How do you like your vampires?
 

So, here's a question that I've asked many people, and gotten many different responses. How do you prefer your vampires?

OOO I like this one.
I like the old fashioned Dracula, cape, long hair, seduction powers, the whole package.

I like my vampires as they originally were.
Oh, and I have to argue that Dracula was not an elegant vampire.
If you read the book, you'll know that his elegance came from his human nature, and only appears superficially when he speaks to Jonathan Harker.
Otherwise, even his aspect tells us he is less than human (e.g. his hairy palms
He is also described, as not human, but (as I said above) less than human rather than more than a human.
And the most important characteristic is than Van Helsing, who is the man that knows most about Dracula, describes him as having a child-like mind.

It was Bela Lugosi playing as Dracula who was elegant, not Dracula himself.

I am about half way through the book actually.

Heh, sorry. Thankfully I didn't say anything that reveals much, which I was planning to, coincidentally.
Anyways, pay close attention of the way he acts Dracula to see that it corroborates with Van's claims of his mentality.

Never the less I was referring to his human form, which indeed was quite elegant. And no I think watching the movie first hand spoiled it for me, but as people always say the books are always better.

Yeah, there's a huge difference between the Bela Lugosi Dracula and the Bram Stoker Dracula. Same situation with Frankenstein.

My opinion on vampires changes from time to time. Right now, I love the modern/stylish vampires. The stories surrounded them are really fascinating, like mafia movies with vampires. And I love the vinyl-clad vampire femme fatales.

I have to admit one thing
I think Spike from Buffy The Vampire slayer is very very attractive.

As cheesy as that show maybe

Nah, Angel is way better.

Everyone keeps saying that
I think Spike was just misunderstood. hehe

Aristocratic. Oh, how I'd love to switch places with Lestat for even one evening.

Hmm... I'll have to say the aristocratic ones. But my favourite vampire of all time is the persona I have created. She wasn't supposed to be the main persona but my other writing buddies liked her a lot.

In this link you'll find a little bit about her and my friend's interpretation of her.

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/...e+-in%3Ascraps

Well Well well, you are quite the artist

Who me? Fuck no I can only draw stick figures. That's my best friend's interpretation of her.

Well stick figures can be quite artistic too...hehe that is all I can draw as well.

Deep-fried in batter with chips & ketchup. ;)

I like them to be more on the somewhat traditional side -they don't have to be completely though- just enough so you know that it is one. I hate reading vampire books that take away all the qualities that made them intriguing in the first place.

Often I read how the "vampire" laughs at how humans actually believe that they can't be in the sun or they'll burst into flames, that wooden stakes can't kill them, or biting someone won't turn anyone else in to one also ..........and so on. Does this annoy anyone else?

So usually I don't like Modern vampires -though Underworld was a great movie(the sequel was kind of blah though).

Oh, and seduction powers is a must for at least one vampire in a book/movie. :-P

Although I am also partial to aristocratic vampires like those of Anne Rice, I think the portrayal of vampires as undead beasts is more appropriate.
Writers have changed the concept of vampires to fit the modern times. I still can't see a soulless, blood-thirsty beast in human form using etiquette, wearing Victorian clothing (although its pretty fashionable), or worse assimilating to human culture as a "special" citizen.

I like the aristocratic look\attitude for vampires like the ones in Trinity Blood.

I'll take Bela Lugosi

...cause he's undead! undead! undead!

Here's my oppinion on those kinds of vampires:
The Brutal Ones- That's the option I chose. Vampires were beasts. The most they can accomplish is a form of pseudo-civilization (completely unlike Blade 2) or small hunt groups.
The Aristocratic- I love an aristocratic vampire, but it's only nice when that vampire is one of a kind. Anne Rice's books seem to say "Become a vampire, become smart."
The Modern One- A new evolution of the vampire genre, completely against what they originally were.
Able to Blend in Society Ones- I just don't like this one, but I do like one idea of vampires in a society: Those living in a cyberpunk society, being the lowliest of the low in a barbaric (if technologically advanced) nation.

I don't understand this last comment: you mean there are stories of vampires as cyberpunks? Which movie/book describes this version of vampire? o.O

I actually only dreamt it, but I can think there must be cyberpunk vampiric stories.
Remember that cyperpunk, just as steampunk, do not refer exclusively to fashion styles, but were literature styles first.
Steam punk speaks of classical cultural values with advanced technology. Combine Lord of the Rings with guns and electricity. My favorite steampunk, nevertheless is the Victorian era with machina powered solely by steam. And example of this would be Fullmetal Alchemist and Steamboy repectively.

Moving on to the cyberpunk, the style of writing is one that is set in a future age with much technology, but a decadent society. Technology is much advanced, but it has marginalized the lower classes much from the upper classes. And example of this would be Final Fantasy VII and Shadowrun. The Matrix has some cyberpunk in it too.
So, for vampiric cyberpunk, imagine some place in the near future, with vampires living in the most decadent slums, barely surviving, gathering in clusters to ensure their own security.