I am very sick of seeing 'flawless, perfect' characters everywhere, you've no idea.
So I want to know: which of your characters defies the Mary Sue prettiness that is becoming so common that ugly is the new beautiful? How are they different? Do they have more flaws than positives? Would you be romantically interested in your character because the depth of their personality speaks more than skin-deep beauty ever can?
Share it! Tell me! I crave the ugly!
So I want to know: which of your characters defies the Mary Sue prettiness that is becoming so common that ugly is the new beautiful? How are they different? Do they have more flaws than positives? Would you be romantically interested in your character because the depth of their personality speaks more than skin-deep beauty ever can?
Share it! Tell me! I crave the ugly!
Sanne wrote:
So I want to know: which of your characters defies the Mary Sue prettiness that is becoming so common that ugly is the new beautiful?
Becoming? I am pretty sure that has been the way of things since the dawn of time. Playing can be a method of learning, and the first thing most people instinctively want to pretend at is perfection of one variety or another. There's never been a time when people didn't love to make Mary Sues. and there will never be a day when they vanish.
But yeah, when everyone is perfect, you get pretty bored.
This is my favorite deeply flawed charrie: http://www.rprepository.com/c/snail
My old battleaxe: http://theblackguardian.webs.com/
Unfortunately, she's retired after over a decade of play. I think she even used to be sort of Sueish, since she was one of my very first characters.
As for my current characters? I really don't know!
Unfortunately, she's retired after over a decade of play. I think she even used to be sort of Sueish, since she was one of my very first characters.
As for my current characters? I really don't know!
My character's greatest flaw is that he is too perfect. It inspires jealousy and burning hatred in the hearts of those who do not immediately succumb to the want to bear his children. Such beauty is a curse in it's own right. 
Edit: Actually in all seriousness I think the only hideous character I've ever had was deformed by inexperienced magical backfire, melting half his face (covered by a half-mask) and leaving him with a severely injured leg requiring a cane to get around. Haven't made an RPR for him yet.
Edit: Actually in all seriousness I think the only hideous character I've ever had was deformed by inexperienced magical backfire, melting half his face (covered by a half-mask) and leaving him with a severely injured leg requiring a cane to get around. Haven't made an RPR for him yet.
One of my characters, who I sadly do not play very often, isn't your average faun.
http://www.rprepository.com/c/fig/356
She was pretty - back when she was young. But she is incredibly old and it shows. Her breasts are saggy, her skin is wrinkly and you don't even want to see what her teeth look like after hundreds of years of use. She's by no means grotesque though! Here's still hints that she was pretty once upon a time.
Give her another couple hundred years though and that might change!
http://www.rprepository.com/c/fig/356
She was pretty - back when she was young. But she is incredibly old and it shows. Her breasts are saggy, her skin is wrinkly and you don't even want to see what her teeth look like after hundreds of years of use. She's by no means grotesque though! Here's still hints that she was pretty once upon a time.
Give her another couple hundred years though and that might change!
I had a character years ago that was an aging sorceress. She'd never been particularly beautiful even in her day, but when I played her, her hair had gone grey, her fur was following the same route, she was gaining all the wrinkles and sags that come with old age, had a rather prominent scar on her face, had an eye missing, and didn't bother to do more with her appearance than brush her hair once a week. Nearly everyone I played her with said they hadn't seen a female character beyond their thirties in almost ever. Old dudes pop up way more frequently in RP than old women, apparently - not even the crone archetype gets any love!
And while Rhaetia is pretty in the period of her life that I play her in at the moment, back in her first setting, she ended up physically scarred (burns, mostly) and afflicted with PTSD after fighting in a vicious war in her homeland, along with experiencing a number of heavy personality changes. Although that all made her even more interesting to play, the changes came about due to a game mechanic that both a) by far made her the most powerful wizard on her planet and b) erased most of her memories. It was just easier to take her from an earlier point of her life than deal with all the rebalancing and what-not that would've had to been done to make her tolerable to play against, heh.
