Selling the Wind: The Insta-Tornado of Tryptofaa Sands

A man learned to make remote-controlled tornadoes and kept them in a box, then went looking for a place where he could sell his wares.  He found it in a store on a sandbar off the island of Dejavu, a place otherwise devoted to a sprawling fashion emporium.  Making it your  one-stop shopping destination for lingerie and natural disaster.  (Direct SLURL teleport to the tornado store at this link.)  While I can't speak to the quality of the clothing (that's Iris' department, in any case), the tornado technology of Tryptofaa Sands is truly impressive, generating a fifty meter twister studded with lightning bolts, sheets of rain, and several kinds of debris that go flying.  (Including, of course, a cow that moos, as it's hurled across the beach.)  There's also the howl and the rumble, but perhaps in consideration to neighbors, you don't hear those sound effects until you're right up on it.  This demo video gives you a hint at the full effect, but like the real thing, you need to be there in person to get the full effect.  (Then again, get too close, and you get  dragged toward the stormy centrifuge.)

All this is controlled by a heads-up display, generating the tornado at the click of a button. "[W]hich when it fully forms," Tryptofaa tells me, "rezzes three temp on-rez bolts of lightning that buzz around the tornado..."  The tornado itself isn't physical, making use of controversial giant prim technology to create a skyscraper-sized tornado that flickers between phantom and non-phantom.  "It's not really even spinning," says Sands. 

What's the revenue stream for retailing a simulated act of God?  In Tryptofaa's case, he tells me he's moved 250 tornado HUDs over the last few months, selling at L$2499 per unit-- all told, roughly $2500, which is not bad at all, especially compared for example to the $2000 you might make selling swaying breasts.

Update, 12/13, 2:33am: Osprey Therian also created a delirious machinima tribute to Tryptofaa's tornado.

10:32am: Tryptofaa has a demo video of his own here.

Comments

[Ari Blackthorne]

I don't know if I'm customer number 1 or 250. I know I saw this thing on SL Exchange a while ago and no one had ever seemed to have heard of it, so I know I'm an early adopter. I also thought at the time 'wait - 2500 buckaroos for nothing but a novelty?' - I really don't know why. But I took the plunge.

My girl just rolls her eyes, but I love it! LOL

Ari

[Princess Ivory]

Be sure to watch Osprey's machinama tribute mentioned above. And be especially certain to have your sound turned up! Her funky backgroud music really makes it feel frantic!

Princess Ivory

[Tryptofaa Sands]

Thanks very much for the article Hamlet! And thanks to all who have been posting vids of the tornado lately too! I'm going to get links to all the vids onto my SLX advert today as a central spot to find them for those that enjoy them :) And Ari... acording to my records you were customer number 39, hehe. Thanks again!

Tryptofaa Sands