Potential?

T

Tru

Naturally buff, Buff
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I recently rewatched season 7 and I got to thinking: which potential had the most, well, potential to be the slayer? Under normal circumstances that is- the same way Buffy was called - who would have lasted the longest?

I think Kennedy would have been kick-ass (although it pains me to admit it!), but perhaps her arrogance at being so powerful and "the one and only" may have led to her death?
I would have also liked to have seen Annabelle as the slayer. Yes, she was easily freaked by the whole slayer/vampire world, but I believe she would have reacted differently had she been called. I mean, if a shallow and carefree Buffy could pull it together, she defintely could.

What do you guys think? 🙂
 
I think Kennedy is number one(hands down). But I also think Amanda would be great slayer, if she didnt die.🙁 She's brave and she cares people.
 
Um the firey red head, Val? Oh dear, I forget her name. She was this timid little girl and when the power awoken in her she bacame a little firecracker! Flying jump kicks and all!
 
Vi (the redhead) would/did make a great slayer IMO. Also, the oriental - forgot her name - as well. Something about those two in Chosen. They were fierce as hell, and had the "get it done" attitude a slayer is supposed to have. I don't think Kennedy would last that long. Too arrogant and hotheaded for my taste.
 
K
kleyton84
Vi! Thats the one!
Kennedy would be the best.

None would be entertaining enough to carry a show.
 
To be honest, I don't think any of them would have been called next.
My next comment is not a joke and shouldn't be taken as such, but I think the next Slayer to be called would have been Dana.

I also think that would have been one wicked story to actually focus on, seeing the Slayer fight literal and figurative demons, ones in her mind and on the screen.

Damage was the perfect step-off for a fantastic potential spin-off.
 
I don't think there's a way for us to be able to tell such a thing (and no, it's not just because I can't ever keep their names straight 😛). I mean, before Buffy was called, would anyone have predicted that SHE would be the next Slayer? She had been less likely to be called than any of the Potentials we saw, yet she was and she was a damn good Slayer at that.

So, yeah. I don't think that how the Potentials act pre-calling is a real indicator of how they'd be as a Slayer.
 
Washburne
Washburne
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fly on the wall said:
I don't think there's a way for us to be able to tell such a thing (and no, it's not just because I can't ever keep their names straight 😛). I mean, before Buffy was called, would anyone have predicted that SHE would be the next Slayer? She had been less likely to be called than any of the Potentials we saw, yet she was and she was a damn good Slayer at that.

So, yeah. I don't think that how the Potentials act pre-calling is a real indicator of how they'd be as a Slayer.
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She was a lucky Slayer.
By rights Buffy should have died in her first year.
Xander overhearing her in WTTH was the luckiest thing to ever happen to a Slayer because that set off a chain of events that allowed her to grow as The Slayer.
Just like anyone else in any other job, you get better at it over time, but she was lucky to begin with.
Had she been like every other Slayer we're told of before her, Buffy would have been a minor foot note in the history of the Slayers.

It isn't Buffy that is what makes her so special, its her friends.
We see that even more so by the fact that Buffy doesn't defeat a single 'big bad' alone, except for 'The Master' and that was after he 'killed' her!
 
Edmund Blackadder said:
She was a lucky Slayer.
By rights Buffy should have died in her first year.
Xander overhearing her in WTTH was the luckiest thing to ever happen to a Slayer because that set off a chain of events that allowed her to grow as The Slayer.
Just like anyone else in any other job, you get better at it over time, but she was lucky to begin with.
Had she been like every other Slayer we're told of before her, Buffy would have been a minor foot note in the history of the Slayers.

It isn't Buffy that is what makes her so special, its her friends.
We see that even more so by the fact that Buffy doesn't defeat a single 'big bad' alone, except for 'The Master' and that was after he 'killed' her!
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Right, and that further proves my point.
Being a good Slayer is more about luck, and good timing, and the help you receive, and the way you grow as a character rather than actual talent you had pre-Slayer.
 
fly on the wall said:
Right, and that further proves my point.
Being a good Slayer is more about luck, and good timing, and the help you receive, and the way you grow as a character rather than actual talent you had pre-Slayer.
Click to expand...

If you rely on luck, that does not make you a 'good' anything.
That makes you lucky that your luck held out.
Buffys power comes from the people she loves and those that love her. This enhances her but it doesn't make her a better Slayer. As I said, without her friends she wouldn't have survived much passed her first few episodes.
In fact she learns things over time, but even as far as season 7 she still relies on her friends - thats not The Slayer, thats the person.
Being a good Slayer is asking for help when you need it from your friends, something Buffy is always reluctant to do, and its just lucky for her that her friends give it to her and help her.
 
