Strangetown: What if?

[strangetomato]

Every now and then, I get to thinking about alternative ways of approaching the Strangetown story, like that version where Ophelia follows in Olive's black widow footsteps, and I've recently been thinking about a good one: what if alien pregnancies were fatal for the men who carried them to term? That would really change the story, wouldn't it? I think I'm going to toy with the idea, and maybe it will develop into a short stand-alone story at some point. I think it could play out into something interesting.








Pretty awful, right? It would raise questions of why the Curious Brothers were allowing themselves to get pregnant, and they probably wouldn't be willing participants in this breeding experiment (though with Glarn's involvement, you'd have to wonder... and why they'd be willing to do it despite the consequences). The whole connection with PT would be a lot more grim too, but that could also be interesting.

I'm really not sure how I would attempt to answer these questions, but I'm enjoying this darker "what if?" scenario.

I got to thinking about this after reading an article by Katura Reynolds called "Birthing the Monster: What if a Bug-Eyed Alien Was Your Baby Daddy?" in the Genesis Issue of Bitch magazine. It was a great read. The Sims 2 wasn't mentioned as a pop culture example of this alien birthing trend in science fiction, but it's definitely following in this tradition.

So, what do you think of the idea? I'll bet there are also plenty of other ways to approach it, if one was well-versed in sci-fi. 



 

Comments

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

The twins are supposed to be older than Jenny, I believe. They aren't in the game, but I think that's because they are bin sims, and they all come set at the beginning of their adult stage.

Or am I wrong about that? I should double check the memories, I guess.

A lot of the details don't match up in the game, especially between the photos (made from early versions of the characters, so there are inconsistencies all over the place) and the memories. The relationships are not marked correctly in all cases either, such as the way the Curious brothers don't recognize the Singles twins as relatives.

The way it's set up, it really gives you the freedom to put your own spin on it, since the "official" version is pretty unclear.

[cindyanne1.livejournal.com]

Yes, soooo many inconsistencies! O_O

I've thought about Glabe being his sister too... although the picture doesn't really seal that for me. Glarn could have been sleeping on the couch due to a failing marriage. :P Glabe could have been infertile and jealous of her husband's offspring, hence the crying. Besides, if you look reaaaaaaly close you can just barely see a glint of a wedding ring on Glabe's left hand. Not that it means she's married to Glarn, but her name might not be Curious if she was married...

The story I've settled on was Glabe was Glarn's first wife, and they had marriage troubles, likely centered around Glarn's obsession with aliens. Whether Glabe was infertile or not I'm not sure (she could have just been crying because OH CRAP I CAN'T BELIEVE YOUR OBSESSION WENT THIS FAR!!!!) ;) but I think she loved the girls and took them with her when she finally left Glarn... either because she wanted babies of her own or because she felt Glarn would neglect the girls due to his obsessions (He's still on that darn telescope in the family picture with Kitty and the other Curious kids later, lol!)

There's another photo of Glabe lecuring the girls as they sit on the couch and listen, and it has a thought bubble of Glarn in it. I'm thinking she's telling them what a no good, unfit father he was, and that's why they're with her and not him. Perhaps they'd expressed some interest in finding their Earth father... and Glabe was saying, YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL I TOOK YOU WITH ME. YOUR FATHER DOES NOTHING BUT STARGAZE ALL NIGHT AND SLEEP ALL DAY!!!111!!!

I have always felt Kitty was more forgiving of Glarn's hobbies, but you're right... her story is vague as well. We know she's still around when Jenny is a teenager, since she's serving dinner in one of the pictures while Jenny's yakking on the phone and the boys are playing. But after that we just don't know. We know she and Glarn didn't ever get divorced, but that doesn't mean she didn't leave him at some point.

I love thinking about what the backstory for these characters could be and trying to fit it all together (as you can tell, lol!) Sometimes I wish we could corner the Maxis Strangetown developer and threaten him or her with a hot poker until we get the REAL story. :D :D

But you're right... the ambiguity does leave it open for lots of different interpretations!

[admiral-aeris.livejournal.com]

The twins are not at the beginning of their adult stage (at least Lola isn't) but they don't have the memories either way (older or younger).

From what I can gather, the real evidence regarding the twins' age comes not from the Curious household but the Beaker one. Erin is around the same age as at least Chloe and Loki's memories clearly state that he is older than Erin.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, that is true, but I don't give much weight to the ages of the Singles girls, even if they aren't at the beginning of the adult stage (they seem to be fairly neglected by the game designers, what with the lack of family ties, etc.). The fact that the photo of Glarn giving birth to the twins come before the rest of the children in the Maxis story is what I go by, since those are always in chronological order.

Then again, the next photo shows the other children as children, so they could have been born at around the same time, really. Either way, I think it's a minor detail, and one of those things that people are free to spin it either way. I'm stuck with them as older in my story now, since I've already said that, but I don't imagine them as being a whole lot older than Jenny.