Question to B/A shippers

[liliaeth]

I'm asking this towards all B/A shippers (not that there's many on my friendslist, but you can always invite your friends to give their opinions *g*)

Allright, I have been thinking on ships and well... I am going to give anyone with even a remote liking for B/A the chance to try, (emphasis on try) to explain to me why in gods name those two should ever be together. Cause I really don't get it. There is as far as I can see no reason why Buffy should be attracted to Angel. (I can see why Spike'd like him, but he's got the unfortunate habit of liking people who are bad to him)

But I'm willing to listen to any of you on why in Gods name, Buffy and Angel would supposedly ever be good for one another...

I don't want no insults of other chars,
I just want to know why you think these two should be together. I'll probably disagree with you, but I want to hear it nonetheless.

And if I hear one mention of the word 'soulmates', or 'first love' I'm gonna grab me this here paddle and spank you till you scream for your mommy ;-)
And not in the good way*eg*
I'm an adult, I don't do that soulmate nonsense, and there's no way in hell that just cause someone was your first, that that means he or she should be your last.

Comments

[shapinglight]

Not a B/A'er, as you know, and feel pretty much the same as you about that relationship.

Just dropping by to wish you luck in this.

[liliaeth]

thanks, just wish some of the people I do know that are B/A-ers would give their reasoning...
(and without this turning into some flame thingie... hmmm, might have better left the insult out of the post then ;-) , uhm, yeah...)

[shapinglight]

Maybe you could edit your post?

[liliaeth]

probably best

[hellsbells.livejournal.com]

Angel/Buffy is to me the most digusting, nauseating and vomit-inducing pairing on either Buffy and Angel, ...

LMAO! *hugs you because you're great*

[aaronlisa.livejournal.com]

I like B/A when it's classic B/A, like the first three seasons of Buffy. After that I found the soulmates/first love excuse a little to thin. I do think that out of all her relationships, Angel was the best one (the writers never really gave Riley a chance, and they just made Spike too abusive - and I like Spike.) And with Angel, everytime there was a chance for a relationship (ie Cordy) it was never ever explored, so I guess perhaps for B/A shippers that part of the reason why they love the ship is that there was never anything better for either but classic B/A.

BTW past the third season, I am not really into B/A, I'd rather see them with anyone else.

[redeem147.livejournal.com]

As another person who just doesn't 'get' B/A, I'd have to say that those times when Angel and Cordy really connected (and there were too few) showed me where his heart really belonged. I did love "You're Welcome". The end tore my little heart out.

[aaronlisa.livejournal.com]

I know I was bitterly disappointed with the way the show treated Cordy & Angel.

[liliaeth]

I guess that the problem for me in this statement is the 'Spike was too abusive' part, because I in no way saw this in any way or how.
Buffy being too abusive, definitely, Spike... the only bad thing he did was not stopping Buffy and letting her hurt him.

Not that that has anything to do with the B/A part ...
(honestly, B/A to me is just such a typical high school crush thing, two people who don't have a clue about one another, putting themselves through the oh so tragic "Oh woe poor us, we can't be together' stuff... Instead of actually doing something about it...

[aaronlisa.livejournal.com]

Sorry I wrote this at 5 in the morning, I meant "Spuffy was too abusive." I don't think Spike was very abusive for Buffy (except for when he has her and Dru tied up in his crypt.) I think he was more abusive to himself because he kept crawling back for more. I didn't like the way the writers protrayed Buffy at all.

And I think you're right about B/A being a HS crush thing. It ended, and that should have been the end of it. I can see them always having feelings for one another (you know first love and all that) but I found the writers almost always made them come across as selfish once the fourth season of Buffy aired (there's a few exceptions.)

[ww1614.livejournal.com]

I'm not a B/Aer, but I'll try to make an argument, because I am just contrary that way. :)

Buffy and Angel work because they have so much in common. There are people who like to be romantic partners with people just like them. (That's not me.) Their journeys are so similar. They both know what it's like to be tempted not to believe that their duty is strong. They both have "children" they love.

