In this review, we go over the latest in Tokushi’s series of Avian creatures; their Phoenix avatar. There have been a number of phoenix avatars over the years, and this is just one that turns an old legend into a Second Life virtual reality.

Out of the Box:

Build and Skin:

This avatar maintains a lot of the features as well as prims of the Tokushi Corvid and Birds avatars, (Click Here for that Review). Hence, we may reference that review in this review of the Tokushi Phoenix.

Again, the skin that comes with this avatar reflects the usual Tokushi quality, despite the lack of ornate markings of any kind over most of the body itself. The creators have put a good effort into recreating the impression of feathers from head to toe. While the body is usually a single colour without markings, stylistic feathers drawn onto the skin, as well as prim fluff where the feathered arm turns to bird scales (e.g. lower arms and lower legs) flesh the avatar out.

The feet and legs on the avatar are thin and markedly avian with the 3 toes pointing forward and one towards the back. Given that birds are generally digitigrade, the leg attachments are used to create a transition between the scaley feet and the feathered body. Small arrangements of sculpted prims are used to accent these transitions as well as to give some dimension to the feathers. The hands and lower arms are similar to the legs and feet designs, but with 4-fingered hands and scaled arms leading up to the elbow joint. In all, the limbs are proportional and well-done.

The tail feathers for this avatar come from along similar lines to the Peacock version of Tokushi’s Birds avatar. Folded behind the avatar, the tail-feathers are an arrangement of a few regular feathers with coloured ‘eyes’ on the back surface, as well as a couple of ornamentation feathers with full colour and are longer than the more ‘plain’ feathers below. Users are able to have the tail folded somewhat neatly behind them, or have the tail-feathers fan out a little bit. The sad part about this avatar is that because of the client side (Second Life programming) issues, there is considerable flicker between feathers, which sometimes masks the beauty of some of the feathers.

There are two different types of wings that come with this avatar; by default, the user can wear the back-wings. (See above) The alternative, found in the “Extras” folder is the ‘Arm-wings” that attach to the arms instead. Both come with different Animation Overrider settings for flight. The following is taken from the Tokushi Corvids and Birds review.

Back Wings

By default, the wings attach to the back, neatly folded when the user is not flying. However, when the user does fly, the wings extend and the animation overrider takes over. One extremely helpful feature of this avatar is that when the wings fold, they truly do so; all the prims retract into the back. This physical shifting of prims into the inside of the folded wings negates the need for any kind of invisiprim wings. This, in turn keeps the now-invisible wings out of the way of prim selection or the camera.

Otherwise, the wings are an attractive blend of sculpted prims for the wing musculature, and well-textured flexible prims for feathers. The only issue with the wings comes in certain poses; since the wings tuck very neatly close to the body, when an avatar gets into an expressive pose, they might find a wing poking through their chest. This cannot really be helped, however.

Arm Wings

Users can opt for the the ‘Arm-wings’ (In the Extras folder). These place the wings on the actual arm-structure rather than as separate limbs on the back (Remember to wear the accompanying shapes). As such, the only remainder of the hand is a single thumbclaw. These wings are aesthetic and look good when the user walks around; the AO folding the arms close to the body. Some of the feathers disappear when the user is not flying, which stops some of the feathers from sticking forward. When the user enters a flying mode, all of the other feathers appear, showing off a full, and complete wingspan.

The flight animations for the arm-wings are just as good as the ones for the Back-wings, which makes this alternative form of wing more attractive. It is certainly nice to see a creator make a 4-limbed winged creator. There is even a standing animation where the wings fold up towards the front of the body, tucking neatly against one’s sides.

Head:

The head itself appears overly friendly and cheerful, though the Phoenix seems to have a very enigmatic expression of ‘wiseness.’ This avatar offers two options in terms of neck. The normal shape neck, or the use of an extended, sculpted neck which sits neatly between the shoulders to raise the head away from the body, granting a more avian-like look. By default, users wear the short, non-prim neck, but under the “Extras” folder, users can opt to wear the long neck. In that same folder are alternative body ‘shapes’ which take advantage of the new neck-size. The only possible issue with the sculpted neck could be that it may be difficult to fit prim clothing around the neck.

The Phoenix comes with a medium-length, curved beak of a light pink-brown, though the beak colour varies depending on colouration bought. As before, it appears set into an enigmatic expression despite there being no ‘mouth’ expressions for a beak. The eye settings, eyebrow/eyelid settings, and mouth wideness toggle leave a lot of room for expression, however. The eyes are not only decently sized, shaped, and textured, but users can also play with the pupil size as well as shape. We’ll mention that these eyes use scripted, randomised movement rather than eyeball attachment points.

Another trait that identifies this avatar as a Phoenix rather than another species is the feathers perched on the head. The head-dressing for this avatar features an intricate, but not too complex crown of feathers of many kinds. The head dressing defines this avatar almost as much as the tail feathers since they’re both extremely noticeable focal points for this avatar.

Heads-Up Display (HUD) and Features:

This avatar comes completely controllable by the HUD. A notecard also displays how to take advantage of almost all of the features of the avatar using text commands. The following photo shows all of the HUD pages:

The last page is Fire FX; this allows users to toggle and edit two different types of particles which contribute to the Phoenix’s overall appearance. Users are able to have a few different types of ‘flames’ flowing from the crest feathers as well as the tailfeathers. Additionally, little embers of fire can waft from the tail as well (See photo on right). Users can toggle through types of both particles, as well as change the colours to something that they would prefer.

These particles add a certain flare to the avatar, though some may mistake the flames coming from the head and tail-feathers to be a gas. While reviewing this avatar, I had to convince a colleague that I was indeed, not passing gas. All the same, for those who would appreciate the particle effects, they do a great job at imitating wisps of flame and embers.

I almost forgot to mention that users are able to choose an alternative texture to the head, which allows some unique facial markings which give the area around the eyes a slight bit more ornate of a look (See photo on the Left).

Customisation:

This avatar is easy to modify, and comes with copy permissions. As such, users are able to do as they wish with they avatar, provided they keep a backup handy. Third-party hairs may be difficult because of the unique head-shape, however.

Conclusion:

The Tokushi Phoenix is a well-made interpretation of the ageless tale of the Phoenix from the ashes. The look itself is simple, but the plumage does give the avatar some key characteristics which identify it as a Phoenix. Some of these characteristics include the plumage as well as the particle flame add an extra touch to the overall image. The avatar is a complete package, feathery and firey as one would expect from a Phoenix. All the same, though, users will be able to derive fun and pleasure from this well-rounded avatar which carries many features and options.