#slayerette

[ladyverdance]

Willow: Well, he is young. Buffy: And so terribly innocent.

[aphony-cree]

I like how season 4 Spike referred to Buffy's friends as the Slayerettes. They should have kept that as part of his character forever

[keplercryptids]

[GIF description: GIFs from the episode "Witch" of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy, Willow and Xander are in the library. Xander says to an unconvinced Buffy, "We're a team! Aren't we a team?" Willow adds," Yeah! You're the slayer, and we're, like, the slayerettes."]

endless list of favorite buffy & willow scenes: ➸ [4/∞] ↳ “I just don’t like putting you guys in danger.”

[buffysummers]

You're the Slayer, and we're, like, the Slayerettes!

[campanulafield7]

You're the Slayer, and we're, like, the Slayerettes.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1.03 Witch

[greatcheshire]

ooi what's the problem with Kennedy? I haven't watched season seven in a while and i can't remember objecting to her much beyond the fact that she isn't Tara*, but you seem to really dislike her?

* i have a vague memory of either plotting or reading a fanfic featuring her pre-slayerette when she's a rich kid living in upstate new york and interacting with doctor who in some way, of which i remember very little beyond that

Sorry I would love to answer your question but I need to know more details about this Kennedy and Doctor Who crossover fic

[baddreamsandoldbones]

Hellcheer Week Day 10: Cannibals

The woods weren’t as empty as they would have liked. 

“People everywhere,” Nancy mutters with disgust. She looks great in her plaid coat, striding ahead of them. “Vultures.”

“They’re here to look at a crime scene,” Eddie points out. Fitting for the weather, he’s wearing his Uncle Wayne’s old coat, something huge and dark that smells of cloves. He’s got Chrissy’s hand in his and swings it jauntily as they stroll along, as though they’re on a date in the park. “Aren’t we also here to look at a crime scene?”

“We’re not here to gawp,” Nancy says fiercely, as yet another group of people can be spotted wandering through the trees. Chrissy grips Eddie’s hand and feels briefly guilty. This really isn’t their place. 

“Maybe we should have gone with the others to the library,” Chrissy murmurs quietly to Eddie. She hadn’t been expecting the phone call so early this morning, her brother shouting for her at the bottom of the stairs. But there was weirdness afoot in Hawkins again and the party had been hurriedly assembled. “I don’t know what use we are out here.”

“Steve might have been better,” Eddie agrees. “In case this is magic…do we think that it’s magic?”

“I don’t know,” Nancy says tersely. “He didn’t seem to think so.”

“He thinks beastie,” Argyle chimes in, trailing behind. He’d been reluctant to even come, which Chrissy can understand. This is not how she’d expected to be spending her weekend. “Which is why I’m here.” 

“Chrissy and Eddie are cover,” Nancy says, sounding thoroughly tired of them all. Chrissy occasionally feels sorry for her - at the end of the day, they’re still Robin’s Slayerettes, and that means they’re not exactly the crack team that Nancy would have liked. “Argyle is here to use his super senses and I’m here to make sure none of you get eaten in case.”

“At least there’s plenty of other options,” Eddie says, watching the curious party ahead of them. “Buffet style. Hey, do we know exactly where this campsite is?”

Because they’ve been walking through the woods for fifteen minutes now, the gray October sky pushed out by the thick canopy of trees. The woods in Hawkins cover a vast expanse, bordering the town on all sides. It brushes against the high school, it wraps around the trailer park, it’s visible from Chrissy’s bedroom in Loch Nora.

“I don’t know how we’re cover,” Chrissy says and Eddie squeezes her hand. 

“Innocent young couple on a walk,” he says and then makes a face. “Into a wood where four people recently went missing. Not great. But I think they were hoping to use your…you know, thing?”

“Ah,” Chrissy says heavily. “My thing.” 

No wonder they’re the team that’s been sent out into the woods. Because when a party of six go into the woods on Thursday night and two of them emerge, blood-stained and hysterical, on Saturday morning, it’s a clear sign that something needs investigating. 

“We just have to find the damn campsite first!” Nancy hollers over her shoulder. 

“The police actually doing their jobs,” Eddie muses, as they follow in Nancy’s quick footsteps. “Who knew?”

“Be nice,” Chrissy chides. Unfortunately, on a few occasions, the Hawkins Police have made their jobs a little harder by interfering, trampling evidence or arresting the wrong suspect. Hopper is in their corner, the only one privy to the truth about their town, but he can only do so much. There’s too much for one man to cover up without people noticing. 

