This next one's on the difficult side to write, just a bit.
Perusing the SL Freebie Hunters' blog for potential last-minute snags on the Steam hunt, I came across this image. Number 191 on the Steam 5 hunt is Steam Whimsy's offering--a teeny, rounded steampunk robot avatar.
Hmm. That sounds...awfully familiar.
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| (from the Comparisons album) |
This is Steam Whimsy's "Steambug". It has a charming little story card along with it, and is very frenetic, spouting steam now and again and whirling in place. It also has stubby little hands (though they aren't jointed) and a boiler on the back.
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| (from the Comparisons album) |
I will also say the texturing is very well done, the verdigris fans in the head spin, and there's a very nice hover effect (because apparently, Steambugs only hover, not walk about).
The reason I'm bringing this up, however, is because of Clockwerk:
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| From Comparisons |
Clockwerk has, beyond being the general imp underfoot and the wandering mascot of Autogenic Alchemy, the distinction of being the first of the Iron Tinies line. And while there is no way, in any version of life, that the Steambug and Clockwerk would be said to be even distant cousins, there were initial similarities that made me hunt the Steambug out.
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| (from the Comparisons album) |
Most notably in the shade and shape of the eyes, and the shape of the head. And they both have a gauge in their tummies.
There's also some (and let me reinforce this: extraordinarily mild, at best) concern regarding Penny Featherwright:
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| (from the Comparisons album) |
Again, Penny's basic construction, and the Steambug's construction, are not similar in many, many details--but there are working fans on either side of the Steambug's head, and there are working, turning gears under glass on either side of Penny's.
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| (from the Comparisons album) |
All in all, while I felt concern enough to run through the variations, I am not going to state that there was anything more than being inspired by the same group of media, music, and literature that inspires us all, or at least, those of us who spend our days wading in the mythpool of steampunk craft. And I am glad I hunted Steam Whimsy down, because I wandered away not only with the gear containing the Steambug, but with a lovely decorative urn and two aged-copper textures that should be great fun to play with.
But please, for the love of all things, Miss Lutrova (should you happen by)--put your store in your picks! It makes it nigh impossible to find you otherwise!
2 Comments:
Once you start onto specific genres you decrease your pallet options. Tiny steampunk robot means you need something stereotypical to convey that. Vast numbers of steampunk robots have glowing eyes. Heads are, by and large, round. And steampunk often has gauges.
It's like saying I saw someone else's fairy AV and it had wings! There's only so much you can vary when you're that height.
All of which is true, but you also understand why I felt I had to check it personally? Because comparisons between products is something that I do on the wee blog, and because it hit both the creator behind Autogenic, and myself, as reminiscent of his work.
It's not; it's very far from it, and it's a lovely little robot on its own, and I'm glad (as frustrating as it was, being told they had a main store in Penzance, and that store being not there, then being told they had one in Cala Mondrago, and Cala Mondrago being not there) that I took the time to hunt them down and find them.
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