Duncan Giano in The Mesh Project Male Mesh Body from The Shops
I was chatting with the handsome Mr. Duncan Giano the other day and he mentioned that he had purchased the deluxe version of the new male mesh body that was just released by The Shops. Not only that, he had also purchased the mesh head and he was quite happy with both, so of course I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to ask him to pose for me for the blog.
Let me tell you a bit about him. He creates spectacular shoes but currently only has them available on marketplace. You can check out both his flickr and marketplace store to see his work.
I have always found him to be devilishly handsome, but I have to admit, his new face reminds me of a line from Taylor Swift’s Blank Space – “Oh my God, look at that face. You look like my next mistake!”
I had asked him to pose for me because I haven’t purchased the mesh project body myself and I thought it would be good to show how it looks and also share an image of the alpha hud.
I did take Manberry to The Shops and picked up the free version of the body, but I noticed when I wore it at that time with the default SL head, because I don’t wear mesh heads, I couldn’t get rid of the gap/seam on the neck at all, even after I clicked retrofit on their hud. However, yesterday, they sent an update to the body so I’m sharing images of Manberry wearing the free body in this plurk last night and the neck is now seamless. To get the neck seamless like that, I had to put his body fat at 0 and I wore their neckfader tattoo that comes with the body. With that, as you can see, their free body is now wearable.
Here are some details about the body and head:
There are two versions of the mesh head (image of options), basic which is L$2999 and deluxe which is L$5000. It states that the deluxe version is animated, how it’s animated I’m not sure.
There are four versions of the mesh body (image of options), free (which is the one Manberry has) starter for L$1000, basic for L$2999 and deluxe for L$5000. Out of all these versions, only the deluxe comes with an alpha hud. So basically if you want to wear any clothing with this body, you would have to purchase the deluxe version.
Here is an image of their alpha hud that comes with the deluxe version of the male mesh body only:
One thing I have always had difficulty with at The Shops is the shopping experience. Their HUD system is very hard to use, a massive learning curve in my opinion, however I have heard that their live help is very quick to respond and very helpful. I believe it is 24 hours as well. Just go to the sim and you’ll see the online indicator for the live help support.
These are just my small experiences with the body. Aside from that, I have noticed quite a few people on plurk sharing their experiences with The Mesh Project body and head as well, so I’m sharing links to plurks on public timelines in case you would like more info:
- Devin Vaughn shares his experience with the mesh head
- Vincent Vile shares his thoughts with pics
- A few people share their thoughts in Nath Pevensey‘s plurk
I do like the way the body looks, but I think it’s important for you guys to head down there and try the free version on for yourself as everyone has their own preferences. So, take the SLurl to The Shops and pick up the free version.
A big thank you to Duncan for taking the time to pose for me. I really appreciate it. <3
Here is what Duncan is wearing:
Skin: THESKINSHOP (11) (SKIN) ‘Yves’ (Athletic)
with THESKINSHOP (11) (FACIALHAIR) ‘Handsome’ facial hair
Hair: Exile::High and Dry Blacks
with THESKINSHOP (11) (HAIRBASE) ‘Classic’ (Black Hair) – I could only find a female version there.
Pants: RONSEM* old skinny jeans / black 3
with RONSEM* old skinny belt
Shoes: [Deadwool] Patmos boots – black
Accessories:
IKON Promise Eyes – Silverleaf (S)
.Pekka. Mille Unisex Piercing
[MANDALA]SHAMIRA DOG TAG necklace/Black
[MANDALA]BILLIONAIRE_SMEXY watch on left wrist
[MANDALA]BILLIONAIRE_SMEXY bracelet on right wrist
What I’m wearing:
*Mesh Body: Maitreya Mesh Body Lara by Onyx LeShelle
Skin: Deetalez skin & Maitreya Lara body appliers by Steffi Villota
Hair: LeLutka Pocahontas by Thora Charron
*Lingerie: Zaara Lingerie Appliers for Maitreya Lara by Zaara Kohime
House: [ba] NYC apartment skybox by Barnesworth Anubis
Furniture: Stockholm&Lima by Surrealia Anatine (flickr)
Great review!
I don’t understand why they don’t make their shopping experience easier, but yes they do have very good customer service. But they probably wouldn’t have to spend so much time dealing with customer service if they simplified their products. I think that’s The Shops’ biggest drawback, because the products they make are really fantastic and high quality. Their pricing model is a little confounding as well. I don’t see why anyone would want to spend 2500L on the mid-range body if there is no alpha hud. All that aside, it’s a great looking avatar!
The “animated” version of the head most likely does the same things as the female animated heads: open/close eyes, closed/little bit open/bit wider open mouth”. It’s not really what I would call animated, but it’s nice to have. I never use voice, but there’s an option to “talk” too on the female deluxe head, and as far as I know it works!
I actually have a question for Duncan; Do the slink hands and feet fit pretty seamlessly to the ‘shops’ body or did you just go for the hands and feet that came with that body?
Also thank you Berry for the information about that update my S/O was trying the free body yesterday and the neck issues were killing us, so I said wait for someone to blog a review and what do you know the next day you do. This is why I continue to read your blog, you give your opinions while giving us, all of the information. Thank you Berry ♥
The Mesh Project … Where do I start …
Now that I’m totally fixed I love it however, two heads later , a starter body then deluxe body and then add ons I’m about 20,000l lindens poorer…
I’m notorious for not reading notecards but in my defence the shooing experience was a little confusing … The lag horrible (hence two heads) , but in the end my avatar looks amazing . Was it worth the pain ? Definetly
I wish that The Shop was more user friendly. Too much to figure out.
