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This month's items are the Summoning Tome and Plasma Gear!
 Lightsabers for the Dark Arts? WTF?!
Yes, that is exactly what I thought when I saw the items for the month. They were not all that unexpected as, once again, these were probably the most asked for items at the time. Or should I say remaining since the avatar artists are knocking out the Most Requested list like a queue of rookie boxers on a reality show? In any event, it is an odd combination, but given the alternative of what could have happened with these items, it's better than nothing.
That much Neon could kill ya!
A popular item requested many a-times over the course of my membership were lightsabers, beam blades, and whatever other name you could think of to try to avoid being sued by "He who wears only plad." For a while, the answer to these requests was that it would impossible. Parodies can be made, but the actual item itself or anything that looked too much like the original were out of the question. Well, thing changed over time, we now have sponsors that actually produce copyright images as our items like the Mimzy doll, and saying something is copyright protected is no longer a valid argument when it comes to items to suggest. That's pretty much how we ended up with the Plasma Gear.
Each version of the Plasma Gear comes in two different colors: blue and red. Why? It's that whole light and dark side thing that doesn't really make sense for 60% of the item's modes.
The default positioning is on the ears. Here, long rods of neon light are sent out and upwards like an antenna. While more futuristic than the Chobit Ears you can buy at the store, they offer nothing more but a stylish alternative to the failure that is the Clef Ears of the Enchanted Strings from last month. Combined with the G-Bot's various masks, or even the Neko Suit Helmet, and you can dress up like a robot from Futurama or some other sci-fi show that features robots with antenna ears. As far as the human side goes? I suppose you could try to combine it with the Angelic Microphone's head-mic set up. But that is provided that layering is on your side so you can look like a communications controller for some major space battle fleet. The only thing you'll have to deal with other than a limited number of costume options is the fact that the rods of light are so freaking long!
Visor mode makes your avatar look like a version of Jordi if he was affiliated with the Main Street Electrical Parade. These visors don't so much keep light from entering the eye as they do force it. It's no wonder he's blind! Given the design of this item, you're going to be stuck in the aforementioned Jordi Cosplaying pool of dress. A looser alternative would be to dress up like a VR player, with the visor acting as the head gear from which you can view the virtual world, which isn't difficult at all to pull off. Making it look good is another story.
Glow Stick mode pretty much is an excuse to knock out another requested item while offering variety in the item. Your avatar is given a glow stick (or pair, if you have two of these handy) to dance and rave the night away. Avatars are to supply their own club wear. Alternatively, you could dress up like a cop directing traffic at night or even an airport worker signaling when the plane should stop its engines because they are already at the terminal. This is one of those hand held items that is fairly flexible, but probably not going to be used by many.
Plasma Blade is the answer to the lightsaber requests. This handy, duel-equipping, laser sword comes in your standard poses that one would expect to see from a weapon of this kind. However, I'm still a bit put off by the Sepiku pose you get with the BA hand position, as it is odd for someone to be holding a laser sword like that. Don't expect to be able to slice n00bs in half with this. Like the Dr. Venture's version, it's nothing more but show. A large number of outfits are available for this item given the large amount of various Jedi and Sith character designs out there. The only thing I see being a must-have for this item would probably be Syaoran's Robe, as it is the closest thing to a Jedi robe you can get right now. Wanna-be Siths should look no further than the Lunar Cloak or even the Dark Cape for that Count Dooku look. All we are missing now is a full face mask for burn victims.
Neon Wing mode is a rather odd option for this item. For starters, they aren't really wings so much as they are three pairs of light that just hover over your shoulder. They don't connect to your being in any way, shape, or form. If anything, they look like those little "blinkies" that happen whenever an anime character has a quick reaction to something. You know what I'm talking about if you've seen any magical girl anime. The Neon Wings don't even work in the sci-fi sense of the item! And on top of that? They are just too damn ugly to deal with.
Overall, this item is fairly mundane. Much like the G-Blade, fans of the franchise this item is clearly based off of will flock to it. Others may get a use out of it depending on what they feel like dressing up as, like myself who likes the idea of there being a robotic Jedi somewhere in the universe. But unless you can pull off a science fiction look without resorting to using the Zurg Skin or Mecha Form, you best just avoid it.
The Power of Books
Well, now that Harry Potter is dead and done as far as the franchise goes (and, yes, I am talking about the franchise and not about the book, you psycho-fans!), what is there left to capitalize on? Why everything in the franchise! And why not? Gaia already has Harry's wand parodied in the shop, and people have wanted more pets. And that's just what they get with the Summoning Tome! More pets than you can shake a mandrake at!
The first thing you'll notice when you open up your new Summoning Tome is that the book is divided into two parts: Light and Dark. This is probably the single smartest move done by the item programmers and Avatar Artists. Instead of releasing two different items with identical modes as before with items like the Fire and Ice Gauntlet, they went ahead and lumped them all into one!
