DIE STUPID COMPUTER!!!

I'm just about fed up with my computer. Less than 6 months ago I purchased a very expensive, top-of-the-line Alienware x51. It was just such a pretty computer, all shiny and new. Everything was so perfect...until now. In the last 3 days I've spent a grand total of 14 hours on the phone with their technical support and I'm still not quite out of the woods yet.

At first it was taking over an hour to start up the computer, and then it began crashing. I ran a diagnostic on my computer and found out that the error the hard drive was displaying actually meant that the hard drive was shot already. Apparently it had a small manufacturing error that caused it to crash. So I got a new hard drive and had a technician from Dell come by to swap it out. First off, the guy had NO IDEA what he was doing. Couldn't get the computer open, couldn't find the hard drive, just no clue. Then he finally got it swapped out and left. First problem solved!

I started everything up and immediately found out that my graphics card wasn't working any more. Yay. So I called them back and told them about my new problem. They had me take my computer apart to make sure their technician hadn't accidentally disconnected it. So I took my computer apart and found out that the technician had actually put the whole thing together wrong. The clips that held certain parts in place were all screwed up, I'm missing multiple screws, and one of the cooling fans was blocked. Weirdly enough, the graphics card was actually still connected. So then the technical support person told me that meant that my graphics card had also gone bad and they would send me a REFURBISHED one! Not a brand new one, but someone else's old one! So I got off the phone with them and looked up my problem online. Fixed it. Turned out I was missing the driver for the graphics card as Dell hadn't taken the time to download it onto my new hard drive. Second problem solved!

Then I discovered yet another problem. The eject button on the CD drive wasn't working. If I wanted to eject a CD, I had to go into the computer folder and left-click and eject it manually. This time I was smarter though. Didn't call technical support, nope. I looked it up online. Again it was a missing driver. Third problem solved! So after all that work and hours on the phone, the computer runs again.

Unfortunately, running doesn't mean it's just like it was. Since my old hard drive completely crashed, I couldn't save any of my files. The new one is a blank slate. That means I have to reinstall everything. I'm so mad that I lost all my Sim stuff. It's going to take me forever to redownload the games themselves and all of my CC! Hopefully I can get it done within a day and be back to playing soon.

Welcome to the new world...are you ready?

Wow, where in the world did 2013 go? I got all caught up in school and haven't updated in months, and somehow the end of the year just kind of slipped by. Oops. Well I'm determined to have some fun in 2014 and The Sims will always be a part of my fun. Here's to me hopefully updating more often in this lovely new year!

Unfortunately there's a very important Simmer who's decided to call it quits this year. :( Twallan is such an amazing modder and I'm really going to miss him. He'd already announced that he wasn't going to make any mods for The Sims 4, but that really didn't matter as it's still the era of The Sims 3. However, Twallan has decided to retire sooner than that and announced a few days ago that he's retiring now. Doesn't seem like all that big a deal since there are no new EPs or SPs, but EA announced that they have at least one more patch in progress for The Sims 3 so...crap. If anything major changes with this patch, all Twallan's mods will be broken. I urge anyone who would like to keep their mods intact to turn off their automatic updates now!

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So anyways, I'm kind of considering changing from Twallan's mods to AwesomeMod. I actually used to use AwesomeMod way back in the beginning of The Sims 3 era, but switched over because Twallan tended to update much more frequently than Pescado. Now I guess there's very little reason to worry about updates though since The Sims 3 era is almost over.

There's also a really big reason I'm thinking of making the change. AwesomeMod has an option to enable Sims 2-style aging, where only your active household ages. I've always missed that, and with my remodel of Sunset Valley this style of aging would be incredibly useful. That way I could age up the Sims I wanted without affecting the rest of the world. I don't like turning aging off, and I don't like missing other Sims aging up. Sims 2-style aging is really the perfect compromise for me. So I'll be mulling that over as I get everything all set up to start being active in the community once more!

Happy 2014! It's great to be back! :)

No more burrito babies!

The greatest piece of CC ever to be released for The Sims 3 has come to my attention today. For the 1st time ever in-game, babies can have arms and legs thanks to QuizicalGin's Sleeper Footies! Goodbye burrito babies, hello normality. It's sad that somehow in the course of this wonderful game series our babies have devolved into little larvae...let's take a look.

