If you're for Spuffy and Bangel

[Misty]

Do you like both Spuffy and Bangel? Now I like them both equally and think that they are both special relationships! However, if you ask me who's the best couple on Buffyverse, I think it's Darla/Angel, but I still like Bangel. So come here if you like Bangel/Spuffy equally.

P.S. Don't worry Joan I still like Spuffy!:cheering:

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

OK, this is the thing: I don't HATE Bangel. People think that because I'm so passionate about Spuffy that automatically makes me anti-Bangel - and that's not the case! I just simply find Spuffy more interesting.

Bangel had their moments. For instance, I love their scene on the cliff in "Amends."

It's just that Spuffy is one of the main things that keeps me invested in the fandom. For me, my love for Spuffy is a big part of my love for the show as a whole.

But I'll bet you'll be hard-pressed to find folks who like both equally. It seems like most fall in either category, or they're just indifferent to 'shipping in general.

 

[white avenger]

Once I got past the "who's the big clod trying to mess with Spike's girl?" phase, (My first exposure to TV Buffy was Season 6, then I started watching the earlier seasons in syndication) I liked Angel with Buffy just fine. It was the classic school girl's fantasy romance, right out of the pages of Harlequin and all of the other grocery syore paperbacks of its ilk. I was even sort of sentimental about Ol' Broody's curse until the first time that I saw "I will Remember You," and, as far as I was concerned, that was the iceberg that sunk the Bangel ship. I'm sorry, but Angel had what he, what they BOTH wanted and dreamed of, and the idiot threw it all away, and he did it without even discussing it with Buffy first, as though she should have had no say whatsoever in the matter.

So, I might not have raved about it, but I was at least comfortable with the Bangel relationship IN ITS TIME. But, like all things, its time simply passed. For a schoolgirl fling, Angel was perfect. An adult Buffy, however, would have gotten sick and tired of all of that brooding and brow beating pretty quickly. Then she would go out and find herself someone who could get on with the business of living, despite what he might have done in the past. Someone like...oh...let's see...maybe...Spike.

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

Once I got past the "who's the big clod trying to mess with Spike's girl?" phase, (My first exposure to TV Buffy was Season 6, then I started watching the earlier seasons in syndication) I liked Angel with Buffy just fine. It was the classic school girl's fantasy romance, right out of the pages of Harlequin and all of the other grocery syore paperbacks of its ilk. I was even sort of sentimental about Ol' Broody's curse until the first time that I saw "I will Remember You," and, as far as I was concerned, that was the iceberg that sunk the Bangel ship. I'm sorry, but Angel had what he, what they BOTH wanted and dreamed of, and the idiot threw it all away, and he did it without even discussing it with Buffy first, as though she should have had no say whatsoever in the matter.

YES! I also didn't have an issue with Bangel (or even Briley, believe it or not) when they were happening the intial time I watched the series. I actually shed a tear when Riley left. But, upon my second viewing and after I put things into perspective, I realized how much more I loved Spike with Buffy. Now, I see them as two warriors destined to be together.

...Then she would go out and find herself someone who could get on with the business of living, despite what he might have done in the past. Someone like...oh...let's see...maybe...Spike.

This is it; the difference between Angel and Spike in a nutshell. Angel fights with all his heart to make the world what it could be, and as a result, is always disappointed. Spike, the eternal realist, accepts the world as it already is, yet tries to make a difference on a smaller, more personal scale.

Spike gave Buffy her fire back, and gave her the strength to keep fighting. Angel made her want to "die." As Spike once told her, "Life isn't bliss life is just this, it's living." Angel envisions the world as needing to be improved, his worldview is very cynical. When he looks out his window, he sees a world where people are inherently evil, and as a result, thinks that people need to act the way they "should" to show others "it what it can be." Spike, though, makes the best of the world the way it is. he just keeps on truckin', living, loving, trying to do what's right and help out the ones he loves. What I've always loved so much about Spike is his adaptability, his drive to survive. Yet, despite his zest for life, he holds no delusions about it. He tells Buffy "you have to go on living so that one of us is living." Angel though, is so much more easily corrupted.

