Your OC SUCKS

[@peanut7098]

"well actually, my oc can pause time, summon nukes, is impervious to all physical attacks, can bend time, can become god and can reunify korea"

[@YagoKatzen]

It was okay until the last, that's too much power

[@Reed_The_Deer]

Nuh uhh. My OC evil hamburger helper could body your oc. He'd even have time to say his ultimate one liner "you're hamburger helpless now"

[@romeokukita277]

Oh yeah well my OC can do nothing against that!

[@peanut7098]

@@Reed_The_Deerwell, actually. my oc can dodge that

[@bealea1127]

My Oc is a murderous unicorn that has laser eyes and has rainbow hair and has depression over the loss of her mother and little brother! She also has a demon evil demigod form that can kill you in 0.1 seconds! Also she lost all her limbs at the age of 2 due to a car!

[@CrazyGreenFluff]

if you want to make an appealing character that people will like, then yes, you need to study character creation and development. if you are just making an oc for fun, for your own entertainment, like me, then you can just make whatever you want. i do not care if my oc's are mary sue's or not, i have fun with them, and if someone isn't enjoying reading the story, they can always just stop reading and go engage with something they enjoy

[@Reed_The_Deer]

Oh absolutely. I definitely tried to make that distinction in the video. If you're just making a character for fun then go for it. It's when you shoehorn it into someone else's world that it becomes a problem

[@trickydiagram5267]

Drawing from real life interactions and experiences is probably the best way to make an OC.

[@littlemoth4956]

"if someone isn't enjoying reading the story, they can always just stop reading and go engage with something they enjoy" Or, even better, they can respectfully criticize it for the very real flaws it has, as it helps you improve as a writer. If you only wanted your audience to consist of people that like your work or don't question its flaws, then you shouldn't have uploaded it for other people to engage with.

[@crusaderk4tt]

i should stop being afraid of writing because it's my first time, that's why I'm not doing anything, their origin, nothing, right now i just create them, give them a personality and decide the friend groups

[@Reed_The_Deer]

That mindset held me back for a long time. I especially had a difficult time feeling like my ideas were valid enough to be put on paper. I think the biggest thing to remember is that pretty much everyone started at zero.

[@scribblpad]

Here's the thing, you can't think your way into skill. You have to start making things before you feel like you're "ready", otherwise you never will be. An exercise that helps me when I'm in that state of perfection paralysis is to find a piece of paper that I don't care about, pick a topic, idea, or oc, set a timer for five minutes, and write the first things that come to mind. Don't stop to edit or reword anything, and try to keep the pauses to a minimum. It always sucks for the first minute or so, but if you can push past that overwhelming urge to quit, you're gonna feel so much better. it's way easier to edit a messy draft than to write from scratch. Before you can make something you're happy with, you have to understand what you dislike, and what you want to improve. It seems obvious, but you can only analyze your own writing once you've written it. Every single artist you will ever admire, regardless of skill, has made and written a million things they hate before they made something that you love. If the creators of your favorite media had never made 'bad' art, the world would be missing so much cool stuff. Don't ever think that your ideas aren't good enough to put into the world, because there is always someone who will enjoy and be inspired by your work, even if that person is your younger self. It would be a real shame if perfectionism deprived us of getting to see the stories you'll create. Make bad art, and have fun doing it x

[@kqlolll2618]

Tbh art and writing is simply you winging it. I just wing it and make the lore that makes my ocs special (without lore they really do just seem boring ig, even a bit of lore like what they do gives them something btw) and tbh.. I love winging it! I eventually grow to love my writing/lore. Also you can see that if you look hard enough into a book you can see its basically kinda crazy, thats winging it

[@Synthetizard]

This was really well written and articulated, I agree with pretty much everything stated here. Flawed characters with interesting backstories are always fun to talk about, but pretty rare at least among most people that I talk to with OCs

[@Reed_The_Deer]

I've noticed most people make their OC's a perfect version of themselves. Like all of their best traits. I personally don't get it cause your flaws make you interesting. The scars and blemishes tell a story. It's like seeing fingerprints in a clay sculpture.

