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EDIT: PLEASE READ BEFORE COMMENTING [link]This is in no way an attack on Alicorns, or people who have Alicorn characters. This is merely an attempt at a fun way to explain why having wings and a horn is considered an overpowered trait in the MLP fandom. I realise that it is possible to have an interesting and well developed Alicorn character.
If you're at all part of the My Little Pony OC fandom you will know that there is a certain stigma attached to OC Alicorns (a pony with both a unicorn horn and pegasus wings). It has come to my attention that some of the people who create alicorn OC's are unaware of why they are so frowned upon. So I made this little chart to explain.
Under each pony type are the traits associated with the type [link] . Not every pony will fit perfectly into their type, but these are the basic guidelines.
Alicorns are considered godlike because the alicorns on the show are generally very powerful, with abilities such as raising the sun and moon, and creating love. Alicorns are also the rarest type of pony, with only a few appearing in the show.
So basically creating an alicorn is creating a super amazing rare powerful beautiful being, which is frowned upon in most OC fandoms. No matter how carefully designed, or well developed an alicorn character is, it often won't be taken seriously amongst the fandom upon first glance.
If you want a pony character like this, then go ahead. It's just considered to be the equivalent of Superman in the world of superheroes. Very overpowered and less flawed than others.
- Font: [link]
Related content
Comments: 636
Fluffy-Is-Epic In reply to ??? [2013-09-20 14:48:46 +0000 UTC]
Coolio
He's a very snazzy tuxedo cat
But he's fat
So that's that
Lol
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SamanthaWolfox In reply to Fluffy-Is-Epic [2013-09-20 19:26:06 +0000 UTC]
OMG I Love fat cats
There my favorite Fat animal
My friend has a Female named Hannah whos also a Tuxedo cat
oh god shes huge but so adorbale I adore fat cats
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Fluffy-Is-Epic In reply to SamanthaWolfox [2013-09-23 00:15:55 +0000 UTC]
Yeahs
My cats name is Vader he's not too fat but he's 3 and he weighs like 16 pounds
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SamanthaWolfox In reply to Fluffy-Is-Epic [2013-09-23 10:38:15 +0000 UTC]
Dawwwwwwwwwwwww
I have a Black cat named Jayden
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Fluffy-Is-Epic In reply to SamanthaWolfox [2013-09-29 22:34:12 +0000 UTC]
Cute <3
^___^
' Β __ Β '
Β Β \/
|__|__|
Lol I'm bad @ doing this kind of stuff it's a cat face
Or something
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SamanthaWolfox In reply to Fluffy-Is-Epic [2013-09-30 01:53:43 +0000 UTC]
hehe lol its adorable
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Jax1776 [2013-07-05 23:02:25 +0000 UTC]
If they said that Alicorn live longer than ponies, why didn't they show signs of getting old? If Celestia lives long, she should've have like some wrinkles on her face or body and like grey streaks in her mane. If you can example Superman from 'Batman Beyond' [link] he's Kryptonian since he ages slower than a normal human being, so he's eighty years old but he looks fifty in appearance.
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juultjepuultje In reply to Jax1776 [2013-07-09 17:22:19 +0000 UTC]
I think Celestia HAS aged. So has Luna. I mean, their manes used to be all normal (Tia's was pink, Luna's was blue) and... not-wavy.
Maybe Cadance will get a wavy mane too, later.
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Jax1776 In reply to juultjepuultje [2013-07-09 22:21:23 +0000 UTC]
I doubt it, Celestia's mane was pink but became Multicolored after using the elements of Harmony on her sister and they became stone orbs. If she is aging then wrinkles and grey streaks should be shown on her.
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roninnuren In reply to Jax1776 [2013-07-17 13:03:04 +0000 UTC]
actually I think her coat got lighter with age, &the fact that when the sun not only tans your skin cells, it also sun bleaches your body hair, (known fact) also maybe the fact that luna was imprisoned for a 1000 might slow any1's aging process, Β Β
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juultjepuultje In reply to Jax1776 [2013-07-10 10:13:59 +0000 UTC]
Well okay, you have a point there (and this creates a paradox).
\o/
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kwark85 In reply to ??? [2013-07-04 09:26:32 +0000 UTC]
I didn't want Twilight to become an ALL POWERFUL BEING.
It makes it less interesting to look at.
