#faith and spike are basically the same character

[hersterical]

When Faith and Buffy are together then Faith is Buffy’s boyfriend. But when they’re not together then Faith is Buffy’s ex-wife

Likewise

When Spike and Buffy are together then Spike is Buffy’s wife. But when they’re not together then Spike is Buffy’s ex-boyfriend

[anniflamma]

Okay… I’m going to rant about a book that I read a while ago.... And I can’t deny it anymore… it was a bad book.

The Passion of Sergius and Bacchus by David Reddish. It’s a romantic retelling of the Christian saints Sergius and Bacchus.

To tell the story briefly about these saints, Sergius and Bacchus were third-century Roman soldiers and Christian martyrs. The oldest record of their martyrdom describes them as erastai (Greek for “lovers”). Scholars believe they may have been united in the rite of adelphopoiesis, a kind of early Christian same-sex union. When their Christian faith became known, after they refused to attend sacrifices to Zeus, Sergius and Bacchus were arrested and paraded through the streets in women’s clothing in an unsuccessful effort to humiliate them. The reason it failed was that the duo didn’t feel humiliated being dressed as women. After that they were both executed. Bacchus was beaten to death and Sergius was forced to walk in inward-iron-spiked metal shoes to another town and there was executed.

So, of course, when I found out there was a book retelling about them, I bought it immediately and obviously ignored the negative reviews. I read it with rose-tinted glasses on and loved it! Sure, I could see some red flags, but I ignored them, and to be honest, there are some parts of the book that is very good.

But here’s the problem with it: Reddish’s way of portraying women is… very questionable. For example, there are only two named female characters in the book. Only two. The first one is Helen, whose personality traits are that she’s pregnant and stupid. Im not kidding. Not that she actually does anything dumb, the narrative just tells us she’s stupid. She don't do anything, like she takes parts in some conversations with the other male characters but other than that, nothing. But the book itself and the maincharacters acts like she is the most dumb person there is. Later in the book, she dies, motivating another male character to make irrational decisions out of grief. Her only purpose is to serve as a plot device when she dies.....

The second named female character is Miriam (I remember right...), and she’s a homophobe. She does have a small arc where she recognizes she’s wrong, the next chapter she’s back to being homophobic again, and the narrative nor other characters doesn’t acknowledge her regression.

Trigger warning for the topic of rape.

Then there’s another female character who appears in the book. She doesn’t have a name. She’s basically just a narrative device to show that Sergius is a good person. There’s a scene where Sergius finds a group of Roman men raping a 14-year-old girl. He kills them and saves her. He doesn’t speak to her, she have no speaking lines, and then… Sergius just leaves and continues with whatever he was doing before. The plot moves on, and it’s never mentioned again....This entire scene happens in less than one page. At first, I thought it would come back to bite Sergius, you know, because he just killed four Roman men.... but nope! It was just there to show that Sergius thinks rape is bad and that he’s a skilled fighter who can take down four men at once. That’s all. Wtf?

This is why I hate stories that use rape as a tool to make a male character look good...

And then there’s the moment when Sergius and Bacchus were forced to be dressed in women’s clothing… In this retelling book, it’s portrayed as deeply shameful. Sergius has a long inner monologue about how awful he feels seeing Bacchus in women’s clothing, blah blah blah.

Like… this book shits on every single female character it has, and when it reaches the part where, in the original story, the men proudly embrace being “Brides of Christ,” it does the exact opposite. Yet Sergius is described as empathetic toward women’s suffering, that guy have inner monologues about how much he thinks that women should be treated better but at the same time he’d rather be physically tortured than wear women’s clothing.... And Sergius nor the narrative never questions why Sergius feel that way.... Talk about the irony... a modern retelling of an ancient story about two men who proudly embrace becoming "Brides of Christ" which leads to their death, yet in this version, it’s portrayed as something shameful.

How do you, as an author, take an old story from the freaking third century and potray it like this? There is no women in the legend so all these female characters are made up by the author... I can't help it but it feels like this author just simply don't like women... I really wanted to like this book... but once you see it without the redtinded glasses... it's really hard for me to recommend it... Stay away guys.

[fake-russian-chick]

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer vs. The Vampire Diaries, pt. 1

Hello everybody! Here I am, now to talk about my favorite supernatural creature, the vampires.

My love for the undead started a very long time ago, and started with the Twilight Saga (Terrible, I know, but in my defence, I was nine) and from that, I started to watch/ read everything related to vampires I could.

Before I realised, pretty much at that age, I started to watch the TVDU, and since that time, it still is my favourite show ever. But, after the ending of The Originals, I decided to expand my vampire obsession and went to look for the other major shows. First I watched True Blood, which is the worst between them, I honestly just watched it because of Eric Northman.

Now (actually in 2023, but I just came back to it now) I’m watching Buffy, and since the first episodes, I’ve fell in love with it. I’m currently at the middle of the 4th season of Buffy, and I can’t help but notice how similar it is to TVDU, or better, how TVDU is similar to Buffy, since Buffy came first.

Now, as always, spoilers under the cut:

Let’s start with the basis of the story, it’s a small town that for some reason is full of supernatural beings of all kinds, and then there’s a human girl who’s also connected to the supernatural. She’s in love with a vampire who tries to be a good man but has a dark side, and eventually comes another vampire who seems to be a monster, but is actually the better man.

And the resemblances don’t stop there, both the girls have a best friend who’s a witch (Willow and Bonnie) and a “evil” counterpart (Faith and Katherine). There’s even a character known as “Ripper” in both of them! (Giles and Stefan) And of course, I can’t forget the annoying human (Xander and Matt, although Xander is a much better character than Matt could ever be), a mean popular girl (Caroline and Cordelia), it has everything!

The trick to make a vampire good or bad once again, in BTVS is having or not having a soul, while in TVDU is about having your humanity switch on or off, but it’s pretty much the same thing, a way to make your vampire the good or the bad guy quickly.

Even the plot of switching bodies happened in both shows, although in Buffy was a one episode thing, and in TVD Katherine stayed in Elena’s body for a longer time

So, here is the closest correspondence of the characters, under my humble opinion, of course.

Buffy Summers — Elena Gilbert

Angel(us) — Stefan Salvatore

Spike — Damon Salvatore

Drusilla — Katherine Pierce

Faith Lehane — Also Katherine Pierce

Xander Harris — Matt Donovan

Willow Rosenberg — Bonnie Bennet

Rupert Giles — Alaric Saltzman

Joyce Summers — Jenna Sommers (in this case even the surname is basically the same)

Daniel “Oz” Osbourne — Tyler Lockwood

Cordelia Chase — Caroline Forbes

I think thats the resemblances I noticed for now, but I’m sure it will have more, so stay tuned to see the part two of my analysis!

[dr-futbol-blog]

The Intruder, Pt. 3

Next, we find McKay catching up with Caldwell for a walk and talk, and he seems much more free to argue his case for the Colonel now that Sheppard is not next to him, literally breathing down his neck as he was previously. McKay is clearly concerned for the safety of the people onboard. And as much as he may have held back before and stopped himself from saying what he was thinking, it all seems to spill out of him now, words tumbling out of his mouth so quickly that the Colonel seems to have a hard time understanding what he's saying.

