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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 15th Feb 2018 at 5:33 PM
Default Is the Landgraabs' wealth genuine?
Something that's been on my mind for a while... Is it? Malcolm Landgraab IV is one of the richest sims in the game, yet all he owns are a puny club and a tiny electronics shop? Surely there must be some kind of money laundering going on behind closed doors in order for him to keep living such a lavish lifestyle. For this reason, in my headcanon, Malcolm is the leader of an organised crime ring in SimCity.

What are your thoughts on it?
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 15th Feb 2018 at 6:02 PM
I always figured his grandfather sold off most of the businesses as he got older, and it was Malcolm III who got involved with organized Crime and paid for it with his life. Malcolm II couldn't keep up with everything plus raise his grandson. There's a business in Bluewater that has the Landgraab name, but isn't owned by them, so that's where I got that from, I think.

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Top Secret Researcher
#3 Old 15th Feb 2018 at 8:04 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Sunbee
There's a business in Bluewater that has the Landgraab name, but isn't owned by them, so that's where I got that from, I think.

What business?


I completely forgot about the club! I sold it early on because I didn't enjoy running it lol. I bought them the biggest beach house with it.

I just pretend they were a ridiculously wealthy family, so wealthy that their future generations don't have to worry about money again. (Only the heirs of course, the rest have to fend for themselves lol)
Mad Poster
#4 Old 15th Feb 2018 at 8:29 PM
I have Malcolm running a few "shady" businesses... or so he did. I've not been playing community lot businesses the past few rotations due to not having the time. He use to own a brothel in my game. He also owns a dormitory ("owns" being a strong word; I named a dormitory after him and I make any sim who stays in there pay him per semester) so he makes some money from that. He can charge ridiculous rates because the young adults who reside there are usually from rich families.
but yeah mostly shady businesses.

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Field Researcher
#5 Old 15th Feb 2018 at 8:30 PM
The Landgraabs has been around since SimCity 3000 in the franchise. Here they were represented by Malcolm Landgraab, a real estate investor who probably had some shady business practices.

Quote:
Malcolm Landgraab Industries, the sole employee of which is Malcolm Landgraab, owns a controlling interest in many of SimNation's large-scale real estate projects. By advancing the interests of all developers throughout the city, Landgraab Industries earns a small commission at both ends of all transactions. Mr. Landgraab divides his time between his condo in the city and his hacienda on the resort island of San Cordelia.


In The Sims, the Landgraabs were only mentioned by name through different objects which were produced and sold by the Landgraab Industries. We also have the Landgraab Mall in Downtown (Hot Date) which probably is a reference to the fact that Malcolm Landgraab in SC3000 was a real estate investor. However it's first in the console version of The Sims that Malcolm Landgraab is given a face. From his description, it's implied that he is the same Malcolm Landgraab as in SimCity 3000.

Quote:
Malcolm Landgraab... the mention of his name can drive real estate values sky high, or to rock bottom. Now semi-retired from the real estate biz, Malcolm still keeps busy with the occasional renovation project, funding event, and tax shelter scheme. He's got one eye on his property and one eye on Mom!


The Sims Bustin Out gave us a more evil version of Malcolm Landgraab. Here he is the landlord and repoman of the neighborhood, taking back things he claims is his (this is called stealing for the record) and is just potrayed as a horrible sim being. In this game he also gets two children, Mimi and Dudley Landgraab. We'll get back to those very soon!

Quote:
If he were meant to be a good guy, he'll probably be called "Benedict". This malevolent landlord grabs all the land he can get, and punishes his delinquent tenants by repossessing their stuff. A sad turn for the man who was once your benefactor and your mom's ex-husband.


In The Sims 2 for base game, Malcolm Landgraab and his Landgraab Industries (although sometimes mentioned as Landgraab Enterprises) is only mentioned by name in various chance cards and object descriptions. In one chance card he even dies!
Quote:
<Sim> is caddying for Malcolm Landgrabb, head of Landgrabb Enterprises, who has just hit his second shot into the rough about 65 yards from the green. The business tycoon leans over and asks <Sim> whether he should use a nine iron or a wedge. <Sim> debates how to respond.

It's also in one of these chance cards that either Dudley or Mimi (depending on the gender of your sim) shows up.
Quote:
It's late, and <Sim> is working the drive-through all by his/her lonesome - lots of responsibility for little pay. Suddenly, the otherwise quiet night is ruined when local rich kid Mimi/Dudley Landgrabb and some of her/his hoodlum friends pull up (<Sim> recognizes them by the indecent language coming through the tiny speaker.) From what he's/she's heard from other employees, <Sim> is pretty sure they're going to drive off without paying. Should he/she fill out the order, or should he/she treat them to a bit of their own medicine?

Later in Season, another interesting chance card shows up. It's regarding the wealth of the Landgraab family.
Quote:
Around the turn of the century, Gregory Landgraab, a humble school teacher, suddenly came into a great deal of money and became one of the wealthiest landowners around. This was never explained, though many theories suggest foul play and the Ministry of Adventure has tasked <Sim> with solving the case, once and for all. After a great deal of research, <Sim> believes one of two people will have the answers he/she needs: Spencer Oswald, the Landgraab's accountant, or the local fortune teller, the gypsy. Who should <Sim> bring in for questioning?

This chance card is probably the closest we will come to the "truth" regarding the wealth of the Landgraab family. But we can still notice a pattern of mischevious and malicious behavior within the Landgraab families. It goes back to their ancestor, Admiral Landgraab. First mentioned in a painting in The Sims, he has been mentioned in both Hot Date and Vacation and the TS3 expansion pack World Adventure (where it is revealed he even owned a Chateau in France at one point).