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cold-dead-body In reply to ??? [2013-07-02 13:21:39 +0000 UTC]
Oh,and awesome pony chart you have! xD
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cold-dead-body In reply to ??? [2013-07-02 13:20:06 +0000 UTC]
My oc looks like an Alicorn but his horn has no magic, but uses it as a weapon.
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PartyMartyNL In reply to cold-dead-body [2013-07-13 20:56:05 +0000 UTC]
Stabbing people?
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cold-dead-body In reply to PartyMartyNL [2013-07-17 07:32:48 +0000 UTC]
Uh, yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees. It seems too bland though. /:
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Fluffy-Is-Epic In reply to cold-dead-body [2013-08-16 17:25:51 +0000 UTC]
That's still pretty cool
Maybe if you grew it super long it could be a SWORD! OF EPICNESS!!
Idk
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cold-dead-body In reply to Fluffy-Is-Epic [2013-08-22 14:31:18 +0000 UTC]
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cold-dead-body In reply to Fluffy-Is-Epic [2013-09-07 04:14:15 +0000 UTC]
Are u a brony, cuz if u r...just forget everything before I kill every. Single. Living. Brony. Just 2 let u know.
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Fluffy-Is-Epic In reply to cold-dead-body [2013-09-14 20:24:14 +0000 UTC]
Dude, I'm not jus take a chill pill k
And if I was I'd be a freakin pegasister. But I'm not. So yeah.
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cold-dead-body In reply to Fluffy-Is-Epic [2013-10-24 03:56:56 +0000 UTC]
I'm a freaking girl who hates ppl on drugs and like pony porn so, I have opinions >_>
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zZenosyne In reply to ??? [2013-06-20 23:57:28 +0000 UTC]
I will totally credit you for it.
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zZenosyne [2013-06-20 23:56:44 +0000 UTC]
Can I please use this?
I want it to be the cover for a guide on FIMFiction on how to make an alicorn character without angering the general populace.
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INico In reply to ??? [2013-05-28 00:45:23 +0000 UTC]
Have u evr thought that only some alicorns are royal or godlike and alicorns are just 1 species of winged unicorns? I have no concrete proof of this, but I believe you have only covered 1 species of winged unicorns, and there r more to talk about.
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Dusk-Spark In reply to ??? [2013-05-27 22:24:52 +0000 UTC]
I want to mention something (okay a lot of things) about alicorns. So I'm going to try and explain my pov in as neutral a way as possible, presenting logical analysis for and against alicorn OC ponies.
I'm...so sorry if this comes off as hostile to the pro-alicorns (We're all bronies/pegasisters so I don't want to offend my brethren...brohoof? Please? ^-^a). I'm just posting my take on the whole alicorn thing. This is gonna be a loooooooooooooong one, but I NEED to get this out of my system if I ever want to accept alicorns, and put them in anything I create.
Some quote Lauren Faust's words that "Celestia and Luna are not gods"
While that is what she said, and the brony in me hates that I'm questioning Faust herself but...
-Luna and Celestia are over 1000 years old.
-They have immense magical powers.
-Celestia appears to be the ultimate authority on (almost) all things in Equestria. Not only that, but she has retained her rule for over 1,000 years.
-Rainbow Dash uses the phrase "in the name of Celestia" this could be an indication that while Celestia may not view herself as a goddess, the ponies in Equestria certainly hold her in very high regards. Or that at least, many ponies look to Celestia for guidance.
Whether or not she is a god seems to be a bit irrelevant. In the end, it appears that the ponies of Equestria view her as something similar to a goddess or a deity of sorts. I think this is a case of "tomato tomato".
To determine whether Celestia is a goddess or not depends on your definition of a god.
But by all accounts:
"Immortality (or at least a very long life span, since we can clearly see that ponies CAN age)"
"Immense magical power"
"Wisdom"
"The ultimate authority on a subject"
"The love and devotion of her followers"
These qualities seem to be the kind of things you'd expect in a goddess.
HOWEVER!
Celestia is clearly not perfect; which may be a requirement for godhood (and might be one of the reasons Faust does not consider Celestia a god), she has flaws:
-"Despite having the wings of a Pegasus. She almost never flies, and Rainbow Dash appears to be faster than her."
