love at first bite, why we love werewolves

[werewolf-woman]

It seems like there is a multitude of different types of werewolf fans but how did you become a werewolf fan?

1.when and how did you first get into werewolves?

2.what type of werewolf fan are you?


as for me:
1.I have been into werewolves for as long as i can remember. My favorite movie as a child was the 1941 Wolfman. When my family would do movie nights i would beg to watch the wolfman. My mom gave me this little werewolf plush that i would carry with me everywhere and for Halloween she got me one of those 1980's Ben Copper wolfman costume sets and i wore it every year until i grew out of it. My family was big into horror movies including B- movies so i grew up watching great werewolf movies like AWIL to the not so good movies like Metal Beast. When my family would ask what i wanted to be when i grow up, i would respond by saying "i wanna be a werewolf when i grow up". As a young adult i started to expand my werewolf figure/ toy collection with my discovery of ebay. As an adult my collection just blew up and i even have two werewolf tattoos. I am now an artists and i make low brow and Chicano folkloric art, and i have done a few werewolf/ wolfman art pieces over the years. I have nieces and nephews and when they come to visit they always go straight to my werewolf collection to pick out toys they would like to play with. They always ask me for werewolf/ wolfman stuff for Christmas and birthdays, they now have growing werewolf collections of their own.
When i think of the wolfman or werewolves i feel a deep sense of nostalgia because they relate so heavily with happy childhood memories.


2.I have stated a few times in my posts that i am an old school werewolf fan, i like the monstrous werewolf. I really love practical makeup effects and i like the aesthetics of the wolfman-esque werewolf but i also enjoy the more wolf like facial featured werewolf. I absolutely love they watching good werewolf transformation scenes. Over the years, werewolves have meant different things to me. I really enjoy the depth of meaning in mythos of the werewolf. I like the subtext and the fact that the werewolf story is rich with the metaphoric meaning. I can now really appreciate the deeper meaning behind werewolves and how they are so much more than just growling beasts but their stories are full of psychological metaphors.


I would really love to hear how many of you got into werewolves and why you love em and i mean love, not in the creepy way

[Trinity]

It seems like there is a multitude of different types of werewolf fans but how did you become a werewolf fan?

1.when and how did you first get into werewolves?

2.what type of werewolf fan are you?

Great idea!

1) I think for me it was a natural progression from my fascination with wolves as a child. In high school I had access to the library as an aide, and when I didn't have a lot to do i'd poke my nose into various topics. I was writing, drawing, and dreaming of fantasy cridders. Where some gals fell into fairies, I picked up monsters, dragons, and my own fantasy creations. I did a lot of study about various myths and legends on both werewolves and vampires. I was also introduced to role play, and from there to WtA RPG (Werewolf the Apocalypse).

It blossomed from there.

Funny thing is, I could never stand horror movies. Nightmare on Elm Street left me with nightmares, I'd cry or run out of a room. Micheal Jackson's Thriller gave me nightmares for a month. Yet, Howling was my first werewolf movie, and then American Werewolf in London., and they didn't bother me as much for some reason. o.o I dreamed more of myself as a werewolf then being chased by them - which is what fed my interest in WtA to begin with. ;)

2) I love them all, though I do preferr the more wolf-like werewolves. I also "play snob" with my trivia until someone trumps me. ;) heh.

[Meeper]

1.when and how did you first get into werewolves?
Let's see, difficult to peg an exact age, I'd have to give a range, around 8-11 years old, I'd heard about werewolves along with ghosts, aliens, witches and warlocks (probably others, I forget), and seen bits of films in passing, I was more intrigued about my immediate family's interest than the monsters and such, then the first films that struck home base would be Legend of the Werewolf, and Curse of the Werewolf, both have similar types of werewolf, the doomed werewolf which I had some pity for, I didn't want to see them die.

Those films pretty much set the look I enjoyed for many years after, the likes of The Howling and eventually Underworld/Van Helsing plotting a drastic evolution in story, and to far more anatomically integrated visions, which took some time to adjust to, but all along my interest in this very same anatomical integration had developed too, but I also started drifting away from being a movie werewolf fan to being a creature artist.

Around age 15, Halloween provided another avenue of interest, I wanted to do the gig as a werewolf and have been passively interested in werewolf make-up/costumes since, never got round to build one though, feature creep in the designs is a killer, hehe.

