Your Only Hope

I'm gonna do a bit of research into the crossing running water, because I'll see in my head is a vampire on a tug boat with a flag. I'm not sure why. :)

Ah folk tales, back before the days of the internets.

From:

I like when vampires aren't necessarily shown to be all-powerful. Vampires are not superheroes.

I like it when vampires actually have a quandary over drinking human blood, that it's like a drug to them, and that they are powerless against it, even if they recognize that it's not okay to kill humans. I want an internal war about this, not just a "oh, I'll just drink cow's blood, then!" and off on their merry way to basically just be Highlander and only be unique because they are immortal.

I like it when vampires have to actually worry about what time it is and when sunrise is because sun is bad for them. I dislike vampires who can walk around during the day like it's no big, or even the pesky "low power" vampires (i.e. daytime is not good for them, they are not powerful then but they can function a little... do not like that).

I dislike vampires flying, but I know plenty of people like that.

I dislike vampires shapeshifting, but again that's something a lot of people like.

I dislike vampires not being able to have sex. That seems like such a waste.

I do like eye color changes. I'm not sure why. It just seems neat.

Edited Date: 2009-09-11 10:07 pm (UTC)

From:

my main problem with twilight is that you can't kill them. they have no weaknesses. If they have no weaknesses then they dont need to stay out of harms way.. and goddamnit they dont need to go to school. GAWSH.

/poke

love you :)

From:

and goddamnit they dont need to go to school. GAWSH.

I know, right? Like if I were immortal and could do anything I wanted, the last thing I'd want to do is relive high school in perpetuity! ;D

<3!

From:

Confirms that they're social and drama queens.

Especially Mr. Attentionwhore himself. :)

From:

I like Vampires that have a human element. That's one thing that I know differs completely (IMO) from Buffy to Twilight.
Angel has a past, he has thoughts, he tries to make amends for all the bad things he's done, though the angst can stop. Seriously.

Spike has addictions.

Edward... has his gorgeous face. That's all he's got, it seems. No human element.

I dislike Vampires with qualities. They have nothing to them.

I do and don't like Vampires with addictions. Same goes for people, I guess I could say.

And the eye color change is pretty awesome. I gotta admit.

From:

i love the changing eye colors.

I have many problems with twilight. Mostly involving sparklepants himself.

From:

I love the whole "Real Vampires don't sparkle" line.
I was on plurk, and a friend of a friend replied with "Edward can't read Bella's thoughts, 'cause she doesn't have any!!"
And I nearly fell out of my chair. If I were drinking something, it would have most certainly come out of my nose.

Not kiddin'.

From:

hjcallipygian.livejournal.com

I am annoyed by vampires that don't kill people. Vampires, to me, should be evil. They can seem good, that's fine, as long as that is some sort of manipulative type of thing. They should not be presented as good and actually just be assholes (looking at you, Ed Cullen); that is not evil, that is just being like the majority of guys in the world. =)

From:

See, this is why 30 days of night is my favorite thing ever. The vampires are EVIL. They want to EAT YOU. /swoon Wait.. not swoon.. run for my life.. with their big fuck all teeth

From:

namey.livejournal.com

Hmmm.....

I like the Jossverse ruleset for the physical aspect: Visibly vamping out, the "direct sunlight" workaround (though indirect should at least be discomforting on some level). Magic's not an intrinsic vamp power, but as learnable by as anyone else.

On the other hand, the whole "literal no soul on undeath barring gypsy rituals" thing irks me on some level. [And Jossverse's been inconsistent on that anyway, really.] Points in the True Blood/Forever Knight realm: It affects what you do because of the physical changes (blood, senses, zomg my upbringing says I'm going to firey places now), but don't think it should be a fundamental mental shift in its own right.

Most at least modern takes allow the animal or stored loophole, but living human's still preferred... the "nicer taste" due to type of nutrients? Makes enough sense, while human-only doesn't at much (at some level, blood's blood).

Not sure what I think about the holy symbol part [if you can tell, I lean towards the more "pseudoscientifically-explainable" bits]... if there's an actual PTB behind the holy, sure. Yer average idol-worshipping cult, not so much. >_>

From:

personally, I would like if some vamp show/whatever only let religious icons have as much power as the holder had faith. Like a hindu man would not be able to pick up a crucifix and ward away a vampire like a catholic man (who believed) could :)

From:

danifesto.livejournal.com

Great minds think alike, as we posted our replies at the exact same time...

