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This month's items are the Mythical Hair and Spirit Falcon!
 The light! The light!
This image has got to be the single most illuminating image they have ever used to advertise their newest set of digital investments. It's practically emitting its own light, for crying out loud! That begin said, you would think these items would be something that makes even the newbie in the drawing bow before the avatar artists in a sign of appreciation. But at this point, I'm a bit skeptical. Let's see what these guys have to offer.
Flying Bird of Prey and Power
The falcon strikes me as an odd edition to the Gaia pets, mostly because it is one of those region specific pets that don't normally get imported anywhere let along migrate far from where you see them. What is also odd about it, is that the design and coloring of the bird is practically photorealistic for pixel art, which kind of suggest that this pet is better than the ones before it that look all "cartoonie" yet appropriate given our avatar designs.
Surprisingly, the default position for this new pet is NOT with him on your shoulder. This bird is apparently a spirit that lives in a single leather glove, most commonly used by animal trainers that work with birds with tallons. The glove only goes on the foreground hand, so there will be no duel equiping here. At least in the traditional sense. There are two modes for this mode, regular and Power. The differance between the two is that light is emitting from the jewel in the glove. This kind of "blue power aura" is a common thing throughout this item, similar to the D. Armor from a few months back. I also noticed that for male avatars, the hand rotates in a way that our bare hands don't normally with this glove. It's very subtle, but it's nice to see that clintch fist that reads "You'll pay for this, Peter Pan! If it's the last thing I do!" instead of the "Sorry, I can't let you through unless you pay the toll." kind. You'll be hard press to create a one-glove outfit that matches, mostly because of the odd blue-black color of the glove. It's not really navy, but it is close. If you can, avoid using this mode unless you can make it match (or if you have a second Spirit Falcon and need something to protect your hand).
The other two "Power on-off" modes are known as Swoop and Dive. Here, the falcon pretty much does what the name says. Your falcon will either come in for the kill or dive-bomb towards the ground. While this looks fine in the forums, seeing a bird of prey hover in mid-dive/swoop in Towns is just strange to look at. With the Power turned on, the bird looks a little bit more appropriate for the fantasy and RPG nature of Gaia's community, but only in one mode. The Power Dive mode is very easily the most stunning of the "attack" modes for any item with one. (Wait a second, is there another item with an "attack" mode?) Pokemon fans will enjoy this visually, as it looks like pretty much every flying type Pokemon in the series doing some kind of attack (Aerial Ace, maybe? Sky Attack?). Power Swoop, on the other hand, makes it look like your falcon got attacked by a blizzard and froze solid, complete with wind-affected icicles. Humorous, but not at all attractive unless you're going for an ice look with the Elemental Hair and various blue items.
Much like every other pet in Gaia, this one knows how to stay put, or at least next to your avatar, in a few ways that are indicative to its species. The default mode for this bird is on your shoulder. However, keep in mind that this is a bird of prey and has tallons. Until body scars are released on Gaia, I suggest putting on a shirt that has some shoulder fabric, if not a jacket that looks thick enough to pad yourself against the natural weapons.
Newborn Flacon is pretty much how the Spirit Falcon earned his way into the "On my Head" club. Here, a naked baby falcon sits on top of your head looking like a cross between an eagle and a chicken. Cute, yes, but then again, what baby animal isn't?
In a show of yet another gross sense of humor, we have none other than the appropriate Ah, SH!#! mode. I'm not even going to bother explaining what that mode is. But let's just say you will need yet another Emoticon mask for this mode. Suggestions for modes are pretty much standard like the others before it: Gonk, Shock, and maybe the swearing one if you want to be really funny about it.
Finally, the Spirit Falcon, knowing how much us Gaians love backwings, will click to your back in a rather odd fashion to supply you with a pair of your own falcon wings! While a nice addtion to the wings inventory, it only looks good from the front. The falcon looks like it was beheaded from behind, so try to avoid turning around if you can while wearing this pair of backwings. The good news is that given the grey nature of the wings in this mode, you can pretty much match it with anything. Basic Color Theory, people. Nuetral grey is the color between any of the main triad colors (red, blue, yellow) and their compliment colors (green, orange, purple). However, I have this odd feeling that people are just going to default to black and try to look like they belong in The Crow.
And because nobody is complaining about it, the Spirit Falcon also comes with not one, but two different background modes! My personal favorite is Spirit Call. Here, a blue aura takes the shape of the falcon's head and positions itself artistically over your shoulder. The strange thing is, as nice as this mode is visually, it only works from the front. From behind, the head just mirror flips itself and looks very strange, off-balancing the visual distribution of the avatar to be honest. Spirit Summon doesn't suffer from that, but from behind looks like a transparent blue wing hat of some kind. From the front, you see the full body of your falcon with its wings spread open flying majesticly over you. Both of these modes are very Native American in nature, if not in the style of the romantic Americana era where men were men and women made meals at home. Before Rockwell, after the artist-patron split.
