Avatars and Identity (Part 1)

There's a blogger challenge thing going around.  People are looking back at how they looked in their newbish days.  I've wanted to do a post like this for a while, and a combination of the challenge and nostagia from the end of a decade has given me the push I needed.  See, as a furry, my SL identity is linked closely to the avatar I wear.  More than clothes, more than a skintone, more than hair.  With the right avatar, I feel like "me".   So here begins part one of the history of my quest for "me" in SL.

When I first joined SL, I didn't stick around long.  For the two or three days I was on, I was a human avatar with system hair, system shoes, and system skin.  Oh, and angel wings (partially due to my aversion to playing human characters, and partially because of the name I picked).  I didn't pick the furry avatar at signup because... well, I still have nightmares about those eyes.  At this point in time, the quality of free avatars a newbie fur could hope for was.... yeah.... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v23/timechaser/Snapshot_048.png  So I ran off to IMVU, where I made stuff for a good while.

When things at IMVU went sour (trust me, IMVU staff makes Linden Labs look like a gift from above), a few friends and I jumped back into SL.  I was extremely fortunate this time around because Wingless Emoto's free avatars were just begining to make the rounds.  So now, with friends to roam the grid with and finally furry, I stuck around.




Now that I was enjoying SL, I felt comfortable enough to buy some lindens. The Wingless avatar was nice, but it didn't feel right.  And it was a little too "toony" for my tastes.  Actually, most furry avatars at the time tended to look really cartoonish.  The only one with enough realism for my taste was the Werehouse.


Continued beyond the break

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First Steps

After a couple false starts, some experiments with codes and graphics, and a new computer, I think I'm finally ready to get my paws wet. Yeah. Paws.


Hi, I'm Alexiel Magnolia. I love Second Life fashion, and taking pictures of my avatar. I also identify as a furry, both in real life and SL. While a lot of people might put on a furry avatar now and then but be human (or a neko, or elf, etc) most of the time, I spend most of my time fuzzy with only occasional human skins, usually with a tail or other wolfy parts so I don't feel too weird.

I have several reasons for making this blog, which I'll probably be getting into within the next couple of posts. But most of all, it's just because I'd love to see more furry (and other non-human) Second Life bloggers.

Too often I see an amazing outfit on the feeds, only to realize it really wouldn't look good anything but a human avatar (and a tall and skinny one at that). Fashion's a little different when your avatar's a little different, so let's see clothing and accessories in new ways (if you're a Bare@Rose fan like me, check out the wonderful Serenity Semple's flickr for images of how new BR releases look like on furry avatars). And then of course there's the eternal struggle of fitting hair on my big head, and the disappointment of no mod items.

If you've a furry or other non-human SL blogger, or know of one, please send me a link! I see plenty of furs when I'm out shopping (at all the awesome stores, at least), so I think it's time for us to really participate in Second Life's fashion community.

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