#I love all these weird nerds

[kennahjune]

Allow Me to Propose Something:

How about, instead of his parents forcing him, Steve actually just? Likes? Sports?

No parental forcing or peer pressure just— he like sports. He likes swimming and basketball and maybe soccer and track.

Steve just liking sports because he’s allowed to have his own interests outside of the Party and older kids.

I always see Steve changing how he dresses and changing his music interests and all this other bullshit in Steddie fics and you know what?

Fuck that.

Steve dragging Eddie to every one of Lucas’ basketball games. Steve watching football and soccer and basketball games with Lucas and Wayne and Eddie silently watching with them because Steve is happy and Wayne is happy and hell— Lucas is happy, so why the fuck not?

Dustin and Mike still being skeptical of Lucas joining the basketball team post-Vecna (especially with Jason now dead and what Andy did to Erica and Lucas’ new ties to Eddie and—) but both of them finally realizing that sports brings just as much joy to Lucas as DnD does. And that’s honestly more than enough.

Steve still wearing his polos and blue jeans and clean white sneakers because that’s his style and how he’s comfortable.

Steve still listening to Wham! and Queen and ABBA and all his other musical interests cause that’s what he likes to listen to and that’s what he finds pleasing to his ear.

Steve having his own interests because he’s his own person and he’s allowed to have his own personality.

Because frankly— fics where Steve changes entirely so he can date Eddie make me really sad.

[stellaluna33]

My husband just brought me a toaster waffle for breakfast and said, "I tried to put syrup in all of the little holes, but I couldn't. I'm sorry." 😞 And he was SERIOUS!

Like... Darling! Light of my life! You are adorable and possibly the sweetest man on the PLANET! But also... When I make myself a waffle and I say, "You have to put syrup in all the little holes," that's like a fun little game I play with myself, not like... an EDICT!

This man was seriously worried that I'd be disappointed that every single square of my waffle (that he brought me on a tray while I'm in bed) wasn't filled with syrup just the way I like it.

[randomminty]

I heard its her birthday and had a sudden urge to draw kirararararararrara

[flickeringflame216]

get loved, nerd

Have some 1 John!

[strangesickness]

losers playing ttrpgs... losers playing ttrpgs save me...

mike is running a multi-year homebrew ttrpg campaign that is basically just a combination of any rulebook the losers can get their hands on + anything they come up with. i know it to be true. the campaign started as a call of cuthulu campaign but it is now a terrifying mix of call of cuthulu, dungeons & dragons, and cyberpunk with elements from a dozen other games including star wars: the roleplaying game, warhammer, harnmaster and somehow alma mater(??? idk how. but i know this happened). richie was like. "mike man, i love you forever, you're great at this. but why don't i have magic powers?" and he pointed at ben's collection of d&d rulebooks he'd been browsing through and he sounded so earnest and excited that mike knew in that moment he was going to sacrifice the integrity of his cool mystery campaign so richie could cast vicious mockery (99% sure vicious mockery didn't exist yet... don't quote me on that but it doesn't matter because the idea of richie using it constantly is hilarious)

they've all been playing the same characters for years and they keep convincing mike to add more stuff so they're all like super powerful and mike keeps having to come up with more and more powerful enemies.

mike's dice collection is so so so cool he has so many dice, and whenever he introduces a new important character he goes out and gets dice that fit their theme and it is such a moneysink but it's worth it because ooooh pretty dice

after four occasions where the losers decided to adopt a random npc mike hadn't planned anything for, mike has started planning every single npc out down to the specifics of their childhood education. he has endless character sheets hanging out in his room with characters he's created that populate his game world.

