WOW ! I book my place right now !

I can't be the only one who feels ill that this movie is coming out and who wants to see it fail miserably.

I am in agreement.
I saw it was like "oh no, they aren't"
i have really mixed feelings about this.

If it turns out REALLY bad its gonna look bad on the fandom, if it turns out too good, its gonna make more furries.
-w- so.... uh. All we can hope for a semi decent film that does not get much attention.

If it turns out REALLY bad its gonna look bad on the fandom...

I don't think anything Disney does can possibly make the fandom look worse, honestly :P

...if it turns out too good, its gonna make more furries.

Is this a bad thing? If so, why?

Hook, line and sinker on the first statement!!!!

I damn near fell of my chair when I read that. You are my new hero! HAHAHA

I hope it's bad. I hope it's so bad that Disney never tries to steal other people's ideas again.

I also know that this will be the start of the end of furries. After this movie comes out then more like it will be made and the fandom will be more about glorifying other people's ideas and it won't be about originality and creativity. MLP is already hurting the fandom enough.

Riiiight....

I disagree, honestly. It is Disney fare. They've done stuff like this before. It will not reflect poorly on the furry community. We are not beholden to outside stigmas or views--that's already proven. If it creates more Furries, that's just fine! The more the merrier. Just like now, if you don't like someone you don't have to hang out with them. I see it as an inevitable maturation of a fandom. The only thing that cam come out of it growing is more things to enjoy and more people to add their own spin and take on things. Look at what the furry fandom was like 20 years ago. Check out that 1998 Anthrocon video on YouTube. Over the years, all that's changed is more people joining and adding their take on furry. It has certainly enriched the community, not made things worse off than they were.

Have some fun with this. I for one welcome anyone who wants to produce something blatantly furry with a big budget and lots of resources to back it up, that only companies like Disney can do. :)

I agree. An influx of new "genetic material," so to speak, will only make the furry "breed" more diverse in its manifestations--and will give it staying power! I'm actually hoping stuff like this can dilute the association of anthropomorphics with fetishes.

First I'll admit that I'm overreacting. But now I'm going to overreact some more.

I know nothing is technically being stolen but to me it's still a shallow move on Disney's part. Tolkien didn't create fantasy but people shamelessly rip off him all the time. Whoever it was who wrote Hunger Games didn't create gladiators or arenas but people still shameless rip off her as well.

One thing I've noticed is that the masses often attribute movies as the original regardless of what they're based on or their influences. When I show my art to people outside the fandom they immediately associate it with whatever it most reminds them of and think it's fan art. After this everyone is just going to assume that Disney created furries and that's where you get all your ideas from.

Just present it as your art. If people think it is fan art of the movie then correct them. If it happens a lot then we might have to address why. But I think people are smart enough to know what is fan art vs what is not.

People might rip off Tolkien (I don't know any examples, myself) but he didn't invent everything either. He may be notable, and some people might attribute him mofe than he should, but it is only people on the outside looking in who misattribute fantasy literature to Tolkien, and they already don't know anything about it anyway. Those that care about it will know. I think try not to jump the gun a bit. Have fun and enjoy what is happening. Let tomorrow happen tomorrow. The future is God's purview, not ours. :)

Have you ever seen Disney's "Robin Hood" from 1973? It seems to be one of the sources for furry art.

Also check out the "Dance of the Hours" segment of Disney's "Fantasia" from 1940. It features anthro-alligators abducting humanized hippos, ostriches, and elephants in a parody of a comic ballet.

There's a long history of Disney creating cartoons with either anthropomorphic characters, funny animals, or animal-themed cartoons. Walt Disney helped create Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in 1927. When he discovered that Universal Studios owned all the rights to Oswald, he drew Mickey Mouse as a replacement in 1928. Early versions of Mickey Mouse were very similar to Oswald, except for having short ears.

Well I see a lot of things getting absorbed by furries pretty much all the time. FNAF, mlp, various animal characters in movies and animation. No different here.

Agree with that last statement. MLP is especially hurting the equine niche of the furry fandom.

I'm glad I'm not the only one whose noticed that.

I don't think it's /hurting/ the equine segment so much as /flooding/ it with art that regular equine fans don't want to see. I'd be glad not to wade through pony stuff when I'm looking for horses.

Exactly. But I consider that a harm in the same way that a virus is to whatever it happens to be infecting :P In addition to being a highly annoying aesthetic inconvenience, if it happens enough, the very concept of equine in the furry world is gradually mutated into and replaced by MLP to the point where any identity with "equines" becomes inseparable from MLP. I've already witnessed this happening to some degree.

Eh, I haven't run into anyone who thinks equine = MLP.

Hmmm, what makes you feel ill about it?

There are a lot of reasons why I don't want to see this movie be made.

The more this kind of thing gets made means the fandom will become less original. Furry conventions are all about celebrating and enjoying original creativity. Most other conventions like anime conventions are about celebrating other people's work. Thanks to MLP I already see a major shift in the direction that furry conventions are going. Zootopia will only contribute to cheapening the fandom, and if it's popular then more movies like it will be made and etc...

This movie makes me angry since most people in the fandom have put so much effort into growing it and being part of it's originality and creativeness even at the expense of being made fun, and now Disney is just stealing it all for a movie that will be given all the credit for being the original (it doesn't matter that it's not since the masses have a tendency to treat movies as icons of originality). After this movie comes everyone is going to just assume that it started furries and people will assume that our art ideas all came from Zootopia.

