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Fog and Flower
Well, it’s that time of the month again. No, not that time of the month. The other time. The time when we Gaians are given a choice between two very different items. And this month’s offerings are… well… to be perfectly honest, I’m not impressed by either of them. <span id="test26957833">. . .</span><br/><div id="post26957833" style="display:none; margin-right:75px;">
Black Fog from a Holy Relic
The Voracious Fog is an evil cloud of darkness sure to please anyone who is a fan of that kind of thing. And by the very definition of the word, it will consume any soul it can through various means.
The fog itself is kept in an urn of sorts. It’s default option is on the floor, though it can be held by hand. You have the option of either keeping the fog contained in its black urn or releasing it to consume whomever is unfortunate enough to become its next meal.
Life Choke may give you a foggy scarf and cape combination, but it is designed to look rather constricting on your avatar. It actually reminds me of one of the Jack Capes from the past Halloweens on Gaia. Only, you know, more depressing with its drooping smoke design and its grey color pallet. The solid portions of this option could be used as a rather high collar, but the smoke whiffs is what you’ll be trying to work around/with.
Heart Consume is how this evil cloud attacks those who have been emotionally scarred. It opens a wound across the entire front torso similar in design to the Scar of the Martyr you get from zOMG! Only it’s black a night and is emitting fog. Combine this with a closed or dead pair of eyes for an extra punch to the sad truth that you’ve become emotionally dead and are being eaten alive by your own emotional darkness.
Mind Consume targets individuals who think too much about their situation. It attacks the brain and produces a dark cloud that just hovers around your head. Tentacle-like whiffs of smoke make their way to various points of your skull like the temple and your frontal brow. In some way, it looks like it is giving you a kind of twisted massage. Only instead of relieving you from stress, it is causing it.
Body Consume appears to be how it attacks everyone else. It starts at your feet and works it way up until it reaches your waist. From there, it starts to wrap around you until it has consumed you entirely. While this option may be a nice way to finally cosplay as Aku from Samurai Jack, it is rather tame compared to the next option.
Heavy Burden is what happens when you let the darkness and sadness finally consume your soul. Your aura goes dark, darker than even the Dark Elves, and the fog begins to consume your physical being. But this point, one of your legs is already missing and it is working on one of your hands. It’s a two-prong attack, so while it consumes you from below, it is also consuming you from the head down sucking you into the black aura that surrounds you.
Thankfully, if you are able to fight this off, you are given a Brume. Basically it is the dark aura that surrounds you like a halo without the whole consuming your body thing. Think of it as your personal rain cloud to indicate to passer-bys that you’re the eternal pessimist.
Foreboding Wings is a pair of fog wings in a rather dark cloud design. Ho hum. Moving on.
Overall, I’m rather pleased with the design of this item and its many options. The thumbnails do kind of become confusing, as the one for Mind Consume kind of looks like it would give you a wig instead of a hat, but that’s a minor thing. I just wish we didn’t have the wings in it and that it included some kind of ominous fog demon. Still, it’s worth the trouble of acquiring.
That Pink Flower Animes Love
Cherry Blossom. The Japanese and spring-time counterpart to the Winter Rose. It is similar in offerings with the main difference being the color.
The default option is as a giant Cherry Blossom hat. Unfortunately, if you’ve seen one giant flower hat, you’ve seen them all.
Petal Wreath gives you a bridal headband of cherry blossoms. Again, if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.
Petal Collar gives you what I can best determine as a color made to look like your head is coming out of a cherry blossom. I think this was designed with the guys in mind, what few that wear pink. Though I can see it being used by girls as a kind of accent for a modest top. Personally, I think it just looks silly on me.
Boutonniere gives you a cherry blossom designed pin for your vest or dress. Nothing new here.
Petal Dress gives you… well, a petal dress. While this isn’t anything new, I’m actually please that they went with a shorter skirt design compare to the longer bridal design of the Winter Rose. It keeps this item in the cute genre while still being appealing to those that like to show off their shoes. What I bet a lot of people will find interesting is the fact that it comes with its own belt, which is a yellow ribbon rope designed after the pollinating organs of the flower.
Petal Wings offers you… Yeah, I think I’ll stop there. You’ve gotten the point by now. And to be honest, I’m getting tired of these wing motifs. It was fine when they actually started putting effort into them, but these days? Sorry. On top of that, they don’t really look like wings so much as they look like you have four petals sticking out of your back. Neopets did a better job of designing wings that looked like flower petals, so why can’t Gaia’s team?!
Petal Shower is essentially what the Winter Rose wanted to be but ultimately couldn’t. Hell, other items have tried before in the past like the Grace of Aphrodite and The Lusty Scoundrel with similar options. But I guess they couldn’t compare to the actual flower showering over a person in a romantic and beautiful design that I’ve only seen a million times over. I mean, they did it in Heroes… TWICE!!
The only cool part about this particular petal shower is the Hanami option. Here, you actually get smaller petals and a branch of the cherry tree hanging over your avatar. Creative users will no doubt try to construct the beautiful geisha image with the paper parasol just over their shoulders like in the ancient woodblocks. Or even the romantic samurai waiting for this love only to ultimately find out that she has left this world while he was away in the war. It opens up a lot of possibilities that a simple petal shower never really had. The only thing I find odd is that there isn’t a background attached to this option. And there isn’t really one that fits it either, unless you use The Lusty Scoundrel.
Overall, this item is rather generic in its offerings and its design. The one saving grace it has is the option to have the cherry tree show in the option that it will probably be used the most out of. I rarely see anyone actually wearing the flower dresses we have available, and those that do are few and far between.
A Dark Romance
Between the two items this month, I can’t really say that one is better than the other. They are both rather generic, but even that can be avoided. The fog is nicely designed which helps avoid the generic idea of a black fog of evil. The cherry blossom, on the other hand, has probably a few nice elements to it but overall is rather unavoidably generic.
So this month’s winner for me is the fog, which is a shame because I’ve always wanted a cherry tree in my backyard because of these blossoms. Oh well. I guess I’m just tired of all these flower motifs.</div>
 Zeek Slider · Thu Apr 16, 2009 @ 02:05am · 0 Comments |
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