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(Note: Some of the more unfamiliar terms are linked to the Glossary. Just click the work and it should take you to the appropriate glossary entry.) |
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You know the name. You've heard the screams and the snickers. You've read the jokes and the references, but you've never quite got it. "Who is this Mary Sue character," you may ask and why does everyone seem to hate her? Well the first part of that answer is simple: Mary Sue, avatar, self-insert, however you refer to it, it's the author. Or rather, he's any character inserted into an existing universe for the seeming sole purpose of being the sole purpose. There's a new Sailor Scout? It's Sailor Mary Sue! redshirt ends up pulling Captain Picard's ass out of the fire? "Ensign M. Sue, sir!" A ninth Digidestined? "Insertmon: Digivolve to... MARYSUEMON!: And that first part serves to explain the knee-jerk disdain that many feel for her. The majority or Mary Sues out there have required a major plot contrivance, if not an outright violation of continuity to even exist. Why the hell wouldn't Pluto or Luna or Artemis recognize a tenth Scout? Why would Ranma need the help of some American to beat the Kunos? In other words, why the author's character suddenly necessary? The short answer is ..."because." For those of you not familiar with the above examples, think of this: Remember the last season of Knight Rider, when KITT received the Super Pursuit Mode. It was cool and all but A) They never needed it before (You'd think being able to drive at 250mph would be plenty fast) B) They didn't need it until it was already there. Substitute "Super Pursuit" with "new character" and you may get the idea. (Unless you never watched Knight Rider. In which case, you're probably more confused. But bear with me!) But it's not all (completely) bad. Not all self-inserts are created equal. Contrary to what you may read, not every self-insert is a "Mary Sue". Read enough of those type stories and you'll start to notice four distinct types of author-insert characters. To wit...
For Mary Sue Classic Fiction: Mary Sues can be found in large numbers in most of your popular TV fan fics (Esp. Star Trek) And - surprisingly - professional wrestling fics tend to swim with them. For Mary Sue Classic MSTings: Check our Jay B's MSTing of Aiea (Star Trek), Chris Rain's MSTing of Touga Meets His Match (Revolutionary Girl Utena) or the MSTed works of Star Ruby (Transformers).
For you RPGers out there, let me put it another way: Think of a brand new Everquest character who uses some sort of cheat mod so that all his stats are maxed out, and he's got a sack full of rare items to boot. When they do show up, there are generally four points to look for. A) The new character is dramatically more powerful/competent than the main cast. Often to the extent that the regular cast is relegated to cheerleaders or sidekicks. They end up helping him out instead of the other way around. Often they need his help to take out a bad guy they've never had problem defeating before he showed up (The Super Pursuit scenario). B) The regular cast can't stop commenting about how great he is. They run into our Avatar and he's instantly the best martial artist/swordsman/detective/cook/lover (don't snicker, I've seen it) they've ever been around. Often, the Avatar will try to deflect said admiration with a humility or self-depreciation that no one this side of Superman or Captain America has ever been able to get away with. (Ex: a previously unseen Maximal who single-handedly defeats Megatron, but insists he's just another soldier.) C) One of the regular cast falls instantly in love with him, despite prior characterization, current emotional attachment, or total lack of rationale other than the infamous Avatar Aura of Smooth. E) The new character will often make some tremendously noble sacrifice at one point. Be it giving up the love of a cast member (i.e. Sailor Sun stepping aside so Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask can get together) or his life to save one of the others. And, of course, there's the most famous "real life" Avatar out there - Star Trek: TNG's Wesley Crusher, whom Gene Roddenberry admitted was basically him. (And not surprisingly, TNG started to hit it's stride when they shipped Wesley off to Starfleet Academy.) For Avatar Fiction: Any action genre - be it comics, anime, or TV – will have lots of them to choose from. For Avatar MSTings: Nowak & Plotecher's MSTing of Dark Savior contains the clearest example of an Avatar I've ever read. It's SI, Leviathan, reads like he was created with the Mary Sue Litmus Test as a template. Also, any Power Ranger MST starring the Crowmeowme Brothers. (Although, had the original author toned down the brothers' "magnificence", he almost could have gotten away with that. The show itself did the "magnificent stranger" thing with Tommy, The Green Ranger.)
For Possession Avatar Fiction: Possession Avatars can be found in comic book-based fics (esp. X-Men), antifics, revengefics. and lemons of all genres. They are especially prevalent in crossover fics where one character invades another's universe and basically lays the smack down on everyone in it. For Possession Avatar MSTings: Check out the MSTed works of Nav, particularly Seth Trigs' MSTing of Metroid 4: Moon of Blood. Also Masked Rider vs. Sailor Moon
For Godboy Fiction: Same as for Avatar fiction. They're not as prevalent, but you'll know it when you see it. For Godboy MSTings: The prototypical godboy, General Peterson Star, can be found in the MSTing of Time Change. Also check out Saga of The Sixth Child for a less well known but clear example of the "Godboy" type.
In short, Marrissa's just unique enough that she's neither fish nor fowl. She's just Marrissa.
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