I know this may never happen, but I was wondering would there ever come a time when OC's would be considered for the show? People have often asked me: Why isn't Candy Star in the show? I thought that was a good question. What do you guys think? Should they hold OC signings at the cons? They could get so many ideas to go through and have plenty of OC's to work with, if only this were a possibility...
Yeah, I just don't see that happening. Too many people would end up whining about their rainbow alicorn princess abomination not being chosen.
If I did help out with applications(big IF) I would only accept ones that are the unique, that means no ponies that are just duplicates with a different color. The ponies must have their own mane and tail styles, a well-developed personality and background, and not be a mary sue/gary stu.
Yeah, there was some OCs in Wondercolts Academy. Here's one of them I found: Her name is Midnight Strike.
Maybe they could put some OCs in the background of an episode, but anything more than that would just end up making the show worse.
I agree that pony OC's shouldn't be thrown in willy nilly throughout the series. From what I've read and can tell, it's either exceptionally rare instances where someone gets to have their OC in the show and voice that OC, or someone employed by DHX or Hasbro likely gets to add an OC on a rare occasion. Unfortunately, I haven't really found any major, well known publications with articles on this (though I admittedly didn't look very hard). Heck, Lena Hall didn't even get a say in what the character she voiced (Princess Coloratura) would look like. The MLP wiki alleges the design is based on the "red carpet look" Lena Hall wore at the 2014 Tony Awards ceremony, but from watching her view the episode for the first time, she makes it pretty clear she had no design input on what the character would look like. (Wiki source: http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Coloratura) (Lena Hall discussing Princess Coloratura's look: Spoiler: Lena Hall: Rara Reacts To Rara ) As for the exceptionally rare OC inclusion, the character of Stellar Eclipse in the episode Trade Ya! is an original OC who was also voiced by Sylvain-Nicholas LeVasseur-Portelance. He has spinal muscular atrophy type III, and was given the chance to have his OC included in the show and the ability voice the character through the Make-A-Wish-Foundation. (Equestria Daily article: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/04/trade-yah-story-behind-wheel-chair-pony.html) (Wiki link: http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Stellar_Eclipse) Interestingly enough, following the link to other OC's mentioned in the wiki article keeps revealing some more OC characters from people employed to work on the show.
I may be in the minority in thinking it's entirely possible for an OC to be well-written enough to pass as a side character.
I like how they currently do it, like cameos from OCs of people involved in the show (or the comics, even) or for special occasions like they did with Stellar Eclipse. I don't really see how the show would benefit from even more random OCs being added.
We already have a talented group of people who design and write for the characters in the show. I can see a contest where one character is accepted and brought into the show and maybe has a line or two. There's no reason for OCs to be in the show, save for special occasions. Everyone thinks their horse looks good and has a nice backstory, but the reality is that of the time they look rather jarring and out of place when actually seen in the show.
if they keep using different combinations of colours for background ponies eventually everyone's OCs will be seen in the show.
when they make a somewhat major character (any character with a speaking line) they actually search DeviantArt and mlp forums and etc to avoid copying someone's OC.
I think they should just put them in the background. Besides, they've already accomplished by putting OCs somewhere in the show.