The Sims

Babies were more of a object than a Sim. They were made in a weird way too, instead of woohooing Sims would kiss passionately 3 times in a row and get a pop-up asking if they would like to have a baby. It'd appear in a rain of flowers in its little bassinet. You never saw the baby unless a Sim walked over to interact with it, and then it couldn't be put down anywhere other than the bassinet or carried around. Those suckers were hard to keep too! You had maybe an hour of it crying before the social worker would call and threaten to take it away.

The Sims 2

Yay my favorite babies! These are the most realistic of all in my opinion. The little arms and legs, the diaper, the interactions...ah I miss it. They were always bald but their eyebrows reflected what hair color they'd inherited, and their eye color was an inherited feature too. And no more crib attachment! You had to buy the crib, and the babies could be put on the floor and carried around. They also could be bathed and the changing table came with the base game. Oh, and they could be interacted with by multiple adults! One would hold the baby while the other cooed at it, and they could hand the baby to each other.

The Sims 3

And now we devolve. Burrito babies, larvae, caterpillars...all nicknames for what EA did to the previously-adorable age. Before I could stand having a few babies in the house. They were cute. Now I skip through that particular age. What's the point? They aren't cute any more, there are less interactions, and they're just generally annoying. I was so disappointed this time around.

But now, hallelujah! Babies can have arms and legs in The Sims 3! I'm so excited for my next in-game baby. I might actually be able to stand having one in my family now. This CC gets the highest praise from me. Hopefully EA picks up on how much people hate the babies and make them much better in the future.

Pfft...well this blows me outta the water!

Guess I need to aim higher in my personal renovation of Sunset Valley. SimFans.de far exceeded anybody's dreams with New Sunset Valley, which was released earlier today. This world is so amazing that I'm speechless. Usually I can find some flaw that makes it a questionable download, but this time...just wow. It includes every EP's new lots and has an expanded neighborhood unlike any remodeled Sunset Valley that came before it. Somehow it still looks like the original, just a lot bigger. Take a look yourself.

The one thing that might turn people off is that it isn't populated. Makes sense though if you think about it. Like they say on their site, pre-population has been known to cause problems so it was left out. I figure if anybody was truly determined to keep their original Sunset Valley households, Nraas' porter mod would serve to transfer every household. As long as they were grouped by family ties, every family tree would be perfectly preserved and the neighborhood would stay the exact same. You'd need 2 or 3 total family packages. (Incidentally, this is my plan!)

New Sunset Valley is definitely worth checking out for those who want the full game experience without all the work of updating a world.

Adventures in Egypt and cute baby pictures!

I'm still playing the Slayer household, getting them all ready to move to Isla Paradiso as soon as my copy of the newest EP gets here. Marci is just so dang adorable and Elvira will always be my favorite premade. It's a good thing they'll be seen in my legacy, because they're my favorite Sims. I love playing with EP content with them! 1st up was a little vacation / adventure for Elvira and Barry. They got to visit Egypt and see the pyramids.

Barry had lots of fun taking pictures, Elvira explored several tombs and raided them for some very profitable treasures, and they both enjoyed the little break from regular life. Other than the mummy (which Elvira beat the wrappings off of by the way), it was a relaxing vacation. Next I think they'll be heading to China, but by that point Marci will be able to go with them...that's probably a good thing. By the 2nd day both of them were constantly popping up thought bubbles about Marci. They missed their baby.

They are just so dang cute! As excited as I am to see Marci as a child, I'm going to miss her toddler cuteness. Elvira doesn't age since she has that vampire LTW that lets her walk in the sun and also stops aging, so at least one of my Sims will stay the same. She's frozen forever at her current age. My next post will have an older Marci though!

I have one last picture and it's really a strange one. Barry is a painter and he's getting pretty good. His latest painting was clear, worth a small fortune, and...from The Sims 2?

The 1st is the picture that Barry painting. See, even he looks weirded out! The 2nd is the picture from The Sims 2. It's in the Specter family's photo album. I thought it was strange but cool and wanted to share with everybody.

Starting in on my legacy!

With my new computer in place and running perfectly, I finally get to start playing out my stories. The 1st thing I wanted to do is get the backstory for my legacy in place. This part of the backstory isn't for my founder, but for another Sim who will have a part in my story. I have a lot of families that I want to involve in my legacy in all sorts of ways, but for now this is all I have.

