#and the duffers are like 40 right?

[sunwarmed-ash]

idk maybe its just me

But everytime I see Dani and Max's interact in Hocus Pocus I also see Billy and Max.

[mothellie]

I think the Duffer Brothers' history with racism in their show goes a lot deeper than a lot of people realize.

Lucas as a character has three distinct B plot stories that get assigned to him: being a minor antagonist to Eleven in season one, being a good friend to the rest of the Party, and being in love with his girlfriend. While Mike's plot is directly centered around two of the most pivotal characters of the show, Dustin is given two different role model characters that shape his arc and is overall the genius that helps the rest of the cast get out of several difficult situations, Will still being connected to the Upside Down after his disappearance in 1983 and that playing into several major plots, Max having a multitude of centric storylines especially in season four and Eleven literally being THE main character- Lucas is only ever given plots that help serve and uplift the other (white) characters. Unless you count him... playing basketball and being friends with Jason. I guess?

Erica is similar to Lucas, but to a much larger degree. I'd like you reading this to think of any single Erica standalone plot in the show that has nothing to do with/does not predominantly or solely benefit the white characters around her. I'll wait.

The Sinclair parents are only touched on in brief sections for the sake of filling the episodes, only ever playing a more major role in Season Four. If you could call it that. I'm sure most of you couldn't even tell me their names off of the top of your heads. (It's Charles and Sue, by the way.)

Argyle was the first somewhat major character of color to be introduced to the show after Erica played her part in season three. I could say similar things about his role in the season overall that I can about Lucas and Erica. Except they set him up to play a bigger role in the next season at the end of season four, going as far as to show him in Hawkins and have Jancy verbally allude to him sticking around, only for the show heads to ghost Eduardo Franco and let him find out he wasn't being brought back through an official social media cast photo.

Kali was a former subject from the same lab El came from, having escaped and subsequently began to lead a vigilante life of enacting revenge on those who played a hand in her suffering. She was the first subject El ever met after leaving the lab, shown to be incredibly powerful and strong-willed. Her and El had an immediate connection, calling themselves sisters right after meeting. But after El was finished with her self-discovery period on the S.S. Kali Gang for one (1) often-forgotten and poorly-written episode, Kali was quite literally abandoned both in spirit and on screen, never to be seen or even mentioned again.

All other characters of color are either killed violently (Patrick), have like ten minutes of screentime total (Jeff and Calvin Powell), or are just straight up background only and may not even have names.

They can dedicate an entire section of season four's plot to Suzie's family, but not to genuine character development for Erica or for Kali to return. They can make room for a whole pointless predatory plot between Billy and Karen, but not to give a more important role to the Sinclair parents. They have room to include a whole plot about El getting bullied in school, but not for Lucas to have a more meaningful story outside of his white friends and girlfriend. They can platform three known white zionists while Palestine currently undergoes a gruesome genocide even as I type this, but they don't have room for Argyle in season five (or even the decency to give Eduardo a fucking phone call).

Not only do the Duffers constantly write themselves into holes because they keep adding unnecessary fodder to the plot, and refuse to kill ANY of their main characters in favor of just creating new characters for the sake of killing them off in mediocre ways despite the fact that they're trying to fit 20+ B plots into 8-9 40-50 minute episodes per season and wondering why half their show doesn't make sense- The time they DO dedicate to character-specific B plots and character arc progression visibly favor the white characters.

If I watch S5, and that's a huge if, I will be sailing the high seas. Between all of this, the fact that they filmed part of season four in an old Nazi prison and tried to turn it into a fucking AirBNB, and the fact that at least four people who play major roles in the show actively support the current genocide of Palestine- I won't be giving them (or Netflix for that matter) another cent of my money.

While you're here, please do your completely free daily click to send aid to Palestine, and here's a list of other resources for how to help more directly.

[ecoamerica]

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

[vivika-ka]

Antis that insist Karen making a move on Billy is okay because he flirted with her it’s concerning for a number of reasons, but what never fails to absolutely disgust me is their thought process.

Are we to assume that every person between the ages of, let’s say, 16-18 that are sexualizing themselves are essentially inviting 38-40 year old adults to have sex with them?

I don’t remember where I saw it but someone once mentioned, “Sexualizing children and teenagers is bad, including when they sexualize themselves.”

It’s not an invitation, for fuck’s sake. It’s not a girlboss moment for a 38-40 year old to want to have sex with a 17-18 year old. She knew Billy was Nancy’s age, we have it right there on season 2. And antis are ok with ignoring that because *checks paper* right, Ted Wheeler is a lackluster and uncaring husband. Maybe get a divorce? (and don’t give me, “it was the 80s excuse,” the 80s had record shattering divorce rates). Maybe sit down with your husband and have a conversation? Maybe look for someone your own god damn age?

As an adult, and yes, as a mother (I’m pulling this card, idc) Karen should’ve turned him down the moment he made an advance on season 2. Maybe sit him down and explain that people her age shouldn’t be accepting sex from a teenager. Perhaps for once act like the mother of a “nuclear family” she pretends to be.

[Also, fuck the Duffers for portraying that as hot]

And the fact that we have to clarify why Karen Wheeler accepting Billy’s advances in plain 2022, with all the bullshit purity culture happening, is beyond me.

[chirpsythismorning]

Today is Day 185: What This Line Means for El's Letter to Mike at the Start of Season 4

I know a lot of fans are convinced that the Duffers are careless since they 'forgot' Will's birthday. But I assure you… they’re not.

There's zero doubt in my mind that the writers have a calendar which they refer to religiously, especially when making decisions about the timeline for the story. 

Literally every season starts with a date to establish the setting. Do we think they just settle on a date, without referring to any sort of notes?

There’s a basic responsibility there, at the very least, to be aware of what the characters would be doing at that moment in time, based on what generally happens during that time of year. This would require research beyond just picking a date and slapping it on the first episode of the season. 

Is it Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter? What events are likely to take place during that time of year and how do they plan the expectations of the setting around the characters and the story itself? That's all intentional and well thought out. There’s a reason every season is surrounding some sort of holiday/event at some point, and it’s because time is very very important in the world of Stranger Things.

Think about the various times they’ve had characters literally countdown events?

Mike with El in s2? El with Mike in s4? Suzie when referring to Dustin’s birthday in s4? They wouldn’t throw out lines like that if they didn’t do the math at least once themselves.

The ‘353 days’ line is one perfect example of the Duffer’s proving to us that they have access to calendars, calculators or even simply, google.

Look at that! It appears when Mike used the walkie to call El on Halloween of 1984 (October 31st) in s2, it had indeed been 353 days!

What makes this detail so so so so so fucking important, is that this might hold the answer to the murkiness of the s3 ending going into s4.

Because as of now, we don't really know when s3 ended exactly.

But the similarities of s3's ending to previous seasons, might help us figure out that answer...

Every season ends with a vague timestamp for the literal ending; the epilogue. They only offer up the date at the start of the season, but when it comes to the ending, they never do. It's always months or days if we're lucky.

For s1-2 we got a vague 'one month later', for s3 we got an even more vague 'three months later' and for s4 we surprisingly got something more specific, with 'two days later'.

I think the reasoning for this seems complicated, but it's fairly simple.

While it is quite commonplace to give exact dates at the start of stories, to set the scene and everything, there's this agreed upon understanding in film and even books arguably, that also providing an exact date for the epilogue feels a little cheap? Or maybe a bit too 'handholdy' is a better word? I could see that being something an amateur would do without realizing it looks tacky.

I also think it allows the writers to be more vague in what exactly the date is for the end, according to the audience at least. Because they 100% know what the date is on their end, but that doesn't mean they have to reveal it to us.

We don't know when s3 ends exactly. We know that the battle at Starcourt ended on July 4th-5th (respectively). Though we also know that based on s1's timeline, Mike's countdown considered El's death to be the morning of November 13th, and so we can presume perhaps that s3 technically ended on July 5th.

And so the s3 epilogue being 'three months later' would bring us to October 5th, 1985 right?

Well, not exactly.

You see, when the Duffers give us their vague epilogue scenes, they're not saying that it's exactly one month or three months later, to the exact day. They're being intentionally vague.

Season 1 ending says one month later, but it's actually been 25 days.

