
| MaroonBunyip #463007 10 months ago |
made because people are still crying why background characters are more popular than their fanmades |
| Mastahopo #463012 10 months ago |
Still Bob and The pirate Ponies Breaked this Rule, also Nyx in its time. |
| Glord #463015 10 months ago |
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| WesternBirds #463016 10 months ago |
I laugh at the almost everyone is an alicorn/unicorn and is related to an established character part. |
| Jackarunda #463027 10 months ago |
Now I feel like I need to go redevelop my OC. |
| Anonymous #463028 10 months ago |
So assuming that the OC is well drawn and well developed, the only meaningful difference is that background characters "belong" to more people? That's a bit nit-picky as a reason to bash on OCs, especially for something that can't be helped. |
| FireEel #463030 10 months ago |
I don't see the need to hate.
I mean, I personally don't care about OC characters like Nyx unless other ppl r trying to shove it down my throat. |
| Draconaes #463031 10 months ago |
Nightmare Moon isn't an OC though. Inb4 flamewar? |
| Mastahopo #463032 10 months ago |
My oc's are a bunch of idiots and freaks of Equestria that plan to overthrown Celestia and make Luna the new leader of all ponies. |
| Anonymous #463036 10 months ago |
I have yet to see much of that in the story list we have on ED...I guess the internet failed to take into account quality control and, more importantly, talent :P However, funny enough the last part contradicts the first part in the sense that a lot of the background personalities were started by one person and then spread. |
| FireEel #463039 10 months ago |
This fandom is about love and tolerance, and will always be so.
I encourage both parties to cool down and look at this issue from the other's perspective. |
| DandyMan #463042 10 months ago |
That's why I hate OCs they dont make them with flaws they are always perfect no personality what so ever its like a thorn in my side when i see something like that |
| Anonymous #463045 10 months ago |
But But...Equestria has Tanks AND combat helmets! Therefore, logically guns! |
| Anonymous #463046 10 months ago |
#463028 exactly, just because a character was developed by a lot of people does not mean it is automatically better than every other character. |
| Glord #463047 10 months ago |
Love the sword, tolerate the blood.
It had to be said. |
| Delicioussharkat #463051 10 months ago |
lodsemone |
| Draconaes #463052 10 months ago |
Also, doesn't any time someone develops a new personality for a background pony completely break any "property of all fans" reasoning? |
| Dentist73548 #463056 10 months ago |
But I hate Fluttershy |
| Glord #463065 10 months ago |
Dentist73548 and that's perfectly fine.
My spiked war hammer will love and tolerate you. |
| Anonymous #463068 10 months ago |
I will let you all know that Celestia is a VERY Original Character! When was the last time you saw an authority figure(A Princess no less!) Act the way she does and get away with it?!?
Way to go you idiot poster, you just declared war on creativity. |
| MaroonBunyip #463069 10 months ago |
continuation on the OC part
this does not include all fan mades, just the majority of them. Obviously there are exceptions. For example, the characters in fallout:equestria (never read it, correct me if im wrong). |
| King_Maverick #463075 10 months ago |
I'm still wondering how anyone can make an OC without them being called a Mary Sue. It seems if they so much as make eye contact with a canon character, they're labelled a Mary Sue. |
| your_waifu #463087 10 months ago |
i purposefully make all my characters as flawed as possible. every world i touch, whether it be equestia or something from my own head, is populated by fucked up jerks. this is how you write a story. nopony likes anypony and they're all trying to kill each other. |
| MaroonBunyip #463090 10 months ago |
Okay, reply time:
@Anon#463028 I was explaining why background characters are more embraced than OCs. If the qualtiy is good time and time again, there is nothing to say it won't be liked (see fallout:equestria) @FireEel I feel the same way, mate. Tolerance is much easier when it isn't being stuffed down my throat continuously @Anon#463036 Yeah, it does contradict itself a little there. But it still stands that they went through a lot of personality development from a lot of people in a longish period of time till everyone was happy with it. @Draconaes Not really. It simply won't be accepted and will be forgotten after a while, kinda like if you see someone make one of the main characters completly out of personality. @Anon#463068 Waht? |
| Kein #463091 10 months ago |
Never saw any character from F:E and don't care about them.
