The Arcade

It's been forever since I've posted anything here, and even longer since a tourism update.  I want to do those more often (I've been preoccupied with moving and a broken thumb and too many events and an occasional fashiony blog- I haven't BEEN much of anywhere a lot lately).

This time, I'm cheating.  Because, you see, I got in early because I'm a participant, so I have pictures that aren't crammed full of eleven jillion people (or, you know...30.  whatever the avatar limit is).  The Arcade!


Aside from the actual, you know, the spendy money on awesome things reason to go, the venue is amazing.  It's an enclosed skydome, with an entire planned environment separate from everything else.

It is, as you can probably tell from looking, pretty much 100% mesh.  Mesh really does open up possibilities that were unavailable previously- sculpts helped (a LOT!), but mesh is much more flexible with efficiency and texture management.  (I'm also lucky/spoiled and can run with shadows on all the time on this computer, so I do, oh, how I do.)

You super duper want to sit on a donation kiosk, whether you toss any money their way or not. Make sure you've got default camera (hit escape a couple of times).

Drowsy

Drowsy has been closed for a while, while they remodel. I'm always a bit sad when that happens to a good sim- often it's great, but it still means all those places that I used to love are gone. For now, Drowsy has just a little bit open, high in the sky, while they work below.



The island in the sky hasn't quite escaped the wolves, but there are far fewer wolves lurking around, and quite a few more cats!



Bits and pieces of the sim below have collected together in shards, the clocktower, the library, the swings from the playground, all collapsed together in a small space.



Only BP* and Kurotsubaki have reopened in the sky, with their signature beautiful little bits and pieces, tucked here and there around the library and the rest of the island.



There's a room with a projector and mementos of previous festivals, ephemeral memories of Drowsy past.



Visit Drowsy.

Drowsy

Drowsy does festivals in a space that changes from time to time. They're filled with awesome.

Hotel Dare

An interactive art installation.










This installation at Poetik velvets. The Hotel periodically closes and changes in entirety.

Happy Hallowe'en!

Today (or, I suppose, yesterday now), being Hallowe'en, meant that there were a great number of things going on. I've been scurrying all over for the past few weeks on and off with treasure hunting (and have gotten some very nice things out of it, including the lovely rust silent sparrow coat I've been wearing with my pumpkin head, and the lovely red dress and Gritty Kitty hat I was wearing for a bit before that as a witch)...and it did really get to the point that there was just _too_ much of it and I got a bit burnt out.

However, I took in some of the New Babbage activities. I missed the parades and such as I wasn't around at the proper time for it, but today I first went to the barrel race. Flaming barrels are flung around by the racers, trying not to drop them in the drink as they navigate the streets of New Babbage. It was great fun. At first I was the only adult participating (it was, I suppose, stated as an activity for the urchins), but then I was joined by a gentleman as well- we had more spectators than participants! I was doing quite well with my barrel...except for crossing into Port Babbage, whereupon it blipped out of existence. I gave up the search eventually, and found out that one of the others brought mine in with them instead of their own! (Sadly, sim crossings were quite detrimental and ate a few barrels.) Afterwards, we flew back to the theatre on Loki's airship, to ride the carousel. Unfortuantely, I got stuck (on sim crossing!), and crashed. At least I'd had the chance to ride it earlier, when going along the ghost tour.



A fair bit later in the evening I heard about Professor Nishi overseeing a Samhain ceremony. It was not very well attended, but it was quite magnificent, and the intimate little group really did make it more special. I do feel that I need to make a better marshmallow on a stick that the huge and not-so-awesome freebie I had, which I shared with the young Ms. Paine- especially as Bonfire Night is coming up soon, and I've heard that New Babbage shall have festivities for that as well.