McKay: I checked the power distribution logs against the time code on the security camera. There was an unexplained spike, but it happened thirty seconds after the camera went off. Caldwell: So? McKay: So it means the malfunction in the door and the camera were not caused by the same problem. Major Sheppard was right -- that's too much of a coincidence. Caldwell: You mean Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard. McKay: Uh, right. Oh, that's gonna take some getting used to.

McKay, just like Sheppard did with Weir earlier, also cannot keep from bringing the other up in conversations. There's really no need for him to mention Sheppard to argue his case but not only does he bring up his name, he says it with such conviction, with such faith in the fact that Sheppard is right. What ever the status of their relationship, McKay believes in Sheppard.

This is interesting. There might be a few reasons for why McKay seems to have trouble adjusting to Sheppard's new rank. First is, they haven't seen each other a lot recently. Sheppard got his promotion a month ago, and they've spent over two weeks of that month encased in the fairly close space of a ship in hyperspace. It's possible McKay is not be used to calling Sheppard Colonel because they have not seen each other a lot, and may even have been avoiding each other. But Sheppard told Weir that McKay had told him the ship was approaching Pegasus, meaning that his discussion with McKay must have been recent. This indicates that Sheppard and McKay have been spending time together on the ship.

The second reason might be that McKay has been calling Sheppard something other than his rank, and it is more difficult to transition from calling him John to a new title than it is to fall back to the old one. We don't know how they've spent their time on Earth or after that on the vessel, so it's possible McKay has been calling him John while they have been away from their official duties at Atlantis (although, again, we won't hear him call him John for a long time). This would mean that they've spent a lot of time in each other's company away from prying eyes which, given how they are behaving around each other, seems unlikely. Unless they are doing it on purpose, to throw people off the scent. Basically acting like they don't even know each other while they are onboard the ship and surrounded by members of the military, Sheppard's promotion requiring them to be much more cautious than they were before.

The third option is that for McKay, Major kind of is Sheppard's name. What ever he might call Sheppard when they are in private, in public he has referred to the man as Major for a year. But he doesn't really use it as a title, he uses it as a name. Major Sheppard. And now he's being asked to start calling him by another name. Like he's changed his name. Like Major is suddenly his 'deadname' and his new name is Colonel. That would take some getting used to. To him, Major is comfortingly familiar whereas Colonel is still strange and new. Major Sheppard is someone he thought he knew and certainly loved. Colonel Sheppard is in many ways a stranger to him.

McKay's discussion with Caldwell is also interesting on the meta level. They may be hinting at what they are doing with the narrative currently. There is more going on between the characters than random inconsistencies but they are definitely pulling back on how obvious it was during the first season.

Caldwell: Is that the only evidence you have? McKay: No, there's something else. It looks like Doctor Monroe was in the process of enabling certain computer security protocols. They're designed to isolate and shut down corrupted programmes. Caldwell: What programmes? McKay: I don't know. That's just it. He was killed before he could finish. Caldwell: Are you telling me there's a problem with the ship and someone killed Monroe to cover it up? McKay: I know this sounds crazy, but there is definitely more going on here than random malfunctions.

Regardless, now that McKay is alone with Caldwell he is able to convince him of the severity of the situation and that they need to stop for the time it takes him to figure out what is going on. So they drop out of hyperspace. McKay's expression when Caldwell takes his advice immediately and does as he recommended is interesting. Like he can't quite believe that just happened, someone just believed him and took his concerns seriously. It's not clear why he would be feeling this way as Sheppard and Weir are not exactly known for brushing past his concerns. Perhaps he was expecting having to argue his case a bit more. Perhaps he even likes it when there is a little push-back.

We get a rather interesting scene then. McKay is with Hermiod, the Asgard that is on board the ship to assist the humans in the use of Asgard technology, and it seems as though they have been working together for a while. They have a working relationship. And given that Hermiod seems to be much like how people usually view McKay but only amped up to eleven, they seem to get along just fine. Out of all the people we see Hermiod interacting with, he seems to tolerate McKay the best.

Hermiod: Perhaps you could be more specific. McKay: Not really, no. Hermiod: [Curses in Asgard] McKay: What was that? Hermiod: Nothing.

While working on the problem, they are joined by Sheppard. And the scene is played out for comedy, Sheppard clearly not used to being around alien-aliens. Non-human-looking aliens. He seems to be feeling very uncomfortable around Hermiod, coming to a dead stop just as soon as he views him, not wanting to step further into the room. While he was talking out loud as he walked in, he continues speaking to McKay in whispered tones:

Sheppard: How's it coming, Rodney?McKay: It's going to take a while. Don't stare, he hates it when people stare. Sheppard: Am I the only one who thinks it's strange we're working with an alien? McKay: Intergalactic hyperdrive technology's kind of new to us, so we need his help. Sheppard: Is he supposed to be naked like that?

First of all, Sheppard walks in apparently just to talk to McKay. Just to find out how he's doing. He knows that him being there is not going to make McKay work any faster and that he will let them know what he finds out just as soon as he does. Sheppard knows this. But no matter what may or may not have happened between them in the past month, he enjoys McKay's company. He wants to be around him. He misses McKay when he isn't with him. So, he comes to check up on him with the thinnest pretense of official business. And again, as they are basically in private, he calls him Rodney. He wants McKay to talk to him. He wants McKay to tell him things. He is all questions meaning that he wants this conversation to continue.

Second, this is a canonical example of Sheppard checking out a dude. Hermiod being naked is explicitly mentioned in text, as is the fact that Sheppard had made a mental note of this fact. And make no mistake, Sheppard had checked out his junk -- or the fact that he has none. That Hermiod might be built like a Ken-doll doesn't change the fact that Sheppard had a look. And because we see Sheppard being so uncomfortable around him, some people interpret this as Sheppard exhibiting some level of homophobia. That it's the idea of being in the presence of a naked dude that is making him uncomfortable. But it's not, it's the fact that he's an alien. Sheppard is looking at Hermiod's face as he pulls a face of disgust, scrunching up his nose before taking off.

He is much more put off by the fact that Hermiod doesn't have a dick than he is about the fact that he is naked. And it is also textualized here that being around a naked man is having a physical effect on Sheppard.

Although not human, Hermiod is a man. Sheppard is clearly unsure whether he is supposed to be turned on by this or not, or if he's even allowed to be. This is new territory for him. He doesn't want to be around the alien because then he would have to go through all of these thoughts. He would have to figure out for himself where he draws the line. The alien's nudity also forces him to think about how everyone else in the room would look like if they were working naked which definitely brings him to unsafe thoughts. For what ever reason, he is breathing kind of heavily here.

And once more, Sheppard's body is turned toward McKay the whole time and when he turns to leave, he turns the way McKay had just gone instead of the shorter way around to follow McKay out of the room.

