hi! i hope it's not too late to submit propaganda for this round or other rounds in the future (if spike wins). i want to submit for Spike, because i thought his current propaganda was a little lacking (no shade).
(i really like the picture you chose to represent him for round 4, but i want to add the pictures im including in his propaganda for the readmore)
Mass murder, assault, thievery, torture, attempted rape, innumerable other offenses. Cut a bloody massacre throughout Europe in the late 1800s. He’s quite rude and hits below the belt too lol. and hes british
He’s a genuinely evil person who goes through a seasons long arc to get redeemed.
Spike starts out being a no-holds-barred soulless evil villain with his only goal being to kill the protagonist Buffy. he would do everything to kill her if not for the fact that someone worse shows up and he needs to work together with her to stop the entire world from getting destroyed - he’s a vampire, but he doesn’t have a death wish.
He is very skilled at manipulation, and despite most of the main characters hating him outright, is able to pit them against each other for his own gain. He has an extreme bloodlust and thirst for violence, and upon being rendered powerless to hurt humans, almost killed himself bc he was so upset. He got back to normal once he realized he could kill his own kind, which indirectly benefited the good guys.
After seasons of wishing death upon Buffy, it comes as a shock to him to realize that he has evolved to being in love with her due to how twisted vampires are concerning pain, love, and hate. after a century of committing the most violent, heinous acts, spike makes the decision to get a SOUL, which is the single most important thing that the show delineates between being on the very black-and-white side of good and evil.
Before spike, there was only one other vampire with a soul, and he had to be Cursed with it by travelers. Spike actively chooses to GET a soul in order to be a better man worthy of buffy instead of a soulless monster.
(I mean, just look at this shot of spike draping himself over a cross while mad with guilt over all the harm he's done. very nice.)
But even while he’s supposedly evil, spike is remarkably humanlike, and he cares about other things than killing his own kind. He cares about Buffy and buffy’s family, acting as a guardian for her kid sister in her absence even while he’s soulless, and their friendship is one of the most humanizing aspects of spike.
He also used to be poet when he was a human and a lot of his sensitivity bled through to his vampire self so he’s much more emotional than the average vampire. And he’s serially monogamist. And throughout all this, a gigantic punk rock loser. Billy idol stole his look!
Spike is one of the best characters to ever grace television, especially because none of this would have ever happened if joss Whedon got what he wanted and killed him off in season 2.
