Inspired by Philip’s journey in transforming his avatar in Second Life, I decided to embark on creating a male avatar. How difficult could it be? I felt quite nervous, as I hadn’t made a male avatar in over a decade. I have lots of knowledge about female fashion, but I am not well-versed in male fashion, aside from knowing that if I ever created a male alt, he would wear Deadwool. I have always thought Deadwool was perfection, so I made a male avatar just to wear it.
I created my alt last month during the Thanksgiving holiday, tried on a bunch of demos, and then logged out because I wanted to wait for the free LeLutka head. I had a general idea of which body I wanted to buy, and it would definitely be one of the bodies supported by Deadwool. Last night, I logged in again and decided it was time to give my newly created alt a makeover.
Meet George. Yes, that’s right; he is named after Gorgeous (Gogo), and he’s quite the shopper. I gave my alt L$10,000 lindens to spend on his wardrobe. Since the LeLutka 12 Days of Christmas event was underway, I didn’t need to purchase a mesh head, which saved me some money. When making an avatar in Second Life, it’s important to have both a body and a head before making any additional decisions. I am wearing the free LeLutka Camden head, which also included a very nice skin. Normally, I am quite picky about skins, but after trying a couple of free gifts from brands in the 12 Days of Christmas event, I thought that the default skin was the nicest. I wanted George to have manly vibes rather than look like Gogo’s twin; some of the other brands were simply too pretty.
With the head sorted, I needed to choose a body. I can’t recall why I opted for the Signature Gianni body over the Belleza Jake body, but it cost me L$3,900, which accounted for the majority of my budget. Deadwool supported Belleza, Gianni, and Legacy bodies, if I remember correctly. I opted not to purchase the Legacy body because it requires enabling media in Second Life for the HUD to function.
The remainder of my budget was spent on Deadwool clothing, with the most expensive item being the L$2,590 fatpack of Dean Jeans from Deadwool. I wanted a specific color in the fatpack, meaning George will have to wear these jeans forever since they were expensive.
The most challenging aspect of creating a male avatar was finding a suitable hairstyle. I have always loved Wings hair, so I visited the store and, for the first time, tried on male Wings hair. Last night was a night of firsts for me; I experienced multiple new things, such as trying on a male LeLutka mesh head and purchasing from Deadwool. I also felt insecure about my height, as many male avatars I encountered were significantly taller.
My friend suggested that I visit the Man Cave event, because the brands there are giving away lots of gifts for this round. I was already at Man Cave last month gathering demos, as it is one of the events that caters specifically to men. It seems this will become my go-to event for George whenever I want him to go shopping. If you know of any other similar events, please let me know in the comments! I’m a freebies junkie, so I grabbed a bunch of gifts and actually found a really nice suit, a couple of free tops, and some very usable cosmetics.
Initially, I was anxious about creating a male avatar, as I did not want him to resemble Gogo or appear as though he was made by a woman, although that might be inevitable. To minimize the similarities, I chose a tan skin and darker hair for my alt. The entire process turned out to be easier than I anticipated; everything came together in just one night. I think my experience with Second Life fashion (for women) helped, as the underlying concepts remain the same. I will try not to overthink the details, because I think George turned out really nice for now. Alting can be costly, but now I might be able to take the photos I want with Gogo, featuring outfits I want to showcase without relying on someone else’s help.
What’s next for George? An Animation Override, so he can stand and walk better. Additionally, I look forward to introducing him to Gogo! Are you interested in seeing male fashion covered on JuicyBomb? Please let me know in the comments!
It’s pretty obvious I’m not opposed to gacha machines when I create gacha sets myself. Recently, however, Gogo brought up a pretty interesting conversation on Plurk about what’s okay to include in a gacha and what isn’t.
By the way. Is it gatcha, or gacha? How do you spell that? Because I’m pretty torn on that issue.
Anyway, here are my personal rules for content creation when it comes to Random Stuff You Stick In A Machine In Order To Get Money:
Don’t set the playing price too high. I’ve seen some gacha machines charging 75/play or higher. Are you crazy? The only way I would play that is if there were relatively valuable items for commons, or if I truly wanted to win the rare.
