#there are a lot of losers in buffy

[everytimeiseeadragonirealize]

if next season of sandman isn’t season of mists and the game of you… idek man… i’m gonna go crazy. like i wanna see all hell literally break loose and get sold back to the angels. like that’s literally the most beautiful concept it’s crazy.

[jjmorelikeotp]

Okay so I am watching BTVS for the first time in my life & I'm currently on season 6 E 14, and one thing I really really love is how Spike is just so...comitted.

With Angel, I personally had the feeling he was grieving the person he could be, all sad and sappy in his misery that kinda clung around him all the time (ik we're calling spike a drama queen but. THAT MAN? Depressed himbo vibes. No offense.) Even though he had a soul, there was this feeling of self pity in him - and it makes sense considering the fact he probably knew that one true moment of happiness would turn him back into a monster, and that is rly depressing tbh.

Does not change the fact that Buffy being underage when being with him is totally absurd and predatory, there, I said it.

He is kind of the big scary monster guy and sometimes she does seem like a normal 16 year old, and by that, naive or simply, young.

It made me feel like she was prey, not gonna lie.

It is what stopped him from truly comitting to Buffy. I mean yeah, their love was pure and they definetely are soulmates in some way. They truly affected each other's fate.

But this is where Spike is different than Angel as well. He is truly COMITTED to what he's doing, he is all in for buffy. Like, the way he offers to make money for her when she needs it? That offer is NOT a deal-kind-of-offer. He truly wants to help her and it is so casually because he already is in full partner mode, in whatever way she needs. Offering comfort when she has to work a double shift (yeah by fucking outside, mkay, just the spuffy way ig) like that because he is actually afraid she will lose her sanity? Even though they drive each other insane? Yeah these scenes are not talked about enough.

In that same scenario, Angel never even would have showed up. He would have waited in front of the building after Buffy ended her shift, maybe. He never even offered to be in her life like that, while both of them found a million excuses for it. But Spike does not. He just simply does stuff that COULD be the solution if he ever even thought of them being a problem.

And I think that is also why he's so pissed about Buffy going on and off about him - to Angel, she seemed so comitted, but to him, he just does not seem to be able to.

And again, it make sense, but I also think we don't talk enough about the fact that Buffy did indeed kill Angel, when it wasn't even necessary as in "he was soulless and a monster" anymore. Even though she loved him. But only when she had a really really good reason/purpose.

So one thing that might be also pushing her away from spike is the thought of having to do that again, and desperately trying to find the purpose without being able to.

He makes her choose wether she wants to be the prey or the hunter in this. On purpose. To show her her options and her power because she never really got to experience both sides / perspectives with Angel OR Riley.

So while she tries to figure out 1. Her reason why she should kill him (which should be a very very valid one so she can bring up the power to do so) 2. Her life's purpose in general, he just ... delivers purpose, not to her, but as in, her being the purpose. That's what he acts like and That's what she can't handle. Yes, she is the reason he is trying to change, but also, he puts her in the Position of being the purpose of him doing that.

Showing her the self responsibility and ability to be her own purpose and make her own decisions. (After her friends all kind of screwed up that kind of SELF responsibility.) He really does man up in this show, and like I said, these are just my thoughts watching it for the first time (did not see angel the series yet).

He is also holding her accountable even though he has a soft spot for her, and she is not used to that. She treats him like a man, yes, but he treats her like an equal as well and always has. She is used being looked down upon by adults or the council, enemies, blablablah, also her friends who "saved" her earlier this season, or being the superslayer hero and leader who has to do everything. She is always in positions. Even with angel, she was, it kind of stopped when they broke up but even then, he treats her like she does not know SHIT. Something is standing between them and always has been, and while Angel kind of used that as an excuse to keep distant and keep their walls up, Spike uses these exact walls as a reason or challenge to tear them down. Spike never acts like things are not his fault even if they are horrible, he just simply accepts his dark side while still having a normal one, with passions on tv and card games and whatever. He *subconciously* takes responsibility even before having a soul, for stuff he did, he doesn't blame his vampire side or whatever for it.

I think in subtext, Buffy always had a slight commitment to angel, as in "maybe, one day, it can still happen" while angel cut off all those hopes for himself (not his desires, maybe. But his ... solution oriented search or smth) as we can see when he visits her at her mom's funeral.

And one other reason why Buffy is so terrified of that whole Spike thing is because it makes her stop that hope for angel or resolve that feeling of being owned by (her feelings for) him.

And don't get me wrong, Spike is kinda possessive too, but as I see it he is trying to commit to a relationship where she can own herself and that is what terrifies her truly.

(That's what we see him do with drusilla from the beginning)

You understand what I mean? If you got thoughts on it let me know!

[conventofpleasure]

there are many bad things about xander btvs and this is far from his worst trait but it annoys me how he never owned the “attracted to demon ladies” thing. like all the gang (minus anya obv) give him shit for it and he’s like >:( instead of “fuck yea. demon girls are hot as fuck. especially anya”

[babygirlgiles]

you know, tbh, i really do get why some ppl hate Xander so much that they find him completely unwatchable as a character. not me though, i get him.

