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Hey so since Ive been reading some Kingdom Hearts OC fanfiction lately, I really want to share my thoughts on OC's. Anything I say is strictly my opinion and is not meant to offend anyone. (Also Im thinking of starting a RP Topic) So basically, Im getting the idea that Kingdom Hearts is known by everyone (fan or not) to have the most Mary Sue / Gary Stu OC's. People hear "Kingdom Hearts OC" and they think "Oh boy, here we go." Here's my input centered on Kingdom Hearts OC's and some can be applied to Kingdom Hearts in general. 1. Is your OC an important character to the story? Do they disrupt canon? If your answer is no to both or just one, thats great! Just because your character isnt spotlight, doesnt mean your character isnt interesting. In fact, many readers might like your character better because they're not in their face so much and have an easier time balancing the characters they already love and their characters they will learn to love (Your OC's!) If your answer is yes to one or both, THATS ALSO GREAT! Want to know why? Because Im reading that story for your character, to see what they provide to the original story. Im really tired of people labeling characters as Mary Sues and their male counterpart Gary Stues/ Marty Stues just because they are focused as the main character or if they change things in canon. I want differences! I want some change! Literally the act of adding a character into the story is breaking canon, so it is impossible to do that without disrupting canon. Now the only thing I want to point out is when you change canon Do: - Create reasons / plot devices for your character that either simulate within the story or add in original events -Allow your character important roles that make your character interesting (yes that includes what people consider "cliche prophecies") Don't or Try To Avoid: - Removing main characters from the story -Altering the characters personalities -Creating Unreasonable love interests (mostly with main characters) -Do things that go against established rules of the stories universe without plausible reason ^ Ive read a Fruits Basket OC story where the main character had the two boys fall in love with her and she was trying to choose between them. (Ill talk about love interests later). But the thing is, she just removed Tohru from the story. Tohru, the MAIN character. She wasnt mentioned or anything. The story ended up being to depressing and nothing at all like the fruits basket feeling the anime gave off without Tohru there to show them the bright side, so I exited out and stopped reading. Ive read MANY stories where Kairi is shallow and mean and a bully. Kairi can be slightly bossy and very stubborn, but she is NOT mean. Kairi is a Princess of Heart. Kairi has a heart of pure light. Do you think someone with a heart of pure light is going to bully someone? Me neither. Please dont butcher the characters personality! I like the characters that are established, otherwise i wouldnt be reading a sotry that has them in it. Its okay for characters to slowly change with your characters help, but that takes time and even then, a lot of their original personality is going to stick. Ive read a story where the girl was a Princess of Heart, but she turned into a heartless. That's not possible unless there was a certain reason for that which can work with the details of the universe. 2. Is your character paired with a character from the series? Love interests are okay. Love interests are not bad. Love interests and stories with pairing are some of the best! Do: Either establish a background (childhood friend?) or slowly make the character comfortable with your character that would allow them to have a relationship Don't: Make the main character someone who they are not! Make the main character fall in love with your character instantly! Example: Vanitas tells your OC after spending two days with her "You make me want to be a good guy" NO VANITAS IS NOT GOING TO DO THAT! Maybe if he is tricking her.... Vanitas might however, have a few quarrels with your character and develop an unhealthy obsession with them... Setting up romance takes time. Sometimes people click together quickly, but if your character is going to influence the other characters romantic or otherwise, please make sure it makes sense. Be careful with more than one love interest when using main characters. Lots of people like to have two characters to spice up the story and make the character jealous, or give the readers another person to cheer for. This is used in a lot of girls books, "two boys one girl" But having two who are in love with your character because he/she is so charming, attractive, and perfect isnt plausible. Characters can be popular, but that doesnt mean everyone is going to be in love with them instantly. Anything over two main character love interests is something I would avoid. 