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Fursona Meme: Summer McGuire
12 years ago
What made you choose the species of your main fursona?
People tell me my fursona is unique because there are so few echidnas in the furry fandom, but there are actually MANY echidnas in the Sonic the Hedgehog fandom where my character originated. I didn’t choose the species to be “different,” I actually chose it to be like other people (so we’d have something in common). Knuckles the Echidna was my favorite character from the series. I liked the supporting echidna characters from the Knuckles comic books and the echidna fan characters I saw in the Sonic fandom. Being the descendants of a great “lost” civilization, echidnas had an exotic mystique in the Sonic mythos that other species didn’t have.
As I distanced myself and my character from the Sonic fandom, I became familiar with the real echidna species and felt it suited me well. They’re odd, quiet, solitary creatures. They aren’t predatory or aggressive. When threatened, they bury themselves in the ground so that only their spines are exposed, which can be a metaphor for how I protect myself and deal with problems. They aren't rare but they’re enigmatic. There are still a lot of unanswered questions about them, and researchers who study them are continually surprised. They're "primitive" because they're the only egg-laying mammals besides the platypus, so I see them as a link to the ancient world, sort of a living fossil. They cannot be collared or lured into traps, and they're difficult to contain. They're physically strong and long-lived. Echidnas are a good picture of both who I am and who I wish to be.
Is your fursona just like you, or how you want to be?
Summer is very similar to me as far as mannerisms, speech, values, and personality. That said, Summer has some advantages I don’t have: she has more money, she’s confident traveling and exploring on her own, and she’s much stronger than me physically.
Does your fursona have the same personality you have?
We’re very similar, but I’m more likely not to try something for fear of failure, while she’s more likely to try something without proper preparation and make a fool of herself. I’d also say she’s less jaded than I am and tends to romanticize things more.
Does your fursona have the same dislikes and likes as you do?
More or less, but she has wanderlust (which suits her species) and I’m more of a homebody.
Does your fursona look like you at all?
There’s not an uncanny resemblance, but there are several visual cues linking her to the real-life me: Height, body type, glasses, long hair, style of dress, how she carries herself, etc.
Is your fursona the same gender as you, if not why?
Yes, she is. I’m comfortable having a male character as a secondary fursona/alter ego, but having my main fursona share my gender just feels right and makes sense.
Do you have more then one main fursona?
My usual pattern is that I have Summer as my main fursona and one male character as a secondary fursona. The male character has to be someone I identify with, but with a different, distinct personality that acts as a counterpoint to Summer. That male character has changed a few times to suit my stage of life and changing interests. For MANY years, the position was held by Benign, a Rastafarian cat guy. For years I was actually better known online as “Benign” than as Summer. For a brief period my male “second in command” was Lazarus, a young Australian skunk priest, but I didn’t get Lazarus out there as much as Benign. My current male secondary character is my fursuit character
clopandelarue, a crafty goat street performer.
Do you have a back story for your fursona, if so does it have anything to do with your own history?
Like me, Summer is the product of a modest, sheltered early life in a rural area in the Pacific Northwest. That’s pretty much where the similarities end.
Summer’s history (as I currently see it) is that she was born in Australia (in January, which is summer there) to a young unwed teenage mother and given up for adoption. Her adoptive human parents split up when she was very young. Her adoptive mom got full custody and moved to be near family in western Oregon, taking Summer with her. Summer’s mom, the sole breadwinner, worked long hours so Summer was basically a latchkey kid in an isolated, wooded area where she had to spend a lot of time alone. Because of this, Summer developed a naturally shy personality and is a little socially stunted. She sort of plodded through life without much purpose or ambition, feeling trapped in a mediocre existence and finding solace in TV programs and magazines that allowed her to vicariously explore the world. After winning a sizable amount of money in a lottery as an older teen, she refashioned herself as a traveler and explorer of sorts.
