Dogpatch Press

Fluff Pieces Every Week

Category: Current events

March 30, 2015

IMVU does a Q&A with me. Part 2 about the sale of FurAffinity.

by Patch O'Furr

A series of three articles:

 

  1. About the FurAffinity sale, and the issue of trade-offs.
  2. IMVU does a Q&A with me.
  3. Community > Commodity, and the Value of WTF.  Long live furries.

The conclusion brings it all back to commercialization.  I’ve reported this for a while:  Measuring the Furry Economy. – Mainstream advertising: “More and more, Furries are being hinted at in marketing media!” – And the recent $11,575 record fursuit sale and $17,500 top price. Also try: Furry, not an obscure little fandom any more.  I often say that the thriving growth of this subculture is built on WTF weirdness that can’t be digested by the mainstream.  Will that stay true?

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2) Speaking with IMVU.

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FurAffinity just posted a Q&A with IMVU’s CEO Brett Durrett.  A furry responded: Ashamed for the fandom; an apology to CEO Brett Durrett. 

While seeking graphics, I just noticed they tweeted me from Fur Con in January!  (Not endorsement, just spreading furriness.) Yay! Can you spot me among the eye-blasting pink, sparkles and rainbows? I was in camo.

My Q&A started:

This is for both IMVU and Dragoneer (Mr. Piche). I assume that some details may be kept private. I’ll build a news article from the answers, aiming for positive information not gossip. I’m curious to know:  1) The story of how IMVU and FurAffinity came together.  2) Terms of ownership now.  3) The future and your roles in leading users.

They responded to my long list:

Attached is the interview completed by Sean Piche, Fur Affinity Community Leader, IMVU; Kevin Henshaw, SVP Business Development, IMVU; and Varsha Pande, Director, Community Experience and User Safety.  You’ll note a few of your questions were left unanswered as a matter of company disclosure policy.  Thanks for the opportunity to talk about the Fur Affinity acquisition.

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March 29, 2015

Fur Dance news – musicians and authors discover furries. Newsdump (3/29/15)

by Patch O'Furr

Headlines, links and little stories to make your tail wag.  Tips are always welcome. 

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Fandom News

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San Francisco and “Furclub” activity.

Organizers let me have an inside view of the second Wild Things party coming up in April in San Francisco.  November’s first event caused high traffic here and was a great success. Look for an update soon.

There was talk about Frolic dance party attracting furries for 5+ hour driving from Southern California. They have the long running Prancing Skiltaire house party, but they say they don’t have anything like Frolic.  Carloads have been coming more and more often.  They’re considering getting a bus.  Every month, 300+ attendees have been packing the dance to capacity.  The “furclub” movement is growing all over the place.  Organizer Neonbunny is open to lend the name to anyone who wants to use it.  In Europe, Cologne Fur Dance is said to draw 5-600 goers for two dances a year since 2008.

download (1)Author of “Funnybooks” learns what Furry Fandom is.

Fred Patten’s review got back to the author:

And for a review of Funnybooks written from a different perspective, that of “furry fandom,” let me refer to you Fred Patten’s review at this link. What is “furry fandom,” you may ask? I’m really not quite sure how to describe it, even though the phenomenon has attracted growing media coverage. Best you visit Fred’s “Dogpatch Press” site and explore “furry fandom” for yourself. Fred says of Funnybooks that it’s “the story of the comic-book publisher whose works did more than any others’ to inspire furry fandom,” and that should give you a clue as to what “furry fandom” is all about.

Remember Shawn Keller’s Horrifying Look at the Furries?

It’s been a long time, but he’s making new animation. Gorgeous!  Check his history to see a cartoon series he started 7 months earlier.

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March 27, 2015

FurAffinity’s new ownership makes a turning point. Should fans fear commercialization?

by Patch O'Furr

(Via Greenreaper):

Screen Shot 2015-03-20 at 6.46.18 PM

From 2008.  Anthrocon has grown to generate $7 million in 2014.

From 2008.  Anthrocon has grown to generate $7 million in 2014.

