Discussion: Reflections on Maxis Sim Shipping

[strangetomato]

I think the thing that really stands out for me now that I'm seriously considering my Maxis character shipping preferences is how I do not see either Dirk/Lilith or Angela/Dustin working out in the end. I never really have. Well, actually, I did have an early notion, when I first started to sim in Pleasantview, that Angela WOULD marry Dustin and live a terribly dissatisfying life of semi-poverty (Broke-style), with a criminal husband and a yard full of scary domerman pincers. (Have I mentioned my active imagination? This was way before I had any concept of sim storytelling for others. Just myself.) But now I just see Angela moving on to greener pastures, leaving Dustin to find someone else (Ginger Newson being my favourite contender at this point, given her parallel to Brandi, which is a life he knows all too well.)

I can't ever stop seeing Dirk eventually cheating on Lilith with Angela, causing a huge rift there. In my game, he always, always cheats on her, in fact. Usually with Angela, but sometimes with someone else, and often without any input from me. I don't know if he ends up with Angela, or if he eventually reconciles with Lilith, but somehow that HAS to happen for me. Lilith is all over the place for me. She nearly always gets tangled up with Don Lothario at some point in my game (*lowers voice* sometimes even while still a teen... Oh Don, you're just... yeah), and then I just see her as this amazing free spirit who maybe stays single forever. You know those amazing old ladies who were movie stars or artists or musicians, who were lovers to many famous people over the years (mostly men, but there were some exceptions, if you believe the rumours), but always stayed true to themselves and didn't settle down? Yeah, that's how I see Lilith Pleasant.

Also, Tara Kat/Chester Gieke is the nerdiest couple EVER, by far. Geeky nerds trump bookish nerds any day of the week. (That's one of mine, by the way, from my uberhood. The red hair is a bonus, but they also remind me of my cousin and her husband in an uncanny way, right down to the cat lady-ness and the too geeky/socially awkward to live hardcore videogame geek factors. I am so sold on that pairing. I've seen its proven results in RL, people! XD)

So, I'm opening the floor to other shipping chit-chat here. Please try not engage in any full-on shipping brawls, but if you feel the need to pen an impromptu shipping manifesto, then who are we to stop you? :D Go on and share your insights, amusing pairing stories from your game, and so on.

Comments

[leskuh.livejournal.com]

There were actually A LOT of ships in those polls that just didn't work for me at all. Alexander Goth/anyone else is so weird to me for some reason. I guess I see him growing up to be completely asexual? Ditto with Nervous. And yet they had multiple ship possibilities.

I also giggled at Beau/Lucy because at this point your Beau is so completely embedded in my head and their relationship reads as purely platonic to me.

Honestly I mostly stuck to my obvious ships: Johnny/Ripp/Ophelia (and any combination there of), Buck/Jill, Bella/Mortimer, Nina/Don (though obvs that one will never work as a fully committed relationship). Also Frances/Beau and sometimes Frances/Tank (Tank/Lucy showed up quite a bit but I honestly just don't feel them that much - it's the same with Bottom/Vidcund. Though my feelings of ambivalence towards the latter is probably due to the fact that I find them both incredibly dull).

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I tend to agree somewhat, though I don't see either as completely asexual. And actually, Alexander Goth/Marla Biggs was one of mine, because they're basically clones of each other, but I think Marla'd be a lot warmer and more open to the world and so she'd be good for him. Also, she just looks like she belongs in the Goth family in a way that's goes beyond just being nerdy for me.

I voted for Beau/Lucy in one of the categories, but that was mostly because it wasn't up against much else that appealed to me. In an alternate interpretation, I could see it working, for sure. But yeah, my vision of Beau is pretty fully formed right now. His character just about wrote itself all in one fit of inspiration, and now I just imagine him laughing his ass off when I try to consider him with a woman.

We have all the same ships, I think. And you're the reason I eventually warmed to Nina/Don, though I also do not see it ever working out as a relationship. I didn't vote for any Don pairings, in fact. Not even Don/everyone, because relationship =/= random sexual encounter, and I can't see the man ever making good for anyone that way. He's a lost cause, too far gone, to ever really commit to anyone.

