#and I HAD to do one for Byler

[fluffyfangirl]

Byler Moodboard (including some shiny dice)

[http-byler]

pumpkin headed byler sketch :3

[fruitbythefoot7]

been wanting to draw The Painting since forever 👀

[wu-does-art]

bad day,

boyfriend comfortable,

[chirpsythismorning]

“Mike said his life started the day he found El in the woods, which was technically the following night. What he said had nothing to do with offending Will because he went missing the day before.”

[emblazons]

So (because I cannot go three seconds without noticing new little things that tell the wider story in this show):

Let’s talk about how the music that plays during the S3 Byler fight is the exact same music that plays during the S4 conversation Mike & Dustin have with Lucas as they walk to class after the pep rally—

—and how that parallel gives us insight not only into how Mike (and his devotion to Will) has evolved between seasons 3 and 4….but also how The Duffers are evolving Mike as a character in the wake of the "conflict" of forced conformity they introduced in S3.

To start: here are snippets of both scenes where “Not Kids Anymore” plays, both in Season 3 and Season 4.

Now, even though Mike is present in both scenes, it’s not entirely obvious why these things would be parallels, given the radical difference in tone. That said: when we look at these scenes in their wider contexts, we see that they are both exploring the exact same issue, only with Mike on opposite sides of the convo each time—

—namely, whether or not its worth it for Mike to embrace conformity, given that there are behaviors/roles he is meant to fill when trying to keep up with being normal/growing up...and "society" says that DnD / nerdiness (and a refusal / lack of desire to participate in performative relationships) stands entirely apart from that.

Let me see if I can explain.

First: these things are parallels because they are asking us to compare the Mikes in each situation—to notice how he took Will’s words to heart, and decided on some level that Will was right, not him. How do we know? Because in the time between these two convos (aka the rain fight and then the first few episodes of S4), we learn that Mike has made a point to address and rectify all criticisms Will had of him & his behavior during the rain fight.

As of the very first episode of S4, we are shown that Mike is 1) paying attention to both the party/DnD the way Will criticized him for not doing (to the point of calling out Lucas for not prioritizing it the way he now wants to)—

—2) he is focusing on keeping closeness with Dustin (even to the point of judging Lucas for not doing the same), because Will accused him of ignoring Dustin as readily as he ignored him—

—and 3) he has entirely stopped "swapping spit" with El (to the point of removing her from a hug at the airport, kissing her on the forehead...and then never kissing her again lmao) while letting his relationship fall apart without much of a fight…right before apologizing to Will for letting El get in the way of their time spent together in the first place.

Basically: even though he is still struggling in many ways to defend himself from being bullied/being an outcast by hiding behind his relationship with El (the same way Lucas is with “being popular” and basketball), we can see that Mike has made clear strides towards embracing the sides of him that aren’t conformist, which is reflected in all of his decision-making in Will's absence.

Though Mike is getting older and the party “aren’t kids anymore,” them paralleling these scenes is showing us that Mike, at least on some level, has realized that growing up is not at odds with embracing the things he enjoys & his various identities, whether that be through playing DnD—

—wearing clothes he chose on his own—

—or willingly choosing closeness with Will over the performance of relationships with girls (the same way Will already had in Season 3, and Dustin reflected as well).

Now...this isn't to say that he's entirely succeeded at the task, given how many times we see him fumble through actually implementing these changes/revelations in himself, whether with clothes (hello 'shitty knockoff'), embracing his actual interests, or even letting himself want to admit he wants to be with/around Will and not El—

—on top of the fact that I've already talked (many, many times) about how the journey of "feeling like you lost" the Duffers took us on had Mike ending up in a position where "conformity" temporarily wins, how that plays into his relationship with El versus Will, and why it matters for his character even outside of his queerness.

Still: I think this parallel in particular is important to understanding his character because it rules out any idea that Mike is somehow oblivious rather than intentionally working through to the changes happening in himself, whether they be in regards to him re-choosing DnD, making decisions about his clothing for himself...or wanting to be closer to Will / not participate in "liking girls," which is what he gets projection-mad at Will about during the rain fight.

tl;dr: Mike has realized on some level that he wants to be more like / closer to Will than his S3 "conformity" self—and the war we see on his face throughout the season in conversations with Will has a lot to do with that, among other things.

