Behavior around fursuiters
While this is information many fursuiters know...those without a suit may be somewhat oblivous to the obvious. So I thought I'd put together a few items that will make many of our suiter friends happier to be around you.
1. Be careful around suiters, they have limited visibility! Most fursuiters cannot turn their costume heads. In most cases, suiters are looking through "tunnel vision" eyes that only let them see a range of about 10% of what you can see. If you start running up to a fursuiter from the back or the side...they may not have ANY idea you are there, and you can potentially hurt them badly. Always try to approach a fursuiter from the front, and be polite. Remember...they're still a person inside and can react the same way that anyone else does if you startle them or do something they don't want or like.
2. Fursuiters can overheat easily! These costumes typically enclose the body and the head. This traps all their body heat and usually causes profuse sweating. (The temperature inside the head of a fursuit can easily reach 110 degrees in a matter of minutes! So suiters need water and cooling facilities frequently. If you see a suiter and they motion that they need to go...DON'T STOP THEM. They could be really uncomfortable or badly in need of water.
3. Elevator ettiquette - Anthrocon respects a particular form of elevator etiquette when it comes to fursuiters. They will noramlly be pushed to the front of an elevator line immediately. Please respect this and if you see a fursuiter waiting to get into an elevator, allow them to move to the front of the line. The Dorsai will be facilitating this..please don't argue with them on this point.
4. Respect the work and money put into these costumes! Some individuals have spent many thousands of dollars on their fursuits. Others have constructed their fursuits over the span of years. Some suits may have special technical components or animatronics in them. Whatever the case is, a fursuit is the private property of the owner. Don't hit, strike, touch, or roughouse with a suit unless the owner has given you specific permission to do so. If they say stop..the really mean stop!
5. On the subject of touching fursuits...many people think that "scritching" a suit is a nice thing to do. PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS THE OWNER HAS TOLD YOU IT'S OK! Here's why: Many suits are now being constructed with more expensive and finer furs. If you "scritch" a suit, it may feel nice to you, but the owner won't feel the same thing. The worse part is, scritching or scratching a suit can RUIN the fur. It can get matted, pulled out, knotted, or otherwise damaged. Petting the fur of a suit is usually fine, so long as you've been given permission to do so. And if you are going to touch a fursuit..for goodness' sake...make certain your hands are CLEAN! Lightly colored fur will show any mark or blemish.
6. Fianlly, remember that not all suiters are the same. Some have higher staminas than others. Some are very shy while others are outgoing. Some may give hugs or other attention freely to anyone, while others may only reserve that for people that they know. Don't be offended if a suiter doesn't respond to you the way you want them to.
I made the big mistake of addressing a fursuiter as a fursuiter in front of the kids. Aerak had politely corrected me. In their suited form, in front of an audience, they are "real," for all intents and purposes and for the sake of their performance.
Don't make the same mistake I did. I got fwapped for it. X_X
Thanks for posting this.. I myself am a fursuiter and will be at AC this year with 2 partials.. One of which has a rather long tail. This will be my first time suiting at a convention and it will be interesting..
Well Kelly and I will be wondering around together, I guess we'll take turns watching out for each other while we're in suit. Kinda like the blind leading the blind, lol.
-Rawr
Isn't another etiquette point that, in general, you're not supposed to talk to fursuiters?
I always thought that was odd, as I would imagine an anthro being able to talk...
But there is indeed a bit more magic and fun if they don't speak and use other means to communicate.
Actually...that depends on the suiter and their suit. Some fursuits have mobile jaws and allow the ability to speak. Some fursuits follow the old mascot type rules about not speaking in costume.
KP
I speak in both of my suits and they do not have moving jaws. I don't think you are not supposed to talk to them. They can be spoken to however those who are purists of the unwritten "Don't talk while wearing a fursuit" rule are going to incoherently growl or play charades with you.
