I would like to begin this petition with a quick clarification before Olicity shippers hop on my back for saying this, I do NOT hate Felicity/Olicity because I'm a lover of comic canon and I want Laurel and Oliver to be a thing right this second, I watched and liked -at the time- seven....seven....seasons of Smallville before I truly got to see Lois and Clark as a couple and I didn't mind one bit.

**Also before I begin I would like to say I know the title of this will not likely come to fruition even if 1,000,000 people signed this BUT it will draw much needed attention to the issue***

*Cue flashback* ... The day is October 24th, 2012 and I had just wrapped up "Lone Gunman" the third episode of Arrow, and I was, for the third week in a row, very pleased with what I had seen: John Diggle was set to be inducted into Oliver's crusade, Deadshot had appeared and lost an eye, and the writers had introduced another "new"* character by the name of Felicity Smoak.

*I say "new" because Felicity Smoak was a comic book character in the mid-80's, she was a manager at a software firm who had crossed paths with Firestorm a few times and eventually became his step-mother.

Seeing as I am not a "butthurt must follow canon to a tee" fan or a fanboy who complains every time canon is not adhered too at every second, the introductions of new characters like "John Diggle", and "Felicity Smoak" had my hopes up high. This new character, Felicity was quirky and nerdy much like Smallville's Chloe Sullivan, only to a much lesser degree. Felicity continued to show up as a periphery character until episode 14, "The Odyssey", the episode that saw Oliver seek Felicity out induct her into his crusade as he had with John Diggle a mere ten episodes earlier.

*Fast forward* The date was now May 15th, 2013 and Arrow's first season had wrapped, and the finale had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. By this time all of the characters motifs, feelings, and loyalties had been relatively fleshed out, and of those characters, Felicity had been established as someone who:

• Tracks things down
• Makes awkward sexual jokes
• Imbalances the ratio of males in the Quiver/Arrowcave
• Had a secret crush on Oliver

Looking back, she definitely served a purpose doing all four of those things, despite the fact that Oliver had been significantly dumbed down from the first few episodes of the show to make her seem a little more relevant (something I didn't mind then), her awkward ill-timed sexual quips balanced the show nicely as it's first season was extremely dark, her female balance in the Arrowcave was welcomed as she was the only female series regular who knew Oliver's secret, and her secret crush on Oliver was subtle enough not to be in fans faces every episode, but visible enough for fans to get a "will they, won't they" vibe much like the one generated exactly by Chloe in the first 2-3 seasons of Smallville.

"But Arrowverse, that all sounds so great!", if you're thinking that, you would be right...it certainly does sound "so great", Chloe Sullivan was an excellent and interesting new addition to the world of Clark Kent, and at the time I thought to myself "if they keep developing Felicity's character they certainly could have another Chloe on their hands", and that was a positive thought...Unfortunately Felicity hasn't developed at all as a character since she was first introduced, and that is where my issue with her stems from, although it does encompass other things as well, all of which will be touched on below.

Side Note: Unlike Laurel Lance, played by Katie Cassidy, or Thea Queen-Merlyn, played by Willa Holland, who were both accused of being “whining” characters as well, Felicity’s regression to a whiney character (whereas both Laurel and Thea grew out of that stage as to show that the present day was “their islands”) was unjustified as her character failed to develop at all. It proved what we, as fans had already known, she is and seemingly always will be subservient to Oliver, despite the fact that EP’s have claimed she “developed a voice and opposed Oliver”, each so called “opposition” was selfish in nature – asking Oliver to stay for HER, choosing Oliver over the city in the finale, etc. – On the other hand we have characters such as Laurel and Thea, whose emotional roller-coaster journey’s were based on actual loss –even if you didn’t like HOW they changed, their change still was justified by actions on the show. If you're interested in a defense of Laurel that actually is supported by the show, check "In Defense of Katie Cassidy's Laurel Lance". The point I'm trying to make is: Disliking a character because you don't understand or resonate with her development, and disliking a character because they haven't developed at all are two completely different things.

Below I am going to touch one what I dislike about the character, and why I dislike that part of the character :D

She hasn't changed, like at all...