[@AquaSoda3000]

I have an oc that’s based off of myself, but I wanted to focus on what flaws I have while I was making the character because I wanted to give my oc my flaws

[@Synthetizard]

@@AquaSoda3000 same here at least with my sona

[@Crisjola]

@@Reed_The_DeerI have a theory for that (as someone who does original fiction and also writes fanfic and either has OCs to fill out the cast or simply has a few because I wished to tweak the story direction-I excel in mimicking the characters in canon I understand, their flaws, their strengths, etc). I think the reason why OCs are perfect versions of the writer is because of two things, the first being deathly afraid of making a self insert, so they don’t give their character the flaws they might understand because they feel like they’re “making the OC have [author’s] same issue so ‘it’s just a self insert’” (not that perfect OCs don’t get blamed for this either) and the second is that writing flawed characters, especially those who are aware of their flaws and aren’t ashamed of it, makes it so people who read your work can wildly misinterpret things. I’ve had close friends think that because a character of mine has survived some extreme things, that all I write is about gore and have a ‘fixation on scars’ when the entire point of ever mentioning the scars as I did was to make it very clear that aside from not being invincible, those who care about the scarred character are going to be horrified, and want to help so they don’t get caught in anything terrible again. That got weirdly warped out of shape even when I point blank stated that was why. They took it as me f^^^ishizing the scars. Which sent me for a _loop_ because nowhere had I done that (a character never wanting to see the scarred hurt that badly-or presumed badly-is not making the scars a positive thing). A lot of it is a weird lack of media literacy outside of the writing and fandom intersection, so anyone looking inside would just “?????” and they do.

[@CABLEG0RE]

Using "overpowered means your oc is bad" isnt always a good rule of thumb to have. It can really limit your worldbuilding or storytelling potential. A character being "overpowered" is relative. If you take a character that can fly fast enough to break the sound barrier and is capable of destroying entire city blocks they'd be extremely overpowered in a setting where people at most can pick up and throw a car or shoot magic. But if you put them in a universe with other characters around the same strength, suddenly theyre not overpowered. This is where story is helpful, because judging an OC's power in a vaccuum based on what an average everyday person can do might lead to them being criticised for having an "OP" character. Even if in universe they're considered average or even relatively weak. Theres also times you may intentionally want a character to be overpowered. Giving the portagonist a seemingly insurmountable threat, or following a protagonist whos overpowered but flawed can be interesting. Some genres, like horror, may even benefit from the antagonist being more "powerful" than the protagonist. Alot of fear in the genre comes from the loss of control and helplessness that you feel against the antagonist or situation. Dont be afraid to make an "overpowered" character if you feel like the situation or story calls for it. Alot of great stories would be ruined if the characters were all on an equal playing field.

[@Reed_The_Deer]

I think this definitely plays into my point about Superman. Nobody would say he's a bad character. I was thinking about adding a part to talk about writing your character as the villain a villain but I think it would be better addressed in a different video. This is definitely more about telling people to give their characters a story because it makes people care. But seriously I completely agree with ya

[@antonomasia_art]

Yep, like a lot of my characters are gods, and the story comes from their relationships with each other.

[@scootermcpeanuts6699]

Being overpowered isn’t the problem, it’s when people think adding more and more powers in place of character traits that it becomes an issue.

[@uef0h]

i feel like if your character is overpowered, you HAVE to make it work… otherwise they just won’t be that memorable imo???

[@Lumi1975]

okay yappatron

[@SuperThumb_PNG]

At this point I think I'm fine having a cringe overpowered sona. But I used to love making super weak and flawed lil fellas. Made the training arc more fun and the journeys worth more. I just don't have outlets to do that anymore.

[@Isla.M.W]

You wanna know how to truly make a likeable OC? Make them hot. If they’re hot theyre gonna be liked, at the cost of all the simps drawing them in… uh… “awkward” situations

[@wondaraptor]

I went from a god OCs, to just a guy, to a god OCs but now it makes sense for the plot 😭👍

[@verylostdoommarauder]

The way I got around having overpowered god characters is by literally making them the gods of their world. There's an extra dimension, then, about coming up with their feats and their place in mortal cultures.