McKay's reaction is also telling. He just looks away from Sheppard and then pointedly ignores his comment, calling for his minion. Having worked with Hermiod for some time, he is unfazed by the nudity. But he is not unfazed by Sheppard bringing it up. And this new dynamic between them makes this interesting. If they have decided to put their relationship on pause, if they have decided to just try to be friends and colleagues and team members, this is the kind of new territory they need to chart. Is Sheppard allowed to be jealous of McKay working with a naked man? Is McKay allowed to take issue with the fact that Sheppard is openly checking out a naked man right in front of him? Surely the topic of nudity is something they should both be avoiding because this is hard enough as it is. He doesn't need to be thinking about Sheppard and nakedness and things being hard, especially not now that he has stuff he needs to figure out. Why is Sheppard like this? Why does he always.

McKay tells himself that he can do this. He can be around Sheppard, they can work together. Easy-peasy, just like before anything had happened. But Sheppard doesn't have to make it more difficult on purpose. McKay doesn't say anything because he doesn't know what to say, doesn't know what is safe to say. He could turn it into a joke. He could turn it into flirtation. There are so many options, and none of them are really safe, so it's better to just ignore Sheppard. Focusing on the work, on the problem is safe. Talking about nudity is not safe. McKay looks defenseless here, like he did in the very beginning when Sheppard told him to check the 720 gate addresses.

It's similar. Whether they have put their relationship on pause or they are pretending there is nothing between them because of Sheppard's promotion, they are trying to be this again. They are trying to get back here. But everything is different. Everything has changed. They are both acutely aware that one cannot cast a stone into the same river twice.

Continued in Pt. 4

[dragonfire2lm]

Silly little Elden Ring headcanons and ideas

I want to work on my fanfics, don't get me wrong, I really do, but life (and sudden anxiety that hit my like one of those hero's grave chariots back in 2023 and I'm still doing my best to manage it, anxiety sucks so damn much), has meant that I just haven't had the mindset or energy to write. A shame, I have a couple of ideas though, so I thought I might just post them here, maybe I'll use them in my Timeless Heretic fic series when I get back to writing it, maybe not, I don't know yet.

I have a little headcanon for my current playthrough (solo, spirit ash summons allowed, strength build), that my Idiot Tarnished is an omen sympathizer, has a crush on Margit/Morgott, and uses the Omen Cleaver because she resonates with the plight of the omen. And might also be fascinated by older incantations like crucible stuff or the beast incantations...but I don't have enough levels in faith/don't have enough deathroot to really experiment with a strength/faith build yet lol. (I kind of want reflect one of my runs in a fic at some point, at least when it comes to what weapons and build I've used to get through the game without asking my friend to help me deal with that difficultly spike once you go past Leyndell.)

I know there's a popular dynamic with my fellow Morgott fans, the one where the tarnished is the one that gets him to actually look after himself....but, imagine a tarnished who neglects basic hygiene and self-care as bad as he does. Imagine Morogtt really getting to know this little idiot tarnished who's just as bad at him at looking after themself that it annoys him to no end, and is a wake-up call for him at the same time. So, instead of the tarnished helping Morgott with little, everyday things, it's the Fell Omen working with the tarnished to get them looking presentable, to get them to stay fed and hydrated. Both of them learn to look after each other and find joy in what was once something they both struggled to find the energy and motivation to do.

You know, I should write a Maliketh/Tarnished fic or something. Maliketh is a really cool character, and whenever I'm trying to calm down (because anxiety has a habit of hitting me late at night) I just imagine Maliketh just lying down on some sunny spot in his arena, or chilling out in the bestial sanctum having a nap. I dunno, the idea of this dude just chilling out, in some alternate universe where deathroot isn't a thing and Everything Is Fine or something, is just really calming for some reason.

[thelemoncoffee]

no post today i'm hevily distracted by the reveals of The Hundred Line and Tribe Nine

im actually pretty hyped for Tribe Nine, it looks like the most unique thing Kodaka's made outside of ronpa since Akudama Drive. the anime was pretty damn weak and forgettable, but in the roughly four years since that Tribe Nine really looks like it's worked to forge it's own path and establish it's own identity. im rooting for it honestly and i'll defiantly be keeping tabs on it, im still skeptical because Raincode gave me trust issues, but i wanna believe

The Hundred Line however.... well- i spent a little back and forthing with friends coming up with joke names for it. the best ones we came up with were "PVZ: Dangan Warfare" and "I Can't Believe It's Not Ronpa"

Yeah i'm no where near as hopeful for The Hundred Line as i am for Tribe Nine. it's Dangan ronpa to the left and most of the characters we've seen so far just feel like amalgamations of ronpa character designs than they do their own unique people. most of the ronpa fans i chat with agree, it feels like it's trying so fucking hard to be Danganronpa without being Danganronpa.

i currently have the working theory that Danganronpa was Kodaka's lightning in a bottle, and ever since he left Spike Chunsoft he's been trying to make another hit as good as ronpa. you can see in his projects over time how they take more and more and more aspects from Danganronpa but fail to capture the heart of it, falling flat and fizzling out after the inital hype. and now it's gotten to the point where he's basically trying to make Danganronpa all over again without actually making a new installment cause that means going back to Spike Chunsoft.

it really feels like the dude is trying desperatly to ride that high again and falling short, making a mess out of the parts of his old project trying to recreate it's effect superfically. unfortionatly that kind of thing can't really be made intentionally, and trying to do so just causes all sorts of messes. this is also why i am hyped for Tribe Nine, cause it's such a strong departure from Kodaka's old works and it doesn't feel like a desperate plea for danganronpa fans to Looky Here. it had a clunky start but it looks like it has the potential to become something beautiful, and i hope it does. the same cannot be said for The Hundred Line's party city danganronpa cosplay lookin' ass, and i have very little faith in it

okay i'm done, tired ramble over

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Sunday, June 16th

Jenny: Willow. Willow: Yes? Jenny: Um, I might be a little late tomorrow. Do you think you could cover my class till I show? Willow: Really? Me? Teach the class? Sure! Jenny: Cool. Willow: Oh, wait. W-what if they don't recognize my authority? What if they try to convince me that you always let them leave class early? What if there's a fire drill? What if there's a fire? Jenny: Willow, you're gonna be fine. And I'll try not to be too late, okay?

~~Passion~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

From the Rubble by veronyxk84 (Spike & Angel, PG-13)

Мачеха by B_E_S (Buffy/Angel, T, in Russian)

Her hero by Lilacsandorangeblossoms (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

[Chaptered Fiction]

Greatest Love Story - Prelude, Chapter 7 by FalseGinger (Angelus/William, Angel/Spike, M)

Disease, Chapter 4 by guin_ramble (Buffy/Giles, E)

I hate the way, Chapter 24 by DancingAngel0013 (Buffy/Giles, E)

Father Returns, Chapter 8 by Amizzadu (Angel/Spike, M)

Crossing the Line, Chapter 14 by TDWidow (Buffy/Angel, T)

Buffy...4.0?ish? Chapter 11 by Sweetbutnutty (Buffy/Spike, G)

Love Lives Here, Chapter 76 by Passion4Spike (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Meow, Chapter 10 by CheekyKitten (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Saving You, Chapter 3 by Spikelover4ever (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Au-delà de l'objectif de la caméra, Chapter 9 (complete!) by Miss Kitty (PG-13, in French)

Fixer Uppers, Chapter 6 by Melme1325 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

The Devil's Trill, Chapter 11 by Murray (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

The Degradation of Duality [Series Part 2], Chapters 1-2 by Ragini (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

