# 'Human faced' sonas.



## Sivath (Jun 24, 2017)

Are non anthropomorphic sonas, that is, human faced sonas valid in your opinion?

When someone says 'I feel like I am a purple wolf', that is their fursona.
But when someone says 'I feel like I am a humanoid alien', or 'I feel like I have foxtails and ears', what does that count as?
Are they to be taken as less serious than animal fursonas?
Are they a furry at all? Or are they to be considered as Otherkin?
(I don't know much about otherkin. My friend was an angelkin, and from what I observed, he seemed to believe he was actually part angel. Other kin seems to be actually more like a community.. or even a religion than a fandom)


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## Casey Fluffbat (Jun 24, 2017)

I don't know a whole lot about this, but neko is a term often used to describe relatively human characters with animal ears and or tails. Furry? Euhh maybe not.


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## kidchameleon (Jun 24, 2017)

Personally, I feel like there's a sliding scale of anthropomorphism, and I don't think there are any hard and fast rules as to where a character should be for them to be deemed "furry". I mean, if a full-on feral can be considered furry, why not someone on the other end of the scale? As long as there's a recognizable animal element to them, I don't think it's on anyone but the creator/artist to decide whether it's "furry" or not.

Also, I hate it when people use the term "Neko" that way. It means CAT for goodness sake! XD How did it become such a popular term when it doesn't even make sense? >_<


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## Sivath (Jun 25, 2017)

kidchameleon said:


> Also, I hate it when people use the term "Neko" that way. It means CAT for goodness sake! XD How did it become such a popular term when it doesn't even make sense? >_<


Oh god, me too. One of those irksome things when you speak at least a bit of the language, and another language takes it and uses it as another meaning.
In Japan they call those Nekomimi. Which means Cat ears.


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## WolfNightV4X1 (Jun 25, 2017)

Ears and tails are usually neko, theyre kind of a humanpersona with animal-like traits (ears and tail) , and I've also seen aliens and humanoids, for sure. I've known someone who has one fof both types, too.

...and these people are 100% furry because they say they are, their character is in some vein "anthropomorphized", and they like cartoon animals. There is no hardset rule to how to furry.

As for otherkin, that is more literal than fictional, an otherkin is someone who identifies as "x" and represents themselves as such, this doesn't always imply that each person with a humanized or alien character is going to be otherkin.


In both regards, furry and otherkin are simply what they are because they say there are.


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## WolfNightV4X1 (Jun 25, 2017)

kidchameleon said:


> Also, I hate it when people use the term "Neko" that way. It means CAT for goodness sake! XD How did it become such a popular term when it doesn't even make sense? >_<



I actually like the term, it makes sense to me...and I'm aware the term means "cat" in Japanese, I think there was a lexical gap when communicating human characters with animal traits, so someone substituted the Japanese word for "cat" (i.e, nekos having catlike traits). I feel like they're two words now depending on context and usage, one of which was an adapted word based on the root idea of the old word.


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## ellaerna (Jun 25, 2017)

I don't speak Japanese, so forgive me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the proper term for a human character with animal ears/tail be "kemonomimi"?
Anyway, I agree with the others that it's a bit of a spectrum. As always, it's up to the person if they want to call it furry or not, but a catgirl is as much a furry as a feral feline as far as characters go. 
There's also art of aliens and plant people and video game species on the main site, so really anything goes.


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## kidchameleon (Jun 25, 2017)

ellaerna said:


> I don't speak Japanese, so forgive me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the proper term for a human character with animal ears/tail be "kemonomimi"?
> Anyway, I agree with the others that it's a bit of a spectrum. As always, it's up to the person if they want to call it furry or not, but a catgirl is as much a furry as a feral feline as far as characters go.
> There's also art of aliens and plant people and video game species on the main site, so really anything goes.


Probably. I'm asuming Neko is so prolific because for the longest time the main source of anthropomorphic characters coming out of Japan (through various anime/manga) were cat girls. Lots and lots of catgirls. And at that point "Neko" made sense as a contraction of the more accurate term, because English-speaking people are dumb when it comes to pronouncing foreign words and I guess the first four letters were all we could cope with. And also we tend to appropriate Japanese words in ways that really miss the point... like the whole "Otaku" thing.

The issue for me is that even now the term is used as some weird sort of umbrella term that's just... completely inaccurate. It'd be like calling all dog fursonas scalies because one or two happen to be dog-lizards, or calling all furries kočka, because a few people started doing it, and dismissing it as "well it sounds cool so who cares what it *actually *means".

*accidental rant over*

Also, I don't care whether people think they qualify as furries or not - I absolutely love seeing plant people. Flora need some love too! XD


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## ellaerna (Jun 25, 2017)

kidchameleon said:


> Also, I don't care whether people think they qualify as furries or not - I absolutely love seeing plant people. Flora need some love too! XD


Oh, me too! Some of them can be absolutely stunning!


