Common OC Problems

[ZLTavs 87]

AHem!

 

Pitch black ponies, ponies with way too many bright colours, Alicorns, overuse of Vinyl Manes and tails, ponies with everything you can added on them, changeling ponies, lost son of "Luna" or something ponies and Mary Sues (Usually Alicorns)

 

Proper OC use: http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/7396/myponyb.png

Notice how the Green used is light and pastel, the mane is simply brown, no big flashing neon colours here, and it's simply a unicorn.

 

Improper OC use: http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/4808/myponyyt.png Notice the flashy Zebra striped Bright and Neon colored overly accesorized Alicorn with a Neon Vinyl Mane, this is improper and BAD! Using Celestia mane is also a no no.

[Doctor XFizzle 8,669]

I understand that Pony Creator is good for people who don't have any artistic skills (including myself) to draw their OCs from scratch or w/e, but it should only be used as a first-time, brainstorming reference of how you want your OC to look. Then go out and find a friend or a nice person to do an original sketch of your OC.

 

I tried to make my OCs as close to canonical as I could.

[ZLTavs 87]

I understand that Pony Creator is good for people who don't have any artistic skills (including myself) to draw their OCs from scratch or w/e, but it should only be used as a first-time, brainstorming reference of how you want your OC to look. Then go out and find a friend or a nice person to do an original sketch of your OC.

 

I tried to make my OCs as close to canonical as I could.

Sir as a Habs fan I do not take kindly to your Detroit Red Wings Pony.

 

But in all seriousness, you're implying that we all have artist brony friends who have a shitload of free time on their hands to make you a pony.

 

I don't.

[Flicker 141]

Sir as a Habs fan I do not take kindly to your Detroit Red Wings Pony.

 

But in all seriousness, you're implying that we all have artist brony friends who have a load of free time on their hands to make you a pony.

 

I don't.

Maybe you haven't noticed, but there's tons of "Taking Requests" threads in the Creative resources section. I've been working on making an avatar of my OC for myself, I just keep forgetting what she looks like so I need the PC image for an avatar lol. 

[Jordan Dash 31]

I somewhat agree in a way that most the things you listed are WAY to over used. I myself don't have an OC since I can't settle on one.

 

I don't understand why people always use Alicorns, sure they have all 3 pony elements (flight, earth and magic) but common, in Equestria you don't see 50 alicorns running around. But then again I give them credit for trying to create an OC.

 

Aswell as the over use of items on their ponies, it's like when I was 10 I used to add everything I possible could, but now I just try to keep things down to minimum and what I like. 

 

So I semi agree with your post

[Shadow Chaser 633]

I don't.

Give me a color palette and tell me boy or girl.  You underestimate how many artists are out there and how often they become bored.

[Aaramus 449]

I do agree with most of this. I think that OC's should be able to have a place within the universe that doesn't make them more important that the mane 6 or characters like Luna and Celestia.

 

I find looking at peoples designs for their OC's to be rather interesting, you get people who manage to create great OC's with plenty of depth and also look good. The only time an OC is bad is when they're just not thought through and some-ones made them on a whim.

 

I've been trying the create mine for a while now and I want him to be a character who is essentially myself but in the MLP universe. I;ve gone through like 20 redesigns because he keeps ending up looking like Shining Armour (due to those colours being the one's I like) and I really don't want that.

 

Pony creator is great for ideas and concepts and if you're not great at drawing or vector artwork.

Edited January 6, 2013 by Aaramus

[Winona the Dog 1,984]

I agree with Aaramus. Sure, there is some heavy over-use on certain things like Alicorns, Bright colors,common back-stories  etc. (as for the manes and tails they don't really bother me personally) but for people who have no artistic skill as like myself the Pony Creator is as close as we can get to making a visual image of our pony without some help from the more  artistically advanced people.

Edited January 6, 2013 by ~Chaotic Harmony~

[TailsIsNotAlone 3,695]

Some of us make our OCs too overpowered and/or perfect, leading to too many alicorns. Other bronies try too hard to make them look "dark" or "cool," so there are too many black ponies (only Nightmare Moon pulled that off right) or ponies with un-ponylike weapons and accessories.

