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A slow Farewell to the Fandom
a month ago
General
Well:
After 5 years, I think it's time I take down the whole "COVID-19" Discussion and put up something new.
I think it is time for this Grey muzzle to slowly just fade away.
I began when furry Fandom was in it's infancy. I met Mark Merlino (Sy Sable) and Rodney at my first Con at the John Wayne Airport, Orange County California (Circa 1984).
The fandom is not what it once was. One by one those I knew and respected Have either faded or, like my friend Mark, have passed to the rainbow bridge.
Susan VanCamp
J Hardiman
Xianjaguair
2 The Ranting Griffin
Commander Kitsune
It was a fun time where tolerance ruled, Creativity was unhindered, and "Con panels" featured talks such as "Furry Ergonomics", "Furry Vocabulary", and "The Logic of Furry Garments." and the Guests of Honor were new people every year.
Artists sat in "Artist Alley" for free.... swapping sketches to help each other with art and no one worried about AI, copyright or adult content. They just wanted their work out there and to inspire each other.
Unfortunately, This Griffin doesn't see the fandom the same anymore, maybe his eyesight is failing. Con's I have attended as late as 4 years ago have become dominated by "Fursuiters" The Gay and BDSM content, while always present seems to me to have become the focus.
Famous supporters like "Ranting Griffin" have been accused of being a "Nazi" and excluded, not by the base but by all the new comers and Guests of honor have dwindled to the same few Con organizers year after year having their travel, room and admission paid by the fan goers (not out of their pockets)
As the Highest (IRL) Ranking fur in the Fandom (I am a Colonel IRL) I had hoped...even vainly SUGGESTED that with my experience, knowledge and Rank I might make a refreshing Guest Of Honor in my own back yard... I don't think anyone even knew I made the suggestion.
Role play which used to be excitingly pushing boundaries and challenging writing Taboos, has, I think, been replaced by caution, content designed to offend NO one and often contain as much Hermaphroditic content as possible to maximize copulation acts, has replaced character development.
Fursonas which used to involve actually researching a favorite animal and INCORPORATING INTELLIGENCE into the limitations of that animal body / instincts, is replaced by a Human personality in a Human body with an animal head, tail and fur pattern.
The Last Con I went to (Motor City Furcon) I went in full dress Uniform.... To welcome the creativity of young furs into professions like the military, resulted in "anonymous" notes dropped on my tail excoriating me for having worn a uniform. The "Military Furs breakfast" once featured prominently on every con schedule, visited by the GOH and the Con organizers, is now a memory. If I ask about it, I am told I can set something up myself and it is only advertized by a crayon on some printer paper outside the restaurant the morning of the breakfast.
My Best friend in the whole world regularly attended..and was so "busy" that I never even got a phone call that he was in the area.
No... This griffin is no longer alpha. Things have changed. I am not...leaving, I am not boycotting....but daily I find it harder and harder to log on...only to sit for hours while everyone looks to indulge in their one (single) fetish. Plot devices; no plots. My Friends have proceeded me... I still have some younger Friends... but I didn't want to leave my Journal just with a contentious COVID-19 post.
The Griffin is here.... but is in his den. The Krrk, my mate, is gone. Roth, My Dragon is...moved on like Jackie Paper with Puff the Magic Dragon. You are welcome to Visit for as long as I draw breath... Which I hope to me 30 or 40 more years... Remember when you Visit a Griffin, bring a gift, a food offering...
I watch from my High perch above...wishing the fandom well... hoping for a return.
Yours in VR Lordgriffin
After 5 years, I think it's time I take down the whole "COVID-19" Discussion and put up something new.
I think it is time for this Grey muzzle to slowly just fade away.
I began when furry Fandom was in it's infancy. I met Mark Merlino (Sy Sable) and Rodney at my first Con at the John Wayne Airport, Orange County California (Circa 1984).
The fandom is not what it once was. One by one those I knew and respected Have either faded or, like my friend Mark, have passed to the rainbow bridge.
Susan VanCamp
J Hardiman
Xianjaguair
2 The Ranting Griffin
Commander Kitsune
It was a fun time where tolerance ruled, Creativity was unhindered, and "Con panels" featured talks such as "Furry Ergonomics", "Furry Vocabulary", and "The Logic of Furry Garments." and the Guests of Honor were new people every year.
Artists sat in "Artist Alley" for free.... swapping sketches to help each other with art and no one worried about AI, copyright or adult content. They just wanted their work out there and to inspire each other.
Unfortunately, This Griffin doesn't see the fandom the same anymore, maybe his eyesight is failing. Con's I have attended as late as 4 years ago have become dominated by "Fursuiters" The Gay and BDSM content, while always present seems to me to have become the focus.
Famous supporters like "Ranting Griffin" have been accused of being a "Nazi" and excluded, not by the base but by all the new comers and Guests of honor have dwindled to the same few Con organizers year after year having their travel, room and admission paid by the fan goers (not out of their pockets)
As the Highest (IRL) Ranking fur in the Fandom (I am a Colonel IRL) I had hoped...even vainly SUGGESTED that with my experience, knowledge and Rank I might make a refreshing Guest Of Honor in my own back yard... I don't think anyone even knew I made the suggestion.
Role play which used to be excitingly pushing boundaries and challenging writing Taboos, has, I think, been replaced by caution, content designed to offend NO one and often contain as much Hermaphroditic content as possible to maximize copulation acts, has replaced character development.
