#--character: guillermo de la cruz

[paperlignes]

guillermo de la cruz from what we do in the shadows (2019-) / season 5, episode 1: the mall

[viva-pluton511]

Me seeing a chubby queer character being a complex and changing person, not being the punchline, having a romantic interest, and being seen as desirable and loved both in it's media and in the fanbase:

[ID: a reaction image of a cat/kitten crying while looking at a phone and tucked under a blanket]

[bottombaron]

oh ok so its the usual no-homo bullshit you always hear, good to know.

[fuckingguide]

it means SO MUCH to me that nadja actually called out to guillermo for help when she was struggling against that doctor. like. it's one (already huge!) thing for her to be protective of him and wanting to get him away from that place and back home. but it still sort of lies within the usual vampire/familiar dynamic where the the familiar "belongs" to the vampire and so is theirs for them to do as they please, ykwim? nadja wanting to take guillermo home can be read as a more extreme form of that possessiveness (we know it isn't, but it could be). she even tried to pass it as exactly that when she said guillermo was nandor's (/theirs) to kill. but when she called for him for help? that was something else, entirely and undeniably. it proves that she sees him as someone she can rely on for help and protection when needed, someone on her same level. it takes trust and vulnerability for a vampire to rely on someone like that, especially on a human. and she did it. and guillermo, despite being incapacitated (between the bindings and the drugs in his system), came through for her and protected her like she protected him!! found family at its finest, i'm so happy!!

[cottoncandysprite]

Calm(ish) before the storm... Episode 8 of Season 4.6 is up now on AO3!

[wollstonecrafted]

favorite genre of character…. absolutely delicious trope…

[underwhelmingalchemist]

I have spent far too long making this

[martinijordan]

Commission for @kit-faustus 🙌🥳

[jack-fruit]

Alright look. As mad as I am about the constant shipbaiting and the way Nandermo as a whole is treated by the cast and writers/directors, I am willing to look past it. I will be okay with Nandermo as a super special bromance with no sex or kissing or whatever. IF

AND ONLY IF.

They actually have the goddamn BALLS to commit to it. Because Nandor's entire arc revolves around being unhappy and lonely as a vampire. He wants companionship, he wants to be loved, he wants someone he can spend his eternal life with. We can already tell Guillermo fills that role, but I want NANDOR to realize that. I want him to fucking. Tell Guillermo. That he is his person. And it can be as platonic and chaste as the showrunners goddamn please as long as it happens. Because anything less would mean none of the character development Nandor underwent in the past 5 seasons would matter.

I'm already not happy with the direction they're going with making Guillermo human, but I can understand it. Guillermo thought being a vampire would solve all his life problems and make him happy, just like Nandor thought traveling would, thought getting married would, thought ANYTHING he's done would make him truly happy. They are two sides of the same fucked up coin, and their arcs are so inherently tied together that they HAVE to stick together. Because anything less would fall flat.

[asytho]

Its safe to say Nandor kind of sucks at cheering people up, especially when they involve dragging friends to more familiar fights

[harveyguilleniconodelamoda]

Costume Spotlight: Guillermo's Sweaters in WWDITS Season 1

One of the things that makes WWDITS so visually compelling is the way the characters have the real-world equivalent of cartoon uniforms. But instead of wearing the same thing every day, they wear variations on the same theme every day. This serves not only to establish a strong visual identity for each character, but also provides opportunities for visual shorthand to underscore a particular bit or even a major character or relationship arc with a wardrobe change.

Guillermo has undergone just such a transformation many times over the course of the show's current five seasons, with his clothes becoming better fitted, more coordinated and intentional, and more functional as his arc has developed. But throughout it all, the sweaters have remained a key part of his character uniform.

If there's one piece of incontrovertible proof that vampires have no taste (affectionate), it's the fact that Nadja, Laszlo, and Nandor keep calling Guillermo's sweaters shitty. Never have I so envied a character's wardrobe as when I first saw Harvey appear on my screen in a seemingly endless succession of gorgeous, thick, intricately patterned and textured, cozy sweaters. But as I said in a recent post, that proved to be a massive undertaking, so I've broken it down into somewhat smaller posts by season. Starting, of course, with season 1!

