Respect Riley Finn (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

[hareluyafan1]

I know I’m in a minority but personally I’ve always liked Riley and thought that he didn’t deserve the hatred he got from fans of the show.

While re-watching Season Four I started wondering, just how good is Riley? How does he compare to fighters from other franchises? Who would be good opponents for him on Rumbles? With that in mind I’ve put this together in hopes of generating some discussion and maybe inspiring people to make some Rumbles with him. I know it’s late but better late than never.

I haven’t read the comics so this is TV appearances only (with one exception). Also I’m not including the time he had super-strength in Out of My Mind since that was a temporary thing. I know Respect Threads are typically arranged into categories but for simplicities sake I’m just posting feats from each episode in order. Feel free to point out any I missed.


Wild at Heart- Riley reacts in time to save Willow from being hit by a car. Notably he gets her completely out of harm’s way before Buffy even starts to cross the road.

The Initiative- Tanks a kick from Spike, tackles him into a wall and then tanks Spike hitting him with a fire extinguisher.

- Fights Buffy while partially blinded and holds his own. He withstands multiple hits, including a barrage of punches to his chest and being hit in the head with a chair, and still keeps fighting. Riley is also able to block a few of her blows, shove her down a corridor, Irish-whip her into a wall and stagger her with an uppercut. The fight ends with him, Forrest and Graham retreating.

Note that Buffy doesn’t know he’s human because he’s wearing a balaclava and she thought he and his comrades were attacking Willow, so she isn’t holding back.

Hush- Riley fights the Footmen (the Gentlemen’s henchmen) both by himself and alongside Buffy and more than holds his own in both. Note that the Footmen are strong enough to briefly restrain Buffy and durable enough to take multiple hits from her and keep coming. He also saves Buffy from the Gentlemen with his marksmanship skills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZk39tPpbFo

Doomed- Knocks out a demon with one blow from a nightstick.

- Blocks a blow from Buffy. Note that he surprised her after she’d just fought a super-strong Vahrall demon and she thought he was that demon back for more, meaning she wasn’t holding back.

-Lands three punches to a Vahrall demon’s face before it starts to fight back.

-Tanks getting thrown around and punched by a Vahrall demon, and hit by a stone slab.

-Pulls Buffy and a Vahrall demon (estimated to weigh 100-120 kilograms) out of the Hellmouth pit.

A New Man- Riley is stated to have killed or captured eleven vampires and six assorted demons. The scene is played for laughs but that’s actually pretty impressive for a non-superhuman. Plus those are just the ones he killed/captured alone. He probably took down more in team efforts.

-Shows decent agility by doing a nifty flip to his feet after being thrown to the floor.

https://i.imgur.com/1f5uoMg.gif

- Gets launched across a room by a kick from Buffy and is mostly okay.

- No-sells a punch and an elbow to the face by Ethan Rayne, shoulder-throws him and puts him in a joint-lock twice. Granted, Ethan isn’t known for strength or skill but it’s still a punch/elbow to the face.

The I in Team- Fights a Polgara demon alongside Buffy.

This Year's Girl- Is up and about in what is apparently a short space of time after Adam stabbed him in the previous episode.


That's enough for now. I'll post Part Two soon.