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princepotatosack · 3 months

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What If Choices' Race-customizable LIs Had Surnames Reflective Of Their Ethnicity?: An Experiment Just For FUn (Part 1/3)

As we're probably all aware, Choices has been going ham on their formula of "one LI whose appearance is choosable" for the past few years (ever since they started drawing criticism for narratively favoring white male LIs, i.e., when the Ramsey bubble finally burst; draw your own conclusions), and these LIs almost always have canon names or default names associated with white Anglo Americans. This is one of several reasons these LIs are described by players as "white-coded", or written as if they are white men with any changes reduced to a one-line afterthought, which kind of nullifies the point of romancing an LI of color.

Getaway Girls impressed me with branching that gave two of the six Jordan appearance options (the ones described in the asset files as "Indian") the surname Paudwal, as opposed to the other options that had the surname Parker. And then they NEVER DID IT AGAIN (ingnoring Kiss of Death cause it was a weird case I don't know how to categorize)!!

So here's me assigning surnames to race-custom LIs of other books because it's fun for me:

DISCLAIMER: The Choices single LI formula has for the most part consisted of a white LI, a Black LI, and one or occasionally two other option(s) of varying races. Framing it as white, Black, and "wildcard" raises a lot of questions about racial dynamics and percieved binaries in the United States which are NOT the point of this post but I didn't want to not address it. Also have to address that I will not be assigning new surnames to the Black LI options since most of them are American and a lot of Black Americans have Anglo surnames due to the community's history with enslavement and enslavers, and Choices has simply not given us enough lore to determine if each of the custom race LI Black options are African (or another background) and which languages are a part of their heritages. Would really appreciate if they started writing more African LIs though. Also, similar reasoning applies to face options described as "Native American" in the files re: American colonization.

ALPHA

Channing Luna

These face options are described in the files as "Hispanic". Luna was a Spanish-language surname sound match for Lowe, and plus it also means "moon"!! Yippee werewolf theme!!!!!

Channing Liu

These face options are described in the files as "Asian". The Chinese surname Liu was just the closest sound match to "Lowe" tbh.

BABY BUMP

Clint Kao

This face option is described in the asset files as "Asian". He reminds me a little of the Taiwanese actor Godfrey Gao (rip) so in my head he's Taiwanese like meeee!!! Which sucks cause I didn't like this LI that much lmao. Anyway Kao is the Taiwanese spelling of the surname that is Anglicized as Gao in Chinese Pinyin so I gave it to him cause he reminds me of Godfrey Gao (rip). Not a spelling match but then again there aren't any Chinese surnames that start with the same letter and sound as Covington (e.g., Chang and Cai both start with the letter C but start with the sounds "ch" and "ts" respectively.).

DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS

Charles Quiñones / Charlotte Quiñones

These face options are described in the asset files as "Hispanic". Went with sound matches since there aren't many (any?) Spanish-language surnames that start with K like King.

Charles Kim / Charlotte Kim

These face options are described in the asset files as "Asian". I thought Kim was a pretty good sound and spelling match for King. But it did make me realize that although Kim is the most common surname in Korea by a lot, a Choices Wiki search revealed to me that there's only one character in the entire Choicesverse with that surname and it's the FBI guy from Veil of Secrets?

DISTANT SHORES

Edward Mao

This face option is described in the asset files as "Asian". I originally chose the Japanese surname Morishima because it was an initial spelling match, multisyllabic, and had the ending "ma/mer" sound, but I wanted to honor the great Ming Dynasty Chinese tradition of piracy and its far-reaching legacy. So I went with the Chinese Mao.

Also I know he's canonically from like England which would explain why he's an 18th-century Asian man with an English first name but just for fun if he was from China I think he would be called Mao Aiwei. Or Morishima Eiji if he was from Japan.

Edward Montoya

This face option is described in the asset files as "Hispanic". Montoya was a relatively close Spanish-language sound match.

And if he had a Spanish first name too he would be Eduardo Montoya ovb.

THE DUCHESS AFFAIR

Nathaniel Pandit / Natalie Pandit

These face options are described in the asset files as "Indian". Not a lot of sound matches for Pippin but the Sanskrit surname Pandit has the intial "P" and the ending "i" sound, plus it means "scholar" and fun fact, this word is also the origin of the English term "pundit".

