# How Did Your Journey As A Furry Begin?



## FluffyShutterbug (Sep 25, 2019)

I saw somebody on Twitter talk about what started them down the path of becoming a furry, and it got me thinking: What started YOU down that path? As for me, the beginning of my furriness can be summed up with this image:





And, for those who don't know what that is, it's Spyro on the PS1.


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## Deleted member 111470 (Sep 25, 2019)

And all the Disney cartoons at the time, mostly influenced by Rescue Rangers.

[edit]
And Tom n Jerry. And Bugs Bunny. And Looney Tunes, Will e Coyte.

Yeah. I've been a furry for as long as I can remember.


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## Okami The Wolf (Sep 25, 2019)

My wife @bhutrflai and I took our kids to an anime convention. And low and behold, there was a fursuiter standing there. I asked my kids what animation that fursuiter was from, and all I got was, "Don't ask Dad! That's a Furry!" Needless to say, we are a Furry Family now, three years later!


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## Okami The Wolf (Sep 25, 2019)

And we won't talk about my strange fascination with Anthros I had while growing up! Thunder Cats Hooooooo!!!


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## deadlysnoot (Sep 25, 2019)

Used to pretend to be a dog/horse/unicorn when I was growing up. Guess it just manifested itself like this when I got older.


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## Marius Merganser (Sep 25, 2019)

Here's the short version:
Grew up loving cartoons and my favorites happened to be the ones with anthropomorphic characters (especially the ducks).
In high school, I thought my dream job would be to work for an amusement park as the dude in the character suits until I learned how terrible the job could be.
In college I found the fandom online but thought you had to have a suit to be part of it.  Then I saw the suits had to be commissioned starting at $1500-$2000 which was a little more than my minimum wage job could cover. Lost interest.
Online, I used an established cartoon character instead of my real ID and eventually joined Twitter using a character-tribute/animation/nerd culture themed account.
Over time I picked up followers and noted the Fursuit Friday every week.  Started following a few furries, saw more artwork and convention pictures and found out you don't need a suit and don't have to be an artist to join.
A year ago, I created my fursona and here I am in all my ducky fabulence.


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## deadlysnoot (Sep 25, 2019)

I must add, all of the transformations in cartoons certainly did breed curiosity as well...


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## foussiremix (Sep 25, 2019)

Was on youtube and saw videos about furries and got totally pulled in, also saw the art which made me even more interrested.

And now, I am a furry.


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## Faexie (Sep 25, 2019)

Always loved animation, and a lot of the stuff portrays anthro animals so there's that. Also always had a fascination for animals.
I was larping once and there was someone with a fursuit there. Didn't really know about furries at the time, but I loved that.
Eventually got more curious, watching videos about it, realised that I had more fun drawing and watching anthros than humans, but didn't understand the point of a fandom about a concept.

This was the tipping point where I started to truly consider myself a furry:


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## Toby_Morpheus (Sep 25, 2019)

The first heartbeat of furdom began when my ex boyfriend in high school gave me a Christmas card with a suggestive white wolf on it.

I've always liked anthro animals up to that point, but never knew there was a community for it.


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## Jackpot Raccuki (Sep 25, 2019)




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## Fallowfox (Sep 25, 2019)

I'm not completely certain where it came from, because I've had an interest in anthropomorphic animals and animal costumes for as long as I can remember.


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## Kit H. Ruppell (Sep 25, 2019)

In the gutter, in high school. There were signs early in my childhood though.


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## LeFay (Sep 25, 2019)

So the first time I heard about furries was from a humanimals documentary on Animal Planet when I was 13. After that I got pretty engrossed by the concept.

However looking more into it at that age I thought that otherkin was basically the entire fandom.

When I was 15 I had a friend irl that was in the fandom and he taught me a lot about it as well as showing me a few forum cites which is when I actually started partaking in the community, but I had a hard time making friends.

This turned into about 4 years of lurking until I found a few guilds on guild wars 2 that where fandom related and joined up with them. That was short lived as working 2 jobs made it difficult for me to continue being active.

That then turned into a 6 year lurk where I am now and it's at this point that I've actually started participating in the community.

So I don't really know where I would consider myself first joining the fandom as different people have different opinions of that but that's basically the jist of what's led me to actually being active within the fandom.


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## Foxosh (Sep 25, 2019)

5 years ago google searching some i-guess-furry characters from a cartoon and i wound up bumbling into this fandom.
Needless to say not my best choice.


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## Nyro46 (Sep 25, 2019)

Smexy Likeok4 said:


>


This, tbh
As soon as I could pick up a pencil I was already drawing cats.
And my first stuffed animals basically were my furry OCs
So . . .


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## AppleButt (Sep 25, 2019)

Kid in my fourth grade class always pretended to be a cat.

Got me interested in anthro stuff, and I watched a lot of anthro cartoons.

Told my friend about my interests probably around 10 years ago and she said, “Lol you’re a furry!”   I was like “tf is a furry?”

Didn’t consider myself one until I went to anthrocon with my girlfriend at the time for the first time in 2012.

Then I became a furry.


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## XanderBoi (Sep 25, 2019)

Ramona Rat said:


> Always loved animation, and a lot of the stuff portrays anthro animals so there's that. Also always had a fascination for animals.
> I was larping once and there was someone with a fursuit there. Didn't really know about furries at the time, but I loved that.
> Eventually got more curious, watching videos about it, realised that I had more fun drawing and watching anthros than humans, but didn't understand the point of a fandom about a concept.
> 
> This was the tipping point where I started to truly consider myself a furry:


Whelp. There goes 2 hours of my life. lol. I loved it!


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## Filter (Sep 25, 2019)

I've always liked illustration, science fiction, fantasy, and animals. Online art galleries like Yerf and VCL introduced me to the fandom.



deadlysnoot said:


> I must add, all of the transformations in cartoons certainly did breed curiosity as well...


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## Corran Orreaux (Sep 26, 2019)

I suppose having a history of enjoying 'furry' entertainment from a young age primed me for it. I grew up playing Ratchet and Clank, Sly Cooper, Spyro, stuff like that. But I guess if I had to point to something more specific that lead me down the path I think was Final Fantasy X. Kimahri was not only my first furry crush but my gay awakening.


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## Skittles (Sep 26, 2019)

Dogtanion, Thundercats, Gummibears.. A lot of ancient cartoons and the awesome series of books, Redwall.


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## Deleted member 82554 (Sep 28, 2019)

One night I was walking down a dark alley and this person in a fursuit jumped out from behind a dumpster and groped me. From that night on I was a furry.


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## FluffyShutterbug (Sep 28, 2019)

Mr. Fox said:


> One night I was walking down a dark alley and this person in a fursuit jumped out from behind a dumpster and groped me. From that night on I was a furry.


So, it was like being bitten by a werewolf? owo


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## TheUnyeetableLizard (Sep 30, 2019)

I really like character design and I always liked anthro. When I was in middle school I think I got infected by something called GoldenWolfen. It was something like that but they were an artist and did beautiful anthro work of tribal wolves and native American themed animals. 

I played FNAF years back and started looking at fanart and I liked designing animatronic characters though I never was in the fandom long enough to use them. At some point I wanted a new community and we had a furry in a large group RP I was in and I started gravitating into it and then last year I decided it would be good for my health to be more social in a community and I likes furries for the social aspects and the art.


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## MaelstromEyre (Oct 1, 2019)

I grew up before the Internet was a "thing" but was always drawn to furry/anthro characters in books, movies, and they were the central figures in my own imagination/playtime.  None of my friends were interested in that - when playing make-believe, they all wanted to be princesses while I wanted to be a dragon or unicorn.  My parents gradually tried to wean me off of it, telling me that talking animals were "for little kids" and they tried to steer me towards things that most other girls my age were interested in - dressing up and learning how to do make up, and getting jobs as babysitters.
Not for me.  I was basically made to feel embarrassed for liking the stuff I liked, but the stuff I was "supposed" to like was just boring to me.
I just kept it to myself, wrote stories or got lost in my own daydreams.
When I was just finishing high school I went to DragonCon in Atlanta, GA and met a friend from online there.  She mentioned something about Omaha the Cat Dancer, something I'd never heard of before, but I looked into it later.  I was like "wow, there are older people who do this stuff?"  Looked around online more, discovered Max Black Rabbit, Zig Zag, the Sabrina web comic, and it just progressed from there.
I probably didn't actually consider myself a furry until about ten years ago, when I joined the Second Life grid and discovered that you could truly be ANYTHING there, including an anthro animal.  I put together a bunch of different characters for myself and got into roleplay in a sim called The Wilds Sanctuary, a medieval world inhabited mostly by furries.  It was really the first time I actually interacted with other people who were adults, and didn't make me feel like I was stupid for pretending to be an animal character.
That's pretty much what I've been doing since.