Sylverwolfe
The Heavy Metal werewolf
Bang your head!!! Metal Health will drive you mad!
Hey, playing charades with the suiters is fun!
-There is no truth
actually, as far as I know, its fursuiters don't talk, you can ask questions, some may choose to answer with guestures
Isn't another etiquette point that, in general, you're not supposed to talk to fursuiters?
Some fursuiters will be more than happy to talk to you... they'll just sound kind of muffled. lol
Perhaps that should be, Big Bad Wolf's, next project. Try to develop a fur suit voice box so that a suiter could talk normally, or perhaps add a voice changing quality so a suiter could have a more animalistic voice.
EXCELLENT POINTS!!!
THANK YOU FOR WRITING THEM!!!
While getting waylaid by a gaggle of fursuit-friendly-suiter-hug-seeking-furries is fun, sadly it is forgotten that fursuiters only have a finite amount of time until they need to take the head off to breathe for a few minutes and get some water. Getting into a scritch/hug frenzy can get hot and demanding if many are waiting to have their turn.
I appreciate the post.
Sylverwolfe
The Heavy Metal werewolf
Bang your head!!! Metal Health will drive you mad!
If that's your suit in your icon..I have to say I think it's adorable 
Hope to see you at the fursuit meet and greet Friday afternoon. It should be a hoot!
KP
Both suits in the Icon are mine. I can only bring one. The Wolf on the left will have to be left home. The Husky on the right will be the suit I will show up in. Thank you for the compliment. I was quite proud of the suit when I commissioned it with Arend Studios a year ago.
This is the first I have heard about the Fursuit meet and Greet. thank you for the heads up.
I have not had a lot of time lately. I am preparing to take the time off at work so I have not had a chance to read the schedule of events. I figured I would get there, see the Opening Ceremony and then find a program with all the stuff going on.
What time is that event?
See you there!
Sylverwolfe
The Heavy Metal werewolf
Bang your head!!! Metal Health will drive you mad!
This is the first I have heard about the Fursuit meet and Greet. thank you for the heads up.
'Ats-a why we post the schedule!
http://www.anthrocon.org/schedule
The curious fellow can download the PDFs there, if he was having trouble finding it.
He DOES have access to a PDF reader, I presume...
Ah, our presumption may not be valid, though.
We are *THIS CLOSE* to having a nice HTML-based grid that people can refer to without having to invoke an Adobe program.
We are ***THIS CLOSE***. Right...Giza...KP...?
I would have loved to actually. I have been bringing my work home here lately so I can take the vacation time off of work. I have been leaving the lab rather late here for the last week and half too.
To Be entirely honest: I DO have Adobe, HOWEVER I was simply unaware that the schedule was available. I can not get on here and post every single day really. HECK! I have scarcely had time to tend the furry message boards I own and Co-Admin.
To UncleKage:
I think it would be really swell to have that on the list somewhere so one does not have to dilly-dally around with trying to load Adobe and then deal with the gazillion updates that program always wants to perform!
One Good thing though:
I decided to take off all next week and some time off the week after, with Anthrocon in the middle so now I am officially on vacation! And thanks to all you guys telling me about it I will find it Load it and find out what is going on there.
Sylverwolfe
The Heavy Metal werewolf
Bang your head!!! Metal Health will drive you mad!
AWWW Man!! They put the fursuit dodgeball at the same time as the Kage Story hour.
AWWW Man!! They put the fursuit dodgeball at the same time as the Kage Story hour.
And during the Charity Auction/Funday Pawpet show
I'm not that familiar with dodgeball, but given the limited mobility/visibility of suits, just how will that work? And can anybody keep that up for the full 1.5 hours, or do the participants change often enough that nobody will be doing it for that long?
