The great unpacking adventure continues....

Continuing to unpack the boxes from Steam Hunt IX and submit the contents to my superficial and ill-informed opinions....

 

 

Stop 31, The Urchin, and this really rather nice SteamHunt Flappter.  I'm a sucker for exotic vehicles, and this is a delightful example of the breed.

 

 

Tree House Treasures at number 32 gives us a "Heart on your Sleeve" sort of ... decorative armband thing.  It has cogs, and they turn.  It's kind of neat.  (Comes in ladies' and gents' versions, the ladies' seen here).

 

I did say I was a sucker for vehicles, right?  The Bitten Prim at 33 gives us this... interesting... way of getting around.  "Nurse Raina", there, I must say, looks really happy to be here.  I suppose, of course, she's got a difficult patient to deal with.

AdelleArts, at number 34, offers a pair of outfits (ladies' seen worn, gents' outfit still in the box).  Must say, I was pleasantly surprised with this one, as it's mesh, it's nice, and above all, it fits.Which so much mesh, still, does not.  As luck would have it, I had reasonably compatible makeup on, too.

 

Stop 35, Cake Fox, and their SteampunkTopHat.  It is... quite a hat.  I managed to resist the urge, though, to go to a theatre and sit in front of someone.

 

Stop 36, *Kismet*, and the Arronax Table and Stools.  Intricate detail on top of a nice efficient mesh object or two, there.  A good thing.

 

 

 Stop 37, MadPea, and the Steam Skull Music Box.  Well, would you expect anything other than eccentric and beautifully made stuff from MadPea?  It plays a tune when the top of the skull flips open.  Sort of.

 

Stop 38, Steaming Ahead, and the Steam Piano.  Despite appearances, this impressive object is not tuneful.  What it offers is a set of couples animations, in tune (as it were) with the "romance" theme of this Hunt as a whole.  Miss Tali Rosca nobly and selflessly volunteered to help me test them.  (Nothing, I hasten to add, unsuitable for the eyes of children, maiden aunts, or innocent clanks.)

 

Stop 39, Arkenstone Fantasy Furniture, and a Resizeable Rug.  Quite a large size for a base, and with a gloriously intricate pattern on it.  Rugs are good.  They make a bare floor much more interesting, do rugs.

 

Stop 40, Izo's, and first obligatory disclaimer about having the creator on my friends list.  Izo Ryba always seems to go for straightforward, neat and decorative when making Hunt items, and this set of three little tables is no exception.  I just hope the photo does justice to the texture work on those tables, actually.

 

Stop 41, Hearth & Home, and the "Steamy Trends" furniture set.  A coalesced object, here, featuring steamer trunk, wingback chair, decorative pictures, working lamp, and that round thing you probably can't see properly, which is a pipe in an ashtray.  All good sound stuff.

 

 Quaint & Curious Contraptions at 42 gives us this Gear Heart Pocket Watch, which probably works a whole lot better if you have, I dunno, pockets or something.  It's neat, anyway.  And yes, it's a working watch, the hands go round and show the right time and everything.

 

Land of Nodd at stop 43 gives us this Steampunk Music Player.  In addition to being a nice decorative thing, it works as a music player, and comes with three songs that you "wear" to load into the player itself.  Its rendition of Abba's "Super Trouper" has to be heard to be believed.  Fun!

Number 44, Spyralle, and the Airship Pilot's Navigational Mask.  It has cogs, so all is well.  I've no idea how it helps you navigate... Tali suggested you take spice with it.  Nice thing, though.  I've got a lot of time for Spyralle, the designs there are unfailingly interesting.

 

Stop 45, Gothic's Musing, and a floating platform with electrical effects, Tesla's Aether Hideout.  Looks good.  Don't know how Tesla is supposed to hide out on it, mind.  You'd think it'd be a bit bad, as a hideout, what with all the flashing lights.  I'm carping.  Or nitpicking.  One of the two.