Later still, I cleaned out all of the Hallowe'en decorations around La Reina and Le Cadre', the shops look so sad and sterile now, it is quite depressing. So much so that I whipped up a quick (and really a bit sad, honestly- next year I shall have to think ahead and be ready. And by then I shall have either given up on sculpties ever being fixed, or they will have fixed them, so I shan't be using the library skull as a base) sugar skull so the La Reina store wouldn't be completely bereft of everything. The coffin with the treat bucket shall be available until the 4th, as the Ohana Isle treasure hunt ends then, and I had included a landmark with a note about picking up a treat bucket. The pumpkins and the cauldron are gone though, so the pink brooms and the chewy eyeballs and martini and the spooky facelights are now unobtainable (some things will probably be available next year, but some may not. The brooms, for instance, will be overhauled if I do brooms again next year). Do make sure you get your bucket while you still can, as I do not believe I shall offer it again next year (something else perhaps, but not it).

Port Seraphine and the Dangers of Sculpties

I'm quite saddened by the Port Seraphine build. Even when I'm only sharing the sim with two other people, I can't move, I get stuck in terrain, I'm lagged to hell, etc. So, yeah, from now on it's a place I shan't ever be going. I rather liked the old build. Maybe it wasn't as flashy as this, but it was still rather cute, and I could, you know, actually look at the shops in it.

This is why one should not make their entire sim out of lots of sculpties. Technology can't handle it at this point, at all.

IBM SOA adventure Island Haunted House

I've been remiss about my haunted houses. I haven't been to all that many- I've been far too distracted by making little nothings and setting up my shop and all.

However, IBM SOA Adventure Island has a rather neat maze. The ways to get through it are not always readily apparent, which is totally awesome. I really loved the prim ghosts, they were very nicely done.



I saw the best sculpty skull I've seen yet there- a Light Waves, of course.



It's not all spooktacular, but it's rather well done and pretty (it was filled with butterflies in one grotto when I went, due to an event, which sort of downplayed the spookiness factor).

KillTower Halloween

Halloween is coming up, so it's time to hit the haunted houses. KillTower Park came up in a search, so I figured I'd check it out.

They've got a fair amount of activities, first thing I did was walk up the hill to the big tower. There isn't much you can do there, although I did electrocute myself, and checked out the (occupied) lethal camping.




Taking the 'port to one of the boat rides and the maze, I took the blood river ride first. Very county fair dark ride (at least of the sort we get here). The maze is diabolical- you can't see where you're going at all. Pumpkins are provided as markers, but it's easy to get turned around and going the wrong way (I ended up going in a circle once). It's close enough to the ride that occasionally you camera through the walls. It had become quite apparent by this point that they heavily recycle decorations, mostly flat cut-outs (however, most of them moan if you click on them, which is pretty cute). I'm generally a tad disappointed by haunted houses even in FL, as I prefer a bit more sophistication in my effects that rarely happens. However, still and all, not a waste of my time.

Next I 'ported back to the main area and checked out the blood falls ride- which does have a charge, albeit nominal. The log ride, which loops over most of the area, doesn't currently though. It did get a little stuck once on one of the ups, but it managed to unstick itself fairly quickly.

Murders in Babbage, conclusion

The murders in New Babbage appears to have been solved. Jason Moriarty confessed to killing the Professor, and with the murders being so similar it is assumed that he committed the rest as well. In the shopping alley, I discovered a book he wrote which provided an insight into his highly disturbed mind. The Professor's experiments has obviously unhinged him, and he felt betrayed when the Professor left him to his own devices and returned to working on the Porta Terrarum device, which appears to have been what caused his mental instability- he heard voices which may have originated from beyond our world, from one of the worlds touched by the device. The Professor was working on the device for the Thirteen, who were also seeking to destroy Moriarty. Perhaps the disturbance in his mind explains the clues left haphazardly, as well as his desire to seek attention and vindication for his actions, as he saw himself as so betrayed. It still seems a touch facile, perhaps, but then life often is. The Van Greed Society, the Thirteen, and the Masonic contact within New Babbage remain mysteries for another day.

