FANFICTION ORIGINAL CHARACTERS - Terrible Writing Advice

[@thunderblood6603]

"Expressing emotions other than Lust." He just called out half of all OCs.

[@manoflead643]

it's not real fanfiction without some horrible jumbo paragraph solely dedicated to describing a character's boobs and clothes.

[@boitahaki]

.......half?

[@ErikWarhammer]

What do you mean "half"?

[@necromancedkoatle]

@@ErikWarhammer I believe they are implying that in reality it’s a lot more than half

[@ErikWarhammer]

@@necromancedkoatle So was I.

[@timesnewlogan2032]

I once wrote a fanfiction about the unluckiest man in the Star Wars universe: every time something got thrown off-screen in the films, it managed to hit him or whatever he was driving at the time.

[@theblackswordsman813]

Finally a fanfic I’m willing to read

[@Superkid33]

LOL! i would totally read that!

[@kaisermaximal8123]

Finally, some good fanfiction

[@timesnewlogan2032]

Well, if you guys are interested, I suppose I could take another shot at it? I only wrote it on paper, and tossed it out with my old stuff around a decade ago, but I might rewrite it someday.

[@veeteam1954]

@@timesnewlogan2032 Do it.

[@bobuncle1634]

Everyone knows that the best fanfiction OC is the guys who says ZAPPERS all the time.

[@Fluffkitscripts]

ZAPPERS!

[@GeekNewz]

yea but he is also a marry sue

[@Gyup523]

If he doesn't reply he doesn't like love triangles

[@gloweye]

The best thing about fanfics is that you get to kill the guy who says ZAPPERS all the time.

[@DmitryTheSovietDuck]

Zappers 👉😎👉

[@shelbyg.8867]

If you’ve never described your character’s eyes as violet orbs, then you’re clearly doing something wrong.

[@canaisyoung3601]

I tend to stick with realistic eye colors (brown, blue, green, and hazel. The other colors would be good for paranormal and horror fantasy fiction, but I don't write those).

[@Lostouille]

yep it depends of the universe you re writing , if everone have "weird" eye color then it's acceptable

[@underrated1524]

The eyes match the prose.

[@DonutCare564]

@@canaisyoung3601 I mean... people *can* have violet eyes it's just not that common

[@leinine1834]

what if i hate violet as a color?

[@randomdude-4353]

When I insert myself into a fanfiction, it's considered 'cringy' and 'lame', but when Dante does it, it's considered a 'masterpiece' and 'revolutionary to the Catholic canon'

[@reddytoplay9188]

That's because he was born at an earlier date where just about anyone can fanfic. He did get exiled though. Another "classical" fanfic is Lancelot, they did Arthur dirty for the French OC insert.

[@zennyzenzen]

@@reddytoplay9188 when your fanfic is so bad you get exiled 💀

[@battlesheep2552]

You joke, but it's funny how much The Divine Comedy is like a bad fanfic by modern standards, like how he's hanging out with his favorite character watching all his "bullies" burn in hell.

[@justice8718]

I insert a personality of myself in the fanfic with their own ideals that conflict with mine.

[@ImperatorMatthew]

550th like

[@HStorm26]

if your stand-in OC isn't sleeping with every character you liked in the original story, is it even an OC?

[@renab.7390]

*your But yeah, totally agree.

[@seanhartnett79]

True.

[@silverstarlightproductions1292]

😂

[@AegixDrakan]

My OC-do-not-steal-self-insert is asexual like me, so no! HAH, TAKE THAT, I have outsmarted your cliché by making my cliché'd character even more of a self-insert!! ;)

[@pyrothemythicalmobianphoen6001]

@@AegixDrakan well played

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

My OC has blonde hair and brown eyes. She loves everyone unconditionally, but is sometimes too clumsy and naive. Everyone loves her and those who would harm her are absolute evil. Even those who don't like her at first can end up protecting her. She tried always to be helpful and has an intuition for good and bad people, and she ends living together with the main characters. She's a golden retriever named Honey.

[@emblemblade9245]

10/10 best girl

[@funkystudios12]

I would die for Honey

[@bruhicusmomentus3060]

I would die for Honey, YOU will die for Honey. We all live for Honey.

[@DreamTravelerZenddrex]

This is brilliant.

[@VoidStaresback]

Must protecc this good girl!

[@FirstLast-cg2nk]

"Don't focus on avoiding Mary Sues. Focus on writing good characters." That's some great writing advice right there. Consider Superman: On paper, he's A-Tier Mary Sue material, as he's got superpowers, invulnerability, and high (but not too high) intelligence, while also being incredibly handsome, kind, and nice. Everyone loves him and he's the focus of a lot of attention in-universe. However, in execution, he's a much deeper and more nuanced character because he's well-written.

[@dracvich]

Timestamp for the quote?

[@FirstLast-cg2nk]

@@dracvich 4:43

[@lazarussolomon3541]

Yeah, it's possible to have a character that is the "perfect" most powerful and The smartest person ever, but it's how it's executed that makes it work. Example: Optimus Prime, Goku, Batman, Superman and Captin America.

[@Ajehy]

Exactly! Superman was so popular and interesting that he inspired a whole new genre!

[@marocat4749]

Superman if well written whatever pwoers he has wont solve a problem easy, or the fact that he cares and is really human, which can lwad to him struggle with th responsibility he burdens himself with, because thats his real superpower, that he somehow didnt completle crish under all that pressure. And a good way to challange him. The other way, he i very empathic, and extremely law abiding why his worst enemy is lex luthor as corrupt but clever politicial exploiting supes will no go him without him being caught being caught in a crime. An he is smart. So public smear campains are as legal and hurting, because supes has a too strict sense for moral for his own good, which can be exploited. And the other one as long as the characte bein held hostage reacts somehow not just waitin for supes and reacting on their own however, doent need to be badass,they can just struggle.Holding somehow hostage . oyeah powerulcharacters as long as that actually manifests in the character can be any flaw tochallengethem,they can like, one punch man, hus enemy, is boredom, and be cause he is cartoonish powerful, and that theme is reinforced, with that he never gets the credit he deserves, he doesnt care about, that works. (also its a gag manga, butthe borethom and monotomy making him depressed, is relatable as struggle) If youtake car its consistent and actually a problem or the charact and weighting on a character, subtile constant, not ovr th top once and never mattering later, thats a pretty good way giving otherwise op characters somethin they can struggle with. Dunno even in isekai power fantasies as long as the emotional stunted character and gradual growth can be actual be that. There is a really fun manga that time i ... zenithian armor that is a dragonqust fanic, where the character works actually, but also, its a former hikkikomorimangaka really showing that and the gradual growth on th journey with him still having in inferiority complex despite amazing people,.

[@pigletimnota8946]

"It's not an OC, unless it's OP". What a legendary quote

[@lubu682]

I agree. timestamp?

[@thefriend1633]

@@lubu682 kinda late but 2:57

[@lubu682]

@@thefriend1633 thanks

[@kaylahouvenagle3866]

Idea: two Gary Sues slam into each other, and have to deal with no longer being the center of attention, and one gradually discovers other people exists, while the other has a villainous meltdown and tries to make everyone focus on him. Meanwhile the love interest is dealing with the werefish (spooky mermaids)

[@WhiteFangofWar]

aka Toy Story

[@kaylahouvenagle3866]

Ooh, didn't realize that before!

[@WhiteFangofWar]

@@kaylahouvenagle3866 Apparently in the original idea for the movie Woody was going to be the main villain, letting his jealousy of Buzz push him much further into a meltdown instead of a single bad action. Lotso in the 3rd one is based on that initial concept of Woody.

[@harrisonpeterson3733]

If I ever put in Mary Sue's or Gary Stu's into my writing, I'd have them be super OP, and either try to take over all reality, or slowly go insane from the lack of conflict and growth as everything becomes meaningless to them.

[@cheesecakelasagna]

@@harrisonpeterson3733 so Megamind?

[@khalidgagnon8753]

Actually, a fanfic where JP writes Mr. Cabbage coming back to take revenge on Aang..... Actually that sounds like that could be fun if done right

[@ctnc6059]

Screw done right, I want to see it done wrong! Wouldn't that be just as hilarious? XD

[@khalidgagnon8753]

@@ctnc6059 suppose it would be..... I guess he needs to write this now.... Whether done right OR wrong it would be fun

[@generalstaal7075]

@@khalidgagnon8753 Why don't we write it ourselves? Whatever horrific mangled corpse of a story we spawn will certainly be more entertaining than whatever Netflix thinks they're going to do with the franchise.

[@hariman7727]

There was an episode of gargoyles that basically had a long suffering background character do exactly that to the main gargoyle Goliath.

[@PRGME7]

@@generalstaal7075 we start now

[@xfakelucid6504]

How to write a good OC: don't treat them as an OC. Treat them as another character in the story.

[@DumbassDoggie]

Exactly.

