This is really cool and deserves a post of its own - Retrospective: An Illustrated Chronology of Furry Fandom, 1966-1996, written by Fred Patten (with help from many others
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This definitely brings back memories! I recall watching Kimba on television back when I was still in single-digits, Watership Down and Ms. Frisby were among my favorite novels when I was young, and I own an actual video-tape of Animalympics. I was also subscribed to the Fursuit Mailing List.
I noticed no mention of the novel Hunter's Moon (aka Foxes of Firstdark) from 1989, which is another favorite of mine, analogous to Watership Down with foxes. Also, Ratha's Creature from 1983, which I first discovered through a television special in the mid-80s.
I'm sure there is a plethora of more anthropomorphic related material out there which influenced the fandom back in the day. It would be impossible to cover everything, after all. Still, a great article!
Oh, yes, covering everything would be a huge task, and you could likely fill a volume (or several) writing an elaborate and exhaustive history of furry fandom. Fred notes in the introduction that there's many items missing, too. The novels you mention sound quite interesting, though; I'll have to keep these in mind. :)
Heh, and Kimba, yeah! I had a Kimba cassette tape or two when I was little, and while I think I was a little too young to really understand and appreciate the stories, I enjoyed them a lot. ^^
The Fursuit Mailing List still exists, FWIW, although it's mostly inactive these days, replaced by fursuit etc. on LJ, and perhaps other venues I'm not aware of.
Eventually all of these types of articles will end up in a nicely documented "History" versus personal recollections and opinions. I know that symphonic_rp has wanted to put one of these together, but the task is really overwhelming.
And one can hope - I'd love to see a comprehensive, detailed history of furry fandom that expands on Fred's great work here, and I've seen enough (unintentional) misconceptions and sometimes (intentional) misrepresentations of the earlier furry fandom that I think one would be needed, too.
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I noticed no mention of the novel Hunter's Moon (aka Foxes of Firstdark) from 1989, which is another favorite of mine, analogous to Watership Down with foxes. Also, Ratha's Creature from 1983, which I first discovered through a television special in the mid-80s.
I'm sure there is a plethora of more anthropomorphic related material out there which influenced the fandom back in the day. It would be impossible to cover everything, after all. Still, a great article!
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Heh, and Kimba, yeah! I had a Kimba cassette tape or two when I was little, and while I think I was a little too young to really understand and appreciate the stories, I enjoyed them a lot. ^^
The Fursuit Mailing List still exists, FWIW, although it's mostly inactive these days, replaced by fursuit etc. on LJ, and perhaps other venues I'm not aware of.
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Thanks for the link!
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And one can hope - I'd love to see a comprehensive, detailed history of furry fandom that expands on Fred's great work here, and I've seen enough (unintentional) misconceptions and sometimes (intentional) misrepresentations of the earlier furry fandom that I think one would be needed, too.
Reply
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