#arrow positivity

When I read the tags and see there’s anti Laurel stuff going down:

Me when I see awesome, positive Laurel posts:

When I read the tags and see there’s anti Felicity and Dinah stuff:

Me when I see awesome, positive Dinah posts:

When I read the tags and there’s anti Laurel stuff:

"There are other ways to do good in the world and to fulfill her own personal mission, and going forward, especially in coming seasons, that is something she very much wants to do, and we really want to explore for her. We talk in the writers room a lot about giving Felicity something that is not on the team and has nothing to do with Oliver and is very much her own thing, and that’s something I think we really look forward to in season six." - Wendy Mericle

"We have a storyline for Felicity in Season 6 that we wanted to do in Season 5 and that fans have been clamoring for." - Marc Guggenheim

Will Emily be returning as a main next season? Yes. - Marc Guggenheim

"I can confirm." - Marc Guggenheim

Rene Ramirez

Mayor Queen

Rory Regan

Evelyn Sharp

Dinah Drake

Black Siren

Prometheus the psychotic wonderful madman with his freaky awesome plots

the 100th episode 

Oliver as undisputed leader of Team Arrow, unspoken leader of the crossover team, and clear best fighter in the Arrowverse

Rene, Curtis and Dinah dynamic

What We Leave Behind

the way they handled the gun debate

China White, Cupid and Lady Cop team up

KAPIUSHON

Felicity and Helix

Felicity slowly spiraling out and pushing people away

Anatoly Knyasev

bratva flashbacks for days

grungy bratva Oliver

Kovar

Bratva (the episode)

Oliver killing again

asking the question “was Oliver a serial killler?” which we probably should have asked four seasons ago

Lance bonding with Thea and Oliver in the mayor’s office

Talia Al Ghul

Underneath

Rene and Lance bonding

Bringing William back

SLADE WILSON BACK

the Kapiushon confession

Lyla and Diggle maritial strife

dark tone

Adrian Chase the lovely psycho

Oliver gets a birthday party

Lian Yu and everything about it

See you on the boat

William KNOWS

that cliffhanger

Vigilante’s cool

Dinah and Lance working together

Evelyn’s betrayal

Slade’s redemption

Slade Wilson and Oliver working together again

Oliver speaking Russian

Disbanded

So it Begins

that cute scene between Oliver and Evelyn which is a lie because you find out immediately after that she’s gonna betray him but still

Thea trying to find herself story line

Oliver’s phone call to Moira in flashback

Oliver and Felicity reunion

Thea as Chief of Staff (which is completely nepotism but still)

Rene and Zoe

the new suit (sleeves are good)

the awesome posters

Early on in the episode, Oliver flat out refused to watch the video, and when Thea forced him to, he insisted on it being a cover-up. He was about to do a press-conference saying that it was until his sister put a stop to it. 

Oliver Queen sees the best in people, especially in those closest to him. Even after five years in hell where that was shocked and beaten out of him, he still has that little glimmer of hope in his heart when looking at a person. It’s why he tried to convince Evelyn that they could work together in 5x17. There’s a hundred examples, and though that heart for people has diminished at times, he still tries to see good. It’s part of why Felicity loves him, and why the team stands by him. But that can cloud his judgment, and it’s been shown in the past that it especially becomes problematic when he’s around family. He refused to believe Thea killed Sara, refused to believe anything bad about Laurel. Diggle had to step in to deal with Moira in season 1 because Oliver wouldn’t. 

It’s the same with his father. 

And it’s the same with all of us. 

Growing up, a lot of us view our parents as saints. We come to them for help when we need a problem dealt with, we cry on their shoulders. We think they have all the answers. But they don’t. As we get older, we realize that they have their faults, and they don’t know everything.

Oliver skipped that moment that all of us have to deal with when we realize that our parents aren’t exactly who we thought they were. 

We don’t really know when he started partying and sleeping around, but we know he got shipwrecked around his 22nd birthday. That was probably a few years into his alcohol-haze, and we’ve seen that he feels guilty for the things he did during that time, especially the cheating. After he was shipwrecked, he proceeded to spend five years in the worst kind of hell, where he had to kill and torture to survive. That took a toll on him; enough that he passed up two or three opportunities to go home because he thought he was a monster. 

He came home thinking he was a man irredeemable. In the pilot, he walks out of the bathroom and loos at himself in the mirror. The Hood flashes, giving us a glimpse into how he views himself. He looks in the mirror and sees his scars. The nightmares. The PTSD. Everything that he has done, in his opinion, has sunk him into a pit that he can’t climb out of. 

And then he sees his family. 

Thea. 

Moira.

Tommy. 

He meets Diggle. 

And then Felicity. 

All of them, in his eyes, are better than he is. 

Deep down, Oliver doesn’t believe he is as worthy as others. He spent five years trying to convince himself that his family was perfect because he thought he was terrible. He needed something to believe in, so he told himself over and over again that Thea was his baby sister who liked playing with dolls and Moira was still his mom who gave him her smile every morning, even if he was hungover. 

And he convinced himself that though Robert Queen had started the undertaking with Malcolm, though he had shot a man in the life-raft, though he confessed to not being a good man...that he was still better than him. He created the Arrow crusade to honor his father, because the only reason he was alive was because his dad shot himself in the head. He feels responsible for Robert dying, so he created this...only to realize that his father had done the same thing he’s spent so many years beating himself up about, and spent so many years fighting in his name. 

In 5x21, Felicity tells him that he needs to start living for himself. 

And Oliver will truly be able to do that when he realizes that he’s good enough. 

That he deserves to have a wife. 

To have a sister, and to be a brother. 

And to have a son. 

He’s finally realized that all of the people who he cares about have their faults. Thea isn’t innocent anymore. She’s killed, and she’s angry. Diggle took his own brother’s life. Felicity got into bed with Helix. His mom was involved in the Undertaking, and forced Samantha to lie about William. And now, the last piece of that puzzle has been placed: Robert killed. 

Awww, this is wonderful and thank you so much! I totally understand the feeling. Some of the attitudes in the fandom make you think whether there’s something you’re missing about how bad the show is or that you’re deluded or something! And you start to doubt your own enjoyment. 

My philosophy is to love it more than others hate it - and the more people hate it, the more you proudly announce your love for it!

I’m Arrow stan till the end and always will be. I love this show and the characters and it’s what got me into comics as well as brought me some super close and awesome friends. 

And @forevercharmed320 and @blackcanarydinah are definitely people you should be following! They’re great and awesome Arrow positive blogs and awesome people too :)