What's with the Vampire obsession nowadays?

[Derek Dragomir]

Honestly, I came in with my vampire comic at a bad time. I was already working on the first chapter and I had no clue what Twilight was until a few chapters later, about a year ago. And now there's too much vampire crap out there, makin' it cliche, and as we all know, the whole drama that is Twilight. How do you feel about Vampires today? Did Twilight sparkl... er, I mean ruin it for you? Would you still take a look at Moon Crest 24 if I told you it's about vampires?

Off-Topic: Pokemon is Awesome. Nuff said.

[Pimpette]

http://nonadventures.com/2009/11/21/int ... a-vampire/


On another note, I want to read Twilight in an attempt to understand wtf all the raving is about. But I don't want to pay for it and I am reluctant to be seen taking it out of the library... so I haven't yet.

[Warren]

Sounds like you should be surfing the torrent sites for a .pdf.

Or just shoplift the book. But imagine the embarrasment if you got caught.

[MixedMyth]

Did....you really just say faggotry? Really?

[Jim North]

http://nonadventures.com/2009/11/21/int ... a-vampire/

Argh! I wanted to post that! Darn you, Lady Pimpette! Darn you all to heck!

Did....you really just say faggotry? Really?

Seriously. I don't remember seeing any vampires riding Harley motorcycles lately.

[MixedMyth]

Well, I don't really mean to rant or derail the topic. I'm pretty sick of this whole twilight thing. Though at least I don't have to put up with it on a day to day basis. It's not that I'm particularly uber-PC or against swearing...but ...well, just as I wouldn't just stand by and listen to someone use racial or religious slurs, neither would I just let a homophobic slur pass by without comment. It's really not okay.

[Tellurider]

I downloaded all four of the twilight books and read all of them. For free, obviously.

They are bland and unremarkable. I wasn't interested in any of the characters. One character was starting to be mildly interesting (kid that turns into a werewolf) but then the author was all "wait this guy is more interesting than mr. sparklypants" and turned him into an asshat, which was not only jarringly ooc but also removed any interest I had in it. It's grammatically correct, but still about at the level of a 14-year-old girl with a good editor.

It's kind of like watching Manos except without riffing. And without the funny walking guy. Actually I'd rather watch Manos. In my opinion, anyway. There's not even any reason for them to be vampires. They don't do anything vampires do. They don't even eat people. I mean, I think it's supposed to be a thing where they want to eat people but don't 'cause it's wrong or something. And if you want to watch something INTERESTING with a vampire like that, try Interview with the Vampire, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or Angel. Seriously.

Also don't ask me any questions about the books, because I can only remember maybe 20% of what I read. Although that makes sense because only about 20% of the books has anything actually HAPPENING. Gawd they're so boring. So incredibly boring. If I hadn't been trained by many, many episodes of MST3K to mock things like that, I'd never have made it through them.

As for your comic, I would refuse to read it if it were about sparkly vampires. I'd expect at the very least Underworld-quality vampires, although the reason I like the Underworld movie has everything to do with the special effects and action choreography, and rather little to do with Toff Vampire Wangst.


Side note: I would rather watch Twilight than watch Transformers 2. Admittedly I haven't seen Twilight without rifftrax on, but still.

[PLR]

I had also started my story before I ever heard of Twilight, never read it, haven't seen the movies, and have no plans to.

I never liked the idea of "Nice" Vampires, thus why they are pretty much the scum of the earth in my story... but that's just me.

Of course I'm sure anyone on this board would sell out for that kind of success so what can really be said.

[Ahaugen]

vampires burn in sunlight ... period.

that said, I'm starting to smell flame here

[Charlos777]

Yeah I know some squealy fan girls who are a tad moronic for liking the garbage called Twilight. They are constantly trying to make me give it a try, but NO I SAY!

They use that whole, "Well, how do you know you won't like it if you've never given them a chance?"

How do I know? I'll tell you why! It is all because I have friends far more open minded to utter garbage than I who have been tricked using that line! They give it a try and then come up to me and say, "Yeah you are right for not trying it. The whole thing is utter garbage."

My vampires do not________
A) Sparkle
B) Fall in love with their food
C) not kill mercilessly
D) Look like they smell just absolutely awful! (I'm looking at you Robert Patinson take a bath hippy!)
E) All of the above

Real vampires are characters like Count Orlok from Nosferatu or Count Dracula. The book Dracula was actually more about the awesome bonds of friendship being tested by some badass vampire with a cool mustache.

The sooner someone makes a new grittier vampire film the better. The more I think about it the more I realize that this story could have been told without the vampire element! It's not a vampire story. They could have told the whole poorly written story as if all the vampires were actually aliens and none of these little fangirls would have known the difference, because, "Oh my gawd Edward is so dreamy! I wish he would sit outside my window and watch me sleep!" NEWSFLASH! That is not cute! It is a pedophile who eats human beings watching an underage girl sleeping! THAT IS CREEPY! WAAAAGASDFLGKASDGFASWELHGKLJFKLJ!