As I mentioned above Season 1 of Arrow wrapped and I - as did many fans - viewed Felicity Smoak as somewhat of a Chloe Sullivan surrogate who had some of her own unique traits and was a relatively interesting reinvention of a preexisting character. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean that as an insult to either character, with so many comic book characters in existence everyone is bound to step on someone's toes once in awhile (Nova Corps & Green Lantern Corps, Deadpool & Deathstroke, Hawkeye & Green Arrow, Wasp & Bumblebee, etc...) As I was saying, by the end of the first season Felicity had established herself as a character who:

• Tracks things down
• Makes awkward sexual jokes
• Imbalances the ratio of males in the Quiver/Arrowcave
• Had a secret crush on Oliver

It is now that I will redact on my statement, her PURPOSE has changed, but her CHARACTER has NOT.

Now lets fast forward into Arrow's third season and see where every character has gone from, and where they are now:

1. Oliver Queen: Killer with a mission (S1), Misunderstood hero (S2), Actual hero/back to vigilante (S3)
2. John Diggle: Man of the law (S1), Oliver's brother on his mission (S2), Family man (S3)
3. Roy Harper: Street thug (S1), Emerging hero/misunderstood "villain" (S2), Actual hero (S3)
4. Thea Dearden Merlyn-Queen: Annoying schoolgirl (S1), Character with morals (S2), Misunderstood and tortured (S3)
5. [Dinah] Laurel Lance: Emotionally broken lawyer and upholder of the law (S1), Emotionally destroyed and tortured failure (S2), Emerging hero/actual hero (S3)

Now, those are very, very, very broad generalizations and yet...even when upholding to those broad guidelines, this is what a few of my colleagues and I came up with when we wanted to see how Felicity had changed:

1. Felicity Smoak: Awkward sidekick with crush on hero who hacks things (S1), Awkward sidekick with crush on hero who hacks things (S2), Awkward sidekick with crush on hero who hacks things (S3)

Even when they flashback to Oliver's time in Starling City (3 years into the flashbacks) they give her the same exact personality, and even though Oliver is dead...she STILL has a crush on him! She takes one look at his photo and says "you’re cute", and then continues to make an awkward sexual joke...to herself…

Granted, you could make the argument that it's because Felicity doesn't have enough air time...but if you have seen Seasons 2 or 3 you would know that you were lying to yourself seeing as her onscreen time has slowly grown to equal that of Oliver's if not exceed his own time; and even then...there are entire episodes that don't feature Laurel or her father, and yet they have been built just fine as the past three seasons have gone by. Also there is also the much easier option of giving her development between seasons... Each season is followed by a 6 month time jump until the next season begins in both the shows time and real time, in these jumps we have "seen" Thea get trained, Roy suit up, and countless other large changes to characters…

Jumping back to my list of character traits that "make" Felicity Smoak, I would like to comment on how they have changed, but solely because the environment around her, and not actually the character have changed:

1. Tracks things down: Something a lot of fans seem to gloss over in their hunt to point of reasons why Felicity is "so amazing", is the fact that Oliver Queen was clearly dumbed down a little so that when she was introduced she had a "place" on the team as the tech-gal. When I say "Oliver Queen was clearly dumbed" I don't mean from the comics, I mean from the first few episodes of the show... Clearly Oliver's didn't have the skills to hack into a bullet hole ridden computer that had been owned and secured by a paid assassin (Deadshot), but he DID have the expertise to create an arrow that wired money to various accounts in the first episode of the show, he also could track down high-profile businessmen and knew when to strike them, amongst other things. Again, granted to introducing her has shifted the tech-focus away from Oliver, but that could have easily been done without making Oliver a monkey around technology as he seems to be right now. There are scenes when he has to call Felicity over to the computer to track something down, when it's something Oliver was clearly adept in doing in the first few episodes with only one small computer and a couple of Home Depot lights in his hideout.
2. Makes awkward sexual jokes: Well this one is fairly obvious, and - this could just be me - it's getting a tad annoying that literally every single conversation with her is the exact same. There are other TV character's that possess this very same "awkward comment at the wrong time" trait, but they don't make those awkward jokes in EVERY single episode....although that may be because they are actual fully fledged characters and not just plot devices like Felicity.
3. Imbalances the ratio of males in The Quiver/Arrowcave: Another point thats should be relatively self-explanatory. When Felicity was first brought into the fold she was the only female character that knew Oliver's secret, and thus she was allowed to be in the cave. However, now that Laurel, Nyssa, Sara (who is set to return), etc. know who Oliver is, and frequent the Quiver (I'll call it that from now on), her spot as "male/female ratio balancer" is kind of null.
4. Had a secret crush on Oliver: This point gets its own special section down below :D

