#can you tell wheeler is one of my favorites LMAO

[crazysnor1ax]

More Don't Starve headcanons please! Wilba and Wurt and other characters of your choice this time.

Round three!!

Wilba

She is a puppy dog in her wereform. She's violent, but if you get on her good side she WILL ask for belly rubs and beg for food.

She hates getting dirty and will throw a fit if something gets on her dress

Constantly brushes her hair to make sure it looks nice

Fights with Wurt A LOT. It's never violent, but just little kid fights. They only get along and work together because the adults make them.

Good friends with Walter! Loves Woby and loves learning about survival things from him and exploring with him.

Full moons are usually spent playing with the other survivor kiddos, if she’s not wearing her necklace (which she usually doesn’t anymore, since the full moon’s effects only last for a single day now)

She has one of those snort laughs, for somewhat obvious reasons (hopefully)

More of a headcanon for Wendy but I’ll put it here anyway: Wendy LOVES the way Wilba talks and spends a lot of time with her just to hear her dialect

Wurt

LOVES to swim. If the group is sailing she will demand to swim beside the boat.

Has both gills and lungs so she can breathe on land and on water. Her gills are weak though, since she spends of time on land (even before she met the survivors).

Does not like to wear clothes as scandalous as that sounds LOL. Merms just don't wear clothes normally so Wurt doesn't like to wear whatever the survivors make her wear.

Cannot sleep without a bedtime story. Because of this, her and Wendy are good friends since they both get read to before they sleep!

Relating to the above one, Wendy also helps Wurt learn to read rather than just Wickerbottom.

She always boasts about having claws and looking scary but she’s terrified of fighting

Wheeler

Gay gay homosexual gay (jokes aside, she’s a lesbian and everyone knows it.)

I like to to think she used to have a fear of heights but once she actually went flying (ballooning?????) that went away REAL fast

She will refuse to wear any shoes that aren’t her boots

Loves the monster kids!!! And they love her back <3

She keeps asking Winona to launch her with her catapult to see if she can get any air but is, of course, turned down every time

She doesn’t like how calm the waters are now in the Constant compared to how they were in Shipwrecked. Because of that she normally wouldn’t go sailing, but the chance of something attacking them or a pirate raid gets her excited.

She gets annoyed whenever someone tells her to use a weapon that isn’t the Pew-Matic

Loves Beefalo! Doesn’t mind taking care of them despite how messy they are. She’s usually the first in the group to domesticate one, because it means adventure later >:3

She INSISTS on killing giants with everyone but everyone has to convince her that some of the others should do the job (like Wig and Wolfgang)

Winona is her best friend and they do everything together I am 100% correct about this one Klei told me themselves

Love the caves an unhealthy amount. Someone always has to go with her to make sure she comes out again LOL

Whenever she comes across something new she must put it in the Pew-Matic immediately

[willbyersenthusiast]

since i won’t shut up about Found Heaven, here’s a list of songs i think are very byler coded:

Found Heaven (the title track)

Alley Rose

The Final Fight

Miss You

Forever With Me

Eye Of The Night (kind of)

Winner (kind of)

and yk what while i’m here im gonna explain the reasons i think so;

Found Heaven:

i already explained this in a previous post (idk how to link them so have fun scrolling) but i will give a brief explanation; the song is about internalized homophobia and it’s basically conan telling his younger self it’s okay, or at least that’s how i perceive it, so i see this as a mike wheeler song. it can be will too but will is more out of the closet than mike tbf.

Alley Rose:

this one is kind of more about yearning and wanting but not before the relationship, it’s after it. they’re also kind of nervous around each other (especially mike) in season 4. the line “i waited all year at your feet like maybe you’d love me” is so them because they both waited for the other to reach out when Will moved to Lenora.

for the bridge, will is so worried about his best friend hating him because he’s gay and in love with him. “i thought if you’d ever leave me that i’d be the reason why.” and will again for the last little bit of the bridge saying “i swore hands were made for fighting, i swore eyes were made to cry, but you’re the first person that i’ve seen whose proven that might be a lie.” it’s kind of self explanatory in a way because will grew up in an abusive household. and for “don’t leave me hanging alone again.” i feel it fits both of them but also mike, because mike told will he felt like he was losing him and he wanted to be best friends again in s4

The Final Fight:

i feel like this one says how will wants to tell mike how much mike hurt him, and how he really upset him. he probably wants himself to get over mike and thinks this will help him (but it’ll just make mike confess😏 [hopefully].

Miss You:

this one makes me think of Mike telling Will how he misses him and how he felt like he “lost you or something.” and how “it’s not hawkins without you.” in season 4. and he knows he’s been a douche a little asshat (you can tell i’m a little upset with this mike lmao) but he wants “to be friends again. Best friends”

Forever With Me:

holy fucking shit this one. this song. i see this as Will yearning for Mike and wanting to be with him forever. “I ain’t sorry, though i should probably be. I think i’m gonna love you. You’re forever with me.” THIS SCREAMS WILL BYERS. “you are the reason i learned to love. Also the reason i cry” holy fucking SHIIIITTTT

Eye Of The Night:

i perceive this song as “this person haunts me. i see them everywhere and i can’t escape them” so it kind of reminds me of how they like always come back to each other? idk this one just kinda makes me think of them 💀

Winner:

this song (mainly just the pre-chorus and the chorus) makes me think of the rain fight. Will’s pov to be specific. i see it as Will saying “yeah you won you made me feel like shit, are you happy??” ykwim? OH AND THE SECOND VERSE “yet you have the nerve to miss me. how do i somehow feel guilty when you’re the one who let it get this bad” HOLY SHIT THATS LITERALLY THEIR FIGHT AT RINK-O-MANIA. like mike blaming will for not reaching out in the heat of the moment and therefore will blames himself too.

anyways that’s my little rant done GO STREAM FOUND HEAVEN ITS AMAZING AND IT HAS SUCH A DAZZLING 80S VIBE ITS MY FAVORITE THING RN GO LISTEN TO IT PLEASE ITS LIFE CHANGING

[imbadatwrighting]

Hey, are your orders open? if so could you do headcanons of the yugioh characters reacting to s/o who has an obsession with the mystical elf card?

Nah cuz I had to search up the card cuz I forgot what it was 💀💀 also I was using a different fanfic site and just saw it so I kinda rushed to get dis done lmao 😭

Yu-gi-oh boys reacting to their S/o having an obsession w/ the mystical elf card

Yugi Muto

He honestly didn’t notice-

I mean he picked up on how constant you used it and talked about it but at the same time he does that to a lot of cards in his deck so didn’t think anything of it

He’ll listen to what you’re saying always though

Doesn’t matter how many times you have been talking about this card, he’s gonna act like it’s his first time hearing about it from you

He got you a keychain that had the mystical elf on it because he knew you would like it but he didn’t know you would like it that much

You were basically jumping with joy on this

He was too-

As long as your happy he’s happy

He listens to you repeat the same story over and over and over again about using the Mystical elf card and doesn’t get tired of it ever

“Ok so like I was battling this one dude who was all about offense and guess what?!?”

“What?”

“You have to guess Yugi!”

“Uhh, let’s see here… you used a spell card?”

“No! I got the mystical elf; she protected me and she helped me not lose…”

“Oh wow.”

“She really is my guardian angel. She must have sent you down as a gift for me.”

“She really is spectacular… and you know who else is?”

“Who????”

“You.”

“Yugi!”

Yami Yugi

He’s always listening

He loves to hear you go on and on about her; it doesn’t matter if it’s 1am or 4pm, he’s always interested in what your saying

He got you a rare mystical elf card for your birthday and you burst out in tears

He’s definitely in love with you and while he doesn’t tell you he shows it in multiple ways

Lots of people get upset when you repeat a story but he’s the exact opposite

He gets happy knowing you’re so happy that you forgot that you already told him this

Yami always says that you only hot headed when it comes to the mystical elf

The amount of times he cleaned you up after getting in literal fights all because of that card

So when he gets hated on you just say their ‘insecure’ but when it’s about the mystical elf you’ll get in a fight?!

Starting to sound like you love the card over him

“Ok! So the other day I was heading to the grocery story and these imbeciles where talking about how ‘ThE mYsTiCaL eLf Is StUpId’ blah blah blah and I walked over to them and started a fight!”

“Well maybe next time don’t go up to them.”

“It’s their fault! They threw the first punch!”

“I know but I don’t want you to get hurt… sometimes you have to let things go.”

“Hypocrite.”

“No I just want you to be safe and not die from some weak kids that have nothing better to do then fight random people.”

“Whatever…”

“Tell me, how did you first ‘fall in love’ with the mystical elf card?”

“You should know better than anyone how you can fall in love with your cards pharaoh.”

“I know but I love hearing your stories.”

“Is it because you love me, Yami?”

“Maybe.”

Joey Wheeler

He understand completely because he’s the same way towards his Red-Eyes Black Dragon

If you are hot headed and get into lots of fights about it then you’re even more alike

You and him are constantly venting about the amount of people that don’t appreciate these cards

Neither one of you are talking about anything else except this stuff

That’s all of your conversations every single day

What’s his favorite color? Don’t know you never asked him that. You’re always talking to him yet you never asked him what his favorite color is? Correct.

My bro is poor af and so are you so both of you have little to no merch

Unless it’s Christmas or your birthday you ain’t getting shit

Sorry not sorry

He’ll try to draw you the mystical elf but it turns out looking like a blob with leaves on it

You guys are always talking about which one is better

Neither one of you win the argument though

If you are a little violent and use that as a way to make people like your favorite card then expect him to be cheering you on… from a safe distance

You might be able to fight but he sure as hell can’t

“Go baby! You can do this!”

“Why don’t you come over here and help me why don’t ya!?”

“Didn’t you say you were independent!? Why do you be needin’ me!”

“2 is better than 1!”

“So?? Since when did you care!”

“Since now! Your over there tryin’ to act slick by leaning against that wall like you’re the one that is beating up these people meanwhile I’m over here working my ass off!”

“I’m not just ‘lEaNiNg AgAiNsT tHe WaLl’ I’m cheering you on too!”

“Yeah from 30ft away! Joey get your ass over here and help!”

“They’ll win!”

“You know they said that they found the Red-eyes Black Dragon useless.”

“Count me in!”

Seto Kaiba

Bro definitely acts like he doesn’t care

And it’s true-

Bro could not give a single f whether or no you like a card or not

I mean he definitely doesn’t constantly buy you things related to the Mystical elf

It doesn’t matter how expensive it is

If it looks nice then it’s yours

In Kaiba corp he has a whole room dedicated to the merch that he bought you and you couldn’t fit it in your house

He be buying so much it’s as if he’s the one in love with her

He’s not obsessed with her though, he’s obsessed with you

Not that he would ever tell you that

Not to mention the stuff that Mokuba gets for you

Dating Seto is like a two in one package

You get a boyfriend and a loving younger brother

Seto will subtly tell Mokuba what you would like and Mokuba will make/draw it for you

Sweetest boy alive oh my Lordy

Seto acts like he’s annoyed by your rants but honestly he doesn’t really care

He actually loves them

You usually sit in a spiny chair while he sits in his office chair, working, and you just talk about your day

And the mystical elf card of course

He will always tell you when you repeated a story

“Ok so the other day I was out, just walking around you know? Then all of a sudden I saw this guy in the alleyway and- ”

“You told me this already.”

“Oh right! Well there was also this time where I was at the mall and-”

“I was with you.”

“Oh. Well how about this one time where these two guys were trying to gang up on me because I ‘insulted their favorite cards’ by saying that mine was better-”

“You pressed the alert button on your watch that day and my guards took care of that.”

“Oh haha! I forgot!”

“I can tell. Why don’t you tell Mokuba about your day? He was asking how you were today. I’m sure he would enjoy seeing you.”

“Ok I will! I have a couple things to give him anyways! Bye Seto!”

“Be a little more quiet will you, please.”

“Oh sorry.”

[iamtheoneandonlyever]

2, 6, 23, 34, 63, and 69 (noice)

for the questions game thingy

HI ANON TY FOR SENDING THIS!!

2. Who did you say your last "i love you" to?

Definitely @totheidiot before i went to sleep, a couple days ago. HI ARI :D

6. How do you want to die?

OH I LOVE THIS ONE! okay so i know most people want to die in their sleep or painlessly, and i want to die peacefully too, but i just want to know that im dying when im dying, bc i dont want to die thinking i have another day yknow? Really want to revisit my favorite memories and such right before i die

23. Do you have piercings? How many?

I do not have piercings! Sorry to dissapoint you anon lol <3

34. Who/what was your last dream about?

I only half remember my dream from last night so I'll tell you abt the one i vividly remember (dw its recent) so there were some terrorists at a school where my schoolmates gave an exam? It wasnt our own school tho. Anyway, it was nighttime and there was shooting everywhere, so later, me, some other people, the principal, mike wheeler, a guy from a show i watched with my parents, we all go to the terrorist leader and he asks us for 5 million, but the principal says NO we will gove you 5 billion :D bc apparently there were a billion people on campus so everyone just had to give 5 bucks lmao. Its one of my favorite dreams

63. Would you change your name?

Yes, actually. You see, my name has never truly felt like my own. And also its a religious name while i myself am atheist so thats a big *nervous laughter* right there. I do already have a chosen name (Jay) but i dont know if i will ever legally change my name 🤔

69. (Noice) Do you believe in soulmates?

