- “She's only programmed to be in love.”
- ―Warren Mears[src]
April was a robot created by Warren Mears to be his girlfriend. After he abandoned her, April sought Warren through Sunnydale until her battery died.[1]
Biography[]
Creation[]
April was created by Warren Mears to love and obey him. He eventually became bored with her predictability and realized that he didn't love her back. Warren left her in his dorm room of a tech college in Dutton, hoping her batteries would eventually run out.[1]
Sunnydale[]
- “I'm looking for Warren. Do you know where Warren is? And if you do, could you tell me?”
- ―April[src]
April, however, went to Sunnydale to find her creator, arriving in Maple Court on a ride. The following night, she appeared at a UC Sunnydale party Warren was attending with his current girlfriend, Katrina Silber, and asked around for him. As Warren escaped, Spike flirted with April , but she reacted violently, throwing the vampire out a window before the crowd. Stunned by this, Spike departed, remarking that he felt sorry for Warren.[1]
Simultaneously amused by Spike's pain and shocked at April's erratic behavior, Buffy Summers confronted April and attempted to reason with her. However, April simply knocked the Slayer to the ground, apologized for hurting her, and left.[1]
Through these events, Buffy and the Scoobies quickly agreed that April was a robot. Though they didn't view her as an immediate threat, they realized that they had to track down Warren and get him to April before any humans got on her bad side. While April went door to door searching for Warren's residence, Willow found online where he could be living.[1]
Shutting down[]
April encountered Katrina at a park and used force to make her admit that Warren wasn't her boyfriend, but April's. Warren finally told April that he couldn't love her, but he also directed the blame to Buffy. April turned on the Slayer, and the two fought. Buffy managed to cause damage to April's circuitry, but the robot 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.[1]
Buffy stayed with the dying April and comforted her over Warren's departure. April remarked to Buffy: "It's always darkest just before the dawn." However, she shut down before she could finish the phrase.[1]
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.[1]
In addition, inspired by April,[1] Spike forced Warren to make the Buffybot, a gynoid based on Buffy programmed to love him.[2]
Personality and traits[]
- “Crying is blackmail. Good girlfriends don't cry.”
- ―April[src]
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 were delivered in a rather direct fashion similar to the ex-demon Anya who herself claimed April "speaks with a strange evenness and selects her words a shade too precisely" in her own words.[1]
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."[1]
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]
April possessed superhuman strength, being able to lift Spike and throw him out a window. She also proved deadly in a fight when she broke the side of a see-saw and used it as a weapon against Buffy. Her programming allowed her to enable "combat mode," when she could use a selection of files different fighting styles, such as Kung Fu, Judo, Karate, and street fighting. When angered, April also could emit a growl.[1]
Like the Buffybot,[3] certain injuries could cause flaws in her system and she required to be recharged, something she was not programmed to do herself.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
- She was portrayed by Shonda Farr.
- When questioned about the rumors that Britney Spears was originally intended to appear on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon answered: "She wasn't, but they told us she might. And they said: 'Britney wants to do the show,' 'Samuel L. Jackson wants to do the show' — we got that one, one time too. Eventually, I just stopped believing it. So we did hear that possibly Britney wanted to be in the show. We had never seen her act at all, so I was like, 'Well, we'll cover our bases, let's write a show about a robot; in that way, if she can't, we're fine.' And then Shonda Farr came in and did a wonderful job. And the creation of Warren, our villain, and the Buffybot, it all came from the fact that we thought Britney Spears was gonna be on the show, so happy accidents.[4] At the time, it was reported that Spears had to pull out of "a planned appearance" of an undisclosed character on the show "due to scheduling conflicts," and the episode had to be pushed to "a little bit later" in the season.[5]
Appearances[]
- "I Was Made to Love You"
- "Intervention" (Only mentioned)
- "Dead Things" (Only mentioned)
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 "I Was Made to Love You"
- ↑ "Intervention"
- ↑ "Bargaining, Part One"
- ↑ Matt Mitovich, "Britney, Bunnies, Angelic Reunions: Joss Whedon Answers Questions about the Buffyverse and More. TV Guide, February 18, 2009. Deactivated video archived on "Joss Whedon TV Guide Interview Feb 18, 2009." Youtube, December 15, 2016.
- ↑ "Britney Cancels 'Buffy' Appearance." ABC News, November 15, 2000.