Edmund Blackadder said:
If you rely on luck, that does not make you a 'good' anything.
That makes you lucky that your luck held out.
Buffys power comes from the people she loves and those that love her. This enhances her but it doesn't make her a better Slayer. As I said, without her friends she wouldn't have survived much passed her first few episodes.
In fact she learns things over time, but even as far as season 7 she still relies on her friends - thats not The Slayer, thats the person.
Being a good Slayer is asking for help when you need it from your friends, something Buffy is always reluctant to do, and its just lucky for her that her friends give it to her and help her.
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Of course Buffy was lucky, and of course she had good friends, but I don't see why that means she couldn't be a good Slayer at the same time.
Every single time a Slayer goes on patrol and comes back alive, there was luck involved.
Buffy IS a good Slayer. There would be plenty of people that would disagree with your assertion that being a good Slayer means asking for help from her friends..but no matter. There were times when Buffy DID ask for help, very blatantly. And there were times that she didn't want to put her friends and family at risk. There were times that she believed the legacy, that she was supposed to do this alone. That somehow makes her lesser of a Slayer?
There are a hundred reasons I could name why Buffy is a good Slayer. But for now I'll simply say this. She was willing to sacrifice everything - her first love, relationships, school, happiness, her very life twice - to do what she needed to do. To save the world. If that's not a good Slayer, I don't know what is.
 
Who says one of the potentials at Buffy's house would've been next in line? 😉 It could've been anyone, maybe a slayer somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Australia or soemthing.

Of the girls in Buffy's house the one I think would've done the ebst job is Vi. She actually survived the final battle in a pretty good condition, so that speaks for her. Also, unlike certain other potentials, she had character.
 
When I first read this I instantly thought Amanda would have made a great next slayer. Now I think on it more I'm not so sure any of the Potentials who were with Buffy would have been a good slayer like Buffy herself. But then again they all had good and bad qualities in them that would have got them somewhere in being a slayer.

Faith was pretty messed up and ended up murdering people then getting herself in a coma that eventually led her to prison. You'd think that would end her as a slayer but somehow shes still pretty equal to Buffy, I think its because shes a wild card and like some have said luck has given them the edge to be better than expected. I don't see that kind of luck in the Potentials we sort of got to know in Buffy.

I think its hard to say who would have been called next if the spell Willow performed hadn't happened. Like Edmund said Dana could have been a pretty good candidate even though she was very mentally ill she still held her own because she was pretty unpredictable. To me the other potentials like Kennedy, Vi and Rhona were a little bit too predictable. I think overall its very hard to see who would have made a great next slayer without getting to know the characters further and seeing what sacrifices and descions they would have made.
 
fly on the wall said:
Of course Buffy was lucky, and of course she had good friends, but I don't see why that means she couldn't be a good Slayer at the same time.
Every single time a Slayer goes on patrol and comes back alive, there was luck involved.
Buffy IS a good Slayer.
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She isn't. When she does 'go it alone', just being The Slayer, there are usually major consequences.
One of the points of the show is that the isolation, is wrong, that The Slayer herself is not as effective as it could be.
Buffy was lucky in Slayer mode.
If Buffy was a 'good' Slayer she wouldn't have needed her friends, but she did HOWEVER she was always reluctant to ask them for help.

---------- Post added at 02:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:08 PM ----------

fly on the wall said:
There are a hundred reasons I could name why Buffy is a good Slayer. But for now I'll simply say this. She was willing to sacrifice everything - her first love, relationships, school, happiness, her very life twice - to do what she needed to do. To save the world. If that's not a good Slayer, I don't know what is.
Click to expand...


The Slayer shouldn't have any of that, and when she does sacrifice them the Slayer and Buffy come into conflict.
The Slayer shouldn't have to sacrifice all of these things because we're told The Slayer shouldn't have them.
If Buffy didn't have them then as I say, she would have died in season 1 BUT she does have them HOWEVER when she reverts to 'The Slayer' she is less effective.
 
Edmund Blackadder said:
If Buffy was a 'good' Slayer she wouldn't have needed her friends, but she did HOWEVER she was always reluctant to ask them for help.
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Surely she can be a 'good' slayer that becomes even better with a little help from her friends?
I would say that she was a great slayer that got extraordinary with her friends helping her.
And to say that she always was reluctant to ask them seems like a quite huge exageration. It happens that she is reluctant for whatever reason but as I see it thats not the case most of the time.

To keep this slightly on topic...
I agree with those who says that it's impossible to tell which potential that would be the best slayer.
Becoming a slayer probably change you quite a lot and I think it's very hard to predict how different people would react to that change.
Maybe even Rona would get her act together and suprise us all 🙂

/SK
 
Tru said:
I think Kennedy would have been kick-ass (although it pains me to admit it!)
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I also think she might have been the next in line, she was kinda skillful (after all she won Willow :sad25: ) but on a 2nd thought Faith was still alive so it would be her the one getting all vamps-violent again :cheering:

Tru said:
perhaps her arrogance at being so powerful and "the one and only" may have led to her death
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see, that would not annoy me at all! set Willow free!!! :lmao:
 
Originally Posted by Tru View Post
perhaps her arrogance at being so powerful and "the one and only" may have led to her death
Click to expand...

She didn't want to be the one and only slayer (or for a long while, only one not in jail who is actually slaying vampires). It was her idea to do a spell to make all the potentials into slayers so that everyone could share that power. Being the only one was a responsibility that was foist on her, not one that she chose, and people got upset with her for doing her best to try to serve that responsibility and kicked her out when it led to undesired consequences, but anyone having to lead a war would be in the same position. I think wanting to activate all the potentials shows that she wasn't fundamentally arrogant, just upset at having her previous attempts at serving her responsibility be put down so much without anyone else stepping up and doing better.
 
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