Season 8 - Time of Your Life: Issue 16

[KingofCretins]

I'm assuming near or total losses until we're shown otherwise -- there's really no more prudent way to go. Maybe Leah and a handful of others that might have been out on the grounds or away on patrol (it was getting dark) or even out in a nearby village shopping or something might have survived.

I think having Xander see it and react so desperately and so futilely is supposed to stand for all -- it would undercut, by which I mean erase, the drama of that moment if he turned out to be the *last* to know and everyone was already okay, since he nearly got himself killed trying to warn them.

[brandonr]

I'm HOPING that the castle is all KABLAMO and everyone that was inside is dead. That would be such a huge blow to the Scoobs, especially Xander just coming off of Renee's death. With Buffy gone, and now the castle blowing up, things are prime for Twilight to take advantage of the disorganization and chaos that is bound to arise, and strike once more. I'm hoping that Joss doesn't take the route of "They look dead but are they really?" and have them all be alive in the next issue.

I could accept the fact that maybe a team or two of 10 or 15 combined were out on patrol, or tending to some type of other duty out on the grounds (road maintainence, shopping, pruning etc) and THEY survived. But if half or more of the army that Buffy has at the BHC are alive, I'll be disappointed.

[Emmie]

Agreed, brandonr. I'll be very disappointed if it was just a cheap dramatic trick. And it will undercut Xander's emotional angst and his courage at trying to warn them and nearly being killed for it.

Joss' motto is bring on the pain. That castle is gone. Maybe a few slayers survived who were out, but the majority are vaporized.

[Tyler Austin "tiewashere"]

Yeah, I don't think he can do another explosion where mostly everyone lives. Didn't we see that happen with Faith and the other slayers already?

[hitnrun017]

Maybe the missile did something else besides blow up the castle and kill most/all the Slayers? We know it was all mystical, but that could mean anything right now. When it hit, it wasn't like an explosion, it was green. Maybe it did something besides blow up the castle. Just a theory.

[El Diablo Robotico]

Jul 6, 2008 13:10:10 GMT -5 hitnrun017 said:

Maybe the missile did something else besides blow up the castle and kill most/all the Slayers? We know it was all mystical, but that could mean anything right now. When it hit, it wasn't like an explosion, it was green. Maybe it did something besides blow up the castle. Just a theory.

I'd been thinking the same thing, but didn't want to say it. Especially since my radar-as-early-warning theory got so roundly shouted down , and I think that's the much more likely possibility of the two. But the green-ness of the 'explosion' (rather than the more traditonal red-and-orange), and the 'TOOM!' sound effect which--granted, I don't read a lot of comics, but--doesn't really match the deep, bass sound I'd expect from a giant explosion...

[angelmonster]

The green...count for nothing. Vampires turn to dust int he tv show but int he comics explode into a cloud of green in some of the comics.

I think the missile was just a missile. Warren is someone who kills, not transform or uses magic. Amy put the symbols and candles on it to get through willow's magic defenses and, the minute Willow was gone, they launched the rocket knowing the wicca Slayers weren't strong enough to stop it.

Personally I want at least half of them dead. Fine if they detected it then only half should have gotten out. If all survived I will be a bit disappointed because what was the purpose of the missile in the first place then storyline wise?

[El Diablo Robotico]

Jul 6, 2008 14:57:07 GMT -5 angelmonster said:

If all survived I will be a bit disappointed because what was the purpose of the missile in the first place then storyline wise?

To destroy their safe-haven, their base of operations, and get them out on the run. I don't want to be Spoiler Boy for anyone who tries to avoid them, but based on something Scott Allie said in an interview a little while back, it sounds like something's going to happen in the issues following ToYL that would make it a bad idea for Buffy and the others to be in a fixed location where they could be easily found, anyway.

When Lorne's head got chopped off at the end of "Through the Looking Glass", were you disappointed when it turned out he wasn't actually dead in the next episode? Did it undercut the drama of the moment, and ruin the impact it had on Cordelia's character for feeling that she was to blame for his death?

