Buffy is my favorite character - am I alone in this?
I get the impression that fans think she's whiny, or boring or something, which is weird, because she's always been my favorite character. Am I the only one?
Posted Jul 14, 2014, 5:38 PM UTC
3961
Buffy as the Slayer is awesome. Buffy as a teenager can be annoying sometimes.
I don't know, I can never pick proper favorites.
If I had to pick I guess I'd say Spike (even though I prefer Buffy with Angel) because every scene, every season, James Marsters makes Spike 100% believable. It's crazy, considering how much that character changes.
21
I liked that Buffy as a teenager was annoying sometimes. All teenagers are, and it was comforting to see that someone with superpowers had the same teenager issues as me.
10
Yeah I agree. Just because she can be annoying doesn't mean I don't like her. I mean I like Dawn as a character too lol.
2
I dunno. IMO Spike as a character could be a little inconsistent at times, because the writers didn't really know what to do with him.
Buffy, even when she was making mistakes always seemed in character, in regards to the situation or trauma she was dealing with at the time.
6
IMO Spike as a character could be a little inconsistent at times, because the writers didn't really know what to do with him.
That's my point about Marsters though. Spike goes from trying to kill the Slayer to babysitting her sister ...and we buy it.
12
No, Buffy is my favorite too.
17
Buffy, Willow, and Spike sort of tie for my favorite.
Spike I just find incredibly entertaining and he has a fantastic character arc.
Willow is the one that I am the most like in certain ways, and I love the magic, and once again, fantastic character development.
Buffy is the one that in a lot of ways I want to be like, and the one who I connect the most with emotionally. On the surface, I am nothing like her, but I relate to a lot of the emotional hurdles she goes through, and I wish that I could have the incredible emotional strength she has. As far as her being whiny, I'd have to disagree. Are there times when she is, sure, I guess, but all the other characters have those times too. If I were fifteen years old and chosen to be the one girl in the world to fight evil, knew that my life had an expiration date, had to keep it all (somewhat) secret, had to kill the love of my life, etc., then I might be a little whiny too sometimes. As succintly stated in Season 1, "Giles, I'm sixteen years old. I don't wanna die."
And as in Season 2, "No, it doesn't stop. It never stops. Do-do you think I chose to be like this? Do you have any idea how lonely it is? How dangerous? I would love to be upstairs watching TV or gossiping about boys or, god, even studying! But I have to save the world. Again."
TL; DR: Buffy is awesome.
9
I like Buffy. A lot. But Xander has been my favourite character from the get-go!
8
That's so weird, he started out OK but from season 4 onwards I really began to hate the guy. I'm not a major Spike fan or anything, but for some reason all the snide little comments Xander made at him really annoyed me.
8
You know what disappointed me? I had hoped that Xander and Spike would become pals. Kind of doing the flip-side of the Xander/Angel relationship. I thought that was where it was going to go, but alas..
9
No your not alone and you get the gist that people think she's whiney because it's a common complaint.
People, I think, want Buffy to be this perfect person with no conflict. She should never complain about anything because she has all this power and can kick ass and is pretty. However, that's what makes her amazing. She is just a teenage girl, dealing with the struggles of real life, as well as saving the world. Does she make mistakes, yes. Can she be bitchy at times? Yes. For all of these reasons, she is the best character of the Buffyverse and it's irks me to no end when people bitch about her.
8
That's exactly what I love about her. She's a human being who makes all sorts of mistakes, but in the end she always manages to do the right thing, no matter how hard it is.
I can look up to her and follow her example, precisely because she's so flawed, because if she can still be a good person, so can I.
7
TIL people actually like Buffy. Huh. Who knew?
6
Buffy is definitely my favorite. She kicks ass, works hard, has good humor, and an overall great story arc. I relate to her more than any other character. Also... she's the god damn slayer!
I love a lot of the main characters, but not as much as Buffy.
- I love love love Giles, but his lack of interesting story lines in later seasons and basically abandonment of the scoobies really turns me off.
- Faith is one of my favorites, probably up there with Buffy, and for different reasons. She might have become my favorite if she was around for longer. Maybe I just have a thing for slayers.
- Spike is probably the most entertaining character for me, but he just cannot be my favorite because of certain horrible actions he takes. I also don't relate to him as much as Buffy.
- Anya is one of my other favorite characters. I love the way she says what comes to her mind and stays true to herself. Sometimes she can annoy me a little bit though.
- I really love Willow in the early seasons, but dislike her as she becomes increasingly arrogant and self centered.