3. Does your character wield a Keyblade (or weapon that is special to only the main characters)? If no, cool. Your character can represent a weapon that is unique or at least less comon that fits better with that character! If yes, also cool! Im so tired of people getting mad because an OC wields a Keyblade. The game is Kingdom Hearts! What did you want them to wield, a freaking banana peel? (lol reference) Your character can weild a keyblade, in fact, most of the time I expect it. 4. Is your character a Princess of Heart (or have a heart of pure light)? Your character can be a Princess of Heart. I accept that. I am willing to beleive that there can be an extra PoH just as I am going to accept that there is an extra character in this series. But if they have a heart of pure light, I need to see that. All the PoH's have a good personality. They are caring and kind individuals and I need to see that in your character. Also, just because your character is kind and caring doesnt automatically make them a PoH. A character that is rude and profane is not going to have a heart of pure light. Side note: Its my pet peeve when an OC swears in Kingdom Hearts fanfiction. Captain Jack Sparrow himself said "You cant swear in Disney". Its weird for them to be with the kids and in Disney worlds, and then they drop an f bomb or call someone a B and then its like what? Your character isnt fitting in. Ive never heard that language from Sora, Riku, or Kairi's mouths in the game. It may be normal in our universe, but not theirs. Be careful if making your character a PoH or light heart person AND a Keyblade wielder. We know Kairi can do this, but even she had to get her keyblade from Riku. She didnt get it herself. Also, Kairi and Bell or more likely to engage in a fight than Snow White and Cinderella. It has to do with personality. It can be said that because they are a PoH that they can wield a Keyblade more easily, but though the strength of heart of a PoH might seem like good reasoning to become a Keyblade wielder, thats not usually the case. Kairi is more the exception than the rule. I dont know how to explain it, but be careful with combining these two. Like, I was reading one of these stories where I really liked the character, she was a keyblade wielder (obviously) and at the end - bam! Its revealed she is a PoH. And I just thought it was kind of unneeded. If it matches your character then sure, let her or him have a heart of pure light, but if its not needed or affects the story in any good way, whats the point? Seems like overkill. If your character has a heart of pure light, please dont make the character be allies with the dark side or something or shes using dark powers. Thats destroying canon (and not in the good way I stated). Their heart of light isnt going to be comfortable with beings of darkness. There will be distrust.Maybe they might want to help said evil character? but not likely. No. Even Sora wants to help Malificent when shes in danger of being killed, but other than those moral obligations, light side and dark side remain enemies. And NO YOUR PURE HEART OF LIGHT CHARACTER CANNOT USE DARK POWERS OR THRIVE IN WITH THE REALM OF DARKNESS OR ANYTHING DARK RELATED. THATS FINAL. Mary Sue Traits that I dont count as Mary Sue traits and my OC Pet Peeves 1. Dislikes: People who hurt my friends. ^ That line is used by many OCs and is a joke that every Mary Sue/ Gary Stu will have it. But I disagree. Thats a perfectly reasonable line. Every good friend is going to care about their friends. That is literally a quote that would most likely be used by many main characters. I dont get the people who criticize it. Is the character supposed to NOT care about their friends? Are they supposed to make friends with the people who hurt their friends? What do you people want that dont agree with that line? 2. Characters who are friends with the cast Whats wrong with that? The OC is likely to be friends with the main group considering they are likely to also be their ally. If the character is going to be annoying or something they WILL teel them so, and the character isnt going to get along with everybody, but that doesnt mean they cant be BFF's with Sora and travel the worlds with him. After all, I want the character included in the story! 