on Google the icebergs by
  • 00:02:04
    sylah wolfron and Reddit user semi Deus
  • 00:02:07
    and I apologize if I'm mispronouncing
  • 00:02:09
    either of those names please just let me
  • 00:02:11
    know in the comments while I started
  • 00:02:13
    with those two icebergs a lot of entries
  • 00:02:15
    were either removed or rearranged and
  • 00:02:17
    many many more were added on I would
  • 00:02:20
    like to point out here that this is part
  • 00:02:22
    one of ten and if you look at the
  • 00:02:24
    runtime of this video understand this is
  • 00:02:26
    going to be a long ongoing project the
  • 00:02:28
    other thing that I want to cover a
  • 00:02:30
    disclaimer as several people who have
  • 00:02:31
    spoken to while doing research for this
  • 00:02:33
    Iceberg have told me and as I agree with
  • 00:02:36
    the furry fandom is pretty good about
  • 00:02:38
    outing the Bad actors and outright
  • 00:02:40
    criminals within its numbers probably
  • 00:02:43
    let's be honest better than a lot of
  • 00:02:45
    other communities we're really good
  • 00:02:47
    about calling out bad behavior and
  • 00:02:49
    making sure that anybody who interacts
  • 00:02:50
    with one of these Bad actors knows up
  • 00:02:53
    front in all honesty a lot of furry fans
  • 00:02:55
    have a pretty low tolerance for this
  • 00:02:57
    kind of that being said the other video
  • 00:02:59
    is covering these and similar icebergs
  • 00:03:01
    that exist on YouTube go into quite a
  • 00:03:04
    bit of detail about some of the more
  • 00:03:05
    Despicable people you might want to
  • 00:03:07
    learn about not to mention that there
  • 00:03:09
    are other channels on YouTube not
  • 00:03:11
    related to Iceberg content that deal
  • 00:03:13
    with said Bad actors in the furry fandom
  • 00:03:15
    that being said this series is not a
  • 00:03:18
    space to highlight people like that as
  • 00:03:21
    the saying goes if you can't become
  • 00:03:22
    famous become infamous a lot of the
  • 00:03:25
    people that I'm referring to are
  • 00:03:26
    Infamous enough and the information
  • 00:03:28
    about them is out there a lot of it's
  • 00:03:30
    common knowledge honestly so this is
  • 00:03:33
    going to be instead a look into the
  • 00:03:35
    history and culture of furry as deep as
  • 00:03:37
    we can possibly go over about the next
  • 00:03:39
    year because the furry fandom has a deep
  • 00:03:41
    rich history and culture lasting about
  • 00:03:43
    40 years or so in the proper sense of a
  • 00:03:46
    fandom but it extends in a lot of ways
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    Millennia into the past
  • 00:03:51
    if you're a furry fan or somebody who
  • 00:03:53
    wants to learn more heck even if you're
  • 00:03:55
    an anti for a referee hater give this
  • 00:03:57
    video and the subsequent videos a watch
  • 00:03:59
    you might learn some stuff you've never
  • 00:04:00
    encountered before and stick around till
  • 00:04:02
    the end of this video if you want the
  • 00:04:04
    opportunity to potentially be a part of
  • 00:04:06
    this project with all those disclaimers
  • 00:04:08
    out of the way let's jump into the first
  • 00:04:10
    layer of the furry Phantom Iceberg and
  • 00:04:12
    see what there is to learn about this
  • 00:04:13
    storied often misunderstood group
  • 00:04:24
    werewolves
  • 00:04:25
    werewolves are in simplest terms humans
  • 00:04:28
    who turn into wolves the term actually
  • 00:04:31
    comes from the old English for man wolf
  • 00:04:34
    werewolves are also called lycanthropes
  • 00:04:37
    and they're mostly popular from the
  • 00:04:38
    Middle Ages onward in Europe but
  • 00:04:41
    examples exist in earlier cultures and
  • 00:04:43
    other parts of the world than Europe in
  • 00:04:46
    modern times the werewolf is a pretty
  • 00:04:48
    common monster or archetype in fiction
  • 00:04:50
    with other were beasts coming into being
  • 00:04:53
    as well like werecats wear Hogs the that
  • 00:04:59
    name doesn't make sense let's be honest
  • 00:05:01
    because that means man hug but he's a
  • 00:05:06
    hedgehog and a where
  • 00:05:07
    moving on
  • 00:05:10
    Pokemon Pokemon
  • 00:05:11
    [Music]
  • 00:05:12
    probably needs no introduction it is
  • 00:05:15
    literally one of the biggest franchises
  • 00:05:17
    in the world spanning all types of media
  • 00:05:19
    it's the second highest grossing
  • 00:05:21
    franchise behind Winnie the Pooh which
  • 00:05:25
    genuinely that one's a little bit of a
  • 00:05:26
    surprise to me but if you consider the
  • 00:05:28
    time difference how long Pooh has
  • 00:05:30
    existed versus how long Pokemon has
  • 00:05:32
    existed it's pretty impressive Pokemon
  • 00:05:34
    started in 1996 with the publication of
  • 00:05:37
    Pokemon Green version and Pokemon Red
  • 00:05:39
    version in Japan two video games for the
  • 00:05:41
    Game Boy the franchise was created by
  • 00:05:43
    Satoshi Tajiri as a parallel to his
  • 00:05:45
    childhood interest in bug collecting the
  • 00:05:48
    anime adaptation that came after the
  • 00:05:50
    games was a key turning point in the
  • 00:05:52
    adoption of anime into English-speaking
  • 00:05:54
    areas of the world namely the US prior
  • 00:05:57
    certain major films that were considered
  • 00:05:59
    Art House in the English-speaking World
  • 00:06:01
    definitely broke out but Pokemon showed
  • 00:06:04
    American companies that there was money
  • 00:06:06
    in anime it wasn't just for Niche
  • 00:06:09
    markets appear people who went to
  • 00:06:10
    conventions and things like that Pokemon
  • 00:06:12
    is notable in furry for how it shows the
  • 00:06:14
    Pokemon as not just sentient animals but
  • 00:06:17
    in a lot of cases Sapient beings with
  • 00:06:19
    hopes and dreams and aspirations it has
  • 00:06:22
    at this point simultaneously introduced
  • 00:06:24
    multiple generations to not only anime
  • 00:06:27
    but also furry
  • 00:06:30
    zootopia
  • 00:06:32
    zootopia is the 2016 Disney animated
  • 00:06:35
    film about Judy Hopps a bunny moving
  • 00:06:38
    into the big city to become the first of
  • 00:06:39
    her species to be a cop and Nick Wilde a
  • 00:06:42
    fox con man with a heart of gold this
  • 00:06:45
    one's recent enough that it doesn't feel
  • 00:06:46
    like it needs too much explanation it's
  • 00:06:49
    a staple of Modern Family movies and
  • 00:06:51
    it's been hugely popular in the fandom
  • 00:06:53
    since release in late 2022 there was
  • 00:06:56
    actually a series of shorts called
  • 00:06:58
    zootopia plus that got added to Disney
  • 00:07:00
    plus as well fans of the film who
  • 00:07:02
    haven't seen any of those yet this is
  • 00:07:04
    this is your PSA go check them out
  • 00:07:06
    they're pretty good
  • 00:07:09
    Night in the Woods Night in the Woods is
  • 00:07:12
    the 2017 Adventure Game by infinite fall
  • 00:07:15
    it's the award-winning coming-of-age
  • 00:07:17
    story that follows May a cat who returns
  • 00:07:19
    home to possum Springs to find the town
  • 00:07:21
    has changed and that time hasn't stopped
  • 00:07:24
    since moving away it's connected with a
  • 00:07:26
    lot of people due to its emotionally
  • 00:07:28
    resonant nature and brought some people
  • 00:07:30
    into the fandom from a less kid-friendly
  • 00:07:32
    Avenue than something like zootopia this
  • 00:07:35
    is definitely something that we'll be
  • 00:07:36
    seeing a lot of later in the iceberg
  • 00:07:39
    more adult oriented content that just
  • 00:07:42
    happens to feature anthropomorphic
  • 00:07:44
    animals and that becomes either an entry
  • 00:07:46
    point or a really big hit with a lot of
  • 00:07:49
    furries
  • 00:07:50
    for Sonos
  • 00:07:52
    the term fursona is a portmanteau a fur
  • 00:07:56
    and Persona and it's used to describe an
  • 00:07:58
    original anthro character
  • 00:08:00
    the idea of a fursona is theorized to
  • 00:08:03
    have grown out of early fandom Crossover
  • 00:08:05
    with interest in then new and at the
  • 00:08:08
    time popular tabletop role-playing games
  • 00:08:10
    in other words in those settings you
  • 00:08:13
    take on and role play as another
  • 00:08:15
    character and some of the more popular
  • 00:08:17
    games at the time had anthro races as
  • 00:08:20
    playable characters
  • 00:08:21
    fursonas can be represented by any
  • 00:08:24
    animal species hybrid alien demon
  • 00:08:27
    basically anything people can parse out
  • 00:08:30
    whether something is a fursona if it's
  • 00:08:32
    not terrestrial or not in the comments
  • 00:08:34
    many furries choose to create a fursona
  • 00:08:38
    at least one but how many furries do you
  • 00:08:40
    know that only actually have one Persona
  • 00:08:42
    many have many for sonas though having a
  • 00:08:45
    fursona or Sona as it is often shortened
  • 00:08:49
    is not a necessary component to being
  • 00:08:51
    considered a furry at all honestly being
  • 00:08:53
    a furry just means having an
  • 00:08:55
    appreciation for anthro characters
  • 00:08:56
    having a fursona can have positive
  • 00:08:59
    effects for a creative expression
  • 00:09:00
    therapy in terms of stepping out of
  • 00:09:03
    oneself and so on in some cases once
  • 00:09:06
    fursona might be drastically different
  • 00:09:08
    from one's day-to-day self you might be
  • 00:09:10