To close of this section I would like to make one final comment on her characterization, or more specifically how people -who like Felicity- see her characterization.... I find it EXTREMELY ironic that most fans of Felicity or "Olicity" call Felicity a "strong female character" when the entirety of what she does (and this is what largely separates her from Chloe Sullivan) is her - Felicity - being subservient to males. Whether it's her working for Ray, or sitting watching puppy-dog-eyed as Oliver does the salmon ladder, the bane of Felicity's existence is to be subservient to nearly all male characters on the show, and those random moments where she suddenly "stands up to Oliver" AKA tells him she doesn't love him because of what he does, and then helps Ray do the exact same thing, and then complains that Ray is doing the exact same thing moments suddenly make Felicity fan's call her a "strong female lead". Now I ask you...

• Laurel Lance, who debatably has suffered as much as Oliver, and certainly more than every other character, someone who actually deserves to be whiney (ala Season 2) is she not a "strong female character"?
• Nyssa Al Ghul, the lesbian assassin who defies her father Ra's, one of the most powerful men in the word, is she not a "strong female character"?
• Sara Lance, the one who "died", and then was somewhat brutally (it would seem based on her scars) trained by the League of Assassins, is she not a "strong female character"?

Certainly if we are comparing essentially any character, even Thea, who suffered emotional destruction in Season's 2, and 3, Felicity should be the LAST female character on the show classified as "strong" in either a literal or figurative sense.

As a sidenote to ALL of those who will say "But wait until Season 4", the issue is, given Felcity's amount of screen time...no one (and I do think I speak for many people) wants to wait until Season 4 to watch the person who EASILY gets the second (if not first) most screen time actually become more then a simple plot device.

"Lets Make Her Seem Relevant"

This issue has been plaguing the show since her introduction, as aforementioned her character as little to nothing to it (that does not mean literal character backstory, it means lack of characterization/things to actually do), but the issue has truly come to its peak in Arrow's third season in which the writing staff, in particular Marc Guggenheim (so it would seem for reasons that will be mentioned below) have decided the best way to keep Felicity "in the loop" is by giving her character things that are 150% out of character over the course of every episode. You would assume that by giving her out of character things to do in each episode that would actually make each of those actions IN character but funnily enough these out of character moments are never actually the same. Coupled with those out of character moments come out of left field story choices that are clearly written to keep Felicity relevant to the plot... Lets just go through some examples from the episodes that have aired most recently (as of me writing this):

Felicity Confronts Ra's Al Ghul - Now, if anyone recalls this situation it took place in episode 3x20, "The Fallen", in this scene we see a "furious" Felicity storm right into Ra's main hall and confront him because she is "mad" that it seems "unfair" that Oliver now has to become the next Ra's Al Ghul because he used the Lazarus Pit to save Thea. Now...is this a relatively normal reaction? ABSOLUTELY if the man (or woman) that you "loved" was risking his life (not dying) and you COULD argue it, the their partner probably WOULD argue it.....BUT up until this point Felicity was scared sh*tless of not only Ra's...but basically leaving the Quiver, and if she wasn't in the Quiver, she was in Ray Palmer's office...why the sudden change? Well I mention this exact point above, "lets give Felicity a completely out of character moment where she defies the subservience she has been written into and hasn't wavered from to make her seem relevant". Quite honestly I found myself laughing at the TV screen when this scene occurred, because not only is Emily Bett Rickards able to pull off the "awkward techy-sexual joking character" but she is so unable to pull off someone who is mad, that I chuckled as Ra's basically told her to "shut-up"... unfortunately this "shut-up" came after another "lets make her relevant moment" when Ra's told FELICITY, not Sara (who he despised despite her accomplishments), not Laurel (who took down a ton of his assassins 2 episodes later), nor Tatsu (who took down one of his right hand men), but FELICITY that she has a "great fire within her", essentially telling the fans she is this brave and strong character...which she clearly isn't.

