Vampire Stupidity

[white avenger]

Doesn't it ever make you wonder just exactly what is going on in a vampire's mind when, knowing that there is only one active Slayer in the whole world, with the other one safely behind bars, they all seem to flock to the very city that the aforementioned Slayer calls home? Or, even if they didn't know about her until they arrived in Sunnydale, they didn't just pack up and leave as soon as they found out?

 

[Fuffy Baith]

I think it's supposed to be the Hellmouth that draws them there. But as we see on the Angel show vampires are all over the place. Vampires are stupid yes in the sense that they greatly underestimate Buffy. Not just any slayer, cause slayers died all the time before Buffy, and as we see with Spike, vampires do kill slayers, but Buffy is not just any slayer. So many of them are probably thinking like Spike in S2, they can just take out the slayer and run the town. But yes I think most vampires especially the ones we see after S3, are just stupid bloodsuckers who don't think too much about a plan or encountering the slayer. I'm sure they just think they can get away with it. Also there are a lot of people that get turned into vampires already in Sunnydale so presumably they don't know about Buffy. There is definitely too many generic vampires that we see vs the ones that actually have a personality and a plan. So it's hard to tell what vampires are really like as a whole. Are they more like Spike and Angelus or Harmony's minions? They really subvert the demon aspect of vampires as the show goes on, which is a problem for me. I don't know if I answer your question or not, that's just my rant about vampires.

 

[AnthonyCordova]

File under: "don't think too hard or it might ruin the show for you". Maybe someone will offer a reasonable explanation but let's be honest: there are some things that happen on the show that no amount of mental gymnastics are going to explain away or rationalize. Some expectations of consistency and believability for a show are reasonable and justified to have, but at some point you have to let it slide. You can't carry critical scrutiny to the nth degree with works of fiction. Some things will escape the creator's thoughts to explain, they're human.

Sorry if it sounds like a cop-out but where does this questioning lead? What's seriously happening all over the rest of the world with vampires and demons as common as they are in Sunnydale and Los angeles? The whole world would be totally different in real life, obviously, in so many ways there is no point in listing how. The whole premise is flimsy, extremely flimsy from the very start. Why do vampires go straight to the slayer ' hometown? You're expecting a logical, reasonable answer? They go there so that we can have a show, that's why

 

[Fuffy Baith]

File under: "don't think too hard or it might ruin the show for you". Maybe someone will offer a reasonable explanation but let's be honest: there are some things that happen on the show that no amount of mental gymnastics are going to explain away or rationalize.

Yea there are some things that you just have to accept happen because it's what the show calls for. Although I think that if you properly set up the world and rules then you can rationalize things based on what it should be in the story. Like vampires should be evil demons and blood thirsty and wanting to kill the slayers. Giles gives this whole exposition about vampires being demons and blah blah blah but then we get these terrible generic vampires that almost contradict what he said, and as we see in Spike and Harmony vampires can retain a lot of human personalities and emotions. So yea you are just going to hurt your head if you try to make to much sense of this. The only thing I can say is that vampires like humans having varying degrees of evilness and humanity. Apparently you don't have to have a soul to have some humanity, that's what the Judge tought us when he killed Spikes vampire assistant.

 

[white avenger]

File under: "don't think too hard or it might ruin the show for you".

They go there so that we can have a show, that's why

See, I've always though that it was a fun and challenging pastime to try and work out logical reasons some of the seemingly illogical things that writers sometimes toss out under the heading of entertainment. Anybody can find mistakes. The real challenge is finding a way that the mistakes really aren't mistakes at all, but are actually carefukky thought out, subtle plot twists. Such as:

Part of the spell that the Shadow men invoked when creating the first Slayer, and all of the girls who would follow her, gave her an irresistible attraction to all vampires and demons, pulling them to her, eliminating the necessity of having to hunt them down.

 

[AnthonyCordova]

I guess so

 

[RomanticSoul]

Giles gives this whole exposition about vampires being demons and blah blah blah but then we get these terrible generic vampires that almost contradict what he said, and as we see in Spike and Harmony vampires can retain a lot of human personalities and emotions. So yea you are just going to hurt your head if you try to make to much sense of this. The only thing I can say is that vampires like humans having varying degrees of evilness and humanity. Apparently you don't have to have a soul to have some humanity, that's what the Judge tought us when he killed Spikes vampire assistant.

It's been obvious in the show that soulles doesn't mean you can't have very human attachments or interests. Vampires form familial bonds, they expierence jealousy, they can be into arts/music/movies, they form other long lasting relationships. Heck even Angelus was with Darla for 150 years and loved the arts. It's just the way the vampires go about most things is by our definition inhumane.

Part of the spell that the Shadow men invoked when creating the first Slayer, and all of the girls who would follow her, gave her an irresistible attraction to all vampires and demons, pulling them to her, eliminating the necessity of having to hunt them down.

Where in the canon is that stated? Buffy has been interested in more human guys than supernatural ones. Her second longest relationship was also with a human. Are all the slayers dating demons in the comics? Because otherwise I don't see that irresistable attraction.

 

[Fuffy Baith]

It's been obvious in the show that soulles doesn't mean you can't have very human attachments or interests. Vampires form familial bonds, they expierence jealousy, they can be into arts/music/movies, they form other long lasting relationships. Heck even Angelus was with Darla for 150 years and loved the arts. It's just the way the vampires go about most things is by our definition inhumane.

Yea, that's what I'm saying, it sort of contradicts with what Giles said in the first season. So they kind of go back and forth about what vampires are suppose to be like. It's not really definite. They having varying degrees of humanity, it makes it a bit unclear.

 

[Taake]

I also think it reflects the individual vampire's hubris. That most of them probably, not all, think that they can beat the Slayer.

 

[white avenger]

Where in the canon is that stated? Buffy has been interested in more human guys than supernatural ones. Her second longest relationship was also with a human. Are all the slayers dating demons in the comics? Because otherwise I don't see that irresistible attraction.

It isn't, and I never said or implied that it was. As I said, it's a "fun and challenging pastime to try and work out logical reasons some of the seemingly illogical things that writers sometimes toss out under the heading of entertainment. Anybody can find mistakes. The real challenge is finding a way that the mistakes really aren't mistakes at all, but are actually carefully thought out, subtle plot twists " It's using your imagination to excuse or find a way to actually make the mistakes, bloopers, and faux pas that the writers make actually work, rather than simply accepting that it has to be that way in order to make the show entertaining.

And the word "attracting" in this case has nothing to do with with Buffy having any romantic interest in vampires or them in her. It's used in the sense that the challenge of trying to kill her is irresistible to the average vampire. In other words, they are drawn to her like the proverbial moth to the flame or the mouse to the python. The vampire is the Slayer's prey, but they are helplessly drawn to her so that she can kill them.

 

[The Bronze]

Hmm this is tough. I'm going to say that there is a certain appeal about the hellmouth. Without having much to back it up at the moment I get the sense that vampires believe they belong there. That it'll either be more fun in a hellmouth town or possibly that they'll draw strength from it.

I'd also say that a large portion of vampires seem arrogant enough to believe they have no reason to fear the slayer.

Also the hellmouth is the place to be for the lunatic fringe of vampires who want to end the world (Master, Dru, Angelus).