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How many times do you think Lucas has fallen asleep, book in hand, next to Max’s hospital bed and dreamt of her smile, her laugh, her touch, her eyes rolling at a dumb joke he made, her feet planted firmly on her skateboard as she whizzes down the block, her hands skillfully pressing the right buttons at the right time on dig dug only to open his eyes and look at her still, unmoving body frozen in time? How many times do you think he’s gotten up from that chair to bike home with tears stinging his eyes wishing he’d never taken her to the arcade storeroom that day, wishing he’d never told her any of it, wishing he’d stayed away after she’d dropped that note in the bin, wishing she’d never stepped foot in Hawkins? How many times do you think he’s walked through his front door, shoulders slumped and eyes red, told his mother he’s “just tired” and gone up to his room to lie there in the dark, his mind replaying that night at the Creel house over and over and over until his head starts to spin only to fall asleep and see it once again?

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people are so desensitized and braindead in that app fr.

that aside tho, this reminds me that we must prepare for a (likely triggering) homophobic scene between will and vecna/perhaps even some bullies (think the scene in 2x02 where the older kids spooked will.) Only this time, it won't be for gratuitous torture (I hope).

the 'disgusting' angle of hate speech is sadly real and still very contemporary, and again, while I understand that it might be triggering for so many people in the audience, I think it has the potential to be empowering once Will finally realizes and accepts that rhetoric is in fact bullshit.

no joke, st tiktok comment sections have some of the most cruelly homophobic stuff i’ve ever read and the scariest part is they don’t even see it as such. i’ve seen homophobic people explicitly spew hate towards lgbtq+ in awful ways yet being aware of the discourse they’re spreading… but saying “i hope will and mike don’t end up together and vecna just uses it against will to torture him” like it’s the most natural thing in the world and you’re just giving an innocent opinion about a show is absolutely insane. you want a sweet repressed gay boy in the 80s who’s already been through hell and back and is helplessly in love with his best friend and can’t control it to be rejected and for the trauma suicide monster to tell him what he already thinks, that he’s disgusting for how he is… and you think that would be… a good way to end his arc? what kind of message to queer people do you think that sends? on a show about outcasts getting happy endings?? you want the repressed gay boy to be tortured over his disgusting feelings????

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mmmm cleradin my beloved

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will n the 7 little demogorgons

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Not surprised they aren't trying to push El in the teaser. They upped the rating to MA and El draws a younger crowd. It would contradict. Not only did the teaser prove that Will is the main character and his story is the focus of the show, but it put Joyce back in the position of Female Lead like S1 and S2. This show is focused on Will's relationship with his mother and the Byers family. The show started getting popular back in the early days because of the draw from Winona Ryder. I think they want that OG audience back. They lost some of those people around S3 when they focused on El and the superhero movie aspect of the show. They keep saying this show is going back to the beginning so that means going back to the vibe of their early days. It also means not playing into the love triangles between the teens. That gives it a very YA feel. No romance was even hinted at in the previews. The only time you see El in new stuff is with Hopper (family bonds are important) and Mike is with Joyce and Will. You don't even see Nancy and Jonathan at all. They are going back to the beginning. Which I think is a very good thing. IMO the show was more emotionally intense in the early days and that was a big part of it's popularity, and that came from Hopper and the Byers family. You don't get that with the focus on superhero El and these 2 things attract 2 very different crowds.

This is a very excellent perspective!!

Sounds like a direction I'd really support, hope it's the exact case. A more mature season. Original vibes. Darker but deeper.

Very excited to have Joyce more in the forefront. I can attest to her original appeal!! She was the reason I checked out the show in the first place when it aired!! So, back to basics with her is gonna rock.

Centering the show on the Byers family... well, please do. I hope that's really the core of the whole finale season. It's their fucking show at the heart of it all. There's nothing without the Byers family. Seeing just those two small blips of a clip with Joyce and Will talking, then Joyce supporting Will as Mike protects the group... the dynamics that make the show at it's best are baaaaack, love to see it. Need so much Will and Joyce honestly that's the dynamic I need the most of all, just as much as Will and Mike. Joyce's devotion to her son is the literal reason the show was made. And as the show grew and matures, so will the themes. Fitting it is allowed to showcase the story befitting the risen stakes and an audience who has been around from the beginning.

