History ComicBook / BuffyTheVampireSlayer

** Spike points out to Buffy that post Riley, she seems to only go after what she knows she can't have; [[MoralDissonance him, while soulless]], [[DrunkWithPower Angel, after going all 'mad god']], [[IncompatibleOrientation a woman, despite not identifying as gay]], and [[JustFriends Xander, when she knew he was with Dawn]].

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Spike encourages Buffy to get with ParanormalDetective Dowling, citing that he's a nice, normal man that he believes Buffy needs.

** An offhand comment by Faith indicates she isn't bisexual. Really into a RomanticTwoGirlFriendship perhaps, but as she says if you want her to go down on a woman you have the wrong chosen one.

* CelebCrush: Buffy and Willow discuss theirs, specifically Buffy's being Creator/DanielCraig becomes a RunningGag, and in a sheer bout of [[NotSoDifferent coincidence]] Faith complains that when Angel hook Spike and Harmony back up he didn't also get the actor for her.

* NotSoDifferent: Angel's visit leads to the gang discussing whether or not he and Spike have ended up as this. Spike's best comeback is that [[SeriousBusiness he's British and Angel's Irish]] which are "completely different."

* RealityEnsues: Giles meets his old flame, Olivia, and hopes to renew their old relationship. [[spoiler:Olivia refuses; since Giles was brought back in the body of a 12-year-old boy, she doesn't really feel physically attracted to him anymore nor wants to be MistakenForPedophile.]]

* [[spoiler:FlyingBrick]]: That one person(s). You know the one(s). They become this after getting a power-up in Season Eight/

* TimeSkip: Implied. Buffy states she's recently turned 30, however, season 11 should have taken place when she was 27, meaning there's been a 3-year gap since the previous season.

* KarmaHoudini: Spike points out that almost everyone has been evil at one point, and that most of them get away with it after he [[BecomingTheCostume Becomes The Costume]] in a season six Angel comic.

[[folder: Season Nine (Including ''Spike'' and ''Willow'')]]

[[folder: Season Ten]]

[[folder: Season Twelve]]

* PetTheDog: Out of all the villains who could get this, the rapist misogynist who murdered Tara, Warren Meers, gets one by jumping in and saving Andrew from a bunch of demons (using a [[IronMan repulsor gauntlet shield]]). Yes, it's as awesome as it sounds (note: he's still evil though, in fact, it's Amy who starts to want to help, Warren just likes Andrew).

* HorrorHunger: Dawn, when changed into a centaurette, mentions a craving for hay. Remember, she still looks human from her body up.

* YourCheatingHeart: Willow, with Aluwyn. Kennedy never finds out about it.

** Season 10 also adds in a small detail that the Trio had digitally downloaded their brains into flash drives and stowed them away for safekeeping. [[spoiler: Andrew destroys Warren's, but recovers Jonathon's, allowing Jonathon to ''kinda'' come back to life.]]

* FinalBoss: Maloker, the Old One who created the first vampires, serves as this in ''Buffy''

** There's also the Zompires, which are stronger and more dangerous than regular vampires. Though nowhere as smart as the regular vmpires.

* KickTheDog: In the ''Guarded'' arc, Kennedy criticizes Buffy for leaving Theo behind despite Theo urging her to do it so they could regroup, ranting that Buffy gets so caught up in saving the world that she forgets about the "little guy" and lets other people die, using [[spoiler:Giles' death at the end of Season 8]] as an example. This earns her [[TakeThatScrappy a punch in the face]] from Buffy, and Kennedy later admits at the end of the issue that she was out of line.

* TheMagicComesBack: A new Seed of Wonder has been created, and magic has returned to Earth... but with different rules than before. For example, all vampires sired from this point onward were {{Daywalker}}s and {{Voluntary Shapeshifter}}s, and the LanguageOfMagic is no longer required to cast spells; at one point, Willow just utters "boom shaka laka" to do so.

