FA+
Shop
Trip down memory lane?
5 years ago
Hey, i was wondering... what's the oldest thing you guys remember about the furry community?
When i was young I used to have a certain obsession with Stitch; nothing sexual, it was mostly a thing where i 'wanted to be' stitch (LOL, cringe; i know). So i taught myself to "draw" and "drew" my own version of it, put a name on it and stuff. My first OC. I didn't know anything about OC's or fandoms or anything like that. This is prime 2002, i'm fresh out of 8th grade and i'm barely getting dial up in my home. 56 kbps of pure waiting time <3 (Yeah, i'm THAT old. And in a third world country lol)
Through a couple of friends with broadband i was drawn towards newgrounds and Deviantart (back then novel sites :P). I was super surprised at how many people had 'original characters' of existing franchises; and then there were... custom ones? fully realized from what the person wanted to present as. Fursona they called them. "That's my jam" I thought. There was a whole debacle about "Anthro, not furry" :P simpler times.
Years went by and i started to frequent a couple of BBS boards back when social media wasn't even a thing. I remember applying to the VCL when i was a total art noob. In later years getting rars off limewire loaded with adult art collections... NatashaTheCat, Dr.Comet, all the classics. haha~ :P
Anyway... making art and having a community to freely express myself (horny or not) had a huge impact on me. I've definitely had issues verbalizing things, so art has been an important outlet in my life. I've dealt with huge identity issues, and y'all been an integral part in getting through them. I may be a mostly silent participant, but i'm grateful for y'all.
When i was young I used to have a certain obsession with Stitch; nothing sexual, it was mostly a thing where i 'wanted to be' stitch (LOL, cringe; i know). So i taught myself to "draw" and "drew" my own version of it, put a name on it and stuff. My first OC. I didn't know anything about OC's or fandoms or anything like that. This is prime 2002, i'm fresh out of 8th grade and i'm barely getting dial up in my home. 56 kbps of pure waiting time <3 (Yeah, i'm THAT old. And in a third world country lol)
Through a couple of friends with broadband i was drawn towards newgrounds and Deviantart (back then novel sites :P). I was super surprised at how many people had 'original characters' of existing franchises; and then there were... custom ones? fully realized from what the person wanted to present as. Fursona they called them. "That's my jam" I thought. There was a whole debacle about "Anthro, not furry" :P simpler times.
Years went by and i started to frequent a couple of BBS boards back when social media wasn't even a thing. I remember applying to the VCL when i was a total art noob. In later years getting rars off limewire loaded with adult art collections... NatashaTheCat, Dr.Comet, all the classics. haha~ :P
Anyway... making art and having a community to freely express myself (horny or not) had a huge impact on me. I've definitely had issues verbalizing things, so art has been an important outlet in my life. I've dealt with huge identity issues, and y'all been an integral part in getting through them. I may be a mostly silent participant, but i'm grateful for y'all.
Besides that, I think the first ACTUAL internet furry thing I remember was that furry porn flash game on Newgrounds. You know the one. That maid fox-boy really confused me bro.
Also hell yeah torrenting EWS's and Dr.Comet's art, trying to figure out what to do with the iso files and not break your computer in the process was a fun time. I'm sorry dudes I literally couldn't pay for it. Those 90s furry artists had so much soul, man. Looking back, the art quality isn't really that great, but man it just oozed flavor. Those pictures just had a certain feeling to them, kind of like how pulp fiction stories and horror posts had a certain vibe.
HAha! I do know which flash you're talking about; i was a frequent client! :P
I know! haha it was times when it was definitely a bit harder for me to actually give money to artists... but one needed inspiration :P
Defintely vintage feeling <3
But anyway; glad to have you here now <3
It was like wandering into an alleyway populated exclusively by rapists and muggers. If I hadn't found VCL right after that I'd probably not have stuck around!
I remember a BBS board in particular that was hyper sexual and predatory and i was just out of there in a Yiffy (LOL)
VCL was nice in the sense that it was pure art and there was a unique structure to each artist. Haha, each folder was a treasure :P
I started realizing it was just the people being naturally (and unnaturally) horny; ngl. i'm a freak myself, so i sort of found a bit of solace on people being able to express sexually with less risks than meeting irl.