yeah, i was gonna say something like that. most obviously in harem anime.
I used to write gary stu-like stuff when i wrote things in middle school. Now, if i find myself doing this, i kill them off and make someone else the main character.
yeah, i was gonna say something like that. most obviously in harem anime.
I used to write gary stu-like stuff when i wrote things in middle school. Now, if i find myself doing this, i kill them off and make someone else the main character.
Taiki Kudou from Digimon Xros Wars is far from a mary sue despite being smart, level-headed, and analytic. He is a step up from the intelligence of a typical Digimon protagonist though.
I think why Tendou works, for me, is that pretty much the rest of the cast is either neutral towards him, or downright antagonistic, so his "Gary Stuness" comes off as more palatable because of that. And, by definition, he isn't really a Gary Stu since people don't instantly fall in love with him. There are also quite a few moments where the show makes note of his superiority complex, and plays it for laughs---take the one episode where he spends tons of money buying scratch tickets to win a free meal, and acts smug when he eventually wins after countless losses. I haven't watched the show in awhile, but I recall there being numerous moments when the show did a *wink* to the audience about what kind of character Tendou was.
Kamen Rider Kabuto is such a weird show, though, in terms of tone. I don't think any Kamen Rider series has the same awkward, yet somehow perfect, mix of seriousness and humor that feels as organic.
That's true. I think it also helped that the other Riders save Kagami were egotistical asshats in their own ways. The show knew how to make them all look foolish to keep things in line.
Yeah I want to post him. He is one of the more enjoyable marty stus I've seen and primarily because they run with it a lot. He is much, much easier to swallow and appreciate unlike say, Kusaka from Decade.
Hey I like Kusaka. At least in his new role of being every Rider's annoying friend.
That's not how mary sues work. Having strong powers =/= mary sue. A mary sue requires the whole setting to be shafted to glorify the character. Superman is pretty much FAR from the mary sue. So what if he has powers like that? His adversaries actually are stronger than him.
The so called "Kids Crew" series of Star Trek fanfiction was among my first experiences with fanfic. As a result, my perception of what is or is not a Mary Sue was forever skewed with her as a baseline.
I'm merely talking about how Decade was in his show. He mellowed out to me on his crossover appearances, but in his show himself? Pretty lame. Lacks the charisma Tendou has.
And yeah. They should really just man out and admit Batman's power is the ability to bend reality and make everything work in his favor. He's essentially a souped up Maxwell Lord.
Multiple PhDs at the age of 22.
Genius scientist and tinkerer.
Outplays everyone in games he features in.
His mecha is fucking broken and gets even more broken later.
Gets back up after being deadified.
I guess it's more to do with the left girl still feeling like a Donut Steel character, but maybe if both share the same universe the latter would look more Mary Sue-ish.
While I do not know this Tatsuya Shiba character, I do have met another anime character that pretty much is Mary Sue.
Character on the left is pretty boring tbh. And "is clumsy" as a weakness is another common Mary Sue trait (also the unnatural natural hair color and the cat thing).
A Mary Sue isn't defined by going through a checklist of personality traits, but how they're written. The one on the right is overwritten and idealized, the one of the left is not. So while the character on the left could be one, you can't tell just because "clumsy" is listed as a trait.
A Mary Sue isn't defined by going through a checklist of personality traits, but how they're written. The one on the right is overwritten and idealized, the one of the left is not. So while the character on the left could be one, you can't tell just because "clumsy" is listed as a trait.
Kvothe from Kingkiller Chronicles takes it to the next level
- One of the greatest musicians in the world
- Extremely clever and quick-witted
- Prodigy sorcerer
- Can speak in poetic verse
- Trained to fight by fighting masters in a land where everybody fights all the time
For a while, his weakness was that he was inexperienced with women, but then
he is kidnapped by a literal sex goddess and taken to the dimension of sex fairies where they have sex constantly for a year and he becomes a sex master then he is transported back to the normal world only time didn't pass in the sex dimension so the year of sex training didn't affect the story at all and he basically spins tavern wenches around on his dick for the next few chapters.
Kvothe from Kingkiller Chronicles takes it to the next level
- One of the greatest musicians in the world
- Extremely clever and quick-witted
- Prodigy sorcerer
- Can speak in poetic verse
- Trained to fight by fighting masters in a land where everybody fights all the time
For a while, his weakness was that he was inexperienced with women, but then
he is kidnapped by a literal sex goddess and taken to the dimension of sex fairies where they have sex constantly for a year and he becomes a sex master then he is transported back to the normal world only time didn't pass in the sex dimension so the year of sex training didn't affect the story at all and he basically spins tavern wenches around on his dick for the next few chapters.