This musical parallel in particular draws attention to the fact that there have been changes happening within Mike that he sees and recognizes—he just "lost" like every other character this season, aka failed at walking into a more secure sense of self / out of his "conformist" relationship in its entirety...which we'll resolve in S5. :)

[katimanki]

Some Byler flirting on the Wheeler's roof for BylerDay 2023🥰

I made a speedpaint for this👀

I recorded about 3,5h of footage of the process. I didn't record everything(like the bg, the hands, fixing mike's face etc.) and I cut some parts where I was messing up a lot or was just being super slow. Very impressed with myself for getting this done so fast and also for once recording most of it. I usually don't even bother recording because I am so slow🙃 (speeding up the footage really fucked up the quality at the shading part but oh well)

[demadogs]

jonathan aint gonna fuckin die!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[apocalyptic-byler]

and if we get an emotional scene of mike cutting his hair right after he learns about eddies death then what

[rotisseries]

it's still wednesday where I'm at if your clock is 30 minutes off so here's my wip wednesday post for my day 1 @bylerween2023 fic!! ghosts my beloved

[bylertruther-moved]

is it just me or does anyone else think it would be more interesting if instead of following the same old tired and sad trope of “small town gay youth falls in love with his seemingly straight best friend during the eighties and ends up dejected and all alone” they flipped the script and gave them a win?

wouldn’t it be more interesting to take the audience’s tired expectations and flip them on their head?

wouldn’t it be more interesting to follow up on the fact that the only person that loves this “straight best friend” the way he needs and wants to be loved is indeed his gay best friend that’s conveniently been in love with him since the very beginning?

wouldn’t it be more interesting to show that the special relationship this “straight best friend” has with his gay best friend was special not only because they were besties but because his feelings were there, too, he just didn’t realize their nature?

wouldn’t it be more interesting to show that there’s a reason why the “straight best friend” effortlessly and naturally treats his best friend the exact way that his girlfriend begs him to treat her?

wouldn’t it be more interesting to finally face and name the reason why this “straight best friend” can maintain his friendships with everyone else while in a relationship except for his gay best friend who has had parallels with his girlfriend from the very beginning?

wouldn’t that be more interesting than ignoring all of the previous seasons and making milkyway, the one dysfunctional and dishonest ship on the show, endgame?

wouldn’t it be more in line with the stranger things shtick to continue to subvert these tropes as they’ve done from the very beginning?

why do people want this to be the one time that they actually fail to do that? like, i know why, but i want to hear them say it.

[fluffyfangirl]

[kocch]

bylerweek 5: matchmaking

will’s sister el and her girlfriend max decide it’s time for will to find someone new in his life... luckily, instagram can be a perfect place to find your soulmate! 

(click for better quality)

[bylertruther]

sorry, but i can't stop thinking about how enzo said "right, she saves your life because of friendship 🙄😏" to hop regarding joyce in the season that they're going through the same plot that mike went through in season one (where he's going to extremes to find will and stopping at nothing to save him, knowing all the while it could have killed him and his friends) and as lucas + max are going through the literal exact same plot as mike and will did in season two (where will is cursed/possessed by vecna and mike is at his side the entire way through, unwilling to let him go through this alone).

mike and will came out on the other side both times. mike didn't HAVE to go out, endanger himself, his friends, and his family to find will. he didn't HAVE to spend his every waking moment of that week desperately doing whatever it took to find will, even when others had given up hope. but he did it anyway. why? because of friendship? lucas and dustin are will's best friends, too. they joined the fight, they devoted themselves, too, but not like mike did. not even jonathan, who loves will more than anything, had that much unwavering hope and dedication. why?

in season two, mike didn't HAVE to glue himself to will's side and treat him in such an attentive and fiercely protective manner. he didn't HAVE to trail after will, attune himself to his each and every tell, or comfort him as much as he did. he didn't HAVE to go to will's house when he failed to go to school and strong-arm his way in when joyce tried to send him away. he didn't HAVE to stick by his side as it became clear that will was no longer just will, that there was an indescribable and otherworldly evil sitting within him, too. he didn't HAVE to stay at his bedside, both at home and at the laboratory, rousing from his sleep and immediately tending to will whenever he woke up. he didn't HAVE to follow them into the shed, where it was only them and this will that isn't will. he didn't HAVE to pour his heart out in front of everyone and set it in will's lap, pleading with him to please, please, please come back. no one forced him or prompted him to do this, as we've seen them do in seasons three and four, but he did it anyway; without hesitation and entirely earnest. lucas, dustin, and max all wanted to save will, too. they cared, of course they did, but not to the extent that mike did. mike was there from beginning to end and refused to be away from him until it was absolutely necessary. even then, he devised a plan to help, because of course he did. again, it was dangerous, risky, and there was no guarantee it would work. still, he did it anyway. why?

