![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Not a particularly elegant name, I know. I haven't thought of a better one yet. What a megahood is, for the uninitiated, is a neighborhood containing all of Maxis' pre-loaded neighborhoods together, so that every Maxis-made sim and family can interact.
The version I have contains all of the neighborhoods up to Belladonna Cove, from Apartment Life. I like the idea of having an outside-character-free environment once in a while. Especially when I'm considering trying out goofy things that dignity and actual fondness for a given character would prevent me from ever doing to them. With many a Maxis sim, I don't have this hang up. In Midgar, I want the world to appear accurate to its inspirations. In the megahood, I can do whatever feels appropriate, even if it involves neon yellow and gorilla suit.
Maxis content is also fun for my inner architect. To be blunt, ninety-five percent of Maxis houses roundly suck. They're always too large and contain too damn much wasted space. Sometimes, I really hope these houses and community lots are made so cumbersome to encourage players to root around with the tools and catalogs and make them better.
Most of the time, I try to stay within the shapes of the original exterior walls, but sometimes, the design is just so overblown and ridiculously huge that dynamite is the only viable option. One such house is the lot I inevitably start with whenever I reset Strangetown or download a fresh megahood: the Beakers.
This... monstrosity... ismy enemy our target. As so eloquently put in Ode to My Car, one hundred percent crap. There are no doors. Only archways. And six segments of modular stairs, Maxis? Six?? A piece of standard roof on a friggin' castle makes perfect sense, too. And why a castle in the first place? Who would've built a goddamn medieval castle in the middle of the fucking desert, anyway? Loki and Circe Beaker are fastidious, evil scientists. They would NOT abide sand blowing into the house from every angle, nor their experiments being virtually OUT IN THE OPEN and accessible for anyone to contaminate.
When you first enter their lot, the Beakers have about $2,500. After stripping the rock walls, selling back the floors, trimming back the foundations, deleting the MILES of brick fencing and pawning every ever-loving piece of furniture, I had roughly $82,000 to work with. Far more than enough.
This, er, interesting looking fellow is Loki. He's an ass. I've deliberately killed him before and enjoyed it. He had it coming, honestly. I was going to leave him a mustache of some manner, but once I took his original off, I liked him better without it. He's kind of the flat broke man's Harrison Ford. A wooden impersonation of Ford's shadow. Don't ask about the cigarette. I just think it's funny.
The makeover pic of his wife would give away part of the reveal, so I'll get to Circe later. Besides, we need to get to Maxis' hottest sim ever:
Nervous "Hubba Hubba" Subject. I wanted to give him something wild, in keeping with his original mohawk, but this suited him best out of what I have.
It occured to me as I was playing this time that Nervous is my little Strangetown Sephiroth - never knowing the mother everyone else considers evil, raised by and experimented on by a mad scientist (well, okay, two of them,) highly physical... the first version I ever played even wanted to be a general. Plus, he's gay. If you look at Nervous' attraction levels in SimPE when you start a fresh Strangetown, his attraction to men is baseline, but way into the negative for females. That's a man just waiting for the right guy to treat him right, if you ask me.
His first power want is to become best friends with Pascal Curious, too, but that doesn't have to lead to romance. Nervous is a Family sim and needs Mr. I'm Certain He's Right, so I'll be using the find-a-mate crystal ball to see all of his best options before I sic him after anyone. That'll probably be the same case for everyone in the neighborhood.
And now, to distract Nervous with talking to the aforementioned Pascal so that he might get his much-needed 4,000 point boost, and I might turn Loki's ugly pile of bricks into...
This!
The front terrain dictated that at least some of the stairs had to remain, but this seems much more appropriate and less inviting for the home of secretive scientists. Nothing says "go away!" quite as well as a good ol' concrete bunker, complete with closed-circuit camerasand the one outside candle sconce I forgot to delete until I'd already taken the picture.
