#idk if they're going to go the cryptic approach

[chirpsythismorning]

Noah saying, "I don't think Mike likes Will back" doesn’t equate to him not knowing about byler being endgame, and here's why.

Noah and a majority of the main cast have been given a rough idea of how the show will end, broadly in terms of the entire story, but also more specifically in terms of their personal character arcs.

Actors are out here acting. This is nothing new.

Any of the the main cast insisting they have no idea how the show ends at all, are lying. This is because their safest bet is playing dumb.

There's nothing safe about them revealing they know how the show ends, least of all to an audience that is dying for any spoiler they can get their hands on. It just puts them in a position to have to think very carefully about everything they say, which is something they already have to do regardless.

It's a lot easier to just say you don't know, because then you can give vague answers or even just flat out lie and get away with it, as opposed to saying you know and then having everyone take whatever you say as gospel since you admitted to knowing what's coming.

David is pretty much the only actor who goes around explicitly saying that he knows how the show ends, which is something he's been doing consistently since s2 premiered back in November of 2017.

Something David has also mentioned on a few occasions since then, is how much input the Duffer's let him put into his character. He's literally praised them for having a collaborative process, because it allows him to play Hopper more authentically.

And so yes, I do think it's safe to assume that the Duffer's extend this approach to their other cast-members as well, at least among the main cast-members. I do not at all think this is some exclusive treatment only David gets, because this seems like more just something the Duffer's do out of respect to the actors. How else can they expect them to portray their character accurately if they don't know what they're going through or what their motives are or what's right for them going forward?

We obviously won't know all the details about who knew what at what times or how long they've known certain things, until they themselves come out and reveal after the fact, if they even do it at all.

Still, I do think that when it comes to byler actually happening, it's going to be very satisfying for fans who saw it coming.

This is because we're dealing with something the Duffer's are predicting a good portion of the ga will be bitter about, with the main argument at the forefront being that Mike and Will came out of nowhere.

And so, how do you think they're going to combat that?

With the literal proof.

They have David, who has been used happily as their main scapegoat through the years, whose words are literal proof that things were planned for quite some time. We have him saying all the way back in 2017 that there are easter eggs in the first season which we won't understand until the end, how it's beautiful and surprising and it will explain why certain characters acted certain ways...

Not only that, but there's just no way people are going to be able to use the whole 'it came out of nowhere' argument (at least without looking like idiots), because we'll have the Duffer's themselves out here confirming shit like blue meets yellow in the west and other theories that were entirely intentional (as we predicted).

And because of this, I think I can guess roughly how things will go moving forward and it's honestly already panning out in some ways I expected.

Because while season 4 ends in a way that seems to be leading towards Mike and El ending up together from the perspective of the ga, there are numerous details in the subtext and just outright in the literal text that's trying to tell us this is not actually the case.

And so now the Duffers and everyone who knows are in this limbo of tricking their audience in plain sight, hoping to keep this act going for as long as they can, and that's obviously not easy to do.

What I think makes it most difficult is that they want to surprise fans, but they also want them to be satisfied and happy with the ending.

And that is why the whole Milkvan straight bait is indeed very near its end.

If they want ST to live on as a cult classic with rewatch value, they can't keep this straight bait going on into the last season.

They'll want Mike and El to definitively give off platonic elmike for s5, with byler being endgame and Willel being wonder twins.

This is why Mike and El's dynamic HAS to blatant in a way that will come across as platonic to the ga in s5. And the shift needs to be immediate, otherwise byler will not be satisfying.

I feel like a lot of bylers already predict this, which is why a lot of us assume that the milkvan breakup with happen (or be acknowledged as having already happened) as early as 5x01 or 5x02.

Honestly, I do think that Will's painting being plastered on merch recently was one of the big moments which is representative of a shift we're already seeing start to happen. We're going to continue to see milkvan be promoted as elmike, while byler is being promoted in a way that is, well byler.

What I think is most noteworthy in terms of how they're approaching this conflict going forward, is how the actors themselves have talked about it when asked.

For example, there was one Con specifically that I remember Noah attended right around when Vol 2 dropped, where he mentioned byler at least 3 times. Two times when asked and one other time unprompted.

