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[Gormless Noodle]

How is Dust sexualized?

full on sexualized animal territory as a cursory Google Image Search will illuminate.

That's more or less a good case of what I was alluding to in my OP. The sexual part of the furry fandom influencing someone into thinking that there is something there of a sexual nature, while there isn't. Or at the very least isn't meant as anything more than comedic as was the case with the dancing scene on the Sly Cooper game for example.

People name Dust and Solatorobo as sexualised but what it comes down to, I think at least, is that those are cases where the anthropomorphic creatures are more human by design vs something like Khajiit or the (original SNES) Starfox crew, which are more animal by design. The first being something that people now believe is supposed to be sexually attractive or pandering to a certain target audience which in consequence means it becomes disturbing to them, where the latter would be more neutral and as you can see throughout this thread, is generally more liked.

 

[Red Chocobo]

the dancing scene on the Sly Cooper

Best use of the sixaxis. Ever.

 

[IvorB]

I thought "furry" related only to porn.

 

[Glass Shark]

.

 

[Creaking]

Best use of the sixaxis. Ever.

 

[Dice]

Whatever Dust is, that is repulsive. Sonic or Star Fox are different and okay.

It is hard to explain, just like "legit anime" and "western nerds trying to make manga" anime. I can't describe to you what makes it so, but it's like a whole different world, clear as day to me. The DeviantArt argument is just a different way of describing this rift, but there are some legit artists on there so it doesn't really work either. To me there are certain styles that are just devoid of any appealing qualities whatsoever. They feel like abject shit, and at times it is hard to tell if that is because they are, or because those styles were so often associated with abject shit.

 

[Snkfanatic]

If the design is good (Klonoa, Sonic, Blinx, Rachet) It guarantees a look from me either by box art or gameplay videos.

If the design is bad (Crash, Jack, Sly cooper, Donkey Kong, star fox, Rayman) then I'll dismiss it unless the game is amazing (new Spyro games)

Wut....Donkey Kong's design is bad? How dare you!

 

[Boss Doggie]

That's more with artstyle being bad and not the art being fetishized.

 

[Red Chocobo]

I thought "furry" related only to porn.

Nope. Porn is actually a really small part of it (No more than any other fandom)

But sadly, the media always focus on that side because it's more sensationalist and entertaining.

I'm a moderator on the UK's biggest furry forum, and we've had the media contact us specifically asking for people who are into the sexual side. It's pretty bad. It's all they care about.

 

[zroid]

uh...... no

 

[ChamplooJones]

If the design is good (Klonoa, Sonic, Blinx, Rachet) It guarantees a look from me either by box art or gameplay videos.

If the design is bad (Crash, Jack, Sly cooper, Donkey Kong, star fox, Rayman) then I'll dismiss it unless the game is amazing (new Spyro games)

I'll give you Crash, as for the others...

 

[Village]

Whatever Dust is, that is repulsive. Sonic or Star Fox are different and okay.

It is hard to explain, just like "legit anime" and "western nerds trying to make manga" anime. I can't describe to you what makes it so, but it's like a whole different world, clear as day to me. The DeviantArt argument is just a different way of describing this rift, but there are some legit artists on there so it doesn't really work either. To me there are certain styles that are just devoid of any appealing qualities whatsoever. They feel like abject shit, and at times it is hard to tell if that is because they are, or because those styles were so often associated with abject shit.

There is no difference, you dislike bad art.

I suppose that is a difference, but that difference has nothing to do with it being anthropomorphic, you just dislike bad art.
And while I enjoy the game, the character art in dust is downright awful, i know saying " I can do better than that" now is rather null and void, because its increasingly becoming more of my profession to do so. I attempted to rectify, at least in my head what i found wrong with the designs.

 

[MagnaderAlpha]

What's wrong with "sexual deviants"?

That's my real question. The OP is like, "I'm not sayin all furries are sexual deviants..." - so what is wrong with sexual deviants? Why should "sexual deviant" be an insult of some kind?
Sexual deviant isn't synonymous with "sex offender", or "rapist", or "dangerous individual" or whatever.

This! I think things like Furries are given a bad rap, and I'm by no way a furry, but well, whatever floats your boat. As long as it's not hurting anybody or malicious and heinous in any way, feel free to express yourself. I think Furries are an easy target because they are considered outside of the social norm, not among the status quo of what is considered "acceptable", but in all truth, everybody has some sort of sexual fantasies. We all act like we don't, but we do, even STRANGE ones that, if we tell others, they might look at us funny. We know that, so we pretend we are what the popular consensus deems "normal" and join in with laughing at those who are brave enough to stand up and proclaim their secret fantasies. It's like a constant war with ourselves, the whole bit about everybody having two sides, the side they show for the public and their TRUE side. The thing is, people can say, "Yeah, this IS my true side! I let it all out. I have no secrets and this is who I am!", but in the end of the day, only YOU truly know if that is a fact.

