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Pokémon, easily one of the most popular franchises in all of gaming. Even the most casual gamers who have never touched Pokémon, know what Pikachu looks like. And with that popularity, comes a significant number of spin-offs and attempts to branch the franchise out. One of which is of course the Pokémon TCG. 

Released in 1996 not long after the games which it was based on, and just like those games, the Pokémon TCG quickly took off in popularity. So much so that they even made a Pokémon TCG game for the Game Boy. It was a golden era for GameFreak and their franchise. Even after Pokémon's popularity declined for a bit, the TCG scene remained active and to this day, it's considered one of the “Big 3” of TCGs alongside Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic: The Gathering. It’s received dedicated apps, at least two different digital versions and constantly updates alongside the video games. Then on October 30th, 2024 The Pokémon Company released Pokémon TCG Pocket, the newest app developed by DeNA(Who also worked on Pokémon Masters) and Creatures Inc which seeks to recapture that feeling of opening card packs and hoping for the rarest cards. So what is Pokémon TCG Pocket?

Welcome to "Fresh Fur!" Our weekly installment going over the newest game releases, and which ones you can expect to find anthros/furries in!

Check the list below for all the games we could find with animal/anthro influences and characters.

New Releases for the week of November 18-24, 2024:

• Once Alive (PC) - November 18
• Dimensionals (PC) - November 18 (Early Access)
• Towers of Aghasba (PC, PS5) - November 19 (Early Access)
• Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (Xbox Series X|S, PC) - November 19
• Toads of the Bayou (PC) - November 19
• Genshin Impact (Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One) - November 20
• Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl (Xbox Series X|S, PC) - November 20
• Luma Island (PC) - November 20
• SUPERVIVE (PC) - November 20
• Star Wars Outlaws (PC) - November 21
• Loco Motive (Switch, PC) - November 21
• Servonauts (Switch, PC) - November 21
• The Devil Within: Satgat (PS5, PC) - November 21
• Total War: Empire (iOS, Android) - November 21
• Mercury Abbey (PC) - November 22
• Spirit Mancer (PS5, Switch, PC) - November 22

*Bolded games have furry/animal influences/characters

Furry & Animal Steam Game Finds:

These games were found in the New Releases section of Steam this week and will be updated as more come out throughout the week!

Okay, so… the description goes like this: “Watch out for the devious duck! A new bird has arrived in Simpleton and is here to ruffle some feathers with a plan to trick the townspeople out of their money. For what, you might ask? Buying freshly baked bread! (A duck’s favorite snack, of course.) Meanwhile, the chef wants to hire a baker, the inspector is looking to get strong, and the inventor is trying out some new (explosive) ideas for a kitchen invention contest. But what about our favorite chicken? Well, her egg is now an adorable baby chick, and Beaky Barnes is catching on to the duck’s tricks.” What have we been missing? Well, it’s the Beaky Barnes series of graphic novels by Caldecott winner David Ezra Stein. And this second one is available now in paperback.

image c. 2024 Penguin Random House

An unusual elk was spotted in the highlands, and I was part of the hunting party racing to its last location. From the back of our journeykin, we pounced the elk and it fought with leyline-infused techniques. We were making progress, when it started running, forcing us to remount our journeykin and pursue it! We readied harpoons with chains to slow it as it zigged and zagged, trying to throw us off. It took several attempts but we stopped it and continued the assault. As before, we waylaid the elk, exhausting its vitality before it began to run again. This time our pursuit led us to another situation, a wolf pup was sickened and the kodan needed help gathering herbs to fight the sickness. It was looking rough, there weren’t enough people to hold off the titans and gather herbs. Trusting the party that began the hunt to finish it, I broke off and went to the pup’s aid.

