- “That'll put marzipan in your pie plate, bingo!”
- ―Buffybot[src]
The Buffybot was the name given to two separate robotic replicas of Buffy Summers, the first created by Warren Mears at the request of Spike for use as a sex toy, and the second created by Andrew Wells as a decoy to protect Buffy from an assassination attempt.
Mk I
Spike's Sex Toy
The original Buffybot was built by Warren as a sex toy for Spike, who at the time had developed an obsessive attraction for Buffy. Therefore, the Buffybot was initially programmed to be in love with Spike and do anything to please him. Buffy's friends mistook the robot for her, leading them to believe the real Buffy was sleeping with Spike out of depression from her mother's death. After hearing the hellgod Glory had Spike in her clutches, the Buffybot was encouraged to rescue him while the others were only motivated to do so since they believed he would tell Glory that Buffy's sister Dawn was the Key. Upon meeting the Buffybot, the real Buffy launched an attack at Glory's apartment where Buffybot became damaged during a fight with Glory's minions.
After rescuing Spike, Willow Rosenberg repaired the Buffybot and kept it for her own educational purposes. A disgusted Buffy then posed as the Buffybot to find out whether Spike betrayed her, presenting him with a kiss when she discovered the lengths he went to protect them.
Against Glory
Xander Harris and Anya Jenkins later found the deactivated Buffybot in the basement of The Magic Box and the group decided to use it to make the first strike and distract Glory from the real Buffy. After a few minutes of battle, the Buffybot was decapitated by Glory, provoking her to believe the slayer was a robot before the real Buffy revealed herself. However, the Buffybot was able to weaken Glory slightly with the Dagon Sphere, giving the real Buffy a slightly easier time against Glory.
Posing as Dawn's Guardian
Buffybot after she was torn apart.
Following Buffy's death, the Buffybot was used for patrolling to ensure the underworld did not discover the Slayer's death. While the demon community thought Buffy was alive, they were less likely to strike, out of fear. Willow also reprogrammed it for Slayer duties, but the original programming occasionally resurfaced as it made flirtatious comments about Spike, which both pained and irritated him. Its impersonation also ensured that Dawn, lacking a legal guardian in Sunnydale with both Buffy and their mother dead, could stay in town with the Scooby Gang and allowed the group to live and operate out of the Summers home. Unfortunately, one vampire discovered the secret when fighting with the Buffybot, and brought a demon biker gang to Sunnydale to tear the place apart. The Buffybot confronted their leader, who damaged it before it took out a number of his gang. It then made its way to Willow for repair, attracting the attention of the demons to Willow who was trying to resurrect the real Buffy. This apparently ruined the resurrection ritual and the demon gang captured the Buffybot. The demons then destroyed the Buffybot by tearing it limb from limb, pulling it apart with motorcycles just as the original Buffy arrived in time to see it. Before "dying", the Buffybot revealed to Dawn that she had seen the 'other' Buffy, helping Dawn realize that Buffy had returned from the dead.
Mk II
Andrew transferring Buffy's mind into the new Buffybot
Creation
Several years later in 2006, following the end of magic, Andrew created a new Buffybot to protect the real Buffy from an assassination attempt. Andrew transferred Buffy's mind into the robot when she passed out during a party. The Buffybot lived in Buffy's apartment in San Francisco and carried out the Slayer's duties while the real Buffy was relocated in a safe house, living as a normal girl in a clichéd suburb.
Discovery
However, this masquerade eventually ended after several weeks when Andrew neglected to program the Buffybot with basic human functions such as digestion, menstruation and maintaining adequate Ph levels in its blood. This caused it to throw up its food, miss expected periods and prove positive on a pregnancy test.
The second Buffybot discovers its nature.
It discovered its true nature after being attacked by zompires, resulting in the removal of its arm. After confronting Andrew, he repaired its arm though without providing anything to cover it, leaving it exposed. The Buffybot, Spike, and Andrew then traveled to the home of the real Buffy, using a tracking device posing as Buffy's necklace. Unfortunately, the real Buffy was kidnapped by renegade Slayer Simone Doffler. The trio then went out to search for the real Buffy on Simone's island.
Confrontation with the real Buffy
The Buffybot fighting with her human counterpart.
The Buffybot was knocked out by the real Buffy and tied up in Simone's basement. Simone attempted to isolate Buffy's essence from the robot body using hardware tools just before Spike, Andrew and Spike's minions came to the rescue. The Buffybot freed itself from its bonds by breaking off its robotic arm. The two Buffys then fought each other until Andrew interrupted and the real Buffy was snapped out of Simone's brainwashing. Intervening to Spike's aid, the Buffybot was shot in the chest by Simone but remained mainly unharmed.
After Simone fled, the two Buffy's returned to San Francisco where Andrew transferred Buffy's mind back into her body.
Dawn's predicament
A dying Dawn about to have her mind transferred into the Buffybot
Months after the Buffybot's discover, Dawn started to die as the magic that was keeping her alive was non-existent because of the seed's destruction, causing her to fade away from reality. In an attempt to save her, Xander agreed to let Andrew transfer Dawn's mind into the same Buffybot that was used to protect Buffy, having been kept in the same state as when Buffy was returned to her body. This plan was aborted when the real Buffy promised Xander that she would do what she could to restore Dawn.
