A Very Practical Guide to Furry Fandom

Welcome to Fandom! But wait, do you know what "Fandom" is? A fandom is a group of people who are fans of a particular thing in common, like a TV series, a song, an artist, a movie, a book, etc. In our case, we're fans of anything involving anthropomorphic animals! And look, it is not hard to find out there; we have everything from cartoons to movies and games that feature animals with sublime and cool personalities. Want an example? Just in Disney products (media, etc.), we find several! Mickey Mouse himself would already be considered something of a furry. Sonic? I will not even tell you, many people are even inspired by the style to create their fursonas! And what about in games? The Worgen from Warcraft are another example of werewolf appearances found in media (who does not remember that Gen cinematic? hmmm)

So, does anyone who likes these aspects of media automatically make them a Furry? NO, a person may or may not consider themselves a Furry, or even integrate into the fandom; it is up to each individual. We also need to add something. Although we call it the "Furry Fandom," many consider this a rather limited designation, since many people consider the fandom more of a lifestyle. Therefore, being a Furry would be more linked to a subculture (a set of cultural particularities of a group that distances itself from the dominant way of life without detaching itself from it), since many people can only express themselves through the fandom, or consume more products from that environment than conventional products. We have a whole universe of our own available to us. We have our own artists, of any kind-illustrators, animators, even actors and voice actors! We have films and short films, musicians, DJs, writers, and with that, books geared towards the fandom. We have our own influencers and YouTubers, fursuit makers (artists who make fursuits, which are the basis of the fandom along with illustrators), in short, it is a range of people who produce and buy!

Okay, I am a furry!

Okay, now that you understand the basic concept of Fandom, what should you do first? Well, precisely, there's no single right thing to do first; it depends on each individual! But many would say the first thing is to create your "Fursona"! Wait, you do not know what a fursona is? It is basically a character you identify with and use to interact with other people in the fandom! We could even apply some of the Persona concept to the Fursona.

A persona is a fictional representation of a business's ideal customer. It is based on real data about customer behavior and demographics, as well as their personal stories, motivations, goals, challenges, and concerns.

The most striking and obvious difference you might notice is that fursonas are represented by anthropomorphic animals, and may or may not be entirely based on you (I think in the end, it often is). Therefore, many people have one or more fursonas, just as they have other characters with which they may or may not identify. Seriously, imagination is the limit! There are fursonas with backstories based on real tabletop RPG characters! But of course, this isn't a rule; your fursona doesn't necessarily have to have a backstory. Since for many, the fursona is a representation of the person, it can have stories, characteristics, and tastes similar to the creator!

Okay, but how do I create my Fursona?

Look, this is a complicated part to explain! Because it's something VERY personal. But first of all, it's good to know that there are, well like... internal rules. Yes, I know, we talk about creativity and all that, but there are common mistakes that anyone needs to know before creating their fursona to avoid arguments (just so you know, most furries are... let is say... quite sensitive.) Since a fursona can be someone's personal representation, it would be kind of annoying to simply search Google for furry images, grab a picture of any fursona and keep it as your profile picture just because you identified a little with it, right? WRONG! This is the most common mistake we see out there, and just as recurring. First of all, DON'T DO THIS! 99% of the images you search for on Google already have an owner, and are even protected by Copyright! (Also, this is a very serious issue, as using images and sources from the internet is a general problem, more so than you might imagine. Don't do this, especially in college work, hehe). If you want to have your own fursona, my friend, you'll have to work for it. Research other fursonas before creating yours. I'd say the most important thing is: know yourself. Self-knowledge helps a lot! Another mistake we see is basically being inspired by... 99% of another fursona you like... Of course, there won't be fursonas with a 100% unique and innovative look. But we also can't be too extreme, like falling into colorful fursonas in a multi-rainbow style, and/or full of details (tattoos, etc.). Speaking as an artist, it can be bad design and difficult for someone to want to draw your fursona, especially if it's on commission (when you buy art from an artist). The artist might increase the price or even refuse to do it. Don't do this unless you're really comfortable with this look and REALLY want it! Speaking of design, a character that's "pleasing" to the public's eye often has even simple features, with colors that combine harmoniously. And even if you still think your fursona looks like another, don't worry because you can always add a detail or two, or even a special accessory that differentiates your character from the other! Think of it this way, you can have several "cousins"!

OOkay! I already have a fursona, now it's time to make friends! But hold on?