This series of events is exactly why I love playing Guild Wars 2. You begin one of the many tasks that unfold in the world and it intercepts another task. These events are built to engage you with the world and convey the themes of each map. The Lowlands map doesn’t have a meta event, relying on small local events to convey kodan culture, from hunting and gathering to agriculture and combat. You tend to basic chores around towns, and maybe get an unusual request from a cryptozoologist, however, a strange rot spreads, and you’ll investigate the underlying threat while fighting its effects on the ecosystem.

In 2018, a group in Japan gathered together artists from around the world to celebrate Dr. Osamu Tezuka’s 90th birthday — by creating new works based on some of his most famous and popular manga. Now, finally, both volumes of Tezucomi have been released in English.  “600 pages of extraordinary content by popular contemporary comic book authors from around the world pay tribute to Tezuka’s enormous body of influential work. The stories feature characters from Tezuka’s history, such as Astro Boy, Unico, Black Jack, Big X, Dororo, Songoku, Kimba, and more.” Both volumes are still available from Magnetic Press.

image c. 2024 Magnetic Press

We just learned of a new upcoming furry movie, thanks to Animation World Network: “Jason Isaacs, Jimmi Simpson, and Russell Peters have joined the voice cast of the musically-driven animated feature Pierre the Pigeon-Hawk, Variety reports. The first of six projects in a co-production and co-financing deal between Toonz Feature Film and Gold Valley Films, the film also stars Will.I.Am; Jennifer Coolidge; Luis Guzmán; Jennifer Hudson; Snoop Dogg; Whoopi Goldberg; Alison Jaye; and Howie Mandel. In the film, a mixed-breed Pigeon-Hawk sets out on a quest of self-discovery. While embracing the things that make him different, he finds the courage to change the world he lives in. John D. Eraklis and Tara Whitaker direct from a script by creator Ciaran Crampton and Jay Dowski.” There’s no word yet on a release date.

image c. 2024 Toonz Feature Film

Sometimes it really is best to just let the publisher describe something for us… “A John Doe slaying lures a journalist into a world of political intrigue, a wi-fi-enabled grotto, and a station locker full of secrets. For Bucky, an editor of the crime beat at “The Truth,” it’s all in a day’s work… but he also happens to be a deer. Will he chase down his last story in this antler noir series?” No way we can top that, honestly. Deer Editor is written by Ryan K. Lindsay, with art by Sami Kivela and Lauren Affe. It’s also available now from Mad Cave.

image c. 2024 Mad Cave

Welcome to "Fresh Fur!" Our weekly installment going over the newest game releases, and which ones you can expect to find anthros/furries in!

Check the list below for all the games we could find with animal/anthro influences and characters.

New Releases for the week of November 11-17, 2024:

• The Rise of the Golden Idol (PS5, XSX, PC, PS4, NS) - November 12, 2024
• Is this Game Trying to Kill Me? (PC) - November 13, 2024
• Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake (PC, PS5, XSX, NS) – November 14, 2024
• Lego Horizon Adventures (PC, NS, PS5) – November 14, 2024
• Farming Simulator 25 (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC) - November 12, 2024
• Tetris Forever (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch, PC) - November 12, 2024
• Temtem: Swarm (PC)

*Bolded games have furry/animal influences/characters

Furry & Animal Steam Game Finds:

These games were found in the New Releases section of Steam this week and will be updated as more come out throughout the week!

Welcome to "Fresh Fur!" Our weekly installment going over the newest game releases, and which ones you can expect to find anthros/furries in!

Check the list below for all the games we could find with animal/anthro influences and characters.

New Releases for the week of November 4-10, 2024:

• Metal Slug Tactics (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch, PC) - November 5
• Monarchy (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, PC) - November 6
• Planet Coaster 2 (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC) - November 6
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate (PC) - November 6
• Magical Bakery (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, PC) - November 7
• Mario & Luigi: Brothership (Switch) - November 7
• Metro Awakening VR (PSVR 2, Quest, PC VR) - November 7
• Sengoku Dynasty (PC) - November 7
• Taiko No Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC) - November 7
• Slitterhead (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, PC) - November 8

*Bolded games have furry/animal influences/characters

Furry & Animal Steam Game Finds:

These games were found in the New Releases section of Steam this week and will be updated as more come out throughout the week!