[@Frombeyondthehorizon6860]

Watching this video made me worry if I was making any of these mistakes while writing

[@dnaderelmasry7973]

@@Frombeyondthehorizon6860 Just make sure that your OC acts like other characters, isn't overpowered, has a personality that isn't just "have sex" or "be edgy" and your OC will be tolerable at worst

[@Frombeyondthehorizon6860]

@@dnaderelmasry7973 thanks for the advice

[@dnaderelmasry7973]

@@Frombeyondthehorizon6860 the advice that I gave isn't gonna help you out a lot, it's really just a very quick summary. My best advice would be to simply watch JP's character writing advice videos. Characterization, character development, and motives. Just to name a few.

[@lesstalking3007]

"Write what you know" means "do your research and _then_ write," but no one ever-ever!-does that.

[@Nai-qk4vp]

Write what you know. And try to know as much as you can. Unlike Dan Brown.

[@Ajehy]

Of course not! I didn’t spend months researching traditional Mongolian dress, herding practices and cuisine for a book. *laughs nervously and shoves notes under the bed*

[@willparry530]

Fortunately, write what you know doesn't mean you can only write what you've personally experienced, but it does mean draw on your experience to imagine how your characters might react to *similar* situations.

[@Ajehy]

@@willparry530 one of the Gundum VA’s described how he acted his character’s reaction to his Gundam getting destroyed: remembering the time his wife backed the car over his new motorcycle. An anguished scream if there ever was one.

[@willparry530]

@@Ajehy That is a very good example, perfectly illustrates what I mean. :D

[@Diembee]

“Don’t focus on avoiding Mary Sues. Focus on writing good characters.” That’s some S-tier writing advice right there

[@SomethingNameArchived]

True. Because for me, mary sue is end up like dictator word which is inherently means 'Something/someone I don't like'.

[@rxndomfxndom7405]

​@@SomethingNameArchivedSuperman is a Gary Stu. This is only replying to you since your comment made me think about this. Superman was the first ever Gary Stu

[@mitchellenderson7194]

“my character can’t be a Mary Sue because she suffers from HORRIBLE ANGUISH! The SUFFERING she must ENDURE as melodramatically as possible!” She works retail?

[@SterneStarfrost]

She works retail in a universe where every Friday is black friday

[@tadashihatsudai]

So she’s basically a telenovela character. 😂 She would fit right in with everyone else and be with her own kind.

[@Socasmx]

@@SterneStarfrost That would induce PTSD.

[@novaterra973]

Honestly, that's a pretty good trait. Makes a character relatable for the audience.

[@escondidah.s2325]

@@SterneStarfrost Oh god...Is that a story about hell?

[@Nick-zl5xf]

‘Fire Nation Surrenders to Cabbage Merchant with Gundam’ looool

[@seanhartnett79]

Lol.

[@seanhartnett79]

I wrote a fan fiction where the water tribe attacked.

[@tanostrelok2323]

A weapon to surpass Momo with a shotgun

[@Amy_the_Lizard]

Honestly, I'd consider reading that...

[@hariman7727]

@@tanostrelok2323 Appa with a howitzer?

[@Row_of_E]

You can hear him laughing maniacally while writing the script for it

[@willparry530]

Especially when taking the OC behind the woodshed...

[@BLUECOLLARWEAR]

So that’s why I’ve been hearing someone laughing for the past week

[@AugustToSeptember]

My personal favorite is the character that has the exact same interests, background, and trauma as one of the original characters! They even have similar names, similar friends, similar -father- , and similar powers! Wow! That’s so nice that the characters are the exact same! They should totally become romantic love interests!

[@Ajehy]

You forgot one thing: they have to be better at those things. After all, how can Zuko fall in love with someone if they’re not a better fire bender than he is?

[@arandomqueerfanpeep7655]

Selfcest?

[@suzanneclark7706]

*Oncelers enter the group chat* Edit: typo

[@Vivi_Pallas]

Ah yes, the copy sue.

[@tarotsushima3332]

Yep, and just gender bend them and there you have it! A new love interest

[@lukevankleef4245]

''My OC is an idealised version of myself.'' Me: takes all the things I don't like about myself and exaggerates them to hell and back to make an absolute gremlin of a character.

[@lukevankleef4245]

@Kayol56 That's usually the end result, yeah.

[@wojciechficek616]

Don't forget to combine it with omnipotence-level OPness like all of my OCs and have them actually be the villains of their own story, no matter what they were intended to be, ruining the lives of all other characters as well as any storyline or narrative that I try to impose upon them

[@odilusporce8814]

A Anti-Sue basically

[@Vileplume87]

My oc fr

[@AzraelThanatos]

You know, the cabbages guy in Avatar getting a gundam seems like it might be a fun way to break the universe in a crack fic...

[@door.5976]

Make him an immortal god and you're there

[@labrys3422]

I’m honestly willing to excuse giving a character a lot of power if said character was the Cabbage Merchant from ATLA specifically

[@ghoul4748]

@@labrys3422 "After suffering defeat after defeat reaching his breaking point this man still had a job to do, to sell cabbages by any means necessary."

[@goldenbananas1389]

@@ghoul4748 not going to lie I would read/watch that.

[@HMNCLunar]

Kuvira did get a Gundam, and it indeed broke the Avatar Universe in that crackfic.

[@the4tierbridge]

“Shipping - Terrible Writing Advice” Coming sometime this year Edit: this comment was just a dumb joke. Why is everyone writing essays?

[@ovahlord1451]

Step 1 : Make sure to always ship the two characters who have the least amount of screen time together.

[@kitkatboard]

@@ovahlord1451 People can write about any ship they want (well, they shouldn't, sometimes *cough* incest *cough* pedo), and especially rare ships, because the ones who like them rarely get any fanservice and would be happy to read about it.

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

@@ovahlord1451 Step 2: If they hate each other to death. It's not an "abusive relationship", it's just "QUIRKY!!1!!!1" and you're a HATER!!!1!!

[@annisarahimahbasri666]

@@ovahlord1451 and make sure they're both guys!

[@kaisercalvin1742]

Make sure that the two characters who have been fighting for for thousands of years and try to kill each other on sight are shipped, because... um... fan logic. On that note, why do people even DO that hate to love trope?

[@aokhoinguyenang3992]

Remember Lancerlot was an OC(adopted son of Lady of the lake, best knight, even Arthur's wife like him more,...) then someone made Galahad to out OC him(heal wound & fix swords with a touch, get the grail,...)

[@Ajehy]

This is literally how it happened and I love it. m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/n5DNmHljiJxnbNE

[@aokhoinguyenang3992]

@@Ajehy Yeah that video is fun & more comprehensive than the others history on the Legend of Arthur I've watched

[@floricel_112]

Of which I'm glad because f Lancelot

[@ericamborsky3230]

I was about to comment the same thing, then I saw this comment. Lancelot was at least somewhat tolerable as an OC because in his stories, he kind of thrust himself into being the center of attention and in universe had built up a reputation of martial prowess. Galahad on the other hand... He did not die when he attempted to bear a certain shield that no one but the "worthiest knight in the world" could wear. Oh and he defeated Lancelot and Percival both while in disguise for some reason. And how all the minor characters and supernatural beings fawned over him, about how he was the only one "pure" enough to complete this task or that. Mind you, I have only read a book containing a collection of abridged Arthurian legends.

[@danielskrivan6921]

Then there's Sir Robin, the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot.

[@Frame_Late]

As someone who is writing a fanfiction with an original character, I have never been more offended by something I 100% agree with. Edit: dammit I think I made him overpowered.

[@eatatjoes6751]

As someone who is writing a Pokémon fanfic where Ash reflects on how he's 10 forever and nearly overshadowed by Pikachu with a holographic Professor Oak, I'm completely stunned he hasn't touched on *Dark Fanfics* yet.

[@willparry530]

Why would you say something so controversial yet so brave?

[@hamsandwich4243]

Same here. I don’t think my oc is a Mary Sue but it’s definitely making my reevaluate her to make sure she’s actually good.

[@gangzilla5716]

My advice for writing a fanfic OC is: Try your best not to interfere too much with the canon main story. Make them their own identity, personalities, backstory, and character. Of course, make sure they fit in the world somehow. No one would like to see a monster-slaying cyborg in the medieval era, are they?

[@WellBattle6]

@@gangzilla5716 Hah jokes on you, I’m not writing a fanfic about a sci-fi cyborg invading a medieval fantasy. I’m writing my own story for that…

[@lunabeekhuizen8858]

"MY CABBAGES WILL BE ASSAILED NO MORE!" This made my day

[@k.g.b.1150]

I died at that part 😆 🤣

[@liszarezo3658]

Fun Fact : In Legend of Kora he really started mech production =D

[@doritodorito492]

I find it so weird that there's so many Encanto OCs who have gifts while also dating a member of the Madrigal family, when canonically, only Madrigals have gifts. They could establish the idea of there being more villages protected by miracles, and the OC being a part of one of the other magical families, and the two characters meet because both of their villages' walls came down, and might even have the same gift, but no. We need the OC living in Encanto because making a whole other magical family and a backstory for the village that is historically accurate to the country it's located in is a waste of time and the most important thing is that we need to do is create a character with cool powers who's dating the most popular character, and it doesn't matter if we accidentally create implications of incest while doing it.

