The Teen Werewolves of San Antonio
May 25, 2010 1:27 PM   Subscribe

Nerds. Punks. Jocks. Emos. Preppies. Goths. The high school cliques have to make room for a new subculture: teen werewolves. (SLYT)
posted by clockworkjoe (88 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Get off my lawn!
posted by wcfields at 1:32 PM on May 25, 2010 [2 favorites]


And you thought the vampire kids were nerds!
posted by Mister_A at 1:34 PM on May 25, 2010


Teenagers. God love 'em.
posted by Ouisch at 1:36 PM on May 25, 2010 [3 favorites]


You're not a real teen werewolf unless you car surf.
posted by entropicamericana at 1:36 PM on May 25, 2010 [7 favorites]


I've seen this movie.

And come to think of it...
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:37 PM on May 25, 2010


Give me, a keg, of beer!
posted by Senator at 1:37 PM on May 25, 2010 [2 favorites]


You know, I never thought I'd say this, but I'm kind of hoping the jocks get their shit together and start kicking everyone's ass again.
posted by Pastabagel at 1:41 PM on May 25, 2010 [17 favorites]


Actually, maybe the jocks are waiting for the mummy clique to rear its ugly head before unleashing the wedgie maelstrom.
posted by Pastabagel at 1:42 PM on May 25, 2010 [2 favorites]


Teenagers. God love 'em.

No.
posted by rtha at 1:43 PM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Stephenie Meyer has ruined so many things.
posted by spoobnooble at 1:43 PM on May 25, 2010 [7 favorites]


I would totally join the mummy clique just for the lulz. And because no one is writing breathless teenage sex novels about mummies, cuz come on, they mummies, brah!
posted by Mister_A at 1:44 PM on May 25, 2010 [2 favorites]


Look out, it's Michael J Fox!
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 1:45 PM on May 25, 2010


"They may not be mutating from man to wolf, but counsellors warn these teens are experiencing transformations of their own – from childhood to adulthood."

Can this guy write or what? Poetry!
posted by Wataki at 1:46 PM on May 25, 2010 [5 favorites]


Yeah. Mummies.
posted by GuyZero at 1:48 PM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Is this a step up or down from Juggalos? I'm going to say step up because they look like bookworms.

Fucking lycanthropy! How does it work?
posted by fleetmouse at 1:48 PM on May 25, 2010 [7 favorites]


Now that this new werewolf clique is siphoning away the ridicule, goths are jumping with joy--oh wait, I mean "jumping with sorrow."
posted by etc. at 1:49 PM on May 25, 2010 [3 favorites]


And because no one is writing breathless teenage sex novels about mummies

But we can pretend.

thanks metafilter!
posted by munchingzombie at 1:49 PM on May 25, 2010 [3 favorites]


So what the fuck do these kids do on Hallowe'en?
posted by defenestration at 1:52 PM on May 25, 2010


And who do they fear most when they're loitering out on the streets after curfew - the police, or Animal Control?
posted by spinifex23 at 1:53 PM on May 25, 2010


"We're not a gang at all. Like, gangs are posers, they just want attention."

Said the girl with the tail, to the TV reporter.
posted by longsleeves at 1:55 PM on May 25, 2010 [15 favorites]


These werewolf kids are doin' it wrong. They just look like goth kids with tails pinned on. They should actually take all the makeup and crap off, and walk around in ripped-up rags like real werewolves.
posted by Mister_A at 1:59 PM on May 25, 2010 [3 favorites]


Let them have their tails and ears in high school. It's when they start arguing for workplace rights that things get interesting.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:02 PM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


After a workday full of reading Slender Man stuff this is welcome mental bleach.
posted by Pope Guilty at 2:03 PM on May 25, 2010


Is this a step up or down from Juggalos?

It certainly is, fleetmouse. It certainly is.
posted by infinitywaltz at 2:06 PM on May 25, 2010 [5 favorites]


If they eat smarmy, trying-to-be-clever TV reporters, I'm tentatively in favor.
posted by Wolfdog at 2:08 PM on May 25, 2010 [4 favorites]


These werewolf kids are doin' it wrong. They just look like goth kids with tails pinned on.

