History YMMV / Arrow

* JerkassHasAPoint: As much of a bitch as she was during Season 1, Thea was absolutely correct about Oliver avoiding making connections with his family and friends, something that Oliver himself acknowledges.

** Felicity Smoak was originally the show's BreakoutCharacter, with fans loving her for being an {{Adorkable}} GenkiGirl who served as TheHeart of Team Arrow, with many even [[FanPreferredCouple shipping her and Oliver]] over the source material's pairing of Oliver and Laurel. When Season 3 actually [[PromotedToLoveInterest made this canon]] however, many fans started to think that Felicity had become a CreatorsPet, with [[SpotlightStealingSquad too much focus]] being put on her at the expense of other characters, her romance with Oliver being seen as a RomanticPlotTumor, and her actions occasionally coming across as [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic self-centered and hypocritical]]. By Season 4, these traits had become so exaggerated that Felicity ended becoming the biggest BaseBreakingCharacter in the entire series. However, it wasn't until her actions in Series/CrisisOnEarthX resulting in the [[NeverLiveItDown infamous "double wedding"]] that finally killed off whatever remaining popularity she had and resulted in her being the most hated of the ''entire'' Arrowverse at the time, with her character now being seen as perhaps the biggest example of what happens when an originally popular character gets way too much exposure. However, a few years after the show has ended, there's been some fans who have considered the hatred towards her to be overblown, helped by the fact that the writers had taken strides to [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap redeem the character]] in the last few seasons, along with giving her a rather [[AlasPoorScrappy somber send-off]]. As a result, she's moved back to being a BaseBreakingCharacter, albeit one that plenty of fans will admit could have been handled way better.

** Felicity Smoak was originally the show's BreakoutCharacter, with fans loving her for being an {{Adorkable}} GenkiGirl who served as TheHeart of Team Arrow, with many even [[FanPreferredCouple shipping her and Oliver]] over the source material's pairing of Oliver and Laurel. When Season 3 actually [[PromotedToLoveInterest made this canon]] however, many fans started to think that Felicity had become a CreatorsPet, with [[SpotlightStealingSquad too much focus]] being put on her at the expense of other characters, her romance with Oliver being seen as a RomanticPlotTumor, and her actions occasionally coming across as [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic self-centered and hypocritical]]. By Season 4, these traits had become so exaggerated that Felicity ended becoming the biggest BaseBreakingCharacter in the entire series. However, it wasn't until her actions in Series/CrisisOnEarthX resulting in the [[NeverLiveItDown infamous "double wedding"]] that finally killed off whatever remaining popularity she had and resulted in her being the most controversial of the ''entire'' Arrowverse, with her character now being seen as perhaps the biggest example of what happens when an originally popular character gets way too much exposure. However, a few years after the show has ended, there's been some fans who have considered the hatred towards her to be overblown, helped by the fact that the writers had taken strides to [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap redeem the character]] in the last few seasons, along with giving her a rather [[AlasPoorScrappy somber send-off]]. As a result, she's moved back to being a BaseBreakingCharacter, albeit one that plenty of fans will admit could have been handled way better.

** Felicity Smoak was originally the show's BreakoutCharacter, with fans loving her for being an {{Adorkable}} GenkiGirl who served as TheHeart of Team Arrow, with many even [[FanPreferredCouple shipping her and Oliver]] over the source material's pairing of Oliver and Laurel. When Season 3 actually [[PromotedToLoveInterest made this canon]] however, many fans started to think that Felicity had become a CreatorsPet, with [[SpotlightStealingSquad too much focus]] being put on her at the expense of other characters, her romance with Oliver being seen as a RomanticPlotTumor, and her actions occasionally coming across as [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic self-centered and hypocritical]]. By Season 4, these traits had become so exaggerated that Felicity ended becoming the biggest BaseBreakingCharacter in the entire series. However, it wasn't until her actions in Series/CrisisOnEarthX resulting in the [[NeverLiveItDown infamous "double wedding"]] that finally killed off whatever remaining popularity she had and resulted in her being TheScrappy of the ''entire'' Arrowverse, with her character now being seen as perhaps the biggest example of what happens when an originally popular character gets way too much exposure. However, a few years after the show has ended, there's been some fans who have considered the hatred towards her to be overblown, helped by the fact that the writers had taken strides to [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap redeem the character]] in the last few seasons, along with giving her a rather [[AlasPoorScrappy somber send-off]]. As a result, she's moved back to being a BaseBreakingCharacter, albeit one that plenty of fans will admit could have been handled way better.