The device located in the Bow Street Police office was a fake, as I suspected- it didn't make much sense otherwise (in fact, it made little sense for the police to display it so openly if even they believed it genuine). The real device was hidden beneath the theatre, and Moriarty used it to open a doorway to allow entrance to our world to monstrous things, which hovered above the theatre after the device reached some sort of critical mass. Professor Nishi underwent a transformation into some sort of creature herself, and fought them off. After the battle, she dropped to earth, apparently injured in some manner beyond the flesh, and disappeared before our eyes.



While it appeared that she might perhaps be gone from our world forever, it was revealed that in fact she was safe and sound, although drained from the experience.

A 3rd murder in New Babbage!

There has been a third murder. I find the whole case exciting- I'm in no danger, as I have no connections at all to any of the intrigue, and am a total outsider having to reconstruct the facts with no other reference.



The third victim was a Mr. Edler Reifsnider, a Mason, and someone on one side or the other searching for the mysterious device. The body was found in the theatre, hung and stabbed, which seems a touch excessive, but on the other hand the knives seem to be more of a system to ensure the letters do not blow away in all cases, and there hasn't been any blood on any of them since the first. Perhaps they were already dead some other way, for long enough to cease the flow of blood?

I'm in the Absinthe house next door, while assorted people mill about. I'm having a drink, to settle my nerves...well, truly, any excuse is a good excuse, and though there is a pool of blood under the body it isn't that gruesome, although some of the more excitable of the crowd have been speculating on seeing the corpse move. I believe the majority of the group started at a meeting earlier, which I tried to attend but as is the case in New Babbage, I simply get lagging out and can't even move, so I gave up. I suppose I ought to have said hello or whatnot, but I never do know how to call attention to myself in social situations. Regardless of what should or should not have been done, I'm taking the time to sort through the clues I have discovered to date, to attempt to organize things a touch.

At the first crime scene, where the deceased grandfather of Loki Eliot was discovered, there is a letter stating that he is going to be murdered by the Van Greed Society, and mention of both his grandson and another urchin who he refers to as "Ally Wunder." This letter is bloodstained and torn- the only letter in the series to be either, and written with urgency suggesting that he was interrupted by the killer during the writing of it. A second letter referred to the device, and the experiments on Sunrise, as well as one of the volunteers for his experiments, Jason, becoming psychotic, and performing experiments of his own upon the urchins (it has been theorized that Jason is one of the lycanthropes plaguing New Babbage currently). A third is a follow up to the disaster on Sunrise, and includes an ominous reference to "Suqare & compass"(?)- it is occasionally difficult to decypher the Professor's writing, and it could be a misspelling if he was in a rush, he occasionally dropped capitals most definitely. Possibly Square & compass, although still the actual source of the reference is still unclear. An experiment diary outlines the disaster itself and the explosion of the island, from what the Professor witnessed, which wasn't a great deal.

All of the letters are addressed "Dear Friends," so it is a mystery as for whom exactly the Professor was writing these unsent letters.

The second body, Giles Canning, was discovered not far from the scene of the first crime, although the body was brazenly left just off the street, behind some crates. He had a letter from The Thirteen upon his person, who he appeared to be working for, or otherwise associated with. They appear to also be interested in the Sunrise Device, and wished Canning to aid them in covering up the whole affair that was brought to the attention of the authorities with the first murder. Upon his person was also the infamous list:

Ally Wunder     Victor Wunderlich?
Loki Eliot     Grandson. where father?
Myrtil Igaly & Mckay Beck
----------------------------
Jason Moriarty
Nareth E. Nishi

I met Ms. Nishi at the site where the body had been, after escourting a doctor from Caledon there (I had stumbled across the body earlier that day, but it was removed before the arrival of the doctor by the Bow Street Police. The doctor attempted to persuade the Mayor to allow him to resurrect the victim, but he appeared to be having no luck). I met Myrtil Igaly at Sunrise, although I didn't know it was that island at the time, and she expressed fear for her life. The true associations of the list, whether they are all potential victims, whether the last two are conspirators, or whether it has different meaning entirely, has been a subject of much speculation. The first section is all composed of urchins and the second is not, so that could be the real reason for the split. Moriarty could, of course, be the psychotic Jason referred to by the Professor. Ms. Nishi seems to believe it is instead Canning's list of people to inquire as to the whereabouts of the device, but the killer still would have seen it, and does not appear to be adverse to murdering any in his way.