[coraniaid]

buffy/faith for the ask game

(Reverse unpopular opinions)

Easily my favorite Buffy ship and one of my favorites in any work of fiction. I think the main reasons it works so well for me are:

The way it resonates so strongly with what's going on in the rest of the show the season Faith arrives. I mean, Buffy comes out to her mother (as a Slayer), which is treated by the show as ... well, as Buffy coming out ("it's because you didn't have a strong father figure, isn't it?" / "have you tried ... not being a Slayer?" / "I've tried to march in the Slayer Pride Parade...") and a handful of episodes later Buffy meets another girl who is also a Slayer and who she starts spending a lot of time with (because they have a connection -- "it's kind of a Slayer thing" -- which she doesn't have with her other, non-Slayer friends). And while they're busy patrolling cemeteries and looking for vampires every night, this other Slayer is keen to (1) talk to Buffy about sex and quiz her on her love life; (2) repeatedly tell her that "all men are beasts" and "losers" who can't be trusted; (3) suggest that Buffy should be more open to having sex with the people she spends her nights hunting vampires with (like ... who, Faith?); and (4) is delighted when Buffy breaks up with her boyfriend (and later furious when she gets back together with her previous ex) and immediately suggests that she could replace him ("You're still going to that dance, right? [...] Why don't we go together?"). If this was deliberately laying the ground work for an explicitly romantic arc, it would feel pretty heavy-handed. The fact that it apparently wasn't (at least not on the part of the showrunner or of most of the writers) almost makes it work better, in some ways.

The way that Faith is, from the very beginning, very deliberately written as a foil for Buffy, a person Buffy might have been if things went just a little differently in her life -- because she goes through things very much like things the audience has already seen Buffy go though (living alone in a small place in a strange town with no friends all season the way Buffy did in Anne, panicking and starting to pack to run away in Faith, Hope & Trick in the same way Buffy was accused of doing just the episode before, killing a person the way Buffy thought she had in Season 2's Ted, the way her fear of Kakistos mirrors Buffy's fear of the Master in When She Was Bad) and because she is so aware of the fact that she's always being compared to Buffy and coming up short, either by other people or herself ("you get the Mom, you get the Watcher ... what do I get?") it's very easy to tie Faith's arc across the show back to Buffy and to her feelings about Buffy. Faith wanting Buffy to accept her becomes Faith wanting this idealized version of herself to forgive her failings. And likewise Buffy recriprocating Faith's feelings and admitting to herself that she is attracted to Faith becomes Buffy accepting that Faith (and the things she represents) really are an integral part of Buffy herself; that Faith isn't entirely wrong when she says that Buffy enjoys being a Slayer and that being a Slayer is something she should be proud of (or, again, being "a Slayer").

Apparently this wasn't the original plan for the character (if there ever was anything like an 'original plan'), but the fact Faith's arc in Season 3 so clearly mirrors Angel's in Season 2 -- and the fact she is so very weird about Angel all season (and that Buffy is equally weird about how attracted to Faith she just keeps insisting Angel must be) just naturally suggests that Faith might have a similiar role to Angel in the narrative beyond just the circumstances of her betrayal of (and later not-quite-being-killed by) Buffy. And Angel is -- for the first three seasons of the show at least -- primarily cast in the role of Buffy's doomed tragic love interest who she has to (metaphorically) kill but will later be reunited with. Which makes Faith ... well, something.

Even if not all the writers were on board, the fact that Eliza Dushku was deliberately playing Faith as attracted to Buffy (and that SMG was playing Buffy as alternately frustrated by and protective of and tempted by Faith) gives their scenes together a chemistry that I don't think most of Buffy's (or Buffy's) canon relationships ever managed. Whether that's the Amends porch scene or Buffy kissing Faith in the hospital in Graduation Day or any and all of their various fights across the show. And those fight scenes are all great, which is another thing I love about the ship: is it really a proper enemies-to-lovers arc if one of the people in it hasn't tried to kill the other one and left them in a coma for months?

Faith's return to Buffy in the last five epsiodes of the show is one of the last season's saving graces, and it helps that by this point the writers definitely seemed to be playing up the ship deliberately ("Willow said you needed me: didn't give it a lot of thought" / "Defensiveness and weird mixed signals ... I've got Faith for that" / "Deep down you've always wanted Buffy to accept you. To love you." / "It feels like it's mine ... I guess that means it's yours"). Even without ever being canon and without wandering what happens post-Chosen, it feels like there's a real narrative arc to their relationship, from their initially rocky start through to "just good friends" to bitter enemies through to Faith seeking (and finding) some measure of redemption and Buffy cautiously letting her back into her life. Faith isn't in the show much (or even mentioned in the show in most episodes), but it feels like she has a genuinely meaningful connection to Buffy that most characters who appeaer in less than a season's worth of episodes can't manage.

The thing that made the ship work for me, rewatching the show after several years back in 2020, is the fact that Faith is -- even at her worst -- incredibly sympathetic precisely because she is such a loser and hates herself so much. She boasts about being a great actor despite the fact we see her awkwardly telling the sort of transparent lies that ... well, normally only Buffy manages (compare "There's this big party ..." in Amends to Buffy trying to tell her old crush Ford that "there was a cat ... and then there was another cat, and they were fighting"), she wants people to think she's cool so badly but only manages to fool Xander and Willow, she tries to act as though she's happy without friends but we only ever see her alone sitting watching old tv shows or lying listlessly on her bed, she insists she doesn't need a Watcher and "has a problem with authority figures" but she is so openly desperate for any sort of parental guidance in her life that she sides with first Mrs Post then the Mayor. She ties Buffy's mom up so she can have someone to listen to how sad she is that Buffy's moved on to a new guy in college and "dumped" her. The scene in the church in Who Are You? where Faith-as-Buffy furiously attacks Buffy-as-Faith while screaming through tears that she's "nothing ... disgusting ... murderous bitch" is, I think, a strong contendor for the best scene the show ever produced.

