Archive for the ‘furry fandom’ category

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“Mating Season” on Netflix…Don’t Look, Ethel!

May 23, 2026

(Advisory: Some adult content!)

With a title such as “Mating Season” and a cast of anthropomorphic cartoon animals, you may rightfully have a suspicion of what the show is largely about. Your second clue comes with the realization that the new 10-episode first season show on Netflix is produced by Titmouse, the same studio that gave us Kevin, about the anthropomorphic tuxedo cat trying to find himself in the big city after his human owners break up, and essentially dump him in an animal shelter…

“Kevin” is Shakespeare, however, compared to “Mating Season.” This show is RAUNCHY, and definitely NOT FOR CHILDREN! I cannot shout that from a sufficiently tall enough building. Not only do the denizens of an anonymous forest have sex, but they have it often, and with others outside of their own species! Struggling a bit to relate a somewhat sanitized version of a central occurrence in episode 1, a hyperactive, highly sexualized male raccoon named Ray winds up sharing intimacies with a flirty female skunk, and in the aftermath of that, they wind up with a “copulatory tie,” joined together at the genitals until later in the episode…

(Pictured above; Ray, Josh, Fawn, and Penelope…)

Now I do know that raccoons are stereotypically among the bad boys of the furry fandom, and that the fandom has always had a “yiffy” component, but I worry a bit that some outside of the fandom are going to see all of the highly sexualized animals on parade here, and think that’s mostly all that the fandom is about. It took us a long time, for example, to put the CSI episode featuring fursuits behind us…

The artwork in Mating Season is good, as is characteristic of Titmouse studios, and far better than most of the mass-produced cartoons on television. We need to consider, however, the messaging conveyed by such an adult cartoon. The show is unapologetically vulgar, and emphasizes shock value at the expense of character development. It’s strangely reassuring, however, to learn that I am still capable of being shocked, almost to the point of feeling violated as a furry. I do not enjoy wallowing in the mire; we furries are better than this! 😼

I mean, Rigby the raccoon of Regular Show (below) would be shocked by Ray the raccoon, and that’s saying something! 🙀

Now in all fairness to the series, episodes beyond the initial one do seem to be slightly tamer, and we can sense the closeness of the animal community. There’s quite a variety of different species represented, such as Penelope the lesbian fox, her straight friend Fawn the deer, Josh the bear deserted by his mate, Dylan the wolf, and Summer the lesbian hound, who has an intense but doomed relationship with Penelope. So beyond the sexuality, the series deals with relationships, and the difficulties inherent in them. For example, the wolf moves in with the deer, but they split up as the wolf urinates everywhere to mark his territory, and invites his pack to a real “animal house”-styled celebration of the full moon, complete with drinking and howling….

Now this is cute; furries are actually directly referenced in the series (I believe in episode 3), and some of the animals play at being human! Turn-about is fair play, I guess. So perhaps I was initially too harsh on the series out of my initial shock, and Mating Season can be quite funny and clever if you’re OK with the vulgarity and strong sexual content…it’s just not for everyone, and definitely for adults only…

Categories: alternative realities, anthropomorphic, Brilliant but twisted, cartoons, comedy, controversial, fantasy, furries, furry, furry art, furry fandom, furry satire, furry television, twisted reality
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Comments: 9 Comments

Amazon Prime’s “Kevin;” A Disillusioned Cat Learning the Ropes of City Life…

May 4, 2026

Amazon Prime’s adult animated series “Kevin” featuring anthropomorphic animals is highly polarizing to viewers, with one review terming it “unpleasant, unfunny, and unwatchable,” while others have found it “heartwarming!” But as a furry and cat lover, I had to check this out…

At the heart of Kevin is an anthropomorphic neurotic tuxedo cat (voiced by Jason Schwartzman) who loses his home when his humans break up, casting him into a local pet rescue center in Queens called “Furrever Friends” filled with “independent” animals where he encounters a number of homeless and displaced animals, predominantly felines, most of which are even more disordered and scarred by life than he is. Take for example “Cupcake,” voiced by Whoopi Goldberg, who portrays an emaciated, battered, and battle-scarred feral cat who is fearless, cynical, and yet quite adept at surviving in the environs of New York City…

…and man, the animals in the city are tough! His feral instincts triggered, Kevin chases a squirrel who in turn pulls a knife on him! A half-dead pigeon begs Kevin to eat him to put him out of his misery (thankfully, he refuses)! These are not cutesy animals, but rather hardened, grim individuals who provide the inexperienced, once pampered house cat with an education in the “School of Hard Knocks.”

