I'm biased, but Sonar winning Furry of the Year fills me with the warm fuzzies, and the Pawbert simps were really getting on my nerves. If I have someone shoving that douchey nepo-baby in my face and asserting that I have trash taste then I'm sorry but I just don't have the patience for douchebag tribalism these days. Douchebags are fun from time to time, but maybe don't act like everyone needs to love your favourite character or else.

Sonar fans seem a lot more chill, and varied in interest. Some people are Moistcritikal fans. Some people like indie games. Some people love bats.

That last one is the one I really want to focus on. For over a decade now, I've seen and heard views on bats change for the better, slowly but surely. I love all animals in principle, but bats are one of the most important to me. Bats survive ~10x longer than they should given their size. Them and their unique biology could be key in the next massive breakthrough in fighting cancer in particular. There is this idea that bats are dirty and more likely to be diseased than us: the "problem" is bats are incredibly and uniquely resistant to disease, making the diseases they contract more harmful to other species. Also, bats are the ultimate predator to mosquitoes, which remain the deadliest animal to humans, though they are also becoming less deadly as medical research improves. Bats are incredibly diverse in a way that I find fascinating but many find "creepy."

Despite the progress bats made over the decade, there was one incident that upset me quite a bit. The COVID-19 pandemic happened. Bats were found to have an older variant of SARS speculated to have led to the outbreak. Following this panic, there were several instances of people burning caves and killing bats en masse. Though governments were quick to act and reeducate, the fact that it happened at all pissed me off. Bats are also getting White Nose Syndrome now, which is threatening their survival in the near future; we need to do something about this.

Anyway, the Sonar love has come at a huge surprise; first, I didn't forget Charlie speaking on his fear of bats some years ago. He said he thinks baby bats can be cute, but his fear of disease makes him terrified of bats, even though he is aware of the statistics and science behind it all. So, Charlie suddenly showing up in a game VA'ing a bat character, and then promoting it, and getting so many people hyped for the character? Doesn't seem like just a coincidence to me. Charlie has frequently spoken on animal ethics issues in his videos, and I have a feeling bat conservation might be on his radar, or sonar, rather. Regardless of intent or not, it gave me the warm fuzzies, and the internet's enthusiasm for the character has reinstated hope that people can still adore bats; bats, like all animals, deserve respect.

Then Zootopia 2 came out and people started simping for this Pawbert lynx guy. It'd be fine if it were just another popular tumbly sexlr man, but these fanatics were acting a bit aggressive and tribalistic. While we were saying we love how Sonar is such a goober, theze Pawbert fans were asserting their character is so hot and that he is the best and that he will take over. It's not a zero-sum game. You can prefer Pawbert, but I do feel lime it's a bit personal when they shit on Sonar; they say he isn't even a furry because he is just a guy with a bat-head. Hello? Jon Talbain is a furry and he is just a werewolf. Ain't nobody going around mass-killing lynxes and calling them ugly and useless and dirty. The Pawbert simps came off as entitled, out-of-touch, presumptuous, uncompassionate, and frankly rude. Sonar wasn't even my pick - Guardian was, because I am a bird fanatic, but my personal taste doesn't mean I have to shit on others for being into other things.

Sonar deserves the love.