I do not! I think that you cant just have someone who is ✨️the perfect person for you✨️ because the perfect person for you is the person you have a very strong bond with, and you cant just do that with everyone. But now that im typing this, i guess i have two answers, no, if its pre-destined for two people to be soulmates, and yes, if you choose your soulmate, as in you establish a bond strong enough that nothing can pull you apart :D

TYSM AGAIN ANON FOR SENDING ME THIS, IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!

[hxlyhoax]

Labyrinth

Steve Harrington x Reader

Pre - Season 3

warning(s): short mention of stancy , reader having some balls and asking Steve out on a date <33 , I think that’s it ? If I need to add more let me know!

@m-rae23

━━━━━ © hxlyhoax 2022 do not steal, post on third party sites or translate my work. I do not own the rights to Stranger Things or any of the canon characters mentioned.

He sighed, staring into space. For so long he believed he was in love with Nancy Wheeler, thought he’d never be able to get over her. Well, he was wrong, so totally wrong.

He had been majorly failing at getting dates, It was no secret he had lost his “King Steve” touch. He hated it. But, then you walked into the small ice cream parlor. He straightened up upon seeing you, eyes going wide. ‘You were new’ he thought to himself, not remembering the endless classes you both shared over the years.

“Steve?” you questioned, head tilted to the side. “Uh—”

“Yn.” you chuckled, shaking your head, not noticing the small smile that appeared on his face. “Right, Yn.” he pointed at you, then to himself, “Steve.”

“I know.” you giggled, staring at him, sharing the smile he wore. “Right… I’m sorry… What would you li—”

“Uh-Uh, give them the speech, Harrington.” Robin interpreted from the back room, standing behind the now open window. “Robin, please.” he muttered, “What speech ?” you smiled, placing your hands on the counter, raising an eyebrow.

He shook his head, blushing and looking down in embarrassment. Why was he like this with you? He couldn’t tell, but he knew for sure he didn’t want to give his usual saying when girls walked in.

“Awe, come on, Harrington.” you pouted, giving him puppy dog eyes. “I promise I won’t laugh.” you smiled, reaching your hand out for his. “Unless, it’s that embarrassing for you. Then, we can drop it.”

He slowly looked up at you, eyes holding something you couldn’t quite point out. “It wouldn’t work out, I saw you come in.”

“Would you like me to walk in again?” you chuckled, “You’re not letting this go are you?”

You just simply shrugged, slowly walking backwards, doing the shoulder shake he was know for. “I like them.” Robin whispered, looking at Steve, who only stared at her blankly.

You walked up to the counter again, tapping your fingers gently, while the boy in the sailor hat turned around, blushing, “Ahoy There! Didn’t see you there! Would you like to set sail on this ocean of flavor with me? I’ll be captain. Steve Harrington.” he coughed, looking around after he finished. “That was cute.”

“You think so?” Steve asked, eyes brightening up, smiling widely. “Yeah.” you smiled, “And i’d take (your favorite flavor, lmao)”

Steve smiled, grabbing a cone then scooping the flavor of ice cream you chose, handing it to you soon after. “It’s on me.” he shook his head as you reached for your money. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” he smiled, nodding, staring in your eyes, watching as squinted, tilting your head to the side. “Fine, but only one condition.”

The boy in front of you raised an eyebrow, “What’s this condition?” he questioned, barely noticing the group of kids walking in.

“We go on a date.”

Max’s mouth dropped, Lucas froze, Mike held a look of what could only be taken as astonishment, Will just kind of stood there not understanding the others reactions. 

“Oh- Uhm, Yeah. I’d love that.” Steve nodded, almost too fast. “When?”

“When do you get off?”

“Right now” Robin answered, jumping through the window. “N—”

“Right. Now.” Robin gave the older boy a look, making him nod again, looking back to you. “Right now.” he smiled, “Heard The Goonies was good” he bit his lip, looking behind you at the kids, then back to you. “So did I.” you chuckled, “I need to change” he pointed to back, “Give me five.”

“Take your time.” you chuckled, sitting down at one of the booths, barely over hearing Lucas mutter, “Dustin isn’t going to believe this.”

[klesek]

novem-bur day 25: amogus. fwiatc edition! me when the uh. when the impostor is sus haha anyways words r lyrics from "scapegoat" by ghost and pals and uhhh. dont ask why the guy from among us is like the angstiest bur in fwiatc but also im going to tell you anyways (under the cut !)

prompt list

fwiatc link

um. so this is imp (short for 'impostor') and [REDACTED] (he has a name but its not revealed yet because he. hasnt talked to anyone but imp in the fic yet unless you count when editor saw him which i absolutely dont. anyways) and theyre the burs from among us ! yes burs plural . bc imp is the Impostor and [REDACTED] is the Crewmate and i made among us worldbuilding bc i love science fiction a normal amount. so basically "impostors" (thats what humans call them), aka what imp is, are a 'hostile' alien species who 'possess' and kill other intelligent species, mostly on cargo ships ! the reason for this is. not yet revealed in fwiatc technically but one can kind of draw conclusions. but the main driving factor is what you see in the background of this art- a star getting sucked into a black hole. yes thats a black hole In my defense no one really knows what they look like ! anyways the 'impostors' are shape-shifting alien parasitoids who infect and take over a host in order to Do Their Job. and originally imp was supposed to be like a straight-up antagonist whos like rly bad and a murderer etcetc and he Is a murderer he kills [REDACTED] (different guy. spoilers lmao) but i made myself emotional over him and now hes just a silly little guy with a million identity crises because i said so!

uhh TLDR i made among us backstory, got attached to the murderer i made, and now imp and [REDACTED] are two of my favorite burs. i love them and i need to run them over with an 18-wheeler

[melandrops]

20 Questions Writer Ask Game

Inspired by @thesymphonytrue

How many works do you have on ao3?

18

What's your total ao3 wordcount?

209,022

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

In published works I have 5:

DSMP/RPF (I count them as the same fandom even though they are tagged differently in my works)

Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse

Stranger Things

Legend of Zelda (BOTW/TOTK)

White Collar

I have wips in probably 2 or three other fandoms including Shadow and Bone, Purple Hyacinth and The Magnus Archives

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Hey Lover (Pavitr/Hobie)

Three Rings (Karlnapity)

I'm not a praying man (but I'll kneel to that) (Pavitr/Hobie)

Dancing Barefoot (Robin Buckley/Nancy Wheeler)

We're Sleeping Together (Dnf)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Very rarely to be honest. If it's a mutual or someone I know or they give a comment that I think warrants a response (request, questions, etc) then I respond. Otherwise, I never know what to say and how to thank them for commenting without sounding like an automated message lmao. But if you have commented on my fics trust me I have happy screamed about you <3

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Love Causes Trouble. 60s/70s era dnf where george gets killed at the end. Very tragic I think.

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the wildest one you've ever written?

Nah, no crossovers. I do have a hunger games/spiderverse idea, but I'm not sure if it will come to fruition.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

No, god bless. Which is a little surprising sometimes considering the amount of rpf I've written lmao. But my dsmp writing was never that popular so I should count my blessings.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Sure. I prefer quick and easy fade to blacks which I've done before, but occasionally I write smut.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but I would be open to the idea. It would have to be a long fic if I did that.

What's your all time favorite ship?

Oh god. I've never written for it but ngl wolfstar has a soft spot in my heart. But there are so many and for the sake of not providing a documented list of everyone I've shipped before I'll leave it at that.

What's a WIP you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

My Purple Hyacinth fic. I love it so far, but I just got so burnt out in the middle of working on it. And I have trouble picking up fics when I haven't touched them in too long. I still have it outlined and probably like 1/3 of the way done. So I'm holding out a sliver of hope. But realistically, I probably won't finish it.

What are your writing strengths?

Uhhh no idea. Over the years I've definitely seen a lot of improvement in my descriptive style. Showing, not telling. And I think I've gotten a lot better at making my writing compelling. The first time someone told me that my writing made them cry I also cried.

What are you writing weaknesses?

So much. 😭 I find that dialogue often runs away from me and I get sidetracked, or it sounds clunky and unnatural. Also characterization. I tend to want to make my characters 1 million percent soft and huggable and forgetting that they are quite flawed. Also plot. I can write out a series of vignettes like nobody's business but an actual plot is hard. I've only written something with a genuine plot a few times, and only one of those got published.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

It's why I didn't include any of Pavitr speaking in Indian associated languages. I don't want to do a bad job on it, and would be too nervous about accidentally appropriating someone's culture. Or just generally making an ass out of myself by writing something silly. Maybe something to work on?

What was the first fandom you ever wrote for?

Wrote and published? Dsmp. That fic has been deleted (it's for the best) but my first fic on my profile is still a dsmp work. Unpublished, my first fanfiction was probably for the Lunar Chronicles. Specifically Cress and Thorne.

What's your favorite fic you've ever written?

Love Causes Trouble

It is not the most popular of my fics by a long shot, but it's one of my favorites. If I went back and rewrote it there are a lot of things I would change about it. A lot. It's very imperfect but I'm just such a slut for 60s/70s queer love, for artists and writers falling in love and for tragic endings. A bit kill your gays, but I'm at peace with that.

If not for you (I couldn't get off this floor)

I also like this one because it has a few personal ties to me and because it got such a good reception. I got so many comments saying that this helped them process their grief or it was really cathartic to read so it means a lot to me.

I'm tagging a few people but please feel free to continue the game, even if I didn't tag you.

@avi17 @maybeebeee @wulfspyd3r @sunkraken

[dontcallmeeds]

Since i have that one post still getting notes about my queer Nancy Wheeler takes lets breakdown the library scene!!! I know its been done but by a previously identified lesbian (now queer transman as I’ve always been) who grew up in a small town with adhd/asd who is a full blown Robin kinnie (but also understands Nancy pretty gd well)??? HEHEHEHE LETS GO!!!!

And when I say break it DOWN I mean BREAK IT THE FUCK DOWN!!!

When Robin goes with Nancy, Nancy seems to agree with her about the whole “oh you think we NEED you” man shit. But then she’s annoyed with her when they get to the library, we can take that as her also being annoying in the car and being into Steve still. But for the sake of this argument, what if Nancy realized she has a bit of a crush on her in the car. She’s passionate like Nancy, doesn’t matter if it’s in a different way, she’s fucking passionate and strongly opinionated. Like Nancy.

“Did I come off mean or condescending or something?” Robin and me are the same here, I’m horribly honest and I apologize constantly because its not that blunt honesty allistics say that they have, its genuine honesty. But when has Nance HAD THAT?! EVER?! Oh wait……..BARB. Yeah it’s always gonna go back to Barb. Barbara had GENUINE honesty and everyone else has lied to Nancy in some way and she’s also lied to people, so she doesn’t think Robin is seriously being truthful!!! She thinks she is being mean and condescending and its goddamn crushing her.

Okay the basement scene is most telling. Nancy is embarrassed she dragged Robin down there. Yes “nothing new” is fucking annoyed, she’s annoyed at herself. Imagine if Steve had gone with her and been in that scene. Now I love Steve, he’s my favorite character, but that would’ve been such a bad scene. She would’ve internalized her shit because Steve isn’t very book smart (i hate the whole Steve is dumb agenda as his number one fan, but he is smart and useful in OTHER ways). Robin fucking is. She’s goddamn brilliant like Nancy and I will die on that hill.

“I don’t know okay? It’s starting to seem like a big waste of time” dude she’s so pissed off at herself. That’s internal, not Robin annoyance. She’s mad she followed her journalistic instinct from the Wayne conversation and dragged someone else, specially Robin, into her hunch. Even though she ends up being the one who is most important in this path!!!

My FAVORITE piece of this scene is “you’re obviously bored, why don’t you call Steve?” The venom in her voice is not heterosexual. It feels like “why don’t you go call your fucking man” internalized shit because (more Barb shit) SHE LEFT BARB DOWNSTAIRS FOR STEVE!!! Broooooo pls your lesbian is showing, that jealousy is only jealousy I’ve seen in myself and other queer people who like women and are jealous of their fucking boyfriends. That level of jealousy was NOT “thats my ex and you’re dating him”. Her facial expressions are sooo fucking reminiscent of her brother’s here in the Rink-O-Mania scene :)))). Queer sibling shit its fine!!

