This is hilarious.

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/arti...am-my-job-is-to-kick

Now, can everyone agree to avoid this stereotype for a while?
This message had punctuation tweaked by the user at 15:06, Thu 05 Mar 2015.

Mary Sue? You'd have to ask the makers of comic books to get rid of Super Man once and for all.. and to ban ever episode of Star Trek that featured "Captain Kirk"

I wish... in my happiest dreams.. I wish.

I think there's a difference between a mary sue and an idealized hero.  I don't think character's like El Cid or Galahad were Mary Sue's, they were the author's idea of what a true hero should be, which made them less realistic.  I think character's like Kirk and definitely Superman fall into that category as well.
This message was last edited by the user at 15:47, Thu 05 Mar 2015.

This isn't really a take off of the Mary Sue archetype.  McSweeney's is a site for satire in case that wasn't clear from just this linked article.

Mostly it's a comment on the "modern female action hero", and the way they're generally depicted in pop culture media.

In reply to nauthiz (msg # 4):

Exactly, thank you.

And also a comment on how this seems to be the overly dominant (if not only) presentation of women as 'members of the team.'

Also, it's funny.

I kinda feel bad for playing an action girl who did a whole lot of kicking now.

...of course she was also a genki girl tomboy sort instead of Black Widow. But yeah, mostly she kicked. ...and spazzed out on ridiculous sugar rushes. Which made her want to kick things more frequently~

In reply to Gaffer (msg # 1):

I'm kicking right now, but only because I have fallen out of my chair laughing.

It kind of works for certain genres, though.

It is unrealistic and often other words that end with -ic (misogynistic, to name one...)

But there are literary genres where the good guys are good, the bad guys are bad, and the women are redheads.  That kick.  ;)

Indeed a very funny piece!  I couldn't help but laugh as I read through it!

I have to say that the modern "hyper-feminist" ideal of the woman who is more man than any man, yet more woman than any other woman is equally tiresome and unrealistic in equal portion.  It seems this ideal exists in every avenue of movie and media alike, despite being so detrimental and quite frankly delusional.

Having said that, women should be able to pursue the roles that they inwardly long to fill... in roleplaying games at the very least, since that is what we are all here to pursue and explore.

Still, I don't think that female characters need to rely on masculine traits in order to be an important member of any team, either in a roleplaying game or in real life.  We have been perfectly balanced by nature as it is, and that is for a very good reason... no need to try to adopt both gender charateristics in order to be a quality member of any team.