Free or Cheap mens head and body

Zandrah Sorrowman · September 20, 2021

Hi All,

I have a RL friend who has recently joined SL. He is looking to upgrade his avi from this newbie form to something more mesh friendly. He's not wanting to spend a ton of L yet, because he isn't sure how much money he wants to invest in the game. (he's not addicted yet)

I personally have never shopped for men's items, so I really don't know where to start.

He is looking for it to be a human avi. I do think he wants the skin or the features to be asian. And he may spend some L but the cheaper the better.

Thanks!

Mercedes Avon · September 20, 2021

I know The Mesh Shop (where the Legacy body is sold) has their classic male body offered free. It is BOM compatible. I am not sure how many clothes are available for it, but since men tend to wear long pants and shirts that cover their torso, I would hope a lot of mesh clothing can work with the use of alphas. As for heads, the only discounted heads I can think of are Akeruka heads. The creator there often offers their newest heads at half price for a limited time. I am not sure which head they are offering now, but they don't go long without a promo of some sort.

ETA: This is the head they have on promo right now. 7 day promo 🙂

Edited September 20, 2021 by Mercedes Avon

Mercedes Avon · September 20, 2021

Also, I think Belleza bodies are 50% off right now.

Ellie4024 · September 20, 2021

2 hours ago, Mercedes Avon said:

Also, I think Belleza bodies are 50% off right now.

Yup, the Belleza Jake is definitely worth the small cost, if he can float it. Skins galore, and finding clothing is going to be super easy for that body. It's the male equivalent of our maitreya Lara.

Marianne Little · September 20, 2021

He can not get asian looks. The only free or cheap heads I have seen, is strictly caucasian.

As with everything, what you pay for, is what you get. Free and cheap heads and bodies are limited in what you find for them. Creators know that those who get a 1 L body, will not pay for apparel, so it is not worth the time creating for it. It is after all, a price to upload mesh and textures to SL, just to have no sales because free body owners will not spend money. It is better to use their time on customers that will pay for their work.

Unless you are really lucky and happen to join SL when a big brand has a gift out. This has happened several times, but it is impossible to predict if it happens again. Such heads as we got from Catwa and Lelutka were 100% functional and can use all the features including skins, tattoos, piercings made by other creators for that brand.

The 1500 L sale on Jake Belleza body is a good offer, if he want some variation and good quality in his wardrobe. If he wants just a few outfits, it is good enough to use the 1 L Legacy Meshbody @Mercedes Avonposted about.

It is some 1 L heads. https://ryanschultz.com/2021/05/25/second-life-steals-deals-and-freebies-three-l1-bento-bakes-on-mesh-male-heads-from-calum/

The blog over has several posts for freebie shopping. Most of the freebies in SL is for the female market, but it is enough freebies for a male wardrobe. https://ryanschultz.com/2019/11/24/clip-and-save-ryans-all-in-one-guide-to-freebies-in-second-life/

That blogpost also tell you where to find the free Altamura bodies.

Edited September 20, 2021 by Marianne Little
added some info

Anna Nova · September 20, 2021

There is also the Roth body on MP. It is about 10L. The Ruth version for 2021 comes with a Bento BoM head, so I expect the Roth does too.

Edit: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Mesh-Roth-2G-Bento-Hands-Head-Body-Alpha-HUD/16280056

Edited September 20, 2021 by Anna Nova
added url to mp

Maitimo · September 21, 2021

If he can manage the cost of Jake (currently L$1500 I think) then he should definitely get that. Jake has huge support for clothing (close to or surpassing Gianni now, I think) and now it's been properly updated and is even mod, it's a great deal. If he gets a "budget" body he is going to be disappointed because of the lack of clothing that will fit. If he really cannot afford that at all under any circumstances, then the free Legacy body (which fits TMP, not Legacy clothes) is the next-best.

The only free/dollarbie heads I know of for men are the Calum and Roth ones already mentioned. If he is able to push the budget up to L$1000 then Lightstar has an Asian head. (Ignore the rubbish skin shown here, it does BOM too). Second Life Marketplace - *LightStar-Mesh Head-Lei

So he can get a top class body and a reasonably decent head for L$2500, which is much better than the L$8-10k that's usually required.

Chic Aeon · September 22, 2021

altamura has traditionally had some of the best IMO free mesh bodies. While there IS the "limited clothes" problem if he gets a few free things and makes an outfit he would likely be good as many men don't do fashion like the gals.

BUT I just did some research and it looks like all (there were many) free full body avatars were taken down. The store moved and is very different (it's been that way for awhile) and it seems like they retired a lot. KEEP ON READING. I found them.

