This.

Usually if you have a less friendly character, the suit should resonate that temperament, and vice versa.

I believe it's because, back in the day, fursuiters were generally people who either performed on some level before, had worked hard building their own suit, and/or had little artistic skills - so that's what they had to offer the fandom. They put themselves out there, took great joy in bringing their characters to life, and took pride in getting attention for having done so.

Somewhere along the way it seems people started noticing that - hey - these characters were getting a lot of attention. Then they wanted a piece of that action. As more and more folks tried their hands at suiting it became less about embodying a character and more about how many pics they could grab. Like those annoying kids in high school that ran around and joined all the clubs and photobombed people so they could get their pics in the yearbook more than other classmates. Suddenly, just having a suit was no longer enough to get noticed. It had to be a good suit. Then that was not enough, it had to be a GREAT suit. At that, demand skyrocketed and folks that used to charge $400-1000 for a suit jumped to $1000-3000. Now you had to PAY to get the popularity folks craved. Look at the number of suiters vs non suiters at Anthrocon over the last 15 years - the percentage has skyrocketed. " Folks suit because they want the attention, but they now know they don't really need to work for it anymore. Because of this, perhaps, they feel no need to reciprocate or appreciate their fans. That, I believe, if the root of the attitude you see. They don't see attention as something that comes from hard work or effort - it is bought with the suit.

Now, of course, many suiters are not like that at all. And there are a ton of gray areas too - buying your suit does not make you a sinner, and being a "professional" or making your own suit does not nominate you for sainthood - but I think the underlying root of the problem is there. In Jurassic park, Ian Malcolm chided Hammond for not developing the clone technology himself. Having simply forwarded others work, they lacked the discipline to properly manage themselves with it. Perhaps we're seeing that now, only with Fursuits instead of dinosaurs. Oh well, at least when Con security breaks down the fursuiters don't eat the hotel staff....

THIS!!

So much THIS!

*looks around...*

Where's the +fav button???

Hahaha I have to agree!

As a suit maker I'm Picky about who I let get suit's from me.

I like to stretch my building skills so I like to take on project that would normally cost 2500.00 to 3000.oo and only charge say 1800.00. Like this lion i'm working on I should be charging around 2500.00 for this multi-sectional suit i'm building This suit is designed so you can wear it any style of suiting you want. any where from a full digigrade suit, a digi leg partial, stander-ed partial, and so on and so forth. Specialized head shaping for glasses, and parting of the mouth and main head to help reduce fogging. hidden pockets or thing like your phone and wallet.

See one thing that kinda bothers me about a lot of suit makers is the use of the same cast or mold over and over. For some it's ok it's a good thing. But I feel as if your paying me thousand of dollars to make you something that supposed to be a one of kind thing It should be how you want it and custom tailored to you, and character involved!

I do sell pre-mades from time to time mostly when i'm trying something out and I want feed back.

it's not just the suit's that act this way eaither.

I'm also an artist, I get some creepy fans let me tell you I'm avoiding local cons cause of one them currently. I know how annoying it can be to always have people trying to talk to you when you just wanna go do your own thing.

I still take the time to say Hi hows it going I would love sit and chat By I have to " blah blah" or i have plans to go see this panel. Half the time i invite them to tag along.

I've had that happen in suit many times and it's really simple you do somthing goofy like Oh i don't this one time this guy farted and I covered my nose and ran to where i needed to go LOL but I still interacted with them.

I have to agree with some things here tho. People used to get these suits for a reason. For many it's express something, others well you'll never see the suit again type thing and then there's the is main stream of new fur's who get thiers suits and walk around and just hang out in them.

Hell i know i do it alot my self But they hang out like high school cliques. That's what bothers me.

This comunity was founded on mutual trust and understanding. not's it's become a high school drama with several different popularity contests.

I have no problem paying good $$ for a very involved, specialized, custom made suit. I have a HUGE problem with certain makers who charge $300+ when they are using pre-made canine head form A with fur color D and J and pattern X. You can look at some maker's work and see that 6-12 of their "custom" suits are exactly the same with just minor changes in fur color and patterns. Hell, if I wanted cookie-cutter I'd just get a Marylen's husky! If I paid someone $2-3K for a suit, then ran into mt "twin" at a con, heads would roll....and not the foam kind ... ;)

As far as interacting with fursuiters, I kind of treat them like real animals, in a fashion. I try to be open, friendly, never push myself onto them, and give them plenty of space in case they want nothing to do with me or need to leave in a hurry. Cornered animals naturally feel threatened - fursuiters often do as well. ^^

As far as High School Mentality in the fandom, I can attest it existed in spades back in 98 when I discovered it, and is still going strong today. After seeing how some folks acted I took a huge step away from the fandom back in 2001 and have just hung at the periphery ever since. In a few years I will have to redesign Timber with a gray beard, spectacles, and a cane to shake at the neighborhood furs who toss their ball-gag onto my lawn... <-- graymuzzle :)

HAHAHAHA Yeah i kinda know the feeling, I may not be all that old (24) But i have been in the community scene from the age of i think 5. My babysitter she used to go by the name of waneta (spelling?) Chowchow.

I was there when started making her own suit and i spent a day with her at AC 1999 in albany NY.

I guess you could say I'm a child of the community. I was raised around people who all different view points. I learned to expect them at an early age. I was never with out moral tho. A few weeks later after AC i learned of the " darker " side of the community. Probably why i'm very hurt by people not labeling art work correctly. Needless to say My mother never allowed someone she considered her best friend after i found something that was given to my chow chow friend. She tried explaining to my mother that If i hadn't opened her mail she would have told her about it and when strait to the cops and everything. I was subjected to some tests very long questioning... lets just say the guy who sent her letter thought she was my mom and sent a very perverse letter about me, their dog, and him in his new suit. later when i came out to my family that i'm in this community i had my things packed and ready go cause of how the treated my chow friend... they just laughed and said yeah we know.

