#baby bump choices

[princepotatosack]

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

[marvelnaturalock]

Yes. Just yes. Chefs kiss. There is no way this scene can be improved.

Val is SUCH a tsundere. Like literally. You can’t change my mind. JUST LOOK AT HER.

[liaromancewriter]

Baby Bump 2 has some of the prettiest maternity outfits in Choices.

[simpfornegan]

i am a child of divorce.

[mejomonster]

something i needed to hear when i was younger, and depending on the pockets of the internet and the kinds of real life people you're around some people probably still need to hear it. ultimately, using a label is for you. you don't have to know for sure if you're a lesbian, or bisexual, or pansexual, or asexual, or something else. you're allowed to just say you're whatever label is helpful for you at the time to explain to people so they're understanding, or help yourself find community with people who can connect with you about shared experiences. some people use queer because it's an umbrella term and they don't need to explain the specific nuances of which labels apply to them, and they can use the broad queer label to just find other people with roughly similar experiences. some people use gay as an umbrella term for similar reasons. some people use ace and asexual as umbrella terms because they're demisexual or demiromantic and trying to find anyone who's going to somewhat relate to what they're going through.

maybe you have NO IDEA what label fits you! you're still figuring yourself out. you're allowed to try to connect to various communities to see where you relate, what shared experience or aid you find. (and this applies broader too: labels like your favorite fashion, the music you like, the hobbies you have, sometimes you like something no one in 100 miles specifically made a group for but your hobby might fall under a bigger umbrella you CAN relate to - like liking X specific board game might find ppl who relate at a bigger tabletop game convention, or a person into costumes could go to a Anime/Video Game Convention and relate at least a bit with cosplayers). you're allowed to CHANGE. First, just to change as you grow. You will be a different person over time in some ways, that's just how life works. You're allowed to change the way you label yourself. Second, you're allowed to not be sure the labels you use for yourself fits, to try out ones until you see which fits (as in - which labels help you connect to people who understand what you feel/like/are), and allowed to change labels if they stop fitting.

and finally: you are allowed to NOT tell people your label. If you label yourself, it is to make your own life easier - to help others like you find you, to help find people like you, to build community. strangers who may hurt you have NO right to your label. you don't have to tell them shit. you are allowed to lie. You're allowed to not tell your parent your sexuality, if you're afraid they'll throw you out of the house or harm you. You're allowed to not tell your work your sexuality. You're allowed to not tell strangers, in person or online, whenever you feel you do not want to share how you identify. (And again this can apply to more than sexuality: if you're goth and in a school with uniforms scared people will bully you if you bring up you're goth, you're allowed to not tell them - although sometimes teenagers find joy in declaring who they are including around people who would not respect it, so if you want to declare proudly what you like or who you are then go for it. You're allowed to not mention to your boss that you're trying for a kid, maybe you're worried they'd discriminate if they knew that, or pass you over for promotion, or would treat you different, or you just don't want to discuss your personal life at work. Maybe you're into kink and you just don't want to mention that to work friends, because you dislike discussing sex related things with work friends, and maybe you only want to tell them if they become a friend that goes to bars with you. Maybe you love drawing furry art, or getting furry art commissioned, and you love discussing it at conventions where you can meet other furries and tell artists how talented they are and buy some of their art, but you don't want to mention that to grandma and explain what furry is. You're ALLOWED to decide if and when you share a label you relate with. You are still a good person if you refuse to come out to your school as gay, or if you don't mention online that you're trans, or if you don't want to discuss trying for kids at work. My point is just: labels are for YOU to feel safer, to find connection with others who may relate to the label. They aren't necessarily things you have to be honest about, and perfectly sure about, to be moral. You're allowed to lie and omit to protect your safety. You're allowed to change your mind, or be unsure which label fits best.

