Can you tell me about mesh body history?

[KKMallory]

I have a bunch of questions, just to satisfy my curiosity!

Lolas Tango - what was it? I occasionally find something that has "Lolas Tango Appliers." It doesn't seem to be around any more. Was it a mesh body?

What happened to Ocasin? What was the deal? Was it briefly popular and died? Never got off the ground?

Why did Maitreya Lara completely beat out Tonic and Eve? Those seem like pretty nice bodies, but obviously there aren't many users.

 

 

[Persephone Emerald]

I think it started with Slink hands and feet. Some SL historians need to respond to this thread.

[Coffee Pancake]

 

Lolas Tango were invented by Sir Tirged Sockbottom, a fine and upstanding chap who was (due to the war/bears/bees) unable to look anyone in the eye, deciding to afflict everyone else with the same debilitating and socially awkward malaise, he created a set of bolt on tone match boobstickles to draw the collective gaze to a more reasonable chest height. Everything was fine with the world till an astonishingly wide mouthed young Lady by the name of Susan Schlapnflapper found her boobs attached to her backside mid teleport inventing the Phat Azz. These two events single handedly account for Second Life peaking in 2014.

 

[Theresa Tennyson]

30 minutes ago, KKMallory said:

I have a bunch of questions, just to satisfy my curiosity!

Lolas Tango - what was it? I occasionally find something that has "Lolas Tango Appliers." It doesn't seem to be around any more. Was it a mesh body?

What happened to Ocasin? What was the deal? Was it briefly popular and died? Never got off the ground?

Why did Maitreya Lara completely beat out Tonic and Eve? Those seem like pretty nice bodies, but obviously there aren't many users.

 

 

Lolas Tango - huge bewbs that could be attached to the system avatar. It was one of the first products to use appliers, along with Slink feet.

Ocasin is a body made by a large maker of bargain clothing templates; basically it was made to fit that template-maker's products when fitted mesh was quite new.

The Lara was a pretty good product when it came out (still is); the auto-alpha system worked comparatively well and a couple of big-name designers designed only for the Lara when it came out. Big-name clothing makers started making clothing for it pretty soon and consistently. Tonic started later and didn't really get traction after a while, and with Eve you were mostly limited to clothing from that maker.

Edited July 25, 2022 by Theresa Tennyson

[skepwith]

41 minutes ago, KKMallory said:

I have a bunch of questions, just to satisfy my curiosity!

Lolas Tango - what was it? I occasionally find something that has "Lolas Tango Appliers." It doesn't seem to be around any more. Was it a mesh body?

What happened to Ocasin? What was the deal? Was it briefly popular and died? Never got off the ground?

Why did Maitreya Lara completely beat out Tonic and Eve? Those seem like pretty nice bodies, but obviously there aren't many users.

 

 

Lolas Tango were add-on breasts for the standard avatar. There was also Phat Azz for the other side.

Tonic and Eve probably didn't catch on because none of the big original clothing names got behind them. I think Tonic did a bit better because mesh template makers got behind them for a while (at least Meli Imako did), and the dev kit is easy to get. Both bodies still seem to have small but dedicated communities, though not much in the way of new clothes. I don't know if you can really say Maitreya Lara beat them out in the same way that it beat out Slink Physique Original, which was really the only competition early on.

Ocacin seems to have been supported heavily by template makers, Meli Imako in particular who did a video on setting up BoM for it. I suspect what did it in was the availability of free bodies like the old eBodies and Meshbody Classic, which have easier BoM activation (you have to actually edit the Ocacin standard to turn on BoM).

Edited July 25, 2022 by skepwith

[Rowan Amore]

There was one body near the beginning of the whole mesh body era that was taken down and removed after someone, (some said Slink owner) filed a DMCA.  Can't remember the name but it was one of the first, IIRC.  Does anyone else remember that or the name of the body?

[Theresa Tennyson]

19 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

There was one body near the beginning of the whole mesh body era that was taken down and removed after someone, (some said Slink owner) filed a DMCA.  Can't remember the name but it was one of the first, IIRC.  Does anyone else remember that or the name of the body?

It was called Wowmeh. There were a lot of very dubious DMCA's flying around at that time. The maker didn't want to fight it because they'd have to give out too much personal information. The DMCA troll then tried to hit Belleza with a DMCA that was flat-out fake and the Belleza people had enough resources to nail them on it - everything the most likely suspect (not the Slink owner) made is gone from SL now.