2024兽无限「兽与地下城」在全新环境享受刺激冒险

台灣大型獸聚活動-獸無限Infurnity於10/25~27號，在台中麗寶福容大飯店進行為期三天的活動，參加人數也創下新紀錄達2712位。本屆主題「獸與地下城-無限之門」採用TRPG（桌上角色扮演遊戲）的題材，讓參加者們感受到一場大型的TRPG遊戲，並從中去了解活動方為參加者們準備的故事。

本屆活動的毛毛大合照。圖／Infurnity獸無限官方授權提供 活動開幕式由毛毛羅恩演唱《序章。啟程》，為活動揭開序幕。圖／藍風攝 參加者在活動第二天開始進行任務解謎，以蒐集點數換取獎品。圖／藍風攝

本次不僅邀請酥魚和Larp Bear冒險者公會、LARP道具屋等多位合作夥伴為活動進行內容協助，也邀請繪製本次主視覺圖的日本知名繪師村山龍大到現場進行座談分享。另外本次活動也有許多參加者進行panel講座，精彩豐富主題讓許多參加者到場聆聽。

圖為由佛戈爾與伊凡進行的「神與廟的副本任務-進香」panel。圖／藍風攝 主辦方邀請日本專業繪師村山竜大老師進行座談，分享其美術創作的經驗分享。圖／藍風攝

活動現場除了能在飯店內看到各種冒險主題的裝飾、立牌與獨特打扮的NPC之外，本次攝影棚也有一個大寶箱怪與大量道具讓毛毛扮演者們能進行拍攝。

活動中有許多符合主題的物件等待參加者去發掘互動。圖／藍風攝

本次活動表演也是十分豐富，無限展演秀這次共有27組表演，從舞蹈到音樂演出應有盡有，另外獸團隊Live部分則有二足步行、爆菊、音隅オトズミ等共六個樂團上台演出，DJ趴活動也分成周五和周日晚上，由蜥蜴、大聲貓、Jeff Hazama、泥鰍、TAKA、Sorami共六位DJ分別進行，炒熱活動現場。

樂團Live活動讓表演者在台上賣力演唱。圖為樂團「音隅オトズミ的演出。圖／藍風攝 圖為毛毛夏蒙、IceBall、Aku、タカル帶來的舞蹈表演。圖／藍風攝

本次販售會有多達102個來自國內外的創作者前來擺攤，展現出多樣的商品。本屆首次有台灣的文創作者「虎爺實習中」與「町町噹噹狗生活」前來。町町噹噹狗生活的作者表示，他從好幾年之前有聽過獸無限，直到今年6月首次在Furrymosa擺攤後，覺得目前的作品跟商品可以來挑戰看看，也對於獸無限有別於販售會，是以交流為主，讓他很想去跟毛毛拍照。虎爺實習中的作者也是受到町町噹噹狗生活的邀請下首次報名獸無限並參與販售會，至於對其他活動如以茶會毛的販售會，也表示有興趣的會嘗試報名看看。

本次販售會的攤位商品種類豐富。圖／藍風攝

本次公益抽獎活動也受到許多參加者的支持，最後總募款金額為950800元並捐贈給台灣猛禽研究會、另外也首次舉辦慈善委託攤，讓參加者可以找心儀的繪師並委託，費用則全數捐給官方合作的動物公益組織團體。

圖為本次公益抽獎活動中，抽到毛裝的中獎者。圖／藍風攝 本次共有20位繪師參與慈善委託攤活動。圖／藍風攝

活動閉幕式上官方也公布明年的主題為《萬獸方城市》，時間將訂於2025年10月31號到11月2號，地點則跟今年一樣在台中麗寶福容大飯店。

明年活動主題，預告視覺圖由繪師玄少繪製。圖／藍風攝

Furry Family Ofrenda on VRchat

It seems appropriate to write about losing things and carrying on, after a doomful week in America…

Hydraheads, an artist in Canada, is a player of Flight Rising, “a social web-based activity site featuring dragon breeding, adventuring, combat, and collecting.” You get your own clan of dragons and work with other clans. It’s more than solo fun, it was also a family connection. Hydraheads joins Dogpatch Press with a story:

Recently, Flight Rising closed my own account and my deceased mum’s account. I adopted and inherited from her before she passed.

