Disclaimer: I have blatantly referred to existing Fan Mews in this guide.
You know who you are. D:<
Good or bad, no apologies will be made to the owner's of the Mews in question. So don't ask for or demand one.
This Guide is only here to help you, really it is.

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Recently there has been a 'bloom' in the Tokyo Mew Mew section. Many Fan Mews have been created and though that's all well and good…
These Fan Mews are quite silly.
Hardly any of them are following the typical 'Mew Mew Guidelines.' And if they do manage to follow some of them, they mess up big time on other things.
But let's not dwell on that shall we?
Instead, we'll get started with the Guide.

First off, before we get started, please completely disregard Berry and Ringo's designs. Berry was created once Ikumi was on her own with the manga, and Ringo was created for a game and hardly followed the Guidelines herself. Therefore neither of them are 'True' Mews.

And now we begin.
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Names:
Mew names MUST be a food, even in their human form. Mew Mew Power should be completely ignored, as it's a terrible Americanized version, so don't even think of using it as an excuse (and I will eat your face off if you try).
Mew names don't have to be Japanese; they can be any language you feel like using. Either way, no Mew Sally, Mew Susie, or Mew George. And no Destiny Smith becomes Mew Sugar.

Weapons:
Mew Weapons are supposed to be musical instruments. No daggers, boxing gloves, hockey sticks, or other things.
Keep in mind that you can warp the instrument to suit your tastes, Mint's Mint Tone Arrow, was a harp used as a bow of sorts. My Peppa has maracas used as a staff, and Zakuro had a flute used as a whip. Nevertheless, no making the instrument a huge pointy weapon of DOOM.
Weapons usually bear the Mew Mark of the Mew that they belong to.

Animal DNA:
A Mew's Animal DNA is supposed to be a real endangered or threatened animal. A Mew's power varies depending on its animal, the more endangered it is, the stronger your Mew.
No dragons, sorry but they're mythical creatures. I don't care how much you believe in them you can't use it.
My Peppaminto is a Thylacine (AKA Tasmanian Tiger/Wolf), though believed to be extinct, sightings have been and still are reported. Therefore, he is still acceptable. Cryptids (Bigfoot, jackalope, etc.), however, aren't acceptable.
Double DNA, having the DNA of two different animals. Personally, I think this idea is quite silly, but Double DNA is acceptable. If you used the DNA of a fish or reptile and a bat, you could make your Mew look somewhat like a dragon (If you're that determined too.).

Outfits:
Mew outfits must consist of two puffy fur or lace-trimmed armbands, collar/choker, a garter on the thigh. Fur-trimmed is what's most common in Fan Mews.
The garter, located on the right leg if the Mew is a leader and on the left if he/she isn't, must be visible, though it can be partially covered, see Ichigo for an example.
The collar/choker must have an oval-shaped pendant, often golden, attached to it; on the pendant should be the Mark of the group to which the Mew belongs. However, I have seen in multiple pictures Mews with their own Mark on the pendant. Perhaps this was the case in the anime but not in the manga. It would be unwise to change the shape of the pendant.
In addition, the outfits must be symmetrical, no slanted-skirts or one strapped tops. The Canon Mews(Pudding excluded) have strapless tops, but bending this rule and having strapped tops is fine(with me anyways). The tops do not have sleeves, unless you make the sleeves really short they should be avoided altogether.
Correspondingly, gloves (optional) and boots should be of equal length, don't give me some silly excuse saying your Mew has burns on one arm. Make the other longer to match otherwise your Mew just looks tacky.

Seam Lines:
These are often forgotten or messed up in Fan Mews. There are two Seam Lines located close together straight down the middle of the Mew's outfit, another is located further away on both sides of the first two. Basically it looks like this (ignore the underscores, they're there because TheO cuts out unneeded spaces) ---> I_II_I
There are two more located under the arms at the sides of the outfit. And the back is similar to the front, except it only has three Seam Lines instead of four. ---> I__I__I
The creators of Fan Mews sometimes add too many Seam Lines, or forget them altogether. Don't let this be you!
Furthermore, don't add bows, ribbons, etc. to the garters, armbands, or collar/choker. It looks silly. (Shut up about Berry, she wasn't a real Mew herself as said before the Guide started.)

Mew Marks:
Mew Marks should represent their animal in some way and must be symmetrical. HakubiShirahime has done a very good job on this, so see her Mews' Marks for examples.

