#CountdownToArrow: 13 Times Oliver Queen Made Us Emotional Wrecks

Arrow's fourth season officially debuts tomorrow (CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?) and it has been an absolute blast getting the opportunity to not just reminisce about some of our favorite moments throughout #CountdownToArrow, but to really get excited for the show's return. We've gotten to know and hear from a lot of you during hiatus thanks to this project and I can't thank you all enough for being so supportive and encouraging, as well as engaged!

This project was a massive undertaking and it would not have been possible had it not been for the amazing women who have helped support it (Jen, Meredith, Maddie, Lizzie, Lynnie, Hope, Chelsea, etc.) I'm so thankful for them and for the way they helped not just support me but also our team in the last month. Go give them some love on Twitter or Tumblr (or here!).

If this is your first time reading anything from #CountdownToArrow, then welcome! If it's not and you've been with us during the entire month-long celebration... still welcome! You can check out all of the posts from the month HERE. Be sure to also come back tomorrow night after Arrow airs for my review of the episode.

In our final day of the countdown, we decided to celebrate the man who makes the entire show possible: Oliver Queen. And when contemplating what kind of listicle I wanted to do, I thought that discussing the moments in which Oliver Queen was awesome and action hero-y wouldn't do him justice. Because even though Oliver is amazing as The Arrow (and now Green Arrow), what I really love is how Stephen Amell can use this character as a vehicle to convey a lot of powerful and strong emotions. So now, without further adieu, we are going to break down thirteen moments in which Oliver Queen made us emotional.

Grab your tissues and chocolate!

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Series - In Style: Thea Queen of "Arrow" [Contributor: Rae Nudson]

Rae recently debuted a new series at our website titled "In Style" in which she creates look boards inspired by some of her favorite television fashionistas. Her first post on Hannibal's Alana Bloom can be found here and her second about Felicity Smoak can be found here! In honor of #CountdownToArrow, Rae has done an Arrow-specific post for Thea Queen as well to celebrate Thea Queen Appreciation Day!

From being a partying, lost teenager trying to find her way amid family tragedy to being a woman who can literally and metaphorically fight for herself while accepting her past and her flaws, Thea Queen has gone through one of the biggest transformations on Arrow. And her style has gone through one of the biggest transformations as well.

Thea can still rock a minidress from her partying days, but in general, her style has evolved from tight and trendy to simple and carefree. Thea knows herself now and knows her strengths, and so her style has changed to focus on the girl wearing the clothes. She dresses much more relaxed and much more reflective of who she is, rather than following fashionable trends that match everyone else. When she cut her hair to better frame her face, she essentially also cut her style down to better match her heart.

Thea doesn’t just have one style or one way to look — she dresses for all sides and layers of her because she has accepted every part of who she is. When she needs to spar with her evil dad, she makes sure she can move comfortably in her clothes. When she goes to a wedding, she throws back on a minidress that shows off her, ahem, assets. She’s not afraid to show off her body in a crop top or to steal the scene in a sparkly jacket (or pair of pants). She’s as comfortable in stilettos as she is in low tops. Thea is so many things, and she’s not afraid of any part of herself anymore.

Because Thea recognizes her power and her skills, she is ready for new challenges — and new outfits — saving the city as Speedy. Speedy is just another part of Thea Queen, really, and it won’t define her, just as being Merlyn’s daughter or a business owner of Verdant or a sister of Oliver Queen doesn’t define her. And I can’t wait to see her get to work — both in her new uniform, and out of it.

We have some inspiration if you want to dress like Thea — and honestly who wouldn’t? I’d recommend some sleek tops and cool jackets. Don’t be afraid to show off your midriff or to wear a very shiny accessory. Leather is always a good idea, and you could show some cheek by wearing red as a nod to Thea's extracurricular activities. You should dress like Thea Queen when you need to undergo assassin training, look great on a date, or run your own business.

