Strangetown: outtakes and reflection

[strangetomato]

This seemed like a good time to post some outtakes, since I'm in the middle of some serious rising (and falling) action in the plot and need to stall for more time. I had a lot of extra photos piling up, and some of them are pretty amusing, at least to me.

Warnings: language, sexual situations (The usual stuff, but I'll warn anyway, just in case you're new)




Welcome to the second batch of Strangetown outtakes, dealing with Chapters 10-16. If you could hand Kristen a little change there on your way in, that would be great.

After that zombie bride pizza service delivered to Johnny, Ripp, and Ophelia's apartment, I remembered seeing a couple of other examples of that unlock all skin tones hack, and here's one of them.




This maid replaced Genesis Lam, once I made her playable, and thus, became the new maid at the Grunt household. I'm sure that General Buzz really loved that. He didn't sleep with this maid, that's for sure.

She has the Melissa Fancey face template, right?

Next, we shall take a look at Mr. Frances J. Worthington III. The man with expensive tastes, a puppy dog face, and a serious crush on Tank Grunt.




Hmmm, is Frances gay? I think we can safely say yes.

I wasn't 100% sure that I'd go with that for him until I moved Tank in. I did think it would be an interesting story for Frances, but I thought I'd give him a little say in the matter. I had him check Tank out, and boy, did he approve! And so, we have our story...

Chemistry-wise, it's a good match. Frances is a fortune sim ( that shouldn't really be a surprise), which goes well with popularity (Poor Tank isn't very good at what he wants in life, is he?). They have two bolts together (or Frances has them for Tank, anyway), in case you were wondering. 

Shall we take a little look at the the Shifting Paradymes too?




Jaxy: Ugh! Breeders!




The post-sex cheering squad comes to visit Jaxy and Zoe.

I just love all the silly drop-ins you get in the college towns. It makes things interesting.




The coach came to encourage exercising, but found that Ripp was already coaching someone in sexercise instead.

From here, we can take a closer look at Ripp's slutty, slutty ways. Some of you may be wondering just how promiscuous Ripp really is, and the answer will be revealed in the story (someone actually asks him), but you can safety assume that he gets around campus.

I aged up all of his high school relationships, so he could nail them in college (they already had high relationships, so it would be easy). Most of them transitioned in to fairly normal outfits, but I did get these gems:




I never understood those aqua track pants with the heels, and the beige doesn't go with it at all (and you may have noticed that I'm not exactly one who even cares about colour "rules").




While I actually don't mind these colours (well, maybe not in an outfit, but still), this look is pretty dumbass. I love how the top is all sporty and cut-away, while the bottom is bohemian and covers all. Makes sense.

Do you recognize Kendall? She was Tank's first kiss (and Ripp's sixth make-out partner).

Since the girls were automatically grouped into one household, I just placed them on all the same lot, and invited Ripp over.

Oh yeah, and I turned jealousy off. That goes without saying...




Ripp (the sim, not the character) must love me. I keep putting him in situations like this. Notice the streaker. If there is a streaker nearby, they always end up near Ripp. Always. I'm sure he doesn't mind at all.




Lots of girls start getting very hot and bothered. Food gets dropped. Things get a bit out of hand.




That's right, ladies, form a line.

I just love how sims want other sims to leave the room when they woohoo in a bed, but don't mind spectators for the hot tub woohoo. What a bunch of voyeurs!

(The blond he's getting lucky with was also his first kiss. How sentimental!)




Ripp: Dear Penthouse...




Girl: Hey Ripp, that was some nice work you did back there!

Ripp: Why, thank you!

So... moving on... we have a scant handful of extras from the dinner with Buzz.




Ripp decided to share tips on his technique with Buzz, and Buzz is thinking about how he'll use that information later. (I never take pictures with the walls down, but that was the only way to get this one.)




I think Ripp is about to reject this admire, which is rare for him, but I can't be sure. He doesn't have any relationship point with Elise, so that might be why. He does, however, have one bolt of attraction for her. *sigh* Someone mentioned that Elise had a certain resemblance to Lyla, and yes, I did seek out a blond for that very reason. It makes the situation a little more painful for everyone. Buzz did have two bolts of attraction for her, though. She is a popularity sim.

In comparison, Genesis Lam had two bolts for Buzz and one bolt for Ripp too (she is also a popularity sim - my Strangetown is infested with them). At one point she rolled wants to get engaged to Ripp AND Buzz, at the same time! *snicker* Dream on, Genny. Just polish the hardware, and then get out.

More importantly, check out Buck! He's just blissing out over there. Maybe he's imagining how great it would be if only his family was as nice as the one he imagines in his head. Sweet little Buck!




Buzz: I saw this chick downtown, and she was SO hot!

Ripp: You might not believe it, but I actually do have something very important to say right now.

Poor Ripp was totally ignored. Just look at his face. It's pretty bad when you can't even keep your father's attention during a moment like that. No wonder he lost it.

Then we have Ripp's montage of debauchery, which ends with him overstepping his boundaries in Ophelia's bed. Did you wonder who the faceless lady was? Probably not, and she was faceless because that was the whole point, but here she is:




They were waving Ophelia out of the room. *snicker* (I was trying to get the right reaction for Ripp, which I eventually achieved when I made her reject him.)

On to the party!




Ripp: Hi Johnny!

Johnny: Hi Ripp!

They do this ALL of the time! Even after being in the room together for hours. They're a little odd.




Ripp: Drink up, Johnny! WAY up!

