It still confounds me to no end that 1993 produced one of the most even-handed reports on furries I've ever seen. Yikes. On another note, I wonder how much of that old art is still floating around the internet.
problably they are more stored in boxes by the owners of those old arts, I doubt a lot of them are on the internet since they are hand drawed art isntead of digital ones.
I discovered furry in 1993 actually, time of this video, and back then it just didn't have as much of a stigma as it does today. Yes it still had all the controversial stuff but to be honest it didn't seem anywhere near as much as it got in later years. I remember a few years after it started getting worse with press coverage and the amount of people in the fandom who were stirring up controversy. I left furry less than a decade later although I had a furry roommate for a few years after.
I spotted myself in the background. The way to put this in perspective is that this was the LAST "Pre-Internet" furry convention. AOL opened the floodgates a few months after this event.
I wished i knew the furry fandom a lot sooner. Costa Mesa is a 40 min drive away. Ahhh, life before the internet!! I towed my smith corona typewriter to the university to type my papers!! After I graduated in '94 - changes were in the air. I explored prodigy and aol (Internet) in march 1995 - on that day it changed my world forever.
I remember watching this when it first aired. Not only is it better media coverage than Furry Fandom usually gets but it was in the day when the Sci-Fi (not "SyFy") Channel actually had a news show that covered fandom, artists, authors, movies, and other elements that their viewers wanted to see.
Wow. So cool to see such early furry fandom coverage!! I can tell it was WAAAAY more illustration art/comics based back then. The costumes were just a very small part.
Trance88 costumes, such as Yappyfoxes, were rare at first, and only over time did they begin to be common. Many in the fandom bemoan the emphasis on fursuits. For me, personally, I wore anthro suits before fursuiting was a thing (mostly stretch dancesuits with animal painted markings and sculpted heads), so I welcome the transformative aspects of suiting.
This video is so inspirational. I have only been in furry for a little over 2 years, but I had found it in my latter 20's. Though being in for such a short time, I have grown to side more with the "oldschool" furry mindset on how the fandom used to be, and in some aspects, still is. It is very heartwarming to see such beautiful artwork from such a long time ago, but it helps to bring positive perspective to what we have today!
1993? Very danged cool! I found out about this silly little fandom just 4 years later and it has been the best time of my bear life! I had never seen this before either. Much coolness! And holy Smokes! Rod was very young there wearing his ugly 1990's sweater.
I think this was the year before I went to my first con. It's funny seeing people I still see at cons, and art from artists I still recognize. Funny that the Furry Con report that does the best job of explaining what a furry con actually IS, is probably also the oldest.
@zidders you are so very welcome. It will be interesting to see how the fandom changes. Look what happened to Star Trek, Star Wars, Anime, even ComicCon as they became less geeky and more mainstream... and then money followed. ComicCon has Billion-dollar marvel movie deals, and it has certainly changed. The comic artists were hard to find in the dealer's den, drowned out by the slick entertainment industry booths. You had to go way in the back to find the artists who actually are still drawing.
Drunk steadicam operator at the beginning must've been partying at the con too. Thanks for posting, It's really interesting to contrast this with modern media coverage!
Fun to see Rod and Steve with their late-1980s moustaches .... My first and only Confurence was no. 9 of 1998 (which as it seems, also was the largest).
Good lord, it's so early 90's it's painful! It's amazing to see how much things have changed since then, though. And, it's nice that they didn't try to make it look like a fetish, like everyone does these days.
Yup, different. There werent even 6 fursuits are a con till 1995 or 6. Even today fandom is changing. As more peeps join, it becomes more and more mundane, and adapted for mainstream consumption. Kindof like 50 shades of gray instead of Fear of Flying. Still, it feels like home, and no place I'd rather be (yes, including Bali)
Pretty interesting indeed. It's always a unique experience to see these classic furry clips and compare it to how much the fandom has changed over the years.