Guillermo wears sixteen different sweaters and cardigans over the course of season 1 alone (and at least five different jackets, not counting the suit jacket he wore to Madelin's funeral in 1x10--I'll do a separate post on the jackets at some point). These tend to fall into a few broad categories.

Fair Isle Knits

Though many of us in places without year-round sweater weather may think of Fair Isle as primarily a winter holiday motif, the term actually refers to a particular method of knitting that allows the knitter to incorporate multiple colors using two strands of yarn or more. Traditional Fair Isle patterns incorporate five colors. This method originated in Fair Isle, Scotland, thus the name. (Source)

Fair Isle sweaters are typically made of high quality cotton or wool, and can create intricate patterns such as the bird motif on this sweater from 1x02 and 1x07.

Guillermo wears Fair Isle pullovers and cardigans the most often throughout the series, especially in the first season. The most distinctive of these is the bird pattern above, but he also wears a multicolor cardigan in 1x01, as well as a more abstract gray-toned Fair Isle sweater, a brown one, and even a red one throughout the season.

These sweaters are not cheap, either, at least not when of the quality he typically wears (many cheaper Fair Isle sweaters only feature the technique on the front or collar of the garment, with the rest of the garment being all one color). A well-made Fair Isle sweater can easily cost in the hundreds, and Guillermo has around half a dozen or so of them in the first season. This lends credence to my personal headcanon that Guillermo, who works for no pay and owes $1200 a month in rent, most likely gets a lot of his clothes by gift or by thrift--that is, they're presents from family members or he gets them heavily discounted at secondhand stores or websites.

Mosaic Knits

Mosaic knitting, like Fair Isle, is a technique for incorporating multiple colors into a single garment. In this technique, however, you only knit with one color per row. It is meant to be easier than other colorwork methods of knitting, and does not have floats (loose strands of leftover yarn on the back of the knitted work) the way Fair Isle does.

Mosaic knitting is great for creating colorful, repeating patterns, and can be done flat or in the round. Mosaic patterns can also be made to be reversible, due to the lack of floats, and the finished product is generally stretchier than the results of other techniques. (Source)

I also just really like the texture of mosaic knits? There's something about the way the threads fit together that scratches my brain pleasantly.

You can see an example of this style of sweater in 1x03 and 1x04, as well as throughout 1x09, when Guillermo is helping to plan the Orgy.

Fun fact: there's a goof in the editing of this episode! Throughout most of it, Guillermo is wearing this thick, crew-neck mosaic sweater. This is interspersed occasionally with images of him wearing a thinner brown Fair Isle v-neck pullover with a polo-style collar. This kind of switch-up is not uncommon, as talking heads meant to be filmed at a different time are often interspersed with in-the-moment action.

But when Guillermo bursts into the room toward the end of the episode and finds Jeremy losing his virginity with Constantine, he is wearing the mosaic sweater. However, when he steps out of the room and pulls the door closed behind him a second later, he is suddenly in the brown v-neck pullover from his talking head snippets.

(Thanks to @karofsky for inflicting this cursed knowledge upon me. <3)

Guillermo also wears this Fair Isle sweater in 1x03, and at the beginning of 1x10.

Guillermo wears one other sweater which, based on the texture and pattern, looks like it could be a mosaic knit:

This is the sweater he wears at the beginning of 1x04, when Laszlo asks his opinion about the witch skin hat and when Nandor is "flying" him around in front of the mirror.

Coogi Sweaters

These are the most elaborate and unique-looking sweaters Guillermo wears in the show.

Coogi is an Australian clothing brand originally founded in 1969 (then called Cuggi), known for its unusual textures, organic patterns, and bright colors. Egyptian designer Hazem Elsheltawi is the original creator of Coogi's unique fabrics, which have been inducted into the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt museum. For more facts and a brief timeline of the brand, check out this blog post by Filthy Rebena Vintage.

The distinctive Coogi style is achieved by combining several different knitting methods, including Fair Isle, Intarsia, ribbed and warp knitting, and stockinette and reverse stockinette knitting to create layers and textures that no one of the aforementioned methods could achieve on its own. The sources I found were conflicted on whether these sweaters are made by hand, or whether making them by hand would even be practical or feasible. For a thorough breakdown of a Coogi sweater and the various techniques involved, see this Reddit thread on r/MachineKnitting.

