Are you a 'Loyalist' or 'Jumper' fan? lets find out!

[WWGD]

I don't like the label "Jumper", or the descriptions for either of the sides on the poll. But I do think that seasons 1-3 are by far the best. I still very much enjoy seasons 4-7 though.

"Jumper" insinuates that I am not a "loyal" fan of the show, and that I stopped watching after season 3. This is not true at all. I just prefer the first few seasons. Also, Dawn was not a character that really had a huge negative impact on my enjoyment of the show. I'll give that award to Tara 😛

EDIT: As [MENTION=9799]Taake[/MENTION] mentioned, the lesser quality of the later seasons really had to do with the writers (therefore effecting every character) more than individual characters. I just have to say that Amber Benson's acting as Tara was absolutely horrible!

 

[dexeded]

Mixed. I love S2 and S3, but I love S5 too. The later seasons (6 and 7) were much harder to watch, but after I finished watching the series for the first time, I enjoyed them more. Well, enjoyed S6 more anyway. Plus, more Spike and Anya and Spuffy in the later seasons, so I definitely can't consider myself a Jumper. Nor can I call myself a Loyalist since I adore the early seasons (sans S1).

 

[Sweet J]

How strange. I'm in this fandom for 10 years, and, so far, on every place I know, the "jumpers" mostly blame Spike.

I'm a 'jumper' according to the original websites reasoning, but really enjoy this 'Spike character', with the only small caveat that personally, he was much cooler in earlier seasons!
I'm not a shipper so don't hold any strong allegiances either way. However having come to forums like this I've come to realize that ships are in fact really central to some fans love of the show, which was kind of surprising, but might explain your experience with jumpers blaming Spike.
I think what I'm trying to say is, not all 'Jumpers' are Bangel fans. As the original website in the OP never mentioned the loss of Angel as a possible reason for the precieved downturn.
The reason for this is said to be because Angel left at the end of Season 3, but the downturn only truly begins when Season 5 starts.

As [MENTION=9799]Taake[/MENTION] mentioned it really boiled down to the writing, despite that, my stand point is that Dawn & Tara were unnecessary additions that coincided with the show's fall in quality. Perhaps they're not to blame, but they certainly didn't help maneuver the show onto the path of a graceful downturn.

Though I don't like how much space Spike took during the last seasons it's actually not the reason why I dislike so much. I dislike them because I feel a lot of the show's spark disappeared, the writing took a down turn...
I blame the writers...

Couldn't agree more about where the dislike for the latter seasons comes from, this is essentially my standpoint too, the whole somehow being more than the sum in season 2-4ish, the indescribable ''spark'' that is hard to communicate to others, but nonetheless lit our hearts ablaze.

Although in saying that, I'm not as extreme as you contemplating throwing out your DVD boxsets from the seasons you don't like 😱...to me, that would be sacrilegious!
😛

All in all I don't think anything that was added to the show was detrimental except for Kennedy and Andrew. It was more about what it lost - high romance, carefree adventure, unabashed drama, and too many irreplaceable characters. I see it as kind of inevitable, and I'm happy to embrace the entirety of the show despite the downward trend.

I too embrace the entirety of the show, as I bet most 'Jumpers' that continued watching the show do. It was just sad to see the show lose it's spark, I kept on watching in the hopes the show would pick up again, that the writing would return to form. but instead of getting the usual bliss I had grown accustomed to, I noticed a severe drop in quality of the writing, but stayed loyal because no other show has ever come close to making me enraptured as BtVS did with ease with Season 2-4.

Kind of like a heroin user going from straight inline I.V to finding his dealer no longer supples pure heroin and that you'll just have to make do on smoking opium straw.

P.S I whole heartedly agree with you on Andrew & Kennedy, their addition left me scratching my head too.

I don't like the label "Jumper", or the descriptions for either of the sides on the poll. But I do think that seasons 1-3 are by far the best. I still very much enjoy seasons 4-7 though.

"Jumper" insinuates that I am not a "loyal" fan of the show, and that I stopped watching after season 3. This is not true at all. I just prefer the first few seasons. Also, Dawn was not a character that really had a huge negative impact on my enjoyment of the show. I'll give that award to Tara 😛

EDIT: As [MENTION=9799]Taake[/MENTION] mentioned, the lesser quality of the later seasons really had to do with the writers (therefore effecting every character) more than individual characters. I just have to say that Amber Benson's acting as Tara was absolutely horrible!

I really don't like the character of Tara either, but despite that, I feel Amber Benson was just doing her job, her acting was never really questioned by me, is this common amongst many other fans? I never noticed😕. Maybe I was too suspicious of her character to take note of Benson's acting, I'll try to look out for her acting the next time I rewatch the show.

As for the 'jumper' & 'loyalist' titles, I didn't make the labels up, but I do agree that they're not the best titles. Naturally we're all massive fans of BtVS, and loyal fans at that! despite our personal preferences and criticisms. Maybe we could pool ideas for better titles? I too would be interested in that!

