Yeah, I have to go with beer_good_foamy on this one - depressing, and not terribly surprising. I actually only just got issue #21, and read the comments from Allie in the back about not filling in the blanks, so I was curious how you in particular would take that, since you've been so set on that being revealed eventually. I'm glad you asked the question, although I'll agree with you that Allie's not the best source for clear, non-misleading answers.
My read of the situation is that they ("they" being Joss, Scott, and whoever else is involved) see BtBR as in fact very much in character. I mean, this is the same Buffy who stole weapons from the army ("Innocence") and blew up a public building ("Graduation Day"). (There's also her robbery with Faith, but I wouldn't blame you for arguing that that's not Buffy's personality; she was influenced by Faith there and wouldn't have done it otherwise.) We've also seen Buffy become harder and more brutally practical - in "The Gift" she couldn't face the impossible choices she had, but by "Lies My Parents Told Me," she's willing to sacrifice her sister. She's turned into an "end justifies the means" general.
I think the part where Joss and the fans diverge is that there's a huge leap from committing isolated crimes when it's the only way to defeat a Big Bad to adopting a life of crime to finance your operation. Surely they didn't just rob that one bank - with the amount of expensive equipment they have, they must need a regular source of income, not to mention we've now seen other Slayers (namely Satsu) stealing the actual equipment if it's useful to them. Buffy seems to have gone from "crime is occasionally a necessary evil" to "crime is a legitimate way of life" - but I don't think Joss realizes that we need to see how.
Also, re: Spike - have you seen that Brian Lynch announced a new Spike series? What does that do to your trading shares? lol
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My read of the situation is that they ("they" being Joss, Scott, and whoever else is involved) see BtBR as in fact very much in character. I mean, this is the same Buffy who stole weapons from the army ("Innocence") and blew up a public building ("Graduation Day"). (There's also her robbery with Faith, but I wouldn't blame you for arguing that that's not Buffy's personality; she was influenced by Faith there and wouldn't have done it otherwise.) We've also seen Buffy become harder and more brutally practical - in "The Gift" she couldn't face the impossible choices she had, but by "Lies My Parents Told Me," she's willing to sacrifice her sister. She's turned into an "end justifies the means" general.
I think the part where Joss and the fans diverge is that there's a huge leap from committing isolated crimes when it's the only way to defeat a Big Bad to adopting a life of crime to finance your operation. Surely they didn't just rob that one bank - with the amount of expensive equipment they have, they must need a regular source of income, not to mention we've now seen other Slayers (namely Satsu) stealing the actual equipment if it's useful to them. Buffy seems to have gone from "crime is occasionally a necessary evil" to "crime is a legitimate way of life" - but I don't think Joss realizes that we need to see how.
Also, re: Spike - have you seen that Brian Lynch announced a new Spike series? What does that do to your trading shares? lol