The Watcher, Chapter 13 by In Mortal (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

When Hecate Met Xander, Chapter 2 by Balder (Xander, Greek mythology crossover, FR18)

What the Drabble? Vol. 2, Chapter 35 by VeroNyxK84 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

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[Fandom Discussions]

[The End of Days speech] by andthesunwillalwaysshine

scoobies really just ousted their two best and most experienced fighters in favor of a bunch of whining incompetent newbies by greensaplinggrace

One of the worst bits of Basic Spike character assassination they did on AtS by isevery0nehereverystoned

Rating BTVS ships I don’t ship by spuffybot

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Season 7 DVD Final Disc Easter Egg by oliversurpless

"XANDER: Well, its just good to know that when the chips are down and things look grim you'll feed off the girl who loves you to save your own ass!" by foreseethefuture

If you were Snyder or Joyce in the first two seasons of Buffy would you see what they see about Buffy? by jdpm1991

Usage of Lethe’s Bramble by johnnyorac

Does Buffy ever get better friends? by Prudent_Ostrich6164

I don’t think Tara’s um, ending fits into the “burry your gays” trope by TheAesirHog

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Xander has high blood pressure by constipatedbabyugly

Tara - Fanon vs Canon by TVAddict14

clothing brands worn in buffy? by 666grimes

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Buffy V Faith: Who's better? by sKullsHavezzz

Obscure funny lines by spikeinfinity

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How does everyone feel about Wesley? by Greys_anatomy12

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Join the editor team :)

[hello-nichya-here]

What do you think of the idea of Spike and Buffy dating each other and another character like Angel or Faith?

I don't like Buffy and Angel together, so I don't really want anything that has them as couple - but my God, Spike and Angel are one hell of a fun, CANONICAL ship, and Buffy full on confirmed in the finale that she'd like the idea of them being a thing. She'd totally lose her mind if she knew they hooked up already, and that would be very fun.

Basically, Spike and Angel can hook up, while Buffy watches XD

Faith and Spike have good chemistry, but I feel that they'd just have a fling, not seriously date. As for Faith and Buffy... boy, these two HAVE to fuck already to deal with all of that unresolved sexual tension. And Buffy did spend plenty of episodes dreaming of doing cutesy domestic stuff with Faith, like making the bed together, so it'd at the very least be a real possibility.

What I would KILL to see though, would be Spike and Dru not breaking up, falling in love with Buffy at the same time, and kidnap her together in "Crush" to confess their feelings. I just want to watch as Buffy's brain stops functioning because she cannot believe how ridiculous her life is XD

But honestly, even with all the fun possibilities, I just want Spike and Buffy together, being as insufferably clingy as they were in "Something Blue."

[shimmerbeasts]

Misc. Headcanons for the Test Muses

These are some ideas/concepts I have developed for the test muses, which would stick around for my portrayals if I keep them. Enjoy the read.

Wyll

Wyll's change into a devil gave him an almost chimeric appearance. Aside from the horns on his head and the strange rills on his neck, he also gains the feet of a hellhound, a long, black tail with a blue tip, the claws of an Imp and strange bumps and spikes near his elbows. His transformation also results in a strange gait and the fact that Wyll has to pretty much relearn a lot about fighting because his body has become very alien.

Wyll has vitiligo. A good quarter of his body, mostly near his shoulder blades, his sides, parts of his chest and arms are fairer in colour as his cells produce no pigments there. After his transformation into a devil, these fairer patches gain a molten, golden colour. This was done by Mizora as a way to mock his heroism and remind him that as a farce, it is better than something real.

Wyll tied a knife to the end of his tail. After a lot of trial and error, he learned how to incorporate this in a fight. Ergo this man will stab you even when he is mid-fencing.

Wyll can and has regularly removed the sending stone from his face. He tends to do this when he and Mizora do not see eye to eye about a certain topic. If Wyll is particularly enraged, he even throws the eye away. At the same time, he is aware that these actions always come along with some pretty severe consequences.

Mizora enchanted Wyll's sending stone so that even when he throws it away, it will eventually always respawn in his empty eye socket. During the time when Wyll does not wear his sending stone, he covers up his eye socket with a thin scarf, effectively making himself look a bit like a raggedy pirate.

Outside of the tadpole gang, the only regular contact with someone else, which Wyll had and whom Mizora approved of, was a Cambion druid, disguised as a tiefling. Mercedes' job was basically to help out whenever Wyll faced a danger, he could not reasonably handle alone. She also was the one, who gave Wyll rewards and gifts on Mizora's behalf if her mistress was busy. Mercedes is a trickster-esque character, however, unlike Wyll, she is very playful, groovy and often jester-like. While she claims to be Wyll's friend, she often behaves around him in a way, which shows that even she has more power than him. Wyll finds her incredibly grating to be around, and only really puts up with her because he knows she is in a twisted way, a gift from Mizora.

Lae'zel

While Lae'zel originally studied dragons due to her wish to become a kith'rak, that desire to study soon began to exceed what is considered normal studying. Nowadays, Lae'zel has a vast knowledge of different dragon breeds, from their personalities to preferred habitats, to fighting styles. She is deeply fascinated and in awe of these creatures. Funny enough, if you manage to get her to talk about dragons in any way, shape or form, she will suddenly just infodump all over you. Call her out on that behaviour, and she will flat-out deny it.

Because of Lae'zel's unnaturally strong psionic abilities (even stronger than is normal for a Githyanki), her senses are also heightened. The worst of those offenders is her hearing. Lae'zel has incredibly sensitive ears and can easily get headaches, which have made her life and training as a warrior exceptionally hard as fights are often incredibly noisy.

Because of this, Lae'zel does not just meditate at the end of the day to connect herself with her faith in Vlaakith but also to decompress and relax after eventful days. However just because fights can exhaust her, does not mean she does not thrive in it. Lae'zel has learned to use the overwhelming amount of adrenaline, she experiences during a fight, to push through any discomfort, she may feel. Not that she lets anyone know of that discomfort. After all, it may be perceived as a weakness, and weaknesses mean a death sentence in Githyanki culture.

Lae'zel can move her ears independently from one another. Because of how highly specialised her hearing is, she can actually create a mental sound map of the camp while meditating. One should not try to touch her ears though, when they twitch, as that can easily cost you a hand.

[ziracona]

Given how your ideal Myers is based on the H20 version, have you looked up the tie in comics? I'm not saying you're depiction is wrong, but in those he's worse than ever. He does stuff like spiking kids' candy with razor blades, killing an entire family, torturing Loomis' friend to death, cutting out a man's tongue, and burying a girl alive. You can argue it's non canon, but that is still inexcusably evil. Mike may not be as bad as some other killers, but he's still capable of heinous shit.

