Count me in! I love Xander! He's in my top three favourite characters (behind Buffy and roughly tied with Willow) I adore his character, I think he's fantastic!
He's a very brave guy, I love that without the aid of any super powers he's ready to rush in and help Buffy and other people out. We saw this in
'The Harsh Light of Day' when he charges at Spike when he sees him hitting Buffy and "gets his ribs bashed in" as a result. We also saw it in
'Dirty Girls' when he ends up loosing an eye because he made sure he got Kennedy and the other girls out of harms way first. And we also saw it in episodes like
'The Zeppo' when Buffy, Faith and Giles were worried he may get hurt because he's ready to leap into the frontlines of the battle. And I loved when in
'Becoming' as the vampires attack, despite having a broken army and being outnumbered he cries for Cordy to run.
Some new questions for the Xand Man
1) What's your favourite episode for Xander and why?'Prophecy Girl.' He's fantastic in that episode and it shows off many different sides of his character. I love that he rallies Angel to help Buffy, that he's shown as being human when he makes a snarky lash at Buffy "I guess a guys gotta be dead to spend time with ya" and that he ultimately saves her life.
2) What's your favourite Xander ship? (Xander/Willow, Xander/Cordy, Xander/Anya, Xander/Buffy ect)Xander/Cordy but it could quickly turn into Buffy/Xander if it happens in season eight. I was never really interested in Xander/Anya to be honest, it didn't do a great deal for me other than their final scene together in
'Selfless' but even that was, with the best of intentions, a realisation and understanding that Xander was speaking as a "clingee" of Anya's, it's the heartbreaking truth to their relationship. I prefer Xander/Willow over Xander/Anya as well, they're adorable. However, I feel guilty for loving them when they're cheating on Cordy and Oz.
3) What's your top five Xander scenes?1) When he comes to Angel's apartment in
'Prophecy Girl' It's great to see Xander so pent up, and I love the brief connection between both of them "You're in love with her" "Aren't you?"
2) The Xander/Buffy scene in
'The Freshman.' "When it's alone and it's dark and I'm scared. I think, what would Buffy do, you're my hero." Gahh it's brilliant, I love him in that scene and how he inspires Buffy.
3) The Xander/Angelus stare-down in
'The Killer In Me.' Xander's incredibly brave in that scene to stand up to Angelus of all people, he's just great, and you could cut the tension with a knife.
4) The Xander/Dawn scene at the end of
'Potential.' He's incredibly sweet in that scene and I love how we get an insight into his vulnerabilities and what's plagued him for so long but that he and Dawn find a connection. And just like he did with Buffy, he inspires something in her, "You're not special, you're extraordinary" and that kiss on the forehead.. sigh, makes you love his character.
5) The Willow/Xander scene in
'Grave.' Again, he helps someone through a hard time, he's fantastic in that scene and it had to be Xander to stop her.
4) What's your top three favourite Xander lines?1)
"When it's alone and dark and I'm scared I think what would Buffy do. You're my hero" For the reasons I stated above.
2)
"I know I haven't been the best friend to you when it came to the whole Angel thing. But hey, I guess I finally got the Christmas spirit."- He was very nice in that scene and really does make up for being a bit insensitive to Buffy sometimes, very adorable.
3)
"The comedy styling of Miss Cordelia Chase everyone. Who incidentally won't be needing a higher education when she markets her very own successful line of Hooker wear!" It's nasty, but brilliant, hee!
5) What's Xander's best quality?His bravery and his loyalty. I think they go hand in hand, he's terribly loyal to those who he loves and he'll do anything to protect them. He's faced incredible odds stacked up against him for years and yet he puts his life on the line to protect those around him.
6) Did you ever dislike Xander?Nope, that's too strong of a word, but I didn't like some of his behaviour in
'Revelations.' Particularly the moment where he pretends to Buffy to believe Angel could have been responsible for attacking Giles when even he tells Faith earlier on it's not Angel's style. That was vindictive and a low blow to be intentionally mean towards Buffy. I also didn't like how he conspired to have Angel murdered behind their backs, firstly Angel has a soul which brings up a whole range of moral issues vampire or not, and secondly, he went to kill him behind Buffy's back, I think it's lucky they were interrupted as I'm not sure Buffy/Xander could have come back from that.
7) What's your top three saddest Xander moments?1) Caleb plunging out his eye in
'Dirty Girls.' I *hated* Caleb for that, it was incredibly sad to see Xander in so much pain and that, that was his reward for being so brave and loyal.
2) A small moment and very brief given how Cordy ends up standing up for him, but when he bumps into Harmony at the end of
'B, B & B' and she makes a hurtful comment that Xander's mum works at the drive through, Xander just silently walks away and it's a realisation of how people treat him in high school.
3) The Xander/Anya scene in
'Primeval' when he admits he thinks that Buffy and Willow may be right that he's a "sad directionless loser with no plans for his future."
8) Which character does Xander interact best with?Either Buffy or Willow, I find it really hard to decide. He's brilliant with Buffy, especially in season eight where he's hip to hip with her, offering her advice, talking things out with her, giving her pep talks ect. On the other hand he's brilliant with Willow, I love their history together, I love how they know each other so well. There's some really nice small moments, such as Xander/Willow trading their apple and chocolate bar without even having to say it, they just do it on instinct, or when he's holding her up in
'Get It Done' after Willow's spell.
JUST KIDDING! 3x13 "The Zeppo" definitely one of the best Xander-centric episodes. I like that we got to see what Xander did with his night instead of the big flashy evil coming out of the Hellmouth - definitely a great change of pace. And everybody got to be a hero in the end.