"When you're weary, feelin' small..."

...go to Micro City, high above Northstar. You may still be weary, but at least you won't feel small any more:


Micro City is a small area built at scale, sort of like Madurodam in Holland (though far less detailed, alas). It's mostly urban. The relatively small area means you have to be careful with your composition, but if one of the formative moments of your childhood was watching Attack of the Fifty-Foot Woman, you can realize your fantasies a bit.

I succumbed to temptation and got Selsey Seelowe's "Supersize Me!" package, which has an animation override with an on/off arrow in the display, a shape, and a pair of boots. Something about the animation or a pose that comes with it stretches your avatar past the usual limits, and then applying the shape bulks one up to compensate for the stretching. Since the shape parameters only go so far, the stretch is limited to what the maximum shape sizes can compensate for--and while I didn't use a height-measuring device, I can believe that I reached the claimed twelve feet in height.

(The boots are necessary because the foot size 0 that shoe makers target is far too small for the stretched avatar.)

I adjusted the shape as best I could to try to preserve the proportions of my unstretched shape; I couldn't pull it off. Animations that work for you normally will have to be modified to work at the new height... and believe me, you do not want the walk animation that comes with the package. I hope it's possible to override or delete one of the standing poses; I have never stood around with my arms raised above my head, crossed at the wrist, and I don't want to start, even in SL. Speaking of standing poses, you'll note that in the following photo, my bootheels have gone wanderin', as Bob Dylan would say, underground. [pause to fight off the urge to reference "Subterranean Homesick Blues"]


Now, I hasten to add that I think Ms. Seelowe has done an amazing job of overcoming the limitations built into the SL avatar. (If I may nudge you once again to vote for VWR-1258... again, it's not just about breasts.) Moreover, it's been improved already. I hope that it is or becomes more customizable, and perhaps another style of shoes could accompany it. If you wish to move up in the world, give it a try.