#not to mention all the parallels between mike and hopper ('not hopper...not mike... you!')

[erikiara80]

The mean green

I was thinking about the parallel between the Are you real? in 2x07 and 4x09

And these screenshots in one of kaypeace21's posts. The dialogue in the elevator, when Erica says that she will drink the green goo, because you can survive for a while without food, but not without water, raises the question of how Will was able to survive for a week in the UD. But we only realize that in S4, when we see that there is no water in the lake. Imo, not a random location, for many reasons.

All this green is connected to gates/Mind Flayer/One. Then there's Kali's nickname, K, a street name for ketamine. Another one, that was used in the late 60s, was mean green. Even the name of the man Kali wants to kill, Ray Carroll, can be associated with drugs (Alice as a slang for LSD) Same for Kali's power. Making people see or not see what she chooses, reminds of what drugs and mind control do.

"LSD mind control experiments" (Powell in 1x03) "...elaborate experimentations in perusal of mind control" (1x08 newspaper). And Richard Brenner was head of the Narcotic Enforcement Division from 1954-1971, so from the year Henry vanished in Dimension X to the year Will and El were born.

In the article that El reads in the cabin, the line about Brenner's experiments is slightly different, more specific about what they did.

"extensive... into physiology... perception." So, they used drugs to alter people's perception of reality.

There's a lot of green in K's scenes. Even her mask is green.

Kali, "K" (ketamine) and the green toy (mean green) in Terry's memory, one of the many hints that we can't trust what we see (more about that scene here)

Just like we can't trust what we see in Nina. They show both the green toy and the Magic 8 Ball a few times, the massacre happens on September 8, Kali's name is in the crossword in 4x01, and Henry mentions her and Terry, so that memory is probably not what really happened.

Henry asks El to join him. In 3x03, before she looks for Heather in the void, we see more green liquid and Join Us.

Like the green Join Us on the bulletin board behind Will

In 3x06, we see this green bottle, after the conversation about the keys and the gate.

Speaking of keys, there's a big green key at Melvald's, because Will and El are the keys, and getting to Mike is the key, too.

At the end of S3, connection between the lab and "chemical leaks"

EDIT: In @threemanoperation 's post about the mentions of caves and holes, I noticed something:

in this shot, we see Will and El while Hopper mentions being stuck in one place, in a cave, imo a hint that, because of experiments/ drugs/mind control, they're all stuck in a time loop. Interestingly, Lucas' shirt is green. Maybe just a coincidence. Maybe not.

In 2x01, Bob points to a green Halloween bucket. On Halloween, Will almost gets possessed by the Mind Flayer. It's also interesting that Bob's very first line is that he's not a big fan of orange. Orange is associated with Hopper, because of Agent Orange, but orange barrels, cubes, haze are also street names for LSD. I'll make a post about that, too.

The song that plays when El arrives at Terry's house is Green green grass of home. An interesting choice for a mother-daughter reunion. The song is about a man who returns home, to his mama and papa. "It's good to touch the green green grass of home", but then the man wakes up and realizes that it was just a dream (Becky says that Terry is stuck in a dream). He's actually in prison, his parents are dead and he's about to be executed. So, touching the green grass and dreaming that you're home= being drugged and believing/seeing things that are not real?

And you know what? I'm starting to think that even the color of Joyce's car could be a hint. There's a green car in Terry's suspicious memory... It's all connected. They've all been manipulated.

Also, this green soap in Nancy's vision of Henry and Brenner.

And there are probably other things I didn't notice.

@chirpsythismorning

[bibylers]

Before I start, I’d like to thank you all for all the likes on my first posts, It means a lot! 💓💓

Also, I decided just to point a few things out before starting. I have been having a very hard time for the past few months, and I won’t be able to post as often as I have (aka once per day). Hope you understand. :)

Today I will be going through one of my FAVOURITE theories ever.

✨ FLICKERGATE ✨

Now, I know that there’s a big possibility that Flickergate won’t happen, but I still really like the concept!

So, Flickergate is really focused on the theories of:

1. Byler in the upside down

2. Will having electricity powers

3. David Bowie, Heroes theory

4. Lettergate

(If you don’t know about the David Bowie, Heroes theory, the Will having electricity powers theory or the Lettergate theory, you can search about it on tumblr, since I won’t be explaining it in this post.)

Flickergate goes all the way back to S1, when Will admits to Mike that he rolled a 7, and that the Demogorgon got him, since he can’t lie to Mike.

After Will bikes away, it’s shown that the lights flicker outside of Mikes garage. Now, some people think it was probably just the Demogorgon in the upside down, or something else that made the lights flicker, but in Flickergate, it’s about something else happening in the upside down.

So, back to S4. During the end of the last episode, we get this intimate moment between Mike and Will in Hoppers cabin.

Now, do you realise how the couch is upside down? This has made people question, if it’s foreshadowing to S5, Byler in the upside down.

This is where the theory basically started.

The theory goes:

Mike and Will get a paralleled fight (to the s3 byler fight) in the upside down, in Mikes garage. Now, during this fight, Will brings up the fact that Mike hasn’t written to him at all during his time in California, which leads the Mike admitting that he did indeed write to him, but never got the courage to send his letters. This would make their fight end up with Mike and Will FINALLY having a kiss. During this kiss, Heroes by David Bowie would play. And these lyrics will be played:

Now, since in this theory Will has electricity powers, which makes the lights flicker outside of the garage because of the “love electricity”, which is also mentioned in s2, when Steve and Dustin talk about love.

But, why do the lights flicker in s1, isn’t this about s5?

Well, remember in s4 when Nancy, Eddie, Steve and Robin are in the upside down, and realise that the upside down is STUCK IN TIME, to THE DAY WILL WENT MISSING?

This could make it possible for Will to make the lights flicker in s1, even though this happens in s5.

Also, a little detail to this:

In s3, byler fight, Will leaves.

In s4, byler fight, Mike leaves.

In s5, byler fight, no one leaves.

Sorry if I explained this in a confusing way, or misspelled any words. I’m not the best at explaining nor pronunciation. 💗

[bylertruther]

thinking about how...

this show has always been about will, his disappearance, and the ripple effect that all has had on everyone. when they mention which characters in particular, it's interesting to note that these are all characters who end up being pivotal / endgame ships. joyce and hopper, jonathan (and nancy), and mike (and will). the only one missing would be lucas (and max), but lucas gets a lot of focus in season one anyway and their relationship is a highlight of the second season. these ships all also continue to grow closer as the show goes on.

mike is introduced as someone with "near-crippling insecurity". he cares very much about falling behind his peers (see: the second sentence) and what others think of him (see: him not wanting to tell eleven he gets bullied). they specifically point out that mike and will escape their feelings of alienation through fantasy. they, unlike dustin and lucas, have a connection to dnd that goes beyond just enjoying it. for them, this is the one place they can be themselves uninhibited or more than what they think they are.

mike finds himself on a real adventure for will. the dogged, devoted, and relentless courage we come to associate with mike was born out of his desire to save will. mike was inspired by will. (see: when he radios lucas and tells him that will could've cast protection, but he didn't. he put himself in danger to save the party.) he becomes the leader we know and love because of will. he faces many monsters—troy and hawkins' homophobia, the bad men, a demogorgon—for will. the last sentence makes you think it's tied to eleven, but really... it isn't.

this is further supported by the fact that mike was originally supposed to enter the upside down by himself! at twelve years old! he was supposed to enter a scary monster-filled dimension because of how much he loves and misses his best friend. he does this for will, because he believes with all his heart and knows that will is alive, and they just need to find and help him somehow. will is the one that inspires mike to unearth that courage he didn't know he had.

