#out of all the choices and I have seen ALL of them...WWDITS is the only one that isn't emotionally breaking

[cookinguptales]

some feelings about wwdits under a cut, for negativity

WWDITS... I don't know. I don't think I've found the writing entirely fulfilling for a while now. s4 had its problems, but s5 was... let's just say not nearly as funny or cohesive as I would've liked, and the characterization has been... wandering, to put it kindly. Seeing it end now feels a little less like losing my favorite show and a little more like stopping it before things really start to spiral.

I remember someone asked me once post-s3 what (if anything) would make me stop watching the show, and I said Guillermo leaving for good or the characters becoming less supernatural. (i.e. Nandor becoming human for good or something.) I really hate shows where the characters become "normal" as a happy ending, so that's really my nightmare scenario. I'm not exaggerating when I say I think I'd literally rather the characters die than lose the spark that makes them interesting.

Honestly, I feel like that's probably a lot of what's made it hard for me to move forward with writing fic for wwdits after the s5 finale. It felt not only OOC for Guillermo but just... such a boring direction to take it. I feel like there were so many ways they could have made non-vampire Guillermo interesting and IC and they just. did not do that. Instead they ignored a lot of previous canon in order to cancel out an entire season while also trying to make us believe that Guillermo choosing humanity is a happy and fulfilling ending for anyone.

And when you look at characters like Laszlo... like they keep giving him plot lines that go absolutely nowhere. The poignancy of his adventures in fatherhood and his depression over losing his child were basically nowhere to be seen in s5. (I kept expecting them to tie it back to his loss over Baby Colin, like he was making Guillermo his new project because he wasn't coping well with losing his son, but they never really went there.) And then they have him doing all of these experiments in s5 that don't really amount to anything other than making it canon that he can't even remember what happened in s1.

(Or... the writers can't, at least...)

I don't know. When none of the plot lines they write are given weight, it's hard for me to give them weight. If none of the characters' choices matter because they'll just be reset anyway, why do I care about their choices? If entire plot lines are just going to go absolutely nowhere (when they're given endings at all) why should I get invested in them?

They set up a lot of interesting themes about found family, the supernatural world as a haven for those who are queer or otherwise socially othered, etc. and then had Guillermo outright choose the human world and his human family over the found family they'd been setting up for five seasons. Having Guillermo be okay with killing vampires but not humans (which... again, makes no sense with his behavior towards humans in the past, but I digress) basically explicitly tells us that he sees vampire life as lesser than human life and like ????? then how are we supposed to interpret the relationships and themes you've spent all this time building???

When you have Guillermo coming out as being gay and also wanting to be a vampire in the same breath and then have him reject that world, when you give these interviews talking about how making Guillermo and Nandor have [gay] sex would lessen their relationship... I don't know! It almost feels like they can't even keep track of their own themes and really do not care if they shit on the audience that's loyally followed them even through some really questionable writing decisions!

I guess at this point, I only worry that they really do see becoming human and leaving the supernatural world as being a happy ending for all these characters. Are they going to make the other vampires human, too? Are they going to have Guillermo leave for good and choose the human world?

Like it's literally my nightmare scenario. lmao.

I guess I just feel like I've been cutting wwdits a lot of slack because I assumed that the writers were going somewhere really interesting with these seemingly incomprehensible choices, but now that I've realized that they're really just... not great writing choices...

It'll be easier to let go, I guess. I don't have nearly the same emotional connection to this show that I did even six months ago, much less a year and a half ago. If you told me even a year ago that my reaction to my favorite show's cancellation would be "...oh..." I wouldn't have believed you. But. I guess here we are.

I keep trying to make myself feel the same love for this show that I did during the first three, three and a half seasons, and I'm just not sure I can do it. I've been going around in circles over this for months now, but I just feel kind of hollow when I reach for the joy that this show used to inspire in me. And now that I know it's ending soon, I guess my mind is just kind of going "well, I guess it'll all be over with soon, one way or another, and I'll finally be able to choose a way to feel about it all."

I think... honestly, I think the only way I can be happy writing fic going forward is if I write fic that actively ignores a lot of the canon developments. It's literally too fucking difficult to eke out coherent characterization from what they've been putting out lately, and maybe it would feel more fun and less like homework if I just stopped trying.

I really, really hope that the last season of this show is beautiful and gorgeous and funny and makes me remember exactly what I love about it just in time to mourn it forever. I hope that I will happily be able to write fics incorporating every ounce of canon and feel fulfilled by that. But... honestly speaking, at this point I'm just hoping that the last season doesn't actively piss me off. lmao

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[imdayyydreaming]

wwdits season 6: why laszlo's science experiments might just be a metaphor, and how they've hidden the cure to vampirism in plain sight (or here's how everyone will find a beautiful existence, eternal or not)

laszlo's science experiments largely failed. by the end of the season, he had come nowhere near figuring out why guillermo's transformation had been stymied or how to complete it, even though the real answers were so simple.

but one experiment didn't fail, and that was using guillermo's sweat to go out into the sun and survive. guillermo's sweat stopped the sun from taking full effect on vampiric skin, and here was our first hint. here, also, is what laszlo did right. guillermo's sweat had this property, not because he wasn't a full vampire, but for the reason he wasn't a full vampire: his van helsing dna.

laszlo, by using guillermo's sweat, began to understand that it had a property to fight off the vampirism of his undead skin enough for him to survive, even though his skin did still burn. so, if merely applying guillermo's sweat could allow a vampire to defy their nature and go out in to sunlight, what could a stronger substance do? a substance like blood?

so, this is what i think. guillermo's van helsing blood, if enough is taken in, could be the cure to vampirism. it would reverse all vampiric properties until none remained. sure, guillermo eventually did turn, but his body put up a good fight against it and it only happened after guillermo had actively drunk human blood.

the vampires, particularly nandor, seem to be tiring of vampirism. he arranged for guillermo to be given a choice, one that it has been heavily implied he was not given with "vampirism is a curse", etc, etc. so if the direction of the show is not for guillermo to become a vampire, it might just be for nandor to become a human.

nandor, who has seen laszlo experimenting all season. nandor, who saw laszlo restore life to colin robinson after all his energy was drained. here's where the metaphor comes in- it's laszlo's energy transfer machine.

it can transfer the energy to bring someone back to life, but it cannot bring back the person who transferred the energy and died as a result. therefore, laszlo cannot make someone a full vampire through science (bringing back someone already dead at the hands of the machine) but he sure as hell can bring any other dead person back to life, and so can reverse vampirism with his experiments.

so, i think we're going to see nandor become further disillusioned with an eternal existence pretty much straight away in season 6. it's as the baron said- "with the right company, it can be beautiful". nandor will not have the right company. nandor will not have guillermo, who he gave the choice to become human again to. as we expected, we saw nandor remove guillermo's vampirism, but against what we all thought, he didn't do it out of spite and instead did it out of love.

this is just going to grow in season 6. nandor and guillermo's relationship will finally get the chance to blossom when nandor asks the question that season 5's ending made inevitable: if not to become a vampire, why are you staying? guillermo's answer will be because they are a family. he loves all the vampires, wants to be close with them, no matter whether he is human or vampire. but the one he loves the most is actually nandor.

at this point, or maybe sometime before, nandor will realise exactly how much love he holds for guillermo and exactly what type of love that is. this will be the final catalyst to him realising that he no longer wants to be a vampire. he wants to spend the rest of his existence with guillermo, but most importantly, he just wants to be a human again.

then, he is going to laszlo, who will eventually realise that guillermo's blood is the cure. guillermo will give his blood to nandor to drink, only after making absolutely sure that nandor is making a decision he truly wants to make. in other words, giving nandor a choice in becoming human that he never got when he was turned into a vampire. the same choice nandor gave him. here, we will see them truly equal.

they will be humans, together, going out into the world and no longer existing in the shadows. nadja and laszlo will likely stay vampires- they do have the right company that the baron described, and the only time nadja showed an inclination to have anything other than immortality was when she was ignored by laszlo. the vampiric lifestyle suits them perfectly. nandor and guillermo, not so much.

this way, everyone gets their happy ending, and the show can conclude. this way, everyone has an existence, whether eternal or not, that they see as beautiful, in or out of the shadows.

