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.

which I initially thought had promise, but the writer gave kept piling stuff on like

Oh, yeah, I read that one. It was pretty ridiculous. I liked some of it, though, like the basement vault with all the old stuff in it. Wasn't sold on how Jane was vilified, though, that was ridiculous--although to be fair, near the end of the story Pepper reads Darcy the riot act for some of her behavior, although it really doesn't make up for the complete MarySue-ification of the character.

I don't know why I can handle Darcy being such a MarySue compared to all the truly awful MarySues in Narnia fanfiction. If you go to FFN, 3/4 of the stories on the first Narnia page are of the "Ashley falls into Narnia and meets the handsome king Edmund/Peter/Caspian" type. It's really quite astonishing.

liked some of it, though, like the basement vault with all the old stuff in it.

Yeah, me too. It had some nifty ideas and the writing was decent. Once she got started on Jane though, I was out of there. UGH, character-bashing. Fastest way to show author's unsightly hand if you ask me.

UGH, character-bashing. Fastest way to show author's unsightly hand if you ask me.

Yeah. To be honest, I kept thinking that it was an unreliable-narrator situation, and Jane was going to be shown to be awesome. It kept not happening, though...

I thought the Avengers fandom was relatively free of portmanteaux but no.

I think the one that made me actually say out loud oh HELL No was Coulsicle. Not that I have a problem with the pairing, per se (though I can't really buy it, much like Banner/Natasha), but... really?

The only time I've been annoyed with a story basing everything off of movie-canon was a Bucky/Tony, then Bucky/Tony/Steve fic (that had a great Pepper/Coulson epilogue). I didn't realize how invested I am in The Winter Soldier [link] storyline until I read something that completely disregarded it.

I kept thinking that it was an unreliable-narrator situation

Well, by the time that thing with Dean of Columbia happened, I decided the author basically thought Darcy could do no wrong, so the notion of an unreliable narrator didn't even occur to me. I thought about ranting about that fic on my LJ but I think some of my friends are friends with the author.

Oh, another unrelated stuff that really shows author's hand: You know how sometimes, you are totally in love with that TV program / that awesome band / that fantastic book you just read, etc.? So much so that you want to have one of your fic characters to be a mouth-piece to proselytize it? Or at least have the character mention a preference for that show/band/book as an indirect shorthand to show how cool that character is? (After all, YOU really love that particular piece of art and you are the arbiter of cool after all.) DON'T. In the majority of the cases, it comes across as a really jarring, obvious and often obnoxious authorial insertion. Now, of course it's appropriate and in character if the character is canonically known to love the said material (Abed and Batman, Hardison and Doctor Who, and I guess I could sort of buy Darcy, being a poli sci major, would love The West Wing). But in most cases, it's really a bad idea.

I've seen profic do this as well. I cannot tell you how much I hated the bit from Time Traveller's Wife where writer basically tells us (instead of showing) how cool the two main characters are by saying they both love punk music. Lazy AND obnoxious!

Well, apparently I am in a ranty mood today.

In the majority of the cases, it comes across as a really jarring, obvious and often obnoxious authorial insertion

Oh, yeah.

I remember reading a Stargate SG-1 story in which the writer really really hated Mitchell. I pointed out to her that maybe she wanted to tone it back. In later years she fell madly in love with the character, which just goes to show you. Don't tip your hand!

too much Darcy/anyone to even deal with

I like Darcy in all of the stories I've stuck around with long enough to finish reading. She's surrounded by demigods and superheros and crazy overly competent spies. And what she wants? Is her iPod back especially because she just bought new music. Plus she'll taz you she's threatened. I dig this girl.

but that's because I adore the Toasterverse series.

Yeah, that happened to me as well. Throw some really fun and well done crack on a story and I will follow it for a while.

Plus, picturing Jeremy Renner hurts no story in my brain. I accept this shallow.

What it all boils down to is personal preference and subjectivity. There's really no way to be objective about art.

Very true.

It's funny how different the opinions are. I will cheerfully read Tony/Bruce and Clint/Coulson and Clint/Natasha and Pepper/Natasha, but oh my god, if I could only filter Loki out of existence.

I'm hit-and-miss with Loki fic. When the author admits that he willingly got a whole lot of innocent people killed and, hey, that's not good, I'll usually keep reading. When they try to sell him as a poor, misunderstood wooshiboo, dead people, what dead people, they're not Hiddles-hot so who cares . . . the writers lose me.