Masquerade 2023

May 26, 2023 1:15 pm

You have been invited to the Annual Masquerade Ball! The dance floor will be open until 11:59pm on June 11 with the Masquerade Forums closing on June 16.

You can use the following sCode in your status as well as other places to get your friends (or well dressed strangers) to share a dance with you.

Would you rather dance with someone completely random? Try the Mystery Dance feature. You have a chance of getting all sorts of treats from Mystery Dancing, not just trinkets!

Don't forget, before you step foot on the dance floor you will need a mask. You will not be able to dance if you are not wearing a mask. What counts as one? Anything with the word 'mask' in the name. Rarity doesn't matter! Stop by the Migrating Masks to restock a mask or two, there are even some new ones this year!

After accepting a dance, you will receive either Steamworks Trinkets or Lounge Trinkets. The Lounge Trinkets can be used at the Libertine Lounge where you can rehydrate and fill up on food. The Steamworks Trinkets will allow you to purchase all sorts of goods from the Steamworks Menagerie. This is the only wave of items for both shops.

Keep an eye out for Boudewijn while you dance. If you manage to win a duel with him, he’ll give you a bag of trinkets. He won’t actually kill you in a duel, so no worries there! You need to visit the dance floor after accepting dances to find Boudewijn. You might just notice Boudewijn challenging you more on the floor this year. ;)

Oh, and just a reminder! You have a chance of unlocking the Dancing Steamwork Style achievement when using the Mystery Dance feature. This achievement will give you the rad Steamwork Masquerade avatar border. When you dance with people you choose (like friends, on threads, etc), you have the chance to unlock the achievement Dancing Rave Style which will give you the bright Rave Masquerade avatar border.

June 1, 2023, 1:15 am by

Is the dance floor broken? It's still showing my old HA and I have cleared cache. Darn.

May 31, 2023, 11:33 pm by

I have only had one duel with Boudewijn since the beginning of Masque. Is he hiding from my powerful moves? Come out, come out, wherever you are, Boudewijn! LOL

May 31, 2023, 2:08 pm by

5 days of dozens of dances & I've only had 2 duels. Thought it was supposed to be increased for this year.

May 31, 2023, 2:17 am by

I didn’t realize masquerade was coming this summer! (I’ve not been super active so I thought I missed it earlier this year. Yay! <3

May 30, 2023, 4:07 am by

I would love to finally know, how Mystery Dance partners are chosen? Does it depend on how often you use the feature (on an hourly or daily basis)? Do you just need to use it a single time to be in the pool? I got many since beginning, but this morning I came back to not a single one. Not complaining. This simply has always been a huge mystery, lol.

May 29, 2023, 7:31 pm by

♡

May 29, 2023, 2:18 pm by

Not that I'm complaining here about the lack of dual duty items out of the lounge - but it looks like some of the foods were designed to also be clothing and didn't get uploaded as such (most specifically the pearls and wine items). Were they meant to also be wearables? If not I'm definitely perfectly okay with that, it just looks like more than the Power Button items and 1s and 0s items were meant to also be clothing along with being consumables.

May 29, 2023, 12:39 pm by

Bow-de-vein. It’s a real name, you can Google “pronunciation Boudewijn” and hear Dutch speakers say it.

May 29, 2023, 4:08 am by

Loving everything this year.., but I still need to know... How the heck do you pronounce Boudewijn???

May 28, 2023, 11:40 pm by

Are there any achievements for Libertine items this year?

May 28, 2023, 5:44 pm by

omg someone else remembers!!!! 😭💖 thanks for the holiday, & items

May 28, 2023, 12:25 pm by

In the wardrobe click personal at the top then cosmetics.

May 28, 2023, 2:51 am by

How do I get to my avatar boarder?

May 27, 2023, 11:18 pm by

Would have really loved some mens' hair options (I always have a hard time finding good ones and end up cycling through the same 2 or 3) but I really love the items we got this year! Masq is my favorite Subeta holiday so I'm so glad it's finally here!

