Anthrocon 2025
My first Anthrocon (AC) was in 2024, and at the time the motivation to make the trip was a little bit of a box-ticking exercise for us (Shez and I): we wanted to go to a US furcon, and AC is one of those things that most furs feel like they need to experience at least once, to say they've done the Big One. AC 2024 was one of the best furcon experiences I've ever had and the moment it finished, we already started making plans to attend again in 2025. Whilst things have gotten a bit... strange in the US and it threatened to stop our adventure before it even began, we did make the trip and and it went without a hitch.
AC was, once again, a genuine joy as an experience. If there is one con that really drills down to the core aspect of the furry fandom as a community, it's AC. For the duration of one long weekend Pittsburgh transforms into a fantasy world where colourful animal creatures are a part of every day life, walking in the streets blocks away from the convention centre and queuing in shops and restaurants. It becomes normal to see everyone decked out in badges reflecting their ideal selves and in pins, shirts and other accessories proudly displaying their personalities and interests. AC is huge - 18k+ attendees this year - but it never feels stifling because of how far it spreads out, and the immersion into the community is unlike any other convention can offer. When you do find yourself in the actual convention spaces, you find yourself deep in the middle of the fandom at its most proud and diverse - multitudes of personal and artistic expression from the cavalcade of artists in the Dealer's Den and the wild variety of fursuits to people just singing and performing music in the corridors and someone putting on a pop-up stand to share their love for geology (thank you for the Brazilian geode, Marsh!). At nights you can see the entire waterfront be taken over by a giant group of people partying, having fun and sharing their space together with strangers and friends alike. It's just really beautiful and inspiring.
This AC was also a little bit special on a personal level. Whilst I attended Confuzzled in May, it has in hindsight become a complete blur and a bit of a wasted weekend due to no fault of the convention itself: between the recent passing of my mother and the injury I had near my leg that made mere walking sometimes too painful, much less fursuiting, and so I wasn't healthy either physically or mentally to enjoy the convention. AC turned out to be the respite I so desperately needed. I'm still processing my mother's passing but hopping over to the States gave me both enough physical and mental distance that I felt I could genuinely break away from the matter for a moment, and my leg healed up just in time for the con which meant I could be as physical as I wanted (god it felt so good just to be able to walk longer distances with no stress). In other words, I could actually enjoy (or allow myself to enjoy) the event - and enjoy it I did. Fursuiting around as Flint again was so fun and rejuvenating that it felt like I was rediscovering why I fell in love with suiting again, after the chore it felt during Confuzzled - there really is no feeling on this earth that compares to the sheer rush of energy that takes over me when I become a silly cartoon fox, even if my body then hates me for it the next morning. Hanging out with all the Stateside people I don't get to see often is a genuine privilege and I'm so happy to have gotten the chance to catch up with both familiar IRL faces from last AC as well as meet some new people. Every day felt like a new adventure with new opportunities and ad hoc adventures, and it was reinvigorating.
(as a bit of a self-centered aside, whilst I frequently dabble in self-doubt and imposter syndrome, I do think I can say with some confidence and certainty that I put on a good performance as Flint. The proof is in the smiles and interactions I have with people when I'm in character, especially in cons like AC or other US cons where he's not as well known and so raising the smiles on the faces of strangers is really touching. I don't fursuit for attention, though it's a natural part of anyone who chooses to put on an animal costume in public, but it always makes me feel happy when these stupid things I do for my own amusement also brighten up someone else's day. Special shout-out to the guy who saw me crossing the road in a doofus-like fashion, burst into a brief laughter and then had to explain to whoever they were speaking on the phone with that no, they weren't laughing at what they just said)
Music played a huge part of what made AC 2025 so great. It really hammered in how far the community has come in this respect. Back when I discovered furry (btw I absolutely loathe being one of those 'in my days...' people) the extent of furry music was basically the occasional dance song uploaded on FA with titles like "Dance of the Wolves" or "Vulpine Techno" - songs in other genres, especially ones with vocals, were incredibly rare and if you weren't into the furry dance scene, you were basically excluded from the music side of the fandom completely. Now we're in a position where not only are there so many furry singer/songwriters and other musical projects that it's impossible to keep track of them, but they're also performing the material live and releasing it physically with the help of community distros for the fans - and those fans are forming their own sub-tribes, with "indie furs" basically having become its own categorisation at this point. It's such an inspiring, incredible change and there were so many moments during AC that really hammered that in.