Personality and Traits
Mk I
- “It's Spike. And he's wearing a coat!”
- ―The Buffybot Mk I[src]
The original Buffybot was programmed with behavior very similar to Warren's robotic "girlfriend" April, she had a very distinctive, cheery demeanor when interacting and her dialogue often consisted of praising Spike though she did in a more explicit way than April did to Warren. This type of praise was formed to meets Spike's desires; she would claim to have an attraction based on his dangerous side while openly adhering to her Slayer duties, happily stating "Isn't a beautiful night for killing evil things". She was originally programmed by Spike to dislike Angel. Her programming referred to him as "... lame. His hair goes straight up and he's bloody stupid." Knowing Spike, he probably did this because of his natural dislike towards Angel and also didn't want his Buffybot to have any attraction towards Angel like the real Buffy Summers did.
When interacting with Buffy's familiar's, the Buffybot was given a small number of traits and facts about them. This led her to state them while they remained unrelated to the conversation. Such examples include asking Anya "How is your money?" when greeting due to her obsession with money, in conversation saying to Xander "You're my friend, and a carpenter!" and while Willow, believing she was the real Buffy, confronted her about sleeping with Spike the Buffybot said "You're my best friend" and "You're recently gay".
The Buffybot, on the whole, seemed to possess limited general knowledge as when she claimed she didn't sleep with Spike, but she had sex with him. When seeing a student-made, miniature model of a city, she assumed it was to be the actual size of the model and asked how the people would fit in.
Reprogrammed, the Buffybot was cleaned from all data that positioned her to sexually praise Spike, though it did come back at times ("I know, I admire your brain almost as much as your washboard abs") . She acted as loving older sister to Dawn and even claimed to enjoy getting training from Giles, despite it being unnecessary.
Mk II
The second version of the Buffybot shared the exact same personality and traits as the real Buffy Summers, while Buffy's body lacked any personality of her own nor retained any memories. This Buffy only knew how to cook, clean and tend to her garden, and it was only when she accidentally broke a wooden spoon that she felt it was familiar as it resembled a stake. Because of her mental state, she was brainwashed by Simone, making her believe in her "revolution".
Powers and Abilities
Mk I
The original Buffybot was programmed with the same combative skills as the real Buffy while possessing some degree of super strength due to her robotic nature. This allowed her to effectively slay vampires, more impressively than the rest of Buffy's human friends. She even managed to hold her own against Glory for a few minutes where she demonstrated her strength by punching in bricks without any damage to herself.
However, like April certain injuries could cause major flaws in her system, thus dramatically affecting her behavior such as when her head was cut by a shattering glass bottle, her navigation system was damaged, causing her to repeatedly bump into a clear barrier in her path. Willow luckily programmed for the Buffybot to seek her for repair though this led to the Buffybot's destruction.
Perhaps the Buffybot's most outstanding attribute lies in the fact that it was almost indistinguishable from the real Buffy, as the real Buffy's friends had trouble realizing the Buffybot's nature; and even Spike, with his acute senses, actually mistook the real Buffy for the robot implied how great the similarity between the two of them were.
Mk II
Having Buffy's mind, the second Buffybot possessed all of Buffy's memories and fighting skills while its strength seemed to suffice for Buffy's superhuman physical attributes. Because of this, it lacked any of the previous model's unusual quirks and habits (which were also partially due to its initially programming), though was not built to digest food, menstruate and its synthetic bodily fluids had a high Ph level, making her appear positive in a pregnancy test.
Despite this, the second Buffybot was apparently more durable than the original. While minor blows could cause a great deal of damage to the original, the second didn't have these problems. It could still function after its entire arm was ripped off, become unconscious when hit with a wooden plank but not have any of its systems malfunction and take a gunshot wound to the chest, telling Spike to relax when he came to her aid.
Gallery
Behind the Scenes
- She was portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar.
- The Buffybot pronounces "Giles" with a hard g (as in "guy-els"). Joss Whedon and Marti Noxon have said on several occasions that they get annoyed with so-called fans of the show when they pronounce "Giles" in this way.
- Spike's well-known dislike of Angel was manifested in the first Buffybot's programming, describing him as "lame and bloody stupid".
- A slice of her faux skin around her torso peels back to reveal a USB port that can be plugged into a Macintosh and programmed.
Appearances
Mk I
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Angel
- "Lineage" (Only mentioned)
Mk II
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine
- "Freefall, Part One"
- "Freefall, Part Two"
- "Freefall, Part Three"
- "Freefall, Part Four"
- "Slayer, Interrupted"
- "On Your Own, Part One"
- "On Your Own, Part Two"
- "Apart (of Me), Part One"
- "Apart (of Me), Part Two"
- "Apart (of Me), Part Three" (Shut down)
- "Welcome to the Team, Part Three" (Only mentioned)
- "Welcome to the Team, Part Four" (inactive)
- "I Wish, Part One" (Only mentioned)
- "Love Dares You, Part Three" (Only mentioned)