I have some pairings that I use but didn't nominate or anything (I voted, though, if it didn't conflict with anything I really cared about), because they just don't thrill me. I see them as a good pair, but I wouldn't exactly say "I ship it." I think the statement assumes you are somewhat invested in that outcome, right? In that sense, I'm not really a big shipper at all. I only have a handful of pairs that I'd fight for (possibly to the death? Watch out! XD), but I probably won't tell you who those are, for obvious reasons. ;)

(Sorry for the edits, but some mistakes totally wrecked my meanings.)

[unholypassion.livejournal.com]

I've always broken up Dirk/Lilith and Angela/Dustin. They're teens, they can date a little. I usually tend to get Lilith into a good solid relationship and career, and have Angela fail in that dept.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's the fact that high school relationships very rarely work out? Even if they do, I'd see them taking some time off from each other while they go to school and maybe getting back together in the end.

I really like your turn-around for Angela and Lilith. Things always balance out in the end, huh?

[silentsteel.livejournal.com]

I have never had those four end up with any kind of chemistry in my games, from Nightlife onwards. Same thing goes for Romeo/Juliette, actually.

[pixelcurious.livejournal.com]

One of the things that popped out for me is that I have really mixed feelings about Vidcund Curious/Bottom Summerdream. On the one hand, I like the idea based on how you've approached it. But on the other, it kind of skeeves me, because I have such a strong image in my mind of Bottom as an innocent little girl -- and Vidcund has always seemed old before his time, to me. Not to mention, in my game he was basically asexual until he became an elder. So I see him needing Viagra to get it up to begin with. xD

The other thing that popped out was the dearth of F/F pairings. I know the poll came directly from nominations, so I'm not knocking aledstrange at all. Nor am I knocking those who nominated. I just think it's odd that there were so few F/F pairs. We see F/F in legacies all the time, so I know there's isn't a bias against it. But the Maxis pre-mades don't seem to inspire many F/F matches. I don't have any theories on why this is, I just think it's curious.

[leskuh.livejournal.com]

I kind of wish I had put in Kaylynn/Bella for an F/F pairing because I actually do like them together.

But I didn't actually nominate anything sooooo. XD

[ndainye.livejournal.com]

It used to be that if I sent Angela / Lilith / Dirk / Dustin to UNI together that Dirk would cheat on Lilith with Angela and Dustin would ignore both girls.

I still don't see Angela and Dustin working long term for me and I love Dustin/Ginger together. I'd despaired what to do with Dustin until the Newsons were added to the game but as soon as Dustin and Ginger met at a kid party in my megahood I knew they were destined.

I like Lilith and Dirk together, they're one of the few Maxis Canon ships that I endorse. But, I don't believe that they go from teen sweethearts straight to happily every after. Dirk and Lilith always drift apart and then drift back together for me. Part of my love for them is from taking them out of Maxis hoods and having them end up together in my main hood. In my main hood Dirk and Lilith never knew that they were 'supposed' to be together and yet when they ended up at UNI during the same generation they migrated towards each other. They're extremely devoted grandparents now and I adore them. Of course in that hood Angela became a romance sim and it's the only time I've ever really liked her either.

My personal huge huge Maxis ship is Alexander and Bottom. It's based on similar reasons as Dirk/Lilith. In my Legacy hood, where all Maxis sims are townies, Alex and Bottom were grown up in the same generation due to outside storyline factors. They were never intended to be together and rolled conflicting aspirations; but they insisted and I fell in love with them. I love them, love their boys, and am falling hard for their grandbabies. Megahood wise, when Bottom gets the aspiration I now see her as, they always end up together with very little need for me to do much than introduce them.

I could see Bo with Vidcund, they're an easy three bolt couple. The May-December romance (if played in a rotational fashion with aging at standard intervals) would leave Bottom a widow while barely an adult and she deserves a longer romance than that. Alex and Marla work as well, they're actually in the same dorm currently and there's a bit of stalking. However, Alex needs someone that isn't his clone. He needs someone that will shake him up on occasion and remove the stick, Bo does that.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Seems we have some similar takes, then. I was wondering who else nominated Dustin/Ginger for the poll. It was a pleasant surprise to see them nominated more than once! They really do have great chemistry and a wonderfully complex relationship between their back stories.

