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windfalcon — Mary Sue - How to Tell
Published: 2004-02-25 08:27:37 +0000 UTC; Views: 430630; Favourites: 7006; Downloads: 44654
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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
Flying a spaceship =/= Climbing around in wreckage
Carrying a staff =/= Winning against a trained Jedi(Sith?) warrior in one on one combat
And that's only two, she's also seemingly much faster and stronger than a trained from youth Stormtrooper, constantly making a fool out of him with how clumsy he is compared
She also has the ability to use jedi mind tricks, and overpower a trained jedi in that same skill, a skill luke only learned after training with Yoda
She also has the ability to overpower a trained jedi in force pull despite how hard it was for luke to do it the first time
And again, Yoda's actual line: "There is nothing in all of these jedi texts that the girl Rey does not already know!"
There may be even more, but these are the ones I remember.
I like the movies and I don't dislike Rey, but I don't get what people are smoking when they say she isn't a Mary Sue.
Luke literally had a line about how he used speeders and vehicles, and even referenced how often he'd shoot small (moving)targets with lasers from his flying vehicle....
He did have Ben Kenobi's ghost in his head directing him the whole time as well, and started off his journey(And continued it inside the Millenium Falcon) with the guidance of a Jedi master.
Rey is a Mary Sue man, not a big deal, but pretty undeniable. (I think the actresses lack of facial expression range are more problematic than the Sue stuff anyway.)
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Can you name one single negative character trait / weakness Rey has?
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hmmm, let's see: she can at times be very naive, struggles with letting go of her past (wants to leave Jakku but at the same time is afraid to do it because what she's not there if her family actually does come back, but if she stays she'll be stuck there forever), is reluctant to accept certain harsh realities but in so doing is held back from moving forward (this coincides with the last one I just stated), makes mistakes just like everyone else (pulls the wrong fuses releasing the rathtars, forgets to take the safety off of a blaster, etc.), and like all of us she struggles to find her place in the world amid everything that's going on. Rey is not a Mary Sue. What she is is something much more realistic. She is human.
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Literally tonnes? She’s not perfect at all. Her selfishness often gets them into peril. Her over confidence meant that she fell directly into the First Order’s hands. Her wanting to be so much like the old jedi is her downfall, and leads to too much sentimentality.
How about you answer my original question rather than deflecting.
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One of the most important art pieces that explains how to create a good original character.
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Another thing to consider and be careful with is how many flaws you give your character. Like what happened to Daphne from Frasier when Niles realized she wasn't perfect after all. Before the revelation, Daphne was a good and likeable character who still had a few flaws. 
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I can tell the one on the right is a Mary sue. Because she has no weaknesses and is very powerful. And she doesn't struggle with anything.
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no weekness = Overpowered and it plays like the one on a left is a mary sue and a GOD!
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I like Amish, wanna punch Jasmyne.
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Wow, I saw this years ago, never knew it was so old!
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An oldie, but still pretty damn useful. Thanks for this.
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Lol! This is great! Thanks for posting it. I made something kind of similar the other day. I hope it'll give you a bit of a laugh like yours did for me!
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actually Beowulf's biggest weakness was has vain desire to seek glory through heroic deeds. Only in his final battle with the dragon which cost him his life does he realize this. The whole story is literally a cautionary tale about man's hubris, much in the same way as The Odyssey and The Epic of Gilgamesh.
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The fact that I remember seeing this when I was like 12 in 2005 or so is horrifying to me. How long have I been on this hell site
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._. 13 years omg .
Kudos to you , mate xDD
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My very first oc I ever made
Without knowing about Mary sue's
Was not a Mary sue.
This proves that people can have proper creative influxes, and can create good characters.
All you need to do is give them time.
I know everyone else in this comment section has already said the same thing, but I felt like I needed to comment on this.
Because I love my first 2 oc's.
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ok
i have no problems with mary sues. if you want to make an extremely perfect character with no flaws? go ahead! do!! whatever!! you!! want!!
but if you are going to input said character in a serious story, i do believe that limits are supposed to be set for those characters
HOWEVER, most people who make mary sue ocs are just kids and i think this entire witchhunt thing is very dumb considering the fact that youre not rlly letting a kid have fun,,, yeah give them constructive criticism just??? dont make fun of them jfc
//inb4 comments that support mary sue witchhunting lmao
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I have a character that is a zombie cat who's completely conscious about oneself, but can go on a rampage if she isn't fed.