The ground floor only goes as far west and north as the original borders of the basement pit, which was kept. The east and south walls were kept mostly as-is, except for the turret walls being expanded to allow for the 'round' silo windows. I have some legitimate tumbleweeds, and need to go back and delete the dang flowering bushes. None of the cactus were moved.
The upstairs starts at the roof slope's highest point; there's nothing beneath that. All three levels of the silo are usable, unlike the tiny-ass turret of the original.
Yup. This place has "potential bed'n'breakfast" written all over it.
The entryway's not barren, it's... uh... stark! Uncluttered! Minimalist! What's your blood type? C'mon in!
Given my usualy tiny building style, it felt really weird to have a living room large enough for the biggest Maxis TV, an 8-piece sectional, a coffee table, and still have room to work out. I wish the insides of the windows reflected the same texture as the outside, but the outside alone is still worth it.
The rear of the living room has the spiral stairs to the second floor, Loki's granfather clock, and an archway to the hall/dining room.
Which would be this. It passes on into the sort-of-formal study.
I kept a couple of Loki's original bookcases to make the secret-door bookcase a little less obvious. They still fail at blending in, but this seems like the sort of thing Loki would do, thinking he's being soooo clever.
Behind the bookcase is Loki's office. I don't know if sims will use the bookcase entry on their own (Pascal walked up to it and it didn't open, but he doesn't live here) so maybe this will keep down the autonomous video games and hobby surfing. And since it appears no one can get in unless I tell them to go in, it means no more Nervous experiments. Muahahaha.
The office also has the only door to the basement now, where all the rest of Loki's equipment is.
At the back of the house, the kitchen's not much aside of as spotless as concrete ever gets.
It leads out to a patio that sits under the overhang of the master bedroom above.
Up the living rooms stairs... there's not a whole lot. Yet somehow, I love the thought of legitimate Beaker kids running around and growing up all evil and stuff up here. I imagine it being quite similar to the home of Draco Malfoy's grandparents.
The other end is just as open, but at least the windows give you something besides cement to look at. The stairs here go up to an as-yet empty third silo floor, which has a door to the rooftop, basketball hoop and telescope.
Speaking of crotchfruit, they can rest in comfort in this simply charming bedroom! The pipes hardly ever leak, there's a private 3/4 bath, and a wooden crate dresser ensures your clothing is always close at hand!
And of course, their parents will be sleeping snug in a black leather bed covered in bowchicka red satin. They have a private full bath which - guess what? - is too small for a decent photo.
You might've noticed that I don't refer to much in the house as being Circe's. Well, to be frank, little in the original house struck me as being hers, to begin with. Dunno why that is exactly, but I'm getting suspicions. Loki seems to be a man with a deep, horrible secret. Deeper and more horrible than usual, I mean. I looked at his relationship score with Circe, and noticed that he has only one bolt for his wife.
Being a base game family, there's just no way to make their attractions pre-set for an expansion pack that came out a year later, nor to hardwire the info in when there are players who don't have or want Nightlife. I realize that their turn ons and turn offs are random for every game and every refresh, but this time, things are peculiar. Loki Beaker, the man who's grossed out every time he even looks at no-neat-point-having Nervous Subject... is attracted to stink. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I'm so not changing it. He also likes bathing suits and dislikes blonde hair. Maybe I need to have him meet the downtown slob. PFFFFFFT.
So, yes - both of the Beakers will be meeting with the crystal ball, and I have no qualms about breaking them up with an affair. It's the least I can do for these Hojo wannabes.
Slightly better look at Circe, alone. I'd never dream of inflicting this goofy-ass hair on another sim, but on her, it has a strange, appropriate severity to it. Precise. Perfect. Not a hair out of place. Utterly WTF. It's so her. And despite her default slacks and sweater, I'd think there has to be something femme-fatale-ish about her if Loki and Vidcund Curious are fighting over her. No matter how weird those two are, Miss Androgyny 2005 just doesn't seem likely to provoke that level of competition.
And then, I don't mention anything being Nervous', either.