I can also see Dirk and Lilith getting together againg after it all. That's where they were when I abandoned my borking hoods a while back. They had graduated and moved in together, despite being on bad terms at that point. I have no idea where I intended to go from there. Lilith is always a wildcard in my games, as I mentioned.

I also give very compatible aspiration for Alexander and Bottom (knowledge/fortune and knowledge/family, respectively), so I can see that pairing working, too. I'm less sold on Alexander taking to the free-spirited Summerdream approach to life, but I'm sure there's a story in that somewhere, and I could see it in the right circumstances.

I'm a little looser with ages in my game, but I still think that Vidcund would be around for quite some time with Bottom, given the lengthy elder stage (and you know Vidcund has science on his side! XD). I also don't see Bottom having a problem with outliving her husband (and least not as a reason to avoid the relationship as a rule), and I could easily see her re-marrying after he dies, for sure. Bottom being married twice makes all kinds of sense to me.

I'm pretty into Alexander/Marla. Clone or not, I see them as having very different personalities and outlooks on life, while also being very similar. One of those couples that looks identical without even really intending to. As much as I agree that Alexander could use a good shaking up, I don't really see him as the type to go that route. I don't ever see him stepping too far out of his comfort zone.

[will-o-whisper.livejournal.com]

I can't lie, I ship Nina/Don like it's my job; if I had to have an OTP, they would be it. Not in the traditional love-marriage-baby carriage way, but nothing will convince me they are not the most important people in each others' lives, and always will be. It's a mutually destructive relationship as long as they're failing to get their shit together, but at the same time there's also a lot of love there. Idk, I just love them so much. ;^;

I...actually wasn't all that excited about most of the ships in the poll (not that I can complain, seeing as how I didn't nominate anyone :P). A lot of the popular ones, I'm just not into. I'm not wild about Darren/Cassandra, for example, or any of the teen romances, Puck/Hermia aside. One canon pair I really love, Jason and Rose Greenman, didn't make the list at all, which was too bad.

I was a bit sad about the lack of F/F too, though. No Cassandra/Mary-Sue? Titania/Goneril? Catherine/Betty? Bueller? :(

[pixelcurious.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on Cassandra/Darren. It always felt too forced. And Darren is a bit of a wet noodle, for me...

Now I want to see the kids from Cassandra/Mary Sue!

[simgarooop.livejournal.com]

Oh, so now it's time to endorse our ships, I see... XD

Way before I even considered doing a Legacy, I exclusively played with Pleasantview. I'm not sure why, I guess the desert environment wasn't appealing to me. Therefore, the very first time I played with the Strangetown characters was when I began the Broke Legacy (because I took that as a challenge for me). This means I never played with the Strangetown characters the way "they were scripted" by Maxis. Most of what I know about these characters was learned from your story :D (especially the Beakers and the Curious).

I guess this is why all my noms were from Pleasantview, although I tried to add a couple noms from ST and Belladonna Cove.

I think that my canon OTP is Mortimer/Bella, if anything because their story is so weird and sad (my version of how they got together was contradicted by the Sims 3, though). I was one of the dummies who tried to resurrect Bella in the Sims 2 and was dissappointed that it never really worked.

I also ship Beau and Lucy, because that's what usually happened in my early games. Therefore, I was surprised when I ended going with Beau and Lilith in my Legacy, because it seemed like the more believable option according to the plot, although I don't ship it as a canon couple. But I loved them together and their children.

It took me a little while to warm to the idea of Beau and Frances from your story, but now I think they are adorable together. I voted for them too :)

As for your original question, I often had Lilith break up with Dirk and going out with Alexander (who by then was Dirk's "step-uncle", because I just can't let Cassandra marry Don, who I still think is behind Bella's abduction AND the father of Brandi's third kid). I also had Angela disowned by her parents and marrying Dustin in an act of rebellion after so many years of being the perfect twin. Yikes, I really turned that hood into a soap opera!

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I'm a Bella/Mortimer shipper, too. To see that their love even spans several incompatible timelines (and dimensions? LOL! XD), how can anyone deny them that?

I love how wonderfully complicated it is. And the fact that it doesn't have a happy ending... or does it...? That's up to us to decide.