I base this on this theory (I had a second one but I forget what it was):
Celestia has asked Rainbow Dash to perform a sonic rainboom. Something that was impossible before Rainbow Dash accomplished it. Which could mean that Celestia, in her 1,000+ years of life never accomplished it. Of course this could also mean that Celestia or someone did accomplish it at one point, since the Sonic Rainboom was a legend before Rainbow performed one. Equally possible is that a pony scientist theorized the possibility of a sonic rainboom but never found a pony who could accomplish it.
-She's lived for a thousand years, but has never seen a parasprite?
It's unlikely yes, but not impossible assuming either:
A. Parasprites are a relatively new species to Equestria
B. Celestia spends most of her time in Canterlot, therefore if something is not native to Equestria, then it's possible that Celestia does not know of it
What I'm getting at here is that Celestia does not know everything there is to know. She does not have infinite wisdom, she has a ton of wisdom and many ponies see her as a mentor of sorts. But she doesn't know everything:
*She couldn't/wouldn't/didn't finish Star Swirl the bearded's last spell (this could be because it would be Twilight's final test).
-Celestia has great power, but she's been defeated before. If her powers were as immense as I believe, then a lot of problems seems like they could've been solved in 10 seconds flat.
Therefore, you can make either argument supporting or rejecting Celestia's godhood and still be equally correct. One last time.
It all depends on your definition of godhood.
==================================
Princess Cadence.
Oh dear Celestia...Princess Cadence...where do I even begin?
Cadence is the first alicorn to appear in the show besides Luna and Celestia. This appears to mean that alicorns are rare but by no means impossible?
Well, in the baby cakes episode. The twins are a unicorn and a pegasus while the parents are earth ponies. If anyone knows a thing or two about genetics, this could mean that the parents had the recessive traits/genes of a unicorn/pegasus (I'm...no expert in genetics or any of that stuff so forgive me if I got it wrong). If we assume that Cadence is a unicorn but has pegasus wings then, technically...she's not an alicorn in the same sense that Celestia and Luna are alicorns. She's essentially a regular unicorn/pegasus who happens to have been born with the traits of another species (I draw a parallel between Cadence's possible birth and intersexuals).
If we assume that Cadence's birth is a result of some kind... "mutation" (Oh dear, I just offended a whole bunch of people didn't I? I don't mean that as an insult...I'm sorry. ^-^a), then Cadence's existence IS possible...I guess?
Of course I shouldn't have to spend valuable time trying to explain Cadence's existence.
Because...here's the thing about Cadence...
Cadence was never meant to BE an alicorn (I'm guessing because it raises a ton of questions regarding the canon universe and because of what I just said). The decision to make Cadence into an alicorn appears to have been a decision that Faust had no input in. She was involved with that episode's inception but they didn't seem to bother telling her about that little fact.
Source:
[link]
Maybe the writers did intend for Cadence to be an alicorn. But...no one told Faust about it.
She was involved with the inception, I assume that means that they gave her a rough draft of the plot and had her look over it before jumping into hammering out the details. You'd think the part about: "Oh by the way, Cadence is an alicorn" would've made her say, "No. Absolutely not."
A possible editorial mandate? Likely, but no evidence to support it.
It's also possible that it was a last minute decision.
It's also possible that I'm overestimating how much of a say Faust had on each episode in the 2nd season.
======================================
The only other canon alicorn in the show, would be Twilight Sparkle. Personal feelings about the episode aside, Twilight was not born an alicorn. She seems to have ascended.
Hm.
I wonder if I can look back over the episodes and apply some elements of "The Hero's journey" to Twilight Sparkle.
-The call to adventure - her being sent off to ponyville.
-Her refusal of the call - her not wanting to bother with friendship
-Supernatural Aid - the elements of harmony/the magic of friendship
-Crossing the Threshold - Arguably, when Twilight decides to stay in Ponyville and continue her studies on the magic of friendship?
-Belly of the whale - Perhaps when Discord returns?
-The Road of trials - It's possible that over the course of 3 seasons IS essentially multiple tests on the magic of friendship. It's equally possible that the trials are when the villains show up. The road of trials may even be represented in the 2nd episode of the 3rd season...or they could've just skipped this step?
-Meeting with the goddess/temptation - Hm...hard to say for sure. Needs more study.
-Atonement with the father - I'd say...maybe the 3rd season's final episode could be an example of this? Twilight was usually a pony who would look to reference or have assistance when dealing with problems. This time, she couldn't find a solution. She had to make one herself.