* BrainUploading: The Trio made digital backups of their brains. [[spoiler: Andrew plans on using Jonathan's to resurrect him and destroys Warren's so he can't come back. However Andrew later comes to terms with the fact that even helping this copy of Jonathon won't undo the fact that he killed Jonathon]]

* CallBack: The first time Buffy and Spike sleep together, Spike wakes up in the middle of the night to nightmares of killing innocents, calling back to "Innocence". Buffy even outright lampshades this by jokingly asking the next morning if he is evil now.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: After years of pain and suffering caused by monster hunting, the Scoobies finally get a happy ending. [[spoiler:Buffy and Faith have joined the police academy, Giles is rebuilding the Watchers Council, Willow is running a woman's empowerment center that changes Fray's time period for the better, Xander and Dawn are settled down with [[BabiesEverAfter a baby daughter]], and Angel and Spike maintain a friendly relationship with Buffy, plus she's hinted to Spike that they might be able to resume their relationship at any point in the future -- for now, all they need is to be present and happy with each other]].

** The show often flipped between playing vampiric transformation as possession and not, particularly when comparing Angel with Spike. Season 10 firmly establishes that vampiric transformation robs its host of their ability to empathize and amplifies their worst qualities, describing the innate evil as belonging to the demon but the base personality--however twisted by said transformation--as belonging to the host.

** Buffy and Spike give him complete and total hell after [[spoiler:he swaps Buffy's mind into a robot after roofieing her at a party, in order to protect her from an unknown Big Bad that is after her. He did this [[PoorCommunicationKills without telling anyone else what he did]]. This leads to Buffy thinking she is pregnant due to limitations of the robot body, but discovers that she is a robot when her arm gets chopped off. Spike even threatens to kill Andrew if he doesn't fix the situation.]]

* AbortedDeclarationOfLove: Upon finding out that the source of Spike's nightmare about murdering two innocents follows all the way down his vampiric line to the demon Archeus, Buffy exclaims her shock that she'd fallen in love with the same guy ''twice''. When Spike tries to clarify if the [[LoveConfession implication of her words were what they sounded like]], she refuses to answer.

** Spike points out to Buffy that post Riley, she seems to only go after what she knows won't last; [[MoralDissonance him, while soulless]], [[DrunkWithPower Angel, after going all 'mad god']], and [[IncompatibleOrientation a woman, despite not identifying as gay]].
** Xander later states the same to Spike, pointing out that he only goes after women incapable of being in healthy relationships; [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Drusilla]], [[OnTheRebound Harmony]] and [[HeroicBSOD Buffy when she hated herself]].

* EarnYourHappyEnding: After years of pain and suffering caused by monster hunting, the Scoobies finally get a happy ending. [[spoiler:Buffy and Faith have joined the police academy, Giles is rebuilding the Watchers Council, Willow is running a woman's empowerment center that changes Fray's time period for the better, Xander and Dawn are settled down with [[BabiesEverAfter a baby daughter]], and Angel and Spike maintain a friendly relationship with Buffy]].

* FanserviceFauxFight: The sirens who kidnap Spike and Xander have them strip down to their boxers and pillow fight with each other for the amusement of [[EatingTheEyeCandy The Mistress]]. Lampshaded by Spike, who claims [[ReluctantFanserviceGirl he's beginning to feel objectified]]. [[ShamelessFanserviceGirl Xander claims he finds it empowering]].

** [[spoiler: Vengeance Demon Jonathan shows Andrew scenes of the Scoobies and a guy he's interested in, Clive, talking badly about him, having cut out the context in order to make them seem as hurtful as possible so that Andrew would betray Buffy.]]

* AngerBornOfWorry: Buffy scolds Spike for not telling her that the blood rations provided in the safe zone were not nearly enough and that he was starving. She later scolds him for trying to be self-sufficient with both injured hands.

* WindowLove: Buffy and Spike [[IntertwinedFingers hold hands]] through a chain-link fence while at the safe zone.

-->'''Xander:''' How're you feeling?
-->'''Centaurette!Dawn:''' Like I was ridden hard and put away wet.
-->'''Xander:''' AGH! Dawn, that's dis -- oh. No. It's just true.

