By Bixyl Shuftan
The Second Life Thirteenth Birthday officially ended last week with the fireworks show and "last hurrah" hour that ended as Sunday June 26 came to a close at Midnight SL time. But this wasn't the true ending of the SLB. The sims were left up for a week so people could keep viewing them a little longer, Madpea's "Mad Monster Mountain" and Loki Elliot's "Knightmare" tribute game being favorites. But nothing lasts forever, and Sunday July 3 was the last day the sims would be up for the public. But before the door was shut to all but the volunteers and exhibitors, there was one last bash, one that began with an event known as the "Cake Explosion."
The Main Stage in Second Life Birthdays has taken the form of a giant cake for years. But it wasn't until Mikati Slade built the stage in 2012 for the SL9B when it was demolished for entertainment, a video by KT Syakumi later published in the Newser. When there was another Mikati Cake for the SL12B last year, the wrecking of the cake was announced ahead of time and was attended by a number of residents. This year, the Cake Explosion was set for 4PM SL time, so after 3PM, people began to gather there.
Dozens of avatars showed up, of various types.
Looks like these two made an "asp" out of themselves. "Snakes, why did it have to be snakes?"
I wasn't the only red Luskwood fox who showed up. The guy's name was Eric Mondrian. Surprisingly, while he had been around since 2005, his profile was practically blank.
Cindy Bolero, the owner of Aero Pines park, was there. She was decked out in red, white, and blue.
Holocluck Henley also had some patriotic decor on. Also in the picture are Catboy Qunhua, and Tindallia Soothsayer.
When we had just about a minute until the official time, all of a sudden, the stage beneath our feet was gone.
Where had the cake gone? It had gone up of course.
From our point of view, it looked like "Close Encounters of the Cake Kind."
For some moments, the Cake hovered above. We wonder if there was a glitch holding the pieces up in the air. Could it take this long to unlink the prims on a build. Then again, how many builds take up four sims?
Then ar 4:11, the cake began to fall apart.
And the pieces began landing onto the ground, and us.
"Cakequake!" "How did you die? Death by frosting."
It was a confectionery avalanche of cake and frosting. "Someone call in the SL Coast Guard; I'm drowning in dessert."
"There is so much more to come down." "I'm covered in cake pieces!"
"Wow, it's still coming down." "These frosting stains will never come out."
"Call friends, I think you'll have to eat your way out." "It'll be SL14B by the time I make it through all this."
"There goes my diet." "I'm glad I'm not on the cleaning detail tonight."
"This cake was most defiantly not a lie." "Don't tell GLaDOS."
Cake may be soft, but some weren't taking chances.
Mikiati Slade, the Cake "Baker," looks at the wreckage she had brought on, to the delight of everyone, "Hello everyone, I am the cake stage builder Mikati Slade, I am happy it done without problem. Thank you!"
Looks like one lady was feeling a little "boxed in" by a treasure chest.
RacerC Gullwing, whom had arrived just after the mess had dropped, joins the crowd.
Doc Gascogine, in his Viking helmet and bunny slippers, observing things from above.
One demonic-looking lady was showing a little Fourth of July spirit with her dress and her own personal fireworks.
The brightly colored mess was clearly visible from the nearby "Stage Left."
Tantari Kim handed me this picture of the four sim area from above. She later told me it was from an online forum she found somewhere.
At 5PM SL time, the crowd moved over to Stage Left, where the music and dance started up again.
Golan Eddie, the stage lead, joins the party.
With fireworks going off, many set their viewers to Midnight.
At one point, a bunch of objects were falling down, "IT'S AUTOMATON SNOT!" They resembled chicken nuggets, but with eyes and beaks, "And I thought being covered in cake was going to be the worst thing to happen today."
Some pieces resembled wings, "It's spam but chicken." "RSPCA approved prim chicken." "Extruded chicken, formed and 'grilled', and flavored to resemble chicken."
Once in a while, the huge Stage Left automation would move it's arms. ""The giant auto is moving!" "This automoton is freakin' me out."
Cuberepublic showed up, and one of the staff pointed him out, "If you ever went to Live Stage, you might want to thank CUBEREPUBLIC. He's in back, and he builds the best usable stages of them all every year"
At one point, someone joked, "Since I'm not on staff this year, I can reveal that Doc keeps a copy of every sim elsewhere on the Grid every year." One of the staff joked in return, "This just in: **** is paying tier for 17 sims so all exhibits can remain!" "Let me win the lottery and we'll have a month-long SL14B."
Eventually, people began heading out. Some to go offline, others to get one last look at the exhibits before the place was closed to the general public at Midnight, "Just a shame all these great builds are so short life-spanned." Mikati joked, "I will go to clean my huge OVEN, see you and happy SL Birthday! byeee!"
"Good NIGHT, everybody!" "Mikati, THANK YOU, this stage was AWESOME!" "See you at SL14B next year!" "Thank you SLBD 13 team for all you did!! HUGGZS and huge thank you to you all!!" "Thank you everyone for your hard work this year."
(Click here if the video fails to play)
RacerX Gullwing's did a video of the aftermath of the Cake Explosion, which he posted.
"Thank you all for a wonderul celebration and hope to see you next year!"
Bixyl Shuftan
