#same with Mike tbh

[chloesimaginationthings]

Hold on- hold on-

what did I just make

HELP, she doesn’t know the animatronics as well,,

[guy-busleeness]

I was bored and was in desperate need for ler!Mike’s alters

Sooo….lee!Mani

Poor guy..

[theroseeatsribs]

silly comic

[pinkeoni]

i dont think that byler needs to have had been planned since the beginning for it to still be happening

[madwheelerz]

Mike Wheeler & Powers

I think the chances of Mike having Powers are pretty decent, but like sometimes I think about how some people are really convinced that it would be a bad and horrible choice and I just wanted to ask for everyone to keep an open mind as I go through my list of reasons.

Mike is suspicious af, not gonna lie. They've set him up with subtle moments that could definitely alluded to him having powers.

The implication that he saw El in void.

Somehow always coming to the correct conclusion.

The Creel-Wheeler parallels, two "regular" families where one of which had the only son having powers while the other is in a suspicious position regarding powers.

"Your hub," + "That's my friend, Mike"

Constantly being around every time the mind flayer is felt.

Somehow everyone who angers him, arguably, faces retribution in some way.

Vecna's interest in the Wheeler's as a whole and the whole implication that something is up with them.

Overall the suggestion of powers are there. If they decided to go that route it would be very hard to say that it came out of nowhere and that they haven't been hinting at it at least a little.

I know one of the main arguments is that giving Mike powers would be bad because of his hero worship, but that's precisely why I think they'd give him powers, just not "good" ones.

What better way to break down Mike's hero worship than to show him firsthand how bad powers can get? How uncontrollable they can be? This would also mean that they'd have an ace up their sleeve so that all their doing is peeling back what's already there.

[iorekbyrinson]

thoughts on bcs characters and their pullman-universe daemons

James McGill - Weasel or stoat family. The long sleek shape of the mustelid can squirm through any hole after its quarry, taking down prey several times its size. Folklore associations with being untrustworthy, unscrupulous, despite its diminutive size. Also known as the family from which Pantalaimon, daemon of Lyra Silvertongue, heralds from - associations of the protagonist.

Kim Wexler - Jackal. A desert animal with associations of the howling prairies, independence, a looming threat in a familiar canid form. However, jackals have a little known quality of centring the majority of their social behaviour around a monogamous relationship; marking out territory together, forsaking packs mostly for the pair bond. Cunning, determined, opportunistic.

Chuck McGill - Porcupine. Like all Rodentia, porcupines are intelligent and frugal, not carnivorous by nature but certainly with enough natural advantages. Unusual tree-dwellers that live far above the rest of the creatures on the forest floor, the porcupine's most notorious trait are its barbs, shaped so that they stick in the skin and cannot be pulled out.

Howard Hamlin - Golden retriever. Exactly what it appears to be to a fault, the ubiquitously loved animal has a few significant traits; it is above all a retriever, an animal that works in tandem with a master to seek out prey and skilfully return the prize, and any attempts to isolate this intensely social breed go awry - the animal withers away.

Nacho Varga - Rusty-spotted cat. The smallest wildcat in the world, to mistake this feline for its domesticated counterpart is a mistake; it is a predator of its lands, feeding on rodents and any creature beneath it, and has the hallmark of being one of the most successful predators relative to its size in the world. However, this elusive, nocturnal little wildcat has its weaknesses as a daemon; it will not stop until it is at the top of its food chain, even if it exists in an ecosystem where it will be swallowed alive. It has the typical feline traits of aloofness, independence, and particularly beautiful eyes.

Lalo Salamanca - Vampire bat. Largely associated with the handsome, deadly supernatural creatures of mythology, vampire bats do, in truth, hold blood as the superior tonic above all, and are also vastly social creatures; grooming, feeding, and raising families within a group that has strong ties to family members, but also makes room for non-relatives too. They hunt entirely in the dark. Like most of the bat family, their need to communicate means their high pitched chirps are constant when flying through the night sky. An unusual daemon for an unusual man; be watchful of his reflection in mirrors. It may not always be there.

Gus Fring - Coati. A daemon can sometimes settle in the appearance of an animal of meaning to an individual; and the mercurial and mysterious Gustavo Fring has inferred the coati's importance as much in his fateful recollection. However, the coati is also no insignificant animal; it is preyed upon by nearly every major predator in the Americas, but the coati has a tough hide attached to its underlying muscles, making it extremely difficult for teeth to get a hold. It is a contained and somewhat elegant looking small mammal with a handsome pair of spectacles around its dark, round eyes, and a reputation for intelligence rivalling that of its opportunistic cousin, the raccoon.

Mike Ehrmantraut - Badger. Whether of the European badger flavour; forest-bears of quiet and solitary pursuits, devoted to the burrows of their families, or of the American type, the fearsome ratel or honey badgers that face down mountain lions without a second look, badger daemons carry the traits of strength, perseverance, and an undeniable aggression that make them the animal that never backs down. Badgers construct setts that go deep below the earth, a vast underground system of resources that belies the staid, unemotional appearance of these creatures. Man + mountain indeed.