May 27, 2023, 11:16 pm by

Day after my birthday? Nice >:3c

May 27, 2023, 10:49 pm by

Aaaaaaahhh, I love these! All variants of these, but especially these - the warm glow effect on this one just looks absolutely lovely. ♥

Masquerade tends to be my favorite event aesthetic-wise, even more so since the cyberpunk-style stuff got included (it's a great addition thematically and I'm a sucker for both steampunk and futuristic stuff), and there's a lot to love this year! The octopus items are probably not something I'll ever use myself, but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what others'll do with those.

I think the only complaints I have are that I'll second feeling a li'l disappointed at the lack of any kind of skirt or dress as someone who tends to enjoy feminine items, but we've had plenty of them in past years, so one year with none is okay (although I'd love to see something meant to go with the musical accessories!). The other's that a couple of the items look a little tricky to match to past items as someone else already noted - specifically the Sky Captain set, which is incredibly stylish but feels a little more... muted than past items in that aesthetic vein? I'm surprised there's no black/white versions of them, too, given how often those are a thing for this event (the gray/black one is nice but a little more difficult to use than either black/white combo would be, IMO).

As far as the "not wanting to repeat same old same old" point goes, there's already some suggestions for inspiration in other comments, but I'll say that for the cyberpunk side of things, I'll second that looking toward some full-on sci-fi (especially on the older end) like Star Trek TOS could be a good idea; the line between sci-fi and pure cyberpunk can be pretty thin as is, so that might yield some good item ideas that don't stray too far from what's already been established.

Alternatively, how about looking into some of the genre's various roots? Some Japanese cyberpunk works, for example, have roots in tokusatsu works' practical effects, or some of the sci-fi stylings in mecha series - both could make for good ideas fodder. Or give looking into more branches of the genre a go instead (that's basically how the cyberpunk stuff ended up as part of the event, after all!), like solarpunk's intertwining of futuristic and natural aesthetic (maybe represented through a group of people who moved out of Ziara to form their own community? Items drawing from the Iku tree and Atebus' unique flora could work well for this, maybe?), or biopunk's increased focus on biological modifications rather than full-on cybernetics (could work for more body mod-type items that don't necessarily include cybernetic elements).

Either way, there's still plenty of fun stuff for the artists to toy around with out there, and I'll definitely keep looking forward to this event in future years!

May 27, 2023, 10:35 pm by

I forgot we can get CSC from mystery dances!! Thanks!

May 27, 2023, 10:04 pm by

And once again, I never said or implied they should cater only to me. Of course they should offer something for everyone, I'm not arguing with that. All I said was that I personally like the items this year. I'm allowed to do that. If anything, the newer items add more variety to the total offerings of the Menagerie and that's what I'm saying I appreciate.

May 27, 2023, 9:51 pm by

Aren't there plenty of already existing skirts that people can use with the current site items? Just because skirts weren't included this year for masq, doesn't mean there are no options for people to do feminine related avis. It may take more work but that's the fun of designing- you work with what you get.

May 27, 2023, 9:47 pm by

I kinda like the items, most aren't my style, but it's like some artist looked at the items of previous years and said "wow, these are kinda indistinct and blurred-looking, I can draw the same things, but better" and then they did. So... they look really good.

May 27, 2023, 9:20 pm by

Ok, I guess we do disagree, since you're so set on having a disagreement, because it's my prerogative to give positive feedback if I like the items. Which I do. You can give whatever feedback you want.

May 27, 2023, 7:40 pm by

There's where we differ. I wouldn't give positive feedback for there not being any masculine-leaning items. Yet here we have a shop for a formal ball and there is not one single skirt or dress in the entire shop. That's not appropriate, no matter how many there wer in previous years. Everyone--punk or frilly, masculine or feminine--should be able to get at least one new entire outfit every year. I don't think that's too much to ask.