3. Characters who say the exact same lines as other characters! Or draw important moments from main characters! THAT IS MY PET PEEVE. PRETTY MUCH MY ONLY ONES. Your OC is an Original Character. I want Original content. I dont want a carbon copy of Sora or a replacement of Kairi or whatever. Its okay if your character agrees with a lot of the things the cast says, but they arent going to say the same thing! Its fine if its a reaction word or line like "What?" Or "Well lets go!" But so many OC stories are just the original script with them rotating lines. Bad Example: My random made up character for this instance is say, Marceline. Marceline is in the first KH1 scene with Sora, Kairi, and Riku. Marceline is with Kairi who is leaning over Sora. Sora wakes up and is startled by Kairi and Marceline laughs. "Gimme a break, Kairi" Sora complained. "Sora, you lazy bum . I knew Id find you snoozing down here." Kairi said. "No this huge black thing swallowed me up. I couldnt breathe I couldnt -" Sora tried to explain, but was cut off by Kairi hitting him. "Ow!" Sora whined. "Are you still dreaming?" Marceline asked in between laughs. (Kairi's line) "It wasnt a dream! Or was it? What was that place? So bizarre..." Sora "Yeah, sure" Kairi and Marceline dismissed. (Same time) (Kairi's line) "Say Kairi, what was your hometown like? You know where you grew up?" Sora asked. "Ive told you before, I dont remember." Kairi answered. "Nothing at all?' Marceline questions. (Sora's line) "Nothing." Kairi answers her. "Do you ever want to go back?" Sora asked, "Well Im happy here" Kairi answered after thinking "But you know, I wouldnt mind going to see it." "Id like to see it too, along with any other worlds out there. I want to see them all. " Sora dreamed. "So what are we waiting for?" Marceline asks excitedly to her friends. (Kairi's line) "Hey, arent you guys forgetting about me?" Riku asks them, appearing suddenly. "I guess Im the only one working on the raft. And youre just as lazy as he is!" he said to Kairi. "So you noticed." Kairi joked. "Okay we'll finish it together!" Marceline suggested. (Kairi's line) ^That scene added nothing. Marceline just took lines that were already there. And even worse writing, some people just have their OC say the line at the same time or they take most of the lines from a certain character, which to me is a big no no! BAD! Those are the main characters lines! Unless one or two lines are better suited for your character and are small lines, only then can that be done! Better Example: "Gimme a break, Kairi" Sora complained. "Sora, you lazy bum . I knew Id find you snoozing down here." Kairi said. "Kairi, he was probably having a good dream!" Marceline protested. "Sorry Sora.." she apoligized. "Thanks, Mar. But it wasnt good. It was bad!" Sora whined. "Tell us about it." Marceline suggested. "This huge black thing swallowed me up. I couldnt breathe I couldnt -" Sora tried to explain, but was cut off by Kairi hitting him. "Ow!" Sora whined. "Are you still dreaming?" Kairi asked, trying to move away from talks about nightmares that could lead to more. "It wasnt a dream! Or was it? What was that place? So bizarre..." Sora asked. "Yeah, sure" Kairi dismissed. "Say Kairi, what was your hometown like? You know where you grew up?" Sora asked. "Yeah, I'd like to know more about that myself." Marceline agreed. "Ive told you before, I dont remember." Kairi answered. "Nothing at all?' Sora asks. "There's bound to be something there." Marceline suggested. "Nothing." Kairi answers her. "Do you ever want to go back?" Sora asked. "Well Im happy here" Kairi answered after thinking "But you know, I wouldnt mind going to see it." "Id like to see it too, along with any other worlds out there. I want to see them all. " Sora dreamed. "So what are we waiting for?" Kairi asks excitedly to her friends. "Hey, arent you guys forgetting about me?" Riku asks them, appearing suddenly. "I guess Im the only one working on the raft. And youre just as lazy as he is!" he said to Kairi. "He's right, Kairi. You are pretty lazy." Marceline teased. "So you noticed." Kairi joked back to Riku and Marceline. "Okay we'll finish it together!" Kairi suggested. Here is a better example because Marceline isnt stealing lines from characters. She has her own lines. Also, for the love of decent writing, out of all the lines you steal, dont steal the main characters important ones! Marceline cant steal Sora's thunder at the end of the game and say "There's no way your taking Kairi's heart!" Marceline can't take Riku's lines of "We can't let fear stop us! I'm not afraid of the darkness!" Marceline can't take Kairis lines of "Don't ever forget: wherever you go, I'm always with you." Those are their lines. Marceline needs to find her own lines. I've read a story where in CoM, the OC just exchanged the entire "Forgotten but not lost" conversation and promise with Namine. That was an important interaction between Sora and Namine and it was just given to the OC. And the OC didnt even care about Namine the way Sora did with his fake memories. She never searched for her the way Sora did, but the author for some reason though it was fitting for her OC to take that scene from Sora and give it to her OC. Not trying to hate but no. Those are important lines to those characters, dont take them from them. And if you absolutely have to and must, lets at least hope it matches the OC's situation more than it would said main character... Well there we go! My input and suggestions and all that. Its long. And i dont think I even said everything I wanted to say.