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{{trope}}
[[File:SelfInsertFic.png|link=Twilight (
{{quote|''<small>"Once upon a time, there was [[Little Red Riding Hood|a little girl with an adorable red cape]] and</small> '''[[Large Ham|great FLAAAMING eyebrows]]'''!"''
As the name implies, a
The self-insert is very often a [[Mary Sue]]
However, equally common is the subversion, where the main character applies [[This Loser Is You]] to themselves and ends up as [[The Ditz]], [[The Fool]], or in extreme cases a [[Butt Monkey]]. Care must be taken to not still make themselves more important than anybody else, lest they just end up with an [[Anti
The Self
Note that self-insertion isn't ''[[Tropes Are Not Bad|automatically]]'' [[Tropes Are Not Bad|bad]]. After all, there's nothing wrong with [[Wish Fulfillment|wanting to be a hero in your favorite show]]
Even hooking up with your dream character can be acceptable provided they do so realistically. For example, Starscream from just about any ''[[Transformers]]'' universe is a real creep, as are many other Seekers. Maybe your OC will eventually hook up with him but it's hardly likely to be an instant thing when he won't stop perving your chassis or shut up about how much better than you he is, and it probably won't be genuine lovin' for a while either.
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----
{{examples}}
=== Anime
* Interestingly deconstructed, averted, and played ''straight'' in ''[[
* Nine times out of ten, a new original senshi in any ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' fanfiction will be a self-insert, replete with godlike powers and totally authority over everyone and
* In the ''[[Bleach]]'' fanfic [
* [http://www.fanfiction.net/u/40569/ Jared "Skysaber"] [http://www.asynjor.com/fanfic/ornstead.html Ornstead] is known for his deliberately over-the-top self-insert character Skysaber, an interdimensional superspy-troubleshooter who was actually apotheosized into a literal god during the course of ''[http://www.asynjor.com/fanfic/sharp.html The Bet]''.▼
** His current (August 2007) project is a "type two" Self Insert called ''My Gilded Life'', in which he has found himself taking over the life of Gilderoy Lockhart right at the end of ''[[Harry Potter]] and the Philosopher's Stone''; with his knowledge of the books he is deliberately and relentlessly running roughshod over canon. Sadly, he seems to be losing control of the story, and it's running off the rails.▼
* The [[Eyrie Productions Unlimited|authors]] of ''[[Undocumented Features]]'' started the project in the early 1990s as a self-insert fic for themselves and many of their friends, but as time has gone on, the focus has moved mostly off their avatars and onto other, newer characters.▼
** Many other [[EPU]] projects also involve self-insert avatars, making it one of their signature details. However, even though their ''[http://www.eyrie-productions.com/NXE/ Neon Exodus Evangelion]'' ''didn't'' include either of the two primary writers as insert characters, critics still accused the story's lead of being one or the other ''in disguise''. (Arguably this protagonist, DJ Croft, ''is'' a [[Marty Stu]]. But he's not an avatar.)▼
** ''NXE'' manages to [[Inverted Trope|invert]] the [[Author Avatar]] trope with John Trussell. He was inserted in the story ''before'' he became one of the authors.▼
* SIs are pretty common in ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' fandom. Especially the female body swap kind... either a spare body of one of the show's main characters, or some OC with an even more fucked-up past than the series' own characters. Unfortunately, these are considered the ''good'' ones. ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3322840/1/New_Perspective_Evangelion New Perspective Evangelion]'' by Dartz_IRL and ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1046500/1/ I was a Teenage Dummy Plug]'' by Foxboy. The second of these is usually regarded as the best of the subgenre.
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20190408115002/http://www.bladeandepsilon.com/hybridtheory.htm Hybrid Theory]'' by Blade and Epsilon [[Deconstruction|deconstructs]] and satirizes the self-insert phenomenon while at the same time subverting the [[Mega Crossover]].
* [http://www.fanfiction.net/u/5209/ Gregg "Metroanime" Sharp] also subverts the self-insert trope with his fictional counterpart "Grey", who becomes a cosmic [[Butt Monkey]] doomed to endless futile struggle in an uncaring multiverse.
* [http://www.fanfiction.net/u/17205/ Contrabardus a.k.a. Carrotglace] has also played with Self Insertion, but usually with a somewhat more comedic take than Metroanime. See his stories ''The Spirit Within, [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/216310/1/Insertion Insertion], Insertion: Reflux!'' and [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/404359/1/ Gaijin] (though this last is anything but comic).