And while Rhaetia is pretty in the period of her life that I play her in at the moment, back in her first setting, she ended up physically scarred (burns, mostly) and afflicted with PTSD after fighting in a vicious war in her homeland, along with experiencing a number of heavy personality changes. Although that all made her even more interesting to play, the changes came about due to a game mechanic that both a) by far made her the most powerful wizard on her planet and b) erased most of her memories. It was just easier to take her from an earlier point of her life than deal with all the rebalancing and what-not that would've had to been done to make her tolerable to play against, heh.
Both physically and mentally ugly, there's ol' Burke. He is hideously deformed, being a mutant and all, and behaves accordingly. Being used to living in a society that hunts down and kills freaks, he became a nasty, cruel survivalist with some sick obsession with dead bodies. He also nurtures great hatred for anyone pretty.
Also, he eats rats and drinks pilfered booze. Why he doesn't pilfer noms too, I dunno.
Also, he eats rats and drinks pilfered booze. Why he doesn't pilfer noms too, I dunno.
I think my ugliest dude (that I actually still roleplay) is Mr. Humbug here, which is kinda sad, because he's not all that bad considering he's an oldman troll. He's actually supposed to be uglier, but my art just don't cut it!
WOOP I DUBBLEPOST.
I LIKE THIS THREAD.
For a long time, I've had a hard time making diverse characters. They tend to just be variations of one main character- that, or they all follow the general mold of magic-user or rogue. And for the longest time, they were all white people. Somehow the lack of POC in the RP world never occurred to me until recently, nor did the lack of ME having any POC characters. So it follows that I didn't really have any ugly characters, either. No fat ones, either. And I mean really fat, not the "curvy" that passes as attractive among RPers. My next character will be fat, I swear. And maybe old, too, as I don't have any old characters.
Anyway. My first character's natural form was actually quite ugly. She was a triclops with two of her eyes gouged out and lots of scarring. The third eye was a big, watery bulb that kept rolling uncontrollably in its socket. Her teeth were inches long, black, and needle sharp. Nasty discolored saliva continually foamed from her lips. But in human form she was gorgeous, so I suppose that doesn't count!
Rogue Zigona Shanku has crooked, yellow teeth, but he's not out and out ugly. Gutthre is a typical lich- he's a skeleton. (With dreadlocks, apparently held to his head by glue, as he has no scalp.) So I'm not sure if he qualifies as 'ugly' or simply neutral because skeletons aren't supposed to be beautiful to begin with.
Sekhmet isn't ugly, but she chopped off her own breasts and rejected her femaleness, so at least she's not one of those femme fatales with double Ds.
For a long time, I've had a hard time making diverse characters. They tend to just be variations of one main character- that, or they all follow the general mold of magic-user or rogue. And for the longest time, they were all white people. Somehow the lack of POC in the RP world never occurred to me until recently, nor did the lack of ME having any POC characters. So it follows that I didn't really have any ugly characters, either. No fat ones, either. And I mean really fat, not the "curvy" that passes as attractive among RPers. My next character will be fat, I swear. And maybe old, too, as I don't have any old characters.
Anyway. My first character's natural form was actually quite ugly. She was a triclops with two of her eyes gouged out and lots of scarring. The third eye was a big, watery bulb that kept rolling uncontrollably in its socket. Her teeth were inches long, black, and needle sharp. Nasty discolored saliva continually foamed from her lips. But in human form she was gorgeous, so I suppose that doesn't count!
Rogue Zigona Shanku has crooked, yellow teeth, but he's not out and out ugly. Gutthre is a typical lich- he's a skeleton. (With dreadlocks, apparently held to his head by glue, as he has no scalp.) So I'm not sure if he qualifies as 'ugly' or simply neutral because skeletons aren't supposed to be beautiful to begin with.
Sekhmet isn't ugly, but she chopped off her own breasts and rejected her femaleness, so at least she's not one of those femme fatales with double Ds.
http://www.rprepository.com/c/stellvira
I've been told she's unique. She gets like twos on the mary sue test.
She's uncommon because she's such a mundane person. Like, someone you'd run into in real life.
I might find her a bit attractive, but I always find characters that I draw attractive, no matter how hard I try making any of them ugly. I think it's because I'm just proud of something I drew. I dunno.
