Hey there and welcome to Furry, Explained! I’m Finn, a big black cat from the internet, and Furry, Explained is my podcast about furries and their culture. On today’s episode, we’ll be talking about something that almost every active member in the furry fandom has, a fursona. We’re going to be going over exactly what fursonas are, and why they are held in such high regard in the furry fandom. We’ll also take some time to talk about some steps you can take to make your own fursona, and while there are no real rules on what you can and can’t do, there are some, albeit loose, general guidelines that most furries follow when designing their characters. Then we’ll go over an example of what a fursona may look like, which means I’ll have to do something that I don’t get to do very often: talk about myself. But all that’s not going to mean anything without an explanation of what a fursona is in the first place so let’s get into it. Welcome to Furry, Explained and we’ll get started right… here.
So What exactly is a Fursona? Well the actual word fursona is what’s called a portmanteau, which is a combination of both the sounds and the meanings of two words, like brunch or sitcom or even podcast for that matter. Fursona, as you might’ve guessed is the combination of the words furry and persona, and it refers to a character that is assumed by an individual who is associated with the furry fandom. The character is typically tied to the creator’s personal persona in some way, but oftentimes fursonas are treated as alter egos, or even entirely separate identities. Fursonas typically consist of a name and a species of a real or fictional creature that they’re based on. These characters are creative in nature, as many fursonas often have distinctive colors, markings, or other features that make them unique. The idea of furries having fursonas has been around for nearly as long as the furry fandom itself. While there’s no real date when the “first fursona” was created, the concept for them came from the idea of portraying a character in role-playing games. The furry fandom, as we discussed in the last episode, has its roots in the science and speculative fiction fandoms, and one of the more popular activities that members of those communities do is play role-playing games. There are many examples of these types of games, but the one that comes to mind for me is something like Dungeons and Dragons. To play in a campaign, you create your own character from a set of different classes and characteristics, and you assume the personality and traits of that character while playing the game. And, while by no means is it a requirement, it is often encouraged that the player-created character differentiates itself in some way from the player playing it; the character may do things or act in a certain way in situations that may be totally different than how the player would act in those same contexts. Fursonas are treated in a very similar way; they are a character that is made to act in a particular way specifically for the context of the furry fandom. And as the furry fandom grew and began to branch out of the science fiction genre, the idea of role-playing different characters not only stayed popular, but began to evolve. As the idea grew, these same people who were used to making characters for role-playing games, began to develop more specific details and elements to give their characters a much more personal, and narrative-independent life than before. These characters were no longer tied to a specific game, and began to take on a life of their own as a separate, individual creature. And because these characters became so general-purpose, they started to serve as alter-egos for the players that created them. This created a shift from making more game-specific characters, to developing a complete, alternative persona, which, combined with the furry genre, created the fursona as we know and love today. Now one of the more... interesting things about the development of this whole fursona idea is that it’s one of the main things that separate the furry fandom from other, more franchise-specific fandoms. The furry fandom as a whole is not tied to one specific franchise or creative work owned by one entity, meaning there’s no central character or group of characters that all of the fandom’s creations build off of. Because the idea of enjoying anthropomorphic animals is so general, any character that a member of the fandom creates is a unique generation of intellectual property that is can’t be found anywhere else. This creates a very personal relationship between these personalized animal characters and their creators, and, barring some very specific and rare exceptions, the only limit to the creation of a fursona is the imagination of the creator. And due to this deep, interpersonal relationship that members of the fandom have with their characters, a vast majority of furries will actually refer to themselves as that character when interacting with each other. Instead of using their real names, furries will often meet and greet each other by their fursona's name, and they will address each other as such both on and offline. For example, you might have noticed in the intro that I referred to myself as Finn, a big black cat from the internet. Well, unbeknownst to you until now, Finn is not my real, government name, and I am not actually a big, black cat. I know, it’s quite unfortunate. But in the context of the furry fandom, which is where we are now, that’s how I identify myself and is usually how I am referred to. Now I personally don’t do this too much, but many furries will go so far as to change their entire personality to match their fursona when interacting with other furries, acting completely different than when meeting someone in a more traditional setting. This helps with anonymity in the fandom, but also serves as… kinda like a shield or same space for more socially anxious members of the fandom to interact with each other. And while they are definitely not required to be a furry, fursonas are one of the most universal aspects of being a furry, and serves as one of the foundations of how members of the fandom identify themselves, and interact with each other.These furry personas are much more than role-played characters; they are fantastical representations of how their creators see themselves as an anthropomorphic creature, and serves as a creative outlet to express themselves in a way that is unique, completely custom, and just flat out fun. So after all that, you might be thinking to yourself, “Hey, I want to make a fursona. Wh-where do I start?” Well first let’s take a quick break and when we come back, we’ll go over some of the steps that you can take to create your own fursona, that you can then start using to represent yourself in the furry fandom. We’ll be right back.