2.what type of werewolf fan are you?
I suppose most versions of werewolves interest me, but of late, with my increasing knowledge and skills artistically and anatomically, my interest is evolving toward an interest in intense realism, the films to me are now simply a vehicle to showcase advancements in design, it's been a while since I could just sit and enjoy a film, too busy studying them.

The Meeper.

[outwarddoodles]

I think, ultimately, no matter how many times I try to explain or justify my affinity for werewolves, it all comes down to "Well, it just is!" Even though every year I could come up with a thousand more reasons to like werewolves, it doesn't change the fact that when I was little, I loved them, and had absolutely no reason to!

So.... My answer for 1) Always! I guess I just never grew out of the fascination with being an animal as a child (and I know this isn't unique to werewolf fans....ALL children love to pretend they're something else). I remember trying to draw pictures of people becoming wolves just like the covers of the Animorph books I read at the time. Every Halloween I appreciated the werewolf media on TV's. At the time, I couldn't say it was the "metaphorical" implications, it was just "werewolf=awesome!!"

2) Big, beautiful, beasts! To me, werewolves are neither "good" nor "bad." I don't go for the 'light weight' variety of wuffers, but not demonic either. To me, werewolves would be in tune to nature in the way that they would never consider the existence of 'nature' as separate from them. Werewolves would represent the core of our beings -- the creatures we could be, very deep down inside, that only comes out to romp once every exhilarating full moon.

werewolf-woman

Over the years, werewolves have meant different things to me. I really enjoy the depth of meaning in mythos of the werewolf. I like the subtext and the fact that the werewolf story is rich with the metaphoric meaning. I can now really appreciate the deeper meaning behind werewolves and how they are so much more than just growling beasts but their stories are full of psychological metaphors.

THIS. THIS TIMES A MILLION.
:howl:

[WerewolfKeeper3]

1) Highschool is really when i got into werewolves. The idea that someone who is meek, could, under certain conditions become something powerful really synched with how i was feeling back then. Oh and Golden Wolfen's artwork didn't hurt either.

2) I don't like the monsters. I never really have, since in truth they wouldn't have existed very long if they were monsters. I like the shapeshifter kind, the one that has complete control over it's ability to change, and i also prefer that they don't have the "Fight between the human and werewolf sides". The closer they are to us, the more i like them. Doesn't mean they don't defend themselves when they have to, but the idea that they could live beside us and we'd never know it unless they chose to tell us, that they wouldn't have to worry about hurting someone, is something i've always liked. That, and the idea that they don't become monstrous beasts, nor actual wolves (at least not all the time) but somewhere between wolf and human in appearance.

... I think i just figured out why i started writing my werewolf story so long ago, and it had nothing to do with my original thought as to why...

[Scott Gardener]

It's been awhile since I've done an introduction; I'm sure I've got something similar buried in the archives a few years back. But, it's good to offer a refresh, and it's a bit impractical to ask all of you on this thread to dig and hunt for my old comments. For one thing, they have no scent to follow.

I had an interest in shape-shifting, transhuman evolution, and animal hybridization since childhood, though the final catalyst that got me into werewolves was, silly enough, watching Teen Wolf on May 4th, 1987, the broadcast TV premiere of the original comedy movie. I had just turned fourteen years old a few weeks earlier. I started daydreaming a story around the premise, "What if I became a werewolf?" I did lots of daydreams and short-lived story arcs, most of which I'd imagine one day and forget the next. This one, however, stuck with me, and I kept wanting to go back and imagine it again and again. (Today, it's a novel manuscript. It's got some "Mary Sue" issues and other writing glitches to iron out, but it's also the back story of a world setting I'm using for newer material.)

The daydream that refused to die got me into doing research on werewolves. It was the late eighties, so there was no Internet. I was in Nacogdoches and a young adolescent, so there was no therian or furry communities, barely anyone who could pronounce "Star Trek" correctly ("Star Track" sounds like a talent show), and just a handful of fellow geeks and intellectuals with whom to share ideas. So, for a long time, it was an obsession that my sister and parents kindly tolerated, but it was largely personal.

