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#is there a ship name for max lucas and el?
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duffer brothers please let the metal head kiss the jock and the journalist kiss the talkative one and the sad gay nerd kiss the repressed gay nerd and the angry redhead kiss the telepathic one and the basketball player and the weed smoker kiss the other weed smoker and the-
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thatskindagaytho · 1 year
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lucas: you know i’m regretting showing you two how to work the blender
max, handing el another glass of toast: why would you say that?
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he may look like the child of Voldemort and Davy Jones, and he may be a killer, but at least he’s not homophobic!!
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sickbromeo · 2 years
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imagine: it’s july 1st 2022, you go to netflix to watch the newest stranger things episodes, you really hope they let will be happy, you watch as will comes out to people, finally he gets to mike, mike tells him that’s cool but he’s straight and not gay and only likes him as a friend, will cries but he’s fine! however by the end of the season ever single queer ship except for byler becomes canon, el breaks up with mike and starts dating max, lucas and dustin start dating, steve and eddie are seem flirting at family videos, robin and nancy are holding hands, jonathan and argyle are high and cuddling, they all hang out and go on a quintuplet date, mike and will stand awkwardly to the side, mike tells will he’s like a brother to him, you are laughing hysterically and crying on the floor.
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sawtrapjj · 2 years
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this is mike's boyfriend will and will's boyfriend lucas and lucas' girlfriend max and max's girlfriend el
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autistic-katara · 10 months
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Jackson x Pamela x Brenda is my second Elumax and Dexer is my second Byler
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lesbians4yoohyeon · 1 year
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does anybody know which specific stranger things comics these parts are from? i want to get them but idk which exact one they are bc there's actually quite a lot 😭😭😭
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demobatman · 1 year
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im a firm believer that max is a disaster in the kitchen but canonically i feel like shes actually the "give me that and go sit down" type to fix whatever garbage the party (mike and dustin) try to throw together (and teaches el how to cook all the while dotting noses and licking spoons while lucas ends up cooking everything...)
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Mike/El/Lucas/Max polyship where Max is all like [Boyfriend By Dove Cameron] but at both Mike AND El so she's just like, "Hey, El, I could be a better boyfriend than Mike" but then also just like, "Hey, Mike, I could be a better boyfriend than El" and then Lucas is just like, "I don't know, I just really love you both a lot, Max just wants to be dramatic about it"
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paladin-n-cleric · 2 years
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ngl volume two had me shipping elumax
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themaxbyers · 2 years
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Christmas with the party
They would be in the living room, on a couch and with a bowl of popcorn.
Mike would try to flirt and then Will would accidentally outdo him, cue Mike would blushing + his brain short circuiting and Will profusely apologizing while laughing so hard.
And maybe Max and Lucas (!!Lumax!!) behind them with Max in a wheelchair and of course, covered in the warmest clothes and a blanket over her knees, trying to figure out how to knit a stocking with extreme concentration, and next to her is Lucas who's just got the dopiest grin on his face while looking at her lovingly.
She'd call him stalker and then playfully nudge his side.
Dustin would bring Suzie over and she'd be so excited.
El with hot cocoa and trying to mistletoe everyone. (Dustin totally did not teach her that) (No, Lucas totally did not blush when she passed him and Max.)
Ik its not christmas, but just imagineeeeee
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truessences · 1 year
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Omg are you a librarian? 😊 Also let's say the ST kids go to Disneyland or a similar amusement park. What are some headcanons?
Hi! Yes I am! I technically am a "Library Associate" but it's just easy to say Librarian and I do have my Masters to get a Librarian job... I'm just picky lol.
Okay! So amusement park headcanons. I've never been to Disneyland/World so I can't really answer for that lol.
So, they go while college age!
Mike and Lucas love rides and want to ride everything. They are determined to ride everything and will race each other to get into lines. They drag the others onto whatever the newest ride is because they have to ride it together, except for Suzie, she doesn't like roller coasters. Dustin screams his head off and has lost a hat on a ride so he never wears them on rides anymore.
