i think brandi is interested in money because she doesn't have any. usually poor people are concerned the most about money but because they need it to SURVIVE lol
Not all poor people care about money. It's a huge misconception. Most of them have enough to get by and that is all they need. The problems come when you get hit with a unexpected heavy bill of a imaginary service or expensive one that you were forced into, like medical bills, or fines and on top of it if it's multiple ones or you have to fight it in court. Even if you win A) you lost time B) you owe money for the court time etc so they come and collect, if there is nothing to collect it's converted to prison time and forced labor, if you are sick then good luck surviving all that .... I know TOO many people who been there. Including parts of my family and lastly myself who inherited my father's debts for example that I had to pay for. Some people inherit million+ I inherited million+ in debt ... "fun" stuff ... this is the parasitic and idiotic world we live in, sadly, these are the "laws" the poor people get f cked over left and right while the rich are not even fined as much or don't feel the financial blow. They pretty much ended my family that is old as humanity itself ... we bear one of the oldest names around yet all that doesn't matter when with imaginary numbers on papers they simply erased us, especially fines and bills mailed to a address that doesnt even exist then one day they magically know where to find you break into your house and have the right to put you on the streets, take even that small something you had. There were times when they broke someones house by mistake and later to sue them it costed more then what the damage was on the house ... plus it took years to fight it. I can go for days with things like these. Also know many families who got erased. Some survived wars only to be hit later with fines that ended them. Talk about being a victim over and over again ...
The most plausible theory, to me, is the last one: the furniture looks like things that would be stolen (except maybe the bed) and Brandi must not know what job her son is doing (she probably thinks he does something else)
I feel like the first ones more plausible. It makes the most sense. Brandi and Skip would’ve been able to save up money after Brandi had gotten a promotion and having to only raise one child at the time, the money could’ve been going elsewhere such as expensive items. I think many people fall into the poor money management and end up buying frivolous purchases once they come into some extra money rather than saving it.
My theory is that Skip was a criminal just like Dustin and stole all the expensive items they now have in their bedroom and maybe his criminal past is what led to his suspicious death. Dustin's also a criminal either to feel closer to his dad or could've been lured in by Skip's employers, looking for a replacement.
One theory I liked that I saw on Reddit is this: “My interpretation of Brandi’s bedroom is that she is a sex worker by necessity. Her bedroom isn’t just “nicely decorated”. It’s sexily decorated, with red and candles and leopard prints and a sexy woman painting. And since she is, well, broke, it’s somewhat the typical cliché of a girl resorting to sex work to make ends meet + “friendly by nature, accused of being overly so” sounds like an euphemism for “she’s looking for clients”.” I think the pinball machine being stolen by Dustin also makes sense but I don’t think he had anything to do with the bed and sexy painting lol. As for the pool I never thought anything of it more than a reference to the fact that the players often kill their sims like that. Especially since sims do acknowledge the existence of players (waving for us, staring into our souls, getting angry at us when we make them do things against their personality etc)
Also, you'd think a mother would place her newborn's crib in the bedroom to keep close attentiom to him. However, the crib is placed in the hallway. Thus we can conclude she needs the bedroom all for herself and can't have a baby sleeping there, connecting to your theory.
@@gsp1995 And further connected by how Brandi looks as well, you can tell she's poor but her clothes don't leave much to the imagination and the tacky pink lips reminds me of my childhood neighborhood with women who worked the same jobs, yes they had bedrooms almost identical to Brandi's too and explains her baby assuming we don't take the realities of coding to heart as that kid would've had to come from someone.
Her bedroom being red is definitely a nod to that. I also think they hinted to her offing Skip, the fact she’s almost friends with Nina and Dina (who are part of other spouse removal plots) and the pool in her backyard.
There was a theory a while back based on Brandi's memories that the repoman came to the trailer when they couldn't afford bills, and he took the pool ladder as payment which is how Skip died and the pool ladder went missing.
the repo man basically also means mafia ... he might easily be a criminal too and got offed bcs of something, so his son is a replacement now she also (her room) screams sex-worker ... so she isnt much of a saint either, on top of that the whole household screams of weird and bad decisions too anyway
The pinball machine easily could be something that’s been in the family for a while. Poor people have nice things sometimes… Especially nice things that are a one time purchase with infinite replay value lol.
I do think it's much more likely that Brandi bought the bed and painting when she had a more money, and her son eventually stole the pinball machine. Probably playing it off like it was one of his friends and they were getting rid of it so they gave it to him. I think that's a bit more likely. There's not really a reason to think all the items were bought/stolen at the same time.
@@missacat5027 Maybe, I always felt like it meant she was interested it in the way of crime dramas or true crime. Since I don't feel like 50% is enough to allow her son to be a criminal. That's just how I interpreted it though.
Once when I was playing the Broke family, Brandi died giving birth to her child and Dustin had to take care of the newborn and Beau. This made him tired all the time, his need for fun was always red, which is why he could never do his homework, which led to him losing his part-time job and they ran out of money. I was so stressed out while playing this family. I ended up sending Dustin to college and giving Beau and the other kid to another family.
I feel so bad for Brandi bc in my game she died in a kitchen fire after she gave birth to her third child. Dustin ended up being the sole caretaker for his younger siblings. Beau was already aged up to a child by then so it was a bit easier. fortunately when beau aged to a teenager I was able to send Dustin off to college where he made excellent grades as a business major and entered that career. he climbed his way to CEO and lives in a large house with his wife Angela and their children. Beau went off to college and then moved away to do his own thing. the younger broke sibling I named Liam and he grew up well and went off to college and met Phoebe the good witch, fell in love and married her. Now he lives as a stay at home dad for their son Leon. So the brokes ended up doing pretty well I'm super happy for them 🥺 I do wish Brandi lived to see her sons do so well in life.
in my game (bear in mind none of this was planned at all) brandi lost custody of beau but none of the others because he stayed home from school when no one else was home, then I had him be adopted by the burbs, where beau and John burb died in a fire after trying to make crepes suzette to impress the headmaster, it was insane
When I was paycheck to paycheck a large pizza could last for about a week for me… so if you get a coupon for one it ends up being way better than groceries and you don’t need to cook/prep. 😅 Also for context when I was this broke I ate at most once a day. And finally realistically poor people still buy pizzas because if you don’t do SOMETHING to make life more bearable then you’ll not live long.
In the Sims 2, Sims can put anything in their inventories, even cars and hot tubs, so it's not impossible for Dustin to have just pocketed that pinball machine, or used one of those magic bags the Burglars use to vacuum up people's belongings
Without cheats got brandi to get all her kids (5 in total), into private school, reach lvl 7 of the medical career, send off kids to college and buy a bigger house. Brandi was a power woman. No husband.
Being fat is more common in low income folks than financially comfortable folks since it’s more expensive to eat/live healthily (expensive in not just financial cost but also in time and energy which low income folks are often also lacking in). So I found the idea of Brandi being close to being fat as evidence that they’re not broke as very bizarre.
Idk why but I never had a hard time playing the Brokes. The first thing I took care of was that Beau had finished his toddler skills, and that was usually with Brandi. I kept Dustin's grades up (he watched TV before and after school to not utterly explode from lack of fun), and he managed to promote to the 3rd level of the criminal career. A few times Angela would call about sneaking out (in general she was at the Broke's house a lot), and I'd do it rarely: Dustin should know that basically his family's financial state was all on him. When Beau aged up, it was a little awkward figuring out how to configure Dustin's room to accommodate, and when Brandi had Unborn Baby Boy Broke (i don't remember what i named him), I put him in Beau's old crib. It certainly was a juggling act, but I figured it out. In a way, playing the Brokes was way more fun than playing the Goths. I would imagine that's because my default play style is just making Sims promote and improve, and the Goths didn't really have that for me.
