Anthroid

July 27, 2024

An anthroid, also known as a synthoid, is a furspeech term to describe an artificial furry construct designed to look, feel, and function just like a traditional organic being.

The word is the English counterpart to the word Android, a Human AI. It's not to be confused with a Cyfur, a cybernetic organism with both organic and mechanical parts.

History
The term was first coined by Japanese artist Ken Singshow as an interesting gimmick for his creation, the Andorozon, five biomechanically enhanced female anthros that fought crime and got involved in many strange and sometimes humorous scenarios. However, their enemies, the Evil Cat Sisters, and their henchmen (cats?) are fully artificial.

In recent years, anthroid characters have been growing in visibility and popularity, due in part to the rising number of well-known artists and commissioners with robotic or cybernetic characters.

Anthroid artists and supporters

 * Lurdanjo is an enthusiastic supporter of the concept of anthroids, as his fursonas are fully artificial in both personality and body. He writes frequently about these anthroid characters in his speculative fiction, and discusses the concept with a wide variety of artists and writers.


 * Techno C. Procyon (aka ROBOCOON) created their anthroid fursona, 'Techno', in 2000. The character is a purple canid creature (primarily cape fox, raccoon and rough collie) built by Dr. Sigmund Fuchs as a pilot for a time-traveling expedition. Techno has no gender and is entirely synthetic, composed primarily of plastics, fiberoptics, and minor holographic elements, built to withstand the powerful depreciating effects of moving backwards in time.
 * Harvey Longtail created, in 2006, another notable anthroid character by the name of Darian, or "Bug". "Bug" is a dragon anthroid with quirky, sometimes amusing, sometimes expensive glitches.
 * Nek0gami made a large stride also in 2006 toward demonstrating just how interesting anthroids can be by introducing the LGD, or "Living Gasm-Drive", which are essentially AI-based, liquid-metal creatures commonly used as the perfect sextoys, complete with uncanny fetish abilities.
 * Farore Nightclaw officially 'outed' xyr tiger fursona as an anthroid in 2009. The character has multiple outer chassis allowing xem to present as any gender, or combination thereof, that suits xem or xyr partners.  Farore also owns a number of other anthroid characters, is credited with the creation of the fictional robotics compound Plastiflex, and has introduced viewers of xyr UStream and Livestream channels to the concept of synthetic furries through discussion and illustration.
 * ECMajor brought new attention to the concept when he created his robotic hyena character, Sine, in late 2009. Sine is a 'M.I.S.H.A.' (Multi-function Intelligent Synthetic Hyaenaform Automaton) and appears as a blue-and-grey female hyena with several obviously synthetic components and, usually, a smooth and featureless groin.  Her impact on the community was such that several other artists have already begun creating their own anthroid models in the MISHA line.
 * KC RavenYote's gender-bending fursona Kace is an anthroid. KC refers to the character as a 'cyborg'; however, illustrations of the character would indicate that she is, in fact, entirely synthetic.  KC frequently commissions artwork of Kace, and draws the character on a regular basis herself.  Glowing eyes, data ports, and thick black cables are common indications of the cataragon's true nature.

Other notable participants in mainstreaming the concept of anthroids are Talynn, Steelwing, Libra-11, Patashu, cyRex, Sanny Folkesson, Draganta Starwind, Krinn, Postvixen, Egypt Urnash, Radar, and Tekku.