Sparkly or Burning - Which Kind of Vampire Is it?

Even before the Twilight induced vampire craze, it was difficult to keep all the vampires straight. The basic bloodsucking idea usually stays the same, but the powers and limitations have endless variations. And I'm okay with that. It would be a boring world if every vampire had the same rules. At one point though, I had just read Twilight and by coincidence happened to successively watch True Blood, Moonlight, and Buffy.

I admit it; I got my vampires mixed up.

To keep you from suffering my embarrassing fate, I give you a far-from-all-inclusive list of the recent vampires in books and television and their weaknesses and powers.  In case you come across a fictional vampire, you should be prepared.  I mean, what if you tried to trick a Twilight vampire into the sunlight?  You would just be blinded by the shimmer. 



True Blood
Traits: Fangs extend when they feed or if they are excited, but they are retractable.
Weaknesses: Silver, Sino-AIDS (both can lead to death if poisoning is severe), garlic
How to Kill: Full exposure to sunlight, burning, decapitation, wooden objects through the heart
Misc: Crosses are okay, must sleep in caskets or something similar during the day, have to be invited in

Blade
Traits: Ordinary appearance, no retractable fangs
Weaknesses: Garlic and EDTA
How to Kill: Wooden stakes, silver, and sunlight
Misc: Can eat human food but has no nutritional value, sunblock can provide temporary protection from UV Rays

 

Moonlight
Traits: Appearance changes before biting - eyes become white and fangs extend
Weaknesses: Sunlight, wooden stake (causes paralysis), silver
How to Kill: Decapitation, fire
Misc: Holy symbols don't matter, do not have to be invited in

Anne Rice
Traits: Very pale with visible fangs, usually quite attractive
Weaknesses: Sunlight (sunlight will kill younger vampires, but it is only a small threat to older vampires)
How to Kill: Fire, dismemberment, full exposure to sunlight
I wouldn't want to mess with these vampires.  Just saying.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Angel
Traits: Face changes drastically before biting, but fangs are retractable
Weaknesses: Holy symbols
How to Kill: Wooden stake to the heart, sunlight, burning, beheading
Misc: Have to be invited in by resident of property



Underworld
Traits: Eyes become a bright shade of blue or gold when they transform.
Weaknesses: UV
How to Kill: Sunlight (Lycans uses photogenic bullets against them), wooden stake, decapitation, drowning,
Misc: They can create offspring.

The Vampire Diaries
Traits: Drink human and animal blood. They have heartbeats, just slower than humans.
Weaknesses: Cannot cross running water unless they are young vampires
How to Kill: Sunlight, stake to the heart, decapitation
Misc: Wearing a lapis lazuli gemstone protects them in sunlight, they can communicate telepathically, they can shift into animal form, have to be invited in


Twilight
Traits: Extremely attractive, sparkles in sunshine, eyes are red if they drink human blood and gold if they drink animal blood or black if they are hungry
Weaknesses: Werewolves
How to Kill: Tear apart and burn pieces
Misc: Do not require sleep


I don't know what's more sad - that I've barely scraped the surface of the types of vampires out there or I've watched / read all but one of these.  Feel free to add more in the comments.  Oh and check out these extensive comparison tables on Wikipedia.

Oh and if you run into a kind I didn't list, stick to the basics or the least common denominator.  Beheading is the safest route.