 

Stop 46, Orchid Petal Designs, and the "Garden After Dark", seen here in broad daylight because my timing is lousy.  It's a huge cog, with trees and flowers in the middle, and seat cushions (and, not shown, a clock) spaced around it.  Another one with romantic couples animations.  Once again Tali nobly steps into the breach to help me demonstrate.

 

 Stop 47, GRSP, and the Clockwork Projector, which is also better seen after dark, I suspect.  (The semi-transparent beam linking the projector and the screen would show up a lot better.)  Intricate design, detailed texture work, turning cogs, editable so you can add your own pictures to the slideshow on the screen... this is a good one.

 

 

 Number 48, Dreamscape Wedding Design, and another furniture set, featuring room divider, candelabra, and this Steampunk Romance Lounge, a couch with, you guessed it, couples animations.  I may have to start paying Tali for her help at this rate.

Lunar Seasonal Designs at 49 give us this Menu Driven Clockwork Koi Pond and Fountain.  This one doesn't have couples animations.  It does, however, have a truly impressive range of menu options for selecting textures on the various components, not to mention adding sculpted moving koi carp to the pond.  All reasonably economical in terms of LI too... this is a highly versatile decorative piece.  And the fountain has a superfluous cog, too, making it unquestionably Steampunk.

Number 50, Aftershok, and this mesh "Love Mask" (it has goggles, too, not shown here).  Well made, but perhaps, err, something for those with specialized tastes!  Personally, I prefer to have my mouth free while making love.  But, y'know, horses for courses and all that.

 

At this point, Tali and I got distracted and went off to do something else.  There will be more, stay tuned.  (I must say, there has been some darn good stuff in the Hunt thus far.  The merchants and designers have done us proud.)

Let's keep the old momentum going, shall we?

At least to the point where I fall flat on my face.

Anyway.  The swag from stops 21 through 30 of the Steam Hunt follows herewith...

Stop 21, the Arcadian Minstrel, with this pianola and accompanying stool.  The stool has a piano-playing animation so you can pretend to be a virtuoso.  The pianola comes with that haunting old ditty, "Come into the Garden, Maud".  I can sing along with that one, you know.  And will unless my demands are met.

 

Stop 22, the Steam Rose.  This place had tentacle monsters, I approve of it.  Also, steampunk dance machines, two of which are rezzed here.  One is empty and stands ready for your input; the other (as you can tell by my posture, perhaps) is preloaded with singles dances.  Nice one.

 

"The Jeweler" outfit from 23, Brain Circuit.  The gentlemen's equivalent is very similar.  Solid traditional-SL outfit - the best feature is probably the multi-lensed glasses with very nice textures on the lenses, which you can't see properly in this photo because I'm rubbish.

 

Stop 24, Entity, gives us an Alchemist Master Cauldron.  Click on it and it stirs itself.  Good detailed textures and a high efficiency build (only 9 LI for the whole thing).  Tali, as you can see, was so moved by it that she rezzed a broomstick to fly around it on.

 

Ladies' and Gents' "Time Explorer" outfits from stop 25, A Rare Vintage.  I am wearing the ladies' version, for reasons which are perhaps understandable.  Must look for a cane-wielding AO if I'm to carry that cane, though.  With my usual ones, I keep brushing winsomely at my hair, which generally results in my sticking the cane through my head. 

 

Stop 26, Virtual Textures, gives us a texture pack.  These things never look exciting when I take a snapshot of the packaging, but they are worth having, and the textures themselves will end up sprayed on something more visually interesting.  Sometime.  When I get back into the swing of some serious building.  I hope.

 

Stop 27, Sanna Science & Art, the animated texture specialists, presented us with two packs of animated textures, from which I have selected two representative objects for display.  In a still image, which kind of defeats the object, really.  I'm behind the golden heart with the flapping clockwork butterflies on it, if you're interested.  (The Pre-Raphaelite looking person is the Lady of Shalott.  I once got in terrible trouble by insisting it was a poem about menstruation, based on the line "'The curse is come upon me', cried the Lady of Shalott."  I was not as sensible then as I am now, which is saying something.  But I digress.)  (And I'm stuck in brackets again!  It's just like old times.)

