Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Main / SelfInsertFic

Go To

1[[quoteright:350:[[WebAnimation/TeenGirlSquad https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/self_insert.png]]]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:"[[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner Strong Bad]], I don't think that's how [[WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse they]] would act."[[note]][-[[https://tredlocity.tumblr.com/post/115744393210 Image]] by [[https://twitter.com/tredlocity tredlocity.]] Used with permission.-][[/note]]]]
3As the name implies, a Self-Insert Fic is one where the author has made a simulacrum of themselves, commonly called an ''[[AuthorAvatar avatar]],'' in the story's world as a key character (usually TheProtagonist, but any other role that's [[AnthropicPrinciple vital to the story]] qualifies).
4
5The ''[[Fanfic/ATrekkiesTale original]]'' [[Fanfic/ATrekkiesTale Mary Sue]] ([[TropeNamers she who gives that trope its name]]) was a ParodySue of the standard Self-Insert Fic. In the most extreme cases, the insert character gains some degree of [[GodModeSue godlike power]], or retains considerable knowledge of the series in which he's been inserted, or both, and ''uses'' them to [[FixFic adjust things to their liking]]. In rare instances, it might work well, especially if the people in the setting -- heroes and villains -- react accordingly to the new situation and the character that knows all the stuff he saw in the (anime/game/etc) and the situation changes in ways they can't anticipate.
6
7However, equally common is the subversion, where the author applies ThisLoserIsYou to themselves and ends up as TheDitz, TheFool, or in extreme cases a ButtMonkey. Care must be taken to not still make themselves more important than anybody else. The main rule is to never put the character in a high-ranking story position, although they may be the narrator.
8
9The Self-Insert Fic has two primary varieties: the Self as New Character, where the author simply [[RememberTheNewGuy opens the top of the story and drops a copy of themselves right in]], with a few smiles thrown their way to acknowledge their presence and a few lines chipped in, and the Self as Existing Character, where the author finds himself forced to take over the life (and sometimes the body) of an existing {{canon}} character, without necessarily being restrained to staying "in character" for their new role. See EmergencyImpersonation, YouWillBeBeethoven, or PossessionSue for different versions of the latter.
10
11Note that self-insertion [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools isn't a bad thing]]. It doesn't even mean that you're a bad writer. Lots of writers do it. After all, there's nothing wrong with a little WishFulfillment. But if you expect other people to enjoy your story too, you're going to need to insert all the things that make you a real person, like your flaws. Just as not everybody loves and adores a person in real life, they're not all going to love and adore them in a fanfic, either. Self-insertion, complete with flaws and realistic reactions from everyone involved, is just as good a way to make an OriginalCharacter as any other; besides, if there's one character you can write without ever making them OutOfCharacter, it's yourself! What was originally a self-insert can even adapt and evolve into a genuine Original Character, completely different from who you are.
12
13The trouble is that many new writers don't think about that. They think only about ways in which their AuthorAvatar can be perfect, can [[RelationshipSue hook up with their favourite character]], [[BlackHoleSue force their beliefs on others]], or [[GodModeSue ninja-kick their way to being the hero]], rather than working on a realistic way they can enter the plot.
14
15PlayedForLaughs this can become almost a different story entirely, which usually involves an [[ThisLoserIsYou average loser]] realizing that whatever fictional world may not be the best or safest place for them, and [[LampshadeHanging commenting on the implausible things going on]].
16
17See also LifeEmbellished, AuthorAvatar, WriteWhoYouKnow, HerCodeNameWasMarySue. Compare MediaTransmigration and TrappedInTVLand, which is about fictional characters ending up in worlds based on [[ShowWithInAShow in-universe fictional works]], and to ReaderInsertFic where it's the reader who gets inserted into the work instead of the author.
18----
19!Examples:
20
21[[foldercontrol]]
22
23!!FanWork Examples (Sorted by Source Material)
24
25[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
26* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''
27** PlayedWith in ''Fanfic/DreamingOfSunshine'' -- the AuthorAvatar is not godpowered and, in fact, attempts to change the timeline as little as possible. This is actually justified, as she is attempting to retain her advantage by not rendering her knowledge of future events useless. This is difficult, as she arrived many years before the worst of the shit starts to hit the fan. She has some skills beyond the norm, but those stem from being reborn with her memory intact, not from being an Uberninja.
28** ''Dreaming of Sunshine'' has in fact been so positively received, it's [[FollowTheLeader created a boom]] in the Fanfic genre of self-insert via {{Reincarnation}}, especially in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' fandom. These other authors have thus far had varying degrees of success.
29** In ''Fanfic/DejaVuNoJutsu'', the AuthorAvatar is an ninja orphan and surrogate older sister of Minato Namikaze. While she is more skilled due to her past-life as an American soldier, she was also weaker due to differences in power and self-neglect. Since she is born years before major events, she grows up and evolves into a different character. She reluctantly made friends with her and Minato's contemporaries, she's a living {{butterfly|OfDoom}} and she changes things for the better and for the worse.
30** ''Fanfic/CatchYourBreath''. The main character is ultimately a flawed, realistic character who has the good (or horrible) luck to be born into the Third Shinobi World War era--thirteen years before the Kannabi Bridge Arc. Her existence [[PointOfDivergence butterflies away]] several important plot points while raising new ones in their stead.
31** ''Fanfic/ShinobiTheRPG''. In this case, the protagonist ''is'' kind of hilariously overpowered, experiencing the world through ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' game mechanics, getting elements as perks, and having early on maxed out Intelligence and chakra control, can pull new jutsu out his butt and gain exp for it. [[{{Deconstruction}} On the other hand]], he suffers ''immensely'' from his choice to go in with minimal charisma, and ordinary training doesn't help him in any way -- only quests, killing and inventing jutsu will do the job -- so his peers view him as a DeathSeeker and other people react to him like a terrifying combat monster with no human empathy. That's not even going into [[HeroicBSOD what happens when]] [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone he fixes his charisma problem...]]
32* Nine times out of ten, a new original senshi in any ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' fanfiction will be a self-insert, replete with godlike powers and total authority over everyone and everything -- the girl is usually related to a canon character as well.
33* In ''Zenith, Darkness, Reverie'', the author admits to basing the protagonist [[spoiler:and antagonist]] on herself. The teenaged, female protagonist acquires a Manga/DeathNote. This should be a humorous, fangirl-esque tale, right?\
34[[{{Deconstruction}} No.]]\
35[[spoiler:Kali can barely manage coherency in Part 2 due to Kira's intervention, veers into disturbingly serene sesquipedalian monologues frequently, and is psychologically shattered. Kira is amused.]]
36* In the ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' fanfic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6820157/1/bFanfictional_b_bFugitive_b Fanfictional Fugitive,]]'' the author directly admits that the main character is [[AuthorAvatar based on herself]] as much as possible. Then she starts to pretty much beat the entire shit out of her(self?) by both turning the character based on herself into a [[{{Wangst}} whiny]], [[MinorInjuryOverreaction powerless]], [[ItsAllAboutMe selfish]] and generally [[DirtyCoward unlikable]] [[DamselInDistress damsel in constant distress]] and making [[AuthorAvatar Fanfic!Myrthe]] experience an [[DeusAngstMachina ongoing]] [[TheChewToy series]] [[MindRape of]] [[BreakTheHaughty nasty]] [[EveryThingTryingToKillYou events]]. And then lets her character react to these events [[{{Deconstruction}} in a way]] that does [[NiceJobBreakingItHero not]] [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids flatter]] [[FreakOut her]] [[DirtyCoward character]] at all.
37* In the ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' fanfic, ''Fanfic/StateOfTheMeta'', the protagonist with a personality based off the author finds himself living in a variation of the world. It's noted that his presence within the world is causing the bariers between dimensions to weaken.
38* [[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.]]''
39** His current (as of August 2007) project is a Type 2 Self Insert called ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3695419/1/My-Gilded-Life My Gilded Life,]]'' in which he has found himself taking over the life of Gilderoy Lockhart right at the end of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone''; with his knowledge of the books he is deliberately and relentlessly running roughshod over canon.
40* [[Creator/EyrieProductionsUnlimited The authors]] of ''Fanfic/UndocumentedFeatures'' 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 (including some of their avatars' kids).
41** Many other Creator/EyrieProductionsUnlimited 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 MartyStu. But he's not an avatar.)
42** ''NXE'' manages to {{invert|edTrope}} the AuthorAvatar trope with John Trussell. He was inserted in the story ''before'' he became one of the authors.
43* [=SIs=] are pretty common in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' 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 sub-genre.
44** The reason why this works so well is [[spoiler:in canon there are a bunch of soulless bodies just hanging around in the depths of Terminal Dogma]].
45** Another example is ''Fanfic/SelfInsertEvangelion'', which was directly inspired by the two fics above, but without the female body swap. However, AlternateUniverse elements are introduced to keep the SI from accurately predicting everything.
46* ''Fanfic/HybridTheory'' by Blade and Epsilon {{deconstruct|ion}}s and satirizes the self-insert phenomenon while at the same time subverting the MassiveMultiplayerCrossover.
47* [[http://www.fanfiction.net/u/5209/ Gregg "Metroanime" Sharp]] also subverts the self-insert trope with his fictional counterpart "Grey," who becomes a cosmic ButtMonkey doomed to endless futile struggle in an uncaring multiverse.
48* [[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 while that last one has comedic moments, it's also fairly dark overall).
49* 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 [[ShoutOut Shout-Outs]] to ''Twisted Path'' or blatantly set themselves in the [[http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/images/xovers.jpg same multiverse.]]
50* One such story was Bert Van Vliet's ''[[http://www.bgcrisis.com/zone/index.html The Bubblegum Zone.]]'' a ''Anime/BubblegumCrisis'' self-insert which later had an explicit crossover with ''Twisted Path'' in the latter series' fourth installment.
51* 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 ''Anime/BubblegumCrisis'' segment.
52* Possibly the most notorious self-inserter of all was the one known only as "Oscar"; his AuthorAvatar was a 13-year-old ''[[Manga/DragonBall Super Saiyan]]'' {{hermaphrodite}} who engaged in a sexual affair with Artemis from ''Franchise/SailorMoon''... in his ''cat'' form. In later stories, Oscar became "involved" with Felicia from ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'' and [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes 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 [[NotSafeForWork NSFW]].
53* 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).
54* ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/741167/1/Not_A_Dirty_Word Not A Dirty Word]]'' by Michael Fetter is a rather... twisted, parody of the usual Type 2 self-insert, in which the male author finds himself stuck in the body of Kasumi Tendo of ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' -- and finds he has to abide by her "rules of behavior." His efforts to find loopholes in those rules, and the repercussions his successes have on the established plot, are what really make this a fun story. Just, please, ignore the utterly cringeworthy prologue describing Jesus getting mad at the author and punishing him with the insert.
55** Speaking of ''Ranma ½'', fanfiction written in the mid-90's commonly featured Self-Insert Fic, but with amusing twists due to authors trying to avoid the pitfalls of this trope. The most common twist was usually the author being deposited in the fic wholesale, with no changes from their real self, and the story characters teaming up to heap gallons of pain on the author for the things they've "put them through".
56* [[http://www.heavens-feel.com/elmer/evad1.txt Tom 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. [=MST=]ed in the link above; ''do not'' attempt to read it raw.
57* Creator/DavidGonterman's ''everything'' feature Gonterman himself (or an obvious AuthorAvatar) 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.
