Lesbian Foxes in Hovertanks.
Well, yes. That was the working title of "Tank Vixens", an extremely amusing comic by author Paul Kidd, featuring graphic cartoony violence, gratuitous nudity and, as the titles suggest, lesbian foxgirls in hovertanks. This is an anthropmorphic genre title, or, to give it its more common name, "Furry".
Now most people won't know what that is. Of those that do, there are a fair proportion who would stare at you in horror for a second or two, then chase you up a tree and set fire to it. Chances are you've seen some of it yourself, Rupert Bear, for example, could be considered furry, as could Bugs Bunny or indeed Micky Mouse. It's an animal given a more human shape, hands, feet, acting mainly like a human, walking, talking, wearing clothes. Remember the Disney "Robin Hood" with the fox Robin and decidedly foxy Maid Marion? That's what I'm talking about.
Of course, some people do sort of take it a little further than the childhood stories and Saturday morning cartoons you might be familiar with. Considerably further actually, adapting it for a more mature, adult audience. And when I say "mature, adult" I am of inevitably talking about porn. It's not ALL porn of course, but there is certainly a lot of nudity and fairly explicit sex even in the more mainstream titles. I first came across actual "Furry" stuff when I picked up a colour special of the "Xanadu" comic by the marvellously talented Vicky Wyman. Not much actual nudity in this, it's quite tame, but I found the art enchanting and the whole concept of anthropomorphics rather fascinating, so I went looking for more. I have pretty much all the Xanadu stuff now, and bits of it are indeed little like an X-rated My Little Pony-Friendship is Magic (hot winged unicorn princesses). I also picked up other titles, "Omaha the Cat Dancer" by Reed Waller and Kate Worley is one of the oldest and probably most notorious, a hard hitting slice of life drama with graphic sex scenes. This has actually been the subject of an obscenity court battle, but it was eventually ruled that while it portrayed adult situations, it also portrayed adult consequences. That fact that it was "furry" was actually incidental to the final ruling.
I must point out here that I've only ever really dabbled on the fringes of furry culture. Picked up a few comic titles- Furrlough, Genus, Shanda the Panda, Albedo, even attended one of the few local UK anthro groups, Ian Curtis' "Housecons". Still do that occasionally, we meet up over a weekend, watch some very silly anime, eat pizza, drink beer, play stupid card games like "Before I Kill You Mr Bond" and peruse the latest furry fanzines, APAzines and comics that Ian and the guests have accumulated since the last Housecon. But this is actually tame, as I said before, some people take it a bit far. There is quite a notorious CSI episode that deals with a murder at a furry convention. it's quite... educational, and accurate. I know people who know some of the actual advisors for that show. Vanity Fair and Loaded magazines ran articles where I knew some of the people in the background of the photos. Some of the comics were poorly drawn, blatent excuses for pornography, and increasingly towards the end of the "golden age of furry fandom" male gay porn. Which isn't my thing. The point is, people who buy into the anthroporphic scene have tended to pick up the associated public reputation as a "bunch of furverts" and, in truth, there are those out there that frankly deserve the title, tarring the rest by association.
I've never fursuited. I've never "gotten yiffy". I've never attended a wholescale Furry Convention. Don't really have the urge to either, I have no desire to take my interest in the subject that far frankly. The stereotypical furry fan is a bit like anime fans 20 years ago, single 20 to 30 something males with poor social skills and dubious personal hygiene. They're not all like that obviously, but like all stereotypes it has a grain of truth. Furry has never gone mainstream like anime has (and which absorbed a lot of furry fans), its heyday was during the late 80s and 90s, and it's stayed pretty much underground, probably the only thing that's let it survive is the internet in fact, where it has a flourishing community. I still peruse the odd furry webcomic, Sabrina Online, Freefall, Dela the Hooda, etc, but the days of the many actual physical comic titles have gone. I'll still get one or two if I see them, but they're few and far between now (and Albedo only comes out in years with a Y in them). I know a supplier that started his business supplying the furry crowd. The bulk of his business is in supplying manga and anime now, but he still keeps an eye on one or two furry titles and indeed is responsible for a couple of them, including the aforementioned Tank Vixens.
Here's the secret. Tank Vixens is actually a brilliant piece of self-referential irony, taking all the best stereotypes of the furry genre and lampooning them mercilessly. Oh how we laughed when it came out, the fact that it had gratuitous lesbian sex scenes with large-breasted foxgirls was purely part of the overreaching metacontextual message. Oddly, some people don't get this and have accused me of using this as an excuse to openly ogle furry porn and snigger about the phrase "sociopolitical ramifications".
The very idea. Hmmm? Do I have all the issues? Well yes. And the collected Graphic Novel? Yes, that too, but... The Tank Vixens card game? and ALL the expansions? With lovingly depicted colour pictures? Well yes, actually I DO have those, but, you see these only serve to expand the original parodial concept of the first comic to the broader sub-genres of anthropomorphic culture, portrayals of large-breasted foxgirls (and mousegirls, and catgirls, etc) are thus entirely justified within the author's original vision. This is highbrow stuff, satire, not an exercise in cheap smut.
