AU Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Way It Should Have Been

[3D Master]

Xander's whole point was that he was support--excellent support, but still support. He could have gotten Riley's chip or become a male Slayer, and he would still be support. My only objection came when they made him less stable support, but that kind of happened to everyone.

Less stable? How about "no support at all"?

In the first two seasons he was support, and could do it all. He could fight and stand his ground next to Buffy, and he was a main researcher. Buffy is the one who buys donuts for the other three to do their researching.

In "The Zeppo" for no reason whatsoever, with not a single hint beforehand, Xander suddenly was unable to do anything. He couldn't fight, he couldn't research, he was said to be doing donut runs and donut runs only, because he was too pathetic, stupid and incompetent to do anything else. <Behold, the shark jumping moment.

By S4 he was in a hair pulling match with Harmony. Oddly enough, he was the "heart" of the group during the enjoining spell, despite the fact that he's reduced to being nothing at all during S4.

Strangely, despite being depicted as pathetic alongside Buffy and Willow, all his competency and leadership qualities he showed as Nighthawk and Keyguy do come back in his dayjob where he's the friggin' foreman in an executive care with a suit for presentations of the construction company in no time at all. Making him the only one capable in normal society it seems, and it being as if he's still split between suave Xander and idiot Xander from S5 episode 2; and showing off just how bad the writing's gotten over the years.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

There is no way that Xander can really be Buffy's equal unless he had or has the same powers, which he doesn't.

Actually he could if they made him the Ash Williams of the Buffyverse.