I really don’t know why you keep asking me this kind of thing. My answer isn’t going to change. If it’s non-canon, why would it matter if it’s inexcusably evil? It wouldn’t apply to the canon character if it’s not canon. One version of him being capable of heinous actions, doesn’t mean they all are. Every canon version of The Joker is The Joker, but The Killing Joke’s universe’s Joker is unrecognizably a different character than Telltale Batman’s Joker. That’s just how media with alternate versions of characters work. I know he does inexcusably evil things in many Halloween timelines. But even when it comes to canon, being canon in one timeline, is not canon in every timeline. Even officially licensed tie-ins aren’t often the exact same timeline. IE Terminator’s novelization, but several parts canonically cannot happen in the timeline of the film, despite it being generally faithful, because they directly contradict time and actions that happen on-screen. Ergo, the novelization and the movie are parallel, but still separate timelines. What is true of Halloween Kills Michael, is not true of comic Michael, is not true of DbD Michael, is not true of H20 Michael. What one does doesn’t affect my perception of other versions, canonically separated, of the same character.

Even when it comes to closer media, like comics, where incredibly different takes on characters are ‘canon’ at the same time, it is and always has been commonly accepted and expected fandom rhetoric, that it’s impossible to judge a character for every single thing they’ve ever been written to do, especially since so many versions of them by hundreds of different writers, contradict each other. And it’s impossible for basically everyone to consume all the content anyway. So some people will like characters someone else despises, and often not because they’re wildly different types of fans, but because they read wildly different versions of the character first, and that became true canon to them. It’s just kind of how it has to work. I will forever despise Wolverine, because I read classic X-Men and he was a shithead and he murdered one of my favorites in cold blood for no reason, and had the gall to be sanctimonious about it. But I don’t expect someone whose mental version of Logan is contemporary Logan, or the films, or X-Men Evo, to feel the same as me.

That logic applies infinitely more to things like Halloween, where there are like 10 canonically acknowledged timelines going. Would I hate OG Star Trek Uhura if the version of her in the JJ Abrams movie did something awful? No. It’s not the same person. Does Tom Holland Spidey affect how I feel about Toby Maguire? It doesn’t matter if some versions of him are awful, and despicable, when it comes to me liking or sympathizing with another. If you were introduced to him in a way that made you hate not just that one, but every version, and will always feel so, or even if it wasn’t a different Michael, but you have a personal reason? —I was buddies with someone who hated him forever because of their own brother, and personal experience—that’s valid. Feel free to never change. But it doesn’t make my interpretation wrong. Mine isn’t. And I don’t need to change mine either.

One of the most important things to remember both in fandom and film criticism, is it’s entirely possible for multiple people with opposing views to both be right (or wrong) simultaneously. What is harmful genuinely to some heals others. Mulholland Drive is both homophobic for demonizing its Lesbian’s love and burying your gays like 4 times, and it has value in queer cinema for being a film about Lesbians center stage that has mattered to some. Even if you don’t like that I feel how I do, because you feel very different, it doesn’t make me wrong. Please stop messaging me to try and get me to change my mind; it both is never going to happen, and genuinely objectively doesn’t need to. And you don’t need it to. You don’t have to care at all what I think or how I feel about this if you don’t want to. I have no power over how you need to think or feel about him yourself. Only over myself and what I think and care for and will create.

[gravelyabyssaltattoo]

Highest 2 Lowest (2025)

Spike Lee is 68 years of age, which means that he has lived through quite a few stages in the entertainment industry. There was his astonishing and unprecedented spell when he started with “She’s Gotta Have It” and finished with “Bamboozled.” Alongside this was the other side of the spectrum when he made 25th Hour and She Hate Me, both of which were an ‘underwhelming’ triumph in Lee’s repertoire. Regardless of the mixed reception, most of his movies after these captures were delivered within restrictive budget confines. Along with American Utopia and Da 5 Bloods, Lee has experienced a resurgence with BlacKkKlansman, albeit the reception has been controversial. Truth be told, at this juncture, it wouldn’t be too shocking if you began questioning what new heights Lee has to soar towards. To attempt to find a direction with ‘Highest 2 Lowest’, which is arguably personal filmmaking at its finest and might be the most vivid work by Lee since Inside Man, the director has returned to an Akira Kurosawa and Denzel Washington obsession.

Like Lee himself, “Highest 2 Lowest” is a chaos agent of a movie, a lavish and thrilling crime epic. It begins with a slow and sleepy climb, making the viewer worry that the director might’ve lost his touch, before exploding into manic filmmaking cornucopia that contains some of Lee’s best work. It is a faithful retelling of Kurosawa’s “High and Low”, until it isn’t. It’s a long-winded procedural, until it’s not. It’s everything old men yelling at the clouds, until it’s not. Strangely, this is the worst of Washington and Lee’s five collaborations, which stemmed from the rhapsodic jazz film “Mo Better Blues”. Then all of a sudden the film plants itself among their best.

Lee might have derived from a Japanese filmmaker, but “Highest 2 Lowest” is unabashedly epic, fearlessly funny, and proudly Black.

The first half of Lee's frantic film, which can be found premiering out of competition at Cannes, pulls you into panic. At first, William Alan Fox’s elusive script captures the basic outline of Kurosawa’s classic.

Washington is the millionaire CEO of Stackin’ Hits records. David King is a record producer most famous for his uncanny skill in finding incredible music. Although he sold part of his stake in his label years ago, now he is trying to fight to regain full control—willing to expend all his resources to do so. His son Trey, played by Aubrey Joseph, gets into a bit of a scramble when some kidnappers make the mistake of trying to abduct Kyle, who is the son of his friend and chauffeur Paul Christopher (Jeffrey Wright). This forced Brian and Pam King (Ilfenesh Hadera) to throw all caution to the wind in order to save Kyle.

While it is true that Lee’s film follows the narrative structures which gave rise to Kurosawa’s picture, something still feels “off” here. The pacing is unhurried; to the side, the characters in the frame appear to be miles away; the lighting and the framing feel too clean and almost mechanical; the score rips through every single scene, not allowing for silence or reprieve. It’s surprising that Lee, having watched his remakes “Da Sweet Blood and Jesus” and “Oldboy” get lambasted for being shot-for-shot retellings, does not hesitate to dig himself deeper into the same hole. In contrast to those films, however, the slow start here seems to be intended—not that many viewers will come to agree on whether that intentionality lands.

“Highest 2 Lowest” , the first half of the film, is for this reason an endless wilderness where Lee, and Washington who have reunited after nearly two decades, seek to rekindle the magic by retracing their steps. King does have the reputation of being a former visionary, but like all such creators, the era in which they flourished eventually advances—always leaving them behind. He exists in a bubble, and like a dazed king sits high above the masses, surrounded by mementos of an era long forgotten: Posters and paintings featuring Joe Louis, George Foreman, Muhammad Ali, and Toni Morrison decorate the walls of his castle. Through Libatique’s striking, wider shots, he captures the plethora of Joe Louis, George Foreman, Muhammad Ali, Toni Morrison, and so many more.

There is only so much wealth one family can flaunt before it gets boring and indifferent to their drama.

The first and most obvious framing and blocking steals from Kurosawa, yet there is still an underlying current that apologetically speaks to Lee’s own fears. In what way does the filmmaker stay relevant and alive in this era’s harshness? For the director, what constitutes creativity buried in a mountain of box-office receipts exceeding a billion? In this context, King’s diatribe about AI, follower numbers, and becoming famous for doing something suddenly trendy sounds remarkably like Lee’s voice.

