Do you remember when and what helped you discover your affinity for furries? If you do, I’d like to hear your stories!
To get the ball rolling I’ll start with mine. While I certainly can’t pinpoint the exact date I became fixated on anthros, I can absolutely remember getting Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast when I was 7 or 8 (2000ish).
Seeing Tails was all I needed to get hooked, and want to be a cool fox like him. I didn’t even have a word for it until I started using the internet years later, but my furry fate was sealed from then onward. It was the catalyst that got me into fantasizing about having fur and a big tail, and got me doodling lots of Sonic art as a kid. While I’ve long since stopped making Sonic art, Tails still holds a special place in my heart over 20 years later.
I was 10 or so when my ADHD decided I was going to hyperfixate on centaurs, and in my wanderings through the pre-dotcom-bust internet it didn’t take long to find that the fantasy-novel-cover type images were already being outnumbered by the furry ones on vcl. Then I discovered Chakats and fell straight into the fandom. XD
Thanks for sharing! From the sounds of it you’ve been aware for a long time too, honestly it’s kinda amazing to me how long it’s been a part of many people’s lives and identities. It really is one of those things that seem to stick with you forever!