jedibuttercup

Okay. Fandom-meme answers, here we go.

WARNING: Honest, blatant opinions behind the cuts, and up-to-current spoilers for CSI.

For empressvesica, Buffy:

1. The first character I fell in love with:: Willow. I identified with her in the beginning; she was naturally shy, computer savvy, and spent her school career until the arrival of Buffy as a wallflower. (Of course, that didn't last).
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:: My first, best answer better belongs under the Angel category below! Aside from Wesley, however, sticking to the Buffyverse-- I'd have to choose Dawn. She annoyed the fire out of me when she first appeared, but she really grew on me by the end.
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't:: Hmm. My first, best answer for this question better belongs to the Angelverse also. Setting aside the titular vampire himself, however-- I'd actually have to choose Joyce. Sacrilege, I know; but she was never quite the mother Buffy needed her to be, and had a starring role in several craptastic events in Buffy's life. I don't blame Buffy and Dawn for loving and missing her, but as a fan, especially after I found out about the prior mental hospitalization in "Normal Again", I just can't muster much affection.
4. The character I love that everyone else hates:: I don't know about hates, but, well-- Buffy. I see this attitude in a lot of fic that she was overly judgemental and egotistic, especially at the end; that she had a starring role she didn't deserve, which they'd rather have been given to others, say Xander or Faith; and that any and every little thing she did wrong regarding her friends is somehow vastly more terrible than all the crap they threw back and deserves far more heinous punishment. I just don't get it. When I try to put myself into her POV to write a story... well, I identify with her a lot more strongly these days than I ever did Willow. Poor girl. She deserved so much better than she got.
5. The character I used to love but don't any longer:: Giles. Unequivocably. The other characters, especially Willow, had their let-down moments in Buffy's life, but from Buffy's POV, they were mostly friends, on an equal level with her. Giles was a mentor figure, a responsible adult in her life, and she looked up to him-- and he abandoned her and betrayed her trust more than once, especially toward the end of the show. I get that he had his own problems, but he was her Watcher for crap's sake, he should have put more thought into her needs. For shame.
6. The character I would shag anytime:: I'm actually kind of embarrased about my answer to this one, as he was a boring old stick on the show and very, very bad for Buffy, but were he not married-- Riley. His main problem was that Buffy was so dominant and overshadowing him at every turn; in his own right, he was smart, attractive, etc. Plus, he has the advantage of not being un-pulsed (Spike), too short (Oz), too old and jaded (Giles), or possessed of wild self esteem problems that would interact unpleasantly with my own (Xander).
7. The character I'd want to be like:: Tara. Except for the part where our sexual orientations and religious preferences differ. She was such a wise, sweet, giving woman, but not a doormat, either.
8. The character I'd slap:: Kennedy! I did my best to block her from my perceptions whenever she was on screen during Season 7; I could not believe Willow was dating someone who compared so poorly to Tara, so soon after the latter's death.
9. A pairing that I love:: Buffy/Spike. I admit it! I deplored where they went with it on-screen in season 6, but by the end of Season 7 I thought they'd progressed to the point where they had a chance at being equal partners with each other, something no other male had ever managed to achieve with Buffy. Of course, Whedon had to kill him and port him to the Angelverse instead. *sigh*
10. A pairing that I despise:: Willow/Kennedy. See question 8 above.

For wallbrat, Angel:

