Pleasantly Unpleasant: The Women of the Pleasant Family

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Plumbob Post is back yet again, and today’s topic of choice is the Pleasant family. More specifically, this article will give a brief overview of the Pleasant women as well as the often controversial Kaylynn Langerak. Despite being part of one of the most popular families in the series, the female Pleasants are often considered divisive within the fandom. Starting from the very beginning, here’s a look at the notable female members of the Pleasant-Oldie-Burb clan:

1. Diane Pleasant

Despite being the OG matriarch of the Pleasant Family, there’s unfortunately little to say about Diane. She appears in The Sims and its console spinoff of the same name, living with her husband Jeff and their two children, Daniel and Jennifer. She is unemployed in both, and it can be assumed that she is a homemaker. Her bio suggests that her family is new to Neighborhood 1 and that could be the one to “set her family on its way up the social ladder.” Diane does not make an appearance in The Sims 2, but she can be seen in the family trees of her children and grandchildren in Pleasantview. Interestingly, while her hair was brown in The Sims, she has genetics for red hair in The Sims 2. Her son, Daniel, shares this distinction. Both of her children appear in The Sims 3, but neither Diane or her husband are referenced.

2. Jennifer Pleasant (Burb)

In The Sims, Jennifer Pleasant is an average child with dreams of soccer stardom. She and her brother have the same personality points, and Jennifer returns alongside her family in the console version of the game. At the start of The Sims 2, Jennifer can be found in the family bin as part of the Burb family. In the twenty-five year gap between The Sims and The Sims 2, Jennifer has married John Burb, another returning character, had a young daughter, Lucy, and given up her dreams of being a sports star; her brother fulfills that role instead. She does, however, start off with four body skill points as well as two creativity points. Her aspiration is fortune, though she starts off unemployed, and the Burbs are stated to have made their return to Pleasantview fairly recently, having lived in the city prior to that.

Jennifer does not return in The Sims 3 base game; however, she and John are reintroduced in Dragon Valley as engaged young adults. According to the storyline of the world, they were travelling before their wedding and got lost. This iteration of Jennifer is surprisingly consistent with previous versions of the character. She has the Vegetarian, Artistic, Athletic, Ambitious, and Friendly traits, and her lifetime wish is to, surprise surprise, become a superstar athlete. The athletic and artistic traits refer back to her skills in The Sims 2, while the ambitious trait matches her fortune aspiration. As of right now, neither Jennifer or any of her relatives have appeared in The Sims 4.

3. Tiffany Burb

Tiffany Burb is related to the Pleasant family through her son John’s marriage to Jennifer, as mentioned above. She was introduced in The Sims: Unleashed alongside husband Jeff, son Johnny, and dog Tucker as new residents of Old Town. Interestingly, she is employed as a store clerk in the fashion career track, making her one of the only mothers in the original game to not be a housewife. Additionally, her biography states that she does not share her husband’s love of nature, which could indicate that she did not wish to leave the city. Her fashion-centric character and new-in-town status somewhat mirror Jennifer’s storyline in The Sims 2. Like Diane Pleasant, Tiffany is not playable in The Sims 2, but she appears in John and her granddaughter Lucy’s family trees.

4. Mary-Sue Pleasant

Introduced in The Sims 2, Mary-Sue Pleasant is the wife of Daniel Pleasant, making her the daughter-in-law and sister-in-law of Diane and Jennifer, respectively, and the mother of teenage twins, Angela and Lilith. Her aspiration is fortune, and she starts off at level 2 of the politics career. Her biography states that she finds people “inherently good” and implies that she is kept quite busy by her job, which prevents her from pursuing her hobbies such as pottery. Her husband is involved in an extramarital affair with their maid, Kaylynn Langerak, though she is unaware of this at the start of the game. On the first day the Pleasant household is played, Daniel will have the day off of work, and Mary-Sue will receive a chance card. Unless the chance card is ignored, Mary-Sue will either be demoted or fired from her job, causing her to return home early and potentially catch her cheating husband.

Mary-Sue, as depicted in The Sims 2, is a divisive character. Many players pit her and Kaylynn against each other or try to justify Daniel’s actions by stating that she was ignoring him in favor of her work. Alternate takes on the character, such as Skell’s, suggest that since Mary-Sue is low on the career ladder and Daniel is higher up, it is likely that she was a homemaker in the early years of her marriage, putting Daniel’s career ahead of her own. When she returned from work, she had to focus on herself more, and Daniel could not cope with the change. This more positive interpretation of the Mary-Sue is supported by her characterization as friendly, provided by her bio. Either way, Mary-Sue is most definitely not a Mary Sue, cue the eyeroll.

Mary-Sue and Daniel return in The Sims 3 as a young married couple in Sunlit Tides. Her lifetime wish is to be a chess legend, while her traits are Perfectionist, Workaholic, Hopeless Romantic, Over-Emotional, and Charismatic. The Workaholic and Perfectionist traits complement her fortune aspiration in The Sims 2, and the Hopeless Romantic trait seems to provide an explanation for how she and Daniel fell for each other in the first place. She is unemployed with handiness and cooking skills; this is odd considering that she only has creativity, logic, cleaning, and cleaning skills in The Sims 2, which takes place later in time. Mary-Sue does not appear nor is she referenced in The Sims 4, despite her best friend Cassandra Goth returning.