Totally. In Super Paper Mario he has bugger all to do with the overarching storyline, he's just the hero of legend that's there to fuck everyone's shit up.
Although I do think it applies less to video game characters because the flaws they have are the flaws the player has. Put Mario in the hands of some guy who's bad at platformers and suddenly he's not so super anymore
I've spoilered the text, but honestly you should just read it anyway.
At the age of five, she loses her Cro-Magnon parents in a natural disaster and is adopted by a group of Neanderthals. She masters all of their herbal and medicinal knowledge, becomes an accomplished hunter in spite of the prohibitions against it (and does so by inventing a sling, no less). When she leaves the clan, she invents taming / domestication (taming horses, a wolf, and a cave lion). When her cave lion later attacks two Cro-Magnon men, killing one and injuring the other, she invents surgical stitches to holds the man's leg together. Then we find out that rather than being the ungainly creature the Neanderthals saw her as, Ayla is actually the most beautiful woman that Jondalar (who falls in love with her, naturally) has ever seen. And it gets better! We also learn that Ayla is a polyglot, as she quickly learns Jondalar's spoken language (she only spoke the language of gestures and limited vocal expression of the clan before), and easily learns every language from that point in the series. She also invents the atlatl, discovers the ability of flint to help in starting fire, invents sewing needles, discovers the relationship between sex and pregnancy and the man's role in it, and uses contraception. Basically, if it's an invention of the period, Ayla invented it. Oh, and all of the bowls and furs and utensils and assorted nick-nacks that she made while living alone actually make her fabulously wealthy, and literally everyone loves her, except for a few people whose jealousy is plainly not sympathized with and who often come around to Ayla's perfection.
She is also the best lay on the planet - in fact, having sex with her is the first time that Jondalar's apparently incredibly large cock has known true fulfillment. It just couldn't fit anywhere else.
Oh, and she has psychic visions and is basically the most spiritually powerful person in the series.
Med'an is a character written for the Warcraft universe. He's one thid orc, one third draenei, one third human. He's the secret son of Garona and Med'ivh who are two of the most major characters in the Warcraft lore. He's a master mage, paladin and shaman all at once. And he's alluded to being "the chosen one" for some important future event.
By the way, this isn't a fanfic or stereotype roleplaying character. This is official canon.
I think Blizzard just quietly pushed him out of the way after the overwhelmingly negative fan reception.
I've spoilered the text, but honestly you should just read it anyway.
At the age of five, she loses her Cro-Magnon parents in a natural disaster and is adopted by a group of Neanderthals. She masters all of their herbal and medicinal knowledge, becomes an accomplished hunter in spite of the prohibitions against it (and does so by inventing a sling, no less). When she leaves the clan, she invents taming / domestication (taming horses, a wolf, and a cave lion). When her cave lion later attacks two Cro-Magnon men, killing one and injuring the other, she invents surgical stitches to holds the man's leg together. Then we find out that rather than being the ungainly creature the Neanderthals saw her as, Ayla is actually the most beautiful woman that Jondalar (who falls in love with her, naturally) has ever seen. And it gets better! We also learn that Ayla is a polyglot, as she quickly learns Jondalar's spoken language (she only spoke the language of gestures and limited vocal expression of the clan before), and easily learns every language from that point in the series. She also invents the atlatl, discovers the ability of flint to help in starting fire, invents sewing needles, discovers the relationship between sex and pregnancy and the man's role in it, and uses contraception. Basically, if it's an invention of the period, Ayla invented it. Oh, and all of the bowls and furs and utensils and assorted nick-nacks that she made while living alone actually make her fabulously wealthy, and literally everyone loves her, except for a few people whose jealousy is plainly not sympathized with and who often come around to Ayla's perfection.
She is also the best lay on the planet - in fact, having sex with her is the first time that Jondalar's apparently incredibly large cock has known true fulfillment. It just couldn't fit anywhere else.
Oh, and she has psychic visions and is basically the most spiritually powerful person in the series.
I remember reading the book where she discovered how pregnancy worked. Man she really is ridiculous.
As to Kvothe, guys, I keep assuming that what spares him is that 1)Rothfuss knows Kvothe is one 2)The whole point is that Kvothe was a legend and now he's washed up and 3)Kvothe himself probably lies during large parts of the story.