Because he ain't staying. I was considering moving him into a copy of my little voodoo shop lot, but it might be to small for a Family sim. I'll probably have to build from scratch, but that's no trouble. Either way, he'll move next door to his mother, Olive. I promise it'll be somewhere nice and cozy, babe, and once you're moved in, we'll sell all of the Beakers' urns and potted trees that I hid in your inventory.
The version I have contains all of the neighborhoods up to Belladonna Cove, from Apartment Life. I like the idea of having an outside-character-free environment once in a while. Especially when I'm considering trying out goofy things that dignity and actual fondness for a given character would prevent me from ever doing to them. With many a Maxis sim, I don't have this hang up. In Midgar, I want the world to appear accurate to its inspirations. In the megahood, I can do whatever feels appropriate, even if it involves neon yellow and gorilla suit.
Maxis content is also fun for my inner architect. To be blunt, ninety-five percent of Maxis houses roundly suck. They're always too large and contain too damn much wasted space. Sometimes, I really hope these houses and community lots are made so cumbersome to encourage players to root around with the tools and catalogs and make them better.
Most of the time, I try to stay within the shapes of the original exterior walls, but sometimes, the design is just so overblown and ridiculously huge that dynamite is the only viable option. One such house is the lot I inevitably start with whenever I reset Strangetown or download a fresh megahood: the Beakers.
This... monstrosity... is
When you first enter their lot, the Beakers have about $2,500. After stripping the rock walls, selling back the floors, trimming back the foundations, deleting the MILES of brick fencing and pawning every ever-loving piece of furniture, I had roughly $82,000 to work with. Far more than enough.
This, er, interesting looking fellow is Loki. He's an ass. I've deliberately killed him before and enjoyed it. He had it coming, honestly. I was going to leave him a mustache of some manner, but once I took his original off, I liked him better without it. He's kind of the flat broke man's Harrison Ford. A wooden impersonation of Ford's shadow. Don't ask about the cigarette. I just think it's funny.
The makeover pic of his wife would give away part of the reveal, so I'll get to Circe later. Besides, we need to get to Maxis' hottest sim ever:
Nervous "Hubba Hubba" Subject. I wanted to give him something wild, in keeping with his original mohawk, but this suited him best out of what I have.
It occured to me as I was playing this time that Nervous is my little Strangetown Sephiroth - never knowing the mother everyone else considers evil, raised by and experimented on by a mad scientist (well, okay, two of them,) highly physical... the first version I ever played even wanted to be a general. Plus, he's gay. If you look at Nervous' attraction levels in SimPE when you start a fresh Strangetown, his attraction to men is baseline, but way into the negative for females. That's a man just waiting for the right guy to treat him right, if you ask me.
His first power want is to become best friends with Pascal Curious, too, but that doesn't have to lead to romance. Nervous is a Family sim and needs Mr. I'm Certain He's Right, so I'll be using the find-a-mate crystal ball to see all of his best options before I sic him after anyone. That'll probably be the same case for everyone in the neighborhood.
And now, to distract Nervous with talking to the aforementioned Pascal so that he might get his much-needed 4,000 point boost, and I might turn Loki's ugly pile of bricks into...
This!
The front terrain dictated that at least some of the stairs had to remain, but this seems much more appropriate and less inviting for the home of secretive scientists. Nothing says "go away!" quite as well as a good ol' concrete bunker, complete with closed-circuit cameras
The ground floor only goes as far west and north as the original borders of the basement pit, which was kept. The east and south walls were kept mostly as-is, except for the turret walls being expanded to allow for the 'round' silo windows. I have some legitimate tumbleweeds, and need to go back and delete the dang flowering bushes. None of the cactus were moved.
The upstairs starts at the roof slope's highest point; there's nothing beneath that. All three levels of the silo are usable, unlike the tiny-ass turret of the original.
Yup. This place has "potential bed'n'breakfast" written all over it.
The entryway's not barren, it's... uh... stark! Uncluttered! Minimalist! What's your blood type? C'mon in!
