Val is the textbook example of a Poseur, in that she's somehow convinced herself that she's the ultimate "it" girl, forever popular, forever young, forever edgy, when in reality she could use a few trips through O’Neill's self-esteem course followed by enough pixie dust to get her out of Neverland and into real life where she can grow up. The fashion club has the depth of the Marianas Trench compared to Val.

Val makes the mistake of selecting Daria as the winner of an essay contest (the winning entry was entitled "My So-Called Angst") where the prize is to "spend a day with Val" and ends up on the receiving end of Daria's all-too-true biting commentary on Val's own shallowness and insecurity. One has to assume that she never actually read Daria's essay, since she seemed completely taken by surprise.

She is, in fact, almost completely pathetic. Even Sandi is able to one-up her without trying, and Quinn sees through her right away despite having been originally excited about her visit. In addition, despite her insistence that her visit to Lawndale is confidential, she's unable to resist the publicity and ends up drawing as much attention to herself as possible.

Articles in her magazine include "What TV's Hottest Hunks Really Think About Your Blackheads", "Val Talks to Today's Brightest Young Stars About Why They Love Val", and a recipe for Chili Con Cheesepuffs.

Val comes to the inescapable conclusion that Daria is the anti-teen, even going so far as to publish an article on America's Underground Bummer Culture, and returns to whatever life she might have had.