Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-25266931-20161112032800/@comment-25936766-20161112234723

KNN005 wrote:

1-Im not for Mary Sues either but what i do with a story of character thats not relatable is try to take the audience out of its comfort zone.

2-Try to get them to care about characters who arent normal. And why not? Theyre still people.

3-Im more interested in odd or eccentric characters than i am average joes or janes.

4-Maybe even other-worldly. Kinda like the character Amatsume in Exist Archive.

5-Just like people have oddball friends they still care about, with a little effort they can learn to love characters who arent so relatable. If theyre willing to try. 1-Note: Being creative or original (which is what I assume you mean by "out of it's comfort zone"), does not mean an idea is good.

2-But that's not what you were arguing before. You were arguing "But heroes are heroes, badass, cool, so they should not behave like people or react like people or express issues like people!"

3-Which is fine, but then, they (normally) are still human-enough to be relatable. Odd and Eccentric doesn't mean one won't be relatable-enough for the audience.

4-Exist Archive?

5-If the audience cares enough to start caring more. That's how it works in fiction: If something attracts the audience first, they will care. If nothing attracts them, they won't care. People are not willing to try more. If nothing attracts them, they won't care, and won't care, plain and simple.

While sure, "relatability" isn't a requirement (depending on the type of character) for a character to be loved, it's an important trait. If the audience cannot relate at all, making them care for the character is nigh-impossible unless you are lucky and it becomes memetic. And trying to make the audience care for it anyway brings accusations of Creator's Pet among other things.