Astarion...yeah. I actually like his personality as he is a fun character to chat with. As a romance, though, Im not into the whole Twilight thing.
It seems to me that Astarion was created according to the principle: "What do fangirl 16+ love?" They "love the Twilight Saga", so let's take a vampire! Of the other RPGs, the favorite hero is Fenris. A runaway slave who hates his former master! Great, let's take it! Something is missing... And, for sure, fangirl love Dorian from the Dragon Age Inquisition, his manner of communication, but he is only for guys. Let's fix it! And so we got the most ideal lover for the female Mary Sue.
Strange feeling of the character...
Not even close... You forget the most important thing, Astarion is evil. None of these characters are evil. He has something in common with Lestat, they are both drama queens and so selfish. But Astarion is still better, at least for now. Lestat regretted his actions, worried, burned in the sun and sobbed bloody tears. Astarion? He enjoys it, that's why I love him.
And that's what makes him different from other typical characters of this type.
By the way, to get Astarion's approval, you need to play as evil. I don't think Mary Sue is usually defined as "evil characters".
It is also worth considering that there is nothing original in the world, we can always find something "similar", but it will never be the same.