 

Stop 28, [S & S] Clockworks, mesh writing desk.  Actually, mesh writing desk, coggy chair, and working candle, all in one coalesced object.  Kind of neat, in an unpretentious way.  Another thing that would come in handy if I still had straight walls.

 

Stop 29, the Neo-Victoria RP sim, gives a total of five items in a mini-hunt.  I've rezzed three here; the calendar (choose your month and its image with a click), a sculpt mailbox in green patinated bronze, and a mesh hat for the ladies.  Not pictured; shiny gold mailbox and matching mesh hat for the gentlemen.  A close-up of the calendar follows so you can see the picture for March is different.

 

Stop 30, Ankh Morpork, gives us another mini-hunt, from which we get a small bar, a couple of drinks dispensers, and some bar stools (also a pin and a picture frame, not shown here.  The pin didn't rez, for some reason.  I was getting extremely laggy by this time, it's probably down to that.  You can see from my posture that I'm a bit the worse for wear, can't you?)  Anyway, this is a bit of fun!

 

Further posts along this theme will follow with grim inevitability.  You Have Been Warned.

Back. And on the Hunt.

:: looks around, knocks down cobwebs with handy broom, blows away the dust ::

ka-CHOOOO!

Ahem.  Yes.  Back.  Still not getting the inworld time I'd like, but back.  Shall we talk about many and varied RL misadventures?  Best not.

Shall we talk about things that have happened in my absence, such as specular maps (good idea) or the new Terms of Service (bad idea)?  Or things that have signally failed to happen in my absence, like any movement on the mesh deformer or the issue of second names?  Perhaps.

Or perhaps I should begin with a more traditional sort of post, by my standards.  Yes indeed.

See, two things that lure me back to SL time and again are creativity and Free Stuff.  And both of these may be found in some quantity on the Steam Hunt.  I managed to get in for the whole of Steam Hunt IX, and have even managed to complete it (apart from two stops which are Not Ready Yet).  And, in accordance with immemorial tradition (well, immemorial if your memory is as shocking as mine is), I present, herewith, some of the accumulated loot.

Starting with number 1, which is the Steampunk Information Centre where the very excellent Mr. Perryn Peterson and his invaluable assistants provide all the setting-out info for the Steam Hunts.

The gift here is this eminently practical little bracelet with a copy in miniature of the Hunt item (the traditional Steam Hunt gear).  Why eminently practical?  Because it means the sculpt for that item is pre-rezzed for you when you enter a new sim, so you don't have to spend ages waiting for it to rez before you can even start looking.

 

Moving on to stop 2, Lantian/Flox, which did sort of a mini-hunt, during which I acquired several little necklaces, including that rather nice Celtic one in the second snapshot.  The main prize, though, was the... thing... in the first snapshot.  It's a very nice... thing.  It has revolving hearts and emits heart-shaped puffs of steam.  Still, I'm unable to come up with a more descriptive term for it than... thing.  Maybe if I could work out which way up it went?  Never mind... thing, what does the maker call it?  Ah.  Apparently, it's a "Gadget".  And here was me calling it a... thing.

 

 

Stop 3 is Play Dead, although it still uses Pop Tart and Urban Assault carrier bags for its gifties.  The one here is a little clockwork top hat, with an attached animation, so be warned.  No, I am not giving further details.

 

 

Stop 4, Unrepentant, gives an interesting take on some Steam Hunt staples, namely top hats and pulsating brains in jars.  You don't often see them  combined, as here.  There is a gents' and a ladies' version, the ladies' one being smaller.  I think it is just saying that women wore smaller top hats in the old days, and is not a comment on the size of women's brains.

 

Stop 5, Sinful Temptations, tempts us with this tray of nachos and guacamole dip.  It gives you a nacho if you click it.  I must reluctantly declare it Not Steampunk, however, as the designers have inexplicably failed to glue a superfluous cog onto it somewhere.  The decorative avocado is very nice, though.