-Apotheosis - This is probably best represented in when Twilight becomes an alicorn
-The Return - When Twilight is given the title of princess, and is ready to move on to the next level of her studies perhaps?
Hm. Interesting way to look at it.
....
Where was I? Oh right. Twilight Sparkle being an alicorn.
I don't exactly remember what I was getting at with mentioning Twilight Sparkle, but I'll keep it up here since applying the hero's journey to Twilight's study of friendship is pretty interesting and maybe deserves someone with more experience to look at it.
Despite the fact that making Twilight an alicorn was not part of the original concept. ^-^a
==================================
Now that I've given some context...
Now for the big thing. OC alicorn ponies. Alright.
*flame shield up*
I've discussed all the alicorns (well I kind of glossed over Luna though, sorry). I've discussed Luna and Celestia's status of godhood. Cadence's possible inception. And Twilight's possible hero's journey.
Now I'm going to discuss OC alicorns and the good/bad points about making one.
Disclaimer: "Like I did with the others, I'll provide pros and cons based on analysis and personal experience. I take a completely neutral stance on most things, but I think this time I'll give a personal opinion at the very end.
Furthermore, this is by no means an established rule, a personal attack, or anything of the sort. I'm not going to stop anyone from making an alicorn and I'm not going to dislike something just because one of the characters is an alicorn. What matters most is if they're well written and believable.
This is all for the sake of furthering the knowledge of all involved."
Alright, so should I start with the good or the bad first?
I'll start with the bad so I can get that out of the way.
*clears throat and adjusts stack of papers*
The knee jerk reaction, in a pony RP when someone tries to make an alicorn (even a weakened alicorn) is almost always going to be: "Oh god, a mary sue" whether or not the alicorn oc is mary sue or not. If you're committed to an alicorn OC then you NEED to understand why people are going to react that way:
Drawing from personal experience as a person who's run threads/tabletop games. Every once in a while, someone would try and make a "flawless" character. You know the type. They created a character that doesn't make sense in the established continuity:
Ex. "A wizard in a dystopian setting where this is NO MAGIC." or better yet, "an assassin/mobster pony in slice of life ponyville."
They make their character proficient in everything, and somehow have more skill at something than the characters who focused solely on that skill.
Let's say your brain decided to go on vacation for a few minutes, and you let them into your group. That person then proceeds to try and insert their own canon into the world:
"Suddenly I reveal that I've been a spy for a secret brotherhood of assassins made up of vampires from another dimension in the future that looks like Tokyo."
"THIS IS A PONY RP!"
Let me tell you about one incident in particular. Back when I was a little thing, I was the "leader" of a little thread I created. A simple adventure, nothing fancy. We had one guy in the thread that was a text book example of a mary sue. His character was the most handsome, the most powerful, the smartest, had OOC knowledge, and he'd constantly try to shift the attention to himself.
-A character lost their family? Suddenly he's their brother...and kisses them.
-A character is going through some psychological trauma, he snaps them out of it...by kissing them
-In the middle of an epic, one-on-one battle with a big bad, he interrupts, effortlessly kills them and then kisses the girl
It was annoying as hell. But I did not have nerve to kick someone out (despite the fact that practically everyone was demanding it). One day, my computer decided it didn't want to work anymore. So I had to wait to get it fixed up.
I came back to 100+ PAGES and found that he had pretty much taken over the thread. Everyone had either left the thread or were at their wits end. He had basically hijacked the carefully constructed story, and made it all about him, made my character an NPC, that he turned into the big bad so he can kill off. Well...I was pretty mad, obviously. ^-^a
Why did I tell you this long story? Because this is not uncommon.
It's possible that someone who dislikes alicorn OC ponies had a bad mary sue experience (or multiple ones), therefore the experiences of the past color their present views on alicorn oc ponies.
Other possible reasons why someone would dislike an alicorn pony? A lot.
I've found; "Bad experience" and "because it reminds me of my old self" as the most likely reasons.
Now why do some people make alicorn OCs?
A number of reasons.
Some people really do want an all powerful character. Others, because they like the concept. A hint of indecisiveness, perhaps? They had a great idea for a backstory that'd only work with an alicorn? Dunno. There's a number of reasons, it'd be really pretentious of me to speak for the whole fandom and I'd probably be stepping on a few more toes than I already have.