But in this particular case, the officer in charge has locked it down pretty well. The location of the campsite has been kept a well-guarded secret, and so far the two survivors have been hidden away at the local hospital, with police watching their doors. Chrissy wishes she could tell them that they don’t need to fear this - whatever killed their friends can’t walk through the front doors. It probably has no need to leave the woods. 

Especially with all of these willing, interested parties…which is why Nancy is here. 

Argyle stops abruptly behind them and when Chrissy turns back, she can see he’s got his nose raised to the air. 

“Got something?” she asks, as Eddie calls for Nancy to stop. Argyle inhales deeply - his senses aren’t as strong as when he’s in wolf form but he can still hear, see and smell things that the rest of them couldn’t even dream of. 

“I think so,” Argyle says and then wrinkles up his nose. “Definitely blood.”

“Yay,” Eddie says, so completely deadpan that Chrissy isn’t quite sure if he’s joking or not. But Nancy is stomping back this way, so they follow Argyle as he takes them through a clump of bushes. 

It’s out of the way - no wonder no one else has found it. They have to push through thick greenery to find the clearing and the first sign that they’re not about to head off a cliff is the flash of neon yellow. 

The campsite has been cordoned off by police tape…or what’s left of it. Eddie nudges at a scrap of tent fabric with his toe, looking disappointed. Aside from the flattened grass and the odd stray bit of debris, the site is empty. The bright police tape is the only sign that anything happened here at all. 

“I suppose the police took most of it away,” he says despondently. Argyle paces around the clearing, still focused. 

“This does not smell good,” he says finally. Nancy pushes herself up from where she’s been investigating some of the items scattered around the camp. Some of it is ordinary - a chocolate wrapper, a tent peg - but some of it shouldn’t be here. 

“There’s too many pieces of the tent,” Nancy says worriedly, rubbing her fingers against the scrap in her hand. “Far too many…”

“Yeah,” Eddie says in a strange voice. He’s staring down at his hand, all jokes faded away. “Generally what happens when something shreds the tent to get at what’s inside.”

Unlike some of the others, the piece that Eddie is holding is stained with blood, rust red against the thick material. Argyle just looks repulsed - he clearly tracked the strong smell of blood here. 

“So they are dead,” Chrissy says, heart sinking. This is what she hates about this job. Somehow they’re always just a little too late to save someone. Even with her visions she doesn’t always know when something is coming. 

“Shit,” Nancy curses and digs a plastic bag out of her pocket. “Okay, all evidence gets bagged up. We need to find something that can lead us to whatever this thing is.”

They poke around in the undergrowth until Chrissy’s fingers start to grow cold. Who goes camping in September anyway? 

But then she finds something trapped under the wet mass of leaves, black and shiny against the slick ground. 

They’re running. She can see it, how they race through these woods - the exact same ones that they’re standing in now. Eddie has her by the hand, fingers clenched tightly around her own, while Nancy easily keeps pace. She could effortlessly overtake them both, disappearing through the dark woods before either of them could protest about it. But it’s Nancy and she wouldn’t leave them.

“Where are the others?” Eddie shouts. 

“I didn’t see them!” Nancy says to Chrissy’s horror. “Don’t stop. We can’t help them if we’re dead.”

“Do we get out of the woods?” Eddie asks, almost stumbling over a vine. Chrissy just manages to veer around it at the last second. “What the fuck do we do?”

“Get out first!” Nancy shouts but Chrissy can hear the strain in her voice. Their first plan failed. They’re running for their lives. Whatever they’ve been hunting in these woods has found them first. 

“Shit!” Eddie says furiously before an unholy screech behind them cuts him off cold.

“Move faster,” Nancy says urgently. She’s twisted her head back to look as she runs, her Slayer reflexes and grace allowing her to do so. “Don’t look back!”

“It’s behind us, isn’t it?” Chrissy asks, her voice coming out in a pant. She hasn’t run quite like this since their coach last year made them run laps. “We can’t outrun it!”

Nancy skids to a halt, pulling a knife out of her jacket. Chrissy tries to stop and finds that Eddie won’t let her. 

“Get out!” Nancy shouts and Chrissy tugs against Eddie’s grip. She’s made the mistake of looking back at their friend and there’s something dark, with leathery skin and glinting eyes up in the trees. 

