The Sims of Gen 4 are sweet–each one of them! I love the way they interact with each other, and I love the way that they each feel so settled with their lives. There’s no angst (despite two of them having the gloomy trait) and no frictions between them. They are a fun generation to play.
“I am SO outnumbered!”
Ironwood Bough (I-dub)
Gen 4 Heir
Glutton. Hot-head. Creative.
Aspiration: Renaissance Sim (completed); Body Builder (level 3, as of this writing)
To look at Ironwood’s traits, one would think he might be annoying to play. But this Sim is fun! He channels his hot-headedness into energy–the guy is active! And, as long as I don’t watch him eat, the glutton trait just makes him into sort of a hyper foodie.
He aged up after the November patch–so he grew up into Cary Grant good looks, rather than squint-eye, square-jaw. And his handsomeness reveals his inner goodness. This is one sweet Sim.
Skills, Aspiration, and Career: I-dub has maxed cooking (a natural skill for any glutton!), fitness (thanks to his need to channel his hot-head energy), and handiness (due to being a Renaissance Sim). He has decent logic and painting skills, too. He completed his Renaissance Sim aspiration while an adult–before the December patch, which makes completing aspirations so much easier. With his wife, Linda, he’s been enjoying working towards the body builder aspiration. I-dub has never had to work, and he enjoys having time at home to skill, eat, and work out.
Greatest Strength/Greatest Flaw: I-dub’s greatest strength is the way he channels his traits towards positive outcomes. Rather than letting his gluttony become a vice, he focuses it towards an enhanced interest in cooking. Instead of taking his hot-headedness out on others, he works out or repairs broken appliances. Of course, being very happily married has given him a stability that supports this positive direction. Because of that stability, I can’t think of a flaw that this Sim demonstrates.
Favorite activities: I-dub loves to paint and play with clay, and when left on free-will, these are the activities he is most likely to choose. He also loves to work out, especially if Cupcake is on the other treadmill.
Share a secret: I-dub is the best father I’ve played. He autonomously woke up for each of his babies, feeding them before they began to cry.
The Dancing Cupcake
Linda Noel (Cupcake)
Spouse of Gen 4 Heir
Bro. Gloomy. Clumsy.
Aspiration: Curator (completed); Body Builder (level 3, as of this writing)
I love Cupcake! She joined the family the day after she became a young adult, so I feel like we’ve watched her grow up. She was so cutely chubby when she moved in, really appealing to I-dub’s glutton nature, but being a bro, she loves to work out and she is now all muscle. She’s got narrow hips and a very cute pot-belly with that heart-shaped face that reminds me of Princess Watson (gen 3 sweet-heart of Paris).
Cupcake is as sweet as her nick name, as beautiful as her first name, and as much of a gift as her surname.
She’s also perfect for I-dub, and she adores him.
Skills, Aspiration, and Career: The curator aspiration was fairly easy for Cupcake to complete, since we’d been working on it with Princess and only needed to find two common MySims to complete a collection. She’s now working on the body builder aspiration, and if she keeps working out, should be able to complete it before becoming an elder. Cupcake has taken over most of Princess’s chores–she’s our resident gardener. She has high garden skills and has maxed fitness skills. She develops logic on her own, since she adores the microscope, and since she always watches the cooking channel while working out, she has good cooking skills (even though she seldom cooks). Linda’s never had a job and enjoys staying home (especially since I-dub stays home, too).
Greatest Strength/Greatest Flaw: Perhaps Linda’s greatest strength is that she is so easy-going. She gets along well with everyone, never complains about anything, works hard, and is nearly always in a good mood. Probably her gloominess is her greatest flaw, for when her gloomy sister-in-law and gloomy daughter share gloomy thoughts with her, she feels terrible and her relationship with the other gloomy Sim loses a few relationship points.
Favorite activities: By far, Linda’s favorite activity is using the microscope. This is where I will always find her when she’s on free will. She also loves to work-out with her favorite exercise partner, I-dub.