Anyway.

 

[thevikingsgirl]

Well, I prefer Spuffy by a LOT. But on my first viewing, before I met Spike, I liked Bangel. I think SMG is a great actress, and I felt what she felt. Some of the Bangel scenes can still make me teary, like when she has to kill him at the end of season 2, and I Will Remember in season one of Angel. I love Angel as a character; I enjoy his show, season 4 aside. But together, they annoy me. The 2nd time through was worse, because I'd seen what developed with Buffy and Spike and enjoyed watching them together so much more. My 2nd time I watched w/ my DH who'd never seen the show before, and the first 3 seasons were like torture to me. But I suppose I kind of fit into this category since at least my first time through I wasn't totally biased. I even liked Riley with Buffy my first time. Felt what she felt (though I think I liked Riley better than she did; he reminds me of my husband in many ways so I'm partial to him, but not with Buffy).

 

[TheChosenTwo]

I prefer Bangel, but there were moments I thought I was turning into a Spuffy, especially in season 7.

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

I prefer Bangel, but there were moments I thought I was turning into a Spuffy, especially in season 7.

Well, I won't hold it against you - who can resist the allure of Spuffy? 😉

 

[Professor Walsh]

All the relationships that are fleshed out in BtVS (I haven't watched much "Angel") touch me in some way. There's not one break-up I haven't found sad. I enjoy the whole show (ahem, in a way, sometimes I think S5 should have ended it all) and think all the relationships have their merits and their weaknesses.

I do have a certain romantic weakness for Buffy with Angel, but the bickering is more of a game than anything else. In truth, I'm fairly indifferent to 'shipping.

 

[Kitten Poker]

Although I come down on the side of Spuffy generally I don't know why to people get so worked up about either side, to be honest. They're both important, they're both valuable, just in different ways... I watched the whole of Buffy over a couple of months in order, I'm only on season 1 of Angel so can't comment hugely on that (I was late to the whole show) but this is my initial impression...

Angel is totally the first love, teenage crush thing. He's special and always will be, because he was her first. Of course he is. You have such ideals when you first fall for someone, you expect them to be perfect and it sometimes feels like life is falling down around our ears when we find they burp and fart just like everyone else. The whole Angel / Angelus story, to me, is an allegory that the people we fall for are NOT ideal, that they mess up, have bad pasts etc, and that they get on our nerves after the initial glow wears off. The scene at the end of season 2 where she sends him to hell makes me shed a tear.

Angel and Buffy never really have the chance for that "shine" to wear off because he goes to LA, so they both have this "doomed love" thing hanging over them because they never have the chance to burp and fart in front of each other 🙂 They will always love each other, I think that hangs over her until season 5. But by the end, I think they love each other but they're not IN love, if that makes sense.

Spike, to me, is grown up love, the kind of love people have when life has got to them a bit and they know that people aren't perfect. Love can be grand, but it can also be horrible, messy, confusing, addictive, painful and raw. But you need that person anyway, you just have your eyes wide open about who they are.

IMO by season 7 it's obvious that Buffy and Angel have outgrown each other, and that Buffy and Spike's relationship has matured. They've both had other relationships, Buffy has matured sexually, and most importantly both have gone through things - HUGE things - that the other cannot imagine because they simply weren't there. Who did Buffy confide in when she was raised from the dead? I didn't see her picking up the phone to Angel. Spike knows Buffy better than anyone, better than Angel ever will, because he was there when so much happened to change her into the adult she became. Buffy wanted to know more about Spike, she trusted him and looked out for him. Buffy and Angel have all the "I'm in love" glow, Buffy and Spike have the depth and trust to know that whatever happens they'll be there for each other. Even at the point when the Scoobies have abandoned her, there's Spike.