 

[Silvawuff]

I think people who find something to be of an erotic nature are only proclaiming so because they choose to view it as erotic. Art is truly in the eyes of the beholder.

I don't see anything sexual about Dust, in any of the character design. If anything, it's quite conservative and is a nod to something you'd see in, say, a Saturday morning cartoon series.

Sure, you can Google up Noogy's past work. Some may find art of risque anthropomorphic characters if that's what they're hunting for, or they can find a budding artist working on creative design and anatomy using animal characters as a muse. We grew up in a golden era where many animated films of our time had anthropomorphic animals as characters, and those in turn became inspiration for the next generation of artists and creative content designers.

Those of you on a witch hunt to find the weird sexual side of the furry fandom will find it, but I think you're missing something more important if you won't play a game because of this -- a choice you can make for yourself to view something as art instead of implied deviance presented by one of the most unreliable information sources on the planet.

 

[charsace]

The internet really ruined anthro cartoon characters. Because no one had an issue with them until AOL took off. That's when I really noticed all the furry hate. And the definition of furry has been twisted to include all anthro characters when that isn't the case. I've played Dust. That isn't furry.

 

[IvorB]

Nope. Porn is actually a really small part of it (No more than any other fandom)

But sadly, the media always focus on that side because it's more sensationalist and entertaining.

I'm a moderator on the UK's biggest furry forum, and we've had the media contact us specifically asking for people who are into the sexual side. It's pretty bad. It's all they care about.

Oh right. Thanks for the intel!

 

[IvorB]

This! I think things like Furries are given a bad rap, and I'm by no way a furry, but well, whatever floats your boat. As long as it's not hurting anybody or malicious and heinous in any way, feel free to express yourself. I think Furries are an easy target because they are considered outside of the social norm, not among the status quo of what is considered "acceptable", but in all truth, everybody has some sort of sexual fantasies. We all act like we don't, but we do, even STRANGE ones that, if we tell others, they might look at us funny. We know that, so we pretend we are what the popular consensus deems "normal" and join in with laughing at those who are brave enough to stand up and proclaim their secret fantasies. It's like a constant war with ourselves, the whole bit about everybody having two sides, the side they show for the public and their TRUE side. The thing is, people can say, "Yeah, this IS my true side! I let it all out. I have no secrets and this is who I am!", but in the end of the day, only YOU truly know if that is a fact.

I think furry porn is cute. It's pretty tame compared to some of the weird stuff out there.

 

[Glass Rebel]

This thread makes me want to check out Blacksad.

 

[KDR_11k]

Say what you want about weird porn but it's still safer than autoerotic asphyxiation.

 

[Boss Doggie]

This thread makes me want to check out Blacksad.

Yes, do it!

While you're at it check out Grandville too! Both are award-winning series!

 

[joe2187]

I always thought Mario was a furry, always dressing up as a tanooki a penguin, a koopa, a flying squirrel, even a frog and a racoon a giant honey bee and now freaking fuzzy cat. And then there's his massive foot fetish what with jumping around all over the place in a giant boot with his nose stuffed inside of it.

 

[Glass Rebel]

Yes, do it!

While you're at it check out Grandville too! Both are award-winning series!

I'm just checking whether I can get the French versions or if I should go with the German or the English ones.

 

[Boss Doggie]

I'm just checking whether I can get the French versions or if I should go with the German or the English ones.

The localization is top notch and they don't censor stuff, so you can go either. With that said, the books always come out in French first.

I always thought Mario was a furry, always dressing up as a tanooki a penguin, a koopa, a flying squirrel, even a frog and a racoon a giant honey bee and now freaking fuzzy cat. And then there's his massive foot fetish what with jumping around all over the place in a giant boot with his nose stuffed inside of it.

He pretty much is.

 

[Nowhere Man]

It makes me more interested. The animal characters were the reason I played Dust (even if the art style of the character portraits was pretty terrible). I would have been interested in the game either way since I love metroidvanias but if it had human characters it would have gone into my massive list of games "I want to play but probably never will". The animal characters pushed it to the top and I got it the first time it was discounted on Steam. Ditto for Solatorobo, that was the main reason I wanted to play it. I wish a lot more games used them, especially action/adventure and RPGs.

 

[Green Wiggly]

I like werewolves and ninja turtles, I just don't need to see them getting it on.

