Actors' Reactions

[Relic]

It's really only the current choice that matters in defining the preferance, least thats what i think. If Buffy and Satsu are doing the horizontal bop, she is in love and having relations with a same sex individual and that makes her gay, big whoop (I just hope she's happy)

If Satsu is killed and Angel or Spike pick up the peices and Buffy reverts to her old way she is again in a hetrosexual relationship.

I really don't see what the to do is about. We are ultimately who and what we are, and we live that definition in the present, in the moment.

 

[AndrewCrossett]

I'm perfectly willing to ignore the whole "gay"/"straight" label system. Conditioning makes that hard to do, sometimes I find myself doing it without even thinking about it.

The real question is not "is Buffy gay or straight," it's "Is Buffy in love with Satsu?" Or at least, is there the basis there for her to be in love with her? IMO the answer is yes, based solely on what I see on the pages.

I have a feeling if you brought this question up in depth with Joss, he might say something like, "Buffy's not gay, but that doesn't mean she doesn't love Satsu," or "She may be experimenting, but Willow was experimenting the first time she kissed Tara, too."

 

[wehappyfew]

hmm..funny how this thread turned into a gay/straight debate.

as a pansexual black male...i gotta say i'm down with joss for giving his middle finger to the "static" labels.

it's appropriate considering the universe all these characters live in.
maybe buffy's just acknolwedging feelings for this one girl in particular...maybe buffy doesn't even know what she's feeling. maybe she's bi. maybe she's a lesbian.

for me, i'd say buffy's a girl with feelings. and right now, those feelings are attracting her to a very hot vampire slayer named satsu.

where it goes from here, we'll all have to wait and see.
judging by sarah's reaction in the youtube video...she seemed surprised (a lot like buffy was when willow told her she was gay) but also...at the same time okay with it. as if she could see buffy doing that.
in contrast to casual sex with spike and sarah not liking that storyline.
so sarah does care about buffy...but at this point, they're two old friends who have lost touch.

 

[Blaze]

I do honestly think that Buffy is bi. I don't like putting labels because I just think that people should like who they want but I sort of have to use them to get my point here. Everybody says that Because Satsu is the first one means that Buffy is only experimenting. But I say that not only there is more to it but I say that Satsu was not entirely the first one. I think that Faith might had been her first crush. Ok, technicly nothing real happened but there was definetly something between them. Until the comics, I thought that Faith was bisexuel and that is why there was sexuel tension between Fuffy (like the heart in the window scene) but now it does make sense if Buffy is the one that is bi and she is starting to realise that.

Anyway, I'm all the way for Buffy and Satsu because she is the first one in a long time that had made her happy and it's not about her sexuel preference, it's about who is made for her and who she loves!

-Blaze-

 

[white avenger]

So if I am to understand, any suppossed straight person who has any same sex experience in their life is now no longer considered straight.

Would the same then apply to gay folk who have straight experiences in their lives? Can they no longer consider themselves gay?


The fact that Buffy has feelings for Satsu hardly discredits her as a straight person going through an experimental phase, it just makes her more human.

The same thing could basically be said for Willow. She was involved in only "straight" relationships until Tara came along, the same as Satsu with Buffy. I don't see either Buffy or Willow as being straight, gay, or even bi-sexual as much as I see them both as lonely people who managed to find comfort and affection when they most needed it. Gender was only a secondary consideration.

 

[Chase Summers]

Ummm........on the gay/straight dealio I'm just gonna say: IMO Buffy isn't anything but human. Read up on Kinsey's work. He'll agree. Whether she is gay or straight is a moot point in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

I would agree at this point that Buffy is bisexual.

 

[Faiths Angel]

I don't believe Buffy is bi. I think she's just riding out this interest in Satsu and seeing where it's going. If she ends up being bi/gay, then I think Joss took it too far, IMO.

 

[Buffyverse Fan]

Okay, I like this thread, but wow lots of tangents...

Re: Big Stars don't like it...
I don't think of Seth Green as one of the smaller stars, as of 2009, I'd rank the top 3 (in terms of success in the biz) as 1. Alyson 2. Sarah 3. Seth.

Re: I wonder if Alexis reads them...
Me too! If he does, Alyson surely has a rough idea of what's going on (they're married in real life). Personally, I get the feeling that Joss thinks of Alexis and Alyson as friends, that's the way he talks about them anyway, as opposed to the other cast members who he speaks well of, but in a more professional manner.

