By 😡Rekka-chan and 🙎She-Ronin
🧝♀️*Cringe* Those otaku handles!
Ah, Mary Sues. If you read Ronin Warriors fanfiction on the Internet, I guarantee you that about 90% of them will feature a Mary Sue in it. Well, what is a Mary Sue? Good question. Allow me to elaborate. [Note: in this article I shall prefer to use Ronin Warriors, rather than Samurai Troopers, because Mary Sues tend to appear more in Ronin fics than they do in Trooper fics.]
Mary Sue is a character created by the author (in most cases, the new character is a girl) who appears in the Ronin fanfiction world. The "good" Mary Sue is normally around the same age as the boys, is very beautiful - often the most beautiful and desired girl at her school - kind to small animals, and very powerful - even as powerful or more powerful than the mystical armors! They have several talents, and excel in several things. Not to mention, though she is so desired, she is extremely modest about it, and often turns down dates.
Even though creating new characters is normally a good idea, Mary Sues are the most hated character in all Ronin Warriors fanfiction. Mary Sues usually come in singles or in groups. She and her friends tend to fall for our handsome Ronin Warriors. The girls are almost carbon copies of them as well: one will have a high IQ, one will be a great cook, one will like to fight a lot, one will like to take up meditation, and the other will be the leader of this little flock. They all go off with their Ronins, get married, and live happily ever after.
Oh, did I forget to mention that these girls happen to somehow acquire their own set of magical (and possibly more feminine looking) armors? Also, they have the same powers as their Ronin boyfriends! Not mentioning the oh-so feminine, often flower-related name of the armor.
Many of us veteran Ronin/Samurai Trooper fanatics are so tired of seeing the same old cliché circulating around the Internet. If you wish to give the guys girlfriends, try making them opposites of the guys. Or make them totally different. Have one of the girls a drug addict, a vampire, a smoker, handicapped, stupid, or even just a normal girl - anything that doesn't make them the perfect dream girl at first.
Another thing about Mary Sues that bothers many people is the fact that she is seemingly perfect. Wake up, people! There is NO such thing as a perfect character. Making Mary Sue perfect will have the reader irked. Perfect characters are really boring and useless. And they tend to be annoying as hell. Having Mary Sue save the Ronins' butts by using her super-ultra magical powers and incredible armor will not get you any recognition anytime soon, for fifty zillion other people have tried the same routine.
A recurring theme among the Mary Sue stories is romance. Mary Sues are extremely fond of Sage and Rowen. She and Sage (for example) fall in love, both battle and win against a Talpa reincarnation who wishes to take away Mary Sue, she and Sage become lovers and get married and blah, blah, blah. Or Sage (being the so-called "flirt" that he is, thanks to the wrong info people get on him these days) is shocked beyond belief because Mary Sue doesn't fall for his good looks and charming personality. He goes and tries everything he can to win her affection, she caves in one way or another and yadda yadda yadda.
Well you DO realize that Sage and Rowen aren't the only good looking Ronins out there? You've got Ryo, Kento, and Cye, and not to mention the former Dark Warlords who are hardly mentioned in Mary Sue fics unless they are the bad guys by some unexplained reason. The romance in these fics are getting way too predictable.
Realize that love is never that easy. Instead of having the girl fall for one of the Ronins, why not have her fall for a [gasps] new boy? One that isn't a Ronin or a Warlord - just your basic normal guy. Or make him a nerd and have Mary Sue fall for him. Hell, make her fall for the villain! Just try something that already hasn't been done.
Try throwing in some obstacles in the relationship (no, I don't mean having baddies from the Dynasty coming in and ruining things). Have the couple fight constantly, have one of the guys knock up their chick, thus causing complications between them, kill off Mary Sue, whatever. Just don't make it sugary sweet - "Oh Sage! I love you!" "I love you, Mary Sue! Time to get married!"
If you plan on creating a character to throw into your Ronin/Trooper fanfic, give her a personality and overall appearance that isn't already taken by many other authors. None of that stereotyping now! It doesn't even have to be a romance story (I personally think there are way too many Ronin/Trooper romance stories out there, but that's another matter). Make it a horror story, or a comedy, parody, action (gee, whatever happened to these types?), and so forth.
Ever heard of the term "spotlight stealer"? Well, that's Mary Sue right there. Make sure that when you do create your character (that hopefully isn't Mary Sue material), be sure to not make them the center of attention throughout the entire story. Too many Ronin Warriors fanfics out there seem to make Mary Sue the focal point, rather than the namesakes of the series. Remember that it's RONIN WARRIORS, not MARY SUE or MARY SUE AND HER FABULOUS FRIENDS.
If you want to have Mary Sue be the star of her own story, then fine. Leave the boys out of it and make the girls do whatever you want. That would spare our hardworking fanfic page web-owners the grief of having to read and format these little gems.
Remember, the best way to avoid Mary Sue writing is never to start.
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