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#CountdownToArrow: 5 Times Thea Queen Out-Sassed and Outmatched Everyone

We're rapidly approaching the end of #CountdownToArrow, which means that the season four premiere is within sight. As we wind down our month-long celebration of the hit series, Arrow, I thought we would take a day to celebrate Thea Queen. We've already had celebrations for Diggle, Felicity, and Laurel so this seemed appropriate. I'll admit it: I didn't love Thea when she first entered the show. I thought she was spoiled and a bit of a brat. Willa Holland won me over, though, with how wonderfully layered she allowed Thea to become. Willa is an expert at taking biting sarcasm and making it such an endearing trait of Thea's. The youngest Queen has been through a lot -- not as much as Oliver, but pretty close through Robert's death and her brother's (seeming), her descent into drugs, revelation about Moira's hand in the genocide in The Glades, the murder of Moira in front of her, the revelation that Malcolm is her real father, the loss of trust in Roy, the brainwashing and murder of Sara, almost-basically her own death, the spiral of guilt and manipulation, etc.

When I was thinking about the dark road that Thea has been down, I contemplated what made her such a strong, well-written, relatable young woman. And I settled on this: her unwavering sense of protectiveness (it's a Queen family trait) and her ability to inject dark humor into whatever is happening. Thea's sense of humor is one of my favorite things about her. And Willa Holland has done amazing work throughout the seasons of making Thea this delightfully sarcastic young woman, while also not making her too brash or insensitive.

Thea is honest -- bluntly so and hilariously so. But she's also extremely protective of the people she cares about. She's willing to leap to the defense of Diggle quite quickly by shooting her own brother in the arm. She doesn't let Malcolm get away with the pain he's put her through. She stands up to the Demon's Head when he tries to attack her in her own apartment. The thing is, if Thea Queen goes down, she will never go down without a fight: whether that's literal or metaphorical in her relationships with others.

So in honor of Thea Queen Appreciation Day, I've decided to talk about five times the baby Queen out-sassed and outmatched everyone else. Ready? Let's do this!

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#CountdownToArrow: Top 5 Laurel Lance Moments

As we continue in our #CountdownToArrow, we've come upon a character who can (if you're involved in fandom long enough) be quite divisive among Arrow fans. It seems that often people are in one of two camps -- either they love Laurel Lance or they do not. Me, personally? While she's not my favorite character in all of television, she's also grown on me as the years progressed. I've been able to see her strength and her depth as the show has allowed her to become free from Oliver, free from her addiction, and free from living in someone else's shadow. Laurel is always best in this show when the writers give her unique plots and don't try to shoehorn her into stories (a problem I had with both her and Roy and Thea early on).

I think that the writing, over the years, has done some disservice to Laurel as a character. She's more than an addict and she's more than the recklessness she sometimes exudes. She's strong. She's brash. and she's smart when she's allowed to shine in her true love -- protecting the people she cares about. Laurel was always an outstanding attorney and what makes her a great character is that she often doesn't care what other people think of her. I quite admire that. I like that she's sometimes bristly (and it's why I think her relationship with Nyssa is so wonderful, because they're both little prickly porcupines). I like that she gets angry and upset with Oliver and calls him out on his crap. While a lot of her behavior in season two is problematic because addiction stories are, at their cores, problematic (not because addiction is wrong to portray in stories but because SO many shows do it SO poorly... Arrow included), a lot of her actions in season one and season three earned her some recognition from us for Laurel Lance Appreciation Day.

Don't be confused -- Jen (my lovely soul sister who you all best know as jbuffyangel) and I (Jenn... the double letter is the distinguisher) decided to talk about some of the best Laurel moments from the past three seasons. Take a look and let us know what you think!

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#CountdownToArrow: 5 Times Diggle Was the Wisest Person in the Room

One of the things that I really admire about Arrow as a series is that on the team, there are no true sidekicks. Oh, sure, some characters occasionally have less to do than others. Not everyone engages in complex and visually stunning fight scenes each episode. But the show doesn't diminish the impact of characters who aren't Oliver Queen. That's what is so amazing. We talked last week about why Felicity Smoak is an amazing character -- a breath of fresh, bubbly air on a show that is often darker and dingier than the basement beneath Verdant.

