Into every generation a Slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a Chosen One. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers. She is the Slayer.
"Don't you ever think about anything besides boys and clothes?" "Saving the world from vampires?"
In 1992, Joss Whedon wrote an interesting film with an original concept and a postmodern take on the horror genre. However, due to Whedon's lack of control over his work, he (and several others) saw the film as disappointing. Not wanting to let the character and overall concept that he was attached to go to waste, Whedon jumped at the chance to re-visit it on television.In 1997, with an abbreviated first season, Buffy The Vampire Slayer was raised from the dead on the fledgling network The WB. At its core was a subversion of the horror movie trope of the fragile and doomed Southern Californian cheerleader attacked by a monster in a dark alley. Buffy was snappy, petite, blonde, and instead monsters would be afraid of meeting with her in dark alleys.The TV show took the first movie as originally scripted as canon, not the film that resulted. The show established Buffy in an isolated city in Southern California called Sunnydale. Initially wanting to escape the responsibilities of being The Slayer, she forms a tight-knit group of friends. An Ancient Conspiracy called "The Watchers Council" has been responsible for training Slayers for millennia, and they sent her a mentor named Giles to prepare her for some nasty things that are going down in Sunnydale, which happens to be the location of a Hellmouth.Joss and his team of merry writers at Mutant Enemy took many standard teenaged issues ("high school is hell", "why is my boyfriend acting weird now that I've slept with him?", "now we're at college, and all my best friend wants to do is hang out with her boy/girlfriend"...) and explored them with a supernatural, self-knowing, but emotional eye.While the show was not a smash hit at first, critical acclaim was rampant and by the second season a devoted fanbase developed. Part of its success may be attributable to the very clever writing that involved what is now famously named Buffy Speak (which has its own website). The characters were prone to subvert a wide variety of tropes (being at least partially Genre Savvy), secondary characters were well fleshed out (and sometimes killed) and there was very clear, deliberate Character Development for everyone. The storyline was also notable for how well-planned out the stories were; most every season had a hint toward the events planned for the next season and sometimes major plot points were foreshadowed several years in advance.In 1999, Buffy's Love InterestAngel was spun off into his own series set in nearby LA. Crossovers and cross-references between the two shows persisted until Buffy ended in 2003. In many ways the Angel series provides a contrast to Buffy themes as Angel was about dealing with an Adult Life and past mistakes in comparison to the "growing up is hard" notes hit by Buffy over its seven season span.In 2007, "season eight" began, in a series of comics produced by Joss Whedon and declared as official series canon, though of course not all fans agree. The first issues of a "season nine" are slated for publication in early fall 2011, split between two series: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel and Faith.The influence of this show on later TV, within its genre and elsewhere, is plain to see. Modern Myth Arc and Story Arc based television owe at least some inspiration to this series, especially the Half-Arc Season, as well as the "superhero with high school problems" theme. As several commentators have observed, Russell T. Davies had at least one eye on this show when he revived Doctor Who.This series is one of the single most Trope Overdosed and Lampshade Hanging shows in existence with over a thousand references strewn across this wiki. This is partially because TV Tropes originally began with a focus on Buffy (based on a 2004 thread on the fan site Buffistas.org) before branching out to all of TV and eventually all of everything.There are plans to revive the franchise as a film without the involvement of Joss Whedon, the reason being the makers of the original movie had retained the rights all throughout the show's run, even though they had no creative involvement since. This has been remarked upon by cast members as generally a bad idea.We may be trying to break this website with the length of this page.This work is no longer overdosed. It is now officially kiloWick. In fact, it's over 4000 more than the minimum for kiloWick.Some episode-specific tropes can be found on the recap page.
Abusive Parents: This is Sunnydale, and good parent-child relationships will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Almost every character on the show has at least one parent who is abusive or neglectful. For instance, Tara's father, who convinced her that she was a demon.
Also Buffy's father, who does not show up when Buffy's mom dies, forcing Buffy to take care of her underage sister; Xander's father, who is an alcoholic; Spike's mother, who tried to come onto him after being turned into a vampire; and Principal Wood's mother, who prioritized her Slayer duties over him. The latter is witnessed from six-year-old Wood's point of view, which is somewhat biased.
Adults Are Useless: Xander's parents are drunks, Buffy's father is rarely around, Willow's mother shows up once, getting in her way, and Willow's father is mentioned in reference, with Willow worrying what "Ira Rosenberg will think of his only daughter nailing a crucifix to her wall." The only parent who isn't completely useless is Joyce, and that's because she's too busy being Team Mom.
The Watcher's Council plays into this as well, as does Wesley. Averted big-time by Giles, though.
Played up in Season 3's "Band Candy," where a certain brand of chocolate makes adults who eat it revert to teenage maturity levels.
Affably Evil: Mayor Wilkins, Harmony, Clem, Spike (after his encounter with The Initiative) pretty much all the demons who showed up to Anya and Xander's wedding, Holden Webster from "Conversations With Dead People," and occasional random vamps. And Ethan Rayne.
Age Without Youth: At some point, vampires lose the ability to assume human form, and are stuck in their Game Face, which grows increasingly aged and inhuman over time. Exactly what they'll look like (or become) in the end is unknown, but one particularly old vamp named Kakistos eventually developed cloven hooves.
Aliens and Monsters: Sorta. A grand total of one (supremely scary) alien appears in the entire run of the series, and it's origin is supernatural anyway.
All Abusers are Male: Under the helm of Marti Noxon, the show tended to drift in this direction.
Anti-Hero: Willow, after Glory does her sanity-sucking thing to Tara. YMMV on killing Warren. Spike's also an anti-hero, as is Giles by the end of the show
Anyone Can Die: Ms. Calendar, Joyce, Tara, Anya and Spike. After they make the switch to Angel, Cordelia and Wesley, though Spike gets better. You have to expect this.
Apocalypse How: Several times, at varying levels. See the trope page for details.
The Atoner: They're everywhere. Giles, Faith, Angel, Spike, Willow and Andrew. Amazingly, only one of them has suffered Redemption Equals Death. It was Giles.
Batman Cold Open: Occasionally doubles as a Couch Gag; for instance, "Halloween" starts with Buffy fighting a vampire in a pumpkin patch.
Batter Up: A popular weapon amongst the Scoobies. Anya tries to wield one, but doesn't know how to hold it properly.
The demon in "Nightmares" is a lumbering figure with a club for a hand. The club is representative of a baseball bat, and the monster itself is a manifestation of an abusive baseball coach.
For attempting to strangle Xander in her bed, Faith is treated to a baseball bat to the teeth (courtesy of Johnny-on-the-spot Angel)
Battle Couple: Each of Buffy's boyfriends (Angel, Riley, Spike) are combat-ready.
Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Caligula and Jack the Ripper were the same vampire, and Anya was partially responsible for the Russian Revolution.
Billy Idol stole his look from Spike and Martha Stewart is a witch.
Beyond the Impossible: Willow breaks the supernatural "One Slayer" rule set down by the Council. This was solid internal logic for the bulk of the series until then..
Bit Character: Deupty Mayor Finch's death marks the third murder investigation involving Buffy in less than two years: she is previously suspected in the deaths of fellow Slayer Kendra and her would-be stepfather, Ted. Each investigation is headed by the same Detective (played by James MacDonald).
Team Rocket Wins: Run of the mill, common vampires, under no leadership but their own — have bested Buffy on a couple of occasions and are among the most common sources of Slayer overall deaths in the series.
Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Buffy (blonde) Willow (redhead) but it's a toss up amongst Cordelia, Anya or Dawn when it comes to the brunette.
Even though he's a guy Xander could probably be considered the brunette since Buffy, Willow and Xander are practically a trio of their own.
These hair colour stereotypes are heavily inverted. Buffy is hardly a Dumb Blonde, Willow is easily the quietest of the trio and not fiery normally. And if there's one thing Xander isn't, it's brainy.
Bloodless Carnage: Lots of death, lots of vampires sucking blood out of people, a few plain old slit throats, very little red.
Book Ends: At the end of the pilot, Giles signs off with, "The world is doomed." He amends this in the series finale. ("definitely doomed.")
Season 2 began with Buffy arriving from LA and ended with Buffy leaving for LA.
Buffy began and ended Season 6 at the cemetery (though it should be noted that every season except the first begins in a cemetary).
The real Book End of Season 6 is the fact that both the premiere and the finale feature Buffy climbing out of the ground and showing the stark differences in the circumstances. In the premiere she's clawing her way out of a coffin, terrified and desperate and she emerges to darkness and what she thinks is Hell. In the finale she climbs out with her sister and emerges into the sun, looking hopeful and peaceful.
Brick Joke: The Dagon Sphere, which is introduced early on in Season 5, then disappears until the Finale—where it turns out to be a shiny glowing dud.
Not entirely. It clearly hurt Glory but she was just too strong.
Episode 17 of Season 2 has a throwaway line about the Orb of Thesulah being sold to New Agers as paper weights. In the Season Finale Giles mentions he has been using one as a paper weight.
Episode 2 of Season 7 has Principal Wood talking to Buffy, telling her that if she tries to be friends with the students (she had just been hired as a councilor, really just to have the Slayer on the Hellmouth) she'll be eaten alive. Her response: "You heard what happened to Principal Flutie, right?" His death (via eating alive) happened in mid-Season 1, 7 years previously.
Season 7 premier:
WOOD:We’ve got ... just enough money to keep this place from caving in.
BUFFY: Yeah, you might need a little extra there.
Guess what happens in the finale.
In Season 5 Spike tries to hide his Stalker with a Crush obsession with Buffy with a Lame Comeback; "I never liked you anyway, and you have stupid hair." In Season 6 after finally making out with Buffy, Spike gushes over how good her long hair looks (Buffy responds by getting a bobcut).
Episode 15 (Phases) of Season 2 also has a throw-away comment at the beginning from Oz when Willow comes into school and sees him examining the display cabinet:
Willow: What'chu looking at?
Oz: This cheerleading trophy; it's like its eyes follow you wherever you go...
Remember the 3rd ever episode; "The Witch"?
Broad Strokes: Between this series and the original movie.
Bully Hunter: Our hero, in the first few seasons. Buffy jumps to the aid of those being picked on at least half a dozen times.
Bury Your Gays: Surprisingly enough, this trope is played straight more often than not.
We have Larry, the only confirmed gay man ever on the show, who was killed in the battle against The Mayor in "Graduation Day"
And Tara, Willow's long time girlfriend, was shot and killed by Warren Mears.
And then there's Kennedy, Willow's second girlfriend, who was killed between the end of Season 7, and the beginning of Season 8. She was subsequently revived by Willow.
But Not Too Gay: Willow and Tara were a couple for about eighteen episodes before they so much as kissed on-screen, probably partly for this and partly to avoid claims of sensationalism.
Although, this is most likely also done so Joss could do it without the Executives advertising it, by placing their first on-screen kiss in The Body.
Casual Kink: Several times, most notable in "The I in Team."
Character Development: Plenty for all, but it's worth noting that ones who get the most of it are the ones who end up on Angel: Cordelia, Wesley, and Spike, all of whom end their time in the Buffyverse very different from when they first appeared.
Characterization Marches On: Wow. In the first episode of Buffy, Buffy herself was a perky cheerleader, Darla was somewhat whiny, and Angel was aloof, mysterious, and kind of chipper. Fast forward to the episode Angel, and they've developed more into the personalities that they're known for.
With Darla, it's somewhat hard to tell, considering that she gets dusted so soon, but she does come back on Angel, and it's a lot more apparent.
Chekhov's Skill: Willow's magic in Season 3, Xander's construction job in Season 5. Giles' skill with black magic in Season 8.
Continuity Lock-Out: Happens at least three times in-universe. First Joyce has to learn what it means that her daughter's a slayer, then Riley does the same and later learns about Faith, then in season seven, Principal Wood is out in the cold apropos all the things that have happened to Spike. The first time it's a Tear Jerker, the second just a Lampshade Hanging, the last one a Crowning Moment of Funny.