[tomfooleryandclownishshenanigans]

So, I had a wild dream last night about vampires, as one does.

Apparently, dream me became bored with mundane human life and decided to ask a vampire on my university's campus to turn me, and I did so without thinking of the possible stipulations of such a choice first (by the way, this dream university looked nothing like mine in the waking world and had some nonexistent professors, but my brain seems to cobble together settings like that all the time and try to gaslight me into believing they're real and I go there. But I digress).

I almost immediately became miserable because I was getting in trouble with professors for moving around the lecture hall to find the perfect spot to avoid sunlight, and I found out that I couldn't eat human food anymore. I wanted to undergo some sort of reversal ceremony, but the vampire who sired me seemed so offended by that that they wouldn't tell me how to do that.

I don't remember why, but at one point I turned into a bat and got so confused that I ended up overseas at some palace or other in the Hague, where Nadja and Laszlo from What We Do in the Shadows were attemding some sort of soiree. I asked them to help me get back to the States before that next morning because I had studying to do, and they kind of took me under their wing. The last thing I remember is Laszlo explaining to me what a bat was before actually getting into how to turn into one at will, but I just cheekily turned into one while he had his arm around me. Needless to say, he was a little miffed.

I haven't seen a single episode of WWDITS; my only knowledge of the show comes through TikToks, YouTube compilations, and Tumblr memes, so I have no idea if Dream Laszlo was anywhere near accurate. Anyway, fans can sound off about this experience, if they want.

I'm just sad that being a vampire means no more shrimp.

[yougoadedme]

Vague references to leaks for 4x09 and 4x10 below the cut! But this is mainly waxing about the differences between what fic gives us vs. what the show is trying to do, from the perspective of someone who's excited about where S5 will go from here.

For starters, I'm quite ok with where S4 ends and I'm excited to see where they take this family's journey next. I love that this is not a linear story, but one with ups and downs and learnings and heartache and mending all along the way — and the thing underpinning it all being what these people mean to each other. As Harvey has said, we're not where we're going to end up.

Now, fic. Fix-it fic is popular for ongoing shows at least in part because of the uncertainty of canon. Things happen at the end of seasons that turn the story on its head by design, and that's hard to digest when you're looking for resolution rather than a thousand more unknowns. People want resolution, we want things to be tied up, we want everyone to be ok and we need it to happen as soon as possible. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, and fic does its duty so well to deliver on those things. We find it hard to conceive of where these canon arcs could go if they didn't immediately wrap up where we wanted them to, so that we can enjoy the safety of a conflict-free world for our blorbos to do cute stuff like go to the beach, etc.

But! Fix-it fics do exactly the opposite of what an ongoing series is trying to achieve. A fix-it fic is trying to, well, fix it! And an ongoing series is trying to achieve ongoing conflict. That's true for a number of reasons, including story ones (conflict is an essential component of story, a story can't be ongoing without conflict) and business ones (neatly wrapping a season, a possibly even the entire show's narrative, in a finale episode is a recipe to get your shit cancelled). But at the end of the day, so long as the show is going to have further seasons, the types of wrap-ups that feel oh so satisfying in a fic simply can't happen in any season finale. Not only will they most likely leave plot threads and emotional arcs hanging, they introduce a swath of new ones! All this, to continue exploring the nooks and crannies of the characters, relationships, and themes.

I say this partly for expectation management. A lot of fan theories for how some of S4's threads might have instead wrapped up in a satisfying way, Nandermo or Colin&Laszlo or otherwise, are by no means incorrect. If S4 was the final season of wwdits, we most likely would have seen a lot of them play out on screen. But that's not what happened, and that's on purpose. The show intends to continue to knead and explore everything S4 put on the table in S5, rather than close all of those capital P Problems in order to play in a perfect-world sandbox next season — like a one-shot fic might.

We care about these characters and what happens to them. That's why there's a fan urge to cut off uncertainty by pulling the plug on conflict at the earliest juncture. That's why many fics, fluff especially, are so short. It's not a story, it's a scenario (and scenarios I greedily slurp up, don't get me wrong, fluff sustains me because I need those sweet and cute situations). But for a fluff one-shot to be a story, it would need conflict, it would need for things to go wrong so that the final act can pull it back together. Even rom com movies, designed to be funny and sweet indulgences, stick hard to this rule. And even fics with plot, save for some really gorgeous novel length ones out there in this fandom (kisses you and kisses you), we're working with a much tinier narrative window than the wwdits canon is. The show has to figure out how to pace itself through what is an undetermined period of time due to show seasons are greenlit by networks, which is much harder. It means they have to make hard choices about what emotional threads they are going to resolve and which they need to sustain, if the show itself is to be sustained (looking at you, Nandor and Guillermo conflict & romantic tension. Looking at you, Laszlo and Colin). Without those conflicts, without things going wrong, there is no show, the story has ended before it could fully blossom. I say this knowing people wanted the Nandermo arc to wrap up in 3x10, before all of their fantastic development in S4!

Anyway. Final point. Big thing about conflict: it leads to development. Deepening. Ultimate solidification of the themes once all is resolved eventually.

[colinrobinsonn]

mine and my sister’s two hour wwdits/nandor x guillermo convo today 

- the vamps just wanna be content and live a chill kind of life because they found their fam

- colin robinson potentially has guillermo’s phone number now so colin texts him all the time, annoying him, but eventually they actually form a friendship over texts and they bitch about the other vampires. one time they are in the fancy room with them all whilst nandor/nadja/laszlo are arguing about some bullshit and guillermo and colin are texting in front of them and they laugh at their phones. nandor stops arguing and looks at guillermo, “what are you laughing at?” “give me that”... “hey, I’m not being a whiny warrior!!”

