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windfalcon β Mary Sue - How to Tell
Published: 2004-02-25 08:27:37 +0000 UTC; Views: 431559; Favourites: 7001; Downloads: 44656
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EDIT 3: 11/22/09 You guys are kidding me XD For goodness sakes, reaaaaad the liink here: [link] Every time I get a comment that reads "the one on the left is a Mary Sue because she has green hair and a power," I realize that they're not reading the description which contains this link: [link]tl;dr: If 'special' traits fit in with the universe, it doesn't automatically make the character a Mary Sue. What if everyone else in Ami Machida's universe has green/blue/purple hair? What if everyone else has a cat power? Does that make her a Mary Sue? Not necessarily.
Please, spare me the time from having to point you BACK to the silly description and just take a minute to read the link. You know, the one I linked to a bunch of times up above. And the link here: [link]
EDIT 2: 10/11/09 I suppose this is long overdue, but for those of you with confusion, here is an explanation on why I perceive the one on the left as not a Mary Sue: [link] For the love of god stop whining about it D:
EDIT: 6/21/09 Okay, everyone, please chill with all the 'hay is my character a mary-sue!?11" questions. I get about 3 a day now and one thing you need to understand - I AM NOT AN AUTHORITY ON MARY SUES. This picture is a parody. Just for fun. The one on the right is obviously an extreme exaggeration of a stereotype and not the definitive definition for a Mary Sue. D:
Please full view. You won't be able to read the text if you don't.
For those of you who don't know, a Mary Sue, in a nutshell, is a fanmade character that is usually extremely beautiful, powerful, smart, talented, and in plain words, perfect in every way.
These characters tend to be quite a bother in fanfiction and role playing, since they simply can't be beat, and thus become boring.
Have any of you ever been rping, and come across a character who is like, " oh, well, that planet in the way isn't a problem *blows it up*"
Or, is like, "well, Vegeta and Goten and Trunks and Goku ALL have a crush on my character"
Yep. That's a Mary Sue.
So, for people who still don't understand, I made this little picture/diagram. Usually, Mary Sues have TONS of talents and TONS of powers, and no weaknesses.
Enjoy ^_^
-Done in Copic Markers, with the background and text done on computer -
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Comments: 4629
This is awesome! A great example.
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It seems people still don't get the difference.
The one on the left is a fictional species with unusual traits. It makes them unique, not a Mary Sue. A MS is when they have no flaws/is great at everything, no problem to overcome, and makes no character growth or development.
Take Koro-sensei from Assassination Classroom. No one else in the story is an alien squid thing, and no one else has mach 20 speed, flight, or a billion tentacles that do anything and everything. He's unique and even overpowered, but has flaws, problems and personal dilemmas. I could give examples, but just read/watch it, it's great. The point is that positive and negative balance of traits are the determining feature, not surface design.
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Jesus, the one on the right, has too much description, not even my eyes can read it.... But, otherwise, good art and descriptive writing. Great job!
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boy oh boy, if the creator of this had a penny for every person who missed the joke they'd be rich AS HECK man.
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wait, i just realized... lord beerus from dragon ball is a mary sue...
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No he isn't. He is not the main character so he can't be a Mary Sue. The first rule of a Mary Sue is they need to be the main character. Beerus is a god and a benchmark for Goku. He is supposed to seem overpowered. He still has his own flaws, quick tempered and a weakness for food that the show plays on thus even if he was the main character he would not be a Mary Sue.
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this was posted in 2004 and its still getting so many ppl comenting
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I know, right? That's crazy.
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As an occasional writing teacher, THANK YOU!
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Well having an owerpowered character isn't a flaw. As long as the character is still interesting that shouldn't be a problem.
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and its important to not make them the main focus of everything
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I don't know about that. I mean it's ok to have an overpowered main character if the supporting cast is interseting and fleshed out.
You can even have all of supporting cast equally strong as the main character, not all stories have to be told as people's struggle to overcome the challanges.
You can parody the trope or embrace it.
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One Punch Man is probably one of the best and most popular examples of that.
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Funny cause it was true 10 years ago, now it's the opposit, Mary Sues take the form of regular caracter to fit into the dominant narrative 
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This was submitted back in 2004. Y'all need to chill.
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I have to wonder how this re-surfaced back to main feature page of this site.
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Well, are the posts on the front page handpicked or decided by algorithms? If handpicked, that would make sense, someone on dA thought it would be good to see this again, if by algorithms, then I have no idea what's up.
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aye anyone here watched the new keeping with the kardashians episode with the tarantulas? shits scary as hell man
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AMBROSE ITS SO SCARY YOU GOTTA WATCH THIS THEY CALL THE PEST CONTROL AND THEN ANOTHER ONE COMES AND KHLOE GETS UP AND TELLS KOURTNEY SHES LEAVING AND GOING BACK TO BEVERLY HILLS
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their initials together looks like someone being passive aggressive like okkkk
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The one on the left is a mary sue too
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While I agree that if you're making an OC you shouldn't make it too.. overpowered (i.e. Mary Sue,) but you shouldn't make the character as boring as possible just to avoid being a Mary Sue. (which I see a lot)
Like a good oc would be the top doctor in his own hospital, but he has a fear of blood. That'd be a very interesting character to look into don't you think?
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True. Having a powerful character is okay if it makes sense with the setting, but having your character be Boring McPerson or Angs T. Teen is even worse than the "SUPER POWERFUL KAWAII DESU!!!" sues.
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I remember that Meow Mix jingle, it was very catchy at the time.
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Yeah, but Jesus is like Naruto, had to go through some shit to get his superpowers.
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Thank you for posting this T_TΒ
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this comes to rear its head again
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One on the left is still a shit OC tho
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YA JERK Y U GOTTA BE RUDE?!?! ;w;
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Oh, I am rude yet you are the one who call names. The irony.
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I literally just said jerk ;w; it's a term for people who are rude to people without really giving any positive points. It's an actual term, not just a random shout out name for people being mad. Now, if I said faggot or shit, etc, that would be different.
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Age 17? Pfft. Mary Sue would be millions of years old (if not older than time itself) but doesnt actually age!
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deviantart why are you suggesting this NOW...? its from 2004 lmao
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Sure, his huge power may make it seem like it, but power isn't the only thing that determines if a character is a sue or not.
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