Buffy fandom had some diehard Xander fans, some of which were bullies. (I was on the receiving end of their venom more times than I can count. The Spike haters were the most annoying. ("Oh my boyfriend or friend's boyfriend was a horrible abuser like Spike, how can you like him? Xander is the good guy!" ))
There were three factions: Spike/Spuffy fans, Angel/Bangle fans, and Xander, Bander fans. All three had their issues. The worst were Xander/ Bander and Bangle - mainly because by 2022, it was pretty clear neither was going to get what they wanted. They felt disenfranchised and were unhappy and were sigh, self-righteous about it. (Self-righteous fans are the worst.) And they thought if they bullied everyone on the boards? They'd get it what they wanted. (Can't think why? (sarcasm).) They even tried to bully the writers into doing it on various boards. But alas, it only resulted in the writers either getting pissed off at them or ruthlessly mocking them in the show, sometimes a bit too obviously.
It didn't work - because there were things going on behind the scenes that they weren't privy to (Nick Brendan, unknown to his fans, was in reality a raging and wickedly mean alcoholic, which his friends, cast-mates, first wife and family had been hiding - it's why he's kind of sloppy and heavy in later seasons, it's also why he wasn't in Conversations with Dead People (he showed up drunk to work and Whedon made him take a break)), and the direction of both the storyline, and characters, plus two separate shows on separate networks prevented it (Angel was on his own series which was as you know, on WB, and Buffy was on UPN. It just wasn't lucrative to put Buffy/Angel together long term or interesting to any of the writers involved, plus ratings dived when they were together and soared when they were apart). It was either accept the inevitable or stop watching. Bulling and campaigning wasn't going to get them anywhere. And it didn't.
It was aggravating to watch. The problem with fandom is sigh, the whiny bullies.
But yes, it's kind of amusing to see podcasts now ripping apart Xander, partly because the portrayer is (putting it kindly) such a lost soul.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2025-04-23 02:40 pm (UTC)Buffy fandom had some diehard Xander fans, some of which were bullies. (I was on the receiving end of their venom more times than I can count. The Spike haters were the most annoying. ("Oh my boyfriend or friend's boyfriend was a horrible abuser like Spike, how can you like him? Xander is the good guy!" ))
There were three factions: Spike/Spuffy fans, Angel/Bangle fans, and Xander, Bander fans. All three had their issues. The worst were Xander/ Bander and Bangle - mainly because by 2022, it was pretty clear neither was going to get what they wanted. They felt disenfranchised and were unhappy and were sigh, self-righteous about it. (Self-righteous fans are the worst.) And they thought if they bullied everyone on the boards? They'd get it what they wanted. (Can't think why? (sarcasm).) They even tried to bully the writers into doing it on various boards. But alas, it only resulted in the writers either getting pissed off at them or ruthlessly mocking them in the show, sometimes a bit too obviously.
It didn't work - because there were things going on behind the scenes that they weren't privy to
(Nick Brendan, unknown to his fans, was in reality a raging and wickedly mean alcoholic, which his friends, cast-mates, first wife and family had been hiding - it's why he's kind of sloppy and heavy in later seasons, it's also why he wasn't in Conversations with Dead People (he showed up drunk to work and Whedon made him take a break)), and the direction of both the storyline, and characters, plus two separate shows on separate networks prevented it (Angel was on his own series which was as you know, on WB, and Buffy was on UPN. It just wasn't lucrative to put Buffy/Angel together long term or interesting to any of the writers involved, plus ratings dived when they were together and soared when they were apart). It was either accept the inevitable or stop watching. Bulling and campaigning wasn't going to get them anywhere. And it didn't.
It was aggravating to watch. The problem with fandom is sigh, the whiny bullies.
But yes, it's kind of amusing to see podcasts now ripping apart Xander, partly because the portrayer is (putting it kindly) such a lost soul.