I have mixed feelings about giving my self-insert character a lot of money that she didn’t earn. It just looks like fantasy fulfillment (and it partially is), but it has been part of the character for a long time. I’m interested in odd, ne’erdowell characters whose lives are changed by a sudden windfall. (See “My Name is Earl” or even “The Beverly Hillbillies.”) Summer’s wealth isn’t enough to comfortably last her forever, so she has to tackle the task of finding her niche so that she can actually earn a living. I see Summer’s character arc as a gradual move from naïve to savvy, and from “traveling for fun” to actually making discoveries and contributing to the world.
Is your fursona mated, if so is it to your real life significant other?
I guess Summer is unofficially dating my real life boyfriend’s squirrel fursona,
atrayu, but I might depict her as single and unattached depending on the context.
If not are they looking for a mate, or are they a swinger so to speak?
Summer is devoutly monogamous and not in the market for a mate or playmate. Even if I depict her as single, she’s not actively looking. Like me, she’s exceedingly picky and a very late bloomer when it comes to interest in men.
Is there something special about your fursona that you think sets them apart from others?
I’d say her unusual species and appearance sets her apart. There are very few non-Sonic-based echidna characters in the fandom (or in media), and the ones that exist are all drawn very differently from each other.
Do you have much art of your main fursona/s?
There are many, many old drawings of Summer’s previous incarnations in my scraps and a small handful of pictures of her in my gallery. Only the most recent one is “current” to how I visualize the character.
At my last count, I have 30 pictures of Summer drawn by other people. My favorite is a badge by Onnanoko, here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11157057/ (Although she’s considerably more busty than she should be.) An old friend also recently surprised me with this wonderful piece, which shows another side to Summer’s personality and acts as a perfect complement to the Onnanoko picture. http://logic-monkey.deviantart.com/.....ight-420718525
Would you ever consider parting with your main fursona, if so why?
I think being a furry will always be a part of me, but there may come a time when I “grow out of it” and put it aside because it no longer reflects my interests or the person I have become. The same is true of Summer.
Recently I’ve become more known in the local furry community for my goat persona (Clopan) than my echidna one. I considered changing Summer to a goat, giving her a goat form, or just making “Summer goat” into a separate character altogether. I played around with that idea by commissioning this picture: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12048527/ and this one: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12326402/ After awhile I decided that I identify with Summer (and with echidnas in general) too much to suddenly swap her species or change characters after all these years. Summer-goat will remain as an idea, while Summer-echidna and Clopan will remain my established characters.
If you suit, do you have a suit of your main fursona?
I have a suit of Clopan, not Summer. I have wanted a custom fursuit of my own character for MANY years, and when that finally became a possibility, I deliberately chose not to commission a Summer costume. The main reason for that is that Summer’s personality is too close to mine, and “playing” myself didn’t sound like very much fun. I think it’s way more interesting and fun to “become” a character very different from my everyday self.
Another reason for not choosing a Summer suit are that she’d be a very obscure species done in a cartoony, stylized way, so nobody would recognize what she is. It would be harder (and less fun) for me to play an echidna than a goat, because echidnas don’t make noise or have colorful behaviors that people recognize.
Finally, Summer is a HARD character to translate into a fursuit because of her big mane of dreadlock-quills. Making something that looks good and is wearable and structurally sound would be a challenge for even the most skilled builders. I found a fursuit with a similar headpiece to what I wanted (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5914762/), but I found out from the owner that the quills were too heavy and keep pulling the head backward, making it a pain in the butt to wear. Maybe I’ll have a Summer suit made someday, but I’m good for now.
Have you ever roleplayed with your main fursona, or do you prefer not to?
I roleplayed with Summer as far back as age 12, when I wrote collaborative stories on a Sonic forum and with my classmate. In my teens and early twenties, Summer was part of the cast of characters I used on public forums and in private instant messenger roleplays. Eventually I gave up roleplaying because it felt burdensome and because my main roleplay partner became a toxic influence in my life. Sometimes I think it would be nice to roleplay with trusted friends again, but it’s not high on my list of priorities.
That said, I liked roleplay because it placed my characters in unexpected situations and brought out unexpected sides of their personalities. It’s a great character-development tool.
Do you consider your main fursona to be a part of you in any way?
I think that should be obvious by now.