Ron
It has always been my stance that "Nothing" should ever run at the same time as the Kage story hour, and 2's show. It would also be prefered if nothing ran at the same time as major GOH appearences. I understand that sometimes you just can't help it, but if the schedule is too crouded you may need to start cutting content. That was my only problem last year, too much content, I knew I couldn't see it all, but I tried so hard that I didn't take the time to enjoy things to the fullest. This year looks much better, and there are only a few hard choices to make. So a big paws up to K.P.
No matter what, there will always be one of two problems:
1) too many things to attend them all
2) too few things to hold your interest
If they slashed the schedule down, there's no guarantee
you'd like most of what's left.
So, instead, they offer more choices. The drawbacks, are,
obviously, you have some hard choices to make, and event
organizers have smaller draws due to people at competing
events at the same time. (That's MY headache.)
Despite the frustrations on both ends, though, cutting
content doesn't seem to be an option that anyone REALLY
wants. How do you know the stuff you really want to
attend won't be the first thing cut?
To date, I have been to very few conventions of ANY type
where you have a reasonable chance of attending everything
you WANT to attend. (Unless very little at the convention
interests you.) That's the nature of the beast, and the
variety that results in this is one of the strengths of any
GOOD convention.
I try..and thanks for the message of appreciation.
Just to let ya know..I do try very hard to make certain that as few things as possible conflict with major events. In the case of Kage and Dodgeball Match #2, that was put there specifically as an alternative for some folks who didn't want to attend the Story Hour. I received a message last year from some fursuiters asking for something to do at that time, becasue the Story Hour just wasn't their thing.
It's kind of a catch-22 really, becasue some will fuss that something is there, and others will fuss because there's nothing else there.
The best we can do is offer a variety of activities that fall in many people's interest ranges. I'd rather take the heat for there being far too much to do, than to have people complaining that they are bored.
KP
if wanted to waer a fursuit do you buy it before you leav or at the con???
Full fursuits are custom-made items. It can take months to make one. Also, they are not cheap. They can cost $1000 and up. So, if you want to wear one at Anthrocon 2010, you probably should commission one now... and it might be ready by the con.
Just remember: while it may be fun to wear a fursuit and it certainly gets you a lot of attention, it is not necessary! Less than 20% of attendees wear them, which means that you won't stand out if you're not wearing one.
You have to plan way, way further ahead than that and probably be a little bit more familiar with the experience - like, try out a friend's or something. It's a LOT of money to blow on something you might only want to do once. They're really, really not cheap and they take a long time to get done - I commissioned mine almost 4 months ago and it's going to be ready JUST in time for AC, plus it's costing well over $2k. Definitely not an impulse purchase.
Before XD Fursuits can take over a month to e ready and they cost from $1000 to $2000.
I think pretty much every one did well by me last year. Was my first year suiting and was terrified of some one damaging my suit. Other then being hugged way more then I'm comfortable with for pictures, every thing was fine. If you're new to suiting, go out the first day and walk around to see how long it takes for you to get tired or hot so that you know for the rest of the con. I ran around in my suit for several hours without removing my head the first day and didn't have problems but I know what my limits are to start with.
Also, more signs for the headless lounge to remind people no pictures. I personally didn't care but I know some one was snapping pics last year and got yelled at for it.
Also, more signs for the headless lounge to remind people no pictures. I personally didn't care but I know some one was snapping pics last year and got yelled at for it.
There shouldn't be anyone in the headless lounge aside for from fursuiters and their handlers. We'll have to keep a better eye on the lounge this year.
