Hullo, everyone! Sorry that this first entry might be unpleasant, but this has been gnawing at me for some time.

As a fanartist and creator of original characters, I look at other artist's original characters in the hopes of getting ideas for poses, or just to see how other people insert their character into whatever universe they're supposed to be in. Lately, and I don't know if it's always been this way and I just noticed it or what, I've been noticing that some of the characters created are just plain outrageous. For instance, I found one character who'd died and come back as a mixture of an Arrancar and a Vizard in Bleach. She could change her alignment because her zanpakuto had four realeases, and everyone was in love with her. That's one crazy character and, quite frankly, she would never make it in the Bleach universe. Am I the only one who's noticed that all of the strong characters are being killed off?

She's not the only one like that, and I doubt she's the last. This is a rather annoying trend to have to watch. Mary Sues are pointless characters, because they're either too strong or two weak, and they don't really serve any purpose for, well, anything.

Another trend I've noticed: a lack of originality. It's not quite as bad now as it was a few years ago, but it's still their. ATTENTION, ARTISTS!! CHANGING THE HAIR/EYE/SKIN/CLOTHES COLORING OF A CHARACTER WHO ALREADY EXISTS USING PAINT OR PHOTOSHOP DOES NOT MAKE THEM AN ORIGINAL CHARACTER, BECAUSE YOU DID NOT TECHNICALLY CREATE THEM. If you want to insert them in a scene, take the background and draw them in. Don't edit a character who the animators of the show worked so hard to create. It's nothing but pure laziness. Here's a link to what I'm talking about: [link]
This is obviously Haruno Sakura, however, she was mauled using Paint.

Please, can't we show some originality and sense? Can we resist the urge to make our characters too freaking strong or weak? And can we please, please stop using Paint and Photoshop to alter other people's work?