From: Sally Manton smanton@hotmail.com
In my experience, the average MS story doesn't just shriek "isn't this creation of mine wonderful?" but also "wouldn't Avon/Vila/Tarrant be so
much
better off with Wonderful Creation who understands and appreciates him properly and who he can confide in and trust than that these stupid insensitive Nearthandal types he has to put up with on the screen?" *That's* the thing I most hate about them - not that they're Wonderful,
but
the way that said wonderfulness ladled on at the expense of the regulars.
(And to be perfectly honest, the OFCs (Original Female Characters) I've
seen
in other fandoms were often rather off-putting as well - not that I'm claiming that as a general rule, since I haven't read a lot outside B7,
but
enough to note that the Little-Ms-Aren't-I-So-Much-More-Wonderful-Than-Your-Heroes* type is rather widespread).
Hmm. Some years ago a friend of mine joined a local Trek club, and apparently to join you had to come up with some alter ego in the Trek universe. So she drafted herself a new persona as captain of a ship that could wipe the floor with the Enterprise and turn the Borg into talcum powder. There does seem to be something about fandom that appeals as an excuse for power-tripping, and Mary Sue might be just another manifestation of this. Maybe there's a parallel between MS and all those 250th level ADnD characters who can stiff a dozen gods before breakfast.
I'm almost tempted to have a crack at this Mary Sue lark myself. I broached the idea to Ellen A Rufkin but she gave me a hard stare that could outmatch Paddington any day. Fae Nunkiller, on the other hand, seemed quite interested...
Neil