Tokushi has, up until the point of writing this review, introduced a Fox avatar, as well as a Chinese Crested avatar based on the fox. While not too different from the Red Fox and associated ‘mutations’ from Tokushi, we’ll briefly cover this avatar.

Out of the Box:

• Scripted Moving 3d Eyes with the option to manually pose them via HUD
• 2 Eye styles (33 colours)
  • independent dilation control
  • Sculpted animated eyelids with 3 states of open
• 4 Ear positions with independent control with optional twitch and typing detection
• Muzzle Talking Function for Typing and Voice-chat
• 7 Eyebrow and 4 mouth expressions with 3 tongue states and optional tongue animation.
• 10 independent hand poses
  • two claw modes
  • manual finger posing with also the option of up to 5 arm animations with an optional auto pose mode (this will cycle between the different poses excluding the point and flip off poses)
• 3 tail types (10 Tail Poses in all)
• Both Male and Female shapes
• Scripted toes that feature two claw modes.
• Extra Tokushi hoodie with sculpted parts.
• Sculpted muzzle custom fit for this avatar.

With the exception of a few minor details in appearance, this avatar is almost exactly the same as the ‘Red’ fox variety in the review under this link: Tokushi Fox Review. Originally, the Red Fox and the Arctic Fox varieties were to have been sold separately with some major differences in head construction. The original Red Fox muzzle was very long, so to accomodate customer interests, the Arctic Fox head was re-coloured and distributed with that avatar. Much of the content in this review was taken from the above linked review.

Build and Skin:

What separates this avatar from the other variety of Tokushi Foxes that are available for purchase, is largely the skin. The Arctic Fox comes in only one colour; a soft off-white that covers the entirety of the body. Fortunately, despite the single colour that covers the entire body and its attachments, the creators have taken care to add appropriate amounts of shading and detail. Therefore, you will not find the avatar flat and featureless, but rather shaded and highlighted for good detail and organic depth. Both male and female shapes are included; the skin is unisex, while the two different shapes are included with the avatar.

Attachments:

Lower Body:

The feet are relatively smaller than on most other furry avatars, but they suit the avatar very well. Each has 4 toes and nicely textured and sculpted pawpads for a good, solid look. Users are able to semi-retract and semi-extend the foot-claws on this avatar. The proportions and textures actually help to make the feet and the digitigrade legs look believable through appropriate highlights and shadows to the fox ‘sock’ fur. The digitigrade legs are also well constructed, a decent-sized and angled bend in the knee which merges neatly with the back of the feet. Around the knee-cap and digigrade leg bend, there is accents of sculpted fluff.

The significance of a fox’s tail has not been lost on the Tokushi creators, who have taken the initiative to offer the tail in three distinct versions. This review will not go into too great detail on the tail, but provide pictures. The sculpted tail (Far Left) has more options than the others in the way you can pose it, including curling it up to the side against the body. The full flexi tail (Middle) is very conventional and average, though the texture work helps to make it look presentable. The Semi-Flexible tail (Far Right) is particularly interesting in that it uses multiple pinched cylinders to give the tail a full-figured look while still remaining somewhat flexible. While undoubtedly not the first time we’ve seen a tail constructed this way, it is certainly one of the best examples of a semi-flexible tail we have seen.

Upper Body:

The hand attachments are human-based when looking from above, but on the underside, you see a hand/paw mix with prevalent paw-pads. The hand size is appropriate for the body, and fits flush with the rest of the arm. A new function is that in addition to using pre-made Tokushi hand poses, (middle finger, etc.) users can select individual fingers, their poses and combine the hand-pose with an pre-made arm pose. It seems that creators are starting to include this feature a bit more, which no doubt will be useful for photogenic moments and machinima.

