Building the perfect neko

September 6th, 2008 at 03:15pm Ryan Darragh

I had a hell of a time finding a neko skin I liked.  I looked all around, asked people for recommendations, tried on demos like you wouldn’t believe.  My thing was, I wanted a skin that, kitty markings aside, would also look good as a skin on its own.  I wanted a skin that still left me looking like Ryan, but not Ryan turned feral.  What about neko tattoos? you may be wondering.  You’re right, some of those look very good, and of course the big plus is that you can wear them with your favorite skin.  This approach may well work for you.  But I wanted markings on my face, too, and what if I wanted to wear them with some specific clothing and I had a layer conflict?  What if I wanted to wear other tatoos?  What if I wanted to wear them with underwear?  (Nekos get nasty, too, you know.)  Maybe, if they came on all the clothing layers…  No, what I really wanted was a skin.  A really good neko skin.

I honestly don’t remember just how I ended up at Hybrid.  I know I had been looking around for several days at that point, so it may have been another hit in Search, but I have this nagging suspicions that it may have been a recommendation from someone.  If so, thank you!  Because it was there that I found the “Hybrid” neko skins by Philo Sion.  They looked pretty damn good to me in the ad artwork–lots of things do–but when I tried on the demo, I was sold.  First of all, the face looks like me, and not some Island of Dr. Moreau mutation of me.  That’s a definite plus!  The body artwork is smoothly detailed, although certainly not “built”; there’s no six-pack here.  That works fine for me, and a lot of nekos are slight if not delicate, anyway.  And the markings markings are bold, striking and quite attractive, if I do say so myself.  The “Hybrid” neko skins are available in male and female versions, five skin tones each (“Dawn” is shown here), in sets that include spotted and striped skins.  L$650 for a single skin tone or L$2000 for the big set that includes all five tones, ten skins total.  At Hybrid (Glass Earth 134, 186, 23).

With a pleasing neko skin finally in my inventory, I would next need cat eyes.  I had looked at eyes by a handful of different designers, but hadn’t found anything that excited me.  If I was going to be a cat, I wanted eyes that were actually beautiful and cat-like, not just human eyes with vertical-slit pupils.  As luck would have it, Arkesh Baral recently released her Ephemeral Neko Eyes at Ephemeral Creations.  Once again the ad artwork was promising, and once again I was not disappointed–these eyes are gorgeous, with beautiful highlights and real depth and variation in the iris detailing.  You can choose from 40 different colors, and each set includes “standard” eyes with realistic and brighter whites as well as prim eyes in several different sizes.  These are my first prim eyes and I’m still playing with them, so the standard eyes are shown here.  Priced at L$149 for a single color and available at Ephemeral Creations (Noul 246, 225, 651).  When I was at the shop, there were two colors available as freebies.

While I was shopping, I couldn’t help but notice Arkesh’s Natural Neko Whiskers.  I’ve done without whiskers until now, partly because I didn’t feel they were essential to being identifiably “neko”, partly because here again the whiskers I had found so far didn’t quite work for me.  These looked great on the vendors, and I was thinking Well, maybe when I turned around, saw another set of vendors, and realized that Arkesh also had “redhead” whiskers.  And not just solid red, or blonde tinted to red–truly, interestingly red, with colors shading from dark brown through red and orange to bright white.  Of course they come in a wide range of other colors, too, and each set includes brow and nose whiskers in a number of “thicknesses” (number of flexi strands).  L$149 a set at Ephemeral Creations (Noul 246, 225, 651).   I’m a whore for impulse purchases, not to mention accessories, so while I was there I also grabbed the “Has Milk” collar set I’m wearing here.  For L$249, you can choose from a variety of leather colors and metal finishes, and each includes male and female versions, with and without the paw design on the milk bottle.

