Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Main / HerCodeNameWasMarySue

Go To

1%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1400283564059707600
2%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
3%%
4[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/{{Doug}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/her-code-name-was-mary-sue_doug_7120.png]]]]
5
6->''"The great William Dewey didn't struggle! He was good at everything on the first try, just like me when I wrote this play!"''
7-->-- '''Mayor Bill Dewey''', ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E17HistoricalFriction Historical Friction]]"
8
9A form of StylisticSuck. Whenever an in-universe author or creator not established as being a (passable) writer [[ShowWithinAShow creates a story]], the main character will be a blatant AuthorAvatar MarySue. Whatever they want, their character gets. Often, all the other primary characters will [[WriteWhoYouKnow have their actual fictional counterparts of their own as well]], usually with [[CharacterExaggeration one or two traits exaggerated greatly]] and generally portrayed in the light that the character sees them. This may include [[RevengeViaStorytelling the villain of the story being based on a character the writer doesn't like]]. Most of the time, these stories will be treated as being pretty bad by the other characters (whether or not they express it depends on how nice they're feeling), and the work will often raise [[UnfortunateImplications implications]] about their friend's desires and feelings about the people around him [[MuseAbuse that will raise eyebrows]]. This is all usually PlayedForLaughs, however, the trope could also be used to tell the audience what the character writing the story wants and what he thinks of other characters, etc.
10
11See also ParodySue for the trope this draws upon and DreamSue for the prototype. Compare WriteWhoYouKnow, AndThatLittleGirlWasMe, and MuseAbuse. When they're demonizing other people in the story, see RevengeViaStorytelling. When they're not writing a story, but talking about themself while pretending to be someone else, it's ButHeSoundsHandsome.
12
13[[foldercontrol]]
14
15[[folder:Self-Demonstrating Version]]
16The world was in serious danger! Aliens researching [[ShowWithinAShow fiction within fiction]], who looked a lot like an awful high school chemistry teacher, were threatening to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destroy Earth]] if not presented with information on what tends to happen when fictional characters write stories! Humanity was doomed...
17
18...until suddenly, the great [[SdrawkcabName Report Siht]] arrived! As women all around swooned, he held up a hand towards the aliens, and boldly stated:
19
20"When a fictional character decides to write a story, the main character of the story is extremely likely to be an obvious MarySue AuthorAvatar."
21
22"Really?" was the stunned aliens' only reply.
23
24"Frequently," Report explained, "the writer won't stop there: other characters will also have [[FictionalCounterpart suspicious similarities to people the writer knows]] and will play roles matching how the writer sees them. The hero's love interest will be based on the writer's crush, the BigBad and/or the guy who's TooDumbToLive will be someone the writer dislikes, and so on. [[StatusQuoIsGod There's only about a 50/50 chance that the inspiration for the love interest will pick up on this.]]"
25
26Nearby, a girl suddenly realized how incredibly attractive Report was and decided she wanted to have his babies ASAP. By an astounding coincidence, she happened to have an identical name, appearance, and personality to a girl Report finds attractive.
27
28Report continued his explanation. "After a while, it can start looking like the real writers are using it as an excuse for an {{Elseworld}}. In some cases, these similarities extend to the ''plot'' as well, with the MarySue facing the same problems as her creator, or [[LifeEmbellished ridiculously exaggerated versions]]."
29
30"But... wouldn't that sometimes be used as a symptom of StylisticSuck?" said Report Siht's best friend who is a lot like mine.
31
32"Yes, although not always. Does that answer your questions, ugly and clearly unknowledgeable aliens?"
33
34The chemistry aliens were most impressed. "Thank you, Report Siht. We completely misjudged you. You are clearly very intelligent." With that, they left.
35
36As everyone cheered, the President of the United States gave Report a medal. "You saved the world, Report," he said. "We are forever in your debt."
37
38"There was nothing to it," Report said. "After all, this trope is TruthInTelevision."
39[[/folder]]
40----
41!!Examples:
42
43[[folder:Advertising]]
44* In one Advertising/MetLife commercial, [[Franchise/{{Peanuts}} Snoopy]] (a representative for Met Life in this campaign), writes a story on his typewriter about a series of disasters going off around a maid on a [[ItWasADarkAndStormyNight dark and stormy night]], but the maid wasn't worried because her money was safe with Met Life, thanks to her hero, "the dashing Met Life Rep." Linus rolls his eyes when he reads that part.
45[[/folder]]
46
47[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
48%%* Appears to be the case with Harima's manga on ''Manga/SchoolRumble''.
49* In ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5'', Komachi is reluctant to show Nuts the romance novel she's been writing, because she used the two of them as the basis for the lead couple. For a moment, Nuts refused to review it, but a few episodes later, he warms up and started giving blunt but fair reviews so she can improve.
50* Yume from ''VisualNovel/TheyAreMyNobleMasters'' writes stories with herself as a very popular MagicalGirl, to compensate for the fact that she hardly gets any attention in real life.
51* In ''Manga/DescendantsOfDarkness'', the Count does this, writing historical romances with himself as the male lead and a {{Gender Flip}}ped Tsuzuki as the female lead, with a couple of twists: for one thing, the books are magical and write themselves, and for another, the actual Tsuzuki gets sucked into one by accident and meddles with the intended plot, causing his female counterpart to end up paired with the book's version of Tatsumi instead.
52* ''Accidentally'' played in ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya''. In the culture festival film, the time-traveling future chick Mikuru is a "time-traveling future waitress", the superpowered SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Nagato is an "evil superpowered alien", and the mysterious esper Itsuki is a "mysterious esper". It gets significant when you consider that Haruhi effectively ''guessed'' their roles.
53** Or so it would seem to newcomers to the anime; in the light novels, however, the scene where Kyon attempts to spill the beans to Haruhi about their fellow club-members' double acts only to be dismissed as "too obvious", later featured in season 2 of the anime, occurs earlier in the same novel.
54** The original ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'' series is implied to be this from the perspective of the much more mundane alternate universe spin-off ''Manga/TheDisappearanceOfNagatoYukiChan''. At the end of the anime, they decide that they should do something literature-based since they're a literature club in this timeline, and decide to write a story about their adventures as a club. Their adventures included versions of many events and side-characters from the original series, but without the supernatural elements. Haruhi is just as much of an egotist in this timeline, so it's easy to interpret the original series as their novel project, having been hijacked by Haruhi who made the world revolve around her (which also explains why her main rival in ''Disappearance'' is quickly written out in ''Melancholy'').
55* A one-time character named Nobuko from the first season of ''Anime/OjamajoDoremi'' writes a story starring a boy detective named "Tatekawa Nobuo", his scientist friend Professor Hadzuki, his friend/rival detective from Osaka Aiko Senoo, and Doremi the... friendly dog. Bonus points for the characters being double [[{{Expy}} expies]] of not only Doremi and her friends, but also various characters from ''Manga/CaseClosed''-- in that order, [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Conan Edogawa]], [[GadgeteerGenius Dr. Agasa]] and [[TheIdiotFromOsaka Heiji Hattori]].
56** All four seasons featured an episode that focused on a story Nobuko had written, all of them with [[{{Expy}} expies]] of the main characters.
57* In ''Manga/JunjouRomantica'', Usagi writes BoysLove novels about a very very thinly-disguised version of himself, in which "he" gets to have sex with his long-term crush; later, when he gets into a relationship in real life, he puts a [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized version]] of his boyfriend Misaki into his novels, much to Misaki's disgust. The novels were later [[{{Defictionalized}} written for real]], under the series title ''Junai Romantica''.
58* In ''Manga/TheWorldGodOnlyKnows'', Shiori creates an idealized version of herself in her story, which is basically a talkative version of herself with a bit of Keima's ability and attitude mixed in. The story is something of an inverted replay of her capture arc [[spoiler:until she gets mad at Keima and drops a bridge on his character while a smiling 'Simone' sees him off.]]
59* ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa'' has King Dedede create his own television channel- each show was about him or featured him as the star. In a later episode, he took a try at creating anime, with a show called, 'Dedede: Comin' At Ya!'.
60* The first few episodes of the 2001 anime of ''Manga/Cyborg009'' have 007 writing his account of the group's daring escape from Black Ghost. When 003 reads some, it's all about how 007 saved everyone and won the love of a blonde countess. She comments on how skewed a perspective it has.
61* In ''Manga/MagicOfStella'', Aya, the protagonist of Ayame's novel ''Stardust Intenzione'', is a MagicalGirlWarrior with a private life that "sparkle like a star," up to and including having two boyfriends.
62[[/folder]]
63
64[[folder:Audio Plays]]
65* ''AudioPlay/EvangelionAfterTheEnd'' has Asuka reimagining the series as a {{Sentai}} show, wherein she is TheHero and TheLeader, [[RedIsHeroic because she's wearing red]], while the rest of the FiveManBand, consisting of Rei, Shinji, Toji, and Kaworu, are portrayed as weirdos and losers.
66* ''AudioPlay/StarWarsDoctorAphra'': Aphra’s opening narration sounds straight out of a power fantasy fanfic. Granted some of it is true, but the script notes that the “truly epic space battle” is “perhaps exaggerated in its epicness because this is the story as Aphra’s telling it, and she is nothing is not over the top.”
67-->'''Aphra''': Imagine it: the most ''epic space battle'' you’ve ever seen! Lasers! Explosions! Things that go ''pew-pew''! And right in the middle of it all, our intrepid heroine — that’s me! — Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra. Rogue archaeologist, weapons expert, droid reactivator extraordinaire… and did I mention she is also extraordinarily beautiful? Raven tresses… that are usually a tangled mess, because they’re stuffed under a very stylish aviator cap, complete with rakish goggles. Brown eyes that spark — yes, ''spark''! — with a yearning for adventure. Intriguing electro-tattoos running down her right arm — foolish, youthful mistake, or sign of an irrepressible daredevil? That’s none of your business!
68[[/folder]]
69
70[[folder:Comic Books]]
71* In ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'', it's not uncommon for one of the teens to recite a classic fairy tale with themselves in the protagonists' role. One story has Betty tell ''Literature/LittleRedRidingHood'' with Archie as the titular character (In this version, he rides a skateboard), but instead of visiting his grandmother, he's going to see Betty's story analogue, with Veronica as the "She-wolf"(Who looks like she always does, just with ears, a tail, and in a swimsuit) who instead of wanting to eat Archie, just tries to seduce him.
72* The comic book ''Webcomic/BanzaiGirl'' has "Katie's World", a comic strip by a mother featuring her daughter... much to the daughter's chagrin. This, in turn, is a LampshadeHanging on the comic itself, as ''Webcomic/BanzaiGirl'' [[http://the-isb.blogspot.com/2007/03/abject-lack-of-quality-that-is-banzai.html itself]] is a comic written and drawn by model Jinky Coronado featuring the adventures of model Jinky Coronado and her friends battling tentacle monsters.
73* The graphic novel ''Comicbook/{{Superman}}: Under A Yellow Sun'' featured a [[ShowWithinAShow book-within-a-book]] written by Clark Kent, about a guy who grew up in the midwest and was a bit of a boy scout. He opposed a bald VillainWithGoodPublicity, with the aid of a brilliant reporter who was also the love interest and her plucky young photographer. A bit of a subversion, in that the character wasn't a "conventional" Mary Sue (it's hard to write a "more perfect" version of Superman, after all), but was TheAtoner, initially doing things that Clark was tempted to do, but that went against his morals, and later making up for them.
74* ABC Comics had two superhero/comedy/parody characters, the First American and his sidekick/eye-candy U.S. Angel. In one story, U.S. Angel takes a break from writing ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'' SlashFic to write a story about her and the First American with herself in the Mary Sue role. Then she takes a break and the First American gets hold of it and writes something completely different. In the end, they're writing about each other's humiliating deaths and their own depraved sexual hangups. At the end of the story, they make peace and enjoy writing ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'' SlashFic together.
75* Averted in ''ComicBook/YTheLastMan''. Yorick regrets not writing his story as the Last Man on Earth -- the problem is that, despite his English Major degree, he only ever likes writing stuff like space opera and Series/KnightRider fanfiction.
76* In the ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' comic ''Better Days'', the crew tells stories about what they'll do with their cut of the giant pile of cash they've scored. When Jayne tells his story, he's a badass [[TheCaptain Captain]] of a ship that's so powerful it commands the respect and fear of the Alliance, has carved out a section of space all to himself, and is surrounded by an all-female crew who refer to him as "Your Manliness."
77* A backup strip in ''ComicBook/{{Phonogram}}: The Singles Club'' summarizes the plot of the earlier mini-series, ''Rue Britannia'', from the point of view of a minor character in that story, the protagonist's best mate. It's mostly a faithful-if-snarky retelling of the events of the earlier story, if more than a little inspired by ''Hellblazer'' and containing more than a few clues that the best mate didn't ''quite'' know or understand what was going on and is filling in the blanks... right up until the end, when the best mate saves the protagonist by machine-gunning some people and then going and having sex with a couple of beautiful women, something which most definitely did ''not'' happen in the earlier tale.