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## Filter (Oct 1, 2019)

MaelstromEyre said:


> I grew up before the Internet was a "thing" but was always drawn to furry/anthro characters in books, movies, and they were the central figures in my own imagination/playtime.  None of my friends were interested in that - when playing make-believe, they all wanted to be princesses while I wanted to be a dragon or unicorn.  My parents gradually tried to wean me off of it, telling me that talking animals were "for little kids" and they tried to steer me towards things that most other girls my age were interested in - dressing up and learning how to do make up, and getting jobs as babysitters.
> Not for me.  I was basically made to feel embarrassed for liking the stuff I liked, but the stuff I was "supposed" to like was just boring to me.
> I just kept it to myself, wrote stories or got lost in my own daydreams.
> When I was just finishing high school I went to DragonCon in Atlanta, GA and met a friend from online there.  She mentioned something about Omaha the Cat Dancer, something I'd never heard of before, but I looked into it later.  I was like "wow, there are older people who do this stuff?"  Looked around online more, discovered Max Black Rabbit, Zig Zag, the Sabrina web comic, and it just progressed from there.
> ...


I often convinced my friends to pretend to be animals with me. At least when we were younger. Raccoons, wolves, foxes, and bears running around the house! Oh, the things my parents put up with. lol

Sabrina Online and other webcomics are what led me to discover the furry art sites.

As far as Second Life goes, being a furry was the natural choice. Like you, I soon created a cast of different characters. Preferring SL to be more of a fantasy world than a social media site. Unfortunately, I've yet to find a furry roleplay group that sticks around for long. Not that I'm inworld very often these days, but if I had more time it would be nice to have a context in which to be in-character without others trying to pry into my personal life. Nowadays, it's just my avatars hanging out with each other. Admittedly, I once met someone on there who turned out to be a fursuit maker and fellow amateur furry artist.We Skyped for a while, and now follow each other on FA. That was fun, but just exploring and hanging out as furries was enough for me. Some people knock it, but it seems to me that SL has lots of unrealized potential. Think Ready Player One, but with more anthropomorphic animals and the opportunity to do whatever you can imagine. It's a shame that they dropped HMD support.


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## MaelstromEyre (Oct 2, 2019)

Filter said:


> I often convinced my friends to pretend to be animals with me. At least when we were younger. Raccoons, wolves, foxes, and bears running around the house! Oh, the things my parents put up with. lol
> 
> Sabrina Online and other webcomics are what led me to discover the furry art sites.
> 
> As far as Second Life goes, being a furry was the natural choice. Like you, I soon created a cast of different characters. Preferring SL to be more of a fantasy world than a social media site. Unfortunately, I've yet to find a furry roleplay group that sticks around for long. Not that I'm inworld very often these days, but if I had more time it would be nice to have a context in which to be in-character without others trying to pry into my personal life. Nowadays, it's just my avatars hanging out with each other. Admittedly, I once met someone on there who turned out to be a fursuit maker and fellow amateur furry artist.We Skyped for a while, and now follow each other on FA. That was fun, but just exploring and hanging out as furries was enough for me. Some people knock it, but it seems to me that SL has lots of unrealized potential. Think Ready Player One, but with more anthropomorphic animals and the opportunity to do whatever you can imagine. It's a shame that they dropped HMD support.



Linden Lab seems totally unaware of its own product, and that's a shame.  They keep coming up with stuff that most residents on SL really don't have an interest in.

The furry RP community in SL is kind of a small community.  I guess different people define RP differently.  Some just do it purely as a NSFW encounters, that's not really my thing.  RP sims seem to come and go.  I've seen so many in the past ten years.  Some are still around, others have changed names or simply disappeared.  The one I'm on now is called Alteria, it's been around for maybe four or five years and many of the original players there are still playing, and their characters have carried over from another sim called Drekiheim so there is a sense of continuity.  It's basically a medieval/fantasy setting, with its own lore, and having long-time players has also given it a good feel of a history.  Things that happened in previous years have become part of the overall storyline that other characters refer to from time to time.


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## driftingdragon (Oct 9, 2019)

One word: Halloween.


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## Keefur (Oct 9, 2019)

It's a really, really long story.


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## Tallow_Phoenix (Oct 9, 2019)

I guess I was born this way? My favorite movie as a child was Lion King, my favorite magazine was Ranger Rick, and all my favorite cartoons had animals or mythical creatures as a focus. Then there was the manga Peach Fuzz, and the Redwall book series mentioned earlier.

I only got involved in the fandom recently because I wanted to write some vaguely furry smut but had nowhere to put it C: Then one thing led to another and I ended up here at the forums!


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## Leadhoof (Oct 11, 2019)

I think all of the shitty EDM I listened to in middle school corrupted my mind. That was about when I first started drawing people as anthros.


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## Tendo64 (Oct 11, 2019)

I would say Disney and Nick Jr. cartoons were a big part of it. Oh, and Animal Crossing. As a kid I used to love drawing poorly drawn anthro cats and whatnot. Still do!


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## Cosmonaughty (Oct 11, 2019)

I guess I just didnt fit in enough with people! I have always had a sort of alien mindset when it comes to life. That was what got me my first relationship at 15, as I found him attractive because he didnt want to be normal either! Guess at some point we both decided not to include ourselves in human affairs anymore, since then its been like any other part of my life! Like a favourite colour, or a favourite drink you cant stop getting! Just second nature now!

Keeps me thinking from a 3rd party perspective on almost every issue I come across, and frankly I like that!


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## Cyanomega (Oct 11, 2019)

I had no.idea what a furry was, all.I saw was a awesome price of art that looked like something out of heavy metal magazine.

After doing some digging i reached out and talked to the community. 

I found out, despite the broad definition of what a fur was, I felt like that was what I related to. After interacting with the community, I realized it was something I could connect with, and I started to draw my shitty art and get into all the community had to offer.
I'm a bit on the older side but I really love the community and want to be a part of it.


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## Rochat (Oct 11, 2019)

It all started with drugs and depression.


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## StealthMode (Oct 11, 2019)

Hated furries, then became one after seeing an insect sona


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## whalesbone (Oct 12, 2019)

started by tapping into the furry community for commissions because i liked drawing people's fursonas, but didn't really see myself as a furry since i was doing it for money.  so i was "ironically a furry" for a few years, but you can only do something ironically for so long before you start doing it for real.  i ended up really wanting a crowsona, so now i'm here! 

(also, my 3rd grade warrior cats obsession _probably_ had something to do with it)


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## MysteryCat1929 (Nov 2, 2019)

I'm tentatively testing the waters at this very moment. Never gave it a chance before now but looking back there have been signs going back to childhood. That and just general exposure to animal characters in media probably. More recently I've noticed a pattern that cats seem to be my weak point. Played a talking cat as a DnD character a few years back, discovered Chipflake on youtube really liked the character design. Very recently Hazbin Hotel dropped the pilot and really like Husk's character design (and several others for that matter). Idk I'm just feeling open-minded atm - maybe it will stick, maybe it won't, we'll see.

Also shoutout to a fellow OG Spyro fan!


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## Mambi (Nov 2, 2019)

(a copy of my post from another thread with additions, but applies here. Hope that's ok...)

To me, my inner cat has always been with me, to the point where I would comfortably say it IS me.

Ever since I was a child, I felt feline. My actions, mannerisms, reactions, all feline. I walk through the world thinking like a cat, to the point where I openly caught myself purring or snarling as appropriate. When I relaxed it was always with a feline sprawl and mannerisms, drove my friends nuts! <LOL> I relate to cats in the zoos, and even my natural skills are feline (I'm a natural martial artist with above-average balance and reflexes and speed...no shock I've been told I move like a cat)

To me, I am a feline soul (Jaguar it feels like) trapped in this human body. So when I put on my ears, fangs, collar, and tail, I feel like I'm taking OFF a costume, not putting one on! Naturally I wear them all the time, even right now of course as I type this. It feels more natural for me to have the fangs than to not have them. My tail feels so sensual I swear I can feel people stroking it when they do. To me, this IS me...and I love being myself. <purrr>

Not everyone understands this. To many a fursona is just a character, and of course that's fine! But to me, it's much more...it's my true identity. If I could, I'd wear my outfit all the time, but unfortunately we live in a world that doesn't like it much. But I love thet community as well, and was always drawn to the art as it's so expressive! I find in Furry art, the personality and emotion comes through by the very nature of drawing an animal. So yeah, relaxed one I saw I could be myself and I wasn't alone in feeling this way (internet is the best for this...I grew up per-internet feeling like this!), drawn in by the friendiness of the people (usually, furries tend to be more accepting of people by nature I find), and never looked back.


