As most people know I have reservations on how RFL is conducted in SL, so I don't Relay. I do however try and get around the track to have a look at some of the magnificent builds that people put up to celebrate their communities in SL.
Last year's attempt at referencing the worldwide nature of RFL, rather than focussing solely on the American Cancer Society link seemed to have been dropped. There was very little in the way of international stuff. The build levels seemed down this year. Or perhaps it was the presence of a few outstanding builds that just made the rest look average by comparison. I disagreed with most of the judging finals but that's another story.
Here's some of the ones I thought were worth looking at this year.
The starting point for the track. High above the cliffs of a rainforest.
The rainforest.
The JLU campsite showing just how paint-dryingly-slow the texture loading was this year.
The entrance to the New Babbage camp.
New Babbage's wishing well drill platform. Signed off on by BP!
The memorial to Greg Merryman who passed away on the 15th, the day before the builds opened to the general public.
Across the road from Babbage was one of the Star Trek sims.
Alix Stoanes' impressive build the Glasshouse.
An nice build inspired by Bioshock
Inside Rapture
Sort a Crystal Palace thing. Not really sure what was going on with this build.
An impressive Cathedral build. This was being Auctioned as part of the RFL weekend.
The Central Aisle
Closeup of one of the stained glass windows.
The cake is real!
Lunar and Tensai's stunning build with a theme of "Alice"
The interior of the Hydro-Teslatron, based on the real thing in Fairview Casino at Niagra Falls.
Mechanical caterpillar
Lunar's tower
Shrine
The Mad Hatter's Tea Party. Really the photos don't do the build justice. I think they got jibbed with the three-way tie for third place. I certainly think it was waaaaay more impressive that the designer sim that won first.
One of several sims that used Neverland as the inspiration for its build
An interesting Oz theme that showed Kansas in black and white...
... and Oz in colour.
Armada Breakaway's build with walking ships.
Another cathedral but this time of a more Gothic style
Caledon's build, which received a placing in the awards
All the pink flamingos you could ever need.
A lovely build featuring the Aurora Borealis
High degree landscaping.
I found this one very impressive. It's a simple build but it had just the right elements to give it a great look.
One of the Gorean shipping builds.
Green Lantern HQ
A giant bedroom from the Purple Dream Team (I think?). A group of them stopped and patted me while I was in polar bear form. Fun.
Scary Egyptian build with a giant toy sphynx.
Extinction land, with a dinosaur ride that reminded me of the opening of Land of the Lost.
The Epic Toy Factory build, sort of Willie Wonka-esque.
Bear on a train
An impressively built fantasy forest sim. Complete with elves and unicorns. It reminded me of the forest out of Legend.
Possibly the best waterfall I've seen in SL.
It's a worry when the hallucinations start before you eat the giant purple mushies.