Robin’s goddamn adhd is what fucks this whole thing up much like me being audhd fucks up many of my flirtationships (I’m not saying Robin isn’t audhd but this fandom is…a lot, mostly on twitter and tiktok but still). She mistakes Nancy’s upset with still having feelings for Steve. And I JUST saw a parallel between Nancy and Mike Wheeler that BLEW MY MIND. Someone said “the facial expressions between the six nuggets fantasy is with you convo and the surfer boy pizza convo look like they were going to hurt the other person’s feelings and then got interrupted”. Yup. Yeah YUP!!! I do not believe for a second Nancy still has Steve feelings. I think her fucking comphet was trying to play her for a fool when he took off his shirt in the lake. And Robin wants to be supportive so she gives Nancy that one look. ROBIN YOU GD IDIOT SHE WANTS YOU BRO!!!!

“You do know me and Steve are totally not a thing right?” “WHAT?!” Oh that speaks for its self Miss Wheeler LMAOOOO. It feels like for a moment Nancy realizes how dumb she’s being, that reaction wasn’t her guarding herself anymore. I think in the back of her mind she knows Robin is a lesbian. You can catch her absolutely feral and entertained smile when they pan to Robin coming down the stairs. Like BRO SHE THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY. Like “of course Steve isn’t with you, dummy, you’re too hot and gay”.

“You’re like one of those unstoppable power couples” NANCY’S EXPRESSION TO THIS SAYS EVERYTHING I NEED TO FUCKING KNOW!!!!!!! I DON’T EVEN NEED TO EXPLAIN MYSELF HERE!!!! SHE WAS SO ANNOYED WITH THAT, SHE DOESN’T THINK SHE BELONGS WITH HIM AND ITS NOT BC OF STEVE LMAO.

But then the first “platonic with a capital P” we get from Robin…it started to feel like Robin realizes maybe subconsciously what is going on. Its softer. Its not very wingman of her at that point. It feels like “hey the door is wide open”. And how Nancy looks up from her searching but then flashes her that weird smile. Like “yeah okay I guess”.

“In case thats adding any tension between us” yall…..I’ve said this to girls I thought were straight and got that same weird crunched face look Nancy does because it was like a “you goddamn idiot the tension is because i wanna kiss you”. “It wasn’t” further proves my point, like Robin, the tension is because she wanna hit.

I want to tattoo the last look Nancy gives Robin on my body before they cut to them reeling The Weekly Watcher onto the machines, she thinks Robin is a goddamn genius and wants to kiss her on the mouth.

Nancy literally has to walk away when they make eye contact, same bestie.

Okay then the journalist possesses Nancy’s body when she realizes Robin isn’t mocking her so thats it for me reading into this. But Jesus Christ dude. If you watch Natalia’s interviews often like I do, dude that woman is OBSESSED with the queer ships of the show. Other actors have played their characters queer when its not scripted and we KNOW Natalia is gunning for a Ronance kiss. She’s Ronance’s biggest fan. She’s also a vocal Stonathan supporter which may not mean she doesn’t support Jancy, but she got so bored the last time someone asked her about the love triangle. And while I love Megan Thee Stallion and her love of ST…I was like girl do you watch the interviews??? LMAO.

I am becoming a bigger Ronance supporter than I am of my other ships which is BAFFLING. But I DO NOT THINK NANCY WHEELER IS STRAIGHT. I’m starting to fully FULLY believe she’s a lesbian not even gd bi dude.

[arc-of-smiles]

Do you have any favorite shippings in Yu-Gi-Oh!? I see you have favorite characters, but I can't find anything about shippings.

hiya! idk why i never put my fave ships down. i remember when i was going to, but i never did.

well, that being said i ship a lot of things so like... yeah. i think it's bc i don't wanna name everything i ship but idk. i can't really remember the reason why. but i can tell you some of my ships! i'll just name some from each series.

dm: deathshipping (yami marik x ryou bakura), chaseshipping (tristain taylor/hiroto honda x duke devlin/ryuji otogi), puzzleshipping/blindshipping (yami yugi/atem x yugi), puppyshipping (joey wheeler/katsuya jounouchi x seto kaiba), and of course theifshipping bc they're basically canon. i also enjoy anzu/miho too... bc miho deserves love. again, this isn't all of my ships, if you're curious i'm like... hella into deathshipping LMAO.

gx: rivialshipping gx (jaden/judai x chazz/jun), idolshipping (fubuki/atticus x zane/ryo), kenzan/shou, jim/jun, medici/samejima, johan/edo. i love johan/edo so much, i loved them for YEARS. since i was a child. jim/jun is one of my new fave ships, i think they would be funny and cute <3. idolshipping on top (imo), i loooove fubuki/ryo, i want them to be HAPPY.

5ds: crow/aki, yusei/aki, jack/carly, yusei/kiryu, yusei/bruno, harald/brave/dragan. when i was younger i was super into bruno/kiryu but not so much now. i think they're still cute! but i'm not as into them as now. i swear to god i had more 5ds pairings but i haven't seen it in a bit so my mind is a bit hazy. carly/misty lived in my mind rent free when i was a kid too. i thought they were great. again, i can't think of anything lmao.

zexal: HELLSHARK, i fucking love hellshark. they've been my fave since i was a child and god they make me insane. yuma/astral, mizael/durbe, rio/kotori, iii/gilag, v/kaito, alito/vector. i love ewjhfbwe yuma/astral, they make me wanna cryyyy. and and wejhfbwe mizael/durbe??? I LOVE THEM, but damn hellshark makes me so fucking insane (iv/ryoga)

arc-v: reiji/yuya, yugo/rin, yuto/shun, yuzu/masumi, dennis/yuri, yuto/ruri, dennis/shun, shun/kaito, sawatari/gongenzaka, yuya/sawatari, reiji/sawatari, reiji/yuya/sawatari, crow/shinji, wjehfbwe. i'm super mentally ill abt dennyuri + reiji/yuya JHBWEFBHWE. and in general, shun ships too. like i love shun so much wejhfwe. yuzu/masumi was actually my first arc-v ship!!! so they're still very dear to me <3 <3.

crossover: the ONLY one i'm not embarrassed abt sharing is bruno/jun. i love them so much, like i'm not even joking. they make me SO very happy. yes, it's very random and "crackship" BUT I DON'T CARE I LOVE THEM!!!!! and yes, i do have more crossover ships but wejfhbwe i am shy to share LMAO.

DISCLAIMER: i am a multishipper, and these are like... not all of my ships. basically: if i think they look cute/good/have enough chemistry (or brainrot potential) together, i will most likely ship it. i think multishipping fun and it's fun to see a bunch of couples <3.

so i hope this answers your question!!!

[dxncingwithastrxnger]

i want something just like this (Mileven)

A/N: Day 2 of Mileven week has arrived!!!! Guys, this story is my fluffiest yet and I also think it’s my best and favorite so far, I literally love it so much. Also, apparently I have a thing for domestic Mileven going on right now, so that’s fun, lmao. I hope you guys enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed writing it!!!! I’ve always been fascinated by the “main fanfic character dreams about original storyline/timeline” trope, tbh, so I was super excited to use it in here. (Spoiler alert, I guess? It’s mentioned like once, so it’s not a super big focus technically, lmao)

Pairing: Mike Wheeler x El Hopper

Summary: Have you ever dreamt up a story so compelling that you just had to share it? Such deep lore that you knew you couldn’t just let it disappear into your subconscious? Something so complete and deep that apart of you thinks that it must be apart of some other life, some other world, some other place that is not the one you’re currently in? What was it like?

Prompt: Day 2 - Stories

Tags: Fluff, soooo much fluff, guys. Absolute teeth-rotting fluff. Annndddd, lots of dialogue to make up for yesterday’s lack of dialogue 😂

Song Inspiration: Something Just Like This By The Chainsmokers + Coldplay

Word Count: 2,386

Not beta’d, all mistakes are my own.

[Day 1] [Day 2] [Day 3] [Day 4] [Day 5] [Day 6] [Day 7] || [Series Masterlist]

[Read on Quotev]

[Read on AO3]

[Read on Wattpad]

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"Daddy, daddy, can you read to me again tonight?" Daisy asks her dad hopefully. Mike smiles at his daughter. They had read stories to her when she was younger, but she had insisted they stopped doing so, that she didn't need nor want them anymore. But recently, she's wanted her stories back again, and Mike and El are very happy to oblige.

"Of course, pumpkin, what story do you wanna read tonight?" He asked her, walking over to her little blue bookshelf in the corner of the room.

"I wanna read chapter 3!!" She tells him excitedly. Mike chuckles and nods his head, grabbing the paperback book laying on top of her shelves and walking back over to Daisy's bed, sitting on it next to her and leaning back against the headboard. Daisy snuggles up to his side and leans her head on his arm, watching and waiting for him to start. Mike wraps an arm around her and opens the book, flipping through the pages until he finds the beginning of the third chapter. He clears his throat and begins.

"Mike was entirely intrigued by El. There was just something about her. Something he couldn't quite explain just yet. But he was completely determined to figure it out. It was like whatever it was, was right on the edge of his mine but it wasn't really in the spotlight yet. Like it was making a slow crawl from his subconscious mind to his conscious mind. Maybe today would help him bring it all the way over. For now, he just had to focus on the task at hand, his current plans for the morning. 1.) Eat breakfast. 2.) Go down and give El breakfast. 3.) Have El go ahead with the plan he came up with last night. Once that was all done, maybe then he could focus more on other things.

He goes downstairs after getting ready for the day and takes not just two, but three waffles out of the box, once he's checked that no one else is looking. He waits for them to toast and then quickly shoves one of them into his jacket pocket, putting the other two on a plate and taking them to the kitchen table, sitting down beside his sister Nancy as he does so. He starts eating his food quickly, wanting to make sure he had the few extra minutes needed to go downstairs to El.

"Slow down, Mike, that's disgusting!" His sister complains from beside him.

Mike rolls his eyes, then gets an idea. "Did you get a lot of studying done last night?" He asks sarcastically, his mouth still full of food as he turns to look at her-"

"Why didn't he at least swallow his food first? That's gross. Boys are gross." Daisy complains from beside him.

Mike chuckles. "What, even your brothers?" He asks her, knowing that she absolutely adores her two younger siblings.

Daisy sighs. "I guess they're not as gross as other boys." She says, acting aloof.

Mike shakes his head at her fondly and continues reading right where he left off.

"Yeah, actually, I did." Nancy tells Mike matter-of-factly.

"What was your test on again?" Mike asks, tilting his head to the side as if in thought. "Human anatomy?" He asks her. Nancy gasps, offended and annoyed, and aims a kick at Mike under the table. Mike returns her annoyance and kicks her back.

"Hey, what's going on!?" Their mother asks them.

"Nothing!" Both of them say at the same time. Their mother just sighs at them and continues what she was previously doing. After that, MIke just finishes up his breakfast, puts his plate in the sink, and rushes to get downstairs. When he gets down there, he sees El awake and fiddling with his supercomm.

"Oh, hey, you found my supercomm. Pretty cool, huh? I talk to my friends with it. Mostly Lucas 'cause he lives so close. Signal's pretty weak." He tells her. She looks at him but doesn't say anything, so he continues. "I brought you breakfast." He tells her, pulling the waffle out of his pocket and holding it out to her. She takes it tentatively and begins to eat it."

Mike's next words are cut off before they can even start by another interruption from Daisy.

"Why does Mike get two waffles but El only gets one?" She asks him, looking up at her dad.

Mike tilts his head to the side, thinking for a moment, before looking back down at her. "I'm actually not sure about that, pumpkin. Maybe he couldn't take too many from the box so he only thought one would be best." He suggests. He himself wasn't even sure why it was a thing. He just knows that it's exactly how things happened in his dream, so he put it on paper the same way. It never occurred to him that it was a little random. It was more of something a child would pay more attention to than an adult, in a way.

Daisy lips turned down in a pout. "I don't think that's very fair. El should've gotten two waffles." She insists.

Mike chuckles and kisses the top of her head. "I guess you're right. I'll keep that in mind for next time." He tells her.

"Good." She says, nodding to herself as she turns back to the book in Mike's hands.

"So listen," Mike started again. "This is gonna sound a little weird, but I just need you to go out there." He pointed towards the basement door leading out into the yard and El followed his gaze before looking back at him as he continued. "Then go to the front door and ring the doorbell. My mom will answer and you'll tell her that you're lost and that you need help. But whatever you do, you can't tell her about last night or that you know me. Understand?" He asked, hoping El would get what he meant. She gave him a strange look and he tried to reassure her. "Really, it's no big deal. We'll just pretend to meet each other again. And my mom, she'll know who to call." He told her.

"No." El speaks the word that seemed to be one of the only ones she actually knew.