Wow what a blast from the past. Wish there had been furcons out east, these were my trek con days. Thanks for the upload hehe looks like not much has changed all that much
Wow. I wonder how many of those people are still in the fandom. It also seems like the only difference between then and now are the hats and Cosby sweaters.
Yup yup. As posted above (errr, ummm, as posted in response to a more recent comment), it continues to evolve. Like any fandom. The growth phase is more fun than the dying out phase, though.
I love the music. Does anyone know what it is? It's probably not truly copyrighted so it'll probably be a bit harder to find. It's cool to get a glance at what the fandom was like back in the day. I wonder if there's any more of old con clips like this, or where those people are at now.
+mraiwa1000 I have a shitload of video I shot at Philcon & the early ConFurences - but no time to digitize them. In fact you can see the bottom of my sneaker in the lower left corner of the frame at 1:21. I had just started working for the Sci-Fi Channel a few months earlier and I almost had a heart attack when I heard a camera crew from my new employer was at the convention! Apart from the bottom of my sneaker I was very careful to stay out of camera range--I was still deep in the furry closet back then.
Joe Strike That's super cool!! What format are the videos on if you mind me asking? Since you say you worked for Sci-Fi, do you have any of the old episodes? Another question (not relating to Sci-Fi) How did people get to hear about this back in the day? This was '93 so the internet wasn't quite advanced enough yet for searching such a thing. If I go to a con this year, I'll have to make two different style type videos. I still have, and use a early 2000's Handycam for some of my video production, so I'll have to do a 90's style video shoot with it, and the rest of the con filming with a digital HD camera.
mraiwa1000 I used a regular (not Hi8) 8mm videocamera. I don't have any Sci-Fi Buzz episodes - even my off-air VHS recording of the ConFurence segment has crapped out in the 20+ years since I made it - sure glad it's is on RUclips. I was lucky enough to wind up on someone's mailing list back in 1988 or '89 & got a "furry party" invitation out of the blue. I'm one of those "born furry" people so I naturally felt right at home & got invovled/ What kind of video projex are you working on?
Joe Strike The kind with two reels? Isn't that technically the same as Hi8 'cept lower quality? So they used to just send out random invites to people? That sounds pretty cool. In today's world I wouldn't imagine the average person to accept it however. As of now, I am currently not working on any furry related videos. If you check out my channel you'll see I make videos mainly on electronics, sometime I'll do a little some thing different. You can probably tell which videos I recorded in analog by the video thumbnails.
+Joe Strike Just from my curiosity - How could these tapes crap out? I've got some 1988-1993 tapes in great condition, and they've been exposed to sun for over 20 years! (not by my fault, though) Be sure to use a relatively good quality equipment, a 2004 Panasonic VCR from Goodwill should be good enough. Speaking of 8mm tapes, take it to some kind of digitalizing centre. (If you don't have an 8mm camera anymore.) They can take care of these tapes without any hassle. ;)
This is true, and not so true. Media attention is always on the shinies, in any group and in any field. Still, the art AND the fursuits AND the cine AND the characters/fursona are all really great parts. So is the social network, and friends. It's all wonderful.
Ever have it happen in your life that someone/something you were close to is a 'Big Deal' but for you it's just family? Steve and I were roommates for much of the early 1980's when he was developing his 'anthropomorphic style' and struggling to publish 'Albedo'. To eyes, his comic titles and all the art surrounding them were my older brothers weird hobby that he made a little money from. Y'all should have seen the art he was creating for private collectors...
Well... yes and no. Yes, anything from Geraldo to the evening news likes flash and drama over substance. But no, there are more stories being done as there is more acceptance. There is definitely a level of tolerance (at the least) and acceptance (preferable) that was not there 8 years ago.
Yep. Coverage of everything has changed. News media dismantled, now anyone wiff a cell phone can film and get international distribution. But something definitely gained (transparency) even though professionalism has been lost.
Blarghalt The sphinx is a furry. Only back then, it wasn't called that. The concept has been around forever, and through time the name for it has changed.