Then, like Kurosawa escaping the rich tycoon’s serene, minimalist palace and quiet suburbia for the pandemonium of the city, “Highest 2 Lowest” transforms from Kurosawa tribute into full-fledged Spike Lee Joint. A couple of very needed dollars are the prices for King’s head that Yung Felony (ASAP Rocky) uses to lure him out of the penthouse and back into the city. Those may be the best and most carefully crafted moments of Lee’s career.

As the score changes, Howard Drossin’s once-serene music gets a little too intense for my liking, seething with passion as the 4 train winds into a frenzy. King rides with a black Jordan bag filled with 17.5 million Swiss Francs strapped to his back alongside blaring Yankees fans who anger Boston sports teams. To add to the commotion, various locals are celebrating a Puerto Rican day festival where Rosie Perez and Anthony Ramos present several talented musicians. These talented musicians seamlessly switch Drossin’s uptempo music and provide a barrage of images that mesh perfectly with the chaos of King navigating the train. This also emphasizes Lee’s unwavering skill to forcefully bend aesthetics; switching from the film’s previous digital gloss to a more gritty, filmic texture that visually aligns with Washington and Lee’s back-to-basics mantra.

In addition, other elements of the “Highest 2 Lowest” also transform during the chaotic latter half. The film fuses intense sequences with heart-pumping music to elevate the excitement. Lee cuts most of the classical score and replaces it with sweat-inducing tracks from James Brown. The director also opts for close up shots, allowing the actors to magnify the intensity of the crime thriller.

Wright for example is a lot more expansive and brings Washington’s King closer to home with his hardened salt-of-the-earth persona. It's no accident, either, that Christopher and King have to go back to their old neighborhood to resolve the issue, or that a key piece of the puzzle is given to King when he goes back to his past listening habits. Lee also does what works for him, bringing back the stylistic excesses that mark him as one of the most singularly eccentric filmmakers of his generation.

Every one of Lee's decisions in “Highest 2 Lowest” revolves around his second chance with Washington. They may have made four films together previously, but this was when Washington was young or passably under middle age, and hadn’t yet morphed into an action hero, ex-solder, or a sullen loner. This is the first time all of them came together in their old age. With the new experiences Washington brings to the table, Lee makes use of them by constructing an intense sequence of King fighting Yung Felony in a rap contest. As with the rest of his performance, Washington brings choices that, surprising as they are, have been meticulously timed. Rocky more than holds his own in this duel, affording for a level of rage in Washington that allows him to push that extra gear.

And while many will approach the film “Highest 2 Lowest” expecting the fury of Kurosawa's masterpiece, for a change, Lee is not trying to replicate something that was great before.

He's drawing on the past to embark on what could be the culmination of his career. For rekindling a long-buried friendship, he is drawing from an eclectic range of influences—music, film, and even history—as he attempts to make a Spike Lee joint. Which is remarkable.

[zalrb]

So i’ve read your posts on spuffy in s6/7, and i wanted to ask what u think was behind the decision to have the attempted rape in Seeing Red (which i know has been said to be bc Joss Whedon hated Spike being a fan favorite) and then have Spike and Buffy be such a pivotal relationship in s7? I know you said how badly executed it was and I agree, but i just don’t get why he’d have Spike do THAT, but then make buffy basically become his cheerleader the entire season afterwards.

Well, Joss is a Spuffy shipper.

"I’m a Buffy/Spike shipper [...] I always felt like he was a more evolved person, but that’s like saying Juliet’s going to be so happy with Benvolio and everyone will love it. Buffy/Angel is for the ages; Buffy/Spike is maybe for me."

and he has spoken about what he considers to be the evolution of their relationship:

The idea was to break down the mythic feeling of the show, because there is a moment at childhood when you no longer get that. Everything isn’t bigger than life; it’s actual size. It’s real loss. At the same time, there’s the darker side of power and Buffy’s guilt about her power and her feeling about coming back to the world. And her getting into a genuinely unhealthy relationship with Spike that was all about dominance, control and, ultimately, deep misogyny. How lost did we get? Well, our villain turned out to be Willow.

It all comes to an end in season seven with a return to basics and Buffy going up against the First (the ultimate evil), along the way dealing with a number of Slayers in training, the return of Faith and a genuine relationship with Spike who, like Angel, has been given his soul back.

We had a few things in mind with season seven. One, everybody was tired of being depressed, including us. Two, this was the last season. Three, let’s get back to where we started. Let’s go back to the beginning. Not the word, not the bang, but the real beginning. And the real beginning is girl power. The real beginning is what does it mean to be a Slayer? And not to feel guilty about the power, but having seen the dark side of it, to find the light again. To explore the idea of the Slayer fully and perhaps to see a very grown up and romantic and confusing relationship that isn’t about power, but is actually genuinely beautiful between two people in the form of Buffy and Spike.

And what he considers to be the development of Spike as a character

Spike was definitely kind of a soulful character before he had a soul, but we made it clear that there was a level on which he could not operate. Although Spike could feel love, it was the possessive and selfish kind of love that most people feel. The concept of real altruism didn’t exist for him. And although he did love Buffy and was moved by her emotionally, ultimately his desire to possess her led him to try and rape her because he couldn’t make the connection —- the difference between their dominance games and actual rape. With a soul comes a more adult understanding.

So, in his mind, he was writing a relationship that was developed and advanced and was layered and nuanced.

[doomerpatrol]

Comic Log: Agent Venom by Rick Remender

A mixed bag. I like a lot of the artists that worked on this book, particularly Lan Medina and Declan Shalvey, who do good jobs of capturing the emotional extremes that the Venom symbiote represents. However, I've yet to be impressed by Remender as a writer - neither of the runs I've read from him (this and his Punisher, which essentially gives up on its own concept halfway through) are particularly cohesive. Venom in particular is tonally inconsistent, riddled with scripting problems, and I think most frustratingly, lacks faith in its own premise. I don't know why that's a recurring trait in Remender's writing, but I'm two for two now!

While I think the dual concept of "Venom as secret agent / Flash Thompson trying to process the 'venom' in his bloodstream from a history of violent abuse and alcoholism" is very good, the book doesn't succeed at exploring either. We get approximately four issues and a "Spider-Island" crossover before all of the characters and concepts of "Agent Venom" are thrown out. What actually unifies Remender's run is not Flash wrestling with his status as a dog on a spiked leash for the military, or his struggle between living up to his hero and the temptation to slide back into a regressive stereotype. Instead, it is a supremely petty conflict between him and the "Crime-Master" (and a new, incredibly annoying and unfunny Jack O'Lantern). This central antagonist hires a "Savage Six" to torment Flash, menaces his family and his girlfriend Betty Brant, and is eventually revealed to be Betty's seemingly long-dead brother who appeared once in a Spider-Man story from the Stan Lee era. Ugh.

Somewhat ironically, Remender's Venom run repeatedly tethers itself to Spider-Man right when it's getting interesting, rather than take risks to carve out its own identity. It makes sense, since Flash Thompson and Venom are such fixtures of Spider-Man's mythos, and Spider-Man is Flash's hero. But 1) this era of Spider-books is revolting and I would rather not be reminded of its existence, and more importantly, 2) part of what is intriguing about the choice to put Flash in the Venom suit is that it's bold, it's different, it offers the opportunity for new supporting players and concepts. You can still have the "Flash trying to be less like his dad and more like Spidey" stuff, you can still do symbiote stories, but they should be stories that you would or could not get in the main Spider-Man titles. That's what makes the first issue work quite well, as well as the start of the "road trip" arc.