Cool Car: Played straight with Cordelia's (Chrysler Cirrus) convertible (QUEEN C), Xander's (uncle's) 57 Chevy Bel Air, Spike's DeSoto Fireflite and Giles' BMW convertible. Subverted with Giles' earlier Citroën, but still cool enough to have fanpages devoted to it.
Mainly because if it were restored it would actually be pretty cool.
Crapsack World: The high school paper has an obituary section. 'Nuff said.
It's really just Sunnydale, though. And Cleveland. But this trope DEFINITELY applies to Sunnydale in "The Wish"; if you thought regular Sunnydale was bad...
Subverted with the first one. Buffy doesn't even get the dignity of falling on her back when she dies: she is dumped face-first into a shallow pool of water while unconscious and drowns.
Defiant to the End: In Angelus's torture chamber, Giles is barely conscious and bound to his chair. Angelus circles him like a buzzard, telling him he can make the pain stop. Giles finally cracks; he'll tell Angelus what he wants to know. He speaks in a hoarse whisper so Angelus has to put his face very near Giles's and listen very carefully:
Giles: In order...to be worthy... you must perform the ritual... in a tutu!
As Faith holds Willow at knife point, Willow tries to reason with her. Faith senses another speech coming on, and invites Willow to tell her it's all right, there's still good in Faith, it's not too late to change, et cetera. Willow furrows her brows and says it's way too late.
"You know, it didn't have to be this way. But you made your choice. I know you had a tough life; I know that some people think you had a lot of bad breaks. Well, boo hoo! Poor you. You know, you had a lot more in your life than some people. I mean, you had friends like Buffy. Now you have no one. You were a Slayer, and now you're nothing."
Devil's Advocate: The Devil's Advocate ball gets passed around the cast of characters, but tends to land in Xander's lap as often as not. The opposing viewpoint is commonly prefaced with "Not to be the bad guy here, but..." or some form of "I don't want to be that guy, but..."
Distressed Damsel: Cordelia in seasons one and two, Willow fairly often, and, in a frequent subversion, Xander. Also, Dawn in seasons five and six and the potentials in season seven. Actually, most every character was a Distressed Damsel sooner or later.
Distressed Dude: Pretty much all the guys on this show at one point or another. It's been lampshaded that Xander frequently gets involved with demonic women who try and kill him, Angel gets tied up and tortured a few times, Spike spend a good deal of season 7 in custody of the First Evil tied up and bled as a sacrifice. Even the stoic Oz ends up captured by the US military at one point.
Magic = Drugs and sex, lesbian sex in particular, hence some Unfortunate Implications. Lampshaded in "Same Time, Same Place" when Anya initially is reluctant to do a spell with Willow because "it might get sexy", and it did.
Vampire attacks = sex
And when Spike has his chip, inability to commit vampire attack = impotence
Dawn believing she's a Potential = pregnancy
Buffy revealing she's as a slayer to her mother = coming out of the closet. The initial incident aside, Joyce later refers to a figurative "Slayer Pride Parade"...
Witchcraft = also homosexuality
Dawn finding out she's The Key = adoption
Riley letting vampires feed on him = prostitution
A big one is Buffy releasing Angelus when they make love = your boyfriend will turn into a jerk/monster after you sleep with him
Doppelgänger: The three core scoobies have had at least one each: the Buffybot, Vamp Willow, and, arguably, the time Xander's personality was split into two physical bodies.
Xander: Hey wait 'til you have an evil twin. See how you handle it. (leaves)
One dream at the end of Season 3 prophesies Dawn, who shows up in Season 5. It even gives the number of days until Buffy's death at the end of Season 5... at the end of Season 3.
Drugs Are Bad: Steroids will turn you into fish monsters.
The villain's Psycho Serum in "Beauty and the Beasts" was also a pretty obvious steroids analogue.
Magic=drugs, complete with dealers.
And don't lets forget Riley's blood-addiction thing (which is also played with in Angel, to an even further degree)
Enter Stage Window: Buffy typically uses her bedroom window to enter and leave the house after curfew, before her mother finds out she is The Slayer.
At one point, she climbs in through the window, despite knowing that her mother is out of town for the weekend. When asked why she didn't just use the door, she is at a loss.
Establishing Series Moment: In another series, the schoolgirl in the first episode would have been a Dead Blonde Walking. Here, she's a vampire.
Estranged Soap Family: Hank Summers, who was gradually retconned into being a deadbeat dad. He made one reappearance in later seasons, but as part of the Cuckoo Nest.
Even Evil Has Standards: Spike explains that while vampires may love to talk about destroying the world amongst themselves ("It's just tough-guy talk."), he prefers the world as it is. Where he draws the line, however, is sucking the world into Hell.
"The truth is I like this world. You've got... [beat] dog racing. Manchester United. And you've got people. Billions of people walking around like Happy Meals with legs. It's all right here. But then someone comes along with a vision. With a real passion for destruction. Angel could pull it off. Goodbye, Piccadilly. Farewell, Leicester Bloody Square, y'know what I'm saying?"
Mayor Wilkins says that he married his wife in '03 and that he was with her to the end, which was "not a pretty picture." He suggests that the immortal Angel and the mortal Buffy will have the same problem. Wilkins gets in Angel's face, saying that he's selfish for keeping Buffy from the life she should have. "Is that what you came back from hell for? Is that your greater purpose?" Receiving a blank stare for an answer, Wilkins disgustedly turns his back on him.
Everybody Has Lots of Sex : Averted. In the seven-year series, Buffy only has four sexual partners (Angel, Parker, Riley and Spike), Willow has three (Oz, Tara and Kennedy) and Xander has two (Faith and Anya, not counting demonic seductions with intentions on his life). With the exception of Parker and Faith, two one-night-stands who promptly abandoned the cast regulars after the event, all these relationships evolved into sexual contact after prolonged friendship and/or dating.
Evil Counterpart: Giles in particular racked up a high count, if only because anyone with a vaguely mentor-like personality or British accent will qualify. Giles had an evil counterpart on Angel, too, despite never even appearing on that show!
Faith to Buffy, of course. Later subverted when Faith is reformed in prison.
Oz has an evil counterpart in Veruca.
Willow's archenemy (still at large by the time of Season Eight) is Amy Madison.
Riley = Forrest
Dawn = Glory
Anya = Halfrek
Evil Gloating: A few of the villains do this. Ethan Rayne acknowledges that it's generally a bad idea, but he can't seem to help himself.
For another example, look at Gnarl from "Same Time, Same Place" and tell us he doesn't remind you of Gollum. They even have the same habit of referring to themselves in the third person.
Fantasy Pantheon: All gods seem to be real besides for "the" God and there are a group of god-like beings called The Powers That Be. There are also beings known as Hellgods, which can be killed. Oh, and the Old Ones are there, too. There's an unnamed goddess mentioned a few times by Willow (probably The Goddess of Wicca). Basically, there's a fuckton of gods.
Flashback Nightmare: Part of the Slayer package is flashbacks to battles of other Slayers in the form of nightmares. Angel Season 5 shows what happens when a crazy person gets them.
For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself: For vaguely defined reasons, apparently because they think it is just corny, Vampires and demons do not cause problems on Halloween, and instead stay in their respective lairs and wait for the night to end. Spike is disgusted when a couple of teenaged Vampires try to cause trouble and explains that there are rules for this sort of thing, and explains that he is a rebel, whereas they are just idiots.
Expressive Hair: When Buffy's hair is all curly she is normally not herself or crazy. This goes all the way back to Xander's daydream in the fourth episode of the series.
Gayngst: Despite having four (possibly five) homosexual characters, there is very little gayngst on the show. Larry suffers a little before coming out of the closet but by the time it's mentioned again, he's out and quite happy about it. Spike manages to bring out a little gayngst in Willow during "The Yoko Factor" but that too fades rather quickly.
Buffy during Giles's dream sequence in the episode "Restless." Buffy's attitude in the scene is that of a much younger child, and Giles is essentially her father.
Graying Morality: Gradually, over the course of all seasons, the gaps between the clear white and black of the first season fade. Never hits Grey and Gray Morality, though.
Green Eyes: You'd think the casting call explicitly asked for them. Willow, Giles, Riley, Joyce, and Buffy all have 'em.
Yet the girl who's natural form is a big, green ball of energy doesn't.
Buffy: I thought it was gonna be like in the movies. You know, inspirational music ... a montage, me sharpening my pencils, me reading, writing, falling asleep on a big pile of books with my glasses all crooked ('cause in my montage I have glasses)...
Then in "Once More With Feeling"
Buffy: I'm worried our training's gonna turn into a montage from an '80s movie.
Giles: If we start to hear inspirational power chords, we'll just lie down until it goes away
Xander is a massive example. Continuously blows down on Spike at any chance he gets for his past crimes. Yet it's never mentioned that Anya, who is far older than Spike, spent 1000 torturing and killing men, not to mention being a misanthropic man hater. And to make matters worse, Anya has never been sorry for doing what Vengeance Demons do, and caught nowhere near the amount of criticism Xander gave to Spike, or even Angel.
Hypothetical Casting: The tabletop RPG made a lot of hay out of the televised nature of its inspiration; the GM position is called 'The Director', and individual adventures are called 'Episodes' and meant to be part of a larger 'Season'. To top it all off, the rulebook encouraged players to identify the actor who would play their character if the game they were in was actually a TV show.
Bites her in the ass in Season 8. She gets turned into a giant (which is problematic for her, though she does fight a giant Mecha-Dawn), a Centuarette and a Doll (which gets her captured by an insane doll collector). Xander at this point had gotten over this, basically running the Slayer Organization and Dawn is quite happy to be normal again and is actually comforted by Xander throughout the whole ordeal while everyone else basically ignores her. They get together.
Internal Affairs: The Watcher's Council keeps its Slayers on a tight leash. In fact, they have an entire wetworks team dedicated to taking down rogue Slayers. The Watchers themselves (poor Giles) are also under close scrutiny.
Inverted Trope: Y'know all those classic horror movies where some blonde bimbo cheerleader is the victim of the film's monster? Well here that idea is gleefully turned upside down, where vampires and demons check the wardrobe for Buffy before going to bed.
Ironic Name: You'd think that characters with names like Angel, Faith, Harmony, and Glory would be heroic characters, but they're all villains. While Angel does pull a Heel Face Turn eventually, he's still a vampire and becomes more of an Anti-Hero than a shining example of heroism. Faith similarly pulls a Heel Face Turn, although she's even more of an Anti-Hero after it. Harmony is really only Affably Evil and a Card-Carrying Villain, but unlike the other two she stays a villain. Of the four, Glory is the only really purely evil one (and she's at least Faux Affably Evil)
It should be noted that Angel specifically picked his name to be ironic (his real name is Liam): he is the "vampire with the angelic face." His evil side, when it resurfaces, is referred to with the much more intimidating name of "Angelus."
In the season 2 finale, Willow asks Xander to tell Buffy to buy some time while fighting Angelus, so that Willow can do the spell to return Angel's soul. Instead, when Xander catches up to Buffy, he says Willow's message is: "Kick his [Angelus's] ass." Buffy ends up having to kill a re-ensouled Angel to save the world, which leads to a major Heroic BSOD. Xander's actions are only brought up once, years later, and even then he never suffers any consequences.
Subverted in that it may have been the right thing to do at the time. Giles was missing, the world was in danger of ending and Willow had just come out of a coma. Buffy, although her reluctance was understandable, had allowed Angelus to go unchecked for months before she had gathered the nerve to stake him (or found any hope of a re-ensouling spell). By the time Willow did the spell, she had only a few spells under her belt and had just woken up from a coma. Considering that Willow would be performing the spell in her hospital bed, it's no wonder that Xander might not want to give Buffy false hope.
Also, even though Xander couldn't have known it at the time, Angel doesn't get resouled until after he releases the demon...killing him was the only thing she could do. Not saying it's a justification for what Xander said, but it is a pretty solid reason why no one would have brought it up since.
"Once More With Feeling" has Xander (more through foolishness than malice) summon a demon that danced several people to death and caused several unwanted confessions.
Willow tried to end the world and all she got was a summer getaway to England.
