[joey7x]

So, I'm surfing this fine messageboard right? It seems like I can't go three posts without a poster dropping the name of someone who wrote a similar story or drew in a similar style. Having only been on the FMG "scene" seriously for a max of three years and some months, the reference is usually lost on me.

Having that said, i got the idea to start this topic. Basically, just recount any significant events, milestones you've been witness to, or throw out a warstory or two. I'm trying to get a sense of history with the community.

Let the reminiscing…….commence.

[magnus knight]

I've always been more into GTS then FMG, but I remember the first time I discovered female transformation in general. 
I'd always been into growth since I was aroun 10 (long story) but it also always made me feel like an outcast of sorts too.  Thinking I was a strange sick man I always assumed it would be my own little fantasy world in life.  It wasn't until spring 1998 that while surfing the net after spending some type trying to decide how to word it I keyed in Female growth + transformations + clothes tearing.  That is when I discovered The Process by Lorekeep.  Thats when my life changed and I knew I was no longer some lone nut, but at least one of two nuts.  From there I found ZZZ's site, which kept me busy for a while reading his great works.  Then I found HI-Standards stories and soon knew I wasn't alone, but part of something great. 

In 1999 I wrote my first story, which was a FMG/GTS continuation of I believe it was Solomn's "Aggravating Airlines"  which I turned into two more parts full of growth.  Never posted them though, as I never recieved the original authors permission.  Those stories are now lost, except for the one copy I printed on paper which I still have today.  Then later on that year I wrote X-Mate, but never posted it.  I remained a lurker until 2002, when I started posting comments on message boards.  By 2003 I posted my first story online, "The Obsession", which people really seemed to enjoy.  A few months later I posted "X-Mate". 

The rest is history.  I now run 3 yahoo groups with a total of 2000+ members combined.  I'm working on my 14th, 15th, and 16th stories, and plan to branch out soon with a She  Hulk story, female werewolf one, and FMG one too. 

As far as I can trace back the female transformation community has been online since the early 90's.  I hope to see it one day become as common in life like other kinky things that are now talked about by people every day. 

_Magnus Knight

[Trent Harlow]

I remember when Shadowlurker and the Geocities FMG site were updated last.  Also when the groups were clubs.

[Mark Newman]

I started posting in late 1994-95, when the monthly Compuserv magazine mentioned the existence of alt.amazon-women.admirers as one of the stranger groups that USENET had spawned.  Coincidentally I had started working on my first "New Women" story in the summer of 1994 and was shocked that there could ever be an outlet for my "creative" output.  I posted there via anon.penet.fi for awhile until that gateway ended, and then on Diana the Valykrie beginning in 1997, which is still a terrific resource for stories although not as dominant as he/she/it was.

I've resisted the Yahoo and Geocities groups, which are pretty erratic but are great when they work.  Some have posted my stories anyway, normally without attribution.  Tsk. Tsk.

I arrived too late for the Amazon BBS and Jim Woodard, but I thank him for his early encouragement that there were many people out there who would appreciate my stories.

Does anyone else remember "Jimp" and "Beegboy"?

I suppose someday I should write down a history of this genre.  I can do pretty well from 1995-date, but it goes back much further, I'm sure, and I don't know it.

[AlexG]

. . . then on Diana the Valykrie beginning in 1997, which is still a terrific resource for stories although not as dominant as he/she/it was.

Al is a he, used to regularly hang out on IRC Superchat network @ Triton's and Goldrush's Female Muscle / Bodybuilding chat room(s) even before he got DTV up and running.  (With some help from the regulars there, I'm given to understand.  In fact, several years ago there was a lengthy exposé on Al and the history concerning the origins of DTV posted at the Athletic Women website, unfortunately its no longer to be found.)  Them were the days when even the high and mighty (i.e. Cedric Perret or Mike Bogen) would deem to routinely talk to the ranks of mere mortals.

Oh, and speaking of years past, I can remember when it was a common occurrence to encounter the greats of FMG/GTS story writing on ZZZ's GTS Grows and Everything Grows forums – such as Hi-Standard, Kate, Silent One, Paul Bunyan, ZZZ, Panther, Crow Magnon, ^^Brigid and Faylinn.  Seemingly gone, but never forgotten by The Immortal One as the Last Defender of Camelot and the Lord of the High Castle.

“I like a good story well told. That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself.”
~ Mark Twain / Samuel Clemens (1907)

[FfejL]

I'm mostly a lurker, but I've been doing this for a looooooong time.  The whole online FMG/GTS world started with the Amazon Arena BBS, run out of a guys house in SoCal, circa 1993.  I forget his name, although he still around running an Amazon Arena web page (now focused on height, not muscle) at http://www.globalmark.com/globalmark/amarena.html.

The same guy (wish I could remember his name! Jim something) started alt.amazon.admirers on the Usenet, which others have mentioned.  Around that time, I opened what I think was the first FMG/GTS FTP site in my personal storage on netcom.com, focused strictly on ASCII based stories.  This was before the Web was big, and I limited the archive to stories to save bandwidth — Netcom would have either shut me down or charged me through the nose if I let people trade pictures there.  Many of the oldtimers on this board (including our mighty host) put their original works there. 

