Amelie Barbour - Big Ball Gown

A new piece from Amelie. This one is not out at the time of this review, so subject to change of course.

Appearance

I do not know where to even begin with this. Its very.. Unique. Inflation/balloon bondage lovers will probably like it though. Its a huge rubber dress, with the skirt design being.. Interesting. The faces around the edge almost make it look like some subs are sealed within. When inflated, well the bottom balloons out, forcing the wearer up into the air, unable to move. There's some animations included, such as a wobble. You can also rock back and forth in various directions using your movement keys.

There's 12 colour sets. 6 hard, 6 soft. The top is quite bulky (presumably thick rubber?), and certainly will make most people seem to have a far larger bust I imagine.

I.. I'm just gonna leave this one up to those that read it, its too far out of my field for me to accurately comment on.

Function

Uses Amelies usual lock system. Anyone or single key. Anyone means everyone bar the wearer, single key means the key holder (can be the wearer). Once the choice is mad,e you can choose to Inflate, adjust the appearance or Leave it be.

Once inflated, you get access to the main options. Specifically Don't Free (closes menu), Wobble (makes you rock around), Turn left/turn right (does what it says on the tin), Free (duh), Appearance and Timer. Being inflated also restricts far touch, TP (others can summon you still), fly, locks the alpha layer and touch other.

And that's it for the functionality

Scores

Appearance - I can't rate this.. Its out of my ballpark. (no pun intended)
Function - Basic, nothing special, but nothing missing either. It works - 6/10

Price - Tentatively 795, subject to change by release.

Amelie Barbour - Spider kit

Amelie Barbour released this quite a long time ago, but it fairly recently got updated to mesh, and latex, and the like. So here we go.

Appearance

Lets see.. You have quite a few options for looks here. The spider kit itself is 4 spider legs that you can optionally wear out of your back, and can be used as leash points. The captives however.. They can get cocooned in anything from black latex, to normal web, to bandages, to pink latex. There's quite a few options here.

Depending which option you choose, you'll end up with a full body and open face hooded captive. You can see quite quickly that the webbing or bandages are very thick.

Mostly its good. The gag and blindfold look a bit odd though, being very thick, and appearing almost like a medieval nights helmet once on. Similarly the jacket option is very bulky.

When you lift someone up without binding them firs,t they end up spread-eagled behind you, suspended between the four arms. You cannot however pick someone up if they are sacked, or have the leggings option on.

The bad? There's no way to remove the hood unfortunately, so people who like their captives cocooned to the neck, with their heads free are out of luck. Also the bandages setting can look like its just grey, unrezzed, if you aren't cammed in pretty close. Lastly the whole being unable to lift a fully cocoon captive is a pest.

Function

Its fairly simple to use. You wear the core, Scan for a victim, offer them a captive kit which they put on.. then you can secure them. There is also an In Spades option, which puts them in a full cocoon, blinded and gagged for good measure.

Once secured, you get a list of options. Gag, Sack, Blind, Jacket and Leggings all turn on or off the appropriate bondage. I will say this - it was VERY responsive when I was testing, far more so than expected.

The other options are Don't Free, Free, Lift/Drop (using the spider arms for best results) and Appearance. In Appearance you can adjust the material of the cocoon, mentioned above. Once freed, you can choose to resecure them at will.

Back at the original menu, you can adjust what webbing you'll be using, and it remembers your last ten victims

My thoughts

My take on this is - great for the most part. I love the idea behind it, and the latex added in adds a ton of RP potential. How fast it responds is amazing, to say the least, and it has a good variety of options.

But it has issues. First and foremost being the hooded bit. I get wanting to have their head wrapped, but a lot of people I know and have played with like to keep their captives heads relatively free. Similarly I;d like to lift up a fully cocoon victim, instead of freeing their limbs then lifting them up.

My only other major issue is the gag and blindfolds bulk seems a little extreme. An option for a more skintight one would be nice.. but that's fluff and a personal taste thing, unlike the other issues.

Scores

Appearance - 6/10
Function - 9/10
Price - 895 linden

Amelie Barbours Gimp Doll

Last normal restraint review for now, possibly for awhile till I find some that actually intrigue me.


