: 68Īt this time Confurence was the only furry convention until Furtasticon appeared in 1995. 1992 was the earliest when furries in England and Wales had meet ups. The early 1990s was when the furry fandom first appeared in Singapore. Internet newsgroup discussion in the 1990s created some separation between fans of " funny animal" characters and furry characters, meant to avoid the baggage that was associated with the term "furry".
The newsgroup was created in November 1990, and virtual environments such as MUCKs also became popular places on the internet for fans to meet and communicate. : 2 During this decade, the internet became accessible to the general population and became the most popular means for furry fans to socialize. 1990sĪround the 1990s was when the fandom experienced growth. By 1989, there was interest to stage the first furry convention, : 57 Confurence 0, and was held at the Holiday Inn Bristol Plaza in Costa Mesa, California. ĭuring the mid-1980s furries had parties at larger conventions. The term furry fandom was being used in fanzines as early as 1983, and would later become the standard name for the genre by the mid-1990s, when it was defined as "the organized appreciation and dissemination of art and prose regarding 'Furries', or fictional mammalian anthropomorphic characters". This led to the formation of a discussion group that met at science fiction conventions and comics conventions.ĭuring the 1980s, furry fans began to publish fanzines, developing a diverse social group that eventually began to schedule social gatherings. Īccording to Fred Patten the concept of furry originated at a science fiction convention in 1980, when a character drawing from Steve Gallacci's Albedo Anthropomorphics started a discussion of anthropomorphic characters in science fiction novels. According to the documentary The Fandom, the furry fandom has its roots to anime and sci-fi conventions during the same decade. Vootie grew a small following over the next several years, and its contributors began meeting at science fiction and comics conventions. Many of its featured works contained adult themes, such as "Omaha" the Cat Dancer, which contained explicit sex. In 1976, a pair of cartoonists created the amateur press association Vootie, which was dedicated to animal-focused art. : 8 It is also thought to have its roots in the underground comix movement of the 1970s, a genre of comic books that depicts explicit content. Īccording to fandom historian Fred Patten, some fans have argued the fandom can trace its roots from the 1910s or 1920s.
: 2 Some possible origins include media such as Kimba, the White Lion, Richard Adams' novel, Watership Down (and its 1978 film adaptation), as well as Disney's Robin Hood as oft-cited examples. The exact origin of the furry fandom is unclear. See also: Fursuit § History, and Furry convention § Origin and growth Origins