Don't ever recall a specific mention of Xander's religion.

eta: But I'm wrong!

Idle thought: What's Buffy's greatest badass moment for you?

Some of them came in otherwise not-great episodes. Like wiping out the vamp nest that was sucking on Riley, finishing with the javelin toss dusting. Or in "Anne" with the "I'm Buffy."

It's easy enough to write a scene where Buffy's the winner, but harder to have it bear all the narrative weight and character development that has Buffy stopping Angelus sword with her palms and declare she's enough (probably her greatest moment).

Hmmm, the power walk in "Prophecy Girl" was good. Also Buffy winning by smarts against Kralik. Your choices?

Idle thought: What's Buffy's greatest badass moment for you?

Yikes! There's a lot. But what stands out to me isn't so much physical- it's "I'm fairly certain I said no interruptions."

The authority she takes on with the Watchers in that scene is great.

The "You have fruit punch mouth" moment in "Prophecy Girl" was pretty good too, as was Buffy locking and loading her bazooka in "Innocence."

I think I got the most sense of a buildup to a badass moment during "Walk through the Fire" in OMWF, where the song crescendos along with Buffy kicking the Bronze door off its hinges and confronting Sweet.

Ooooh! In "Go Fish" when Obnoxious Swim Team Guy gets frisky with her in the car and she slams his nose into the steering wheel.

There are many more, of course. But that scene has always stuck with me.

And the pan-up shot in "Anne" with her holding the axe.

What's Buffy's greatest badass moment for you?

Two of my off-the-top-of-my-head "Wow, Buffy's such a bad ass!" moments from some meh episodes:

Jumping down into the hellmouth to catch the Vahrall demon that had jumped in and having Riley pull her out in Doomed.

Likewise, jumping in to kill the Bezoar (it looked like she jumped right into her stomach and killed her from the inside) in Bad Eggs.

These stick out to me because she had no idea if her fighting skills would save her. She was literally puting her life in jeopardy with no way of knowing if she would survive. Sometimes Buffy assesses the risk and backs off but in the first case - it was to prevent an apocalypse and in the second - one of the victims was her mother, so I don't think either one qualifies as a normal scenario.

But my favorites are a tie between "Me" in Becoming Pt. II and kicking Angelus in the balls in Innocence.

It's easy enough to write a scene where Buffy's the winner, but harder to have it bear all the narrative weight and character development that has Buffy stopping Angelus sword with her palms and declare she's enough (probably her greatest moment).

Hmmm, the power walk in "Prophecy Girl" was good. Also Buffy winning by smarts against Kralik. Your choices?

Both of those would be on my list, Hec. Also? When she throws the sword at the Watcher in Checkpoint. Her whole little speech, in fact, just rocked. I've watched Checkpoint specifically to get my Bitch back on.

Actually, at the end of Innocence, when she tells Angelus, "Give me time," is a moment that hits me just right too, although it's not badass, it promises the badass is coming (as is the moment when she shoots the Judge with the rocket launcher/flame thrower/bigass weaponie thing).

Looks like all the badass moments that came to my mind have already been mentioned (by the way, I love "Anne," Hec: we differ! Hurrah!).

And actually, something that's coming to my mind is Buffy running away from a crumbling Sunnydale in "Chosen." Cause that shit's kinda cool.

Oh, and:

Also Buffy winning by smarts against Kralik.

"If I was at full Slayer power I'd be punning right about now" cracks my shit up.

After being a punching bag for most of the episode, when she bounces back and wipes out Sunday and her minions in THE FRESHMAN.

Kicking Angelus in the crotch.(And that bit before, that I liked so much I gave it to Kay "Your friends are gone. Your weapons are gone. What do you have now?"
"Me."
) breaking swim team guys nose "I'm Buffy. And you are?"

After being a punching bag for most of the episode, when she bounces back and wipes out Sunday and her minions in THE FRESHMAN.

"I think as you reflect on this in the 2 seconds before you turn to dust you'll realize your mistake was touching my stuff." (paraphrase, but good for P-Cow today)

Wishverse!Buffy was credibly badass. Dug the scar and the doomy annihilation of the entire cast.

Buffy v. Faith in Becoming.

Matrix!Buffy v. Adam