Lab Gives Residents "The Avatar Welcome Pack"

 

On Thursday April 24, Linden Lab announced they had given all residents a package of items, "The Avatar Welcome Pack."

We are delighted to announce the Avatar Welcome Pack, a starter wardrobe that will give any new resident a strong beginning in the often intricate process of creating an avatar. A number of Second Life creators have generously donated items, some of them crafted exclusively for the pack ...New residents using this pack will have an easier time because of some simplifications. HUDs are a particular challenge for new users, so none of the body parts or clothing require them. All clothing items come with alpha layers, so new users will not need to manually hide body parts. Third, the heads and bodies look great out of the box with no adjustments needed.

It's notable this was announced just one day after Linden Lab stated it was looking for content creators to partner with to make Avatar Welcome Packs. So presumably this is the first of them. 

To get the Avatar Welcome Pack, well, if you're a Second Life resident, you already have it. Just check in your Inventory, and look under the "Library" section. Opening the welcome pack, there are four more folders: Female Bodies and Looks, Female Items, Male Bodies and Looks, and Male Items. Each of those for has several packages, They contain various complete mesh avatars, plus clothing and accessories such as wings. There's also a notecard on how to use the contents. 

According to Ryan Schultz, the Pack was delivered by accident almost two weeks ago, which allowed those who found out a chance to walk around in the appearances and outfits for a few hours until the Lab took them down again until Tuesday April 22. Ryan would suggest that one reason for the bodies in the Avatar Welcome Package was that the Senra starter avatars introduced by Linden Lab a year and a half ago "were a bit of a failure ... They were a bit odd-looking (particularly the heads), and they stuck out like a sore thumb on the grid," and few content creators bothered making clothes for them, "So Linden Lab went back to the drawing board, and this time around, they reached out to established and well-known Second Life content creators to partner with."

For more information, Click Here for the Linden blog post.

 

Source: Ryan Schultz

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

The Gacha Guild Is On

  The Gacha Guild, a bi-annual event, is once again taking place.  Twice a year, this shopping event takes place high above the Dew Drop sim. Numerous merchants have goods for sale as gachas. For those who don't know what a gacha is, the vendors have a number of versions of the item. Most are "common," but there are also a few "uncommon" and "rare." Often, they're packaged as vouchers, which can be traded between residents, or put up for sale on Marketplace where rares can fetch high prices.

There are avatars, avatar mods, and accessories up for sale. Among them is the Feral Crux by Caboodle, a four-footed version of the odd avatar with a following among some Second Life furs. Just add the voucher, click where it says "buy now," and unpack. The avatar can sit and dance, has a few different facial expressions, and the tail has a couple positions. 

The theme for this Gacha Guild is that of a haunted Carnival. About in the middle of the month, on October 16, the "Halftime Hunt" will begin with more items available. For more information, check out the blog: https://gachaguild.com/ .

 http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dew%20Drop/162/168/1128

 Bixyl Shuftan

The Halloween "Shop Til You Drop"

From a few days ago until Halloween, Linden Lab is hosting a shopping event, their Halloween "Shop Til You Drop." "With the Creepy Crawl less than two weeks away," they stated on their blog, " it’s time to get serious about Halloween. We’ve been brewing up a wicked treat that’s easy on the eyes and on your Linden wallet. Starting today through October 31st - we’re hosting a shopping event that is sure to liven any dead man’s party! With frights and delights from some of Second Life’s best designers at deals that seem simply insane - this party central for all things Halloween - is your one stop shop ( ‘til you drop!) Costumes, accessories, decor, and much more await you and your friends in this mysterious haunted village. I dare you to venture the cobblestone paths and see what our vendors have in store for you."

Becky Shamen decided to check this event for herself, donning a "Thing" avatar and heading over. So was it spook-tacular, or nothing to be scared about?

Read Becky's article in Fashion.

The Arena Men's Event

It seems many gachas which have a number of clothes and outfits are aimed at women. So when BloodyKitty heard about "The Arena Men's Event," a Fantasy gacha in Acerbus Silva, she decided to take a look to see what it had. So what did she think?

Read BloodyKitty's review in Fashion.

Spellbound

Searching for a place to explore, Bloodykitty came across a place named "Spellbound." While the main place was a store, the area was well done and picturesque, or "magical" in her words. So what more did she have to say about the place?

Read Bloodykitty's article in Places.

The AniMagical Gacha Fair

Bloodykitty found out about a gacha event, the "AniMagical Gacha Fair." Getting there was a bit difficult, as it didn't appear in standard Second Life "Search" searches. Once there, the place had a feel that seemed part Harry Potter and part anime. So how did she rate it?

Read Blookykitty's article in Design.

The Manga Fair

Are you looking for an anime style outfit, or just a fan of anime and manga in general? Then one event you might want to check out is the Manga Fair. Going on until August 9 in the La Isla Hispana sim, the event offers a number of items for sale, some in gachas, from outfits, to masks, to plush dolls, and more. Bloodykitty took a look to check things out for herself

Read Bloodykitty's article in Events.

DrFran’s Alt Goes Hunting And Freebie-Finding

DrFran, or rather her alt, is back from checking out some shopping hunts. Here, she writes about three of the top ones, the Cotton Candy, the Chapter Four, and the "I'm Sexy and I Know It." And for each, she describes a few of the items to be had for free or nearly free.

Read DrFran's article in Fashion.

Tellaq Avatars

By Bixyl Shuftan

A few years ago, Second Life Newser wrote about Tellaq Avatar Creations. This was an avatar skin store that emphasized quality appearances, notably ethnic looks. Checking back recently, Tellaq is still around, and still innovating with new looks.

Probably the biggest change is in the past few years, Tellaq Guardian has been designing avatars with newer mesh technology. He showed me the picture of one of his newest avatars: Erebos. This av was highly detailed, the skin showing features such as bumps on the skin, slight subtle stubble, even a few blood vessels in the eyes. Erebos was his top selling avatar, the product of about several months of work. Other avatars popular with Tellaq's costumers include Bale, Nicolas, JJ Daef, Chamber, and George.

Tellaq keeps his design focus on male avatars. For those looking for a female look, he cut a deal with Edde Edman and Akihn Kirax. These detailed avatars, a number of them also ethnic, can be found upstairs, in addition to Tellaq's older skins. The price of the avatars vary. His popular Erebos costs about 3000 Lindens. Usually the older avs are discounted in price, but not all the inexpensive ones are from last year or older. His Felix skin, which was released only recently, costs 300 Lindens.

Skins are not the only thing Tellaq's store has for sale. He also has some accessories up for sale, such as sunglasses, sneakers, clothes, and cigars "My friend's works," Tellaq explained, "Raph Dirval, great items." The cigars also had smoke animations for blowing rings.

Tellaq's plans for the future? He plans to release more mesh avatars, and otherwise meet customer demand. The reasons this place was built are still around: the more variety available in appearances, the better, especially if they're well designed.

"Thank you to all Tellaq customers."

Tropical Breeze (7, 63, 3501)

Bixyl Shuftan