Tiny Carolers and North Pole Village

 

 By Gemma Cleanslate

Over the weekend I visited a few parties and events that were so Christmasy and then went looking for Santa. I stopped over at Benny's Christmas Trees and More where the Raglan carolers were doing a gesture show of their favorite music. Here is one tune.

[12:46] Raglan Shire Carolers:
~*~ You Better Watch Out, ~*~
~*~ You Better Not Cry,~*~
~*~ You Better Not Pout, I'm Telling You Why, ~*~
~*~ Santa PAWS Is Coming,~*~
~*~ Santa PAWS is Coming To Towwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnn,
~*~ SANTA PAWS IS COMING TO TOWN! ~*~

They had many more! Of course they finished with the infamous river dance everyone loves go see.

I also went over to a skating and dancing party at Ipperwich where dj Scott was spinning tunes for everyone! The whole family was there and having a great time along with residents and friends of Mount Campion. It will be a busy few weeks coming for him!

And then I made a long stop at one of my favorite places to visit every Christmas, “Christmas at North Pole Village & Santa's Workshop – Winter”. I am glad it is always there. The walls of ice and snow carve a path down the hill, past the Crystal Ice Caves to the door of the village where Santa, Mrs santa and and his 56 elves and 8 reindeer live and work.

Once you open the door to the little town you are in a land of enchantment. The town square holds tiny buildings filled with working elves. There are always little critters and elves skating and hanging out.
I always stop in at the Newspaper to say hi to those elves. They are easy to recognized with their little human faces. The post office is always busy at this time of year, loaded with carts of letters arriving by the minute.

The younger elves are busy learning about their future jobs in the school. It is a pleasure to see them. The longest visit is to the castle where elves are busy wrapping gifts to go out on the sleigh. In the kitchen others are making cookies and gingerbread. Mrs Claus is overseeing the work.

Upstairs is the dormitory where those off duty rest and sleep. A visit to Santa’s nearby bedroom is great fun. He is rarely there so I jump on his bed.

 

I know where to find him. Outside the Castle I walk down the icy path to the reindeer barn. Here I find him working with the reindeer for the big night when he takes off to fly through the air to you. I always help him take off for a practice run. You can do that too when you visit. Before you leave drop by the bakery and have some hot coffee with the elves there. They are always happy to see visitors.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Porvoo/217/133/128

Gemma Cleanslate

Wee Wonders Tiny Freebie Store

 
By Bixyl Shuftan

If you have a tiny avatar, there's a place to shop that will interest you: Wee Wonders at Didean.

At the Relay Weekend, my friend Kamida came across a set of the three dinkie bot singers that were up on sale at the RFL Home and Garden a couple years ago. She wondered if whoever made them made more items. So that led to to my looking. Veloce Bertone was the maker, and he had a place in Didean called "Wee Wonders." So I took a look for myself to see how the place is.

Dropping by, there were many dozens of items inside. Veloce had arranged them in several catagories: Furniture, Edibles (including an ice cream cart and coffee machines), Outdoors (outdoor activities), Buildings, Winter (activities), Toys, Pool and Patio, Avatar (such as swimmer animation), Vehicles (including a dinkie-sized roomba), Performance, and Activism. Clicking on the signs, one could get a description, or the item.

There were a few demonstration items. One was a sack race. Another was a container of tools from hoe to rake to pickaxe. The third was a "Punch-A-Putin." Just "sit" on the item, and your tiny's punches will gradually give the Putin head in place of a punching bag a black eye. 

A few of the items such as the "Punch-A-Putin" have an option for larger avatars or can also be used by them. Also, the second floor has a few items made for avatars of normal human height, such as the Faery boat. But the number is much smaller, at least for now.

The surrounding sim is well done and designed. Outside on the canal next to the shop, one can take a Faery boat, either full size or dinkie size for a tour around the area. At normal speed, be prepared for it to take a while, about thirty minutes. The tour will take you through rivers and ocean shores, through forests, and past homes and stone towers. Along the way, you get a few free gifts.