the montauk / stranger things bible states that "mike will meet and bond with eleven," but the only time it "defines" their relationship you could say is when it parallels them to elliot and e.t. who are obviously not a romantic couple lol. the only romantic relationship mentioned in this pdf is between jonathan and nancy.

piggybacking off of point five, i feel like that, paired with how everyone pushed mike towards eleven, and the emphasis on mike feeling insecure over never having had a girlfriend or a first kiss, suggests that their relationship in this season is not romantic in nature. not really, anyway.

when mike is talking about their future, this is what he says:

See, I was thinking, once all this is over and Will’s back and you’re not a secret anymore, my parents can get you an actual bed for the basement. Or you can take my room if you want, since I’m down there all the time anyway. My point is, they’ll take care of you. They’ll be like your new parents, and Nancy, she’ll be like your new sister.

whenever mike is talking to eleven without any outside influence, he's always treating her in a platonic or familial manner. she's the one that he's talking about as if they're siblings, not will. he's 100% indisputably describing a family here, because that's what he sees her as—an adopted sister, that is—when no one else is influencing him or misconstruing his kindness towards her. he knows that she has no one and he obviously likes her and considers her a friend. he doesn't want to lose her or for her to be alone and hurt again, so this is the next logical step in his mind.

(also, remember in season three when mike said "i love her and can't lose her again" and when el questioned him on it, he said it was "a family discussion", then again played stupid and didn't say it back when eleven brought it up a second time at the end? and then in season four continued to avoid saying those words in a romantic context until will confessed and then pushed him to say it? and even then he spoke about how he still viewed her as the girl he met in the woods, who needed a family, is a superhero? aka not saying why he loves her or mentioning any of her personality traits like jonathan and nancy are able to? lol.)

it's only when she asks for clarification and inadvertently reminds him of everything everyone has been saying all week that he backtracks. but when it's just him and her and he forgets everything he "should" be doing or feeling at this age, aka kissing girls and getting a girlfriend? it's 100% familial and platonic.

he kisses her in this scene, yes, lol, but that's after she questions him and she's still not understanding that they apparently aren't just friends. she doesn't know what dating or romantic love is until season two when she's been binging soaps in the cabin.

and yes he dances with her at the snow ball in season two, but 1) he promised her, 2) she's his friend he hasn't seen in forever, and 3) what were they supposed to do? stand off to the side awkwardly while everyone else dances? he's a paladin: he made a promise to her and so he intends to keep it.

additionally, that s1 kiss being the only one that the duffers actually planned (at that point in time) suggests this (in my opinion), too.

in eleven, mike finds a friend in a girl for the first time ever. in mike, eleven finds her first friend in general ever. their bond, which is likened to elliot and e.t., is misconstrued as being romantic because that's what everyone around them assumes it is.

mike falls for this because 1) he's insecure (and behind the scenes in interviews finn especially has described their relationship as something that makes mike "normal" and allows him to "impress people", two things which are(/were?) important to mike), 2) doesn't know any better, and 3) as a fantasy lover, do you really think he's going to turn down or hurt an actual "superhero" who just so happens to be the first girl ever to not be grossed out by him?

eleven falls for this, too, because 1) she also doesn't know any better, 2) the soaps she watched for almost an entire year straight and her isolation in general definitely painted their friendship in a different light for her, and 3) he was her first friend. of course she's going to have special feelings for him that maybe eventually in time did turn into actual romantic feelings, but were definitely not that at the start when she knew nothing of the world.

so, like... yeah. all of the parallels between mike and eleven's familial figures in life and the disparity between mike's relationships with eleven and will aren't just a wacky coincidence. it's by design.

mike and eleven both tell us how they feel about each other in season one, the duffers have expressed their vision for those two since before stranger things was even called stranger things, they knew what they wanted to do in season two before casting as well, they called season three their season to "play in the sandbox" before going back to showing their hand and wrapping story lines up, and mike and will's relationship has been this close and interlinked since the very beginning, too. it's all there in the text itself. none of this is new and all of it is intentional.

and, if we are to continue this pattern... mike is going to discover even more courage that he didn't know he had when will finally comes clean and tells him how he really feels about him. he'll realize, too, that he doesn't need to escape into a fantasy world or conform in order to have what he truly wants or be the person he wishes he could be. he'll realize that he's brave, strong, and loved entirely for who he is in this world, too; that it's real, true, and has been his entire life.

[bylrndgm]

Did S2's finale give us a clue about S4's final shot?

Today, in this post, I want to go down a really interesting parallel between S2 and S4 with you.

But, to do that, I need to take you back to 2017, when the final episode of S2 aired. It's Oct. 27th, and people are watching this exact scene on their screens:

I have never paid attention to it... until recently. That is what I'll be focusing on: Mount Sinai.

Please, stick around, and dive with me into this under the cut.

𝟏. 𝐇𝐚𝐰𝐤𝐢𝐧'𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐩

Before getting into, it, we will need Hawkin's map. Here is one, updated to S4. I highlighted the places that will be useful in this post.

Circled in red -> The Creels' house (thanks to @pinkeoni, since I'm blind af)

Circled in orange -> Location of Cerebro

Circled in yellow -> Hopper's cabin

Highlighted in green -> Mt. Sinai.

𝟐. 𝐌𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐢'𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐜𝐲

If you, like me, had to go through endless hours of Religion Education in school, then the name Mount Sinai will... ring a bell in your mind.

Yes. The Bible. Once again.

Mount Sinai is "the mountain at which the Ten Commandments were given to Moses by God".

You know, interesting.

I was thinking about why they would mention it in Stranger Things. Perhaps it was nothing... perhaps it could mean something.

It scratched the top of my head, but it was a fleeting thought, and I couldn't exactly put my finger on it.

Until this very day.

𝟑. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞

Let's fast forward to Jul. 1st, 2022. Volume 2 of ST4 just dropped and many, like me, really thought Will and Mike were about to hold hands, there, on that hill - oh, delusional me.

I am sure there is no need to remind you of the final sequence of S4, but for this post's purposes, here we go:

It starts outside Hop's cabin and follows on top of a hill.

That is where I asked myself which hill was that.

Could've been the one where Cerebro was installed

Or, could've been Mount Sinai.

𝟒. 𝐂𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬?

I pretty much think the place they're in it's Mount Sinai. For two main reasons:

It's near the Creels' house

Look how Mt. Sinai is described in the Bible:

Interestingly similar to the final shot, right? Here are some paintings that portray Mt. Sinai:

(Open for better quality) -> you have to agree with me that they do look a lot like the scenario shown at the end of S4.

𝟓. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧

I have no idea what may be the implications of this, so I'll leave it to the clever minds of this tag.

However, here is another thing:

It could very much be that God = Vecna. In the sense that Vecna is the God of Evil -> don't forget about the Creel's house nearby.

In S4, there were a lot of callbacks to S2. You can't disagree: the snowball, the Jaws poster in Will's room, his birthday too - apparently.

I would not be surprised if Lucas telling Max to make a left on Mount Sinai meant something... and if that something came back in S4, as it had heavy callbacks to Christianity and satanism.

And even if it did, why did the writers choose to set the final shot on top of Mount Sinai? The very same that has such a rooted legacy and a deep meaning in religions like Judaism and Christianity?

According to some, Sinai comes from sin, and sin is a recurring motif in Stranger Things' latest season. You can't deny it's all tied together.

[aemiron-main]

me who is so normal about the mike-chrissy parallels and esp about that scene where eddie comments on mike’s clothes in the cafeteria and how that just Happens to be right after a scene of a hallucination of Chrissy’s mom tormenting chrissy about her clothes size in the bathroom/about loosening her clothes and then we get that line from Eddie towards Mike in the NEXT SCENE BACK TO BACK about “the clothes your mommy bought you from the goddamn gap”

like first of all not only are both of them being mocked for their clothing (although in different ways), but they’re also both mocked for their clothes in a way that’s tied to each of their mothers specifically.

