Who'd everyone vote for? I voted for:

Balthazaar
Ford
Rona
Kathy Newman
Senator Helen Bruckner
Riley Finn
Eve
Der Kindestod
Sunday
Gwendolyn Post
Jesse
Whistler
April Bot
Izzy the Devil
Echo
The Beast

Echo vs. Penny was probably the hardest, but I ended up voting for Echo. I love Felicia Day too much. :P

This Is Eric | March 13, 16:52 CET

Interesting but how can characters like Der Kindestod compete against Echo? And where is Kennedy?

fraac | March 13, 16:56 CET

I had trouble with Echo v. Penny too, but I went with Penny. Before the last few Dollhouse episodes that would have been an easy choice, but Echo really grew on me

Tripllle | March 13, 16:58 CET

I voted Book, but I can guess he's not gonna make it.

Oh well. I just hope that Dawn and Kennedy make it to the end.

Walkdogger | March 13, 17:15 CET

Well, between Echo and Penny, I would say Penny was better because Echo took a lot of time to develop as an actual character, no matter how good she got to be.

I didn't remember who Ford was. Ben isn't worse than Riley. Ben is Glory! And where is Kennedy? [2]

Finally, shame on all 18 and 60 people who have voted on respectively Shepherd Book and Moist.

Nickolz | March 13, 17:16 CET

I think Kennedy is in the other part of the tournament bracket. I've been voting for a few rounds and I remember seeing her. I'm pretty sure she's still in it.

DeathIsYourGift | March 13, 17:25 CET

I had to do a pair of double-takes when I saw Skip and Illyria. Possibly my favourite AtS characters.

redders | March 13, 17:27 CET

Connor is, by far, the worst Whedonverse character.

jesse | March 13, 17:43 CET

I couldn't even bring myself to voting in most of those. Mixing one off appearances with characters that have real arcs just doesn't seem fair. I also found myself most of the time either feeling indifferent about the choices or loving them both, not able to vote for either to be the worst. The ones I did vote for were:

a)Ford - Hank may have been a horrid character, but his minor role makes Buffy who she is and defines some of her relationships, particularly with Giles. Ford was just unpleasant and didn't really contribute that much.

b)Potential Rona - She was probably the most annoying of the potentials (except for the faux-Cockney one.) Groo made me laugh many times and he kept Cordy away from the relationship with Angel that should never have happened, as well as allowing her to remain Cordy for a longer time than I would imagine she would have if he had not been present (his leaving - or, more accurately, the fractures in their relationship - pretty much coincides with her arc becoming awful.)

c) Riley Finn - Bland

d) Sunday - Part of an uninteresting episode. A completely forgettable character. Made worse by being up against a really good character.

e) Gwendolyn Post - Not as bad as Sunday, but similar problem. Some great stuff in the episode, but mostly not around her. And again, up against a fantastic character, who was one of the best bits of Season 7.

Vandelay | March 13, 17:57 CET

For me it's Rona by a long way. Those other potentials with the awful British accents were very annoying too though. I used to dislike Kennedy, but somehow her brief appearances in season eight have turned me around and I even like her in season seven now.

Who's worse: Echo or Penny is a question I could never have conceived being asked in my life.

[ edited by NotaViking on 2010-03-13 18:06 ]

NotaViking | March 13, 18:05 CET

I'm betting (in my mind) on Kathy for the worst character. And to those wondering, it's part one of round 2. Some characters have already been kicked off, some are yet to come up in round 2, and it started with 128 characters including most of the lead characters. For example, Illyria is still in the running because she was up against River in the first round (knowing the general Firefly-skewed devotion of internet Whedon fans, that was pretty predictable).

Coleberg | March 13, 18:09 CET

I agree with Vandeley. Couldn't vote in most of them. For example, I thought Kathy was kind of funny. I love it when she puts up the Celine Dion poster, and I love her labeled eggs. But comparing her to Boyd just seems bizarre.

jcs | March 13, 18:49 CET

How can anyone dislike April?

I want her to have her own show! Forget the Failth or Ripper spin offs, I want April the Robot!

zz9 | March 13, 19:14 CET

I've just realised I was confusing Ford with Parker. Doesn't change my decision though and I think my reasoning still applies.

Vandelay | March 13, 19:48 CET

Penny better than Echo?! Come on people! My least favourite character is Kennedy.

fivebyfivefaith | March 13, 19:54 CET

I don't understand how characters made the tournament to being with. Mayor Wilkins? Really? Book! Wow. I'd have traded one of those for Catherine Madison.

I know, it's all subjective.

thatweirdgirl | March 13, 20:24 CET

How can they place ECHO against PENNY! that was evil.

sasburgerr | March 13, 20:40 CET

@fivebyfivefaith AGREED. Kennedy should for sure be up there. The other dumb potential is. Maybe she will show up next round..


