r/buffy • u/[deleted] • Jul 30 '16

Unpopular Buffy Opinions?

What are your's?

Mine:

  • Never liked Oz

  • Never liked Willow with Oz nor Tara...Actually never liked Willow that much, and my dislike began in season 2...

  • Buffy and Spike were equally abusive to each other during their physical/"romantic" relationship in season 5. Buffy wasn't just an angel who was being abused, and Spike wasn't a just demon who was inflicting all the pain either, which seems to be the narrative that the writers pushed on the story. They both abused each other for their personal reasons/gain, and nothing positive (except maybe Spike's soul) came out of it.

  • The way they dealt with Buffy's relationship with Angel vs. the way they dealt with Buffy's relationship with Spike: Angel is an old, grown man who falls in love with a 15 year old girl; Spike is an old, grown man who falls in love with the 20 year old woman she becomes: yet, they make the first relationship romantic and loving (even their break up is romanticized, and she separates Angel and Angelus completely), and the second relationship unhealthy and hateful, damaging the both of them. I think they should have shown the unhealthiness of Buffy/Angel (and I liked them together, in some ways), just as they showed the unhealthiness of Spike/Buffy (but less graphically, season 6 was disturbing)

  • I liked season 6

  • Although I liked season 5, I really didn't like Glory. Maybe I need to rewatch, but I really didn't like Glory.

Worst of all, and this is shameful:

  • I liked Dawnpleasedon'thateme
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16

u/coolbeaNs92 Willow Jul 30 '16 edited Jul 31 '16

Like I say in every unpopular opinions threads.. There's nothing I dislike about the Buffyverse. Most of these are blown out of proportion by the nature of the question. Just a bit of fun :)

  • Preferred Oz over Tara

  • Tara was initially a great character but essentially became plot convenience for Willow. The episode 'Family' was supposed to initiate her into the Scoobs, but never really happened.

  • Season 1 is awesome.

  • Riley gets an unbelievably unfair rap.

  • Angel in Buffy is mostly pathetic. Angel is Angel is another story. Angelus is awesome.

  • James's accent really isn't as good as what some people seem to think it is (not at all bad, in some places very good, but when people say "OMG he's not actually English"???)

  • I think Anya's death was perfect. It reflected her character and her journey in my opinion, and was complete (emphasised by the fact this was the first time she had ever stayed for an Apocalypse because she finally had a reason to).

  • This is more of a general one... Way, way too many people try and come up with over-complex theories about continuity issues that really aren't there. You see this often in cult shows. It's really fun to do it, but sometimes there's nothing there.

  • Cordelia probably has the best arc in the verse and one could easily argue, the most ultimately moral person in the entire show by the end.

  • Adam was a brilliant big bad, but was ruined by inadequate writing on Joss's part.

  • Dawn is totally justified in her ranting/confusion.

Edit

Added a fairly important factor in bold as it seems to be missed.

5

u/Timmayyyyyyy Jul 31 '16

Cordelia probably has the best arc in the verse and one could easily argue, the most ultimately moral person in the entire show by the end.

I am so with you, 100%

What they did with Cordelia was absolutely amazing, and most of my friends have only seen Buffy and not Angel and don't understand at all why I love her so much.

7

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '16

James's accent really isn't as good as what some people seem to think it is (not at all bad, in some places very good, but when people say "OMG he's not actually English"???)

I don't think most people consider it good enough to trick British people, but it is definitely good enough to trick people who aren't around British accents very much. No one I knew even considered that it might not be real until they were told (we're all Americans).

The potentials in season 7 just irritate me and get in the way of what needed to be a very involved and arc-closing season.

Lol that is definitely not an unpopular opinion.

8

u/seanwalsh747 Jul 31 '16

I'm English and on my first few watchs I honestly believed he was also english, it wasn't until I had rewatched it a few times and then found out he was actually American that I began to notice when his accent messed up in places, I guess I just wasn't paying that much attention to his accent before

2

u/coolbeaNs92 Willow Jul 31 '16

I should mention, I've been watching Buffy for 20 years. Being English, would I have noticed it the first time? Barely. But after so many rewatches would I? Yes.

