Animation and Its Influence on Furries

Often considered responsible for turning a lot of people into... uh, "furries."

While cartoons weren't the ones responsible for for the... uh, "furriness," they sure did offer a huge hand in it.

Disney's group is perhaps the biggest offender in this. They have a history of drawing anthropomorphic creatures; in fact, almost ALL their characters in the classic shorts and anything related to them(Duck Tales, Goof Troop, Clubhouse, etc.) are anthropomorphic animals and monsters, a few of them being female. The "furriness" didn't really start till the 70's with some of their movies(The Rescuers, The Aristocats, Robin Hood) and it really hit home in the 90's with their new shows. Gadget Hackwrench was popular enough to have a fricking CHURCH in Russia! All dedicated to her likeness. Disney has many varieties to choose from. From Daisy Duck, to Rebecca Cunningham, to Brandy Harrington to Lambie, as well as many choices of species. Hell, even the Character Costumes at their theme parks are something to look oogle at. Case in point...

Warner Bros' group isn't that far off either. Though, their classic characters may not have a bigger impact on the furry fandom compared to Disney(had less females than Disney, as well as more humans), it wasn't until the 90's that their material(the newer ones) have caught the attention of furries. It seems that every female creature Warner Bros had was just mad to just over, or,at least, had moments of this. The one exception that comes to my mind is Petunia Pig... or am I missing something?

Hanna-Barbera's group is more tamed in this compare to the other mentioned two. Back then, it was just Cindy Bear, and even then, the artstyle was a case of YMMV. Though, they would later have characters like Callie Briggs and Penny Squirrel...

Lesser cartoons also apply. Someone did mention Cleo from Heathcliff. Either way, the whole furry thing isn't a bad thing, but as said, some do take a bit far.

Though, that can be said for any form of fandom.

It just really interested me.

edited 20th Sep '12 10:07:10 PM by asiacatdogblue

Yep, I'm still here.

Early Hanna-Barbera were pretty good at -not- encouraging the movement, to be honest. The females were generally sleeker and daintier, but most stuck pretty much to the body conventions of their male companions (thus were merely female, and not sexualised from the viewers perspective). The most notable exceptions off the top of my head would be certain females that appeared in Top Cat.

edited 21st Sep '12 5:59:11 PM by vedjf

It was bound to happen.

Oh, I've held this theory for years. Sonic the Hedgehog is easily the worst offender in my generation, though the sheer difficulty in googling Minerva Mink and not finding porn suggest Animaniacs must bear some responsibility.

Granted most of the Sonic stuff isn't really Western Animation originated. Hell even in the games, Rouge dispite her blatant *ahem* appendages, still looks like a rubberhose Funny Animal. It was mostly the comics that created the humanoid designs and the ridiculously sexualized designs for female characters. Sonic Sat Am had some minor usage, eg. Lupe, but was rather subtle otherwise, (Sally and Bunnie were rather inoffensive in the show itself).

edited 21st Sep '12 6:27:56 PM by Psi001

Didn't Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles make it look cool to be part animal? Maybe I'll think of more influences from TV during my childhood years...

I know Disney's Robin Hood has been credited for kicking off the anthro culture, but I don't know how accurate that is.

You forget The Lion King, one of the biggest offenders of all!

Oh God, you just gave me flashbacks to reading a comment on a Cracked article in which the commenter was more or less fapping over Nala. Even worse, lion cub Nala.

...yeeaaah, I really want some proof of this.

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.

what about Minerva Mink from Animaniacs? from what i've heard, she has a sizable furry fandom as well.

I don’t even know anymore.

-Googles the Gadget church thing

-There's actually articles on it

Welp, I wish I hadn't done that.

Oh yes, and I think anyone who finds sexiness in the Lion King is pretty disturbed. They're not even anatomically anthropomorphic animals!

edited 22nd Sep '12 5:47:00 PM by vedjf

It was bound to happen.

That's what I said!

http://englishrussia.com/2010/02/17/russian-gadget-hackwrench-religion/ Article link for those curious. Tons of pictures you never wanted to see (but it is still safe for work).

I don't know what horrifies me more, the existence of such a cult, or the horrible spelling and grammar.

edited 22nd Sep '12 5:52:44 PM by 0dd1

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.

Well, they're Russian, so I'd say the grammar was pretty good for people not speaking their native tongue.

It was bound to happen.

I was going to a write a short essay on this topic called "The Origin of Furries" and I was actually going to even argue that with the way cartoons and other media are like, it's actually almost more surprising that population that is furry isn't larger.

Also, what's with the "offender" terminology, you people make this sound like it's a crime or something, people have interests, simple as that.

Furthermore, you're going from a specific "Hot female animal character" perspective, when 1) furries aren't 100% about the sexuality and b) It could be less about the attraction to animals and closer to an attraction to gain their characteristics based on the media portrayed to us.