** Helena Bertinelli/Huntress was not very popular when she first debuted, being seen by many as a blatant Catwoman {{Expy}}. However, as the series entered some SeasonalRot later on, not helped by the addition of several [[BaseBreakingCharacter divisive characters]], she became one of the most missed characters on the show, along with the likes of Walter Steele, Roy Harper, Slade Wilson, and Thea Queen [[spoiler: (Tommy Merlyn, Moira Queen, and Laurel Lance, too, if you count dead characters).]]

** Felicity Smoak was originally meant to appear in one episode but ended up becoming such an EnsembleDarkhorse to the point where she was [[BreakoutCharacter promoted to the main cast]], with fans loving her for being an {{Adorkable}} GenkiGirl who served as TheHeart of Team Arrow. It got to the point where plenty of fans [[FanPreferredCouple shipped her and Oliver]] over the source material's pairing of Oliver and Laurel. When Season 3 actually [[PromotedToLoveInterest made this canon]] however, many fans started to think that Felicity had become a CreatorsPet, with [[SpotlightStealingSquad too much focus]] being put on her at the expense of other characters, her romance with Oliver being seen as a RomanticPlotTumor, and her actions occasionally coming across as [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic self-centered and hypocritical]]. By Season 4, these traits had become so exaggerated that Felicity ended becoming the biggest BaseBreakingCharacter in the entire series. However, it wasn't until her actions in Series/CrisisOnEarthX resulting in the [[NeverLiveItDown infamous "double wedding"]] that finally killed off whatever remaining popularity she had and resulted in her being TheScrappy of the ''entire'' Arrowverse, with her character now being seen as perhaps the biggest example of what happens when an originally popular character gets way too much exposure. However, a few years after the show has ended, there's been some fans who have considered the hatred towards her to be overblown, helped by the fact that the writers had taken strides to [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap redeem the character]] in the last few seasons, along with giving her a rather [[AlasPoorScrappy somber send-off]]. As a result, she's moved back to being a BaseBreakingCharacter, albeit one that plenty of fans will admit could have been handled way better.

** Felicity Smoak was originally meant to appear in one episode but ended up becoming such an EnsembleDarkhorse to the point where she was [[BreakoutCharacter promoted to the main cast]], with fans loving her for being an {{Adorkable}} GenkiGirl who serves as TheHeart of Team Arrow. It got to the point where plenty of fans [[FanPreferredCouple shipped her and Oliver]] over the source material's pairing of Oliver and Laurel. When Season 3 actually [[PromotedToLoveInterest made this canon]] however, many fans started to think that Felicity had become a CreatorsPet, with [[SpotlightStealingSquad too much focus]] being put on her at the expense of other characters, her romance with Oliver being seen as a RomanticPlotTumor, and her actions occasionally coming across as [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic self-centered and hypocritical]]. By Season 4 these traits had become so exaggerated that Felicity ended becoming the biggest BaseBreakingCharacter in the entire series, leaning towards [[TheScrappy Scrappy-dom]]. However, it wasn't until her actions in Series/CrisisOnEarthX resulting in the [[NeverLiveItDown infamous "double wedding"]] that finally killed off whatever remaining popularity she had and resulted in her being TheScrappy of the ''entire'' Arrowverse, with her character being seen as perhaps the biggest example of what happens when an originally popular character gets way too much exposure. However, a few years after the show has ended, there's been some fans who have considered the hatred towards her to be overblown, helped by the fact that the writers had taken strides to try to [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap redeem the character]] in the last few seasons, along with giving her a rather [[AlasPoorScrappy somber send-off]]. As a result, she's moved back to being a BaseBreakingCharacter, albeit one that plenty of fans will admit could have been handled way better.

** [[spoiler: Diggle's new costume in season 4 became pretty divisive rather quickly, in large part because it looks like ComicBook/{{Magneto}}.]] Which veers straight into HilariousInHindsight (if not TeasingCreator) when he uses some kind of magnetic device to deflect an enemy's DropTheHammer attempt. The crew took notice and a redesign was teased in a ''Flash'' crossover episode halfway through the season. Notably, Cisco doesn't even have to ask what should be changed, like he already knew he didn't do his best with it.

