The Tomato Legacy, Episode Eight: Lessons Learned

[strangetomato]

Before I begin, let me lay my cards out on the table here. I haven't played this household (or The Sims 2 at all) in well over eight months, so the commentary may be decidedly less than fresh in that "struggling to remember what the hell's going on in this pic" sort of way. That said, I have images enough for quite a few updates, and this one was already formatted and half written, so it seemed a shame not to finish it and share it.

I'm not sure if I'll get back to this game to play it through and complete the legacy, but I think there's a lot of fun stuff here, so I'm going to post what I have. I'm sure it'll be comedy gold, because I'm a mother now and we all know that Moms are the coolest, wittiest, most hip to "what's in" people imaginable, right?

Right?

*crickets chirping*

Ah well. You know what you're in for now, anyway. :P So let's get on with this...

As always, we'll start with the background info for those who might be new to this:

Episode One: Fried Green Tomatoes | Episode Two: (Tomato) Worms Eat My Garbage | Episode Three: Seedlings | Episode Four: Heirloom Families | Episode Five: For your Humble consideration... | Episode Six: We are not amused. | Episode Seven: Humbelina's Choice

In our last episode, Humbelina became the heir and made a choice about her mate, but all is not so simple, as we shall see.

We'll pick things up with The Wedding of the Century! Or, at least, the first wedding in this legacy where I bothered getting the sims dressed up and placing a wedding arch. *ahem*




At least they were both in agreement on finding each other hot. These kids...




After the swooning ended, the vows began.












Aren't they just too sweet?

Spoiler alert: Enjoy it now before the drama begins. ;)




After they made it official, they immediately started to autonomously classic dance with each other.












Triple bolters are too cute for words. These two really work for me as a couple, as odd as an alternative universe Straight!Frances seemed at first. He's a man of many faces, that Benevolent One.




But in a flash, the moment was over. Humbelina felt an uncontrollable urge to vomit and made a beeline for the bathroom.

Frances: Was it something I said?

Some people say that crying at a wedding is a bad omen (or maybe it's just my paternal grandmother and her lack of ability to comprehend tears of joy as a concept?), so what does that say about vomiting at your own wedding?




Frances turned to leave and...

Frances: Oh dear god!




Frances: Oh. Dear. GOD!




Strange: Welcome to the family, son.

Yeah, better get used to that Frances. Casual nudity is a pretty much a given in this family.

But on second thought, maybe Frances's expression was more of a reaction to that big ol' pile o' gems there all shiny in the treasure chest. Nice. Very nice. (Aside: why didn't Frances seem to get the "married a rich sim" icon ? I'll have to check his memories to see if it's there.)




The lovely Nanihi Manave, extracted from Castaway Stories. I love the look of a lot of the characters from that game. They're very unique. Nanihi left Felicity Island and eventually settled here in Elsewhere, possibly to be joined by others from that game.

I gave her this darker Phobia skin to reflect the darker Maxis skin included in CS (the S3 of that game equals the S4 of Sims 2, S2 = S3, and S1 = S2, with no equivalent of the Sims 2 S1). I'd love to have her in this legacy at some point.




For the after-party, Franny played some piano to entertain the guests (some traits seem to be consistent across all Franceses), which Humbelina danced a little too close with Damon.

Frances is still oblivious.

But not for long!

Humbelina decided to autonomously flirt with Damon right there in the middle of her own wedding reception. *tsk tsk* What kind of Family sim is she? It's funny that she lost aspiration points for it, too. Fear of cheating on Frances? Yes. Does that stop her from doing it? Not in the least!




Frances reacted violently.




And Humbelina gave it back as good as he was sending.




The scene drew a bit of an audience, much as you would expect.




Frances was seething with rage for Damon, so I was expecting a fight, but instead Damon stepped up to let Frances know that domestic violence is just not cool.




Seriously, though, I had to laugh at his nerve for lecturing Frances after flirting with his wife in front of him, but when you think about it, Damon has things in proper perspective here. No reason they can't discuss this like adults, right?






Frances was properly shamed, while Humbelina called it a day and headed off to work without another word. But I don't expect this problem will blow over that easily...