"No?" Mike questions her, confused.

"No." She repeats without hesitation.

"No you don't want my mom to get help?" He asks El, starting to realize that there was something more going on with this girl than he originally thought. "You're in trouble, aren't you? Who-who are you in trouble with?" He stutters, uncertain now.

"Bad." She tells him, leaving him to more interpretation.

"Bad? Bad people? They want to hurt you? The bad people?" He asks, his anxiety rising higher with each question out of his mouth. He wasn't sure why, it was more of that unexplained thing he keeps feeling with El, but the thought of someone trying to hurt El didn't sit right with Mike at all. It made him feel scared, but also angry. It wasn't a feeling that he enjoyed at all.

El reached a hand up and held out two of her fingers pressed together with her thumb sticking up, pointing it in the direction of her own head. Like a gun, Mike realized. Like someone was pointing a gun at her head. She then reached out and made the same gesture but pointing at the middle of Mike's chest this time. Then, she put her hand back down in her lap. "Understand?" She asked him quietly.

Mike nodded, swallowing. But before he could respond to her outloud, his mom called for him from upstairs. "Michael, where are you? We're going to be late. Let's go!" She tells him.

Mike quickly starts getting up, a plan already forming in his mind. "All right, I'll be back. Just stay here, okay? Stay here!" He says to El urgently, suddenly filled with a strange fear that she would decide to leave once he left the room. But El just stared at him as he stood back up, not seeming to have any plans to go anywhere else, and so Mike turned around and quickly ran up the stairs, out of El's sight."

Mike continues to read to Daisy until they've finished the entire chapter, ending off right as El promises Mike that she's okay when he finally lets her out of the closet. Mike closes the book and sets it on her nightstand, getting up and tucking her in all the way with a promise to continue the story tomorrow night. He turns off her main light and flicks on her fairy lights, closing the door behind him as he leaves the room.

He sighs softly, a smile on his face, as he walks down the hallway towards the twins' room. Since Daisy was in school, she had a more set sleep schedule. Her 3-year-old brothers, however, do not. Though it's not for lack of trying. Last he'd seen El and the boys, they were in their room cleaning up their toys from that day's play and activities. Usually once Daisy's in bed, they try their best to get their boys settled down at the very least to just do some coloring or watch a movie or two so that they're not running around while their sister is trying to sleep and they usually get to sleep easier that way.

Mike pushes the cracked bedroom door open the rest of the way gently, careful not to make too much noise in case the boys are already asleep, taking in the dark of the room. When the door no longer obstructs his vision, his face softens into an expression filled with love and affection. His wife is sitting in the middle of Jackson's bed, one hand holding a tablet that seems to be playing a movie while the other hand rests on her stomach. On either side of her are their two sons, Jackson on her right and Henry on her left, and both of them are asleep, soft snores leaving them as they lean against their mother's arms.

El looks up as Mike enters the room and she smiles brightly at him, absolutely glowing. "Hey." She whispers in greeting.

"Hey." Mike whispers back, returning her smile as he walks over to stand beside the bed.

El giggles softly as she pauses the movie playing on the tablet. "They both fell asleep right around when Merida's mother first turned into a bear." She tells him, turning the screen to show the movie on the screen, Brave.

"Oh, sleepy little boys tonight." He says, surprised.

"Apparently so." She replies. She looks up at him. "Mind helping me out of this trap they've created?" She jokes.

Mike laughs softly and nods. "Why of course, I'll get right on that." He tells her, reaching down and gently pushing his arms under Henry's back and knees, picking him up as best he can without disturbing him too much. He turns and gently lays Henry in his own bed, pulling the blanket up over him. Henry snuggles into his bed, sighing in his sleep and then laying still again. Mike leans down and kisses his temple gently before turning back towards Jackson's bed. El has now gotten up and the two of them switch places, El kissing Henry's temple while Mike kisses Jackson's.

As Mike stands up, El grabs his hand and intertwines their fingers together and heads towards the door, Mike following her lead as they leave the room and close it gently behind them.They walk down the hallway together in silence, heading towards their bedroom to settle in for the night. Once in their bedroom, El flicks on the lights and Mike walks over to their dresser to get out his pajamas for the night, humming softly to himself as he does so.

"Do you think she'll like it here?" El asks him softly. Mike turns around and sees her standing in front of their full length mirror, having taken her shirt off.

He walks over to her and gently wraps his arms around her from behind, his hands resting on her stomach. Her hands automatically come up to settle over hers and she leans back against him, Mike's chin on her shoulder. He meets El's eyes in the mirror. "I think she's going to absolutely love it here." He looks down at El's stomach. "Isn't that right, Anabelle?" Right as he asks his question, there's a strong kick from the inside of El's abdomen, and El gasps.

Mike laughs and presses his face into the side of El's. "See, she even agrees with me." Mike says matter-of-factly. He was beaming, grinning from ear to ear, and he knew that El was doing the same.

"You're such a dork." She says. "Both of you are, I just know it." She teases, rubbing at the spot that the kick came from.

Mike snorts. "She is my child after all. If not, we would have some serious problems." He retorts.

El playfully smacks his arm lightly, laughing. "Oh hush, you know she's yours." She tells him. Mike just chuckles in response. They stay like that for awhile, just holding each other and their unborn baby, enjoying the noises of nighttime in their house in contented silence. Eventually, El leans more heavily against Mike and she turns her head to gently nuzzle her nose against Mike's cheek, Mike doing the same to her in return. Then they both turn slightly and their lips connect in a sweet, soft kiss.

"I love you." El tells Mike.

Mike closes his eyes and rests his head against hers. "I love you, too. So much." He says.

"Good." El tells him, her words full of meaning that only the two of them would truly understand. And everything was exactly as it should be.

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A/N: So what did you guys think?? Please, please let me know!!! I loved this one so much, it made my heart so happy!!!! All comments and feedback are very much appreciated!!!! Hope you’re having an incredible day/night!!!!! 💜💜💜

[the-teddy-bear-butch]

I DOUBLE DOG DARE YOU TO ANSWER ALL OF THEM OR AT LEAST 10 OF YOUR CHOICE

HA BET. I WONT REFUSE A DARE. I chose 10. Also still fangirling over the fact you like my writing BEE TEE DUBS 🥹

7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

Yes!!! While somehow may not be my favorite of my fics, I’m very proud of the world building! I wanted to put an Upside-Down twist on lycanthropy and I’m very excited to flesh that out more when I finally get back to that fic!!! I love golden retriever werewolves as much as the next person, but I wanted a spooky, slimy, Upside-Down demogorgon-y werewolf for this fic!!

8. What song would make a great fic (to either write or read)?

I have. So many. Let me just link the playlist and pick a favorite to ramble about LMAO

I’ve been thinking a LOT about “Kissaphobic” by Makeout Monday and how it could relate to Nancy “comphet” Wheeler falling for Robin and being afraid to kiss her because it makes it Real.

11. Are you partial to a certain character/pairing or are you more equal-opportunity? If you are partial to any character/pairing, why do you think that is?

I’m obviously very partial to Ronance! But! I have a special place in my heart for Buckingham and Chrickie and even Rockie (if the Duffers give Vickie an actual personality). I think Ronance to me is most appealing in part because they’ve,,, actually interacted, but! They’re both such easy characters for me to project on and write for. I love their dynamic and the push and pull between them?? They’re both intelligent women who can kill you. And you cannot tell me that Nancy, who has struggled and been looked down on as a woman in a male dominated work space, didn’t fall in love with Robin while she was ranting about crybaby Petey McHugh. Jonathan and Steve could NEVER.

15. What’s your favorite AU that you’ve written?

Maybe cheating since I’m two whole chapters in, but she will pull the trigger on you (and the trigger is of love). Allow me to be sappy for a sec, but this fic is a combination of my favorite tropes and my own little love letter to the community of mutuals I’ve been accepted into here on Tumblr. I’m taking all our shared headcanons and common tropes and trying to pack it into one story. It will probably be literally Insane™️ but that’s half the fun of it! And the excuse to write enemies to lovers and SLOW BURN TENSION OH BOY. The inherent homoeroticism of being hunted by a monster hunter!!! BANTER!!! And I just. I just fucking love werewolves okay.

30. Have you ever written something that was out of your comfort zone? If so, what was it, and how did it affect your approach to writing fic thereafter?

Yep. I have written one (1) smut fic. That was?? It wasn’t terrible, I just have NO IDEA what I’m doing and the pacing felt weird and I’ll be the first to admit that I am getting over being kind of a prude LMAO

38. Did any of your fics get surprisingly popular (whatever that means to you)? Which ones? Why do you think they were so successful?

Definitely! run away (crying to your soul) was my FIRST fic ever, and it’s not even finished, and it’s right on the cusp of like,,, 10k hits? It’s not my best writing, it’s absolute crack, the pacing is Wrong, the dynamics are a little meh, I know I can do better!! But!! It is still my first fic, so I’m proud of it for that! I’m just surprised it got as popular as it did ajskskksks. I’d guess it’s honestly mostly due to the fact that it’s pretty lengthy and when I started it WAS updating very quickly. Idk man, it’s a fever dream.

41. Link a fic that made you think, “Wow, I want to write like that.”

HEY DON’T MIND ME LINKING ONE OF YOURS BUT,,, a never ending story is just… Wow. You can TELL when a writer has experience in poetry and I will lose my mind every goddamn time. I’ve never been good with poetry and I will always be jealous of writers who are able to pull from that to write some of the most heart wrenching prose you’ve ever read. Another really good example is anything by @sapphicriley / khalasaar!!!

43. If you take/write prompts: what’s your favorite prompt fic that you’ve written?

This one isn’t on AO3! I had an angst prompt that I was actually really proud of where Robin and Nancy have an argument, within the SSMH au! Link here!

48. What’s the last fic you read? Do you recommend it?

I already mentioned it on 41, and obviously YES. But before that, amongst the rubble and stone by signsoflight. And yes again!! I LOVE outsider POV fics, it’s such an interesting way to examine characters we love and the worlds they inhabit!! This fic does an excellent job of that without the main character being a huge focus! And I just love Nancy Wheeler! Sue me!

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

I have like 6 recently started WIPs RIP. But! The one I’m most excited for right now is a Christmas fluff fic based off a prompt by @gaymessallday ! (I know it’s November but I’m slow and I want to post it around Christmas ahskskskks)

Essentially, Robin and Nancy are strangers on the same flight, get stranded due to snow, and end up stuck in the same hotel room for a couple of days

Boarding the rest of the plane took ages, but Nancy resolved herself to listening to her music and making a game—counting every person in a Christmas shirt—in her head to ease any pre-flight anxiety. A couple in matching reindeer tees. A child in a snowman sweater. A grandfather with an inappropriate Santa joke.

She counted twenty seven by the time the line ended. The seat beside her was empty, and Nancy breathed a sigh of relief—

Too soon.

Twenty eight, a gangly girl with honey hair and the ugliest Christmas sweater Nancy had ever seen scrambled down the aisle. She was apologizing profusely for being late, all the way to her seat—right beside Nancy.

“Hey, sorry, don’t mind if I just scooch in here,” the stranger said, grinning, something lopsided. Nancy gave her a thin lipped smile.

“Window seat, huh? I love watching the cities go by,” the girl continued, buckling in. The safety spiel had begun, but the stranger did not stop. “Of course, I’m not trying to get you to move! The aisle seat is cool too. Less crowded, easier to get up to pee mid flight!”

Nancy was beginning to wonder if this girl ever shut up.

[scionshtola]

3, 10 and 25 for the book asks!

3. What were your top five books of the year?

this is not actually in any particular order because that would be too hard but

last argument of kings by joe abercrombie

this is the last book in the first law trilogy (but not in the whole series) and imo really makes the whole trilogy worth it. it's my favorite of the three. abercrombie is fantastic at making you care about characters who are just kind of terrible people. there's a lot of political maneuvering and battles that are interesting but the characters are the main reason to read it for me.

project hail mary by andy weir

listen i thought this was just gonna be a funny little book with some action and science humor and it was all of that but it also has SO MUCH HEART. a science teacher gets sent to space to save the world and he tries to do it by becoming best friends with an alien. there's just so much love! and hope!

broken harbor by tana french

im realizing i read a lot of series lol. anyway this is the fourth book in the dublin murder squad series, about a detective very determined to stick to the rules but is confronted with a case that can't be explained by his traditional methods. a tad cliche but i thought the mystery was interesting and anyway my favorite parts were not the mystery but the budding friendship between the main character and his partner. tana french knows how to write a dynamic i'll tell you that.

the space between worlds by micaiah johnson

i know you love this book lol but probably the most fascinating premise of all the books i read this year?? a woman whose job is to travel to parallel dimensions where the parallel her has died getting sucked into a conspiracy that affects the multiverse?? with a little wlw romance thrown in on top?? perfect. to me.

leviathan falls by james s.a. corey

the last book in the expanse series! i have read 9 books with these characters, they are family to me, and they get a wonderful thematically fitting send off in this book and i already miss them so much.

