Now that Elias is a young adult I can finally talk about this 😭. 

Which brings me to my first fun fact: Elias is the first Rangel to be raised on reddit whose identity from the beginning remained largely a mystery to his audience.

In the past, whenever I have come up with an idea for a new Sim, I have always shared my plans for them here first. And because I always create my Sims in CAS as young adults, that is how people are first introduced to them.  So, even when I age them down to infant to raise (like with Floyd) everyone already knows what they will look like and who they will become in the end.

This makes Elias particularly unique. But he has MANY unique distinctions as it pertains to the Rangel family and so that's why I wanted to create this post to highlight them all.

**CHARACTER CONCEPT & DESIGN:**

Although I had come up with the idea for Elias and his character prior to President Hugo's 60-upvote campaign, I did think it was best to wait for the outcome before actually creating him in CAS. Because had President Hugo failed his campaign, Elias would not exist. Not even in my own game in private. I would have simply just moved on to focusing on Emilio.

When creating Elias in CAS I already had an idea in my mind of what I wanted him to look like. And what I wanted was for him to look like his father. Not an exact carbon copy, but similar enough to where you could obviously tell they were related. At the same time, I also wanted him to have a few features that made him visually distinct from President Hugo: the addition of freckles on his face and body as well as having blue eyes instead of red. 

His body type, as you may have already guessed, is heavily influenced by how President Hugo would have influenced it. Hugo cares about fitness, strength, and... abs. So it made sense to me that Hugo would want to impart those "values" upon his son lol. He succeeded in doing so. However, Elias did not inherit his father's need to brag about it every five seconds. He is FAR more humble and grounded compared to his over-the-top, loud, and boastful father.

**TRAITS:**

This is also the first time ANY of Elias's traits have been officially revealed. His lone trait as a child was bookworm. As a teen he was a bookworm and a genius. He acquired the rest upon aging up to young adult. I've had his traits chosen from the very beginning. When deciding upon his traits, I tried to think of a mix of what he would inherit due to President Hugo's influence as well as those that would be more unique to him and his own identity.

Elias is active, loyal, and family-oriented because that is how his father shaped him. I am guessing that if I had polled this community as to what single trait they thought Elias would most likely inherit because of his father, it would have been "loyal" lol. If "registered upvoter" was a trait he would have inherited that one too 😭. The other traits really don't have anything to do with his father at all. Elias was just lucky to be born with a gifted mind. He has the "neat" trait, but that will become more relevant later on when he becomes a veterinarian and cares about sterility.

Of all Elias's traits, loyal and family-oriented are the two which shape his personality the most. His father instilled those upon him, but in doing so he inadvertently made his son curious about the rest of his family. Something his father did not anticipate. This is why Elias has a deep need to connect with and meet the family members he had been sheltered from for most of his life. 

Elias cares about FAMILY, and that extends to beyond just him and his father. And he will be loyal to them all. He will not choose sides. It will never come down to a choice between his father and his father's estranged family members. That is not an option in Elias's mind. Whether his father will accept that is another matter entirely; that part is out of Elias's control. And, just in case you were wondering, Elias still carries in his pocket the toy action figure his father made for him for his very first birthday and he will carry it with him always.

**TRIVIA:**

* Elias is the first science baby born to a red-eyed clone that did not also inherit red eyes
* Elias is the first Sim born to an evil Sim that turned out to be completely well-adjusted
   * Baby Rangel comes close, BUT Baby has low self-esteem and poor emotional control
* Elias is the first Sim born to an evil Sim that aged up with all 5 positive character values
* Elias did not experience any "phases" during the child or teen life stages
* For all intents and purposes, Elias truly was the "perfect" child from the beginning
* As I previously mentioned, Elias is the first reddit-raised-Rangel to not have his physical appearance and personality revealed prior to launching them as official characters

I think that pretty much covers everything. Oh, and just as an aside, I truly LOVED this entire thing with President Hugo and Elias. President Hugo was not a Sim I actually played with prior to Elias existing. His purpose was more to act as a social-media support system for me when I needed it. And, playing with such a small household of Hugo, Elias, Gary, and the two pets helped IMMENSELY to restore some of the sanity I was beginning to lose. There wasn't a single day playing with them that I had any regrets nor did I ever feel overwhelmed or anxious. It was just... nice.

Fun Facts & Trivia About Elias Rangel