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## PuissantNorfleet (Nov 3, 2019)

rouge a cutie 
lol


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## ManicTherapsid (Nov 3, 2019)




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## ZeroVoidTime (Nov 3, 2019)

Well I join the community 2018 but I was interested in furry art for a long time.


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## Infrarednexus (Nov 3, 2019)

Renamon....


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## Inkstars (Nov 4, 2019)

it started in about 2000 or so, I was really into drawing unique stuff, and I saw a LOT of those anthro wolves and foxes that were around (kyoht and goldenwolf mostly) and it piqued my interest. I didn't find Furaffinity until 2007 though, and I've had accounts there since. I love furry art because it challenges me into drawing things I wouldn't have with humans, and it gives me variation that the human form often doesn't offer. plus tails are cool. My husband also contributed because he has fricken tonnes of Furrlough magazine around (along with Omaha the Cat Dancer) and I thought it was all cool.

Frankly though, I was a Looney Toons and Tom  & Jerry kid, so I can't say I was surprised anyway. I drew a few furries back in High School (95-97), before it was "uncool".


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## Failcon (Nov 8, 2019)

It all started with that damned vixen in Disney s Robin Hood when I was a lot younger, had an instant super-crush on her.
After that it was slow moving, started drawing my own Sonic-esque characters which slowly kept the interest burning I guess.
Then my next major crush, Krystal from Starfox Adventures... thought omg why am I feeling this way about a humanesque blue fox character in a game (didn't know what furries were then).
Interest never went past Krystal after that until my college days, when I got into manga/anime and whilst looking at 'art' (lol ;3) online some furry art was in the mix which instantly fully flicked on a switch in my head and from that I discovered what furries and the furry fandom were about, and then proceeded to keep it a total secret to anyone, bar my sibling who saw my furry desktop wallpaper lol. Right up until this September when I found I was actually able to talk openly about it with my sibling and in return I got some support and needed push to delve deeper, thus why I am now here, on these forums.
Phew, what a long story...


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## MrPhox (Nov 12, 2019)

This was my first fursona in the 90s and I was 23 years old when I start using that name IRL. ^^


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## Harpo_K_Aussie (Nov 12, 2019)

A friend told me about the Fandom in High School (I was a sophomore, I think) I found videos of Anthrocon on YouTube, and it just went from there.


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## Rictus (Nov 12, 2019)

I used to daydream about being a dragon when I was a kid and take all sorts of quizzes to see “how draconic” I was. Then puberty hit, Falco and Zora Link from Majora’s mask happened, it was all downhill from there lol


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## SkyboundTerror (Nov 13, 2019)

I went to Further Confusion in 2013 to meet up with an online friend whom I'd known for five years. I wanted to go to Great America. He insisted on FC.

This is all his fault.


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## NotACrow (Nov 14, 2019)

Oh boy, this is a long one.

I was always your stereotypical Furry-Hater. I knew nothing about it and just thought it was full of weirdos and creeps dressing up in Fursuits. Needless to say, I was like that for quite a few years. As to how I heard about the Fandom, I heard about it from a friend of mine.

After a few years, I was like: "_Ya' know what. I think I'll look into this Fandom and see what it's really all about_".

_*Now I think you can see where this is heading.
*_
I watched one video. Then I watched another. And another and another and another. The videos I was watching were all about what the Fandom was and what really goes on in it and what people do in it. At this point, I was deeply fascinated by what I was learning about a Fandom that I used to know nothing about and hated.

_*But the last thing it took....Was to watch a video on how to draw a Wolf-Head and then try drawing that when I was with my friends the next day.
*_
So, in conclusion...

_*Hear about Fandom > Hate it and know nothing about it > Start learning about it > Get converted into one.
*
fin._


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## Aika the manokit (Nov 14, 2019)

Spyro year of the dragon many years ago. I fell in love with Bianca


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## Alopecoid (Nov 14, 2019)

It all started with a game show commercial spoofing Godzilla. I saw it when I was 13 and discovered I had a thing for macros and paws.

That led me to a website called Big Clawz. Years later it led me to Fur Affinity.

I only really discovered the other facets of the fandom a couple years ago - fursuiting, cons, etc. And I'm really glad I did, because I now enjoy those just as much as the NSFW stuff.


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## cheribun (Nov 15, 2019)

I'm only _just_ becoming active in the community, and my art still tends to focus on humans cause that's what I'm used to, but I'd like to branch out.
I grew up adoring movies like The Lion King, Brother Bear, Kung Fu Panda, The Cat Returns, Wolf Children, etc. and I'd watch them over and over again. I got introduced to the furry fandom itself, along with the weird side of it unfortunately, around middle school when I became friends with this dude who was really enthusiastic and taught me a bit too much about it lmfao. I sometimes drew his wolf for his story and RP, but I still thought it was weird for a while. Having a bad first experience with RP a little earlier was probably another reason why I just didn't get it, but I digress.
Now, after making more friends who are furries, getting more involved in overall fandom culture and just maturing, I've come to realise it's like any other fandom filled with many different and generally friendly people, and looking past that weird side and the bad rep y'all get over the internet for it, I can really appreciate the dedication and skill that goes into a lot of the art, fun character designs and fursuits! It's actually really cool and admirable!
Then at 19 years old, I made a rabbit fursona and an FA account, and have a crush on a certain hyena boy, so I guess I'm a furry now.


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## Foxy Emy (Nov 15, 2019)

It all started with this:



Spoiler: It was impossible to separate us...












This was my "Foxy." I would not ever leave him alone when I was little. Even when I was older, he was my favorite toy and I kept good track of him until he was finally lost in middle school.

It was also this:



Spoiler: I watched this movie WAY too much...











But wait! There is more!



Spoiler: This game was my childhood!


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## fluffix_jacks (Nov 17, 2019)

Ramona Rat said:


> Always loved animation, and a lot of the stuff portrays anthro animals so there's that. Also always had a fascination for animals.
> I was larping once and there was someone with a fursuit there. Didn't really know about furries at the time, but I loved that.
> Eventually got more curious, watching videos about it, realised that I had more fun drawing and watching anthros than humans, but didn't understand the point of a fandom about a concept.
> 
> This was the tipping point where I started to truly consider myself a furry:


Well congratz, I've been kind of hesitant to get into furry stuff but I think that video might've just been my tipping point too lol


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## alexandriaj (Jul 9, 2021)

Hahaha I liked that meme "It all started when I was born". Well, the responsible people for my fur affinity addiction are my kids. They introduced me to this community and I became totally addicted. Of course, it's so much different from what I was used with, I mean cartoons like Ice Age, the Lion King etc. But I like the furry community thing. I experienced something similar with Anime and Manga. A similar addiction was when I discovered Death Note on https://www.greatbritishcarjourney.com/. Actually I think Naruto was the actual start for this transition from Ice Age to furry for me. Anyone here addicted to anime? I am still involved in some forums on that topic, but not so active anymore.


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## The_biscuits_532 (Jul 9, 2021)

Skyrim fanart

Also stuff that I can't talk about in polite company


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## Pogo (Jul 9, 2021)

I believe my sexual drive is unrelated to appearence. And shame from desires made me very shy. 

I didnt get to experience anything romatic till about 5 years ago. Im still socially awkward but it was much worse before. I started explorin sides of my psyche thru the lens of furry sexuality to help me cope.
---
first year of testing the waters was really fun. I was in a somewhat manic state and got caught up in forum games.
There was fun being had so i decided to stay and browse more.
i joined some rp's, spent time taking and offering art trades  and making gift art. This creative side of the fandom really appealed to me.


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## The_biscuits_532 (Jul 9, 2021)

Pogo said:


> I believe my sexual drive is unrelated to appearence. And shame from desires made me very shy.
> 
> I didnt get to experience anything romatic till about 5 years ago. Im still socially awkward but it was much worse before. I started explorin sides of my psyche thru the lens of furry sexuality to help me cope.


Same tbh. Definitely consider myself demisexual. I've had like, one serious crush? Maybe two?


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## Bababooey (Jul 9, 2021)

Okay I'm just gonna type a list in chronological order because I don't feel like typing a shitload.

