Potentials - How to make them better

[MarieVampSlayer]

Hey all!

I'm not sure if there was another thread about it but I didn't see one so here I go

It's pretty obvious that people are not fans of the potentials in S7. I personally liked the idea but not the characters that we were presented with. So I was wondering, what do you think they could have done better? What kind of potentials would you have liked to see? What would have make them interesting and lovable?

It's my first thread so don't be shy to give me some pointers to improve

MarieVampSlayer

 

[WillowFromBuffy]

One of them should have been a spunky lesbian with big dark eyes and a braid in her hair.

 

[flow]

I think the general idea - sharing the power and the strength - was good but the potentials were just thrown on us in dozens. There were far to many and many of them were unlikable (not only Kennedy - also Eve and Molly and Chloe....). To add even more pain, they were constantly yammering, whining and complaining.

It could have been done better, if we had got two know only two or three potentials. There were Vi, Rhona and Amanda for example. Those were likeable characters. We could have seen more of them and less or nothing of the others. The rest of the potentials would have been just a small army, that camps out in the garden of Revello Drive. It was far too crowded inside the house.
Vi, Rhona and Amanda could have been their elected leaders or elders or whatever and they woukl have been in the house and would have taken part in the talks. We would have learned more about their background and history and Vi could have ha a crush on Spike. Or maybe she could have fallen in love with Willow - she actually had the same sweetness like Tara had.

We could still have a pillow fight or some other girlie stuff with the rest of them, but we don`t need to meet one potential after the other, only to see them die shortly after we first met them. The training, the upgrade into slayers and the battle down at the hellmouth could have been the same as it was.

flow

 

[Last Watcher]

Potentials - How to make them better?

Well there's always flame grilled with a nice BBQ sauce & a few vegetables.......

 

[The Bronze]

Pretty much agree with @flow quality over quantity. Give us one or two that we care about rather than a mass of cannon fodder.

There were Vi, Rhona and Amanda for example. Those were likeable characters.

I think this must be a typo though because she's unbearable.

 

[white avenger]

The Potentials would have been better if they were, upon arriving in Sunnydale

A) Better trained

B) More disciplined

C) Better equipped (all providing their own weapons and finances)

D) Better informed as to the seriousness of their situation

E) Better housed (maybe moving into, and fortifying Angel's old mansion, if it were available)

F) Had a "No High School Principals Allowed" sigh posted, since a most of their problems seemed to begin once Wood made his true reason for being in Sunnydale known. (Coincidence, maybe, but why take chances?)

And finally, most importantly:

G) Been informed immediately upon arriving that Buffy was in command, her word was law, her orders were expected to be obeyed, no arguments, questions, or exceptions.

H) Known without any doubt that the front door was always open so that anyone questioning Rules A thru G were free to pack their weapons, take their finances, and march out in a motivated and well disciplined manner.

I) Known that Spike was under Buffy's protection, and anyone, repeat ANYONE, having a problem with that fact should exercise Option G immediately, and don't let the door hit you in the a** on the way out.

J) Been certain that Options A thru I applied to all Watchers, sisters, friends, and assorted acquaintances, including, but not limited to, ex boyfriends and pizza delivery personnel as soon as the pizza was delivered, fresh, hot, and with no anchovies or olives, regardless of color.

Other than those simple, easy to follow rules, it's just like a Season long pajama party, pillow fights from 8 to 11 P M on weeknights and all night on weekends. no supervision supplied, and sweep up the feathers after you finish. No reason why an apocalypse should stand in the way of good, wholesome fun.

 

[Athene]

I think there should have only been about 4 potentials, that way we could get to know and care about them individually
I personally wasn't that bothered about some of the potential's complaints, I don't think they should have to stay silent if they're not okay. So maybe they could have just voiced their concerns in a better way

 

[Fool for Buffy]

I didn't like that the number rose from like 5 or 6 to 30 so quickly. It made it way less important that we got to know any of them at all. And even though Kennedy is the most annoying, Rona is the one who feels useless. At least Kennedy had a purpose.

 

[Athene]

H) Known without any doubt that the front door was always open so that anyone questioning Rules A thru G were free to pack their weapons, take their finances, and march out in a motivated and well disciplined manner.

Well they sort of don't want to die so that's not really an option is it? The potentials couldn't just up and walk out of the house whenever they were upset, they would have been killed like that one potential was when she left.

G) Been informed immediately upon arriving that Buffy was in command, her word was law, her orders were expected to be obeyed, no arguments, questions, or exceptions.

Sounds like North Korea.
I'm just saying the potentials should be allowed to question Buffy, and there certainly should be exceptions to Buffy's word.

 

[DeadlyDuo]

At least Kennedy had a purpose.

Yeah, to be a pain in the arse.