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## Sergei Sóhomo (Jun 25, 2017)

kidchameleon said:


> Personally, I feel like there's a sliding scale of anthropomorphism, and I don't think there are any hard and fast rules as to where a character should be for them to be deemed "furry". I mean, if a full-on feral can be considered furry, why not someone on the other end of the scale? As long as there's a recognizable animal element to them, I don't think it's on anyone but the creator/artist to decide whether it's "furry" or not.
> 
> Also, I hate it when people use the term "Neko" that way. It means CAT for goodness sake! XD How did it become such a popular term when it doesn't even make sense? >_<


You talking this scale?


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## kidchameleon (Jun 25, 2017)

Sergei Sóhomo said:


> You talking this scale?


Funny, I don't remember it looking *quite *like that...


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## Sergei Sóhomo (Jun 25, 2017)

kidchameleon said:


> Funny, I don't remember it looking *quite *like that...








Better?


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## kidchameleon (Jun 25, 2017)

Sergei Sóhomo said:


> Better?



Definitely 

...wait, why is 3 wearing a skirt but no top? You either need clothes or you don't ffs - make your mind up! XD


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## Dongding (Jun 25, 2017)

For her umm *ahem*.


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## WolfNightV4X1 (Jun 26, 2017)

kidchameleon said:


> Definitely
> 
> ...wait, why is 3 wearing a skirt but no top? You either need clothes or you don't ffs - make your mind up! XD



Vintage Minnie Mouse


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## WolfNightV4X1 (Jun 26, 2017)

Sergei Sóhomo said:


> Better?



Well...while on the subject, there's a 100 different variations of the furry scale meme


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## Zyren_EX (Jun 26, 2017)

I think if they are something other than human (e.g., alien, monster, mythical beast, shape shifter, etc.) then yeah they could be considered furry if they wish to be. As long as their is a beast/non-human feel to them then sure. However if they are super humanoid character (like fairies, elfs, human form robots, etc.) OR are actually calling themselves a human w/whatever attached then that would infer they are human or at the very most Neko. Not a furry. Right? Idk... that's just how I see it.


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## Sergei Sóhomo (Jun 26, 2017)

Zyren_EX said:


> I think if they are something other than human (e.g., alien, monster, mythical beast, shape shifter, etc.) then yeah they could be considered furry if they wish to be. As long as their is a beast/non-human feel to them then sure. However if they are super humanoid character (like fairies, elfs, human form robots, etc.) OR are actually calling themselves a human w/whatever attached then that would infer they are human or at the very most Neko. Not a furry. Right? Idk... that's just how I see it.



What if my 'sona is a human who _believes _he's a wolf on the inside, but is just a human?

What would that be classified as?


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## kidchameleon (Jun 26, 2017)

Sergei Sóhomo said:


> What if my 'sona is a human who _believes _he's a wolf on the inside, but is just a human?
> 
> What would that be classified as?


Delusion, according to my therapist.


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## Zyren_EX (Jun 26, 2017)

Sergei Sóhomo said:


> What if my 'sona is a human who _believes _he's a wolf on the inside, but is just a human?
> 
> What would that be classified as?



I believe that's called Otherkin.


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## Sergei Sóhomo (Jun 26, 2017)

kidchameleon said:


> Delusion, according to my therapist.





Zyren_EX said:


> I believe that's called Otherkin.



I am now conflicted


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## MoguMoguArt (Jul 4, 2017)

I myself had a mostly human sona *points at avatar*
But at one point i wanted to go full furry so i made her into an actual rat rather than a Nezumimi (Rat ears)

In my opinion there shouldn't be a right or wrong when creating a character but i do think that mostly humanoid characters wouldn't directly be concidered a full fursona.

Oh by the way doesn't otherkin specifically mean people who believe they are mystical creatures?


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## Amidatii (Jul 5, 2017)

The only thing that offputs me is when mostly animal fursonas have mismatched and obviously human hair.


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## Sivath (Jul 6, 2017)

Amidatii said:


> The only thing that offputs me is when mostly animal fursonas have mismatched and obviously human hair.


Same, to be honest.


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## BloodyBonez87 (Jul 14, 2017)

A human-faced sona in my opinion is somewhere between a furry and an anime character along the lines of Holo from Spice and wolf.


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## KiokuChan (Jul 30, 2017)

I often see them called anthros, and I would consider them that myself. That said that of course does not mean you can't have a character be one, nor does it mean can't be in the furry fandom if you have a character that is one.


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## JamesOtters (Aug 20, 2017)

Last post was Jul 30, so pump some life into this thread.

IDK, because my fursona is Full Furry, an Otter. He can stand, but otters can stand IRL. He walks like an otter and stuff. I think a Human Fursona might count. It feels as if you are simulating yourself, but IDK.


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## Azrion/Zhalo (Aug 20, 2017)

When it's a tiger that has the face of a human and all the stripes and stuff on their face, then I find it just "why"

But when they're mostly human with ears and a tail, then I won't classify them as anthro, just humans with weird tastes


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