Looner just a fetish or your alter ego?

[DeppLooner]

Hi Looner friends, I have had a very recurring thought in the last few days.

I read a bit about the Furry community, there is a pretty interesting concept about them, something they call "Fursona" a kind of alter ego or original character that they create. (Sorry if I didn't fully grasp the idea of a fursona).
Well my point is, in that community the members can be "Mr. John White a simple accountant" but in the furry community they abandon their real "ME" and personify 100% their "Fursona". It is as if they stop being their everyday "ME" and migrate to the life of their character.
My question is, do we as a Looner community consider ourselves equal to them?
When you are "Damian Popper" do you stop being "the real you" and focus completely on being your Looner half?
Or do you mix them and make them a good combination in your daily life?
Do you consider it a simple nickname?

[SirSquishy]

In my looning experience, I never "identify" as a balloon. Balloons for me are merely toys for my own personal pleasure. So for me, looning does not involve any alter ego, unless you consider being horny an alter ego.

I do identify as someone who sexually enjoys balloons, and I think that is a part of myself that I don't and can't separate from. I just keep it a secret.

I am curious how you might see a similarity between furies and looners. I've never thought those two communities to be anything alike.

[globos&bears]

Hi Looner friends, I have had a very recurring thought in the last few days.

I read a bit about the Furry community, there is a pretty interesting concept about them, something they call "Fursona" a kind of alter ego or original character that they create. (Sorry if I didn't fully grasp the idea of a fursona).
Well my point is, in that community the members can be "Mr. John White a simple accountant" but in the furry community they abandon their real "ME" and personify 100% their "Fursona". It is as if they stop being their everyday "ME" and migrate to the life of their character.
My question is, do we as a Looner community consider ourselves equal to them?
When you are "Damian Popper" do you stop being "the real you" and focus completely on being your Looner half?
Or do you mix them and make them a good combination in your daily life?
Do you consider it a simple nickname?

Deeplooner i also notice that, well i am curious about the mindset to put yourself in the role of a character being a Furry. In my case when I play with balloons, I am in some kind of mind set different than the my normal or socially accepted self, is like a let it go feeling, you focus only on the moment and do not judge but enjoy. I also do pup-play with my partner which is more related to Furry stuff i guess, so maybe this concept to be in a special mindset is more common for me. I guess depends on the person.

[SusieDK]

Hi,

I cannot at all identify my 'thing' with balloons as anything like being an alter ego.
I feel it as being a part of my personality (that I often - especially earlier in life - wished would vanish), that surfaces in certain situations.
I do enjoy discussing balloons with likeminded people, but I always feel just as being me and not somebody else. It is 'just" a nice feeling to be able to now and then let this side of me free.

Thank you for reading my posting.

Sincerely
Susie

[SweetBouncer]

The truth, I think, is a little bit more challenging. What some furries do to create this whole fursona thing is something more obscure than a change in mindset. A fairly large amount of them uses, in my opinion, something called Tulpa. Born from Buddhism practices, Tibetan and Indian. Think of it as a mixture of controlled DID/MPD and an imaginary friend.
The theory is a little more complex than that, but I also don't think all furries use this.

Could a Looner do this, sure, but it's even less necessary. This practice exists in this furry fandom, because of its essential traits.

We can integrate our fetish into our own personalities, so we don't need to go that deep into the rabbit hole.

For myself, Sweet Bouncer is just a nickname, no more, no less.

[AJK64]

I dont think of it as a persona. It's a part of my general self. A fetish. I used to be embarrassed, especially after a balloon session. But now I consider my fetish as something amazing. Lots of people find pleasure of different kinds with balloons (how they look as decorations, or something associated with celebrations). I just have an extra level of appreciation for balloons.

[DeppLooner]

Very interesting answers, also thank you @sweetbouncer to explain me more about the furry fandom, they have some very interesting concepts.

[Common Loon]

This is a really interesting question!

For me, it's definitely somewhere in between. On one hand I don't specifically *feel* like I'm slipping into an alter ego when I have a balloon sesh. But on the other hand... I've gone by the same screen name on balloon forums for more than half my life now, and I can do things when I'm looning that feel very difficult to impossible to achieve at other times in my life. (Blame hormones, lol)

So there is something about looning that sinks me into almost a hyperfocused trance-like state, that feels "different" than my everyday persona. But I don't necessarily see it as "It's not me anymore, it's The Common Loon".

[TheMole]

I'd say it's more just a part of my default persona over a completely separate one. A part that can only be expressed in certain situations and environments, but not a separate entity.

So there is something about looning that sinks me into almost a hyperfocused trance-like state, that feels "different" than my everyday persona. But I don't necessarily see it as "It's not me anymore, it's The Common Loon".

CommonLoon summed it up great. This explains it better than anything for me.