# Buffy 01/21/03 - Potential (spoilers)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-01-21-03-potential-spoilers/149881
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 20, 2003, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-01-21-03-potential-spoilers/149881 "2003-01-20T23:14:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2003, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-01-21-03-potential-spoilers/149881/81 "2003-01-22T23:49:08Z")
Hecubis, it was actually Cordy who figured out the slayer succession line.
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### Author:  [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2003, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-01-21-03-potential-spoilers/149881/82 "2003-01-23T00:11:14Z")
Cordy figured nothing out other that where Faith came from. I will point out again that if we ask Cordy what happens when Buffy dies, the answer is not clear.
Buffy thinks it can happen. The Scoobs think it can happen. The Mayor suspected it would happen, even with another slayer standing right in front of him. I’m don’t think it is much of a stretch to say that they could be right.
Perhaps Buffy’s most recent death _did_ activate another Slayer. Suppose she was at the watcher’s council HQ when it popped. I don’t know. Suppose she’s just some high school trophy-totin’ gymnast, unaware of her keen abilities’ source.
> [@](#):
>
> Or is one recognized as a potential at birth?
Well, either Buffy herself slipped through the cracks, or she became a Slayer before the period when they would have made her a SIT. Your call, **Wolverine**.
**bobkitty**
> [@](#):
>
> “Hey, Buffy died! There’s another Slayer out there now, and we can enlist her to fight TFE!!”
And how do you suppose they would find her?
> [@](#):
>
> The writers are morons and/or haven’t heard any of the interviews with Joss where he says Faith’s death activates the next slayer.
Well, no one is arguing _that_. Does anyone have a link to this interview?
> [@](#):
>
> _Bricker said_
> The Mayor may have had a passing familiarity with the occult, but given his ultimate demise, I think it’s safe to say that mastery of all the aspects of Slayers ultimately eluded him.
His death wasn’t the result of not understanding Slayer mythos, it was the result of his love for Faith, and Buffy’s ingenuity.
> [@](#):
>
> Buffy’s second death did not produce another Slayer.
We just don’t know this. Since Buffy and Giles were out of the Council’s loop, it is possible there was another one. Notice season 6 had nothing really to do with prophecy, so the Council wouldn’t have had any real motivation to keep Buffy in the loop when she clearly didn’t want to be.
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### Author:  [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2003, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-01-21-03-potential-spoilers/149881/83 "2003-01-23T00:52:27Z")
erislover, all you say is possible. But if it is, it’s one of those creative “gee, what we’ve already established aint’ workin’ for us anymore so let’s change it” things. Which are annoying.
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### Author:  [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2003, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-01-21-03-potential-spoilers/149881/84 "2003-01-23T00:58:55Z")
And besides…since Kendra’s death DID in fact trigger Faith’s activation, what reason would we have to think that the line was now running through both?
I still think it would be cool to manufacture an army of slayers by temporarily “killing” everyone in order: Faith, slayer 2, 3, 4, etc., reviving everyone after their hearts stop.
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### Author:  [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2003, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-01-21-03-potential-spoilers/149881/85 "2003-01-23T16:20:54Z")
I taped Tuesday’s (1/21) show, but there was a power failure, and it’s missing the last 10 minutes.
☹ My building has rolling blackouts regularly. ☹
Could someone go in to more detail as to how the show ended? The last thing I saw was the eyeless guys breaking into the classroom and grabbing the other girl, that’s were my tape ends.
Is Xander’s speech on line somewhere? 😕
Thanks! 🙂
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### Author:  [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2003, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-01-21-03-potential-spoilers/149881/86 "2003-01-23T16:53:15Z")
You know, I would expect that an attempted rape would kind of be more of an obstacle to a relationship then it is presented as. On the other hand, considering that Buffy have been trying to hurt/kill each other for as long as they have known each other, its not that suprising.
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### Author:  [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2003, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-01-21-03-potential-spoilers/149881/87 "2003-01-23T17:11:52Z")
Bah. The attempted rape came from a soulless creature. Spike now has a soul. Different kettle of fish.
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### Author:  [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2003, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-01-21-03-potential-spoilers/149881/88 "2003-01-23T17:19:40Z")
And it’ll become more clear in the next three episodes that Buffy really does see Souled!Spike as completely different than Unsouled!Spike.