[@ArchangelOfVoid]

I have most things ready, just not any drawing skills yet aside from eyes 😭

[@Reed_The_Deer]

The oldest artist trap. Just be glad you didn't switch from surrealism to cartoons like me. That was a huge pain to overcome

[@aj_the_gr8t]

DOOM MOOD, I SAW DOOM I LOVE SPARKLECARE HOSPITAL I LOVE SPARKLECARE HOSPITAL I LOVE SPARKLECARE HOSPITAL Edit: after watching the video fully, I like the art style, i think its written well, and im subscribing

[@Flame-rp6yq]

Literally met a guy who thought his character was balanced simply because he gets a LITTLE TIRED after using his godpowers to destroy the entire universe 15 times over And somehow tried to implement this character into the rather grounded world me and my friend made About an unlikely friendship between a demon of lesser nobility and a street racer And a long line of color side characters of friends, lovers, and family Literally the most powerful character I made was a demon King who’s greatest feat and by extension one of his prized possessions Is a single feather he obtained during a battle with the archangel Michael

[@Flame-rp6yq]

Also forgot to mention that they are more powerful than all the gods and is over TWENTY *_BILLION_* years old And tried adding a bunch of other things Which was a nightmare, since out of my group, I was the one who tried to make sure everything made since in-world and no continuity errors happened or the “lore keeper” So you can imagine me pulling my hair out when this man says he apparently overthrew every prominent demon in Hell including LUCIFER Within a WEEK To say the least he was quickly made non canon and inside joke is that he’s just creating chaos in an alternate world that Lucifer keeps in a snow globe

[@Reed_The_Deer]

Good Lord. Sounds balanced to me lmao. Honestly you just gotta laugh at stuff like that. I kinda like the way dragon ball did it where the most powerful thing in the universe is basically just a child and has no remorse for removing entire galaxies. But let's be real that power creep has been going on for a long time in that show

[@miau5878]

this reminds me ive seen people think their ((usually overpowered and edgy)) characters are balanced because they think stuff like mental illness or being a serial killer is a flaw. Like, uhh.. being a serial killer or cannibal isnt really a personality trait that is a flaw..?

[@MlopryXD]

Boy am I glad I'm not a writer or character designer. I've yet to have any compulsions to create an OC, and I hope it stays that way. I liked this video. If even one person comes out of seeing this with a better idea on how to design characters, then it will have done its job excellently. The classic weirdly coloured character with no story whatsoever *does* get quite old.

[@PurpleSlime27]

Yeah I definitely get the struggle of not making my characters absolutely op, like Victor, honestly the way i have him he can solo just about anyone in his world so i gotta mess around with that Also dont mind me trying to bs a backstory after creating Victor's disign lmao

[@crusaderanimations]

Wtf did my lil angry crusader do :(

[@Freshy10]

I have no idea who you are; I just came across this video, and I'd like to say thank you. You've opened my eyes a bit more to the flaws of my own character, who I thought was flawed to begin with, but maybe she's kinda boring in personality, but the idea I have had for her character growth going forward is cool and I hope it works. You've also made me want to improve the world she lives in, the locations are starting to feel uninspired in terms of visual design, but each location has a special something. Her story is also, what, eight years in the making? God, I really fell off that horse... thanks again!

[@Reed_The_Deer]

I genuinely hope it goes well for you. Lord knows how difficult it is to make those projects work out.

[@ummmbye1228]

a good way into writing a good op character is to not make their overpowerness their entire personality. Just like the alicorns in mlp not having their overpowerness be their entire identity makes them a good character. In short, having a op character is good just if you make them good.

[@Vee8218]

I have a super powerful main character who is basically immortal, but I have given them so many flaws, and each time they use there powers they get more and more tired. Also it’s Alice in wonderland based.

[@Brojogon]

Can you make a video about anti-sues or self-inserts? I feel like mary/gary sues/stus aren't the only cringe OCs out there.