Max and El love the fun houses and also the little games, particularly the little hammer thing with the bell, El always wins because she uses her powers a little lol. But they prefer to be in the water park but will ride rides with their boyfriends.
Dustin has a quota for roller coasters but he will play the games because he has it down to a science and wins every time. He manages to get Suzie a giant teddy bear.
Will actually works at an amusement park during the summer, he has a drawing/caricature station. When he's not working and goes with the party, he has a couple of rides he loves and will ride but he's content with watching the bags. If there are live shows going on, he'll be there. His boyfriend... I'm thinking Adam, also works at the amusement park but he operates one of the game booths. They're stationed close.
They eat together.
El is a snacker (also a sweet tooth) so she snacks on pretzels, popcorn and cotton candy more than she eats actual food. She may get like chicken tenders but she won't finish them. She always gets ice cream in a waffle cone because it's the closest thing to an eggo and the little supreme thing Hopper would make.
Mike likes hand held foods, so he gets sliders/burgers/chicken tenders and fries and gets a milkshake from the same place El gets her ice cream. They sometimes even share their milkshakes.
Lucas will eat corn dogs and fries, which Max finds gross, but Lucas asks what's the difference between her regular hotdog and his corn dog. They argue about it lol. They share a loaded funnel cake later.
Will and Adam share a half cheese and half pepperoni pizza, Will also orders a pizza with pineapples. Will gets caramel apples while Adam gets candied apples.
Dustin has to get a turkey leg and I feel like Suzie is a vegetarian so she brings her own lunch. Suzie likes churros and Dustin gets an ice cream bar.
Then of course they get a picture taken as a group every time they go! MEMORIES!
I might want to write something now lol
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fruitbythefoot7 · 2 months
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hi this is your friendly reminder that all of the endgame ships (jancy, lumax, byler, jopper) have a very clear parallel between all of them that mlvn very clearly does not have. 
in s1, nancy gets stuck in the ud, calls out for jonathan, and is pulled out and into jonathan’s arms. 
in s2, will is stuck in one of his ud episodes, calls out for mike, and is pulled out and into mike’s arms. 
in s2, hopper is stuck in the ud tunnels, and inevitably gets saved by joyce (who had been calling out his name) 
in s4, max is in a trance, calls out for lucas first, and gets pulled out by lucas’s knowledge of what her favorite song is and falls into his arms. 
and in s1…el is stuck in the ud, calls out for mike, and gets out completely on her own. 
so. what does that say about them? 
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heyitspersephone · 5 months
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Thinking about stranger things again now that the strikes are over and how, narratively, it would be way, WAY cooler to have Mike get Vecna’d instead of Will in s5
It’s just something about the way Mike’s trauma is never addressed or handled in any way?? Like, he hugs his mom twice and then when he was depressed in season 2 and 4 nobody did anything (his parents scolded him for his behavior in s2 ig but that’s not support). His best friend went missing leaving from his house, he watched his body get pulled from the quarry, watched El (in his eyes) kill herself stopping the demogorgon, watched Will be possessed, saw Bob die, was in Star Court when everything went down, saw Billy die, had his best friend move away, was SHOT AT (and really too few people talk about the shooting in Cali bc omg??), buried a body, and watched the apocalypse start. And that’s just off the top of my head.
(And yes I’m aware that the other characters (especially Will) are traumatized too but I will get to my point in a second just hold on)
The plot is geared towards this idea that Will and Henry have to have some big face off (and they should, in my opinion, but I don’t think it should be in a possession, or at least not the the Vecna kind of possession, yk?) but that makes it all the better, writing wise, to have mike be the one in danger. Will was helpless and hiding in s1, I think Will should get his big strong moments in s5 where he gets to be the hero of the story.