Season 2 ending says one month later, but it's actually been 40 days.

Season 3 ending says three months later, but it's actually been... well we don't fucking know!!!

BUT I don't think it really matters, because if the Duffer's made an effort to do the math correctly for their 353 days line in s2, then it's probably safe to assume they'd do math for their 185 days line in s4 as well? And to also give us the answer to that question somewhere in the show already, as opposed to throwing out some random date seasons later?

Otherwise why have countdowns like that at all? It literally makes no sense for them to give us an exact number, like 353 or 185, without checking that the days match up with the exact countdown they're giving us.

I'm just one fan, and it only took me maybe 3 google searches to figure this out in a matter of seconds. They are however literal experts in their profession, and for that reason I do feel comfortable giving them some credit here.

So now, let's try to apply this logic then to s3.

Perhaps it's safe to assume that El's countdown didn't start when the Byers moved to Cali in the s3 epilogue, just like Mike's countdown didn't start at the end of the s1 epilogue either.

It's believed that the Byers, but El specifically, had to go into hiding after the battle at Starcourt. And so, could this mean that El's countdown started on July 5th?

The day that Hopper died? The day she lost her powers? The day she had to go into hiding and probably couldn't properly communicate with Mike for about three months?

Honestly, I think it would make a lot more sense to have their countdown's (Mike's 353 vs. El's 185) parallel in how they started.

And it would be weird to restart that countdown simply because they reunited for one afternoon to move, again because there was obviously so much significance to everything that happened on July 5th, that it does make sense to me that El's countdown would have started there.

Also, I want to be thorough by mentioning that, the main reason we can easily rule out the Byers move date being the start of El's countdown, is that it doesn't add up whatsoever.

El saying it has been 185 days since the Byers moved, would mean she was writing the letter on April 7th, 1986, which is impossible. (Also Mike's birthday, which is hilariously ironic).

Even if we spread out that three month window, we still have to take into account that if it was closer to two months or four months, they would've just said that instead. So either the Byers moved on October 4th, or sometime between September 5th at the earliest and November 5th at the latest.

And so where do we go from here? 

Basically, from what we understand in canon on the show, there isn’t much to go off of besides that. And I think that’s the intention.

Over the seasons, the obscurity of the time jump between the epilogues has allowed for them to say obscure comments between seasons, such as, Yeah for like a month (Jonathan in s2) and It’s been a year, Mike (Will in s4) and so they obviously like this appeal of the audience not knowing for certain. But that doesn’t mean they don’t know for certain.

I would argue they have to know for certain, and have very likely done the math at least once or twice or ten times, especially because as I mentioned, there would be no reason to have characters countdown to the exact day, on multiple occasions, if the creators/writers or literally anyone involved with the show wasn't checking to make sure those numbers added up correctly.

And so, based on all of that, I think that El started counting down from the day they separated, just like the previous season, which would’ve been July 4th-5th (respectfully).

And so 185 days after July 4th-5th, 1985, would be January 5th-6th, 1986. 

Just work with me here. Because while there are several things that could work against this theory, I think those things could have intentionally been there to trick the audience into thinking this letter was written very close to spring break, even though the math for that doesn't add up. And so lets look at some of the details that might be telling us this letter isn't as recent as we're being lead to believe.

The main detail I want to mention, is that major projects like the one El describes in her letter, requiring a visual aid, is more likely to be assigned at the start of the trimester.

If you don’t live in the United States, or are unfamiliar, basically how it tends to work for most high schools is the school year get’s split into 3 trimesters. The 1st trimester goes from September-December, the second goes from January-March, and the third goes from March-June. It varies depending on the city/county/state. Though it may not seem very equal, it goes like this to accommodate the major holidays with extensive breaks. The first trimester has Thanksgiving then a brief return to school, followed by Christmas/New years. The 2nd trimester starts right after New Years, and ends with Spring break. Then once you return afterward Spring break, that’s the start of the 3rd trimester. It evens out to each trimester being about 3 months.

I think El would've mentioned this assignment to Mike closer to when it was assigned and not right before she was turning it in. And the reasoning for this is kind of obvious but understandably overlooked.

While most kids would probably not think about working on a project like this until the last minute, because most of us are expert procrastinators after almost a decade in school, El however is completely new to this experience. And so I imagine the moment she heard about this assignment, she was just like 'best get to it!!'! We even see her still working on it after the project was already graded because the significance of it was clearly important to her. And so if her and Mike were writing somewhat consistently as it appears, then this would have been mentioned a lot sooner than her most recent letter to him.

And when it comes to the rest of the letter, there are several clues that could also support this theory that it wasn't written as close to spring break as we're being lead to assume.

Like the mention of Joyce's new telemarketer job. It wouldn't really make sense for her job to have been like super new, within the last week from March 22nd, especially if it's intended to be this sort of deterrent for Mike getting ahold of Will on the Byers phone presumably since the move.

Also Jonathan's car, is looked like it had been deserted there for a long time, not a matter of days or weeks, but possibly months (since early winter)... And so Argyle driving them to school wasn't something that happened within the last week worth mentioning to Mike right before their reunion in her most recent letter, but most likely another detail she mentioned as an update, since Jonathan's car is being referred to as still broken.

Even separate from the letter, I wondered if there was evidence somewhere else that they could sneakily be trying to hint to us that this is actually being written early in the Winter trimester and not the very end. Then it hit me.

The lyrics in the background...

Although, there are some things that contradict this theory, again I think those details were put there for the sake of tricking us.

Like just think about it, if this was El's most recent letter, wouldn't it make more sense for her to mention both the countdown for when they last saw each other, and how many days until they'd be seeing each other if it was really that close? Unless of course that number of days until their reunion was still too high at the time for her to hype it up, assuming she was writing this letter, perhaps 1-2 months out?...

I also do think that it's likely Mike and El are quite active in their writing back and forth. After all, Will said El had like a book of letters from Mike, so they want us to think that they wrote a decent amount.

I'm guessing the conversation was casual and broad for this letter specifically, because El is still new at writing/reading obviously and because this letter was also being used to update the audience about the characters whereabouts since we last saw them.

This might not seem that groundbreaking, but what this theory boils down to, is that s4 opened with an old letter, not a recent one. It means Mike was reading a letter, possibly from as early as January, 2 months previous to present. This would mean Mike presumably had other, more recent letters available to him to look at, with countdowns like 20 days and 10 days or 5 days, with El gushing even more intensely over the fact that they're closer and closer to finally reuniting.

And yet Mike was fixating on this letter specifically the morning before their reunion, AN OLD LETTER!!

But why?

Let's again look at the vibe of El's letter. If you look really close, it comes off like a response to a questionnaire.

I've always said that although El's lied a lot in her entire letter to Mike, there's a reason they never let us see a letter from Mike to El, and it's because he probably wouldn't have faired much better.

I don't even think it's actually that Mike would've lied necessarily, as much as I think it was mostly a lie of omission situation.

He showed up in Cali as his inauthentic self, and so it wouldn't make sense for him to have given El updates on Hellfire in his letters, which was pretty much all he focused on back in Hawkins from what it looked like.

And so I think the letter he wrote, which El was responding to in that specific letter, was Mike focusing on asking her questions about how she was doing and how the Byers were doing. It's also probably the last time he asked about the others because of one specific detail he got that time, which he's been fixating on ever since... (you know the one...)

Regardless, Mike was reading an old letter, which makes the implications of this (and this)... astounding.

[thegayhimbo]

Stranger Things Rewatch: "The Vanishing of Will Byers" (Part 1 of 2)

Disclaimer: This is NOT a traditional review/analysis, but a collection of observations, brief commentary, favorite moments, and so on that I'm noting as I go through these episodes. All of these are just my opinions and/or theories, and can be subjected to change as the rewatch continues.

Observations:

Happy Stranger Things Day! :) As of today, this took place 40 years ago.