The Goth/Furry convergence has finally arrived.
posted by acb at 2:08 PM on May 25, 2010 [3 favorites]


Also: previously deleted thread (and a dupe), on Wolfie Blackheart, who was mentioned in the video.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:09 PM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


The Goth/Furry convergence has finally arrived.

What do you mean, finally? Goth kids have been wearing cat ears since...well, at least since I was one, and that was a decade and a half ago.

The werewolf twist on things is new, admittedly.
posted by infinitywaltz at 2:10 PM on May 25, 2010


If my child attended this school I would require him to take Defence Against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures.
posted by yoyoceramic at 2:14 PM on May 25, 2010 [7 favorites]


I smell a Buffy spinoff!
posted by Sys Rq at 2:15 PM on May 25, 2010


I smell werewolf scat!
posted by infinitywaltz at 2:17 PM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


I think they call it spoor.
posted by Mister_A at 2:19 PM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


So does this mean proudly hairy is in again? I knew these things ran in cycles.
posted by maxwelton at 2:20 PM on May 25, 2010


I smell werewolf scat!

Scoodly grarrrrr!
posted by fleetmouse at 2:21 PM on May 25, 2010 [13 favorites]


In reality, werewolves would kick the crap out of vampires.
posted by Mister_A at 2:24 PM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Now that this new werewolf clique is siphoning away the ridicule, goths are jumping with joy--oh wait, I mean "jumping with sorrow."

Oh, things have been just peachy since that emo garbage reared it's head... finally, a subculture even the goths can call sniveling pussies. At least goth culture has a distinct sense of humor about itself.
posted by FatherDagon at 2:27 PM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Done before. Phoenix in the late 80s, early 90s. There were a few "wolf packs" to the (now would be called goths) "vampires" - though, unlike "Twilight", they were our friends. One became godfather to my second born.
posted by _paegan_ at 2:30 PM on May 25, 2010


It's like we're in some kind of arms race to make the past's over-the-top satire look quaint and shortsighted.
posted by The Whelk at 2:32 PM on May 25, 2010 [3 favorites]


Scoodly grarrrrr!

I just got that.
posted by infinitywaltz at 2:34 PM on May 25, 2010


"You can't let the little pricks generation-gap you." - Molly
posted by Babblesort at 2:34 PM on May 25, 2010


Done before. Phoenix in the late 80s, early 90s. There were a few "wolf packs" to the (now would be called goths) "vampires"

Damn Garou, always getting all righteous and up in everyone's business.
posted by FatherDagon at 2:41 PM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


"Fascination with werewolves dates back to the 1930's"

Reporter fail.
posted by piratebowling at 2:41 PM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Er, I mean, if my mom had bought me the contacts in 9th grade or so, I would have totally done this. I was a goth kid who was into playing Werewolf: The Apocalypse.

. . . what, you weren't?
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 2:42 PM on May 25, 2010


I think I probably prefer teen werewolves to teen vampires... Don't know why, but the people who go, "I'm a real vampire, I just live off of other people's psychic energy, not their blood," seem that much more daft...
posted by MaiaMadness at 2:44 PM on May 25, 2010


This is cool because it's making me less cringey about my own highschool idiocy--thanks, contemporary young idiots!
posted by everichon at 2:48 PM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Franks.
posted by homunculus at 2:50 PM on May 25, 2010




"Fascination with werewolves dates back to the 1930's"

Reporter fail.


Werewolves were frightening before, and it was only in the 1930s that Lon Chaney made them lovable.

Also of note: Werewolves were the original punks.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:04 PM on May 25, 2010


I know some parents who are whining about their teen's subculture leanings, which seem to be somewhere between Hot Topic-influenced mallcore (*barf*) and screaemo. I will say to them "Hey, at least he's not a werewolf" and show them this clip.

And then I'll secretly buy him a tail.
posted by adipocere at 3:05 PM on May 25, 2010 [4 favorites]


You know, I never thought I'd say this, but I'm kind of hoping the jocks get their shit together and start kicking everyone's ass again.