People tell me my fursona is unique because there are so few echidnas in the furry fandom, but there are actually MANY echidnas in the Sonic the Hedgehog fandom where my character originated. I didn’t choose the species to be “different,” I actually chose it to be like other people (so we’d have something in common). Knuckles the Echidna was my favorite character from the series. I liked the supporting echidna characters from the Knuckles comic books and the echidna fan characters I saw in the Sonic fandom. Being the descendants of a great “lost” civilization, echidnas had an exotic mystique in the Sonic mythos that other species didn’t have.
As I distanced myself and my character from the Sonic fandom, I became familiar with the real echidna species and felt it suited me well. They’re odd, quiet, solitary creatures. They aren’t predatory or aggressive. When threatened, they bury themselves in the ground so that only their spines are exposed, which can be a metaphor for how I protect myself and deal with problems. They aren't rare but they’re enigmatic. There are still a lot of unanswered questions about them, and researchers who study them are continually surprised. They're "primitive" because they're the only egg-laying mammals besides the platypus, so I see them as a link to the ancient world, sort of a living fossil. They cannot be collared or lured into traps, and they're difficult to contain. They're physically strong and long-lived. Echidnas are a good picture of both who I am and who I wish to be.
Is your fursona just like you, or how you want to be?
Summer is very similar to me as far as mannerisms, speech, values, and personality. That said, Summer has some advantages I don’t have: she has more money, she’s confident traveling and exploring on her own, and she’s much stronger than me physically.
Does your fursona have the same personality you have?
We’re very similar, but I’m more likely not to try something for fear of failure, while she’s more likely to try something without proper preparation and make a fool of herself. I’d also say she’s less jaded than I am and tends to romanticize things more.
Does your fursona have the same dislikes and likes as you do?
More or less, but she has wanderlust (which suits her species) and I’m more of a homebody.
Does your fursona look like you at all?
There’s not an uncanny resemblance, but there are several visual cues linking her to the real-life me: Height, body type, glasses, long hair, style of dress, how she carries herself, etc.
Is your fursona the same gender as you, if not why?
Yes, she is. I’m comfortable having a male character as a secondary fursona/alter ego, but having my main fursona share my gender just feels right and makes sense.
Do you have more then one main fursona?
My usual pattern is that I have Summer as my main fursona and one male character as a secondary fursona. The male character has to be someone I identify with, but with a different, distinct personality that acts as a counterpoint to Summer. That male character has changed a few times to suit my stage of life and changing interests. For MANY years, the position was held by Benign, a Rastafarian cat guy. For years I was actually better known online as “Benign” than as Summer. For a brief period my male “second in command” was Lazarus, a young Australian skunk priest, but I didn’t get Lazarus out there as much as Benign. My current male secondary character is my fursuit character
clopandelarue, a crafty goat street performer. Do you have a back story for your fursona, if so does it have anything to do with your own history?
Like me, Summer is the product of a modest, sheltered early life in a rural area in the Pacific Northwest. That’s pretty much where the similarities end.
Summer’s history (as I currently see it) is that she was born in Australia (in January, which is summer there) to a young unwed teenage mother and given up for adoption. Her adoptive human parents split up when she was very young. Her adoptive mom got full custody and moved to be near family in western Oregon, taking Summer with her. Summer’s mom, the sole breadwinner, worked long hours so Summer was basically a latchkey kid in an isolated, wooded area where she had to spend a lot of time alone. Because of this, Summer developed a naturally shy personality and is a little socially stunted. She sort of plodded through life without much purpose or ambition, feeling trapped in a mediocre existence and finding solace in TV programs and magazines that allowed her to vicariously explore the world. After winning a sizable amount of money in a lottery as an older teen, she refashioned herself as a traveler and explorer of sorts.
I have mixed feelings about giving my self-insert character a lot of money that she didn’t earn. It just looks like fantasy fulfillment (and it partially is), but it has been part of the character for a long time. I’m interested in odd, ne’erdowell characters whose lives are changed by a sudden windfall. (See “My Name is Earl” or even “The Beverly Hillbillies.”) Summer’s wealth isn’t enough to comfortably last her forever, so she has to tackle the task of finding her niche so that she can actually earn a living. I see Summer’s character arc as a gradual move from naïve to savvy, and from “traveling for fun” to actually making discoveries and contributing to the world.