[spikesbint.livejournal.com]

I am really childish everytime, an Angel/Buffy moment came on the screen I would make sick noises at the TV.

But in saying that, I actually cried at I will remeber you, but then I cry at a lot of things.

Angela

[ladyoneill.livejournal.com]

I have a great respect and liking for old school B/A, and I have no problem with 'your first being your last' as both my parents and my brother and his wife started dating in high school. Buffy and Angel have a lot in common, and the actors had a lot of chemistry, especially in the early years. Angel's character evolved a lot from season one Buffy through his own show, much more than Buffy's did, and I can see how they grew apart, but I still enjoy seeing them together.

I agree with another poster here that the other relationships were never really given a chance, for either character. I'm definitely a B/S shipper, but more in fanfic than on the show. The relationship on the show was not a healthy one. Cordy and Angel just never had much chemistry until the final episode she was in, and Nina was just kind of thrown at us. I never did care one way or another for Riley.

The argument that Angel is too old for Buffy and that he's robbing the cradle never held much water for me. Buffy was young in years, but not in soul. She's attracted to the darkness and mystery of 250 year old Angel. He falls for her light and youth. They battle side by side.

So, yeah, I can see the romance there, and I can see them in later years getting back together for whatever reason people do that. I can equally see she and Spike getting back together, or, hell, being one big happy threesome.

I don't know where you're coming from in your viewing of the show, but I do know a lot of people who don't like B/A (and usually do love S/B) did not watch the show from the beginning. Most B/A shippers I know, did watch from day one. I was a B/A shipper until sometime in season three when they announced the spinoff and I knew they had to break up. At that point I was writing a few S/B stories, but I still loved B/A. That love's faded, but not totally gone.

Sorry to ramble. I haven't had any coffee yet.

[liliaeth]

Oh I came into the show from Season 1, I'd read crossovers between HL and Buffy already, but when I started watching the show itself, it was season 1.
And since I loved Buffy, I wanted her to be happy and get the guy she loved. Problem is, rewatching the show, I don't see that chemistry, I don't see the attraction in Angel, and as much as I'd wish otherwise, I don't see Angel having the love for Buffy that she did for him.

Maybe it's my need to watch adults, over teenagers.
(S1-S3 are some of my least fave buffy seasons)
But I don't need to see B/A again, cause it turns Buffy into a child. (even more so in fanfic than in the show)
When I watch Buffy, I want her to be in charge, I want her to be a strong woman, not a starstruck little girl.

And no, it's not that a first love can't be the last, but that it doesn't have to be.

If Buffy and Angel had actually stayed in touch, if Angel had shown more concern for her wellbeing than the 'leaving her for her best interest'-crap, it might be different.
but quite simply, I find it impossible to see Buffy as the love of Angel's life and I feel she deserves better than to be a second choice. (hell, he showed more emotion with either Cordy (and I'm not a C/A shipper) or Darla than he ever did with Buffy...)

[icafreak.livejournal.com]

You know where I stand on the subject. B/A can be summed up in two words: puppy love.

Angel wasn't 'in love' with Buffy, he was in love with what Buffy represented to him; a chance to make amends for all the evil crap he did as Angelus. Which, for me, was the reason he only got interesting when he got away from her and started doing things for himself and not because she wanted him to.

And Buffy wasn't 'in love' with Angel the person either. She was infatuated by this older mysterious man who she thought could be her 'normal life'. By the time she found out he couldn't be that, she had already convinced herself it didn't matter.

I remember watching the show in the first season and really loving the monsters and ignoring all the non-Xander/Willow relationships. B/A bored me to tears. I really got interested in S2, one because of Spike, and also because Angel finally became interesting. S3 it was back to the melodrama 'we can never be together' angst crap and with no Spike to break up the sap, I stopped watching.

It took me awhile to come back to it, but eventually, with Spike being back and no more Angel, I got interested in the show again. But every time they've bought Angel back I lose interest again.

For me, it's played out and over. Liking the old school is fine, but still thinking it's the be all and end all of BtVS/AtS relationships is just delusional.

(You said no flames and I tried to keep to minimal, but what are you gonna do?)