Furry, Explained with Finn the Panther

[LEGACY] What are Scalies and Why They're Included in the Furry Fandom

• Finn the Panther • Episode 22

Share episode

In this week's episode, we explain what scalies are! Scalies are just like furries, but instead of anthropomorphizing animals with fur, they anthropomorphize animals with scales! This may sound simple enough, but the idea behind the scalie is a lot deeper than what it may seem, and the number of those interested in scalies is so large that it's tempting to not consider them furries at all. So in this episode, we take a deep dive into the scalie community, and explain why they still should be considered a part of the furry fandom!

Follow Me On Twitter for Updates and Info about the Show: @FinnThePanther

Sources and Stuff to Check Out:


Thank you for checking out the show! iTunes/Apple Podcast listeners: make sure to leave a rating and review! Stay wild!

Music from Epidemic Sound
Icons made by Freepik from Flaticon

📲 Socials:
✖️ Twitter/X: twitter.com/FinnThePanther
🎶 TikTok: tiktok.com/@FinnThePanther
📸 Instagram: instagram.com/FinnThePanther
🧵 Threads: threads.net/@FinnThePanther
☁️ BlueSky (18+:) https://bsky.app/profile/bluesky.finnthepanther.com

Welcome to Furry, Explained! I’m Finn, a big black cat on the internet and Furry, Explained is my show about furries, and their culture. One of the really cool things that furries get to enjoy  is the sheer amount of variety that is found in almost every aspect of the fandom itself. From the different places where conventions are held, to the multitude of art styles that characters are drawn in, nothing in the fandom is done the same way more than once. And there’s no better example of that than the variety of species that members of the fandom choose to base their fursona off of. Now there are more popular groups of animals than others, but not everyone is a wolf or a fox or some other canine. There are cats, bears, rabbits, and all sorts of other furry creatures, and many may even choose to narrow their distinction down even further, choosing a specific species to further delineate how they choose to represent their character as an anthro animal. And that’s not even counting all the fantasy creatures, original species, and hybrids that are out there. But despite this stated variety, there is still one aspect that ties many of the fandom’s creatures together. A vast majority of fursonas are mammals. And hey that makes sense, the humans that create and portray these characters are mammals themselves, a majority of the animals that most people interact with are mammals, even the name of the fandom indicates the interest in anthro animals is biased towards mammals. But not everyone thinks this way. We all know that there are a lot of animals out there that are not mammals, but they are still interesting enough to make characters out of and just ponder the idea of them also being more human-like. And probably the largest interest group, for lack of a better term, that is interested in this idea is the scalies! As the name suggests, scalies are just like furries, but more interested in anthropomorphic animals with scales, rather than fur. And even that’s oversimplifying things a bit; scalies are a pretty large group with many parallels to the furry fandom, so much so that sometimes, the line between the two groups can get a bit blurry. So that’s what we’re going to talk about today! In this episode, we’re going to explain scalies! They may seem to be just furries with reptilian fursonas, but the concept of the scalie goes a lot deeper than that, and the surrounding community associated with this idea is so unique, its tempting to not call them furries at all. Welcome to… well in this case Scalie, Explained. And we’ll get started… right here.

