Who Watches The Watchmen's Avatars?

Rogan Eberlain and Theo Forder as Silk Spectre and Rorschach

Somewhere in Second Life, two dozen incarnations of Walter Kovacs are out there on the filthy streets enforcing rough justice on the virtual perverts and liberals of the metaverse.  Or maybe they're hanging out in nightclubs and playing Bloodlines.  Whatever the case, since putting it on sale eariler this month, Theo Forder estimates that he's sold 24 copies of his avatar kit "inspired by" Rorschach, the anti-hero from the Watchmen graphic novel and the upcoming film.  Retailing on XstreetSL for L$190, Forder's version comes with a grappling hook, a working aerosol can flame thrower, and a set of custom poses and animations, including one which says the word "Hurm" when you go into action:

 Outside smut shops in Dentro, demonstrating aerosol flamethrower on hapless writer

Two dozen "Rorschachs" sold translates to about USD$18 -- i.e., just enough to buy two movie tickets to actually watch The Watchmen, if Theo Forder was inclined to cash out.  However, Forder tells me he won't, in recognition that this is a fan tribute to a copyrighted property. Rogan Eberlain, the creator of an equally impressive tribute to Silk Spectre of Watchmen fame, expresses similar sensitivity over that issue:

Rogan's Spectre has to be seen up close to be fully appreciated, with a latex catsuit that glows in just the right places, and a skin that's warm and eerily evocative of Malin Akerman, the actress who plays her in Zach Snyder's film.  Retailing at L$750, Rogan estimates selling twenty copies of the Spectre avatar.

What with all the parties who own a piece of the Watchmen franchise, I ask Forder and Eberlain if they were worried about the potential of incurring copyright objections from them, or the proprietor's of xStreetSL, the ecommerce site now owned by Linden Lab.

"I asked around," Forder tells me, "and found if you put some kind of prefix before your product, such as 'Avatar Inspired by' or 'based on' then they kind of have to look the other way... which is why my shop has some careful language in the names of the products and items. That," he adds, and my L$ stays L$, so I'm not making a monetary profit, though I could have gotten a few tanks of gas by now."

"I don't think I'd use the word worried myself," says Rogan Eberlain.  "If one were filed I would abide by it completely without ill feelings. I'm not looking to get rich or swindle money from any copyright holders... but it's just about fandom. I only work on the things I happen to love and hold dear, it's that feeling that causes me to continue to do this. In the end, the cost is really only to make it all even out. In a world where time is money, I couldn't possibly put this much effort into something and not have it pay for itself.

"I'm just a fan," Rogan concludes. "Some dress up in costumes and go to conventions, I just do what I can here."

"Same," says Forder. "It's almost like an art form. To me, making an avatar of any kind is just as gratifying as finishing a painting or even making a movie. It's something to put out there to been seen an experienced."

Comments

[Crap Mariner]

(not looking forward to a herd of Dr. Manhattans walking around)

[csven]

"In a world where time is money, I couldn't possibly put this much effort into something and not have it pay for itself."

Yet "fans" somehow *fanatically* do exactly that, thus suggesting a disconnect.

Seems we're retracing familiar ground. I'm now waiting for a "Watchmen in SL" troupe.

[Morris Vig]

Oooh - Dr. Manhattan...the elusive "mega-avatar" could be within reach! Don't you all want to be 50m tall and evaporate prims with the click of a HUD?

[Fuzzball Ortega]

Be really cool if the inkblots on Rorschach's mask changes, as in the graphic novel and film. Still, pretty cool, regardless