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RIP Kyle Dragon; 1981-2021
4 years ago
General
Those of you not in the know, a longtime friend and furry tickle fetish member of the community, 
KyleDragon, passed away earlier this morning on November 3rd, just over two weeks shy of his 40th birthday.
The cause of death was colon cancer, which was discovered "early on" (as in, it's not immediately obvious until late in its development).
He informed many of his friends, including me, earlier this year before making it public in his journals and social media. Many of us were mentally prepared for the possibility things might go badly while also hoping he could fight it off and come out on top... unfortunately, it seems despite his treatments, the cancer spread too far and his parents made the incredibly difficult decision to pull the plug and free him from his suffering.
I'll always regret not meeting him face-to-face despite knowing each other for 20+ years.
To those who aren't familiar with him, it can be argued he pioneered, or at least technically "founded" the furry tickle fetish community.
Back in the days before DeviantArt existed, before social media, many of us discovered his website during the late 90's to early 2000. The VERY FIRST top search result in many search engines for "furry tickling" was always his old website hosted on Furnation/Furstreet. There was very little on that subject aside from whatever was mixed in various tickle fetish groups that were on places such as Yahoo Clubs/Yahoo Groups.
His furstreet site is still archived on Furstreet thanks to
egger ; https://www.furstreet.com/kyle/
It was through his site I was introduced to many artists that I eventually became friends with... Caroo, Firebird, Ximon, Chameleonice, Equidna, PandaJenn, Cheshire Cat... and many more.
In fact, it was due to Kyle linking my old Angelfire site to his, where I got my initial major boost of attention and traffic as it introduced me to even more friends and fans.
Were it not for him, I'm not sure if I would've gained as much attention for my art in those early days of the internet. For this and many other reasons, I thank him. I just wish he had another 40 more years of life to give me a chance to meet him and play his collection of games or something... maybe somewhat make a mini-con meetup with other fans/friends.
I'm happy he was my friend for the 20+ years we've known each other as he witnessed my growth in my art skills... Even making art and also animations for him was a big honor for such a predominant face of the community.
I don't know much else to add here, as he preferred to keep his real life and his fursona separate, so I'll respect his wishes and maintain that posthumously.
KyleDragon, passed away earlier this morning on November 3rd, just over two weeks shy of his 40th birthday.The cause of death was colon cancer, which was discovered "early on" (as in, it's not immediately obvious until late in its development).
He informed many of his friends, including me, earlier this year before making it public in his journals and social media. Many of us were mentally prepared for the possibility things might go badly while also hoping he could fight it off and come out on top... unfortunately, it seems despite his treatments, the cancer spread too far and his parents made the incredibly difficult decision to pull the plug and free him from his suffering.
I'll always regret not meeting him face-to-face despite knowing each other for 20+ years.
To those who aren't familiar with him, it can be argued he pioneered, or at least technically "founded" the furry tickle fetish community.
Back in the days before DeviantArt existed, before social media, many of us discovered his website during the late 90's to early 2000. The VERY FIRST top search result in many search engines for "furry tickling" was always his old website hosted on Furnation/Furstreet. There was very little on that subject aside from whatever was mixed in various tickle fetish groups that were on places such as Yahoo Clubs/Yahoo Groups.
His furstreet site is still archived on Furstreet thanks to
egger ; https://www.furstreet.com/kyle/It was through his site I was introduced to many artists that I eventually became friends with... Caroo, Firebird, Ximon, Chameleonice, Equidna, PandaJenn, Cheshire Cat... and many more.
In fact, it was due to Kyle linking my old Angelfire site to his, where I got my initial major boost of attention and traffic as it introduced me to even more friends and fans.
Were it not for him, I'm not sure if I would've gained as much attention for my art in those early days of the internet. For this and many other reasons, I thank him. I just wish he had another 40 more years of life to give me a chance to meet him and play his collection of games or something... maybe somewhat make a mini-con meetup with other fans/friends.
I'm happy he was my friend for the 20+ years we've known each other as he witnessed my growth in my art skills... Even making art and also animations for him was a big honor for such a predominant face of the community.
I don't know much else to add here, as he preferred to keep his real life and his fursona separate, so I'll respect his wishes and maintain that posthumously.
I always loved how his dragon fursona's appearance turned out to be.
He will be dearly missed. :'(
My condolences to all who knew and loved him. I will keep he, and all of you in my thoughts.
I found his website around 17 or 18 years ago, slowly discovering that I wasn't the only one who had something for feet (sometimes combined with tickling).
It's through his website that I discovered the word "furry" and what it meant.
I saw modern furry art. I started drawing myself, then joined DA and later FA.
If I hadn't found his website, I don't know if and when I would have found the fandom, would have started drawing, and what would have happened. Pretty much everything that I am doing at this very moment, the art classes I am taking, my goals in life at making a living with my art, the stories I want to draw and tell, are in great part the result of me finding Kyle's website.
I've almost never spoken with him, but at least I was able to thank him a few months ago and let him know that I am where I am today thanks to him.
He was the first fur whose website I found, the first fur who made me discover the fandom.
It is crazy to think he is gone, it shows how short life is.
Rest in peace Kyle.
Still, one small regret, I never properly interacted with him and his works for all this time I was on FA... May he rest in peace. I hope his family and Cham are doing better...
I never really talked to the guy, but he popped up everywhere in the tickling community; back in the earlier days of tickling on FA you couldn't run into a drawing without seeing his avatar in the comments. It was obvious that he was a pillar of this part of the fandom.
I had hoped he'd pull through but sadly that wasn't the case.
The one who kept track of him and kept us all updated was
And I was a bit concerned about the meaning of keeping his true life and his fursona separate. Does that mean his Fursona can still be used in some art for other things or did he want it to be an archival memorial type thing?
It's a bit complicated. I know for a fact that Kyle would want his characters to be around and inspiring joy in others. He loved having his characters drawn, so long as it was in sfw situations and they weren't used to disrespect others.
However, personally, with his death still so fresh, it still feels a little morbid to use his characters freely for fetish stuff. I think some might feel it's in bad taste.
So, I wouldn't say that his characters are forever off-limits for people to draw or write, but I would say that it would be wise to give people time and be respectful of the characters and their creator when you do.