And no one ever talks about this, but full serious you guys, it was dead silent at that con whenever he mentioned byler. There were maybe a few hoots and claps, with Noah literally looking kind of worried. It was obvious he noticed the silence the first time it got brought up, and so he felt the need to mention it a second time when asked about what he shipped and then AGAIN, with a note of defensiveness in his voice:

"Byler is just, at it's peak right now, okay, so definitely ship that--"

And while in the background, all you hear is maybe 2 bylers supporting him, otherwise, it's mostly crickets...

Let's try to remember that while Byler is a lot bigger now undoubtedly, unless you're active online, most of the ga does not see it coming. And so byler is by no means fan-service. If anything it's show-runner service.

This means Noah had literally no obligation that day to go all out with referring to byler in a positive hopeful light, nor does he still. And yet he did and he hasn't slowed down much since.

His approach makes sense. Because his character has been revealed in canon to be in love with the other, he can freely say he ships it and even take the opportunity to hype it up in an attempt to open peoples minds to it, who might not have considered it before. And he can also do this because in canon, Will assumes Mike doesn't love him back, so Noah can just co-opt Will & the ga's assumption that Mike doesn't feel the same, and get away with it, without anyone whose close-minded giving it a second glance as evidence.

If they wanted to avoid queer-bait and get people to not look at byler that way, they had the chance to. A majority of the ga didn't read byler romantically and so they could've just kept things casual by not bringing it up, nor humoring it at all.

The byler tag didn't even hit 30k followers until AFTER vol. 2 dropped! Most people were oblivious (including bylers).

Undoubtedly, Noah in particular around that time, was a big part of why people started to look deeper on their own and it's how a lot of people ended up here, now with 277k of us.

Like seriously, listen to me ya'll, Noah would NOT put himself in a position to broadcast his support for byler like this and the Duffers would probably be begging him not to, knowing he would be subject to a lot of criticism in doing so, if byler was not in fact where the story was going. Point blank, period.

His tweet "vol 2 got me shipping byler over everything' has to have been the most obvious stunt of all. He was not saying that to be quirky or to appease a few thousand people, he was saying it to wake up the hundreds of thousands that might be open to it, and who just need a push to see what's right in front of them.

Then we have Millie's approach. Her approach for a long time has been to say stuff that she thinks the audience wants to hear, that being anything pro-milkvan. And up until Vol 1, she was still mostly on board with referring to it in a super positive light.

She also insisted during s4's run that she has no clue how the show will end (lies, Millie is a good actress pls give her more credit), and this also explains why she's tended to feel somewhat comfortable lying about milkvan positively...

Though as Vol. 2 neared and ever since, a shift has started to happen, where in interviews Millie is getting a lot more into depth and real about El's personal arc. She mentioned right before Vol 2 dropped that El was insecure in her fight with Mike at the start of the season because she thought he only considered her a superhero and didn't see her as more than that.... Then more recently she has doubled down saying that she is her own superhero, having been shaped a little too much by the men in her life.

SHE IS OUT HERE SAYING WHAT WE'VE BEEN SAYING FOR MONTHS (SOME YEARS)! SHE KNOWS HER CHARACTER BETTER THAN ANYONE!

Honestly, even though I understand they are trying to trick people into thinking they're clueless and so I guess I'm happy for them that they've succeeded in that, I can't help but admit I feel a little disappointed upon hearing some bylers say that they are convinced Millie doesn't know, but that Finn does and even Noah does, but that she's entirely in the dark about it and that they're okay with this I guess?

First of all, why would anyone be okay with that? Why would we be okay with Millie not having insight into where her character is going. What, do you guys think they're just going to pull up on her at the last minute like, "yeah sorry we didn't tell you sooner, but this is where your character is going to end up. anyways back to byler!...."

I don't care, it would seriously be fucked up to keep her in the dark about this because El IS important to the story and Millie, just like everyone else, deserves that closure so that she can understand her character better and therefore perform to the best of her ability. She also deserves a say somewhat in where she feels her character should go, just like David has said the Duffer's afford them.

Now lastly, when it comes to Finn, I think most assume at least he is aware of byler, and I do agree he knows, so let's start there.