Is your fursona mated, if so is it to your real life significant other?
I guess Summer is unofficially dating my real life boyfriend’s squirrel fursona,
atrayu, but I might depict her as single and unattached depending on the context. If not are they looking for a mate, or are they a swinger so to speak?
Summer is devoutly monogamous and not in the market for a mate or playmate. Even if I depict her as single, she’s not actively looking. Like me, she’s exceedingly picky and a very late bloomer when it comes to interest in men.
Is there something special about your fursona that you think sets them apart from others?
I’d say her unusual species and appearance sets her apart. There are very few non-Sonic-based echidna characters in the fandom (or in media), and the ones that exist are all drawn very differently from each other.
Do you have much art of your main fursona/s?
There are many, many old drawings of Summer’s previous incarnations in my scraps and a small handful of pictures of her in my gallery. Only the most recent one is “current” to how I visualize the character.
At my last count, I have 30 pictures of Summer drawn by other people. My favorite is a badge by Onnanoko, here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11157057/ (Although she’s considerably more busty than she should be.) An old friend also recently surprised me with this wonderful piece, which shows another side to Summer’s personality and acts as a perfect complement to the Onnanoko picture. http://logic-monkey.deviantart.com/.....ight-420718525
Would you ever consider parting with your main fursona, if so why?
I think being a furry will always be a part of me, but there may come a time when I “grow out of it” and put it aside because it no longer reflects my interests or the person I have become. The same is true of Summer.
Recently I’ve become more known in the local furry community for my goat persona (Clopan) than my echidna one. I considered changing Summer to a goat, giving her a goat form, or just making “Summer goat” into a separate character altogether. I played around with that idea by commissioning this picture: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12048527/ and this one: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12326402/ After awhile I decided that I identify with Summer (and with echidnas in general) too much to suddenly swap her species or change characters after all these years. Summer-goat will remain as an idea, while Summer-echidna and Clopan will remain my established characters.
If you suit, do you have a suit of your main fursona?
I have a suit of Clopan, not Summer. I have wanted a custom fursuit of my own character for MANY years, and when that finally became a possibility, I deliberately chose not to commission a Summer costume. The main reason for that is that Summer’s personality is too close to mine, and “playing” myself didn’t sound like very much fun. I think it’s way more interesting and fun to “become” a character very different from my everyday self.
Another reason for not choosing a Summer suit are that she’d be a very obscure species done in a cartoony, stylized way, so nobody would recognize what she is. It would be harder (and less fun) for me to play an echidna than a goat, because echidnas don’t make noise or have colorful behaviors that people recognize.
Finally, Summer is a HARD character to translate into a fursuit because of her big mane of dreadlock-quills. Making something that looks good and is wearable and structurally sound would be a challenge for even the most skilled builders. I found a fursuit with a similar headpiece to what I wanted (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5914762/), but I found out from the owner that the quills were too heavy and keep pulling the head backward, making it a pain in the butt to wear. Maybe I’ll have a Summer suit made someday, but I’m good for now.
Have you ever roleplayed with your main fursona, or do you prefer not to?
I roleplayed with Summer as far back as age 12, when I wrote collaborative stories on a Sonic forum and with my classmate. In my teens and early twenties, Summer was part of the cast of characters I used on public forums and in private instant messenger roleplays. Eventually I gave up roleplaying because it felt burdensome and because my main roleplay partner became a toxic influence in my life. Sometimes I think it would be nice to roleplay with trusted friends again, but it’s not high on my list of priorities.
That said, I liked roleplay because it placed my characters in unexpected situations and brought out unexpected sides of their personalities. It’s a great character-development tool.
Do you consider your main fursona to be a part of you in any way?
I think that should be obvious by now.
I understand that it's really hard to nail yourself down as just one single character. We all have multiple sides to our personalities and it's really tough to make one all-encompassing character that represents all of that. I think it's natural to put some of yourself into every one of your characters, even if they aren't your fursonas. I know I do.