I know there's debate about whether Spuffy in season 7 can be seen as love or friendship, I see it as both. It's like a marriage. You have all the wild passion and sex to begin with, then you realise that something about who that person is makes you want to be mentally intimate with them too. The sex part comes and goes but it's the deep knowledge of each other that keeps the love there, knowing that they love you despite knowing so much crap about you but they're still there. And vice versa 🙂

So yeah, I see them as both important. I'm inclined towards Spuffy but that doesn't mean I have any desire at all to Bangel bash. I think people who prefer the Bangel side have valid reasons 🙂

 

[Wishing Oceans]

Like Becky, if it often seems like I hate Bangel and love Spuffy. Maybe because I've actually said many times that I hate Bangel and love Spuffy... 😀 But the truth is that I don't really hate any 'ship, because I love both shows and I love all the characters, so it would be hard to want anything but happiness for them (ESPECIALLY Angel, he's so fun when he's happy 😀 ). Anyway, I love the idea of Bangel. There are moments when I feel actual love for the 'ship, and when I actually like it more than Spuffy. But those are moments where I'm not actually WATCHING Bangel. I felt that Bangel was kinda poorly executed: Buffy was too young, Angel was too broody, Buffy was an obnoxious brat who I hated having to listen to, which obviously made me hate any Bangel scene (because Buffy was in it), and both Angel and Buffy were more annoying then usual when paired together.

But, as I've aforementioned, I still love the idea. It kinda reminds me of Pirates of the Caribbean. The Elizabeth/ William relationship is uncannily similar to Bangel, and first time around, I loved it. A few years later I watched it again. I still liked Wilizabeth, but I found myself enjoying Elizabeth/ Jack even more, since Jalizabeth is extremely similar to Spuffy.

Who knows, I may have enjoyed the 'ship more if the characters weren't so darn annoying at that time. 😀 So, all in all, I love BOTH 'ships, but I feel that Spuffy had a much more beautiful and deep relationship that Bangel could never begin to comprehend. 🙂

Spike gave Buffy her fire back, and gave her the strength to keep fighting. Angel made her want to "die." As Spike once told her, "Life isn't bliss life is just this, it's living." Angel envisions the world as needing to be improved, his worldview is very cynical. When he looks out his window, he sees a world where people are inherently evil, and as a result, thinks that people need to act the way they "should" to show others "it what it can be." Spike, though, makes the best of the world the way it is. he just keeps on truckin', living, loving, trying to do what's right and help out the ones he loves. What I've always loved so much about Spike is his adaptability, his drive to survive. Yet, despite his zest for life, he holds no delusions about it. He tells Buffy "you have to go on living so that one of us is living." Angel though, is so much more easily corrupted.

Wow, I can't believe I forgot that! Angel made Buffy want to die, but Spike made Buffy want to live. 🙂 I'll definitely be using that in the next inevitable argument (ahem, debate [/]) I get into. 😀

Once I got past the "who's the big clod trying to mess with Spike's girl?" phase, (My first exposure to TV Buffy was Season 6, then I started watching the earlier seasons in syndication) I liked Angel with Buffy just fine

Yeah, I started with Season 5. 😀 I never even thought as Buffy/ Angel as a couple, even when I knew they were dating.

It was the classic school girl's fantasy romance, right out of the pages of Harlequin and all of the other grocery syore paperbacks of its ilk

Huh, well it's certainly not MY school girl fantasy. 😀 I really, really hate broody guys, and I try my best to ignore them. Too Edward Cullen. I MUCH prefer guys like, oh, say, Ashton Kutcher. 😀

I was even sort of sentimental about Ol' Broody's curse until the first time that I saw "I will Remember You," and, as far as I was concerned, that was the iceberg that sunk the Bangel ship. I'm sorry, but Angel had what he, what they BOTH wanted and dreamed of, and the idiot threw it all away, and he did it without even discussing it with Buffy first, as though she should have had no say whatsoever in the matter.

True, but in the end it worked out for us spuffers. 😀

 

[Wishing Oceans]

Like Becky, if it often seems like I hate Bangel and love Spuffy. Maybe because I've actually said many times that I hate Bangel and love Spuffy... 😀 But the truth is that I don't really hate any 'ship, because I love both shows and I love all the characters, so it would be hard to want anything but happiness for them (ESPECIALLY Angel, he's so fun when he's happy 😀 ). Anyway, I love the idea of Bangel. There are moments when I feel actual love for the 'ship, and when I actually like it more than Spuffy. But those are moments where I'm not actually WATCHING Bangel. I felt that Bangel was kinda poorly executed: Buffy was too young, Angel was too broody, Buffy was an obnoxious brat who I hated having to listen to, which obviously made me hate any Bangel scene (because Buffy was in it), and both Angel and Buffy were more annoying then usual when paired together.