Hey, any advice for a new fursuiter and her handler?? XP me and my friend, Rosie, are going to our first con
All the usual. Both of you walk around the hotel/convention center out of suit so you can see where every thing is clearly. Do some exercise before the con unless you are used to walking around a lot. There will be places to sit of course but you'll be on your feet a lot. Get used to your suit (how long it takes to get hot in it, how hard is it to get in and out of, can you fit a straw into the mouth to get into your mouth, where are your blind spots, ect.). Take some Gatorade with you (drink it and water a lot to keep hydrated). Make sure you can fit a sweat band or some thing of that nature on under your head as sweat will be getting into your eyes and you can't wipe it away with your head on (your eyes will get blurry and sting after a while, I know...) Get your handler used to hand signals from you (its often hard to hear/talk with a head on so just the basics: have to pee, what time is it, ect.) Buy a can of anti-bacterial spray for your suit and make sure your skin is not bothered by it (after a day in your suit it'll smell. Spraying an anti-bacterial into it will help). Take some hangers and a couple small fans with you (after spraying your suit, prop it open with a fan blowing into it to dry it out. Shower before AND after wearing your suit. Use the bathroom before getting into suit (its a pain to get in and out of suit to #1 or #2). You may wish to use a scented spray on your suit to make it smell nice, make sure your skin isn't bothered by it. Buy a brush to smooth out your suit's fur if you want to. Know where the headless lounge is as you'll be visiting it often to cool off. Make sure your handler has the keys to your room as you can't get to your pockets in a suit (I put my room key in my name tag around my neck. Practice getting into the elevator and onto/off of escalator (know where your tail is).
That's about all the practical stuff, learning how to move and keep in character will come as you spend time in suit. You can always ask other suiters for help at the con as well.
Well, I'll be wearing a partial suit this year XD so it shouldn't be THAT bad, right?? NEXT year I should be getting a full fursuit.
Heat wise no I wouldn't think it'd be that bad but if you have a head, you'll still have blind spots, a harder time talking (specially if the mouth is closed or doesn't move). If your tail hangs down its less likely to get cause in doors but it if long and sticks out or drags, keep that in mind.
^^ thanks
Well I cant give you any advice, because I am not a fursuiter, or a handler but I remember this video from a while back and thought It may help you
oh thank you for the vid but as you can see i like to ask question alot and when i want to i can plan alot i am planning two years in advase to make it the best time ever so i have seen all the rule vids on youtube iam just un sure about other things.
^^ THAT was a big help!! thank you!
I am very happy to hear that.
im not totally sure what im doing but i thought it would be nice to say that in this link http://www.anthrocon.org/behavior-around-fursuiters on number #4. last sentence where it says; "If they say stop..the really mean stop!". i think it exposed to say this "If they say stop..that really mean stop!". i was just reading everything becuz im alittle new still i think to furries but yeah. i think "the" exposed to say "that". maybe "mean" should be changed to "means" also. but i dont know for sure though.
im not totally sure but it doesnt sound right the way it is right now and i thought it would be nice to point out like the misspelling or something.
Or instead of the The being that, it could be they, so it would say 'If they say stop.. they really mean Stop!'
Comment on rule #1: This is my biggest pet peeve.
Please DO NOT run in front of us. We CANNOT see you! Time and again I have bumped into people (and in some cases, knocked them on the floor >_< ) because they darted in front of me.
However, I do realise that there are children at AC, too. For me, as a fursuit performer, I take the extra initiative to always look down in front of me before I move, so I don't bump a child.
Let me add my comments to #1 and #4:
Please, give us ROOM to move! Nearly all fursuits have tails, wings, and/or are rather larger/wider/longer/taller than the person inside (especially feet!). We need extra room to turn and walk, and backing up can be a problem.
I lost count of how many times I've been crowded into a wall or corner (elevators are the worst!) and had the wings (or feathered tail) on my fursuit crushed. Even when perusing items in the Dealer's Den, or posing for a picture, I've had people run into my wings or tail... sometimes to the point of knocking me off-balance! The wings took me a full month to design and construct and are made from real feathers. While a fair percentage of people have tried to give me room (thank you!), there's nearly always one person in a given situation who just doesn't pay attention and pushes past anyway. I DO try my best to hunch over and arrange myself to take up as little space as possible in a crowded situation, but it doesn't always work.
Remember: You can see where you're going and what's around you; fursuiters can't.
(Edited for spelling and stuffs. Gah)
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