From:

THIS SO MUCH! Which means then that Buffy's little crosses and junk wouldn't really have worked, as it wasn't shown she was particularly religious, just using them for their generic power.

On Being Human, there's some neat stuff with the werewolf's star of David. His best friend is a vampire and the vampire can hold the werewolf's star of David without ill effect, but when the werewolf uses it to ward off a "bad" vampire, that vampire experiences ill effects. The difference is in the talisman-wielder's intention against the vampire.

From:

Yeah, I figure any religious symbol would work besides a cross. It makes sense.

From:

npgmaverick.livejournal.com

I like it when a show like "True Blood" takes vampire lore and makes the viewer see it in a fresh new way. As absurd as the premise is, it's handled very realistically. It uses humor, drama, suspense, romance, sex, social issues and pathos in a vastly entertaining way.

In contrast, I dislike shows like "Vampire Diaries", which just felt 2 me like a retread of so many other stories. I basically felt it had all been done before and done better.

Creativity is the key. It's not the materials, it's how U use it.

From:

and that is why I love true blood :)

ps love you!

From:

Yes please!!

From:

danifesto.livejournal.com

One of my favorite bits of vampire lore I've only seen in Marvel comics (although I think Whedon alluded to it once on Buffy). A religious symbol is useless against a vampire unless the bearer of the symbol has faith.

Example: When the X-Men fought Dracula (Uncanny X-Men #159, if you care), the Count laughed at the cross when it was wielded by Wolverine (either Athiest or believer in Shinto) or Kitty Pryde (Jewish). He burned when he touched the Star of David around Pryde's neck, and screamed when Nightcrawler (a devout Catholic) held up two sticks in the sign of the cross.

That issue also contains one of my least favorite vampire tropes, though. Dracula spent most of the issue turning Storm into his vampire consort, but at the end of the issue, turned her back to human with a wave of his hand. I prefer the stories where turning a human into a vampire is near instantaneous and permanent. No changing people back by killing the head vampire, or by a total blood transfusion (the one flaw in the otherwise excellent vampire flick "Near Dark").

Anyway, If you haven't gone to this page, go here now:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurVampiresAreDifferent

From:

danifesto.livejournal.com

Oh yeah, and I love the bit on Supernatural where the blood of a dead man is poisonous to Vampires.

From:

It's kinda like that in Anne Rice too.. if they drink past the point of death, it ends up killing them.

Then again... so does absinthe.

From:

I have to agree with that. I read that issue and was like, "Omg, just take Storm already. Make it interesting!!" It seemed very anticlimactic to me.

From:

lizetta.livejournal.com

I like it when vampires are quiet about their past, and frequently spend time observing situations. It would seem to me that after a few hundred years, I would stop talking so much. I like it when the older ones play games with people, again, that seems like a reasonable way to be after a while. I like them surly.

I like the ties of sex and food, I like the erotic side of them. I also like the politics of it all, they'd have to have a strong system to have gone this long without being caught.

I'm not a particular fan of seeing too much scientific explanation of how they got to be that way. The "virus" idea doesn't really work for me. I could come up with other ideas, but I think that might be just better left unsaid. It's fiction, not science fiction, IMHO. On the other hand, I don't like it when they go too far, especially when it comes to probability statistics and the whole idea that being bit by a vamp makes you a vamp.

I like it when there are some myths that aren't true, like the "of course we still have a reflection" thing. I have fun discovering that every time I pick up a new world.

I've read a lot of books lately where one or more of the supernaturals are "out of the closet". It's a fun concept, but seems really common right now.

I like it when the interact with other supernaturals. This sometimes has a Star Trek feel to it, where each different world or group takes a part of human nature and that becomes there defining characteristic. Klingons are werewolves sort of thing. I like how that examines humanity.

It's important to me what happens when a vamp dies. I'm not a fan of TB the series, with the overly gory death. I like the ones where the vamp immediately decomposes to whatever level their body would be at if they'd died when they were turned.

That's all I can think of for now

From:

kittycat22.livejournal.com

I mostly like the Jossverse stuff. I also really love the Sookie books notion about them not just being able to be alive in direct sunlight, but being pretty incapable of functioning during daylight hours, and having to have really special, secret, unknown sleeping places. I mean, on Buffy/Angel, the vamps seemed to not need sleep. And that I don't like. I also like the idea of vamp blood having a curative/superhuman effect, again like in Sookie books. (Don't know if TB follows these along).

