too much Darcy/anyone to even deal with

I re-watched Thor recently, and was driven to wonder just where the hell the Darcy I see in fic came from.

In terms of pairings falling into the too much to deal with category for me, I find myself scrolling past what feels like scads of Tony/Loki. Uh, no thanks.

I find myself scrolling past what feels like scads of Tony/Loki. Uh, no thanks.

For me, it's all the Clint/Coulson. I mean, I like them both very well and I have no particular objection to it, but it's not my thing either and it seems to be everywhere. If you don't ship Clint/Coulson or Tony/Steve, that's like 70% of fic off the table, it seems like, but I suspect that's an overestimation. At least the fandom has reasonable amount of diversity so that you can pick and choose.

I think Darcy/anyone is like what some Teen Wolf people were talking about Stiles/Derek. It's not the canon. It's the archetype to which fandom is drawn to. Darcy is non super-powered, snarky, pop-culture savvy and spunky, attractive but in a curvy real-person way and not in tall willowy Gwenyth Paltrow way, thus makes for a good fangirl stand-in. From there, you basically ship her with anyone that particular fangirl finds attractive.

I've read scads of Darcy fic because I mostly read het, and basically it's Natasha or Darcy if you want ladies in your pairing fic. Some Pepper. Very little Jane. But she's extremely prone to Mary-Sue-ism the way Consuela described it a while back, so I end up hitting the back button a lot. Bah.

Yeah, I rarely bother clicking if I see Darcy listed as one of the characters - odds are even if it's a gen story it'll be about a hipster graduate assistant somehow becoming the muse/mentor for an entire group of adults that apparently wandered clueless through their empty shells of lives for decades (or centuries!) before meeting her.

I think Darcy/anyone is like what some Teen Wolf people were talking about Stiles/Derek. It's not the canon. It's the archetype to which fandom is drawn to. Darcy is non super-powered, snarky, pop-culture savvy and spunky, attractive but in a curvy real-person way and not in tall willowy Gwenyth Paltrow way, thus makes for a good fangirl stand-in. From there, you basically ship her with anyone that particular fangirl finds attractive.

I can see that.

What would the archetype be? I mean, Stiles/Derek has been established as Nerd/Clam. Darcy's kind of LBD, but there has to be another word for her. Hmm.

I have more tolerance for Darcy fic than Vonnie, possibly because I just like the outsider-view, and even though she's a canon character, she's sufficiently outsider for me (I barely remember her from the movie). So I've read some Darcy/Steve and some Darcy/Clint, although the Clint in those stories doesn't bear much resemblance to the one in The Avengers.

A good source for recs, particularly for het or gen, is Astridv on DW: she posts a rec a day, and most of them are good. She's on my flist, so I get a steady stream of decent fic that way. She's also posting the occasional Unusuals and Bourne Legacy rec (she's a big Jeremy Renner fan, obviously). If you like Clint/Natasha, or gen, she's a good place to start.

Zen, here's a couple of Stark Spangled Banner stories I've saved to delicious. [link]

Those two stories are pretty decent and the second one deals with demi-sexuality, which is an interesting read. The second one also has a short prequel, which while you don't have to read it, probably wouldn't hurt.

My biggest problem with many of the stories I find in Avengers fandom is that too many of them only use the movie as reference, when there is a wealth of canon based on all the Marvel comics. There are meta posts on LJ and tumblr where you can find lots of links to specific issues that fill in a lot of blanks, especially if you want to slash Steve/Tony. I find the stories that use the comics much more interesting to read.

Plus, too often, stories based just on the movie totally woobify Tony and turn Steve into a raging homophobe.

I find I'm okay with separating the canons, but then, I've never really liked fic drawn from comic canon (no pun...). And I hate stories where the author isn't comfortably immersed in the source material, and with the imbroglio that hundreds of appearances give you, no two people have the same head canon anyway, just based on the facts they know, much less the ones they prioritise.

If they woobify or make someone a douche based on the movie, i don't see why they wouldn't dump the same bullshit on the comics, since they're on crack anyway. And sometimes you just can't get the events to line up, given movie creations and exclusions, you know?

Very true. All authors are going to spin the characters somewhat to their own preferences. It's just my personal feeling that the ones who write based on the comics tend to write characters more in character, because they've been immersed in the comics for a much longer time. I see the parallel in Star Trek fandom between the ToS fans and the reboot movie fans. I tend to write from the reboot perspective, but I'm also steeped in ToS canon from watching all of it as a kid and some of the reboot fic can really grate on my nerves.

What it all boils down to is personal preference and subjectivity. There's really no way to be objective about art. Some of the stories I hate the most, are the most beloved in that particular fandom and vice versa. We like what we like and trying to quantify it and qualify it turns it into meaningless little black marks on the page.

Darcy's kind of LBD, but there has to be another word for her. Hmm.

Snarky sidekick? She's basically a Xander, except more peripheral to the action.

A good source for recs, particularly for het or gen, is Astridv on DW

Excellent. I'll check her out, thanks! I actually quite like Darcy -- what little I've seen her in Thor, that is. Kat Dennings is an appealing presence and I'm fond of outsider POV as well. It's just that when the writers build her up as this INCREDIBLE AWESOME CHARACTER ALL AVENGERS GO GA-GO OVER that I get irritated. For example, I was reading a longish Darcy-centric fic the other day (I cannot even remember who the author paired her with), which I initially thought had promise, but the writer gave kept piling stuff on like... Darcy worked her way through in her family's diner so she's an incredible cook, then she got into Stanford, then deferred a year because her mother got cancer and she had to nurse her through it, then the Avengers-related shenanigans forced her to move to NYC, and she couldn't afford Columbia except she totally runs into the Dean of Columbia totally accidentally who falls in love with her in 10 minutes of meeting her thus cuts her a break, then she starts cooking meals for all the Avengers who instantly proclaim she is indispensable, except she is unappreciated by Jane because Jane is a big meanie, and... I had to stop there. (I cannot believe I read that far, actually.)

I guess it might help if I start reading off recs instead of just trolling AO3, but I'm not into fandom's most popular pairings so my choices are fairly limited.

Re. Comics vs. Movies. I have no problems with stories that base the entirety of its background info on the movie. I loved the movie. I have no patience or inclination to start reading decades of Avengers/CA/IM comic book canon. It's like the New Who vs. the Old School Who debate. It's great if your fic is based on meticulous canon knowledge of everything Who-related going back to the 60's. But don't tell me I'm doing it wrong if I prefer reading fic that's primarily about the New Who since 2005. Ditto for Avengers and my preference for movie verse characterization.

I like the Darcy fic I've read, but then I'm not reading anything without a couple of recs. And I'm good with Clint/Coulson, but that's because I adore the Toasterverse series.