I'm pretty sure she's not attractive to lots of people where I hang out on furc, though, since like, more of the characters are mary sues than not.
There's still the future for her, though. She's gunna end up looking around 55 or even older. She's not done aging. Her body's not exactly as flawless as I usually draw it. She's getting bags under her eyes, and a few wrinkles, even. I imagine her body to have a lot of stretch marks, and even a few scars from random happenings in life. Oh, there's the c-section scar, too.
Yeah, I've had her for 8 years. I've had a lot of time to think about this crap for her.
She usually looks flawless in pictures like her ref cause that thing already too long enough to make as it was. I just wanted to be done with it. Also, I normally just figure draw-- quick sketches of her. Or as some might have seen, my sketches are messy enough as they are, and adding extra tiny things would just make the drawing more confusing. xD My art has also taken influence from Ancient Greek art. Yah know, with their idealistic proportions and crap.
Anyway, tl;dr.
Not exactly sure if this fits here, but whatever if it doesn't. No need to flame/criticize me. I'm just trying to continue the discussion.
Oh! I do have an obese vampire. I made him for the lulz, but he will have a profile here one day. He started out as a joke (like most of my characters nowadays), but I'm going to turn him into a serious character.
But yeah, he's actually obese, and there's a legit reason for it; I didn't just make him obese because I have a sexual fetish for fatter people (like lots of the crazy ass hyper fat chars on F-List).
Though, I don't think it's a sin to have pretty characters, unless you describe them like people describe their characters in a certain dream on Furc. Oh, and flaunting them everywhere and talking about their looks every other line in your post is obnoxious. THAT'S what makes them the mary sues that people hate. Not being attractive, so to speak; as it's a personal opinion of what's attractive, and it varies from person to person. People describe their characters in their descriptions as "so sexy" blahblahblah. I go to their pictures, and more often than not, I find the character to not be attractive in my eyes.
Then again, I've been told countless times that I'm quite abnormal, sooo...
In fact, characters that are described as "so hideous, OMFG" are just as much as of an eye roller as the ones that are described as SO BEAUTIFUL AND SEXY. I mean, there's a happy medium, yah know.
I've been told she's unique. She gets like twos on the mary sue test.
She's uncommon because she's such a mundane person. Like, someone you'd run into in real life.
I might find her a bit attractive, but I always find characters that I draw attractive, no matter how hard I try making any of them ugly. I think it's because I'm just proud of something I drew. I dunno.
I'm pretty sure she's not attractive to lots of people where I hang out on furc, though, since like, more of the characters are mary sues than not.
There's still the future for her, though. She's gunna end up looking around 55 or even older. She's not done aging. Her body's not exactly as flawless as I usually draw it. She's getting bags under her eyes, and a few wrinkles, even. I imagine her body to have a lot of stretch marks, and even a few scars from random happenings in life. Oh, there's the c-section scar, too.
Yeah, I've had her for 8 years. I've had a lot of time to think about this crap for her.
She usually looks flawless in pictures like her ref cause that thing already too long enough to make as it was. I just wanted to be done with it. Also, I normally just figure draw-- quick sketches of her. Or as some might have seen, my sketches are messy enough as they are, and adding extra tiny things would just make the drawing more confusing. xD My art has also taken influence from Ancient Greek art. Yah know, with their idealistic proportions and crap.
Anyway, tl;dr.
Not exactly sure if this fits here, but whatever if it doesn't. No need to flame/criticize me. I'm just trying to continue the discussion.
Oh! I do have an obese vampire. I made him for the lulz, but he will have a profile here one day. He started out as a joke (like most of my characters nowadays), but I'm going to turn him into a serious character.
But yeah, he's actually obese, and there's a legit reason for it; I didn't just make him obese because I have a sexual fetish for fatter people (like lots of the crazy ass hyper fat chars on F-List).
Though, I don't think it's a sin to have pretty characters, unless you describe them like people describe their characters in a certain dream on Furc. Oh, and flaunting them everywhere and talking about their looks every other line in your post is obnoxious. THAT'S what makes them the mary sues that people hate. Not being attractive, so to speak; as it's a personal opinion of what's attractive, and it varies from person to person. People describe their characters in their descriptions as "so sexy" blahblahblah. I go to their pictures, and more often than not, I find the character to not be attractive in my eyes.
