Dogpatch Press

Edmonton Oil Kings hockey halftime show, January 2015.

A three part series:

1) The beginning of mascots and fursuiting.
2) Fursuiting crossover with pro sports.
3) The National Mascot Hall of Fame.

Good examples of fursuiting crossover with pro sports.

I have to admit not knowing a lot about commercial mascotting.  But here’s some quick comparison with the amateur hobby kind.  At Amazing-Mascots.com, you can get a feel for how major teams and companies commission the pro makers.

Amazing Mascots is a company with a 15,000 foot warehouse, and a team of seasoned professionals boasting decades of mascotting and designing experience. They quote multiplied prices ($4000-12,000) compared to costume makers inside fandom.

Our own fursuit makers charge as little as $2000 and typically do it from a craft room at home.  But their craft often beats the pros, doesn’t it?  They do it for love as much as money.  So value their skills and personal relationships with them, and give them love back.

On to the examples of how hobbyists are reaching the level of pros…

Wolf mascot for Moscow’s Dynamo hockey team – made in 2013 by Mixedcandy.

Even if the Dynamo NHL team was in the USA – I wouldn’t know anything about them. But I would know the work of Mixedcandy. There must be an interesting story about how they commissioned this and why.  I wouldn’t expect a pro team to approach a hobby community just to save a couple grand!  (Pic: LatinVixen on FurAffinity.  More at the Dynamo Instagram page.) 

Kingston – mascot for Orlando City Soccer club, 2015.

American Major League Soccer debuted their 21st franchise in 2015.  Orlando’s club “dates back to its first run as the Orlando Lions in 1985”.  With the debut, their mascot transformed from an unimpressive toony icon to a fierce fursona.

There were only hints about a fursuit maker’s paw behind it, when it first showed up on a furry forum with a wink and a nod to non-disclosure legalities that wouldn’t let anyone reveal more.  But come on, just feast your eyes – it’s clearly there.

Compare Kingston’s old look – and new look – and read sports fan reactions from the same city as Disney World:

A 2015 Canadian hockey halftime show with furries and the team mascot together: 

Edmonton Oil Kings hockey hosts fursuiter race. “It’s looking hairy at ice level!” This was a huge success, putting 15 fursuiters in front of a stadium audience.

Just for fun, watch a dinosaur throw the first pitch at a Padres game.

When professionals discover our hobby, sometimes it’s hilarious.

Famous baseball announcer Bob Uecker learns how we “gather in a huge furball” (2007):

In 2010, Further Confusion and the Buffalo Sabres hockey team shared the same hotel in San Jose, CA. (What is it about hockey and furries? I guess fur is best with ice.) Here’s a Fark.com discussion, and one blog’s jockish opinion that expresses incongruity:

It’s important to note that I now officially hate the Sabres for indirectly forcing me to delve deeper into the world of stupid costume enthusiasts than I ever wanted to venture. Which is to say “at all.”

The Sabres’ Ryan Miller, being cool about it.

Next:  Mascot art, business, culture, and a new Hall of Fame to celebrate it all.