Johnny: Is it supposed to go through your lip like that, Ripp?




Oh yeah!




Time to party!

Johnny and Ripp really did get hammered at the bar, I think. How else can you explain Ripp autonomously clearing the tables in the restaurant section, and then washing the dishes?




Ripp: I may be completely lazy and sloppy, but I'm SO fucking nice, that I just have to help out!

What a darling. Ripp actually picks up dishes and washes them all of the time, against all logic. It's the nice points, I figure.




Ripp: I'm way fucking hotter than this legacy "sperm donor" guy! I could do that too... but I don't wanna! Nobody will have my sperm. Nobody! Now, can I PLEASE have your fucking plate?!

Johnny: I need to get Ripp out of here before something really bad happens.




Ripp: Hmmm, how did Nervous Subject escape? The Beakers must let him out for a drink every now and then. That seems fair.

Nervous: I've never met you, but I instantly hate you.




Ripp: Is that Johnny's Dad? I probably shouldn't talk to him right now...




Johnny: My Mom is here too!

Jenny: Pillow fight!

Nervous: Drinking eases my pain.




Ripp: No shit! Dude! That IS your Mom! *extends perfectly straight arm*




Ripp: Let me take that for you, P.T.

P.T.: What a nice young man!




Ripp: Johnny? You look... different.

Johnny: I'm over here, Ripp!

Bartender: Okay, you're cut off. Now kindly put those dishes back and get out from behind my bar.




Once Ripp clues this up, we can move on...




Jill is buying a video game during her trip to look for a dress. She has no idea that the shop girl used to make out with Ripp ALL of the time.*snicker*




A pretty cool photo of Jolene Smith's transition that I couldn't really use.




Cute, but it is a continuity ERROR! (See: Jill as child on far right)




Buck: Ripp's not the only pensive bather in this family, you know.

At this point I decided to create my own Lyla Grunt to add to the game, making her genetically plausible for the family (the sim in Olive's graveyard doesn't look anything like them). I had few more photos from that to share.

I wonder if Ripp turns after his mother...




Lyla: Now that your father is away at work, we can discuss all the forbidden topics.








Well, that explains a lot.




Awww! *heart explodes* Ripp loves little Buck.




The section of my brain that registers cuteness just broke. Look at Buck's face!




Ripp, you are so very, very lazy. (Have you noticed that Ripp's eyes are so big that they never really fully close?) And yes, he's breathing through his mouth again.

And then we move on to the death of General Buzz. There were clues, there really were, but they were far too subtle, I guess. Here's one of them:




A scene from Nervous Subject's dream. I thought that keen eyes might recognize the General's khakis, even in black and white. Luckily, it slipped by.

There was also this scene from Chapter Nine (which used the line, "I'm on the hunt, I'm after you", from Hungry Like the Wolf), with Buzz downtown.




Well this isn't the pic that I used, but it's funnier. May I draw your attention to Olive Specter up there in the background (and Elise too, at the bar!). The phrase I used about his single status was:

"He had certainly caught the attention of most every women in Strangetown who was interested in such things."

One of those women was Olive Specter, and she was very interested in single men who might be convinced to marry her. (Way too subtle, I know, but I feared giving it away.)

Anyway, Buzz died by "playing with scissors", which is a Maxis download from the official sims site. Olive didn't have that one in her graveyard already, so it seemed like a good choice. madame_ugly was curious about how it actually looked, so here are a few shots that I grabbed.








Nothing really special about it. They just run around, and then they check their pulse, and then die. Now, you must remember that this can happen the next time you want to run around with giant children's craft scissors, okay?

I wanted to keep the General's death respectful and tasteful, so I avoided any blood, or really showing all that much detail. I didn't want to glorify it. I'm sure you picked up on Olive's suggestion when she said, "There are plenty of things I'd love for us to do if we had more time." She wanted to marry him, so you can imagine what she meant. I wasn't about to go THERE, but I can't imagine that Olive is above that sort of thing.

Then we have Tank beating up Ripp. The actual animation for losing a fight is pretty goofy, so I needed Ripp to be a lot more broken and nearly dead. The solution was to make him actually dead.




The tools required to make this scene: various InSIM objects, the black box, and a dollhouse (to use with moveobjects for Tank kicking Ripp when he's down). The grim reaper was pretty eager, so I picked him up with moveobjects too, and tossed him aside for a minute, but he always comes back.




Let's take a look at Ripp here. Crying? Check. Self pitying? Check. I'm not just making this stuff up, you know.








Yet also easily amused...




I really cannot express how inappropriate this is. Ripp just seems to draw streakers to him somehow., even when dead. Tank is like, "Do you MIND?"




For curiosity's sake, I had Tank plead for Ripp's life.




He lost. (They had a negative relationship score, but only just below zero.)




Tank: Meh. I hated him anyway!




Nice, Tank. Real nice.

So, next there was the bathroom scene with Johnny and Ripp, which, you may have guessed, did veer into homoerotic territory at times. Like this:




Johnny: Let me help you with that...

Ripp: Johnny, I don't need help with THAT... or do I? Keep going...

Johnny: Anything to help a friend in need.




That's right, Ripp enjoys being dirty.

I made use of moveobjects again for this scene, and there were two identical bathtubs. I started Johnny cleaning the first, and then moved him to Ripp's bath once he started cleaning. It worked out perfectly. The tub would be dirty after Ripp was in it for a while (I used InSIM to keep lowering his hygeine, and he's messy anyway, so it gets dirty faster), so then I'd switch tubs. I had to do it three or four times to get the right shots.

