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This month's items are the Lunar Scythe, Aquatica, and Oculus Magica!
 Why not?
Well, this month alone, I spent $25 on an entry fee into an art show, $30 for making slides of my artwork, $60 on entertainment, and about $35 on fast food for the last two weeks. Buying three letters that total $7.50 isn't going to hurt me. If anything, it will make me want to go back to work faster.
The Little Mermaid
At one point in my time here in Gaia, I said that I would sell my entire inventory if and when Mermaid tails became available. Well, this was under the assumption that they were going to be store items and way back in the day when Gaia didn't have as many members as it does now. Needless to say, I do appreciate the various options offered by the Aquatica.
The default pose for this item is the female set, most commonly associated with the mermaids in tropical waters (for those of you that are into regional myths and know how some cultures depict mermaids and water sirens). Male and female avatars get to wear the shiney blue tail of a merfolk worthy of being included in a Disney feature film. Your avatars can also flop-walk with this tail in Towns with their own custom walking animation, which solves that mystery pretty nicely. Male avatars will want to probably keep this simple and wear nothing but the tail. You know, for tradition? Female avatars, on the other hand, may want to either invest in another Aquatica for the Sea Shell Brassiere or in a similar top. Because of the tone of the blue hue, your color pallet is fairly limited, but managable.
And since I already talked about it, let's move on to the Sea Shell Bra! Male crossdressers will be happy to know that the bra does fit the male avatar, but doesn't look that great outside of humor. This item was clearly design for the female avatars to enhance their Mermaid-ness if not be a complimentary piece for the above position. However, I was able to find a rather nice and fetching outfit using this and the white Jenny dress. I would avoid using any of the Elegant Veil's tops, however.
The final piece in the female set of this item is known as Sea Jewels. Here, your avatar is given tiara of sorts made out of clam pearls, starfish, and various shells. Becareful what kind of hair or wig you put on while wearing this! While some will work for it, others will kill it. The Water position in the Elemental Hair, for example, buries this fancy crown, while the Essences of Treasure Abound (Mythic Hair) will accent it rather nicely. The style of clothing to wear with this is a bit strange. Given the nature of it, something formal would be the initial responce, but most of the formal wear that I have to crossdress with doesn't seem to benifit from having this tiara. A real shame when your competition are the older crowns, which do a much better job.
On the male side of this item, we begin with the Shark Tail. Why this is associated with the male merfolk? I have no idea. I bet it has something to do with a certain Disney game that's popular around these parts. In any event, this position is similar to the default pose. The only difference is the coloring. Here, the color is that of a gray shark... thing... which kind of limits the pallet in a bad way. then again, the only thing that matches us guys are some of the blacks and grays anyway. As usual, guys will look better in this position topless. Girls should probably wear something naught to accent the dangerous side of the shark that is implied when wearing this item. By the way, the Non-Gazing Posion Hairs work wonders on this tail!
The next item on the male set is the Sharkplate. Here, you are given a brestplate armor with a shark motif. As far as armor goes, it offers minimal protection, but then again, you're suppose to be underwater, so the style and design makes sense in that respect. The good news is that you can combine it with the other armor plates available! Unfortunately, you run the risk of becoming another walking block, which is the design flaw of the armor in Gaia. As usual, blacks and grays are the way to go with this. You could couple this with the Shark Tail, but you run the risk of also being visually unbalanced.
The last piece is the Sharp Shell Crown. Here, you are given a borderline purple-gray crown suitible for Neptune or Ursula. Not surprisingly, this crown favors those with at least shoulder-length hair on both the Male and Female ends. However, pick your hair or wig carefully. Much like the Sea Jewels, this crown can get lost in the wrong do. But if you want something really impressive, try the Water hair with this item. I doubt you'll be disappointed.
This item also comes with two background options. The first is called "Fish are Friends!" and features Nemo and Dory (or a parody there of). Here, your avatar is surrounded by schools of tropical fish. Popular uses for this background probably include cosplaying as Ariel during the Under the Sea song or as a coral reef diver. However, I seriously doubt anyone will use it beyound those examples. The Bubble background does lend itself to some flexibility, as the bubbles are ambigous enough to not read "Your avatar is underwater." With the right items and hair, you could probably cosplay as David Bowie from Labrynth!
Overall, this item offers more than just the usual mermaid tail. While some of the modes are questionable and others very limitting, the bulk of the users will probably only use this as a means to become a merfolk and nothing else. The tail is probably the only thing that was needed to satiate the masses, but it's still nice that they offered some extras along with it.
 Death's Calling Card
The long awaited and much petitioned counterpart to the Solar Staff is here, and as far as I'm concerned, it's a bit too much like the Solar Staff. What do I mean by that? It's barely usable.
Your default positions are using the scythe as a hand item. There is really nothing new here given how most people hold scythes in pictures and religous art. The only odd thing I noticed about the scythe is how the male avatars hold it like one of the guitars in one pose. But other than that, nothing to really talk about.
Lunar Covenant is the next pose, but it is a strange one. There is only one position that this hand item will work with. Trying to hold it any other way would just de-equip it. Basically, the scythe turns into a very nice staff. The design of which is very impressive, but falls rather short of a good review because of the way it is positioned. Think a cross between a crossbow and a rocket launcher. This seriously could have been the saving grace with this item as far as my personal appeal goes, but the fact that it is in one position kills it for me. A shame, too.
When you aren't holding the Lunar Scythe, you can holster it on your back in various ways. Blade to the left or to the right, stick up over your head or down by your butt. Doesn't matter and doesn't really impress. At least the Flame Sword offered you mix-and-match flaming wings, but duel-equipping the scythe offers nothing.
