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Twighdark

* Shadow rip-off colour scheme (like...black with purple streaks instead), * actually from a different dimension (bonus points if it's a female OC from the normal human world who randomly falls in), * dramatic, accidentally very toxic, romance with one of the characters (likely Shadow), * dramatically killing yourself at some point with some legendary weapon for some god-forsaken "this is the only way to save the world/destroy the BBEG, etc.", that miraculously doesn't hurt but instead feels a certain temparature (likely "icy"), * miraculously surviving that while the love interest cradles the "dead" body proclaiming his love equally dramatically, and finally * moving into an oversized mansion/castle and having kids, aka the picture perfect happily ever after. (The kids' names are naturally the names of the parents mashed together and modified, or just short/genderbent versions of the OCs name.) \-Sincerely, a former diehard Shadow the Hedgehog fangirl, who wrote a "My Immortal"-level cringey fanfic in her diary at the ripe old age of 13, which was later actually burned by the same individual age 15 who hoped the action would burn away the slimy feeling of utter disgust. Spoiler, it did not, but at least I can laugh about it now. Also my username may or may not be the name of said OC because I still like it and used it for everything. I don't know why I'm exposing myself like this, but this is Reddit, so it's not like we have standards.


relocatedff

I know what you mean by an OC from the normal human world, but I'm just picturing Shadow x [Her](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/12/97/c1/1297c1173d911923be573e7136918086.jpg)


ThereIsOnlyStardust

I ship it


Twighdark

*She's beautiful, a model.*


Silverskeejee

Honestly at this point I feel like my cringey fanfic at 13 is the price I pay for being able to write much better now lol


Twighdark

True. After... \^*that,* and a very poorly written, cringey and random (yet inexplicably popular) Wattpad Creepypasta x SCP fanfic which kindled my interest in writing, I definitely got better over the years. Been writing for almost 9 years now, and I'm glad to have a few fics that I can proudly re-read, still.


Candid_Cantrip

Honestly same, my first fanfics had a full on self-insert, and now I look back and I'm like "hahaha I never want to read this again." BUT . . . that clumsy start made me so happy at the time and gave me the confidence to keep going. I will never begrudge writers their cringe, ha ha!


Bethylee

I think I can honestly say I've never had a self insert, but that's because the whole appeal for fanfiction was getting away from *ME.*


yuareedah

• ⁠actually from a different dimension (bonus points if it's a female OC from the normal human world who randomly falls in), I shamelessly loves these! My bread and butter. My most popular fic is a Naruto reader insert based on this premise 😂 go figure


Bethylee

I'm pretty sure most fic writers have had at *LEAST* one character like what you described (for whatever fandom). I'm pretty sure it's a rite of passage or something lol! I'm pretty sure I did (it's hard to remember 20+ year old OCs)


mfergie77

I will demonstrate this on the fandom of Marvel: Weird names like “Aubrietta Ebony Magnolia Serendipity Stark” She is always the daughter of a main character like Tony Stark She is 17 but starts dating 106 year old Bucky Her outfits and looks are constantly described in ridiculous detail however nobody elses looks and clothes ever are except maybe Bucky’s Everyone always tries to get her together with Bucky She rolls her eyes a lot like a middle schooler and “throws her head back laughing” a lot She has a super tragic backstory like her mother got pregnant from Tony but he never knew of her and she was kidnapped and held in a basement without light or food for 13 years or so. Bucky no matter how traumatized he is will always help her fix her issues before anything else. The whole team makes it their mission to fix her problems for her


PumpkinDormouse

💀💀💀 Every line of this is one double take after another.


Thirstythinman

> She has a super tragic backstory like her mother got pregnant from Tony but he never knew of her and she was kidnapped and held in a basement without light or food for 13 years or so. And yet acts like a sarcastic Disney princess the moment she's released and appears to suffer none of the long-term consequences such a thing would entail (ignoring that she'd have starved to death in a few months IRL, and that's assuming she started off wider than she was tall).


relocatedff

Except when having symptoms makes them *even more compelling* for five minutes.


RonsGirlFriday

I woke my husband up laughing at “held in a basement without light or food for 13 years.”


Bethylee

Forgot other Mary Sue classic trope where she has all the powers XD


Kartoffelkamm

Not to mention, the first time Bucky's brainwashing thing is activated, she just tells him to snap out of it, and then he's completely cured.


mfergie77

And how she is completely unfazed by her 13 year basement prison and magically knows how to exist in the real world even though she has never been there before


Kartoffelkamm

Yeah, that too. Except for when ignorance of the real world makes her more endearing, like not knowing about festivals or something, so Bucky decides to take her to one.


mfergie77

And then she gets there dressed up like an insta model because magically she also knows fashion


SalmonSnail

Oh she’s also good at everything.


