Freedom Planet = Sonic + Sparkster + Gunstar Heroes?

[Opa-Opa]

Has anyone heard of this?

Some guys are making a Sonic-like 2d platformer and kickstarting it. They've released a demo so you can see what it will be like before you put some money into it. I haven't played but the game looks nice in the video. Luckily it will play better than the average Sonic fangame.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gal ... tform-game


I just wish the characters didn't look so much like furries straight out of deviantart.

[Crisis]

I don't think these guys quite get stretch goals. "We pledge to spend more money on programmers" and "Character you've never heard of" are not exactly world-beating incentives.

It looks like a semi-competent platformer with a whole lot of added furry. Why am I not surprised it has amassed over $12,000 in 10 days?

[Majestic Joey]

The game actually looks pretty cool but yeah, the furry aspect kind of turns me off the game. If it comes out to a console I may get it.

[Rob-Bert]

Furry aspect? They're not that anthropomorphic. Are you also turned off by Yogi Bear or Bugs Bunny?

[Neo]

Furry aspect? They're not that anthropomorphic. Are you also turned off by Yogi Bear or Bugs Bunny?

Yogi Bear and Bugs Bunny don't have human-proportioned bodies with visible breasts, narrow waists and wide thighs, skimpy outfits and randomly pasted anime hairpieces. The only character that doesn't have these traits is the green lizard thingy, and surprise -- it's the only one which doesn't make my penis recede into my torso.

Moot point, though, the game looks like ass and I've heard it doesn't play that great either, so hang on why am I devoting so many words to

[Crisis]

Furry aspect? They're not that anthropomorphic. Are you also turned off by Yogi Bear or Bugs Bunny?

[Opa-Opa]

My point exactely. These goddamn furries (this sounds kind of racist) make the game look like an Archie fan's fever dream.

The backgrounds are nice though.

[Rob-Bert]

People ripping on furries practically is a form of modern racism.

Also this game's style looks nothing like the Archie comics.

[G.Silver]

They just look like post-Uekawa Sonic fan characters to me. I'm not really looking for a "are Sonic characters furry" discussion, but I don't think they are.

[Crisis]

Poking fun at my desire to look at anime dog tits is a violation of my civil liberties and essentially a form of racial prejudice.

[Locit]

People ripping on furries practically is a form of modern racism.

I really can't tell if you're being serious. For all I know you're Baba O'Reily in disguise.

[Crisis]

Hi there. I'm a sheltered white male.

Allow me to tell you about modern racism, and how it relates to anime dog tits.

[G.Silver]

People ripping on furries practically is a form of modern racism.

I really can't tell if you're being serious. For all I know you're Baba O'Reily in disguise.

It's more like gateway intolerance. I mean come on, who hasn't "experimented" with hating a furry or two?

[Crisis]

It's more like gateway intolerance. I mean come on, who hasn't "experimented" with hating a furry or two?

I see it as more like a venn diagram. There are furries, and there are terrible people - there just happens to be a lot of overlap.

By tolerating the "bad eggs" in the furry community (the paedophiles, the socially inept, the offensively ignorant), all other furries get a bad rap by association. It doesn't help that the fandom dabbles along the fringes of bestiality while simultaneously creating pornography out of material aimed at children.

Frankly, a bit of intolerance is exactly what the furry community needs. The idea that ostracization is always a social evil is a geek social fallacy.

It's unfortunate, because some of the core tenants of the furry fandom - an appreciation of art, freedom of sexual expression, and tolerance of eccentricity - I can totally get down with. Sadly, the movement has been adopted by some colossal morons, and their influence taints any enthusiasm I might have for it.

[Crisis]

Ugh - tenets. Why do I write this stuff when I'm tired?

[Rob-Bert]

We're on the Internet. What hasn't been adopted by colossal morons on here?

[Esrever]

People worry about the "furry" thing too much. I mean look at Blacksad:

http://bit.ly/113WLuR

It's full of cartoon animals with human-proportioned bodies. It even gets kind of sexy in places. But Blacksad isn't "for furries". It's a beautifully-drawn ass-kicking detective noire comic from Europe made by former Disney animators, and it's for everyone. (Or every grown-up, anyway.) It bothers me that some people might not read it because of a goofy stigma about certain kinds of art.

There are certainly tropes that show up in furry art, but "furry" is not a style. It's a context, and the context is people who want to BE the characters that are drawing. (And sometimes have sex with/as them.) Just because something is drawn in a style of anthropomorphic art that furries would like, doesn't mean it's intended to appeal to that really... uh... specific level of interest in the concept. Porn is not the only reason to give a cartoon bat boobs, is basically what I'm saying.

Freedom Planet's character design style isn't really my bag because of the goofy anime trappings, but there's nothing overly fetishy or sexual about it. I can see why a furry would dig it, but I can also see why children or other people not burdened with a lot of internet baggage would also dig it. Furries are people and it is OK to admit you have common interests with them sometimes. It doesn't automatically mean you want to fuck a moose or whatever.

[G.Silver]

Man, I keep meaning to check out Blacksad. I didn't read it because I was poor. :(

[Neo]

words

Look. When I say furry art makes my dick shrivel, it's not because I imagine the artist fapping all over his cartoon bat tits or something. It's because the imagery falls into an uncanny valley that makes my brain go "Woah, something's not right here." It's not a matter of acceptance or principles, it's just instinct; a gut reaction.