I’m not saying that Karen tormented Mike about his weight/appearance in the same way that Chrissy’s mom does esp because imo Mike and Chrissy’s eating issues are both very different with very different roots/causes, but I AM saying that Karen has undoubtedly played a key role in mike’s food issues although not in the same way as Chrissy’s mom. Like think about it: Mike associates “real food,” directly with Karen when talking to El about it in s1, and what do we see happen regarding Mike and real food? He stops eating it. We haven’t seen him eat what HE defines as “real food,” since season 2, since Karen dismissed him and punished him at the table for his outbursts at school (even though he’d already been punished for that & now she’s just using it as an excuse to get him to give up his toys and don’t even fucking get me started on how Karen made Mike give up his toys jn s2 but then in s4 she sees Nancy with a box with a stuffed animal in it & is asking if Nancy wants to keep it and how Nancy is the golden child whereas Mike is the scapegoat child). We’ve barely seen Mike eat ANY food in s4 (the only time we see him eat On Camera in s4 is the milkshake bc we don’t See him eat the pizza, and the poptart etc is implied & then we also see him Actively Not Eating the lenora risotto and the lenora breakfast), let alone “real food,” and in s3, he was eating all “not real food”/“junk food”. And I just. Karen is often the main source of strife for mike at the dinner table/he associates her with food the most so it makes Sense that his food issues would be linked to her & that it would be another parallel between chrissy and mike. Karen is the one criticizing mike the most at the table in s2. She’s the one who makes the passive aggressive comments about people not eating the meatloaf in s1 & then Mike looks sad as he watches Nancy suck up to Karen & try to maintain her place as the golden child.

Plus it’s Very interesting to me that Chrissy’s mom doesn’t just torment her about her clothes size or about her weight- she specifically and repeatedly mentions making the clothes bigger/that the clothes are too small for chrissy. Who else has clothes that are the wrong size/in this case too big? Mike. It’s not a costuming mistake that his pants are too big for him, Finn himself has pants that fit him just fine, and the ST team is more than capable of finding, making, or altering pants to fit Finn, they’re deeply meticulous. But they didn’t. Mike’s pants are too big, and he’s also shown in comically large clothes like his yellow rink o mania shirt. Chrissy’s clothes are mocked for being too small, Mike’s are too big.

I also think it’s interesting that at the last wheeler dinner table scene we got (in s2), the food they were eating was ham/pig. Which is the exact same thing that Chrissy’s mom compares her to (and don’t even get me started on the pig imagery during the last dinner in the prison with hopper and the hopper-Mike parallels and how even in s3 AND in s4, Mike was the one commenting on Hopper’s weight). Again I don’t think that Karen’s calling Mike a pig or anything, but Nancy DOES call him gross/disgusting repeatedly during breakfast scenes, AND Karen is often a source of anxiety for Mike that’s tied to food.

[most-canon-non-canon-ship-poll]

literally hoping they break up in the last season

Why Mileven is shit - a submission-based essay, part 2/3

Mileven - a currently canon het ship from the Stranger Things fandom between Michael (Mike) Wheeler and Jane (Eleven) Ives/Hopper/Byers/IDK

they NEED to breakup (AGAIN) in the final season let's start w their character arcs rn. el was born in a lab and was raised VERY strict to be a weapon and shit. she escapes and now her whole arc is finding herself and being who she is separate to what people tell her she is. mike comes from a lowkey conservative family with parents who are married only to fit into the normal, not because they love each other. his arc, similar to his sisters' struggle in earlier seasons, is to not fall into conformity just because you feel like you should. both of these stories line up with the main moral of the show: be who you are even if it isn't "normal" ot whatever now how does mileven go against this? mike, and a bunch of ppl around el, in the earlier seasons keeps telling el what she should do/be. even in the later seasons we see mike refering to el as a "superhero" (which she doesn't like). neither of them feel free to be themselves around the other (shown by el lying to mike and mike being WAY out of character around el, etc). mike literally can't tell el he loves her while not under pressure. mileven sometimes parallels mike's parents' and sta.cy (a failed conformity relationship) and other bad relationships ANYWAYS it also reallyyyy pains will byers (who's been canonically in love with mike for like years, and mike's best friend) to see this. also, milevens keep harassing will/mike shippers on anon even months after the last season. like they have a hate discord server just for it. anyways i love mike and el but ohhh my god there is still SO much i haven't mentioned about how bad they are together (and how bad shippers often are, sometimes being violently homophobic and calling bylers delusional and shit)

OOOH IT FUCKING SUCKS THEY ARE SOOOOOO BAD FOR EACH OTHER JESUS THEY DON'T COMMUNICATE LIKE EVER THEY ARE BOTH CLEARLY IN IT BECAUSE OF THE EXPECTATION OF A ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE THEY CAN'T CONFIDE IN EACH OTHER THEY DON'T SHARE ANY INTERESTS THEY'RE HAVING CONFLICT MORE OFTEN THAN NOT THANK *GOD* I AM UTTERLY CONVINCED THEY ARE HEADING FOR A CANONICAL PERMANENT BREAKUP. NOT TO MENTION THEY ARE BOTH GAY AS HELL TO ME. YOU SEEN THAT "THIS SHIP IS SO CANON AND IT'S A LESBIAN AND A GAY MAN" TWEET? YEAH. FUCK THIS STUPID FUCKING SHIP NOT TO MENTION THE SHIPPERS ARE FREQUENTLY OPENLY HOMOPHOBIC. UGHHHHHHH KILLING BITING (this is my fave btw)

they have no chemistry or buildup unlike the other st couples. they kissed season 1 right after she asked if he would be her brother. hes very obviously compensating for something. i think i gagged when they made out in season 3. speaking of. thats all they do. make out. they dont really have meaningful conversations. this also comes from the fact that when mike met her she was fresh out the lab that abused her for like 11 years. she was not socially ready to understand the bounds of a platonic relationship let alone a romantic one. anyway mileven break up s5 will happen i believe it. if nothing else. cross ur fingers gamers

the sheer homophobia and general toxicity that the fans of this ship create is absolutely insane when their perfect (read: mischaracterized) straight (read: homosexually-coded) couple is judged for having toxic or incompatible elements is insane. the only good romantic aspect between these two characters is in a cringefail "wow this really doesn't work at all" i-want-to-put-this-dynamic-under-a-microscope-and-study-it-because-it's-an-absolute-trainwreck" kind of way. el has been abused and cut off from society her whole life and at 12 years old she immediately gets together with this guy at whose earth shattered after his best friend went missing who then has surviors guilt after she almost does which is misconstrued as romantic rather than unhealthy obsession and trauma. and so on and so forth.. there's just so much wrong they lie to each other So Fucking Much despite truthfulness being very important to them and they ignore their friends to make out (which is filmed in a way that is meant to feel uncomfortable btw lmao) and el doesn't understand mike's trauma from bullying and he doesn't understand how she doesn't want to be built up into being a superhero etc etc. and it's just so increasingly bad I want to rub my temples just thinking about them. they're just so bad for each other and their relationship has done nothing but make them worse in general but for some reason their ship is viewed as fluffy or cute or whatever the hell. anyway mike is so heavily coded to be fucking gay and in love with his best friend (and el can be interpreted to be lesbian coded) and I just need to get them out of there amen