Fursonas which used to involve actually researching a favorite animal and INCORPORATING INTELLIGENCE into the limitations of that animal body / instincts, is replaced by a Human personality in a Human body with an animal head, tail and fur pattern.
The Last Con I went to (Motor City Furcon) I went in full dress Uniform.... To welcome the creativity of young furs into professions like the military, resulted in "anonymous" notes dropped on my tail excoriating me for having worn a uniform. The "Military Furs breakfast" once featured prominently on every con schedule, visited by the GOH and the Con organizers, is now a memory. If I ask about it, I am told I can set something up myself and it is only advertized by a crayon on some printer paper outside the restaurant the morning of the breakfast.
My Best friend in the whole world regularly attended..and was so "busy" that I never even got a phone call that he was in the area.
No... This griffin is no longer alpha. Things have changed. I am not...leaving, I am not boycotting....but daily I find it harder and harder to log on...only to sit for hours while everyone looks to indulge in their one (single) fetish. Plot devices; no plots. My Friends have proceeded me... I still have some younger Friends... but I didn't want to leave my Journal just with a contentious COVID-19 post.
The Griffin is here.... but is in his den. The Krrk, my mate, is gone. Roth, My Dragon is...moved on like Jackie Paper with Puff the Magic Dragon. You are welcome to Visit for as long as I draw breath... Which I hope to me 30 or 40 more years... Remember when you Visit a Griffin, bring a gift, a food offering...
I watch from my High perch above...wishing the fandom well... hoping for a return.
Yours in VR Lordgriffin
Why give up on the fandom because part of it has moved on? You shouldn't let your own joy and creativity be dictated and hindered by what others are doing.
I have personally never been too active in the 'fandom' at large but I've never even considered leaving because the shit I like to see, read, and make myself are all very furry. I don't care that a lot of things are different now and have been changing for 20+ years. I'm me. I don't need external validation to enjoy life.
You don't need to take my advice but it might be better for your mental health to just...be yourself. That's always been what the fandom was about even if the way it's shown it has changed over the years.
Several of us were in our Class A uniforms for the military furs breakfast at MCFC a few years ago when there was a bomb scare and the con hotel was locked down for several hours. There was a hefty parking fee the year following.
"This, too, shall pass" and "All glory is fleeting" are some phrases that have stood the test of time.
But yeah, why not start making the furry surroundings that you want. With military breakfast and all that jazz? I'm not American but isn't that what America is all about? I'm 100% certain you can gather a crowd of fellow minded fluffs around to to make your own experience with blackjack and hookers :D
There are upsides too though. 20 years ago, only a handful of the very best and most popular could hope to make any real money off this stuff. Now there's a ton of people basically making careers by servicing the fandom ecosystem. Sure there are downsides to it, bringing money in means it can't just be a fun hobby anymore, there's this pressure. But it also means some really incredible things can be made that were only a dream before. There's so much utterly beautiful 2d and 3d animation being done now that you almost start to take it for granted.
I was always more on the online side of things though. I'm sure, especially post Covid, the actual IRL side of things has been utterly obliterated if you're not...fashionable. Which is ironic for a fandom largely founded on the idea of being weird, creative cultural rejects. But there is still neat stuff out there, if you can cut past the viciousness, build up an immunity to it like iocaine powder. It is hard seeing so many people pass though. I miss Hardiman. He was...kind of an ass, but I still miss him. I miss what that era represented. The raw optimism of it all. There was a glorious moment, from the 90s through to 2010 or so, when computers and the internet ENHANCED human connection instead of poisoning it.
But every time has its jackals, its risks and rewards. They just shift around.
As someone who spent a career in Military Intel... specifically Human Intelligence, and in EMS with studies in Psychology, Today's AUP / and TOS is something right out of the Stanford Prison Experiment. A bunch of people who never had any true power...placed in charge of others. Your choices are DO what I (we) say or be expelled, and given legal advice by 200% risk averse counselors that will always default to the strictest policy in an attempt to avoid prosecution if anything goes wrong.
The Irony is, even today the productions in Hollywood are the ones who become iconic and epic. Those who challenge the censorship rules... Weather that is W.C. Fields, May West or George Carlin. Lets face it banning someone because you showed Sally Acorn without pants....
Yes I will never forget a ConPannel with Mark Merlio to answer the question **Why Furry?**
Smiling that silly smile of he he brought out a Puppy.... and every person in the place wanted to PET the puppy. No Ill intent was attached to it they just wanted to say Hi and smile with the Puppy...
And Mark said "THAT is Why furry! If I were to walk up to anyone of you on the street and say 'Oh how BEAUTIFUL' and began running my hands over you...I'd (rightfully) get arrested."
We became furry to escape this.... restrictiveness... I became furry at a time when being "Gay" got you beat up or arrested... and now the LGBTQ+ Community not looks down it's nose, excludes and yes, beats ME up....
No I am not leaving...just fading
Wow, do you make this griffin heart soar... I know you have had some rough patches IRL and I hope things are going better.
Yea you will see me return to posting more, Retired now and trying to re-learn how to just be a griffin again.
You are not on Discord, per chance, are you?
I firmly believe that...instead of abandoning the fandom to the "18 year olds" who only need a body to be arousal... the Grey Muzzles need to form a place where...older furs can go deeper rather then losing interest and laving.
If anything i would consider myself more of a therian.. my gryphon more represents my spiritual self.