okay hanbrough agenda time: bill is the most oblivious guy in the entire world. i know this. (he is the guy who looks at brokeback mountain and goes "what do you mean it was gay? why can't men be friends anymore?" this is based on that one passage at the beginning of the book where he goes on one of those "why can't the curtains just be blue because they're fucking blue" rants lol. he does not know what media literacy is. to me) and mike is. increasingly frustrated and feels like he's losing his mind. he is like head in hands because he asked bill to go to prom with him and bill was like "yeah sure man! sounds great, you're my bestie forever!", and he has no idea what to do, because how is this man this dense, so he just starts having all of his NPCs fall head over heels for bill's character and flirt like madmen. it is painful for everyone involved. except bill. who still has no idea what is going on. that is a very unfortunate month.

mike and ben hang out a lot and ben helps mike brainstorm for the campaign so ben has all this insider knowledge and mike will just look at him before something insane happens in the campaign. they'll like make eye contact and ben will be like holy shit holy shit holy shit :0 and mike just drops some insane new lore. it's very special to me.

[chirpsythismorning]

Mike being the OG protagonist + Will having some girl crushing on him almost every season, tells me everything I need to know...

[bumblingbabooshka]

Tuvok-B'Elanna dynamic at its core to me is Weird Girl on Playground vs Girl Who Walks Right Up To Her & Says "You're Weird." while everyone else just heavily implies it. Also, the reason Seven/B'Elanna works so well is their weirdgirl 2 weirdgirl communication Also 2) Seven is going THROUGH it with Janeway...Janeway is Seven's Popular Girl Friend who's sort of being condescending to you but also is genuinely trying to be nice and also there's a lesbian undertone to all your interactions as she tries to get you to submit to a makeover and that relationship will be with you forever and you'll never be able to fully say it was good or bad - yet it haunts you. Seven's relationship with B'Elanna is thinking "I hate her boyfriend so much I could treat her better" so hard that her head explodes. You know Tom did something at/before prom and Seven swooped in. You know this to be true. B'Elanna thinks Seven is so pretty and why would she even hang out with a loser like me? Why be a weirdo when you could just be popular Miss Perfect??? And they have this sort of antagonism but understanding of one another even as they keep pissing each other off and being annoying.

[spotsupstuff]

I like to think some of the scav kits that fish cares for have started to refer to him as metal dad when speaking to other scavs, which could be a funny revelation when he starts to pick up on scavenger language.

Also imagine a scav from a different tribe tries to eat one of fishes neurons and gets curb stomped by a bunch of the now adult scavs yelling "no eat metal dad!"

awgh gmsklmkdmklb the second he figures out the noise/motion meaning parental figure he's gon go into such "What." mode... unresponsive for an hour as he tries to figure out why's he a dad suddenly now (← emotionally idiotic man, bless his rarefaction cells)

oh but i LOVE the idea of them protecting him like that!!! Hell yes, he takes care of them n dang it they will repay the favor n that's That. they find a neuron outside of the can (stolen by some creature n then abandoned) and carefully gently collect it and bring it back home,,,

[emmagail-brainrot]

C: “So, does she have hella powers like Max does too?”

E: “Hm? Powers? No powers. Well. Maybe. She does have the power to get whatever she wants from me.”

—-

M: “Wowser, you did the cover art for this issue?”

A: “Yep! Turns out if you keep sending them your ideas in the mail and also emailing the lead artist enough times every week, your perseverance might pay off!”

[azol-otl]

Random Jason Hijinks I either wish would happen someday or find amusing to think about.

Rose and Jason break Eddie out of hell and steal his soul back from Neron. Jaime is dragged along by Rose because he and Eddie were “friends a few reboots ago”. Jason asked Roy who sent him Connor who is suffering™.

Pre-Red Hood Jason and Pre-Green Arrow Connor first meet up back when Jason was part of the All-Caste hunting a demon. It’s a one-shot adventure and the things you have to know are:  

a) this is before Jason’s growth spurt so he’s over a head shorter than Connor.

b) Connor isn’t a cape so excuse him for not understanding demons and fucking up hilariously a few times.

c) When Jason tries to kill the demon who is possessing the human, he and Connor fight about it. The fight ends when the demon explodes out of the person like the Pus of Man from Dark Souls 3.

d) Talia is the one who finds and picks up Jason from the adventure (Connor thinks she’s his mom and Jason just didn’t inherit the melanin) and is also the one who gives Connor contact information for Jason because she wants him to have some sort of friend.

e) They never actually learned the other’s name so anytime they’d hear about Red Hood or Green Arrow they literally don’t know it’s that guy they met as teenagers.

