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Furpocalypse = the new FurFright! (not)
11 years ago
I have to be careful about how I write this, because I don't want to offend anyone, but sometimes you just feel like something has to be said.
I am getting really tired of seeing and hearing people refer to Furpocalypse as "the new FurFright". It's not the new FurFright, and referring to it as such is not doing a service to anyone involved with either endeavor.
Furpocalypse is a first-year con, plain and simple. Yes, much of the staff have prior con experience, many of them at FurFright. OK, that's a plus. But FurFright, while absolutely a team effort, was born of the vision of a small group of people who are not involved with the new con. It can't be the same. Surely, there will be people who don't detect any differences, but those will be the people for whom a con is a con is a con-- the ones who go through their weekend without a moment's thought to the fact that this event was put together for them by other people. To those who recognized that FurFright was always different from other cons, it will almost certainly be a different experience.
I'm not trying to put the new con down. I wish them good fortune and a long run. I'm just getting sick of people referring to Furpocalypse as "FurFright". It isn't fair to the people who built FurFright. If for some reason Furpocalypse doesn't live up to people's expectations, then as a former FurFright staff member, I don't want people talking about what a bad time they had at "FurFright". On the other hand, if the weekend is a huge success, then the staff of Furpocalypse deserve the credit for it. FurFright has its legacy. The staff of Furpocalypse have to build their own legacy and start their own traditions, and if they're lucky, and truly care about what they're doing, then they may develop the kind of loyal fanbase that FurFright had.
OK then, back to your regularly-scheduled porn browsing.
I am getting really tired of seeing and hearing people refer to Furpocalypse as "the new FurFright". It's not the new FurFright, and referring to it as such is not doing a service to anyone involved with either endeavor.
Furpocalypse is a first-year con, plain and simple. Yes, much of the staff have prior con experience, many of them at FurFright. OK, that's a plus. But FurFright, while absolutely a team effort, was born of the vision of a small group of people who are not involved with the new con. It can't be the same. Surely, there will be people who don't detect any differences, but those will be the people for whom a con is a con is a con-- the ones who go through their weekend without a moment's thought to the fact that this event was put together for them by other people. To those who recognized that FurFright was always different from other cons, it will almost certainly be a different experience.
I'm not trying to put the new con down. I wish them good fortune and a long run. I'm just getting sick of people referring to Furpocalypse as "FurFright". It isn't fair to the people who built FurFright. If for some reason Furpocalypse doesn't live up to people's expectations, then as a former FurFright staff member, I don't want people talking about what a bad time they had at "FurFright". On the other hand, if the weekend is a huge success, then the staff of Furpocalypse deserve the credit for it. FurFright has its legacy. The staff of Furpocalypse have to build their own legacy and start their own traditions, and if they're lucky, and truly care about what they're doing, then they may develop the kind of loyal fanbase that FurFright had.
OK then, back to your regularly-scheduled porn browsing.
I'm not sure people are really getting the point I was trying to make. I'm talking about the people on Twitter who are literally asking "Who's going to FurFright?". Well, no one is, because it doesn't exist anymore. Some would probably say that what I'm doing is nitpicking and the equivalent of arguing semantics. That's one opinion. But it isn't mine. FurFright meant (and still means) a lot to me. This isn't a trivial matter in my eyes.
On another topic altogether, I see that you got married recently. Congratulations! I wish you both all the best. :)
The convention was a lot of fun - a couple of hiccups and Belic's stage presence was definitely missed during the Masquerade, but the new staff overall did a great job of keeping things running. In fact I was overjoyed to see Belic himself make an appearance - I saw him at the check-in desk just as we were coming in, and it was wonderful to know that he could still be around and enjoy the atmosphere that he and you and all the team helped to build together. He was on stage during the closing ceremonies, and it made this feel more like a passing of the torch than an abrupt sad end and a new beginning.
The name and event have changed, but the spirit remains alive :)
Yeah, I'd heard that, and wasn't thrilled about it, to be honest. I really feel they shouldn't be doing that, and it's hard to explain why.
I don't know, maybe I'm guilty of romanticizing FurFright too much. But it's not hard to do that when it gave me as much as it did. Between helping me finally feel relatively comfortable within the fandom, providing me an opportunity to perform in front of an audience for the first time, letting me meet lots of other furs and giving me a chance to give something back through my work with the Charity department, my affection for FurFright can't be overstated. And without the people who set it all in motion, it just isn't the same. And what can I say, it bothers me that some people are trying to pretend that it is.
But that's my problem, I guess. Glad you had a good time.