58** One might consider this blanket statement to be nullified by Gonterman's insert in ''Planeswalker'' being the father of the main character... if it weren't for his lax attitudes about incest coming to the forefront of ''Anime/SailorMoon: American Kitsune''... yeah...
59* ''[[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 AffectionateParody of the genre.
60* [[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 ''Franchise/{{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.
61* ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4136994/1/The_Mary_Sue_Experiments The Mary Sue Experiments]]'' parodies (or maybe the word is deconstructs?) Self Inserts.
62* Hundreds, possibly ''thousands'' of these came up over the years in the ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'' 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.
63* ''[[http://www.yggdrasil.org/omg/index.html Oh! My Brother.]]'' An example of the good kind of self-insert fic. Christopher Angel manages to create a very readable and enjoyable series based off of ''Anime/AhMyGoddess''.
64* The multi-universal crossover ''Fanfic/SleepingWithTheGirls'' 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 MegatonPunch ''will'' kill the Self Insert and subject him to the ChunkySalsaRule; c) he has to wake up as quickly as possible to avoid the aforementioned consequences of death at the hands of crazy girls, meaning that, 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; and d) he has ''severely'' damaged the timeline of several worlds because of his actions, possibly dooming them.
65* ''Fanfic/BoyScoutsOneHalf'' (readable [[http://bs1-2.weebly.com/boy-scouts-frac12.html here]]) is a ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' ElsewhereFic that follows an original group of characters, many of whom are based on the creator of the series and some of his friends from Boy Scouts. Some of the other real people included in the stories also went on to write for the series, as well. Notable in that, while not always ''entirely'' successful, the creator of the series tries to avoid in-jokes and make the series somewhat accessible to any reader, even if they do not know the real people involved, or if they are not very familiar with the series that inspired it.
66** ''Boy Scouts ½'' takes things further by having a spin-off series called ''[[http://bs1-2.weebly.com/perspectives.html Perspectives,]]'' which began when the main author of ''Boy Scouts ½'' gave three friends he had made on the internet brief cameos in ''Boy Scouts ½, part 11'' and one of those friends then began authoring a series following ''those'' characters, making it a self-insertion spin-off of a self-insertion fic!
67* Twice in ''Fanfic/YouGotHaruhiRolled'' does superstarultra insert himself into the fic. On both times [[SelfDeprecation he is the villain]], ruining the characters' lives ForTheEvulz.
68* Very common in ''Manga/FruitsBasket'' fics. The character will usually be one of Tohru's long lost relatives or a twin of of the zodiac members (to explain why they turn into the same animal). If it's a girl, her love interest will most likely be [[BreakoutCharacter Kyou]].
69* The ''Manga/OnePiece'' fandom is full of fanfics about the cool new member of the Straw Hat crew. Variations include fics about a cool new pirate joining the Whitebeard/Red-Haired/Heart/Kid Pirates... you get the idea. These were so prevalent for a while that subversions and deconstructions of such stories became a sub-genre of their own, but since then, more talented authors have tried their hands at it:
70** ''Fanfic/SolInvictus'' by Toraffles is a play off of the reincarnation angle. The female protagonist is born as a female Luffy, possessing the knowledge of the manga from the beginning, and she resolves to change things. However, the fact that some other characters in that universe, though no other Straw Hats yet, were also gender-swapped creates unforeseen changes. Far from playing it straight, but a rather good story altogether. Last updated March of 2020.
71** The second one is ''Fanfic/ThisBites'' by Xomniac, with assistance from [=CV12Hornet=] and The Patient One; the three of them collectively known as the Cross-Brain. Yes, the story has ''three'' authors behind it, and it says a lot both about their skill and the difficulty of the genre that ''This Bites!'' is the first SI fic to ever reach the fandom's top 10 stories. The basis is that a man called Jeremiah Cross, fanfic writer by trade and regular guy by nature, muses how cool it would be to be in ''One Piece'', and promptly has his wish granted by a (Bastard) Random Omnipotent Being. With little to no combat capabilities (happens when you're a regular guy in a superhuman world!), he forms a partnership with a Baby Transponder Snail that ate the Noise-Noise Fruit, appropriately named Soundbite, and they join the Straw Hats as the communications officers shortly before they reach Loguetown. This story plays the genre straight, and its faithfulness to the ButterflyOfDoom results in many changes, both good and bad. It stretched on for seven years before it went on hiatus when it hit the TimeSkip, with the authors planning to write the second half once the source material is finished.
72** Hot on the heels of ''This Bites!'' is ''Fanfic/TwelveRedLines''. The story follows Jones inexplicably entering the world of ''One Piece'' after [[DrivenToSuicide a suicide attempt]]. Since she was wearing a necklace with the Straw Hat jolly roger on it, Luffy decided she belonged on his crew. After a while, Jones comes to realize [[MediumAwareness she's a fictional character in a self insert fanfic being used as a coping mechanism by her author]] and decides to take a very ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'' attitude to the whole thing. Fun fact, ''This Bites!'' and ''Twelve Red Lines'' had a crossover chapter together.
73** ''Fanfic/TellItToTheMarines'' by Tsume Yuki also plays off the reincarnation angle, with the female protagonist Dracule Riskua born as the result of a one-night stand between Dracule Raowl (Mihawk's younger sister) and Red-Haired Shanks. She develops a dream to be the greatest Haki expert in the world, gaining training to that effect from her father and uncle, and at the age of nine, she leaves her home island with Shanks at her dying mother's request, and he naturally takes her to Dawn Island where she becomes Luffy's big sister. The fic began in October 2016 and was last updated in May 2019.
74* The fanfic ''The New Math'' is set in the world of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', and has the author plucked from our world and placed there by a mysterious entity. Said entity also records the adventures of the SI via forum postings.
75* The ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' fanfic ''Fanfic/GenderswappedNations'' is revealed to be one in an author's note, where the author, Pandapika, admits that the story is based on a common fantasy she had of secretly being the gender bend of England.
76* ''Fanfic/ChlorineGrownRoses'''s protagonist, Azusa Tachibana, is an arguable example, but her friend Akira Tomuson (a character made up by the author's editor and friend) is so similar to her creator that they share basically the same name.
77* The main "protagonist" of the ''Fanfic/PrecureMeetTheDreamTraveler'' series shares the same name as the author's ''[=DeviantArt=]'' handle, "[=BlazeAkechi=]". Shadow Akechi can also be considered one as he acts virtually the same way. Both characters have OOC knowledge, both are made into major characters in every fic where they star, both are important to the plot, both hook up with specific characters, both force their beliefs onto a willing character set, and both effortlessly defeat anyone who challenges them while being lauded as heroes.
78* [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13501363/1/Chaos-Effect Chaos Effect]] has become the definitive Original Series Yu-Gi-Oh! Self Insert Fanfic. At once playing it straight and subverting the genre, the SI here, Edwin Chaos, finds himself in the original Duel Monsters era and attempts to avoid altering canon only to rapidly finding himself unable to resist trying to make things better. The result is the Butterfly Effect in full force with many characters from the original series TakingALevelInBadass while the SI explores the dangers of power corruption. In less than 2 years the fanfic is the most followed and favorited Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfic focused on the original series.
79** The "Into The Chaosverse" Arc dials this up to eleven, revealing an entire multiverse of SIs, including a female version, a Mirror Universe version, and Chaos' father and brother who somehow were also turned into SIs in their own alternate reality fics.
80* Fanfic/YetAnotherMyHeroAcademiaSelfInsertFic is a parody of this, according to the author it's partially meant to do for Self Insert fics, (and Franchise/MyHeroAcademia fanfiction in general) what {{Film/Scream}} did to the horror genre.
81[[/folder]]
82
83[[folder:ComicBooks]]
84* Fanfic/ABetterClassOfCriminal features a self-insert becoming a Batman villain, without triumphing over the Caped Crusader in any meaningful way.
85* ''Fanfic/RubyHaze'' features a self-insert who finds himself in the early days of ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics with a Phantom Ruby fused to his body. The story focuses on him joining the Mercian Freedom Fighters while trying to understand the nature of his new powers.
86[[/folder]]
87
88[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
89%% My Immortal goes here because it's allegedly based off the Harry Potter film series, not the books.
90* Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way, of ''Fanfic/MyImmortal'' infamy, is a thinly-disguised self-insertion BlackHoleSue in an unrecognizably goth (and poorly written) ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' universe. The author, Tara Gilesbie (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.
91* As the documentary ''Ghostheads'' discusses, any ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'' cosplay can and probably will have the nameplates with the wearer's own surname instead of Venkman or such, as the franchise makes clear that anyone with some training can become a Ghostbuster. It also allowed for [[http://www.gbfans.com/fans/art/franchises/ the creation of real-life Ghostbusters files in all 50 states.]]
92[[/folder]]
93
94[[folder:Literature]]
95* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' has a lot of fanfics with this premise. Said premise spawned two {{Gamebook|s}} spin-offs.
96* 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.
97* The hero of ''The Takers'' is {{two|FistedTales}}-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.
98* The fandom for ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' has these stories about girls who [[TrappedInAnotherWorld fall into Middle-earth]] and meet their favorite characters. The girl comes from our world, because the author inserted herself. She falls in love with Legolas if her author likes the actor in [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings the movies]]. Some authors insert their friends along with themselves. Some stories are not self-insertions because the character from our time is not the author.
99** ''Fanfic/TheCircles'' by Angmar and Elfhild (which has no characters from our time) is the inverse of a self-insertion. The authors take their pen names from two major characters in the story, Elfhild, a woman from Rohan, and the Witch-king of Angmar.
100** ''Fanfic/TheGamesOfTheGods'' brings Rachel from Australia to Middle-earth. Her author denies that Rachel is a self-insert. In a note above Book 1, Chapter 25 "Focus," Crimson Starlight acknowledges that Rachel "is based on my own humble personality" but has "some major differences," and that Rachel's opinions may not agree with the author's.
101** ''Fanfic/TimeWillTell'' brings Jorryn from the United States to Middle-earth, but is not exactly a self-insertion. Above chapter 8/9 "Friends in Tuckborough", the author wrote, "I think I did put a lot of myself into Jo, but we are not exactly the same."
102* {{Deconstruct|ion}}ed in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10849720 Another Life]]'', a story about the creator/alter ego of an OriginalCharacter in a ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' fic.
103* Many ''Harry Potter'' fanfics 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.
104* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' has several fanfics (particularly in Website/AlternateHistoryDotCom) about the author becoming a character in the books: for example, ''Fanfic/OhGodAmITheMannisNow'', where the author becomes Stannis Baratheon during the Siege of Storm's End. Other particularly notable examples include ''Fanfic/GreyjoyAllaBreve'', ''Fanfic/WearingRobertsCrown'' ''Fanfic/ATridentIsForged'' and ''Fanfic/GaemonTheDragonSteelsGuideToNotDyingHorribly''.
105* ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' has a number of SI fics. Many of them run off one CYOA or another, where a [[AlienSpaceBats ROB]] forces the writer to live through their CYOA build.
106** Played amazingly well by authors in ''Fanfic/CoOpMode'', as many of the readers would attest that part of the story's charm is in how James is unfailingly a teenager in all senses of the word, fitting into the Worm-verse almost seamlessly, especially with the barest hints of about his [[DysfunctionalFamily home]]...
107*** Considering that in this story, James is unaware of his own existence as an AuthorAvatar (having no memories other than the ones he has since being born in the Worm-verse), there is little question.