[Rowan Amore]

Thanks!  Couldn't for the life of me remember the name.  Rumors were flying against a few people at the time but Slink and the fatazz creator were the 2 I recall.

I do remember it looking fairly nice back then.  Soft and curvy.

Edited July 26, 2022 by Rowan Amore

[Ceka Cianci]

Old mesh life was such a hard life and struggle, but we overcame to be the survivors and strong spirited people we are today..

 

 

hehehe

 

 

[KKMallory]

16 hours ago, skepwith said:

Lolas Tango were add-on breasts for the standard avatar. There was also Phat Azz for the other side.

Tonic and Eve probably didn't catch on because none of the big original clothing names got behind them. I think Tonic did a bit better because mesh template makers got behind them for a while (at least Meli Imako did), and the dev kit is easy to get. Both bodies still seem to have small but dedicated communities, though not much in the way of new clothes. I don't know if you can really say Maitreya Lara beat them out in the same way that it beat out Slink Physique Original, which was really the only competition early on.

Ocacin seems to have been supported heavily by template makers, Meli Imako in particular who did a video on setting up BoM for it. I suspect what did it in was the availability of free bodies like the old eBodies and Meshbody Classic, which have easier BoM activation (you have to actually edit the Ocacin standard to turn on BoM).

So would it be fair to say that Eve and Tonic were me-too bodies that didn't bring anything new to the market, where Lara was already pretty well #1? Why do you think Slink Physique fell by the wayside? It seems like HG has gotten beat by Kupra and Reborn because they do the super-curvy looks better.

Edited July 26, 2022 by KKMallory

[Theresa Tennyson]

1 minute ago, KKMallory said:

So would it be fair to say that Eve and Tonic were me-too bodies that didn't bring anything new to the market, where Lara was already pretty well #1? Why do you think Slink Physique fell by the wayside? It seems like HG has gotten beat by Kupra and Reborn because they do the super-curvy looks better.

No.

Eve was around before Lara; Tonic was later but offered different shapes (both curvier and less curvy than Lara.)

Physique's alpha hud wasn't great and the Lara's shape was more popular with consumers (and you should see what I'm thinking about that which I'm refraining from typing); it was also more compatible with "standard size" clothing which was widespread when mesh bodies were introduced. Kupra and Reborn were helped by being introduced at a point when the market was ready for new product and they were really good about getting developer kits out beforehand.

[Nalates Urriah]

The history mesh is documented in my blog. But my coverage doesn't include Lola's and only made for interesting reading at the time. Now its an old news sort of thing.

Lola's were part of the 'Exaggerated' body parts fad. I wasn't into it. So no coverage

Lola's used applier tech and system clothes had to be made to take advantage of the tech. It required an extra texture be included in the package for use with the applier.

Mesh was a 2010 to 2013 feature with fitted mesh being late in the development in the process. Lola's was pre-mesh body. I've forgotten if they were made with sculpties or early rigid mesh.

Deformers and mesh clothes have made Lola's obsolete.

[Maitimo]

19 hours ago, KKMallory said:

I have a bunch of questions, just to satisfy my curiosity!

Lolas Tango - what was it? I occasionally find something that has "Lolas Tango Appliers." It doesn't seem to be around any more. Was it a mesh body?

What happened to Ocasin? What was the deal? Was it briefly popular and died? Never got off the ground?

Why did Maitreya Lara completely beat out Tonic and Eve? Those seem like pretty nice bodies, but obviously there aren't many users.

 

 

Lolas Tangos were add-on super-sized boobs, to be worn on the classic (non-mesh) body. As far as I know there was no mesh clothing made for them, only applier clothing. Like Slink hands and feet, they became redundant when the first mesh bodies came out. There were other addons over time too; Phat Azz, Loud Mouth and so on, but none lasted very long.

The first full mesh body was Wowmeh, which I believe got hit with a copyright takedown order.  I think the next on the market would be Slink Physique, but I'm not 100% sure on that. Signature did an early mesh body for men, pre-Gianni, but it was very limited by modern standards.

Ocacin are the full perm bodies made & sold by Meli Imako. I don't think it ever was popular at all, I never saw any clothing for them that wasn't also made by Meli Imako (or a resale of those templates). They're... not very good.

Maitreya came out early on and rapidly picked up market support because clothing makers started making for it very rapidly. Slink followed with Hourglass which proved popular too because of its niche shape. Belleza was next I think, with Venus first, then Isis and Freya. 