Valentines day 2014 in school. Cards with cute animals were being passed around. One kid mentioned the word "furry," causing another kid to cringe in response. I didn't get it.
Playstation Home 2015. I met two creepy furries. One was a dude with a fart fetish who catfished me into thinking he was also a girl my age and the other kept being weirdly sexual. Even though those furries were bad people, I was still interested in the concept of a fursona, so I occasionally poked my head into online furry spaces.
Latter half if 2016 after moving to a new town. I made a short-lived friendship with a guy who happened to be a furry. He was one who liked to cringe at other furries. He came to my house one day and played a furry cringe compilation on youtube. Instead of cringing, I found it interesting. I thought the fursuits were cute. This lead to me joining furry amino, where I made a "fursona" with a random design and species that I hated. I had no direction making one I could connect to and left in frustration.
In 2017, I was a part of a lot of Kik roleplaying groups. Most notably, furry ones. Everyone just ripped designs from Google to use as character references, and I did the same.
In 2018, I was obsessed with monsters and a non-furry-related ship (imagining characters in a relationship not a literal ship), but later that year in 2018, I made what would later become my first fursona, Jack.
In early 2019, I abandoned his design for a while. I made another design that I would soon scrap completely. I went back to Jack's design and made him my fursona. I've been a furry ever since.
I summarized it the best I could and it still ended up being a wall of text. Damn.


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## BigFuzzyBenji (Jul 9, 2021)

So, there's two aspects of it for me. I've actually been a furry for nearly my whole life. I was just extremely dense to the fact that the word and it's correct connotations applied to me. I identified with anthro characters, preferred media with anthro characters, my first crushes were on anthro characters (Bianca from The Rescuers, and Gadget from Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers). Many of the values, ideologies, and behavioral traits I carry to this day, I was first introduced to, or _best _introduced to, by anthro characters. It persisted all the way to this day, manifesting itself in ways here and there along the way. 

But here's where I'm dumb. I knew of the furry community. I knew of some of the culture. I knew, in hindsight, that it applied to me. I just didn't....see it? Think about it? It's always been such a normal, yet private aspect of my life, I guess I just didn't even consider the concept of a community in general.

So anyhow, last year, all of a sudden, this car started parking in the lot by my work, and these people would get out, put on partial fursuits, and go..._somewhere_. It lasted for about two weeks. And all I could think was that I was being left behind, that these people knew the place to go and I was being left behind. I wanted to do what they were doing, go where they were going. The fursuits looked...correct? Maybe that's not the right word, but it felt inviting, like it was an awakening. 

It's funny, because it dawned on, or rather, hit me like a bag of bricks. You know how people have this image of themselves that they picture? It occurred to me that mine is always an animal...usually a grey wolf, or grizzly bear. It occurred to me that my heroes from cartoons growing up were always, and still are, anthros (Disney's Robin Hood anybody?). It occurred to me that when I doodle, it's always anthro. 

Then, of course, that bit of embarrassment where you realize something that's been right in your face the whole time. 

But anyway, since then...nada. Pandemic, being broke, being tied up with life in general. The only things I've been able to do is indulge in some art, look at fursuits, and now sign up here.  Hoping, though, that in the not so distant future I can lean more into it, and truly explore the community and lifestyles.


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## WolfieHunnie (Jul 11, 2021)

I’ve been aware of the furry community for many years. I always knew that I wanted to participate in the fandom.

But I was far too anxiety ridden and I kept overthinking about my fursona. I was _way_ too worried about how I wanted to portray myself and my how I would be perceived within the fandom. 

Ever since I was a kid, my fursona had been a plain white wolf with purple eyes. They were originally female and called “Ookami-Chan”. I experimented with all different kinds of other fursonas, but nothing else ever “felt right” to me the way that Ookami-Chan did. I eventually renamed her “Wolfie”, but I still felt like she was too plain. 

Fast forward to a few months ago. I started playing a dragon raising sim called “Flight Rising”. A certain fluffy breed of dragons on the site inspired me to redesign my fursona. Then the other day I remembered that Fur Affinity existed and I knew that I had to jump in, especially since I finally had a pretty good idea of what I wanted my fursona to be.

Now ”Wolfie” is a wolf/dragon mix, and they’re now nonbinary instead of female in order to reflect my real-life gender identity. And yes, Wolfie’s still got a white and purple color palette!


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## StolenMadWolf (Jul 11, 2021)

Probably a combination of liking animals and watching Pokemon and Digimon back in the day. I guess I was just drawn to that kind of media, same as most people here as well. Namely by really liking some of that media and those designs as a kid. After a few years, I didn't really look deeply into it before looking into werewolf media quite a bit until eventully, I started looking back at furry content again. Initially I brushed it off, but I started looking and getting more into furry. It's got to the point that I want to attend a convention at some point, and toying with the idea of a partial suit.


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## Slowspider (Jul 11, 2021)

Sempre gostei de peles, para falar a verdade, passei a conhecê-los por causa da minha imensa quantidade de fetiches, embora eu tenha I've always liked furrys, honestly speaking, I got to know them because of my vast amount of fetishes, although I have many breeds that I hate, like wolves, foxes, dragons and cats when They appear in excess and in a generic way, but I've always loved them, mainly because of the peculiar members too


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## Jaredthefox92 (Jul 11, 2021)

Not a furry, but it was around 2011 when my friend told me the plot of Sonic 06. I've played Sonic Heroes and wasn't really into the lore, that was until the game sounded more in depth for me and then I've read the Archie Sonic comics online.


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

Nonspecific, mild misanthropy.


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## vikingbeast69 (Jul 12, 2021)

Always liked monsters as a kid. I grew up in a small Kansas town in the 70’s, so I had NO idea what all was out there. I grew into a hyper-sensitive, introverted teen who didn’t get into girls OR boys when all my classmates did. But I did channel all those feelings into werewolves, satyrs, etc. Of course I was certain I was the only guy on the planet who felt that way and it only made me more depressed. I actually trained myself to like hairy guys when I was in my 20’s so it would at least be something attainable. (Only recently figured out I’m actually bi.) A few years ago a “wolf transformation” hypno file really struck a chord with me and it felt so deeply, spiritually “right” that I opened myself up to the idea that I had a furry side. One of the best decisions I ever made.


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## AniwayasSong (Jul 12, 2021)

FluffyShutterbug said:


> I saw somebody on Twitter talk about what started them down the path of becoming a furry, and it got me thinking: What started YOU down that path? As for me, the beginning of my furriness can be summed up with this image:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


When I was a child, as far back as I can recall, I'd have extremely vivid dreams of me being an animal, going through something or other in the natural world (usually involved chasing/being chased by something trying to eat/eat me, which of course usually ended in a gruesome manner).  They were very disturbing at times, and waking up screaming was freaking out more than me/my family.
Back then, there was no internet, no easy way to research stuff like we enjoy today. Of course, Momma went 'Western Medical' on my ass, and after a LOT of futile meetings/medicines/et al, Papa finally stepped in and w/o telling Momma, had me meet with a couple of Elders first in our own Res., and then I went to another to meet with a very real, very scary 'Shaman'.
If you're laughing or scoffing, just stop reading right here and now, and do us both a favor.
A word I can't really type ('cause I don't know how to type it in his language), but basically meant 'Reincarnation' was brought up, and we dove into that as a possibility.
Introduce my belief in reincarnation, ever since!
Now, 'Furry'?
My never-ending-war against the Xtian Indoctrination I was forced to endure from kindergarten all the way to my 8th Grade Graduation, saw me studying other religions, via our mobile library van. I must've poured through all the books I could get my hands on, in a 300 mile radius?! Enthralled doesn't do my insatiable curiosity justice.
Imagine my surprise when I finally acknowledged and the pieces of the puzzle finally snapped into place inside my noggin', when I saw pictures of 'Angels', then 'Demons', and THEN compared those to what so many ancient religions had, before?! WOW!!!
Introduce my 'Adult' fascination into Anthropomorphic critters! (Not exactly in the NSFW sense, though that happened too!).
Now, to back pedal here a bit. This wasn't new to me, as our own Tales/Legends have many parallels to this Anthro World. I just didn't give them the credit they deserved back then. To me they were simply 'Bed time/campfire' stories to be enjoyed while we were roasting marshmallows/making s'mores, or feasting ourselves into a stupor with roasted hotdogs. So, moving on...
Years and years later, I found via this Internet thingamajig, what THIS 'Furry Fandom' was. 
Been here ever since.
:-D


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## Ratt Carry (Jul 12, 2021)

I just fucking love Krystal.


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## Xitheon (Jul 12, 2021)

I got in one little fight and my mom got scared.


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## Mambi (Jul 12, 2021)

Xitheon said:


> I got in one little fight and my mom got scared.



"...and said "You move to London, and go become a hare"


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## Xitheon (Jul 12, 2021)

Mambi said:


> "...and said "You move to London, and go become a hare"


I love you.


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## TyraWadman (Jul 12, 2021)

Mambi said:


> "...and said "You move to London, and go become a hare"


That was awesome. 
Bravo!


