I... Don't really see anything all that wrong with them myself. And really, even if they ARE a race of Sues, such things can theoretically work (hell, just look at how popular elves are!). So yeah, I say just go with your idea and see how it pans out. You'll never know how truly Sue-ish they are until you get them down on text, after all.
Personally, I don't think the concept sounds inherently Sue-ish at all. Mary Sues are all in the presentation - you can make the most Superior Species ever, and if presented the right way, they won't be Sue-ish at all (warning: not for the new author!) The idea itself is interesting and sounds fine to me.
I have to say, I think elves only really get away with it when the audience is fairly shallow. I, personally, hate the pointy-eared twerps, and am fond of showing it in my works.
Edit: That said, let's try not to turn this into a thread solely based on elf-bashing.
edited 15th Mar '11 6:55:43 PM by nrjxll
Actually, the bullets are still weakly radioactive; you can't exactly take the radioactive stuff out, as the half-life of U-238 is a quarter of the age of the universe. And yet DU still makes good radiation shielding.
edited 16th Mar '11 6:50:53 AM by TeraChimera
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Actually, chimeras don't like being called dragons, due to implications - violent, prone to kidnapping women, etc. In-universe, "dragon" is a Fantastic Slur.
Personally, I don't see much wrong with them. While they do have powers, they're balanced out with flaws and weaknesses. I don't think they're Sues.
Really, it's hard to judge an entire race as being Sues or not. It's kind of unfair to judge them in comparison to humans. So long as the individuals of the race aren't Sueish compared to the rest of their species, you should be in the clear.
I'd explore on the species' psychology a bit more, because their psyche might function a bit differently than our own. It might add a bit more depth and make the differences with humans a bit less superficial. But don't if you don't have much knowledge or understanding of psychological science, or if their minds evolved similarly to humans'. Obviously the penchant for shiny objects is one difference, but it might be fascinating to delve a bit more into how their minds tend to work, especially if you're writing from the perspective of a member of their species.
edited 24th Mar '11 6:51:38 AM by Motree
“DAMMIT WHEN I HEAR 'SPACE CQC' ALL I CAN THINK OF IS BIG BOSS WITH A FISHBOWL ON HIS HEAD, STRANGLING AN ASTRONAUT OUTSIDE THE ISS."
Because no matter how good a work is, it always seems worse to the creator
. Plus, a little constructive criticism never hurt anybody.
I'm reminded a bit of the dragons from the Delasangre series, which I outright hated. However, said dragons lacked many of your chimeras' weaknesses. And while they clearly had vices (and there was even some overlap), said vices were glossed over or treated as unimportant: As R Taco put it, the dragons were "always right," even when it was bizarre for that to be the case.
In short? If the chimeras' weaknesses and common character flaws come into play often enough (i.e. humans consider them a bunch of arrogant, greedy, not-too-reliable bigots, and that's sometimes even the case), you should be fine.
edited 28th Mar '11 12:02:06 AM by FarseerLolotea

I came up with a race for an alternate history, but it feels like they may be too Mary Sue-ish. Please critique them and give suggestions to improve, even if the suggestion is "Scrap them and start over."
They're humanoid dragon-like creatures called chimeras. They can shapeshift into anything of roughly equal or lesser mass, and have magic powers. They live for a very long time, about 5000 years. However, even with this long lifespan, their extremely small hatch rate means humans significantly outnumber them - there are around fifty million chimeras in the world, compared to seven billion humans.
When they shapeshift, although they gain the appearance and voice of what they turned into, they do not gain the memories or skills. They also have different body language than humans, so unless one is extremely talented at controlling their actions, a chimera in human form can fall into the Uncanny Valley. Electric fields also make their magic harder to control, by disrupting the flow of energy; the stronger the field, the less control a chimera has, until they don't bother. Electric fields do not mean random magical stuff happens, however. Radioactivity has a greater effect; even non-fatal doses can leave a chimera temporarily without magic. Depleted uranium bullets can be used against criminals to disrupt their magic.
As the basis for dragon myths, they tend to be hoarders, especially of shiny, valuable stuff - in some of the more extreme cases, you can bribe them more easily with, say, $50 of gold than $100 in cash. Chimeras also tend to be impatient, and occasionally have anger management issues.
The point of divergence is in the 1960's, and as of the 2000's, there's still plenty of Fantastic Racism on both sides. Older chimeras tend to be more "speciesist" than younger ones; some particularly crazy ones feel that humanity is tainting the earth to the point it can't be saved (not environmentally, humanity itself is bad), and have formed a doomsday cult
to destroy the world. Overall, though, chimeras tend to be accepting of humanity, if a bit snobbish.