I'll, once again, use my personal experience as someone who used to be in the category of "someone wanting to be prepared for everything."
Back in my very early days of role playing, I used to hate being the underpowered character. It didn't help that a lot of threads I was in had a "perma death" rule. And I didn't want a character I spent a while on, just dying off like that. Therefore, I got into the bad habit of trying to make the character prepared for everything and anything. If someone had a really powerful backstory, I would try to match it in case they tried to fight my character.
....
Don't look at me like that, I was young and stupid. <_<
I've learned better now. It seemed that I wanted to be Superman. As strong as the character needed to be, didn't want to be helpless in the face of a powerful character. Nothing was more annoying than a character who was essentially the hard counter to your own. I realllllly need to do a psychological study on that in the future. But I'm willing to bet SOME PEOPLE (key phrase right there) probably make an Alicorn OC pony in an RP for similar reasons.
For non-RPs? If it were someone with my former psychological profile, they'd probably be indecisive. Can't decide which aspect of their selves do they like best and which parts are best represented as a pony. They want to fly but at the same time, they want to do magic. So they go with an alicorn (pro-tip: Unicorns are best ponies >:3 ).
Just like I said before.
If you're going to make an alicorn, be prepared for the people who will write you off as a mary sue. They will make generalizations about your pony and you, so be prepared for that as well.
The path you take from there is up to you.
Alrighty, now for the opposite side of the spectrum.
This is a wonderful, awesome fandom. And I am more than proud to be a part of it. This is honestly, my favorite fandom ever. That's why I'm confident that even a fan creation featuring an alicorn can be amazing, if done right. Lemme give a brief example.
"Nyx"
I've been meaning to read up on the Nyx fiction (as soon as I finish Fallout Equestria), but I do have a friend who said: "Nyx is an example of an Alicorn OC pony done right. She's cute, lovable, flawed, imperfect, and overall feels believable within the canon universe, and there are moments where I really empathized with her so much that I just wanted to jump through my screen and hug her!" and I'll trust them on that because they very rarely use such high praise.
That's why, it's important to recognize the difference between a mary sue and just another alicorn OC. Therefore, I will now attempt to establish a mary sue check specific to alicorns. If any of these are true for your alicorn, you might want to rethink the character.
[ ] Are they incredibly powerful in all/multiple forms of magic?
[ ] Are they able to perform a sonic rainboom equal to or better than Rainbow Dash?
[ ] Are they really young or really old (but look to be much younger)?
[ ] Are they related to any of the mane 6?
[ ] Would they be the pony that the mane 6 goes to when they have a big problem?
[ ] Are any of the canon ponies secretly in love with them?
[ ] Does your alicorn end up in a relationship with any of them?
[ ] Are they polygamous?
[ ] And no one seems to care/are too afraid/in love with them to do anything about it?
[ ] Do bad things happen to the ponies they (they being the creator) don't like?
[ ] Are they named something super exotic in the pony universe?
[ ] Is it your name?
[ ] Are they more powerful than Luna, Celestia, Cadence, Twilight, The Elements of Harmony?
[ ] Combined?
[ ] Are they capable of using the elements of harmony or something more powerful?
[ ] Do they have any non-pony qualities: dragon body parts, different horns, super flashy neon colors, dragon wings...fishnet stockings?
[ ] Do they have a super tragic, almost unbelievable back story?
[ ] Do they have a broken wing(s)/horn? (If that's the case, why not just make them into a pegasus/unicorn? The disabled character only really works if they're disabled, having a broken horn/broken wings and yet still have the qualities of the other species kind of negates the whole disabled angle doesn't it?)
[ ] Does it impede them in any way?
[ ] Being better than one pony is fine, but are they better at more than one skill that other ponies have spent their entire lives working to hone?
[ ] Is it in no way related to their cutie mark? They just happen to be very good at it.
[ ] Is their cutie mark something completely irrelevant to their profession/inner self.
[ ] Are they royalty?
[ ] Are they the rightful heir to the throne?
Note.
If you did check off for many of them, that doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing. I think the key point in determining whether or not a character is a mary sue is how they act in the setting.
Like it or not, alicorns are part of the canon universe now. Therefore, people are going to make them. And yes, some of them will be obvious, wish fulfillment, self-insert mary sue characters. But I'm willing to bet a lot of them will be very interesting character.