    super timid and introverted but then
  • 00:09:13
    your fursona is this massive extrovert
  • 00:09:16
    who's like a rock star and is super
  • 00:09:19
    gregarious when you take on that fursona
  • 00:09:22
    it makes it easier for you to step out
  • 00:09:24
    of yourself and become this other
  • 00:09:26
    character in some other cases a fursona
  • 00:09:29
    is simply an exaggerated form of oneself
  • 00:09:31
    and in other cases a fursona is
  • 00:09:34
    literally just a different look for who
  • 00:09:37
    you are as it is in that case people
  • 00:09:40
    will typically choose animals that they
  • 00:09:42
    feel really represent themselves already
  • 00:09:45
    burcons
  • 00:09:48
    the term furcon is short for Furry
  • 00:09:51
    Convention It's a larger more organized
  • 00:09:53
    Gathering of furries than a fur meat
  • 00:09:55
    typically for multiple days at a hotel
  • 00:09:58
    Convention Center or other area that can
  • 00:10:00
    house hundreds if not thousands of
  • 00:10:02
    individuals
  • 00:10:03
    furcons typically include vendors who
  • 00:10:06
    can sell their Wares artists who can
  • 00:10:08
    sell their arts and crafts panels where
  • 00:10:10
    people present on topics relating to
  • 00:10:11
    furry dances parades masquerades charity
  • 00:10:15
    auctions in a lot of cases it's a whole
  • 00:10:17
    bunch of stuff that we'll be getting
  • 00:10:18
    into later they're also commonly known
  • 00:10:21
    for their charitable work as charity
  • 00:10:23
    auctions and fundraisers are an often
  • 00:10:25
    present element at furcons the first
  • 00:10:28
    Furry Convention started in 1989 with
  • 00:10:31
    conference zero which had an attendance
  • 00:10:33
    of 65 people now furcons happen every
  • 00:10:36
    few months and are spread out all over
  • 00:10:38
    the globe and even into the digital
  • 00:10:40
    space in the last couple of years thanks
  • 00:10:42
    to covid attendance ranges from hundreds
  • 00:10:44
    to in some cases tens of thousands at
  • 00:10:47
    the largest conventions basically if
  • 00:10:50
    you're familiar with any type of other
  • 00:10:51
    convention comic anime science fiction
  • 00:10:54
    horror replace whatever term with furry
  • 00:10:58
    and you've got the idea
  • 00:11:01
    yeah
  • 00:11:03
    is the Japanese onomatopoeia for a cat's
  • 00:11:07
    meow it was adopted heavily by those
  • 00:11:09
    anime adult kids that we were just
  • 00:11:11
    talking about in the early 2000s it got
  • 00:11:13
    to the point that a 2009 Urban
  • 00:11:15
    Dictionary entry labels it as quote an
  • 00:11:18
    exclamation a girl makes when happy
  • 00:11:20
    hyper excited or horny we bring it up
  • 00:11:23
    here because later on we're going to be
  • 00:11:25
    discussing a number of different terms
  • 00:11:27
    that are either adjacent to or were
  • 00:11:30
    whole on adopted by the furry fandom and
  • 00:11:33
    Nya is definitely one of those cases of
  • 00:11:35
    the overlap between anime fans and furry
  • 00:11:38
    fans
  • 00:11:40
    RP
  • 00:11:42
    RP stands for role play a concept common
  • 00:11:45
    in many games from tabletop RPGs to
  • 00:11:48
    jrpgs or RPGs from Japan though the term
  • 00:11:52
    may be synonymous with those particular
  • 00:11:54
    genres and the locales that you would
  • 00:11:55
    expect to populate those types of games
  • 00:11:58
    and though RPGs date about 50 years back
  • 00:12:02
    or more at this point roleplay also
  • 00:12:04
    applies to any type of interaction in
  • 00:12:06
    which people assume roles not otherwise
  • 00:12:08
    assigned to them in other words it's not
  • 00:12:11
    exclusively a gaming thing and that's to
  • 00:12:14
    say nothing of LARPing or live action
  • 00:12:17
    role-playing where people get dressed up
  • 00:12:19
    and play role-playing games in person
  • 00:12:21
    like as the characters which honestly I
  • 00:12:24
    don't know I've never done it but it
  • 00:12:25
    sounds like it could be pretty fun role
  • 00:12:27
    playing can be for the purposes of
  • 00:12:28
    entertainment self-empowerment Kink
  • 00:12:31
    therapy and so on this is a theme that
  • 00:12:34
    you'll probably see multiple times on
  • 00:12:36
    this Iceberg but taking on a different
  • 00:12:38
    persona for a lot of people can really
  • 00:12:41
    help them work out things with their own
  • 00:12:43
    personality that either they struggle
  • 00:12:45
    with or they don't like roleplay has
  • 00:12:48
    also been an integral component of
  • 00:12:49
    online culture in chat rooms forums
  • 00:12:52
    bulletin board systems and so on for
  • 00:12:55
    decades at this point we're talking
  • 00:12:56
    before the modern internet even existed
  • 00:12:59
    role-playing was already an important
  • 00:13:00
    thing for a lot of people who were
  • 00:13:02
    networking their computers together it's
  • 00:13:04
    common to encounter furries who will
  • 00:13:06
    role play as their original characters
  • 00:13:08
    in interactive settings which is why
  • 00:13:10
    it's important here
  • 00:13:13
    the bad guys
  • 00:13:15
    the bad guys is the 2022 DreamWorks film
  • 00:13:18
    Which is less a gateway to furry and in
  • 00:13:22
    a lot of ways more an homage to it in
  • 00:13:25
    fact I found this Rolling Stone article
  • 00:13:27
    that says the film is not explicitly for
  • 00:13:29
    furries and that furries were just
  • 00:13:31
    really into it because Mr Wolf is hot
  • 00:13:33
    I'm sorry whoever wrote this article is
  • 00:13:36
    probably not a furry because the amount
  • 00:13:38
    of callbacks to memes within the fandom
  • 00:13:40
    especially the amount that were used in
  • 00:13:42
    the advertising for this movie no these
  • 00:13:45
    people knew what they were doing the bad
  • 00:13:47
    guys was based on a series of children's
  • 00:13:48
    books by the same name and the film is
  • 00:13:51
    noted for like I said a lot of the
  • 00:13:53
    obvious references to multiple memes
  • 00:13:55
    popular in the furry fandom it follows a
  • 00:13:57
    band of bad guys with Mr Wolf as their
  • 00:14:00
    leader as they go through a
  • 00:14:01
    rehabilitation program to try and become
  • 00:14:04
    good guys or at least that's what's
  • 00:14:06
    expected of them but they're just trying
  • 00:14:08
    to get out of going to prison this is in
  • 00:14:11
    my humble opinion the best evidence in
  • 00:14:14
    the past decade that dream Frameworks
  • 00:14:16
    and Sony are frankly leaving Disney in
  • 00:14:18
    the dust in terms of technical animation
  • 00:14:20
    prowess at this point well okay this and
  • 00:14:23
    entered the spiderverse but
  • 00:14:25
    come on we all we all knew that
  • 00:14:28
    First Suits
  • 00:14:31
    the fursuits have been an integral part
  • 00:14:33
    of the fandom for more than two decades
  • 00:14:35
    at this point though admittedly they are
  • 00:14:38
    a newer fixture in the furry fandom than
  • 00:14:40
    some may realize fursuits are costumes
  • 00:14:43
    that can be full body AKA full suits or
  • 00:14:46
    just a head arms and feet or some
  • 00:14:48
    combination of those elements or a
  • 00:14:51
    partial suit typically a fursuit is
  • 00:14:53
    designed after one's original character
  • 00:14:55
    or their fursona and anybody who's
  • 00:14:58
    attended any type of convention in the
  • 00:15:00
    last 25 years or so has probably seen at
  • 00:15:02
    least a couple of fursuiters no matter
  • 00:15:04
    what kind of convention it is Comic
  • 00:15:07
    anime science fiction furry obviously
  • 00:15:10
    you're gonna encounter fursuiters
  • 00:15:12
    fursuits are also the subject of quite a
  • 00:15:14
    bit of history and controversy as much
  • 00:15:17
    as possible of which we will be getting
  • 00:15:19
    to later so um more on that later
  • 00:15:23
    bears
  • 00:15:25
    [Music]
  • 00:15:27
    bears are large hairy men in gay culture
  • 00:15:31
    the term bear emerged in the 1980s and
  • 00:15:34
    has since come to stand alongside other
  • 00:15:36
    animal inspired terms like otters gym
  • 00:15:38
    rats and so on in recent years the
  • 00:15:41
    bearer subculture has actually been
  • 00:15:43
    pretty thoroughly studied academically
  • 00:15:44
    trying to pick apart what attracts men
  • 00:15:47
    to this subculture while this one's not
  • 00:15:49
    necessarily furry per se I did keep this
  • 00:15:52
    one in from one of the other icebergs
  • 00:15:54
    because let's be honest with how gay the
  • 00:15:57
    furry community is terms like this could
  • 00:15:59
    be a soft intro or at least run in
  • 00:16:01
    parallel to the fandom
  • 00:16:05
    Warrior Cats
  • 00:16:07
    Warrior Cats is the colloquial term for
  • 00:16:09
    the characters in The Warriors book
  • 00:16:11
    series penned by Aaron Hunter
  • 00:16:14
    this is a little bit of a rabbit hole
  • 00:16:15
    here so follow me on this the publisher
  • 00:16:17
    harpercollins asked for a fantasy series
  • 00:16:20
    based around feral cats but author
  • 00:16:22
    Victoria Holmes didn't know much about
  • 00:16:24
    fantasy however she did love cats so she
  • 00:16:28
    started with an outline of a world in
  • 00:16:30
    which a book could have taken place
  • 00:16:32
    Kate Carey took Miss Holmes's notes and
  • 00:16:35
    turned them into a book which became the
  • 00:16:38
