OWO-chan (Truth in the Meme)
The Furry Fandom has always been known as a place of acceptance, a place to be whatever you want to be. We have our rules, our codes of conduct- but even with all the love, acceptance, and creativity…we all have our cringe stories. We have all encountered the more “unlikable” characters in the fandom and have our stories because of them. While a lot of the fandom tries to sweep these characters under the rug, their presence is everywhere: beware groups, the constant battles on Furry Twitter, there is no escaping it.
Now take a look at the character known as: OWO-Chan.
I started seeing the character in Furry groups across Facebook and was immediately invested in learning more. While the comics and shorts portraying OWO-Chan were meant as jokes, there was no fooling me that there was a lot of truth behind what was being shown as well. From the way the character degrades artists, to the harassment of other creators, begging for free art, etc. There was a deep truth behind the meme whether anyone wanted to admit it or not. I often found myself laughing and shaking my head at the small panels and knew this was something I wanted to feature on my blog.
Because, if there’s one thing I think is important to cover…it is all sides of the fandom as it stands. This means covering the good, the bad, and ugly.
So I reached out to the artist (SQUISHYMOON) and they were kind enough to answer a few questions for me about the character, its creation, and overall purpose.
Describe OwO-chan for those that may not know the character:
OWO-Chan is a very basic female fursona, and what I mean by that is she has the most “common” aspects of the furry community made into a design. She’s blue and white with a curly tail and normal wolf/dog ears, she’s not super unique and probably looks like 1000s of other fursonas in the fandom. She also has a large bust and hips, along with a bulge that gets bigger in every comic.
Her personality is based off a toxic popfur, the reason I say ‘toxic popfur’ and not just ‘popfur’ is because I believe there are popular furries who are good people and that not everyone who’s a “popfur” is bad. She’s based off everything wrong, toxic, and gross in the furry fandom. Because just like every fandom out there, there’s always gonna be bad with the good.
What inspired their design?
That’s a hard question, I wasn’t planning on making this a “real” fursona. It started off as a “shitty” doodle I made last second in a regular art I was making, I thought up the most annoying furry in the fandom and BAM: owo was made. I didn’t even choose her name, it was the name the fandom gave her so I went with it.
What was the first OwO-chan comic and what brought it about?
She actually started off as a crappy doodle in a random artwork I did, and after over 100 people liked and commented on it I started making comics! All requested by people in the fandom, it seems like a lot of people have also dealt with someone like owo-chan. Every comic I make is based off someone’s request in the fandom along with my own experiences with toxic people, so honestly owo-chan was brought about from many different people not just me.
What do you hope the comics accomplish (if anything)?
At first, I just wanted to make a stupid meme because I thought it was funny. After seeing other people’s stories in the fandom: all the hate, sadness, and being able to make people laugh about something that probably wasn’t the best thing to deal with..makes me really happy. Now I want to help spread information around Facebook, showing exactly what a toxic furry is. Maybe we can stop new furries and even old furries from behaving this way, while also being able to joke about it. A lot of furries have been this person at one time, and that’s okay. As long as you learn from your past mistakes that’s all that matters, but you shouldn’t be held to your past the rest of your life. Most of all, I just want to make people laugh. And also maybe non-furries will see that this type of person isn’t what our fandom is about.
Since the comics seem to revolve around particular (unlikable) characters that exist in the fandom…how do you think certain issues in the fandom could be solved?
I don’t particularly think it can be solved, at least not in my lifetime. All fandoms big and small have a “dark side”. Furries are seen as perverts who have sex is fursuits, in the MLP fandom they’re seen as gross old men who jack off to clop porn. Sometimes you have to just accept there’s always gonna be “that person” in the fandom. I think what could help, is standing up to people who are this way. Stand up to bullies, stand your ground when getting commissions, stop letting people tell you that you charge too much for art. Basically I think we need to stop letting “bad” “toxic” people run around thinking they can get away with stuff because they’re popular or because they have a “mental illness”. We are all responsible for our actions ya know?
Everyone seems to ask, so can you confirm that OwO-chan’s bulge and breasts seem to grow with every comic?
Yes, I can confirm her tits/thighs and bulge are getting bigger in every photo. But shhhhhhh you didn’t hear it from me!! Haha
Has there been any negative attention because of the comics?
Sadly yes, there have been a few “bad” comments and messages regarding the comics. A few have said I’m making it seem like being a toxic person is okay, that younger furries will think it’s okay to act that way, and that I’m making furries seem super sexual, and that I need to stop.
And one person said I probably drew this because I’m actually like the person I draw! That one wasn’t very nice to hear, but, those are just some things people have said. It’s not easy hearing negativity, but it’s also not something I’m exactly scared of. I have been hearing negativity my whole life, most of us have. It hurts, but the good always over-grows the bad! And if I can make 100’s of people smile and bring the fandom together, then those 10-30 negative comments or messages don’t matter. Who knows maybe one day I can even win over the negative people with my art!
What is the best thing to come from the OwO-chan comics?
Well, firstly my page had 56 likes/follows five days ago. Today I have over 300, being able to share my art with that many people is amazing. The best thing in my opinion is, owo-chan is basically everyone’s fursona. I don’t claim her to be just mine, I let everyone draw her and use her however they please. If the whole fandom wants to use her as a mascot to show what bad furries look like I’d be 100% okay with that! If someone wants to put her on a t-shirt, go ahead. She’s everyone’s, and we can all enjoy making memes and jokes together while spreading information about toxicity in the fandom!
Anything to add?
I’d just like to say, I’m super glad people are enjoying the character. It makes me even happier we can all bond over awful experiences in the community and fandom, and maybe in the future we can have less people like owo-chan.
Find me other places:
https://www.deviantart.com/squiishymoon
https://twitter.com/SquiishyMoon
https://www.instagram.com/squiishymoon/?hl=en
https://www.twitch.tv/squiishymoon
https://www.furaffinity.net/user/squiishymoon/
So there you have it folks!
I just want to give a huge “thank you” to Squishymoon, not only for taking time to answer my questions (and draw for some of them as well), but just for creating the character in general. I think it takes a lot of guts to have such a sense of humor in the fandom. A lot of the time what we see is more along the lines of pretending something doesn’t exist rather than tackling it head-on. And those that do try and tackle issues in the Furry Fandom tend to be on the side of witch-hunts that I see doing more harm than good. I think tackling toxic furries in a humorous way that highlights what real bad behavior looks like is actually good for the community. I agree with Squishymoon in that it is something to bring us all together and to teach new and old furries on how not to behave and teach them what is not acceptable without having to put them on blast directly.
So thank you again Squishymoon for taking the time to do this for me! And remember to check out their linked pages above for more OwO-chan and more amazing art in general!
But what do YOU think?
What are your opinion on OwO-chan? What do you think is a good way to confront and eliminate toxic furry behavior? What are some of your furry cringe stories? Do you think the fandom sweeps too much under the rug and doesn’t like confronting its dark side?
As always, let me know your thoughts/opinions in the comment section down below. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you all in the next blog! 😉
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