I really like how all of the small details in the Broke's house could be taken as a commentary on poverty. Brandi is unemployed and living off her teenage child's salary. He has turned to crime to support his family (rUn dRuGs tO sUpPoRt mY nAnA). There is the stereotype that all people in poverty are unemployed bums (Brandi) and the very unfortunate reality that many older siblings have to get jobs to support their younger ones (Dustin). There is also the criticism that people on poverty make poor money choices as discussed in this video. As for the pizza and Brandi's weight, this could also be commentary on how poor people are more at risk for obesity because fast food is often cheaper than fresh produce. The small pool in the backyard could be like a makeshift kiddie pool or an above ground pool. The richer families in Pleasant view have pools (The Pleasant's).
As far as the pizza goes, it's relatively cheap depending on where you get it and can last several days. I mean, you can get a large one-topping pizza from Papa John's for like $15, and depending on how many people are in your household, that's much cheaper than buying groceries for the same amount of food you'd have to buy for meals during the time the pizza lasts. In the United States, at least, it's pretty common for those with lower incomes to gain weight considering healthy food is often more expensive and doesn't last as long as junk food. Especially in food deserts, fresh, healthy food can be incredibly hard to come by, and when it is available, it can be exorbitantly expensive. And, let's be honest here: If Brandi were secretly rich, I seriously doubt she'd spend all that money on nice things for her room while her teenage son does petty crime for a living and her toddler sleeps in the hallway. She seems the kind of person who wants her children to have the best lives she can provide. She's likely interested in money because she has very little of it. When you're living at or below the poverty line like the Brokes are, sometimes all you can think about is if you'll be able to afford your bills this month. $900 also isn't all that much in the grand scheme of things, either, especially considering how expensive rent can be here in the real world.
While I do agree that pizza can be a fairly cheap male I do not agree that it lasts a couple days. It depends on the family the size of the family and they’re eating habits. My brother can eat a whole large pizza just by himself. But I do think that people have a misconception about groceries. Because I could get food from the grocery store for $15 and make that last two or more weeks. If you buy a pack of chicken breast a bag of rice and some canned vegetables the chicken breast may run you like $11, the rice maybe two or three dollars, and canned vegetables are usually $.49 a can. So that toes up to about $15 and chicken breast to last a while if you cook it right and are creative. So with that you can make a lot of meals that can last your family a while that they can eat. And chicken breast are usually really thick so you can cut them into smaller pieces to make it last longer. When I was in college I used to slice my breast up and grill it sometimes fried chicken tenders sometimes make chicken nuggets and just one Braska last a week or two.
I had no problem with the Broke household. Make sure Dustin is at least a grade C student and get him a part-time job, as F students can not work. Give Brandi a full time job where she works night shift. Teenagers can be home on their own unlike younger sims. Teens can also babysit, meaning there is no need for a nanny. Brandi can take care of Boh whilst Dustin is at school and Dustin can take care of Boh whilst Brandi is working. Irregardless of what part-time job you give Dustin all part-time jobs never start before 3 pm and never later than 10 pm. (In The Sims 2 anyway) Students leave for school at 8 am, make sure Brandi is home before then. Jobs like music, culinary, criminal and medicin often have night shift. Regarding Brandis third pregnancy and earning money, with own means of transportation pregnant sims can leave for work. Maternity leave only prevent the carpool from arriving. That way one can get full pay for the work day (or work night XD ) rather than just 80% of ones salary. Click on car, even the cheapest one will do, the hour before work start. The same time the carpool would arrive, pregnant sims will have the option to "drive to work" available. With Bon Voyage expansion there is also a self-interaction "go to work". These two ways also work for pregnant sims. If desired, when all children attend school you can change Brandis work to a daytime one. Suggestively to one where the carpool arrive at 8 am and return home at 3 pm. Single parent household do best by working when the children are in school.
It's a lot more challenging if you do a wants based gameplay. I'm not gonna get Brandi a job or make Dustin do his homework unless they want to, and they haven't... I don't really mind though, the challenge is pretty damn fun.
I probably read into this a bit too much but this is what i always thought about the broke household: -I assumed the bedroom items were bought by brandi and skip as a sign they were madly in love, possibly before they had kids. The bedroom seems so much more decorated to me and I always assumed this was to show that they spent a lot of time together and cared for each other deeply. Having a safe heaven away from the hectic boys running around destroying things outside the door. -the pinball machine was bought by Dustin with money from his job, as most teenagers do they spend the money on themselves from their first job rather than help contribute to the household. Also he didn't have much in the way of toys growing up so it's common for teens to 'splash out' and buy themselves something ridiculous for entertainment with their first pay - imo. -The pizza although brandi has high cooking skill and seems to love doing it (at least that's what I always assumed) she opted to order a pizza during her mourning as she found it too overwhelming to cook/do what she loved. she was simply surviving.
I had to laugh when you said "maybe she threw him in the pool?". Darn I was hoping you were going to say Michael killed Skip, so he could clone Brandy or making her think the baby is her clone but really it is her and Michael's baby (won't suggest how that happens)
Many people living in food desserts are fat. Oftentimes, it's the rich who can afford to be thin in places like that. So idk about the point with her being close to fat
Yep, I was just away to comment something like this. Being fat is more common in low income folks than financially comfortable folks since it’s more expensive to eat/live healthily (expensive in not just financial cost but also in time and energy which low income folks are often also lacking in). So I found the idea of Brandi being close to being fat as evidence that they’re not broke as very bizarre.
@@sprinkleofjulia I was going to comment this too. It is a misconception that you can only get fat by eating lots and lots of food. It depends on the quality of food too. Low income households often resort to takeout and frozen foods because they just don't have access to good quality food 😕
so it's not just me that wondered why Brandi had those specific items in her "trailer" especially the pinball machine. there is no way I'd let my delinquent teenage son have a pinball machine in his bedroom while I struggled to make end meet. I had no idea her bed and the painting above it were worth such a large sum. I looked up Skip Broke's cause of death. he drowned, in that postage stamp of a pool? I smell a rats behind.
I could imagine Dina and Brandi were really good friends in earlier stage of life and Dina had some compassion towards Brandi cuz of her Situation. So my theory: The time Dina married Bella's brother Michael and she got a lot of money, she gifted Brandi 5.000 Simoleons to have a better life. That could explain too the Repo memory of Dina after Michael died because she was a little bit to generous and wasteful with that money. It's not rare that people that get a big amount of money don't see an end spending it, espacially if theres no active income and Dina already got a high interest in Fashion, Entertainment and Travel. So she spent it on nice dresses (Like her that she wears casually), to travel/vacation and Entertainment Items like expensive television, stereo, computer etc.
I like the idea of the creators giving us more expensive items to give the family somewhat of a chance as a Doylist explanation but also Dustin stealing the same items as a Watsonian explanation, I think that combination makes a lot more sense.
I think the items are explained by the trailer trash/dive bar aesthetic the devs were probably going for with Brandi Broke's household. Her household is probably socioeconomically the most similar to Mama Hick's household from the Sims 1. As I recall, they had a pinball machine and a similar layout too.
2:00 "because you can't have trailers in the sims 2 the creators heavily hinted at it by taking the same shape" Actually, that's a very common type of house for poor people. I lived in a tiny town with only 400 people in it. There were a LOT of these houses in town and in the county. They're technically "modular homes" but everyone has always called them trailer houses and campers are called "camping trailers." I doubt they were implying the Brokes lived in a camping trailer but rather put them in a real house. Great video though! I love your lore videos, they're always so informative. And your videos about bella and Mortimer possibly being divorced actually got me to reinstall and play the Sims 2 again! I always played as the Brokes growing up because I related to them most 😂 so this particular video made me very happy.
They are exactly that, cheap modular houses. There are neighborhoods made solely with those. Eventually some people expanded them, some kept it the same through generations due to low income or no income at all. I seen also such houses in multiple places in games like GTA San Andreas which again is inspired by locations from real life. County houses especially are just as the same as those. So yeah you are 100% correct.
It could be that Dustin just told his mother that he bought the expensive items super cheap with his own money and she doesn't suspect that he did anything illegal. I mean a Sim that enjoys crumpling tin foil can't be too bright. Also it adds in a bit of complexity to Dustin since it looks like the only thing he got for himself was the pinball machine. He seems to mostly want nice things for his mom.