Not really true; Willow underwent what was essentially a combination of intense therapy and magical training. In fact, it is specifically noted that she returned home before her time in England was scheduled to be complete. Although she is welcomed back by her friends, the events of S6 aren't forgotten; when flayed bodies start showing up she is one of the first suspects. Furthermore, she doesn't reintegrate into her old role in the group for a long time. As there are definite and long-lasting consequences for her actions, both for the character and those around her, I'd be hesitant to call Willow a Karma Houdini. She pays for what she did, a bit at least.
Anya even lampshades this when complaining about Buffy's treatment of her in a season 7 episode, pointing out that Buffy's entire team was evil at one time.
Lampshade Hanging: Whedon appears to have bought up an entire IKEA worth of lampshades, here and in his other work.
Late Arrival Spoiler: The fact that Angel is a vampire was originally a huge, shocking revelation mid-way through season one. Nowadays, it's common knowledge.
Magnetic Plot Device: The only reason the Hellmouth existed was as a perpetual handwave to explain the large numbers of supernatural beings that come to Sunnydale, only a few villains are directly connected to it.
Make-Out Point: Oz goes when he's a werewolf; Dawn goes with two vampires.
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Done at least twice, first with the episode that leaves us unsure if Buffy is actually in a mental institution and the whole show has been dreamed up by her, and also with the blizzard that prevents Angel from killing himself.
A blizzard in Southern California on Christmas day? Word Of God is that it's a miracle.
Meaningful Name: Xander's name references the original Buffy movie, in which Buffy had a friend named Pike - zander and pike are closely related species of fish.
Xander is also short for Alexander, which means "defender of mankind".
Wesley is likely named after the original Creator's Pet from Star Trek: The Next Generation considering that he was intended to be hated by the audience and killed off. Ironically, he became a well-liked, long-running character. In-Universe
Vampires really love this. Angelus is Ominous Latin Chanting in name form, The Master has a name that screams evil and Spike, well, if a name makes you think of sharp things, it's not likely to be a nice person. Kakistos also just sounds evil (it means worst of the worst in Greek, so yeah, evil). Averted with Darla
Spike's original nickname is a subversion: William The Bloody. Before he was a vampire, he earned that nickname for his bloody awful poetry.
The Initiative. Nondescript name that starts with "The" and is an organization? The logical analytical circuits find that highly unlikely and the bullshit meter agrees.
The name "Glory" doesn't strike fear into the hearts of the common person, but the name she's known by among the Monks? The Beast.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Okay, you have the hots for this guy you know is a vampire. So you do the deed, which ends up causing him to lose his soul and become the mind raping Big Bad. Yeah, nice job bringing in Angelus Buffy.
No Periods, Period: Flat-out averted in the movie, as Buffy gets menstrual cramps whenever a vampire is around. This is explained as her body's reaction to something perceived as unnatural (it also underscores the connection between slayer-ness and femininity).
Xander going through Buffy's purse in search of a stake and being horrified to discover a tampon.
Willow telling Oz, in response to discovering he's a werewolf, that "for a few days a month, I'm not so fun to be around, either."
When Harmony (under the effects of a love spell) seethes that Cordy never loved Xander, Cordy deadpans, "... Okay, Harmony, if you need to borrow my Midol, just ask."
Xander: I will pay you to talk about Star Wars again.
No Sympathy: "Xander, try not to bleed on my couch / I just had it steam-cleaned" ♪
No Bisexuals: Willow, from Season 4 onwards. In some episodes suggest she still has feelings for Oz (and a continuing attraction to Xander and Giles, among other male characters), whereas in some she'll chirp "gay now!" at the very idea that she could be attracted to a boy, or react to a Love Potion-induced crush by trying to turn her target into a girl (though she only did so when someone else claimed that she couldn't be attracted to him if she's gay). This could be the character's own assumption that she's gay rather than bisexual, as one of Willow's defining traits is jumping headlong into her current role (of which magic and lesbianism are both big parts) in an effort to overcome her original Shrinking Violet background.
Also, a lot of those instances were when she was with her first girlfriend, who for a lot of that time was very insecure. This may have started as having to constantly reassuring Tara about her sexuality (as well as feelings) and become a habit.
Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: The characters whose accents were different from their actors tended to maintain them quite well. There are a few exceptions.
David Boreanaz had a great deal of difficulty with Liam's Irish accent in flashbacks and in an episode of Angel asked that he not have to use it during an episode where he otherwise should have. It was lampshaded as part of the weirdness of the episode.
James Marsters was very good with his accent (as far as most Americans could tell), with only slight wobbles. Later in the series, according to some, he's finally mastered a lower-class overlay on top of an upper-class accent, allowing Marsters to play with his presentation of Spike, using his history to drive his voice to motivate certain scenes.
In-universe: Once Spike had to try and fake an American accent and it was hilariously awful.
This gets brain bending when you realize that this is an american man (James Marsters) pretending to be an upper-class englishman (Spike's actual origin) pretending to be a lower-class englishman (Spike trying to sound tougher) pretending to be an american (to fool Riley).
Alexis Denisof's accent for Wesley was normally impeccable, to such a degree that his natural accent sounds disturbingly false on other shows, but even he slipped once or twice.
The she-mantis in season one. The actress is from South Africa and her American accent is far from perfect. However, since she's a giant, man-eating bug, this could be acceptable or justified.
Opening Narration: Only there for the first season and occasionally the second, thankfully. First spoken by Giles then a generic narrator.
In every generation there is a Chosen One, one girl in all the world. She alone will stand against the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness. She is The Slayer.
The Ophelia: Drusilla and, to some extent, Tara after Glory wrecks her mind.
The Other Darrin: Nikki Wood, the second slayer Spike, is played by a stuntwoman in "Fool For Love." When The First assumes her shape in Season 7, she was recast as a more vulnerable-looking actress.
Buffy's old mentor Merrick looks different in a season 2 flashback.
Our Vampires Are Different: The vampires in the series are stated to be demons taking over a human body after they've been sired. Since the souls of the victims are gone, the demon takes over the victim's memory and builds on their personality, with a sense of unlocking new potential or getting rid of the humanity that was in their way.
A partial aversion, though, as the vampires here have pretty much the classic vampire traits: blood sucking, sunlight bad, crosses and holy water are harmful, stake to the heart is lethal, etc.
One point that causes a small degree of confusion in-series is the rule about vampires needing an invitation to enter a home: once they're invited the first time, they're always "welcome". And welcome signs count.
It plays with this trope in the Dracula episode. Dracula fits all the tropes you would expect him to in contrast to the usual vampires on the show. He can shape-shift, turn people into obedient minions, and he's more focused on romance than just finding food.
Wait, they change into wolves under the full moon. How are they different?
They don't look the least bit wolflike (after their initial appearance)? And they don't change under the full moon, they change the night of the full moon, the night before, and the night after.
Our Zombies Are Different: Season 3 gives us Type V zombies, Season 8 gives us Type O, popped into existence by an angry witch.
Polyglot: As part of her Character Development to The Smart Guy, Dawn has learned at least Turkish and Sumerian between Seasons 6 and 7. Giles can read five languages, including German and Sumerian.
Reality Ensues: Season 5 final — Buffy approaches The Dragon atop a tower. He gears up for a fight, and she just knocks him off the tower.
In the season 3 premiere, the Monster of the Week knocks The Chick down and does a speech about how his realm is inescapable. Then the girl gets up and pushes him off the edge.
Rubber Forehead Demons: A lot of demons are pretty much indistinguishable from humans apart from skin tone and horns or some other head feature. There are also a fair number of non-humanoid ones.
Shipper on Deck: A bunch of them. Dawn is a Willow/Tara shipper, as is most of the cast, Buffy is a Anya/Xander shipper, Xander's a Riley/Buffy shipper, Willow is a Buffy/Angel shipper, Buffy was an Oz/Willow shipper and more. And the First, who is, on some level, the people he turns into (he has their memories and stuff), was a Buffy/Faith shipper which means the Mayor likely was as well and the Mayor knew Faith better than anyone...
Shrinking Violet: Willow and Tara. Also, Marcie Ross from the first season is this trope taken Up to Eleven: She was so shy that she eventually began to feel invisible, a feeling that was made worse by the fact that no one in school really noticed her. The power of the Hellmouth made that feeling into reality and Marcie could no longer be seen by anyone.
Shrouded in Myth: Some demons, and to some vamps, Buffy or Slayers in general.
Six Student Clique - The high school years: Buffy = The Head and The Wild One, Willow = The Smart one, Xander = The Quirk, Cordelia = The Pretty one, Oz = The Muscle. During college, Riley became the muscle and Tara became the pretty one.
Slave Mooks: Strangely common. The mooks of the various Big Bads are this, some only because of the Big Bad being a veryBad Boss and some due to brainwashing. Also shows up with some weekly villains like the giant worm demon thing in Bad Eggs' baby-controlled people and Spike becomes one for a bit in Season 7.
Smoking Is Cool: Spike, Faith. Parodied with Harmony, who tries to smoke and well, looks like an idiot.
But not as much of an idiot as Andrew does, in his opening "Storyteller" fantasy, when he has his big Meerschaum pipe. (Which he still hasn't got the hang of, when he pops up in Angel...No, not like that!)
Subverted in "Nightmares". Smoking gets you beat up by a boogeyman
Season 6: The Trio (a bunch of nerds who spend most of the season as Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain), or simply themselves and their own failings (and also Willow).
Season 7: The First Evil, the embodiment of that concept in that universe.
Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Buffy would be a big help in Los Angeles since, as Angel admits, she's stronger then even he. After appearing twice on Angel to read him the riot act (and wring Faith's neck), Angel tells her to take her cowboy antics someplace else.
Fortunately for Angel, he has a spare Slayer stewing in jail.
The opposite is in effect, too. Angel turns up again in the Series Finale, ready to help fight the Big Bad, but Buffy immediately sends him away so he can prepare "a second front" in Los Angeles in case she dies.
Tailor-Made Prison: Angelus, which he gets out of via perfect happiness brought on by screwing Buffy (she must be VERY good in the sack). The Ubervamps are in one (the Hellmouth) as well.
Talking in Your Dreams: Buffy and Angel in "Amends", though there's no actual talking involved. The First Slayer also communicates with Buffy and the gang this way in "Restless".
Tangled Family Tree: Angel has one, which gets even worse on his own show and in Buffy Season 7. The Master sired Darla, who sired Angel, who sired Drusilla who sired Spike. Angel killed Darla, who was later brought back from the dead on Angel, as a human. Dru then sired Darla, making her Darla's mother grandchild and Darla her own Great Grandchild. This makes Spike her brother and Great Grandchild and Angel her son and Grandfather. Angel and Darla then break the laws of reality, having a child. This child is Angel's brother, child and Great Grandchild. His Grandchild/Brother/Child then has Jasmine with Cordelia, making Jasmine his Grandchild, Great Great Grandchild and Niece. Meanwhile, Spike went on a siring rampage against his will. Some of those vamps can be assumed to have sired others, making them all clean, if numerous, branches on a very fucked up tree. I would imagine Spike and The Master would be looking on with horror as to what's going on behind/in front of them on the family tree.
Tap on the Head: Dear god, this happens alot. Giles should be brain damaged by now.
Lampshaded numerous times, by Giles himself and other characters.
Note: Faith's was caused by being possessed by a dead Greek Slayer. It's the Mark of Kakistos, the mutated vamp who killed her Watcher. This is explained in one of the Expanded Universe books.
Also Giles in his Ripper phase. Ethan counts until he removes his.
There Can Only Be One: Mostly averted with the Slayers. In theory, there is only supposed to be one slayer in each generation. (At least, as indicated by the page quote.) However, due to Buffy's first death, a girl named Kendra became a Slayer. After Buffy was resurrected, they both acted as Slayers. Then, a year later, Kendra was killed by Drusilla and Faith became a Slayer, resulting in a similar situation.
Of course, it's averted hard at the end of Season 7, when Willow casts a spell to make all of the Potential Slayers into full fledged Slayers.
Oddly absent in Seasons 5 and 6, when Buffy dies a far more permanent (supposedly, anyway) death, but no new slayer appears, or is even mentioned.