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2003, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-01-21-03-potential-spoilers/149881/89 "2003-01-23T18:35:35Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Wolverine \*
> \*\*When does one become a potential? So far, all the ones we’ve seen are teenage girls. There should be pre-teen and adolescent girls in the mix as well. Obviously they would still be with their parents, but so should the current SITs.
>
> So does one not become recognized as a potential until approx. 13? This way, they are still given enough time train with Watchers, but not so young that they would be crowding Buffy’s house. The downfall to this idea is that as much as TFE eliminates potentials, more could step into the role.
>
> Or is one recognized as a potential at birth? This way, they are given the full lifetime(in theory) to train. And would make more sense if you’re eliminating potentials because there is only a set few to kill. Then any future Slayer’s would be babies and easily identifiable by their disproportinate strength. The drawback to this is that we haven’t seen any young potentials. \*\*
There’s been nothing established about when or how one becomes a Potential. Kendra as was noted was identified early and apparently her people were enough of a source for Slayers that it’s widely known when someone’s a Potential and is a source of pride to the family. I commented previously that it was odd that all of the SITs we’ve seen are in the same age group but this can be easily explained by assuming the TFE has eliminated those younger (and older, since logically there should be some senior citizens out there who were Potentials…I dig Slayer Granny!). There’s no indication that Potentials have any strength in excess of normal human before they are activated (in fact Buffy says something this ep about how they don’t have the strength or other Slayer powers) so there’d be no babies with disproportionate strength out there.
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2003, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-01-21-03-potential-spoilers/149881/90 "2003-01-23T18:49:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by fogmage \*
> \*\*I taped Tuesday’s (1/21) show, but there was a power failure, and it’s missing the last 10 minutes.
> ☹ My building has rolling blackouts regularly. ☹
>
> Could someone go in to more detail as to how the show ended? The last thing I saw was the eyeless guys breaking into the classroom and grabbing the other girl, that’s were my tape ends.
> Is Xander’s speech on line somewhere? 😕
>
> Thanks! 🙂 \*\*
For the power-deprived:
[spoiler]
Dawn yelled to leave the new girl alone, because they were looking for Dawn. They gave her a total, “Whatever, loser.” look and she realized that they really WERE there for the new girl, so Dawn lit the gas burners on fire which threw everybody for a loop, grabbed the girl and ran.
They were trapped at the end of a hallway with no way out except the stairs leading to an exit, so they stopped and Dawn handed the sharpened stick to the new girl, telling her it was her destiny. The new girl did then verily kick some ass, taking down several eyeless guys and staking the vamp, just as the marines arrived to save the day.
Back at the ranch, everybody was all stoked about slaying a couple of vampires (none of the other SIT’s got hurt). Dawn was extremely bummed. Xander gave an extremely moving speech, summarized as, “My friends are all superheroes. I’m not, and I’m still right here alongside them, so who’s the really powerful one here? Me! I’m Batman! And so are you, Dawn!” or something like that.[/spoiler]
And I do so think Spike hurt the SIT. Otherwise, she’s the most whiny of little whiny wussy SIT’s ever. Whiny. Cute, though. That definitely seems to be one of the prerequisites. Then again, this is the WB we’re talking about here.
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### Author:  [@Wolverine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolverine)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2003, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-01-21-03-potential-spoilers/149881/91 "2003-01-23T19:42:50Z")
> [@](#):
>
> There’s no indication that Potentials have any strength in excess of normal human before they are activated (in fact Buffy says something this ep about how they don’t have the strength or other Slayer powers) so there’d be no babies with disproportionate strength out there.
I was referring to the possibility of a Slayer baby because all the potentials that are older are killed off. Imagine if the baby was still in the womb and it starts kicking. That would be kinda freaky. I prefer to think of something a little more cheery. Like the baby walking much earlier due to much stronger leg muscles. Or a Super Swing baby. Or maybe breaking the crib bars to escape to freedom.
My theory is that all potentials are recognized as such at birth. They don’t reach “prime” calling time until their teenage years, when they become the easiest to detect. There is also fluctuation between individuals on ease to detect. Kedra=easy, Buffy=hard. Then after their teenage years, the energy wears off, thus becoming harder to detect again.
Thus most of the potentials that have been discovered so far have been in their teens because they are easier to find.
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### Author:  [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-01-21-03-potential-spoilers/149881/92 "2003-01-23T20:51:40Z")
In the movie, slayers are recognized by “the mark”, a mole-like disfiguration just below the collarbone. Has any reference been made to that in the series?