[brandonr]

The greenness of the explosion, as someone else mentioned earlier, was probably a result of Amy's magicks and Willow's magicks splooshing together. I don't think it has an effect on what exactly the missile itself did, other than to get it through Willow's super-duper forcefield (which, I suppose, wasn't as super-duper as everyone thought). <---Makes me wonder: If Willow is supposed to be one of THE most powerful people living right now, how is it that someone like Amy was able to so easily break through her forcefield? Just sayin'.

As for theories of the missile possibly being enchanted to enclose the castle, or to do something else magick-y with it, that's totally possible, but from what we were shown in the comic, I don't think I agree with it. The comic showed pieces of the castle actually flying through the air towards Xander. Not to mention the look on Xander's face in the single panel on the page after, which, to me, just screams "Oh my god, the castle's burning to pieces." Plus, the lighting on his face suggests flames of some sort.

[El Diablo Robotico]

Okay, before I continue this argument, I just wanna state that I think it's highly-unlikely that anything happened to the castle other than it going up in a giant ball of green flame. When that green smoke clears next issue, like most of you I'm figuring on there being nothing left but a crater and a bunch of rubble (and maybe a large cluster of girls on the other side who were saved by a warning from their radar ).

But, to play devil's advocate (or is that Diablo's advocate? ;D )...

- The interior of the missile could have been packed with anything. Including explosives. Including magic (remember Fred's and Knox's malfunctioning little spell-casting robot from "Life of the Party"?). The 'explosion' was green, not red-orange-yellow, for a very definite reason, and we don't know what that reason is yet. You can say "It was probably this", or "It was probably that," but for the next 4.5 weeks, that's still just speculation.

- If it was carrying a spell, rather than explosives, when it hits at that type of velocity it's still gonna knock walls down and annihilate anything in its path, which would explain the bits of stone Xander saw flying his way.

- The look on Xander's face could be anything. It might be "Oh, my God, the castle's been vaporized." It might be, "Oh, my God, the castle's been turned into the Emerald Palace of Oz the Great and Terrible." We don't know yet.


I guess I'm just the type where, Joss has surprised me enough over the years that I don't jump to conclusions with 100% certainty until the thing has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt...

[wenxina]

Jul 6, 2008 14:24:50 GMT -5 El Diablo Robotico said:

Jul 6, 2008 13:10:10 GMT -5 hitnrun017 said:

Maybe the missile did something else besides blow up the castle and kill most/all the Slayers? We know it was all mystical, but that could mean anything right now. When it hit, it wasn't like an explosion, it was green. Maybe it did something besides blow up the castle. Just a theory.

I'd been thinking the same thing, but didn't want to say it. Especially since my radar-as-early-warning theory got so roundly shouted down , and I think that's the much more likely possibility of the two. But the green-ness of the 'explosion' (rather than the more traditonal red-and-orange), and the 'TOOM!' sound effect which--granted, I don't read a lot of comics, but--doesn't really match the deep, bass sound I'd expect from a giant explosion...

Hey, I liked your radar theory... would have made sense. In fact, almost a 9/11 deja vu moment.
As for "TOOM!"... that was also the sound (more or less) of the giant laser cannon thing that was reflected by the giant mirror in #4. So hey, I'm with you... I like being on the fence about things like this. I did wonder if it was a mystical explosion as well, but hey, until August 6th, I'll just assume that it was something bad (really, explosion or mystical explosion, it's still bad!).

[Tyler Austin "tiewashere"]

I like the radar theory too. It sounds plausible.

[Skytteflickan88]

I finally got it today. Yay!

Seems as if Twilight's mark is thralling, considering what Warren said about doing it of his own free will.

And Kennedy does clearly not know about the snake-lady. Bad Willow, bad. I have to change my mind and say that the vision in Anywhere but here probably was from the past...

Can't wait to see how this will turn out. The last frame reminded me of the last scene in What's My Line part 1.