108** Played absolutely straight in ''Fanfic/SecurityWorm'', where author Michael Allen begins writing a self insert fic about an overweight security guard at Winslow, only to find himself living it. The characterization is solid, and it's amazing how far a BadassNormal can go in this world with foreknowledge, [[EngineeredPublicConfession two tape recorders]], and sheer ''chutzpah''.
109* ''Fanfic/AsDreamsAreMadeOn'' is this trope as applied to ''Literature/{{The Twilight Saga}}'', the protagonist and narrator being a barely-fictionalized version of the author thrust into the life of Bella Swan.
110[[/folder]]
111
112[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
113* Not surprisingly, a fair amount of ''Franchise/StarTrek'' {{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 ''Fanfic/ATrekkiesTale'', a parody of these kinds of stories.
114* ''Series/ICarly'': There is copious amounts of this usually by having a new transfer student that just happens to have the same name as the author joining the same school as the ''[=iCarly=]'' PowerTrio. They also usually end up in a LoveTriangle with them all.
115* The ProfessionalWrestling internet fanbase ''loves'' this kind of fiction, often called "Dynasties," "Legacies," "Diaries," or just plain "Fantasy Booking."
116** The whole concept of taking a wrestling company and shaping it as the author sees fit doesn't necessarily have to be Self-Insert Fic material, but when the story opens with Wrestling/VinceMcMahon handing over control of the family business to a total stranger, the tone is irreversibly set. (And don't start on the number of women's wrestlers who get into romance...)
117** In 85% of wrestling fanfic these days Wrestling/TheUndertaker ALWAYS has a daughter in her early-twenties who, of course, falls in love with [insert name here but it's usually Wrestling/RandyOrton].
118** Almost as common is a girl showing up as Wrestling/{{Matt|Hardy}} and Wrestling/JeffHardy's [[LongLostRelative long-lost sister]] (which will not necessarily stop her from [[BrotherSisterIncest sleeping with one or both of them]]) or a fourth member of Wrestling/TheShield (with BodyguardCrush inevitably following).
119* A famous, and often ridiculed, Marty Stu among ''Series/DoctorWho'' fandom is [[Fanfic/TheBenChathamAdventures Ben Chatham]], a character who very strongly resembles his creator (the legendary Outpost Gallifrey[=/=]Gallifrey Base poster sparacus), sharing his manner of speech, his political viewpoints, even his taste in drink. Even the suggested actor for this character is an actor that the author has admitted to fancying. Needless to say, around 90% of characters in each story instantly fall for Chatham. 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.
120* A good chunk of ''Series/{{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.
121* Spoofed in [[http://web.archive.org/web/20030711193142/members.aol.com/tjats/204.html this episode]] of ''Science Fiction Theater 1,000,000,000'' (a fan fiction series based on ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'') where the AuthorAvatar tries to play the role straight, but after probing by Crow and Servo, he then turns into a typical Marty Stu, even changing the series into "Freedom Fighter Theater 3000" for a time.
122-->'''MAGIC VOICE:''' Warning! Unauthorized use of self insertion!\
123'''JIM:''' Cram it, you talking tin can!\
124'''MAGIC VOICE:''' You're out of line, mister-- eep!\
125'''JIM:''' Hahahahahaha! I'm invincible!
126* The ''Series/OddSquad'' fanfic ''Fanfic/OSMUFanfictionFriction'' is a downplayed example. The author is a character in the story as both a self-insert in the form of an old man running a bookstore, and as himself in the form of the author of the fanfic. In both instances, however, he is not a major character.
127* An ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' story arc has a thinly veiled AuthorAvatar of Randall Munroe meeting and chilling with the cast of ''{{Series/Firefly}}''.
128[[/folder]]
129
130[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
131* There was a case of a DM adding himself in the background of the Inn the [=PCs=] were in as a joke. One of the [=PCs=] decide to kill the DM. The DM then decided to spend the next few minutes describing how all of existence was ending except for their characters as they had killed the person who created their entire world.
132* ''Fanfic/ImperialVonNeuman'' is the story of a happy, reasonably well-adjusted person, who falls through the Warp to a Forge World in ''TableTopGame/Warhammer40000''.
133* ''Webcomic/TalesFromSomewhere'': Morten, the first character in ''The Legend'', was based on a character that the creator played in their ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' group, as explained [[https://www.talesfromsomewhere.com/2019/04/14/10th-anniversary/ in this news post.]] Nandiel and Brem Ghdin are based on characters created by the other players, and chosen because the players based these characters' personalities on themselves.
134[[/folder]]
135
136[[folder:Video Games]]
137* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' 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.
138** {{Deconstruct|ion}}ed in ''Fanfic/ThoseLackingSpines'', which in one chapter, a long line of wannabe Keyblade bearers are waiting for their Keyblades, with the OriginalCharacter population getting so high that the introductory towns in the game are incredibly filled.
139--> "There's sure a lot of people here," Tsuki tilted her head and bit her lip a bit. "I guess I was under the impression there was, um, only one Keybearer."\
140'''Yeah, you'd think so, wouldn't you?''' the creepy text said irritably. '''But in this world, the Keybearers apparently reproduce like little bunnies.'''
141* The amount of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyro'' fanfics starring teenagers with a horrible life being turned into dragons is disturbingly high.
142** Parodied in ''Fanfic/TheInfiniteLoops''. It's a common variant loop that both Spyro and Cynder can't stand, and the loops love to specifically point out how humans turned into dragons and attempting to be heroes [[DeconstructiveParody wouldn't end well]]. (Spyro and Cynder specifically refer to having to keep an eye on them as babysitting them, because if they don't immediately get themselves killed, they usually [[NiceJobBreakingItHero end up breaking something]] and making the loop far harder on them.)
143* A writer of ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' fanfic wrote themselves in as being the off-screen love interest of the character Mariko "Spirit" Tanaka, who [[spoiler:died in the Heaven's Gate mission series]]. The odd part (or more so than otherwise) was that the character and said love interest [[spoiler:both died, when Spirit [[DrivenToSuicide crashed into the starbase where her fiance was supposedly held prisoner]] by the [[MegaNeko Kilrathi]]]].
144** You can read it [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1530595/1/The_Spirit_of_Christmas here.]] Draw your own conclusions.
145* ''[[http://www.mgcomics.com/MBC/ Mixed Bag Comics]]'' is a SpriteComic using characters from, well, [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover 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 web comic twists the trope even further in several ways:
146** The AuthorAvatar and the narrator are two distinct characters who both play reality-bending parts in the story.
147** 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.
148** 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.
149* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' fandom is a breeding place for this type of fanfiction. A good example would be [[http://www.fanfiction.net/~highpriestessmegami Sephirothslave's]] ''Fanfic/ShinraHighSoldier'' The main character is a blatant self-insert. There are few differences between the OC and its creator: it shares her name, appearance ([[BuxomBeautyStandard 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, but also her real life friends (while not even bothering to change their family names), younger sister and even her ''band teacher''. The massive ego-mania and canon defilement have earned her hundreds of negative reviews, the [[http://lian-hua.livejournal.com/ occasional]] [[{{MST}} sporking]] and the [[UnstoppableRage outrage]] of many fans of the game.
150* A less Stu-ish example comes from ''Fanfic/ToyHammer'' with a direct self-insert (down to name, appearance and personality) in the form of Vincent, a friend of the main character (a reclusive artist named Michael).
151* ''Fanfic/MyInnerLife'' has the blatant self-insert of Jenna Silverblade. Hilariously, the author actually freely admits that Jenna is "herself" (or rather an alternate version of herself who lives in Hyrule when she sleeps) and gives a huge disclaimer at the beginning that because of this, [[DaydreamBeliever she believes the fanfiction to be true to some degree]].
152* ''[[http://danbooru.donmai.us/pool/show/1017 Manga of My Memories of Playing Touhou]]'' by Shino/Ponjiyuusu is example of [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Tropes Are Not Bad]]. Shino replaces playable character and acts as PsychoLesbian ButtMonkey. She repeats mistakes made by common ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' players and get herself hilariously beaten by game bosses from PCB to UFO.
153** This category of fanfiction is very common in ''Touhou''. ''Fanfic/AverageJoeInBulletHell'' is a [[InsistentTerminology semi]]-straight example, in which the traits of the author are passed to the protagonist, Ryan Randa.
154** Common enough, in fact, that someone made a whole fan movie about the concept of "Gappy Stus", with lots and lots of {{deconstruction}}, called ''WebAnimation/DiamondInTheRoughTouhou''.
155* Another example of this trope is be ''Fanfic/MassVexations'', whose protagonist, Art, is actually a fan of ''Franchise/MassEffect'', which he loses repeatedly and ends up trapped in, making him GenreSavvy to the point of MediumAwareness, {{justif|iedTrope}}ying his status as a PointOfDivergence in the ''Mass Effect'' universe even when he doesn't {{invoke|dTrope}} it himself. While Art ends up in a relationship with a canon character, their relationship progresses at a realistic rate, only becoming [[JustFriends official]] 20 chapters in to the fic's ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' version, more than two years after they met.
156* Not even ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' is safe from this. ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5124333/1/ The Adventures of Brody and Sniper,]]'' widely considered one of the worst ''[=TF2=]'' fanfics ever written, is about a girl who is playing the game during a thunderstorm, causing Sniper to come out of the computer. [[RelationshipSue He soon falls in love with the Sue]], and follows her around during her daily life.
157* The ''VideoGame/{{Tales|Series}}'' archive is full of self-inserts; unlike other series, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools some of them are actually very good]]. ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4772320/1/New-Reality New Reality]]'' and ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2510204/1/Two-Worlds-Combined Two Worlds Combined]]'' for ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' and ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6469254/1/Fairy-Tales-and-Brave-Vesperia Fairy Tales and Brave Vesperia]]'' for ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' are some notable examples. Beware, though; [[DoorStopper they're all over 400k words]].
158* Done in the ''Devious Four Chronicles'' (a well known ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' [[GameMod ROM hack]] series) with the characters of Hunter and SCORPION, villain versions of their respective authors about whom the entire plot is based. But then you had the works released a bit earlier when the group consisted of four different authors... which meant every game had literally four major characters that were {{Author Avatar}}s of their authors. Leading to such 'interesting' situations as Randor Land 3, the game LetsPlay/{{raocow}} played when each world had a different self insert character seemingly appear from nowhere to take a shot at Mario and co. You can see a great example of the result in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKCwWjbsKnU this]] raocow video.
159* Also done in the ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Asleep}}''. Done in a way that focuses on the main character without stealing the plot of the game; the fic is told from his point of view as he goes along with the story, he has to level up just like the other characters, SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occurs hard at some moments and [[spoiler:the entity that sent him into the game also introduced a [[BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil counterbalance]] to his presence, which consists of [[EnemyWithout everything he ever hated about himself given its own body]] with all his powers, plus its own.]]
160* An entire fanfic series, called ''The Family Series'', is entirely nothing but self-insert fics. You can read it [[http://thefamilyseries.deviantart.com/gallery/ here.]] (Just a warning, the series isn't uploaded by chronological events so you probably will be missing out on certain events that haven't even been uploaded yet.)
161* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/u/2931578/I-m-My-Own-OC I'm My Own OC]]'' is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, in that the author is pretty much the "hero" of his fanfics. Most notorious among them is ''The Adventures of Ryan and Kirrie'', a {{Lemon}} fic starring Ryan and the LovableSexManiac [[AllWomenAreLustful Kirrie]] (for a given value of lovable) on their adventures through the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' world.