78* A slight variation: instead of creating a fictional world where he was a hero, Doctor Doom and the Puppet Master once transplanted the ComicBook/FantasticFour's consciousnesses into tiny robots, altered their memories to have them leading mundane lives in which they had never gotten powers, and stuck them in a miniature model of a town. Doom "wrote" himself into their lives by masquerading as Reed's JerkAss boss, who spent all his time bullying Reed mercilessly, docking his pay, forcing him to work overtime, ridiculing his work, and generally making his life miserable. This scenario is probably one of Doom's Top Five Wet Dreams (which ''all'' probably revolve around making Reed's life hell), so despite Doom being a villain even in his own story, it fits the entire purpose of a SelfInsertFic to a tee. Or perhaps he was deluded enough to think that his character ''was'' a hero for tormenting that accursed Richards.
79* In ''ComicBook/NewMutants'' #22, [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Rahne]] writes a story whose main character Allystraea is an idealized version of herself, a redhead fairytale princess living in an enchanted forest and able to become a wolf. She goes on a quest to kill an evil witch to avenge the death of her beloved prince. There turns out to be more to it that it appears when [[spoiler: the evil Silver Sorceress and her henchman the Black Baron are based on Comicbook/CloakAndDagger ... and the real Cloak and Dagger end up in the hospital, having been attacked by a wolf. It turns out Rahne's still suffering the effects of receiving the same drug that gave Ty and Tandy their powers in ''Marvel Team-Up Annual'' #6]].
80* Creator/DonRosa wrote this into the Donald Duck story revolving around [[ItsAWonderFulPlot the "wonderful life" plotline]]. In the CrapsackWorld Donald enters, where he never was born, ''Daisy Duck'' has made a fortune on this trope, by writing successful diaries revolving around herself and her wonderful life. It turns out she is as unhappy as everyone else in that version of Duckburg.
81* In ''ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck'', Scrooge's uncle Angus "Pothole" [=McDuck=] became a dime novel writer after retiring from the riverboat business. The novels cast himself as the InvincibleHero with Scrooge as his BumblingSidekick, both an inversion and exaggeration of their relationship in "The Master of the Mississippi" (Which is also the title of Pothole's novel series). Here's an excerpt;
82-->''...So I wrestled all 37 Beagle Boys into submission and threw them into the muddy Mississippi!''
83* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan''
84** Creator/RogerStern's ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderMan1963'' #246 has a series of characters: Felicia Hardy, J. Jonah Jameson, Mary Jane Watson, and Spider-Man have a series of fantasies about their idealized realities. Felicia Hardy sees herself and Spidey as glamorous international spy-adventurers and Spider-Man is secretly Creator/CaryGrant. Jameson sees himself actually beating Spidey in a straight-up fight. MJ sees herself as a successful and famous movie star. Peter Parker sees himself saving Jameson with him admitting he was wrong, and then being invited to join both the Avengers and the Fantastic Four.
85** A team-up between ''Comicbook/SpiderMan'' and ''Comicbook/CaptainAmerica'' in ''Avenging Spider-Man'' opened with one of the comics Steve Rogers drew before he was Cap. It involves a [[Comicbook/{{Shazam}} Billy Batson]]-like kid named Roger Stevens who becomes the superhero Sir Spangled when he says the magic words "Rocket's Red Glare!" He also buys liberty bonds.
86* One storyline in ''ComicBook/PS238'' concerned the super-school pupils reading their creative writing assignments aloud to each other. Dillon's story was about how his rival Jenny's expy was pathetic and useless, while his was totally awesome and made [[ComicBook/DoctorDoom Dr. von Fogg]] cower in fear. It ended abruptly, as Jenny and Victor von Fogg blasted it to ashes in his hands.
87-->'''Dillon''': I consider this an assault on my ''basic freedoms and liberty''.
88* An InUniverse version in ''Kev: ComicBook/TheAuthority'': Kev and his SAS friends go to a book signing by one of their friends, reading his autobiographical book along the way. The more they read, the more inconsistencies, Hollywoodesque exaggeration and outright lies they find ("What'd he do, pass selection when he was ''12''?!"), but when they meet, the author confirms it's all executive-mandated BS. As he points to the adoring crowd behind him, he contemptuously says "This lot? All they want is fucking {{Franchise/Rambo}}".
89* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''-based comic ''Gotham Adventures'' (#s 10 and 14), Comicbook/HarleyQuinn has written a bestselling romance novel (yes, it's a Harley Quinn romance). The female lead is the criminal "Punchinello the Clown Girl", and her love interest is the brooding vigilante Owlman.
90* In one issue of Greg Rucka's ''ComicBook/DetectiveComics'', Two-Face creates a comic book called ''The Adventures of Copernicus Dent with his Best Girl and Plucky Assistant R'Nee'' in Arkham Asylum's art therapy program. The hero Copernicus Dent is drawn to look like Harvey Dent without any scarring, while the villain Janus is entirely scarred all over. R'Nee is clearly named after Renee Montoya, whom Two-Face was infatuated with, but the character is a redheaded DamselInDistress.
91* ''ComicBook/MickeyMouseComicUniverse'': One series of Italian stories has Goofy as a passionate hobby writer, who every so often insists on reading Mickey his latest finished story. He experiments with a lot of different genres (epic fantasy, mystery noir, globetrotting adventure), but what stays consistent is that all the stories are riddled with plot holes and [[InUniverseFactoidFailure factual errors]] to the point of becoming nonsensical... and that the main characters are always thinly-veiled [[{{Expy}} Expies]] of Goofy and Mickey, with the Goofy expy being the best, the brightest, the toughest and the one who is always right about everything, while the Mickey expy is the hapless sidekick who makes all the mistakes and is constantly in need of rescue.
92[[/folder]]
93
94[[folder:Comic Strips]]
95* A regular gag in ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'':
96** The [[TropeNamers Trope Namer]] is an arc called ''His Code Name Was the Fox,'' in which Roger Fox wrote a hilariously horrible spy novel featuring himself as a ''Franchise/JamesBond'' clone, complete with unflappable calm, hyper-intelligent problem-solving skills, and women falling all over him. As expected, his wife (a professional writer) suffered a HeroicBSOD while reading it.
97--->'''Roger''': I heard retching. Did you get to the part where he gets tortured?\
98'''Andy''': Oh, ''he'' gets tortured too?
99** Jason does this all the time as well, such as a strip where he wrote a proposal for a new ''Franchise/StarWars'' Special Edition...with himself slipped in as Jason Skywalker, Luke's younger brother who sides with Vader, becomes Darth Jason, and still manages to escape the second Death Star. Suffice it to say, Lucasfilm's response was negative.
100--->'''Jason:''' ''(reading the reply)'': "Unfortunately, all editing was finished by the time we received your letter, so we had no choice but to turn down your proposal."\
101'''Peter:''' ''(looking at the letter)'': That's not an 'un,' it's a little blob of toner.
102** When Paige tries writing, she ends up making a standard fantasy story with herself as the damsel, her imaginary perfect man Pierre as a KnightInShiningArmor named 'Sir Galahunk', and Jason as a troll. The knight even briefly struggled with sparing the troll or leaving him for the boars, until real-world Jason showed up with Quincy by his side. Paige's response: "Do you know if they make 'boar whistles'?"
103** There's also the variation when Jason will make fanfic works (movies, comics, etc.) starring Paige, usually as some sort of horrible abomination. His proposal for ''Titanic II,'' for example, starts with a ship twice as good as the original... only to have disaster strike when Paige introduces herself as a passenger.
104** This also applies to Jason's comic book ''Slugman'', whose arch rival is Paige-O-Tron, an airheaded robot with exploding pimple bullets, an obsession with shopping, and the ability to chatter people into madness. Not to mention his and Marcus' ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' games tend to feature Paige-themed monsters.
105* In ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', Calvin's many alter egos only ever lose because of the RealitySubtext. The most frequently-seen ones are Spaceman Spiff (a 1950s comic-style space explorer), Stupendous Man (a superhero), and Tracer Bullet (a FilmNoir-style detective).
106* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'':
107** Snoopy has his "Joe Cool" alter-ego, in which he believes himself to be the BigManOnCampus.
108** Snoopy frequently imagines himself as a daring action hero in his stories. His manuscripts are always rejected by the publishers in increasingly creative ways. This runs counter to the other RunningGag of his inability to get past "It was a dark and stormy night".
109** In addition to Snoopy himself as The UsefulNotes/WorldWarI Flying Ace, his story about "two brothers and their sister meeting in France during World War One" had the other two siblings played by Spike and Belle. Reference is also made to Spike fighting heroically in the trenches while Snoopy engages in his aerial dogfights.
110[[/folder]]
111
112[[folder:Fanfiction]]
113* There's a category of fanfic written as if by a canon character, often making use of this trope.
114** One example is the ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' fanfic ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/358068 basically a story about a prince and a mutant an their shenanigans]]'', written in-character as Eridan Ampora, using the FunetikAksent that he types in. An excerpt:
115--->Many [[{{Microts}} swweeps]] ago he wwas betrothed to a beautiful princess, but the flighty broad basically thought she wwas better off wwith some [[FantasticCasteSystem mustardblooded peasantry]] scum or WWHATEVVER ok wwe’re sorta getting off track here the point is she bailed on him an after a wwhile a mopin the prince decided he’d probably only been in lovve wwith the IDEA of bein in lovve wwith her. I mean if she left him to go frolic wwith some pathetic loser nerd of a— yeah. Anywway. He didn’t havve nobody an he wwas fuckin lonely an sad but still vvery handsome let’s not forget that.
116** Another example is the appropriately-named ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3568771 Write a Fanfic]]'', written by not one, but three canon characters. An excerpt:
117--->''quit hogging the keyboard, sockhead! let me have a go! after the zombies or whatever'd been taken care of, my brother came back! so I said "hey bro", and he said "Eddy! You're so cool and not a pipsqueak! i wanna be just like you, so here's the keys to my new monster truck!" so I said, all cool-like "thanks, but you can keep 'em. cause I've got this rocket car!" and then we went rocketing in the rocket car, so the other kids gave us all their money, and they kissed my feet''\
118You keep coming back to that, don't you Eddy?\
119''quiet! so we were in the rocket car, when ed said "gravy!" and double dee said "messy messy messy," and i said "shut up and keep flying!" but then we crashlanded because of stupid kevin's ginormus chin, but then he was struck by lightning! along with sarah, jimmy and the kanker sisters!''\
120'''AN WE AL LIVD HAPILY EVAH AVTR, THE ED.'''\
121No, no, no! This was supposed to be a, a, story! Not some concoction of fantasy and wish fulfillment! Why, if I were a publisher, I'd\
122''let's see you do better, dickens.''
123** In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/3334397 PYRO MEETS THE ENTERPRISE by PYRO]]'', [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 the Pyro]] is [[InformedAttractiveness very handsome]] (even though he wears a mask) and [[HumorDissonance very funny]] and saves everyone hooray!
124** ''[[https://www.deviantart.com/whiskersdadeviantkat/art/DUFFY-DA-PARTIT-917439956 DUFFY DA PARTIT]]'', as written by [[Manga/OnePiece Luffy]], is a story where the titular pirate gets captured by Marines, but quickly saves the day with a little help from his crew.
125* In ''FanFic/TheAwkwardAdventuresOfMeghanWhimblesby'', Andrea writes fan fiction for ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', and inserts Meghan as a side character. Andrea is a Legolas fan and likes to ship her main characters with Legolas. These stories bore Meghan, who cannot expect the next surprise: Meghan is about to [[TrappedInAnotherWorld fall into Middle-earth]] and encounter Legolas.
126* [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10849720/1/Another-Life Another Life]] switches between the adventures of Sarillienne Slade-Browneford at Hogwarts and the real life of her alter ego, Sara Brown.
127* In [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12153324/1/No-Woman-Am-I this]] Lord of the Rings fanfic, teenaged Faramir wrote a story wherein a blatant self-insert is ravished by a fierce shieldmaiden. Years later, [[HilarityEnsues Éowyn finds it.]] Adult Faramir is mortified, as they are not even a couple at the time.
