471: Aversion Fads
| Aversion Fads |
 [Click comic to enlarge] Title text: Hey, are you friends with any hamsters. This kite needs a passenger. |
Explanation
To start, furries are, in essence, fans of cartoon animals (or any animal in fiction, really). (Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse are examples of the more popular cartoon animals.) Furries can be further subdivided into two categories: the furry fans that simply like cartoon animals contrast the furry lifestylers who take their fanhood a step further, the lifestylers dressing up with animal-themes accessories (or even full fursuits, that is, animal costumes), using a "furry vocabulary" (To give an example, "murr" is used to express a big liking of something.), go to furry conventions, and so on. Of course, there are a significant amount of furries who take their interest too far, not only partaking in perverted fantasies with cartoon characters, being very open about their more "intimate" interests, and even engaging in such acts with other people in real life, sometimes even in their fursuits (which may be specifically designed for such "adult" uses). There are furries that take this a step further, partaking in fetishes that can include hyper, unbirth, vore, and so on. This had caused other people to view furries in general with disgust.
Here, we see two such people, grossed out that there is a furry (noted by the man's fox ears and tail) near them. A woman then calls for the furry to help him set up her kite. The way this turns out, she also thinks that furries are gross, but she is also irritated by the fact that a lot of people in the Internet are involved with a lot of weird things that may gross out or otherwise offend the general population, yet the Internet in general frequently mocks furries for engaging in essentially the same things. (Myself, I had seem a few art galleries that display art of pregnant human women, plus there is a non-furry site that has a community all about men gaining weight and those who like to see others gain weight. Both pregnancy and weight gain are actually rather common in the furry world.) This hypocrisy bothers the woman, so she takes whatever opportunity she has to defend furries, who are, after all, people of the Internet.
Hearing this, the furry brings up the fable of the lion and the mouse (from Aesop). This fable talks about a lion who spares a mouse from being eaten, since the mouse's promise that he would repay the lion gave the lion a good laugh. Turns out that the lion got caught in a rope trap, so the mouse nibbled on the rope, freeing, thus repaying, the lion. In light of this, the furry is saying that, since the woman stood up for the furry in the face of opposition, the furry will repay her kindness, possibly by defending her own choices. The fact that furries are generally not deemed helpful or significant seems to emphasize the point.
...then the woman asks the furry to avoid using an animal-based analogy which can possibly arouse him.
The title text has the woman realize that her kite needs a passenger, so she ask the furry, a fan of animals, if he has any pet hamsters that she can put on the kite, the hamster being the passenger she needs.
Transcript
- [Two guys stand together as a young guy dressed up with small ears and a tail approaches.]
- First Man: OH GOD, A FURRY. DON'T LET IT TOUCH YOU.
- [The Furry hears someone call out to him]
- Unknown: HEY, KID.
- [A young woman is seen preparing a kite to be flown.]
- Woman: FORGET THOSE ASSHOLES. COME HELP ME.
- [The Furry begins to help the woman set up the kite.]
- Furry: THANKS, SO YOU'RE COOL WITH FURRIES?
- Woman: WELL, I THINK YOUR FETISH IS AS WEIRD AS HELL. IT JUST BOTHERS ME HOW YOU'RE THIS DESIGNATED INTERNET PUNCHING BAG ::AMONG PEOPLE WHO ARE OTHERWISE DOWN WITH WEIRD FETISHES. SO I STICK UP FOR YOU WHEN I CAN.
- [The kite now successfully up in the air, the two continue.]
- Furry: WELL, THANKS. I OWE YOU ONE.
- Woman: NO BIG DEAL.
- Furry: NO, THIS IS LIKE THE LION AND THE MOUSE.
- Woman: ...LISTEN, CAN WE PICK A COMPARISON LESS LIKELY TO TURN YOU ON?
- Furry: SORRY.
- Title text: Hey, are you friends with any hamsters. This kite needs a passenger.
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refresh comments!Discussion
The inclusion of a Fox is notable, within the Furry community foxes are the most populous species [Citation: https://sites.google.com/site/anthropomorphicresearch/home ] and subjected to a degree of derision from other furs.
78.40.152.129 10:45, 12 January 2013 (UTC) Feefers (A Furry)
- Your mention of fox-morphism reminds me of Lady into Fox, from the 1920s... Probably not relevent, but perhaps interesting as a pre-Internet example that is not itself an ancient fable, legend or allegory. (No Rule 34ing, though, that I recall). 178.107.249.215 22:22, 11 June 2013 (UTC)
Does anyone know if this is Randall's actual opinion of furries? I've wondered that ever since I first read this comic. Leafy Greens (talk) 15:37, 16 November 2014 (UTC)
It's possible that the "Hey, kid" line is a reference to the "Hey, kid, wanna yiff?" meme (possibly based on another, "hey kid, wanna see a dead body") which was made 4 months -1 day prior to this strip release, apparently for a furry pick-up line contest on FurAffinity [got this from knowyourmeme]. Also, the title " Aversion Fad" might be suggesting that the anti-Furry attitude/meme/whatever is just a fad or meme. 108.162.237.158 19:27, 6 September 2015 (UTC)
It should be noted that Randall has particularly picked up on the furry stereotype than what furries actually are. International Space Station (talk) 01:45, 9 October 2015 (UTC)
I've been wanting to fix this for over a year. This comic is written about furries, so I only think it's fair that the explain is written by someone who actually knows about the furry fandom--you know, an *actual* furry who, you know, isn't into the sexual stuff, i.e. me. International Space Station (talk) 02:02, 9 October 2015 (UTC)
Fair, but the explanation is now much too long. Added incomplete tag as such. I really appreciate you trying to bring this more in line with reality, but we're not here to discuss culture, we're here to explain xkcd. If you disagree, feel free to remove the tag. 199.27.128.91 04:22, 9 October 2015 (UTC)
I kept the explanation regarding furries, but moved it to a seperate section so it wouldn't interfere with the people who are here soley to look for an explanation of the actual comic. 108.162.215.154 23:07, 11 October 2015 (UTC)
The obvious use being, of course, so you don't have to remove the suit to use the restrooms. ...Sexual purposes aside, there probably really are people who buy/make them for that particular convenience instead. Nyperold (talk) 07:07, 3 July 2016 (UTC)
Our purpose here is to explain the comic, not to defend against slights to one community or another. If the reader wants to learn more about furries direct them to wikipedia or some other source. The paragraph was intrusive and needless, it added nothing to the comic. A short, emphasis on short, explanation of what a furry is may be appropriate, anything more than that is just a diatribe more suitable for the discussion page.--Lackadaisical (talk) 15:28, 26 May 2017 (UTC)
"your fetish"... *Sigh* - 162.158.214.58 08:56, 9 August 2017 (UTC)
- Girl look at that body. AndroidTheLucario (talk) 03:36, 19 March 2023 (UTC)
I will add a short explanation of furries, but I will be mindful of complaints that the old one was too long. I have tired to contact Randall about furries before, but no answer so far. Wikieditor431 (talk) 18:58, 21 January 2021 (UTC)Wikieditor431
