Work work workin' on it

[essbeejay]

I had my thoughts on what I wanted to post today more or less collected, but I'm still reeling from Satoshi Kon's death, especially after reading his farewell message. I'm serious, the man was a complete inspiration to me. It's all to say that I'm making the attempt, but I do apologize for any ineloquence!

(I want to preface this by saying none of this offended me and I didn't take it personally. More than anything, it got me thinking. And if you haven't noticed or you're new around here, I tend to overthink things a lot.)

ETA: If it matters at all, this contains spoilers for what has been posted of TEF.

In the many reviews (thanks to everyone who has left one ♥) I've received for TEF, there are always a few that really stick out to me. These tend to be the longer, more detailed ones, since I ascribe to the belief that The Devil is in the details and try to pay a lot of attention to every little thing that can make a story that much more great (if my TEF: trivia posts have been any indication). So, I just get all gooshy when I get called out on them. Super thanks to everyone who's feeding that monster done so xoxo

Of course, there are other reviews that stick out to me as well that aren't necessarily as lengthy. One that I received caught me by surprise by cautioning me on making Blossom too Mary Sue-ish(!!!).

Again, not offended! (For the record, the rest of the review was a positive one.) I was just surprised. I do make a conscious effort to be careful about Mary Sue-ing both the established characters and my own originals. I fret pretty frequently about Mrs. Morbucks being too... er, "badass" (even though I think (or hope) she ultimately falls in line with the general depiction of strong-willed, powerful women established in the show), as well as other original female characters in TEF's pipeline. I've always viewed Mary Sues with disdain - nothing more than self-inserts attempting to glorify oneself.

However, when I take into account how strong/powerful my TEF!OCs are (particularly the female ones), my feminist tendencies, and the fact that I'm, you know, writing fanfic, I start to get a little concerned that I'm self-inserting myself. I mean, you can't argue that I've introduced more female TEF!OCs than male TEF!OCs so far, and they are kind of disproportionately badass. Is it because I'm just more familiar with writing female characters? I'm hardly rich, or a professional businesswoman, or a concerned secretary, etc., so making the familiarity argument makes limited sense. Am I responding (non-critically) to the slight disproportionate amount of males to females in the show? That is to say, our heroines are female, but in doing a gender tally there are still more male characters (especially villains) than there are female characters. I don't know. I could go on and on. I do fret about this, after all.

Putting aside my TEF!OCs, which may or may not be Author Avatars or Mary Sues, I can say that I do make a very conscious effort to avoid Mary Sueing the Girls themselves (and, to a lesser extent, the Boys). Actually, the characters I worry about Mary Sueing the most are my favorites in the trios, Buttercup and Brick, because it is very easy to fall into the trap of painting giant golden halos of idealized perfection around your favorite characters. (Nobody has commented on Buttercup and Brick possibly being Sue-ified, so I hope I'm in the clear!)

Blossom, though - well, let's examine TEF!Blossom. I can't deny I've kind of made Blossom the Queen of Perfect. Traits of TEF!Blossom include:

• Super responsible
• Topping the Untouchables list (i.e., very popular and considered exceptionally beautiful by lots of people)
• The most beauteous dancer in all the land!
• Super intelligent
• Did I mention how literally every boy wants to bone her? Because it's implied. And not subtly.

So she's pretty perfect. I can't argue with that. BUT. Then I like to turn around and examine the other characters. Both her sisters are:

• Also at the top of the Untouchables list (owing to their superhero celebrity)
• Superstar athlete (Buttercup)
• Capable of speaking multiple languages fluently (Bubbles)
• Super capable badasses (one more, er, explicitly so than the other)
• While not quite at Blossom's level, also popular subjects of fantasy boning (again, one more slightly explicitly so)

The counter-argument against Blossom's Mary Sue-ness, then, is that all the Girls exhibit some Sue-ish tendencies. But then I like to refute this by pointing out that even in the show's canon, the Girls were demonstrated as being super popular, widely loved, and revered as quasi-perfect by everyone in Townsville.

This doesn't necessarily mean I've avoided Sueing them, but at least in my head, I think I'm adhering to the show's canon.

Now, it becomes very interesting to me when I flip this on Blossom's counterpart, Brick. Because if I could pick one of the six main pro(?)tagonists to have been Sue-ified, it'd be Brick. Consider TEF!Brick's traits:

• Super goal-oriented/driven/focused (on one thing)
• Topping the (male) Untouchables list upon his arrival
• DROP YOUR PANTIES LADIES, CAUSE THE BOY CAN WERK IT LIKE IT'S GOING OUT OF STYLE ON THE DANCE FLOOR
• Badass fighter, moreso than his bloodthirsty brother
• Super badass in general (he attacks said brother and in one blow decimates a giant monster that five of his own kind were struggling against)
• Still commands previously-stated-bloodthirsty brother's respect (though not explicitly stated)
• Able to pull off a suit while still wearing his fucking baseball cap
• Oh right he is also super intelligent I forgot SURPRISE GUYS
• AND DRAWS SUPER PRETTY PICTURES THAT MAKE GIRLS FALL IN LOVE WITH HIM SUCCESSFULLY CURRY FAVOR WITH HIGH PROFILE RICH ART COLLECTORS
• Fuck it I should've just renamed him Marty Motherfuckin' Stu

AND YET. Nobody has complained about Brick's very disproportionate superiority to his brothers, or the Girls. (A few people have pointed out/asked about whether Brick is supposed to be stronger than the other five, to which my response is yes and no, depending on what you consider strength. Based on pure physicality, TEF!Brick is on Buttercup and Butch's level, and based on mentality/brain power he's on Blossom's level, except more ruthless, so when you mix it all together, Yes, Brick is the strongest.)