Remember the pictures of Elvira Slayer I posted a while back? I carried her over to my new game and started in on her story. She's supposed to be the oldest vampire in existence according to EA's premade backstory, so I adjusted her to be a complete badass vampire. She's the head of the Bridgeport criminal career, has a great apartment, and lots of little human Sims to feed off of...or she was anyways. Now she's a bit more caring.

These days Elvira has fallen hard for a photographer that she kidnapped, Barry Tenderlove. He's almost the exact opposite of her. Where she's tough and strong, he's sensitive and creative. It's a bit funny, I decided I'd let her pick who she kept as her plaything / love by letting her hunt on a community lot. Whoever she targeted would be the one, and he's who she picked. I redesigned him a tiny bit, but other than changing his hairstyle and switching out one of his traits for the photography trait, I didn't do much. He's now a self-employed painter and stays at home. Elvira is hiding her relationship from the other vampires since humans are food, not mates.

Oops...someone got busy while I wasn't paying attention and got pregnant before I wanted her to. I had been planning to take them to Al Simhara and possibly Shang Simla before a baby came along but apparently they didn't quite feel like sticking to the plan. I do love their faces in that last picture though. The baby was crying and both of them dropped everything to come make faces at it. They both acted exactly as I'd imagined. Elvira's about to lose it and Barry is resigned to days of dirty diapers. So I guess I should show the darling baby. Meet Marci Slayer!

She's essentially a clone of Barry. The really weird thing is that she's human in-game, but her character portrait and any thought bubble pictures of her show her with the vampire skintone and glowing eyes. Actually Elvira's thought bubble in the previous picture shows exactly what I mean. Strange. Ah well, I love her!

Exciting live broadcast news!

Today we got the final live broadcast about Island Paradise, which releases in exactly one week. I know that by this point a lot of people have calmed down about it, there's only a week of waiting left and we pretty much know everything by this point anyways, but the live broadcast was worth tuning into for me. Ryan Vaughan gave out lots of little news bits here and there that made it exciting. This is my little overview of all of the stuff worth mentioning.

First up is what the broadcast was supposed to be about: Island Paradise. Like I said, most of the information has been released already, so other than getting to see a bit more of the new world, mermaids, and underwater there was nothing new. Graham Nardone did take us into CAS and showed off the new mermaid coloring system that we get to use to change the color of our mermaids' tails. I was happy to see that there are 4 color channels on the tail. Should be pretty easy to create unique tails with that many options! The only bit of new houseboat information (to me at least) was that houseboats do have an autopilot if you want to have it steer itself to a new location while you're off doing something else. That'll probably come in handy seeing as they move pretty slowly. And of course the underwater lots looked spectacular! The amount of detail completely blows every other lot out of the water. It was a nice little demo that showed the hands-on aspects of the game fairly well, although the lag on that part of the broadcast was annoying.

Next is my own little personal excitement bundle. The Origin preorders hit 4,000 just before the live broadcast and that means that everyone who preordered gets not only the normal preorder bundle and the Origin preorder bundle, but Barnacle Bay too! Yay! Since worlds are so expensive, I refuse to buy them and sadly don't have any other than the free Riverview. So now I do! I know the world itself is the worst they've released, but it's a free world and I'm not complaining. Now if only they'd do that with Lucky Palms...

Finally I have what was arguably the most exciting moment of the whole broadcast. The date of The Sims 4's big information release has been announced! Everybody mark down August 20th, because that's when we will finally have our first little preview of the game!

Bring on The Sims 4!

They've finally made what a lot of us had already guessed official. Coming in 2014, the latest Sims base game will be released! This time around they've said that they plan on "returning to the game's roots," which I'm hoping means that the focus will be on the interactions between the Sims and all the little details that made the game so much fun in the beginning. I've been compiling a list of what my dream base game would have:

• More family interactions. (child dancing on parent's feet, family kiss, snuggling)
• Equal age group focus with a lot to do at each age instead of focusing mainly on young adults.
• No more cocoon babies! I want real arms and legs!
• At least the framework for big gameplay elements included in the base so that they fit in seamlessly later. (weather, pets, vacations)
• Better story progression and possibly more aging options. (whole neighborhood, just the active household, none)
• Plenty of build mode options like the ability to create a garage attached to a house on a foundation without cheats, greenhouses, and an attic tool.
• Better and more realistic animations. (getting in and out of cars, backing out of the driveway)
• Improved trait / personality system where the Sims are actually different people because of their traits / personality.
• In-game CAW where you can create your own lot sizes and edit the terrain.

