Go Fish, Inca Mummy Girl, or Reptile Boy. Which one would you keep?

sosa lola said:
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I beg to differ!
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For someone who like to wear baggy clothes makes you wonder both why he did that & we never saw Xander body again 😳
 
ChaseRules said:
For someone who like to wear baggy clothes makes you wonder both why he did that & we never saw Xander body again 😳
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Xander has a very low opinion of himself. He doesn't see himself as hot. Just like Willow. Both of them are too insecure.

(Some fanfictions claim that Xander wears all these clothes to cover the bruises - since most believe he's physically abused by his father - and I have a headcanon that Xander always wears long sleeves, especially in S3 even when it's summer, because he cuts his wrists and doesn't want anyone to know.)
 
sosa lola said:
Xander has a very low opinion of himself. He doesn't see himself as hot. Just like Willow. Both of them are too insecure.

(Some fanfictions claim that Xander wears all these clothes to cover the bruises - since most believe he's physically abused by his father - and I have a headcanon that Xander always wears long sleeves, especially in S3 even when it's summer, because he cuts his wrists and doesn't want anyone to know.)
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The show could've delved into Xander's body consciousness more. Being body conscious is often seen as a female thing, alongside eating disorders which also plays into body consciousness. Males always seem to get overlooked eg if you think of an anorexic, you think of a girl etc. Having Xander face those issues could really shine a light on the topic of male body consciousness eg the preoccupation with size in regards to height, width and length.

I don't think Xander is physically abused but his home life certainly isn't great. It's more likely to be emotional abuse eg he gets ignored so his social needs aren't met, he gets blamed for everything so his confidence is destroyed etc. However, Xander did invite his parents to his wedding so it can't be that bad or was it a case of he wanted to invite his mom but his dad was the unfortunate addition that came with that?
 
ChaseRules
ChaseRules
I thought they just showed up & Xander couldn't kick them out ?
Mr Trick
Mr Trick
Good point.
Hang on why isn't TED an option on this list?!! WORST. EPISODE. EVER.
 
DeadlyDuo said:
The show could've delved into Xander's body consciousness more. Being body conscious is often seen as a female thing, alongside eating disorders which also plays into body consciousness. Males always seem to get overlooked eg if you think of an anorexic, you think of a girl etc. Having Xander face those issues could really shine a light on the topic of male body consciousness eg the preoccupation with size in regards to height, width and length.
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The show could have done so much with Xander, but alas, Joss and the writers were so short-sighted. That's why I enjoy Xander fanfiction and why Xander is a very popular character in fanfiction - he's second most written about character after Buffy at Ao3 - because there's so much potential to the character but it was never seized.

DeadlyDuo said:
I don't think Xander is physically abused but his home life certainly isn't great. It's more likely to be emotional abuse eg he gets ignored so his social needs aren't met, he gets blamed for everything so his confidence is destroyed etc. However, Xander did invite his parents to his wedding so it can't be that bad or was it a case of he wanted to invite his mom but his dad was the unfortunate addition that came with that?
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Of course he'll invite his parents to the wedding, even if they were abusive.

I can see him being slapped once or twice, maybe shoved around, especially when both parents are drunk out of their minds - which canonly it happens a lot. Xander says that he hates his family and that both his parents scare him - he prefers visiting Willow's mother over his own folks. I think most of Xander's issues with masculinity stems from home as well as his peers at school. He certainly learned his argument skills from his parents and does inherit their short-temper.

Fanfic writers like to add more layers to the characters, which I don't mind at all, except when they're bashing a character. Like I have just come across a fic in which Giles, Xander and Willow murder Dawn in The Gift to save the world. Giles, I could see. But Xander and Willow??? Xander who the thought of killing Ben was too difficult for him to complete? There's just so much Xander-Willow hate in Spuffy fics.
 