Ooooh, I just had a great idea, and I suppose I'll share it now instead of hoarding it all to myself. I might be able to use this same trick to put two people in the tub at the same time! Unless I get that thing where they just stack on top of each other. Hmmm. I'll have to test it. I know exactly where I could use a scene like that already. *grin*




Ripp: Can we stick to the task at hand, Johnny?

Johnny: Hang on... I just have to throw this out there. *hearts over Phi*




Johnny: Oh dear god, you're actually naked!




Johnny kept forgetting that Ripp was naked and then got shocked all over again! Ripp kept "forgetting" to put his clothes back on.

Ripp: Well, you've already seen it, now, haven't you, Johnny? You may as well take a good long look. You're impressed, I can tell...




Ripp broke the bathtub, and true to his character, Johnny told him off.




Don't you have a heart, Johnny? Just look at that face!




Ripp finds some fault with Johnny's mechanical skills, and bitches about it for a while.




Ripp: I'll just supervise, okay?

Johnny: *grumbles*




Could you look more dejected, please? (I think this face was a reaction to cleaning the toilet.)




Ripp: I really don't know why I love eggs so much! I just do.

And Johnny was totally lying about hating the smell of eggs. He seems to like it well enough here!




Johnny: Errrrr, we might have to take Ripp back to the hospital. He seems "confused".

Ophelia: There must have been some sort of head trauma.

Ripp: Sucking up to Johnny now will insure that I get more omelettes in the future.

Next we have the dream sequence, which I don't have very many extra photos of at all. It was shot in two locations: the Scepter estate (for the open desert at night, and the pool), and the Grunt home (for the wedding in the backyard, and the scenes inside the house). The rose bushes and trees helped to disguise the location of the wedding pretty well.

Of course, the first thing that happened when I InSIMed the characters onto the lot was this:




No, that's not inappropriate at all, Ripp! I know that Freud would have a thing or two to say about this dream as it is, so do you have to make it that much worse?

(Well, he's not actually related to that Lyla, and she is a romance sim, so what did I expect?)

I used InSIM to make all the costume changes too (the wardrobe adjuster). It's really useful. I made Ripp a General with the career adjuster, since that was the only way to access the uniform. Thankfully, all is erased when you exit without saving.

What were Ophelia and Ripp (as Buzz and Lyla) actually arguing about? Well, it was perfect.




She's sick of all this military bullshit!

We also had one incident of love/hate here.




Ripp: I hate you, and you're a whore, but you're SO fucking HOT that I can't resist you!

Ophelia: Hey! Get your finger out of my cleavage!

Ripp: I can't. It's stuck! Now you can never leave me! My plan is perfect!




Oh look! Another streaker comes to see Ripp! Is it because of his slutty reputation?

Ripp: I'm just that good. Naked women (and men) just come to me. I don't even have to go looking for it.




Ummm, yeah.

Frances and Tank have a lot in common, including the inability to tolerate Ripp most of the time.




Ripp: I totally scored with that blond cheerleader! She goes ALL the way! There's nothing she won't do.

Frances: *exes Ripp*




Ripp: I'm soooo awesome... *does a special dance*

Frances: Make him go away, please.




The feeling is very mutual.

Ripp: You want to talk about WORK? Fuck that.




When the freewill was turned back on, the brothers decide to prank each other for a while.




So, do you think that Ripp was mad?




Or did he find it funny?




At this point, a cheerleader shows up. You know, to cheer the Grunts on after their big moment. That's pretty good timing! You might just recognize this particular gal as one of Ripp's conquests (the one he was just bragging about). It's not exactly hard to run into one of those.




Ripp doesn't let that stop him from pranking Tank (in the grossest possible way).




Tank: No way! I did not do that! You believe me, right? Yeah, YOU. The reader.

Cheerleader: That smells foul.




The cheering section moves on to Frances. He seemed very uncomfortable. I wonder why.




Ripp comes to rescue him, while Tank regrets throwing that water balloon.








Ripp: Well, that's how I deal with cheerleaders, Frances! Ummm, are you okay?

Frances: Yes, yes I am. VERY okay.

That can't be a good thing. When sims like the Grunts, they REALLY like the Grunts.

You may have noticed a lot of hearts flying for Ophelia. This is because the boys both have a double bolt attraction with her. Considering their aspirations, that's pretty impressive - I don't think there is any added chemistry between family/popularity, and family/romance definitely has a negative chemistry effect. So... wow! They really like her.

Here's a little sampling of a typical day for Ophelia with Johnny and Ripp:




(Ophelia goes all out when she tells a joke, by the way.)










(They decided to throw a little wave in there too, I see.)











Not to be left out, Ophelia joins in too.

I have not encountered very many sims that Ripp has negative chemistry with. He routinely has bolts with knowledge sims and other odd things like that too. I think it's mostly due to his zodiac sign, Sagittarius, which is not disliked by any of the other signs, making it ideal for a romance sim. Ripp did good.

I also mentioned somewhere before that Ripp doesn't turn down any romantic interactions, even those weird ones like "sweet talk", which never seem to pass. If you're not controlling him, he's dead easy to seduce. I played the female sorority house to get some shots of Ripp with different gals from there, and with the jealousy turned off, I just passed him around from girl to girl. Several days passed, and he made no motion to go home. Typical Ripp stuff.