But this week, we're going to set aside time to focus on John Diggle, a character who is often overlooked but who has been the person to stand beside Oliver Queen the longest. Diggle protected not just Oliver's secret but Oliver himself in so many ways than just emotionally. This is a man whose training taught him to defend his fellow soldiers like they were his own family. And that's truly a way of life for Diggle -- he always protects the people he cares most about, often from themselves. He physically defends Felicity, he has Oliver's back but also is the one to drag him out of darkness and back into the light. (Hello, remember: "So don't," was Diggle's response to Oliver saying he didn't want to die in the foundry?) Diggle was supportive of Roy and Laurel, too, as they trained to be heroes and vigilantes, encouraging them and supporting them when necessary and also issuing harsh truths to them as well.

If Felicity is the light of Arrow, then Diggle is its rock and foundation. So let's talk about five times where Diggle was the wisest person in the entire room. The writers did an awesome job with this piece and -- unintentionally -- without my contributions! Read what Lizzie, Lynnie, Maddie, and Jen had to say about our wonderful Team Arrow member. :)

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#CountdownToArrow: In Memoriam (Gone, But Not Forgotten)

We're continuing our #CountdownToArrow series by discussing some of the best and most notable characters that we've lost throughout the last three years. Since, of course, this IS Arrow... we've got a pretty high body count (most of them including people like Thug 1 or Guy in Alleyway). Because nothing says moving forward like looking back and remembering all that has happened, we thought we would spotlight some of our favorite now-deceased (or, in one case now-deceased-but-not-for-long) characters and talk about why we miss them so much. Prepare for a lot of feelings beneath the cut. (We won't judge if you go in the freezer to grab some ice cream.)

And be sure to keep coming back for all of our special #CountdownToArrow posts in the coming weeks, too!

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#CountdownToArrow: Fan Art Contest [Contributors: Chelsea and Lynnie]

Just About Write is celebrating the month leading up to the season four premiere of Arrow with a little friendly competition. We’re happy to announce that we are hosting a Fan Art Contest for you, the fans! Really, this entire month is all about celebrating the show and kicking off a brand new season of Oliver Queen and company with love, excitement, and – most importantly of all, in this case – art! There are so many of you who are amazingly talented artist and we’re excited to see what you guys come up with!

Your artwork can involve anything related to Arrow – Olicity, any of the members of the team, cross-over artwork, in any medium! If you painted it, it’s eligible. If you made it out of clay, it’s eligible. If you hand-drew it or used software, it’s eligible. Basically, as long as it’s yours… it’s eligible. Think of us as a less cool version of Stephen Amell’s Fan Art Friday.

Here's how the contest works: you can submit your art to us one of two ways. Either post it on Tumblr or send it to our super-cool Tumblr email address with your artwork attached and we’ll be sure it gets posted for you.

If you’re posting on Tumblr, you will:

• Create a post with your artwork. Please create ONE post per piece of art. If you're submitting multiple pieces, please create multiple posts. This will just make it easier on us.
• You MUST tag your art with JustAboutWriteArt in order to be eligible. Contrary to popular belief, we actually don’t spend ALL of our time on the Internet and tagging ensures that we see the entries as they populate on Tumblr so we can reblog them.
• We'll reblog the entries so others can see them, too!

Oh. And did we mention that we’re giving out prizes to the top three winners, too? Because we are. (Prizes are listed in the bottom of this post. We strongly recommend following us on either Twitter or Tumblr so that we can have an easy way to contact you if you win!)

DA RULES:

Here’s your guidebook for winning cool stuff! Please, please, please follow these rules. They're simple, we promise. And people who cheat will be disqualified and forced to wear the hat of shame*.

1. Only post YOUR ORIGINAL ARTWORK. Posting any artwork that is not created by you will result in an instant disqualification. If you notice anyone posting art that doesn’t belong to them (especially if someone is posing as you), please let us know as soon as possible. The fan art can be old or new, it just needs to be yours. NO EXCEPTIONS!
2. Either post on Tumblr or email us your original art. Remember, if you are posting on Tumblr, you MUST put JustAboutWriteArt in the tags so we can find your post! Otherwise, we’re likely to miss it altogether. And that would be sad. 
3. Feel free to encourage your friends to reblog and like the artwork that you like. :) We aren’t counting reblogs into voting but we will be reblogging the entries so you guys can see them!
4. The deadline to submit your artwork to us is Wednesday, September 30 at 5 PM EST. Winners will be announced the following week, on Wednesday, October 7!
5. The entirety of Just About Write's staff will decide on the top three winners. We like liking things.