- colin robinson’s looks to camera are EVERYTHING

- nandor struggles with change, he always talks about his human life and not much else in between. he struggles with the change in his and guillermo’s relationship and how he has to talk about his feeeeelings now

- so nandor struggles with the idea of turning guillermo because it’s a big change. maybe guillermo will want to leave and explore his new vamp life away from the place he’s been in for his whole life. maybe guillermo will realise that nandor is not as cool as guillermo think vampires are (although guillermo already gets exasperated with nandor but at the same time /is/ still ennamoured with his vampire status)

- guillermo knows that nandor struggles with change which is why he hasn’t pushed him thus far. but now guillermo feels more empowered with his slayer heritage and his secret activities (killing vampires lol) he feels the courage to push nandor. guillermo is understanding himself more and he needs and wants and desires. he’ll push nandor to answer him and hold him to making him a vampire. he’ll push him to acknowledge they care about each other, even though he knows if he does push too far nandor will pull away 

- because nandor does push people away when he feels emotionally vulnerable around them. he knows he needs to change and be better for guillermo. with nadja/laszlo/colin robinson he knows he can just be his asshole self because they can be and, because they are fam, it’s kind of unconditional family love

- guillermo can handle change, to an extent. like he’ll go to celeste’s and get on there, he embraces his slayer life at times and is so ready (or he thinks he is) to be a vampire. in this way tho... how long will he wait for nandor to be brave?

- when push comes to shove, however, nandor will be vulnerable and talk about his emotions with guillermo so guillermo won’t leave (”collaboration” ep). he’d rather put himself out of his comfort zone than lose guillermo - but it will only be baby steps

- when nandor found out guillermo killed carol and was scathing him, he was also scared he might not able to protect guillermo from harm (not really knowing that guillermo is badass and can look out for himself)

- guillermo will be a sick vampire because unlike the rest (presumably) he’s made the choice to be a vampire and knows a lot about them and of course already has amazing innate physical abilities and fighting skills

- in vampire literature and movies the biting of the neck and sucking blood is always portrayed as quite sexual, and it’s almost awkward to think of nandor and guillemro doing it now because they don’t seem there in their relationship. it’s almost like leading up to a first kiss. it would be so intimate. and maybe that’s how it’s framed. nandor will be ready to turn guillermo when he is ready to confront and work through his feelings

- nandor is lonely

- maybe after all this leaving and secretive and emotional stuff going on nandor wants to bring their relationship back to strictly business, trying to force formality again 

- guillermo is maybe a little overwhelmed as well by events

- head canon that when nandor looks for love guillermo is hurt and jealous and angry. so he dates too. he dates guys and nandor hatessss it. he tells him he can’t see them anymore and he’s his familair and it’ll distract from his duties but obvs guillemro is like if you can date, why can’t i? challening him to say why he doesn’t like it. nandor is like fine. nandor’s dating life doesn’t really work out (have you SEEN those teasers omg lol) but guillermo’s does and he likes the affection and respect and openness he gets from his dates and he sees one guy regularly. nandor obvs hates him but kind of watches it go on anyway, getting sadder and sadder and kind of feeling like this is good for guillermo (it is. he deserves it. he likes the guy. the guy is nice.) but. it’s not nandor. and nandor is so hurt and wants so much that he finally tells guillermo how he feels. and so on.

- colin robinson supremacy

just our thoughts and reflections on the characters! we don’t think this is all how the characters actually feel, but would they could feel and how we feel about their stories :)

[buildacatboy]

I posted 5,392 times in 2021

92 posts created (2%)

5300 posts reblogged (98%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 57.6 posts.

I added 355 tags in 2021

#tf2 - 104 posts

#wwdits - 36 posts

#yeah - 35 posts

#reference - 31 posts

#futurama - 30 posts

#fav - 28 posts

#french tw - 24 posts

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Longest Tag: 140 characters

#yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

i stg one of these days im gonna make an essay about engineer tf2 woobification “and ooooh hes everyones dad hed never hurt anyone!!” and how much i despise it and none of you mother fuckers can stop me

42 notes • Posted 2021-08-10 22:38:28 GMT

#4

my twin brother once told me that if you told medic he was based he would bolt you to the ceiling and leave you there and honestly i believe him to this day

42 notes • Posted 2021-08-20 04:47:59 GMT

#3

finally getting around to modeling mein veiner dog

but you wont like why nor the result

48 notes • Posted 2021-08-17 02:21:45 GMT

#2

heres why i think engie fanon is objectively wrong

So basically, the Engineer is one of the the three defense classes in Team Fortress 2 and tends to be subjected to Woobification a lot, people view him as kindly and polite and someone who greatly cares about his team.

While I do think he does care somewhat for his team, as all team members generally care about one another to a degree that they’re not trying to kill each other outside of their jobs about half the time in the comics, I think the assumption that he’s not a mean man is wrong.

first of all, HAVE YOU EVER EVEN PLAYED OR SEEN SOMEONE PLAY THE ENGINEER IN TF2?

Now, don’t get me wrong, the Engineer has a LOT of friendly lines to teammates, he offers to buy people beers and even tells them he’s proud of them-- but have you seen his non-friendly lines?

For example, it is implied that he may have a Napoleon complex or perhaps even a God complex if not both, and you can tell this mainly through lines you hear in the game itself. I’ll drop a few examples here with links to the actual voice lines themselves.

"I am a god!"

"I'm a killer of men, doc. That is the God's-honest truth."

"I'm wolverine-mean, you son of a bitch."

"I just beat on your sneaky ass like a mule, boy!"

"I'm done playin' games with you, boy."

Despite what you may think, the Engineer finds himself to be quite menacing. Also, I would like to mention, his main melee voiceline is "Take it like a man, shorty." which is hilarious given the fact that he is the shortest man out of all the mercenaries, further feeding into the idea of a napoleon complex. He’s very joyful and laughs a lot on the battlefield at death, which is kind of worrying regardless of whether or not he’s got a napoleon complex, just because he’s.. he’s not the one playing a video game? Ah?

As well as this, he’s canonically close friends with what most people would call the evilest character among the mercenaries, Doctor Ludwig Humboldt, otherwise known as Medic. MEDIC! 

That’s not for no goddamn reason, the Engineer is more than fine with doing brutal and horrific experiments on people in the name of science and he simply found someone to do them with! The main difference between him and Medic is that he’s a lot better at hiding his inherent madness than Medic is, and a lot of people in the fandom friggin buy his nonsense!

Though I’m sure if he wasn’t wearing his dorky goggles and hard hat all the time, people would be less inclined to buy it, because quite frankly, the Engineer without his goggles is a god damn nightmare. In the comics it looks fine, amazing even, but have you ever seen it in-game?

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Ironically, the only other mercenary with a look scarier than that is Medic’s “Evil Grin” that’s actually just his normal smile. 

And I’m sorry but a lot of people tend to forget what actually happened in the comics? Sniper was fully willing to merc Demo and Ms.Pauling, Sniper DID end up dying, and Engie was COMPLETELY ABSENT! Now you could argue that this wasn’t necessarily his choice, but the point remains that he’s more loyal to the Administrator than his friends to the point of very possibly knowing about letting them ‘die’. Not to mention that he either does know that he’s missing a soul (AND DOESN’T CARE???) or willingly let his friends throw themselves at certain death while he was missing in action attending to the administrator-- contracts just mean more to him. I mean, unless of course when Medic was talking about having 9 souls in total, he was counting Miss Pauling and not Engie which is also pretty likely but that’s a debate for another day entirely, dear god.

I’m sure there’s more points I’m forgetting here, but I’ll add on later if I remember anything. Feel free to have discourse below.