There was also a cylinder recording of the experiment, documenting the disaster, near the body, of what sounds to be an opening of a portal (or partial opening?) which had the horrifying repercussions. This murderer seems to have a very strange motive, leaving all of this evidence about the Sunrise Experiment on the bodies. He must want the authorities to find it? One wonders why one would go to all the trouble for something so simple (perhaps feeling it would be easier to steal then, but it has been safely ensconced within the Bow Street office for a fair amount of time now, and one would think it would be easier to simply find on one's own, without calling all this attention to one's actions. If one desired to use it, I should also think that the Professor, alive and captive, would be far more useful, as the device does not appear to function correctly as of the last reports. Perhaps it is simply the shortsightedness of villains, and those they choose to do their bidding, but that seems a bit of a facile answer). Especially as what purpose it would serve in the hands of the authorities is one of question as well. Will they attempt to use it? It appears to be something with devastatingly horrible potential, so perhaps the attempts by the Mason's to destroy it might be safest for everyone. Still, it would be a shame for the Professor's life work to be destroyed, and it might have potential for betterment for mankind as well.

Of course, the potential exists that red herrings are left in with real clues, to throw people off of the real story, and that the clues left in so melodramatic a manner are to encourage armchair detectives to join in and obfuscate matters. I am keeping myself to myself however, and do not believe I would be interfering with the investigations of the professionals in any way (beyond attempting to warn a couple on the list shortly after discovering it, just in case. Any involved with the device are potentially in danger at this point, regardless of whether they are actually targets, and it would be wise for them all to be aware of their surroundings, just in case).

(As an aside, Loki Eliot, Mckay Beck, and Nareth Nishi all were milling about the scene of the last crime looking at the body. Mckay was, I believe, the first speculating upon the corpse's movements. One must not find too much suspicious in their arrival, as it was rather obvious and well attended.)

I explored the island a little, and found some notes and drawings of what one assumes is the device. There is a device in the station set up by the Bow Stret Police, under glass, that appears to be it. The motives of the killer become even cloudier (if his intention was to drop the device into the laps of the constabulary, why then do the murders continue? And why would he desire to do such a thing anyway?). There was also reference to lycanthropy and the undead upon the island, and another reference to their activity in New Babbage since the Professor started his experiments. I've yet to personally witness any of either.

The newest letters confirm that the Van Greed Society is behind the string of murders, although there is also mention of the opposing force in search of the device, the Thirteen Club. The victim was apparently attempting to gain ownership of the theatre, forcing out the urchins who have made it their home, at the behest of the Masons- and meeting with much resistance from the residents of New Babbage. His Mason card was found under his body, next to a pool of blood. The Masons also have some interest in Ms. Nishi, although "her case" was not assigned to the victim. The victim was sent to destroy the Porta Terrarum, which appears to be an alternate name for the Sunrise Device (one must assume that the possibility exists that nothing is as it seems. However, the device has been stated as a method to open portals between our reality and others, so Porta Terrarum would be an apt name). There is an undisclosed (female) Masonic agent in New Babbage he was instructed to contact, as well as to attempt to involve the Mayor, although the suggestion seems against full disclosure of his intentions.

Regardless of speculation on the list, the Masonic agent that Mr. Reifsnider was to contact appears to be the most obvious next target, if the murderer can deduce her identity. One would find it unlikely she would be one of the urchins, in such a society, as well as it being unlikely that she would be Ms. Nishi. I had seen none of the victims about town before their untimely deaths though, so I assume I shall find out the identity of this mysterious agent after it is too late for her. That is the problem with secret societies, I suppose.

