Bangel vs Spuffy Affected by when you watched the show?

[Moggin]

I was hoping to get a poll of Bangel vs. Spuffy, BUT you must also mention if you were:

A. an original fan who watched the show gradually over 7 years

or

B. a newer fan who watched it at a much faster pace.

I have a theory that preferring Angel over Spike comes from considering each individual season as a single unit, which you do when you watch something over years. Bangel had some time to sink into everyone's minds over a few years before Spuffy happened.

Spuffy, by contrast, seems to fare better with fans when they consider the series as a whole unit, which you do when a show has already ended or about to end. Viewing the show this way makes Spuffy look like it was the intentional endgame.

 

[TriBel]

Sorry to upturn your hypothesis but I watched it weekly when it first aired and was always Team Spike - later Spuffy. My reasoning became more profound and more cogent on re-watch but it only confirmed my initial choice. I can see your point though.

 

[AstridDante]

Watched it when it first aired only a whippet snapper and like @TriBel I was Team Spike and Spuffy from the get go and that hasn’t changed

 

[Athene]

Well I watched it after it aired but it was through dvds starting with season 7 and working my way down so it's not like I binged it. I'm a Bangel but originally was a Spuffy a very long time ago.

 

[Professor Walsh]

I watched it over the years. First, I loved seeing the love story between Buffy and Angel unfold. I wept when Angel left. Then, I enjoyed seeing Buffy and Riley try to work things out, I wept when Riley left and hoped he would see her. As the relationship between Spike and Buffy started to develop, I had warm, fuzzy feelings for them together, too. I wept when Spike said: "No you don't. But thanks for saying it."

I've been in love with, and loved, more than one person. That I married one of them, doesn't mean that those other love stories are not valid. That one left me, I left one and both lead happy lives with their partners now, does not mean that what young, fuzzy feelings we once shared were not real. Why must we decide that fictional people can love truly only once?

 

[Professor Walsh]

Well I watched it after it aired but it was through dvds starting with season 7 and working my way down so it's not like I binged it. I'm a Bangel but originally was a Spuffy a very long time ago.

Are you saying that you watched the seasons "backwards", or only that you started with 7, then started with S1?

 

[Puppet]

Original viewer who never shipped Bangel - although I didn't ship Spuffy my first go-through, either, cause I was too young to think about shipping; I was 14 when the series finale aired. It was probably on my first re-watch that I became a Spuffy shipper

 

[Kratos]

After series viewer who has always been a Bangel fan, though I had seen a few episodes here and there from seasons 5 and 6 at the time the show originally aired. Might be due to me watching AtS S2 finale then also and feeling empathy for Angel when he said “It’s Buffy”, even though I knew little about Bangel.

 

[Faded90]

When I first watched I was only in my early teens I was a Bangel shipper then when S5 came along I LOVED the idea of Spuffy and liked Spuffy until the end.

Now I’m ‘all growed up’ 😂 I still like Bangel but I would put myself as an ‘anti Spuffy’due to my better understanding of toxic relationships etc. Honestly now I’m older I view The Mayor’s speech as the definitive reason and best explanation for why a Bangel or Spuffy endgame is actually a rather bleak ending for Buffy -particularly with how hopeful she is by Chosen of a more balanced life. I don’t want that ‘skulking in the shadows’ or if I was to be really harsh, a half life for Buffy. I always looked negatively on The Mayor’s speech in a ‘oh no they could still make it work!’ Now I’m mature enough to agree that yea it would mean Buffy having to make a LOT of sacrifices, and the girls already made enough of those 😂 I’m a Fuffy shipper now -huge issues ahead and would take a lot of work but I’m here for it 😂😂

I do still appreciate the communication between Bangel though and their ability to stop games before they really get going and the mutual support they offfer each other. I’ve never bought the ‘puppy love’ tag they get. I think it’s a much more nuanced relationship than it gets the credit for. Plus I love that the show makes fun of their intenseness. Most Buffyverse relationships have ridiculous levels of melodrama but where Bangel is alone is that they are the only ones the show acknowdges and pokes fun at and I appreciate that

 

[DeadlyDuo]

I wouldn't describe myself as either a Bangel or Spuffy shipper, it's Sprusilla all the way for me, however if I had to choose I'd choose Bangel.

I watched the show as an original viewer and I just found that Spuffy made Spike miserable. Obviously I was young so didn't have the understanding of what was going on with Buffy as I do now, however all I saw was her being mean to Spike and constantly picking him up and dropping him as and when it suited her. He could do better.

