Last year, my better half and I were sitting at a Restaurant one Saturday morning, when we looked over to the table next to us and spied a group of youngish folks sitting next to us. One of them got up to pay their bill, and lo, there was a tail hanging from her backside. The rest got up, and they ALL had tails. A quick search on the interwebs determined that our town was playing host to the Furry Fiesta, sponsored by the Dallas Regional Anthropomorphic Meeting Association (D.R.A.M.A.). We ran down the road immediately, taking a National Geographic-like interest in exploring this strange subculture. I was surprised at the time (although in retrospect I probably shouldn't have been) to see personals put up for people looking for RPG groups, and it was there that I heard of Bunnies & Burrows, Furry Pirates, Shard, and other furry-inspired role playing games. Not my cup of tea, personally, but I was surprised to learn that such things existed.
When I saw that it was coming back around again this year, I was intrigued. When I saw that it had a Post-Apocalyptic theme this year, I knew I had to go. Rounding up a group of friends, we decided to wander through again this year. Unfortunately, while we went through on Saturday last year and it was wall to wall furries, we went on Sunday this year, and most of the hardcore furries had already departed, and aside from a showing of Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome listed on the schedule, there was little to indicate the theme was being used for much of anything. Still, it was an entertaining 20 minutes or so - walking around, we heard people making jokes about failing saving throws and other RPG stuff. I thought back to some of the pickup Werewolf: The Apocalypse games that I had played, the people I had played with, and I realized that there was a Venn Diagram to be made.
Anyways, here are the highlights of this year's Dallas Furry Convention. I can't bring myself to pay for admission, so I was restricted to the public areas, so I'm sure there was more to be seen. Maybe next year.
I have no surprise that the two subcultures overlap. And most furries are just people with an unusual hobby, I find it hard to fault them for that . . .
ReplyDeleteOh I agree, don't get me wrong - I was seriously impressed with some of their outfits. The catlady on the left in the top photo had a fully articulated jaw on her costume, with a metal bar that sat below her own jaw, so that whenever she talked, the jaw moved. That level of devotion, to inspire that level of craftmanship, is something that I can respect - no matter how unusually it's applied!
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