Talk:Twenty-Fifth Baam/@comment-32.213.18.10-20170131015429/@comment-206.87.155.146-20170131065432

Eh, I wouldn't say he's perfect. Far from it, in fact.

The definition of "Gary Stu" can be blurry, since it incorporates a great many characteristics, but I do agree that Baam possesses some of them. He's a 'special snowflake,' being a rare and extremely powerful Irregular, and he is almost unbeatable in direct battles. There are exceptions, like when he got his butt handed to him by Mazino- but then it was obvious the opponent was far above him, and Mazino even acknowledged his strength.

So he does possess some notable traits of a Gary Stu- but I'd argue this doesn't really make him any less of a good protagonist.

For one thing, while he does get a lot of friends, he doesn't do so without effort. Take the second floor- when everyone was trying to kill each other, he struggled to bring himself to do so, and was eager to team up when the time came. He won Rak over with skillful negotiation, and then gradually formed bonds with him. He made a lot of friends over the course of the main arc, but if you'll remember, everyone was desperate to make friends back then, to the point where they literally had lists! Wangnan and his team were distrustful of him at first, but gradually warmed up once they started climbing together. None of the friends he made were really unjustified, and not everyone really likes him- case in point, Hockney basically ditched him in the latest chapter to go do his own thing.

It can seem like people focus too much on him, and in a way they do- but that's usually because he's the one being put in trouble, what with FUG stalking his ass and all.

Which brings me to my main point. A lot of people like to point out he has Gary Stu traits and say that makes him a weak character, but I'd disagree: part of the point of the story is that those 'chosen one' traits do him more harm than good.

The whole reason FUG keeps coming after him? He's powerful, and they want to use him as a weapon. He's strong enough to beat just about anyone around his level, but it's the fact that he's OP that prevents him from achieving happiness. It was even pointed out pretty blatantly in some recent chapters: no matter how strong he seems to get, he can't find what he really wants or protect everyone around him. Sure, he can win a bunch of fights, but in the ToG universe just being strong doesn't always solve things for you.

What's more, he's far from perfect, and definitely not invincible. A "perfect" character is boring because they never change, whereas Baam's shifting all the time, never quite reaching a state where he's good enough. At the beginning, he was driven but also kind and naive. After being betrayed, he got disillusioned and became more ruthless and jaded as Viole. This coldness was then worn away as he made friends again, and began to realize that no, maybe it wasn't a good idea to treat everyone as an enemy. Rather than portraying him as being always right, the story shows how his personality flaws lead him to make mistakes, and change in light of those mistakes.

His greatest problem? Rachel. You mentioned he's invincible, and he might be in direct combat, but every time he goes up against Rachel he ends up getting shoved down and utterly defeated. It's not like she deactivates his powers or anything: the reason he can't 'beat' her is because of his own obsession with her, which make all the power in the world useless against her.

Tldr; It's easy to point out Gary Stu traits in a character, but that doesn't necessarily make them a bad character. Baam is Stu-ish in that he's a special snowflake and very OP, but the story often emphasizes how these traits hurt him rather than help him.