Mary Sue - Her Many Incarnations

[Miranda_]

Four more Sues, complete with descriptions and illustrations. XD

Japanese!Sue. This Sue has two main types, so will describe each one separately.

Geisha!Sue.



This Sue generally dresses in traditional Japanese gear, tho there's nearly always something a little off about it. She will be part of a world where her appearance and behaviour does not fit in at all, and will act in a stereotypical fashion. Geisha!Sue will often be written as behaving just like a fifteen year old schoolgirl, mirroring the Suethor and indicating that she Did Not Do The Research.

Kawaii!Sue.



Also Did Not Do The Research, this particularly irritating Sue will spout odd Japanese words at every opportunity. While randomly saying "Kawaii!" is most popular, this Sue will also call every single person -chan and greet them with "Konnichiwa!" Kawaii!Sue will also spout pointless drivel about every anime her creator has seen, regardless of whether it's appropriate for the world where she is, or the time era the world is set in.

Exchange Student!Sue.



Usually an American exchange student at Hogwarts, altho on occasion a Sue of this kind will fall into Middle Earth. ES!Sue will inexplicably go to Hogwarts, altho there's at least one canon magic school in America, ie the Salem Witches Institute, and will proceed to take over everything, including being the bestest friend of the Golden Trio. A "fell to Middle Earth" Sue will conversely join the Fellowship and get everything into a muddle by saving Gandalf from the Balrog and preventing Boromir's death.

Gary Stu.



Gary Stu is worth mentioning on this guide, for he is the male equivilent of Mary Sue. Also called Marty Stu, Larry Stu or Gary Sue. Gary Stu is usually breathtakingly handsome, is misunderstood and has a tragic past. He can be either a preppy pretty boy or a brooding, dark goth; or even a combination of the two, and invariably saves the day and gets the girl. Unless he's the star of a slash story, in which case he gets the guy. Like his sister, Gary Stu is incredibly irritating to anyone who writes properly, and is annoyingly perfect.

[Silver_Wolf_Kitty]

Finally, some Japanese sues in the mix! Great descriptions, Miranda

On the topic of slashy Gary Stu, I feel like there are some stereotypical sub categories within the *** slash world. Like you always have the mean, bossy *** man who is secretly sensitive and then you always have your submissive sort who is overly sensitive. Its a bit insane really.

[Miranda_]

What annoys me in slash stories is when one half of the couple is written as being like a prissy little girl. If you're going to write one man as being a girl, then why not write hetfic?! And of course, the whole seme/uke thing, which does not apply to every single g@y relationship in the world.

Going back to the Sues; Kawaii!Sue is the most irritating of the most recent four, I think. Especially since a lot of Suethors who utilise this particular Sue have learned all their Japanese from anime subs and therefore have not the slightest idea about how the language is spoken, or about different contexts. For example; while not an expert on Japanese, I read somewhere that Konnichiwa actually means "Good afternoon". Yet I've seen it used by people as a general greeting.

[Cheshire1996]

Agh, this one particular fan fiction is irritating me right now, it features the absolutely perfect, sweet as sugar sue. Unfortunately although she's been bombarded with critique, and suggestions, the author refuses to accept other people's advice, isn't that what improving is about.

But no, apparently it's perfectly fine to have a sue whose personality description is 'she can wield any type of magic, due to her powers, and is more powerful than anyone else. She is kind, funny and caring. Everyone thinks she is beautiful and all the girls want to look like her. All of the boys secretly like her, but are too scared to ask her out. Everyone likes her'.

askchsahcabxaackadhbcasjkcnaikcsdb!

And then she complains about people 'deliberately picking on her because they can't come up with interesting characters of their own'. So far the comments have all been polite, with pointers on how to improve and helpful websites as well as the person commenting's personal advice on what she could do to improve. Not one is accusing her of anything bad and yet she reacts as though the world is ending.

It makes me so darn mad.

Sorry, I'm turning this into the anger threat and beginning to rant.

But honestly, when I'm sick and feel like reading a good fan fiction this is not what I want to have to put up with!

I'm off to find a better fanfic. One with a plot line and characters with a bit more substance. Hmph.

[AaronShadows]

^Ugh, tell me all about it. I'm not going to pretend I can resist the urge to be snarky and sarcastic when giving out my special brand of advice to people, but some of the responses I've got from people I've given "advice" to are beyond the realm of mortal idiocy.

In particular, there was this random cow on the server I play on. She committed such atrocities as being closely related to important lore characters (had some random werewolf b*tch character who was apparently King Genn Greymane's niece, or something like that.) had absolutely no skill in writing, and responded to any critiques with a garble of horrifically structured insults mixed with very bad excuses for excuses. Excuses for excuses. She also called her equally mentally impaired and unskilled friends to flame me for daring to call her out on her half-a$sed trash.