K
katmobile
I imagine there's a fair amount of Xander hate in Bangel fanfics too not without reason he has his good points but he's a ****er to both the ensouled vamps and to Buffy vis a vis them.
sosa lola said:
I can see him being slapped once or twice, maybe shoved around, especially when both parents are drunk out of their minds - which canonly it happens a lot. Xander says that he hates his family and that both his parents scare him - he prefers visiting Willow's mother over his own folks. I think most of Xander's issues with masculinity stems from home as well as his peers at school. He certainly learned his argument skills from his parents and does inherit their short-temper.
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When did Xander say that about his parents?
 
DeadlyDuo said:
When did Xander say that about his parents?
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As You Were:

XANDER: I hate my uncle. I hate my whole family.

Forever:

XANDER: You going home?
WILLOW: I'm gonna stop by my mom's first. Been doing that a lot lately.
XANDER: Yeah. I actually might stop by your mom's too. (she looks at him) Well, I'm not going to *my* place. Those people are scary.
 
I also believe that Xander had a low opinion of himself . And I thought from the dream Xander had at least after beating Addam showed that his family hurt him . Am I wrong in thinking that 😵
 
dcai0830 said:
Hang on why isn't TED an option on this list?!! WORST. EPISODE. EVER.
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I don't get the Ted hate. It has its issues, but Rittter and SMG's performances alone make it at least solid.

Fool for Buffy said:
I don't think this is a list of the worst episodes. If it was I think Bad Eggs is much worse than Ted.
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Bad Eggs is the next level up IMO. There's enough good things in there to make it a passible 6/10 for me.

The thing about Xander and Willow lacking confidence? Well that is the point of the show. It is about growing up. Come season 4 Willow is a much more confident character.
 
True . In Season 4 Willow is using magic & going out with Tara so we can saftly say Willow really grew up in Season 4.
 
I have a soft spot for Go Fish. It may not be the most meaningful episode but it's an entertaining monster of the week to me.
Reptile Boy is boring at times but it's villain(s)/metaphor is more resonant than Inca Mummy Girl. Maybe I need to give Inca Mummy Girl another try but it always stands out to me as the one episode that bored me. I didn't care about Ampata like I should have.
 
I'd vote for Reptile Boy. It has some pretty good character points, if nothing else. I keep it for over-dramatic laughing Cordelia and Willow yelling at Angel to get coffee and Giles to stop with the pressure. There's a lot going on here with Buffy's duties as the Slayer vs. her desire for a normal high school life.

I don't really dislike Inca Mummy Girl, but it's a throwaway episode. Outside of Xander's 2nd encounter of many with demon woman, it's not much for the overall arc. There's some parallels between Buffy's life and the Inca princess, and Eskimo Willow is the cutest.

Go Fish...I just really dislike. It's probably in my bottom 5 episodes of the series. I could probably get past it ordinarily, even though I don't like the fish demons, but it doesn't help for me that it's placement in the season is immediately before Becoming. I find that to be such a strange, and distracting, decision from an otherwise really really strong finale. Ugh. It's one of the reasons S2 doesn't rank as my top choices, because I find it to be uneven through to the end, even if the 2nd half is so emotionally compelling.
 
My Opinion regarding Xander and his parents is that a writer was taking those elements from their childhood in the 1970s or earlier, when having distant parents who were functional blue collar alcoholics was normal. Who were Episcopalian, the WASP Church of the Ancient American Upper Class. Maybe we shouldn't read too much into Xander's Backstory?
 
AlphaFoxtrot said:
My Opinion regarding Xander and his parents is that a writer was taking those elements from their childhood in the 1970s or earlier, when having distant parents who were functional blue collar alcoholics was normal. Who were Episcopalian, the WASP Church of the Ancient American Upper Class. Maybe we shouldn't read too much into Xander's Backstory?
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What makes you think blue collar alcoholics aren't normal anymore? 😕 (And conversely, why other types of normal also didn't exist in the 1970s, just as many types of normal exist in the 1990s and today.)
 
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