Also since in my research I learned that the vast majority of Indian immigrants to England in this time period adopted English language aliases for use in English society, I came up with some potential real names for these face options: Nathuram for Nathaniel and Nalini for Natalie.

FIRST COMES LOVE

Blake Mai

These face options are described in the asset files as "Asian". I decided on Mai since it could be Vietnamese or broadly Sinophone.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Blaine Juárez

These face options are described in the asset files as "Hispanic". Not any Spanish-language surnames that start with the letters "Ha" as far as I know so I went with a sound match.

GUARDED

Ash Harada

These face options are described in the asset files as "Asian". The Japanese surname Harada is a sound and spelling match and also one of the most common surnames in Japan! EASAYY!!! Though headcanoning them as Japanese brings the total number of Choicesverse Japanese-Americans Named Ash to three. Laugh out loud.......

Part 2

Part 3

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cadybear420 · 1 month

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Cadybear's Reviews- Baby Bump

Welcome to the twenty-first official Cadybear's Reviews! Today I'll be talking about Baby Bump, which I have ranked on the "Gold Tier" at 8 stars out of a possible 10.

WHY DO PEOPLE HATE THIS SERIES!? WHY!? It’s FINE!

Okay, I can maybe see why people may not like it because, let’s be real, accidental pregnancy is a very overdone trope. And apparently there were a lot of parts that were originally problematic when the story was released and had to be re-written, but I wasn’t around for that and I know next to nothing about the original lines, so I can’t say much about them. But even now, how does it get ranked as being among the worst so often? Even if you think it’s bad, it’s really not that bad.

Like… I found it decent? I don’t think it’s nearly as bad as a lot of people have said it is. And I’m saying this as a GNC cis woman who experiences major genital dysphoria and absolutely REVILES the idea of becoming pregnant. Like, I would rather die than ever experience being pregnant. And yet I still quite enjoyed this story.

I guess it kind of helps that the book is very clearly a pregnancy book from the beginning, so I kind of went in knowing what to expect and thus not self-inserting as the MC at all. Unlike something like TRH, which is a continuation that suddenly introduces a “MC gets pregnant” plot to a non-pregnancy series… but that’s a subject for a different day.

I’ll be honest though, this story has a pretty awful start. In the flashback in B1 Ch1 where MC meets Mr. Covington, they try waaaayyyyy too hard to make the player swoon at the idea of having his babies. Like, did the guy they wanted to be MC’s baby daddy HAVE to be a celebrity company salesman, who is also the keynote speaker at MC’s graduation?

And don’t even get me started on the Clint fangirls, who feel like they were written by someone who’s only ever been surrounded by the “Facebook Mom” stereotype and has never met (and probably never will meet) a real horny woman in their entire life.

Literally, the scene is just all like “OMG LOOK!!! BIG FAMOUS CELEBRITY SALESMAN!!! OMG HE HAS *GASP* ABS!!! OH WOW, A MALE LI IN CHOICES WITH ABS AND BIG MUSCLES! THAT’S SO UNIQUE AND SPECIAL AND TOTALLY NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE!!! OMG ALL THE OTHER WOMEN ARE CHANTING OVER HIS ABS AND WANT TO HAVE HIS BABIES TOO!!! DON’T *YOU* WANT TO HAVE HIS BABIES TOO!?!?!?! AREN’T YOU SOOOOOO LUCKY THAT YOU’RE GOING TO BE HAVING HIS BABIES?!?!?!?!?!?!?”. Like, how much intelligence do you think your wlm audience has PB? Really trying to pander to the “Facebook Karen Mom” stereotype here, huh?

With that in mind, I guess I can understand why people may have gotten a bad impression of the book at first, because the story for how MC got pregnant in the first place (and her conflict with Cassandra in Book 1) feels straight out of one of those weird Instagram and Facebook ads.

But besides that, it was an okay series! I found it mostly cute and wholesome. Literally everything else was fine! There were even a few moments in Book 2 that made me cry, like when MC can record a sweet message for the babies with a plush bunny she can get from the Baby Baskets.

