The Poor Man's Slayer?

S

SlayerThe

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I've always felt a bit iffy about these scythe-activated potentials and now after thinking about it even more, I feel even more at ends with the idea of these girls.

From what we know about the scythe-activated potentials, they may have the strength, skill, endurance, agility and stamina of the slayer, but they lack two very important slayer powers -- the ability to call another slayer and the prophecies (though we are definitely not sure about the prophecy part).

And it just seems to me like they wouldn't be as strong as a normal death called slayer such as Buffy or Faith. They lacked the true calling that makes a slayer a slayer. Without this, they truly are not chosen. Just girls with superpowers.

They may do good and help protect the world, but I just get the feeling that they are not 100% slayers.
 
Completely forgot about that.

Also we may have heard of Buffy have visions of other slayers in the movie and books and comics and even potentials in S7, but she never really talked about the visions she received of other Chosen Ones on the show.

So I wonder if something is going down, like an Apocalypse, do all the slayer's receive the same vision? Some sort of psychic link.

Though I stand by my theory that they are not as strong as real slayers or really chosen, there is only one good thing about these girls : they don't have to fight if they don't want to.

If Buffy had decided to say screw her calling, the Council probably would have shot her and activated the next one, but these scythe-activated slayers can just be on their merry way if they fear or dislike the life that a slayer leads.
 
Haha. I often think the council should have shot Faith after she had gone bad in Season 3 and at that point was the only one who could activate a new slayer.

I think it's safe to say the scythe activated slayers are the "asterisk of slayers". They're definitley lacking in some of the mysticism associated with being the slayer. And from what I know of Fray, another slayer isn't called for 200 years, so there's definitely some kind of a hint of their lack of some of the inherent characteristics of a true slayer.
 
S
SlayerThe
Great minds think a like. Should have shot the *****.
faith is an amazing character, one of my favorites and in my opinion, one at the top of the top of slayerverse developed characters. she is one of the strongest, deepest and most interesting characters, so needless to say what i think about the shooting idea.
i do however agree that the newly activated slayers really don't match buffy or faith, they will never reach their (especially buffy's) level of strength and slayer's power. and they are not a part of something greater anymore as there is no slayer line to be a part of now that it's destroyed for good. they're just random warriors fighting the good fight that have some vague connection to an ancient legacy.
 
I think that Faith surviving until now is a 50/50 thing. While I think that she will be a very important warrior in the future, shooting her back then may have been the right idea.

Just think about all the things that could have been avoided after Season 3 if there were a newly activated slayer working with Buffy in Sunnydale or hell even any part of the world. She could have helped Buffy successfully take down Glory, far before The Gift or helped in any other capacity. But that doesn't mean I hate Faith now. However I did hate her pre Buffy Season 7/Angel Season 5.

And your right, these girls have no real bond with the true nature of a slayer. I've always felt that the Slayer was chosen as the girl who would be the strongest, most powerful, most ethical girl out of all the potentials who had the capability of doing better than any other potential.

But now every potential has that power. And some of them may not be cut out for it. They might even turn to the dark side (Never ever skip the need for a Star Wars reference).
 
oh don't get me wrong. faith is my favorite female character and i absolutely love her but i'll be the first one to say she screwed up and screwed up big time. but i can relate to her way too much and see through all that way too well to ever condemn her for any of it. she was an a bused girl whom nobody cared about, not even her own mother. being called gave her something she's been looking for her entire life - gave her meaning, self esteem, importance to something greater than herself, so she dedicated herself entirely to that calling. and she became very close to her watcher (and then tried to search for the same closeness in mrs. post) because she just wanted someone to be close to, someone and something to be hers.
she was never a part of a group, she was a loner all her life, too many pent up repressed emotions, too much anger, she only had herself to trust because everyone kept failing her. so why would she react any differently than how she did when she stepped foot in buffy's world? lack of self confidence led to attempts of being the center of the attention, jealousy of buffy having everything and anything she never did (lover, mother, friends, watcher/father) led to even more anger. she just tried to fit in, just tried to belong, her own strange way because no one *ever* opened the door for her and invited her in. so like some lost animal she was on guard all the time, taking radical measures just to get attention and fit in. and to make it worse - buffy took the one thing she did have - she took her calling. buffy was *the* slayer, not faith and she was certainly #1 on the sunnydale scene. so the rest is history.
but she came around, she let it all out in the seasons 4/2 4 crossovers, the walls finally fell, the mask was gone and there was just faith - as broken and lost as she's always been but inside just as strong and determined. and afterwards her strength and determination was used only for good, for making amends even though she knew she could never forgive herself. she picked herself up all by herself, turned herself in, she has been trying her hardest to make amends. it deserves all the appreciation and respect in the world, in the least.
 
Yeah but then the question goes out as to why Faith was chosen when she obviously had the potential to go to the "dark side".
 
Cordelia said:
Yeah but then the question goes out as to why Faith was chosen when she obviously had the potential to go to the "dark side".
Click to expand...
i think she was chosen to redeem herself. and she has.
 