Felicity and Oliver "Do The Deed" - Again, Felicity and Oliver have their own special section below, but I will tell you now (and then) that my issue with their relationship does NOT stem from them having a relationship in the first place, as I said I happily sat through Clark Kent's many female partners before he reached Lois on Smallville....but back to this scene. Following Felicity and Oliver "doing the deed" we see Felicity poison Oliver with a toxin that she herself tells everyone she has NO idea what it does, nor does she know HOW MUCH to use....essentially she is saying "I don't want Oliver to leave MY life, so I MAY be KILLING HIM...but maybe I'm not...I'm not sure". After an escape in which Malcolm and Diggle take down multiple assassins using the skills we have seen they have throughout the series while leading a KO'ed Oliver and a bumbling and confused Thea out of Nanda Parbat...we see Felicity knock out an assassin...with one lucky shot...before being hit once....righttttttttt.... If that isn't out of the blue enough, when Oliver comes too (wakes up) he actually thanks Felicity for what she did and that she tried to save him. Now to clarify what happened in this scene once again now that it has ended, Felicity took advantage of Oliver's feelings (basically convincing him that this was the last time he was going to see her, so sleeping with her was a must) despite the fact that it was her intention the ENTIRE time to NOT let him stay in Nanda Parbat, THEN she drugged him/could have killed him, THEN she was the only one doing nothing/not touched in the assassin fight, then Oliver thanked her....ok...back to the part where he thanked her...yes...its is one of two normal reaction to that situation...but seeing as something similar (and yet more structured) occurred last season - in which Diggle stopped Oliver from surrendering himself to Deathstroke- its funny how Oliver would react this way...almost...out of character in order to make someone else's actions seem more justified....

Felicity in Nanda Parbat - The particular time I am refer to came in the penultimate episode of this season, in which Felicity decided unbeknownst to anyone to join Malcolm, Tatsu, Laurel, Malcolm, and Diggle in Nanda Parbat. Now once the scene is complete viewers are indeed given a reason for her appearance in Nanda...but why was she there in the first place? She did NOT know (according the show) about the plane that was going to be taken down by The Atom...nor would she have known to actually call The Atom.... if she was so needed in Nanda Parbat...why not tell the fans that? From what WE saw PRIOR to her arrival...Malcolm gave her no real reason to go, before actually seeing the plane there was nothing tech-based for Felicity too do... so what was the plan? Have Felicity stand amongst the assassins hoping to knock one of them out with her tab- ... oh wait... they also decided to give her "perfect accidental accuracy"... again you may think I'm nitpicking but given the hilariously incorrect stabs taken at Laurel I think anything said in this piece is fair game... so Felicity's tablet is destroyed and she takes it and with PERFECT accuracy ACCIDENTALLY throws it at an assassin ... had she thrown in terribly and the assassin had fallen... that would have been a different story that conveyed who she was as a character...she is NOT accurate or strategic in that sense... but instead I have seen comments like "Time for Felicity to suit up" after seeing that scene. Also its so ironic how they ALL acknowledge her (even the League) as the one Oliver loves...and yet when they are fighting Oliver's friends...none of the assassins actually attack her...Laurel, Diggle, Malcolm, Tatsu each mowed down their fair share of assassins...Felicity barely came face to face with one, convenient moment after convenient moment for Felicity...

PROJECT Save Oliver - Episode 19 of Season 3, the heartbreaker, "Broken Arrow", we see Roy Harper "die" after getting himself arrested as The Arrow so he can clearly Oliver's name. I'll give you a breakdown of the plan as I interpreted it by stating everyones roles:

• Roy - Seemingly came up with the plan, risks his own life, destroys his actual life as Roy Harper
• Diggle - Calls in a favor to the organization they have a rocky relationship with, arranges for a man to "kill" Roy
• Felicity - Gives Roy a burner phone and keeps her mouth shut about the plan

I just find the entirety of this sequence of a events difficult to fathom, Roy's fake death, and then his choice to leave Starling City. Had the people who had known solely been people who played crucial roles in the plan, I would have understood...but yet again Felicity did nothing...because there was nothing "techy" too do...and yet she was kept in this inner circle of people that EXCLUDED the two other female characters whom we have ACTUALLY seen bond with Roy:

• Laurel - Oliver's "death" earlier in this season gave us a series of 3 episodes that essentially solely built a dynamic between Arsenal and Black Canary
• Thea - The girl that Roy is in love with...the one he spends over half of his screen time with didn't even know he was alive until a month after he "died"

As I said I can't fathom the logic of Felicity's inclusion in the plan but not Laurel and Thea's ... they attempt to justify Thea not knowing in 3x22 when Roy says she would have told Oliver...but when have we seen evidence of that? She kept an enormous secret from him at the beginning of the season....that she was with Malcolm for 6 months training in Corto Maltese, and both she and Laurel have proven to be more adept at keeping their mouth's shut when it comes to secret's then Felicity....

