# Fursonas as characters vs personal avatars



## Foxridley (Apr 24, 2021)

In the discussions I've seen on this forum, and with furry art in general, fursonas don't all serve the same roles for their creators, and it seems to fall on a spectrum. At one end of the spectrum, some fursonas seem to be their own characters with a full bio including a backstory, personality, job, and so forth. In some cases, you might not realize this character was a fursona if the creator didn't say they were. A lot of fan characters might fall in this category.
At the other end, some fursonas are essentially the creator, just depicted as an animal. Perhaps they are just an avatar for interacting with other furries. The creator may even draw scenes from their own lives, with themselves as their fursona. A fursona may even be somebody's "true self."
A lot of fursonas aren't 100% either, but may still mostly fall into one of the two categories.
For others, there is a mix of depictions as a personal avatar and as their own character, with neither version really dominating. With some fursonas, this may change over time

My own fursona is somewhere in between. He has a general backstory, but I rarely work it into depictions of him, but he is sometimes shown using his magic abilities. At the same time, I interact with others using him as an avatar and I've even come to identify with his name to some degree. Some drawings are based on scenes from my actual life. His role as a separate character has decreased over time. I never really came up with a personality for him partly because I haven't a clue how to write it.


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## TyraWadman (Apr 24, 2021)

My persona's story involves magic and harnessing the ability to shapeshift. So... while it's obvious the backstory and magic doesn't line up Or does it??!??!!?), the obvious resemblance/personality does.


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## Nexus Cabler (Apr 24, 2021)

Nexus is more of a separate character, than me if I was a dragon, but at the same time, he's a method of expressing myself, my interests, what I find cool, and an overall alternate person that in most cases, I wish I was more like.


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## The_biscuits_532 (Apr 24, 2021)

Stephanie is animal me. But not a dude

Iza is the opposite. Except she gets all my daddy issues. Also not a dude. 

Constantine is just a character.


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## Casey Fluffbat (Apr 24, 2021)

My two main sonas Casey (in pfp) and Renzi are both characters and representations of me. My other sona which I have not named yet is a character


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## aomagrat (Apr 24, 2021)

Yeah, I'm basically just a selfish rat.


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## Bluefiremark II (Apr 25, 2021)

Blue as a character is my fursona, my main character. He is a character. But he is also a little more, me. I use him generically in a lot of simple rp or general talk, but he also has story outside of that. Going into other characters, i have a LOT. They are just characters, not me. So while blue is a mix, the others are not


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## Stray Cat Terry (Apr 25, 2021)

Terry is basically me except a few minor differences such as--is an assassin, uses dark web, is a cat(obviously).... 

..oh wait, that's just too many differences! @w@

Well, the personality is, at least, the same. ÙwÚ


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## Jackpot Raccuki (Apr 26, 2021)

Jackpot was made to be a character, I had a different fursona but Jackpot kinda had a nice vibe. I enjoy general teasing and mostly harmless name calling like dork and such and his smug yet charismatic face fits it so I ended up having him.

Jackpot is kind of an extremely amplified version of me and overly exaggerated whiles still being a decent character in terms of design.


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## nuada (Apr 26, 2021)

I have multiple fursonas and they all serve different purposes.

*[ PRIVATE FURSONA ]* An animal version of myself with some creative liberty in regards to setting, background and current life.

*[ NUADA ]* A mix between an animal version of myself and a separate character. Leans more on the side of an animal version of myself though, which is why I don't roleplay with him.

*[ COLM ]* A completely separate character, which is why I _do_ roleplay with him.


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## Skittles (Apr 26, 2021)

We are Skittles. We are legion. @_@
Accept fløøfination or perish!

Ahem! My fursona and I are one and the same. Albeit he publically shows off his feminine side alot more than I would X)


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## Raever (Apr 26, 2021)

Apart of the (currently) 8.3% baby ~

Faline could be described as a character or maybe, if we stretched and ignored some of the more negative traits, she could be seen as a distant extension of an extension...but really that's pushing it. In most contexts she's her own thing. I just happen to use her for vent art occasionally since she's still a Fursona. Just with her own personality, setting, lore, etc attached.


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## TemetNosce88 (Apr 26, 2021)

My fursona August in a slightly idealized version of myself, but is generally just me as a deer. 

My unicorn character Hayley started off as just a random character but has been becoming more of a counterpoint to myself.


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## Kosmo Kittypup (Apr 26, 2021)

it's really nice how people can express themselves via their fursonas in different ways, however they're most comfortable. i feel like for me, kosmo can really vary with where he is on this spectrum. sure, he's a future space guy, but at the same time i apply him to a lot of mundane little situations from my everyday life too. i can play loosely with his character and it's not a problem. 

a lot of what i use him for ends up being fantasy idealism or what i'd want, but at the same time a lot of what i use him for reflects my life as it is be it the good or the bad. both are a really cool reflection of myself.