162* Very, ''very'' common in the ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' community. Since we know virtually nothing about the humans who fell before the player character, [[OCStandIn it's quite easy to just project your own personality (or whatever personality you want) onto them]]. Of course, there's no shortage of fanfictions and comics that have an author stand-in fall into the Underground, with varying degrees of severity and subtlety. Some feature [=OCs=] that just so happen to have a lot in common with the author, while others are upfront in admitting it's a self-insert. Note that this isn't a bad thing -- true, there's a lot of crap, but a lot of it is actually quite good. And one could argue that projecting yourself onto the protagonist and living their adventures is a huge part of the point the game is trying to make.
163* A minor example is displayed in the ''VideoGame/{{Mega Man|Classic}}'' fangame ''VideoGame/MegaManRocks''. Eric Ruth, the game's programmer/maker, befriends Mega Man, only to get kidnapped by Dr. Wily and forced to program his Robot Masters. [[ExcusePlot Rescuing him is the goal of the game]].
164* A frequently seen plot device in ''Franchise/DragonAge'' fanfics is known as MGIT, which stands for "Modern Girl in Thedas." The basic premise is that someone from our real modern world - ''usually'', though not always, an {{expy}} of the author - is somehow transplanted to the setting of one of the games (frequently ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition''), where she uses her meta knowledge of how the game world works to survive until she either finds a way home or gets romantically involved with the author's preferred LoveInterest and ends up staying. These are often actually well-written stories.
165* The author of the [[https://videogameshrines.weebly.com/ Video Game Shrines]] did this three times: once for the trio of [[https://videogameshrines.weebly.com/introduction3.html Blizzard franchises]] (''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'', ''VideoGame/WarCraft'', and ''VideoGame/StarCraft''), once for his take on [[https://videogameshrines.weebly.com/short-introduction.html strategy RPGs]] (''VideoGame/BahamutLagoon'' and ''Franchise/FireEmblem''), and once for his [[https://videogameshrines.weebly.com/introduction1.html Pokémon plotline]]. He generally avoids the [[GodModeSue God-Mode Sue]] issue, as he makes moral mistakes and takes a beating in the Blizzard shrines and has straight-up [[Main/DeathSeeker lost the will to live]] in the sRPG storyline. A possible exception is the Pokémon storyline, where he is a stand-in for Red...but then again, he's ''[[Main/MemeticBadass Red]]''.
166* inserthedgehog, who wrote ''Fanfic/TheProgenitorChronicles'', says that the main character is based on himself. While the fic focuses on him, he never overtakes the canon characters at what they do; in fact, his entire purpose is to be a regular layperson in contrast to the experienced and combat-versed canon leads. Accordingly, his encounters with B.O.W.s generally involve him struggling to evade and survive. His interactions with canon characters are also believable, especially his interaction with Claire Redfield - she has trouble trusting him, as he's a newcomer, after Neil betrayed her in the events of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations2''.
167* ''Fanfic/TheNewManAnAdamSmasherSI'' has the self-insert take the form of a voice within the mind of [[PsychoForHire Adam Smasher]] of the ''TabletopGame/{{Cyberpunk}}'' series who inhabits him right before the climax of ''Anime/CyberpunkEdgerunners'', with the intent of helping him avert his fate at the end of ''Videogame/Cyberpunk2077''. While the fic is listed as a self-insert, the voice (given the name Uriel) is treated as a distinct character attempting to act as Smasher's conscience, pushing him into making decisions that he would never make on his own.
168* ''Fanfic/TheMostEvilTrainer'', a ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' is a bit of a deconstruction on the trope: the main character had an entire life of friends and family that they left behind; unlike most such fanfics where such things are casually brushed saide in favor of adventure and WishFulfilment, here the story follows the SI's efforts to find a way home. While he ''does'' become a Pokémon trainer, and a very successful one given enough time, it's only because access to Legendary Pokémon, one of which the SI hopes can send him home, is restricted to elite trainers. This led to something of a BrokenBase by readership, some of whom don't understand why ''anyone'' would want to leave the Pokémon world in favor of the real one. Make of that what you will.
169* ''Fanfic/SuperSmashBrothersGuardiansArise'': A couple of the Guardians are self-insert characters provided to author [=PitFTW=], who creates her own self-insert in Psyche.
170* ''Webcomic/{{Sonichu}}'': Initially the comic was about the titular fusion of Sonic and Pikachu with an AuthorAvatar as a side character, but very quickly Chris-Chan became the most important character.
171[[/folder]]
172
173[[folder:Web Comics]]
174* In the original (unpublished) ''Webcomic/BittersweetCandyBowl'', Sue was this to Taeshi, the artist.
175* ''Webcomic/{{Spinnerette}}'' has this going [[RefugeInAudacity in the comment pages of the comic.]] The main cast consists almost entirely of frequent commenters, who are also the writers.
176* ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'' has a forum board consisting entirely of this. They've mounted their own expedition.
177* In ''Fanfic/PonyPalsDirkStriderEdition'', a full version of the modified version of ''Detective Pony'' which Dirk made in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', Dirk himself is a character who appears about halfway through the book.
178[[/folder]]
179
180[[folder:Web Original]]
181* Dan O'Brien of Website/{{Cracked}} has these as a regular feature of his blog. However, they're the self insert of a [[SelfParody drunken loser making dick jokes]], hilariously out of place, and usually [[LampshadeHanging calling attention to logical inconsistencies within the story]]. Or just causing [[HilarityEnsues wacky drunken hijinx]]. PlayedForLaughs either way.
182* ''[[http://kleinerkiller.deviantart.com/gallery/41037509/Minecraftia-Saga Yognapped]]'' tosses a sadistically evil representation of the author into the WebVideo/YogscastMinecraftSeries to serve as the BigBad. Subverted, as he [[spoiler:gets brutally slain by the heroes at the end of the first story]] and later installments distance the [[spoiler:resurrected]] character considerably as he suffers from a VillainousBreakdown.
183* There's quite a few floating around revolving around OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent getting sucked into the universe of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', but one of the most prolific is ''Fanfic/RWBYReckoning'', which has been regarded as well-constructed by reviewers.
184[[/folder]]
185
186[[folder:Western Animation]]
187* All of Thomperfan's fics on ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' are this trope, even rewriting canon for his romance with Leni.
188* ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4483666/1/Neos_Happy_Funtime_Land Neo's Happy Funtime Land]]'' by Tropers/NeoTheSaiyanAngel is an excellent parody of a Self Insert, in which the author rewrites an episode of ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' 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.
189* ''Fanfic/NewTamaran'': In Chapter 33, Robin and Starfire read a letter from the fic's author, Saberlord Oboeshoes, in which he explains why he loves the Teen Titans, how much them mean to him, and reminding them of what makes them heroes
190* Tropers/{{Donteatacowman}}'s brief fic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4616905/1/The_Strange_Self_Insert The Strange Self Insert]]'' sees the author dropped into ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' 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.
191* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' fanfic ''A Horrible World of Plot Holes and Spelling Errors'', the author inserted herself into the fic. Dot immediately recognized her as "that bitch who had me strangled to death by a drug addict on Christmas Eve". Since the fic was a parody of current fics, the Warners encountered no less than three self-insertss (two of which were hopelessly in love with Yakko), spelling errors galore, and a crazed fan of Dot. The Warners go to the author to see what was going on. She explained that it was a ParodySue fic.
192* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom''. 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 [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands for no explainable reason]].
193* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}''. Oh ''Primus'', where do we start... The classic example would be the infamous ''[[http://www.transformersfanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=505 Trichess,]]'' which depicts the romance between the author (a human female {{telepath|y}}) and ''[[Franchise/TransformersGeneration1 G1]] Megatron'' ([[RoboShip a Deception]]). ''Anime/TransformersArmada'' has it the worst, with almost every OC being a self-insert of various degrees. Regularly played with and parodied in ''Webcomic/{{Insecticomics}}''.
194** On the other servo, a rare case of a ''decent'' self-insert fic is the ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime''-based ''Fanfic/{{Canonfodder}}''.
195* Who hasn't seen ones like this in ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution''? Plenty to see, some not that bad, some terrible, you decide.
196* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', due to the high and notable levels of LongingForFictionland in its fandom, has a lot of "human in Equestria" stories, and it can be guessed a lot of these are self-insert fics. ''Fanfic/ThroughTheEyesOfAnotherPony'' began as an attempt to pull off a self-insert character well, though the protagonist's characterization has since evolved away from simply being the authorial alter ego.
197* ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8214285/1/The_Royal The Royal]]'' is bad on the levels of ''Fanfic/MyImmortal''. During the author's note in the first chapter, she accidentally calls her character [[Literature/TheHungerGames Katniss]] "Melissa."
198* ''Fanfic/TakeCareBear'', a fan addition to the ''Franchise/CareBears'', is both the character's name and her author's forum name. Take Care Bear and Gentle Heart Lamb are friends because her author owns a Gentle Heart plush.
199* ''Fanfic/WithThisRing'' has the AuthorAvatar wake in space with an [[Franchise/GreenLantern Orange Lantern Ring]]. He goes to Earth and becomes a founding member of the Team in ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice''. There are two different timelines based on morality, one Paragon and one Renegade. Both take actions that change things for the better (a more cohesive and closer Team in Paragon or more powerful Team in Renegade) and worse (the Light has adapted to block Paragon!OL's scans and Renegade!OL gets the attention of Apokolips).
200* ''Webcomic/MrBoop'': A series in which the AuthorAvatar has married WesternAnimation/BettyBoop. Several other characters from various series also appear.
201[[/folder]]
202
203[[folder:Crossover]]
204* [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkar]]-err, [[PenName Psyweedle]] wrote himself in as The Webmaster in a fic he [[WholePlotReference plagiarized from]] Series/DoctorWho - sorry, ''came up with'' when [[OldShame he was 13]].
205* The ''Fanfic/AntiClicheAndMarySueEliminationSociety'' is actually made up of (mostly) self-inserts to, ironically, [[MarySueHunter combat other ones]]; however, [[HeWhoFightsMonsters the inserts actually work hard not to make themselves into Sues]]. Mostly through [[LampshadeHanging liberal usage of lampshades]].
206* The character of Peter Chung in [[Website/StarDestroyerDotNet 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.
207* The MassiveMultiplayerCrossover fic, ''Fanfic/TheWorldOfTheCreatures'', provides an unusual example. It is openly and unashamedly a Self-Insert fic. However, author Patrick Murphy does many things to keep his avatar from becoming a Marty Stu. First of all, Murphy actually casts his real-life best friend as the main character instead of himself. Although he is in the story, he spends most of it [[SelfDeprecation locked away in a dungeon being agonizingly tortured]]. Secondly, the group of characters working to save Murphy were specifically chosen because they're the sort of characters who save people no matter who those people might be, or if they're not, they become that way through CharacterDevelopment.
208* The crossover fic, ''Fanfic/CruelToBeKind'', Features the adventures of Alexander Harlow after he encounters a ClingyMcGuffin called Lvios who is capable of travelling different dimensions. He proceeds to use it to explore different worlds from media and then make an empire at an alternate earth.
209* MassiveMultiplayerCrossover ''Fanfic/OneFootAnotherMultiverseSI'' follows Poe after accidentally making a deal with Mephisto which leads to him being punted around the multiverse and he ruins everything due to his hilarious levels of stupidity and incompetence as he tries and fails to fix things.