As Doug Petrie said, the reason Faith works as a character -- and the reason that Buffy/Faith works as a ship -- is that Faith is incredibly unhappy. If Faith was the cool loner she tries to pass herself off as -- and which some of the fandom seems to think she is -- the ship wouldn't be nearly as compelling to me. Faith isn't just the part of Buffy who loves Slaying and pushes back when other people give her orders, and she's not just another verison of Angelus. She's the part of Buffy from Becoming who lost everything and ran away from home, only unlike Buffy she never got to go home again. As Angel asked Buffy in that episode: "no friends, no hope ... take that away, what's left?". Well, Faith is what's left. Of course Buffy would see herself in Faith, right from the beginning. Of course Buffy would want to protect her. As Buffy (Sunnydale Class Protector 1999) tells Angel, Faith is in pain ... she's somebody who "some people ... protective-type people" are naturally drawn to. The show is very consistent about the fact that Buffy's type is friendless losers who look good in leather and can fight alongside her in battle (but not quite as well, so she can protect them and look after them when they're hurt). And what bigger loser in the show is there than Faith?

[blond-jerk-tourney]

Blond Jerk Tourney Semifinals 2

Propaganda from submitters Under Cut

Spike

He is a jerk. He is Spike. Of course he is a jerk. And he is a walking paradox. He was bad, is bad, but got better. No you can't fix him, but you can love him for his efforts.

Nanami Kiryuu

She's the mean girl of the show, and a pretty interesting take on the "bitchy vain school rival of the protagonist" trope. She spends most of her early screentime being a bully and most of her later screentime being both the biggest loser imaginable and deeply sad/troubled (which still does not erase how much of an asshole she can be). She even laughs like your stereotypical mean rich girl. Nanami has so many problems and sucks so so bad. I adore her.

Shes a psychotic bully who seeks to ruin the lives and reputations of any girl who gets more of her brothers attention than she does. Reasons Nanami Kiryuu deserves to win: - she has made many attempts at physical and psychological terrorism against Anthy Himemiya (including a plotted wardrobe malfunction at a crowded social gathering) simply for drawing more of her brother's attention than her - tried to fill Anthy's bedroom with wild animals (a snail, a snake, and a live octopus) to make her out to be a freak only to find that her room was already full of wild animals - she bankrolled an elementary schoolers crush on her to turn him into her personal boyservant - briefly non-personed a member of her bully entourage for sharing an umbrella with her brother - received a luxury cowbell due to a shipping error and smugly wore it to school for weeks flaunting it like high coture - when her bully entourage rebelled against her due to her brothers manipulation she brought them back in line by just straight up beating the shit out of all of them - all in all just a petty, goonish motherfucker (she also does the ohohohohoho anime girl laugh)

she's blond: despite being Japanese her hair is yellow, unlike her brother's. yellow is even her image color. she's a jerk: introduced as a jealous and dishonest scheming bully, she is one of the more outwardly antagonistic characters in a cast where pretty much everyone is a Real Piece Of Work she's the best: the quintessential ohoho-laughing ojou, her fully-realized character arc makes people both laugh and cry even her sidekick is a blond jerk! how many blond jerks have their own blond jerk sidekick?

i don't know what you've heard but she's NOT the kind of girl who lays eggs!

The token mean rich girl of the franchise. Does the classic "ohohoho" laugh. Doesn't like either of our main characters. She never actually seems to get her way, and secretly has a lot of her own problems. also she lays eggs and turns into a cow

Absolutely THE quintessential anime mean girl. I mean literally her laughing is THE meme for the hohohoho anime laugh. Needs attention So Badly and straight up bullies anyone she deems a threat to that (so basically Everyone). I haven’t finished RGU but apparently she duels with the intent to kill and drowned a kitten once because it was taking up too much of her brother’s attention? Also she’s 13 which explains a lot

[thechosenthree]

Thanks to this post I am in my Kendra Young is such a freak <3 feels. Thank you @finalgirl1984 <3

[This went in a completely different direction that I expected, I do love to ramble.]

We talk so much about how by the book Kendra is and how she never got to be a kid or be a teenage girl. She was The Slayer before she was anyone else and before she was ever even actually called as the slayer.

We definitely don’t talk enough about how maybe compared to Buffy, Kendra was a stickler for the rules, but she definitely wasn’t completely by the book!

I saw a comment once about how leaving a vampire locked up to wait for the sun to burn him to ash is definitely not in the slayer handbook. And that’s so true!! She was enjoying it, she was laughing at his attempts at threatening her!! Literally not scared of him for a second. #1 Angel hater who also thinks he’s a loser. And she could have just staked him, she should have staked him, she was the vampire slayer and that is literally her job. But she played with him like a cat hunting a mouse instead and I love her for that.

Like I generally tend to think that Buffy was to Kendra what Faith was to Buffy, but that’s not entirely true?

Both Kendra and Faith were completely accepting of their slayer sides, proud of being slayers and able to enjoy the hunt and the kill in a way that Buffy really struggled with.

I think Kendra and Faith are a lot more alike than I’ve given them credit for? They both try to kill Angel when they first meet him, they are both confused why Buffy wants to protect him and not just stake him. That goes against what they have been taught.

We obviously don’t know much about Faith’s slaying life before coming to Sunnydale, what her watcher was like, or what her training was like. But it’s possible it was a lot more by the book than Buffy’s. Faith watched her watcher be killed in front of her and then shows up in Sunnydale with serious issues with authority.

But the way she is with Gwendolyn Post paints a picture of the way she may have taken to her first watcher. She wanted someone to look out for her and give her guidance. So if she had a watcher she liked and respected, her doing what she was told and being by the book seems likely. She did what Gwendolyn told her to do over listening to Buffy, so we even have evidence in the show for that.

