Free Body Alert: Kalhene Ariadna (UPDATED)

NOTE 2: This body has been DMCA'd and removed from the Marketplace.

NOTE: The original post reflects v1.0 of this body (and has not been edited). This body has since been significantly updated and summarized after the original text.

In one of the groups I'm in, there was all this chatter about a new free body. But they kept ignoring everyone's "we just logged in, what body are you girls talking about?" questions. Well, I figured it out (or I just saw Cat Pink's vid on it, one of the two, lol). Anyway, there is a new free body. It's bento & BOM with optional head (or head with optional body, however your logic works). Let's take it around the block.

It comes with this stuff:

The standards: body, head, shape, physics, HUD, skins. As well as some clothes. There are 2 feet types, flat and tiptoe. Tiptoe is what everyone else calls high, and to change your feet you have to swap the entire body. Kinda weird, but I guess no more weird than wearing 5 pairs of feet, 4 of which are invisible. The AO HUDS are basic, no choices or poses, but functional. The included shape has wide hips, but the included AO doesn't take those hips into account. The head AO sticks it's tongue out a lot but otherwise fine. I like that the hand AO is super subtle.

Ariadna, with included hair, shape, and skin (medium):

As mentioned, the included shape is strong with the hips, though judging by the girls across the grid, that's welcome. The upper part of the skins look ok, but the legs have some shading that makes them look more muscular than I care for. The sliders are very responsive and you can create a wide variety of body types. There's a couple of settings you won't want to use, like boobs at 0, but that's par for the course with mesh bodies. I'm pleasantly surprised at how flexible she is.

The head isn't half bad. The sliders are responsive, about as responsive as other mesh heads. Meaning you'll always sorta-kinda look like the included shape. But like the body, this is par for course with mesh. If you like wide mouths, this is certainly your head, also, the nose can get kinda hook-ish if that's your thing.

Problem I'm seeing though is:

The noticeable gap between body and head. Probably coverable with a choker, but it's there.

The main HUD is mostly for the included hair and clothes:

Those pubic hair options are basically "bare," "jungle," and "don't give a fuck."

Lordy, I choose bare.

So, no alpha cuts in the HUD. That's fine since it's BOM, just wear a system layer alpha if there's issues, right?

Nope. Alphas don't work. (also this pic is using a Pink Fuel skin with my edited shape). If we were paying for this body this would be a dealbreaker. But, it's free. Perhaps this is a limitation? The full version will have alpha support? Don't know. But this will cause problems with clothes. Fortunately, it fits Maitreya pretty well (Maitreya shoes as well). The top is snug, and the bottoms are close but not snug (bikini from Beautiful Dirty Rich):

All in all, this is an excellent body for free. It looks nice, and all the basics covered. The biggest issue is the lack of alphas. I hope this is simply an oversight

Ariadna is available on the Marketplace for zero lindens. Not sure if Kalhene has an inworld store or not but I do wish them luck with this body.

One last thing on the neck gap, it went away when is slapped the Genus gift head on the body:

EDIT (11 June) v2.1 Update!
Ariadna has been significantly updated! Now there's 2 HUDs, one for the clothes and one for the body. And alphas have been added. The cuts are large, but this is excellent news for this body.

I missed the shine problem on the original release, the windlight I normally use didn't show it. But apparently it was originally very shiny. Now there's shine options, including off, which works well. There's some more nails, tights get some more options, and a new pubic hair option:

I definitely prefer this one to the unkempt wilds of the other two. Also, not only are there HUD driven alpha cuts, system layer alphas also work now.

Very nice.

One last thing I noticed:

The gap is gone. In fact, the seam is on-par with other body/head combos using a BOM skin. Pretty much non-existent.

These are excellent changes and now this body is in serious contention for use. I'd put it right there challenging LucyBody's Atenea for the "best free body" title. But you don't need to worry about a Midnight Madness board, or buy a BOM relay. Some serious shots have been fired now.

If you already have the original version, grab a redelivery from the marketplace. At the time of this updated post, v2.1 is what you'll get. If you don't this body already, grab it from the Marketplace for free.