#mike wheeler defense squad

[wheeler-fan]

Can we please talk about how people downplay Mike's trauma over losing Will and El?

Mike lost Will, first Will went missing while returning from Mike's house which probably made Mike feel guilty, then he literally watched his body being fished out of the water, there was even a funeral. People don't pay attention to how hard these days must have been for him - and why? because Will is back, safe and sound. People in the fandom and the characters in the show, no one pays attention to it. Fans think that how much Mike cares for Will in season two is a reflection of his romantic feelings for him - no one wants to connect it to his trauma. The characters in Stranger Things don't pay attention to it either because Will is back so it doesn't count, everyone talks about Nancy losing Barb but no one talks about Mike because at least his friend is back.

Mike lost El, and he was literally going crazy even though he had only known her for a few days. He fell into depression and couldn't come to terms with the loss so he was calling her for 353 days. Her return is a miracle from heaven for Mike, and the way he behaves after her return, how much he cares for her, what makes him look like someone who wants to control her even though he doesn't. All this is the result of the trauma he had to go through alone without any help. People say Mike has no trauma which always surprises me because people see Nancy's trauma after losing her friend or Joyce's trauma after losing her lover, so why can't they see Mike's? because the two people he was mourning are back, and no one cares about Mike's feelings anymore. This boy had to (still has to) do everything he could to look like a normal teenager without any problems because no one took his problems seriously anymore.

remember, this post is not about romantic things related to this character, it doesn't matter if you ship byler or mileven, this is a post about mike and his trauma, take it easy, thank you

[dog-wood-tree]

i feel like this is the vibe

[lunabug2004]

Guys whatever you do don’t think about the fact that Mike Wheeler gets no comfort while watching his best friend get taken over by a literal monster and then be in excruciating pain because of this monster, only to be lost to this monster in front of his own very eyes. Don’t think about the fact that despite being the only (aware) child in the situation, none of the adults around him ever try to check up on him or support him through this.

Then when Bob dies he’s the one providing comfort to Joyce when they run, he’s the one comforting and supporting the others by coming up with plans.

The only comfort he gets isn’t until the beginning of episode 9, when everything isn’t even over yet, and it’s too late. He’s already lost his trust in Hopper now. He kept El from him for almost a year, letting him soak in his own depression and self-guilt. He may stay by Hop after he comforts him because that’s what he is craving, it’s what he needs, but we’re back to disrespectful Mike in the next season bc obv it was too much for Mike to forgive Hop.

In season 1, we see a kid with his heart on his sleeve. He knows what he wants and he’s not afraid to tell people this, even when his own family is putting him down for it. But in s3, we see a kid who represses his emotions as far down as they’ll go, full of self-hatred, never opening up to anyone.

I believe this change is mainly due to these facts: 1) he was depressed for a whole year and no one ever picked up on it, again, no one comforted him, esp not his family. He probably thought he was being stupid, we already know he thought he was crazy. 2) at this point, he had been repeatedly shut down when voicing his thoughts (Lucas shutting down his worries about Will, Dustin yelling at him when he was grieving for Bob, Hopper immediately getting mad when he was voicing his frustrations), and he probably doesn’t think there’s any point to it anymore. No one ever listens to him anyways. And then 3) the complete lack of comfort he is (not) given throughout seeing Will, his best friend, suffer and being completely unable to help him. That is, until he’s forced to listen to his screams as he’s convincing the others to put Will to sleep.

So yeah… don’t think about that guys :)

[androgynouswizardbanana]

Mike haters be like “El and Will deserve better” meanwhile El hasn’t complimented Mike once in four seasons

[aidyaiden]

The Mike Hater Friend just said that Mike isn't a complex character and that he's just annoying.

[mikeslawyer]

currently sitting and thinking how Virginia Woolf’s letters to her girlfriend remind me of Mike’s unsent letters and how tragic poet coded Mike is.

