#although us bylers were fighting for our lives

[gayboybyerz]

I’m gonna be controversial for a second and just say that Eddie Munson was the worst thing to come to stranger things. That’s all.

[razmerry]

Drawtectives: Orc Lore... 2!!!!

My first Drawtectives orc lore post that I made 2 years got over 600 notes, and I always intended to compile one for the second season. I just needed to rewatch all of it first! This one includes more general information about the Drawtectives world than the first did, cause it’s really fun. 

Part 1

Episode 1:

- York has become a male model! Good job, king

- Extra world lore: Boogle, Bamerica (where engineers drive the train)

Episode 2:

- Common knowledge in the orc tribes is that the one thing you can’t fight is death - it gets you in the end

- “There’s always time for the east” - a classic Northern tribes quote

- Extra world lore: Pollywood, gredit cards, Zac Giraffe, Belp, Bi-Fi, Halloween is canon!

Episode 3:

- No one has ever reported back after confronting a wild train

- Reconfirmed: the roughly cuboid shape of wild cats, including tigers which have a Garfield-like appearance

- One of the only comics in the Northern tribe was Cashews by Barles Pört, featuring Sneppy 

- Things York can write: eat my butt, wow now thatsa potata, Sneppy

- York doesn’t talk about his #1 and #2 weirdest days: “too weird”

- York is “a very social creature” according to Rose; all he needs are friends and food

Episode 4:

- Confirmed for the third time: York is a math guy

- York is big enough that he has a high drink tolerance

Episode 5:

- The “Ren Faire Las Vegas” is a story in the Northern tribe told to children, about a magical place with heroes and knights and glitter; York hoped to see it someday

       - Which included the hero “Belvis Breseley” and his many disciples

       - Interestingly, the Benaissance appears to possibly be etymologically linked to this “Ren Faire”, when the famous turtle painter Michaelango lived

- A classic game from the Northern tribes called “Lift It”: where you have a heavy object and see if you can lift it

Episode 6:

- It takes York a few seconds to transform between “Fight Mode” and “Show Mode”

- More Cashews lore: the lead character is Barley Brown

- Another newspaper comic: Beefcliff, which is apparently spelled differently in other locations

- BC also exists: unclear if this is our world’s or simply a coincidence

- Wild trains enjoy bones: new, old, yours, doesn’t matter to the train

- It’s speculated that trains evolved from wild bikes, with some diverging evolutionary lines including trucks

- Wild trains have feline ears and tails; if the ears are in the alert position, the train has now targeted you

- “Life is a railroad, and I’m going to ride it ‘till my stop”: a line from the hit group Bascal Blatts

- An interesting thing to note: synthetic trains are built in the image of wild trains

- York lost 17 of his cousins to wild train attacks; so York has approximately 35 cousins according to him (and I trust his math)

- Wild trains have a “burning inferno” as well as a mouth-eye, and the tail can be used somewhat like a blade

- Stripes on the side of the wild train help it blend in with tallgrass environments

- Horse Pope: holy figure? Into gambling? Oversees soups?

- York: sometimes known as “The Terror of the Northern Tribes”

- York has a net worth of about 6 million bones in his bank, although it’s unclear what the exchange rate is to Bamerican dollars

Episode 7:

- Bibby Joey: creator of the famous song “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”

- BUNO!

- Eugino, a popular card game (Eugene-Oh?)

- I’m not writing down the rest of those board game puns

- The only game played in the Northern Tribes was “rock hit”, where you threw rocks at another rock in the air and see which rock survived; perhaps Lift It was more of a personal challenge

- There are no tables in the Northern Tribes

- Eugene’s favorite karaoke song is “I Need A Villain” by Donnie Byler, featured in Grek 2

Episode 8:

- York is the smart one, according to Rose: “he thinks the loudest”

- He’s also bad with faces and voices according to Rose; reconfirmed from S1E5

- I just really like that he was 100% convinced that Alm and All were different people

- Phone-bone, apparently

Episode 9:

- I enjoy the two-part confirmation that Northern Tribes orcs have southern accents

- “Joe Beans” is not a traditional orcish name

- Not everyone knows that the Northern Tribes have a monarchy

- “Orcish size” drinks are in a bucket, evidently they are literally sand buckets

- Jancy came to York’s first modeling show :,)

- York once tried to arm-wrestle a snake

- Wonderful film by Studio Jiggly: Ghosted Over There

Episode 10:

- No lore just solving the case!!