128* In [[https://badbadbathhouse.livejournal.com/1225.html?thread=4717001#t4717001 this]] ''VideoGame/Persona4'' fanfic, Yosuke writes a screenplay loosely based on the Investigation Team's adventures and submits it to a studio under a pseudonym, where it ends up being greenlit for a movie adaptation. In it, the main character (Yosuke's counterpart) is TheAce, the most popular guy in town, and everyone else on the team (and we mean ''[[EvenTheGuysWantHim everyone]]'') is in love with him. Other character changes include Naoto's counterpart being a villain who gets a HighHeelFaceTurn, Teddie's counterpart being a girl in a large bunny suit (and yes, [[MsFanservice she's still naked under the mascot costume]]), Nanako's counterpart acting like a brat, Adachi's counterpart being non-existent (he's apparently being saved for a potential sequel), and ''Dojima's'' counterpart being the twist villain. [[{{Deconstruction}} It becomes deconstructed in that]], unfortunately for Yosuke, Rise gets cast as Yukiko's counterpart, and once she realizes what's going on, [[HilarityEnsues she invites the rest of the Investigation Team to watch it with her before it hits theaters]]. Not only does the rest of the investigation team end up absolutely ''skewering'' the deeply flawed screenplay as the self-indulgent egocentric tripe that it really is, but this screenplay ends up severely damaging Yosuke's friendship with Yu and everyone else. Even though the film ends up being a success (being mistakenly seen as a parody of terrible indulgent media), [[ThousandYardStare Yosuke is noted by his former friends as having a slightly empty look in his eyes]] due to losing all of his close friends as a result, [[PyrrhicVictory having traded the close bond they had for short-sighted fame and riches.]]
129* In ''Fanfic/ASecondChance'', while being stuck as the storyteller for a group of hospitalized kids, [[OriginalCharacter Ryan]] recounts a very embellished version of his first encounter with [[SavageWolves One Eye]], where he frames himself as a [[ManlyMan muscle-bound Rambo copy]] and effortlessly beats up the wolf, here depicted as a [[{{Kaiju}} behemoth with saber-teeth and spikes covering his back]], after the latter kidnapped his friends, that being [[ActionGirl Lynn]], here shown as a [[ScreamingWoman hysterical]] DamselInDistress [[GirlinessUpgrade wearing a red dress]], [[NonActionGuy Lincoln]], [[CharacterExaggeration here depicted as wearing a diaper and suckling on a pacifier]], and [[BigBrotherWorship Lucy and Lana]], [[HeroWorshipper who are manic, cheering fans who even dress like Ryan]].
130[[/folder]]
131
132[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
133* The [[ShowWithinAShow play]] written by Christian (Ewan [=McGregor=]) in ''Film/MoulinRouge'' features a courtesan who must choose between a poor-but-honest sitar player and a rich, cruel maharaja. Coincidentally, the play is the plot of the movie itself, predicting his love affair with Satine (Nicole Kidman), who is supposed to be the romantic property of The Duke (Richard Roxburgh). Everyone but The Duke knows what's going on, and even ''he'' wises up by the end. (Ironically, The Duke also serves as a short-lived but very-influential Author Sue, as his only contribution to the play's story--"And in the end, should someone die?"--is played out with [[DownerEnding tragic consequences]].)
134* The Creator/AdamSandler film ''Film/BedtimeStories2008'' has the main character of Skeeter tell his nephew and niece WishFulfillment fantasies with him in the starring role. They include such memorable moments as "Skeeticus" in Roman times creating an improvised set of ramps and jumping over a dozen elephants Evel Knievel-style on a horse carriage. Although this trope is subverted in the first story.
135* The film ''Film/{{Manhattan}}'' famously opened with Creator/WoodyAllen's character writing a novel with himself as the lead.
136-->'''Isaac Davis:''' ... "Chapter One. He was as tough and romantic as the city he loved. Beneath his black-rimmed glasses was the coiled sexual power of a jungle cat" - I love this! - "New York was his town, and it always would be..."
137** Meanwhile, Isaac's lesbian ex-wife Jill (Creator/MerylStreep) is writing a ''roman à clef'' of her own, to his great consternation.
138** Allen's ''Deconstructing Harry'' is all about the alienation the title character, another writer, suffers from friends and family as a result of this.
139* ''Film/TheMummyTombOfTheDragonEmperor'' opens with Evelyn reading one of the books she wrote based on her experience in the previous two films to a collection of fans. One of them asks if she based the main female character on herself, with Evelyn completely denying it. Possibly a subtle reference to the fact that Evelyn was played by Rachel Weisz in the first two movies, but by Maria Bello in this one, so from the actress's point of view, the main female character during those events WAS somebody else.
140* Diane Keaton's character in ''Film/SomethingsGottaGive'' writes a play which is a dramatization of everything that had happened in the movie up to that point, except that she has the expy of Jack Nicholson's character die because it's "[[RuleOfFunny funnier]]" that way (they end up together, of course). It plays on Broadway and is lauded as brilliant. Diane Keaton's character is an established and well-regarded playwright, though.
141* This is pretty much the whole plot of the film ''Film/AlexAndEmma'', where Alex writes out a book in which every character has a real-life counterpart and events are based on happenings in his life. This turns out to work against him when Emma, his real-world love, encounters the real-life version of the other woman...
142* The film version of ''Film/TheDisasterArtist'', which details the making of worst-film-ever ''Film/TheRoom2003'', has the actors openly discuss the Mary Sue-ishness of Wiseau's screenplay.
143* ''Read It And Weep'', a Disney Channel movie, is a {{Deconstruction}} of such Mary Sue wish fulfillment that runs on ProtagonistCenteredMorality: an [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent teenage girl]] has a journal filled with fantasies about her avatar "Iz" acing all of her classes, getting the guy she wanted, "zapping away" the AlphaBitch, and generally [[WishFulfillment getting just about everything she wanted]]. When the journal gets mistakenly published instead of her homework, it becomes a big hit with everyone, until the girl [[AccidentalPublicConfession accidentally reveals on a talk show that the characters in the journal were based on people she knows in]] RealLife. While Iz seems to be encouraging the writer to "stand up for herself", she really just embodies petty and vindictive revenge fantasies. Knowing this causes everyone in school to shun the writer (including her friends), who has to choose between friendship and popularity.
144* In the German film ''Die Zürcher Verlobung'', Lilo Pulver plays a freelance writer who falls in love with a Swiss doctor (Paul Hubschmid) after briefly meeting him and writes a screenplay about a young woman falling in love with a conductor that is based on that meeting and how she wants that romance to continue. The screenplay is accepted by the doctor's friend, a movie director (played by Bernhard Wicki before he became one in real life), who is also represented in the screenplay as the hero's annoying sidekick. As the romantic complications of screenwriter, doctor, and director are reflected in the rewrites, both stories move to a conclusion not originally envisaged.
145* The scripts written by the female lead in ''Film/MySassyGirl''.
146* A rare professional example: in ''Film/YoungAdult'', Mavis is writing a book based on her perception of the events of the film. Like herself, her main character is also trying to get back together with an ex who is now with someone else. She also goes out of her way to make sure the reader knows that her Mary Sue character is, like, so popular, just so very popular, she was even voted Most Popular at a school she doesn't go to.
147* A variation exists in ''Film/{{Amelie}}'' where Amelie has multiple ImagineSpot moments where she watches documentaries about Lady Diana and puts herself into them. While one such spot obviously leads to Amelie getting a DownerEnding, she nonetheless becomes a Mary Sue in those spots as the documentary narration makes her into a selfless martyr that the world can't go on without.
148* At the end of ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', Loki has exiled and impersonated Odin. In ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', Thor arrives in Asgard and finds Loki-as-Odin hosting a play that's a recap of the previous film, only rewritten by him to depict himself as a Woobie who heroically saved Asgard. Thor is unimpressed.
149* ''Film/AGunForGeorge'' is a dark {{Deconstruction}} of this trope and Mary Sues as a concept; Terry Finch is a [[TwoFistedTales pulp “Men’s Action”]] writer who’s trademark character, [[VigilanteMan The Reprisalizer]], is very obviously his AuthorAvatar designed to carry out all his disturbingly lurid revenge fantasies. As the film progresses, Terry’s [[SanitySlippage ability to discern fiction from reality degrades more and more]], [[spoiler:with the ending heavily implying that he’s becoming a vigilante and going to start murdering “bad guys” (I.e. [[DisproportionateRetribution anybody who pisses him off in any way whatsoever]]) for real.]]
150* ''Film/Shazam2019'''s CreativeClosingCredits are an animation of Billy's notebook doodles. In the story therein, Shazam faces exaggerated versions of his challenges in the movies [[spoiler:with his foster family]], easily outshines ComicBook/{{Superman}}, ComicBook/{{Batman}} and ComicBook/TheFlash [[spoiler:(It's actually Darla who outruns the Flash, but she has the same power set as Shazam)]] and takes ComicBook/WonderWoman to the prom.
151* Roy, from ''Film/ShanghaiNoon'', writes a series of pulp novels based on his adventures with Chon - in the books, he presents himself as an all-competent hero and portrays Chon as a [[EthnicScrappy racist stereotype]].
152[[/folder]]
153
154[[folder:Literature]]
155* Maddy, the heroine of Mari Mancusi's ''Literature/GamerGirl2008'', creates a manga based on the romance between her online MMORPG avatar ("Allora") and her avatar's love interest ("Sir Leo"), who [[spoiler: turns out to actually be her real-life crush.]]
156* In ''Stuff: The Life of a Cool Demented Dude'', the main character writes a comic starring the girl he has a crush on as a superhero, where all the characters are thinly veiled fantasy versions of his family and friends.
157* Gilderoy Lockhart in ''Literature/HarryPotter''. Except that he was writing memoirs [[spoiler: which were actually about heroic deeds done by other people.]]
158* A variation occurs in the YA novel ''My Angelica.'' OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Sage is writing a romance novel, with an ''enormous'' Mary Sue as the heroine (that, and her story is chock-full of factual inaccuracies...) We see snippets of at least two ''more'' novels she's working on, with a Mary Sue based on her friend Cherri in one, [[spoiler:''possibly'' a double-whammy Sue-team in her newest idea, based on herself and her VictoriousChildhoodFriend. Of course, by now her writing and characterization has probably improved a bit, so...]]
159* In ''Literature/MovingPictures'', the Librarian, an ape with a vocabulary of "Oook", was working on a screenplay for a click about a [[InvertedTrope young ape who was orphaned in the big city]] and [[Franchise/{{Tarzan}} grew up to speak the language of humans]].
160* In ''Literature/TheBabySittersClub'', Mallory writes a play that makes her look ideal. Her family? Not so much.
161* In ''[[Literature/HilaryTamar The Sirens Sang Of Murder]]'' by Sarah Caudwell, barristers Julia and Cantrip are working on a pulpy novel called ''Chancery!'', where the protagonists are thinly veiled versions of themselves, except far more competent.
162* Cecily of Literature/GemmaDoyle makes one, named Cecile. [[SnarkKnight Gemma]] mocks it mercilessly.
163* Jane in ''The Penderwicks'' has Sabrina Starr. Interestingly, only the mean person ever says her work is bad. Her whole family raves about it, apparently sincerely... even though the snippets we get all indicate that her work is, at most, no better than you'd expect from a ten-year-old. Hard to tell whether the author intends the readers to work out the truth or not. Maybe it's just her family being polite because she's ten?
164* In Andy Griffiths' "Just Disgusting", Andy makes himself one in his short story. He is more intelligent than all the world's top scientists combined and he can make a time machine out of random household objects. He is also extremely handsome, a fast runner, and a qualified field operations commander, among other things. (Keep in mind that he can't be more than twelve.)
165* In Ellen Conford's ''The Revenge of the Incredible Dr. Rancid and His Youthful Assistant, Jeffrey'' whenever title character Jeffrey Childs feels stressed he writes stories which center on him and the imaginary Dr. Rancid saving his crush from the evil clutches of the school bully, Dewey Belasco.
166* ''Literature/{{Bunnicula}}'': James Howe's spinoff series ''Tales From The House of Bunnicula'' series presents the journal entries of a dachshund puppy named Howie who wants to be a writer, interspersed with the actual story he is writing. The stories themselves are amateurish attempts at science fiction and horror, all starring a flawless, universally admired dachshund named Howie.
167* In Gillian Flynn's ''Literature/GoneGirl'' and its movie adaptation, Amy's parents have done this on her behalf, writing books about a character called "Amazing Amy" who always does things a little better than her and makes what they think are better choices. Being compared to her fictional counterpart kind of screws the real Amy up. Just how much becomes apparent over time.
168* In Edward Eager's ''Seven-Day Magic'' Barnabus, one of several children who happen to check out a magical library book, spends his spare time working on a fantasy story called "Barnabus the Wanderer."
169* In ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', Dante is a literal self-insert so he can meet his favorite poets and put down all the popes he doesn't like. His guide Virgil is one of the poets Dante greatly admires, while Pope Boniface VIII, who helped get Dante exiled from his home city, was in the 8th circle of hell, face down in a stone tube with flames engulfing his feet.
170* In ''Literature/TheWorstThingAboutMySister'', Marty creates a superhero named "Mighty Mart", which is clearly based on herself.
171* PlayedForDrama in ''Literature/TheIronDream'', where UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler becomes a science fiction author. His novel contains a Marty Stu based on himself exterminating an AlwaysChaoticEvil race based on [[SpaceJews Jews]].
172* The second half of ''Literature/TheNeverendingStory'' features a magical version when Bastian enters Fantastica and gets all his (even unconscious) wishes fulfilled. He naturally doesn't want to be a scared loser like he has been, so wish by wish, he becomes handsome, strong, brave, unbeatable in battle, famed for his wisdom, and so on. Of course, this is PowerAtAPrice and ends up being one big lesson in BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor, including a nearly fatal case of AcquiredSituationalNarcissism.
