I didn’t have any OCs for the collab yet, but I really wanted to participate this year. I didn’t have any good ideas and ended up using some randomizer. The design already was pretty good, I only had to make a few changes. The random cutie mark was a cloud, so I made some cloud storage puns.  
And that’s how Cloudy Bits was made!  

@2tailedD3rpy  
I hate that OC.

I love reading up on all your OCs. I’m glad that I was able to kickstart this conversation so we could all learn about each others characters and the creation process that went into making them.
 

 
Mine is not on here (but there’s always this year). I have quite a lot of MLP OCs that I’ve been developing (whenever I’m really into a fandom, I just make a ton of OCs out of habit) and I’ve only uploaded two of them here, neither of which I use for a self-insert.
 
My self-insert OC is a Changeling Queen. I went with that choice because I honestly had trouble deciding on a specific species for her a while back. At first I wanted her to be a griffon. But then one of my friends asked if I made a ponysona and I said no. So I took a quiz on which of the MLP Pony types I would be and I got unicorn.
 

 
So for the longest while, mine was a unicorn. But then one of my friends sent me a custom MLP toy of my OC and it was an alicorn (I think they used Cadance for the model).
 

 
So I just decided to myself, “You know what? You can have your cake and eat it too. If you make your self insert a Changeling, she can transform into a Griffon, Unicorn, or Alicorn so you can use all those designs.”
 
As for why I chose a Changeling Queen over a more standard Changeling, I’m a tall person with long hair and Chrysalis was tall and had a long haired mane and tail while her underlings were short with finned manes and tails (and were bald after becoming Changedlings). I also liked how expressive Chryssie’s eyes were compared to the standard Changelings too. And the reason why I chose purple was simply because it’s my favorite color and because Amethyst is my birthstone so I have quite a bit of characters that are purple or have purple in their color scheme.
 
Her name was originally Starlight but then we got a canon Starlight, so I basically had to alter her name a bit and renamed her Illusive Starlight. She’s a bit like me (but with a few twists here and there so she can fit into the MLP universe). I might post a bit on her bio and personality a bit later if anything.
 
@2tailedD3rpy  
He’s talking about an earlier scrapped concept of the character. He has since changed the OC.
 
@Silent Wing  
@LightningBolt  
I think it’s mostly because those kind of OCs just tend to clash tremendously with the tone of the show and look out of place when put next to canon characters (a lot of Edgy OCs tend to have shades of red and/or black that are sometimes hard on the eyes for example).
 
But that’s just one aspect of it. I think another aspect of it would be that some people tend to overdo depressing and dark traits when making characters sometimes, to the point that it becomes overbearing. Don’t get me wrong, I like a little bit of angst or darkness from time to time. But when it’s done too much, it can be a bit off putting.
 
That being said, I do think that the term edgy can sometimes be overused at times to the point that it can lose its meaning. That unfortunately happens quite a bit sometimes. People just latch onto a word and use it constantly in situations where it doesn’t fit.

@Silent Wing
 
Someone is gonna hate your OC, it’s just how the internet works sadly

@LightningBolt  
Considering Silent Wing was supposed to be an assassin for the royal guard, was all dark and brooding, had a crossbow bolt for a cutie mark, was made primarily with black…
 
It’s a character that lacks substance, and goes for the, “I’m the big bad,” mentality. Adding black is just cementing the idea that he wants to be really void-like (especially in a world where ponies are pastel colors). All around, you can tell the character was made by a teenager who thought he was on top of the world.

Originally, I chose Keith to be my derpi identity because 1. I had an idea what my mouse’s cutie mark would be as a pony because he’s his own separate character and not just my fursona/avatar/what a lot of people here mean when they say OC and 2. I was worried about coming off as a sparkledog type if I made him too much of a fox when ponifying Wes.
 
Since then, I’ve learned to stop caring so much about being judged for petty reasons like that, and went from a pegasus (mostly to have wings to hide his blank flanks) to being a Tatzlpone (because of my interests and because I can continue to get away with not having a cutie mark that way) with all of his regular markings.
 
^{The original Wes was something I turned myself into during an extremely vivid lucid dream about 15 or so years ago and have gradually refined over the years of him serving as my internet body. He’s still always been orange-red with purple-blue hair, the inverted T mark across the cheeks and up the center of his face, and had most of the brown markings within the first year or two even if they were usually drawn grey because I hadn’t standardized the colors beyond #FF6600 for the main coat. Lost the extra tails early on because ‘kitsune’ felt like being a pretentious weeb teen and they were a pain to draw, then added the finger markings to match the feet markings about 8 years ago. Only change since then was back in September when I decided to adjust his shoulder markings to account for when he’s genderswapped or in herm form (which is basically all the time now, because I like being curvy.)}

@Cirrus Light
 
there is certain stereotypes with certain types of oc, a stereotype dosent applies to everyone but there is a reason why they exist in the first place
 
alicorns tend to take themselves very seriusly and want to rule it all and be the ultimate powerfull being

@Cirrus Light  

@zippysqrl  
Why not have her personality be flat? Aren’t signs typically flat on their faces? :p
 
 
@Chaotic Mind  
Alicorn status was supposed to be a super important thing reserved for like 2 ponies, ever. Then Hasbro wanted to sell the castle play set and we got Cadence. So… you don’t “just happen to be born with wings and a horn” any more than a character you design just happens to be born princess of Equestria.
 
So then it gets into the frustration of Twilight being a princess and no pony seeming to notice.
 
If you don’t intend to do anything with the Alicorn status why was the character made that way?
 
But that’s just why you’ll get the response you do, why Alicorn OCs in general will. I’m not gonna say you can’t do whatever you want, but there’s an explanation for why people respond the way they do.
 

