Here's where I make my contribution to the ongoing campaign to render the population of Mary-Sues extinct.

I've created fancharacters for different worlds before. Some have come perilously close to classification as a Mary-Sue. Some have proven themselves as far removed from the hated status of Mary-Sue as they possibly can. I, myself, am a borderline Mary-Sue in real life.

Interested if your Utena fancharacters are Mary-Sues or not? Why not run them through this handy test? As an added bonus, there's a script version you can use to easily find out the true colours of your characters.

And if you're really bored, why not test yourself out on the quiz? You'd be surprised what you might come up with. Be sure, though, to make wise decisions based on the content. Your score may vary based on what you enter into the quiz. I scored 28 points when I posted this, and have scored as high as 34 in the past when taking this particular test. So if you come up as a Mary-Sue, don't feel bad. You're probably not one to begin with; you most likely just have a very colourful history.

I'll be honest. I've read some good ones but I've read plenty of bad ones. I suppose it depends on the anime/manga, the type of audience, and the balance the author can handle between "creative" and "going too far". There are plenty of Mary Sue fics out there that no one cares to read. I mean, come on, we all have our fangirl/boy fantasies. Why should we care about just one person? Well, there are many authors out there that want to push their ideas in others. Some are actually quite successful. Why? Because they do it right.

Waaay back when Xenogears was still new, I read some Xenogears fanfiction. There was a series created by two authors: Amber Michelle and Calis Cheah. Though they created some self-inserts, it was pretty darned good stuff. It turned out that you couldn't be a Xenogears fan without reading them back then. Probably the reason they were great was because the authors knew how to keep the original Xeno characters ... well, in character. I actually recommend reading them:

Shadows Falling - Amber Michelle
A Piece of Me - Calis Cheah

There's also I Know What's Beneath the Snowfields by Zahra. It's a FFVII fic that's 100 chapters long. However, she's created the one of the most original badass villains I've ever seen (read). It's also got the somewhat non-canon pairing of Vincent and Aeris (sort of). This actually got its own fansite and stuff.

Those are the good ones I've read. But those authors incorporated the history and background of the story so these inserts aren't too ... random.

Then, of course, there are the bad fics. I hate to read Mary Sues were the main character is the self-insert where they suddenly get all this power over the actual characters. Ick. Seriously, do we care? There's also the ones where the Mary Sue tends to break the fourth wall. Totally annoying. Then lastly, there are some people who dare to write a Mary Sue where the story is completely disrupted and bends to the insert's will or benefit. If you want bad examples, just look on Fanfiction.Net or something. Lately, I don't care for them since they've gotten worse over the years. Many are, indeed, egoistical fangirl fantasies.

It's natural to want to be a Duelist, Sailor Soldier, Mew Mew, Vampire, whatever. We all want to be one. Sometimes, though, it's better to keep that to yourself.

As I've mentioned before, part of the reason why I was originally reluctant to make a Sim of myself was because I related the concept of it to self-insert fics... I don't like self-insert fics, because half the time they're just a stupid fantasy of the author. If you want to write something like that, then go for it. But why the hell do you post it for the world to see when no one knows, or cares who you are? Why, I ask you?

LULZ abound as the worst HP Fanfiction EVAR!!! is not only broken down, but put into window speech format.

Razara wrote:

*Reads the first chapter* ... Are my eyes bleeding?

Yes. Yes, they are.

....

I think I've unleashed the first plague

MIKI - 33, high Borderline Mary-Sue.  If I decided to stretch a little and answer yes to "Is the character rivalled repeatedly by the same person?" or "Does the character fall in (reciprocated) love with, or have sex with, a character you would like to fall in love with or have sex with?", I could make him a Mary Sue.

ANTHY - 70, top Uber-Sue; one more point (say, the second question I mentioned for Miki above) would make her an Irredeemable Sue, the highest category.  Woooo!

Razara wrote:

But why the hell do you post it for the world to see when no one knows, or cares who you are? Why, I ask you?

No kidding. Some stories are better left unpublished, even on the interwebs.

On the subject of Mary Sues, has anybody here read Atlas Shrugged? Dagny Taggart, hello?

Stormcrow wrote:

On the subject of Mary Sues, has anybody here read Atlas Shrugged? Dagny Taggart, hello?

Hmm.  Idealized... the paragon of the author's moral beliefs... universally beloved by the good guys... biggest flaw is that she gives the bad guys too much credit... filthy rich... makes you want to kill her... god yes!  Call it like it is, SC! 

Of course, most of that goes for Rearden and John Galt too, doesn't it?

Last edited by satyreyes (07-26-2007 11:11:35 PM)

I've never created a Mary Sue.

A long time ago I created a self insert fic with my friends in the Utena World, but it was not something I ever shared with the general public. It was just for me and my friends and all of us at one point or another found ourselves in precarious perdicaments. the basic plot was that my friend Karma had invented rose petals that ate the clothes off of pretty girls (and some boys [poor Miki]) and she was running amuck causing trouble with Kozue and Shiori. Touga and Saionji invented a special sauce that made women fall in love with them (but it doesn't taste very good) which Karma, Kozue and Shiori steal. The shadow girls introduced each segment and at one point the story came with a drinking game. Akio was kidnapping girls to chain to his car and play with (with whipped cream and cherries). Dios was trying to watch Sailor Moon and had mutiple iced drinks. It was really fun and funny. "Don't go stage left and beware the Author." *grin*

I have a few characters in my original fiction that I identify with and to some point they could be considered Author Avatars but I try to keep characters real. No one is ever perfect in my world.

When I started writing fanfic, I did almost exclusive self-inserts in Pern.  That was, thankfully, when I was 15 or so.  I moved on to writing Star Trek and Star Wars fan parodies almost immediately, and then didn't take up fanfic again until I started writing Utena fic.  So I like to think I've never inadvertantly written a Mary Sue.

However, 2 friends and I did a roleplaying challenge a few years ago that involved making up our own special Harry Potter Mary Sues and having them meet (sort of related to the House Sparklypoo comic).  You can read the roleplay log here: http://www.broomstick.org/fandom/marysues.html

Bets on which one you think I played?

morosemocha wrote:

Stormcrow wrote:

satyreyes wrote:

Hmm.  Idealized... the paragon of the author's moral beliefs... universally beloved by the good guys... biggest flaw is that she gives the bad guys too much credit... filthy rich... makes you want to kill her... god yes!  Call it like it is, SC! 

Of course, most of that goes for Rearden and John Galt too, doesn't it?

And D'Anconia. And Danneskjold. But Taggart was particularly obvious, since she's female. Plus, she humps three of the male Mary Sues at one time or another.

I had a fabulous discussion over dinner about why Ayn Rand should die a firey death and her books along with her, and this was one such point!

Fabulous.

I don't erally write fanfics, but I'd have to say I think Mary Sues can be brilliant -just look at SoR. :snicker: Although perhaps that's less then intentional?

Aw, lots of people on here don't like Ayn Rand. I love Atlas Shrugged.