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## lolox (Jul 13, 2021)

Ratt Carry said:


> I just fucking love Krystal.



What he said.

While I liked plenty of furry related things before I even knew about the fandom, Krystal is definitely what triggered my personal discovery of it. This was when I was a teenager and it coincided with my own sexual discovery as well. Hormones + autism + Krystal is just too powerful a combo, LOL. (Not actually diagnosed autistic, too highly functioning for that, apparently.)

I'm somewhere in my thirties now. Still as confused now as I was then to an extent. Never really feel like I found my place in life. Got education, work and money figured out, but when it comes to the social stuff and actually feeling like I belong somewhere in society, I'm still lost as ever.

Perhaps my development would have been different if I was never afflicted by the furry, but I wouldn't give it up for anything.


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## O.D.D. (Jul 13, 2021)

Ratt Carry said:


> I just fucking love Krystal.


Let her finish her sandwich already jfc man


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## Funfetti (Jul 13, 2021)

Wow this is a cool thread! Its really neat to see how other people got interested in the fandom. 
I saw a fursuiter at a RenFair I went to when I was younger! I thought they looked SO COOL and wanted to make my own fursuit super badly! I also just got really into anthro animals because I just thought they were super cool! (thank you mysterious furry!)
I never made a fursona until 7th grade though lol and I STILL never made a fursuit and my interest wained again.
But I got really interested in the fandom again in high school and now Im actually drawing more art which is cool 
I still need to make my fursuit...


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## MaliceDaBear (Jul 13, 2021)

Strangely enough it was thanks to Left 4 Dead, back when I was a teenager I was trying to find some memes about the game and (somehow) came across a picture of one of the posters but the characters were redrawn as furries. I had no idea what they were at the time but thought they looked cool so I showed it to one of my friends. She proceeded to tell me that they were called furries and some details about them. Naturally it got me curious so I looked up more about it and ended up joining some other forums/websites and here I am now about 8+ years later


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## AniwayasSong (Jul 18, 2021)

Funfetti said:


> Wow this is a cool thread! Its really neat to see how other people got interested in the fandom.
> I saw a fursuiter at a RenFair I went to when I was younger! I thought they looked SO COOL and wanted to make my own fursuit super badly! I also just got really into anthro animals because I just thought they were super cool! (thank you mysterious furry!)
> I never made a fursona until 7th grade though lol and I STILL never made a fursuit and my interest wained again.
> But I got really interested in the fandom again in high school and now Im actually drawing more art which is cool
> I still need to make my fursuit...


I used to enjoy the Navato Renn. Fair (in CA), for many years.  Dressing-up in leather armor was uncomfortable enough in the heat.  I can't imagine wearing a fur-suit?!  Yikes!


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## Tennet_G (Jul 19, 2021)

I transitioned from a brony to a furry. I've always been modestly interested in anthropomorphic animals but it didn't come into full swing until puberty hit me like a brick, along with unrestricted access to the internet.

That's the short version. Long version is that out of curiosity, I started to watch MLP since everyone called bronies cringe and stuff as a middleschooler and being the curious type, I wanted to investigate for myself before choosing a stance. After being converted, I stayed just a brony for a while until I encountered pony artists who also made furry art. And from there, I just gradually shifted over as I watched less and less of the show which started it all to now. I just consider myself a full furry now. But, I'll keep my sona as it's a big part of my 'awakening' and I enjoy how I've developed and changed it overtime, like how I have.


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## perkele (Jul 19, 2021)




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## the sleepiest kitty (Jul 19, 2021)

When I was 13 I saw the art for the first time on DeviantArt and I thought it was cool. When I turned 14 I wanted to draw it too. Eventually I made myself a fursona, and the rest was history!


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## zandelux (Jul 19, 2021)

I discovered the NSFW side of things in college, specifically a thread (since deleted) on the OverClocked ReMix forums. Then for a long time I had a really unhealthy view of the fandom, where I'd browse NSFW stuff constantly but didn't consider myself a furry and still thought fursuiters were icky.

What changed for me was making a kobold character in D&D and finding I really enjoyed getting into character. I decided FAF was as good a place as any to finally reach out to other fans. Furry stuff is now a hobby for me like anything else, although I'm still pretty new and everything is fresh and exciting.


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## The_biscuits_532 (Jul 20, 2021)

zandelux said:


> I discovered the NSFW side of things in college, specifically a thread (since deleted) on the OverClocked ReMix forums. Then for a long time I had a really unhealthy view of the fandom, where I'd browse NSFW stuff constantly but didn't consider myself a furry and still thought fursuiters were icky.
> 
> What changed for me was making a kobold character in D&D and finding I really enjoyed getting into character. I decided FAF was as good a place as any to finally reach out to other fans. Furry stuff is now a hobby for me like anything else, although I'm still pretty new and everything is fresh and exciting.


I remember being in a similar situation for a while. I think it was Feretta's comic series that made me realise "hol up I'm reading this because character development not because horni"


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## zandelux (Jul 20, 2021)

The_biscuits_532 said:


> I remember being in a similar situation for a while. I think it was Feretta's comic series that made me realise "hol up I'm reading this because character development not because horni"


I haven't read that comic, but I'll check it out. I noticed something similar. For some reason, anthro porn comics seem to be more wholesome and loving than your standard human porn. Not sure how much of that is due to anthro characters, and how much it's what the readers want.


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## The_biscuits_532 (Jul 20, 2021)

zandelux said:


> I haven't read that comic, but I'll check it out. I noticed something similar. For some reason, anthro porn comics seem to be more wholesome and loving than your standard human porn. Not sure how much of that is due to anthro characters, and how much it's what the readers want.


I actually just went and reread it, including the two chapters I'd slacked on. It's definitely porn-ier than I remember but it has a bunch of interesting concepts. The idea of a fantasy world being the apocalyptic future is actually pretty neat. 

Fr tho. It feels weird but I've read a ton of NSFW furry stuff _mostly_ for the plot

Funkybun's currently running one about the trans lynx guy and his friends in particular is adorable. 

Meanwhile human porn is so boring and to the point it's literally used as the basis for memes _all the time_


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## O.D.D. (Jul 20, 2021)

zandelux said:


> I haven't read that comic, but I'll check it out. I noticed something similar. For some reason, anthro porn comics seem to be more wholesome and loving than your standard human porn. Not sure how much of that is due to anthro characters, and how much it's what the readers want.


I really can't say I've noticed this wholesome side but I don't really make a habit of indulging in that sort of comic often.


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## Regret (Jul 20, 2021)

Hell if I know because I've been one for longer than I haven't at this point.  I blame my parents for essentially giving me unrestricted internet access at the age of 7.


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## berry (Jul 21, 2021)

My parents got me two stuffed pandas for my first birthday, so my affinity for them has pretty much been lifelong. Still have them with me 23 years later!


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## wargumon (Jul 26, 2021)

with sonic, and I guess in high school they made me feel more about myself, so I started to imagine myself as a furry


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## hirumono (Jul 26, 2021)

The most beautiful Caitian ever.


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## Mambi (Jul 26, 2021)

hirumono said:


> The most beautiful Caitian ever.
> 
> View attachment 117101



I remember her...70's animated series! Ever see the one where she hits on James Doohan? She was purring hard in that one! (plot: some sort of "love-phermones" hit the ship). I SOOO wanted to see more of her species in the mainstream series, but alas. <sigh>


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## O.D.D. (Jul 26, 2021)

Mambi said:


> I remember her...70's animated series! Ever see the one where she hits on James Doohan? She was purring hard in that one! (plot: some sort of "love-phermones" hit the ship). I SOOO wanted to see more of her species in the mainstream series, but alas. <sigh>


Given even the best makeup artists in the industry at the time I think you would probably end up with some very strange-looking Caitians


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## hirumono (Jul 26, 2021)

Mambi said:


> I remember her...70's animated series! Ever see the one where she hits on James Doohan? She was purring hard in that one! (plot: some sort of "love-phermones" hit the ship). I SOOO wanted to see more of her species in the mainstream series, but alas. <sigh>


Yes, I remember that episode! I was thinking how much I wanted to be in Scotty's shoes     at the time I also remembered all episodes in the series where she featured (not many sadly)


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## KimberVaile (Jul 28, 2021)

Animated Disney movies. It was Walt Disney's ploy to turn America gay and Furry, and it's working.


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## лОРИк (Jul 28, 2021)

1995-2017: Human
2017-present: *FURRY ASS *(50%)
How did this happen?
It happened.


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## Kyrick (Aug 12, 2021)

I blame *Charizard*. I grew up watching the original Pokemon series and that damn dragon lead me straight into the NSFW side of the fandom.
Rule34 certainly didn't help either lol!

