BUFFY #5 - spoilery specs

[moscow_watcher]

"I imagine this issue of Buffy will leave fans talking, and some of it is gonna be unhappy..." (Scott Allie in the lettercol). Boy, was he right. "Some of it" was so unhappy that Whedonesque issued a new rule: people who don't like comics are not allowed to post in comics threads. "Post again and you're banned from this site forever. All this at

Comments

[sueworld2003]

Hopefully without sounding paranoid I suspect that he whole Banned thing was aimed mainly at me. *g* I see some critting of the comics have been allowed to pass, so long as it's low key.

[moscow_watcher]

Sue, I can understand when people have a strong reaction to some stuff. I consider myself thick-skinned. So you can post your rants here instead of Whedonesque - you're always welcome :)

[sueworld2003]

Aww, thanks love. :)

[enzialla]

Yeah, I also thought of you when I saw that stupid comment..

[thepuddinhead]

I agree with you in that if Joss is the ultimate baby daddy, he'll opt for maximum pain. I think he'll also create a little wiggle room for ambiguity. I suspect the identity of Papa will shift around as much as humanly possible, and then shift a little bit more.

Personally, although I keep up with the comics, I'm not a big fan of many of the choices they've made. The jury is out on this whopper of a choice, but I remain skeptical. As always, you have to give Joss props for going to places that few would dare. In the meantime, I'm perfectly content with the future fics in our own Spuffy community. For instance, "Time's Fool" by MsJane. She's constructed a compelling Buffyverse that gets me even more jazzed than the comics!

[moscow_watcher]

Since spacefrak I try to keep emotional distance from the comics. But Joss somehow managed to catch me inawares and make it hurt. I'm intrigued about this new development, and, although I'm sure that it will a world of pain for poor Buffster, I can't stop reading and can't stop talking about it.

I agree - "Time's Fool" is a great story. I started reading it and then decided to read when it will be finished. (I still haven't read the new chapter of "My Elizabeth" because of the whole comics drama)

[shipperx]

Sure she was drunk, but having a baby by her sister's boyfriend is the most painful thing for her to imo.

The tragic thing will be... it would destroy the sister relationship. It just would. The transgression of the sisterly bond with that would make any situation where Buffy/Dawn/Xander are in the same room again nigh impossible. Co-existence wouldn't be possible. It would come to a choice. Buffy would have to excise someone from her life.

[boot_the_grime]

Well there is a difference between using "maximum pain" plotlines that make sense from the character and storytelling perspective, and throwing completely random OOC stuff just to shock people

[moscow_watcher]

That's why I think it may be either Heinrich (and Buffy doesn't remember what happened between them) or space-frak consequences. Because other options demand OOC behavior from Buffy or her potential partner (s).

But iа it's the tresult of space-frak, there will be some rules-bending but no OOC behavior.

I've just stopped being optimistic when it comes to Whedon's storytelling choices.

*shrugs* Pregnancy is one of the most popular tropes in soap-opera - and BtVS is a supernatural soap, at least formally. More complex and tragic that an average soap-opera, but still.

[boot_the_grime]

Pregnancy could be a good or a bad storyline, depending on the execution. But setting up a "who's the daddy" controversy for the fandom to obsess over, with a "who did she sleep with when she was drunk?" issue and a pregnancy reveal at the end of another issue, without it having been established who, if anyone, she had had sex lately? That's starting to smack of a below average soap opera.

[moscow_watcher]

We'll see if they'll reveal the daddy's identity soon. But I suspect that they'll keep the secret as long as possible to make the fandom wonder and theorize.

[stormwreath]

Issue 9.05 takes place over the course of four days, because we see Buffy asleep and dreaming on three consecutive nights. Since Anaheed and Tumble therefore waited at least four days before getting up the courage to approach Buffy about their fears, I don't think there's any problem in assuming even longer went by between 9.04 and 9.05. Plus, if this is the very next night after the event of 9.04 you'd expect Buffy to be thinking more about Severin, but he never even crosses her mind

[moscow_watcher]

You're right. I didn't take into consideration that the events of #5 take place over the course of several days.

I wonder if the writers realise how thouroughly we dissect every aspect of the story. Most likely, they didn't give much thought to the timeline of Buffy's pregnancy.

[shipperx]

people who don't like comics are not allowed to post in comics threads. "Post again and you're banned from this site forever. All this at the mods' discretion."

Don't you love it when there are open demands for unified groupthink.