* Possibly the most notorious self-inserter of all was the one known only as "Oscar"; his [[Author Avatar]] was a 13-year-old ''[[Dragonball Z|Super Saiyan]]'' hermaphrodite (no, that is ''not'' a joke) who engaged in a sexual affair with Artemis from ''[[Sailor Moon]]''... in his ''cat'' form. (Again, that is ''not'' a joke, as much as one might wish it so.) In later stories, Oscar became "involved" with Felicia from ''[[
* Possibly the most infamous example of the godlike insert is Darren "Twister" Steffler and his incomplete mid-1990s megaseries ''[http://archives.eyrie.org/anime/Twisted-Path/ Twisted Path]''. Steffler's work started out rather crude but improved noticeably as he continued writing, although it never quite reached better than high average in quality. Nevertheless, ''Twisted Path'' was incredibly influential, prompting a number of other writers to create their own Self-Insert or pseudo-Self-Insert fics, many of which included [[Shout Out|Shout Outs]] to ''Twisted Path'' or blatantly set themselves in the [http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/images/xovers.jpg same multiverse].▼
* One such story was Bert Van Vliet's ''[http://www.bgcrisis.com/zone/index.html The Bubblegum Zone]'', a ''[[Bubblegum Crisis]]'' self-insert which later had an explicit crossover with ''Twisted Path'' in the latter series' fourth installment.▼
* Another is Ed Becerra's ''[http://www.fanfic.net/pub/Anime/FanFictions/Miscellaneous/Legions-Quest/ Legion's Quest],'' which carefully and skillfully walks the complicated line between playing a godlike Self Insert straight, parodying it, and subverting it. It, too, crosses over explicitly with ''Twisted Path'', in its own ''[[Bubblegum Crisis]]'' segment.▼
▲* Possibly the most notorious self-inserter of all was the one known only as "Oscar"; his [[Author Avatar]] was a 13-year-old ''[[Dragonball Z|Super Saiyan]]'' hermaphrodite (no, that is ''not'' a joke) who engaged in a sexual affair with Artemis from ''[[Sailor Moon]]''... in his ''cat'' form. (Again, that is ''not'' a joke, as much as one might wish it so.) In later stories, Oscar became "involved" with Felicia from ''[[Darkstalkers (Video Game)|Darkstalkers]]'' and [[Looney Tunes|Lola Bunny]]. To top it all off, the real Oscar then mysteriously disappeared, and is now presumed dead. [http://www.nabiki.com/mst/megane67/mst/oscarfic/ A link to an] [[MST]] [http://www.nabiki.com/mst/megane67/mst/oscarfic/ series of some of his work]; linking to the actual ''stories'' would be [[NSFW]].
* Dr. X of ''[http://www.suburbansenshi.com Suburban Senshi]'' is a surprisingly well-done self-insert, even with his gobs of power that mix and match multiple canons. It's all in the writing (and the fun social commentary, upon which the series could stand alone).
* ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/741167/1/Not_A_Dirty_Word Not A Dirty Word]'' by Michael Fetter is a rather... twisted, if witty parody of the usual Type 2 self-insert, in which the male author finds himself stuck in the body of Kasumi Tendo of ''[[Ranma
** Speaking of ''Ranma ½'', ''Ranma'' fanfiction written in the mid-90's commonly featured
* [http://www.heavens-feel.com/elmer/evad1.txt Tom. Fucking. Dyron.] is one of the more audacious, unbelievable examples readily available. His 13-chapter fic, ''Evangelion 2: The DELTA Invasion'' ('''EVANGELION 2'''!), is the most ridiculous mess ever seen. Tom, the character, is... look, just read it. MSTed in the link above, ''do not'' attempt to read it raw.
* [[David Gonterman]]'s <s>fanfics</s> ''everything'' feature Gonterman himself (or an obvious [[Author Avatar]]) as the story's ''real'' hero. In the rare cases he isn't, it's because he made an obvious dream heroine, whose boyfriend will be suspiciously similar to him.
** One might consider this blanket statement to be nullified by Gonterman's insert in ''[[Gonter Verse|Planeswalker]]'' being the father of the main character... if it weren't for his lax attitudes about incest coming to the forefront of ''[[So Bad It's Horrible/
* [http://www.mediaminer.org/fanfic/view_ch.php/22756/58253#fic_c Hikaru's Non-Redundant Self-Insertion Nadesico Fanfic], in which a character in the series inserts ''herself'' into a fictionalized account of oh dear I've gone cross-eyed. It's a lot easier to understand than it is to explain. Needless to say, this is [[Affectionate Parody]] of the genre.
* [http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1162566/Crazyeight Crazyeight's] ''Fourth Wall'' series is set in a fanfiction website that is a place in its own right, accessible to authors the way the Digital World of ''[[Digimon]]'' is accessible to the Digidestined, except they only need to log on to visit. The first in the series, ''The Wages of Fans is Fiction'', is about an author who tries to replace the Digimon canon with his own fiction and the resulting revolt, with other authors leading the revolutionaries in person.
* ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4136994/1/The_Mary_Sue_Experiments
* Hundreds, possibly ''thousands'' of these came up over the years in the ''[[Bob and George]]'' forums among the fan authors. It would be impossible to list them all. Needless to say, some were good, some were bad, and some were just plain ugly.
* The ''[[Ah! My Goddess]]'' fic ''[
* The Multi-universal crossover ''[[Sleeping With the Girls]],'' deconstructs the idea of a self-insert ''heavily.'' The idea is that every time the nameless self-insert falls asleep, he is teleported to the bed of one of eight girls from anime. The problems quickly build up, as a) most of these girls are [[Tsundere]] types, and do ''not'' react kindly to him. b) "comical" attacks like a [[Megaton Punch]] ''will'' kill the Self Insert and subject him to the [[Chunky Salsa Rule]]. c) Because he has to wake up as quickly as possible to avoid the aforementioned consequences of death at the hands of crazy girls, by the end of the first volume, he has gone almost a week without sleep, is badly injured from a vast collection of wounds accumulated from a variety of sources, and the healing nanobots he picked up in his first world nearly boil him alive in his own sweat. d) because of his actions, he has ''severely'' damaged the timeline of several worlds, possibly dooming them.▼
=== Film ===▼
* <s>
▲== Film ==
▲* <s> Ebony</s> Enoby Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way, of ''[[My Immortal]]'' infamy, is a thinly-disguised self-insertion [[Black Hole Sue]] in an unrecognizably goth (and poorly written) [[Harry Potter]] universe. The author, Tara Gliesbie (or Gillespie, her spelling skills are notorious) only saw the movies, and only became aware of the books at around chapter 15 or so ... not that she has any respect for the movies' canon either. The other characters occasionally slip up and call Enoby "Tara", thus giving away her nature as a self-insertion.