Nope. As you can see, Frances holds quite a grudge. He wanted to see Damon dead, and possibly drink a nice frosty mug of him, too. He also feared a repeat performance of this act by Humbelina.




Humbelina had no desire to end the marriage, and I don't think Frances did either, but I think it will take quite some time to sort this out.




Luckily, Damon had a plan!

Oh dear... Maybe it would be better to leave well enough alone? What with your direct involvement in the marital distress? Just a thought.




I decided to indulge him and he quickly learned how to counsel a couple in distress. Never mind the fact that he was the reason the couple was in said distress to begin with.




He found Frances at his beloved piano and decided to give it a whirl.




He made the offer...




But Frances refused. Really, what did he expect?




Damon continued upstairs to approach Humbelina about it, at a very sort of convenient time, don't you think? That crafty Damon...




She was game for it, but since Frances was out, it was a no-go.




Strange decided to help out by casting some good magic on Frances (who even looks angry in his sleep from this angle), trying to improve his mood, etc. I can't recall if there's a spell that breaks fury, but she tried just about everything on him.




She doesn't have a spell to cure morning sickness, unfortunately. Humbelina was feeling it really bad.




Damon and his daily gift of appreciation from his co-workers. I'm saving these up in his inventory, just to see what sort of oddball collection he ends up with.




Since Frances was never going to take counseling from Damon, I had Aubergine read up on it, too.




Success! Frances was interested this time.




Umm, is this really the best time for a phone call, Humbelina? We're sort of in the middle of something here.




Luckily, the interaction continued after I canceled her phone call.




Frances approached his wife as Aubergine looked on, expectantly.




Success!




Aubergine: Have I ever told you about my travels to Three Lakes?

Frances: Does this involve money? Because otherwise, I don't really care.




Since the marriage counseling went so well, Damon decided to try his luck with Frances again and offered an apology.




I don't think he accepted it.




Frances used his patented eye-gouging technique.




I don't think he has much hope against Damon in terms of sheer size, however.




Again with the eye-gouging. Frances fights dirty.




Predictably, he lost the fight.

I love his whining profile. :P Frances has the best face.




Ghost!Greene made an appearance. He gets to wear his professor duds in the afterlife, because he was wearing them when he died. Pretty spiffy.




Marigold is a naughty kitty cat.




Continuing with the damage control, I had Frances study anger management. *shrug* It might help... eventually.




Humbelina's belly was getting quite big! Could there be more than one in there? Hmm...




As you can see, the happy couple isn't quite happy yet. We're making some progress, though.




Humbelina: I think my water just broke!

Nope, you're just pissing your pants, dear. Just one of the joys of the third trimester.




Frances is either ressuring her that he still loves her despite her lack of bladder control, or telling her that he's into that sort of thing. We may never know for sure. Either way, their relationship seems to be improving.

Also, that bathroom is about as small as my bathroom in real life. Just enough room to turn around.




They learned healthier outlets for their anger. Aubergine must be doing something right.




Damon hit the top of his career, making him the first bigfoot in space. I'm not sure his bowler hat and vest offers the correct protection, but he refuses to compromise his signature style.




Ah, Bigfoot hugs! So bone-crushingly cute.

Strange and Damon should form a zany hat club.




Things were looking much better for Humbelina and Frances's relationship. It helps that they're triple bolters.

Now if the family could only get counseling for their boundary issues, we'd be making some really progress.




Frances and Damon are also still on the outs, and Damon keeps pushing his luck, as you can see here.




I thought the pets were getting a little boring, so I gave them colourful makeovers. It's not like they'd seem out of place in this family.




Humbelina went into labour. Not to worry, the gang's all here! Surely, one of these sims knows what to do...




Umm, yeah...




Aha! Knew it. That new family sim feature kicks in yet again.




It's a boy! They name him Frances IV, of course.

He has Strange's recessive cc eye colour, showing up for the first time in four generations, which I thought was pretty cool.




Humbelina passed him over to the proud and expectant father...




Then spears her daughter through the heart with her bare hands! Muahaha!

*ahem*




It's a girl! They name her Brandywine, another heirloom tomato name. I figured we can call her Brandy for short and it will sound normal to match her twin.