My theory is that Brandi “took the ladder” when Skip went for a dip, as she found out that Bella and Skip were having an affair. Both Bella and Skip are Romance sims who have had “mysterious circumstances” surrounding their disappearances, and that Mathilde Goth from Lunar Lakes is the love child of Skip and Bella, mainly because of Mathilde’s eye colour matches the real Skip’s (light blue/grey), and both Mortimer and Bella have brown eyes.
About the eye colour part: If both parents have brown eyes, it is possible for them to have a kid with blue eyes. While if both parents have blue eyes, it's not possible for them to have a kid with brown eyes.
@@dr.absurd Are you talking about in reality? Or in the game? Because I know TS2 will do that if a grandparent passed on that gene to one of the parents (although it does go both ways if the blue eyes are dark blue since light blue are recessive in game, but dark blue are dominent), but I have no clue about the other games other than their genetics seem to be less sophisticated than TS2.
I think Skip and Brandi probably got the bed and painting together, either as wedding presents, or bought for wedding present money. Dustin probably knicked the pinball machine somewhere though lol Brandi being close to overweight isn't that weird to me, as people with low income are more likely to be overweight, for a variety of factors we don't need to get into now. The pizza isn't that unrealistic to me either, especially since I personally have a friend whose family would get pizza when money was low, because the money wouldn't be taken out of the account until after payday, so it was a buffer when they couldn't buy groceries until they got paid.
The Broke family having expensive items while being broke reminds me of a friend I use to have. Their dad had a good job so they had pretty good income but they didn't know how to manage their money properly.. their house was in rough shape and it needed lot of tlc but they liked spending money on expensive stuff like fancy tv for example. They also took out loans regularly so I imagine that a lot of their money went towards loan payments.
I literally fell for it. At the same time i was like??? And checking how much time the video had left you said "i totally got you" and i realized lmao.
I always attributed her expensive items from tax return season from when her husband was alive lol. We were pretty poor growing up, but my mom has ADHD and poor impulse control, so when tax return season rollled around.... well, we bought luxuries when the money would've been better spent if not spent at all and instead into some savings. I also have ADHD, and just barely got my davings account into 3K range. It's so hard not to spend money lmao
I have an idea that lines up with each item: The Pinball Machine: Dustin stole it, and is hiding it from his mom. The Painting: Two theories: Dustin also stole that but he claims he saved up for it and gave it to Brandi as a gift. Brandi believes him. The Bed: It was purchased before Skip died, maybe even after they got married.
Your first theory could definately be a part of the sims-creator's story for us. Personally I always thought, that the expensive items were either to give us players an opportunity to sell off the items and have a not-too-broke start. Also I think the expensive items fits perfectly into Dustin's criminal career path. He could definately have stolen nice things for his mother, and the pinball machine for himself. Also the pizza - to me it was a way to show their social status. Eating bad food and such. Great video! I really enjoyed it :)
Nothing more to agree, but Dustin was one of my first crushes as a kid. The thought of him being in charge of his family being a criminal made me go ohhhhh~ Then I realized that it would transform into my type, the one with no future 💀
Thank you for another wonderful video, as well as for taking out the time of your day to work so hard at making these. Get plenty of rest when you can and take care of yourself!
A few days ago I was playing the sims 4 and I just got the get famous DLC and I found the son of the dreamer family and he's a celebrity..... And I also found Dustin Broke, he is a celebrity as well
Brandi doesn't approve of Dustin's criminal career, so I don't think the pinball machine, bed, etc were stolen. I think she bought the pinball machine for Dustin as a way to try and make things up to him cause she feels guilty for how he grew up. And the bed, painting etc could be from her days with Skip. They saved up together and bought things for their room since the bed would be for both of them. Another thing I noticed is the neon flamingo. It's in the screenshot when Skip is proposing to Brandi, so she bought it or bought another like it as a souvenir for that day they became engaged. So tragic... The Broke family is my favourite from TS2, and I love how challenging they are. In my game right now, Brandi stayed at home to raise her boys right, and sold paintings to stay afloat. She even made the comfort soup one time to treat her whole family when they all had the flu. It was so tense, haha. Dustin turned his life around, got engaged to Angela in college, and I plan on marrying them once Beau graduates college. Dustin is a CEO, and through his and Brandi's money, they moved into a nice house capable of holding their large family. Their youngest son Kyle wants to be a doctor, and once he goes to college, Brandi will have her lifetime wish of seeing all three of her boys be successful. The struggle was real, but seeing them now in a good home, with Brandi and Dustin's relationships thriving, with everyone successful in their own way, I'm so happy how things turned out. TS2 is incredible and you really feel for the families and grow to care for them as you see their lives unfold.
Ooh this looks interesting! Saying now since I'm actually early which never happens I really love your videos and they are mostly super well researched and always so much fun to watch, so thankyou for creating them!
I think I just go with the 4th wall breaking meta theory quite literally what it was, the devolpers did it as a reference to what many players do so clearly it wasnt Brandi, it was THE WATCHER that caused the pool ladder "accident".
Bear in mind that in real life, the cheapest food is the stuff that often gets you the most fat. You can be fat and malnourished - many people often are. But when you can't afford better you make do. Also, the delivery pizza could've been an exhaustion choice - poor families are often heavily overworked, stressed, etc, and you still gotta feed your kids when you have negative energy left to make them food. You usually end up going without yourself later, or some other part of the budget suffers. As for 'luxury' items, you can.... you know. Inherit things. or be gifted things. or get them on the cheap when someone is selling them on simslist. Or you could've bought them before your money situation got even worse than it is now. Lots of reasons to have 'expensive' items when you're dirt poor. I'm dirt poor. Should I not have my cellphone bc it's 'expensive'? does it imply i'm lying about my poverty?
I think the last theory is the most likely one ..but what if I stead of him stealing the bed and the pinball machine he ended up stealing someone's bag or something and selling it for that money . That could solve brandi not being the kind of sim who would display stolen stuff ....it wasn't stolen but maybe just bought with stolen money . Idk though lol 🤣
I always felt like it was that the Brokes had lived beyond their means. There are plenty of people who struggle to pay rent or bills, but will buy a karaoke machine, expensive baby clothes that they'll grow out of in 2 weeks or whatever.
10:41 He died *before* Beau was born, not after. Also Brandi has always birthed a 3rd son every time I have played her so the clone theory doesn't hold up, either. I only believe the first theory, that simply at some point they had more money, because it's the only theory that doesn't have any flaws and because usually the simplest explanation is the correct one
I was a bit confused by that. I wasn't sure what they were trying to say, whether he died before or after she gave birth. Either way it can check out, people can easily die before their kids are born as well as afterwards.
I remember returning it several times in a row for a new copy because I thought that it was in a different language and I was picking up the wrong copy. LOL it just happens to be that they speak their own language which I was not aware of. After about my 6th or 7th return then I clicked on the giant arrow and began my Sims journey. LOL
If you add Downtown to Pleasantview, and you resurrect the Tricous, many get a large inheritance money from Beau Broke. This is a bug of course, but it's still funny.
I like to think that skip had a gambling problem and blew all their money and perhaps he fell in their half finished pool he was building against Brandi’s wishes. Perhaps she or Dustin pushed him but I don’t see either of them doing that so maybe Skip had too much to drink at the love and cards shack and accidentally fell in.