Goodness I want so much! I know that there'll probably be very little of this, but a girl can dream right? All this new and exciting thinking has made me all nostalgic for those beginning days of The Sims 3, when they'd just announced its pending release and the community was in an uproar over that...remember those days?

That was what used to excite the community; can you image what The Sims 4's intro trailer will look like?! That's going to be a huge day. They've told us to keep the 3rd week of August open, so cross your fingers that we only have a few short months until we get some actual information!

Finally figured out my problem!

Well I now know exactly what causes my computer to freak out and crash while playing The Sims 3. Anything involving playing with the Sims themselves makes in go into panic mode. So CAS and playing a household are no longer options which leaves...building. That's all I can do these days is build. So no more pictures of Sims, just pictures of my buildings and my favorite EP information.

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I'm assuming that the Island Paradise announce trailer is now old news even though it's only a day old. It's definitely exciting news! Finally the 1st glimpse and a bunch of brand new information from just a short little video. Watch it!

After watching that trailer there were 2 big things that were stuck in my head: mermaids and the fact that toddlers have swimming interactions! Both of which are shown clearly in the video, both of which are so dang long-awaited. Toddlers have been so left out of all the swimming activities; Generations was the hope of a kiddie pool but that definitely didn't happen. It looks like they'll finally get some action in Island Paradise since mommy can clearly be seen holding baby in the water. And mermaids make their 1st appearance too in the last few seconds of the trailer, swimming through the waves.

New lifeguard career, private island beach houses, boats of all kinds...this EP is looking better and better! Keep an eye on the date too, because a live broadcast airs on April 16th and the game will be released on June 25th. Not too far away at all. Keep your fingers crossed that EA gives out more mermaid information in the live broadcast!

And it's only the beginning...

Okay before I share my lovely new story, I want to update on my current computer status. I'm getting a MacBook Pro soonish. The date isn't really set in stone; it shifts back and forth. I could get it tomorrow, or May, or in August for my birthday. There's really no telling. :( But I am going to eventually get one!

Currently my desktop has all but given up. My ancient computer literally goes into a hysterical meltdown every 20 minutes or so, with flashy colors and the closing of many programs. Stupid computer. And I've tried everything to make The Sims 3 work too! I'm down to no CC at all, and only my EPs, SPs, and store stuff. Yep, the basics. But even then it can only take maybe 30 minutes if I'm incredibly lucky and then either the game CTD's or the computer has a hysterical meltdown...

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Despite many computer issues, I'm still trying really hard to play a little. My latest idea has me chasing Sims around Twinbrook. I've always loved the old Sims 2 neighborhoods Pleasantview and Strangetown, they're easily the best worlds ever to be produced. Because of that, all the remade families that appear in The Sims 3 make me really curious...and speaking of Curious:

Bunny Curious, older sister of Notzo Curious, is a sweet little girl with a real love of horses and adventuring. Not quite the norm for her science-oriented family, poor Bunny usually feels a bit left out. It's not her fault she'd rather be out riding Carrot or searching the town for supernatural Sims instead of staying inside and messing with weird things in bottles or banging on pieces of metal.

Catch the joke? Bunny and Carrot, haha. Like a rabbit. And a carrot. Ok my attempt at humor is now over. But seriously I do love them; their adorable young moments are beyond sweet:

Since I love Bunny and Carrot so much, I came up with  a kinda different idea. Most backstories follow the main character. In the Curious family, this would be Notzo and his descendants, the famous Curious brothers from Strangetown. But what if I followed Bunny? She's close enough to the main characters that she could easily affect what happens in the story. I already have bits and pieces planned out. This way everybody gets a really unique and original view instead of the same story told with a slightly different twist.

If I can really get this rolling, it'll be posted over on Return to Sims, my blog meant purely for recreating Sims 2 stories. I don't have a lot of hope though since my playing time is severely limited these days. I'll try to at least get pictures of the rest of the Curious clan to share, maybe even upload them to the exchange since they are, after all, completely CC free.