I'm really not a fan of Xander or Dawn, and feel neutral-leaning-negative towards Tara. Other characters I'm mostly neutral towards, but that changes depending on the season.
5
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2
I liked her better on my second watch through recently, but shes still nowhere near my favourite.
I do think shes whiny and also kind if fake, like shes putting on being nice to her friends and others.
Shes a great character still, but she just doesnt click with me like the others do.
4
not at all, i'm with you, she's my favourite, she's buffy, she's a badass, and she's just Buffy, course she's my favourite :P
3
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2
I like her more and more every time I rewatch the show, but she is far from my favorite character.
2
The show is all about her so she's pretty much always the focus. Maybe people tend to like other characters more because we don't get to see as much of them. The side characters get to be a little more wacky because they're not literally carrying the show. I've honestly never been aware of anyone thinking she's not a great character. I just assume it's a given that everyone loves Buffy because why would you watch the show otherwise? So people just tend to talk about the less central characters more. That's my theory anyway. (not sure if that made much sense!)
I wouldn't say she's my favourite character, but she's definitely in the top 3.
2
I've encountered some people on here that have said they disliked Buffy. And that just completely throws me. I don't know how you could watch a show if you disliked the titular character.
But I love her. She is everything I wish I were.
2
Yeah, I'd say that pretty much sums up my feelings about her. I don't think I've ever really thought about the degree to which I like her as a character because I don't really think of her as a character, if you know what I mean? She's the show. It's easy to notice how much you like/dislike other characters because you can notice the difference when they are involved in a scene or story and when they are not. That's a lot harder to do with Buffy.
1
No, Buffy is the best of the best! :D
2
She didn't used to be I don't think, but as I've gotten older I do think she is my favorite. SMG is great too and plays the role really well.
2
Buffy is the greatest character of all time.
2
Buffy is definitely my favorite too! I love that she's basically a superhero but is still prone to human weaknesses and flaws. Also I don't usually "connect" to characters like I do her. I feel like we could be bffs if she was real.
2
Buffy is absolutely my favorite.
2
Buffy's not my favorite character - Spike is - but I don't find her boring or whiny. I think she's fantastic and I love the way she struggles and grows and rises to the occasion again and again, not matter how much it costs her. The thing about BTVS is that the characters are all so good, even our least favorite character is still head and shoulders above the best of what most other TV shows have to offer. When we criticize BTVS, we're finding microscopic flaws in the Hope diamond. We pick at the nits mainly because it gives us something to talk about the involves the show. We want to stay in the Buffyverse. We don't want to let the characters or the stories go, even years after we have watched it all the way through, even for the third or fourth time.
2
Buffy is pretty clearly the best character I think. She is the heart of the show, it revolves around her.
I should point out I think favorite and best can be different. I think Buffy is the best character on the show- best acted, best written, well rounded and interesting. But is she my favorite? I'm not sure. It's either her or Giles.
2
She is absolutely my favorite. She stands head and shoulders above the rest on the show even though I also love them. And it helps that Sarah Michelle Gellar is the best actor on the show.
I don't necessarily know if she is the best actor, just because a lot of them are extremely good, but I got a brand new respect for her in the episode where Buffy and Faith trade bodies. Eliza Dushku did fine as Buffy, but SMG nailed Faith. She definitely showed her versatility.
The scene where is raining blows down while saying she hates her (really herself) was so damn powerful. One of the best scenes in the series.
As much as I love her, I don't think SMG is the best actor in the cast. That honor should probably go to Alyson Hannigan, or James Marsters.
I think SMG is one of the most consistently good actors in the cast.
Alyson Hannigan develops a lot as the series progresses, though some of her reactions throughout can seem overly "acty" to me and not exactly real.
I think James Marsters is amazing, definitely up towards the top, but he doesn't show as much of a range as SMG does (probably because SMG is the "main" character). Especially in early seasons, his acting is fairly obvious though he does use more subtlety later on.
For me, other tops in the series would be Tony Head and Charisma Carpenter (though I'm thinking this shows more on ATS than BTVS).
I would say the weaker actors are David Boreanaz, Nicholas Brendan, Michelle Trachtenberg, and whomever plays Riley.
Charisma Carpenter is fantastic unless she's playing a bad guy, like in Angel season 4.
I think I've blocked out all of Angel S4 from my memory... Too much bad acting and horrible plot lines and behind the scenes drama
Word.
Got to say I disagree. They are fantastic, but I don't think either can touch SMG on that front. Alyson is closest.
Well we can agree to disagree.
Indeed.