    first book in the Warrior series over
  • 00:16:40
    the next 20 years and literally dozens
  • 00:16:43
    of books later the collective pseudonym
  • 00:16:45
    Aaron Hunter has come to Encompass seven
  • 00:16:48
    individuals who work together in varying
  • 00:16:50
    capacities to expand the Warriors
  • 00:16:52
    Universe there are several other series
  • 00:16:55
    based in the same universe that follow
  • 00:16:56
    animals other than feral cats for 2000's
  • 00:16:59
    kids warrior cats were an easy
  • 00:17:01
    introduction to the world of
  • 00:17:03
    anthropomorphic animals I worked at a
  • 00:17:05
    library while I was in high school and
  • 00:17:07
    frankly you could never get away from
  • 00:17:09
    these books and the kids in the kids
  • 00:17:11
    section were always checking these books
  • 00:17:13
    out that we couldn't keep them on the
  • 00:17:15
    Shelf they were available at every
  • 00:17:16
    library in book fair and frankly they
  • 00:17:19
    were stupidly popular granted I've never
  • 00:17:22
    read any of them so I don't know how
  • 00:17:24
    they hold up but they were definitely
  • 00:17:25
    important for getting a lot of gen Z
  • 00:17:27
    kids into furry
  • 00:17:29
    dragons
  • 00:17:33
    are scaly beasts who have appeared in
  • 00:17:36
    numerous cultures globally since
  • 00:17:38
    basically time immemorial they vary
  • 00:17:40
    between those that fly and have four
  • 00:17:42
    legs those that are more Serpentine and
  • 00:17:44
    reside in bodies of water those that can
  • 00:17:46
    breathe fire and so on in other words
  • 00:17:48
    there's a bunch of different types of
  • 00:17:50
    dragons depending on the culture that
  • 00:17:51
    you're talking about they could have
  • 00:17:53
    been inspired by dinosaur fossils or
  • 00:17:55
    giant lizards or whatever but at the end
  • 00:17:57
    of the day dragons are just cool
  • 00:17:59
    honestly they're cool to the point that
  • 00:18:02
    dragons are super popular among all age
  • 00:18:05
    groups what's more in English-speaking
  • 00:18:08
    Works they are either depicted as dumb
  • 00:18:10
    roots or scheming creatures with big
  • 00:18:13
    Galaxy brains and the ability for human
  • 00:18:15
    speech like warrior cats dragons are a
  • 00:18:18
    super easy introduction to anthra
  • 00:18:20
    animals for someone of any age and being
  • 00:18:22
    a staple of fantasy media that means
  • 00:18:24
    that the chance that someone will
  • 00:18:25
    encounter a Sapient Dragon at some point
  • 00:18:27
    in English-speaking pop culture is
  • 00:18:29
    virtually guaranteed not to mention the
  • 00:18:32
    popularity of dragon friends within the
  • 00:18:34
    fandom the number of people well here
  • 00:18:39
    cat girls
  • 00:18:42
    cat girls or Neko misume as they are
  • 00:18:45
    known in Japanese are a common fixture
  • 00:18:47
    in Japanese literature and fiction they
  • 00:18:50
    are simply put human women or girls with
  • 00:18:53
    cat ears interestingly Neko misume means
  • 00:18:57
    cat daughter but for some reason they're
  • 00:18:59
    always translated into English as cat
  • 00:19:01
    girls they were popularized in the
  • 00:19:04
    English-speaking world through anime and
  • 00:19:06
    manga count the number of times that you
  • 00:19:09
    hear that throughout this Iceberg when
  • 00:19:10
    it relates to Japanese culture but the
  • 00:19:13
    funny thing is Neko misume have been
  • 00:19:15
    around for hundreds of years the term
  • 00:19:17
    actually dates back as far as anyone
  • 00:19:20
    knows the earliest occurrence of the
  • 00:19:22
    phrase to the 1700s when a real life cat
  • 00:19:25
    girl was used in a mise mono which is a
  • 00:19:28
    term that doesn't exactly translate
  • 00:19:29
    literally into English these were shows
  • 00:19:32
    that were held during the Edo period in
  • 00:19:34
    Japan which were similar to the American
  • 00:19:37
    concept of a freak Show basically a
  • 00:19:40
    bunch of people who either looked weird
  • 00:19:42
    weird had talents that type of thing and
  • 00:19:44
    in a lot of cases misemono were
  • 00:19:47
    associated with raising money for a
  • 00:19:49
    local Shrine or some other function like
  • 00:19:52
    that about 100 years ago from now Neko
  • 00:19:55
    musume became more and more popular in
  • 00:19:57
    Japanese fiction thanks to a Resurgence
  • 00:19:59
    of their appearance in Japanese
  • 00:20:01
    literature needless to say cat girls are
  • 00:20:04
    popular among furries and people with a
  • 00:20:07
    less favorable opinion of furries alike
  • 00:20:09
    I guess you could say there's like a
  • 00:20:11
    scale of furry that people find
  • 00:20:13
    acceptable and once it goes beyond a
  • 00:20:15
    certain point it becomes not okay
  • 00:20:17
    speaking of which
  • 00:20:19
    normies
  • 00:20:22
    normies are people whose interests and
  • 00:20:24
    opinions typically align with those
  • 00:20:26
    popular or common among the general
  • 00:20:28
    populace it's sort of a pejorative term
  • 00:20:30
    for the people who previously would have
  • 00:20:32
    been called squares Straits or other
  • 00:20:35
    terms like that though some anti-furry
  • 00:20:38
    sentiment comes from within the furry
  • 00:20:40
    fandom itself the majority of it comes
  • 00:20:43
    from normies let's be honest naturally
  • 00:20:45
    this is thanks to as Urban Dictionary
  • 00:20:47
    describes the normies predilection to
  • 00:20:50
    ascribe value to popularity or their
  • 00:20:52
    lack of Interest outside of things which
  • 00:20:55
    are easily accessible obviously this
  • 00:20:57
    isn't to say that all normies are bad or
  • 00:20:59
    that all normies hate furries that would
  • 00:21:02
    just be silly however it's important if
  • 00:21:04
    you're trying to understand the history
  • 00:21:06
    of furry to understand furry's
  • 00:21:08
    relationship to other subcultures
  • 00:21:10
    countercultures or culture at large
  • 00:21:12
    which would be represented here by
  • 00:21:14
    normies
  • 00:21:17
    first speech
  • 00:21:19
    the first speech describes the
  • 00:21:21
    colloquialisms and idiosyncrasies common
  • 00:21:23
    among furries this can bleed into and
  • 00:21:26
    out from other subcultures thanks to the
  • 00:21:28
    cross-pollination enabled by the
  • 00:21:30
    internet and social media another term
  • 00:21:32
    for it is fur speak and it typically
  • 00:21:35
    includes not only original terms like
  • 00:21:37
    fursona uwu and so on which we'll get to
  • 00:21:41
    those later but also modifications of
  • 00:21:43
    existing words to seem more furry for
  • 00:21:47
    example replacing every instance of four
  • 00:21:49
    with fur this is kind of similar to puns
  • 00:21:53
    present with a lot of cat characters in
  • 00:21:55
    anime where the syllable na will be
  • 00:21:57
    replaced with Nia like we talked about
  • 00:21:59
    before the long and short of it is first
  • 00:22:02
    speech or first speak is a pretty easy
  • 00:22:05
    way to identify furries though
  • 00:22:07
    admittedly because of that
  • 00:22:08
    cross-pollination that we talked about
  • 00:22:10
    it can bleed into other things like weeb
  • 00:22:13
    culture or bleed out from other things
  • 00:22:16
    so obviously when you see someone say
  • 00:22:18
    ooh that doesn't instantly mean that
  • 00:22:21
    they're a furry in fact I've encountered
  • 00:22:23
    plenty of furries in my time who find
  • 00:22:25
    using any type of first speech pretty
  • 00:22:27
    cringe but regardless it's a part of the
  • 00:22:30
    culture to an extent
  • 00:22:32
    Five Nights at Freddy's
  • 00:22:35
    Five Nights at Freddy's is a series of
  • 00:22:36
    point-and-click survival horror games
  • 00:22:38
    which began in 2014 and were originally
  • 00:22:42
    developed by Scott cotham they
  • 00:22:44
    originated with kothan's earlier effort
  • 00:22:46
    chipper and Sons Lumber company whose
  • 00:22:48
    assets were considered pretty uncanny
  • 00:22:51
    and scary frankly he got some Flack for
  • 00:22:54
    it let's just say that chipper and Sons
  • 00:22:56
    Lumber Company came after several other
  • 00:22:59
    earlier christian-based projects
  • 00:23:01
    basically cothan took the idea that the
  • 00:23:04
    characters in his art style looked more
  • 00:23:05
    like scary animatronics than Cute
  • 00:23:07
    Critters and ran with it creating a
  • 00:23:10
    lengthy series of games which have since
  • 00:23:11
    grown into a multimedia franchise it
  • 00:23:14
    focuses on the players working in
  • 00:23:16
    restaurants with sentient animatronics
  • 00:23:18
    who come awake at night and try to
  • 00:23:20
    unalive them and the series is noted for
  • 00:23:22
    its deep convoluted lore told through
  • 00:23:25
    implication and subtext in more recent
  • 00:23:28
    years after kothan's political donations
  • 00:23:30
    were publicized he stepped away from the
  • 00:23:32
    series stating that he loves his queer
  • 00:23:34
    fans which
  • 00:23:36
    sure Five Nights at Freddy's is notable
  • 00:23:39
    not only for the amount of furry fandom
  • 00:23:41
    fan art generated over the past decade
  • 00:23:43
    from this series but also due to its
  • 00:23:46
    popularity with a younger audience
  • 00:23:47
    meaning that it has left a lasting
  • 00:23:49
    impact on both how horror games have