Head:

The head has a number of key features, but the one we will start with is the muzzle. The interior is well designed and distinctly canine in appearance, especially considering the teeth. The tongue deserves mention because Tokushi has scripted the tongue to move during speech, adding an extra touch to the avatar. In general, the fox’s muzzle starts off wide at the base before thinning into a small nose-tip. The distance between the nose and the upper lip is very small, so when looking at the muzzle from the front, it may look slightly odd. A strength of the muzzle is that expressions are very clear-cut and visible, making for a stronger emotional display. One other area that could be a weakness is that while the muzzle is very slim at the end, there is a fairly wide distance between between the eyes. For some, it would seem this makes the fox all the more adorable, and to others look a touch odd, but it is not a large issue.

The eyes are the next notable feature of the face. They are well textured and captivating, moving using the scripted blink that has replaced the eyeball attachment eyes that Tokushi used to include. Users can choose from numerous preset eye texture colours and eye dilation. For extra customisation, users can not only modify the pupil size, but whether they wish it to look more, or less oval or slitted.

Like much of the body, there is a certain amount of prim fluff that lines the cheeks to give the face some extra depth. As well, some fluff makes up a kind of makeshift hair; with one hairstyle for both the male and females. I should not neglect to mention the whiskers; of which are placed on the end of the muzzle, eyebrows and the cheeks.

Finally, perched above the head are short and rounded ears with ample texturing and fluff textures on the inside. It is important that this avatar comes with small ears that remain close to the head, simply because this, in conjunction with a thinner, smaller muzzle, is what differentiates the Arctic variety of fox from its Red Fox cousins.

Features and Heads-Up Display (HUD):

The Hoodie is a conventional one with sculpted sleeve cuffs and hood. There is also a part of the cloth for the mid-section that is fitted to both the accompanying male and female shapes. Like we have seen in a different avatar, the part over the midsection lifts up to rest over the top of the tail-base. The general theme of the hoodie is a worn out, rough fabric with neat patches here and there. The Tokushi logo is grafted on the front and the back of the hoodie.

The Muzzle that comes with this avatar is a well fitted and believable leather muzzle complete with various buckles. The straps extend between the eyes and around the cheeks to meet at a ring at the back of the head. This happens to be one of the best muzzles that I’ve seen come with an avatar; such that it makes as much a cute accessory to wear. And of course, when the muzzle is worn, the jaw animations are turned off until the muzzle is taken off.

The avatar is controlled completely by way of its HUD, but as usual, Tokushi has offered a list of text commands that users can use to access and modify all of the options.

• Ears: Toggle Movement when Typing, Toggle Twitching, Toggle Twitching when touched, Individual Ear Position
• Eyes: Eye Texture, Toggle Eye Movement, Center Eye Position (Zero Eye Rotation), Toggle Blink, Toggle Eyelid State, Modify Eyelid Dilation and Pupil Type
• Face: Eyebrow Expressions (Angry, Sad, Surprised, etc.)
• Mouth: Open/Closed State Toggle, Custom Mouth Openness +/-, Tongue In/Out Toggle, Muzzle Expressions (Smile, Neutral and Frown)
• Tail: Choose from the numerous positions
• Feet: Claws in or Out
• Hands: Toggle 10 Pre-made Hand Poses for each hand, Auto-Pose Toggle, Individual Finger Setting, Arm Animation Settings, Help Button

Customisation:

This avatar is copy-modifiable, so users should not have any real difficulty in modifying the avatar to suit their tastes. However, as the forehead shape for this avatar is not the conventional humanoid shape, users may need to lightly or even heavily modify any third party hairs they wish to wear.

Conclusion:

As we’ve mentioned before, the Tokushi Arctic Fox is very, very similar to the ‘ordinary’ Red Fox and other mutations available from the same creator. As such, much of this review has been borrowed from a prior review that covered the other versions of fox. Here, we find a full compliment of features that we have come to expect from Tokushi, as well as a flexible avatar that has so far been able to produce an interesting Chinese Crested avatar. For those who have wished for an Arctic Fox avatar that isn’t merely a recolour of a ‘Red’ Fox as much as one that specifically strives to be an Arctic fox, this is definitely an option to consider.