*Just About Write cannot be held responsible for how silly you look in the hat of shame.

Above all else… have fun! We hope this serves as a nice way to pass hiatus. And don’t worry – we’ll be doing a lot more other fun things throughout the month leading up to Arrow’s return as well. Remember to keep checking the #CountdownToArrow tag daily for fun contests, prizes, and more!

The prizes are as follows:

GOLD: Oliver Queen Funko figure and Team Arrow tote bag

  
SILVER: An Arrow print and a couple of stickers

BRONZE: Three Olicity-themed stickers

HAVE FUN!
(... And don't fail this city.)

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Series - In Style: Felicity Smoak of "Arrow" [Contributor: Rae Nudson]

Last month, Rae debuted a new series at our website titled "In Style" in which she creates look boards inspired by some of her favorite television fashionistas. Her first post on Hannibal's Alana Bloom can be found here. In honor of #CountdownToArrow, Rae will be doing a few special Arrow-specific posts. And, to help celebrate Felicity Smoak Appreciation Day, here's her article about Felicity Smoak! 

Felicity’s clothes, like the woman herself, are flawless. She always knows exactly what to wear, whether it’s a business meeting or a date — or a business meeting that doubles as a date. Her life may be constantly about to fall apart, but her outfits make her feel more together. They are coordinated and classic while still being completely on trend. Felicity wears a lot of bright colors because she’s the light on Arrow — not just for Oliver, but for everyone. The patterns and colors she wears are fun and powerful, just like she is. And her clothes have only gotten bolder as the series has gone on, and this perfectly parallels the fact that she, as a character, has gotten bolder too. She’s not afraid to fight for what she needs, and she’s not afraid to stand out in a bright dress and bright lipstick. Felicity is sure of her worth, and that comes across very clearly in the way that she prevents herself, especially through her sense of style. She takes care of herself, dresses with precision, and looks great while she’s battling whatever life (or the villain of the week) throws at her.

For work, especially since she joined the executive level at a company, Felicity is more often than not in a classic dress that is more formal than the skirts and button-ups that she used to wear in her IT days. When she’s in the Arrow cave, she is still professional, but this environment also allows for a bit more of a personal twist. Her crop tops are so perfect, honestly. And I feel like Felicity is the kind of woman who dresses extra cute when she needs an emotional boost. One thing I especially love about the way that Felicity dresses is that she so often wears her hair back and up in a ponytail. That choice in hairdo conveys that she is focused and practical, and that wherever she is, she is there to do hard work. After all, when you are hunched over a computer for hours saving the world, sometimes you just have to get your hair out of your face. (Aside: I love the Black Canary, but how many women would honestly fight crime with long hair flying around? A villain could grab onto that!)

But Felicity still knows when to let her hair down and she definitely knows how to get dressed for fun — it’s not all work for Felicity without any play. For a date with Oliver, of course, she brings out a killer (or Smoakin', if you prefer) red dress.

We keep hearing from the producers that season four of Arrow will be a bit lighter, less depressing and dark than the season before. And I hope that this season’s more playful and relaxed attitude is also reflected in Felicity’s wardrobe. What I sincerely hope with all my little shipping heart is that we see Felicity in more date night outfits with Oliver. So, now that we've discussed Felicity's impeccable style, you're probably wondering what you can do to imitate her look. While we can't quite tell you where you can find your own Oliver Queen, we can give you some style suggestions for how to dress like Felicity, practically, in your own life! I’ve put together some outfits which will hopefully serve as inspiration for how you can dress like her:

In order to become your own Felicity Smoak, I’d recommend bold colors, crop tops and pencil skirts, a closetful of pitch-perfect coats, and always having a knockout dress in your best color ready to go in your closet. When, exactly, should you use imitate Felicity's look? I recommend that you dress like Felicity when you need to do your best at a high-stress job, make everyone fall in love with you, and when you’re following your heart.