Make no mistake, this is NOT a cartoon series for children! The language is generously sprinkled with vulgarities and obscenities, and the animals are raunchy, and at times quite twisted. There is humor here, but it’s quite dark. There is a content advisory for “nudity, violence, substance use, alcohol use, smoking, foul language, sexual content, and flashing lights and strobing patterns that might affect photosensitive viewers.”- – Something for everyone, right?! As a furry I like all things furry, but this series at times pushes the boundaries into rather extreme territory that will turn off many. The series explores the question of finding where you belong in the world, which is something that most of us will ultimately contend with. It just won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but that’s why we have buttons to change the channel or turn sets off…

All eight episodes of the first season of Kevin may be streamed from Amazon Prime, and I’d consider it an acquired taste…you’ll either love it or hate it, but it may grow on you…

Categories: alternative realities, animals, animation, anomalies, anthropomorphic, Brilliant but twisted, cartoons, fantasy, furry, furry art, furry fandom, furry interest, furry satire, furry television, humor
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I Blog Because …

August 31, 2024

Daily writing prompt
Why do you blog?
View all responses

Why do I blog? Good writing prompt, BTW, and I rarely respond to these things. – – I blog because it’s so much cheaper than therapy! Thinking about it, however, I blog because it affords me a sense of community, of knowing that somewhere out there in internet-land there are a few people who are interested in the same things that I am, and perhaps share elements of my weirdness. This can make it a bit easier to take the daily masquerade that we all engage in, of preparing a face to meet the faces that we meet…

What I am is a strange mixture of frustrated English teacher, biologist, paranormal fancier, and red fox furry. I was a furry back in the pre-internet days before we even had a word for it, and those of us who were of that persuasion just kind of blundered around unnaturally attached to cartoons, and identifying with the animal characters depicted. I played a chicken in my 2nd grade class play and Don Quixote’s horse Rocinante in a college adaptation of Man of La Mancha, and couldn’t have been happier. Playing a horse was much better than being a chicken, however, as I got to wear a large paper mache head and pulled a draped sawhorse frame behind me to simulate a horse’s body. The rear sawhorse legs were hinged so I could sit down on stage…

I guess that experience initially led me to identify as a horse in the fandom, and I functioned acceptably that way for a while, but I could only take the identification so far. So I tried being a wolf for a whole, but wasn’t really a pack animal nor could I handle the frequently expected aggressiveness. Many of us in the fandom need to experiment and essentially try on different identities before we find the right one, and that’s fine! It’s kinda like deciding on a career field, but far deeper psychologically…

Now the furry fandom is full of vixens, but I reasoned that there must be male foxes as well to continue the species. So I accepted my identity as a male fox, and the role has fit me like a glove ever since! Sometimes, it would appear, we must wander in the desert for some time before we can finally find where we are going…

So blogging can reinforce your sense of personal identity, tie you in with a community of like-minded spirits, and it can even be a kick, to boot (pun intended). It’s also humbling to draw readers from different locations around the world. So thank you, WordPress, for giving each of us our own crazy personal niches! It may not be a second Eden, but it still beats Berwyn, right?

Back to business in my next post. But right now, it’s time for a group hug or skritch in appreciation for my readers who put up with me!

Categories: alternative realities, anthropomorphic, furry, furry fandom
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Comments: 6 Comments

Mountain Dew…”Your Soul Needs Dew” Commercial

November 6, 2023

This commercial for Mountain Dew blew me away…totally! It’s definitely furry-friendly. Three persons figure in it. A guy is working on his computer in a large office. He stares at his complexion on his monitor, and he is reptilian. A young woman in a diner happens to stare out the window, and sees her reflection as an exotic bird. A third guy is throwing out garbage in an alley, looks up, and sees his image as feline. This furry trio has gotta do the town, and they do!

We see these guys individually and collectively, the reptile viewing his reflection in an elevator glass and the big cat viewing his paw appendages. They go places, too, like a pool hall, making a fine entrance and getting admiring glances. The reptilian is shown performing in some kind of trendy club, playing to a receptive audience. Two of them are shown in an off-road vehicle. There’s no stopping these guys as they make the world their own in their idealized furry forms…

So enjoy…I think that someone out there in commercial-land finally understands the furry experience, and the inner self! And I’d drink a boatload of Mountain Dew if it would transform me… 🦊

Categories: absurdities, advertising, alternative realities, anthropomorphic, Brilliant but twisted, furries, furry, furry commercials, furry fandom, furry television, television, twisted reality
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Car Seat Headrest, a “Furry Adjacent” Band…

July 6, 2022

I had earlier posted on Here Come The Mummies, a band whose members perform swaddled in mummy wrappings. We now highlight Car Seat Headrest, an indie rock band whose frontman Will Toledo is a furry who on his recent concert tour sometimes performed in a modified fursuit as his character, Mortis Jackrabbit…

Now the band Car Seat Headrest is described as “furry adjacent,” as in not totally furry, but next to furry, with their Twin Fantasy album featuring furry art of two canids hugging, and the album dedicated to “nervous young inhumans”with a cut by the same name...