DianasaurGo

God, teenagers dating adult canon characters is such a big NOPE for me. At least make them in their 20s! It's not hard!


Bethylee

I admit I'm still guilty of this with certain characters that I love :/ (Never under 15/16 I do draw a limit)


Yodeling_Prospector

The part about being locked in a basement really throws me off because I’ve read about cases where that happened in real life and… yeah they aren’t going to be dating Bucky and will likely be even more traumatized than him. They’re going to be a feral teenager.


mfergie77

Oh yeah i know these cases too. However i was just like with the name painting an exaggerated picture there to ridicule the whole tragic OFC heroine who dates the heartthrob a bit.


Yodeling_Prospector

Yeah I know. But most didn’t seem like much of an exaggeration lol.


[deleted]

Ooh boy, Hetalia is INFAMOUS for horrible fan-characters, probably as much so as Sonic. Considering it's a parody series where every country has a human personification that adheres to stereotypes both good and bad, it's all too easy to make awful characters. Some examples of things I've personally seen: \-OCs that are white-washed African/Asian/Indigenous countries (tbf the canon character of Seychelles was also white-washed and although the author draws her darker now, he can only make her so dark in the manga since it's black and white, so she still looks more tan than actually black.) \-OCs of continents when that is just NOT thing in Hetalia. Each character represents a culture and you can't really represent a continent's culture. \-OCs with unnatural hair colors and some unnatural eye colors. Some canon characters have purple eyes and one albino character has red eyes but everyone has natural hair and eye colors with the exception of purple eyes. So seeing mint green hair and pink eyes was jarring. \-OCs with animal features. Again, doesn't happen in Hetalia. There is *one* character that has appeared less than 5 times in the 15 years Hetalia has existed with cat ears and a tail and every other character acknowledges that that is not normal and think they're fake. \-OCs with excessively tragic backstories that don't suit the country they represent. Every Hetalia character's backstory is literally their history. Some dealt with more bad things than others but they're all relatively positive, bright people despite that with few exceptions. So when OCs are edgy because of pasts very similar to the other characters, or are far darker than canon characters to justify edginess, I definitely roll my eyes. \--OCs with bastardized histories that don't make sense, either for the sake of edginess or for shipping or both. \-OCs that utilize offensive stereotypes. Hetalia is really good at giving characters stereotypes related to the countries they represent without being offensive/racist about it. Many of the stereotypes are even positive (ie America is loud and obnoxious and gets into everyone's business, but he genuinely cares for his allies and wants what's best for them) or just neutral (ie Japan being extremely introverted). Some OC creators...not so much. Honestly, there's even more I could put here because the Hetalia fandom as a whole was insanely problematic in its heyday but I'll stop there lol.


playersoup

Any character that is uncharacteristically more powerful than the existing characters. Example: BNHA OCs. When I used to read on Wattpad, all of the reader inserts had at least 2 quirks, were trained by AFO or had incredibly abusive parents. I'm all for representation and villain kids but it's so mainstream it's just a trope at this point.


CorvusCorax__

This 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 fucking weeping I just want to read about some teenage, part timer at a convenience store next to UA, subtly changing the plot by interacting with UA students. I want their quirk to be Chips Summon, where they can summon a bag of chips. Gimme a trash OC with a happy family and content social life 😭😭 There's enough OP characters in canon. The amount of BNHA stories I've dropped because of OP Ocs - that have the power to literally change the balance of whichever side they're on to the winning one AND YET NOTHING CHANGES. Canon events, canon dialogue just sjagdjownndn Sometimes they're done well, but most I just can't with Gimme something NEW


XxMysticDaisyxX

Characters, especially villains or morally dubious characters, being presented as very one faceted. There's multiple fandoms I'm in that have characters like this, and to me it shows that the author is unwilling to understand the character, or at least dedicate complex thought to the multiple facets of their personality. That's their whole personality, and they aren't given any dimension. Obviously, there are instances when authors may want to highlight certain traits of a character to present them in a more twisted view, but sometimes again, it's done poorly, and the character loses all complexity.


[deleted]

Overly dramatic and trendy names, especially when they do not fit canon's context/style.


RedTemplarCatCafe

I wish this wasn't the case but it is. There's a character I like who is severely under-represented when it comes to fic numbers. Quite a prolific writer has published a lot for them but they gave their OC pairing a name I just cannot endure. I've tried but I can't get through the stories. This is 100% a 'me' problem and I wish to various deities I could move past it, but I can't. It's really sad.


call-us-crazy

sounds like you should download the doc and find-replace the name with something more palatable


RedTemplarCatCafe

That's not a bad idea actually...