In all honestly I could go on, and if you so chose to challenge these points I will add more if need be jumping all throughout the series rather then just giving examples that are fresh in everyones heads such as: Felicity taking a bullet for Sara and that establishing her as "strong", Her sudden one episode spurt of training to then support that idea, or that Oliver broke his no kill rule (while he was in love with someone else...) for Felicity AND she wanted him to break it again, or the fact that more then a few times she gives the spark notes version of the same advice Diggle gives to Oliver...but Oliver never accepts it until she says it and denies whatever it is when Diggle says it, or that they portray Ray has dumber then Felicity at points...when she doesn't even build Oliver's arrows...he outsources them...if she was truly that smart in the canon of this universe...not only would they never need Cisco's help...but they wouldn't need to outsource arrows (seen in Season 2.5).

Olicity: aka That Thing That is Destroying Arrow for Most Viewers

Now before any Olicity shippers go nuts on me I will say this once again... I do NOT have a problem with the concept of Olicity... Chloe and Clark were together for like 5 episodes of Smallville, Clark and Lana were a couple, etc... before Clark got to his destined true love, Lois Lane. My issue with Olicity lies within three main "reservoirs" so to speak that then irrigate themselves into other aspects of the show:

• Its pure fan-service
• Emily Bett Rickards and Stephen Amell have no chemistry in comparison to Amell and every other female on the show (yes...even the Huntress)
• We've seen it before *cough* Smallville *cough*

Also just to make this clear as well, I think we all known (or should wake up to the fact) that is Arrow lasts more then four seasons...fingers crossed...Laurel and Oliver, Black Canary and Green Arrow, Pretty Bird and Ollie-Q ... will be a "thing"

Now I'll begin this section with a quote from a piece titled "Why Olicity is Killing Arrow" written by Shazam37 of comic book movie, you can see his piece here, his piece was written following 3x20, "The Fallen", and I couldn't agree more with the points he hits (see bold font):

The show's most recent installment, “The Fallen”, was initially sold on Thea’s resurrection using the Lazarus Pit – it was to be the first time the audience saw just what the mysterious and magical waters could do, but unfortunately we only spent about 5 minutes on that because we needed to see Oliver and Felicity finally happen.

It started with a ridiculous scene where Felicity actually confronts Ra’s al Ghul and demands he allow Oliver to leave. Matt Nable then delivers a beautiful dialogue harking back to his own past lives and telling her that she needs to let Oliver know how she feels, a luxury that he did not have many years ago when he was forced to leave his family. She took this as, go have sex with Oliver so all the fangirls can tweet about how they “literally can’t even, rn”.

Now let's just take his opening paragraph(s) into account, is he wrong? Here is a link to the promos for 3x20 "The Fallen", I don't know about everyone else but...despite the fact that clearly Felicity and Oliver do the deed, I was almost certain the episode would revolve around Thea's resurrection...not include 5 seconds of Thea and 30 minutes of Felicity.... He then touches briefly on a point I made above about Felicity's choice to confront Ra's. "Shazam37" then goes onto say the following:

“Olicity” is the epitome of a forced relationship. Apparently Marc Guggeneheim likes to please his Twitter and Tumblr followers because he completely shoehorned this entire romance into the story. In fact, Felicity’s character actually has far better chemistry with two other characters in the universe, Barry Allen and Ray Palmer, but her relationships with them were only used to create angst between her and Oliver. (And love rhombus’)

Now let's touch more on this quote. For those who don't know, fans of this shipped couple "Olicity" - granted not all fans, but most - troll executive producer Marc Guggenheim's tumblr and twitter feeds begging for more Olicity this, and Olicity that. Unfortunately for us Mr. Guggenheim - however great - also suffers from being prone to "peer pressure" which leads to this abomination known as "Olicity" . Clearly fan pressures don't have to influence the writers of the show, but in this day and age social media DOES matter, and if you were to take on look at Marc's tumblr or twitter pages you would know what I mean, the small hordes of Olicity fans that pressure him day in and day out make it seem like the relationship is actually favorable.