* WTHCastingAgency:
** Matt Nable as ComicBook/RasAlGhul. Not necessarily directed at the actor himself, but the fact that they're casting a white guy to play Ra's Al-Ghul. [[Film/BatmanBegins Again.]] Of course, when he appears for the first time on the show, and instead of the traditional Ra's Al-Ghul look or even Creator/LiamNeeson's look, he's some scruffy white guy with an awkward accent, the criticism becomes more understandable. [[spoiler:Then he goes and proves himself a vilain who easily defeats Oliver yet shows no malice toward him, which may well lessen the skepticism.]]
** There was a similar reaction to the casting of Creator/CynthiaAddaiRobinson as ComicBook/AmandaWaller. Again, not at the actress herself, who does a fine job playing her, but rather, casting a slimly built woman in her twenties, rather than one with the Wall's traditional build and age. While this is largely due to Waller on the show being modelled after her New 52 counterpart, who ''is'' younger and thinner, her New 52 counterpart's design was controversial when it came in, so modeling her after it raises some questions.
** The casting of Creator/BexTaylorKlaus as Sin and Vinnie Jones as Brick has been criticized as whitewashing, given the Sin and Brick of the comics are respectively Asian and African-American, and Taylor-Klaus and Jones are white. The news that Madison [=McLaughlin=]'s character, Evelyn Sharp, would become Artemis in Season 5 also caused this, as many figured this was based on the ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' Artemis, who was half-Asian, and was called out as another case of whitewashing, though others are defending the choice, pointing out that the ''YJ'' character was a case of RaceLift herself and both Evelyn Crawford (Sharp's comic counterpart) and the comics' Artemis Crock are white.

** Season 5 gives us Tina Boland. [[spoiler:She is set to become Laurel's successor as the Black Canary and was immediately introduced after the appearance of Black Siren, the [[EnsembleDarkhorse fan-favorite]] to take the mantle, and was given tons of CharacterShilling by other characters at the expense of continuity (she is revealed to be Dinah Drake, who is already introduced as Laurel and Sara's mother). The writers also prop her in social media a lot and would defend her against detractors by going out of their way to build her up there. The Season 5 finale even had Earth-1 Laurel's father saving Dinah from Black Siren and props her as Black Canary. Season 6 then had Vigilante's SecretIdentity compromised to a lackluster degree just to prop her even more.]] It really does not help that her presence blocks at least two [[EnsembleDarkhorse infinitely more popular]] characters from joining the team ([[CreepyAwesome Ragman]] and [[spoiler: [[EvilIsCool Black]] [[EvilIsSexy Siren]]]], the former of whom was PutOnABus so Dinah could take his spot on the team) and was responsible for a third ([[spoiler: Vigilante]]) being killed off in a SenselessSacrifice just to provide Dinah with additional angst. Then when [[spoiler:she, Curtis, and Rene split from the main Team Arrow, she is made leader over the latter two despite Curtis having the most seniority of them and even Rene who is a former Private ''Officer'' in the U.S. Marines.]]

* EvilIsSexy:
** Malcolm Merlyn, for his [[SharpDressedMan sharp]] [[BadassInANiceSuit attire]] and being played by Creator/JohnBarrowman.
** Thanks to being played by Creator/ManuBennett, Slade Wilson is this for some. Helps that he has a BaritoneOfStrength and [[TragicVillain tragic backstory]].
** Despite having a [[EvilIsPetty petty reason for her villainy]], [[spoiler: Isabel Rochev is still played by the gorgeous Creator/SummerGlau.]]
** Ra's al Ghul gets some of this thanks to his ShirtlessScene when fighting Oliver in "The Climb".
** [[spoiler:Beneath his mask, Prometheus is played by the TallDarkAndHandsome Creator/JoshSegarra.]]
** Black Siren, an especially good example, since she's played by the same actress as Earth-1 Laurel, but she's much, ''much'' sexier.

** There are some pockets of Laurel fans who feel this way about Sara. Despite the hell she went through, many of them feel Sara brought it on herself by going on a sex-filled getaway with her sister's boyfriend even though she knew Laurel wanted something serious with Oliver, and accuse her of ignoring the way her actions affected Laurel.