So I never played the families, that came with each game, but after watching the video, I wanted to try out Brandi's Story. Well, after everything went well (got her a job, her older son was going to do the teacher job and his grades went up), she put food in the oven, had her baby in the meantime it was coocking and burned down the kitchen with her two older children (the teenager and her then child). Only the Baby and she survived. -_- So yeah, I screwed her basically over. Fun fact - in the german version of the game, her surname is Braun (brown). Edit: So I continued to play the family, hoping to get the career reward for the grim reaper phone, aaaaand... her fricking child (the younger one) just scared her to death. Poor Rüdiger (yes, I named the Baby that, don't judge me XD), is now the only living family member. -_-
I would just kind of assume they had the luxury items before Skip died, and the point of them is that you're supposed to sell them--just as someone would in those same circumstances IRL. It serves two purposes: makes the household playable by giving a bit of extra money, and brings in a little realism. The pizza isn't inconceivable either. Low-income households tend to eat more fast food than wealthy ones, because wealthier people have more money to buy healthy food and more time to prepare it, while poorer people tend to eat whatever is convenient when they come home exhausted from working all day at a manual labor or customer service (a.k.a. absolutely draining) job. Brandi is unemployed if I remember correctly, but if she's never had money, she would have picked up those unhealthy eating habits from her parents. Or she just had pregnancy cravings.
I am in the middle of the video but I have a few theories , one, so skip may have gambled it all away and then died in a car crash under the influence, and 2. Brandi got inheritance after her parents died and she spent it all and then skip got sick and they could not pay for treatment
Another possible theory is that Brandi has a spending problem which would kinda explain why her room has the most expensive items in the household. Yes in her bio it doesn’t necessarily imply that but overly spending money is a form of addiction plus her being overly nice might be her trying to hide that fact OR Her husband was the one with the spending problem and now his family pays the price for it . Again their room has the most expensive things and I think it also makes sense for the pool. Maybe he impulsively bought the pool and Brandi had enough and told him to get rid of it and caved and then while he was starting to take apart the pool he decided to take one last swim but forgot he got rid of the ladder and then drowned. To me it makes the most sense as why they’re so broke now when it looks like they weren’t to begin with. The photos of going out to a bar, etc. Maybe his spending got so bad they lost the house and had to move in her parents house hence why it looks so similar.
I do have a theory that Dustin is hiding the fact that he's a criminal to his mom..all he's saying to her is that he got a job and this will turn their lives around. Maybe he's overemphasised a bit too about how great this job is.. As he kept on working he started to give Brandi the stuff that he had managed to steal.. or to "hold on for a bit" for his work. The painting, the fancy bed, and the other fancy stuff, heck maybe even the pinball machine?
I have remade the Broke family in TS4 a couple times now. I like to turn Brandi into a fat lazy slob. My latest Dustin just died from elocution when repairing the TV though :(
The pizza thing is probably because they are poor. poverty is a loss of money as well as time as you struggle to get money. ordering a pizza is far easier and quicker than cooking a full meal.
How does this timeline work for Brandi to be about 25 with a teenager? Assuming he is only 13, that would still put her at 12 years old? Or am I missing something?
I would say her bedroom furnishings was stuff her and Skip bought over time, It's not a strange thing for a young couple to first upgrade the bedroom furniture before any other room. The pinball machine could have been Skips before he married Brandi and kept it after the marriage and used to play it in the second bedroom so he wouldn't annoy her by the noise it makes. He could have loved pinball as a child and got a job as a teen and saved up to get his own machine. I don't see the need for anything nefarious. As for the pool... well they were not exactly rolling in money so buying a small AF pool because they really wanted a pool isn't out there. There's also nothing saying Skip drowned in that pool, he could have been at a party and had a little too much to drink and drowned in the pool at that home.
I mean, I kinda assumed that Brandi and Skip became parents very young (And Skip is a lot older than her). And they both skipped college to raise their kid. But Skip proves himself to be a deadbeat dad and couldn't take parenthood anymore, so he purposely drown himself in the pol, so that he wouldn't have to raise the kids anymore. And unfortunately, since Brandi is a stay-at-home mom and Skip was the only source of income the family could provide, they eventually run out of money, and Brandi has to raise their two kids plus the one coming after Skip's demise. I think I commented something like this on the Skip video.
i love playing the brokes. so much nostalgia to when i was 13 playing pleasantview in 2003. im playing them again rn as a kind of back to childhood regression for my broke like life experiences... back then, i made dustin turn his life around and angela go to college and get 130 sim lane and have a few kids. but this time i think ill have dustin do bad and cheat on her with lilith. and have good natured dirk fall for angela. >_>;
its funner to just play on hard mode. theyre poor cuz they buy stuff beyond their means. and dustin got fired. brandi has lvl 8 cooking so she can get a chef job and get promoted fast
Don't wanna say I told you so, but the SimGuru copped to what I've saying all along about the continuity: We ****ed up! As for the stuff: not stolen, but PURCHASED WITH ILL-GOTTEN GAINS! Stolen money (or that from fenced items) could easily buy that kind of stuff. Brandi knows he has a job, maybe just not what KIND; so I'm sure she would proudly display/use anything that showed up on order. "What a nice son I have!" 🥰
So in my game it says that skip dies BEFORE beau was born, ok that’s fine makes sense she was probably pregnant when skip died. But then how is she pregnant with another one of his children?? Way after his death & could’ve been pregnant with him when he was alive bc she was pregnant with beau. Sorry this has been bothering me so much.
Some people think Brandi got ahold of some of the aging potion (I haven't played S2 in a hot minute, so I forget the official name) or think Brandi was implied to be a teen mom.
i think brandi is interested in money because she doesn't have any. usually poor people are concerned the most about money but because they need it to SURVIVE lol
facts. irl
Not all poor people care about money. It's a huge misconception. Most of them have enough to get by and that is all they need.
The problems come when you get hit with a unexpected heavy bill of a imaginary service or expensive one that you were forced into, like medical bills, or fines and on top of it if it's multiple ones or you have to fight it in court.
Even if you win A) you lost time B) you owe money for the court time etc so they come and collect, if there is nothing to collect it's converted to prison time and forced labor, if you are sick then good luck surviving all that ....
I know TOO many people who been there. Including parts of my family and lastly myself who inherited my father's debts for example that I had to pay for. Some people inherit million+ I inherited million+ in debt ... "fun" stuff ... this is the parasitic and idiotic world we live in, sadly, these are the "laws" the poor people get f cked over left and right while the rich are not even fined as much or don't feel the financial blow.
They pretty much ended my family that is old as humanity itself ... we bear one of the oldest names around yet all that doesn't matter when with imaginary numbers on papers they simply erased us, especially fines and bills mailed to a address that doesnt even exist then one day they magically know where to find you break into your house and have the right to put you on the streets, take even that small something you had. There were times when they broke someones house by mistake and later to sue them it costed more then what the damage was on the house ... plus it took years to fight it.
I can go for days with things like these. Also know many families who got erased. Some survived wars only to be hit later with fines that ended them. Talk about being a victim over and over again ...
Considering Cassandra Goth has no interest in money this might be the case.
The most plausible theory, to me, is the last one: the furniture looks like things that would be stolen (except maybe the bed) and Brandi must not know what job her son is doing (she probably thinks he does something else)
Maybe thats why her bio suggests she can be too nice hinting at her being naive and gullible
@@cieraaustin2996 that's what I was thinking too ! Also, the fact that she enjoys "crumpling tin foil", to me, suggest the same thing
that's how I read it. like especially the pinball machine. whereas to me the bed and painting came from when skip was alive yanno
I feel like the first ones more plausible. It makes the most sense. Brandi and Skip would’ve been able to save up money after Brandi had gotten a promotion and having to only raise one child at the time, the money could’ve been going elsewhere such as expensive items. I think many people fall into the poor money management and end up buying frivolous purchases once they come into some extra money rather than saving it.
Maybe it's more that he stole some items, sold them and finally bought the bed, the painting and the pinball machine.
My theory is that Skip was a criminal just like Dustin and stole all the expensive items they now have in their bedroom and maybe his criminal past is what led to his suspicious death. Dustin's also a criminal either to feel closer to his dad or could've been lured in by Skip's employers, looking for a replacement.
Oh he got taken out by the mob
I love the use of "allegedly" when talking about the Calientes. Never hurts to be on the safe side⚖️
For legal reasons this video is for entertainment purposes 💅
Entertainment 💅🏻
Brandi behind her son’s first kiss and watching awkwardly will never not be funny 😭😭😭
IT HAD ME CREASINGGGG
Dustin and Angela kissing
Angela:Your mom is watching us
Dustin:Mom!