[@ChaffyExpert]

Must be Latin America's Alabama.

[@plains7000]

I never saw Encanto because i did not like it and it reminded Me of why I hated Coraline and Croods and Paddington and Sooty and The Book of Life based on trailers and actually seeing the full films Paddington, Croods and Book of life themselves.

[@psy-fi64]

​@@plains7000what the fuck does any of this have to do with anything

[@Vileplume87]

​@@plains7000no taste?

[@kimifw58]

JP, seriously. We're not as tired of love triangle jokes as you think we are. You can bring it back now.

[@wellplyd8110]

Agreed

[@helloiamenergyman]

I feel like the love triangle could become more of an easter egg, placing it in somewhat hidden spots or subtler jokes so people start searching for them, it wouldn't leave the joke abandoned, while also giving it a new place in the TWAEU

[@Socasmx]

A triangle with two canon characters is a must.

[@spiderworld384]

8:25 there’s the triangle

[@dylan8443]

We're in a love triangle with JP and the love triangle.

[@hunterkiller1440]

Let's rip off all popular characters and mix them into one. Now, that's an OC since it's been completely bastardized.

[@hariman7727]

Recolored renamon? New original character!

[@Garlicbreadsupremacist631]

@@hariman7727 I Laughed

[@5spec]

@@hariman7727 I Laughed

[@WikiHL]

@@hariman7727 kinda weird to use Digimon as an example, they make recolors all the time

[@hariman7727]

@@WikiHL yeah, but furries elevate recolored characters to an artform. Especially Renamon.

[@bruhicusmomentus3060]

Original Character, Donut Steel Name: Marty Stu Age: 16 years old with the body of Hulk Hogan Abilities: yes Backstory: he’s here to make all the [insert franchise here] characters into his harem

[@willparry530]

I was disappointed when you didn't actually name your OC Donut Steele D:

[@Daemonworks]

Does he keep the body of hulk hogan in a box under his bed?

[@dylan8443]

A harem of brothers?

[@redthunderboar1323]

So is he a Jojo character who escaped Jojos?

[@dishwater2740]

Gonna use Abilities: yes for my resume

[@TheAwesomeDarkNinja]

"The term Mary Sue has been watered down to become 'character I don't like.'" THANK YOU FOR SAYING THAT.

[@hellacoorinna9995]

To be fair, we *do* notice the flaws of those we don't like. And yes are more lenient on said flaws in those we do.

[@fattytan1377]

@@hellacoorinna9995 best way to find out about the true sue. Find someone who hates everything.

[@Kevin_Theadore1]

@@hellacoorinna9995 I'm mean yeah- but it is still very watered down

[@hellacoorinna9995]

@@fattytan1377 Hah. Still, a character who's overly good at things well beyond what they should in the story, us a bit much. I'm sure there's a proper term but "Mary Sue/Gary Stu/Martt Stu" is the best known colliqual term.

[@hellacoorinna9995]

@@Kevin_Theadore1 I mean the phrase "too good to be true" exists for a reason

[@TheMagnumDon]

9:10 creating a overpowered OC and having them instantly murdered right after their introduction sounds like a great comedic story

[@Exeggutor_Enjoyer]

Bloody brilliant!

[@addiewest6070]

Tf is your user

[@channelnameanddescription8999]

spy kids 3 did this

[@TheMagnumDon]

@@channelnameanddescription8999 holy fuck they did didn't they

[@dr.altoclef9255]

There was a horror movie that did this, sort of. The archetypical Badass Hero busts in and gets killed by the monsters immediately. His wife (archetypical heroine, just called ‘heroine’ iirc-) does better for awhile but is killed accidentally by dumb bad luck. So the single mom (whose kid got axed on screen, in a blazing display of ‘haha yeah you thought we wouldn’t axe the kid didn’t you?’ Ends up as ‘heroine 2’. ‘Feast’ I think it was called.

[@wiipose3568]

Honestly, thank you for not just dismissing all fanfiction as 'not real writing' and actually providing thought out criticism for authors to improve. As a fanfic writer, thank you, this video (and your others) have really helped me improve as a writer

[@ettinakitten5047]

Fun fact: Apparently if you're trying to apply for a job as a TV show writer, fanfic looks better than original fiction in your portfolio, because it shows that you can write effectively in someone else's setting using someone else's characters.

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

I mean, fanfiction is _real_ writing... You have to write in the same way as you would original fiction. It's obviously hit _really_ hard with the might of the Sturgeon's law, but if it's good, it's good.

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

@@ettinakitten5047 Writing for film or TV is probably the most ungrateful job there is. Most of the time, those credited as "writers" only reviewed what other poor idiot (or many) did.

[@Yipper64]

Oh yeah, this type of stuff actually makes me interested in fanfiction now. I did get into roleplay at one point just for that exact type of thing, just fans making up their own stories, just in the world of a property I enjoy. I feel like the *less than quality* stuff rises to the top only for its erotic appeal, but idk, if I have some spare time and feel like digging, I might give it a go, might scratch that same itch.

[@nightshade2826]

@@Yipper64 Ikr. I didnt know some fanfics genuinly tired to improve on the story they are based on. You have to imagine my surprise when I found just how many fanfics out there were tagged *no romantic relationships* and focused on plot. I always thought fanfic was about dirty shipping until now.

[@zachsilby4569]

My "is it a Mary Sue" test is a simple question. "Is this character believable in the established lore and could realistically be threatened by the antagonist."

[@pepperonicici]

This comment it good, but also funny to me since I recently imagined one of my OCs fighting some protagonist. They wouldn't because one of them might die and that's not worth it for them. That's how I know they aren't just extremely overpowered xD

[@manoflead643]

This doesn't quite work though; you can work a character that couldn't be threatened physically, but also doesn't have reason to just go blow x, y and z up to fix the whole world. Like, iunno, take One Piece as an example - you can make a character able to beat all four emperors simultaneously, but that doesn't let them solve the whole "shitty government and world full of super-criminals" thing. You still have huge opportunity for conflict, having this busted character come to grips with just how much influence they could have on the world, realise consequences for their actions and extrapolate that to blowing up Mariejois, draw their line for when it's worth turning someone into a smear on the ground.

[@R3GARnator]

There are so many canon Anime/Manga/Light Novel characters that don't qualify for that second part.

[@HMN134]

@@manoflead643 don't forget about Saitama, dude's literally God but he's losing his human emotions and just does hero stuff for fun (as he claims, at least)

[@zachsilby4569]

@@R3GARnator Yeeaaahhh, *coughs at basically every shonen*

[@StylusShade]

"The best way to make an OC is to just take the main character and recolor them." Somebody taking shots at the Sonic fandom, I see.

[@Amy_the_Lizard]

Or the guy who wrote "Fairy Tail" for that matter...

[@emblemblade9245]

Nothing personnel kid

[@TyrinsClips]

It hurts, but from experience, it's true.

[@BLUECOLLARWEAR]

Also the warrior cats fandom

[@LordBob]

A personal pastime of mine is googling a generic boy's name followed by "the hedgehog". The result usually ends up with Sonic as any possible color with any possible weapon.

[@Anti-heroine91]

Those generic 'Is my oc a Marysue?' tests are all over wattpad.

[@AwesomeYena]

They only ever apply to human[oid] characters.

[@reddytoplay9188]

@@AwesomeYena I trust your opinion very suspicious hyena

[@redrackham6812]

I cannot understand why any fanfic writer who creates an original character would not want other fanfic writers to "steal" that character. I was thrilled when another writer asked to use an OC I had created. Yes, it was nice of her to ask, but it was enormously flattering either way.

[@inciaradible7144]

'My cabbages will be assailed no more.' I am dead.

[@generalstaal7075]

The Cabbage Man: "There's about to be war in Ba-Sing-Se"

[@johannageisel5390]

I want to read "Cabbage Man vs. Melon Lord"!

[@caav56]

When Equalists choose Cabbage Corp for mechsuit contract instead of Future Industries.

[@ling5470]

“Don’t call me Vampire.” OH GOD HE KNOWS ABOUT MY IMMORTAL?! You poor soul. 😂

[@hersheysbar28]

I'd be surprised if he didn't lmao. It's like the #1 bad fanfic out there.

[@11th-lemon]

There's a second reference to that fanfic in this video, where Harry Potter mentions Marty McFly coming out of nowhere.

[@tomleary508]

One of these day's I need to dig this thing up and witness this thing for myself...

[@rayelgatubelo]

The reference makes me slit my wrists in joy.