Over the last 3/4 years I started to branch out and can appreciate the wider side of the fandom too.
I've came across a few furries online (YouTube/Discord/SoFurry) who actually express themselves better through their personas like myself.

It's a fun ride. And it's been with me for almost 20 years. I've only been on FA for 8 years, and just joined the forums a few months back (just out of curiosity more than anything) and it's good chatting about this kind of stuff 

*Side note* Is it just me or do a lot of us turn furry when we hit around 19-22? I made my page back when i was 21...


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## NutmegsBigAdventure (Nov 11, 2021)

Horribly enough, it started by hating and making fun of them. I had alot of unsavory "friends" when i was a kid trying to lead me down a path of hatibg things i didn't understand. I was following them too, until i did the research myself and learned what the fandom was about. I was a supporter for a couple years until i joined the fandom officially and made a sona!


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## Gailrin (Nov 11, 2021)

2002-2005ish? Highschool and a lot of the Redwall series. 
Not quite furry, but was incredibly obsessed with Lambchop as a kid.


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## Outré (Nov 11, 2021)

Honestly, for a long time, I thought a furry was someone who dressed up in an animal costume for the sole purpose of having physical relations… kinda like the guy from The Shining. I was never a hater but it didn’t seem like my cup of tea. I was always kind of curious to see a furry however. Then I got to see some at a comic convention in September. They were not what I was expecting at all, in fact I actually thought it seemed kinda cool. So I started researching and kind of became pleasantly surprised   and a bit obsessed with the whole thing.

I’ve always loved anthropomorphic animals… I just didn’t realize there was such a huge fandom or that furries were that fandom. So I guess in one way I began my journey as a fan of a lot of Disney and Warner cartoons when I was a kid, and I never grew out of my love for it, but as an actual title it began as the result of a random chain of events. But I’m glad for it!

So here I am 2 months later and am now in the process of commissioning someone to draw a reference sheet for my fursona…

Haha, life takes strange and random turns sometimes.


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## BadRoy (Nov 23, 2021)

I honestly think the inciting incident for me was the Batman TAS episode "Tyger Tyger," in which a scientist turns Catwoman into a literal cat woman and tries to mate her with a cat man. 



I distinctly remember seeing this at 7 or 8 and having my first "I feel weird" moment... you know the one. After that I went out of my way to look for other media that gave me that same feeling. Gargoyles, Road Rovers, Digimon, and so on. Fast forward 1X years and here I am, a completely normal adult with no degenerate leanings 

This episode probably also planted the seed for my eventual love of TFs given Catwoman spends a lot of time angsting over the new body. And maybe my bisexuality as well given both Catwoman and her mate are just walking around naked. Those were the days.


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## staticspark (Nov 23, 2021)

I began in the furry fandom loving the cartoon mascots of the 90s like Sonic and Bubsy and reading the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics.


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## Foxridley (Nov 24, 2021)

Probably the earliest furry influence I had was the Don Bluth movie _Rock-a-Doodl_e, wherein the main character gets turned into a cat. From there, I started getting interested in the idea of turning into an animal.
Dragonball was also an early influence. I didn't watch it much, but I remember seeing young Goku as a kid and wishing I had a tail like him.


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## Lumineer (Nov 30, 2021)

My best friend through middle school and a little through high school was a furry and I cared for her very much. I didn't really like furries but I accepted them because she was one. I didn't know what a furry was until I met her and I liked the idea at first, because I loved animals and creating ocs and dressing up. What's not to love? But, my family kind of pushed that they were bad and that my best friend was bad because she was a furry. None the less, I was still besties with her. Then, one day her parents decided that I was a bad influence  and banned her from talking to me. I was devastated and missed her so much. One day while I was thinking about her, I remembered she was a furry and decided to make my own fursona and think about what she would say about it. I actually really liked the idea and looked more into the furry fandom. And here we are a few years later haha


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## Alexledragon (Nov 30, 2021)

Mmmmh... I don't really know when could we say it really began, but i think it is quite a story still, a long one actually.

 I think i had some sort of interest toward the idea of animal anthropomorphisation and animals in general actually, quite early... Maybe mostly because most of the fictionnal video game characters i grew attached to as a kid were animals that were anthropomorphised to some extend like Star fox, Spyro, Banjo Kazooie, ...
 I don't know why, but i somehow was going toward those specific characters more naturally... I think i found them more interesting in general than regular humans since i don't have any real human character that really left a mark in my memory. But i had no idea of what a furry could be really since i was quite young, had no access to internet (and did not bother trying) and did not really interact with others kids much (and did not bother on that one neither).

 I think that later, the interest grew stronger as i was spending a lot of time playing Oblivion and well... i really liked the argonians and khajit characters. At this point, i started to kinda get in the character, i started to define origins and personnalities for each of the new characters i'd make or to carry useless items on my character just because i imagined that's something they might want to have with them on their adventures. I really enjoyed myself doing this!

 Then one day, i think i was on my early teens around 10 years ago, as i was playing Sacred 2 i encountered a village filled with lizardmen... I remember i found them impressive, they really did look fancy and cool to me! But well... Sacred 2 being a top down view game like Diablo, i could not see them very well, so i opened google and searched for them, hoping i'd find close ups pictures or concept arts to see their designs better. That's where i accidentally found furry art for the first time, i still did not know what was a furry, but i was still browsing through it and really liked it, i was somehow fascinated by the whole idea and spent a few hours in a row looking at it, on the old computer we had in the attic.

 I only really found out that it was furry art a year or two later by... randomly seeing a furry on the comment section of a game update on steam and clicking on their profile because i liked their profile picture. There, i kinda learnt about the fandom a bit. I found it hella interesting to be honest but well, i simply did not dare to even consider approaching it somehow, i was just terrified by this idea, so i did put it on my "things i'd love to do but would not dare to/be able to" list and moved on.

 And now... my real first "contact" with furries.

 About one year ago, even if i always was somewhat alone in general and closed upon myself, i ended up being completely isolated both online and IRL from absolutely anyone and anything for years and years... Explaining why would be a totally different story so i won't expand upon it too much and i'll just say that well, stuff happened...
 And one day, for reasons that even myself ignore, i decided to join a group of peoples i did not know to play a game online.
 As soon as i joined, i realised that someone was talking about furry art in the discord server they made to keep the group in contact... The irony of things made it so that 80% of them were furries. At first i was scared, anxious and panicked because well... i tend to be anxious and panicked about things quite easily, and it was a thing i know i never dared to approach before, something i never dared to mention before... And the thought of being confronted actively to them like this was not something i expected. 

 Seeing them talking about it casually tho... It somehow made me want to join in a way, but i still remained quite "closed" as i always was, i was just lurking and playing that game with them. With time i slowly started to actually talk with them more actively and to actually exchange with them and, for some reasons they made me open up to peoples more and more... I did not know it back then but it litteraly changed my entire life at this point, i kept contact with them after we were done with that game, and over time they changed the way i saw and experienced life, they made me realise lots of things and also made me change lots of things out of the fact that i grew comfortable around them enough to say things i never dared to say to anyone in my entire life... I still cannot believe how much such a random event could have had so many consequences really.

 As an effect of this, a bit later, i joined a few public furry Discord servers (still as panicked and anxious, but i still did it anyway) and made myself a Furaffinity account to... mostly become a lurker, but hey, that was still progress in my book!

 At this point i realised that this fandom i never dared to approach actually was overall wholesome and welcoming!

 And sure i remained mostly a lurker until now (not many contacts outside of this group i talked about earlier), sure i never dared to make myself a sona or oc of any sort until now (and still does not have one as of now), sure i'm still not much active as i did not really bring anything to the fandom and sure i'm still anxious as hell by the simple idea of typing what i'm typing right now but hey, that's still progress in my book again!

 So now here i am, actually trying to do what i never dared to even consider before. There's still many thing i'm afraid of and that make me anxious, but that i still want to try out, no matter how panicked i could be really.

 Ironically, that was quite a long text for a journey that really only just began... But i guess that's the story of how i became a furry or rather how i'm becoming one.


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## Erix (Dec 1, 2021)

I guess when I was younger, I always had little stuffed animals to keep me company, and I loved em to bits. Though as I grew older, I sort of forgot about em, and didn’t really have em anymore. Though later for some reason, maybe around late middle school to early highschool, my mom gave me this cute asf looking teddy bear and idfc that I’m a grown ass adult now, I snuggle with this bitch every night cuz he’s so god dam cute!

I mean just look at him! <3






I will luv him to bits no matter what >:c

Anyway, I guess all this just goes to show that I’ve always loved animals and I guess had some sort of fascination with em.