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## Paws the Opinicus (Apr 26, 2021)

There was a time I thought of myself as seperate and/or the opposite from my fursona, but then realized lately that we're both equally abhorred, so maybe we're more the same person than I thought.


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## Mambi (Apr 26, 2021)

Mambi's is basically me...I'm a playful cat through and through, feline soul and all, so in my case I'm very comfortable as my fursona as it feels like taking *off* a costume rather than putting one one. Online, aside from no portal abilities and a distinct lack of fur, you'd be hard pressed to see a difference really, right down to the giggles. <blush>


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## Deleted member 93706 (Apr 26, 2021)

For the longest time, I considered Bane (ram-horned, winged Anubian jackal) an entirely different individual; definitely his own character rather than a direct representation of me. He was very powerful; capable of manipulating spacetime and reality itself in his proximity, but also very measured in the use of said power - he was the very definition of one who held great power, but chose not to use it. He was an avatar I often took in my daydreams, thus fulfilling some of my teenage power fantasies. I had two other characters who served similar purposes (all three were connected via “lore”) – one was a vengeful assassin, the other an apathetic scientist (also Anubian jackals) – but my perceived connection with Bane was far stronger.

I have long since realized that I created Bane as an idealization of who I wanted to become; stoic, gentle, compassionate, reserved (he is in fact mute), humble, selfless, wise, powerful, meek. He was incapable of coercing others or telling them what to do; he could but serve as a living example of perfection. In my offloading of my own personal definition of perfection onto him, I lived out the fantasies of this perfection in my head, and thus inhibited myself from becoming more like him. When I came to this realization, I cut him out of my being. It was a mentally painful experience, but it had to be done. Needless to say, no longer does he occupy my daydreams (nor do the other two).

PS: I also now understand that the “other two” represented fundamentally flawed creatures which I sometimes had strong desires to imagine myself as - specifically, at times when their flaws didn't seem like flaws.


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## Tyll'a (Apr 27, 2021)

Tyll'a was originally an OC, not a sona, so he falls more on the separate character side.  But he's a part of me, and I'm a part of him, so I guess he's somewhere in the middle?


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## Kinare (Apr 27, 2021)

A mix. Toger is a better version of me - an ideal I wish I could reach. Mostly talking personality here, but I wouldn't mind being a powerful angry looking catto either I suppose, hehe.


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## MaelstromEyre (Apr 29, 2021)

Maelstrom has a lot of me in her make-up, from her personality, her flaws and fears.  I've worked my own life experiences into her backstory, but not necessarily on the same timeline.  Some of what she is, is what I wish I were more like. . .but I mean that in a positive way. . .because RPing her as a character has actually made me improve in those areas.


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## Vigil29 (Apr 30, 2021)

Lots of there's have kept referring to my fursona(s) as (he/him/etc). Not much about my personality would really change I just view it as a different physical form of myself, something I'd really want to turn into and experience being as.


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## Kyrick (Apr 30, 2021)

OK, as animal version of myself, I'm best described as a fox, fast thinking, witty and charming. At least in my workplace and in public anyway. At home i'm much more secluded and isolated.

My _alter-ego_ (rather than fursona) is a Human with a backstory, character development and personality. Ironically, this is a reflection of myself I guess? But that human can be extrapolated and inserted into many scenarios with the same characteristics...

It's hard to describe I guess...?


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## StolenMadWolf (May 1, 2021)

Kili started off very much as a fursona just to represent myself, but gradually overtime I started to heavily expand his backstory and the universe he exists in to the point he is very much is own original character in his own right. That being said, I continue to use Kili as a fursona because at the end of the day, if you take a few factors into account, he is still me in a way.

And it also serves as a funny joke when I imagine the fursona Kili is actually an actor acting out the character Kili. Not canon of course, but it does earn a little chuckle everyso often.


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## Netanye Dakabi (May 1, 2021)

Foxridley said:


> Is your fursona mostly a representation of you or mostly a separate character?​


oh hoho!
oh wow!
no comment.


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## BareJim (May 5, 2021)

BJ (Bear Jim) is definitely an animal version of myself. The name says it all. The only difference between us is that he is a bear. But I like to think that makes him kind of unique, uniquely boring!  But I like that about myself! :3


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## Sam Wamm (May 8, 2021)

my human form is made to look like the others so as not to arouse suspicion


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## Adrian Gordon (May 15, 2021)

i'd say my fursona is my ideal me.
me on a good day everyday.


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## hologrammaton (May 15, 2021)

... What's a 『FURSONA』?

i myself am a cosmic cascade error.


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## PaxTerra (May 20, 2021)

For me, my fursona Pax is his own character. His personality is basically the ideal version of what I would want to be, with virtues turned up maximum. Empathetic, energetic, happy and outgoing. Loves to meet people and help out whenever he can. I really like worldbuilding so I already in the process of developing the world he lives in.