Love how reminiscent this opening scene is to the climax of Ridley Scott's Alien when Ellen Ripley is escaping the USCSS Nostromo as the alarms go off. I wouldn't be surprised if this homage turned out to be intentional on the Duffer Brother's part:

When we're introduced to Mike's campaign, The Party is in the middle of being attacked by an army of Troglodytes. This is the image I found when I looked them up:

It's probably just a fun D&D moment, but since the Duffer Brothers have named a lot of their monsters (Demogorgon, Mind Flayer, Vecna) after D&D creatures, it makes me wonder if there's some kind of animal like a troglodyte in the Upside Down. It's unlikely we've seen all the monsters from that dimension, and they might introduce new ones in S5 that the Party hasn't encountered yet and will inevitably fight.

They do a good job with the establishing character moments for both Dustin and Lucas in Mike's D&D campaign: Dustin telling Will to use caution and cast a protective spell while Lucas insists Will fireballs the Demogorgon while he has the chance. Lucas's strategy is to go on the offense while Dustin's is to go on the defense. Specifically with Lucas, he uses that strategy in other situations he's in: Like when Lucas kicks Billy in the groin in S2 after being pinned to the wall by him, or gets an axe to chop at the Meat Flayer's tendril to save El in S3, or even how Lucas is the one who later convinces everyone to take the fireworks from the store to use as ammunition (which helps turn the tide at the Battle of Starcourt). By contrast, Dustin prioritizes the safety of the Party, from pointing out to Mike and Lucas that they might be walking into the same danger Will encountered when they later look for him in the woods, to telling Mike NOT to jump off a cliff when Troy threatens Dustin, to enlisting Steve's help in S2 because he knows Steve will be able to protect them due to his size and skill with the bat, to rescuing Steve and Robin from the Russians in S3.

This isn't to say that Lucas is wrong and Dustin is right, or even that Dustin is wrong and Lucas is right. It's merely noting they have opposite approaches. Each situation they encounter is different, and sometimes (just like with Will's dice role) it's really up to chance.

Also (as noted later in the episode by Mike), Will took Lucas's advice and used fireball as a means of protecting the Party instead of trying to save himself. He puts other people's safety before his own. The comic book "The Other Side" (which focuses on Will's perspective during the events of S1 while trapped in the UD) expands on this aspect of his personality by including several moments of him coming to the aid of others (including Nancy) while in the UD, despite knowing it would put him in danger.

Also, regardless of Lucas insisting the role doesn't count because Mike didn't see it, Will still chooses to be honest with Mike. He knows there are situations you can't cheat your way out of, or pretend didn't happen (as he's about to find out with the real Demogorgon).

The lights flash at Mike's house just as Will leaves. I'm assuming Vecna and the Demogorgon he was controlling were already beginning to track Will's movements here.

I've talked about this before in my review of "The Other Side" (and I know for a fact I'm not the only fan who's speculated on this), but I don't buy that Will's kidnapping by the Demogorgon was random. Given the revelations in S4, I'm inclined to believe Vecna deliberately targeted Will and used the Demogrogon under his control to bring Will alive to the Upside Down. I also would argue it was Vecna who used telekinesis to unlock the door to Will's house:

I know several episodes from now, Jonathan talks to Nancy about how his dad took him hunting when he was 10 and forced him to kill a rabbit, so I'm assuming Lonnie also taught Will about loading and shooting a gun. It's possible Jonathan could have, but considering how traumatized he was over what his dad made him do, IDK if I see Jonathan teaching Will how to use a gun.

I've said this before, but I don't buy Vecna wanted Will to just impregnate him with the larva's that would grow into future Demodogs/Demogorgons. He could have easily used the Demogorgon to kidnap other residents of Hawkins for that purpose if he wanted to. He didn't need Will specifically for that.

Still one of my favorite openings for any TV show I've seen:

I missed the drawing Sara did of her family the first time I saw this. Nice foreshadowing about Hopper's past life!

To this day, I still don't understand why Troy and James got their own graphic novel. Out of all the side characters they could have focused on, why did they choose these two? Was there some kind of demand from the fandom to bring them back that I'm unaware of?

I know Caleb McLaughlin gave an interview after season 4 aired where he expressed frustration over how certain fans have been dismissive of any racial trauma Lucas has gone through, and this goes all the way back to season 1. Both Troy and James's bullying of Lucas was racially motivated, and the graphic novel Zombie Boys also highlights this:

On a related note, Troy and James making fun of Dustin for having cleidocranial dysplasia is disgusting.

I've seen this discussion before in the fandom about Barb's attitude towards Nancy dating Steve, and this idea that Barb was jealous of the idea of Nancy possibly becoming popular, which.................is not an interpretation I've ever understood. I never once took Barb to be some kind of social climber. When she's talking with Nancy in her first scene, she sounds genuinely excited for Nancy about Steve calling her, as well as cheekily acknowledging that both Nancy and Steve are into each other.

On top of that, Barb knows Nancy well enough that she wouldn't discard her as a friend, even if she became popular. The way she talks with Nancy in this scene, she doesn't seem worried or upset with her. If anything, Barb is amused during this conversation (including when she sees the note Steve left for Nancy in her locker). There's also the way they both talk about Tommy and Carol, indicating they both have low opinions of them, and that Barb is aware that Nancy doesn't like them and isn't going to abandon her for them.

@will80sbyers pointed this out in a recent post, and I thought I'd note it here since it's a good observation: The first scene we see of Steve and Nancy's relationship is in a restroom..........and their breakup in S2 happens in a restroom as well. That's how things come full-circle for these two:

It's notable that the two times Steve and Nancy meet in this episode, it's in an area that's supposed to be private (the school restroom, Nancy's bedroom) but there's always the risk of someone (a high school student/teacher, Nancy's parents) walking in on them while they're making out (not that Steve seems to care). Both times involve Nancy interrupting to tell Steve she needs to study for a test, and while Steve initially tries to make it all fun-and-games between them, he eventually concedes when he realizes she's serious about her schoolwork and agrees to help her.

This still remains one of my favorite quotes from the show (and is literally what weekday mornings are like for me before I have to clock in for work):

This has been pointed out by others, but there's an interesting parallel between Joyce calling Will "sensitive" vs. Victor Creel calling his son Henry "sensitive."

Notably, when Joyce talks about Will being sensitive, it has more to do with him being aware of other people's feelings, as well as the way other people look at him and judge him. Meanwhile, I'm skeptical of that being the case with Henry. Maybe Victor thought Henry was sensitive because of his inability to "fit in" with the other kids (as well as being labeled "broken" by teachers and doctors), but considering how insulted Henry is at the idea that he was broken, as well as how he didn't care about torturing and killing animals before murdering his mom and sister in cold-blood (and letting his dad take the blame for it), I doubt Henry gave a damn about what others thought of him. His behavior indicates he doesn't feel empathy for anyone the same way Will does. Henry's "sensitivity" likely had more to do with the abilities he had locked inside of him, or even possibly being able to feel the presence of the Upside Down before he was banished there by El 20 years later. Maybe they'll expand on this in "The First Shadow" when it comes out.

They foreshadowed pretty early on that Will was secretly gay. I remember this was discussed by fans way back when season 1 first came out.

Yes Hopper, he is.

There's a dark irony in how Hopper's been working as Chief of Hawkins for 4 years, and claims that nothing awful has happened during his tenure. 4 years ago would have been in 1979, the same year Henry/One/Vecna slaughtered the special kids (and most of the staff) at the lab before El banished him to the Upside Down. I know Hopper wasn't aware of any of this when it happened, and none of that was his fault or responsibility, but still.........

Something I always found frustrating with the show (and even supplementary materials) is they never really explain how the chain-of-command works when it comes to government officials on this show. They establish Dr. Brenner as the head of Hawkins Lab (and later that role gets transferred to Dr. Owens in S2), but they never truly say which higher-ups Brenner answers to. Then there's the introduction of Colonel Sullivan in S4 (despite him never being hinted at or mentioned in the previous 3 seasons): Judging by the conversations he has with Dr. Owens, as well as how Dr. Owens got fired for the Russian infiltration of Hawkins in S3, I assumed Sullivan was Owen's superior. Does that mean that Brenner also answered to Sullivan during this time? Or was Sullivan just part of a different faction of the government (i.e. the same faction Ellen Stinson warns Mike about in S4) who was opposed to what Brenner was doing from the beginning, and only recently got involved?

In any case, I'm assuming the men pictured above who are meeting with Brenner are either government agents sent to investigate the opening of the gate, or Brenner's superiors who want to know what happened the previous night.