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-01-21-03-potential-spoilers/149881/93 "2003-01-23T21:10:45Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by pepperlandgirl \*
> \*\*No, **Bricker** , they do pretty much work on real time. Tara died in May. Willow spent all summer with the Coven, and (based on the time schedule of Dawn entering HS) came back early September. Based on BOTN (and decorating the rubble) they are in either Decemeber or early January. Of course, the time is all screwy on BtVS right now because CwDP had a timestamp for Nov 12 (I think) and CwDP, Sleeper, NLM all happened in roughly the same 24-48 period but in BoTN, she mentioned how she didn’t even realize it was almost Christmas. Of course, Noxon wrote that ep, and I don’t think she’s ever even heard the word “continuity” so I don’t give that much thought.
> At any rate, based on what they’re giving us, Tara has been dead for at least 7 months. \*\*
But have they _always_ run on “real time?” I was trying to figure that out this weekend. Buffy was 16 in season one, but are she and the scoobies really supposed to be 23? I get the sense that it hasn’t really been 3.5 years since the beginning of season four, but I can’t quite explain it…
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### Author:  [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2003, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-01-21-03-potential-spoilers/149881/94 "2003-01-23T21:21:43Z")
—Which means that the Scooby Gang are idiots.—
Well, we don’t know what they eventually concluded, since this was yet another “We’ve discovered an absolutely crucial piece of information in our fight to save the world… so let’s not speak of it for a few weeks and instead focus on Dawn’s feelings!”
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-01-21-03-potential-spoilers/149881/95 "2003-01-23T21:22:55Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I was referring to the possibility of a Slayer baby because all the potentials that are older are killed off. Imagine if the baby was still in the womb and it starts kicking. That would be kinda freaky. I prefer to think of something a little more cheery. Like the baby walking much earlier due to much stronger leg muscles. Or a Super Swing baby. Or maybe breaking the crib bars to escape to freedom.
Again, Potentials have no Slayer powers until such time as they are activated. Super-strength is a Slayer power. Non-activated Potential Slayer baby = baby with normal non-Potential strength levels.
> [@](#):
>
> In the movie, slayers are recognized by “the mark”, a mole-like disfiguration just below the collarbone. Has any reference been made to that in the series?
Nope.
[quote]
But have they always run on “real time?” I was trying to figure that out this weekend. Buffy was 16 in season one, but are she and the scoobies really supposed to be 23? I get the sense that it hasn’t really been 3.5 years since the beginning of season four, but I can’t quite explain it…
[quote]
Well, let’s see. There was a Halloween episode in S4 and one in S6 (was there one in S5? I can’t recall off the top of my head) and there’s reference to Christmas in S7 so that demonstrates four years of real time over those four seasons, unless you’re looking to collapse most/all of S5 into a single year with one of the surrounding seasons.
And I believe Buffy was 15 in S1.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2003, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-01-21-03-potential-spoilers/149881/96 "2003-01-23T21:32:19Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Otto \*
> \*\* And I believe Buffy was 15 in S1. \*\*
She says she’s 16 in “Angel”.
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### Author:  [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2003, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-01-21-03-potential-spoilers/149881/97 "2003-01-23T21:47:23Z")
She was 15 when she was called, 16 in S1. Buffy has a birthday episode every year. She turned 17 in **Surprise**. In S3 **Helpless** , she turned 18. In S4 **A New Man** she turned 19. In S5 **Blood Ties** she turned 20. In S6 **Older and Far Away** she turned 21.
Due to lack of spoilers, I speculate that this year, she’s going to take Spike’s advise and just stop celebrating her birthday.
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### Author:  [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2003, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-01-21-03-potential-spoilers/149881/98 "2003-01-24T00:30:59Z")
I bet the SITs find out about her birthday and throw a party…with disasterous concequences that may or may not be wacky!
We’ll find out soon enough, though; Buffy’s birthday is always episode 12 or 13. Okay, “Older and Far Away” was 6- **14** , but I think that’s the least of Season Six’s problems.
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### Author:  [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2003, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-01-21-03-potential-spoilers/149881/99 "2003-01-24T00:41:40Z")
Thanks **Ethilrist**!🙂
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### Author:  [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffy-01-21-03-potential-spoilers/149881/100 "2003-01-24T00:56:57Z")
I’m going to put the following in the spoiler box, cuz better safe than sorry, but I don’t think it’s really a spoiler.
Juniper200
There is no mention of a birthday in 13, 14 and as far I can tell (unless it’s mentioned randomly) 15
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