Based on a whopping two ACs, one of the convention's regular highlights in its programming has become the concert by the fandom's now-premier live act, the quixotic raccoon folk/indie rock act I've Made Too Much Pasta. Last year Pasta performed with an expanded five-piece line-up, and in contrast this year the oft-swapping menagerie had been distilled into a more stripped down three-piece guitar-bass-drums crew. The trio setup paved way for a dynamic, energetic, downright rocking set that blasted through a bunch of back catalogue favourites and a few new ones that are making me very excited for the third album, whenever it arrived. Pasta's consistently excellent history of performances and the great songwriting on the albums has also meant that the connection between the band and the audience is getting more and more involved each time around, and it's just so much fun to hear (and partake!) in unprompted singalongs during these concerts. Honestly, given the consistency of Pasta's performances, I wouldn't mind a live album at some point...
But if there's anything that really highlights how much the fandom's music scene has grown and how intensely beloved it it, it was Saturday evening's mini-"festival" The Sex Room (no sex allowed!!). Having been a grassroots room party in the previous years (of which I had had the privilege to attend for a bit in AC2024) where various talent within the fandom had the chance to play short sets of their own songs in a more intimate setting, the event had officially outgrown the hotel suites in 2025 and was instead hosted in a basement event venue deeper within Pittsburgh, way outside the general convention area. That didn't deter people though, as the basement quickly became packed with people soon after the doors opened.
It was a riot. A total of seven acts played one after another, each with massively different vibes, from the brief opening two-song blast of hyper-pop by the evening's host Ashley Ninelives to Stick Cricket's melodically abundant indie pop (the EP from earlier this year is still great btw) and Pararaccoon debuting his more electronic direction with remixes of his past songs through a confident, theatrical performance. Deerxing's emotive technicolour pop really nudged me into finally getting around to listening to the album from last year which has consistently been slipping past my periphery, while June Lalonde's intimate and vulnerable set (a gentle rest stop during an otherwise energetic evening) made such an impression that I really need to check out their music. If anything showcased the rapturous community that the furry music scene has built up, it was Pent Up Pup's cheekily horny dance pop that got the biggest audience reaction, leading to moshpits, loud singalongs and crowdsurfing. The evening was closed with a brief reprise set from I've Made Too Much Pasta, packed tightly in a dingy basement corner and performing with the gusto and heart of people who were overjoyed to witness how this little idea has grown so massively so quickly.
It was an incredible evening. And coming from someone who's geographically so distant from all these acts, it was also kind of surreal (positively). I'm used to furry music being this thing that exists solely in the internet, in various Bandcamp profiles where I explore and buy the music from. To see it then actually happening and being performed in the same room right in front of my eyes, with a full audience living their best lives around me, is really kind of wild. I'm fully of the opinion that the furry music scene is one of the most exciting micro-scenes currently happening (and the "credible" music world is really missing out on a lot as they ignore it), and its transition from bedrooms to live stages is a marvel to witness.
As a physical media nerd, it was also wonderful to partake in so much shopping around this matter. I came away from AC with much more furry music than I had ever thought to anticipate. Partly this was because of Critter Kickback who had a stall in the Dealer's Den, and who I hadn't heard of before but I'm so happy to know they exist. They're a collective supporting the furry music underground with a planned festival in 2026, and they had a spot in the den promoting various furry music: I ended up picking a t-shirt and a couple of CDs. Another stall in the den which primarily featured artwork commissions, prints and shirts also had an EP from Flower.Puppy available to purchase (I presume it's the music project for one of the artists?) which I bought immediately after seeing it was there, simply because I just love to support physical furry music when I see it. Finally, the Sex Room merch desk had a few copies of Monday9's delightful A Bucket of Soil (In the Future) available to buy - I didn't even know it had had a physical release to begin with, and so I basically immediately abandoned anything else I was doing to grab a copy.
Full list of things I bought and some links for the curious:
- Everender - Room to Grow - I haven't listened to this yet actually, but the description and the Critter Kickback guys hinted at this being somewhere in the emo, pop-punk territory. Excited to dig into it.
- Flower.Puppy - Outside Time EP - shimmery, upbeat bedroom indie pop perfect for summer mornings, a real lovely little miniature suite
- Alex Gråey - Storybook - bright and bombastic indie pop. Only listened to this once but really enjoyed it on the first go-around.
- Monday9 - A Bucket of Soil (In the Future) - charmingly lovely singer/songwriter songs from Japan. The CD comes with a fold-out of all the songs translated by the artist himself, and reading the lyrics really brings this a whole different depth
I did also pick up some non-furry music, but that's for another update...
AC 2025 was an incredible time - both just all-around fun, as well as something that felt like a healing exercise after a rough few months. I've also come to really love Pittsburgh in general after a few visits there now, and the pre/post-con tourist days we typically have are a cherished part of the experience - there's a few places we still haven't had the chance to visit which we're definitely going to do next time, and we're constantly learning of new interesting attractions nearby. And indeed, there will be a next time: we are already thinking of attending again in 2026, that's how great the con has been the past couple of years.
In summary, as the saying goes: GOOD CON.