Mary-Sues and You: Common traits part 1

Most common Mary Sue traits part 1: Personality and Appearance

Now, Mary-Sue is a blanket term for any fan or original character that is unbalanced. A Sue is most often created due to the author wanting them to be unique and everyone to like them without bothering to do much research or in-depth work on the character's personality or story. They most often focus instead on powers and traits that they think will make people like them, and will pile those traits on until you have a completely ridiculous character.

Now again, you can write characters however you want. But if you want more fans than teenage fangirls/boys that just love the canon you paired your OC with or your art (Reminder: Good art does not mean good character), and want respect from well-respected OC creators, then try to avoid making a Sue. Because I know I'm laughing at them.

Now, your OC can have a couple of these traits and not be bad. It all depends on what universe your OC belongs to, and how you portray why they have the trait. HOWEVER if your OC has three or more of these traits, reconsider. I will mark in () on a scale from 1-5 how bad a trait is, with 1 being forgivable and 5 being NEVER DO THIS TO YOUR OC.

Personality traits

More often than not, an author will slap on a generic personality with minimal depth to make their lives easy. ('typical teenager', 'oh-so socially awkward and shy') (4- you should put some more effort in)

`The biggest Sue flag in personality is that, no matter if they are super awkward or shy, or rude, all other characters in the story will be drawn to them and like and trust them immediately (almost always seen in OCxToshiro pairings). Common phrases for this include 'It only took one short week before everyone liked him/her!' or 'Even though ~canon character~ is usually cold to people, they liked my OC as soon as they talked!'
And whenever a different character is mean to them, it is only to make that character look bad and the Sue look good. (5)

-A character that is incredibly persuasive. Everyone will value their opinions over everyone else's (or the OC's opinions are the only ones anyway) (2 if they're just a manipulative person, 4 if they're a leader/dictator (they can't always be right), 5 if they're supposed to be neither of those things)

-A character that is completely, all the time brave and strong, regardless of their past or if they're just a child. (3)

-Flipside, a character that is always depressed and mopey (4)

-Incorruptible. 100% of the time they do the canonically right thing, regardless of outside motives or persuasion (5)

-A character who is a complete asshole and somewhat abusive, but no one calls them out on it. And is a complete badass anyway, who will kick your ass for looking at you sideways but still has a bunch of friends and a love interest (5)

- Mostly for females, a character who is described as 'may look weak and innocent, but will kick your ass in a heartbeat!!!' ('kick your ass' referring to physical beating, from a character who is described as 'small, with no muscle, ect. Especially if it's pure physical strength-they would have muscle) (5)

-A character who has Bipolar disorder or something along those lines, and the author doesn't do research on it so it's not accurate. And is only brought up to garner sympathy for the OC (5 and is also quite offensive to people that suffer from the disease)

-A character that preaches about how noble they are/ how people should be and everyone always agrees (5)

-A character who is often described as being above others, though the character him/herself is very self-depreciating. (Author: My character is a nice guy who treats women right, unlike mot men! But most women only want 'bad guys'!! or 'my character has this handicap and they're still a better person than people without the handicap! (Often seen with blind characters))) (5)

-A character whose only flaws include being stubborn and/ or having a bad temper. And then nothing bad that they cause (does not include harm to themselves because they were 'too stubborn to let their loved one fight in their place') is an actual mistake due to those flaws. Sometimes they will make one mistake to learn a super valuable lesson and suddenly they become super wise. (5. These are not really flaws)

Physical Traits

-A character that is so beautiful, everyone notices it and comments and the author constantly points it out (5. A character can be attractive, but not everyone will think so… and you don't need to point it out all the time)

-Having traits that you use more than two qualifiers to describe as beautiful/ take a very long time to describe (ebony, flowing hair that sparkles in the sunlight) (4. It gets old)

-Unusual traits that the author constantly comments on to garner attention (5)

-Unusual hair/eye color for the universe they're in for no reason (like a firebender having blue eyes with no water nation lineage) (3)

-Color-changing hair or eyes (5 if no one else in the universe can do it and they do it at will… and it's drastic changes) (3 if it's not all that drastic- dark to light brown. Eyes actually do that naturally)

-Two-tone eyes when it is an uncommon trait (2 if natural heterochromia)
-(5 if it's because their mom had one color, dad had another, so child has both)
-(5 if it's a curse)
-(4 if it's got special powers, 5 if there's no good reason as to why they have it or how they got it)

-Absurdly long hair (like past their lower back)/ hair that gets in their eyes and it never affects their close-range fighting abilities… and no opponent thinks to just grab it like any sane person (Or the author claims 'they're too skilled for that!! Or 'They've learned to compensate!! (this excuse only flies if the character is old and experienced)) (5. It's very unrealistic.)

-'Natural' two or more toned hair, in a universe where this doesn't happen. Also includes people with a bluenette for a father and blonde for a mother (like blue streaks in blonde hair) (5- Genetics doesn't work that way, even in anime) (1 if they're just going grey)

-Rainbow eyes (Not like people with center heterochromia, but legit irises that are like purple and yellow and green all at the same time) (5)

-Skinny/ petite girls with giant boobs (the skinnier you are, the less fat you have… boobs are fat) (4)
-On top of this, the giant boobs never give them problems or get in the way, even if they're a close-hand fighter… and don't need to be restrained in combat. With no reason why. (boobs get in the way.) (5. And don't cry Tsunade, that woman is hella old and one of the physically strongest on the show)

-The character doesn't do anything to maintain their body, and in fact leads a rather unhealthy lifestyle and still maintains a perfect figure ('perfect' referring to still model-like and healthy, not just skinny) (4)

-The character is never portrayed as anything but pretty/handsome. Even after a battle, their hair is still perfect, and even if they've been injured they still look great, just with a bit of blood (no sweat or dirt or mussed up hair) or look attractively unkempt.. (5)

-Significant injuries/'Dying' only affect this character for short amounts of time, and they come back way more bad-ass with no significant lasting effects from the injury. (5)
-On top of that, any scars gained don't detract from their attractiveness at all, and only serve to make them cooler (3)

-Has wings (most common being angel wings) in a universe where this doesn't happen (5. See part two for wings as a part of powers)(warning, still a 4)

-Will wear extremely revealing outfits in a universe where this isn't common, and no one thinks badly of them (4)
- In the same vein, if a uniform is required they will drastically alter it (in a universe where this isn't common *coughcoughBleach, and again, no one comments. Especially if it's a military organization and they wear things like pink or neon colors that contrast drastically with the uniform, or large accessories and are still taken seriously as warriors/soldiers/leaders. (4, but 5 if it's an integral part of the character and you comment on it all the time like: "OC is never seen without her blah'… and 10 if the accessory or alteration was required by their superiors. That is absurd)