With the therian It is fashionable to talk about I toucha Japanese YouTuber who became globally known in 2022 for spending nearly 15 thousand dollars to achieve his dream of becoming a dog. Specifically, in a border collie.
The special effects company Zeppet He made her a hyper-realistic suit. The day he released it, he went out on the street and received all kinds of negative comments. But it didn’t go down: «I will continue»he said when his «case» exploded. Today, four years later, Toco continues to do its thing on YouYube, where it has accumulated millions of views.
The conflicting opinions of his followers are visible to all in the comments: «Even dogs know that something is not right»; «This is the strangest, craziest thing I’ve ever seen»; «I love how we get to witness the dogs experience the uncanny valley, that’s phenomenal.»
The dream of being a dog
Dreaming of being a dog was not enough. It took strong conviction, perseverance and a good suit. To achieve his goal, Toco had to resort to a «trick.»
Toco commissioned a company specialized in special effects and special modeling to make a hyper-realistic dog costume. collie.
According to what he said, They charged him 2 million yen (something like 15 thousand dollars) for the costume.. A lot of money, but it was worth it to him: the resemblance he has to a real dog is quite impressive.
Presentation on social networks
In 2022, Toco introduced his «canine alter ego» to the world on both his Twitter account and a YouTube channel, announcing that he wanted to «share his journey» living as a dog.
And the reception from the networks was overwhelming.. Tako’s unusual story quickly went viral, and he even appeared on national television shows, such as ‘Sôkai jôhô variety Sukkiri!!’ from NIPPON TV.
As usually happens, good old Toco received signs of support on the networks, although also from others (otherwise, it wouldn’t be social networks).
“I felt like it was a waste to use it alone and be satisfied, so I posted a video,” he stated. “However, I did not expect it to have such an impact.”
But Toco couldn’t satisfactorily answer a key question: Why did he do it? The man simply replied «I don’t know.» Sometimes no reasons are needed.
A hyperrealistic suit
Zeppet, the company in charge of making the suit, said that the costume «was very complicated to make.» «Canine anatomy is very different from that of a human, so we had to be inventive,» said a company spokesperson.
“We used photos of collies taken from different angles, improved the fluffiness of the coat to hide the shell of the costume as much as possible, and made the mouth open and close on its own,” he added.
At that time, the main clients were film and advertising companies; and individual orders represent around 10% of the total.”
As detailed, The collie costume was handmade with faux furthe details it has are impressive; and took a manufacturing time of 40 days to complete.
What is a therian?
According to what a couple of therians told Clarín, these are people, generally teenagers, who identify «partially and involuntarily as an animal.»
They clarify that they are “mostly aware of their humanity” and that what really differentiates them is their way of seeing the world.