I'll never understand the violent-hate tendencies toward these sub-cultures from mefites.* I think you're on par with the people in the not-too-distant times past that celebrated the bullying of geeks and nerds. No group deserves to have violence wished upon it, no matter how lame it seems to you.

I understand the desire to point-and-laugh, but can't we just feel sorry for them and move on without wry attempts to encourage physical abuse against them?

* See emo, hipster
posted by jabberjaw at 3:30 PM on May 25, 2010 [5 favorites]


In re-reading the OP, I read "Preppies" as "Puppies." With that, I will now recast the high school groups as animals:

Birds. Skunks. (Chicken) Hawks. Emus. Puppies. Sloths.

Another dumb tangent: the related posts read surprisingly well as a dialogue, from first to last.
Hey!
This drove me nuts.
The kids are allright.
Mass Pyschogenic High School!
What do you want, an armed guard to follow your kid around?
posted by filthy light thief at 3:38 PM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Needs lolfurries tag.
posted by Malice at 4:05 PM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Teen werewolves

Next, the ultimate outsiders: Teen Andy Rooneys

aka the Benjamin Buttonheads

aka the Wild Eyebrows.


...goths are jumping with joy--oh wait, I mean "jumping with sorrow."
Shouldn't that be slumping with sorrow ?

posted by y2karl at 4:06 PM on May 25, 2010


I understand the desire to point-and-laugh, but can't we just feel sorry for them and move on without wry attempts to encourage physical abuse against them?

Hear, hear! I know plenty of emos and hipsters, and while pointing and laughing is indeed the most frequent response (as well as, "aww, him so cute, him discovered black dye and hair-gel/tight pants and checkered shirts!"), hey, I used to be goth/emo/metalhead/thingy when I was in school... I can empathise, you know? :P
posted by MaiaMadness at 4:11 PM on May 25, 2010


You know, I never thought I'd say this, but I'm kind of hoping the jocks get their shit together and start kicking everyone's ass again.

We don't really have jocks here in Norway... Or, we do, we just send them to special athletic high schools, filter them out of the normal system, so to speak. Here, it's the chavs you have to fear... Do you have chavs in the US?
posted by MaiaMadness at 4:16 PM on May 25, 2010


Please, whatevergodwilllisten, I hope no one thought I believed I was actually a vampire. Those people are embarrassing! Every group has it's wing-nuts. None of the "werewolves" I knew professed to ACTUALLY believe he was such. I've tried to avoid any type of fanatic like the plague.

While I'm at it, most of us don't consider emo, gothopotamus, mansonites, gravers, and whatever this thing that could be called "guttergoth" is *shudder* as most of them listen to death metal, as "goths" either. Then again, we don't even really consider ourselves that - we just gave in to a stupid name after years of repeating the stupid "I"m not a goth..." speech.
posted by _paegan_ at 4:31 PM on May 25, 2010


For the record, when I'm dressed like a pirate, a ninja, or a zombie, I don't think I'm one of those either!
posted by _paegan_ at 4:32 PM on May 25, 2010


Do you have chavs in the US?

I thought you guys got chavs because of the US - you imported our wiggers.
posted by _paegan_ at 4:33 PM on May 25, 2010


maybe the jocks are waiting for the mummy clique to rear its ugly head before unleashing the wedgie maelstrom.

Just where would one tug on a mummy to inflict a wedgie? Wouldn't simply pulling on a bandage until the teenymummy (mummybopper?) is denuded be a more effective strategy?

Also, I long ago concluded that anybody born after 1981 is insane. This is just further evidence. Now get off my lawn.
posted by jonmc at 4:56 PM on May 25, 2010


Man, subcultures are complex. I didn't even know about masonites and buttergoths. But I definitely would expect werewolves in Norway if anywhere.
posted by fleetmouse at 4:57 PM on May 25, 2010


Official T-Shirt.
posted by Sys Rq at 5:01 PM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Buttergoth just became my *favorite* sub-culture ever.
posted by grapesaresour at 5:28 PM on May 25, 2010 [4 favorites]


. . . what, you weren't?

I know I was. You know the one White Wolf gamer in Nineties High School who took it so seriously he swore he was becoming a werewolf? And that he had the Gift, "Sense Wyrm"? I dated that guy.