Mortis the bunny is quite a presence on stage, appearing as if wearing a gas mask with uncanny, changing luminescent eyes…

So check out Car Seat Headrest, a very different band full of emotion and angst, and rooted in the furry fandom… 🦊

Categories: alternative realities, anthropomorphic, Brilliant but twisted, fantasy, furry, furry fandom, furry music, fursuits, performers

Comments: 2 Comments

My Daze As A Leopard…

February 27, 2021


I can’t really say that I was “seduced” by the furry fandom as I came willingly, nay, eagerly!  It was kind of like, “So a ‘furry’ is what I am?  All right, where do I sign, and do I get a membership card?”  

Perhaps it was the many hours I spent watching Warner Bros. cartoons as a kid, identifying with and relating to the characters I saw, liking them more than any human, and heck, wanting to be them!  I got to play a rooster in my second grade farm-themed class play, and I was like out of my mind with the part, although the teacher wouldn’t let me put my Foghorn Leghorn spin on the character.  Sadly, it wasn’t even a speaking part!  As Foghorn might have said, “Teacher, I say, oh Teacher!  You’re about to exceed the limitations of my medication!”  That could have been a breakout role for me, too…sad!

Then there were Halloween opportunities, when it was not only acceptable but required to role-play.  Forget skeletons, ghosts, and witches, too…I wanted to be an animal!  Back then, if your parents weren’t crafty enough to make you a costume, they’d pony up a few bucks, and you landed one of these Ben Cooper or Collegeville kid Halloween costumes.  The material of the body component might even be made of garbage-bag grade stuff, not even fabric, and I remember one tearing as I wore it.  The masks were thin brittle plastic, and it was almost impossible to breathe in them.  If unfortunate enough to wear glasses, they’d steam them up immediately, and you’d blunder around your neighborhood trick-or-treating with severely impaired vision.  Turns out, this was good practice for the COVID masks of today!  

Anyways, one year and the last that I went trick-or-treating, I wore a Ben Cooper leopard costume, identical as I remember it to the one pictured.  Although this was the world’s cheapest fursuit and looked it, I was in heaven…I mean, the costume even had a tail!  Thank God none of the other kids ripped my tail off, although a few grabbed me by it.  Nowadays, this would constitute harassment. And would you believe it?  The same vintage costume I’ve seen selling on eBay for $199, plus shipping.  Now I’m sure that my leopard suit wound up in the trash as I’d outgrown it and abandoned trick-or-treating by the following Halloween.  Maybe I should have said to my mother, “Hey, hang onto this!  It’ll be worth almost $200 in the future!”  But I didn’t know, and parents tend not to listen, anyways…they always know better, or think that they do!

It’s long gone, but I’ll always remember my leopard suit.  Then in a college production of Man of La Mancha, I got to play Don Quixote’s horse.  That had a much better full head mask to it, which unfortunately I was not allowed to keep, although the die was cast by that point. 

So hooray for Halloween, which unfortunately is rarely celebrated today as it was in days of yore.  If you’ve still got your old costumes, hang onto them…they might be worth some bucks today.  And as someone who’s worn the leopard suit, I can only conclude by saying…RAWRR!

 

 

 




 

 

 

Categories: animals, anthropomorphic, furry, furry fandom, fursuits, historical perspectives, holidays
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The Feline Furries of Star Trek…

July 7, 2020

 

There are furries in the Star Trek universe, cat-people who were introduced with the character of  M’Ress in Star Trek:  The Animated Series in the 1970’s.  A lieutenant and operations officer, she was a felinoid-type alien of the Caitian species modeled after African lions, and included originally with the cast to make the series more friendly and attractive to young children.  While the artwork is stylized and somewhat minimal, it established the species well, and M’Ress remains a most attractive and intriguing lady, even if she does have a habit of purring or murring after every few lines of dialogue…

Caitians have also appeared briefly a handful of other times in the Star Trek universe, at times depicted with more feline characteristics than others.  In Star Trek IV:  The Voyage Home, two Caitian males, completely fur-covered, were depicted as members of the Federation Council.   This depiction of the species is far more formidable, almost with a Klingon-type vibe.  One imagines that these cats could play rough…

In Star Trek:  Into Darkness, a young James T. Kirk was depicted romping in bed with two females generally regarded to be Caitians who had bare skin(?), but prominent moving tails.  I don’t know if these Caitians practiced full body shaving, represented a hybrid, or if it was just considered too disturbing to represent human-furry sex on the big screen.  Kirk, of course, is legendary for having had intimate relations with any number of female aliens, and a discussion of his libido and sexual conquests would consume far more space than we have here… 

