Fashion Friday: Sunflower-picking hobbit

With all the exciting news in Lord of the Rings Online and Star Wars: the Old Republic (Scavenger hunt, Manaan stronghold, Mordor pre-order deals etc), I didn't find the time to write about this year's Summer Festival in LOTRO. Content-wise, my 2016 Summer Festival review still holds true: it's the same festival with the broad varied offer of cute quests. Of course there are some new cosmetics, though; my sunflower-picking hobbit will show you in this LOTRO fashion post.

This year's big eyecatchers were the Short-sleeved Sunflower Tunic and Trousers and the Sunflower Steed. I used to not get very excited by tunics, because they don't look great on Ravanel, my female elf main character (that I played exclusively for years). Then, however, I found out that they look great on hobbits! So it shouldn't be a surprise that I went with a hobbit for the Sunflower outfit photoshoot. That said, if you do like it on your character of another race, be my guest!

I like the tunic's default colour (evendim blue) the most on its own. However, it doesn't look all that great together with the Sunflower Steed, because they have few colours in common (I nitpick about these things). When dyed forest green, the tunic looks much better with the pony. Below you can compare both versions.

The Sunflower outfit looks great in bright basic colours, such as forest green (above, left) and the default colour, evendim blue (above, right). If red looks better on your character: that colour works well, too.

Sunflower outfit

• White Rose Circlet
• Padded Mantle of the Dunland Soothsayer (forest green dye)
• Hammer-mark Cloak (forest green dye)
• Short-sleeved Sunflower Tunic and Trousers (forest green dye)
• Sunflower Steed
• Sunny Summer Kite

I was super happy that I could use my recently acquired Hammer-mark Cloak for this outfit. This cloak drops from the Rift raid, and so far, it's always been someone else who won it. However, when I duo'd the Rift with Conrad for the Scavenger Hunt, he already had it, so it's finally mine! The cloak dyes really well, and the remaining yellow corresponds with the yellow of the sunflowers. The Padded Mantle (from Dunland quests) is always a favourite of mine, because it attaches the mantle more realistically than the weird shoulder flaps that come with LOTRO's cloaks.

Cicely, in the picture above - right, is wearing the green version that fits well with the pony. On my second hobbit, Ravil, I went for the default colour of the tunic, which resembles evendim blue. I equipped the Circlet of Fresh-picked Flowers and dyed it evendim blue, just like the cloak and mantle, to match it.

Above, you can see what the forest green tunic looks like in combination with the Sunflower Steed. The tunic's green corresponds with the sunflower leaves' green on the pony's apparel and back.

Since all classes have access to pets nowadays, I try to incorporate them in my outfits when I can. The best match that was available at the festival was the Sunny Summer Kite (see below). (Note that while kites are obviously not pets, they are coded as such.)

There's another kite that would look even better: the Sunflower Kite. This kite is blue with a sunflower and would've been so perfect! Alas it currently costs 495 LOTRO Points in the Store, which I'm not willing to pay. I'm disappointed that the kite that's obviously meant to compliment this year's Summer Festival steed and tunic isn't available through the festival itself; at least the Sunny Summer Kite is an affordable alternative. On the plus side, it doesn't have the blue, so it matches perfectly with the green version of the tunic.

Do you like tunics on hobbits as much as I do? And did you get yourself any of the Summer festival goodies?