She's also very shy, overly sensitive, and impulsive. But creative, somewhat social, and is able to quickly understand emotions.
Conscious zombies live in her universe.
Would this be a mary sue? I just wanna know, plus, her name is Dawn.
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Nope! She sounds perfectly reasonable!
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Thank god more and more people are coming out and realizing how stupid the "mary sue" witchhunt is and how it accomplishes little to nothing. Let kids have their fun, when they mature, they mature.
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I guess that depends on the context. Actually RPing with a Mary Sue character most of the time just kills the fun for all the other players. Thus leading everyone else to abandoning the play and the Mary Sue's player. I agree that the "witch hunt" is a little over the top, but creating a non-overpowered character is basically considered "good manners" in roleplays.
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Since I'm speaking generally, that sort of thing is definitely contextual.
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while this is funny and all i want to tell other artists, especially those who are very young, this:
there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a "mary sue" character.
usually young artists create characters for themselves to enjoy, and if you WANT your beautiful magical girl to have 3 sets of wings
laser eyes and sephiroth for her boyfriend then go right ahead.
even if this deviation is old and i'm seeing other stray comments like this it stands to be repeated, since i still constantly come across
people who moan and whine about OCs being "too much" of this and that.
the most important part is that you're having fun. please remember that!
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It depends on the intention. If you are posting these stories publically for others to view, you need to be aware of your audience. no one is going to want to read about a Mary Sue who only serves to stroke the writer's ego, not unless they are some strange case where people are ironically enjoying the work to laugh at it (see Sonichu)
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That being said, there's something to be said about putting it up on the internet for all to see. Once its out in public it's subject to people giving their opinions, and Mary Sues are objectively flawed, badly made chars. Fine for beginners and younger artists, but its very important to instill a sense of progress, refining a char over time until they are more well rounded. If people wanna have fun without worrying whatsoever about how it looks, then don't post it, or post it in a less public place, share it only with friends, etc. The world sadly don't bend to accommodate young artists and those who make things like that. Very important to learn that harsh truth early to save yourself some hurt n hardship.
Plus I mean come on having canon characters as love interests? That's just silly by any metric
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of course, instilling a sense of progress is good, and criticism is helpful; when it's asked for and given properly. unfortunately good criticism (the kind where strong points AND weak points are given) is very rare and people online normally opt for being nasty instead of helpful. it shouldn't be that hard to see a picture you dislike and leave it alone. if you decide to bring a kid down over their harmless sailor moon self insert oc and then walk away feeling fine about it because hey, "it's online," then i'd call it more you being a bully (as silly as that word sounds) than being "real." it's just common courtesy to not get up in peoples' business. yes, having thick skin is good, but you shouldn't have to sit around and expect to be attacked, either, even if it does happen. that's a little silly as well? and honestly, who really cares if a self indulgent character has a canon love interest - it won't hurt anyone.
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pretty good guidelines about this:
if your critique makes someone want to give up instead of improve, then your critique is shit.
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God damn, this was posted before I was born
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Now I know what a "Mary Sue" is, and I'm glad my characters are not considered Mary Sue.
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13; my birthday is in August
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I was the same age as you are now when this was originally posted.
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dude same, i'm in november though.
yes i am 13 too
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I never heard anything about "Mary Sue" o.o
I also never thought about it. But seeing your picture helped me a lot. Thank you ^^
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One of my characters is supost to come off as a Mary sue but then latter reveal weaknesses and flaws
Whilel my main oc is supost to come off as the opposite of a Mary sue and then become more childish and show weaknesses
Do you think this is good?
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So superheros are not Mary Sues after all!
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Superman... maybe. Dr. Strange. Just about everything that is overpowered and only has "that one weakness" is basically still a Mary Sue.
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*cough* superman *cough*
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"Poetry club"
EVERY DAYYYY
I IMGANE A FUTURE WHERE I CAN BE WITH YOUUUU
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why is this being recommended its so old
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IDK. Probably since this blew up
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There are kids on this website younger than this.
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I know characters like this description! Nice work!
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