=== Literature ===▼
* The ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' character Will Shakespeare, based loosely on [[Shakespeare|the playwright]], [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/459.html wrote himself] into his ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fanfic. And later into his novelization of the ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' movies, as [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/874.html Willimir].▼
* When challenged to write a shameless self-insertion in the Harry Potter fandom, [https://web.archive.org/web/20120308015030/http://sam-storyteller.livejournal.com/ Sam Storyteller] went the 'godlike powers and meta knowledge' route. The end result was a touching [http://sam-storyteller.dreamwidth.org/99272.html guardian angel] style piece which may just have turned the genre on its head.▼
* The hero of ''The Takers'' is [[Two
* Many early ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fanfictions feature an 'American exchange student' (in a British school), who happens to have a main character fall in love with them and be friends with everyone (even the Slytherins). No reason is ever given behind the exchange, nor do any Hogwarts students ever go over to America.
▲== Literature ==
▲* The ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' character Will Shakespeare, based loosely on [[Shakespeare|the playwright]], [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/459.html wrote himself] into his ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fanfic. And later into his novelization of the ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' movies, as [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/874.html Willimir].
▲* When challenged to write a shameless self-insertion in the Harry Potter fandom, [http://sam-storyteller.livejournal.com/ Sam Storyteller] went the 'godlike powers and meta knowledge' route. The end result was a touching [http://sam-storyteller.dreamwidth.org/99272.html guardian angel] style piece which may just have turned the genre on its head.
▲* The hero of ''The Takers'' is [[Two Fisted Tales|two-fisted]] action-adventure writer Josh Culhane. The book is written by action-adventure writer Jerry Ahern, who deliberately gives the character some of his own traits.
▲* Many Harry Potter fanfictions feature an 'American exchange student' (in a British school), who happens to have a main character fall in love with them and be friends with everyone (even the Slytherins). No reason is ever given behind the exchange, nor do any Hogwarts students ever go over to America..
▲== Live Action TV ==
* Not surprisingly, a fair amount of ''[[Star Trek]]'' [[Fanfic]] follows this line, including any number of stories where, due to painfully contrived circumstances, Mr. Spock falls passionately in love with a woman who bears an astonishing resemblance to the author. The term "[[Mary Sue]]" actually comes from a parody of these kinds of stories.
** On the other hand, no less a luminary than David Gerrold originally wrote the famous "The Trouble with Tribbles" episode to feature a young ensign that he saw as a self-surrogate, and did something similar in his novel ''The Galactic Whirlpool''.
** This whole idea was parodied with Melllvar's fan script on the ''[[Star Trek]]'' episode of ''[[Futurama]]''. Melllvar is called on by the crew to save them from catastrophe, and Uhura unenthusiastically falls in love with him.
* ''[[
* The [[Professional Wrestling]] internet fanbase ''loves'' this kind of fiction, often called "Dynasties", "Legacies", "Diaries", or just plain "Fantasy Booking".
** The whole concept of taking a wrestling company and shaping it as the author sees fit doesn't necessarily have to be
** In 85% of wrestling fanfic these days The Undertaker ALWAYS has a daughter in her early-twenties who, of course, falls in love with [insert name here but it's usually Randy Orton].
** Almost as common is a girl showing up as Matt and Jeff Hardy's long-lost sister. This will not necessarily stop her from sleeping with one or both of them.
* Parodied extensively in the British comedy show ''
* Lampshaded and spoofed in [
{{quote|
'''JIM:''' Cram it, you talking tin can!
'''MAGIC VOICE:''' You're out of line, mister-- eep!
'''JIM:''' Hahahahahaha! I'm invincible! }}
* A famous, and often ridiculed, Marty-Stu among ''[[
** A rather large percentage of other fanfics featuring an author-created companion for the Doctor could arguably fit in this trope quite comfortably as well.
** The Foreword to the ''[[
** Russell T. Davies got his start writing DW fanfic. After learning that, the canon Rose/Doctor ship makes a
* A good chunk of ''[[Supernatural]]'' [[Fanfic]] contains self-inserts that are supposed to be the Winchesters' sister, who is either a long-lost relative or just always been there.
* The ''[[My Name Is Earl]]'' episode "Creative Writing" has the main cast writing self-insert stories. Most of them blatant Mary Sues (complete with superpowers and ninja); one writes a soap opera, and another writes a musical number.
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' doesn't get very many self-inserts for some reason. One of the best of the small bunch is ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2211755/1/Heres_Your_Accordion Here's Your Accordion]'' by Drakensis (incomplete, but with its conclusion [https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10521339/1/Continuations-That-May-Never-Be found here]). In it, a twenty-something British man wakes up in Buffy Summers' body on the first day of the series. While not exactly happy with the situation, he'll use what he can remember of the first season to make the best of his situation and maybe make some better choices than the "real" Buffy did. Now if only (s)he can figure out why there's a 10-year-old Dawn hanging around. Oh, and yeah, stop obviously drooling over Willow.
=== Video Games ===
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' is somewhat notorious for its terrible self-insert fictions, mostly starring young fifteen year olds who somehow get sucked into their television sets and get keyblades.
** [[Deconstructed]] in ''[[
{{quote|
'''Yeah, you'd think so, wouldn't you?''' the creepy text said irritably. '''But in this world, the Keybearers apparently reproduce like little bunnies.''' }}
* A writer of ''[[Wing Commander (
** You can read it [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1530595/1/The_Spirit_of_Christmas here.] Draw your own conclusions.