furthermore, when it comes to lucas and max going through the same plot that mike and will did, theirs failed to turn out the same way. mike is the only character on this show who has been able to pull someone out of a curse with just his voice. mike is the one that snapped will out of it whenever he used true sight. mike is the one that always finds him whenever he runs off, because he knows will better than anyone. it's after mike tells will that asking him to be his friend is the best thing he's ever done that will is seen communicating in morse code, having found his way to fight back and show that he's still there. mike has always seen will and understood him in a way that others don't. mike is the one that has repeatedly found vecna's weaknesses and devised plans to exploit them and hurt him, and had those plans actually work.

the show itself has painstakingly shown us from the very beginning that mike and will's relationship is different. it isn't like any other friendship or romantic relationship they have within the party. they show us the endless, unconditional, and unwavering devotion that mike has for will by putting them on these journeys that last entire seasons. they set the tone for the show and propel the plot forward.

those same journeys are then given to other characters that are in explicitly romantic relationships. many of the pivotal scenes for those relationships "coincidentally" happen to be frame-by-frame or direct dialogue parallels to previous byler scenes. yet... for whatever reason... the general audience seems to find the idea of byler to be impossible and nonsensical?

why is it that when joyce endangers her and her friend's lives and risks the very real possibility of not being able to go back home to her family to find hopper, it's seen as romantic, but when mike does it for will it's just friendship?

why is it that when hopper tells joyce that he just wants her to feel safe and does everything in his power to ensure that, it's considered romantic, but when mike tells will over and over that he won't let him get hurt and does the very same thing it's just friendship?

why is it that when hopper sleeps outside of joyce's house just in case she needs him and to not let her sit in this sorrow alone, it's considered romantic, but when mike sleeps on the floor beside will's bed after he learns of his possession and sleeps at his bedside at the lab after it's just friendship?

why is it that when nancy says she and jonathan are just friends that everyone understands they aren't, but when mike reiterates that he and will are friends, despite their conversation not being about romance at all, it's seen as something purely platonic, true, and not at all suspicious?

why would other romantic relationships on the show have frame-by-frame parallels in their undoubtedly romantic and pivotal scenes to previous mike and will scenes if byler isn't romantic?

why would they show us that mike is in a relationship where he is not understood or comfortable expressing his true self, and then have him tell will how it is that he needs to be loved and seen, only to then have will express that he does understand, see, and love mike in precisely the way that he needs and feels he does not deserve, if they are not romantic? why would they then have will reveal that mike's love for him is exactly what he needs, too, if not to show us that the love is there and it is real and that they're each other's true match?

why would they make mike himself finally state that his relationship with will is different from all of his others, that will is what makes home feel like home (and thus, by extension, is mike's home), that it's what makes life feel normal and right and easier, and that he wants it back, if it's all just friendship and nothing more? why is their relationship the one that he just can't lose? why is will the one person that he needs more than anyone?

why does he fight to keep this relationship in his life time and time and time again, each and every single season, but he is able to let eleven go every time? why does he abandon all respect for authority and whatever warnings people throw his way when it comes to saving will, but he is able to sit at home when it comes to eleven, his girlfriend? why does he intuitively understand what will needs from him and unashamedly provide it without will ever having to ask, but he cannot do the same for his other friends or his girlfriend? why does he allow himself to truly open up, talk, and be vulnerable and true with will, but not anyone else, not even his own family or his girlfriend? why is it always, always, always will... if it's just friendship?

why do we correctly assign romantic love and intention to the other heterosexual couples on the show, but when it's one boy loving another boy with everything he has and in every possible way that he can... suddenly that's just friendship?

i know that an overwhelming amount of people refuse to see their relationship as romantic because of homophobia and heteronormativity, but after a certain point... it just becomes ridiculous. inexplicable; an offensive bastardization and gross perversion of the original text.

byler is the blueprint. byler is the heart and light of the show. they're the original copy, the first to love and be loved. at this point, post-season four, if you fail to see that then that is a choice all of your own making. i'm tired of pretending like byler is built on subtext. it isn't. not anymore. not when m/f couples are doing the exact same thing that byler did first in precisely the same way. not when everything has been set up to show us what love and light can do, and which characters represent that love and light. not when the narrative is shoving it in your face for hours, reminding you with these characters' each and every action and inaction which other character it is that they love and choose. i'm over it.

byler is endgame. byler has been endgame. the love that they have for each other has never once lost; it has beaten the overwhelming odds each and every single time, a record which not all relationships can claim, and it will be what puts vecna in the ground for good and rids hawkins of all evil in season five. there is no other narrative but the one we've been given and to assume anything else is to purposely delude yourself tbh.

[chickentunasalad566]

st fans be like "that's such a reach 😂😂" and the reach in question is just "lighting and music in the show is done on purpose"

[chirpsythismorning]

Fun fact: In the original pitch for Stranger Things, El had a little brother.