Because as far as the rules were concerned, Buffy died already. Instead of calling a third Slayer, Buffy's death in season 5 caused a disruption in the Slayer line that led to the events of season 7. (To elaborate on that, the Slayer line runs through the most recently called Slayer. In other words, Faith was the rightful Slayer at the time. In order for a third Slayer to be called, she, not Buffy, would have to die. Buffy's continued existence after her second death represents a weak point in the line, because Buffy herself doesn't belong.)
Took a Level in Badass: Xander, Willow, Giles, Dawn, Warren, Amy, Harmony, Oz, the entire 1999 Class of Sunnydale High, ALL of the Potentials and more. Giles' levels are more "Regained Levels In Badass" though.
Town with a Dark Secret: There's an entrance into Hell under the high school, the Mayor wants to be a demon, vampires rise from the cemetery every night and there are buried (sometimes magical) treasures hidden in the right mausoleum. The secret government lab under the college is the least exciting secret there was.
Then commented on, from Season 5/6 onward. There's also a dining-room chair in the battle-weary Summers household that's conspicuously ductaped through most of the end of the series.
Lampshaded in Season 7
Buffy: Every piece of furniture has been destroyed and replaced since you left, so actually, new house.
Late in Season 7, Xander finally declares that he is tired of the picture window being smashed in over and over again, and refuses to repair it again. It remains boarded up for the rest of the series.
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: It's amazing how they just walked around Sunnydale High throwing words around like "Vampire", "Slayer", "Witch", "Demon", "Disembowelment", "Innards" in full view of others with no one paying attention.
It was implied that most of the town either knew or was in such deep denial that you could dust a vamp in front of them and they wouldn't change their views. Hell, it happened a bunch of times.
What Do You Mean, It's Not Symbolic?: The Cheese Man that appears in everyone's dreams in "Restless", who Joss Whedon has said means absolutely nothing.
Absolute Cleavage: On the first DVD of season 1, the menu opens with a seductive-looking Sarah Michelle Gellar crawling towards you wearing a low-cut top.
Principal Snyder: There are things I will not tolerate. Students loitering on campus after school. Horrible murders with hearts being removed. And also smoking.
Big "NO!": The Master does one of these at the end of "The Harvest," when Buffy kills Luke, ruining the Harvest.
Blank Book: Moloch's prison-book after he escapes.
Car Fu: Cordelia plows through a horde of vampires with her car in "Prophecy Girl."
Chekhov's Lecture: "Teacher's Pet" features a lecture from the science teacher's substitute about the cannibalism seen in female praying mantises. Guess what the Monster of the Week is?
Date My Avatar: Willow once dated her nice charming chat-buddy Malcolm... who was actually a incorporeal murderous demon possessing the computer system.
Dead Star Walking: Joss Whedon hoped to include actor Eric Balfour (Jesse) in the title credits to shock viewers when his character dies. Unfortunately, the show literally could not afford an extra set of title credits at the time.
Demonic Dummy: Subversion. It seemed like the dummy was killing students, but it turned out he was actually hunting the thing that was killing the students.
Early Installment Weirdness: Buffy was originally very chaste in manner and dress, with "earthy" hair coloring and makeup. In Season Two, the producers decided they wanted a more vibrant look for the character.
This pilot episode is the only time when we see Xander riding a skateboard, since the scene required a lot of space and was difficult to shoot. In later episodes we can see Xander holding a skateboard a couple of times, but never again does he ride one.
The pilot and "Harvest" are two of the few episodes that feature the upper level of the Bronze. Joss Whedon wrote the script to feature the two levels, but didn't realize how difficult it would be to shoot these scenes. Not only was it impractical in terms of filming and lighting, but it stretched their already non-existent budget.
In "Witch" (season 1, episode 3), Giles seems unfamiliar with magiks, saying "Pretty good for my first [spell-]casting, eh?" and such—which is totally at odds with his, y'know, rebellious Hellblazer youth period.
Well, Giles had been trying to keep his past a secret. Besides, it might have been the first time he had done a spell while pretending to be alot less badass then he really was (remember, the uptight tweed-wearer thing was implied to be an act).
Eye Scream: The Master, after making a mook apologize to him for failing, admonishes him about (SQUISH) something in his eye.
Face Your Fears: Xander gets to punch a clown in "Nightmares".
Failed Audition Plot: In "Witch", Buffy tries out for the cheerleading team but initially doesn't make the cut. Later in the episode she does get a spot on the team... which ends up making her a target for the witch who is magically injuring other cheerleaders to earn herself a spot.
Faking Amnesia: Xander pulls this in "The Pack", after being possessed by the spirit of a hyena. After Buffy and Willow save him, he tells them that he can't remember a thing and hopes he didn't do anything "too embarrassing". Giles, however, sees right through it.
Giles: "I've been reading up on my animal possession and I cannot find anything anywhere about memory loss afterward."
Hollywood Nerd: An Enforced Trope with Willow. The pilot had Willow played by a plus-sized actress but Whedon was ordered to replace her with a thinner, more conventionally attractive actress.
Hook Hand: One of the Master's vampires has blades where one of his hands used to be.
If You Can Read This: At the end of "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", a textbook on infiltrating a cult compound to assassinate its leader is readable in DVD format, and consists of the lyrics to "Happiness is a Warm Gun" by The Beatles.
The Lonely Piano: The Buffy theme plays slowly on a piano over the final scene of Prophecy Girl.
No Ontological Inertia: Killing the Master is all it takes to re-seal the Hellmouth and banish any demons that had wandered into the mortal world while it had been open.
Remote Body: In "I Robot, You Jane", the demon Moloch creates a mechanical robot self he operates via the internet. Eventually he gets stuck in that body.
Revival Loophole: How Buffy survives her "death" in the season 1 finale.
Spontaneous Human Combustion: In one of the earliest episodes, Giles initially attributes this as the cause for a cheerleader bursting into flames; it's later revealed to have been caused by a witch's spell.
Stab the Scorpion: Variation between the Master and a mook in "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date" where the Master (who could certainly kill the mook with his index finger) plucks a bug outo f the air next to the mook's head.
Above the Influence: Willow and Buffy practically strip down and jump Xander's bones in "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered", but Xander refuses to let them. After the Love Potion wears off, Buffy is proud of him for it.
Absurdly Ineffective Barricade: In the episode "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered", after a spell gone awry has caused every girl in the school aside from Cordelia to fall madly in love with Xander, he attempts to take refuge in the school library by moving the the card catalogue in front of the double doors that serve as the entrance. Since he apparently didn't realize that the doors open outwards, a coat (and not much else) wearing Buffy calmly opens the doors and walks around the catalogue while Xander's back is turned.
Alien Catnip: Slayer blood and high people for vampires.
Spike: If every vampire who said he was at the Crucifixion was actually there it would've been like Woodstock. I was actually at Woodstock... that was a weird gig. I fed off a flower person and I spent six hours watching my hand move.
Black and White Morality: Sort of with the Judge, who kills based on whether a target has humanity or not. Any vampire with sufficiently human traits—like interest in books, or involvement in romance—is a fair target to him, even if they're otherwise serving evil purposes.
Brainwash Residue: Xander retains some of his soldier knowledge after "Halloween".
Break-In Threat: Angelus sneaks into Buffy's bedroom while she's sleeping and draws a picture of her, which he leaves for her to find in the morning.
By the Eyes of the Blind: The child-killing demon Der Kindestod from "Killed by Death" can only be seen by young people with fevers.
Call Back: Plenty of em. When Ethan "leaves" in Halloween Giles finds a card with "Be seeing you," on it. Be Seeing You is what Eyghon later says while leaving Giles' apartment in Jenny.
Willow: But why is she acting like such a B-I-T-C-H? Giles: Come on Willow, we're a bit old to be spelling things out. Xander: ...a bitca?
Computer Equals Monitor: Angelus is satisfied that Jenny's electronic translation of the incantation that would restore Angel's soul is gone when he shoves her computer off her desk. The problem is, while the monitor was wrecked, the actual PC received minimal damage... Justified—not like a 200 year-old vampire would really know how a computer works. His monologue before destroying the computer even makes it explicit. Later episodes also imply that her hard drive was indeed undamaged.
Contemplating Your Hands: Spike mentions doing this for six hours at Woodstock, after feeding off a "flower person".
Continuity Nod: When he asks out Ampata in "Inca Mummy Girl", Xander takes care to make sure she's not a praying mantis.
Deadly Hug: Buffy does this to Angel in the season 2 finale, although she has to let go of him first since she does it with a sword.
Dead Man's Chest: In "Inca Mummy Girl" the mummy hid the body of the real Ampata in one of his trunks.
Die Hard on an X: School Hard, AKA Die Hard with vampires. The Bronze is also a popular location for hostage-takings ("The Harvest", "Doppelgangland").
Dresses the Same: At the Sunset Club, Angel rails on about how these kids don't know anything about vampires. "What they are, how they live, how they dress..." At that moment, a dude dressed in exactly the same outfit as Angel appears next to him, checks him out, and walks away. "...ahem."
Embarrassing Tattoo: The Mark of Eyghon, which Giles never gets removed (as we see it in Season 8, which leads to a conversation with Faith about how he and her are not as different as she thinks). Said conversation is even more meaningful if you know the origins of her tattoo. Both of them are the mark of a demon, in her case Kakistos (the really mutated vamp that killed her Watcher). She got it from being possessed by a dead Greek Slayer.
Empathic Environment: In Angelus' first episode, the lights suddenly go out on Xander and Willow inside the school. Angelus appears in a darkened hallway, his shape blocking a lit EXIT sign.
Hilarity Ensues: Spike says wackiness ensues in "The Becoming, part 1".
If I Can't Have You: An alarmingly common conclusion among the enchanted female populace in "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered".
I Just Want to Be Normal: Ampata, a former Incan mummy from "Inca Mummy Girl" chosen as a sacrifice to protect her people, raises herself from the dead and is determined to lead a happy 16 year-old girl's life—even if she has to kill at least one person a day to keep up the facade.
Late To The Punch Line: In Lie To Me, Buffy recounts listening to the Divinyls' song "I Touch Myself", in fifth grade to help her get over Ford's rejection, and then mentions that she had no idea at the time what the song was about. Thirty seconds later Willow says, "Oh! That's what that song is about?!"
Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book: In "Killed by Death", the patient Ryan draws a creepy picture of Der Kindestod. He thanks Buffy for killing the demon by drawing a not-much-less creepy picture of Buffy in the act.
When Willow starts discussing Buffy's secret affair with Angel, Xander immediately deflects the discussion to their sordid tryst. This proves to be consistent behavior between Willow and Xander throughout the season; the stress of being caught cheating is so overwhelming, they keep blurting out psuedo-confessions to anyone in sight.
In "Phases", Xander confronts Larry the bully about his secret, which Xander can understand because he's been there before. Xander's talking about being a werewolf. Larry's talking about being a closeted homosexual. Later on in the episode, Buffy and Xander chat about the day's events, and Xander says he'll have trouble ever looking at him the same way again. Buffy's talking about the werewolf, Oz, but Xander's talking about Larry.
Amy: I don't know, Xander. Intent has to be pure with love spells. Xander: Right! I intend revenge. Pure as the driven snow.
Real Dreams Are Weirder: Buffy's dreams about Drusilla's return are mingled with dreams of opening an office-supply warehouse in Las Vegas.
Romance Inducing Smudge: A rare romantic moment passes between Willow and Xander in the season two episode "When She Was Bad", when Willow gets ice cream on her nose as the pair are walking past a cemetery. As Xander leans in to clean it for her, the two look like they are about to kiss... until a vampire pops up behind Willow, forcing Xander to attempt to hold it off and killing a Squee-inducing moment for Willow x Xander shippers.
Willow later attempted to invoke this trope by putting ice cream on her own nose, but Xander, now once again distracted by Buffy, simply says "You got something on your nose."
Serial Escalation: "Hmm, Angelus certainly did a good job inflicting torture and trauma. How can we top it?" They continue this trend throughout the series.
