|
|
|
Sora?!
Well, it certainly looks like him, but he's got mushroom attire on. So unless Kingdom Hearts makes a Fantasia level featuring The Nutcracker Suite, the similarities are only coincident. Still, the likenesses are very close. <span id="test24039433">. . .</span><br/><div id="post24039433" style="display:none; margin-right:75px;">
The Purple Mushroom!!
By now, hopefully everyone reading this will have reached the purple mushroom that functions as the Gnome General’s HQ. Well, now you can own that very spotted ‘shroom for your own twisted fashion purposes, possibly mocking the General in the process while you help your friends and new members put the smack down on his steroid-induced caffeine addiction.
Your default option is holding the mushroom in your hand. Though you have a limited number of option as to how to hold it, the same basic gesture is kept in tact. You have a purple mushroom that you are probably going to take home to eat or plant or use in some kind of twisted potion to raise life from the smallest microb growing in the shadows of your sock drawer.
The second option is with the mushroom on your head. Depending on what flora head wear you pick to go with it, you could make it look like it is growing out of your hair! If such a thing actually does happen, seek medical attention immediately. And take a shower, for crying out loud!
The third option begins the series of mushroom-themed apparel. The first is a pair of purple puffy polka-doted pants. (Bet you can’t say that five times really fast!) If you thought the clown pants were ugly, you haven’t seen anything yet. Matching these and making them look good will be very difficult to pull off. They are just so goofy looking compared to the other puffy pants you can buy. Maybe it’s the polka dots.
Girls and gender-benders will like the skirt option that comes next. It gives your avatar a Disney-esque skirt similar to how Minnie’s and Daisy’s look when you see them in the park. The polka dots here help give the skirt some character, and with the right top and maybe a matching bow, you can make your avatar extremely cute. Just don’t go too overboard with the accessories.
The hat option is one I’m not to fond of. Yes, we saw that coming. Yes, I’m a fan of Toad from the Mario Bros. franchise. But with my Dark Elf skin, the hat just looks awful! The color of my skin and hair just make the hat feel like it is actually part of my head! That said, this is what the zOMG! Mushroom Hat should have looked like. I would prefer this design but in a different color, like the same shade of red that you see all over the Village Greens.
The Toadstool Boots are probably the one option I’m actually pretty happy with. It’s very rare to find tan shoes that actually look like animal hide that hasn’t been stained, and the tan stalk of the mushroom lends itself very nicely to this look. The purple trip and polka dots along the top of the boots I could live without, but I guess I’ll have to deal with them.
Umbrella collectors will love the fact that Gaia now finally has a mushroom umbrella. However, the positions you can hold it in are even more limited than its default option. Those users on the other side of the world who are getting ready for Sprint will love to have this item for their spring-themed avatars. However, this is Gaia, and we are approaching winter. I’d hold off on using this option until Easter rolls around.
Another option you are given is a field of toadstools for your avatar to stand in. This would normally be alright, but like I said in the previous paragraph, you’ll want to hold off that option until Spring. Now, I don’t have the St. Patrick’s Day Cash Shop item that gave you a field of clovers to stand in, but if the two of them layer well with each other, you can actually use these to make it look like you’re in a wild field. While you would look out of place in areas like the Otami Ruins and Gold Beach, you certainly will be welcomed in the open areas of Village Greens.
Finally, you have the option to become a mushroom yourself. That’s right, you can now walk around Town and zOMG! as a purple mushroom. You get no special sitting or standing pose, and I’m pretty sure your walk blur may not look very nice. But you can now travel like a little mushroom and hide ever-so discretely among the other mushrooms as you bash away at the animated gnomes.
Overall, the theme of this collectible is rather consistent even if the quality of the options presented are average and kind of expected. You can invest in only one if you have a large enough wardrobe to match it, but I’d suggest getting two. You never know when that goofy hat and pants/skirt combination will match up just perfectly.
"They look like big, good, strong hands... Don't they?"
Obscure quote, I know, but if you know where it's from, feel free to guess it in the comments.
Anyway, the elemental gauntlet collection now has the power of earth in its library. The entire set of items here is bathed in a dark brown that borders on black with just a hint of green to give it a more earthy tone aesthetically.
