Dutch Angel Dragons
The Timeline
In January 2011, Ino began a trade with PhoenixWolf where they would each make a fursuit head of each other’s characters for fun. She asked for Telephone to be made and the head was finished that summer. A few months afterward, PhoenixWolf surprised Ino at Midwest Fur Fest, gifting her a full bodysuit to match the head. The bodysuit was also made with help from Bella of AutumnFallings.
Shown here is one of the concept drawings that Ino gave PhoenixWolf to create the head with and the result; this is the original Telephone suit. While still done in a toony style, it does show a depiction of some of the unique physical traits Dutch Angel Dragons have with their horse-shaped head.
The earliest concept of the Dutch Angel Dragon has existed since 2009 and its roots are based on a dream the species' creator, Ino, had as well as being inspired by her late horse named Dutch. Eventually the character Telephone was created and its first online appearance was posted September 2010 to Fur Affinity in a submission titled “Follow Me”. She began creating a story for this character with the intent of one day writing a book. Initially very little was shared about Telephone online.
The earliest uploads reveal only that Telephone was a ghost-like dragon who haunts graveyards at night or when it rains, with eyes that change color under different circumstances, and had a winter form.
Telephone participated in fursuit dance competitions at various conventions and the suit got some good use and exposure. After Texas Furry Fiesta in February 2013, PhoenixWolf wanted to update the suit with plastic eyes as well as repair and improve parts of the bodysuit such as the hands, wings, and leg padding. Despite how much Ino loved the suit just the way it was, she agreed to let the work be done on the suit, but what she didn’t expect was that PhoenixWolf actually built a brand new head based on her modernized, cute chibi style.
March 2013 at Furry Weekend Atlanta was the debut for the infamous Telephone suit as it is known today.
On Mar 19, 2013, well known furry comedian “2 the Ranting Gryphon” uploaded a video of Telephone titled “What the hell is it?”
This arguably was what launched the popularity of the fursuit character while also brought some confusion as to who made and owned the suit but it definitely sparked interest in the species. Confronted with questions and an overwhelming amount of requests from people to make similar characters from friends and fans alike for nearly a year, Ino hesitantly decided to try opening the species to the public early 2014 so anyone could make one. After all, she didn’t want Telephone to be alone as the only Dutch Angel Dragon when it could have some friends!
The Fur Affinity group for Dutch Angel Dragons was founded and just a few basic species guidelines laid down. Ino held off releasing a lot of information about them right away until she felt more comfortable with the idea and could spend some more time developing the species, but it received overwhelmingly positive attention very quickly and it grew out of control. The group’s account was abandoned shortly after its creation because it proved too difficult for Ino to manage a large volume of posts, requests to review and approve designs, as well as harassment, despite the help she received from Archangel Torch to run the page.
Around the same time, Remix (current Ambassador and former Archangel) received permission to create Facebook group named the "Telephone/Angel Dragon Fanpage". It went through a large amount of changes during its first year: growing to over 2,800 members strong and becoming the primary community and source of information for the species.
In May 2014, a new head of the winter coat version of Telephone was created by PheonixWolf on commission. The normal Telephone suit also recently received a complete bodysuit makeover from Ino herself with new paws by Starla Wolf. The Facebook fanpage page was taken offline at the beginning of 2015, reestablished as the "Official Dutch Angel Dragon Community" alongside the creation of this website and a Twitter account, and re-opened in April 2015 as the base of operations for official events and online community interaction. It currently has over 10,000 members (as of the beginning of 2018) and growing!
Now a new community social platform, created from the ground up by our new website admin Arcanox, is under development that will serve as the communities' future home. A closed-beta invite went out to all the attendees at Midwest Furfest's Dutch Angel Dragon Meet & Greet in December 2017 and more invites will be released as the website expands its features. The intent is to shift the focal point of the community away from Facebook and migrate to this new site where there will be an easier way to connect with the community, filter content by type (fursuits, art, adopts, commission marketplace, etc), and create a searchable character database linked to their owners accounts.