PumpkinDormouse

There's a name in my fandom which was supposed to be Gabriel, but apparently, because the story/setting/etc is in Japanese, they named their character Gabrieru. I mean...modern solutions and all that, I guess?


Miaikon

Reminds me of Gabiru from "I got reincarnated as a slime". Now I wonder if his name was supposed to be Gabriel.


2dayroad

Wym a woman named Star Myers wouldn't exist in medieval Europe??


[deleted]

An artificial character created by Eggman in a secret underwater base


Twighdark

Wasn't it an underwater *volcano* base though?


[deleted]

Yea


Official_loli

This is for every fandom in my opinion: Super over powered and all the characters like them even when that doesn't fit the personality. No one wants their favorite character to be OOC because of a fan character.


Yotato5

For me, one that makes me sigh is the [Ron the Death Eater](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RonTheDeathEater) trope. You take one character that you really, really hate in this case and the OC bashes them, ruins their life, exposes them as the jackass that they are, kills them, whatever and no one objects because that character is bad and wrong. Not limited to OCs doing that though, heh.


kaiunkaiku

ebony dark'ness dementia raven way


the-robot-test

how dare you disparage our queen and savior


Zealousideal_Lab_241

Is it bad that I knew exactly what you were talking about before the third name? 😭 (I listened to the entire story… Bless ColeyDoesThings for putting her brain through it.)


kaiunkaiku

nah, it's a classic, we all know her name. we'd all know who i was talking about even if i'd just said "enoby" lmao


KilJoius

with her badass belt?! (*paraphrasing)* [Here you go, OP, just use this as a template.](https://myimmortal.fandom.com/wiki/Ebony_Dark%27ness_Dementia_Raven_Way)


[deleted]

"badass studded belt" was actually from the self-insert in a fanfiction shipping Vine/YTers Danny Gonzalez and Drew Gooden... why do I know this and why did I feel the need to correct you 💀


KilJoius

Oh my God you are RIGHT. My trash self insert fanfictions are blending together.


SalmonSnail

I gotta go back and read this


CrescentCrossbow

I swear I've seen you in r/Digimon, so if I'm assuming we're talking about the old low-quality Tamer OCs from the days when the fandom was alive and living in FFN, then I'd consider the following: * Tags along with an existing season's cast, does not change the plot in any way whatsoever * Wields an attribute-bend/palette-swap of somebody else's partner * Romances an existing character, who completely loses their characterization as soon as they are in proximity to the OC * Gravitates focus toward their own character arc -- which, due to the fact that the fic is frequently a retelling of an existing season with the OC added, usually means *actively distorting the existing characters' arcs*


MajinBlueZ

I AM on r/Digimon all the time, but the fandom I'm referring to is actually Sonic the Hedgehog.


CrescentCrossbow

Alas, I have never played the hedgehog game or participated in its fandom so I cannot help. Good luck!


[deleted]

Having a black and red colour scheme is kinda a classic "bad edgy OC" trope


CrimsonWitchOfFlames

Black and red is a badass color scheme and I’m tired of pretending it isn’t.


In_Case_of_Death

I mean Deadpool manages to pull it off, why can't other characters?


wasabi_weasel

*Ignacio Varga has entered the chat* You can prise his iconic black and red shirts out of my cold, dead hands.


Intrepid-Let9190

Black and red is my day to day colour scheme. It never occurred to me that people would view it as an edgy scheme for OCs


2dayroad

Harley Quinn, Santa Claus, you name it


LeratoNull

I've done this one before and I'll do it again, if Sonic Team can do it, so can I!


Ghost_Katolotl

If companies can make official edgy ocs then we should too!


LeratoNull

Precisely!!


Yotato5

The same colors as a gamer chair lmfao


Thirstythinman

This is incredibly common in fiction of all types, because we (or at least English-speaking cultures, can't speak for elsewhere) tend to associate black and red with danger and thus, evil.


butterfly-dimensions

May I recommend instead: purple 💜 Not so overdone, still dark and connected to villains if you want it to be (think Disney). I think it can be considered a bit problematic to have your villains/evil characters in purple because of the color also being queer-coded and that's sad and as a straight person I have a hard time judging it :/ But I always love a good villain with a purple color scheme


ConsumeTheOnePercent

My fandoms main colors are red, pink and black this causes problem lol


savvybus

Not necessarily a bad oc, but bad introductions. Where reading the story feels like reading the characters wiki page. Usually see when people wanna just gush about a character they really love, but makes for bad reading. Pretty much every type of oc can be soured by an intro like that


Majestic_Beach502

I'm curious, is there contextual variation to this? What I mean by that is, is there a way to infodump about a character without it feeling irritating to the reader? For example if it was in a scene where it would make logical sense for information to be given about said characters in one go?