Ironically someone recently asked him (on his tumblr): "Seriously if this Olicity filled season ends with them driving into a sunset you are going to lose a lot of fans from reddit/facebook etc who don't suck up to you on twitter and tumblr." to which he replied "Without spoiling how the season ends and I can tell you without equivocation that we don’t make story choices based upon who ships or doesn’t ship a particular couple. And we certainly don’t do it based upon who sucks up to us or doesn’t suck up to us." ... Ironically the season did end...with them literally driving off into the sunset...

Seeing as I follow all of his social media as to catch tidbits he may drop about future episodes I can say with 100% honestly and sincerity that his answer is complete and utter bulls*t, the fact of the matter is if you take 10 seconds to scroll through his tumblr feed you will see he answers 90% Olicity based questions and about 10% actual questions. On top of that, he actually took the time (and money, and everyone else's time) to shoot a secondary Lazarus Pit video - sounds cool right!??!?! - it certainly does sound cool until you realize what it being resurrected by the Pit on the production teams dime and time.... Mr. Guggenheim saw it fit to resurrected something the Olicity fans refer to as "The Fern", which typical fans may see as just ... a fern... that was broken in 3x20, and given to Oliver by Felicity to brighten up the Quiver back in Season 2. If you don't believe me you can waste 30 seconds of your time watching that here. I realize "Oh, 30 seconds, big deal"... well I would have appreciated 30 more seconds of Oliver, Diggle, Roy, Thea, or Laurel screen time over some Youtube video of a fan-shipped fern being taken out of the Lazarus Pit.

Now onto "Shazam37's" point about what he dubbed as the "love rhombus", I personally see it as two separate love triangles seeing as each "affair" occurred at a different time, and I again find it funny how peoples viewpoints lie in scenario's such as this one. I watch a LOT of TV...trust me I'll include my list at the end of this piece... and love triangles are fine... heck even if you don't like Iris (more complaints that I have yet to see actual grounding for) the love triangle on The Flash is worked perfectly into the story, Eddie - Iris - Barry, the plot never seems to have to deviate to include their story, if you don't get what I'm saying I was kind enough to include a little info graph below comparing Olicity to The Flash's love triangle.

Just to once again clarify what is being portrayed above, I am implying and again I think many will agree that even if you don't like the love triangle on the Flash, it is never awkwardly written to feel random or outside of the storyline...on the other hand on Arrow (and this maybe due to the lack of chemistry...or because this relationship is SO forced) Olicity moments feel not only separate from the storyline and don't flow with what is going on...but feel disconnected from each other at many points.

I again concur with "Shazam37's" point about her having chemistry with Ray and Barry... although I would much rather Barry be with Iris as is destined, her ending up with Ray actually made sense, Caitlin's quote from The Flash 1x18 "All Star Team-Up", "Oh god there is two of them [although one is a much better actor]" summed it all up quite nicely, the chemistry between Routh and Rickards is very strong, and the fact that the relationship that seemed to be going SO well between Ray and Felicity dissolved because Felicity held Oliver's hand because Oliver's partner had to basically leave his life behind so Oliver could remain free is hilarious... they are good friends...she was comforting him...the fact that that is what broke them up just leaves the stench of lingering Olicity.

Plus Ray's typical love interest Jean Loring was used and ditched last season

Shazam continues his piece by saying the following:

The way her character has been written this season is appalling. More screen time has seen her become arrogant, hypocritical, whiny, and act as if her opinion holds more weight than anyone else on the team, including Oliver’s. If she doesn’t get her way, she just throws a little temper tantrum until everyone agrees with her.

She was loved so much in season one because of her cute, quirky personality and her crush on Oliver that was completely one-sided. She would blurt out awkward innuendoes that would cut the tension and help lighten up a very dark show. She acted as Team Arrow’s Oracle and was given minimal screen time to instead allow for the development of actual plot.

