Human names, boring/overused concepts, op, violent ocs, bad color scheme (doesn't necisarilly make it bad without other bad qualities), boring/nonexistent/confusing backstory, completely off the wall talent that has nothing to do with anything.
I agree with the sentiment that some other people in this thread have touched on; a bad OC is usually just a poorly written character. There might not even be anything conceptually incoherent about the character, but the context of the character in the story could be wrong. Lots of factors contribute to creating what most people call a "bad OC."
I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one. Violent characters are a canon part of MLP. Gilda, Sombra, Chrysalis and the Changelings, ALL of the Mane Six, even Celestia herself, all have been violent. If there was no violence, why would Celestia need guards?
that guy has a lot of potential... What makes him bad? "Bluespark the young alicorn is incredibly pompous because he was born an alicorn. He dresses up, and shows off excessively, spiking his hair and covering himself in jewelry." Now give him a fun way to be involved in the story and he's fine.
Dashie is awesome. OCs often reflect character traits that people wish that they had. Who doesn't want to be awesome? Thus, Dash Clones.
I would give an example from this site, but I won't. I'm fairly certain the user isn't ever on, but I still won't. Rainbow Dash recolors who spout pony references every post are annoying. It's not an "original character". It's just being lazy.
I think possibly then the question should be, what should be considered when creating an OC, and how does one create an interesting backstory? Obviously a backstory with bad consistancy, contradicting areas (for example, "Shiro the pegasus was white because that was his name." and then later in the desciption, "Shiro loves his black coat and yellow mane.") That is of course an exaggeration, but I think the point is clear. Another example would be, "Shiro was born in the spring," and then later saying, "Shiro loves being a Gemini" [Gemini being born in summer] Your charecter must be consistant, fictional yet believable, and the backstory must be consistant and not have contradicting facts. Timescale is also an important issue, especially if you intend to have them interact with other charecters in the likes of fanfiction,etc. Design is not so much an important issue with colour pallete etc, as it is a reflection of one's creativity. An OC must be unique, so whatever colours you use are fine as long as you think about it carefuly and not rush into it. What makes a good OC: - Personality - Backstory - Originality - If other ponies can relate to him/her. - Individuality (Uniqueness) - Must have flaws as well as strengths. MY OC: Sirus is a pegusi who was expelled from the Air Force for taking dangerous risks and suffering an injury during a firefight with an assassin. Lightning Dust was fired at and Sirus saved her taking a bullet to his wing, earning the silver cross medal, and his injury led to a suspension from the Air Force. In order to regain his former flight skill he entered the wonderbolts to re-train and re-earn his place in the Millitary. Upon entering the Wonderbolts he finds himself a true friend in Rainbow Dash, one of the lead contenders for Wonderbolt recruiting. He finds her someone to confide in, and just have fun with over the weekends. He is a good friend, and is only brave when he needs to be. Other times he can be shy when meeting new ponies, and stays a loyal friend through thick and thin. He is usually polite, but can tend to stray when things go wrong. He can be rash, quick-tempered, and usually jumps into things without thinking about them. He has a shakey and variable self-confidence and self-esteem, and sometimes needs to be reminded that his friends care about him.