It happened when someone attempted to hack in, and I couldn’t reset my password, so I started a trouble ticket and they investigated. They closed my account and hers, because they considered it an unfair advantage in the game to have two accounts. I had been active on both, and it’s against their TOS.

I appealed anyways, because I didn’t really want to lose my mum’s account or dragons she gave me; but you can’t exactly merge accounts or transfer progen dragons. My appeal was denied and I permanently lost both. They issued half-hearted condolences to my mum and said I could start a new account. It stung, mainly because I used her account to set it up as a comforting memorial for myself. We used to play it together and it was our thing.

This made me recognize and reflect on how furries on a wide scale put importance on and have tendencies to memorialize our lost members, friends and family, in ways that I think are uniquely touching. It says so much about how we value each other and are connected. Community ties can be so widespread through a single furry, and make support for one another when facing mortality… The more I look, it’s everywhere. A lot of us live very digitally. For some furries that were more isolated, this was their life. Maybe it was their only way to participate in the fandom.

Be it shrines on Second Life, or VRchat, obituary posts, or the ∞ of Furaffinity (RIP Dragoneer), you can see the outpour of friends and strangers coming together for someone like Dogbomb when they pass, and the continued memory for furs like them kept alive by the rest of us. It’s a beautiful thing.

Furry Family Ofrenda on VRchat

Losing an important account like that says something about the difference between corporate owned spaces, and things we make and own. Having a choice of how to keep things private also brings to mind an experience for Patch O’Furr:

Go back 5 years, when my girlfriend then brought me into her favorite things, before I brought her into mine. She helped found a huge monthly Bike Party event years before I met her. It brings 1000 people to the street on festive lit-up bicycles, like a rave on wheels, with music speakers on trailers, and dance party stops in special places. We started going together, and I figured out how to mount a fursuit head on my bike handlebars and ride in partial suit or bring a full suit on a trailer for the stops. Then she joined me for street fursuiting events. She even volunteered to be a helper and dressed fabulously for our furry contingent at San Francisco Pride, and fit perfectly as a non-furry.

In 2021, she died, and hundreds of people rode bikes for her memorial. Only a few dozen private furry followers got to read about it and see our photos together, because I wanted to keep it personal.

Around then, there was a glitch with this news site. I’m not the admin and it’s purposely kept minimal, like an old-school paper zine put on the web. The glitch wasn’t immediately solveable and I was busy. Then an insistent stranger who claimed tech expertise got upset that I wasn’t personally fixing it immediately, talking down to me without knowing how the site was set up. They assumed I was admin and had the latest install of WordPress instead of a version with a legacy theme on purpose, which couldn’t accommodate what they expected. Since I wasn’t fixing things right away, this person called in friends and led an online harassment dogpile campaign while I was busy helping my girlfriend’s mom. As hate posts poured on, I wasn’t looking. I was saying goodbye with her family at the edge of the San Francisco Bay closest to where she grew up, and scattering her ashes on the water.

Her memorial was huge on the street, but it stayed purely for those involved because I wanted it to stay private. Now the bike party runs every month and everyone there is carrying on for her. I’ll keep photos to myself, except this one was us…

Till next time, LA pic.twitter.com/oUvm6I1x0U

— [adult swim] (@adultswim) November 17, 2019

Hydraheads adds:

Sorry to hear about your girlfriend, goodness. It’s people like them that are still a part of our community by extension, even if they weren’t a furry, they were loved among and by furries. My mum thought furries were cool AF, even if she didn’t fully understand it, haha, but she was so supportive too.

