Vampires are a dime a dozen on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In any given episode, The Slayer dusts plenty of nameless, run-of-the-mill vamps that are unique only in the way Buffy chooses to dispatch them. Yet every once in awhile, a vampire comes along that audiences can really sink their teeth into, giving them the truest kind of immortality - fan adoration. There are the obvious candidates for the vampire Hall of Fame, like Angel, Spike, Darla and Dru, but then there are the other less obvious bloodsuckers that grab attention for their unique personalities, shocking appearances or ability to turn the mythology on its head. When the episode "The Wish" debuted on December 8th, 1998, a vampire matching all those requirements made her first appearance as she sauntered on screen with a frighteningly familiar face - Vampire Willow. The antithesis of cute, shy Willow Rosenberg, this vampire alter ego surfaces when a bitter Cordelia Chase wishes for a Sunnydale without Buffy, a reality that Anyanka the Vengeance demon is only too happy to create.

In the new bizarro Sunnydale, The Master runs the town from his headquarters at The Bronze with his favorite minions, vampires Xander and Willow, wreaking havoc and fear into the hearts of everyone with a pulse. "The Wish" became an instant classic for its bleak and frightening take on a Sunnydale where evil easily outweighed good in the balance of power. Everything about this world was slightly familiar, yet oh so wrong, and it was best personified in Vampire Willow. Sweet, White Hat Willow was nowhere to be found, and instead fans got a shocking sexy, sleek vampire version clothed in an S&M leather outfit. Not only was Vampire Willow a shock to the eyes, but this version also had a penchant for creepy, disturbing violence and taste for destruction. Audiences were both freaked out and completely intrigued with this new take on their beloved Willow and maybe not so surprisingly, everyone was smitten with this vixen.

Even series creator Joss Whedon couldn't get enough of her wicked ways and seven episodes later, he brought Vampire Willow back to the real Sunnydale in the episode, "Doppelgangland," which aired on February 23, 1999. As he told USAToday, "One Willow is certainly not enough." In "Doppelgangland," a now powerless Anya (aka Anyanka) and an unwitting Willow botch a spell attempting to return the former vengeance demon's powers. Instead, they accidentally summon Vampire Willow to this dimension, where the polar opposites finally come face- to-face with unforgettable results. The pair's farewell hug at the end of the episode ("Hands, Hands!") was even ranked as the forty-second most memorable moment ever on the series by The Official Buffy Magazine.

With 144 Buffy episodes to choose from, "The Wish" and "Doppelgangland" consistently rank as two of the best episodes ever produced by both fans and critics. And if you need any more endorsement, Whedon even ranked the episodes in his personal top ten listed for a USA Today article back in 2003. [Click Here] It's pretty obvious that Vampire Willow managed to spellbind everyone, making for one truly infamous vampire that is now forever immortalized in 12" form. The newest figure in the Sideshow Buffy the Vampire Slayer line is none other than Vampire Willow. She is sculpted by artist Andy Bergholtz and features the leather costume worn by the character in "The Wish" and "Doppelgangland." To truly reflect her nasty ways, Vampire Willow includes a cat-'o-nine-tails whip, keys with a key ring for when she plays with her "puppy" (poor Angel!), a broken pool cue, and a figure display stand.