Just wanted to provide some more detailed info about the silly little critter I fursuit as! Will probably give people who ask at cons a link to this since it's kinda tough to explain on the fly sometimes, haha ^^

🔥 What species is your suit?
He is a Mangree from the game Myst IV: Revelation! They're small, large-eared primates who inhabit the Age of Haven. Intelligent, curious, and sociable creatures, you can spot them playing and observing you around the jungle island, and you'll eventually learn to communicate with them in order to solve puzzles and progress through the area. My take on them is a bit more stylized than their in-game appearance since they're a little scrungly looking in-game (2004 video game graphics ftw), but they're cool little dudes :)

🔥 Does your sona have a name?
Not really? At least not one I could write out. Mangrees do have their own names in canon, but they're not really phonetical, they consist of differently timed/pitched cries. The puzzle involving them in Myst IV is built around you learning and using their "names" to direct them around and solve the puzzle. I've just taken to calling mine Long-ear because, well. You know.

🔥 What is Myst?
The classic point-and-click puzzle/adventure series! Most folks I talk to have at least heard of it, but haven't played it. Highly recommend doing so if you can!

🔥 How long have you had this suit?
I built it in late summer in 2022! So about 3.5 years as of writing this journal. It's only broken once (tail got stepped on and sorta pulled out of socket) but I've since reinforced it so that can't happen again.

🔥 How long did your suit take to make?
In total, about 2-3 weeks. Head took about a week, tail took an afternoon, and the arms/feet took the rest of it. Everything was sculpted and sewn by hand.

🔥 How is the head base structured? How are the ears so bouncy?
It's all built on a balaclava. The head sculpt is made from foam and has two main pieces internally- a static lower jaw piece that cups around my actual lower jaw, and a moving upper face piece that can be flipped open if needed. They aren't directly attached to one another at all, just to the inner balaclava piece, so the whole thing is a bit flexible and stretchy. The ears are attached directly to the upper face piece, and each ear contains a stem of waxed wire to give it extra structure and bounce. Momentum from the ears bouncing gives the whole head a much more expressive, animated look when I move around!

🔥 What about the rest? Any details to note?
Oh, yeah, for sure.
The tail is a belt tail of course, but instead of the standard elastic loops, I used two bungee cord hooks that fit through the grommets on the belt. That way it stays locked in one spot on the belt & doesn't shift around, and I can also easily detach and reattach it on the fly (if I need to use the bathroom for instance).
The feet and arms both use long socks as bases, with a little bit of foam sculpting to reshape the fingers and toes. The feet are fully flexible and use an EVA foam insole, and the hands are thumbless to accommodate touchscreen use/give them a bit of extra ventilation.

🔥 Is the suit comfortable? How do you navigate a convention space with such a wide earspan?
The head is pretty comfy! It weighs under 2 lbs, has a great field of vision, and the ears are surprisingly weightless, so I honestly don't notice it all that much when I'm wearing it around at a con. I designed it with my own poor heat tolerance in mind, so I can stay in it for quite a while, but if I find myself getting too hot, I may just opt to wear the head & tail and skip the limb pieces. I don't really sweat much in it, and the mouth opens wide enough to fit most water bottles without needing a fursuit straw so I can easily keep hydrated without needing to de-suit. It's also very easy to slip in & out of, I don't need a helper or anything.

As for the giant ears, they're not actually as unwieldy as they look! They support their own weight just fine and are super flexible, and they angle upwards enough that I don't generally have to worry about them hitting people unless they're MUCH taller than me. I've sort of learned to angle my head around through crowded/narrow spaces similarly to the way Watusi cattle would navigate with their wide horns, or I'll just reach up and fold the ears in if I need to. It is a bit tough to tell exactly where the ears are since they're in my blind spot, but I can feel it if they brush up on something.

🔥 Can I try it on?
This is a bit of a tricky one. It's all built specifically to be a snug fit on me, and I'm pretty petite, so it might not fit you. I would be open to trying with the head since it's designed to stretch, but I can't guarantee it'll fit. You can definitely touch it/mess around with the ears if you ask first though.

Hope that helps clear some stuff up! If you have any other questions let me know!