And let's also not forget that everyone who used to make fun of furries is going to pretend like they always liked it. (although that's a minor gripe that's driven by pride)

And...why exactly does it matter how OTHERS fell about it? As long as you feel good about yourself and your own creativity...who cares?

Don't worry...be happy.

I'll be honest. I am overeating a bit. It is just a lame movie but that is basically how I feel about it.
I think I may have more reasons to get irritated by this than most since I am an artist and I don't mind showing my ideas to people outside the fandom.

That still does not mean Disney stole your ideas. the idea of anthropomorphic lifeforms is as old as the Egyptian mythology aka their gods. So please...don;t think we here in the fandom are the true originals of the idea of animals with human bodies.

And from what I saw in the trailer I dare say it will be everything but lame. Looked pretty funny to me.

Tolkien didn't create fantasy but people rip off all the time. There are also other creators of originality who people and movies try to copy as fast as they can to cash in.
Certainly Disney isn't coping any one idea but they are going to be given all the credit for the existence of furries after this movie. Regardless of what a movie's influence is or what they're based on people will treat the movie as the original.

And who exactly cares if Disney gets "credit" for "creating" furries?

As an artist I care a lot.
I hope to someday actually make some real use of my art. Maybe I'll be an illustrator or maybe I'll write a comic and I don't want people saying that my art is just a knock off of a Disney film. People have a lazy and complacent way of thinking so this is pretty inevitable.
Also I care a lot about the early pioneers who took crap for being into furries.

As long as your stuff gets bought...again..who the frack cares what pale think?
You put way too much unfounded thoughts into this. Go and sell your pictures...go and create your comic...or stop everything and give up because Disney is making yet ANOTHER movie with anthropomorphic animals in it....yes...it's not the first. Ever heard of Robin Hood by Disney? Who was there first? You...or that Disney movie?

I don't think anyone will be dense enough to credit Disney with the existence of furries. That'll be obvious enough when the vast majority of furry output /isn't/ Zootopia-related. (One reason MLP has such a big following is that it's a TV show: there's episodes and episodes of material for fan fodder.)

I think furry influence can be better traced through style. If people start slavishly mimicking Zootopia's style (like Lion King, Balto, Spirit...), then Disney will have a legitimate claim on having inspired those imitators. However, given that Zootopia's CG, any fanart will require stylistic interpretation, meaning that it will obligate some (technical) creativity to produce at the very least. :)

well, if you think about it, without Disney in the first place, I doubt the fandom would have grown as much over the 90's.

But I do share your sentiments on not wanting this movie to be "too successful." Could you imagine the headlines now if young parents with children come across furry porn as a result of the use of the word anthropomorphic in search bars?

We are already the joke of the internet, do we really want corporate big whigs coming in and dictating what we create on these websites?

I'm sure Disney deserves some credit for the early formation of the fandom but I do feel like this movie is a deliberate steal from furries and it's not just some coincidental animated film.

And yes, I can easily imagine this movie resulting in people having to know what furry porn is. -_-

There isn't anything being stolen. We don't own the word anthropomorphic, nor the concept of talking animal characters or their use in narratives. We focus on it, but it is a public domain concept--not something that can be owned.

Unless they are stealing actual specific works, like characters, worlds, specific narratives, and novel designs, they aren't doing anything that we aren't already doing and they have all the rights to do so, just as we do. If they aren't allowed, neither are we.

You didn't pay Attention in history class did ya?

Anthropomorphism is thousands of years old, the egyption god anubis is an anthropomorphic jackal

No need for insults!

But yes, the oldest known example of human art (40,000 years old!) is anthro: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_m.....enstein_Stadel

I know that.
I also know that Tolkien didn't create fantasy but people shamelessly rip off his work all the time.

Well, Tolkien DID rip off Norse mythology.... and lets add in ripping off Homer as wel since he is the first known story writer whose's style is practically found in all books today. In the end, creatively, we are ripping off on something. What matters is our interpretation. XD

Ground-breaking concept there, Disney. Next thing you tell me is that your mascot is some sort of strange mouse man.

I know, right? :P

Oh lawd...
I think someone dislocated their knee after it jerked so hard...
X3

It will be fine, but never linked to 'Oh, this is what the furry fandom is about?"

It will just be seen as an animated film, up there with Wreck It Ralph or other similar CG films. Movie goers may never even realize there is a fandom dedicated to this for decades. It WILL help the fandom when it comes to trying to explain to anyone "why all the animal stuff?" We can just point at Zootopia, "We like funny animals like this." It's a safe one to point people at, much like the animated Robin Hood movie was for generations before.

I don't think it will do very well in the theatres and be quickly forgotten. Already I see porn of it here on FA though.

Sorry for the slight crap storm of debate I started on your journal.
I need to not make a big deal out of dumb things.

Hey, you brought up interesting points! Exaggerated points, but interesting nonetheless :P

That movie (if it turns out bad) just could be the end of the furry random as we know it, that's my point of view on it. If anyone don't mind me asking, what's mlp?

Eh, if it's bad it'll be remembered as the movie that spawned a million fanarts and little more, I think.

MLP is My Little Pony :)

Meant to say fandom. Stupid auto-correct!!!

now that I think about it, I kinda jumped the gun on that last comment, also shouldn't have asked, I'm not really My Little Pony fan.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is a pretty good show, if you'll take my word for it ;)

I'll check it out sometime.