Crash Landing (and Showing Off My Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov Second Life Avatars) – Ryan Schultz

Six weeks ago, I wrote on this blog:

No, I will no longer be writing about Second Life, although yes, I still will be playing it.

Well, as long-time readers of my blog know by now, I am absolutely terrible at sticking to any promises I make about my blog content. Right? Right??!?

My four-week Heated Rivalry-inspired endorphin high ended when I got into a car accident last weekend (ironically, on my birthday). I and the other driver were not hurt, but both vehicles were damaged. I was badly shaken up, and the accident triggered some body aches, and, of course, worsened my already-existing neck and shoulder pain. It was my first car accident in almost twenty years, and I feel like such an idiot. Now I have to fit in visits to my insurance agent, my car dealership, and a bodyshop in between visits to the physiotherapist, massage therapist, and doctors. I have been exhausted, and I have been taking some sick days to rest, relax, and recuperate. Frankly, I’ve been a bit of a mess these past few days.

To get my mind off my current troubles, and to avoid a depressive spiral, I have been doing a deep dive into the Heated Rivalry fan fiction community over at Archive Of Our Own, as well as popping in to check the latest fan art, memes, and fan fiction recommendations on both Reddit and Tumblr. And so it was, that I decided to take two of my minor male alts (i.e. alternative, non-main avatars) and transform them, as best I could, into the gay hockey players Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov of the hit Crave television series Heated Rivalry, based on the Game Changers series of novels by Nova Scotia author Rachel Reid. (Some people who are artists can draw fan art; I instead choose to use my 18+ years of Second Life avatar creation and styling know-how to create models for my own form of fan art.)

I posted the results in several successive Primfeed posts (which most people probably don’t have access to, since you need a Second Life account to access the posts, as I have my account set to private), as well as to Tumblr, where they have been favourably received (you have to agree to view potentially mature content to see my pictures, even though there’s no nudity or sex, and you might have to actually sign up to Tumblr to see this, I don’t know; all the pictures are reposted below, anyway).

So, I decided this evening to finally share some pictures of my works-in-progress, as well as include detailed styling notes for both my Shane and Ilya avatars. First some pictures (please click on each one to see it in a larger size):

Ilya Rozanov Styling Credits:

Head, Eyes, and Hairbase: LeLutka Kris head (a freebie from a previous LeLutka December event)
Head Skin: Varka by Gloom (Velour Ivory skin tone; this was a previous weekend sale item Dreamer Pixelmaid told me about)
Eyebrows: Nuve Charlie eyebrows (EvoX, light brown tintable; free group gift; the Nuve group costs L$350 to join, but you get dozens of EvoX eyebrow fatpacks!)
Facial Moles: Ellie beauty marks and moles for EvoX from Guapa (not a perfect match, but close enough for now)
Neck Moles: Izzie’s neck moles (medium)
Hair: WingsDG ER0714 brown pack (this was probably the hardest thing to find; I tested out a lot of hair at a LOT of different places before deciding this one came closest to Ilya’s shaggy, curly hair!)
Body: Meshbody Legacy Special Edition Basic (free, from the Avatar Welcome Pack)
Body Skin: Velour Picasso Homme fit figure in Ivory skin tone (along with chest, leg, and happy trail body hair and body moles included in the package).
Fingernails: Brown 4800B Natural Short Nails Male – Legacy/Athletic (available from the SL Marketplace here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/4800B-NATURAL-SHORT-NAILS-MALE-Jake-Kario-Athletic-Davis-Gianni/26241982; I used the Blushed Legacy Lite fingernail and toenail alphas available for free here)
Toenails: Purec Nature Nails Male (free group gift; group is free to join)
Shape: My own, starting from the included body and eyebrow shapes included in the Varka skin package, and playing with the face, head, and body sliders to match up with internet pictures of Ilya Rozanov/Connor Storrie (still a work-in-progress, although I am very happy with this result).
Animation Overide: Tuty’s sLIFE Free Male AO (free)
Plaid Jacket: Rowers Beck Jacket #1 Legacy/Athletic (got this for free with a Rowers store credit from a previous Shop and Hop event)
Shorts: Hardcore (HD003ST) Men’s Slim Fit Shorts black (I bought this for free using free Hardcore store credit from a previous Shop and Hop event)
Hockey T-Shirt: Matching Hollander and Rozanov Ottawa Senators team T-shirts. Available on the SL Marketplace for only L$60 here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Tribute-T-Shirt-Heated-Hockey-Tees/27912865

Shane Hollander Styling Credits:

Head: LeLutka Eon Lite head (free, from the Avatar Welcome Pack)
Head Skin: Nick skin from Alexandrite (Velour Moon skin tone; this was also a weekend special deal that Dreamer Pixelmaid told me about)
Eyebrows: Nuve Dylan eyebrows (EvoX, black; free group gift; the Nuve group costs L$350 to join, as I said above, but you get dozens of EvoX eyebrow fatpacks!)
Eyes: Florest eyes from Alexandrite
Freckles: Voglia Freckless at 25% (a gift from a previous shopping event, which will do for now until I find the perfect Shane freckles!)
Hairbase: Dura black hairbase BoM EvoX (F1-01; free group gift)
Hair: Jack hairstyle by ADE (free group gift; group is free to join)
Body: Meshbody Legacy Special Edition Basic (free, from the Avatar Welcome Pack)
Body Skin: Velour Eros Lite for Legacy (Moon skin tone; this was a freebie from Velour from the very first LeLutka December event, six years ago)
Fingernails: Brown 4800B Natural Short Nails Male – Legacy/Athletic (available from the SL Marketplace here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/4800B-NATURAL-SHORT-NAILS-MALE-Jake-Kario-Athletic-Davis-Gianni/26241982; I used the Blushed Legacy Lite fingernail and toenail alphas available for free here).
Toenails: Purec Nature Nails Male (freebie)
Shape: My own, starting from the included Nick body and eyebrow shapes, and playing around with the face, head, and body sliders to match up with internet pictures of Shane Hollander/Hudson Williams (still a work-in-progress).
Animation Overide: Tuty’s sLIFE Free Male AO (free)
Plaid Jacket: Hardcore (HD008JK) Men’s Jacket with Hoodie R/B (I bought this for free using free Hardcore store credit froma previous Shop and Hop event)
Shorts: Arcback Shorts Blue – Legacy Basic (free; I believe I picked these up at the new Avatar Shopping Island here).
Hockey T-Shirt: Matching Hollander and Rozanov Ottawa Senators team T-shirts. Available on the SL Marketplace for only L$60 here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Tribute-T-Shirt-Heated-Hockey-Tees/27912865

Other Credits:

Bed with built-in cuddle poses and animations: Dutchie’s gay sex bed (I had Shane and Ilya test out the in-store model to take the cuddle poses, but I’m pretty sure I am going to go back and actually buy this, because the animations are marvelous!)
All other pictures taken on my super-secret desert island where I can rezz objects like pose stands for a short period of time before they are automatically returned. And, no, I am not telling you where it is! One new place I can recommend is The Fitting Room (I wrote about it on Primfeed here, but my Primfeed is set to private, so you’ll need to set up a Primfeed account to be able to read that post).