Talking Meme: Favorite Buffyverse Ships
lynzie914 asked for my favorite Buffyverse ships!
OTPs:
+ Spuffy: This is the OTP that introduced me to BtVS fandom and LJ fandom and almost all of my flisties. I wrote oodles and oodles of fic for it from summer 2010 through December 2012 (really, it was through June 2012 with one last Seasonal Spuffy entry I forced out in December). I moved away from Spuffy partly because the fandom itself was disintegrating and partly because I couldn’t stand the comics (despite writing a lot of fic based on them), but I hope to feel that Spuffy passion again someday on rewatch.
I love Spuffy because they learned to love each other; they saw the best and the worst of each other, and they loved each other anyway. Or in Buffy's case, she believed in him. I think she did love him when he died, but I'm not sure she realized it until his death was staring her in the face, and if the last fight hadn't happened, I think it would have taken a lot longer for her to acknowledge/act on any feelings (and I would have wanted it to after S6). I love Spuffy because they challenged each other, they were never boring, they ran the full gamut of emotions together, and they believed in each other. *wibbles*
+ Xander/Anya: Anya was somehow magically resurrected after “Chosen,” she and Xander reconciled, it took years and multiple proposals on his part/rejections on hers before she agreed to marry him, but eventually she did and the wedding went off without a hitch (Andrew planned it and was prepared to handcuff Xander to Spike before Anya made him stop), and they lived happily ever after. I WILL NEVER BE CONVINCED OTHERWISE.
Barring S6, I absolutely loved them together. They were the couple that had no reason to work, and yet they did, and I think that's the biggest reason I love them. Because they absolutely did not make sense, the demon and the demon-hater, but they loved each other anyway.
+ Cordelia/Angel: I will never forgive Joss Whedon for what he did to Cordelia Chase and to this ship. NEVER. I love them because they were best friends before they fell in love. They were good teammates. They inspired each other to be heroes. She made him smile. As with Anya, I'm all NOPE, CORDELIA IS RESURRECTED AFTER "NOT FADE AWAY," THEY SOLVE HIS SOUL PROBLEM AND LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER, THE END.
Other ships I like:
+ Willow/Oz: They were adorable, they were sweet, they felt organic, they weren't perfect, they were just the cutest. I'll always be a little grumpy at how their break-up was handled because based on his S2-S3 characterization, I really would have expected better of Oz than to just ditch her like that in S4. I've written it in future!fics and I maintain the belief that Willow could fall for Oz again post-series. Not that she would suddenly start identifying as straight again, mind you, but that she could love Oz because he was Oz.
+ Willow/Tara (pre-S6): It took me a while to like them because I was so bitter about Willow/Oz, but as my affection for Tara as an individual grew upon rewatches, I began appreciating Willow/Tara, too. This appreciation does not extend to S6. I hate what Willow does, I love that Tara leaves her, I hate that Tara goes back to her, and obviously I hate that she's immediately fridged. What complete bullshit, fuck you, Joss. If Tara ever came back I could still ship Willow/Tara but only if Willow did some serious growing up first (on her own, without handholding) and acknowledged all of the terrible things she had done to Tara and why they were wrong.
+ Giles/Jenny: They were adorable. Sigh. This is another fridging for which I will always resent Joss.
+ Fred/Gunn: I really liked them while they lasted. When I watched AtS for the first time way back in spring 2007, I didn't understand feminism enough to understand why his behavior in "Supersymmetry" was so problematic, and so I was angry as well as heartbroken about their break-up. I don't care enough to hold it as a "grudge" the way I do, say, Cordelia/Angel, but I'll probably always be a little bitter at how this adorable ship disintegrated, especially since in hindsight, its sole purpose seems to have been to give Wesley manpain and prolong the Wes/Fred farce.*
*Apologies to any Wes/Fred shippers here. I love Fred, and I think Wes is a very well written character, and if they had gotten together organically I might have liked them, but I absolutely cannot. deal. with how the writers subjugated the importance of her storyline to his in S5; the puppet strings are too visible.