This topic is like a moth to a flame...Or a Pinkie Pie to a Cupcake. Hmm...I've been RPing for a long ol' while now and there is one thing I have noticed in some of the characters I not only dislike but enjoy antagonising as a particular character I have no idea how to introduce here on these forums. It's a shame; I like using him and it's fun to write how irritating and unlikeable he can be. Ah well, I've got Mary Sue and Princess Cydonia for that. Anyhoo... That one trait I think is truely irritating is: [size=+1]Byronic Hero[/size] A cynical, jaded, self-destructive and highly romanticised character that is derived from one of the works of Lord Byron. Gooooood Gravity Gravy, do I find this type of character irritating! I'm pretty sure you can count Edward Cullen as one of these. They're brooding anti-heroes with no emotional depth further than being miserable when done badly. When done well, they're tortured souls that don't bother trying to hide they're suffering. They're confident they have little to lose but also little to gain. They beat themselves up and they feel they deserve it. They are monstrous if caught on the wrong frame of mind. When done in the way I've seen them done again and again, I find them so annoying. If you're not careful, a Byronic Character can stop sounding like an adult and more like a teenager caught in a never ending strop. You try and make a joke, they'll just ignore you. They've just defeated a powerful enemy, they'll treat it with the gravitas of cleaning a cat litter tray. Nothing but what hormones could possibly create. I mean, OP characters can be really interesting as long as they're not the only ones and have creative, functioning personalities. Greek Gods are a riot to hear about, what with Hera throwing around curses for being jealous of people and Zeus attempting to bed anything he can find. And I'm missing out the canviving git in the underworld, voiced by James Woods or not. A strong personality will make an OP chraracter fun. Q or Discord anypony? But these Attempted-Byronic character are usually also the OP ones too. They'll pick a sword that can cut through anything or a hell beam that destroys all in it's path. And yet with all this power they're still miserable? You can defeat anything and apparently know all the skills but you can't just magic yourself happier somehow? Yeash...This is more RP characters in General but you can apply a lot of basics to Pony OC's too. They're just as capable of becoming like what I described as any other character. What I like to do is create a deliberately antagonistic character to counterbalance them. He'll be just as annoying but he'll be capable of enjoying things and especially irritating to the Byronic Character. He'll pick holes in his logic, make fun of them and generally try and get under their skin. Why? Because then the Byronic Character is doing more than just sitting around brooding. He's being forced to interact with the group while having someone around to react to anything he does. Especially anything self-destructive then call him out on it. I hope that makes sense and it's worth the read.
I do agree that charecters with no personality whatsoever can be both a tedious experience to both roleplayer and reader, depending on whether your reading a fanfiction or performing a roleplay. Even if a charecter tries hard to show no emotion, there are always tell tale signs of emotion underneath. Those charecters can be interesting because you'll see their "real" emotion slip through more and more through the progression of the story. But a charecter with no personality at all can be quite simply boring, and off-putting.
Vinyl manes are starting to annoy me. On most of the bad Rainbow Dash-Alicorn-Overly Brooding-Thousand Pointless Details OCs tend to have them. I'm not saying the manes are bad, it's just done to death. All of these things are done to death. Another thing is that not ALL pegasi are expert flyers. Not every pegasi needs a variation of the Sonic Rainboom or whatever it's called.
Oh man, where do I start? Pony OCs that [have] Shipping with Canon Characters Shipping with Background characters Dark Magic/Past Kills/ed other ponies Kills/ed monsters Kills/ed anything Weapon Wielder [Said Weapon was forged from a generic place of pure generic evilness because blablabla..] Faster than/Can Rival Rainbow Dash['s speed] More Powerful than Twilight/Luna/Celestia/Cadence/Starswirl/Sombra/etc. Artificial Wings Artificial Horns Cyborg stuff inside of them etc I dont have an entire list to classify an OC as a bad OC. But whenever I see some bull like he/she is some sort of demonhunter, or that he/she is a god or, that he/she has dark magic, then, lol, stay away from me. xD I want to see OCs that are limited to what the show gives. That Restriction often leads to a gratuitous amounts of creativity rather than OCs that do not limit themselves from what the show says.
Dude, you need to read this rp. http://www.everypony.com/forums/showthread.php?11566-The-Two-Kingdoms-Role-Play I understand why you look at it that way, but a bad OC is entirely circumstancial with the way you look at it.
I will when I get home from work. But let me put this out. I never hate on an OC. Its just my personal preferences whenever I RP with someone, really. I agree on the notion that a heavily.. err.. "marty/mary sue"-ified OC can be redeemed when that OC fits a certain RP or his/her background justifies on what the OC has become. But still, I hold my ground to never or Avoid RP with such OCs.
Pfft, I have an OC with one artificial wing. I think I'm supposed to be offended now. In all seriousness, though. By artificial wings/horn do you mean when they do it to change an earth pony into a pegasus or unicorn artificially? Anyhow, a few things that annoy me: Rainbow manes Self harming ponies Recolours of canon ponies Alicorns Self-inserts Ponies with human names ("Hi, my name is Sunshine Sparkly Shimmerstar!" "Hi, my name is Bob.") But that's just some shallow examples, not even touching upon personality.
Yes. Those kinds. I can deal with detachables though. Like.. A Unicorn's broken horn gets replaced by a detachable artificial horn so that said pony can do Magic Again. Or if a certain pegasi/us cant fly and thus given an artificial wing in order to achieve flight. *cough* scootaloo *cough*