At first, I thought Guillermo only started wearing Coogi sweaters later on in the series, but upon closer inspection it appears he wears at least four Coogi or Coogi-style sweaters in the first season.

The first of these is in 1x02, an elaborately-patterned sweater in blues and reds that Guillermo wears to accompany Nandor to the City Council meeting (in what I like to call his Politician's Wife scene).

He wears this same sweater in 1x08 when he is assisting Nandor with studying for his citizenship test.

The second is the cardigan Guillermo wears in 1x06, 1x07, 1x08, and 1x10.

The third and fourth are also from 1x10, which is a very Coogi-heavy episode! Guillermo wears two black and white vertical striped sweaters that are very similar at the beginning and end of this episode.

I know I said I was going to leave the character analysis for its own post later on, but I find the choice to use two very similar sweaters in a single episode so interesting, especially given that he wears a total of six different sweaters just in this episode alone! Looking at them side-by-side, it strikes me that though they're both black and white, the one he wears at the beginning of the episode is on balance more white, and the one at the end of the episode has far more black.

At the beginning of the episode, Guillermo is still (as far as he and we know) just a human familiar. By the end, he has this dark secret to contend with. Comparing these two looks, it's like he's literally begun to be embraced by the shadows he lives among, like they're not just something he aspires to but already a part of him that he's slowly discovering.

I feel as though I've also definitely seen that Coogi cardigan in other seasons as well, so I'm excited to see what parallels there are to be drawn when I start to look at when he wears specific sweaters across the seasons!

These sweaters gained and grew in popularity in the mid-90s and early 2000s as various hip hop and rap artists began wearing the brand and mentioning it in their lyrics. The first of these was The Notorious B.I.G., who mentioned the brand in not one but three different songs. The brand has also been mentioned in lyrics by Kanye West, Rick Ross, Tyga, ASAP Ferg, Christian hip hop duo Social Club, and MC Suffa of Hilltop Hoods, who owns a collection of Coogi sweaters. The brand is sometimes mistakenly called the Cosby sweater, however Bill Cosby never wore Coogi sweaters as the costume designer on The Cosby Show hated the sweaters and thought they were too tacky for Dr. Huxtable.

Though they faded in popularity in the late 2000s, the sweaters saw a resurgence around 2014. Their popularity has waned somewhat since, but Coogi sweaters still signal 80s and 90s counterculture coolness for many fashion aficionados. Coogi clothes are now billed as luxury goods, which makes sense as a single Coogi sweater bought brand new can cost between $400-$600. There are, however, many pre-loved and vintage Coogi sweaters out there, often available for under $100.

Affordable Options

As I mentioned above, high-quality knit sweaters can be damned expensive! But we can do as Guillermo almost certainly does, and embrace thrift shopping! I don't have specific links this time, as links become irrelevant quickly on thrift and consignment sites. I can, however, provide a few tips on how to get your hands on a nice, pre-owned sweater that will have you saying "my name is Guillermo de la Cruz" like you mean it.

Recommended Sites:

Depop

Etsy

ThredUp

eBay

When using any of the above, be sure to search for "Fair Isle sweater," "Mosaic sweater," "Coogi sweater," or just "Coogi" and narrow down by your sizes before you start to browse. Also always check the label and garment details to make sure you're getting a fair price! There are a lot of imitations of Coogi sweaters especially out there, and you might have better luck with those if your Coogi findings are on the sparse side (though I didn't encounter this issue when searching).

Some good search terms include "Protege sweater" or Canadian brands like "Tundra" and "Consensus." They all make nice sweaters in a Coogi-esque style, but should never be costing you anything near Coogi prices, as even a genuine Coogi sweater typically goes for under $75 on any of the above sites. I'd also recommend looking when sweaters are off season; they're going to be in much higher demand, and thus harder to find for a good price, in the fall and winter.

Focus on vintage sweaters from the 80s and 90s where possible, as those are going to give you the most Guillermo styles. For colors, look for patterns with a gray, brown, deep forest green, or muted/navy blue base. Reds should typically only be accents within the pattern, not the dominant color (unless you want to create your own unique vamp!Guillermo look).

Go forth and get cozy!

