I think the chicken one is my favorite. LOL.

The chicken is pretty neat and really caught my eye. Also, though gorilla characters don't generally get my attention, I have to admit that the quality on the "monster gorilla" is very good for the era.

Seriously, that chicken is brilliant. It really shows just how much you can change the shape of the body with the right padding. Give it a better head, and it would blow away almost anything at a modern fur-con costume contest.

It did, I have almost a hard time believing that's a real photo. :)

Indeed, there've been quite a few classics, not least the original Cowardly Lion - of course, the original sources were often, regrettably, similarly authentic. Not that that precluded some perhaps even more regrettable examples of taxidermy. ^_^;;

Can you recall some early example of fursuiting that particularly appealed? I know I remember one example of a TV show, where the request was to dress up as a pigeon - and so it happened, quite well done, too. That moment stuck with me - it seemed like, yes, that really could be a lot of fun! (It wasn't until CF4 that I'd actually get to know for myself, courtesy of Farallon)

Oh, dear, that lion... Yes, have seen that and have been unable to forget it. XP


For me as a kid, it was definitely the Muppets. Huge influence there! I remember Disney costumes from park visits as well. Hard to say other than that.

Oh, and I have to admit... the TMNT movie. Amazing suits. In terms of piquing my interest in the materials and technique aspect, those were inspiring for being different (non-fuzzy) yet still lovable.

[Alopex] Here's another nice site of early pantomime "animal impersonators": http://www.its-behind-you.com/pantoanimals.html

Excellent! I had seen the pictures of Fred Conquest and Fred Whittaker (the dog and the cat) before but couldn't for the life of me remember enough to Google them. A lot of the others are new to me. Thanks much for the link. :)

Huh. None of them are wearing shorts.

Some proto-fursuit stuff I posted to rarsuit a couple years back. I think Leonardo da Vinci was a closet furry.

Hee. Nice.

Leonardo was a closet lots-of-things.

*rimshot*

On the subject of inventors, here are some patented costumes from over a century ago:

A "Mechanical Bird" / chicken costume from 1888
www.google.com/patents/US395189

A "Flying Machine" / eagle costume from 1889
www.google.com/patents/US398984

A "Hunting Decoy" / cow costume from 1897
www.google.com/patents/US586145

Huh. Interesting! Mechanical bird design definitely has elements in common with modern raised-head suits. The hunting decoy cow is just amusing.

The chicken sooo reminds me of the Muppet's. :)

I hadn't drawn the connection but, since you mention it, lemme see if I can score Muppet geek points. :) Were you thinking of this chicken?

That one makes me think of Lester (to bring it full-circle).

Exactly! ;)

Nice set of chicken legs. :) No, I really mean it.

Some compliments will only make sense to furries. :)