I'm gonna make a list bc the reasons are many: 1) their first casual interaction they get together but in the same conversation she asks him if she can be like a sister to him 2) all their "cute moments" are them making out in the 3rd season with still absolutely no chemistry 3) their only actual cute scene is them dancing at the snowball yet in the same scene they portray the same way two couples that are not romantic 4) mike becomes a terrible person when he's with eleven 5) eleven literally GOT OUT OF A LAB SHE WAS RAISED IN and this is the first guy she dated 6) she can't even say he's a good kisser 7) mike can't tell her that he loves her (bc he doesn't) and the only time he does he makes this whole ugly ass speech up about how she's his "superhero" even though she doesn't want to be seen only for her superpowers 8) in said speech, while listing the things that he loves about her, he only names her superpowers + he lies multiple times 9) EVEN AFTER SAID SPEECH she is still mad at him and won't talk to him (probably bc she saw right through his bs) 10) she spent a whole 6 months lying to him about all of her life 11) mike is clearly gay and is meant to be with his childhood best friend will 12) mike idolizes her and doesn't see her as an actual person 13) eleven needs to be her own person (ffs she just got out of a lab) 14) the ship sucks and even the authors and actors say so

they have NO chemistry. they kissed after one week of knowing each other when they were 12 and eleven didn't even know what a romantic relationship was at the time, given the fact that right before mike kisses her she says "will you be like my brother?". they spent the entirety of season 2 apart with mike calling el on his walkie and el watching romantic movies on the tv for a year (then will is in trouble and mike says 'fuck it' and goes full protective boyfriend mode but this isn't about byler so i digress) and start dating soon after they meet again even though they haven't had a SINGLE conversation and are barely friends. season 3 comes along and the writers do their utmost best to show us how incompatible they are. their makeout scenes are uncomfortable, they break up at the beginning of the season and neither one of them seems particularly bothered that their first relationship is over. in fact, the happiest we see el in the entire series is during the time they're broken up, when she gets close to max (who she actually has chemistry with, by the way) and finally experiences freedom, being a teenage girl and etc since mike had been "keeping her all to himself" for like, a year. aside from that, he doesn't go after her at all after she dumps his ass (literally) but when he and will have a fight, he bikes across town in the rain just to apologize, that boy is GAY. finally, the theme of season 4 is lies and once again, mike and el spend the season apart (once again, mike spends the season with WILL) and right before they part ways, they have a big fight about mike being unable to so much as WRITE "love, mike" on his letters to el, let alone say it, and he bullshits his way through it and refuses to say the actual reason until vol. 2, when he apparently "confesses" that he's afraid he'll lose her if he says it (okay, amigo, you're gonna lose your girlfriend who was literally begging you to say 'i love you' not even a week ago, aham, totally valid excuse). conclusion: they don't know each other and they don't act like themselves when they're together. mike hides his nerdy nature, el feels like she has to be the amazing superhero he's always viewed her as or else he'll lose interest and it just feels like they're both grasping at straws because this relationship has been dragged on for too long that they don't know how to break up permanently. they are afraid of losing each other, but not romantically, as mike was el's first semblance of family after escaping the lab and mike feels like it's his duty to protect and care for el. also, mike is gay. in other words, FREE THEM.

[madwheelerz]

My thoughts on gay! Mike-

For me it's mostly about timing because Mike doesn't show any interest in El romantically until it's suggested, which is weird, but also his totally lack of interest in girls. We know Mike sucks at hiding his feelings and they are always there so why don't we see anything with him and El until he's told about it?

Mike in the original draft was definitely bi. I 100% believe that which is why I'm pretty sure he's gay in the show. In the original script, don't condemn the reawakening of scriptgate thank-you, he was very into Jennifer Hayes which begs the question 'why take it out?'.

The script aside Mike doesn't show interest in Princess Daphne, he replaces female figures with male ones in his D&D campaigns, he seems less interested in girls than Will does sometimes!

This tracks if you consider that Will is good at hiding his feelings and Mike sucks at it. Also the faces he makes before kissing like they're never happy and smiling in the moments right before, but he does smile after El does. Also the pushing away her hands in the beginning of s3, the small frown in the mirror scene in s1. Those things don't really seem to indicate that he likes El.

Then we have him subconsciously compare El to family in s1. The main argument he has against them being family is that it'd be weird because they aren't supposed to be, but Mike put things out there in a way that pointed to family. His sisters = her sisters, his parents = her parents, not to mention all the familial parallels that the two have.

It's not all from El's side. El has trouble with the dynamic between Mike and Hopper because they are filling the same role. This isn't normal for a romance. Mike is viewing El as a sister and El is viewing Mike as parental figure.

[wiz1ys]

Byler, Mileven and the flower symbolism in season 4

Hi everyone ! It is my very first post on tumblr and first analysis im making.

So i was rewatching some byler scenes from funsies. Of course, i get to the infamous airport scene. No need to explain its context, i think anyone in this tag knows what i’m referring to.

So Mike comes to Lenora. El obviously looks super excited to finally see her boyfriend that she didn’t meet for 6 months. El and Mike reunite, and while they hug, Mike tells her “Careful careful, you’re squishing your present”. This line is very important and we will be coming back to it later.

The present in question is a pretty bouquet of flowers that our boy Michael picked himself on that one hill in Hawkins. Keep in mind, the hill appeared twice (correct me if i’m wrong though). Once at the beginning of season 3, when the party are about to try reaching out to Suzie and when El and Mike go back home. Yes, in that one scene Will describes their relationship as “gross” and Dustin as “bullshit”. Dustin’s points of view is very important to me because he’s always described as the smartest in the party, but i digress. The second time the hill appears is at the very last scene of season 4, but again i will come back to it later.

COMING BACK TO THE AIRPORT SCENE. It is a yellow and purple bouquet, “because [El] likes yellow and purple”. Now what’s important in the following : Mike says, i quote :

“I know you like yellow, but now i’m kind of realizing that it’s too much yellow […] so i kinda did some 70/30 split kinda thing”

Ladies, gentlemen and non-binary legends, we ALL KNOW that Mike is blue, Will is yellow and El is purple. The 70% in the bouquet is yellow, the remaining 30% is purple. YOU HEARD ME. The bouquet is supposed to show El how Mike loves her, but it is made of 70% of the other “love interest” ’s official representative color (assuming Will is a love interest because DUH) .

In short : the bouquet represents Mike’s love for El ; but it is actually just 30%. The other 70% of his love is for somebody else. The yellow. WILLIAM BYERS.

Coming back to the line “Careful careful, you’re squishing your present” I mentioned before. It is to highlight the way the bouquet was between El and Mike. I MEAN EVEN WITHOUT BEING A BYLER TRUTHER ANYONE WOULD TAKE CARE OF THAT BOUQUET AND TRY TO NOT DAMAGE IT. But it’s not Mike’s case: he uses it as some kind of shield. I like to parallel it to the scene at the end of season 3, where El says I love you to Mike. When she kisses him, she has Will’s old teddy bear in her arm, which kind of keeps them apart. Also, in that make-out scene in season 3, we notice how there’s one of Will’s drawings in that room. At a very random place, like, the room is almost empty. YOU ARE MEANT TO NOTICE IT. I think it implies how Will was always there, every time Mike and El have a romantic scene. This is reinforced in season 4, where the only scene Will is absent is the one when they fight.

Now. The hill scene. The final scene of season 4.

Flowers on the Hawkins hill decay. As i said before, it is supposedly the hill where Mike picked up his flowers. The bouquet represented his love for El. Now its flowers withered, and their relationship faded.

The couples are standing up the hill. Jonathan and Nancy, Joyce and Hopper… and Will and Mike, while El is alone, in front. Because El’s arc is about her finding her independence, who she truly is, not as a “superhero” but as a normal girl, as a person.

