What Qualifies As A Bad OC?

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

@@TopazReshiram, Agreed. Dead parents is totally over-used.

 

If you want to have absent parents for an OC, they don't have to be dead! Have the father and mother split up, have a deadbeat dad/mum, have dad/mum just run off with their secretary... just look at real life! Not very many people have dead parents, but quite a few people have divorced parents or deadbeat ones.

[Bunnyhop123 194]

Name: Lightning Dash

Age: Unknown

Gender: Male

Species: Alicorn

Cutie Mark: Lightning.

Power: Can control all weather and lightning, has insane amount of power, mentored Celestia. Loves (insert name of mane six pony) Defeated discord. Extremely fast.

 

Something like that?

 

That clearly took months to think of!  

[Phony 10]

Well what I think of as a bad OC is one that isn't original at all. I mean it means original character right? I can't see what's wrong with an OC with ridiculously overpowered traits or absurd backstory. That is unless if the RP isn't allowing such characters to be involved.

 

For me it would be like, for ex:

 

Person 1 made an OC with a white coat, red yellow eyes, and a blue mane which is styled in a way that is so unique that there would only be one result after a google search.

 

Person 2 made an 'OC' with the same white coat, yellow eyes, and a blue mane which is EXACTLY like the OC by person 1... But heres the catch: Person 2's OC has an EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY small moustache. Oh and they both have the same exact backstory. Unoriginal.

This is kinda exaggerated, but you get the idea...

 

or an OC that has almost nothing to do with what it was supposed to be based on.

[Guest]

I think this should suffice: introducing... Mary Sue! 

 

Her overall colour scheme echoes her golden heart and spirit, her unique nature and her superiority over all other ponies (it was because of all these superlative traits, that Mary Sue became an alicorn in the first place)

 

Her crown is basic, but this is deliberate to reflect her universality and rule/dominance over all different aspects such as light, love and friendship. The basic crown also shows Mary Sue's humility despite being utter perfection.

 

Her cutie mark is a grade, a top grade to reflect her perfect nature from  fillyhood to now. A is also for 'adversity' and the star next to it represents Mary Sue's ability to overcome adversity and rise above it, like the star that she is.

 

I hope you all like her

 

Edited July 27, 2014 by Guest

[The Blades Shadow 444]

I think this should suffice: introducing... Mary Sue! 

 

Her overall colour scheme echoes her golden heart and spirit, her unique nature and her superiority over all other ponies (it was because of all these superlative traits, that Mary Sue became an alicorn in the first place)

 

Her crown is basic, but this is deliberate to reflect her universality and rule/dominance over all different aspects such as light, love and friendship. The basic crown also shows Mary Sue's humility despite being utter perfection.

 

Her cutie mark is a grade, a top grade to reflect her perfect nature from  fillyhood to now. A is also for 'adversity' and the star next to it represents Mary Sue's ability to overcome adversity and rise above it, like the star that she is.

 

I hope you all like her

 

Screen Shot 2014-07-27 at 23.51.18.png

Omg you beat me to it... Why can I only brohoof this once? XD

[Professor Annabella 330]

A bad OC is the following:

 

1. Overpowered. And no, that doesn't necessarily mean "alicorn". I have an alicorn character in my fanfiction. I worked hard to make him flawed, and not to win at everything. In fact, he gets a smackdown by the villain the first time they meet, and he has to be taught how to use his magic by Twilight Sparkle. Even after he's gotten better, he's still not better than Twilight Sparkle. To go back to what I'm saying, an overpowered OC is a terrible one. For example, if your pegasus OC can beat Rainbow Dash in a race every time, do a Sonic Rainboom and pwn the Wonderbolts every time they fly. That is overpowered and frankly, quite ridiculous. Nopony is saying that your OC can't have a talent; however, they can't be good at everything, or else it's not believable.

 

2. Mary Sue/Gary Stu. Don't know what one is? Basically, a Mary Sue (or Gary Stu if your OC is male) is perfect at everything, talented at everything, never makes mistakes and is loved by all. In other words, YAAAAWWWWNNNN. Mary Sues are really boring to read about, and in RP they end up making the RP completely unfun for everyone else.

 

3. Cluttered. Does your OC really have to have five horns, two sets of wings, sixteen bracelets and be coloured as tho somepony ate Skittles and vomited the rainbow? If you think I'm joking... sadly, I have seen OCs like that, and the people who had them were serious. O_o

 

4. Not sticking to race restrictions. Let me put it this way. If your earth pony OC can fly, your pegasus OC can do magic for no good reason and your unicorn OC is "more powerful than Celestia", then you need to go rewatch the show. There are exceptions, yes, but you need to have a damn good backstory to explain why your OC can bend the rules of his/her race. I've also seen people do this as an arsepull to basically say, "Um, my OC is not a Mary Sue! She's an earth pony, not an alicorn!", totally ignoring the fact that alicorn OCs do not always equal Mary Sue and if your earth pony OC can do magic and fly, they're basically an alicorn in all but name anyway.

