[1] The character type has acquired a pejorative reputation in fan communities,[2][3][4] with the label "Mary Sue" often applied to any heroine who is considered to be unrealistically capable.
These were often depicted as beautiful young women possessing special abilities or physical traits, universally beloved by the more established characters, and playing a central role in the story despite not appearing in the source material.
[19] Writing in feminist popular culture magazine Bitch, Keidra Chaney and Raizel Liebler describe Mary Sue characters as having "an uncanny resemblance to her creator—only stronger, wittier, sexier, friendlier, and without the glasses and bad skin".
[5] According to Jackie Mansky in Smithsonian, some critics argue that "Mary Sues opened up a gateway for writers, particularly women and members of underrepresented communities, to see themselves in extraordinary characters".
[9] Bacon-Smith writes that Mary Sue stories are "central to the painful experience of a female fan's adolescence", especially for those who could not or would not remain intellectually or physically subservient to their male peers; they represent a combination of active protagonist with "the culturally approved traits of beauty, sacrifice, and self-effacement".
[6] In fan fiction versions, the protagonist traditionally dies at the end of the story; Bacon-Smith says this expresses the "cultural truth" that to enter womanhood in a male-dominated American society, one must kill the "active agent within [herself]"; Mary Sue thus embodies a "fantasy of the perfect woman", who exists to serve the needs of men while minimizing her own abilities.
[4] According to Bacon-Smith, the label is "the most universally denigrated genre in the entire canon of fan fiction"[2] and may represent "self-imposed sexism" by limiting the qualities allowed for female characters.
[24] The Star Trek fanzine Archives has described "Mary Sue" paranoia as partly responsible for a lack of "believable, competent, and identifiable-with female characters".
[24] At a 1990 panel discussion, participants "noted with growing dismay that any female character created within the [fan] community is damned with the term Mary Sue".
[26] Chaney and Liebler describe Star Trek: The Next Generation character Wesley Crusher as a "quasi–Gary Sue", who is "a brilliant teen who always seems to discover the answers to problems and who is promoted to the crew of the Enterprise with no formal training".
[27] Gavia Baker-Whitelaw of The Daily Dot describes the fan fiction My Immortal's main character, Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way, as "a Mary Sue protagonist who was clearly a glorified version of the author".