I wonder if there will be a twist in S5 that Upside Down itself is one whole Lovecraftian-like monster, and stuff like the Demogorgons and other creatures are just extensions of it. Just the way that gate breathes, and how it looks like you're traveling through someone's insides.............

I missed Scott Clarke in S4, and I hope he comes back for S5 to give more scientific advice to the main characters (assuming he didn't leave Hawkins). Who knows? It may prove helpful against the upcoming fight against Vecna.

Since Stranger Things loves referencing Lord of the Rings (and The Hobbit), with the show even drawing parallels to the books (like the Upside Down being similar to Mordor, or even Hopper's fake death in S3 and return in S4 having similarities to Gandalf's apparent death in Moria and his later return), I am looking at the books as one possible blueprint to predict how Season 5 will go. That's just me though.

Also, Will disappearing near Mirkwood, which in The Hobbit is where Bilbo encounters the spiders that try to eat him and his companions, and Vecna has a creepy obsession with spiders and shaped the Mind Flayer into a spider, and the Mind Flayer later attacks Will..................

I'm sure there's somewhere I'm trying to go with this, but I can't articulate it in a way that makes sense.

SIDE NOTE: This particular scene with Dustin and Lucas fighting while Mike sits in the middle looking irritated is hilarious. 😂

Come to think of it, this scene is a perfect representation of the dynamic the kids have this episode: Dustin and Lucas argue (whether it's over D&D strategies, how to find Will, etc) and Mike is caught in the middle. This changes later once El is introduced where it's Mike and Lucas fighting, and Dustin is trying to act as the peacemaker.

To be continued in Part 2..........

[mylesimeblr]

Actually, what I feel now is anger, not because Byler isn't canon (not when it went that far...) But because they played us for fools, using the most cruel marketing I have ever seen in a very long time. I'm angry at Netflix and the cast for doing this. The LGBT community didn't need that.

My husband watched me go crazy on my own and just said: "Did you truly believe your Mike and Will would ever be real? This is a mainstream show for a mainstream audience. They would've never done that. No one would have seen it coming because there was nothing to see."

And I hate to say that, but he's right. The Milevens were right (yes, Milevens, rejoice, your ship is canon, we were delusional, you won.)

And so, I would like to officially thank the Duffers, Noah, Finn, Netflix, everyone involved in this wonderful joke they played on us during Pride Month.

Thank you for reminding me why growing up queer was so lonely, miserable, depressing and led me to try and commit suicide many times.

Thank you for reminding me that gay people never find happiness.

Thank you for reminding me why my gay and lesbian best friends have so much trouble finding someone and are still single and lonely at 30.

Thank you for reminding me why one of my Muslim gay friend who will turn 40 this year will never come out to his Muslim parents and still pretends to be someone they're not to their dad.

Thank you for reminding me why statistically speaking a majority of bisexual people will end up in straight marriages (like I did in the end) because finding someone of the same sex is just so much harder.

Thank you for reminding us that most of our crushes will end up being straight and that hetero love is the only valid one.

I really wanted to believe that for once we would have two people loving each other even if it's two boys in a non LGBT show because it would have made so much sense and it would have had such an amazing impact on the normalization of people in love regarding gender. But I guess not. So thank you for this much needed reality check. Now we're really gonna be the joke of the fandom.

Signed, the clowns.

[lumaxramblings]

Love your takes on the fruity four/st*ddie/ronance constantly being treated as nothing but “emotional support lesbians” bc that’s exactly how I feel, it was fun at first and then everything had to included st*ddie. Like on fan art of Steve & Robin & Nancy or Argyle & Jonathan & Robin & Nancy & Steve I’ll literally see people in the comments asking where Eddie is (which is SO damn rude, this ain’t the fruity four it’s the Alive Five), plus fan art tagged as fruity four when it’s only st*ddie and Robin. And if I’ve said this once I’ll say it a thousand times, but I’d Steve and Eddie had both been women in the show they’d have like 1000 fics max and they’d only be a main pairing in about 40% and of those 40%, half of them would be those “50/50” (it’s never actually 50/50) ronance/st*ddie fics. Anyways, sorry to just dump all this in your inbox, I just want to tell you that you’re right lol

nonono don't apologize this is all true and great!!! i completely agree

i was literally telling my mum about it earlier and said, "if steve and eddie had been girls and robin and nancy had been boys no-one would ship steddie and everyone would ship ronance" bc it's true. how fucking big the steddie fandom is is proof that you don't need actually need any chemistry, just put two conventionally attractive white men together and bada bing bada boom, you have a ship that overshadows everything else

also steddies have LITERALLY made me not care about eddie and think he's annoying. like eddie only had 42 minutes of screen time (i looked it up) and argyle definitely had more than that (the whole cali arc) and yet there's very few people that care about argyle. and sure, some of that is thanks to the duffers (who made him little more than a stereotype, just like they did with erica), yet if jquinn had played argyle and viceversa...

what annoys me the most, probably, outside of all that's already been mentioned, is how they act like he's 100% besties with nancy, robin and steve. when... hello??? have you watched the show??? the only reason they're even talking to him is because he got accused of murder when the actual culprit was the alternate dimension they've been fighting for the last three years. eddie's only friend in the group is dustin. that's it. he's not besties with robin, nancy, or steve. yet people really act like he's #Besties with them??? like girl. no. get out

[quinnick]

The end of the year is near! Give a shoutout to your favorite blogs and tag them to spread positivity before the year ends! (from: a secret anon)

Okay, here goes nothing. Sorry if I miss anyone because I am speed running this with 28 minutes exactly until 2023 !!!

Without further a-do (yes? no? yes? no?), in no particular order, my list

@kidovna - just like... They make art on a different level. I love all their art and may have felt super cool when they followed me back. I love all her art an unrealistic amount and just follow for some cool art and a nice person <3

@nnilkyway - Like, he's just so cool and sweet and truly has a unique art style. I think all their art is super squishable. (Sorry, I want to pick it up and squish it all that one gif of someone petting a cat). I love seeing his art so much and also, every time I see one of their outfits I get a little jealous honestly. Love ya mwah /p

@sleepymrshmllow - cuddly art. Seriously, I wanted to squish yvie's art but Kas' art is just cuddle up with 40 blankets with hot coco and just stare at their art for eternity. I love it all and by far my favorite drawings of Mike in a skirt. Love to see it.

@strangeswift - Mwah mwah mwah (I am obsessed with mwahing right now ignore me). Obsessed with her writing forever and ever and ever and ever and -[gunshot] She's official now with her AO3 and has the most perfect Byler fluff fic up like.... shut up forever politely. Super sweet and I always love chatting with her. Everyone send her extra love because she is sick right now, btw. Always super supportive and sends me free pics of animals. I just... mwah mwah. My 2022 would have been a little lonelier without her

@elekinetic - firing all other script writers. They are the most script writer ever. They are also super nice and supportive and mwah mwah. Like, seriously. I said I wanted to try script writing and she helped me at least get some good places to start and honestly they are just so passionate about their craft and I love that. I love ya Ella /p. And yeah, super sweet as always also does some bomb edits and mood boards. I am seriously obsessed and like can't believe we are moots and friends because she is built better then me

@untitled-byler-blog - my fav fr. Love chatting with her and just got the cozy vibes. Has a lot of killer fic that makes for great bed time stories (sorry, I always say your fics are bed time story material because I love them). Forever stuck enjoying all her fics. Truly the only one who should be allowed on AO3 ever /j. A super nice person tho who I think deserves a hug. Mwah love ya /p

@ratt-duffer - RATT, sadly Ratt is in prison. Next /j /inside joke (forgot the / for that). Seriously tho!! Everyone follow them and watch their edits and read his analyses NOW. And also the track mood board?? only acceptable Will sports hc I accept forever and ever and ever. Such a sweet person and deserves all the hugs, highfives, or whatever they would prefer. thank you. Good day

Speed run because 5 minutes until midnight

@crazycoven - hasn't been super byler active at the moment but I think it the inventor of MIWI? i am not making that up? Either way, the best person forever and ever and he makes me want to watch breaking bad. I do not like breaking bad akjfhgkfhkjf <3333

@frodohaven - the coolest blog ever forever and ever. I mean?? The name??? MUST I SAY MORE???? So sweet so sweet

@finalgirlbyers - has the best url choices ever. Funny, cool, correct, and most importantly, the best ever. So a fun person. Love seeing her random posts and how many names can get said to her. Always a treat to see her on my dash. much love forever and ever mwah <3 /p

@mlchaelwheeler - We haven't talked in a minute but always love your posts hope you know you can never change your pfp. I connect you to it forever. Seriously love seeing them on my dash. Forever and ever love ya <33333 /p

[folkloresyagami]

listen say what you want about the duffer brothers adaptation of death note (or duffer note/dbdn as i will affectionally be calling it for short) but i’m actually really pumped for it. like there’s so many ways this story can be interpreted. are they going to just take the original story as shown in the manga/anime and make it real? or will they make their own original characters and have them navigate the notebook like obata & ohba did with minoru tanaka in the short stories? either way it’s going to be interesting to see.

