#st4 speculation

[wineponyu]

i hope everyone knows if Eddie dies I will no longer b watching st .

[dallasbyersclub]

POV: stranger things season 4 vol2 airs. mike wheeler comes out as bisexual. #diversitywin. he's still in love with eleven and tells her he loves her and that the reason he had trouble saying it was because of toxic masculinity but he's over that now and ready to be open with his feelings. #diversitywin. will comes out as gay confesses to mike #diversitywin but then immediately dies but it's not bury your gays because we've just unlocked a new bisexual character so he's expendable now so it's still a #diversitywin. it's implied heavily that steve might have a thing for eddie but then he immediately dies so it's still a #diversitywin. robin gets a girlfriend that we've never even heard of before and is barely a character and exists just to be a love interest #diversitywin. eddie black handkerchief munson doesn't come out but they continue to sprinkle in fruity moments as a "nod to our astute audience" #diversitywin. max reveals she's been latina all along #diversitywin dustin converts to catholicism for suzie #diversitywin murray comes out as gay #diversitywin all the girls in the show have an avengers-endgame-girlboss-moment #diversitywin argyle comes out as a furry. hashtag. diversity. win. the duffer brothers pat themselves on the back for being so woke. millions die

[0aurelion-sol0]

A little taste of what I'm working on... 👀

Will and Vecna when they meet: x)

[henrysglock]

He's Dead, Jim.

Okay so. Forewarning. This theory is probably one of my least canon-based ones. And yet...it would make sense sense, and it would provide an MO for certain things.

I was thinking about Natalie's post regarding the intricacies of blood splatters, especially as that post may pertain to a faked massacre in 1979 à la Fringe Subject 13...or an actual, physically committed massacre (as opposed to One's psionic killing).

Like...a couple things I've been struggling with are:

The "why" of it all re: a no-powers massacre. Why do that, if you've got a whole raft of kids, all of whom display useful talents? All that for one girl that you suspect might be stronger than the others?

If Brenner was yeeted, then what happened to One? Where's he in all this?

Now, we know we have a good deal of evidence that certain crucial parts of NINA are missing (for example: "I meant what I said when I called this place a prison", meanwhile One's never mentioned the lab being a prison before then) or spliced in from other versions of events, which brings me to something that's always fucked me up:

Why the hell does One look so distinctly normal after having the every loving fuck tortured out of him?

He goes from being so injured that he can't even stand up. He has to be dragged out on the floor...

With, it seems, a skull fracture bad enough to cause his face to swell and make him bleed fairly heavily from the ears...

(since the only other thing that can do that seems to be overusing powers, which doesn't seem likely given that he's still chipped at this point)

To this, supposedly within the next day-ish:

He looks startlingly normal. Tired and upset, yes (as usual, and understandably so), but unharmed.

In fact, shortly after that, both versions of this guy are not-concussed enough to play chess?

(see: the change in hairstyle)

Like. I know characters aren't real, but for reference: I smacked my head on the ice two years ago and got a moderately bad concussion from it. I was stuck in bed for 2+ weeks because I couldn't function (in like...multiple ways).

But somehow this guy is well enough to play chess and formulate an escape plan within a day or so? I don't buy it.

In fact, based on the visible symptoms and likely point of impact...

That injury puts him at risk of death:

And you'd probably go "Oh but James, One chats with El about Papa hurting him, though, so those two ought to be the same guy" to which I'd go "This guy? This guy shouldn't be able to do that". Regenerative healing or not, he should be knocked on his ass for a while (see: Two after the shock collar incident, which was arguably a less severe injury), especially with a device like Soteria in him inhibiting only Papa knows what.

Actually, given that we supposedly start NINA on Sept. 4th, 1979 and the massacre happens on Sept. 8th...I'd say, if we're being shown things even somewhat chronologically, he shouldn't come back at all. If he's not dead, then he should be down for the count.

And here comes the tentative theory bit:

I wonder if he doesn't come back. Can we say for certain what happened to this version of One? He's likely not the One playing chess or asking El if she wants a challenge. He clearly isn't even well enough to be standing anytime soon.

And so, in a sort-of backtrack-y topic-shift way, I want to address the scene that we know directly precedes the plinko/torture scene.

Now...I know I, personally, have always wondered why they kept One around for so long when he's practically useless to them. What if they were just waiting for the next One to pop up? Something about Sith always coming in pairs, master and apprentice...Brenner's got a fair bit of Palpatine coding, after all.