But, as I've aforementioned, I still love the idea. It kinda reminds me of Pirates of the Caribbean. The Elizabeth/ William relationship is uncannily similar to Bangel, and first time around, I loved it. A few years later I watched it again. I still liked Wilizabeth, but I found myself enjoying Elizabeth/ Jack even more, since Jalizabeth is extremely similar to Spuffy.

Who knows, I may have enjoyed the 'ship more if the characters weren't so darn annoying at that time. 😀 So, all in all, I love BOTH 'ships, but I feel that Spuffy had a much more beautiful and deep relationship that Bangel could never begin to comprehend. 🙂

Spike gave Buffy her fire back, and gave her the strength to keep fighting. Angel made her want to "die." As Spike once told her, "Life isn't bliss life is just this, it's living." Angel envisions the world as needing to be improved, his worldview is very cynical. When he looks out his window, he sees a world where people are inherently evil, and as a result, thinks that people need to act the way they "should" to show others "it what it can be." Spike, though, makes the best of the world the way it is. he just keeps on truckin', living, loving, trying to do what's right and help out the ones he loves. What I've always loved so much about Spike is his adaptability, his drive to survive. Yet, despite his zest for life, he holds no delusions about it. He tells Buffy "you have to go on living so that one of us is living." Angel though, is so much more easily corrupted.

Wow, I can't believe I forgot that! Angel made Buffy want to die, but Spike made Buffy want to live. 🙂 I'll definitely be using that in the next inevitable argument (ahem, debate ) I get into. 😀

Once I got past the "who's the big clod trying to mess with Spike's girl?" phase, (My first exposure to TV Buffy was Season 6, then I started watching the earlier seasons in syndication) I liked Angel with Buffy just fine

Yeah, I started with Season 5. 😀 I never even thought as Buffy/ Angel as a couple, even when I knew they were dating.

It was the classic school girl's fantasy romance, right out of the pages of Harlequin and all of the other grocery syore paperbacks of its ilk

Huh, well it's certainly not MY school girl fantasy. 😀 I really, really hate broody guys, and I try my best to ignore them. Too Edward Cullen. I MUCH prefer guys like, oh, say, Ashton Kutcher. 😀

I was even sort of sentimental about Ol' Broody's curse until the first time that I saw "I will Remember You," and, as far as I was concerned, that was the iceberg that sunk the Bangel ship. I'm sorry, but Angel had what he, what they BOTH wanted and dreamed of, and the idiot threw it all away, and he did it without even discussing it with Buffy first, as though she should have had no say whatsoever in the matter.

True, but in the end it worked out for us spuffers. 😀

 

[Flannen]

Like Becky, if it often seems like I hate Bangel and love Spuffy. Maybe because I've actually said many times that I hate Bangel and love Spuffy... 😀 But the truth is that I don't really hate any 'ship, because I love both shows and I love all the characters, so it would be hard to want anything but happiness for them (ESPECIALLY Angel, he's so fun when he's happy 😀 ). Anyway, I love the idea of Bangel. There are moments when I feel actual love for the 'ship, and when I actually like it more than Spuffy. But those are moments where I'm not actually WATCHING Bangel. I felt that Bangel was kinda poorly executed: Buffy was too young, Angel was too broody, Buffy was an obnoxious brat who I hated having to listen to, which obviously made me hate any Bangel scene (because Buffy was in it), and both Angel and Buffy were more annoying then usual when paired together.

This made me chuckle, because it's part of the reason why I don't relate to Spuffy as I can't stand Buffy or Spike at that point in the series.

