The Top 10 Hottest Second Life Male Avatars of 2009 (Pt. 1)

Exclusive to NWN, Iris Ophelia's ongoing showcase of all things stylish in SL

It's been a long, arduous journey to develop the ten Hottest Second Life Male Avatars List this year, but we've finally arrived at Part One. I've pored over the pics and profiles of nearly 100 guys in the past two months, and culled my list down dramatically to 10 of the most gorgeous and intriguing male avatars who've made their mark on Second Life this year. Let's not put it off any longer –– after the break, guys one through five of New World Notes' Hottest Male Avatars of 2009!

Picture from M4ri1yn Magic's Flickr stream

M4ri1yn Magic might be one of the downright prettiest male bloggers out there. I won't dance around the issue at all, or mince words; M4ri1yn is just an incredibly beautiful avatar. His blog, M4M, is packed with rich illustrations and stylish fashion finds to suit a very broad range of tastes. His front page alone currently features looks ranging from gothic to casual to mainstream formal wear, and even an outstanding drow avatar. Being a well-dressed guy in SL already takes a degree of creativity and resourcefulness, but the style variety that M4ri1yn presents is enough to earn him his spot on this list ten times over.

Picture from Gauge Laville's Flickr stream

Gauge Laville is the rather buff designer behind +blacklisted+ [SLURL], a store which specializes in a casual clothing which tends to reveal Gauge's own rather sharp sense of humour and sharper sense of style. Gauge has an incredibly engaging personality, and represents a slightly more conventional figure of male hotness in Second Life. Muscular, tattooed, and sporting a relaxed mohawk, Gauge is the quintessential digital bad-boy.

Picture from Lano Ling's Flickr stream

Lano Ling might have some of the more gorgeous eyes in all of SL, and why not? He's the designer behind Poetic Colors [SLURL], one of the most celebrated brands for avatar eyes. Eyes are an often overlooked part of the avatar, but a good pair of eyes can make or break a look. There's a great deal of skill involved in making beautiful eyes in Second Life –– subtle shading, crisp shine marks, and deep brilliant colours are hallmarks of a good eye texture, and something that is incredibly hard to come by. Lano treats each eye like a small, round canvas, and his attention to detail shows as much in his irises as it does in his avatar.

Picture from Beolas Whitfield's Flickr stream

Beolas Whitfield is the handsome face behind Kusshon furniture [SLURL], a line that blends high-quality Victorian furniture (which can be a challenge to find at times) with starkly more modern pieces. Beolas is also Lano Ling's partner, and their stores share a plot of land in Strata. This half of the dashing power-couple is probably the only male avatar in SL that I've ever seen really rock a scarf without slipping into the realm of the feminine in the process. How could I deny that kind of stylistic skill a spot on the list?

Picture from Khamudy Mannonen's Flickr stream

Khamudy Mannonen is the kind of avatar that can make an academic-minded guy or gal weak in the knees in the wake of just a single Plurk. On top of being the usual trifecta of dashing, handsome, and creative, Khamudy is a fountain of mythical and historical knowledge. Many of his photographic works in SL are inspired by mythology and religion, and are frequently accompanied with little pseudo-textbook tidbits about the subject. Do you know how many cups of tea are drunk every day in the UK, the origins of the Pope's formal title, or how the popularity of the Egyptian sun god swelled and declined within the history of Ancient Egypt? Khamudy knows, Kamudy will tell you, and Khamudy will look damn fine while he does it!

Anxious for more? Check in next week for the final five guys in NWN's Top 10 Hottest Males of 2009!

Iris Ophelia has been featured in the New York Times and has spoken about SL-based design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan.

Comments

[Mid]

I lol'ed.. definitely none of them are the hottest or close to it.

Midnight Melodie
SLook.org CEO

[ColeMarie Soleil]

Where's Daniel?

This top ten fails XD

[Gabe]

Wow what is with the bitchy people on NWN? Really. Maybe she just wants pictures of Daniel.

