the non-gendered term Author's Pet is perfectly fine for a protagonist who has the entire reality of the novel warped around them to lavish this vehicle of vicarious gratification with unearned adoration at the expense of credibility and any consideration, on the author's part, of other characters

it's the last part that's fatal, btw. there's nothing wrong with vicarious gratification unless you're some kinda puritan, and if some readers will happily suspend disbelief in ridiculous implausibilities, power to them. but B characters are the service workers of story, not to be treated like shit

I dunno. I like Author's Darling, because it implies that if you put that character in your novel you should kill them.

I mean, we lose Disco Stu's brother, Marty, but that's a price I'm willing to pay.