Vanity Fair

Yes to all of these, and I want to throw in: A lot of stores participating in another round of the LeLutka Holiday Special, including (of course!) two new free mesh heads from LeLutka. I'm also hoping that a few other Bento mesh head makers will toss a freebie our way (hint, hint). EDITED TO ADD: Oh, and a lot of stores offering gift cards (or store credit) at the December Shop and Hop event! I noticed far fewer gift cards than usual at the Halloween Shop and Hop, which was a bit of a disappointment.

Yes, I am eagerly awaiting an opportunity to compare the "beta" Senra bodies and heads with the new, updated ones. I think the bodies are great for new users, but my biggest problem with the heads is their permanently surprised, sky-high eyebrows, and the fact that older SLUV skins won't work with the blinking animation in the Blake and Jamie Senra heads (although you can remove the blinking animation, since they are modify). I really hope LL fixes this. I guess we'll see...

Even at that price, it's still a good deal, I think.

Doesn't Rebirth also have a free Bento mesh head, called Kyra? EDIT: Oh, wow, I didn't know Reborn doesn't have permission to use the EvoX mapping. I am assuming that Akeruka and LOGO do have permission, then? They both now offer heads with EvoX compatibility.

Yes, all the stores that participated in the LeLutka Christmas event set their group join fee to free for the duration of the event, so it's easily the best time of year to join (and then stay joined). For example, the Avi-Glam group is usually L$10 to join, but you can join for free during the LeLutka Christmas event, and also pick up all the group gifts in-store for free as well. Even though LeLutka is clearly the leading brand of mesh heads in SL, I will be very surprised if LeLutka does not have a similar male and female head giveaway like they did the last three Christmases! And more and more stores selling skins, cosmetics, hair, etc. for LeLutka are jumping on the bandwagon with their own giveaways every year, to tie in with the event.

From the position description: "Immerse yourself in Second Life to attain a deep understanding of the feature set and use cases and learn the culture by getting to know the user community." Obviously, experienced SL users would have a strong advantage here. But I am wondering whether it would be better/smarter, given the impending launch of the mobile version of SL, to find somebody who *is* from outside Linden Lab, but experienced in mobile app tech/development, give them a crash course in SL, and bring a fresh and different perspective to the job. Then again, I see this: "Promotion of the value of the core experience of Second Life to other parts of Linden Lab, and help ensure the Product leverages the ideas and resources of the larger organization." Again, someone who is already steeped in Second Life would have a strong advantage here, since they seem to be looking for an advocate. Somebody from outside would face a steep learning curve, an obvious challenge. "Migration from JIRA to Github" - Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it. That's gonna be a whole job in itself! "Cultivate collaborative and productive working relationships with a diverse group of internal stakeholders and embrace healthy conflict rooted in mutual respect and trust" - shrinking violets need not apply! 😜 "Remote roles based outside of our office can sit in any of the following 15 states: AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, MA, MN, MT, NH, NC, PA, TX, VA, and WA. We invite you to apply if you are able to live and work full-time in one of the states listed above." - cries in Canadian

I don't think there is one yet. It's still too early! I'd love to be proven wrong on this, though.

I doubt it. Perhaps you were just lucky enough to find an old system skin where the eyebrows were already high enough? I tested both the male and female Senra heads with a variety of old system skins, and I couldn't find anything that didn't deform around the eyebrow area in some way when the avatar blinked. Your mileage may vary, though! I'd love to hear about other people's experiences.

Okay, I have updated my original blogpost about my problems with the eyebrow and upper eyelid area while using older SLUV skins on the Senra Blake and Jamie heads, giving credit to @Theresa Tennyson who first suggested deleting the blinking script from the heads—thank you! So now there are two solutions: using Izzie's Eyebrow Remover and the supplied Jamie/Blake brows, OR deleting the blinking script in the heads (which are modify/no transfer). Personally, I will be using the latter, at least until we get more skins created specifically for the Senra line. But for us oldbies who might want to reuse older skins from our inventory, it works great! Best of all, it's free. (You can find my blog address in my signature line; if you can't see any signature lines, it's because you have them turned off; you can turn them on here: https://community.secondlife.com/settings/signature/)

Yes, I use the Sweet's Quick Nail Cover Fix, too, although you do have to fiddle around with the RGB settings to get the best match for the rest of your skin. It's an iterative process, takes me about half an hour, but then once it's done, I never have to fuss with it again! The best way to get the RGB color which matches your skin is to turn on Developer mode in Firestorm, then select "Show Color under Cursor" under "Show Info" on the Developer menu (see image below). I use a pose stand, and then aim my cursor at a part of the hand near the part that needs to be tinted, then use that as a starting point to tint a copy of the Sweet's Nail Cover Fix. It usually takes me 4-6 tries to get something a good match. It's a fussy process, not really suitable for newbies, but it works.