Ok yeah I hate Twilight, but I love real vampire stuff.

[Mercury Hat]

Did....you really just say faggotry? Really?

This minor derail's ok. Please don't say faggotry.

[SergeXIII]

Castlevania has programed me to hate any and all vampires, and should I come across one to whip it into oblivion
...
just not in the way Twilight fans would preffer.

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

To be honest I'm not too bothered by it. It's just the new in thing for a little while and will probably fade out within a few years. You know how Harry Potter came around and got really big and is still going really strong? I don't think this situation is quite like that, I don't think there's enough substance within these works to fall back on that's going to last any considerable length of time. It's just a fun thing for giddy teenagers (and beyond) to spend money on, giggle with friends about, and obsess over. Something I want to say 99% of people will grow out of and look back on fondly yet with a heaping helping of embarassment.

I personally have no interest in the films or the movies. I know people that like them and you know, different strokes for different folks and so forth heh. I'm not one for romance stories in general so I'm not really the target audience here, but I can see the appeal for those especially of the younger set. The only thing that makes this different from any of the other teenybopper type obsessions of the past howevermany years is the sheer magnitude of the number of fans it has.

I did get a little worried over the summer though when I was looking through the mall and saw a t-shirt that said "Looking for my own Edward" or something of that sort (why is there no cringy face emoticon?) But then I figure you gotta give teenagers more credit. Most of 'em do grow out of this sort of thing after a few years of acting like shrieking and embarassing fools haha. All you need is some patience, and with a tiiiiiny pinch of magic, all your dreams will come true.

[Siabur]

I tried to read the first book. It was laying around at a friends house while I was visiting. It reads like a vampyre fan fic by a 13 year old girl. 1 & 1/2 chapters and I was done.

[Jim North]

The sooner someone makes a new grittier vampire film the better.

Maybe someone needs to get on making a sequel to Near Dark.

[Bustertheclown]

I've seriously never been a fan of vampires. They seem like such a waste of potential monstrosity for me.

[MixedMyth]

Actually, I'm going to agree with that. The only vampire things I've really liked have been Vampire Hunter D and Hellsing. But hey, Alucard in hellsing is impossible to hate. He's just so happy all the time, and chillin'. not at all the angsty vampire stereotype.

[Jim North]

Dracula in Van Helsing is how angsty vampires should be . . . so overblown and blustery in their angst that they still manage to be super-awesome.

[Tellurider]

Vampires I like, in no particular order:

Despite the many, MANY factual errors which plague it, I rather like the 30 Days of Night vampires. Just brutal, bloodsucking machines! Woo!

Buffyverse vampires. The only problem with them is that they don't really make good season-long antagonists. Spike in season two, along with Drusilla, was awesome. And I still say that Angelus >> Angel. But who was ever actually intimidated by the Master? pfffft. And after season two it was really more "Buffy the Demon Slayer" anyway.

Stephen King did a good job with vampires in 'Salem's Lot, but I think he really polished it in the Dark Tower series. Those oldtimer vampires are definitely creepy as hell.

[BrownEyedCat]

There's really nothing to the Twilight series. They're just teen paranormal romances. The stories are thin - all the better to self-insert when reading. They're very popular right now, because sometimes squealing teens latch on to things. Like boy bands. Or harlequin romances. Or Elvis. It's not rare.

If you want a book that will present you with an interesting character or plot, you're gonna want to look elsewhere.

Now, if we want to talk about the appropriation of traditional monsters to new and varied metaphorical purposes... now that's something I can sink my teeth into! ...That was not meant to be a pun but I'm not going back and changing it.

All of the best classic monsters have double meanings of some kind, even if only subliminally. For example I understand that the zombies of Night of the Living Dead were supposed to represent a new cultural paradigm rising up and devouring the old - no really, I watched a short interview in which the filmmakers said this.

As far back as Stoker, vampires where pulling duty as symbols of surpressed lust, and of the Upper classes preying upon the lower with nigh impunity.

It's not surprising that someone or other latched onto the 'dangerous lust' aspect and combined it with the common sexist myth that men may be abusive, but it's not their fault that they're abusive, they were raised wrong/you did something to set them off/your not loving them enough to save them/a good woman can lead them to god. It's the standard demon lover claptrap.

Combine that with the popculture tact where some stupid teen becomes/wants to become a vampire and has to deal with the immortality and the changes to their body, which wind up being some kind of adventure romp and forgettable film, you've got the perfect, unsurprising soup from which the Twilight vampires are pulled.

As far as vampires I like, though... I've never been much of a vampire fan. I like my monsters classic and campy. Dracula in the Monster Squad is perfection to me.

However, I'd like to see more stories in which lycanthropy is a curse of any kind. Not in the angsty 'this sucks it's totally a curse' kind of way. In the 'you are cursed, you and everyone around you are screwed for magical reasons' kind of way.

Seriously, is there any good werewolf fiction out there? I hear good things about Ginger Snaps.