PLUS it makes perfect sense for them to adapt it.

1.) they get to execute their patented Duffer Brothers Formula™️ by killing off extremely likable characters early on after their introduction (i.e. L & matt, god bless their souls).

2.) if they choose to stay faithful to the original story as seen in the manga and anime and don’t opt to modernize it (which seems pretty likely imo since stranger things was a period piece too) they’ll likely execute it well, because say what you want about st but the dbs excelled at staying true to the 80s aesthetic. i’m sure they’ll do just as well with the early 2000s (if not better since yknow that was 20 years ago in comparison to 40 years ago).

there’s just so many ways they can interpret and adapt this story. like will they do something differently than the actual story? if they do, will it actually work for the story or will it royally suck? i just really hope they don’t pull a noteflix and try to whitewash the story or really mess with the personality of the characters. either way it’ll be fun to watch. death note renaissance 2022 real 🙌🙏🫶

EDIT: adding onto this, i’ve noticed a lot of the reception to be like “why do we need another awful adaptation!!!” and i mean don’t get me wrong i’m with you 1000% noteflix sucked but at the same time you’ve got to put some hope into this. like scream in my face all you want if this adaptation is indeed awful but imo adding anything into a story’s universe is exciting because that means it keeps going. more people find the series, fall in love with it, and the content/fandom keeps going. and considering the fact that this story is nearing 20 years old, i’m surprised the fandom is as prolific as it is even now. more takes on the story will only increase that.

also when you think about it, the anime itself was an adaptation of the original story presented in the manga. the reason why the anime is so successful and iconic to this day is because of that faithful storytelling. sure there are a few minor changes (i.e. setting the anime 3 years in the future [2006 to the manga’s 2003] and The Foot Scene™️) but for the most part it is the same story exactly. the little tweaks and added scenes into the story (i.e. The Foot Scene™️) were risks, sure, but they work in the context of the story to enhance it just a little bit more. if the dbs do that same thing, i’m sure it’ll be a wonderful show. death note is by far the most thrilling, wonderful show i’ve seen in my lifetime thus far, and it’s that original story by o&o that makes it that. while i agree another adaptation is risky, if done right i think it’ll be just as iconic as the other iterations of the series.

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

okay so after i saw the announcement of a stranger things animated show, i looked into it just for more context and found out that this year, a stranger things stage show opens in london, and as a british theatre nerd, i may have fell down a rabbit hole.

to preface, i have not studied drama since i was 16. i did not pursue further it as much as i wish i had. i have, however, seen many many plays and musicals, both amateur and professional. i know at least a little more than the average person.

so if youre remotely interested in hearing amateur analysis of what we know of stranger things: the last shadow, welcome:

"take theatrical storytelling and stagecraft to a whole new dimension"

so in one article, i found this quote. i couldnt find who said it exactly, just someone associated with the play.

i'm hoping, this is just marketing; i really hope its just marketing. because this feels a bit insulting to uh, a lot of people who came before. such as augusto boal who founded theatre of the oppressed or konstantin stanislavski or bertolt brecht or antonin artaud who founded theatre of cruelty.

i mention artaud because im expecting some elements from theatre of cruelty. if you look up any artaud plays or theatre of cruelty plays on youtube, youll probably get why.

but anyway, as you might have gathered, this hasnt inspired confidence in me. and i already wasnt confident because it is very difficult to translate film or tv to theatre, and vice versa. look at phantom 2004. i dont believe the duffers would be able to do this; this isnt even a knock on their writing, i dont think most writers could do this without practice.

and so i went to their website to see who else was involved

now is probably a great time to mention how inaccessible their website is. in the background of their website, there are small flashing lights all over the screen. theres no warning for this.

it literally triggered a migraine in me and i had to take my strongest medication for it. fuck you website designer.

(also, just gonna mention it here, i do like the poster and some of the website design, ignoring the stupid lights, but i cannot find the artist ANYWHERE on the website, which as an artist, fuck you)

anyway, first thing i did was look at who is writing it, and im in two minds about it. there are four writers credited: kate trefry, duffer brother 1, duffer brother 2, and jack thorne.

if you recognise jack thornes name, its probably because he wrote the awful harry potter play.

HOWEVER, hes actually quite a competent writer like 90% of the time. his plays tend to get at least 3 out of 5 stars. looking through the reviews, his best regarded plays are bunny, hope, solid life of sugar water, and his adaptation of let the right one in

that last one is very promising because he drew both on the book and film in adaptation. jack thorne does know how to adapt media into different mediums. he has also won an adaption award for his adaption of a christmas carol. his adaptation of the film after life has also be commended for being a good adaption.

this is not to say his work isnt without criticism. i mean, he wrote cursed child. he also has been criticised for slow pacing, shallow writing and one of his more recent plays, sunday, apparently had a "hello fellow kids" vibe. he is now in his 40s afterall.

so a bit of a mixed bag, but a good sign in terms of it not being simply terrible due to lack of understanding of medium.

i also have to mention that jack thorne is disabled and is an advocate for disabled folks in the dramatic arts. when he wrote the solid life of sugar water, he dictated that one character should always be played by a deaf actor. he does also write many disabled stories. his impact is a net positive.

(hes also frank skinners brother-in-law which is fun)

now, the other three writers have never written for stage, which uh, yeah, no, that does the opposite of inspiring courage in me. it is a very different process than writing for films or tv, and none of them have any writing credits for stage work.

on the poster, kate trefry is credited as the main writer which could go either way. shes not written much for screen. she has at least written stranger things episodes so shes not going into it blind.

honestly, i just hope they use jack thorne and his expertise more than they need to. hes the wise old man in their group and i really hope they listen to him and dont just try and do it all themselves.

now onto the director: stephen daldry. ive never seen his work live, but when i was studying drama, i really wanted to.

to give you an idea as to why, when david hare was working on via dolorosa, he had daldry as a co-director and when daldry responded no to hare asking if something was over the top, hare said "your top is situated some hundred yards above everyone else. ive seen your productions."

do you get why i want to see one of his productions asdfdesd his work tends to be very expressionistic and vivid. his directing style has been described as consistent stylised helming. hes won a lot of awards and he tends to get 4/5 stars at the very least on his works.

hes also helped to adapt the billy elliot movie (which is both fantastic and directed by him) to stage and it was fantastic.

hes also gay <3

the set designer is miriam buether. ive never seen any of her work live so i cant speak for the atmosphere it creates, but her setwork looks fine. shes versatile and doesnt need to go over the top with spectacle for her sets to look good.

in particular, i really enjoy her sets for earthquakes in london. the colour work there is *chef's kiss*

unfortunately, theyve kept it all very under wraps as to the tone the stageshow is going to take so i dont know how either buethers set design of daldrys directing is going to translate.

by combining them, i would expect a very expressionistic, very brightly coloured show, which, theres some cognitive dissonance round the corner.

also the premise is about young!hopper, young!joyce, young!bob and henry creel, with some kind of mystery. id expect a more naturalistic approach with this premise, but daldry isnt exactly known for that. so im in two minds.

however, one of his best regarded shows is his adaption of an inspector calls. ive only seen a naturalistic version of that and it very much reads naturalistic. daldrys was the opposite, even going as far as swapping out the fancy dinner hall for the blitz. so if anyone is gonna make it work, it would be daldry.

in terms of light design, thats jon clark. once again, ive never seen any of his work in person so im going off of photos but oh my fucking god i love his work with shadows. hes won many awards and he fucking deserves them.

sound design is the same. ive never heard a paul arditti sound design show in person and bootlegs dont have the best audio. hes award-winning, however, so it seems like thats in good hands.

one thing i was very interested about was how they were going to translate the upside down and the monsters. the show relies on cgi which obviously, you cant really do cgi on a stage; it would just look kinda shit.

their solution seems to be hiring two illusion designers.

i couldnt find much on the first, chris fisher. hes a member of the magic circle and hes done a lot of work so he seems accomplished.

the second one, im honestly kind of excited about. the second is jamie harrison who is the co-artistic director for a company called vox motus WHO ARE SO FUCKING COOL.

there is no mention of his partner in vox motus, candice edmunds, but that could mean nothing.

instead of trying to explain what vox motus do, im just gonna copy two quotes from their website:

"ours is a theatre of story-telling visuals, transformational design, magic, comedy, music, physical performance, puppetry, multi-media and most importantly thrills."