“We can’t leave her!” she shrieks and Eddie merely stops and lifts her up instead. He’s done it before, pulling her into his arms, sweeping her legs up to cradle her but that’s always been to take her to bed. Now he does it with a frightening look on his face, that he won’t be stopped or reasoned with. 

“She’s our friend!” Chrissy argues but Eddie just shakes his head. 

“She can fight and we can’t,” he says. His arms are like a vice grip around her waist, keeping her in place. “I’m not leaving you to be eaten by that…that thing.”

The monster behind them is little more than a shadow as it tracks Nancy from the trees, nothing more than the glow of its eyes as it circles her. Chrissy tries to crane her neck to get a better look, anything that might help identify it. But all she sees are tattered wings, long, twisted hands digging into the bark of the tree. 

“Chrissy!” 

This voice is too close and Chrissy slams back into her own body to find herself cradled in Eddie’s arms. His look of relief almost makes her want to cry and she wonders how long she’s been gone in the vision. 

“What was it?” Nancy asks urgently, crouching by Chrissy’s side but Eddie just pushes her back. He can’t bear anyone being close to Chrissy when she’s had a vision. Nancy means well but she only wants what Chrissy has learned. 

“Give her some space!” he snaps and cradles Chrissy’s head with his palm. “Chris, baby, are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Chrissy says. She’s really fucking not. She keeps hoping that maybe one day this will all get easier but judging by her friends’ concern, it’s only getting worse. She remembers being bent down, plucking something out of the grass. She must have fallen when the vision hit her. 

She raises her hand because whatever she grabbed is still tucked tightly in her palm. Her friends all stare as she opens her hand, and she takes in their faces as they try to work out what it is. She suspects that Argyle must already know - or think he knows - as he breathes in. 

“Is it another piece of fabric?” Nancy asks finally, with a frown. “It’s not green, like the others…”

“Someone’s bag?” Eddie asks and prods at it with the one hand that isn’t still supporting Chrissy. Chrissy knows what he feels: the smoothness of it, how supple and strangely familiar it is. It’s not fabric. It’s the only piece of the monster that they have and who knows how it came to be here. Who knows what it cost one of the campers to cut it off. 

“It’s skin,” Chrissy says. 

@hellcheerweek

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Sunday, October 20th - Monday, October 21st

DAWN: (to Joyce) They were talking about me, just like everybody is. XANDER: Again, not so much. In fact, none. ANYA: We were talking about sex. I mean, you know us, sometimes we like to pretend stuff- JOYCE: Um... XANDER: Anya! ANYA: You know, like, say there's a fireman, or a shepherd- BUFFY: You know what? Let's not have this exchange of images right now. DAWN: Oh. Right. Of course. Can't let Dawn hear anything. (angry) Fine. I'm just gonna go to bed. That way I won't accidentally get exposed to, like, words.

~~Blood Ties~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

A Horrorshow outtake by vampbrat (Angel & Spike, M)

California by drusillagirl (Faith/OC, not rated, Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, child sexual abuse - not explicit)

maybe next time by rapunzelvangogh (Giles & Tara, G)

Of Things to Never Come by hedonistic_opportunist (Buffy/Faith, Spike, G)

Your Worst Nightmare by scaryfangirl2001 (Xander/Spike, M)

Buffy: I caught Dawn smoking! by aphony-cree (Buffy, Dawn, Spike, worksafe)

any advice for how to convince my mom to let me go to the dingoes gig...? by anonymous, sunnydale-high-school-rumors (Sunnydale inhabitants, worksafe)

Mr. DJ by VeroNyxK84 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

Officiant by VeroNyxK84 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

[Chaptered Fiction]

Forgiveness Doesn't Come Easy, Ch. 39 by slaymesoftly (Buffy/Spike, R)

BtVS : Judgement Day - Chapter 1 by AntonioCC (Terminator crossover, Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Xander, Riley, Sam, not rated)

Sending My Love from The Other Side of the Apocalypse - Chapter 1 by cawthraven (Buffy/Spike, Explicit)

Into Thin Air, Ch. 6 by Leighroyal (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Forgiveness Doesn't Come Easy, Ch. 39 by slaymesoftly (Buffy/Spike, R)

The Degradation of Duality [Series Part 2] Ch. 57 by Ragini (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Mysterious Destinies, Ch. 15 by EnchantedWillow (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Stupid Thing, Ch. 7 by Misti (Buffy/Spike, R)