91 notes • Posted 2021-08-10 23:29:59 GMT

#1

happy birthday mister Ludwig :]

350 notes • Posted 2021-06-23 21:53:27 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[lux-mentis]

wwdits episode 1x10 (finale) thoughts: 

guillermo working at a panera bread before becoming a vampire’s familiar? we stan. i love panera 

guillermo is self-aware of his lackey-ship. the mention of renfield was a nice touch too--wwdits awards its audience for consuming other vampire media w/ little easter eggs which is quite nice. also, as an aside--i wonder who thought a (i assume to be) taxidermied bear was a good interior decorating choice. probably laszlo & nadja tbh 

guillermo’s vampire-sona is great omg. also he’s an artist?? i love it! just another thing he has in common w/ nandor if we count the pilot & the glitter portrait thingy he did. personally a fan of ‘guillermo the great’ of all the options we were shown

i also wonder if we’ll get anymore dracula parallels--first the renfield reference & then we’ve got guillermo being a descendent of van hellsing. anyway, i’m glad that everyone’s favorite fan theory ended up being true--guillermo’s got a real knack for vampire killing & i’m curious if we’ll get a more serious exploration into this internal struggle (wanting to become a vampire vs. succumbing to his ‘nature,’ that of a vampire hunter) guillermo. in other words, can someone fight against their own destiny? 

awww, nandor’s excitement on having living descendants is super cute. he was so excited to be called a ‘grandpappy’ like alksdjfds i /love/ him. & at the end of the day, not even vampires can live alone--obviously family/culture/history is very important to nandor. 

since i thought the 37 wives line was a throwaway line, i wonder if the fact that nandor only ‘loved’ 35 of his wives has any importance. perhaps they’ll come back as vampires/some other supernatural creature? who knows 

oh also!!! slightly worried that since guillermo sent off the vampires’ dna, this will eventually come back to haunt them in the form of skilled vampire hunters. i mean surely vampire dna would look different/have diff markers than human dna? either way, y i k e s

nadja just carrying around a skull? once again, proving to be a favorite character of mine. this might’ve also been a slight nod to the end of the ep where poor gregor loses his head (again) but idk, it’s a stretch for sure

nandor’s “that wasn’t very nice,” when laszlo & nadja hissed at guillermo was a nice touch. in some ways nandor really is trying to make up for not defending guillermo in the night club... in his own way lol

colin being 100% white was so hilarious--i lowkey hope this was ad-libbed or something lmao 

laszlo better watch out lmao--w/ how he’s treating guillermo, it’s not gonna go well for him if guillermo has a change of heart & joins up a vampire hunter’s group next season (which i doubt would happen but u never know)

in madeline’s defense, if a floating vampire was tapping on my window saying “wakey wakey” while holding a stuffed bear i too would probably just,,, die 

nandor asking guillermo for help in pinpointing what emotion he was feeling (grief) was oddly sweet? he grew attached to madeline so quickly :’( unlike the other staten island vampires, nandor doesn’t seem to heed the ‘don’t get attached to humans’ rule too well. kinda reminds me of the ‘citezenship’ ep where he’s sad abt his home country not existing anymore & he lets his meal go. he still cares abt humans in a way that differs from laszlo & nadja (i.e., nadja immediately turns humans that she is interested in while laszlo has shown zero interest in any human at all).

shout out to the found family trope being represented w/ nadja, laszlo, colin, & guillermo coming to madeline’s funeral. i mean colin left early, but nadja & laszlo stayed for as long as they were physically able to. once again, nandor’s dedication to his bloodline is very sweet, going thru physical pain to say goodbye to madeline 

this ep really solidified how much laszlo & nadja love each other--poor gregor, but i’m sure he’ll be back next season in some capacity. whether thru mentions, flashback, or perhaps even as a zombie (since those were canon in the wwdits movie)? the topiary of nadja must’ve taken laszlo so long to make... we stan forever

the parallels between the finale and the pilot ep were /real/ for guillermo and nandor. while i think nandor has (somewhat) started to show his appreciation for guillermo more, he was upset & in pain so i’m not surprised he lashed out by booping guillermo’s nose & yelled at him. extending his time as a familiar for another yr tho? not nice D: 

this insinuates that nandor actually plans on turning guillermo eventually (like no offense to nandor but i don’t think he’s manipulative/vindictive enough to be stringing guillermo along forever). 

guillermo staking the portraits like oof, he looked so upset over it. i’m guessing that the fallout of submitting his dna (as well as the vamps) will be explored soemwhat in season 2. i could see one of guillermo’s relatives or something tracking him down bc they realize that he has van hellsing blood. like from what we’ve seen, it makes him a natural at killing vampires so... if i were a hunter, i’d want him on my team. & if i were a vampire... well, i’d want him dead. so next season should prove interesting for poor guillermo--maybe less of him being a familiar and more exploring his background, family, and strengths? idk; either way i’m excited™ 

[frederator-studios]

Adetokumboh M’Cormack: The Frederator Interview

Adetokumboh M’Cormack is an actor and producer who also (coolly neglected to mention to me that he) directs and writes. He just directed a live action, period-set short, The German King. You might recognize Ade from Lost, Heroes, 24, Captain America: The Winter Soldier or your pick of syndicated crime dramas - pick one, he’s probably appeared in it. We are very lucky to work with Ade on Castlevania, in which he plays Isaac, an ally of Dracula’s, Devil Forgemaster and new character in season 2. Read on for Ade’s perspective on acting, favorite vampire film (a surprisingly gooby pick for this serious Actor), and discussion of Isaac - including a clip of him in character!

Why did you choose to be an actor?

Gosh, I don’t think I really had much of choice to be honest (laughs). It’s always been something that I just knew I had to do. I grew up in Kenya and went to this school in Nairobi called Braeburn. It had a state of the art theatre where we performed all these plays. I made sure I was in every one - I just loved performing. My dad's story is that when I was around ten, I got cast in a musical called Rats - based on The Pied Piper of Hamelin. I played this awesome lead role as the Rat Leader! (laughs). But my dad took me out of the play because he wanted me to focus more on my studies. I just remember being super bummed about the whole thing. After a few days, the school’s Headmaster called my dad in for a meeting and said “Your son is sad. For goodness sake, you have to put him back in the play!” He did, and I immediately cheered up. My dad later told me that it was at this point that he knew this wasn’t just a hobby to me. I was actually serious about Acting. My parents were super supportive ever since.

What do you love about Acting? So many things! I love studying people. Humans are such wonderfully complex, nuanced creatures. So to get to walk in someone else’s shoes and become a different person, and discover who they are and what makes them tick and convey how they feel - it’s just fascinating. As people, we have so many layers. And I love putting those layers onto my characters. Why do they make certain choices? What secrets are they hiding? I have a lot of fun creating characters. Do you enjoy any aspect of voice acting in particular? I really enjoy doing different things with my voice and vocal register to create different characters, and I enjoy putting on different accents. But I really just love words. And languages. And how things like alliteration can convey a certain feeling. Take Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven, or Shakespeare for example. When Macbeth says to Banquo, “To-night we hold a solemn supper sir,” there’s something very serpent-like and ominous because of the “s” sounds. So when the actor says it, the audience feels that. When I read a script, I look for how I can employ the rhythm of the words, the vowels, the use of consonance, to effectively set the picture for the scene. And Warren Ellis is such a talented writer, he uses a lot of these devices. Voice Acting in some ways is harder, because you cannot rely on anything else. People aren’t seeing your facial expressions or gestures. All you have is your voice and that microphone that picks up EVERYTHING. You cannot have one false moment because it’s amplified. So everything boils down to being truthful under imaginary circumstances. You put every ounce of your being into being truthful, and making it come through in your voice. Whenever I’m in the studio, I’m super animated. I fully act out the scene and try to make the situation as real for myself as possible. Only then can it be real for your audience/listener. I’m usually a sweaty mess by the end of it. But when you see it all put together with the animation, it’s awesome!