That sort of unique possibility is undermined by doing the same kind of Peter Parker-esque plots over and over again. "Our protagonist is always late or never around, and his girlfriend gets kidnapped because of his lies about his secret identity, and also he has to decide if he wants to kill someone (even though this moral quandary is insanely meaningless here because he is a long-standing member of a professional military and his reluctance to take life is not presented as an alternative to that militaristic outlook)." It's played out, it's karaoke.

But Remender's run also doesn't do the work of getting us invested as readers in the plots it does present. There is basically no real supporting cast minus Betty, and she's playing a generic love interest. Flash's family gets dangled as an "oh no!" moment, but we barely get any interaction with them, so the threat to them has no real weight. His military handlers are cardboard cutouts. And of course, we have the incredibly obnoxious new Jack O'Lantern, who sets himself up as arch-nemesis to Flash and basically acts as like a more politically incorrect, watered-down Deadpool. And my god, there are so many dangling threads of plot and characterization that just go nowhere in this run. (Thought Flash might have to face literally any consequences for going AWOL? Nope. Thought Flash might be a little more mind-blown by being an Avenger now? Nope.)

Flash is a character that had a lot of history before they decided to make him a superhero, so there's a lot to potentially explore: his former status as a bully, his alcoholism, his disability, his relationship with his abusive parents, his hero-worship of Spider-Man. But although these things are often alluded to, it's only in the final issue that any of them get meaningfully elaborated on, and even there it's not enough. It is very possible to tie these different concepts together - I think the most obvious move would be to very explicitly present Flash as wrestling with an alternative between emulating his hero and regressing to the things he hates about himself that he identifies with his father (deception, alcoholism, violent temper), which his involvement with the military relies on or exacerbates. But Remender treats them as disconnected, piecemeal elements: a little alcohol relapse here (with no consequences), a little abuse plotline here (handled very inconsistently in a way that suggests haphazard characterization rather than an authentic struggle with processing a parent's violence). It all just kind of adds up to nothing because the character doesn't really learn or develop or adapt - he ends in pretty much the same place he began, emotionally speaking.

I'm not sure if I'll continue with Cullen Bunn's follow-up run - it seems, at very least, like it might have a slightly more unified vision that seeks to set the book apart from just a second-tier Spider-story. But I was thoroughly unimpressed with Remender's run, so I'm not exactly eager to continue.

Favorite issue: the final one, "Father's Day" - it's imperfect, but the Shalvey art is gorgeous and I like the way that it ties up the themes of Flash's attempt to become a better person than his father. Wish the story had meaningfully addressed those things instead of just mentioning them a lot. And I liked the start of the road-trip arc because it promised brighter things, though those were quickly snuffed out when Jack O'Lantern came back.

[jupitermelichios]

the thing is, I think Spike taking back the duster actually works really well as a character beat for spike - up to that point in season 7 he's been essentially doing what angel does, treating the soulless version of himself as a sepperate character, distancing himself physically and emotionally from his own past, and him taking back the coat is the moment he does what angel never fully learns to do, and accepts that he's spike just as much as he's william pratt, that he's the bad as well as the good, and I really like that as a character beat for him, i think it's a good concept and i think the execution works

it's just that the writers decided that moment had to come at the expense of robin, and that was a really stupid choice

it drives me up the wall, because if you treat robin as a sexy lamp, if you disregard that he's supposed to be an actual character we care about, everything about the moment works - the beat of slayers always ultimately chosing their calling over those they love works really well with buffy's character arc, spike taking back the coat and accepting that he's both the monster and the hero works for his character arc, but both of them come at the expense of robin. they take this character who looked like he was going to be a main cast member, and tell the audience 'don't get attached, he doesn't matter'

Genuinely, I think the only reason he even survives the season finale is because they'd made it so clear the audience shouldn't care about him that it wouldn't have had any real emotional weight if he'd died

and that's so stupid, because he should be such a cool character! the concept is fantastic, his existence adds so much to the world and could have given us this fascinating window into the watchers and the slayer system that neither BtVS or Angel ever really gave us, DB Woodside is great in the role, the little glimpses we get of his relationship with faith are really fun, there's a lot of potential in the concept of a teacher who's fully aware of the supernatural and the slayers... and then they do nothing with him except use him as a prop for that one scene.

honestly, I think my hot take (apart from that joss and the btvs writers were really shit at writing people of colour) is that he should have joined the gang in season 6. the confrontation with spike should have happened with spike, with the monster who killed his mom, not the ensoulled version. him taking back the coat would have worked then, both for spike, and for Robin, because it could have been a character beat about him instead of just being about spike, while also tying in nicely with spike's breakdown at the end of that season. it could have been this moment of robin looking directly in the camera and reminding the audience that no matter how charming james masters is, spike is still a monster, a tearing down of a hero in a season about the tearing down of heroes, at the same time as being a real moment of arrival for robin's character.

plus robin's presence could have jived really well with the theme of heroes having feet of clay, with the adult world being scary and overwhelming, because again, robin is a human who was functionally raised as a slayer (watchers don't teach their kids to fight the way he does, i am convinced that he basically had the same upbringing as kendra) so he is this window into how fucked up the whole system is. He would have added a lot tothe season as a side character, and then he'd be perfectly possitioned to slot into the gap left by Spike as buffy's right hand man, the other character who actually knows how to fight role that faith, riley, and spike had filled in previous seasons, right from the beginning of season 7.

which would then mean he could actually be in season 7 for more than like 4 episodes! He could have a character arc! You could even have his character arc resolve in him giving the coat back to spike for the final confrontation of the show if you want that visual, given him finding closure over his mother's death is the most obvious character arc to give him! But crucially, it would have been his choice, his character beat, not only spike's.

just... there's so much potential there that never even came close to realised and it's so frustrating.

sometimes i think about how btvs decided to make robin wood the villain for wanting revenge on the vampire who struts around in the coat he ripped off his mum’s corpse after murdering her. and sometimes i think about how, if the writers had actually wanted us to understand how spike had changed having got his soul, and if they wanted to actually physically show us a changed spike, they could have had him surrender the duster to robin. it wouldn’t make everything alright, but it would have been a sign that he feels genuinely guilty, whether or not wood forgives him. 

and then, handing over the duster would mean that spike cuts a very different silhouette to his previous appearances, as well as the fact that simply watching him at all times without the coat he wore as armour, or a badge of honour, would have been jarring but in a good way. don’t replace the coat, make him go coatless, show us spike without his armour of leather, show us a more vulnerable character reflected through his lack of outer layer that he so frequently wore. have him hand the coat off, tell robin that his mother’s final words were of him, and that it’s only right he stops wearing the coat as a sign of respect.

take nikki’s possession back from the vampire who murdered her and give it back to the grieving boy who just wanted his mother.

