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(03-19-2015, 11:08 AM)Graeham Ridgefield Wrote:(03-19-2015, 10:09 AM)Ryoko Wrote:(03-18-2015, 08:41 PM)Bryn Wrote: Vaguely, yes. The term does describe a real phenomenon; we've all seen Mary Sues (possibly RP'd one in our younger years. Cough.), and as already pointed out, there is a male equivalent: Marty or Gary Stu. They are awful.Counterexample: Rhonin and Thrall from Warcraft are almost universally hated for being Mary Sues. Rhonin is a near-omnipotent time wizard and ladies man, and Thrall is Orc-Jesus, and nobody likes either of them. Meanwhile, the only genuinely overpowered female character, Jaina, mostly flies under the radar. People just dislike her because she tries to be so god damn edgy...
But as the Tumblr post states, that's Batman. And no-one bats an eyelid pun intended. In fact, he's a hugely beloved cultural icon. So I do think that accusations of Sue-ism are levelled at female characters more often, because female creations and interests are more frequently derided, attacked and seen as lesser.
For example, look at the vitriol levelled at the recent woman-centric media of Twilight and 50 Shades. It's not enough for these things to just simply be shit (they are), but hating on them becomes a kind of public performance. It's a bit like that.
It's not only Jaina, either. Sylvanas is another great example for that particular setting of a character that is unfortunately given a free pass despite making very little sense and being a major example of a 'Mary Sue'.
There was a time, before I knew the lore that the concept of the Banshee Queen was super cool beans to me. I loved the Undercity and the Forsaken are a really visually appealing race, their voices were top notch and I liked quests related to them. As the years went by, I started learning more about the lore and quickly realized how fucking awful of a character Sylvanas was.
And not even in a cool way either, just how whiny and terribly put together. Then she got that new booby model and suddenly she was everyone's favorite ever!
It's no secret that WoW lore is... shaky at best. Things that are actually kind of cool are very understated and everything else is really overbearing. I think it's like that in this game too, but it's much easier for me to overlook it for some reason. Bias, I think.
In terms of the OP subject? I'm really not a fan of shit like this lately. Was it in the last few years that everyone was like 'dood, did you hear? I can be offended and someone HAS to give a shit now!' What's going to happen with future generations with the examples that are currently being set?
You can't be a victim forever. That's just a miserable existence.