The purpose of the porn, besides as a distraction from exposition, I go back and forth on. It's clearly OTT which signals comedy for me, but then again "Smashed" had Spuffy bringing down the house (which within the context of the series was pretty OTT) and that was played maybe with a wink but mostly straight. Angearia made a post talking about how it was bad porn, and I don't think it was particularly erotic or even intended to be.
Willow was wrong, Angel seems to be partly wrong, so there's no reason to be certain that Giles is right. I do hope the Universe is more clearly defined, and since Buffy's amping-up of abilities did correspond with the deaths of slayers around the world I still think that Willow was partly right, if wrong in the details. The relationship between the new powers and the slayer line has got to be more complex than "She showed herself to be an impressive specimen" because the whole arc has dealt with the impact of the new slayers in ways that weren't just "Look at how big a deal Buffy is," though I'm
( ... )
I'd agree that the porn wasn't intended to be erotic in the sense of being something simply intended to turn the viewer on. I don't think it was meant to be entirely farcial either. Some of the full length shots didn't quite work but I was quite taken by the two fragmented pages (the Angel goes down one and the two page spread with panels of Buffy's sex face interleaved like polaroids with cyclones and coelocanths and cougars). They did kind of work to get me into Buffy's head while her body was being all nothing but mammal. Ripping a hole in the fabric of the world is very much the comic book version of bringing the house down, I think. OTT but that's always been the nature of the show and its metaphors.
The relationship between the new powers and the slayer line has got to be more complex than "She showed herself to be an impressive specimen"Buffy and Angel simply winning 'best in show' would be kind of farcical although maybe no more so than Glory's big plan being "Go home
( ... )
Well, I go back and forth on the farcical aspects. I think the pages are genuinely funny, especially the mountain bit. But the shattered images do have some real impact. Because the porn was so in-your-face I feel like I need to make value-judgments right now, but I admit I'm still not 100% attached to any interpretation and can change my mind. There's a lot of negativity out there about the sex scenes.
I'd say more ludicrous than Glory's plan myself. Glory is after all a spoiled idiot set up to contrast with Buffy's self-sacrifice and magnamity, so simple works pretty well there. I'm kind of amused that Meltzer described himself in interviews as having a plot brain, because Giles' explanation makes almost no sense, but it's fine, I'm along for the ride.
There's a lot of negativity out there about the sex scenes. The collective doesn't seem to have quite made up its mind whether they're bad because they're too porny or not porny enough. Whatever. They're not, not funny. There's something, I hesitate to say given the bad sex pun issue, tongue in cheek about them. Like said not the stuff of srs string accompaniment. I'm tempted to make that Bad Reputation vid to explain what I mean. Except it would take time away from the extremely serious Sarah Connor = Chaka Khan vid. Decisions, decisions.
None of them really knows the first thing about the objects of their affection.
I really think you need to be careful with this statement, especially in the context it was placed. One could imply that this statement also applies to Buffy and Angel - because that's how a lot of people saw the state of their relationship at Chosen. They can have their moment to "bask" (or have cataclysmic orgasms), but the reality is that they don't really know each other anymore. Too much time has passed, and both grew into different people on their own series. The brief "moments" they have together after season 4/season 1 all show the characters regressing to their Buffy season 3 selves while the other is present, then reverting back to their adult selves the moment the other leaves.
This is part of the problem many people have with the Twilight-as-Angel thing, because no matter how "funky" things got in LA, a total disregarding of the Angel canon is evident in the text and in comments made by the people at Dark Horse.
One could imply that this statement also applies to Buffy and Angel That was one of the places I was going with that. As for disregarding Angel canon we'll see when he gets the chance to explain himself or be explained some more (apparently in #35). I've said from when his identity was first revealed that some version of him believing that he's working for the PtB or let himself be controlled by the glow in service of that is pretty plausible to me, given that following their instructions is what lead him to declare war on the Black Thorn in S5. I never made it through AtF so if it's that part of the canon that people think is being disregarded I'll just have to take their word for it.
I largely agree about the level of Buffy and Angel's feelings for each other right now--I feel in retrospect that Buffy/Satsu was partly there to set up a "real life, messy emotional connection" sex to contrast with the "world exploding, huge infatuation" sex this issue. (Not that Buffy/Satsu was the height of True Love on Buffy's side, or free of power dynamic problems, but that it largely had Buffy and Satsu knowing each other instead of just having world-shaking glowy sex.)