All in all it could have been a worse clique to be in. Could've been Otherkin. At least we got out in the open air, even if we did go ARRROOO at the moon.
posted by Countess Elena at 5:40 PM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


I am a Werewolf! WTF!
posted by Minus215Cee at 5:44 PM on May 25, 2010


I was a teenager in San Antonio in the early 90s and used to dress up in black with crazy stockings and hang out at the mall, tourist attractions (San Antonio is the vacation capital of Texas and Northern Mexico) or drink quarts of beer in pastures late at night. If a tail had been an option back then I'd probably have worn one too. These kids look at least as interesting as the ones a few years older I teach who wear t-shirts advertising their sororities/fraternities, and the expensive private high schools they went to.
posted by vincele at 6:23 PM on May 25, 2010


These are basically somewhere between furries and punks. That said, I like that the news report doesn't demonize the group.
posted by LSK at 6:27 PM on May 25, 2010


If it helps, I know kids from San Antonio and they pride themselves in screwing with the texas media man, being randomly odd would be totally a thing, Austin likes to "keep it weird" but San Antonio is the homegrown backyard still source. Be proud San Antonio, be proud.
posted by The Whelk at 6:32 PM on May 25, 2010 [2 favorites]


I had a skin tag taken off my neck this week. Listening to people asking me if I've gotten bitten by a vampire is getting old...
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 6:44 PM on May 25, 2010


but can't we just feel sorry for them and move on without wry attempts to encourage physical abuse against them

Why feel sorry for them? If they're happy and doing well in general and not hurting anyone, why the pity?
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 6:58 PM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


I have got to get my teens to start doing more interesting counter-culture things. I mean, the oldest is a metalhead goth, but that seems positively tame now. I'm thinking Aliens and Predators as the next big trend.

totally predator ftw.
posted by misha at 7:17 PM on May 25, 2010


Why feel sorry for them? If they're happy and doing well in general and not hurting anyone, why the pity?

I meant that as an alternative to wanting them to get the shit kicked out of them, not as your only two choices.
posted by jabberjaw at 8:59 PM on May 25, 2010


In high school I cycled through weird kid who had 8 versions of the same outfit when I was 14 to prep to metal to quasijuggalo to geek to skater to Columbine-newsboy-hat-and-trenchcoat to prep to Hawaii 5-0 to hipster, and now I wear track pants and dress shirts with flipflops pretty much every time I leave the house. Sworn truth. I did it on purpose in high school, and every time I would wear it all for a few months, and then complain about how "I need to change my look, because these rags are not fresh, and I look like a hick poser." I got famous for it in high school/early college. It was fun. :) Once I wore my Godfather's Pizza uniform to school and carried my books in a pizza box.

Reason? Small town, too many cliques, hated everybody. The first few times I meant it, and I really meant it with my slick (and I mean slick) new look with my spiky hair and Limp Bizkit-sh black overshirt and khaki cargos. I had worn the same gray t-shirts and Wrangler loose fits for 3 freakin' years, and I complained to just about everybody who would listen for 3 days. The preps dug it for about 5 minutes, and then I was weird kid again (I was originally weird kid 'cause I was all aggro). Ah well. Fuck ya. I tried with metal too, but they were...eh. I hated Korn then and I still do. Quasijuggalo was because they were the only people who would hang with me daily, but all their older brothers made meth. After that, I made one more sincere attempt, and then just did it to mess with people. I'd wait until people got comfortable and I'd made certain inroads into the clique, then change my clothes and music and hobbies and try to hang with them again. The juggalos/metal people weren't really my scene, but they were my best friends in high school, and I gotta say for them that as cliques go, they're the nicest, most loyal friends you can have once you get on their good side.

Maybe the wolfpack would have accepted me. But I support them in their efforts to find a place they're comfortable with and wish them better luck than I had. As it goes, I'm liking these track pants.
posted by saysthis at 2:22 AM on May 26, 2010 [2 favorites]


Nerds. Punks. Jocks. Emos. Preppies. Goths.

