I think you can have a hard-ass female character and make it work. She just needs to be the butt of a joke when appropriate while also having some rarely-seen weaknesses where she cuts a little loose. If every interaction with her is some serious plot-related thing then no wonder people figures she's dull. But I haven't read everything with her yet.

It wouldn't be the first time a character was a little too concerned with following the rules or staying on-task, had a good character design and got over.