It would just be a lot more fun to work with Mike being Vecna’d than Will, because what are we going to bring up with Will’s visions? His dad? His sexuality? The events of s1 from his perspective? It would be cool to see, for sure, but we already know most of that. Mike, on the other hand, has a number of untapped things, like jumping off the quarry, why he’s so hesitant to tell El he loves her, how someone who was smart and kind enough to take El in in s1 and come up with the spy and sauna plans in s2 and s3 could turn into the oblivious asshole that he was in s3 and s4 (he needs therapy, ik, I still love his character but I want to explore the reasons he went from his s2 characterization to his s3 one)
It would be a very interesting parallel, I think, to explore Mike’s thought processes in this way, especially with all of Mike’s repression business (bc whether you ship byler or milkvan he is repressing his feelings HARD. Like, beyond his inability to say I love you there’s the fact that he doesn’t bring up the apparent many times he called pre-s4 during the Rink O Mania fight?? That literally would’ve absolved him of guilt in that argument since he WAS reaching out to Will the whole time? Hellooooo????).
Anyways, this all brings me to my main point: Vecna targets isolation as much as he targets trauma and guilt. The whole party was traumatized by the events in s1, s2, and s3, but Max was the one targeted. Plus, Henry went for Fred, Chrissy, and Patrick (I think his name was Patrick) instead of going for the perceivably easy targets that the mcs would make (ik narratively that would’ve made it more boring but shhh), so why Max and those three specifically? They were isolated. Lucas and Erica have each other, Dustin goes to Steve and Robin, Will and El have each other and Jonathan and Joyce, Nancy probably goes to Jonathan, and who does Mike go to?
No one. And don’t say Nancy because if those two have heart to hearts then I’m the next coming of Christ. Max separated herself from the Party in the aftermath of her grief and guilt over Billy, and it feels quite obvious that Mike was doing the same (like I said, he has repression issues). So Mike is traumatized, alone, and guilty (be it Will getting taken from Mike’s house, losing El in front of him multiple times, the many deaths he has witnessed, or the internalized homophobia angle), which makes him more of a target than Will, in my opinion (or at least an easier one, especially given his tendency to put himself on the line during fights (quarry, most of s2, s3 mindflayer fight), which would set him up on the suicidal ideation path)
Furthermore, as I’ve seen a few other people point out (and I can’t find the posts but one of them had eight screenshots of the various moments), Mike is always the one getting in the way, so it would be a strategic move for Henry to target him to get him out of the picture. Mike was the one that found El and got her involved in saving Will s1, he was the one who came up with the spy plan and called out the ambush in s2, he was the one to monologue Will out of his possession s2, he was the one with the sauna plan for Billy in s3, he was the one trying to help El get the strength to fight s4 (even if the monologue sucked ass it’s the intention that counts). As much as people like to hate on Mike, he is in the leader position most of the time when the party is grouped up (barring his mental health struggles slowing that down beginning of s3 and throughout s4, but he’s still capable of it). He’s the idea man, and he’s the one whose character’s foundations were built on the desire to keep his friends safe, so it would be a very fun plot line to watch him be the one targeted in s5. Like Will said, as lovestruck and cheesy as he was, Mike is the heart of the party when he’s on his A-game, so Henry should 100% be trying to keep him in the issues he’s been struggling with.
Obviously, Will and El are the Targets with a capital T for Henry since they’re the ones that got away or whatever, but I think Mike is a weakness of Will’s (and El’s tbh but also I think they need to have separate character arcs and I don’t exactly ship milkvan) that should be exploited.
TL;DR: Mike should get Vecna’d instead of Will in s5 because it would make sense in lore and be a very cool way to resolve his character arc
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aurorabyler · 2 years
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Flashbacks in Stranger Things: When, Why, and How They Are Used (Long Analysis)
sit back and relax everyone. this is gonna be my longest post yet.
disclaimer before anyone proceeds--i have not tagged this post with any relationships other than byler so if you do not like this pairing please just scroll past this post! i never cross tag because i truly want a safe fandom space for everyone. this is just my analysis of the show and my own brainrot.
I’ve thought about the usage of flashbacks in Stranger Things a lot over the past few weeks. I saw a post by user @girlskth on Twitter (HUGE shoutout to them for this very eye-opening post, please go check it out their tweet and give them all the love!!), who mentioned the contrast between Max’s scene in Dear Billy (running up that hill → from Vecna), versus El being trapped by the vines in 4x09.  First: we need to talk about flashbacks as they have been used throughout film and TV history as a key literary device. Here are some articles that I found that explain why flashbacks can be so important to understanding characters:
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This quote is vital:
"Flashbacks are really a function of character, not story…the visual image we’re seeing is what the character is thinking and feeling at that present moment…it illuminates a character’s point of view.”