 

I know the pony creator is a very limited tool, but without the software to make one from scratch it's all I've got. I think I made the best of it, so I'll show you my not perfect but adequate OC.

First, she's practical. She has just one accessory, the bracelets, and you can tell right away what her interests are. Second, her colors work. The mane and tail blend in well with her coat. On earlier attempts I was making black ponies with weird green and blue hair and wings and metal-shod hooves and...you get the picture.

Edited January 6, 2013 by TailsAlone

[Harmonic Revelations 8,835]

That isn't a "problem" as you have described. In fact there are specific words that apply to OC based on any fiction ever. It could apply to a Halo OC, a Naruto OC, a MLP OC, the term that says that they are not canonically possible is "Non-lore friendly". What you call a proper use of OC is "lore friendly".

 

And really if someone has a problem with it, they should specify  that in their RP they'll only accept Lore-friendly characters.

 

If their OC doesn't look good, don't be a jerk to them about it, provide creative and constructive yet informative feedback to help them improve in the future.

Edited January 6, 2013 by Harmonic Revelations

[ZLTavs 87]

That isn't a "problem" as you have described. In fact there are specific words that apply to OC based on any fiction ever. It could apply to a Halo OC, a Naruto OC, a MLP OC, the term that says that they are not canonically possible is "Non-lore friendly". What you call a proper use of OC is "lore friendly".

 

And really if someone has a problem with it, they should specify  that in their RP they'll only accept Lore-friendly characters.

 

If their OC doesn't look good, don't be a jerk to them about it, provide creative and constructive yet informative feedback to help them improve in the future.

Oh I try, but every time I talk to them they just flip and get upset and try to justifiy why their OC is a totally utter piece of crap.

[Harmonic Revelations 8,835]

Oh I try, but every time I talk to them they just flip and get upset and try to justifiy why their OC is a totally utter piece of crap.

 

Just because you dislike their OC doesn't mean they have they have to change it. They don't specifically make OC with you in mind. For some reason, many people who dislike certain types of art act as if they speak for the entirety of the human population. Get used to inserting phrases like "I think" and "I believe" into your sentences, it makes you sound like a nicer and less rude person.

[ZLTavs 87]

Give me a color palette and tell me boy or girl.  You underestimate how many artists are out there and how often they become bored.

 

 

Give me a color palette and tell me boy or girl.  You underestimate how many artists are out there and how often they become bored.

 http://img715.images...396/myponyb.png

 

It's all right there, the general Idea of how I want it to look, that's pretty much the basics, now make it look like a show pony where the entire face is shown, not just one side of the body, or make it have messier hair or make it's fur look more real or something.

[Snowdream 221]

i like simple OC's ones with few or no accesories. the colours also should compliment each other. I for one do not like the OC's that's body colour is lighter than their mane, i think it looks kinda wierd. like a jet black body and a fluro yellow mane! eww!

[~Lawful Sturdy Wing~ 522]

AHem!

 

Pitch black ponies, ponies with way too many bright colours, Alicorns, overuse of Vinyl Manes and tails, ponies with everything you can added on them, changeling ponies, lost son of "Luna" or something ponies and Mary Sues (Usually Alicorns)

 

Proper OC use: http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/7396/myponyb.png

Notice how the Green used is light and pastel, the mane is simply brown, no big flashing neon colours here, and it's simply a unicorn.

 

Improper OC use: http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/4808/myponyyt.png Notice the flashy Zebra striped Bright and Neon colored overly accesorized Alicorn with a Neon Vinyl Mane, this is improper and BAD! Using Celestia mane is also a no no.

