Thought people here might appreciate: saw the actor who plays jneera (best known for xvyyvat Gnen naq orvat synlrq ol Jvyybj) on a set last week. I squinted at him for a bit before I recognized him-- he looks more or less exactly the same though. After I realized who he was I couldn't stop thinking: you were on Buffy. Obviously his life's greatest accomplishment in my mind.

I always forget about Xander's soldier training; you're right, that would've made an interesting arch. Xander gets something to do that actually is super-relevant plotwise and gets the "must date Buffy" stuff out of his system as well. Also, without Riley, perhaps Tara could've come on full-time sooner. I actually really like that scenario the more I think about it.

oh my god, it deleted it twice. sadfaces forever.

Ah, I typed a whole reply to this, logged in, and it went away... but the gist was: you're right when it comes to Whedon and gay males, in my ideal scenario of course it wouldn't be that way, but it very well might have been.

I also am not a huge fan of the loser male thing, but I think it would be cool if a character started out as one, but lost the "nice guy" traits eventually. I have seen it happen in real life, and it would be nice to see it portrayed as positive character growth.

The "Xander could've been gay" thing was brought up a bit in the comments of Mark's post today, but I'm curious on the thoughts of people here since this contains spoilers from the whole series.

I want to start with: I love Tara, so this is in no way meant as a boo-Tara line of thought. However, I sometimes think the series could've been improved if they had chosen to make Xander gay.

One of the major flaws of the series (in my opinion) is that Xander experiences very little character growth, and rarely faces reprimand for his actions (Once More With Feeling...love that episode, but ugh). I like that he gains some confidence during when he becomes a construction worker, but that seems to be as far as it goes. Willow, on the other hand, has loads going on for her: school, her witchcraft, her addiction/control issues. Xander also has issues: his sexism, his inferiority complex, his bad childhood... but they are almost never explored, so he never overcomes them. While sexuality ties a little bit into some of those things, I want to reiterate that I don't think his being gay would cure all these problems or anything, but that through exploration of the one trait, perhaps some of the others could come out.

I guess in my mind, it would go something like this: at the end of season three/beginning of four Anya and Xander do not get together. He is isolated from his friends at school, and ever-less helpful as a scoobie (as Willow becomes more magical), and he is discovering a large new part of his identity. He gets to grow as a character, on his own, and perhaps come out a bit ahead character development-wise.

This frees up Anya to be with Giles (who also needed a personal storyline and more or less never got one, except the magic box), if you like, or to just join the scoobies on her own somehow. She can still have dependency problems, and when Giles leaves (or maybe goes into a coma or something, if we're talking about my perfect series where he doesn't arbitrarily leave his depressed/traumatized almost-daughter), grow into her own a bit like she did after Hells Bells.

This is becoming tl;dr, but I'd be intrigued to hear other people's thoughts. I think perhaps if Xander experienced real growth, it wouldn't be as frustrating to watch these earlier episodes--at least we'd know it leads to something.

Buffy series spoilers in reply

Yeah I think it usually comes down, more or less, to shipper wars with extreme opinions. I enjoyed Buffy and Angel together while that was going on (although I find Angel supel lol-worthy a lot of the time). Idk how you could like Spike more than Buffy though... she's the whole show! Underneath it all, I suspect I will pretty much defend any and all of Buffy's decisions to the death... season 7 secondary characters get a lot of side eye from me for certain things.

Yep, that is a (squished) Leslie Knope. If there's one thing we can all agree on: Leslie is the winner.

Ok, figured out the username I was using. And as it turns out I have posted a few times before haha... who knew.

I appreciate your input on the sanctuary thing. I also am new to this fandom (I first watched Buffy last year, some kids I went to high school with totally ruined it for me when it was first airing) so I guess I wasn't around for any big Xander love-fests (although I've seen some Spike hate-zones, which also made me sad because unlike Xander, I do like Spike). Thus, it seems like I was viewing it in a bit of the opposite way that you all were. Also, because while I dislike Xander 70% of the time, I do occasionally enjoy him and I think he gets some great lines I hate to see overlooked.

Similarly, though, I was drawn to Watches and step out of lurkerville because for the most part everyone is chill and just wants to enjoy the show (unlike, as has been mentioned, TWOP) I missed Buffy the first go round so it's fun to find new fans. I kinda wish I would've waited to watch through the first time.

I wish I could spice up my posts with some peppy GIFs or something so I could be super clear about friendly intentions, but I haven't regularly posted anywhere since the time when only ~super cool people knew how to use them.

Thanks again for the kind response!

I didn't get into buffy until about 8 months ago so I missed... basically everything, fandom-wise, for that. But I had heard here and there about SMG. And I watch Bones, as well, so that's a bit of a bummer re: DB as well (although, I haven't watched Angel, so it probably wouldn't affect me as much). But totally, I agree that griping about the shit that made your career isn't for the best.

He seems like such an awesome, sweet dude, so I have to wonder: why? I'm totally on board with why he wouldn't want to make multiple cameos or do another arc, and I definitely understand why he would only do one season (I kind of love that about him/9, actually. Best season finale ever). However, I feel like when you sign on for something like this--playing a big, important character that people feel personally invested in-- you have to know that stuff like this comes up. The 50th anniversary will only be once, and if they wanted to do a multi-doctor thing, now they... can't? Or it'll just be 10-11 for NewWho? I generally hate entitled fans, but I do feel there is time and a place giving something back to people who care about something like that.

The only other show I've ever had this same reaction with (with the actor, I mean) is ALIAS. But when it happens, it really gets me, apparently.

Solid, glad you found it though. Bones is a badass too.