BSV Forum - General - The Bloodshedpub

Bad Boys

Sep 04 2009 11:29 pm   #1Debb 

In season four, Buffy often remarks on "the bad boy thing", referring to Angel, and I always thought that was silly. To me, Angel was not a bad boy. His personality, thought processes, decisions, even emotional reactions to everything-- nothing like a bad boy. Apart from his being unable to stop draining Buffy when he was out of his head and poisoned in Graduation, and vamping after their first kiss, canon for BtVS never shows that he has really any vampy desires or urges, either. I don't know if that's because his soul crushes the vampire part of him down, or if he masters those desires and only lets the 'human' desires he thinks are acceptable be felt. Either way, who Angel is is not a bad boy to me! I guess Buffy thinks the fact that he physically is a vampire and that she's not supposed to date his 'kind' makes him a bad boy, but I don't agree. Pike had less money than Buffy in the movie, dressed scruffily, but I don't think he was a bad boy either. He was just not someone a girl in her high school clique would date.

:P It goes without saying that Spike represents the ultimate bad boy, with the heart of a romantic and unafraid of feeling. :goodevil:

Do you guys think Angel is a bad boy? What do you think makes a guy a bad boy?

Sep 05 2009 07:00 pm   #2Messiah

I agree with what you said. Angel is in no way a bad boy. He can be dark and mysterious which can get girls off but that’s about it :P
I think she just refers to him as that because he drinks a lot of V8--and maybe because he turns evil every now and again? Which human boyfriends can do, too at times.

Years and years ago my sis’s BF picked her up and tried to throw her over a bridge be cause she said ‘no’ when he asked her to stop smoking.Of course he was a religious fanatic and believed only Satan worshippers smoked lol
Which just goes to show that everything in Buffy is more or less a big fat metaphor for what happens for real… 

As for the essence of bad boy/girl…

- Having little to no respect for anyone
- Having loose morals or none at all
- Not caring what your conscience tells you
- Being driven mainly by your moving center (I.E not using your brain much)
- Unconcerned with consequences
-  Doing whatever you want however you want whenever you want with whoever you want

 Anything I’ve forgotten?

- If you want to win a war, you must serve no master but your own ambition..

-The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.

- A religious war is like children fighting over who has the strongest imaginary friend.


Sep 05 2009 09:11 pm   #3Jo 

The word bad boy, using boy, somehow makes me think it's not that bad or serious. More like a rebellious teenager or something, defying what everyone thinks and doing what he wants (which usually means having loose morals) but still able to care about things and think about consequences, even if your behavior doesn't let it on much. I don't think of selfish, violent, horney jerks as bad boys. I never thought of Parker as a bad boy. I think bad boys are about behavior that doesn't completely reach the emotional center or whatever. Sociopaths or thugs or manipulative bastards are not my bad boy.  But so many people think of something like that when I say it, I can't say that I've got a soft spot for bad boys without explaining.

Sep 09 2009 12:50 am   #4Scarlet Ibis
"Bad Boy" in my opinion simply means "guy from the wrong side of the tracks."  I still wouldn't consider Angel a bad boy, though...Bad boy also entails I think, being a bad ass in some shape or form.

As for the essence of bad boy/girl…

- Having little to no respect for anyone
- Having loose morals or none at all
- Not caring what your conscience tells you
- Being driven mainly by your moving center (I.E not using your brain much)
- Unconcerned with consequences
-  Doing whatever you want however you want whenever you want with whoever you want


I'd say that goes more to being a bastard, and not a bad boy.  More or less what Jo said ;)


"Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly."
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Sep 09 2009 01:51 pm   #5Mesh 
I'd say that goes more to being a bastard, and not a bad boy.  More or less what Jo said ;)

Well maybe bad boys and all people who think their bad are bastards in general.

What else could they be?  all the bad asses I've met have been jerks in one way or another.
Take Faith for example. She's what you could consider a bad girl and I think my list pretty much sums her up. Sociopaths or druggies aren't my kind of bad boy, either but I'm trying to be objective here.

If you're talking about personal preferences I'd say my kind would be mischievous, cocky, kinky and provocative lol *ahem* but that's just what I would want.
But everything is relative to one's personal tastes. A person may think a strawberry is sweet while another not. Just depends on how sweet they like them to be.

Sep 09 2009 04:50 pm   #6BandS 
Honestly?

I think everyone's version of what they perceive as a bad boy tends to differ.  I tend to think bad boys are cocky, kinky, provocative, and all swagger.   (quoted you messiah a bit)

And smooth as hell.  They know how to rock your world but aren't conceited about it.  It's like a given trait...

Bastards I would categorize as all around BAD guys.  Horrible guys.  Nothing bad boyish about them.  Notice how we use the term bad boy/guys here but in essence it isn't searching out the same sort of definition that we are looking for in a bad boy criteria.  It's unhealthy guy versus bad boy make me tremble.  There is a difference.  I think it's more the appeal or attitude.  Faith a bad girl hmmm she bored on that and then some.  Some bad boys do have limits like some bad girls have limits.  Faith didn't.  She took who she wanted and when she wanted.

So in other words I think Messiah you got it in one...It all comes down to one's tastes.  How you perceive them.  I saw Angel as pathetic while Angelus was a bastard.  Riley as a stiff board.  Xander goofy then learning to be a man in the last few episodes.

But who won bad boy?  Definitely Spike...and...Ripper whereas Giles was a stiff, lol.  What was he like a Jekyl and Hyde thing like pretty much everyone on that show had except for a few lol...See it's all in the perseptions and what your likes and dislikes are...

Like some would see everything I said there differently just means it's their tastes...Nothing wrong with that and this totally can't be defined clear cut cuz no one person is alike.  God even twins aren't there are still gonna be slight differences.