* [http://www.mgcomics.com/MBC/ Mixed Bag Comics] is a [[Sprite Comic]] using characters from, well, [[Massive Multiplayer Crossover|as many sprite-based games as possible]]. Some of these characters appear to act as if in their original continuities while others don't and yet more do so only partially, making the position of the self-insert seem less out-of-place than it would be otherwise. The webcomic twists the trope even further in several ways:
Line 101 ⟶ 92:
** Neither the author nor the narrator, despite being reality-benders, are the most powerful characters in the story; there are godlike programmers that are more powerful reality-benders than both the author and the narrator, and both have been trumped several times by regular characters as well.
** The author ''not'' a very important character, but he isn't so unimportant that he's just an occasional cameo. The author is pretty much on equal terms with the rest of the cast in terms of importance and shifts out of the focus of the comic as often as any of the other regulars.
* [[Final Fantasy VII]] fandom is a breeding place for this type of fanfiction. A good example would be [http://www.fanfiction.net/~highpriestessmegami Sephirothslave's][http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1052718/1/Shinra_High Shinra High] and its sequel, [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1900045/1/Shinra_SOLDIER Shinra SOLDIER]. The main character is a blatant self insert. There are few differences between the OC and its creator: it shares her name, appearance ([[Buxom Is Better|with improvements in the bust area]]), likes and dislikes, preferences, fears, desires, opinions and some skills. The self insert allows Sephirothslave to enjoy the game universe, twist the characters to her own liking, "earn" a position as Commander of the Shinra Army, Sephiroth's love and the adoration or respect of everybody except a few who hate her (and are thus automatically evil). What few seem to notice however, is that she didn't only insert herself into her fanfictions, [[Thirty
* A less Stu-ish example comes from [[
* ''[[
* [http://danbooru.donmai.us/pool/show/1017 Manga of My Memories of Playing Touhou] by Shino/Ponjiyuusu is example of [[Tropes Are Not Bad]]. Shino replaces playable character and acts as [[Psycho Lesbian]] [[Butt Monkey]]. She repeats mistakes made by common Touhou players and get herself hilariously beaten by game bosses from PCB to UFO.
* Another [[Tropes Are Not Bad|well made]] example of this trope could be [[
* Not even ''[[
=== Web Original ===
* Dan O'Brien of ''[[Cracked.com]]'' has these as a regular feature of his blog. However, they're the self insert of a [[Self
=== Western Animation ===
* ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4483666/1/Neos_Happy_Funtime_Land Neo's Happy Funtime Land]'' by [[User:Neo The Saiyan Angel]] is an excellent parody of a Self Insert, in which the author rewrites an episode of ''[[Kim Possible]]'' and secretly tricks the animators and voice actors into producing it. The author describes herself as an "absolutely gorgeous person..." for a paragraph or two. Neo goes so far as to change a character's hair with the snap of her fingers, saying that she liked it better blond.
* [[User:Donteatacowman]]'s brief fic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4616905/1/The_Strange_Self_Insert The Strange Self Insert]'' sees the author dropped into ''[[Kim Possible]]'' to gush over Ron (but she preferred him evil) and tell Kim she's one-dimensional. Unsurprisingly, they decide to send her home as quickly as possible.
* In the ''[[
* ''[[Danny Phantom]]''. Where to begin? There's ''tons'' of them out there. When you find one, expect that the Sue will be in love with Danny and have ghost powers [[New Powers
* ''Transformers''. Oh ''Primus'', where do I start... The classic example would be infamous [[Tri Chess]] (that now seems to disappear off the web). ''[[Transformers Armada]]'' has it the worst, with almost every OC being a self insert of various degree and a [[Mary Sue]]. Regularly played with and parodied in Insecticomics.
* Who hasn't seen ones like this in X-Men Evolution? Plenty to see, some not that bad, some terrible, you decide.
* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
** "[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7153949/1/Filling_the_Gap Filling the Gap]" (warning: not very safe for work, or for people with quality standards) is an example of a poorly disguised
{{quote|
=== Crossover/Multiple ===
* <s>[[Atop the Fourth Wall
* The [[Anti Cliche and Mary Sue Elimination Society]] is actually made up of (mostly) self-inserts to, ironically, [[Mary Sue Hunter|combat]] [[Mary Sue
* The character of Peter Chung in [[Star Destroyer Dot Net|Mike Wong's]] ''[http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Fanfic/Conquest/index.html Conquest]''; his academic and ethnic backgrounds are similar to those of the author's, and when analysing Imperial technology, he even brings up some of the same points made on the main part of the site.
▲* [
▲** His current (August 2007) project is a "type two" Self Insert called ''My Gilded Life'', in which he has found himself taking over the life of Gilderoy Lockhart right at the end of ''[[Harry Potter]] and the Philosopher's Stone''; with his knowledge of the books he is deliberately and relentlessly running roughshod over canon. Sadly, he seems to be losing control of the story, and it's running off the rails.
▲* The [[Eyrie Productions, Unlimited|authors]] of ''[[Undocumented Features]]'' started the project in the early 1990s as a self-insert fic for themselves and many of their friends, but as time has gone on, the focus has moved mostly off their avatars and onto other, newer characters.