Once a body gets as far ahead in market share as Maitreya did, its almost impossible for anyone to replace it, because clothing makers won't make clothing for unpopular bodies and customers won't buy bodies that have nothing to wear. Tonic, Eve and all the other minor ones were just too late. Nothing that came after Maitreya has ever come close.

 

[Marianne Little]

1 hour ago, Maitimo said:

Lolas Tangos were add-on super-sized boobs, to be worn on the classic (non-mesh) body. As far as I know there was no mesh clothing made for them, only applier clothing. Like Slink hands and feet, they became redundant when the first mesh bodies came out. There were other addons over time too; Phat Azz, Loud Mouth and so on, but none lasted very long.

The first full mesh body was Wowmeh, which I believe got hit with a copyright takedown order.  I think the next on the market would be Slink Physique, but I'm not 100% sure on that. Signature did an early mesh body for men, pre-Gianni, but it was very limited by modern standards.

Ocacin are the full perm bodies made & sold by Meli Imako. I don't think it ever was popular at all, I never saw any clothing for them that wasn't also made by Meli Imako (or a resale of those templates). They're... not very good.

Maitreya came out early on and rapidly picked up market support because clothing makers started making for it very rapidly. Slink followed with Hourglass which proved popular too because of its niche shape. Belleza was next I think, with Venus first, then Isis and Freya. 

Once a body gets as far ahead in market share as Maitreya did, its almost impossible for anyone to replace it, because clothing makers won't make clothing for unpopular bodies and customers won't buy bodies that have nothing to wear. Tonic, Eve and all the other minor ones were just too late. Nothing that came after Maitreya has ever come close.

 

TMP and Slink released the spring/summer 2014 - Belleza Venus released autumn 2014 - Maitreya released December24 2014!

So Maitreya was not early, but last of the ones listed.

TMP was beautiful, but they are so annoying with that shopping HUD and the style HUD, it was totally a terrible shopping experience. I bought Slink because I was so tired of TMP and I hoped Slink was better. It was better to use... but I never liked the look of it. I used it one month in the summer, I think. Then I grumbled and put on TMP again.

Belleza was very popular when it came out in September 2014, but so many bad things started to appear! The neck fit was awful, the hands only fit the body if the torso muscles was set to 50... It used the SL template, but I think the hands had a separate template. This was before people used mesh heads, so the neck seam was very important to get right. If you had a sunkissed skin and used "sunkissed" on the body, you were not sure of a match. I used it one week.

All the mesh bodies was sold as body + hands + feet back then. I think only Legacy is still sold as parts, not all in one.

The creator of Maitreya had learnt what was good and not good. The bad things from other bodies had been solved. Fit for hands and feet to the body itself was great. The skins was made to fit Glam Affair skins, and the neck to system head had a very good match. The HUD was good and the alpha cuts plenty. The creators started making stuff for it from the start, it was amazing. Soon they had updated their clothes to include a Maitreya size.

So Maitreya was like the best of all bodies in one for me. I still thought TMP Deluxe looked a little bit better, but Maitreya became "my" body.

I do not remember who of Slink and Belleza that released their next models, the Hourglass and Freya/Isis.

TMP released their male version maybe 6-7 months after their female, I believe it was still 2014. Slink released their male in 2015. Signature released their first "real" body in 2016. They had at least 2 male bodies before, and maybe a female too? These early ones was really pretty, but hopeless to use. Maybe they didn't even have alpha cuts. Belleza Jake came in 2017.

I always forget Eve and Adam, she came out in 2014 and he in 2015. I bought Adam for a male alt, but I have forgotten why I stopped using it. Maybe creators didn't make things for it, or Signature and Jake crushed it when they were released.

I don't know why I didn't buy Eve, I bought so many other bodies. Did I even demo it?

 

 

Edited July 26, 2022 by Marianne Little

[Blush Bravin]

21 minutes ago, Marianne Little said:

TMP and Slink released the spring/summer 2014 - Belleza Venus released autumn 2014 - Maitreya released December24 2014!

Thank you! I was trying to find something in my inventory to show that Maitreya came out after Belleza. But silly me, I delete prior versions once I receive an update. But I knew I had Wowmeh, TMP, Slink, and Belleza before Maitreya was released but I couldn't prove it. Belleza added two additional bodies though when they did their first major update which was after Maitreya had released. All those who had purchased the original body were also given the additional bodies without charge with that update. That's why I have all three Belleza bodies.