[reel-fear]

Hey if anyone wants to check out Moving Pictures Redrawn [a fan-made remake of the first chapter of BATIM that Mike n Meatly may have ordered to be taken down? It's unsure at the moment] Guess who downloaded a copy before they did that~

[sennqu]

Mike's Cali Storyline Retrospective

"And I feel like maybe I was worrying too much about El, and I don't know, maybe I feel like I lost you or something."

foreshadowing for Mike's arc in S4

a.k.a I think Byler Tumblr has been interpreting Mike's actions so completely wrong in Vol. 1 and that is why we were blindsided by his monologue and I'm going to explain exactly how

a.a.k.a Mike isn't suffering from "internalized homophobia". What he is suffering from is a simple case of "warm of heart, but dumb of ass"

Alright. I think!! I have enough pieces to finally explain why Mike's monologue makes sense, why it is the natural culmination of his arc, and what this exposes about how he truly thinks and feels. (spoiler alert: he's not in love with El; he just thinks he is)

This post is going to include a Lot of Links. Mostly because this analysis has been a piecemeal work in the making as I stumble into epiphanies about our favorite puzzle box Michael Wheeler. The Links are going to be Underlined like so: This link for example links to how I think Mike felt about Will before leaving for Cali. Summary: Because El wrote a lot and Will called so little, Mike thought that if he felt like he missed his best friend more than his girlfriend, it's just because they had less contact.

Second, I am going to have to link you to my separate Mike analysis post concerning his behavior in the airport and the roller rink. It's very long but worth the read imo. I worked very hard on it. but if tl;dr: Mike was worrying that Will pulled away from him but believes his worries are founded on platonic grounds. (spoiler alert: it isn't)

Now, onto the main part of what Byler Tumblr got wrong: the junkyard heart to heart.

I believe that Mike wasn't -- at least not consciously -- thinking of himself (edit: himself and Will) during this conversation as a lot of byler shippers were interpreting. He was thinking of El and came away from this heart to heart believing that she sincerely wanted to get her powers back.

You remember how his and El's fight ended? He told her she was a superhero and El told him, "not anymore." Then El gets intercepted by Owen's team and decides to go to the Nina Base alone. She then writes Mike, "I am going to become a superhero again. From El".

Mike has been worrying about El's words since their fight and came away with the wrong conclusion.

He thinks that El wants to be a superhero. To Mike, El wasn't sad he couldn't say ILY to her as a regular girl. El was sad that Mike couldn't say ILY because she thought that deep inside Mike thought she was a monster. And because Mike loves El the Superhero, this makes perfect sense to him and explains away all of El's behavior.

And you know what? Mike could have very well been right about this take before El went to Nina Base. But El came out of her journey understanding that superheros and monsters are myths. She came out of her journey knowing she wasn't a superhero (or a monster). What she was was a girl who happened to have powers and a huge amount responsibility she didn't ask for but needed to claim anyway. Because she had to.

But Mike has no way of knowing that or even begin understanding that. That is why his anxieties in the van were about just being that lame nerd who found Superman on his doorstep. That is why his monologue is so centered on El's superheroism because that is what he believes she was asking from him.

quick edit: it's also highly likely that the truth Mike didn't want to tell El was that he was afraid she wasn't going to need him anymore

He believes that the thing he couldn't explain to her was that he did love her (as a superhero) but that it made him feel unnecessary and unneeded. that if El just truly realized she was a superhero, she wouldn't need him anymore. Will's words in the van got through to Mike because he wanted to think that maybe El needed him around after all (spoiler alert: she does not, not in the way he thinks) (sidenote: after the van scene, i'm pretty sure Mike now thinks that the painting Will brought to the airport was supposed to be a surprise gift from El (and Will) that they were going to give to him at the roller rink before all the chaos. He probably thinks now that Will was just trying to keep it a secret)

Mike's monologue is the natural conclusion of what he was going through in his arc. And El's arc was learning that, essentially, what Mike and she believed about herself was wrong.

Mike ends S4 not knowing he isn't loving El the way she needs to be loved. El ends S4 realizing this too. That is why she isn't talking to him in the timeskip; that is why she is standing alone. That is why I believe she is going to break up with him in S5.

And why is this a good thing for byler? I'm glad you asked! Here is another link to a post where I posit that Mike's obliviousness to Will's feelings is a good thing and is why I think this means definite endgame Byler is on the horizon.

[beaulesbian]

Everyone’s here.

[reinabeestudio]

Anyway, happy Valentine's day. Cantarella time (finally)

[chloesimaginationthings]

The way you draw SL Michael reminds me of Leon from Resident Evil

I’ve gotten this comment a couple times now, I can sorta see it!

[noahtally-famous]

all-stars rewrite with heathney, aleduncan, scike, and gwoey though-

[rainbownixie]

mike wheeler i love you so much

[vilevampire]

if more than one minor event happens within a day I'm already like "damn hold the fuck on the world is moving too fast"

[transautisticmikewheeler]

ok i have to be honest: the day i realized the "mike was taken by the russians in s3 and given powers" fic got deleted was one of the worst days of my life and the fact that the writer's tumblr is gone too makes me feel not good also

[mwheelerz]

“but mike being gay would make no sense-“ stop. i’m gonna stop you right there. (sighs)