[@thedawsonator1628]

@@tomleary508 Honestly it's definitely something you HAVE to see with your own eyes. Describing it doesn't do it justice.

[@wizmo2216]

I love how JP’s OC is basically the stereotypical blonde influencer with a surfer aesthetic you see walking the streets of LA

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

But somehow less soulless.

[@Ethan5I5]

@@DonVigaDeFierro You mean more soulless?

[@PRGME7]

@@Ethan5I5 just as soulless?

What even is an 'influencer, anymore?

[@MateuLeGrillepain]

@ A miserable little pile of secrets

[@danketh-ganjarmcfowley]

Just incase anyone wants to know, here are the questions he asks at 9:43 "1. What does this character add to the story? 2. What is this character's core motive? 3. Does this character generate any form of compelling conflict? 4. Am I pushing my OC hard enough or am I stifling conflict and killing off narrative? 5. Am I hurting the story by focusing too much on a single character at the expense of the rest of the cast or the flow of that narrative? 6. Are the scenes that feature my OC there just because I think they're cute and not because they advance the plot, characterize one or more characters, and explore the setting? Preferably the scene should pull double duty by doing more than one. " Great video man! Love the editing.

[@kateshiningdeer3334]

Bless you for typing that out! I was going to do that myself otherwise!

[@a.d.kuhlmann7299]

This reminds of a fanfic I read once where all of the chapters were just transcripts of episodes of the show & the only differences boiled down to "& the OC was also there".

[@garyconstanza3120]

I dislike this type of fanfic a lot, only because it feels so redundant. Unless the presence of the OC brings several changes and alterations to the story, there's little to no point in reading when I can just watch the actual episode and get the same amount of enjoyment, if not more than the fic.

[@dreamingahopefuldream4439]

I hate this as well. Its merely full on recaps of the series I just watched and the OC doesn't really have any point being there. It's fine to tell the canon story with the OC, just make the OC's presence offer something different to the plot and diverge from canon.

[@carolinem.6747]

reminds me of this one zootopia x guardians of galaxy crossover, i was so excited to read it but then it pretty much copied all the beats from the zootopia movie

[@tsifirakiehl4250]

I hate those. It’s basically just like reading the original work with in annoying kid talking in your ear. If the OC doesn’t add anything to the story, there’s no point to having them in it.

[@Ajehy]

IMHO, the best place to put OC’s is either as an outside observer, a bit player, or the protagonist of a distinct work in the existing world. Like a Hogwarts student who provides a separate point of view of the Wizarding War; or a suspect in an original Sherlock Holmes case who doesn’t steal the show; or a character who lives in Middle Earth before the War of the Ring (Shadow of Mordor, anyone?).

[@hannahfanning9585]

I'm also a big fan of the "normal person" OC who has a conversation with the protagonist one time and all the crazy stuff the protagonist does and says haunts the oc for life

[@Ajehy]

@@hannahfanning9585 Oh god, those are awesome. The emotionally scarred Everyman who wants nothing to do with all the monsters, explosions and/or hijinks. Bonus points if he owns a cabbage cart.

[@hannahfanning9585]

@@Ajehy lol

[@TupocalypseShakur]

@@hannahfanning9585 reminds me of this one Naruto fanfiction where the protagonist is some cocky rando who was ambushing the Sand Village. The story ends with him getting humbled and traumatised for getting his squad killed by their target

[@spacejunk2186]

Reminds me of a Mass Effect 3 fic I read a long time ago which was about the girl NPC in the Citadel refugee camp who lost her parents and a cop who decides to take her in so that she is not getting abused by the criminal gangs in the camp. It also referenced the plot from the game, Cerberus trying to take over the Citadel for instance is one case. I don't remember if it was good or not, but I remember reading it through the end. I also do not know what the name was, but I believe it is actually one of the more well known fics out there.

[@hexcodeff6624]

Plot Twist. The Shed is the actual un-canonical, overpowered OC in this story.

[@TankHunter678]

It has fed on the blood of numerous OCs until it became one itself. It is like a Tardis +20 at this point.

[@JotaDeeMeO]

"Since all I know is how to be a emotionally stunted, shut-in whose understanding of basic human interaction comes mostly from watching Anime" Hahah- Wait...

[@cormeaga]

You feel that shot that was fired?

[@greyg0at]

Me: but I don't watch anime :) Internet: We don't care! Me: oh :(

[@violetrose415]

Make it books and I will be dead lol

[@lazydelibird]

He just called us out.

[@anonguy772]

Shots fired... At several thousand people watching this, myself included O o f

[@aishwariyaroy1636]

"The Canon characters are supposed to lust over my character." *shows a newspaper of atla* *Remembers that most of the atla cast is 14~*

[@electroflame6188]

So are most fanfiction writers to be fair

[@akiradkcn]

@@electroflame6188 my sides

[@beatziegraham6928]

I’m surprised you’ve never talked about time travel plots. Because most time travel plots are in 2 camps. Either extremely good or extremely bad. No in between.

[@canaisyoung3601]

Didn't isekai cover that, or is that something else entirely?

[@angrymokyuu1951]

@@canaisyoung3601 Isekai can include travel to other time periods, but that's not typically what we'd consider a "time travel plot".

[@indiag89]

I love time travel plots if they are done well

[@hunterlawrence3573]

It can get very confusing if it's not quickly established how time travel does and doesn't work.

[@Archon3960]

50% are good, 50% are terrible, 100% are illogical so don't think about it too much. X)

[@pikminman13]

One of my personal rules of thumb with self-inserts is that if the audience wouldn't know it's a self-insert by how the character is written you're doing a good job. No, seriously. Having a personal connection with characters makes them a lot easier to write, so I will throw a trait or two in there if I find it suitable for the story. When you're writing a good self-insert it won't feel like one when you read it. Personal experience is a great tool, and the only person that you can directly draw that from is yourself.

[@dayshallcomeagain]

Exactly. It's basically impossible to write a character or story without them having at least some connection to yourself. It just matters how well written said character is/if the reader can tell or not.

[@thecheerfulnecromancer2257]

Back in mf FnaF fan days, I tried to write a self insert character (because I wanted to cosplay them) and within a week he was a flawed character with his own backstory. He was a trans guy working at the pizzeria to get the last little bit of money he needed for Top Surgery. In case you're wondering.

[@creativedesignation7880]

I think there is a difference between a self insert and giving certain characters traits that you yourself have. Full self inserts are usually either "perfect" and static characters or they overcome some minor flaw and progress linear as a character. The motivation is usually to glorify oneself. Giving a character certain traits of your own however just makes them believeable, because you can draw from your own experience and make the character more realistic. It also gives you more of a "I understand that character" rather than a "That's me and I'm amazing!" attitude towards them. Overidentifying with a character can cause writers to want to protect that character from bad experiences, making mistakes and death at all costs, none of that is a great basis for an interesting or realistic character.

[@NatalieExists]

@@thecheerfulnecromancer2257 that’s actually a really interesting reason someone would continue working at a place that’s clearly dangerous

[@thecheerfulnecromancer2257]

@@NatalieExists That was the idea, lmao

[@cyberprime9355]

"It's not an OC, unless it is OP." That is more on point with teenagers writing fanfics than you ever know. But, I gotta be honest...that in video skit with JC being brought to the shed and shot dead was golden.

[@meloneatingwolf1882]

Just look at half the SCPs on the foundations archive for decommissioned SCPs. Most of them are OP OCs and the only two that aren’t are there just for being poorly written.

[@cyberprime9355]

@@meloneatingwolf1882 Half the Archive is that long?! I'm disgusted

[@meloneatingwolf1882]

@@cyberprime9355 no just the decommissioned page. It’s was used for SCPs that didn’t meet their standards of quality and there are only 8 on there. Bad SCPs became deleted as it saved time later on though. The foundation is overall very good. The decommissioned part isn’t something you would usually find.

[@fattytan1377]

@@meloneatingwolf1882 their standards did drop though. Basically anything more than 1000 has nifty writing. Any more than 2000 is probably internally inconsistent.

[@emero.a.scythe1786]

I know right? I listened to that and was like- "Well. ... That escalated quickly." (Even though I knew that exact thing was gonna happen when he mentioned the shed. ) TWA Universe J.P is now a murderer! (But I absolutely love murder characters- so I can overlook it. XD)

[@secondavenger9775]

"Take an existing character and turn them into the original character instead" All the Demon Slayer fangirls writing role reversal fan fiction where Nezuko is the protagonist and just writing Nezuko as yourself but cooler (rather than exploiting the potential of retelling Demon Slayers touching story of familial love, but from the perspective of a younger sister being thrust into the role of protector and forced to fight for her brother's future), he's calling you out.

[@demi_shin]

The majority Evangelion fanfiction I’ve seen all have Shinji become some idealized version of the author rather than a well-written and thought-provoking character

[@philithegamer8265]

@@demi_shin Oh yeah that's true.