That’s beautiful despite the circumstances occurring, I’m genuinely relieved that your IRL friends could do that for you to preserve her memory. And I like where this topic is going, about perseverance and strength, and trying to find and make those things in the shadow of uncertainty that comes after death. A friend shared this one with me and it has helped me cope: “When someone you love passes away, the things they leave behind or the qualities you remember them by are now gifted to you, and become your qualities. That’s how they live on through us.”

We continue to try and live and honor those things and carry forward through bad times. With your personal story about your girlfriend, it’s important that we ourselves as a community recognize the reach we have to one another. Good and bad. Whether our family and friends were furry or not. They were a support for you alongside and part of that network or our community too.

Considering the elections and what everyone is now facing going forward in America, more than ever we need the strength of each other, and the memories we hold of each other helps to propel us towards the vision and keep our focus. The importance of why and who we stay strong for. Ourselves, our family. For those ahead and after us, and in honor for those that have already departed.

One of the best keepers of memories is Changa, who is deeply involved on VRChat with the Furality event, and founded the Furry Family Ofrenda. Since 2020, it has collected memories of departed fandom members to view with a Dia de los Muertos theme.

Have you ever had a close call with death, and did it make you think about instructions for what to do when the time comes? If you have a very active life online and with a fursona, should your identities be remembered all together, or kept separate just for those in the know?

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. Want to get involved? Try these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for news or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here. (Content Policy.)

It harms pets too, never overlook animal abuse as a red flag.

In 2018, I told Dizzy he shouldn’t come to a furry party at a club in San Francisco. I was one of the organizers who keeps an eye on who is coming. He was a soft-looking guy who acted persistently pitiful about it, so I let him know it wasn’t because of something I knew he did, or any personal issue. It was for caution and to keep things harmonious, and there were other events he could go to. If he had a bad reputation, he could change it by doing good at other ones. I just wasn’t going to be pliable to begging for pity. If you don’t respect someone’s “no”, that’s a red flag itself.

To my confidential knowledge, the caution was because of multiple people tipping me to beware of someone abusive who they were uncomfortable being around, who they said would try manipulating for sympathy.

A few years before this, some other manipulation pulled me in to being a victim of a con artist. (He was judged liable for fraud and elder abuse after I had to defend whistleblower retaliation, cross-sue and beat him to stop it, winning a $32,000 judgement. When people sue me for defamation, I don’t settle and I bankrupt them.) The con artist was a monster with a lot of power over others, who were viciously whipped up against me for reporting abuse by their then-trusted manipulator. The experience of being the only person to point at The Emperor’s New Clothes and fighting for vindication made it easy to say no to Dizzy, stay firm, and watch what happened.

We had no more contact until it just came up again. Now I see things got worse after 2018 for Dizzy (AKA Hushpuppy, real name Brooks Buncher). A lot of Beware evidence was gathered by other people and got him removed from many groups. An elder abuse lawsuit also comes up and a TV news report that interviews him about being homeless in San Jose, CA. There’s allegations of rape including pets. Then he was charged with serial domestic violence causing the 2022 murder of a furry named Fin, who I had no idea existed until now.

One source talked to me about having an experience in common with many others, with being convinced into sex by Dizzy and then pressured and disturbed by possessiveness. It involved a super sketchy abandoned house and “hardcore guilt tripping rants”:

I was both surprised and not surprised when I saw the murder charges, and it seems like a lot of people who knew him had similar reactions. Dude is crazy and the venn diagram of domestic abusers, zoophiles, and rapists is basically a circle.

