Characters that just manage to get past being 'Mary Sue' types

[D-Class 198482]

I decided to hop into the recent 'Mary Sue' discussions here with a little something different -- characters that are clearly powerful or well loved well beyond what a normal character would, but manages to have very clear, defining negative traits.
The first one that comes to mind is Manny Calavera from Grim Fandango; charismatic, a fast thinker, even a moderately good fighter when it comes to it (he floored a man taller than him in one punch). He rose to the top of the ranks in wherever he goes in around a year, and was even the top of his old job. However -- especially in the earlier chapters -- he's clearly defined as kind of a shit person. Charismatic, sure, but selfish. For example --

Spoiler

During the second year, when a friend of his dies in front of him and he promises to fulfill her dying wish to expose an affair using a picture she took. Instead, he takes the picture and uses it to blackmail someone, hiding it from the person he was supposed to show it to. During the same year, he also convinced the captain of the Limbo that one of his crew mates was dead (when he was merely unconscious) so he could tag along on the ship. And during Year 3 most notably, when he leaves a man as bait so he can sneak past a monster.

Also notably is Korosensei from Assassination Classroom -- can move at Mach 20, resistant to bullets, has the ability to regenerate limbs instantly...but, as the show goes on, his weaknesses are constantly shown. One of the characters are constantly taking notes of Korosensei's various weaknesses (culminating in an episode where they actually almost manage to kill him by using all of his known weaknesses against him), as well as the weaknesses shown when he's facing off against his brother, Itona. Even his end-all invincible form he uses when his back is against the wall has weaknesses, preventing him from moving, making him compact and easy to torment and trap -- in fact, the episode where the form is introduced actually has the form as the major conflict.
Are there any other characters that show some form of insane strength in some areas with having very clear, defined weaknesses and things to dislike about them?

 

[DrownedAmmet]

I'm so bad at video games that my character is usually far from a Mary Sue.

You are the chosen one, you will save the world, defeat the big bad and.... you just walked off a cliff five times in a row

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

The reason Manny's not a Mary Sue is simpler than that: things never go his way. He has to put effort into achieving anything, and even when he does he's always about to lose everything. Just as importantly, he's not regarded very highly by anybody (except Glotis). He's an underdog through and through.

 

[Bobular]

I think that most player characters come close due to the player having to win to progress. It's only the writing that can take a character out of Mary Sue status.

I find that RPG where you create the character yourself has this problem the most. To make it so the character can be everything to everyone, the character generally starts of as the best and doesn't go through much in the way of development (I'm talking about story wise, obviously their stats develop).

I also find people care less about this as it's their Mary Sue character.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

I think that most player characters come close due to the player having to win to progress. It's only the writing that can take a character out of Mary Sue status.

I find that RPG where you create the character yourself has this problem the most. To make it so the character can be everything to everyone, the character generally starts of as the best and doesn't go through much in the way of development (I'm talking about story wise, obviously their stats develop).

I also find people care less about this as it's their Mary Sue character.

You have a certain amount of investment in a created character just by virtue of it being your creation.

There's a range of characters, I guess they just appeal to different people. I don't personally care too much for characters that are too perfect, so I understand where the criticism comes from. These characters just leave me cold...

My personal favourite is Max Payne, which... Probably says a fair amount about what I like in a character. He's ridiculously good at gun-play, but that's basically it. Max fucks things up, and I love him for it.

I love it when a plan doesn't come together.

 

[D-Class 198482]

The reason Manny's not a Mary Sue is simpler than that: things never go his way. He has to put effort into achieving anything, and even when he does he's always about to lose everything. Just as importantly, he's not regarded very highly by anybody (except Glotis). He's an underdog through and through.

He seems pretty well-liked throughout the game. Except for a handful of people, they seem to respect him greatly -- even his competitor in Year 2 greets him like an old friend, and tells him that Manny's deserved a vacation.