It came to a head when she made a pair of polar-opposite Night Elf sisters. That's when I couldn't take it anymore. >_> One was a Death Knight who was apparently a huge who're and could seemingly arouse even the bloody dead, had about ten thousand titles, and defied all sense and reason whilst conforming to nearly every common Mary Sue trait you can think of. And her sister was an equally impossible Night Elf Paladin. Paladins are holy warriors of the Light, which is a religion in the Warcraft Universe; as Night Elves exclusively follow the goddess Elune, the concept of a Night Elf Paladin is far beyond the impossible. She didn't even bother to make any sense with her "backstories." They were packed full of visits from lore characters to make her seem more sparkly and speshul, which made them even worse! WORSE!

All in all, her stuff was absolutely terrible, and she was completely unrepentant, but at least I got to have some fun shredding it.

And I'm sorry for clogging the thread up with WoW-related stuff, but Warcraft roleplay is pretty much my realm of expertise these days. It gives me a lot of horrific material to have fun with. xD

[Miranda_]

Yet more Sues. XD


Einstein!Sue.



This Sue is the most intelligent person ever, and despite working hard in her chosen field, still manages to be beautiful, too. If Einstein!Sue is a scientist, she will be the most successful one ever; despite never tying her hair back or wearing sensible footwear. Despite teams of scientists working on a problem, it will always be Einstein!Sue who thinks up the solution. Anyone who criticises her will be automatically accused of jealousy.

Copycat!Sue.


This Sue is, like Qanonreip Sue, one of the most unoriginal of all Sues. She appears when her creator doesn't have the smarts to think up an original character, so therefore copies one of the canons. There will usually be one or two slight changes; the most popular one is a gender switch, but otherwise, the Copycat!Sue will be quite identical to the canon she's ripping off. The Sue will normally be explained away as a long lost relative or twin sister of the canon character.

Rebellious Princess!Sue.



This Sue is particularly irritating when they pop up in fandoms where princesses are rare, if not nonexistant. Often a Suethor will edit canon as she pleases in order to shove in her Sue. RePr!Sue is a believer in grrl power; she can do whatever she likes, cuz she's as good as a man any day and she can do all this and be a princess, too! Expect to see misogyny forced on canon characters who show no sign of it in the original work.

Uke!Stu.



This Stu appears mostly in slashfic, altho on occasion he may be permitted to be the submissive partner of a Sue. Uke!Stu is noted for being basically a girl with a Y chromosome; he acts just like a girl, sometimes even dresses like one, and is completely dependant on his seme. Sometimes Uke!Stu is an original character, but more often he's a warped version of a canon which has been put together in order to feed a Suethor's twisted desires.

[Miranda_]

And yet more! XD Double posting cuz of image limit, yo.

Villain!Sue.



As evil as they come, this Sue delights in all things malevolent and bad. In a Harry Potter fic, she'll often be the daughter or girlf of Voldemort; in a Naruto fic, she's more than likely going to be the sister Orochimaru never had. Queen of the malicious laugh; this Sue will usually meet the hero of the story and be instantly turned good by his love... well, after killing off his canon girlf, of course.

Distressed Damsel!Sue.



This Sue exists purely to be rescued by the dashing hero, sometimes Gary Stu, other times a warped version of a canon character. DD!Sue has very little personality of her own; she's practically a cardboard cutout. Sometimes stories featuring DD!Sue can take on a disturbing theme when the Sue is raped and falls in love with her rapist; these stories tend to mirror the old bodice ripping so called "romance" stories of the past.


Girlf!Sue.



Like Distressed Damsel!Sue, Girlf!Sue has very little personality. In her case, however, she exists purely to be the girlf of a canon character. She will show a little character by getting rid of a canon character's other half by any means necessary, but it will be an unpleasant character, and will make you wonder why the other people in the story don't see right thru the simper to the conniving b*tch below, and kick her as far away from themselves as possible.

Anti!Sue.



Usually created by a Suethor who has in the past received criticism about her character. As a result, instead of buckling down and creating a good, well rounded character, the Suethor will create this monstrosity. Ant!Sue is the opposite of Purity!Sue, but is just as loathsome in her own way. She might be plain and dressed unbecomingly, but other characters in the story will still fawn over her, and her unbeguiling personality won't stop men from falling at her feet. So basically, still a Sue; just a Sue showing her true colours from the start.

[Cheshire1996]

There's that villainous Sue!

I simply can't stand them, they just nnnngggg...they make me want to smash something, quite frankly, and smash it nastily.

I have to admit I haven't come across any Einstein Sues yet, in my fan fiction reading career so I think I may be somewhat lucky. Not that I go out of my way to find Sues, they just seem to haunt fan fiction archives like bad breath.

[Miranda_]

Einstein!Sues usually turn up in bad sci-fi fanfiction as a rule.

[Cheshire1996]

Then I shall beware any scientists with stilettos and flawless personality traits XD