Buffy V Xena (Now it's on)

[8den]

Xena FIGHTS people with WEAPONS that she can actually USE and LIFT because she is a PROPER warrior,

Yes proper warriors use razor sharp frisbees.

Incidentally

Xena begins Season 4 (1998-1999) going to Hades looking for Gabrielle's soul. He tells her she is in the Amazon Land of the Dead. While there, Xena discovers an old ally, Alti, has enslaved the souls of an Amazon tribe, and kill her; Meanwhile, Alti plagues Xena with disturbing visions of her and Gabrielle being crucified, what convinces Xena that Gabrielle is alive. In the episode A Family Affair, Xena and her friend, Joxer, go to Potidaea, where Hope ultimately gives birth to the Destroyer. Impersonating Gabrielle, she returns to Gabrielle's hometown Potidaea. Xena later returns to Potidaea and is reunited with "Gabrielle". With news of a wild beast brutally murdering animals at night, Xena finds the Destroyer and barely escapes with her life. Discovering that she is dealing with Dahak's grandson, Xena deduces that "Gabrielle" is really Hope. After finding the real Gabrielle, they devise a plan to kill Hope and the Destroyer. Gabrielle finds the Destroyer, who, thinking she is its mother, hugs her. Xena uses this moment to stab it in the back with her sword, fatally wounding it. When Hope runs out to help her child, the Destroyer thinks she has betrayed it and stabs her before realizing how it has been tricked by Xena and Gabrielle. Crying, it hugs its mother as the two die in each other's arms. Lates in the season, during The Ides of March episode, Xena and Gabrielle are crucified by the Romans, as Caesar is betrayed and killed by Brutus. They are later revived by a mystic named Eli with the spiritual aid of Callisto, who by that time had become an angel.

not a mimsy twig who needs pathetic made up 'super powers' to explain why she has any realistic hope of even picking up a bloody sword.

They're not makey up super powers. She's the chosen one, one of which is born a generation.

Meanwhile Xena travels to hell, fights Gods n Demons, and gets raised from the dead.

People in glass houses shouldn't thrown their magic razor sharp frisbees.

 

[Badger Kitten]

It's a mythological world, where there is magic, but she does not have special super powers: she is just really hard.

 

[8den]

No, she does not have super powers.

Yes flying in the air to impossible heights and flinging her magic returning frisbee of death isn't a super power.

Up next. Why wonder woman isn't a superhero.

 

[The Octagon]

No, she does not have super powers.

I shall have to defer to sources far nerdier than even I -

Mighty strength
She may have been the mightiest purely mortal being ever to live however, there were occasional hints that her true father was Ares. She could arm-wrestle warlords, punch through solid ice, kick down doors, and knock out opponents with a single punch.

Maximum pain tolerance
She had the ability to absorb a great deal of pain dispassionately, such as when arrows were removed.

Gravity-defying leaps
She had a leaping ability demonstrated by other warriors of a high skill level, her gravity-defying leaps usually in an acrobatic style up to 30 feet.

Incredible speed and reflexes
Xena possessed incredible speed and reflexes like she was able to catch knives and arrows in mid-flight and dodge energy blasts from mystical foes.

Power to kill gods
The power to kill gods and apparently other immortals such as angels. While normally a sword or other weapon would go right through a god without drawing blood or inflicting a wound, Xena possessed the ability to pierce this "veil of immortality" and make them bleed or die.

Qi powers
A form of psychokinesis that allowed her to deal a powerful "blow" to either a person or an object with spiritual energy, shattering walls and repelling attackers. She was able to use her qi powers to turn an entire attacking army to stone. Defending herself, she also used a fire-breathing trick she had mastered. The result was a fire that spread through the town and killed 40,000 people.

Powers of a shaman
She used this power to cross over to the Amazon Land of the Dead to seek out Gabrielle, believing her to be dead, and then to battle Alti in spiritual form on two occasions.

Powers of "The Mehndi"
Activated by Mehndi tattoos on her body to trap and destroy Alti. Xena achieved this by creating chakram constructs made purely out of the Mendhi's supernatural energies as weapons.

Rheingold Ring
As she wears the ring, she can receive god-like abilities which enabled her to defeat the combined forces of Odin the King of Norse Gods.

 

[The Octagon]

It's a mythological world, where there is magic, but she does not have special super powers: she is just really hard.

Which is completely different to the Buffyverse, where....wait a sec.

EDIT - This is probably the geekiest I have ever felt, any second I'm going to go and grab my magic bone....

 

[Flashman]

Xena had certain godlike powers that brought real heritage into question. There was much debate that Ares, the God of War, was her true father. Xena seemed unable to call upon her powers unless it was in a battle situation. She was able to leap higher than normal humans and levitate. And while some characters in the show were able to catch an arrow in their hand, she showed them up by catching not one arrow in each hand, but two. She could also catch them in her mouth. Xena was imbued with superhuman strength that gave even Hercules a run for his money. Xena's heightened agility also gave her an edge in battle, and her ability to self-heal kept her from being down and out for very long.

In some episodes, Xena acquired other powers temporarily. Things such as tattoos or artifacts that were created with a specific purpose could grant these powers. Some, like the ring she used to defeat Odin and his Valkyries, had strings attached that made them undesirable for continued use. Other temporary powers such as the power to "pierce the veil of immortality" enabled her to kill gods.

 

[scifisam]

I liked that Buffy looked weak and very feminine. You can be a strong woman, and a superhero, without having to buff up (heh) or avoid being girly. I can see the appeal of Xena too - they're both cool characters. Buffy's show is much, much better though.

 

[8den]

It's a mythological world, where there is magic, but she does not have special super powers: she is just really hard.

Ditto Buffy, shes a mythical hero, it's just a completely made up mythos, unlike Xena's relationship to Greek mythos which is totally grounded and exacting to the work of Euripides and Homer.

The Slayer mythos is developed at one point Buffy even has a vision where she meets the first slayer. A stone age girl, who was sacrificed to give power to the slayers.

 

[8den]

I shall have to defer to sources far nerdier than even I -

Dude your nerd is totally showing.

 

[The Octagon]

Dude your nerd is totally showing.

I'm just really disappointed more people didn't get the 'magic bone' reference

 

[8den]

I liked that Buffy looked weak and very feminine. You can be a strong woman, and a superhero, without having to buff up (heh) or avoid being girly. I can see the appeal of Xena too - they're both cool characters. Buffy's show is much, much better though.

The thing is the play with that at time. And indeed that was the gem of the series the big nasty chasing the weak girl down the back of an alley, and discovering that the bad guy is in fact in line for a world of pain.

They play on this a couple of times. In the season three opener
"Ann";

"Hi I'm Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, and you are?"

----------

The Season five finale "the Gift", opening scene;

After killing the vampire;

Kid in alley; "How did you do that, you're just a girl?"

Buffy; "Thats what I keep telling people".

 

[Spark]

I want to rewatch all of buffy now

 

[Madusa]

Badger Kitten, you're wasting your time trying to educate these losers.

 

[8den]

Badger Kitten, you're wasting your time trying to educate these losers.

What a compelling and well reasoned argument.

In other news Xena sucks because Lucy Lawless smells.

 

[Flashman]

Some sort of argument would help. Not just bollocks like "she's a proper female" (whatever that is) and denying her special powers.