Remember the chimp? Well now it's gone APE

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

Some of you may recall my utter fascination over Ripped Winkler's chimp. I had run into someone who was doing precision animations with a baton, but wearing this fantastic avatar. I snapped a couple of pics, crashed and then logins were disabled. I could barely sleep that night. I know, I know, get a grip Bett. It's an avatar! But yeah, I just loved it. I blogged it and by the time I woke up I had all the answers I could ever hope for. (Thanks again, you guys).



For five months now, Ripped has been laboring away, learning to script and making custom animations for his newest: MONGO KOKO, a giant gorilla avatar that pays homage to the legendary great apes "Gigantopithecus blackii" of prehistoric times. These apes inspired tales of giant ape men from the time of the first spoken word to the folklore about Bigfoot (North American), the Yeti (Himalayas), the Moehau (Nz), Yowie (Australia), the Afghan Barmanou, and the Vietnamese Batutut, to name a few.

MONGO KOKO stands 20 meters tall and has 30 HUD-driven animations. "The animations are mine, though some have motion captured data mixed in to add noise and realism," explained Rip. "None were easy to fit to his over-sized nature," he added. And he can carry an avatar in the palm of his hand!

This gorilla costs a pretty penny: L$4,000, but he's worth every dime in my opinion. The quality of the work astonishes. Have a look.


Machinima by Branco Merlin

When I asked Ripped if he was from Australia, he replied, "Shure as a Roo's got a pouch!"

Teleport to Ripped's store, New MonkeyMoon, directly from here.