Mary Sue Litmus Test

[cattygabriel]

So I took the Mary Sue Litmus Test for Gabriel, out of curiosity. I knew he'd be a Sue - or a Gary-Stu - but his score did surprise me a little because it was a bit higer than what I was expecting (I'd been expecting the high seventies at most).

Your total is: 82.

*LAUGHS* Well, this is Gabriel, THE Messenger of God, Michael's second in command, etc. I'd have been shocked if he wasn't a Sue. Or a Stu.

Comments

[divine-tempest.livejournal.com]

Clearly I must be doing the test wrong, because I get high twenties, low thirties for Uriel (high thirties if I click every last box for languages because he knows them all).

[cattygabriel]

O.O Wow.

[divine-tempest.livejournal.com]

The "universal" test says not to click the box if something is commonplace in the universe. If I went back and answered yes to all the questions about wings and flying and languages and other such things, I probably could have padded Uriel's score with another couple dozen points.

It would be interesting to me to see what other people are checking off, to see where I'm short so many points. I know I have made a point to minimize Uriel's powers, but I find it odd that my score is around 30 while everyone else is above 80. >_o

[cattygabriel]

Hmm. I think my problem is that I keep thinking of it in LTSH-terms, so his powers are somewhat unusual... in my personal headcanon, of course, those powers would not be unusual. I should probably retake the test. XD

[divine-tempest.livejournal.com]

Ah, I think I have a completely different mindset. Even in LTSH, Uriel is an angel and his powers aren't exactly unusual for an angel. There are a lot of boxed I probably could have checked but didn't for various different reasons. (The nickname box comes to mind - Uriel translates to "Fire of God", but "Fire of God" is not a nickname he goes by.)

[glacialphoenix]

I ran Mynah through the test for fun and I had an absolute headache with the boxes, I admit. Better than just about everyone else in the universe? Yep, but then the whole premise of the game is that you're better than just about everyone else in the universe... and then there was the 'did s/he choose his/her own name?' question, which was problematic.

[glacialphoenix]

Hmm, just tried again. It's probably the interpretation. If I run Mynah through the test again as 'normal for a Solar Exalt' she gets 33. If you're comparing her against 'average human in the universe' she gets 83. That's a lot of points. o.O

[divine-tempest.livejournal.com]

I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong. :P Even if I click every box that even vaguely describes Uriel (and some of those are really huge stretches), I can't top 60 points.

As I said in comments on your entry, either way, the litmus test is hardly fair. I think most main characters of sci-fi/fantasy series and games are going to end up more Sueish than not. Some are a bit heavy-handed, yes, but I think it's part of the genre. Those that write the truly horrible Sues are either kids that will outgrow the phase, or people who think their Super Speshul SparkleSue is perfect as-is and should be allowed into any game/story/setting no matter what rules are already in place; a litmus test probably isn't going to do a thing to change their mind.

[glacialphoenix]

I think most main characters of sci-fi/fantasy series and games are going to end up more Sueish than not.

Oh, I agree. I admit I was trying to see how far I could push Mynah's score, because playing an epic character in an epic setting will more or less break the Mary Sue scale.

[nobledomina.livejournal.com]

Em got 80. That's because she's a freaking goddess! lol.

[cattygabriel]

XD This test is really not fair to us.

[glacialphoenix]

Exalted!Iluryl hit 72. Mynah hit 83. (But that's because Mynah's prettier and can sing and play the harp.)

I have a remarkable amount of trouble deciding. I could probably knock their scores down more than a little if I played it according to 'not unusual for Solar Exalted', but... the Solar Exalted as a whole are chosen to be the best of the best, which means that they really are stomping all over everyone in Creation.

I tried one that had less ridiculous options and both Mynah and Iluryl get reset to a nice decent score, though, so it's probably this particular test. XD