 

5. Depressing. Look, nopony is saying that you can't have a tragic back story for your OC. But you need to do two things. One, be original. I see a lot of dead parents stories and they're getting old fast. Make sure too that you put a lot of work into your back story. Make it character building, rather than to be used as an excuse for why your OC is a complete arse to everyone. Make them work hard to overcome things, rather than expect everything to be handed to them on a plate cuz they've suffered. Secondly, don't have them bang endlessly on about their tragic past. Seriously, most people who have suffered trauma don't do that.

Oh god, now I'm concerned. My OC has a tragic backstory, but she doesn't dwell on it. It is a little depressing, but not too depressing. Just look at her

 

http://mlpforums.com/page/roleplay-characters/_/professor-anna-belle-r6771

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

@, Seems alright to me; you see, your OC isn't magically overcoming everything and certainly not talking on and on about her tragic past, so she's fine. XD

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,302]

There's no such thing as an objectively bad Original Character (within the context of MLP:FIM fanfiction).  I also believe that fanfiction should never ever under any circumstances be mistaken for the very pinnacle of literary excellence lol.  The only point to a fanfic, in my opinion, is to satisfy some need you have as a fan to explore situations and character interactions that the show itself, for one reason or another, has not endeavored to address.  At least not to the satisfaction of whoever is penning the hypothetical fanfic.

 

That's it.  Period.  If you're working on a fanfic, write it FOR YOURSELF.  If you've created an OC to interact in whatever way with the Mane Six or this or that chosen-at-complete-random background pony or to slap Diamond Tiara across the face...  Doesn't matter.  Your OC is your personal little hoofhold on the preexisting fictional soil of Equestria.  Yours.  No one else's.  A little piece of you that facilitates this type of creative escapism.  It's "good" if you get something out of it.  Derive some small amount of pleasure from venturing into this world of candy-colored Equines, pen in hand and imagination switched to ON.

[Loyal 4]

There's no such thing as an objectively bad Original Character (within the context of MLP:FIM fanfiction).  I also believe that fanfiction should never ever under any circumstances be mistaken for the very pinnacle of literary excellence lol.  The only point to a fanfic, in my opinion, is to satisfy some need you have as a fan to explore situations and character interactions that the show itself, for one reason or another, has not endeavored to address.  At least not to the satisfaction of whoever is penning the hypothetical fanfic.

 

That's it.  Period.  If you're working on a fanfic, write it FOR YOURSELF.  If you've created an OC to interact in whatever way with the Mane Six or this or that chosen-at-complete-random background pony or to slap Diamond Tiara across the face...  Doesn't matter.  Your OC is your personal little hoofhold on the preexisting fictional soil of Equestria.  Yours.  No one else's.  A little piece of you that facilitates this type of creative escapism.  It's "good" if you get something out of it.  Derive some small amount of pleasure from venturing into this world of candy-colored Equines, pen in hand and imagination switched to ON.

i like this but i feel like if your role playing with it then it can be bad just in sense if its over powered but other than that, who cares its not yours so what if it doesn't like good to the eye, its not yours it was someone elses imagination gone into it. wearing to much gear? people do that in real life, put whatever you want on them. its not my character so whatever floats your boat you know

[A goat 323]

Bad OC's are usually red and black alicorns. Unlike my OC, who is a fabulous goat.

Edited July 28, 2014 by A goat

[Kulstor 254]

I guess there can be some, like as part of your backstory, your oc and celestia are best friends. she made you into an alicorn like her so you wouldn't age and so you could be best pals like forever.    Or the same with Luna instead of Celestia. 

[DubWolf 17,242]

I mean, yeah overpowered OCs are a no-no, but I can't stand colorful/overloaded designs. Alicorns aren't necessarily bad, but most people just have them so their OC can be as strong as Princesses. Magic and flight are both ok to have, but I recall someone said "you need to /cut/ things out" of your OC (no Mary Sue OCs). Not all Alicorns OCs are Mary Sue OCs.

[Please delete this acc 11]

Beginner's guide of making a Bad OC.

1) make it alicorn

2) make relative to Princess.

3) Black and Red Color scheme

4) give 'em Bat wings

5) [???]

