#anti melvin

[messrsbyler]

EEEEEEKKKKKK!!!

[bylerspookie]

I don't think milkvans understand how badly they're going to lose

[teabagboy]

Sometimes I forget how advanced tumblr society is

[jazz-penguin]

melvin through the seasons:

s1: know each other for a few days

s2: don't see each other for a year, then start dating

s3: break up in ep2, never properly discuss their feelings

s4: have a "real fight you can't come back from" in ep3, never properly discuss their feelings

melvins: such a power couple 😍😍😍 they are endgame! 🥰👫👩‍❤️‍👨👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨💒

[fynn-cl]

I'm a Mike Wheeler empath because when I was a kid I was also gaslought into liking someone of the opposite sex while being gay

[byler-alarmist]

If I said that Eddie's "I love you" to Dustin in the same episode as Mike's monologue was a reminder that not all love confessions are romantic.....

[bylershipperakaroxy]

I made a 3th part of slander for the bylers!

I hope you enjoy!!

Btw I love doing these, so pls if u want part 4 tell me💀🙏

[luckybyler]

Many ST fans, including us Bylers, need to tell the difference between uncommon and unrealistic.

There have always been comments by anti-Bylers saying that a gay teen's feelings being requited would be unrealistic for a small town in the 80s, therefore Byler would be too. Generally, the answer I've seen is that it may be unrealistic, but it's a better /more beautiful/more fulfilling ending and we have monsters and kids with superpowers anyway.

Requited young gay love has never been unrealistic - not now, not in the 80's, not in the 1080s, or ever. What it was is less common, which is a completely different thing. Let me give you an example:

Max ended season 4 in a coma, technically braindead. This are the possible outcomes:

Common/expected: she dies or is lifelong profoundly disabled.

Less common: she wakes up and is left with a permanent, but manageable disability (or several) and can lead an independent life.

Uncommon: she wakes up with disabilities but recovers completely or in great part with therapy and discipline.

Unrealistic: she wakes up as if nothing had ever happened.

Unreal/fantastic: she wakes up with laser vision and the ability to fly.

While the less common and uncommon options aren't as frequent, they can and do happen, and are in accordance with the reality of the world, unlike the unrealistic and fantastic options. The same thing happens when we talk about a gay kid's love in the 80s:

Common: Young gay love is unrequited.

Less common: Young gay love is requited, although they don't say anything to each other.

Uncommon: Young gay love is requited and communicated, and a relationship blossoms.

Unrealistic: One boy asks the other out in public and they become Prom Kings.

Unreal/fantastic: One boy takes the other on his spaceship to their home planet.

This applies to our boys, and this is when talking about a completely spherical Byler in a vacuum. Once you add context (and I mean context, not Byler proof specifically), the odds go up: Will and Mike became friends not because their parents were friends, or the teacher grouped them for an activity, or one of them joined a group in which the other was; but because Mike, by himself, looked at Will specifically and something about him drew Mike in. Let's keep in mind that the show tells us that Will is visibly gay or delicate/sensitive, so Mike most likely felt that vibe and either it didn't bother him, or he actively liked it.

There were gay teenagers who got together. Even in the 80s, even in small conservative towns. In secret of course, but it did happen. Even in Rebel Robin she tells us about two boys who seemed to be dancing together during prom in a classroom, so its canonically a thing that can happen in Hawkins, Indiana.

[runninguplenorahills]

Y’all telling me that Stranger Things has a whole plot line set in Russia, and that in Russia yellow flowers represent sadness, dishonesty and when given to a partner an inevitable breakup?!?!?!?💀

Oh Michael…

[thecelestialsyzygy]

El’s reaction to Mikes “grand love confession” after her brother had to say some gay shit in order to encourage him to say it while she was being choked by vines

[messrsbyler]

uhm... why would they parallel this if not because melvin is bon- [GUNSHOTS]

[bylerspookie]

me watching Mike and El get married in the local village with 3 waterfalls

[ineffablelvrs]

not two high 19 year olds doing more to cheer el up after rink o mania than her literal boyfriend 💀💀

[jazz-penguin]

Melvin shippers in s5 be like:

"Why aren't they married yet?! Mike go support your girlfriend, she needs your approval so she could move mountains. What do you mean she doesn't need you? Mike, where are you going? Mike! What are you doing??? NO! Stop kissing him!!!"

[frozenfrogz]

Just because we want El to be a single girl boss doesn't mean we hate her. I just want my baby El to figure out herself and discover her true preferences. Ever since she escaped the lab, she's been in a relationship with Mike. She needs time for herself, and she needs to discover her true happiness.