Faith’s training may have been a lot more like Kendra’s than Buffy’s. Of course she didn’t have that watcher training her for very long, just the summer. So she wouldn’t have learned near as much as Kendra, who spent her whole life training for this did.

And whereas Kendra never had a life apart from slaying, Faith didn’t have one worth missing once she was called. There was nothing holding Faith back from full on accepting her destiny and giving her all to it, unlike Buffy.

Buffy had a life before slaying. She got to be a kid, she got to be a girl. She got to live her life without worrying about much. She got to just be. And being the slayer did not mesh with that, her fighting to make both sides of herself fit is a huge part of the show.

Faith is very heavily implied to have been abused by her mother, and who knows what else she went through. She didn’t get to just be a kid, she was dealing with stuff no child should ever have to go through. Being called as a slayer gave her the physical power to fight back. And she embraced that with open arms and did not look back.

The circumstances that preceded Kendra and Faith being called as slayers is obviously very different. But it’s also similar is some ways I hadn’t previously thought about.

Kendra was forged as a weapon, her life was lived in training to be the slayer. Faith was living a life she couldn’t escape from, couldn’t fight back against.

Kendra being called brought everything she’d been taught, everything she’d worked towards into focus. That is what she had always been told she was meant to do. It was her purpose.

Faith being called gave her an out from her old life, gave her the strength and the power to defend herself and fight back. We know she’s never had anyone looking out for her, that she had to take care of herself. In a way, being the slayer gave her a purpose she didn’t know she was looking for.

Neither Kendra or Faith got to just be a kid. They didn’t necessarily know what they were missing when they embraced being a slayer. Kendra literally did not know anything else. And the life Faith knew was definitely nothing worth holding on to.

I think this makes their attitudes towards being slayers compared to Buffy’s make so much sense.

And if we go with the slayerhood as a metaphor for queerness…

Buffy was just living her life and was blindsided figuring something out about herself that she hadn’t been looking for. She didn’t want to be that person, it made her life more difficult. She wanted to go back to a time before she knew this about herself. She was so focused on how much she didn’t want to be the slayer [read: queer] that it took her a long time to acknowledge that she enjoyed it. That it was a part of who she is. And that she liked that about herself. It took her a long time to be proud to call herself the slayer.

We also see that Buffy’s parents were not immediately accepting, and before she actually “came out” they talked to and about her like she was a different person now and like they just wanted her to be who she used to be. And then of course Joyce literally kicks her out of the house when she can’t accept who Buffy is and Buffy refuses to go “back in the closet” to please her. Buffy having internalized slayerphobia makes a lot of sense.

Kendra always knew who she was. She was raised by someone who knew who she was, and who wanted her to be that person. She is proud of who she is, of being a freak. She is so happy to connect with Buffy and not be alone being a freak.

But also looking at how the council is scared of the slayers, and wants to be in control of them, it’s a conditional sort of acceptance. Kendra can be herself as long as she’s useful to the council. Also looking at it this way, her parents knowing who she is and sending her away because of it is an interesting thing to think about.

Faith did not always know who she was. But she likely knew she was different or at least felt like she was. Having an abusive parent will make that clear to you. On top of that the things she implies about her high school experience make it clear she did not have friends or fit in. She was a loner, an outcast, a freak.

Then she found out who she was and everything made sense to her. Faith embraced being a slayer [read: queer] and she was proud of who she is. She enjoyed it, she liked it. And she met Buffy and loved that someone else was a freak with her.

Kendra and Faith genuinely enjoying being slayers and being proud to call themselves freaks in juxtaposition to Buffy who definitely loved not being alone, and finding kindred spirits in the two of them but was also having a hard time liking that part of herself is so interesting.

Makes me wish we’d gotten to see Kendra and Faith meet even more. I used to think they would clash and take a long time to warm up to each other. But now I’m wondering if they wouldn’t be off tying up vamps and enjoying the kill together.

[hersterical]

Being the change I want to see in the world by posting Faith and Angel friendship/sibling headcanons (ignoring the comics cause I’ve never read them and some of the parts of ats that I don’t like):

Barring apocalyptic or other comparable season finale-esque events, Angel would call her in the prison every single week without fail

Faith is embarrassed by this in the same way a teenager is embarrassed when their friends find out that they have parents who love them

Every single one of these phone calls begins with a long, awkward silence as both of these losers struggle to find something to talk about. Eventually these long pauses become comforting to both of them

What they usually end up talking about (other than the progress of Faith’s redemption arc) is Angel venting about the annoying/mildly uncomfortable things he had to do during a job (the guy could literally be stranded in a hell dimension and what he spends the most time talking about is how itchy the clothes were) while Faith keeps him updated on the petty relationship/political drama happening around her like it’s a soap opera

After everything goes down and they have the occasional time to hang out, their time together is almost always spent watching their guilty pleasure chick flicks. Angel prefers the more serious, tragic, tear jerkers while Faith is more into rom-coms. They’ve sworn to never reveal this to anyone ever

A viewing of But I’m a Cheerleader leads to their first in depth discussion of both of their love lives.