  • 00:23:51
    developed in the past 10 years as well
  • 00:23:53
    as offering a recent entry point for the
  • 00:23:56
    fandom for a whole new generation think
  • 00:23:58
    of it as Warrior Cats where in early
  • 00:24:01
    2000s phenomenon that funneled a bunch
  • 00:24:03
    of younger people into the furry fandom
  • 00:24:05
    Five Nights at Freddy's was the thing
  • 00:24:07
    that came slightly later that basically
  • 00:24:09
    served the same function it masqueraded
  • 00:24:12
    as a series of horror games but really
  • 00:24:14
    coffin was just trying to turn us all
  • 00:24:16
    into furries all along
  • 00:24:18
    free social media
  • 00:24:21
    even though social media has more or
  • 00:24:23
    less condensed the internet into a
  • 00:24:25
    handful of centralized locations
  • 00:24:27
    compared with what it was about 15 years
  • 00:24:29
    ago individual communities are still
  • 00:24:31
    rather separate from one another Within
  • 00:24:33
    These centralized spaces you might
  • 00:24:35
    scroll for months or even years on
  • 00:24:38
    Twitter or Tick Tock without
  • 00:24:39
    encountering a single piece of media
  • 00:24:41
    from a community with which you have no
  • 00:24:43
    connection that being said furry social
  • 00:24:45
    media is a fairly Niche community that
  • 00:24:48
    is more or less popular on different
  • 00:24:50
    sites and apps but thanks to its
  • 00:24:52
    openness free social media is very easy
  • 00:24:55
    to stumble upon yet it's insular enough
  • 00:24:57
    that once you stumble into it you'll
  • 00:24:59
    know exactly where you are and once you
  • 00:25:01
    follow enough furry creators on these
  • 00:25:03
    platforms you're basically stuck here
  • 00:25:05
    forever if this has shown up in your
  • 00:25:07
    YouTube recommended sorry this is your
  • 00:25:10
    home now
  • 00:25:12
    V tubers
  • 00:25:14
    vtubers are content creators who use
  • 00:25:16
    avatars typically 3D models to represent
  • 00:25:19
    themselves though there is a 2d
  • 00:25:22
    counterpart which we'll get to later
  • 00:25:24
    vtubers are most common on YouTube and
  • 00:25:27
    twitch they use varying methods to
  • 00:25:29
    capture their movements and translate
  • 00:25:30
    them into model movement on screen it
  • 00:25:33
    was a Japanese phenomenon in the 2010s
  • 00:25:36
    but was popularized in the last couple
  • 00:25:37
    of years in the English-speaking world
  • 00:25:40
    two major communities adopted v-tubing
  • 00:25:43
    can you guess what they were based off
  • 00:25:46
    of the type of connections we're already
  • 00:25:48
    establishing here
  • 00:25:50
    those with an inclination for anime and
  • 00:25:53
    Anime inspired media and furries
  • 00:25:55
    seriously almost every major Creator in
  • 00:25:58
    the furry space does one of two types of
  • 00:26:01
    content potentially both either
  • 00:26:03
    fursuiting or v-tubing in fact what I'm
  • 00:26:06
    doing right now is considered a subset
  • 00:26:09
    of v-tubing which again we'll talk about
  • 00:26:12
    that later
  • 00:26:15
    Sonic the Hedgehog
  • 00:26:17
    Sonic the Hedgehog is another massive
  • 00:26:20
    multimedia franchise which started with
  • 00:26:23
    a collection of Sega Genesis or if you
  • 00:26:25
    live anywhere besides America Sega Mega
  • 00:26:27
    Drive games
  • 00:26:29
    the original games were created By Yuji
  • 00:26:31
    Naka with character design by naoto
  • 00:26:33
    Oshima Sonic was originally intended as
  • 00:26:35
    a mascot for Sega and a competitor for
  • 00:26:38
    Mario then obviously the mascot of
  • 00:26:40
    Nintendo
  • 00:26:41
    his blue color was supposed to be
  • 00:26:43
    representative of the company he had the
  • 00:26:46
    attitude of Bill Clinton and shoes that
  • 00:26:49
    were a callback to Michael Jackson's
  • 00:26:51
    outfit on the cover of Bad basically
  • 00:26:55
    Sonic was designed to be the coolest
  • 00:26:58
    mascot you've ever seen and what's more
  • 00:27:01
    he is defined by how fast he is
  • 00:27:04
    after those initial three and a half
  • 00:27:07
    games on the Sega Genesis the series has
  • 00:27:10
    expanded into a decades-long media
  • 00:27:13
    Empire
  • 00:27:14
    the important thing to remember here in
  • 00:27:16
    terms of furry is that almost all of the
  • 00:27:19
    characters in the Sonic franchise are
  • 00:27:21
    anthro animals including from the
  • 00:27:23
    original titles his buddy miles tails
  • 00:27:26
    per hour and his rival turned for enemy
  • 00:27:29
    Knuckles who are a fox and an Echidna
  • 00:27:32
    respectively what's more in most cases
  • 00:27:35
    the characters represented in later
  • 00:27:37
    games and expanded universe media like
  • 00:27:40
    comic books are representative of unique
  • 00:27:43
    species it's inspired two or arguably
  • 00:27:47
    three generations of furries at this
  • 00:27:49
    point as it's an easy entry point
  • 00:27:51
    they're marketed as games designed for
  • 00:27:53
    children it's really easy for any kid to
  • 00:27:56
    pick up a Sonic game and then just
  • 00:27:58
    really like anthro characters it's also
  • 00:28:00
    notable as coming to prominence almost
  • 00:28:02
    concurrently with furry coming into the
  • 00:28:05
    popular Consciousness in the 1990s but
  • 00:28:10
    cringe compilations
  • 00:28:12
    [Music]
  • 00:28:13
    cringe compilations are at this point I
  • 00:28:16
    would argue one of the most common entry
  • 00:28:18
    points to the fandom for those
  • 00:28:20
    previously unfamiliar with it they're a
  • 00:28:22
    common popular type of content on
  • 00:28:24
    various sites namely YouTube
  • 00:28:26
    usually they're cobbled together with
  • 00:28:28
    clips of furries and therians who we
  • 00:28:31
    will get to later to make them seem as
  • 00:28:33
    cringy as possible this type of content
  • 00:28:36
    usually seems to arise from a sense of
  • 00:28:38
    schadenfreude or harm joy as it
  • 00:28:41
    translates in English which basically
  • 00:28:43
    means taking pleasure in somebody else's
  • 00:28:45
    pain usually these cringe compilations
  • 00:28:47
    are uploaded by more or less faceless
  • 00:28:49
    channels and they Garn loads of views
  • 00:28:53
    speaking of pro tip anybody else who's a
  • 00:28:56
    furry Creator in the audience put furry
  • 00:28:58
    cringe compilation or furry cringe in
  • 00:29:01
    your tags you're welcome
  • 00:29:04
    Balto
  • 00:29:06
    Balto is the 1995 amblin Entertainment
  • 00:29:10
    movie directed by Simon Wells you might
  • 00:29:12
    not recognize the name amblin
  • 00:29:14
    entertainment but you probably recognize
  • 00:29:16
    DreamWorks which the entire staff of
  • 00:29:18
    amblin was absorbed into after producing
  • 00:29:21
    only three movies the film later spawned
  • 00:29:24
    two direct to video sequels all three of
  • 00:29:26
    which have remained pretty popular among
  • 00:29:29
    furries they feature the titular dog
  • 00:29:31
    Balto assisting a sled dog team running
  • 00:29:34
    diphtheria medicine to children in
  • 00:29:36
    Alaska Circa 1925. while it served as
  • 00:29:39
    one of the primary examples of mid-90s
  • 00:29:41
    anthro animal films that brought people
  • 00:29:43
    into the fandom the story for the film
  • 00:29:45
    is notably mostly fabricated but
  • 00:29:51
    My Little Pony
  • 00:29:54
    My Little Pony is another one of these
  • 00:29:56
    huge franchises that we're seeing a lot
  • 00:29:57
    of on this layer it's a multimedia
  • 00:29:59
    franchise developed by Hasbro in the
  • 00:30:01
    early 80s as a girl's toy line it
  • 00:30:05
    features individual ponies with unique
  • 00:30:07
    palettes and cutie marks as the symbols
  • 00:30:09
    which represent something about their
  • 00:30:10
    personality are known it's been rebooted
  • 00:30:13
    multiple times in the past 40 years
  • 00:30:15
    ensuring that generation after
  • 00:30:16
    generation will find an entry point into
  • 00:30:19
    the world of anthro animals the most
  • 00:30:21
    well-known iteration in recent years at
  • 00:30:23
    least and the longest running friendship
  • 00:30:26
    is Magic ran from 2010 to 2019 where
  • 00:30:30
    every other television series based on
  • 00:30:31
    the franchise has lasted two years
  • 00:30:33
    maximum friendship is Magic developed
  • 00:30:36
    its own specific fandom but
  • 00:30:40
    Midwest fur Fest
  • 00:30:43
    Midwest surfest is a convention specific
  • 00:30:46
    to furry based in Rosemont Illinois it's
  • 00:30:49
    been running since 2000 with an initial
  • 00:30:51
    attendance of 473 people
  • 00:30:54
    at this point Midwest fur Fest or as
  • 00:30:57
    it's also known mff has grown to be the
  • 00:30:59
    largest in-person Furry Convention in
  • 00:31:01
    the world with 2022 attendance hitting
  • 00:31:04
    13
  • 00:31:06
    641 registered attendees it's notable
  • 00:31:09
    not just for its size and its prominence
  • 00:31:11
    but also because of its considerable
  • 00:31:13
    charity work a staple of the convention
  • 00:31:15
    since its first year prior to that first
  • 00:31:18
    convention in 2000 mff began as a free
  • 00:31:21
    track at the sciencefiction convention
  • 00:31:23
    duck on in 1994. at which point it was
  • 00:31:26
    headed by Robert King who went on to
  • 00:31:28
    found and chair mff until 2016.
