*throws tomatoes*

I like riley at the begining but then he (the character not the relationship) starts to get boring I do love cangel and i love spike and dru too however the tomatoes were for the dig at spuffy 'at least that relationship makes sense'

If it makes you feel better, I heard a song on my way to class today that struck me as very spike/buffy's relationship after Buffy comes back from heaven.

I'm very much a Spuffy fan, but I didn't hate Bangel or Briley the way that some fans did, in fact I like each relationship on some levels. I used to think that Buffy and Riley were actually a pretty good couple. He's not a vampire, so that's awesome for her. He's strong and capable, so he can keep up with her. And he really loves her, so why not? However, Nika posted a link to an excellent essay a while back. It has to do with love and sex and the men in the Buffyverse. I'm not easily swayed, but it was so convincing, that I'm no longer sure that Riley was such a good match for Buffy after all. Here's a link if you're interested.
link

Briley doesn't bother me like Bangel does. I think that Riley was good for her for the time they were together, but he wasn't dark enough for her and in the end wouldn't be the long haul guy. Course that just might be the Spuffy in me saying that, lol.

And Bangel makes no sense to me at all. I think the feelings where they grow and change and devolop over time, bringing the two to new heights and making them connect with themselves more, like Spuffy, makes more sense then, 'One glance omg I found my true love'.

Or, as I like to call it; the relationship that until she slept with Angel she was always looking at other men. Examples, Owen, the frat boy, Billy. Oh cryptic guy, he's cute but annoying, here's this guy who likes me I think I'll go out with him. Oh that guy didn't turn out so good so back to cryptic guy. Wait, cryptic guy isn't paying enough attention to me, let me find another guy. Hmm, he tried to kill me, back to cyptic guy. Not paying attention to me again, hey an old friend of mine I use to have a crush on let me paw all over him, wait he tried to kill me, back to cyptic guy. Or at least that's just what I think about it, cause Bangel never made any sense to me at all, not like Spuffy, which I always found made perfect sense. And the leering at Buffy sucking on a lollipop at fifteen in a short skirt, that put me off it even more. That wasn't love, that was entirely lust. I didn't actually realize how much I really did dislike Bangel until it took me forever to find something good about them for debs role reversal thread.

Buffy may not have loved Spike in the sixth season, but she was never looking at any other guys during their relationship. Plus, the things that Spike did because of his love for Buffy were amazing.

Plus, I also love Cangel and Spike and Dru. One of the main things that bothered me during Chosen was pod Angel. He'd just signed his team into going into a lawfirm he hates, erased his son's memories and put him into a different family after the boy wanted to kill himself, and the woman he is in love with, yes that's Cordelia not Buffy, is in a coma. Is he really going to be so happy go lucky? When Buffy and Angel are around each other, they turn into two completly diffrent people, and if you can't be yourselves around each other then the relationship isn't right for you. Angel and Cordelia, and Buffy and Spike were always themselves around their significant other.

yer but buffy did all that stuff for a) to try and have some sort of noraml life and b) to make angel jealous!
i do like cangel and spike an dru , i never really that much of a problem with riley i alwasy thgouth he was dead cute, and i was rooting for him at the beginning of season 4!

Huh! Wow, I didn't expect to restart the whole debate! LOL! Carry on, debaters!

Wow Cinders, I would never have guessed from reading your comments that you were a Briley fan! But now that I think about it, it actually makes sense because I remember I was always confused when reading them. Most of the time it seemed like you were a Bangel shipper, and other times it seemed like you supported Spuffy. Glad you finally told us!
Like debs, I thought Riley's character got progressively boring. I was indifferent to him since the moment I saw him and I actually thought he would be interested in Willow since he didn't even remember Buffy's name after they met.
I think some of you know I hated Cangel. But I liked the friendship that she and Angel had, and how their trust in each other developed. I just wish it hadn't developed into something more than that.
And I also love Spike and Dru! They're my favorite vampire couple.

