Is TD a Gary Stu? · 6:53pm Dec 24th, 2012
I found a Mary Sue/Gary Stu test online http://www.onlyfiction.net/ms-test.html and just for the heck of it, I decided to see if TD is a Gary Stu or not.
I got a 26 which is a borderline Stu.
The yeses for TD were:
1. Named after me (or at least me initials).
2. Angst in the present (yeah, he doesn't take his situation too well sometimes but it's not excessive)
3. Significant personality flaw. Yeah, he can hold grudges for a bit too long.
4. Holds my job. In the first few paragraphs but once he gets to Equestria, no. Nor is it a job I've ever had.
5. Shares some of my likes and interests (Wolf Creek may or may not be a guilty pleasure of mine too.)
6. Shares same religious beliefs (but they don't really come up but he does mention that he is the 'P' in WASP)
And yeah, that's all I clicked 'yes' on in the test. I hope that doesn't make you lose respect for me and the character that he's vaguely a Gary Stu as defined by this test. He might be more so in the sequel but I am going to do my darndest to make sure that I have solid reasons for every yes. I don't want to make him some overpowered boring character, I want to keep him interesting.
So yeah... there you go... sure...
Is he a Gary Stu? Yes.
Do I care? Nope.
645389 Well that's good. I try to make him interesting.
feeeeeh, he's solidly borderline in my book. At least you didn't ship him with the mane 6. :P
645401 I would never! No shipping, even int he sequel I can promise you that.
I don't care if a character is a Mary Sue/Gary Stu
645406
I rather assumed. I mean, it just doesn't fit with the premise of "I DUN WANNA BE HERE GOD DAMMIT."
Honestly, the fact that he really doesn't want to be there is what keeps him out of Gary Stu territory for me. He's come close a couple of times, especially when he and the ponies have big d'awww, sappy sections, but the fact that it didn't devolve into "And then TD accepts ponies and lives happily ever after" (or an angst-filled angst-ride of angst, possibly involving a dark past) helps to keep it grounded.
Pssh, don't worry 'bout that, Writer, T.D is fine the way he is.
Don't realy care. you have done good job with your story. so what if he's gary stu?
He's fine the way he is.
That test isn't really a Gary Stu test, so much as it is a self insert test. All the questions about if he's related to you are self insert questions. The rest, about how people forgive him, yadda yadda, are Gary Stu questions. Not only that, but that test doesn't take into play situations. For instance, if you have characters during a zombie outbreak, they'll act tough and badass because those that aren't are dead.
I think that test confuses a self insert with a stu.
The only stu-like thing about him is his ease of social trolling. And only because you haven't set any character development up behind it.
645436 Yeah, and it is kind of a flawed test because most fanfiction stories are different. Is TD mostly me? Yeah. He has my name kind of, he has a similar background and in my head canon he looks like me, but I still wanted to make him an interesting, relatable character. That was my first and foremost goal. He's mostly me because it was easier for me to make a character like that that way.
645456 I take it that you're talking beyond the deleted scene?
I got 104 my character is a Gary Stu but he really works his way up to that point.
645463
Yep.
That one was not questionable. Far too easy a setup.
It just seems like every time he gets into a conflict he has the ability through personal or plot means to gain either a direct or moral advantage each time.
He could be worse. At least he's not instantly able to do anything and everything he wants to do, doing the jobs of everyone in Ponyville, he doesn't have every girl in Ponyville wanting his dick, and his interactions with the princesses are solely because they BROUGHT him there. He could be MUCH worse. Also, yeah, I have to agree with 645436 on this one. It's a lot like a Self-Insert test.
Your character is much better compared to many of the characters I've seen in the past who were Mary Sue/Gary Stu.
'Gary Stu' is what you get if the author is basically playing with dolls in a perfect doll house. For all the years I've known this test, I can say with certainty that it's useless. Your character can have pretty much all the 'Stu' traits the test details, but in the end it's all in the shipping and handling. You're a good writer who doesn't afraid of being hard on his characters, so you're golden.