Shaking Her Hair Loose: In "Go Fish", Buffy pulls a stake out of her hair and shakes it loose as she prepares to fight a vampire.
Shock Party: In the aptly named episode "Surprise". In something of a variation, it's actually Oz who gets the shock; seeing Buffy staking a vamp for the first time.
Later in season 5 we have the organizing variation with Tara.
Stab The Salad: Happened in "School Hard". The gang is preparing an imminent attack from Spike. Willow is fidgeting with a crossbow, Xander & Cordelia are carving stakes and Buffy holds up a machete, which she uses to slice zuccini.
Stuffed into the Fridge: In "Passion", Angelus not only kills Jenny Calendar, but after he kills her, he takes her body and puts it in Giles' bed and leaves a trail of romantic symbols (such as rose petals) that lead Giles to Jenny's body.
Except Ford wasn't trying to 'cure' his cancer, he was dying and had nothing to lose. The plan actually worked too, except that Buffy survived (not Ford's fault) to stake Ford when he emerged from his grave.
Two Guys and a Girl: Spike, Angelus, and Drusilla form a rather twisted example.
Valentine's Day Episode: "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered", although most of the episode is simply the messy aftermath of a badly handled Valentine's Day between Cordelia and Xander. Angelus had some romance-themed Mind Rape in store for Buffy, but said aftermath was too distracting.
What the Hell, Hero?: During the first episode of the season, When She Was Bad, Buffy's behavior in the Bronze, toward Xander in particular, is so obnoxious that Cordelia, of all people, decides to call her on it, warning her that if she doesn't cool it, she'll "lose even the loser friends you have now."
"You Never Did That For Me": While Xander and Cordelia's relationship was still a secret to the rest of the scoobies, Cordelia protested as Xander declared that he was off to help Buffy out of yet another sticky situation.
Cordelia: "There you go, off to save the great Buffy again... I bet you'd never do that for me..."
Who Needs Enemies?: Spike's uneasy alliance with Buffy at the end of the second season.
Season Three
Are You Sure You Can Drive This Thing?: Buffy drives to the Bronze even thought she failed her driving test, with Willow in the passenger's seat. Willow gets increasingly anxious, despite Buffy's relaxed-ness. They make it to the Bronze which they discover is full of middle-aged people acting like teenagers due to cursed candy; then Buffy attempts to drive to Giles' house, which results in a crash.
Brand X: Trick orders a "medium diet soda" at a drive-thru window without actually specifying what soda in "Faith, Hope & Trick".
Brought Down to Normal: Buffy in "Helpless", as part of a test by the Watcher's Council.
Bury Your Gays: Larry in "Graduation Day, part two. Was confirmed later.
Children Are Innocent: The demon from "Gingerbread" uses this to get the parents of Sunnydale to kill witches and anyone who protects them, including their own children.
Collapsed Mid Speech: The Mayor starts his Ascension in the middle of his speech to the graduating students, which causes him strong pains. However, he knew that it would happen and his collapse last few moments before he turns into a demonic snake. He only complains that he doesn't have time left to talk about civic pride.
Continuity Nod: "Lily" and her boyfriend attempting to buy lunch at a diner by dumping a bunch of change onto the table. David Arquette and Luke Perry did the exact same thing in the Buffy feature film.
Destructo Nookie: the overtly sexualized scene in the season finale when Buffy makes Angel vamp out and drink her blood. While he's lying on top of her, she grabs a metal object for support, and it just crumples. She also kicks a table through a wall. Angel leaves her with the most insane hickey in history through all of season 4.
Dissimile: It seems Buffy has Gandhi confused with Teddy Roosevelt.
Xander talks tacks about selling chocolate to support for the school's band, but loses focus as Willow's foot creeps up his shin.
Xander: The band. Yeah. They're great. They march. Willow: Like an army. [beat] Except with music instead of bullets, and...usually no one dies.
Wilkins explains that to Faith that her errand in question involves something crucial to his ascension. He brightly says that without it, "well, what would Tollhouse cookies be without the chocolate chips?" Faith regards her cookie as if she's actually pondering that zen question. He continues, "A pretty darn big disappointment, I can tell you!"
Dominatrix: Picture this scene: You're tied up in a cage with burn marks over your body and a cute little girl in leather bondage gear enters. From the baby talk calling you puppy it's clear she is crazy, and she reacts to the silent treatment you give her with the promise that she is going to make you bark.
Dumb and Drummer: Faith's list of loser ex-boyfriends goes "Ronnie: deadbeat. Steve: klepto. Kenny: drummer."
Friend to Psychos: In "Beauty and the Beasts," Debbie tries to cover for her boyfriend Pete when he starts going through a Jekyll/Hyde situation. She's not very good at it, though.
Go Mad from the Isolation: Wishverse Buffy is an even more by-the-book Slayer than Kendra, perhaps second only to the First Slayer.
The Glomp: Willow, courtesy of, well...everybody. The Scoobies, having mistaken her for Wishverse Willow, are elated when she turns out to be still alive.
Willow: It's really nice that you guys missed me. Say, you all didn't happen to do a bunch of drugs, did ya?
Despite being accepted into Oxford, Willow announces to Buffy that she "will be matriculating with Class of 2003" at UC Sunnydale. The mischievous smile. "...Say, isn't that where you're going?" Buffy squees and tackles her to the grass.
And GILES gets one from Xander, Willow, and Anya when they think he was The First.
Giles: "So you think I'm evil because I took a bunch of fifteen-year-old girls out on a camping trip... and didn't touch any of them?"
Gratuitous German: In the episode "Gingerbread", the newspaper article the gang looks up and the chant Giles is doing at the end of the episode qualifies for this.
Hands On Approach: Willow and Xander have this problem. Unbeknownst to them, Buffy and Angel are also struggling to keep their hand off of...things.
""You're not 'friends.' You'll never be friends. You'll be in love 'til it kills you both. You'll fight, and you'll shag and you'll hate each other 'til it makes you quiver, but you'll never be friends. Love isn't brains, children, it's blood. Blood screaming inside you to work its will. I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it."
This is echoed by Mayor Wilkin, who doesn't foresee anything good for Angel and Buffy's relationship. He's reminded of his own wife in her last days, senile and cursing Wilkins for his eternal youth.
He Who Fights Monsters: "Gingerbread" begins with Buffy's mom finding two young children after what looks like a magical rite. She responds by organizing the other parents in Sunnydale into an organization to go after witches (and Slayers.) The episode ends with them all trying to burn their own children at the stake.
Hidden Depths: Cordelia, Oz. They score surprisingly well on standardized tests.
It's a Wonderful Plot: In "The Wish", Cordelia unwittingly makes the demon Anyanka create a world wherein Buffy never moved to Sunnydale, which has turned into a truly hellish place where the Master and his army of vampires rules practically unopposed. The whole thing later gets a twist as Cordelia gets killed about halfway through the episode, leaving Giles to find a way to undo the wish.
Mr. Trick:(indignant and mildly shocked) Oh. No. No, this is no good at all...
Man in White: The Angel who appears in Buffy's dreams.
Mask of Power: "Dead Man's Party" and the Nigerian zombie mask. Note a Mask of Power that does not need to be worn.
Metaphorgotten: "Homecoming". Willow expressing her guilt about kissing Xander.
Willow: We were so guilty about "the fluke" that we overcompensated helping Cordelia and spun the group dynamic out of orbit. Now we're just this meteor shower headed for Earth...
No Tell Motel: Faith crashes here upon coming to Sunnydale, further emphasizing the differences between her and Buffy. The Mayor upgrades her to a condo, but advises to maintain her old place as a cover.
The Not Secret: Revealed in "The Prom" that everyone knows in school that Buffy protects them from bad stuff.
Prisoner of Zenda Exit: A darker variation in the lead up to the season 3 finale where a brutal fight between Buffy and Faith ends with Faith stabbed in the stomach and on the edge of a rooftop. Faith knows Buffy needs her blood to heal Angel, so she falls backwards off of the roof onto the back of a truck, which carries her now comatose body away before Buffy can catch up to it.
Rape Is Okay When Its Female On Male:...Faith's attempted rape and murder of Xander. He first bashes her brains in with a baseball bat, and when she wakes up he dubiously asks her about it.
"He forgot the safety word?"
Recurring Extra: Should you be watching reruns of season 3 episodes, look for a shortish Asian guy carrying a skateboard. He's in many episodes and is referred to as "Asian Dan" by the cast. In the season 4 DVD, Seth Green, Joss Whedon, and Marti Noxon joke about his frequent appearances in the "Wild at Heart" audio commentary.
Room Full of Crazy: From "Helpless". Buffy runs into a room full of pictures of her mother taken by a really crazy vampire.
Rule of Three: In season three, when Angel has been poisoned by Faith and needs the blood of a Slayer to cure him, Buffy punches him to get him to vamp out. Of course, she hits him once, twice, aaand the third time does it.
Shadowland: Buffyless Sunnydale to Normal Sunnydale.
Spear Carrier: A harried teacher exhorting his students to "be somber" about the new year. He pops up again on Graduation Day, grimly making the kids play Hangman.
Spoiler Opening: The 3rd season opening shows Faith before she even makes her first appearance. Averted in season 1, it doesn't hint that Angel is a vampire.
Willow: No, let them go, Oz! Talking about it isn't helping, we might as well try some violence! (A zombie breaks in through the front window.) Willow:I was being sarcastic!
That Was The Last Entry: The first info the Scoobies have about the prophesied "ascension" is a journal entry saying "Tomorrow is the ascension, may God help us." It was the last time the town was ever heard of.
Title Drop: For the episode title in "Dead Man's Party".
A Truce While We Gawk: In "Anne", Buffy's fight with the demons is interrupted by the head demon holding a knife to Lilly. He announces that their fight is lost and he'll kill Lilly to make an example. Lilly kills him instead. A beat later, the main fight resumes.
Uncanny Family Resemblance: Invoked by the Mayor, who was him, his son, his grandson and his great grandson (he's immortal).
Very Special Episode: "I Only Have Eyes For You" and "Earshot" ended with a PSA about calling the suicide hotline.
Walk On The Wild Side Episode: In "Doppelgangland", Willow gets a little fed up with her reputation as Old Reliable and flirts with danger a bit by doing a dark incantation with Anya. It doesn't end very well.
Wasn't That Fun?: After the Mayor has just completed a dark ritual on his way to becoming a true immortal demon.
Mayor: "This officially commences the Hundred Days. Nothing can harm me until the Ascension."
[beat. Breaks into a fit of gleeful giggles]
"Gosh, I'm feeling chipper! Who's for a root beer?!"
Year Inside, Hour Outside: Various hell dimensions, including the demon workhouse in the season opener and the realm where Angel is held after the events of season two.
Can't even shout Can't even cry The gentlemen are coming by Looking in windows knocking on doors They need to take seven and they might take yours Can't call to mom can't say a word You're gonna die screaming but you won't be heard
Black Hole Sue: Used for humorous effect in Superstar, when Jonathan uses a wish spell to fold reality around himself and turns himself into an invincible, charismatic hero, admired by everyone. Unfortunately he forgot to read the fine print. In-Universe
Coincidental Broadcast: In "The Harsh Light Of Day", Giles tells them that watching TV isn't going to help them with their problem. Sure enough the news showed a clue to Spike's whereabouts.
Collective Groan: In "Doomed", when the gang realized they have to prevent the end of the world again.
Coming Out Story: "New Moon Rising", Although there's a Fantastic Aesop twist in that many of the standard plot points are applied to Oz (as a werewolf) rather than Willow (as a "coming out" lesbian).
Conflict Ball: Spike deliberately passes it around in The Yoko Factor, making insinuating and subversive comments to make the Scoobies turn on each other and vent repressed feelings of anger and resentment that had been bottled up. He even lampshades the trope, pointing out that people latch onto one specific event or situation as a cause of strife, but that what really happens is that the event or situation is just an excuse to bring to the forefront issues that were there all along.
Crossover: With its spinoff Angel, which has crossed over with a few things.