Spike worked his way into a movie night once and they ended up watching Rocky Horror Picture Show. Angel refuses to admit that he loves it just as much as the other two did

Angel and Faith occasionally patrol for vamps and other demons at night clubs. On nights with less demonic activity they end up spending a lot of time people watching. Sometimes they’re petty and judgey and sometimes they try to get the other to break by telling the most ridiculous backstory possible while still maintaining a dry delivery

Whenever Faith is traveling she’ll send Angel a postcard. She’ll also occasionally call him. Faith claims to hate all of his worrying and mother-henning but secretly loves it. Angel doesn’t call her because she always forgets to give him her phone number

If Faith goes for more than a month or two with no contact then Angel will contact one of the scoobies so he can be not mad, just disappointed with her for worrying him. He’ll avoid contacting Buffy about Faith because the dynamics between all of them are still kind of weird even though she’s the one most likely to know where Faith is at any time

Angel is unaware that he’s dating both Cordy and Spike until Faith asks him about it

All of Faith’s singing abilities fly out the window whenever she’s hanging out with Angel and his gang

Lorne and Gunn make occasional cracks about how it makes sense that Faith and Angel get along, considering their names. The only ones who find these jokes funny are Lorne, Gunn, and Fred

Eventually Faith begins to show some small signs of aging. The only acknowledgment this receives is a silent, bittersweet smile shared between the two of them because who ever thought that they’d be alive long enough for Faith to show signs of aging? and Angel will never have the chance to grow old

They tend to forget to hold back with each other whenever they spar. This is both a source of concern and entertainment to the different members of the Fang Gang

Angel gets into the habit of fondly messing up Faith’s hair as a sign of affection. In return, Faith punches him in the arm or chest hard enough that no one else, not even a fellow slayer, would consider it to be playful. This is the most reliable way anyone has found to make him laugh

Angel has yet to approve of anyone Faith has dated and will occasionally try to convince her to at least try to ask out Buffy. Those conversations usually end in an impromptu sparring session

They both order huge meals when they go to their favorite 24-hour diner after patrolling or working a case together where Angel will then give Faith all of his food. There’s a demon friendly butcher not too far away that they usually hit up for blood anyway since the owner is still grateful that Angel helped them out one time

They. Are. Siblings.

[theoverlookedoneedits1997]

Some Thoughts on Nightmares (1x10)

There are so many great things about Nightmares. It is one of the first episodes where we get to explore the fears of the characters (which I love). We get to see the little common fears like public embarrassment, academic failure, and nonsensical things like not being able to read. Things that characters dread or worry about.

Then we get to see the deep, painful fears that have a real impact on who the characters are. Xander's recurring nightmare that represents his childhood trauma and his need to overcome it. Willow's terror of being seen and perceived shown through extreme stage fright. Giles' fear of failing to protect Buffy and losing her because of his own shortcomings. Buffy's layers upon layers of fears about her father, about herself as a daughter and her self-worth, about dying young, and about the question of if a slayer is just a killer, and the possibility of becoming a monster herself.

The characters are vulnerable and show sides of themselves that are nuanced and deeply personal.

Then we see Cordelia's greatest fear, her biggest nightmare: being a total loser.

Her nightmare is clearly comic relief with her desperate cries that she's 'not on the chess club' sounding as pained and fearful as any of the times her life has been in actual danger. It's funny and shows Cordelia's lack of depth, but it also sets her up for incredible character development. This episode cements her fear of being a social outcast/nerd/loser and that fear is built upon in Out of Mind, Out of Sight and we see this fear drive a lot of her decisions in the following seasons.

Season one shows us the two-dimensional version of Cordelia that makes the fleshed-out, nuanced character that she becomes even more impressive, amazing and frankly empowering.

[bloomfish]

there are obviously a lot of intended parallels in season 2 between buffy and drusilla, the most obvious of these being that they share a birthday (although I always wonder if what drusilla calls her 'birthday' isnt really the day angelus turned her, which still works given that it's the day angel loses his soul and leaves buffy for drusilla basically) and that they both have prophetic abilities.

but thinking about this more I honestly think that buffy as a vampire would be pretty similar to drusilla. it's implied that angel's end goal was to do to buffy what he'd done to drusilla... before he got randomly sidetracked by acathla (which the more I think about it the more out of character the acathla plot seems, idc though its good drama). and obviously buffy's great loves and drusilla's great loves are the same two losers lol. it makes me wish there had been... any real interaction between dru and buffy. I rly wish she had returned to the show, what a waste of a great character not to bring her back except in flashbacks/the first.

anyway i think it's significant that drusilla as a human begged to stay "pure and good" before angel turns her and takes her "innocence", the name of the episode in which he does the same thing to buffy. he was drawn to them both for the same reasons and ended up ruining their lives. And then spike is just a sub who is drawn to powerful women who treat him like dirt but that's his problem/mommy issues. Dru and Buffy have veeery similar relationships with both Spike and Angel now that I think about it. and I'm willing to bet that Drusilla has a very Buffy-ish sense of loneliness and isolation due to her powers, which is why she's so obsessed with getting her family back together.

capricorn aquarius cusp

strengths: Determined, creative, entertaining, idealistic, witty, empathetic weaknesses: Detached, chaotic, selfish, aloof, critical, judgmental

hmmmmm

[girl4music]

Angel: "What?"

Cordy: "What?"

Angel: "What do you want to say?"

Cordy: "Ah, me? Nothing. What makes you think I wanna..."

Angel: "'Cause I know you.”

Cordy: "Well, it's really… none of my business."

Angel: "And that always stops you?”

Cordy: “Actually, it is my business, *our* business, because we're trying to do a job here, and what affects you affects me, and anyway, I don't like to see you suffer more than you have to. I don't think you should blame yourself, or feel guilty for her death."

Angel: "I don't."

Cordy: "Good. Glad to hear it."

Angel: "I didn't even know who she was when I killed her."

Cordy: "Not her! Angel..."

Angel:

*After a beat*

“Oh... you… you want to talk about..."

Cordy: "She was the love of your life and she died.