Clock Island

Another case of seeing something interesting on a random flickr is Clock Island. It's sort of quirky and adorable, and mildly reminiscent of Dali (in that numbers fall from the sky and run around and you can walk around inside a giant hourglass, there isn't the melting involved).

There's also a scavenger hunt, which I am a sucker for, in the case of finding the 12 gold numbers. I've found four or five, and beyond a couple of obvious ones, they head straight into the realm of dirty pool. Inside objects, buried underwater (at least there is a subtle pointer), randomly falling from the sky with no discernible pattern... However, it's still great fun, although the assisting text and whole design concept is in Japanese, so one who doesn't speak the language is left thinking that they've missed something. There are also a couple of freebies hidden around- there's a lovely number dress that sadly isn't modifiable (I believe it would be quite lovely in black, but alas it is stuck in white), and a neat little pointer thingie that can be somewhat tricky to find as well. Maybe sure you have your sound on, aural clues abound in giving you an idea where you ought to be looking.

Unfortunately one of the elevators looks unintentionally broken, and the intentionally broken one...I have a feeling it's doing something, but I don't have the clues to know what exactly, as my Japanese extends to only very simple and nonsensical phrasings (Your shoe is big).

Devils Moon

I saw a picture of Devils Moon in a random someone's flickr, (off of one of those sidebars of all sorts of people with SL flickr's) and was intrigued.

They have an absolutely marvelous street effect. I love it. It's magnificently clever, the street looks wet with rain, with great reflections of the city above. Now, as you well know, I'm sure, real reflections haven't made the proper viewer yet, and when they do they're going to be murderous on people's systems. Instead it's a partially transparent street with the city built upside down underneath. It's a fantastic effect, and it only makes me cringe a little bit on the amount of prims they have to "waste." They've made up for it with some really fantastic textures that make you think things are more high prim than they are, and while there are places where they haven't mirrored things exactly (generally a "prims don't cut that way" problem), it's mostly things that you wouldn't notice unless you were really paying attention. It's also a brilliant (modern) Japanese influence cyberpunk city, which is always good- that is what lured me in in the first place, after all.

I'm smitten, and I need to bring Max when he has the time.

Apparently there's also some sort of combat game at one of the neighboring sims that run by the same people, and there are free ice and roller skates when you 'port in. So far I'm just enjoying the scenery though. Even though I don't really appreciate strip clubs, there's a perfectly seedy strip club with a hidden "cuddle" room up in one of the high rises. I think it's by far the most realistic strip club I've seen in SL (but then, I don't frequent them- but still, even empty you can smell the sweat, desperation, and alcohol).

Murder in New Babbage

There have been a couple of murders in New Babbage recently, how exciting. The first I discovered in the newspaper, but today I found a second body. He had a note on him suggesting that some of the urchins of New Babbage may be in danger as well, as well as a recorded cylinder of the disaster to do with the experiment.
New Babbage, sadly, makes me chug like crazy, and I've never been able to spend much time there. Which is very disappointing, as it's an amazing place, and I'm looking forward to the new underwater sim (which, I hope, will include that lovely Relay for Life build! I've been making a diving suit in preparation).

(Speaking of chugging, after a chat with someone I've met at my sandbox, I believe that voice chat is causing massive hangups on not just my system, but also the systems of many, even though I leave it turned off completely. *sigh* It isn't even a feature I would use- I dislike the sound of my own voice, tend to be quiet most of the time, often have music playing that would simply add noise to the background so no one would be able to understand a word I said, and don't have a mike anyway.)

Greenies

I stumbled across Pavig Lok when I inspected an absolutely clever little magnified flea (I absolutely adore the mechanism, and had actually been considering the same type of exploit but hadn't decided on what yet), and wrote down her name for later to browse her picks, as I was still in my first exploration of New Babbage (and still haven't seen a quarter of what's there as it is). It is exactly along the lines I've been thinking myself- turn a weakness of the system into a strength, and she did it dead fabulously. I'm sure I'll eventually steal the idea for this exact mechanism too, it's just perfect.

