Living in the future: unanticipated outcomes

[gerisullivan]

Back before I became involved in fandom, there was Vootie, the funny animal apa started by retooned and Reed Waller. About a year after I started getting active, Vootie ended and Marc Schirmeister started Rowrbrazzle. The WikiFur reference for Vootie says the transition between the two apas is "traditionally considered to be when funny animal fandom became furry fandom." Back then, the difference wasn't nearly as apparent as it is today, as it is this weekend at Further Confusion.

This isn't to be confused with Cryptic ConFusion, which was also this weekend. ConFusion, the sf convention in the Ann Arbor/Detroit area, predates Further Confusion, the furry convention, by a solid 25 years.

But only at Further Confusion were you likely to find a parade of well over 400 furry fans, each in full fur-suit regalia. The link is to kevin_standlee's post about the parade video he shot on the spur of the moment. The parade certainly was a sight to behold.

I certainly didn't fathom anything like it back when I was first getting to know Ken, Reed, and other funny animal cartoonists. Not even when I heard about the split between those who thought sex in funny animal cartoons was fine and those who didn't want it in their apa.

I'm not sure I can fathom it now, even after watching both parts of Kevin's video. 'Cause, y'know? That's a lot of fur....

Fandom certainly is a strange and wonderfully weird place.

Comments

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked it. And thank you for reminding me that Detroit's big general-SF con was called ConFusion. One of the people we talked to this weekend was a youngish fan from Toledo, Ohio, who didn't even know there were other genre conventions -- FurCon was all he'd ever heard of. He wanted to know if there were other conventions near where he lives, and the first thing that came to mind was MarCon in Columbus (naturally, since I was their FGoH last year), but he said that was "too far away." (I found that puzzling considering that he'd come clear out to California, but go figure.) And I knew of a convention in the Detroit area, but blanked on it's name -- probably because it was shared with the convention I was attending at the time!