210* ''FanFic/CindersAndAshesTheChroniclesOfKamenRiderDante'' has an InUniverse example as the protagonist, Hoshi, wrote his ''own'' self-insert fic in the form of Kamen Rider Dante. From there, it becomes a ZigzaggingTrope as said Kamen Rider is transported to Hoshi's world and makes him the next Kamen Rider. This then becomes {{deconstructed}} twofold since Hoshi ends up putting his life on the line to fight characters from [[MageInManhattan other forms of media]] and even has to deal with the revelation that he has deep rooted anger that, while it powers him up, also makes him a ticking timebomb.
211* MassiveMultiplayerCrossover ''Fanfic/TheLoudHouseRevamped'' has the author as the main character of the fic , referred to as J.D. Knudson.
212* ''Fanfic/NewGameNewLife'' written by ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/u/10922478/Adudefromthesea Adudefromthesea]]'' is an self-insert FusionFic about a young man who finds himself in the body of a teenager named Ōe Hiroshi and [[SuddenGameInterface seeing floating boxes reporting his status]] in the 90s at the start of ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf''. Now in a new world, that is a [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover mixture of Japanese media of all kinds]] he must try to survive.
213* The ''vast'' majority of ''VideoGame/PlanetaryAnnihilation'' fanfics (which are also MassivelyMultiplayerCrossovers) involve a person being self inserted into a commander chassis and then thrown across the multiverse. The trend was started in ''Fanfic/CommanderDrich'', and has been repeated in ''Fanfic/EscalationIsTheNameOfTheGame'', ''Fanfic/FaithInSuperiorFirepower'', ''ReverseEngineeringForFunAndProfit'', ''Fanfic/WhenInDoubtBlameTheEldar'', ''Fanfic/ConquestInTheNameOfAdvancement'', ''Fanfic/TheWandering'', and ''Fanfic/TheTwoCommanders''.
214[[/folder]]
215
216!!Canon and In-Universe Examples
217
218[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
219* There's a picture floating around the Intertubes of director Mitsuo Fukuda and writer Chiaki Morosawa cosplaying as Kira and Lacus, respectively, from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED''. When you watch the last third of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'', that image starts to take on somewhat sinister overtones. The fact that one, Fukuda thinks of [[{{Utopia}} ORB as his ideal Japan]] and two, [[DisownedAdaptation he disliked]] [[FixFic the plot-fixing shenanigans]] the ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' games did to ''Destiny'' lends a lot more credence to this idea.
220* Singer and Music/{{Nirvana}} frontman Music/KurtCobain's widow Courtney Love pretty much admits that ''Manga/PrincessAi'' 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.
221* This is the actual power of ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'''s new post-{{timeskip}} villain Tsukishima. To those not affected, it's ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers''-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.]]
222* In ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'', the [[JerkassGods malicious and power-hungry goddess]] [[spoiler:Medea]] does this to every world she comes across, using her RealityWarping powers to subtly insert a "fragment" of herself to sow chaos and misery for her own sadistic amusement on top of eventually driving it to ruin so she can harvest its energy to make herself (slightly) more powerful. By the way, guess whose the fragment she placed in Melromarc. Yep, it's [[spoiler:Malty]].
223[[/folder]]
224
225[[folder:Comic Books]]
226* ''ComicBook/BloodRedDragon'': The story may have taken this to absolutely new heights... or lows. The entire story is based on a self-insert of Music/YoshikiHayashi and a model, at least at the beginning.
227* ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'': When Creator/MarvWolfman was writing ''The New Teen Titans'', he gave ComicBook/WonderGirl 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.
228** Once Wolfman had left the book, one later writer had Donna and Terry divorce, and then ComicBook/WonderWoman writer Creator/JohnByrne killed off both Terry and the son he'd had with Donna in about one page.
229* ''Comicbook/THUNDERAgents'': The most important of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. agents 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 [[TheBaroness 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.)
230[[/folder]]
231
232[[folder:Comic Strips]]
233* ''ComicStrip/{{Foxtrot}}'': A recurring FunnyBackgroundEvent is for newspapers to feature headlines such as "CARTOOONIST TO ADDRESS UN", "CARTOONIST RECEIVES NOBEL PRIZE", "CARTOONIST TO DIRECT STAR TREK MOVIE", etc. The cartoonist is never named, but it's pretty obvious who it is.
234[[/folder]]
235
236[[folder:Fan Works]]
237* In ''Fanfic/MyHuntsmanAcademia'', the canon outtake, "The Best Huntsman! by Izuku Midoriya", reveals that Izuku used to write embarrassingly bad and obviously indulgent fanfic as a child. He'd have immense power and get praised by Toshinori constantly as the most amazing Huntsman ever to cope with his cripplingly poor self-esteem as a [[UnSorcerer Broken Soul]]. Pyrrha, Weiss, and Nora come across it and either laugh at or are amused by it. In the non-canon sidestory, "Spectacular What?", they come across him writing another fanfic about a powerless kid who suddenly gains amazing new abilities that let him be a hero to his hometown. His teammates immediately accuse him of writing another self-insert fic before he shows them his notes and outlines. The story's title? [[ComicBook/SpiderMan "The Spectacular Spider-Man".]]
238* In the ''Blog/MiraculousRewrite'' story "Anansi", Marc writes self-insert fics starring himself as the spider-themed hero Anansi and his crush as the deer-themed hero Lugh as they help Ladybug and Chat Noir defend Paris. When he gets akumatized into Anansi, his RealityWarper powers allow him to turn these fics into reality.
239* ''Webcomic/NaruHinaChronicles Mini-sodes'': Hinata has written a fanfic depicting her reunion with Naruto after he came back from his three years of training with Jiraiya to be much more romantic than how it actually happened. Much to her embarrassment, not only does Naruto find the fanfic, but he points out that they recall that reunion quite differently.
240[[/folder]]
241
242[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
243* ''WesternAnimation/MagicGiftOfTheSnowman'': Landon inserts himself and Emery Elizabeth into his story as characters.
244* In the {{Novelization}} of ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', Mei and her friends write a collaborative fic where they are an all-girl pop group.
245[[/folder]]
246
247[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
248* One of the (two) screenwriters for the BMovie ''Film/{{Soultaker}}'' (which is best known for being featured on Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000) 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...
249* Creator/CharlieKaufman wrote himself into the script of ''Film/{{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.
250** The wild thing is that he manages to go the ThisLoserIsYou route as well as the Sueish 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.
251* Basically the point of ''Film/TheRoom2003'' 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]].
252* From the liner notes to Peter Brooks' screenplay/stage version of the ''Mahabharata'': ''Since Bhishma has renounced woman, Vyasa is asked into the story to sleep with two princesses. He does so, although the princesses shrink from him, since he is dirty and smells.'' (Vyasa is the in-universe poet who narrates the Mahabharata in this version.)
253* Film/WesCravensNewNightmare has the premise that the ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'' series has contained [[SealedEvilInACan a demon who seeks out the darkest embodiment of human imagination,]] and [[Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare ending the series]] has released the demon. Thus, Creator/WesCraven has to make a new movie in order to re-seal it. However, this is downplayed in two ways: Wes only appears in one scene to [[MrExposition explain all that]] while Creator/HeatherLangenkamp, who played the original FinalGirl Nancy, is the protagonist. In addition, Heather deliberately separated her movie incarnation from her real self.
254* ''Film/AGunForGeorge'' is a dark {{Deconstruction}} of this trope, following a down-on-his-luck [[TwoFistedTales pulp fiction]] writer who's books are blatant Self-Insert Fics about a VigilanteMan that resembles himself and [[AuthorTract kills anybody he views as evil]]. Not only is there a tragic reason for this, [[spoiler:his brother was murdered by a gang, and he fantasizes about avenging him]], but the protagonist is [[SanitySlippage gradually beginning to lose his ability to differentiate fiction and reality]]. [[spoiler:The ending heavily implies that he's about to stop writing about killing people and start doing it for real...]]
255[[/folder]]
256
257[[folder:Literature]]
258* OlderThanPrint: In ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', Dante ''is'' the author Dante Alighieri with some amount of WishFulfillment: 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 talked up as a paragon or really special at all (he faints frequently in Hell) and the books are more about the places he journeys through than his heroic deeds or specialness.
259* Edmund Morris's 1999 biography ''Dutch: A Memoir of UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan'' was a somewhat controversial case of Self Insert '''Non'''-Fic. Morris chose to insert a semi-fictional narrator named "Edmund Morris" into his biography of the 40th President.
260* Richard Marcinko, former Navy SEAL, has written the ''Literature/RogueWarrior'' 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) make it almost impossible to draw a line between self-insertion and [[AuthorAvatar avatarhood]]. Fans and critics of the series argue over whether Marcinko's characterization in the fictional followup books is blatantly overpowered or whether he is, in fact, just that badass.
261** FBI agent Joseph Pistone, better known as ''Film/DonnieBrasco'', wrote (or put his name on top of) several fiction novels following him going undercover yet again as Donnie Brasco to infiltrate some evil goings-on or another. These seem to be out of print.
262* A rather blatant example, the post-apocalyptic novel ''Literature/{{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.
263* ''Literature/LeftBehind'' 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}}s for the authors and their personal ideologies.
264* Subverted by Creator/GeoffreyChaucer when he includes himself as a character in ''Literature/TheCanterburyTales''. He tells a tale [[StylisticSuck so lame]] that he gets rudely interrupted by the host (who also makes fun of his nerdy appearance).
265* Look at a picture of Laurell K. Hamilton and then read a description or look at a picture of the title character of the ''Literature/AnitaBlake'' or ''Literature/MerryGentry'' series. Yeah...
266* {{Deconstructed}} in ''Literature/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom''. The heroine is the Self as Existing Character variant, but instead of one of the heroes, she becomes the [[SelfDisposingVillain Self-Disposing]] AlphaBitch of an otome game. This leads her to believe that she's doomed to the character's fate of being exiled or killed, even though the fact that her personality is so completely different that it starts driving the plot OffTheRails within the first ''week'', which leads her to attempt various things to prevent that fate, derailing the plot even further. Moreover, she doesn't have perfect recall of the game's events, several times only remembering that certain character or events were important after the fact, and has not played through one of the routes [[spoiler:as well as the secret route]] and has to rely on secondhand knowledge she got from a friend. Top it off with the fact that the point of insertion is years before the main events of the game, and by the time she reaches that point, she's already unwittingly charmed not just all the game's love interests, but also [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer the rival characters]], and soon after the original heroine, [[ObliviousToLove all the unaware of their advances]].
267* The same goes for [[Literature/{{Twilight}} Stephenie Meyer]].
268** Bella is never given a physical description in the text, but [[WordOfGod Meyer's description of Bella on her website]] sounds [[http://i.imgur.com/CnCmCK9.jpg suspiciously familiar]]:
269--->"very fair-skinned, with long, straight, dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. Her face is heart-shaped -- a wide forehead with a widow's peak, large, wide-spaced eyes, prominent cheekbones, and then a thin nose and a narrow jaw with a pointed chin. Her lips are a little out of proportion, a bit too full for her jaw line. Her eyebrows are darker than her hair and more straight than they are arched. She's five foot four inches tall, slender but not at all muscular, and weighs about 115 pounds. She has stubby fingernails because she has a nervous habit of biting them."
270** However, in the books, Bella is given so little physical description that she could be seen as a SelfInsert of the reader in general, likely done so that the reader can more easily empathize with her. 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."
