Ang

It's probably a combination of the two. Olicity was a whole lot more fun for me when I thought it was a crack ship. Reading over-the-top comments and then watching the 15 second clips that inspired them was how I got into this fandom in the first place.

Whoa, my phone just resubmitted my last post when I tried to quote someone up thread! Whackadoo. I'm most tempted to point out an author's mistakes if they're recurring: woah for whoa, misusing a word repeatedly, etc. I'm too cowardly, though, because I know how bratty I can come across online. I did leave an author criticism of her story recently, in a similar situation to the one Morrigan linked, where the implications of her characters actions were so creepy but presented as normal/cute. I assume the worst offenders are super young and don't quite understand the implications of certain behaviors and dynamics yet. And yes, there is a serious dearth of new fics lately. It's not really surprising given the showmakers' horrible mishandling of Olicity and the uninspiring spoilers coming out. Way to kill something amazing, Show. Have you all seen this list yet? It's introduced some decent fics I'd totally missed. http://thatmasquedgirl.tumblr.com/post/144576230212/the-summer-olicity-fic-list-2016 I'm currently enjoying Timejacked. It drags occasionally but is pretty cute and fun.

The way different authors write Felicity (and other characters too, sure, but mostly her since I'm here for Felicity & Friends) is so fascinating to me. She's a Mary Sue, a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, a Plain Jane, an Everywoman, a Virgin, a Sex Goddess, a Magical Genius, and sometimes she's an absolute idiot (those are usually the fics in which she calls herself a genius multiple times). Sometimes she's a klutz and an airhead, sometimes she's an angel that everybody instantly falls in love with. Sometimes her innuendo dropping is certifiable, sometimes it's cute, sometimes it's humiliating. She's whimsical, she's sharp, she's got a spine of steel, she's made solely of clouds and rainbows. She's so idealized she approaches perfection, she's obviously the author as played by EBR in costume. It's just so interesting to see how people see or use the character, and what it is about her that appeals to the author and the readers who kudo or comment. (My favorite Felicity is strong, sexual, skilled, confident, and so very courageous in the midst of very human emotions, by the way.) I always laugh a bit when fics demonize Laurel. They'll have a whole cast of interesting, well-developed characters, and then Laurel is this paper doll with demon horns. I don't mind the fics that turn her into a sympathetic character, though. Laurel on the show may have been a wreck (I have all kind of crazy theories about dynamics with the actress/writers/producers) but she had some interesting potential, and I don't mind authors who take something decent with her and run with it. Speaking of character assassinations out of the blue, the actor fic discussed upthread with Arcus the dog has a bizarrely crude and horrible Tommy. He makes more sense now that Cooper-as-abusive-devil-ex is on the scene, but it really threw me for a loop. Most fics ignore the potential for evil or greatness I thought he had on the show and make him a happy-go-lucky puppy dog.

Don't worry, if S4 flashbacks are any indication, it'll be exactly something like that. It's not like they've managed to tell a decent story about any of his other scars lately. I fully anticipate the tattoo and his rank being entirely unearned. Funny, before I even knew about this conversation, I was coming here to recommend her latest (?) WIP, A Woman's Guide to Vigilantism. I'd been skipping it, ignoring who the author was, because other gender bent fics haven't really pulled it off IMO. I'm only 3 chapters in, but I'm having a heck of a good time, especially imagining Stephen Amell as this slightly out of shape, nerdy, Captain America T-shirt- wearing Oliver. For length, you can't beat ChronicOlicity's awesome things and Lademonessa's piece de resistance, Still Waters and Quiet Men, which is like a billion words of anti-Oliver crack fic, and yet if she were still publishing I'd be reading. For quality, go back and read all of MachaSWicket's fics. (I actually just read a Firefly fic she wrote that was pretty fantastic.) http://archiveofourown.org/works/5369132/chapters/12400163 ^I forgot to add the link to AWGV and can't paste it above for some reason.

*snerk* so much rancor on both sides! Hilarious. So, I didn't really mind Bratva fics, and there have been a few that I've really enjoyed. I watched The Equalizer recently, though, and now they make me queasy. There's a new one starting where Oliver is actively leading both QC and the local Bratva activities, albeit reluctantly. The author's one I've enjoyed in the past, and the story sounds fun (Felicity, going undercover for the FBI, applies to be his EA! Inconvenient attraction, love, and shenanigans, one presumes, ensue). And I can't read it! My mind keeps going over the brutality of actual prostitution, extortion, drugs, and intimidation, and I can't reconcile it with the decent, if not noble, Oliver and crew she's writing. Link, in case anyone here is interested/doesn't have my hangups/doesn't mind WIPS (she's pretty reliable): http://archiveofourown.org/works/7155770/chapters/16246406

Oh my gosh, that one makes me laugh so hard! That whole scene I was basically hiding my face going, La La La something that totally makes sense is happening right now! Yup, I'm not really hearing these words delivered like this, it's a symbol! A symbolic representation of a powerful figure somehow communicating with an entire city in crisis, inspiring them with wisdom and courage and oh crap nope, it's just a pretty face half heartedly shouting cliches at a handful of extras.

Oh my gosh, I have hated that line from the first time they used it, and I'm talking searing, gasping hate. And the writers kept using it over and over and over! Monsters, all of them.

