I know, we just started the blog this week, but we found a better place to put our posts. Easier to use and looks nicer, and you can see the pictures lots better. go check it out!
http://manicliquor.blogspot.com/
Love
Abby and Voddy
Absinthe’s Thoughts:
In Second Life, there are many different types of businesses. The easiest type of business, and one could also say laziest, is being a reseller. Being a reseller is where you buy items from other creators in bulk and resell them at a higher price from either one location or various locations. Im not saying that this kind of business is bad, but in fact the way you go about it is what could make it a shady business. Ive never had a problem with resellers until today. I wandered into a store called TNY… at first glance I thought “ok a shoe creator who buys full permission sculptie shoe sets” then I walked further in the store and was shocked by what I saw… this reseller named Tango Bingyi is reselling clothing from Last Call, I’m not sure if any of you are old enough on the grid to remember what Last Call was, but the story in short is that Last Call was a popular store in Second Life. The designer was super talented in making clothes and paved the way for creators to start using attachments and sculpties in their creations. The store closed down due to a tragedy and one of the main creators of Last Call was killed in Real Life. Last Call was never a creator that allowed for reselling of their clothing, in-fact all of the stuff was no transfer right up until the end that the other creator made everything no copy and transfer so. To me Tango has taken advantage of someones tragic death to make a profit, and on top of it he doesn’t even give credit to Last Call, he claims these creations as his own and has branded the clothing as TNY.
His store is all over the place, I was confused whether I was in a reseller store of a copybotter’s store. Some of his stuff is labeled as the original creator, where other items are labeled as TNY which its still obvious that he didn’t create these items. To top it all off nothing is consistent, he got different styles of clothing such as punk, classy, casual, and shoes, and furniture, and a giant cartoon turtle?.. did I just discover the first Second Life Wal-Mart?
I think this guy needs to come into his own and start to make his own stuff instead of buying everyone else’s and branding them TNY, or start giving the REAL creators credit. He has even gone so far as to steal an idea from one of the popular sky-boxes on the grid called New York Sky-box.. the sky-box has a window in it that when you look out seems like you are looking across the New York landscape. Tango has put this same idea at the front of his store. Just cause your name has New York in it doesn’t mean you have the right to take the New York Sky-box idea.Even his store name is unoriginal, Tango New York? Does he even live in New York or is he just ripping off the Maybelline New York makeup campaign. All I know is I wouldn’t spend a cent in this rip off store, and id advise the same for everyone else.
Below you will see pictures of the Last Call rip offs and the comparison of the New York Apartment and TNY’s store front.
Love
Absinthe
Vodka’s Thoughts:
Yet another cluster fudge of mess. Walking in you get shoes in your face like President Bush did. None of the shoes were innovative, so i passed them right by. The only creative thing about the shoes was one single ad up above the kiosk. Next, when I saw the Last Call outfits that I bought from Last Call itself (FOR WAY CHEAPER THAN HIS RIP OFF PRICE) I almost keeled over. I got so angry I told Ab I had to leave. In the distance I heard someone else complaining about his shoes. She said she spent L600 and nothing looked right. All I did was TP out. I’m glad items weren’t copybotted, but it’s a shame you put your name on someone else’s creations, considering the situation with Last Call, he should have done a memorial wall and shown the story WITH the creator’s partner’s permission. We were all heartbroken when the story of Last Call came out. The Last Call/Celestial/ETD sims closed down in memorial. Since then, I haven’t seen ONE thing that comes close to the quality of Last Call and Tango should be ashamed to put his name on their creations. They were not his, and I hope he is asked over and over to replicate it, because he can’t. Looking at his furniture store…I wonder what’s really his.
One store not to visit.
Bar closed on this one.
Voddy
Vodka’s Thoughts:
Zooby’s Animals and Zooby’s babies created by Carrie Tatsu and JS Greenwood. All of their creations are high in detail and scripted “smart.” Ab and I visited the Animal store together and again, spent an hour or so going back and forth trying to figure out which animal to buy. I really wanted the monkey (if anyone wants to get it for me) but couldn’t pass up the cute black pug in a bag. From dogs to cats to dragons, to reptiles, Zooby’s has it all. The smaller pets are available as a floor version or carry version (then there’s cat in a carrier and dog in a carrier). The larger pets (as well as some of the small) have a ‘smart system’ installed where people can pet them, you can ride them, it acts as security, and roams freely. Price ranges from 600-3,000L, which is a super bargain in my eyes.