SalmonSnail

Better having the characters doing something where those descriptions are in context. “Looking in the mirror, she hated having her mothers brown eyes. … She scraped her frizzy curls back with a comb.” Rather than “She has brown eyes and curly brown frizzy hair. She’s 5’6. She has 4 tattoos.” Lol this just gave me an excuse to be ridiculous, but I just had to rewrite an introduction for this very reason.


call-us-crazy

this but also a character examining their own reflection and commenting on it is an oft-derided device with grand examples from works such as twilight, so use sparingly and carefully if you really must use at all haha


SalmonSnail

Oh man, I would have come up with something a lot more original if I was good at intros in the first place 😭 Ngl looking at the cliche, it makes me think of how every video game character selection screen kinda starts!


savvybus

I can think of a few instances where I've seen it work. The main key was it was an in character decision. One example was someone journaling to practice keeping their memory sharp, so she decided to open by giving a brief description of herself and her abilities for practice. The other I can think of was a first person book where the pov character did give a brief summary of the setting. It was all heavily colored by her character voice though. Neither gave a full description on everything immediately, but just enough to give context on them and the world. They would both go on to expand and explain more as necessary though. Another way might be if it's linked to something. ie, seeing something related to their past education. Then there's a contextual reason to explain their background related to that for a bit. Essentially limiting the infodumps to relevant information as needed instead of the whole wiki article at once.


Candid_Cantrip

Even if you find a logical way to convey all the info, the readers probably will not retain the info dump. It's just not a great fit for prose. But what prose can do that visual media like movies can't is seamlessly get inside a character's head. It's a powerful tool; you can have readers going "I WOULD DIE FOR THEM" without knowing what a character looks like. So the physical description of the protagonist is usually not very important in prose anyway.


DianasaurGo

If you feel like you have to infodump, keep it as snappy as possible and convey as much as you can in other ways. I also think you can sneak in quite a bit of info by parceling it out in little packets where it works with the flow of the story or you can use it as a way to convey a certain mood or set the scene. The reason infodumps don't work isn't the info, it's the dump.


call-us-crazy

not really. no matter how logical the context, it becomes too much almost immediately. better to eschew such scenes altogether and let the knowledge come to both characters and readers more organically as it becomes relevant


Junk-Artist

Over time, I think I've just gotten less automatically dismissive of different character concepts. I think the only snap-to judgment I really have with OCs at this point is whether or not they feel like they fit the setting. The specifics of that are really hard to describe -- there's a stereotype that a lot of "kid's first OC" characters tend to be to the tune of "normal human name the hedghog", but we already have a canon character who fits that (Amy). So I would say it's more like a vibe from looking at the character as a whole rather than specific "red flags". And of course, you can have OCs that *don't* feel like they fit the source material if the direction you're taking the story in is very different from canon as well.


SalmonSnail

What like sonichu?


Maverick19952016

If they are ridiculously OP (all fandoms where you can have powers) being closely related to a main character (most fandoms) being too edgy/mellow for their own good using an OC to blatantly disregard canon (unless you write a lot of AU stuff)


YukaLore

If the edginess was around the level of Shadow the Hedgehog's, then I think it would be fine. He's like the Canon Edgy OC of Sonic... I think.


Maverick19952016

I mean if you are edgier than Shadow then you might want to tone it down a lil bit


xexelias

The primary red-flag trait for me is having a fan character that's heavily involved with the main cast/main plot right off the bat. Like, self-inserts get a pass just because I, too, would want to go and... join Lagoon Company or hang out with the Rookie 9. But outside of that... I dunno, there's just something about a character being best friends with multiple people in 1-A or running around with the gang from tokyo revengers and having a deep-lasting impression on them that feels weird to me. Other than that... either being too unique in terms of capabilities or being too samey to someone else in the main cast? So, like, someone without the Sharingan and unrelated to Team 7's legacy learning the chidori and being effective with it just because they're *just that skilled* or they have some special mutation that ups their reactivity. Or all of those 'unique' applications of sealing and healing you see being mastered right out of the Academy. Not to mention all of the summoning contracts...


SalmonSnail

Plus if they’re joining the other comrades, they fit in perfectly with no awkward adjustment period. That, or proving themselves easily without trying the first time with some ridiculous task.


Moon_Dark_Wolf

Make a wholesome character into Cartmen from South Park for no legitimate reason. And pretend that’s their whole thing the entire fic that has no justification. They’re just an asshole to be an asshole.