I later found Humbelina and Damon hanging out in one of the bedrooms, discussing their similar goals in life.




You see, Damon is also a family sim (thanks to the magic of InSIM, and random rolling), and wants a family of his own.

You may have guessed where this is heading...




Whether it was her sympathy for his wishes or her burning desire for Bigfoot love, we may never know.






Either way, this family is going to become decidedly more complicated. A familiar sound could be heard after the deed was done, and we all know what that means.




Constoluto was still around, even though he didn't get up to all that much in his teen years. Here he is saying hi to his Ghost!Grandpa.




Humbelina appears to be breaking the news to Strange, and she seemed fine with it. Who is she to judge? She's sort of dating her great-grandson.




For all her weirdness, Strange was a very doting great-great-grandmother to the twins. It's easy to raise a family sim sized brood of children when you have such a large extended family living in the house.




Connie's one teenaged plot point: he had his first kiss with Melody Tinker. I think they made a cute couple.




That can't be good for the baby.




The twins aged to toddler.




The Worthington is strong in this one.




This guy, not so much. Though I think he has the chin? Hard to say, as Humbelina's is equally weak. We shall see.




I think it's lovely that Evil!Bella came by for the birthday party. XD She's a Criminal Mastermind, so I guess that makes her Frances and Humbelina's boss. My Elsewhere game just keeps churning out gold like this.

Looks like Connie showed up a little late to the party back there.




Now for some adorable toddler hugging the dog pics. D'aww...

Basil is now green, like his namesake.




And here's a better look at our updated kitty, now with complimentary colours! Yellow for marigolds, purple just because I can.




Toddler on the dog bed, dog on the floor! *sigh* That Pets EP feature drives me crazy in gameplay. It`s impossible to cancel it and redirect before the tired toddler gets it back in their queue. It's really irritating.




Connie heads off to university, seemingly a whole generation after his siblings. We'll see more on that in the next update.




I have a thing for loading screens. So what?

I love how the grandmothers have the children while the parents relax. This is why we love grandmas. Frances and Humbelina are finally okay with each other. But how will he feel about their next child?




Well, let's see...

Here he is discussing woohoo with Damon.




I think Damon just told him about it. XD

I'm not really sure what Strange is up to back there. Probably trying to somehow fix their strained relationship, as if that's even possible.




But wait... what's this?




Frances: Hey, this is actually kinda fun.




Frances: Wheeeee!




Then the hug sort of seamlessly transitioned into a fight.




Oh come on, you two! Enough already.




Damon won again, but who's surprised, really?

Frances: When I'm a Criminal Mastermind, this guy is finished.




He consoled himself by playing with his son. Frances IV seems pretty adorable so far.

The nursery has an ever-so-trendy woodland creatures theme. I love the wallpaper. I'm pretty sure this was one of kaputt_geliebt's downloads, but maybe one of the ones she had to take down? I'm not sure.




Humbelina decided to give birth in the nursery this time around.

Frances: But I just cleaned this carpet! *goes back to polishing the window*




Synchronized "Everyone stay calm!" expressions. Do as I say, not as I do.




Introducing Sassy (as in Sasquatch) Tomato! :D

Imagine my surprise when she had alien eyes and a pale freckled cc skintone (a geneticised version that I had forgotten to remove). A glimpse at Damon's genetics in SimPE revealed that he actually has the alien eyes beneath the Bigfoot skintone (which includes an eye colour). Interesting. I was hoping for good things from a Bigfoot offspring, but this baby has already exceeded my expectations.




Suddenly the thought of his wife with a Bigfoot seemed pretty hot to Frances. Go figure. :P




Then he remembered his most recent lost fight and that brought his mood down again. Poor guy.




What's that flying out of Sassy's head? It's the pet food glitch! :D

That looks more like sugary cereal than something you'd feed to the parrot, don't you think?




Aubergine attempted to cheer up her nephew-in-law by telling him about her travels to Three Lakes. She can never shut up about those stories, but Frances indulges her anyway.




Annoying feature, but still cute.




Aubergine and Frances moved on to playing a rather interesting version of red hands. Not sure how that one works, exactly.




Frances, rolling with the punches, was quick to insure that the next child would be his.




