Whooo! Xander the control freak! One of my favorites!
Sadly, one of the traits I most identify with (says the girl who drives a stick shift because an automatic doesn't give me enough control over the car).
The whole window-fixing thing does crack me up. I'm still mystified by people who say "Buffy relegated Xander to fixing the windows in S7." Aside from the fact we never hear Buffy actually asking Xander to do that, I just see fixing the window as such as Xander thing to do.
World spinning out of control? Vampire you hate back in town and you can't do anything about it? Watcher's Council blow up? Scared Potentials preventing you from sleeping? Andrew driving you nuts? Friends cracking up from the strain? Ex-fiance wavering from wanting to kill you to wanting to have sex with you? The world's biggest baddest evil is making its big move?
What are you going to do?
FIX THE WINDOW! Because, damnit, it's the one thing you know you can do right every single time! And not just fix the window, but fix it exactly like it was before, even though you know a picture window is not such a hot idea, given how many times it broke in the past three months alone.
Sorry. Sure I was annoyed about it during the first airing of S7, but looking back, it really is totally in Xander's character to start obsessively focusing on the little things he can do something about while the world spins out of control around him.
And yeah, his control freak-y nature did come out in some pretty negative ways, especially in the way Xander lashed out when he got frustrated with people because they weren't acting the way he thought they should act. At least he's now got the handyman mojo to at least channel some of that control freak-y energy, because god knows the poor boy needs it. *pats Xander*
And I agree with you 100 percent. Xander's growth (at least how I write him) is a "fits-and-starts" thing. He tends to take a bunch of steps forward, and then he gets knocked on his ass. But the thing I liked about his character in canon is he'd try to get back up again (albeit at times with a certain amount of flailing, as in the case of Anya) and keep battling on.
And (*blush*) thank you for your kind words on my take on Xander. In my case, I tend to work with his faults more than his strengths, since, as I said above, that's what makes him interesting to me. Even in canon he's Mr. Contradiction-in-Terms. On the one hand, he's the heart of the group, but on the other, he can be one of its most devisive members. On one hand, he tries to be the peacemaker, but on the other, when his temper blows, he causes even more problems. The sad thing is, his faults really are very human and there's nothing tragic about them (although they can lead to tragic consequences since he hangs with supernatural people).
It's very much the same reason I've seen people who write Spike really well tend to give, which probably isn't all that strange, when you think about it. In some ways, the two characters do have a similar set of faults, but have a completely different set of strengths.
I agree that writing Xander in-a-group vs. the Xander who on some level really doesn't give himself over completely to anyone (control issues!) is a tricky line to walk. You don't want to make him a complete sheep, but at the same time, you don't want him hanging around the edges being useless-boy. At least, you don't if he's one of your main characters. I'm a big fan of authors who send characters they don't like "out of town on a bus" rather than write them badly or bash them. So I don't really resent it when authors don't like Xander do him that favor.
The sad thing is, what Xander needs more than anything is someone who'll call him on his shit. And the Scoobs? Not really big on doing that to each other unless things have reached the breaking point. So in that sense, both Anya and Spike were right about them.
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Sadly, one of the traits I most identify with (says the girl who drives a stick shift because an automatic doesn't give me enough control over the car).
The whole window-fixing thing does crack me up. I'm still mystified by people who say "Buffy relegated Xander to fixing the windows in S7." Aside from the fact we never hear Buffy actually asking Xander to do that, I just see fixing the window as such as Xander thing to do.
World spinning out of control? Vampire you hate back in town and you can't do anything about it? Watcher's Council blow up? Scared Potentials preventing you from sleeping? Andrew driving you nuts? Friends cracking up from the strain? Ex-fiance wavering from wanting to kill you to wanting to have sex with you? The world's biggest baddest evil is making its big move?
What are you going to do?
FIX THE WINDOW! Because, damnit, it's the one thing you know you can do right every single time! And not just fix the window, but fix it exactly like it was before, even though you know a picture window is not such a hot idea, given how many times it broke in the past three months alone.
Sorry. Sure I was annoyed about it during the first airing of S7, but looking back, it really is totally in Xander's character to start obsessively focusing on the little things he can do something about while the world spins out of control around him.
And yeah, his control freak-y nature did come out in some pretty negative ways, especially in the way Xander lashed out when he got frustrated with people because they weren't acting the way he thought they should act. At least he's now got the handyman mojo to at least channel some of that control freak-y energy, because god knows the poor boy needs it. *pats Xander*
And I agree with you 100 percent. Xander's growth (at least how I write him) is a "fits-and-starts" thing. He tends to take a bunch of steps forward, and then he gets knocked on his ass. But the thing I liked about his character in canon is he'd try to get back up again (albeit at times with a certain amount of flailing, as in the case of Anya) and keep battling on.
And (*blush*) thank you for your kind words on my take on Xander. In my case, I tend to work with his faults more than his strengths, since, as I said above, that's what makes him interesting to me. Even in canon he's Mr. Contradiction-in-Terms. On the one hand, he's the heart of the group, but on the other, he can be one of its most devisive members. On one hand, he tries to be the peacemaker, but on the other, when his temper blows, he causes even more problems. The sad thing is, his faults really are very human and there's nothing tragic about them (although they can lead to tragic consequences since he hangs with supernatural people).
It's very much the same reason I've seen people who write Spike really well tend to give, which probably isn't all that strange, when you think about it. In some ways, the two characters do have a similar set of faults, but have a completely different set of strengths.
I agree that writing Xander in-a-group vs. the Xander who on some level really doesn't give himself over completely to anyone (control issues!) is a tricky line to walk. You don't want to make him a complete sheep, but at the same time, you don't want him hanging around the edges being useless-boy. At least, you don't if he's one of your main characters. I'm a big fan of authors who send characters they don't like "out of town on a bus" rather than write them badly or bash them. So I don't really resent it when authors don't like Xander do him that favor.
The sad thing is, what Xander needs more than anything is someone who'll call him on his shit. And the Scoobs? Not really big on doing that to each other unless things have reached the breaking point. So in that sense, both Anya and Spike were right about them.