OTPs:
+ Spuffy: This is the OTP that introduced me to BtVS fandom and LJ fandom and almost all of my flisties. I wrote oodles and oodles of fic for it from summer 2010 through December 2012 (really, it was through June 2012 with one last Seasonal Spuffy entry I forced out in December). I moved away from Spuffy partly because the fandom itself was disintegrating and partly because I couldn’t stand the comics (despite writing a lot of fic based on them), but I hope to feel that Spuffy passion again someday on rewatch.
I love Spuffy because they learned to love each other; they saw the best and the worst of each other, and they loved each other anyway. Or in Buffy's case, she believed in him. I think she did love him when he died, but I'm not sure she realized it until his death was staring her in the face, and if the last fight hadn't happened, I think it would have taken a lot longer for her to acknowledge/act on any feelings (and I would have wanted it to after S6). I love Spuffy because they challenged each other, they were never boring, they ran the full gamut of emotions together, and they believed in each other. *wibbles*
+ Xander/Anya: Anya was somehow magically resurrected after “Chosen,” she and Xander reconciled, it took years and multiple proposals on his part/rejections on hers before she agreed to marry him, but eventually she did and the wedding went off without a hitch (Andrew planned it and was prepared to handcuff Xander to Spike before Anya made him stop), and they lived happily ever after. I WILL NEVER BE CONVINCED OTHERWISE.
Barring S6, I absolutely loved them together. They were the couple that had no reason to work, and yet they did, and I think that's the biggest reason I love them. Because they absolutely did not make sense, the demon and the demon-hater, but they loved each other anyway.
+ Cordelia/Angel: I will never forgive Joss Whedon for what he did to Cordelia Chase and to this ship. NEVER. I love them because they were best friends before they fell in love. They were good teammates. They inspired each other to be heroes. She made him smile. As with Anya, I'm all NOPE, CORDELIA IS RESURRECTED AFTER "NOT FADE AWAY," THEY SOLVE HIS SOUL PROBLEM AND LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER, THE END.
Other ships I like:
+ Willow/Oz: They were adorable, they were sweet, they felt organic, they weren't perfect, they were just the cutest. I'll always be a little grumpy at how their break-up was handled because based on his S2-S3 characterization, I really would have expected better of Oz than to just ditch her like that in S4. I've written it in future!fics and I maintain the belief that Willow could fall for Oz again post-series. Not that she would suddenly start identifying as straight again, mind you, but that she could love Oz because he was Oz.
+ Willow/Tara (pre-S6): It took me a while to like them because I was so bitter about Willow/Oz, but as my affection for Tara as an individual grew upon rewatches, I began appreciating Willow/Tara, too. This appreciation does not extend to S6. I hate what Willow does, I love that Tara leaves her, I hate that Tara goes back to her, and obviously I hate that she's immediately fridged. What complete bullshit, fuck you, Joss. If Tara ever came back I could still ship Willow/Tara but only if Willow did some serious growing up first (on her own, without handholding) and acknowledged all of the terrible things she had done to Tara and why they were wrong.
+ Giles/Jenny: They were adorable. Sigh. This is another fridging for which I will always resent Joss.
+ Fred/Gunn: I really liked them while they lasted. When I watched AtS for the first time way back in spring 2007, I didn't understand feminism enough to understand why his behavior in "Supersymmetry" was so problematic, and so I was angry as well as heartbroken about their break-up. I don't care enough to hold it as a "grudge" the way I do, say, Cordelia/Angel, but I'll probably always be a little bitter at how this adorable ship disintegrated, especially since in hindsight, its sole purpose seems to have been to give Wesley manpain and prolong the Wes/Fred farce.*
*Apologies to any Wes/Fred shippers here. I love Fred, and I think Wes is a very well written character, and if they had gotten together organically I might have liked them, but I absolutely cannot. deal. with how the writers subjugated the importance of her storyline to his in S5; the puppet strings are too visible.