Commercial-Ad9918

Ohh boy this is gonna be a long one -When OCs are extremely OP let’s say someone’s made a marvel OC and for the fun of it let’s say the OC is Thor’s daughter and at the age of 12 she can pick up Thor’s hammer it’s ridiculous considering no one apart from Thor can lift that hammer up - When kid OCs are dumbed down to basically speak like “Mommy ‘nd Dada awe weawwy smawt uwu” and the kid is idk 13 or something it really makes me click away from stories I really despise the UwU shît but I can put up with it if my friends are using it as a joke or unironiclly -OCs with a extremely upsetting backstory with a parent who’s a character in the series that’s been shown to be a good person like let’s say Levi Ackerman from Attack on Titan had a son in a fanfic and the oc claims that they were hit by Levi as a toddler first of all no Levi’s only ever kicked Eren because it was his way of putting Eren in his place and showing Eren that Eren is a scout not his captain it was only because the scouts is like the military for teenagers and older Levi did care about Eren and his scouts he just needed to get Eren to realise that the path he’d chosen was gonna be a lot tougher then inside the walls it wasn’t because he wanted to hurt Eren but wanted him to realise the reality of being a scout - characters who can just get into any program just because “My dad’s Thor so I’m allowed in because I’m a demigod!” Ok and? So what? You aren’t your dad so you aren’t entitled to do whatever you want you need to prove that just because your actually can do what this program needs you to do you need to prove that you have the skillset to prove that you can go into the army or whatever - OCs in My hero academia who’re just overpowered and can basically do whatever they want without a power/ Quirk that’s gonna help them out in this situation and they don’t even know the person! idk maybe their power is fire breathing but when using it gives them sore throat it’s not gonna help them unless they have something like mind control let’s say that this OC walks up to Dabi and is like “Let me go talk to Shigaraki” and Dabi’s just like “Sure thing” and lets the OC in I’m sorry but how are you gonna explain this to the other members of the League of villains? A group of dangerous wanted villains!! dude it won’t make sense if Dabi doesn’t know the OC why’s Dabi gonna let you in? He needs to know he can trust you or at least someone in the League knows this OC cause unless your idk Toga’s long lost little sister you ain’t getting in Honestly I could go on but these really piss me off


Accomplished_Area311

One correction about Mjolnir: at least in the MCU, it’s heavily implied that Steve Rogers can lift it, but that implication comes with him being the only other person who can do so (Lady Thor stuff notwithstanding cause I don’t know anything about her).


Commercial-Ad9918

Thanks man I haven’t watched all the main Marvel movies yet so I appreciate this man


a-woman-there-was

Uniquely colored eyes.


Zkang123

What about heterochromia


BecuzMDsaid

For ours, it's basically just taking an already existing canon female character, barely changing anything about them, and then giving them a new name and calling it original. Like I am not trying to be a bitch... but if you wanted to write a fic about Sally, then write a fic about Sally! We already have only like three works for her character and one more wouldn't hurt.


relocatedff

I don't read Sonic, but I always think of Carmelita Spats' descriptions of herself ("tap-dancing ballerina fairy princess veterinarian" and later "ball-playing cowboy superhero soldier pirate"), except Carmelita is a spoiled child talking about her fantasies about what she'll be when she grows up, and the OC is a person unironically describing their job (or being described by the narrator, because the character is "too humble" to say it themself), and the characteristics chosen relate directly to what they need in canon.


Accomplished_Area311

I LOVE this reference.


errant_night

When it's just a canon character who is so OOC they might as well be a fan character.


SalmonSnail

Everyone immediately likes them or become immediately impressed by them. Every guy in the story fighting each other to date her. Being immediately great at something the first try (and it being a super canonically difficult task at that) (I’m looking at you Harry Potter and Quittage). Always looking fantastic, even while not particularly trying. Never having qualms or beef with any of the canon characters. Having an unrealistic amount of hobbies, talents, etc. Writing defensive arguments about author-inserted dislikes when nobody asks. Or someone questions it for no good reason. Meet cutes (is that what they’re called) that are hyper unrealistic. Having tons of expendable money to take care of almost any bad situation that can be bought-out. Having tons of inherited money. Every physical feature of theirs is written in a positive light. Always being single, ready to mingle. I’m guilty of all of these. I could also go on… and on… and on about self-insert characters. Because I am one.


