When you think about vampires and Lego, most of us remember the first real vampire in lego form to be this minifig from 2002 Studios Line:

But, What if I told you, this gentleman wasn't the first bloodsucker on the block? No, exactly five years earlier, Anno Domini 1997, In TLG's dark age of financial problems and juniorisation, one theme emerged, as a successor, or maybe rival fraction to Royal Knights, this time based on medieval horror and dark fantasy, hence the name Fright Knights. Despite all the juniorisation I really liked this theme, even though i only had one set from it, It was considerably darker in tone, no longer we were playing as a noble ruler King Richard, and his gallant knights, oh, no. Instead we had a grim kingdom, ruled with an iron fist by Lord Basil, who aided his army with black dragons and dark Magic. Here Is the Batlord himself:

At first glance you can see this guy is all about bats, hell, it was the first theme to introduce the bat piece, which was thoroughly used in theme's sets. Even the name, Basil The friggin' BAT lord, not Rat Lord, or Ferret lord, or Wombat Lord, but Bat lord! Now, what we know about Bats? They are mammals, with ability of active flight, they are nocturnal predators feeding on insects and other small creatures, they use echolocation, and are commonly associated with vampires. AHA! First clue! But just because Basil likes bats, so much, that he has one in his coat of arms, doesn't make him a vampire... Yet. Now, let's not forget that Basil's domain isfull of (black) Magic. Ghosts, Dragons, living Skeletons, and our first lego witch to date, Willa, are all denizens there. It would make total sense, if the ruler of the land was also undead, right? Now, Lord Basil may not look like typical vampire, he's not pallid, his skin has a healthy yellow hue of a living, breathing minifig, but look at his face, the brows, the hair, the mustache, that cape, does it look familiar? It should, I'd say, Basil the Batlord is totally based on Vlad III Tepes, aka Vlad the Impaler, aka Dracula, or rather his depiction in Bram Stoker's novel (yes, original Dracula had some sweet 'stache, just like Basil, but because of Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee we're stuck with clean shaved image of the Count).

I mean, just look at the Impaler, and then on the Batlord, back to Vlad, now back to Basil. The resemblance is striking! Other than that, let me ask you something. What is Basil's favourite pet (apart from omnipresent bats)? A Black Dragon with trans-orange wings, and there's a little fun fact for y'all: Dracula (actually Drăculea) in romanian means "Son of a Dragon". Coincidence? I think not. Now, going back to Batlord's appearance, I mentionned, that Basil, apart from similarities to a certain Impaler, affinity to bats and cape stolen borrowed from Batman, has no typical physiological features of a vampire. No pale skin, no spooky glowing eyes, no fangs. Is that so? Enter evidence no. 3! Basil the Batlord's Driving Licence! No joke, in Lego Racers our hero (anti-hero? Villain?) is the hosting Champion of Circuit 3, and you can get his car and his fig, if you defeat him. I've allowed myself to make the Batlord without his helmet, now say cheese!

If you give Basil angry expression, you can Clearly see his true nature, hidden behind that default scowl of his, so let's see: Pale skin? Nope, still not there, BUT, Red Glowy Eyes? Check. Fangs? Check! If it wasn't clear enough, here's a pic of happy Basil, showing off his pearly whites:

See? Fangs! Now it's a common lore thing, that Vampires are masters of concealing their nature, they look like perfectly normal humans, untill they decide to reveal themselves. And this might be the case with Basil. Now, we covered his appearance, but does the Batlord show some behaviors attributed to vampires? Naturally, since Lego is for Kids, we won't be seeing Basil suck the blood of virgins, or skewer some random minifigs on a pointed stick, Let's look at Lego Racers again, and watch Circuit 3 intro:

Did... Did Basil just hissed at me? Also, look at that stereotypical face covered with cape pose, It totally screams "look at me! Imma Vampire!". It also may scream "I don't like the sun very much", or "I'm an angsty gothy dude", which is the same. Kinda. Now, last but not Least, Let's have a look at Basil's home, the Night Lord's Castle.