Again, we don't know when they found out and so for now I don't feel like going too far into guessing the exact point and so I won't. However, I do think that Finn also as of late has had an approach that manages to somehow be very different from both Noah and Millie's, and for reasons that also make a lot of sense.

Because Finn's character is assumed to not return Will's feelings, he has to be more careful than all of them. This is arguably why he goes to the least cons out of everyone (most recently everyone attended a con in person, with Millie present over zoom even, but no Finn or Noah... seems very intentional at this point).

Why I think they need to be more strict with Finn in particular is because he's in the exact opposite situation as Noah.

His character is assumed to not return Wll's feelings, and so he can't go very far with what he reveals. What we've got up to this point is actually quite revealing enough as it is, which is why that's all we're getting for now.

What I find interesting is that Finn's approach is quite similar to David's. I know Noah is known for spoiling things, but arguably Finn is just as bad, he's just a lot more sneaky about it. He has a harder time lying, which is why I think he actually looks uncomfortable when asked milkvan questions. Not necessarily because he doesn't ship it like lots of bylers assume, but because he's having to dance around and lie outright and he probably feels bad.

His most common approach though is that he likes to make jokes and say things that could be looked at from multiple perspectives, where it could be looked at now as milkvan evidence, while simultaneously being looked at from the future as byler evidence. Him saying 'I think everyone knows how Mike feels about Eleven' was him quite literally gaslighting the audience just like Mike did with El in s4:

'I care for you so much" "I say it" "You know how I feel about you--"

But do we? Do we really? Or does the audience THINK they know, and so Finn can get away with saying something cryptic and vague like that? When really, in the future, everyone will be laughing looking back because to Finn and all the cast, it was actually abundantly obvious Mike's feelings for El were platonic and his feelings for Will were romantic.

Same for his response when asked if El and Mike would be together and happy in season 5. He dances around it, doesn't deny it, but also doesn't confirm it. Instead of just being like yes they will (which is what we're being led to assume is inevitable at the end of s4, and so he has no reason to dance around it), he starts by deflecting, talking broadly in terms of the stories overall ending, only to say he hopes they find happiness... Again his answer fits with the ga's assumptions now, but it also fits with the surprise of byler in the end as well.

Also important to note that Finn and Noah are the ones to repost about the show most out of everyone from the main cast. A LOT. In fact, they were the only main cast-members (besides Brett LOL) out of everyone to repost about the episode title name for 5x01 being released on ST day...

And it's because THIS is their character's big revelation going into the final season and they had a say in it going this direction. Even if it's what the Duffer's wanted all along, they still gave them and everyone to an extent, a say in things. And now that it's all slowly happening, they are front and center standing by that decision, because they insisted they could do it and wanted to.

I can't say for certain that things will just be smooth sailing from here on out though, by no means is everything just going to shift completely.

There is still undoubtedly this element of the Duffer's and everyone wanting to have the pleasure of tricking the audience. In an industry where everything that happens is usually expected and predictable and therefore rarely exciting, and with an audience that is always figuring stuff out before their supposed to through leaks and stuff, byler is something they have finally been able to successfully trick most of the audience to think will never happen. And that is fucking impressive when considering the heaps of evidence.

And yet still, they don't want to be yet another show that is considered to have a bad ending.

So, going forward, I think things will continue the way that they are, but we'll slowly see them be more comfortable in this element of acknowledging endgame in a way that will be easy to look back on positively when everything is all said and done.

Because if byler is endgame, IF they want people to look back and go oh Oh OH during all those moments where they misread things, but now they can see the other side of it, there needs to be more of an approach that gives Byler equal playing field and allows the ga to actually start to appreciate it and even want it and root for it. Which means buh bye predictability and heteronormativity and hello surprises and gayness (but also be open ended about it so the homophobes will stay tuned until the last second).

[killjoy-toast]

Not to sound like a capitalist, but I think a character like Alastor should become a cartoon trope.

Like you'll have your usual set of characters, idk the protagonist, the mom friend, the nerd, the slut...etc etc and then there's just...some weird eldritch cryptic twitching and gurgling in the corner with extended limps and tentacles and with its head spinning 360° while ominous humming emits from its body.

And whenever some outsider approaches the gang™ like: "Hey...uhh..What the FUCK is THAT??"