*Angel sits down on the stairs, facing Cordy*

*Steps closer*

And you weren't there when it happened.

*Sits down next to him with a sigh*

You couldn't help her fight. You couldn't save her. You couldn't die with her."

*Angel doesn’t answer*

—————————————————————————

Cordy: "And how about you?"

Angel: "I'm o..."

Cordy: "And don't say 'okay.' Angel, please. I know you. Ever since you've come back from your grief trip I can tell that something's not right. And, and *obviously* it's not. Buffy's dead, and I don't mean to diminish that. I miss her too. I just wanna say… I know that James with all his Romeo and Juliet madness, opened up a lot of wounds for you, but you'll be okay."

Angel: "I am okay."

Cordy: "Then what's the problem?"

Angel: "That I'm okay. That losing Buffy didn't kill me. That I could deal with it. In all those years no one ever mattered. Not like she did. And now she's gone. Forever.”

Cordy: "And you're still here."

Angel: "Yeah. I just feel like I'm betraying her somehow."

Cordy: "No! If you were a loser, if you were some sick obsessed vampire, you'd go to a Snod demon, or whatever, and get your heart cut out. But you're not! You're a living, breathing... Well, living, anyway, good guy, whose still fighting and trying to help people, and that's not betraying her, that's honoring her."

Angel: "You think?"

Cordy: "I'm Cordelia. I don't think. I know. Okay?"

*Cordy gives him a big grin, which draws a small smile in response*

Angel: "Okay."

So I’m on to Season 3 of ‘Angel the Series’ and this first episode was dealing with the aftermath of Buffy’s death in Season 5 of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’. How it affects Angel and specifically how he keeps the grief of his loss to himself but Cordy can see through him.

But listen - Everything I’ve just quoted above showcases how much better of a relationship Angel has with Cordy over what he ever had with Buffy. All of THIS is what a RELATIONSHIP is. The way they just know each other that they can’t lie to one another. The way Cordy draws information out of Angel like no one else can and is so perceptive in figuring him out. The way he opens up to her with a minimum amount of prodding from her. The brick wall of non-communication that was Bangel is nowhere to be seen in Cangel. This entire conversation is about Buffy specifically and what Buffy means to Angel. Yet through it I can see that were it in reverse and it was Cordy that died and it was Buffy giving this speech….

There would honestly be nowhere near the breakthrough on revealing Angel’s emotions because they’re both one in the same when it comes to communication. They both hide away from each other in moments of being in need of someone to talk to. Maybe it’s just because they have more time and purpose to do significant character interaction in Angel’s own show when it comes to drawing out information from Angel’s psyche, but I just see so much more between Angel and Cordy - just friends - then I ever saw between apparent “love of their lives” Angel and Buffy. This level of intimate relation to one another is on the level of Spuffy or Tillow. This is what you’re supposed to have in a relationship where the people in it are actual partners. Honest and open communication. Buffy and Angel never had this… really ever. I mean I brought up the interaction and conversation they had in ‘Forever’ as the only time where I truly saw Bangel as genuinely relating to one another and this was well passed their heydays.

I really love what I’m seeing in this dynamic. This is what makes Angel - the character and the show - interesting to watch. He finally has someone who KNOWS him to the point where he cannot always brood away in silence and pretend like no one cares. Because that’s not interesting to watch. It’s just sad. Thank fuck Cordelia is in this show as a main character because not only is she better for it. But she makes HIM better for it as well! That’s precisely what was needed for either of them to be considered even half as interesting of a character to me as Willow or Spike. And okay - there’s still a lot to live up to there. But it’s a start! This is what I wanted to see in Bangel but I never could because they were so incompatible when it came to being each other’s sounding board. It was like they were trying but they were never breaking through that communication barrier between them so as much of a whirlwind romance that they had - that was written… there was just nothing holding it up other than all the physical intimacy that they shared. And that’s just shallow. There was no depth to it. Not like there is with Cangel. With what I can see in them.

[isagrimorie]

Faith + 2, 3, 7 for the character ask game?

Faith (btvs) for this character ask game

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

Just like how Kendra entered the show, I love how she shook up the show. And showed us another side of the Slayer life. I love how Faith is so fierce and funny but also incredibly vulnerable with a leather jacket for armor.

Also, I do love how Faith can tempt Buffy to play hooky and actually enjoy being the Slayer.

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

I do think I enjoy a lot about Faith including the bad stuff she's done because her arc becomes stronger for it.

My least favorite part of canon is how she's only in a handful of episodes and she should've been in season 7 a whole hell of a lot earlier than she was.

I wish Faith's presence loomed larger -- I wish she was there where, logically, she should've been. I don't recall the post but I remember someone point out that Tara should've been the voice of the First Slayer.

Because it would've made sense!

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

How fandom has opened my eyes about Faith being a beloved loser. I think when I was younger I really fell for the mystique of Faith being so, so cool.

And I think until a few years ago, I believed that, and then I started reading essays about Faith and I realized. Oh. She's actually a loser (affectionate).

[evilwickedme]

Welcome to Gail's Blorbo Showdown!

It's finally starting! My followers are going to pick the ultimate blorbo - and we've got a lot of quality blorbos here. Campaigning for your fav is both allowed and encouraged!!

Each poll will be set for 24 hours, but they'll be queued to show up on your feed every few hours so hopefully nobody misses a round! And ofc feel free to reblog if you want. This is all up to you guys!!