Cut Apart: In "Hush", we see Tara knocking on one of the dorm room's doors, and Willow waking up from the noise. The door opens, and one of The Gentlemen surprises Tara. This was actually hinted, since Tara had previously found Willow's room number (which isn't the number on the door).
Driven to Suicide: At one point, Spike tries to stake himself after getting the chip, only saved by Willow and Xander. Luckily, he finds that he can hurt demons, regaining his will to live.
Evil Is Not a Toy: Are we supposed to be surprised that Professor Walsh's human-demon-cyborg stabs her in the back and tries to conquer the world?
Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The result of Willow's "my will be done" spell is that her metaphorical words become literally true.
Fake-Out Make-Out: Xander tries to invoke this with Buffy while undercover at the Initiative, but Buffy rebuffs him by pointing out that "This is the Initiative. Military guys and scientists do not make out with each other."
Fantastic Aesop: The reason why "Beer Bad" was denied additional funding from the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Fiction As Cover Up: Dracula got Stoker to write his book to pump up his street cred. Other vampires thought it was a really dick move, because it let the normal humans in on a lot of their secrets.
For Great Justice: Parodied by Spike. "For the safety of... puppies, and... Christmas, right?"
Funny Background Event: In "The Harsh Light of Day" the Greek letters on the Frat house Buffy are Gamma Alpha Pi (ΓΑΠ) which, from the angle the shot is taken, look a bit like FAIL. The house in the background across the street bears the letters ΤΩA. Perhaps it's a sorority house?
Good Feels Good: Faith, when she was in Buffy's body masquerading as her.
Inhumanable Alien Rights: According to the Initiative, vampires and other monsters have no rights that are worth respecting. At first, Riley Finn shared this view, until one of the werewolves the Initiative captured turned out to be Oz and he realized that some of the "monsters" he had been capturing actually had normal lives.
Lecture As Exposition: Lampshaded and subverted in "Hush", when Giles is forced to this without his ability to speak.
Love Cannot Overcome: Giles's Temporary Love Interest Olivia. At the end of the episode "Hush," after Olivia learns of the existence of demons, she says, "Scary." Giles asks, "Too scary?" and Olivia responds, "I'm not sure." Since we never see her again after that, we can presume that it was indeed too scary for her.
A Man Is Always Eager: That Oz is reluctant to engage in the physical act of love strikes fear into Willow's heart as a sign of infidelity. Xander lampshades it, saying she may have encountered "the seven annual minutes he's legitimately too preoccupied" to want sex.
Not Right in the Bed: When Faith takes over Buffy's body, she comes on to Spike, and is a lot more sexually aggressive with Riley than Buffy is.
Perplexing Plurals: Riley comments that, after falling in with the main characters, he suddenly finds himself needing to know the plural of "apocalypse".
Testosterone Poisoning: Buffy actually says the tropes name when Angel and Riley fight in "The Yoko Factor".
Take That: When Giles asks Buffy\Faith who's president she replies they're testing to see if it's really her, not a concussion. Could easily beeither of them.
Two Scenes, One Dialogue: does an interesting take on this in one episode. Giles explains the ancient lore of this week's demon, while the Initiative is briefed on the nature of the same "HST" (Hostile Subterranean) in military jargon.
Variable Terminal Velocity: A particularly egregious example in "Doomed", where Buffy jumps into the Hellmouth after a demon and catches up to it while falling, even though she took the time to run over to Riley, grab a rope from him, and run back before jumping in.
Verb This: When Buffy first fought The Initiative, she fired a flare gun while saying "Contain this!"
Done to explicitly mock the show's often unrealistic fight scenes.
William Telling: In "Superstar" Jonathan alters reality to change himself from a geek into a demon-fighting James Bond-expy. One scene has him putting on a blindfold in preparation to shooting apples from the heads of several Initiative soldiers.
Worrying For The Wrong Reason: In "Pangs", Xander is in a panic because he has been cursed with a host of diseases. He's most stressed about the syphilis. Anya says comfortingly:
It'll make you blind and insane, but it won't kill you. The smallpox will.
You Keep Using That Word: When the Scoobie Gang and the Initiative become hostile towards the end of the fourth season the colonel in charge of the Initiative describes the Scoobies as "anarchists," and when Riley later defects he again uses the term, this time including himself with the group. However, the Scoobies have never advocated any sort of anarchist philosophy or mindset, and several episodes (Both before and after this event) have stressed their wholehearted belief in the need for people, even themselves, to submit to proper established authority when the situation calls for it.
Anachronism Stew: The Knights of Byzantium are an ancient order of Knight Templars who use medieval arms and armour for no apparent reason than to have a cool scene involving Buffy fighting knights on top of a moving Winnebago.
Anticlimax Boss: Played with in the premiere with Dracula. Though he demonstrates powers no other vampire in the series has, he's still treated like a bad joke by Spike, and easily defeated. Subverted on his return in season eight.
Band of Brothers: After falling apart the previous season, the Scoobies eventually band together into an extremely powerful group of True Companions — even Spike by the end of the season. One of the times this is best seen is when Tara's family comes to take her home against her will. The ending of that episode sums it up.
Chekhov's Armoury: About every piece of Phlebotinum that shows up during the fifth season is eventually used to fight Glory.
Chekhov's Gunman: Doc, the old man who gave Dawn the spell to bring Joyce back to life. Turns out he's a Glory worshipper and he is the one who opens the portal.
Curb-Stomp Battle: The creepy old guy with the tail to Spike. Then Buffy to the creepy old guy with the tail.
Cosmic Retcon: Only child Buffy suddenly has an annoying little sister to butt heads with. Dawn appears out of nowhere yet everyone thinks she's always been a member of the Summers family. It takes several episodes before this mystery is answered.
Even the Girls Want Her: In-universe example — Harmony refuses to have a threesome with Spike unless it's boy-girl-boy. Exceptions are made for Charlize Theron.
Everything Is Better With Monkeys: In "Into the Woods", Anya wants to watch a movie about monkeys playing hockey because "The ice is so slippery and monkeys are all irrational".
Honor Related Abuse: Tara's family is like this. They abuse her emotionally and lie to her to make her hate herself, fooling her into believing that she's less than human. When she breaks free and makes a life of her own, they start threatening to move on to physical abuse, and would most likely have made good on their threats if it wasn't for almost the entire cast closing ranks around her and telling them that they would have to go through them to get to her.
Which also allows Spike to cement his Heel Face Turnby hitting her, purposely causing an electric shock to his brain via his chip to prove she's human.
Hugh Mann: The Scooby Gang initially get totally taken in by the Buffybot and chalk her weird behaviour up to the recent death of Buffy's mom. Since she's still all but holding up a sign reading "I Am A Robot Impersonator" the whole time, Buffy is still not very happy that her friends were completely unable to tell the difference.
Love Epiphany: Spike has a Catapult Nightmare in which he realises his Foe Yay obsession with Buffy is something far, far worse! Inverted with Riley Finn who realises that Buffy doesn't love him, fueling his eventual decision to leave.
Love Hurts: Spike is tormented by his unrequited Foe Yay for the Slayer.
Spike: "What the bleeding hell is WRONG with you bloody women? What the hell does it take? Why do you bitches torture me?
Mind Rape: The people Glory drains to stop herself going crazy including Tara.
Mook Horror Show: The Dracula episode, where we see a vampire running madly through a graveyard... and then we realize he's running for his (un)life. From Buffy.
Only Sane Man: Spike has a major case of this in "The Weight of the World", when he is the only one immune to the glamour that prevents mortals from remembering that Ben is Glory. See also Glamour Failure.
Out-of-Genre Experience: "The Body" feels very different from a normal episode of the show, using Mood Dissonance and a complete absence of background music to recreate the sense of dislocation we feel when someone close to us dies.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: ("Into the Woods") Buffy discovers her boyfriend Riley is visiting vampire prostitutes, so she burns down the building and kills every member of the gang in seconds. At first Buffy resists the temptation to kill the vamp-ho when she's at her mercy, but then changes her mind and spears her as she's running away. ("Tough Love") When Glory brain-sucks Tara turning her insane we see our first hint of Dark Willow as she takes on a Physical God with Black Eyes of Evil and Shock and Awe.
Action Dress Rip: In the The Trio's first appearance, a monster attacks a bank and Buffy initially couldn't fight because of her "stupid skirt". She does it again when fighting a demon at Xander's wedding.
Actually a Doombot: The Scoobies use the Buffybot to make the underworld think that the Slayer is still protecting Sunnydale. When a vampire accidentally discovers this, it provokes immediate Rape, Pillage, and Burn by demon bikers. Also the first time Willow gets her mitts on Warren. Fizz crackle pop.
Ambiguous Situation: "Normal Again", in which Buffy is injected with a poison that make her hallucinate... Or is it the other way around? According to a psychiatrist, who may or may not be a real person, she is in fact getting better: She has been sick all along, and now she's finally waking up from years of catatonic schizophrenia. So, the whole series is either This Is Reality or a mad All Just a Dream with a dash of The Schizophrenia Conspiracy. In the end, Buffy choses her life in Sunnydale over her life in the mental institution, but the ending leaves it ambiguous whether or not the world she settled for is the real one.
Anachronism Stew: The Trio combine magic with high technology to carry out their capers.
Attempted Rape: After Buffy breaks off their relationship, Spike tries to force himself upon an injured Buffy, who is barely able to fight him off. His My God, What Have I Done? reaction causes Spike to go on a quest to regain his soul.
Scott Hope, Buffy's only normal high school boyfriend. He accused every girl who broke up with him that they're gay. He came out in season 6 apparently.
Book Ends / Rule of Symbolism: Buffy starts Season 6 by clawing her way out of her grave into the night, beginning a year-long Heroic BSOD. She ends the season climbing out of another grave into the light, having rediscovered the value of living.
The Cast Show Off: The musical episode allowed for several actors to show off either musical or dancing talent (Anthony Steward Head, James Masters, Amber Benson, Michelle Trachtenberg). Others ...got sidelined for the episode. (Alyson Hannigan asked to be given a smaller singing role and no dancing role.)
Darker and Edgier: Tends to be true of the sixth season compared to the others, though there are darker episodes in the other seasons and Lighter and Softer ones in season 6 as well.
The whole series is darker compared to the campy flick it was based on.
The Dark Side: Spoofed when Spike encourages Buffy to walk with him on the Dark Side — which consists of Spike playing poker for kittens while Buffy gets drunk and makes snarky comments. Things become more serious later on in the season when Spike wrongly assumes (or convinces himself) that Buffy's depression and desire for rough sex means she wants to abandon her life and join him on the Dark Side. His failure to understand the complexity of her emotions has serious consequences for both of them.
Death Is Cheap: People killed by magical means can potentially (though not easily) be resurrected.
Deconstructor Fleet: The blond girl doesn't die, even after having sex — she instead turns out to be Genre Savvy and an Action Girl and proceeds to kick vampire butt.
Season 6 deconstructs what the show is about. The focus is on the Scoobies foray into the real world and not the whole saving the world plot and being heroes. Only the bad guys care about that.
It also deconstructs the Foe Yay trope by showing just how disfunctional such a relationship would be if ever consumated.
Destructive Romance: Buffy starts a secret relationship with Spike to combat her depression. Unfortunately this only ends up making things worse — Spike is convinced Buffy wants to come over to The Dark Side and is frustrated by her unwillingness to either return his love or abandon her friends, while their Interplay of Sex and Violence, her lust for a soulless monster who's supposed to be her enemy and her guilt over using Spike without respecting his own feelings only increases Buffy's self-loathing. At one point she savagely beats an unresisting Spike, describing him in terms that are clearly referring to herself ("There is nothing good or clean in you! You are dead inside! You can't feel anything real!"). The In-UniverseValues Dissonance between the two reaches a point where after she ends the relationship, Spike tries to inflict the Rape Is Love trope on an injured Buffy; fortunately Buffy is able to fend him off and Spike realises that, even for him, this act is crossing the Moral Event Horizon, and motivates him to go on a quest to regain his soul.
Did You Die?: In "As You Were," Buffy and Riley promise to swap stories if they get a chance and see whose were more exiting/dangerous/crazy ext.. She asks if he died, and when he says he didn't, she says, "I'm going to win."
