[ SECRET POST #4831 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4831 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 46 secrets from Secret Submission Post #692.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

04. https://i.imgur.com/dj8MxRa.png

[(Anonymous)]

A++++++++++++

[(Anonymous)]

Nothing on the secret maker or commenter, but it annoys the hell outta me whenever call a guy a Mary Sue, like no, it's called being a Gary Stu. I'm looking at the image and I'm like gritting my teeth here,

[sparklywalls]

Mary Sue/Gary Stu haunted my days in my earlier fanfic "career" because I felt like I couldn't win. Make them too flawed and apparently you're trying to compensate for their perfection and/or romantic hold over a canon character, don't have any flaws and the same applies. I was just like...can I write ANY human right by this point?

I know self-inserts are a thing and they're annoying but even then I'm over it. If people want to imagine themselves in a situation and other people want to read it and imagine themselves as the self-insert, I really don't care anymore. You do you. Character/Reader isn't my jam but it's one of the best things to happen to fandom because at least then the people who enjoy self-inserts can do it openly and shamelessly without inventing a new character for everyone to shit on.

[(Anonymous)]

I feel like the people who frequently played "Mary Sue police" were using it as a way to exercise their cruelty and still pretend they were trying to uphold the "quality of fanfic" or whatever I'm glad that's less popular now.

[(Anonymous)]

+1. I think the Mary Sue Police were mostly younger fans who had just barely grown out of writing epic Mary Sues themselves and were shaming other people to try to look cool. Who cares if people want to write Mary Sues? Have fun!

[(Anonymous)]

i still think there's characters that are somewhat 'too perfect' in a way that really is kind of annoying, but i'm still glad that the term mary-sue is becoming more and more outdated as it was never a very useful or helpful one as people would just apply it to any characters they didn't like. even when those characters were flawed.

it's like most terms that gain traction in fandom: the initial application of it makes sense in a few cases, but then it gets applied too broadly and ends up becoming useless bc no one really knows what it's supposed to indicate anymore.

[venusundae]

when i was a naive lil punk like years ago, i made one (1) secret back on the lj version of f!s saying something like "ugh this character is such a mary sue" and thankfully all the comments smacked me in the face w that good ole your-internalized-misogyny-is-showing treatment. i have grown and learned haha.

but that was so long ago and fandom has changed in a lot of ways since then. i guess i'm just mentioning it bc you reminded me of it lmao. thanks f!s of years past~

[type_wild]

A Mary Sue litmus test needs little more than one question: Are you creating an OC and making her the main character of your fic that the canon cast is suddenly going gaga over? If so, maybe thing twice.

Another thing entirely is how Mary Sue is something that should've stopped being a problem twenty years ago. The term originated in zine fandom, when fic was rare and hard to come by and you took what you could get. While I GET that Sues are annoying, most online fandoms have fic enough around for the backbutton to be the perfect problem solver if you come across bad fic.

[(Anonymous)]

A Mary Sue litmus test needs little more than one question: Are you creating an OC and making her the main character of your fic that the canon cast is suddenly going gaga over?

Thank you! It really bugs me the way mainstream audiences have appropriated an inherently fandom-based trope, completely failing to understand that "Original character in a fanfic" is an integral part of what a Mary Sue is.

[(Anonymous)]

A Mary Sue litmus test needs little more than one question: Are you creating an OC and making her the main character of your fic that the canon cast is suddenly going gaga over? If so, maybe thing twice.

Nah. Their audience is going to be limited because most fans are there for the canon characters, but wish fulfillment OC fics are a perfectly valid part of the fannish landscape, and aren't inherently worse than any other canon-warping wish fulfillment fic.

[(Anonymous)]

I've never liked super-special, unique, loved-by-everyone main characters who can do no wrong. Male or female. Whatever you want to call them.

[greghousesgf]

I resent the hell out of the idea that female character=Mary Sue.

[(Anonymous)]

Honestly, I will forever be grateful to the creator of the Mary Sue litmus test because it was the wake-up call I needed to retool the protagonist of my novel from a really bad Mary Sue into a realistic, well-rounded character. There is very mush such a thing as having a character that is too perfect, and that test forced me to take a hard look at some of the traits/abilities I'd given my character and examine whether they were really necessary to the character or to the story as a whole. In a whole bunch of cases, the answer turned out to be "no."

[(Anonymous)]

This test should have been administered to Rian Johnson, J.J. Abrams, Joss Whedon, Stephanie Meyer, Chris Chibnall and Steven Moffat for creating such bland characters in their lifetimes. We would have been freed from their mess. At least Rebecca Sugar is the only one that understands not to make Mary Sues/Gary Stus and flesh out the characters with real problems and dilemmas.

[(Anonymous)]

You should probably branch out with your media intake.

[(Anonymous)]

Lol what? Steven is a massive, massive Gary Stu.

Comment OP

[(Anonymous)]

This thread is exactly why "Mary Sue" shouldn't be applied to original worksm. My fave is your Mary Sue and your face is my Mart Sue.

Re: Comment OP

[(Anonymous)]

Pretty sure this is a typo, but "Your face is a Marty Stu" makes me laugh as an insult.

Also, I agree with you.

[(Anonymous)]

This is exactly why Mary Sue is so useless as criticism. What do Rey, Buffy, Bella Swan, and the 13th Doctor have in common? They're female characters and they're "bland" - in execution, presumably, because at least in concept they are the opposite of that.

[(Anonymous)]

I disagree. I think there's something to be gained from recognizing an unrealistic power fantasy and how alienating it is for the audience. Just because the term is often misused in misogynistic ways doesn't change that.

[numb3r_5ev3n]

Amen. I saw friendships destroyed and had friendships destroyed over this stupid epithet. The "Mary Sue" stigma needs to die a horrible death, and stay dead forever.