Dogpatch Press

Headlines, links and little stories to make your tail wag.  Guest posts welcome. Tips: patch.ofurr@gmail.com. 

Food Network’s The Great Food Truck Race features Fursuiters.

I’m told that a minute of air time was recorded during a “furry scurry” in Chicago.  (I’m pretty sure I have heard of such an event, but can’t find it at Lake Area Furry Friends.) I hope one day that term replaces “furmeet” for meets that get you out of the house, and maybe involve Street Fursuiting (my favorite thing.)

Cosplay celebrity Jessica Nigri wants to join the Furry side.

Nigri is known as a model/promoter for video games, and interviewer/correspondent at cons.  It’s amazing when a subculture grows large enough to have it’s own hired sub-services… when is it no longer “sub” culture?  (Imagine if “popufur” actually meant anything to anyone besides furries?)  Popularity-wise, I suspect she’s famous-for-being-famous, but I don’t know enough to judge. I just hope this involves interest in what furries actually do.  It’s a new item for the next “Celebrifurry” list:

What could raise an eyebrow about that?  It’s arguable that Nigri started this as an audience-attention getter, rather than putting out her own original fursona first.  Also, I think fursuit makers do their thing on an under-appreciated level relative to how much work they do, so fan commitment to each other is important.  Sometimes people get jealous that you can “throw money” at a costume to get popular… I don’t think it’s a big deal when it’s from love for the maker, and you can build your own anyways.  But imagine the annoyance of waiting years in a queue, and seeing an outsider cut ahead of everyone for self-promotion.

There aren’t a lot of famous people with fursuits, so it’s a good time for questions.  This is about fame and commitment, not gender. (A high amount of fursuit makers earning respect are female.)  I wouldn’t be the first to raise questions about stuff like “not taking into consideration the essence of the characters of whom she wears costumes”.  It’s reported that Nigri first came to fame when her cosplay of “Sexy Pikachu” went viral.  But sexy costumes inspire controversy about gender roles and supposed body-based “oppression”… You can’t have it both ways.  Who exploits who?

There are questions to ask when a favorite subculture may run into growing pains. I’m not interested in criticizing for it’s own sake, though.  Interviewing and projecting a persona takes talent.  So, do you think Nigri will do justice to a fursona?

AARP’s Big Bad Wolf Ad. (Tip via Ted Blasingame and Fred Patten.)

Ted: “On the back cover of my AARP magazine, I saw an ad and my first thought was ‘anthro’…”

Fred:  “Further information:  Note that while the ad appeared on an AARP magazine, the advertiser is GSK (GlaxoSmithKline).  Their campaign also includes a 30-second TV ad.  Here is a campaign to cancel the ad campaign because it demonizes wolves.  Ted Blasingame and I feel that it is inconsistent to protest against the ads as demonizing wolves, without equally protesting against the folk tales of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf.”

• More coverage
• The TV ad

The Journal of Marketing Management’s 2013 issue was: Anthropomorphic Marketing.

This one escaped my notice at the time.  It has a Furries article written by professors of marketing at UK universities, and other articles like this:

Theory and strategies of anthropomorphic brand characters from Peter Rabbit, Mickey Mouse, and Ronald McDonald, to Hello Kitty.

This reminds me of a Reddit topic that complained: “I just realized…I can’t think of a single female anthro mascot for a product.”  In comments, Hello Kitty is mentioned as “The ultimate branding mascot. Doesn’t even have a catch phrase, exists solely to be a face on products, sells billions.” A reply mentions that “Wolves and dogs are also demonized, usually representing evil.’

2016 Brony Vote: Vermin Supreme For President.

Vermin is the guy with a boot on his head who has campaigned with running mate Jimmy “The Rent is Too Damn High” Mc­Mil­lan.  He has promised an interview to Dogpatch Press and I just can’t wait for it.  He previously went viral by glitter bombing a notorious anti-gay campaigner, and:

“Su­preme gives spe­cial cred­it to the Bron­ies, a on­line sub­cul­ture of adult men who are fans of “My Little Pony,” for sus­tain­ing his In­ter­net fame. A key plank in Su­preme’s plat­form is to give every Amer­ic­an a pony, so the Bron­ies were a nat­ur­al source of sup­port.”

AMAZING FURRY NEWS COMING SOON – #6 Will Make You Cough Up A Hairball!

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