And now for a closing statement (because I'm starting to get tired here).
I said I would give a personal opinion on the matter so...here it is.
"Go for it."
Like I said before, I'm not going to think less of someone for making an alicorn OOC (honestly, my approval/opinion doesn't really matter). And I'm most certainly not going to discourage, or actively stop people from doing it. That goes against my art philosophy.
It's your character, do as you like, and I hope you make a very interesting character.
If I do have one piece of advice when making an alicorn character, it would be:
"I would go the genetic abnormality route rather than the ascension route. If I were to make one, they wouldn't be as powerful as a unicorn, fly as well as a pegasus, or have as deep a connection with the earth/the ingenuity of an Earth pony. I'd also keep in mind, what their cutie mark is."
Oh dear, now I'm starting to get a little tired and dizzy so, I think it's time I took a nap.
I hope this...incredibly long post got some people thinking. ^-^a
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Charanty In reply to Dusk-Spark [2013-10-22 16:54:03 +0000 UTC]
Cadance is technically a biological chimera, given her oddball look. This happens when two foetuses merge for some reason. Thus her parents could expect to have 2 kids but ended up only with her. So, as far as I get, sheΒ can do magic but kind of sucks at flying.
Also according to some sources, Cadance was born as a pegasus and then ascended (just like Twilight, though for a different reason).Β So one can become an alicorn?
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Spiritwolfie333 In reply to Dusk-Spark [2013-07-21 01:44:10 +0000 UTC]
Wow, that is the longest comment I have ever seen O.O
Β
Β
But yeah, you make some pretty good points!
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juultjepuultje In reply to Dusk-Spark [2013-07-09 17:38:18 +0000 UTC]
This comment.
I love it.
Did the test on my OC (She's a Pegasus, but you know, in case she'd have been an Alicorn...)
Erm, she only had one of those things, the incredibly sad backstory (well, let's say that she took care of her younger brothers when her dad left)
Whew.
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Dusk-Spark In reply to juultjepuultje [2013-07-09 22:45:36 +0000 UTC]
I'd like to add more details to that particular check box. ^-^a
There's nothing inherently wrong with a sad/tragic backstory (I do it all the time), however the key things to remember are:
1. Don't to overdo it (easier said than done and more of a trial and error thing).
2. The character's mental imbalance is directly proportionate to the amount/weight of their traumatic experience.
Not set in stone and it all depends on the kind of story a person is trying to write, but that's generally how I try to create characters when they have a sad backstory.
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juultjepuultje In reply to Dusk-Spark [2013-07-10 10:17:45 +0000 UTC]
Hmm, I guess you're right.
My OC's dad was kind of a jerk and left her and her mom with a couple of brothers to take care of... but that's about it ^^
My OC gets mad pretty easily xD And is easily offended too. Oh and some slight trust issues from time to time, but nothing mayor. I think that's pretty proportionate?
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Dusk-Spark In reply to juultjepuultje [2013-07-10 10:36:25 +0000 UTC]
In my personal opinion: "That works fine."
But again, I'm not the leading authority here. My approval means nothing and I'm not going to dictate how a character should work.
I'd LIKE to be someone ponies ask for advice and get my opinion on things...eventually...but that's waaaaayyyy far in the future. Not like 10 days in the future, like years into the future. When I have a robot editor to tell me to get to work and how to improve my drawing/writing efficiency by 20.47%.
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juultjepuultje In reply to Dusk-Spark [2013-07-10 18:01:48 +0000 UTC]
Oh well, to me it does matter what people think about my character.
Her boyfriend, my other OC (also the OC of MY bf xD) is a little different... because of some weird genetics mess ups, and the fact that he is the child of a Pegasus and a unicorn, he has a horn but he can walk on clouds.
Now I'd like to hear your opinion on this. He is just a normal unicorn, he finds out that his magic can be used to move clouds (which is hard because those are a lot of tiny particles), he's not super duper intelligent or handsome or whatever, he just can walk on clouds.
Is that Mary Sue or so? Be honest!
<3 Juul
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Dusk-Spark In reply to juultjepuultje [2013-07-10 23:25:41 +0000 UTC]
First and foremost, "Seems fine to me" it doesn't even qualify as a 1 on the mary sue scale. xD
The effects of crossbreeding hasn't been completely explored yet, so it's untapped territory. To be able to walk on clouds due to pegasus heritage seems just fine to me. Moving clouds is a little iffy, but you made it hard for them already so that balances out.
