- “She's only programmed to be in love.”
- ―Warren Mears[src]
April was a robot created by Warren Mears to be his girlfriend. She was the inspiration for the Buffybot.
Biography
- “I'm looking for Warren. Do you know where Warren is? And if you do, could you tell me?”
- ―April[src]
April was created by Warren Mears to love and obey him, but Warren ultimately became bored with her predictability and then realized that he didn't love her back and left her in his dorm room, hoping her batteries would run out. Afterward, he met Katrina Silber, with whom he started a relationship.
However, April traveled to Sunnydale to find her creator. She first appeared at a college party, asking around for Warren. Spike, having recently been rejected by Buffy yet again, flirted with her in an attempt to make Buffy jealous. April reacted violently, bodily throwing the vampire out a window before the crowd. Enraged by this, Spike departed, remarking that he felt sorry for Warren. Simultaneously amused by Spike's pain and shocked at April's erratic behavior, Buffy confronted April and attempted to reason with her, but April simply knocked her to the ground, immediately apologizing afterwards before leaving. Through these events, Buffy and the Scoobies quickly deduced April's true nature, and though they didn't view her as any kind of immediate threat, they did realize that they had to track down Warren and get him to April before any humans got on her bad side. Buffy successfully tracked down Warren while April continued her search.
April eventually kidnapped Katrina, and confronted Warren and Buffy at the park. Out of self-preservation, Warren told April that he loved Buffy, causing April to attack her in a jealous rage. The Slayer managed to cause damage to April's circuitry, but she was barely slowed down. Eventually, April overpowered Buffy and began to throttle her, but the damage to her circuits, combined with her deteriorating batteries, took its toll.
Buffy decided to stay with the dying April, and comforted her over Warren's departure. April was accepting of it, however, and remarked to Buffy that "It's always darkest just before the dawn." However, she shut down before she could finish.
Legacy
Due to her encounter with April, Buffy realized that she didn't need a man in her life and decided to focus on her family issues, subsequently calling Ben to cancel a date that the two had made earlier. Buffy also remarked to Xander that April was not a crazed robot, but simply was trying her best to make the person she loved happy; however, she failed to draw the subtle parallel between April and Spike.
In addition, inspired by April, Spike forced Warren to make a gynoid based on Buffy programmed to love and obey him.
April's 'Locate Warren' Mode
Personality and Traits
- “Crying is blackmail. Good girlfriends don't cry.”
- ―April[src]
April's 'Make Warren Happy' Mode
April was programmed by Warren to display a cheerful, supportive and somewhat submissive personality. She was blindly devoted and loyal to Warren, going as far as attacking Spike after he gave her an indecent proposal. She retained a pleasant and sunny disposition and her speaking patterns are delivered in a rather direct fashion similar to ex-demon Anya who herself claimed April "speaks with a strange evenness and selects her words a shade too precisely" in her own words.
Her programming included folders and files such as "Make Warren Happy", "Places to Rub", "Listen Sympathetically", "Give Him Presents", "Oral Sex (File 1 of 7)", "Praise" and "Protect Warren" (even including a file which would make her take a bullet for him).
April's 'Protect Warren' Mode
Powers and Abilities
- “Ow. I don't know about you guys, but I've had it with super-strong little women who aren't me”
- ―Buffy[src]
Being a robot, April possessed superhuman strength. She was able to lift Spike and throw him out a window as well as proving more than deadly in a fight with Buffy as she broke the side of a see-saw and used it as a weapon. Her programming allowed her to enable 'combat mode' where she could use a selection of files, each with different fighting styles such as Kung Fu, Judo, Karate and Street Fighting. When angered, April also could emit a dog-like growl, to Buffy's shock and disgust.
Like the Buffybot, certain injures could cause flaws in her system and she regularly required a recharge, something she was not programmed to do herself.
Behind the Scenes
- She was portrayed by Shonda Farr.
- Although the part was originally to be played by pop princess Britney Spears,[1] scheduling conflicts forced Spears to back out and the role went to Farr.