I don’t know how many people knew or tried to help Fin, but even many police and hospital visits didn’t do it. It’s so disturbing and sad. Maybe that doesn’t mean to blame the furry community for failure, but it reminds me — I never see helpful action from anyone who reacts to Bewares with counter-complaints about terms like “witch hunt” — which I see a lot when trying to report patterns of behavior. Superficial social media often has knee-jerk reactions to single offenses that may be mischaracterized, but petty offenses are different from allegations of abuse. Patterns is a good word, because there are often many victims before an abuser is caught once. It’s very helpful to apply a little pattern recognition, which is often dishonestly omitted from complaints about “witch hunts”. I will never trust anyone who presents callouts as a problem with false equivalence to abuse.

Some people tried to do something about an abuser here, but not enough. Now the least I can do is tell what happened and pay respects to Fin.

I’m sick of organizers who don’t take charge of supporting more than escapist fun while they pass off decisions to police or others and say it’s not their job to judge. Actually it is. When you run a group, you can just tell someone “no”, then see if they respect it. Whether an organizer is even capable of saying “no” is a test of competence itself. I’m not talking about conventions taking liability, I’m talking about the pure social level and social fallacies about who is welcome.

Next: a nice story about memorializing.

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. Want to get involved? Try these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for news or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here. (Content Policy.)

The crowdfunding campaign for "Paws and Leave" just kicked off! In it, you'll follow "Me" the fox on his final journey to rediscover his memories. By his side is a charming butterfly named Ani, who will help you, sometimes more, sometimes less. Me relies on his senses, like smelling, to locate his memories in the realm between life and death.  The Kickstarter campaign has lots of stretch goals and exclusive opportunities for backers to have some of the most treasured memories immortalized in the game itself. It looks like a wonderful little adventure, full of surprises and cute (and mysterious) critters. Check out more details below and on their official Kickstarter Page.

🦊 Play as "Me"
Experience the emotional journey of a young fox in his final tale. Get guidance from a charming butterfly named Ani, who helps you on your last journey. Use Me’s senses, like smelling, to locate memories in the world in-between.

😢 Emotional Storytelling with Fearful Elements
A deeply moving narrative that includes darker and dangerous moments to reflect the protagonist's fading life. Meet various characters, uncover their stories and retrieve hidden memories.

🎣 Unique Gameplay Activities
Engage in activities like fishing for keepsakes on the back of an ancient wise turtle.

⛄ Beautiful World with small open world zones in different seasons
While the game has a strong linear storyline, players are free to explore the breathtaking world at their own pace to uncover secrets, collect keepsakes and unravel new tales.

💬 Personal Keepsakes
Discover and collect player-submitted keepsakes, such as messages, images or videos, scattered throughout the world.

👻 Whispering Echoes (Twitch Integration)
🔒 FEATURE UNLOCKS AT €55,000
Let your community engage with your adventure using our Twitch integration to interact with you and your journey in specific zones.

Here comes a new hardcover graphic novel for young readers called Birtle and the Purple Turtles. “Everyone is a turtle in Turtletown. So Teeny thinks she must be a turtle, too. But when Teeny sprouts feathers, she begins to wonder… is there a teeny possibility she’s a… Birtle? Tootie loves tag, but the other turtles in Turtletown don’t like to play. That is, until Tootie meets Teeny. Teeny loves tag. They have tons in common! Except one big thing: Teeny may not be a turtle at all. This adorable graphic novel is about being true to yourself, friendship, and most of all, celebrating differences.” It’s written and illustrated by Tara J. Hannon, and it’s available now from Andrews McMeel.

image c. 2024 Andrews McMeel

Two arrested during preparation for a big party

On 9/26/2024, a popular furry event organizer (Frisky Hyena) and another group leader were arrested together for child sex crimes. They have been in jail without bond since then. Both had furry scene influence in the San Francisco Bay area, after Frisky relocated there from Las Vegas. This report features Steven “Frisky” Darling as the owner of Party Animals West (PAW), with an LLC registered in Nevada.