10. What was your favorite new release of the year?

i only read one new release this year lol and it was i kissed shara wheeler by casey mcquiston. i was kind of nervous because i really did not like one last stop but this was less of a romance. i liked the rivalry between chloe and shara wheeler, and chloe is honestly such a little gremlin of a character that i loved her instantly.

25. What reading goals do you have for next year?

I want to finish reading the first law standalones and then the age of madness series. i also want to reread the first two the locked tomb books so i can finally read nona the ninth. and i really want to read more nonfiction, which was one of my goals this year and i read...zero lmao.

[buckleupbrochachos]

Byler/ ST V2 Theory

Ppl are definitely going to say I'm reaching- but I really want to focus on the "black-eyed Susan" which is the most relevant out of all the flowers.

The first line states the main significance/meaning is happiness and friendship.

Now we all know that Mike Wheeler didn't pick out specifically the black-eyed Susans from research about what they meant to send El a secret message that he considers their relationship a platonic friendship because El wouldn't understand and Mike sure as hell wouldn't go out of the way to find a very specific type of flower (we all know he got them at sum airport gift shop)

But we do know that the Duffers LOVE little details, and they would totally do their research for simple flower symbolism. (it's practically the most common type of subtext there is, especially in film)

The flowers aren't meant for the characters to understand, they're meant for the audience to understand.



Now, onto my favorite part about the flower symbolism- is the origin of the name.

The name for the Black-eyed Susan flower, as stated above, is derived from an 18th Century poem by the same title, written by John Gay.

The poem (in short) is about a woman (Susan/Mike) searching for her lover (William/Will) shortly after his ship docks back from war, only for him to be sent back to battle shortly after.

But if you read the first and second to last stanza- they are both obviously paralelling Mike and Will. (Susan paralelling Will, Mike paralelling William in the first stanza- vice versa in the second and last stanza )

The flower symbolism is not only hinting at El and Mike's relationship becoming platonic, and byler eventually becoming endgame but it could also be hinting at Will's new part in the supernatural plot (and him possibly getting powers)

(Now here is the poem, parralled to Will and Mike's story so far and most likely the ending)

ALL in the Downs the fleet was moor’d,  

The streamers waving in the wind, when black-eyed Susan came aboard,

‘Oh! where shall I my true love find! Tell me, ye jovial sailors, tell me true,

If my sweet William sails among the crew.

In the first stanze its obviously parraleling the airport scene, both William in the poem, and Will in ST, both reunite with their "lovers" (quotations for Will+Mike since it isnt established yet) Susan and Mike, after a long time apart. (In ST though, Mike flies across the country to reunite with Will, unlike the poem where the Will in the story sails back to Susan in their hometown.)

Now, in the poem Susan- is very estatic about seeing her lover William. Just as Will is seeing Mike again after almost not talking for 6 months. But compared to William in the poem, Mike doesn't show any affection besides an awkward side hug and a measly pat on the shoulder-( but not everything can be a perfect parralell so yall are gonna have to bear with me.)

‘Though battle call me from thy arms,   

 Let not my pretty Susan mourn;  

Though cannons roar, yet safe from harms,   

 William shall to his dear return.

Love turns aside the balls that round me fly,

Lest precious tears should drop from Susan’s eye.’

--

 The boatswain gave the dreadful word,   

 The sails their swelling bosom spread,  

No longer must she stay aboard:   

They kiss’d, she sigh’d, he hung his head;

Her lessening boat unwilling rows to land:

‘Adieu!’ she cries; and waved her lily hand.

The second and last stanza's, I'd like to believe is paralelling a possible confession scene from Will to Mike (a succesful one at least) - right before Will has to go and eventually battle against Vecna, since Will is obviously going to have an importance in the main plot in VOL. 2

(Hopefully it consists of the painting because how else will Will confess without a meaningfull gesture such as giving Mike a painting like he did with his drawings ever since they were little kids.)

Anyways, thanks for listening to me theorize. I hope I don't sound too insane lmao

All of this was written of the top of my head, so if you want to add onto anything, you can read the full poem here

[luminnara]

Just went through the Lost boys x stranger things tag and I'm IN LOOOOVEEEE!!! I LOVE IT SO FREAKING MUCH!!! THE AMOUNT OF POSSIBILITIES OMG. My mind is reeling with the boys thoughts on the party back in Hawkins. Who would is their favorite kid? Who talks to Will about his (cough gay thoughts cough)? Who would have a sass battle and nice comebacks with Max? Who spoils Dustin rotten or becomes a bad influence? Who is trying to not wrangle Mike? WHO TALKS AND GIVE SPORT ADVICE TO MY LUCAS??? WHO IS ABSOLUTELY OVER THE MOON OR FREAKED OUT ABOUT JANE/011'S POWERS??? *I need answers*

This crossover is literally THE perfect thing to me right now so I’m very glad other people like it so I don’t have to shut up about it 😂

Dwayne chills and listens to Will talk, but David is the one who’s actually helpful. He’s good at tough love because he’s an asshole, so it’s what he does for ALL of them. Like, it isn’t necessarily the best approach, but he’d sit there, take a drag, and go “so next time Mike wheeler is ignoring you, you hafta just threaten his life. It’s the only way you’ll get his attention. It’s 1986 who gives a shit anyways”

Dustin and Paul hang out. Dustin hates it at first because he’s like “this guy is a fucking idiot” but Paul has saved Dustin’s ass from surf Nazis like three times now and keeps following him around asking science questions. If the kids didn’t already know that the boys were vampires before, they’re gonna suspect that something weird is going on, because Dustin will be talking about radios or something and Paul will just go “oh lmao back in my day the gramophone was the big new thing. Progress sure is wild huh” and walk away

Of course, this also means that Paul is a terrible influence on Dustin, and when Steve rolls into town he’s SO mad about it lol

Marko and Max. Absolute pals. At first they can’t STAND each other, but after fifteen minutes of slinging insults back and forth, they realize that they’re totally on the same wavelength. Marko is like the fun older brother that Billy can’t bring himself to be, and they hang out and skate around the boardwalk and run from the cops every night.

Dwayne gives Lucas sports (and girl) advice. They play football on the beach at night and he uses the carnival games on the boardwalk as basketball practice. Even though Dwayne isn’t particularly good at either sport, he’s still a vampire, so he does pretty well lol

They are ALL trying not to throttle Mike like it’s an episode of the simpsons. They’re a group of dudes who are all sort of dating each other and don’t let anybody get in the way of that, so it’s like a very gay bros before hoes thing, except they’re both the bros AND the hoes in their situation. The point is, they would see how Mike’s relationship with El has been shoving his friendships to the side, and they wouldn’t like that. I also don’t really think they would get along with him at first, because he would make some comments that they absolutely HATE and all be asking Steve if he REALLY needs all of these kids or if he would be okay with them chomping on one

David would think el’s powers are neat. They wouldn’t freak the vampires out too much, since they can play mind tricks on humans already, and they would want to test things out and see if they can pull their usual pranks on her or not.

The frog brothers are spying the entire time and they’re SO freaked out about El. They’re calling Sam up to tell him that the government has come to Santa Carla and it’s only a matter of days before they’re all turned into lizard people

[scoops-ahoy-fics]

I have a request for dustin where they met at camp and they started dating and she is the next target of vecna and but she survives can the song for that is her favorite is party all the time by eddie murphy

party all the time || dustin henderson x reader oneshot

my girl wants to party all the time, party all the time, party all the time!

reader: gender neutral

characters: dustin henderson (minor characters: steve harrington, max mayfield, robin buckley, nancy wheeler, and lucas sinclair)

genre: a mix of heavy angst and fluff

spoiler warning?: if you haven't finished season four, do not read.

severe trigger warning: topics of death, panic attacks, and verbal abuse

notes: @pwin098 i love this prompt!! honestly i think this may be one of the best things ive ever written, im pretty mf proud of this lmao. but here you go! i really hope you enjoy! <3

As the clock chimed, you thought your heart was going to stop. You were sitting on Dustin's couch, his mom out of town for spring break. It was supposed to be a fun get together, but then Vecna started attacking. You knew all about it, you were all trying to prevent it, but you felt a bit hopeless to it all.

And when the clock chimed four times, you knew you were next.

You jumped up, looking around the room for a clock, but you didn't see one. Carefully, you opened the door to see one sitting on the front porch. You stomach sank, tears filling your eyes as they actually opened. Your mind was manipulated. Vecna was attacking.

Panic filled you from head to toe. Looking to your side, you found a worried Dustin, gently cupping your face. “Honeybun, please ... please tell me that wasn't ... you're okay, right? Please just ... please tell me you're okay ..”

You buried your head in Dustin's chest and held onto him as though your life depended on it. You were on the verge of tears, and you could hear his heartbeat. He wasn't doing so well himself. He took you to the couch and held you for a little while as he tried to figure out what was going to happen now.

Max was supposed to get attacked today, if the team's hypothesis is correct. That means you're going to be attacked tomorrow. Nancy and Robin were already interrogating Victor Kreel, and Steve, Lucas, and Max were at Max's trailer. Dustin had asked to drop you guys off at home to get some supplies.

As Steve picked you two back up and you revealed what had happened, everybody was stunned. The anxiety that had creeped in because of Max only deepened. You were next, and you were terrified.

Your mind was racing. Should you write letters like Max did? Should you start saying your final goodbyes? What would the world look like without you?

Dustin rested his hand on yours, pressing a gentle kiss onto your cheek. “Sweet pea, you're gonna be okay, I promise we're gonna get you back to normal,” he whispered into your ear, although a small part of you doubted it.

You gently laid your head on Dustin's shoulder, closing your eyes. “Whatever you say, Dusty-bun.”

The car was quiet as you all watched Max talked to Billy's grave. Until Steve knew something was wrong. Dustin grabbed the walkie talkie, screaming into it to Robin and Nance, as they screamed back. Music.

It all happened to fast, Lucas grabbing her walkman, playing Running Up That Hill. You all were crying, screaming, hoping. Terrified.

Then, she was back on the ground, wrapped in Lucas's arms. Relief cascaded among you all for the time being, there was a way out. Everything might be okay.

So you all headed back to Dustin's house, deciding to make that the hideout. It's been a long day, you needed rest. Dustin and Lucas were taking shifts watching you and Max, making sure nothing was going to happen to either of you. You stayed snuggled into Dustin's chest the whole night, hanging onto him for dear life.

Eventually, you and Dustin woke up before anyone else, aside from Lucas, who was on Max duty. Dustin gently took your hand, kissing your knuckles. “Good morning, my dearest,” he said with a goofy smile. “Wanna go upstairs? We can look through all the records and tapes in there, find something that might work for you today? If not, we can go buy something.”

You nodded gently, pressing a kiss against his cheek. “I love you so much,” you said with a soft giggle. You two went to his room, your hands intertwined as you sat on his bed.

“Let me get these records, but first!” Dustin said, planting a kiss onto your lips before happily walking over to the closet. He hauled a huge basket of records over to you, smiling happily. “Take you pick! I got quite the selection, I pride myself on liking most music,” he laughed softly, sitting beside you and watching you carefully.

You leaned against his shoulder as you looked through the records, your eyes lighting up a little bit. It was a single. Party All The Time by Eddie Murphy. You were a tiny bit embarrassed to say it, but you cleared your throat a little. “I think this one should work!”

Dustin let out a gentle laugh, not a judgemental one. “Never thought you'd be the type to like Eddie Murphy,” he teased.

Your face flushed, darkening a few shades. “Oh hush! I could out you to everyone downstairs about half of the stuff in here!” you retorted, a mischievous smile across your face.

He laughed, gently cupping your face. “It's so nice to see that gorgeous smile again,” he said happily. He kissed your lips tenderly, before pulling back and taking the record. “Alright, I'll put my record player and this ole thing in a duffle bag to carry around with us. We have to stay around an electrical outlet, no matter what we do,” he said, grabbing a bag and slipping the items into it.

Your face was as bright as could be, you loved when Dustin was romantic. It filled your stomach with butterflies, you couldn't believe you found each other. You certainly don't know what you'd do without him.

“I love you so much, Dustin. And every single thing you do for me, I appreciate it. I don't think I could ever say it enough,” you said softly, taking his hand and squeezing it.

He stared into your eyes before kissing your forehead. “Don't worry about it, sweetie. You're the love of my life, why wouldn't I do everything I can for you?”

That's when the door opened, Steve ruining the moment. Of course. “What did I say about going somewhere alone?! No! Out to the main room, now. Not takin' ANY chances here!” he said, his hands situated on his hips like an overprotective mother.