Okay, I went and bought the new Alaskmetro skin (L$50) and shape (L$10) for Senra Jamie, and I used that as my starting point. I noticed that, even then, using the default Alaskmetro shape and the Alaskametro skin, when my avatar blinks, the eyebrows do deform every so slightly (but it is noticeable to me), so I gave up, made a copy of the Jamie head, and went and deleted the blinking script on a copy of my test avatar's Senra Jamie mesh head, and wore the nonblinking version instead. This stops the blinking, but (surprisingly) keeps the subtle eye movements (the eye movement animations are included in the Contents tab), and I think it's quite acceptable! I used the Alaskametro shape as my starting point, with some tweaks, and I think this is my best look yet for Jamie! I've just decided that the built-in blinking on both the Blake and Jamie heads just bugs the hell out of me (there's something about the way the skin above the eyes moves that just looks WRONG to me, even on this skin), so I *BANISH* it! Begone! 😜 And this also means that just about any older SLUV skin would then work with these heads—as long as you don't mind the not blinking thing... 😉 I mean, for only L$60 total, I would call this a pretty damn good look that would blend in seamlessly with any club packed with pricer brand-name mesh heads and bodies!

No problem! I just did a quick check, and YES, it works! You just have to rez the Senra head, right click on it and select edit, then go to the Contents tab and delete the script. Then be sure to rename the head so you can find it again easily, take it back into your inventory, wear it, and it works just fine, WITHOUT blinking! And yet, the eyes still move around like before, which is nice.

Thanks! Follow-up question: Because the head is separate, wouldn’t you just have to do this for the head, and not the body?

Okay, I need someone to explain like I’m five (ELI5), step by step, how to strip out the blink script from a Senra head. I would do it for the Blake head in an instant, just to get an old Belleza male skin which I loved and used a lot back in the day, to work on that head. Please and thank you! 🙏

Do you have a link to this "free fix on the MP" for the fingernails and toenails? Thanks. I've seen a lot of good-looking skins applied to Senra Jamie bodies/heads in this thread, but what I want to know is, do the eyebrows glitch when they blink? Every SLUV-based skin I tried had this problem. You can read my latest blogpost for details, and a video which demonstrates the problem. (Blog address is in my signature line.)

Yep, I can't remember where i saw it (perhaps Virtual Secrets, the National Enquirer of SL?), someone said that the LeLutka Avalon is the new Catwa Catya, LOL! Seriously, it has been fascinating to watch LeLutka slowly replace Catwa as THE mesh head brand on the grid. Giving away free mesh heads these past three Christmases has been a savvy marketing move.

I have Maitreya Lara for my main avatar (Vanity), although I did purchase on impulse an Inithium Khara body during one of their recent one-hour flash sales for L$1,000 (mainly because it was on sale, and I am a freebie fashionista a.k.a. a cheap ***** who couldn't resist a bargain LOL!). I love the Khara body, but there still aren't a lot of designers creating for it yet, so I will likely just keep it in storage and wait patiently. If it flops, I'm only out a thousand Linden dollars, no big deal. I had originally bought the Kalhene Analexa for a few female alts, but then the creator dropped that body entirely, so I updated some of them to Maitreya Lara during last year's 50%-off Black Friday sales. Also, I discovered that the Analexa bodies were not as Maitreya Lara-compatible as the LucyBody Atenea, which you can get for free and only requires a L$250 HUD to make them Bakes on Mesh compatible. Almost all of my female alts use Atenea now. Kalhene chose to gamble on Erika, and while I see more designers creating for Erika, it's still a bit of a gamble (the recent L$50 Erika Zero was a smart move, though). Some thoughts from my freebie fashionista/cheap ***** perspective: 1. Maitreya is very smart to give LaraX to existing Lara 5.3 users has a giveaway upgrade. Whether or not you use it is up to you, but I would be very surprised if content creators are going to rig for both Lara 5.3 and LaraX bodies. Once LaraX is launched, you can expect that clothing for Lara 5.3 will start to dwindle, just as it's now harder to find new clothing for Belleza Freya since GenX launched. HOWEVER, the LucyBody Atenea is still nearly free (only L$250 for a Maitreya Lara-compatible body with the Bakes on Mesh HUD LucyBody sells), and still relatively popular according to Lucia Nightfire's statistics, so that might keep some designers creating clothing for Lara 5.3. Maybe. 2. Keep in mind that, from here onward, there's going to be a growing number of people whose first mesh head and body are Senra. Whatever company makes it easy/easier for Senra Jamie mesh head and body users to upgrade to *their* brand is going to reap the rewards. I'm not sure yet what this would look like, but we'll know it when we see it. The emphasis needs to be on an EASY upgrade, something with lots of help for newer users. 3. Never underestimate the power of good-quality freebies! The Genus Strong gift head is the number one head on Lucia's list, followed closely by the three free LeLutka female heads which LeLutka has given out as free gifts in 3 successive years. All LeLutka would have to do is include some Senra-compatible body skin to sweeten the deal this coming Christmas. Just sayin'... 4. The SL mesh head and body wars are entering a new phase. Because clothing designers are NOT going to rig for more than 5 or 6 bodies, TOPS, there will be both winners and losers in this marketplace. Marketing and good PR is going to be key in this new round of battles. No sense having a great mesh body if nobody knows about it and next-to-nobody designs for it!! So I'm just gonna stock up on popcorn and grab a front-row seat to this particular three-ring circus! 🍿

