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WhiteEyedCat — The Problem With Alicorns
Published: 2011-11-02 06:11:51 +0000 UTC; Views: 54006; Favourites: 910; Downloads: 6389
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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]
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Comments: 636
It was something i saw on (i think it was 4chan or what it's called), (Q), (A), about the show with Lauren Faust herself... It was a link on a page on EqD i found it, so i have no source/link-prove for you sorry, i think you can find it on EqD, 4chan or Google by simple search it or under 'Top things' on the side on EqD...
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Wait...Not all of them are god like,i have some that are mortal and not even a little bit of royal.
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Making royal alicorns are mostly mary-sues but there are earth alicorns which are not much powerful then a unicorn or Pegasus, and maybe the offspring of a Pegasus and unicorn. Not all Alicorn ocs are marysues
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Wondering on this, I have an Alicorn in the works. Yet her horn is broken. Would she still consider being a Alicorn? She Can't use magic anymore. Hmm..
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i'm not seeing the problem with the whole alicorn thing
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First of all, Alicorns aren't as powerful as you say. In the show, we've seen each of the canon alicorns outside of Twilight Sparkle (because she just became one) be defeated at least once during the show. How many times have we seen Twilight or one of the other mane 6 accomplish something that Celestia, Luna or Cadence couldn't. Have you ever considered that if written well, an alicorn OC can be a non-sue if written, designed or role played well? Maybe the alicorns are balanced out, perhaps they're average fliers, specialized in ONE kind of magic, and have shown moderate physical strength. Celestia and Luna would be considered the most powerful of their species. My take on alicorn OCs is that:
1. They have to have a well, fleshed out back story, containing some form of personality flaw that would hinder them in the plot of an RP or fanfic
2. Their design has to follow that set of the already said canon, (no devil horns, or strange wings, dragon tails, antennae, or anything that would make them feel out of canon), or if there is an odd trait about them, there has to be a plot worthy reason why (not that they were 1/2 dragon, 1/2 pony, ect)
3. They should be considered royalty of some sort, maybe not directly related to one of the Princesses, but have some sort of upper class status at some point in their life, once again following the canon
4. By no means should the alicorn overpower Celestia or Luna, whom have been established as the most power, or echo an ablilty that they have.
5. They should specialize in ONE type of magic only, that centers around their cutie mark.
6. The OC has to have a round personality with flaws, a decent amount of them to make up for the "power" that the pony may have, and should correlate to their personality in some way.
7. The pony's coat color should be visually appealing, none of those rainbow manes and extremely bright neon colors that can be an eyesore to look at.
I truly believe that if well designed, an alicorn OC can be just as good as any other MLP OC, and I think people need to stop bashing other's OCs just because of the character's race- the only time any OC should be considered a sue is if they overpower canon characters, break the set canon universe "rules" or have that overly "good' personality with no known flaws that hinder the character in their goals throughout the plot.
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Why no neon? That's just fun colors to use, not Mary-Sue colors. I think some people can have rainbow manes too if they want. But they can't be a copy of Rainbow Dash or too similar or better than her.
But I still agree with a lot of what you said ^^
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sometimes the neon colors can be a bit of an eye sore to look at,depending upon how much neon is used. i found that out the hard way when coming up with my ponysona. it's not a huge problem and has nothing to do with being a mary sue, but it does make the OC a bit too psychedelic looking. i've just always felt that having a rainbow mane is one of her unique traits, maybe doing a different rainbow mane using alternate colors.... but that's just my opinion. each to his/her own i guess
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Yea. Me too. I also think it would be a good idea to use alternate colors. Even a different hair style. Maybe even different types of colors like neons or jade green. I like jade green. It kind of reminds me of nature.
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Well said. People are just racist with ponies. And that actually is racism cause it's bashing cause of the ponies race. Which is what racist is. Hating on another race.
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Quick! Give me eight good reasons why an alicorn would be overpowered and rendered unbeatable by perfectly logical, understandable life circumstances. I have two and need a full ten.
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not complaining or anything, but I have an alicorn oc, and she does not have earth pony in her, nor is godlike. she is simply a regular pony with wings and a horn, she is not larger than a regular pony, she is not godlike. She is simply a weak insecure pony who HAPPENS to have wings and a horn, she's also not the best flyer nor super good at magic. Sorry if I sounded rude, no offense whatsoever.
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The oc alicorns are only by unicorn and pegasus, not earth pony.
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What if they have a little bit in them? Maybe somewhere in the family there was an earth pony or a few
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Yes, but there is a very slim change. The only way to be a royal alicorn is by coronation, however for you to be a natural alicorn you need unicorn and pegasus genes. Even with that the horns and wings will be small and unusable.
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So they could never be royalty with even the slightest bit of earth pony in there and you say Alicorns can't use their horns and wings? >.>
That's just how it sounded to me...
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But Princess Celestia and Luna have pretty good sized horns and wings and I'm pretty sure they've used at least their horns.
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yes but that probably because they are royalty
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I don't see why people have a problem with this. They are FAN characters, if someone wants to make an Alicorn OC then they should be able to without other people complaining, because it's really not other peoples business what you want to make your OC.