“Yes sir,” you both teased in unison, high-fiving before walking downstairs together. Soft, sweet moments like those almost make all of this worth it.

As you made it downstairs, you all decided to come up with a plan to hopefully infiltrate the upside down. With Max's information, you all learned a lot, but with each detail, you got more and more afraid. You couldn't avoid what was coming next, but you could stop it. Dustin was going to stop it, no matter what.

Gripping Dustin's hand tightly, you looked towards Max and attempted to ask questions about what you were to experience. “... was it hard to get out? Do you think ... do you think he'll try to make it harder for me to get out?”

Max looked off to the side, fiddling with the sleeve of her jacket. “I'm sorry to say it, but probably. That asshole is smart, he already knows that we figured out a way out. So he's probably got reinforcements. I'm not exactly looking forward to what he has in store for you.”

You laughed nervously, putting your head in your hands. “Oh that's absolutely fucking fantastic, am I right guys?” you groaned, your leg bouncing faster and faster until Dustin carefully rested his hand on your knee.

“Nothing's gonna happen, sweetheart. Nothing. Do you hear me? Noth-ing,” he said, attempting to make his point as clear as possible.

You stood up, tears filling your eyes. “What if it's not?! What if I die, what if my bones start cracking, and I'll never live to see the light of day again?! I won't get to see the future, I won't get to see our future! I'll be six foot deep in the fucking ground, if I can even fit into the casket, and then- then- then- ... you'd be so ... so sad, and- ... what if you don't move on? What if you just ... end up just as dead as I am? I-I can't let that happen, I-”

You broke. Your feelings were a bit more towards the surface than Max's. You were trying to hold it in, but sometimes it's healthy to break in a situation like this.

The whole room was silent aside from your sobs. Standing in the middle of the room, you held your face and attempted to wipe the tears from your face although they just kept coming. Why won't they stop?

Dustin was the first to move. He carefully stood up and rested his hand on your waist, the other taking one of your hands and intertwining your fingers. “You're strong, honey. I know you, and I know you can get out of this. You can doubt yourself all you want, but we won't. I'll try not to let you get hurt, but if you do, I'll stay right by your side. Please just ... believe me.”

The others were signalled out of the room by Steve, “Leave 'em be, let's get some breakfast.” You both shot him a thankful glance before returning to each other.

You hadn't even noticed Dustin's teary eyes. “'m sorry, I couldn't hold it in anymore ...” you buried your head into his chest, your arms right around his torso.

“I can't believe you're such a crybaby. Jeez, just fucking suck it up,” Dustin said to you, backing away. His eyes turned from a comforting gaze to a hateful glare. You never wanted anyone to look at you like that, especially not him.

“I-I'm sorry, forgive me, please- I'll be better-”

“No, I'm done with you. With everything about you. I took pity on you at camp. Who wanted to hang out with a random weirdo like you? And why would I fall in love with you? You're a fucking idiot, you know that?” he said, walking towards you and shoving his index finger into your chest. It hurt. It hurt so much, physically and mentally. Why would he say such things?

His fingers started to change, forming sharp knives that cut at your chest. You tried to run away, but you hit the back wall. Fear crawled all over your body, as his face contorted. His jaw was extended far, almost to the floor, as though it was jelly. The skin on his cheeks seemed to deteriorate, and his nose seemed to break. You hated horror movies like that, and that's when you realized.

It wasn't real. It was Vecna.

“It's okay, it's okay, you better not apologize, my dearest. Let's sit down, okay?” Dustin said with a gentle smile.

You didn't say anything.

“Honey?”

Your arms slipped off of him as he stepped back, nothing in your eyes anymore.

“Baby ... oh fuck. Oh shit! EVERYBODY GET YOUR ASS IN HERE, WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY!" Dustin screamed to the top of his lungs, his hands beginning to shake as he looked around for his duffle bag. He couldn't find it.

“What?! What is- fuck!” Steve said, looking at you before back at Dustin. “You know her favorite song, right?! Goddamnit- I didn't think it'd be this soon!”

“YES, WHERE THE FUCK IS THE DUFFLE BAG?!”

“STOP SCREAMING!” Robin yelled back, a bit confused.

“It's behind the couch! Where you put it!” Nancy said in a softer tone, rolling her eyes at Dustin's dramatics.

Dustin practically jumped over the couch, grabbing the record player and shoving it towards the wall. He plugged it in before shakily resting the record against it. He put the needle on it, looking up at you.

“Please, honey, please be strong ...” he whispered to himself, tears falling from his eyes. Everyone waited tensely, surrounding your now floating body.

You were now tied against something, but you couldn't help but look around and see Chrissy and Fred's bodies tied against similar pillars. This was your final stop. Your final chance to get out.

“It's time to go, and you ready?” Vecna said, his hand slowly making it's way above your head.

Please just play the record Dustin, please ...

“Girl, I can't understand it, why you wanna hurt me,

After all the things I've done for you.”

Vecna looked at you for a moment, trying to speed up the process. You had to get out of his grip somehow, and the portal opening in front of you gave you motivation. You slammed your head against his, Vecna falling backwards and you restraints falling to the floor.

“I buy you champagne and roses and diamonds on your finger,

Diamonds on your finger,”

You ran for it, you were terrified. You've never ran this fast in your life. Your legs moved faster than your mind, and then all of the sudden, the were swept out from beneath your feet by Vecna's tentacles.

“Still you hang out all night, what am I to do?”

You began to punch at the tentacle, trying to get it to come loose. You then remembered something. A rock was in your pocket, and a pretty sharp one too. Dustin gave it to you at camp, saying that he couldn't get you anything better, but he wanted to give you something. It was a sweet memory, one that empowered you. You grabbed it out of your pocket and attempted to hack at the tentacle.

“My girl wants to party all the time, party all the time, party all the time.

My girl wants to party all the time,

Party all the time.”

Eventually, you had cut yourself out of there, quickly pulling yourself out of the deep red ground below you and racing towards the portal. You saw Dustin, staring up at you and whispering to himself. The fear in his eyes stung in your heart, you wanted to hold him and tell him everything was okay. You had to get back to him.

“She parties all the time, party all the time,

She likes to party all the time, party all the time, party all the time.”

You practically threw yourself into the portal, almost hitting the floor before you felt Dustin's arms around you. You buried your head in his chest, sobbing harshly into it.

He held you close to his chest, pressing soft kisses against your forehead as he rubbed your back. “Take your time, sweetie, you're okay now ... nothing's gonna hurt you, not while we're around, honey ...”

“... okay Party All The Time? Really?” Steve laughed, attempting to lighten the mood.

You laughed softly, looking up at him and sniffing. “Y-Yeah, shut up! You gotta admit, it's amazing!” you laughed, basically sitting in Dustin's lap.

“Whatever you have to tell yourself. Are you alright? Do you need anything?” Steve said, sitting beside you and looking you over for any wounds.

“I think I'm okay, I just need to calm down ...” you mumbled softly, snuggling your head into Dustin's neck.

“That's my job, ladies and gentlemen!” Dustin said with a goofy smile, holding you close. You were in good hands, and you knew it. You were going to be okay, as long as Dusty-bun was around.

[lesbianrobin]

What do you think are the good and bad aspects of each season of ST?

ok 1. thank u for this question omg and 2. this answer may or may not be a mess, but either way it’s long (almost 7k words lmao) bc i’m insane, which is why it’s under a cut. it’s still by no means an exhaustive list but these are the things that just kinda came to mind.

also i realize you asked “good and bad” and i wrote this whole post as “strengths and weaknesses” which um. is not Exactly what you asked. but close enough <3 i also ended up including a lot of au ideas ksjdckmn bc like i personally hate when people say a certain plot or whatever was bad without suggesting anything that could have improved it yknow so whenever possible i tried to provide Some idea for fixing the issues i had with the show!!

season 1

strengths (this is probably gonna be the longest section but that’s because a lot of these strengths also apply to s2/s3 by default)

nostalgia and authenticity

this one’s pretty simple, but i think that season one did a good job of blending classic eighties media homages (such as the many many e.t./el parallels) with explicit pop culture references (such as mike’s yoda impression, mentions of the x-men, etc) to create a show that’s essentially dripping in early eighties nostalgia without it feeling too forced. before st, i think the most popular depiction of the eighties in mainstream media was that overly exaggerated neon scrunchie aesthetic from the mid to late eighties, and it was usually done in a comedic sense first and foremost. st took a different approach, instead focusing on the early eighties, a time that’s often ignored in favor of going either Full Seventies or Full Eighties, and i think that this choice likely resonated with adults who lived through the eighties and hadn’t yet seen something that felt quite so accurate to their own adolescence. a lot of young people who watched st were totally unfamiliar with this period of time, unfamiliar with books/movies like “stand by me” that st borrows from heavily, and i think st lent more seriousness to the eighties than most young people had experienced so far, and this was refreshing and interesting!

the use of dnd in the show is also quite genius in a way i’m not sure i can articulate?? it isn’t something Everyone would have played at the time, but it’s something that existed within a different context back in the eighties than it does today, and it really lent a sort of authenticity to the naming of the show’s sci-fi elements. like, of course these kids would name parallel dimensions and monsters and superpowers after these similar things in their favorite game! it just feels so real and it grounds st in our reality moreso than you might expect from the typical sci-fi or horror universe.

utilization of existing tropes

almost every single character in st clearly originates from some popular trope. the plot itself is riddled with classic eighties movie tropes. almost every single element of stranger things can be clearly traced back to some iconic eighties film or just to, like, overused horror/sci-fi/mystery/coming-of-age movie tropes in general. this might sound like a bad thing, but it really works in st’s favor! starting off with familiar tropes gives st the ability to easily create a lot of complexity and make a big impact by selectively deviating from those familiar, comfortable tropes!! while el’s whole plot, hopper’s character, etc, are all examples of this in action, i think the steve/nancy/jonathan plot is the greatest example. even from the start, the fact that good girl barb dies while nancy is off having sex with her asshole boyfriend is an incredibly thorough inversion of the most well-known horror movie trope in the book. how often do girls in horror movies have sex for the first time, walk home alone in the dark of night, and live to tell the tale? nancy and jonathan’s dynamic at first glance is a sort of classic “good girl meets boy from the wrong side of the tracks, discovers he’s actually got a heart of gold” thing, but instead of following this well-trodden path, st diverged. nancy is brash, impulsive, and at times downright insensitive. jonathan is angry, bitter, and actually a bit of a creep at first. while they have the capacity to emotionally connect and support one another, they can also bring out each other’s darker side, which is not what we’ve come to expect from that initial tropey dynamic.

in addition, steve, the popular rich asshole boyfriend, is actually... a human being! unlike the cartoonishly evil jocks that we’ve come to expect (especially from eighties movies), steve has complexity. despite his initial immaturity and selfishness, he’s also kind to barb, he backs off when nancy says no, he’s gentle and sweet when they sleep together, his first big Dick Move of the season is in defense of nancy, he realizes the error of his ways after the fight and does what he can to fix it, he’s worried about nancy when he sees that she’s hurt at jonathan’s house, and to top it all off, he ends up saving both nancy and jonathan’s lives when he could have just walked away, and the three of them all work together to fight the demogorgon. like... steve began as the most stereotypical character of all time, and by the end of the season, he had one of the most compelling and unique arcs among the whole cast!

finally, at the very end of the season, instead of dumping steve for jonathan as expected, nancy ends up getting back together with steve, and they’re both on friendly terms with jonathan. i realize that i just kinda. summarized s1. but my POINT is that i don’t think the dynamics between the monster hunting trio would be nearly as fun and interesting had the characters of nancy, steve, and jonathan not been set up to follow certain paths that we already had charted in our own heads. like, within the first couple episodes of s1, it’s pretty obvious that nancy and steve are gonna break up, nancy will get with jonathan, and steve will either die or go full evil or just never be seen again. like, duh! you’ve seen this story a million times! you know that’s how it’s gonna go! so, when the story DOESN’T go that way, the impact of each character’s arc and the relationship dynamics become stronger due to their unexpected complexity and authenticity. 

distinct plotlines separated by age group

this one’s rather obvious, but the way that the adults in s1 were essentially in a conspiracy thriller while the teens were in a horror flick and the kids were in a sci fi power-of-friendship story and all three converged at the end... wow. brilliant showstopping etc. not only was it just really well done and unique, it also gave stranger things near-universal appeal. like, there’s genuinely something for pretty much everyone in season one!

casting

obviously this applies to every season sorta by default, but when i think about what made season one So successful, i always think about the cast, and not just winona ryder. yes, she’s absolutely amazing in the show and it’s very doubtful that st would be as big as it is today without her name being attached to it from the start!! however, i think the greatest determining factor in st’s success is the casting of the kids, particularly millie bobby brown. like... el is just absolutely incredible. she’s amazing. this has all been said many times before so i won’t harp on it, but millie and the other kids are all So talented and charismatic and i think their casting has been instrumental to the show’s success.

