Personally I look at it this way: what are the threat levels the characters are fighting? Mary Sue/Marty Sue are what happen when the characters are *too* competent for the enemies to matter. Maybe they have psychic powers, maybe the enemies are incredibly stupid, whatever the case, it just drains away all drama when every conflict is resolved as soon as it happens.
Some people might think of Honor Harrington as a Mary Sue, but despite her 'ubercompetence' and the presence of a Special Psychic Friend (treecat), for most of her books she has *extreme opposition*. She's outnumbered, her ships are smaller than the enemies', she'd better be bringing something special to the table to be able to handle it.
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Date: 2016-01-21 07:24 pm (UTC)Some people might think of Honor Harrington as a Mary Sue, but despite her 'ubercompetence' and the presence of a Special Psychic Friend (treecat), for most of her books she has *extreme opposition*. She's outnumbered, her ships are smaller than the enemies', she'd better be bringing something special to the table to be able to handle it.