Cranky Buffyverse Villian Poll

[shadowkat]

In a crappy mood. The weather mocks me with its beauty. So a poll about villianous acts in the Buffyverse. The worst ones. The best villians. The lamest villians. And villianous or indefensible acts by favorite characters or what we think are indefensible acts, everyone's mileage varies on this, I'm certain. Actually the biggest flamewars online have been over the indefensible acts of popular characters and whether they are redeemed. I'm curious to see where the vast majority of the Buffy lj fandom that happens to read or occassionally read my journal falls on this point. Course the fear of doing polls is no one will respond, memes are easier in that regard. The other problem with polls is you can't edit after posting and there are just so many ticky boxes. So if not on the list, provide a comment. But remember to
be respectful of other's views, particular those that make you scratch your head and go, huh?

[Poll #1488559]

Comments

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

Ah, more people are participating in the poll than are commenting...
it is hard for me to pick favorites because I loved a lot of the villains:
it is funny, even though Season 4 is my favorite season, I think Adam is lame... but Adam is only the monster/creation... really what needed to be defeated was The Initiative: the Government/Military thinking they could use demons as weapons. They can never control any weapons they make.

It is equally hard to pick the lamest, many of the villains were kind of formulaic ... but I just wouldn't focus on them so long as they didn't get too much screen time (Glory was just given too much screen time IMO).

The worst action is also highly debatable, so I went for the one (the only one) that still makes me cry every time... and Giles finding Jenny in his apt always kills me.

Personally I think everyone is always redeemable, but of course the Watchers Council never even considered themselves at fault! Poor Wesley was their man, and unredeemed on BtVS, but he did grow (to have all new problems) on Ats.

Anyway, thanks for this... it is so fun to get back to thinking about all of this!

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've discovered with most polls that people usually comment when the ticky boxes don't fit what they want to say.
Or they feel a need to explain their answers.

This poll is dicey because at least two of the questions have lead to nasty flamewars online mainly because the issues reflected in those two questions reflect real issues, buttons that people feel very strongly about. (Not everyone believes that an act can be redeemed or can be defended. Mileage varies the most I've found in the indefensible act and redemptive arc bits. This is true in real life as well, when I worked as in defender project and as an intern in the public defender's project, as well as in Domestic Violence - I discovered mileage varied. Some people see the world in very absolute terms, others see it as being far more complicated.)

Polls are better than memes in a way, because you feel less exposed, you can just vote and be anynonmous. And by doing so, you can see how others view things - but without engaging directly and fighting one another. It's safer. Or so I've found.

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

I definitely think that polls are more fun than memes... partly because I can see the trends at a glance (for everyone who took the poll) while w/memes it is necessary to read a bunch of different ljs (something I never bother to do) in order to learn what the trending answers are.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

From a creator perspective or initial poster: Memes are easier to create - because you can be more general and there's less likelihood for error. Also you can edit afterwards. Polls you can't edit afterwards, and you always screw something up. For example - I apparently should have included Andrew over some of the other people. (But I found Andrew sort of inconsequential so forgot him. Or at least that's the excuse I'm going with at the moment. LOL!)
And I'm not sure Cordy really had much of a redemptive arc in Buffy. Also there's less risk in a meme, with a poll - if no one participates, but you, you are sitting there with the equivalent of egg on your face.

But Polls are far more interesting. All a meme does is reveal what you think. Interacting with it is difficult. It's very - look at me, very ego-centric.
And you're right it's hard to know if anyone else has done it. And from a participant or reader standpoint - memes are work for participants - instead of just clicking on a ticky box - you have to cut past the questions, delete the answers, and write new answers. Time consuming. A poll on the other hand is fun, you click a box, you see how others responded and you get the reward of seeing that you may not be alone in all your views. While at the same time, noting there are people who feel the exact opposite.

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

"you get the reward of seeing that you may not be alone in all your views"
Well if it makes you feel any better, it would never have occurred to me to include Andrew either. Killing Jonathan was terrible (I always loved Jonathan), but Andrew was being so continually manipulated/haunted by The First/Warren that I'm not sure that the killing seemed like a real thing to Andrew. I think you're right, that he was pretty much insane at the time.
I think I liked Andrew (in Season 7 of BtVS, and in Ats S5) more than a lot of people, but I agree w/you that his presence was inconsequential and not really necessary to the poll. But of course it is always interesting to hear from people who considered him very consequential!

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

If you read some of the responses below - Andrew was apparently very consequential to some people. There's not a lot of consensus. At the moment in the most indefensible act sweepstakes The Watcher's Council, Xander, and Willow are in a three-way tie. I think Willow may win. The act they picked as the worst Willow act is not what I would have guessed.

Also the only consensus seems to be that the annoited one was the lamest villian. Not complete consensus.

The one thing this poll demonstrates and reassuringly validates is the degree to which mileage varies. It does vary quite a bit. Actually my review of Caprica demonstrated that as well. I apparently liked Caprica more than everyone else did, not all that surprising - since everyone else likes Doctor Who more than I do. (grins)