Now finally, I will end with the long lost images of the teens when they transitioned to college. I forgot these the last time around.




Yes, that's a shirt tucked into nothing! With pants that are too low to meet them. Ophelia seems dressed for a different climate.




Don't all laugh at once, now.




This was passable, but I changed her outfit anyway.




Johnny is, well, Johnny. It seemed to work just fine.


Thanks for reading!

Comments

[simgarooop.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed reading your comments. I've just caught up with the chapters I missed on December and as always, I loved them, especially the dream sequence (but I'll comment about it in that entry).

Thanks for sharing the tricks you used to pose your characters. I was especially surprised with the bathtub scene, and how you managed to make it look like Johnny was cleaning Ripp. What a creative solution! Although I can totally see it taking a long time to manage the right shots.

I don't know if you have Pets, but you could also pose Ripp in the "fight scene" with the "teaching to play dead" interaction. I've only seen it once in my game and it freaked me out, because I thought that the child who was doing it was actually dead!

Of course, the pictures after "Ripp's death" are amusing :P.

The toddler Buck and child Ripp pics are adorable! And I laughed out loud during the sequence in which Lyla teaches little Ripp "the forbidden topics". Tee hee! :)

I'm curious, though, how many "copies" of Ripp and the rest of the characters do you have in the neighborhood? I asuming at least two, what with the pic in the dream sequence in which Young Ripp is scolding AdultRipp.

Last but not least, I loved the "transition pictures". I know that it's totally random the way the game chooses the transition outfit. But sometimes it is so ridiculously bad that it makes me think the programmers did it on purpose!

Thanks for sharing the pics! :)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm always interested in seeing and reading about how other sims storytellers achieve certain effects. It's nice to share. We might even inspire each other to think of something completely new. Madame Ugly has been doing some interesting things to bring three sims together romantically (or just physically), and that really inspired me to experiment with moveobjects a lot more. I have had some successes in that regard, which I'll get to show off soon. *grin*

I never thought of that "teaching to play dead" interaction. It really does look like they are dead. It would have actually been more complicated to do it that way, since I'd have to get a pet onto the lot and adjust their relationship, etc. This way, I just pulled out the tombstone and nuked him (I think I used death by disease or starvation). If you don't plan to save the game, it doesn't really matter. I always save those shots for the last, and save just before.

Yeah. Nothing helps people mourn like a naked guy showing up to dance around. Ripp had such a moving funeral. *snicker*

Toddler Buck and child Ripp are so cute that I'm having a hard time resisting the pull of flashbacks, but I'm going to try my best (unless I have an actual good reason to use one). I was glad that the dream gave me a good reason to use child Ripp.

Yeah, Lyla's a romance sim, through and through. She was also a theatre and art enthusiast (just like I said in the story), and fully supports the rights of aliens to live among us! Ripp really absorbed all that, didn't he? *wink*

There are three Ripps, but I really only needed two. I made the teen Ripp to re-shoot the scene with Ophelia after they moved to college. It was before I had InSIM, so now I would just import him and age him down instead. There's a teen Ophelia too. They live in the sim bin now, and I'll keep them, just in case I need a stunt double in the future. You never know. There are a couple of others that have clones too. *chuckle*

Transition outfits are the easiest source of comedy in the game, by far. Especially in a story, when the characters have personalities. Some of those outfits are just so WRONG. I always die laughing at the tucked-in shirt with the low-rise pants for men (from H&M stuff). They weren't thinking about transitions when they designed that.

You're welcome! I'm always happy to share. It's more fun. :D

[80sfiend.livejournal.com]

LMAO. I love these outtakes so much. :D Especially since they act so out of character!!! :D It's awesome. :)

I love the look on Ophelia's face when Ripp is checking her out in the one pic. Very amusing. :)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I find it funny that most often they are actually still IN character, just way more goofy about it.

Heheh. Yeah. Me too. She just seems to be sighing and saying, "Oh, not AGAIN!" It's funny that Ripp always wants her to call him, even though they live together. Just go over and talk to her, Ripp!

[indigoleo.livejournal.com]

The outtakes are so good!
Kristen really does look like she's lost it completely in that picture.
I'm sure that General Buzz really loved that. Oh I'm sure he did! considering his paranoia concerning aliens.
Some of the facial expressions are just too much. The coach ("Oh my God that's disgusting!!"), Buck looking like he's swooning, PT looking so enthusiastic about his child's birthday, Ripp's 'call me' face. They're all so great.

Child Ripp and Toddler Buck broke my brain. You must fix it now. OMG, I don't think I've ever seen quite that look on one of my kids. He looks happy enough to burst!

The streaker showing up when Ripp is dead. ROFL! I'm with Tank on this one. And then he kicks the tombstone.

Nervous showing up at the bar. Whoops! Circe must have slipped him the key.

I always cringe when my sims age transition because, even if there is a dresser with several tasteful selections in it I know maxis will pick the worst outfit for them to age into. Tanks is just....oh, lord! The only thing good I can say about it is that he's actually got shoes instead of sandals because I absolutely hate it when my sims get the stupid sandals with socks! Who thought that was a fantastic fashion statement anyway?

They were all great. Thanks for sharing them. But the best has to be the picture of Ripp in the bath with Johnny, uh, "helping" him out there. Yeah. :D

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I know! The costume only adds to Kristen's crazy, don't you think?

This cast does give "good face" a lot, doesn't it? They amuse me greatly. I look forward to more whimsical parts of the story, where I can take more advantage of it.