Round 1

Match 1: Jon Sims (The Magnus Archives) vs Hardison (Leverage) WINNER: HARDISON

Match 2: Parker (Leverage) vs Percy Jackson (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) WINNER: PARKER

Match 3: Andrew Minyard (All For The Game) vs Eliot Spencer (Leverage) WINNER: ELIOT SPENCER

Match 4: Gansey (The Raven Cycle) vs Tim Drake (DC) WINNER: TIM DRAKE

Match 5: Tara Maclay (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) vs Blue Sargent (The Raven Cycle) WINNER: TARA MACLAY

Match 6: Adam Parrish (The Raven Cycle) vs Neil Josten (All For The Game) WINNER: NEIL JOSTEN

Match 7: Ronan Lynch (The Raven Cycle) vs Jaskier (The Witcher) WINNER: JASKIER

Match 8: Matt Murdock/Daredevil (Daredevil) vs Seven of Nine (Star Trek Voyager) WINNER: DAREDEVIL

Round 2

Match 1: Spider-Gwen (Marvel) vs Hardison (Leverage) WINNER: SPIDER-GWEN

Match 2: Parker (Leverage) vs Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) WINNER: PARKER

Match 3: Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) vs Eliot Spencer WINNER: BUFFY SUMMERS

Match 4: Tim Drake (DC) vs Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Marvel) WINNER: SPIDER-MAN

Match 5: Lois Lane (DC) vs Tara Maclay (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) WINNER: LOIS LANE

Match 6: Adam Parrish (The Raven Cycle) vs Murderdock (Marvel) WINNER: MURDERDOCK

Match 7: Jason Todd (DC) vs Jaskier (The Witcher) WINNER: JASKIER

Match 8: Matt Murdock/Daredevil (Marvel) vs Deadpool (Marvel) WINNER: DEADPOOL

Round 3

Match 1: Spider-Gwen (Marvel) vs Parker (Leverage) WINNER: SPIDER-GWEN

Match 2: Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) vs Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Marvel) WINNER: SPIDER-MAN

Match 3: Lois Lane (DC) vs Murderdock (Marvel) WINNER: LOIS LANE

Match 4: Jaskier (The Witcher) vs Deadpool (Marvel) WINNER: JASKIER

Semi-Finals

Match 1: Spider-Gwen (Marvel) vs Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Marvel) WINNER: SPIDER-GWEN

Match 2: Lois Lane (DC) vs Jaskier (The Witcher) WINNER: JASKIER

Losers bracket - qualifying round WINNERS: PERCY JACKSON AND JASON TODD

Finals

Finals: Spider-Gwen (Marvel) vs Jaskier (The Witcher) WINNER: SPIDER-GWEN

Losers bracket: Percy Jackson (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) vs Jason Todd (DC) WINNER: PERCY JACKSON

[coraniaid]

Xander spends the first half of The Zeppo trying -- largely at Cordelia's prompting -- to work out how to be cool. The secret, he decides after talking to Oz, is that "you need a 'thing', one thing nobody else has".

Later, after he borrows his uncle's car, we get this exchange between Xander, Buffy and Willow:

Buffy: What is this? Xander: What do you mean, what is it? It's my thing. Willow: Your 'thing'? Xander: My thing! Buffy: Is this a penis metaphor? Xander: It's my thing that makes me cool. You know, that makes me unique

So that's The Zeppo. Xander -- worried that he's seen as a loser and still trying to impress his ex -- believe the secret is to find a "thing" that will make him cool and unique. It is only Xander -- who is not cool -- who believes that having 'a thing' will help make him seem cool. Nobody else in the show thinks like this. Xander's attempts to become cool are not successul.

Okay, onto the next episode: Bad Girls.

Faith is hanging out a lot with Buffy, the "good friend" she spent a few episodes not talking to after the events of Revelations. She seems to be trying her best to make a good impression as somebody cool and untroubled and carefree. She's got a new toy she didn't pay for too.

Hmm.

(And, just as Xander is soon exposed as not really knowing anything about his borrowed car, seconds after the quote above Faith gets into a fight in which her brand new bow turns out to be useless.)

What could it mean?

[tomb-of-flora]

Introduction Post (V2)

I did an introduction post 7-8 months ago and it's really bad, so I wanted to do a new one.

Hello! I am relatively new to tumblr, but I've been here for over six months now, and it's the only social media I've been able to stick with for this long. It feels like I've officially put down roots with this blog, so I wanted to give myself a proper introduction.

A little about me: I'm a writer with a particular emphasis on poetry and fiction that angsts about identity. I'm a Dungeon Master who has been playing D&D (and occasionally other ttrpgs) since I was 12-13. I'm in my mid twenties (and am going to post accordingly so I don't want to see any minors interacting). I'm a lesbian, and ngl pretty much everything I say or do has an undertone of sapphic yearning. If i had to define my taste in general I love anything that is super feminine, pink, and princessy, and also anything that is gothic, rotted, and miserable. Anything that could combine the vibes of like Princess Peach/Sailor Moon and Edgar Allan Poe would be a dream come true for me. I also have a deep love on run down apocalyptic settings (especially if they include a theme park).

This blog will mainly be reblogs, fandom posts, and random things about myself and what I'm thinking. It's just kind of a personal haven to express myself and show my friends cool stuff I saw. I was originally going to make this a place where I posted about my writing/D&D, but all of that stuff kept getting buried, so I decided to delete those posts and make a couple dedicated sideblogs.

If you want to see my original posts i use the hashtag #entombedpost and for reblogs where I remembered to say something I use #entombedreblog

Follow @myovergrowngarden if you want to read/hear about my writing

Follow @yeehaw-in-magic-space if you want to hear about the adventures that take place in my space western/fantasy horror D&D campaign. I recap every session and drop random bits of lore on this account.