No neko is complete without kitty ears and tail.  I’ve looked around a fair bit, and although I do own some other neko ears I find myself coming back time and again to my old friend, the Neko Ears and Tail set by Zoe Llewelyn.  They’re fairly simple but very appealing in design, scripted for different levels of “twitch” activity and flexi for realism.  Both spotted and striped versions are available in a huge range of colors, and they’re moddable so you can tint them to match your hair more closely.  They’re priced at L$225 for one set (spotted or striped in all colors), or L$400 for both styles in all colors.  I’ve been wearing these for ages and I love ‘em.  You can get yours at Jungle Voodoo (Temenos 145, 41, 43).

Since for the sake of showing off the skin’s markings I decided to go with tee and shorts, I wanted some neko-appropriate casual shoes to complete the look.  I found what I was looking for in beanster Potato’s “Kitties” skateshoes at Ducknipple.  These are (hey, I’ll say it) cute, stubby little sneaks with paw-prints decorating the sides and laces.  A cartoon-style “happy cat” face smiles at you from the side as well.  Dirty scrunched-up prim socks are also included, although you may want to add short socks underneath so your ankles don’t show through (here I’m wearing the SF Design freebie ankle socks, which come in a pack of several different colors, albeit without their own prim tops).  L$150 at Ducknipple (Ducknipple 68, 192, 31).

Now I was satisfied that, at long last, I had gotten the look down pretty well.  What about the moves?  After all, cats don’t move like people, so why should a neko move like a regular boy?  Something radical was definitely called for.  I dug into my collection of Landmarks I Might Need Again Someday and, after a lengthy search, found the one I was looking for: AV Puli Animations.   I knew I had tried out some neko anims there at some point and was pretty sure you could buy them bundled into an AO.  My memory did not betray me…this time, anyway.  The AV Puli Neko AO by Pulaski Fizz includes a total of 16 different animations, including five animated stands, five different walks (some are crawls), and two animated sits, a relaxed pose for sitting on objects and an alert crouch for sitting on the ground.  The AO package uses the ZHAO II interface and is priced at L$1000; the animations are also available individually.

In case you were wondering, the Neko Floor Cushion Posy and I are using for our little picnic was created by Ivy Graves.  It has two seated poses and one napping pose.  Available in Brown (as shown) and Black for just L$100 at Atomic Kitty (Atomic 114, 112, 33).  Or you may prefer the Neko Window Sleeper with its, shall we say, more affectionate poses for L$150.

The title of this post aside, I really don’t mean to suggest that I have somehow come up with the “perfect” set of neko accessories.  I do like all of these items, and I recommend them for your consideration, but there’s a lot of other great stuff out there–so much that there’s no way to cover it all here.  This stuff is just what makes Ryan a happy kitty.  Consider it a starting point for your own feline journey. 

Disclosure: Seen in World: Yes | Review Copy: No | Friends List: No

Notes: On Ryan: "Al" hair by Din Raymaker (Uncleweb Studio). Gray Skull shirt by beanster Potato (Ducknipple). SubZero cargo shorts and GearShift boxer briefs by Donovan Brennen (GearShift). On Posy: "Classic - Carbon" skin by Gala Phoenix (Curio). "In Space" hair by Rita Groshomme (Curio). White Neko Ear & Tail set by Wynx Whiplash (ExtroVirtual Headquarters). White Whiskers by Noam Sprocket (Gritty Kitty). Purr Girl Tee (Miau Haus) and Posy-Dukes shorts (Civvies) are her own designs. Gray Knee-hi Tubesocks by Starley Thereian (Celestial Studios). PornStar Xtra Hi-Tops by Coke Dreadlow (Urban Bomb Unit). Belted Collar in Black by Ivy Graves (Atomic Kitty).

Entry Filed under: AV Puli Animations,Animations,Atomic Kitty,Casual,Ducknipple,Ephemeral Creations,Eyes,Fantasy,Hybrid,Jewelry,Neko,New Items,Roleplay,Shoes,Skins,Socks,Uncleweb Studio