 

Congratulations, you recongnize what every brony over the age of 12 recognizes. Read my profile page, I make specifications on how I absolutely love and tolerate Alicorns as little as humanly possible. Check out my OC though, tell me if it fits your liking,

http://mlpforums.com/page/roleplay-characters/_/sturdy-wing-r2257

[Broccoli 127]

It's good to know that there are many OC requests out there, because I've decided it's time for me to get an OC that is not from the pony generator, although it would be based off the one I made there. However, instead of others making the OC's for me, I would like to know how to get started on making my own OC's, like what programs and tools to use etc. Can somepony give me a helping hoof? Thanks, would be much appreciated. 

[Dreadmallon 353]

Sir as a Habs fan I do not take kindly to your Detroit Red Wings Pony.

 

 

...Let's go Caps?

 

Anyway, all I know about the subject is to avoid making overpowered characters, and try to make them fit within the atmosphere of Equestria (kid-friendly).

[Clarity 3,094]

Yeah, I agree. Also with tragic backstories, evil past, whatever. Why can't most OCs just be a regular citizen in Ponyville instead of a pony with exceptional magic/flight that has travelled to places nopony has ever been to?

 

I made a blog entry questioning the "boringness" of my OC once. Teh wise chickan told me just how much backstory matters.

 

I'll quote 's post here:

 

 

Frankly, Clarity, I have a problem. My problem is that I don't think that OCs with deeply magical, tragic, or evil natures are necessarily either special or unique. I have a few simple reasons for thinking this, and I think I'd like to share them.

First, let's think about how overly common these dramatic back stories are. It seems to me like the great majority of OCs actually have some awesome magical power, some deeply tragic past, or is intrinsically more evil than we could guess. Doesn't it seem just a bit unusual that so many OCs are so dramatic? My thinking is that when every single OC has a dramatic past, and how could a dramatic past be called unique? By definition, it isn't.

Second, let's think about what it actually means to be special. The word special is defined as “better, greater, or otherwise different from what is usual”. What is usual? This brings us back to our first point. So many OCs with such deeply dramatic pasts means that the usual is to have a deeply dramatic past. In that case, once again, having a super dramatic backstory seems to be the opposite of what actually makes an OC special.

Here's my thinking. I'm not actually trying to say that a dramatic backstory makes an OC automatically not special and not unique. So, I'm definitely not intending to attack anybody's OC here. The only thing that I am trying to say is that I don't believe having a super dramatic past has anything to do with how special or unique an OC is. An OC with a super dramatic past can be a special and unique OC, but and OC without a super dramatic past can also be special and unique.

Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that if having a dramatic backstory does not make an OC special and unique, then what does?! Well, for the answer to this question, I think that we need to stop and think about what makes characters great in fiction, movies, and theater. Based on the RP that we are both currently in, I would like to use one of my favorite examples - Sherlock Holmes. (I will be discussing Sherlock Holmes as presented by Arthur Conan Doyle in his original book series.)

I'm not sure how much you know about Sherlock Holmes, but, viewed from a distance, he's not exactly the most awesome and dramatic individual. Forget having a backstory, Sherlock Holmes is introduced with nearly nothing explained about his origins. That's right, no magical powers, deep tragedy, or deeply evil nature. Nothing. He is introduced as a private investigator, nothing more and nothing less.

That sounds like a pretty boring introduction. You'd think that a character like Holmes would definitely have faded from popularity by now? After all, the original books were written over 100 years ago, in the late 1890s. And yet, here we are today with Sherlock Holmes movies, TV series, and more modern books. How in the world did this happen? What was it about this character that led to his enduring popularity?

When I was a little kid, I found one book from the Sherlock Holmes series on the bookshelf. I was bored, so I read it. From that point on, I was completely hooked. What did it? It wasn't magic, tragedy, or evil. It was simple really. It was the character - the way he was described, the way he talked, the way he thought. All of these factors came together to create a character that seemed more real than most of the individuals around me.

You see, having a super dramatic backstory really does have nothing to do with how awesome the OC is. If you have an OC with a superawesomemazing backstory but they are blandly described, behave unrealistically, have a cookie-cutter personality, and have horrible dialogue, then that character is not unique and is not special. Now, if you have an OC with no backstory at all but they are described fluently, have clever and fitting dialogue, and behave as though they were real, then that is a special, unique, and awesome OC.