173[[/folder]]
174
175[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
176* In the Hallmark version of ''Series/ArabianNights'', when Scheherezade comes to the part of the slave girl Morgiana in "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves", she takes the time to describe the girl's intelligence and beauty. As the Sultan states "she sounds like you", Morgiana turns around and she's played by the same actress. Scheherezade hurriedly insists "she wasn't like me at all", and Morgiana is replaced with a different actress. Later in the story, Morgiana's sexy dance that exposes Black Koda and saves everyone is intercut with Scheherezade dancing for the Sultan.
177%%* On ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'', the warden writes a play called "New Warden".
178* A recurring thread on ''Series/BarneyMiller'' involved Harris' writing and eventual publication of a novel based on his experiences with the precinct called ''Blood on the Badge''. It occasionally leads to conflict with people he knows:
179** Chano is incensed to discover that Harris included a real-life incident in which Chano captured a famous criminal -- only to replace Chano with his own AuthorAvatar.
180** A recurring AmbulanceChaser defense attorney sues Harris for the thinly-veiled depiction of him in the book.
181** Harris starts [[invoked]]HypotheticalCasting for a film version, and picks Charles Nelson Reilly as Dietrich because he's "mad at him".
182* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'':
183** In the pilot, Penny tells Leonard and Sheldon about a story she wrote about a girl who bears a striking similarity to herself. She fails to see the similarities.
184** In "The Thespian Catalyst", in order to practice his performance skills, Sheldon makes a play out of a story he wrote as a child, "Where No Sheldon Has Gone Before". In it, Spock from ''Franchise/StarTrek'' takes 10-year-old Sheldon into the future so his genius can bring peace to "a vast and troubled galaxy", while his mother calls herself "a religious nut" and is happy to see him go save the future. Penny suggesting that his mother should have a more emotional reaction to her son leaving causes Sheldon to get too in-character and suffer an emotional breakdown, necessitating a call with his real mother.
185** Amy writes FanFiction about a girl living in the 1800s who finds a time-traveling physicist called Cooper in her yard.
186** Leonard starts working on a novel about a [[ScienceHero crime-solving physicist]] with a [[BiggerIsBetterInBed "bigger-than-average" penis]]. His friends are reduced to villains and stereotypes. He ''claims'' the abrasive {{love interest}} is based on Penny, but she thinks the character acts more like Bernadette. In the end, Leonard realizes she's ''actually'' based on [[FreudWasRight his mom]], and decides to stop working on the book.
187* In the ''Series/{{Blackadder}} the Third'' episode "Ink and Incapability", Edmund declares that he's just finished an epic novel titled ''Edmund: A Butler's Tale'', under the pseudonym "Gertrude Perkins" (women writers were all the rage those days). We never hear any excerpts, but Creator/SamuelJohnson describes it as "a huge roller coaster of a novel crammed with sizzling gypsies" and is eager to patronize it. Only he can't, because [[spoiler:Baldrick threw the only copy on the fire]].
188%%* In ''Series/BlackBooks'', Bernard's RevengeFic against a publishing company.
189* ''Series/BlackMirror'': In "USS Callister", nerdy immature game designer Robert Daly's PlayerCharacter, "Captain Daly", is handsome, witty, powerful, intelligent, and always right. The female crew members melt in his arms, while the male crewmembers constantly praise his brilliance while chastising themselves for doubting him. His villain is a buffoon who exists to be repeatedly foiled and humiliated by his quick wit. The catch is that Daly is a CruelPlayerCharacterGod who sadistically torments the ''sentient'' digital clones of his co-workers if they don't play along.
190* In ''Series/{{Bones}}'', Dr. Brennan is a successful novelist whose books star a fictionalized version of herself named Kathy Reichs. She later reveals that she's mostly interested in writing about science and had Angela help her with the character bits, which turn out to be more popular (and cause her to badger Brennan for a cut of the proceeds). Interestingly, ''Bones'' itself is based on a series of books written by... Kathy Reichs. But the TV Brennan is more like the real Kathy Reichs, while the book Brennan is more like the Kathy Reichs from the TV show's fictional book series. [[MindScrew Your brain has permission to hurt.]]
191* ''Series/BreakingBad'':
192** Jesse shows his landlady Jane the drawings of awesome superheroes he invented as a child. Jane notices that they all look like him.
193** When Skyler starts helping Walt cover up his criminal activities, the cover stories she spins are long, elaborate, and always paint Walt in a negative light while making her come off as pure and blameness. Walt notices and suggests changes that make him more sympathetic, but Skyler always refuses. And she's right to do so, as if Walt looked too good, people would be more likely to suspect he's lying.
194* In ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'', the title character is writing the crime novel series ''Nikki Heat'', whose protagonist is based on Beckett, the police officer he's shadowing for material. And most of her colleagues at the 12th precinct also have analogues in the series, even minor recurring characters. Castle inserts himself into the series as IntrepidReporter Jameson Rook, whom Nikki Heat immediately falls for (it takes her real-life counterpart a lot longer). But other than that, Rook is shown as ''less'' competent than Castle in several ways, frequently screwing up and failing to spot clues, while Castle himself is shown as a competent investigator in his own right. Interestingly, the ''Nikki Heat'' series has subsequently been {{Defictionaliz|ation}}ed.
195* ''Series/{{Chuck}}'' Bartowski's alter ego that he uses on spy missions is "Charles Carmichael", a Mary Sue version of himself. His continued success as a field agent has led to Carmichael becoming a ShroudedInLegend super-spy.
196* ''Series/TheColbertReport'': Stephen's [[FictionalDocument fictional]] ''Tek Jansen'' novel series (including ''[[ColonCancer Stephen Colbert's Alpha Squad 7: Lady Nocturne: A Tek Jansen Adventure]]'') stars Tek Jansen, a "super-awesome spectacular ultra-spy" who [[AuthorAvatar physically resembles (and is voiced by) Colbert]] and who has "obviously had hundreds of girlfriends." It's one of Colbert's many send-ups of Creator/BillOReilly, who once wrote a book like this for real. Tek Jansen has since been {{Defictionaliz|ation}}ed in animated shorts and comic books.
197* ''Series/{{Community}}'':
198** Abed makes several short web movies about the gang that actually predict plot points -- and in which Abed portrays himself as a Mary Sue with magical powers. You can watch them online yourself if you're so inclined.
199** "Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps" features each member of the study group telling a scary story. In every one, the characters of the story are [[WriteWhatYouKnow clearly analogous to]] (and played by) members of the study group. Every one has elements of this, but the worst offender is Pierce, who tells a story about Magnum, a young, virile man who is still relevant, pausing from having sex with three women at once to beat up a pair of gun-wielding hoodlums with his GagPenis. The runner-up is Shirley, who tells a ''Literature/LeftBehind''-esque story about a bunch of jerks who bullied their nice Christian friend who definitely isn't named Shirley, but then [[CaughtUpInTheRapture the Rapture comes]], and she saves them from Satan with her powers of faith just long enough to forgive them for mocking her, before going to Heaven and [[HypocriticalHumor leaving them all to be horribly tortured by Satan]].
200* In ''Series/{{Cybill}}'', Ira writes a book about his marriage to Cybill, with him as a Mary Sue.
201* The short-lived 1995 UPN show ''Series/DeadlyGames'' is about the protagonist's video game [[TheGameComeToLife being brought to life]]. The game itself is very much like this; the protagonist is a hero named "the Cold-Steel Kid", his ex-wife is the love interest, and the villains are all people he knows and dislikes for very petty reasons.
202* ''Series/DoctorWho'': What few bits we hear of River Song's detective novel in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E5TheAngelsTakeManhattan "The Angels Take Manhattan"]] are mostly about how incredibly cool and impossibly sexy her main character Melody Malone is, who is basically herself. The Doctor claims to [[PerverseSexualLust fancy the character]]. The [[{{Defictionalization}} Defictionalised]] book is also mainly about how sexy Melody is, mixed up with stuff about Melody flirting outrageously with various disgustingly hot rich people who all adore her, and [[StylisticSuck torturously uncool]] PrivateEyeMonologue sections, but it seems [[TheyPlottedAPerfectlyGoodWaste River was intentionally writing in a campy style for humour]], as she's very good when she concentrates.
203* In ''Series/{{Extras}}'', Creator/PatrickStewart is working on a script about a man who uses his incredible psychic powers to do nothing more than [[WishFulfillment insert himself into a football match]] to score the winning goal, and go around repeatedly making [[TheNudifier women's clothes fall off]]. Needless to say, he has written the role for himself.
204* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' plays with this trope in an episode where John and Chiana get trapped in a virtual-reality game based on John's life, but programmed by Stark. The only way to leave the game is to kiss the princess -- except [[spoiler:while John assumes it will be Aeryn, it turns out to mean Zhaan, Stark's princess]].
205* ''Series/{{Frasier}}[=/=]Series/{{Cheers}}'':
206** In the last episode of ''Cheers'', Diane is seen winning a Cable ACE Award for a MadeForTVMovie she authored called ''The Heart Held Hostage'', the central character of which is a thinly-veiled version of fellow barmaid Carla.
207** In the ''Frasier'' episode "The Show Where Diane Comes Back", Diane is revealed to have written a play based heavily on her experiences in ''Cheers'', with {{Exp|y}}ies of all the show's characters, Frasier included. Diane becomes "Mary-Anne", who is the smartest person in the bar; everyone adores her, even "Franklin", who doesn't mind that she [[RunawayBride left him at the altar]] for another man. Frasier sees right through it, and given that Diane did exactly that to him and he's ''not'' over it, has a chance to spew one of the show's hammiest and funniest {{The Reason You Suck Speech}}es:
208--->'''Actor Franklin:''' Could we just stop for a second? This whole "getting left at the altar" thing -- I just don't know what I'm supposed to be feeling.\
209'''Frasier:''' ''[[IncomingHam I...]]'' may be able to illuminate that for you! What you are feeling is that this woman has ''reached'' into your chest, ''plucked'' out your heart, and ''thrown'' it to her hellhounds for a chew toy! And it's not the last time, either. Because that's what this woman is! ''She is the devil!'' There's no use running away from her, because no matter how far you go, no matter how many years you let pass, you will never be completely out of reach of ''those bony fingers''! So drink heart, Franklin, and laugh! Because you have made a [[DealWithTheDevil pact with Beelzebub]]... and her name is ''Mary-Anne''!
210** ''Frasier'' reveals that Frasier and Niles, when they were kids, co-wrote a series of ''Literature/TheHardyBoys''-style books called ''The Crane Boys Mysteries'' about "two plucky lads who used their keen psychological insights to solve crimes brought home by their detective father".
211* In ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Joey writes a play as a transparent ploy to try to make Ross and Chandler make up (and Rachel and Monica [[GirlOnGirlIsHot make out]]), in which he is introduced as "a handsome man" whom all the other characters compliment. Indeed, he injects himself into the threesome that he writes for Monica and Rachel.
212* In ''Series/GarthMarenghisDarkplace'', the eponymous character wrote the ShowWithinAShow in which he stars. Guess whose character is the MartyStu leading man?
213* In ''Series/GossipGirl'', Dan is supposed to be a talented aspiring writer, but when the camera catches a page of his most recent novel, it's a thinly-veiled retelling of recent events from his life in toe-curlingly awful prose. Only in season five does anyone call him on it, when Blair calls his book a "memoir masquerading as fiction". The few things Dan invents are also in line with the trope: [[spoiler:Blair's character has sex with Dan's, when her real-life counterpart has made it abundantly clear that she's not interested, and Chuck's character commits suicide and isn't found for days because he's just ''that'' lonely]].
214* One episode of ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' was centered around a RomanticComedy film named ''The Wedding Bride'' turning out to be one of these written by Ted's ex-fiancée's husband.
215* In ''Series/ILoveLucy'', Lucy decides to write an autobiography, in which she makes herself a gorgeous red-headed goddess and Ethel, Fred, and Ricky incompetent, unlikeable buffoons. She doesn't even care to get the details right (for instance, writing Ricky as arriving in America alone by boat in Ellis Island when he immigrated by plane with several family members). Her friends dispose of the manuscript, only for Lucy to smugly announce that she got a publishing deal, and they hastily try to put it back together so that Lucy can get paid. But the publisher later reveals that he wanted only to publish excerpts for their ''How to Write a Novel'' series -- in particular, the chapter "Don't Let This Happen to You".
216* In "the Nightman Cometh", the season 4 finale of ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'', Charlie expands the song "Dayman" that he and Dennis wrote in an earlier episode into a full musical. The main character is clearly a SympatheticSue version of himself and the plot revolves around his [[StalkerWithACrush obsessive attachment]] to the Waitress (whose character sings a song expressing her true feelings of longing for his). Charlie begs her to attend the performance and reserves her a seat front-and-center, hoping that she'll be so moved that she'll finally realize they were meant to be together. Awkward HilarityEnsues. Perhaps more disturbingly, the other large part of the play's plot revolves around the main character getting molested by the titular villain (well, Charlie insists that isn't what's happening, but nobody believes him), who is heavily implied to be at least partly based on Charlie's CreepyUncle Jack.