The extra modes in this item are two different slashes that you can place in front of your avatar. This, much like the falcon last month, is nice for avatars on the forums but not so much walking around Towns. On top of this, only one out of the two slashes actually make whatever weapon you hold in your hand look like it was in action. I'll let you figure out which and what weapons it works with.
Given the fact that this item was suppose to be one of the two most petitioned on Gaia, it seems that the only people that will like this item are the ones that wanted it for style. There isn't much here short of the Lunar Covenant, but even then the Lunar Scythe is too much like its counterpart. Limited in what it can do.
I can see you!
Oculus Magica may sound like a Harry Potter spell, but in reality, it is the first second pair of contacts to be released officially in Gaia. But strangely enough, the options on here are no better than the Fish Lenses you can buy.
The default position makes your eyes look a bit too much like that one Naruto character whose name escapes me at the moment (Garaa? Graa? Gaara? Grraa?). That being said, I'm expecting a lot of cosplayers to be happy about that and then start petitioning for that vegetable backpack he always wears to carry sand in. Those who are not fans of Naruto will probably use these eyes as way of making their avatar morally ambiguous. Is this a good guy? Is this a bad guy? Is this person generally psychotic? No one knows for sure! But, damn, are those some creepy peepers!
Kira Kira gives you those big puppy-dog anime eyes that say "love me, please." Couple this with a nice and attractive outfit, maybe the Winter Rose Petal Rain, and you've got yourself an avatar that is its own walking beauty shot! Provided, of course, you avoid any hair that has arching eyebrows. Big eyes like those with an angry brow can lead to some strange visual readings as far as trying to be cute and lovable.
Mosaic censors your face. Frankly, I wish they censored other areas.
Pwetty Bwirdies gives your avatar that freshly knocked-in-the-head-silly look. While it is debatable if this pose will get rid or lower the price of the Casino Prize that has the same design, the fact that they match your avatar's skin tone is more than impressive given the glitches that it could cause.
Crimson Cross I'm not too sure about. At the face value of it, the eyes appear to be demonic cat eyes. However, their stare and the way they work with the eyebrows makes them very questionable as to how evil these eyes are suppose to be. They are probably the most flexable contacts out of the batch because of this. You can be a creepy cat who people question if they should trust you or not; you can be a blatently evil soul with these eyes! The only thing I find difficult to adjust to is the fact they are such a deep red.
Ice Fairy is another set of eyes designed to be cute. More than likely, this was meant as a compliment piece to the Butterfly Mantilla or Fairy Wings. The eyes work a bit too well with those items. But as far as working with the "ice" items? Not so much. The only items it works well with is the Ice Tiara in the default position and the Ice wig, which is a very long stretch for most avatars. It was for me.
Ponies and Rainbows scares me a little. This pair is designed to make your avatar annoyingly cute. You know the character type. The one that's so optimistic they would probably the apocolypse isn't as bad as the media plays it out to be. Your avatar will be forced into a smile of some kind when wearing these eyes. And I'm pretty sure the use of the word "Squee!" and "Kawaii!" will increase in your vocabulary as a result as well.
Water Meat gives you the eyes of the Zurg's favorite Christmas gift. Perfect for anyone that wants to walk around like a living doll but doesn't like the Chobit scene for the sexual context and association that come with it. Actually, this mode makes me wish we had some kind of rag doll set of costume clothing. Maybe this Halloween we will.
Devilish has two options for your avatar. You can turn on or off your tears of blood depending on if you are the demon with a heart or not. But even if you are crying or not, these sunken yellow eyes will make you look like your soul has been ripped from your avatar's being. This is made all the more apparent by whatever expression your avatar ends up having on their face.
Twinkle gives your eyes that star-struck look, complete with little stars around your head! Find a mask big enough to cover the stars in your eyes, and you too can have the sparkle that Armstrong and his family has had for generations upon generations! It's a shame you can't wear both this mode with the Kira Kira eyes for that ultra cute look found in some animes.
Fira gives you that firey gaze meant to stop your foe in their tracks every time until some unseen power made it a random effect for the sake of power balancing. The cool thing about this mode is that it goes over most masks, making your superhero or villian that much more intense in their will and drive. My personal favorite discovery is the OMFG hat with this pose.
Electrica is the electric counterpart to Fira, which is most commonly used in animes where some kind of spark is initiated between foes as they lock eyes. Or at least it should be. Here, you get what looks like a cross between Pikachu and Cyclopes. Much like Fira, you can use this in combination with various masks to create your own electrifying superhero. An odd but nice combination I found is the Essence of Gold wig with this pair of eyes.
Overall, we didn't need this many contacts shoved into one item. They could have waited until the rest came out and be sold individually as store items. Each pair is so different from each other that there is no commonality between them. When I saw the name of the item, I was hoping for more modes like Fira and Electrica that had some kind of "magic" to them. Instead, I got your traditional and cliche anime eyes that are common in so many characters all lumped together as one. Seriously, the admins could have sold us each of these modes separately and be able to appeal to a wider audiance than just those of us that can buy/afford these items every month.
Two Miss and a Hit
After what is debatibly a long run of Monthly Collectibles that have been unfavorable in one fashion or another, we get two that keep that tradition going and one that actually breaks it. The Law of Averages didn't really work into the admins favor this time, but at least they were able to actually get out items that people are willing to pay real money for. But for those of us who are not as lucky, the only real item worth investing in would be whatever strikes your fancy. For me, it is the Aquatica. For others, it's the Lunar Scythe.
But I still stand by my opinion that the various contacts in the third item should have been released separately from each other. The same could be said about the Mythic and Elemental hair, but at least those wigs had a commonallity between each mode.
 Zeek Slider · Sun Apr 15, 2007 @ 10:38pm · 4 Comments |