If I were still in the market for a male mesh body I’d be inclined to wait for the Slink option. There are too many things that make me wary of The Shops’ purchase/useage system from what I’ve read about it (especially the fact that the items you purchase apparently don’t go into your inventory; they reside on their servers??), and from what I’m seeing with the images being posted that male body has too many things that just… don’t look right. Example: in your shot the torso curves inward under the ribs, as if Manberry is wearing an invisible corset. Male bodies just don’t DO that!
My other qualm is simply lack of customisation. I have hundreds of skins, a crapton of makeup, and god knows what else, none of which would be usable on this body (or any other mesh body). No matter how popular this or any other male mesh body gets, there will never be as many skin appliers made for it as there are for female mesh bodies. I guess at least Slink is kind of ‘industry standard’ for mesh accessories, so it’s more likely that theirs will be the body that has most appliers created for it, once it’s released.
As to mesh heads… yes, they look amazing. Duncan looks gorgeous in those pics, but every other guy with that head will look exactly as gorgeous. Eventually he’s going to have a lot of hunky identical twins running around the grid.
As before, the ladies have many more options when it comes to customising their choice of mesh bodies/faces (just as they’ve always had more choice in fashion, skins, hair etc) whereas I foresee that a lot of creators will probably follow the accepted view that most guys just want one great skin, and maybe two or three outfits (casual, smart-casual, formal), just as they’ve always done with clothing layers (at least us freaky boys could wear female clothing laters) and then mesh clothing.
I was concerned before about the lack of individuality that mesh clothing was allowing male avatars; squashing us down into more and more ‘conventional’ shapes and styles. Now, with mesh bodies and faces, I’m seeing an even greater limitation of the ability to express one’s individuality and creativity. :-/
Sorry, but there it is. I’ll stick with my lumpy old Linden avi. He might have bumps and knobbly bits in all the wrong places, but he’s ME, and I can make him look like anything I want to, not just like someone else’s vision of how he should look.
I have an issue with the Deluxe version of the mesh body…i bought it for my husband/partner and i took him on the get him ready for it…and i cant get the feet and hands to match the body they stay white? no matter how many times i logged him off and back on they stayed white and tell me i have not style for them and go to the shop to buy some..? i though hands and feet came with it..they are in the folder with it? i like him to wear the hairy chest version! I got the freebie hands and feet to work for now, but they don’t go with the hairy chest version which i loved…anyone else having trouble? i even tried to resend it to him 3 times from the store and all version are the same…the body works but the hands don’t 🙁 i put them all on as white before i do the coloring and then do it…but nope the body works but not the hands and feet…frustrated and all 3 people are off line to talk too and no way of sending them a note-card 🙁 help?
Tracy, I agree, their pricing is quite off and I know with the female mesh body, the standard came with the alpha hud as well, so not sure why the men are having to buy deluxe for the hud.
Sisch, thank you for that! I don’t own any of the mesh heads so had no idea what the animations were.
Silver, thanks for the compliments on the blog. As for the hands and feet, Duncan is wearing the ones that the body comes with. TMP does not support or fit with SLink hands and feet at all, which is quite unfortunate.
Teemid, wow, that’s a lot of lindens but I’m happy that you don’t regret your purchases!
Susie, I absolutely agree with you. The HUD can be very frustrating.
Skell, I totally understand everything you said. As awesome as mesh is, it definitely has it’s drawbacks. Also one of the biggest reasons I don’t wear a mesh head is because I like my face, I feel like me in it. The mesh body is nice, but I’ve already taken it off since I wasn’t able to wear any clothes with it. I think a lot of these mesh bodies are bought by a small percentage of the sl populating, mainly just for pictures or sexy times lol. And btw, your lumpy old linden av looks absolutely fabulous on its own! 😛
Vicky, I’m not sure what to tell you other than I suggest both of you clear your cache and try again using the hud and applying a different tone while wearing your hands and feet and body. As you can see from my pictures, both Duncan and I did not have any issues with the hands and feet. Try going back to the store later and see if live help is around then. Sorry I wasn’t able to help out more.
I’ve been trying the free one this noon and it comes as an huge disapointement. Major issue with fitting the neck with the body, using fit and retrofit options doesn’t change anything and you can see a gap. You need to set the body fat to 0 to make it works but then again, even using the others sliders muscles etc… I don’t like how it looks. Maybe a way to sell one of their shapes ? shapes you can’t try so, it’s kinda a blind date since it’s 10/12 of different ones.
Other problem is you have to share the same styling HUD, women’s use adding unnecessary content, the price as well wouldn’t bother me much but it’s 5000 as well: For the same ammount of money the women’s body use different feet positions and fews others option us guys don’t need/have.
To me it’s out a little too soon, like rushed to be there for Xmas time. So i’m going to wait for an alternative, or see if they want to fix things first.
On another tune, awesome blog here 😉
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…I also got this Meshbody and Meshhead (bouth deluxe)…you’re absolutly right…the way of shopping is…omg….but I’m happy with the head and body…but for my own and more unique look I only wear the Meshbody…the meshhead it’s a “nice to have” for doing some pictures cause I like the look of it on pictures…It’s not easy to fix it with other Meshclothes but the Hud for the male body is (mostly) working for me….I also had the issue with the white hands but when i first choose the skintone and then choose the “body-icon” and choos the skin-style it’s working for me…hope this helps a littel…
greets
Jasonkiep Naxos
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If he’s wearing the free mesh body, how’s it possible that he’s using pants? I knew that on the free body you can’t use mesh dresses
is it an applier?
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