645460 Yeah, he isn't a Gary Stu, he's just a self insert and to be fair, everyone does that. In a way, we all base characters off ourselves; even if in just tiny ways. I think it would be extremely hard to make a character that doesn't resemble your traits at all.
645504 I don't totally know about that. I know that this was an edit so you may not have read it, but in chapter one, I put in a scene where we meet one of his brothers, Jay. The two of them start off their conversation but sarcastically ripping into each other. He's a trained snarker because that's how he interacts with his family.
645552
Well that makes more sense then.
He's still a little to righteous or vindicated in most cases.
It's kind of like he makes the right decisions but goes about it the wrong way. Which should result in a lot more friction until the edges get rubbed smooth or a fire starts. He has a lot more flaws than just holding grudges. But regardless of freakouts or injuries he winds up in the right or in the clear almost every time.
...
Wait you needed to take an online test to realize that he is a Gary Stu?
What...am I the only one who knew from the BEGGINING that the is a GS?!
Alright alright, I didn't know it exactly from the first chapter. There were only like two hints about it. HINTS not SIGNS.
But after the 5th chapter went out, it was pretty obvious, for me, that he was some form of GS.
Yet I am still here. And this time not because everyone jumped into the pit and out of the sheer awkwardness I jumped too.
...
Just...take this as a compliment
I'd like to point out that such a test only measures the symptoms and likely scenarios; the real test of a Gary Stu is if the plot exists only to show how awesome he is, if others break character to praise him whenever he steps in the room. I know of an author who would make sure that all their characters got above a certain value before they would put them in the story, yet none were Sues. ...Excluding a Parody Sue who only existed for a one-off joke.
The point I'm trying to make is this: character traits do not make a Mary Sue/Gary Stu, what matters is the other characters' reactions to them.
the phrase Mary/ Gary sue are tossed around so much now that then have kind of lost meaning, if a character is likable and/or interesting enough it shouldn't matter if they are a sue.
645626 Oh, I knew from the beginning that he was a tad Stuish, if I may coin a phrase, but I took this test for fun to see just how much.
645672 Well, he gets a 0/7 with those tests. Well, except for 5 but that is a very non-serious deleted scene and it's temporary.
645577 I suppose so. I wouldn't say ALL the time because AJ does chew him out for the Apple Bloom incident and he is never in the right there. But yeah, I know that a lot of the times he's presented as in the right or at least in the clear.
645713
It's splitting hairs anyway. Stories are entertainment and as such this is not an issue.
645719 True dat, and I'm really honored that you find my story with your time!
645722
Psh.
I'm working a 12 hour shift on Christmas Eve and you're giving me sometingnto read and think and talk about.
Let's examine this a little closer...
Pfft, how does this affect the quality of character?
A good name both sets your character apart and readily identifies him. A really good name might even say a bit about said character...
I think "TD" says more about the character than any Fancy McCoolname could.
AKA "internal conflict that single reader finds annoying"
Famous examples: Anakin, from Star Wars; Frodo, from Lord of the Rings; Edmund, from Narnia...
Famous personality flaws: Applejack's Pride, Rainbow Dash's Stage Fright, Twilight's OCPD...
You gotta write what you know. I've not yet seen a writer write about something completely foreign to him . (Not without significant failure, anyway...)
Someone said that if you write a character, you put a little of yourself into it.
Someone else said that when a writer writes about "Just A Normal Guy," the most normal guy they can think of is themselves.
Frankly, if you believe something, it's going to find a way into your writing.
It just happens that your characters are going to think that certain things are right, and others are going to be wrong. Your beliefs play heavily into that.
Test is flawed, as previously said. Test is about self-inset, as previously said.
(Famous self-inserts include Gulliver from Gulliver's travels, The Time Traveler from The Time Machine, etc.)
Sue has become so broad as to encompass anything anybody doesn't like. It's meaningless, and pointless, to cry "Sue," when you could just point out the issues you have with the character.
But constructive anything is hard, so most folks cry "Sue."
647157 Yeah, and this was a more 'isn't this interesting' than 'oh boy, it turns out my character is a flat stereotype Gary Stu'. Nobody else lost respect for me or the character.