And I like Dean's notion in SPN that vamps=evil. End of sentence. I'm kind of torn, really, on the impact the vamping has on humanity. I'm drawn to both the idea that all humanity/morality is GONE and you are evil (intellect could kind of stay, b/c I will forever be in love with the idea of soulless vampiric Giles) and the idea that they retain some of their own values/morals from humanity, but with a new layer of true bloodlust and need. Not sure on that one. *wibble*

AND I <3 MANDYPANTS.

From:

I will forever be in love with the idea of soulless vampiric Giles

FICBUNNY! ;D

From:

kittycat22.livejournal.com

Ahh, but already done. Fabulously done. I think I need to re-read that series actually....

From:

Maybe, but how many different fics have Buffy getting turned? Doesn't mean somebody couldn't redo it. It's a neat idea. ;D

From:

kittycat22.livejournal.com

TRUE. I strongly encourage you to do it! :D Cause, you know, I'm not so much with the writing. :)

From:

Man, I haven't written Buffy fic in so forever. Maybe I should go back to the Wishverse thing I was writing ages ago and integrate a vamp!Giles in.

From:

Also: http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/vampire_diaries/the_vampire_diaries_we_read_ot.php

All of this is making me think that you should read up just a smidge on the vampire clans in the Vampire role-playing game, either the old Vampire: the Masquerade system or the new Vampire: the Requiem system (they're similar but not identical). Just because that universe proves that you can have different strains of vampirism in the same universe, and then use that to great effect.

From:

jessimuhka.livejournal.com

One series of books I've been reading has a pretty different take on vampires I find interesting. The vampires aren't immortal, they just have a fairly long life span (300-400 years or so). Free online short story about one of the vampires. None of her full length novels have a vampire protagonist, but there are a few secondary vampire characters over the series.

From:

jessimuhka.livejournal.com

From:

midnightfae.livejournal.com

What I like: Vampires are classic. They suck you blood. They're predators. They eat people. Horror buff likes vampires.

What I dislike: Why they're always "dark and mysterious". Seriously. It gets old.

Pet Peeve: As an off-shoot of that, they are not dark and mysterious AND sparkly. You've just combined with I hate with an absence of what I like. I stab you and your sparkles now.

From:

I stab you and your sparkles now.

That is so what Buffy should say when she stakes Edward. ;)

From:

steinba.livejournal.com

I like that they're really good at calling balls and strikes to keep the game going.

From:

ladyadry.livejournal.com

I know that a lot of people see Anita Blake as the whore of vampdom and to some degree, I agree but there are certain things I like in Laurel K.'s lore.

I like that there are vamp politics and that they have the mentality of "we have been around of thousands and thousands of years so we are going to do what we want". I also like the mentality of survival of the fittest. You don't lose who you were in your human life but you certainly have to learn to suppress certain traits or even ramp up other traits to make sure you survive.

I like that vampires can become more powerful over time but that it does have a kind of cap on in. 500 years and you are as powerful as you are ever going to be. And in that vein, I like that there are different kinds of powers and that there are actual secondary hungers/ways to feed. Like I love the vampires that can feed off of fear. I'm totally over succubus angle but to a degree it was interesting.

I like that vampires can go insane. It makes sense to be that if you were around for thousands of years and you lived through the horrors of war and famine and natural disasters you would lose it. Not to mention losing friends over time or powerful enemies.

The things I like from True Blood go back, partially, laws and politics. I like that there are sheriffs and "royalty". I also like that it is done by territory and not like one huge queen of america. The other thing that I really like is the bond between the vampire and their maker. I like that in TB it shows that bond can be one of respect and friendship (eric and godric) or of hatred (bill and his maker).

Finally, just wanted to weigh in on the religious aspect. I agree that the faith of the wielder should mean something. Holding out a cross shouldn't do jack for an atheist. Any religious symbol should work though depending on the faith of the wielder, not just crosses. I also like that the intent of the vampire matters. If they aren't trying to hurt you the object just sits there.

One thing that I wish was touched on more was the faith of the vampire. vampires that wanted to be turned because they were afraid of death. Or vampires that were turned against their will that believe they are damned and no longer have a soul. Or even, what if you use a holy object on a vampire that is an atheist?

I guess that is the main points. I could talk vampire lore forever. and lycanthrope. but, you didn't ask about the furry ones.

From: