By Grease Coakes
In today's world of
Second Life people like you and me always want to try a new look
whether a new furry avatar or set of clothes. For the humans maybe a
new human skin or shopping trip.
One of the things I do
when I log on is look through my notices. I scan through them fast but
I did happen to notice was that Furnication at
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Furnication/115/222/2001did have a new fox avatar release party recently. So I figured it couldn't hurt I had some Linden to blow to try out a new look. I check out the Raawr site I found on search. The LM is http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Free%20Spirit/137/81/22.
I let the store rez
which didn't take that long before going about. I looked through the fox vendor and decided
on a black color. The price is 900L which wasn't so bad. I went to the ark
sandbox to try it out and the first thing I see when I put on the
shape is that I look very skinny with the male shape. Remember when
the Aventity foxes came out years ago and it seemed every fox fan was wearing them?
They were really skinny, so male wearers of that avatar had to add a
lot of body mass to look not feminine. This avatar from Rawrr
has a much skinnier male shape. Even when I added more muscle I still
looked unhealthily skinny. Skinny is fine Aventity foxes looked good
and were the fad years ago when they first came out for a fair price.
But they also came with a read me to let you know how to use your
avatar. When I look through
the recent section of my inventory I see no such read me for the
Rawwr avatar. 
When I load up the HUD for the avatar I see a jumble
that's not exactly clear. Granted I like the PG-13 artwork that you
see on the hud however I would prefer a read me and a HUD that's
easier to understand over nice artwork. To be fair clickies
are already installed on the ears and tail so that saves time of
having to look through my inventory for me to install. But the HUD
isn't clear when I see numbers and symbols? What do the numbers 1
through 4 mean? I had to spin the hud around to find eye color. When
I clicked the symbols, turns out it changes the iris of your eyes.
Neat effect, but when I look at ears and hands I'm not sure what they
do.
Granted the avatar
does look good, although the ears don't show up when I put on my fave
hat I bought from a Native American vendor. Heartspeaker Lorefield
himself said I look good with it on. 900 Linden is a fair
price. Toshuki avatars are the same price. However for a majority of
avatars that I purchased there was always a "read me" notecard so if I got lost
on what this does or how do I change the eye color.
And the HUD is a
jumble. It seemed rushed as if the creator wanted to rush it out
without beta testing to make it user friendly. I clicked
things on the hud and it took a few times to get it to click. I did
look through the box again and there were adult add ons for your
avatar. That's a nice touch. I'd have to say like Aventity foxes it
might have been geared to the ladies crowd, and this avatar seems that
way too. I don't like the "Straving Marvin" look, so I find a
sturdier fox shape. I think the creator had a femboy look in mind
when she made it. I looked on my tail and saw the creator was Flower
Leleu.
I think if the HUD was
easier to use and there was a read me explaining what everything does
I'd have a better feel for this avatar. I didn't like the male shape
either. But graphically it does look good. And looking at my screen I
do see my tail wagging by itself and it came with clickies. I think
if the creator took more time with the HUD and took the time write a
"read me," I could have a much easier time working this out.
Flower you did do a
good job creating your avatar. However I think the male shape is way
too skinny and I wish the HUD was easier to understand. Other than
that, if you like tinkering with a hud and heart eyes this might be
the avatar for you.
Also now that I think
of it, this might be a good avatar for the fairer sex. When I saw a
box for the adult add ons, I did see lot of them for vixens. Since I'm male I didn't try that stuff out.
I have mixed feelings
about the Raawr fox. I'd give it a B-. I wish I understood the inner
workings, but it does come with nice features. And I would recommend
using a different male shape.
Bottom image credit: http://raawr-avs.tumblr.com/
Grease Coakes
