beer_good_foamy

Here's a rewatch-inspired poll, presented with no preamble.

[Poll #1854770]

I'm currently rewatching s4 of Buffy and I just got to "Beer Bad". And since it's one of my favourite comedy episodes (to nobody's surprise) I thought I'd take this opportunity to jot down some possibly slightly serious thoughts (and a poll!). Let me just get a beer...

*pop*

( Want beer. Like beer. Beer good. )

[Poll #1599026]

After writing Endless Restless the other day, and realising this was the second time I'd crossed the Buffyverse over with a story featuring an incarnation of Death itself, something struck me. The Buffyverse is all about personifications – or rather demonisations – of abstract concepts. Does high school feel like hell? Guess what, it really is! Having trouble sharing with a new roommate? Guess what, she's a demon! Having trouble talking to your would-be boyfriend? Guess what, here's a whole gang of demons who symbolize that – and you get to beat them up until they go away!

BUFFY: Find me something I can pummel.

XANDER: Buffy needs something she can fight, something she can solve.

Yet the big abstract thing that's most established to have a personification in fiction, going back centuries – Death – doesn't seem to have one in the Buffyverse. Sure, there are tons of metaphorical monsters who can kill you, even a couple of demons – der Kindestod, Pavayne – who try to pass themselves off as Death incarnate, but the Grim Reaper, however he/she/it may look, doesn't seem to ever show up. We know people die, we know there's an afterlife, but how you get from one plane to the other is never explained.

So, a poll. With explanations below.

[Poll #1512872]

That is to say, if there is a Buffyverse Death, which type does it most closely resemble?
Angel of Death: Not the broody vampire, but a being with wings, sword, etc. May or may not be exiled to Earth in Kevin Smith movies.
Traditional reaper: Ominous, perhaps even malevolent skeleton-in-black-cowl-with-scythe. Plays chess. Cannot be reasoned with. May even in some cases actively do the killing itself.
Discworld DEATH: Skeleton in a black cowl, but with a personality. Very serious about his job, but does it because it's necessary, not because he likes killing people; quite simply, a good guy. WHAT CAN HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT FOR THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN?
Sandman Death: Pretty young woman (older than time itself). Wise, kind and compassionate, and even occasionally grants a reprieve – if not from death, then at least from passing to the afterlife. Can take an infant and make it seem heartwarming.
Dead Like Me Reaper: Not so much a being as a rather bureaucratised job, carried out by (involuntary) dead people who for the most part are pretty jaded.
Reaper Reaper: One of the guys from Reaper, I suppose. To be honest, I've never watched the show so I don't know much about it or how it would fit in the Buffyverse.
Other: Well, other favourite personification of Death.
None: There is no reaper in the Buffyverse. Period. You'd think one of the many undead characters would mention it if there were. People die just fine on their own.
Irrelevant: The Buffyverse is about life, not death: a reaper may or may not exist, but since you only meet it after you've died (by definition) it has nothing to do with the story.

There's probably more meta in this at some point.

OK, the invitation rule is always fun. If a vampire hasn't been invited into a private residence, there's an invisible barrier keeping him or her out. So in "Epiphany", if you recall, Angel has to save the gang from a bunch of funky demons with eyes in the back of their necks holding them hostage inside a house belonging to the late Sharp family, former non-paying clients of Angel Inc. Angel does this by driving Lindsey's truck straight through the window. One of those hero moments he does.

Now, luckily for him (and less so for the Sharps) everyone who used to live in that house is dead, which means Angel can enter without an invitation. And this is in an episode where the invitation rule is a pretty big theme.

The trouble with that, of course, is that while we know that the Sharps are dead, Angel doesn't. In fact, since the demons want to impregnate humans, it would have made sense for them to NOT kill the people in the house. So say, hypothetically, one or more of the Sharps was still alive. Say the invitation barrier was still up. So a vampire drives a heavy truck at full speed towards a house where he hasn't been invited.

What happens?

[Poll #1487771]

Yep, I wrote something about #30. It's more grumpy than snarky, but it has a poll.

Nothing was delivered
And I tell this truth to you,
Not out of spite or anger
But simply because it's true.
- Bob Dylan, "Nothing Was Delivered"

"My god, it sucks to be weak."
- Buffy Summers, Season 8 #30

( Fly, my pretties, fly )

OK, I'm bored, let's have a poll on Season 8. If nothing else, it should be useful to have as a reference point a few issues from now, see who was right and who was wrong. So no more waffling, throw your hats in the ring and pick a winner. Or loser. Spoilers include recent comments by Allie.

( Ticky boxes )

stormwreath posted a very fun quiz: spot the Buffyverse characters' dying words!

However, he missed out on a few memorable ones. So below the quiz are 20 21 20 famous last words from both major and minor Angel characters - match the quote to the right character and win pie! OK, you'll have to bake it yourself, but still: PIE!

( Don't worry, they can't hit an elephant at this dist- )

If we're talking about crossovers, half the fun is coming up with the basic idea; what if Character X and Character Y were to perform action Z, what would happen?

Here's a bunch of ideas of that sort, which I'm sure aren't going to lead to anything, but which I'd still like people's opinion on. And I'm not telling you which character is from which fandom either, because I'm just like that. Just go with your gut feeling here, and feel free to add further thoughts, questions or just general insults in the comments.

[Poll #1332661]

Right. So since I failed epically at inserting this poll into the Dracula vs Buffy meta post, I thought I'd try to post it separately. At which I failed even more epically, so here's hoping third time's a charm - apologies to those who had time to fill it out first time around.

This is mostly for my own amusement, but there might be a point to it. We'll see. Anyway, ticky boxes and long black capes, how can you go wrong?

[Poll #1152952]