A trend I am seeing....

[balesthebloody]

...is that vampires are not as evil as they used to to be. As both Buffy and Angel continue their run the vampires seem to be more "human like". I can think of a few examples:

SPIKE-Ok sure he had evil qualities before he got his soul, but he was never really die hard evil. I always blamed this on Dru. She was crazy when Angelus turned her, so when she turned Spike something went wrong. Maybe he didn't get what vampire things he should have form her.

DRACULA-He is soposed to be the "Big Bad" of all vampires right? So why isn't he? He is more into the romantic side of things when we saw him in "Buffy V.S. Dracula". Then in "Wolves at the Gate" he trades all of his "super vampire powers" to save the slayers. Plus he is strongly attached to Xander for some reason. Not your normal vampire, eh?

GUNN-Now he is the one that inspired me to make this post. Gunn seems to be himself, not a soulless demon. He hates himself, it took him some time to realize that he was a vampire when he woke up, wants to help out in Hell-A (even if it does mean killing Angel) ,and by taking a picture from W&H of the old gang from Season 3 of "Angel" shows that he is still very human like.

Gunn, in issue 2 of "After the Fall", says "It's not about the soul! I'm living proof of that!". I am starting to think that he is on to something here.

Not sure if this goes in the "After the Fall" section but I put it here because of Gunn being the one to inspire me to make this post. So if it goes somewhere else feel free to move it. There will not be any hard feeling here if you do.

[Smashed]

Right!
Angel used to be the only "good" vampire.

It's nice, but I miss the good days when Buffy would go out and patrol.

: (

[BenTaylor3907]

I'm guessing its like what Spike says in Becoming Part 2.

Buffy: "Okay. You do remember that you're a vampire, right?"

Spike: "We like to talk big. Vampires do. 'I'm going to destroy the world.'
That's just tough guy talk. Strutting around with your friends over a pint of blood.
The truth is, I like this world. You've got... dog racing, Manchester United.
And you've got people. Billions of people walking around like Happy Meals with legs."

[Skytteflickan88]

Well, who said that vampire's are suppose to ber 100% evil? Except for Buffy, Giles, Xander, The council. But they're were prejudiced. It's easier to slay when you tell yourself that there is nothing human in vampires. And as seen in later seasons, atleast Buffy came to appeciate the nicer side of vamps.

Looking back at the season, are we really surprised that vamps have feelings? Go back and look at the episode Angel in season 1, and you'll see the surprise in Darla's eyes when she's dusted. I think I see emotions there.

Not that vamps aren't generally an evil breed, I'd be surprised if they weren't.

[kimtaro]

"I started it, the whole 'having a soul', before it was all the cool new thing..." LOL

[dane5by5]

Jun 22, 2008 14:56:18 GMT -5 balesthebloody said:

...is that vampires are not as evil as they used to to be. As both Buffy and Angel continue their run the vampires seem to be more "human like". I can think of a few examples:

DRACULA-He is soposed to be the "Big Bad" of all vampires right? So why isn't he? He is more into the romantic side of things when we saw him in "Buffy V.S. Dracula". Then in "Wolves at the Gate" he trades all of his "super vampire powers" to save the slayers. Plus he is strongly attached to Xander for some reason. Not your normal vampire, eh?

The way I interpreted Dracula's "sacrifice" of sorts, is that it was more out of pride and not his humanity and desire to help the Slayers. If he couldn't be the ONLY vampire with those abilities, then NO vampire would have those abilities. That combined with his self awareness that he is never going to be a regular vampire, special powers or not, also made it an easy choice for him. His and Xander's relationship also didn't hurt his motivation.

How I always thought of Spike's "evilness" was that he was indeed evil and a vampire. But his need for love was still a strong factor in his character and even in the evil he did. He was this crazy blend of evil and love.

I'm not sure where "After the Fall" is going to take Gunn's character, but it's been noted in the series that some vampires have more control over the demon within, and they are usually the leaders. Gunn does seem to have an unnatural control over the demon within.

[balesthebloody]

This is what I love about this Verse, it's always changing and evolving. Keeps us fans on our toes!

[deathquaker]

I agree the Buffyverse is becoming inundated with "exceptions to the rule" of vampdom. Sure, I think most vamps are more complex than they were originally presented in the early Buffy days--but a lot of vamps do seem to be in danger of becoming "big fluffy puppies with pointy teeth."

That said, with Dracula, he points out it was really Vlad Dracul who was the bastard--the human was worse than the demon. And I do believe he was in it for the honor--but yes, the odd loyalty to Xander takes the teeth off him a bit. OTOH, that whole arc was full of arrogant, unforgiving vampires so obviously they still exist... the question is, if say Toru became a recurring villain instead of a one-off big bad who got killed, could he stay a bastard? That's the problem with making villains well developed... you become in danger of liking them and then want to make them reform (*cough*Spikeification*cough*). But if you don't have well developed villains, you don't care about what happens to them, good or bad. It's a tough line to walk along.