Giles: We need to have a conversation. Dawn: This the part where you tell me you're "not angry, just disappointed"? Giles: Pretty much. Except for the bit about not being angry.
Don't You Dare Pity Me: Buffy reacts this way after telling Tara about her relationship with Spike — it's not out of anger, but a belief that she doesn't deserve any sympathy.
Fainting: The characters all faint in Tabula Rasa when they lose their memories. This seems to be an effect of magical memory loss, as it happens in the Angel episode "Spin The Bottle" where the characters are all reverted to their younger selves' memories.
Frying Pan of Doom: Not played for comedy in "Normal Again" when Buffy hits Xander with one then drags him to the basement to be killed by the Monster of the Week, or "Hells Bells" where Future!Xander attacks his estranged wife Anya.
Gilligan Cut: In the 3nd Halloween episode, Dawn's friend Janice didn't want her and her friends to go into the creepy old man's house. Sure enough...
G-Rated Drug: Magic during season 6, especially during the episode "Wrecked".
Going Commando: Parking Ticket Lady, attempting to bribe a meter maid, sings about her lack of underwear.
Has Two Mommies: Dawn with Willow and Tara. Considering that they were really one of the only good relationships in the show (and by extension, in her life) and that they took care of her for a good year or so, it's no shock.
Important Haircut: Buffy deliberately applies this trope...but ends up at the hair salon because she made a mess of things. Also subverted in that it marks no actual change in her life or behaviour — Buffy cuts her hair after Spike compliments it (they recently resolved their UST and Buffy is regretting it) but quickly ends up in his bed for round two.
Impossibly Tacky Clothes: Dear god, the wedding dresses at Anya's wedding. Buffy even describes their awful green as "radioactive".
Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Buffy and Spike spend much of season 6 doing this. Also, in the season 3 episode "Band Candy", Joyce and Giles have sex on the hood of a police car.
No Mere Windmill: Buffy stopped trying to explain the very real threat of vampires after her mother had her put in a mental hospital for believing such silly delusions.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Willow brings Buffy back from the dead, thinking she's in Hell. It turns out Buffy was in Heaven and being brought back to the real world gives her a Heroic BSOD, as well as opening the way for the First One.
Power High: When Willow starts to OD on witchcraft it's explicitly analogized to being high on drugs.
Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Sporadically used, notably with Spike and Warren. Verges into Sci-fi with Warren as it involved Mind Control. Faith body-switched with Buffy technically raped Riley (sex under false pretense), but everyone on that one ended with everyone worse for it.
Jonathan: It's true, my friends. The way I see it, life is like an interstellar journey. Some people go into hypersleep and travel at sub-light speeds, only to get where they're going after years of struggle, toil and hard, hard work. We, on the other hand ...
Andrew: Blast through the space-time continuum in a wormhole?
What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Buffy uses Spike as a confidant because he's a "dead man", so her confessions don't count. When they start having sex, she refuses to admit there's love involved or even acknowledge (to herself or others) that he's her boyfriend; Spike calling her "my girl" or "love" often drives her to fury. Spike's soulless nature is often used by her as an excuse for this behaviour. Eventually Buffy faces up to how she is using him and breaks off the relationship.
Windmill Crusader: While Buffy has The Cuckoolander Was Right as an inherent trait, the episode “Normal Again” subverts this when Buffy is drugged and hallucinates that she’s been insane all along and that Sunnydale is only in her mind. In this, Buffy was a insane Windmill Crusader before the series started, and she has been locked in a mental institution throughout the whole series.
Volleying Insults: Xander and Anya's duet in "Once More With Feeling."
Xander: She clings / She's needy / She's also really greedy / She never — Anya [interrupting] His eyes are beady! Xander: This is my verse, hello!
Xanatos Gambit: "Grave" Giles arrives with the powers of a coven in order to defeat Willow after she does a Face Heel Turn. If he defeats her threat neutralized, if he loses Willow will take his power giving Willow a window to her emotions, so Xander could stop her.
Zero-G Spot: At the end of Tara's love song "Under Your Spell" in "Once More With Feeling", she levitates into the air over her bed, and it's strongly implied she's doing it so an off-camera Willow can do cunnilingus on her.
Season Seven
Achilles in His Tent: Buffy getting deposed by her own pupils, who install Faith as their new leader. One episode and bomb explosion later, and everyone goes crawling back to blondie.
Buffy: Vampires, demons... they're nothing compared to what's coming. Dawn: I know. I just can't believe it's back. Buffy: Believe me, I thought I was long past it. I guess you never are. Just a few more days til it starts, and then we'll never know what's coming next. (Cut to the opening ceremony at the new Sunnydale High School.)
Arc Words: "From beneath you it devours" in Season 7
Back for the Finale: Some of the former regulars are in season 7 in spirit. Oz got a casual mention from Xander and Cordelia appeared in a piece of footage from "Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered".
Best Served Cold: Robin Wood fights vampires in the hope of encountering the one that killed his mother (which turns out to be Spike).
And the Bringers, the First's assassins and priests
Foreshadowing: In "Sleeper", Aimee Mann sings a song called "Pavlov's Bell." During the next episode "Never Leave Me" the Scooby Gang discusses the possibility that Spike is being controlled by means of Pavlovian conditioning.
Forgotten Phlebotinum: In the seventh season, the First falsely claims to have captured a potential Slayer, and nobody thinks to use the spell they used just a few weeks ago which can detect potentials.
Ghost City: Sunnydale in the second half of the season.
Hammerspace: At least once, Buffy pulls out a cell phone when this was the only place it could have been.
Heel Face Return: Faith's appearance looks like this to anyone who wasn't watching Angel.
Hypercompetent Sidekick: Willow is this. As the most powerful Witch in the Western Hemisphere, she was so strong that the writers felt the need to knock her out before major fights most of the season.
Groin Attack: You can tell Buffy likes this as she delivers the ultimate one to Caleb.
Juggling Loaded Crossbows: "End of Days", it is implied that Willow and Tara's cat, Miss Kitty Fantastico, met her demise in a tragic crossbow accident.
Dawn: Xander, my crossbow is not out here. I told you, I don't leave crossbows around all willy-nilly. Not since that time with Miss Kitty Fantastico.
Mobile Maze: Sunnydale High's basement. Xander notes that blueprints are no good here (and he built the place!) because the walls seem to move about.
Motionless Makeover: Dawn is paralyzed by a demon. Anya has fun posing her. When they have to run off to save the day, leaving Dawn sitting on the couch with her arm extended, Buffy comes back momentarily to stick a remote in Dawn's hand.
One-Hour Work Week: Buffy's job as a school counsellor. Justified in that she only has the job because Principal Wood wants to keep her around in case of Hellmouth-related problems, and it's explicitly stated to be part time.
Remember the New Guy: Deconstructed. When a Vampire recognizes Buffy in Conversations With Dead People he explains that they went to High School together and shared a few classes. Buffy, however, does not recognize him at all, not even when names himself, and it is only after ten minutes of explaining when they met and things they had done together that she remembers who he is. To the end of the episode he never becomes a close and dear friend from her past, instead remaining a minor acquaintance that she met on rare occasions and had forgotten in the time since then because they had never been very close in the first place.
Done with Dawn in "Real Me".
A season 2 flashback showed Angel was there when Buffy was called meaning he was in the movie only we never saw him.
Angelus is sorely missed right about now; his spot is taken by Drusilla.
Rule Of Cool: Joss has specifically cited this as the reason why, in the final episode, all of the Ubervamps suddenly start dying easier than regular vampires seem to, even when being fought by normal humans.
Shout Out: Buffy gives a shout out to Charmed: in the series finale, Willow, after performing the spell that awakens all the Slayers on earth, exclaims, "Oh my goddess!" This is the title of the fifth season finale of Charmed. Apparently Joss Whedon saw the title of the episode, thought it was awesome, and threw it into the finale.
Buffy's last name might be a shout out to Montague Summers. Quotith The Other Wiki: "He was responsible for the first English translation, published in 1928, of the notorious 15th-century witch hunter's manual, the Malleus Maleficarum." He also believed in vampires, witches and other things.
Joss has stated that Buffy's last name is a Shout Out to Cyclops (IE Scott Summers).
Sick and Wrong: Xander lasciviously eyes a gyrating nymphet on the dance floor ("Daddy like!"), only for her to turn around and reveal herself as Dawn. Cue facepalm.
Willow: Right there with ya.
Smash Cut: Joss Whedon loves this trope, but particular mention goes to Selfless which cuts from Anya singing a happy song to her being skewed with a sword by Buffy
Technicolor Death: Halfrek's fiery death in the episode "Selfless" is like this.
Ultimate Job Security: Buffy had this at the Doublemeat Palace and Sunnydale High and Giles had it at the old Sunnydale high. The first time for her was due to having blackmail material and the second because the principal was the son of a Slayer (the one Spike killed and got his coat from) and kept her there because of easily guessed reasons. Giles? Here's an FYI, don't fuck with someone who's nickname is Ripper.
Where It All Began: The final epic battle ends where the series began, Sunnydale High.
The following examples may contain major spoilers for anyone who hasn't finished watching the television series, or who hasn't read the comics yet. Consider yourself forewarned. VERY forewarned.
Bathtub Bonding: Occurs between Faith and Genevieve Savidge.
Bittersweet Ending: The group manages to win the day and avert the apocolypse once more. But Giles is dead due to Buffy's hesitation. All magic is gone with the destruction of the seed, meaning Willow is de-powered. All slayers are viewed as terrorists thanks to much idiocy of a few rogue slayers, who squarely put the blame on Buffy. While vampires are accepted by society. On the upside, Faith takes Angel in to rehabilitate him and Buffy, despite everything thats happened, continues to fight the good fight.
Brought Down to Normal: Aiko; a Slayer who squees when Buffy personally calls her after she is impressed the Japanese girl had killed a bunch of demons, is used as a test subject by vampires who want to depower the Slayers. They easily beat her to death and string her up as a warning\threat to Buffy.
The Bus Came Back: Actress Elisabeth Röhm (Kate Lockley) left to be on Law & Order and was Brother Chucked from Angel in season 2, but makes a comeback in the comics because of course, comics aren't hindered by pesky things like acting contracts. Similarly Oz (Seth Green), who was Put on a Bus in season 4, returns in issue 26.
Can't Believe I Said That: In the same story where Buffy sleeps with Satsu, one of the lead vampires is about to kill her, threatening how he bets she tastes sweet. Satsu kills him, retorts "You have no idea", then gets all guilty and ashamed over her words.
Comic Book Time: While the television show had one in-series year pass for every real year because each season took a year with an episode roughly every week, Buffy Season 8 has, of course, taken longer to unfold because of the monthly comic schedule. All the characters have been stuck at the same age for the last three real-world years. Season 8 takes place a year and a half after Season 7/half a year after Angel Season 5 (with the Angel and Spike comics in the half-year between).
Detail Hogging Cover: The covers are near-photorealistic renditions of the actors, and the actual comics are much less detailed and much more stylized. The resemblance of the comic art to the actors can also vary greatly depending on the panel. An example of this would be here◊. Compare the art on the left to the art on the right, for instance.
Double Entendre: One possible trope this quote could be, the other being Innocent Innuendo. In Season 8, after Xander is forced to ride Centaurette Dawn (causing her to get soaking wet), this exchange happens:
Xander: How're you feeling?
Centaurette!Dawn: Like I was ridden hard and put away wet.
Flying Brick: That one person(s). You know the one(s). They become this after getting a power-up in Season Eight, although it's Powered by a Forsaken Child: the power originates from ritually slain slayers.
Not really, Willow got it wrong, Buffy was powered by Twilight itself.
Genre Savvy: Xander is absolutely Genre Savvy. In Season 2's "Passion," Buffy is considering reveal her secret life as the Slayer to Joyce in order to protect her from Angelus, Xander protests that "the more people who know your secret, the more it cheapens it for the rest of us!"
Grand Theft Me: While being tortured by Amy Willow goes on a tirade about her best friend, Buffy. She then posesses The Slayer so she can guide her to where she is imprisoned.