Cherry made enough progress in her career to get herself a cowplant. Just what this family needed!




Strange: Get a room, you two!

Humbelina: We were in this one, until you barged in.




Strange: Well get a new room. I'm using this one now.

Oh, for crying out loud! At least change the sheets first! This family...




The backyard was looking like a bit of a garbage dump and some cockroaches moved in. I'm not sure how that happened. I'm assuming it was a dropped bag on the way to taking out the garbage. Of course, nobody bothered to clean it up.




Aubergine had to literally step over that to get to the pool, but did she pick it up? *sigh*




I don't know if it's just that extremely flattering pool lighting, but she's still quite striking as an octogenerian. The silver hair really suits her.




I really have to do something about these two. Triple bolters or not, I need to find Tiny Tim a mate that isn't related to him. It seems that moving him out of the house wasn't enough.




Strange: Now get out of my house, kid.

Strange seems to be on the same page. Cold.




Sassy, being adorable on the play mat.

Does anyone know if there is a cloth diaper replacement for the baby mesh? I'd love to see these cuties in something a little more colourful and substantial. If I ever get back into cc making, I may have to take that one on. It could be a cute outfit for toddlers too, on that diaper and tee mesh.




Don't ever change, Aubergine. <3

In high heels, too. She's got skillz.




Look at that face! Scary...




Brandy's a Worthington, alright. I'll bet she ends up looking exactly like a female Frances.




I finally took advantage of the fact that witches can wear normal clothes and gave Strange this extremely colour coordinated ensemble.

I love the view from their balcony.




Knowledge sims, right? I don't often indulge their weirder wants, because I find them so hard to achieve, but maybe I decided to give that lightning one a try for once.




These two were acting pretty civilized toward each other. Damon handed Sassy off to Frances for the day, as he was heading to work. I guess their shared fatherly role has brought them together, perhaps?

Did anyone catch that little nod to S,HWC in the leskuh artwork there in the background? ;)




Frances really does make a good father.




He didn't let the fact that he was still wearing his robe stop him from greeting some of his interesting neighbors. It's the Lilith Pleasant from All That Remains, which was set in Elsewhere's downtown. Looks like I removed her cc maid hair thingy and outfit, but she's still wearing the texture-less version (which oddly seems to match that basegame outfit).




She's also just a tad mentally unstable. It was a bit of a darker and edgier sim story. Few of those sims made it out unscathed. The Ophelia actually died in-game, but I digress...

Frances thought the way she was talking to that puppet was super hot.




I figure that Frances deserved to do some cheating of his own, so I left him to it, but I don't think it went anywhere. I wonder if he'll stay loyal to Humbelina. He has a couple of triple bolt crushes, including the supremely evil version of Bella Goth.




Lilith had more important business to attend to, anyway. o_O




Cherry decided to follow through on her desire to be struck by lightning with the evil kite toy.




Success!








Was it worth it? She seems to be wondering that, as was I when I realized that this doesn't fulfill the want. *headdesk* Please tell me how that makes sense.




Plantsims are weird. She didn't end up charred, and seems to have found it relaxing or energizing or whatever.




Frances helped Lillith out with her look. I was still hoping for some romantic action, but none came. Maybe next time?




The family sims are home! Hey, everyone, come see!

Cute mother-daughter moment.




I had no idea that dogs played with the toy sprinkler. It's cool that they included that. So often they neglect interactions between items and features of the different EPs.

Basil had a blast with this. :)




Bella Goth, Criminal Mastermind, makes it to all the birthday parties. Isn't she great? XD




Maybe we should have named her Frances IV?




Strange took on the role of primary caregiver to the cowplant and drinker of the milk, since she's already immortal. I really don't want the other sims in the family to live forever. It's getting crowded enough as it is.




Sassy becomes a toddler with nearly all of Damon's features. She's a very interesting kid so far.




Frances IV's looks are a little more varied. He looks a lot like Humbelina, but I think those are Frances's lips.




And he has Strange's recessive eye colour, which is just great.




Damon wanted another child. I have yet to decide if I'll let him. He may have to settle for just the one, since Frances is the official spouse and all.




Aww, sisterly love. I love that hack that allows any sim to perform this action. So sweet!