May 27, 2023, 7:18 pm by

I started playing here again just last year after stumbling back into it through a 'you need to reset all your passwords' thing, and I don't think I ever participated in Masquerade when I used to be active! So I'm really excited 🤍

May 27, 2023, 5:19 pm by

Despite dozens of dances I've not had a single duel. Maybe he's afraid of me :)

May 27, 2023, 3:26 pm by

can we please get a reminder for when we can dance again?

May 27, 2023, 2:52 pm by

I hope I'm not the only one but I can't see any dance links anywhere! I tried to put them on my profile, status, even sent an sMail to myself containing dance links but nothing!

May 27, 2023, 1:53 pm by

Ah, yes, I see - I had forgotten about the buff!

May 27, 2023, 10:06 am by

🎉🎉🎉 YAY! A holiday I'm able to participate in since a while ago! 💃🩰

May 27, 2023, 7:35 am by

AH! I see it now. It looks so different from the rest. Thank you!

May 27, 2023, 7:12 am by

I adjusted the odds of finding him (hinted at it in the news post)! 6-9 minutes is not long, compared to what it was in previous years for the start of hte holiday (like easily 10+ minutes). I won't decrease it anymore because there's the chance you'll get the buffer that'll decrease your time (fast feet? something like that).

May 27, 2023, 2:57 am by

...however, surprise, surprise, I've already had my second encounter with Boudewijn and won once! Over the past years he would only find me veeeery late into Masquerade!

May 27, 2023, 2:22 am by

Waiting time between dances is extremely long, 6 to 9 minutes! Indicator to this is also, how slow the threads move on! The 2nd one I posted on before going to bed is still only halfway this morning! Was there always a 15 minutes cooldown for Mystery dances?

May 27, 2023, 1:43 am by

Hurrah!

May 27, 2023, 1:25 am by

I don't think we really disagree, no, except in our aesthetic preferences (which is fine)! I just wanted to speak up because I saw things I really like this year, and they are from categories that in my opinion have been somewhat overshadowed in the past (e.g. masc-leaning or neutral items as opposed to dresses/skirts, of which there is already a great preponderance onsite) so I think it's important to let the artists know that this direction is appreciated by someone.

May 27, 2023, 1:10 am by

Oh I am in LOOOOVE these items are amazing!! There’s such a wide variety of aesthetics & themes this year. The backgrounds are gorgeous, the HAIRS are amazing, a few clothing sets that feel like mini SubQ sets, adorable minions, yummy seafood-based appetizers.. thank you to everyone at Subeta for consistently being creative & awesome 💖

May 27, 2023, 1:06 am by

I too am asking for different things :) I already have the stuff I liked from previous years :) So perhaps we're close to agreement.

May 27, 2023, 1:03 am by

It's heeeere! Is there any plan to fix the dance floor so it removes backgrounds and ground and foreground objects like it used to?

May 27, 2023, 12:47 am by

I never said they should cater only to me, I just said I really like this year's items. There's already a lot of the kind of stuff you seem to prefer in there from previous years. I find the newest offerings balance things a bit. I doubt this is the final year of Masquerade... maybe you'll get more of your wishes next time. I do really like your suggestion for more retrofuturistic sci-fi outfits, especially inspired by Star Trek!

May 27, 2023, 12:16 am by

FWIW they don't have to do the same stuff every year in order to do the steampunk side justice. I made a bunch of suggestions after the disaster that Steamworks was in 2019 for those of us who like the historical side of costuming and in 2020, 2021 and 2022 almost every one of those items turned up. I'm just disappointed that instead of saying "I don't want to do same old same old" and then doing more "same old same old" ripped up neon rave items to the detriment of the other side of the equation, they stopped.