Jason decides to actually dust off his mystic training when Dick walks in and Jason gets hit with so many bad vibes he’s genuinely worried something is wrong with Dick.  

Jason: “Did they not fix the Brother Blood mind control thing fully? Did Raven miss something? Isn’t Dick friends with a million people? How have they all missed this????”

It ends with bringing Danny Chase back to life and the only person remotely happy about it is Jason and even that’s a stretch.

Rose, why are you part of the Wild Hunt?!!!

What do you mean Biz got taken by the fae?!

Roy, why is this werewolf saying he’s your husband?!

Eddie, why didn’t you tell me you were a prince of hell? What do you mean that one of Trigon’s sons is buried in Gotham?!!! No wait, you still haven’t told me how you’re a prince of hell!

Jason and Talia's road trip where Jason comes to the uncomfortable realization that he views Talia as a mother/aunt figure.

Bonus Artemis suffering Jason’s Mom Has it Going On.

Jason gets a new dog named Ellie and he loves her and Dog very much. What do you mean she’s a Blue Lantern!?

Ellie is short for Elpis and she’s absolutely Hope Corgi.

Roy finds out that he has a whole-ass checking account under one of his aliases that he never knew about. Turns out Jason created it for him years ago and Roy’s actually under W.E.  employed as an independent contractor and he’s been making 6 figures for years because Jason never bothered telling anyone that he still owns Wayne R&D.

Jason slowly but surely claims Park Row and the surrounding areas as his territory. It has the unforeseen consequence of magical folk moving into the neighborhood because Gotham is a nightmare to live in normally, Magic Gotham is even worse and the only people who can survive are big hitters like Blood, Zatanna, and Ivy or small fries like the kitchen witch near Leslie’s. Welcome to the big leagues, Jason.

Jason keeps getting mistaken for Jason Blood and it is annoying. One day some demon hunters threw something at Jason and did anyone know Jason used to be in heaven because he sure didn’t and these angel wings are a fucking nightmare.

Rose busts a gut laughing because she somehow became friends with the least demon-y demon Eddie and Jason as an angel.

Jason, Ivy, Sideways, and Impulse (Impulse voice: “Why am I even here?”) vs the Madness Wavelength in Arkham.

Jason kills Joker and finds out that he cannot. Not as in “He doesn’t die” or “There will be a new one” but a secret third option, “The universe literally resets the day every time he’s killed.” Instead of being a tragedy, it becomes a comedy as killing Joker slowly becomes Jason’s go-to when shit goes wrong/killing him is good stress relief. Stephanie discovers what happens because she’s had to write the same essay nine times once. Instead of being horrified they (and then Helena, Tim, Duke, etc.) make killing Joker a gag. The only ones not allowed to kill the Joker are Dick and Bruce because then the universe decides it’s the bad timeline instead of just resetting again.

Tim: *drops his latte on a hot guy and then embarrasses himself in public trying to apologize and becomes a meme.*

Tim: I guess I have to kill Joker now.

Jason and Kory remeeting and wow it’s really awkward that we only got close because of a universe meddler and then you dipped and never contacted me again even though I was a hundred percent serious that you were one of my first friends and are very important to me.

Oh no. Not the talking. Not communication! Kory take mercy on me and just drop me like a bad memory don’t have us open a dialogue where we reconcile all of the bullshit that happened to us and the fact that we did genuinely get close at very low points in our lives and be willing to try and be friends again!

Give! Kory! All! The! Friends! She doesn’t care if you think it’s a bad idea, it's her life!