Hopefully.

sasburgerr | March 13, 20:42 CET

The Echo/Penny matchup seemed odd, but then, most of the choices did. I ended up skipping that one, entirely. I loved both characters, though Echo did take longer to develop. That was understandable and explained in the context of her "awakening," but it was still tough to develop an attachment to the character. I loved Penny immediately, but that might just be because Felicia is just so fantastically lovable.

I think Potential Rona was one of my most hated characters. But I hated Kennedy more, and not because of my loyalty to Tara. She was a terrible character in my opinion. Warren just annoyed the hell out of me, I could have done with a less obnoxious Warren. I never despised Riley, Ben or Kendra. I grew to love Illyria, but was troubled and hurt by how she came to be.

Weird list for round 1. Will be interested to see who's in round 2. Some of the options of one episode characters seemed a little odd when placed against characters that had actual arcs. Oh well.

JTown | March 13, 21:00 CET

I just skipped the Penny/Echo question.

And I voted Ben over Riley. Riley gets such a bad rap...

ManEnoughToAdmitIt | March 13, 21:37 CET

I thought Warren was superb, a really good depiction of everyday misogyny with superpowers.

fraac | March 13, 21:37 CET

I liked both characters in a number of the polls and a lot of characters I don't like were missing. My least favourite Buffyverse characters:

Connor - Extremely annoying.
Riley - Just boring. He got a bit more interesting in season 5.
Dawn - She drove me nuts in Season 5. She acted like an 8-year old, I found her painful to watch.
All the potentials - I think we all know why.
Cordy in later seasons of Angel - She changed too much.

I like all the rest, or at least I love to hate them (i.e. Gwendolyn Post, Warren). No characters in Firefly or Dollhouse stand out to me as being annoying or uninteresting.

Beriadanwen | March 13, 21:39 CET

How can they place ECHO against PENNY! that was evil.

Because there are many people that find both characters annoying.

*cough* Echo *cough*

redeem147 | March 13, 21:41 CET

I predict Potential Rona, Sunday, Linwood/Justine and Kennedy as semi-finalists. Bottom right part of the draw is toughest with Connor, Kennedy, Dawn and Parker. Not sure if anyone liked or liked-to-dislike Justine.

[ edited by fraac on 2010-03-13 22:25 ]

fraac | March 13, 22:24 CET

If the Finals isn't Rona vs. Kennedy, something's wrong with the world and I'll call "Shenanigans!!!"

bizzleburp | March 13, 22:31 CET

How in the world can anyone hate Moist?! Or Shepard Book, for that matter?! Are people really that terrible?! They're both so bad-ass! Sorry, I just get angry when people hate on my favs.

wackybroadwaynightmare | March 13, 23:11 CET

Not really my contest. I like almost all of these characters too much to consider them worst in any way.

But after 5 or so years of being the Groosalugg I had to vote on Rona on his behave. My only other vote was on Eve. She was annoying and Skip was quite funny, especially the first time around.

the Groosalugg | March 13, 23:39 CET

whos worst, Illyria or River??? not easy, but i had to vote on Illyria, Im hoping she wont smite for for that

Canis_Latrans | March 14, 00:06 CET

Illyria vs Whistler and Echo vs Penny?! That was waaaay too hard.
But I went with Illyria, mainly because she took Fred and because Whistler actually had some pretty awesome commentary when Buffy was slow mo running through the hall in "Becoming"

And I went with echo because I know her better than I do Penny. albeit, Penny lasted for all of..what, 30 minutes? haha
and I'm somewhat of a Dushku fan girl....

Slayin Days | March 14, 02:59 CET

Taking a look on the entire bracket, some of these matchups are just downright evil. I mean, Faith vs Kaylee?! Come on...

Djungelurban | March 14, 03:53 CET

How on earth is Ben getting more votes than Riley? Riley was on Buffy for WAY too long! And I definitely agree that Conner is the most annoying Whedon character ever.

YouDriveLikeASpaz | March 14, 04:23 CET

Due respect to the site that's running this, but I think it's more than a little silly. Substitute "worst" with either most evil or most annoying, and maybe it would make more sense.

I guess "Worst" is supposed to mean the characters you disliked most. But some of the characters I disliked most, in terms of what horrible things they did, were also some of the most interesting characters, and played huge and important roles in specific story arcs (Warren, for example).

If I had to pick, it would be "evil" Cordy, on Angel. A sloppy storyline, obviously concocted to accommodate Charisma Carpenter's pregnancy and the absolute worst bit of acting ever, on any Whedon show.
Although I loved high school diva Cordy, on BtS.

Shey | March 14, 05:40 CET

I clicked on this poll out of curiosity, as there are VERY few Whedon characters who I dislike. So, I was surprised at how many of the match-ups I actually ended up casting votes in; interesting poll. (Of course, I was also surprised to read "Because there are many people that find both characters annoying," above, as the worst I can recall ever reading anyone say about Penny was that she was underdeveloped. It's a good thing I'm not so inclined, as my toddler often wants to watch "Dr. Horrible Sing-a-song" two to three times a day these days...)

