Um. . . huh?

[icemink]

So my very first fanfic was a Spuffy piece called Needy. It kind of embarrasses me now. More than that, it actually contains what has become one of my biggest pet peeves, character bashing. Angel is basically the villain of the piece. Which is why I was kind of surprised when I got this review of that story today: This chapter was a bit too Bangel for my tastes.

Um okay?

So I went back and checked the chapter that review was left for. Basically the story is an alternate version of Damaged, where Buffy comes to L.A. instead of Andrew. So here's the dialogue after Spike has been wheeled into the ambulance and Buffy and Angel are talking:


"Good. Well, any way, I'll just take Dana and. . . "

"What? Buffy wait. We'll take care of her don't worry."

"Angel, she's a Slayer. It's. . ."

"No Buffy, really. We can handle her."

"-my responsibility. Angel. I did this to her. I made her this. Besides, I'm not all that comfortable leaving a crazy slayer in the hands of an evil law firm." Angel started to protest but this time Buffy cut him off. "An evil law-firm that's been known to hire rouge slayers and use them as assassins I might add."

"Buffy, we won't do that, we can help her."

"Yeah, look maybe you can, but she belongs with us. You know, the good guys."

The look on Angel's face was like he'd been slapped. She almost regretted saying it. She could feel it coming. The same argument they'd had post-Sunnydale when she found out that he'd decided to take over Wolfram & Hart. She wanted desperately to believe that Angel was better than this place, that he could do good, but she couldn't take that chance. And he'd never given her a very good explanation of why he would join up with his old archenemies. She knew he was hiding something from her probably to protect her. She almost wanted to laugh. She had once told Spike that she couldn't love him because she could never trust him but the fact was Angel was the big love of her life and she didn't trust him. Wasn't sure she could ever trust him again.

"Buffy, it's not like you have a choice here." He was angry, she could hear it in his voice, see it in the way he stood up a little straighter.

"No Angel, it's you that doesn't have a choice. LADIES." She could hear behind her the van, as twelve other girls appeared. "Thirteen slayers. I'm not thinking that's your lucky number Angel."

As her girls loaded Dana's stretcher in their van, Buffy wanted to apologize to Angel. To try and make it better somehow. But she knew she couldn't. There was no way she could leave Dana with him, and she suspected that anything she might say would only make it worse.

So I guess I'm curious if this is far more Bangely than I was aware of. When I looked hard I could sort of see the Bangel undertones. I mean I didn't ignore the fact that at one time Angel and Buffy had a serious relationship. On the other this is only chapter 2 of the story, and I know that the story ends in amazing Angel bashing, so maybe I'm looking at it a bit slantedly.

It doesn't really matter, it just amuses me. It also reminds me why I prefer posting my Spuffy here in LJ rather than at the big Spuffy sites (although I'm such a review whore I can't help it).

I also have a feeling this reviewer gave up on the story, which is okay because like I said, my first story, I don't exactly consider it great art. They did leave a review for the next chapter saying it was Much better than the previous chapter Spuffywise. which implies that it's not much better in other ways, which is almost certainly true.

But hey it amused me, so I guess that makes it a good review.

Comments

[megan-peta.livejournal.com]

Sounds to me like the reviewer couldn't handle any Buffy/Angel interaction, which is kind of strange. You can't entirely ignore canon if you want the story to be reasonably accurate. How wonderful to see you! Have you been writing much spuffy lately? I am so behind on the LJ scene it's embarrassing.

[icemink.livejournal.com]

It's even more embarrassing how behind I am on answering comments. I've been writing some Spuffy, but lots of other BtVS pairings as well. I did just post a chapter for my current Spuffy story Cocoon Crash though.

And how have you been? It's been a while.

[copykween.livejournal.com]

I don't get any Bangel at all, other than her reflecting (briefly!) on her past, and how it might apply to Spike. in the future. I think that reviewer is off their rocker.

[icemink.livejournal.com]

Yeah I think they missed the fact that she was reflecting on the past, when it came to Angel, not talking about the present.

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

I bet they hit this "... but the fact was Angel was the big love of her life..." and just couldn't get over it.

[icemink.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was probably it. I guess my tenses were to subtle. Instead of just using the word was, I should have written, "Angel was the big love of her life several years ago when she was a teenage girl living in Sunnydale."

[angelstoy.livejournal.com]

um......ok on the whole "too much Bangel" That just sounded like Buffy looking back at her feelings for Spike and Angel - me thinks this reviewer got stuck on the sentence "Angel was the big love of her life" and couldn't get that image out of her/his head!!!

[icemink.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I bet you're right. It always amazes me how touchy people are about their Spuffy. Of course I'm pretty darn picky too, but I like to think my pickyness comes from wanting the characters in fanfic to resemble the characters from the show. I'm probably just a big snob though.

[of-too-minds.livejournal.com]

Interesting question. Personally I don't see the bangel-ness of this chapter. To me, they're clearly estranged and at odds and it's not likely to get better any time soon unless they can have an open and honest conversation about Angel's intentions and plans, etc.

Buffy and Angel have a history together. It's canon. It's foundational to Buffy's growth and development as a character (as is her relationship with Spike). Maybe the reviewer wanted you to ignore it and have Buffy rip Angel a new one? *scratches head*

[icemink.livejournal.com]

Buffy and Angel's relationship is also a foundation to her relationship *with* Spike. I mean let's face it, Angel left some scars on Buffy and they influenced how she dealt with Spike. But I guess Buffy not letting Angel do what he wants was too subtle. Oh well. Cant please everyone.

[of-too-minds.livejournal.com]

Oh well. Cant please everyone.
True. All you can do is shrug it off and go on with your life.

[adso-von-melk.livejournal.com]

Doesn't look very much like Bangel... lol ;)

[icemink.livejournal.com]

I didn't think so. But every now and then you need a sanity check and that's what an f-list is for.