I'm really loving this little tidbit about the spaceship in Strangetown and tiny alien flowers. How S,HWC appropriate! ;)




Cherry's decision really paid off, but surely those plants can do more than just create wrinkle-free fabric. Keep researching!




We'll end this update with a shot of the still-happy couple. It just goes to show that a good marriage has more to do with forgiveness than lack of troubles. And I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of their troubles.

As always, thanks for reading! :) It takes a lot longer to get an update put together these days, but I also have an update on the spares waiting in the wings, so I'll also be posting that one, once I manage to get commentary written.

Comments

[rin-sparrow.livejournal.com]

The pictures aren't showing up. I tried opening in a new tab, and it says "Access is closed." They don't load on either of my pcs or my phone. I'm sorry for not having a possible solution for you.

BTW, I'm really excited to see an update from you, and a belated congrats on all the good news in your life! :)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, well I'm going to have to do something about that. I can see them just fine, but maybe I have them set to private in the lj scrapbook? Thank you for telling me!

Thank you. ^_^ Big changes, for sure. We're past the challenging early months, so things are pretty great right now.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Can you see any of them now?

[rin-sparrow.livejournal.com]

Only the last few. From the garbage/roaches/Sir Bricks-A-Lot pic.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Okay, good. It seems I was right about the security setting. I must have set them to private when I uploaded them by accident. You should be able to see them now. Please let me know if you can't.

Thanks for your help with that! I really appreciate it.

Pics

[(Anonymous)]

I also can't see any pictures. :( I hope to!

Congratulations also. :)

Re: Pics

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thank you. ^_^ The pics should be visible now. Sorry about that!

[meetme2theriver.livejournal.com]

Yay, I've missed your sims posts. :) This was heaps of fun! I love how you're getting all sorts of weird stuff in here, things I usually don't play around with in my game. Those gifts that Damon are bringing home from work, is that a Bigfoot perk? Also, all the kids look awesome. <3

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :) I've missed posting them. Luckily, I have plenty of material on the Tomatoes while I look into getting my game running again. Then it's just a matter of finding some time to play here and there.

Doing all the weird stuff I've yet to try was the main reason I started this legacy. It's a lot of fun to just go wild with it. And doing all story stuff wasn't giving me enough opportunities to see sim genetics in action. I love seeing how the different children look. All these family sims aren't helping. XD

Yeah, the gifts of appreciation from coworkers is something all Bigfoots get from their jobs, no matter which career track they're on I think the idea is supposed to be that they're a little afraid of him, so they do that to keep him happy. Bigfoot gets promoted really fast, too.

I'm not sure if those items are limited to the basegame and Bon Voyage items or if it is a random catalogue item. My pln now is to save the items to give to Sassy to take to college and decorate the apartment with just those items. Should be fun.

[rin-sparrow.livejournal.com]

Yayy! I can read it! :P

Great update. Dem Frances genes, hehe. And Sassy is super cute! I think Damon's genetics match with Humbelina's better than Frances'.

And I had never seen the result of learning couples counselling before, that's really cool!

Hope to see more updates soon!

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Frances genes are remarkably persistent, but I think that was needed to combat Humbelina's strong alien genetics. Damon's features are pretty extreme, too, and his genes also seemed to overpower Humbelina's. It's nice to see the variety, but I would have liked a little more blending in the results. Ah well!

This is the first time I've used the couples counseling, and it's pretty interesting, isn't it? It wiped out the fury between them, so that's great. I needed it. This family was a mess. Well, still is, but you know... haha!

I'll try to post the next ones every week or so. That should be manageable for me, I think.

Thanks for reading! :)

[w-sims.livejournal.com]

The Tomato Household is so wonderfully bonkers, it's like a glimpse into that mind of yours, Strange! ;)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Hey, what are you implying? :P

Speaking of bonkers, my SO said the other day that he gauges my mental health based on how many 98% eaten bags of nacho chips I leave cluttering the cupboard. LOL! It's funny because it's true, and I'm happy to say that right now there is only one bag and it still has useable chips in it. Go me!