Today I ran by the baby store and fell in love with the adorable children they have. Below are snapshots. The babies are loaded with artificial intelligence, sounds, different outfits, interact with their cribs, and even you! The artificial intelligence allows you to put certain toys on the ground and click them while the baby is crawling or sitting around, and the baby will crawl to the toy and start to play. You can set it to follow you, or someone else. Very smart and super adorable!!
The furniture in the store is adorable as well and shows that the creators are not only limited to animals and babies, but furniture that’s irresistible! Though I do think they need more of a selection with interactive toys for the babies, I have a feeling that is in the works as the baby store is only half full.
To me, the BEST THING about this partnership is that they list in their profile WHO their lawyers are! I find this very intelligent and possibly a little scare tactic for copybotters out there. They have every right to put their representation in their profiles and prosecute anyone wanting to steal from them.
Double shot from me to them! (that’s a good thing)
Voddy
Absinthe’s Thoughts:
I’ll add in another 4 shots of liquor to go with Voddy cause if this store was alcohol I would be loaded off my ass from all of her yummy creations. I couldn’t decide what animal to get, I spent a good hour running around looking at them all and doing lots of sighing because I wanted to buy everything, but I really cant afford that because all the ones I wanted were like 1500-3000L. High price tag, but the intelligence that these little creatures possess is well worth it.
I ended up buying the pug in the bag and the poster doesn’t do it justice, this does not happen to often but the product is 10 times better then the advertisement for it. I love my new puppy and I am never going to take it off! I was even able to customize it and make the bag PINK! Voddy knows if anything is pink I will buy it!
Over all I think this is one of my top favorite stores, the creators are always coming out with new stuff and their is something for everyone here, Zooby’s even has mystical pets like dragons, snakes, and spiders (I considered getting a spider to make Voddy run screaming from me). whenever I have the urge for a new companion I will definitely be shopping at Zooby’s the best pet store in Second Life.
Love
Absinthe
Absinthe’s Thoughts:
Myself and Voddy were doing our usual rounds tonight by looking for new stores and we got an instant message from someone telling us to go check out a designer who claimed that she’s one of the top designers in SL, SexyEyes Valkyrie (owner of A Fantasy) apparently was renting some land or a small market stall from this person, and claimed she doesn’t have time to join the markets update group and on top of that claimed it was the marketplace owners job to notify her personally about any updates. I have been in Second Life long enough, and have rented stalls from marketplace owners enough times, that I know its your own responsibility to keep track of the updates of the sim or marketplace. So anyways, me and Voddy decided to go check out this pre-madonna’s store.
The name A Fantasy first rang a bell in my head because I think I remembered the name from when I was new to Second Life, so I thought, well if I remember the name then the stuff might be good. We walked in and the store is so enclosed it almost made me take a panic attack in Real Life because it was major claustrophobic. The design of the store wasn’t all that good, the layout flat out sucked, the ceiling was so low that it blocked your view of everything on the walls, although that may be a good thing cause the clothing is repulsive. Shes charging 600L for an outfit that looks like it was made from the Second Life default textures and no Photoshop work at all. I think her goal is to rip off noobs, cause that’s what its starting to seem like. But wait, if you walk around a bit you find that she may have something nice to buy, her necklaces look really good in the posters so I decided even after seeing the noob wall of clothing, that I would buy one, that was a waste of 150L. When you put the necklace on its an ugly prim that looks like cardboard around your neck and then the jewel on it is just a texture, there is no detail or prim work on it, its ugly! major false advertisement. The owner of the store has been in the grid since 2004, you think she would know what a Nano prim is, or by now a Sculptie prim. Maybe she’s just one of them people that refuses to get with the times. If this woman is a top designer in Second Life, then lots of people must be blind or stupid.