Thank you for reading, and the may you have a fantastic day 🫶🏼

[awesome-opossum-after-hours]

rewatching Stranger Things, final part!

-Eddie has a tapestry above his bed. wayyyy ahead of the trends (I believe it's a Slayer print but I couldn't totally make it out?)

- now that Noah is officially out (yay for him!!!!) Will's tears and speech during the Van scene about being different is all the more moving and authentic

-there was a little bit of realization in Mike's eyes at the end of that conversation

-the entire Wheeler family has targets on their backs. their deaths would hurt, have an effect on a lot of other characters. Nancy said that Vecna showed her Mike, Holly, and her mom and they were (unspokenly) dead

-did the older teens get to shower in Max's trailer? bc like... they all looked like they needed it BAD especially Steve and Eddie

-(update ^ no they didn't)

-Eddie couldn't possibly use the bandana in his back pocket as a disguise bc that serves a Greater Purpose

-Around the Bend is the PERFECT song to steal an RV to

-Eddie is headbanging as they drive off. someone pointed that out before but I had to see it for myself

-listen with all the d3ath theories and speculations going around about Steve- I do not care at this point WHO he gets this with but let Steve have his six little mini Harringtons one day and get to drive around the country.

-Eleven was trying to send Brenner into the Upside Down, just as she had done with Vecna and the Demogorgon

-I seriously think that Eddie was fully prepared to die for Dustin, really solidified by the "never change" promise. it's like getting an "I love you" text from THAT friend...

-Max made them promise that however they killed Vecna, they wouldn't miss. so when Nancy saws off her shotgun with Max watching, she assures her that it guarantees she won't

-the fucking shock collar is the most unnerving thing Brenner uses on the children like bffr that's horrible

-i can't get over the hug between the Byers Twins (yeah I won't stop calling them that) bc it looks like the best hug ever

-if Brenner comes back next season but Eddie doesn't I'm suing the Duffers

-tho there are theories going around that he legitimately has powers based on fanart Matthew Modine reposted saying that he was "000"... immortality???

-Joyce and Hopper almost fucked in a CHURCH. tisk tisk

-who's dogtag was Dustin wearing??

-yeah the way Eddie quickly broke eye contact with Steve.... idk if it's what a lot of people think but there was definitely something else going through his head besides "make him pay"

-when Argyle laughs while saying that dogs ride in the baggage compartment all the time I'd like to think that was Eduardo breaking character but quickly covering it and them just keeping it in

-they sell ice cream cake and cannoli at the Surfer Boy in Nevada

-while Max and Lucas are waiting for Erica's signal, i think they're in Mr and Mrs Creel's bedroom

-there's a joke i could make about why Jonathan brings up Will having the LEGO guy stuck up his nose but I won't ruin a sentimental scene

-again tho the tears in that scene and the freaking hug looked so genuine. we love you Noah :)

-those pizza sunglasses actually have a pretty cool patern, idk why the merch team hasn't made a pair of Surfer Boy Pizza Box themed sunglasses

-awww yall were right Eddie DOES have butterflies on his bedsheets

-Eddie did not need to yell when he cut the rope, def did it for Dramatic Affect

-the demobat screams have to be deafening

-is Dream a Little Dream Vecna's favorite song? unsettling

-Steve, Nancy, and Robin were choked for so long... like how did they not die???

-Lucas was literally going to take a bullet for his friends. so underrated

-Jason like barely blinks during his scenes where he's all psycho. in fact, each time the camera is on him in the Creel House, he doesn't at all.

-I mentioned this in season 2, but Eddie raising his spear and shield to fight the bats is a total parallel of Will standing his ground against the Mindflayer. IF he does come back next season these two will have to share stories!

-i think their best bet would've just been to cut Vecna's head off tbh

-"he's the monster, not you Henry!" bitch tf???? he's mercilessly and proudly killing teenagers

-why did Henry make a parallel version of Hawkins unless he had plans for Will? I bet he made it the day Will got captured, which is why the Upside Down is stuck on that date. but why????

-if Vecna had killed El, would a gate open in Nevada?

-Will makes a quick glance to Mike when he says he loves El

-"if I said what I felt I thought that would make it hurt more" then Will looks at Jonathan, he looks back with knowing eyes

-I wonder if Argyle was still stoned out of his mind, those lights must've been trippy

-when Murray uses the flamethrower, Hopper shields Joyce :)

-Steve, Robin, and Nancy were the only ones who got to see Vecna's physical form, in person and not just in the mindscape (not counting people who saw him pre-banishment)

-if I were Hopper, I'd have kept that demogorgon head and framed in above my mantle like people do with deer

-it looks like Eddie broke his left leg in the bat attack, or at least while he's lying down it looks really twisted in a wrong way

-something that hurt badly about both Eddie and Max's death (aside from the fact that they died) was that in season 1, Dustin and Lucas were both the Comic Relief characters (though Lucas moreso in s3). seeing them both wail and sob while holding their dying friend broke me. while I do want this grief to be explored in s5 (whether both "dead" characters stay that way or not), I'm not emotionally prepared🥲

-some of the people who were packing to move from Hawkins were BOOKING IT. they wanted OUT

-again, just like when the Byers were moving, Dustin seems to not wear a hat when he's sad

-scenes where Mike hugs his mom are so underrated

-AFTER NANCY AND JONATHAN KISS YOU SEE A DEJECTED STEVE WALK PAST WHILE ROBIN PATS HIM ON THE BACK OH NOOOOO

-Lucas is reading Stephen King's novel, "The Talisman". funny enough, the cover shares the Stranger Things font

-Wayne wearing basically the same outfit as Jonathan in s1 putting up the Missing Person posters cannot be a coincidence

-Dustin's lip trembling before he hands Wayne the guitar pick is devastating

wow, I actually rewatched a series without skipping any parts/episodes! I know there hasn't been many people seeing these but I hope you enjoyed if you did!

[erikiara80]

Will and Max parallels never end

Stuck in 1983 plays as Max is leaving Mike's house, saying she won't spend the last day of her life there.

But at home she sees Vecna, who calls her baby and sweetie. Max even mentions her absentee father.

The Mayfield-Byers parallels continue with this shot. Laundry and a green car, similar to Joyce's.

no car in the next shot though

Hm

And after the nice vision at home, Max goes to... a graveyard, and reads a letter to Billy.

Who was born on March 29. So, there's a week between Billy and Will's birthdays. Will spends a week in the UD, and when Joyce and Hopper find him they have to revive him...

This is a theory I and other people (heroesbyler here and others on Twitter) have talked about last year:

The clouds in 4x04 and Steve and Dustin being "frozen" during Max's first vision at school, make me think that, maybe, from the moment Will touches his neck at the end of 4x09, he is in a vision too (only the scene on the hill though, the rest is real). For a moment everybody is still, Hopper and Mike seem frozen in their hug, the sky darkens, and the end credit song is Spellbound by Siouxsie and the Banshees.

And now we know that S5 starts with a flashback of Will in the UD (finally)

So, I wonder if S5 just starts with a flashback, Will remembering something or having a vision, or the surprise is that he's already in a trance at the end of S4.

Personally, I think that him being in a vision at the end of S4 would be an amazing plot twist, but maybe all these parallels are just foreshadowing of his story in S5.

Anyway, I can't wait to see what Will saw in the UD, and what really happened (theory that Will wasn't taken by the Demogorgon at Castle Byers)

Because, they already said that you can't survive without water, and there's no water in the UD, but he even fell from a tree? This boy is unbreakable lol

[vomitgreensocks]

MILEVEN PARALLELS:

Hey!! Since i didn't wanna show the mileven parallels in my "why byler will be endgame and mileven won't" post (here), i decided to make this post where i do show all the mileven parallels. If you don't know what i am talking about, i am talking about mileven (Mike Wheeler and Eleven Hopper from Stranger Things) being paralleld to unhealthy ships/couples and not endgame ships/couples.

