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.

You guys sooo rock! *Does a little dance* - Chimp case: CLOSED

Once upon a time, three days ago, (doesn't it seem like a million years ago, already?), l discovered an avatar that enthralled me, and promptly crashed, only to discover that logins had been disabled. I shared the few facts I had - as well as my frustration - with you here and slipped off to bed. Incredibly, the next morning... between this blog, Flickr, Twitter and my email, I found over a dozen suggestions for who the creator might be.

Before I say one more word, I want to wrap my virtual arms around all the imaginative, resourceful, helpful, curious and fascinating folks who people Second Life - especially those of you who immediately chimed in - and give you a giant pixelated hug. You're the bee's knees. You're top shelf! I am madly in love with this community. <3

It was Arahan Claveau who suggested that this character might be based on The Monkey King.

Then, Jamma Newt was the first to suggest that the chimp was a creation by Ripped Winkler, followed by, Jurin Juran via Tweet, and Maya and Constance via email. Logins were still disabled...

Finally, Naxos Loon presented us with a Slex address to buy Ripped Winkler's chimp avatars, and the icing on the cake was Mr. Oh's accurate contribution of the source of the glasses.

Well, I've since exchanged IMs with both Ripped Winkler and the fabulous chimp himself, apes Later, and here's what I learned...


Turns out that the worldly, high-style, cyber-chimp apes Later, had been afk while I had stood there asking him questions on Friday night

The chimp avatar is Ripped Winkler's (teleport directly from here). The glasses are, indeed, AVZ Vision Enhancement specs by !AVZ! Cyberpunk Fashion (teleport directly from here. apes made the stick himself, but the superb animations were by Jackie Jetcity, and can be purchased - dirt cheap, I might add - at his store, J's Factory (teleport directly from here). Jackie thoughtfully provides a free stick.

By the way, if I were a Neko, I would not want to live another day without Jackie's outrageously good feline animations set.

I asked apes if he is a builder, to which he said "no," but he did reply in the affirmative when I inquired if he was just a great shopper. I didn't get an answer when I asked - very nicely - if he'd take me shopping with him sometime... heh... and then he had to leave in a hurry to go food shopping... IRL! Sadly, I did not come away with the sources for his clothes, boots, and crown. Sorry.

Ripped Winkler - who missed all the fuss having been away on a brief holiday - came back to my many IM's and said, "Looks like my chimp avie... ie skin, shape, hair and fur. Any clothing and accessories aren't mine, as I leave that for the customers to get creative with. My monkeys come with full simian AO's, too, so the anims on that avatar are probably in the staff he is holding." Ripped's chimps come in both female and male shapes in the one package and were created last fall. He went on to explain that he made the chimp's skin "with a bit of gimp and avpainter, but I'm using zbrush now, which is so much better to work with."