Edward eats animals.

(OOoh, like the non-human killing vammpires in Supernatural - and he lives in a colony of animal-blood non-human killing vampires too.)

other vampires call the Cullens vegetarians. I'm sure the animals don't think that's funny.

Stefan from Vampire Diaries has less power because he doesn't drink human blood. Is there that sort of thing in Twilight, or is it a taste/sensation thing?

Are they inherently evil?

A lot of vampires in the Twilight series have some special power but I don't recall if the people drinkers were stronger. Definitely someone who's just fed is stronger than someone who hasn't. Human blood is just way tastier.

Are they inherently evil?

Is it evil if you think you're better than people and therefore it's OK to eat them? That's the difference I see between those who eat humans and those who don't.

True blood seems to be the same- you can drink synthetic blood and be healthy but drinking humans is just way more fulfulling.

You're only inherently evil if you can't rationalise the away the destructive urges with ease. Joss, if I'm remembering them all, didn't write vampires that refrained from eating, unless they had a bigger purpose--love or hate and torture, but still very personal. And even the unsouled love with messy and unhealthy right there in the text. I want my unalloyed vampires to have little to no regard for the existence or quality of human life. I want that to be an inherent condition of being vampy.

Beau nearly had me shut off Underworld because he could not get over the concept of UV light bullets. He thought it was fucking stupid and that they could have invented another device that would kill vampires. Similarly, Beau couldn't hang with "Being Human" after he saw the vampire out in the daytime.

For some reason, the idea of UV bullets didn't bother me: I mean we are already in a movie world where werewolves and vampires have an epic battle, I'm not sure I need to get picky over UV bullets.

But I get that there are some things that just strain certain people's credibility boundaries such that it ruins enjoyment of a mythical time/place/set of creatures.

I have no problem with vampires who find and manage human blood alternatives, but I would have a problem with zombies who didn't feed on human beings. There are certain things I have in my head that are clear characteristics of vampires and they ways they can be killed or harmed. If they aren't menacing or if they sparkle - I'm out.

OK, but as was said uptghread Dracula could go out in Sunlight. He just had to avoid the exact moments of sunrise, sunset and (I think) noon. Also Dracula only had superpowers at night, so he was a creature of the night and avoided going out in daytime.

Also Zombies inherently feeding on people is again Hollywood. A major line of Zombie mythology was Zombies raised from the dead to serve as slaves. Zombies ate ordinary food, but you had to avoid giving them salt because if they tasted salted they would turn into angry killers (still not eating people though, just killing them). Or maybe the salt would make them remember who they were are and how they were enslaved and then they would turn on their masters. When you think about it turning on and killing their masters is a perfectly cromulent thing to do. Romero invented a whole new type of Zombie. There really is not reason writers should be expected to stick to his model.

I think vampire mythology is larger than Dracula at this point. It's been so long since I read Dracula, I'm not sure I even recall the original book.

It's like "Little Red Riding Hood" or "Cinderella." I'm not sure it matters whether Cinderella is wearing fur slippers (the original) or glass slippers (the bad translation that survived), but the we generally understand now she was poorly treated by her family and a prince fell for her. Maybe in 2030 it will be common for us to think of vampires walking around in sunlight, but I'm not there yet.

So if they make a Dracula movie, and Dracula walks around in the sunlight they will be doing it wrong, even though he could in the original book?