In all seriousness though, I wouldn't mind Kennedy sticking around as a potential IF, and only if, the other character put her in her place when she started getting ideas above her station and she got told to back off and stop harassing Willow........ then Kennedy could die a horrible and permanent death because she didn't listen to what people were telling her.

I'd keep Vi and Amanda and expand their roles. Have Vi mirror a young S1/S2 Buffy whilst Amanda would mirror S7 Dawn.

Rona is useless so I'd get rid of her or just use her as a red shirt.

Because of the plot hole in regards to the potentials "they're the last few so you have to protect them Buffy, oh wait there's a whole world of them that you can transform into a slayer army", I would choose either one or the other. Ether there's a whole world of them or there isn't but it can't work both ways.

 

[BuffyBot22]

Pretty much agree with @flow quality over quantity. Give us one or two that we care about rather than a mass of cannon fodder.



I think this must be a typo though because she's unbearable.

I just rewatched s7, and I actually found Rhona more unbearable than Kennedy.
At least Kennedy wanted to fight. And she did want to help Willow feel more confidence in her magic again.
But all Rhona did was WHINE. She was so ungrateful.
 

Yeah, to be a pain in the arse.

In all seriousness though, I wouldn't mind Kennedy sticking around as a potential IF, and only if, the other character put her in her place when she started getting ideas above her station and she got told to back off and stop harassing Willow........ then Kennedy could die a horrible and permanent death because she didn't listen to what people were telling her.

I'd keep Vi and Amanda and expand their roles. Have Vi mirror a young S1/S2 Buffy whilst Amanda would mirror S7 Dawn.

Rona is useless so I'd get rid of her or just use her as a red shirt.

Because of the plot hole in regards to the potentials "they're the last few so you have to protect them Buffy, oh wait there's a whole world of them that you can transform into a slayer army", I would choose either one or the other. Ether there's a whole world of them or there isn't but it can't work both ways.

YES to that last part. The end was so weird with all of these awakening slayers, yet Buffy had to save all these whiny potentials so the slayer line wasn't wiped out. It really made no sense. You can't have both. But, in all seriousness, you can't really have the latter at all. I always understood it as some people are just born with the slayer gene, when one slayer dies another gets activated. But there would have been plenty of younger girls or yet to be born girls that could have been slayers if Buffy, Faith and all those potentials died in that battle. I can handle minor plotholes; but this was basically a one gigantic plothole for an arc of an entire season.
And not to mention slayers that were like 8-12 were being awoken. I thought you had to be 15? And Kennedy was past her expiration- she had to be like 17-20. I thought 15 was the set age. That last season basically messed up the entire premise of the entire show.


Okay Rant over.

 

[thrasherpix]

I'd have found it interesting to show the results of the Potentials fleeing to Sunnydale, to show they had lives, loves, and family. This would've humanized them rather than extras that bogged down the scene.

On the other hand, that would take even MORE time from the core 4...

And for some, it's the Spuffy that makes season 7 so just get rid of the Potentials, and the Scoobies while you're at it. Have Buffy and Spike fight the battle alone (or at least she'll call the others when she needs them, giving the Scoobies about as much screen time as Willy in earlier seasons), and win...perhaps crushing the uber-vamps with the school falling down on them followed by the sun (sort of like the ending of Fright Night) as Spike and Buffy open the Hellmouth and then demolish the school as they have sex in it (just give Spike lots of sunscreen). Cut to end credits as Buffy and Spike have sex amidst the ashes of the uber-vamps.

 

[The Bronze]

I just rewatched s7, and I actually found Rhona more unbearable than Kennedy.
At least Kennedy wanted to fight. And she did want to help Willow feel more confidence in her magic again.
But all Rhona did was WHINE. She was so ungrateful.

Exactly the same for me. My last rewatch I thought Kennedy was the best of the potentials. Like you say she wanted to fight, be useful and survive. I realised she gets most hate because she's the most visible and memorable but she's really not that bad. Obviously she has awful moments but they tend to come towards the end when pretty much everyone is having bad moments.

 

[Dora]

Plot holes....blame it on the potentials
Buffy casting was so great at the beginning...but by S7 it seamed nobody cared anymore lot of the Potentials were poor actors with terrible accents, but that was not the real trouble
How was thirty + teenage girls using one bathroom who ever thought that up never had a teenage girl;
Why did they not move to Angels mansion or the abandon military base
There should have been a better command system, more potentials, why take 30 new slayer/ potentials to face a Army of Vampires ? if it had not been for Angel arriving with the amulet and Spike wearing it they would have quickly been wiped out , no nothing wrong with the idea of the potentials needed lots more , more training , better weapons but mostly much better writing on Mutant enemy's part

 

[Fuffy Baith]

Because of the plot hole in regards to the potentials "they're the last few so you have to protect them Buffy, oh wait there's a whole world of them that you can transform into a slayer army", I would choose either one or the other. Ether there's a whole world of them or there isn't but it can't work both ways.