[meetme2theriver.livejournal.com]

I agree about Dustin/Angela and Dirk/Lilith, especially the latter. The very first time I played PV they stayed together, the former had two daughters and the latter had a son that looked kinda like David Duchovny. But Lilith cheated on Dirk with some downtownie (the S4, long brown hair, green eyes, red shirt, prettified Face #1 one... can't believe I remember that!) and had... a girl, I think. I can see the unhappy marriage drama with Dustin and Angela, but Dirk and Lilith seem too different in personality to stick together in the long run. I like to think they'd remain friends, though. I once hooked Dirk up with DJ Verse, and I really liked that pairing. They were even 3-bolters. Might have to do that again. Also, Lilith + either Ripp or Tank kinda pleases me.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

...had a son that looked kinda like David Duchovny.

BRB LOLing forever! XD

[trippytexan.livejournal.com]

It's funny, I get invested in some ships from other people that don't even have a chance of happening with me as a player! Your version Johnny/Ophelia/Ripp is precious, but none of them ended up together as adults in my game. Likewise with emmelfish's Vidcund/Erin, ndainye's Dustin/Ginger, and some of the other more common ones like Beau/Lucy and Buck/Jill.

My Vidcund will always pine for Circe, and Erin usually ends up married into the Grunt family. Dirk and Lil eventually drift apart but Angela always ends up marrying Dustin and having 2.5 kids and a white picket fence because she thinks she has to because she's expected to be "perfect". So I don't ship them because they're NOT a great couple, but they always end up together anyway. I like the idea of Dustin with Ginger, but in my game Ginger has some serious daddy issues and she always ends up with an older, wealthier man like Armand DeBateau or Malcolm Landgraab.

I REALLY wish I didn't miss the nomination round, because I'm sure my Jasmine Rai/Zoe Zimmerman/DJ Verse threesome would have gotten a few votes. And what about Ripp/Jill or Buck/Frances? I don't think I saw those matches in the polls either.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I'm extremely surprised that Ripp/Jill didn't show up. I've encountered quite a few hardcore shippers of that pairing!

[xel-squirgle-ox.livejournal.com]

The results of these polls show that your story is embedded into everybody's mind. :P

I do like most of your story pairings... I can't see Frances being with anybody else but Beau (or, Guy in my game- theyre just too sweet together) but I'm still not really into the Vidcund/Bottom or Tank/Lucy (probably because of the little guy in my icon *snicker*).

As far as the Maxis pairings go, I'm a die hard fan of Bella/Mortimer since they have been together in EVERY. SIMS. GAME. How could they NOT be together?

I see Dustin/Angela and Dirk/Lillith pretty much the same way as you. I never pay attention to the AL people (probably because I don't have the game installed on my computer) but I think Ginger would be a great match for Dustin too.

[skellington7d.livejournal.com]

Since the Goths were pretty clearly based on the Addams family, I always see Bella and Mortimer as having an epic Gomez/Morticia type of love.

[(Anonymous)]

In my game Tank and Lilith ended up together. They both had the same LTW, and it work out very nicely. Angela ended up basically failing at life. But Alexander Goth and Lucy Burb always end up getting involved at some point in my game.

[pixelcurious.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I'm not the only perv who's done the twincest thing with Angela/Lilath... though I've never screenshotted it and written it up. *grin*

[skellington7d.livejournal.com]

I once saw a VERY, uh, interesting video involving those two. There was some vengeful twin switching going on and somehow Kaylynn and the Oresha-Hoh-Var Fraternity got "involved" but in the end, they uh, were getting along GREAT. I think it got taken down though.

[aledstrange.livejournal.com]

Aside from the Goth family, I'm not a big fan of PV, so in general, I just play the teen couples together until college, where usually, Dirk and Angela end up obsessed with studies, Dustin enjoys the wild side of college life, and Lilith looks for more interesting choices.(and when Ripp's around, he's one of them lol)

I never thought of Chester/Tara and now I really want to try now, but for me Vid/Cassie are the nerdiest of them all. They are just too cute, with the glasses and all :P

And YAY for ship's talk!! ^_^
Now, I'm inspired and want to get my Vid married!! <3

[profbutters.livejournal.com]

I think my Pleasantview shipping has been permanently altered by playing reversed gender Pleasantview. I keep seeing Lilith as Lionel and Angela as Angus. I do see what you're saying about the high school sweetheart problem. Pairings for the Pleasant twins become interesting when they or their partner have to grow and change. I really became enamored of the idea of Dustin/Dusty putting his or her past behind and making something of him/herself. If Dustin/Dusty stays with Angus/Angela, that can't happen, because the thrill for Angus/Angela is dating a bad boy/girl. I have a hard time seeing Angela changing in any way. Lilith, on the other hand, has every incentive to change. I could see her with Dirk or another totally different partner. I like her and Ripp, too.