Alright, welcome back. So now after hearing about all the things that kinda make up or comprise a fursona, let's say you want to go about creating your own. Like I said before, this is a very creative process with no really strict rules, but even so, there are some typical conventions that most furries follow when creating their fursonas. Oh and yeah, I said fursonas on purpose; it’s not uncommon to find members of the furry fandom to have more than one fursona. Honestly, you can technically have an unlimited amount, but a vast majority of furries stick to just one or maybe two, makes it easier to keep track of who they all are. But we’ll begin with the physical foundation of a fursona, and that starts with picking an animal species you want to base your character on. Oh and by the way, I’m being very loose with the term species here, there’s a wide variety in how specific a fursona’s species is. Some just say they’re a wolf while others will narrow it down and say they’re an interior Alaskan wolf, it’s really up to you how specific you want to get. Most fursonas, as you might expect, are based on real animals, like the aforementioned wolf or cat or any other animal that you would find in the wild. But that’s by no means a hard rule, your fursona could be created from something mythological or any other, fantastical creature. In fact, the most popular example of this is dragons, so you’ll be in some good company if you choose a dragon fursona, I see them all the time around the fandom. There’s also a bunch of community-made creatures that have different levels of popularity that you can choose from, but I’ll dive into those in future episodes since that’s a bit outside of the scope of what we’re covering here. But other than that, the choice is yours. The only caveat I’d give is to be a little careful when choosing to create a fursona that’s based on a creature that’s deeply tied to a specific franchise. Pokémon is a good example of this, no one can technically stop you from have a Pokemon-based fursona, but it might be more tricky to navigate when trying to do certain things with your fursona, and kinda breaks away the entire idea of the fandom being mostly franchise-independent. But, if there’s a creature that you like that means a lot to you, I’m in no position to stop you, it’s just a word of caution is all. Anyways, just for your reference, the most popular type of animal that fursonas are based on are canines, with wolves leading that particular category. But the most popular type of fursona, one that beats out even the wolves, are hybrid fursonas. Yeah, hybrids, which are a combination of two more animals that create one new, individual species. These could be two related animals, like being part dog and part wolf, or completely separate, like being part cat and part fox. These culminate into some pretty cool creatures, with fun names as well like folf for a fox and a wolf, or cabbit for a cat and a rabbit. But once you have your species down, next we can work on your fursona's appearance. And again, there are no hard rules that restrict you on how you want your furry personality to look. They can be tall or short, thin or muscular. It’s really up to you. You can also choose their level of physical anthropomorphism, which is just another way of saying how much they would deviate from what a real version of what that animal species would look like in the wild. The most common example of this is that fursonas are typically bipedal, using their hind two legs for walking upright like humans. The front paws, hooves, or what have you also take the shape of hands, which usually means adding the all-important thumb that humans have for grasping on to things. But for the most part, the most creative part of a fursona is the actual fur. The colors and patterns of their fursona’s fur are where most furries take artistic liberty and do what they can to make their fursonas as unique as possible. Most have bright or interesting color combinations with different designs spread all over the body. Some even have something very small or specific that is very personal to the creator of the character, kinda like a tattoo or birthmark. The attire of your fursona is up to you as well; typical everything... important is covered with enough fur to not make things awkward, but some fursonas have full outfits that go with the character, including specific accessories that are tied to the design that complete the character. Once you have the design down, you can then move on to some of the more intangible aspects of your fursona. Many furries create a backstory for their character. Some may keep it very simple, while some have elaborate sagas about how their character came to be. This again, comes from the role-playing roots of the fandom where, typically in the creation of a character for those types of games, you include some history that describes some external or internal parts of that character. You can then continue on and come up with some behavior traits that your fursona may have. These can be similar to you as a person or completely separate that you may want to try out only on your character. You can be as descriptive as you want with the personality, personal preferences, and other attributes that make up the essence of your character as a whole. Then, after that’s figured out, give your new character a name. And yes, I actually do suggest naming your character last, or at least