Frankie Stein, immortal teenager (TS2)

[madeinsixam]

I'm honestly really bad at sticking with longer/grindier challenges, and I'm going back to work soon, but I'm hoping I'll manage this one!

Tracking (ahead of actual story)

Spoiler:

4/4 relationships
13/13 meals cooked (pancakes, omelette, spaghetti, mac and cheese, caesar salad, pork chops, salmon, chips platter, appetizer platter, hamburgers, chili con carne, turkey, salmon)
13/13 successful parties thrown
1/1 BFF
13/13 paintings
14/13 friends
10/10 base game careers (maxed athletic, medicine, politics)
13 bouquets made
13 fish caught
all bookshelf extra skills learnt

Chapter 0 - Meet the Steins

Just a quick look at the Steins and their house!

Spoiler:

This is Frankie. He's a Popularity sim and the star of this challenge. Even though his "father" doesn't much like him, he's got hopes and dreams in life. He wants to make friends, attend university, and escape these difficult years. (I need to get him some Frankenstein Monster makeup ASAP.) I took the opportunity to give him this outfit, because in my main save I always stick with Simlish.



This is Frank, Sr. Once a prominent scientist, he took things too far when he created Frankie. Shunned by the scientific community and horrified by his creation, he fled to Strangetown and just largely gave up.



This is their house. I picked Strangetown because it's my favourite I may have made the bathroom a bit too big but as you can see... it's not a great house. The only furniture of any value is Frank Sr's bed.

[madeinsixam]

Chapter 1 - The first week

(Screenshots will sometimes include the UI to give you some perspective on time/needs/etc.)

Spoiler:

Since he had no school or work on his first day in Strangetown, Frankie got a head start studying some bookcase skills... namely, Parenting.



Frank Sr. decided to splash around in some puddles instead.



Frankie's head start did not last long, because his social needs soon took a dive. He was visited by the Social Bunny while cleaning the bathroom.



By Wednesday, Frankie was having a really rough time.



I figured he should go out and make some friends, so he set off for the shops. There were no other teenagers there, but he met Nervous Subject. They might have a lot in common!



They didn't quite hit it off.



He also met Callista Fuchs.



When he got home, Frankie decided to have dinner and immediately set the stove on fire.



Oddly, Frank Sr. actually reads to Frankie when he's asleep. That's kind of cute!



Frankie had the day off from work on Friday, so he took a nap right after school. He woke up to find Frank Sr. had been hit by lightning and also, there was no food in the fridge.



He went out and had some grilled hot dogs to make up for it. He was now afraid that Frank Sr. would die, which is not unreasonable, considering recnt events.



Poor Frankie spent the weekend cleaning up, catching up on his homework, going to work, and doing some repairs around the house. The latter mostly consisted of hitting the shower with a wrench.



To make his weekend worse, Frank Sr. walked in and decided to have a sink bath. Poor Frankie did NOT need to see that!



While out on a trip to pick up some groceries and munch on some free hot dogs, Frankie met Tank, who was surprisingly nice to him.



At home, the bills kept piling up. Frank Sr. kept eating from the bin and getting food poisoning.



And this is Frankie on Sunday night, doing his homework and maybe refreshed enough to face a new week!

[madeinsixam]

Chapter 2

Spoiler:

The new week was not that easy either.



It even included a break-in! The cop lost the fight, but at least nothing was stolen.



Frankie apparently got some money from baking cookies at school! It's only 100 simoleons, but sure to make a difference.



See, money was going FAST because every time Frankie bought groceries, Frank Sr. would serve a lot of food (that Frankie can't eat anyway) and let it spoil. Realising Frank Sr. was incapable of getting leftovers, Frankie began trying to cook larger batches of food while Frank Sr. was asleep, to store it in the fridge. Sadly, he usually only had enough for a couple of group servings and some chips.



By this point, Frankie had worked in the Law Enforcement and Business career tracks, but he finally managed to get a job in the Athletics career! As a nice bonus, it paid almost 100 simoleons per shift, which would help immensely.



Frankie once again spent the weekend trying to get his life in order, including cleaning the house.



He had some free time, so he invited over his friend Edward Fuchs.



Of course, Frank Sr. kept butting in Just when Frankie was trying to flirt with Edward, too!