 

[Boss Doggie]

 

[Glass Rebel]

Are Bangaa anthropomorphic?

I'm not an expert.

The localization is top notch and they don't censor stuff, so you can go either. With that said, the books always come out in French first.

Yeah, I found a comic book store nearby that's selling them. Since I kinda want to brush up my French, I thought I could start with this.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Bangaas are pretty much lizardmen. So yeah.

And neat! Mind you, despite being sequels, they follow an achromatic time, so they're not necessarily happen next to each other. Only thing that remained consistent is that Weekly, Blacksad's sidekick, gets introduced in 2.

 

[AcceptableGhost]

i dont remember this thread being the furrygaf ot

 

[shysaursoft]

Well, since you're here, may as well get comfortable:

 

[Midou]

Sonic I don't mind, Dust makes me feel a bit uncomfortable, and that Solatorobo is a bit much. It just gives me this awkward sickening kind of feeling, not cause of the porn, just because it looks human but looks off.

Like no offence to Farrow, but his avatar creeps me the fuck out. Again, not in the pornographic way, I can deal with the discomfort just fine at thread level, but some games push me into zone of discomfort.

I love animal crossing, but they don't really look 'human' at all.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Also Japan seems to be big on putting them in RPGs back in early to mid 90's. Nowadays is just gijinka shit.

 

[HolyBaikal]

I think that furry or anthropomorphic designs are interesting. The whole hatred of them seems mean. And completely silly. Even when it comes to the fetish there's nothing wrong with it. Of all of the sexuality for people to hate and be mean towards, furry doesn't make much sense to me. And most furries aren't even into the sexualization aspect, anyway.

Character design would be limited and not as varied and diverse if all characters looked exactly like humans. And animals give people inspiration all of the time. Leonardo da Vinci came up with ideas for planes from birds. And have continued to inspire religions and sciences for thousands of years. People have created spirit animals and animals are a very important part of animism and shamanism. And people are continuing to draw inspiration from technology from animals.

I'm not truly either a fan of furry characters or not a fan. I'm a fan in so much as I like adding variety to character design. But I generally view them about the same as human characters.

I tend to like cute character designs, not humans or furries. There is plenty of furry art and characters I like. And there is plenty of furry art and characters I don't like. I like Klonoa and the cast of the Klonoa games, for instance. While many of the Sonic franchise characters and character designs, I'm not so fond of.

Final Fantasy IX used a lot of furry and other anthropomorphic characters. And I thought the game was better and more interesting for it.

 

[NEO0MJ]

Also Japan seems to be big on putting them in RPGs back in early to mid 90's. Nowadays is just gijinka shit.

Well, there's Gafka from Radiant Historia.

 

[Glass Rebel]

Also Japan seems to be big on putting them in RPGs back in early to mid 90's. Nowadays is just gijinka shit.

Don't forget about Kimahri Ronso!

 

[Boss Doggie]

Most of them are a minority now. Remember back then in BoF where you have random furry NPCs because why the fuck not? It's a fantasy game and damn it, we're not humans only!

 

[Wonko_C]

Are characters like Felicia or Katt, Yellow Iris (all of them Capcom characters, hmm...) or the main characters from Thundercats 2011 show considered furry? Because I see a lot of people here talking about being creeped out by the more human faces, but never mention those, mostly Sine Mora or Solatorobo, (I feel like those still don't look human-like enough, though). Those designs have generally human faces with stripes, pointy ears, and cat-like eyes, and unfortunately (IMO) it's the least common. I'm more weirded out by the human bodies with animal heads that are the norm.

EDIT: *Avatarquotes himself for having a dude with a bird head.*

For those who don't know it's actually a character from a very old comic strip, that's still being published today in Latin America, I loved reading it during my childhood, it had some very funny jokes.

 

[KimonoNoNo]

Nope got no problem here.

I bought Dust on steam and thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to whatever Noogy does next.

The way I see it haters on the internet see "furies" as an easy target, but as far as I'm concerned if consenting adults get off by dressing up as rabbits who's it harming?

 

[Roland1979]

I own this (hopefully still in some box). Long time since i opened it (if i still have it). Memories.

 

[Zephyx]

No. But it influences how much I like the game.

For platforming, fighting or action games, it really doesn't bother me.

For RPGs, it's OK if there's a lore explaining the origin of those or it's a fantasy setup. But for some emotionally attaching scenes, if the main character or the target of the scene is an animal-derivative, I find it hard to connect with him/her. It kinda ruins the experience when that happens.