Besides maybe Book 1 Dr. Mariana Castillo who is just way too unserious (at least she gets better in Book 2), I honestly really liked the main cast. Even though MC is technically an outsider to the town, she still gets to be very driven and gets shit done rather than being the typical doe-eyed newbie who needs to be shown the ropes. Clint is a sweetheart and does get to be more than just “har dee har muscular celebrity salesman who knocks you up aren’t you soooo lucky” that they wanted him to be in the first chapter. Mayor Dixon is a nice mix of goofy and tsundere, and the female version Myra contributed to my bi awakening. Luisa is just a queen all around. MC’s sister… initially she could sometimes be a bit of a stereotypical “OMG girly girl talk best friend to talk exclusively about LI and diamond outfits” but she does become more than that too, and I really like her subplot with Bao. Speaking of, Bao is just the most absolute precious ever (and shame on PB for making him the sister’s LI and not one for MC /jk).

The antagonist characters were… kind of a mixed bag, I will admit. They were memorable, but also kind of stupid. Like I said before, Cassandra’s storyline in Book 1 just felt petty and cheap, plus I’m tired of straw loser villain female antagonists who exist solely to compete with the MC over the LI. It never got too overbearing, but it was still stupid. Book 2 Cassandra is great though.

Then there’s Craig, who wants to destroy everything MC and friends accomplish and take over Gracetown because… potatoes. I guess he’s alright as he is actually a threat in Book 2, but the townspeople can be pretty damn meek to him which is a little weird. But he was still a strong antagonist in that book. Book 1 Craig feels a lot more like he just exists to be an annoyance for the sake of being an annoyance, though.

Jebediah is a lot more compelling as an antagonist character, and I did expect the Covington family conflict to be incredibly boring but it turned out otherwise. He’s a jerk at first, but it’s nice to see how he does genuinely try to change throughout the storyline of Book 2.

Also, props to this for being one of only three Choices series ever (the others being OG HSS and ILITW) where the collectible system has some items that aren’t diamond-walled. The baby blanket collectibles are really cute, and it’s really refreshing to have a collectible system that isn’t “the first one is free and then the rest you have to pay for”. Like HSS, there are even some pieces that are determinant on your success in certain events. Why can’t more series do their collectibles like this??? (Oh right, because it requires actual effort).

Would I say it’s a good or accurate portrayal of pregnancy? IDK, I’m not an expert. But it’s fine if you just want a lighthearted pregnancy story to chill out to.

#choices stories you play #choices #choices game #choices stories we play fandom #choices stories we play #choices baby bump #baby bump #choices babu #babu #cadybear's reviews

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playchoicesconfessions · 8 months

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Sent by anonymous

‘I'm okay with GOC LIs but I would prefer if PB did them like how they did Avery and Raleigh from PT as well as Dixon from BaBu and Jualia(n) from SB where the race is canonically set. A book with multiple LIs like that is something I would be ok with.’

POST/CONFESSIONS DO NOT REFLECT THE MOD’S PERSONAL OPINIONS!

#choices li #choices platinum #platinum #raleigh carrera #choices baby bump #baby bump #choices babu #babu #mayor dixon #choices slow burn #slow burn #choices sb #julia navarro #julian navarro #playchoices #choices #choices stories you play #confessions #mod bruffle

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firelordgrantham · 2 years

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saw (and wrote) a lot of shit about the newest (and even older) books from Pixelberry so I decided I would make a positive list for once. Hugh spoilers ahead.

By alphabetical order (if a book is not there, it means I haven't played it yet):

Across the Void: the three different endings. It could have been dealt with better, like actually spending time on vanguard/jura planets or with vanguard/jura people rather than just having us listen to the endless arguments of the siblings, but it was nice to be able to chose an end. Also nice to have different MC

America's most eligible: the smiley system. Don't remember much of the books tho so there might be more.

A very scandalous proposal: the letters which enabled us to live the life of that ancestor of Simon/Ava.

Baby Bump: the blanket patch, the fact that Mr Covington was totally on board with trying to take responsability for putting MC pregnant without having to be forced to. All the people we could ship together. The former fiancée's and Covington Sr's redemption.

