Is Cosmo a Mary Sue?

[Chaotix Prime]

Cosmo the plant alien from Sonic X did not interest me at first. She was boring, sappy, had little appeal. But after Mission: Match Up (the ep with her throwing a party) I just couldn't get enough of the Tails-Cosmo relationship, wondering how they'd conclude it on the show. It didn't really surprise me that they killed her off at the end.

By now I think we've all heard of Mary Sues. Characters (often in fanfiction) who are usually perfect and extremely lovable who end up saving the day, outdo the main cast, or have characters from the main cast fall in love with them. Or they could have troubled pasts and you could like them better for overcoming them. Characters like this are often trying too hard to buy the reader's affections and to this day they have become so plentiful in the world of fanfiction they are a negative force unto it. My brother is the one who made me aware of their existence, so my skills at giving definitions of this stereotype aren't as precise as his.

I have heard people call Cosmo a Mary Sue before. I still enjoy the romance with her and it got me started obsessing over the whole Sonic franchise oddly enough, but I'm not in denial that the character is possibly one of the least creative character-wise. So with that said, to what degree do you think Cosmo is a Mary Sue?

Edited January 13, 2010 by Eli

[Blazey Firekitty]

In my opinion, Mary Sue is a matter of personal preference. I don't feel that it's so much about how special traits the character has, just how the audience reacts to them. Like any Sonic character, there will be people who dislike Cosmo for what she is, and those who like her for the exact same reasons. It's just the way the fandom works.

[Flyboy Fox]

I dislike the term 'Mary Sue' as I feel that most characters could fall under its umbrella coverage to a degree, because of how saleable characters are just a bunch of effective tropes.

However, I do think she was a poorly implemented character. Her existence at a glance does seem to give Tails the purpose and involvement that he was sorely lacking for the most part in season 1. But it becomes apparent quite quickly that it's merely a façade in place of true actual character development. She prevents Tails from being part of the core unit, from interacting with Sonic, and from strengthening his relationships with any of the other core characters. Her death is also one of THE most feeble "character development" charades I've ever seen. It's as if the writing thought that instead of giving Tails any real character development or growth they would instead drop a giant angst bomb on him, right at the very end. NEWSFLASH: Angst does not equal depth. Especially if it happens right at the end like that. It was just a poor cop-out for actually giving Tails any real direction.

So yeah, Cosmo. She's never been attractive to me as a character anyway. I do kinda like her design, Pokemon-like though it may be. But her character was far too, I don't know, soft and weak, despite her determination to save her homeworld. There just wasn't anything inherently likeable about her, which I suppose is why I never really see much fan-work of/about her (although I do see plenty based on the AFTERMATH of her death - which actually give her existence far more of a purpose than it actually had!).

[Phos]

I think a better question would be, "It Cosmo secretly a Gardevoir?"

[Blazey Firekitty]

I think I'm mostly attracted to the character because of the way I interpret Tails' scene with Sonic where he cries into his chest. A lot of people seemed to have interpreted that scene as showing Sonic to be indifferent and uncaring, and I can understand that viewpoint due to the fact that Sonic is very stiff and inanimate in that scene, in terms of his words and body language. The lack of a hug is probably the most damning thing about the scene.

In my eyes, though, I feel that Sonic was silent because he genuinely didn't know how to help Tails at the time. There seems to be, at least to me, a real sense of shame in Sonic's face as he closes his eyes and bows his head.

There seems to be a real sense that both Tails and Sonic have failed someone close to him, even though they tried their best. Tails is broken up that Cosmo still died, despite all he did to save her...Sonic is broken up because he failed his best friend, who had always looked to him to make things all right.

So, to sum, up, I personally like Cosmo because, in my personal canon, she brought Sonic and Tails closer together, helping them to face their failures and move beyond them.

[Vertekins]

I think that Cosmo is a Mary Sue to an extent but definately isn't a loathesome one. I'd say Cosmo is much more of a Woobie than a Sue.

She has weak abilities, imposes great blame on herself and has emotional rollercoasters about vengeance yet is (Sometimes unintentionally) helpful and is entirely selfless. I found her characterisation totally spot on when it comes to a juxtaposition of what's happened to her as well as her personality.

She wasn't totally adored by the rest of the cast except for Tails and this doesn't even become explicit until episode 62 at least. Her loss was met by extreme sorrow which was completely justified. The crew had spent such a long time with Cosmo and to see her sacrifice herself like that without being about to stop it troubled them immensely, which would've happened with ANY of their kin, let alone a newcomer. I'd say that Cosmo dying brought out the best in a lot of characters (Rouge, Tails) and the worst in others (Sonic). It even brought out a fascinating aspect of Eggman's character.

In the infamous scene with Tails struggling to fire, Eggman's straight talking yet perceptibly sympathetic urging fascinated me.

"Do you know what kind of feelings she's experiencing right now? You travelled that far with her, of course you understand!"

He knew what needed to be done in urging Tails and reinforced the inevitability of it as well as the painful truths; "Do you want her sacrifice to have been in vain?" but still portrayed regret over the loss.

As for Rouge, the sacrifice brought to the surface what's always been there; Her softer heart. Rouge might not have been visibly perturbed by parting with Topaz but then Topaz never died a preventable death did she?