Given my usualy tiny building style, it felt really weird to have a living room large enough for the biggest Maxis TV, an 8-piece sectional, a coffee table, and still have room to work out. I wish the insides of the windows reflected the same texture as the outside, but the outside alone is still worth it.
The rear of the living room has the spiral stairs to the second floor, Loki's granfather clock, and an archway to the hall/dining room.
Which would be this. It passes on into the sort-of-formal study.
I kept a couple of Loki's original bookcases to make the secret-door bookcase a little less obvious. They still fail at blending in, but this seems like the sort of thing Loki would do, thinking he's being soooo clever.
Behind the bookcase is Loki's office. I don't know if sims will use the bookcase entry on their own (Pascal walked up to it and it didn't open, but he doesn't live here) so maybe this will keep down the autonomous video games and hobby surfing. And since it appears no one can get in unless I tell them to go in, it means no more Nervous experiments. Muahahaha.
The office also has the only door to the basement now, where all the rest of Loki's equipment is.
At the back of the house, the kitchen's not much aside of as spotless as concrete ever gets.
It leads out to a patio that sits under the overhang of the master bedroom above.
Up the living rooms stairs... there's not a whole lot. Yet somehow, I love the thought of legitimate Beaker kids running around and growing up all evil and stuff up here. I imagine it being quite similar to the home of Draco Malfoy's grandparents.
The other end is just as open, but at least the windows give you something besides cement to look at. The stairs here go up to an as-yet empty third silo floor, which has a door to the rooftop, basketball hoop and telescope.
Speaking of crotchfruit, they can rest in comfort in this simply charming bedroom! The pipes hardly ever leak, there's a private 3/4 bath, and a wooden crate dresser ensures your clothing is always close at hand!
And of course, their parents will be sleeping snug in a black leather bed covered in bowchicka red satin. They have a private full bath which - guess what? - is too small for a decent photo.
You might've noticed that I don't refer to much in the house as being Circe's. Well, to be frank, little in the original house struck me as being hers, to begin with. Dunno why that is exactly, but I'm getting suspicions. Loki seems to be a man with a deep, horrible secret. Deeper and more horrible than usual, I mean. I looked at his relationship score with Circe, and noticed that he has only one bolt for his wife.
Being a base game family, there's just no way to make their attractions pre-set for an expansion pack that came out a year later, nor to hardwire the info in when there are players who don't have or want Nightlife. I realize that their turn ons and turn offs are random for every game and every refresh, but this time, things are peculiar. Loki Beaker, the man who's grossed out every time he even looks at no-neat-point-having Nervous Subject... is attracted to stink. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I'm so not changing it. He also likes bathing suits and dislikes blonde hair. Maybe I need to have him meet the downtown slob. PFFFFFFT.
So, yes - both of the Beakers will be meeting with the crystal ball, and I have no qualms about breaking them up with an affair. It's the least I can do for these Hojo wannabes.
Slightly better look at Circe, alone. I'd never dream of inflicting this goofy-ass hair on another sim, but on her, it has a strange, appropriate severity to it. Precise. Perfect. Not a hair out of place. Utterly WTF. It's so her. And despite her default slacks and sweater, I'd think there has to be something femme-fatale-ish about her if Loki and Vidcund Curious are fighting over her. No matter how weird those two are, Miss Androgyny 2005 just doesn't seem likely to provoke that level of competition.
And then, I don't mention anything being Nervous', either.
Because he ain't staying. I was considering moving him into a copy of my little voodoo shop lot, but it might be to small for a Family sim. I'll probably have to build from scratch, but that's no trouble. Either way, he'll move next door to his mother, Olive. I promise it'll be somewhere nice and cozy, babe, and once you're moved in, we'll sell all of the Beakers' urns and potted trees that I hid in your inventory.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
I have incriminating photos from last night that could put a damper on his perfect life of madness, though, so the inevitable drama should make up for the kinda-hot weirdness. Oh, Buzz Grunt, I almost like you, too for this...
From:
no subject
I especially liked the patio with the single lightbulb on the table. Now that is class! ;)