Bangel was clearly set up to be Buffy's "true love" so it was interesting that they made it where they can't be together rather than do the traditional will they/won't they. Giving Spike a soul undermines the Bangel dilemma in my view.

 

[spikenbuffy]

Around 2003, I was 9-10. I was switching channels wanting to find some good show to watch and then there was Buffy that one of brother knew briefly and was popular. I've started to watch the end of S6 (Two To Go) and decided to continue S7 on TV after that. I loved to watch S7, I didn't know Spike's story neither Spuffy's story very well but I loved that Spike sacrificed himself infront of a teary Buffy in the last episode 😿. After that I bought S7 VHS P1 so I could rewatched some episodes, I loved Him, it was an hilarious episode.

Not long after that on TV, Buffy was on from the beginning so I wanted to watch previous seasons that I haven't watched. I felt indifferent about Angel & Bangel and loved when Spike arrived on the show so early though he was a bad guy in couple with Dru & was against Buffy. I loved to see him & Buffy teamed up knowing how close they will be at the end of show and will evolve. I feel that watching S7 first had drawn my attention towards Spuffy in watching previous seasons knowing they would become a thing.

I was cheering when Spike fell in love (S5) & totally cheered when Riley left only because I was team Spike and wanted Spuffy (lmao) at that time, the first time I watched S5.

 

[TriBel]

I wasn't young when I first watched it. I had kids old enough to enjoy it and I was a new academic. In fact, the duration of BtVS is roughly the duration of me beginning and completing my PhD. At the time, I couldn't have told you what attracted me to Spike or Spuffy. It wasn't until a re watch 20 years later that I realised the relationship could be analysed using the same frameworks I'd spent years working on during and after it aired (effectively, progressive models of love & desire in postmodern/post-postmodern literature/philosophy). From this perspective, it's stunningly consistent from S1 through to S12. BtVS isn't my favourite text but I'm in awe of just how clever and complex Spuffy is. I really could write a book on it (admittedly, it would be the most boring book ever...but still a book). I don't dislike Bangel (who could?) but it doesn't grab my attention in the way Spuffy does and, more importantly it doesn't say anything radical or new. In fact, without taking anything away from Bangel, I'd go as far as saying Frillyria is Angel's ideal companion.

 

[Myheadsgonenumb]

I came into Buffy about half way through - I watched s2 on the BBC and s4 on Sky concurrently. I also knew before I ever saw a single episode that her boyfriend was a vampire who turned evil and she had to kill him (I think the adverts on Sky were not that concerned with giving away spoilers, this being the channel that ran a trailer showing Buffy's grave directly after the end of the 'Weight of the World' credits and before the episode of Angel started.)

So I was never that invested in Bangel - I don't know if I would have been if I'd gone in blind, but as it was I liked them well enough, I was happy when they were happy, sad when they were sad ... but I was more upset by the discovery of Xander and Cordy having broken up than I was about the demise of Bangel.

Whereas from the moment of Spike's dream in Out of My Mind I wanted Spuffy to happen. I loved Spike and I wanted him to have what he wanted. I'd have probably been into him falling in love with anyone (I loved him and Dru) but Buffy worked well enough.

 

[Priceless]

I watched from the start of the show on BBC 2. I liked Angel, but mainly because Buffy liked him. I was always attracted to Spike but I guess I started shipping Spuffy from Something Blue, when I saw Spike and Buffy as more than frenemies. I am completely invested in their relationship throughout the show and through the comics till the bitter end.

 

[burrunjor]

I was an original viewer from the very start and I preferred Bangel. I always thought it was cheesy because it WAS cheesy LOL, but I preferred my Vampires to be evil, creatures of horror, and Bangel despite on paper being the ultimate Vampire/romance cheese fest actually reinforced how evil Buffy Vamps were. Angel was only lovey dovey because he was a special Vampire with a soul, like Blade being half human. When he lost that and became like a regular Vamp physically you saw how evil and monstrous Vampires were as love couldn't redeem him, he had no affection for Buffy, he couldn't fight the Demon within. He could only become good again via a magical spell to restore his soul. That settled the idea that Buffy Vamps were among the most evil.

Spike meanwhile was obviously different in that he did undermine their evil somewhat by being a soulless Vamp who was still capable of genuine love and nobility like withstanding torture to protect Dawn and even winning a soul to be a better man.

