A very badly explained theory on Cameo Shifts.

So we can all agree that everyone's experience in therianthropy is different, right? We can all agree that not everyones shifts are the same, not everybody experiences the same thing.
But there's something that's been bugging me for a while, tugging at the back of my mind.
What really are cameo shifts?
Anyone who experiences shifts has probably had a cameo shift before. If you haven't great! that's awesome. good for you.
But, where do these cameo shifts come from?
Are they part of a kith? Or is it just our brain trying to make sense of our experiences?
If we don't kin the thing we're shifting to, then what is the point of the shift at all?
Because we're not remembering anything from a past life usually, we're not finding a connection (usually), and we generally don't relate to the things we have cameo shifts of.

There has been some discourse on this subject in a discord server that I have since left, questioning the existence of Cameo shifts at all, and they brought up some really good points that I will go ahead and explain.

They theorized that cameo shifts are not really "cameo", they are actually of things we kin, but "cameo" shifts are rather a falter in our perception of the shift.
Usually the argument to this is that cameo shifts can happen of animals not even remotely similar to your kin/theriotypes, and I would tend to agree with this.

Another good point they made is that cameo shifts are not usually talked about in the community, and just one following rhetorical question, "Why cameo shifts if our brain/spirit does not lean towards those creatures?"

I'm not going to confirm or deny anything said on those debates as that would probably be..controversial, to say the least, and I am NOT here to start a debate/argument.

I'd just like some thoughts/guidance on this subject
Thanks!

I'm gonna say that could be true in some way, for exemple at times i have felt wyvern wings that very much could have been my brain misinterpreting bird wings and settling on that visualization.

However, that doesn't take in account the fact that you can provoke cameo shifts and such. Honestly, I think cameo shifts just are your brain fixating on something and since we're people already used to that sort of experience, it comes out through this. Whereas a non therian who's been having a shark phase might have them show up in their dream, a therianthrope might feel shark phantom limbs, or shark instincts, due to kinda... Imagining themselves in the shark's shoes.

Some people also just have a bit of polymorphism to their experience which can be explained many ways, but don't consider it strong enough to be actual kintypes, and in this case it's a bit of a personal choice if you choose to call it a polymorph kintype and take the shifts as like,,, wholly your type, or stick with the strongest ones and call the other cameos.

My cameos very much appear to be the ones associated with putting myself in other animal's shoes, since i sometimes get cameo from zoology/entomology research.

(2023-09-21 15:43)Hemlock Wrote:  ...
However, that doesn't take in account the fact that you can provoke cameo shifts and such. Honestly, I think cameo shifts just are your brain fixating on something and since we're people already used to that sort of experience, it comes out through this. Whereas a non therian who's been having a shark phase might have them show up in their dream, a therianthrope might feel shark phantom limbs, or shark instincts, due to kinda... Imagining themselves in the shark's shoes.

Some people also just have a bit of polymorphism to their experience which can be explained many ways, but don't consider it strong enough to be actual kintypes, and in this case it's a bit of a personal choice if you choose to call it a polymorph kintype and take the shifts as like,,, wholly your type, or stick with the strongest ones and call the other cameos...

Interesting.
I've never heard of anybody talking about 'provoking' cameo shifts or having shifts that related to their hyperfixations.
But this makes sense.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but what I take from this is that cameo shifts can just be our human brains trying to process therianthropy on a level that it can understand without having emotional responses (as we know this can be very common with shifts)?

(2023-09-21 15:46)grays Wrote:  Interesting.
I've never heard of anybody talking about 'provoking' cameo shifts or having shifts that related to their hyperfixations.
But this makes sense.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but what I take from this is that cameo shifts can just be our human brains trying to process therianthropy on a level that it can understand without having emotional responses (as we know this can be very common with shifts)?

Anyone can provoke any shift if dedicated enough honestly, even a nonkin. Most of my reference for nonkin inducing (particularly mental) shifts involve some part of "animal regressions" type of play, which has sometimes included some furries for exemple. But yeah i can very much provoke phantom shifts for myself if i want to, both of my type, and with a bit more difficulty, of any other animal. It's almost like a sort of thought exercise, visualize until you feel.