So, it sounds like scalies are kinda a big deal. But before we find out why, we have to know what exactly a scalie is in the first place. Well, much like “furry” actually, the term scalie can mean a couple of different things depending on the context. If we’re looking from a character perspective, a scalie is the term that describes anthropomorphic animal creatures of the reptilian and amphibian variety. We’re talking animals like lizards, geckos, turtles, crocodiles, alligators, and the like. Also, depending on who you ask, and if you ask me, I agree with the following statement, but if we’re being precise here, scalies include avians as well. Technically birds are indeed reptiles, as they descended from reptilian ancestors including most notably the dinosaurs. But the fact that they have hollow bones and can fly was enough to kinda separate them from their land-dwelling reptilian cousins. Because of this you probably won’t see many people with avian-based characters consider themselves scalies, but that’s more of a formality than anything else. And just like furries, scalies are not just reserved for real reptilian or amphibian animals. They also include their fantastical counterparts, which includes one of the most popular species of fursona: dragons. Also, despite the name, what is considered to be a scaly is more inclusive than exclusive. What I mean by that is the animal characters included don’t have to have scales per sey, they could have bare or moist skin or even a more flesh-like hide that’s relatively similar to the skin of a human. But they all fall back on the idea that the creature in question is related to the animal classifications of reptiles, amphibians, or birds, and all of their more fantasy-based counterparts.
But that’s just one interpretation of scalie. If we take a look at that idea the same way we use the term furry to describe a member of the furry fandom, a scalie can also be used to describe those who may be in the furry fandom but prefer the concept of furry applied to reptiles and amphibians over other species. Okay, I did not do a good job making that sound clear, so let’s dive into that a little bit. We’ve basically already explained this, but the word furry is a rather loaded term, and I don’t mean that in a bad way but a more matter-of-fact way. It not only describes the idea behind what the fandom is about: the concept of animals acting more like humans, but also defaults the realization of that idea to animals with fur, or in other words, mammals. Which makes sense, humans are one of the few mammals without fur, and if the idea of furry is trying to make some kind of human and animal combination, it makes sense that the idea would gravitate towards mammals. Without getting too weird, it would take the least amount of work, from a metaphorical standpoint, to make mammalian animals look, act, and be more like humans. Going back to scalies however, they are also on board with that idea, but essentially swap the mammals within this case, reptiles, amphibians and other animals of that nature. Which okay, that sounds simple enough, but there's a reason why they’re referred to as scalies. This should come to no surprise, but reptiles are pretty different from mammals, and therefore the translation to getting them to be more like humans is a little different. Whether it be a lizard, a bird, or even something like a dragon, the mental gymnastics that have to be done in order to make a creature like that be more anthropomorphic is a little more tough. But with that challenge comes its own level of fascination; the thesis of reptiles acting more like humans leads to its own level of discussion and debate, because the two parties in question have less in common with each other than the two groups of animals that furries like to mesh. And the number of people interested in this is actually pretty large and separate enough to garner their own distinction. It’s even built into the name, notice how we refer to people interested in this idea as scalies, not scalie furries, or reptilian furries, or amphibifurs, or any other pun-based combo that the fandom likes to come up with (though I must say that last one was pretty smooth for something made up on the spot if I do say so myself). Scalies in and of themselves are different, different enough to get their own distinction but in theory, still fall under the furry umbrella. It’s kinda like the relationship between a square and a rectangle. A square, by definition, is a rectangle, a shape with four straight sides connected by four 90-degree angles. But a square adds its own extra qualification that separates it from the rectangles: all of the sides are equal in length. And yet we don’t call it a square rectangle or a squatangle; squares are prevalent enough in our lives that they command their own special distinction. Every square is a rectangle, but not every rectangle is a square. In that same vein, every scalie is a furry, but not every furry is a scalie… right? Well it’s not as simple as you might think; in the grand scheme of things, scalies actually have a pretty good argument for not including themselves in the furry fandom. Yet many members of the furry fandom do include them, so to compare and contrast the two, we’ll scale both sides of the idea… after the break.