I can't really complain about this item. Yes, there are some flaws and difficulties matching it with pretty much anything in my inventory, but that is because of how photorealistic the falcon is. The blue aura backgrounds are also nice additions, and a pair I see myself using quite often in the future or whenever possible. Other than that one flaw, it's a pretty average item for a Collectable, but definately not your average Gaian pet.
 Hair Today, Wings Tomorrow
Isn't it kind of early to be releasing another variation of the Elemental Hair? Given what is available, you can argue that this item is actually the counterpart to it, but I personally don't think one was needed given how many variations that item alone had. This new wig is no different in how many different styles you can pick, but at the same time I can't help but feel like this item could have waited.
The default wig is made out of feathers. The male version features a short pony tail, while the female version features a billowing spread of the wings over the shoulders. If it weren't for the little details showing that these are wings and feathers, this hair style would be very similar to several Kingdom Hearts 2 characters, particularly the female version. Given how they are orginized, it doesn't look like this item was meant to replace or lower the prices of the other Angelic headwear out there in the market. If anything, it just looks like a wig made from the wings of doves. Standard process when matching outfits for this wig: white and bright or blue, but make it flowly.
The second wig is made out of gold. The male version features sharp shards of gold arranged like a quil ball. The female versions--yes, as in two--feature golden blond locks held in place by a pearl tiara net that turn into coins as they travel farther away from the head. You have the option of having a treasure chest or not as an accessory to this mode. And for some reason, both versions make you look like you are pissed off. I would be too if my hair was made out of gold and was completely impractical. As far as outfits go, the girls would have no problem finding something to match that golden quaff, espeically since you can make yourself look like a princess from the Disney fairy tales. Guys, on the other hand, I see using this wig as a way to go Super Saiyan on someone's a**. That's right, you've been warned Avatar Arena. Be prepared to see a hell of a lot of Goku and Vegeta cosplayers now.
The third wig in this set is apparently made out of some kind of demonic sludge. The male version is dark green, almost brown in color, and short in length except for two tenticles that flow over the shoulder. The female version is a dark purple and covers pretty much your entire face and most of the background arm. By themselves, the hair looks very close to either that of Medusas or purple seaweed. The bubbles don't really help in visually reading pollution or sludge. However, both mode feature a Gaze option. Here, your head is surrounded by demoic eyes that watch everything for you, possibly looking for new targets to pollute. While not really impressive compared to darker items like the Shadow Spirit, it is a nice addition to an otherwise boring wig. As suggested, outfits for this wig are more than likely going to be that of a Gorgan, but the female version of this hair without the Gaze option on could be a nice foundation for the cosplaying of that girl from The Ring. Too bad they don't make white shirts that long, but I'm sure someone will come up with something that works.
The last version is a wig made out of the night sky. The male version features a single night-time cloud dawning a cresent moon in a way that no heterosexual would ever dream about wearing in real life. The female version features the same cloud and moon elements, only in a large and full elagent night-party hair style, complete with stars to hold the style together and add a little bit of charm. The female version obviously was meant for formal wear. I don't see how you can pull that off in any other way. The same could be said for the male version, but seeing how it is one of the more effeminate male hair styles, you probably have a better chance of pulling this off wearing something a little more streamline and fashionable. It doesn't have to be formal, but it does have to be clean. Unfortunately, the amount of navy/midnight blue in the hair limits your color range as far as clothing options go. Guys won't have an easy time with this, as our blacks then to not match with anything outside of the sets they are from. Girls, on the other hand, won't have a problem, but I do see a few people complaining about the stars in the hair, as the same complaint came about with the recent French Court wigs.
The bottom line with this item is that it adds nothing new but at the same time doesn't take away from the item it is a clone of. I'd recommend getting it just to increase your wig count if you don't already like the hair you have or cannot afford one of the styles from the Salon whenever you want to change your hair. But personally, I still feel this item was introduced too soon.
Fantasy in Flight
Both items are rather off-balanced as far as the pairing goes. You have one that is photorealistic for the most part, and you have another that is a clone of something that isn't even a year old yet. You would think one would be impossible to work with and the other would be a little easier, but that isn't the case either. However, both don't really contribute anything to the catagories they are pretty much going to be classified in. This, however, doesn't take away from their usefullness, but rather clouds it.
Overall, this month's items will be a sleeper hit. I doubt they will be appreciated for what they offer until long after this month is dead and done. However, if long-term investment isn't your style, you can still benifit from one or the other for the next few weeks, stylisitically. For everyone else, average items this month.
 Zeek Slider · Fri Mar 16, 2007 @ 01:56am · 4 Comments |