Gotham Vigilante Tabletop Club (GVTC) featuring Jason, Tim, Stephanie, Duke, Helena, and Harper. They each get a turn as dm and every one of them brings in a different game.

Why is Damian’s friend (Colin) asking me for love advice? I’m a gay disaster ask anyone else please. ??? I guess I can try to help??? Who’s your crush?

It’s Lian and Jason regrets agreeing to help because Roy is going to murder him.

Countdown 2 Electric Boogaloo. Except for this time they were all shoved into the dimension separately and by separate events and there is no danger. It is just a multiversal road trip with the people who vexed you greatly but are slightly grown up now.

Bonus scene includes Jason’s gleeful face when he realizes he understands what all of those words Donna keeps muttering under her breath mean because Artemis was a bro and taught him Themysciran Greek.

[avocado-frog]

Happy STS. Okay, hear me out. Your story becomes a musical. *grandly presents you with the opportunity to turn this into literally whatever you want* (Who knows all the choreography? Who is pissed? Who somehow escapes singing?) (What scene has the best song? What your story's musical sound like? Does it being a musical make any sense at all?)

I am HEARING you out. happy sts

I'm not sure about the others, but all I know is Leo gets a very theatrical disney villain type song. They would still be very branch trolls or eugene fitzherbert tangled core. I am Not singing and you Can't make me (someone will) (jaxon most likely) (poor leo)

Jaxon is THRILLED. He sings wherever he goes anyways. He knows all the choreography. He makes everyone else join. Same with Sam and probably Lily

Logan and Cass are secretly really good singers in my head. I feel like they would both have a sort of lullaby song. something soft

Dylan gets out of it. "ohh sorry guys. i didn't realize it was a musical :| my bad you guys have fun though" Ryan also gets out of it. Elliot TRIES but he falls victim to Jaxon making him

[dont-offend-the-bees]

Obviously Trobed is the main love story of Community and is practically canon in one way or another and I adore it, but I must say on this rewatch I'm nursing a little flicker of a fond and curious spark about the possibilties of Jabed

[monster-noises]

I love second hand book shops, I got to them frequently and always leave with Something and have a good time just peakin around

But i gotta say

It's one of the Worst spots for me in terms of imposter syndrome

I feel like everyone's uneasey with my presence as though i'm a stranger who just stumbled into their inner sanctum and they're.. they're gunna let me stay but they're gunna be weirded out the whole time and breath a sigh of relief when the Strange Unwelcome Freak Leaves

It also happens at record shops and sometimes at small antique shops or cons+festivals

Just this immediate foreboding of being Angrily Tolerated in a Space I Don't Belong

[arolesbianism]

Breakcore may not be a super strictly defined genre but I swear ppl will call anything that has noises at all like y'know music has like just normal ass music from any other genre breakcore with a straight face and I just have to sit there and try to not reveal I'm a pretentious fuck when it comes to this stuff

[findusinaweek]

God, I'm so thankful for fellow Brasidas lovers.

[eclipsebyler]

Mike Wheeler and his love for D&D (ST Comics Thoughts + Long Analysis)

Note: The comics aren't written by the Duffer Bros themselves so we can't say they're fully canon. However, the D&D Issue comic is very canon to me. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it especially bcs it gave us a Mike POV and it's interesting that it makes so much sense for how he acts in the show. So, I made an unnecessarily dramatic analysis about it. Take it with a grain of salt.

—

Contrary to popular belief, Will Byers isn't the biggest nerd and lover of Dungeons & Dragons among the party. Mike Wheeler is.

In the comics, it's Mike (along with Lucas) who first discovered this fantasy board game in an isolated library. They excitedly talked about this with Will, who then shared their enthusiasm about the game and the three of them made it their goal to save up and trade books in exchange for the complete set of D&D. They met Dustin along the way because of it too, and the core four party was born.

(Look how cute they are. The party even helped in the final touches of Castle Byers in the comics.)