▲** Many other [[EPU]] projects also involve self-insert avatars, making it one of their signature details. However, even though their series ''[http://www.eyrie-productions.com/NXE/ Neon Exodus Evangelion]'' ''didn't'' include either of the two primary writers as insert characters, critics still accused the story's lead of being one or the other ''in disguise''. (Arguably this protagonist, DJ Croft, ''is'' a [[Marty Stu]]. But he's not an avatar.)
▲** ''NXE'' manages to [[Inverted Trope|invert]] the [[Author Avatar]] trope with John Trussell. He was inserted in the story ''before'' he became one of the authors.
▲* The Multi-universal crossover ''[[Sleeping
▲* Possibly the most infamous example of the godlike insert -- the [[Trope Codifier]] for the godlike SI, if not the [[Trope Maker]] -- is Darren "Twister" Steffler and his incomplete mid-1990s megaseries ''[
▲** One such story was Bert Van Vliet's ''[
▲** Another is Ed Becerra's ''[
* The [[Mega Crossover]] shared-world story ''[[My Apartment Manager is not an Isekai Character]]'' has anywhere from two to five self-insert characters active at a given time in Real Life.
=== Anime and Manga ===▼
* Singer and [[Nirvana]] frontman Kurt Cobain's widow Courtney Love pretty much admits that ''[[Princess Ai]]'' is a very loose and much more fantastical version of her life. That is, if the fact that the title character works as a singer, falls in love with a "sensitive musician" named Kent, and has a name that means "love" in Japanese or Chinese didn't tip you off.▼
* This is the actual power of ''[[Bleach]]'''s new post-[[Time Skip]] villain Tsukishima. To those not affected, it's ''[[Invasion of the Body Snatchers]]''-level disturbing to see their friends greet him [[Remember the New Guy?|as if they'd known him all their lives]]. {{spoiler|Especially for Ichigo, when he learns that Tsukishima [[Marty Stu]]-ed himself into everything ''he'' has fought and suffered for.}}▼
=== Comic Books ===
* ''[[Blood Red Dragon]]'' may have taken this to absolutely new heights... or lows. The entire story is based on a self-insert of [[Yoshiki Hayashi]] and a model, at least at the beginning.
* When Marv Wolfman was writing ''The New Teen Titans'', he gave Wonder Girl an older boyfriend (who was, apparently, one of her college instructors). The new boyfriend, named Terry Long, was breaking up with his wife who looked like an older version of Donna to marry the hotter, younger, super-powered version. He was also an insufferable jackass in his earlier appearances. For some reason, the artist, George Pérez, drew Mr Long to resemble Marv himself. Undeterred by fan [[Squick]], Marv had Donna and Terry marry; afterwards, Terry developed into a nicer, more decent, more tolerable character.
** Once Wolfman had left the book, one later writer had Donna and Terry divorce, and then a [[Wonder Woman]] writer killed off both Terry and the son he'd had with Donna in about one page.
* The most important of the [[THUNDERAgents]] is Leonard Brown, AKA Dynamo, a studly hero who could tear apart tanks and had to deal with the attentions of several beautiful women, including the [[The Baroness|sexy villainess Iron Maiden]]. The name of his original writer? Len Brown. However, Dynamo differs from many self-insert characters in that he has concrete limitations on his powers, as he couldn't use his Thunderbelt for more than thirty minutes at a time. He also had the advantage of being drawn by Wally Wood. (Also, it turns out that the character wasn't named Leonard Brown when Len Brown created him: the editor renamed him for the lulz.)
=== Film ===▼
* One of the (two) screenwriters for the [[B
▲== Film ==
▲* One of the (two) screenwriters for the [[B Movie]] ''[[Soultaker (Film)|Soultaker]]'' (which is best known for being featured on [[Mystery Science Theater 3000 (TV)|Mystery Science Theater 3000]]) also played the lead female in the movie. The plot? A rich girl and her ex-boyfriend get into a car accident and must outwit an angel of death, who was in love with her [[Reincarnation|in a past life.]] Hmm...
* [[Charlie Kaufman]] wrote himself into the script of ''[[Adaptation]]'', a movie "adapted" from the book ''The Orchid Thief''. The movie is about him trying to adapt ''The Orchid Thief'', and eventually writing himself into the script.
** The wild thing is that he manages to go the [[This Loser Is You]] route as well as the (well-written) Mary Sue route by inventing a fictional twin brother Donald who is everything Charlie is not. He even goes so far as to list Donald Kaufman in the actual credits of the film alongside himself, meaning that he was the first fictional character to be nominated for an Academy Award.
* Basically the point of [[The Room]] is Johnny Wiseau telling the viewer how unappreciated he is and how much his life sucks, but in the [[Narm|most unintentionally hilarious way possible]].
=== Literature ===▼
* [[Older Than Print]]: In ''The [[Divine Comedy]]'', Dante ''is'' the author Dante Alighieri with a heavy dose of [[Wish Fulfillment]]: he gets to see [[Revenge Fic|his real-life enemies burn in Hell]], travel with [[Virgil]], his biggest inspiration, interact with famous people he admires, reunite with his real-life lost love Beatrice who turns out to have loved him so much that she set up this whole journey to save him, and ascend all the way up to Heaven to see God up close. That said, he's not as bad as most examples of this trope because he's not idealized or talked up as a paragon of masculinity, and the books are more about the places he journeys through than his heroic deeds or specialness. Keeping that in mind as you read the poem actually helps a modern reader make sense of it all.▼
▲== Literature ==
* The unnamed protagonist of ''[[The Time Machine]]'' is believed to represent [[H. G. Wells]] himself.