“and maybe - i feel like i lost you or something”

“dustin and lucas and max, they’re great. but it’s hawkins, it’s not the same without you”

“crazy together, right?”

“yeah, crazy together”

“it’s hard to open up to someone you care about. because what if they don’t like the truth?”

“i asked you to be my friend. and you said yes - that was the best thing i’ve ever done”

had i not seen these letters, you could’ve shown me any of those quotes and told me they’re mike’s unsent letters, i’d believe it in an instant

[conanssummerchild]

every time someone says 'i miss the old mike' it makes me so mad and furious on his behalf like . that is my boy. he's trying. he's doing his best. he' s just hurting :((

[truessences]

Was on Reddit in the Stranger Things subreddit and someone asked who the most intelligent member of the party is. Here was my answer.

I think Mike is the smartest of the kids, Dustin has an overall knowledge base of nerdy stuff but I feel like Mike, also has that but tends to think quick on his feet, is creative, brave, observant(sometimes) and strategic. A lot of big plans have happened because of him spearheading them.

S1- everything he did for El and being able to explain to everyone about the upside down after learning about parallel worlds from his teacher

S2- causing a diversion for El and Hopper to get in and close the gate. True sight and that Will was a spy.

S3- being the only one really who was trying to keep El from over doing it and also immediately coming to El’s aid in the sauna sequence. Plus that was also his plan.

S4- figuring out the pen and thinking to go see Suzie.

I also might be biased as he’s my fave and I think people are way too hard on him but I think my examples help lol.

I’ve always felt like they all had their specialties anyway or what I think they’d be good in and a lot of it overlaps obviously.

AND THEN, I talked about how he is also extremely self-sacrificing and some extra stuff because as always, I feel like people are way too hard on him.

Exactly! He’s also so self sacrificing! People say he hasn’t been the same since S1 and I agree in a sense but not about his character but that’s really on the writers.

S1- telling Brenner that he’d have to kill him (us) to get El. Willing to throw himself off the cliff for Dustin, trying to stand up to the bullies for Will.

S2- running to the soldiers to tell them it’s a trap when he could have easily died. The plan to go into the tunnels which led to him getting attacked lol.

S3- trying to fight Mind Flayed possessed Billy TWICE. Because Billy on his own is scary but a possessed one?? Come on now lol. People really say they hate S3 Mike and I will never understand why lol. My boy was so brave. The other stuff is because of Hopper and I’ll forever die on that hill.

S4- he didn’t get as much to do in terms of forward action but immediately running out to El in the desert when there’s no way he could have known that it was safe for him to do so.

He very much clearly is the leader and the heart of the group. I feel like people say otherwise just because they don’t like him and outside of “oh he’s just a boring character” I don’t personally think he’s done anything to be unlikable, I feel like there are reasons for a lot of his moody (outside of teenager) behavior. He doesn’t get any slack from the fandom and at times his own friends (Max and Will at times and even Lucas). He’s the only one who didn’t get the chance to really talk about his feelings UNTIL S4.

And then someone responded that he was being a jackass in S3, which is why a lot of fans seemed to dislike him and I'm like no, sorry that doesn't make sense to me. Hopper is literally an adult and threatened Mike at least 3 times in their conversation. Like you don't *have* to like anyone but I feel like the reasons that are given for Mike specifically don't make sense to me. As I said in the post, everyone has their moments of being assholes but Mike is the ONLY one who doesn't get a pass. I feel like Lucas was treated pretty badly in S1 but that's gone down thank goodness but Mike still gets shit and to me it's unfounded.