5. Lilith Pleasant

Appearing only in The Sims 2, Lilith Pleasant is the younger of Mary-Sue and Daniel Pleasant’s twins, as indicated by her parents’ memories. Her aspiration is popularity, and if FreeTime is installed, her one true hobby will be sports. Lilith is depicted as a stereotypical gothic teenager, and she is dating another Pleasantview teen, Dirk Dreamer. She has low relationships with every member of her family, and it is not uncommon for her to run away from home. The cause for her low relationships with her parents and sister are stated in her bio to stem from Lilith having it harder than her sister. This assertion is supported by Lilith’s memories; she does not remember learning her toddler skills, her personality has been altered, and both of her grow up memories are negative. Her grade will start out as a D, further characterizing her as troubled.

It is common for players to take sides in the Pleasant family. Some players see Lilith as a victim of neglect as a result of her memories as well as an image from the Pleasant family album which shows her isolated from Angela’s birthday party. These players on occasion vilify Angela as being part of the problem, citing the fact that she has a computer in her room as some form of favoritism. Others claim that Angela is also an innocent victim of her parents’ mistreatment of her sister. Alternatively, some simmers characterize Lilith as a moody and rebellious teen who was never mistreated; she is simply experiencing growing pains. Each of these interpretations are valid.

6. Angela Pleasant

Angela Pleasant is the older of Mary-Sue and Daniel Pleasant’s twins, as indicated by her parents’ memories. Her aspiration is popularity, and if FreeTime is installed, her one true hobby will be nature. Angela is dating Dustin Broke, a teen employed in the criminal career who her father is enemies with. She has a low relationships with her sister, Lilith, and the two often fight upon first loading the household. Her low relationship with her sister, as mentioned above, stemming from Lilith’s belief that Angela had it easier. While Lilith does not have positive memories of growing up or any memories of learning toddler skills, Angela does. Her starting grade is a B.

Angela is perhaps as divisive as her mother. Most players sympathized with Lilith, at least when the game was originally released, and as a result, Angela was vilified. Her critics often considered her spoiled, despite there being no evidence to support that. Others have stated that dating Dustin is an act of rebellion, though the two recall being friends since childhood and share the nature hobby. Angela is stated to be “patient and dutiful,” both of which are positive qualities and in an endearing twist, she “dreams of being a fishing boat captain.” Given the details provided by Maxis about Angela, there are no strong hints that she is anything other than a kind, respectful teenager, but as are all characters, she is open to interpretation.

7. Coral Oldie

Coral Oldie is the mother of Mary-Sue Pleasant. She only appears in The Sims 2, alongside her husband Herb. Interestingly, Mary-Sue is adopted, making her one of few base game sims with that distinction. Coral is a family sim, the “picture of maternal perfection.” She is unemployed and according to her memories, has never had a job, instead being a stay at home mother and wife. Despite her and her husband having a reasonably positive relationship, her biography ominously questions the price she paid for raising a successful daughter; the meaning of this statement is unclear. It could be in reference to Mary-Sue’s marital troubles or to marital troubles between Herb and Coral. The meaning is left open to the player, though Herb’s bio further clouds the intention of the game’s creators by referring to him as a “reasonably reliable husband.”

8. Lucy Burb

Lucy Burb is the child daughter of Jennifer and John Burb. She has a “knack for getting into trouble,” hinting that she will take after her teenage cousins. As she is a child, there is very little information on her, and she is not directly involved in the storyline of the neighborhood. Lucy is, however, a fan favorite character, and she is often paired romantically with Alexander Goth, another Pleasantview child, by players.

9. Last but certainly not least, Kaylynn Langerak

Kaylynn Langerak is not a Pleasant by relation or by marriage, but she is forever tied to the family as a result of her involvement with Daniel Pleasant. Interestingly, despite being involved with a married man, Daniel, and an engaged man, Don, Kaylynn is a family sim. Furthermore, she is a shy sim, with only one outgoing point. These qualities create an interesting mismatch between Kaylynn and the stereotypical other woman. It is possible that she was created to be a joke around the common soap opera trope of male characters carrying on extramarital affairs with their maids. As mentioned above, it is possible for her and Daniel to be caught by Mary-Sue depending on their choice about her chance card.



Kaylynn is yet another character who is a common source of debate amongst The Sims community. Though her personality is not consistent with a home wrecker, many were quick to assign her that title in the early days of the game. More recently, it has become common for players to sympathize with Kaylynn and make her a playable character, often having her dump both Don and Daniel. Sometimes, players even marry her and Mary-Sue in an interesting twist. Either way, Kaylynn is a complex character, with room for players to interpret her in a variety of ways.

While she does not appear in The Sims 4, Kaylynn is a playable character in The Sims 3. She is depicted as a child, residing with her father Dustin, her mother Iliana, her aunt Zelda Mae, and her teen brother Parker. She has two traits: neat and perfectionist, both of which align with her future as a maid. She is also said to enjoy painting in her free time. Kaylynn is at the center of the largest inconsistency between The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. In the former, she is at the start of her adult life stage, while she is an older child in The Sims 3, which takes place fifty years before. This inconsistency is made more apparent by the fact that Mortimer Goth, an elder in The Sims 2, is younger than Kaylynn in The Sims 3. This timeline discrepancy has led to many fan theories involving the elixir of life or in Skell’s case, two Kaylynns.

The Pleasant family is an interesting and diverse group with a variety of personalities within it. As a result, they remain popular amongst fans of The Sims and its sequels.

Do you want to hear more about the Pleasants? Or perhaps about the Langeraks? If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to visit my ask box. If you are interested, give Plumbob Post a follow, and reblog for anyone else who you think would enjoy this blog. Stay tuned for upcoming posts.

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