 

[Astral]

I'm not a fan of these names but seasons 5, 6, & 7 are my favorites. Episodes like "The Body" and "Conversations with Dead People" had a certain tension that pulled me in more so than any of the episodes from the earlier seasons.

 

[SlayerOfVampyrs]

....Okay, well, I accidentally hit the 'backspace' without having the box selected, and I lost a 2 hours worth of basically an essay involving what I thought were the strongest, and weakest points of each season. I'm incredibly....Let's say, not pleased right now. Chrome's cache seems to pick and choose when it will remember what has been written in a post box if you accidentally exit out of a page.

To VERY VERY BRIEFLY summarize: I dislike the two terms and their definitions. I find them ridiculous. Every season has their weak points and their strong points, and none of the seasons should be discounted as a whole. Season 3 is probably the strongest, structurally speaking. I will forever be a loyal Buffy fan, though apparently not by that article's standpoint. (I am extremely upset right now, so excuse me for this being short and not at all in depth. Gorrammit!!!)

 

[Raki]

I'm definitely mixed. My list would be something like:

1. Season 3 + Season 6.
2. Season 2.
3. Season 4.
4. Season 5.
5. Season 1 + Season 7.

Spike wasn't really an issue for me in terms of the actual series narrative (shippy stuff aside) except for at the end of S7. I found it implausible that Buffy's friends (particularly Willow and Dawn) would kick her out of the house and it felt like the characters were being compromised for the sake and Buffy and Spike's individual character arcs. It took a bit of a dump on Willow's character arc especially, because they had established in Same Time, Same Place and Selfless that Willow had a much better understanding of the sacrifices the Slayer has to make in their work after the Dark Willow thing in S6. Still, besides that, I don't have any issues with Spike's presence. I might not "like" Spike in the literal sense, but Spike as a whole was a major asset "“ he was funny, distinctive as a character, well-acted and he created interesting and meaningful conflicts. I wouldn't want BtVS without him in it.

I absolutely love Tara to bits and W/T is one of the major saving graces of S5 ("I will always find you" made me seriously Tillow4lyf), which I thought was a bit of an overblown season on the whole. I get that there is a small but significant anti-Tara crowd, but I find it difficult to understand why someone might not like Tara. She's the kind of person I would find it difficult not to like. It's the same way I feel the same way about Willow (despite her S6 exploits).

Dawn was never a problem for me. She acted like such a generic teen in S5, but it seemed realistic, and Buffy's love for her was touching. I wish Dawn was featured more in S7, because she became a lot more mature and relatable "“ well, except for the Empty Spaces stuff, again.

I think S4 is fantastic even with its somewhat iffy plot arc. I actually kind of like Adam and his dry delivery of lines like " I saw the inside of that boy and it was beautiful. But it didn't tell me about the world." I liked S4 Riley and they really could've been nicer to his character in S5 instead of taking him down the creepy misogynist route. Overall, S4 is just really funny, though.

Kennedy is really the only late character addition I roll my eyes at. I just think she was unnecessary. Maybe I would've liked her more if she had more screentime and didn't act horrible to everyone when she did have it, but I would've prefer to see Willow finding her strength in her friends again. I know the writers wanted her to have a love interest to use as a device that would let Willow deal with the loss of Tara, but I don't know. They really could've played it differently. Or they could've brought Tara back, like they apparently wanted to at one point.

 

[RogueDemonHunter]

I'm a jumper! Although I still think all the other seasons were very engaging and entertaining, so I'm not hating, but I gotta stand up for my seaosn 2-3 love. (But I like AtS better)

---------- Post added at 09:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:15 PM ----------

How strange. I'm in this fandom for 10 years, and, so far, on every place I know, the "jumpers" mostly blame Spike.

I'm a Jumper, yet I love Spike. He is what made seasons 4-7 amazing (yet they still arent as good as 2-3.

 

[bagontherun]

Loyalist, though realistically probably somewhere between the two.

I saw the later years first, so they just kind of stick with me more than the first seasons. Nostalgia factor more than anything I think.

...I like them all though 😀 haha. Seasons 3 and 5 are my favorite, so I'm not sure whether that places me with early years or later years. 😛

 

[Username]

Jumper, I think the show peaked in season 3 and then it got worse and worse. I do think that Spike is a major reason for why I don't like the later seasons, in my opinion he didn't belong on the show after s3, but I've expressed my thoughts on him enough I don't need to.. it's not just him but just the fact that he's there..
I also think the show lost a lot of the heart and charm of the earlier seasons and I missed that.
Willow and Tara are my OTP so I still watch the later seasons, but it's mainly for them.

 

[scoobygang]

I'm loyalist i love season 6 and 7 because i think i saw too much the first seasons.
And i love when spike and buffy are together.
I'm agree with slayer stats.

 

[Aloverssoulz]

I'm a loyalist. I don't see the seasons as seasons, really. I see them as later parts of life.

 

[Jeff86]

Loyalist. I love every season of the show. I just finished Season 6 in my rewatch of the series, and man I love that season!