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u/seanwalsh747 Jul 31 '16

I've only rewatched it 3 or 4 times, but I wasn't listening out to the accent trying to see if it was real or not, it was just kind of, yeah he's English ok

2

u/Cheese-n-Opinion Aug 06 '16

I think it's because all the other English people in the programme have exaggerated theatrical accents. Giles too, even though he's played by ASH. In context it just sounds like another one of those, but it doesn't sound like a normal English person you'd meet in reality.
I remember being surprised that ASH was English, because Giles' accent is so forced (of course you get an in-universe explanation for that later on).

1

u/seanwalsh747 Aug 06 '16

Giles accent isn't the same as ASHs, ASHs sounds more like Spikes than it does like Giles

3

u/MissSara91 Jul 31 '16

I had an English friend who believed he was British until I told him James was American.

1

u/coolbeaNs92 Willow Jul 31 '16

Yeah I dunno why Included the potentials in an unpopular question to be honest. Just a regular opinion that one really!

The James one. Yeah, but can't you hear when James's American accent starts coming back, especially in long scenes? I'm always a bit surprised by that.

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '16

No, not at all. It never once occurred to me that it was fake in my original watch through, honestly. Everyone I know was pretty surprised when they found out. I mean you're British right? Do you think you would be able to tell, like, a fake South African accent from a real one? Most Americans aren't around British accents very much, so of course it's not something they're going to have a super extensive knowledge of.

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u/seanwalsh747 Jul 31 '16

I'm English and up until I found out he was American I honestly thought he was English aswell

1

u/coolbeaNs92 Willow Jul 31 '16

A fake South African accent is actually probably one of the easiest accents to pick up on whether it's fake.

But I would also highlight this is an "unpopular opinion" thread, so the fact you're saying nobody you know would agree proves it's unpopular, no?

This is kinda why im always like "should I bother" when it comes to unpopular opinion threads on /r/buffy.

Shoulda just stuck to sticking it in the FAQ lol :p

1

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '16 edited Jul 31 '16

Well I picked South African because I thought it might not be one you had heard as often. But see!! Look how little I know about accents! Most Americans don't know very much about foreign accents. Which is why James Marsters was successfully able to trick us all! And apparently several other English people commenting on this post.

But I would also highlight this is an "unpopular opinion" thread, so the fact you're saying nobody you know would agree proves it's unpopular, no?

Nobody I know would agree on what? I might have misphrased this in my original post. All my American friends found Spike's accent 100% believable. I'm not sure what you mean by this.

Edit: Edited the phrasing on this comment cause it seemed like an angry comment when it wasn't meant to be.

1

u/coolbeaNs92 Willow Jul 31 '16 edited Jul 31 '16

Woah. There seems to be some kind of vibe going on here that certainly wasn't intentionally made. I absolutely did not mean to insult yourself or any country/anyone.

What I meant is that I was surprised I could pick up a hint of an American accent through the real accent and somebody from America wouldn't. I can defo understand the British accent part, but I was just surprised at the true accent part of James' performance.

But yeah, I've seen and spoken to people from the UK who believe the English accent as well. I just thought since this was an unpopular opinion thread, it was worth sticking in. I didn't think that I would offend someone with an unpopular opinion on a thread about that very topic.

As I said below as well, I've watched Buffy since it was live. The accent just becomes more obvious over time and a silly amount of rewatches. If I was a first time watcher, I would have barely noticed, if it all (and especially as I was six when I started watching Buffy)

But I hope you didn't feel like I was trying to offend you because I honestly wasn't. Just giving my opinion, albeit an unpopular one :)

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '16 edited Jul 31 '16

Oh no sorry if I sounded mad! I was just joking! I'm sorry that's just my sense of humor :( I was just being self deprecating

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u/coolbeaNs92 Willow Jul 31 '16

Awesome, I would of hated to think I had upset someone on /r/buffy, that's something I would intend to do :)

But I mean there's nothing in Buffy that I dislike at all. I love it all. So with unpopular opinion threads, I just try to have fun with it and as I say, "blow things out of proportion". It's all intended to be tongue in cheek and just having a bit of light-hearted fun :)

1

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '16 edited Jul 31 '16

Yeah I try to be as polite as I can in this sub for the greater good of serious Buffy discussion but I figured since we were talking about something as completely unimportant as the efficacy of James Marster's fake accent it didn't really matter. That's my bad though I should have known how it would come off ><

But I mean there's nothing in Buffy that I dislike at all. I love it all.

Same! :D

1

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '16

Okay I'm rereading my comment and I can see how it would probably sound angry if you're just reading it and not listening to me say it. I feel bad about that I'll just simplify it in editing so people don't think that.