Then again, I've been told countless times that I'm quite abnormal, sooo...
In fact, characters that are described as "so hideous, OMFG" are just as much as of an eye roller as the ones that are described as SO BEAUTIFUL AND SEXY. I mean, there's a happy medium, yah know.
http://www.rprepository.com/site.php?char=2104&page=3203
I'd say that he's an attractive male physically, but his personality is rather deplorable. I think only like minded people would ever really be interested in him.
I'd say that he's an attractive male physically, but his personality is rather deplorable. I think only like minded people would ever really be interested in him.
Meedleboot wrote:
Though, I don't think it's a sin to have pretty characters, unless you describe them like people describe their characters in a certain dream on Furc. Oh, and flaunting them everywhere and talking about their looks every other line in your post is obnoxious. THAT'S what makes them the mary sues that people hate.
I'm all for people playing the characters that they want, but when it starts to turn into a competition, we have a problem.
One day I was playing in your typical tavern environment, and someone actually made a post describing their character as "obviously more beautiful" than mine because their character had not had a child. I did a double take. I did a triple take. Describing your flowing tresses and sparkling eyes and perfect skin is one thing, but to describe how attractive your character is by putting down other characters in completely unfounded ways? Now that is just desperate. And rude. Who would want to play any kind of character around a person like that?
Kim wrote:
Meedleboot wrote:
Though, I don't think it's a sin to have pretty characters, unless you describe them like people describe their characters in a certain dream on Furc. Oh, and flaunting them everywhere and talking about their looks every other line in your post is obnoxious. THAT'S what makes them the mary sues that people hate.
I'm all for people playing the characters that they want, but when it starts to turn into a competition, we have a problem.
One day I was playing in your typical tavern environment, and someone actually made a post describing their character as "obviously more beautiful" than mine because their character had not had a child. I did a double take. I did a triple take. Describing your flowing tresses and sparkling eyes and perfect skin is one thing, but to describe how attractive your character is by putting down other characters in completely unfounded ways? Now that is just desperate. And rude. Who would want to play any kind of character around a person like that?
... Uh, wow. How lame.
I find more mature women characters to be more attractive, honestly. They're smarter, (usually) look prettier and dress nicer [my opinion], and have more experience than life.
Extra bonus points if the character has had children. I find the wider hips more attractive. It's like people are scared
But yeah. Putting down someone's character within an IC post is just... sad. A sign of jealousy, too, if you ask me.
Though, characters can be pretty without having descriptions like "lowing tresses and sparkling eyes and perfect skin". I find descriptions like that to be just plain irritating, verbose, and a sign that the person isn't at a skill level of RPing that I'd likely enjoy RPing with them.
Now that's just sad. HURR DURR MY CHAR IS PRETTIER THAN YOURS. I suppose the RP session ended right there.
Anyway, I usually don't like pretty characters. Which is strange, because most my characters are lookers. It's a trend I plan to end soon. Sure, their personalities usually suck. My prettiest characters so far are an elven jerk who thinks he's better than you, a male diva jerk who thinks he's better than you for a different reason, and another elven jerk that will cut you and eat your soul.
Besides, lately I've been noticing the same as Eirwyn.
"Somehow the lack of POC in the RP world never occurred to me until recently, nor did the lack of ME having any POC characters. So it follows that I didn't really have any ugly characters, either. No fat ones, either."
Disregarding the "ugly" part (even though it's just one character), that is exactly what's going on with me. Two of my characters are Ambiguously Brown if that counts for anything, but one of them's explained. In the world I made, Wood Elves are really tanned. Besides that, nothing. As for fat characters, I don't have them but I don't want to make them just for the sake of diversity. So I may have a ugly, a buncha jerks, a dogperson, a chick so white it hurts, two ambiguously brown dudes, but the remaining twenty are all the same: white, average physique, and a gimmick somewhere.
Man I fail.
