User:GrayscaleRain/Inflation and Expansion draft

Inflation generally refer to the act of pumping or otherwise introducing gas, water, or a viscous fluid into an enclosed body to cause to expand and increase its volume and size. The act of growing larger in general or with regards to a certain feature is known as Expansion.

Inflation and Expansion in Furry Culture
Popular elements of role-play, Inflation and Expansion often featured in situations with people playing as or with inflated characters, or with regard to the act of inflation upon normal (organic) characters, or inorganic characters constructed specifically for this purpose (called Balloonies).

Differences and Nuances
Though the two are often used interchangably, there are actually subtle differences between the ideas of Inflation and Expansion.

Inflation is most often attributed to being filled with a substance or gas to expand certain parts of the body. This is usually accomplished with the introduction of air, helium or other gasses, water, saline or various kinds of liquid, large amounts of semen through sexual intercourse with many males (or a single massively overproductive male) or various other kinds of gunk and goo and is usually done through the mouth, rectum or vagina (if female), though other methods are present (such as inflating through the urethra or using syringes to inflate untypical parts of the body.)

Popular targets of the inflation are the breasts, genitals, thighs, rear, stomach and womb. It's also popular to inflate the entire body to give it a round shape like a filled balloon.

Expansion is generally attributed in a general growth in size overall, and while Inflation does indeed cause Expansion, all forms of Expansion aren't limited to Inflation. In this way it is also connected to the macrophilia community, through the method of pumping lard or saturated fats into the body in order to gain large amounts of cellulite or general weight, or the ingestion of various foodstuffs in order to gain weight. This also considered a form of Expansion and as such, sometimes 'inflation' is used to refer to the rapid weight-gaining process itself. Even the apparent swollen state resulting from impregnation, voring, and unbirthing can be referred to as 'inflation'.

As such, the two terms are generally switched freely.

Forms of Inflation
As stated before, there are a number of subvarieties of inflation and expansion that exist, depending on the nature of the story or role-play, which have a number of different purposes and connotations. A person may enjoy many different forms of inflation or just be attracted to one type, finding all others, or even just a specific kind undesirable. For this purpose, most furry and non-furry inflation sites have tags to describe specifically what is being inflated and why.

Bust Inflation
Inflation of the breasts is a rather common form of inflation in which the bust of a female character is increased in a dramatic and often humorous manner. Even male characters aren't immune from this, and may grow feminine breasts if inflated for this specific purpose. The reasons are usually for comedic effect; either to taunt a smaller breasted character, to increase their own size to compete with someone else or to be the biggest, or to tease a shy character by dramatically increasing their bust size, amongst other things. Such events are common with the introduction of fluid, or via magic, though air or another gas is sometimes used to comedic effect (having the newly large busted character walking around with helium supported super-breasts, or floating away because of them).

Belly/Womb Inflation
Inflation of the belly, be it the stomach or the womb, is also a common form of inflation. There are a number of methods and all have similar results, though the specific reaction of the character depends on the intention of the writer or story-teller. In the most common scenario womb or stomach can be filled with air, fluid or semen in order to simulate pregnancy or even to induce it (sometimes even in men). In the case of an actual impregnation, the pregnancy can gestate for a normal amount of time in a long-term expansion story, though it is far more common for this to be sped up and condensed into weeks, days, hours or even minutes. Unbirthing and vore stories can often have similar effects, leaving the character with a full-term sized womb or stomach, literally having another character present inside them. Even simply ingesting large amounts can lead to this, though that often branches out into 'weight-gain' rather than simple belly expansion.

Belly expansions are the most likely ones to cause a rupture, especially in impregnation stories where a hostile creature, such as an alien or demon, is present inside the character's womb or stomach and desires to exit as soon as it's large enough to thoroughly expand and traumatize the victim. Even air or fluid belly expansion sometimes end in such a manner, if the character's form is overstressed past it's limits.

Rear/Thigh Inflation
Inflation of the rump and thighs is less common by itself, but often coupled together with another form of inflation. In an inflation story, it may be coupled with expansion of the breasts to give a character a voluptuous figure, able to turn a waif into a bombshell with a simple addition of material or magic. This can also be coupled with belly inflation to produce a motherly look with wider hips and bigger thighs to accentuate the swollen breasts and belly of the character. Ass or thigh inflation by itself can be used to comedic effect, or to create so-called 'fat bottomed girls' that are popular amongst some.