So much EP info to rant about!

I just don't know which new EP I'm more excited for, University Life or Island Paradise! They both add so much gameplay and so many new and old things...picking between them is impossible! After EA's last live demo of the game there's just so much to take in and so many things to be excited about.

I guess I'll rant about University Life 1st, since it is coming out soonest and is completely done. We finally got all the info on death types, life states, and all the other awesome stuff that's heading our way. Thanks to this last broadcast (and the producer walkthrough video below) it has been confirmed that plantSims are making a comeback. From the trailer at around 5 minutes, you get your 1st ever look at a plantSim and a possible hint about how to create such a creature. Those people who were guessing that the science field's special item would be important appear to be right! The plantSim may be an accidental or completely-on-purpose discovery, kinda like Simbots from Ambitions.

The whole university idea is so improved from The Sims 2. Instead of having to get your diploma in one go, and at only one time, you can go to college whenever you want (young adult - elder) and earn it over several trips and get however many degrees you want. That's just cool, not to mention perfect for storytelling. And lastly, 2 new death types have been confirmed: being crushed to death by either the soda machine or the murphy bed, and protesting death to the extent that the Grim Reaper comes and takes your Sim.

Now for Island Paradise! Holy crap where do I even start?! There was so much that they showed in that live demo. They showed off houseboats, which are pretty much just houses on a floating barge which can dock in ports on land or archor anywhere in the ocean. Smaller boats like speedboats and rumored canoes will also be available but will be more like cars and not houses. It was also announced that underwater won't be just a disappear-and-get-popups thing. Instead of being like a rabbithole, the ocean will open up to a certain extent when Sims go scuba diving. They can die if they run out of oxygen, and rumor has it that merSims will indeed be the new lifestate...the SimGurus hinted just enough to drive me crazy!

Yep, there are even official pictures of the new scuba diving interaction and being underwater. :) I'm very, very happy right now with all this new info. That's all I have for today, but it's still a lot to take in! Hopefully I'll post again soon with more Island Paradise info.

Back to school...or university anyways!

After that leak on their Seasons broadcast where the mascot and people in togas ran across the stage they have FINALLY slipped enough for some pictures to be grabbed! I'm so thrilled! The whole college thing was my 2nd favorite part of The Sims 2, and at long last The Sims 3 will have colleges too!

That's right, University Life is official! Campuses and mascots and fraternities are all back, and I for one am a very happy Simmer. The news is out now, and hopefully the trailer for University Life will be released soon. Until then, check out SimsVIP for all the pictures and the latest news on the latest EP leak.

Now I just get to cross my fingers and pray that I can get my new laptop before it comes out! Not having Seasons is already killing me, if I'm missing Seasons and University Life I think I'll go crazy!

Meet a girl who bites...literally!

You've gotta love a mesmerizing girl whose bite is actually worse than her bark. Elvira Slayer, ancient vampire ruler who absolutely loves to go around hypnotizing her next yummy meal. Not to mention she's the local crime boss and an excellent mixologist.

It's not like she's hiding her vampirism either. Miss Slayer loves showing off. Using her powers to bewitch silly human men into 'donating' a little plasma is always fun, and they don't even have to be human. Fairies, werewolves, witches...nobody's safe once she's hunting. Especially during a full moon.

And did she mention she loves to bite the best? The top celebrities, the most powerful witches, and the most eligible bachelors of course! The best bite the best, and Elvira is definitely the best.

Yeah she's pretty much a bad-ass. Nothing can stop her, right? Right?! But what if...no, it can't be. She doesn't have feelings toward lesser beings, especially not a human. Especially not a human man. She'll always be a cold huntress of the night.

Good ol' Appaloosa Plains!

There's nothing like a nice dose of country every once in a while. Or at least to me. Some people don't like anything even vaguely countrified, but I live in a teensy little town out in the middle of nowhere so country's home pretty much. And in The Sims 3, nothing's more country than Appaloosa Plains! The fields, dirt roads, and wild animals give it that perfect small-town feel. For whatever reason, this town caught my eye as something that could potentially be cute if someone took the time to fix it. I wanna be that someone! Other people do it all the time, so I don't see why I couldn't make over Appaloosa Plains with a little effort.