Anyway, that pic with a few of BG ponies - did you draw it or..? Because I would love to see original or separated from collage version. |
| Bronyboy #463098 10 months ago |
Yeah! My art is an example! |
| MaroonBunyip #463112 10 months ago |
@Kein
I couldn't be botherd looking through all the pics of background ponies on ponibooru, so I just used google images: |
| Anonymous #463117 10 months ago |
Many of them are Mary Sue because they're the author's idealized (ie - unflawed) versions of themselves or some other personality . Flawless characters are uninteresting and shallow. While that may be a good thing occasionally (Duke Nukem, for example), it's generally shit in written fiction. |
| WesternBirds #463119 10 months ago |
Meh. I really don't care if people don't like my OCs. I put tags for a reason so ppl can easily just filter my stuff out if they don't want to see it. But I like creating characters it's one of those things I like to do just because, hell I spend hours upon hours in character creators in games just because I find it fun. |
| Kazuo #463121 10 months ago |
go bob! |
| Anonymous #463141 10 months ago |
Well said brony, well said |
| Zarkanorf #463145 10 months ago |
I swear, I only came back to pay for my drinks and I still find you guys fighting about this. Okay, people...
Background characters have multiple interpretations about them that many of the fanbase accept; if you don't like word-salad Derpy Hooves, for example, you can always go for klutzy-yet-smart Derpy Hooves. On the same note, you can accept the fanon of Octavia to be Pinkie Pie's sister or Lyra's or have no other-established family at all!! It's your own interpretation, and no one is seriously going to shove down your throat (outside of fanworks) that, "No, fuck you, Octavia is totally in love with Vinyl Scratch!" or "Hey, Skinny!Lyra, eat my shorts!!" You can have your own way of seeing the background characters without anyone objecting because they have their own way of seeing them. As an added bonus, the background characters HAVE THEIR OWN LIVES without needing to backpack on the mane characters!! "Ponies onscreen with their own lives offscreen?? WOW, I wonder how they live their lives!! Oh, oh! I bet that green one and that one with the blue and pink hair..." You get the drift. "Original Characters", on the other hand, are the exact opposite; there is only one way for you to view them and that is based on how the creator makes them. UNFORTUNATELY, those creators are... that is to say, short on original ideas without having to intervene their character's life into the mane cast and it gets worse from there (from "fluttershy is my OC's triple-waifu-no-tag-backs" to "AND EVERYONE LOVES MY OC"; from "A relative to the Apple Family" to "HE IS RAINBOW DASH'S BROTHER EXCEPT FASTER THAN HER BUT RAINBOW DASH DOESN'T WANT TO ADMIT IT"). So then it's, "THIS IS MY CHARACTER AND I DON'T CARE HOW RETARDED IT IS BECAUSE SHE IS THE GREATEST EVER; ALLOW ME TO FURTHER PROVE MY POINT BY SHOVING HER DOWN YOUR THROAT AT EVERY CHANCE I GET WHILE CHANTING 'HATERS GONNA HATE'! I BET THAT'LL HAVE YOU LOVE HER." To be frank, background characters are like the plastic toys you get that have any personality you want them to have, as long as you have the creativity for it. OCs are like a plastic toy and a fucking list of things that they are, thus not allowing you to have a different interpretation. Also the OC plastic toy has been lodged into your throat. |
| Zarkanorf #463150 10 months ago |
Also Bob is the sexiest motherfucking OC and don't you other motherfuckers ever forget it.