After being rejected by almost 20 studios for the Montauk pilot, the Duffers were finally green-lit by Netflix. It was at this time that they began casting and then writing the first season officially, which included reworking a lot of that first episode.

This led to the removal of the brother reference, and with it, removing any sort of arc El could have had about her apparent brother.

But the thing about this moment, is that it might not have been scrapped entirely...

Going into the final season, no one can explain why or how El recognized Will back in 1x02. And while there are plenty of things on the show that are left unexplained, with a small portion likely left that way with the intention to uncover it later, what sets this moment apart from the rest is that there are very few possibilities here.

Because for starters, the story presents El's ability to see people in the void in s1 as requiring either a picture of that person for reference, or having met that person before.

But when El see's this picture of Will, she's never met him before. Or maybe she has, but we wouldn't know because they never showed us. They could have just not done this scene at all, given that it's clearly a copy/paste/edit of something scrapped from the pitch. Or they could have even still included it, but explained it.

One explanation could be that the lab had shown El a picture of Will before, similar to what they did with the Russian agent they wanted to spy on. But then that begs to question, why would the lab show El a picture of Will? Why would they want to see what he was doing? That alone is incriminating in and of itself, implying that Will is more connected to the lab than we realize.

The only other, and frankly most likely explanation, would be that El stumbled across Will at some point on her journey between escaping the lab and Will going missing. This is actually something that happens in The Other Side comic, which explores all the things Will may have experienced during his time in the Upside Down.

Though it’s worth noting the comics aren’t technically canon, and I highly doubt they would outright spoil everything in relation to Will’s time there, years before it was intended to be revealed. But still, let's humor this for a moment given that I do think Will's time in the UD is going to be very relevant in s5, which means it's highly likely they will finally address how exactly El saw him.

Basically, in the comic, Will see’s El walking through the woods, almost apparition like, glowing as she passes by, while also sporting the Benny’s burgers shirt. This means they would have crossed passed within a short span of time, between when El escaped Benny’s when the agents arrived, but before she was found by the boys.

Though it’s worth noting that we’re seeing this all from Will’s perspective. This means from the UD, Will was capable of seeing El on the other side, despite them being on different sides. And not only that, but she also looks back at him.

What confuses me about this, is that it doesn’t make sense for El to be in the woods, only to randomly decide to pop in to the void for a moment. She was trying to escape the lab and everything that came with it. I doubt she had any desire to lurk back there for some reason, not until someone encouraged her to. Not to mention, it would make no sense for her to go there and see Will if she wasn't even looking for him in the first place. And so this would mean Will and El could see each other, with Will being in the UD, and El being on the other side.

While it does seem pretty far off, given that you would think Will and El wouldn't be able to see each other from different sides, it is true in the story that El not only recognizes Will, but knows that he is in danger. She mentions that he is hiding specifically.

Which means she has likely seen him within the last 24 hours regardless.

This, in combination with Will being able to respond to El in the void at the end of the season in Castle Byers, when no one else outside of Terry and flayed-Billy have been able to, seems to imply that there is indeed something special about Will that makes him capable of communicating with El from the UD. Not only that, but El also seems to have an ability to be in this constant knowing state of how Will is doing, without even checking again to confirm. She's just certain of it. And she seems terrified about it.

Going forward, El never uses a picture of Will to find him. She never did. And more often than not, they don’t show us what she see’s either, not until the very end. And that’s the moment they reveal that he was able to communicate with her.

Again, there was really no reason to have El recognize Will. If anything it complicates things. But the fact that they chose to introduce this concept, with a scene from the original pitch that was related to El’s younger brother, with her pointing at his name cryptically, startling Benny, only to revamp it and have El not say anything at all while pointing at the picture of Will, startling Mike… It just really makes you stop and think.

Which brings me to the other aspect of this that might have people doubting, which is that El’s brother was originally younger than her.

We know Will is not younger than El, so how could this apply to him?

Well, it might be helpful to consider that in the original script, El was actually 10 years old, while the boys were always 12. Meaning that for some reason, they decided to age her up to the age of the boys, aka the same age as Will…

Ever since @erikiara80 shared this brother discovery with me, I have been sort of reeling. It then led to other little discoveries of changes they made between Montauk and Stranger Things.

It’s important to understand that the Montauk bible and the original script precedes what we ended up with in the final product, with it finally changing and evolving months, maybe even a year since that original vision. Even casting occurred before writing started for the first season. We know this because casting announcements were made in June and August of 2015, with writing not starting until August going into early 2016, simultaneously while they were filming.