 
…also, being an Alicorn zebra does make me wonder if he’s a Nigerian prince …

I liked participating in this like last year. (didn’t get the badge through)

I don’t think people even know what ‘edgy’ means when they throw it around so much. Seems like the opposite of ‘edgy’ is ‘brown’ which isn’t my idea of a good time. w/e, as long as people don look down on others OCs, they can do whatever they want as far as I’m concerned.

@Silent Wing  
To be fair I made it a point to make my OC not be edgy like the so called “black and red super edgy” type. I have a full backstory and everything. I may tell it again one day. Got a bit burned out by a few that automatically hate any character with wings and a horn…

@zippysqrl  
See, I had a much more generic OC WAY, WAY back. Ironically, that OC’s name is the same name as my Derpibooru screen name. Really edgy, just completely stupid and worthless, and now I’m stuck with it.
 
But then I made Psy Key. Far less edgy, more tame and, if my knowledge is correct, a fair bit unique. I honestly just sat down and said, “Alright, screw my previous OC, time to make something that doesn’t make me sound like a teen with issues!” Literally just took myself, changed a few details, made his special talent something I aspire to be, and boom. Lots of people say it’s hard to make OC’s, but all you really need is 1 that reflects you, in some way.
 
Making unique OCs with a vast backstory and all this other stuff, on the other hand, is really difficult. My hat’s off to all the artists that have managed to do so.
 
Granted, I don’t think I’m ever going to write something for Psy Key, but it’s nice to have a non-edgy OC I can call my own. I’m not exactly great with style or anything, so I couldn’t have just made him by accident, and had to really avoid colors I felt were just counter-intuitive too an overall welcoming character. (I still can’t thank Credus enough for giving me something that just works so well!)
 
From what I remember of you, Sign fits you pretty well, judging from your avatar alone.
 
That was, like, 4 years ago now, huh? Back on that Skype FC server. XD

@Dragonpone  
@Chaotic Mind  
@Joey
 
I went without an oc for like 4 years, I purposely avoided making one because reasons.  
And then Sign was made entirely by accident in ponytown because people made joke ponifications of the very few in-game features. And then.. she just kinda became her own entity, and I gave her aspects of my own personality to make her less flat. And hey, some peeps seem to really like her, because she’s actually kind of unique, and not in an edgy way.

@Joey  
It’s hard not to like Dawnsong.
 
But some people do, apparently, judging from those downvotes. Just goes to show you can’t please everyone, even with simple stuff.

@Joey  
She’s still such an adorable mare! <3

I put off creating an OC for so long, but a few friends kept insisting I get one. So eventually one day I did create one and I love her:
 

 
When I created her, I wanted to go for an overly simple, believable appearance with a pleasant, easy-on-the-eyes color scheme. Likewise I wanted her to be unique in her own way but not stand out for it either. That’s part of the reason why she’s an Earth Pony - there’s significantly more Pegasus and Unicorn OCs than Earth Pony OCs, which make the latter a bit more unique despite still being pretty common. And then I added glasses because glasses are cute and I wanted to emphasize that she is a major nerd.
 
Also, she’s almost always portrayed as wearing a lace-trimmed collar. That was not part of her original design at all, I never intended for her to always wear a collar. Instead, one day I was chatting on a Discord server with a few people about ponies wearing collars, and about half an hour later a good friend of mine, MomoMistress chimed in saying “Dawnsong deserves a collar” with this image:
 

 
I was not expecting that at all, but I absolutely loved it. She looked incredibly adorable wearing that collar, so it immediately became part of her permanent design.
 
Also, her name is an incredibly subtle to an old game I used to play. So subtle that I didn’t even realize that was where the name came from until like a month later :P

At the time of this comment, this image has 1000 faves!

i have 2 and both are in this collab beacuse it is weird to see one without the other
 
the names are very original, being my real name plus some letter, and one having an extra a than the other
 
i took heavyly inspiration from the lutece brothers from bioshock infinite
 
both of them are plant ponies but not in the usual/conventional way, i would say that the tags “plant” and “plant” ponies are missing in this image due do that fact but no one cares so eh.
 
just like the luteces, both of them are the same and diferent person at the same time, both with their unique personality that the other lacks
 
dont ask me how they became plants because i dont have a good explanation yet and i havent had one since their creation 5 years ago

We talking ‘bout our horses?
 

 
This blue grump is basically my oldest proper OC, and the only one i originally designed with a purpose in mind. All my other OCs i designed basically just whenever random inspiration struck.
 
I originally intended her to be a villain/antagonist in a story i never got around to writing. Since i always liked the antagonists in the show that were essentially just regular ponies that were just too powerful for their own good, like Trixie in Magic Duel and early Glim Glam. That’s where the character’s concept comes from, anyway. Her original design looked a fair bit more sickly and gaunt than her current incarnation, now all that remains of that is her slight skinniness and tired look.
 
Now, i gave up fairly quickly on trying to write that story because I’m not much of a writer, but she lives on. Albeit in a slightly friendlier form than originally planned.

My OC originally was a pegasus before I changed him into a unicorn.

@CyanLightning
 
Well, we all have to start from something, but hey, it isn’t as bad as many other ponycreator OCs; and it actually kind of looks like that in some way, you have predicted her sister with that first design, at least, in colors:
 

 
And if someone else is curious, here is my old design (which wasn’t an almost copy of Luna).

@TheAnonShy  
Well, I still have my Cyan Lightning design that I done in pony creator (thought this is not my first design, because he was alicorn stallion instead of unicorn colt)
 

 
Yeah, I know it’s quite uncomfortable to see it

@Dragonpone  
I mean full-blooded dragon character. No offense to Puppy Love.

@Salamenace  

:<