November 2025
Newsbytes archive for October 2025
Posted by Anon on Sat 1 Nov 2025 - 09:20Contributors this month include 2cross2affliction, AGUArius (hello new contributor!), dronon, earthfurst, and Rakuen Growlithe.
Digging up Positivity - October 2025
Posted by Pegla on Sun 2 Nov 2025 - 14:43Welcome to a new episode of Digging Up Positivity! This month we are having a wonderful interview with a very awesome force behind the Furry VR community, and with the holiday season starting, I would like you to be a part of the Furry Charity Index at the end of this year! More information after the charities! We also have some wonderful animation news, positive vibes but first:
Traveling to the Midnight Dimension - Furpocalypse 2025
Posted by EberraWolf on Sun 9 Nov 2025 - 16:51
Furpocalypse Presents: The Midnight Dimension, the theme for this year, is an homage to the legendary CBS anthology series The Twilight Zone from 1959. Across the convention space were graphics inspired by the show’s distinct imagery, drawn by artists and guests of honor Hoosier Steyn and Clyde K. In the hotel’s restaurant, episodes from the show played on televisions; on the main event stage, a white door, emblematic of The Twilight Zone’s opening sequence, had been placed at the rear and brightly lit.
Once again raising money for Q+, Furpocalypse attendees pulled together $18,000 for the LGBTQ+ youth support organization. This is the fourth year in a row that the charity has been the beneficiary of the con.
The Colorado-based art group Animal Art Crimes returned to Furpocalypse with a multi-night popup in the underground parking garage of the hotel, sanctioned by the convention. During the charity auction, members painted on the white door, theatrically avoiding a black cat ‘hotel manager’ with a faux door made of cardboard. (The real door raised $1,800, consisting of a tenth of the total amount to Q+.)
Update 11/10 - Previous version noted 870 fursuit parade participants, it was 970 instead.
Review: "Forest Guard" – Comics, created by the Russian Internal Troops
Posted by Danil97 on Sat 15 Nov 2025 - 02:09
While the Western public is debating the rights and recognition of furry communities at the level of government politicians, the official power structure of the Internal Troops has created a real furry comics with direct government support. The first chapter of the three chapter saga of "Lesguardia" was released on June 2, 2022. This first chapter is entitled "Attack of the Pyros." Each chapter consists of thirty pages of narration about the work of the "Lesguardia" organization, which investigates the case of the "pyros" who are causing chaos in the city with their advanced technology. All of this is covered both from the perspective of the main characters and from the perspective of a squirrel reporter named Olga Orekhovna, who is also the news anchor for the fictional city of Dubrava.
To better understand the uniqueness of this comic, it is important to step back and consider the context. Since 2016, Russia has been home to the Rosgvardia, a military organization tasked with addressing internal unrest and urban protests. The meetings of furry fans for this government organization are also another goal, as any unauthorized gathering in urban areas without their permission is a direct violation of the law. This is why the furry community in Russia does not like the Russian National Guard, as they have banned them from gathering outdoors and even from walking together in the city. However, this dislike is not mutual, and as a result, a good furry comic book was created by the Russian National Guard.
Movie reviews: 'Goldbeak' (2021), 'Dalia and the Red Book' (2024)
Posted by dronon on Sun 16 Nov 2025 - 22:14
Goldbeak (trailer) is a 90-minute 3D animated kids film. Although it came out in China in 2021 (original title: 老鹰抓小鸡), it's taken an unusually long time to get distributed, sometimes pretending that its year of release is more recent. It was produced by Liang Zi Film and Nigel W. Tierney, directed by Tierney and Dong Long, and written by Robert N. Skir, Jeff Sloniker, and Vivian Yoon.
In a world of mildly anthropomorphized birds, Goldbeak is an orphaned eagle who's raised by chickens in a rural village. He wants to fly, but most of the villagers don't help. They treat him as an outsider and eventually kick him out. Accompanied by his adoptive sister Ratchet (a gadgeteer genius), he makes the journey to the capital, the creatively-named Avian City.
Along the way he finds a mentor hermit who teaches him to fly. It turns out that Goldbeak is the long-lost nephew of the city's mayor. Then he wants to join the Eagle Scouts, an elite flying squad, but their leading member hates his guts. The mayor turns out to have sinister plans...
Movie review: 'Mahavatar Narsimha' (2025)
Posted by dronon on Fri 21 Nov 2025 - 23:43
Mahavatar Narsimha (clip) is the first in an intended series of 3D animated films from India, with the goal of telling the stories of the ten avatars of Vishnu. Released in 2025, it's directed by Ashwin Kumar, written by Jayapurna Das, and produced by Kleem Productions.
First and foremost, this is a religious film that takes its spiritual roots from Hindu mythology pretty seriously. It clocks in at over two hours long, and honestly I didn't have the patience to watch it from start to finish. I don't think I can objectively review such a film. I don't know the mythology, the religion, the symbolism or the culture that it's based upon.
It's struck a strong chord in India, becoming its highest-grossing domestic animated film in less than two weeks! So that's a positive sign. Whether you should try watching it - I can't say. This review will be a short summary that points out the anthropomorphic beings that appear.
The Review Part VI: The Editors Should Probably Strike Back
Posted by 2cross2affliction on Sat 29 Nov 2025 - 14:05
"Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was the most disappointing thing since my son."
- Mr. Plinkett
"Zootopia is definitely better than one of the most despised movies of the last decade!"
-some guy
Since we only had five reviews of the first Zootopia movie, you think not much else could be said about it, but, actually, it's been almost a decade, and Disney movies collect bad faith readings like Flayrah collects Zootopia reviews, and I'd like to address a few of those.
First, starting small, there's the "what do the predators eat?" thing which for some reason you still see bandied about like that's a clever observation, despite the movie's climax hinging the main predator character carrying a snack with him. Turns out, they eat food. Moving on, people like to complain about "copaganda", but, honestly, even if you accept all cops are bad, they have jobs that put them in dramatic situations regularly, so people are going to tell stories about them. That, and I've recently seen complaints that the Godfather parody glorifies criminals, so tie goes to the movie. The big one is the assertion that the main metaphor equates specific races (usually African American or black) with predatory species, when the metaphor is about minorities in general, and the movie does not specifically code most characters racially (though you could possibly argue the lead characters are pretty white-coded). An ironically bad faith defense here is that, when Disney racially codes an animal character, it's very noticeable, though they've mostly cut that out (mostly). Which brings me to the final complaint against Zootopia, which is that it is a Disney movie, and to that, all I can say is, well, nobody's perfect.
Zootopia 2 is the sequel to Zootopia, which makes sense. (The movies are also known as Zootropolis in certain regions, which makes less sense.)