[bitofanupsidedowner]

people who want will to get a boyfriend who isn't mike make zero sense to me ngl... i get that mike is kind of a jerk but i just don't feel like it makes a lick of sense tbh, and i also just think anything bad thing mike’s done is best justified/made sympathetic and solved by the conclusion he’s been struggling with his feelings towards will. 

mike is in no way this unredeemable person and i think it’s pretty extreme to treat it like he is. he isn’t perfect, but he’s shown that he does care about will much more often than he’s hurt him. just the facts.

like. yeah sure byler has been built up since season one and mike has been written in a way that made it literally impossible for will TO get a separate love interest. despite mike having a literal girlfriend, his jealousy and protectiveness over will didn’t leave any empty space. we all saw his weird reaction to the painting at the airport and how when dustin and lucas wanted to help will on halloween he yelled at them and shoved them away. 

but like... yeah, let's throw him with some random guy we have no time to get invested in so mike and el can keep being a dysfunctional mess with no chemistry or shared interests even though it would make no sense, have no emotional payout and  is not in any way what mike or will need for a satisfying conclusion to their character arcs (or el! it negatively affects all three.)

separating the two would be the only opportunity possible to give will someone new. it would’ve been tricky to make it believable, but it was their only chance after mike’s emphasis in will’s storyline. that in itself is suspicious, but they essentially told us with mike’s little ‘oh shit’ closet moment that they would not be doing that. 

instead, they kept doubling down on mike and will. they even made the cali plotline sort of agonize over it, with mike and will pulling in the most heart-to-hearts of any duo in any one season afaik. the emphasis on their relationship has been too integral to the show. having had wills sexuality in mind from season one, making mike as big an element in that storyline to begin with is not without consequence. they wrote it in a way that made it almost impossible to reasonably go in another direction.  

they spent a lot of time especially in season 4 showing us how mike and will’s relationship comes naturally to them, has a good  foundation of mutual love and respect, and just generally functions better than mike and el and can repair itself without that much effort. even when mike and el are in their ‘good’ phases, they have less going for them than mike and will in their ‘bad’ phases.

will’s feelings for mike are directly contrasted with el’s. mike makes will feel better for being different. he makes EL feel like a monster. with el, she begged him to say it and he denied her, implying he didn’t ‘know what to say’ and agreeing when will said ‘what if they don’t like the truth?’ he denied her what she wanted until will told him to say it. the text is very directly comparing el and will’s dynamics with mike for a reason.

you never say it > i say it

oh, i didn’t say it. > you didn’t have to.

it doesn't make sense to set this up and then retreat back into a relationship that is mutually destructive, that hinders all three characters growth and self worth, and goes directly against their character arcs. it makes no sense to make will in love with mike at all if it was going to end up with a new guy shoehorned in last minute.

 there’s a reason it’s mike and not lucas or dustin that will fell for. there’s a reason that the majority of people are ecstatic about lumax, jopper, jancy and duzie but find milkvan tedious and forced. 

it's filling the same place in my brain rn as when people want will to have a villain arc. it just does not make any sense to me to actively desire  conclusions to arcs that would undo character progress or just completely misshape the character profile permanently. 

it isn’t JUST a romantic relationship will wants. he doesn’t just have a hankering for a boyfriend. it’s not just about having SOMEONE. it’s specifically mike’s love. it is specifically spending his life with mike that has been explicitly stated over and over again as what he truly wants. 

i feel like it’s fairly rare for characters to both know and state plainly what they want, but will does, which i think is honestly so admirable. he admits it when he is at his most vulnerable (rain fight) when it would be more beneficial for him to just pretend. but he doesn’t. he’s hurt, but he doesn’t hide from it. 

the fact he doesn’t even surprises mike, who was expecting for will to agree that changing drastically and obsessing about girlfriends was the natural progression they were supposed to take. after his wish is put into the open and seemingly rejected, he destroys castle byers. 

mike is insecure about wanting this, but we know he wants that too, we just dont have the explicit confirmation if it’s romantic yet. 

the point being that the emphasis has already been placed on not only who/what will wants, but how confident he is in that never changing. he wants it deeply and forever.

it isn’t just a boyfriend he wants, it’s mike. 

that’s the person he has the deepest connection to, that’s the guy who saved him, who pulled him out of the upside down, fought the hardest for him, stayed by his side when he needed him, befriended him when he was five years old because he thought, ‘he’s like me.’ mike gets a lot of criticism, but none of that is how will himself feels. to him, that’s the guy who makes him brave enough to accept his sexuality. it’s mike, it's always been mike, and it doesn’t make sense narratively for him to be with anyone else.

‘what if you want to join another party? > not possible.