Don’t know that one. What episode is she from?
He won’t. I enjoy Hiaasen, but he’s the kind of author who just keeps re-writing the same novel over and over, like the romance writers in the Harlequin stable but with more talent.
Gesundheit. 
Like this? Literature - Penny Arcade 
The original character, a little girl named Marissa Flores, appeared in the TNG episode where Picard gets trapped in a turbolift with the child winners of a science fair or something. That’s the ONLY time she appears in canon Trek.
A fanfic writer named Stephen Ratliff then turned her into essentially the supreme goddess of the Trekiverse. Ratliff’s fanfic began with her parents dying and she being adopted by Jean-Luc Picard, becoming the youngest full ensign in Starfleet (at 12 years old), becoming captain of something called “The Kids’ Crew” who somehow ends up with full command of a starship and beats a Cardassian cruiser in battle (carving, with phasers, “I was beaten by a bunch of kids” on their hull).
From there, it gets worse. There’s a series of stories about Marissa, which have become famous in the online Trek community through their pillorying in a series of MST3K “mstings”.
Stephen’s a good sport about it all. Even the Msting folks have to give him that, since he does give them permission to riff on the stories.
You forgot to mention the “bad guys:” 2 incompetent criminals and and evil land developer.
Are there any “bad Mary Sues”? Characters who are stand-ins for the author but are villians?
When I was in high school, I wrote a “Left Behind” “novel” that covered the whole seven-year “Rapture to Armageddon” period in 50 pages, and made the False Prophet “Bishop Marcus” a stand-in for myself.
There certainly are in fanfiction, and I’d assume there are some in original works, even if I can’t think of any.
Another reader and writer of fanfic, here. I do recognize that the term can be a bit ambiguous, or even prone to misapplication (as in your examples “C” and “D,” above), but still, I’d consider it useful enough in spite of it’s inexactness—heck, it might be more useful as a slightly looser “category” rather than a strict definition.
True enough…but, on the other hand, in my experience, very few ever actually do remove the outward symptoms. It’s like spotting a totalitarian government by seeing who has guys wearing the snazziest, most ornate uniforms—it’s not really a prerequisite, and it’s not really addressing the deeper issues involved, but it’s actually a pretty useful indicator a good majority of the time. Not a very clever one, but most of the examples you’ll be testing it against won’t need a more stringent examination, anywy. 
A serious entry - Eragon. Has magic powers, learns to be a master swordsman in weeks, is adored by everyone, has a dragon which seems to only exist to make him uber and he is always right. He’s also very clearly a wish-fulfillment device for the author (Publisher: “did you know he was only 15 when he wrote the first book!” :rolleyes:).
Less serious suggestion but one that I think could do with a bit of examination - Harry Potter. Magic is a bit irrelevant as he lives in a community of magic users, but he’s forever finding he has new powers and abilities that others don’t (even if they’re explained and/or important to the plot), masters things really easily (quidditch anyone?), triumphs over every and any adversity sometimes even inadvertently, gets the girl, and everyone who dislikes him (other than Snape) is by definition evil. Any thoughts on that one?
I find Harry Potter to be close to a Mary Sue on first brush but as you peel back the layers the similarity is due him being created as a wish-fulfillment character for children rather than the author. Also as the books progress he might be at the center of everything but he’s not the best or always right.
So he might be an obnoxious twirp who the world revolves around, always gets his way, and gets everything he wants in the end but its due to the author thinking kids would want that (and being right) rather than the author wanting it.
But typical of Claremont.
Cyclops and Havok couldn’t JUST be orphans, they had to be the kids of the GREATEST SPACE PIRATE IN THE UNIVERSE!
Storm couldn’t just be an orphan worshipped by a small African tribe, she had to be the female equivalent of the Artful Dodger, complete with thief’s guild, evil telepathic mutants, etc.
Colossus couldn’t just be a farm-boy from the USSR, his big brother had to be a super-secret spy and cosmonaut.
And off comics, the Spenser books by whatshisname. Robert Parker.
He’s a gourmet cook
He’s tough as nails.
He can espouse on art/music/etc.
He’s got street-level friends, is pals with thugs, buddy-buddy with mafia-types, but can seamlessly insinuate himself into academic settings or high society.
(Key point)His girlfriend is 100% faithful to him, but doesn’t mind if he sleeps around.
Every guy who’s not trying to kill him wants to be him and every girl who’s not trying to kill him (and some who do) want to be WITH him.
His “flaws” are that he’s just TOO stubborn and loyal and that he’s too, TOO good for this sorry world of ours. :rolleyes:
I liked the first few books, but it got dull fast.
I’ll grant you that some of the books are dull, and unless some major change is made, I won’t even buy them in hardback anymore.
However, at one point, Susan decided to pursue an internship in Washington, which meant being separated from Spenser. She entered into a relationship with someone else, which turned into a disaster. Spenser ended up rescuing her, which is surprising considering that she’s supposed to be this strong, independent woman. They’ve been monogamous ever since.
Robin
Are you sure? I vaguely remember her leaving him and Spenser going into oh-so-manly pieces and then rescuing her but I would swear that their deal is “She cannot have sex with anyone but him. He can have sex, but not anything emotional with anyone he wants.” (and it’s her ‘rule’)
Or maybe you’re referring to something that happened after I quit reading the series–there was one point where she left him because he was just SO powerful and strong that he was suffocating her with his wonderfulness. The “Spenser gets free sex but Susan doesn’t” thing came after that. But I don’t remember an internship. This was within a few books after the “Spenser helps the gay kid BECOME A MAN by building a cabin in the mountains” book (which I actually really enjoyed).
Mary Sue / Gary Stu characters are not always wish fulfillment for the author. They are characters without significant flaw andf unusual abilities who are always right. Your own description of Harry Potter pretty much nails him down as a Gary Stu.
And to be honest I’m embarassed I hadn’t thought of him earlier; he’s a very obvious example.
But that’s ridiculous. Harry Potter is a character in a children’s book. They’re all like that. It doesn’t make him a Mary Sue, it makes him a character in a book meant for 8 year olds.
That’s a good point in general, although the books are clearly aimed higher than that.
Not the first one, which is what establishes Harry’s specialness.
Not to mention the fact that being the “chosen one” automatically makes you pretty damn important and more likely to gain other powers that build off of the “chosen one” moniker.
**Illuminatiprimus **is dead-on about Eragon, though. Good for his parents for self-publishing; there’s a reason that no publishers would take that on until after their wildly successful self-promotion. Derivative, Mary Sue-filled dreck, that.
I also nominate Ender. He seems a pretty obvious wish-fulfillment for Orson Scott Card.
Yeah, but, she’s hardly portrayed as flawless, and her flaws go way beyond “clumsiness”, or the usual “Oh, I’m too thin and my breasts are so unnaturally large” sort of Mary Sue “flaws”. As you point out, she turned evil and tried to destroy the world. And even before that, Giles called her an irresponsible little twit (or words to that effect).
I mean, I might agree that over the course of the series she manages to get away with doing some pretty seriously questionable stuff, but I don’t think she’s a Mary Sue per se.