History Main / VampireVannabe

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This trope can apply to characters who already have vampire elemenys, but want to become a real vampire, which can happen to a {{Dhampyr}}. However, just pretending to be one or dressing up as one does not count.

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[[EvilIsCool Vampires are Cool]]. VampiresAreRich, and [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil Powerful]]. VampiresAreSexGods. Who wouldn't [[MisaimedFandom want]] to be a vampire?

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[[quoteright:350:[[Film/VampiresKiss https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s_kiss_2531.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheAristocats Everybody wants to be a bat!]]]]

* In the first of Creator/NeilGaiman's short stories "Fifteen Painted Cards from a Vampire Tarot," the Fool spends night after night waiting in a graveyard in hopes of being turned into a vampire because of the [[ImmortalitySeeker promise of eternal life]]. But when he finally explains his motivation to a real vampire, it laughs at him for thinking being {{undead}} is anything like being alive.

[[WMG:[[center:[[AC:This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1627917363036734700 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.]]]]]]
[[EvilIsCool Vampires are Cool]]. VampiresAreRich, and [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil Powerful]]. VampiresAreSexGods. Who wouldn't [[MisaimedFandom want]] to be a vampire?

The wannabe's desire can be justified, if the work's [[OurVampiresAreDifferent version of vampires]] are CursedWithAwesome, gaining great powers and few if any weaknesses. This can lead to MoralDissonance if the wannabe is [[InformedWrongness portrayed as a foolish coward]] regardless of this -- perhaps because being a vampire is [[AlwaysChaoticEvil just inherently evil]]. Or possibly because the Vampire Wannabe leaves him-/herself wide open to a PretenderDiss, whether from actual vamps or their enemies.

''[[WesternAnimation/TheAristocats Everybody wants to be a bat...]]''

* ''Film/WhatWeDoInTheShadows'': Many vampires have “familiars”; vampire wannabes who serve as TheRenfield in exchange for being turned. The long-suffering Jackie is Deacon’s familiar and is starting to get pissed over his lame excuses to not turn her yet. [[spoiler:Eventually, she gets so fed up that she quits and convinces Nick to turn her on the way out, much to Deacon’s irritation.]]

* The "vampire" in ''[[Film/TransylvaniaSixFiveThousand Transylvania 6-5000]]'' turns out to be a once-ugly woman who began dressing like one to get attention, and continued to do so even after plastic surgery made her gorgeous.

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* One human slave of the goa'uld in ''Series/StargateSG1'' is shown to be well aware that he's not serving gods, just technologically advanced and powerful aliens, but he serves them dutifully nonetheless in the hopes of one day becoming a host.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* In ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'', several members of the British army and government betray their home country in the hopes of getting turned. The ones that do get turned are easily destroyed by the Hellsing Organization or indeed [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves by Rip van Winkle.]]

* Not necessarily vampires, but groups of Homunculi in ''Manga/BusoRenkin'' are often assisted by humans called familiars, who [[TheQuisling help the homunculi when possible in the hopes of becoming humanoid homunculi themselves]]. [[YouHaveFailedMe Failure results in being eaten]].
** There's also the fact that, if they refuse to become familiars, then their would-be recruiter would probably have eaten them on the spot. Not really much of a choice, there.

* In the graphic novel ''Comicbook/LifeSucks'', Dave and his friend Jerome, who are actually vampires, have a good laugh at a Goth guy who goes around in a black cape using a fake Transylvanian accent. More seriously, Dave's crush Rosa wants to be a vampire, based on her fantasy of vampires being rich, cultured and sexy.

* Les Enfants du Sang in ''Comicbook/{{Preacher}}''. Weird goths who act as groupies to the Lestat parody Ecarius (who ''is'' a vampire, but tries to act like a ClassicalMovieVampire when OurVampiresAreDifferent is very much in effect). [[spoiler:He leads them on with the promise of eventual vampirism... and once he gets bored with one of them, he kills and eats them. Cassidy, who's not at all nice himself, is disgusted by this and leaves Ecarius nailed to a church roof just before dawn.]]