Cartoons for the longest time have had animals as the main characters, as the whole population, making animalism seem "normal", like it's not unusual at all "they're just like you and me, just hairier and with funny ears" in a certain sense.

I mean if you've seen the populations of modern Disney cartoons, their "typical blank slate humans" are dog nose people aka Goofy off-shoots.

And then there's the superheroes and villains. sure they're not animals themselves but the the fact they take on an animal theme unto themselves has an appealing aspect, it's taking your typical physical traits but adding awesome animals ones onto yourself.

Want to go down a list? Batman, Robin, The Green Hornet, Wolverine, Beast, Spider-man, Catwoman, and those are just the well known ones, what of the Blue Beetles, Beast Boy, Vixen, Hawkman, Black Panther, Killer Moth, The Rhino, The Scorpion, The Vulture; is what I'm saying making any sense?

The Blog The Art

Yeah, animation is definitely responsible for creating furries. Animation and video games, which use animation anyway. I think Chad Rocco made a good analysis of it in his review of Animalympics. "The Elephant in the Room's Hot Sister."

I don't want to make it sound like I have something against people who like anthropomorphic animals. Some just like that sort of art style and design. But it's often hard to take furry characters seriously if they fall into Petting-Zoo People, and when people do start taking it too seriously it can come off as a little weird. I guess this might be called Furry Ghetto? Definitely overlaps with Animation Age Ghetto.

Do the Thunder Cats count as furries? I don't think so, and it annoys me when people do call them furries, but I guess that depends on where you draw the line. For me, the line is between Beast Folk and Petting-Zoo People. I do realize that there are plenty of other furry characters in both series, just not the Cats themselves. I do find it a little odd that they are the most humanoid characters in the show, but still refer to themselves as animals. But anyway, I don't think Thundercats are furry enough to count, which is probably why it's not a popular series for furries. Although some artists like to draw them more animal like, which I tend to find rather off putting. To me, they'll always be more like humans with animal traits, rather than animals with human traits.

edited 24th Sep '12 1:50:46 PM by StarOutlaw

You people are weird. Bestiality and "humanoid animals" existed long before someone got the idea to put them on multiple piece of paper and flip the pages, much less invented the camera. I'm sure the middle ground between them is a lot older too.

Modified Ura-nage, Torture Rack

It's only matter of time, in-till This troper see this...

Yeah, but bestiality isn't exactly normal.

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.

Well, I would like to put my middle finger on the Pokemon anime, but we're talking about western animation, so I'll just put it on Looney Tunes, and the various incarnations.

If you wanna PM me, send it to my mrsunshinesprinkles account; this one is blorked.

Pokemon and Digimon are excellent candidates though, though not real animals persay they are still bestial beings with appealling attributes one might want for their own, I mean who wouldnt want to be as cte and cuddly as a Pikachu, as smart as Mewtwo,, or as feirce as Leomon. Also helped Leomon had the physique of Adonis for those so inclined. And despite the claims of neutral sexuality, one cannot deny the shaply physique of Renamon or Ladydevimon.

I'm not sure how furry the Thunder Cats are, it's all a matter of personal perspective. For example, I just make a split between whether or not the animal traits matter or not. If they don't, then they're just people that look like animals like in Arthur with occasional references. If the animal traits matter a lot then I would consider them furry/anthro.

The Blog The Art

A shitton of abnormal things are Older Than Dirt.

edited 25th Sep '12 10:46:20 AM by NapoleonDeCheese

Renamon has no human attributes beyond being bipedal. I have no idea why they don't latch onto, say, Sakuyamon instead but I guess that would require actually watching the show.

That or it might suggest jail bait is a bigger taboo than bestiality to some people.

The former can be said of looney toons too. It is not as if Bugs, has anything to look at. He wears no pants or shirt, animators are not even leaving anything to the imagination. I could be wrong, but sick sex things(for any given standard of sick) aren't anything new, or even close to post Columbian. I'd imagine there's someone drawing hips on an I-phone right now.◊

edited 25th Sep '12 2:46:05 PM by Cider

Modified Ura-nage, Torture Rack

I thought it was mostly the human characters that took up the Pokemon/Digimon fandom.

edited 25th Sep '12 7:05:40 PM by Psi001

Yes, but I was saying that that doesn't just suddenly make them acceptable like the post I was replying to seems to imply. (Probably wasn't the intention of that post to imply that, but that's how I read it.)

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.

I have to point out that anthro animal fetish isn't bestiality if anthro animals in question are sentient/sapient

Seriously though, furry fandom =/= bestiality fetish even if they go rather close.

Also, yes, Thundercats count. Don't be in denial

edited 26th Sep '12 12:17:12 PM by SpookyMask

Lalalalala, can't read your Alienese.