Re: Buffy's Sexuality
I didn't care for the gay/bi thing either. As a heterosexual male I thought it was kind of hot, but as a fan of the series I thought it was really out of character. With Willow coming out, they were dropping hints long before, with Buffy it seemed cheap and out of left field.

The thing is, if you really think about it, Buffy has only had two real sexual encounters with real men, and that would be the ones with Parker & Riley. Angel & Spike were dead senior citizen corpses when she made love to them and even Satsu isn't quite human... lol

Re: Joss' joke about how they're drawn.
It's funny because I've been thinking that 1.) Alyson is prettier as Lily Erickson (her major role as of 2009) than she was as Willow, and since her look carried over, real Alyson is prettier than Willow right now.

And Angel as of late is looking older than David Boreanaz looks as Sealy Booth (his major role as of 2009), which is really funny since Angel should appear 28 (sired @ 27, restored for around a year) and David is 39! 12 years older in real life, but 28 years of Angel-aging and he looks more aged.

On the other hand both Xander & James are drawn to look younger than they appear in reality, I get that Spike should look mid-30s-ish (10 yrs+ younger than James), but I'm not sure why Xander is looking so young. I think Buffy looks about right, but it would make sense that they'd spend the most time on her.

 

[AndrewCrossett]

Re: Buffy's Sexuality
I didn't care for the gay/bi thing either. As a heterosexual male I thought it was kind of hot, but as a fan of the series I thought it was really out of character. With Willow coming out, they were dropping hints long before, with Buffy it seemed cheap and out of left field.

I disagree that it's out of character, but... I've said it before and I'll say it again: people don't always act "in character." That's the thing about Whedon characters: they don't follow a predictable pattern all the time. They come across as real people who make decisions, sometimes surprising ones, for better or worse. They are not the programmed, predictable robots that many TV characters are.

Buffy's relationship with Satsu is far more plausible and in character than her one with Spike IMO, at least in season 6.

Out of left field? Yep, like just about everything on BtVS. Cheap? Can't agree with that. I thought it was handled with a great deal of taste and sensitivity by the writers and artists.

 

[Buffyverse Fan]

heh, well I stole "cheap" from the experts. I read many-a-review on that issue by comic reviewers (normally Marvel & DC I imagine), and more than one said it was a cheap ploy to cause controversy, create publicity & sell issues.

I can see that, as a matter of fact, while she wasn't homophobic, I think she was probably the least open-minded about Willow's relationship with Tara initially.

 

[AndrewCrossett]

heh, well I stole "cheap" from the experts. I read many-a-review on that issue by comic reviewers (normally Marvel & DC I imagine), and more than one said it was a cheap ploy to cause controversy, create publicity & sell issues.

I guess we all need to ask ourselves if we think Joss is the kind of creator who sells out the integrity of his story for cheap publicity. I don't think he is. If he was, his shows would probably be a lot more commercially successful than they are.

Fan service is just about the last thing I associate with Joss.

And considering how well the comic sells (and was selling before any of that), it's not exactly necessary.

I can see that, as a matter of fact, while she wasn't homophobic, I think she was probably the least open-minded about Willow's relationship with Tara initially.

Well, Oz wasn't exactly doing cartwheels over it...::huh1::

And Buffy grew and evolved and changed a lot between then and now. It would be more implausible if she didn't.

 

[CharmedSlayer85]

THANK YOU.

I know perfectly well that a Buffy/Satsu pairing is probably not going to happen in the comic, at least not in the near future. But it just annoys me that anyone can read through all of the interactions between those two characters in WatG, A Beautiful Sunset, etc., and think it's just some casual "experimentation" between those two.

Yeah but would you consider Angel and Spike straight as well, because its been made clear that Angel and Spike have had sex at least once, which makes me wonder who was the top and who was the bottom. I'd say Spike was the bottom

 

[Lindsey McDonald]

Yeah but would you consider Angel and Spike straight as well, because its been made clear that Angel and Spike have had sex at least once, which makes me wonder who was the top and who was the bottom. I'd say Spike was the bottom

Well, unsouled-Spike and Angelus had that one time. You have to factor in the innate sexual nature of the vampire with that one. It's a bit of a different situation.

What I'd like to see is the actor's reactions to conversations like this! XD

 

[AndrewCrossett]

Yeah but would you consider Angel and Spike straight as well, because its been made clear that Angel and Spike have had sex at least once, which makes me wonder who was the top and who was the bottom. I'd say Spike was the bottom

I'm swearing off all discussion of gay/straight labels. If you want to talk about whether Angel and Spike were in love, I'd say no if for no other reason than they didn't have souls.

