A Knight of the Round Table

Looking for a nice medieval sim in Second Life when your connection has decided to go back to the 1200 BAUD days is really, really difficult.  Really, it is.  That said, one quagmire lag filled thirty minutes, then a fifteen minute hiatus from the Internet later produced this picture and blog.  You see how dedicated some people can be to this stuff?

The Gawain, named for one of King Arthur’s fine Camelot knights, is the latest outfit from Avatar Bizarre.  It features a color HUD with seven color choices (red, green, teal, blue, purple, black, and white), an Omega pants applier HUD for the various mesh bodies out there (check out the Omega blog for a list of compatible bodies), seven system layer underpants, an alpha, five sizes, and materials.  This is available for women, as well.

This will debut at Genre. As Genre is one of those super awesome shopping events where you can get deep discounts on new things, you can buy this wonderful outfit for 100L, starting March 15.  Once this round of Genre is over, the price goes up.

Oh, and I almost forgot!  In addition to this outfit, there will be a pair of nifty boots at Genre for 99L (regular price is 175:).  These are brand new, made with the Gawain in mind.  They were built to go over system layers or Omega layers.  They may have a little difficulty with mesh pants.

These come with a large and a small rigged pair, along with an unrigged pair, an alpha, and a color HUD.

For more information on Genre, here’s the blog.

Magic Is In The Air – a Sneak Preview

Gaius was once a powerful sorcerer in the land of Albion, but when Uther outlawed magic, Gaius hid his powers and became the Court Physician.  He was wise beyond his considerable years, and hid his powers; concocting tinctures and potions to heal the sick and wounded with only his knowledge of herbs and fungi.

Avatar Bizarre will soon be releasing the Gaius Robes, a wonderful new outfit that includes the inner garment and an outer robe, both of which are on a color HUD to give you several color combinations!

The female version, the Gaia, will be much the same, only a lot more feminine.

Credits:
Outfit:  AB Gaius Robes (white and teal shown)
Hair – Exile Windsong
Beard – Nerd Grey
Hands – SLink
Body – SLink Male
Skin – Nivaro Crow

Pull a Comb Through Your Coal Black Hair – Zoot!

Avatar Bizarre has long been a purveyor of vintage and historic outfits, and the Zoot Suit is a perennial favorite.  This is the third incarnation of the outfit released in the store.  The first was released at a Vintage Fair a few years ago (system layers and flexi prims).  The second version was mostly mesh and made only for the male avatar.  It was also one of the first items I meshed up in Blender, so it was time for a bit of an update, which brings us to the third incarnation in the series.

This particular Zoot Suit, unlike the last version, has an open coat, and comes in a female version, as well as the male.  To add to the whole Zoot Suit Riot, this outfit includes color HUDs for the coat/hat, and collar/tie.  There are eight colors which give you many, many more color combinations.  The shirt, which is a system layer (all eight colors included) is also on an Omega applier HUD for those folks wearing mesh bodies.

Please check here http://lovenlustdesigns.blogspot.com/p/supported-meshes.html to make sure the body you have is supported by the Omega applier system before you buy this outfit.

You get a lot of nifty colors, plus white (just in case you wish to tint something a color I haven’t provided).  All clothing items are copy/modify.  The rigged suit cannot be resized or repositioned, but it can be tinted.  The unrigged stuff can be resized and repositioned.

Feel free to try out the demo before you buy this suit.  The demo includes an applier for one of the shirt colors on the Omega system, so you can see if it works with your mesh body of choice.  For reference, the avatars pictured in this blog are a male SLink Physique and a Maitreya female body.

I’m still dinking with last minute details, like making the demo and whatnot, but I hope you enjoyed this sneak peak.  Again, this will be available, starting on January 6 at the Tesoro Nostalgia event.  Price and SLurl forthcoming when I have the details.

A Dark Christmas Story – Krampus Lauf

Beware.  Krampusnacht approaches.  We will soon have a visit from a being of the Netherworld, an unearthly, Hellish creature, shackled to his punishment, except on one fateful night during the cold Winter.

Krampus is a demon, released from Hell each year by Saint Nicholas.  He wanders the countryside as the Anti-Santa, doling out punishments to the wicked, the naughty, and unpleasant.  When Santa Claus is checking his list to see who’s been naughty or nice, he hands the list over to the Krampus, who uses his whacking stick to beat the unruly.

Those people who have been extra bad get a personal invitation from Krampus; shoved into his basket and taken home to be eaten for Christmas dinner.

If you hear the sound of bells, and the whip crack of a tightly bound bundle of sticks outside your door, you better lay low, for Krampus is nigh.

Avatar Bizarre has long upheld the Krampus tradition, and faithfully spread the tale through the years by releasing something Krampus-related about this time of year to the huddled Second Life masses.

This year, Avatar Bizarre will be releasing a new Merry Krampus holiday sweater at Twisted Krissmuss, starting December 7.  It is a rigged mesh sweater, available for both male and female avatars.  It should fit most mesh bodies, provided you use the alpha HUD that comes with your mesh body of choice.  But please do try the demo first.

The other Krampus goodie appearing just in time for the holidays is a Krampus Hat.  This is a gacha item (don’t worry, no rares!) that is available in “naughty” or “nice” versions, and eight colors of each.  If you’re particularly good I may create a copy/modify version of each with a color HUD.  For now, the item is Modify/Transfer and 20L per play.  This gacha will debut at Twisted Krissmuss as well.