Note: The information about knitting in this post is the result of several weeks of research on hobbyist sites and video tutorials, but I am not a knitter. If I have gotten anything wrong or misunderstood anything about these techniques, please send me an ask! I'm always eager to learn more!

[paperlignes]

guillermo de la cruz what we do in the shadows s05e03: pride parade

[freetobeafcknriot]

MY FAVORITE QUEER CHARACTERS OF 2023

[bottombaron]

Yeah Nadja showing she cares for Guillermo and yeah Guillermo saying he loves Nandor out loud, I feel you I feel you bUT

Can we talk abt how much Guillermo Actually. Truly. Deeply. Cares for these group of misfit assholes??

He even lists Colin Robinson (as he should!) but Benji couldn't even be bothered to remember his name

And like, that's important!! Because Colin is one of them! He's a part of them. They are all a part of each other. To not love one of them is to not love them.

Guillermo is different. He does love them. He loves all of them. He loves all their silly bitchy faults. He loves things about them that have nothing to do with being 'a cool vampire' or what they can do for him. His genuine, inescapable love is what makes him different. Nadja, Laszlo, Colin, and Nandor can't not be affected by that, even though they try so hard to be.

I can't get over that this episode gave such a clear beautiful reason why these selfish, petty, dismissive, eternal beings would risk their lives to fight a whole clinic of their kind or keep a dangerous secret and try to help or hell, pretend that they don't care about that very big juicy secret just so Guillermo doesn't have to stress abt another person knowing (Colin definitely cares and probably already knows. Could he feed on Guillermo's anxiety and antics of keeping it from Nandor? ofc. But he doesn't and even lets Guillermo off the hook by indicating he both doesn't need to tell him or be bothered to try to hide it from him)

It's because of Guillermo's persistent love for them that they find the ability to love him back. It comes back to him. The love he gives to them, they give it back to him.

Look at what happened without even being a vampire: he became one of them.

[anney-baker]

Okay how come I've seen this a BAZILLION times and not noticed they're wearing similar clothes (white shirt and dark vest)??? Like sure Nandor's got some layers under the cloak but HERE? NOW? At the anniversary??

[cottoncandysprite]

Ok strap in for a stupid long Guillermo meta that made way more sense on discord. We're so fucking back (spoilers for the WWCITS zine [digital/print, sales end on 8/5!] and the sdcc panel)

I've been struggling to pin down exactly what Guillermo's arc will entail in season 6 from what we've gotten so far, but leave it to my iwtv-brainrotted brain to suddenly connect the dots while wondering what happened to Guillermo's Armand obsession.

In the WWCITS zine, Paul Simms mentions that this season Guillermo is heavily involved in a fandom for a procedural cable drama meant for dads. I figured this was a strange departure from his iwtv obsession, until I realized: he's romanticizing humanity the same way he did with vampirism, as a coping mechanism for the events of season 5. He's doing his usual response of running away and doing the exact opposite of what failed. Him working in an office, moving out, neglecting his vampire family the same way he did his human one, all in the name of so-called "self discovery." I'm willing to bet he'll say that all of it "needed to be done" for his "mental health" without being able to actually articulate why or what he actually wants out of it.

Which leads me to my next conclusion: Guillermo's arc isn't actually about self actualization, it's about balance. He's such a clean-cut, all-or-nothing character; only vampirism or only humanity, only good or only evil, only servitude or only independence. But the narrative keeps putting him in situations that require a sense of grayness. Him being a dhampir and a bodyguard (caught between humanity and vampirism), the gray morality of being a familiar, and his push-and-pull dynamic with Nandor. What he really needs isn't to pick a side, but to embrace being in both worlds at the same time.

And I think this season we'll especially see this with the vampires invading his workplace and trying to help him be more human. They want to be a part of that side of his life, just as I think if his human family warmed up to the vampires they would want to be a part of that (side note I really hope we get an episode that brings his family fully into the vampire world and finishes that arc on a good note). He'll try to push them away, try to quit them entirely, only to fail because it's impossible to just abandon that side of him. He needs the vampires just as much as he needs to reconnect with his humanity. There's a balance.

I really do hope they wrap this up satisfyingly in just one season, because it's such a fascinating direction to take his character, but he can be just as stubborn as Nandor in terms of character development. Just don't drag it out too long pleaseeeeeee