Saw a post on Hello Giggles on why they would have chosen Spike over Angel on Buffy The Vampire Slayer.  Being the fandom scholar that I am, I had a lot of issues with several the points, and I shall therefore address them here.

Which Angel are we talking about?

I love Angel.  I truly do.  But I’m not going to lie–Angel on BtVS was…not the greatest.  He was more interesting as Angelus, sure, and better when he got back from that hell dimension, but he didn’t really grow into his own until he left for L.A.

And let’s face it, guys, the only time he smiles [with a soul] in Sunnydale [before leaving/”Chosen”] is with Cordelia.

And while that may be being nitpicky, it’s something that has to be said.  Oh sure, I’d still choose Spike, but there’s a true dichotomy of character between the Angel on BtVS and the one on Ats (almost as broad as the gap between Angel and Angelus).

“He wasn’t as cute as Angel, duh, but he was attractive.”

Sorry, but buh?

Sure, Angel is classically good looking.  But Spike?  It looks as if he fell from the heavens.  I mean, look at him:

Look at him.

LOOK!!

Ahem.

“Good vs. Evil.”

This feels [and is] entirely too simplistic for a character as complex as Spike.  Spike was never truly evil.  If he was, he wouldn’t have been able to be rational when it came to the apocalypse, or being able to love.  Did he do bad things?  Sure.  But who on that show had clean hands on that?  Well, besides Dawn and Tara.

“Angel was NEVER there.”

That’s…sort of unfair.  I know Angel gets a lot of crap for leaving, but it’s as if everyone forgets the part where Joyce requests him to leave Sunnydale [to give Buffy a chance at a normal relationship], and he respects her wishes.  I guess he could have told her to piss off or something, but I don’t think that would have gone down well, either.

“… when it comes to you, Angel, she’s just like any other young woman in love. You’re all she can see of tomorrow.  But I think we both know that there are some hard choices ahead.  If she can’t make them, you’re gonna have to. I know you care about her. I just hope you care enough.”

“He [Spike] was a total charmer. Technically the fact that he was a vampire gave him the ability to charm ladies with that look of his, but when he wasn’t trying to drink someone’s blood, he was still charming. One look into those eyes and I’d melt.”

Um, pardon?

Spike did not have thrall.

Not ever.  He was not friggin’ Dracula.  I mean, dude, come on.  Spike’s eyes and his face and his gait and his swag is what did it.  Not some magical vamp powers [that he did not have].

“Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice.”

I agree with this point.  However, Spike was sacrificing long before he got his soul.  Like when he stayed in Sunnydale while Buffy was pushing up daisies to work with her friends and protect her sister, or like when he got tortured by a hell god to keep Dawn safe, or when he sacrificed his self-respect in the misguided belief that it would somehow help Buffy.

Oh, and he totes cared about Joyce; he wasn’t acting.

“Spike was a bad boy, who actually took action. Angel had an edge to him, but he wasn’t totally bad and that somehow made him less awesome in my book. “

Angel was bad in his own way.

And I don’t even mean Angelus.

And “bad boy” is so basic, but…Damn, I am nitpicky as hell tonight.  But yeah, he was no saint, and he knew it.  I don’t think many others got that memo, though.

So, there you have it.  Both are awesome in their own way.  Oh sure, Spike’s my number one, but I couldn’t leave my guy Angel to hang out to dry like that.

I’m gonna end this on a Spangel gif, cause in my mind, they were the true OTP of the ‘verse. Look at ’em, riding off into the darkness to fight great evil…