--> '''Centuarette Demon:''' "Please mount me, great one."
--> '''Willow:''' "There's just no way out of the double entendre with this one."

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Andrew admits he doesn't see the copy of Jonathan's memories as Jonathan, realizing he can't just undo killing his friend. However, the copy points out it is perfectly self aware and swears revenge for Andrew's betrayal.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Buffy complaining about Dawn being unable to see how good she is with Xander and somewhat scolding her for not giving him a proper chance to rebuild their relationship. Dawn directly calls her on this, pointing out that Buffy is ignoring her [[EveryoneCanSeeIt very obvious chemistry]] with Spike and that she never truly gave him a real chance now that a relationship between them could actually work.

--> '''Spike''': There's just one problem with that. [[WhamLine I love you.]]

** Both Spike and Xander acknowledge a slight temptation to use the book to make their respective romances come to fruition. Spike admits that a future within which he was TheChosenOne for the Shanshu prophesy, became human, and lived happily ever after with Buffy would be nice for him, but it would be completely wrong for robbing her of her choice in the matter. Xander worries that writing in that Dawn's feelings are restored could cause complications and potentially permanently screw up her feelings forever, and that it'd be too selfish to risk that over trying to fix his relationship. They both agree that love is doing what's best for the person they love, even if it isn't what's best for themselves.

* InterruptedDeclarationOfLove: Before parting ways so that Buffy can get her slayer powers removed and released back into normal society, she tries to tell Spike she loves him. He interrupts her and asks her to wait until they're together again to say it. [[LoveConfession She finally says it in the last issue of the season]].

* PoorCommunicationKills: Genrally averted, showing the Scoobies are growing up. Spike and Buffy in particular manage to work through a lot of their issues with talking. However, Xander keeping [[spoiler: Anya's ghost]] a secret ends up biting them in the ass and earns him a call-out.

* {{Polyamory}}: When Harmony gets her hands on the book and tries to get Clem to write her "ideal world" into existence, she makes sure to tell Clem to write in that Angel, Buffy and Spike finally decided to "cut the crap" and get into a polygamous polyamorous marriage together. Clem never actually writes it down, leaving it as purely ThreesomeSubtext. [[note]] It's distinctly {{Polyamory}} and not MarryThemAll, as Harmony's fantasy of the situation suggests Spike and Angel would also be... [[HoYay involved]] with each other too. [[/note]]

* TheManBehindTheMan: The BigBad turns out to be the [[spoiler: Secretary of Security rather than the Vice President]], as the season suggests early on.

* WindowLove: Buffy and Spike hold hands through a chain-link fence while at the safe zone.

** Subverted when Spike admits to still being in love with her, which leads to them falling into bed together. "There's just one problem with that. I love you."

** Both Spike and Xander acknowledge a slight temptation to use the book to make their respective romances come to fruition. Spike admits that a future within which he was TheChosenOne for the Shanshu prophesy, became human, and lived happily ever after with Buffy would be nice for him, but it would be completely wrong for robbing her of her choice in the matter. Xander worries that writing in that Dawn's feelings are restored could cause complications and potentially permanently screw up her feelings forever, and that it'd be too selfish to risk that over trying to fix his relationship. They both agree that love is doing what's best for the person you love, even if it isn't best for themselves.
** Spike tries this initially before he realizes he's what makes Buffy happy. Then he does it again later on, wondering if they should break up before he screws up. Buffy calls him out on it.
* JustFriends: What Buffy and Spike are trying to be [[spoiler: until Issue 12 when they sleep together]].

* RealityEnsues: Giles meets his old flame, Olivia, and hopes to renew their old relationship. [[spoiler:Olivia refuses; since Giles was brought back in the body of a 12-year-old boy, she doesn't want to be MistakenForPedophile.]]

* AngerBornOfWorry: Buffy scolds Spike for not telling her that the blood rations provided in the safe zone were not nearly enough and that he was starving.