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## PercyD (May 20, 2021)

I am a roleplayer and I have a bunch of characters. However, I don't play my fursona. My sona is a special NPC in most cases. 
Also because things can go down in roleplay stories and I will take it personal if someone does some shit to my sona. Ergo, I do not play them.


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## Lenago (May 20, 2021)

Lenago started as more of a icon, a face for me here, but he kind of grown into his own character as well, so he his kind of a mix of both a character and a avatar


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## Frost Antares (May 25, 2021)

Missing one option in the poll...

Stand user: 『Frost』
Stand name: 『All the single furries』


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## Rayd (May 25, 2021)

he used to be more of a separate character with his own fleshed out storyline and character traits but ever since the topic of writing and art became extremely depressing to me he's more of a direct icon of myself.


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## Bababooey (May 25, 2021)

Asher had started out as just a typical OC that was the spawn of my then sona and friend's OC that I had made for shits 'n' giggles. He was just an angsty teenager with daddy issues. Not long after making him, I began to connect with him, so I decided to have him be my new fursona and I aged him up to my age. I didn't realize it at the time, but the reason I connected with him was because of the meaningfulness behind his design. The meaning wasn't intended though. He was just an unintentionally perfect amalgamation of what I feel connected to and past memories.

He has a backstory and life different from my own but desires that aren't. His life is far from perfect but he lives it to its fullest. He began as a simple character that I almost always referred to in third person, but lately I have in first person.

So yeah. He was a character I just related to, but now I feel as though he is a version of me from an alternate universe. lol


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## Maur (May 26, 2021)

Personality-wise, I have very little common with Maur so I guess it's safe to say she's more of a personal mascot (at least for the furry fandom) than a fursona.

Now that I think of it, I don't really have an OC that I can point at and go "Yeah, this is me".


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## Hyperflareman (May 26, 2021)

My main OC, Isaac, is basically what I dream of being like: Rebellious, strong, yet still has traits like my actual self. Such as being introverted and not great at speaking vocally, as well as being dense sometimes on certain subjects.


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## Cosmic-FS (May 26, 2021)

Ash started off as just an avatar/stand in for me. I didn't think of him much as a character at first and when I did it was pretty basic. His personal, life choices, status were all pretty much a carbon copy of me. But as time went on and I got the opportunity to have Ash interact with other people online he developed a personality all his own. Now he is as completely different from me as you can get. 

Ash is basically a super villain, the CEO of a multinational corporation that doesn't even pretend to not be evil. He uses his unimaginable wealth to screw with people and buy all these fancy gadgets that allows him to play out his fantasy of being a mustash twirling cartoon villain. *And he does it all because he thinks it's fun. *I can definitely say that playing Ash us a lot of fun and very cathartic.


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## MaetheDragon (Jun 7, 2021)

Both my online and in person sonas are versions of myself, in some respects. Though Darby, my antlered doe, does have a backstory that’s similar to my own life. Darby is the most realistic version of me, while Mae the beardie is the person I aspire to be.

Basically a direct copy of myself as opposed to who I want to be.


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## ScaredStoked (Jun 12, 2021)

Meros is definitely me if I was a man and also a giant talking rabbit! I do have other characters, but I always make sure to differentiate the fact that Meros _is me_ and Sunbath is just a character who I like to draw! There's a big personal difference there.


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## MatchaDog (Jun 27, 2021)

Arla is definitely a version of myself. Not necessarily a carbon copy of my personality, but a version of myself that I want to be. 
I made Arla in 2016 because my first fursona didn't feel right. My first fursona was meant to be just an animal version of me, but I've found that I connected with my fursona more when I made them take on personality traits that I don't have. 

I'm also an avid dungeons and dragons player and I've had a pretty similar experience with roleplaying my characters. The very first character I ever made was exactly like me and I struggled to connect with her to the point where I could barely play the game. My all time favorite character I've ever played was very different than I am, but very similar to Arla. Perhaps it's easier for me to connect with those sides of my personality when I think of them as a separate entity from myself.


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## Jaredthefox92 (Jun 27, 2021)

Scylla is one of my main characters, so yeah.


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## perkele (Jul 11, 2021)

Separate from myself, as I am a human bean and not an animated Japanese chimera.


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## O.D.D. (Jul 11, 2021)

Stylized version of self, no "deep lore".

My other characters are part of a story and not based on or representative of anyone alive or dead.


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## Funfetti (Jul 13, 2021)

My fursona is *mostly* just an animal version of myself (mostly because shes my persona and fursona) but she has a silly backstory tho


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## Ratt Carry (Jul 13, 2021)

The idea of me having a fursona always makes me cringe out of my skin. I never entertained the concept.


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