How were you introduced to Castlevania as a potential project? 

I really enjoy period pieces, and who doesn’t love a good Dracula story? So when my agent first told me about the project I was intrigued. And then when I started reading the script, I was blown away. I really liked the story and characters. And of course with Adi Shankar at the helm, you know you’re going to have something awesome. I remember after I watched his Power Rangers short a couple of years back I was like “whatever this guy does next, sign me up!” (laughs). Needless to say, I was really impressed by the finished product. What do you look for in a project? Do you gravitate toward certain genres? I definitely gravitate toward drama. And I’m a big fan of historical pieces. I’m getting ready to shoot a film called The German King about an African leader who rises up against German colonial rule in World War I. But the most important thing that draws me to a script is the writing. I love a well written piece with interesting, fleshed out characters. What about Isaac’s character compelled you to take the role? When you first meet Isaac in season 2, he’s having this intense, philosophical conversation with a dead creature. You start getting an insight into his intellect. Isaac is super smart. And you start understanding more about who he is, and what drives him. Villains are so often portrayed without much depth - everything’s black or white. But over the course of the season, you gain insight into Isaac’s complex mind, and you find that his motivation is seeded very, very deep. And the fact that it is written into the script that he is an African man. That made me jump at the chance to play this role. You don’t often get to see black people, or people of color portrayed in this way in period pieces, nor with the opportunity to have such rich dialogue. What more can you tell us about Isaac?

Isaac is a really interesting fellow. He has the outward appearance and quiet, peaceful demeanor of a Sufi ascetic. But there’s a lot going on within him. He had a very difficult childhood. He was severely abused. He traveled across much of Africa and the Middle East as a kid. He learned magic from a renegade occultist’s books. And when we meet him in season 2, he’s a Devil Forgemaster, and fiercely loyal to Dracula.

Did his traumatic past present a challenge as you got in touch with his character? Isaac has lived a horrific life. I did a lot of research and read literally everything I could about him. Then I created his backstory, chronicling a timeline of when and where certain things happened to him. I made the people who hurt and abused him very specific. How old was he when this happened? How did that make him feel? When did he commit his first murder? What were the major turning points in his life that contributed to him becoming the man we meet in Castlevania season 2? I needed to make him as specific as possible, in order to make him real. As an actor, you have to go there, even if it’s very uncomfortable. What is your favorite media representation of Dracula / Vampires-at-large? I watched this film called What We Do In the Shadows recently. That has to be one of the funniest films I’ve ever seen about vampires. You’ve got these male vampires knitting and being very uncool and unsexy and it’s just hysterical. It definitely puts a different spin on the whole vampire genre. What do you think Castlevania brings to the canon that is unique or new? Well, Dracula and co. are certainly not the funny, awkward vampires we see in WWDITS, that’s for sure (laughs). Dracula is powerful. I mean, super powerful. And terrifying. The vampires in Castlevania can take on these massive beast like forms. They are next level. But at the same time, there is a very human side to this Dracula as well. You’re seeing someone who fell in love, and suffered loss. And over the course of seasons one and two, you get a better understanding of who he is and why he’s filled with so much hate for humanity.

What TV shows are you a fan of? Do you regularly watch animation? Right now Ozark and Wentworth are my favorite shows. Pamela Rabe is probably my new favorite villain. I'm still catching up so don’t tell me what happens! (laughs) I don’t normally watch animation, but I started to see what else was out there, especially in anime, after working on Castlevania. Right now I’m watching Last Hope which is really cool.

How has the experience of working on Castlevania been overall?

It’s been amazing. The team is really great. Our Director Sam Deats and Voice Director Meredith Layne, and Warren, Adi, and Kevin -  they have all been so incredible to work with. And I’ve had the chance to work with some brilliant actors whose work I’ve come to respect over the years. I’m a huge fan of Graham McTavish so getting to play off of him in the studio has been a really awesome experience. What do you like best about playing Isaac?  

The fact that he’s a badass with supernatural powers (laughs). He’s got these superhuman fighting skills and uses all these cool weapons in combat. He’s like a superhero. And he’s got all this dialogue that’s just fantastic. It’s fun to play this compelling, layered character who has an awesome character arc over the course of season 2. And I love the fact that he’s a black man. We never really see black characters portrayed like this in the media, especially during that time period: the 1400’s. I hope this opens doors to casting more people of color in interesting, robust roles that play against stereotypes.

Do you relate to any aspects of Isaac’s character?

Definitely his loyalty. I’m a loyal friend. And I like to think that I’m the type of person who would sacrifice a lot for someone I love. And also if there’s a cause that I believe in, then I throw myself into it 110 percent (laughs). I like to see things through.

Have anything to say to fans of the series, in advance of season 2?

Season 1 was amazing. But season 2 takes it to a whole new level. Get ready.

Follow Ade on Twitter and Instagram.

Thank you for the interview Ade, and your incredible work as Isaac this season! Can’t wait to see what you do next - in Wallachia and otherwise. 

- Cooper ❀

(ANOTHER!? Before you smash a mug on the floor, hit these links to Graham McTavish’s and Richard Armitage’s interviews)

[sukurarose92]

I posted 9,726 times in 2021

35 posts created (0%)

9691 posts reblogged (100%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 276.9 posts.

I added 56 tags in 2021

#guillermo de la cruz - 9 posts

#wwdits - 7 posts

#q~q - 7 posts

#nandor the relentless - 6 posts

#the magnus archives - 5 posts

#oh god - 5 posts

#tma - 5 posts

#xd - 5 posts

#what we do in the shadows - 4 posts

#cancer - 3 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#oooh i wrote a poem for my english class that has become my poetry magnum opus. i ended up winning a spoken word competition due to it and

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Look, I am utterly devastated at how Season 3 ended. I think all the Nandermo fans are, at least a little bit. But that does not mean that i am not absolutely thrilled at the possibilities of what is to come. 

The series so far has had these characters wrapped up in each other. Laszlo and Nadja are a solid duo, you rarely see one without the other. 

Guillermo’s character is completely wrapped up in taking care of Nandor and Nandor is dependent on Guillermo for nearly everything. 

We got to see so much more of Laszlo, as a person, in season 3 via his newly formed connection to Colin Robinson and this really helped flesh out his character and I feel Season 4 is going to do this for everyone else too. 