* Richard Marcinko, former Navy SEAL, has written the ''Rogue Warrior'' series, a collection of anti-terrorism action novels with himself as the main protagonist. What is especially interesting is that the ''fictional'' Rogue Warrior books are written as sequels to the ''factual'' first book, entitled ''Rogue Warrior'', which was Marcinko's autobiography. What is even more interesting is that his real life exploits (leader and founding member of both SEAL Team Six and Red Cell, along with being a legitimate [[Jerkass Stu]]) make it almost impossible to draw a line between self-insertion and [[Author Avatar|avatarhood]]. Fans and critics of the series argue over whether Marcinko's characterization in the fictional followup books is [[God Mode Sue|blatantly overpowered]] or whether he is, in fact, just that Badass.
** FBI agent Joseph Pistone, better known as ''[[
* A rather blatant example, the post-apocalyptic novel ''[[Warday]],'' by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka, follows the authors as they travel the country five years after a nuclear war, making a study of postwar America. The characters only differ from the authors in that the characters have been through a nuclear war.
* It has been argued that ''[[Left Behind]]'' by Tim La Haye and Jerry B. Jenkins, is biblical [[Fanfic]] where the two intrepid, studly, and irreproachable leads (Rayford Steele and Buck Williams) are transparent [[Marty Stu|MartyStus]] for the authors and their personal ideologies.
* Subverted by [[
* Look at a picture of Laurell K. Hamilton and then read a description or look at a picture of the title character of the ''[[Anita Blake]]'' series. Yeah...
* The same goes for [[Twilight (
** [[Canon Sue|Bella]] is never given a physical description in the text, but [[Word of God|SMeyer's description of Bella on her website]] sounds [http://bs3073.k12.sd.us/images/Stephanie%20meyer.jpg suspiciously familiar]{{Dead link}}:
{{quote|
** Even [[Robert Pattinson]], the guy who plays Edward in [[The Film of the Book]] ''[[Twilight (
** However, in the books, Bella is given so little physical description (or depth of character) that she is in many ways the ultimate in self-insert Mary Sues, because any girl reading it can slide herself into Bella's place (assuming she's not just reading it for the lulz). Meyer flat out said that she "left out a detailed description of Bella in the book so that the reader could more easily step into her shoes."
** There's also the fact that Edward is Stephanie's own [[Relationship Sue]], having at one point stated that if an actual Edward Cullen came along, she would leave her husband and children without a second thought.
* Well known among [[Mary Sue]] [[Hatedom|sporking]] communities is the infamous and ([[So Bad
* Halfway between fanfic and literature, in the ''Beekeeper's Apprentice'' we are introduced to Mary Russell. It is unrevealed whether her middle name is Sue, but Mary is a Sherlock Holmes fan who runs into the aging detective in Sussex (at a point after where the Conan Doyle stories end). Mary eventually gets a degree in theology and marries Holmes. She is of course written by an author who is a Sherlock Holmes fan with a degree in theology. However, the series is written by a professional author and you can buy it in bookstores.
* Clive Cussler writes himself into every one of his later [[NUMA Series|Dirk Pitt novels]], either overtly (with him stating his full name to Pitt at some point) or slightly more subtly (His initials, for example). He generally appears for the sole purpose of assisting the main characters in their adventures, who never manage to remember him, though they do find him familiar on occasion.
** Even when Cussler himself doesn't appear, he inserts himself another way sometimes. One example is Professor Beaty in ''Night Probe!'', who bears a distinct resemblance to Cussler.
** Sometimes, if he doesn't appear, he'll give some extremely minor (as in, only mentioned once) character his name ("the notorious bandit 'Big Foot' Cussler") This isn't a self insert per se, but nothing beats the time Clive Cussler inserted Bruce Springsteen guitarist Nils Lofgren into a novel (not in his guitarist capacity though).
▲* [[Older Than Print]]: In ''The [[Divine Comedy]]'', Dante ''is'' the author Dante Alighieri with a heavy dose of [[Wish Fulfillment]]: he gets to see his real-life enemies burn in Hell, interact with famous people he admires, reunite with his real-life lost love Beatrice who turns out to have loved him so much that she set up this whole journey to save him, and ascend all the way up to Heaven to see God up close. That said, he's not as bad as most examples of this trope because he's not idealized or talked up as a paragon of masculinity and the books are more about the places he journeys through than his heroic deeds or specialness.
* In the ''[[Redwall]]'' Series, Gonff from ''Mossflower'' was supposedly based on the author, Brian Jacques. That the later book ''Doomwyte'' {{spoiler|deals with Gonff's descendants}} probably has something to do with this.
* An example of a very good
* Christopher Paolini, author of the ''[[Inheritance Cycle]]'' has stated that his main character Eragon started out as a fantasy version of himself doing things the real Christopher could never do.(i.e. being a Dragon Rider).However, he also says Eragon eventually developed into his own character and is no longer this.
* It's tough to say whether it counts as Mary Sue or autobiography, but either way Rivella in 17th century proto-novel ''The Adventures of Rivella'' ''is'' the author, Delariviere Manley.
Line 173 ⟶ 176:
** Considering that ''Portrait'' is, more or less, Joyce's autobiography (as the title makes rather clear) or at least his telling of his coming-of-age story, and that ''Ulysses'' is its sequel, this makes sense. More interesting is that, although Stephen is quite clearly an [[Author Avatar]], he shares more personality traits with Joyce's brother rather than James himself. Then again, this is according to the brother
* [[Even Cowgirls Get The Blues]]. BOOOOOOOO....
