Dawn isn't that bad!

[Username]

I've been re-watching the show a lot recently, and Dawn is a character that I've never paid much thought into before but after reading hundreds upon hundreds of posts saying Dawn is so whiny and annoying I tried picking up on it, I have to say I don't think Dawn is annoying at all! and when was she whiny? when she found out she's actually some mystical force forged into a human by monks, when her mom died?
Did you not hear her conversation with Spike in Tough Love? Dawn is not so immature for her age.
Buffy is whiny is hell too and that doesn't seem to bother anyone..

I like Dawn, that's it. She's underrated

 

[kittenpoker]

I just started season 5 on my re-watch and I was really wanting to talk about my appreciation for dawn... seems like this is as good a place as any...

I definitely feel she gets a lot of undeserved flack (I like that word). When buffy's walking with riley in the graveyard and she's saying, "I know how this is how it's always been, she's the baby...but lately it's been bothering me." I think that's very telling... dawn and everyone close to her have been given this illusion of memory and it holds but it's not totally solid... I mean, to buffy, she's always been there, but lately it's been getting to her... I think that's saying that buffy senses there's something not quite right about her... and I think on some level dawn senses this too...think about how easily she believes that really real (in the way other people are) just by overhearing a conversation between buffy and her mom... sorry, my thoughts are kind of all over the place...

I just think she's put in a very strange position... suddenly appears, and it's as if she's always been there... and yet, she's sort of treated like she's a sudden intrusion and always in the way and all these questions and doubts, she's probably not even conscious of but it's like this static or white noise, just under the surface, that something's not quite right.

anyway, big dawn fan here.

off to watch some more (and then maybe make better sense)

 

[Ripper666]

I liked Dawn because she is maybe one of the most realistic characters. Of course I don't think bout her in the way of the Key I think about her feelings and the things she does.

 

[SlayerFest]

Buffy is whiny is hell too and that doesn't seem to bother anyone..

Haha yes! Buffy can be so whiny at times. Oh man. At least Dawn is technically a kid.

 

[strawberryeve]

I still can't stand her, blech. IMO she's complete dreck. I like her a little more in S8 but not much

---------- Post added at 06:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:14 PM ----------

As a younger sister, I'd have to concur... But really, both are extremely annoying. 😉

I like her well enough in Season 7. In S5 and S6 I just don't like her. Yeah, she has her reasons for being completely aggravating and all, but there are SO many things that make me not like her much...

1. No offense to anyone named Dawn intended, but I just don't like the name Dawn. 😛

2. I don't like her voice.

3. I don't like her clothes, her hair, or her face.

4. She bored me as a character.

I would have greatly preferred no sister and more emphasis on the Core Four... Without Dawn coming and causing unwanted chaos and conflict.

I agree so so so much!
It was my understanding that Trachtenberg was a big Buffy fan and she begged and campaigned to be on the show and I guess she got what she wanted. If that is true then the writers had to whip up something to take away from the Core Four as you call it. Whether or not this is true, reading that story put a bad taste in my mouth from the beginning. Dawn that interloper! 🙂

 

[EvilWillow]

I don't care for her. She's annoying, physically awkward, and gets in the way. I can't help it, I just feel that way.

Every time she screams get out, I want to stab myself in the eye with a fork.

(She was less annoying in season 7 though)

 

[Xin Rong]

To semi quote Chris moyles, 'with respect your wrong'... Dawn was that bad!

 

[Living Dead Boy]

It's all subjective. I personally never gotten the Dawn hate. Dawn has been dealt a pretty sucky set of cards, so I don't see where all this "whiny" stuff is coming from. Dawn's predicament was the same as Buffy's was in the earlier seasons: a teenager that doesn't know how to react with suddenly realizing she's important to the world. Dawn's cool in my book.

 

[Vamp Jenny]

I find it sad that so many people hate on Dawn. Because when you think about everything she was living, I don't believe I would've reacted in any other way than she did. And I bet a lot of people would have reacted the same way, at 14...

So anyways, I'm riding in the Dawn love train *nod* 😀

 

[Hale Caesar]

I was fine with her in season 5, I liked the idea of her being the key and seeing Buffy be a mother. Season 6 is where she lost me, because Joss thought the show was going to finish with season 5, Dawn didn't have anything to do in season 6, she just whined and moaned about everything. Season 7 Dawn was okay, but they abandoned her in the second half. Plus, Michelle Tratchtenberg (at the time) was a pretty bad actor too and couldn't hold scenes with people like SMG or James Marsters

 

[Chosen Enemy]

I agree [MENTION=10542]Hale Caesar[/MENTION] about Michelle's acting abilities. But I loved her in the scene of "Blood Ties" where she's holding a knife and asks: "Am I real? Am I anything?" this one makes me break every time. She did an amazing job in this one.

And I too have always thought Dawn was pointless after season 5. Looks like Joss didn't think it through when he came up with the key idea.

I'm a little different from most fans when it comes to Dawn during the seasons. I was pretty okay with her in season 5, except for the begining of the season. In season 6, where people hate her the most, I could stand her the most, I didn't really hate her. And in season 7, where people seem to really be fine with her character, I hated her. She finally grew up, but I didn't like what she grew up to be.

 

[whitewolf]

You want to know the moment that I TRULY realized that I hated Dawn?
It was this line of hers which she screamed at Buffy and her mother:

"GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!"​

Call it irrational but at that moment my stomach did a flip-flop and I had to get up and leave the room. I can barely stand to see her on screen with out reliving that one sickeningly delivered line.
I was VERY relieved that they didn't give her her own song in "Once More With Feeling" and you can tell that they were playing on that in the episode when they let her start her own little pity-ditty and then cut her off when she get's nabbed by the bad guy's. LOVED that part.

I really don't get the hate for this line. It makes sense considering the fact that she just found out she doesn't really exist. I have my doubts that any of us would take that very well, especially if were just 14. Really I don't get it.

 

[Charmander]

^ I so agree with this!

I really don't get the hate for Dawn. Buffy was much whinier half the time.

 

[Blaze]

Hoping on the appreciate Dawn wagon! I actually really like her. In my mind, I can't really hate her for being whiny when she's suppose to play a 14yo. In real life, she wouldn't be half as annoying as the other kids her age. I think she was a great character, way underestimated. Oh and Michelle T was just amazing at playing the character, a great little actress that one!

 

[Black Eye Guy]

She was incredibly annoying.

She was MEANT to be incredibly annoying, Buffy is the star of the show we follow her journey we're supposed to get the most involved with her. She gets annoyed by her younger sister as do we.

She's annoying because she's realistically annoying, the things she moans about she's totally entitled to moan about. The day you find out your a glowing ball of energy while going through puberty and handle it totally fine I'll tip my hat off to you.