[korgbelmont]

Edit of Clint Covington as Black Lightning

[princepotatosack]

here is my character sheet for my baby bump mc!!

notes below :-)

can't explain it but this mc gives me EXTREMELY target supermarket vibes. don't ask

female mayor dixon ough.hhh........ a shame that sprite was wasted on whatever the hell was going on in this book

yeah i don't paritcularly like the name myra for a hot young girlboss it just doesnt fit. and the name heather is very flannel shirt with jeans vibes to me

did i give her practically nonexistent dad the name "leslie" after leslie cheung, the only other chinese man named leslie that i am aware of?? i dont remember. i just make decisions and then delete all evidence of the process of thinking from my brain. girls its bad in here im gonna be real with you.

also no reasoning recovered for the names of the babies. i guess i just like alliteration. Amie and Anna are allerative also :-) so i guess theres precedent in this family

also fuck clint. actually i take that back he didnt really have any discernable personality traits for me to either like or dislike he doesnt deserve this im sorry clint.

[marvelnaturalock]

It’s been like 5 minutes since VALAX baby and I got chained together and sweetheart is already whipped.

[liaromancewriter]

I haven’t read Baby Bump for so long. Time for Alana Cassidy to romance my Sweet Southern Gentleman 😍

Yep. A night that neither of them will forget. 🤭

[choices-binglebonkus]

Idk what PB’s plans are for The Billionaire’s Baby but I swear to fucking god if we get a repeat of BaBu and I have to read the words “mustard mess” one more goddamn fucking time I will Cask of Amontillado myself and never come out again

[a-consuming-passion]

Six Week-Old Embryo - Expectation:

Reality:

[bimalewife]

can choices stop giving premium passes to the boring basic books

[sluggsy]

i feel bad for silas because i went from imaging her as like, a quiet kid who was Situationally good and a total crabby pants to a total goody two shoes (and less prominently a crabby pants)

[jamesashtonisbae]

Baby Bump 2 Review

Book: Baby Bump 2

Replay: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsAPMi0hehuG2QTFg-QSFBFuEpxw5pFgp&si=MhqPj2iz23u2EW_0

Overall Rating:

7/10. I love those little babies. They are so cute. They are the best part of this. The story felt a little bit more interesting as well.

Favorite Outfit Rating:

Trailblazer 8/10: very appropriate for the occasion and perfect southern vibes I thought.

Fuzzy Feelings 9/10: not appropriate for the occasion, but so cute.

Blusing bride 10/10 so hot love it.

Those other maternity outfits were so bad. Not a fan.

LI Ranking and Rating:

I had Clint. It was fine.

Side Character Ranking and Rating:

Love the friendship with Cassandra. It’s like a less dangerous and, admittedly, cheaper, version of the friendship with Olivia Nevrakis.

The brothers were a nice addition, we don’t always get to see the families of LIs, or have them be likable, so they were good.

The babies. 10/10. So cute, so funny, I love them.

Other Relationship Ranking and Rating:

Cassandra and Gavin are cute. He’s not the perfect match for her but I’m glad she liked him all along and he wasn’t a second choice.

Category:

Fun/Family

Story Rating:

I liked the storyline. It was nice that everything worked out in the end for the Mayor, who I changed to Whitney, but that it took a while and everyone had to learn how to make a difference without having the Mayor on their side.

The wedding was lovely.

The babies are everything. I adore them and their cute little faces. I wish they had looked older when they were 1 though.

Romance Rating:

The romance was good I’m just not super compelled by this LI>

Art Rating:

7/10 – there was some good art here for all the diamond upgrades we had to buy. I still liked them even if they cost diamonds though.

Main Character Rating:

6/10. She is a sweet mom. That was fun.

Starting Gems/Ending Gems:

5105 starting. 5248 ending.

[marvelnaturalock]

Did I spend like 250 diamonds to collect this stuff like Pokémon? Absolutely yes. Do I regret it? Not one bit.

[liaromancewriter]

This is such a cute outfit. I can see Cassie wearing it too for a casual date.