Maybe when Faith was called there were slim pickings in the slayer box? Nah, I kind of disagree.

Whoever or whatever chooses the slayer may not have foreseen this turn to the dark side. But I still believe that Faith can redeem herself in the future and become a formidable force for good and a role model for the scythe-activated potentials, especially ones in cases like her.

As for Faith being envious of Buffy, who wouldn't? The girl is the super slayer. She has arguably done more good than I can imagine any other person in the Buffyverse doing. And she is one hell of a slayer, that power, that skill... I would be jealous too.

I've had discussion on this board with other members who agreed that Faith should definitely not have came to Sunnydale. It screwed up her up bad to see Buffy, a great slayer who still managed to have a life, a family and a great Watcher.

And I can imagine the pressure coming down on Faith after everyone saw how great of a slayer Buffy became.
 
see this is where i disagree. i think she should have come. i think that a person like faith had to fall that hard in order to then rise up to her full glory. and she would have not fallen had she not met buffy.
 
I never thought there was some guy who went "Hmm I think we'll have....that Slayer!" but it was just random. There was a gaggle of potentials and its the "luck" of the draw.
 
Slayer said:
I think that Faith surviving until now is a 50/50 thing. While I think that she will be a very important warrior in the future, shooting her back then may have been the right idea.

Just think about all the things that could have been avoided after Season 3 if there were a newly activated slayer working with Buffy in Sunnydale or hell even any part of the world. She could have helped Buffy successfully take down Glory, far before The Gift or helped in any other capacity. But that doesn't mean I hate Faith now. However I did hate her pre Buffy Season 7/Angel Season 5.
Click to expand...

I dont think a new slayer would have helped, although i loved buffy she did think she was superior to other cos really she was, well maybe not willow and i think she liked to blame all her problems on being a slayer, even though a lot of them where because of that so when faith came she felt like she'd lost her uniqueness or individuality, as seen in faith hope and trick so if another slayer was called then buffy may have pushed her away and she would have done a faith or she might have left.

Also its my opinion faith was meant to go to the darkside, for some unknown reason, e.g. so she would be waiting when angel needed saving or maybe her staying in sunnydale may have lead to chatostrophic consequences. also it does give her a reason t fight other than "its right the thing to do" because it means she has something to redeem herself for which makes her motivated.
 
C
Cordelia
good post
Xander said:
I never thought there was some guy who went "Hmm I think we'll have....that Slayer!" but it was just random. There was a gaggle of potentials and its the "luck" of the draw.
Click to expand...

I don't think that there is one particular person who does that, just more like an invisible force.

And I can't begin to reason that a slayer's calling would be random, because I think Buffy was chosen for the reason that she would do the best good. And she has done well.
 
Also, we learn in Season 7 that the younger the potential the better. At a certain point, some potentials have missed their calling.

Hehe..Funny thought. There's some 80 year old potential that got activated as a result of Willow's spell. She's now able to beat up the nurse who gives her the pills she takes at the nursing home...
 
nerd4hire
nerd4hire
Good thought. That's one fanfic, I don't think you'll see get written though. :D
HAHA I think I love you.

After watching Chosen I posted something like that.

A Granny who used her superpowers to fight the deadly foes of arthritis and the speed to call BINGO out the fastest.

Don't try to **** with Granny and take her jello. She'll beat that ass.

I bet being the slayer does wonders on the aging process. Hell Buffy and Faith have been beaten up and cut many ah times, but no scars or bruises. I'm guessing they would look good at 55.
 
C
Cordelia
LMFAO!!! I think we've crossed over to scary-land
See I always thought it would be funny if a single mother of three daughters found out all of them had been called, imagine the chaos!
 
S
SlayerThe
LOL. Sounds like a sitcom.
Another thought I had...with the activation of ALL of the potentials, it's quite possible there might be another Faith out there (S3 Faith) who will use her powers for evil. So not only does Buffy & the Gang have to find these slayers, but they have to train a whole new slew of watchers who have to keep them in line. They should have just let the ubervamps run amuck... 😀 (j/k about that last part)
 
I was always a big hater on the whole "Lets just go activate every potential!" plan, because it just seemed like it was too easy.

Not to mention the fact that it appeared that is what the First Evil wanted to Buffy to do along.

Just think about it:
If two slayers create a big enough unbalance to throw the slayer mojo off and allow the First Evil to attack the potentials, then what does 250 slayers do to the balance?

The First Evil said that when the balance (scales) tipped, that it would become corporeal.

Most fans thought (along with the Scooby Gang) that if there was more evil on the earth i.e. the ubervamps than humans then the First Evil would become corporeal, but that makes no sense.

It is more realistic to say that if there is more good on the earth such as the scythe-activated slayers then evil would have to get a boost somewhere to maintain the precious balance that has existed for a while.
 
So maybe the Senior Partners were working with the First in creating the ultimate apocalypse as we see in NFA. That's why Lilah gave Angel the amulet and the information necessary to defeat the First's disposable ubervamps to bring about the Sr. Partners reign on earth. That's also why the First prevented Caleb from preventing Buffy from getting the Scythe...
 
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