Quality

This is well.. A bondage doll suit. It comes with a hood, mittens, gag, blindfold and boots. All of whicha re very well detailed and textured, I can't complain on that part. The problem is the beachballs. You can't remove them, you can't hide them, they are on, and thats it.

From others, most I've spoken to agree that it would be much better if they were, and hell some evn said they'd buy it if they didn't need to have the ridiculous bust. Unfortunatly Amelie Barbour has no interest or desire to make them optional at this time. Shame.

There are a lot of colours options, and the boots come in a seperate box if you want to wear them without the whole suit, which is a plus I suppose. The mittens are also optional if you;d prefer to use your own set.

The good - Seperate boots and mittens if you like, lots of oclours
The bad - The bust, which ruins it in my eyes.

Function

The functionality is.. Interesting.

Right off the bat, unless you want to be stuck for who knows how long, unable to be freed by yourself or others, do not touch the "I AM DOLLY" button.  This ridiculous option that has no description or explanation locks the suit on, gags you, imposes name and lcoation blocking, gives no way to escape and as far as I can tell, rather no timer, or an incredibly long one. This would be fine if there was some warning, but as there isn't.. Don't touch it.

Otherwise its the same as most of her gear. You set it to single key or anyone, if it gets locked in single key the keyholder can unlock it, even if its just you who has the key. Anyone does at it suggests, anyone can lock, everyone bar the bound one can unlock. Unlike most of her gear, this one at least has a timer. The startup menu also lets you adjust appearance.

The gag system is interesting. While the actual appearance of the gag stays the same, the options you choose change how the speech comes out. Quite a good idea in truth, as differant gags do muffle you in differant ways. You can also have a "mantra". From what I coudl tell, this is a message that occasionally plays in local such as "one of us". You can also adjust the name shown in chat when they speak.

If youa re the binder, you can also go into this and hit message, which will let you force them to say something via a channel specified in local.

The blindfold can be turned off, have it shown (imposes soem RLV restrictions such as location and anmes) or full, which of course blinds as well as everything the previous option does. No faux option without RLV restrictions in place.

If you are stuck in I AM DOLLY and possibly by someone else in Single Key mode, peopel get the option to force you to speak, grope you or I believe spank you.

The good - interesting gag system, simple menus, decent options, timer
The bad - lack of faux blindfold,
The terrible - I AM DOLLY button.

Scores

Quality - if bust was optional? This coulda got a 10. As not?  - 4/10
Function - 7/10
Price - 895 linden - 5/10

Amelie Barbour - Mesh Monosleeve

Another mesh product from Amelie Barbour and I think the first mesh armbinder style product.


Quality

Its pretty nice. Shiny, plenty of colours.. Not overly tight on my avatar, but thats a known issue and apparently is in the process of been fixed. It has alot of options for recolouring, extra straps that can be added, and a collar as well for more security. It all looks good. It also has a tightness adjuster, but that can lead to some.. Odd results.

It also has an a built in AO that occasionally makes you flex your arms against it, quite nice. I added a pic of it mid flex.

Function

Like all of her mesh toys, it has a simple lock system. Anyone or Single Key. If you use single key you can lock and unlock yourself safely, on Anyone? You need help to get out.

The options when a mode is chosen are simple. Lace up locks it on. When you go into the locked menu you get Free and Don't free. Free does the obvious and unlaces it, Don't Free sends a message in local about how the captive Is not getting free this time.

Otherwise there is Appearance and Tightness. Appearance also lets you save and load styles that you like, which is always nice. When not laced up there is also Leave Be, which just closes the menu.

On the lack of timer. I spoke with Amelie and it looks like there are plans to add timers to her gear in the works.. Which means I'll need to revise my reviews to be up-to-date.

So, instyead of complaining abotu lack of timer as usual, instead I'll complain abotu lack of a hide option! Much easier to effectively RP kidnap if you can wear hidden toys.

Scores

Quality - It looks pretty nice, not overly tight on me, but would fit the more usual SL shapes easily. - 8/10
Function - As usual her gear doesn;t have many options, but it does what it does well. Addition of a timer will help a lot. - 7/10
Price - 795. Perhaps a tad high for a lot of budgets - 6/10