271* Well known among sporking communities is the infamous and ([[SoBadItsGood sadly]]) unfinished [[http://nanowrimo.org/ NaNoWriMo]] entry ''Literature/BeansidhesWail''. What's interesting about it is it's not a simple case of WishFulfillment. The author is an Otherkin and shares almost all of her "life story" with the ([[CreatorsPet incredibly unlikable]]) main character, Wynne. (Including the bit about [[strike:Catherine]] Kathryn Howard.)
272* 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.
273* Clive Cussler writes himself into every one of his later ''Literature/DirkPittAdventures'', 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.
274** 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.
275** 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).
276* In the ''{{Literature/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.
277* An example of a very good Self-Insert Fic is Charlotte Bronte's ''Literature/JaneEyre''. Like Jane, Charlotte was a governess to the children of Constantine Heger, a married man who she was "lonely" and "homesick for" when apart from him, and "attached to" when she was in his company. No crazy ladies in the attic at the Heger home, though. Jane's strong moral character and love for/ambivalence towards the rules set forth by God were also very much a part of Charlotte's personality. Self-Insert Fic can be cool!
278* Christopher Paolini, author of the ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'' 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 [[GrowingtheBeard eventually developed into his own character]] and is no longer this.
279* It's tough to say whether it's a good autobiography, but either way Rivella in 17th century proto-novel ''The Adventures of Rivella'' ''is'' the author, Delariviere Manley.
280* Creator/JKRowling has said that Hermione Granger is the closest to a Self-insert character in ''Literature/HarryPotter'', being partially based off of her own childhood self.
281* James Joyce's ''Literature/APortraitOfTheArtistAsAYoungMan'' and ''Literature/{{Ulysses}}'' have a self-insertion character by the name of Stephen Daedalus. He isn't the most sympathetic character. 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 AuthorAvatar, he shares more personality traits with Joyce's brother rather than James himself. Then again, this is according to the brother
282* Creator/PhilipKDick's ''Literature/{{VALIS}}'' has two self-inserts: "Phil Dick" and Horselover Fat. ("Horselover Fat" is a rough translation of "Philip Dick", from Greek and German for his first and last name respectively.)
283** ''RadioFreeAlbemuth'', more or less a first draft of VALIS, contains the same pair of self-inserts.
284* Wayne D. Barlowe made himself the main character in his book ''Expedition''.
285* Creator/PeterSBeagle has Joe Farrell, a rare example of this done well.
286* Sammy-Jo Strauss doesn't even try to hide it in her self published book, ''Literature/FromRealityToFiction'', considering the main character shares her name.
287* Creator/StephenKing appears as himself in two volumes of ''Franchise/TheDarkTower''. He is by no means a sympathetic character, and is disliked by the [[TrueCompanions ka-tet]]. He is also literally their creator.
288* The ''villain'' of ''Those Who Trespass'' is suspiciously similar to author Creator/BillOReilly. The hero also shares O'Reilly's background and the personality he claims to have in his nonfiction books, but is not as obviously meant to represent O'Reilly himself.
289* [[http://www.wowpedia.org/Rhonin Rhonin,]] a character appearing often in ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' novels written by Richard A. Knaak, is highly regarded as an insertion sue. His exploits ranging from saving the red dragon aspect from an orc warlock of greater power to going back in time to help win an ancient war (that had already been won, who knows why he felt the need to put himself in it) to banging [[http://www.wowpedia.org/Vereesa_Windrunner Sylvanas' other sister]] that never existed until Knaak decided he needed some elf ass.
290* The ''Literature/{{Riverworld}}'' series is based on the premis that everybody who has ever lived is ressurected by an unimaginably powerful alien race, to live out a sort of Afterlife on an alien planet. All places are linked by an ever-winding River, offering an excuse for any historical character to enter the story. In among famous Earth people on their eternal voyage is an obscure twentieth century science-fiction author called [[Creator/PhilipJoseFarmer Peter Jairus Frigate]]. Frigate becomes a central character.
291* ''The Interpretation of Murder'': A murder mystery about a turn of the 20th Century New York detective, who enlists Freud's help to solve a murder and gets to hang around with Freud, Jung and Brill discussing psychology and ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''... written by a New York lawyer (Jed Rubenfeld) with an undergraduate degree in psychology who wrote his thesis on ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''. Still a great book though.
292* ''Literature/TheGreenwichTrilogy'': written by three different authors, and each book stars the author who wrote it, and has the others as secondary characters. The first book was nominated for a UsefulNotes/HugoAward in 1968, which definitely shows that this trope is not necessarily a bad thing.
293* Creator/HenryDarger wrote himself into ''[[Literature/InTheRealmsOfTheUnreal The Vivian Girls in the Realms of the Unreal]]'' multiple times, appearing as the heroic [[FourStarBadass General Henry Darger]], the villainous [[GeneralRipper General]] [[NamestoRunAwayFromReallyFast Judas Darger]], and [[OneSteveLimit Henry Darger]], a [[IntrepidReporter war correspondent]] who [[DirectLineToTheAuthor chronicled the adventures of the Vivian Girls]]. He [[WriteWhoYouKnow put his friends in as various heroic or evil leaders]] too, a practice known in F&SF writing as Tuckerism or {{Tuckerization}}.
294* Zoey from ''Literature/TheHouseOfNight'' is a essentially a more perfect version of Kristen Cast. According to Wikipedia, they based the character on her so she would be easier to write. Yeah...
295* ''Literature/ThroneOfGlass'' author [[http://s1.evcdn.com/images/blackborder500/I0-001/014/493/028-8.jpeg_/sarah-j-maas-book-signing-and-discussion-28.jpeg Sarah J. Maas]] bears an uncanny resemblance to the heroine of the series [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wTA4tuDmtmg/UBq_QUZwciI/AAAAAAAANLE/81ZfHiHVQnY/s1600/Throne+of+Glass.jpg depicted on the book cover]] of the hardcover version.
296* In the first ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' book, Talia is daydreaming about being a Herald that accompanied Vanyel at his final stand. Also, the character of Herald-Chronicler Myste is an AuthorAvatar of Creator/MercedesLackey.
297* In a variant, ''Literature/TheTravelsOfMarcoPolo'' has a bit where Marco Polo inserts himself and his family into the history of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Xiangyang Battle of Xiangyang]] (which actually happened before his arrival into China), claiming to have been responsible for the Mongols' victory by teaching them how to build catapults.
298* George Arthur Rose, the Englishman who becomes Pope in Frederick William Rolfe's ''Hadrian the Seventh'', is an obvious stand-in for the author. Lampshaded by Peter Luke's 1968 theatrical adaptation, in which the entire plot is Rolfe's dream.
299* In ''Literature/TaraDuncan'', the title character shares some similarities with her author, Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian. Notably physically (both blond and dark-eyed) and also in terms of ancestry. The author is related to the Mamikonian family, which reigned on Armenia, but more than 12 centuries ago; and it's a Republic nowadays. Improved in the books, this detail becomes [[CanonSue Tara being an imperial princess, and the direct heir to a throne.]]
300* Thomas Lang, the main character of Hugh Laurie's ''The Gun Seller'', is a 6'3'' Englishman who rides a motorcycle. In other words, it's Hugh Laurie.
301* Creator/SarahPinsker's award-nominated novella, ''[[https://uncannymagazine.com/article/and-then-there-were-n-one And Then There Were (N-One),]]'' carries this to the extreme - every character is an AlternateSelf version of the author from a different timeline.
302* ''Literature/ForestKingdom'': InUniverse, as revealed in the ''Hawk & Fisher'' spinoff series' book 2 (''Winner Takes All''), one minor character is a self-promoting mercenary named Joshua Kincaid who writes loads of over-the-top adventure stories about his own "incredibly heroic deeds", then publishes them as mass-market chapbooks under a pseudonym.
303
304[[/folder]]
305
306[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
307* No less a luminary than Creator/DavidGerrold originally wrote the famous "The Trouble with Tribbles" episode of ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}'' to feature a young ensign that he saw as a self-surrogate, and did something similar in his novel ''The Galactic Whirlpool''. The former was an attempt at literal self-insertion, since Gerrold, an amateur actor, wrote the character of Ensign Freeman in hopes of getting to play the role himself. The role instead went to Paul Baxley, William Shatner's stand-in (which is why O'Brien mistook Freeman for Kirk in ''Deep Space Nine'': "Trials and Tribble-ations"). But Gerrold did get to appear as a background crewman in "Tribble-ations."
308* The foreword to the ''Series/DoctorWho 2009 Specials'' box set is, in fact, a short story by Creator/DavidTennant wherein he goes back in time thirty years to tell his eight-year-old self that he will play the Doctor someday. In other words, it's a ''double-self-insert [[RealPersonFic RPF]]''. (And yes, it's adorably geeky.)
309* The ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' episode "Adam" acts as a parody of this trope, where the MonsterOfTheWeek writes himself into Torchwood Three and alters everyone else's memory to think [[RememberTheNewGuy he'd been there for two years]]. He also rewrites their personalities - Tosh becomes his girlfriend, Owen becomes a shy geek with a crush on Tosh, [[AdaptationalVillainy and Ianto becomes a serial killer.]]
310* Margaret Thatcher once wrote a skit for ''Series/YesMinister,'' in which she played the part of the Prime Minister. The piece is actually quite amusing, and did air on the BBC.
311* Melina Kanakaredes (Stella Bonasera) wrote a fifth season episode of ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' and turned her character into a forensics Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}.
312* Creator/CharlieBrooker likes to write in sneering, cynical OnlySaneMan-type characters who resemble himself. In ''Series/NathanBarley'' the character of Dan Ashcroft qualified, and in ''Series/DeadSet'' it was the ''Series/BigBrother'' producer, Patrick.
313** 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.
314* In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "Superstar", Johnathan "Short Idiot" Levinson uses demonic powers to alter reality into a painfully-bad Self-Insert Fic, complete with the Scooby Gang [[ParodySue following him around like stunned guppies]]. It even includes a bit of TwinThreesomeFantasy for good measure.
315* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'':
316** Penny was introduced as a struggling actress who took a job at the Cheesecake Factory while waiting for her big break, and also wrote her own screenplay about a struggling actress who takes a job as a waitress while waiting for her big break. When Leonard, attempting to flirt, compliments her for drawing from her own experiences, she states it's different, because the fictional version is from a different state.
317** Sheldon wrote a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' 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''.
318** Amy wrote a ''Series/LittleHouseOnThePrairie'' fanfic about a young woman called Amelia in the 1800's and her TimeTravelRomance with a physicist from the future called Cooper.
319* This is the basic gimmick of ''Series/SecretGirlfriend''. 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}}.
320* Ryan Murphy has a history of creating characters for him to function as [[AuthorAvatar Author Avatars]], but he has finally come to this with ''Series/TheNewNormal'' where the character of Ryan is a successful creator and showrunner of a teen musical show called [[Series/{{Glee}} 'Sing!']], has a loving, hunky, manly boyfriend and the only character who hates him is a homophobe.
321* The ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'' episode "Creative Writing" has the main cast writing self-insert stories. Most of them blatant self-inserts (complete with superpowers and ninja); one writes a soap opera, and another writes a musical number.
322* Parodied extensively in the British comedy show ''Series/GarthMarenghisDarkPlace''. The show is based on the premise that Garth Marenghi wrote and starred in a 80s low-budget hospital-based horror show. Many jokes are based on the idea that Garth Marenghi not only wrote the series, but also plays the central role in the show. As such, his own character -- Doctor Rick Dagless, M.D. -- exhibits outrageously unrealistic traits.
