The Road To The Apocalypse

PLAYIN

Playin Results:

Final Day

Agent Graham Miller 5

Vi 16

Sahjhan 11

Rona 12

Molly 7

Amanda 17

Amanda wins a tight race with Vi for the 15 seed, and Vi settles comfortably in at the 16 seed. Graham and Molly get the low votes. Rona and Sahjhan will also sit this one out. Thanks for helping me cut the field down to 64. It's been a long day for me, and I'm exhausted. Read the few good comments.

Tough call here. (Slim pickings, too.) It's a choice between Amanda's coltish vulnerability or Rona's sass. Gotta go with Amanda, since Rona's sass sometimes degenerated into just plain whining. - cjl

Sahjhan is Dust! Graham is NOTHING! You go Vi! - Just Me

Vi: "These guys are dust." - monsieurxander

God bless Joss. He actually made Vi, one of the most inconsequential and irritating of the Potentials into a kickass character during the last 30 minutes of Chosen. Too little, too late, though. I think HonorH has a crush on Graham (which is just too cute for words), but that's not enough of a recommendation. My vote goes to Sahjhan--a brutal thug who has been forced into the role of behind-the-scenes manipulator. He's clearly uncomfortable in that role (he probably has a bumper sticker that says ("I'd rather be maiming and killing"), and the discomfort keep coming out in little touches of sardonic humor. He one of the oddest and most complex villains we've ever seen in the Whedonverse. Kudos to the ANGEL staff and to Jack Conley. - cjl

Another Day

Ben 7

Phantom Dennis 27

Olivia 7

Gwen Raiden 31

Veruca 9

Parker Abrams 1

Gwen electrifies (cheap, I know) the voters to snag a 15 seed, and Phantom Dennis scares (another cheapy) the rest of the competition away from the 16 seed. Dennis surprises me a little, I figured his spot for Ben or Veruca, actually the only one I expected to do worse was Parker. And he didn't let me down. Good show, Mr. Sensitive. Great analysis from everyone...

Indisputably the greatest name in ME history- it has to be Phantom Dennis. Plus he's just an all-round gentlemanly Rentaghost. My only qualm- does Cordelia make him look away after he does that back-scrub stuff? - Tchaikovsky

What!? Why isn't anyone voting for Veruca?! Why is she even a 15 or 16 seed!? Have you people no animal instincts? She's gorgeous, tough, and wild and her poor plot line got cut way too short, and we should have seen more of her. - Rochefort

Sorry Rochefort, Veruca was just Faith Mark II, without the depth. I have to vote for one of the first two people to have a one-night-stand on an ME show without getting whammed by fate. Nice to see no-one voted for Parker. Best to forget the one scumbag who ever managed to make Buffy Summers pathetic. - KdS

Dennis has to be the winner here. Ben was only interesting when he turned evil, and Olivia just isn't cut out for the life... - KdS

Ben? Boring pretty boy. Olivia? Hot babe-itude incarnate, but never given much to do except look scared and look beautiful (which she did REALLY well). Phantom Dennis is charming, courteous, caring and worships Cordelia--basically, Cordy's perfect boyfriend. Too bad he's dead AND gone. - cjl

Agree with KdS--Veruca is Faith Mark II, but without the depth. Parker is the type of sleazeball who makes it tough for the rest of mankind to establish relationships with women. May he die alone and unloved. Gwen is the ultimate realization of the ME staff's Marvel Comics wet dreams. She's hot, she's superchanged, and yet, she's shy and vulnerable. (She's the other reason why the rest of mankind has problems establishing relationships with normal women.) - cjl

Phantom Dennis is the ideal roommate! Both Olivia and Ben take up TOO MUCH ROOM--either in your apartment, or in your body. Plus, Dennis picks up a bit, helps out and is sympathetic when you're feeling blue after being impregnated with demon spawn. - MaeveRigan

cjl and KdS have the important analysis down. I'm going with Gwen 'cause she's hotter. - d'Herblay

Uh, yeah but can Faith SING!? Does she have pure animal draw? - Rochefort

Phantom Dennis -- the only man I could ever stand to see with Cordelia. - d'Herblay

Next Day

Rack 1

Holland Manners 7

Katrina Silber 4

Linwood 0

Trevor Lockley 1

Gavin Park 10

Sorry, I lost whatever I wrote before. Like it matters. Gavin gets a 15 seed and Holland gets a 16. uggh..

Sorry Katrina, you just can't stand up to the scariest villain in ME history. Holland Manners didn't need any demonic help to be evil, no matter what HonorH might try to say. Nobody ever managed to fill his shoes at the old firm. - KdS

Gavin was never the most interesting or exciting W&H character, even compared to Linwood. But he died with such grace and aplomb that you just had to love Lilah's pet butt-monkey. - Masq

Gavin! Gavin! Gavin! I loved Gavin enough to nominate him as my avatar on ATPO because he was the only ME villain not to have a weakness for melodrama. No matter how unglamourously sneaky and petty an act was needed to promote his interests, Gavin would do it and to hell with looking cool and romantic. If the Beast hadn't slaughtered him, he'd have got to the top eventually. No, actually make that one step below the top, with an easily manipulable patsy at the top to take the flack. - KdS

Playin Results:

Day 1

UberVamp/Turak-Han 8

Whistler 24

Olaf/Olaf the Troll 20

Willy the Snitch 17

Halfrek/Hallie 11

Doc 16

OK, I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to use this information, other than to announce that Whistler has locked down a number 15 seed. Since I wasn't able to create a poll with more than four options and had to split it, I'm considering another runoff between Olaf and Willy. I don't know. If I don't, then Olaf will be the 16 seed. If you have a strong preference, one way or the other, let me know. Thanks for your votes. Enjoy the comments!

Hey, I'm the frst to vote. Go Olaf!! - Doug

Whistler and the Turok-Han are TINY men! Plus Olaf is imbued with Jane Espenson humor! Bring me babies! - Rochefort

Come on, isn't it obvious? You've got an ugly thug with no language skills, a fat thug who was one of the worst acting performances in BtVS history, or an intelligent and mysterious herald for the PTB. Who do you think deserves to win? - KdS

The Turukhan and Olaf are big guys, no question, but we don't know what exactly Whistler is. What if he's got weird powers or knows kung fu or is a demon from Krypton? Plus, he sounds like a guy who knows people who can take care of problems... - Apophis

Dans Cabaret..au Cabaret...oui Cabereetttt..... - Rochefort

Gotta have a guy with a prehensile tail in there - adds variation to the punch-ups. - KdS

Willy's a survivor. He's spent years around the most violent beings in this dimension and still has most of his original skin. He'd just hide in a corner until Doc and Halfrek had aced each other and jump in to claim victory. Besides, both his opponents are dead (though that hasn't stopped other villains in the Jossverse). - Apophis

Doc is the creepiest, of course. - MaeveRigan

Photos: I'm having trouble keeping track of everywhere I've found screen caps, so I'm just going to try a blanket statement of credit. If the screen cap is from Angel, it is probably from City of Angel. Screen caps from the first two seasons of Buffy are probably from Screen Captures. Seasons 3 through 5 screen caps are probably from Buffyguide. And seasons 6 and 7 of Buffy are most likely from Just Imagine. And I still have a few from across the board that I find from ATPOBTVS.

email me, if you must...