The default mode is the book itself. Here, you have variety of poses ranging from just carrying the book to actually opening it up and reading it. While the general look of the book will be familiar to anyone that owns and uses one of the many sketchbooks you can buy, the real selling point is the overall design of the book itself. On the light side, the book is white and appears to emit its own light. The binding has a single jewel at the top, feathers line the top and bottom of the covers, and the cloth bookmark mimics that of a Gaia skyscape! On the dark side, the binding looks like the demonic mask of a cursed creature from the underworld. The cover is black and is lined with blacken iron. The cloth bookmark is a blood red that would probably appeal to those supporting Vlad Von Helson right now. (And with a son as hot as Louie, who could blame them?) With two great designs, it is very difficult to dress in a manner that is neutral to their affiliations without causing some kind of imbalance visually. The last thing you want to do is draw more attention to what is suppose to be an accessory. But if you dress big enough and load up on the seemingly unnecessary, you can balance out just fine. Just look at Liberace.
Of the many pets this magical book has to offer, the good side features none other than a white owl named Owlda. Yeah, I know, the name is weird and unoriginal, but let's just deal with it. The name for the raven on the dark side is just as bad, but more on that later. Owlda is a chubby little thing that likes to be carried, but will sit on your avatar's shoulder if you need a free hand. Owlda is a member of the "On the Head" club that most pets are in Gaia. However, Owlda isn't the only one who likes to sit on your head! Apparently, Owlda has friends, and lots of them, who will flock to your skull top like you are the statue of Martin Scorsese. The design of these owls all bunched together suggest a white crown, but the idea of a crown made out of owls is a bit dark even for some people. Then again, we have a fox that is both a boa and a fur hat, so what is there to complain about? It should go without saying that all Harry Potter cosplayers need this owl with them to make the look a bit more complete, but just in case it needs to be said... well, there you go.
Owlda's dark counterpart is a raven known as Poe. (Told you it was unoriginal.) Poe likes to perch on your avatar shoulder, similar to the Spirit Falcon. Poe can also perch on your head, though in a rather menacing and omni-present kind of manner. The interesting thing is that while Poe is on your head, the wings are outstretched. This creates a kind of Fallen Angelic Headband look while mimicking the Phoenix Circlet in some respects. I just wish the wings were bit lower personally, but you can still make a nice dark head dress out of this pose.
The real selling point for this item is undoubtedly the two dragons! That's right, I said dragons. You get one for each side. A ying for your yang, if you will. Both offer an impressive pet for your avatar, each with stunning detail that we haven't seen in a few years in almost any item. The Light Dragon is a Celtic dragon by design (or Mountain Dragon, for those of you who watched and/or own the Dragons DVD from Animal Planet), but struck me as strangely familiar is the overall appearance of the dragon. It looked like the artists borrowed a few elements from the LUNAR franchise in the look of the Light Dragon. It's as if they took Nall's design and merged Ruby's feminine line work while exploiting the scales of the blue dragon. The Dark Dragon, on the other hand, doesn't really look like a dragon in the complete sense. Those who have been to Neopets would say it looks more like an adult version of the Hissi, since it lacks limbs outside of the wings. A more accurate description of this dragon is that it looks like Melifacent from Sleeping Beauty during that "wall of fire" transformation sequence with just a hint of something from the Yu-Gi-Oh! dragons in there for flavor. The cool thing about these dragons is that they can be duel equip to make it look like they are fighting each other in the background of your avatar. With the amount of armor and other things you can mix and match with, you can easily dress up as the knight who hast dost slain both these dragons! Or, in my case, as the wizard who can summon both to do his will.
Because this item is being played off as a book of magic spells, there are two modes that feature what is known as "Backfired Spells," mostly for humor. Both the dark and light books can turn your avatar into either a frog or a toad. In nature, the difference between the two is size. In Gaia, the difference is that the toad looks like he was hit several times over the head with the Stupid Hammer. Both of these amphibians replace your avatar in every sense of the word. You can't wear clothes, but you get a cute little hopping animation in Towns. One can only wonder where you keep the bugs you get from there, however.
The fact that this item has two different versions of what is in essence the same book is a plus. Gone are the days of counterparts it seems with this item! That being said, to play this off as an actual book of spells, you will want two if you want to look like you are summoning dragons. But if you don't have the cash for it, one will be more than enough for whatever your spell casting needs are. The only downside is that I wish there were more creatures to summon. Each of the various positions of Owlda and Poe could easily be consolidated underneath their respective labels, opening up room for a lot more magical creatures like a demonic black cat or a noble Lion of Light or, hell, even a snake!
Read and Recommend
I think someone in the item design team may have found my last entry. The items this month are not multi-quips, but at the same time they don't relay so heavily on the other options within themselves to make a complete set. You don't need several Summoning Tomes to make it look like you are a mighty wizard; you don't need more than one Plasma Gear to look like a Jedi or Sith. But at the same time, it can't hurt you to duel equip if and whenever possible. This feels like the appropriate step in the right direction as far as future collectibles go.
With that being said, I guess I should ask all those who read this to go ahead and fire off a journal recommendation through that link at the top of the page. It couldn't hurt to get a few more eyes my way, or even that of someone on the design team!
 Zeek Slider · Thu Aug 16, 2007 @ 01:27am · 4 Comments |