I think forcing Don to be with any one woman is cruel, whether he is Don or Donna. I look at him and I start humming the theme to “Born Free."

I think probably the only Maxis Sim couple I truly ship is Tybalt/Mercutio. That is my Maxis OTP. Conversely, I just can't get behind Romeo/Juliette.

But I think the larger question is how one's views have been shaped by reading other people's stories. Many of the ships I voted for weren't ones I played, but were ones I read about and thought were cool. I. don't play strange town at all, and I don't have access to Desiderata Village or Belladonna Cove. This is one reason I have become such a fan of Maxis-based stories. It is like giving a lot of people identical sets of paints or of dollies and seeing how different and creative everyone can be.

EDIT: Crazy cat ladies are ALWAYS win.

[skellington7d.livejournal.com]

I like to have Angela fulfill her dream of being a seaboat captain and hook up with a hot Twikki island native. Tybalt/Mercutio are interesting but extremely hard to do. With the help of ACR I literally had a slap slap kiss thing going on. They end up in a poly relationship with Delilah, who helped mellow them out. I always make Alexander gay and hook up with a literal goth. Either a resurrected Fricorith or that Tricou lovechild downtownie(though he grows up into a potato-face.) And my Mary Sue secretly has a vampire fetish on which ends up making her a lot cooler in Lilith's eyes.

I've pretty much fallen in love with Dina Caliente. I know Maxis just wanted us to think of her as an evil gold digger who got rid of Bella with an evil plan, but they made some mistakes with that. For one think, Michael Bachelor wasn't a rich sim, so she either loved him or really sucks at gold digging. OR she's a victim of child grooming, I mean he was her best friend who gave her her first kiss as a teen, even though he's like thirty years older than her. (I'm actually working on a story to make their love story less squickier. There's so many inconsistencies with Michael Bachelor and his age I decided to pick and choose.) Also her torrid affair with Don Lothario never went below the neck or even to the make out stage.

However, if I want to play an evil Dina, then she's OBSESSED with Bella Goth in every way possible, so first she marries the brother and then eventually decides she wants to BE Bella, hence the abduction thing. Either way, she always helps fund Brandi's pastry business, showing she's not all bad.

[themorganlegacy.livejournal.com]

Whoa, the wanting to be Bella angle is blowing my mind a little bit. I'd never looked at the situation that way, but if someone wrote something along those lines I'd read the hell out of it.

[smjoshsims.livejournal.com]

Late to the party, but I do have my two cents to throw in!

Obviously, I'm biased. I definitely see where Angela and Dustin would fail, but they grew up together. In my mind, Angela is someone who is very concerned with firsts and milestones and Dustin was her first. She saw everything he went through and of course part of her holds on to the hope that he can change, and that he will make something of himself, but that's my interpretation. I have very definite ideas about whether they work out or not but I don't want to spoil my story (that will apparently never be finished).

Wrt Lilith/Dirk, I totally see your version of it. Lilith is totally a wildcard and someone who wouldn't allow herself to be tied down to anything, and poor Dirk gets left behind in what I see as her struggle to find her identity outside of being the bad daughter, Angela's sister, etc. I see Dirk as someone who would crave stability, and having a happy home life (trying to recreate the marriage of his parents) and Lilith does not *do* happy home life (child of dysfunctional marriage, did you miss the memo) so their relationship kind of falls apart on that level as well.

I basically went with my heart and soul otps and nominated Erin/Lazlo, Bottom/Vid, Johnny/Ophelia, and Beau/Franny. I WAS HEAVILY INSPIRED BY OUTSIDE SOURCES.