  • 00:31:32
    rower
  • 00:31:36
    rower is a mispronunciation or
  • 00:31:38
    misspelling of Roar he used on the
  • 00:31:41
    internet since at least the late 90s it
  • 00:31:45
    was a common expression among both scene
  • 00:31:47
    or as most of us knew them emo kids in
  • 00:31:50
    the 2000s and 2010s but it's also
  • 00:31:53
    notable as a piece of first speech
  • 00:31:55
    remember we talked about that
  • 00:31:56
    cross-pollination
  • 00:31:58
    RAR is still used somewhat but at this
  • 00:32:01
    point it's mostly a joke or used
  • 00:32:02
    ironically back then though if you know
  • 00:32:05
    you know it was kind of real
  • 00:32:08
    Watership Down
  • 00:32:11
    Watership Down is the 1972 debut novel
  • 00:32:14
    by Richard Adams concerning a group of
  • 00:32:16
    rabbits who break from their Warren and
  • 00:32:18
    search for a new place to live after
  • 00:32:20
    realizing that their old home is going
  • 00:32:21
    to be exterminated by humans it was a
  • 00:32:24
    huge influence on the Proto and early
  • 00:32:27
    furry fandoms alongside its 1978
  • 00:32:30
    animated film adaptation directed by
  • 00:32:32
    Martin Rosen water ship down is noted
  • 00:32:35
    for its brutality though admittedly a
  • 00:32:38
    lot of this likely comes from the
  • 00:32:39
    age-old misconception that animation is
  • 00:32:41
    exclusively for children or that stories
  • 00:32:44
    about animals are exclusively for
  • 00:32:46
    children in both the case that the novel
  • 00:32:49
    and the film adults probably saw the
  • 00:32:51
    cute little bunny rabbits and then
  • 00:32:52
    actually watched or read them and
  • 00:32:54
    realized the work dealt with themes of
  • 00:32:56
    death genocide xenophobia
  • 00:32:59
    totalitarianism and lots of other
  • 00:33:01
    frankly really Pleasant topics instead
  • 00:33:04
    of actually engaging with these themes
  • 00:33:06
    and realizing that a potentially
  • 00:33:07
    kid-friendly work could start explaining
  • 00:33:09
    these themes to children or or
  • 00:33:11
    recognizing that adults are allowed to
  • 00:33:13
    enjoy animal-centric media and animation
  • 00:33:15
    as well it became an intergenerational
  • 00:33:17
    tradition to talk about how awful and
  • 00:33:20
    [ __ ] up Watership Down is for children
  • 00:33:22
    which comment below if you ever heard
  • 00:33:24
    your parents say anything along those
  • 00:33:26
    lines needless to say the animation
  • 00:33:29
    alone in the 1978 film not to mention
  • 00:33:31
    the quality of the text itself makes
  • 00:33:33
    this something that anyone with an
  • 00:33:35
    interest in anthromedia or quality
  • 00:33:37
    animation should check out it's notable
  • 00:33:39
    here of course because it is an often
  • 00:33:41
    cited early influence on the fandom but
  • 00:33:43
    outside of that it's just fantastic as
  • 00:33:46
    well
  • 00:33:47
    Digimon
  • 00:33:50
    Digimon is another massive multimedia
  • 00:33:54
    franchise it was initiated as a line of
  • 00:33:56
    digital monster Tamagotchi type pets in
  • 00:33:59
    the mid 90s it's perhaps most well known
  • 00:34:02
    in the English-speaking world for its
  • 00:34:04
    anime adaptation or its recent trading
  • 00:34:06
    card game though at the time of its
  • 00:34:08
    original release in America the
  • 00:34:10
    franchise was largely written off by
  • 00:34:12
    Americans as a Pokemon knockoff devoid
  • 00:34:15
    of any real value admittedly I have not
  • 00:34:18
    watched it I've never played the card
  • 00:34:20
    game I've never played any of the video
  • 00:34:21
    games so I can't really comment on this
  • 00:34:23
    but let me tell you that sentiment was
  • 00:34:26
    real it was there
  • 00:34:28
    the original anime concerns a group of
  • 00:34:30
    kids who warp into the digital world
  • 00:34:32
    where they meet the titular Digital
  • 00:34:34
    Monsters however two major distinctions
  • 00:34:37
    between Digimon and Pokemon is one
  • 00:34:40
    Digimon can evolve and then de-evolve
  • 00:34:43
    whereas Pokemon once they evolve that's
  • 00:34:45
    it and two Digimon can speak English or
  • 00:34:49
    Japanese I guess where Pokemon trainers
  • 00:34:52
    can get to know their Pokemon well
  • 00:34:53
    enough to communicate with them
  • 00:34:54
    effectively Digimon can just straight up
  • 00:34:57
    speak it's notable here as another
  • 00:34:59
    funnel in this case for Millennials
  • 00:35:01
    mostly into the furry fandom
  • 00:35:04
    ear hats
  • 00:35:07
    ear hats are hats which have ears on
  • 00:35:10
    them usually those ears are cat ears
  • 00:35:13
    seriously though ear hats are also
  • 00:35:15
    available as headbands or clip-on ears
  • 00:35:18
    they have been popular among
  • 00:35:20
    convention-going crowds for decades at
  • 00:35:22
    this point but especially in the 2000s
  • 00:35:24
    onward again anime fans furries and so
  • 00:35:28
    on everybody just really likes wearing
  • 00:35:30
    cat ears arguably this may be because
  • 00:35:33
    they're the easiest way to become a cat
  • 00:35:34
    girl IRL and to get bullied if you wear
  • 00:35:38
    them outside of conventions which
  • 00:35:40
    seriously we've moved past that at this
  • 00:35:43
    point right because that was definitely
  • 00:35:45
    a thing back in the 2000s and 2010s
  • 00:35:48
    there was always that one kid who would
  • 00:35:50
    wear cat ears to school and everybody
  • 00:35:52
    would talk about them behind their back
  • 00:35:54
    does that still happen are our kids
  • 00:35:56
    still that cruel
  • 00:35:59
    fan fiction
  • 00:36:01
    fan fiction is any Works which are based
  • 00:36:04
    upon pre-existing properties not created
  • 00:36:06
    by their author they span basically the
  • 00:36:09
    entirety of written history and in more
  • 00:36:11
    recent years have evolved into other
  • 00:36:13
    media like fan films fan games and so on
  • 00:36:16
    but most often this specific term fan
  • 00:36:19
    fiction applies to short stories or
  • 00:36:21
    serialized fiction based on properties
  • 00:36:23
    and involving characters not created or
  • 00:36:25
    owned by the author usually the term fan
  • 00:36:29
    fiction has a negative connotation to it
  • 00:36:31
    such as to disparage people like say El
  • 00:36:34
    James who used a fan fiction career to
  • 00:36:37
    transition into a monetized professional
  • 00:36:39
    career
  • 00:36:40
    or to make fun of people who just spend
  • 00:36:43
    their time online writing and posting
  • 00:36:45
    fanfics about characters they didn't
  • 00:36:46
    create which again have we moved past
  • 00:36:48
    that at this point God I hope so I maybe
  • 00:36:51
    I have too much hope for Humanity fan
  • 00:36:53
    fiction can be of any type or genre
  • 00:36:55
    though a lot of fanfic has The
  • 00:36:57
    Stereotype of being erotic in nature I
  • 00:37:01
    guess it's kind of like the furry fandom
  • 00:37:02
    in that way is that people who don't
  • 00:37:04
    understand it assume that it's just a
  • 00:37:05
    sex thing but
  • 00:37:07
    also people generally ignore it when
  • 00:37:10
    already established authors write fanfic
  • 00:37:12
    about public domain characters and
  • 00:37:14
    instead callers Works reimaginings
  • 00:37:16
    getting rid of the cringe label that's
  • 00:37:19
    usually applied to it really though fan
  • 00:37:21
    fiction has been around forever and I'd
  • 00:37:24
    be curious to know why it has such a
  • 00:37:26
    Negative reputation as with many online
  • 00:37:28
    communities fanfic was vital to early
  • 00:37:31
    furry development in the salad days of
  • 00:37:34
    the internet with endless Pages penned
  • 00:37:37
    or typed in honor of some of the Gateway
  • 00:37:39
    fandoms we're mentioning here in
  • 00:37:42
    addition to countless other fandoms this
  • 00:37:45
    is another point at which anime fans
  • 00:37:47
    furry fans science fiction fans friends
  • 00:37:50
    fans this just really applies to
  • 00:37:52
    everybody in the same way that role play
  • 00:37:53
    was important to the furry fandom in the
  • 00:37:55
    early internet but involved multiple
  • 00:37:57
    people fanfic was important as a form of
  • 00:38:00
    creative expression and kind of single
  • 00:38:02
    player role play for the early fandom to
  • 00:38:05
    this day fanfic is extremely only
  • 00:38:07
    popular
  • 00:38:09
    fermates
  • 00:38:12
    fermates are in IRL Gathering of furries
  • 00:38:15
    usually at a house or a public place
  • 00:38:18
    they can be a recurring event and are
  • 00:38:20
    usually locked to a geographic region a
  • 00:38:24
    specific city or county meaning that
  • 00:38:26
    furries in a specific area will have a
  • 00:38:28
    regular place to meet up with other
  • 00:38:30
    people that share their interests
  • 00:38:31
    according to wikifer generally it's
  • 00:38:33
    considered a fur meat if there are fewer
  • 00:38:35
    than 100 people yeah a fermiat of even a
  • 00:38:39
    hundred people honestly even 60 sound
  • 00:38:42
    even 30. I'm aggressively an introvert
  • 00:38:46
    that sounds like too much to me
  • 00:38:47
    basically fermates are just a term for
  • 00:38:50
    furries getting together playing games
  • 00:38:51
    doing activities and forming friendships
  • 00:38:54
    and networking they've been a staple of
  • 00:38:56
    the fandom for decades starting
  • 00:38:58
    pre-internet and getting easier to
  • 00:39:00
    organize and gather people together with
  • 00:39:02
    the Advent of the internet and social
  • 00:39:04
    media
  • 00:39:07
    bronies
  • 00:39:09
    bronies are a niche fandom that popped
  • 00:39:11
    up in the early 2010s centered around
  • 00:39:13
    appreciation of My Little Pony
  • 00:39:15
    friendship is Magic remember earlier
  • 00:39:18
    when we said that that was the longest
  • 00:39:19
    running iteration of MLP as the name
  • 00:39:21
    suggests the term Brony was typically
  • 00:39:23
    used by men and boys to describe the at
  • 00:39:26
    the time seemingly paradoxical and
  • 00:39:28
    mystical nature of a fandom populated by
  • 00:39:31
    males for a show aimed at adolescent
  • 00:39:33
    girls ooh cause that's never happened
  • 00:39:35
    ever
  • 00:39:36
    the female equivalent of the term was
  • 00:39:38
    pegasister but it was basically up to
  • 00:39:40
    the individual whether they wanted to be
  • 00:39:42
    called Brony or pegasister the fandom
  • 00:39:45
    grew so large so quickly that bronies
  • 00:39:48
    even had their own conventions including
  • 00:39:50
    the preeminent one BronyCon which ran
  • 00:39:52
    between 2011 and 2019 with about 10 000
  • 00:39:56
    people in attendance at the final
  • 00:39:57
    BronyCon it also early on inspired the
  • 00:40:01
    creation of websites like Equestria
  • 00:40:03
    Daily which is a News website for My
  • 00:40:05
    Little Pony and the fandom though the
  • 00:40:07
    fandom has more or less fallen for
  • 00:40:09
    popular knowledge in the past couple of
  • 00:40:10
    years it's still out there with me being
  • 00:40:12
    able to find announcements for
  • 00:40:14
    conventions and meetups happening as
  • 00:40:15
    recently as just a couple months ago
  • 00:40:17
    bronies are noted here thanks to their
  • 00:40:20
    parallel with furry as it introduced
  • 00:40:22
    many people to anthro fiction or at
  • 00:40:25
    least got them more interested in it
  • 00:40:27
    there was a lot of crossover between
  • 00:40:29
    Bronies and furries in the 2010s with a
  • 00:40:33
    lot of Bronies becoming furries and a
  • 00:40:35
    lot of furries being interested in MLP
  • 00:40:38
    and thus becoming Bronies as well
  • 00:40:42
    kimono Mimi
  • 00:40:44
    kimono Mimi is the Japanese term
  • 00:40:46
    literally meaning animal ears this