217* In ''Series/LoisAndClark'', Lois is perpetually writing a romance novel. In a later season, Jimmy cracks her password ([[ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish "Superman"]]) and reveals that the main character's love interests are named "Clark" and "Kent". One is reliable and strong (her relationship with Superman), and the other is kind but flaky (her relationship with Clark).
218* In one episode of ''Series/TheLoveBoat'', Isaac tries his hand at writing, but can't decide on the genre (his opening paragraphs, as read by other crew members, are all examples of StylisticSuck). He finally turns to a textbook example of this trope; Gopher's name is changed to "Muskrat", etc. His fellow crew members are not amused.
219* ''Series/TheLWord''
220** The first season featured a running arc where Jenny writes a story titled "Thus Spoke Sarah Shuster", where the heroine is a thinly-veiled version of herself. She is critiqued on it (and the title) in a second-season episode.
221** Done in an even bigger way in the later seasons with Jenny writing a book (which gets made into a movie that she gets to cast and direct) featuring thinly-veiled copies of the entire main cast, with her as the Mary Sue. Then taken to the next level as Jenny begins having sex with "Jessie", her on-screen Mary Sue.
222* In the first season of ''Series/MadMen'', Paul Kinsey is revealed at the 1960 election party to have written a one-act play entitled ''Death Is My Client'', about an ad man named Peter Tollifson who is "an animal in the boardroom and in the bedroom" and impossibly brilliant. Some of the cast actually ends up doing a staged reading of it later that night, with a deathly serious Kinsey himself directing.
223* Not quite writing his own story, but in ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'', Malcolm plays a game called [[VideoGame/TheSims "The Virts"]] where he can set the stats of the various characters, and he sets his character's Intelligence and Attractiveness (if not everything) to 10 while giving more realistic or even spiteful stats to the rest his family. Subverted in that everything he tries to do to make his character better and bring down his family ends up backfiring, making his family rich and successful, while [=GameMalcolm=] becomes depressed, hideously fat, and suicidal. Malcolm is obviously distressed over this development.
224* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'':
225** After an unsuccessful audition, Kelly banters with the show's producer and pitches him on a show about her dysfunctional family and its antics -- portraying herself as an intellectual in a sea of idiots. Then she discovers that the producer has actually made the show but is shocked to see that it accurately portrays her as a brainless slut.
226** Peggy draws a comic strip about a loser who so greatly resembles Al that people recognize him on the street. Al is rather upset by this, until he finds out that he has inadvertently become a [[KavorkaMan sex symbol]] as a result.
227* On ''Series/MurphyBrown'', Jim Dial wrote a spy thriller with a central character based strongly on himself that caused his wife to think he was having an affair with Murphy as, without realizing it, he had based the love interest on Murphy.
228* Randy's story in the ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'' episode "Creative Writing" stars Randy. He has incredible superpowers, he's got a monkey as a driver, he beats up Joy, and it's full of StylisticSuck dialogue. In this case, Earl actually loves the story, mainly because he's stuck with writer's block.
229* In ''Series/TheNanny'', Niles wrote a play starring himself, as the butler, and Fran was a secondary character.
230* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' has [=McGee=] publishing a successful novel. All the characters are based on himself and his fellow agents. We never get to find out too much about the book, but it doesn't sound like he gave himself the full treatment, instead glorifying his version of Gibbs. He does, however, express his feelings on others in full, leading to some interesting interactions:
231** He notes his suspicion that Ziva likes [=DiNozzo=]. They retaliate by throwing [=McGee=] into the back of a van with no seat belt, while [=DiNozzo=] -- for the only time in the series -- willingly hands the keys to [[DrivesLikeCrazy Ziva]].
232** Ducky's assistant Palmer notes that there's a character in the book called "Pimmy Jalmer" who's [[ILoveTheDead a necrophiliac]]. [=McGee=] insists that it's based on someone else who's really named "Pimmy".
233** One episode reveals that he's apparently set up a ShipTease between his AuthorAvatar [=McGregor=] and [[PerkyGoth Abby]]'s character. When he's writing the sequel, the VillainOfTheWeek turns out to be a LoonyFan who steals his drafts and notices that the characters break up, and [[InsaneTrollLogic somehow concludes]] that Abby's character will kill [=McGregor=] in retaliation, so he has to kill Abby in real life to save [=McGee=]. [=McGee=] accedes to the villain's demands and has them get married instead, only for [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Abby to complain that it ignores established characterization]]. He also toys with the idea of killing of [=McGregor=] off himself, but rejects it "because everyone likes him so much."
234* Max Hammer, the star of Noah's webcomic in ''Series/NoahAndSaskia'', is very much an idealized version of Noah as he wishes he really was. The villains tend to be caricatures of his family. Or Ernesto.
235* On ''Series/NYPDBlue'', former detective now private investigator Mike Roberts writes some detective stories with an obvious AuthorAvatar main character and other characters modeled after cops he used to work with. It's actually kind of poignant, as the AuthorAvatar shares a camaraderie with the other cops that Roberts never had.
236* One episode of ''Series/TheOfficeUS'' has regional manager Michael Scott out of his office. While innocently searching his desk for something else, the staff finds his screenplay ''Threat Level: Midnight'', in which "FBI Detective Michael Scarn" saves the world while romancing Creator/CatherineZetaJones. Everyone in the office helped him film it over the ensuing years, culminating in a triumphant screening.
237%%* Julia writes several of these stories in ''Series/PartyOfFive.''
238* In ''Series/PeepShow'', Mark briefly considers writing a play about a "Genius unappreciated in his own time named Mark Borrigan who loves, or maybe hates chips". Subverted in that he grimly claims that it is never going to happen.
239* Rimmer's diaries in ''Series/RedDwarf'' [[SelfServingMemory brazenly rewrite real events]] to portray the cowardly and KnowNothingKnowItAll Rimmer as a bold, fearless hero who routinely pulls his cowardly and incompetent crewmate's chestnuts out of the fire. When made into a virtual reality fairground ride called "The Rimmer Experience" (based on Disneyland's "It's a Small World," complete with puppets of Arnold Rimmer singing his praises), the experience culminates in a truly astonishing song, presumably penned by Rimmer himself, exhorting what an amazingly wonderful guy he is. The experience is enough to make Lister -- who had recently begun to miss his recently-departed crewmate -- swear that he never wants to see the man again in his entire life.
240-->♫''If you're in trouble he will save the day,\
241He's brave and he's fearless come what may,\
242Without him, the mission would go astray.\
243He's Arnold, Arnold, Arnold Rimmer!\
244Without him, life would be much grimmer\
245He's handsome, trim, and no-one slimmer\
246He will never need a zimmer''♫
247* ''Series/TheRedGreenShow'' sometimes featured a segment in which Gord, the neurotic forest ranger, would animate short "educational cartoons" about woodlands. Not only was all of the information contained completely wrong, but it also featured Ranger Gord as an ultra-heroic beefcake of a man, surrounded by incompetent woodland animals who just so happened to bear more than a passing resemblance to Red and Harold.
248* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' writes a cheesy spy story, but in an unusual spin on this trope she doesn't write ''herself'' as the heroine; instead, she makes her friends Valerie and Harvey the heroes, her teacher Mrs. Quick becomes a GadgeteerGenius, and Vice Principal Kraft becomes an evil Bond villain who gives out exploding detention slips. Hilda admits the reason she didn't [[DangerousDeviceDisposalDebacle throw out the magical typewriter like Zelda ordered her to]] was because she loved to write romances with herself as the heroine and watch them come true.
249* A ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' episode from 1996 was hosted by recent Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes featured a ''Series/{{Nightline}}'' sketch in which the topic of discussion is a ''Literature/PrimaryColors''-like RomanAClef about the 1996 GOP race. The book's AnonymousAuthor is obviously Forbes himself given the Mary Sue-like terms in which the character "Teve Torbes" is described.
250* ''Series/TheSingingDetective'' is the hero of the main character's pulp novels. They're played by the same actor.
251%%* In ''Series/TheSingleGuy'', the main character writes a book about a single guy, mainly himself.
252* ''Series/TheSopranos'': Christopher Moltesanti produces a horror film, ''JustForFun/{{Cleaver}}'', where undead mobster Michael comes back for revenge on his boss Salvatore and his cheating fiancé. It's quite obvious that Michael is a stand-in for Christopher, Salvatore for Tony, and Michael's fiancée for Adriana.
253* ''Series/SpittingImage'': One sketch was about Meghan Markle trying to pitch a show to Creator/{{Netflix}}, that is clearly about her. Her pitch is about a beautiful Swan named Sweaghan Swarkle, whose beauty isn't recognized by those around her, until season two when everyone apologizes. The producer even slips up and refers to the main character as a princess.
254* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' holodeck programs sometimes take this path, since the main character literally ''is'' whoever's using the program.
255** The earliest and perhaps one of the more extreme versions of someone doing this with the Holodeck was featured in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Hollow Pursuits". Lt. Barclay, a shy and socially-backward member of the engineering team, has become addicted to his fantasies to the point of neglecting his real-world duties. When in the Holodeck, he's confident and forceful, playing against versions of the crew that were bumbling and ridiculous fools, including a snide, bratty Wesley, a much-shorter Commander Riker, and a sultry "Goddess of Empathy" bearing the likeness of Troi.
256** In the ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'' episode "Author, Author", the Doctor tries to publish his novel. He's quite the MartyStu within it (in particular a [[SympatheticSue Sympathetic Stu]]), while the rest of the crew are Jerkasses. To teach him a lesson, Paris rewrites it to depict the Doctor as a jerkass who injects the overly-innocent Seven of Nine with a Klingon aphrodisiac. The Doctor gets the general idea.
257** The Doctor's [[DreamSue daydreams]] in "Tinker, Tailor, Doctor, Spy" cast him as a commanding figure, loved by all the crew (especially the female half) and quite capable of single-handedly saving the ship from the Borg.
258** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' did interesting things with this in "Our Man Bashir", where what started out as a regular spy story ended up getting Bashir's friends inserted into it due to a computer malfunction.
259* On ''Series/TopGearUK'', Richard Hammond likes to narrate stories about fictionalized versions of himself. During the Season 13 "Race to the North", in which he rode a vintage motorcycle, he did most of his segments in the style of a radio drama about a hero named "The Black Shadow". While filming the ill-fated attempt to drive the Vampire rocket dragster, he wore a silvery racing suit and reportedly entertained the crew by darting around as "The Silver Flash".
260* Alan tries to write a book several times during an episode of ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'' called "Baseball Was Better With Steroids". All the attempts seem to go like a Mary Sueish representation of himself.
261* The sci-fi screenplay written by Jeremy Bensham, with its hero Dan Gordon (who looks suspiciously identical to him), in children's series ''Series/WelcomeToOrtyFou''. Complete with his crush Cassie as First Officer Knox, who fawns over him despite his modesty.
262* ''Series/{{Westworld}}:'' Lee Sizemore wrote Hector to be what he himself wanted to be -- dashing and fearless. Maeve is amused when she finds out and derides him for it.
263* Done in a similar vein on ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'' in which Alex writes a graphic novel and, due to being a wizard, can actually [[PortalPicture "live it"]], turning herself in a princess.
264* One episode of ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' had Gabrielle venting her frustration for being the sidekick by writing a wish-fulfillment story that began "Xena was away fishing". HilarityEnsues as one of the gods had imbued Gabrielle with the power to make her writings a reality. At the end of the episode, after the power was removed, Xena arrives with an enormous cartload of fish, puzzled by the irresistible compulsion she had to fish.
265[[/folder]]
266
267[[folder:Magazines]]
268* During John Major's tenure as Prime Minister, a running joke in ''Magazine/PrivateEye'''s 'Secret Diary of John Major' was that Jeffrey Archer would constantly send John Major novels in which 'Godfrey Bowman' was so crucial to helping 'James Colonel' that he was awarded a knighthood.
269[[/folder]]
270
271[[folder:Music]]
272* The {{Animesque}} music video for [[Music/SalvatoreGanacci Salvatore Ganacci's]] song ''Fight Dirty'' [[NestedStoryReveal turns out to be one of these]]; what we were seeing was actually an imagining of a bald, pathetic version of Salvatore drawing a manga in his bedroom, featuring himself as an [[RankScalesWithAsskicking incredibly badass and powerful gang leader]] who acts as an [[InvincibleVillain undefeatable villain]] to the protagonist.