 

[Osiris397]

It's just relative to this period of time and it's a shame too I've always appreciated Anthropomorphic character for the positive reasons cited by the OP. I do think the overwhelming long history of non perv-ish anthropomorphic characters will eventually pulverize and marginalize the juvenile "Furry" category.

I mean looking at the success of Avatar the reality is that the Na'vi are huge hairless cat people that even had their roll in the hay and I think that movie did ok at the box office. I'm in the process of developing a graphic novel and possibly a game around anthropomorphic characters and I live in fear daily of having my work associated with the "Furry" movement. The only thing that keeps me from abandoning it for the time being, besides just wanting to have done a story like this since I was 12, is that the art is more realistic and mostly not Manga influenced and I'm hoping as a result that it stands on it's own.

 

[Htown]

I'll be damned if I let the "furry" stuff ruin my ability to look forward to games like this.

 

[The Tofunator]

No. But it influences how much I like the game.

For platforming, fighting or action games, it really doesn't bother me.

For RPGs, it's OK if there's a lore explaining the origin of those or it's a fantasy setup. But for some emotionally attaching scenes, if the main character or the target of the scene is an animal-derivative, I find it hard to connect with him/her. It kinda ruins the experience when that happens.

I wonder if the inability to connect with nonhumanoids is why Mass Effect got so human-focused.

 

[Boss Doggie]

tbqh I never got that "can't relate" bullshit. I character's problems is always "relatable" through good writing.

 

[The Tofunator]

tbqh I never got that "can't relate" bullshit. I character's problems is always "relatable" through good writing.

It's pretty simple, actually. Some people just can't relate to or empathize with something that doesn't look like them. This is a biological survival trait.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Ah let me rephrase.

I guess the proper term is understanding and empathizing. For instance I can feel for Mrs. Brisby's struggle as well as understand her plights, even though she's a mouse and part of her struggle is that she's a mother. I feel like the need to be relatable feels like an easy way out on making the audience empathize with a character rather than relying on the writing or how the narrative makes the character go for it.

 

[The Tofunator]

Ah let me rephrase.

I guess the proper term is understanding and empathizing. For instance I can feel for Mrs. Brisby's struggle as well as understand her plights, even though she's a mouse and part of her struggle is that she's a mother. I feel like the need to be relatable feels like an easy way out on making the audience empathize with a character rather than relying on the writing or how the narrative makes the character go for it.

Ah yes. Like how in Mass Effect 3, the writing assumed that because the human kid got killed, the player would automatically empathize with that character over say, the Turians getting their entire planet destroyed.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Oh yeah, ME2 and 3 added more human NPCs and replaced a bunch of aliens.

Lame.

 

[Rarity]

Doesn't affect me in the slightest. In terms of empathy or being able to relate to the character, it's not like I'll ever be or know a space marine.

 

[Aokage]

Christ, sorry to resurrect an ancient thread, but this entire affair makes me sad.

Full disclosure: I'm furry. Whole deal. Got a fursona, go to cons, associate with other furs. Have been doing so for a decade-plus. Guilty as charged.

I only just noticed this thread, but the very notion behind it is weary. I temporarily extricate myself from my anthropomorphic animal-loving proclivities and declare:

Are y'all nuts?

Think back almost a century, to Steamboat Willie. Try to imagine Disney without Mickey Mouse (or go back a couple years earlier, to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit).

As generations have come and gone since the early 20th century, "mascot" animal characters have become engrained in our cultural milieu, pervading popular taste. I draw a direct line from Disney and Warner Bros. characters to Sly Cooper. (I'm not even going to go back to Aesop, Reynard, or as the OP pointed out, Ancient Egyptian deities.)

Mickey, Donald, Bugs, Daffy, et al.—did you grow up finding them distasteful? Did you associate an anthropomorphized duck with some sort of twisted, forbidden sexuality?

Of course you didn't. These characters are the innocent stuff of fairy tales and amusements. The trope has been with us so long that in a broader, game-centric narrative context, "furry" characters can even serve as proxies to wrap high drama in a softening silken cloth of anthropomorphism (StarFox, Sine Mora, Klonoa, Tail Concerto, Solatorobo).

Anthropomorphic animal characters are innocent. The recent, modern Internets conception that they are distasteful because some people find more in them is hateful and horrific.

I hate deigning to objectify—but do you not think there are ten times more folks out there getting off to Lara Croft? Kratos? Bayonetta? Cloud? Does that fact darken your taste for these characters? Rule 34, friends.

This has been a bit of a rant, but in closing—to find a well-crafted game distasteful because it features anthropomorphized animals? Holy shit. What has net culture done to you?