Mileven has been paralleld to Harry and Hermoine (from Harry Potter), mileven has been paralleld to Stancy (Steve and Nancy), mileven has been paralleld to Robin and Milton (from the Rebel Robin book) and mileven has been paralleld to Taren (Ted and Karen). Let's just begin with the post.

Parallel n. 1

Let's just begin with mileven being paralleld to stancy, in my opinion they prove the most of all the mileven parallels. Season 3 mileven has mostly been paralleld to season 1 stancy, but season 1 mileven also had one parallel to season 1 stancy. Let's just start. In season 1, right after Will's (fake) body was lifted out of the lake, Mike got extremely mad at El. He turned around and then slapped El's arm and said "what is wrong with you!?". Also in season 1 Nancy walked towards Steve and slapped him in the face, then she said "what is wrong with you?".

And season 3 Mike acts the exact same way as season 1 Nancy. They both treated their friends as trash just so they could hang out with a boy/girl (Steve/El), Nancy/Mike both made out with Steve/El on a bed in a bedroom while romantic music was playing in the background and more. Here are all the parallels between season 3 Mike/mileven and season 1 Nancy/stancy.

Stancy:

-Nancy is a Wheeler.

-Nancy made Barb (her bff) a third wheel and treated Barb like trash because she was too busy with Steve.

-Nancy and Steve made out on a bed in a bedroom while romantic music was playing on a radio.

-Nancy slapped Steve and then saud "what is wrong with you?".

-Steve was jealous.

Mileven:

-Mike is a Wheeler.

-Mike made Will (his bff) a third wheel and treated Will like trash because he was too busy with El.

-Mike and El made out on a bed in a bedroom while romantic music was playing on a radio.

-Mike slapped El's arm and then said "what is wrong with you!?".

-El was jealous.

If you don't know what i mean with "El was jealous" and "Steve was jealous", in season 1 Steve looked through the window of Nancy's bedroom and saw Jonathan comforting Nancy which made him jealous, mad and sad. In season 2 El looked through the window of the door of the gym and saw Mike smiling at Max which made her jealous, mad and sad.

If you watched season 1 and season 4, you would know Stancy is an unhealthy couple and obviously not endgame. First of all, in season 1 Steve called Nancy an sl×t, he humiliated her, he told Nancy to go to hell, he just treated her bad and more and in season 4 he literally flirted with her while he knew she had an boyfriend.

Parallel n. 2:

Like i already mentioned, mileven has also been paralleld to Taren (Ted and Karen), only season 3-season 4 mileven have been paralleld to Taren though (Season 1 Taren). In season 1 there is an scene of the whole Wheeler family (Mike, Nancy, Holly, Karen and Ted) eating at the dinner table. Mike and Nancy argue a little bit and later Nancy and Mike both leave the dinner table because of how mad they are. Then Ted says something stupid ("let him go") and Karen looks at Ted and then she also leaves the dinner table. Ted just keeps eating his food during this whole situation.

In season 4 Mike, El, Will, Argyle, Jonathan, Murray and Joyce are sitting by the dinner table, eating and Argyle and Jonathan talk about El hitting Angela with an roller skate and Argyle says "she looked like she's gonna be fine". Then Mike says "she didn't look fine" which was obviously an very stupid thing to say. El looks at Mike and then she leaves the dinner table. Mike just keeps drinking his water during this whole situation.

If you've been watching the show you would know that Ted and Karen are obviously not an healthy couple. They are an married couple but they obviously do not love each other in an romantic way. Even Nancy (their own daughter) said that she doesn't think her parents (Ted and Karen) are in love. She said "i don't think my parents ever loved each other".

There will be an part #2 of this post! Why not put all the parallels in one post? because i can only add 10 pictures 💀

[howtobecomeadragon]

Completely separate from Mike and his issues with saying "I love you," I wanted to focus a little on El saying "I love you" to Mike.

Mike yelled "I love her and I can't lose her again" in 3x06. We know that she heard him while she was in the bathroom because she brings it up later, but in the moment, she comes out of the bathroom and asks "What's going on?" She decides to not say it back or pull him aside to talk about it. She doesn't feel a need right now to say it back. When Mike and Lucas brush it off, Lucas says it's just a family discussion, which gets the ball rolling here on mixing Mike and El's "I love you's" with a familial meaning. El moves on to finding Billy.

In the next scene with El, she thinks back to spying in her mom's mind, inspired by the rainbow on a box of Lucky Charms. It's part of her plan to figure out what's going on with the flayed, but I also think that any mention or flashback to El's mom is so important and so connected to her feeling that familial love. When she goes into Billy's mind, we once again see a mom, Billy's mom, and we're shown how much he loved her. In this episode, El sees love in 3 ways: her own towards her mom, Billy's towards his mom, and Mike's towards her, which she doesn't confront at all and is told is part of a family discussion. Familial, familial, and... romantic?

In 3x07, Mike and El talk about how "blank makes you crazy" and how "old people say it." Mike is the only one talking here except for El asking clarifying questions. This serves to show the audience that Mike can't say it, but I think just as important here is El: El isn't saying anything either. She has this time to talk to Mike about what she heard at the cabin but doesn't. She hears that Mike is trying to talk about his feelings towards her and she could take this as a time to talk about her feelings, but doesn't. She looks confused and anticipatory, but that's it.

In 3x08, El is reunited with Hopper. She gets some of the most beautiful parental love from him and is told for quite possibly the first time that even though she can fight, she shouldn't, because Hopper wants her to stay safe. Hopper wants to protect her and doesn't want her sacrificing herself to protect him.

They're attacked by the Mind Flayer and Billy, and we see that Billy's love for his mom protects El: she's able to reach him enough for him to stall. Such a big importance placed on mother's love, familial love. It almost makes me wonder if she's letting go in some way of her own mother, as these two moms were closely linked a couple episodes ago. Finding a mom in memories. She has Hopper now, she has a parent. But then she loses Hopper too.

We skip forward 3 months, her powers are still gone, she's moving away from everyone and everything she's ever known, living with people she doesn't know well. We have another Hopper and Mike parallel here: "I know it will" vs "I know they will."

And for the first time, El says to Mike "You talked about your feelings, your heart. I love you too." She only says it back once she's lost everything else. She only says it once she's lost her sense of parental love and she's completely floundering. Mike's love is a replacement for Hopper's.

I know I've seen analysis that El is holding Will's bear and so she's literally holding a symbol of Will between them during this kiss. But it's also just a girl who lost her dad, holding a teddy bear for comfort. She needs comfort wherever she can get it right now, from a teddy bear and from her boyfriend. And El goes right from this conversation to reading Hopper's letter. More focus on missing Hopper.

And for all that we talk about Mike not loving El and how we don't really see him loving her the way that she needs, we don't focus so much on the other way around. Yeah, sometimes it seems like Mike loves El because she's a superhero, but why does El love Mike? Because he was one of the first people to be nice to her, because he helped take care of her when she needed to be housed and fed? Because he's still in her life? Because they have known each other so long? From El's POV, there's not a ton there to base romantic love on. That sounds a lot like familial love to me.