NOPE, I DON'T HEAR MY OPINION, NEIGH-SAYER; GET OUT |
| Anonymous #463158 10 months ago |
Wait, so if a character can't be reinterpreted they're automatically worse than Hitler, so that means the Mane Six are the most Mary Sue-ish OC fucktards that ever graced the screen! |
| Zarkanorf #463180 10 months ago |
@463158 Now it comes down to canon versus fanon--
Wait a second, why the fuck am I posting in a shit-storm thread? Bye everyone! |
| Anonymous #463345 10 months ago |
OC's based on mthology or history can be great. For example, if you want to include an all-powerful god/goddess and explain the origin of Equestria from B.E.Y (Before Equestrian Year) to Equestrian Year Zero - use some ideas from mythology.
E.G. - Eternal Conflict before Harmony prevailed. Focus on one character, give them flaws, make them likeable wuthout seeming inconsistent. If your story can't proceed otherwise, and you ABSOLUTELY NEED the main OC to be a Unicorn (NO JUSTIFICATION FOR AN ALICORN) then explain their specialization in magic: DON'T MAKE THEM ALL-POWERFUL. Here's a good example of where an Alicorn OC COULD come in handy: If the character doesn't know s/he is one... Amnesia stories could work in this case. Make the character start as an Earth Pony that gradually grows stronger, With his/her flaws very prevalent throught the story. As s/he accepts and overcomes his/her personal flaws, s/he regains his/her list power bit-by-bit. This could be fantastic for a Shipping fic or Dating Sim. Give us some story as to the character, and have them remember who they were, as they try to live, and interact with the ponies around them. By the slow, developing nature of RPG's and Shipping fics, you could justify a relationship. Not just that, but if your OC evolves into a Pegasi or Unicorn, and eventually an Alicorn, depending on their stats, interactions or choice of words: You not only developed the character, but: You built a meaningful relationship, and You added a sense of intrigue to a character that could potentially never even need to be a uni/alicorn in the first place. Here's my close for this example: If you go the Shipping/Dating RPG way: End the Alucorn story with the OC discovering that s/he is a God(dess) of Love, and make reference to Cupid or Aphrodite. (Perhaps that's his/her REAL name) And make the shipping seem more relevant to this revelation: Have your OC thabk his/her romantic interest for helping them discover who they are through the relationship they shared. Finally, have the OC either: Give up their powers to stay with their Romantic Interest, OR Return to the heavens, leaving their Loved one behind, so as to spread the same joy to other ponies all over. |
| Shaky #463387 10 months ago |
I think the only good OCs that this fandom has spawned are the crew from Fallout Equestria.
The funny thing is that they are not from the same world as rest of MLP. |
| Anonymous #463409 10 months ago |
@Shaky
FO:E is sorta like what Anon463345 was talking about befire he babbled on about Shipping and stuff... Flawed, yet consistent... Tht sounds like the cast of FO:E to me... |
| Velcro #463628 10 months ago |
Have you considered another possibility? I like certain OCs, but hate others. I noticed there seemed to be a theme in the ones I like:
They fail. Oh, how they fail! They do some epic pooch-screwing, they eat dirt in a variety of interesting ways. Their character flaws trip them up, break them up, mess with their heads. They break down, they make wrong, even stupid choices. And victory, when it comes, is all the sweeter because of it. Some of the Fallout:Equestria writers seem to have figured that out. The adventures of little Bullet Sponge are quite popular because of it. Would Nyx have been more popular if she got dragged through the mud more? |
| Ferrotter #463930 10 months ago |
Ferrotter's Law: If Ferrotter likes an OC, it is a good OC. If Ferrotter tolerates an OC, it is a good OC. If Ferrotter doesn't like an OC, but can get a laugh out of making fun of it, it is a good OC. If an OC has absolutely no use to Ferrotter, Ferrotter can go click onto something more interesting. |
| MetalHooves #464353 10 months ago |
As a writer, making and developing characters is pretty much ALL I can contribute to this fandom [inb4 someone reminds me I write porn]. So in doing so, I try to follow a few rules: |
| MetalHooves #464375 10 months ago |
1. Give them a lifelike history. No one is super popular. No one controls the power of life or death. No one really knows what it's like to have their parents slaughtered in a bandit raid; if you start with any of the above, you're either laying down a path of crappy movie cliches or writing your sad delusions into a story.