273[[/folder]]
274
275[[folder:Radio]]
276* In the ''Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang-Ups'' episode "How to Make a Killing", Tom's dad has started a creative writing course and started writing a historical detective story:
277-->'''Dad''': The secret to success in a murder mystery, son, is to have a compelling detective. As [[Creator/ArthurConanDoyle Conan Doyle]] had [[Literature/SherlockHolmes Holmes]], as Creator/AgathaChristie had Literature/MissMarple, so I have Superintendent Wrigglesworth.\
278'''Tom''': Superintendent Wrigglesworth?\
279'''Dad''': A man who men want to be, and women want to be with. He's got incredible powers of observation, takes pride in his work, and he doesn't suffer fools gladly. Which is why he doesn't get on very well with his son, Tim. Tim is a great disappointment to Superintendent Wrigglesworth. One of life's wasters, Tim has a chronic lack of punctuality and fails to take on board useful advice, even when it's offered with the best of intentions.\
280'''Tom''': [[SarcasmMode Where do you get these ideas from, Dad?]]
281::Later in the book, Tim gets kicked to death by a shire-horse. Tom's dad cheerfully informs him that he really enjoyed writing that bit.
282[[/folder]]
283
284[[folder:Theatre]]
285* At the end of ''The Theatre/FarndaleAvenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery'', the show-within-the-show is derailed when a key cast member has to rush off to deal with a family emergency. One of the other cast members rapidly writes a new ending to the play, taking the opportunity to give all the other characters lines remarking on how young and beautiful her character is.
286[[/folder]]
287
288[[folder:Video Games]]
289* Etna is fond of this on the chapter breaks of ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness''. Etna continues this in ''VideoGame/DisgaeaDimension2'', with Sicily either joining in, filling for Etna, or being a victim herself.
290* ''VideoGame/Disgaea5'' has Seraphina doing this in every chapter preview she hosts except the ones between Chapters 8 and 12. Parodied at her expense in Chapter 5's preview.
291* ''{{VideoGame/Suikoden}}'':
292** In ''VideoGame/SuikodenIII'', there's Erk de Forever from 'Erk's Adventures', penned by 'Hitman Bravo', [[spoiler:aka Ace.]]
293** There was the "historical" play, "Imperial Love," written by Milich Oppenheimer. It casts Milich as the hero of the Scarlet Moon War in ''VideoGame/SuikodenI''. For the unaware, Milich started the war BrainwashedAndCrazy and came close to destroying the hero's army.
294* In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', Luigi goes on his own adventures over the course of the game that mirror Mario's, including gathering his own team of partners. He tells Mario a series of stories about his travels, which are highly exaggerated and generally portray Luigi in a much more heroic manner than he actually was; [[BeleagueredAssistant his partners]] will eagerly fill you in on what actually happened. His [[InGameNovel Super Luigi]] books are even more exaggerated, with much of their content being outright lies.
295* In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar'', the Toad Mario keeps saving during his travels sends some embellished stories back to his house-sitter in Decalburg.
296* ''VideoGame/WarioWare'':
297** ''VideoGame/WarioWareTwisted'': Wario Man's microgames star Wario as the main character in every single one of them. Or barring that, they'll star some random character with Wario's face on them. Or just things like a dog with Wario's moustache.
298** This is the case for the second Wario stage (including Wario Man and Tiny Wario) in all the games (at least up to ''[[VideoGame/WarioWareSmoothMoves Smooth Moves]]''). In ''[[VideoGame/WarioWareIncMegaMicrogames Mega Microgame$]]'' and ''Smooth Moves'', the first Wario stage (which is always the first stage of the game) has this as well.
299** ''VideoGame/WarioWareGold'': Scanning amiibos produces drawings of characters made by Wario. Most of them are [[TerribleArtist cartoonishly awful]], but Wario amiibos produce images that are significantly better-looking and depict Wario as either [[https://i.imgur.com/R0r6sOm.png a ruggedly handsome hunk]] or a BishieSparkle-coated [[https://i.imgur.com/wYxpvvq.png pretty boy]].
300* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooieNutsAndBolts'': Klungo's [[StylisticSuck self-developed]] games, ''Hero Klungo Sssavesss Teh World'' and the sequel ''Hero Klungo Sssavesss Teh Universsse'' fit this quite well. Klungo's games feature himself as the hero, saving planets from [[HeelFaceTurn his former mistress]], and the [[http://rareware.com/games/banjonuts&bolts/downloads/bknutsnbolts4_1280.jpg accompanying]] [[http://rareware.com/games/banjonuts&bolts/downloads/bknutsnbolts5_1280.jpg artwork]] hilariously exaggerates [[http://rareware.com/games/banjonuts&bolts/castlist/castlist-06.html Klungo himself]] and the [[CoversAlwaysLie actual content of his games]].
301* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', the expansion ''Cataclysm'' is about how [[BigBad Deathwing]] ravages Azeroth. There are a series of quests where three drunken [=NPCs=] tell you how they 'dealt' with him while he was passing by in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1bP-m_BwX0 most hilarious]] way possible.
302* In ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxTheDevilsPlayhouse, Episode 5'', the [[FantasticVoyagePlot living room in Max's brain]] has a rack of 'ideas for novels in audiobook vinyl form', which can be listened to. One of them is a "FanFiction" about Flint Paper, which ends when Flint says that to solve the mystery, he needs to rely on "his best friend - [[SelfInsertFic Max!]]". The other stories are a Creator/DanBrown TakeThat starring a Mary Sue, with the AncientConspiracy involving Eli Whitney and two completely insane but violent works starring obvious {{Author Avatar}}s.
303* Varric, the {{narrator}} of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', uses one mission to paint himself as an unstoppable dwarven Creator/AlPacino, cutting through a mansion full of his brother's {{mooks}} to confront him. His brother then cowers before Varric, claiming he only betrayed him because he was jealous of Varric's badassery. Cassandra, [[FramingDevice the other narrator]], calls bullshit on this, and Varric admits that [[SadClown he made up a tall tale because the reality was much less pleasant]].
304* In ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'', hacking Frank Pritchard's computer reveals that he's sent a number of pitches to Picus' entertainment division for a series involving a master hacker that is a blatant AuthorAvatar. He gets rebuffed every time, and the latest email has the guy he's pitching to replying that the concept just isn't very interesting, compared with a rugged, at-times violent ex-cop like Adam Jensen.
305* In ''VideoGame/{{Gardenscapes}} 2,'' Austin the butler is sometimes seen working on the manuscript for a thriller novel. The main character is an "intrepid butler" named Caustin.
306* The second ''VideoGame/OsuTatakaeOuendan'' has Christine Kamogawa, whom you help write a novel that features a rather blatant AuthorAvatar having three separate men falling in love with her and who end up fighting over her at the end... only to have her run off with a ''fourth'' guy. Of course, you can subvert this trope by failing, which sees each of these endeavors [[HilarityEnsues fail spectacularly]].
307* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'', LovableSexManiac Hlaalu Councilor Crassius Curio is this. He has written a semi-pornographic play called ''The Lusty Argonian Maid'' in which "Crantius Colto" is the main character getting his "spear" polished by the eponymous [[LizardFolk Argonian]] Maid. It was so popular that it received a sequel come ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]''.
308* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'': Subverted in "Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep," a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''-type game where Tiny Tina makes a story for Lilith, Brick, and Mordecai to play through. The goal of the game is to rescue the missing queen and considering both Tina's personality and everything else she's put in the story, it's clear that the queen will be played by her. In the end, it turns out to be [[spoiler:Butt Stallion, Handsome Jack's horse made out of diamonds]].
309-->'''Mordecai:''' I... don't know why I'm surprised.\
310'''Brick:''' ''[tearfully]'' She... is... ''beautiful!''
311* [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in ''VideoGame/SonicMania'''s exclusive [[spoiler:"& Knuckles"]] ending when playing as Knuckles, as [[spoiler:the events of the game turned out to be from a book he was reading to animal friends, called ''Sonic Mania [[SpotlightStealingTitle & Knuckles]]''. Sonic and Tails are appropriately baffled by this]].
312* ''VideoGame/IMMeen'': The titular villain writes stories about himself to boost his already huge ego. You find excerpts from four of his completed ones- "Meen, Dinosaur Hunter", "Hooray For Meen", "Meen Goes To Mars", and "The Temple Of Gloom"- on cell doors. Unfortunately, he doesn't use proper grammar, which has lead to many people disliking his work.
313* ''VideoGame/LEGONinjagoShadowOfRonin'': In Kai's retelling of the ninjas' time on Chen's island, Kai finds opportunities for him to come up with good ideas and have the other ninjas compliment him.
314* A web short made to advertise ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo20thAnniversary'' features Klug writing a novel and then reading it to Sig. The main character of Klug's book is very obviously meant to be Klug himself, with a different name that's clearly still just "Klug", with the other characters being his friends and enemies with similar new names. Klug writes his hero Lemres into the story as his ally, while Raffina and Feli, his rivals, are the villains. Klug himself messes up his speech a couple times and nearly says the people's actual names instead of the altered ones he made up for the book.
315* The ''VideoGame/{{Arknights}}'' event ''Ancient Forge'' follows the plot of a movie co-written by and starring Lava and Nian. Lava, in reality a rookie Caster still learning how to properly harness her [[FunctionalMagic Originium Arts]], is depicted as one of Rhodes Island's strongest operators, a master of fire Arts, the only one smart enough to figure out how to save the day, and she's given [[ImpossiblyCoolClothes a cool new outfit]] to go along with all this. Meanwhile, Nian portrays herself as an InvincibleVillain and gives herself new powers based on whatever she thinks would be cool at the time, such as summoning an army of immortal terracotta soldiers or cleaving through a fortified city wall with a single swing of her sword. [[spoiler: Unlike Lava, though, it's implied she's not embellishing her abilities; she's one of several PiecesOfGod and could probably do all of that and more if she wanted to]].
316* ''VideoGame/SlayersXTerminalAftermathVenganceOfTheSlayer'' is a game made in-universe by Zane Lofton, the teenaged edgelord from ''Videogame/HypnospaceOutlaw'' now grown up, starring himself as a gunslinging badass with mystical "Hackblood" powers who fights bad guys while being mentored by the lead singer of his favorite Nu-Metal band. The villain of the game is a retail manager dating his mom as Zane's way of dealing with his mother promiscuity, a terrible step-father and his current crappy retail job.
317[[/folder]]
318
319[[folder:Visual Novels]]
320* In EP [[spoiler:5]] of ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', [[spoiler:Bernkastel hijacks the story by creating a new piece called Furudo Erika that is not only her AuthorAvatar but a parody of the audience and a ShoutOut at the main character of VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry.]] This is both PlayedForLaughs and PlayedForDrama at different points of the story.
321[[/folder]]
322
323[[folder:Web Animation]]
324* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'':
325** In the Powered By The Cheat toons, The Cheat is wildly popular and successful and given multiple trophies for no reason. "The Cheat is a millionaire! A parade for The Cheat!"
326** In the WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail [[Recap/StrongBadEmailE188FanClub fan club]], Strong Sad inserts himself into a "[=SBEmail=] fanfic" as a superhero named Twelve-Times-A-Day Man.
327** After being humiliated in the first part of the first episode of ''VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople'', Homestar monopolizes (among other things, ''simultaneously'') Strong Bad's drawing table as he works on his 23-part graphic novel about a guy who wins the Race to the End of the Race, isn't wanted for public indecency and dumps Marzipan for a much hotter girl who still likes him. Or he will once he can think of a good name for the main character.
328** Not to mention Strong Bad's occasional WebAnimation/TeenGirlSquad cameo as "Sir Hotbod Handsomeface". Strong Bad actually has such a consistent pattern with imagined alter-egos being tall, muscular versions of himself that they [[http://hrwiki.org/wiki/Exaggerated_Strong_Bad earned a wiki article.]]
329** Dangeresque is this and then some, especially in ''Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective'', where most of the dialogue and a number of plot elements exist to show how awesome Strong Bad's character is.
330** The [=SBEmail=] "[[Recap/StrongBadEmailE176Hygiene hygiene]]" has Strong Bad make a cruddy personal hygiene movie about John (played by [[SitcomArchNemesis Homestar]]), a fifth grader with terrible hygiene and no friends, and Gene (played by Strong Bad himself), "a beacon of light shining through the stink cloud generated by John." The movie goes on to explain why John sucks and Gene is awesome. {{Subverted|Trope}} at the end, where John goes to an out-of-state college to reinvent himself, while Gene spends the rest of the fifth grade, and possibly his life, struggling to keep up his reputation.
331* In the ''WebAnimation/MightyMagiswords'' episode "Felonious Prose", Witch Way composes a fake installment in the Veronica Victorious series to distract Vambre from her quest. Gateaux is revealed to be a major fan, but even his work can't go without adding a romantic interest named Xateaug. Later, he considers the installment "Veronica Victorious and the Cat Who Has Feelings".
332* ''WebAnimation/RWBYChibi'': Ruby gets Team RWBY to perform a play about Little Red Riding Hood, but finds Yang sabotaging the skit as it progresses. When Yang and Ruby argue mid-scene, Yang accuses Ruby of being a self-inserted Mary Sue, pointing out that Ruby's written the play to revolve around herself, and used the dialogue to emphasize that she's beloved by all who meet her.