Additionally, if you have ever envied any of the awesome jewelry that Felicity Smoak has worn on the show, a majority of her pieces come from a designer named Peggy Li. Peggy is super sweet and a supporter of our website! Jenn owns a pair of her drusy earrings in blue (the bronze version is one Felicity wears in the show). Be sure to check out her designs and buy them. Peggy's packaging is super cute and her Instagram is lovely, too! :)

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#CountdownToArrow: Ten Best Felicity Smoak Moments

Around here, we love Felicity Smoak.

Oh, sure, we appreciate and care about other characters, too. Some of us are fans of Laurel Lance, some aren't as much. Some of us love Thea Queen and some feel a bit more ambivalent. Some are die-hard Sara Lance fanatics, and some of us don't feel as passionately. But there is one character that each one of us who consider ourselves to be Arrow fans can agree on: Felicity Megan Smoak. Whether we fell in love with her during "Lone Gunmen" or "The Odyssey," or somewhere in between, the truth remains that Felicity is the kind of character we all gravitated towards. She's a brilliant, blonde, beautiful ball of light in a show that -- for quite a long time -- was overwhelmed with darkness and dinginess. But it's not just that Felicity is the light to Oliver's darkness or that she's an eternal optimist with the hacking skills to rival anyone else's. It would be easy to say that we love Felicity because she's bubbly or because she's good.

We love Felicity because she's strong. Because she's capable. Because she's flawed. And yet she's still completely relatable. We want to be her friend. We understand why Oliver Queen loves her -- we understand why simply because we do too. And to kick off our month of #CountdownToArrow, we thought we would take this opportunity to talk a bit more about Felicity Smoak. In fact, we're going to spend pretty much the entire day talking about her in some way or another. Each of the major characters will have their own days to shine, so don't worry if you're fans of Laurel, Oliver, Diggle, or Thea. 

But for now, let's tell you a bit more about why we love Felicity so much by counting down what we believe are ten of her best/most memorable moments. Feel free to add your own in the comments below or tweet us. We know there are a TON more but these are just a few of the writers' favorites! (And they're in no particular order, by the way.)

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#7DaysofCommunity - BONUS POST!

All good things must come to an end. Of course, it could also be argued that all bad things must come to an end as well, which is why today we are celebrating the end of a very long and very dark hiatus. That’s right, friends – in case you have lived under a rock for the past few months and aren’t aware – we all know that Community is returning to NBC tonight. Yes, we’re finally coming home to Greendale after our summer breaks (did it feel like summer just went on forever for anyone else?) and rejoining the Greendale Seven as they navigate through their senior year of college. There will be a lot of changes for our study group and our show this year, but – as Abed reminded us – we’re all together, which makes THIS the perfect timeline.

I wish I could put into words how much you all mean to me and how much this show has done for me. I wish there was some great gesture that I could perform that would make my appreciation abundantly clear. Even as a writer, sitting here, I am struggling to come up with adequate words to describe this show’s impact on my life. And it seems really trite and silly to most people when I explain how much Community has impacted me. It’s a television show, after all, they’d argue. But I have met so many amazing and wonderful people because of this show. And they’ve gone from being just people I live-tweet with or joke with to people who have woven their way into the fabric of my life. These are people I celebrate with, talk to on a daily basis… people who I vent to and cry to and laugh with. We’ve become an extension of Community in that we have BECOME a community. We all have different religious beliefs. We all look different. We all come from different familial backgrounds. Some of us are broken emotionally. Some of us have hurts and hang-ups and scars we don’t even want to talk about. Some of us feel like no one out there knows how we feel.

But we’re together. We help each other. We BETTER each other. We encourage one another, and yes, we do this with people we haven’t even met in person. Isn’t that just brilliant and beautiful? Here we are, complete strangers for all intents and purposes, but so deeply and emotionally connected that we go through life together. And yes, sometimes we fight. No, not everyone is close to EVERYONE else. We don’t agree on our favorite episodes or characters or pairings or seasons or writers. Some people blog about the show, some people tweet, some write fanfiction or draw art or write music or make videos.