There is one thing that I will say I liked, and that’s the funny looking characters from a cartoon called Reboot. I think that maybe Ms.Valkyrie should stick to making gag items like this cause she definitely doesn’t have any other talent for creating things in Second Life. Noobs beware this store is trying to steal your money!!
Love
Absinthe
Vodka’s Thoughts:
Ab, I’m the one who screamed claustrophobia! Facing the store the hallway leading in is covered with posters and magazine stands. Walking in, the ceiling almost hit me in the head, and I’m short! I have a feeling, or at least hope, that noobs are NOT thinking her items are a great price. You can get more detailed and more original things elsewhere. I also bought a necklace and had to trash it. If i wanted a photo on a prim, I would have done it myself. I took the pink shoe photo because it shows where prims don’t line up, and how maybe Photoshop was used to try to hide the fact that the shoes were poorly made, but if that’s the case, it wasn’t done well.
I do give credit to the avatars in the shop, but did notice they were not made by her. While we were shopping, someone with her last name showed up. I figured there was a spy script in the store who heard us having a mental breakdown and they came to check it out, but when I cammed out, it was her partner, Lightwave Valkyrie, who actually makes the avatars. Now, of course I’m not sure if this is her, in male form, but by talent, I would think not.
I USED to buy her shoes in ’06 when color change was the number one script and I could have one pair of shoes in all different colors, but after reading and hearing about this pre-madonna (perfect word for her outburst Ab) and going in to see that nothing was updated and the prices on the clothes were outrageous (notice the red gown…600L) I feel like I was scammed. Well, luckily I will never fall for it again, and hope no one else will! I do think that 99.99999% of this store (not including the avatars) should be set for free or demolished. I’d love to see her sales stats and buy everyone who likes her creations, a new monitor. Ab, I don’t think Noobs will be ripped off, but perhaps she’s mugging noobs for their clothes. Beware, bad designer, bad personality!
Voddy
Vodka’s Thoughts:
For those of you who like random looks, random items, and random good laughs, go see -RC- Cluster! I found this store about a year ago, and thought it had closed at one point, but it had just closed so it could expand. How happy was I? So I dragged Ab in for her first visit, which lasted over an hour of testing out poses, taking pictures, and laughing our pixels off! You name it, they have it! For those of you who “roleplay” real life – you can pick a room, any room, of a house and set it up in your house.
This store participates in 50L Fridays, so I bought myself a clothes washer, drier, and laundry baskets for 50L. Why?? BECAUSE I LOVE RANDOM!! There’s a table of freebies so you can blow your nose, strap some glasses on (my new every-day glasses are shown), ride a weenie (not that kind) or visit the “Adult Room” where you can purchase prim pubes, and dye-able prim pubes, armpit hair, etc.
From normal to wacky this store belongs on the top shelf. It shows ultimate creativity, and that’s what me and Ab like to see!
Voddy
Absinthe’s Thoughts:
I had Tons of fun in this store, even if Voddy kept yelling at me every 5 minutes to go sit on a pose with her to take pictures.. hehe.. it was fun checking out all the different area’s behind each window, which by the way are also cool themselves, when you walk close to a window it turns on, kinda like in Real Life when you get close to the freezers in the grocery store. I think my favorite thing in this store was the pose where I got held upside down to drink out of a keg. After all this is Manic Liquor, any store that got a keg in it gets to go to the top of our list! The only thing i’d say that freaked me out a little (that may not be a bad thing) was the prim pubic hair.. umm hahaha… yea.. that’s all I have to say about that, if you think that might gross you out at all do what the curtain says.. stay out. Other then that I did end up with a profile picture from one of the poses, if your ever in Second Life look up my profile and check it out, its cute with a little bit of humor to it!
Love
Absinthe
Twisting around at the Circus
Forever
Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!
We used to make forts as kids, now look!
Ladies man? This pose is for you!
I seee youuu!
I loved her randomness!
We're a little short!