  • 00:40:48
    includes cat ears which as you'll recall
  • 00:40:51
    are vital for the creation of cat girls
  • 00:40:53
    and which can be helped with cat hats
  • 00:40:56
    however kimono Mimi is the more general
  • 00:40:58
    term where of course Neko Mimi or cat
  • 00:41:02
    ears is more specific to what we talked
  • 00:41:04
    about earlier kimono Mimi are popular in
  • 00:41:07
    anime and manga and has of course a
  • 00:41:10
    widespread overlap with furry well not
  • 00:41:13
    explicitly being furry because again
  • 00:41:16
    we're talking about humans who just
  • 00:41:17
    happen to have animal ears
  • 00:41:19
    while cats are definitely the most
  • 00:41:22
    popular in terms of kimono Mimi tons of
  • 00:41:24
    other species have been represented over
  • 00:41:26
    the decades
  • 00:41:29
    oh whoa
  • 00:41:31
    oh whoa is another one that seems pretty
  • 00:41:35
    simple on the surface but is actually
  • 00:41:37
    kind of a rabbit hole it's an expression
  • 00:41:39
    of surprise used by multiple communities
  • 00:41:41
    like we've been talking about but often
  • 00:41:44
    associated with furry thanks to multiple
  • 00:41:46
    memes and copy pastas that link furry
  • 00:41:49
    with Oho it was originally a morph of
  • 00:41:51
    uwu which is a self-satisfied happy cat
  • 00:41:55
    mouth emoticon oh whoa being around
  • 00:41:57
    since at least the early 2010s at least
  • 00:42:00
    in the English-speaking world
  • 00:42:02
    ooh is noted as originating on the
  • 00:42:04
    Japanese side of the internet or in fan
  • 00:42:07
    fiction revolving around anime as early
  • 00:42:09
    as 2005. though of course it's difficult
  • 00:42:12
    to parse out where the first instance of
  • 00:42:15
    ubu was uwu gained widespread
  • 00:42:17
    recognition on Tumblr and other sites
  • 00:42:20
    around 2014. anybody who was present at
  • 00:42:23
    the time do you remember how people were
  • 00:42:25
    complaining when ubu first got popular
  • 00:42:27
    about ubu culture maybe we'll talk about
  • 00:42:30
    that later if there's enough interest in
  • 00:42:32
    it
  • 00:42:33
    in 2015 oh whoa was popularized by an
  • 00:42:36
    online comic mocking furries and their
  • 00:42:39
    predilection for role play from there
  • 00:42:41
    owo took off in the forms of memes and
  • 00:42:44
    copy pastas to the point that the
  • 00:42:45
    association with furry is almost
  • 00:42:48
    inextricable now so while this might not
  • 00:42:51
    have originally been a furry term at
  • 00:42:54
    this point it has been adopted as a part
  • 00:42:56
    of first speech and is used either
  • 00:42:58
    ironically or sincerely or both at the
  • 00:43:01
    same time by a lot of furries on the
  • 00:43:03
    internet
  • 00:43:05
    Walt Disney Animation Studios
  • 00:43:08
    Walt Disney Animation Studios was one of
  • 00:43:10
    the most important influences on both
  • 00:43:12
    the early and modern furry fandom thanks
  • 00:43:15
    to the amount of films that they have
  • 00:43:16
    produced that involve anthropomorphic
  • 00:43:19
    animals
  • 00:43:20
    it was founded 100 years ago this year
  • 00:43:22
    though it's been noted by furry fandom
  • 00:43:24
    historian Jay branstetter who I
  • 00:43:27
    contacted for some of this research that
  • 00:43:29
    it wasn't until after Walt Disney's
  • 00:43:31
    death in 1966 that the animation studio
  • 00:43:34
    started producing more quintessentially
  • 00:43:36
    furry media
  • 00:43:37
    there are so many but a quick rundown of
  • 00:43:40
    the really important ones would be Robin
  • 00:43:42
    Hood The Rescuers Beauty and the Beast
  • 00:43:44
    The Lion King Brother Bear and as we
  • 00:43:47
    talked about earlier zootopia there are
  • 00:43:49
    plenty of other examples but those are
  • 00:43:51
    some of the big ones some of the films
  • 00:43:53
    were noted by early furry fans as having
  • 00:43:55
    an influence on the fandom as well as
  • 00:43:57
    later generations for providing easy
  • 00:43:59
    entry points into the fandom after the
  • 00:44:02
    fandom coalesced into a proper fandom
  • 00:44:05
    Looney Tunes
  • 00:44:08
    Looney Tunes was a series of Warner
  • 00:44:10
    Brothers theatrical shorts produced
  • 00:44:12
    alongside their other shorts Mary
  • 00:44:14
    Melodies From 1930 to 1969. later a lot
  • 00:44:18
    of the shorts were syndicated on
  • 00:44:19
    television and multiple full films were
  • 00:44:22
    produced with Looney Tunes characters as
  • 00:44:24
    well as theme park rides video games
  • 00:44:26
    merchandising you name it this was an
  • 00:44:29
    early influence on the young furry
  • 00:44:30
    fandom alongside Disney thanks to the
  • 00:44:33
    multitude of anthropomorphic characters
  • 00:44:35
    present in the Looney Tunes Canon the
  • 00:44:38
    series is known for the inclusion of Mel
  • 00:44:40
    Blanc or as he's Otherwise Known the man
  • 00:44:42
    of a thousand voices Who provided The
  • 00:44:44
    Voice work for just to name a few Bugs
  • 00:44:47
    Bunny Porky Pig Daffy Duck Tweety
  • 00:44:49
    Sylvester Marvin the Martian Pepe Le Pew
  • 00:44:52
    and more what's more even if you know
  • 00:44:55
    nothing about furry you know most of the
  • 00:44:58
    characters that I just named if you grew
  • 00:44:59
    up in America
  • 00:45:00
    Looney Tunes has provided some of the
  • 00:45:03
    most recognizable anthro characters in
  • 00:45:05
    American pop culture it's been revived
  • 00:45:07
    numerous times in multiple formats as we
  • 00:45:10
    said before keeping a lot of these
  • 00:45:12
    characters relevant across Generations
  • 00:45:15
    anthropod
  • 00:45:19
    anthrocon is one of the largest furry
  • 00:45:21
    conventions in the world based in
  • 00:45:23
    Pittsburgh Pennsylvania its first
  • 00:45:25
    iteration was in 1997 with about 500
  • 00:45:28
    attendees by 2022 anthrocon was seeing
  • 00:45:32
    9700 attendees its first two years were
  • 00:45:36
    known as Albany anthrocon and were held
  • 00:45:38
    in Albany New York
  • 00:45:40
    in 1999 it was moved to Pittsburgh where
  • 00:45:44
    it has remained since the event was
  • 00:45:46
    canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to covid
  • 00:45:50
    but both years it was replaced with an
  • 00:45:52
    online convention instead Uncle kage who
  • 00:45:55
    will definitely get into later has been
  • 00:45:57
    the chair since 1999.
  • 00:46:00
    Space Jam
  • 00:46:03
    Space Jam is the 1996 film combining
  • 00:46:05
    live action and animation produced by
  • 00:46:08
    Warner Brothers and bringing together
  • 00:46:09
    then basketball Superstar Michael Jordan
  • 00:46:11
    and many characters originating from
  • 00:46:13
    Looney Tunes though it was not the first
  • 00:46:15
    film to achieve this blending of media
  • 00:46:17
    not by a long shot it has remained a
  • 00:46:20
    source of memes and appreciation both
  • 00:46:22
    ironic and genuine for decades since its
  • 00:46:25
    release it was followed up by a sequel
  • 00:46:27
    in 2021 starring LeBron James and 3D
  • 00:46:30
    versions of the tunes which definitely
  • 00:46:33
    did not have the same impact
  • 00:46:36
    I think the real tragedy here is that
  • 00:46:38
    the website for Space Jam hadn't been
  • 00:46:40
    updated since 1996 and then when the
  • 00:46:43
    second movie was about to come out they
  • 00:46:45
    updated the website a moment of silence
  • 00:46:48
    the film is notable here thanks to its
  • 00:46:50
    introduction of a new Looney Tunes
  • 00:46:52
    character Lola Bunny an original
  • 00:46:54
    character for the film whom introduced
  • 00:46:56
    an entire generation to the fandom
  • 00:46:58
    thanks to a certain type of Interest
  • 00:47:03
    basically Space Jam is important for
  • 00:47:05
    coming out in the mid 90s thanks to the
  • 00:47:08
    perfect storm that existed around it the
  • 00:47:10
    fandom coalescing into a proper movement
  • 00:47:12
    the existence of the internet and one
  • 00:47:15
    incredibly sexualized anthropomorphic
  • 00:47:19
    bunny
  • 00:47:22
    The Lion King
  • 00:47:24
    [Music]
  • 00:47:25
    The Lion King is the 1994 animated film
  • 00:47:27
    by Disney Animation Studios it was part
  • 00:47:30
    of what's known as the Disney
  • 00:47:31
    Renaissance of the late 80s and early
  • 00:47:33
    90s a series of animated musical films
  • 00:47:37
    which helped pull Disney out of a slump
  • 00:47:39
    The Lion King follows Simba a lion
  • 00:47:41
    Prince whose Uncle scar murders his
  • 00:47:44
    father Mufasa and chases him out of the
  • 00:47:46
    Kingdom in order to seal the throne
  • 00:47:47
    Simba grows up and returns to assume the
  • 00:47:50
    Throne of The Lion King spoilers for a
  • 00:47:53
    movie whose title gives away basically
  • 00:47:55
    its entire plot it's notable for being a
  • 00:47:57
    film entirely populated by anthro
  • 00:47:59
    animals without a single human among the
  • 00:48:02
    cast as well as its numerous sequels and
  • 00:48:04
    spin-offs its stage adaptation and of
  • 00:48:07
    course its colossal impact on the fandom
  • 00:48:10
    if you thought Space Jam existed in The
  • 00:48:13
    Perfect Storm The Lion King existed in
  • 00:48:15
    the perfect monsoon
  • 00:48:18
    it inspired countless pages of fan art
  • 00:48:21
    endless hours of role play and the
  • 00:48:23
    creation of areas for fans of The Lion
  • 00:48:24
    King to meet up online and discuss not
  • 00:48:27
    just their appreciation of the film and
  • 00:48:28
    its spin-offs but anthropomorphic
  • 00:48:31
    animals it was in the perfect place and
  • 00:48:33
    time to Rocket free forward in the
  • 00:48:35
    internet age especially for younger
  • 00:48:37
    people coming of age alongside this new
  • 00:48:40
    networking technology also it's a really
  • 00:48:42
    good film if you haven't seen The Lion
  • 00:48:44
    King then
  • 00:48:48
    Robin Hood
  • 00:48:50
    Robin Hood is the 1973 film created by
  • 00:48:54
    Walt Disney Animation Studios which
  • 00:48:56
    transposed the legends of Robin Hood the
  • 00:48:58
    Bandit who steals from the rich and
  • 00:48:59
    gives to the poor in times of great
  • 00:49:01
    economic disparity in England onto an
  • 00:49:04
    anthropomorphic animal cast here
  • 00:49:06
    everyone is represented by a different
  • 00:49:08
    animal except Robin Hood and made Marion
  • 00:49:11
    who are both foxes you've also got
  • 00:49:13
    little John as a bear who shared a voice
  • 00:49:15
    and a good bit of recycled animation
  • 00:49:18
    with Baloo from The Jungle Book King
  • 00:49:20
    Richard as a lion the Sheriff of
  • 00:49:22
    Nottingham is a wolf and so on I
  • 00:49:25
    genuinely when I was writing this had
  • 00:49:27
    forgotten that he is the Sheriff of
  • 00:49:29
    Nottingham and he is a wolf that is all
  • 00:49:33
    the film is told in an episodic format
  • 00:49:36
    reminiscent of how the film is cobbled
  • 00:49:38
    from multiple stories about the same
  • 00:49:39
    cast of characters
  • 00:49:41
    it's notable as an influence on the
  • 00:49:43
    early fandom but in my opinion
  • 00:49:45
    surprisingly also due to its poor
  • 00:49:47
    reception upon release
  • 00:49:48
    it's remained a furry Awakening point
  • 00:49:50
    for multiple Generations since
  • 00:49:55
    euroference
  • 00:49:57
    euroference is the largest non-american
  • 00:50:00
    Furry Convention and the longest running
  • 00:50:03
    Furry Convention still going in 2023 it
  • 00:50:07
    began in 1995 and is typically held in
  • 00:50:09
    Germany but has moved a few times to
  • 00:50:11
    other parts of Europe it was held in
  • 00:50:13
    Sweden for your reference too
  • 00:50:15
    Netherlands for your reference 4 and
  • 00:50:17
    Czech Republic for your reference 9.