Their first kiss didn't happen...



But shortly after, it did! They even went steady.

As an aside, going steady was a mistake. I saw this challenge and the author opted to NOT have anyone go steady since breaking up is so hard to do in TS2. I'm going to aim for romance but not going steady from now on, too.



Could things be looking up for Frankie? Alas, no. His attempt at cooking while Frank Sr. slept led to a fire that very evening.

[madeinsixam]

Chapter 3

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

https://i.ibb.co/CQzGTNc/it-62.png

To make things worse for poor Frankie, the TV broke. I held my breath when I sent him to fix it, but nothing happened either way. The TV stayed broken. At least he didn't die!



I suddenly got an alert for *something* but the little frame was empty. Had Frank Sr. died? Nope, he'd been sprayed by a skunk and was staring at a wall.



With no TV, Frankie had to find other ways to have fun... like jumping on the couch.



He could barely afford it, but he really wanted a handheld and it's not like he had any other way to have fun.

Conditions around the house kept deteriorating. Frankie's low fun meant he kept kicking over the bin, leading to a bug infestation outside the house. Frank Sr. was constantly running outside in his underwear, drawn by all the bugs, and he was still scavenging food. This meant he kept getting the flu and/or food poisoning. I thought he was going to die, especially when someone kicked over the bin and he could no longer scavenge... but Frankie's boyfriend set it upright, and Frank Sr. was also able to wake up in the middle of the night to steal his son's food.



Of course, his death was inevitable. Frankie was really sad about it.



In death, Frank Sr. kept reenacting his death and scaring his son.



Frankie's homework was really piling up.



At least he had better luck in his love life. He and Ripp kissed and ended up falling in love.



Edward was NOT taking the break up well, however, and kept creepily stalking Frankie and stealing old newspapers.



Things were going poorly enough that poor Frankie ended up being demoted at work.



Soon, however, things began to turn around. He had an easier time catching up on his homework (oddly, doing this and attending school in a good mood didn't change his grades... he's stuck at C).



After asking Ripp to be just friends, he made a move on Johnny. They too fell in love, but it was not to last.



Frankie threw his first party and it was successful!



Some rando dancing in front of his house for no reason.



Frankie finally met Ophelia. I feel like they'd be good bffs.

[madeinsixam]

Chapter 4

Spoiler:

Frankie could now afford an easel without breaking the bank, so he started painting.



He also got himself his fourth and final boyfriend, Tank! Making out with him at a house party turned the party score around somehow. They actually went steady, too, since they seem to make a cute couple.



The party was a success, but the house was totally wrecked.



Frankie, still doing his homework to no avail.



Things were beginning to improve and Frankie got promoted, reaching the top of the Athletics career track!



Another Sunday, another party. This time, everyone decided to do the Smustle on the sidewalk. I have no idea why it looks like Frankie is hitting Tank, they were playing something or other.



Unfortunately, Tank and Johnny kept getting into fights. Sims apparently do not live for drama, because the party was considered bad.



Frankie became BFFs with Ophelia!



Unfortunately, he ended up losing his job.



He immediately got a new one... as a Fish Chummer.



His next party went better, probably because Johnny was not invited.



Ophelia slept over a lot and actually managed to fix the TV when Frankie asked her to! This is fortunate, because Frankie wanted to throw a Sports party.



Which he did, and it was a success.



Frankie had switched jobs to the Medical career, starting out as Nursing Home attendant. He stuck with it long enough to be very quickly promoted and reach the top of yet another career! That week, he threw *another* great party.



Emboldened by his recent successes and by the fact that the house was now decorated with his pricey paintings (I went the "500+ simoleons route since TS2 doesn't label the painting quality), he invited over the Headmaster. Maybe attending private school would make his grades go up and make homework less pointless.



They hit it off well, and Frankie got in!



Because of the bugged grade, I stopped having him do his homework. This was a mistake, because Frankie now had a huge pile to catch up on.

EXCEPT. I previously had a similar bug where a Sim's grades did not go up, ever, and I ended up using a mod to home school her. I have no idea if sending Frankie to private school will somehow get it unstuck, but I was afraid his old homework might be buggy. I was going to have him do it for the challenge, but after he'd made a lot of progress I ended up deleting it, just in case. This means a lot of time went down the drain.