Let’s start with Laszlo. Everything this man has done has been for his wife since the moment he was turned. Sure he’s had some of his own side projects (like the copious amounts of pornos he’s been part of) and he’s got a friend of his own (Sean), but for the most part, Laszlo is content to let Nadja lead the way in everything. Staying behind is the first time that Laszlo has put anything before Nadja. It’s the first time that he’s made a choice for himself, rather than for them. That doesn’t mean that it’s the right choice but the fact remains that this is progress.  I can’t say much about Colin Robinson right now because the whole mess with him is up in the air. Will he have his memories? will he be a whole new person? Can he talk as a baby? will he age rapidly? There’s so many variables to consider that there’s really no way of knowing right now how the new season will affect his character but I do know that he is going to be essential in Laszlo’s growth.  Nadja. This woman wants power. she wants respect and control and she has everything she needs to get it. The problem is that she wants it a little too much. She will tear through whoever is in her path to conquest and that can make her enemies pretty quickly. She needs a steady hand and someone who knows enough about people to understand where the line is and that is where Guillermo comes in. Laszlo is not good at telling Nadja “no”. He is extremely supportive, almost to the point of being enabling of bad habits. Nadja needs someone who can tell it to her straight and I think the only person capable of that is Guillermo because he’s the only one who’s not afraid of her. I think She is going to soften up towards Guillermo. It might take a little time because she will likely be very hurt by Laszlo’s betrayal and she’ll take it out on the only person she can, which is Guillermo. That’s not to say that he’ll just put up with it, I think he’s grown enough not to... but I think they’ll reach an understanding that they’re both heartbroken over their respective loves leaving them and they will become closer for that. Guillermo will help Nadja learn to play the game, not just how to claw her way to the top but how to stay there. He’ll earn her respect and i feel like they might just walk out of season 4 with the most badass friendship the show has seen to date.  Let’s talk about Guillermo now. Yeah, in some ways he’s changed from one vampire master to another but I don’t think he’s going to put up with the same amount of bullshit from Nadja that he did from Nandor because he does not love her the same way. This time away from Nandor, away from his life in Staten Island, in this whole new place is exactly what our boy needs to grow into his own person. He can learn more about his vampire hunting heritage, gain some confidence and possibly even some connections into the supreme worldwide vampiric council that could be extremely useful when he’s finally turned.  Finally we come to Nandor. This is the first time in centuries that he has been on his own and I think this is a perfect turning point for him. He’s finally going to get to see everything that Guillermo has done for him over the years, all the ways that his favorite human left scars and stains behind on his heart and in his life. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and I think that before the end of the half way mark on the season we will see Nandor, at the banks of the river Tigris, wishing that Guillermo was there with him, feeling empty and hollow and realizing that he needs the other with him. That he doesn’t WANT to spend his life alone... he’s not even sure he wants to spend his life with anyone else. I think he’ll go back to Staten Island because he didn’t go out and “see the world” like he had planned. his world was back in that house, hopefully, waiting for him.  I have no idea if any of these predictions are correct and I won’t know until season 4 drops but the possibilities are endless and while this could’ve been so neatly wrapped up with everyone getting their little happy endings I cannot wait to see

how these characters grow and define themselves with these new bonds and experiences.  I think we’re going to see new sides to all of them and come out of Season 4 with some really fleshed out and interesting characters and dynamics. I cannot wait! <3

65 notes • Posted 2021-11-15 20:37:23 GMT

#4

Y’know i’m just thinking about Guillermo being told by laszlo that what he needs to unwind is a “Guys night out” and asking Guillermo who his friends are. Guillermo has to think about it which leads to Laszlo saying something thoughtless about how sad it is that Guillermo has no friends. Now Guillermo has something to prove. He thinks long and hard on who his guy pals are. 

what we get is a scene cut to Toby the werewolf (Guillermo is on good terms with the wolf pack after he let them keep the toy post duel), Derek the vampire, Guillermo, and Black peter the goat all walking down the sidewalk with sunglasses on like a group of badasses talking about how they’re going to tear up the town. 

scene cut to them all just sitting in a mcdonalds eating food and talking about what TV shows they watched recently like the group of nerds they are. 

Interview with a dead-eyed young adult mcdonalds employee makes clear that the demon goat is not the weirdest thing they’ve seen recently. “we’re in new york, buddy. this is a normal tuesday night”

231 notes • Posted 2021-11-15 00:44:13 GMT

#3

Based slightly off a post i read before and my own headcannons. 

Imagine you’re tim stoker. imagine losing your brother to some kind of inhuman monster that you can’t describe because people will think you’re insane. then imagine that because you’re the last one to see your brother you get fingers pointed at your back claiming you kidnapped him... possibly murdered him from people you know and don’t know, maybe even your own parents believe it. if not that, then they at least feel you should’ve protected him, you are the elder brother after all. it’s your job. 

Imagine that after months of heavy interrogation and accusations it’s finally dropped and they bury an empty coffin in the ground, claiming your brother is finally resting in peace but you know better, there’s never going to be any rest for him. the circus stole his skin and now he’ll dance for eternity in that hellish place and you can’t save him. 

Imagine going to work for the magnus institute in hopes of finding some way to destroy the circus so what happened to danny will never happen to anyone else and while you work in research you meet Jonathan sims, who reminds you, in so many ways, of the brother you just lost.... he fills that fresh void that’s been carved in your life without meaning to and you care about him. you swear to yourself that this time you’ll protect him. this time you’ll get it right. 

then he gets a promotion that he’s really not qualified for... and maybe none of you are really qualified to work in the archives but that’s besides the point, clearly sasha is the most qualified out of all of you for the position, i mean, getrude herself wanted her to take her place. but you let it go, it’s not Jon’s fault he got promoted... but... he is acting far more distant now. he’s trying so hard to be professional, to be taken seriously that he’s pushing you and sasha away. that’s alright though. you still care about him and push come to shove you’ll protect him. 

And you do protect him, then prentiss attacks and the worms come for you both you manage to get him and martin out of the room they were trapped in. you stay at his side as you both run and when you come up into the room with prentiss you dont run this time, not like with danny, if he’s going down, this time you’ll go with him. 

Now imagine that after all this, the moment getrude robinson’s body is found a finger is pointed at you once more, this time by the very person you had sworn to protect, the one you took in as a brother. it’s like danny staring at you and asking why you didn’t save him. it hurts like nothing else. but the accusations aren’t where it ends. he stalks you, he thinks he’s being stealthy but he’s so awkward and bad at hiding himself it’s easy to see him trailing behind you in the crowd after work hours. it’s a simple task to look up while cooking and spot his silhouette by the bushes, watching. 

It’s painful, knowing that you gave so much of yourself and he never trusted you in the first place. but what can you do? The relationship falls through and while you’re losing jon, you’re losing sasha too. She’s pulling away as jon sets into hysterics and paranoia. martin isn’t any help, he’s only interested in taking jon’s side, you can’t blame him, the man practically worships jon. you were like that too not so long ago when things were simpler. 

Then you find out sasha is a monster. your friend has been dead for over a year and you never noticed it. you don’t remember her, her face, her voice, it’s all gone, replaced by something else... something similar to what took danny from you. now you’ve lost the two most important people in your life to the stranger and the one left was so sure you wanted to kill him he stalked you for nearly a month. you’re not willing to forgive him for that, for thinking you could ever be capable of that. 

You spent your time looking into ways to destroy the circus and nothing else. you refuse to work for the horrific eye themed fear deity that runs the institute. you tried to leave but the sickness forced you back. now you’re stuck here until you inevitably die a horrible and painful death. there are other faces now, new people but you don’t really care. you just want to deal with the circus, stop the people who took danny and sasha away. 