Not going into s4 as much detail, but in 4x01 and 4x02, El's struggling with her grief so much. She isn't getting the love she needs from Hopper, and now she isn't getting it from Mike either. When they fight in 4x03, she's sitting at her craft table where she was fixing her diorama of Hopper for half the conversation, up until she tells Mike "you can't even write it" and she finally stands up to really face him. She's missing familial love and she's begging for love from Mike. She doesn't need it to be romantic love. She just wants to hear that she's cared for and valued for more than her powers, like she heard in her last conversation with Hopper. If Mike was honest about not loving her romantically but loving her platonically, she likely would've been content. But he isn't honest, he can't say it, and worse, he reinforces that he values her for her powers, in direct contrast to her last conversation with Hopper.

And this happens again in 4x09 in Mike's speech. Just more contrast to that last conversation with Hopper.

El has only ever said I love you or asked for love from Mike when she thinks Hopper is dead. She's looking for love where she can get it, and now that she has Hopper back, she's going to understand better how she loves Mike, what love she needs, and what love she's going to accept.

[kaypeace21]

Sigh.Look... I've been thinking . Don't get too excited or optimistic . I just been thinking about how weird some of the parallels are.

"Lost"

Both mike (directly) and Will (indirectly) say they feel "lost" without eachother. But Mike may feel guilty if he believes El is "lost" without him.

"Truth"

Mike seems worried about El not liking his "truth". The "truth" is he misses Will. And Mike says the "truth"(that el may not like to hear ): is that the only reason they're together is because she needed someone positive in her life- and he was just there at the right time ( and it's not romanctic "fate"/"destiny "- just happenstance). Then Mike wheeler pretty much says the opposite to el (in relation to the woods):"love at first sight in the woods " -which is literally something related to fate/destiny.

Like why? Did Mike believe Will's lie - about the confession/painting/ "heart line' being from El ? So he changed his mind about this prior statement- because now he's more secure in his relationship with El (based on thinking Will's words were El's )? Is Mike lying again to El? I do think he loves her but like - is it not romantic (but familial)and some lines aren't 100 percent genuine? But what he thinks El wants to hear? Especially if he thinks those words will save her . And Will is literally encouraging him to say it .

Does Mike just think Will in the car was emotional and crying cause he thinks Will just really cares for his step sibling (el) -and that Will wants m*leven back together because of it? So mike is like "time to conform" - especially cause Will isn't into me . And is encouraging me to be with El.

And, or, is Mike just genuinely confused about his feelings for the 2 and scared to leave El romantically-for something scary and different? Especially if mike doesn't think Will reciprocates. Plus, Mike "cares' about El. And Will says to Mike she "needs' him and is "lost" without him. So he may feel he can't ever break up with her because of obligation, guilt (plus , loving her in a non romantic way).

And does Mike kind of feel like Will's speech -is about both Will's & El's feelings ?

Like.... is it that? Or just weird cliche (plot hole filled) writing. And good old queerbaiting . Cause besides the fact Mike didn't treat el like he fell in " love at first sight" with her (in s1). Mike would have just been a douche to Will and others- cause he's straight and obsessed with el . The fact mike in his love confession to el has lines that Brenner says to her. Is also ick. Especially cause m*leven is compared to family members in every season of the show. Even El defeating vecna after hearing "I love you" from her mother and mike- is another familial parallel. Talked about all the other m*leven /family/brenner parallels from s4 and past seasons- here. Not to mention - Mike needing to feel "needed" by El, and his hero worship of el isn't healthy. The hero line made her feel insecure previously (and it's just another weird parallel since in s4 Hopper was El's "hero"). Plus, they literally never fix their other relationship issues (spying, lying, neglecting their friends for one another,and poor communication). The season literally ends with mike saying El hasn't talked to him much.

Also, I mean again could just be queerbaiting but the fact el/will/mike is also paralleled to vickie/bf/robin. And Vickie has an s.o and is secretly into Robin - could mean something. There's Def some parallels between mike/Will and vickie/ Robin.

And again the framing at the end: (with byler and other romantic pairings next to eachother ) while El is alone next to the same flowers mike picked for her-literally rotting. The fact they also paralleled byler to lumax - it's all suspicious.

I refuse to have hope ... not again God. But i'll mention it anyways... just In case. Cause they're definitely throwing "crumbs" at us bylers. What their intention is, in doing so - is hard to say though.

[shreya11111]

Mileven was paralleled to Jopper in season 4. Joyce went to rescue hopper while hopper had heart to hearts with Enzo. Enzo reassures Hopper that she loves him (“she saves your life because of friendship, huh?” while Hopper battled insecurities and insisted, “She’s not my woman.” eleven was taken and Mike went to rescue her while having heart to hearts with will. Will reassures Mike that she loves him (“she always need you mike” while mike battled insecurities about his relationship. In the end, both couples are reunited. In conclusion, Mileven and Jopper endgame 🤷‍♀️

first of all, need i remind you that it wasn't even mike's idea to go after el but rather jonathan's?

second of all, the "she saves your life because of friendship, huh" quote is literally more applicable to byler than midelven because guess who was the most hell-bent on saving will's life in season 1? that's right – mike. (this is also a big reason why the monologue was such utter bs – mike was acting like he fell in love with el the moment he saw her when in reality his whole focus was on finding and saving will).

third of all, the "she will always need you mike" quote is like not even about el? it's literally will indirectly telling mike how he feels? so, if you were trying to draw a comparison between hopper/enzo and mike/will then you automatically failed because, as far as we know, enzo is not canonically in love with hopper the way will is in love with mike.

"in the end both couples reunited" yet, i...can't seem to find midleven anywhere next to j*pper here🧐

and like - why are you saying “in the end, both couples are reunited” as if you expected them NOT to find el and reunite with her?? ofc they’re going to reunite, but even then, their reunion was basically mike saying “i love you” and then el proceeding to ignore him for the most part and barely talking to him.

also, i love how you can even begin to compare the midleven and j*pper (censoring to keep out of their tag) reunions when the marketing strategy reunion was 10x more anticlimactic than the j*pper one lmao.

like seriously – the j*pper reunion actually felt earned. both joyce and hop clearly love each other very much, and the audience could see that (even when they were so far apart).

however, with mozzarella, mike couldn't even say ily to el even when she was sobbing & literally begging him to say it-

plus, messy ponytail had literally parted ways with el giving mike a break-up letter. and besides all of this, the ACTUAL reunion was SO anticlimactic that i found myself fixating more on the blurry shot of will in the background rather than their reunion.

not to mention that the will/el reunion was 1000x more emotional and impactful than midleven's-

anyway, this is all to say that byler and j0pper are endgame.

[aemiron-main]

You have absolutely 💯 sent me down a rabbit hole with your laundrygate and doorgate theories!!

This is such a ramble of thoughts so forgive the length. I apologize sincerely if someone already has shared a similar opinion but....what if our favorite unreliable narrator really was under an illusion during his kidnapping? What if Will does have powers which led to him being Vecna's first victim? And what if the weird time inconsistencies aren't due to time manipulation but rather space-time.

In the first episode, the Duffers give us the Xmen 134 reference. Most people quickly connected that to Brenner's manipulation of El and how she later defeats the demogorgan. The parallels are there for sure but if Will really was under an illusion and does have powers than there's a possible bigger parallel.

Without going to deeply into comic lore or nitty-gritty specifics of the Phoenix Force abilities, the villain Mastermind, in a bid to control Jean Grey and her powers, creates incredibly vivid illusions to awaken her true potential. This eventually gives rise to the Dark Phoenix. The Phoenix Force can manipulate space-time. Create and destroy universes. Edit timelines by changing both the past and the future. Be in two places at once.

What if the Mindflayer was already watching Will and was connected to him much like the Phoenix watched Jean since she was a child? Both making them targets for villains who see their potential and much like Mastermind, Vecna's vivid illusion triggered something far more powerful than he was prepared.

