When I heard this year’s 31 Days of Horror theme was vampires, I was a little bummed out, since I don’t consider myself a fan of blood-sucking creatures of the night. Then I did a quick walkthrough of my collection and realized I’ve slowly assembled my own little brood without even realizing it.
So let’s check out my vampires through figure photography! They aren’t all scary. Some of them don’t even suck your blood, but they’re mostly all vampires, and that’s what counts. Speaking of which…
Count Von Count
If it’s possible for a vampire to have a soft spot in your heart, it’s gotta be reserved for The Count. I love what NECA is doing with the Sesame Street line. Can’t wait for more!
Count Chocula
The sweetest vampire in my collection is Count Chocula. This is one of the first figures Jada released and it helped pave the way for fellow cereal mascots like Tony the Tiger and Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble from their respective Pebbles Cereals. I’m still holding out hope we revisit the Cereal Monsters so I can add a Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy to my shelf.
Nosferatu
Say what you want about vampires being sexy; they’ve never been sexier than the OG cinematic vampire, Count Orlok! Look at those eyebrows! Imagine this guy doing karaoke to Eric Carmen’s “Hungry Eyes”. Sexy, right?
This figure irritates me because I snatched it up not realizing NECA would also make a black-and-white version to match the Universal Monsters in my collection. The sepia tones trigger my OCD every time I look at my shelf, making this Nosferatu figure the scariest vampire in my collection.
Morlun
Spider-Man has some great villains. Morlun is not one of them. From what I’ve been able to deduce in a 30-second speed read of the Morlun Wikipedia page, he’s a vampire that hunts spider-powered individuals across the Spiderverse using his hand suckers to drain them of their life force.
Cool.
The only reason I have this guy is because I needed the Armadillo Build a Figure piece. This is the best he’ll ever look. You can now go back to forgetting he exists.
Hallow’s Eve
Based on my Morlun take, it might sound like I tend to shit on D-List Marvel Villains, but I only shit on those that deserve it. Here’s Hallow’s Eve and Jack O’Lantern. I don’t know anything about either of them, but I’ve always loved their look and thought they’d be a cute couple.
Hallow’s Eve wears masks that give her powers. She came with a Devil mask and a Vampire mask. I think that meets the loose criteria we’ve established to this point.
Blood Storm
Another “Bought it for the Build a Figure” purchase. Ororo Munroe gets turned into a vampire by Dracula and becomes the mutant Blood Storm. Sure. Why not? She makes for a great figure and looks great in black leather.
Marvel’s Dracula and Blade
It took us far too long to get a good Wesley Snipes Blade figure. I had to give him a fancy little jacket and katana to punch it up a bit, but that face sculpt is pretty fantastic.
Marvel’s Dracula has seen several different looks over the years. This armour gives me Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) vibes. I’ll take this over shiny Twilight vampires every day of the week.
Dracula Christopher Lee
Hammer’s Dracula was the first vampire movie shot in colour. The sight of blood in full technicolour was jarring to some people, making this movie a bit of a cult classic. Bela Lugosi was spooky and creepy, but we never got to see him in all his bloody glory. Bela was the Pop while Christopher Lee was the Punk. In your face and forcing you to deal with reality. Such a great likeness on this figure.
Dracula Bela Lugosi
I might have referred to Bela as Pop, but I still love Pop. When someone says vampire, Bela Lugosi’s Dracula is the image that pops into my mind.
My mind is so synced to Lugosi as Dracula that I refuse to accept any other vampire as Dracula. Christopher Lee was Hammer’s Dracula. Gary Oldman played Bram Stoker’s Dracula. But they weren’t really Dracula in my head canon. That spot will always be reserved for Bela Lugosi.
Dracula Ben Cooper Kids
NECA’s Ben Cooper collection hits all the right nostalgia notes. I was never allowed to buy a “cheap plastic” costume. (My mother made most of my costumes while I was growing up.) I LOVED looking at the costumes each year when K-Mart would fill their racks.
The NECA figures give me a chance to revisit the Halloweens of my youth and allows the horror icons of today to get the Ben Cooper treatment. This is a great line to grab on clearance if you happen to be in the right place at the right time.
Dracula Shredder
Speaking of grabbing things on clearance, Dracula Shredder was a $20 pickup. While I never felt the need to pick up any of the other Universal Monster X Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figures, I’ll gladly take a samurai in bat armour on deep discount. Look at this guy! That shot alone is worth $20 to me. Play with your toys, Y’all!
Batula
Super 7’s The Worst is a fun little line of batshit crazy characters that would be right at home on The Island of Misfit Toys. The most batshit of them all is Batula. He looks like he’s stuck mid-transformation between vampire and bat. Give him some sunglasses and some middle fingers, and he’s ready to party. My kind of vampire!