I think toddler Buck and toddler Nervous should go head to head in a cute challenge. They're so adorable!

What is it with those streakers? I have another one too, but it's further ahead in the story. And yes, it involves Ripp too. *snicker* He likes naked people.

I can't tell you how often the escaped Nervous would show up somewhere. After a while, I didn't even bother taking pictures of it anymore. You never know when someone will pop into a scene like that to mess it up for you. It's funny.

Sandals with socks have got to go. Isn't the whole point of wearing sandals to keep your feet cool? Then why the socks? I'm not a fan of sandals on men, period, though I let Johnny get away with it. He seems like a dork like that, so why not?

That shot of Johnny "helping" Ripp in the bath is probably my favourite one too. He's reaching right for it! I thought that any Johnny/Ripp enthusiasts in the audience would appreciate that one. *wink* Johnny and Ripp have such a close relationship that it is almost always hovering on that line anyway, so it's fun to push it over.

[franwi.livejournal.com]

Oops. I had a HUGE reply with quotes of all my favorite pics/comments and such, but it was lost when I tried to post it. (I HATE when I don't copy before attempting that.) Anyway, I loved seeing all these outtakes! The daily routine of the trio makes me adore them even more, if that's possible. Can't wait for the next update!

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I really hate when that happens (sometimes going "back" will make it re-appear for me, but not always). Now I'm sad that I missed all your well thought out comments. Oh well. Thanks for trying! I'm glad you enjoyed them.

Yeah, the J/O/R trio is a heart party, for sure. And the Johnny/Ripp wave! It's non-stop. I keep expecting them to high five too. They never stop telling dirty jokes to each other either. Sometimes two will finish, and the third will cut in. "You think that joke was dirty? Well, listen to this one..."

[ikichi.livejournal.com]

Where did you find the beat up face masks and nose plaster? They're a lot better than the ones I've found.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I'll have to go dig around and come back to you on this one, but I'm almost 100% sure that I got them all from MTS2. I'll go look and come back with more details for you.

[jessicus.livejournal.com]

great outtakes, I always manage to crack up about the clothes sims wear after an age transition. always.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks. There's like a Murphy's Law for sim transitions. They always seem to get the worst possible outfit. I love it.

[cindyanne1.livejournal.com]

Wonderful pics... LMAO!!

And yes it *is* possible to get two sims into the tub at the same time without stacking! Just put the tubs end-to-end (there will be a faucet on each end, but if you zoom in close enough you don't see both of them.) For sims that are not in love, you'll have to get them into the tubs and then use moveobjects to put them and the tubs together. Sometimes they will get out to scream at each other though, when they realize they're in the same room naked (rolls eyes.) For sims that are already in love, however, you can just tell them to go take a bath together (grins.) To get the proper tub, you just have to click on the faucets. And they'll both climb in and sit facing each other. It's really cute!

Loved the "legacy sperm donor!" He actually *was* my legacy starter, hee hee hee. Gotta love him... I call him "Favorite Downtownie." Hee.

Wonderful pics! You know, I've never played Ripp as a slutty Romance sim. I usually do keep him a Romance, but I chain him to a faithful married life with kids (evil cackle.) For a while, he always rolls a hopeful "have two loves at once" want but eventually he gives up and even starts rolling wants to teach his toddlers to talk and his school-agers to get straight A's.

Mawahaahahha.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Wow. You just made my day by saying that! *grin* I am so going to have two sims in a bathtub. It's such a great detail for a couple. "Double your pleasure, with a bath... together!" (a Simpsons reference, of course!) Or, as the ball-and-chain and I like to say, "Half your pleasure with a bath together." Unless you have a very large tub, someone always gets the faucet in the back of the head. *snicker*

The screaming at the nudity is so amusing. Johnny did it a lot, even though they were technically in love for that scene. He really is a big ol' prude, even in the game.

Yeah, I laughed when I saw that famous legacy sperm donor guy, and then Ripp was there whining. It was too good. Ripp has a little ego trip over it.

I've done some experimenting with Ripp (Really? You don't say...), and you're right about him coping well with a steady relationship, especially when children are involved. He rolls wants to interact with them a lot, and I have even seen him repeatedly roll a want to woohoo with his lover specifically. I didn't think that romance sims EVER did that. He's super horny, though. He rolls wants to woohoo with X, woohoo in hot tub, and woohoo in bed, all at the same time!

But I like him best as a slutty romance sim. Romance sims need a chance to do their thing, even if you (attempt) to make them settle down later in life.

[katsuko]

Oddly enough, I find myself wondering if you had to nuke any attraction markers during Ripp and Johnny's downtown trip. If only because I can NEVER get the Leap Into Arms action for carrying unless there's a minimum of crush level between my sims. And yes, it's starting to get annoying in the legacy house. If Johnny and Ripp aren't doing that, then it's Pepper and Scarlett. Hill... is happy with the newspaper. Knowledge sims, heh ♥

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Well, they obviously fell in love after doing that "leap into arms", since Johnny and Ripp have close to a 100/100 relationship score. They had to be in love for the bathroom scene too, since Johnny wouldn't have entered the bathroom otherwise. I always exit without saving (the downtown lot was made into a residential one for that scene, since I used the consolable cry). I don't need the hassle of having Ripp and Johnny autonomously groping each other all the time, when it's inconsistent with the story.