No, honest.
Now most people won't know what that is. Of those that do, there are a fair proportion who would stare at you in horror for a second or two, then chase you up a tree and set fire to it. Chances are you've seen some of it yourself, Rupert Bear, for example, could be considered furry, as could Bugs Bunny or indeed Micky Mouse. It's an animal given a more human shape, hands, feet, acting mainly like a human, walking, talking, wearing clothes. Remember the Disney "Robin Hood" with the fox Robin and decidedly foxy Maid Marion? That's what I'm talking about.
Of course, some people do sort of take it a little further than the childhood stories and Saturday morning cartoons you might be familiar with. Considerably further actually, adapting it for a more mature, adult audience. And when I say "mature, adult" I am of inevitably talking about porn. It's not ALL porn of course, but there is certainly a lot of nudity and fairly explicit sex even in the more mainstream titles. I first came across actual "Furry" stuff when I picked up a colour special of the "Xanadu" comic by the marvellously talented Vicky Wyman. Not much actual nudity in this, it's quite tame, but I found the art enchanting and the whole concept of anthropomorphics rather fascinating, so I went looking for more. I have pretty much all the Xanadu stuff now, and bits of it are indeed little like an X-rated My Little Pony-Friendship is Magic (hot winged unicorn princesses). I also picked up other titles, "Omaha the Cat Dancer" by Reed Waller and Kate Worley is one of the oldest and probably most notorious, a hard hitting slice of life drama with graphic sex scenes. This has actually been the subject of an obscenity court battle, but it was eventually ruled that while it portrayed adult situations, it also portrayed adult consequences. That fact that it was "furry" was actually incidental to the final ruling.
I must point out here that I've only ever really dabbled on the fringes of furry culture. Picked up a few comic titles- Furrlough, Genus, Shanda the Panda, Albedo, even attended one of the few local UK anthro groups, Ian Curtis' "Housecons". Still do that occasionally, we meet up over a weekend, watch some very silly anime, eat pizza, drink beer, play stupid card games like "Before I Kill You Mr Bond" and peruse the latest furry fanzines, APAzines and comics that Ian and the guests have accumulated since the last Housecon. But this is actually tame, as I said before, some people take it a bit far. There is quite a notorious CSI episode that deals with a murder at a furry convention. it's quite... educational, and accurate. I know people who know some of the actual advisors for that show. Vanity Fair and Loaded magazines ran articles where I knew some of the people in the background of the photos. Some of the comics were poorly drawn, blatent excuses for pornography, and increasingly towards the end of the "golden age of furry fandom" male gay porn. Which isn't my thing. The point is, people who buy into the anthroporphic scene have tended to pick up the associated public reputation as a "bunch of furverts" and, in truth, there are those out there that frankly deserve the title, tarring the rest by association.
I've never fursuited. I've never "gotten yiffy". I've never attended a wholescale Furry Convention. Don't really have the urge to either, I have no desire to take my interest in the subject that far frankly. The stereotypical furry fan is a bit like anime fans 20 years ago, single 20 to 30 something males with poor social skills and dubious personal hygiene. They're not all like that obviously, but like all stereotypes it has a grain of truth. Furry has never gone mainstream like anime has (and which absorbed a lot of furry fans), its heyday was during the late 80s and 90s, and it's stayed pretty much underground, probably the only thing that's let it survive is the internet in fact, where it has a flourishing community. I still peruse the odd furry webcomic, Sabrina Online, Freefall, Dela the Hooda, etc, but the days of the many actual physical comic titles have gone. I'll still get one or two if I see them, but they're few and far between now (and Albedo only comes out in years with a Y in them). I know a supplier that started his business supplying the furry crowd. The bulk of his business is in supplying manga and anime now, but he still keeps an eye on one or two furry titles and indeed is responsible for a couple of them, including the aforementioned Tank Vixens.
Here's the secret. Tank Vixens is actually a brilliant piece of self-referential irony, taking all the best stereotypes of the furry genre and lampooning them mercilessly. Oh how we laughed when it came out, the fact that it had gratuitous lesbian sex scenes with large-breasted foxgirls was purely part of the overreaching metacontextual message. Oddly, some people don't get this and have accused me of using this as an excuse to openly ogle furry porn and snigger about the phrase "sociopolitical ramifications".
The very idea. Hmmm? Do I have all the issues? Well yes. And the collected Graphic Novel? Yes, that too, but... The Tank Vixens card game? and ALL the expansions? With lovingly depicted colour pictures? Well yes, actually I DO have those, but, you see these only serve to expand the original parodial concept of the first comic to the broader sub-genres of anthropomorphic culture, portrayals of large-breasted foxgirls (and mousegirls, and catgirls, etc) are thus entirely justified within the author's original vision. This is highbrow stuff, satire, not an exercise in cheap smut.
No, honest.