Then it’s time. you’ve got the explosives ready, the detonator in hand and you’re one button click away from sweet revenge and it seems like that’s all you have left. you idly wonder if you’ll see sasha or danny in the afterlife. probably not, they were killed by monsters and considering what you’re about to do you’ll likely be going to hell. you take a breath and thank jon for the opportunity to finish this. 

then you push the button. the clown is leaping for you and that last thing that crosses your mind is that everyone was right. you were a killer after all. 

294 notes • Posted 2021-02-01 18:37:13 GMT

#2

So many people have touched on this but I feel the need to expand. No one in WWDITS is traditionally Hollywood attractive. The one who comes closest would be Nadja but until the finale of S3 we hadn’t seen her in anything close to revealing clothes wise. The fact that she wore a dress that showed cleavage broke the fandom for like a week afterward. It was a big deal. 

Nandor is considered a great warrior but he is not waxed, he has a pudgy belly and he’s still hot as hell. His figure is realistic. Nandor is a POC, and not just any POC he’s from Iran. Now American media loves to shit on german, russians, chinese, and anyone from the middle east but Nandor is not played up as some charicature of a Jihadist or anything like that. He’s treated with dignity and respect and i would love to see more of his culture (not just the pilaging part) expanded on in canon. 

Laszlo has a straight up Dad Bod and he is constantly getting it. He’s from England but he hates classism and respects his wife’s heritage and that is freaking sweet! Nadja is beautiful and it’s very clear that she is sexually active but she is not sexualized. We don’t see her in low cut dresses or anything super form fitting with slits up to the thigh like we would see the “token female” in other popular shows.   Colin Robinson is.... well he’s Colin Robinson. He’s described as looking like Dilbert or a Fetus more than once. Aside of Nandor he is also the person we see most often in a state close to nudity. He is also, surprisingly enough, the freakiest person on that show. (I say that as the whole “kinky is using the feather. Freaky is using the whole chicken” phrase fits. Laszlo and Nadja are obviously the kinksters here but Colin has some.... “interesting” sexual  predilections)

As for Guillermo This is a man who came from a Christian home, is a man of color, is plus sized, and still somehow considered one of the sexiest characters in the show by a good portion of the fandom. We have never seen him anywhere close to naked but the fandom still goes nuts over him. While he is made the butt of the joke most of the first two seasons it’s not much more than anyone else is, just for a different reason and that reason never correlates to his size. The closest we get to a dig about his culture is Nandor thinking he’s descended from “Piñata breeders” which is honestly more of a dig at Nandor. Guillermo is a one of a kind character. He is a plus sized gay man of color who is not only considered a main character (he’s arguably our POV character), he’s a love interest and considered attractive, and he’s the most badass and competent person in the main cast. that is unheard of in current media. 

I love this show not just for the joke and the interesting and fun take of vampires but because of what it offers. The characters are fun and diverse and I cannot wait to see them grow as people. It’s such a fun dynamic to watch this house of vampires and a human trying to figure things out whilst only having two braincells, both of which belong to Guillermo but once in a while he’ll loan it out to Nadja or Colin. I love these characters and I love this show!~

720 notes • Posted 2021-11-10 20:18:35 GMT

#1

Posted this on discord earlier and it felt like something to share. the idea is open for anyone interested. it’s just for fun. 

733 notes • Posted 2021-09-26 02:28:07 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[cookinguptales]

wwdits tarot: the lovers

I’m a hopeless romantic and you all already know that. I will not apologize for anything that is about to transpire.

Let's do VI. The Lovers.

Okay, real talk tho, The Lovers is not always about literal lovers. It’s about pairs and duality. This can mean relationships -- sometimes a romantic one, sometimes just a relationship with someone else who’s important to you. Family, friends, a business partner, etc. 

When it comes to the relationships reading of this card, the important part is a sense of harmony. These are two people who trust each other implicitly and communicate well. This card is usually either telling a person to depend on this relationship or work towards achieving it.

There is a secondary meaning to this card, too, though. The pair can also be a pair of choices. The card won’t tell you which to choose, but instead calls on a person to look inside for a better understanding of which path to take. 

In other words, at its heart The Lovers is a card about knowing yourself. It tells you to look inside and figure out who you are and what you want. It calls for perfect openness and honesty, even when it's difficult. This will help strengthen your relationships but also help you make difficult choices.

All that out of the way… I really went back and forth on this one.  I always knew that I wanted Laszlo and Nadja to be on this one; not only are they literal lovers (the lovers of all time, honestly) but they really do trust each other and communicate on a level that bewilders and charms us all.

But… after a lot of thought, I’ve decided to deviate from tradition a bit and put more than one pair on here. Some of this is my own sentimentality, I’ll admit, but I think I also want to go a little bit deeper with this card.

The Lovers, when reversed, is about disharmony, both in your relationships and within yourself. It means you don’t know who you are and it means that you’re not communicating with full honesty and understanding in your closest relationships. And when upright, the card is a tacit warning against this. It’s a card that tells us to value our relationships, but also to carefully evaluate them and whether we’re being fully open with our loved ones and cognizant of what we want.

So… I think what I want here is an example of the harmony that this card represents, but also an example of the potential that this card seeks to realize.

So I’ve decided to make this a card of harmony, but also disharmony. Emotional closeness, but also distance. Being true to yourself, but also lying to yourself to protect yourself from uncertainty.

Yeah, I want to put Nandor and Guillermo on here, too.

I’m sure I don’t have to go into a lot of detail about Laszlo and Nadja and why they belong on this card. They’ve been together for centuries, they've grown together, and they communicate very well. They are keenly aware of the other’s emotional state and every time they have to keep anything from each other, it seems to physically wound them.

What really gets me, though, is the way they’ve helped each other flourish. That detail in s4 about how, due to abuse and neglect, Laszlo had a very difficult time expressing his emotions until Nadja worked with him for hundreds of years. She saw that potential in him and she supported him until she was finally able to draw it out. And he supports (most of) her murders and harebrained schemes without question. He believes in that beautiful, fierce peasant girl that he met all those centuries ago, and he will fight anyone who tries to disparage her.

Through knowing each other, they've come to know themselves, which is really the key to The Lovers. Seeing themselves through their partner's eyes has allowed them to see truths about themselves they might not have otherwise seen, and has allowed for a kind of open confidence that both accomplish through the support of the other.

Love that for them. Love those two weirdos. ;o;

And when I look at Nandor and Guillermo now, I see the beginnings of something like that. Both of them are able to be themselves with each other in a way they can’t with anyone else, and they have a trust and dependence on one another that doesn’t always seem earned. But… they’re not all the way there yet. They aren’t fully open with each other. They don’t live in harmony together. Their communication is frankly abysmal. They aren’t quite in full card reversal but at times it feels close.

So to me, I feel like we have The Lovers card in both of these relationships, to some degree. We have the platonic ideal of the card, an almost perfect partnership where the two of them are deeply in harmony with one another… and we’ve got the kind of relationship that The Lovers feels like it’s there to treat. The kind that needs to listen to this card's advice to become its final form. The reversal that is slowly being turned upright.

There’s an inherent potential in The Lovers, and I feel like I wanted to capture that as well as the ideal definition of the card. Because just like a great relationship has helped Nadja and Laszlo understand themselves, I think Nandor and Guillermo also need to be honest with themselves so they can be honest with each other. I think that, like Nadja and Laszlo, the health of their relationship is inextricably tied to self-knowledge and the choices they make.