Anyway, I usually don't like pretty characters. Which is strange, because most my characters are lookers. It's a trend I plan to end soon. Sure, their personalities usually suck. My prettiest characters so far are an elven jerk who thinks he's better than you, a male diva jerk who thinks he's better than you for a different reason, and another elven jerk that will cut you and eat your soul.
Besides, lately I've been noticing the same as Eirwyn.
"Somehow the lack of POC in the RP world never occurred to me until recently, nor did the lack of ME having any POC characters. So it follows that I didn't really have any ugly characters, either. No fat ones, either."
Disregarding the "ugly" part (even though it's just one character), that is exactly what's going on with me. Two of my characters are Ambiguously Brown if that counts for anything, but one of them's explained. In the world I made, Wood Elves are really tanned. Besides that, nothing. As for fat characters, I don't have them but I don't want to make them just for the sake of diversity. So I may have a ugly, a buncha jerks, a dogperson, a chick so white it hurts, two ambiguously brown dudes, but the remaining twenty are all the same: white, average physique, and a gimmick somewhere.
Man I fail.
When I reread that paragraph I wrote by itself, it's horrifying. It makes it sound like I'm saying ugly= POC. *Shudders.*
Why not a fat character, and why not for the sake of diversity? Fat people desperately need representation in the non-real worlds: Books, TV, roleplays. I mean, whenever there's a fat person on TV, they're either supposed to be a joke, a big, dumb, slobbish oaf, "the bad guy", or they're somebody's parents/grandparents/people who aren't supposed to be "pretty" anyway.
Why not a fat character, and why not for the sake of diversity? Fat people desperately need representation in the non-real worlds: Books, TV, roleplays. I mean, whenever there's a fat person on TV, they're either supposed to be a joke, a big, dumb, slobbish oaf, "the bad guy", or they're somebody's parents/grandparents/people who aren't supposed to be "pretty" anyway.
Don't worry, we know you didn't mean that.
And while that is true, I doubt I'd make a fat character just for the sake of diversity. It would be an interesting concept (and new, for me at least) and a good challenge perhaps, but for some silly reason, I just don't like the idea.
Perhaps because I suffer from a horrible disease called "all my characters must sound absurdly cool in my head. Or perhaps because I'm just stewpid.
Man, this post makes it seem like I don't like fat people or something. Which is a big, cakey lie.
And while that is true, I doubt I'd make a fat character just for the sake of diversity. It would be an interesting concept (and new, for me at least) and a good challenge perhaps, but for some silly reason, I just don't like the idea.
Perhaps because I suffer from a horrible disease called "all my characters must sound absurdly cool in my head. Or perhaps because I'm just stewpid.
Man, this post makes it seem like I don't like fat people or something. Which is a big, cakey lie.
Well, it does sound like you're saying a fat character doesn't sound 'absurdly cool' to you. :C I know plenty of fat women and one fat man who are absurdly cool. Women who belly dance, do yoga, and fight for JUSTICE. They're like super heroes. And the fat man in question is my dad, who's like, a really nice guy and all, and into Buddhism and stuff.
Well, I know my share of epic fat people, including my role model. Excluding me of course, since I'm hardly cool. I'm just saying I doubt I'd enjoy having a fat character. For me it's a bit like furry characters - they can be very awesome, but they just ain't my cup of tea.
Okay, we seem to be quite off-topic here... sorry, other peoples.
Okay, we seem to be quite off-topic here... sorry, other peoples.
There is only one character of mine that comes to mind when I think 'ugly' but I suppose it wouldn't be out of the question, since he IS a grumpy, old, fat boar who owns a butcher shop in our local town. The only thing that might put a smile on his wart-filled mug would be the jingle of coins. xD Here's a pic I drew of him, though I can see a -lot- of errors in it now. Eh. http://twisted-emotions.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d24c0ns
The only other 'uncommon' character of mine would be Emily. She creeps me the hell out, personally. Just look at that face! D8 http://twisted-emotions.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d2fufgp
The only other 'uncommon' character of mine would be Emily. She creeps me the hell out, personally. Just look at that face! D8 http://twisted-emotions.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d2fufgp
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