Frisky’s organization used a team of helpers to throw parties around the year, sometimes with rooms at conventions, or partnered with other furry brands or DJ’s. PAW also hosted a chat group of 1000 followers who would mobilize support across furry spaces. Their larger events would attract hundreds of paying attendees, using venues with professional light and sound, like a barcade chain with locations in several big cities. Many gave support without knowing Frisky’s secrets, but after he was jailed, his partner Scoop stepped in to play one of his surrogates for actions that are very controversial now.

For the last weekend of September, supporters were looking forward to a huge occasion in San Francisco. Folsom Street Fair would draw hundreds of thousands for kink-themed activities, including many furries to the PAW barcade party on 9/29/2024. As it approached, on 9/27/2024, Frisky’s surrogate Scoop decided to tell the PAW chat group that Frisky’s phone was broken and he couldn’t answer. His accounts were allegedly accessed for impersonation messages to tell close contacts he was taking a break.

Frisky has a slew of serious charges with a long history

Frisky’s surrogates knew, and weren’t telling, that he was jailed the day before on charges of:

• Sodomy with person under 16
• Oral copulation with person under 16
• Lewd Act Upon A Child
• Penetration By Foreign Object: (V) Under 16
• Contribute To The Delinquency Of A Minor
• Arranging a Meeting with a Child for Lewd Purposes
• Attempting to Contact Minor w/Intent to Commit Offense
• Distribution or Exhibition of Lewd Material to a Minor (with Prior)

After keeping people in the dark to take support for Frisky’s event, over the next month, the arrest news started to circulate. It shocked many, but others were upset that it was being reported at all (neglecting aid for victims to come forward). If that isn’t messy enough, hindsight and connecting dots finds a history of red flags, where sources report complaints were suppressed in Las Vegas for a long time until history repeated in San Francisco.

Since 2017, complaints went without action even from the police

In Las Vegas, Frisky had built a reputation of unreliability and failing to pay debts, until relocating to California to resume parties there. Around 2017, an apartment sharing debacle led to discovering illegal media on devices Frisky kept there. He was known for preying on minors, but reports to police in Las Vegas had no results. Allegations have come out about furry groups enabling this situation by favoring cliquish friends.

More recently in the SF Bay Area, details of the arrests match a situation of risky people being allowed in groups, putting all members at risk while certain organizers shift blame and act like others should do their job for their meets. The problem started with letting risky people in at all especially after being warned and overruling it. These negligents have a chronic history of sympathy for offenders, rejecting responsibility and overlooking problems until police intervene, if ever. This reporter has been experiencing that behavior since 2018 while negligents turn their backs on protecting their groups.

Party promo – lives were ruined.

Suppression surrounded Frisky’s arrest for a month to keep his PAW organization operating, instead of accepting that it’s fatal to things under his name. Some people did work against the in-group pressure. Las Vegas Fur Con (LVFC), other events, performers, and associates ended their relationships. Finally, there was a grudging statement about dissolving PAW from operators like Scoop whose credibility was lost.

How soon could this have been stopped? Abuse might have been prevented if complaints were heard and leaders took responsibility. It could have been easier to prevent at the gate instead of trying to fix it after. We don’t yet know the extent of the problem, with multiple offenders and ties to other suspicious people. The whole situation has legal action pending, with sensitivity about it being undermined on behalf of offenders and helping them to escape consequences again. Therefore some information is protected for security and this report is edited to be a general summary.

Furry space can be for predators to access victims, and leaders to prioritize selfish fun over ruined lives, with negligence about red flags. Or…

You can take action

If you have any information about abuse in the community, or enabling by organizers, and are reluctant to come forward without confidentiality — Dogpatch Press has an established role of working with whistleblowers, making legal privilege from being compelled to disclose private information. That gives ability to report what others can’t. Even if police aren’t helpful, solutions may start with carefully documenting what’s suppressed. (Be careful, because even people who slept with Frisky didn’t know about problems made worse by leaders suppressing things.)

Police don’t manage your community. YOU DO. Protecting it doesn’t have to wait for years of processing while suppression makes things worse, and there is no entitlement to invitation into its spaces. It can be run with care instead of making it so open that anything can crawl in.