Heh. We had "dirties" at my high school. Think nerds in sweatpants. I dunno. Don't ask me where people come up with this shit.
posted by IvoShandor at 3:40 AM on May 26, 2010


I saw a werewolf getting a fake tail at Hot Topic
His hair was perfect.
Awoooo.
posted by Cookiebastard at 6:16 AM on May 26, 2010 [4 favorites]


This thread needs some Cramps.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 6:48 AM on May 26, 2010


This thread really makes me want to watch Ginger Snaps again.
posted by nicepersonality at 7:15 AM on May 26, 2010 [1 favorite]


Leave the furry puppys alone! They will grow up to contribute a lot of shoddy drawings of anthropomorphic orgies to the Internet. Who knows, maybe they will grow into something even more disturbing by that time.
posted by digdan at 8:13 AM on May 26, 2010 [1 favorite]


I think the silly teenagers with the wolf tails are funny. I think the scads of ADULTS who have a hard-on for steampunk and thrift store t-shirts laughing at it who don't see the irony is even funnier.
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 8:32 AM on May 26, 2010


Why can't there be ECSTATIC werewolf youth?

Like fuck, you're WEREWOLVES, stop being so mopey and start being more awesome.
posted by Theta States at 8:39 AM on May 26, 2010 [2 favorites]


Still waiting for the teenage cyborg movement to really take off.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:50 AM on May 26, 2010


I was a teenager in San Antonio in the 80s, and went to the same High School. Take away their tails and contacts, and these kids look like my friends and I did then. Of course, we were idiots.
posted by patrick rhett at 11:34 AM on May 26, 2010 [1 favorite]


THANK YOU.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 11:47 AM on May 26, 2010


Any time a scrawny teenager says "We are not to be feared," that is really the very last thing they need to be concerned about.
posted by mattholomew at 12:04 PM on May 26, 2010 [1 favorite]



I thought you guys got chavs because of the US - you imported our wiggers.


Well, no, not the Norwegian chavs... I mean, partly yes, but mostly, our chav culture evolved on the east side of Oslo, in areas with heavy Pakistani and Arabic populations. They have their own lingo, mostly based on Arabic (with terms like schpaa and wa'allah, meaning "cool" and basically "I'm telling you"), and spread to the white kids in a matter of a few short years, to the point where they'd not only adopt the lingo and the dreass-sense, but the accents as well. Now, it's the biggest youth culture in the country, with even west-side snobs adopting it because they think it makes them bad-ass...
posted by MaiaMadness at 2:13 AM on May 27, 2010


Also, I long ago concluded that anybody born after 1981 is insane.

Oh, we totally are. I'm living proof! :D

Anyway, never trust a person who doesn't appear to be a little bit nuts...
posted by MaiaMadness at 2:17 AM on May 27, 2010


But I definitely would expect werewolves in Norway if anywhere.

Actually, not so much.... I mean, we do have the occasional Japan Fan wearing a tail, but I've never met anyone who calls themselves a werewolf. No doubt they'll appear eventually, though.
posted by MaiaMadness at 2:19 AM on May 27, 2010


I have got to get my teens to start doing more interesting counter-culture things. I mean, the oldest is a metalhead goth, but that seems positively tame now. I'm thinking Aliens and Predators as the next big trend.

Here's a revolutionary new idea: not conforming to ANY group! Listening to whatever music you like, wearing the clothes you like and hanging out with people who dress completely different. What's the point in non-conformity if it means conforming to the ideals of some other, slightly more "alternative" group?
posted by MaiaMadness at 2:25 AM on May 27, 2010


Here's a revolutionary new idea: not conforming to ANY group! Listening to whatever music you like, wearing the clothes you like and hanging out with people who dress completely different. What's the point in non-conformity if it means conforming to the ideals of some other, slightly more "alternative" group?

We, those of the "punk/goth/alternative scene(s)", didn't used to look like each other. As I recall, we were even trying to out-do each other in uniqueness in many, many areas. Others of our group didn't try to look like anything at all and it didn't matter. All music had possibilities, art and literature had vast paths to follow, and clothing was an arbitrary idea to play with.

I wasn't paying attention when there became a standard uniform, play-list, and symbolism but, one day, there it was. :(
posted by _paegan_ at 9:12 PM on June 4, 2010


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