Quote:
Admiral Landgraab is SimNation's most tragic naval hero. After a series of dashing exploits in his youth, Landgraab settled into a downward spiral of mercantile ventures, gunboat diplomacy and inevitable treaty breaking that became synonymous with the Landgraab family to this day. He is pictured here just before his undoing at the hands of disgruntled island natives.
Mad Poster
#6 Old 15th Feb 2018 at 9:12 PM
For what it matters, the description of the Bluewater Real Estate Office mentions somehow wresting control of the land away from the Landgraabs.

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Theorist
#7 Old 15th Feb 2018 at 10:23 PM
Well an dtheir name is likely a pun on "grabbing" (buying up) land, sometimes by less than fair or even legal means. I always imagined them doing things like buying a stretch of old growth forest and then using bribery/their connections to get a permit to turn it into building projects or buying a historic building and paying some underling to start a fire so that they can replace it with a new one that suits their interests more. Can also picture them being slum lords etc. etc. etc.

That stuff is, of course relatively difficutl to simulate within the confines of the Sims series. So yeah, like the OP I've made Malcolm II a mob boss in my Beginning of Pleasantview neighbourhood. His illegal machinations have resulted in the deaths of several sims and the downfall of entire families, such as the Buckinghams.
Instructor
#8 Old 16th Feb 2018 at 3:16 AM
I usually think of TS2's Malcolm Landgraab IV as just coming of age and wanting to prove himself. Like, yeah, I have all this (illicitly-earned) family money lying around but I could earn just as much by running a business! Except running a business is a lot harder than just having family money.

But yeah, the money is definitely gotten through some shady dealings.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#9 Old 16th Feb 2018 at 6:22 AM
I think Malcolm squandered it on cars, woman and jetting around to the Caribbean.

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Alchemist
#10 Old 16th Feb 2018 at 10:19 PM
OFB's Prima Guide tells that the Landgrab family owns 2 business at the start of the game. all other business owners; Prima Guide tells that they own just 1 business at start of game.
depending on how long each business been open, some chance that Landgrab's 2 business brought in more money than the other businesses.
though some chance that some of Landgrab's starting money came from this game's "inheritance" system. and if Landgrab IV started at the home of his ancestors, some of the starting money might have been from the earnings of his ancestors.
Mad Poster
#11 Old 16th Feb 2018 at 11:33 PM
I completely ignore Bluewater Village, to be honest, and so in my head-canon the Bluewater Village residents live elsewhere. I don't have a fixed idea in my head of where the Landgraab's live, as I add Malcolm Landgraab IV to most of my 'hoods, but in my really in-depth head-canon the Landgraabs own a chain of garden centres, which are located in various villages, towns and cities in SimNation, with the flagship store just outside Pleasantview. I don't usually play that out in game, though, but I would love to do so one day!

So yes, I guess that in my head the Landgraab wealth is legitimate, at least recently! Though I reckon that some generations back there would've been some shady dealings going on. The Landgraabs used to specialise in real estate, but they moved away from that into the garden centre business because Malcolm Landgraab II wanted to be a proper businessman, and not a semi-businessman, semi-criminal......
Mad Poster
#12 Old 16th Feb 2018 at 11:42 PM
Like a lot of Maxis pre-mades, Malcolm Landgraab IV is property-rich (in that he lives in a luxuriously appointed mansion) but cash-poor. Both his businesses are at level 1. (I haven't actually played Club Dante yet, so somebody can correct me if I am wrong.) Like the other Bluewater Sims, he lacks the capital to invest in his businesses to expand rapidly. He could of course raise the capital by selling his mansion and living in a small starter home, but somehow I just can't imagine Malcolm doing that. Like poorer Sims, Malcolm would have to borrow money from somebody richer to raise capital, or just accept that expansion must be slow. So I am never quite sure how he got the reputation of being quite so rich. Maybe Malcolms II and III lost their touch for property speculation latterly, or maybe, if the two of them have died in quick succession, Death Duties have just been too much for the family. Whatever the reason, I reckon Malcolm isn't quite as rich as he'd like to be, or like others believe that he is. And he has a bit of a chip on his shoulder as a result.

Sometimes I wish Maxis had given him a bit more cash, and/or made his businesses higher ranking. It can get a bit tedious playing all the business owners as raw beginners starting from scratch. I'd like to think that Malcolm might have picked up some business acumen from his predecessors.

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retired moderator
#13 Old 17th Feb 2018 at 12:07 AM
Malcolm Landgraab IV makes a whole load of money on the side by being the most sought after eyebrow model in the whole of Simnation.

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retired moderator
#14 Old 17th Feb 2018 at 2:57 PM
Those don't compete with Loki's eyebrows.

Nothing competes with Loki's eyebrows. Not it if values its life it doesn't anyway.

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retired moderator
#15 Old 17th Feb 2018 at 3:22 PM
Hmmmm...


Impressive, but Malcolm wins on the bone structure I think.
Mad Poster
#16 Old 17th Feb 2018 at 7:31 PM
He inherited the mansion and enough money to start 2 businesses, neither of which are very successful - but he is smart enough to learn (And earn money as an eyebrow model).
Mad Poster
#17 Old 17th Feb 2018 at 9:09 PM
Loki would make a terrible eyebrow model because he'd refuse on principle to do anything the cameraman wanted him to do. Malcolm, in contrast, understands the importance of manipulating people into doing things their way, and is disarmingly compliant.

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Needs Coffee
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#18 Old 17th Feb 2018 at 10:42 PM
I wonder if Malcolm's face is based on Loki's, looking at them there I think they tweaked him back.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
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Scholar
#19 Old 17th Feb 2018 at 11:11 PM
maybe malcolm was a clone of loki's gone wrong and he was sent to replace the great malcolm landgraab the fourth seeing as they looked similar enough.

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