While Basil doesn't sleep in a coffin, his castle certainly has a gothic hounted castle vibe to it, with skeletons, magic laboratory, bats, and chokeful of hidden passages and doors, It's like straight up ripped from Castlevania. To summarize, Is Basil the Batlord the first Lego Vampire? The evidence says yes, everything, from the character design to the overall theme of Fright Knights, there were hidden hints, that mr. Winged Helmet is one of the children of the night. Is it true, or is it not, I leave that to you. But one thing is certain, you won't look at the Fright Knights the same way as you did fellow AFOLS. But hey, that's just a theory, ALEGO THEORY!

Edited September 28, 20159 yr by Eggyslav

Hmm as a kid I always assumed he was a Vampire, now there is some proof to boot :)

Edited September 28, 20159 yr by Isundir

To bad the Fright Knights series was a failure.

The figures and parts from Fright Knights are the cheapest at BL.

I never understood what was so bad about the Fright Knights.

-I loved the Bat Lord

-Willa the Witch was a logical continuation of Majisto the Wizard

-the skeletons were cool (other than their arms falling off too easily)

-imo their castle was vastly superior to the Dragon Knights' Fire Breathing Fortress (half of that was a raised baseplate ffs!)

To many of the sets were a disaster. Maybe the castle was ok compared to the Dragon Knights' Fire Breathing Fortress but it stil lwas bad compared to Black Knights Castle.

The Witch's Magic Manor was a joke, just like Witch's Windship. You also have a strange line of small flying machines.

Nevertheless, we are kinda off track here, this topic isn't about whether Fright Knights were a good line or not, but rather, discussing about my little theory/conspiracy...

I agree with that. As a kid I always thought he was a vampire. The only fright knight sets I have is the black dragon and basil, and a few of the smaller sets. I was 13 when these sets came out. Getting close to my dark ages.

I was already in my dark ages when this happened, so I had no idea of this theme. With that said, he does come off as a vampire in general, but the evidence here is compelling.

I also had never played that racers game. So that is the actual license? It shows sharp teeth?

It's kind of funny... the LEGO Mania Magazine's Fright Knights issue gave Basil a backstory, but really tried to dance around directly calling him a vampire. I wonder why? Obviously the idea of a witch was not considered too controversial for the LEGO Group's marketing wing at the time, but perhaps vampires were a different story.

Here's a link to the issue in question. Bear in mind, LEGO Mania Magazine character bios and backstories could be pretty goofy/cheesy, and this was back before a lot of LEGO marketing was standardized from region to region, so this story might just be what the US marketing department decided on. The UK marketing was much different, up to and including the character names (Hubble Bubble and Count Batlord instead of Willa the Witch and Basil the Bat Lord), but still didn't overtly identify Count Batlord as a vampire.

I also had never played that racers game. So that is the actual license? It shows sharp teeth?

Yes, yes it is official Lego game, published by Lego Media for PC and Nintendo 64.

I always pictured him like one of these familiars from Blade. He is devoted to a vampire lord and leads his armies in hopes that one day he will be turned and become a vampire because he is so oppsessed with them

Basil was obviously an allusion to Vlad III Tepes. The ambiguity of the vampire possibility was probably intentional because the historical figure is actually well regarded by the people of the region.

The images from the Fright Knights packages clearly show Basil active in the dawn/dusk hours, so I contend that Basil is a damphir (half-vampire).

I have some really good memories of the bat knight series. When I was young I didn t think he was a vampire, I thought he was a really badass bat lord ( like Batman but medieval). Loved the series. I had many of those flying machines ( both the witch and bat lord) because that is what my parents could afford. If you think about it, yes he could be a vampire but why is he not afraid if the sun (mostly Sunset in the series background).

I have some really good memories of the bat knight series. When I was young I didn t think he was a vampire, I thought he was a really badass bat lord ( like Batman but medieval). Loved the series. I had many of those flying machines ( both the witch and bat lord) because that is what my parents could afford. If you think about it, yes he could be a vampire but why is he not afraid if the sun (mostly Sunset in the series background).

I always assumed he was a vampire - or at least a vampire's thrall. This was one of my favorite themes growing up. When I got older it was the first on my list to re buy

Great read. I think that you've proved your point.

I wonder why they never actually called him a vampire.....it might have made the line more successful just by doing so.