... though I'm not even sure that they even would. They have dead even chemistry, even with such a high relationship score, fairly compatible turn ons, VERY compatible aspirations, similar interests, and somewhat similar personalities (in some ways). I expected them to have some chemistry, but they don't. I suspect that Ripp dislikes Johnny's zodiac sign. That's the only likely explanation.

Do Johnny and Ripp have any chemistry in your legacy?

[madame-ugly.livejournal.com]

Great bonus stuff. Loved the alien maid. I bet Buzz lusted for her. He's anti-alien but wonders if it's different with an alien girl (and he does have a thing for the hired help).

I've never understood the track pants with high heels either. Is that suppposed to make a full outfit (with what shirt)? Even I, the worst dressed person I know, would never wear that. EVER. I just had a random thought. . .my sims need clear heels. None of my whores have clear-heel shoes. I have to remedy that.

Re: Ripp's death scene. Did you try using the hula mod? You can get the animations for death without actually having to kill anyone. And the pic with the naked guy. . .I snorted so loud. . .good thing it's early and there's hardly anyone in the office.

Questions: What did you use to make someone reject Ripp's romantic advance (you mentioned you had a chick reject him)? And what are you using to get certain reactions while sims are seated. I saw (in one of the chapters) Ripp cracking up while seated at the table. How'd you do that?

In the same vein, I'm going to have to steal an idea from you. I loved the bathtub interaction (helping bathe). I think that might make for a cute interaction with my latest batch of preggos. Do you mind my stealing from you? (and another thing on this topic--have you been using un-snapping objects to the grid? that might help for your two in a bath idea--though it still might not work, the tubs seem to only have one slot--like beds have two--and you can only put one sim in then---WAIT--you might want to try the "extra slot" downloads things. They might not be at exactly the right height, but it's worth a try).

And speaking of the bathtub interaction, that's not the first homoerotic moment that pair has shared, hmmm? Yeah, they can blame the liquor, but that singing together thing was a bit homoerotic there, boys. (yes, I chanted, "KISS.KISS.KISS."--even though I didn't really want that to happen)

All those random sims at the bar. *snicker* I love seeing who shows up but damn it all if they don't get in the way. I really hate when you're trying to do a romantical dinner date and some freak has to stand RIGHT BESIDE the table, staring, staring, staring. Don't make me moveobjects you!

PT!!!! My only gripe is the sweet old fart has the worst posture. Take some Oscal and STAND UP. Oh, who am I kidding. I still love you. (and my self sim had his baby!)

Oh. . .yeah, I just did it. . .I just imagined a Ripp/Frances/Tank pairing. Notice, Frances is the filling in a Grunt sandwich. I can just see him writing it up in his diary.

Now then, when are we going to see some more Curious action, hmm?

[katsuko]

Oh. . .yeah, I just did it. . .I just imagined a Ripp/Frances/Tank pairing. Notice, Frances is the filling in a Grunt sandwich. I can just see him writing it up in his diary.

Pffffffttt!! *wipes up snorted coffee* Either the diary or some Playboy/Playgirl/Penthouse-style magazine for gay guys: "It started out like a normal day until my roommate's brother dropped by...."

[aledstrange.livejournal.com]

OMG! Soo much good stuff!! Thanks so much for this! :D Genious!
Where to start? .... lol
I had been wondering about all the tricks you have needed to do to get those shots, the bathroom shots, Johnny carrying Ripp, the dreams! dear! that must had been sooo fun! lol and for every shot I have been trying to figure out HOW you did it too. Thanks for sharing your tricks.

I was wondering about the Lyla you used, I noticed she didn't look exactly like the Lyla I *know* :P Even tho maybe she doesn't look much as the rest of the family, actually if you get a working clone of her and get her pregnant with Buzz, their children imo looked very much like 'part of family', tho that is mainly because Buzz and Grunts in general all have very strong genes, so normally their children don't inherit much of their mothers.

The outtakes at the bar are hilarious, specially with Nervous present. lol

So much fun! ;)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm glad to amuse and inform.

Well yes, the children of the in-game Lyla and Buzz would look like part of the family in the way that Tank does - a lot like Buzz. As it is now, with the Lyla included in-game (well, if you have an intact one, unlike me), Ripp and Buck are both genetic anomalies. They have the right colouring but their features just came out of the ether.

Similarly, Jill and Johnny Smith seem to have been delivered by the stork, and do not actually genetically resemble the Smiths all that much. I suppose we can pretend that they turn after their grandparents.

[treesahquiche.livejournal.com]

As evidenced by the outfit that he transitioned into, Johnny is Golden Boy. NOTHING ever goes wrong with him. :D

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Heheh. Indeed. Johnny the Golden Boy. Just wait until the next transition... we'll see if he's this lucky twice.

[music-simbol.livejournal.com]

Whooooooooo, I've re-read this a few times now, and now I have the proper amount of time to dedicate to commenting.

Well, Buzz may not like the new maid, but I'd bet the laptop that Ripp would hit that! If only she the alien eyes, then that would be sweet!

So now that Frances is out of the closet, does that mean he's going to be getting some action? From what I've seen of Tank flirting, I believe he's straight (unless you've planned otherwise. wouldn't that be a hoot?! if Tank was gay?!)

Yeah, those freaking cheerleaders and gym rats annoy the fuck out of me. Especially in the houses. Did I invite you in? No, so peace out!

I LOVE that you gave Ripp his own brothel. You even went through all the trouble of aging up girls he knew as a teen. The only issue with having one sim screw that whole college is that if he has any kids, then when they get to college, it'll be like "Hi! I was one of your father's playthings in college! Nice to meet you!"

