Maybe they were working from a reference photo that had the balls be visible, and they felt it’d be weirder to not include them

Thanks for sharing this info, because you’ve given me some interesting ideas to ponder. My personal craft domain is garment making, and in recent years, I’ve been having a lot of fun exploring stuff that exists in the space between “clothing” and “costume”. I don’t have much experience in 3D printing, so the stuff about 3D printing flexible materials like TPU is new to me. I should explore this more, because I bet I could make some awesome stuff with this method (such as in corsetry)

This is a big part of why I love being in community with furries, despite not being one myself.

I’ve done a lot of bespoke clothing making — mostly for myself, but occasionally I’ve done things on commission. People are often astounded at how much high quality craftsmanship costs when the skilled labour is properly compensated.

I once wore a €20,000 dress (it was rented for me by a girlfriend so I could attend a swanky event with her). Before we went out, I was poring over all the construction details, desperate to learn all I could from this absurd scenario I had found myself in. I remember feeling weirdly dismayed to learn that there wasn’t a single thing in that dress that would be beyond my own skill level. Instead, it was just countless little hand finished details that must’ve taken an inordinate amount of time and care to do. For example, all the seam allowances catch stitched down (whenever they weren’t fully enclosed in a french seam or similar). Truly high quality items take time, and can’t be easily automated. Sure, there are components that can be optimised with computers or machines, but it requires a skilled human to actually integrate all this into the completed piece.

I have a friend who uses to draw furry porn, and she said she found the experience to be super artistically liberating, because for the first time in her artistic career, she had people haggling her prices up, because she was way underpricing her works. On average, furries seem to have a greater level of respect for the time and skill that goes into making custom things, which I love. My friend is now making art in a domain that’s closer to her own personal artistic interests, but she says that she will always cherish the time she spent in the furry community, because it gave her the confidence she needed to advocate for the value of her art and her skills when she was chasing her dreams.

This is so cool. Shit like this is why I love being in community with furries, despite not being one myself. I’m always awed by the creativity

(Plus furries always throw the best parties)

That problem is very much one that’s beyond the domain of scientists. That’s like saying “All I want literature to do is decipher the genetic basis of cancer”. Trust me, if science were able to cure billionaires, it would.

I love the fact that you wrote this in a science meme sub. I like getting learning alongside my memes

(I’m a biochemist, so I didn’t learn anything in this particular instance, but I frequently find my day brightened by helpful people like yourself, who take the time to explain stuff)