But I mean, he's supposed to be one is all.
Now, let me give you two from the Final Fantasy series.
Final Fantasy V isn't exactly the deepest plot in the franchise. Hell, its plot doesn't really aim to be as ponderous as FFIV and FFVI, its immediate contemporaries. It is by and large a comedy with a few sad moments in there. All the same, Krile is the absolute worst character in the entire history of the franchise because there is literally no aspect of her character that isn't stolen from another character in the game.
Bartz is the son of a Dawn Warrior, close with Chocobos, and an accomplished swordsman capable of besting his father's comrades in combat. Krile is the grandaughter of a Dawn Warrior (but her parents are never, ever met so she's basically been raised by Galuf, meaning she's as good as the daughter of one), psychically communicates with Bartz's Chocobo, and can kick his ass despite having no means to do so.
Lenna is a princess. She has a deep emotional connection to dragons. HEY HEY GUESS WHO IS RIDING A DRAGON IN THE ENDING? It isn't Lenna! It's KRILE. Because you see, KRILE ALSO HAS A PET DRAGON. Oh and Galuf was a king so lol Krile is a princess too.
Faris has a pet sea serpent she has known from infancy. She has no need to communicate with it with words. GUESS WHO NEEDS TO USE HER MAGIC PSYCHIC POWERS TO INTERRUPT THAT, TOO.
ExDeath is the embodiment of evil spirits with so much magical power he has manipulated people and defeated heroes left and right. Guess who beats him with a LEVEL ONE MAGIC SPELL. WHEN SHE CANNOT HAVE KNOWN MAGIC YET.
Bartz is the main character! Now who does the end of the game focus on again?
Krile is terrible because she more or less invalidates every major emotional moment the cast has going on for no clear reason. Like, why did Krile need to be psychically able to talk to all animals? Why not just give her Moogles to continue the theme of cast member- animal friend? Why did Krile need to be a princess when there were already two of them? I legitimately cannot explain to you how Ex-Death, strong enough to devour sections of the world and defeat Galuf when Galuf is literally breaking the game's rules is somehow beaten when Krile hits him with a low-level spell she cannot actually know.
The dragon thing is fucking inexcusable. Lenna nearly dies like three times for her dragon but in the ending she's on a fucking chocobo while Krile flies above her.
Or how about how Krile magically gets all her grandaddy's powers without having to make any effort at all? Yeah real great writing there. Even in gameplay Krile's traits are stolen from better people.
But let's dwell on a less controversial example of this in the franchise.
Ignore with me for a minute that Genesis is Nomura's love letter to Gackt. Let's focus instead on how he is literally just Red Sephiroth.
Long coat? Check.
Long sword? Check.
Wing? Check. But his is longer, ohohoho
Clones? Check.
Serious mommy issues? Check.
Jenova connection? Check.
Sinister religious overtones? Check.
Hebrew naming theme? Check.
SOLDIER 1st Class turned traitor because of Shin-Ra secrets? Check.
Okay, we've established he's Red Sephiroth, but there must be something about him that's original and also awful, right? Right.
Basically, where Sephiroth's major problem is he has Joker Immunity bringing him back, Genesis gets straight up absolved. Moments before the major ending the game has been building to, the excellent ending that is all kinds of unjust but inevitable, moments before that the game's Goddess straight up saves Genesis' life. Why? fuck you for asking, that's why. I mean, why should the game's Goddess save Aerith, who literally died to save her, when she could instead choose to die to save Genesis who, uh, set in motion the events that would nearly destroy her twice? Why should she save Zack, who saved the guy who would bail her ass out twice when she could instead save the dickhead whose only "good" was his obsessive devotion to her?
Oh or let's talk about how the Nibelheim Incident is now a hilarious fuck up. Genesis had fucking fan-girls all over Midgar. He started a war in which dudes with his face are all over the fucking place. Nobody ever mentions this shit in FF7. Worst of all, though, is that dude is ALL OVER NIBELHEIM when it is burning and Cloud and Sephiroth are meeting and yet Cloud, even when undergoing his major meltdown at Sephiroth's hands and Tifa's build up afterward has no damn memory of this.
Long story short, Genesis is just Red Sephiroth who fucks continuity up big time.
Wouldn't almost every companion in at least new Doctor Who fall into that category? They're chosen because they're "special" in some way and end up saving Earth or some corner of space and time countless times.