Episode 11:

- York’s favorite action hero is Ben Ception, who enters people’s dreams

- List of the months: Febicember, Smarch, Mapril, Junary, and Bachtober

- York’s powerful… stream gives him time to get his arms warmed up for a fight

- Another social media app; Binstagram

- “Lofty goals do lead to existential horrors” - daily quote by Rose

[vivelegalite]

im having what may be the worst week in my whole 20 years on this earth, so here's a few byler thoughts i commented on someone's post and thought deserved their own post!!! if i got some things wrong, sorry im extremely mentally drained and my wifi literally stopped working halfway through this <3 feel free to correct me or join me in my delusion in the comments/tags/asks/dms though!!!! i need a distraction desperately so don't hesitate to interact!!!!

without further ado, here it is:

why the "i told you, joyce has this telemarketer job. mike won't stop whining about it" line is definitely about will, as evidenced by literally what the show tells us.

it's not exactly clear when watching season 3 what el's status is with the us govt following its finale. she's searched for throughout seasons 1, 2 and 3, but it's clear she was discovered following her role in fighting the spider monster and stopping the soviets. it's assumed some sort of deal is made following the battle of starcourt, allowing el to live as a normal teenager after the byers family relocates to california — dr. owens is said to help them settle in lenora, in a house they most likely wouldn't be able to afford without help.

i've seen points made for both will and el being primary reasons for the byers family leaving. will, obviously traumatised by the upside down and thus the whole town of hawkins, most likely wouldn't stand to stay there much longer without his mental health deteriorating. el is very much the same — the lab, upside down, the mall where she lost her dad are still fresh in her mind.

however, we also later find out about an apparent divide between the government and hawkins national lab, namely dr. owens and brenner. we learn that el is indeed still a fugitive, and she is still actively being searched for by authorities. that's the real reason for the move.

we've finally arrived at our point — letters, calls, and how mike kept in touch with both el and will.

in seasons 1-4 we are shown numerous times that phones are not to be trusted, and that phone lines are not safe. we know the people who were initially wiretapping hopper's and joyce's phones are the same people who then helped them escape, but after season 3 (timeline wise) and season 4 (when we are shown), this changes. dr. owens and brenner are no longer working with the government, instead operating in secret, meaning the means of communication they used to once take advantage of is no longer viable for el.

although this is only speculation on my part, i would venture to say it's pretty obvious.

government taps phones, it's a thing they do —» can no longer trust government —» knowing they tap phones, you shouldn't use them anymore.

this, however, isn't speculation: el is never mentioned in association with calls, only letters. season 4 opens with a letter from el to mike being read out, when she and mike fight she pulls out a stack of letters to prove he can't write that he loves her, and finally, will's line at the rinkomania:

"you've called maybe a couple of times. it's been a year, mike. meanwhile el has like, a book of letters from you."

will thinks mike is no longer interested in whatever he has to say because mike only called a handful of times within the timespan of a year (actually closer to 8 months, but...). he also pairs that sentiment with the fact that mike does keep in touch with el, exchanging letters regularly.

letters, because of the phone lines not being secure, are an El Thing™. we can gather from this line that calls are a Will Thing™, or at least they used to be before joyce got that telemarketing job (the timeline of which is unclear, honestly, given how the last letter el sends to mike in march mentions the job as though it was a new development, which does nothing to explain why mike failed to stay in touch with will since october. but that's another can of worms we don't have time to unpack now. my bet is on internalised homophobia btw).

thus, the line about mike whining about joyce's job? he regrets not being able to talk to will.

bonus: why doesn't mike want to write will letters, too?

i'd bet on a mix of the fanfiction staple aka "i couldn't write because i would constantly pour too much heart onto paper and/or sign the letter as love, mike" and (arguably more plausible) mike finding will's voice comforting.

i mean, come on, their whole thing is being afraid of losing each other. season 1 and 2 are literally about mike losing will and trying to get him back, first physically then mentally. season 3 is mike losing will metaphorically, growing apart because of his actions. in season 4 they acknowledge this — will saying he'd prefer to rip off the bandaid if he were to lose mike, and mike recognising that he lost will because he worried too much about el.

i feel like after all of this, ESPECIALLY seasons 1 and 2, it would be comforting to mike to actually hear will and know that he's safe and sound. if your best friend disappears for days and his voice is the only thing giving you hope about him being alive, i think it's understandable to prefer being able to hear him when he's gone from sight.

i keep imagining season 1 mike calling out to will on the walkie talkie, and can't help but think letters simply wouldn't cut it for them.