6) Congrats, you have made a half-baked yet bad OC

Other notes:

There's also recolors, and OCs have "Edgey" stories that makes an OC Bad.

[remove p l e a s e ? 800]

Oh for sure!

The signs of a bad OC would be the following:

-Bullcrap backstory. Something like: "No, I must get the Alicorns!" "No Jimmy, you are the Alicorns!"

-Generic designs. Such as the red and black scheme.

-Obnoxious designs. Anything of misaligned/poorly placed colors to bright neon colors. Having a million different parts and patterns make this even worse.

-No flaws. By that I mean bad side to personality or being wrong.

-Being of the ranks of higher than the main characters.

-Straight out clone. I don't know why, but Rainbow Dash seems to always be the victim of this.

I'm no expert on OCs, in fact I started making some, but you can pretty much see one right off the bat.

Edited July 28, 2014 by Kilobyte_Writer9K

[Midnight Gaze 131]

So, what's wrong with a black and red color scheme? Is it because the red is usually too bright? Personally, I've seen some really good ones, and I think that it's only bad when the red is too bright.

Edited July 30, 2014 by Midnight Gaze

[Stone Cold Applejack 381]

I know what makes a bad OC. I made a OC and just said the hell with it and made him a gang member of the Detrot Loco Kings. His name's Ace and I made his mane into corn rows. I did it out of boardment but I did use him a lot in my head canon stuff.

Edited July 30, 2014 by Lighting Bell

[RainbowPastel 185]

I rlly don't judge pple's ocs. I guess it's of what YOU think is bad or if the oc doesn't fit ur taste. Some pple could think my oc is bad but Idgaf.

 

I didn't make this. Just found it on Bronyism Facebook page :/

 

 

Edited July 30, 2014 by RainbowPastel

[Deathstroke 1,564]

I rlly don't judge pple's ocs. I guess it's of what YOU think is bad or if the oc doesn't fit ur taste. Some pple could think my oc is bad but Idgaf.

 

I didn't make this. Just found it on Bronyism Facebook page :/

 

 

Hahaha thank you friend! that made my day! 

[Scrambled_Egghead 16]

The Mary Sue thing has been brought up a lot. But I would also say that, in the case of my little pony, Grim/dark OCs and OCs and pat/pony OCs are bad as well. I have no problem with having a somewhat dark OC or a character who loves to/is good at fighting. But has anyone else noticed that there are absolutely zero ponies on the show with a black coat?

[Danimal 21]

hmm, would it be bad for your oc to pretty much be based off of the real you? Some creative twist on the truth to make it fit in with the universe, but pretty much your story in pony form.

[Mars Caramel 319]

I personally don't believe an OC can be "bad", but when you follow characteristics like making it an alicorn, give it a ridiculous colour scheme, ship it with a canon character, or make it a Mary Sue, you should no doubt expect people to give it such criticism.

 

I don't like to judge OCs at all unless I'm pushed. People themselves should feel the need to improve, instead of others attempting to force it to them on the spot.

[PeachPalette 1,000]

Personally, I don't really like abnormally dark OCs. I think a good OC would look more relative to the show. Sure, there's a dark grey pony running around in the show, but really...there are not a lot. So, it must be kinda rare. I just see way too many really dark or harshly neon colored OCs. And patterns? That's rare too. 

 

Recolors. I think it's really lazy to recolor Fluttershy and say it's a different pony. No. That's Fluttershy with green fur and yellow mane. BE CREATIVE!

 

Alicorns. It's cool to design them, but to BE one and RP as one....meh. That's pretty much like being OP, and there really aren't that many in Equestria. There's a balance that only so many can exist at one time.

 

Dragon/pony hybrids. Most of these turn out kinda corny looking and I don't think there will be one in Equestria anytime soon. Until I see one, I refuse to acknowledge one as a thing. 

 

Of course, in saying all of this I will sometimes make an exception if they are very cleverly designed. 

[UCD 75]

Glad I stumbled on this. I've been writing up my OC's story for about 3 weeks now, and I want it to be damn good. I will definitely be using the tips everyone has posted here

[Buck Testa 5,505]

You might have a bad oc if:

 

If your oc has more angst and poorly conceived melodrama then the Twilight series

 

If your oc is a clear rippoff of another character with little to no alteration

 

If your oc is a perfect princess alicorn for no other reason than it is neat

 

If your character is some wacky zebra pony hybrid for no apparent reason, same with bat wings

 

If no real thought was put into the character before you drew or made it

[Pinkamena-Pills 6,839]

Its all subjective,there is now "law" to break or adhere to. So the question you ask is irrelevant,because the answer you seek will vary from person to person.