* The protagonist of [[Philip K. Dick]]'s ''VALIS'', Horselover Fat, is heavily based on the author. ("Horselover Fat" is a rough translation of "Philip Dick", from Greek and German for his first and last name respectively.)
* Wayne D. Barlowe made himself the main character in his book ''Expedition''.
* [[Peter S. Beagle]] has Joe Farrell, a rare example of this done well.
* Sammy-Jo Strauss doesn't even try to hide it in her self published book, [[From Reality to Fiction]] considering the main character shares her name.
* [[Stephen King]] appears as himself in two volumes of ''[[The Dark Tower]]''. He is by no means a sympathetic character, and is disliked by the [[Nakama|ka-tet]]. He is also literally their creator, making him a rather supreme example of an [[Anti
* The ''villain'' of ''Those Who Trespass'' is suspiciously similar to author [[The O
* [http://www.wowpedia.org/Rhonin Rhonin], a character appearing often in [[
* Many of [[H.P. Lovecraft]]'s works that are set in the future feature characters that are descendants of Lovecraft himself.
▲== Manga ==
▲* Singer and [[Nirvana]] frontman Kurt Cobain's widow Courtney Love pretty much admits that ''[[Princess Ai]]'' is a very loose and much more fantastical version of her life. That is, if the fact that the title character works as a singer, falls in love with a "sensitive musician" named Kent, and has a name that means "love" in Japanese or Chinese didn't tip you off.
▲* This is the actual power of ''[[Bleach]]'''s new post-[[Time Skip]] villain Tsukishima. To those not affected, it's ''[[Invasion of the Body Snatchers]]''-level disturbing to see their friends greet him as if they'd known him all their lives. {{spoiler|Especially for Ichigo, when he learns that Tsukishima [[Marty Stu]]-ed himself into everything ''he'' has fought and suffered for.}}
▲== Live Action Television ==
* Margaret Thatcher once wrote a skit for ''[[Yes Minister]],'' in which she played the part of the Prime Minister. The piece is [[Actually Pretty Funny|actually quite amusing,]] and did air on the BBC.
* Melina Kanakaredes (Stella Bonasera) wrote a fifth season episode of ''[[CSI New York]]'' and turned her character into a forensics [[MacGyver]].
* [[Charlie Brooker]] likes to write in sneering, cynical [[Only Sane Man]]-type characters who resemble himself. In ''[[Nathan Barley]]'' the character of Dan Ashcroft qualified, and in ''[[Dead Set]]'' it was the [[Big Brother]] producer, Patrick.
** Although both of these are also clearly shown to be enormous bastards, so what this says about Brooker's opinion of himself is open to discussion.
* In the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' epsiode "Superstar", Johnathan "Short Idiot" Levinson uses demonic powers to alter reality into a painfully-bad
* On ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'', Sheldon wrote a ''[[Star Trek]]'' fanfic when he was a kid, about how a little kid from Texas is taken away by Mr. Spock to join the crew of the ''Enterprise''.
* This is the basic gimmick of ''[[Secret Girlfriend]]''. The main protagonist is you. He's never referred to by name and never says anything out loud, but all of his friends adore "you." All of the jokes (which you're basically supposed to insert) are hilarious. All of the girls want you and you end up with most of them. You would probably feel awesome if not for your two friends being total idiots and your ex-girlfriend being a [[Yandere]].
=== [[Video Games]] ===▼
* ''50 Cent: Bulletproof'' and its sequel ''50 Cent: Blood on the Sand''. According to [[The Other Wiki]], when asked to do the voice for the main character of ''[[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]]'', 50 Cent replied that he would only voice himself in a video game. So these little self-insert adventures were developed for him.▼
▲== [[Video Games]] ==
▲* ''50 Cent: Bulletproof'' and its sequel ''50 Cent: Blood on the Sand''. According to [[The Other Wiki]], when asked to do the voice for the main character of ''[[Grand Theft Auto San Andreas]]'', 50 Cent replied that he would only voice himself in a video game. So these little self-insert adventures were developed for him.
* This trope is literally invoked in the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series with the [[Winnie the Pooh|100 Acre Wood]]. Thanks to the magical nature of the book (it sucks the reader from the "real" world into the story), restoring the Pages (and thereby reconstructing the world) and interacting with the characters, allows Sora to (inadvertently) rewrite the plot of ''[[Winnie the Pooh]]'' to include himself as a prominent character. When you lock the world's keyhole, it even includes him on the cover with the rest of the characters.
* In-universe example: The fifth arc of ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro
* Accidentally happened in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'', when Shinkawa designed Otacon to look like [[Hideo Kojima]], and Kojima ran with it and based Otacon's personality off his own as well. While Otacon is one of the most heroic characters and ends up [[Relationship Sue|having sex with Naomi, a character Kojima based on his ideal woman,]] the amount of [[The Woobie|abuse Kojima piled on him]] easily overwhelms all this and makes him look kind of pathetic.
* Sakupen in [[Dad Series|Dadgame]] is probably a parody of this played for laughs (his power is ''really'' over the top, plus he runs away screaming when first engaged) which does not stop him from being [[That One Boss|atrociously]] [[God Mode Sue|hard]].
* An RPG [[The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age]]'s story is about a group of people who act like a shadow to the original fellowship of the ring. They go to the same places and witness simillar events in the movie. They even help the original team fight off Balrog and the monster army in Helms Deep.