strong visuals

the way that multicolored christmas lights which have been around for decades are now kinda like. a Stranger Things thing. jesus christ. those lights are probably the biggest stroke of stylistic genius on the show.

atmosphere and setting

this is probably like. the least important one here for me sdjncdsc because i think s2 and s3 both had like Even Better atmospheres and shit but s1 was good too and it laid the groundwork!! i know a lot of people would have preferred st be set somewhere more Spooky with lots of fog or giant forests or whatnot, and while i do enjoy thinking about alternate st settings and how they might alter the vibe, i think hawkins indiana was a good choice. as the duffers have said, placing stranger things in a fictional town allows them more flexibility than if they’d gone with their original plan of using montauk, new york. besides that, i think the plainness and like... flatness... of small-town indiana just Works. like, the fact that hawkins is never really scary on the surface is a big part of the horror in the lab’s actions and their impact. hawkins isn’t somewhere that people just disappear all the time. it isn’t somewhere known for strange occurrences (prior to s1, that is). it isn’t somewhere shrouded in mist and secrecy. hawkins on its surface seems like the sort of place with no secrets and nothing to fear, and that’s the point! the lab is out in the open! it’s right there! everything is so close to the surface, yet so far out of the public eye, and i think that really works.

the byers family’s whole deal (specifically the joyce/jonathan dynamic)

this is going here bc i miss it so bad in s2 and s3. i’m not one of those people who believe The Byers Are The Whole Point of the show, because st is and always has been an ensemble, and el, hopper, and the wheelers are just as instrumental to the plot as the byers, but ANYWAY, i do think the byers were one of the most interesting aspects of s1. joyce’s difficulties with supporting her sons as a poor and (implied mentally ill) single mother, jonathan’s stress as a result of having to earn money, care for his brother, and keep the house in order when his mother is unable to do so, and the resulting tension between them when will’s disappearance and supposed “death” brings the situation to a tipping point? holy shit! it’s so good! that argument after they see will’s “body” is just incredible and gut-wrenching. their relationship feels so real and messy and i think it’s just... good. also winona ryder REALLY acted her heart out and she carried a lot of s1 which i think people often forget to mention so i’m saying it here.

weaknesses

pacing/timing

ok so pacing is probably going to go in each season’s weaknesses, to be honest, because i think they all had a blend of some good and some bad pacing. good pacing is invisible pacing, though, so i probably won’t be putting it in any of the strengths sections and will only be focusing on it in the weaknesses. i’m also probably not going to talk about weird day/night cycle things, just because i don’t want to get nitpicky on timelines because that would require going back and rewatching things to double check timing which i don’t wanna do at the moment lmao. anyway, when i think of bad pacing in season one, i primarily think of two things: nancy’s little trip into the upside down and subsequent sleepover with jonathan, and the sort of staggered nature of the climax in the final episode. the latter is simple so i’ll explain it first: while i understand that each group’s respective climax is like part of a chain reaction and that’s why each big moment happens separately and at different times, i think that st is strongest when the whole group is together, and i think that makes the stakes feel higher too, so i’m not In Love with the way s1 separated everyone and gave each group their own climax. 

okay, now on to the nancy/upside down thing! idk if i’ve ever talked about it before, but i think the worst decision made in s1 by far is the inclusion of nancy’s brief trip into the upside down, wherein she dives headfirst into another dimension with absolutely no backup, watches the demogorgon chow down, freaks out and runs around for a minute, and then leaves. like... what the fuck? even putting aside what an idiotic decision this was (because i do think nancy’s tendency to rush into things headfirst is an intentional and consistent character trait), it just kind of destroys any remaining suspense surrounding the demogorgon and the upside down, and it accomplishes basically nothing besides scaring nancy enough to have jonathan sleep over, which is lame. i will break it down.

like, first of all, nancy just getting to waltz in and out of the upside down and get a good, long look at the demogorgon makes the entire thing far less mysterious, and by extension far less scary. like... before this scene, we the audience haven’t got a good look at the demogorgon. we’ve seen its silhouette briefly and we’ve seen a blurry picture of it, but nothing more, and i think that is far more effective at building fear than this jaunt nancy goes on which gives us a full view of the thing and makes it into less of a horrifying nightmare and into more of a humanoid animal. like, maybe this is just me, but i found the demogorgon far less intimidating after that scene than before. it also lets nancy and jonathan know For Sure that they’re right without providing any crucial information that they need to fight the demogorgon (aka it’s unnecessary to the plot), which removes a very compelling story element (the faith nancy and jonathan need to have in order to keep going against a vague and poorly understood enemy, the doubt they might have about each other and their own sanity, the possibility that they might be wrong, the trust they need to have in each other) a bit earlier in the plot than i believe is ideal. at the end of episode 5, nancy goes into the upside down and jonathan doesn’t know where she is and it’s intense!!! you’re thinking like, oh fuck, not only is nancy missing and fighting for her life now too, jonathan might be implicated in her disappearance!! some people already think he’s the one who killed will and people know that he took creepy pictures of barb and nancy before they both disappeared, maybe this is gonna cause some serious problems for him!! maybe nancy will find will in the upside down and she’ll help him survive!! fuck, maybe she’ll actually die!! this is huge!! and then episode 6 starts and they’re immediately like oh nevermind jonathan found the tree and got nancy out and she’s fine. my point with all of this is that nancy entering the upside down could have done A Lot in the grand scheme of the plot, but all it did was just... get jonathan to sleep over so he and nancy could have some awkward romance moments and steve could see them together and pick a fight. which could have honestly happened at Any point while nancy and jonathan were working together to hunt down the demogorgon, without ruining the demogorgon’s and the upside down’s mystique. so yeah <3

weird behavior and dumbass decisions that make no sense (aka the whole camera thing)

gonna go off about the teen plot again sorry but: why was nancy so unbothered and quick to forgive jonathan for taking those pictures? girl what the fuck are you doing? why wasn’t that a bigger deal? why was jonathan’s motivation for doing it so weak and why did they just kind of forget about the whole thing? why did nancy TRACK HIM DOWN AT THE FUNERAL HOME while he was PICKING OUT HIS BABY BROTHER’S CASKET to be like hey can you tell me what’s in this creepshot you took? it’s insane. it’s so insane. i mean i think the funeral home thing is hilarious and i don’t mind it being in the show necessarily but like my point here is that i think a lot of character decisions in s1 just kind of.. happened because they Needed to happen for the plot. like, they wrote this plot that required jonathan to be secretly taking pictures of the party and required him and nancy to work together after seeing something odd in the pictures, but they didn’t like... really consider what that event would mean for their characterization and relationship. the whole thing was sort of just dropped with minimal discussion and i think it did both nancy and jonathan’s characters a disservice and was really mishandled.

lighting and saturation/color grading

i am literally begging horror/sci-fi shows to let me see shit. i GET IT okay i understand that when you’re doing cgi effects it helps to keep the lights down and i’m not mad at any of the lighting in the demogorgon/upside down scenes!! i’m really not i think the demogorgon scenes in s1 all look sick!! but like... dude. the colors. where are they. why does everyone look like a vampire. i know blah blah this was probably an intentional stylistic choice intended to mimic film at the time blah blah but dude a lot of old movies are very colorful!! please just let people have color in their faces so everyone doesn’t look like a sheet of paper!!! also i’m white and not a professional lighting designer so yknow grain of salt but i think lucas was kinda poorly served by the lighting sometimes in s1. not Hugely so, not to the degree that i’ve seen poc be poorly served by lighting in other shows, but there were some times where it felt kinda like the lighting setup was just not designed with darker skin in mind. 

horror

i just personally don’t find s1 very scary like... ever. i don’t think they were really Trying to be extremely scary yknow so i’m not counting this as a big deal, but i do think that each season has improved on the horror aspects. i think s1′s horror lies more in the mystery and the unknown than in what’s seen onscreen, and as i’ve said already, i think s1 kind of fumbled that suspense ball.

season 2

strengths

the possession plot

i’ll warn u rn this whole s2 strengths section is probably gonna be really short bc idk like. how much there is to really say i feel like it’s all so self-explanatory skjncmn. anyway yeah the possession plot!! eerie as fuck, and noah OWNED. so did winona tbh and finn and sean etc but like. noah. wow! i think the possession plot helped the show maintain a good amount of tension and suspense throughout the season, and a lot of scenes with possessed!will are flatout disturbing to watch. in a good way. i think the mindflayer and will’s possession were far more genuinely frightening than s1′s demogorgon, and it provided a new layer of depth and intrigue to the antagonist besides just “bad monster want eat people.”

tone and aesthetics

halloween season... literally halloween season. halloween season. that is all.

actually i will elaborate a bit and just say that i think s2 did a good job of having the sort of foreboding vibe that s1 was often going for, but without the annoying darkness and desaturation. so points for that.

also st2 is like one of the best Autumn pieces of media ever like it just. like steve and dustin on those train tracks with the fallen leaves all around them.... god. god the vibes are unparalleled. all of the halloween stuff also really contributes to the nostalgia st runs on yknow it makes you think about childhood and trick-or-treating and you kind of get transported like damn... i remember going to the rich neighborhoods to score the good candy..... idk i just think the whole thing is incredibly effective. 

“babysitter” steve

by sending nancy and jonathan off together, the show created a problem: what to do with steve? this problem pushed them to create the unconventional and unexpected duo of steve and dustin, and the world is so much brighter for it. seriously though we all know steve and dustin are great i don’t need to argue that point. all i’ll add is that i think allowing steve to grow in this way, serving as a mentor figure and becoming genuine friends with someone so unexpected, really took the originality of his character to the next level. no longer content just to defy his archetype, in s2 steve begins branching out in ways that never would have been considered in s1, creating an incredibly complex and interesting person from the sort of character that most shows would have simply written out or killed off for convenience’s sake. and it works and steve and dustin are such a joy to watch and i love them. <3

the lucas/max plot

so first of all max mayfield is the most perfect baby girl on god’s green earth and idk what i would do without her but anyway. i think lumax is the best romantic relationship in the show and not just because they’re the only ones with like an age-appropriate approach to the whole thing. it’s also because their relationship accomplishes more than just putting the two of them in a relationship!! lucas and max spending time together motivates billy to do his evil shit, providing more conflict in the narrative, and it also helps establish max as part of the group in a relatively natural way while giving both her and lucas a great subplot. lucas (and dustin) has a crush on the new girl, they start spending some time together, and lucas ends up needing to decide whether he’ll keep the secret of the upside down and lose her, or risk both of their lives by telling her the truth. that’s a pretty big, character-defining decision that he gets to make!! max has to choose whether to trust this boy she barely knows and endanger herself, or to walk away and stay safe, yet another great character-defining choice that also contributes to the sense we get as an audience of max as somebody who’s incredibly lonely and desperate for love and connection. this post is way too long already and i have a ton more to say so i’ll stop now but yeah i think lumax really Works in the show without ever distracting or detracting from the overall plot and narrative in the way that some other ships (coughjancycough) often do.

balance between the normal and abnormal

s2 i think did a pretty solid job of melding daily life with more fantastical sci-fi horror elements. i enjoyed seeing so much of the kids at school in the first few episodes!! you really get a strong sense of where they’re at in life, what their daily lives are like, and you get a sort of gradual shift into madness that makes everything feel more grounded than i think it would if they had just leapt straight into the horror shit, yknow? 

the el and hopper dynamic

go back and rewatch s2 and tell me that’s not one of the most moving portrayals of parenthood and trauma and growing up that you’ve ever seen. you can’t. or well you can but i won’t listen. i really can’t imagine stranger things without el and hopper’s relationship, and it’s my absolute favorite part of s2. their whole dynamic is so beautiful and complex, and gives them each amazing personal arcs in addition! the black hole scene is literally one of the show’s greatest moments of all time. any given scene between the two of them in s2 is just guaranteed to be heartwarming as well as heartbreaking, and i think that makes for an incredible show.

weaknesses

flashbacks

okay this applies to Every season they All have too many flashbacks but in s2 specifically... please stop showing me shit from season one. i watched it. i know what happened. you don’t need to spoon feed everything to me!! flashbacks can be a really helpful way of delivering information to an audience, but st has a bad habit of not only being kinda demeaning in how often they flash back to shit that the audience already knows, but they also have a bad habit of using flashbacks almost as a crutch to avoid having to deliver information subtly and naturally. 

you know i gotta say it... the lost sister

this is so sad. the lost sister really is like a great concept for an st episode, and i’m not mad about the idea of st taking a break from the normal action to focus on one story for a full episode, but the execution of it was just dreadful. kali and her crew feel very over-the-top and stereotypical, and its placement in the season totally kills the tension and excitement that was built in “the spy.” 