[ikichi.livejournal.com]

Some of my favorite pairings make no sense to me. I love, Love, LOVE Tank/Johnny and even though I've several stories where it *could* have worked and made perfect sense it never quite happens. (I guess it's a bit like Hermione/Draco- on paper, who else is good enough for them? But there's so much blood under the bridge and hurtful behaviour that you can't really *buy* it, you know?) And the worst part is, they're GOOD together. Better than they should be for being reflections of each other... Great, now I want to stick Cassie Goth and Sandra Roth in a room together and see what happens...

But with the P/view kids, I was always annoyed there wasn't anyone better in town for Dirk. It felt like Maxis gave him to Lil so she could hold him back, which is weird since I like Lil. O_o

[flambajamba.livejournal.com]

Even though I always want to keep Dirk with Lilith just because, it never works out...they just don't get along very well and are complete opposites. You know, the things that are cute and endearing when you are a teenager doesn't always translate well into functional adult. It's silly to be a rebel in your 30s...and I see Lilith as the eternal rebel and Dirk needs to have a normal family life. They only have one bolt for each other, so I'm going to try to find them their own personal 3 bolter. I have this thing...my Sims need to have 3 bolts for their potential marriage partner, or it bugs the shit out of me. I will marry a pair off with 2...but I need it to be 3 to be okay with it.

Angela and Dustin aren't going to make it. Angela is too much of a princess. They are going to grow apart. Dustin will make something out of himself, but he will always be rough around the edges and will never be able to please Angela. Yeah...they need to find someone else.

I always pair Alexander with someone made by me.

Only exception is Darren and Cassandra, but I NEED them to be together. Darren has 3 bolts for Brandi, but I really don't want them together. In my game I usually have Darren resurrect his wife after marrying Cassandra. He winds up having the amnesiac Darleen living in another town(usually Strangetown, everyone goes there to hide) and has started a family with her in addition to the family he has with Cassandra. I'm currently playing Pleasantview again for the 20th time, so I may not go that route. Cassandra deserves better.

I resurrected Skip Broke...my God, he was better off dead. I called myself trying to reunite a family...Skip is such a douche. ACR has him cheating with Nina and another romance Sim made by me. Brandi and Skip don't belong together at all. I foresee him having another mysterious pool ladder accident(Or, he'll just leave Brandi and go be a whore), and I'm going to find Brandi a real man.

Johnny has to be with Ophelia. They make adorable kids.

[autumnparanoia.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, you've just given me such a good idea for my game. Resurrect Darleen. She'd be a zombie, which would never be accepted in Pleasantview [in my game it's REALLY class-obsessed and pretty damn judgemental] so Darren moves to Strangetown with her! Dirk wouldn't want to move, because of Lillith and everything he has in Pleasantview, so he'd stay in the house, alone, and it would end up run down and broken because he'd have loads of parties there - what else would a teenager do? Especially a rebellious one, like Dirk is in my game - and Lillith would finally find an escape from her shitty home life so she'd move in with him... oh wow, this would be so awesome. Thank you for the unintentional inspiration!

[simsinthecity.livejournal.com]

I didn't submit any ships for this, and admittedly I regret it, because when I went in to vote on my favorites, I was so hung up on mine that weren't submitted by anyone else (Tank/Ophelia, Julien/Natasha and Lazlo/Mary-Sue stand out among others) that I couldn't get myself to look at it nearly any other way. If I ever get around to writing a story about the premades, there'll be enough focus on these characters that you'll see why I'm shipping them.

For Angela/Dustin and Lilith/Dirk, I agree with you. Having a high school sweetheart is nice and all, but these two pairs are, I think, so opposite each other at a fundamental level that I can't see a long-term commitment. I've heard from players who switched up the pairs, but there's something about that that still doesn't work, especially Dustin/Lilith — I don't know why, but there's something about the two that really keeps them from clicking.

I have Don listed on my MS Excel ships spreadsheet (which has relationships established in the game as well as those I've imagined) with four possibilities (and being that it's Don, there's definitely room for more than one). Since I see Kaylynn, Cassandra and Dina wanting to settle down at some time in their lives, with options set or implied by the game (Daniel, Darren and Mortimer respectively), it leaves Nina, ironically, as the only one Don has to himself right now. But that's bound not to last for long :P Maybe that guy down the street with the dog would suit her? If I weren't on the verge of shipping Cyd with Dina instead, it'd be a lock.

There are five listed for Castor Nova, but it's mostly because there are four girls crushing on him and one with a really strong friendship, and I haven't looked at it enough to decide on one of them.