And the most wonderful thing about it all? We’re doing it TOGETHER. And we’re doing it because of an idea a bunch of actors, writers, producers, and directors got together and brought to fruition. We’re doing it because Community IS our community.

But enough sentiment and sap, right? Let’s get to my extra-special bonus round of #7DaysofCommunity! One of the greatest people in the entire world, my writing partner and partner-in-crime and basically other half, Jaime, suggested something really challenging today for my question. What was it? Click and you’ll find out!

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#7DaysofCommunity - Day 7

Earlier this week, I discussed one of my favorite non-Troy/Abed duos on Community. It does seem only fitting, of course, that I would discuss Troy and Abed at some point during this countdown. And never fear – that day is today!

What I really love about the Troy/Abed pairing (and, subsequently what happened with Jeff and Annie as a pairing) was that it was never supposed to happen. Pierce and Troy were supposed to be the budding bromance. And you can tell, in the pilot episode especially, that the writers and Harmon were planning to stay on course with that plan. But I love that when they noticed the chemistry between Donald Glover and Danny Pudi, they began to rethink their original plan. It would have been easy to try and force the Pierce/Troy friendship to work. After all, that was what was SUPPOSED to happen. The two were so similar in humor and worldviews in the pilot episode, after all. It was a wonderful, beautiful bold move to develop the bond between Troy and Abed. Similarly, when the writers noticed chemistry between Joel McHale and Alison Brie’s characters, they began to develop the Jeff/Annie dynamic more.

To be frank, for a relationship on television to engage viewers and keep them interested, there has to be an element of chemistry. I discussed romantic chemistry before in my posts, but a strong dynamic of comradery between characters is just as important, if not more so. I was asked a question today about the Troy/Abed dynamic, so let’s check out the question and my response, shall we?

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#7DaysofCommunity - Day 6

Dan Harmon always said that his show was not a romantic show. That’s not to say, of course, that the show does not focus on romance in some aspect or another. But let’s be honest – Community is no Grey’s Anatomy. Romantic relationships, while always important, are not an integral part of the sitcom. What has intrigued me, however, is how they have played with and built up certain relationships over the course of three seasons, only to utilize them to develop individual characters more. What began as a show about Jeff pursuing Britta has become one about how six relationships can change a person’s heart and life.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that Community refuses to focus on romantic couples or moments. Arguably some of the most emotionally heightened moments in the show take place between couples with a romantic interest or history together. Today’s post was probably the most difficult one to answer (and trust me when I say that, even as you read this, I’m STILL second-guessing myself!), but I was asked to focus on one romantic pairing in particular.

Who will I be talking about? Check below the cut and find out!

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#7DaysofCommunity - Day 5

Each character on Community brings something special to the show. Think about it for a moment, would you? The little-comedy-that-could would just not have the same dynamic if there was no Britta Perry to be a buzzkill, or Annie Edison to help everyone pass their classes. Something would feel off if Pierce wasn’t present to make his brash, but always honest comments, or if Abed wasn’t there to provide rationality and balance. What would the series be if Troy didn’t have his fabulous one-liners, if Shirley wasn’t present to humble everyone, or if – God forbid – Jeff wasn’t there to set them right with a Winger speech?

But what’s great about Community as an ensemble series and as a series in general is that there are plenty of supporting-turned-important characters that make the series what it is. Thinking back to one of my favorite comedies ever, Friends, I have to ponder what the series would be like without Gunther. A character that originally started out playing a minimal role in the series ended up stealing nearly all of our hearts with his unrequited love for Rachel Green and hilarious subsequent hatred of Ross (or any other guy she was interested in).

Similarly, Community has characters like Leonard, Vicki, Starburns, (Fat) Neil, Quendra, Magnitude, Todd, Rich, Asian Annie, etc. who have made the series feel more complete – more whole, if you will. There is still the tongue-in-cheek joke that everything revolves around the seven study group members, but there is also an emphasis on fleshing out each of these minor characters.

And there is one character, in particular, that I was asked about in a question today. Who is it? Click below the cut to find out!