As for Sonic. Well, you can tell that he was emotionally destroyed by Cosmo's death (Kanemaru-san is a voiceacting GOD) and possibly the knowledge that he was the bullet that killed her/He couldn't save her but I found him not giving Tails a hug the greatest moment killer in all of television and totally ice cold. He might have come to the conclusion that Tails was too fragile and/or mad at him for his failings to be affected by a show of brotherly love but that scene felt extremely unSonic-like. Sonic X Sonic might be emotionally distant but if he could give Chris a hug in ep 26, he could give a younger boy he has known longer and treats like his brother one!

[psikeout]

Honestly, I think Cosmo was too inoffensive to be a Sue. Her presence didn't ruin things for me the way Sue-like characters normally do (see: Chris, even though he's the most deliberately uncool Sue-ish character in history). I watched through season 3 (albeit long, long ago in raw Japanese with no subs, so that which I didn't understand I missed) and left it without any real malice for the character, but no attachment, either.

Also, I'm with Blazey on Sonic's reaction. Sonic isn't a touchy-feely guy, barring the nearly homoerotic subversion of his normal character that Chris for some reason inspired. I think his solemn rigidity did well to reflect his uncertainty. Sonic isn't the kind of character who normally has difficulty dealing with uncertainty; he picks what looks like the right thing to do and does it. There was nothing left to do in that moment, though. It was all over, and in a sense, there was nothing he could do to make things any better. I think his stolid, mannequin-like stance perfectly reflected that specifically because it was an uncharacteristic thing for him to do under any other circumstance.

[Blazey Firekitty]

Also, I'm with Blazey on Sonic's reaction. Sonic isn't a touchy-feely guy, barring the nearly homoerotic subversion of his normal character that Chris for some reason inspired. I think his solemn rigidity did well to reflect his uncertainty. Sonic isn't the kind of character who normally has difficulty dealing with uncertainty; he picks what looks like the right thing to do and does it. There was nothing left to do in that moment, though. It was all over, and in a sense, there was nothing he could do to make things any better. I think his stolid, mannequin-like stance perfectly reflected that specifically because it was an uncharacteristic thing for him to do under any other circumstance.

Yeah, I really got the impression that, since the situation so bleak beyond anything he was used to, he just kind of...froze. I got the feeling that he was deeply hurt, and that he wanted to comfort Tails, but just kind of...ran out of ideas for the first time in his life.

[redmenace]

She was a Mary Sue, but since she didn't stole anyone's thunder, she was bereable. It helps she was paired up with somoeone who had never been paired up with anyone else "officially".

Edited January 14, 2010 by redmenace

[Unknownlight]

The thing is...the term "Mary Sue" is negative. People seem to forget that. Sonic is a Mary Sue, if you go by the regular definitions. The reason why he's not considered one is because his presence doesn't make the scene deeply and noticeably worse. Cosmo didn't do this either, so she's not a Mary Sue.

That's really all there is to it. Perhaps for some people she did make scenes worse, but this has to be the general opinion before she can become a Mary Sue.

[Silver the Hedgie]

The thing is...the term "Mary Sue" is negative. People seem to forget that. Sonic is a Mary Sue, if you go by the regular definitions. The reason why he's not considered one is because his presence doesn't make the scene deeply and noticeably worse. Cosmo didn't do this either, so she's not a Mary Sue.

That's really all there is to it. Perhaps for some people she did make scenes worse, but this has to be the general opinion before she can become a Mary Sue.

[shdowhunt60]

Not nearly as bad of sues Shadow and Sonic were in the show if she was a sue. I think those two were far worse in terms of having the universe bend itself to making those two look better than anyone else. Cosmo is far too inoffensive to really say that.

[E-122-Psi]

I think X Sonic was Sue-ish in a sort of deliberate way, more idealised in the sense of being the Ace than inadvertently glorified. He wasn't really designed to be a full character, he was almost always in the background and all the development revolved around other characters and their interaction with HIM. I think this is where the scene between him and Tails fell short, since Sonic had to be distant and unhumanized. Even the idea of him not opening to Tails like that could have worked in the sense of, as said before, him not knowing how to, but there was nothing to imply it was being treated that way. That would have involved developing him too much. Same for him not giving a damn about Chris trying to keep him on Earth.
 

Concerning Cosmo, she was like Chris to me, just with a better design. Admittedly that's kinda misleading, I should note first Chris didn't bother me THAT much compared to the majority of the fan base, he was just kinda bland and a bit too mopey. Cosmo is the same, she can be endearing odd times and she doesn't offend to much, but there's not a lot to her but her inferiority complex, which can get a little irritating after a while.

 

The only things maybe bothered me were the occasions where, similar to Cream in the anime, she'd break her nice character for humor's sake that was never called out (eg. the Knuckles abuse) and the TailsCosmo romance, while there is worse in the series *cough* Archie *cough*, I couldn't really get into it, and as mentioned before it just seemed a cheap way to fuse a cheap side plot and an angsty epic ending for Tails in place of making his personality interesting. Would it have hurt to just let a character bow out with a happy ending during this era of the franchise?

 

 

 

[shdowhunt60]

If deliberately making him a shit character was their goal, then they clearly have succeeded. X Sonic is quite honestly one of my least interpretations of the character as he bent reality around himself to be the hero in the most insincere way possible. This is not good characterization in any shape or form. This is the same crap that gave us gems like Adam Malkovich. Characters that exist to deprive the characters around them any agency and make them utterly pointless.

[E-122-Psi]

I didn't say it was a good concept, but it is an unfortunately recurring one. He was basically getting the Mickey Mouse treatment during this era after all.

[Chaotix Prime]

Well to be fair I always did think Sonic was overplayed as an icon on 'Earth' in the show. I didn't find that to be 'realistic,' though I only take realism in shows so far...