What makes a poor OC? Post your thoughts here!

[Renatan]

So I thought I'd make this so people could say what they personally thought made an OC bad. Please be respectful of everyone's opinion! Just because you don't like something doesn't mean it will ALWAYS be bad.

I personally believe that if you have to question an OCs very existence something is wrong there. This tends to happen with alicorns as alicorns are royalty and gods but some OCs don't reflect this. Some people think their alicorn will be accepted more if they aren't royalty but that isn't true as it tends to raise more questions than it avoids. Of course, alicorns aren't the only ones that can feel out of place. Any race can if he/she isn't explained well. It's okay if people think "what??" when they first see your character but once they read his/her description they should find it makes sense. If they don't your character needs edits! I'll admit that I have a few OCs (some aren't MLP related though) that aren't explained and seem out of place in the universe they are in. I think we all break some of our own rules every now and then though, right?

Another problem I have is those flat, personality dead characters. Every fandom seems to have people who do this: a character should never, ever, ever be described as only "sweet, kind, caring" or "violent, cruel, proud", ect... They need depth! A nice person is more than JUST nice! And a violent person tends to have many personality traits, they don't dedicate their entire life to fighting or whatever 24/7! Stop it!  If I, a mere child, am able to do this I know teenagers and adults can.

So to summarize: A character should never feel unnatural in his/her environment and a character should not follow only 2 or 3 personality traits. It's boring and unrealistic. Heck, even cats and other animals that can't talk have developed personalities!

Sorry about any strange writing. I'm a bit tired 
So, what do you guys think breaks an OC? If you disagree with something another person says please politely tell them why. Everybody has different views on things and no opinion is better than the others. Thanks! 

[Midnight Breeze]

Alicorns.
Hybrid species.
Extracanon powers.
Blood relative to a canon character.


Or all of the above at the same time. Like an alicorn dragon pony who is Rainbow Dash's brother.

[MrEmu]

Alicorns.
Hybrid species.
Extracanon powers.
Blood relative to a canon character.


Or all of the above at the same time. Like an alicorn dragon pony who is Rainbow Dash's brother.

  I agree

[AaronMk]

Alicorns.
Hybrid species.
Extracanon powers.
Blood relative to a canon character.

I see your post...

Spoiler: show

*Thumbed for your protection

... And I raise you one Alex.

And maybe a forward of Predator Drone(s).

Spoiler: show

[Verdant Tome]

Alicorns.
Hybrid species.
Extracanon powers.
Blood relative to a canon character.


Or all of the above at the same time. Like an alicorn dragon pony who is Rainbow Dash's brother.

Agreed, and I raise you non-canon races and species. And demons. Especially demons, or demon-possessed characters.

[Night Pony]

Another topic, disliking alicorn OCs. Why am I not surprised?

Overpowerd, extreme saturated colours (pure black,white, neon blue etc.), illogical family relation with characters from the show (though logical non-family is ok), dark and back background, not having fears or weaknesses, casual finding of powerful and unique items that have only benefits to the character.

[Astranacus]

I don't think Alicorns are necessarily the problem, they are just stereotyped into a bad category which people associate them with. There are definitely a few bad ones but I have also encountered several good alicorn OC's from different people not just in design but also personality and story.

I think the problem is more of what people aspire to. When they make their own OC their own role model, that is without fault they often become a "mary sue". I tend to like balance in characters as well as being carefully thought through, because when an OC is made to be omniscience then the character is flawed. Because they are limited to only what the creator knows unless they do their research.

[Chishio Kunrin]

Mary Sues, definitely.

Usually the kinds of ponies or beings you would never expect to see in the show. While they're fun to draw, they're not really good for roleplaying, fanfictions, and the like. Though, crossover fanfics are a different story.

Related to a main character, especially if it's one of the mane six. Things like sister, brother, cousin, uncle, aunt, whatever.

If you think alicorns are generalized, look at recolors, especially Rainbow Dash recolors. Though, people hate recolors for a more logical reason - it's just so boring, and the Rainbow Dash recolors seem to be a lot more common than the other recolors. I want to see what you can come up with, not your color palette of someone from the show!

Now, here's something that I don't really think makes an OC really poor, but it's something that I kind of dislike... Unreasonable cutie marks/talents.
Example: I understand that video games are canon in MLP, but the only video games we've seen so far in the show have been arcade games. Why is your pony's cutie mark an Xbox controller or an Xbox 360 logo?

[Benict]

CREATIVITY!!!!

but in seriousness if the character is something you would never see in the show than chances are your OC is to far out in the left field. Also like has been stated already alicorns, just no.

[Renatan]

CREATIVITY!!!!

but in seriousness if the character is something you would never see in the show than chances are your OC is to far out in the left field. Also like has been stated already alicorns, just no.

I don't actually mind OCs that would never make it to the show. Sometimes having weird characters can be GOOD. Think about it: OCs are commonly made for fanfiction. Fanfiction almost always explores things that the show wouldn't or couldn't do, so why not include characters that can't be canon? 