I am just so stuck on Laurel's deathbed speech. SHE DIDN'T KNOW SHE WAS GOING TO DIE!! What POSSIBLE reason could she have had to say any of that, but especially the whole, "I know I'm not the love of your life, but you were the love of mine" disaster? Why? Why would she say that? What could she have been hoping to accomplish, besides making him feel enormously uncomfortable and putting a strain on their relationship? Was she trying to cut ties? Making the world's worst move on him? Did her life flash before her eyes, and she was on so many drugs she babbled everything that was in her head? Then there's the mysterious promise. Unless I missed something (possible...) that went unexplained. And that means it'll be used as a deux ex machina in some future show where it's exactly what the plot needs. Anyone placing odds on whether it'll be something that actually makes sense for Laurel to have asked Oliver while she was recovering from surgery? Then there's the cascade of changed implications that this (with the new post-Tommy flashbacks) brings to every aspect of the character, not to mention her interactions with others. I don't know the comics, I don't know the Black Canary beyond some slight online exposure reading about Arrow, but the image that sticks with me is of the wedding issue, where BC is carrying GA bridal style. They had the potential to create an incredibly strong, independently powerful character that flipped traditional roles and expectations on their heads, and this is what they made of her. I can't even put into words how disgusting the whole thing is.

Super cute! Thanks for pointing it out! I love that writer; she's quite talented. For anyone who missed it and doesn't mind a little (or, you know, a LOT of) weirdness, I highly recommend her Monsters in the Dark. I think it is so very delightful; I think it's one of my all-time favorite fics. http://archiveofourown.org/works/3160169/chapters/6860231 I know some people hate OCs, but her other fic on that site, Silver, is entertaining, too. ETA: thanks a lot, @wonderwall! Those are totally innocent GIFS, and yet when I scroll past your post I keep catching myself looking over my shoulder guiltily. LOL!

This (Thea and Mr. Terrific are fabulous together) and toss in Quentin somewhere, yeah? (I secretly love tiny Oliver way off to the side. Let him be the eye candy love interest who thinks it's All About Him.) My favorite part of the rather hot mess that was the last few episodes was the work done by the older actors on the show. I didn't care about the calculator the first time around, but now I'd love to see as much of him as I can get. He and Mama Smock were hilarious and awesome, together and apart. Damien Dark was fun to watch if you ignored the holes in his storyline. Quentin was solid. Curtis isn't played by an older actor, I know, but I thought he managed some real depth to the way he played his part. I enjoy him a ton.

*please please please don't let the reconciliation happen off screen over the summer*

I liked your analysis of the season. My initial thoughts on it were more basic: they need to stop passing drugs around the writers room. I didn't mean to include them in that category. And I admit my personal bias is showing here. I'm not a huge fan of surprises, and when it comes to couple decisions, I want to give more input than yes or no. I take it as a sign of respect and inclusion when someone includes me in the process of considering options, and I feel disempowered when I'm left out of that process. To me, a true partnership doesn't consist of one person telling the other what to do, or even artificially limiting their options with yes/no, in/out questions.

By themselves, I completely agree that those things are harmless. I just threw them in there because they COULD be be construed as additional evidence (to an overly sensitized Felicity, for example) as Oliver not bothering with preliminary discussions even about things that equally affect another person.

The thing that kills me dead about this show is how often it comes SO CLOSE to having a great thing, and this is an example of it. If you look at it over the course of the show, it is entirely plausible for Felicity to break off the relationship at that point. I mean, we started out with class disparity and fiery confrontations based on philosophical differences. Then we've got abandonment/daddy issues, compounded by the fact that Felicity found out Cooper stole credit for her work, faked his death (letting her grieve and feel guilt for her role), then went full villain and tried to use and kill her. Follow that with Oliver making a full season's worth of decisions and plans without talking to her about any of it: putting the kibosh on their budding relationship, leaving to fight Ra's, deciding to work with Malcolm, faking League allegiance, pretending to kill his friends, planning a suicide rescue. That's a whole lot of "men in my life make huge, terrible decisions without me having a say." Heck, he even decided to leave Starling and, later, buy an engagement ring without discussing it with her first. Given all that context, is it any wonder Felicity felt like Oliver deciding to cut his son, about whom MALCOLM knew while she did not, out of his life without a hint of discussion the last straw? THAT makes sense to me, seems believable and realistic. But did the show bother to make reference to any of that? Not really. It's all "secrets and lies" with shades of Cheating Ollie. That may have made sense as, like others have pointed out, a Lauriver storyline, but it doesn't work here. They could have capitalized on the previous character and relationship development, and instead the scene featured a woman simply responding to a man's actions with no verbal context beyond the overly simplified interpretation of the immediate situation. My feelings about that tendency to make things as dumb as possible and use women as things belong in the bitterness thread, but I will say here that I do wish they could at least figure out a way to leave space for a more complex interpretation, rather than making things so concretely dumb.

I didn't have a rage response to Malcolm showing up in FICON, but it definitely broke my faith in the fic. I really admire writers, including fanfiction writers who put so much time, talent, and effort into something for which they can never receive compensation. Publishing something on a scheduled basis, as they write it, is even more impressive, especially when you get something complete and coherent in the end. And the sheer content is awe-inspiring! I once did a writing exercise where I spent hours on maybe 8 lines for a potty training board book. But I seriously want to attack their fic with a gigantic red pen and have a serious talk with the authors about their plans. Excellent points about the unearned biological parent insanity, @bijoux, and I share the above frustrations about the authors including some of the show writers' biggest mistakes. Did you catch the time travel line about how some things "want" to happen or whatever? SIGH. I'm pretty certain they're going to kill Moira, probably to save Unrealistically Dumb Thea from her own mistakes. They started out so strong. Why are they afraid to make the big changes? Kill Malcolm! Empower the female characters! Keep Moira, and make her the most terrifyingly powerful and complex mayor Star/ling has ever seen, including Ruve! Skip stupid Ra's entirely, because if Malcolm is dead, the whole season 3 drama is irrelevant! Play with the ripple effect of killing key players, starting/ending relationships early, and knowing too much about the future. Or, better yet, just deal with the immediate threats, make implications about the long-term resolution of the time travel and Zoom issues, and wrap it up.