Cartoon of The Day: A Batty Situation

 

 

Taken at Club Zero Gravity with the help of Lilybeth Patterson. If vampire bats are a problem, it's good to have something that discourages them.

 

By Bixyl Shuftan 

 

Spooky Season

 

 It's finally October, and the favorite, or second favorite, time of year for many inworld: the spooky season. Many sims become darker, the moon gets fuller, and there's a feeling that there's something mischievous, or something scary, in the air. And well, with a few people in bat avies there sometimes is. 

 

We'll soon be writing up on some spooky fun in Second Life. And when real-life taps us on the shoulder, well, it'll be a little later than planned. But we'll get you the spook-tacular news.

 

Hopefully real life won't be too much of a "pain in the neck." 

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

Cartoon of The Day: Driven Batty

 

 Taken at the Winter Burn. Not sure why he was wearing bat wings, but given the dumpster fire real-life news can sometime be, I could think of one reason.

 

By Bixyl Shuftan 

 

Cartoon of The Day: Bite My ...

 

 

 Taken at Bay City's Fairgrounds. This lady had someone in a bat avatar next to her. If it were a vampire bat, what might it be thinking given a cue?

 

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

 

A "Bat-Tacular" Birthday Party

 

It was my birthday a little over a week ago. In real-life, it's usually a small dinner with a few friends on a day close to it. In Second Life, it's a little fun at a club. But this time, my wife Charlee was determined to make it one to remember. She got together with her friend and club owner Gwen Winchester, and they came up with a very different birthday party that can only be described as "bat-tacular."

 

Read the story in Events. 

 

Cartoon of The Day: A Date With Some Bite

 

 

Sometimes blind dates can work really well. And sometimes, they can leave a guy feeling slightly drained.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day: Batty Catty

 

 

 Taken at Dreamworld Gem. Someone had a cat with bat wings. I couldn't help but wonder if the critter might not like that too much.

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

Cartoon of The Day: Bat Rider

 

 

 So why would an anthro bat be riding a horse? Well, since bats and people (and horses) are social critters, maybe he didn't like traveling alone. Or maybe there's other reasons.

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

Cartoon of The Day: Not Out For Blood

 

 

 Taken at Montecito Bay. Not sure if that was really a vampire bat. But drinking a red soda, it didn't take long for my imagination to come up with what some might think.

By Bixyl Shuftan 

Two "Shop and Hop" Gifts

 

Besides the freebies at the "Tapestry of Time" at the Second Life Birthday, there's also plenty of gifts at the stores in the "Shop and Hop." We can't write about them all. But there were a couple mildly interesting ones that yours truly thought some readers would like, a pet and a hoverboard.

(Note, the Shop and Hop ends Sunday Night)

Read more in Design.
 

Vampire Bat Sighted at Montecito Bay

 *

Montecito Bay has seen some strange things in it's past from flying saucers to slime monsters. This Halloween season, something odd has been spotted flying around at night, a human-sized vampire bat.

The bat, which is humanoid with arms and legs along with two huge wings, has been seen several times at night or dusk, either flying through the air or standing on top of a building or in a dark area. About the only time it's been spotted inside a brightly lit building was when it was seen checking out the new arcade. 

There are no reports of the bat having harmed anyone, though a few eyewitnesses describe it as chasing away a robber.  There are also reports it's been flirting at a few of the women walking the streets at night. A local clinic has treated a couple women found with two fang marks on their necks and having mild blood loss. When asked how they got the marks, they just smiled. 

Talking to leading Montecito Bay citizen Moffett Mephit, he felt there was no reason for alarm as there were no reports of him hurting anyone. In fact, he thought it was cool it was around, commenting at one point he wouldn't mind being one himself, "Skunk teeth are cool, vampire teeth even cooler."  

So if you're walking the streets of Montecito Bay at night following a night at Studio 86 or the Roller Rink, or the new video arcade, keep your eyes out for a dark winged shape in the air. 

Note: the preceeding was a tale of fiction for this time of year. 

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Cartoon of the Day

 

Taken at Montecito Bay. Looks like the vampire bat wants to do a little necking. But the woman isn't panicking.

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

Vampire Bat Spotted At Deathlands

 

As a post-apocalyptic wasteland slowly recovering from the collapse of civilization, the Deathlands have seen a number of scary beings and scary tales of such over time. But this October, something new has appeared, or at least that's what some claim. Lately there have been a number of sightings and tales of a human-sized vampire bat.

In a place where mutant monsters and raiders are threats, a vampire might not seem quite so scary. And indeed with a few of the sightings, the bat is described as helpful. In one case, a band traveling at night found themselves under attack by raiders when they saw a shape of some kind from above dropping an object. Then a magnesium flare lit up in the middle of the attacking raiders. Blinded, they could only stumble while the travelers got away. When they returned in the day to recover some lost items, they found the bodies of a few of the raiders, drained of blood.

In another case, a tavern owner late at night had a knock at the door, and answering found only a crudely written note, saying someone was hurt near the intersection of two nearby roads. Concerned, he and a few others in town went over, and found the bodies of two mutants, drained of blood, and an injured man with a crudely-made neck brace. When the man recovered, he claimed the mutants had broken his neck, then were attacked by some dark shape before he passed out. When they got the man to a doctor to examine his neck, the physician wondered if whomever had set it had access to x-rays, or sonar.

Not all of the stories involve tales of rescue. One was from someone whom checking on his sister found she needed supplies, notably food. When he returned, he found someone else had delivered a few fruits and meat of some kind. Curiously, she had what looked like two half-healed puncture marks on her neck. When he asked who was here, where the food came from, and how did she get the marks, she just smiled whistfully. 

The Baron, Rebel Wolf, could neither confirm of deny the existence of the vampire bat, saying stranger mutations have happened. But even in the Deathlands, people tend to tell tall tales around Halloween.

Note: the preceeding was a tale of fiction for this time of year.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Cartoon of the Day

By Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day

By Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day: Batty Character

Taken at the Happy Vixen

By Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day

From Club Cutlass. Yes, "Dracula Disco" is an actual song. 

By Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day

From Halloween Town. It wasn't my intention for the picture to end up like he was on my foot, but it worked out.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Furry Avatar in Sansar

It seems one issue I felt would be a turnoff to many Second Life users to Sansar, the lack of nonhuman avatars, is already being addressed.

On Wednesday August 2, "Sixfootblue" posted this picture on Reddit of what appears to be the first furry avatar known to have been created in Sansar, an anthro bat. "I had a creative kick yesterday and spent about 8 hours putting this guy together," he stated, "Unfortunately it seems arm attachments are only for the right wrist and hand, so he only has one wing for now."

"The head and armwing are just accessories I uploaded and attached to my avatar. I just used the male avatar reference on the knowledgebase to make sure the custom head fit the default one fairly closely, and then used some trial and error to match the head's colour to the body's skintone as best I could."

So just a few days after Sansar's opening, the residents themselves are making some of the improvements the virtual world needs to become more popular. What else they will come up with before the month is out should be interesting.

Hat Tip: Hamlet Au

Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day: Have Yourself A Batty Little Christmas

Taken at Ranchan Weidman's Moon Base in HV Community. Looks like this bat is doing tree duty. And don't worry, he's not sitting where it looks like.

By Bixyl Shuftan