[ColeMarie Soleil]

Not that it matters but....
I am aware and CAN read...
I was being sarcastic about Daniel not being posted in the first half...
as in if he's not in the second half then it's just a big joke anyway
man I've been getting IMs in world about one sarcastic one line comment
You people take beauty pagents WAY too seriously
*hands you some ambien*

[Scylla Rhiadra]

I think this is really marvelous! All that's really needed now is the addition of some semi-nude shots! And then, maybe renaming the feature to ... um, oh, I don't know ... Something like Post 7, perhaps?

Just a thought ...

[Nine Warrhol]

This top 10 is excellent! Oh hai Scylla..lol

[JessikaR]

Great picks! - I already had secret crushes on half these guys - *blushes. They are hot in so many ways beyond beefcake, thanks!

[Gahum Riptide]

ColeMarie: For someone who champions Daniel who you say doesn't care about this, you sure seem to care a LOT. Someone who doesn't take this that seriously doesn't pop up in almost every thread on this contest and wildly scream a guy's name like a big fangirl.

[TraLove]

We want daniel luchador!!!!!!!!!!

[Gattina]

I'm also a fangirl, I nominated the guy.

There are scores of us wearing our TEAM DANIEL shirts and screaming like teenagers all over the place.

[ColeMarie Soleil]

I don't actually give a shit about the winners as far as the beauty pageant goes. I just am tired of year after year they have these stupid things and I feel it's about time that someone other than a "pretty avie" gets it. I'm not a fangirl over Daniel per say. I'm just a fan of anyone who doesn't fit the mold they've been tossing at us with this crap. I don't care about the superficiality winnings I care that people start seeing SL for what it is. A tool for creative people to shine... not a place for people with lindens who can make a pretty avie to gloat ;p

hi5s gattina
WHERES MAH SHIRT BISH!

[Gabe]

Cole, I do agree with us SL is a tool for creative people which is fantastic and great. However this is the top ten hottest men. It's made for people who take time to make there avi look nice and well put together. NWN may claim "We want to show SL that there are more then buff male avs out there" but there is still a stander mole which, Ironically Daniel falls into. To be nominated you have to be "e-popular" in SL and have a pack of followers to vote for you no matter if you are a good person or not. Daniel may look like a toy box throw up on him, and you may thing "HA SUCK IT PRETTY AVIS WE GOT DANIEL IN" but it doesn't make him or you any less shallow or more important then the rest of us.

[Gabe]

What I find funny is you all say it's a joke and the only reason why someone nominated Daniel was to make a fun of it. Well guess what, that in itself makes you just as bad.

[Gattina]

I think this is sort of why this "contest" is so interesting. Gabe you feel Daniel looks "like a toy box throw up on him (sic)" and he was nominated because he is e-popular , and you are welcome to that opinion. I am just not totally convinced that is why people voted for him. Daniel is one of my best SL pals and I have spent a lot of time with him and the number of messages he gets from female avs is pretty substantial. And I also mean random IMs from girls he does not know sending him IMs wanting to get to know him. Yeah, Daniel is a great builder and a super talented scripter but I don't think that is WHY the girls all swoon. The kid has charisma, he just does. No matter how pretty someone makes their av you cannot buy charisma with L, and I think it comes through on how he carries himself in SL. If someone is a mouthbreather on SL, that will come through no matter what their av looks like.If someone is smart and funny and interesting that also comes through. So you can think Daniel was voted for as a protest against typical "attractive" men in SL, but tbh I think he was voted for because even though his av is not typically HOT, when you meet Daniel in SL he comes off as being very attractive.

As far as the contest goes, I think Daniel was refreshing to a lot of people because those of us who know him in-world know he just found it amusing to be nominated, he never once campaigned to have people vote for him nor did he walk around mentioning it. If you go back and look at some of the comments by other male nominees a lot of them took this VERY SERIOUSLY and even resorted to insulting each other. Daniel has just sort of acknowledged this all with a bemused gratitude which also adds to his "attractiveness." I know I did not vote for Daniel as a type of "protest" against what Iris was trying to do here, I nominated him because when I heard HOT MALE AV Daniel came to mind. I think a lot of people who voted for him feel the same.

[James Schwarz]

Male AVATAR

A
V
A
T
A
R

A-VA-EFFING-TAR

[Hamlet Au]

... and before any more whack-a-mole drama emerges, that's a nice place as any to end this comment thread.