Feast on our fantastic True Blood merchandise

Forget wimpy teen vamps, the True Blood gang are the real deal.

Vampires have become such pussies recently. If they’re not getting sparkly in the sunlight, they’re off perfecting their oh-so-messed-up hair and gushing over lame high school girls. Where’s the genuine sense of danger, adult sexiness and the thrill of the chase that we want from these bloodlusting immortals? True Blood – that’s where.

As with so much of the best in innovative American TV, True Blood is screened on the HBO network and like predecessors such as The Sopranos, Deadwood and The Wire it enjoys the freedoms of being a cable show. There are no swooning teenagers, no angsty indie rock ballads and absolutely no cheesiness. This is vampires as they should be without the MTV makeover and with a serious rumble in their belly for blood.

For those of you new to True Blood, it’s created by Alan Ball (American Beauty, Six Feet Under) and is based on The Southern Vampires Mysteries series of books by Charlaine Harris. At its (not always beating) heart is Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin, The X-Men franchise’s Rogue all grown up), a telepathic waitress who works at a bar in the fictional small Louisiana town of Bon Temps and hooks up with long-dead vampire, Bill Compton (Brit actor Stephen Moyer).

On the surface it might seem that there are too many similarities between True Blood and the more teen-orientated vamp tales out there. Human girl getting it on with less human guy with sharp teeth – check. A greater world of supernatural goings-on – check. Telepathy and other such gifts – check. Yet these likenesses soon go straight out the window. We don’t think Twilight goes in for nudity, sex and drug-taking – or maybe we just missed that bit.

True Blood is for the more mature viewer (let’s just say that you wouldn’t want to watch it with your old granny) and as such isn’t part of that teen thing but is considered up there with the best in edgy, cutting-edge television. It’s earned some serious recognition since it debuted in 2008, picking up Emmys, Satellites Awards and a Golden Globe for Anna Paquin and its second season, which kicked off last night in the UK on FX, has built on the acclaim and popularity of its first, taking it to even greater heights.

It’s now the most watched HBO show since The Sopranos and has become a hit with guys and girls, something pretty rare. Naturally with a female lead, there’s loads of merchandise for wannabe Sookies, from her waitress T-Shirt (get one for your girl at the Women’s Boxwish page – see the link at the top of the page) to goth jewellery, yet guys are also nicely taken care of and we’ve selected eight of the best fella friendly True Blood-inspired items out there.

Scare/ impress all True Blood fans by downing a pint of Tru Blood, the blood substitute drink vamps glug instead of human veins (in reality a blood orange carbonated drink), listen to the catchy theme song “Bad Things” by country music star, Jace Everett or throw on the sporty ‘Bon Temps Football’ tee as worn by Sookie’s player of a brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten). Or if you wanna light up your place with a taste of True Blood, pre-order the Merlotte’s neon bar and grill sign.

Check out these and our other picks – perfect to sink your teeth into!