I think some parts of it felt too much like Land of the Dead to me.

I like realistic zombie stories about ordinary people fighting to stay alive (and soldiers can be ordinary people too when they aren't portrayed as action heroes).

No large settlements of human survivors, no customized armor vehicles made out of junkyard parts, and no killing zombies with silly weapons like harpoon guns or katanas (unless the person picks it up because nothing else is available not because they want to "look cool").

At first I wondered if it would be like Land of the Dead, but in essence it's very different. For one thing it's not about zombie evolution or class divide. It's about the main characters, ensemble cast. They'll run into leaders of various types, but it's always up close and personal.

"I like realistic zombie stories about ordinary people fighting to stay alive" -- Walking Dead is exactly that, but might not be your cup of tea.

In the Walking Dead, zombies are attracted by sound over distances, (and visually too), so you don't want to shoot a gun unless you have to. That being the case, if you had a katana, or came across one... that's got to be one of the best weapons there is, light and two handed, everybody would want it. Of course they're fairly rare in the US, but you'd expect to see a few swords popup.

Also realistically, you'd see all those things, mix of old and new weapons, 'customized armor vehicles made out of junkyard parts', human settlements of various sizes. There aren't too many customized armored vehicles, but once in a while you'll see something different. But basically, it's a fairly dark series.

See I don't think that in a real zombie apocalypse there would be "settlements" of human survivors living in walled cities. I mean for one thing when exactly would the humans find the time to build the walls with swarms of zombies attacking everywhere? And I don't think that there would be enough survivors to even have settlements because most everybody would either be already dead or infected.

I think Day of the Dead showed a more realistic portrayal of the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. It would most likely be a few scattered groups of people hiding out in shelters like the military guys and scientists in that movie.
They would be isolated away from other groups of survivors and have to live on whatever supplies they had. If they ran out of supplies I think it's possible that they would raid abandoned stores for supplies but that would be taking a huge risk.

Also I agree that melee weapons would realistically work better in a zombie apocalypse than guns. Guns run out of ammo and it's actually very hard to shoot a target in the head from a distance (which is the only way to kill a zombie).

I think something sturdy and hard like a baseball bat or crowbar would work best. Like in the beginning of Night of the Living Dead when Ben was using a tire iron and Barbara picked up a fire poker.

I think, like in Walking Dead, the cities would be overrun, run out of supplies fast, but in the rural areas, with lots of space, there's infrequent zombies here or there, or big swarms that come through. You'd go out for supplies here and there, and otherwise, you have a fair degree of self sufficiency, some big gardens or outright farms. That's the world of Walking Dead.

I think the whole thing about the savior's is far-fetched. They are all in the exact same situation and most of the savior's are just people that Negan found here and there who are basically dedicating their lives to him whether if he wants them to kill people or not because they consider him their savior. considering it's only Negan who seems to be so damn power-hungry, all the others, even if it's just his wives ganging up together, could have taken him out easily. Na post zombie apocalyptic world, wouldn't everyone be trying to stick together in any way they can rather than going around and taking everyone's Provisions from them and leaving them to die and just creating even more walkers? It's as if logic has been thrown out the window on this show.

And it always bugs me whenever humans kill other humans during a zombie apocalypse regardless of the reasons why.

Like in Day of the Dead when Rhodes and his men tried to feed Sarah to the zombies. The humans are almost extinct because of the zombies taking over the world and you really want to kill the only female in your group when she is needed for procreation? ::roll eyes::

Like in real life, the men surrounding Negan have their perks and power only because of what Negan has proven he can do with people. The bigger his group gets -- big when our friends run into him -- the more unlikely it is someone can replace him.

It might be doable to stab Negan in the back, though extremely risky, but replacing the perks they get are extremely unlikely to be replaced. And taking his place would be very difficult too. Not to mention you would have started a trend of "replacing the leader", which happens is history.

There's always some criminals out there, and then add desperate situations, and you'll get people who'd take your stuff and leave you for dead. Most people in the show try to stick together.

It would matter how and why the zombie apocalypse starts. At the end of Night of the Living Dead (1968), it looks like humanity has wiped out all the zombie's by lunchtime the next day, right?

I don't think any film has stated how, or what, actually starts it; or is there?

If it's just dead unrestrained bodies, ie, not in graves, not locked in morgues, coming back to life... that's not very many bodies. Hard to say where that tipping point would be, where, or how fast it gets out of hand.

Yeah both versions of NotLD made it look like the humans defeated the zombies by the next day. ::big grin::

Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead both showed that wasn't the case and the zombies pretty much took over the whole world.

I think what allows the zombies to take over the world so easily is the confusion and panic. Why is every dead person in the world getting up again? Why are they eating people? Why is it that when they bite somebody that person turns too? Why can't we stop them with bullets like a normal person?

Plus think about the fact that the characters in zombie movies always act like they have never seen a zombie movie before.::big grin::

Yeah, if it happened today, some people wouldn't even be scared. They'd be like calling their friends up, "Hey, Dude, grab your katana!"

If a virus woke the dead at night, it could be pretty ugly really fast, like in NOTLD, and then if the zombies open doors, then I could see cities falling. I still think rural areas could survive. It's not like humans aren't resourceful. In my opinion, it takes some suspension of disbelief to believe humanity getting the upperhand wouldn't be inevitable. I think the big cities are the real question marks.