I think the first major website for FMG was the Aurora series from "Sharon Best" (actually a guy) followed quickly by DtV (also a guy).  I may have that backwards.  For a pretty long time, alt.amazon.admirers was the primary (if not only) real community.  As Usenet as whole disintegrated from discussions to binaries, the community moved to DtV's crappy forums, then Wreckshop's incredibly vibrant (and much missed!) boards.  Along the way many, many Yahoo Groups sprung up, most of which are still humming along.  When Wreckshop went away for good, Lingster's step in with this board.

One of the amazing things (to me anyway) about our little corner of the world is the specialization.  You've got FBB folks, GTS folks, FMG folks, Superstrength folks, BE folks, and on and on.  (and when I say folks, I mean men.  I doubt there membership of the combined community exceeds 1% female.)  While there are some communities that reach across the specifics (like here), there are also specialzed communities for just about anyone.  In my little history I didn't even mention Paul Smith's Xtreme Strength, or the BE archive, or any of the more mainstream FBB hangouts like hermuscles.com or femflex.com.

I've also left out the whole offline world of GTS/FMG/FBB.  I'm a superhero comic guy from age 7 or 8, and my intro to FBB was when, at the tender age of 15, I saw my camp consuelar's copies of Women's Physique World.  Sometime later I discovered Larry Heller's LH-Art (from an ad in WPW, IIRC), and I was completely hooked.  It was like combining Marvel & WPW all in one!

And, FWIW, I'm 38.  When you get right down to it, this is a pretty new movement/community.

[David]

It's funny. I was there when Kay Baxter practically pranced out onto the Ms. Olympia stage bigger than any woman there. Simply packed and the crowd was over awed. The judges didn't knowwhat to do with her.
I was there when Wreck first got published by LH-Art, what I sent to him was something he did for me and I sent it along as an audition of sorts.
But I was behind a lot of people when it came to getting on the net. But I've watched our community ebb and flow, growing some and enjoyed most all of it. It's those people that insist on being speed bumps of controversy that bug me but I don't let them stop me from my quest. More. Alway more.

[Lingster]

I've been around about as long as Marknew.  I had Usenet access in the late 80s and early 90s, but then moved to a small town for awhile and didn't have it again for almost two years, when AOL launched its internet gateway in, umm, early '95?  Jim Woodard had started alt.amazon-women.admirers in the interim.  I was very surprised to see it, and astonished to find the growth stories there, at alt.sex.stories and other newsgroups besides, and at Ffjel's and Casti's FTP archives.  I honestly hadn't known anyone else had feelings similar to my own.

It's hard to believe that it's more than ten years. 

Prior to starting my first blog in January of 2002, I tried to take back a.a-w.a, but it was a lost cause.  Too many trolls.  Forums like this one, HerBiceps, MuscleMayhem, etc. are better, anyway.  I offered ZZZ a chance to move his E-Z boards to She Grew! last year, but he didn't want to.  Those seem to be fading now, which is sad because they had a unique flavor and good content.

As for DTV's identity – we should let that alone.  It's not our business.  I admit, though, that I'm annoyed by Fistman's use of feminine pronouns when discussing DTV, even when we're talking face-to-face.

[AlexG]

I offered ZZZ a chance to move his E-Z boards to She Grew! last year, but he didn't want to.  Those seem to be fading now, which is sad because they had a unique flavor and good content.

Yes, I seem to recall you mentioning that before.  For me, since I first started posting stories on his boards its something of a personal loss to see them reduced to such a state, one GTS Female Grows hacked by someone unknown, the other, Everything Grows, reduced to spat flames and spam posts with only the occasional story being posted there.

I might add, it's especially dishearting in the case of Everything Grows since I was the central figure responsible for inspiring him behind the scenes to creating that forum in the first place as a venue for the posting of male and female / growth couples stories.

“I like a good story well told. That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself.”
~ Mark Twain / Samuel Clemens (1907)

[Silent One]

I was there when . . .
I can't believe I missed this thread.  I love getting all misty eyed and nostalgical (probably not a real word.)

I was there when the Giantess web ring was alive and thriving.
I was there when ZZZ's message board (there was only one at the time) was the happening place for my type of GTS story.  (Lot's of growth, not too much violence, good writing.  Come back ZZZ.)
I was there when Hi-Standard was a regular contributor to the GTS scene.  (Hi-Standard is greatly missed.)
I was there when Kate posted her awesome Wonder Woman GTS story for the first time.
I was there when the Process Site was a great place for a huge variety of FMG/GTS/Transformational stuff.  (I'm not just biased because they hosted some of my artwork.  And whatever happened to Lorekeep anyway?)
I was there when Geocities was a halfway decent place to get a free web site hosted.  (Damn that Yahoo merger.  My site was never the same.)
I was there when the GTS scene began to wane.  (Maybe wane is to strong, maybe stagnate is a better word.  Anyway it inspired to me to start writing.)
I was there before the Yahoo groups began to splinter the scene into thousands of pieces.  (As if the various genres of GTS weren't divisive enough at times.)
I was there when AlexG posted his Don Don Quixote story for the first time.  (Still one of my personal favorite ever posted on the ZZZ Everything Grows board.)
I was there and helped support the formation of said Everything Grows board.  (I loved the idea of having a place to post stories that included male growth.  Only having one sex grow became a constraint to some of the stories I wanted to write.)
I was there.  And I loved it.  I gave my heart and soul to my writing and art because people liked it and thanked me to do so.  My only real regret is the manner in which I left the community.
I was there when . . .

[Author]

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