I wouldn't... exactly have put it like this? Cameos can induce emotional responses, depending on it.

For specifically the not polymorphic one, the one related to animals you've seen, I'd have more said it's just kind of... an habit, of our brains. Since we're so used to feeling animalistic, and having phantom limbs, sometimes our brain takes something we saw, such as a random animal, and traduces it into those experiences. Kind of like automatically brushing your teeth when you went to wash your hands, a brain glitch.

(2023-09-21 15:55)Hemlock Wrote:  

(2023-09-21 15:46)grays Wrote:  Interesting.
I've never heard of anybody talking about 'provoking' cameo shifts or having shifts that related to their hyperfixations.
But this makes sense.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but what I take from this is that cameo shifts can just be our human brains trying to process therianthropy on a level that it can understand without having emotional responses (as we know this can be very common with shifts)?

Anyone can provoke any shift if dedicated enough honestly, even a nonkin. Most of my reference for nonkin inducing (particularly mental) shifts involve some part of "animal regressions" type of play, which has sometimes included some furries for exemple. But yeah i can very much provoke phantom shifts for myself if i want to, both of my type, and with a bit more difficulty, of any other animal. It's almost like a sort of thought exercise, visualize until you feel.

I wouldn't... exactly have put it like this? Cameos can induce emotional responses, depending on it.

For specifically the not polymorphic one, the one related to animals you've seen, I'd have more said it's just kind of... an habit, of our brains. Since we're so used to feeling animalistic, and having phantom limbs, sometimes our brain takes something we saw, such as a random animal, and traduces it into those experiences. Kind of like automatically brushing your teeth when you went to wash your hands, a brain glitch.

A brain glitch.
That makes sense.
Thanks!

(2023-09-21 15:36)grays Wrote:  What really are cameo shifts?

A shift you experience to something OTHER than your therio or 'kin type. You are not this thing but you temporarily experience it.

grays Wrote:But, where do these cameo shifts come from?

Mine seem to be brought on by outside stimuli: watching a nature show about sea lions, eating a carrot, thinking I smelled the ocean, etc.

grays Wrote:Are they part of a kith?

Nope, for me they're just random experiences. I can intentionally cause them, as a form of using my imagination and when I do that the phantom limbs feel different than my normal phantom limbs. But I've also gotten cameo phantom limbs unintentionally and they've been random.

Here's a good example: the strangest cameo shift I ever experienced was of phantom starfish tubefeet on my stomach. I was walking into work and wasn't particularly thinking about the ocean or sea creatures. It hit me out of the blue and I thought how weird it felt and then it was gone. I do not have an affinity to starfish at all. They're cool and useful, but that's about as far as my feelings go so they're definitely not a kith for me.

(2023-09-22 18:43)elinox Wrote:  

(2023-09-21 15:36)grays Wrote:  What really are cameo shifts?

A shift you experience to something OTHER than your therio or 'kin type. You are not this thing but you temporarily experience it.

grays Wrote:But, where do these cameo shifts come from?

Mine seem to be brought on by outside stimuli: watching a nature show about sea lions, eating a carrot, thinking I smelled the ocean, etc.

grays Wrote:Are they part of a kith?

Nope, for me they're just random experiences. I can intentionally cause them, as a form of using my imagination and when I do that the phantom limbs feel different than my normal phantom limbs. But I've also gotten cameo phantom limbs unintentionally and they've been random.

Here's a good example: the strangest cameo shift I ever experienced was of phantom starfish tubefeet on my stomach. I was walking into work and wasn't particularly thinking about the ocean or sea creatures. It hit me out of the blue and I thought how weird it felt and then it was gone. I do not have an affinity to starfish at all. They're cool and useful, but that's about as far as my feelings go so they're definitely not a kith for me.

thanks for the...enlightenment?
seriously though, thanks for responding, I appreciate the answers and feedback.

As far as your response..
That starfish shift you're talking about is what I mean when I ask, "where do cameo shifts come from?"
based on the responses I've gotten, there seems to be a range with cameo shifts, ranging from the ability to control them to being unable to control them and them happening spontaneously, like normal shifts are.
(Part of why I think cameo shifts might happen to help process otherkinity!)