Absinthe’s Thoughts:
Shiny things has been the first nice shoe store that I found when I started Second Life almost 3 years ago. I still to this day wear their boots with all of my outfits. Most stores in Second Life I eventually get bored of and then most the time think the stuff looks cartoonish after newer and better stuff comes out, but Shiny Things still looks high quality to me even after all this time. This is the main reason why Shiny Things get put into the top of the shelf, and because of their high quality textures and inventive shapes and awesome colour combinations. I also think that Shiny Things was one of the first shoe stores that came out with nice looking sculptie shoes. Fallingwater Cellardoor has been part of the grid since october 11th 2003 and she seems to be able to keep up with the on going changes in Second Life, such as the sculptie prim which came out back in either 2007 or 2008. Shiny Things does not seem to come out with many new releases, but when it does they are usually good, and I kind of like the fact that she doesn’t have new things every two days, makes it look like its not some prepackaged company with 8 or 9 different people working under the same name. Another section of her store sells jewelry, although I don’t like it as much as I do her shoes, its still good stuff. I have many times over the last few years, found myself going to shiny things just to get a bridal bouquet, either for myself or for friends, because I think they are the cutest ones and most detailed in Second Life. Aside from her shoe store she also has a flower shop that has oversized flowers shaped in a unique way and really bright colours, you can buy them in 4 different sizes, and she also has a section with other plants that look sort of alien like.
I have attached a few pictures below of shoes I had bought and some pictures of the outside and inside of her store.
Love,
Absinthe
Vodka’s Thoughts:
I couldn’t agree more on the quality of her creations. She is a very creative person that always takes the first step in new fashion. I also like the fact that she’s not always coming out with new items, however, I think the frequency could be a little more. If i take a break from shopping there for a couple months, and go back, there’s still nothing new. What she has is amazing, not only her shoes and jewelry, but her flower selection outside of her mainstore. If you’re looking for innovative outdoor creations, wacky (large flowers) or normal flowers, she has a great selection, as well as trees. Ab knows I looove crazy things (check out the -RC- Cluster post) and she knowwws I love the large flowers that color change. Fountains and outdoor furniture included, it’s all two thumbs up! The wedding bouquets are unique because they have a walking AO included in them, that keeps your hands on the flowers and lets you walk. I’ve found a lot of other places have a sexywalk within the flowers, but your flowers are flopping by your side. She got it right!
Voddy
Absinthe’s Thoughts:
Myself and Voddy have been around Second Life for quite awhile, close to 3 years or even a little more, and I have always had the hardest time finding jewelery. its either looks good on the posters, and then looks like cardboard on, or its so plain looking that I get tired of it after wearing it for 5 minutes. July 12th 2007, was a great day on the grid, because this is the day when Zaara Kohime was rezzed for the first time into Second Life, sometime later she opened up her store named {Zaara}. She is not only talented and can make various items, such as clothing, wedding apparel, and scarfs, but she is by far the best designer for jewelry in Second Life. The way she forms her prims and puts colours together is beautiful. every piece is well worth the price because you can definitely tell she spend hours upon hours making this stuff look as detailed as it does. Even her store is built with detail, her textures are just as rich on her walls as they are on her clothing. My pockets are pretty much filled with lint now because I don’t have any more lindens cause I spent them all at this store.
Look below for some pictures of her store and items that I bought.
Love
Absinthe
Vodka’s Thoughts:
I found Zaara quite a while ago, when I was looking for an Indian look. I fell in love with what she had then in her small shop. The first thing I bought was a scarf. Next thing I know, months later, I walk into Maitreya and find someone walking around with the same scarf and see headpieces by Zaara. I was in shock and so excited it was the same Zaara I had been to before. Needless to say, I went back to her store, this time, brand new, on her own Sim. She moved along to creating casual clothing and more jewelry. I fell in love all over again! I like eclectic/Bohemian style and she had it all! From her jewelry to her casual and formal clothes. She’s mixed modern with cultural and come up with beautiful pieces of art. This will always be my number 1 store!
Voddy
Absinthe’s Thoughts:
I came across a store called Wishbox, and I think this store has really cute accessories, and clothing. her clothes are made very fairy tail like with a bit of a Gothic edge to them. I think the detail in her clothing and textures is really cute and her accessories are unique but can also be mixed and matched with other creators items to make them also look more unique. I know that my biggest thing in Second Life is trying to look different then everyone else, I don’t like walking around like a barbie doll clone model for the bigger stores such as Armidi. I truly think its these smaller stores such as Wishbox, and Pink Fuel that give people a chance to form their own unique style. The coolest feature about this store, is the mix and match wall for the gypsy dress (pictured below), you can pick the different colours of different layers to make your own custom dress. My favorite item though, would have to be the Lolita doll crown, because I am a princess after all! it is also pictured below, and the best thing about it, its colour change so again you can customize it to your avatar!
