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October 2007 Monthly Collectable Item Critique |
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This month's items are the Grunny, Gothic Veil, and Vampire Hunter Kit!
 Darkness comes to Gaia
Well, crap. It seems that this month sees the return of the multi-quip with this Vampire Hunter kit and Gothic Veil. I thought we were pass all that, but I guess that isn't the case. I bet the flood that killed the servers had something to do with it. To top it off, the Grunny seems very expected, and much like the Mini UFO, should have been an event item. But it could be that because I'm in a bad mood right now due to personal reasons.
Taking down... how do you pronounce his name?
With Vlad Von Helson making himself known in the world of Gaia, one has to ask if we really should rely on a rich man who was willing to experiment on himself and his own son as our savor from a blood-sucking family of shape shifters. Then again, my question is if Ian's a vampaire, what does that make Rufus? In any event, the Gaia Gods of the Sealed Letters have given us a Vampire Hunter kit to defend ourselves. Don't see how it will do us any good since any weapon released now is just for decoration, but let's see what this kit has to offer.
The default item in the set is a hat. If you've watched Helsing or even Vampire Hunter D, you've seen this design before. It's a fadora-style bucket hat with an elongated brim that comes to a point at the front. Gaia's hat features three holding slots for your wooden stakes. Someone has to ask: Why? As a hat, it could be very stylish, as it is made of darker leather and has a line in the design that mirrors both the Pimp Hats and the Musketeer Hats. But the slots for the stakes in the brim belt kind of kill any chance of being used as a casual hat. The orange trim to show which side is front isn't as bad when compared to the stake holders.
The Stake Strap gives your avatar a chest belt to hold your stakes with. Thankfully, they don't look like stakes and can be used as other devices by the creative. Naruto fans will use it as a place to hold their ninja scrolls. Gunners can use it as their bullet belt. The dark leather, again, adds a sense of class, but also hurt it slightly in what can and cannot match with it. Common sense would dictate that you would try to match it with something dark, but you end up losing any indication that you are wearing the strap if you do so. For this mode, you'll want to head in the opposite direction if you want people to know you are equipped with this item.
Cross to Bear. Where have I seen this before? Oh yeah! Trigun! But this isn't a big-a** machine gun hidden to look like a big a** cross, and nobody has the ability to dress up like a person representing the church... yet. In fact, despite the black iron gothic cross on the side that faces the front, you're carrying around Gaia's first coffin. It makes more sense from the back than from the front. Interestingly enough, if you wear this option, you automatically get the Stake Strap to help you bear the load. Makes sense when you think about it, so you might as well sell that extra Vampire Hunter Hat if you got six, because you only need five! Now, because this item is seen more as an equipment than a weapon or a fashion accessory, you can pretty much match it with just about anything. But be careful, as the rule with the Stake Strap still applies to the Cross as far as what not to wear.
The "traditional" Crossbow is the first of two weapons that come with this kit. But this isn't your run-of-the-mill model. This baby has a lock-and-load design that stablizes your arrow or stake on its gilled frame mounted on your traditional rifle trigger handle. Plus, it has a sniper scope for added accuracy! What I find odd about the crossbow is that it is light enough to aim with one hand. One has to wonder what kind of kick-back that would have. Still, unless you have an enternity to practice your aim like Zhivago, that kind of information doesn't really matter. Remember, this is just for decoration and not for actual combat.
One cannot go hunting vampires without some back-up weapons. That's where the Legstrap and Bladed Glove come in. The Legstrap is a handy place to hold your extra stakes, arrows, and Vials of Unknown Liquids (should you need them), while the Bladed Glove helps make your left hook something they will remember. The glove itself can be worn with just about anything, and you have the option of either hiding it with dark color'd tops or not. I can't say the same thing about the Legstrap. Female Vampire Hunters will want to invest in a pair of pants, as skirts don't work with this item as well as the avatar art above would like to you think it does. Male Vampire Hunters will want to avoid low-riding pants and shorts. The Legstrap only works best with full length pants, and when you sit back and think about it, why would you want to go vampire killing in shorts to begin with?