Don’t bait-and-switch your customer. Some machines show rare prizes on one sign, then farther below are the common prizes you’re more than likely to win. Come on, you don’t have to trick us into paying you for anything. If we want your rare prize, we’ll play anyway, right?
Don’t use mesh templates for gacha prizes if you aren’t going to add unique textures to them. WHY? Why do this? For a few hundred more Ls, we can snag the original, full-perm item on Marketplace. It would be one thing if the art you add to the template were outstanding and worth it alone, but an everyday item with forgettable textures? That’s rude. Make it truly unique if you want to use mesh templates.
Gacha(gatcha?) machines are supposed to be fun to play. The dress I’m wearing in this picture, for example, is from Junbug and had reasonable common prizes to win on top of the rare corset I wanted as well. I was fine with playing the machine over and over in order to obtain what I desired. It’s an even deal when your machine is set up that way; both creator and customer walk away happy.
But when the practice gets out of control, it’s giving your client base the short end of the stick. They aren’t your enemy and they aren’t obligated to be your source of income. Treat them with respect when you create your machines, and they’ll come back to play again and again.
The 2nd Annual Starlust Panty Raid is on! This event runs from August 14th – August 30th.
You're looking for clams, so find them and receive panties, lots of panties (and bras)!!! Hucci has 3 clams out and inside you will get the 3 panty sets shown above, except for the 3rd item does not have a bra! So my avatar has her boobs showing here, it's because Eboni didn't make a bra top, woops!
This isn’t a subtle dusting of sand. It looks like Gogo has been stranded on a deserted island or crawling through the desert for three days. Compared to Izzie’s previous Beach Sand tattoo add-on, this one has a much finer texture, and I think it’s cuter too.
Each Sandstorm tone comes with four different shades, ranging from a light coating of sand to a much darker, grittier look. The darkest shade is my favorite. If you’re into roleplay or just want your avatar to look like they’ve been through something, this is a fun little add-on. Pair it with some dirt or blood layers and you’ll fit right in. There’s a whole segment of Second Life residents who seem determined to look like they’re permanently in combat.
My outfit today is another free find. Analogic has the Grazy Set (top and skirt) available as a free group gift, and the group is free to join. I’m also wearing the Abby Headband, which is another free gift. I only found this store because I follow TeleportHub on X, where they post freebie updates all the time. Freebies have always been a big part of Second Life, and sites like TeleportHub and FabFree have been covering them for years.
Which is why I still don’t understand why Linden Lab thinks access to freebies is a worthwhile Premium perk. It isn’t. I’m already drowning in freebies. This was my first time visiting Analogic, and I found around 30 free group gifts that I could grab immediately. The store looks like it’s built around full-perm mesh products from a bunch of different creators, so the branding is kind of all over the place, but there’s a lot of stuff. I’m not really a snob about whether something started as full-perm mesh. It was free, and it was cute enough.
Four fabulous new makeups have been released by Gala Phoenix! The “Dramatic” makeup set includes rich lipstick and dark eyes.
Shown above in the Lumine skin tone.
I’m really digging this latest release by katat0nik! The Katty Dress comes in an assortment of colors — I chose a girlie lavender color with light blue and teal. It’s perfect with the Mikan – Love Mouse hair and Periquita‘s Round Retro Pink pumps.
Oh yeah.. I’ve finally found some use for the freebie G.L.A.M Tintable Lycra Tights pack! Tinted it to match perfectly with the Katty Dress, yay!
Back in April, I became a Premium member for the first time in my 12 years in SL. I landed on a charming little waterfront home and decided to keep it. I knew my luck would not be better if I kept re-rolling for new homes.
Here we are, 3 months later, and so much has changed with how Linden Lab launches new sims. Instead of launching hundreds of sims at once, like they did initially, now only one or two sims are launched every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. At this rate, eventually everyone who wants a home would get a home, but not at a rate that’s fast enough to satisfy them. As you can see by this vent thread on the forum, they are more than a little upset. In fact, if you read the entire Linden Homes forum, it’s so overwhelmingly NEGATIVE.
Just a quick note… LOVE the new site look. 😀