Pretty much. Anime also was an off-shoot as well. An early fan organization that was founded to shared both interests was the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization in the 1970's. en.wikifur.com/wiki/Cartoon/Fantasy_Organization
this looks exactly like cons now. Ignore the drama. things arent that different now. In fact, furry is going main stream and more and more people think its cool
It's as horrifying then as it is now. Too bad these people feel the need to change their entire "species" so to speak in order to feel a norm, since they are no longer apart of the human norm but an animal norm where rules don't matter and such.
Chief Willy Well *ackchyually* other animals (besides the human species) do have social rules, too. Their rules are actually more strict than human rules: they have to be so, because they have it harder to survive.
I had the surgery done just last week! Now I walk on all fours and no longer capable of speaking english. The only way im able to write this message is by tapping my claws on the keyboard hoping to form coherent sentenses.
Wow, there was really no fursuiter, only some horses and a werewolf. But look at the conventions now. Almost everyone is in a fursuit. BTW 3:32 i really didnt knew that that pic is more than 15 years old. Ive seen it on google a couple times, but more than 15 years old. Wow 0_o
It still confounds me to no end that 1993 produced one of the most even-handed reports on furries I've ever seen. Yikes.
On another note, I wonder how much of that old art is still floating around the internet.
problably they are more stored in boxes by the owners of those old arts, I doubt a lot of them are on the internet since they are hand drawed art isntead of digital ones.
I discovered furry in 1993 actually, time of this video, and back then it just didn't have as much of a stigma as it does today. Yes it still had all the controversial stuff but to be honest it didn't seem anywhere near as much as it got in later years. I remember a few years after it started getting worse with press coverage and the amount of people in the fandom who were stirring up controversy. I left furry less than a decade later although I had a furry roommate for a few years after.
VCL is still around.
I love how many zoomers don;t know what the fuck a scanner is. @@capscaps04
I spotted myself in the background. The way to put this in perspective is that this was the LAST "Pre-Internet" furry convention. AOL opened the floodgates a few months after this event.
Its hard to look back at a simpler time before the internet teared it a new one!
I wished i knew the furry fandom a lot sooner. Costa Mesa is a 40 min drive away. Ahhh, life before the internet!! I towed my smith corona typewriter to the university to type my papers!! After I graduated in '94 - changes were in the air. I explored prodigy and aol (Internet) in march 1995 - on that day it changed my world forever.
I wouldn't exactly call everything before the start of Eternal September as "pre-internet".
I remember watching this when it first aired. Not only is it better media coverage than Furry Fandom usually gets but it was in the day when the Sci-Fi (not "SyFy") Channel actually had a news show that covered fandom, artists, authors, movies, and other elements that their viewers wanted to see.
We miss it early.
They should revive Prisoners of Gravity.
@@michaelmartin9022 - Oh, definitely!
Wow. So cool to see such early furry fandom coverage!! I can tell it was WAAAAY more illustration art/comics based back then. The costumes were just a very small part.
Trance88 costumes, such as Yappyfoxes, were rare at first, and only over time did they begin to be common. Many in the fandom bemoan the emphasis on fursuits. For me, personally, I wore anthro suits before fursuiting was a thing (mostly stretch dancesuits with animal painted markings and sculpted heads), so I welcome the transformative aspects of suiting.
Wasn't Hilda the Bambioid one of the first fursuits? @@SpottacusCheetah
Very cool! It's rare to see such old footage of the fandom.
This video is so inspirational. I have only been in furry for a little over 2 years, but I had found it in my latter 20's. Though being in for such a short time, I have grown to side more with the "oldschool" furry mindset on how the fandom used to be, and in some aspects, still is. It is very heartwarming to see such beautiful artwork from such a long time ago, but it helps to bring positive perspective to what we have today!
Oh my gosh, I love how the woman's kitty/bear ears peek out of her Afro. So cute! 1:35
The CSI Producer disliked this video for its truth and credibility in the furry fandom
Comment of the mf century.