[@Reed_The_Deer]

Anti-sues? I've never actually heard of that one before. Elaborate and maybe you'll get a follow up video.

[@Brojogon]

@@Reed_The_Deer Opposite of mary sues. No good traits, looks plain, does the worst things, is stupid and weak and worse than an NPC. If we applied yinyang to archetypes, anti sues would be the yin and mary sues would be the yang. they were so popular when people worried about making mary sue characters, and honestly you should make a video about how to find the perfect balance between the two.

[@Autistic._.Little]

​@@Reed_The_Deer that sounds so cool!

[@meowmeow4148]

Damn, that's the kind of video I needed! Very neat

[@mrniceguy3129]

Yeah i looked in my notifications tab and it seems like youtube decided not to tell me. I wonder how many times its done that

[@Reed_The_Deer]

Weird. I'll have to check out what's going on with that.

[@KatCrystal-1]

I have my beloved Kat Happy Crystal, she's important to my fanfiction, but she's become more like a plot device, which is funny to me. The fact that I can't write a character arc for her has kinda become the arc, except she already went through it and has accepted that she has no greater meaning, no destiny.

[@henry1312]

this feels pretty damn underrated cuz' this is some good stuff !

[@johnnywhoa343]

Great video! There are a LOT of artists and writers that need to heed this advice. Everyone else here is talking about the "OP" aspect of characters, but I focused on an element of this video that I feel like almost NO ONE seems to recognize - the story behind a character. If your character doesn't have a story, if nothing about them changes, I don't care about them. That's not because they're a bad character, it's because they're not a character. They're a design. They're a static image. They're 2 seconds of dopamine where I say "oh that looks neat" and then keep scrolling. They're the artistic equivalent of eating an Oreo. But if your character has a story behind them, if they go on an adventure, interact with other characters, get in and out of trouble? If they get in a fight or have a whirlwind romance, or if they pursue a dream to the ends of the Earth? Well, it's up to you to make sure that doesn't suck, but at least I've got something to sink my teeth into.

[@Reed_The_Deer]

Thank God someone got it. I was starting to worry that i was gonna have to change the title to "your oc sucks (without a story)"

[@johnnywhoa343]

@@Reed_The_Deer It's really confusing to me that everyone homes in on the "OP" part. You literally called out Superman, the most OP character of all time, as being a good character because of how he's written and the stories he's in. Power doesn't make a character boring! Bad writing (and especially NO writing) is what makes a character boring!

[@Reed_The_Deer]

@@johnnywhoa343 exactly. Idk it might just be that folks don't pay that much attention. Or on the other hand i dont repeat myself so people dont get my point drilled into em. It's actually why my videos are pretty short.

[@johnnywhoa343]

@@Reed_The_Deer Short maybe, but certainly efficient. I at least rather obviously enjoyed this video so I subscribed - I'll watch out for your next!

[@Bleplebeian]

im very passionate about my ocs and have been since i started getting into writing a few years ago. i think part of the appeal of my ocs to myself and how ive managed to keep myself engaged with my own characters for so long is that they all feel very...human. they arent literally human, almost all of them are anthro animals of some kind, but the way that they interact with the world and act is very human. not a lot of my ocs have any special powers at all, but theyre still interesting for me because i can relate to them and see them living as normal people in their respective worlds. im still new to writing, (started in 2021) but i do genuinely love my characters and want other people to like my characters as well.

[@Reed_The_Deer]

It's always good to have something positive you can mess around with. Personally I really enjoy showing them off and making stories with em this new video I'm working on currently is gonna wrap up this advice series so I can talk about funnier topics

[@M4N14C4L]

My man is spitting straight facts Even though I got cringey ocs too your so right (MY ocs also are killable so you can just kill them whatever you like)

[@blakeelzinga1168]

I love your videos. So cute!! :3

[@Reed_The_Deer]

Thankye always appreciated

[@skootergirl22]

I do try not to make my oc too OP

[@deadnautt]

It appears nobody was notified about this one dropping

[@riotbreaker3506]

I definitely fell into the trap of making my OC an overpowered super-saiyan level character, my solution was to make him an antagonist and he immediately became cooler. This is especially true since that also gave him an arc and flaws the hero characters needed to exploit, and it justifies that he can be sadistic and edgy.

