Darcy being likeable in the movie and a fandom's collective (in)ability to write her don't have to be related. Kenzi's an amazing character--many people's favourite, and she was suggested for a similar fic role. And Willow--the show was written like no one dislikes Willow. Why are people coming out in support of one of the characters?

Why are people coming out in support of one of the characters?

Probably this exchange:

It's handy that the Avengers universe has a ready-made Mary Sue/self-identifiable character in Darcy. She lets authors who want to insert themselves into the story kind of avoid the Dreaded OFC Who's Just Like Them.

Not coincidentally, she's also the character that makes me skip past any story if plot developments involving her are present in the summary.

Some people don't like fic with her. Some do. Personally, I often do. Which wasn't supporting the character so much as liking the character being written in fic that I've enjoyed.

Whereas I would say that Darcy being likeable in the movie is argueable; I certainly didn't. Ashley Miller and Zack Stenz could be writing her in fanfic and I'd still recoil.

I liked Darcy more in the first movie than in the second; I wanted Darcy to be more competent than she turned out, sadly.

Darcy is a great sassy sidekick. I enjoy fics where she's in a commentary position--Phil's assistant, Jane's lab gofer. But the Misunderstood Cute Geek character in a show often gets pickedup by a certain class of writer as a springboard.

Tangentially fic-related things that make your heart plummet:

Reading 6 chapters of the story where there was apparently a long gap between 5 and 6 (AO3 doesn't let you see that AFAICT). The author explains she attempted suicide after chapter 5 (one of the main characters is addicted to drugs, self-harms, and is anorexic in a long game suicidal way) and spent months in an institution afterwards, and then apologises for the delay in updates.

Of course the comments are mostly "This fic hasn't been updated recently! Need moaarrrrr......" after chapter 5, and one after chapter 6 saying "Been there, done that, don't apologise, keep on rocking."

Oh, dear, ita. That's kind of awful.

I'm also surprised to see that kind of clamor for updates on AO3; I've mostly felt it was confined to FFN.

It kinda makes me want to not even feel impatient, even though I'd never nag for an update.

I don't know if it's an SPN sea change, an AO3 one, or just in my ship, but the last month has seen a surge in "Be gentle this is the first fic I wrote" author's notes, and more frequent clarity that the person writing is writing about themselves right now in this high school AU.

Sturgeon's Law is never so apparent as when you're in an archive. AO3 has changed how I read fic, but it's also changed how often I want to stab myself in the eyes.

I occasionally make "I love this fic, hope everything is going ok for you, let me know if/when I can bring out my pom-poms to cheer you on as you write more of it," comments.

Sturgeon's Law is never so apparent as when you're in an archive. AO3 has changed how I read fic, but it's also changed how often I want to stab myself in the eyes.

So much this. I routinely bless AO3's ability to let me filter by kudos, but even that doesn't entirely safeguard against the 90%.