[@R3GARnator]

@@demi_shin Did he start playing Warhammer 40k?

[@boobah5643]

See Xander Harris in any number of _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ fanfics. Because clearly the thing to do with the one normal guy (who still chooses to put himself in harm's way and save the day) is to turn him into some flavor of super-powered badass that sidelines all the canonical characters. Which isn't to say they can't be fun to read, but when you effectively skin a canon character so your OC can wear it... well, the only benefit is that you probably don't have to explain why your OC is hanging with the cast.

[@philithegamer8265]

@@boobah5643 Betrayal of Ash Ketchum fanfics.

[@kmbassett7222]

To be fair, sometimes it seems like critics hold fan fiction writers to a higher standard than published novelists and manga writers. I've read fan-fics in which the OC ticked a few of the no-no boxes and was still (imo) better developed than some of the major characters in Naruto.

[@dardanik]

Like who?

[@SummersTimelyCringe]

Because people tend to dislike fanfiction by either first impression, or having "lmao most fanfictions suck" shoved down their throat so much that they're shitting that opinion on creative works, even if unintentional. Also, it's easier to feel uncomfortable if not alot of people know about something as compared to the big shows and books that most people have watched/read once in their life; not to mention it's generally produced by one person, as opposed to many people working on it. Typically many people would lead you to believe (unconciously) that the characters have been thought out more, as they would have bounced around ideas and had others check things for them; whereas fanfiction writers are usually a single person who may or may not write out their characters and story in advance... you'll never know.

[@astracrits4633]

It's because fanfiction, as a medium, is more "well-known" for having a lot of really bad stories. When you expect to see bad writing, you're more likely to notice even the relatively minor flaws in whatever work you're reading. On the other hand, since people expect published works by major studios to be good, people look at them through less of a critical lens and thus are more likely to miss even the more severe mistakes that the author makes. This is especially true in animated shows and comic books, where visual spectacle can distract the viewer from bad writing (as opposed to most standard fanfiction, where the writing absolutely HAS to stand on its own merits due to the lack of visuals.)

[@TomorrowWeLive]

Novels and manga are not remotely comparable

[@salamatusuleiman2393]

Ouch, the burn with the Naruto line, for me , I don't go to fanfic expecting grade A writing and you can tell if the fanfic will deal with characters or story based off the summary, honestly the I find myself more harsh towards books or fanfic turn book than actual fanfiction, I guess it easier to give advice on writing or critic writing mistakes by criticizing fanfic (ahem"Wattpad"ahem)which don't always have these flaws On a side note which character do you think was wasted in Naruto?

[@LendriMujina]

Remember: if you still want the kind of catharsis that only raw wish fulfillment can give, nothing's stopping you from writing something intended for your own eyes only. Readers will most likely only see less than 1% of everything that you write anyway, regardless of your skill level or situation, so it's not like writing just for yourself is a waste of time.

[@alextheartist3754]

Fanfiction character: does anything Comic relief character: ZAPPERS

[@CygnusTheSilly]

*NO ONE CAN ESCAPE THE COMIC RELIEF*

[@AAZ-yu5ss]

@@CygnusTheSilly ZAP TO THE EXTREME!!!

[@mrladygray]

Actualy, a moster that feeds on cultures, dispanding the memetic ties that hold them together and turning them into masses of short-sided greed and hate, which would have to take a thousand years to heal, would make a great antagonist.

[@dr.fiction7]

"MEMES! THE DNA OF THE SOUL!"

[@mckitsune7600]

@@dr.fiction7 "YOUR MEMES END HERE"!

[@mrladygray]

@@dr.fiction7 Yep

[@vaimantobe3034]

All your memes are belong to us!

[@mrladygray]

Probably worse, actually.

[@fillerpoint555]

The best way to avoid all the problems of a Mary Sue OC is to make their only purpose in the plot being someone that gets to make out with the author’s favourite characters! Don’t have to worry about narrative tension when the only tension in the plot is the character’s tongues grinding against each other!

[@chittasenapati1430]

And don't forget to genderbend the entire cast into the harem.

[@Mario_Angel_Medina]

@@chittasenapati1430 good attitude. Why stop at romancing Hermionie, Luna and Ginny when you could also romance Harriet, Ronda, Nevelyn, Dracosephine and Severa?

[@dayshallcomeagain]

Basically why I just don't read fanfics anymore.

[@canaisyoung3601]

Tongues? Grinding? I'm going to chalk that up to you trying to keep the comment family-friendly.

[@aeyakieduenas1331]

​@@Mario_Angel_Medina Well now I need this in my life.

[@lazykyuubi4300]

My OC is called Rex the hedgehog. He's Sonic's second cousin that recently got out of jail for armed robbery. He's a bad dude who doesn't play by anybody's rules. And he can shoot fireballs out of his elbows.

[@hamiltormo5316]

Can I read your OC? Looks amazing

[@CorgiTheRegularCorgi17]

Sounds super cool.

[@WildBluntHickok]

I wasn't interested until you mentioned the elbow fireballs. Now I have to read it!

[@NeroLeMorte]

El bow the Firehog

[@kayleighmoore6951]

Elbow

[@firockfinion3326]

Wow, JC was so impressed by JB's shooting technique that he had to lay down and take a nap just to properly process how good it was. I can't wait to see more of this compelling, cool, and totally original character in future videos!

[@willparry530]

Lol, I like how half the video wasn't just talking but demonstrating the annoyance of poorly-done OC's, can't blame you for shooting him halfway through. :P Also nice that this sponsorship segment had more in continuity from the last one than they normally do :P

[@cosmicspacething3474]

It’s called TERRIBLE writing advice for a reason.

[@willparry530]

@@cosmicspacething3474 yeah but the terrible writing advice isn't always his :P

[@shaunjimbangan1166]

In a way, J.C feels like he is the OC of a TWA fan who doesn't understand why he/she loves TWA.

[@willparry530]

@@shaunjimbangan1166 lol, sounds about right.

[@clericofchaos1]

Luigi: "And then they all a kissed Kevin and got super pregnant!" Never change dorkly, never change.

[@Amy_the_Lizard]

As opposed to mildly pregnant...

[@FinallyAlone]

@@Amy_the_Lizard Did he stutter?

[@priestofronaldalt]

Look at dem BEANS what du fuq!

[@sxwriter8569]

As someone trying to write original stores and fanfiction, my genuine advice: just write them to fit in the story, fit them in the story that makes sense, use canon characters and try to expand upon them who doesn't get much to do (Chad, Yamcha, Shizuka Joestar, Anko, Yuuno from Lyrical Nanoha, ex) and tragic backstories can work: just makes sure they kinda fit in the story (Naruto and RWBY fics are pretty easy for that since their worlds are pretty bleak). Heck if you want to make your own OC based on you, take yourself and a underused character in the story and expand upon a part of the original story that needed more fleshing out. And yeah, if you want to write your own OC based on yourself, write down your best and worst attributes, and use that writing for your character to give them more depth, and help you figure out your flaws, like a version of supporting your mental health. Please don't ask about my wattpad though. Or do, it'd be nice to get some actual feedback there for a change.

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

Damn, I remember I wrote a Naruto fanfiction ages ago... I think I was just entering high school and was still young and naive... Anyways, it was like 20 pages long and it was trash. I remember a kid wanted to draw me the OCs, which he did, but the drawing was lost forever (and it wasn't too bad). Then my friends and I wanted to make a writing circle, but obviously never happened... (Mind sharing your Wattpad?) Gee. Thanks for the Vietnam flashbacks. If you want to know (you most likely don't), what little I remember is that: My fanfic was about this group of shinobis from an ass backwater village known for producing great mercenaries... They were already battle hardened ninjas at 12(?) because they started killing people since they were children (why? because!) It was a team of 2 dudes and a girl (because that's the natural order of things)... Their first mission was to KILL GAARA of all people (this was during the chuunin exams) with an overly contrived plan that involved *infiltrating the exams...* but they obviously failed... Their next mission was to destroy a vial containing Jiraiya's cells (you know, because you wouldn't have trouble getting the DNA of an old pervert drunkard). They fight the Akatsuki and succeed in their objective, but probably die anyways... I don't remember their names, but what little cringe I remember about the characters is: One of the dudes had a special golden eye conjunctivitis like the Sharingan which allowed him to ZA WARUDO for a couple of seconds, which to outsiders appeared as if he was stupidly fast... Aaaannd he could also use the Kamui... For reasons... And the Rasengan... He was redheaded, if I remember correctly. He used a tanto knife as a weapon. The other guy could use the shadow clone jutsu and the chidori... And the Rasengan... He had brown spiky hair... IIRC. The girl basically had ghost powers like going through walls and making herself invisible (which was stupidly useful for a ninja)... And she could also use the Rasengan... and fire jutsus... She was blonde... IIRC. They wore actual military gear, including camouflage, helmets, goggles and acted like actual ninjas (with the whole covert assassinations and espionage shit)... Which didn't really matter because they had to act like freshman students for 99% of the first part... I don't remember them having romantic feelings for any of the canon characters... I just remember that during the exams they were impressed by Neji and Rock Lee (because who wouldn't?). One of them (or the three) also had seal powers... But I don't remember which one, or if it was relevant... It was overall, teenager low effort...