And sometimes she freaks the fuck out and fights with Angela lol
I just always assumed they were meant to be portrayed as "bad with money" to explain why they have expensive stuff despite being broke lol
That was my interpretation too.
Similar with the pizza showing they’re making bad decisions
One theory I liked that I saw on Reddit is this:
“My interpretation of Brandi’s bedroom is that she is a sex worker by necessity. Her bedroom isn’t just “nicely decorated”. It’s sexily decorated, with red and candles and leopard prints and a sexy woman painting. And since she is, well, broke, it’s somewhat the typical cliché of a girl resorting to sex work to make ends meet + “friendly by nature, accused of being overly so” sounds like an euphemism for “she’s looking for clients”.”
I think the pinball machine being stolen by Dustin also makes sense but I don’t think he had anything to do with the bed and sexy painting lol. As for the pool I never thought anything of it more than a reference to the fact that the players often kill their sims like that. Especially since sims do acknowledge the existence of players (waving for us, staring into our souls, getting angry at us when we make them do things against their personality etc)
Also, you'd think a mother would place her newborn's crib in the bedroom to keep close attentiom to him. However, the crib is placed in the hallway. Thus we can conclude she needs the bedroom all for herself and can't have a baby sleeping there, connecting to your theory.
@@gsp1995 And further connected by how Brandi looks as well, you can tell she's poor but her clothes don't leave much to the imagination and the tacky pink lips reminds me of my childhood neighborhood with women who worked the same jobs, yes they had bedrooms almost identical to Brandi's too and explains her baby assuming we don't take the realities of coding to heart as that kid would've had to come from someone.
Oh shoot that is so correct
Her bedroom being red is definitely a nod to that. I also think they hinted to her offing Skip, the fact she’s almost friends with Nina and Dina (who are part of other spouse removal plots) and the pool in her backyard.
There was a theory a while back based on Brandi's memories that the repoman came to the trailer when they couldn't afford bills, and he took the pool ladder as payment which is how Skip died and the pool ladder went missing.
I love this theory!!!
Watching this video makes me think that when the repo man came, Skip drowned himself, so that Brandi could collect the insurance payout.
the repo man basically also means mafia ... he might easily be a criminal too and got offed bcs of something, so his son is a replacement now
she also (her room) screams sex-worker ... so she isnt much of a saint either, on top of that the whole household screams of weird and bad decisions too anyway
The pinball machine easily could be something that’s been in the family for a while. Poor people have nice things sometimes… Especially nice things that are a one time purchase with infinite replay value lol.
I do think it's much more likely that Brandi bought the bed and painting when she had a more money, and her son eventually stole the pinball machine. Probably playing it off like it was one of his friends and they were getting rid of it so they gave it to him. I think that's a bit more likely. There's not really a reason to think all the items were bought/stolen at the same time.
But also her interests in crime is at 50%.. so maybe she would allow it?
@@missacat5027 Maybe, I always felt like it meant she was interested it in the way of crime dramas or true crime. Since I don't feel like 50% is enough to allow her son to be a criminal. That's just how I interpreted it though.
@@cookiemonsterz413 true. I didn't think of it like that :p
Once when I was playing the Broke family, Brandi died giving birth to her child and Dustin had to take care of the newborn and Beau. This made him tired all the time, his need for fun was always red, which is why he could never do his homework, which led to him losing his part-time job and they ran out of money. I was so stressed out while playing this family. I ended up sending Dustin to college and giving Beau and the other kid to another family.
Oh my God that sounds so stressful I could never…😌
Also me: has a minimum of 5 children and 4 pets in each let’s play LMFAOOOO 😭🥰💕😩🤪
Was this a mod or can that actually happen?
@@AudraBurgessit can happen I’ve had a sim die giving birth lol
I feel so bad for Brandi bc in my game she died in a kitchen fire after she gave birth to her third child. Dustin ended up being the sole caretaker for his younger siblings. Beau was already aged up to a child by then so it was a bit easier.
fortunately when beau aged to a teenager I was able to send Dustin off to college where he made excellent grades as a business major and entered that career. he climbed his way to CEO and lives in a large house with his wife Angela and their children.
Beau went off to college and then moved away to do his own thing.
the younger broke sibling I named Liam and he grew up well and went off to college and met Phoebe the good witch, fell in love and married her. Now he lives as a stay at home dad for their son Leon.
So the brokes ended up doing pretty well I'm super happy for them 🥺 I do wish Brandi lived to see her sons do so well in life.
in my game (bear in mind none of this was planned at all) brandi lost custody of beau but none of the others because he stayed home from school when no one else was home, then I had him be adopted by the burbs, where beau and John burb died in a fire after trying to make crepes suzette to impress the headmaster, it was insane
When I was paycheck to paycheck a large pizza could last for about a week for me… so if you get a coupon for one it ends up being way better than groceries and you don’t need to cook/prep. 😅
Also for context when I was this broke I ate at most once a day.
And finally realistically poor people still buy pizzas because if you don’t do SOMETHING to make life more bearable then you’ll not live long.
The bed, the art, and the pinball machine could have been gifts from her parents or some other Sim, or could be leftovers from Skip's bachelor life.
She's an icon and she is the moment
💅💅✨✨
In the Sims 2, Sims can put anything in their inventories, even cars and hot tubs, so it's not impossible for Dustin to have just pocketed that pinball machine, or used one of those magic bags the Burglars use to vacuum up people's belongings
Without cheats got brandi to get all her kids (5 in total), into private school, reach lvl 7 of the medical career, send off kids to college and buy a bigger house. Brandi was a power woman. No husband.
Being fat is more common in low income folks than financially comfortable folks since it’s more expensive to eat/live healthily (expensive in not just financial cost but also in time and energy which low income folks are often also lacking in). So I found the idea of Brandi being close to being fat as evidence that they’re not broke as very bizarre.
I feel like broke people are also more likely to eat out and stress eat even if they are on a budget. Coming from a broke person 😅
Big agree ...
I think it depends on the country(and time period)
i don't think that's always applicable. back in the day, being fat was a sign of being rich bc it means more money = more food = more weight
Yep, I was like so speaks someone who has never been poor and doesn't understand how poverty actually works in the US
Idk why but I never had a hard time playing the Brokes. The first thing I took care of was that Beau had finished his toddler skills, and that was usually with Brandi. I kept Dustin's grades up (he watched TV before and after school to not utterly explode from lack of fun), and he managed to promote to the 3rd level of the criminal career. A few times Angela would call about sneaking out (in general she was at the Broke's house a lot), and I'd do it rarely: Dustin should know that basically his family's financial state was all on him. When Beau aged up, it was a little awkward figuring out how to configure Dustin's room to accommodate, and when Brandi had Unborn Baby Boy Broke (i don't remember what i named him), I put him in Beau's old crib. It certainly was a juggling act, but I figured it out. In a way, playing the Brokes was way more fun than playing the Goths. I would imagine that's because my default play style is just making Sims promote and improve, and the Goths didn't really have that for me.
I really like how all of the small details in the Broke's house could be taken as a commentary on poverty. Brandi is unemployed and living off her teenage child's salary. He has turned to crime to support his family (rUn dRuGs tO sUpPoRt mY nAnA). There is the stereotype that all people in poverty are unemployed bums (Brandi) and the very unfortunate reality that many older siblings have to get jobs to support their younger ones (Dustin).
There is also the criticism that people on poverty make poor money choices as discussed in this video.
As for the pizza and Brandi's weight, this could also be commentary on how poor people are more at risk for obesity because fast food is often cheaper than fresh produce.
The small pool in the backyard could be like a makeshift kiddie pool or an above ground pool. The richer families in Pleasant view have pools (The Pleasant's).
As far as the pizza goes, it's relatively cheap depending on where you get it and can last several days. I mean, you can get a large one-topping pizza from Papa John's for like $15, and depending on how many people are in your household, that's much cheaper than buying groceries for the same amount of food you'd have to buy for meals during the time the pizza lasts.