Among the four of them, it becomes clear that Mike is the most invested. He enjoyed being the Dungeon Master — learning about the game's mechanics and creating imaginative adventures for the party's campaigns (and we can see that in the show, too. It's the very first scene we get with the party being established as the dorky nerds: a game of D&D, and Mike as their enthusiastic DM. Mike even gets frustrated when Karen calls him up because their game got cut off.)

And considering how Mike's career goal is being a writer — it's easy to connect it with his love for world building in this game. A lot of his childhood traces back to his memories with the party and D&D. It's a comfort game to him.

However, that changes after the tragic night happened. After S1's Upside Down fiasco, he started harbouring negative feelings about it; worrying if it's still worth playing at all for numerous reasons.

For the party, especially for Mike — D&D isn't just a game. It became a way to navigate and decode the world around them.

Teamwork, bravery, and empathy are some of the values in-game that bled through the party's real life dynamics. It brought them closer together.

D&D empowered Mike to be a brave, courageous hero not just in game, but also in real life too. He became less scared and slowly learned to stand up to the bullies. To protect his friends in his own ways. To be the leader— someone who comes up with a plan and inspires the party into action. Just like he does as the Dungeon Master.

So for this same game that only held good memories to suddenly be replaced by the worst ones — ones that involve real supernatural monsters, his friends being put real danger, and an interdimensional world that turned their lives into a nightmare — it's easy to see why Mike starts despising it.

Most especially because the two week planned campaign of his, the one they played before Will bid him goodbye — it had all turned to reality.

The Demogorgon got Will. He vanished. He almost died. He lost his best friend.

And while they got Will back in their lives, a part of him died in the Upside Down. Mike knows and sees it, and it upsets him.

To some extent — Mike might have blamed himself for what happened. As the Dungeon Master who came up with the failed campaign that became a little too real; what if the next stories he writes lead to a traumatic real life experience again? What if he loses Will again? What if he wasn't really a good DM at all? What if they didn't play that night? What if he asked Will to stay? If only...

As much as Mike loves playing again, he feels like everyone doesn't want to anymore. This game isn't worth it, after everything that happened.

Because what is the point of playing adventures that spoke of bravery and heroes saving the day — when he couldn't do that in reality? It's stupid. Mike feels stupid.

And yet, he couldn't let go of it completely. If anything, these feelings pushed him to write a perfect next campaign for the party.

Maybe he just needed to fix their last failed session, to make things better. Maybe he could bring back the party together in their favorite game and lead them to victory. Somehow, he feels like the party's dynamics is at stake in this next game so he puts his all to it.

He hated how things were changing. He longed for things to be normal again.

He beat himself up over writing the best campaign story to the point Nancy had to check on him in the basement and tried to help him out despite not knowing about D&D. 

(One of my favorite moments in this issue. Nancy indulging Mike on his interests and comforting him? I need more of the Wheeler siblings in S5.)

What struck me the most was how much Mike cares about Will and how considerate he was in everything (even with his character in the game). He wanted Will the Wise to be the one to kill the monster and bring them victory. He needs him to win, unlike last time.

"He needs to be a hero, not a victim."

He wanted to create a special and perfect campaign for the party, but most especially for Will. This campaign is for Will.

Mike is scared of repeating the last failed campaign. He's scared of having to worry about their fantasy game turning into reality. He's scared of how everything changed after that night.

He wants to go back to the old times, before Will had gone missing. He wants the old, carefree and happy party back. He wants to have Will back.

“Dungeons & Dragons kept you guys together, Mike. Isn’t that worth celebrating?”

This game brought the party close together. But it’s also the same game that reminds Mike of bad memories: like his campaign that caused them to be separated to Will. He has mixed feelings about it.

Eventually, he finishes writing the campaign and plays it with the party. As a desired outcome, Will was able to kill the monster— the Thessalhydra, and wins this time.

It's the same campaign we saw the party playing at the end of S1. (And the last campaign we saw them playing as a party. The last we see of Mike as the Dungeon Master).