 

 

Stop 6, Goddess Fantasies, offers two outfits, one for ladies and one for gents.  I'm standing next to the boxed gents' outfit, and wearing the ladies' one.  Kind of old-school SL, this, though the floofy skirt works rather well.

 

Stop 7, Steam Kitten, gives us this steam-driven winged hat.  I am so out of practice with SL that I forgot which buttons to click, and so wound up wearing nothing but that hat, for a panic-stricken and rather chilly couple of minutes.  Still, it's a hat and a half, that one.  You can't see it in a still piccy, but the wings flap and the eyes blink.  Just the thing for a formal reception, this.

 

Stop 8, Lindy Modern & Retro Shoes, give us... shoes.  Which I needed, being barefoot at this time (see mis-clicking misadventure, previously alluded to.)  Men's and women's mesh boots, the women's ones pictured here.  And jolly nice too, I think.

Stop 9 was Zeitmesser, and the distinctive look of M. Villain Baroque.  This Cupid's Clock gives you the time in two time zones, so you can know when to wake up your long-distance significant other in the middle of his/her night.  It's a very nice piece, actually - fully functional, well scripted, positively gorgeous high-definition textures and a convincing fussy-Victorian visual aesthetic.  Even if you're not into fussy-Victorian (and we all know I'm more of an art deco gal myself), it's still pretty darn gorgeous.  Nice one, M. Baroque.

 

Number 10, Tamiron Forge, and some jewelry from this designer with a barbarian/Gorean touch.  This is the ladies' Heavy Heart necklace, so God alone knows what the men's version must weigh.  Lots of detail, and cogs.  You could not accuse this of not being Steampunk, my goodness me no.

 

In the next one, I'm having my head and my chest poked by some elegantly detailed hatpins from number 11, Amaranthus.  Shows the fine work which I've come to expect from that store.  (Because I'm shamelessly spoiled, of course).

 

Number 12, Eclectic Stars, gives us a necklace with a heart-shaped locket you can open up to display a portrait.  It's editable, so you can add your own picture (or that of your significant other - yes, that might be better), which is nice.

 

Number 13, Hatpins, has ignored the pins and gone straight for the hat.  And quite a hat it is, too.

 

Stop 14, Surface by c.Loon, gives us a texture pack (assorted linen textures).  Well, we all know by now that I'm a sucker for texture packs.

 

(Ahem) Another outfit-switching misclick with number 15, Cog & Fleur, with their lovely rose-tinted goggles for viewing the world through.  And why not?  Male and female versions, the ladies' one pictured here.  I am nothing if not a lady.  Sometimes an accidentally naked lady, but always a lady.

 

!! Never Ever! at number 16 gives us this Radio Hat.  I'm sensing a sort of hatty theme emerging for this Hunt.  Anyway, this is a nice example of the breed.

 

This Specimen Prep Desk from Belle's Cabinet of Curiosities (number 17) comes as a linked set or as a coalesced object (for ease of rearrangement, I guess).  That's a nice touch from the maker, and it's a good-looking piece of furniture (and not a hat), besides.  It would have fitted neatly into my old place on Steam SkyCity (my new one has curved walls, unfortunately).

 

 

Number 18, Dragons' Designs, gives us two straightforward SL system tops, one corset for ladies and one "vest" (it's American for waistcoat) for the men.  You are seeing the men's version here, on account of it doesn't show my boobs.  I said I was a lady, dammit.

 

Number 19, Aster's Builts (I thought they'd closed at some point during a previous Hunt, and am pleased to see I'm wrong about that), offers this imposing and slightly eccentric piece of Steampunk furniture.  You sit in it.  As I am doing there.

 

Number 20 is the ineffable Grim Bros., and they provide this most excellent Steam-driven Skateboard.  OK, so I rode it off the island and down to the sea bed by accident, but that's not the skateboard's fault, is it?  Anyway.  Well up to Grim's standards and its... interesting... design aesthetics.

 

So there we go.  I have boxes from more than a hundred more stores to open, so I doubt not that there will be many interesting finds along the way.  And hats.  I bet there will be more hats.