This is why many say it's very easy to make friends here. BUT it's also very easy to get confused sooner or later. One of the biggest mistakes a newcomer makes when entering the fandom is basically "forcing" a friendship that may not yet exist. It's very understandable that many shy and introverted people end up getting involved in the furry fandom, because these people (like me, haha) are even ashamed to show their faces, and hiding behind a character seems very practical. But this also involves real dangers that especially younger people (children and pre-teens) can fall into. As I mentioned above, you can't force a friendship. Many people, often "needy" for affection, end up getting too involved with people they've just met. But we should never forget that we're talking about people who may not show their true selves 100% online, especially not so quickly! If you want to be friends with someone, you'll have to get involved the hard way! Talking little by little, getting to know each other little by little, and this can take months, or even years! Don't be hasty! Many of the conflicts we see are from people who end up feeling hurt because that person simply took a long time to respond, even though they just met you and don't yet have many emotional obligations to you! In any case, not all friends will respond to you all the time. Our community may be very online, but people still have lives outside the computer, so don't be sad if that person simply can't respond right now!

Okay! I'm ready to dive in headfirst!

Okay, my young friend! This is just the basics you can learn about our great community! I'm not saying you're an expert with this basic text, but it's a start! But as everyone says, you learn more through practice, and you won't always get it right every time, and that's okay! Learning often comes more from learning from mistakes than anything else, but soon enough you'll be mastering the fandom!

My experience in the fandom was generally very positive. I met people who are still my friends today, I was able to interact better after wearing a lot Fursuit, the conventions were really cool, I loved seeing the independent artists's shops, and I even had a bit of cultural exchange. The negative part, the drama, whatever you want to call it, I don't think it affected me much because I'm reserved in general, besides, another thing I learned is that for any group of people or fandom of anything, there will always be these negative aspects, fights, tantrums, dramas... so, living within a society, in general, are things that you can't avoid. You have to be aware of your behavior within that group and get along with others in the best way possible!

So, here is a little of what has been going on in recent years within the fandom! Nowadays I'm more inactive in general, especially when it comes to going to conventions, or keeping a fursuit, I haven't necessarily stopped enjoying it, but I've had to focus (mainly financially) on other aspects of my life these days.

Argentina Furfiesta! (2019)

When do you talk because I continue to dress like that? It is friends, i is to take small moments like this! The lady met us and looked at me saying -how beautiful you are- (or something like that in Spanish) and yet she was shy. Soon I opened my arms inviting her into a hug and she came gently smiling at me. Nothing more simple and touching than taking this smile from people. Something similar had happened earlier, when a child - still in the baby car - started to smile at me from afar. I had to go interact with her, and I made more smiles. Nothing else makes me happy to make people happy that way! and I just wanted to record this moment here, because it is in these few memories that I can root my own sorrows

Finally at Anthrocon!(2022)

In 2022 i finally, i made my dream come true! I was able to go to one of the biggest conventions in the United States! And the first one I ever heard of when I joined the fandom! For years I had only seen posts, videos, and photos about the event, and my favorite playlist was watching videos of the dance competition! But that's also how I met Telephone. I loved her videos; nowadays she's more focused on her work as a fursuiter, but at the event I had the chance to take a picture with her! It was only for a few moments, but the photo is eternal!

When I arrived there on Thursday, it all seemed surreal. I could already see fursuiters walking the streets, people with ears and tails, and there were SO MANY people! The whole city already knows about the event, and the nearby restaurants are already preparing to welcome the furries, with their menus changed to include dishes with furry names in them!

What impressed me the most was the sheer number of people around, throughout the 3 days. I myself still haven't managed to see all the fursuits that were there! As my first experience at a large convention, I only wore a fursuit for a few hours, just to be able to enjoy the event more as a spectator (especially since the view was limited inside the fursuit), and even then I feel like I didn't see everything I needed to see!

Since my focus in the fandom was on fursuits, there I was, just walking around the lobby, the street, the hotel lobby, just staring in awe at all those fursuits, and in the end, I realized that's all I did at the event. There I was, trying to see as many fursuits as I could, take pictures, follow the ones I thought were the prettiest on medias, I ended up realizing how rushed the convention was, because I didn't even see the panels, I was so distracted just being there!

Including all of that, and despite feeling like it was very rushed, the good memories are quite strong, especially from my favorite part of the Con, which was the Parade! When I saw that huge line of fursuits getting ready to take the conventional AnthroCon photo, it was a feeling of "I'm really not alone in this, there are many others like me!", and when we went out to the street, there were furries but the majority on the street were non-furry people who were just there to say hello, have fun and shout when they saw a fursuit that made them happy! That, yes, is something magical!

Finally, even though days have passed, I can't quite explain what it was like, but it's all good feelings that I remember and a huge smile comes to my face! I hope I can go back there another time!

Most of these, from the 70s onward, provided the inspiration for creating the fandom!

I think you understand, these are just a few examples. I would mention others games titles like; the Star Fox, Ratchet & Clank, SolatoRobo and Crash Bandicoot, but if I were to list them all (others medias, moderns ones and etc), it would be an endless list! There are also animations like The Lion King, Kimba, Balto, My Little Poney (...) very importants on fandom, but these are "feral" and this is a very nebulous area in the fandom, so this will be the only mention of ferals that I will make here.