Like don't piss me off lol

[annes-andromeda]

I know there’s other characters but you get my point

[wheeler-fan]

omg stfu? he literally saved all ur favs with that monologue. You think that El is some kind of machine? that u will say a magic word and she's working again? she's a human being💀 she's way stronger when she fights with love than anger, but it's not that simple? she was choking and couldn't move, she was scared, vecna literally wanted her to watch how he kills her best friend and ruins the world? I don't care if ur a byler or mileven shipper and if u believe that the monologue was honest or not but it worked. Mike freaking Wheeler saved El and she saved Max,Nancy,Robin,Steve and well everyone. If mike would be just like "fight El or we all gonna die" u think she would make it? she needed help, and once again mike was there for her and helped her even if he wasn't actually there 💀 he's her hero and she well knows that. I'm literally sick of all these comments that the monologue was so lame that Hawkins is ruined cuz that's literally not Mike's fault 💀💀

[uselessnbee]

what i want to see in s5?

i want to see this

let Robin be the overprotective sister to Mike that he always deserved to have.

Will has Jonathan, Dustin has Steve (and Eddie) but Mike and Nancy aren't really close even tho he obviously longs for family love but just can't get it

so here comes our favorite lesbian who adopts this gay kid with more internalised homophobia than braincells and helps him accept himself and teach him that he actually deserves to be happy and loved just like everyone else

[lunabug2004]

Why the Troy and Angela Situations Should Not Be Compared (+ Why Mike's Reaction Is Valid)

One of the things that gets my blood boiling as a Mike defender is when people try to compare the bullying/El's reaction to said bullying between the Troy and Angela scenes. They are not the same thing, not even close! Yes, they're both cases of bullying, but two very different levels of extreme.

Yes, I understand that words can hurt just as much, if not more, than a physical weapon, and Mike understands this too, that's why he tries to connect with El the morning after. But in the real world, one without monsters or powers, the one they believe they're living in at the time, violence is almost never the answer, it only makes things worse, as it did. Mike also understand this. Now, yes, it took him a minute to figure out that El didn't quite understand this yet, but he works to fix his mistakes as soon as he does.

Now, let's look at season 1's incident. Troy is threatening to cut Dustin with a knife if Mike doesn't jump off the quarry cliff. Two lives are in immediate and direct danger in this situation. El, literally at the last second, saves Mike as he's falling, so that's one problem fixed and one less life at stake. By this time, yes, Troy has moved away from Dustin, but he is still holding the knife! And then he aggressively steps towards El, threatening her with it, so she snaps his arm and makes him drop it. This is self defense, as well as defending her friends from a dangerous situation.

In season 4, Angela publicly humiliates El. Yes, it's awful, and yes, she deserves the smack that she gets for it, but it's nowhere near as bad as what Troy was doing. Angela isn't putting any lives in immediate danger, she's not brandishing a weapon! Legally, El smacking Angela is assault, because at the point of the roller-scate-smack, the ordeal is done with, and there was no physical harm done. I'd like to add that I'm aware of El falling, and that she may have been hurt, but technically no one touched her, so it still isn't technically self-defense (I may be wrong here, pls correct me if so). This is a very unfortunate situation, and I feel terrible for El, as should everyone, but I'm a firm believer that when it comes to bullies, you shouldn't fight fire with fire, and Mike seems to carry this belief as well, as he repeatedly tells the boys to just ignore their bullies in s1. @foodiewithdahoodie has an old post (can't find it irl, but it's stuck in my brain) in which they say El treats Angela, a normal girl who is not a serious threat, with the same extreme hostility she shows the UD monsters, and I completely agree with this. El is flawed, and Mike's not a bad person for reacting to those flaws, that just happen to include unnecessary violence, the way a normal person would.