I dunno, is that just me?

Oh, and I feel the need to mention this (I forgot before): rainbow characters bother me to no end. It's fine to give your character 1 or 2 extra hair colors (such as a light pink mane/tail with a blue streak and a purple streak) but please, for Celestia's sake, don't give them rainbow hair, rainbow eyes, a multicolored rainbow horn or rainbow tipped wings, and then top it off with rainbow stripes or spots. That's just overkill! I don't even know why people would want to do that  Maybe give them a little rainbow hair bow or bracelet but keep it small. So no rainbow colored hat, shoes, outfit, makeup, ect... in all one outfit. That's just ridiculous.

*Rainbow rant over*

[MrEmu]

Another topic, disliking alicorn OCs. Why am I not surprised?

Overpowerd, extreme saturated colours (pure black,white, neon blue etc.), illogical family relation with characters from the show (though logical non-family is ok), dark and back background, not having fears or weaknesses, casual finding of powerful and unique items that have only benefits to the character.

The reason a lot of ponies don't like Alicorn OC's is not because they're 'OP' or 'Mary Sues', it's usually because all those alicorn OC's are making Alicorns look like a common day thing, Lauren Faust Didn't want Cadace to be an Alicorn because she said it'd make them look too common.

[Verdant Tome]

Another topic, disliking alicorn OCs. Why am I not surprised?

I'll go on record and state that the reason I dislike alicorn OCs is because most people who've made alicorn OCs, in my experience, have done so really, really poorly. Making an OC an alicorn strikes me as an attempt by its creator to make the character seem cool, or unique, or whatever, when to me, it just makes it look Sue-ish and unoriginal.

That said: well-made alicorn OCs, with well-written backstories that justify their being an alicorn and are believable, along with realistic limits to their power, are perfectly fine by me; I actually like them more because they break that mold of Alicorn Sue characters.

[S_Realm]

Lol, I'm not surprised there's a thread about how bad OC's can get. As someone who posted a lot in the thread about making OC's look good...

Long lists, verry long lists.

Where to even start?

I'll start by splitting my dislikes into 2 categories.

1. Appearance is bad
&
2. Terrible Character Backstory/Background (#cringe)

Too lazy to write long rant... Maybe later...

[GoldenTerrabyte]

Yeah, and with Rainstorm, for the most part I purposely used ideas and traits that I'd never seen in another OC. And I think that's the secret. Do something you've never seen before! Everybody's seen alicorns, and weird, stripey, fanged, insane OCs, and people keep making them. If there were only a few such characters, then it would be okay. And in my eyes, that's why a character like Rainstorm is good. I've never seen another pony OC similar to him.

[Princess Oliver]

The only thing that makes a bad OC is a bad backstory IMO.
Simpler characters need simple backstory, I believe you can have a character of any design, as long as the style of the character fits the personality and 'design' of the character it shouldn't matter if they a a black red tipped alicorn with lighting hair.

[Randam Saiko]

Spoiler: The following may have exceptions if the writing/back story is written well enough. • show

Spoiler: Any form of god,deity, etc (Excluding brokenly OP) • show

Example of a decent leveled being: Goddess of the Serpent River.
Example of a definite no: God of the Sea.

Having key involvements in world building (EX: Founded Canterlot, created the changlings, etc)
Being a genetic fusion of anything possible (to a certain point)

Spoiler: Just No. • show

OP Powers (Resurrection, Destroy worlds, etc)
Was a massive key part of any main character's character.
Evil lord of all shadows, darkness, lord of blood, death, pain, yadda yadda yadda...
Unclear or non-existent motives for their actions
No restriction/limit to their powers and abilities (Even emotional restrictions)
Color scheme where it's a mix match of the most flashiest options available.

Spoiler: Nutshell • show

[GoldenTerrabyte]

Color scheme where it's a mix match of the most flashiest options available.

Heh heh, guilty of that here...

On purpose of course. He's purposely over the top neon bright and stuff. But at least he's not any of the other stuff you said...
Post Merge
Wow... The "Normal OC" looks almost exactly like Puddlewalker, down to the eyes! Only difference being wings.

[S_Realm]

Spoiler: Nutshell • show

Dear most OC pony,

Come by my place, we'll fix you up so those poniples laughing behind your back will just SCREAM in awe when they see you hehehe.

also
*pets normal OC*

Color scheme where it's a mix match of the most flashiest options available.

Heh heh, guilty of that here...

Spoiler: show

On purpose of course. He's purposely over the top neon bright and stuff. But at least he's not any of the other stuff you said...

Heheheh, gimme a few hours wit him and I'll make him look manelier.

Any color combination can work, honest. Just. needs. some. adjustments.

[AaronMk]

Spoiler: Nutshell • show

Spoiler: show

[ManeFlame]

Honestly, as far as mane 6 relatives, I can forgive it when it's Applejack. Seriously, her family is freaking enormous, she's probably got kin dotting the maps out there.

Applejack: Always related.