Full Body Inflation
Unlike the other forms, rather than inflating a specific part of the body, the entire form is inflated. This can give an overall increase in size, such as in a macrophilia setting, but more often this is used to round out the character as well, turning them into a large balloon full of air or water. This is often in a bid to become as big as possible, possibly reaching some extreme sizes in the process (anywhere from blimp size to excessive sizes, such as the size of planets or other astral bodies.) Some furs may even tie strings to the inflated characters and lead them around like party balloons or may even go as far as popping them for amusement (either the fur's or their own).

Rupturing
Rupturing occurs as the result of damage to an inflated character, causing them to leak or explode in a way that may be comical or alarming, depending on the situation. There are two general forms of rupture and in either case of a rupture the results can be anywhere from 'springing a leak' to a massive explosion, and anywhere in between, even up to the complete obliteration of the character, but the two do differ.

Popping refers to the act of puncturing or exploding an inflated object; either with a sharp object - such as a pin - or by using pressure, such as sitting on, stepping on or impacting it in some manner. This is accomplished in real life — such as a pool toy — or in art, fiction, and role-play with an inflated character or creature. The term is used within the Balloonie subset of furry fandom, as well as within communities devoted to inflatophilia, furry or otherwise.

Bursting refers to the act of inflating a character to the point of that character's physical limitations with the intent of causing catastrophic failure and resulting in the rupture of the character's skin or exterior. Bursting differs from Popping in the fact that other than the introduction of material, no external stimulus is applied to rupture the character. Rather the method relies entirely on internal pressure to do so.

Popping vs Bursting
Bursting may also be referred to as Popping on various sites, though the two can carry very different connotations depending on who is asked, with one being an external rupture while the other being due to internal pressure or stress failure. In general Popping is usually very clean and often results in a complete pop, while Bursting varies depending on the composition of the character. The results may be clean or messy depending on if the character is an inorganic or pseudo-organic 'hollow' (such as a Balloonie) or if they are filled with some sort of liquid or internal fluid or gel, or if they're a standard organic character with all the organs and internal structure of a normal creature. This may also depend on the seriousness of the setting and if the writer or artist of the event desires it to be a comical, sexual, or horrific experience. Such concerns may carry over into the Rubberfur subset of furridom, depending on how integrated a particular character is.

Individual Stances on Rupturing
Rupture, particularly Popping, can be a subject of controversy, carrying a positive, negative, mischievous, or sexual connotation depending on the interests of a particular fan.

Positive Slant on Popping
For some Balloonies or "BalloonFurs", popping represents the ultimate and exciting expression of love or camaraderie in a relationship between inflatable characters. Popping in character role-play is usually temporary, with some mechanism to restore a popped or damaged character. Depending on the individual, such role-play may be acceptable in "public", or only done in privacy or secrecy. Some invite casual play with others; others reserve the activity for trusted friends, and typically dislike non-consensual popping play as much as those who dislike popping entirely.

Some outside the Balloonie community equate popping with a non-organic character's equivalent of "orgasm", but a number of Balloonies and Poppers feel popping is a unique concept which has more than merely an erotic tone, but rather an act of emotional release (catharsis).

Negative Slant on Popping
Some Balloonies dislike or are disturbed by popping, which they see as a form of damage equating to puncture wounds on a regular living creature, or even so far as assaulting or murdering said creature. Some non-balloonies have been known to play out acts of popping another person's character to annoy them or make them feel unwelcome, especially if they know the player dislikes popping. The number of furries in the inflation community who are poppers and non-poppers is about equal.

This can cause friction on some sites, as the two views can clash and these issues may degenerate into either side demanding special treatment due to their interests. However most communities and their members tolerate both views and common practice is to label stories, roleplays or image threads with non-popping or popping tags, preventing most problems.

Occurances of a Burst
With Bursting, the event is most of the times self induced or caused by another role-player(or character in the story)'s inaction to prevent it or continued involvement in expanding the character. The event is often placed at the final extreme of an expansion story, and much like popping, is a matter of taste and preference. For some characters it's an intimate experience or a height of sexual pleasure, or even a simple game. The character who have been burst might even be restored intact with little or no explaination, or it may be a special ability of said character.

In other stories or events, however, it can result in a serious injury, or even the complete (and messy) demise of the character. As such, the general comfort level varies within the community.

Existentialism in Rupture
The comfort level of a player with a rupture generally deals with that person's view on the final fate of the popped or burst character or fur.

For some it is a looping cycle, with simple reformation of the character or a rebirth of the character at the end of the event. There are those who feel that popping is the ultimate, looping "end" of the life cycle of any inflatable fur or character. For these, it is seen as a quite normal way to "go" with a "Bang!".

Other times such an event might be the end of the story, resulting in the death and scrapping of said character. Most of the times, it's this that makes the most difference when determining the comfort level of a player with a rupture scene.