[@n-extrafries-surprise]

Yeaaaah Im currently "writing" a fanfic that's technically a video game about Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 5. The OC is the player insert character whose Initials is just Jo NO or you can call them whatever name you liked. However, the game is half crackfic half a bit more serious fanfic, and I intentionally made Player OC's personality based on what _those kinds of_ Jojo fans think they will act when they get into the story setting (of course, I'm talking about their personalities, Player-chan wouldn't be aware that JJBA is an anime nor knows what happens next). Everything in that game plays the same in the anime's storyline except after Player OC got into Passione with Giorno, team Buccellati were given an additional week to guard Trish compared to the anime where immediately the story moved forward to facing one of the hitman team's assassin. Here's the fun part of it: in within that week, you get to interact with Buccelatti's team; and you get to explore much around how Passione works and meet up and see how the other men do as side quests (I haven't really implemented it but I planned on it) I don't plan Player OC to be like this forever. Their character growth will be being humble slapped by everyone. This is honestly the most effort I've put on a fanfic ever.

[@sxwriter8569]

@@n-extrafries-surprise That actually sounds pretty cool. Reminds me of the Yamcha SD story where the kid gets to become Yamcha and does his best to survive up until the Buu saga. Bu that's an genuinely a good idea. And you give more time to expand upon material, makes sense. If you ever finish though...try and make sense of Epitaph. I know I need to officially sit down and watch JoJo on my own merit for like a month beyond just research, but Diavolo's stand nature still confuses the hell out of me.

[@n-extrafries-surprise]

@@sxwriter8569 oh, I already got around with Epitaph since I finished doing Doppio and Risotto's fight already. It's actually a pain since sometimes the reading is wrong and Risotto would try doing that move a turn or two later. With King Crimson... I imagine it stealing your extra turn (if you have it), or making everyone immobile for one turn. I noticed he spams the hell out of it during the fight with Bruno at the chapel on that island in Venice but I'll try and go work around that. Glad you think the idea is cool :) I also wanted to turn it into like Persona too with the turn based aspect of it and the time where you get to interact with others in Bruno's team

[@channel45853]

Thank you, I wanted better advice than just to not write in the main canon storyline.

[@staters_college_tagers]

Maybe this is just me, but since I've grown older, I've noticed less of a tendency to want to make my characters perfect. I can still put parts of myself into them without identifying completely with them. I think the tendency for Mary Sue-ism mostly arises from insecurity, which young writers tend to have in spades; that's why they're so common in writing from middle schoolers and similar groups. Nobody likes themselves as a preteen, so they try and make a version of themselves they can stomach, and maybe add wings for good measure. But, there's really nothing wrong with that, and I wish we were better at telling younger people that. It's okay to write stuff for yourself, and nobody expects you to make Proper Adult Characters right off the bat, especially if you have yet to experience adulthood yourself. I wouldn't tell a twelve year old to wear full makeup, and I wouldn't tell a twelve year old to write a character that is believable and compelling. They just don't have the experience for that kind of thing yet. There are some things that can't be rushed, and I think we on the internet could and should be more forgiving towards younger writers, especially in fan communities. Basically: stop acting as though wattpad and ffnet are any place for adults and let kids have fun on there without leaving scathing comments about their fics goddamn. go to ao3 like the rest of us ALSO BEFORE SOMEBODY BRINGS THIS UP: Obviously, insecurity isn't limited to children, which is why we have grown folks doing this same sht. But I do believe it's the same root cause.

[@galeg4021]

this is super important for young writers. I did this when i was 13. My first OC was a red twi'lek character who was force sensitive BUT not a jedi BUT she did have lightsabers (she used two, Clone Wars hadnt aired yet so it was still unique). i let her go a long time ago, she's not a character i use anymore, but that period was important for me to figure out how to worldbuild, how to write, and how to make a compelling story. let people have space and time to grow :)

[@musicasimples9435]

The thing is: you need someone to point the mistakes I wish someoned did it to me, for a long time I though that I was a good writer because no one actually criticised my stories but they actually sucked Also, if the storie is just for yourself, is better to not pu lish it in a social space, where lots of people are free to read and give criticism

[@me-dc8pj]

Yeah, I totally agree with this. I starting writing on wattpad when I was *7*, and let me tell you it was absolute crap but I really enjoyed writing it. I'm still a teen, and I know I can't write convincing adult characters, so I don't. I write teenagers, because that's what I know, that's what I can do

[@staters_college_tagers]

​@@musicasimples9435 Fair enough, but care has to be given when giving feedback to young writers; most of them haven't yet separated the art from the artist, and are thus extremely protective of their stories as extensions of themselves. Being overly cruel can result in a permanent hit to a young writer's overall self-esteem or even stop them from writing altogether. Receiving and implementing critique is also, unfortunately, a skill that must be honed, and it takes a lot of patience to help a person develop this skill. There really ought to be more literature on helping children and teens develop a critical eye. It's necessary, but I feel like it never gets talked about.

[@BlindStarLily]

Blessed be, my guy. While it is very important for young writers to be given their space to grow, it’s also important to teach them to handle criticism since everyone gets it and it’s impossible to please everyone. When I was younger, my characters absolutely sucked and I really needed someone to tell me that. I wish I’d been told sooner because now I look back and want to actually die. Unrelated, but a few lil notes for when I make characters So, we all like to make our characters pretty, it’s just a natural thing. Something I really love doing, though, is giving them some obvious imperfection in their appearance so that way it’s clear they’re not perfect. For a few examples: Violet has thick, bushy eyebrows Fabe has thin eyelashes and squinty eyes Mindy has thin, dry lips Annie has a big nose Opeia has a very prominent birthmark over the left half of her face, as well as many scars from her travels and adventures Mira has two extremely important facial scars from her backstory, one of which was caused by an accident that also broke her nose. From it, her lips are split, her nose is crooked, one eyelid droops a bit and her eyebrow is split. Kokona has smaller eyes and is also rather chubby. Not that there’s anything wrong with being chubby, but it’s not the traditional hourglass figure. Yvaine has very frizzy hair and has quite a few rather rediculous facial expressions Zarya has by far the most annoying laugh. To type it into text: Hyuhyuhyuhyuh There’s something so fun about finding a conventionally attractive design, then throwing something different into it. It mixes things up and makes it clear that the character isn’t absolutely perfect. That’s how it is for me anyway. As another note, I find this is a good tool for when you’re writing up a list of traits for your character’s personality. Start with the negative traits. If you find that you have way too many, it’s okay to get rid of a few. If there are too little, it’s good to add some more in. But that’s just my two cents

[@valhatan3907]

One of the biggest and acceptable fanfic in the world is *Arthurian Legend.*

[@SlapstickGenius23]

I’m Proud of being a Merlin casual, even when I was a kid.

[@EinzigartigesLeben]

also: romeo and juliet by shakespeare

[@talithakoum3922]

Marvel: Infinity War is the most ambitious crossover ever Dante's Divine Comedy: you sure about that?

[@lizzychrome7630]

I'd say the Bible fanfic sequel called "The New Testament" is more popular. The OC character is the son of the canon protagonist, but has super cool powers no one in the original had, and is loved by everyone except the villains, and sacrifices himself after suffering super anguish, before getting resurrected and saving the world.

[@sylviadailey9126]

LOL Lancelot is the great grandfather of all Gary Stus. He actually was not in the original Arthurian legend at all. There was Arthur and Guenivere as the royal couple of Camelot, and that was about it. They seemed to have a decent stable marriage at the time. Lancelot was added in a later version by a different author. Who does this guy think he is? He is all goody goody as a knight. He has enough power to rule Camelot, while the Holy Grail quest writes Arthur out of the plot. Ruling Camelot takes this OC of Lancelot and makes him OP. On top of that, Lancelot is so hot that he attracts not just any woman, but Queen Guenivere herself. There is shipping involved. This makes Lancelot even more OP. Sure it tanks the marriage and dooms the kingdom, but it is okay because Lancelot can get whatever he wants. Ugh. What a Gary Stu. Maybe the writer had the hots for Guenivere and then made Lancelot to fulfill his sick twisted fantasies.

[@ptcarbonproductions2013]

I just can't get over a team-up of Aang, Naruto, Harry Potter and Spock in this episode. That's a dream team.

[@lordanubis1458]

69th like lol

[@Greil9]

3:46 Okay, show of hands: who would want to see a story of how the cabbage salesman snapped and built a giant robot to rain his vengeance upon those who scorned him?