Flashbacks are never pointlessly placed. There is always an intent behind reverting back to the old material to demonstrate something about the character’s current mindset. 
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These two scenes are clearly parallels (complete credits to @girlskth for bringing this up), as both Max and El are encountering the same situation–being trapped in Vecna’s lair and hearing a monologue from him. The scenes are not only plot parallels but visual ones.
However, there is one thing lacking in this parallel, and @girlskth brilliantly points out what it is—their emotional connection. Max relies on flashbacks of her happiest memories to free herself from Vecna’s trance and come back to reality. There are MANY flashbacks of her platonic relationships (her friendship with El being the most significant), and her romantic relationship with Lucas, which is ultimately what gives her enough time to run away from Vecna.
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Now, going into El’s scene, I as a viewer was EXPECTING that they would show flashbacks of El’s happy memories with Mike during his monologue. This is coming from someone who does not ship these two characters together at all.
I like them as friends, and I was still waiting for them to show us moments from their kiss at the snowball, from Mike giving Eleven the name “El,” from Mike calling her for 353 days in season 2, from Mike saying “No, El, you’re not the monster–you saved me,” from El saying she loves him at the end of season 3…but nothing. 
Absolutely no flashbacks were shown apart from the scene of the boys finding El in the woods. This is extremely odd for a couple who has supposedly been the centrepiece of Stranger Things for four seasons, or, in the words of people who ship these characters, have been “built up for four seasons.” But no. Nothing.
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This is an INSANE contrast to Max’s Dear Billy scene, which went out of its way to show her history with all of these characters over the 3 seasons her character has been in the show. 
The concept of “show, don’t tell,” is critical in understanding this parallel. Take Max’s relationships that are highlighted when she is in Vecna’s trance: these flashbacks all occur because she knows they will give her strength. She is never verbally prompted to think about these memories because she has confidence they will help her fight in her darkest moment. Here’s some more information on show don’t tell and how it is used in media:
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If we apply Max's unconcious logic to El’s scene in Vecna’s lair, being able to pull from her happy memories with Mike should have been something that came relatively naturally to her. Except, this didn’t happen. What did happen? El’s memories with Max DID come naturally, and those memories ultimately saved Max’s life.
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Zero Flashbacks to Mike/El's Past Seasons' Dynamic
While waiting for volume two, even as someone who likes this pairing platonically, I was excited to see flashbacks to season 1 Mike/Eleven once they reunited at the Nina Project. I’ll always be nostalgic for seasons 1 and 2 and I wanted to see some of their friendship dynamics from those seasons come back. I was literally expecting there to be some sort of “still pretty?” flashback, or some other cut back to season one. Again, I am saying all of this entirely as someone who 100% believes in a byler endgame for this show. I was still very surprised by this, and it is clearly intentional on the writer’s part.
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Some would argue that the lack of flashbacks is due to the varying perspectives in Mike’s monologue scene. We see Mike’s, Will’s, El’s, and Jonathan’s POVs switching between each other in this scene. When peeling back the layers, we learned that Mike's monologue utilizes the miscommunication trope in a big way. Let’s analyze:
Mike is under the impression, because of Will, that “these past few months she (El) has been so lost without you…You make her feel like she’s not a mistake at all–like she’s better for being different. And that gives her the courage to fight on.” —Will, 4x09
First and foremost: Mike’s monologue would not have happened without Will’s veiled confession in the van. He believes Will’s feelings are El’s, and it is these feelings that make him think that what he says is what El needs to hear. 
Mike is TOLD (not sure if he entirely believes it especially after the final scene in the cabin when El walks away from him, but we’ll have to wait for more scripts to see the truth), that El has been “lost” without him and that she “needs” him to be able to fight.