Aside from sending me to the hobo railroad, which I desperately wish I'd known about when I first started (or, more accurately, when I restarted) because it's got all sorts of useful information for newbies (as well as some freebies I'm still sorting through), I also found Greenies Home, which is apparently a new build of hers. This place is great! You are the same size as these little green aliens, who are about mouse sized, in a gigantic house.

They're all over doing various and sundry things (everything is frozen in place with no movement, including a spilt drink, which I'm sort of on the fence about- on the one hand, I'd like some movement, on the other with figures you've either got to program AIs for all of them or they look even more out of place, and within the limitations of not only LSL but sim load and computer processing speed due to inefficiency of not being designed exclusively for that, it really isn't practical), and there are proximity teleports up to the mother ship. That's right, cameraing around doesn't cut it. I camera around most of the time, because I find movement to be difficult at times, especially with lag and all, but I've been flying all over the place instead (and I totally respect and love the idea, even though it is somewhat awkward for my computer). The ship has a shop, in which you can purchase one of the little green alien avatars for your very own, as well as other merchandising (let's face it, they have to pay the sim fees somehow!), including a pj set with a stuffed alien and alien slippers, see-through bags which contain little aliens, odd alien inspired accessories, particle effect perfumes (!). It's all truly adorable.

It's on such a vast scale that flying is generally the way to go about it, not only is a lot of the action happening above your head, but with the greater movement speed you aren't walking across an expansive floor forever. There are some fabulously built models, of particular interest to me were the cat, which is sculpty free and a little (huge) feline marvel (but that may be in part due to having 5 cats, so, er, I tend to be drawn to cats. Also, I think it's actually an old model, and I love history, as well as it being very well done), and the bronze of the ballerina, which is all sculpty and amazing- this is one of the examples of what sculpties can really truly do (sadly, we've seen a lot that sculpties really aren't necessary for as well, I don't think I can count how many sculpties that could have been made exactly with only two regular prims- and while this may be a way to get around your prim limit, I think it is harder on the system). Amusingly, it looks like all the alien ships and tech are textured with sculpties as textures- it's all that rainbow gradient (they probably are not, but they are certainly reminiscent). There's also a great big movie screen (tiny black and white TV if you were to scale to the house) with assorted shows playing, if you want to sit and stay a while.

Interesting sociological experiment though: while I was there, the majority of the people were in the dollhouse, which is build to our size.

Relay for Life 2007

I'm mostly out of the loop, I don't know many people in SL, and I spend a lot of time with tourism and building odd little random nothings. So I just sort of stumbled across the RelayForLife builds.

Incredible. Some of these are absolutely fabulous builds, many in a fraction of a sim, designed to be seen just walking by the road or with a bit more of a detour to explore. And they're all short term (I'm not sure they're even still there now- the walk was yesterday, and I don't know how long they stick around)- it's an astonishing amount of work to go into something that will be gone soon. It's very amusement park-y with going from one theme to another (some with rides or other diversions), and reminds me of the Universal Studios tour. The old one, with the real cylons, where I attempted to jump out of the tram and run away with my robot masters when I was about 3.

For instance, the giant wooden Pinocchio that dominates one build, dwarving houses, with a Punch and Judy show at his feet. Back down the path is the great fish, with a raft in his open mouth.
The Block has a fabulous Godzilla build, with everyone's favourite radioactive lizard, and some of his friends, trashing a city (Mothra circling overhead!). It's gritty and beautiful, just like their official sim, and they manage to stuff a lot of awesome little details in a very small space (they have a fraction of a sim, squeezed between two other builds, and it still works perfectly).

There's a fabulous little Aztec temple devoted to Peng-Ra, the great penguin god. You enter through an enormous mouth gate. To get to the temple you have to leave the road and climb up a mountain to find an altar, under which is a hidden little area with a throne you can pose upon. It isn't the only ancient temple themed build, there's another with a mining car ride that takes you around and is very Indiana Jonesish. And the Great Escape build also has a ride- a little sled you have to find the tunnel for, under one of the buildings (it's great in mouselook, a bit cramped otherwise).