To me, scalies are an underappreciated aspect of the whole anthropomorphic animal fandom thing we have going on here. Not only does it bring in a group of animals that we don’t see a lot of into the fandom, animals, by the way, that are pretty cool on their own, but for those of us who really like to think about what it would take to make the idea of furry a reality, adding reptiles to the list of animals to try and make more human-like is just an interesting mental, almost philosophical challenge to ponder over and discuss. And I’m not alone on this thinking, in fact the scalie community is, while relatively underreported on, quite large. Large enough that you can make the argument that scalies don’t need furries; and are large enough to support themselves on their own. And the more we dive into that proposition, the more it makes sense. First of all it’s not like scalies are starved for choice when it comes to choosing animals to work with. There are a wide variety of different reptiles, amphibians, birds and other animals with scales that can be used for their characters and other representative anthropomorphic animals. They also have the history behind them as well; just like anthropomorphic mammals, anthro reptiles and the like were and are still just as prevalent in places of influence, including characters in movies and TV shows, mascots, and advertisements. And this point is less data driven and more anecdotal, but the biggest selling point for scalies, if you want to call it that, is that they have dragons. At this point dragons have an unofficial fandom of their own and show up everywhere, especially in places where they are anthropomorphized to varying degrees. And come on, let’s not kid ourselves here, dragons are really freaking cool. And if you combine the hype that dragons have with the many other species and characters, with a little more organization there’s no reason why scalies could not only make themselves a fandom on their own, but reasonably compete with the size of the furry fandom as well. So… why don’t they?
Well for one, creating a fandom isn’t that easy. It requires a lot of dedication and organization and is entirely possible, just not all that practical of an undertaking. And well honestly, scalies do still have a healthy, happy home in the furry fandom. Remember how we explained that the idea of scalie is inclusive, not exclusive, that comes directly from the furry fandom. Despite it’s convenient but assuming name, the furry fandom is open to the idea of any creature becoming more human-like, reptiles, amphibians, and anything else that we would consider an animal. Sure the fandom may still have an implicit bias towards mammals, but if someone wishes to be considered a furry with a reptilian-based character, there is nothing incorrect about that, and no one will, or should, stop them from doing so. Also keeping the fandom open to as many species as possible allows for things like hybrid characters, which are combinations of two  or more animals coming together to create a special, anthropomorphized character, to have more options and therefore more creativity when it comes to the creations that they come up with. Especially if they don’t want to, there’s no need to separate the fandom into more traditional furries and treat those who associate more with the scalie side of things as second-class citizens.
But that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve special distinction. Because of the sheer amount of people interested in the idea, scalies happen to be one of, if not the largest subgroup of the fandom. And it makes a whole lot of sense why: animals with scales, forked tongues, or cold blood are just cool and, for many, a lot more interesting and challenging to ponder over how they would translate over to a world filled with anthropomorphic animals. And in all honesty, these labels are all voluntary anyway. You can consider yourself a furry and not a scalie, a scalie not a furry, both or neither. It’s really up to you how you associate yourself and any characters you may create with the overall furry fandom at large. But with that being said, if you do happen to enjoy the idea of anthropomorphic animals, and especially enjoy those animals being or related to the reptilian, amphibian, avian, or dragon, variety, then you might want to consider yourself a member of the scalies!

Alright, that concludes this episode of Scalie, Explained! Thank you so much for turning in and listening, I still hope you enjoyed it and maybe learned something new today. As always if you want to continue the conversation about on scalies, or have any other feedback for the show, you can find and follow me on Twitter! I’m @FinnThePanther, and a link to my Twitter is down in the show notes, along with some other resources about saclies that you should definitely check out. Also a quick word on the schedule of this show. I mentioned this on Twitter last week but basically the rest of June is going to be insanely busy for me, with stuff that I have to give my full attention to. It’s a lot of good, exciting stuff though, which is actually why I want to give it the attention it deserves. So because of this, for the next three weeks from the time of this recording, the schedule is going to be a little different. Next week will be normal; there'll be an episode up on Tuesday per usual. But the week after that there will be no normal Tuesday episode, instead they’ll be a weekend bonus episode that Saturday on something related to pride, something I teased at the end of last episode. Then the week after that, the last week of June, there should be a regular Tuesday episode, as well as another weekend bonus episode which I won’t spoil because I’m still working out how I want to go about it. That’s the tentative schedule for the rest of this month for this show, but any updates to it will be announced on Twitter first so keep it locked there to stay updated. Anyway, with all that out of the way as always, if you like the show and want to support it, the best way to do that is to follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts! If you’re on iTunes or Apple Podcasts, make sure to give the show a rating and a review as well. You can also just tell people, scalie, furry, or otherwise, about the show, and if they don’t know where to start looking, you can point them to our little corner of the internet: furry-explained.com (not scalie-explained.com, I did consider buying that domain, but I usually like to avoid impulse purchases). But anyways thank you so much for doing so and we’ll be back next week for another episode of Furry, Explained, but until then, stay wild out there. Peace!