Oh 90s, you so crazy.
This is legit very interesting, and I'm not even a furry.
1993? Very danged cool! I found out about this silly little fandom just 4 years later and it has been the best time of my bear life! I had never seen this before either. Much coolness! And holy Smokes! Rod was very young there wearing his ugly 1990's sweater.
I think this was the year before I went to my first con. It's funny seeing people I still see at cons, and art from artists I still recognize.
Funny that the Furry Con report that does the best job of explaining what a furry con actually IS, is probably also the oldest.
The fandom is a whole lot less awkward now my god.
how that aged like milk
The year I was officially brought to Earth to one day indulge myself as being part of this fine collective of peeps
@zidders you are so very welcome. It will be interesting to see how the fandom changes. Look what happened to Star Trek, Star Wars, Anime, even ComicCon as they became less geeky and more mainstream... and then money followed. ComicCon has Billion-dollar marvel movie deals, and it has certainly changed. The comic artists were hard to find in the dealer's den, drowned out by the slick entertainment industry booths. You had to go way in the back to find the artists who actually are still drawing.
"Dustycat with hair". That's like seeing an old watch, and having to re-name it something we never called it then: "Wow! Look! An analog watch!".
Drunk steadicam operator at the beginning must've been partying at the con too. Thanks for posting, It's really interesting to contrast this with modern media coverage!
Fun to see Rod and Steve with their late-1980s moustaches ....
My first and only Confurence was no. 9 of 1998 (which as it seems, also was the largest).
Good lord, it's so early 90's it's painful! It's amazing to see how much things have changed since then, though. And, it's nice that they didn't try to make it look like a fetish, like everyone does these days.
Yup, different. There werent even 6 fursuits are a con till 1995 or 6. Even today fandom is changing. As more peeps join, it becomes more and more mundane, and adapted for mainstream consumption. Kindof like 50 shades of gray instead of Fear of Flying. Still, it feels like home, and no place I'd rather be (yes, including Bali)
Oh my God. We were ugly back then. Fursuit quality sure has come a long way since the 80s and 90s.
Mumbles R. Charles idk a lot of them look less cartoony and required a lot more skill to put together
Mumbles R. Charles y'all still ugly
Awww. This is so nice, too.
Furry fandom forever!
Answer: yes. Steve Galacci is still around, and Christina Hanson (aka Smudge) is writer and artist for Radio Comix's "Ebin & May" series.
Hah!! I love the ominous outro: "Harlan Ellison's Watching"
Wow, talk about classic. This was 20 years ago and I only joined the fandom 10 years after that.
1:25 is that Dusty Kat?
Yes. Yes it is
Yes that's me, Rod O'Riley. *sigh* Don't ever interview the con committee people on Sunday morning of the con. I sound like a Dalek on low battery...
Holy crap.. The 90's. *Facepalm* XD It's amazing to see how far we've come since then.
Technical ability aside, I think things were better back then. Less rampant degeneracy.
1:55 It's Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys.
Pretty interesting indeed. It's always a unique experience to see these classic furry clips and compare it to how much the fandom has changed over the years.
Who drew this at 1:32
Crazy how this "furry" fad was only a 90's phenomenon! Wonder what it'd look like today...
I wonder how many of the people in the video are still active in the fandom... damn, this was 20 years ago! I was a small kid at the time.
That's awesome. I'm curious, How did your memory compare with what you saw now in the sci fi fandom clip...?
THIS IS AMAZING!!!!!! But I like furries today better because they're less creepy. THIS IS STILL THE GREATEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN!!!!
Wow what a blast from the past. Wish there had been furcons out east, these were my trek con days. Thanks for the upload hehe looks like not much has changed all that much
It's pretty much as I remember.The fandom back them was focused on the art & story side,Fursuting had yet to get as prominent as it is now.
Wow. I wonder how many of those people are still in the fandom.