As for what sparked me to ACTUALLY get interested and intrigued in the furry fandom..

Welllllll.....

Let’s just say I’m a degenerate alright?! xd


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## AniwayasSong (Dec 1, 2021)

Lumineer said:


> My best friend through middle school and a little through high school was a furry and I cared for her very much. I didn't really like furries but I accepted them because she was one. I didn't know what a furry was until I met her and I liked the idea at first, because I loved animals and creating ocs and dressing up. What's not to love? But, my family kind of pushed that they were bad and that my best friend was bad because she was a furry. None the less, I was still besties with her. Then, one day her parents decided that I was a bad influence  and banned her from talking to me. I was devastated and missed her so much. One day while I was thinking about her, I remembered she was a furry and decided to make my own fursona and think about what she would say about it. I actually really liked the idea and looked more into the furry fandom. And here we are a few years later haha


This really tears at my heart/soul, when I see or hear about parents (or even more common, peers) who prejudice against a child's interests and crush them.  Unless that interest is literally unhealthy (and can't be moderated to a safe degree?), there is no justifiable excuse for doing this, and I've seen it happen both in my own personal life/history, and throughout all of my many travels.  From religion to politics, social standards/mores and then all across every other spectrum of humanity, you see a child with that spark of interest and enthusiasm to learn something, then destroy it?  I call that 'Evil.'
I also believe it's important to remember and teach 'Moderation' in things.  It's great to have hobbies and interests, and if you can manage to work doing them?  Develop a career and thrive?  Who has the right to deny that?!
I get that parents raise their children based on the parents standards of right/wrong, good/bad, positive/negative etc..  I also know parents are far from perfect, and every child that lives long enough will realize this fact at some point in their life.  At best, we look back and just smile and nod our heads and think, "Well, they did the best they could, and they still loved me!"
At worse?  I don't even want to tread water in that end of the pool, tyvm.
I've had folks introduce (or expose) me to so many things in my life.  Most of it good/interesting, and some I happily embraced and adopted.  Other things?  Drugs or behavior that is counter to living a long, healthy life?  I won't lie and deny I haven't taken risks, but I was fortunate enough to realize this wasn't something intelligent to do, and I stopped doing them.  This cost me many relationships/associations but that's life.  We can't be BFF with everyone we cross paths with.

I think it's great that YOU made up your own mind about the 'Furry Fandom', and choose your own Path within it!
As hard and painful as it must've been for the both of you, I'm certain if your friend read and knew about this, she'd be very happy!


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## AniwayasSong (Dec 1, 2021)

Alexledragon said:


> Mmmmh... I don't really know when could we say it really began, but i think it is quite a story still, a long one actually.
> 
> I think i had some sort of interest toward the idea of animal anthropomorphisation and animals in general actually, quite early... Maybe mostly because most of the fictionnal video game characters i grew attached to as a kid were animals that were anthropomorphised to some extend like Star fox, Spyro, Banjo Kazooie, ...
> I don't know why, but i somehow was going toward those specific characters more naturally... I think i found them more interesting in general than regular humans since i don't have any real human character that really left a mark in my memory. But i had no idea of what a furry could be really since i was quite young, had no access to internet (and did not bother trying) and did not really interact with others kids much (and did not bother on that one neither).
> ...


heh heh heh
That's a pretty cool revelation!
"Welcome to the Fandom!"


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## nykalily (Dec 13, 2021)

I was really into sonic ofcourse, but even before that I was indoctrinated on lion king and robinhood, balto was my guy <3 I loved those cartoons and I loved animated animals from a very young age. I;ve always sort of seen myself as an animal anyway.

but you know what site  REALLY influenced this young dog? (I had to use wayback it doesnt even exist now!)


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## MaetheDragon (Dec 16, 2021)

I guess you could say the earliest signs of me becoming a furry was my obsession over Spyro the dragon when I was a wee lass, then I discovered The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion for the first time in 2009. I’ve played every Elder Scrolls installment since, and I refuse to play any character that isn’t an Argonian, if I can help it. 

My entire family’s obsession with Disney launched me further into it, too.

I then discovered the furry community on YouTube, fell in love with its creativity, and I’ve been a part of it ever since!


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## Baalf (Dec 18, 2021)

Believe it or not, I didn't even know what they were at first. I just knew that people hated them and got the impression that they didn't deserve it. After actually doing my research oh, I ended up becoming one. Possibly it's just the fact that I like to stick up for The Underdogs or that I've been bullied my entire life, so I could relate to furries getting bullied a lot. But it probably helps that I literally cannot stand human characters or designs 90% or more.


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## Blushroom (Dec 18, 2021)

Sonic, Neopets and Furcadia. Furc was fun to learn programming basics on.


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## Alopecoid (Dec 20, 2021)

I saw a game show commercial when I was 13 spoofing Godzilla. Which made me realize I was into macros. That led to finding macro furry clips online many years later, and through that eventually I stumbled on clips of fursuiters and discovered the fandom.

I was really into cartoons and Beanie Babies as a kid, and there were some other early furry indicators. But I consider that commercial the spark that lit my furry fire ^!^


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## TheMountainOfDinosaurs (Dec 24, 2021)

I found out I was a furry it was in 2014 because of FNAF


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## Blushroom (Dec 25, 2021)

TheMountainOfDinosaurs said:


> I found out I was a furry it was in 2014 because of FNAF


Good ol FNAF. That started up just as I removed myself from the furry fandom.


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## MosquitoBeest (Jan 1, 2022)

Someone I talked with on Discord started posting photos of their sona so I started wondering what animal I would be and began a search lol. Pretty simple for me, really.


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## Yakamaru (Jan 1, 2022)

didnt know you traveled as a furry.


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## Savarin_Divin (Jan 1, 2022)

I had been. . . 


Spoiler: This game








 My art is a mostly furry thing not even knowing about the fandom my art didn't even look like sonic art btw. I was far too young only reason stopped back then was not because I was being made fun of or anything. I drop it thinking I need to grow up and draw people. So drawing since 3 or 4 furry art until I had to go into the 6th grade. I used to draw dragons, tigers, pandas, ect  anthro types. Dropped it and came back and unknown again made my first fursona in the 8th-grade people did not seem to care about everyone, really like my art no matter what I drew. Drop it again to pick up again 11 grade knowing the fandom join FA some point I think 2016. . .then drop it again. . . I also lost that account. . .here I am with a new sona. lol That's my story in a nutshell.  :3


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## I want a furry of my own (Jan 2, 2022)

It all started searching for Gardevoir pics, then day by day I found more.


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## PupBoogieB (Jan 3, 2022)

Just like many of my interest, I discovered this aspect of my life very late. I've kinda known I was at the very least curious about the fandom, but didn't know how to go about it. I have Friends who have more knowledge and once I felt comfortable enough to disclose my interest to them that's where it started. My whole life I've known I was different and just recently started actively exploring, This side of me in particular. It's a new extension of me I'm navigating, I have a lot to learn, but at least I'm not afraid of what others may think or how they feel about it. I have a wonderful partner who understands my complexed life and friends of every community that's very supportive.


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## BadRoy (Jan 5, 2022)

Lol. My 'furry journey' began when my old friend Gandalf arrived and told me to bring _The One Wing UwU_ to Rivendell.


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## NickyMage (Jan 10, 2022)

Zootopia was a major influence when I was younger and after that I remember having daydreams of being a character from that movie, basically being half-animal. I was about 13 when I heard some people at school mention furries and it piqued my curiosity, but I didn't look into them until like January of 2019 lol. That's when I first considered myself a furry once I found some art. I made my first sona soon after that, a green fox named Nova.


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## Ash Sukea (Jan 11, 2022)

I remember 
the lion in the red sports car on the cover of a Richard Scary book.
The dogs in Go Dog Go.
Puss in Boots.
The dog character in the Fisher Price Little People play sets.
Preferring to play the dog or cat when I played ‘house’.
Various Disney and Don Bluth animated movies.
Dragonriders of Pern books.
Redwall books.
Chanur’s Legacy.
And other books with anthro or intelligent animals or Weres.
Werewolf the Apocalypse and Coyles in Paladium.

But at what point did I say “yes I am a furry/Therian” I can’t say.


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## Matt the Terrier (Jan 12, 2022)

Krypto the Superdog and. . .The Danger Rangers is what turned me into being a furry. "Over the Hedge" and "Madagascar" may have helped too.