I don't think RIley's cute, he's just to, I don't know, bland looking to me maybe. The cutest guys in the Buffyverse I think are Spike(which probably everyone knows by now, lol), Wesley, and sometimes, very rarely Angel.

spike, cute? *laughs* i will stretch to sweet but i think spike would feel insulted if you called him cute :D although i think angel fits under cute i mean he is just a biiiiiiig fluffy puppy (sorry i couldn't resist) personally i think i would spike, oz and probably giles (i know age thing but most of hear like the vamps so shush)
back to briley i am currently watching season 4 again and i do like riley and he does make me laugh but there's something i can't quite put my finger on? i think the best way to describe him is 'corn feed ohio boy' but us bangel and spuffy shippers have to admit that the briley fans sort of got us beat on any arguement as they do have the least damaging relationship

I don't know. He feels insulted that she doesn't 'lean on him' when her mother is sick and she's dealing with a lot of stress, so he goes out to get suck jobs by vamp ho's and then blames it all on Buffy? If my boyfriend blamed me for his problems and gave me an ultimatium like Riley gave to Buffy, he'd be out the door. So, I can't say that Briley isn't damaging, though Spuffy and Bangel are probably more so. Honestly, the only healthy relationship in that show was Giles and Jenny, and if Jenny hadn't gotten murdered Joss most likely would have done something to mess that one up to.

And yeah, Spike isn't cute. He's drop dead gorgeous, and probably one of the most handsome men I've ever seen. He's got his spot right next to Johnny Depp for me, lol. And yeah, Angel probably fits more under the catergory of cute for me, lol, but I'm not really that attracted to him. I just find him, to broad, like Riley.

And about Giles, he isn't that old. He's good looking for his age, and JM ain't actually a spring chicken either, you know? lol. And around season four of Angel, when Wesley was going through his really dark stage, he looked good.

hmm i like wesley dark but i have never felt attracted to him, like i do with giles in band candy and end of season 6 and 7

and i still always think of james marsters as being imortal lol i never think of him actually getting older, same with david,and juliet ect

again back to briley lol, well basically their relationship crumbeled and becasuse it's TV it lead to drama, you got to admit riley had a point about her not telling him and get him wanting to know why buffy was so attracted to vampires, the only thing i don't like is the ultimatum, i will always stand by that if a they truly loved one another he would have stayed to try and work it out

ooo a question for the briley fans, that i would love to know cinders who do you blames for the break up of briley? riley for leaving or buffy for realising that she didn't want him to leave too late?

id say buffy with briley because i know it was a tough time but towards the end of the relasionship she wasnt there as he wanted her to be, thats how i saw it anyway! and di i see wesley cute, never thort id read that! lol!

I say it's Riley's fault. It's not her fault that she was going through a tough time, and I felt that Riley should have understood that instead of his whiny, 'but you don't need me' enough crap.

And then to blame her for his addiction was outrageous. It's that double standard where the man always blames the woman for his cheating. It's not her fault he's that insecure that he felt he needed to risk his life by giving up his blood to vamps. But that's how I saw it.

I also say it's Riley's fault, for all the reasons that nika said, so I won't repeat them. And I think the only reason Buffy ran after him was not because she thought she could love him, but because she was losing someone that she could lean on. Riley was dependable and comfortable, and always just there. I think she was scared that she was going to lose that. It would have been even more horrible if Buffy had reached him in time, but then their relationship still couldn't have worked out. All in all, I think it was for the best. Riley was what she needed at the time, but not in the long haul.

I think I agree with everything Tisha just said. Riley to me was her rebound guy, her transition from Angel to Spike, who have been refered to as the two most important men in Buffy's life.

I think she wanted to love him, but she couldn't. She even thought that she might be loosing the ability to love, but what it really was, is that at that time she had shut herself off from it because she didn't want to get hurt again.

And yeah, it would have been horrible if Buffy had reached him. It actually sounded to me like Xander didn't know what he was talking about during that whole, 'he's the one' speech to Buffy. I felt that Riley's love for her was conditional, on his own terms, not like Spike or even Angel's, which was unconditional.

Plus, like Spike told Riley, 'she needs a little monster in her man'. Buffy's not normal, she's not meant for the 'white picket fence, 2.5 kids, and dog' deal. She needs someone strong, someone who can deal with her life, and the only one's that she connects with in that way were Spike and Angel. Even Xander wouldn't have been able to deal with being a romantic interest for Buffy.

I think Buffy loves both Spike and Angel, but that she's not going to end up with either one. One: It would piss off to many shippers if she ended up with the one they didn't want, and Joss probably doesn't want that. Two: Buffy might move on to someone new.

the irony if riley came back in the comics and she ended up with him lol

Haha, the would be. But, well I don't know if Joss would do that, Briley wasn't to well recieved by fans.

But than again, neither was Willow and Oz at first either, and look how that turned out.

That's true Nika. I love how Joss decided to write a scene to win over the fans of the show in favor of Willow and Oz, and it worked.

i know he's such a clever bugger lol

what about riley get's turned in to a vamp and gets a soul by some other means lol do you rekon their be more briley fans if he 'had a bit of monster in him'

Lol, I don't know. Maybe. Though it might be a bit overkill if he did that.