Soon after the release of the DERP Verin, the company continues their string of imaginary, made-up creatures with the DERP Ix, from the same legendary world as the last creature.

Out of the Box:

Observations:

Build and Skin:

• DERP’s skins for this avatar are very interesting, with a collection of different styles; giraffe-like spots, as well as a scutes on the belly. Generally, the textures are a little bit softer and perhaps a little more blurry on the tummy, but otherwise, the markings are excellent in their implementation. The ‘plastic’ look of some prior avatars has been avoided with this avatar.

• Build-wise, the construction of this avatar is sound, with all the pieces fitting together neatly without any large amounts of seams. The sculpts are also clean without any wrinkling visible anywhere on the head. This avatar is also quite a bit stylized, as we’ll see as the review progresses.

Attachments:

• Starting with the feet, we’ve got something that I found quite unexpected; extremely small feet that barely look like they’d hold up the avatar at all, except in some kind of fantasy world of cartoons and our imagination. The execution was done well with a neat transition between the tiny feet back to the shape leg, which is a great feat since the feet themselves are of a completely alien structure than that which many of us are used to. Effectively, the foot and leg are all one attachment; but if users really badly wish to wear pants more easily, there are some optional feet in the same folder. Beware that you’ll have to fiddle with the location of these feet.

• Next up are the hands. It seems that DERP has stepped up the game with these; with a slightly more unique, relaxed positioning of the fingers which aren’t all in a single, static row, and more like an open hand. The photos really speak for themselves, and we can see that the company has lept ahead in how it constructs their hand-attachments. Now, the hands are a bit beefy for a reason (the feet and the hands are explained in the legend notecard), so if you’re not wearing a long-sleeved shirt, you’ll have to wear the arm/wrist attachments which are very much needed to smooth out the transition between the arm and the hand itself.
• Next up, we’ll say a few words on this creatively tail; you can see a slight bit of cartoon ‘rabbit’ or ‘deer’ in this tail, but it’s sufficiently different enough to look right at home on this avatar.
• And finally we’ll point out that this avatar comes with a little bit of chest-fluff that covers the shoulders and just a bit over the front of the avatar.

Head:

• Here, we switch our observations to the head. First glance, this avatar’s eyes catch one’s attention. DERP has really gone for eye textures with a very directed, somewhat sharper gaze that makes the eyes look more alive, attentive, and much less distant. The eyeball textures are completely customizable, and the face comes with the ability to change the eyebrow expression as well as the eyelid state. The result has altogether been large, cute eyes with an emotive series of eyebrow expressions.

• Next, we move to the muzzle, set in an enigmatic smile, it’s a simple, gently curved muzzle with a slightly off-colored nose. The interior of the muzzle is a slightly different story with a lot of detail. The tongue itself is pretty interesting with 3 different positions, and the muzzle itself is decked out  full range of very carnivore-styled teeth. One criticism we can offer to the muzzle is that it is coloured and detailed with colours very close to the head itself; meaning that in different lighting conditions, it may be difficult to make out the muzzle, let alone the lips of the avatar. This, however, isn’t a major issue.
• There are two more details left to discuss before we finish up our discussion on the head; the ears and the horns.

• First off, the head for this avatar comes in two specific forms, one is male, the other is female. The female horns are described as being purely ornamental, while the male horns are said to be built the way they are for when males spar for mating prospects (in the aforementioned Ix lore notecard).
• Finally, we’ve got the ears, which, through using the slider, can be perked up completely, or drawn back in the opposite direction of the muzzle.
• In all, the head was put together very well, stepping up DERP’s head design standards by a notch. From textures to sculpts, the head forms a very expressive, competent part of this avatar.

Features and Heads-Up Display:

Here’s a photo of the DERP HUD.

This avatar has come with a few more features than we’ve seen from avatars before the prior released Verin. The HUD is extremely user-friendly, following the same design implemented soon after DERP’s re-launch of a new homesim, and users should have no problem navigating it.

Above is a photo that shows off the ability of this avatar to go through a few different combinations of facial expressions thanks to the HUD. Each one is very strong and emotive, a strong ‘win’ for this avatar.

Customization:

This avatar is copiable and modifiable, so there’s really no issues for users who want to make this avatar more of their own. The head size and head shape seem to allow third-party hairs to fit easily.

Conclusion:

The DERP Ix is, much like it’s Verin counterpart, a made-up creature from the exact same imaginary ‘world.’ Where it also shares a similarity is in that with the abolition of a separately eyelid prim, DERP’s faces have taken a turn for a more expressive, more presentable look with character. The Ix lore claims that this avatar has some equine traits; though I personally see it as slightly more goat-like with a few giraffe features in the mix as well. As far as the Ix goes, it may indicate that DERP’s standards have raised a notch, and shows that they have a definite strength in making little make-believe creatures into an aesthetic, wearable reality in Second Life.