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my freinds told me i was a unicorn .......................they were wrong
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i have a alicorn oc that i made up... But the alicorn is the Winter God/Winter Princess, would that be frowned upon?
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Slightly, but as long as she is in control of her own kingdom, I think she wouldn't be frowned upon as much.
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I, personally, don't care very much for Alicorn OC's, because they outshine all the other types.
I have a bit of a problem with the Alicorn Oc's that are either bad at flying or bad at magic. If they're bad at one or the other, than take away the part that they obviously can't use very well, and viola, you have a better OC already.
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well before friendship is magic, most ponies were alicorns, so I don't see the big deal about them now :T who cares if they're an alicorn or not.
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I don't see where the whole "alicorns are gods" thing came from, I mean, look at Cadence, she's far from a god. My OC is an alicorn, and yes he has magic, and yes he can fly. But the rp's I do are completely random and unrelated to anything whatsoever, so my character is never really with another pony. What I'm trying to say is, alicorn's are far from gods, just because they can fly and have magic, doesn't mean they're all-powerful.
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The idea that "Alicorn =God" came from the fact that Luna and Celestia are over a 1000 years old and can move Celestial bodies with out any help. According to the show it takes a large number of Unicorns to do that but Celestia and Luna can do it without breaking a sweat. So yeah they are powerful.
Also Celestia is the closest thing to God the show has. The phrase "As Celestia is my witness" makes it even more obvious.
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My OC is okay at flying and with magic. His whole body was melted by acid, rendering his wings useless and replaced his horn with a blade. The wings only serve as giving him a short burst of speed.
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my oc is an alicorn but another one of my oc is a discord child ...
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This guide is helpful towards all of the mlp fandom and you handle your comments in a very professional and supportive manner. Thank you for posting this chart; believe it or not, it has also assisted in solving some of those overpowered problems with basic alicorn ocs.
If one refers to your chart they can then make their ocs more tangible as they would have the appropriate strengths and weaknesses in relation to their type. Alicorns that are meant to be normal and not divine can then pick a primary category and use it in relation to the other subcategories. *See example below* Thank you so much for posting this.
If your primary aspect was flight, a pegasi trait, you would then refer to this chart in order to designate what would be the drawbacks in relation to the other two catagories. In this instance, the alicorn would have a weaker body so it would weigh less and make flight easier which would negate the strength necessary for an earth pony to farm. Because they have a lighter frame, they typically would have less strength and would be unable to perform manual labor. The unicorn magic could then also be tied to their specific flight talent as they could perform a task that would take an amalgamation of the two in order to complete (like making it rain specific things by retrieving and then enchanting a cloud). They would more than likely not be able to use their magic to the same everyday extent that some unicorns do in that instance, which inherently levels the playing field.
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I believe that alicorn O.C.s are demigods or mary sues. They can fly and have magic!! If you say that your alicorn O.C. is bad at magic but can fly, or vise versa, than why make it an alicorn in the first place!?
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my oc is an alicorn, and since he's a BME (search it up), you can expect him to use mostly magic; so when it comes to flying, he's clumsy.
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my oc is an alicorn but she is not that great at flying xD
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As a child I used to draw winged unicorns all the time. I just thought they were awesome. So, it's no surprise that at first I wanted to "be" one.
But, because of how I view role-playing and character building, I realized that would make me an overpowered character. On top of that, I'm not a very good writer/story teller, so coming up with a good, reasonable story for her would be uber hard. It reminds me of my role-playing group. One of the DM's absolutely refuses to let people play dragons, because of that same reason.
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Even though this is a random pony I actually have thought about what her talent is, it's different for each different type. Earth pony her runs a joke shop, Pegasus her is an acrobat, unicorn her is a journalist and Alicorn her is a prophet.
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Heres how I see it. Their magic is used for broader, stronger concepts. Like a unicorn may be talented at levitation while an alicorn could control gravity itself.
So having Alicorns isn't bad as long as you don't just go straight 'I can do anything Ceslestia can' with them. Even an alicorn has to practice to make their magic stronger but they certainly have more of a nak for their talent than a normal pony, and by default stronger magic in other areas too. But not that much stronger. I mean you've seen what twilight can do.
As long as you play your character with personality and don't go godmode for the heck of it I don't see a problem with OC Alicorns.
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Alicorns ARE God-like. Even Cadence has some extremely powerful magic (arguably stronger than Celestia). Why do you think the alicorn amulet is so powerful?
In my opinion, only Lauren Faust herself actually deserves to have an alicorn OC. Everyone else can do what they want, but putting yourself on par with Equestria's royalty isn't the most humble thing you can do.
Sorry if this undoubtably offends someone. Just remember this is the opinion of one random person. Statistically it's not something you should get upset over.
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OH EM EFF GEE U R SO MEAN BETCH I HAET U I AM SO OFFENDDDDDDDD
lol, I'm kidding. You do have an excellent point. I see alicorn ocs all the time that make absolutely no sense. Hell, even mine can be considered OP. but when you get to "Oh, they're Celestia's long-lost sister/child/husband", then you're going too far.
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Alicorns = Relatively strong magical power, extremely low defense.
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Amen my friend though sadly I have a feeling more than 80% of the ponies are "Mary Sues"
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these are RACES not SPECIES.
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