Oh I love them too! (And Wesley fics!) What I meant to say it's just that you don't have to put Buffy down to do that, do you? ;) (ETA: Well, unless you're doing a purposely AU thing in which the bad guys are the heroes of their own story I guess, which is always interesting to see in fanworks.)
And I totally get that the "tradional" roles are often the problem. *nods*
Yesss, Illyria is like a demon terminator, what's not to love? ♥