Your default option is, no surprise, as gloves. The artists here thankfully included an option to wear one or two gloves, so there is no real need to buy a second gauntlet if all you are looking for is a pair of gloves. There’s nothing to write home about other than this much needed addition to pretty much any item that gives us the option of wearing gauntlets on one hand or another.
Earth Crown is where the set begins to become rather questionable. Instead of going for some kind of stalactite/stalagmite look, your avatar is giving rounded stones that wrap around the forehead and temple. Every so often, you will see a sharp green line traveling down it. The droplets on either end are suspended by nothing. It almost looks like a machine’s circuit board rather than something that came from the ground.
Earth Circlet, thankfully, makes up for this oddity by providing a tiara worthy of a wood elf or any other forest-dwelling race that has establish a monarchy. The jade stones connected by the strains of grass and plant life is a nice touch.
Ancient Collar goes back to the primitive technology aesthetic found with the Earth Crown. You’re actually given a mantle, but the design of it looks like a geek version of chain mail where the shoulder and chest plate are constructed out of circuit boards. If used properly, it can add a lot to the avatar as far as giving that monolithic look, but I’d be very careful as to which items to match it with.
Because of the nature of the gauntlet, you are given a pair of weapons that you cannot use on the newly-introduced Animated. The first is the Ancient Mace, which looks exactly like it sounds. You are given a stone mace that is covered in moss. Feel free to duel-equip this item, but I recommend against it because of the other piece of armor you are given.
The Boulder Shield is where things start to get interesting. The shield’s central rock is a diamond shaped piece that has the same green circuit board aesthetic that has been seen throughout the various option. However, surrounding it are smaller rocks with the same design held in place by magnetism. A closer inspection of the markings suggest that they connect through some kind of life-giving energy that is connected not only to the central rock that you are holding, but possibly to yourself.
Stone Levitation gives your avatar the ability to walk around with chunks of earth hovering around you. However, you’ll notice that same circuit board design on the underside of the rocks that are hovering around you, suggesting that there is something very alien about them. Combine this with the Superpowers collectible, or even the static spark you win from Electric Love Factory, and you can look like everyone’s favorite anime cliché! Or, if you are the female persuasion, look up the Teen Titan character Tara (sometimes spelled Terra, since she controls rocks) and dress up like her for the Avatar Arena! The geeks will love you for it!
Finally, Ancient Stones provides us with some answers as to the strange markings on the rocks. It is a background option for your avatar where you are giving a series of pointy monoliths each baring the same glowing green circuit board design. The stones appear to be alien in origin. Could they have come from the Zurg’s home planet when they landed here? Or perhaps a meteor that crashed on to Gaia and somehow bred life into the surrounding minerals? Or maybe it came from the Predapups when they began to set up camp around the Old Aqueduct? The only sure thing is this option suggests an alien force that has been on Gaia for a long time. Long enough to be forgotten about but still carry some kind of influence.
Overall, this item doesn’t really offer much in clothing due to the difficulty it is to match anything brown and green. Especially in this shade. What few items we have that are even in this theme are the rarest of the rare zOMG! items you can win from quest recipes. However, that isn’t to say you won’t get something out of it, even if it is just a pair of weapons or a bunch of floating rocks around your avatar. If there is an option that you like in it, get it. If not, skip it.
I'm sorry, my opinion is in another castle.
I won't lie. There are some options in this month's set that I do like. But this month felt like they were not trying hard enough. Now, granted that we had a slew of items released from zOMG!, the Aquarium, the various Evolutionary Items, and a much needed Salon update within the past week alone. And for that reason, I can see why the collectables this month are kind of on the low end.
However, even then, this set has got to be, hands down, the most difficult pair of items to match with ANYTHING we have in Gaia. Brown and purple are two of the colors you don't see very often being worn on avatars. If you do, there's no real theme to them outside of their color. Still, I know someone out thee will be more creative than I and come up with something that will make these items worthy of the title "collectable."</div>
 Zeek Slider · Sat Nov 15, 2008 @ 09:52pm · 2 Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
