So while I was Second Life AWOL the grid went mad for boobies. Hooray for boobies I hear you cry, and quite rightly so. Breasts are brilliant. Small ones, big ones; they’re all blooming wonderful, and one of the best bits about being a girly is having knockers, no doubt about it! <Chuckle>

There’s no denying that femininity is often defined by a cleavage, but it shouldn’t be of course, as we are seeing gender and sexual identity completely over-hauled in the 21^st century.  Androgynous male models that look better than the female populace of Doncaster strut the catwalk, and the ‘ Lady-boys of Bangkok’ tour the UK inviting us to all gasp, our mouths agog not only at their beauty and performance but their astonishing figures and most of all BOOBIES!

My own bewbs in RL were woefully late to the party. I spent much of my late teens and twenties with a modest cupful, but once I hit my thirties (and started eating LOTS more cake) I became the proud owner of the festive pair that I have dangling down before me. I love them. I look after them, as every girl should, and I think that my fella is quite partial to them as well.

So enough with the real life boobie loving, what about SL?  

Well, boobs aren’t a new thing to the grid; they’ve been around for years. But to be brutally honest the gargantuan breasted types with their rock-solid dirigibles attached to their frontage were about as appealing to me as, well, Katie Price. (It’s fair to say I’m not a fan of all things Jordan, and whilst I know there are many out there who adore her, I’m not in her fan club.) The big-boobied brigade in general didn’t appeal to me because it looked too false (even though some would argue that’s the whole point) and I never really frequented the places where they hung out. I didn’t like the fashion either, if you could call a couple of strips of cloth barely covering a nipple hair an item of clothing. But these were early days (I’m talking 2007-2008 here, yikes!) and the world of in-world body enhancement has come a long way baby since then.

The problem is in real life (and SL) being large breasted seems to have become inter-twined with all things false and seedy. I confess, it had to me anyway. Massively over-inflated norks adorn many a young starlet, and to me that’s not a good look, but then again seeing a a six-foot tall furry with breasts bigger than Alaska  in-world is often pretty alarming too!

In real life we need to accept and accommodate, just as we do in the virtual.  It’s funny how your own prejudices carry on into the virtual world. This is why I have such respect for communities such as Furs, Mermaids etc. These people leave their perceptions at the door and fully embrace their  differences and push past their comfort zones and it has to be said  they seem happier for it, and their communities continue to thrive and grow.

I’ve always liked Kitty to have a bit up-front, and I’ve always styled her that way.  I want her to have a bit of meat on her bones (I’m like a lump of lard in real life, so there’s no similarity between me and her at all) but I don’t want her to look like a two-bit tart, and to be honest that’s how I felt she would look if I made her have titties the size of a Sherman tank.

To be truthful, the idea of wearing false boobies on my avatar didn’t appeal at all.  I thought it was pointless and anti-feminist. I wasn’t going to do it. Not me.  I’m ashamed to say I thought I’d be kitty sell-out for doing it.

But after a bit of research and experimentation, I started to change my mind.  The grid has gone apoplectic for these things called ‘Lola’s Tangos’, but these aren’t the only ones that you can buy.  There are now boobies  to suit all tastes and budgets, from companies called Lush, Iboobs, Sinful Needs, eboobs! and probably lots more that I don’t know about. From Lolo Ferrari specials to Scarlett Johansson curves, you can now have the cleavage of your virtual dreams courtesy of that Second Life miracle worker, Mesh.

Oh Mesh, how I love you. For a prim whore like me, Mesh has made my life a much happier one. I can fill my abode with wonderful things and not have to fret about the prim counts. I can wear clothes that look scrumptious and sashay to my heart’s content safe in the knowledge that my leg won’t stick through my skirt. Mesh is an SL virtual revolution.  Mesh has made me happy.  And now there are mesh tits to make those girlies who want bigger norkage in world happy too. (Note: and their virtual boyfriends/girlfriends)

In the past few days I’ve learned a whole lot, in fact a whole new world (cue the song) of Second Life has opened up to me. There’s always been an underground hard-core (pardon the pun) boobies following in world. It obviously ties into fetishism and the club scene, but there are also plenty of avvies who just like having bazookas in the virtual world that they can enjoy.  (Never be fooled by the power of Second Life; it opens up a Pandora’s Box of possibilities, hence why I love it so.)

Like most groups that lurk in dark corners and on the Second Life fringes the big-boobed avatars have never really hit the mainstream, until something happened and the grid got into a tizz about Lola’s Tangos.  (I’m talking about these ones especially because they’re the market leader and also the ones that I now own, but other bosoms are of course available!)

Basically they’re a menu driven mesh attachment that you wear on your chest. You click your boobies to access menus that manage an array of functions. Not only can they be re-sized  but they come replete with a variety of nipple styles and adornments (piercings), but the major reason for the mainstream fuss is that they allow for clothing designers to finally make clothes that fit big-breasted avatars.

And it gets better, because every day more and more coveted skin and clothing manufacturers are getting wise to the fact that the boobylicious among them want to buy their wares all the more if they accommodate the needs of the buxom, so they have. It is actually quite brilliant to see this happening, and I’m sure it’s doing wonders for the virtual economy!

In fact, because of all this hullabaloo about boobs, mainstream designers are now starting to wise-up and  accommodate the buxom by releasing clothing catered to their needs by the way of ‘appliers’.

These are basically template layers that are textured to match the outfit concerned. When wearing prim breasts, you simply add the applier and voila! You’re wearing your favourite frock and can dance on the dance floor while balancing a pint of Guinness on your tits and not spill a drop. (I’m kidding, but in theory it would work.)

Even better, some designers are re-working existing outfits and adding appliers to them.