So… The Lovers is a card about relationships but also about knowing yourself and making choices. It’s about the end result (having a great relationship) but also the time spent getting there (learning to open up and be honest with yourself and your partner). It is a card that doesn't necessarily describe the now, but what can be.

And it's a card that sternly warns against letting lies and misunderstandings ruin your relationships.

Anyway... yeah. I want both of these relationships on the card to show the different stages of the same idea, so to speak, and for this more than any other card I have a very specific idea about imagery.

I’ll show you the RSW card first, but I’ll warn you that I’m about to make a departure.

The RSW version of this card depicts a vision of Eden. Adam and Eve and the archangel Raphael. (He is an angel of the air, and the symbol associated with this card is… well, obviously it’s Gemini. lmao) So you’ve got these two lovers, but also the tree of good/evil there to represent choice. It represents both meanings of the card.

For the vampires, though, there’s an image that immediately came to mind when I thought of The Lovers, and it’s this:

(censored for your comfort)

In WWDITS, Laszlo and Nadja are often paired together for interviews, as are Nandor and Guillermo. But while Nadja and Laszlo are often presented as a unified front (sitting close together on the couch, holding hands between chairs, standing huddled together as they plot), Nandor and Guillermo are often either posed on unfair standing or several feet apart. Maybe Nandor is sitting and Guillermo is standing to his side. Maybe Nandor is on one side of the room, in the foreground, and Guillermo is on the other, by the door. The two are sitting in separate chairs, not touching. A game of strategy lies between them. The two of them maintain a certain distance.

This framing is very consistent with both pairs.

What’s interesting to me, though, is what happens when both pairs are together in the same frame. What we sometimes get is a frame like this, where Laszlo and Nadja are together in the center of the couch, and Nandor and Guillermo are together behind the couch — but on opposite ends of it.

I’ve always thought that dichotomy was fascinating. Together and apart, but both still paired. Moreover, what gets me is that Nadja and Laszlo often have an absent-minded intimacy; they will hold hands without even looking at each other. On the other hand, Nandor and Guillermo will steal looks at each other across the room, but they do not touch. It’s an appeal for intimacy, but one that is rarely fully met.

So if I were to make a card featuring both pairs, both together and apart, I would have a scene where the four are being interviewed. Laszlo and Nadja together in the center of the couch, holding hands and turned slightly toward each other as they look at the camera. And behind them, Nandor and Guillermo behind the couch, standing several feet apart but also just barely turned toward each other. And unlike Laszlo and Nadja, who stare straight ahead, secure in their intimacy, Nandor and Guillermo are pretending that they aren’t both stealing glances at the other.

(No angels allowed! This is an antichrist-ian show, thank you.)

And who knows! Maybe one day the two of them will actually listen to the advice of The Lovers, talk to each other frankly, and end up framed more like this!

no one is allowed to make fun of me for my decisions for this card okay bye

wwdits tarot masterpost

[cookinguptales]

Is it correct that we witnessed Guillermo talking to Freddie only two times this season, and the last time was in episode 4 before they went to the Night Market? And next week Freddie will just appear out of nowhere? I guess it is alright for the crazy portion of the fans (us), those who know about the leaks and talk about each episode every week here on this silly little site. But I’m curious how the casual fans (has wwdits casual fans?) will react to Freddie’s appearance. In the end I think I just wanted a few more snippets of Guillermo’s boyfriend throughout the season, followed by short clips of a curious & concerned looking Nandor.

It's unclear, actually. We did see Guillermo on the phone very briefly in Go Flip Yourself, but we don't know if he was talking to Freddie or not. It was while "Bran" was on the phone arguing with the permit guy; we see Guillermo walk out of his room on the phone, see the camera, then walk right back in.

I'd say that it's probably implied that Guillermo was on the phone with Freddie if just because the only time we've seen him on the phone with anyone else in this season was while he was planning for Nandor's wedding. (And... I feel like there might be something to say there, but I think I'll hold onto it for now. lmao) And we've specifically seen Guillermo talking to him on the phone in his room and being secretive about it. It's possible he just didn't want to be on camera, but I think he was, again, trying to hide being on the phone.

(EDIT: someone told me this might have been implying that Guillermo was the permit guy? unsure, but it’s VERY funny if so.)

Anyway... I've talked about this before, but I do agree that the way Freddie's being introduced here is very weird, from a storytelling and pacing standpoint. To me, it feels less like a romantic storyline and more like... god, almost foreshadowing? They haven't shown enough real interaction between the two of them for literally anyone to get emotionally invested in the ship (like really all we've gotten is Guillermo hanging up on Freddie as Freddie tries to say romantic things to him) but it would make sense if they're trying to tease us about something bad coming up. It gives real "someone is suspicious on the phone a lot in a murder mystery" vibes, which is... a weird choice.

I really don't know if this is all purposeful or not. If they really want Freddie to be mostly a short-lived (but emotionally turbulent) obstacle to nandermo, the way it's being written makes some sense. He's not supposed to have a deep character; like Marwa, he's largely a plot device.

But if he is supposed to become a major character that we care about... it's weird. It's weird to expect us to get emotionally involved in a pairing we've never even seen. We've missed the entire first several months of the relationship. We don't even know how long it's been going on, much less how they met or got together. We don't know how they interact. We don't know how they feel about each other. And all that feels important when you're trying to introduce a legit romance...?

At this point, it's obviously information that's being kept from us on purpose. The only reason I can think of is if they're trying to hide some kind of twist from us, like when Laszlo very suspiciously tore that page out of the book in s3. (I've said repeatedly that the way they casually mention Freddie but give zero information about him feels a lot like how they kept mentioning Colin's 100th birthday in s3.) The whole thing kind of has a whiff of Chekhov's Gun, y'know?

But if the twist is just that Guillermo has a boyfriend at all, then... yeah, the characterization and build-up feels lackluster. And then you run into the same problem that I feel like they're having with Marwa. It's hard to get that invested in a character who's only there to cause trouble for the "main" characters. She doesn't have much of her own personality, which is purposefully done (and even lampshaded, to some degree) but like... it still makes it kind of awkward when she's onscreen sometimes.

I really hope that Freddie/Guillermo doesn't become a real thing because at this point, I don't see how it could be done well. There's just too much missing that I feel is intrinsic to making a romantic pairing work on a tv show, especially one that's introduced several seasons in. Having Laszlo/Nadja dropped on us in medias res was fine because it was the beginning of the show, they immediately depicted their dynamic and emotional intimacy, and they quickly explored it more thoroughly. We've really gotten none of that out of Freddie/Guillermo.

So like... really hoping he is going to be a plot device. It's still kind of frustratingly thin if he is, but it's a lot better than this being a half-hearted introduction to a regular character. I think the only way he could work as a regular character at this point is if he ends up being drastically different than we and Guillermo expect. (Like, idk, secretly a villain or a vampire or a slayer or something.) Then both of us get introduced to the true Freddie at the same time and the relationship can actually develop onscreen.

Then again... I just hate important characterization happening offscreen, lmao. It's one of my absolute biggest pet peeves in storytelling. It's the one thing that's actually irritating me most this season, as far as Guillermo is concerned. So that could be my own irritations coloring my analysis. lmao