I bought and tried the Izzie's eyebrow concealer and, unfortunately, it did not cover all the eyebrow area on the male Belleza Ewan skin I tried it on. It did, however, work with the female IC Skins Bella Snow skin I tried it on. At this point, it is very clear to me that entire eyebrow/eyelid area area on the Blake AND the Jamie mesh heads is VERY different from the SLUV used on most older male skins, and it is unlikely that they will work with the Blake and Jamie heads, unless you do workarounds like the eyebrow concealer and use the included brows, which sit a lot higher on the forehead! I consider this a MAJOR problem with the Blake and Jamie heads, and frankly, I'd rather just use one of the free LeLutka heads I picked up at previous Christmases than try to find an old SLUV skin that will work with it. It's extremely disappointing. Hopefully, some designers will create new skins specifically for Blake and Jamie, which work with the peculiarities of these heads. I have added two pictures showing the Bella Snow skin (where the eyebrows do move when the avatar blinks), with the same head and skin, using the Izzie's eyebrow concealer and the Jamie brows. You can see just how much higher up the Jamie brows sit! I set the eyebrow height to its LOWEST level, and they are still sky-high!

I have been spending my Sunday afternoon trying on various old skins from my oldest female avatar, Ledba Loon (get it? lead balloon? Thank you, I'll see myself out...), and I found one old skin from IC Skins, which used to specialize in "photorealistic" skins for classic, system avatars. Most of them were horrible, but this Bella Swan skin is a keeper! I'm quite happy with this look. Unfortunately, I cannot find IC skins on the SL Marketplace, so unless you bought this years ago, you're out of luck.

Oh, thank you! I will have to try this.

Yes, that's the word I was looking for, "flat". I don't like the included skins for Blake at all. I spent the afternoon trying on free/dollarbie skins from Belleza, BROX, and Sweet's on the Senra Blake mesh body, and the biggest problem I have discovered is that the eyebrows move on them when the avatar blinks (I fiddled with the eye and eyebrow sliders, and nothing fixed this). There's something about the way the Senra body is designed that is just different enough from the SLUV to cause a problem. I wrote up yet another blogpost about my skin testing for Blake this afternoon, including a short video so that you can see the problem with the eyebrows yourself. I'm starting to think that this is a serious emough problem that it might not allow users to use any older skins with Blake. My blog address is in my signature line.

Okay, I have been spending the evening trying out old SLUV skins on Senra Blake, and one thing I can tell you is that the old Belleza male skins are the BOMB! There are only two problems: one, the fingertips will be a different colour (see image one), so you will need to use something like Sweet's free tintable Quick Nail Cover Fix on the SL Marketplace (see image two). The final three images are the final look for my avatar. *chef's kiss* Oh, and the second problem? When he blinks, the eyebrows get deeper LOL! Something you can't tell from a still photo...

Okay, now that I know that some creators are specifically making clothing to fit Ruth 2.0, I will add a column to my spreadsheet! Thank you, @Sean Heavy! UPDATE: Done! You can now see version 1.1 of my comparison chart on my blog (please see my signature for the address). Thank you to everyone who made suggestions.

I also just realized that I had turned signatures OFF, so I couldn't see ANYBODY'S signature lines! D'oh! No wonder I was so confused. Fixed now, thank you, @Rowan Amore and @Love Zhaoying ❤️!!!

You're welcome! I also like the Atenea body and use it for my female alts. I mean, L$250 for a Maitreya Lara-compatible mesh body is a real bargain! I can't remember when I finally figured out that Atenea's hands also work with Maitreya Lara-rigged rings and (most, but not all) fingernails, but I was very impressed! The latest version has a special button now for Maitreya Lara-rigged high-heeled shoes, too (it has Slink-compatible feet otherwise, so boots and strappy shoes might be a problem with this body). I was thinking of adding the Ruth bodies (e.g. Sweet's, which I also like) to my spreadsheet somewhow, but I don't know much about mesh clothing specifically for them, and how well Maitreya apparel fits it. I haven't really tested them out very much, so I am curious to learn more from others' opinions about the Sweet's and other, similar Ruth 2.0 bodies.