2. Make their appearance show/book consistent. This is especially important for fanfic of animated shows. If everyone is a solid pastel color, don't make a black and red striped OC with fire hair. It screams compensation. 3. Always look for a motive; if your character doesn't strive for anything, it's VERY easy to assume their just there to look cool and try to make you look cool. Some of the best characters I've ever seen just want to watch the world burn. |
| DandyMan #464388 10 months ago |
@your_waifu i'm not just talking about morality i am also talking about ability and personality they need to be colorful if every pony if every pony is some "badass" out to kill you then its just the same as haveing all your OCs alicorns and etc... if you ask me thhe only alicorns their shoould be is Princess celestia and luna they are alicorns because they are gods |
| MaroonBunyip #464613 10 months ago |
I think people quickly forgot that i made this as a 'deference between OCs and background characters' rather than a 'why OCs are shit' |
| Anonymous #464667 10 months ago |
What you wrote here is not "difference between BG characters and OCs', it's "difference between BG characters and bad OCs". |
| Anonycat #464855 10 months ago |
I approve this image with the power of a thousand suns |
| Anonymous #465352 10 months ago |
i approve this image. just like anonycat. |
| Anonymous #465355 10 months ago |
I have a non sue oc,
but i still approve this message, just like the rest of the monkeys... also argueing does not fix the problem. |
| Anonymous #467361 10 months ago |
I agree with the author, except for including Bob as a bad OC, he's a parody and he's actually funny. He's not a winged pegasus, it's a birth defect! |
| MassiveSelection #467475 10 months ago |
i like oc's if they are hand drawn. like mad max's and a given few. |
| kaoskirin #472307 10 months ago |
unicorns/alicorns? boy am i behind the times :T i thought i was being cheap going for a pegasus oc |
| Anonymous #475741 10 months ago |
As an aside... the whole debate on OC or Background character is about as meaningless as it gets when it just devolves into flaming.
Something that does bug me about this whole thing is that with fanfiction...more than any fiction, we hold what are...and we forget this often, Amateur writers to impossibly high standards for character development and story composition, compared to the writing of other authors. Try running the "mary/gary stu" test against any iconic literary character, or from movies or games... most fail...and fail hardcore. The reason being that what makes them compelling to a wider audience are the very things that are considered "bad". Honestly if the writing isn't chock full of grammar and spelling errors, the characters aren't acting completely out of character without a damn good reason and the dialogue is at least remotely plausible all within a story that isn't god awful...then I think it's a job well done. Fun fact: Authors for pre-existing media are doing the exact same things we are...they just get paid for it. |
| Anonymous #506424 10 months ago |
@MetalHooves so is a purple-blue pegasus with red hair bad? he also has orange eyes, cause people seem to hate red eyes for some reason. His name is MidnightFIRE! i don't understand why i can't base him off fire.
@anon 3345 is being afraid of water, and not really good socially good flaws? and people always talk about flaws but what about strengths? nobody likes a character who's helpless. so like if an OC is bad socially is being a good leader a counter flaw? and if heights is a problem then you can make him a fast runner? i do agree flaws are good but shouldn't a pony have strengths too? (sorry i'm a little paranoid, my character is probably fine :P) |
| Silversoul666 #506801 10 months ago |
I once begun writing a fic.
A full analysis of it revealed more about me than I cared to know, so I quit. |
| Anonymous #726501 7 months ago |
[citation needed] |
| Anonymous #970399 5 months ago |
My OC is an earth pony. |
| Anonymous #1038169 4 months ago |
Fuck Nyx |
| RealityCheck #1048976 4 months ago |
Yesss, let the butthurt FLOW through you..... |