Ok let's redefine what a mary sue is, everyone pull out your copy of
Wikipedia and
Encyclopedia Dramatica plz.
"A Mary Sue (sometimes just Sue), in literary criticism and particularly in fanfiction, is a fictional character with overly idealized and hackneyed mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as wish-fulfillment fantasies for their authors or readers. Perhaps the single underlying feature of all characters described as "Mary Sues" is that they are too ostentatious for the audience's taste, or that the author seems to favor the character too highly. The author may seem to push how exceptional and wonderful the "Mary Sue" character is on his or her audience, sometimes leading the audience to dislike or even resent the character fairly quickly; such a character could be described as an "author's pet"." ~Wikipedia on the "Mary-Sue" article.
Now let's list all 3 forms of Cynder and see what types she is best described as:
1. Adult Cynder- Ok, she's cool, evil (obviously), all powerful (even though a little purple midget could beat her), sexy (to others, I thought she looked like a man), scary..... not really though. So what mary sue is she?
An
Evil Sue.
"An Evil!Sue is typically involved in some way with the existing villain of the fandom, whether it be as a relative, boyfriend/girlfriend, or any other relationship, but can sometimes exist by him/herself or replace the canon villain. This Sue type is characterized by the stereotypical villain behavior such as sadism, long bouts of insane cackling, and attempting to kill canon characters, usually punctuated by angst-ridden soliloquies. Another common element of the Evil!Sue is some sort of mysterious and/or abusive past, but this is often shared by the other categories of Sue. The only reason it's worth mentioning is that the sordid past is often pointed to in explaining and excusing/justifying the Evil!Sue's behavior, whereas with most other Sues a tragic past explains it all." ~Encyclopedia Dramatica on their article of the "Mary-sues".
2. TEN Cynder- Ok, its been like, I don't I'm gonna guess here (but correct me if I'm wrong), a couple of weeks give or take, and she's now feeling guilty, she's emo, drippy, fat, and a bit bi-polar, so what category can we put her in?
Oh I know, the
Angsty Sue.
"This subconcept of the larger "Mary Sue" concept comes in two common variations. The first is a character who is constantly depressed and has a tragic past, frequently involving murder, child abuse, rape, or abandonment of some sort. She or he often feels guilt for something that happened in the past, even though it is usually not his or her fault, which gives him or her the ability to feel bad about something without having done anything wrong. Generally, if she or he doesn't commit romanticized suicide, then only the love or close friendship of one or more canon characters can convince her that she is not responsible for a tragic or horrific childhood or event that was obviously not of her making. Such backgrounds constitute an ill-advised attempt to gain sympathy from the reader." ~Wikipedia on "Mary-Sues" article.
3. DoTD Cynder- So she and Spyro were imprisoned in Crystal, they break out of crystal looking older (something that grinds Scientist's gears to the core) and now she's preppy? Wait, she also has more than one ability (thanks to her eating lucky ch- I mean the
POWAH OV DRAKNEZZZZ!!!! (even Spyro should be the one with the most elements and the game developers wanted the 2nd player to have an equal number of elements as well)) and she's sassy, sarcastic (Should this even be considered a personality?) and is in love with Spyro, even though the game showed no
CHARACTER DEVLOPMENT!
Cynder degraded herself down to being the
Helpful Sue.
"This Sue is everybody's friend, and a natural savior of the day. She heals the hero's broken leg with her expert medical prowess (because at only seventeen she already has her MD), gently coaxes the token kid's cat out of a tree with her sweet singing voice, rescues innocent goats from cruel cashmere salesmen, and gives the canon gals a friendly shoulder to cry on - before, of course, eventually stealing away their boyfriends and pets with her bubbly personality and compassionate nature. But it's not her fault that everybody loves her! She's just written that way. Our pal Helpful!Sue is usually the antithesis of Angry! or Evil!Sue. Often times writers will throw in one of those too, just to give her a nemesis, who she will either a) come out looking better than, or b) change for the better with her contrived fairy godmother ways." ~Encyclopedia Dramatica "Mary-Sue" article.
And there you have it kids, you just helped name Cynders' Sue phases.
Good Job