In Star Trek:  Online, Caitians are playable characters, and I personally  like their more serious depiction.  The majesty and power of felines really shines through here, and I’d be proud to serve on board with any of them…

 

In a new upcoming animated series to debut in August 2020 titled Star Trek:  Lower Decks, we will again see a Caitian in the person of Dr. T’Ana, ship’s physician to one of the least important vessels in Starfleet, the USS Cerritos.  I’ve heard her described as Dr. Pulaski in feline form.  Lower Decks is billed as an adult comedy, although it will supposedly still deal with some serious science fiction themes and issues.  Detailing the exploits of junior support officers on the Cerritos, the series will debut in August 2020 on the CBS All-Access network…

 

So there you have it…a species depicted in different ways, from ‘toonish to sex-kitten, to impressive and formidable.  You can choose your preferred incarnation, I suppose, and I eagerly anticipate further expansion of the species in future developments of the Star Trek universe…

 

Categories: aliens, anthropomorphic, furry, furry fandom, furry television, television
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“The Masked Singer,” American Edition…

January 3, 2019

Aha, I just knew that we were going to be able to sneak some compelling furry images and characters onto mainstream television soon, and with The Masked Singer on Fox (- -how appropriate!), our time may have finally come in 2019!

 

Now for those of you not in the know, The Masked Singer is a new reality show (for the U.S., anyways) in which celebrity contestants perform and compete entirely clad in costume head-to-toe, concealing their identity. Most often those costumes are of animals, monsters, or other fantastic life forms with the contestant’s group of twelve including among others a unicorn, a deer, a hippo, a French poodle, a pineapple-man, a lion, and my personal fave, a rabbit! For the first night, six contestants competed on a paired basis, with the lesser voted contestant of each match-up relegated to the bottom three, and the weakest of that group unmasked and sent home. Victors in the matches included a Peacock winning over a Hippo, a Unicorn beating a “Monster,” and a Lion defeating a Deer. The Hippo, a real-life football athlete, ranked lowest and was sent home.

 

The show kind of blends American Idol with The Gong Show by way of a furry convention. Some of the costumes are elaborate and impressive, and dependent on their individual gifts and the bulk of their outfit some of the contestants incorporate a little choreography into their stage presentations. All of the contestants are supposedly well-known figures in music, comedy, or athletics, and the identity of each will ultimately be revealed as the weaning-out process continues. Popular in Asia and originating in South Korea, the American version of The Masked Singer is certainly different, even if it’s not for everyone…

Categories: animal elements, animal presence, animals, anthropomorphic, avian, creature features, fantasy, feathered friends, furry, furry fandom, television
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Furries, International!

July 19, 2012

– – The furry movement is sweeping Mexico…well, perhaps not sweeping, and I don’t mean cleaning the streets, but at least gaining followers.  While certainly not every fan is a fursuiter,  one Mexican notes that “When I have the suit on I feel like I can do things I otherwise wouldn’t.  I can be friendlier, more affectionate.  I think people think its more acceptable like this than if I didn’t have the costume on.” 

We note this here because the furry fandom boasts an international following that may conservatively be estimated to be in the thousands.  While this blog is not exclusively furry, it does aspire to draw furries, as well as those interested in animal influences in popular culture and scientific or speculative information related to animals.  Something that always awes me in examining the demographics of this blog is that we draw readers from around the world!  While the majority of our readers do hail from the United States, we regularly draw viewers as well from the United Kingdom, India, Canada, Poland…fully 14 countries other than the U.S. as of yesterday!- –Yay!  We must be serving some interests and purpose here, and when I figure out what it is, I’ll pass the information on.

Anyways, the presence of each and every one of you is welcome and appreciated!  <group hug>

Categories: animals, anthropomorphic, furries, furry, furry fandom, furry perspectives
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The Tao of Furry…

April 13, 2010

– – Those who talk about tolerance and diversity need look no further than the furry fandom; while we have our share of nasties, we have a big tent, and furs may be found there of every stripe (literally) and persuasion.

To paint us all with the same broad brush is inaccurate; besides, we don’t much like being painted with brushes, ’cause it tickles! We are of every age, race, nationality, and orientation.   Some of us are extraordinary artists, while others can’t draw a straight line; some of us are musicians, while others are tone deaf;  still others are creative writers, while others don’t reed and rite too gud.   Some of us do all of these things, while others do none.   At any rate, we all get along rather well with one another, appreciate one another’s gifts or lack of same, and generally don’t try and kill one another off.   This is a lesson from which many people might learn in politics.–You wanna talk about the lion lying down with the lamb?–Furries do this routinely!

So play nice out there, humans…we do!      🙂




Categories: furries, furry fandom, furry perspectives, philosophy
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