Of course a town makeover means all new Sims to live in it and I need a few Sims to test things anyways, so after moving out all the old families (icky EA families, might I add) I made the founders of my Appaloosa Plains. Everybody meet the adorable McKenna family:

Excuse the annoying bright yellow shirt clipping. =P I didn't notice at the time and I really don't wanna change the little girl's shirt because it's adorable. Anyways, I guess I should properly introduce them all. The little boy being held is Dustin, and his twin is the little girl in yellow. The teenager is Aly, and then their parents are Jeff and Sasha. They also have 2 horses and a dog, but I couldn't pose them so they got left out for now. The McKennas are going to be my test Sims and also the 'founders' of the little ranching community. I've already plopped them down on the biggest farm in the flood valley, and I'm working on building them the most amazingly perfect farm / ranch ever.

Hopefully I'll have the farmhouse finished soon, and the barn started. Pictures of that'll be added as soon as I can finish everything up, and I'm really excited to finally have a nice little farming community.

Fall under the Halliwell spell...

I wound up completely starting over as far as my Sims go. All new save file, all new CC...it's surprisingly nice. And getting to adventure in Moonlight Falls is amazing so far, specially since I've found this adorable Sim family of witches. They were originally the Crumplebottom sisters but you can tell they were based off the Charmed Halliwell sisters, so I changed them up a little bit and renamed them all.

From left to right: Piper, Prue, and Phoebe. Prue's the oldest and she's insanely proper and sophisticated, plus the best as far as magic and alchemy go. Piper is kind of a tomboy, but she's a great cook and gardener. She's also the peacekeeper of the family since neat-freak Prue and messy Phoebe tend to clash. Speaking of Phoebe, she's hot, she's blonde, and she's a bit childish. Honestly she abuses her witchly powers to catch the boys' attention and play pranks on Prue, but she really is sweet at heart.

The girls live in the perfect mansion, or at least it will be when I'm done with it. Currently it's dark, musty, and really crowded by some bad wall placement. The lights don't actually light up the rooms at night, they just create creepy shadows. All around the house feels like some wicked witch should live there instead of the sweet sisters who actually inhabit it.

Antique furniture, artwork, and bookcases for Prue, an observatory / greenhouse and outdoor (zombie protected) garden for Piper, and lots of mirrors and a cat for Phoebe should make this house feel a LOT more like home. Add in their magical objects and some modern technology, and this turns from haunted house to a magical cottage.

Some help with Error 16?

Well I got Supernatural a few days early and I was all excited! It even loaded faster than normal and the game didn't lag as bad as it had been before. Everything was going great and I was working on renovating an awesome little premade house and family in Moonlight Falls to play around with. Then I tried to save, after hours of work. That part didn't go so well. Error 16 popped up, and continues to pop up every time I save.

I've already tried looking it up. Everywhere I click says to just "Save As" and it'll be fine. Nope, that doesn't work at all. I've tried defragmenting my hard drive to see if that worked. Nope again. Nothing's working, and I can't play my game at all until I can save! :( If anybody could help, that'd be amazing and I'd be eternally grateful for it.

R.I.P. My little game...

Meet the Contas!

So they're finally finished. Yes, THEY as in more than one. Don't worry it's a traditional start-with-only-one-Sim legacy, but I don't just wanna plop down a random Sim without some sort of excellent backstory! So my legacy will have a little prologue before fully starting. And of course I'm playing random legacy style so that'll make life pretty interesting too.

Okay time to meet the founder and her parents. 1st up is Jacob Conta, adventurer, spy, family guy...

Next is the stunning Lorraine, top notch actress and full-blown beauty queen. With a twist though, she's secretly as bad ass as her husband. ;)

And finally the ever-so-adorable Whitney. Way ahead of her age, she's already seen most of the world and has the brains and experience to prove it.

The prologue is gonna be so much fun to write, and will probably wind up pretty long too. There's just so much I need to explain about and I'm not quite sure which ending / beginning I'll use yet. Either way, Whitney's legacy will start in Moonlight Falls. Anything happening elsewhere (Bridgeport) is gonna be the prologue. So keep an eye on The Conta Legacy if you wanna see what happens to land adorable little Whitney in Moonlight Falls!