i think the lost sister honestly could have gone over far better, even with the stereotypical fake-feeling gang kali has, if they had just swapped it with “the spy” like... ok, the end of episode five has el setting off to find kali and will collapsing on the ground seizing. right? imagine if, instead of immediately following will to the lab, we’d followed el. we don’t know what’s happening with will, but it’s a very simple cliffhanger that leaves us on edge without making us feel cheated by the show cutting away. we follow el on her little journey, everything happens much the same as canon, and then at the end, el sees hopper in scrubs. she sees mike, screaming, sees that they’re both in danger. holy shit!!! what the fuck!!! what’s happened since we left will seizing on the ground??? we feel el’s fear and confusion. she decides to go home. and then... boom. “the lost sister” is over. now, we rewind, right back to will seizing on the ground, and “the spy” commences. we learn how they got into the danger that el saw in the end of “the lost sister,” and we sit on the edge of our seats all through “the spy” and “the mind flayer,” KNOWING that el is on her way back to save them but not knowing when she’ll arrive!! idk i don’t think that would have necessarily saved lost sister but i think it may have alleviated some of the issues that i and many others have with it, timing-wise.

the nancy/jonathan sidequest

once again, the idea of nancy going off on her own little mission to find justice for barb after s1 is like. amazing. genuinely i love that plot for her and i can’t imagine anything better for her to have focused on in s2. unfortunately though i think her and jonathan’s little trip to see murray was just kind of... lame. the whole thing just felt like an excuse to get the two of them alone together, yknow? which is fine i guess people contrive all sorts of situations to get characters alone together for romance reasons but in this case i think it just really doesn’t work for me because of what it’s juxtaposed with. like, will is POSSESSED, and jonathan is just off on a mini road trip and sleeping with his bestie, and jonathan never seems to communicate to joyce/will that he left town, and joyce never like... thinks to tell him that will is like sick and fucked up and they’re looking at him in the lab??? like it’s so weird i know joyce always forgets about jonathan when shit’s happening with will but jfc you’d think at some point in that like... 72-ish-hour period where jonathan was out of town she would have thought about him. like at least once. maybe i’m forgetting something and she mentioned him sometime and i missed it but even still, i hate the juxtaposition of nancy and jonathan just like cheers-ing at murray’s place and sleeping together and whatnot while everyone else is dealing with possession or trying to hunt down dart yknow? it feels really boring in comparison and i think it could have been done far better. like it was SO insanely easy for them to get into the lab and get an admission of guilt and escape with it!! i think it might have been a lot more engaging if maybe someone from the lab tailed them to murray’s place and they had to like lose the tail and race to get the recording out to as many news outlets as possible before they got caught, or something like that. the tension in their plotline is completely resolved in episode four!! episodes five and six are just them screwing around and addressing envelopes. while there were a lot of strong ideas in this plotline (i really enjoy nancy going out of her way to get justice, and the fact that they have to water down the story to make it believable), i just think the focus on nancy and jonathan getting together hindered it a lot without adding a ton to the plot or their individual characters.

season 3

strengths

starcourt mall as a setting

while i don’t think the mall was utilized quite to its full potential (something i could make a separate post about if anyone’s interested), i do think that starcourt was a genius addition to the series. i’ve said this before, but building a new mall is a literal Perfect in-universe justification for a significant leap forward in fashion and aesthetics, and it provides a great location for characters to just... be characters. idk how else to articulate this i just think that the mall is a great setting to let people interact with each other and to bring people together who may not have been otherwise (i.e. scoops troop). not to mention how sick it was to see the mall get wrecked toward the end kdjncdkm like they were able to do so much more with the mall in terms of like The Finale than they could with just the byers house or the cabin or the school or even the lab. i love all the back tunnels they run through it’s such a fun like acknowledgement of how this glitzy eighties mall is just a real place where employees get shipments and take out the trash and shit idk it’s all about the perfect facade and what’s hidden what’s underneath what’s hiding in plain sight etc etc i’m just saying words now. anyway. 

willingness to experiment and go against expectations

gay robin. neon aesthetics. giant fucking meat monster. i know some people hate both the neon and the meat monster but i personally think they were kind of amazing and like. yknow regardless of personal tastes i think it’s impossible to deny that s3 had a lot of incredible visuals, and they’re all visuals that just wouldn’t have been possible if the show were too afraid to stray from its s1 aesthetic. robin being canonically gay (and her resulting friendship with steve) and the season’s striking visuals are two things that most everyone (besides like homophobes skjncdknm) can agree were great, right? and they were both departures from where the show began and what we all expected!! so yeah i think while some of the experimentation in s3 wasn’t ideal it was also that experimentation that allowed for some of the season’s strongest elements to come about.

the hospital sequence (and the season’s action/horror scenes in general)

this one is fairly self-explanatory. while they may have underutilized the “body snatching” element of the season, the hospital sequence with nancy and jonathan fighting off their possessed bosses did an amazing job of building tension and creating a genuine sense of really intense and personal danger.

in general i think that s3 melded action and horror rather well, particularly in the sauna test, the hospital, and when the mindflayer busts through the roof of hop’s cabin. horror can come from many things, and in this case, st elicited horror largely from the feeling of helplessness, and it was really effective for me personally. i think it worked better for me than s1′s brand of horror because it doesn’t rely so much on a lack of knowledge or a sense of suspense that inevitable disappears upon a second viewing.

the body horror we got in s3 was also really fun! that’s it i just think all the blood and guts and slime were fun and i would like more of them. once again, the impacts of body horror are less dependent upon the viewer being in the dark or unsure as to what’s happening, and as such i think it tends to be a little more effective at eliciting reaction in the long term.

timing and mechanics of the battle of starcourt/finale

i think the battle of starcourt is just fucking awesome, and beyond that personal opinion, i think it’s the most high-stakes and intense finale of all three seasons, and this is for two main reasons! 1. el is out of commission, and 2. (almost) everyone is in the same cental location. this means that (almost) everyone is in danger all at once, and they are all working together at the same time to fight the same threat. s1/s2 have their groups more fragmented for the finales, and while i understand why in each case and i wouldn’t call either season’s finale necessarily weak, i do think the centralized nature of the s3 finale just Works on another level. in s1 and s2, large segments of the cast are already perfectly safe by the time el dispatches the primary threat. in s3, however, everybody save for dustin and erica is still in danger up until the last moment, and el is seemingly (you can def debate how much power she still had in her when she peeked into billy’s mind and whether the memory broke the mindflayer’s hold on him or if she was actually controlling him to some degree) completely vulnerable. this increases the tension and raises the stakes, making the finale a real crescendo to fortissimo as opposed to a series of little mezzo forte moments. i hope everyone reading this knows music idk how else to phrase that my brain is stupid.

emphasis on friendship and adolescence (but in a different way than s1/2)

this is definitely a controversial one but i think that s3 really did like... show a side of friendship that had been more or less unexplored thus far in the show. el and max were amazing, and i think it’s really nice that we got an opportunity to see the kids have some growing pains as well as see them support each other through Normal Adolescent Stuff like boyfriends and breakups instead of just like. death and trauma. this is maybe just a personal preference, but i think it can be really enlightening and provide a lot of depth when you get to see how characters respond to normal everyday conflict and not just how they respond to giant world-ending conflict!! letting el use her powers for goofy teenage shit like spying on boys and messing with mean girls at the mall is not only fun for her and the audience, but it also really emphasizes just how much those powers are a part of el, making it that much more devastating when she loses them at the end of the season. 

weaknesses

tonal dissonance

so this is like. obvious. but it must still be said! i won’t go on and on about it since we all know this so i’ll try to like talk about it from an angle people don’t usually? anyway. it seems to me like they were maybe a little worried about s3 being too dark. while the choice to really lean into humor was definitely driven by the sorts of eighties teen films from which s3 drew inspiration (like fast times at ridgemont high), i think it was also done in an attempt to alleviate the more troubling implications of some events in the season, particularly the russian bunker plot. like, yeah, st can be incredibly dark, but if they’d played the whole “children being stuck inside of a foreign military base, tied up, tortured, and drugged” thing completely straight without the humorous elements that exist in canon, it had the potential to be like... disturbing on a new level. steve and robin don’t have powers like el yknow their kidnapping/torture doesn’t have any sci-fi elements to sorta soften the blow. they’re just innocent teenagers being brutalized and traumatized by grown men. so anyway yeah i think maybe the writers were concerned about this storyline coming off as too dark and they wanted it to be a little more whimsical but they ended up pushing way too hard in that direction and creating extreme dissonance at times. this goes for joyce/hopper/murray/alexei too, but to a lesser extent. i think the ridiculousness in that group felt a lot more like... realistic. but still. 

newspaper plot

once again i feel like i don’t even need to say this skjdncmn we all know it was insane how the show basically ended up delivering the message “while misogyny is a serious problem poverty and classism are not” and i’ve said it on this blog a million times so i don’t need to repeat myself. i’ll focus on another weak point of this plot: the fact that it completely separates nancy and jonathan from everyone else. once again, the show’s preoccupation with j/ancy held them back! like... can you imagine a version of s3 where nancy and jonathan both worked in the mall? i have a lot of ideas about this possible au and like how the plot could play out differently if they worked in the mall but first of all it’s just more realistic, second of all it further utilizes the mall as a central setting, and third of all, it would bring everyone together. as it is in canon, nancy and jonathan were unnecessarily isolated from the rest of the group, and this isolation was detrimental to both of their characters. like, they only ever get to interact with each other! if they’d gotten summer jobs in the mall, they could have had more interactions with the kids/steve/robin, and they absolutely still could have had a similar argument! maybe in this case, nancy notices the rat thing (or something else odd) herself when taking out the trash behind the mall, and she wants jonathan to ditch work with her to check it out bc she thinks it may be related to the lab. jonathan doesn’t want to ditch work because he needs his job, nancy argues that they’re working shitty mall jobs anyway and who cares if they get fired, and we get more or less the same thing as s3 without the cartoonishly over-the-top misogyny. i mean honestly i think the rat shit could have been cut entirely it didn’t rly... accomplish much of anything. in my opinion. like imagine s3 without the rat plot you literally would not be missing anything except it would be more surprising when the dudes melted into goo at the hospital. so yeah i think it would have been better if nancy and jonathan had jobs at the mall, weren’t isolated from everybody else, and were maybe absorbed into the party’s plot or the scoops troop’s plot from very early on, allowing them to interact with more characters and have a less... dumb.... plot. like god splitting up nancy and jonathan between the party/scoops troop would have been So Much better i just. sdkjcnksdmn anyway yeah.

briefness of group reunion/separation of groups

remember in s2 at the beginning of “the gate,” where mike and hopper had a confrontation and max and el met for the first time and el hugged everyone and steve and nancy had their sad little moment together outside... where’s that energy? obviously the s2 reunion wasn’t that long either, but it made space for some significant emotional moments to take place. s3′s reunion had some hopper/el/mike resolution, but besides that... there was nothing, really. i just think that the whole group getting together in s3 was SO exciting and powerful the way they did it (with both the scoops troop and the adults having their own Big Moment reconnecting with team griswold family), but the emotional potential was more or less squandered. 

i also think in s3 at times they were really stretching to keep everybody separated even though it made no sense. and like... in s1 the separation worked bc nobody else knew that (x group) was experiencing weird shit too, and beyond that, each group (as i mentioned in the s1 section) was sort of operating within their own genre and bringing something unique to the season. they’ve stopped doing that though! now, the groups aren’t separate bc each plot is tonally/structurally different, the groups are just separate bc... they need to be, because it’s a big ensemble cast and you can’t just have them all be together for a whole season or it would be way too difficult to coordinate things and keep the show dynamic. all this is to say that i’m excited for s4 because the location differences make it so there’s a Reason for each plot to be separate at the beginning, and i think that’ll work better.

general ridiculousness

i dont mean like i think it’s bad that they made jokes this is just me lumping in all the dumb shit like hopper not worrying about el and not wanting to check on the kids, him and joyce bickering long after they both know they and their children are in danger, max seemingly forgetting that billy is a racist abuser, etc etc. i think many of these are just a symptom of the show 1. trying desperately to keep the groups split up a certain way even though it may not make any sense, and 2. trying to fit into a certain genre/trope mold when their actual characters are more complex than the tropes they’re imitating. this is so fucking long already i am not gonna elaborate further rn but i trust u all know what i mean.

soooo... yeah, that’s about all! i mean it’s not all there are definitely many more things i could talk about and i know i focused sorta disproportionately on the teens which is my bad :/ but i’m done for now. thank you for asking, and apologies for the delay in responding!! i’m sure some people reading (if anyone read this far) will disagree with some of what i’ve said and that’s alright like i’m not The Authority on st or anything i’m just trying to talk about like my own thoughts yknow? so yeah luv u all i hope someone enjoyed reading this!!