But, in 1992-1993, in college, I got Internet access on campus and interacted with fellow werewolf enthusiasts on the newsgroup alt.horror.werewolves. It began as a forum on werewolves in horror films, but we started discovering common elements about each other. The therianthropy movement as an Internet subculture had begun. I got to be there when it started. Around the same time, White Wolf Game Studio published Werewolf: the Apocalypse, popularizing among geek subcultures the idea of the heroic werewolf. Yes, they were monstrous, but they were the good guys. And, they were organized into a society. White Wolf may not have been the first to think of it, but they got the idea into a large base of fans. Around the same time, I started getting out a lot more, interacting with fellow role-playing gamers. Not all of my characters were werewolves, but they always had a special place in my heart. OK, a lot of my characters were werewolves, or at least at some point or another in a wolf or wolf-anthropomorphic form.

I am thirty eight years old at this point, meaning I've spent almost 2/3 of my life fascinated with lycanthropy. I have developed in my mind a complex storyline with detailed mental images, lore, and physiology. As I developed it, I was amazed how much commonality I had with a general community consensus. Mine differ primarily in that they are not forced to shift on full moons, conserve mass with shifting (that is, they may look kind of bigger but do not actually gain weight when shifting, and thus aren't eight feet tall and super-muscle-bound), and mine have "continuously variable transmissions" rather than fixed-stage shifting.

I have always advocated the idea that werewolves are both lupine and human, with complex personalities. I have also always felt that reduction to "good versus evil" in any story, werewolf or otherwise, was generally simplistic and even demeaning. Yes, it's convenient at times for some stories, even good stories like Star Wars, but it's overdone. Establishing good guys and bad guys, and then watching the two duke it out in battle, seems simplistic. In the real world, most problems stem from good people with bad ideas, or at least ideas that individually are good but incompatible with each other. So, my werewolves each have their own agenda and motivations, just like real people here in this world.

[FoxKnight]

1. When and how did you first get into werewolves?

Hmm...this is a difficult question for me to answer because I can't say I've ever been too into werewolves in the first place. I suppose any real interest in them started in 2009. Like the way most of us first hear about them, I heard of werewolves along with the witches and goblins of old stories and always thought they were pretty cool. My interests have changed quite a lot over the years, from nature to guitars to marketing to electronics and to fantasy stories, so my focus was never really set on werewolves. The only werewolf movies I've seen are The Howling, Dog Soldiers, and Ginger Snaps (1&2), all of which were enjoyable. Only once did I role play as a werewolf, quite horribly in hindsight, and only recently (last week) did I envision any stories pertaining to them, but that's hardly worth mentioning.

2. What type of werewolf fan are you?

Probably the most casual type of werewolf fan possible. I like them, they can make some stories interesting, but this forum is as far as I go in being a fanatic of them.

[Leonca~]

Very interesting to hear everyone else’s stories.

1. I don’t remember a specific age, but I’ve been fascinated with werewolves since I was a child. I think I discovered them primarily through reading myths and folktales, which probably explains my preference for some of the old school traits over movie versions. I constantly raided the library, searched the internet, and bought books like Jamie Hall’s Half Human, Half Animal to read more stories about people who could become animals.

2. I’m probably not the biggest werewolf fan here. I’m interested in fantasy in general, especially creatures that take on predatory traits. I love animals such as wolves and big cats, so I like seeing how they impacted everything from mythology to modern storytelling. Werewolves are more accessible though, so it’s easier to fixate on them. Not so many people out there creating new stories centering around wereleopards or wendigos, for example.

[Aya]

1) My first introduction to werewolves, was the black and white 1941 film of " The Wolf Man " starring Claude Rains. I was only 4 or 5 at the time and very impressionable. I was so impressed with the movie that it gave me nightmares. In which the Wolf Man came to my home looking for me. Horror is not exactly my cup of tea. My option didn't really change much until my family got our dog who was a dog mix with wolf. I adored her. Dogs and wolves became my favorite animal and an obsession.
My second introduction to werewolves did not come from a movie, but through dreams. Corny I know, but true just the same. The more I would dream of them the less I began to see them as monsters and more like protectors that needed some extra love. It didn't surprise me to much because I had already fallen in love with Disney's "Beauty and the Beast. "
The Beast being my absolute favorite character. I became a true fan of the werewolves through the ones who dominated my dreams though. Since then I have been not only obsessed with wolves but werewolves as well.

2) I like the lycans or,werewolves, in their many forms over the movie years, but the one designed in Van Helsing has been the closes to the one I've seen in my mind's eye. All he's missing is a tail. VERY important. So I have to say that in all fan girl seriousness....my favorite werewolf is the werewolf that could change into three forms. The human, the wolf, and the werewolf (the form in between the man and wolf). =D

[JoshuaMadoc]

1) My first introduction to werewolves was probably Jon Talbain of Darkstalkers. I forget.

