Alicorn OCs

[Rene 41]

So I've noticed that Alicorn OCs tend to get a lot of hate. I'm not saying there aren't bad ones out there but by how some people ban all of them, the good ones are ignored. Alicorns now have the stereotype of being Mary Sues. I personally don't think it's fair. I have a few Alicorn OCs myself, so I won't try and pretend I'm not biased. But I'll admit that only one of my Alicorn OCs I'm actually content with as a character. And even though she's red and black, magic-less (sorta), and abused, I'm fully happy with where she's gone and I do not think she would qualify as a Mary Sue at all. On the other hand I have a few that I will openly admit are Mary Sues and I'm trying to fix them. So what are all your opinions on Alicorn OCs?

On a side note, what do you all think of OCs with chaos magic/are related to Discord? Do you think they're over powered? I've got one with Discord's powers but he basically doesn't think about anything, so.... Yeah... Your thoughts?

[Hocus Pocus 636]

I don't think there's any argument about whether or not alicorns are OP... they just are. This has been proven time and again throughout the show, especially how most alicorns must be ascended to that state through some form of revelation that grants them their true power. The only canon exceptions to this are Celestia and Luna (Which were born alicorns, as shown in the comics)

 

However, I don't think that alicorn OCs are all terrible, horrible, scourges of the earth. Overpowered characters should be handled delicately in any story, and alicorns should be no different. While most alicorns are indeed Marry Sues in my opinion, this gives the idea of alicorn OCs a bad reputation. The problem is they aren't being handled correctly. And while I have not created any alicorn OCs yet, if I do, I will follow my own guidelines which I use to judge the alicorn OCs of others.

 

Rule #1: Alicorns can NEVER be your ponysona... EVER! (With the ONLY exception of someone who is incredibly important to the actual show, such as Lauren Faust or a story board writer for the actual show.). This rule over-rides all other rules

 

Rule #2: Alicorns cannot be a main protagonist in an RP. This should go for overpowered characters in stories in general. They are not meant to be an active contributor in a story, but rather an overarching force that is a constant part of the narrative. That doesn't mean they can't appear, but they shouldn't have a very active role on the events that happen (FLCL did a very good job of this with Atomsk, he is the motivation behind a character's actions, but he only shows up for one very short scene in the end of the series, and even Princess Celestia does a good job of this, being a force behind many actions, but rarely intervening and taking direct control over a situation). I have very few exceptions with this rule, but there still are some; most of which involve some sort of "Chosen one" (Such as in Avatar/Legend of Korra). That said, however,  I do not believe alicorns are one of these exceptions. (This is one of the reasons why I am still against Alicorn Twilight.)

 

Rule #3: While alicorns cannot be a main protagonist, they CAN be A main or even THE main antagonist. An antagonist is meant to be overcome, and the tougher the struggle to overcome that antagonist, generally, the better the story... and alicorns would make a TOUGH struggle, meaning they're a PERFECT villain for MLP

 

Rule #4: If an alicorn OC appears in an RP, it must be played by the person running the RP (or if you have special permission to use your own, see rule #5). With an RP, several characters contribute to the story, not just your ponysona. Meaning that if you're running an RP, an appearance by multiple of your OCs at once, including an Alicorn OC can very easily happen; however, to better keep with rule #2, the owner/owners of the RP should be the only one to control that OC's actions.

 

Rule #5: Don't bring your alicorn OC into someone else's RP unless there is a good reason to story-wise AND you have the RP owner's consent. Some of the best stories are those that overlap with other stories. And there's nothing that feels more awesome than bringing all the most powerful characters of different stories together to team up (Which is why so many people loved "The Avengers" movie). However, with an OP character, it's downright disrespectful to the owner's story to shove "Snowflake the all-powerful overlord" into their world. This is true of any alicorn as well; they have been shown to be the wielders of the most powerful magic in all of Equestria, and simply having one pop up out of nowhere WILL (not can) derail a story.

 

Needless to say, a proper alicorn OC is HARD to pull off (Hence why I haven't created one yet) however, if done right, they could very well be as endearing as an actual character in the show... anything less than that will seem like a snowflake or marry sue... which is why most alicorns seem to fail so spectacularly.

 

 

I'm not meaning to be negative in any of this or bash any alicorn OCs anypony who is reading this may have. I'm simply saying that alicorns are tough to make... if they were easy to make, I'd already have made one, or even several! And if you want to make one, be sure to handle it in a way that doesn't impose you as being "all-powerful" like many alicorn OCs seem like they do, even if they don't do it intentionally.

Edited January 26, 2015 by Hocus Pocus

[SilverStarApple 850]

I don't mind Alicorn OCs, and some people just make their OCs weak low-level Alicorns just for the uniqueness value without caring about power.

 

By the way, an Alicorn is the main villain of a one-shot side-story fanfic I've been writing. It should be up by tonight. If not, then something happened. Probably wifi trouble, but if I'm not online at all tomorrow, ask around to find out what happened.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,165]

Hello @Rene!

 

As we have a few threads already dedicated to alicorn OCs I'll go ahead and lock this one. In the future please remember to search for possible duplicates using either the forum search function or by using site:mlpforums.com + keyword on Google.

 

http://mlpforums.com/topic/101206-mary-sue-guidelines-how-to-make-a-good-alicorn-oc/

 

http://mlpforums.com/topic/73558-alicorn-ocsare-they-really-that-bad/

 

Thank you and have a good day.