333[[/folder]]
334
335[[folder:Webcomics]]
336* Kimiko of ''Webcomic/DresdenCodak'' writes one of [[http://dresdencodak.com/2009/09/07/the-sleepwalkers/ these.]] Due to her [[AsianAndNerdy personality]], well, let's just leave it as [[DadaComics weird.]]
337** More specifically, while it's remarkably well researched, it eventually devolves into a make-out session between Kimiko's Self Insert and an expy of her physics T.A.
338* In ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'', Creator/WilliamShakespeare writes those ''Literature/HarryPotter'' [[FanFic fanfics]] where the exchange student Will charms Hermione. He also writes the novelisation of the movie ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' where he creates the character Willimir (Faramir and Boromir's more handsome younger brother). Willimir is the new love interest for Éowyn.
339* ''Webcomic/GeneralProtectionFault'' has done this multiple times with different characters, in all cases tending towards the "{{Elseworld}}" extreme.
340* ''Webcomic/FriendlyHostility'' and its sort-of precursor ''Boy Meets Boy'' used to have [[TheCape Foxman]] (Fox) and his [[{{Sidekick}} faithful ward]] (Collin) fighting the DiabolicalMastermind His Mind Kills (Collin) from time to time. This would sometimes get complicated.
341* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': Sarah is creating a comic titled "The Wizard Sarah". Hmmm... She's [[IJustWantToBeSpecial jealous that the other characters have magic]], so it's understandable.
342* [[http://www.brawlinthefamily.com/comic164.html This]] ''Webcomic/BrawlInTheFamily'' (though Dedede's horrible drawing doesn't really help his case...).
343* In the bonus materials of the ''[[Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick Order of the Stick]]'' book, ''Don't Split the Party,'' Belkar retells a wildly inaccurate version of the events of the previous three books that bears a strong resemblance to various works of classic literature and happens to star himself as the dashing protagonist that all of the attractive women in the strip swoon over.
344* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', Vriska's "Flarp" (yeah, sort of like [[{{LARP}} that]]) character [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=004096 Marquise Spinneret Mindfang]] is (from her perspective) "the best character, and you wish you were her. Oh wait, you are her!"
345** She turns out to be a real historical figure later on.
346** Most people expected uranianUmbra to be a white-haired, [[LastOfTheirKind lime-blooded]] {{Troll}} - basically looking like a troll version of [[ShowWithinAShow Cal]][[VillainProtagonist masis]]. When [[spoiler:Calliope]] is finally revealed, she looks nothing like that, [[CosplayOtakuGirl except when she cosplays]]. Her fantroll Callie Ohpeee does, however. She is also implied to write {{Lemon}}s about her, but [[FelonyMisdemeanor her species' standards of decency]] seem to differ from humans'.
347** In one of the interludes where [[spoiler:Caliborn]] [[HostileShowTakeover takes over]] the narration, he uses the opportunity to introduce his OriginalCharacter. This character is, of course, a cooler-looking grown-up version of himself [[PowerGivesYouWings with wings]] and GlowingEyes. [[spoiler:Unlike Caliborn, the audience has already seen the grown-up and powered-up version of Caliborn: Lord English.]] However, while [[spoiler:Lord English]] is a monstrous thug, [[spoiler:Caliborn's]] fantasy self-insert is rather handsome.
348** Karkat's story in the ''Summerteen Romance'' arc of the ''Webcomic/ParadoxSpace'' spinoff features him as handsome, muscular, and optimistic, with his leadership greatly appreciated by his friends. Compare to the scrawny and pessimistic canon Karkat, who was made "leader" just so he wouldn't complain about not being in charge. [[spoiler: One of Karkat's [[FuturemeScaresMe future selves]] edits the story to be massive TakeThat towards his [[IHatePastMe past self]], noting that the Karkat in the universe where [[EarnYourHappyEnding everyone gets a happy ending]] is nothing like the real one.]]
349* Shortround in the ''Webcomic/{{Insecticomics}}'' is writing [[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics/v3/234.html the ultimate in wish-fulfillment fiction]] (keep in mind that in reality, he's timid and ''very'' panicky). Kickback can't shake the feeling that if the story ''ever'' gets out, everyone else in the story is going to be out for Shortround's sundered spark.
350* Marigold of ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' writes Harry Potter fanfic. Very, very bad Harry Potter fanfic. In her case, less a case of Mary Sue self-insertion as [[IkeaErotica pure awful writing skills]]. HilarityEnsues when she shows it to a friendly character with a literature and English background and asks for her opinion.
351** Well, [[http://questionablecontent.net/spacewizards.html one]] of those is actually written down by the artist. And it is SoBadItsGood.
352* The title character of ''Webcomic/SabrinaOnline'' has been drawing a webcomic lately and was for a while mystified why readers referred to her main character as Mary Sue. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity]], [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] and [[BreakingTheFourthWall Fourth-Wall Breakage]] have ensued.
353* In Chapter 2 of ''Webcomic/CucumberQuest'', the characters are sidetracked (through kidnapping) into Count Legato's play: ''Magnificent Prince Crescendo''. It's the tale of a gorgeous youth, beloved by all, and the only girl whose beauty can compare to his (almost). Or as Cucumber puts it, "you wrote an entire play about how pretty you are?"
354* ''Webcomic/{{Housepets}}'' gives us the dog Peanut, who imagines himself as the hunky superhero dog Spot. Spot shares many of Peanut's qualities such as his secret fondness of [[InterspeciesRomance cats]]. Mostly Spot just shows up as filler comics apparently authored by Peanut, but it [[DeconstructedTrope led to some problems]] when Peanut assumed Spot's identity in a [[ItMakesSenseInContext simulation in which everyone else took on the identities of characters in a book series they were fond of]].
355* In ''Webcomic/DumbingOfAge'', Joyce Brown tries to sublimate her lustful urges by writing erotic fiction about an ace space pilot who happens to be called Julia Gray. When she tries to turn it into a comic strip, she's quick to tell Dorothy Keener that President Doris Kenner is not her, because "President Doris has ''dark'' hair".
356* ''Webcomic/BattleKreaturez'' features the side comic "The Adventures of Wally the Platrox", which are illustrated by Wally and portray him as the greatest being in all of existence.
357[[/folder]]
358
359[[folder:Web Original]]
360* ''Literature/TalesOfMU'':
361** One bonus story is a piece of {{fanfiction}} written ages ago by Mack. She manages to insert herself into it... after [[GenderFlip switching the gender]], so there can be a romance with a canon character. It manages to show up a few of her issues...
362** Meanwhile, just down the corridor from her, Sooni is busy churning out a far more extreme fanfic on her favourite anime, ''Pretty Neko Science Princess'', with herself in the title role.
363* In the animated segments of ''WebVideo/KateModern'', Charlie depicts herself as a badass {{ninja}} who regularly saves her friends from their enemies.
364* Amber of ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}'' writes a ''[[Literature/TheTwilightSaga Twilight]]'' pastiche (with ''mummies'' instead of vampires) which very obviously stars her various co-workers.
365* WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick points this out about ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'', how John Smith's awesome was based on "accounts" of the real (portly, brown-haired, not attractive and blonde) John Smith.
366** She herself has done this with her title card - instead of a pretty TinyTyrannicalGirl, she's instead tall, curvy, has TsurimeEyes, and wears a lot of [[PurpleIsPowerful purple]], men are catering to her whim, and she has a bigger bust and longer legs.
367* WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic is a girly, [[PrettyBoy soft]]-[[HollywoodPudgy looking]] ReluctantPsycho ButtMonkey who stops the review to rant anytime he thinks a child is getting mistreated. The title-card Critic is stick-thin, hard-lined, shamelessly evil and gets away with everything. Can you tell the difference?
368* The website ''Funny or Die'' has Dean Norris spoiling ''Series/BreakingBad'' with a script he wrote, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_04Qc84HIyM in which everyone fawns over his character, who gains superpowers and gets his hair back]].
369[[/folder]]
370
371[[folder:Western Animation]]
372* The animated [[Series/TheAddamsFamily Addams Family]] had a... ''unique'' case of combining GodModeSue with TooSpicyForYogSothoth, of all things. Uncle Fester's comic ''[[ShowWithinAShow Fester Man]]'' stars himself and most of the family as superheroes. Despite the villain's initially [[AllUpToYou capturing the rest of the cast]], Fester Man quickly thwarts him by being... well, ''[[TooKinkyToTorture himself]]''. Even using Fester Man's KryptoniteFactor (chimneys, of course) fails to harm him. The villain then [[VillainousBreakdown gives up out of sheer exasperation]].
373* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': All of the GenderFlip "Fionna and Cake" episodes are supposedly written in-universe by characters who idealise themselves:
374** The original "Fionna and Cake" is by the Ice King and ends with (after Ice Queen is defeated) all the characters talking about how cool Ice King is.
375** "Bad Little Boy" is a story told by Marceline that is all about how cool her male version Marshal Lee is. Zig-zagged in that it also ends with Marshall getting the crap beat out of him by Fionna for a particularly mean prank.
376** "The Prince Who Wanted Everything" is by Lumpy Space Princess and has Lumpy Space Prince as a prince horribly abused by his evil parents who blossoms after escaping Lumpy Space to the main universe.
377* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' episode "Movie Star", Malory allows an actress to hang around ISIS for a day in exchange for her next script and her agent's contact information. She immediately sets to altering the script...by changing the actress' boss to a woman named "Malory Steele" and shoehorning in a gratuitous romantic subplot. By the end of the episode, [[spoiler: it's picked up as a porno named "[[RaceFetish Mandingo 2]]"]].
378* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' does this when Fern tries to write a story and publish it under a pen name, giving copies out everywhere around the school. She calls it "Happy Happenings", and actually ends up taking the criticism of the story well and changes the story to be less...Sue-like.
379** Also, in a different episode, DW writes a story about "BW"[[note]]Lampshaded by her audience: "Hey, that's close! If it was '''D''W', I'd think you were making this up!"[[/note]], whose parents let her have a horse in her room, could ride a bike no-wheeled, had the President as a "best friend", had a secret base and access to all kind of technology, could do the balance-beam easily... The parodies of her own character as a Mary Sue go on and on...
380** In "The Agent of Change" Francine, Muffy, and Molly's character Agent Double X is a blatant Mary Sue, but unlike the earlier examples it's never once lampshaded and everyone loves their character, meaning this was likely an unintentional example.
381* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'':
382** The comics adaptation of BTAS had Harley Quinn, during one of her short stints on the straight and narrow, write an [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory "autobiography" that turned out to be a romance novel]] between "Punchinello", a female criminal, and "Owlman", a masked crimefighter. The Joker was not amused (which says a lot) even after she assured him that it was completely fictional. When she tried to act out her novel to gain publicity, Batman wasn't amused either (which, well, [[TheComicallySerious doesn't say so much]])... because it meant he had to read it too.
383** A possible mild case in "Legends of the Dark Knight," where the Robin depicted in the third story bears not a little resemblance to the storyteller (who's earlier specified that in her version, Robin is a girl, as was the case in Creator/FrankMiller's ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'').
384* ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}''
385** Subverted with Melody Powers, who is an in-universe ParodySue, but makes a lot of people uncomfortable (on purpose) as they think it's a real one.
386** Another episode had Daria continually trying to write a story about people she knows in various situations, including one where her parents praised her while treating Quinn as TheUnfavorite. The final story wound up being a touching, happy scene from the family's hypothetical future.
387** ''The Daria Database'', a tie-in book, featured a comic strip called ''Gothic Nights'' by [[{{Goth}} Andrea]]. It featured her as Queen Hecuba, manipulating various other characters based on Lawndale High students and staff.
388* In the beginning an episode of ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'', Dexter serves as the KillerGameMaster to his friends in a D&D clone. The BigBad of the campaign is a VillainSue named "Zoraz, Master of Doom", and when Dexter's friends convince him to let Dee-Dee take over as GM for a while, Dexter wants to play [[{{Munchkin}} an over-powered warrior-mage]] named "[[Creator/GaryGygax Gygax]]".
389* The title character of ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' often imagines himself as either Quail-Man (a rather odd {{Superhero}} that is basically Doug with a belt on his head, underwear over his pants, and a blanket as a cape) or himself as Smash Adams (a generic TuxedoAndMartini superspy that Doug is a fan of). The actual {{Imagine Spot}}s don't really give that much story detail, though. A more explicit example is one episode where Doug tries to actually produce a comic for Quail-Man and asks Skeeter for help. Skeeter is more than willing, but also brings his own character (Silver Skeeter) to the equation. Due to Silver Skeeter constantly showing up Quail-Man with NewPowersAsThePlotDemands, this led to CreativeDifferences.
390* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' where the Eds recount a story of [[NoodleIncident how they got stuck in Jonny's wall]] ended up with each Ed telling part of the story. In his story, Eddy is wealthy and everyone worships the ground he walks on. In Double D's story, he's more assertive than he is in real life and his friends are easily cowed by his scoldings. In Ed's story, he has superpowers and is the only one who can save the day. The story's only consistent elements were that it involved a jawbreaker bank and the Kanker sisters.
391* ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'': Bloo, in "The Bloo Superdude and the Potato of Power", whose character was strong, cool, wise, and of course, the star. He was a bit dim, though. The SequelEpisode "The Bloo Superdude and the Great Creator of Everything's Awesome Ceremony of Fun That He's Not Invited To" continues this.
392* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before", an [[EnergyBeing alien entity]] named Melllvar holds the cast of ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Star Trek: TOS]]'' hostage, and forces them to act out a {{Fanfic}} he has written in which he is the GodModeSue:
393-->'''Shatner:''' ([[BadBadActing reading flatly]]) Alas, my ship, whom I love like a woman, is... disabled. [He slumps back in his chair and rolls his head.] Oh, Lord!\
394'''Nimoy:''' (also reading flatly) Fascinating, Captain, and logical too. Yet we need some help.\
395'''Takei:''' (reading flatly) Look, Captain, Melllvar will help us.\
396'''Koenig:''' (reading flatly) Keptin, I wope he will welp our ... vessel.\
397'''Melllvar:''' Wessel! [Koenig shudders.] You're not acting hard enough!
398** In the episode "My Three Suns", Fry refuses to think ahead because short-sightedness has "gotten him this far." He tries to persuade Leela of his life philosophy with an [[ShaggyFrogStory ancient parable]]:
399--->'''Fry:''' It's just like the story of the grasshopper and the octopus. All year long, the grasshopper kept burying acorns for winter, while the octopus mooched off his girlfriend and watched TV. But then the winter came, and the grasshopper died, and the octopus ate all his acorns. Also, he got a race car. Is any of this getting through to you?
400** Fry actually defeated the Big Brain with one of these. After the Big Brain enters several books, Fry tricks him into entering a story he wrote which made the Brain a Mary Sue. Fry died, the Brain won, and then decided to leave Earth "for no raisin".
401** In "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences", Fry writes a superhero comic focused on "Delivery-Boy Man", an InvincibleHero who looks like him but shirtless and incredibly buff. He has a ridiculous number of powers, including laser vision, magnetism, and time travel, which he uses to completely undo everything the villain did before smooching his girlfriend. After receiving some criticism, Fry over-corrects by making Delivery-Boy Man into a FailureHero who has no powers whatsoever and does nothing but cry while the main villain kills his girlfriend. Eventually, he manages to compromise by making Delivery-Boy Man still clearly flawed and a screwup, but also being able to defeat the villain through his "meteor-wishing power."
402* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' in one episode where Garfield decides to try his hand at authoring. The stories themselves show some promise as he builds up some fantastic situation into a full-blown crisis for his AuthorAvatar main character to face, but each time he reaches the climax, all he can think to have his "hero" do is eat a hearty meal and take a nap.
403* In the hour-long special ''WesternAnimation/TheGarfieldShow: Furry Tale'', Garfield tells Odie a fairy tale about Prince Jon and the fair Elizabeth and the handsome and talented cat who brings them together.
404* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'':
405** "Bottomless Pit": Dipper, Soos, and Mabel have to tell stories to pass the time while falling down a pit. Stan gets a brief story in called "Grunkle Stan wins the Football Bowl", where Stan scores the winning touchdown, manages to teach football players about the usefulness of old people, and managed to invent a robot, Footbot. Needless to say, Soos, Dipper, and Mabel do not like the story.
406** In "Sock Opera", Mabel's big, musical puppet show is essentially about her and her crush-of-the-week falling in love and getting married. The first song is about how great Mabel is.
407* In the Thanksgiving episode of ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' Mr. Simmons class made a Thanksgiving play for the school. The characters are really based on his relatives who in real life are bums whose lives aren't really as happy as his play portrayed them to be.
408* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': The works of resident comic artist Nathaniel and resident writer Marc tend to skew in this direction. Nathaniel draws comics of himself as the superhero Mightillustrator either rescuing Marinette (who he initially had a crush on) or fighting alongside Ladybug (who he later gets a crush on). Marc, a fan of his work, writes a story from Ladybug's point of view where she expresses feelings for Mightillustrator, but considering that Marc is all but stated to have a crush on Nathaniel, it comes off as a case of InUniverse PossessionSue.
409* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "Spike at Your Service", Rainbow Dash reveals she's working on a novel about a pegasus who's a really great flier and who becomes captain of the Wonderbolts.
410-->'''Rarity:''' How did you ''ever'' come up with that [[SarcasmMode ingeniously woven, intricate plot line?]]\
411'''Rainbow Dash:''' [[SarcasmBlind Just came to me.]]
412* Attempted by Carl in the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "[[Recap/PhineasAndFerbExcaliferb Excaliferb]]", when he tries to insert himself into the story as the ultimate hero. Monogram tells him to stick to what's written.
413* ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'' had an episode that dealt with this, in which Sam creates a video game starring himself. The video game Sam is cool, smart, handsome, and a beast at every extreme sport the gang does. He also programs flanderized avatars of Twister, Otto, and Reggie into the game, for his own avatar to whip mercilessly. None of them are particularly happy with Sam's portrayal of them (although Reggie snidely points out that Otto frequently acts like his in-game self, a preening, narcissistic jerk). Sam eventually realizes the error of his ways and reprograms the game so it more accurately reflects real life, giving himself the power to learn moves from his friends in the game.
414* In ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', when he's hired to help write the [[ShowWithinAShow new cartoon]] ''Wacky Delly'', Filburt creates and voices a simple character, Lester Roquefort, but his creative bickering with Heffer makes him more and more defensive until his character's dialogue is nothing but constantly repeating "I am the Cheese! I am the best character on this show! I am better than both the salami and the bologna combined!"
415* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': "[[StorybookEpisode Aku's Fairy Tales]]" is this crossed with RevengeFic; annoyed by children no longer fearing him/aspiring to be like Jack, Aku gathers the youth of an entire city in a vast hall and narrates {{bowdlerised}}, self-insert versions of traditional folk tales to them, hoping they'll believe [[PerspectiveFlip Jack's a violent bum]] and Aku is a level-headed, powerful hero.
416-->'''Aku:''' Once upon a time, there was a little girl with an adorable red cape... and GREAT FLAMING EYEBROWS!
417** The children respond to each story by [[LampshadeHanging hanging lampshades]] on the ways they [[UnreliableNarrator go against established character traits and facts]]. This gradually escalates, with Aku's stories getting shot down after each new sentence for being [[BeyondTheImpossible blatantly impossible]] and/or [[AssPull clear mixes of more than one folk tale]]. After several bizarre, seconds-long depictions of [[AmusingInjuries Jack being killed and maimed]] by an entire spectrum of fairy tale characters and animals, Aku finally distills his story formula into this:
418--->'''Aku:''' There was an all-mighty, all-powerful wizard, and there was a pathetic little samurai... and the wizard ''destrooooyed hiiiiim''. '''[[CutShort THE END]]'''!
419** Of course, the kids retort "Nah, that's not how it would happen!", which leads to a [[FanFic group fanfic]] where they [[GenreSavvy add]] [[CostumePorn increasingly]] [[GiantMook exaggerated]] [[RuleOfCool ideas]] into a short story, ending with [[spoiler:Jack achieving his goal of defeating Aku and returning to his time period (obviously!)]].
420* The ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'' episode "Roll With It" has a planning session quickly devolve into this. Glimmer imagines herself as a badass anime protagonist who's more powerful than she actually is, Bow imagines a scenario like the original ''She-Ra'' cartoon (complete with a metric ton of horrible puns), Perfuma imagines herself spontaneously growing a plant golem to take down the tower, Mermista just gives herself She-Ra's powers specifically themed to herself, and Frosta imagines herself as a gritty overpowered anti-hero with Glimmer as a sidekick.
421* Various characters on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' have done this.
422** One episode, in particular, has Marge write a Regency romance called "The Harpooned Heart" starring a thinly-veiled version of herself, with other Springfieldians as the rest of the cast. At first, she writes Homer's character as a loving husband and excellent provider, but after he ticks her off she re-writes him into a boorish {{Jerkass}}. Her character ends up having an affair with Ned Flanders' character, which most of the readers assume is WishFulfillment on Marge's part, and leads to Homer chasing down Flanders... [[spoiler: to ask for advice on how to be a better husband]].
423** It's a little more than an assumption; a couple of them notice that the main character, Temperance, is referred to as 'Marge' for three paragraphs at one point.
424** There's also the episode where Mr. Burns makes a film revolving around him that literally portrays him as a Christ-like figure. It is ''not'' popular with audiences and even loses an award show ''after Burns bribes the judges''.
425* In the "Woodland Critter Christmas" episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', Cartman subverts this trope for almost the entire episode (it isn't revealed the story is one he made up for class until the last few minutes), with Stan as the protagonist and a bunch of animals filling in as villains... but near the end brings in Kyle as the ideal candidate to host the Antichrist since he's Jewish and hasn't been baptized. Real Kyle gets mad when the Kyle in the story takes over as villain and Santa almost has to shoot him, but decides to let him go on and watches as the climax and falling action actually include him in the happy ending... until in the last ten seconds Cartman mentions [[Main/DiabolusExMachina he died of AIDS two weeks later]].
426** The episode "Fishsticks" showed that Cartman is so egotistical that he [[SelfServingMemory remembers actual events in this manner]]. He plays no significant role in creating Jimmy's joke, but by the end of the episode he remembers not only creating the joke but being universally loved by everybody and destroying an army of [[RefugeInAudacity rampaging Jew-bots]] with [[ComicBook/FantasticFour the Human Torch's]] powers.
427* The ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGhostCoastToCoast'' episode "Pavement" involves Space Ghost writing the show. This trope appears in spades.
428* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'':
429** "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E33GarnetsUniverse Garnet's Universe]]" is an unusual example: [[KidHero Steven]] tells a rambling, {{Animesque}} story about [[ParentalSubstitute Garnet]]. Technically, Steven never appears in the story, but Garnet repeatedly takes out a picture of him and claims that he's "my favorite person in the world".
430*** Interestingly, the characters Steven makes up for the story share voice actors with people he knows, but only one, Ringo, seems to actually be based on anyone — in this case, [[ConspiracyTheorist Ronaldo]]. Since Steven gets on with Ronaldo pretty well, it's odd that Ringo [[spoiler:turns out to be the BigBad]].
431** Mayor Dewey tries to do this with his ancestor William Dewey in the play in [[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E17HistoricalFriction "Historical Friction"]]. This is depicted as not just bad writing, but historically inaccurate, and the more flawed version in Pearl's edit is better received.
432* The Disney short ''WesternAnimation/ASymposiumOnPopularSongs'' has an implied case of this. When introducing the song "Charleston Charlie", Ludwig von Drake claims that the title was originally "Lovey Ludwig", but he changed it to protect "certain parties". The song itself is about a BigManOnCampus considered desirable by all the girls.
433* ''WesternAnimation/TimonAndPumbaa'': In the episode "Wide Awake in Wonderland", Pumbaa can't sleep, so he has Timon read him a bedtime story from "The Little Book of Warthog Fairy Tales". Timon does, only to discover that every single story in the book portrays meerkats in a negative light. Thus, he makes up a bedtime story of his own about a handsome, brave and smart meerkat named King Timun that single-handedly defeated various evil warthogs (for instance, a ferocious fire-breathing "wartdragon") and is then rewarded for it. According to Timon, the moral of that story is that it's better to be a meerkat than a warthog. Pumbaa's reaction to this story is to fall asleep.
434* In the animated shorts included with the ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' [=DVDs=], there are several "profiles" showing footage of various characters as another character describes their personality and abilities. Starscream voices his own profile, presenting himself as basically the most awesome Decepticon ever and showing a few clips that aren't in the show itself (such as him standing atop a pile of Autobot corpses). It's only until the last clip that it shows a bit of reality--namely, Megatron shooting him in the face.
435* In the ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' episode "The Cartoon", Lord Hater has the Watchdogs make a cartoon based on him, blatantly resulting in this trope; he explicitly refers to the finished work as propaganda. Of course, that's just ''one'' of the cartoon's [[StylisticSuck flaws…]]
436[[/folder]]
437
438[[folder:Other]]
439* At the 81st Oscars, Creator/SteveMartin and Creator/TinaFey presented the awards for best screenplay. When they walked on stage, they [[ReadingTheStageDirectionsOutLoud described the scene as though it were in a screenplay]]:
440-->'''Fey''': Int. [[Creator/EastmanKodak Kodak]] Theatre - Oscar Night\
441'''Martin''': Two incredible presenters walk out to center stage.\
442'''Fey''': The crowd is amazed by the star power and beauty of the two presenters.\
443''[silence]''\
444'''Martin''': The audience members are too stunned to leap to their feet.\
445'''Fey''': The crowd is thrilled at seeing the presenters, except for those consumed by bitter jealousy.
446[[/folder]]

Top