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## usman2k_us (Jan 22, 2022)

By watching space jam 1


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## BluefoxLongtail (Jan 22, 2022)

A lot of late 90s, early 00s media with anthropomorphic animals definitely spoke to me, especially _Blinx: The Time Sweeper_ which was an XBox exclusive videogame with anthro cats and pigs, but when I really said "I'm a furry." or at least knew that furry was a thing was when I was talking with a friend and he said something like, "Oh, so you're a furry?"


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## Baron Tredegar (Jan 22, 2022)

Guardians of Ga'hoole and Lego Chima started me down this path. Later on Wings of Fire sealed my fate. Dungeons and Dragons races also contributed and it was from researching rpg material I found the fandom.


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## GagePatoineFORUMS (Jan 23, 2022)

it's pretty complicated, but here's how i think it went:

i was sitting at some random computer in a place i lived at at the time, and got introduced to foot tickling, specifically with Sonic fanart. i was 6 when it happened. sure enough, i got hooked, but my comments i made said NO to it. Sonic Dreams Collection got me further into the rabbit hole, specifically with a 4 second moment where you tickle Sonic's feet in My Roommate Sonic.

sure enough, in 2019, i got introduced to FA, and every other fetish (starting with ABDL). yet again, my comments said no to the fetishes. oh how cringe i was back then.

but now, i'm... not really a furry, but i'm very VERY kind to them now, and if i hate a piece of art, i keep my thoughts to myself (excluding really REALLY bad pieces of art-)


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## WeAreOneArt (Apr 29, 2022)

I was introduced to the Furry Community via The Lion King Community.


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## Pixachu (Apr 29, 2022)

Star Fox Assault released when I was 11 and it made me feel things. Then 2 years later I'd stumble upon the r34 of it and all the other talking-animal IPs I'd grown up with and the rest was history.

But in all honesty I wasn't introduced to the actual furry community until 2009 through YouTube users FurryFoxee and Pippy1994 and their furry OCs as they opened me up to Deviantart, which in turn led me to FurAffinity and lots of furry RP forums, all of which I'd really get into in 2011

My interest in the community died down with the death of basically all RP forums in 2016, as IM apps like Discord and Telegram just aren't the same, but I'll always love furry art and I'm eternally grateful for them single-handedly restoring my drive to make more art of my own.


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## Agent_Awassi (Apr 29, 2022)

I use to be the type of person to jump in the "haha furries bad" band wagon
I think it was gmod creator Kitty0706 who "furpilled" me so to speak... rest his soul
Other contributors include playing a Khajit in Skyrim "as a joke"


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## Luxibutt (Apr 29, 2022)

My friend was introduced into the fandom by her boyfriend at the time. We were chatting and she said that I should make a fursona. At first, I was like, 'No way' and 'no' but after a while I decided to make one after her asking me again and again. So I made my fursona. A sheep/panther. The side of me that was shy and the panther was the striking part of me. I still love my fursona to this day and wish I could squrriel away more money to get more art. That'll be in the future.


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## x_eleven (May 3, 2022)

I've been a Furry for as long as I can remember. For Halloween, my favorite costumes were animals. Fast forward to 31 October, 2003: this is when _CSI_ showed THE infamous "Fur and Loathing" episode. By the time it was over, I was doing searches, all the while thinking: "Please let this be for real". Got back a lot of hits, found THAT article from _Vanity Fair_ that mentioned "Ohio Furs". Being from Ohio, that was most fortunate. Attended my first furmeet within two days.

It wasn't so much "becoming" a Furry, just the realization: "Oh, so that's what it's called"


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## zandelux (May 3, 2022)

x_eleven said:


> I've been a Furry for as long as I can remember. For Halloween, my favorite costumes were animals. Fast forward to 31 October, 2003: this is when _CSI_ showed THE infamous "Fur and Loathing" episode. By the time it was over, I was doing searches, all the while thinking: "Please let this be for real". Got back a lot of hits, found THAT article from _Vanity Fair_ that mentioned "Ohio Furs". Being from Ohio, that was most fortunate. Attended my first furmeet within two days.
> 
> It wasn't so much "becoming" a Furry, just the realization: "Oh, so that's what it's called"


Most of us have spent so much time trying to undo the damage that "Fur and Loathing" did to the community, but it never occurred to me that the episode also brought people into the community. So uh... maybe it balances out?


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## fluidiity (May 9, 2022)

Lion King. 100% the Lion King, and I never really acknowledged until I was older. I feel like I ended up learning this about myself so late, and the word "furry" wasn't really a nice thing or seen as anything but pervy or weird when I was a kid, so I avoided labelling myself as such.


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## Lynar (May 9, 2022)

Man, 8 year old me looked up to her so much lmaoo


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## ferretsage (May 10, 2022)

Was attracted to Hank McCoy as a young teen. Went to find more Hank McCoy content on Netscape. Never came back.


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## PortalTheFurry (May 10, 2022)

I'd had always liked the prospect of being an animal that could stand and talk as a kid, but this movie definately awakened something in me. I did come research and bata-boom bata-bing, I'm a furry.


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## Mambi (May 11, 2022)

ferretsage said:


> Was attracted to Hank McCoy as a young teen. Went to find more Hank McCoy content on Netscape. Never came back.


You mean the X-man Beast?


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## ferretsage (May 12, 2022)

Mambi said:


> You mean the X-man Beast?


The old 90s cartoon I watched as a kid addressed Beast more by his real name. I thought that was pretty neat.


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## Minerva_Minx (May 12, 2022)

Sorceress in He-Man, Sunni in Gunni Bears, Lionheart in Care Bears, Cheetara in Thundercats, Robin Hood (fetching fox), Get Along Gang, Bagheera in Jungle Book, practically everything in the Disney afternoon line up...

All the good cartoons were what would be furries.  And they were awesome.

Then I met a were furry in my 20s, he bit me, and now once a month I become human.


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## x_eleven (May 15, 2022)

zandelux said:


> Most of us have spent so much time trying to undo the damage that "Fur and Loathing" did to the community, but it never occurred to me that the episode also brought people into the community. So uh... maybe it balances out?


The only bad publicity is no publicity. I know someone who joined up due to seeing _Sex 2K_'s "Plushies and Furries", and that one was a helluvalot worse than "Fur and Loathing".

It works both ways, actually. F&L couldn't do much damage anyway. Those who weren't interested remained not interested, and those who were could find out the truth anyway.


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## greygamora (Sep 5, 2022)

Joined a minecraft server, one moderator had a youtube channel and I decided to check it out. He had a 2nd channel that was furry themed, primarily furry history. I kinda spiraled from there and here I am spending way more time on this than I should.


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## PercyD (Sep 5, 2022)

While I loved Lion King, the Secret of Nimm,  and I was poking around in the old web circles back in the day, what really did it was the PokeMorph AU.
They were basically anthropomorphic pokemon furries. Thats what really did it.


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## Bababooey (Sep 5, 2022)

Foxridley said:


> Probably the earliest furry influence I had was the Don Bluth movie _Rock-a-Doodl_e, wherein the main character gets turned into a cat. From there, I started getting interested in the idea of turning into an animal.


Omg. I haven't seen that movie since I was little but I remember being fascinated by the concept and I'd drive my mom crazy singing one of the songs.

Speaking of transforming into an animal, at probably around the same time, I was also fascinated with that scene from Pinocchio where that kid turned into a donkey. I played it over and over. While many kids were somewhat traumatized by the part where he cried for his mama, that was my favorite part.

I was a very strange kid.


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## bluezcherry (Sep 6, 2022)

I used to be OBSESSED with the supernatural and such. Goosebumps was my fave. I know that sounds like a weird start but hang on.
My favorite creatures in the supernatural? Werewolves. I was definitely That Wolf Kid at my school. I also had a thing for spies and intrigue, even if I preferred heroes with actual powers rather than Batman style characters at the time. I briefly was into Warrior Cats, but was always more into Animorphs, which makes sense, considering it involved powers and transformation. 
Later, I moved on, becoming more obsessed with Steven Universe and the like. Still powers, but getting more into modern cartoons, still on the superpowers and magic, less on the transformation and furries.
Years later, in 2017, I got recommended the Ducktales reboot, much to the excitement of many people in my cartoon obsessed sphere. It looked fantastic, if a bit odd to me as the only duckverse thing I was exposed to as a child was The Goofy Movie. (I was more of a Loony Tunes kid) I then promptly became obsessed, and devoured anything I could get my hands on. I still haven't watched much of the original Ducktales, but I enjoyed DT17 up to a point, and then wandered off into Italian comics, fanworks, and then, Darkwing Duck. That one... that one really hooked me. I appreciated Batman style characters much more then. 
That was one of the earliest times I produced my sona, Mechanical, as a character who wanted to be apart of the villain crew, but had an enormous crush on Launchpad. 
So it's been a bit of a journey. But a fun one!


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