This is what he is TOLD by Will about El, and this is not true, as NOWHERE during any of El’s scenes at school in California, or once Mike comes to visit, or during her time at the Nina Project, or during her battles with the military + Vecna does El EVER give the impression that she somehow needs Mike in her life to keep fighting, or that he gives her courage. In fact, given all of the parallels El draws between Mike's "what did you do?" and Brenner's "what have you done?" I would say what Mike gives her is the opposite of courage.
El keeps fighting because she has come into herself and she is powerful and strong, not because she needs Mike there to help her. And Mike, prior to Will’s confession, knows this is the truth, as seen by the line in the official script that was cut out from the show: 
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If El truly needed Mike to “fight on,” as Will implies with his own feelings, I believe that more flashbacks would have been utilized, regardless of the multiple perspectives in the scene, to show how Mike has supposedly helped El “fight” in the past. But none of this was shown BECAUSE El’s battles have always been about her personal arc and growth. In the past seasons, El has never relied on or needed Mike to help her fight–he has been misled because of Will’s veiled confession. 
Perhaps the best example of El’s battles being about her own growth is in the 2x09 scene where she closes the gate: you'll see here that all the flashbacks she has during this critical battle have to do with her personal growth and past trauma. The same is true of her fight with the Demogorgon in season 1, of learning from Kali in season 2, of fighting Billy and the Mind Flayer in season 3--her relationship with Mike is not critical to any of these battles. It is her friendships and familial love that motivates her as well as her own coming of age.
The miscommunication about El "needing" Mike to be able to "fight" explains a lot of things, including, at least to an extent why Mike VISIBLY HESITATED when saying “I love you” for the first time in his monologue. There are obviously other reasons to this that have been analyzed by many other people, but I feel this miscommunication is critical.
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This is something that has really been annoying me ever since season 4 came out: the whole plotline about Mike not being able to say he loves El should be extremely clear to audiences about what it implies. I love romance and I KNOW that the Duffers can write amazing love stories (Lumax, Jancy, Jopper…).
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Lucas and Max never once say they love each other but it is clear to audiences–they SHOW it in their own ways. 
True love is shown, not told–especially in media.
That is how the most popular romantic pairings are so believable to audiences. Showing, not telling your love for someone, makes it feel real. And boom: ever since season 3 and ESPECIALLY after season 4, there have been hundreds of thousands of people saying that Mike/El's dynamic seems "off" somehow.
My point here is that if you love someone unconditionally, if you are truly, deeply in love with them, you would not hesitate for a moment to say that you love them, especially if they practically beg you to say it while crying about that very fact. You would also not call them “ridiculous” after they start crying and then you proceed to deflect blame about a situation you caused onto other people. 
Love is powerful. To me, it’s one of the most powerful things that exists in this world. And I believe that the writers of this show feel the same way: Love Conquers All. I’ll insert one of my favourite quotes from Avatar: The Last Airbender to display how I feel about this topic:
"You have indeed felt a great loss. But love is a form of energy, and it swirls all around us. The air nomads' love for you has not left this world. It is still inside of your heart, and is reborn in the form of new love." -Guru Pathik, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Real, romantic love is never something that should be questioned at critical moments. Let me emphasize: I do not question that Mike platonically loves El. He clearly loves her a great amount as shown by what he has gone through with her over the course of the show, just as he loves Lucas, Dustin, Max, Nancy, etc. 
Millie literally said in an interview for ST4 that “Mike is not loving Eleven the way she wants to be loved.” This situation for El is honestly extremely heartbreaking because she truly deserves so much better than what she’s been given. El is one of my favourite characters and I love her dearly, and seeing her suffer because of this relationship as well as the bullying at school hits very close to home for me. She deserves so much happiness and I hope she gets to have endless amounts of it by the end of season 5. 
How else have flashbacks been used in Stranger Things? 
The article I cited earlier holds true to the Stranger Things writer’s perspective on flashbacks. Remember: "flashbacks are really a function of character, not story…the visual image we’re seeing is what the character is thinking and feeling at that present moment…it illuminates a character’s point of view.” Utilizing flashbacks as a literary device in this manner has been seen multiple times in the show at key character moments. 
