Fresh from a name change, [EXL] (Formerly Exterminatus Labs, now Explicit Language) have opted to re-release their Therion avatar with sculpts and additional functions. Through a generous donation from [EXL], we get to take a deep look at this revamped company staple.

Out of the Box:

• Over 20 Eye colours
• Full Featured HUD
• 2 male skins (Adult/PG)
• 3 female skins (Adult/PG/Multi)
• Random eye/tail/ear movement
• 5 tongue states
• 4 jaw positions
• Talkjaw system with animated hand gestures
• Over 1,000 possible facial expressions
• 7 tail positions and wag
• Drool particle effects
• Smoke effect on hooves
• Nostril/Breath smoke

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Build and Skin:

Most of the skin texturing attention lies on the neck, chest, belly, inner thighs and rump of the avatar. The skin here gives the impression of coarse, scruzzy white stripes surrounded by the avatar’s overall colour. While the rest of the skin is flat, the creators have avoided flat colouring by using toning and shading, especially on the back. Here under the back spikes we even see a faint visage of the spinal column.

The PG skins for both sexes are exactly the same, but the Adult skins differ. The male Adult skin comes with relatively small nipples while the female Adult skin comes with more prominent, feminine nipples and textured female genitals between the legs. Females also get the “Multi” Adult skin which has nipples on the breasts, as well as 2 other pairs below the breasts on the midsection. Each nipple has a little bit of fur covering part of them so they look like they are peeking from under the fur instead of looking tacked on over the fur.

Take Notice: The pictures under this link are rated Mature – Click here to view the Male and Female Adult Skins

The foot-hooves are textured to look slightly scuffed, and shaped well despite looking a little on the large side without the accompanying sculpted digitigrade legs. A highlight are the pair of dewclaws on the back of the digitigrade legs below the sculpted prim fur tufts. The hand-paw attachments opt for 4 fingered hands instead of 5, creating paws that are more meaty and thicker, which suits this avatar well. Finally, the tail is a static sculpted prim with a slight curve at the tip. The spikes start small at the end of the tail and become larger towards the base and onto the back.

At last, we reach the head. The sexual dimorphism (differences between sexes) is most present on the heads, so we will discuss each head separately after a following description of shared traits. The heads are well sculpted and carry an idealised toon-ish style to them. The textures accentuate the style with depth; unique markings and colours make the face interesting. EXL heads generally carry a specially crafted ‘attitude’ about them, and this avatar is not an exception. The eyelids give the perception from anywhere between unenthused to smarminess. If people prefer a more ‘awake’ look, can opt to not wear the eyelids (at the sacrifice of the avatar never blinking, however).

The ears are long and touched up with small tufts of sculpted fur. Before I forget, I should mention that EXL has placed a lot of work in an area that had been ignored by most creators until recently. When the mouth opens wide, people can see that it was designed thoroughly for realism. The sides of the mouth have a realistic skinflap that connects the top and bottom jaws like. Otherwise, the tongue, teeth, and interior of the mouth are all textured for believable realism, with care to show how the tongue, tusks, fangs, and teeth connect to the gums. Thus far, the avatar has a small habit of parting its muzzle slightly to flick its snakelike tongue every now and then.

Female Therion Head

The shapes and countours of the head are generally more contoured and feminine. The muzzle is slimmer and longer, with a pair of protruding fangs jutting over the bottom lip. Behind this pair of fangs are the two large tusks. As with all of EXL’s female avatars, there is a pouty, dark bottom lip to underline that this avatar is female. Additionally, there is less cheekfur prims, which makes the avatar look less ‘gruff’ compared to the male counterpart. Finally, the females differ in horn arrangement with two horns on top of the head and two pointing horizontally from the temples.

Male Therion Head

This head has thicker, deeper sculpts for the muzzle to give it a masculine shape and expression. Contrary to the female, the male has two pairs of fangs jutting from the upper lip.  The bridge of the muzzle has two rows of small horns and another pair of horns directly above the eyes on the forehead. There is a heavier usage of sculpt fur to add a gruff appeal, both as a bristly chin soulpatch and cheek fur. Last but not least, the horn arrangement differs, with two pairs of long horns pointing back away from the head with a curl on their ends.

Features and Heads-Up Display (HUD)

The HUD controls most of the HUD, save for a few that are controlled by commands or direct clicking to the avatar itself. From the HUD, users can modify settings of the Ear State, Eyes State, Mouth Sate and Tail State. For the ears, you can decide where you want one or both of them to point. The eyes have a few more options; users can choose from a set of eye colour/textures for one or both eyes, change the direction the eyes are pointed, toggle blink, and change eyelid state. Mouth allows people to choose from a number of mouth and tongue states, and Tail allows users to choose the position of the tail (Relaxed, Tucked, Upper Left, etc.)

Users are able to change the colouring of the head horns and tongue (through chat command), and the  back/tail spike horns & hooves (through click-holding for more than 3 seconds).  Users can emit nostril smoke/breath and hoof smoke,  a nice touch to an avatar meant to have devilish origins. When one tilts their head, however, they may find the smoke shooting at the angle of the head instead of straight upwards. Users can also set options for the avatar to drool from its mouth.

Customisation

As with any avatar, this avatar is completely customisable, both through using the predefined settings and through users own avatar modification abilities. This avatar does not come with hair, so users wishing to use their own hairs should remember that the head is somewhat more spherical. Thus, some resizing of hairs would be neccessary.

Conclusion:

This avatar brings back a popular staple of EXL’s past with sculpts. With good texturing and thoughtful design, the Therion makes for a fun alternative avatar from those inspired by real world creatures. Additionally, contrary to many other avatars that sell male and female avatars separately, the Therion’s sexual dimorphism makes the experience of owning either sex a different, but welcome encounter. With an entire fictional story and legend behind them, the Therion stands on its own as another unique creation borne of a creator’s imagination.