What makes a good fursuit?

[Kobuk]

What makes a good fursuit........good, or even great? What factors do you look for that make you go: "Wow. That's a really great suit!" or determine whether you want one or not?

You may select as many options as you wish.

[Mylo]

There are a few things I look for in a fursuit. The first (and maybe the most important) is the face. The face is like a computer display...it's usually the only thing you look at for extended periods of time. The expression on the face determines how I feel while looking at it. It makes the character that much more believable.

The next thing is how well the suit fits the body, or how much like an actual body it looks like. This is the difference from a character looking like a walking blanket and a real anthropomorphic animal. It makes all the difference from the neck down.

Another thing I've recently noticed is the tail. Some tails look like stuffed body pillows...others look like real fluffy tails. The tail is equally important in the fursuit, simply because this is one of the most evident differences between human and animal (but that's even if the said animal possesses a tail).

After this, I notice the fur, the hand and foot paws, and all the other details. Maybe subsequent posters should link to an image of what they consider a great fursuit and dissect it.

[Chiscringle]

I can't add much to what Mylo said.  Performance is important to me too, but often if the suit is made well, it often does a lot of its own acting.

[Avan]

There are a few things I look for in a fursuit. The first (and maybe the most important) is the face. The face is like a computer display...it's usually the only thing you look at for extended periods of time. The expression on the face determines how I feel while looking at it. It makes the character that much more believable.

The next thing is how well the suit fits the body, or how much like an actual body it looks like. This is the difference from a character looking like a walking blanket and a real anthropomorphic animal. It makes all the difference from the neck down.

Another thing I've recently noticed is the tail. Some tails look like stuffed body pillows...others look like real fluffy tails. The tail is equally important in the fursuit, simply because this is one of the most evident differences between human and animal (but that's even if the said animal possesses a tail).

After this, I notice the fur, the hand and foot paws, and all the other details. Maybe subsequent posters should link to an image of what they consider a great fursuit and dissect it.

This + how seams are handled; having blatantly obvious, or even worse, completely separated, open seams (ie, where the discrete parts of the fursuit come together, often head/body, etc) are really annoying both to look at and to have to constantly worry about.

@ Chiscringle

Performance is independent of the suit's construction, technically speaking, though its construction can limit what you can do (ie, bad fit can result in limited range of physical movement)

[Magna]

As stated above, the construction and design matters a lot to me. If I don't like the look of it or it looks like it was rushed or half attempted, then I won't like it. The materials also matter a lot to me. The feet I'm getting done for my fursuit have those rubber car mats as the bottoms which is a -huge- plus for me. I'm not a fan of the fur/fleece feet bottoms. They get all messed up and discolored.

How the person acts in the suit is probably close up there with construction. If you have a friendly/happy looking design going around acting all scary it won't work, just like having a scary suit trying to be friendly. I've seen a few really cool looking suits that have big skulls for heads that look amazing, but somehow I don't see that person getting hugs from many children...

Having a reputable maker is nice, but that's mainly so you can talk to previous clients and see how well the suit is holding up. Even newer makers have previous clients though, and even though their suits might not have been around as long you can still get a general idea on how they hold up. I guess having a suit made by a big name would be nice, but it can also be fun helping get a lesser known maker get their name out there.

[Acheron187]

From what I understand of it, I'd think it would be the personality behind the suit that makes it. If you see a well made fursuit of Pinkie Pie and the person wearing it is being an butt, then it's not a appropriate. In my mind what makes the best fursuits would be something someone made that truly shows their personality to it's fullest *Pardon for using MLP as an example, just the best example I could think of*