Subject: And I just got an insane idea.
Author:
Posted on: 2015-01-23 18:41:00 UTC
The main character in Midnight Green has an alter-ego named the Zebra Mask, a costumed trickster. In rereading the fic, I've realized that most of Midnight Green's Stu traits only show up while he's playing ZM.
What if the Zebra Mask is some form of Stu-wraith that afflicts original characters? Meaning Midnight is a well-intentioned OC being twisted into Suedom by the Zebra Mask!
What do you think of OCs whose authors desperately tried (and possibly failed) to not make them Sues? I ask mainly because I think I once wrote such a character. Look up Midnight Green on TV Tropes or fimfiction.net. If you're wondering why there's no link, it's because I'm on my Kindle.
Personally, I think they would have a subconscious aversion to Sueish behavior. Whether they live up to it is another matter entirely.
I wrote this particular character back when I still liked MLP. He's not terribly powerful, he just looks like it because his magical talent is messing with light and sound (read: illusion). He had a mild crush on Pinkie Pie, but I stalwartly refused to let him actually do anything about it.
If he were confronted and sentenced by the PPC, I think that he'd just resign himself to the fact that he failed his author (me) and accept death.
I one of that kind of authors, whether I succeded or failed, I have no idea, as I have yet to write a fic. Also most of my OC are for a Original Continuum, and that just makes it harder.
And regarding your fic, I don't think it's bad, but is not that good either, Midnight is a quite good character, but is hampered down by the near-Sueness of his alter ego, also the story doesn't quite live up to the "comedy" part of its classification, because while the Prologue was very funny, after that, the hilarity gets reduced with each passing chapter.
All in all, I found it to be an average fic, definitively not bad enough to be killed; actually I think Midnight should be recruited instead, because at least he has personality and does not warp beyond recongnition the canon parts of the story.
(Coming to think about it, the idea of a pony agent is hilarious by itself)
I agree; Midnight Green should be recruited. It's the Zebra Mask that needs to die. He's some bizarre form of Sue-wraith that attacks OCs instead of canons.
If anyone decides to beat me to writing that mission, feel free to include Valon. Why? Well, I figured something like this: What if, say, Tolkien himself touched a possessed Legolas? I think that the sheer concentrated canon of being the bleeding author would completey evaporate the wraith's influence.
Valon is an exaggerated stand-in for myself, so what do you imagine might happen to a wraith exorcized from his own creation? Let's play Harry Potter for a bit; you'll be Professor Quirrell, and I'll be Harry's facepalm of doom.
I'd write the mission myself... but unfortunately, my nine-year-old MacBook has finally breathed its last. May it rest in peace.
Why? Because while you created Midnight Green, you also created Zebra Mask, Valon would need to something else too, besides just touching. Also simple exorcism would not cut it, because Midnight is not canon. Gosh, we just got an adversary worthy of Doctor Fate.
Despite the fact that the one sporking I put my own awful badfic through on my very first PPC mission was well-deserved, I can say with confidence that I did everything in my power to keep Adam from stooping to Gary Stu territory. Personality flaws, bad luck, and the like.
Needless to say, I failed spectacularly. The poor kid was pretty beyond saving from the very beginning. >_
*points at Agent Sergio Turbo* Guess who used to be my self-insert Stu?
I did try to add limitations to him to avoid scoring too high as a Stu, but... well, I was a terrible author back then so I ended up giving him more glitter than I actually removed.
I think he's better now though.
My stance on that kind of character is that they are to be judged in a case-by-case manner.
"Hey, I'm uber-cool but I'm not a Sue" gets the axe (Or other appropriate execution". "I am still going wrong? Damn, I don't want to be a Sue, help me!" style characters are what actually tends to become Reformed Sues/Stus.
The main character in Midnight Green has an alter-ego named the Zebra Mask, a costumed trickster. In rereading the fic, I've realized that most of Midnight Green's Stu traits only show up while he's playing ZM.
What if the Zebra Mask is some form of Stu-wraith that afflicts original characters? Meaning Midnight is a well-intentioned OC being twisted into Suedom by the Zebra Mask!
Surely it would be better for the character to own up to his Stuish past, learn from it, and strive not to make the same mistakes in the future, rather than conveniently foisting all his problems off on some outside influence? If, say, he makes a deliberate choice to stop being Zebra Mask because he doesn't like himself that way, that's a lot more meaningful and powerful than him going "It's not my fault! The Mask made me do it! You can't blame me for that stuff! I'm perfect just the way I am!" ... See how that's problematic?
By the same token, as Edhelistar pointed out, you wrote both the character and his alter ego, so you'd be owning up to your mistakes and striving to improve at the same time. This is a good thing.
Also, seriously, this notion of Sue-wraiths going after OCs is redundant and silly. An original character that acts like a Sue is a Sue, period. It can only stop being a Sue if it stops acting like one.
~Neshomeh
So, any mission to this fic should probably end with Midnight burning the ZM outfit.
By the by, if you've read it, what are your thoughts?
Because, I just made a quick research about the MLP continuum, and I got a short list of charges, so is for the best that if you want that OC redeemed, do it yourself.
As I said, my computer is broken and the only other Internet access I have is my Kindle. Alas, I cannot write for the time being.
Typing on a Kindle is iffy at best.
When I took that sucker down, my old Sue insisted that she wasn't one because her author said so. Of course, it would vary from case to case, but generally they'd probably be in denial considering their authors had no idea what they were doing like me.
Do whatever you think the Sue would most likely do and you'll be fine, I promise.
-Iximaz, who is totally not speaking from experience. Nope.
You may have gone back and spooked your old fic, but I will never let you live it down. You must forever live knowing that you wrote that. I am so evil.