**************** A quick search of the Marketplace found this : https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/META-NEO-AVATAR-PROMO/22022599

And remembering to follow some breadcrumbs I knew about I found an old altamura body free here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/London City/110/215/24

You can find another altamura full body here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Unihispana/133/186/25

image.png.386e373d453ef41994b202e1aa788de5.png

These are NOT BOM. Some did take appliers at one point. Not sure if these models do.

You can find Tommy (I was never a fan but you might be) here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Arcane Spellcaster Style/210/59/3502

The store has a landing point so you can't go directly here. Do a search for "Tommy" or look for the shoe department OR follow your red arrow.

Blaise Glendevon · September 23, 2021

On 9/20/2021 at 9:46 AM, Anna Nova said:

There is also the Roth body on MP. It is about 10L. The Ruth version for 2021 comes with a Bento BoM head, so I expect the Roth does too.

Edit: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Mesh-Roth-2G-Bento-Hands-Head-Body-Alpha-HUD/16280056

Stop reccomending the Roth body. Ruth/Roth are hard to use, hard to find gear for, and literally no better than a system body.

Anna Nova · September 24, 2021

12 hours ago, Blaise Glendevon said:

Stop reccomending the Roth body. Ruth/Roth are hard to use, hard to find gear for, and literally no better than a system body.

Ya, I don't use it (or Ruth), but the OP asked about free bodies, and you can get it free. I have seen people using it to great effect, but mostly at the nudist sims to be honest!

Echelon Alcott · September 28, 2021

For a limited time - until October 01 - DNA [http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Signature/128/128/129] is offering their bodies and skins for L$1 each. The bodies are BOM.

I tested the bodies and skins. They are passable for a temporary new mesh avatar. The quality and experience is nowhere near what the major players (e.g. Belleza Jake) offer. Below is an example of an avie using the DNA body and skin (L$1 each) and L$1 clothing. It had starfish hands, so an AO with hand animation is recommended.

In the past it has - generally speaking - been difficult to create a good Asian male avatar. I tested Not Found Jin and Gen offerings, and I'd say they are pretty good compared to what we used to be able to achieve in the past, but these won't be cheap.

Hope this helps!

Edited September 28, 2021 by Echelon Alcott

JeromFranzic · September 28, 2021

On 9/24/2021 at 3:49 AM, Anna Nova said:

Ya, I don't use it (or Ruth), but the OP asked about free bodies, and you can get it free. I have seen people using it to great effect, but mostly at the nudist sims to be honest!

Exactly... I have a few ruth and roth setups lying around when I simply want to travel and browse in world. Also good to use for some of the cheap cosplay outfits that can be found in world or at the MP.

As far as Echelon's recommendation for the BROX bodies, yep. I use those as well with my male alts for the same reasons. One of them recently got a Belleza Jake.

agirlnamedbob · September 28, 2021

As someone who is new to SL (just recently passed the 30 day mark) I want to defend Ruth/Roth a bit. I tried all of the free mesh bodies I could get my hands on and Ruth was the one I liked the best. I ended up getting Sweet's stuff for it and it was... Honestly fine? For someone who was sitting here like "baked on what now?" the fact that it had fewer bells and whistles was honestly appealing. It let me figure some stuff out without getting overwhelmed. I know Roth is a little bit less supported, but for free and open source? And the fact that it fits most Maitreya stuff? I doubt I would have stuck around here without it.

When you're new it's not always about what's best long term or what has the most features, it's about what will allow you to feel confident exploring more aspects of the game without the "no mesh" stigma when you're not sure if you want to drop $$ for the lastest and greatest. It's hard to even know what features you want in a body without having experimented. At least for me. I was better able to demo the "top shelf" bodies once I'd messed around with the free ones.

As for actual advice for your friend, I just recently upgraded to a Belleza Freya because I wanted a thicc-er look and the sale. As someone who is NB and may start trying more masc looks in the future, I've def got my eyes on Jake. But he can probably make do with any of the free bodies. They're free. Grab them all. Try them out. Fab Free has a list of free mesh stuff here, most of which has already been mentioned, but it's all in one place. If he's still under 30 days, he should check out their under 30 days list. Not everything is still active, but there's a lot of good stuff.

He should consider joining the MenStuff group. They'll have advice and lots of stores have freebies for members. It's not free, but it's reasonably priced. And usually once you find one group like that you can find more that are free or cheap to join. (Just remember where you got your freebies when you have the $L to spend!) There are also some men focused hunts running that he could look into if that's his jam.

I can't remember if Heaven's Gate has any Asian starter avatars, but worth checking IMHO.

Another thing to possibly experiment with... You can still get the Genus Strong mesh head for free at their shop if you join their free group. It's a female head, but I know there are a couple Asian male shapes for it on the MP designed for people doing v-tech or whatever. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I've gotten pretty savvy at finding freebies and cheapies to learn with while I plan out what I want to to long term, so if he has any questions I'm happy to try and help.