In 2019 they were saying stuff about "same old same old" until I pointed out that the steampunk side was getting boring because they were so stuck in the viewpoint of steampunk as "take some Victorian underwear and sew cogs and gears to it" which I agree is old and overdone. I pointed out that Hamilton (1700s) and The Tudors (1500s) and the English Civil War/Musketeers (1600s) were all great sources to mine for new fresh designs. And we've had slops, and doublets, and long frock coats, and big skirts without cogs stuck to them for several years, along with some designs that were taken from Indian/Middle Eastern couture (the kind of stuff does so very well) and they were just phenomenal. But this year the clef items, which are gorgeous, are not a full set, and aside from the black/white ones, they're in colours that are hard to match, and the sky captain items are great but they're definitely for more masc-leaning people.

There's still new ground to cover. Nobody's done much with Regency era stuff (Jane Austen) and let's face it, Bridgerton should be providing everyone with plenty of inspo--it even got a Halloween doll. We absolutely don't need much more in the "victorian underwear and military uniforms with cogs that don't do anything sewn to them" department, but that doesn't mean that all the good stuff has already been done.

(Similarly, I think the rave side is in dire need of a refresh. Torn up neon clothes and Blade Runner? We get that every year. What about the Tomorrowland retrofuturistic aesthetic? Conical skirts and cute little tunics with tights and high boots? And Star Trek TOS had some banging space/future costumes that were daring and shiny and chrome. I say specifically TOS, because William Ware Theiss wasn't allowed to show underboob or belly buttons and this constraint produced numerous really cool costumes with creative draping across the midsection to allow skin to be shown without showing that skin. Check out 1940s-1970s science fiction costuming because right now the Lower Ziarans appear to be stuck in the 80s and 90s.)

I am definitely coming back to the Masq boards to talk about ideas <3 I'm pleased that people liked my suggestions enough to make them but there's still. SO. MUCH. MORE. to be done. This is my actual favourite holiday most years.

If either you or I likes everything in the menagerie, a lot of someone elses are going to be very unhappy, because I'm specifically all about the thrills and frills and you're really into that cyberpunk look. We need both. There should be some frills there because there are a lot of people here who like frills. There should be some torn up neon stuff because some folks can't live without it. But let's get creative with all of it :)

May 26, 2023, 11:29 pm by

May 26, 2023, 11:07 pm by

Okay, usually I'm on the side of people who are upset about a lack of items/waves, but today I'm gonna advocate for SubetaTeam: Guys, the site is not doing well. It's been hobbling for years but lately, it's crawling. They don't have enough artists to do what needs to be done, also a lot of the time, items are planned years in advance. (Rift pets/items were in the oven since 2012-2013, for example.) I'd be surprised if it [the site] survives til 2025 so show a little patience/sympathy this time, if you can.

May 26, 2023, 11:07 pm by

Many thanks Amber. I didn't want to assume since they are usually not included heh heh! plans next HA feverishly

May 26, 2023, 10:57 pm by

Thank you for this AMAZING birthday present, Subeta, starting my favorite holiday on my birthday!! I love SO many of these new items and I'm gonna have to dance my feet off to get them all. Get hype for the masq!!

May 26, 2023, 10:56 pm by

Any item with 'mask' in the name should work, . No matter the rarity! (CWs are rarity 200 and are usually excluded from things)

May 26, 2023, 10:42 pm by

The items are SO gorgeous omg

May 26, 2023, 10:16 pm by

happy squealing

May 26, 2023, 10:15 pm by

Yay dance time! The items look dope this year! :D

May 26, 2023, 9:35 pm by

I'm not sure if this has been answered or not but do CW masks with 'mask' in their name work? LOVING the new BGs :D

May 26, 2023, 9:22 pm by

Everything is SO GOOD this year! I especially love all the robot stuff and the octopuses! The spooky holidays (Morostide and zombies) have always been my favorite Subeta events but Masq has really been giving them a run for their money with the Lower Ziara items. Even the traditional steampunk stuff is way more to my taste this year than in previous years when it was all so frilly lol.

May 26, 2023, 8:41 pm by

People be wild in these comments, I totally get being disappointed in not seeing a certain thing you personally wanted but we should still appreciate all the artists' did with this years Masq selection.

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Masquerade 2023

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