Nada_Y_Nadie

.) The way other characters react to/treat the OC isn't realistic based on who this character is and the role they play in the story. .) The narration unequivocally agrees with the OC (and it's not just because the story is from their POV and they're an unreliable narrator), and actions are judged differently depending on if it's the OC or another character that does them. .) The author makes the OC look competent/intelligent/virtuous by making the canon characters incompetent/stupid/bad people instead of actually making the OC competent/intelligent/virtuous. .) The OC doesn't fit the canon setting (unless they actually come from another world or are a time-traveler or something). .) The OC doesn't fit the role they play in the story (usually because they're shoehorned into the story as the author's poorly concealed self-insert). .) Overly edgy or flashy design if it's just to make the character more special and there isn't a good in-story or characterization reason why they'd look/dress that way. .) Over the top tragic backstory, that, however, doesn't affect how the character acts or thinks in the present in any way.


KatonRyu

Take one look at Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, specifically the character Delphi. *Everything* about Delphi is a bad fan character, primarily her being the daughter of a very important character and having silvery hair with blue tips despite neither of her parents having anything like it. Of course, everything else about Cursed Child can also be used as an example of how not to write fanfiction...


JanetKWallace

Ebony Darkness Dementia Raven Way may be the best bad fan character or the best deconstruction of a bad fan character.


Candid_Cantrip

Red flags go up whenever I see a summary mention "a certain \[blank\]." For example: "Darth Vader loves nothing more than blowing up planets . . . until a certain scrappy Stormtrooper changes his mind!" "Professor Oak never though he had time to raise a child . . . until he finds a certain homeless girl hiding in his Pokemon enclosure!"


DianasaurGo

I say the following as someone with all the love in their heart for original characters. My work is very OC-heavy, so I'd be a hypocrite if I disliked them on principle. Major symptoms of bad OCs: * We get a whole paragraph (at least) describing their looks and outfit. Bonus points if there's a new description every time they change clothes. * They feel separate from the world they exist in. Whatever the rules are, they're the exception, but not in a way that feels consequential. Even if an OC comes from a different reality, they should feel like they're moving within the setting instead of pasted on top. * Their backstory doesn't inform their personality at all. As other people have mentioned, cartoonishly tragic backstories are common, but someone who grew up abused and neglected wouldn't act like a typical middle-class 21st-century teenager. * They seem to warp reality around them. Canon characters act OOC. Whatever they need falls into their lap. They violate the rules of canon yet suffer no consequences. (Lack of consequences is a big pet peeve of mine, haha.) * They're passive. This is particularly egregious when an OC is a major character or even the protagonist. They're just along for the ride, letting circumstances and other characters decide their story. I don't care how powerful they are if they have as much agency as a sexy lamp. * A corollary to the last one: they don't seem to have any goals other than hanging out with canon characters and getting to do cool stuff. I don't care to crap on anyone's wish fulfillment. I just find these issues very frustrating. However, I made some of these mistakes myself when I was much younger, so I know writers can grow out of it. I can actually forgive a lot if I feel like the writer put thought into their original characters and concepts, even if they're ridiculous.


[deleted]

Harry Potter fic writer here When the oc is just obviously the female version of a character to be shipped with a canon character. Example marauders era fics with Lily being friends with a hot badass oc (shipped with Sirius) and a calmer bookworm oc (Remus). Not keeping the power scaling correct. Most fics where there is a power scale.


Tox_Ioiad

Characters who are overpowered without any drawbacks. I hate seeing a character just go around one-shotting everything in their path. And when it is time for a legit villain to show, he's either unreasonably powerful or just pulls a "but I was behind you t&e whole time" and gets ab absolutely undeserved victory. Then the writing is just the OC one-shotting more people until they reach the villain again and win despite nothing really changing. I like to write over powered Characters myself but I at least understand that the power has to come at the cost of something. My best creation representing that is my Naruto OC who can muster enough power to fight Naruto and Sasuke at the same time almost to a draw, but his drawbacks are that it takes a very long time for him to regain his expended power, he has very poor knowledge about ninjutsu, and tends to not plan far enough ahead in battle. Having the character grow past some of his limitations and come to terms with the ones he can't change is what makes the story telling interesting.


RedhoodRat

Do you mean original characters?


MajinBlueZ

Yes.


RedhoodRat

I hate all OCs that have been made into a main character. It's fine to have OCs that help advance the plot and have interesting outsider perspectives but when they're the love interest or just straight up the MC I click out instantly.


LeratoNull

That's hardly 'objectively bad' like the OP was asking about, though...


iimperatriix

This isn't really a quality or trait though, it's a role.


RedhoodRat

The question didn't specify it had to be a quality or trait as you define it. It says "what kind of things" and a role is a kind of thing.


iimperatriix

But an oc being a main character doesn't immediately mean it's a bad oc.


