Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Sadly, the [[Mary Sue]]'s aura of awesome does not extend out of the pages she's written on, and that "sympathetic" [[Creator's Pet|teen genius Wesley]] and "adorable" [[The Scrappy|feisty pup Scrappy]] aren't exceptions either. Even the "cool" plot twist can go awry. What's an author to do? There's always the option of [[Put on a Bus|Putting Them on a Bus]], or hoping to succeed with an [[Author's Saving Throw]], but this character, for various reasons, just can't be done away with like that.

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny]]'' is generally forgiven for sucking by the ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' fanbase, because ''[[Super Robot Wars Z]]'', ''[[Super Robot Wars K]]'' (to a minor extent due to cutting out most of the plot), and ''[[Super Robot Wars L]]'' did them a service by making GSD ''make sense'' (even severely rewriting several plot points to acheive this goal in the last case). Also, the characterization was improved, Kira was verbally and physically bitchslapped for being a [[God Mode Sue]] (and his motivations were more sensible), Neo {{spoiler|Mu La Flaga}} expressed regret for lots of shit he pulled on others while [[Brainwashed and Crazy]], and Shinn Asuka's angst has been redone to keep him from being a [[Jerkass]], amongst many other fixes.

* ''[[Spider-Man]]'': Ever since "Spider-Island", Carlie Cooper has slowly gained more fans as Peter's ''ex''-girlfriend than she ever did while dating him. At first, she was a classic bad fanfic [[Mary Sue]] of the "perfect love for the main character ''because I say so''" type. Then she got in the hands of a writer who wasn't basing her on his own daughter, got some character traits that weren't clippings taken from Gwen or MJ, and you can actually go a panel without [[Character Shilling|everyone telling us over and over and over how perfect Carlie is for Peter]] even when they're the last characters you'd expect it from. By now, Carlie... ''almost'' makes people not see red at the mention of her name. (Her origin and the whole [[One More Day]] thing mean that'll be the best she can do for at least a few more years, though.)

 

* ''[[The Hill of Swords]]'', a [[Zero no Tsukaima]] fanfic by Gabriel Blessing which does this ''in spades'' for [[Tsundere|Louise]]. It has been observed by some that the vast majority of reasons for Louise's Scrappy-hood can be traced back to a combination of her low self-esteem and having an idiot of a love interest who can't stop pushing her [[Berserk Button]]s and damaging her self-image further still. Gabe's response was to replace Saito with someone who would dodge said [[Berserk Button]]s and help Louise [[Inept Mage|get her magic working]], namely [[Fate/stay night|Shirou Emiya]]. The result sees Louise getting massive amounts of [[Character Development]] and turning into an admirable young lady with Shirou's help. The story worked so well that it sparked the creation of an onslaught of fanfics following similar variations on the "Replace Saito with _____" premise.

* ''[[Sailor Moon]] Millenials'' gives [[Bratty Half-Pint|Chibi-Usa]] this treatment by having her come back from the future ''as a [[She's All Grown Up|teenager]]''. She isn't quite [[Future Badass]] levels, but the upgrade from Sailor Chibi Moon to Neo Sailor Moon has clearly [[Took a Level in Badass|done some good things for her]].