  • 00:50:19
    otherwise it's been in different parts
  • 00:50:21
    of Germany since 2014 it has been held
  • 00:50:24
    consistently in Berlin similar to most
  • 00:50:26
    conventions your reference 26 was
  • 00:50:28
    delayed two years thanks to kovid
  • 00:50:30
    meaning 2020 and 2021 went without
  • 00:50:33
    conventions but the 2022 Edition
  • 00:50:36
    garnered just shy of 3500 attendees the
  • 00:50:41
    current chairman of the convention
  • 00:50:42
    cheetah took over in 1997 and has
  • 00:50:45
    remained chair for almost every year
  • 00:50:46
    since
  • 00:50:48
    foreign
  • 00:50:51
    Star Fox is a video game franchise
  • 00:50:53
    beginning with the eponymous Super
  • 00:50:55
    Nintendo entry in 1993 and it's kind of
  • 00:50:59
    had a rocky past since then were they
  • 00:51:01
    canceled much later released Super
  • 00:51:04
    Nintendo sequel a solid N64 entry and
  • 00:51:08
    then a linked the Run of hits and misses
  • 00:51:11
    it's notable for its cast being entirely
  • 00:51:13
    anthroanimals as space pilots and later
  • 00:51:16
    the introduction of new non-pilot
  • 00:51:19
    characters like Crystal which if you
  • 00:51:22
    grew up around the same time that I did
  • 00:51:24
    and you had access to the internet you
  • 00:51:26
    know who crystal is it was an influence
  • 00:51:29
    in catalyzing the online furry fandom in
  • 00:51:31
    the 90s and 2000s in bringing together
  • 00:51:33
    some of the people we'll discuss later
  • 00:51:35
    in this iceberg
  • 00:51:38
    mascots
  • 00:51:41
    mascots are anthro characters animal or
  • 00:51:44
    not who represent things
  • 00:51:46
    that could be a location like a city a
  • 00:51:49
    sports team a brand honestly they can
  • 00:51:52
    represent just about anything
  • 00:51:54
    usually mascots are portrayed in an
  • 00:51:56
    animated or static artistic manner or by
  • 00:51:59
    people wearing costumes which depict
  • 00:52:01
    said character they're usually seen at
  • 00:52:03
    events like sports games Book Fairs or
  • 00:52:05
    other public-facing Gatherings for
  • 00:52:07
    whatever they represent in fact I used
  • 00:52:09
    to wear the Clifford the Big Red Dog
  • 00:52:11
    costume at local Book Fairs when I
  • 00:52:12
    worked at a library in high school so
  • 00:52:15
    even though I might not own a fursuit I
  • 00:52:17
    got paid to fursuit in the past
  • 00:52:19
    basically they're more loose fitting
  • 00:52:22
    generally more cheaply made fursuits if
  • 00:52:25
    you really think about it mascots are
  • 00:52:29
    basically everywhere existing in tons
  • 00:52:31
    and tons of cultures and if you really
  • 00:52:33
    think about it a lot of ancient gods
  • 00:52:36
    were kind of like mascots because they
  • 00:52:38
    would represent Concepts like death or
  • 00:52:41
    fertility or harvest or wine so what I'm
  • 00:52:45
    saying is that mascot culture is just
  • 00:52:47
    kind of a modern pantheism and I'm here
  • 00:52:49
    for it whether they're animals or not
  • 00:52:52
    they're usually anthropomorphic
  • 00:52:54
    creatures so you can see them as an easy
  • 00:52:56
    entry point into the fandom
  • 00:53:00
    Kimba the White Lion
  • 00:53:02
    Kimba the White Lion originally known as
  • 00:53:05
    jungle Emperor Leo is a Manga and Anime
  • 00:53:08
    created by the god of anime as he's
  • 00:53:10
    known Osamu tezuka it follows Kimba as
  • 00:53:13
    he grows up in a world of humans and
  • 00:53:15
    anthroanimals in modern times Kimba the
  • 00:53:18
    White Lion is perhaps most well known
  • 00:53:21
    for erroneously being named as a direct
  • 00:53:23
    inspiration for The Lion King in fact
  • 00:53:26
    the wikifer article still maintains that
  • 00:53:28
    claim in other words for the past 30
  • 00:53:31
    years or so people have been claiming
  • 00:53:33
    that Disney ripped off tezica there's a
  • 00:53:36
    whole two and a half hour video made by
  • 00:53:38
    your movie sucks he did the research if
  • 00:53:40
    you haven't watched it go watch it if
  • 00:53:42
    you want to learn more however earlier
  • 00:53:44
    Kim of the White Lion was important for
  • 00:53:46
    the fandom along with some of tezica's
  • 00:53:48
    other works it was a direct influence on
  • 00:53:51
    the original meetups that coalesced into
  • 00:53:53
    the furry fandom more on that later
  • 00:53:57
    wolf girl slash horse girl
  • 00:54:00
    the wolf girl was that girl in
  • 00:54:03
    everyone's Class in grade school who
  • 00:54:05
    would wear the two wolf Moon shirt and
  • 00:54:07
    whose entire room was decorated with
  • 00:54:09
    painting prints of wolves and such
  • 00:54:11
    alternatively the horse girl was the
  • 00:54:14
    girl who did the same thing just with
  • 00:54:16
    horses it was basically those kids whose
  • 00:54:19
    fandom was a specific species if you've
  • 00:54:22
    interacted with a lot of furries you
  • 00:54:24
    probably know that that's quintessential
  • 00:54:26
    furry Behavior basing your entire
  • 00:54:28
    appearance wardrobe aesthetic
  • 00:54:31
    personality around a specific species in
  • 00:54:35
    the context of the wolf girl and the
  • 00:54:37
    horse girl however they were basically
  • 00:54:38
    those kids who were willing to
  • 00:54:40
    unabashedly be weird and who probably
  • 00:54:43
    got made fun of a lot and who didn't
  • 00:54:45
    deserve it is this a thing that still
  • 00:54:48
    exists does the horse girl exist outside
  • 00:54:51
    of the South or did I only experience
  • 00:54:53
    that because I grew up in the south
  • 00:54:55
    our kids stole this cruel
  • 00:54:57
    they're notable as being a bridge point
  • 00:54:59
    for anthropomorphizing Animals because
  • 00:55:01
    when you're that enthralled with a
  • 00:55:03
    specific species at some point you're
  • 00:55:05
    probably going to start ascribing
  • 00:55:07
    emotion and feeling and
  • 00:55:09
    anthropomorphization to those animals
  • 00:55:13
    clip-on tails
  • 00:55:16
    clip-on tails are similar to the ear
  • 00:55:18
    hats we mentioned earlier they're faux
  • 00:55:20
    animal Tales often sold at conventions
  • 00:55:22
    from the 90s onward or online they are
  • 00:55:25
    usually worn by the same kids at school
  • 00:55:26
    who would wear the ear hats or the ear
  • 00:55:28
    headbands and I promise this is the last
  • 00:55:30
    time I'm going to say this on this layer
  • 00:55:31
    but usually led to them getting made fun
  • 00:55:34
    of which once again just don't be
  • 00:55:37
    they're not hurting anyone is my point
  • 00:55:39
    of course clip-on tails are a cheap easy
  • 00:55:41
    way to express your furry fandom or your
  • 00:55:46
    wolf girl ISM so of course because of
  • 00:55:49
    their ease of access and cheapness tons
  • 00:55:52
    of people bought these things and wore
  • 00:55:53
    them to conventions and outside of them
  • 00:55:55
    and of course they still do to this day
  • 00:55:59
    Fritz the Cat
  • 00:56:01
    Fritz the Cat was an underground comic
  • 00:56:03
    and later film created by independent
  • 00:56:05
    comic artist Robert Crum the comic ran
  • 00:56:08
    from 1965 to 1972 and the film was
  • 00:56:12
    headed by Ralph bakshi in 1972 though
  • 00:56:15
    Robert Crum notably really disliked how
  • 00:56:17
    the film turned out and how it portrayed
  • 00:56:19
    the adult themes of his comic if you're
  • 00:56:22
    familiar with Robert Crum you're
  • 00:56:24
    probably familiar with Fritz the Cat if
  • 00:56:26
    you're familiar with Robert Crum and not
  • 00:56:28
    Fritz the Cat think about what he
  • 00:56:30
    typically wrote about yeah it's just
  • 00:56:32
    that with anthro animals the film was
  • 00:56:34
    the top grossing independent animated
  • 00:56:36
    film at the time though I'm unsure if
  • 00:56:38
    that still applies today I haven't seen
  • 00:56:41
    any update on that and that was
  • 00:56:43
    admittedly more than 50 years ago
  • 00:56:45
    the comic follows Fritz's Misadventures
  • 00:56:48
    and is known for how extremely horny it
  • 00:56:52
    is
  • 00:56:53
    it was notable for being an adult
  • 00:56:54
    oriented anthro animal story that dealt
  • 00:56:57
    with extremely adult and sometimes very
  • 00:56:59
    dark themes and for becoming the first
  • 00:57:03
    x-rated animated film X being the
  • 00:57:06
    precursor to nc17 which is as of now the
  • 00:57:09
    Motion Picture Association of America's
  • 00:57:11
    top rating above are the comic and later
  • 00:57:14
    film showed even before the fandom
  • 00:57:17
    proper coalesce that there was a place
  • 00:57:19
    for non-kid friendly anthro stories
  • 00:57:22
    including sexual and violent themes we
  • 00:57:25
    explored earlier how Watership Down
  • 00:57:27
    could arguably be a good way to
  • 00:57:29
    introduce a child to very heavy
  • 00:57:31
    existential themes Fritz the Cat is
  • 00:57:34
    definitely not that Fritz the Cat is
  • 00:57:36
    explicitly not for children it also
  • 00:57:38
    served as an influence for later
  • 00:57:40
    adult-oriented Furry comics in
  • 00:57:42
    particular and also other furry media
  • 00:57:46
    Playboy bunnies
  • 00:57:49
    Playboy bunnies are the wait staff at
  • 00:57:51
    Playboy clubs the first of which opened
  • 00:57:53
    in 1960 and have remained open since the
  • 00:57:56
    women who dress this way kind of look
  • 00:57:58
    like they're wearing tuxedo lingerie but
  • 00:58:01
    the most defining feature probably is
  • 00:58:03
    the headband with bunny ears on it this
  • 00:58:05
    isn't exactly furry but it was included
  • 00:58:08
    on one of the other icebergs and I
  • 00:58:09
    wanted to keep it because it is furry
  • 00:58:11
    adjacent and it brings up a very
  • 00:58:13
    interesting point in my opinion Playboy
  • 00:58:15
    bunnies are notable to me given how
  • 00:58:18
    extremely Normy Playboy is think about
  • 00:58:21
    it think about in America adult content
  • 00:58:24
    what is the one name that you typically
  • 00:58:27
    associate with it okay besides the
  • 00:58:30
    obvious website that you're probably
  • 00:58:31
    thinking of it's probably Playboy it's
  • 00:58:35
    remarkable to me that this type of
  • 00:58:36
    performative presentation is acceptable
  • 00:58:38
    to the most Normy loving audience but
  • 00:58:43
    anything beyond ears like that it's a
  • 00:58:46
    little too spicy
  • 00:58:48
    The Legend of Zelda
  • 00:58:51
    The Legend of Zelda is a long-running
  • 00:58:53
    series of video games exclusive to
  • 00:58:55
    Nintendo consoles which started with the
  • 00:58:57
    Legend of Zelda for the Nintendo
  • 00:58:59
    entertainment system or famicom in 1986.