"we are drawn to stories that explore extremes of behaviour and taboos in the contemporary world: often unbelievable true tales that delve into the bizarre, glorious, exhilarating and macabre."

look up their stuff, its so fucking cool. there is also definitely some elements of artaud in their work. it gives me a lot of confidence for the show being enjoyable even if the writing is bad, because spectacle can go a long way.

i genuinely kinda want to go see this show now because i really want to see their work, and id get a chance to see a daldry play.

so like a tl/dr for this part: im not confident in the writing but i dont necessarily think itll be bad. i think the worst itll be is sufficient and mediocre, if they listen to jack thorne. i do have a lot of confident in the visual aspects and spectacle; even if the writing is shit, it will look good.

now im going to be an annoying disabled person and point out some accessibility stuff:

as i mentioned before, the website has small flashing lights all over the background. theres no warning for this. it triggered a migraine for me which was the best three options considering they could have also triggered visual disturbances in my eyes (aka seeing things that arent there due to my iih) or epileptic symptoms due to brain damage.

the theatre itself does have wheelchair access at the side of the building it also has accessible toilets. there is no onsite parking which does make it more difficult for wheelchair users.

they have said they will present captioned, audio-described and british sign language performances, but the dates are not yet set. they instruct you to keep checking . im a little intrigued about this and a little concerned considering its currently may 9th and it opens 17th november.

if you need accessible tickets, you need to have atg access membership. this is a third party company. to have this, you have to show paperwork or documents to prove that you're disabled which is often not possible for many disabled folks. i dont have a written diagnosis for anything besides my adhd diagnosis because i was diagnosed in person or over the phone. luckily, i receive pip so i qualify but its a ridiculous standard.

in the faq, theres a question about being aware of any potential trigger warnings; the answer to this is copy and pasted from the question above which asked about age rating and parental guidance, apart from them adding that there will be flashing lights in the show.

and finally some extra details:

there is a £3.80 transaction charge on top of ticket purchases

you cannot book over the phone

they are all e-tickets

currently, you cannot buy group tickets or student tickets, and you can only purchase a max of 6 tickets.

they are planning a weekly-lottery for late-release tickets, and this will be announced closer to the first show

there is not a confirmed runtime

they have no current plans to move the show outside of london

the age rating is 12+. this means under 16s must be accompanied by adults and under 5s are just not allowed in. not entirely sure how it works if youre age 6 to 11.

the most common ticket price i saw was starting at £45 (about $57). the second most common was starting at £75 (about $95).

there were some tickets starting at £20 (about $25).

i might actually buy a ticket and see it. i would have to save for it but i could do it and then tell you if its shit or not lmao

[strawberrybyers]

I posted 2,734 times in 2022

That's 2,734 more posts than 2021!

350 posts created (13%)

2,384 posts reblogged (87%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@will80sbyers

@anotherbylerstan

@gregmarriage

@octobergrae

@kittykat940

I tagged 1,070 of my posts in 2022

#stranger things - 711 posts

#byler - 481 posts

#will byers - 241 posts

#mike wheeler - 208 posts

#house of the dragon - 53 posts

#strangerthingsedit - 43 posts

#st4 - 41 posts

#stranger things 4 - 40 posts

#stranger things season 4 - 40 posts

#stranger things volume 2 - 31 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#makes me think about my post that i posted right after vol 2 was released about how this show emphasizes the phrase ‘friends don’t lie’ but

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

foods that remind me of stranger things

See the full post

2,644 notes - Posted August 25, 2022

#4

i still can’t believe these tweets are real. it feels like a fever dream.

3,049 notes - Posted October 14, 2022

#3

the stranger things cast and crew the past month:

VS

stranger things fans literally deteriorating from stress while making silly little posts about ships and theories:

See the full post

3,602 notes - Posted June 25, 2022

#2

the entire stranger things fandom is in shambles 😭😭 eddie stans coming up with theories on how he could come back, byler stans collecting crumbs from volume 2 trying to cling onto hope, will stans demanding he deserves better, mike stans fighting for their lives right now, robin stans upset that they may never see her in a relationship, nancy stans hating she’s been reduced to trying to choose between two boys, steve stans wanting him to move on from nancy, max stans don’t even know if they should grieve or not, jonathan stans just wanting more for his character, lucas stans devastated over the trauma he’s been through and wanting him to have a better storyline, dustin stans upset he had to witness eddie’s death, erica stans wanting there to be more to her character than sassy one-liners, lumax stans grieving and clinging to hope, steddie stans grieving, ronance stans praying to a higher power for there to be a chance despite witnessing the hell everyone else has been through, elmax stans grieving and clinging to hope, mileven stans living their best life, eleven stans feeling bad for all the trauma she’s been through, vecna stans horny and grieving, argyle stans wishing he could’ve added more to the storyline than just being high, joyce stans living their best life, hopper stans living their best life, jopper stans living their best life, murray stans thanking god he made it out of russia alive, enzo stans horny and happy he didn’t get killed off, mindflayer stans questioning if the mindflayer is vecna or vecna just created it or both, duffer brothers stans nonexistent… the shift in the energy compared to 48 hours ago is insane 😭😭😭

3,608 notes - Posted July 3, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

yes my mental stability is dependent on whatever the fuck is about to happen in stranger things and what about it

6,654 notes - Posted June 29, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[ariesbilly]

The Duffer brothers belittled how wrong it was that Jonathon took photos of Nancy without her consent.

Had written police and everyone being more concerned about Nancy having had sex than they did about a missing kid.

And of course it leads to everyone eventually hating Nancy because she has survivor's guilt over the death of her best friend. The death that she feels responsible for.

Her and Steve's relationship was obviously strained from that but their intent as writers was to make everyone think Steve was too good for her when she was just traumatized and riddled with guilt.

They had a 40 something year old woman flirting with a teenager and it being brushed off as okay because she didn't actually cheat on her husband. Everyone totally looks pass the predatory nature of it.

The amount of people that defend the grossest behavior simply because of how the Duffer brothers have written and presented their story says so much.

LITERALLY WHY DOES NO ONE EVER TALK ABOUT THE FUCKING KAREN OF IT ALL AM I IN THE FUCKING TWILIGHT ZONE

cara made posts back in season 3 about billy and karen.... the duffers were somehow convinced this was a thing fans wanted???? please show me the receipts i would love to know... the fandom just completely blocks it out because of her one #girlboss speech to nancy afterwards and also they just hate billy so haha who cares the morality of that right? so fun

the way this fandom shit on nancy for seasons because of steve.... will literally never forgive yall for that. but now everyone ships her with robin lmfao okay. a little transparent but alright

and like listen. i enjoyed stranger things once a upon a time. im not saying its complete trash. i get why it has its audience (do i think its overhyped as hell tho? yes. yes i do. but also.... its easily palatable to the masses so what are ya gonna do). but the shit everyone just turns a blind eye to is wacky as hell.

just dont sit up here and lie to me that the duffers give a shit about “responsible storytelling” and have ~carefully crafted~ this story from the beginning when they themselves have admitted to changing shit along the way. dont insult my intelligence. and if what the show has done so far with certain characters is “responsible” then the duffers and i have vastly differing definitions of that word

“what characters deserve to be punished” um i can think of a few that havent gotten theirs and mostly like wont so. lets not bring morality into the 80s scifi rip off show lets not do it you dont wanna open up that box babes

[princesseddie]

Hey dude <3 Saw that you reposted all those asks (also, is that post really missing numbers 41-50 or am I hallucinating) and was wondering if you'd want to answer all asks ending in the last digit of 5 (5, 15, etc.). Go crazy!

omg thank you for sending these in! And I just realized you are definitely correct its missing 41-50!

