TrueMyth

Well, she's just thinking about her father. I mean, think how upset Lance would be to find a gaping maw of torn earth the next time he visits the grave of his little girl to contemplate the threats made against his family. Oh, wait. Maybe the neat edges won't actually help in that case. (This was from pages ago, but I couldn't not). I actually really enjoyed the episode. I love having Oliver working in the light, so I really think I'll love the Mayor plot line. His rescue of Jessica was fabulous. The line about "self-defense class" would only have been improved if he added "and paaaarkoooour!" as he jumped off the balcony. It's so nice to have scenes with extras and bit parts beyond those being beat-up. The trick with Laurel sliding down Oliver's rope arrow was rather awesome (though it does feel unearned, because when the hell do they practice that?).

Ah, sorry. I've been meaning to check out the episodes of Constantine that aired, but I'm not at all versed with the actors names and such. It does seem unlikely, in that case, unless they are doing something very strange with his character.

What is his role? Maybe he has an elaborate costume or make-up that requires a casting of the actor and a week's prep? They might fly him up for a day of prep for something like that.

The scene in season two when she is working out her feelings of inadequacy and Sara gives her pointers has Oliver do a double take and start to question Felicity wearing work-out gear in the lair. That would indicate that Oliver at least is very NOT involved in her training. It's a shame, really, because sexual tension building combat training is a beautiful trope for a reason. On the other hand, I love that Felicity is nowhere near a combat expert, and I'm totally fine with Oliver and Felicity's relationship not hitting all the tropey branches on the way down off the UST tree. But I agree that Diggle still gives her pointers with Oliver is not around.

Wow, thanks for sharing all this information! I had to say "ugh" out loud to this, because it is something I have NOTICED with the show in later seasons. Especially season three started to feel like a play with only the regulars. This isn't a good thing in a show where "the city" should be an extra character, because the whole thing starts to feel hollow. I understand that actors cost money and speaking roles are even more costly, but I miss the crowded scenes at Big Belly Burger or the background action at QC. It started to feel obvious to me that they were scrimping to save money, which made me start to resent places where money was obviously spent, like Ray's effects, when I didn't like them. I know that budget drives choices on TV all the time, but the show has started looking cheap in places which have already been pointed out on this thread. I hadn't realized until reading the above quote how much the day players also fed into that. Additionally, can I point out that Felicity was brought on originally as a one-off, day play part. I know they had more money then and were experimenting with things, but I feel sick to think that she literally could not have happened in season three because the networks want to cut costs.

I miss the days when ship names simply slashed the names. I know they are quicker to type and/or easier to say, but I loath portmandeus.

I watched the old Turtles movies and cartoons, but I couldn't tell you the "original" origin story for Casey Jones. I've pretty much resigned myself to watching this Michael Bey film for Stephen, but I think I only care to spoil myself for his background if it happens to involve a tragic lack of shirts. Because I'm a tragedy hound, like that.

Looks like you are right with the casting spoiler blurbs. However, I think it is narratively telling that she is "the candidate" and not the mayor. Blood was made mayor and died at the end of season 2, but they already had a new mayor running things as early as episode 2 of season three. The mayor was killed off earlier in season three, but they apparently are only getting around to an election now? To me, that says there will be back door dealing they want to show on screen or else Oliver will end up with the job by the end of the season. I mean, unless they called several elections and simply no one wanted to run because THE JOB IS A DEATH TRAP! Happy about Jeri Ryan! I guess I got my wish for a Leverage actor on Arrow, just not Aldis.

Brought this over from the News thread: I think both Ray and Felicity's story would have been better sold if they had paced things differently. They started with Ray really trying to work within the system, fundraise, connect with the mayor, ect. I think they should have kept him there and cut out the secretive suit stuff for at least season 3A. It would have allowed Felicity to focus more on connecting with the outside world through people other than Ray. Ray could have had a few more scenes with someone like Quentin or Oliver regarding the transfer of the company. Then, when the Arrow disappears and Brick rises, THAT's when Ray should have built the suit. His regular channels stuff wasn't working since the mayor folded like a fan, we could have learned about Anna with him confessing to Felicity AS A FRIEND. It would have made Felicity's choice to help him build the suit give her that much more ownership of the ATOM suit, since she'd be around for the inception of the idea. All this time, they really should have developed AT LEAST Felicity's relationship with her EA so that she'd have someone outside Arrow life besides Ray to talk to.