To understand harmful management patterns, also check the recent article about Garden State Fur the Weekend and what it welcomed in.

Some sources

PAW chat group: now closed (a full export is on file.)

https://ghostarchive.org/archive/BEg4f

https://archive.ph/Mrd1n

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. Want to get involved? Try these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for news or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here. (Content Policy.)

Look, sometimes we can’t explain things, we can only tell you that things exist. Things like the Acid Chimp vs. Business Dog one-shot from Ahoy Comics. “Business Dog controls the wealth of nations! Acid Chimp has been abducted by crooks who want him to kill the canine trillionaire with corrosive acid! And why wouldn’t he? Splashing acid is the only thing that Acid Chimp enjoys!” Okay, we’ll try to fill you in about what’s going on here… Business Dog is a character from a popular indie comic called Billionaire Island, while Acid Chimp is from a popular indie comic called My Bad. The creators of each met up and decided it would be fun to set their two weird characters against each other. And so writers Mark Russell and Bryce Ingman enlisted the help of artists Peter Krause and Steve Pugh, and here’s what we get. Major Spoilers has a review that helps it all make more sense… maybe. We can’t make promises.

image c. 2024 Ahoy Comics

Furry Book Month has drawn to a close for another year. Hopefully everyone who wanted a copy of the 2024 book bundle had a chance to download it.

For those of us who participated in the first Furry Novel Jam, congratulations! Even if you only wrote a handful of words in October, those were words you hadn’t written before. I didn’t finish my novella, but I wrote over 15,000 words total and feel really good about my progress. The Furry Novel Jam doesn’t have to end if you don’t want it to end!

Awards season is coming up fast, so if there are recently-published books on your to-read pile, this is a good time to bump them to the top. If you have recently-published works, this is also a good time to send in updates for your guild member profile and the suggested reading lists. If you have a book coming out soon, let us know so we can list it in future posts. Make it easy for potential readers to find what you’ve written!

Here are the current open markets for your short stories:
Paw Anthology: Volume 2 – Deadline November 21st 2024
Spirit of the Wolf – Deadline March 31st 2025
The Second Hayven Celestia Anthology – Deadline July 15, 2025
Indecent Exposure – Deadline When Full
This Is Halloween – Deadline When Full
Children Of The Night – Deadline When Full
Furry/Lovecraftian/Erotic/University Themed Anthology – Deadline When Full

Please also check out the latest releases from our members:

Shadow Sun, by Jess E. Owen. Released August 30th
Legend of Ahya: Broken Empires, by Matthew Colvath. Released October 2nd 2024.

Happy writing!

Kate Shaw

What do you do when you’re in need of inspiration for your writing? Why, you take a much needed break and visit the creepiest abbey in town. This is the premise of Mercury Abbey. Players step into the paws of Harrod, a character based on a gray wolf who’s a struggling writer. At the start of the story, Harrod is working on his latest novel and feeling pretty pessimistic about it. Sales have been lackluster since an influx of competition from similar works have flooded the market including a cyberpunk style adventure featuring a cat as a protagonist. Harrod isn’t given any peace to work or stew as he receives a call from his sister, who tells him that she's dropping off his nephew Willie with him. It’s at this point, the game finally starts. 

This year at the annual Lightbox Expo we met the artist Naomi VanDoren. Recently they’ve been branching out as an author, and after successful Kickstarter campaign they’ve released their first illustrated book, called Naiya and the Foxdragon. “Naiya is a young teen who has been hiding from her past and her unkind uncle most of her life until she befriends a foxdragon named Aru. When the last of the magic orbs that once powered their city is depleted, she faces her fears and embarks on an unexpected journey into the heart of the jungle to save her home. Along the way, Naiya discovers her own self-worth as she and her foxdragon friend navigate the treacherous jungle and learn about her own relationship with the world’s magic.” Visit their web site to see more.

image c. 2024 by Naomi VanDoren