A comment from 8Chan:

The furry community is loaded with cash compared to other niche internet communities and it’s been exploding in popularity over the last decade. Nowadays it’s becoming more apparent with kickstarter and patreon making the figures public and internet companies are starting to move in on their turf to get a cut before it really goes mainstream.

And for those doubting that it’s about to enter the mainstream just wait until “Zootopia” from Disney comes out in 2016. Even Marvel giving prominent roles to a furry character in their recent major Hollywood movie would have been unthinkable 10 years ago, people who study the furry phenomenon are expecting it to explode soon. Universities and marketing groups are preforming surveys and studies on the fandom, this is considered a legitimate field of study.

A series of three articles:

 

  1. About the FurAffinity sale, and the issue of trade-offs.
  2. IMVU does a Q&A with me.
  3. Community > Commodity, and the Value of WTF.  Long live furries.

Read the rest of this entry »

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March 23, 2015

A small story about being sexually assaulted in fursuit.

by Patch O'Furr

Or should I say “manhandled?”  Nah… Dogpiled. That’s more like it.

This story is no reason for alarm.  It’s just a P.S.A. to say “hey guys, look out for each other!”

With this story, I’m assuming:

  • You’re a furry, or at least you don’t hate them. (It’s in-group stuff.)
  • You don’t hate hearing about adult activity, with a disclaimer that it’s a special sub-interest that doesn’t define furries.

The fur was flying at a party that was very loud, crowded and gay. Muffled music was coming through my fursuit head. I was bouncing around and giving hugs to everyone, from “just friends” all the way to grinding if they wanted.  People know I’m into that (in the right time and place,) even if they come up behind me and I can’t tell who it is.  Basically, “if you see my fursuit, that’s my consent.”

A guy shoved up in the darkness, and I thought he was a regular.  He started pawing my junk, and his friend crowded in and yanked my belt off.  She got rough because I had suspenders on it holding up my tail.  That’s when I got surprised and flustered, because furries aren’t aggressive. Even when there’s “instant consent” with ones I can’t see, they’re respectful, but this was rough handling by outsiders.

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March 20, 2015

IMVU’s big buy-in. These messages sponsored by hugs and scritches. Newsdump (3/20/15)

by Patch O'Furr

Headlines, links and little stories to make your tail wag.  Tips are always welcome. 

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Fandom News

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FurAffinity sold to 3D social network IMVU.  

downloadYou heard, right?  FurAffinity is the shaky but most active anchor for furry socializing and art.  Naughty stuff on it can’t go without mention.  That makes it a haven for freedoms that make the community what it is, for good or ill (depending on how prudish you are.)  The sale to IMVU comes as a surprise.  It’s a bold move for a company to partner with a community with stigma attached.  How well will this work?

In January, IMVU reached out to me. They got an article about their appearance at Fur Con.   (It was before today’s news was public, but apparently around when FurAffinity was sold.)  I got back in touch with their rep, and have a confirmation that they’ll answer my questions.  Everyone’s yapping about it – more soon in a followup article.

4 fursuits stolen from Jakedashep. Send hugs.

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March 11, 2015

Animation remakes: Watership Down, NIMH, DuckTales, Dumbo, more. Newsdump (3/11/15)

by Patch O'Furr

Headlines, links and little stories to make your tail wag.  Tips are always welcome. 

The Tufts Daily goes to a furry convention.

Anthro New England gets a good college news piece.  My Newsdump gathers links as news happens, but it’s interesting there’s no other media articles this time!

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Comics/animation: “who likes remakes?”

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I hope you like remakes, because it seems there’s no stopping the onslaught…

New images for Disney’s Zootopia.

i09 shares an update from what may be the new furriest movie ever, scheduled for 2016.  “Taken from the Disney Facebook page, these new Zootopia images reveal these animals have designed their buildings and bridges look like their own furry appendages.”

Hulu’s docuseries “Behind the Mask” stars pro mascots.