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#7DaysofCommunity - Day 4

What I love about Community is that it is an ensemble-driven comedy. Sure, Jeff Winger is the head of the study group, but this show isn’t about one person. Not really, anyway. This show, much like Friends, is – at its core – about a group relationship between seven individuals. But what’s great about ensemble shows is this: you are left with a plethora of possible pairings that can be explored throughout the series. As I’ve mentioned before, Community has a number of go-to pairings (Troy/Abed, Britta/Shirley, etc.), as many ensemble shows do.

But what I love more than anything is when Community explores pairings that aren’t typically given screen time throughout the series. Even though I love the ensemble aspect (and my first and forever OTP will Study Group x Study Group) of this show, today’s question focuses on an individual pairing within the comedy.

So what pairing have I written about? Click below the cut for today’s question and answer! :)

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#7DaysofCommunity - Day 3

There are a few things that are constants in the realm of Community – a few solid, consistent truths that we can always rely on. In fact, Abed mentions a few of these character-related truths in “Remedial Chaos Theory.” The audience (and characters, for that matter) can always count on Annie Edison to be driven and determined. It is who she is as a person. We can always count on Shirley to be kind and giving. We know that Troy will do anything for his friends. We understand that Pierce will be the one member to make the most offensive, offhanded comments and jokes. Abed will always be the most perceptive, Jeff will continue to try and protect his friends… but also himself. And Britta? Well, Britta is a toss-up.

But we won’t be talking about character development and growth in today’s #7DaysofCommunity celebration. At least, not specifically. There is another aspect of Community that, in its consistency, has become a familiarity and an expectation throughout the series. What exactly is this constant variable? Click below the cut to continue!

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#7DaysofCommunity - Day 2

Welcome to #7DaysofCommunity, Day 2! I’m really glad that you all seemed to enjoy yesterday’s post. In case you missed it, you can find it by clicking this pretty link. :) And, in case you are new to this blog, you should know that every Friday I post my blog-reviews of the episodes of Community. And when I say blog-reviews, what I really mean are analyses (at least, that’s what they have been dubbed). I thoroughly enjoy taking 3,000 words’ worth of notes every Thursday night and staying up a bit late just so I can analyze the episode that aired.

But enough about the blog-reviews (which you should definitely check out, I mean I’m just saying…); let’s move onto our question and answer of the day, shall we? Click below the cut to see what Community-related question I was asked today and what my response is.

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#7DaysofCommunity - Day 1

Well, folks. It’s ALMOST here.

That’s right – October 19th is just a mere week away and that means that Community is almost back in its 8PM timeslot on NBC. Really and truly, we’re coming back home. In celebration of the little-show-that-could’s return, I decided to spend the week leading up to the premiere doing something special for you all each day. After all, YOU are the real reason I am even writing this blog. And this show is what brought us all together. It’s only fitting that I should celebrate somehow!

I asked last week for you all to tweet, DM, or comment on a post and give me some Community superlatives you’d like to see answered each day. I got a lot of great suggestions and narrowed them down to seven – one per day – to answer!

Ready to kick off the week? Click below the cut to find the answer to my first question!

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"Community" Special Announcement!

Community is almost back, y'all! And this means one thing: this blog will be hopping for a week-long countdown to the February 7th premiere. What exactly will happen each day of the week leading up to the season four return is pretty simple. And it's all controlled by YOU.

Here's how everything will go down:

Beginning tonight (January 27th), through Wednesday (January 30th), you all get the opportunity to list Community-related superlatives that you'd like to see covered on the blog. You have until 11:59 PM EST on Wednesday in which to nominate these categories.

What are Community-related superlatives, you ask? These are categories you desperately want to know my answers to and can be topics such as: Favorite Season, Favorite Chang Pun, Most Epic Winger Speech, etc. (Be creative, be fun, and suggest as many as you would like!) On January 31st, exactly one week until Community's premiere, I will select seven of the best categories and answer one per day in a blog post.

So how, exactly, do you nominate categories? Simple! Tweet (@notajenny), DM, e-mail, or drop a comment on this post nominating a category. I'll pick the seven best categories and answer them throughout the week. So what are you all waiting for?

NOMINATE, AWAY! :)

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