In the United States, at least, it's pretty common for those with lower incomes to gain weight considering healthy food is often more expensive and doesn't last as long as junk food. Especially in food deserts, fresh, healthy food can be incredibly hard to come by, and when it is available, it can be exorbitantly expensive.
And, let's be honest here: If Brandi were secretly rich, I seriously doubt she'd spend all that money on nice things for her room while her teenage son does petty crime for a living and her toddler sleeps in the hallway. She seems the kind of person who wants her children to have the best lives she can provide. She's likely interested in money because she has very little of it. When you're living at or below the poverty line like the Brokes are, sometimes all you can think about is if you'll be able to afford your bills this month.
$900 also isn't all that much in the grand scheme of things, either, especially considering how expensive rent can be here in the real world.
While I do agree that pizza can be a fairly cheap male I do not agree that it lasts a couple days. It depends on the family the size of the family and they’re eating habits. My brother can eat a whole large pizza just by himself. But I do think that people have a misconception about groceries. Because I could get food from the grocery store for $15 and make that last two or more weeks. If you buy a pack of chicken breast a bag of rice and some canned vegetables the chicken breast may run you like $11, the rice maybe two or three dollars, and canned vegetables are usually $.49 a can. So that toes up to about $15 and chicken breast to last a while if you cook it right and are creative. So with that you can make a lot of meals that can last your family a while that they can eat. And chicken breast are usually really thick so you can cut them into smaller pieces to make it last longer. When I was in college I used to slice my breast up and grill it sometimes fried chicken tenders sometimes make chicken nuggets and just one Braska last a week or two.
I had no problem with the Broke household.
Make sure Dustin is at least a grade C student and get him a part-time job, as F students can not work.
Give Brandi a full time job where she works night shift.
Teenagers can be home on their own unlike younger sims. Teens can also babysit, meaning there is no need for a nanny.
Brandi can take care of Boh whilst Dustin is at school and Dustin can take care of Boh whilst Brandi is working.
Irregardless of what part-time job you give Dustin all part-time jobs never start before 3 pm and never later than 10 pm. (In The Sims 2 anyway)
Students leave for school at 8 am, make sure Brandi is home before then. Jobs like music, culinary, criminal and medicin often have night shift.
Regarding Brandis third pregnancy and earning money, with own means of transportation pregnant sims can leave for work. Maternity leave only prevent the carpool from arriving.
That way one can get full pay for the work day (or work night XD ) rather than just 80% of ones salary.
Click on car, even the cheapest one will do, the hour before work start. The same time the carpool would arrive, pregnant sims will have the option to "drive to work" available.
With Bon Voyage expansion there is also a self-interaction "go to work". These two ways also work for pregnant sims.
If desired, when all children attend school you can change Brandis work to a daytime one. Suggestively to one where the carpool arrive at 8 am and return home at 3 pm.
Single parent household do best by working when the children are in school.
It's a lot more challenging if you do a wants based gameplay. I'm not gonna get Brandi a job or make Dustin do his homework unless they want to, and they haven't... I don't really mind though, the challenge is pretty damn fun.
You’re so smart
I probably read into this a bit too much but this is what i always thought about the broke household:
-I assumed the bedroom items were bought by brandi and skip as a sign they were madly in love, possibly before they had kids. The bedroom seems so much more decorated to me and I always assumed this was to show that they spent a lot of time together and cared for each other deeply. Having a safe heaven away from the hectic boys running around destroying things outside the door.
-the pinball machine was bought by Dustin with money from his job, as most teenagers do they spend the money on themselves from their first job rather than help contribute to the household. Also he didn't have much in the way of toys growing up so it's common for teens to 'splash out' and buy themselves something ridiculous for entertainment with their first pay - imo.
-The pizza although brandi has high cooking skill and seems to love doing it (at least that's what I always assumed) she opted to order a pizza during her mourning as she found it too overwhelming to cook/do what she loved. she was simply surviving.
I had to laugh when you said "maybe she threw him in the pool?". Darn I was hoping you were going to say Michael killed Skip, so he could clone Brandy or making her think the baby is her clone but really it is her and Michael's baby (won't suggest how that happens)
That sounds like strangetown stuff and waht i headcanon for Circe doing to Nervous...
@@Karin-fj3eu You think Michael would not fit into Strangtown?
Many people living in food desserts are fat. Oftentimes, it's the rich who can afford to be thin in places like that. So idk about the point with her being close to fat
Probs her pregnancy 🤰
Yep, I was just away to comment something like this. Being fat is more common in low income folks than financially comfortable folks since it’s more expensive to eat/live healthily (expensive in not just financial cost but also in time and energy which low income folks are often also lacking in). So I found the idea of Brandi being close to being fat as evidence that they’re not broke as very bizarre.
@@sprinkleofjulia I was going to comment this too. It is a misconception that you can only get fat by eating lots and lots of food. It depends on the quality of food too. Low income households often resort to takeout and frozen foods because they just don't have access to good quality food 😕
and foods high in protein are more expensive. foods high in protein can boost your metabolism
so it's not just me that wondered why Brandi had those specific items in her "trailer" especially the pinball machine. there is no way I'd let my delinquent teenage son have a pinball machine in his bedroom while I struggled to make end meet. I had no idea her bed and the painting above it were worth such a large sum. I looked up Skip Broke's cause of death. he drowned, in that postage stamp of a pool? I smell a rats behind.
this makes me want to play sims 2 again, it's such a gem i love it
I could imagine Dina and Brandi were really good friends in earlier stage of life and Dina had some compassion towards Brandi cuz of her Situation. So my theory: The time Dina married Bella's brother Michael and she got a lot of money, she gifted Brandi 5.000 Simoleons to have a better life. That could explain too the Repo memory of Dina after Michael died because she was a little bit to generous and wasteful with that money. It's not rare that people that get a big amount of money don't see an end spending it, espacially if theres no active income and Dina already got a high interest in Fashion, Entertainment and Travel. So she spent it on nice dresses (Like her that she wears casually), to travel/vacation and Entertainment Items like expensive television, stereo, computer etc.
I like the idea of the creators giving us more expensive items to give the family somewhat of a chance as a Doylist explanation but also Dustin stealing the same items as a Watsonian explanation, I think that combination makes a lot more sense.
I think the items are explained by the trailer trash/dive bar aesthetic the devs were probably going for with Brandi Broke's household. Her household is probably socioeconomically the most similar to Mama Hick's household from the Sims 1. As I recall, they had a pinball machine and a similar layout too.
2:00 "because you can't have trailers in the sims 2 the creators heavily hinted at it by taking the same shape"
Actually, that's a very common type of house for poor people. I lived in a tiny town with only 400 people in it. There were a LOT of these houses in town and in the county. They're technically "modular homes" but everyone has always called them trailer houses and campers are called "camping trailers."
I doubt they were implying the Brokes lived in a camping trailer but rather put them in a real house.
Great video though! I love your lore videos, they're always so informative. And your videos about bella and Mortimer possibly being divorced actually got me to reinstall and play the Sims 2 again!
I always played as the Brokes growing up because I related to them most 😂 so this particular video made me very happy.
They are exactly that, cheap modular houses. There are neighborhoods made solely with those. Eventually some people expanded them, some kept it the same through generations due to low income or no income at all.
I seen also such houses in multiple places in games like GTA San Andreas which again is inspired by locations from real life. County houses especially are just as the same as those. So yeah you are 100% correct.
It could be that Dustin just told his mother that he bought the expensive items super cheap with his own money and she doesn't suspect that he did anything illegal. I mean a Sim that enjoys crumpling tin foil can't be too bright.
Also it adds in a bit of complexity to Dustin since it looks like the only thing he got for himself was the pinball machine. He seems to mostly want nice things for his mom.
My theory is that Brandi “took the ladder” when Skip went for a dip, as she found out that Bella and Skip were having an affair.
Both Bella and Skip are Romance sims who have had “mysterious circumstances” surrounding their disappearances, and that Mathilde Goth from Lunar Lakes is the love child of Skip and Bella, mainly because of Mathilde’s eye colour matches the real Skip’s (light blue/grey), and both Mortimer and Bella have brown eyes.