My concern there is that the PtB are not really part of the Buffy mythos and are really only part of Angel, which means that it'll seem like a retcon for the Buffy story to involve them and so Whedon et al. might not go there.
Right now I'm having a much easier time recognizing Angel in "A Beautiful Sunset"-Twilight than in these issues themselves, where it's really hard to distinguish what's glow and what's the real man. My hope is that Angel regains clear agency soon.
I don't really care if AtF is being disregarded, but I will be gutted it the AtS is.
Buffy/Satsu was partly there to set up a "real life, messy emotional connection" sex to contrast with the "world exploding, huge infatuation" sex this issue.
I do like that idea. It seems particulaly apt that Satsu was there to get a ringside seat this time around and walk away in disgust, just to point out the contrast.
(Finally read the issue, now I get to read two days' worth of reviews...) :-)
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Willow was wrong, Angel seems to be partly wrong, so there's no reason to be certain that Giles is right. I do hope the Universe is more clearly defined, and since Buffy's amping-up of abilities did correspond with the deaths of slayers around the world I still think that Willow was partly right, if wrong in the details. The relationship between the new powers and the slayer line has got to be more complex than "She showed herself to be an impressive specimen" because the whole arc has dealt with the impact of the new slayers in ways that weren't just "Look at how big a deal Buffy is," though I'm ( ... )
Reply
The relationship between the new powers and the slayer line has got to be more complex than "She showed herself to be an impressive specimen"Buffy and Angel simply winning 'best in show' would be kind of farcical although maybe no more so than Glory's big plan being "Go home ( ... )
Reply
I'd say more ludicrous than Glory's plan myself. Glory is after all a spoiled idiot set up to contrast with Buffy's self-sacrifice and magnamity, so simple works pretty well there. I'm kind of amused that Meltzer described himself in interviews as having a plot brain, because Giles' explanation makes almost no sense, but it's fine, I'm along for the ride.
Reply
The collective doesn't seem to have quite made up its mind whether they're bad because they're too porny or not porny enough. Whatever. They're not, not funny. There's something, I hesitate to say given the bad sex pun issue, tongue in cheek about them. Like said not the stuff of srs string accompaniment. I'm tempted to make that Bad Reputation vid to explain what I mean. Except it would take time away from the extremely serious Sarah Connor = Chaka Khan vid. Decisions, decisions.
Reply
I really think you need to be careful with this statement, especially in the context it was placed. One could imply that this statement also applies to Buffy and Angel - because that's how a lot of people saw the state of their relationship at Chosen. They can have their moment to "bask" (or have cataclysmic orgasms), but the reality is that they don't really know each other anymore. Too much time has passed, and both grew into different people on their own series. The brief "moments" they have together after season 4/season 1 all show the characters regressing to their Buffy season 3 selves while the other is present, then reverting back to their adult selves the moment the other leaves.
This is part of the problem many people have with the Twilight-as-Angel thing, because no matter how "funky" things got in LA, a total disregarding of the Angel canon is evident in the text and in comments made by the people at Dark Horse.
Reply
That was one of the places I was going with that. As for disregarding Angel canon we'll see when he gets the chance to explain himself or be explained some more (apparently in #35). I've said from when his identity was first revealed that some version of him believing that he's working for the PtB or let himself be controlled by the glow in service of that is pretty plausible to me, given that following their instructions is what lead him to declare war on the Black Thorn in S5. I never made it through AtF so if it's that part of the canon that people think is being disregarded I'll just have to take their word for it.
Reply
My concern there is that the PtB are not really part of the Buffy mythos and are really only part of Angel, which means that it'll seem like a retcon for the Buffy story to involve them and so Whedon et al. might not go there.
Right now I'm having a much easier time recognizing Angel in "A Beautiful Sunset"-Twilight than in these issues themselves, where it's really hard to distinguish what's glow and what's the real man. My hope is that Angel regains clear agency soon.
I don't really care if AtF is being disregarded, but I will be gutted it the AtS is.
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I do like that idea. It seems particulaly apt that Satsu was there to get a ringside seat this time around and walk away in disgust, just to point out the contrast.
(Finally read the issue, now I get to read two days' worth of reviews...)
:-)
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