Or maybe he's just really enjoying playing a happier Oliver. Also, the first episode sounds really action-packed and Bamford is directing a later episode, so that trend may continue, and we all know the pride that Stephen takes in doing his own stunts.

Someone on Tumblr posted a set of gifs of a Stephen Amell FB video. It claims to be from Tuesday night, the 7th day of filming for season four. However, I don't see it on FB. Was it pulled?

I think he says something like "do I need an injection?" And later David holds out his coffee cup to him. I'm guessing Stephen was pretty tired when they did the interview and his first take in reaction to the "Olicity Ship of the Year" stuff was subdued. So the outtake was him hamming it up a bit. You can vote twice for Emily, so a simple combining of the numbers won't work.

I'm now feeling very lucky that 1) I only recently started reading Arrow fanfiction so all of the oldie, but goodies are still new to me, and 2) the author appreciation meme happening on Tumblr means I have a deep list of bookmarks to go through before needing to click on each new story. As a palate cleanser, here are some lists. Maybe you'll find something you've missed?

I'm glad you left a comment to let the author know that you felt mislead by their tags. I did a little research into AO3 policies. If the writer picks the "choose not to use Archive warnings" then it is within the ToS of the site and they will not follow up on an abuse complaint. However, if they have selected "no Archive warnings apply" when they obviously do, you can send in an abuse complaint (though I'd suggest you give the author a few days to make the change). Said complaint will probably result in the author changing their warnings. Authors accounts will not be suspended without repeated complaints. I'd say that alone is a good reason to go through with the abuse report when it applies. For example, if the bottle-rape "it's not graphic!" author does this repeatedly with multiple fics and still refuses to recalibrate their norms, then it is pretty obvious they are writing to mess with people. I like that AO3 gives flexibility to the writer. In the past, I've written stories which deal with or even depict rape or that end in character death. It can be a dilemma if the plot point is a twist, and it takes away the effect of the story to warn ahead, but I generally feel it is better to let people know. Nothing is gained if your big "gotcha" ends up seriously disturbing a reader, particularly to the point where they stop reading or block you as an author. Additionally, though it is disturbing to some, others do enjoy reading non-con. As long as it is tagged and rated appropriately, live and let live.

Wow, I'm glad I haven't run across these stories! Are they on AO3? Did the authors not tag with "rape/non-con"? Unless they chose not to use the archive warnings, they should. And I'd still expect a warning in the summary or author's note at LEAST. Otherwise they are running into potentially triggering problems and someone should comment and ask them to address them. It is a by-product of rape culture that many others treat rape as a "handy character trial" without really understanding the effects or being honest with character reactions. The worst is when that plot line is used as the equivalent of a "non-death fridging" of a female character for the manpain of a hero. Because these tropes are so prevalent in Western media, many new authors fall back on them without reflection when they want a gritty storyline. It is my hope that the reaction of their audience will help lead these writers to a deeper understanding of gender politics. It seriously sucks to be blindsided like that though, AyChihuahua.

Oh, I had very little doubt on that score. Isn't that what these forums are for? ;) And his answer just cleared any doubt I may have had. I mean, I'm sure at least one of the E.P.s knows Oliver is supposed to speak Mandarin pretty well or it wouldn't have been touched on so often in season one (e.g. 1x02 & 1x16, the Chinese tattoo, and Shado and Yao Fei's language lessons). I've never held show creators or runners up as "god" for any show, but there are some who do better than others at internalizing continuity. I think it's obvious from MG's various responses that he is not one of them (e.g. he had no idea about Oliver checking Felicity's roots, he thinks KC's Canary costume has fishnet patterned legs, etc.). I hold out hope that interacting with fans on Tumblr and Twitter help him catch some of these things, but it is very likely a vain hope. Obviously we have different reads on the 3x16 scene, but I'd be fine with a nod to his practicing or using Mandarin at some point in the next couple seasons, as long as it shows more proficiency than the scene with Akio. The Chinese tattoo gives me hope, since he's yet to get that. Do we know what that tattoo says? Oh, and I know TV accents are generally horrible, and Arrow's Mandarin is no exception. Since I speak only English, it's not hard for me to suspend disbelief on that front. I'll just take the Triad guy's word that Oliver has a good command of the language.

I'm confused. What in his answers seems to preclude any of the above?