Now before Laurel comparisons begin i would again like to note the large difference between a character being written to develop as annoying...and a character who has not changed and has BECOME annoying because of that. Once again I can't help but whole-heartedly agree with what is being said, numerous times since 1/2 through Season 2 we have seen Felicity develop random spurts of "my opinion - despite its giant gaping flaws - is better then yours" . And again it is true she has become whiney because she has yet to change and his unjustified comparatively in her whining*, not only does her whining stem from her lack of character development, but it almost ALL stems from "Olicity", the writers have actually had the gaul to begin allowing her to refer to Oliver as "my Oliver" as if she possesses him like an object, and that no one else can lay claim to Oliver as long as he is hers.

*By unjustified comparatively in her whining, take a look at my Defense of Laurel where I chronologically list everything that has literally been destroyed in her life v. Oliver wanting to save his sisters LIFE over being with Felicity*

"Shazam37" then goes on to make a clarifying point begging the honest question of "why"... what does she do... what purpose does she actually serve... and guys who says she is the "tech-side"... we should clarify everything she does for Team Arrow (not the stuff she can suddenly do for Ray) is all for sake of ease, having the ability to leave someone in the Quiver just in case... all she really does is track people down... which we have seen Oliver do...Laurel do....everyone do…

Unfortunately she has lost her light. She has become convoluted and morally ambiguous (i.e. She doesn’t want Oliver to work with Malcolm, but she tells him that he needs to kill Ra’s…) At this point we are basically being given a romantic drama with some crime fighting and superheroes mixed in. Felicity has taken over the entire show, and, no surprise, the show is experiencing it’s worst season thus far. I don’t care about ratings, as far as actual plot, character development, pacing, and story telling go, this season is far worse than the previous two.

So what is the point of her character now? She doesn’t bring any light to the show, she’s not morally strong, and, outside of the Olicity shippers, she is becoming increasingly unpopular. All she brings to the table now is teenage drama and a forced romance that will drive away many viewers if it continues to be showcased during every episode.

Once again I must wholeheartedly agree, although I certainly LOVE the concept of the story being done this season, the pacing is pretty terrible and the writers even acknowledge that much themselves with them saying things like "I wish we had more time for Oliver as Al Sah-Him" ... ironically ... they can't identify the problem that seems so obvious to many fans, but maybe thats just Marc Guggenheim.... back to 3x20 "Shazam37" speaks to the fact that characters who have actually developed A LOT this season are being given minimal screen time for no reason other then to boost Felicity and Olicity.

On the flip side, her increased screen time has basically pushed Laurel/Black Canary to a supporting role. In last night’s episode she wasn’t even alerted that Thea, a friend that she’s known probably for most of her life, was killed and resurrected or that Oliver was planning on leaving for the League of Assassins. It’s ironic, because Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr fans alike all voiced their displeasure with Laurel last year due to her very realistic meltdown. This season has seen her character redeem herself in a very big way, but the Olicity fans have spoken, so we only saw Laurel for about 12 seconds last night when Felicity came crying to her about Oliver.

It’s obvious that the Arrow writer’s are catering to the Olicity shippers, and I don’t blame the shippers, they enjoy that pairing and that’s absolutely their right to do so and tweet about it all they want. I blame the writers who were so easily influenced by the more vocal group of fans and, by doing so, allowed the quality of the show to suffer.

And that is essentially where he closes, again I can't agree more, I too don't blame shippers because I do see the purpose of having a proxy at some points, I personally disliked Sara...but I saw her as a much needed proxy to allow Laurel to develop into he character she is now, much like Nyssa (who has grown on me) served a as a form of proxy -or rather teaser- prior to us seeing Ra's Al Ghul.