[@enpeacemusic192]

My first OC is, in true OC creating fashion, super overpowered. Way too overpowered to be fun honestly. How did I fix that? Depression! Man is too depressed to do anything worthwhile with his powers lmao. The main goal of the character is more a psychological one anyways. Great video honestly!

[@Reed_The_Deer]

Reed: can you please summon me a plate of strawberries? Your oc: nah I don't really feel like it

[@enpeacemusic192]

@@Reed_The_Deer yeah that's how he starts out lmao. He'd use his powers to meme and and be annoying. But then comes the fabled character development and he actually learns to let go of some of his fears and care about some people, yippee

[@LifeofSquidMann]

My main guy is intentionally OP (Alex Mercer powers + 40k Space Marine stats) to make his faults more glaring & have a Natural Talent vs Hard Work dynamic with his rival (Just an ordinary dude). Am I onto something?

[@Reed_The_Deer]

So long as it's well written i think so.

[@mr_flor]

nooooo me but cool is so cool, how can i not do that?!😭😩😩😭😭😩

[@xavierwalko4175]

Literally my OC. And he’s a joke about bad OCs.

[@Isla.M.W]

I have literally 0 overpowered OC’s they’re all underpowered lol

[@KeterWorks]

meanwhile me and my 12793789454 dead ocs from an multiple rps because it's not the main character.

[@Reed_The_Deer]

Bruh 💀

[@ItsTheNatShack]

I hate Mary Sue ocs

[@Poppa]

ehehehehehehe

[@uncommonusername]

0:03 ppt2 reference

[@Reed_The_Deer]

Reference to what?

[@uncommonusername]

@@Reed_The_Deer nevermind

[@mozzeralleh]

paper puppets take 2?

[@uncommonusername]

@@mozzeralleh yes

[@thebedroomshow9010]

For me, the OCs that are overtly edgy and trying to stand out with anatomy or colors or gimmicks are the most nauseating. Browsing Pinterest, it doesn’t take too long before I find a series of OCs that look like Hazbin Hotel wannabes. Am I hating without consideration for the artist and the purpose of the characters? Oh yeah. I’m just a lil hater

[@Reed_The_Deer]

Oh boy, then I have a video just for you. Just check my new upload lmao.

[@bealea1127]

Is that the hamburger helper guy-

[@radicalquad]

On the other hand, if someone is willing to take on the role of creating an overpowered OC who is suffering so much from being so powerful, not being able to relate to anybody, and not being able to improve, that they have an entire existential crisis and go through an entire de-powering arc, that could mean something... ...it could be me who does it...

[@Reed_The_Deer]

I mean the biggest thing is ensuring that the character has an actual story

[@radicalquad]

@@Reed_The_Deer very true

[@InterplanarerPennersoeldner65]

Magical fun fact: Someone will like your OC.

[@Reed_The_Deer]

All i ask is that you give it a good story.

[@hampter-poem]

"being overpowered makes your character suck" i disagree whole heartedly. mary sues (or OP characters) are possibly one of the most fun things to insert into a character. as you kind of referenced, OPM did this unexplainably good. another good rep is Saiki K. sure, they already have everything and are "done" growing, but that's sort of where it gets fun. now you're not limited to, "how will they grow?", because now you can get real advanced into your writing and think, "where do they go now?", or "how public are they about their powers?". all of these topics you sorta mentioned are absolutely doable, just requires more advanced writing :3.

[@Reed_The_Deer]

I think you missed the point of the video. The bigger point was that your oc can't be over powered without a good story. Like I said in the video Superman on paper is very boring but when faced with his own moral problems becomes an interesting character.