The official Caledon build was rather surreal- you enter into an overscale Victorian house, and exit through the (lit) fireplace, the road running through the middle of it. On the other side a winter wonderland with a giant squid attack and dancing elephants in tophats awaits you.

Transylvania has a graveyard with a massive mausoleum on one side, I am guessing honouring one of their regulars who died of cancer. It's very sweet and fitting with the sort of build that Transylvania is (especially considering the permanent graveyard). They also have a fully "furnished" freak show house for sale for Relay for Life on display as part of their build. (It's a pretty good freak show, as well as all the proceeds going to charity!)



One of Caledon's residents has a build separate from the winter elephants, and created a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea tunnel. It was quite disconcerting to actually be walking down the stairs into the water, and it left me feeling the whole thing was murky because I knew that I was under water as well. Once I adjusted, the murkiness, even inside the tunnel itself, was perfectly fitting. It was just that kneejerk "this is wrong" that got me at first. However even that didn't dampen my enjoyment of this build, the tunnel is fabulous (and has posters with quotes from the book at corners, as well as a conclusion about the unexplored deeps that may hold more jewels for science than the rainforests). There are jellyfish, a laboratory, sealife, and, of course, giant squid, that one can see from inside the tunnel. I fell in love with this build. I want it forever and always. And more.
Pixels in Pink created a film noir build, with greyscale textures- with the exception of pink accents. It was highly reminiscent of Sin City, although not as strong a colour. I got to speak briefly with one of the people who made the build (I assume- she was at least officially connected to PiP, but I know nothing about them beyond stumbling across this build), and she matched it herself- a completely desaturated skin and clothing, with the exception of pink lips and a pink sweater. The UFO in the background is from a neighboring build (that I'm assuming had references that I didn't get, not being familiar with the source material).

There was a massive Journey to the Centre of the Earth build, that you enter into twice. It spanned a number of styles, I quite enjoyed the simple cave that was towards the beginning, but there was also a cave full of crystals of all sorts of shapes and colours, as well as a section with dinosaurs and lava and ruins! Also, you can dynamite rocks onto unsuspecting people on their way up.
The Wizard of Oz build was based on the movie, which, well, honestly disappointed me, but did not surprise me. Everyone is all the movie, not the books, and the books are awesome. It was still a very neat and in depth build- you can follow Dorothy's travels, from her home in Kansas, to the tornado, to Munchkinland with Glinda waiting for you, picking up her companions on their way to see the Great and Powerful Oz (at which point I donned my green spectacles that I take everywhere with me, but that's just me), and being attacked by the most adorably awesome flying monkeys on the way to the Wicked Witch's castle, where you can make her melt into a puddle! before returning home.(The above random selection of screenshots are what I took to show Max, as he couldn't make it.)

There's also a dead fabulous Zelda build that I didn't have a chance to really explore- it even includes a free HuD with a starter weapon (you buy better swords and such), so you can play the game! Unfortunately they don't currently have a sim for it to continue, so once RFL is over, the game goes back to limbo until they set it up again somewhere. And they have a lego Link avatar(!) And lots more things- the beginning and end was Lord of the Rings themed, and had some really great builds (that were very obviously movie inspired, but that's one that I don't mind, that movie was just about exactly as I see it in my head reading it), there were psychadelic things, and a cartoony Final Fantasy build (that was verging on the terrifying!), and Scooby Doo, and, well, really too much to mention. New Babbage had a build over an entire sim that made me say to myself "dear god, why haven't I been there yet? Must go!" Also, there was fishing (not at new Babbage), with another under the sea tunnel, that featured looking into the whale living room where the whales are sweating to the oldies on TV and getting ready for bed.

It's sad that something so vast and beautiful and complex will all be gone.