I think the difference between those characters and a Mary Sue is that even during the mopey "Doctor want Rose" they didn't fixate on telling the audience how awesome they are, they generally *show* it. And they all have flaws of some sort.
I dont think a character created by dozens of writers can be a Mary-Sue. Voyager's problems are less wish fulfillment via character and more inconsistent characterization and a lack of long-term impact of story beats.
Med'an is a character written for the Warcraft universe. He's one thid orc, one third draenei, one third human. He's the secret son of Garona and Med'ivh who are two of the most major characters in the Warcraft lore. He's a master mage, paladin and shaman all at once. And he's alluded to being "the chosen one" for some important future event.
By the way, this isn't a fanfic or stereotype roleplaying character. This is official canon.
I think Blizzard just quietly pushed him out of the way after the overwhelmingly negative fan reception.
You stayed in til the third book? I had the Kingkiller Chronicles recommended to me by about five people, started reading, and worked out within a hundred pages that it was probably not going to be any good.
"Look Dagless you're an excellent doctor, but you're also a livewire maverick, who when he's not bucking the system, is biting the hand that feeds, which in your case, is this hand!"
"Look Dagless you're an excellent doctor, but you're also a livewire maverick, who when he's not bucking the system, is biting the hand that feeds, which in your case, is this hand!"
Kvothe is an interesting character simply because he has all this stuff going for him in the flashbacks, yet in the framing story he's clearly a broken man and has lost all that once made him great.
Kvothe is an interesting character simply because he has all this stuff going for him in the flashbacks, yet in the framing story he's clearly a broken man and has lost all that once made him great.
Kvothe is an interesting character simply because he has all this stuff going for him in the flashbacks, yet in the framing story he's clearly a broken man and has lost all that once made him great.
Doctor Doom is the Mariest of the Mary Sues in the entire Marvel Universe.
Has a mind that Rivals Reed Richards(Smartest man in the Marvel universe)
Has Technology that Rivals Tony Stark(Iron man)
Has magic on par with Doctor Strange(sorcerer supreme of Earth)
Rules an entire Country
Will Power is so strong Psionics have no effect on him
How can someone be a Mary Sue if they never win? Half the point is that Victor's flaws keep him from attaining his goals despite some of what you wrote being true.
At this point no one can say with a straight face that he's a Mary Sue. He's lost almost everything despite his best efforts and has failed miserably at doing the one thing he swore to do above everything else.
How is Golgo a Gary Stu? What sane human would ever wish to be him? Dude has no life, no roots, lives on the run, gets horrendously hurt on the reg, and his psyche is a patchwork of emotional scars.
Sure, he can kill anyone and is damn good at surviving, but at what cost?
DOOM is far from perfect, his pride and arrogance are pretty big flaws. He thinks he's a mary sue and that's what keeps leading to his downfall. If he would just plan for his own failure he could easily win, but he refuses to even consider the possibility. If he would just come up with a back-up plan!
To be honest, your short description is exactly why his comparison of Victor to Thanos was so apt. Victor is pretty much a human Thanos, only without the death fetish and y'know, with the love of his subjects and stuff.
Yes, Yagami Light is a Mary Sue character, but the interesting element of his character is his awareness of this fact. Being the best, the most popular and the smartest person around just pushes him forward in his crazy notion to act as a god. It even tricks the reader to believe, that he is capable in the role.
But the truth is, that Light just has a corrupt personality with no sympathy for others. It it wasn't for the Death Note, his true personally would slowly reveal himself through more time and gaining more power in a natural way.
"Look Dagless you're an excellent doctor, but you're also a livewire maverick, who when he's not bucking the system, is biting the hand that feeds, which in your case, is this hand!"
You mean the guy with the same hobbies as the author of the books, who always gets everything right and all the girls wet themselves for him and sex him up all the time?
How can someone be a Mary Sue if they never win? Half the point is that Victor's flaws keep him from attaining his goals despite some of what you wrote being true.
It also doesn't really apply to antagonists. You get totally different problems when you make the antagonist too powerful, and they're generally not as bad as the ones you get making the protagonist too powerful.
Aryan McDreamHot from Terra Formars is the most embarrasing character ever and a subtle look at the internalized racism of the mangaka, shit is hilarious.
You mean the guy with the same hobbies as the author of the books, who always gets everything right and all the girls wet themselves for him and sex him up all the time?