* The ''Comicbook/HackSlash'' story ''Murder Messiah'' had a normal human serial killer who wanted to become a slasher. He assumed the best way to try to figure out how was by getting Cassie's attention.
* A ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' storyline involved a vial of his blood ending up at a nightclub for these people. Much to his bewilderment the clubgoers dressed like the cast of ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' ("Is that ... ''glitter''?") rather than the goths he was expecting.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

* Indie musician Scott Wicken had a song called "He Wants to be a Vampire." "Sleeps all day, hates the beach...goes to the club to show off his [[PunctuatedforEmphasis ''Gothic!Dance!Moves!'']]

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''

* Cal Warden's army of fangirls, who attack Webcomic/{{Spinnerette}}.

[[folder:Web Video]]

* Played hilariously in the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "The Ungroundable" when a group of kids pretended to be vampires because it was the 'in thing', much to the annoyance of the local goth kids who everyone kept confusing for the 'vampires', and Butters wants to join them. Of course, they weren't really vampires but Butters ''actually thinks they are''.
** Additionally, the Goths attempted to get rid of the Vampire kids by threatening to stake their leader.

** Arthur and Doreen Winkings in ''Discworld/ReaperMan''. Middle-class citizens of Ankh-Morpork, he is, very technically, a real vampire (who [[IJustWantToBeNormal Just Wants To Be Normal]]), while she desperately pretends to be a "traditional" vampire, complete with {{Uberwald}} accent, on the grounds that married couples should share things like that. Unfortunately, vampire brides being pale, thin, and aristocratic does not go well with being short, fat and painfully middle-class.
** ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum'' features a sort-of inversion, with teenage {{Uberwald}}ian vampires giving themselves [[DefectorFromDecadence deliberately mundane names]] and playing at being {{Muggles}}.

* Not necessarily vampires, but groups of Homunculi in ''Manga/BusouRenkin'' are often assisted by humans called familiars, who [[TheQuisling help the homunculi when possible in the hopes of becoming humanoid homunculi themselves]]. [[YouHaveFailedMe Failure results in being eaten]].

%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1372353119019544000
%% Please see thread to discuss a new image.

''[[Disney/TheAristocats Everybody wants to be a bat...]]''

* Les Enfants du Sang in ''Comicbook/{{Preacher}}''. Weird goths who act as groupies to the Lestat parody Ecarius. [[spoiler:He leads them on with the promise of eventual vampirism... and once he gets bored with one of them, he kills and eats them. Cassidy, who's not at all nice himself, is disgusted by this and leaves Ecarius nailed to a church roof just before dawn.]]

** Arthur and Doreen Winkings in ''Discworld/ReaperMan''. Middle-class citizens of Ankh-Morpork, he is, very technically, a real vampire (who [[IJustWantToBeNormal Just Wants To Be Normal]]), while she desperately pretends to be a "traditional" vampire, complete with {{Uberwald}} accent, on the grounds that married couples should share things like that.

[[folder:Comicbooks]]

[[folder:Videogames]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

[[folder: Web Video]]

*** The Black Ribboners are a further development of the same idea from a much less pretentious angle. Being a traditional Vampire in most of Discworld society (i.e., outside of Uberwald) is not a secure or happy way to live, so the Black Ribboners are (or at least ''act'' like) Human Vannabes, at least in the sense of desperately wanting to fit in.

* The premise of the George A. Romero film ''Film/{{Martin}}''. The trope is played with, however, because Martin's "vampirism" is a sexual fetish as well as a form of DomesticAbuse. Vampirism is never treated as supernatural, unlike a lot of other movies. [[spoiler: Martin's older looking cousin is convinced him he's a vampire, and kills him at the end.]]