This highlights a few questions of interest to me (yes, it is a day for me to abuse the unordered list tag):

• How much of Blossom's apparent Sue-ishness in various fic (not just TEF) can be attributed to her being the least popular of the Girls in general fandom?
• Why are the markers of perfection so tied in to physical attributes (namely beauty in Blossom's case, since both her sisters are just as physically adept as her)?
• When contrasted with Brick, who espouses more non-canon "markers of perfection" than any of the other characters, why is it that Blossom is the one who is called out on her Mary Sue-ness?

I can't really speculate much on the first except to say that I do think being the non-fandom favorite can result in fans being harsher on Blossom when she's characterized as anything more than a bossy, nagging shrew. As far as the second goes, this is a bigger problem of the general media/world as a whole: that pretty people have it all, that pretty people don't have depth, or problems for that matter, so the fact that Blossom might have any sort of complex about responsibility or real social interaction is ignored to make the argument that she's too perfect. (We all tend to resent the pretty ones, after all.) The third isn't even a new phenomenon (we all know what double standard means, yes?); almost every fandom has always traditionally been harder on female characters, even when compared to males who exhibit the same traits and basically do the same shit the female character does. And for PpG fandom in particular, taking into consideration how damn popular the Rowdyruff Boys are and their very limited canon characterizations, they're more likely to get a free pass on being overly perfect...

Erm, I didn't intend to actually answer those points, though I could certainly elaborate on them given unlimited time to think and stare at my computer screen! But now I'm loopy. I should eat something. Sorry to end this so abruptly! Again, this is less a case of me being defensive and justifying TEF!Blossom's characterization (though there is some justification there, ngl) and more of a comment sending me into that familiar sbj spiral of overthinking and overanalyzing every little thought that goes through my brain after reading it.

IDK. What do you guys think?

Comments

[xjabooo.livejournal.com]

HMM SO I GOT TO THINKING ON THIS.

SO LIKE THIS IS HOW IT GOES. Basically I don't think you should name Brick as Gary fucking Stu, mainly because he is too badass. (Oh, come on. Seriously.) Brick shouldn't be a Gary Stu mainly because he asked help from Blossom at the charity thing with Reccardi (Chapter 3 - what the fuck am I doing, why am I citing where it is, it's your story of course you know where to find it) where is practically gets on his knees and begs - you know, the kneeling-and-begging in a very Brick-like way. But that really isn't much, so scratch that.

Also, before I read this, never thought of him to be freaking better than everybody else. I just thought of him being the hot new mysterious bad boy, that's why all the girls liked him immediately (no question on the popularity boost there). Next is that he was already identified as the leader, both canon and in this story, so I wouldn't be surprised about him being the genius, the strongest, etc etc. The leader is usually that way.

But when I read those, I was like HOLY SHIT BRICK = MARY SUE + MALE GENITALS (so Brick, for me, isn't a Gary Stu, but has Gary Stu tendencies). I can totally see your point in this entry. I am totally just saying.

OKAY ON TO BLOSSOM. Blossom can't be a Mary Sue because she's kind of this bitch and can't cook. And I always imagined her to be holding back her powers because she always follows logic and since she believes in brains over brawn, she doesn't go full force on attacks because she's hoping on a follow up attack by one of her sisters. Also, you didn't really give any other talent that Blossom could do besides dancing - unless studying, being bossy and bitching when things don't go her way are talents.

Like, Bubbles can sing, cheer, act, draw. Those things are different. Buttercup can play every single sport imaginable, cook, and even sing. Brick can draw and dance. Boomer can sing, play the guitar, act (I'm supposing).

Butch, not so, but I'm thinking the next chapters of TEF will address this (I'm hoping), because really, there isn't much reason for Butch to show off. Blossom, on the other hand, is pretty much a developed character already in the story (unless I'm wrong) so having her do nothing but dance king of sucks. (Maybe have her play the piano. Or the violin. Or the harp.)

But those are my thoughts on certain facts appearing in your story. Correct me if I am wrong.

P.S. JSYK I CONSTANTLY CHECK YOUR LJ FOR UPDATES BECAUSE I AM WAITING FOR A TEF CHAPTER UPDATE I LOVE YOU SO MUCH

[fronatron.livejournal.com]

For the record, I think you do an amazing job of balancing the mind-blowing pure awesomeness that these super-powered characters have and the real people that they are.

Blossom in particular manages to be very relatable, especially in the scene at the party where she suddenly finds herself alone and has no idea what to do [mostly because this is how I feel at parties, hahahaa]. And it's an organic development of the character, the leader girl who does everything and helps everyone but doesn't really know how to relax or socialize with people that she doesn't really know. I can relate. And yet she still does have a few close friends--that's what really sells it, what really makes her a real person and not just a character, and definitely not a Mary Sue.

Actually all three girls are very believable in that they have their own interests and their own friends, and if I'm not mistaken isn't a characteristic of a Mary Sue that she must be absolutely adored and loved by everyone? None of the girls really have that on a personal level, except maybe Bubbles, because she's Bubbles. :D And even then, most of the characters she interacts with treat her like any other person, not as some god come down to make their lives sparklier. Er, if that makes any sense.

Wow, that's longer than I meant to type, whoops, I feel silly now. :]

[xjabooo.livejournal.com]

Blossom in particular manages to be very relatable, especially in the scene at the party where she suddenly finds herself alone and has no idea what to do [mostly because this is how I feel at parties, hahahaa]. And it's an organic development of the character, the leader girl who does everything and helps everyone but doesn't really know how to relax or socialize with people that she doesn't really know. I can relate. And yet she still does have a few close friends--that's what really sells it, what really makes her a real person and not just a character, and definitely not a Mary Sue.

Pretend I thought of this first in my previous comment What she said.