Share a secret: As a clumsy Sim, Cupcake feels playful every time she works out, for she always trips over her shoelaces. She also breaks the dishes every single time she washes them.
Maybe my favorite Sim ever.
Willow Bough (“The Weeping Willow”)
Gen 4 Spare
Neat. Gloomy. Good.
Aspiration: Jokestar (completed); Body Builder (level 3, as of this writing)
What can I say? I adore Willow and always have, ever since she was that beautiful baby that her aunt always cooed over. Every Sim day, she becomes more beautiful to me.
Sometimes, you’ll get a Sim whose appearance and character are in perfect alignment: that’s how Willow is to me. I can watch her for hours, reading her thoughts across the pages of her face.
She’s sweet, kind, thoughtful, and self-contained in a way that expresses pure elegance. If one were digital, it would be awesome to be Willow.
Skills, Aspiration, and Career: Oh, she’s perfect! Why even look at her skills? Ok, she’s a highly skilled Sim. Max comedy. High cooking. High logic. High fitness. High charisma. She does, actually, gain charisma rather slowly, more slowly than she does other skills, and I think this may have something to do with how self-contained she is. She just doesn’t put herself out there the way naturally charismatic Sims do. She’s a comedian, which is rather ironic for a quiet Sim, but then, it’s a quiet, cerebral, post-modern sort of comedy. She’s very close to the top of the comedian career and should get there within a few more work days. She just completed her Joke Star aspiration (a breeze, really, especially after the December update), and now she’s working on body builder. We’ll have to watch that she doesn’t become too skinny!
Greatest Strength/Greatest Flaw: To me, her greatest strength is that she is self-contained. This may also be her greatest limiting factor. She needs no one, so she stays to herself, like a natural loner. She’s a great friend to her nieces, her sister-in-law, and her brother. But she doesn’t have lots of friends, and no romantic interests. She doesn’t seem to need them, though, so I find her inspiring in this respect.
Favorite activities: Willow loves to swim. She loves to cook. She loves to practice and write comedy routines. She also loves to mourn.
Share a secret: When she was a teen, she asked Grim about woo-hoo. I think that when he told her about “the little death,” this turned her off of sex and romance forever. It’s ok, Willow. You don’t have to die until you’re ready.
“So, Kamden. What do you think? Is this boy good enough to be friends with our Aspen?”
The Cousins
Kamden Founder
Glutton. Loves the Outdoors. Art Lover.
Kourtney Founder
Self-assured. Good. Music Lover.
Poppy Founder
Perfectionist. Active. Mean.
The cousins were adopted by Manzanita, I-dub and Willow’s aunt, and her wife, Eleanor Founder. Eleanor had Big Happy Family for her aspiration, and I wanted to make her happy. They moved out before we could get very far with the aspiration, but at least Eleanor got to have three children!
Thank heavens for Kourtney!
I don’t play the cousins. They moved into the house across the street on the day that Kourtney and Poppy were adopted as children. But they’re family, and Kamden, who grew up in this house, comes to visit every day.
I’m not sure that these children had a happy childhood once they left Cradle Rock. Whenever we would see them in town, Poppy always seemed sad, and Kourtney seemed angry. It’s not easy to grow up when one of your moms is evil. And since I was no longer playing Manzanita once she moved out, her evil whims were no longer being cancelled.
Kamden and Kourtney look like they are siblings by birth, so I have always assumed that they are.
Kamden loves science and always uses the microscope or observatory when he comes to visit.
Poppy is great to have around for parties!
Kourtney saved our kitchen when Aspen’s taco casserole set the stove on fire. She was over visiting, and as soon as the fire broke out, she darted up and began to put out the flames. That’s making good use of her self-assuredness!
Poppy, while mean, has never acted mean when she’s come over to visit. She’s our first choice as a party guest, for she really knows how to blow that party horn!
Share a secret: Match-making is tough when you live in the same town as your cousins. When I-dub was looking to meet somebody, he would always run into his cousins at every community lot he visited.
Cathy Tea's SimLit Anthology 