1. The first character I fell in love with:: Cordelia. By the time she reached the Angelverse she'd left her most annoying qualities far behind her, and lost most of the rest of them by early Season 3. (Of course, then they took her too far...!!)
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:: Wesley. Hands down. From his earliest beginnings on Buffy through to the end of the Angel series, he of all the characters was the most dynamic. He grew and changed and matured, and in believable, gradual ways; I was so irritated with him at the beginning, but I have also never grieved over any other fictional character as much as I did over his demise.
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't:: Angel. Tall, dark and handsome? Phaugh. He may have the pretty, but his character truly sucks, IMHO. I don't care how terrible his past was and how much he has to atone for, there's no excuse for the way he treats everyone he purports to care about. People that bitch about Buffy's mistakes and treatment of her friends should look to Angel for a comparison; her actions are at least usually proportional to her friends' and to the terrible situations going on, Angel is just... jaw-droppingly overboard most of the time, from my point of view.
4. The character I love that everyone else hates:: I don't know about hates, but... Illyria. Yes, her appearance resulted in Fred's obliteration. But except for the most literal definition of the phrase, it wasn't her fault. And watching her interact with Wesley... so much potential, cut short much too soon.
5. The character I used to love but don't any longer:: Cordelia. I hate, hate, hate how they mangled her character in Season 4, retconned it all by saying she'd been tricked into ascending and possessed upon her return, and then stuck her in a coma for most of Season 5 before letting her reappear to give Angel one last vision. I might actually have grown to like Angel if they'd allowed Cordelia to stay her early-Season-3 self; he was more likeable when interacting with her.
6. The character I would shag anytime:: Wesley. If, you know, he wasn't busy pining, mourning, expressing his self-hatred through sex, or in a happy relationship already... Despite his self-esteem issues (which x'ed Xander off this question in the Buffyverse), he has the most solid backbone of any of Joss' characters except maybe Mal, IMHO. I find that just as attractive as his intelligence and his looks.
7. The character I'd want to be like:: Fred. She was smart, cute, and resourceful, and until the Wolfram & Hart phase almost always made good choices; also, everybody liked her despite her social awkwardness.
8. The character I'd slap:: Gunn. He let a girl get between him and his best friend, which contributed to the Connor kidnapping debacle, and he later let pride lead him to fatal stupidity; he blindly signed the paper that ended up getting said girl killed.
9. A pairing that I love:: It's a toss-up between Wesley/Lilah and Wesley/Illyria. Though I like Fred, and know how much Wes cared for her, they were just a little too saccharine together to stomach long-term, for me. By the end of Wes/Lilah they actually cared for each other; had she not died, they would have been fascinating to watch for many of the same reasons I think other people are such Wes/Faith fans. And I would have loved to have seen what would have become of Wesley and Illyria had Joss not been forced to end the show a season early.
10. A pairing that I despise:: Connor/Cordelia. Enough said. *shudder*

For izhilzha, CSI:

1. The first character I fell in love with:: Grissom. Easily. Intelligent, not naturally social, possessed of a few really good friends and an interesting job that he's very good at? Of course I like him. *grin*
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:: Hodges. Like mold, he grows on you with time. Ecklie's not nearly so bad as he used to be, either.
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't:: Catherine Willows. She's suffered from the most inconsistent characterization of anyone on that show, and if I never see another Very Special Episode that causes her to angst about her relationship with her daughter or her age or her lack of male companionship, it will be too soon.
4. The character I love that everyone else hates:: Again, I don't know about hates, as nearly every character that exists for any show has his/her rabid group of devotees. In this case, though, I'd say Sara. Before TWP stopped reviewing the show I routinely skimmed the boards there, and there were a lot of people posting there who couldn't stand her. She hits many of the same buttons for me that Buffy does, though: smart, strong of character, deeply wounded, underestimated; fighting to make the best she can of the life she has.
5. The character I used to love but don't any longer:: Greg. They've tamed him down a lot since he's joined the CSI team instead of the lab crew. I still kind of like him, especially teamed with Sara, but not nearly as much as when he was the wildly quirky lab tech Gil loved to pick on and of whom Nick said, "Leggo my Greggo!" =)
6. The character I would shag anytime:: Nick. Sweet, strong, smart, attractive Southern gentleman. What's not to drool over?
7. The character I'd want to be like:: Again, Nick. For most of the same reasons I'd want to be like Tara or Fred; see above answers.
8. The character I'd slap:: Catherine Willows. See question 3 above for the whys. Everything is NOT all about her. Case in point, her reaction to Warrick's recent marriage...
9. A pairing that I love:: Grissom/Sara. Geek Love! Though more so in earlier seasons than recently; once Grissom started blatantly ignoring her tentative advances after all that early flirting, I started to think him less worthy of her. He's improving again, but if not, Nick/Sara or Greg/Sara would also be cute.
10. A pairing that I despise:: Catherine/Chris Bezich. Yeah, the night-club guy. I know he was played by the same actor as Krycek, but still! Hatehatehate. Extremely poor decision on Catherine's part.