It also seems like the only difference between then and now are the hats and Cosby sweaters.
All This makes me feel Really Old Now..
Is the drawing at 00:25 by Eric Blumrich? It definitely looks like his style.
Crap! I remember when this segment aired on the old "Sci Fi Buzz" show! What a long time it's been!
The old fursuits are the best.
wow; wonder if any of the people shown are still in the fandom?
Wow... we've changed.
Why can't we get media coverage like this now? *sigh*
This is so much better than what they show on TN nowadays.
wow spotty,
where did you dig this old vid up from ?
1:24 Is that the manliest brony in the world? He definately has the mustache....
Yup yup. As posted above (errr, ummm, as posted in response to a more recent comment), it continues to evolve. Like any fandom. The growth phase is more fun than the dying out phase, though.
If only there were more people like those featured in this episode.
I love the music. Does anyone know what it is? It's probably not truly copyrighted so it'll probably be a bit harder to find.
It's cool to get a glance at what the fandom was like back in the day. I wonder if there's any more of old con clips like this, or where those people are at now.
+mraiwa1000 I have a shitload of video I shot at Philcon & the early ConFurences - but no time to digitize them. In fact you can see the bottom of my sneaker in the lower left corner of the frame at 1:21. I had just started working for the Sci-Fi Channel a few months earlier and I almost had a heart attack when I heard a camera crew from my new employer was at the convention! Apart from the bottom of my sneaker I was very careful to stay out of camera range--I was still deep in the furry closet back then.
Joe Strike That's super cool!! What format are the videos on if you mind me asking? Since you say you worked for Sci-Fi, do you have any of the old episodes? Another question (not relating to Sci-Fi) How did people get to hear about this back in the day? This was '93 so the internet wasn't quite advanced enough yet for searching such a thing. If I go to a con this year, I'll have to make two different style type videos. I still have, and use a early 2000's Handycam for some of my video production, so I'll have to do a 90's style video shoot with it, and the rest of the con filming with a digital HD camera.
mraiwa1000
I used a regular (not Hi8) 8mm videocamera. I don't have any Sci-Fi Buzz episodes - even my off-air VHS recording of the ConFurence segment has crapped out in the 20+ years since I made it - sure glad it's is on RUclips.
I was lucky enough to wind up on someone's mailing list back in 1988 or '89 & got a "furry party" invitation out of the blue. I'm one of those "born furry" people so I naturally felt right at home & got invovled/
What kind of video projex are you working on?
Joe Strike The kind with two reels? Isn't that technically the same as Hi8 'cept lower quality?
So they used to just send out random invites to people? That sounds pretty cool. In today's world I wouldn't imagine the average person to accept it however.
As of now, I am currently not working on any furry related videos. If you check out my channel you'll see I make videos mainly on electronics, sometime I'll do a little some thing different. You can probably tell which videos I recorded in analog by the video thumbnails.
+Joe Strike Just from my curiosity - How could these tapes crap out? I've got some 1988-1993 tapes in great condition, and they've been exposed to sun for over 20 years! (not by my fault, though)
Be sure to use a relatively good quality equipment, a 2004 Panasonic VCR from Goodwill should be good enough.
Speaking of 8mm tapes, take it to some kind of digitalizing centre. (If you don't have an 8mm camera anymore.) They can take care of these tapes without any hassle. ;)
Hmmm... some of us active furries are getting to be double greymuzzles *whistles innocently*
Jeez, this couldn't be more nineties if the cast of 'Saved By the Bell" showed up. Still cool though.
Now I'm surprised to come to across this, very surprised indeed!
This is true, and not so true. Media attention is always on the shinies, in any group and in any field. Still, the art AND the fursuits AND the cine AND the characters/fursona are all really great parts. So is the social network, and friends. It's all wonderful.
Really young Dusty is REALLY YOUNG!
@matt lipton well, hee, it WAS the 1990s then!
Awesome perspective, Chloe
Also...thank you for the fandom
Ever have it happen in your life that someone/something you were close to is a 'Big Deal' but for you it's just family?
