Alright, let’s see here…
- Shep is the fursona of the prolific r/furry_irl comic artist ShepGoesBlep
- Peanut is from the webcomic Housepets!
- I’m not sure who Cleo is
- Saberspark is a YouTuber who reviews TV shows and movies and is slowly becoming more accepting of his furry side
- Legoshi is the protagonist of the manga/anime Beastars
- Floof is one of TheOdd1sOut’s dogs
- Strongfang is a character from Flashgitz’s animations about how furries are disgusting sex-obsessed weirdos. Even though I hate Flashgitz I have to admit they’re remarkably well done.
- Brian Griffin, of course, is from the TV show Family Guy
- Santa’s Little Helper is the Simpson family’s pet dog from the TV show The Simpsons
It’s a weirdly worded question. I consider a “furry” to be a person who considers themself a member of the furry fandom. Characters aren’t “furries” (in my personal opinion).
If the spirit of the question is more about which characters fall under the “appeals to the furry fandom” umbrella, I’d say it’s any animal-based character exhibiting human-like qualities - can be body type (e.g. bipedal), mannerisms, or just human-like intelligence. (Animal Farm is an example of anthropomorphism in literature that’s just normal animals with human-like intelligence. I’d say it falls into the broad category.) Basically following the loosest definition of ‘anthropomorphic’. Lion King characters are another similar example. They have clear appeal to a lot of furries but would be excluded under a stricter definition.
Really, my opinion is that it’s better to cast a wider net than to potentially exclude someone based on their preferences.
I’ve mostly heard it as a term of personal identity, not explicitly outward to a fandom. As in, “you’re furry if you identify as one,” and that’s about it. That’s about where I stand, as I’ve been furry before I even had a word for it as a little kid, and also have never concerned myself with “the fandom” really.
I’m not even sure what that entails; I communicate with other folks who identify as furry, but not really to discuss some centralized culture like I would in something like a show or sport fandom. I make and appreciate art by folks who do—and don’t—identify as furry, but that doesn’t feel like participating in fandom either. To me it feels akin to saying I’m in the bisexual fandom or something; it doesn’t feel right even though I identify as it.
That’s fair. Maybe that’s closer to how I feel, as well, now that you say it that way - but the underlying point still stands: furries are people, not characters.
Absolutely, that part I totally agree with! In the context of fiction, the only furry character that makes sense is a someone you write that identifies as a furry.
The better debate is: at what point monkeys and apes are considered furry? Would early hominids, like australopithecus, be considered furry?
hmmm… good question. mayb we shd have a deb8 on this… ,':\J
Where do you draw the line on what a furry is?
Uhhh, nowhere? Who’s having a debate over this?
If you want to point at a rounded rectangle with a snout and call it a furry because that’s important for you, you do you.
Granted...
The one thing that weirds me out is when people call historical or mythological creatures, like Anubis, furries. I feel like that comes more from a place of trying to justify your own interests like “we’ve always liked anthropology creatures, even in the ancient period!” That one leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth when I see it.)
I care more about someone calling themselves a furry, because to me, that carries assumptions about mutual interests and experiences that we can relate on.
Agreed
Technically, Spongebob is a furry.
wait… WHAT???
Furries are anthropomorphic animals.
Spongebob is an anthropomorphic sponge. Sponges are animals.
Relevant: Furry Film Burrow (formerly known as Culturally F’d) once coined the term “post-Furry” – analogous to defining “postmodern art” as “anything can be art”, “post-Furry” = “anything can be Furryfied / anthropomorphized”
(shamelessly plugging my own Pawb community for more Furrification examples: https://pawb.social/c/rulefurry4 :P )
I’d define the terms as:
- Anthro = human-shaped sapient creature
- Feral = animal-shaped (e.g. quadrupedal) sapient creature
- Furry = Anthro and Feral characters, or super-fans of such characters
Hopefully these terms are the least ambiguous, and cover every corner of Furry interest and history, from Disney characters (Anthros and semi-Anthros like Zootopia, or Ferals like The Lion King), to Furry Fandom characters (fursonas, Furry-created species like Protogens, etc.), to Furry-adjacent and highly-similar creatures / aesthetics (e.g. werewolves, Aeromorphs, elaborate humanoids from sci-fi or fantasy)
![[REUP FROM REDDIT] OK, guys. Let's settle on this debate once and for all. Where do you draw the line on what a furry is?](https://thelemmy.club/pictrs/image/369af45c-7083-4a38-9b06-3d184db9b70d.png){kind=link}