Their last D&D session was a special campaign he wrote especially for Will.

Considering all of Mike’s POV in the comics into the canon universe, it makes so much sense as to why he started drifting away and repressing his want to play it. Because just when things are getting back to normal again -- he loses Will again to the Upside Down in S2. To a creature that is reminiscent to one of D&D’s monsters again. The Mind Flayer.

He watched Will get haunted by the Upside Down and being stuck in two worlds. He watched him get possessed, slowly lose his memories and turn into a different person. He watched him thrash in pain and suffer to an almost death.  And add to that - El coming back, he finds out she’s still alive and he’d been lied to, only for her to leave again and Mike could only watch. 

He could only watch and hope that they are both still alive. And at the end of the day, Mike is still just a kid. It’s easy to feel hopeless, powerless, and for trauma and fear to consume him. It’s easy to see why his insecurity grows and for him to feel like he isn’t doing anything worthwhile for anyone.

And seeing as how Mike spent Season 3 focusing on his relationship with El instead, to impress the girl that has taken interest in him and doing the traditional heteronormative couple behaviors - it makes so much sense. This is Mike trying to grow up. Trying to do things differently rather than reverting back to the old habits like playing games -- especially a game that surrounds him with complicated feelings, no matter how much he loves it. Repressing his interests. 

“What did you think, really? We’re just gonna sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives?” 

This is definitely him projecting. This is what he wants but he’s trying to let it go. Him dismissing Will’s campaign because it’s scary to play D&D with the party again, especially with Will. He’d lost Will two times already.

But clearly, he hasn’t let go of his love for D&D just yet. He reacts when Will donates his book. He worries that Will wants to join another party. And when the Byers-Hopper moved to Lenora, he joined a D&D club in S4: The Hellfire. He enjoys playing again - in a larger party, and with another skilled Dungeon Master. This is the first time we see him as one of the players, and not a DM. He’s slowly going back to his old habits, but not quite fully. He’s still trying to be normal. He still wants to seem like he’s growing up. 

And weirdly, he only shows this repressed side of him to El and Will. The two people he keeps losing and gaining back. But evidently we see him doing this with Will the most.

He has no problem being a nerd with Lucas and Dustin and Max. He has never really shown El this side of him.

But why Will? Who has known him since he was a kid, who knows and accepts this side of him and yet he refuses to play with him again. Because of his trauma, probably. Or there's something more to it.

“We could just play D&D and Nintendo for the rest of our lives.”

“Yeah. Totally.”

The way Mike responds to this is as if he’s dismissing it. As if it’s an idea he didn’t want to do. And yet the next moment, we see his face lighting up with a huge smile when Will gives him a painting - a D&D painting - an imagery of his character in the game and Will telling him that he’s exactly just that in real life too. Everyone needs him. He’s their leader. He’s the heart. It’s Mike being reminded of who he truly is - of who he’s trying to repress within himself, and Will is telling him -- he is loved and worth it for just exactly who he is. And that means the world to Mike.

It's clear how much this speech meant to him because it's what pushes him to say I love you to El. (That godforsaken monologue which there's so much to unpack from. That's for another conversation.)

—

In conclusion to this long analysis of Mike Wheeler from both comics and the show — D&D is a big part of the party's lives but most especially Mike Wheeler's. And his mixed feelings about it mostly centers on one person: Will. The night Will vanished was the night everything went to hell, the night of Mike's campaign that turned to a hellish reality.

D&D reminds him of what he gained and what he lost time and time again. D&D reminds him of what he hates and what he loves. D&D reminds him of who he is and who he wants to be.

Mike Wheeler is a huge nerd. He badly wants to repress it for several reasons but he'll always fall back to where he's always meant to be. One day, he would be able to play games for the rest of his life without having to worry about losing someone again.

One day, he's going to truly have Will back in his life and he would stay with him, and then home will be the same again.