#i just got hit with this bc of a gifset of steve robin and nancy and the little gremlin in my brain went

[munamania]

be so serious with me. do you think that shared trauma caused by interdimensional violence and death and government conspiracies and survivor’s guilt would seriously be outweighed by a petty high school breakup.

[indiemovies]

AND I LOVE YOU <333 i'm not even kidding this is. where most of my brainpower has been going and i am so okay with that !!! truly the Nancy Scholars have ascended anything the duffers could do with her character in s5

yeah !!!! after seeing her with murray it was so clear that journalism was going to become a Passion tm for her. and then for them to follow up with that and show her really wanting to pursue it, and actually being really good (bar the part where her sexist and thick-skulled bosses were assholes and later died ofc). i totally agree, she's definitely found comfort in being justified for following her suspicions, and then later, even with the school paper. she needs things to do, to keep her occupied, so she conquers yet another thing and finds a similar thrill in covering a new topic, in finally being in charge and in exploring all of these people and whatnot

THERE'S NO WAY FOR HER TO WIN. GOD. YEAH. it really is just so…. yeah. she's stuck between these two world, and maybe if the upside down had continued like,, a week or two after the first time, she might have found herself turning entirely to being an adult figure, and more thoroughly burying the more innocent version of herself ? but as you said, it leaves her fractured and she has no idea how to convey that in any sort of way. i think she's probably the best character they've displayed that shift with? jonathan too, where he's got a load of guilt from s1 but even then, we don't really see much of that until s4 where he starts smoking and finding argyle as a friend to share,,, something that doesn't involve an alternate and deadly dimension crawling with monsters ! though the writers don't explore him smoking as some sort of coping mechanism it's pretty implied and it definitely gives him a way to separate himself from the past and [insert something about his relationship with will because they NEEDED to explore that more but i don't have the brainspace to fully flesh that out]

SO WHO IS NANCY WHEELER !!! god i would love to see that as a spinoff. nancy and barb moments, nancy and mike moments, nancy hunting monsters and trying to find one person's barb as a way to try and heal her own past…. nancy falling in love with robin… all of it.

!!! absolutely and idk if the writers were purposely building ronance like that or if it was somewhat rushed bc… bc. but either way it does work. and maybe it's that robin is so Different than all of her other friends? especially from barb, who we've seen as more caustic and a little sharp in the same ways that nancy could be sharp, and their relationship had so much history behind it, but robin is. earth-shatteringly different. not someone nancy would normally hang out with, and she's loud and doesn't seem to understand when nancy gets irritated, and instead of retreating or giving up she keeps pushing and poking and it works. and yeah !!! i think after all these years, nancy has firmly cemented herself in a world of heteronormativity and pushed away anything else, even though there was something that was always fighting against her parents' cul-de-sac life. and it's so funny when she pushes robin and doesn't believe that her and steve are platonic because for the life of her, she can't figure out how that makes sense (and also. because every good friend she's had she's ended up dating lmao. not that robin's about to break that pattern but just. yknow). i am very much thinking about the byler ronance parallels tyvm! the wheeler family does not know what romantic love is lmao! never apologize for a ronance rant though !!!! i love hearing all your thoughts :D

HOLY CRAP YOUVE HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD !!! absolutely like. sometimes i’ll read stuff about her or see a gifset and go nancy wheeler is so bi coded <3 and then. other days the very thought of her name has me referring to her in my head as a lesbian. and i think it’s probably influenced by the fandom too? like perhaps there’s this part of me that recognizes that a lot of the nancy fans w the whole blog look and whatnot are pretty adamant about her being a lesbian, and i can def see their point! but there’s also a part of me that’s not sure if i see her as bi or if i’ve just grown tired of the “well if she’s a lesbian then why was she with steve and jonathan/doesn’t that make her even worse to have dated them both??” so… i dont know if she ever Romantically Loved steve or jonathan, but i think she definitely loved them as Her People tm. and oh !!! it’s a bit of a stretch but maybe it ties back to nancy not really knowing how to love people properly, and she can’t tell if it’s comphet or nancy wheeler things

i don't know ! but i think it's okay pretty swag to hc nancy's sexuality either way, and maybe more so to flip between multiple ones <3 so long as she's not Normal (cishet teen girl completely neurotypical etc etc :/)

not even joking when i say these outlets are so necessary so all the nancy thoughts swirling around in my brain dont explode my head

yess i love what you said about journalism vindicating her hunches. there's so much to be said about nancy's voice, her desire to be heard and so many people in her life either not listening or actively silencing her. i think her growth in her confidence and assertion of herself and her thoughts is the greatest marker of her growth throughout the series, moreso than her abilities with a gun.

totally agree!!!!!! i wonder how the next season will play out, i've seen so many conflicting things about time jumps and whatnot. i wonder if this will be the first time where supernatural happenings have a prolonged stay in the story, and how that will affect these characters' psyches, especially nancy. it's kind of interesting seeing her switch between these personalities as the danger becomes more real and pressing and then when they defeat it and she's able to shower off all the dirt and grit and put on a newly pressed outfit and fix her makeup but even with that veneer of normalcy she can't pretend to be regular or really exist outside of a state of terror. so for the supernatural stuff to be dragged out even longer like it might be it creates such a unique conflict for her i think i just need to know what that is going to do to her brain!!! nancy in that specific mode for such a long time CAN'T be good for her but i also do wonder if some part of her feels more comfortable being in that state where there is a problem and she can help provide the solution and for a moment the people around her are experiencing the world the same way she does most of the time which is finding it terrifying and confusing and full of problems. does that make sense? or is the cold medicine taking over

"nancy hunting monsters and trying to find one person's barb as a way to try and heal her own past" AHHHHH you get it literally you get it. little supernatural private detective nancy spinoff i cant get it out of my mind ever since someone jokingly suggested it somewhere.....nancy needing robin's linguistic expertise for a case after them having not spoken for years.........the x files dynamic of it all........

THE WHEELER FAMILY'S TERRIBLE MISUNDERSTANDING OF LOVE LMAO!!!! they are such a failfamily it's so funny/sad. and yes EVERYTHING you said....robin doesn't back down she doesn't leave it alone she keeps showing up. both of them coming from differently broken families but still finding love in one another....found family even dare i say. byler/ronance parallels are so special...love built on friendship and understanding first...mutual pining/thinking it's one sided......it's about the hands........the inherent hilarity in going your whole life thinking you have a gay brother only to realize you're the gay sister...endless possibilities

HER NAME IS LITERALLY NANCY!!!!! yesss everything you said!! my mind changes depending on the most recent valid take on her sexuality i've seen lol. some part of me may always have a soft spot for bi nancy because of residual post-s1 stoncy feelings (the graphics people made!!! monster hunting trio champagnes bottles for sale. never popped.) but yes i totally agree nancy's feelings about love being so complicated and puzzling to her. she's like "i dont want you to die and i enjoy your company so maybe we should date?" also i do think the idea of shared trauma being so foundational for her in terms of relationships bc like we've said a lot she needs someone she knows can understand her bc so much of her personality is shaped by her experiences so of course she needs people who have been through similar experiences......the point has gotten away from me LOL i need to study her under a microscope

these talks are soooooo much fun!!!! they're like stretching a creative and analytic muscle for me and I LOVE YOU AND YOUR GENIUS TAKES<33333