* WhyWouldAnyoneTakeHimBack: After Felicity's increasingly hypocritical behavior during Seasons Three and Four, her rants about not wanting to marry him in ''Crisis on Earth-X'', and then selfishly interrupting Barry and Iris' wedding vows at the end of said crossover to tack on her own wedding to Oliver, after Barry and Iris' original dream wedding had already been ruined by ''invading Nazis from another earth'', just about everyone except the most diehard Olicity shippers wondered how Oliver could stay with her after all that, let alone marry her. It seems even the writers predicted how the audience would react to this -- the following episode of ''Arrow'', "Irreconcilable Differences", forcibly shilled how "in love" Oliver and Felicity were, as if they were trying to convince the fans of that fact. If anything, it just reminded the fans of how toxic their relationship had become, making the shilling extremely disingenuous as a result. This is one of the mains reasons why Olicity continued to suffer AbandonShipping despite all the writers' attempts to redeem the pairing; many people felt it made no sense for Oliver to stay with Felicity after all her selfish behavior.

** Donna Smoak, Felicity's mother. Outside of her daughter's fanbase, who love her for the dynamic she has with Felicity, most of the fandom at large quickly grew to despise her when she became a more reoccurring character, especially when she developed a relationship with Quinten that personified a lot of the same TheUnfairSex problems Felicity has with Oliver.

** The Hoffmans or Oliver and Felicity's friends from Ivy Town. They serve no purpose other than shilling Olicity, and do so in the most blatant, sappy, and corny manner with their discussion of marriage and kids. The fact that they of all characters returned in season 6 (for the Olicity wedding of course) makes this even more obvious and cements their status as nothing but plot devices.

** While most Olicity and Lauriver fans tend to at least like Sara, there are some who just hate her, complain about her getting too much attention and screentime to the point it was taken away from others, or accuse her of being put on a pedestal (dubbing her "Saint Sara"), accuse her of never adequately apologizing for the harm she caused her family while ignoring her self-loathing, and basically trash her for things the other two are far more guilty of doing than she is.

* WhyWouldAnyoneTakeHimBack: After Felicity's increasingly hypocritical behavior during Seasons Three and Four, her rants about not wanting to marry him in ''Crisis on Earth-X'', and then selfishly interrupting Barry and Iris' wedding vows at the end of said crossover to tack on her own wedding to Oliver, after Barry and Iris' original dream wedding had already been ruined by ''invading Nazis from another earth'', just about everyone except the most diehard Olicity shippers wondered how Oliver could stay with her after all that, let alone marry her. It seems even the writers predicted how the audience would react to this -- the following episode of ''Arrow'', "Irreconcilable Differences", forcibly shilled how "in love" Oliver and Felicity were, as if they were trying to convince the fans of that fact. If anything, it just reminded the fans of how toxic their relationship had become, making the shilling extremely disingenuous as a result.

** Despite Oliver/Felicity's initial popularity, many of its detractors point out it suffers a degree of this. While the two had a lot of flirtatious chemistry in the beginning, there was not a lot of evidence to suggest the idea of a serious romance or that Oliver actually was in love with Felicity like he claimed to have been at the end of Season Two; Oliver spent the majority of the first two seasons either pining after Laurel or dating Sara (or both), which made his LoveConfession to Felicity come out of the left field for a lot of fans. The treatment of the pairing in the later seasons only worsened the problem, as their relationship was partially built up through a number of {{retcon}}s that downplayed or ignored parts of Oliver's romances with Laurel and Sara rather than build off the character's existing chemistry, making the relationship come off as shoehorned and forced, on top of becoming toxic due to [[RomanticPlotTumor the forced drama]] the writers injected into the pairing to [[TrueLoveIsBoring make it more interesting]]. In addition, the writing accidentally highlighted how little Oliver and Felicity actually had in common; take, for example, Felicity recommending Oliver let Thea die rather than become Ra's al Ghul's heir, so they would be able to continue their burgeoning relationship, which was out of alignment with Oliver's consistent portrayal of putting his family, particularly Thea, first. By the time the two got married in Season Six, many fans honestly failed to understand how they were even still together, as the show did a poor job of building up their relationship to a point where a lifelong commitment made sense.