Tokushi has made a name for itself by creating avatars based on made-up species or non-conventional animals. Today we review their foray into a more common animal; the fox. This particular avatar is centered around a Red Fox appearance, but there are numerous Red Fox Mutations that are offered as well. Tokushi has/will have released an Arctic Fox and a Fennec Fox separately; each of which will be discussed in separate reviews.

Out of the Box:

Measurement	Value
Script Time with HUD	~0.30
Script Time without HUD	~0.30
Avatar Rendering Cost	~1757

• 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.
• Two copies of the head and associated attachments; LONG muzzle and SHORT muzzle

Build and Skin:

Tokushi has built an avatar with the Red Fox as the mold, but gone through pains to ensure that different mutations of the Red Fox get completely unique fur coats. The result has been that if one buys an Arctic Marble Fox, a Sun Glow Fox, or a Cross Fox, for example, the user receives an avatar with a fur coat that is true to the original variety rather than a straight-up recolour. One strength of Tokushi’s has always been its textures, and they maintain that strength all the same with the Fox avatar. In all of the offered Mutations, textures on these avatars are detailed, the colours vibrant, and the shading and highlights over the body provide visual depth and volume.

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. Across the board, the textures on the tails are on par with the rest of the body, maintaining the signature vulpine state.

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.

The head has a number of key features, but the one we will start with is the muzzle. In general, the muzzle is one of the best textured parts of this avatar. 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.

Now, the head is provided to users in two different versions. Originally the avatar only came with the long-muzzle version, which displeased some users who felt the muzzle was too long for a fox. In a quick response, Tokushi offered a free update that provided users with a copy of the head with a shorter muzzle and resized/re-positioned head attachments (hair, leather muzzle etc.) There is not a major difference between the two different versions of face other than that the slight dimension change over the forehead and most importantly, the size of the muzzle.  The pictures show this in detail.

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 tall fox ears with ample texturing and fluff textures on the inside. For the most part, these ears, while large, do fit the avatar well. It is quite arguable that the shape of the ears is notably vulpine-looking.

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 play with any third party hairs they wish to wear.

Conclusion:

The Tokushi Fox is akin to a creature from straight out of a storybook. In an increasing pool of vulpine avatars, it stands on its own while remaining a distinct fox in its own right. The option of the long and short muzzles give users more choice and opportunity to take their avatar in many different creative directions. In the end, the Tokushi fox is a complete, wholesome package that any user should enjoy.