Skin makers are also releasing packs of these so-called appliers to enable the prim breasts to be blended  correctly into skin tones when worn. This is huge, literally, because some of the big name skin designers like Belleza are retailing these appliers and yes, for the most part they work. You don’t want to look as though two big mounds of dough have been stuck on your chest now do you? (Well perhaps you do, whatever floats your boat!)

Lola’s Tangos (and some of the other boobies) come complete with skin matching technology, but obviously you can’t accommodate every tone on the grid. Appliers rectify that and make the boobs look as authentic as possible. As I’ve learned (and I’m still learning!) you’re never not going to be completely rid of seams, but covering them up with skin appliers, clothing and jewellery can work wonders, as can using a really good wind-light setting. (Of course, not everyone will be using the same WL setting as you, but hey, at least on your screen you’ll look utterly perfect!)

So let’s cut to the chase shall we and I’ll tell you all about my experience with Tangos. 

Even though I’ve been on the grid since 2006 I am NOT by any stretch of the imagination fully au-fait with how things in SL work. My brain doesn’t ‘do’ technical. It does pretty, cute and cupcake. But not clever. Now, when fitting these jubblies I would suggest first of all that you have a friend who has experience with them, or you start by approaching a group like Big Boobie Babes Freebies or reading a blog like Big Boobie Babes because trust me, the advice is invaluable. (And at this point I’d like to shout out to the Big Boobie Babes group in-world because their help and support has stopped me from throwing all my toys out of the pram and the Tangos in the bin!) I learned a very important pro-tip: make a copy once you’ve adjusted and stretched and got the ruddy things to fit just how you want lest SL goes all crazy bonkers and you lose half your inventory (which happened to me a few years ago and I’ve still never recovered from the heartbreak)

It’s so useful to have a friend who can help here, because I didn’t know until I was told that I could stretch and pull and tweak the blasted things. I was scared to do much in case I broke them! (Mands and Sable, my SL besties, were brilliant and very patient with one so dim, proffering tips on how to fit them and how good they looked.) Of course once you’ve grasped the concept of wearing them and adjusting them to fit, you then need to be able to understand how the skin appliers work.

I expected this to be an easy task, but I found it a tad frustrating.  But I stuck at it, tweaked my virtual nips and once I was finished I stepped back and had a look and, well, I LIKED them. I really, genuinely liked them! What do you think? 

I still felt they were a bit on the big side mind, and even as I write this I’m not 100% certain if I’ll keep them at their present size or reduce even further, but I have really surprised myself by becoming a bit of a convert to all things ‘Big ‘N’ Bouncy’.

The next step was to find some clothing to experiment with. Of course I’d splashed all my cash on the ruddy mesh boobies, BUT luckily for me, there was a hunt going on called the ‘Hello Titty’ hunt.

Be quick, if you want to do it you only have 48 hours left (in fact less by the time this post goes to press) because it ends on February 15^th.

This hunt was great fun, even more so because of the hints on the Big Boobie Babes blog. It also opened my eyes to the clothes that are out there catering to bigger breasted avatars and you know what? Some of the items are ruddy outstanding. I say some because of course taste is a very personal thing and not every item on the hunt list was to my fancy, BUT having said that I’ve discovered a number of amazing stores that I had never frequented before and will definitely be going back for return visits. (In fact I’ll be doing a blog post in the very near future about a few of them!)

I also learned that there are other groups in-world aimed at bigger bosomed avatars as well as shopping districts that cater to them. There’s one called ‘Cleavage’ Can you imagine? Well, I did and expected something out of ‘Last Exit To Brooklyn’. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It’s a really pretty shopping area indeed with a fab selection of stores to visit! And there’s more, ‘Bewbapalooza’ and, erm, ‘Rack City’ are other shopping districts that I’m slowly navigating. I’m still discovering others!

There’s even a magazine! I kid you not, it’s called ‘Busted’ and this month it features an interview with the woman behind Lola’s Tangos, Sandi Moonites. (Lola’s don’t just sell Tangos by the way, they have other boobies on sale (Push-Ups, Naturals) it’s just that Tangos have caught the zeitgeist))

Apparently you can even get a script to put in boobies to make them bounce! The mind boggles, and I don’t know that it’s something I’ll be adding to my bigger-boobed regime just yet, but I’m never saying never again.

And that’s because dear reader I’ve left my previous notions of what it meant to be a larger-breasted avatar behind me and found a community of lovely people who give you the best cuddles because you get completely squashed up against lovely, lovely boobs! Ahem.

So here’s me with my norks, and I have to say I think they look lovely. Of course I’ve tweaked my pictures a bit (Picmonkey, not Photoshop, I don’t have the nous for that) but if they’re good enough for the unofficial Queen of Second Life (That’s the amazing Strawberry Singh by the way!) then by gum they’re good enough for me!

If you’re intrigued by the Boobie revolution, all I can say is give them a go.

There are many to choose from as I said before. Join the groups, try the hunts, read the literature. (I’m sure out there in the blogging cosmos there will be some step-by-step fitting instructions, or even videos, but alas I haven’t found any yet and they would be a great help, but practice makes perfect.)

So am I a convert? Early days, and I’m still curious, but I have a feeling that my prim boobies may well be here to stay..

What do you think about the Second Life Boobie Revolution?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

(Note: Some quick resources. You MUST read Big Boobie Babes as I mentioned before for great hints and tips and fashion. It’s a fantastic blog/resource. Also check out groups in-world. As well as one called ‘Big Boobie Babes freebies’, there are also groups called ‘Buxom Lifestyle’ and ‘The Boobie Show VIP’.  There may be others I haven’t discovered yet. Also, there’s a nice article written by Alessandra Narayan called ‘The Tango Fever-A Whole New World’ in this month’s edition of ‘Busted’ which you can collect HERE. Phew!)