This is pretty much what I was assuming until 3x16 aired. When he was walking in the garden with Akio and learning how to say "Hao Ba," his accent wasn't great (apparently) and he'd been living in a Chinese speaking country, possibly even interrogating Mandarin-speakers on the regular, without picking up something as simple as "okay." I could accept that Oliver's command of any Chinese dialect would be the most polished when interrogating someone as he did in 1x16, since that is what he practiced for Amanda Waller for about six months. I can hand-wave the Triad guy at the restaurant in 1x16 putting a bit too much confidence in his "Definately Chinese" pronouncement and stack that with a hand-wave about Oliver's facility for languages/accents... except they showed him learning Mandarin twice (once from Shado, once from Akio) and these just don't match up. If he has the facility with accents you suggest, then I would expect him to be able to mimic more complicated phrases than a single concept and to do so quickly, which is not what 3x16 demonstrated. I think the main reason they picked Hong Kong was for the "I was on a island" joke, which I appreciate. I secretly hope he'll be on islands in seasons 4 and 5, too, though I think it less likely. As far as languages go, it is problematic, as you suggest. That is part of the reason behind my question. The choice of Hong Kong and low proficiency demonstrated by Oliver in 3x16 made me question his established command of the language in the first season. It is interesting that they made Akio and his parents fluent in Japanese, Mandarin, and Cantonese (apparently?) and highlighted Mandarin in 3x16. I was honestly confused as to what they were demonstrating in regards to Oliver's language abilities. Turns out, at least according to MG, the answer is not much! Of course, Marc didn't directly write the story or teleplay for either episode. It's possible that another producer/writer is holding the show to account on this. At this point though, it seems like a goof to me. All I really want at this point is some kind of throwaway line, either flashback or present, that clear up the discrepancy.

Taking this to Oliver's thread.

Yeah. I'm kind of hoping enough people will comment/reblog/question him with references on Tumblr so that they can throw something into the narrative about it. Anything that explains how he gets from not knowing how to say "okay" in 3x16 to being mistaken for a native speaker in 1x16 would be fine. If the Bratva background isn't happening until season five, then they can totally have him focus on his languages. I totally don't mind hand-waving when it comes to my comicbook TV shows. I know it takes 3-7 years in real life of daily practice to become fluent (particularly native level fluent) in a new language as an adult, but I don't expect that on the show. Still... who is the story continuity editor on this show? Do they have one? It's not too late to correct, but it will never happen if MG is unaware of the problem. That was the first and only time I sent him a question. I suppose I could have mentioned that he also answered several other questions. Oops? I was excited to see my question show up and saddened that I know the show better than the veteran show runner. Among other answers are a commitment to more shirtless Oliver in season 4, discussion of Vixen, confirmation that Starling City is in the Pacific Northwest, and the info that they have written through episode four of the new season.

Yay, Marc Guggenheim answered the first question I had the courage to send him! Boo, he confirms the writers actually have forgotten Oliver's established proficiency with Chinese. Source

I'm working on one. But no, I did a search a few weeks ago to make sure I wasn't retreading, and nothing jumped out. I think there are a few drabbles and some stuff with Oliver and Felicity interacting with people back home. Here are the closest thing I've found running my search again: Wherever You Are. Haven't read it yet, but the summary fits.

Yeah, but Roy's unnecessary parkour is basically a character trait. I mean, he even does the frankly bizarre move of twirling on the nearby wall when he leaps in to surprise the guys menacing Thea at the start of their relationship. It's enough of a thing that I'm sure they would have put an open gate in the fence when he ran away from Thea and Laurel in his first episode, if they didn't need a story reason to stop the girls from following him.

Not that you need me to tell you, but headaches from 3D movies are a real thing that affect about 10% of the population. Hank Green of Vlogbrothers/ VidCon fame produced 2D glasses, which - I know - sounds like a gimmick. Basically, if you have people who want the 3D experience (or the only showtime that works for your schedule is in 3D, or whatever), but the experience gives you headaches, you can buy the 2D glasses to cancel the headache causing effect and still watch with your friends like you're just seeing a regular version (for a higher priced ticket).

I also worry about the effect of three shows splitting limited production space. I'm curious if anyone knows Damian Darhk's actor's stunt expertise. I imagine, as a previous member of LoA and someone Ra's feared, the character must be intimidating in combat, but I think I'd like to see a Big Bad who Oliver doesn't go mano a mano against. Malcolm, Slade, and Ra's all got that final duel, and I realize that it's a comic trope for good reason (exciting and visually clear about who is winning), but I'd like something different this year. Oliver can square off with mooks (all played by stunt pros) and maybe a henchman or two, but I'd like Damian's real threat to be political, devious, and maybe a bit magical via props.