[@waffler-yz3gw]

i think satoru gojo is a good overpowered character because he's funny and hot

[@PokebellasWussy]

I think knowing the world and characters around your OC is super important, especially for fan OCs. I remember making a Sonic OC for my fic that is supposed to be a continuation of a mainline game, and I was questioning if I went a little too far with her or was making her a Mary Sue. But then I remembered that Shadow the Hedgehog exists (both the character and the game) and I went “y’know what, she seems a lot more believable now”.

[@mranonymous6517]

Ahhhh crap Doodle JJay exists I better tell my friend that his OC sucks /j

[@ashenmorire1869]

My OC for Inuyasha when i was 12 🙃🙃🙃

[@Eysouel]

sometimes you shouldn't care about how others view your oc, if its overpowered, if its weak, if its just blah? That doesn't matter. Your character. Your ocs. Thats fine your character not like its going to be popular, ocs are made for fun not for perfection.

[@Reed_The_Deer]

Absolutely. I think this mostly applies to making a story for them.

[@Eysouel]

@@Reed_The_Deer nah both, a character is whatever you want, there isn't a rule or guidelines. Like guidelines to art people say you shouldn't doesn't mean you can't. Your OC if it isn't for public domain or for the public then shouldn't worry about it. OCS are for fun. Not a job

[@knockofffatelvira335]

I have an oc who is a Cat boy {The Neko Archetype} and I've gotten comments that he looks like me and I've tried to change his appearance and it's simply because I myself am a goth who's Latino and kinda chubby and so is he and we are both trans guys He's not really OP or anything and I made him for fun and there's not a lot of Trad Goth ocs and I just think cat people are neat I try not to feel shame since it's my oc and it's how I feel at the end of the day so there's that

[@Reed_The_Deer]

Honestly just give him a good story and tell everyone else to STFU.

[@knockofffatelvira335]

@@Reed_The_Deer real

[@dumbvillage9253]

youtube shadowbanned my comment for merely saying you look like a certain iterator from a rainy world. crazy.

[@Reed_The_Deer]

I genuinely don't know what you're talking about. I tried looking it up and couldn't find it

[@dumbvillage9253]

​@@Reed_The_Deer five pebbles.

[@bluenoobhere]

nuh uh

[@garrysucks4190]

My OC is a 7 foot tall Osakan (as in, his birthplace is somewhere in Dotonbori, Osaka) thug who grew up in the streets of Coney Island, Brooklyn. He has multiple versions of himself, as his creator (me) does when switching fandoms. Sometimes he's just an absurdly huge guy with freakish athleticism comparable to Wilt Chamberlain. Other times he's an outright force of nature channeling the very concept of electricity to effectively reach god-tier status.

[@naut561]

So what no notification for the subscribers?

[@machpower3074]

new followe

[@caligulasAquarius]

you too.

[@Jas.671]

My explanation: Well, i have an oc that, i draw alot and it changes every single time until the final design, was my first oc character that i drew alot is Leafy Which it has a mini helicopter-ball type with four floating lights in her own head and her feet and hands are.. Leaf shaped. And she has a backstory too, why? Stories are important to see what other people look interested in many storage in their imagination, and as a writer and artist, i think i shall find inspiration from my childhood shows, movies and interesting histories (Like the Bible and Mythology about anythings Greek!) and yep, i have a brain said "Thats a good point, we need to find inspiration, practicing the fundamentals of art and writing and challenging myself into a big practice." Very good video to understand that i need to redesign an cringe oc to pretty okay/good oc. (Sorry for summary or maybe essay i swear that i become English-)

[@athoa-yo2ve]

OwO

[@KustProductions]

Please turn up the volume for the love if god

[@Reed_The_Deer]

Bro what? This shits already loud AF on all my headphones

[@KustProductions]

​@@Reed_The_Deerthe only words i understood were at the beginning, after that its hella quite

[@Reed_The_Deer]

@KustProductions idk man it seems like everyone else could hear it just fine. What are you listening on?

[@KustProductions]

@@Reed_The_Deer a phone?, my volume is the same, but when i listen to any other video, they sound fine

[@Reed_The_Deer]

@KustProductions well I meant are you listening through a set of headphones or through the phone speaker? Also is it the same on other videos of mine?