Slink released Hourglass after Belleza came out with their update and the release of Isis and Freya.

Edited July 26, 2022 by Blush Bravin

[Rowan Amore]

TMP also gave out a free version of their body with no or minimal options.  That helped them get their product out there.  

[Persephone Emerald]

If Belleza would give away their Venus body for free I think that would encourage people to buy Isis and Freya. They're already doing pretty well with the male mesh body market, but they need to get more women to consider their female mesh bodies.

(Nobody is making clothes for Venus anymore, but it can use BOM, fits old Venus mesh, and can sometimes work with mesh for other bodies.)

[Persephone Emerald]

22 hours ago, KKMallory said:

I have a bunch of questions, just to satisfy my curiosity!

Lolas Tango - what was it? I occasionally find something that has "Lolas Tango Appliers." It doesn't seem to be around any more. Was it a mesh body?

What happened to Ocasin? What was the deal? Was it briefly popular and died? Never got off the ground?

Why did Maitreya Lara completely beat out Tonic and Eve? Those seem like pretty nice bodies, but obviously there aren't many users.

The original Mesh Body Addicts Wordpress blog may be able to help you piece together a timeline for mesh bodies.

[Bree Giffen]

I had a Lola Tango on one of my avatars. It was an early way to make your chest really big. They did have an optional mesh part in-between that acted as a fabric layer and allowed clothes to be made for them. Here's the avatar with a system body/face and Lola Tangos.

[Katherine Heartsong]

Without trying to stir up a hornet's nest, and scratch old wounds, I am genuinely curious and I've heard little whispers of Maitreya ... not sure how to rephrase this ... but I guess not playing fair.

Is there any truth to that, if there is, what is the general gist of the matter, and what was the fallout if any?

[Ceka Cianci]

1 hour ago, Bree Giffen said:

I had a Lola Tango on one of my avatars. It was an early way to make your chest really big. They did have an optional mesh part in-between that acted as a fabric layer and allowed clothes to be made for them. Here's the avatar with a system body/face and Lola Tangos.

It's amazing how compared to today's bewbies that we can get on our mesh avatars, that those don't even look that big anymore in comparison..

I used to think those were so huge.. hehehehe

[skepwith]

On 7/26/2022 at 10:06 AM, Theresa Tennyson said:

Eve was around before Lara; Tonic was later but offered different shapes (both curvier and less curvy than Lara.)

Tonic also offered (and still offers) the dev kit for their bodies to anyone willing to spend L$100 at their mainstore, no application necessary. Open dev kit availability, I have been repeatedly told, is the key to success for anyone trying to unseat Maitreya. You can see how well it worked.

[skepwith]

On 7/26/2022 at 9:55 AM, KKMallory said:

So would it be fair to say that Eve and Tonic were me-too bodies that didn't bring anything new to the market, where Lara was already pretty well #1? Why do you think Slink Physique fell by the wayside? It seems like HG has gotten beat by Kupra and Reborn because they do the super-curvy looks better.

If you go and get the demos for any of these bodies and spend some time with them, editing shapes and moving around, I think you will see that most of them differ in substantive, interesting ways and represent someone's vision of how a body can look and move in SL more than just being a wanna-be of something else. Some of these visions are going to catch on and others aren't, and most of that is a combination of irrational crowd behavior and the whims of big name clothes makers. I'd say both of these have less to do with the ability to create a good body and more to do with the ability to create hype.

[Blaise Glendevon]

3 hours ago, Katherine Heartsong said:

Without trying to stir up a hornet's nest, and scratch old wounds, I am genuinely curious and I've heard little whispers of Maitreya ... not sure how to rephrase this ... but I guess not playing fair.

Is there any truth to that, if there is, what is the general gist of the matter, and what was the fallout if any?

Maitreya has always been selective about who they offer dev kits to, and did partner with certain brands on release to have outfits be Maitreya exclusive. But I don't think these are unfair. Just savvy.

Edited July 28, 2022 by Blaise Glendevon

[Modulated]

6 minutes ago, Blaise Glendevon said:

Maitreya has always been selective about who they offer dev kits to, and did partner with certain brands on release to have outfits be Maitreya exclusive. But I don't think these are unfair. Just savvy.

Most all of the full perm mesh makers create Maitreya rigged clothing, kinda blows that 'selective' thing out of the water. I could understand it at launch and maybe a couple years after, but today? Give all the people a kit freely and be done with it I say.