Groin Attack: Buffy just can't stay away from Angel's privates can she?
Horror Hunger: Dawn, when changed into a centaurette, mentions a craving for hay. Remember, she still looks human from her body up.
Humongous Mecha: Dawn fights a Mecha-Dawn—complete with a tail— in Tokyo while still a giant.
Incredibly Lame Pun: The next universe is started by Buffy and Angel having sex all over the planet and in space. Brings a new meaning to Big Bang, doesn't it?
Karma Houdini: Spike points out that almost everyone has been evil at one point, and that most of them get away with it after he Becomes The Costume in a season six Angel comic.
Mildly Military: Buffy treats the Slayer army as a real one, however as she was a shockingly bad instructor and Xander is the only one with any military knowledge they make do as amateurs.
No Bisexuals: Similar to Willow in the TV series, but reversed: after Buffy and Satsu hook up, several good reasons are given why they can't stay together, but apparently the main reason is that the former is "not a dyke." But could she be bi? The possibility isn't so much as alluded to. Later, we get Kennedy saying "You're not the only fool to ever wrinkle the sheets with a straight girl," which is arguably fair, but the possibility that she's bisexual still isn't mentioned. Her straightness is treated as just obvious.
Not Distracted by the Sexy: Andrew complains that he's bored while the Slayers are playing strip poker, and is completely nonchalant when he sees Buffy and Satsu naked in bed together.
Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Given the world-shaking events of the Season 7 finale, this is to be expected. Sunnydale is destroyed, so the series can no longer take place where it was for the past seven seasons. All the potential slayers have been activated and there are now armies of slayers as well as newly-activated ones in every corner of the globe. The Masquerade is finally broken and the world at large is made aware of the supernatural, not to mention the many deaths in the final battle against The First. Oh yeah, and it's a comic.
Pet the Dog: 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 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).
Prophecies Are Always Right: Oh so averted. Buffy and Angel really don't give a damn if the universe has been planning its death since its creation, they aren't doing it (well, they're doing it, that's what got them into this problem, but they aren't ending the universe).
Psychotic Smirk: Buffy gives a particularly frightening one to a vampire as it's doused in fuel, threatening to Kill It With Fire.
Red Herring: The "Black Hope"'s other alias, "The Madwoman," and her manner of dressing seem to openly imply that the Black Hope is Drusilla; its actually Willow.
Redshirt Army: the new generation Slayers. After the first few issues, if a Slayer you haven't met turns up, or a large number of them are gathered together? They're going to be horribly killed.
Retcon: The notion that vampires are Always Chaotic Evil was starting to be done away with possibly as early as season 5, but it doesn't really take off until the comics. The bonus/supplementary issue following 25, Tales of the Vampire, involves the aftermath of a teenage boy being transformed into a vampire, and neither he nor his vampire friends even come close to acting like any of the soulless monsters in seasons 1-3 of the television series. He briefly considers killing his mom, but quickly decides against it when she reveals that she still loves him no matter what. The idea of vampires killing people for food is even thrown out the window with Harmony's in-universe television show demonstrating that they can survive on non-lethal amount of blood from people. It goes hand in hand with the increasingly Black and Grey Morality of the series.
Retired Monster: Dracula. Yes, Dracula. Because he's most likely madly in love... with Xander. Dracula.
So Last Season: See Willow, probably the most powerful witch in the world, singlehandedly responsible for activating all the potential Slayers, a feat more impressive than the creation of the original Slayer to begin with. Then other magic users and Cosmic Horrors show up that can throw around equally impressive and powerful magic right back at her, including the formerly much-less talented witch, rat Amy. Even Buffy's Slayer abilities become pretty obsolete in the face of a giant army of full Slayers and Willow's magic.
Speech Bubbles: Warren speaks with irregular and somewhat-squiggly bubbles and Twilight talks in a different font.
Summon Bigger Fish: Powerless Slayers vs. US Military? Summon 3 Tibetan Goddesses.
Surprisingly Sudden Death: Good lord, by this point someone should have slapped Sunnydale with the label "Death Trap" with all the times this trope is invoked.
Take That: The Season 8 comic series started over a year before the success of another franchise that featured a human girl in love with a vampire, so no-one thought much about the Big Bad of the season being named Twilight, with Buffy's only interaction with the villain coming before the other series became well known. But when they come face to face for the first time since then, Buffy points out the she did the whole Human-Girl-In-Love-With-a-Vampire thing first, and her vampire was so much better than the other one.
Timey Wimey Ball: Future Dark Willow exploits the time travel confusion for all it's worth to manipulate people to her advantage.
True Love's Kiss: With Buffy down for the count it's determined that one of these is the order of the day. At the time it was hinted that Xander gives it, but Buffy later figures out that it was fellow Slayer Satsu. Her reaction is that it was sweet, but they can't be together. Then they sleep together. Twice.
Villain with Good Publicity: Harmony Kendall becomes a reality star and raises the public's opinion of vampires considerably. Likewise, she turns the Slayer Organization into a Hero with Bad Publicity
Aunt Pennybags: Giles' latest What the Hell, Hero? moment was to leave Faith everything in his will. If you know Faith you know she's usually fun to be around, but she's also putting that new found wealth to good use, from helping Angel and his research to paying off the Arsenal football team when a Slayer picks a fight with them.
Brought Down to Normal: Buffy, in particular, but it can be jarring to see everybody else being so...so normal. Simone by proxy attempts to have her depowered and slain.
Closet Geek: Not only does Faith have Batman pajamas she makes enough Star Wars references to make one think she had been hanging out with Andrew.
Andrew reveals to Buffy at the party that he's set up a disaster relief fund with some other slayers, much to her dismay as he has made something of his life and she, as yet, has not without being The Slayer.
Gorn: The first issue of "Angel and Faith" is very bloody.
It Got Worse: If you thought Buffy's life was bad before...vampires are beloved, Slayers are seen as the enemy, Buffy herself has a dead end job in a cafe, she just wants to be normal despite slaying being the only thing she feels she can do, and her friends have largely shunned her.
Jossed: In season seven it looks like Faith slept with Spike. When Harmony introduces herself in the comics however Faith offers these words.
"I love that I'm supposed to be the slutty one when everyone but me has nailed Spike."
Must Make Amends: Angel wants to make up for killing Giles by finding a way to bring him back from the dead.
Older and Wiser: Believe it or not Faith. She's a Cool Big Sis to other Slayers, uses her mistakes as a basis of what to do, and Angel personally picked her for her held because she would guide him or stop him if he becomes obsessed, crazy or dangerous.
Pac Man Fever: Buffy's roommates are seen playing Mass Effect, specifically Liara fighting Collectors, which doesn't occur in game. Doubles as a Shout Out since Dark Horse comics are behind both adaptations.
We Need a Distraction: One of Faither's Slayers picks a fight with a soccer team. Faith looks like she is going to flash them, only to draw attention to the drinks she bought so they'd lay off.
What Did I Do Last Night?: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 #1 opens with Buffy waking up in a trashed room thinking:
"God... What have I done? Also, why did I do whatever it was I've done? Also, where am I?"
Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: The basic view of the world, with Slayers being seen as terrorists persecuting vampires who are now beloved. Simone does not help, her appearance in the first issue even invoking that she is a domestic terrorist.
Video Game tropes
A video game for the XBOX was released in 2002, featuring all the cast save Sarah Michelle Gellar, roughly taking place between the third season episodes "Revelations" and "Lover's Walk" (the gang knows Angel's back, but Xander and Cordelia are still together). It centers on yet another bid to revive The Master, with Spike being forced to help because Dru is held hostage. It was followed by a sequel, Chaos Bleeds, which has slain foes Back from the Dead as Ethan Rayne challenges The First Evil to a contest, using The Scoobies as his champions in a bid to become a chaotic god.Between the two games we find the following tropes.
A Date with Rosie Palms: When playing as Faith in Chaos Bleeds she might allude to using stakes she finds as dildos.
Back from the Dead: The main plot of the first game is to do this with The Master, and the second game has numerous antagonists pull this.
Borrowed Catchphrase: In the alternate dimension Buffy has to find the other playable characters. Turns out Faith is chilling in a bank vault waiting to be rescued, and will use Willow's "Bored now" as Buffy does so. In this instance there no ominous foreshadowing, fight or Flaying Alive, Faith just wants out.
"A sparkly thingy, to add to my collection of sparkly thingies".
Badass Normal: Xander is easily as capable fighter as Buffy, Faith or Spike.
Call Back\Call Forward: Loads and loads of them, from Spike flipping the V at Angel to Xander's love spell to Buffy freaking at the idea her mother will be raised from the dead to Faith borrowing Willow's bored nowCatch Phrase.
Celebrity Star: Aimee Mann. "I hate playing vampire towns."
Continuity Nod: Xander makes fun of Drusilla having the hots for him. Spike angrily replies it was due to the love spell he created when he wanted to get back at Cordelia.
When Angel becomes involved all the Scoobies question whether he might go evil again. When The Master possesses him they discuss trying to restore Angel, or the possibility Buffy might have to kill him.
When Spike makes his appearance Buffy is furious he went back on the deal they had in either Becoming or Lovers Walk.
Demonic Possession: The demons Spike works for does this to Dru to force his cooperation, and The Master takes control of Angel as a host. The Wangst over the idea that Buffy might kill him is surprisingly toned down.
Elite Mooks: Common garden variety vampires are surprisingly dangerous when compared to demons.
Enemy Chatter: And thanks to the limited voice samples it can get real old real fast. A quick application of pine to a vampire's chest however will mean you only have to hear Buffy yap.
Enemy Mine: Spike finally gets fed up with working for the vamps trying to bring back The Master and turns to the Scoobies to offer aid in exchange for releasing Dru.
Evil Twin: Buffy has to fight one in the first game, and Anya, Tara and Ripper become this in the second.
Final Death: At both ends of the spectrum. Some enemies (vampires for example) have to be staked or burned to be disposed on. Likewise, Buffy can survive with no energy, she dies from being bitten (vampires, spiders), slashed, some special death move, or long falls.
Giant Spider: Come in two sizes. The small ones are bigger than the ones in Australia, the larger ones are as big as Buffy.
Guide Dang It: Finding your way through Chaos Bleeds is hell.
The first level of the docks requires holy water. Unless you think to smash open the large crates to find a font you're kind of stuck. Buffy even lampshades being able to find it.
"Hello!"
He Knows About Timed Hits: The beginning of the game has Giles put Buffy through basic training. Chaos Bleeds has the characters fend off an attack on The Magic Shop, with Giles, Anya, Tara and Buffy explaining the basics to the four main characters (save Faith, who plays the same as Buffy).
Opening Narration: The first video game expands on the one given above, retaining Giles as a narrator:
In a time when the world was young and demons ran unfettered across the face of the earth. The powers that be chose a young woman, one girl in all the world to combat the forces of darkness. Upon her death, the power passed to another and another. Down over the millennia with each inheriting the power of her predecessor. The power of the Slayer.
Rewarding Vandalism: Destroying crates, furniture, headstones and the like will often reveal items, or makeshift stakes.
Shout Out: The game's music during quiet, investigative scenes resembles the library and Sledgwick Hotel music in Ghostbusters.
Shown Their Work: The amount of work put into the games is amazing.
Standard Status Effects: As you progress through the game vampires will have this ability to stun Buffy, which is kinda like the thrall powerful vampires like The Master and Drusilla have. Some demons have something similar.
Super Drowning Skills: Buffy, slayer of vampires, able to take on hordes of demons, clearly cannot swim.
The Other Darrin: Giselle Loren performs the voice of Buffy (and Anya in Chaos Bleeds), where Kari Wahlgren fills in for Alyson Hannigan in the second game.
Title Sequence: After Giles gives a brief rundown of the plot we get a remade game version of the titles, although they goof in having the traditional Power Walk and shot of Buffy switched around. Averted in Chaos Bleeds, which goes directly to a shot of Sarah Michelle Gellar.
Who Writes This Crap?!: Spike begins reading out an incantation to summon a demon, before turning to the vampires he's working for and asks who writes this dross.
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