  • 00:59:02
    it was created by Shigeru Miyamoto
  • 00:59:04
    notable of course as the creator of also
  • 00:59:07
    Super Mario Brothers Donkey Kong Star
  • 00:59:09
    Fox and more The Legend of Zelda as a
  • 00:59:12
    Series has a history of anthro enemies
  • 00:59:15
    or original species with entries like
  • 00:59:18
    Majora's Mask offering the player the
  • 00:59:20
    ability to turn the series protagonist's
  • 00:59:22
    link into varying other races perhaps
  • 00:59:25
    more notably 2006's Twilight Princess
  • 00:59:27
    provided the opportunity for players to
  • 00:59:29
    take on a wolf form providing Solas for
  • 00:59:32
    Wolf girls everywhere more recently
  • 00:59:34
    entries like breath of the wild have
  • 00:59:36
    offered up characters like Cass The Bard
  • 00:59:39
    bird boy and Prince sidon the fish
  • 00:59:42
    Prince man who might come off as furry
  • 00:59:44
    bait to some okay let's be honest these
  • 00:59:48
    are furry bait these characters you
  • 00:59:50
    cannot tell me they are not free
  • 00:59:51
    this is avian babe this is fishy bait in
  • 00:59:55
    a lot of ways while this Series has been
  • 00:59:56
    around for almost 40 years it's arguably
  • 00:59:59
    gotten more furry over time offering a
  • 01:00:02
    parallel for the fandom and an entry
  • 01:00:04
    point for some though not explicitly
  • 01:00:07
    furry it does offer a pretty easy entry
  • 01:00:10
    point for a lot of people
  • 01:00:13
    the fandom
  • 01:00:15
    the fandom is a 2020 documentary film
  • 01:00:19
    co-directed and headed by Ash coyote
  • 01:00:21
    it's available for viewing for free on
  • 01:00:23
    her YouTube channel and it's notable for
  • 01:00:25
    not only the accolades at garnered but
  • 01:00:27
    it's chronicling of the early fandom
  • 01:00:29
    through direct interviews with some of
  • 01:00:31
    the people who were there and who became
  • 01:00:33
    instrumental throughout the 90s and
  • 01:00:34
    later it also presents archival footage
  • 01:00:36
    of those early meetups and first
  • 01:00:38
    conventions exploring how the furry
  • 01:00:40
    fandom Grew From chance encounters
  • 01:00:41
    between those Founders to the
  • 01:00:43
    international phenomenon that we know
  • 01:00:44
    today it was crowdfunded on Kickstarter
  • 01:00:47
    in May 2019 amassing a budget of thirty
  • 01:00:50
    two thousand dollars and shot between
  • 01:00:52
    June and October of that year it was
  • 01:00:54
    released in July of 2020 and was a
  • 01:00:56
    follow-up to Ash Coyote's seven-part
  • 01:00:58
    series of the same name released between
  • 01:01:00
    March and may 2019 also on her YouTube
  • 01:01:03
    channel currently she's working on a
  • 01:01:06
    follow-up second season to that original
  • 01:01:07
    series The fandom is frankly probably
  • 01:01:10
    one of the best most wholesome
  • 01:01:12
    introductions to the fandom for
  • 01:01:14
    Outsiders as well as an exploration of
  • 01:01:16
    history of which many people entering
  • 01:01:18
    the fandom may be unaware the film was a
  • 01:01:21
    huge inspiration on me personally
  • 01:01:23
    finally entering the fandom after only
  • 01:01:26
    tangentially being a part of it for like
  • 01:01:28
    15 years and frankly it's a great watch
  • 01:01:31
    all around this one's free it'll be
  • 01:01:34
    linked down below just go check it out
  • 01:01:36
    if you haven't it's great
  • 01:01:39
    so that wraps up the first layer of the
  • 01:01:41
    furry fandom Iceberg now a couple
  • 01:01:44
    closing thoughts before we end today my
  • 01:01:46
    vision for this iceberg is that it will
  • 01:01:48
    be a living iceberg in other words I've
  • 01:01:52
    already written out all 10 tiers of this
  • 01:01:54
    however I know that I'm missing things
  • 01:01:57
    and if my main contention with most
  • 01:01:59
    other furry fandom icebergs is that
  • 01:02:01
    they're not inclusive enough and that
  • 01:02:03
    they don't include enough history lore
  • 01:02:06
    funny anecdotes what have you it would
  • 01:02:08
    be hypocritical of me to not be open to
  • 01:02:11
    adding more to the iceberg as we go on
  • 01:02:13
    that being said by the time that this
  • 01:02:15
    goes up the second layer will probably
  • 01:02:17
    almost be done but drop your suggestions
  • 01:02:21
    in the comments below I might not use
  • 01:02:23
    all of them depending on what the
  • 01:02:25
    contents of those suggestions are but if
  • 01:02:27
    you know something about the history or
  • 01:02:29
    culture of the furry fandom that you
  • 01:02:31
    know needs to get included in this
  • 01:02:33
    project drop it below and I will credit
  • 01:02:35
    anybody whose suggestions I use as
  • 01:02:37
    entries in future videos shows as of
  • 01:02:39
    right now my plan is to release one
  • 01:02:41
    layer of this Iceberg per month for the
  • 01:02:43
    remainder of the year which would put us
  • 01:02:45
    ending in about November 2023 it'll
  • 01:02:48
    total 10 parts and then there will be a
  • 01:02:50
    completed video which will be revised
  • 01:02:52
    for any inaccuracies that anybody
  • 01:02:54
    catches over the course of the Year
  • 01:02:55
    anything new that needs to get added
  • 01:02:57
    onto layers that were already completed
  • 01:02:59
    by the time that those things were
  • 01:03:00
    suggested an expansion on any entries
  • 01:03:03
    for which I don't go into enough detail
  • 01:03:04
    each part of the iceberg will have one
  • 01:03:07
    or several themes pause the video real
  • 01:03:10
    quick and think this first layer had
  • 01:03:12
    three themes what could they have been
  • 01:03:15
    they were popular gateways into the
  • 01:03:17
    fandom early influences on the fandom
  • 01:03:20
    and parallels to the furry fandom in
  • 01:03:22
    non-furry culture granted I am not going
  • 01:03:25
    to be spoiling the themes for any of the
  • 01:03:27
    following layers you'll just have to
  • 01:03:29
    wait for those I'd also like to up-top
  • 01:03:31
    think Jay brandsetter for letting me
  • 01:03:33
    interview him for this and some of the
  • 01:03:36
    later parts of this Iceberg Jay is one
  • 01:03:38
    of many people who are involved in the
  • 01:03:40
    creation of this video series and all of
  • 01:03:42
    them will be named and thanked at the
  • 01:03:44
    end of the layers for which they
  • 01:03:45
    provided research assistance
  • 01:03:47
    that being said not just if you have
  • 01:03:50
    suggestions for entries but if you are
  • 01:03:52
    someone of note in the fandom or a
  • 01:03:54
    historian who can share sources on
  • 01:03:56
    anything please feel free to reach out
  • 01:03:58
    this is purely a passion project but I
  • 01:04:01
    want to make sure that this is as
  • 01:04:02
    thorough as it possibly can be if you
  • 01:04:05
    want to get in touch in any capacity
  • 01:04:06
    drop something in the comments below or
  • 01:04:08
    DM me on Twitter or email me my other
  • 01:04:11
    social media I don't really check DMS
  • 01:04:14
    for but feel free to check out my
  • 01:04:17
    content on any of these platforms
  • 01:04:19
    stay tuned for layer 2 in March and if
  • 01:04:21
    you want to see more of my stuff outside
  • 01:04:23
    of the iceberg there's plenty of content
  • 01:04:25
    here on YouTube I also stream on Twitch
  • 01:04:27
    and you can find my music on Spotify I
  • 01:04:30
    want to thank everybody who stuck around
  • 01:04:32
    for this long and listened all the way
  • 01:04:33
    to the end if that's the case then
  • 01:04:35
    you're like me and you can probably just
  • 01:04:38
    sit and listen to a single Iceberg video
  • 01:04:40
    that's like six hours long in one
  • 01:04:43
    sitting while you're working or
  • 01:04:44
    something like that if you've made it
  • 01:04:46
    this far drop the cat Joy Emoji in the
  • 01:04:50
    comments so that I know how many of you
  • 01:04:51
    actually finish this
  • 01:04:53
    thank you once more for everybody who's
  • 01:04:55
    watching and I will see you next week
  • 01:04:58
    with something different and next month
  • 01:05:00
    with layer 2 of the furry fandom iceberg
Tags
  • furry fandom
  • iceberg chart
  • anthropomorphic
  • fursona
  • fursuit
  • conventions
  • roleplay
  • Looney Tunes
  • The Lion King
  • media influence