Anyways, what I'm getting at here is that these two situations are completely different (again, Troy has a literal weapon, two peoples' lives were being actively threatened!) and Mike's reaction in both circumstances were completely valid! In season one, he was seconds away from death, and so when El saved him and made the threat go away, he was eternally grateful for her defense. In season 4, he tries so hard to get to her when he realizes what's going on despite having just found out she'd been lying to him for months, and he was even completely on El's side, trying to find and comfort her, until she hit Angela, then he believed she went too far (she did), so he made that known. He's never been one to sugarcoat when he disagrees with certain behaviors, and he doesn't start here, he tells it like it is: Angela doesn't look fine. It also is just a lot to process, so it doesn't surprise me that it takes an overnight thought-session for him to figure out where he went wrong, and again, he tries to make it up to her! To connect with her, bringing down some of his walls in the process! She just disregards his experiences, then brings up him not saying ILY, so he gets defensive and puts back up his walls, and they never get to continue this conversation! (This is an analysis for another day in and of itself tbh)

To reiterate, it just irks me when people compare these scenes to try and make Mike out to be a bad person, when they are nowhere near the same situation! His reactions being different makes total sense, esp when adding the shock-factor of it all! I'll stop talking now cuz this could go on forever and I lowkey feel like I'm just repeating myself now.

Pls tell me your thoughts on this!

[androgynouswizardbanana]

we talk a lot about how mike treats el as a superhero instead of a regular person but what about how el does the same thing to him?

After season 1, El put Mike up on a pedestal because he was the first person to ever really take care of her. She wants him to be the boy she first met, who made her feel loved like a normal person rather than a monster. But Mike can never live up to this ideal in real life. In season 2 she wants to be with him so badly because she only sees the version of him that calls her every night for a year. But when he sees him in real life, sees that he's met another girl and does still have a life outside of her, she leaves him. In season 4 she expects their relationship to be the idealized teen romance she's seen on tv, and when that fails through no fault of his own she runs and hides from him rather than face him as her real self. She even tries to get Angela to lie to him again because she can't handle Mike seeing her as anything less than the perfect girlfriend. (bear in mind, this is before he actually hurts her feelings with "what did you do?")

While El's desire for Mike to be her "hero" is understandable, it's simply too much to expect from a 14-year-old boy in his first romantic relationship.

[aidyaiden]

do you ever think that mike sees himself like mike haters see him? do you think he sees himself as a horrible friend, a bad boyfriend, an annoying brother, a shitty son? because i do and it hurts a little bit too much

[mikeslawyer]

I need your help, are you still Mike defender?

I keep having debates with milevens and people who don't believe in byler in a stranger things discord, I do well arguing my point that byler is real until they pull out the "Mike was so mean to Will in season 3 and 4. Will deserves better." And then I don't know what to say 😭 I don't believe that Will deserves better but I can't articulate why?? Can you give me some good points that I could possibly use to argue against the claim?

Thank you, love your posts, btw💕

yeah, absolutely, mike’s lawyer til i die! i’m pretty sure i’ve had someone ask this before and i made a list but here!!

first of all, mike wasn’t necessarily mean, he was defensive, those are two different things. he wasn’t trying to be mean, he just wanted to protect his feelings and be normal, as finn said himself and just fit in, which ended up hurting will in the process but mike didn’t specifically want that to happen! to add to this point, most of those things wouldn’t have hurt will, if will wasn’t in love with mike, which mike doesn’t know.

second of all, even when he snapped at will or just made will sad, he’d always come back practically begging on his knees to be forgiven, it’s happened time after time after time. after the rain fight, after roller rink, every time. and the thing is, it’s only when it’s will. mike couldn’t give two fucks about apologising to almost anyone else - remember when el ‘dumped his ass’? he was spending his day in his basement, practically unbothered. but he rode his bike halfway across the town in pouring rain, because will was mad at him.

lastly, the ‘will deserves better’ is the stupidest argument i’ve ever heard, because there is no better!!!!! mike is his first friend, his best friend, somebody will has been in love with for years, someone who understands him and who will, no matter what anyone says, is still the most important person to. mike reflectively defended will with his own body during the shoot out, not even thinking about it, just getting in front of him. mike is will’s world, his heart and making will be in love with mike for literal years just for mike to end up not loving him back, making will get over someone so important to him and go get ‘a better boyfriend’ would be, very simply, cruel.

i’m glad u like my blog x

[none-gender-left-man]

If I'm proven a clown then that's on me but I feel it in my soul