Sorry, I just had to comment on that. I don't like the two ships equally as such, but I do have a soft spot for the simply beautiful connection that Spike and Buffy have in S7. Despite being more of a 'Bangel' I don't hate everything to do with Spuffy 🙂

But as this is for those that like both equally, I'll bow out quietly 😉

 

[Wishing Oceans]

This made me chuckle, because it's part of the reason why I don't relate to Spuffy as I can't stand Buffy or Spike at that point in the series.

Sorry, I just had to comment on that. I don't like the two ships equally as such, but I do have a soft spot for the simply beautiful connection that Spike and Buffy have in S7. Despite being more of a 'Bangel' I don't hate everything to do with Spuffy 🙂

But as this is for those that like both equally, I'll bow out quietly 😉

Yeah, I also had moments of extreme annoyance with Buffy in S6. 🙂

 

[captain peroxide]

I feel indifferent about the subject really. I mean they both had their moments didn't they. Spike, for me, wasn't meant to be with Buffy. Thats what i liked about them, they were chalk and cheese.

Angel and Buffy were perfect. Too perfect, imho.
But what they had transcended love. It was more like they needed each other.

I suppose i'm more of a Spuffy than a Bangel person really.
Though i love the programe, and all the characters.

 

[Willow-Tree]

No, I have never liked Bangel. It's too Romeo and Juliet-esque, and I generally dislike those type of romantic relationships.

Spike and Buffy was more more angst-y, and just more interesting in general.

I have, however, accepted that Buffy and Angel are soulmates, but that doesn't always mean you need to be together romantically.

 

[GrrArghx]

I doubt you'll find very many people who like both Bangel and Spuffy. BUT, I can say that I do not hate Spuffy. I really think their friendship in Season 7 was beautiful, but I personally do not believe they fit together. I've always rooted for Sprusilla when it came to Spike. lol I LOVE Dru and they were the perfect evil couple 😀

 

[BillyidolwannaB]

I like Spuffy and Bangel equally. They're both pish(pish=lame) try XAnya or Frunn for a proper 'ship.

 

[riceballalien]

I do like both ships myself...you couldn't have one without the other. Bangel is very storybookish for me. Like Giles said, it is very poetic. It is for me. The flaw about them for me is that is obviously can never work between them. Angel has good intentions for their relationship..but he always screws it up time and time again. A girl can only give so many chances. Not only that but Angel has a lot of things to work out. Just like Buffy, they both kind of need to find themselves...and let it all play out. And then maybe when the smokes clears something could happen again. The reason I love Spuffy so much is because it is very realistic relationship. I think everyone at one point falls in love with someone they shouldn't. That's what happened to both of them. Well, Buffy twice. lol Buffy sees the good in people when other people don't. I like that Spike supported her through all of season 7 and gained her trust again. He proved himself to her. Shows how much he really loves her. On Buffy's part, does she love Spike? I think she does. She just is to afraid to admit it to herself. Angel and Buffy have gone through lots of experiences without each other. I sadly think in the end...she will pick neither of them. I always root for the underdogs though. So <3 Spuffy. I think Spike deserves something good for him.

 

[InsaneMystic]

Not gonna barge into this thread for long, as I'm clearly not the target group... (sw)

If it weren't for the Angelus arc in S2 (which, weirdly enough for the possibly most rabid anti-Bangel active on this board, is my favorite arc of the show) my hatred for Bangel would be complete. Every time I watch "Faith Hope & Trick", I keep hoping against better knowledge that the light vortex won't appear and Angel stays in Acathla-land. Would spare us around two dozen gasped "Buffy....." lines. 😛

 

[racheltng]

I ship both Bangel and Spuffy, but not equally. Here's why: every time I see Seeing Red, I just can't read a Spuffy fanfiction for a few weeks. It makes me ill. I know he didn't have a soul, and yada yada, but the images from That Scene just flashes into my head, and I can't get any enjoyment out of it. I also believe that Buffy and Angel have that soulmate thing (the one that only exists in fiction and not in real life). I'm on the fence as to whether or not Buffy actually loves Spike. I think there are many kinds of love. Maybe her love for him isn't as deep as her love for Angel, but she does love him on some level.

I don't think that there has to be a war between shippers. In my heart, I'm a pan shipper. I'll read any type of fanfic pairing once, just to try it out.