Obviously though some people prefer Spuffy for the exact opposite reason IE Spike's love is stronger because it transcends having a soul. I guess it's just how you like your Vampires.

It's funny though Joss always preferred his Vamps to be ugly and evil and as we know disliked Spike for that reason. (He wasn't too keen on Angel either, but I guess got talked into it because he was a special Vamp.) Spike meanwhile he really hated because he was undermining his whole darker take on Vamps, but obviously he couldn't get rid of James Marsters. Ironically now most people remember him as writing one of the great Vampire love stories with Spuffy. It's funny how things turn out. The lesson here is if you don't want your Vamps to be sexy, don't cast James Marsters as one of them. 😆

My opinions haven't changed on this, but I do appreciate certain aspects of Spuffy more like James and Sarah's chemistry.

My preferred ship for Spike though was Faith. To me Faith and Spike in their own show post season 4 of Buffy on the road, with Clem as Spike and Faith's sidekick and Spaith eventually happening would have been amazing. Sad I never got to see it.

 

[white avenger]

I first saw the series when a friend asked me to tape the musical in Season 6, so Spuffy was the "original" rel;relationship for me. Sarah just seemed to work better with James than she ever did with David. Come to think of it, I don't think that I've ever been all that impressed with David in any of his varied roles, so maybe I'm just prejudised. The closest was as the FBI agent in "Bones." He sucks as a Navy Seal.

 

[BaskingINBangel]

I've often wondered this myself. I watched the show when it was first airing, I was pro Bangel from the start and still am all these years later. I didn't like Spuffy back then and still don't care for it to this day.

 

[white avenger]

I would go further, I think, in that far more Spuffies are comfortable with accepting the possibility that Buffy could love someone, anyone, else that their own chosen vampire. (New guy may only compare with Spike/Angel in the fact that he can give Buffy something resembling a normal relationship, like with having children or growing old together) Those who are the most rabid Bangels from the very beginning are Bangels all the way. It's Ol' Broodie or no one.

Bangel is dead, gone, past, over, done, just like Spuffy. They are beautiful, heroic relationships that have played their hands, ran their courses, and made their indelible marks on the general story line of the Buffyverse, Buffy may, at some point, for some reason, renew her association with one of the other of these characters, but we should give that relationship the dignity of having its own unique title and existence (maybe some combination of Buffy/Liam or Buffy/William) to differentiate it from the "been there, done that" conditions of the past.

 

[Taake]

Bangel: Original Viewer

My relationship with Spuffy is more complex, lol. I really liked the ship in my original viewing. (Never abandoning my ship tho). Then I really disliked the ship. Then I really hated the ship. Now I’m more neutral. I don’t ship it but I neither dislike or hate it.

Bangel still sets my heart a-flutter and gives me good feels. But Spuffy has its moments.

 

[CHK DeWilSon]

Bangel - original viewer. In fact from the very first episode!

I was hooked from their first encounter and that was it. Loved their relationship through the first three series even the Angel/Angleus arc from series two. I just found SMG and DB to have amazing, believable chemistry.

When the last two series (6&7) happened, it left me with a stronger dislike for it because of what had happened which was even more than when Buffy and Riley had their relationship. I just didn't believe that the storytelling was authentic and organic and that the narrative had change unrealistic simply because of the popularity of a certain character.

Years later on re-watch and in particular the first series, I was surprised at the lack of screen time for Buffy and Angel and yet some how I still became heavily invested in them.

Watching the Buffy and Riley relationship again, I didn't hate it at all and had some sympathy for him (which apparently is uncalled for?!) seeing how she never truly open herself up to him given all she had gone with with Angel.

My feelings about the other slayer and vampire relationship did not stay the same, in fact I despise it even more. But then again I never connected to Spike as a character and have always felt he served his purpose in the second series and for me his character was push into the show too much at the expense of other characters I prefer. JM is a good actor but I've never been that overly impressed by what he brought to the role. Yes there a moments that did have me sympathetic to Spike but really he's a character I could take or leave and I'd rather leave him to others to enjoy because he just not for me in any shape or form.

Being older now and having gone through life and relationships myself, while I hold onto the tiniest bit of hope that Bangel can have a somewhat happy ending, I'm realistic to know it is very unlikely to be possible.

So I can now be at the point of seeing Buffy in a relationship in the comics if it makes her happy and would be delighted if it was a well written new character as I feel they should show there is more out there for her than any of the characters we already know.

I just know I'm in the A.B.S club when it comes to Buffy's love interests.