I swear, Johnny and Ripp are a drunken kiss just waiting to happen. Then they end up making out. The next morning they're both all awkward, but they never tell anyone else, and life goes on. Course, every once in awhile, each wonders "I wonder what would it would have felt like to go further?"

I always love seeing characters downtown when I"m not controlling them. Of course, if I'm getting scenes for others, they can ruin a shot. I don't think I've had a sim that didn't want to clean up when left to their own devices. But, of all people, Ripp? Tee hee hee. Wonder how Nervous paid for that drink? You know, I think Nervous and Ripp have the same chin. From playing the asylum and seeing them both, their chins look the same. PT and Jenny need nights out too, ya know?

I have a feeling that being raised by Lyla would have been much better than Buzz being the only parent. Even the game allows them to talk about aliens and sex, taboo topics to Buzz. Child Ripp and toddler Buck playing? I fainted at the cuteness! D'AWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!

Something tells me that if Ripp and Tank didn't already hate each other when the game started, they actually might get along. I'm not saying they'd be BFF's, but their wouldn't be as much violence.

(singsong) Johnny and Ripp sitting in a tree, F-U-C-K-I-N-G, heh heh heh. Course, they're more in the closet, than in a tree.

I wonder who decided to put in the coding allowing for random heart bubbles? It's always funny to see who like who. Of course Ripp would blow hearts for Ophelia, she's female! Waving's always cute too, unless it's after the two have already been around each other. You know what I see, if a baby is born at night, so I've woken people up to see, between watching the birth and coming to see the baby, there's a few moments, and everyone in the room starts waving to each other. Tee hee hee,

I pretty sure that Maxis made sure that the worst possible clothes are picked out after transitions, knowing it would be hilari-ass!

Woooooow, could my comment be any longer? (honestly, yes, but I'll shut up now)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Oooh. Lots of comments! *grin* I love how this seems to just degenerate into a schoolyard chant about Johnny and Ripp getting it on. Thanks. You make me laugh.

Yeah, Ripp would go for the alien maid, for sure. Why not? She's breathing, right? Ripp's not that picky. He celebrates womankind in all it's forms.

It will be interesting to see where Frances' crush on Tank goes. I'm letting that storyline develop organically, since I haven't predetermined much about it. I had a few possible outcomes in mind, but I'm not sure if I'm totally sold on either of them. I'm still working on it.

The cheerleaders and coaches can be super annoying when they show up in the middle of a scene I'm trying to shoot for the story. If it's in the middle of an interaction that was going perfectly otherwise, I get so angry. Of course, I just use moveobjects and toss them aside.

*snort* Nice summary of your thoughts on Johnny and Ripp. Who knows? They have a long road ahead of them.

Nervous and Ripp don't really have the same chin, and believe me, I spend a lot of time looking at both. Nervous has the bigger chin, likely the biggest in all of Strangetown. Johnny's chin is nothing to sneeze at either, and his is more like Nervous' too - more protruding. See how much time I spend looking at them? Now, shall we discuss noses next?

I do enjoy those heart bubbles, and the sounds they make when they shoot them out is too cute. It helps me get an idea of exactly how horny a character is, for story purposes, if I don't already have any ideas in that regard. Notice the extreme amount of hearts that Ripp shoots out. I knew he was like a stray tom cat in the story, but he's totally the same way in the game.

I'm glad you got a laugh out of these outtakes.

[pixelcurious.livejournal.com]

I tried to comment on this last night at work, but I got too busy! I thought I'd have basically four hours of uninterrupted online time, but instead I had to train someone and troubleshoot problems with the big printers. :p Anyway here I am.

I might ask something that was already asked... look how many comments you have, Miss Popularity! ^_^ I read a lot of them, but I might have missed some of the ones that got folded up.

1. Kristen *snerk* I love that particular aspiration failure. I recognize those glasses, too. Shannannigan, right?

2. Your half-alien maid -- I think you're right on the face template. She does look like Melissa Fancey -- who by the way makes very cute boys. At least, I think so.

That pic spurred my graphics card envy again. The precise seams on the bodice of her outfit, the sharp edges. My pics come out all jagged.

3. I like the university drop-ins, too... I know they annoy some people, but I always figure, the more contacts my sims make, the better. They might meet someone really interesting. Your coach's expression is priceless! Maybe she wants a piece of Ripp action, too? ;)

4. Besides providing Ripp with a harem, one of the fun things about putting townie teens into college is getting to see how many skill points they already have. A lot of the NPCs are surprisingly highly skilled.

5. The streakers *snerk* And "That's right, ladies, form a line." That cracked my shit up! :D

As a side-note, those bikinis don't have a lot of butt coverage. I wonder how they keep them so nice and neat. Seems like that would go right up your buttcrack.

6. "Dream on, Genny. Just polish the hardware, and then get out." *snickers*

7. "Ripp: Is that Johnny's Dad? I probably shouldn't talk to him right now..."

And PT No. 9 is telling someone to his left, "Have you tried the seitan cutlets? They're delicious!"

8. Right after that, in the Johnny/Jenny pillowfight pic, is that a pregnant belly right behind Jenny's pillow? Yeah! She's sitting next to PT in a couple pics following. Who is that? I don't recognize her, even with the profile. But there aren't any randomly pregnant townies/NPCs that I know of, so you must have done it, right?

