Discussion: Plastic surgery for premades

[strangetomato]

I know that this tends to be a somewhat controversial topic for fans of premade sims, and I don't normally make adjustments to their faces (unless I had a good story reason for doing so, such as a character getting actual plastic surgery), but I'm considering making a couple of exceptions. Dora Ottomas is one of them.

I aged Dora back to adult for a project I'm working on and since I had her in Bodyshop, I thought I'd examine her wonky facial structure in more detail. I have no problem with Dora's "ugly" as such, but I do have a problem with the way her face is way shorter than the dimensions of the rest of the templates and thus does not line up properly, she has a super long neck, etc. My one rule for sim creation is never to shift the face or the eyes up or down (the mouth and nose can move a little, within reason), as this results in a sim with features that will not play nice in any genetic combination with other faces. The Ottomas family is a perfect example of this, as are some of the other latter day EP sims.

(From left to right: unaltered Dora as an adult, altered adult Dora, and Face Two)

The middle Dora is the one I've been working on, with her original face on the left and Face Two on the right for comparison.  I've shifted the features up and down until they line up roughly with Face Two (and thus all of the templates, with maybe the exception of shorter Face One). I also made some minor changes to the shape of her features, including minor adjustments to the eye depth (in an attempt to fix that deep shadow and the way the brow crashes through her eyes), and a slight softening of her jawline. I think her face makes more sense like this, but she still looks like Dora. What do you think? I was hoping to make it so she could correctly wear eye makeup without it getting all distorted, but somehow that still doesn't work. I'm not sure what they did to her eyes to prevent that, but they did a pretty thorough job of it.

I've considered a similar shift for an adult Faith Goodie, moving her face down a couple of notches to match Face One. She's another premade sim with a shorter than normal face. You can barely notice the change, but she doesn't have the swan neck or the lack of forehead.

What are your thoughts on sim surgery? Do you consider these sorts of adjustments acceptable? Feel free to share your thoughts below, but please keep your discussion with each other respectful. I know many simmers can get pretty passionate about this issue, so let's be mindful of that.

Comments

[pixelcurious.livejournal.com]

Just curious, did you check to see how your adjusted Dora looks as a senior?

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I haven't, but it didn't seem like she changed a great deal going back from elder to adult, though I could be wrong. I'll check it out later when I'm in Bodyshop again.

I've decided to go with the unaltered sims anyway, so it's doesn't matter that much anymore. I still think it's an improvement, but in the end I think I'd rather show them as they are in the game. If I was a big fan of those sims and they showed up in a story I was reading, I know I'd be disappointed if they were altered, so I'm going to go with that.

[pixelcurious.livejournal.com]

That's considerate of you ^_^

I asked because, while I think your logic is fine, and I can see that essentially the facial features are unchanged (except for eyes less deep-set, longer nose and mouth corners turned up) I was having trouble seeing the altered version as Dora. I thought maybe seeing her as a senior would make it click for me. But it's a moot point, so never mind!

I do think there is more messed up with Dora's face than having a short face. Her cheekbones are also freakishly low*. They're practically on a level with her mouth and that seems anatomically impossible. Humans can have low, prominent cheekbones, but they are set higher than Dora's. But, like Mme. Ugly, I think freakishness is part of the Ottomas charm...

*the Maxis version, I mean.

I had that swan-neck problem with my first self-sim, too. I tried to hide it with hair, not very successfully. Subsequent self-sims have looked less like me, but also less like giraffes. :P

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

The low ears are another big problem, though for an elder it does give an interesting "granny glasses" effect, with them sitting low on the nose (or in Dora's case, through the nose). The face moves up, but the ears and glasses remain fixed in place.

[pixelcurious.livejournal.com]

Oh lord. That is strange.