Title: The Wonderland Subject
Author: M. McGregor
Rating: M
Genre: Adventure/Action
Pairing: None so far, but hints at Xander/Buffy
Status: In progress
Summary: During an attempt to retrieve a Slayer from a dangerous situation, Xander Harris falls into the rabbit hole. What happens after he falls back out again? Crossover
Link: Link to story on authors livejournal

A crossover between Marvel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Another of my favorite Buffy stories. Like most of McGregors stories, writing is excellent and characterization consistent. Plot is there but seems overshadowed by the numerous characters at times. Still an excellent piece of fiction.

5/5

 

Just to show how unlike some Super!Xander fics this is, at one point a reviewer (probably on crack, I mean, it was Twisting the Hellmouth, but still) called Buffy a Mary Sue.

Characters (BtVS at least) are spot on. Canon elements are seamlessly weaved with original stuff, to the point that I, knowing little about X Men, had a hard time figuring out where the Ultimates Cosmology ended and the MMcGregor Cosmology began. The villain in this fic is made of win.

It's still a WIP, but if the author got run over by a bus you could sorta call it complete as is, so WIP-fearers, fear rather less. (The last update or two might not be on Twisting yet, and only on his livejournal, which also has some fairly amusing commentary by random people)

5/5, quite possibly the best crossover in the whole damn BtVS fandom.

 

This story virtually defines guilty pleasure. To me the story peaked with the interaction between Xander and Jean Grey. The first twenty or so chapters are so much damn fun to read as I was trying to figure out first what crossover this was, and then enjoying the revelations of trying to figure out what happened to Xander.

What happened to Xander in the Ultimate-verse is well... kind of lame. I'm not sure if I've ever seen a Xander so ridiculously over-powered - and I have read the Journeyverse. As mentioned above, Buffy herself is a whole nother problem. Irregardless of her Slayer-status, I could never imagine her actually kicking Captain's America's ass in a spar. It didn't break the story, but it sure didn't help it.

Still, the story does move fast and does read like a comic, especially the latest chapters available only on the author's livejournal. Despite its flaws in dealing with Xander and Buffy, the relations between the characters are an absolute blast to read.

4/5

 

I can see being annoyed at the Xander-poweredness, but I think the Buffy thing is much more excusable. The Buffyverse more or less defines Low End Modern Fantasy, and if you cross it with anything nastier than like, Law and Order SVU (and let's be honest, maybe even that) it is easy to interpret power levels such that Slayers are more or less a joke. In crossovers, I prefer for Buffy characters to be "generously interpreted" so that someone as legendary for killing shit as Buffy Summers (especially post S7 10-Years-Called Buffy) is in her universe doesn't just automatically get her ass handed to her by everyone.

Buffy and Cap both are in similar roles of being fighters with a wealth of experience and relatively mundane superpowers, and I was fine with the draw. It certainly would have felt lamer had Buffy been summarily beaten up so Xander could continue with his "training".

 

I got 23 chapters into this before I finally realised that the characters were boring, the plot was uninspired and predictable, and it seemed to be getting worse as it progressed. I couldn't stand to read another chapter.

It reeks of fanboyism.