I always felt like Willow was designed to be adorable, which is why she makes me grind my teeth in a way that even Wesley doesn't.

Joss even sort of cops to Willow's adorability by design, or at least how he used it. It's been a dog's age since I've listened to any of the commentary, but I remember him saying something, possibly on the commentary for Surprise/Innocence, about putting Willow in danger, when he needed to evoke strong feelings from the audience.

I have to be clear--I love Willow; I just don't Love Willow. I can't imagine the show without the character. But over the years, the reaction to her, that I've seen from fandom, has always surprised me.

Cindy, you might enjoy this.

Heeeee.

I was so grateful to read that, I didn't even comment on Strega's reference to her delusions opinion of Wesley.

Heh. But that kind of is the difference to me. Wesley, by S2 of Angel, was a great, mostly-consistent character. He's not a kind of person I like, and so I had fun bashing him, but he certainly felt real. Buffy felt real. Willow felt more like a randomly-assigned collection of quirks I was supposed to project an identity onto.

And then Fred was even worse that way.

YES! Fred took it to a whole new level. My favorite Fred moment was her death. I sort of mean that sincerely, because I managed to be emotionally manipulated quite touched by it, because of how it affected the others. I tried for a long time to like her, and succeeded from time to time, but it never lasted. I just didn't get either why all the characters so loved her (I didn't think she earned it) or why fandom did (and AA probably earned it, but it escaped me).

Both Willow and Fred suffer from Dr. Marlena Evans syndrome. Who here watched DOOL?

I hated both Willow and Fred when they were the cutesy-poo nerdy girls. Once Willow went gay and Fred and Gunn broke up, I got interested and I loved both of them by the end of the shows. I never got the appeal of total geek, little girl Willow at all. She just annoyed the hell out of me. Once she grew up, I loved her.

But over the years, the reaction to her, that I've seen from fandom, has always surprised me.

I think part of it is that so many of us in fandom self-identify as having been Willow types in high school, and we like to imagine that we would've also been winsome and adorable, and could've dated an Oz if our high school had featured such a person.

What Susan said. While I identified with Buffy as the lead on the show, I more closely self-identified with Willow, the geeky nerd who was dressed by her mother. I mean, my mother still sewed 90% of my clothes even in high school, so let me tell you Cordelia would have had a fine time with me around to pick on.

Doesn't necessarily mean I liked Willow better, just that I could more closely identify with her than with Buffy who was a cheerleader and the May Queen at Hemery.

or why fandom did

It didn't really. I mean, I did, but not for the reasons they seemed to want me to like her.

I've been continuing my obsessive dvd episode watching. Today it was What's my line, parts 1 and 2. Until the flesh eaating demon showed up in Season 7 (the Gnarl?), I think the Worm guy from the Order of Taraka was the grossest demon.

I've also learned that originally, it was the Three who were from the Order of Aurelius, not the Master.