Big Sky Country: Duke not being a bad guy despite fitting some criterias for it (unattractive sprite, the city dweller son who left the ranch and doesn't know how to take care of it...), the fact him calling the guy from AgraCorp was seen as a move in character and not as an act of treason or not only, the fact Brooklynne, while a blogger, wasn't a birdbrain child.

Blades of Light and Shadow: everything basically, but mainly the fact it's not genderlocked, that we can be elves, orcs or humans, the fact we could flirt with Aerin, the fact Baldur was still considered a bully even after Aerin's true colours being revealed, I mean frankly we tend to redeem bad characters to whom bad things happen... here, none of it. The whole powers system.

Bloodbound: the fact the collectibles were actually woven into the bloodkeeper storyline. Kamilah's character was well written too. Lester being a creepy leech and that being addressed and not normalized like in more recent books. Didn't finish the series yet so can't say more right now.

Crimes of passion: I kinda liked the general ambiance and the whole infiltrating the cult thing. Not much else to say tho.

The Crown and the Flame: The plot oh my god the plot is sooooo good. Maybe too many LIs, like, it appeared later but that book could have used a system like in TE where you chose your sexuality at the beginning and only get propositions of premium flirt scenes with LIs from your orientation? I mean it would have spared me a bit of time. I LOVED the dynamic between Dom and Rose, too bad she wasn't there after some point but I headcannon she went into hiding with Tristan, helping civilians fend for themselves, all that, and that after the war she reunited with Dom. The whole fire and legend score was great too, and the fact we had two alterning pov was chef's kiss. The different cultures/uniforms, the LIs, having the possibility to slap Marco in the first chapter was great... yeah basically everything was great except for a few details here and there.

A courtesan of Rome: Loved that book. Having the possibility to sleep your way to vengeance instead of making it a book in which you fall in love with one of the roman LIs and abandon your revenge project, that was great. Shall I add that Anthony was hot? Nah, you already know that. Wasn't a great fan of Delphinia and the other members of the family's pov, but I love the system, I just didn't get fully attached to the characters themselves, so on me, not on pb.

Desire and Decorum: loved that through and through, Ernest my beloved, etc. Matching a former LI with someone else and deciding who Briar ends with was great too. I wish we could match former LIs with side characters more often.

DIstant Shores: Loved that too, from the number of scenes with each I guess Edward was the main LI? I went with the guy from the navy. Many criticize the ending on a cliffhanger with Robert's sudden rise from the dead unexplained, but I loved that. It kind of made an open end in which we knew the great lines of what would happen next thanks to the museum visit.

The Elementalists: loved it. can't really explain why, must be the general vibe. Oh yeah, and the fact we could chose our sexuality beforehand. Avoided weird moments with rejected LIs (well you still rejected some but not as much, and none at all if you decided you were ace)

Endless Summer: loved everything. The plot, the art style, the smiley system, the three possible endings, the large cast, the different LIs who each had a tragic but compelling backstory without being the same as the other three, shipping other members of the large cast together... everything was great.

Foreign Affairs: loved the general vibe, was less a fan of the whole sex scandal storyline.

The Freshman Series: kinda liked it. A bit of a soap opera vibe. Too long tho, and the side books (luxury getaway/masqued mascarade/love bites all that) where too much, because if you're a completionist and a monogam you cannot combine both since, if you want to ever finish all the books on the app you'll have to rerun the whole series or cheat on your main LI in the side stories.

The haunting of Braidwood Manor: creepy and grim, but in a good way. Compelling story. Short, too, so it doesn't get too creepy. The whole ''accepting the truth and finding peace'' was so sad but wholesome.

The Heist: Monaco: loved it, Ansel's got a very punchable face, the heist system was good, the trust scores too, the three possible endings but you dont chose, your score choses, was great. The two possible characters for each member of the team? chefs kiss.

Hero: why oh why was there no second book? yeah I know why, something about being too expensive, but still, why? That was great. General vibe and art style? Great. Characters? Good. Cliffhanger? Aaaargh (affectionate)

Home for the Holidays: liked that we had the possibility to pitch Holly's book. Didn't leave me a great memory or anything so wont say more but it was not disagreeable.