🖤🖤🖤

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Concept art for the webcomic.

I'm not thrilled with how El and Will came out because they look way doofier than they're supposed to so I'll have to fix that when I get to making ref sheets T_T

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Ooooooooh you wanna interpret that fictional character as aromantic because there is subtext that would actually back that up and aromanticism would also add another layer to their character and would make so much more sense oooooooooooooooooh🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥🍥

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My sweeties 😭

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WAIT did the military shoot him with a tranquilizer or something??!???

It parallels to season 2 when they had to sedate him but still :((((((

<3

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"So if your friend jumps off a cliff, you're gonna jump too?"

what if that hadn't happened by s2 tho. I mean, I don't think ted and karen know about what happened in s1, and even as a fourth-wall nod, it doesn't really work, cause Mike didn't jump after anyone off the cliff.

Somebody's gonna jump off first and he'll follow.

(I think that very scene is in the s5 spec-fic by bookinit)

As bylers, we don’t talk about this line NEARLY as enough. #nothrowawaylines !!!

"So if your friend jumps off a cliff, you're gonna jump too?"

Like this basically is a little nod to the fact that Mike basically jumped off a cliff in season 1, because the context in which it was said by Ted doesn't really mean he has to say this line.

(because mike was just talking about how everyone grafittis the bathroom stall, which has no reference to any of his friends)

AND this also kind of confirms that Mike was jumping into the quarry maybe thinking about how Will's body was dragged out of the same place.

Why does no one ever talk about this like, am I going insane or what...

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It was an ordinary rainy day, and Lonnie wasn't around. The bubbles in the puddle hinted at a long downpour. Their raincoats protected them from the rain, but small drops still soaked his black strands of hair.

Mike never understood the horrible things that they said about Will. His friend was the best, and that was not up for debate.

Could such a cutie boy really be somehow wrong, sick?

No. Never.

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STRANGER THINGS || Chapter Four: The Body {1x04}

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Okay but Mike and Will heavily romanticizing the idea of being each other's "best friends." Them referring to each other as such anytime a stranger asks what they are to each other, since they can't say that they're in a relationship. Someone asking Mike who he has there with him, Mike smiling over at Will and saying, "That's my best friend, Will." Them whispering "you're my best friend" to each other in between kisses. Will tearing up and calling Mike his best friend at their wedding ceremony and both of their wedding vows focusing heavily on friendship and what it means to be somebody's lifelong friend. Them both thinking of their relationship and marriage in terms of "getting to share every part of yourself with your best friend for the rest of your life."

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Thinking about the sigh of relief Byler will let out after their first kiss.

How relieved they'll feel knowing they can hold the other just as close as when they were children. A closeness that they won't feel ashamed to find comfort in anymore.

How relieved they'll feel to know their feelings weren't wrong.

How relieved they'll feel knowing that the boy they fell in love with feels the same way!!!

A sigh of relief knowing they've got their best friend back.

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Two sides of the same coin, huh. I love a good old Bishop-Bell duo.

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Honestly my one biggest fear about s5 isn't Byler not being canon (even tho it's a close #2), it's all of Mike's "issues" being centered around his internalized homophobia.

Do I believe it's real? Yes, absolutely. Do I believe it contributes to how he acts/thinks? Yes, absolutely. Do I believe it's great representation? No doubt about it!

However, I do not believe it is the one and only cause for the things we see him do and the actions he chooses to take.

His character is much deeper than just int. homophobia. He has massive amounts of PTSD, survivor's guilt, abandonment issues, depression, family issues, probably anxiety, and I'm most likely missing even more things.

I'm just terrified that they're going to blame all of his actions on this one single part of his character, even though he is much more than that.

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OMG EL WAS SPOTTED AT THE CREEL HOUSE WITH VECNA

unrelated but shes such a cutie and this outfit is giving s3 el 🫶🏻