User blog comment:Smartbook/Why I like Zoey/@comment-24971793-20141109212308



She had a great characterization. The small town indie chick. A crafty, naive girl that doesn't like sport/jocks and just entered the competition to make some friends. Great concept, sounds like a promising character (she's that girl on the left).

But for some reason the writers decided to strip most of her personality and turn her into mary sue (the one on the right). Meaning that they made her "too perfect". She is too nice, she is too skilled (according to her stereotype she shouldn't be athletic at all), she is too goodlooking, she is too ... everything. She was created to be admired and the viewers noses are constantly rubbed in how awesome she is. She has very little obstacles to overcome, and those that do exist are easily and irrealistically solved (commando Zoey, Anne Maria being a paper tiger foe, reset button). Good protagonists have flaws and real obstacles.

Mary sue's are usually regarded as bad characters since they're underdevelopped (which is defnitely the case here, the indie chick label was severly underused). They're seen as uninteresting and often drag down the integrity of a story (which was especially the case in AS. For example her character isn't able to matrix her way out of Jo's leech attack, that was definitely godplaying).