Hot Couture: nice, the design notebook was quite a good mechanic too.

(here you've got Laws of Attraction but I wont say anything because I don't have anything positive to say)

It Lives: the stress/smiley system? Great. The storyline? Great. The Art? Great. The lore? Amazing in its simplicity. The characters? OK I didn't love everyone of them, but it was nice to have a large cast. Loved both books.

LoveHacks: nice story and multiple points of view in a large cast, good points for them.

Most Wanted: so great. Like the crown and the flame, I wasn't there at the beginning of the app, and I only played them recently after many others, but they still have that atmosphere that sets them appart from the rest, like they want us to know they are the eldest children of the app.

Mother of the Year: that was cute and wholesome and I loved the antagonists, sympathized with the protagonist and ardently loved hating the two main villains.

Ms Match: meh, didn't really like the forced romance (and when I mean forced, I mean whether or not we like it we end up in bed with the LI in the first chapter) but it had that somewhat nice vibe and that revenge/exposure scene at the end was nice.

Nightbound: great storyline.

Open Heart: loved Ethan but when he didn't trust me at all in the third book I broke it off with him but that's none of your business I'm just still not over him. It was nice to have the whole ''we change patients every once in a while'' thing although I have to admit it is true the second and third books were not as good as the first.

Passport to Romance: nice I guess. Didn't leave me any lasting memory nor trauma.

Perfect Match: didn't finish yet but it was quite inventive and compelling, full of twists and turns. Tbh it was kinda indescribable.

Platinum: like it as a whole, but won't leave me any lasting memory either.

The princess swap: well it's obviously not over yet but I love the story and the characters. It's cute.

Red Carpet Diaries: Loved it. I'm pretty sure it was the first books I played once I got out of the first story imposed by the app (ya know when you get to chose between romance and steamy) so it holds a particular place in my heart. Loved everyone. Oh, why didn't they put Thomas Hunt in it sooner, I had chosen Matt before and felt like it would have been cheating on him to change LIs halfway through. Like you guessed with my Ethan and Kamilah comments earlier I have something for stern LIs with emotionnal trauma or distance.

Ride or Die: I had a crush on Jason Shaw. That says it all. Appart from that my god what a book! Thought i would be bored or dissappointed because it would be ya know your typical ''oh my bf is a bad boy and my father is a cop what am i gonna do'' story but it was more a ''thriller slash spy story with corruption, illegal racing and gangs war'' book. And that was great!!!!

The Royal Masquerade: wow so many twists and turns, I was hooked all throughout the book. And the fact it felt (however true or untrue that might be) that our choices had lasting consequences, and of course the different possible endings, that was all great.

The Royal Romance: a bit weird of a story if you didn't chose Liam I think. I don't know, maybe we shouldn't have had so many LIs or we should have been forced to marry him for the sake of appearances while he would have been all in for MC having a lover on the side since they were not in love? Idk. I liked it tho.

Rules of Engagement: gotta love a multiple points of view story.

The Unexpected Heiress: loved all the twists and turns, loved the period drama, loved the period, loved the drama, loved the costumes, loved the crime story. Thought it would have been more believable if our sister hadn't been black by default, I dunno, I mean if they had such a hard time accepting a proletarian american among them, being black sure wasn't gonna make it any easier, and since MC's skin was customizable, and yet all the rest of their family (half siblings, step mothers, aunts...) was black... I dunno, either Amelia shouldn't have been black by default or MC's skin shouldn't have been customizable.

Veil of Screts: LOVED that story. Thriller, crime, all that. Compelling characters, loving to hate the bad guys, twists and turns everywhere, just a gread book.

Wake the Dead: loved that book.

Wishful Thinking: original! Also like the fact she was the only one with powers contrary to elementalists or hero, it was original.

With Every Heartbeat: sad, bittersweet, but all that in a good way.

Wolf Bride: well I guess if you're around here for spicy scenes it's good.

So here was my list of positive things about the pixelberry stories, I do realize I did put a few negative things in it but it's out of love. Except for Laws of Attraction. Hate that book. Nevermind. Think positive. Think positive.

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