* The entire plot of ''[[
===
* Possibly a parody, ''[[Least I Could Do]]'' has Rayne Summers write a book, [http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20081229 apparently with him as the protagonist], if the visual representation is supposed to be contextual. As a possible subversion to the standard [[Mary Sue]] tendencies of such a thing, the text of the book says "Though he began with the best of intentions, ultimate power did what is always had. It corrupts" [http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20090106 in reference to his character] as a joke to how he hates Apple Inc. Also, he apparently [http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20090108 tries to conquer the world in it].
* An ''[[
* ''[[DMFA]]'' [http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_766.php mocks this].
* ''[[Megatokyo]]'', definitely.
* In ''[[
* [[Andrew Hussie]] is playing an ever-increasingly more important role in ''[[Homestuck]]'', though in the end his extent of influence is restricted to just [[Arc Words|one yard]].
* Chris-chan plays as one of the most important characters in ''[[Sonichu]]''.
=== Web Original ===▼
▲== Web Original ==
* ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' has had a fair number of self-inserts over the course of four versions. Usually they're not frowned upon, as long as they're treated realistically and don't stretch the [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]]. And other times [[Write Who You Know|characters based off of people the handler knows]] show up too.
* Since the day the ''[[Draw Your Own Story]]'' comics began on the CivFanatics forums, most of the [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] were more or less [[Mary Sue|Sue]]-ish self-inserts (often represented by the user's avatar.)
* [[SCP Foundation
=== [[Western Animation]] ===▼
▲== [[Western Animation]] ==
* There was an example in ''[[The Simpsons]]''. It involved Marge practically inserting herself into ''her own'' novel, but she didn't stop there, she more or less inserted the entire residency of Springfield into the story. Initially she writes Homer's character as a noble, loving husband, but when the real Homer commits a brazen display of [[Jerkass]]-edness, Marge angrily rewrites his character to match. The real conflict comes when Marge has her protagonist fall for Ned Flanders' character, making everyone in Springfield suspect that Marge had fallen for Flanders. When Homer actually got around to reading it, he went after Flanders...not to kill him (unlike the novel), but to ask him for advice on how to be a better husband. As for the novel, it got terrible reviews.
** ...but sold well enough for every person in town to have a copy of it.
* Brainiac 5 of ''[[Legion of Super
* An episode of ''[[Samurai Jack]]'' had Aku tell fairy tales to the children of earth in hope of showing them his side of things and making them more obedient minions when they grow up. This eventually ended up with him turning every protagonist into himself ('''''[[Large Ham|WITH GREAT FLAMING EYEBROWS!]]''''') and every antagonist into Jack.
* In the ''[[Futurama]]'' episode ''"Where No Fan Has Gone Before"'', the entity known as Melllvar has written a script for an episode of ''[[Star Trek]]'', where he saves the crew of the Enterprise, and has Uhura tell him how attractive he is. He then holds ''The Original Series'' cast prisoner, and forces them to act it out.
== Meta Examples ==
===
* The fic ''Martian Manhunter'' turns the concept of the
▲* The fic ''Martian Manhunter'' turns the concept of the [[Self Insert Fic]] on its ear, along with the [[Fusion Fic]]. [[Veronica Mars]] finds herself, along with her supporting cast and backstory, shoehorned into her favorite TV show, ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. It plays out as a self-insert fic, and yet it isn't. Much [[Better Than It Sounds]] here.
* Similarly, ''[http://archives.eyrie.org/anime/Shoujo-Kakumei-Utena/utena.ma-vie-et-roses.gz Ma Vie Et Roses]'' by Scott Johnson and Scott Jamison subverts and plays with Self Insertion. In this ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' fic, an anime fan finds himself shoved into a show he's barely even heard of. One of the authors, who was genuinely unfamiliar with the series at the time, wrote the actions of the pseudo-[[Author Avatar]] Skyler Sands, while the other wrote the rest of the fic around him. Acting out of true ignorance, Skyler manages to thread his way through the main action while still ranging far afield (such as ending up joining the Shadow Girls' avante-garde theatre group). Skyler is very [[Genre Savvy]], which helps (but not enough), and eventually ends up speculating on the existence and motives of the "meta-Skyler" who put him in the story.
* ''[http://indiemadnesse.sandwich.net/extract/extract.html Self-Extraction]:'' a "charming little tale of the people who write themselves in, and the people who shoot them back out", written round-robin by a half-dozen or so authors. Initially played for laughs but gets more serious toward the [[Dead Fic|incomplete]] ending.
* In the ''[[Mass Effect]]'' fanfic ''[[
▲* In the [[Mass Effect]] fanfic ''[[Project Gethinator (Fanfic)|Project Gethinator]]'', it's mentioned that {{spoiler|Admiral Daro'Xen}}, who is [[Yandere]] for Shepard in a big way, has written quite a few [[Self Insert Fic]] [[Real Person Fic|Real Person Fics]] involving herself and Shepard. According to those who know of them, they're quite sick and depraved, second only to [[Noodle Incident|what Prazza did in]] ''[[Noodle Incident|Fornax]]''[[Noodle Incident|'s Forbidden Issue]], and illustrate quite nicely how completely fucked up {{spoiler|Admiral Xen}} is.
=== Literature ===
* One minor character in the ''[[Simon R. Green|Hawk & Fisher]]'' novels was a self-promoting mercenary who wrote loads of over-the-top adventure stories about his own "incredibly heroic deeds", then published them as mass-market chapbooks under a pseudonym.
=== [[Real Life]] ===
* Historical example: Given the state of the facts, Martha Jane Canary-Burke, aka ''[
* Similarly, [
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[[Category:Mary Sue Tropes]]
[[Category:Wish Fulfillment]]
[[Category:Older Than Print]]
[[Category:Fanfic Tropes]]
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