I like this theory.
Whoa
About the eye colour part: If both parents have brown eyes, it is possible for them to have a kid with blue eyes. While if both parents have blue eyes, it's not possible for them to have a kid with brown eyes.
@@dr.absurd Are you talking about in reality? Or in the game? Because I know TS2 will do that if a grandparent passed on that gene to one of the parents (although it does go both ways if the blue eyes are dark blue since light blue are recessive in game, but dark blue are dominent), but I have no clue about the other games other than their genetics seem to be less sophisticated than TS2.
@@StoryGirl83 In reality. I'm not sure how Sim genetic works.
I think Skip and Brandi probably got the bed and painting together, either as wedding presents, or bought for wedding present money. Dustin probably knicked the pinball machine somewhere though lol
Brandi being close to overweight isn't that weird to me, as people with low income are more likely to be overweight, for a variety of factors we don't need to get into now. The pizza isn't that unrealistic to me either, especially since I personally have a friend whose family would get pizza when money was low, because the money wouldn't be taken out of the account until after payday, so it was a buffer when they couldn't buy groceries until they got paid.
The Broke family having expensive items while being broke reminds me of a friend I use to have. Their dad had a good job so they had pretty good income but they didn't know how to manage their money properly.. their house was in rough shape and it needed lot of tlc but they liked spending money on expensive stuff like fancy tv for example. They also took out loans regularly so I imagine that a lot of their money went towards loan payments.
Helping out that family was so satisfying, so I had to stop playing sims 2 for some time, since nobody could replace this
I'm here and full lol , Happy Mother's day to all the Mother's!
The Material Gworl killed me 🤣
And of course happy Mother’s Day to our main gal Brandi 💅😭🥰😩
I literally fell for it. At the same time i was like??? And checking how much time the video had left you said "i totally got you" and i realized lmao.
I’ve always thought the pinball machine was purchase via Dustin will ill-gotten gains. It’s the first thing I delete when I play! 😆
I always attributed her expensive items from tax return season from when her husband was alive lol. We were pretty poor growing up, but my mom has ADHD and poor impulse control, so when tax return season rollled around.... well, we bought luxuries when the money would've been better spent if not spent at all and instead into some savings. I also have ADHD, and just barely got my davings account into 3K range. It's so hard not to spend money lmao
I have an idea that lines up with each item:
The Pinball Machine: Dustin stole it, and is hiding it from his mom.
The Painting: Two theories: Dustin also stole that but he claims he saved up for it and gave it to Brandi as a gift. Brandi believes him.
The Bed: It was purchased before Skip died, maybe even after they got married.
Your first theory could definately be a part of the sims-creator's story for us. Personally I always thought, that the expensive items were either to give us players an opportunity to sell off the items and have a not-too-broke start.
Also I think the expensive items fits perfectly into Dustin's criminal career path. He could definately have stolen nice things for his mother, and the pinball machine for himself.
Also the pizza - to me it was a way to show their social status. Eating bad food and such.
Great video! I really enjoyed it :)
i love the sorta eerie music while you talk about it😩 god i love these
Thank you so much 🙏☺️🥰
Nothing more to agree, but Dustin was one of my first crushes as a kid.
The thought of him being in charge of his family being a criminal made me go ohhhhh~
Then I realized that it would transform into my type, the one with no future 💀
I actually fell for the false ending 😅
In one of my playthrough Brandi ended up marrying Mortimer and they ended up having the most wholesome and faithful couple in my save.
I personally think alot of the expensive stuff is thrifted.
Thank you for another wonderful video, as well as for taking out the time of your day to work so hard at making these. Get plenty of rest when you can and take care of yourself!
Thank you so much Serena 🥰❤️
Brandi's a sweetie
A few days ago I was playing the sims 4 and I just got the get famous DLC and I found the son of the dreamer family and he's a celebrity..... And I also found Dustin Broke, he is a celebrity as well
Brandi doesn't approve of Dustin's criminal career, so I don't think the pinball machine, bed, etc were stolen. I think she bought the pinball machine for Dustin as a way to try and make things up to him cause she feels guilty for how he grew up. And the bed, painting etc could be from her days with Skip. They saved up together and bought things for their room since the bed would be for both of them.
Another thing I noticed is the neon flamingo. It's in the screenshot when Skip is proposing to Brandi, so she bought it or bought another like it as a souvenir for that day they became engaged. So tragic...
The Broke family is my favourite from TS2, and I love how challenging they are. In my game right now, Brandi stayed at home to raise her boys right, and sold paintings to stay afloat. She even made the comfort soup one time to treat her whole family when they all had the flu. It was so tense, haha.
Dustin turned his life around, got engaged to Angela in college, and I plan on marrying them once Beau graduates college.
Dustin is a CEO, and through his and Brandi's money, they moved into a nice house capable of holding their large family.
Their youngest son Kyle wants to be a doctor, and once he goes to college, Brandi will have her lifetime wish of seeing all three of her boys be successful.
The struggle was real, but seeing them now in a good home, with Brandi and Dustin's relationships thriving, with everyone successful in their own way, I'm so happy how things turned out.
TS2 is incredible and you really feel for the families and grow to care for them as you see their lives unfold.
My opinion is is they are terrible at managing money, and when they have some, they spend it on shallow things
Ooh this looks interesting!
Saying now since I'm actually early which never happens I really love your videos and they are mostly super well researched and always so much fun to watch, so thankyou for creating them!
Thank you so much 😊💕
I think I just go with the 4th wall breaking meta theory quite literally what it was, the devolpers did it as a reference to what many players do so clearly it wasnt Brandi, it was THE WATCHER that caused the pool ladder "accident".
Love this, yes! Creepy nonetheless hahah
Bear in mind that in real life, the cheapest food is the stuff that often gets you the most fat. You can be fat and malnourished - many people often are. But when you can't afford better you make do. Also, the delivery pizza could've been an exhaustion choice - poor families are often heavily overworked, stressed, etc, and you still gotta feed your kids when you have negative energy left to make them food. You usually end up going without yourself later, or some other part of the budget suffers. As for 'luxury' items, you can.... you know. Inherit things. or be gifted things. or get them on the cheap when someone is selling them on simslist. Or you could've bought them before your money situation got even worse than it is now. Lots of reasons to have 'expensive' items when you're dirt poor. I'm dirt poor. Should I not have my cellphone bc it's 'expensive'? does it imply i'm lying about my poverty?
I think the last theory is the most likely one ..but what if I stead of him stealing the bed and the pinball machine he ended up stealing someone's bag or something and selling it for that money . That could solve brandi not being the kind of sim who would display stolen stuff ....it wasn't stolen but maybe just bought with stolen money . Idk though lol 🤣
I lost it when material gurl started playing i cant-😭😭
I think Brandy's son just lied about where the items came from and she believed due to her kind and simple personality
OMG I FELT FOR IT HAHAHAHAHA. I clicked instantly on the video feeling confused that maybe accidentally I skipped the whole video lol
I always felt like it was that the Brokes had lived beyond their means. There are plenty of people who struggle to pay rent or bills, but will buy a karaoke machine, expensive baby clothes that they'll grow out of in 2 weeks or whatever.
I always sell Brandi's wardrobe and blue vase decorations to help out worh money 😁
This is a nice Mother's Day treat!
"Basically a challenge for players" not that being my first ever household
10:41 He died *before* Beau was born, not after. Also Brandi has always birthed a 3rd son every time I have played her so the clone theory doesn't hold up, either. I only believe the first theory, that simply at some point they had more money, because it's the only theory that doesn't have any flaws and because usually the simplest explanation is the correct one
I was a bit confused by that. I wasn't sure what they were trying to say, whether he died before or after she gave birth. Either way it can check out, people can easily die before their kids are born as well as afterwards.
The baby is always a gender flipped copy of Brandi. I think that's what they mean.