Throwing original characters into the mix changes things up quite nicely: I've got one teen male of my own in Pleasantview and two teen girls in Strangetown.

All this is reminding me of how much I need to think this out. It's not going to be overly complex, but I want to make sure I've explored lots of possibilities.

[(Anonymous)]

I feel like adding my two cents to this as well. These are unpopular choices, I know, but they just work out so well together...

Lilith Pleasant / Alexander Goth. Always. I don't play them as being married or being in a serious relationship or even living together, but instead in a constant state of lusting after each other.
Buzz Grunt / Brandi Broke. They are so good together. I've rarely had them NOT have attraction points towards each other in my game, & they've been natural 3 bolts a time or two. Their aspirations match up pretty well, all the kids do well together especially if you get to them soon in the game.
Bella Goth / Malcolm Landgraab. Works well also.
Angela Pleasant / Almeric Davis. Don't know why. Anytime I don't just leave her with Dustin.
Gavin Newson / Ginger Newson. They're adopted & therefore not biologically related, it's not gross at all. Also their character descriptions make it seem like they were adopted recently.

I think what feels the weirdest is that a lot of the characters I think of as being homosexual are normally depicted as straight.
Honestly I've never played a game where Buck Grunt isn't gay. He's usually quite feminine about it, too. Also Hermia Capp is always a lesbian, I know she's with 2 guys at the start of the game, but to me she also seems like someone who wouldn't admit it to herself until later.

[midnightdreame.livejournal.com]

Dustin Broke/Lucy Burb: I always turn her into some sort of ManicPixieDreamGirl who moves into Pleasantview and quickly befriends him, opens his eyes up to the world, and he decides to dump Angela and reform his life, because all Angela was attracted to was his Bad-boyness.
Nina Caliente/Don Lothario: In my mind, they work the best. Even in the premade story shots, while all the other pics of Don and his girls involve romance, the one of him and Nina is a shot of them jogging. I think of them as long time friends-with-benefits and after a few mishaps, they realize that they are perfect for each other.
And Buck Grunt and Jill Smith, of course.

[(Anonymous)]

I definately agree with the Don and Nina thing. Most of the time in my game, Don marries Cassandra, gets divorced, and ends up in a long-term relationship with Nina. They deserve eachother.

[timberwolfoz.livejournal.com]

Adding to this a couple of weeks later, now I've loaded up the new computer and started playing them again:

I only got as far as 2nd year uni with my old game when the neighbourhood borked, but by that time Angela had just seduced Dirk in the spa. I also had Dustin and Dirk going to uni a year earlier than the twins and Dustin bascially screwing his way through the dorms before Angela arrived. Also, Dustin and Dirk had a thing going with each other after only a little pushing from me initially.

This time around I have ACR installed and I'm letting them go on free well. So far they're all faithful to each other but both Dustin and Dirk (especially Dirk at the moment) have been heartfarting over the other twin. Interestingly enough, though I have red hair as a turn on for both of them and two other redhaired dormies, neither have shown a lick of interest.

I admit I have a soft spot for Dirk-Lilith. We shall see.

Interestingly enough (now I can't see him as any other way) I switched Beau over as gay via the batbox and how he has a raging crush on Dirk and Dirk rolled the want to call and then invite over Beau. They'll both be at Darren and Cassandra's wedding, so watch this space.

I hadn't even thought of Ginger Newson until the hood was too far along, time-wise. Any suggestions for houses?

As for the adults, this is the first time I've played Darren and Cass as a couple. Last time it was Darren/Brandi Broke (and with ACR and the three bolts this time around I've had to swat them off each other) and I decided to let Don and Cass marry each other and see how they went -- surprisingly well up as of when the game blew up.

I thought of Don and Nina this time around but Jan Tellerman fell for her like a ton of bricks at the welcome wagon for a CAS character I made for Brandi and Nina hasn't shown a flicker of interest in Don since, whereas Dina was showing him up in her wants and fears in the early days of the marriage (and he's in her fears, but her wants are taken up with her career and possessions the odd one with the baby she wanted).

As for my view of ST, it's completely shaped by your STHWC so I can't see anything but J/R/O, Buck/Frances and Tank/Lucy. And of course Buck/Jill.