By all means, stop by Wee Wonders and get a few items.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Didean/80/177/25

Bixyl Shuftan
 

The Kattoan Avatars

I haven't been inworld much, playing Minecraft and other games and all, but when I heard that Kinzart Kreetures had a new variety of Hyena out (Kinzart being one of the places I avatar shop often at), I came across something... unusual. Something I hadn't seen before, and after being on Second Life for five plus years, anything unique or that stands out is rare for me.

Enter the Kattoans. These are small avatars that look like, well, a mammal, at first look. I wasn't quite sure what they were. They're mesh avatars with a wide variety of colors. I grabbed a lime green one and was referred to as a muppet, so I grabbed an almond-color one as well. I was impressed with the avatar overall, and could actually envision a tiny civilization of these guys elsewhere. They're only a little bit bigger than the largest of the Meeroos, and I could -easily- see them as befriending the 'roos for companionship.

I tracked down the avatar creator, one Athau-xan, also known as 1000 Carlos, and we sat down to a brief interview.

Xymbers Slade, "These are some pretty neat avs, 1K. Where did you come up with the idea? (smile)"

Athau-xan, "Most of my inspiration came from Spiral Knights, mainly. I also threw together a couple different art-styles from around the N64-era."

Xymbers Slade, "Can't say I've heard of that... sounds like an anime. It's still very unusual and it was enough to draw my attention away from the hyenas I was after for the time being. Were they difficult to create? I hear mesh isn't the friendliest thing to work with."

Athau-xan, "They weren't too difficult to make. How long it actually took me to make them is hard to say, as I just worked on them a little bit whenever I had spare time. I purposely kept them really low polycount because, artistically, it looked better, and I wanted them to use as little resources on the sim as possible."

Xymbers Slade, "What exactly are they supposed to be, besides a very unique race? Kind of like... I don't know, a groundhog or something? Or a fuzzy rodent of some kind, perhaps?"

Athau-xan, "I'm not quite sure myself really, something like a mix between a rodent and a mole I guess."

Xymbers Slade, "Is there anything you wanted to do with them but couldn't thanks to Second Life, well... being Second Life?"

Athau-xan, "I would've liked to make the body separate pieces, which I could. but unfortunately SL likes to make really bad seams where parts are split, and I didn't really want the avatar covered in seams."

Xymbers Slade, "I don't know a thing about building, so I'll take your word for it. I see over there the sign for the 'Republic of Kattoa.' Do you have a grand design for them in mind or are you letting the incoming community build on its own?"

Athau-xan, "I do have my own future plans for the Kattoans. Such as perhaps an entire sim dedicated to them in the long run. I'll eventually release a builders kit when I get around to it so the community can create their own ideas for them."

Xymbers Slade, "Do you also do commissions? I know I'd like to see, say, a set of knight's armor, or something."

Athau-xan, "I am currently not accepting commisions, and I don't expect to start in the forseeable future, but I do have a knight set planned, among plenty of other outfits."

Xymbers Slade, "Ok, is Okarthel the only spot you have these available, or have you got a main store somewhere?"

Athau-xan, "Currently Okarthel is the only location to find Kattoans. I do plan on getting my own simulator for them eventually, but I cannot say when that will happen."

Xymbers Slade, "Sims ain't cheap, but I'll get behind this if one does pop up."

I could see these critters clearly in my head in their own little civilization running around. It is very rare that one can see something just "spring to life" in one's head like that. These guys are small enough to even ride the My Little Pony avatars I did a piece on a while ago, and I can see several potential possibilities in my head that this could really take off and give other avatar makers a run for their money. At about 350 $L, plus the cheap cost of outfits, they're far cheaper than most avatars I've come across. They come in a wide variety of colors and currently four mesh outfits are also available as separate purchases. One of them, the civilian outfit, being free.

Four Dragon Hoards out of five --- only because I want to give it room to grow and see where it goes. This is something I can really get behind. They can currently be found in a corner of the Okarthel sim.

Xymbers Slade