I just realized Brandi might got pregnant as a teen, if we consider ts1 and ts2 just have a 25 year time gap and one of her kids is a teenager.
I love the pinball machine when playing with them, cause it helps with fun
Thank you for the affirmations, I could always use more 🎉
Some poor people remain poor because they make poor financial choices & thats the pinkball machine
Me, a broke shopaholic
@@_7f00ffalso me who never sells that pinball* machine when i play their family, so i get u!
I had no idea the sim gurus had a podcast I must listen thank you for sharing
You really got me I said “what the actual f…” my cats were confused lol
I miss your lore videos so much!
I've been waiting for a video! 💗😍
Yaaay hi!!! 🥰🥰
@@TheSimsLore I rewatch ur videos 💗 such a fan girl of you miss lore 😍
You can still have nice things and be broke, maybe the stuff is from family or friends
I remember returning it several times in a row for a new copy because I thought that it was in a different language and I was picking up the wrong copy. LOL it just happens to be that they speak their own language which I was not aware of. After about my 6th or 7th return then I clicked on the giant arrow and began my Sims journey. LOL
That “material gworl” insert was so unexpected 😂😂😂
If you add Downtown to Pleasantview, and you resurrect the Tricous, many get a large inheritance money from Beau Broke. This is a bug of course, but it's still funny.
I like to think that skip had a gambling problem and blew all their money and perhaps he fell in their half finished pool he was building against Brandi’s wishes. Perhaps she or Dustin pushed him but I don’t see either of them doing that so maybe Skip had too much to drink at the love and cards shack and accidentally fell in.
I always played with this family
So I never played the families, that came with each game, but after watching the video, I wanted to try out Brandi's Story. Well, after everything went well (got her a job, her older son was going to do the teacher job and his grades went up), she put food in the oven, had her baby in the meantime it was coocking and burned down the kitchen with her two older children (the teenager and her then child). Only the Baby and she survived. -_- So yeah, I screwed her basically over.
Fun fact - in the german version of the game, her surname is Braun (brown).
Edit: So I continued to play the family, hoping to get the career reward for the grim reaper phone, aaaaand... her fricking child (the younger one) just scared her to death. Poor Rüdiger (yes, I named the Baby that, don't judge me XD), is now the only living family member. -_-
I would just kind of assume they had the luxury items before Skip died, and the point of them is that you're supposed to sell them--just as someone would in those same circumstances IRL. It serves two purposes: makes the household playable by giving a bit of extra money, and brings in a little realism.
The pizza isn't inconceivable either. Low-income households tend to eat more fast food than wealthy ones, because wealthier people have more money to buy healthy food and more time to prepare it, while poorer people tend to eat whatever is convenient when they come home exhausted from working all day at a manual labor or customer service (a.k.a. absolutely draining) job. Brandi is unemployed if I remember correctly, but if she's never had money, she would have picked up those unhealthy eating habits from her parents. Or she just had pregnancy cravings.
I always think about the theorys but i end with "And the pool?"
I am in the middle of the video but I have a few theories , one, so skip may have gambled it all away and then died in a car crash under the influence, and 2. Brandi got inheritance after her parents died and she spent it all and then skip got sick and they could not pay for treatment
Another possible theory is that Brandi has a spending problem which would kinda explain why her room has the most expensive items in the household. Yes in her bio it doesn’t necessarily imply that but overly spending money is a form of addiction plus her being overly nice might be her trying to hide that fact OR Her husband was the one with the spending problem and now his family pays the price for it . Again their room has the most expensive things and I think it also makes sense for the pool. Maybe he impulsively bought the pool and Brandi had enough and told him to get rid of it and caved and then while he was starting to take apart the pool he decided to take one last swim but forgot he got rid of the ladder and then drowned. To me it makes the most sense as why they’re so broke now when it looks like they weren’t to begin with. The photos of going out to a bar, etc. Maybe his spending got so bad they lost the house and had to move in her parents house hence why it looks so similar.
I do have a theory that Dustin is hiding the fact that he's a criminal to his mom..all he's saying to her is that he got a job and this will turn their lives around. Maybe he's overemphasised a bit too about how great this job is.. As he kept on working he started to give Brandi the stuff that he had managed to steal.. or to "hold on for a bit" for his work. The painting, the fancy bed, and the other fancy stuff, heck maybe even the pinball machine?
I have remade the Broke family in TS4 a couple times now. I like to turn Brandi into a fat lazy slob. My latest Dustin just died from elocution when repairing the TV though :(
Yay!! You uploaded!!
Wooop!!! Hi!!! 🥰😍
The pizza thing is probably because they are poor. poverty is a loss of money as well as time as you struggle to get money. ordering a pizza is far easier and quicker than cooking a full meal.
Yeah I believe in the theory N°3! Nice video btw, I really enjoyed It
How does this timeline work for Brandi to be about 25 with a teenager? Assuming he is only 13, that would still put her at 12 years old? Or am I missing something?
It was a mistake from EA's side
I mean, my aunt had her first kid at 12, so it does happen 🤷♀️
@@sinfully.sweet.2548 Well not in The Sims without mods 😅
@@Fiffi852 Fair point 😂
Brandi having a tough life than everyone in pleasantview imo.
My personal theory is that they got the stuff from money they got from a loan
Gives me inspiration to put them in debt through a mod i have that allows loans and such oooh
Ooh Sims predicted the devious licks challenge
I would say her bedroom furnishings was stuff her and Skip bought over time, It's not a strange thing for a young couple to first upgrade the bedroom furniture before any other room. The pinball machine could have been Skips before he married Brandi and kept it after the marriage and used to play it in the second bedroom so he wouldn't annoy her by the noise it makes. He could have loved pinball as a child and got a job as a teen and saved up to get his own machine. I don't see the need for anything nefarious.
As for the pool... well they were not exactly rolling in money so buying a small AF pool because they really wanted a pool isn't out there. There's also nothing saying Skip drowned in that pool, he could have been at a party and had a little too much to drink and drowned in the pool at that home.
I mean, I kinda assumed that Brandi and Skip became parents very young (And Skip is a lot older than her). And they both skipped college to raise their kid.
But Skip proves himself to be a deadbeat dad and couldn't take parenthood anymore, so he purposely drown himself in the pol, so that he wouldn't have to raise the kids anymore. And unfortunately, since Brandi is a stay-at-home mom and Skip was the only source of income the family could provide, they eventually run out of money, and Brandi has to raise their two kids plus the one coming after Skip's demise.
I think I commented something like this on the Skip video.
ooo i'm pretty early, the video is pretty good so far!
Not Brandi being one of those weird boy moms that get jealous of their son's girlfriends 😂
i love playing the brokes. so much nostalgia to when i was 13 playing pleasantview in 2003. im playing them again rn as a kind of back to childhood regression for my broke like life experiences... back then, i made dustin turn his life around and angela go to college and get 130 sim lane and have a few kids. but this time i think ill have dustin do bad and cheat on her with lilith. and have good natured dirk fall for angela. >_>;
its funner to just play on hard mode. theyre poor cuz they buy stuff beyond their means. and dustin got fired. brandi has lvl 8 cooking so she can get a chef job and get promoted fast
Don't wanna say I told you so, but the SimGuru copped to what I've saying all along about the continuity: We ****ed up! As for the stuff: not stolen, but PURCHASED WITH ILL-GOTTEN GAINS! Stolen money (or that from fenced items) could easily buy that kind of stuff. Brandi knows he has a job, maybe just not what KIND; so I'm sure she would proudly display/use anything that showed up on order. "What a nice son I have!" 🥰
So in my game it says that skip dies BEFORE beau was born, ok that’s fine makes sense she was probably pregnant when skip died. But then how is she pregnant with another one of his children?? Way after his death & could’ve been pregnant with him when he was alive bc she was pregnant with beau. Sorry this has been bothering me so much.
Is anyone else worried according to the timeline Brandi can only be like 25 and she has teen son?
Some people think Brandi got ahold of some of the aging potion (I haven't played S2 in a hot minute, so I forget the official name) or think Brandi was implied to be a teen mom.