Thanks for reading. I'm glad you enjoy this zany household. ^_^

[skellington7d.livejournal.com]

TheRaven has a cloth diaper default replacement: http://www.digitalperversion.net/gardenofshadows/index.php?topic=24957.msg615634#msg615634

Love the update! The Frances/Bigfoot/Humblelina love triangle is great! Damon is such a cutie, and Brandywine is an awesome name.

So THAT's how that couples counseling thing works, I've never been able to figure out how to do it in game. It looks like it uses the "ask out" animations for the propositions.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Wow, thank you! I really didn't expect there to be a replacement for that out there already. Colour me pleasantly surprised. Thanks so much for the link. You rock!

Thank you. I do enjoy a convoluted love triangle, and this family really delivers the drama. It's a lot of fun.

Heirloom tomato varieties deliver some very interesting names. I use some more of them later in this generation. Other than Humbelina, all of generation four had them, too.

It's an interesting interaction. The person who does the counseling has to be outside the couple needing it and also on good terms with the couple, I think. It does look like they recycled the ask out animations, but at least they seem to make sense in this context. Though some brand new animations would have been better for storytellers. Too bad.

[katee412.livejournal.com]

This family never ceases to amuse me, and I saw a few things I haven't ever seen before. I didn't know someone could lecture the slapper! You know the person who has just slapped their cheating SO, not someone with questionable night time activities!

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Damon did that autonomously, and also I don't think I've ever seen a sim lecture another for the cheating slap before this. Hey, it makes more sense than lecturing someone for breaking the toilet, right? ;)

LOL at slapper! XD That's such a Britishism. I love it.

Thanks for reading. ^_^

[florealecat.livejournal.com]

I always get the worst (or best) giggle fits whenever I read about your Tomatoes. A Bigfoot baby! I can't wait to see how she grows up! I love the genetic diversity this generation. So, whether or not you were feeling blessed by the comedy gods, I still really enjoyed this update.

Also, Sofy recolored Fakepeeps's Little Bear Outfit is CuriousB's colors here (http://www.digitalperversion.net/gardenofshadows/index.php?topic=23645.msg589455#msg589455) if you were still looking for some more colorful replacements for your chilluns.

[holleyb76.livejournal.com]

I was excited to see an update! This legacy is so much fun.
I'll also say I love seeing some of the things about the game that aren't very common, like the lecturing, and couples counseling and game allowed incest. LOL!
A hack to let Bigfoot breed sounds interesting. I'll have to check that out. I have actually just now, for the first time ever, invited a Bigfoot home from three Lakes. He's living with Florence and Gilbert right now. So many things I didn't know about them. They have all the skills, and hobbies maxed! Why did I not know this?
I digress...
I look forward to more genetics and babies in general.

[smjoshsims.livejournal.com]

This family is such a hot mess. omg @ the bigfoot baby with alien eyes and freckles! I love that his name is Sassy. So cute!

I'm rooting for Frances and Humblina. I'm going to beed Bigfoot to step back.

[galialady.livejournal.com]

Amazing update ST!! Loved it a lot :D

[cindyanne1.livejournal.com]

This is so awesome. :D Rreally makes me miss playing TS2 through a bunch of generations like I used to. And also letting the sims have problems too, because let's face it... an always-trouble-free Sim house can be a bit boring lol.

I keep thinking I'll start playing TS3 that way (since I don't know as many cheats for it I'm less tempted) but gah... that game hates my computer something fierce. And there's really no reason why it should, but it does. The game is always hard-crashing on me and causing blue screen errors, etc. I'm sure it's the graphics card but I have no idea why it wouldn't be compatible. It's supposed to be a high-end "gamer" computer so I'm really stumped as to what kind of computer TS3 needs. One from NASA? Geez. :\

Anyway, great to see your Sims again! I'd missed them! :D

[alketaire.livejournal.com]

N'aww, Franceses. I was wondering how that particular love triangle would play out, but I guess the drama's not done with yet!

Glad to see you post again, and congrats!

[needlecream.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for updating, this was a joy to read.

[selenecorvino.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear from you and a Tomato update too. Boy, I had forgotten so much, looking forward to your next update.

Hope you and the whole family are doing good, and I want to wish you an yours a Happy Thanksgiving.