Doesn't help that in that link you posted, I see a proper anthropomorphic cat protagonist along with what looks like a red-haired human girl with a fake nose and clip-on ears. Most "furry" art is made by males, and boy does it show.

[Esrever]

Blacksad's artist is definitely guilty of drawing some of the ladies more "human-like" than everyone else in the book, including the other female characters. (As you'd expect, the more human ones are the femme fatales and love interest characters.) That's a male-artist bias in the character design, for sure, although I don't think its particularly more egregious in Blacksad than it is in many other cartoons, animal-related or otherwise. (Also, I cut Blacksad a bit of slack because it's GORGEOUS.)

Are you sure your gut reaction is really an "uncanny valley" issue. I mean look at the art in this videogame. It's extremely unrealistic and cartoony compared to something like Blacksad and only marginally more human-esque that Sonic. But it triggers the same reaction. That seems more thematic than aesthetic, right?

I ask about this because it's something I worry about a little as a cartoonist. I hate the idea that the baggage of furry culture is killing people's ability to enjoy cartoons with animal characters, because animals make awesome cartoons.

[Crisis]

The problem I had with the game's art is that it feels like it's pandering. Maybe the artist just really enjoys drawing terrible anime catgirls or whatever, but it happens to align with the very specific tastes of the manchild demographic. The description "Megaman, Sonic, and Gunstar Heroes" makes it feel intentional, although it was probably decided after most of the art was complete. Also the fact that it got funded very quickly indicates that, even if it wasn't intentional, then it was very successful at attracting a fanbase.

If it was the same quality of art, but less conscious of its audience, I doubt it would have had a positive reception.

I ask about this because it's something I worry about a little as a cartoonist. I hate the idea that the baggage of furry culture is killing people's ability to enjoy cartoons with animal characters, because animals make awesome cartoons.

I think that this is increasingly the case. You clearly draw a distinction between theme and aesthetic, and you're also quick to point out the role of context, but I think a layman is going to struggle with the distinction. Most adults I meet are very wary of any media with anthropomorphism involved, especially those that are aimed their age group.

But there are still plenty of people who are completely unaware that furries are even a thing, and children are obviously not going to question it. We're also starting to see attitudes shift a little bit - the whole "brony" phenomenon has been relatively well-received, and the community seems to be more socially responsible than the furry fandom.

[G.Silver]

Also the fact that it got funded very quickly indicates that, even if it wasn't intentional, then it was very successful at attracting a fanbase.

The game has been publicly in development for some time, so it had a fanbase ready to go before they put it on Kickstarter, I'm sure that was a major factor in its success so far.

[Neo]

Are you sure your gut reaction is really an "uncanny valley" issue. I mean look at the art in this videogame. It's extremely unrealistic and cartoony compared to something like Blacksad and only marginally more human-esque that Sonic. But it triggers the same reaction.

That's the definition of uncanny valley, dear. It suddenly and unexpectedly takes a plunge into negative reaction. It might simply have to do with the emphasis on secondary human sex characteristics (breasts and wide hips) on a character without human-colored skin. I've seen more than one porn image of Amy Rose and it's always a source of squick how she's portrayed with the same peach oval in her belly like Sonic. God knows they dodged a bullet with Rouge, whose head you could clip off and have no idea you were looking at cartoon bat tits.

The game has been publicly in development for some time, so it had a fanbase ready to go before they put it on Kickstarter, I'm sure that was a major factor in its success so far.

Also the fact that the internet is more or less collectively retarded (the game sucks ass).

[Esrever]

The uncanny valley is when something looks nearly human, causing you to be hyper aware of (and creeped out by) all its imperfections. You'd use it to describe the CG people in the Polar Express, or those terrifying realistic human robots like Actroids. Not a cartoony beach-ball headed purple anime cat in a leotard.

What you're talking about (as you say!) is the juxtoposition of human sex characteristics and inhuman cartoon characters. There's plenty of room to get weirded out about that in many contexts, but with something like the art for this game I just think it's a little... hypersensitive? And I think that hypersensitivity is a result of the baggage we all carry from being regularly exposed to the internet's terrifying Amy Rose porn.

I mean, cartoonists have injected "sexy" elements for iconic or thematic or even comedic reasons for ages. But I don't think that kind of stuff really started to bother anyone until cartoon animals also became a genre of pornography. Has anyone seen The Great Mouse Detective lately? I know the first time I saw that, I didn't think anything of the sexy barmouse chorus girls (who obviously look that way because it's funny and it is tapping into a genre cliche), but now all I can think when I watch it is: "someone has drawn actual porn of this now."

[Neo]

The uncanny valley is when something looks nearly human, causing you to be hyper aware of (and creeped out by) all its imperfections. You'd use it to describe the CG people in the Polar Express, or those terrifying realistic human robots like Actroids. Not a cartoony beach-ball headed purple anime cat in a leotard.

What you're talking about (as you say!) is the juxtoposition of human sex characteristics and inhuman cartoon characters.

Tomayto tomahto. Yes, that's the textbook definition of uncanny valley, but it still applies that it's about human-looking creatures that look sufficiently inhuman to weird you out at a very primitive level. This whole debate is moot though, since it's obviously a subjective matter. Otherwise, there'd be no terrifying Amy Rose porn on the internet. (Or at least a considerably smaller quantity, anyway!)