Good OC's and Bad OC's

[Astral Blitzen 469]

I wanna know what you guys think makes an OC good as in 'awesome' or an OC bad as in 'blech'.

 

 

I think this is also a good place to discuss OC's, whether it be your's or something.

Edited March 31, 2014 by Astral Blitzen

[Squint 29]

It depends on what the OC's to be used for.

[Sir Xarthas VI 470]

Good OC:
Original name.
Original Backstory.
Unique Cutie Mark.
Unique colors.
Unique look.
Mild use in Magic (if Unicorn or Alicorn).
Mild speed in Flight (if Pegasus or Alicorn).
Mild strength (If Earth Pony, Pegasus, or Alicorn).

Bad OC:
Unoriginal name.
Unoriginal backstory.
Common Cutie Mark.
Colors that clash.
Common look.
Overpowered Magic use/ability.
Super-speed in flight.
Super-strength.
Super-intellegent.
Close-relation to anypony from show.

[Castle Bleck 19,163]

I found a "manual" about bad OCs:

 

Edited March 31, 2014 by Anti-Villain

[Astral Blitzen 469]

(Speaking of bad OC's... I started brainstorming for a fic that was supposed to be about a pony named hypo thesis who notices something peculiar about a certain pony. An animation error of some sort. So blah blah blah he goes to tell everypony about his discovery and madness ensues. But meh, if anyone wants the rights to the story and stuff just pm me)... My point is, bad OC's can be made useful in fimfics.

[Moonbacon 384]

the bad Oc's

 

Alicorn OC's with eye burning colors

 

I'm not saying alicorn OC's are bad but their bad if you give them eye burning colors such as a bright colored rainbow mane with random body patterns rainbow eyes etc yea that's a problem.

 

OC"s that are overpowered for no reason

 

Being related to mane 6 and or the princesses and villains or have a romantic relationship with them. Like seriously these OC's make me sick being friends with main characters is ok though.

 

OC's that always get what they want in Backstories with no drawbacks whatsoever: 

 

The good stuff

 

Colors that don't burn peoples eyes 

 

Decent backstory

 

Unique cutie marks 

[Castle Bleck 19,163]

I found a "manual" about bad OCs:

 

 

I actually sort of like "Nighttime Lights" and "Hollow Tears," but the other four?

 

[Astral Blitzen 469]

You would think that even to the non-artist, you can tell what colours clash. Common sense. Same thing goes for abilities etc.

Edited March 31, 2014 by Astral Blitzen

[Unicorn Coffee 204]

 

 

Alicorn OC's with eye burning colors

 

 

I just had to...

And I have no general problem with alicorn OCs, its just when they go op or mary sue, at that point, any oc that is unnecessarily perfect just pisses me off.

[Castle Bleck 19,163]

 

THE GOGGLES!!! THEY DO NOTHING!!!

[Zhortac 1,473]

Bad OC? Easy...black color overused, shipped with canon character, has kids with canon character, makes canon charter a whore, is linked with a universe that doesn't even fit with MLP (sorry, but an assassin is not pony material), and god modes worse then a DBZ fanboy. 

 

Runners up include: stupid looking alicorn, sad back story, mismatched wings, and is stronger then Celestia, Luna, and Twilight.

 

A good OC is anything that doesn't fit into ANY of those things.

[Windseeker 546]

Yeah, the crying attention whore alicorn OCs are generally the most common. In most cases when people create their original character, they add a little bit of them selves.

 

The most common mistake is that people add too much of themselves and over dramatizes it. They put forth too much emphasis on being unique.

[Astral Blitzen 469]

Would a lion/beast-tamer pony who performs in a creepy circus be too edgy?

Edited March 31, 2014 by Astral Blitzen

[Unikitty 1,211]

A good OC HAS to fit into the world it lives in. If your character lives in regular ol' Equestria, it's got to follow the rules of that world. We don't have humans shooting lasers out of their eyes and eating stone off the walls.

 

Colours aren't really a problem, but for visual appeal you should focus on colours that fit together, are not glaringly different(in comparison to the general descriptor of those like you), and generally fit your character. Having a design that reflects your character's personality often helps connect your character to the story(although having clashing personality-appearance can make for interesting events).

But once again, it has to fit in the world you're creating alongside.

Everything has a world, btw. For most characters, it's the story they're a part of. In meta events(such as tumblr) there is still the meta world that they partake in(which is rarely without a story). Ask threads can be simple, with the focus on the character. But they still attend a world, and if your character makes no sense to the environment, it's not going to bode well.

[Sapana 66]

I don't really care about OCs - I don't even know the fandom well enough to be able to pick out good or bad ones by name - but It seems to me few people know how to pick out a good color palette. Don't worry, I'm including myself in this judgmental statement because I'm not an artist. But a lot of colors I see just ... look horrible and muddy together o.O and since this world is very colorful, I think that in this case it is pretty important at the very least if there's some harmony and attractiveness to the colors you use.

[Scootalove 10,684]

It depends on the OC, if they have effort put into them then it is good. If not, it's bad.

[Creativecreature72 0]

I have an OC named Partridge, but I have no idea what to do with her. I decided not to give her a cutie mark, she was a student at the gifted unicorn school. Any suggestions on how to make her a good OC? I thought this would be a good place to talk about her.