Be Back Before Dawn, Ch. 9 by Blissymbolics (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Fury of the Fallen, Ch. 6 by CheekyKitten (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Sold Out, Ch. 3 by Melme1325 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

reciprocity, Ch. 8 by HappyWhenItRains (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Sending My Love from The Other Side of the Apocalypse, Ch. 1 by cawthraven (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

His Last Slayer, Ch. 1 by VoronaFiernan (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

In the Shadows, Ch. 1 by Willow91 (Buffy/Spike, R)

Just Two Lost Souls, Ch. 1 by Holly (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

A Wish for Dawn, Ch. 1 by floralirony (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

The Circle of Scooby, Ch. 16 by redjacobson (Boondock crossover, Xander/Cordelia/Tara, Buffy/Willow, Giles/Jenny, Kendra/Oz, FR15)

Hellmouth Munchkins: A Slayerette's Fiction, Ch. 6 by JoshuAB (Munchkins fusion, Willow, Scoobies, FR18)

A Man in Shadow, Ch. 1 by Zab Jade (Buffy & Spike, 13+)

Viral, Ch. 8 by Harlow Turner (Buffy/Spike, R)

[Images, Audio & Video]

Gifset: Buffy and Spike in seasons 2-4 by clarkgriffon (worksafe, flashing gif)

Tara drawings by juette (worksafe)

Manip: A song for the harsher moments by spyder-baby (Buffy/Spike, worksafe)

Doodles by loseremzo (Buffybot, Spike, worksafe)

A Buffy sketch by spacemonolithart (Buffy, worksafe)

Drawings by tiaragloryart (Buffy, Spike, Angel, worksafe, some swearing)

Meme: Angel Iceberg Chart by Ahmedgorshybluth (worksafe)

Painted pumpkin: one of the Gentlemen by the_belle_jar (worksafe)

[Reviews & Recaps]

I think it’s pretty clear that Andrew Wells is in Season 7 too much.... and yet [Storyteller] by coraniaid

ATS 304 - Carpe Noctem | Another Buffy Podcast

[Recs & In Search Of]

buffyversesecretsantaex mods have a question for the nominator who submitted "The Angel Investigations Polycule"

authenticriver recommends a high quality video of Buffy 100th Episode Celebration

[Community Announcements]

Buffyverse Secret Santa Gift Exchange nominations are open until Saturday, October 26

Buffyverse Secret Santa Gift Exchange nominations are open until Saturday, October 26

[Fandom Discussions]

weight of the world: I love willow taking charge when buffy is out by camellcat

aktuachlly mister mayor a slayer would never be up for murder one after u.s. v. anderson by just-about-nothing

i like to think that buffy and angel and willow and oz go on double dates by lowliet

[whedon's avengers writing is one giant buffyverse episode he wrote using marvel characters] by theaestheticmerchant

The names that Spike used when he was talking to Buffy ever since he realized he’s in love with her by thequeenofsastiel

I really love that Spike stopped calling Buffy “Slayer” by thequeenofsastiel

Spuffy is great because it’s so predator/prey but... by angelofthe2000s

So Riley told Buffy she's one hell of a woman... by jjmorelikeotp

A take on 6x19 [Seeing Red] Buffy/Spike by nicollekidman and elysianholly

The most insane part of the 'rank, arrogant amateur speech'... by duckwnoeyes

Anya’s *actual* worst fear [anti Xander/Dawn] by fang3d4

rating btvs ships: part 1 (bangel - critical opinion, spuffy, tillow, spangel) by captivebf

I understand that Buffy might have felt like she needed to forgive herself for how she acted in S6 but the truth is that she didn't do anything wrong by jjmorelikeotp

Any Angel Reference That You Have Heard Before [in movies and TV shows] by Ahmedgorshybluth

I love that Wolfram and Hart exists by GlitterViking1

Main characters' very last word on the show by francis2395

If you were a vengeance demon what would be your raison d'être? by Writefrommyheart

For those of you who watched the show live, what was the fan reaction like when Willow came out to Buffy? by mssleepyhead73

Why were there no older potentials? (Season 8) by Uncle-TMan

Joyce's art gallery by GraphicDesigner84

Finally got to the infamous episode of season 7 [Empty Places] by Olivia_VRex

S5:E17 Forever [color symbolism] by brnhnr

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

Buffy just went on sale on the Apple TV / iTunes store - via winedarkindigo

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

Join the editor team :)

[girl4music]

This is why Willow Rosenberg is such an important character in ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ and why she’s so relatable and resonatable. Imposter syndrome may not be the only mental condition she has but it is arguably the first one she has - which means that every other stems from it and is manifested because of it. Power corruption, addiction, repressed sadism, consent issues, OCD, anxiety disorders,… the lot.