[wenxina]

So... this has been at the back of my mind now for a bit, but I've conveniently forgotten to bring it up every time I post here.
Did anyone else notice that the missile attack occurred at what's possibly twilight? The panels with Dawn galloping away in a huff clearly show either dusk or dawn. I'll actually say that it's dawn, since I read it as happening at around the same time that Buffy got zapped to the future. Which given the time zone difference between NY and Scotland, makes sense.
Plus, and I think this may have been brought up before, but Twilight's only ever shown himself during those hours. His first appearance (or at least the appearance of his boots) was during those hours as well, as shown by the purplish sky behind Buffy and her Slayers as they dropped from the helicopter. His appearance in NFFY was also most likely at dawn, shown by the pitch black sky above, and the rising sun.
And in ABS, he was definitely there at dawn.
Coincidence much? Or does Twilight just like to pun?

[faithswatcher]

Okay, ive not really thought all the flaws of this through, and it may of already been mentioned.
But what if the "slayer that takes all the magic away" is in fact Fray. We dont know if Fray is going to come back to our time, with Buffy, but, well im throwing it out there.
It seems like season 8 is leading to this battle that may or may not destroy magic, but we also know there is a season 9... Well if its Fray who takes away all the magic and demons, Joss could find a way to have our scoobies still around for season 9, as Buffy wasnt the one sacrificed to destroy the magics. i dont know how he could get around the "no magics" in season 9...
But yeah, just occured, thought id mention. Fray may actually be the prophesized slayer that takes the magic away...

[brandonr]

I noticed the "timing" of the attack on the castle as well wexina. It started me thinking about why Twilight would only appear at dawn or dusk, the most obvious reason being: vampire. I'm not saying that's what he is, maybe he just doesn't like daylight and prefers to be a night owl, or maybe he just likes the poetry of it all, but there's definitely something behind the fact that those two times of day are the only times that he appears during "daylight".

[Slayer489]

I finally got this issue today. And what can I say? A fantastic introduction to 'Time Of Your Life'. I loved that the gang were sitting around eating Chinese food and the constant social chats between the 3 of them and with Kennedy and Vi too. Speaking of them, it was great to see Kennedy and Vi again. I liked all the explaining of how and what was going on too.
Dawn a Centaur? WOW! Even though I saw it coming after the cover for part 3, it was still a shock to see it in there.
And the most surprising part of all, the return of Amy and Warren! With Twilight too! I LOVED seeing them again. It was fantastic. And that rocket they built which hit the castle. Dawn ran inside there after Xander called her whiny. And you can tell by his expression that he feels guilty after Dawn ran inside.
And finally Fray's return. I can't wait to find out what Buffy and Fray are gonna be like together.
Buffy was also very funny and witty in this issue which I loved.
Although, I have to say that I think this was the weakest issue in terms of the art work. Most of the likenesses were off, although all characters were identifiable.
Amazing issue! ;D

[edge450]

I don't think Dawn ran inside. She's a centaur! She belongs in the stables.

But seriously, she just ran into the open fields or somethin'.

[El Diablo Robotico]

Jul 7, 2008 11:02:10 GMT -5 @edge450 said:

I don't think Dawn ran inside. She's a centaur! She belongs in the stables.

But seriously, she just ran into the open fields or somethin'.

Yeah, it looked like she ran off toward the woods, and Xander turned and headed back toward the castle.

Never noticed that Twilight only seems to appear at sunrise or sunset, so good catch there. The idea that he's a vampire has occurred to me before (and if most of the girls in the castle are dead, scratch the idea that he's actually a good guy doing this for a good purpose; we can rule out future-Xander, future-Giles, and even Riley). If you look carefully, you can see that his costume covers up every single bit of his skin, which, if he's a vampire, would be very handy for protecting him from the sun's harmful rays and allowing him to even be able to move around during the daylight. We assume he's wearing a mask because he's someone we'd recognize, but it could be that it actually serves a more utilitarian purpose...

[Slayer489]

Jul 7, 2008 11:02:10 GMT -5 @edge450 said:

I don't think Dawn ran inside. She's a centaur! She belongs in the stables.

But seriously, she just ran into the open fields or somethin'.

I just looked and you're right. My bad.