You'll find a lot of fanfic that will tell you different, though.

 

[Buffyverse Fan]

Well, Oz wasn't exactly doing cartwheels over it...::huh1::

I don't think that's a fair comparison.

 

[AndrewCrossett]

I don't think that's a fair comparison.

*Shrug* Okay. Was just an offhand remark anyway.

But my point is that characters change over time. Willow did, and so did Buffy. I don't see one case as being more out of character or unbelievable than the other.

The facts on the ground, whether we like 'em or not: Buffy had sex with a woman of her own very free choice (twice), she liked it very much (both times), and over the course of the comic she has displayed every quality toward Satsu, physical and emotional, that we commonly consider to add up to "love." More, in fact, than she has displayed with some of her "official" lovers in the past.

I know that this relationship may very well go no further, unless Joss has one of his changes of mind. But I will strongly defend the validity of it as far as it went, because it really did grab me emotionally. Especially the tragedy that Buffy... while mourning the fact that she feels so cut off... is actively denying herself the connection she wants and needs, out of fear.

(If we're going to keep this up we really should take it to a new thread... this has drifted way off topic.)

 

[Primal Slayer]

Ill just say this about Batsu:
Whenever I think of this situation, I just think to myself "Would Buffy do this in the television show?" and ofcourse my response to myself is always "no" but for the most part, I have moved on from the whole Batsu shock. Though I dont know why they cant just use bisexual when it comes to Willow.

And I am surprised that so many people are surprised SMG doesnt keep up with it but not that many people mention Alyson, or David, Eliza. None of them are really comic people so I am not surprised they dont keep up with Buffy The Comic. Plus all of them are doing movies/tv shows/starting a family.

 

[Buffyverse Fan]

The facts on the ground, whether we like 'em or not: Buffy had sex with a woman of her own very free choice (twice), she liked it very much (both times), and over the course of the comic she has displayed every quality toward Satsu, physical and emotional, that we commonly consider to add up to "love." More, in fact, than she has displayed with some of her "official" lovers in the past.

Um, you make it out to be a much more meaningful relationship than Joss thinks it is... And he kinda, you know, wrote it...

But my point is that characters change over time. Willow did, and so did Buffy. I don't see one case as being more out of character or unbelievable than the other.

Again, you're defending it more than Joss would. According to Joss he intended to make either Willow or Xander gay from day one. Then The Wish was one of the first big indicators that she had that tendency. And "Dopplegangland" had Willow saying that her AU-self seemed "kinda gay."

So with Willow we have indicators a full year before she came out, with claims of Joss planning it as much as three and a half years earlier. With Buffy the first indicator we had that she was gay was when she had sex with a woman. How is 1-3.5yrs = 0 seconds?

I can think of only two times when Buffy (the character) even addressed homosexuality, and she certainly didn't indicate that she had tendencies:

"The Yoko Factor" (S4)
Buffy: Judgmental? If I was anymore open-minded about the choices you two make my whole brain would fall out!
(in response to Xander dating Anya & Willow dating Tara)

"Once More With Feeling" (S6)
XANDER: I bet they're not even working.

BUFFY: Who now?

XANDER: Willow and Tara. You see the way they were with each other? The get-a-roominess to them? I bet they're- (glances at Dawn, catches himself) Singing. They're probably singing right now.

GILES: I'm sure Willow and Tara are making every effort.

XANDER: Oh, yeah.

BUFFY: Xander.

DAWN: Buffy, it's okay. I do know about this stuff. Besides, it's all kinda romantic.

BUFFY: No it's not!
----

And that's all I really have to say about it. I didn't see any build up in the 9-ish years we saw Buffy that she would even consider a lesbian relationship. That's the only point I was trying to make.

 

[AndrewCrossett]

Um, you make it out to be a much more meaningful relationship than Joss thinks it is... And he kinda, you know, wrote it...

Then he shouldn't have depicted it as being meaningful on the published page. If he wanted it to be a meaningless one-night stand or a simple "experiment," he should have written it that way. He didn't.

I don't know what's going through Joss's mind, and I don't think you do either. All I know is what I see in the comic.

Nor do I really see the relevance in comparing this to Willow's relationship. They are two different things, they are two different characters.

Buffy did the things she did, and said the things she did. That's canon. I don't know what will happen next, but what's done is done.