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February 25, 2015

Austrian TV and Lakeside Furries, Harper’s con story, Awesome Possum – Newsdump (2/25/15)

by Patch O'Furr

Headlines, links and little stories to make your tail wag.  Story tips are always welcome. 

Ursa Major Awards nominations close on February 28.  Nominate Dogpatch Press – get fuzzy hugs!  I love furries so much, blogging about them is it’s own reward.  But I love shinies too, so can the highly attractive readers of this site nominate it for an award?  Submit a Best Magazine nomination.  These hugs are worth it.  (OK, they’re worth nothing because I hug everyone for free. They’re just priceless.)

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                  In the Media

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High traffic for $11,575 fursuit story.

Far flung places like German news sites are continuing to give notable high traffic for last week’s story of the record high fursuit price.

Austrian TV covers furries with a good 15 minute news piece.

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February 20, 2015

The 2014 Olympics Winter Games Mascots – by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Dear Patch;

I was inspired to write this by the discovery that some of the “current” internet information about the 2014 Winter Olympics mascots is now being taken down.  I feel that this will still be of interest to at least some furry fans, and somebody ought to save it while it’s available.  Late January or February is a rough first anniversary.

A brief aside about sobering world news… The “most expensive Olympics games in history” left more abandoned than the mascots.

Stamps_of_Russia_2012_No_1559-61_Mascots_2014_Winter_Olympics

The 2014 Olympics Winter Games Mascots

The 2014 Olympics Winter Games, in Sochi, Russia from February 23 to March 1, 2014, are almost a year old now. Information about them is disappearing from the Internet. It’s time to save their three anthropomorphized mascots before they’re gone for good. Read the rest of this entry »

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February 16, 2015

$11,575 fursuit, 50 Shades of Celebrifurries, Inside Edition invasion – Newsdump (2/15/15)

by Patch O'Furr

Headlines, links and little stories to make your tail wag.  Story tips are always welcome. 

Nominate Dogpatch Press for an Ursa Major Award – get fuzzy hugs!  I love furries so much, blogging about them is it’s own reward.  But I love shinies too, so can the highly attractive readers of this site nominate it for an award?  Submit a Best Magazine nomination at the Ursa Majors site.  These hugs are worth it.  (OK, they’re worth nothing because I hug everyone for free. They’re just priceless.)

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                  Fandom News

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Ursa Major Awards nominations close on February 28.

The final ballot should be ready around March 15.  It will be announced here.  There’s a little time left to nominate your favorite creators.  Don’t wait! (Please also nominate College Humor’s Furry Force, the millions-viewed comedy animation.  Writer Adam Conover is super grateful for furry support.)

“Angel Dragon” fursuit sets new auction price record of $11,575.

The auction on Furbuy beat the recent record of $8,025 for Lavender Corgi, sold on 10/11/14.  The “Angel Dragon” is by PhoenixWolf Fursuits, maker of the popular suit for Telephone. The contest of 187 bids ended on 2/14/15.  There was controversy when some bids inflated the price to $14,000 before they were removed.  A followup article will share comments from Furbuy admins, and the seller. (Confirmation of payment is still pending.)  

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February 9, 2015

History of mascots, Dawgtown movie, Government-issue furries – Newsdump (2/09/15)

by Patch O'Furr

UMAweb1_2aHeadlines, links and little stories to make your tail wag.  Story tips are always welcome. First, a little site news…

Nominate Dogpatch Press for an Ursa Major Award, and get fuzzy hugs!  I love furries so much, blogging about them is it’s own reward.  But I love shinies too, so can the highly attractive readers of this site nominate it for an award?  Please go to the Ursa Majors site and submit a Best Magazine nomination.  These hugs are worth it.  (OK, they’re worth nothing because I hug everyone for free. They’re just priceless.)

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          Animation and media

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“99 Percent Invisible” radio show presents a thrilling history of mascots.

From Episode 151 – La Mascotte:phillie-phanatic

“Furry, larger-than-life, foam-headed mascots may seem standard-issue for sports teams now, but this is only a relatively recent phenomenon in the history of professional sports.”

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