And believe it or not, what I've discovered is that a lot of the changes they made between their original plans and what we see in the final product, have to do with not only Willel, but also Byler.

If you've read the original script for Montauk, you'll know that Mike's crush on Jennifer Hayes was focused on right from the jump, along with the birthmark on his face being focused on, which was the main cause of the bullying he experienced.

This has actually been talked about recently, and some of the claims people make do fit with what I am genuinely starting to consider here, which is that the initial plan for what makes Mike an outcast shifted.

I think when they completed casting, and started actually deep diving into what they wanted this world to look like, both from a short-term and long-term standpoint, they were presented with some pretty interesting discoveries, arguably already hiding in their initial plans without realizing it.

And this is where it sort of becomes a 'chicken or the egg' situation. Because which one came first? Byler or Willel?

I can't say for certain, because obviously this is all just speculation. But in the case that Willel came first, I think Byler would come very naturally after that.

The Duffers themselves are twins. Then they hire Noah, who is a twin. Then they're thinking and planning for El's past and how her family all fits into this, and they're thinking... wait a damn minute... We could totally Star Wars this bitch!

And then when they think it couldn't get any better, they uncover another layer that they hadn't planned or really considered in their initial plans.

While Will was always going to have sexual identity issues according to the Montauk bible, meaning that the writing process for him likely involved sitting down imagining scenarios that encapsulated this arc for Will from the beginning, they were simultaneously now finding very interesting aspects of Mike's character that made it hard not to at least consider the possiblity that Mike is not exactly straight.

Just think about it. The Byers and Wheelers are basically polar opposites on the spectrum of what a family looks like. While Will's discovery and acceptance of his queerness is interesting to explore because he comes from a low-income, single-mom household, all while having been bullied for years based on his perceived queerness, he also has a mother and brother constantly reinforcing that they will accept him no matter what. They've been sort of hitting us over the head with it for years, and so it wouldn't be very satisfying for his entire arc to merely lead up to something we've known all along. It's pretty much a given at this point.

On the other side of the spectrum, Mike comes from a more upper-middle class family at the end of a cul-de-sac, more aligned with what a nuclear family looks like. Mike's family is also presented as being more conservative, and while Karen does give that very queer-coded speech to Mike in s1 (I'm convinced they only wrote this after deciding to explore queer-coding more heavily with Mike), it also comes with comments from Ted and even still Karen that hint that they are probably not as open-minded and accepting as Will's family is to him. Which means Mike's arc would be a lot more about acceptance around him from his loved ones who we have been led to believe might not be as accepting of his queerness in contrast to Will.

And so as they're putting this story together, and they're being presented with something very interesting. Two similar experiences that play out in different ways because of the characters circumstances.

Will goes missing, and his twin sister with a buzzcut pops up and has the ability to help them find Will.

This leads to several moments where El is being compared to as not only a boy, but Will as well.

Now suddenly, their initial plans to have Mike's arc be about having a girl be interested in him and to hopefully have his first kiss and feel like less of a loser, starts to look a lot like what the experience a queer kid in his position might encounter growing up in the environment that he did.

And if you don't want to take my word for it, just hear the Duffer's themselves hinting at what they initially planned for Mike and the fact that it changed.

The changes don't stop there.

Believe it or not, 'It was a seven', did not exist in the initial pitch. When the boys went outside bickering over Nancy, they leave right after that.

Another thing that changed from the first script, was Scott Clarke's introduction:

And so you might be thinking, who cares? What does that have to do with anything?

Well, it's interesting because the line we end up with on the show is arguably one of the most on the nose Twelvegate proofs to date. Mind you, this is from the first episode:

Why chuck the original version, which was arguably more interesting and fascinating in terms of it hinting at the mysteriousness surrounding this story, only to replace it with him listing off tips about their upcoming test?

Well, I think it's the irony of it all. Here Mr. Clarke is practically telling us where to look to figure stuff out for ourselves what is going on, with all the kids filing out and ignoring him...

I relate to Scott a litttle too much in this shot here, any time I try to drop Willel evidence.

And the changes go on, as they obviously would.

Things like Terry Ives not even being El's mom, but actually a man who more so aligns with the characterization of Murray.

And one very interesting one I almost overlooked was in Hopper's introduction, where instead of a kids drawing done by who we assume to be Sarah, we actually see a picture on the wall of him and his wife and daughter... Interesting that they decided to switch it something that is a lot less definitive in presenting what Hopper's past looked like...

If you've made it this far, congratulations.

If you still think I'm out of my mind, just remember that El was going to have a brother in the original script, but they scrapped the scene and gave a near identical one to introduce her connection to Will instead 😘