And they're like: "Oh, him? That's just our weird little guy®. He follows us everywhere, speaks in riddles and tries making deals with us to collect our souls like Pokemon Cards. Don't worry, he doesn't bite....As long as you go 'Swiper, no swiping' before he gets the chance to, you'll be fine. He constantly goes on little monologues when he turns his back on us and we pretend to not hear him. We just give him a scooby snack to calm him down. He's having a lime-green Disney Villian musical performance in his room as we speak"

[sentience-if]

okay I'm soooooo curious. If seriously interested in the MC, how would the ROs try to flirt/woo them?? I can just imagine Connie spontaneously combusting at the thought of having to do any sort of pick-up line ieoerhofer

lmao Connie would rather give Val $100 than use a pick up line. I think they'd go for the more subtle approach of making themself needed. a long con(nie). it's not even active flirting it's being helpful and protective until one day you realize actually you can't live without them. does it work? idk you tell me

klaus: same idea as Connie, but in a way that borders on pathological. he said something strange and whoops now you're thinking about it at 3 AM and that's when you've officially lost the game. now he's in ur head and you've got this weird need to impress him. RIP klaus you would have loved Pavlov

ira: fully aware of how pretty and sweet they can be and is willing to turn the charm up to 11. master of grazed hands and fleeting smiles. I can definitely see them pretending to be oblivious to what they're doing but they know. they know.

val: normally they're overt, playful, and bold with flirting- making little comments and invading personal space. but Io's a different matter entirely that makes everything wildly complicated and tbh its probably better to just see it in game 🤷

kat: I'm torn between whether she'd be completely blunt about it or draw it out in the most cryptic way possible. so probably a demented combination of both. her hard-to-get game is impeccable, especially when she keeps openly complimenting Io. God this is just klaus again isn't it

[mojaves]

oc speech mannerisms

tagged by @nuclearstorms @morvaris @arklay to do this sorry it took 50000 years <3

doing this one for sebastian my little baby boy. i dont have a banner yet so. just. idk. don't kill me hiiii

— BASICS.

NO. OF SPOKEN LANGUAGES: 1 / 2 / 3+ [spanish, english, sign language, russian, french. he contains multitudes]

TONE OF VOICE: high / average / deep

ACCENT: yes / no

DEMEANOUR: confident / shy / approachable / hostile / other [depends on whether he's on a job, meeting a client, etc. very tall and can be very intimidating when necessary]

POSTURE: slumped / straight / stiff / relaxed

— HABITS.

head tilting / swaying / fidgeting / stuttering / gesturing / arm crossing / strokes chin / er, um, or other interjections / plays with hair or clothing / hands at hips / inconsistent eye contact / maintains eye contact / frequent pausing / stands close / stands at a distance

— COMPLEXITY.

VOCABULARY: ⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫

EMOTION: ⚫⚫⚪⚪⚪

SENTENCE STRUCTURE: ⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫

— PROFANITY.

FREQUENCY: ⚫⚫⚫⚪⚪

CREATIVITY: ⚫⚫⚪⚪⚪

BOLD ALL THAT APPLY.

arse / ass / asshole / bastard / bitch / bloody / bugger / bollocks / chicken shit / crap / cunt / dick / frick / fuck / horseshit / motherfucker / piss / prick / pussy / screw / shit / shitass / son of a bitch / twat / wanker

— THIS OR THAT.

straightforward or cryptic? / finding the right word or using the first word that comes to mind? / masculinity, neutrality, or femininity? / formalities or with abrasiveness? / praise or equivocation? / frankness or lies? / excessive or minimal hand gestures? / name-calling or magnanimity? / friendly or blunt?

— IMPORTANT QUESTIONS.