05: What is your relationship status? -happily taken to my lovely bf of almost 3 years!

10: When was your last physical fight?- hmmmm i wanna say maybe 10? 11? years ago

15: Have any pets?- YES! I have two kitties that are a pain in my ass but I love them, one is orange and his name is Aslan and I have a lil girl who just turned 1 shes black and white tabby named Zelda

20: Where was the last place you snogged someone? - lol my bedroom nothing exciting!

25: Do you miss anyone from your past? - probably just my grandma, would have loved for her to meet the bf

30: What’s irritating you right now? - the duffer brothers for killing eddie

35: Who was the last person you cried in front of? - my bf

40: Have you ever walked outside completely naked? - i did! my so called "friends" convinced me to skinny dip as a CHILD (i wasnt even like 10 years old) friends mom saw me and i got into so much trouble,very embarrassing

55: Are you mean?- i try not to be but if im mad or some shit i can be such a cunt

60: Do you wanna get married? - yes i do!

65: Your best friend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do? - thats how i got my boyfriend! so if you are anything like me talk about how much of a whore you can be until they crack and ask for a blowjob one day after spending the night

70: Is there anyone you would die for?- my bf, my closest friends, my cats,and my parents and brother

[lovestuckyhatemarvel]

Woooo, let’s keep going.

1.) “Hey there.” Hey, Nancy.

2.) Steve frees himself by biting.

3.) I know people love to make Eddie horny about the bite and swing and like, they’re right.

4.) The wounds actually aren’t that bad.

5.) Rabies are scary but it does take a while for symptoms to set in.

6.) Steve’s job this season has been at least 70% saying shit that will be disproven immediately afterward.

7.) Say it with me: torture doesn’t work. And also why would this agent have the exact location anyway?

8.) How many times are we gonna see this stupid can of coke?

9.) Oh Owens sort of has a spine.

10.) Usually people aren’t so easily defined but sometimes they are. El is not a monster but you are, Brenner.

11.) “This place is not a prison, this is,” Brenner says as he taps El’s head. Okay I rolled my eyes hard enough I remembered I haven’t eaten yet today and I paused the show to eat. I cannot keep watching this moron on an empty stomach. I refuse. Oh dear fucking god. This episode is 1 hour and 41 minutes???? I have an hour and a half left oN THIS EPISODE?? FUCK YOU.

12.) idk why Bremer thinks it’d be bad to be like, “You didn’t massacre a bunch of kids.” Unless he actually is stupid enough to think she did it.

13.) Dustin is a terrible liar. And while lying to the cops is technically a crime, it is morally right.

14.) Steve is not fine, he’s falling over.

15.) Duffers, I do not want Steve and Nancy to date again and you ca’t make me.

16.) How’d Eddie manage to climb up that fallen tree without stepping on a vine but now needs to be extra careful climbing down?

17.) ‘FOr your modesty, dude’. Jealous.

18.) I love Steve in the vest and so does Eddie.

19.) Hopper wishing wistfully for El to come into her own while she’s in a place with Brenner is so sad.

20.) “Maybe I can still help El, even if it’s the last thing I do.” Hopper is the reason why I think El has to survive this show. For him. Because Hopper needs to know he’s not cursed. Because he doesn’t deserve to have another daughter die.

21.) Murray and Yuiri do not look THAT much alike, y’;all.

22.) Two, maybe don’t make yourself an obvious target.

23.) That was fucked up. Torturing kids is evil.

24.) All 3 saved Steve but Eddie’s the one Steve narrows in to thank.

25.) Steve is so pleased to find out Dustin bragged about him. Eddie thinks Steve is a good dude. That’s like, huge praise from Eddie.

26.) I feel bad for the Duffers trying to even have Eddie be like ‘soooo Nancy and you?’ And almost none of the fans were like ‘yes, Steve and Nancy.’ Straight guys don’t stand this close together usually, guys. And they usually don’t stare into each other’s eyes.

27.) Thank God, the earthquake interrupted the script desperately trying to hook up a couple that doesn’t work.

28.) Erica found gay porn under Lucas’ bed, right?

29.) I love Lucas and Erica.

30.) Wait is it now being decided that El opening a gate requires contacting a monster in the Upside Down????

31.) No guns and Nancy figures out they’re in the past, specifically November 6th, 1983.

32.) Steve hears Dustin. Because they’re buddies. Flipping the switch does something. There’s now shimmery light on the chandelier.

33.) Eddie knows SOS. <3

34.) Wow, RUDE, Dustin.

35.) MURRAY STOP PLAY ACTING IN THE FUCKING CELL. OH MY GOD.

36.) Okay they’ve never met Yuri before.

37.) Murray is so fucking worried and he should be. Oh, Joyce recognizes that sound.

38.) IDK why the other kids are blaming El. Brenner literally said she didn’t talk. Two gave himself away by being a moron.

39.) CHESS. I one time started to learn Chess on a Simmons board and never was as good on a normal board as I was on that.

40.) WHY DO THE OTHER KIDS HATE EL SO FUCKING MUCH????? WHY HAS BRENNER BEEN PLANNING IT??????? NONE OF THE RAINBOW ROOM SHIT MAKES ANY GODDAMN SENSE.

41.) This better be Henry lying because if not, this isn’t Brenner playing chess, this is a pigeon shitting on a chessboard.

42.) Damn, they covered that board fast.

43.) Eddie and Steve commiserating on Dustin being a butthead.

44.) My roommate reminded me that there are syndication rules and so the reason the seasons are so breakneck and short in terms of episode numbers is so the show isn’t available for syndication. That’s why we’re getting a full ass movie length episode every episode this season. So Netflix can screw people.

45.) BIKES. Steve should be wincing when he moves though, let alone biking.

46.) Max is the best.

47.) “Oh, pigs, oh PIGS. Let Officer Callahan in.” One, who are you calling pig, pig? Two, are you comparing yourself to the big bad wolf?

48.) Erica MY NEW FAVORITE CHILD. DID YOU SLASH A COP’S TIRE? I’VE NEVER BEEN PROUDER.

49.) Four bikes.

50.) Is no one monitoring the cameras here?

51.) Has anyone done an AU where Henry was genuine in his help?

52.) Let’s see how bad this CGI demogorgon is. But of course the lighter isn’t working.

53.) FOr a demogorgon that is being routinely fed, this one looks scrawny. Also yeah, the CGI is bad.

54.) Okay why would the guard open the door, Murray? There’s a monster that will kill him.

55.) Of course the fire goes out just as the door is closing.

56.) nICE THROW, HOP.

57.) Aw, Hopper and Joyce reunited.

58.) How fucking close to the trailer park is Creel house????

59.) Bada Bada Boom. The gate is open and they can care each other.

60.) I just realized I don’t know why El was in a hospital gown this entire time? None of the other kids wear one.

61.) Henry goes from ‘powers blocked’ to ‘complete control’ in like 10 seconds.

62.) Eddie why did you bring up the stains? Also those are huge. Are you just jerking off directly onto your bed????

63.) Robin and then Eddie. Try not to stare at Eddie’s ass, Steve. And then Nancy does get to falling, but falls into a vision. Wait how is she standing on the ground again?

64.) Oh now she sees Barb in the pool. This is the first time she’s seen this though. So Nancy seeing this now makes sense. She would now know it’s the pool. I just don’t think any of them know until this season though.

65.) El literally missed so much murder hiding in a closet. And now she’s going down the very flickers hallways to find the Rainbow Room completely decimated. She literally missed ALL the murders except for Two’s.

66) Why is Henry so powerful? How did he even get his powers? What even is his motivation????? Why does this character make no goddamn sense?????

