Mio
So, apparently some people, cough my boyfriend cough, don't understand that there is a difference between furries and anthropomorphic animals. Disclaimer: I have absolutely NO HATE for furries. I apologize if I get a bit angry or carried away, and I come off as hating them or something. Also… FAIR WARNING: THIS IS A VERY LONG RANT. I AM SORRY. IT'S BASICALLY A LESSON. AND, I BEG YOU, PLEASE READ ALL OF IT. YOU MAY LEARN SOMETHING YOU CAN USE IN YOUR STORIES. Thank you.
So, I see furries as people who want to be animals, so they dress up to say that they are that animal or to feel like they are that animal. I do know quite a few furries in real life; a couple are my friends. One, unfortunately, has a terrible mind set that "If you like a talking animal character in a cartoon-" so, like Periwinkle from Blue's Clues or a My Little Pony or even any character from The Lion King "-then you are a furry." I find this completely aggravating and untrue. I can like a talking animal character without being a furry. I do love several characters like that; I grew up watching Disney. But, I don't dress up and want to be an animal. I might wear cat ears sometimes, but that's just me trying to be cute.
Anthropomorphic animals are animals with human characteristics. So, like Jake from Adventure Time or (I'm going to say…) most any character from Chowder or Rocket Racoon from Guardians of the Galaxy. They are animals that are more human like in the sense that they can walk talk and do different things like humans, but they don't look like humans. They still have fur, and they still have the same animal face and tail. These are races! (Races are different types of intelligent creatures, so nothing like a dog from real life. We're talking elves, dwarfs, humans, aliens, ect.) These are even in things like Dungeons and Dragons; my father has a character that is of the Kitsune race. (So, an anthropomorphic fox.)
Unlike what some, cough my boyfriend cough, think, anthropomorphic animals ARE NOT furries. Is Rocket Racoon a furry? No, he didn't even want to be an anthropomorphic racoon, but, due to some experiments, he became one. It is simply what he is. He still acts like any other character would. In the same sense, you wouldn't call Mickey Mouse a furry either. He simply just is a walking talking mouse.
I do believe, that if a character purposely changes themself to be an anthropomorphic animal (but it is not for a specific purpose, like sacrifice or they're forced or it's a convenience at the time or for some sort of power) then they are a furry. Like, if they change just so " 'Hey, guys. Look at me! I'm a fox now!' dances the running man" They are a furry in my opinion. If your character can not find an important or useful reason to become an anthropomorphic animal, then I will think they are a furry. But, this may be up to your opinion.
While I'm on this topic, Let me introduce the term zoomorphic. Yup, add it to your dictionaries everyone. It's when a human (Dwarf, elf, any other extremely basic race) has animal characteristics. So, like those adorable cat girls in anime. They've got their cute little cat ears and tails, and they act like cats. But, zoomorphics don't have to have animal parts like tails or ears; they can not have the parts but still growl like a dog would or something.
"But, Isabel! You said Kitsune are an anthropomorphic animal race! I've always know them as humans with fox ears and tales!" I hear you reader; allow me to explain. There are Kitsune like in Dungeons and Dragons, where they have fur and tails and fox faces. These are anthropomorphic. Then, there are Kitsune like in anime, where they have human faces and bodies but also fox ears and tails. These are zoomorphic. They are both called the same, because they are both similar and it would be difficult to keep up with different names for similar races. Some, do have different names though. Like the Khajiit in Skyrim are anthropomorphic cats. But, nekos are zoomorphic (usually) humans that are cat based. We just have to know what the differences are, and it'll help us keep them separate when there aren't separate names that we know of.
One last fact thing! (Hopefully…) Werewolves, or anything like werewolves. I'm not talking about animal shifters, who can change from a zoomorphic person that acts like an animal to an actual animal. There is a difference. Animal shifters are like vampires; they are zoomorphic (usually) humans based on bats that turn into actual bats. I'm talking about anthropomorphic shifters, who can change from a zoomorphic person who acts like an animal to an anthropomorphic animal. Werewolves are anthropomorphic shifters; they are zoomorphic (usually) humans based on wolves that turn into anthropomorphic wolves, wolves that stand on two legs and (depending on the story) can act human. There are also reverse anthropomorphic shifters, like the worgen from World of Warcraft. They change from anthropomorphic (in this case) wolves to zoomorphic (in this case) humans that act a bit like wolves. I wanted to clarify this now, while I was going over all of this.
It really aggravated me that my boyfriend miscalled an anthropomorphic race "just furries". He also was criticizing me for wanting to play as the race in a video game, asking, "Do you really want to play as the furry race?" If I do play as it, it's because I like the animal. And, I will be playing as the race, playing the game as them to get their story line. A furry may just play as the race, because they want to be the animal. They may not put aside being an animal for the quest line. They may just run around, imagining their own story. I understand that; I've done it with just plain human video game characters before.
I am supper sorry for this whole rant, long lesson, or whatever you want to call it. Besides wanting to get a load off my chest, I also thought this information may be beneficial to everyone. I don't know how many people will actually read all of this, but, if you did, then thank you. You really are awesome. Good luck writing everyone.