Check out the pictures below of Wishbox store and items that I bought.
Love
Absinthe
Vodka’s Thoughts:
I bought a fairy outfit from here quite a while ago. It was for a photo-shoot, but I ended up wanting to wear it everywhere. After checking back in this time, I fell in love with the maroon Victorian looking outfit, with the short skirt (pictured below). You can wear it formal or funky, which makes Wisp Jinn‘s outfits very versatile. The back of the store has fairy outfits, Renaissance outfits/Gorean Free Woman outfits and slave outfits. Beautifully detailed and put together. Can’t beat it for the price. A lot of designers would charge an arm and a leg, but I definitely think her pricing is a lot better than most creators that sell the same style of clothing.
Voddy
Absinthe’s Thoughts:
I was wandering around Second Life™ these first few hours in the day looking for some accessories to make my character look more unique and I came across a really cute and inventive store called Pink Fuel. The creator of the store is Mochi Milena. Her store itself is well designed with a eye catching colour scheme. when I walked in I immediately was drawn to the little stuffed animals that can be worn on all different attachments on your body. They are different then anything I have seen in the 3 years I have been part of this virtual world. Their uniqueness made me wanna buy them all, but I kept some lindens in my pocket and bought just one set. I also bought a bunny backpack (shown in picture below) and a pop-tart that attaches to my mouth, which makes my belly growl in Real Life. The store has numerous other odds and ends, such as cherries that hang from your mouth, a big sad but cute bunny that you can sit on, heart shaped glasses, leg warmers, eye patches, and a few other things. Once I was done buying the whole bottom floor I walked up and came across her skin line. I was hesitant at first because alot of skin designers spend more time photoshopping their ads and making the skins look amazing on the poster but when put on it looks like a totally different skin. Anyways, I tried on a demo and the face on the skin is really nicely done. The makeup is also unique like the rest of her creations, and it looks really good with my shape. I took some pictures of my favorite makeup, they are just demo’s right now because I cant decide which one I want, but you can still see the good craftsmanship.
I havnt spoken to Mochi yet, but from first impression of her store she seems like she has fun creating things here in Second Life™.
check out the pictures below!
Love
Absinthe
Vodka’s Thoughts:
I didn’t check out the skin, only saw photos from Ab’s post, but aside from that I think the number one product in her store is the backpack. It was the first thing that caught my eye as well. Though I fought back my urge to buy them, I did buy the cherries that hang out of your mouth. They come in 2 separate sets, one with skulls and one regular. 70L is what I paid, which is HALF of what I paid at The Golden Fleece (by the designer of LeLutka jewelry). I thought the animal attachments were really cute, but didn’t see anything super special or eye catching. The setup and colors were amazing. I love the pink she used.
Voddy
Dear Readers,
This is the start of a new blog made just for all you Second Life™ people who enjoy a little bit of dirt mixed with a whole lot of truth, or as what we like to call here at Manic Liquor, poison!!! This blog will be used to target Second Life™ creators. We have three categories: The top shelf, which is for the creators who have awesome designs or great personalities or just in Second Life™ to have fun creating things, or all of the above. Next category is the middle shelf, which is for up and coming creators that have plenty of potential to get to the top shelf. The Last category, and possibly the most important one, is the bottom of the barrel, where we will show everyone the truth about the creators with bad attitudes, copiers, money hungry bullies who pick on other peoples creations and don’t do anything for their customers or for other creators. This list may at times also include but is not limited to: groups, organizations, clubs, charity groups, and fashion/modeling agency’s.
Manic Liquor will give you nothing but the truth whether its good or bad, so pick your poison.
Contact us in world if you have a creator that you would like us to write about. Send a notecard to either Absinthe Blindside or Vodka Slingshot.
Love
Absinthe & Voddy
ManicLiquor - What's your poison? 