The last option is the Hex Soul Stealer. I don't know if there is anything I could say that isn't already generic given how, well, generic this mode looks. Your avatar stands over a blood-red pentagram that has symbols of the occult on it and a dark aura buring through. While it is bigger than the aura ring you get from the Shadow Spirit and matches the Dark Dragon from the Summoning Tome in all its majesty, it's kind of useless for most avatars. If anything, it's an accent of evil that you may or may not need.
As the name suggests, this kit is designed as a set with an intent for multi-quipping possibilities. When you pile all five items on top of each other, however, you start to wonder how the hell anyone is able to move with that much gear on them. Maybe if you lose the cross, you can actually walk, but even then, you're pretty much going to be fighting against the dark leather these items are made out of. If you can pull it off without looking too much like the other, more famous vampire hunters, then go for it!
G-LOL Got More G
If we needed more Gothic clothing, I apparently missed the memo. However, it could be argued that the Gothic Veil is actually the counterpart to the long-ago Elegant Veil. After all, there are some really similar options between the two items, and they are multi-quips. But why so freaking long after the first one?! Who knows.
The default option for the veil is as a veil. Only this time, we are not talking about a bride-to-be scenario. This is the mourning veil of a widow. It's so dark that you can barely see through it to the face it is covering. If you are cosplaying your avatar as the unfortunate person left behind due to some kind of sick twist of fate--and your a girl--this face veil is perfect for you! For everyone else? Well, let's just say you end up looking like a table top no matter what you end up wearing with it.
Ruffled Ribbons gives your avatar a pair of huge ribbons on either side of your hair. This is suppose to mimic the bows seen from the Gothic Lolita scene, but don't really seem to work unless you have the right hair style. If you invested in the various multi-wigs from several months ago, most of the female versions from those match it rather nicely. In fact, these bows make the Luna wig from the Mythic Hair look better than before! The bow is the perfect accent to any G-LOL set, as well as maybe the black dress from the very expensive French set.
Belted Overskirt is the answer to all those requests for a male skirt that isn't a cultural item or a crossdressing item. And, yes, I have seen those requests in Site Feedback. For those of you unfamilar as to why people would want this skirt, you clearly haven't been paying attention to some key fantasy anime villains that have been popping up. The belted skirt is quite popular among the androginous men of Final Fantasy, any vampire anime, and even some of the characters in Yu-Gi-Oh! To that effect, the skirt does the male side of what is a female-dominated item justice. The only thing I can complain about it is the coloring. You'll be hard pressed to find something that matches that isn't black. Furthermore, the skirt and any jacket looks bad. Some of the capes work with it, but don't try anything that drapes too close to the skirt of risk looking like a grade-school puppet.
Blindfold is similar to what you would expect from the Elegant Veil only with a longer tail. In some way, it looks like a bunch of gypsies playing Pin-the-Tail-on-the-a*****e. Given the fact that it is a black blindfold, it can match with just about anything.
I don't know what Scarf is suppose to be a replacement for. Initially, it looks like a replacement for the Nitemare Scarf with two tails instead of one. However, the tails seem to mimic slightly the tail of the Chyaku Norisu scarf in how smooth they flow away from the knot. I'm leaning more towards the Nitemare Scarf angle, as it's in need of a replacement right now. That said, it should be treated as such, but not in the economical sense.
The last mode is known as Corset Dress, but in my opinion, it should be called Gothic Teddy since that is what you end up getting. It should also be noted that the default underwear does not go away with this option, so you Gaia Drag Queens out there that want to dress up using this piece of under garment are going to have to break out a thong that can be hidden by the cut of the teddy. The only part of it that actually makes it a dress is the back frills that come off of the bow of the corset. Unfortunately, it only covers the back and not the front. This leads to several different options. You could show some serious leg or attempt to hide it. Given the fact that this item and the avatar art featuring it is showing some serious leg, I'm guessing you'll want to try that before you try to hide what your momma gave you.
Now, as a multi-quip set, this item offers surprisingly a very nice look that only requires three veils. The other half of the options are not really part of a set look so much as the ribbon, corset, and belted skirt. And even then, you can switch out the ribbon for the blindfold, veil, or scarf while still pulling off the more full version of the Gothic Dress this item offers. For those short up on cash, you can do well with just two and work around not having the hair bow. Then again, the full Gothic Dress by itself is one of the better designs from this item. It's a shame that in order to get that look, you need to buy two of them.