Maggie Walsh made my cut; Rona had enough loathsome moments - though maybe never reaching the heights of Kennedy in "Get It Done", imho... Kathy New(ly-posing-as-a-hu?)man really was one of the most annoying Joss characters ever (and I could even sympathize with her to a point! VERY few Whedon characters I LOATH...). Ben, as he did summon that queller demon to remove some of the evidence of Glory [maybe not the best idea to have him go that far that early, plotwise] and ultimately did sacrifice Dawn; and because I like Riley ("Do you really think you can take [stop?] me, boy?" "I surely do." Dude!). Similarly, while Der Kinderstood is from a better-than-I-remembered-but-still-among-my-less-liked episode, it partly got my vote out of support for Book - a "wtf" moment seeing Shepard (and Kaylee, too) anywhere on this list! Gwendolyn Post got my vote - awful to both Giles and Faith (also, "Poor Cassie."). And Warren - while often, earlier on, being an amusing character, and always well-portrayed - for being a misogynistic, murderous scumbag....

Not too surprisingly, though some one ep characters made it (and Izzy the Devil, who I found too much of a "meh" non-entity to actually vote for as a "worst"), the one or two Whedon characters I truly hate didn't make this poll. The scene of Doris the social worker grilling Buffy at the Summers home is one of the only Mutant Enemy scenes I've ever been known to skip over.... And perhaps the one character I absolutely can't STAND is Geo, the kill-happy, Gunn-bashing bigot who joins Charles' former gang in, well, "That Old Gang of Mine". I voted for his comeuppence as one of the "Best Angelverse Deaths" back in the old Buffy/Angel Magazine poll.... Beyond that - oh, and I won't mind voting for Parker in the second half of the round - there's really not much of anyone I can't stand at all - well, maybe "Dead Man's Party"'s "Mr. Belvedere!" guy....

LKW | March 14, 05:42 CET

But some of the characters I disliked most, in terms of what horrible things they did, were also some of the most interesting characters, and played huge and important roles in specific story arcs.

Very well-said, Shey.

I didn't vote although I readily admit I disliked Cordelia most of the time and Angel about half the time. I never liked Kennedy or Eve.

But I adored Riley. :-)

menomegirl | March 14, 07:39 CET

Yeah it seemed weird to vote for worst character. Couldn't do it. I mean characters I hated mostly had a purpose in the show. The one exception for me was Eve. Hated Eve. Not as written, but as played. I haven't seen the actress in anything else so I don't know if it was her acting or just a miscasting but everytime she spoke I would think about Lilah doing the line, and the show got soooooo much better.

I liked the Groosalug and Aprilbot a lot, and nasty characters like Ford, Sunday, Gwendolyn Post, were perfect in their episodes so I can't qualify them as worst.

Xane | March 14, 17:03 CET

Kennedy

cleveland | March 14, 21:32 CET

Too bad all heavyweights are on the right side of the tournament. The only character I really disliked on the left side is The Beast, but he is nothing compared to Kennedy, Connor, Parker, or Dawn for that matter.

Alpert | March 14, 22:23 CET

Dawn, IMO. Damn, most of the time I wanted to just slap her.

[ edited by Whistler on 2010-03-15 08:35 ]

Whistler | March 15, 06:56 CET

No idea who Moist or Izzy the Devil were, even with the photos. I guess they're both from AtS which I pretty much dislike and have no inclination to re-watch.

Still, it's kind of fun, fingers crossed Connor wins. Also I can't believe all the Rona hate! I quite liked her, Molly and Annabelle though, eurgh, purely created to piss of the entire UK population presumably.

digupherbones | March 15, 16:10 CET

Kennedy.

I'm not sure if it was the way the character was written or how the actress played the character, but Kennedy is the one character I wish had never appeared in the Buffyverse. Her presence (or I guess her character & story arc) just never felt natural.

[ edited by Candace on 2010-03-15 17:27 ]

Candace | March 15, 16:22 CET

digupherbones, Moist is Doctor Horrible's sidekick. Izzy the Devil was a racketball playing member of the Circle of the Black Thorn in Angel (ETA: A funny guy really, can't believe he's losing against the increasinly annoying (as the seasons progressed) Amy Madison.

There are quite a lot of obscure characters in the tournament. I myself had no idea who Ford was, till I looked it up.

[ edited by the Groosalugg on 2010-03-15 16:29 ]

the Groosalugg | March 15, 16:25 CET

Re: Round 2 - I just couldn't choose between Illyria and River, or Holland Manners and Darla.

[ edited by SpendTheNightAlone on 2010-03-16 07:46 ]

SpendTheNightAlone | March 16, 07:41 CET