They are nowhere near the mary sue scale.
Of course, the framework of a character isn't always a clear indication of a mary sue/overpowered character. How they act within the context of what they're featured in (a story, for example) is a big part of determining how they are perceived.
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juultjepuultje In reply to Dusk-Spark [2013-07-11 19:18:45 +0000 UTC]
Thanks for giving your opinion on my OCs
If I can ever help you with one or something, just tell me~~
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VioletWhirlwind In reply to Dusk-Spark [2013-06-28 11:10:54 +0000 UTC]
Personally, I don't see what the problem is. The warning signs should be how the character acts, not what race it is.
Amethyst has always been a unipeg (I refuse to use the term alicorn, but there's a personal reason for that unrelated to this discussion. I am willing to compromise and use "aVicorn" with a 'V', but that's not the point.) Self-insert, maybe, mary-sue, no. She's basically just the offspring of a unicorn and a pegasus...simple as that. Her powers are crystal-related (not including teleporting, which ALL unicorns have, in my head-canon...that's from G1.), but sometimes don't even work at all...particularly when she's nervous or stressed. She's an average flyer...neither good nor bad.
I did read through that checklist...most of the answers were 'no' and the ones that weren't were "not applicable." I don't really even have a FiM version of her, and with all this negativity toward winged unicorns, I might not ever If I ever join an RP or something, I'll probably use one of my other characters...which by the way, none of those are winged unicorns. Am is the only one.
You see...Amethyst was created for my Generation 1 MLP fanfic...long before FiM was even a thing. Before Twilight Sparkle was a character. (if anyone wants to debate that...just go back and look at the date on my very FIRST pic of her...it's from 2001. (gallery says 2005, but that's just when it was uploaded. The date the pic was created is 2001.))
There's things about FiM I dislike, so I can't really call myself a Brony I guess, (well, technically, I'm not even a 'Bro', so how can I be a "'Bro'ny"? But that's not the point.) despite being an MLP fan BEFORE FiM even existed. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, all these people hating on winged unicorns.
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Dusk-Spark In reply to VioletWhirlwind [2013-06-28 13:39:11 +0000 UTC]
Forgive me, I've been up all night drawing because I've decided to only sleep when I pass out from exhaustion until this drawing is done (so many poses I've never tried before...), as you can imagine...I'm surprised I'm still sitting considering I've probably reached 24 hours by now. At least that's what my talking cat is telling me...
Only stopping between finished sections to take a short break, and then right back to the drawing. I will take my break to respond here.
*clears throat and adjusts stack of papers*
It's something of a knee jerk reaction. See enough mary sues in your life time, and you start to wonder if that alicorn is a fleshed out character with an interesting backstory and design...or is just another "I want to be superman" mary sue pony.
I actually had an idea in the early stages of a pony fic I'm writing to make one of the main characters into an alicorn. I don't think I will...but it's an option. Depends on how I feel as I draw her.
The offspring of a unicorn and pegasus works fine, and it's how I suspect Cadence exists. It's also how I think others should make their alicorn OCs, but that's just my personal preference.
Ah yes, the checklist. I do kind of hope people will pass it around, maybe add some more boxes in there (cause I'm certain I've missed a few telling signs of a mary sue). A...checklist within a checklist (guess who my favorite pony is?).
I think the prejudice against alicorn ocs is something that we as a fandom need to evolve and step beyond. But that's gonna take a while, the first few steps are:
A. We need to determine how to make a good alicorn ocs to separate the legitimate ones from the mary sues.
B. The rest of us have to understand that not all alicorns are going to be mary sues (a lot of them will be, but not all of them).
C. Remember: "Love and Tolerate."
Baby steps. : )
I use the term brony as a blanket term to refer to fans. Think of it kind of like being called a dude despite being female.
I do this for two reasons:
1. Saves time so I don't have to type: "Bronies and Pegasisters"
2. So no one will ever know my real gender. Mwahahaha.
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Fun-dragoness In reply to Dusk-Spark [2013-06-09 23:03:04 +0000 UTC]
Very good ^-^ But I still don't know why people are against OC's with neon in their fur or whatever part of the body was there since the beginning of them.