2) I don't even know if I should call myself a werewolf fan anymore. My ideas and desires for werewolves are so far out of the norm that it's no longer considered to be part of the fandom. So I'm a fandom hipster, like every other fandom I've been in. Go f*** figure.

[Nigamo Nakai]

1.when and how did you first get into werewolves?
It came on gradually. I have always had a fondness for "wolves" since i was little. Werewolves were always a monster creature that never scared or bothered me. I think my first incident where i decided "werewolves are the coolest" was my freshman year of high school when i saw the orignal classic "wolfman" movie. Being an art enthusiast it was like watching a moving masterpiece and from then on i just couldnt help but delve deeper into it.

As time went on i became interested in more than just the film aspect of werewolves and their creation but also the historical accounts and tales. I am not the smartest person in the world and i am no expert of anything in particular but i have learned soooooo much about werewolves, they are at the top of my 'totally useless information' archive.

2.what type of werewolf fan are you?
Any and ALL kinds. I can even accept the ideas created by the Twilight series (though i dont particularly count those as 'werewolves'. I dont like the series, so i have a hard time sitting and watching even if its just to learn about the processes they went through to create their wolves)

I think my favorite version would be the man-beast hybrid you see in 2D art, but i can accept the 'human turning into a real wolf" version as well.

[Morkulv]

I generally always liked werewolves, and the concept of transforming into something animalistic and primal. It just makes for very interesting and engaging characters and situations.

I did see a couple of movies about werewolves when I was younger, but I think most of them are crap, overbloated nonesense that Hollywood s*** out every few months.

As for artists, there's alot of artists that can depict werewolves very well, even to my personal view of them. I think Golden Wolfen is very talented, but lost complete sense of the 'were' part of werewolf (human).

[Sevena]

Let's see. I think the my first werewolf encounter was an American Werewolf in London.Was to young to remember.I do remember that I was young enough that others were surprised I was watching horror to begin with.Next would be The Howling.I actually didn't see any of the old black and whites till I was older.The Howling movies kinda solidified my werewolf fandom.Gotta give some credit to Little Red Riding Hood though,Use to think "smart little wolfy"
I like all kinds of werewolves.From the wimpy human natured ones to the rip your throat out, run for life ones I must say True Blood has decent werewolves.Fantasy within werewolves is nice,the blood giving them special powers and the like but I tend to be realistic with my view on werewolves.Yeah being a werewolf in itself would be like a special power but I think that would be the jist of it and although I'd line up in a heartbeat it would be quite a pain.

[Terastas]

1.when and how did you first get into werewolves?

Hard to say, though I would say it first stemmed out of an appreciation for wolves in general, which then translated into an appreciation for werewolves.

The long story made short is that I have an older brother who, up until I was thirteen, used "pretend" as an excuse to beat the crap out of me as much as possible. There was literally nothing, NOTHING you could put in the VCR where, as soon as it was over, he'd say he wanted to "-play (name of movie)," and if I refused, that'd be followed by "Well I'm older. I'm (name of character from the movie)" and him tackling me.

Consequently, I started emphasizing from an early age with cartoon villains and other such characters that were all too frequently getting the stuffing knocked out of them. Which were, quite often, wolves.

At the same time, I was going to a school that was close enough to a wolf sanctuary for us to take a field trip at least once a year there, so from an early age I got to see the pretty stark difference between what I was being told and what actually was.

Though I didn't really equate it as relating to werewolves at first. Not until I saw this, anyway.

2.what type of werewolf fan are you?

I'm not really sure how to answer this except to say that I'm a fan of new approaches, especially those that attempt to make the concept as believable as possible.

By that I don't mean that I want a completely scientific-sounding werewolf. Rather, instead of the werewolf "curse" that turns werewolves evil, I prefer the idea of werewolves generally leaning that way because of what lycanthropy does to their bodies and their brains. I'll accept an evil or savage werewolf, but only if I can see their gradual decline, or at least something that indicates that there was a decline -- that they didn't just turn evil at the first shift.

The two movies that I can think of at the moment that I'd use as examples of what a movie following and/or narrated by a werewolf(s) should look like are Requiem for a Dream and Pi. I would love to see a shifting sequence playing out with the same visual / psychological effects those movies were famous for.