Monthly Archives: July 2013

Mothers and Twenty Somethings Leave Those Stuffed Animals Alone

I often lurk around Yahoo Answers and often read and answer a similar question, ether a teen or twenty something or older anguishing that their mother has thrown out their children’s prize stuffed toy collection, the mother want to throw out their stuffed, or an adult wanting to know how to get over their anguish wanting to get rid of their stuffed animals collection but unable to. I have a simple message to the adults and Mothers:

Put the bag down step slowly away from the stuffed animals collection and leave the Plushies be.

I confess I am a furry and a stuffed toy collector, Mosley Hello Kitty or Sanrio but I do have others. I am one of the 35% men who travel with a stuffed animal according to an UK survey.  I sleep with 10 of them yet in all my “immaturity” I am still a well adjusted 50ish year old adult.

I poured   over many parental advice sites wanting to know who to get rid of their kids stuffed animals, in all post are from mothers and women and not a peep from the men.  In all I cannot find, except moving or loss of interest, any logical reason why to dump their kids stuffed animals collection. Most answers are in a form of logical fallacies of appeal to tradition: this we always raised children that way, Bandwagons fallacy or others might think, or generalizations have stuff toys make one immature.  I do not see any logical region to dispose one kid’s cherish plushies  or  prohibit on nagging a child  from  carrying  one interest in stuffed animals will into adult years .  It may be time for parents and adults to grow up and leave stuffed animals be.

Signed

Me a 52 year old stuffed animal fan who says you can only give away my collection of my stuffed toys that cannot fit into my coffin next to my cold dead body.

Big Collection

Part of  my collection

Con Repoert: Gearcon 2013 Steampunk

The Convention: Gear Con (Steampunk)

The Place: Lloyd’s Center Doubletree Inn

The Dates : 5 -7 July  2013

 

Gear Con is Portland’s premier Steampunk convention. Both Hello Kitty and Chococat plushiest were my companions.  I was apprehensive at fist, notably this was my fist Steampunk convention but not sure I would be accepted. I am gladly report I was wrong.

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Steampunk Epiphany

I just got back from Gear Con, The Steampunk convention in Portland Oregon. I was very curious about the Steampunk community but I missed last year’s Gear Con because I got the dates wrong.  For the uninitiated, Steam Punk is both a genre of retro speculative /alterative historical literature, art and a community of creative persons.  The main premise is what if Victorian industrial technology was much more sophisticated; think indusial revolution and 19th century science   on steroids.

My epiphany is the strong similarity between furry and steam punk communities: we both highly creative and fans of our own creation.  Because we are fans of our own creation both fandoms are more open and freer for self expression. Both furries and Steampunk fans are free to explore our own characters and aesthetics without the fear of violating the cannon. Both furries and Steampunk differ to Anime and Science Fiction fans in that both anime and Science   Fiction fans what other created.

I think Steampunk can teach furries a few things like being open generationally; this one area I am very critical of furry fandom the lack of openness  and family friendliness. Part is a problem with the 20-30 year old generation; their lack of ability to work with those outside their peer group.
I can see me crossing both furry and Steampunk communities