The Bunny That Took Over The World!
God, when was it? It seems like only last year we were battling these mutated lab rabbits as they bit everyone that had grey matter. In reality, it was probably well over three years ago since these little monsters made the scene. And since then, everyone has been wanting them. Well, here they are as the bonus item for the month of October. Fitting given their origin.
The default option for these little bunnies is in your arms. It's pretty much standard practice, since all the other pets have this setting already. Since this position is fairly new to the Grunny, it looks rather uncomfortable, but in a cute way. Almost nausiatingly cute.
The other place where your Grunny can hang out is on your shoulder. Here, the little rabbit ends up taking over the spot Gwee uses, and looks just as adorible as ever for a bunny that is withing biting distance of your temporal lobe.
But these two options is pretty much where the cuteness ends. I h8 j00 mode features something you'll never see in nature: a rabbit peeing on you. Turn your avatar around to the back, and you'll see the devilish smile of the Grunny as he takes "time out for number one" on your foot. Hopefully their urine doesn't cause any strange effects on anyone that steps on it. I'd hate to see what happens if Mochi accidently lapse it up for a drink.
When the little guy needs a snack, he'll lunge for your head. While I'm not a fan of these "frozen in time" poses, I have to wonder why they chose this over the customary On My Head position. But then I remembered something. LabTech13 had the original Grunny in the popular On My Head pose that was later modified with the Grombie Skin, of which a lot of people still have despite the glitches it causes. To have an On My Head option, even a modified version, would probably make the Grombies feel cheated out of keeping their skin for so long. Still, I would have liked to have that kind of mode seeing how LabTech13 blew up... or did he?!
When your Grunny has run out of energy, he will just lay there on the ground pooped out. In fact, that's the name of the next option! You would think that a "poop" mode would imply your avatar stepping in your Grunny's number two, but I guess that was too gross even for the artist to draw. The strangely disturbing thing about this mode is how it looks like from the back. The Grunny's face isn't so much tired as it looks like it was knocked out. This could make a great avatar if you can find the right items to recreate the Grunny Invasion from two years ago. Or you could go the Pokemon Trainer route.
A popular thing to do in user signatures was to mess around with photos of real rabbits and turn them into Grunnies. The red eyes wasn't the hard part if you've ever taken pictures of your pet. But getting realistic looking green fur? Some were able to while others failed. Well, in the same line as the Falcon Spirit, you have the option of having a realistic looking grunny follow you around. As odd as you would think that would look, it is surprisingly very cute. The unrealistic coloring also keeps it out of the arena of photorealism that is problematic of the Falcon Spirit. Kudos to whoever drew that mode!
The last mode is turning yourself into a Grunny. I'm not kidding. Much like the Backfired Spells of the Summoning Tome, you have the option of being a Grunny to hop around Gaia towns as you please terrorizing the innocent with your gapping maw of zombification. As an avatar, it's not as cute when compared to its hopping animation in towns.
Overall, the Grunny is a better addition to the line of Gaia pets than the recently revealed Kaya the Cat/Tiger simply because of how many different fun options you have! The lack of an On My Head option cannot be overlooked, but it can be forgiven.
And for the record, yes, I think Kaia looks fugly.
A Trick or Treat?
We enjoyed a spell of not having the option of multi-quips for a good while, so it is kind of a shell shock to see not one, but two in the same month. Granted the building with the servers did flood and probably blew up as a result of the rain water, and there is the fact the MMVII plot is going on with a heavy emphisis on the vampire angle. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that they would pull off something related to the plot in one respect. They've done it before.
In any event, this month's items are worth the investment if only for one option they offer. Will they have a life after this month is over? Probably, but that is because they are thankfully not themed directly to what is going on and can be very flexible outside of the context of Halloween.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have papers I need to write before my fall break. I don't know why, but I get more enjoyment out of critiquing Gaia's items than I do out of critiquing my own work using research to justify why the Powerpuff Girls make murder cute.
 Zeek Slider · Tue Oct 16, 2007 @ 03:13am · 3 Comments |
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