323* An in-universe example in ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' has Gabrielle writing about herself when Xena says she's tired of being written about. Gabrielle then turns ''herself'' into a self-insert. Whereupon Aphrodite enchants the scroll...
324* ''Series/YoungSheldon'': In "Passion's Harvest and a Sheldocracy", inspired by Connie's romance novel, Mary writes her own, with the main character, Marie, obviously based on herself.
325[[/folder]]
326
327[[folder:Music]]
328* [[Music/TomPetty Tom Petty's]] music video "Running Down A Dream" is technically a self-insert into [[ComicStrip/LittleNemo Little Nemo]]. (And an homage, of course.)
329* Music/SelfInsert is a band that uses masks and heavy voice changing effects to make all of their music a kind of self-insert.
330[[/folder]]
331
332[[folder:Video Games]]
333* ''50 Cent: Bulletproof'' and its sequel ''VideoGame/FiftyCentBloodOnTheSand''. According to Website/TheOtherWiki, when asked to do the voice for the main character of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'', 50 Cent replied that he would only voice himself in a video game. So these little self-insert adventures were developed for him.
334* ''VideoGame/BlueArchive'': Sensei, the protagonist, has no actual appearance in-game, so many players have to design their own appearances for Sensei.
335* This trope is literally invoked in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series with the [[Literature/WinnieThePooh 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 ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh'' to include himself as a prominent character (replacing Christoper Robin). When you lock the world's keyhole, it even includes him on the cover with the rest of the characters.
336** The franchise has also made a pair of {{deconstruct|edTrope}}ions on both this premise and the [[RelationshipSue two]] [[GodModeSue tropes]] most commonly used with them. [[spoiler:Their names are [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories Naminé]] and [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 Xion]].]]
337* In-universe example: The fifth arc of ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'' is largely a Self-Insert Fic written by the main villains, one of whose AuthorAvatar hijacks the story from the usual protagonists and proceeds to wreak havoc on the plot and characters.
338* Accidentally happened in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', when Shinkawa designed Otacon to look like Creator/HideoKojima, 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 [[RelationshipSue having sex with Naomi, a character Kojima based on his ideal woman,]] the amount of [[TheWoobie abuse Kojima piled on him]] easily overwhelms all this and makes him look kind of pathetic.
339** Hideo Kojima also appears as himself as a bonus agent in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' - while he has no skills in combat and poor ability in food tech, he's decent at R&D and has S-Rank skills in medicine and intel. ''Ground Zeroes'' also has a mission where the end goal is to rescue him.
340** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' encourages the player to view Venom Snake in this way. He's given the relatively clean slate of waking from a coma, he speaks very rarely in order for the player to project their own personality onto him, and the player is even given a character creation screen in order to design an alternative face for him, meaning that he can look like the player as well should they choose. The ending reveals that [[spoiler:this was done deliberately, as he isn't the original Big Boss. He really is a stand-in for the player, and he even comes with a backstory of being a minor character who just happens to be great friends with Big Boss. Symbolically, his nature as a self-insert is meant to highlight the player's role in crafting Big Boss' legend, making him into the well-respected soldier he is by the time the original Metal Gear happened.]]
341* Sakupen in ''[[VideoGame/DadSeries 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 [[ThatOneBoss atrociously hard]].
342* ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsTheThirdAge''[='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 Helm's Deep.
343* The entire plot of ''VideoGame/TouhouPocketWarsEvolution'' is that of the player (a [[{{Otaku}} slightly obsessed Touhou fan]]) going to [[FantasyKitchenSink Gensokyo]].
344* The ''Alien Crossfire'' expansion to ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'' includes a faction editor. You can use it to add a pre-created faction into the game called the Firaxians with either Creator/SidMeier or Brian Reynolds.
345* In the ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'' remake, entering Sid Meier's (or one of the members of the design team's) name as a soldier grants you a maxed-out soldier, although the game considers it a cheat and disables Achievements.
346* ''[[Literature/TheElderScrollsInUniverseBooks The Sultry Argonian Bard]]'' (introduced in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'') is a gender-flipped version of ''The Lusty Argonian Maid'' (introduced in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', over two hundred years earlier). The name of the female character is the same as the author's (the author of ''Maid'' at least bothered to slightly modify his name).
347* The VisualNovel/strategy game ''VideoGame/GameOfThronesAscent'', with the PlayerCharacter as a new FeudalOverlord in Westeros, who is sworn to one of the 9 great houses.
348* The Citadel DLC of ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' includes a Self-Insert Fic written and narrated by Mordin Solus. Said fic is a frankly silly (considering Mordin's advanced science degrees) take on a FilmNoir, pairing himself as hard-boiled detective and Aria T'Loak, the unofficial ruler of [[WretchedHive Omega Station]], as the FemmeFatale.
349--->''"Had broken Omega's one rule...in more ways than one."''[[note]]Said rule is "Don't ''fuck'' with Aria."[[/note]]
350* In ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'', cyber-nerd Matt Miller's loyalty mission is to accompany him on what he describes as a top-notch virtual reality training scenario in which you help a vigilante defeat a nefarious villain. It quickly becomes clear that you've actually been dragged into his ''[[ShowWithinAShow Nyte Blayde]]'' "[[InsistentTerminology expanded universe fiction]]", casting him as the titular vampire hunter's apprentice. Matt's {{Squee}} soon turns to dismay when [[BigBad Zinyak]] hijacks the simulation and turns his beloved hero against him. By the end of it all, the Boss has been ''converted into a fan of the show'', and uses his/her authority as [[spoiler:[[EarthShatteringKaboom sole remaining world leader]]]] to bestow all rights to the franchise onto Matt.
351* A number of ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' video games boil down to this, as they would be a retelling of one part of the anime story but with your player character inserted into the role of protagonist and facing off against all the important opponents.
352** ''VideoGame/YuGiOhTheSacredCards'': The player character goes through the Battle City tournament arc of the manga and anime and takes on both Yugi and Joey's roles in the plot, while said characters, while still around, are DemotedToExtra side characters.
353** ''VideoGame/YuGiOhGXSpiritCaller'' retells the first season and part of the second season with the player in the protagonist role, stopping shortly after the introduction of Aster and Zane.
354** The Story Modes ''World Championship 2009'' to ''2011'' adapt different arcs of ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds''. ''2009: Stardust Accelerator'' retells the first arc of ''5D's'' up till the conclusion of the Fortune Cup. ''2010: Reverse of Arcadia'' starts off in parallel with the Fortune Cup finals with the player as a spectator to that climactic event, but eventually intertwines with the Dark Signer arc. ''2011: Over the Nexus'' double-subverts this by starting the player off as their own character in Crash Town with their own group of friends, but halfway through the WRGP arc they get involved with Team 5D's and enter the anime protagonist role.
355* One lore entry in ''VideoGame/Destiny2'' is a [[StylisticSuck delightfully terrible]] community play put on in the Tower by Marcus Ren and his Ghost, Didi. It’s a dramatization of [[VideoGame/{{Destiny}} the Taken War from the first game]], but with your character written out and replaced by blatant Self-Inserts for Marcus and Didi. Zavala describes it as one of the most offensive things he’s ever seen, your Ghost is horrified by how he’s portrayed, and Shaxx wonders [[{{Lime}} why the dialogue is weirdly sexual]].
356* ''VideoGame/BlossomTalesTheSleepingKing'': A minor in-universe example. Consistent with the StoryWithinAStory FramingDevice the game uses, you have the choice of naming the heroine after one of two grandchildren. Moreover, the heroine has few character traits of her own, thus allowing the children to imagine themselves in her place.
357* ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'' has an in-universe writer of romance novels named Snargle Goldclaw, whose works range from bizarre interspecies relationships to thinly-veiled RealPersonFic to ''not-at-all-''veiled RealPersonFic. There's a CollectionSidequest to find all of his novels, and the reward for completing it is his newest work, ''Commander of Your Heart'', which pairs the reader with... the PlayerCharacter.
358* ''{{VideoGame/Undertale}}'': [[spoiler:Local Royal Scientist and otaku Alphys wanted to enact this with herself acting as the cool MissionControl for the Human Child, hoping to convince them to stay additionally out of fear that they'll kill Asgore to leave the Underground due to how the Barrier works. She even has her creation and best friend Mettaton play the local antagonist so [[EngineeredHeroics Alphys can swoop in and save the Human]]. However, he gets sick of this and derails her plans during the CORE exploration for his own ideals.]]
359[[/folder]]
360
361[[folder:Visual Novels]]
362* In the OmegaEnding of ''VisualNovel/BadEndTheater'', it is revealed that [[spoiler:TRAGEDY, the theater's owner, wrote the story as a metaphor for her own failed love life, casting herself as the Maiden and her girlfriend as the Overlord. Given TRAGEDY's obsession with bad endings, it makes sense why she would cast herself as the unluckiest character in the story]].
363[[/folder]]
364
365[[folder:Web Comics]]
366* One ''Webcomic/BasicInstructions'' strip reveals that Rick had crossed out Literature/HarryPotter's name in his first-edition copies of the series and wrote his own in its place.
367* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': Ashley [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/party-002 writes embarrassing self-insert fetish fics]] in her spare time, oftentimes imagining herself as a powerful sorceress inflicting {{Karmic Transformation}}s on misogynists and other jerks. One [[BSideComics NP arc]] was about her trying to write a story without making it a self-insert... [[https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/oc-02 and failing miserably.]]
368* In ''Webcomic/{{Housepets}}'', Grape inserts herself into fanfiction for the in-world FictionalDocument ''Pridelands''.
369* ''Webcomic/LeastICouldDo'' 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 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.]]
370
371%%* ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures'' [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_766.php mocks this.]]
372%%* ''Webcomic/MegaTokyo'', definitely.
373[[/folder]]
374
375[[folder:Web Original]]
376* ''WebAnimation/DaAmazinOTAdvenchr'':
377** All of the main characters, from the Platform/{{ROBLOX}} Off-Topic posters to the tOLPers, exist in real life.
378** Even in Appisote 18, Liteslayer kills himself since Deine and him decide that they have to kill the creator of DAOA (Liteslayer) in order to stop it from �evolving�.
379* ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' 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 WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief. And other times [[WriteWhoYouKnow characters based off of people the handler knows]] show up too.
380* Since the day the ''Webcomic/DrawYourOwnStory'' comics began on the [=CivFanatics=] forums, most of the characters were more or less Sueish self-inserts (often represented by the user's avatar).
381* ''Literature/EmilyHTheVikingPrincess'' is possibly one; the author's screen name is "emilyh96".
382* Website/SCPFoundation
383** [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-423 SCP-423]] is literally named "Self-Inserting Character," a non-corporeal entity named "Fred" who can add itself as a minor character into stories printed on paper. Normally the character plays a background role, never very important or causing changes to the story. However, it was noted that when placed inside its own SCP article, the only thing that changed was the addition of "ruggedly handsome" at several points.
384** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2786 SCP-2786,]] "The Archetype", is an entity that goes through copies of fiction (ex. Film/TheShining, Literature/HouseOfLeaves, VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent) to resolve the conflicts sooner than originally. As far as he knows, he's just a dimension-hopping hero... [[spoiler:until, by being in the SCP Foundation Mythos, he realizes his existence is fictional as he is trapped in his own article.]]