not have it be the first thing that you do. This is because typically, the name of your character will come to you during its creation, and trying to build a character around a certain name might be a bit more challenging. But again, that’s completely up to you, as is the name itself. It can be something really unique with a deep, personal meaning behind it, or it can be something completely normal and standard. Furries name their fursonas after literally anything, from numbers to months of the year to words that didn’t exist until that fursona’s name created it. Take some time to think about it but, don’t be afraid to name your fursona whatever you think fits your character the best. And at this point, you should have everything you need for your fursona to come to life. Which means now it’s time to start interacting and doing stuff with your new character. One of the first things that furries do, and I suggest this as well, after they’ve finished a new fursona design is to get what’s called a reference sheet. Ref sheets are a specific piece of art that depicts your character from as many sides as possible, but at the very least the front and the back. This sheet serves as a reference for you and primarily other artists to know exactly what your fursona looks like from as many angles as possible, so the more detailed the ref sheet is, the better. This allows artists to draw your fursona in their particular style, while still getting all of the colors, markings, and all that accurate for you to enjoy. Many furries draw ref sheets themselves, but you can always commission someone else to make one for you, or use a free and open-source base reference sheet that you color on top of. After that, the rest is really up to you! See if there are any artists that you like that are open for commission and get some art of your fursona in their style. Create a story featuring your fursona to write, or even act it out yourself. Use them to represent yourself online as your profile picture or avatar. The things you can do with your character are virtually endless. Now if you’re still a little bit overwhelmed by the seemingly unlimited possibilities that you have with the creation of your fursona, hopefully giving you a more concrete example of one can serve as something you can work with when creating your own. And what better example of a fursona to give than the one that I own and use! Now I’ll keep it real with you, I really don’t like talking about myself all that often and this show isn’t supposed to me whatsoever, so I’ll keep it as brief as I can. But for what it’s worth, I have one fursona, and his name is Finn. He does have a list name, Raylux, but I barely use it anywhere, in fact, many fursonas just use the name of their species as their last name or don’t have one at all. Finn is a black panther, or, more specifically, a jaguar with a lot more melanin in its skin and fur. I chose that species of animal because I find it interesting that the idea of a jaguar or a leopard having black fur is unique enough for it to garner its own unofficial classification as a panther, similar to how humans with darker skin, like myself, are referred to as people of color. But that’s probably the part of his creation that has the deepest meaning, everything else is nothing too crazy. His fur is a really deep, dark plum color, something in between plum and slate black, except for the tip of his tail, claws, and eyes, which are a bright yellow. And probably the most differentiating factor between myself as a human and Finn is that he’s a lot more introverted than me. I’m very comfortable in public spaces and love meeting new people, whereas Finn likes to keep to himself and needs a decent amount of time to recharge after interacting with others for an extended period of time. And honestly, there’s not that much else to it, the character is rather straightforward by design and he is how I represent myself in the context of the furry fandom. Feel free to use those descriptions as springboards for your own creation, just don’t copy my character; that’s my intellectual property just like yours will be yours, if that makes sense. You can be more detailed, or even more straight forward with your character’s design, backstory, or anything else that you add to it. But whatever you do, have fun with the creative process and when you’re done, enjoy the fact that you now have something that a vast majority of members of the furry fandom have and use to represent themselves: that being a new fursona!
Alright, that’s it for this episode of Furry, Explained. Thank you so much for tuning in and listening, I really hope you enjoyed it and maybe learned something new today. If you want to continue the conversation about fursonas or have any feedback for the show, let’s talk on Twitter. I’m @FinnthePanther and a direct link to my Twitter will be in the show notes as well as the references I used when researching this episode. If you want to help support the show, the best way you can do that is to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, or follow if you're on Spotify because Spotify is weird like that. If you’re on iTunes or Apple Podcasts, be sure to give the show a rating and a review. And you can also tell people about the show, and I’d greatly appreciate it if you did that as well. We’ll be back next week with another episode of Furry, Explained but until then, stay wild out there! Peace.