I've been apart of the community for about 14 years now. I also watch things change.

I rember when the porn was rather hush hush, and now I see it every where! like OMG i remember when people 50 - 60 for porn related items and only to close friends. Now with general filter i'm getting submissions in my inbox that are Hurry 10 dollar " ride me" pre pose XXX is almost out of slot's!

Granted to each their own but c'mon seriously?

Frankly i feel like we as a community need a better understanding of personal space and boundaries and learn to also be open and receptive I know two very different statement but hear me out on this.

Tolerance and respect. That is what we as a community need to learn a bit more of in my honest opinion.

I respect people who turn me down for dicount on thier suit cause they so an so's style. And for most artist That's how you sell your product. I don't want to be that type of artist in anitch so there is no reason for me to complain.

As suit repair and alterations officially for one company and on the side for many others I know for a fact everyone makes mistakes. so I can see why a premade mold would be appealing to people make lot's of suits. It sells to have an image that you can be identified with. I do see your issue as well tho. I wouldn't want to have cookie cut's of my design just jazzed up a tad differnt. But for some they don't mind infact they want that.

so again that's where tolerance and repect comes in. If you see an artist dose that then don't commission them. Look for an artist who dose custom only work. Or get said said suit from said artist and take it have it altered.

I like working for eris. She had her resin cast and she also offers foam heads that are always slightly different. She always wanting to stretch and improve her self and we often have pow wow's and some times she takes my advice and people really like it.

I also do my own thing which she respects and supports. That is mutual respect and tolerance.

I may not agree with things but that is thier choice to make. I can't judge cause they are not effecting me in any manor.

At this point if you want to continue out lil conversation I think we should move to notes XD i would hate to flood a friends journal.

good sscussion, and lots of valid points

People all suit differently. I get that you like to interact(I usually do too) but others don't like that as much. They like to be their character and be with their friends not everyone else too. Some people suit for others, some suit for themselves and some do both! If that's what they want to do that's up to them. I think that ignoring anyone at any time is rude suit or no suit but at the same time people get weirded out by different things and have the right (in or out of suit) to not interact with someone they perceive as a creep or a threat of any kind. Whether that feeling is warranted or not it's their choice.

I think it's tough for people to get snuffed by someone they admire and there are not wonderful people who suit as well. I do think people who get into suiting should not ruin the magic unless necessary but past that how they choose to show their character is completely up to them. Different strokes for different folks I guess? I hope this makes sense!

You know, things like this saddens me. Its the same thing with the anime community and that's...just one situation that's wrapped up in its mess. I never could understand why anime fans (who I am also an anime fan, but a kind one.) would bash other communities for whatever reason. I am still a noob when it comes to the furry fandom and fursuiting. I'm also debating if it is worth paying a lot of money for wearing a suit that I would wear...let's see...once a year. I was curious about the community and I did not expect a lot of erotic and unspeakable fetishes. But what fascinated me of this community were the fursuits. The first time I was fursuit is with Asante the Lion and I felt that was an amazing experience. I love the furry community because it was welcoming and it was all about being together and share many interests and differences. Now, I'm noticing its beginning to be like what's going on in the anime community. Something needs to be said and there must be a stop to this behavior.

Unfortunately, you cant force people to be friendly and welcoming, its a personal choice, the members change furry has become more mainstream, its no longer just the anthropomorphic geeks/fans coming together, its become so broad, people from all walks of life, there are people in the fandom that are just polar opposites. I don't expect us to all hug and sing kum ba ya....but at least some mutual respect and appreciation would be nice...

Yeah furry used to separate itself from other fandoms due to its closeness of community, we're losing that cohesion though, not sure we can "fix" it

Now, it seems the Pony fandom has it, and we don't

Wow. Just wow.

I learned that when it comes to fur suitters I ask "Can I have a hug" first and it does hurt when they say NO ....
But I always figure that there are rules on how not to be creepy... and if I am starting to be creepy I should seek psychiatric help..
maybe KAGE should sponsor therapists for us furries

I think that if you're in suit, you have to expect the attention. I mean, think about it objectively. You're dressed up as a six foot tall wolf, probably with the intention of being cute or sexy. Has anyone ever commissioned a deliberately ugly 'don't touch me' fursuit?

Generally not. Now I'm not saying groping is ok, but just hugs and such, you've got to expect it as part of the package. Why wouldn't you just want to be friendly? Folks aren't usually pushy or rude, I don't see why you wouldn't just say hi and pose, unless you're really busy and headed somewhere.

In suit, I always give hugs and pose when asked. I'm here to have fun and to be friendly.

yes, yes they have hehe battle scared warriors.

Yes this i actually dislike quite a bit i fully agree with this, like i got a suit for many reasons. But id never turn anyone down if they want a picture a hug or anything because i know how that feels, like sadly i think now the reason why some of the people suit is cause, you know for a popularity thing, cause its easy to get the attention and so on easier to meet people and make friends, i think some people suit for the wrong reasons there just doing it just because. I just always thought fursuiting was the coolest thing and going around having fun as a fox is just plain awesome, when ever someone comes up to me and says hello or whatever yeah ill interact with them and entertain them all that fun stuff. Idk it saddens me though that when i say hi to some suiters they like you said just completely ignore you, and think your weird and so on, its one of my big dislikes like. what happen that made the fursuiting part like this ?