All of it is informed by her simply believing like she doesn’t belong and doesn’t deserve and isn’t worthy. This condition is a problem for her right from the start of the show. In her very first interaction with Buffy she is already in that state of mind where her extremely poor self esteem is informing everything she does and says about herself, about other people, about the world and her involvement in it. She doesn’t have any friends besides Xander and the soon-to-be-dead Jesse. Xander is also someone who is viewed as a geek and a loser and so she feels comfortable with him. She knows that she belongs in his friend group. But as soon as Buffy comes along - it’s a different story because she comes along with Cordelia. The most popular girl at Sunnydale High and her bully. Before Willow knows anything about Buffy being the Slayer she already automatically understands that Buffy is off-limits and she has no right to be around her. Internalizing her geek and loser status as “wrong” for her. And so when Buffy comes up to her and asks her for help later, Willow just thinks she wants her to move. That she wants her to disappear so she can sit in her space. She already and immediately thinks that Buffy is “someone” and she isn’t. She is just nothing.

When they become friends at the end of the episode and she is now following her around and being her “Slayerette” she makes herself useful to her however way she can. But the feelings of doubt that she actually cares about her and wants to be her friend still linger. And they linger all the way up until we get a proper look-in to her mind in Season 4 with ‘Restless’. In her dream we are privy to things we wouldn’t ever be otherwise. The way she truly thinks and feels about herself and everyone else. The way she perceives of herself and everyone else. She’s not the heroine that saves the day. She’s the damsel in distress. She’s the helpless victim. She’s not the one everybody relies on. She’s the one everybody stares and laughs at. She’s the one exposed for being nothing at all. She’s just a sham, a fraud, an imposter. She’s just playing a role.

This condition is never resolved in her arc in the show even though it’s an on-going condition right up until the very end of it. Willow’s arc is never fully concluded. She has a good endgame. Don’t get me wrong. I really did like what they did with it. Had her settle with being the “BIG GUN” only by activating all the Potentials. I thought it was good. But it wasn’t enough. That big gaping hole of where and why her insecurities and anxieties started was never addressed properly and therefore not explored to make her endgame earned. Willow’s initial and foundational condition was imposter syndrome and because they didn’t address and explore this, then ‘Light Willow’ or whatever THAT Willow was was just a symbol and not an evolution.

The thing about the condition of imposter syndrome is that the person is never an actual imposter. It’s just that they believe that they are and it only affects their whole life because they believe it. It’s a self-corruption and self-sabotage. It is a mental condition. It doesn’t exist in external and objective reality. It’s made up. And it’s true, people can become the worst of people because of that of which they believe of themselves. They can destroy their whole life - their relationships, their environment, their well being - because of it. But the honest truth of it is that it is not real. And if it is not real than it is not you… Because you are real. You exist. You are an external and objective existence. You can only do the best you can in the moment. Let go of control and let somebody else carry you for a change. There’s nothing wrong with you other than what you let be wrong with you. Other than what you believe is.

[iwillrememberyoumarathon]

Bangel fans, we want to hear from you! As we celebrate this year's IWRY Fic Marathon, we're getting to know each other through our Meet the Fandom series. Answer the questions here to join in.

What is your name?

Casen or MeTheMermaid on ao3

Where do you hang out?

Mainly tumblr. I have been on that hell site since it began! My handle is @casenpoint

Do you create any fan works?

Fics! My first fic was for IWRY 2020 and I would love to make time to write more. Last year I wrote a tv pilot in the Buffyverse with all OCs. You can find all my stuff on my site www.casencombs.com.

Funniest Bangel/Buffyverse moment?

I love the opening scene of Some Assembly Required. Angel epically failing to hide his jealousy of Xander and Buffy falling into the grave in the middle of their fight! Gets me every time.

What Buffyverse opinion would have you chased through the village with pitchforks?