385
386[[/folder]]
387
388[[folder:Western Animation]]
389* [[LovesMyAlterEgo Karmi]] from ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6TheSeries'' made a series of fics where she became Hiro (er, "[[AtrociousAlias Captain Cutie]]")'s girlfriend, and the show implied some of the fics were smutty in nature, with Hiro commenting that some of the things they did in her stories were ''[[AnatomicallyImpossibleSex impossible]]''. The episode was [[PunBasedTitle titled]] "[[Recap/BigHero6TheSeriesS1E14FanFriction Fan Friction]]".
390* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Marge practically inserted 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 [[CriticalDissonance got terrible reviews but sold well enough]] for every person in town to have a copy of it and the Olsen twins even recorded a dramatic reading.
391* Brainiac 5 of ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes2006'' places himself into one of these where he [[HoYay dies in Superman's arms]] after saving his life.
392* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' 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 ('''''[[LargeHam WITH GREAT FLAAAAAMING EYEBROWS!]]''''') and every antagonist into Jack.
393* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode ''"Where No Fan Has Gone Before"'', the entity known as Melllvar has written a script for an episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', where he saves the crew of the Enterprise, and has Uhura tell him how attractive he is. He then holds the cast prisoner, and forces them to act it out.
394-->'''Koenig:''' ''(as Chekov, monotone)'' Look, Keptin, it is Melllvar. I wope he will welp our vessel.\
395'''Mellvar:''' ''(angrily)'' [[InsistentTerminology "WESSEL"!]] You're not ''acting'' hard enough!
396* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "Spike at Your Service", Rainbow Dash claims to be writing a novel about an "awesome Pegasus who's the best flyer ever and becomes the captain of the Wonderbolts!" Rarity is quick to point out that Dash ''may'' be basing the plotline on her own aspirations.
397** This is most likely the purpose of the [[ItMakesSenseInContext Enchanted Comic Book]] from ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E6PowerPonies Power Ponies]]'': it lets (or rather ''forces'') you to live out an adventure in the shoes of your favorite super hero. Either this or whoever created it is just a jackass.
398* The bio for infamous [[spoiler:and not entirely stable]] fan Raksha's Franchise/{{Transformers}} character Nightracer is essentially a combination self-insert, having insane gun skills (that should single-handedly win the war from a distance) and SelfInsertFic, described as being rabidly and blindly supportive of Megatron, while simultaneously dismissive of even those on her own team. The character has canon standing due to its exclusive toy and fictional use during the early "wild west" days of [=BotCon=].
399* [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls2016 The reboot]] of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'' has Jared Shapiro, a.k.a. writer Jake Goldman. Jared only appears in episodes where Goldman is writing and in almost all episodes he appears in, he is Blossom's love interest.
400** Debunked a bit, he wasn't the one who put himself in there, his friends just designed the character like him as a joke and nothing more. Everything else about the character is not based on him and he certainly wasn't the one who made the character Blossom's love interest.
401* In the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' episode "Friendship Hates Magic!", Launchpad shows Beakley a fan script he made for a hypothetical finale for ''[[ShowWithinAShow Darkwing Duck]]'', as the show was CutShort before it aired. Said script features himself as a character who helps Darkwing out.[[note]]This is actually a reference to the real-life ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' show, in which Launchpad was a major supporting character.[[/note]]
402* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseFuture'' episode "In Dreams", Steven tries to help Peridot fix the story of the Camp Pining Hearts reboot by collaborating with her to [[FixFic write their own version of the show]], dreaming about it, and using his powers to project those dreams onto his TV. The first thing he does is add a new character... [[DreamSue a buff adult version of himself named "Stefan" who's very popular and whose friends are always happy to accept his help.]]
403* Happens in ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' during the episode, "I'd Rather Read it Myself", when D.W. tries to impress the Tibble Twins by reading them a story. However, since she's unable to read, she ends up making up an entire story about B.W., "a princess, a genius, and a cool person who was too polite to brag." The story is mainly just a compilation of certain episodes that featured D.W. as the focal character, told in an exaggerated action-packed superhero manner. The Tibbles never seem to catch on, and are even enthralled by the story she tells to the point of begging her to let them borrow the book she pretends to read. Even when their grandmother reads the ''actual'' story in the book, they merely come to the conclusion that the book itself is magic, and tells a different story every time it's opened.
404-->'''D.W.:''' These are the adventures of a smart, great, perfect girl named... B.W.\
405'''Tommy:''' Hey, that's close! If it was ''D.W.'', I'd think you were making this up!
406* ''WesternAnimation/MollyOfDenali'': In "Home Made Heroes," Molly and Tooey's comic characters are obviously self-inserts of themselves.
407
408[[/folder]]
409
410!!Meta Examples
411
412[[folder:Fan Works]]
413* The fic ''Martian Manhunter'' turns the concept of the Self-Insert Fic on its ear, along with the FusionFic. Series/VeronicaMars finds herself, along with her supporting cast and backstory, shoehorned into her favorite TV show, ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. It plays out as a self-insert fic, and yet it isn't.
414* 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 ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' 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-AuthorAvatar 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 GenreSavvy, 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.
415* ''[[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 [[DeadFic incomplete]] ending.
416* ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3107822/1/ The Wild Horse Thesis]]'' has [[Manga/RanmaOneHalf Ranma Saotome]] inserted via magic spell into the shoes of Shinji Ikari of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' by Gosunkugi in the hopes of getting rid of him. Unfortunately for the caster, Ranma uses his situation to his advantage, and proceeds to wreak havoc on Gendo's plans for to change the ending of the anime for the better. One of the better examples on this page, it was good enough to earn a place on the FanFicRecommendations listing.
417* In the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' fanfic ''Fanfic/ProjectGethinator'', it's mentioned that [[spoiler:Admiral Daro'Xen]], who is {{Yandere}} for Shepard in a big way, has written quite a few self-insert {{Real Person Fic}}s involving herself and Shepard. According to those who know of them, they're quite sick and depraved, second only to [[NoodleIncident what Prazza did in]] ''[[NoodleIncident Fornax]]''[[NoodleIncident 's Forbidden Issue]], and illustrate quite nicely how completely fucked up [[spoiler:Admiral Xen]] is.
418* {{Discussed|Trope}} in the Film/{{Tron}} fanfic ''Fanfic/AWholeNewWorld'' where the game Tron 2.0 is presented as a creation of Encom employee Jet Bradley. Clu implies that the only reason for that game to exist is that Jet wanted to make a Self-Insert Fic with himself as the protagonist.
419* Done in a cute manner in the ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Friendship is Magic]]'' {{Fanfic}} ''Fanfic/CadanceOfCloudsdale''. As Princess Cadance tells a young Twilight Sparkle a bedtime story, the subject of her tale is a young princess who was taken in by her aunt princess after her kingdom disappeared, and is sad with her situation but is happy when she gets to foalsit a wonderful filly. Even as a filly, Twilight knows who the princess actually is.
420* ''Fanfic/{{Hivefled}}'' has the young trolls posting to [=ConscriptionFiction=].com, a site for [[StylisticSuck really bad]] real-person fic about themselves and their teachers. Ganmed Lomust posts fic about his "Mayree Tseouh" hanging out with the Grand Highblood, and Lieutenant Gritch contributes to the round-robin fic his students write about killing him horribly; nobody's sure if he's trying to be funny or trying to make them stop.
421* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' fanfic ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/6638785 Peridot's Super Stupendous Fanfiction,]]' Peridot writes an AlternateUniverseFic of [[ShowWithinAShow Camp Pining Hearts]] starring herself and various people she knows. Connie reads it and asks if it's supposed to be stupid.
422* In the ''Fanfic/SkyholdAcademyYearbook'' series, ''I Must Be Going'' manages to be both this trope ''and'' an IntercontinuityCrossover. It's a crossover from the reader's point of view, being a merging of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' and ''Film/ThePrincessBride''. However, it's a StoryWithinAStory, written and narrated by Varric Tethras; and to the people listening to him read it, it's a SelfInsertFic because ''they're'' the ones in it.
423[[/folder]]
424
425[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
426* ''TabletopGame/TwilightSparklesSecretShipficFolder'': A game about {{Shipping}} fics. "Self-Insertion", referring to a this trope, where the flavor text is an example, and at the end, referrencing the possible {{narcissist}}ic possibilities of their writer:
427--> The rift shimmered like a glittering ocean, but Twilight's other self shone like a gorgeous, awe-inspiring star, causing Twilight Prime's breath to catch and her heart to stop. - Narcissism? Ha!
428[[/folder]]
429
430[[folder:Web Animation]]
431* In ''WebVideo/UltraFastPony'', Pinkie Pie writes a ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' fanfic in which "the brave and sexy Pinkie" joins the Fellowship of the Ring, and later winds up in a {{love triangle}} with Bill the pony and Shadowfax.
432* Since ''WebAnimation/TVTomeAdventures'' is based off of an RP that took place on the [=TvTome=] forums, it makes sense that a lot of the characters are self-insertions. Perhaps the most notable is Kirbopher15, who is based on Creator/ChrisNiosi, the creator of the series. This character is notable because it was still an obvious self-insertion in the remake, while the other characters were adapted and have different voice actors.
433* ''Fanfic/{{Emergence|RWBY}}'' inverts the formula, with Team WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} thrust into the real world.
434* The aptly-titled animation, ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ATX3DNdJ2I Self Insert]]'' by Website/YouTube user hikaboom celebrates the SelfInsertFic, the "Mary Sue" character archetype, and everything in between, in all its cheesy glory.
435[[/folder]]
436
437[[folder:Webcomics]]
438* The ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'' character Will Shakespeare, based loosely on [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare the playwright]], [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/459.html wrote himself]] into his ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfic. And later into his novelization of the ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' movies, as [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/874.html Willimir.]]
439* ''Webcomic/{{minus}}'' has a rather dark take on this trope starting in [[https://web.archive.org/web/20150516092645/http://www.kiwisbybeat.com/minus125.html this]] strip, that also serves as a {{deconstruction}} of TrappedInTVLand. For some reason, minus brings [[VictimizedBystander a random boy]] into a [[StoryWithinAStory book]], and, like with most Self-Insert characters, the boy makes himself into a {{God Mode S|ue}}tu, [[MagnificentBastard playing both the story's hero and villain like a violin]] [[OmnicidalNeutral without regard for the sake of the world]]. It's all fun and games until he realizes that he can't return to his own world, at which point he goes somersaulting over the DespairEventHorizon and [[OffscreenInertia is implied]] to [[RocksFallEveryoneDies destroy the world and everyone in it]], including [[DrivenToSuicide himself]].
440* The ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' side story ''[[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20051212 Fan Fiction]]'' has a character telling a Heterodyne Boys story to her younger siblings and modifying it to include a MarySue version of herself as the Heterodyne Boys' companion. At the end her mother tells her that she used to do the same thing when she was younger.
441[[/folder]]
442
443[[folder:Web Video]]
444* ''Series/TheCallOfWarr'': "Undercover Soldier" is one for Gravesite. He plays the main character, who even shares his first name.
445[[/folder]]
446
447[[folder:Real Life]]
448* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Leonowens Anna Leonowens]] (the "I" in ''Theatre/TheKingAndI'') exaggerated her role and influence at the court of the king of Siam, though not to the extremes her erstwhile "biographers" did in the works based on her own.
449* It's said that creating characters involves taking a part of your personality, exaggerating it, and letting it become its own person, so as to make a realistic character. If that is true, then most characters would at least be partly this.
450[[/folder]]

Top