Yea, at first Giles says there's only a handful of potentials and they're coming to Sunnydale for protection because the Bringers are hunting them down. There then can't be thousands of potentials left in the world for Buffy to turn into slayers. I get that there are some potentials like Buffy that went unknown, but I got the sense that it was a rare thing. And a part of what makes Buffy special, she's the slayer the watchers council couldn't see coming. So I don't really like the ending from a logical and mythological aspect of the show. Less potentials and a more clear and concise storyline is how to improve them.

 

[flow]

just rewatched s7, and I actually found Rhona more unbearable than Kennedy.
At least Kennedy wanted to fight

But that is not true ! Rona fought in the vineyard, she fought at the hellmouth even so she had a broken arm and she was the only one of the potentials to get a go with the sythe. She is not the average girlie potential, that is true. But you need some diversity and I´d rather goe for Rona than for Kennedy.
Kennedy would be okay for me, if she wouldn`t be with Willow. And that is just because there was no chemistry at all between those two.

flow

 

[EarthLogic]

Kill them. Kill them all.

...

Just kidding. Well, maybe not where Kennedy is concerned. But certainly a cull in numbers was needed. I like the idea of housing them in Angel's mansion (providing Willow could secure it against vampires - dunno if that would work if Angel technically owns it) but really we needed far fewer. I think Giles bringing 3 or 4 girls to Sunnydale after the rest had already been killed would have made the First a more believable threat, and makes the situation graver. Buffy would have then been able to actually form a bond with them and they'd be actual characters for us instead of just annoying ubervamp fodder.
I also think each one should have had a different level of experience with vampires and the Council. We know from Kendra that some potentials start training from an early age so they're ready if they're called; why not have a potential who's actually clued in? At the opposite end of the spectrum there could be one who is a complete newbie and clearly confused/terrified. It would be like Buffy facing her 15-year old self again.

Have Buffy and Spike fight the battle alone (or at least she'll call the others when she needs them, giving the Scoobies about as much screen time as Willy in earlier seasons), and win...perhaps crushing the uber-vamps with the school falling down on them followed by the sun (sort of like the ending of Fright Night) as Spike and Buffy open the Hellmouth and then demolish the school as they have sex in it (just give Spike lots of sunscreen). Cut to end credits as Buffy and Spike have sex amidst the ashes of the uber-vamps.

Better yet, forget the fighting and just have them bring down the Hellmouth by having sex! After all it worked in 'Smashed'. If we're gonna throw sensible plot out the window why not go the whole way? We know from S8 that Joss regards destruction via super-boinking as a valid storytelling device.

 

[caitaintdead]

I'd have found it interesting to show the results of the Potentials fleeing to Sunnydale, to show they had lives, loves, and family. This would've humanized them rather than extras that bogged down the scene.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Although I hate seeing screen-time taken from our core four in the last season, one of my biggest problems with the potentials is that IT MAKES NO SENSE. We are told that some of them had no idea that they were potential slayers (much in the same way Buffy was), so... How did they get to Sunnydale safely from all around the globe? What was their parents' reaction to their 15-year-old suddenly moving from China to California? I can't imagine Joyce putting up with it. Are we meant to believe that their parents were killed by bringers? In that case, they should be FAR more disturbed than they are. Even if the parents were killed, and the potentials were able to cope with this huge loss, wouldn't their friends and non-nuclear family report them missing? The school even?

None of it made sense. There were too many. They had no likability. They had no depth.

If they did not have the time to spend on making this story work, then why did they bother? Could have kept the same end mission statement of 'lets all share the power' by awakening all the potentials without showing ANY of them.

End rant.

 

[white avenger]

I'm just saying the potentials should be allowed to question Buffy, and there certainly should be exceptions to Buffy's word.

Except for the options of leaving if things got too rough and the pillow fights, those rules are no more than what would be expected minimally in any military boot camp, and that is basically where the Potentials were there in Sunnydale to participate in, whether anyone wants to believe it or not. They were being protected, certainly, but they were also being taught how to live and stand a fair chance of surviving in what was without doubt the most hostile environment in the world. That requires training and discipline, not pampering and coddling.

 

[Athene]

Except for the options of leaving if things got too rough and the pillow fights, those rules are no more than what would be expected minimally in any military boot camp, and that is basically where the Potentials were there in Sunnydale to participate in, whether anyone wants to believe it or not. They were being protected, certainly, but they were also being taught how to live and stand a fair chance of surviving in what was without doubt the most hostile environment in the world. That requires training and discipline, not pampering and coddling.

That still doesn't mean that they have to do anything that Buffy tells them to, if Buffy told them to jump into a situation that will get them killed then I don't expect them to do it. So there are and should be exceptions to Buffy's word, it's hardly coddling to say that the potentials have their freedom of speech.