#astatalk

Rules: tag 9 people you want to get to know better  (Actually I will tag as many as I can think of but whatever)

Relationship status: Single

Pets: Currently 3 cats

Last song I listened to: This one http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3u3s6f_scissor-sisters-i-cant-decide-with-lyrics_tv which is my in my top 3 favourite song of all time and to which I relate a LOT

Favorite TV show: I swear I am totally unable to name only one, I mean I love a few but there isn’t one that got me obssessed or whatever so here they are:

-Doctor Who -Sherlock -Wakfu -Over The Garden Wall

And maybe Gravity Falls but tbh this one is in the grey zone between shows I love and shows I like (I mean with some hindsight, it was good but not as good as the ones above)

Hobbies: Drawing, Animating, creating Don’t Starve Together character mods, Video games and nerding about marine ecology stuff

One fine day, I went to a geek bar called “Le Dernier Bar avant la Fin du Monde” (=The Last Bar before the End of the World) and I saw a kickstarter trailer for a game on the screens inside. The visual got me and after playing a demo I backed it. So the game was released yesterday and I got a steam code

And here’s what I got

This game is a WONDER with a colorful and poetic mood.

It’s a platformer with some interesting fighting mechanics (for instance, being able to shift between different types of weapon) From what I played so far the story is told in a rather original way and it’s very pleasant to get lost in this Dreamwolrd (quite litrealy) with a great soundtrack that perfectly fits the artsyle. Another reason for you to at least check it out is that it’s from an Indie studio called @tookindstudio founded by a team with members who worked at Ankama, which proves they know a thing or two about making games with stunning art and a good story, think about Fly’n or Wakfu 

(They also happen to be located in the region I live in)

So hi everyone, you may be wondering why all this fuss?

The thing is I want to let you know something:  I am now a Furry! So I'll go through some quick definitions and facts before getting to the "Ok, but what does it change for the followers of this blog?" question.

"What is a furry anyway?" The answer is fairly simple, a furry is: 1. Someone who loves anthropomorphic animals. (That is to say, animals with human-like features, such as in Zootopia, Armello etc) 2. Someone who wants to be a part of the fandom revolving around that type of character. (So no, just because some artist did a Zootopia OC, doesn't mean they're a furry if they don't want to join that fandom)

“But wait, doesn't that mean you wander around dressed up as a giant plushie all day?” No, the costumes furries are famous for (called fursuits) are really REALLY expensive, (700$ to 2000$) which explains why only 20% of furries own a fursuit. There's also the fact furries mostly wear their suit on special occasions, because it gets real hot real quick in there

“Hold on, aren't furries a group of weirdos focused on mature content?” No again, it's just like in any other fandom, there is a portion of the community producing mature content but it’s not the majority. The only thing is that media focuses on these people, because it brings more of an audience. (And they often make up a LOT of things about furries as well. Check out the videos ‘Furries in the Media’ for more information.)

“But why are you mentioning it now? Why not earlier?” That's linked to 2 reasons: 1st, I wasn't able to do a proper text post before, as I work in a lab for an internship, which is really time consuming. 2nd, I wasn't a furry before March! I surely heard about them before, but just didn't bother going deeper. AND THEN ARRIVED ZOOTOPIA. I absolutely loved this movie, but I wasn't thinking about furries in the first place. It's only when I looked up for videos related to the movie that I found "Furries react to Zootopia", and this intrigued me, as they weren't matching the stereotypes I had (bc let's face it, I was filled with negative stereotypes regarding them). I did some research instead, and I discovered how much of a great community it is. They’re just as cool as any other fandom!

And now some positive facts about furries:

-Furry conventions are almost always non-profit! They give all the money to charity, shelters, wild life protection, or zoos. For instance, the biggest furry convention (7,310 attendees this year), Anthrocon, which was held from June 30th to July 3rd, raised 31,880$ for Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG aquarium.

-An important number of furries work as scientists or have advanced degrees.

-Syrian refugees were placed in the hotel where the Vancoufur convention was hold, the organizers were aware of the potential shock, and sent a note to the other participants. It turned out the kids loved it, and this simply helped them to forget the terrible situation they fled.

And finally:  “What does this all means concerning my blogs and the art I post?”

I have created a new furry blog:

http://foster-purrnin.tumblr.com/

That is where I will post my furry art. I might reblog the pieces I'm the most happy with on my main artblog, and reblog every once in a while the furry posts I really liked (like artwork, nice fursuit pics, etc) So long story short, astadyl and astadyls-art-blog will still be active, not a lot of changes.

Final note: I will attend to my first fur-meet on Saturday, I'm half anxious (shyness my old firend ~) half excited! We'll see how it goes!

Some useful links for those who want to learn more about this topic: This one is the best introduction I found so far

Another definition of the Fandom

And finally a playlist about checking if the representation of furries in various medias is accurate or not