To summarize all that is said above, personally I don't mind the concept of Olicity the proxy (and yes, you have to recognize it will probably be just that...a proxy), but the way it was written into the show destroys any future prospect of fans who don't like it changing their minds because in all honestly it has ruined almost an entire season of the show, the show still stands as amazing in my book, but I can't help but cringe when Oliver and Felicity are given un-needed and bland shared screen time, or when Felicity is booted into every other scene for no apparent reason other then to give us Felicity. Even if we cut storyline out of the equation and only focused on the "drama" aspect of the show, relationships that carried a lot of chemistry were either tossed aside or used as ploys to further Olicity, I mean... Thea and Roy?!? Again I can honestly say Willa Holland and Colton Haynes have spectacular chemistry and besides a few awkward encounters and a few "steamy scenes" their relationship that has been built since the first season dissipated, and Olicity which really just popped out of nowhere took over. Now that I have said Olicity came out of nowhere I must beg the honest question of when did Oliver actually fall in love with Felicity?... Because Season 2.5 gives no indication of any sort of feelings other then hers towards his -which is ironic because Olicity shipper extraordinaire Marc Guggenheim is writing Season 2.5 - and then in the first episode of the third season he (Oliver) seems to imply he has had feeling for her for a long-ish time.... if he had feelings for her...why did he let her risk her life ... there is about a 90% chance of her having been killed by Deathstroke ... and why did he renounce his love for Laurel midway through Season 2... and then get back together with Sara and tell her he loved her???? Honestly I'm just a tad bit confused....

To my final point, yes we are almost done, of "we have seen it before" ... it's because we have... for those who don't watch or didn't watch Smallville *Spoiler* Chloe and Oliver end up getting married...and who is Chloe? Essentially Chloe, who also overstayed her welcome on Smallville, is essentially a better version of Felicity. Unlike Felicity Chloe resided in the area with "characters" rather then the area Felicity resides in with the, "plot devices".

Surprisingly Chloe actually served a very similar purpose as Felicity did in term of the main character of the show, Chloe had a crush on Clark whereas Felicity is slightly obsessed with Oliver...the difference is Chloe and Clark were explored, but never took over the entirety of the shows plot, and soon burned out... Olicity seems to be becoming more important then Season 3's actual plot…

Surprisingly unlike many I don't say "lets just kill Felicity" , although that is certainly an option - an option I wouldn't mind... - I think her skill set could be utilized elsewhere eventually whether that be on The Flash when Caitlin goes Killer Frost[y] and Cisco gets a good Vibe going... or on Legends of Tomorrow when they need a tech geek... heck I wouldn't even mind if she worked for ARGUS, or if they pulled a Chloe Sullivan and just friendzoned her and gave her someone more her type later on. Unfortunately given the shows writing I don't foresee how any of this is possible because as of now Oliver does something Felicity doesn't like, she complains to EVERYONE, and then returns to her subservience and loves/attempts to possess Oliver Queen.

Post Season 3 Updated - And the finale proved to be more Olicity fan service than ever, whether it be Felicity doing yet another 180 and going from hating Oliver to instantly following him around again to the scene that makes little-to-no sense in which we see Felicity (by herself, Ray could NOT have been assisting according to the plot of the episode) fly to the dam and save Oliver just as he is about to fall to an untimely death...but possibly the worst examples of Olicity superseding the plot are Oliver aimlessly leaving Starling in order to “find happiness” and ditching everyone he has ever cared about to leave with Felicity and the fact that Felicity attempts to justify Ray stop working on the cure (FOR THE WHOLE CITY) “because Oliver” to which he responds “what’s one man vs. the city” and she says “but Oliver”. Are you kidding me? “but Oliver”? How selfish can one character - who literally does nothing - get? Oliver was about to sacrifice his life for the sake of the city 20 minutes before this scene happens and she knew that...so it isn’t something he would have minded at all...

And a very, very final point to a select few Olicity fans out there... I watch a LOT of shows...a ton in fact, and I try to become a part of the fandom of all of them, seeing how everyone interacts gives you a great new perspective on things...and I must say some of the things you (super-mega) Olicity fans do disgusts...DISGUSTS...me. Numerous times I have seen threats to Katie Cassidy - who plays Laurel Lance - simply because Laurel her FICTIONAL counterpart threatens Olicity.... a TON of Olicity fans are threatening a REAL person, and insulting a REAL person because her fictional persona threatens the life of a fictional shipping of fictional characters. Not only that, more recently a reporter was brave enough to MENTION that some fans believe Felicity is "ruining the show", and while she did say that the reporter also took note and mentioned there are still a ton of Olicity fans, unfortunately the Olicity fans couldn't take anything remotely negative even being mentioned to Emily Bett Rickards, who plays Smoak, and soon bullied the reporter and the news outlet into deleting the video, and forcing her to delete her twitter....disgusting.