Writing Tips and Reviews

How to Be A Bad Ass But Not A Mary Sue

"Be Kocis." What do I mean by this? Well, to see deeper into this topic, let's look at Kocis and the game he comes from. Tales of the Rays.

Kocis looks like your typical dark edgy Mary Sue, and he would be, if the rest of his character met the usual tropes of being a Mary Sue. Having a tragic backstory, dead perfect parents with alive shit parents, all attention developed around the Mary Sue, being stronger than everyone else with a fraction of the experience, and the world is bent to them instead of the other way around. These are common traits a Mary Sue has and all but the last can be used in a character that isn't a Mary Sue.

Dark edgy Mary Sues have that addition of being, well, dark and edgy. They're still perfect, they're still untouchable, and the world still bends around them. They just have an add on to make them even more unbearable. An example, an anti hero wannabe who says "you can't kill me, I'm immortal" all the time and brags about how that makes them better than everyone else. Add a bit of "street fighting for five years makes me the best fighter in the universe," and "murder is fun" and you've got yourself a dark edgy Mary Sue.

So, how do we avoid this while still having the character be a bad ass? Can a character be a bad ass and avoid being a joke of a character like the example? Yes. If the character is powerful, they need to have everything else make sense to the world they live in. Realistic so to say, in the world's terms, not in real life terms depending on the world.

Kocis is a fairy created by Ickx, he's much like his father in many ways, but his most prevalent trait is that he wants to protect his friends. He's more like Asbel Lhant than Velvet Crowe, who is intentionally made it be dark and edgy. He's a bad ass, but he's not a Mary Sue. His personality is that of a child, he doesn't brag about how much better he is than everyone else, he's not unaware of how amazing he is, and he's not "too perfect." Which the dumbest "flaw" I've ever heard of. His backstory isn't tragic and he doesn't have the parent thing Mary Sues have. Cinderella is a good example of having the parent trope while still having a god character. Kocis isn't the center of the universe and he's not he most powerful being in all of existence with little to no training.

How can you avoid making a Mary Sue and still make a bad ass? One piece of advice I'll give you, is don't make the backstory pathetic. No one wants to hear how the main character's sister "said something mean" to them and they decided to destroy the world and become a mass murder because of it. If you do that, you don't know how siblings work, and you don't know how to write. And don't get me started with "self harm is funny," "murder is fun," and "drugs and smoking are cool" that character is a joke and will always be one.

It's easy to make a Mary Sue, it's easy to not try at all when making a character. Mary Sues are made by people who want to power play and play god over, I don't know, making a good story and character cast. They rather be "better than everyone else" than to make the characters well developed. It takes time and effort to create a good character, those that make sense to the world they're in aren't hard to make when you know what you're doing.

I've role played with many who made Mary Sues. They try to control the story rather than let it flow and want everyone to worship their character. I remember one kid saying "my character is 10000000% better than everyone else so should be the only god." What person does that? These people go through lengths to make their character land on top, whether it's control other's characters, upgrade theirs, or use a power someone else made up. Instead of developing the character, they'd rather play god. Which is a mentality you don't want to have.

Avoiding a Mary Sue in general means taking time and trying to not play god with every character you have. Characters are not all the same, you can't get away with copying and pasting one bio and renaming the character with a color pallet change then call it a different character. That's called being lazy.

A bad ass character has to have other traits than "look how awesome I am!" They can't be someone who cries and complains when the world doesn't revolve around them. They don't throw whiny fits saying "I'm going to kill you" when another character doesn't suck up to them. And they're not annoying little kids. Many are portrayed as emotionless to put up an act, they're not "my soul is broken" or "my mind is shattered." I'm pretty sure the idiot who wrote that doesn't even know what being "mentally broken" means.

They're characters that people like because of how cool they are and how they feel like real people. Characters like Levi from Attack on Titan, or Lelouch vi Britannia from Code Geass, are great examples of bad ass characters who aren't Mary Sues. Their strength on the battle field isn't the focal point of their character. Unlike Mary Sues, their personality and who they are as a person makes them likable, not just their strength.

Bad ass Mary Sues are what kids make to feel like they're on top of the world. They don't care about others and it's shown through the interactions their character has with others. If a fight scene is ended immediately by an op Mary Sue who has little to no training and is just power playing, then it becomes pathetic. People who know what they're doing make the scene enjoyable to watch. Even when the audience knows who is going to win, the outcome might surprise them and the battle scene definitely has to be interesting.

Kids who role play with this type of character seem to love to do the "one shot kill." As in, the first meeting they have with the other character, they brag about how much better they are then one shot kill them. And if I hear "I can kill you if throw you in a river" one more time I'm going to throw something.

Like I said, if you're going to have a fight scene where the winner is obvious, then the scene should be interesting. But it should also make sense. A kid with little to no experience is not going to kill a well trained solider, doesn't matter how much power they have. If they have the power to destroy worlds in one shot, why do they have that power? Mary Sues aren't supposed to make sense in their character traits. Literally one is "no flaws" so that should be obvious. But it's not an excuse.

Bad ass characters are typically respected among others and typically are lives because of who they are and their shown skills on the battlefield. A bad ass character isn't going to be defined as some whiny kid who thinks they're better than everyone else and has literally the power of a god "just because."

Characters like Kocis are loved and respected because they aren't whiny little brats, they aren't ultra power with little to no experience (if they are it makes sense as to why they have it), and they aren't written by idiots who think "murder is fun" and "everyone needs to bow down to me because I'm amazing."

Mary Sues are made by egotistical children who haven't learned the world doesn't revolve around them. Because that's what a Mary Sue is, a character in which the world revolves around them. The dark and edgy parts of them don't negate the Mary Sue parts and adding more to make the character even more op just kills it. Adding on more tragic backstories, more powerful abilities, and even more reason that they should be worshiped as a god kills the character.

This is why many bad ass characters keep little known about themselves. There's something about the mystery to them that makes them even more likable. This is why Kocis has parts of him that aren't attribute to him being a bad ass, it balances his cavalcade without negating how cool he is. He is really cool, his summer design is amazing.

Making a bad ass but not a Mary Sue is easy when the traits of the character balances them out. Even the trait mysterious can balance them out as it's suspension to who they can become. When everything is known about a character and it only reveals them to be a whiny little brat who cries and complains when everything isn't all about them, then that negates them being a bad ass character because now all people will see is a whiny child.

Child characters can be bad asses, but their personality is typically more mature than others of their age. And I don't mean that thing of children saying they act older to feel superior to their peers, no, I mean they actually act older. Their mindset is that of an adult when they're young. And this happens in real life as well, it's personality typing. But because they're children, they are allowed to act like children. It doesn't negate being a bad ass because they are children, not like the older characters where it does negate being a bad ass.

What do I have to say? A balanced character is the best. Not everyone is a serial killer who thinks murder is fun and does self harm because "it's cool." If you do that, you're an idiot.