Undeath Takes a Holiday

There's never been a better time to be undead, what with True Blood, Twilight, and The Vampire Diaries infusing fresh blood into the vampire genre and zombies taking over banks and companies. For your Halloween shopping enjoyment, Comics Alliance has unearthed the worst of this year's vampire-themed products—which, depending on your perspective, may also be considered the cream of the crop. 

Not only can you buy a Buffy the Vampire Slayer wooden stake—yes, an actual piece of wood—for $100, but you can also own a preserved pig heart (very similar to a human heart, anatomically) with a stake through it. The latter trinket will set you back $225, but you do get a wooden display chest in the bargain.

I learned a new word from the Comics Alliance people: "reborning." It refers to the practice of painting a doll to make it look more like a real baby. Combine reborning with undead and you get this winsome keepsake:

Wook at the cute widdle fangs!

I have no idea how much it cost, because it's sold out at the Wicked Little Things Etsy store. However, the same vendor still has a different OOAK (one-of-a-kind) Reborn Vampire Horror Fantasy Doll in stock for $60 (shipping extra).

For sheer weirdness, however, you can't beat the Sexy Vampire Menstrual Goddess XL/Postpartum Cloth Pad, which bears the welcoming image of a suspiciously healthy-looking undead dude.

It too is an Etsy item, but you'll also find it on Regretsy, an unaffiliated site whose name speaks for itself. (Tagline: "Handmade? It looks like you made it with your feet.") I'm in awe of the simple perfection of Regretsy's title for the SVMGXL/PCP: "The Curse."

(Hat tip: Mr. WordsWorth on Twitter.)

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Check out my previous posts about Halloween branding:

- The pumpkin festival in my local cemetery (2006).

- A few of my favorite necro-brands (2007). 

- Vampire wine (2007).

Comments

[Dennis Van Staalduinen]

This one rocks. I saw the original Tweet from @MrWordsworth, but with this post you really put a stake through it, held up the garlic, and bashed it in the head with a shovel (all good things by the way).

[Kim]

I just discovered Regretsy - totally fun.

I was thinking of you because I was at a coffeeshop just now, and a group was clearly 2 owners of a small business talking with their (new, it appeared) marketing consultants. They were discussing a "z" in the name, and it became apparent that instead of a pluralizing "s" at the end, they have a "z" instead. One of the owners said herself, it bothered her every time she saw it because it looks like a misspelling, but when they tried to get the web site, the one with "s" was taken so they changed it to a "z". Now the marketing team is working on making the "z" imply fun (which, incidentally, seems appropriate given what the company does).

Ah, naming for small businesses...

[Nancy Friedman]

@Kim: Have you seen my post about "Z" in brands (or brandz)? Bratz, Gripz, Koolerz, Trollz ... http://bit.ly/cqczJ