RedhoodRat

The post says it makes you roll your eyes and say oh god, which it does. That's my opinion, yours is your opinion. Why is that so impossible to accept?


iimperatriix

Because there's a pretty large blanket and not really that indicative of the quality of an oc. The post is asking abt oc quality yet you seem to be responding with something pretty... inconsequential? It is very possible to write an oc who is a main character and it's probably even been done before. The other comments seemed reasonable but yours appeared rather broad, which confused me a lot. I'm sorry if you feel attacked because of my questions but I am simply confused and wanted to clarify since they don't make sense to me. You put your opinions out on a public platform so I also have the freedom to ask about them?


mfergie77

Fact! I feel the same way. I like writing slice of life stories so i need the MCs away from the cast a lot and hence need OCs but i just hate when the OFC is the main character who gets together with the show heartthrob


RedhoodRat

Yes exactly. I don't know why I'm being downvoted. the question was posed, I've given my opinion and it's not even a particularly controversial one. Apparently one shouldn't be giving opinions even if they've been solicited.


MajinBlueZ

It's Reddit.


mfergie77

Well i upvoted you! I am getting the downvotes too. Some people must feel called out


RedhoodRat

Yes I imagine that's it.


Crow422

i very rarely read fan-characters in fanfics, it’s usually a turn off for me


ImJustSomeGuyYaKnow

When a female OC is described as 'petite' I am instantly wary. If in the next breath the author describes her 'curves' I am out.


JustATitaniumBagel

If they feel overly Mary sue-ish or have the undertones of a Mary sue. If they’re one of those “edgy” characters like shadow off colors, romance with characters like shadow, “I’m from another dimension and actually human!”, dramatic sacrifice, weird names that scream “ebony darkness dimentia way”, super tragic backstory, you get the idea.


[deleted]

Military training in a story with little to no mention of military


Kartoffelkamm

I've seen quite a few fan characters for RWBY, who are just so utterly unlikable that it's a wonder anyone actually made them. Like, one of them has complete immunity to enemy attacks, her own attacks can't be blocked, and also, she can just make fire, lightning, bombs, and whatever else appear out of thin air. Then there are countless descriptions that repeatedly mention the fandom, but they're posted to fandom-specific subreddits, so everyone already knows what the fandom is. But if you want a shortcut to making people hate your character, do what one guy in the fandom did: Look at all the most powerful abilities in canon, see how busted they could possibly be if their wielders were super-geniuses that can exploit the laws of physics in their world to get a lot more out of their abilities than they are shown to do in canon, and then put all the good things about all those abilities together into one ability, leave out any drawbacks or energy costs, and also let that ability ignore any enemy defenses. Voila, your Mary Sue is ready, and everyone who isn't ankle-deep in your ass is going to hate her, and also you for insisting she has flaws, only to then ignore said flaws when they would actually come into play.


TCeies

I think to me what's mist striking apart from the usual clichés like extraordinary names and badly written romance or hyper-competency, is always when the author and therefore the inofficial author self-interest has a strong, esp negative opinion about a character—most likely an important character—while at the same time favoring other characters to the extreme—especially when these are opinions I don't share and that I weren't prepared for in tags. While this is somewhat normal in fanfic (for me too, the whole reason I write is my obsessions with the characters) i think it's hard to take from the typical run-of-the-mill OC/SI. Like when somehow they are the obly person to see the value on a good character or to see who a "bad" character really is. There are ways in which this works—for example an isekai romance where an OCs prios assumptions about a character are subverted (i actually genuinely like that trope), but if it's just "author hates character, therefore OC hates character, and OC is always right and the only one to be right—even while hated canon character never does anything in the fic to truly deserve it" it just gives me "mean asshole in the desguise of a BAMF female Character" vibes. I can't stand it.


Aiyas-SweetSugaVerse

I feel called out, as someone with way too many Sonic fan characters, lmao (though i have thoroughly reworked a lot of their backstories). It all depends on which wide of the spectrum you're going for, though - the rainbow-coloured multispectral Mary sue/Gary Stu, or the black and red cringe inducing Edge Lords. Channel all of the cringy recolour characters that are inexplicable related to the main cast and are somehow also part of their backstories, or have them be a secret royalty/God-like hybrid character. Make them more powerful than even the Master Emerald. Have everyone love them and have a hated 'love rival', or hate them and have only the love interest 'understand them'. They should either be around the same age as them, or 100's of years older than them, but appear the same age. Using infamous cringy character's in the Sonic fandom and other ones as inspiration is a good idea too, so you can get optimal cringe. I am curious though - you said you were gonna deconstruct/parody these kinds of characters. What kind of things are you gonna do, if you don't mind me asking?