Probably that Spike and Buffy’s relationship was not good for her. I think our love for James Marsters (warranted) and his co-creation of this really interesting character clouds judgement. Spike crossed many lines, he totally took advantage of her depression… great character but bad bad bad bad relationship. Not healthy.

Share a headcanon you have about Bangel or the Buffyverse?

I don’t think they have children. Between Dawn and Connor I think they both feel like parents already. Not to mention they probably pseudo parent some younger slayerettes over the years. I think they protect their sacred alone space/time at home after all they’ve been through and how long they’ve had to wait.

How would you have given Buffy and Angel their Happily Ever After?

This year’s IWRY fic "I Can’t Remember". Some Shanshu and some angst and two people who can’t help being in love.

Last fic you read?

"It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" by thecarlysutra.

Fill in the quiz so the fandom can meet you!

[slut-jpeg]

btvs rewatch

season 1 episode 3: the witch

* giles calling cheerleading a cult lmao

* the dancing the girl (amber) does before she starts on fire always made me laugh for some reason

* “you’re the slayer, and we’re like… the slayerettes” I like that, but scoobies is better

* poor buffy she just wants joyce’s attention

* “she put HERSELF through cosmetology school” always makes me laugh I don’t know why.

* it’s kind of ironic what becomes of amy knowing how she starts and her mom’s history and everything

* every rewatch I have a different opinion on joyce. I’m remaining neutral as of right now.

* buffy saying xander is one of the girls after he told willow she was one of the guys. excellent.

* “i know a really good cauldron. do you actually ride a broom?” I bet willow looks back on saying that and cringes given her reaction to people dressing up as witches for halloween

* “it was my first casting so I might have done it wrong” giles you liar (ik they just hadn’t developed his character yet but still)

* thinking about when oz points out later on that the eyes of the trophy follow you

[coraniaid]

🔥Scooby Gang

Unpopular opinion ask game

(Better two months late than never?)

So … my slightly flippant answer is that I think “the Scooby Gang” is honestly not the best of names for the group of Buffy’s friends who know about her being the Slayer and help her out sometimes.  Partly because I think it’s a bit clunky to actually say it, but also because, well, try googling it.  Any group name where you have to specify the name of the source material is just a bit rubbish, I think.  

Also the reference itself doesn’t really work, does it?  The original Scooby Gang travels around the country, proving that supposed supernatural hauntings are actually hoaxes being carried out by mundane criminals and property owners, and they don’t really have an obvious leader.  The Buffyverse Scooby Gang … are all stuck in one place, the monsters they investigate are real, and they do have an obvious leader.

They should’ve stuck with Willow’s original suggestion of the Slayerettes.

A bit less flippantly … uh. I don’t think I have an unpopular take on the Scoobies as a collective, actually.  I mean, I think people who complain about them being bad friends or not really caring about Buffy are wrong – or at least viewing their actions in a deliberately uncharitable light in a way I don’t agree with – but at the same time I don’t think this is actually a majority opinion.  Or at least I curate my dash well enough that I see people arguing against it more often than I actually see the take itself.

So quick fire unpopular opinions about each of them, in no particular order, below the cut:

Jenny: I like Jenny a lot, but I kind of hate the retcon that she was sent to Sunnydale to spy on Angel and make sure he didn’t get his soul back.  Partly because of the jarringly racist way this retcon is presented and handled, partly because it’s so obviously nonsense (Jenny mentions Angel all of … what, once, before this retcon?) and partly because it ruins the much more interesting version of Jenny Calendar the technopagan with a life of her own that the show had implied existed before this.  And for what?  To deliver some exposition that the show could have presented dozens of other ways?  So that Giles and Jenny can break up again and Giles can be sad when she dies? 

Oz: I was genuinely surprised to see how well Oz did in the recent character polls because he is just kind of flat and boring to me.  He’s one of the more laid back people in the show, sure, and if he was a real person I think he would be fun to hang out and exchange terse monosyllables with, but he doesn’t really have any character arc to speak of until … well, whatever off-screen stuff actually happened that ended up with him getting written out in Season 4.

(I think there is a potentially interesting character to be made out of the fragments of Oz we see, but I don't think the show ever puts them together in a way that means anything.  He’s just Willow’s Nice Quirky Boyfriend, then he decides he needs to leave town and he’s gone forever.)

Cordelia: I like Cordelia, both on Buffy and on Angel, but she’s often really genuinely unpleasant in the early seasons of the show and it’s kind of grating when people pretend she isn’t?