Clarity, I would like to talk about your OC. I know that you wrote this blog post to find out what you could do to make your character more interesting and more unique. I apologize for taking so many words to finally get to my suggestions, and I do have some definite suggestions. You see, you've made about 4 posts in the RP that we are both in so far. That's more than enough for me to have a good idea of the nature of your OC and what could be done to improve her.

Here's what you can do. Keep doing what you're doing. Really, just keep doing what you're doing - that is my suggestion. From the moment that I read your first post in the RP, I thought that your character was special and unique, and your other posts merely further convinced me that I was right. Your OC is always described with such detail that I can practically imagine her to be real - her dialogue is believable, her emotions can be felt, and her situation is something that I can empathize with.

It's easy to feel as though your OC is inferior in some way to other OCs that have “more dramatic” backstories. However, trust me, that feeling is only an illusion. It isn't the backstory that makes an OC unique, it is what happens after the back story.

It's been said that the journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. Well, to me, writing for an OC is like going on a journey. The backstory is merely the first step, it is important but it will not take you the entire length of the 1,000 miles; to go the rest of the way, you need to have an OC that seems to come alive. Clarity is one of my favorite characters to read in the RP. She really does seem to spring to life every time you write for her. As far as I'm concerned, you're on the right track with her characterization and you will only get better as you go on.

[Flow 1,624]

I kind of agree with what the overused accessories thing, but I see nothing wrong with the Vinyl mane, everyone's welcome to express what they want on their OC's, just as long as they don't over do it.

 

Also feel free to rant about my OC's

Edited January 7, 2013 by Narutardedscum

[lilymalady123 203]

i myself have two OCs. on that is an alicorn, as my online personality everywhere else is a princess, and a unicorn, for uses in roleplays and whatnot.

[Psych Ward 377]

You have a very good point.  I hate Alicorn OC's.  They are annoying and ALL POWERFUL!!!!  

 

Is my main OC to your liking?  How about my other's?

 

 

 

 

[KaryDactyl 26]

Given that I typically encounter OCs in roleplays, I only care about one thing: are they fun to roleplay with? I really do not care if your OC is ultra powerful, I care if the powers make things interesting or boring. Is your OC eye assaultingly colorful? Play them wrong, burn with fire, play them right, appreciate the quirkiness. I used to diss OCs based on their played out backstories and poor visual design, but I've come to realize that isn't important if the player makes them interesting in action.

 

That being said, I'm also a huge lover of cohesive color schemes and backstories I haven't heard a million times. But you can have these things and still not be interesting. XD

[Ion 279]

I'm definitely not a fan of alicorn OC's as they are very, very, very rarely done well. Most end up being mary sue's with all kinds of powers and they are best friends with every character in the show etc...

 

Normal OC's are hit and miss with me. I like well designed OC's instead of those who just use pony creator ones. Don't get me wrong lots of people make nice pony creator oc's, I'm just talking about those which have identical mane styles to canon characters (Like somebody already mentioned with the abundance of Vinyl Scratch manes). 

 

Brightly coloured OC's I don't mind so long as the colours suit it. As in not bright red everything for example. And it can never hurt for an OC to have a well made backstory. 

 

When I made my OC Ion I tried to avoid all of these. I'll let others decide if I succeeded. 

[Galex Dj 173]

I agree with everything you said except one thing.

 

The while overuse of Vinyl Scratch's mane. People use it because they like it a lot, so they have the right to use it. Even my OC has Vinyl Scratch's mane because her mane was the best looking one. Maybe everyone uses it because it looks the best. I'm just saying my opinion. :\

[Ion 279]

The while overuse of Vinyl Scratch's mane. People use it because they like it a lot, so they have the right to use it. Even my OC has Vinyl Scratch's mane because her mane was the best looking one. Maybe everyone uses it because it looks the best. I'm just saying my opinion. :\

 

I understand why they use it, I just think that OC's look better when they are designed from head to hoof (    ). I've seen a lot of people use the pony creator for the initial design of their OC and then they make it their own afterwards.