Frankie threw a bad party, but then had some time left to throw a good one and fix the situation.

[peachy123uk]

Spoiler:

oh not going great for Frankie

[madeinsixam]

Spoiler:

oh not going great for Frankie

Spoiler:

Yeah, he's definitely had his ups and downs! At least he's generally on track to complete the challenge AND got into private school! I was expecting much worse, to be honest!

[madeinsixam]

Chapter 5

Spoiler:

It was time to fish! I built the world's worst pond because I realised Strangetown doesn't have one.



I didn't initially realise that TS2 doesn't have 13 different fish, and that Frankie just had to catch 13 fish overall, so I let him make blackened catfish. It ended up burnt and maybe a biiit more blackened than it was supposed to.



After realising that rewards are ok, I got him the Energiser! It was pretty helpful at times, even if it's got limited uses.



Frankie spontaneously cooked turkey when he had some guests over. Yay for another recipe, I guess!



He also got into flower arranging.



Ta-da!



There's so much to unpack in this picture... why is Frankie still wearing his work outfit? Doesn't the guy he's painting look kinda like a Cubist version of Frank Sr.? Food for thought!



Things settled into a rather boring routine, to the point where I was excited when the final base game career (Criminal) came up as an option. As an aside, some careers now seem to let Frankie skip straight to the second job level, I think it's because he's maxed a few of them already?



A final great party, which included Frankie and Tank making out in front of that poor werewolf

This means there's just the plants left, while of course keeping up with his grades and friends.

[madeinsixam]

Chapter 6

Spoiler:

Frankie working on his final task, growing 13 plants.



He actually became a PlantSim



Ta-da! 13 fully grown, mostly healthy tomato plants.



Several paintings.



The rest of the paintings, plus his school grades.



Fish!



Lot value.



The flower arrangements and his aspiration points.



Final shot, you can see his skills and number of friends, as well as the household funds after selling the displayed paintings.

That concludes the challenge!

Main tasks completed:

Spoiler:

1. Max a part time job
2. Have a BFF
3. Have at least 4 boyfriends/girlfriends (other than BFF)
4. Be friends with 13 people at the same time
5. Earn $13,000 to save for University
6. TS2: Make 13 objects/toys/bouquets as your hobby!
7. Catch 13 different fish to keep you company
8. TS2 - read all the extra skills from the bookshelf (Parenting, Physiology, Fire Extinguishing, Counseling etc).
9. Paint 13 pictures to decorate the walls with to make your house feel more like home.
10. Cook 13 different recipes because you're tired of your Caretaker' quick meals.
11. Gain 13 skill points in any set of skills (or a mixture)
12. Grow and maintain 13 plants
13. Throw 13 successful parties

= 130

Extra challenges completed:

Spoiler:

Perfectionist Streak: You've got an eye for only the highest quality in your life. Only keep/display "masterpiece" and "brilliant" quality paintings for your 13 paintings requirement (thus bringing up the bills). (+25 points)
Jack of All Trades: You want to dip your toes into EVERYTHING, so you shall. Attend at least one shift for every base-game part-time job available (+20 points).
Private-Eyes: Your caregiver/parent may not care about your schooling, but YOU do. Get into the private school with no help from your caregiver (+15 points).

= 60


+30 points for no sick days used
+10 points for taking 22+ Sim days
+400 points for net worth
+330 for aspiration points

Total: 960 points


Thank you for reading!

[peachy123uk]

Spoiler:

congrats on finishing

[madeinsixam]

Spoiler:

congrats on finishing

Spoiler:

Thank you! Speaking of, I've noticed how many challenges you've finished and have been trying to catch up on reading them... it's seriously impressive and cool!

[peachy123uk]

Spoiler:

Thank you, i had plenty of time then i worked only 16 hours, now i work 39 and don't have much time to play anymore

[madeinsixam]

Spoiler:

Thank you, i had plenty of time then i worked only 16 hours, now i work 39 and don't have much time to play anymore

It sucks that you don't have as much free time, but congrats on getting more hours if that's helpful to you! I sympathise, I've been playing a lot because I've been home sick but I'm going back to work soon