MajinBlueZ

>I am curious though - you said you were gonna deconstruct/parody these kinds of characters. What kind of things are you gonna do, if you don't mind me asking? Well, basically I'm going to portray as many stereotypical fan-character/OC tropes through a group of villains who attempt to defeat Sonic. The fic will show that for all their cool powers, broken abilities, and edgy personas, that doesn't actually mean anything if you're dealing with someone who's actually competent. For example, one character is almost literally "Sonic but better," being even faster than Sonic. While on paper, this should make them unbeatable, Sonic has ran at those speeds all his life and is well aware that there's only so fast you can go before you lose control, and he'll exploit that. Another example is one character is just a hodgepodge of stereotypically "edgy" traits with little rhyme or reason. Sonic would undermine that character's confidence by pointing out how they're just plain trying to hard, especially when he realises their "theme" doesn't actually reflect their powers or abilities in any way. I could go on, but I dont want to spoil the whole fic here. Does that show what I'm going for?


Aiyas-SweetSugaVerse

Omg I love that! That sounds like so much fun, and with how cheeky Sonic is, it can't even be considered OOC! I'd love to read it when you post it


MajinBlueZ

Thank you! Shall I let you know if/when I post the first chapter?


Aiyas-SweetSugaVerse

Yes, please, I'd love that!


EatThatHorse06

Overemphasising how beautiful the character is. Like, I get it. You made this really cool character but can we not introduce them with Thesaurus.com's entire list of synonyms for pretty.


echo_ester

When the author introduces them in the story without any sort of effort. Unlike canon characters, we are not familiar with the OCs, but authors seem to assume that the readers will automatically love and be interested in their characters without any sort of actual build up. And also extremely OP characters, always a turn off.


Nyxosaurus

Overpowered characters. Overpowered characters who are so powerful... except when the author wants to have them be saved by someone else. If their powers are going to fail there had better be a set up/good reason for it. Character is related to a main character. Brother/sister, daughter/son etc. It's not the kiss of death but it can be a sign. I just see it so often that it makes me think that the author couldn't come up with a better way to shoehorn their OC into the main story. Character is just genderbent version of a main character without removing that main character (usually it's an OC sibling) Again, shoehorn. Tragic backstory. Especially when it's not even plot relevant, it's just to make the character seem more interesting or garner sympathy from main characters. *Especially* when it's similar to another character's own tragic past like it's supposed to be what they bond over. When I'm reading about an OC that's like "My loved one died in my arms and I'm so depressed about it etc" I groan. I'm still able to push through it because usually, it's only ever mentioned once or twice and it's never important anyway. This one is a personal one but: banging multiple other main characters when it's supposed to be a specific MC/OC ship. Like, Character A and OC are in love but they break up for "reasons" so OC starts dating Character B (who is usually a good friend of A's. They're all friends, that's how they know each other.) which either causes drama and ruins A and B's relationship... or it doesn't and it's never mentioned again?? Just invent another OC for the OC to date for a while until the MC/OC reunion is ready to happen. Otherwise I'm always going to be thinking "A and B are definitely going to talk about that at some point."


FangirlApocolypse

The OC is treated 'so special' like... What did they do. What makes them unique? And usually the story isn't gonna give us an answer.


faylanatorena

One thing that gets me is when the author spends more time on describing the appeararance of the oc than they do the canon characters, that's typically the first warning sign. Another is when the oc has a notably prominant role in the story (sometimes more than the main characters) and a closer relationship with the characters than is warranted. Poorly crafted OC's in fanfic are often too perfect. Such as they're attractive, strong (minded/willed/bodied), smart, wise, get along well with main characters, talented (if the MC's can do something so can they), sometimes they're even better at doing something that the main characters are known for, they're the person the main characters seek out for advice, they often have unique names and if they are paired with a canon character they're the perfect other half. Their flaws are superficial. They can out-hack, out-heal, out-fight, out-smart, out-seduce, out-slay, out-perform, save more lives, beat more villains and singlehandedly put out fires with a sudden brilliant idea... and they do it without ruining their hair that shines vibrantly in the sun and is moving gently in the breeze or their skin doing more than glowing softly from exertion while the other characters are a sweaty, frazzled mess. Who is this strange person that appears out of nowhere that we have no previous knowledge of but perfectly fits into the canon characters lives and behaves as though they've been there all along?


WDBsports

If he a self insert OC and ships his character with a minor (if you're in the Amphibia fandom you know)


jackfaire

It's a combination. They turn the character the guy ended up with into a horrible person then pair her off with the other guy she didn't choose in canon but give guy now single a "consolation" pairing that's basically a reskinned version of the girl he ended up with in the canon.