I mean, I think I get why people talk about her the way they do (it’s partly that people are instinctively prone to like the character because of what Charisma Carpenter went through because of Joss Whedon; it’s partly because Cordelia gets a lot of character development and emotional growth and does become one of the most well-realized and heroic characters in the setting; and it’s partly because as early as Season 1's Welcome To The Hellmouth we are primed to sympathize with Cordelia because of the way Jesse acts around her).  Cordelia is always somewhat likable.  But she’s not nice.

When Cordelia bullies Willow for dressing badly or not having any friends, or when she brings up Xander’s abusive family or poverty in order to humiliate him in front of his friends, or when she ostracizes and shames Buffy for being different from everyone else (“I have to call everyone I have ever met, right now”), it’s not because she’s just a pure-hearted innocent who isn’t afraid to tell the truth.  It’s because she’s trying her best to be hurtful and being good at it.  It feels like it’s belittling the actual character growth she goes through to pretend that this isn’t what’s happening.

Tara:  Uh.  I don’t think I have any unpopular opinions about Tara.  Honestly I’m not even sure what unpopular opinions about Tara a person could have.  Tara’s great.

Okay, not an opinion about Tara herself as such, but I get kind of irked when people try to talk up Buffy/Faith by talking down Willow/Tara.  I mean people who complain about the latter being boring or being censored by the network.  (The latter take especially is weird, because however sanitized one thinks Willow and Tara’s relationship is, it’s a lot more textual and explicit than whatever Buffy and Faith have going on.)  

I don’t actually know how common that is outside of my dash, but I’ve seen it a few times and it just feels kind of tacky to me.  Sure, Willow and Tara have a different dynamic than Buffy and Faith, and it’s not quite as compelling from a narrative perspective to many people – including me! –  but they are nice.

Anya: I like Anya; I think she’s often poorly served by the narrative and I think her death is really stupid and unsatisfying but … well, I guess those aren’t unpopular opinions. 

I do think the frequent jokes about Anya being an ardent capitalist are kind of grating and don’t really make sense.  Anya isn’t some time traveler from The World Before Shops: she’s centuries old and clearly spent a lot of her time as a vengeance demon blending in with ordinary humans, as we see in Season 3's The Wish and then again in various flashbacks.  She shouldn’t suddenly be surprised by how the 20th century works, because she lived through it.  If she’s weirdly obsessed by capitalism (or what the Buffy writers think capitalism is), that should be an interest going back centuries.  She can’t possibly just have noticed it after becoming human. Her very first scene in the show, while she's still a demon, establishes she knows things about fashion and buying clothes! Well enough to impress Cordelia!

(Yeah, a lot of this is just that the Anya from Season 4 onwards isn’t really the same character as Anya from Season 3, I know.)

Giles: So it annoys me a little to realize this about myself, but the truth is that Giles is one of two characters in the show I’ve accepted that I like quite a lot less because of how the fandom at large talks about them.  I don’t particularly like being a contrarian, and I do still like Giles as a character, but I don’t like either flavor of Fandom Giles (either Giles the Perfect Dad or the Giles Who Is Compelled To Do Bad Things But Is Just So Sad About Them).

Whenever I see posts that focus exclusively on how tragic it is for Giles that he just had to drug Buffy and lie to her about it and almost get her killed, or how awful he must have felt when he abandoned her in Season 6, or how Jenny’s murder was so sad because of how it made Giles feel  I just think … okay, you’re not exactly wrong, but you wouldn’t talk about a character who does half the things Giles does in this way if they were a middle-aged woman.  And I know that for a fact because I’ve seen the way the fandom talks about Joyce Summers. 

Xander: I think the idea of Xander as a (very) repressed bisexual teenager makes a lot of sense of what we see from the character: things like his constant interest in how attractive Buffy’s boyfriends are and his repeated attempts to prove how “manly” he is.   It is a reading I believe is at least somewhat intentional, it is a reading that I like, and it is one that (combined with the hints we get about what his family are like over the course of the show) makes some of the way he behaves in the early seasons a lot more sympathetic.

However. I simply don’t believe there was ever any chance of the show having Xander actually come out.  I know that the official line is that one of Willow and Xander was always going to be gay, and that the decision as to which of them it was was made very late on, but I think that’s just a (fairly obvious) self-serving lie.