Speaking of Fright Knights, now that would be an excellent sub theme to bring back, this time making Basil an obvious vampire and including more fantasy elements such and werewolves and gargoyles. Kind of like a Transylvania Castle theme.

I always felt that FK was an incomplete theme, and it had a lot of potential for future years.

I always assumed Basil the Batlord was a vampire

Here's a link to the issue in question. Bear in mind, LEGO Mania Magazine character bios and backstories could be pretty goofy/cheesy, and this was back before a lot of LEGO marketing was standardized from region to region, so this story might just be what the US marketing department decided on. The UK marketing was much different, up to and including the character names (Hubble Bubble and Count Batlord instead of Willa the Witch and Basil the Bat Lord), but still didn't overtly identify Count Batlord as a vampire.

Memories Thanks for sharing!

Wow, Basil the Batlord is really Vlad the Impaler, that's awesome. Whether or not he is a vampire is inconsequential to me (as either he is a rather "frighting knight" /vampire, or he adopts the persona to defend his homeland. Both seem equally cool and thought provoking as far as Lego stories go.), but great read thanks Eggsyslav for doing the research.

Um... I always (since first seeing the catalogue) thought he was a vampire. And that the other vampire minifigs were just more horror-movie style versions.

No conspiracy, seems really obvious to me.

Um... I always (since first seeing the catalogue) thought he was a vampire. And that the other vampire minifigs were just more horror-movie style versions.

No conspiracy, seems really obvious to me.

I think he says it's a "conspiracy" because it was never officially stated.

But I agree with you, he was a non-stereotyped vampire, like the Twilight sparkling guy but no stupid.

Edited September 29, 20159 yr by Robert8

This is actually a great writeup to a question long held since Racers. I am glad someone went through all the trouble to break down the thought (I just mention it in my videos in my signature) as well as present photographic evidence.

If I recall, Hubble Bubble wasn't the first LEGO witch... the witches from the earlier Belville sets were, just an FYI.

Also, the "Scary Thriller" video for the Studios line inferred that the skeleton minifigure could also be used as a zombie (I think in fact the uncut version called them this).

Hmm compelling article, especially with the Racers driving license. But I always saw Basil as a human who worked the vampire angle for psychological warfare. I think it makes him cooler like this, and I will simply consider the driving license as not canon to the theme.

Huh, That would be an interesting plot twist, if Basil was a just a human servant to a vampire, being just a right hand of a greater, hidden evil... But there is no proof of Basil's master's existance, besides that contradicts all the evidence we gathered here... Unless we're talking about one's imaginated scenarios, while building and playing, in that case everything is possible, Heck, I even made a story about how in the Fantasy Era, the evil Wizard from that theme ressurected Basil as a Lich, to be the leader of his army, but soon the tables turned, and the batlord made the wizard his servant...

But one thing is certain, you won't look at the Fright Knights the same way as you did fellow AFOLS.

Sure I will. Like several others who posted above, I always thought of Count Batlord as a vampire. There was never any doubt in my mind.

I suspect that TLG didn't describe him as a vampire because at the time they wanted to keep it very young kid friendly. I reckon they knew - or at least hoped - that older kids would realise that he was supposed to be a vampire.

The 2002 Studios "vampire" wasn't a vampire. He was supposed to be a costumed actor in a vampire film. But I (and probably a lot of other people) always thought of him as a real vampire.

In my display collection, I count both Count Batlord and the Studios vampire among my vampires (along with the MF, CMF and some MOC vampires). I don't have the Scooby-Doo "vampire", but if I do get him, I will consider him a vampire too even though in the SD story he's *SPOILER ALERT!* just a person disguised as one.

Edited September 29, 20159 yr by AmperZand

I mentioned this in one of the CMF threads, the CMF Hun Warrior looks more like the picture of Vlad III Tepes than the CMF Vampire.

I mentioned this in one of the CMF threads, the CMF Hun Warrior looks more like the picture of Vlad III Tepes than the CMF Vampire.

{mock sarcasm}Now everybody is a vampire. Next you'll be telling us Unicorn Girl and Grandma Visitor are vampires too.{/mock sarcasm}

Seriously, that's a good point. This head:

would work as Vlad the Impaler.