[herinsectreflection]

I think that while there are a lot of important thematic elements to Buffy and Angel's relationship - the way they influence each other gradually builds the ideological core of both shows - they just aren't that enjoyable to watch as scene partners. I think a big reason for this is that they are both characters who are strongly driven by guilt. Angel is always feeling guilty about what he did without a soul - his feelings about that are always dictating his actions (or inactions). Buffy has her responsibility complex that is magnified sky-high by her duties as a Slayer, and as a result feels guilty about everything that happens within a 10 mile radius of her. The result is a lot of scenes that are very thematically rich, but are also basically just two guys hanging out feeling guilty with each other. Their Gingerbread scene is a really good example of this. It's a really good statement on existentialism - Buffy feeling like she can never solve evil, and Angel reminding her that no she can't, but that that's not the point - but it's also a conversation that is driven by their individual guilt complexes. Buffy is guilty because she feels responsible for every person she can't save, and Angel feels like he can never make up for the things he did in the past. It's interesting, but when you have two characters so driven by guilt, they feed into each other and it easily slips into being maudlin and dreary.

Which is why I think both characters come alive a bit when they are partnered with characters that push against that guilt. For example, Buffy's interactions with Faith and Spike are often fun because these are characters who (at least on the surface) refuse to feel guilt. They push against Buffy's natural tendencies. When they are paired together, both characters are pushed to new places, and so the scenes spark in fun ways. This is really noticeable in something like Lovers Walk. After the big climax fight, Buffy and Angel are both feeling quite down, while Spike looks at them and says "Oh come on, that was fun! Don't tell me that wasn't fun?". It injects an immediate sense of levity and joy into a scene that would have otherwise lacked it.

Angel is the same - he really sparkles as a character when he moves to his own show and is partnered with Cordelia, who is another character who just refuses to feel bad about who she is. She is aggressively self-possessed, and she encourages Angel's lighter, happier, less guilt-driven qualities. When the show loses her in S4, it slips into dreary and maudlin - until S5, where again Spike comes in and fulfils a similar role to Cordelia. He refuses to feel guilty in the same way that Angel does, and that pushes the character to new directions.

This isn't to dismiss Buffy/Angel or their bond with any other character, just to point out that on a base level, it's not always that fun to watch two guilty characters. If you have a guilt-driven protagonist, one of the best ways to create fun is to pair them with a guilt-free scene partner.

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Saturday, June 29

BUFFY: My sister's about to go to the same high school that tried to kill me for three years. I can't change districts, I can't afford private school, and I can't begin to prepare for what could possibly come out of there. So, peachy with a side of keen, that would be me.

~~BtVS 7x01 “Lessons”~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

we don't have to dance (Angel/Cordelia, G) by eagle_eyes

[Chaptered Fiction]

Recompense, Chapter 4 (Buffy/Faith, M) by Moonkid10

In the Dark of the Night, Chapter 13/? (Buffy/Spike, M) by norik23

Highlands and Tropical Islands, Chapter 11/? (Buffy/Faith, M) by QuillBard

In the Company of Witches and Slayers:, Chapters 83-84/200 (Willow/Tara, E) by VladimirHarkonnen (TheLightdancer)

The Yellowstone: A Safe Harbor, Chapter 7/? (Ensemble, Yellowstone xover, G) by Buffyworldbuilder

Omission, Chapter 12/? (Spike/Riley, Buffy/Riley, E) by toutes_les_routes

I hate the way, Chapter 30/? (Buffy/Giles, E) by DancingAngel0013

[French Language] Do as Romans do, Chapter 35 (Dawn/Spike, T) by OldGirl-NoraArlani

A Twist Of Fate, Chapter 65 COMPLETE! (Xander/Cordelia, M) by Jennifer Schumacher

Lover's Labyrinth, Chapter 13 (Xander, Buffy, Willow, M) by Spooksdarkhero

Bounties and Bullets, Chapter 10 (Buffy/Faith, M) by alwynjaegar

Lie to Me, Chapter 31 (Buffy/Spike, Adult Only) by In Mortal

The Watcher, Chapter 14 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by In Mortal

Exquisite Chaos: Part 2, Chapter 5 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Kanita, fortes775, Kanita, SzmattyCat, simmony, MillennialCryBaby, Maxine Eden

School of Hard Knocks, Chapter 5 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Melme1325

Love Lives Here, Chapter 81 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Passion4Spike

Lie to Me, Chapter 31 (Buffy/Spike, Adult Only) by In Mortal

The Watcher, Chapter 14 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by In Mortal

Love Lives Here, Chapter 81 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Passion4Spike

Bruises, Chapter 29 (Buffy/Spike, Adult Only) by hulettwyo

Sand 2: Realizations (Buffy/Spike, T) by myrabeth

[Images, Audio & Video]

Wallpaper: Prophecy Girl (Buffy, The Master, worksafe) by revello-drive-1630

Gifset: [Buffy/Spike with poem on screen: Twilight by Ruby Archer] (slightly NSFW) by ladyverdance

[Reviews & Recaps]

PODCAST: That Rat Shop Hotel (S4E12) by It Stakes Two

[Fandom Discussions]

when people who dislike angel claim that angel likes to pretend he and angelus are totally different people by moistvonlipwig

buffy the vampire slayer au where giles has a thick new york accent by joe-spookyy

what would happen if late S3 Faith met vamp!Willow? by juanabaloo

faith and willow are kind of foils in a way by lesbianmarrow

that line in btvs 3x15 “consequences” where angel makes a joke about safewords by lesbianmarrow

i’m so fascinated by this scene in btvs 3x15 “consequences”, when buffy comes to confess to willow how she’s been hiding that faith accidentally killed a man by lesbianmarrow

I know why they had the actor that plays Giles leave for almost of season 6 but I feel like they could have done a better job story wise by there-are-many-ways-to-smile

BtVS - What’s in a name? by lierdumoa

when they had riley cheat on buffy because of his chauvinist hang-ups and then basically said oh it’s actually buffy’s fault by cuntylestat

i’m genuinely so surprised that in all of btvs there’s never a slayer that got vamped by yellowjckets

I love the things that feel sorta incoherent between Buffy and Angel having their own shows by badwolfwho1

ok but we seriously needed more episodes about versions of the main characters as vampires by hauntedorpheum

willow looking so much more turned on when she’s being threatened by her evil dominatrix vampire self by lesbianmarrow

canon spuffy reads so much like fanfiction it’s actually kind of crazy by silvermars

Dana’s attitude towards Slaying vs Buffy’s continued by multiple posters

What if...a vampire tried to turn Oz? by Guilty-Tie164

Why wasn't another slayer called after Buffy died (for the second time)? by rosehathaway13

If Buffy wasn't set in Sunnydale, what real town in California could you see the show set in? by jdpm1991

Watching Angel in Parallel w/ Buffy? by Apprehensive-Ice9481

What are your thoughts about Connor and Cordelia in Season 4? by OptionNo1672

The First as Willow by Amazing-Intention292

The first evil is a baby compared to Angelus. by FoxIndependent4310

The trio, underrated villains. by FoxIndependent4310

How do you think Kendra felt during the hypnosis? by hypngirl

Buffybot is all of us by b04carpediem

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

CONVENTION: James Marsters to Attend Huntington Comic & Toy Con 10-11 August 2024 | ConHuntington by James Marsters News

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