Will and Joyce
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This flashback is key to showing Joyce's relationship with her son and how much she loves him. It holds true to the article in that it SHOWS that while searching for Will, she thinks back to the time they spent together in Castle Byers.
Jonathan and Will
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Jonathan's relationship with Will is key to season one and remains one of the most beautiful parts of Stranger Things. This flashback, just like the ones with Max and Joyce, happens naturally. Jonathan associates The Clash with Will and can't help thinking back to their happy memories together once he hears the song play. This simple scene shows the depth of their relationship.
Hopper and Sarah
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In my opinion, this is by far the most effective use of flashback Stranger Things has used to date. When I watched season 1 in 2016, this was the scene that made me cry my eyes out. I still think about it to this day as the catalyst that started my long-running love for this show. While trying to revive Will, Hopper is reminded of his daughter Sarah's struggle with cancer which led to her death. This flashback is a perfect representation of Hopper's development.
Hopper's arc in seasons 1 and 2 was one of my favourite things to watch: he starts as someone cold and isolated who drowns himself in drugs and alcohol to cope with his past trauma. Eventually, he learns to love again in all sorts of ways once Joyce comes back into his life. Hopper's drive to find Will and his love for Joyce inadvertently led him to El, and as he says in season 3:
"For so long, I'd been stuck in one place...And then, I left some Eggos out in the woods, and you came into my life. And for the first time in a long time, I started to feel things again." -Hopper's Letter, 3x03
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In summary: flashbacks are used with intent and to SHOW the audience a character's internal struggles and thoughts. Stranger Things follows the textbook way to use flashbacks effectively, and has clearly been selective for a reason when it comes to which moments they choose to remind us of, as well as when, how, and why these moments are used. They have juxtaposed two very similar scenes and how the characters have escaped from the series' antagonist, Vecna, using these flashbacks/memories to their advantage. The final battle between El and Vecna was driven by El's love for Max. Mike was under the impression that what he said was what El needed to hear because it was veiled in Will's feelings. While these ideas have been widely discussed, showing how flashbacks have been effectively used throughout the show and comparing them to their usage (or lack thereof) in season 4 gives us excellent insights into El's headspace, as well as what the future holds for these characters. I put my blood, sweat, and tears into this analysis so I really hope you enjoyed it! Please give it a reblog if you can and leave your thoughts in the comments. I'd love to know your interpretation :) Thank you so much for reading! <3
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blenderenvy · 11 months
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I think we can all agree Lucas has by far the most riz out of the party. Like this man could pull all the bitches. And every pairing that involves Lucas is just a absolutely iconic ship.
Lumax? Hell freaking yeah, gotta be one of the top mf ships of the decade! They are so absolutely precious!
El x Lucas? Give me more right now. The rival/enemy to friend to lovers autism girlfriend and ADHD boyfriend energy these two can have. I think that self acceptance is something the two of them need.
Elumax? Yes yes yes. My absolute favorite stranger things ship and definitely one of my top otps of all time. These bitches all deserve each other. Lucas and El find a shoulder in each other during max coma, help destroy vecna and save max, while falling inlove with each other in the process. The absolute bi4bi4bi energy that radiates from these beautiful people.
Wheelclair? Absolutely, are you telling me Michel 'boy lover' Wheeler didn't have an giant ass crush on Lucas in middle school? I think Mike was Lucas's first kiss.
Byclair? Yes! Only one of the og party continued to search for Will after meeting El, and not trying to piss of the bylers here, but it wasn't Michel Wheeler. This is an absolute soft cutesy boyfriends ship, the artist and the jock who are both nerds with a heart of gold.
Bywheelclair? yes definitely absolutely. Lucas deserves two boyfriends, this is a power throuple in the making, the chemistry and cutest nerdyness levels are off the charts
Dustin x Lucas? Qpr goals
Name a more rizzed up character? I'll wait
I just love this man with my whole chest and i need people to understand, because this fandom doesn't show enough love to my boy!
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