Some of my favorite books/short stories include: The Locked Tomb series, The Poet X, Clap When You Land, Family Lore, Any Other City, The Honey Month, This Is How You Lose the Time War, An Education in Malice, The Fall of the House of Usher, Mexican Gothic, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid In the Omelas Hole, Orientation, White Smoke, The Iliad/Odyssey.

Some of my favorite shows include: Supernatural, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Midnight Mass, Black Sails, Game of Thrones (seasons 1-4), House of the Dragon, Breaking Bad, Chernobyl.

Some of my favorite cartoons/anime include: Steven Universe, Over the Garden Wall, Arcane, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Cowboy Bebop, Delicious in Dungeon, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Noragami, Hunter X Hunter, Simoun, Chainsaw Man, the old DCAU (Batman TAS, Superman TAS, Batman Beyond, Justice League, Static Shock, JLU), Teen Titans, Star Wars Rebels, High Guardian Spice, Gravity Falls, Amphibia.

Some of my favorite video games include: The Last of Us PT II, Get in the Car, Loser, Hades/Hades II, Darkest Dungeon, Fallout: New Vegas, Celeste, Ace Attorney, Dark Souls, Epic Mickey, We Know the Devil, Slay the Princess, Long Live the Queen, Monster Prom/Camp/Road Trip. I also love a lot of board games, but I think that would push us over the text limit so I'm just going to mention that briefly.

Some of my favorite movies include: I Saw the TV Glow, Star Wars (particularly VI, VIII, IV, V), Lord of the Rings, Whisper of the Heart, Kiki's Delivery Service, Birds of Prey, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snowpiercer, Annihilation, Sorry to Bother You, the Fear Street Trilogy, a bunch of the Saw movies, Us, Nosferatu (1922).

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Monday, June 10

JONATHAN: (incredulous) You're checking for implants? ANDREW: (defensive) Lex Luthor had a false epidermis escape kit in "Superman Versus the Amazing Spider-Man" Treasury edition- JONATHAN: Okay, first of all, those were sonic disrupters. And second of all ... you are sadness personified. Waiting for Warren? Yeah, maybe he'll come bust us out of here on Santa's magic sleigh. ANDREW: (stands up angrily) I'm telling him you said that. JONATHAN: Why wait? I'll tell him right now. Jonathan grabs Andrew's elbow and holds it up to his own face. JONATHAN: Hey, Warren, do you read me, your girlfriend's pathetic, over.

~~Two to Go~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Escape From Mosaic (gen, not rated) by eevol76vamp

Girls Night Out (gen, not rated) by eevol76vamp

Lindsey's Last Song (gen, not rated) by eevol76vamp

Old Enough (Buffy/Spike, G) by sandy_s

Finding a Sense of Direction (Drusilla/Faith, not rated) by rhodrymavelyne

Night Swimming (Buffy/Spike, R) by Geliot99

[Chaptered Fiction]

Incarnate Chapter 6 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Sigyn

Rebehold the Stars (Love from the Other Side of the Apocalypse) Chapter 15 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Asokatanos

East of Nevada Chapter 3 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Blissymbolics

Morning Stretches Chapter 3 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by CheekyKitten

The Boyfriend Swap Chapter 16 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Maxine Eden

The Devil's Trill Chapter 8 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Murray

The Witch's Gift Chapter 36 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by RavenLove12

Blood and Fame Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Desicat

Bruises Chapter 17 (Buffy/Spike, adult only) by hulettwyo

Love Lives Here Chapter 74 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Passion4Spike

[Images, Audio & Video]

Podcast:Pride, Prejudice and Buffy (Buffy and the Art of Story Podcast) by lisalilly

Podcast:Episode 31 - Fly Kids and Eye Stalks (Killed by Death) by thesunnydalediaries

Art:Who’s this billy idol looking loser by bugaboooooooooo

[Reviews]

war and peaches' buffyverse compendium by war and peaches

[Fandom Discussions]

Spike wasn’t a Good Vampire by virtue of just being that way by buffy-targaryen

One of the funniest jokes in the Buffy episode “Once More With Feeling” by jq37

Why Spike picked Sunnydale by nicnacsnonsense

Angel's most heroic act by The Whirlwind

Rewatch thoughts and questions continued by multiple posters

Is Riley more misogynistic than other characters? continued by multiple posters

What If: Buffy lived with Hank instead? by nightshade

Were the slayers a good idea? by TheXandyman

In what stances was a character screwed by the narrative? by brwitch

On your first time watching The Zeppo did you think they would do something with Xander and Faith? by LightBlueSky55

Thoughts on Willow's character during her recovery from abusing magics in the mid half of season six by jdpm1991

Which Scooby gang member had the best levels in "Chaos Bleeds"? by jdpm1991

Spike and Andrew were both integrated into the Scooby Gang the same way by rednax2009

the ascension by brian5mbv

Watching Angel for the first time, this scene made me shocked by brwitch

I think killing Angel influenced Buffy's decision to sacrifice herself in "The Gift" by Whedonite144

The Mayor and his bs by Pookienini

"Come in here, take everything that I have... You did it before. Did you tell them that?" by jogaforacont

Am I wrong for thinking Angel hooking up with Darla was hot in 2x15? by rites0fpassage

What are some moments that you were incredibly frustrated or disappointed with Cordelia? by PristineSituation498

Which if any characters grew on you the most when you revisited the series? by Whedonite144

What is everyone’s funniest episode? by queenrosybee

Unexplainable vibes? by mymacaronibirthmark

Although Faith was always jealous she did seem to like Buffy a lot in season 3 by IntelligentPumpkin74

Is BTVS Angel a little overhated? by debujandobirds

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