Splatoon 2’s Lobby Is Full Of Furries

If you’ve found yourself in Splatoon 2‘s lobby sometime in the last day, you might have asked yourself: “Why is there so much furry art here?”

Well, dear readers, we have answers.

Furries are people who imagine alter egos in the form of humanoid animals. A lot of the time, it’s good, clean fun. It’s also a sex thing. Mascot costumes are involved. So when Splatoon 2 players noticed that its lobby has been a veritable furry con for the last day or so, several fans baulked. Sure, the Wii U’s Miiverse, and especially the original Splatoon‘s lobby, got a little raunchy sometimes. Without a Miiverse, Splatoon 2 would surely have a bit more curation. Wouldn’t it?

A full half of the images I have encountered since around 1PM yesterday depicted humanoid animals. None were risque, but it’s undeniable that furries are a bit controversial. So why is there so much furry art in Splatoon 2? Well, like most ridiculous things, it’s because someone didn’t want it to happen:

Teal, a Splatoon fan, logged on to Splatoon 2 yesterday and noticed the image. She and her friends thought it was hilarious. And she decided to draw up a response:

“It kinda snowballed,” Teal explained. A lot of fans saw the anti-furry post as a call-to-arms:

Furries have invaded Splatoon, fursuit gear update confirmed #Splatoon2 #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/9ZaeT6M3C8

— Robin (@Robinidigo) July 26, 2017

THERE’S LOTS OF FURRIES WHO LOVE SPLATOON 2. pic.twitter.com/oBJgCIU0ta

— TheShinyJirachi (@TheShinyJirachi) July 30, 2017

Furries have been taking over Splatoon 2 lately and it’s amazing pic.twitter.com/5g5ph6qNpy

— TheShinyJirachi (@TheShinyJirachi) August 1, 2017

oh my sweet summer child #Splatoon2 #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/rBPFgYYuFi

— sneeze machine (@TairuPANdA) August 2, 2017

While some folks advocated for more furry art, others have been pushing back against the wave:

i see so much people posting furries on splatoon and there so much i dont hate furries but dang its like a war rigth now pic.twitter.com/DNjpHZLcxz

— Andrew Saucedo (@AjSauc3) August 1, 2017

Teal says the takeaway here isn’t that furries love Splatoon 2. “We’re lucky even a neutered version of Miiverse can remain interesting,” she told me. “Nintendo could have easily axed the feature from the new game, but decided not to. I think more developers should embrace this sort of creative integration to their games.”

For others, there was another takeaway: