>>118063
It's a bit of everything. Zuckerbergs, Stasi, friends who randomly stumble upon a furry cringe compilation. There have been people who got cancelled for having posted a controversial tweet a decade prior. Cancel culture is retroactive.
In the end it doesn't really matter, sure, just more of a principle or a habit developed, much like using different browsers or even PCs to separate work and leisure. Just doesn't seem worth it.
Realistically, a favorite artist opening a stand there and selling some cool-looking merch would be tantalizing enough to go, but alas. Looking at the vids from most cons (not even just the local ones), most of the stands are filled with prints and cheap pins with toxic-colored sparkledogs on them. Maybe going to a con in Japan or something would be a better idea: more exotic, zero expectations of getting to talk to anyone (on account of the language barrier and them being even more autistic on average) and they have a more developed culture for quality figurines and whatnot, so there'd definitely be something worth buying there that isn't a sticker with someone's Donutsteel.
>>118196
> If you don't go with your clique, you're going to find yourself with nothing to do.
Good point, for someone who isn't a social butterfly anyway. Walking down the aisles gawking at unfamiliar merch with no one to comment on it to? Watching groups of attendees crack jokes, not knowing whether they've just met or are an old existing group and you're not in it? Sounds like a great way of walking away underwhelmed.
OTOH, those who attend such gatherings often report that all the suiting stuff makes even the socially awkward people less inhibited, so if there is ever a place to meet fellow weirdos, it's probably there (even better if it's less formal or mercantilised — like a meetup at a park?). The problem is though, that it's the people in the suits who become less inhibited, not you-the-regular-human-in-a-hoodie.
No all that sounds too stressful, would rather go birdwatching or something instead.
>>118164
For real, our group has been to all sorts of silly places but inviting them to a furry con, even if being post-ironic about it, is out of the question. And anyone capable of finding a clique of anthro enthusiasts that *before* going can just go solo and wiggle into a random group there no problem anyhow.
>>118168
Stuff like this >>116976 looks alright imo. Not unpleasant to look at anyhow. Copypasted thick-snout smirking wolf designs that seem to try to one-up each other with how goofy the expression is and how vivid the colors are, are tiresome.
On that note, seen a web 1.0 style website where two decades ago someone shared the schematics of a head they'd crafted for themselves, complete with a battery-powered cooling fan concealed inside the muzzle. Grotesque and reminiscent of those FNAF critters but also impressive in how thoroughly thought-through it was. Someone poured their heart into it.
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