DO PEOPLE HAVE A HARD TIME HEARING OR UNDERSTANDING YOUR CHARACTER? almost always / frequently / sometimes / rarely / never [when the voice module is going haywire there are no words coming out of that man's mouth it's just electronic hissing. good luck trying to decipher that <3]

DOES YOUR CHARACTER'S POINT COME ACROSS EASILY WHEN THEY SPEAK? almost always / frequently / sometimes / rarely / never

WOULD YOUR CHARACTER INITIATE CONVERSATIONS? almost always / frequently / sometimes / rarely / never

WOULD YOUR CHARACTER BE THE ONE TO END CONVERSATIONS? almost always / frequently / sometimes / rarely / never [he loves to talk but also gets bored very easily]

WOULD YOUR CHARACTER USE 'WHOM' IN A SENTENCE? yes / no / only ironically

YOUR CHARACTER WANTS TO MAKE A COUNTERPOINT, WHAT WORD DO THEY USE? but / though / although / however / perhaps / mayhaps

HOW DOES YOUR CHARACTER END CONVERSATIONS? walk away / ask if that's everything / say that's everything / give a proper goodbye / tell their company they're here / remain quiet / they don't

WHAT SOCIAL CLASS WOULD OTHERS ASSUME YOUR CHARACTER BELONG TO, HEARING THEM SPEAK? upper / middle / lower

IN WHAT WAYS DOES THE WAY YOUR CHARACTER SPEAK STAND OUT TO OTHERS? accent / vocabulary / tone / level / politeness / brusqueness / it doesn't [it's deep and electronic sounding so that alone would make it stand out. he is a very special boy. to me.]

[the-slut-verses]

malevolent podcast liveblog: eps 14-16

my favorite development is that arthur and john are more,,,, understanding and patient with one another

like when arthur was frustrated and lashing out at john because he's the only one he can actually talk to

and he realizes that's what going on and he doesn't actually mean any of it he's just emotional and apologizes to john ;-;

and john took it all very calmly and was like no you're right i understand and he actively listens to him

fellas is it gay to recite a poem about rainbows and a dude meeting his wife and relating it to the alien consciousness living in your head with control of your eyes and left hand

maybe it's cuz time is weird in the dreamlands but it feels like there's more downtime in between creature encounters for these two dudes to breathe and talk about their feelings

lmao arthur was such a heartbreaker talking abt how his sitch with john is only temporary and their ultimate goal would still be to separate them

and i know it's prolly cuz i just have my shipping goggles on too tight but john sounded really disappointed but was trying to hide it

dude john turned down the chance to become a god of unlimited power and eternal life just so he can continue to stay in you so ungrateful smh chz

i hope that glowing cave critter persists and idk becomes like their cute recurring animal companion

this podcast is very very good suspense and horror and action but i think having the occasional moments of levity via a cute animal companion could really serve the story

like keep the story from becoming too bleak and grimdark cuz i feel like not enough good things happen to the characters

like case in point, falling down an unfathomably deep cliff and breaking several bones and landing on top of a pile of corpses where a monster lives

i can't even begin to imagine how they could get out without help

and on that note, i think arthur had a point in that they shouldn't just assume everything is hostile and react with violence from the get go

surprised that john had the opposite pov cuz their positions were reversed when they were back on earth

idk like i just think that it would be very Meaningful to have this lovecraftian story full of gods and monsters beyond comprehension and apathetic if not hostile to humanity, have the odd moments of compassion and humanity peppered in

like,, my favorite part of the early eps was that plotpoint of the wraith and the baby and how arthur and john approached that sitch with kindness and that ended up helping them i want more moments like that plz

fr tho im normally not much of a horror person im very squeamish and get too bummed out by dark stories easily but i love horror podcasts cuz i just feel like, as bleak as they are, they're also warm and sincere and sympathetic to the monsters in the dark

and i think that applies to this pod too firstly cuz there's john and then the wraith and those variously helpful but cryptic critters in the dreamlands

but yea this pod is so good y'all im so glad to be listening to it again c:

[albatris]

so sometimes

hm, bear with me, I have to set up a joke, hold on

so sometimes, because I am the way that I am, I am near 100% convinced that there are higher forces speaking to me and giving me cryptic directions for whatever incredibly important mission they've placed me here to perform, and that I'm failing them by not knowing how to interpret their signs, and that they're furious with me and are yelling at me through every possible avenue that I need to listen harder and do better or something awful will happen

and like! ok so that's just. never fun for me. cannot emphasise how little fun I am having in those scenarios. however, in the spirit of this blog and also my general approach to life, and like I said, I'm here to make a joke out of it. alright. here we go