I also used to want to be a "Superman" type of character. That was mostly back when I could play ROBLOX.com. I didn't know about Mary-Sues and all that stuff. All I knew is I felt like a very un-important character sometimes in the roleplays. I was always changing the looks of my dragon OC that I draw and in roleplays I would sometimes be something like a princess or a shapeshifter with all the elements, depending on the roleplay. I also remember seeing a girl join a roleplay I'm in sometimes and become one of the Mary-Sue type character. Who gets all the boys to fall in love with her, is very powerful and beautiful. Then that person would hate me or something because I'm a girl too and they would try to get rid of me even if I wasn't interested in any of the boys there or they would try to make me jealous. I noticed there are quite a bit of mean or snotty people on ROBLOX. Don't get me wrong, there are also some awesome and nice ones there too. I had a group there and it usually attracted nicer people like me. There was just one person who said my dragon looked too much like Cynder whenever I changed her. Just when she's a black dragon or purple with a pink or red belly and wings and she was skinny with white horns. But other than that I was ok with her. It was a Spyro/dragon group. Only one of my old friends is my friend on DA. He said nobody's said anything in my group since I left.
Anyway, back to pony's :3
If I were to ever make an Alicorn OC(Not counting my Snow Pony one I'm working on) I wouldn't make her the most beautiful, the most powerful, better than everypony, etc. I would make her like me. Iv'e only ever made OC's that are what I think I would look like as that species or whatever. So they are all unfinished OC's of me! I'm an imperfect being like everybody else so that's who my OC's will be. So as an Alicorn, I would be one who was looked down upon by the other foals when she was a little pony because she was different. She would be loyal, might not live quite as long as most Alicorns, probably also weaker than most other Alicorns, friendly, and the rest of my personality too. I just want to be me.
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Dusk-Spark In reply to Fun-dragoness [2013-06-10 06:03:31 +0000 UTC]
The neon's probably a personal choice to a lot of people. I'm no expert in colors (seriously, not even a bit), but sometimes people will put neon colors improperly which creates a kind of "clashing" effect. Like the colors are struggling for dominance with one color just a little more desperate than the other (eventually one of them pulls a gun out). Or...neon colors may just hurt the eyes of whoever may be viewing it (I know it hurts mine).
Oh thank you for reminding me, the feeling of unimportance (like your character is not contributing to the plot in any way) is actually one of the ignition marks (yes I did just make up a phrase) into the creation of a mary sue character. I'm sure anyone who's made a possible mary sue can trace one of their reasons back to a feeling of inadequacy.
By all means, go for it if it makes you happy.
I'm no leading authority on it. Just someone with way too much free time in between drawings. Which leads me to write absolutely massive posts like...that one.
I personally prefer my unicorn OC for a few reasons.
1. Horn's easier to draw than wings.
2. Telekinesis makes it easier to draw my OC pony holding things.
3. ...Mmmmmagic~!
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Fun-dragoness In reply to Dusk-Spark [2013-06-10 13:27:08 +0000 UTC]
Oh. It sometimes hurts my eyes but usually just when I'm looking at a bright screen in a dark room.
Yea. My dragon's first form was a black and red dragon that is very skinny, turns evil and attacks and/or captures others, is very powerful, has a special power I invented to go along with all the elements in the Spyro games, and her body designs and shape was a lot like Cynder. She had all Cynder's tattoo's, her belly-plate, the same cartoony eyelashes, a dark side similar to hers(she had both dark sides), and just the way she looked was like Cynder.
My pony character has always been a unicorn every time I change her looks. I love all the races equally and its hard to choose. I love the special connection to nature part of the earth pony race a lot, unicorns can use magic and they have horns(which are awesome!), pegasi have wings and can fly and walk on clouds, alicorns have both the wings of a pegasus and the horn of a unicorn that are nice and big ^^ and they are skinnier on MLP. For the unicorns I heard they are physically the weaker race. They are all so great! But I wish I knew which one is best for me. I want to know which one I could possibly be most if I were one of these. My parents(I usually ask my mom) say they think I'm more like a unicorn and a nice friend on DA said they see me as an earth pony because earth pony OC's are kind of rare, but I always see a little bit of me in almost all the races. Or at least I think so...
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Niklas123dk In reply to ??? [2013-05-11 21:21:59 +0000 UTC]
Faust herself Said they aren't goddes so...
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