Mew Mark Locations:
Mew Marks should be located somewhere down the middle of the Mew's body. Just draw a straight line down the body, and decide on a location. Therefore, the mark shouldn't be on the ankles, knees, wrists, etc.
In addition, Mew Marks must be visible. All the canon mews have it showing (Ichigo is, again, a bit of an exception but should the wind blow her mark would be visible.), Zakuro has it on her navel, Mint between her shoulder blades, Pudding on her forehead, and Lettuce on her chest.
Although if your mew has been injected by hand, meaning either Ryou abducted them or they volunteered, then you may place the Mew Mark wherever you wish. This will also allow you to get past the Visibility rule.

Colors:
Your mew should have two colors, one main color, and one secondary color. Your mew's colors should reflect their name; Banira's colors are pale yellow/ivory (Main) and brown (Secondary). White would also have been acceptable.
A Mew Blueberry shouldn't have green and red as its colors, it just doesn't match. Instead blues should be used, a light blue as the main and a dark blue as the secondary would be good.
Do not, I repeat, do not switch the colors on the armbands, collar/choker, and garter. It doesn't match and it looks tacky.

Animal Appendages:
Frankly, I don't think I should even have to explain this, but I will for good measure.
Obviously, ears and a tail or wings are the best choices, but wild cats, dogs and birds aren't the only endangered animals in the world. What about all those fish, bugs, and reptiles?
Fish: You can change your Mew's ears into fins, or give her a tail like that of the fish you chose. Webbed fingers aren't the best choice.
Bugs: Add antennae if the bug had them and the wings. You're done! 8D But if you did a spider (Though not a bug I'll still mention it here), you could add spider legs or you could leave them without appendages. In that case, try to incorporate it into the outfit.
Reptiles: Ooooh this is a good one. You could give your Mew a tail perhaps, or maybe some scales on the hands, legs, etc. Depending on the reptile, you could make the crest the ears like with the fish. A forked tongue might be pushing it though. Horns could be added too, but keep them small! No wings if the reptile didn't have something resembling them.
Others: Still having trouble with a certain animal? Be creative but stay practical. My Mew Peppa is a Cape Porcupine, so I added hollow rattle quills into his hair. Ikumi gave Lettuce 'ribbons' in her hair, not sure how that fit it with the finless porpoise, but it worked nonetheless!

Weapon Names:
This one is hard to explain, but hopefully by giving a few examples it might be easier to understand.
For your Weapon's Name, it has to have your Mew's name (obviously) and often what the instrument is and they should blend.
Examples:
Pudding Rings, Purin Ringu = Puringu
Chocolate Trumpet, Shokora Rappa = Shokorappa
If that won't work then you may have to add an adjective or not use the instrument's name at all, but use something else instead.
Examples:
Pepper Palette Staff, Peppa Paretto Sutaffu = Pepparettosutaffu
Caramel Light Flute, Karumera Raito Furuto = Karumeraitofuruto
Mint Tone Arrow, Minto Ton Aro = Mintonaro
Vanilla Lantern, Banira Rantan = Banirantan
Unfortunately, this only works when done in Japanese, so Mew Mirtillo (Italian for Blueberry) might have a hard time finding a weapon name. However, one could still use the Japanese translation in order to achieve the same effect.
A good translating site is FreeDict.com. However, you can only translate one word at a time.

Attack Names:
Attack names also must have the Mew's name in it, examples:
Lettuce Rush
Zakuro Pure
Pudding Inferno
Vanilla Rage
Caramel Racket Snare
Yamamomo Bind

Now then what about all this 'Ribbon' and 'Reborn' business?
This goes along with the Attack Name, so the full name would be, 'Ribbon Zakuro Pure!' or 'Reborn Yamamomo Bind!'
The Canon Mews used 'Ribbon' and most Fan Mews use 'Reborn', but it just depends on which you want to use I suppose. Though I have my Mews say 'Rebel' since they're part of my own team of Mews, Mew Mew Rebellion (Which I'd prefer you didn't use yourself). Disregard that. XP
That said, be creative with the attack names!
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And that's the end of the guide!
The Guidelines should apply to your Mew unless your Mew's storyline can help them get around that, but should you do that please have it make sense. :3

All comments, flaming or otherwise, will be responded to accordingly.

Guide: 12/17/08 | Posted By: UnknownRumors | 3 comments | Tokyo Mew Mew