Space-time capabilities would explain why Will's vanishing is similar to teleportation. It would also explain why Barb's disappearance was similar if the mindflayer and Will already had a connection which allowed the demogorgan to simply move between worlds. And why Will and the Mindflayer can exist simultaneously in the UD and out. His communicating with Joyce and El while in the UD. The strange gaps in time could be editing from the part of his mind that was already connected to the Mindflayer. He is a spy after all.

What I personally find vexing is that Will's true sight ability simply disappeared after the end of his possession despite having had it prior to. Did the Mindflayer absorb some of the ability since Will and Flayed Billy were both able to communicate with El in the void? Or did Owens install Soteria in Will at the end of season 2 since season 4 revealed that he and Brenner knew about Vecna what he did to his victims? Owens knows vecna wants to destroy the world and if he suspected that Will could spy again, installing soteria would make sense because it would limit the connection. It also links up with his neck spidersense and could be why Will's expressions when discussing Owen look like he doesn't really trust him....because you know, he's a spy.

Here's to him being a successful double spy next season.

OMG PLS NO NEED TO APOLOGIZE BECAUSE THIS IS ABSOLUTELY GENIUS!!!! IM SO SORRY I TOOK SO LONG TO GET AROUND TO THIS ASK!! Everything you said about the xmen 134 really caught my eye, because  I had no clue about the lore behind it!! and i personally DEFINITELY think that will was under some sort of illusion/space time fuckery the night he disappeared, because theres way too many small, purposeful inconsistencies for them all to be production mistakes, including things like the gun still being on the rack in the shed AFTER will disappears, but then gone again when hopper goes in the shed the next day. And the fact that the xmen 134 comic + all of the genius parallels you’ve described here is mentioned in the same episode that will disappears in, right before he disappears?? There’s no way it’s a coincidence.  When you described “The Phoenix Force can manipulate space-time. Create and destroy universes. Edit timelines by changing both the past and the future. Be in two places at once,” I actually immediately thought of will’s season 2 episodes, considering that even dustin, lucas and mike say that it’s different from dnd true sight, considering that with dnd true sight, the person cannot be hard by the other world, but will IS able to be harmed by the mindflayer/the upside-down. So, will’s abilities definitely point towards being physically present in both the real world and the upside-down at the same time, and physically able to interact with both at the same time (ie, when will walks out of the arcade in the upside-down, he also physically walks out of it in the real world.)  ”Space-time capabilities would explain why Will's vanishing is similar to teleportation. It would also explain why Barb's disappearance was similar if the mindflayer and Will already had a connection which allowed the demogorgan to simply move between worlds. And why Will and the Mindflayer can exist simultaneously in the UD and out. His communicating with Joyce and El while in the UD. The strange gaps in time could be editing from the part of his mind that was already connected to the Mindflayer. He is a spy after all.” YES I LOVE THIS IT MAKES SENSE!!!  OKAY, SO: personally, i don’t think that it actually disappeared, especially since he had the ability prior to his possession/had his first episode in the show at the end of season 1- instead, I think that his powers/true sight possibility went “dormant,” in a similar way that El’s powers did + how she had to use nina to get them back. However, it’s also strange to me that will’s episodes seem to have ended as of season 3, but his neck tingles/connection to vecna still remains.  I think that everything you’ve mentioned here regarding will and flayed billy or owens and soteria are absolutely viable theories, and I’m honestly not sure what the answer is. And that’s also a very good point about linking up with the neck spidersense!!! And regarding flayed billy, when you mentioned that, it brought to mind the fact that billy sort of sees a “clone” of himself in the upside-down that talks to him, and like i’ve pointed out before, there’s that weird netflix still image on the pause screen that shows will looking into the shed at the EXACT moment that he would have disappeared: did we somehow have a weird will-clone situation going on???  It’s also interesting that during the scene where will is talking about owens with mike in s4, there’s that blooper of noah going “when i was the spy,” so that is another, albeit small, link between owens and spy imagery. It’s also interesting to me that owens was pre-emptively working on nina in the case of el losing her powers/needing them back again, so he’s definitely been thinking pretty far ahead with this sort of stuff, so i think there’s definitely a possibility that he was worried about will spying again.  My brain is total mush today so apologies if my reply is all over the place, but this is all absolutely brilliant and i love it, and im going to be thinking about it!! 

[bylrlvr]

unpopular opinion kind of but I want the painting reveal to be after the time jump. I still think midleven would break up pre-timejump, but the painting wouldn´t be neccesearly mentioned. obviously the break up would be initiated by el, mike wouldn´t really have the neurons to bring up the painting, his brain too full of mini identity crisis. plus I think it would be funny how the painting reveal would be the ultimate domino piece to make mike gets his shit together, but yk, no thanks. I need mike to get absolutely confused and stressed for two years, if will had to do it for a decade, then it´s his turn. then, what after those two years? I imagine elmike being besties is in, but mike´s not really bringing up the painting yet bc, even though they´re friends, how do you tell your ex that the painting her brother (who youhave some complex feelings for) gave you two years ago is the reason why you think of yourself as not a completely useless person? kind of an awkward conversation. so, I kind of have a personal headcanon on how this scene should go. first of all, parallels. what parallel am I referring to? not other than robin´s coming out scene. takes place after the time jump, so apocalyptic vibes are in, and what else to do in a apocalyptic moment than let it all out? both el and mike sitting at hopper´s cabin bathroom floor, maybe they´re on a mission or maybe just talking shit. it´s a nice moment, a heart to heart. probably their most genuine conversation, something they never really had while they were a couple. between laughts and sharing memories, mike thinks he should finally share his thoughts on the painting, I mean, it´s a pretty wholesome moment, they´re friends, it shouldn´t be awkward now. can I tell you something? just don´t make fun of me or, think I wanna make it awkward or anything, I mean, since we´re broken up and all- el just tells him it´s fine, we´re friends now, that was a long time ago, and it´s kind of the end of the world, you can get it off your chest. mike´s kind of nervous, but also kind of relieved, so he just says it. yk, two years ago I couldn´t tell you, because yk, the start of the apocalypse and all, and well, it would have been pretty awkard cause we had jus broken up- but, whatever. I guess I just, never really thanked you. el gets silent. yk for, the painting.el laughs. what painting. mike just blinks at her and laughs nervously. well, I guess you forgot, I knew it would be awkard. but, um, yeah, the painting you gave me? well, more like will. but it was technically you. el´s confused, but let´s him finish. I mean, it was a cool painting, but I guess the best thing tha came out of it was what you said avout me. you probably meant it platonicaly, but I really, um, I really liked it, I loved it! I was being a complete douche and you still manage to say those words about me. I was pretty confused though, it didn´t really seem like you but, it meant a lot to me. el thinks she must test the waters, now she´s as confused as mike was. what words excatly meant a lot to you exactly?. mike´s flustered now. well, about me being the heart, important yk? again, I was being a prick and yet, you saying those things about me, that you needed me, it was, probably the nicest thing someone has said about me. it caught me off guard, but it´s also the thing that has made me believe I´m not compeltly useless so. thanks. it´s nice to know you´re needed. el´s still staring at him, confused, but with a smile in her face. that´s really sweet. mike looks up to her. yeah. he let´s it slip as he smiles. I mean- no hard feelings. we´re friends now so- he gets cut off. but I never said that. el adds. what? and that´s when it hits them. both of them. you could say el´s being robin on this situation, she´s hearing mike´s (just like rob with steve) confession, but it´s mike who´s actually coming out with his feelings. there´s a breeze of an unspoken scret in the air, and then-

i- wow. i have nothing to add on to this, just one question: what is your ao3 (for scientific purposes)