Look at how the show treats Larry – literally the only out gay man on the show in its whole seven seasons (except, maybe, Scott Hope).  Comes out in season 2, dead by the end of season 3, never once seen dating or expressing romantic or sexual attraction to another man, never mourned.  There are several other characters (Ethan Rayne and Andrew Wells being the obvious two) who are strongly implied to be attracted to men, sure, but this is always, aways played for laughs.  (Even Larry coming out is treated like a punchline.)

I think the chance of the writers having Xander ever start seriously dating other men (or even talking about finding them attractive in ways that couldn't be played off as a joke) was always basically zero and honestly it’s a little disingenuous to pretend otherwise.  The show is simply too mired in the period-typical homophobia of late 90s network television for things to be otherwise.

Willow: Sort of an inverse of the Oz take earlier: I was surprised by how badly Willow did in the recent character contests.  I think she’s pretty clearly the second-best written character in the show (just after Buffy herself).

That said, I guess my most unpopular Willow take is I think it’s kind of sad that she doesn’t go to a better college than Sunnydale U?  I think it is entirely in character that she would go to the same college as Buffy, and even that she would try to convince herself this wasn’t just because she was trying to help Buffy, but I still think it’s a mistake that she comes to regret.  If I were Willow’s friend in Season 3 – or, perhaps more to the point, one of her teachers – I would have tried pretty hard to talk her out of it. 

The show tries to present Willow’s decision to stay in Sunnydale as being an unquestionable positive, at least in Season 3’s Choices – and not just an excuse for Alyson Hannigan to stay on the show – but I’m not really convinced.  Okay, Willow doesn’t just want to help Buffy, but wants to “fight evil, help people” and “what better place?” is there to learn magic.  Let’s pretend to believe this is why she's staying in town.

The thing is though – as Season 4 makes clear – Sunnydale U is actually a terrible place to learn magic.  It’s only by luck that Willow meets even a single other witch, while off in England there are whole covens who would be delighted to teach her.  And the idea that fighting evil means staying in Sunnydale is a bit hard to defend too, given that this is the season of the show that establishes that there are other Hellmouths (in The Wish) and given that the season ends with Angel leaving town for LA to … uh, fight the forces of evil.  Which it turns out you can do pretty much anywhere.  Including, presumably, in places like Harvard or Oxford (where, in reality, there’s quite a lot of evil to be fought).

I don’t think this is an intentional reading of the show, but I do think you can see this choice as a sign of how little positive adult guidance there is in Willow’s life.  (We see just enough of her parents to know how neglectful they are.)   The show tells us that Giles wants Buffy to be able to go to Northwestern and get out of Sunnydale, but he doesn’t bat an eye at Willow turning down the chance to leave?  Other than Buffy, does Willow have anybody to discuss her choice with, even if she wanted to?

Yes, sure, in real life you don’t have to go to the “best” colleges just because you can and academic prestige isn’t the most important thing in the world and blah blah blah.  I agree!  And I know some people think this choice the show makes is empowering or inspiring.  But I think Willow personally would be happier somewhere where she was actually academically challenged, or somewhere she could actually be taught magic properly rather than illicitly teaching herself against the advice and wishes of her girlfriend and her ex-librarian.)

Again, I’m not saying the show should have had Willow leave.  I understand why they didn’t (even though part of me loves the idea of a spin-off Willow series where Willow goes to Oxford and the Bullingdon Club play the role of Wolfram & Hart).  But I’m not really on board with the popular idea that Willow going to the same second-rate college that Buffy is forced to settle for (and that Buffy gets to be sad about having to go to!) is actually a good thing.

[lesbianboyfriend]

“you’re the slayer and we’re like the slayerettes” willow i love youuuuuu

[twosomeofcuteness]

They should've been the Slayerettes. Like that's such a fun name. Scoobies is equally as good but like Slayerettes????

[xnarlie-starlightx]

Happy birthday towards an icon that has inspired of all Slayerettes eternal years and how strong this fandom still gets; Buffy Summers 🎂✨🎆😊

Happy Birthday, Buffy Anne Summers! (January 19, 1981)

[rossisrad]

Stuff I miss, being a fictkin of Spike [from buffy the vampire slayer]

Being able to go all "vamp-face"

The slayer

The slayerettes

Drusilla

My crypt

Being biologically male

My clothes, especially my leather trenchcoat duster thing.

The watcher. I miss him a lot. [strangely]