[@fayetheghost7607]

✋

[@Karak-_-]

"And in his vengence, he discovered cabbage bending. No one has seen such technic before, and no one was ready for it."

[@lazydelibird]

When he snapped, he instantly mastered metal bending.

[@caav56]

I mean, he was a founder of the Cabbage Corp...

[@signodeinterrogacion8361]

Sorry Cabbage man, but Hiroshi already did that :'C

[@Secondary_Identifier]

I feel like having 100 Mary Sues in a story would just end up being Highlander with extra steps.

[@BobSmith-cg2ek]

THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE SCOTLAND FOREVER *EXTREMELY LOUD SCOTTISH ANTHEM* But in all honesty that would be a fun train wreck to observe

[@TheCow-j1l]

Yes, except for the conflict, tension, character development... you know, despite that it would be exactly like highlander.

[@seanhartnett79]

@@BobSmith-cg2ek lol.

[@Amy_the_Lizard]

...So basically your standard battle royale type action anime. Except everyone is weirdly OP (no designated obviously-gonna-lose characters if EVERYONE is a Mary Sue), there's a love decohedran or something happening, and the animators all had mental breakdowns because of how ridiculously complicated everyone's character designs were.

[@doombybbr]

If everyone is a mary sue, no one is

[@ninjashot37]

Not gonna lie. Would read a story about Avatar: Mechanized Cabbage Guy.

[@k.g.b.1150]

Long ago team Avatar lived together in peace and harmony but then everything changed when the cabbage man attacked.

[@josephrichardson5186]

JC’s death is still one of my favorite moments in the TWA Expanded Universe.

[@demi_shin]

Anime fans tend to be the worst offenders of this a lot of the time when they aren’t throwing love triangles left and right

[@Kartoffelkamm]

Good thing I don't understand romance, then. I generally avoid writing it, because I know it'll suck, so my fics only have canon ships. With the occasional cursed ship thrown in for my personal amusement at my readers' expense.

[@Pablo-pt4du]

I rarely see love triangles in anime fanfics... But I see harem. A LOT.

[@lazydelibird]

@@Pablo-pt4du Welcome to anime.

[@sarahtaylor4264]

@@Pablo-pt4du I see I'm not the only one who started on the dark side of anime.

[@SpectroliteDS2400]

As an anime fan who dabbles in fanfictions, i have to wholeheartedly agree.

[@goldenfennekin]

"woah, I never been behind your shed before JP"- OC's last words

[@gr8nachos469]

Jp was so annoyed by OC that he didn't even bother to hide the body. He wanted the world to see the change

[@elli_senfsaat]

Still a better character development than 91% of all other OCs

[@mr.outlaw231]

3:47 Not going to lie, I would read a FanFic where Avatar's Cabbage Man gets a mech suit and tries to kill the Avatar (could be a way to teach Aang how to Metal Bend).

[@sophiejones7727]

Thank you for not just dismissing the concept of self-insert characters. When they are done well, they can be excellent. Mark Twain’s “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” comes to mind. Seriously read that, or watch the movie. The narrator essentially is a caricature of Twain.

[@theflickchick9850]

Designing my self-insert character to explore out of canon character stuff is the whole point of my fanfic! I didn't realize that was something people were interested in. While yeah, my character is TOTALLY a self-insert and the story is mostly told from her perspective, it's actually an analysis of canon characters and what they're like when we don't see them in our media.

[@dardanik]

I'm curious, what series are you talking about?

[@orbeezeater]

Therapist: J.P. with teeth can’t hurt you, it isn’t real J.P. with Teeth: 9:09

[@generalstaal7075]

J-Teeth

[@barriehannon6857]

overused meme

[@EonTheAien]

@@barriehannon6857 true, but this one got a chuckle out of me.

[@barriehannon6857]

@Adenosine is a heck of a drug i don't like sand

[@shostysboo]

Me: I have never done this before. What geek does this? My Steven universe fan fic from 2016: *Are you sure about this?*

[@hannahfanning9585]

I feel like everyone had their own self insert into their favorite thing when they were a kid, it's just that some of us wrote them down and some of us didn't

[@Ajehy]

@@hannahfanning9585 or drew them. Or (in my case) their Digimon.

[@hannahfanning9585]

@@Ajehy valid

[@willparry530]

@@hannahfanning9585 I mean, I wrote a definite self-insert for a Teen Titans fanfiction, soooooo...yeahhhhhh

[@Bacony_Cakes]

Whatever the fuck my universe is, which seems to be an unholy Spore-Starbound crossover but 83% original:

[@youboysej4671]

You know the "lost village in the forest full of amazonien women" clichés?

[@TupocalypseShakur]

They're not women, they're a different species entirely

[@tbana2396]

@@TupocalypseShakur Humam.

[@louisduarte8763]

Like from Italian "mondo documentaries"?

[@HMN134]

@@tbana2396 Huwoman "Womankind"

[@dayshallcomeagain]

That Trope annoys me to no end.

[@recjr7685]

Two of the oldest OCs that still exist as part of popular culture in some way are Lancelot from the King Arthur mythos and Dante of the Divine Comedy Or as it's more commonly known, Dante's Infefno Yeah, the totally awesome and unbeatable knight who's banging King Arthur's wife but can also get any other girl he wants and the guy who gets a tour guide through heaven, purgatory and hell by his favorite historical figure, who everything just miraculously works out for and everyone he hates or disagrees with is burning in hell are self insert fan fiction characters Try to contain your shocked disbelief

[@tuluppampam]

The Divine Comedy is mostly it's own work, so calling Dante an OC of his own story is kinda weird. He also claims that it is a retelling of a journey he's actually been on, so it again is strange to call him an OC. Also, he was good with poetry, but the story itself is almost the same as a power fantasy fanfic.

[@recjr7685]

@tuluppampam I call him an OC because he's a self insert in such a laughably obvious power fantasy that had it been written today, Dante would have been laughed out of the publishers office To be honest, though, Lancelot is more of an actual OC Secret Prince raised by the Lady of the Lake The best knight of the round table Queen Guinevere totally loved him and not her husband Women were throwing themselves at him left, right, and center One woman even went so far as to shapeshift herself into Guinevere so she could have his kid The Christianizqtion of the King Arthur story sort of retconned him a bit Like reworking his and Guinevere's affair from a romantic courtly love story into garden variety adultery Also, making it clear at literally every turn that he was unworthy to look upon the Holy Grail (culminating in a scene where he found the Grail chamber only to be smacked with a fireball that knocked him out fir a couple weeks... instead of killing him... somehow) He eventually had to shave his head and become a monk, vow of celibacy, and everything Even the story about Arthur learning about the affair is kinda funny He's at this castle with Morgan le Fay, and she pointed out this humongous mural Lancelot made of him and Guinevere Not as one of her plots to kill him, she had long since given up on that at this point, she just felt bad about his wife cheating on him Why did Lancelot make a huge mural of him banging King Arthur's wife on a castle wall? Because he's stupid

[@wordart_guian]

"listen, new kid, just don't call me Vampire and we'll be good" oh this is taking this route. nice.

[@SangerZonvolt]

To be honest the weeb alien seems like an interesting concept. But boy would it require research on the writers side into the cultures to actually pull it of sucessfully.

[@victorhundred8621]

But would the writer need to research weebs or actual japanese culture to pull it off

[@SangerZonvolt]

@@victorhundred8621 I would say yes, because you need to show the actual culture in contrast tp show how false the weeb culture is and the problems it creates.

[@forbiddenchannel4901]

I mean, it sorta feels like putting everything into mimicry, but not how good the mimicry is.

[@lamarepository248]

I like the idea of just having someone be a weeb for the Klingon or something instead.

[@ijneb1248]

No it doesnt

[@tskmaster3837]

"Fanficiton "ORIGINAL" characters." Oh, I'm just going to love this one.

[@lazarussolomon3541]

The Difference between a mary sue and Overpowered Good characters like Optimus Prime and Luke skywalker who are the strongest ever is just like this... Optimus prime may be one of the strongest beings ever is confined to his moral code. He won't break it even if it means death. and yet he still loses, despite his strength and wisdom, he can't take on an army on his own. Luke Skywalker might be the most powerful Jedi ever but he didn't start like this. In new hope and Empire, he lost over half of every fight he got into due to his abrasiveness and hotheadedness. Only by training and learning to hone in that power as well as self-control could he get to that state. And just like Optimus, he can be beaten. Both are so strong and special that they actively have to rain that in but they work because they are beatable and they have their shortcomings

[@Ajehy]

Yeah. Interesting personal journeys are so much more fun than “I’m awesome in every way and nothing is a threat to me.”

[@lazarussolomon3541]

@@Ajehy yeah, it's all about point a to b even when they don't change. An oc does it without effort and everyone just listens to what they say. Characters like Optimus and Goku don't change they change their environment. They don't do it overnight they have to actively work to show everyone else they are worth listening to and following. i'm sorry, im an Optimus Fanboy but I do think he is a great way to be overpowered and still good.