A Little Madness Goes a Long Way

There was a minute there when I was all gung ho about making stuff inspired by Alice in Wonderland.  There was a whole “Lewis Carroll’s Fever Dreams” collection that happened.  In included a lot of partial mesh outfits, as I was learning how to model and rig things for Second Life.

At one point, I probably made three or four different Mad Hatter outfits.  They were all different, but they all had this partial mesh thing in common, except for the original Mad Hatter outfit, which was all system layers and flexi prims.  That one had a couple of versions, as I sought to improve things later on, and was far too reluctant to simply give up on the outfit altogether.

The old system layer outfits can still look pretty good, but with the prevalence of all the zillions of mesh bodies out there, particularly Belleza, SLink, Maitreya, and others, these outfits kind of fell by the wayside, because mesh bodies cannot wear system layers without special applier scripts.

But never fear!  In a frenzy of “Oh hey, we have the technology; we can make it stronger, faster, better…” I acquired the necessary scripts and created some HUDs for mesh body clothing layers.  The nice thing about OMEGA appliers is quite a lot of the mesh bodies out there are compatible.  You only have to go out on the Marketplace and buy the particular relay for whichever body you wear.

You can get a list of all the compatible bodies for OMEGA system here:  http://lovenlustdesigns.blogspot.com/p/supported-meshes.html

In a pique of, “Gotta make it betteritis”, the Mitternacht Hatter coats all got refitted, rerigged, and reuploaded.  In addition, a female version of the coat was also created.  The coat and hat are now on a color HUD, which includes all six colors of each.  The shirt and pants are on the OMEGA applier HUD.  There’s an unrigged turtleneck collar included.  Oh, and things have been materials enhanced for your viewing pleasure.

While the older version of this outfit came with boots, I decided it would be best to leave the boots out of this version, and price it a bit cheaper.  It’s currently available on the Marketplace and Inworld for 375L.

Around the Grid in Eighty Days – or – How Phinaeus Got His Groove Back (Sneak Preview)

One of the wonderful things about Second Life is an abundance of Science Fiction and Fantasy fans inworld building things for role play and other stuff.  When you throw together a virtual world where you can build anything you want, and a few thousand rabid fans of various genres, your imagination really is the limit, and you end up with some wonderful things to find and explore.  If you set foot in this virtual world, you could end up cavorting under the waves with mermaids, flying through the air in World War I Sopwith Camels and Fokker Triplanes, running with dragons at Avaria, or you could even end up on the deck of a Steampunk Dirigible in Caledon.

Of course if one ends up in the Steamlands, one must be properly attired.  To the layman, if you just slap a few gears on something, you can call it “Steampunk”, but the genre goes much, much deeper than that.  Steampunk rose from the World of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells in the 19th century.  Loosely based in Victorian times, Steampunk is the science and the imagination of that era.  From the mighty flying dirigible to the whimsical fighting trousers, Steampunk encompasses a vast range of wearable doo dads and clothing, in addition to some spectacular vehicles and buildings.

For Steampunk clothing, you can’t go wrong with a frock coat and pin striped pants, or a corset and puffed sleeve gown.  Add a pair of goggles and some clockwork jewelry and you’re well on your way to immersing yourself in a wonderful whimsy of imagination.  Let your flight of fancy begin…!

“But Mr. Eel,” you might say, “What’s up with this Phinaeus character in your blog title?  Wasn’t the hero in Around the World in Eighty Days called Phileas?”  Well, you do have a keen eye and a great memory for literature.  The thing is, I actually kind of forgot this till the suit was already made and Phinaeus was already mired in my brain.  Plus it turns out there’s a King Phineus in Greek Mythology, who appeared in the voyages of the Argonauts.  So I mixed up my literature a bit…the suit’s still pretty cool!

The Phinaeus is a classically styled psuedo Victorian suit, made from the finest virtual velvet and delicately stitched and rigged to fit the most stalwart male avatar.  It’s available in five sizes and several colors.  The suit is all one piece and includes the coat, waistcoat, turtleneck, and pants.  The finely detailed frock coat is beautifully accessorized with a silver chain.  Not shown here, because I hadn’t uploaded it when the pictures were taken, is a wonderful tall top hat, which is one part Mad Hatter and two parts Wide Bell Top Hat.  For a little extra flavor, this outfit has been materials enhanced.

This suit is perfect for Steampunks, Goths, Vampires, or whoever wishes to include a classic dark almost-Victorian flare to their wardrobe.  The cost is 450L and includes the hat.  Shoes are not included.

A bit after the release date, the jacket/waistcoat combo will be available as a standalone garment, with a color HUD that includes all the Phinaeus colors.  TBA.

Available NOW on the marketplace and inworld at Avatar Bizarre.

Edit:
This top hat comes with the suit.  The goggle lenses have a touch menu to change the color.

Style card:
Shape: Mine
Hands – SLink male relaxed
Eyes – Avatar Bizarre Crystalline mesh eyes with color HUD
Shoes – Avatar Bizarre Two-Tone Hazzard in black
Hair – Argrace Akira Black
Skin – Nivaro Crow Cream
Facial hair – Nivaro Snazzy Jaw Black