Steve and I were roommates for much of the early 1980's when he was developing his 'anthropomorphic style' and struggling to publish 'Albedo'.
To eyes, his comic titles and all the art surrounding them were my older brothers weird hobby that he made a little money from.
Y'all should have seen the art he was creating for private collectors...
I want to interview some of these people today and ask them, "What the hell happened?"
1:17 Is that Lola Bunny? She shouldn't exist for another 3 years. ...Coincidence?
Oldschool... woah.
that Usagi betweet those furry comics...😅
Back when furries were interesting and great.
OMFG! Rod had HAIR!!!!!! LOL!
Well... yes and no. Yes, anything from Geraldo to the evening news likes flash and drama over substance. But no, there are more stories being done as there is more acceptance. There is definitely a level of tolerance (at the least) and acceptance (preferable) that was not there 8 years ago.
Oh yes, the net remembers.
is life done?
Is this end game or start game?
End of start game????
Help :(
I know what a grey fur is, but no idea what a double greymuzzle is...
Yep. Coverage of everything has changed. News media dismantled, now anyone wiff a cell phone can film and get international distribution. But something definitely gained (transparency) even though professionalism has been lost.
OMG Rod O'Riley what are you wearing!?
Wow, just WOW!
D: I love this!
Oh hi, Dusty.
i don't even think they were furries at this point. Proto-furries? Ur-Furries?
Paleo-Furries?
c'mon i need a word here
Blarghalt The sphinx is a furry. Only back then, it wasn't called that. The concept has been around forever, and through time the name for it has changed.
Khord Kittyplease don't give the history channel ideas
Blarghalt Furries can be traced back to the 1980s where it began as a sort of offshoot of the scifi fandom
Pretty much. Anime also was an off-shoot as well.
An early fan organization that was founded to shared both interests was the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization in the 1970's.
en.wikifur.com/wiki/Cartoon/Fantasy_Organization
way oldskool.
@doublesmackjack Yay! I've got all but the first four issues as originals sitting on the bookselves in my bedroom... *purrs*
This is uh... interesting.
I was one year old at the time.... sheesh
i like those badass mustaches 😁
We try...
*purr*
1:18 Wow. Just compare those fursuiters to the fursuiters now, gosh! o.o
this looks exactly like cons now. Ignore the drama. things arent that different now. In fact, furry is going main stream and more and more people think its cool
You and me boff.
too many puns
SURR-PRISE! Hee...
I remember hating confurence back in the day,because I felt that it ripped off
M.C.F.F. (motor city furry fest) which came six years before it.
Wash your muzzle out wiff soap... dont say the C-word! ;)
Back when it had some innocence...then furries like me come along and....
Yus, way too longz
LOL whatever.
This should never have happened
interesting...... so degeneracy existed way before the internet was a thing...... I had no idea
Ah, The showa era of the furry fandom ..not so beautiful right?
The Neo heisei era Is better than that
It's as horrifying then as it is now. Too bad these people feel the need to change their entire "species" so to speak in order to feel a norm, since they are no longer apart of the human norm but an animal norm where rules don't matter and such.
+Myn Uts Oh, be nice!
+Myn Uts Oh no, some people think cartoon animals are kinda neat, oh nooo
Chief Willy
Its there choice to do what they want
Chief Willy
Well *ackchyually* other animals (besides the human species) do have social rules, too. Their rules are actually more strict than human rules: they have to be so, because they have it harder to survive.
I had the surgery done just last week! Now I walk on all fours and no longer capable of speaking english. The only way im able to write this message is by tapping my claws on the keyboard hoping to form coherent sentenses.
Wow, there was really no fursuiter, only some horses and a werewolf. But look at the conventions now. Almost everyone is in a fursuit. BTW 3:32 i really didnt knew that that pic is more than 15 years old. Ive seen it on google a couple times, but more than 15 years old. Wow 0_o