I've decided an extremely valid calming mantra for this particular flavour of crisis is "that sounds like a you problem"

like, hey, that's a lot of pressure, don't you think? hm? gotta pick someone to decode your cryptic little riddles and play your nonsense little games? gotta pick someone to fulfil an incredibly important secret mission? someone to be your little man on the ground? and you picked me for this? listen buddy idk what to tell you. I sleep for 13 hours a day and it takes up all my spell slots to make a piece of toast. I can't solve basic math problems. what part of this made you think this was a good idea. this state of affairs is entirely on you

also for your consideration

moods for pretending not to notice the universe screaming at you and eating a bagel instead

[imaginesumo]

I'm late to the pokemon generations party, but after binge-ing all the episodes, I started liking Lance, Eusine, Buck and N. Do you have any fluffy or romantic hcs for them when they're with their s/o? If there are too many characters, just Lance and Eusine are fine. I liked Reawakening. Cheryl's ep was super creepy tho. Which episode was your favourite?

i never finished generations actually i’m a huge fake fan...but i think the most impactful on me was the first episode, just because it was the first time since i was a little kid that i was blown away by the concept of a pokemon show. Like, it ebbed a little bit as I watched more of the season but I was almost in tears with the way it recaptured the same feelings i had when i first watched pokemon and the pokemon movies - like specifically the first pokemon movie

But Anyway! Onto the HC’s!

Lance

- this is a mature man who knows where his responsibilities are in life and wants to do his best to fulfill their requirements. this means u found yourself a real one bless (hand emojis). this  is a grown man who, once he knows your as serious about it as he is, is going to make you his number one priority. the only thing you might have to compete with is the village but :)

- since he’s got his shit together, this means you can depend on him. and that’s essentially the one thing he wants from his S/O. he wants a capable S/O who Chooses to depend on him, because it makes him feel needed and wanted. so this means he loves pampering his S/O just a little bit, taking care of everything he can without making too big of a deal about it. Mostly just picks up the slack in the little things that slip his S/O’s notice and he absolutely preens when he’s appreciated for it - tries to play it really cool all the while though. 

Eusine

- idk how u managed to lock down this dude when he’s clearly in love with suicune but kudos my friend

- the way you know this dude is about you is that he isn’t actually spacing off every minute when he’s with you, not looking off into the distance dramatically, or saying unnecessarily cryptic shit whenever you just want to know what he wants from pokemon!tacobell. like, he’s in the moment With you, when he’s with you.

- probably invites his S/O to come traveling with him, and it gets to the point where he’ll get two of everything (two tickets, two bed hotel room, two kitschy water bottles with some local tourist trap logo on it) because even if his S/O couldn’t/just didn’t come, he wants to be ready the second they change their mind and doesn’t consider it a burden - if anything his favorite thing on the road is going to sleep alone and waking up with them next to him

Buck 

- Buck is a proud guy, we know that. what that means though, is it’s going to be like pulling teeth to get this guy to compromise on anything in the relationship/flirtation. if he gets flustered while flirting, he’s the first to start deflecting any part he had in the act. if he wants the arm rest in the movie theater, he will make a scene right in the middle of Cars 3 so he can put his dr pepper there. 

- but, when he starts finally getting serious about his S/O, that pride extends to them too. he’s probably matured a bit if he finally managed to commit (not that he wouldn’t but he would take a while to settle down) so he’s slower to get worked up than he used to be, but he when his ire is raised on the behalf of his S/O, it’s like Cars 3 all over again. he thinks of it as being ‘protective’, chivalrous even, but he’s even more overzealous if he has a particularly shy or lenient S/O who won’t speak up for themselves. 

N Harmonia

- a very romantic man, very over the top in his approach to the relationships he’s in but he’s so casual about it that the sense of suspended disbelief sticks around even when everything inside you is pointing out how ridiculous everything is

- he’s somehow both touch starved and afraid to touch his partner, and it shows. like when he’s walking with his S/O, he’ll never grab their hand and will pull away if they try to hold his. he will, however, calculate the perfect distance to walk from his S/O so their hands will brush against another every so often. you can only tell he’s enjoying it because of the dusted blush that will stain his cheeks - the dude’s mad cute.