[@andrewmcguinness1845]

I've learned the surest sign of a Mary Sue is whether the character bends to the universe's rules, or if the universe's rules bend to the character. If the character is still bound by rules of causality and everyone else's characters remain intact, the character isn't a Mary Sue. This means some truly powerful characters aren't Mary Sues, but it's the standard I've found works and helps best.

[@machaiping]

And there're real life person who "Won every battle despite overwhelming odd stacked against them" that will have people screamed Mary/Gary Sue if they're fictional characters like Yi Sun Shin. So a fictional character who won every fight isn't that unrealistic as people might've think. The true meaning of Mary Sue has been lost through time and meme. It was once used to call perfect character that can do no wrong and the universe always bends to make them in the right every time. Now it's just used to describe any overpowered character regardless of characterization or development.

[@andrewmcguinness1845]

@@machaiping Audie Murphy is the kind of guy who reality just seemed to warp around.

[@naomistarlight6178]

Just remember: If they're in a magical universe, they're the most powerful magic users that have ever lived. If they're in a MLP fanfic, they have to be an alicorn and/or some type of royalty/relation to royalty. If they're in a historical or fantasy setting with any kind of monarchy, they're definitely a prince or princess. Stolen and raised from birth as a peasant is possible, as long as the OC's beauty and perfection is so apparent that the very idea of them being treated as a peasant in the first chapters is seen as a cruelty on par with genocide. But it isn't for those actually born as peasants, of course silly! And nvm that maybe the OC will grow up, reclaim her lost throne, and then do genocides. Those people are bad for inconveniencing the main character! Totally proportionate justice!

[@cici35official19]

“It’s not an OC unless it’s OP.”😂😂😂😂 “My cabbages will be assailed no more!”😂😂😂😂

[@Emrald7]

Honestly, I’m real invested in this expanded universe of these character archetypes interacting with each other. It’s just... fun. Keep having fun JP.

[@sempersolus5511]

"Well, kids, we all know sometimes when cartoon characters die, they're back again the very next week. That's why I'm presenting this sworn affidavit that J.C. will never, ever return!"

[@canaisyoung3601]

Then that means he will. There were a couple of Simpsons episodes that had Poochie come back (the Itchy and Scratchy episode where there's a funeral for Scratchy, the episode where Bart and Milhouse run Comic Book Guy's store and they put the Poochie merchandise on clearance [though the original dialogue had it as "South Park merchandise"] and that Halloween episode where Poochie gets run over by a police car).

[@SuperHGB]

well, I mean, ALL WHO DIE COME BACK AGAIN (But that was absolutely just)

[@gulfcoastgaming6034]

Cant wait for the inevitable “animated sitcom family” episode

[@SlapstickGenius23]

Ooh that’s awesome. I hope the Simpsons will be subjected to this upcoming goddamn fun video!

[@philips.5563]

"It's really too bad that JC's planet needed him to go back and save them all." "He was clearly taken out back and murd" "TO SAVE. THEM. ALL."

[@jacobwhitmire222]

NO JC WAS MY FAVORITE CHARACTER! Now I have to write a 22,000 page fanfic about him!

[@moonriverbaby4108]

To be fair, I’ve more into x Reader fanfics because it’s atleast SUPPOSE to be a wish fulfillment. Too many people make OCs pretending not to be wish fulfillment of theirs.

[@seanhartnett79]

True.

[@n-extrafries-surprise]

I'm technically making an x reader story right now. Except, it's in video game format. And yes, everyone is a potential love interest as long as you dont fvck up

[@cccaaa702]

I personally don't like those because I don't want to be a homewrecker-

[@seanhartnett79]

@@cccaaa702 people rarely show that interest in others anymore:

[@js66613]

True. Reader-inserts are also really nice as comfort fics because they make you feel appreciated and loved when you're down and need some love. Although they can also be mildly cringe-worthy... (but that also may be because I don't have a daddy kink...)

[@planetbob6703]

That exchange between the generic rebels and the badguys reminded me of a bunch youtube channels that present modern comics where the "good guys" literally kill and supress anyone who doesn’t agree with them. It really feels like self insert fanfiction where the writers go on a power trip...

[@Jose04537]

This is why I like Attack on titan it point out that problem (literal genocide by the "good guys") That's how politics works in real life: "the end justify the means" "It's bad, unless I'm the one doing it, because (insert self serving hypocrital reason)" "We are the good guys because we call themselves the good guys"

[@kingofthegundam7974]

What kind of KZbin channels are you seeing?

[@LizzieShiro]

I’m a pro at fan fic original characters. Still not entirely good at it.

[@iksskan9147]

So a good fan fic writer

[@gangzilla5716]

My advice for writing a fanfic OC is: Try your best not to interfere too much with the canon main story. Make them their own identity, personalities, backstory, and character. Of course, make sure they fit in the world somehow. No one would like to see a monster-slaying cyborg in the medieval era, are they?

[@scottmantooth8785]

*there are actually some pretty decent fan fictions out there especially one crossover in particular that i recommend called lost in the woods that combines the Next Gen crew and that of the Firefly 'Verse...very well formulated and plotted...naturally in involves "Q" but the the crews interact with each other is brilliant especially how River refers to Captain Picard, Troi and Worf...read this one several times already...still enjoyable*

[@sashawolfson3602]

Same here

[@PK-Radio]

Wanna know how to make good fanfics? Follow these rules and your golden: Dont make your character related to a member of the cast, Dont make a member of the cast fall in love with your character, Dont make your character anticlimactically overpowered and stronger than everyone including the main cast, Dont make your character a self insert, Make your story not associate with the original, Maybe just dont make fanfiction. Follow those words and you will make a perfect fanfiction

[@anyderrosek9272]

"my cabbages will be assailed no more" Are you fucking kidding me I'd love to see Book 5: Cabbages

[@billy-the-butcher]

"this very long list of powers and abilities that I call a character" It's over boys, shut down the internet. TWA won, ain't ever gonna be a better definition for OCs than this

[@BlahBlah-cn3cs]

The part where JP was talking about building relationships with OCs was the perfect chance to bring in the love triangle joke and he didn't put it in *sniffs*

[@kimifw58]

But he didn't. He changed the subject right after it was brought up. I think he's listening to Inner Critic too much.

[@BlahBlah-cn3cs]

@@kimifw58 Sorry about that, was meant to put DIDN'T there.

[@DragonfameDracas]

"If overpowered self insert character is good then a hundred is even better!" Well, I mean. It worked for 40k for a good long while.

[@seanhartnett79]

True

[@thelancerfromtimeline1009]

What’s 40k?

[@seanhartnett79]

@@thelancerfromtimeline1009 warhammer 40k. In the grim darkness of the near future there is only war.

[@tomleary508]

I mean you're not wrong... Funnily enough keeping a 40K crossover character from being overpowered is a lot harder than I ever thought it would be...

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

The truly overpowered characters are the ones with the thickest plot armor (see: TAU).

[@vagrant2863]

The best fanfictions are the ones that fall on the ends of extremes. My Immortal wouldn't be so funny if it was dime a dozen.

[@XShadOBabeX]

At this point in my life I’ve kind of stopped worrying about Mary Sues. Just do my best and enjoy myself. My creative endeavors are a hobby to make me smile. And I would regret it more that I never did what made me happy than I would be at potential ridicule from online strangers.

[@leaczinkota1979]

Sometimes I create Gary Stu deliberately, to contrast with the other flawed characters.

[@ThatGuy-te9wh]

"just don't call me vampire and we'll be good" I am extremely unhappy that I get that reference

[@jacques4703]

This channel reminds me of every writing sin i committed when i was a teenager with too much free time.

[@oomsou5018]

I was thinking the same thing.

[@ShibuNub3305]

Oh, I’ve been waiting for this one since the Mary Sue episode. This is gonna be good.

[@reflectingPastChoices]

"just don't call me vampire" that reference, whyyyyy xD

[@atheist2025]

I look through the comments to find some else who noticed this

[@caimbrien6108]

I gasped.

[@Jose04537]

Context please?

[@atheist2025]

@@Jose04537 ask your self this “what’s the worst fanfic ever written” then type it into KZbin. You’ll get the worst Harry Potter fanfic ever.

[@Jose04537]

@@atheist2025 My inmortal, I see....

[@Chchommi]

Her emerald orbs shimmered as her school bullies shoved her into a locker, her perfect blonde hair flying about and her skinny pale form fell to the ground with a soft thud. Suddenly Troy, the school alpha, jumped in between her and her assailants, killing them with a single punch. He picked me up bridal style and gazed into my eyes. We knew it was love at first sight.

[@renjiai]

I might not read fics centered on OC's but I understand why they're written. It's really the definition of doing something for yourself. The author is indulging themselves and that's okay, maybe someone will connect with that if not who cares, they did it because they wanted to.