9. Lyla imparting her wisdom to young Ripp is very amusing, as is the bizarre underside of her dress.

10. Toddler Buck should be posted on Cute Overload, if they accepted anything besides animal pics. ^_^

11. I remember the scissors from Nervous' nightmares. But I didn't realize it was the General's death.

12. I figured you had to actually kill Ripp to get the shots of him at the end of his fight with Tank. I used to be squeamish about such things, but I've become callous. Having a self-sim in Strangetown who feeds all my unwanted sims to her cowplant has toughened me up. ^_^

13. "That's right, Ripp enjoys being dirty." LOL. Was there some food nearby?

14. I'm interested to see if the double-bathtub trick works.

15. All the heart-squirting, pranking, etc. -- Heehee! And Ophelia with her head stuck in the TV. :D

16. And... the transitionn pics. I always get a kick out of those. Tank's is made of hilarity, and in that same pic we can see that Ophelia's jacket collar has a slot to accommodate her braids. What a fashion-forward design! ;D

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I'm popular as much as I am gabby - at least half of these comments are from me. I just like chatting about it all in the comments. It's more fun that way.

1. I believe so. I'd have to go check, but that sounds right. Kristen looks so funny with her costume on in that pic.

2. I've bred Melissa Fancey with John Burb in my Pleasantview, and the children were quite nice. The girl got the big-ass lips, which I think are pretty cool. What's not to like about big lips?

Yeah, I get enough detail that I can easily find flaws in a lot of custom content, so I end up being a lot pickier about it because of the graphics card. Not that I'm complaining at all.

3. If Ripp had noticed that the coach came in, he'd probably ask her to join in. Though maybe he'd ex her after she told him to work out. That would go over too well with him.

4. That's right, the NPCs can come with crazy skill points, can't they? They're the best ones to marry into legacies, in my opinion. They don't have the money, but they have the skills, and then the money should follow.

Heheh. Harem. Well, in the story, it doesn't happen that way, but in the game, I figured, let's just save some time here. This reminds me, I need to get one of those InSIM balloons onto every university lot, so I can turn off jealousy. Otherwise, Ripp is in for a world of pain.

5. I seriously ONLY get streakers when Ripp is around. They love him. They even came to his funeral! I loved that line that formed, and they're even complaining about the wait time. As soon as they finished woohooing that second girl climbed in right between them. Ripp was just loving it.

6. Poor Genesis. She might have been hoping to snag one of them, but two? That's just greedy. I'm pretty sure that she wasn't expecting much more from either of them, anyway. Seems like she does that sort of thing all of the time. That leads back to the suggestion that she actually works for one of those naughty naked maid services.

7. Totally. I hope that it's the seitan version of filet mignon, because otherwise P.T. is cheating on his vegetarian diet, and he'll have hell to pay when he attempts to use the bathroom later.

8. The pregnant belly belongs to that Ottomas woman (I forget her name). She drinks while pregnant - I always see her out drinking. I moved all those bin families into the low-income apartments in Strangetown. The Ottomas were an extremely tight fit, but I got them all into one apartment. I have no idea if I'll ever work them into the plot. Only if something good happens.

9. Ripp was corrupted at a young age. That makes sense, right? And yes, the underside of Lyla's dress has the pattern of the dress, but not the colour. Very odd indeed.

10. He's so cute! We need a sims version of cute overload, so we can compete with our sim toddlers.

11. Yeah, I figured I could slip it by. I was kinda hoping that someone would get a little suspicious, but I hid it too well.

12. Your simself has a cowplant? That's awesome. I'm getting more used to creating sim death too. I can bring myself to do just about anything (if I can kill Ripp and Nervous, I can kill anybody), as long as I don't save (and I really hope I don't ever do that by accident).

13. No, my friend, that is Ripp Grunt demonstrating that not only can he count his neat points on one hand, he can also count them on one finger! He was nowhere near food when that photo was taken. That's him wafting the sweet aroma of his rotten armpits up to his nose, and smiling in satisfaction! Johnny and Ophelia are barfing in the background, and he's just laughing at it.

14. I've been told that it can work, and you know that I will try it. Maybe I can test it on an established couple, like Jenny and P.T., and then post the results.

15. Yes, they are a silly, silly bunch. I don't know what happened to Ophelia there. I suspect it was a moveobjects problem. I have a couple of odd glitches like that to share later. Some really freaky shit happens sometimes when you try to mess around with moveobjects.

16. Poor Tank. He's just destined to lose socially. I laughed at how Ophelia's hair goes through her collar too. Very innovative! Don't forget Ripp's cool shirt that tucks directly into his stomach. That has to hurt!

[dothesmustle.livejournal.com]

This was hilarious!

Ripp: I'm way fucking hotter than this legacy "sperm donor" guy! I could do that too... but I don't wanna! Nobody will have my sperm. Nobody! Now, can I PLEASE have your fucking plate?!

Ripp, legacy writers would use you as a sperm donor anytime, any day!

That is my favorite line, EVER.

[dothesmustle.livejournal.com]

My favorite line as in the line that was quoted. Not the "Ripp, legacy writers would use you as a sperm donor anytime, any day!"

Just wanted to make it clear!

[muslemura.livejournal.com]

Man! I was laughing so hard I cried when I read thins *wipes tears*

And Ripp makes the best faces :)

[missgan.livejournal.com]

It'd be way too tedious & time-consuming (Because I'm dying to hop right over to the next update already) to comment on every thing I liked, so I'll just say this: Outtakes are the best! :D