67.) Sweet of Vecna to give Nancy a full villain hallucination backstory. Are we literally trying to say Henry/Vecna/One was a child psychopath or something? Why was there a nest of black widows in a vent? What’s this got to do with anything? God, this character is dumb and pretentious.

68.) ?????? I’d argue black widows also operate under the wake up, work, eat, reproduce, sleep, die cycle even more than humans do.

69.) Okay so he was just an evil child. An evil, judgmental child. Why? Because fuck you, that’s why.

70.) Why would killing people make him stronger???

71.) Literally why would Henry think Eleven is better than the rest of the kids?????

72.) Why would El need to think about any memories other than the fucking DOZENS OF CORPSES SHE’S GONE PAST?

73.) fucking what????????? Is El REMEMBERING BEING BORN? FUCKING WHAT? I’M SORRY. WHAT? I FUCKING HATE THIS SHOW. THIS IS SO STUPID. I CAN’T BELIEVE THE THING THAT HELPS HER BEAT HENRY THE FIRST TIME IS REMEMBERING HER OWN GODDAMN BIRTH. Also! HEY, not to be a party pooper BUT NEWBORNS CAN’T REALLY FUCKING SEE MORE THAN 6 INCHES AWAY FROM THEIR GODDAMN FACE.

74.) Honestly how did Henry/Vecna/One survive El doing that? Like he’s just falling around in the sky and getting struck by lightning too???? None of this makes any goddamn sense. Not even in this world.

75.) YEAH, I KNOW HENRY IS VECNA. YOU DIDN’T NEED TO SHOW THE TATTOO. Although. How does he still have the tattoo and why is it bigger? God, you guys really think 14 year olds are morons.

I need too take a break from this show. It’s so stupid. Oh my god.

[pavspatch]

What does the future hold for Stalybridge Celtic?

PEOPLE have been on at me over the last week, asking me to pen some thoughts on Stalybridge Celtic’s relegation.

Here goes . . .

THE pictures show thousands of people in Armentieres Square. They've gathered to salute their heroes — players like Steve Pickford, Martin Filson, Kevin Parr and Matty McNeill — who have just stepped off an open-top bus after a triumphant tour of the town.

In their hands, being proudly shown to the vast crowds, are the the Cheshire Senior Cup and the Northern Premier League championship trophy and President's Cup. A couple of months later a fourth piece of silverware will be added, the Peter Swales Shield.

That was 2001. Move forward 22 years and it's a completely different scene. Stalybridge Celtic have gone from being Tameside's most successful club, and membership of the National League, to relegation to the NPL's first division west — the lowest level of foot ball they have experienced since their North West Counties League days 40 years ago.

Ostensibly, Celtic's decline mirrors that of Mossley in the 1980s. However, while the Lilywhites collapse was sudden — two NPL titles and three runners-up spots followed by a plunge to bottom place in 1983-84, Stalybridge's decline has been much more gradual and painful.

As recently as 2008 they were facing Barrow, now members of EFL League Two, in the National League North play-off final. Four years later they spent the first half of the 2011-12 season vying for the championship with Hyde United who ultimately won it. In 2015 they reached the first round of the FA Cup.

At the same time, Celtic's slick commercial operation was the pride of the area. Every match seemed to be preceded by a packed sponsors' lounge. The club exuded professionalism from the moment you stepped through the doors and saw the trophy cabinets and team pictures. Other clubs could only look on with envy.

In my BBC Radio Manchester days I would regularly describe Celtic as among the most successful of sides. And then I'd get a phone call from my late friend Keith Trudgeon who would point out that Bridge hadn't actually won anything since 2001.

So what went wrong? Or should that be what didn't go right?

There have been plenty of false dawns, such as the plan to move the stadium to the town centre, which collapsed almost as soon as it was announced. The squad briefly went full time, and there have been personalities who arrived at Bower Fold promising great things and then quietly departed.

Many, perhaps even most, people would lay the blame for Bridge's steady decline at the feet of one man. Indeed an ex-manager I asked about Celtic's problems actually answered: "You can sum it all up in two words — Rob Gorski."

But not every former boss is of the same opinion. Another commented: "Whenever the resources were provided to bring good players in, it was down to Rob Gorski.

"At any level, if you have a big budget, you should be able to push for the top. The board all worked tirelessly to make it a great club.

"It's a long road back. Those days can return but without the money, and leadership on and off the park, the club will struggle. Hopefully they can bounce back."

I know from personal experience that when things aren't going well people fall out at non-league football clubs. Jobs that would normally be taken care of without fuss can be ignored or become the cause of arguments and ill-feeling. People are constantly quitting or threatening to.

The departure of one or two key people can also leave huge gaps to fill. At Hyde United, Steve Johnson is constantly mocked as a silly old duffer, but when he stands down in ten or 15 years' time, who will replace him?

Will there be another person waiting in the wings who wants to spend their every waking hour at Ewen Fields working in the tea bar and doing a host of other jobs from accounts to emptying bins, and for no payment? Such people are extremely difficult to find.

With any luck relegation will prove to be a catharsis and Celtic will indeed start to bounce back. It is possible.

In 2009, Hyde United were wound up in the High Court for a week. After their two seasons in the National League they suffered three consecutive relegations. Now, they're among the serious candidates for promotion from the Northern Premier League.

Curzon Ashton, Tameside's only National League North outfit, had a terrible time in the mid-1990s, falling from the NPL first division north into the Northern Counties East League and then the NWCL second division.

As Bridge manager Chris Willcock stated in his message to supporters, Celtic are at a crossroads but one where the club has the power to choose its path forward. The massive setback it has just suffered can be a catalyst for positive change. Energy needs to be channelled towards creating a brighter future.

At some point soon, the majority of fans will get what they want. Rob Gorski will find a buyer for his shares, he'll cut his links, and Stalybridge Celtic will have a new owner with a new broom and a new plan. Whatever people may think of Rob Gorski, and his methods and motives, he wouldn't risk the club's future by selling to a swindler. He genuinely loves Celtic.

There could be a bigger role ahead for the supporters and all manner of other possibilities.

While those who fail to learn history's lessons are doomed to repeat them, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, it's equally true that you can't fixate on the past. You have to look to the future and that's what Stalybridge Celtic need to do now as they pick themselves up off the canvas.

[mikewheelerfan2022]

I posted 796 times in 2022

That's 796 more posts than 2021!

487 posts created (61%)

309 posts reblogged (39%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@gentrychild

@starry-skies-116

@wippdeeznuts

@pixlokita

@arurubun

I tagged 460 of my posts in 2022

Only 42% of my posts had no tags

#stranger things - 155 posts

#mileven - 100 posts

#fnaf - 80 posts

#stranger things season 4 - 79 posts

#five nights at freddy’s - 54 posts

#anti byler - 53 posts

#mike wheeler - 46 posts

#five nights at freddys - 42 posts

#will byers - 41 posts

#michael afton - 40 posts

Longest Tag: 65 characters

#let me guess: you’re like 16 and think you’re more mature than me

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

ik that you think that the monologue is genuine, but how do explain the things Mike said about El in s1? Like when he wanted to send her back to the “asylum” that she came from, and when he screamed “what is wrong with you?” when he thought she lied about Will?

I don’t “think” that it’s genuine, it IS genuine. The Duffers confirmed it.

Also..Mike was 12. He’s 15 now. I’ve changed a lot since I was 12, and I’m only 13. People, especially teenagers, change quickly.

Also, when your best friends goes missing, emotions run strong. And let me state this again. HE. WAS. 12.

78 notes - Posted July 27, 2022

#4

I stand up on a podium. “Mileven is canon.” I say. The crowd boos. They ship By*er. Two men stand up. “No, she’s right.” It’s the Duffer Brothers.

84 notes - Posted July 30, 2022

#3

I just read a fair portion of the By*er Google doc.

Dear god these people are delusional.

“B-but El drew Mike’s name with a rainbow in S3! And so Mike is gay!”

No he isn’t. Come on guys.

91 notes - Posted July 20, 2022

#2

I can’t wait for the day when 63k people scream out in agony because their crackship didn’t become canon.

166 notes - Posted July 24, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

When Mike didn’t say “I love you”, By*ers twisted it to their narrative.

When Mike did say “I love you”, By*ers twisted it to their narrative.

Make it make sense.

394 notes - Posted July 6, 2022

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