And Brenner knows One isn't loyal to him. Brenner knows One is making moves in silence or whatever. So, like I said (except in SW terms), how improbably would it be that he was just biding his time with One until he could find a new "apprentice" and discard him, someone to replace his first, failed "student"?

I have more to say about Brenner and Palpatine (and William Bell, for that matter), but that's a matter for another post (I can only fit so many pictures, and it would be a real tangent anyway).

All this to say:

With One proving himself disloyal and a threat to Brenner's authority, which Brenner is clearly shown to be aware of:

And with El having defeated Brenner's current most promising student:

Only to immediately follow up with this torture/injury scene...

I think there's a fair chance that this version of One may have died or been killed.

Which would, then, be sufficient motivation to prompt a massacre scenario to both paint Brenner in a trustworthy light/re-center El's loyalty and get El to step into her full powers/take One's place as Brenner's most powerful test subject, much akin to Sith apprenticeship turnover.

This would solve not only the question of why this type of scenario might happen, but also the question of where One, in this version, might have gone.

[counting-stars-gayly]

No because if Mike doesn’t turn out to be gay, what was the point of having Will put the painting back in his bag? Why show the two of them having a kind, meaningful conversation, which encourages Will to be hopeful that Mike is into him too, if Mike isn’t actually gay? Why would the writers pay that close of attention to detail if they’re just queerbaiting when queerbaiting is lazy and easy? Why go through the trouble?

[bike-wheeler]

if we do not get significantly more of will and el being siblings in vol 2 the duffer brothers will be needing to sleep with their eyes open

[boydykedoctor]

[grey-sides]

What I find interesting about Billy "antis" disliking that Max's arc is going to feature her mourning him is that they're missing a key part of her character. Max is a good person, Max cares about the people around her, Max has complex emotions about the people in her life. Max is mourning Billy because she cares so deeply, I believe her arc is not meant to highlight how Billy deserves redemption (though he does), it's to demonstrate that she cared about him, despite their relationship being difficult.

It's a function of the paradox of the intolerant tolerance. Max, for all intents and purposes, did tolerate Billy, and now she misses him. I just think that Max's arc is supposed to show that she saw through the veneer of rage and hate, saw who Billy could have been, and loved him despite his flaws. And anyone who's mad that she's getting this arc also fundamentally misunderstands her character.

[willthewise7]

Ok so I’ve just got screenshots from when Will is painting and I think it’s clear what the painting is. The first image you can see that he is painting what looks like a tree and several trees. This would make sense as there were lots of wood areas in Hawkins and I’m guessing near their school.

The second image basically shows Will drawing a blue sky in the background, alongside what looks like two strong wooden support poles, which could be part of a swingset. If you look even closer you can see two swings with two people. I mean come on, when they first met? The swingset? Best thing Mikes ever done, which I’m pretty sure Will would still remember him saying, which enabled him to fight through the mindflayer. The painting is the swingset and of the moment they first met.

[lumaxramblings]

bitches be like 'man i love max mayfield she deserves happiness' and then put her in a coma

[madaboutmunson]

I just feel like if Will had met Eddie things would have gone very differently.

- Eddie obviously would have adopted Will immediately "The bowl cut being an even braver choice than the Weird Al t-shirt"

- Eddie would pick up Will's vibes within minutes of meeting, and be super protective over him.

- If anyone so much as called Will a name, Eddie would drop kick them into next week, and pretend to hex them with a divine magic spell reference that only Will gets.

- Will would grow his hair out to look more like Eddie's

- Eddie would borrow Will his Judas Priest collection

- Will puts rips in his jeans. Joyce keeps repairing them

- Dustin would still be Eddie's favourite, but Eddie would be much more patient and kind to Will than the other members of Hellfire.

- After they finish a campaign. Eddie always let's Will sit in his DM chair and crouches beside him, talking him through all the different things that could have happened.

- If hellfire are all talking at once, Eddie always answers Will's question first

- Eddie is always in awe of Will's artistry, and he has tons of his drawings and paintings in his D&D folders, and a few hung up in his room and van.

- Will creates a new band logo for Corroded Coffin, and sometimes even designs their gig posters

- Wills confidence soars

- Will persuades Jonathan to tutor Eddie

- Will saves Eddie from the demobats, by tapping into the hive mind

- Eddie graduates

- Will becomes the new head of Hellfire

[wineponyu]

!!TW: MENTION OF SUICIDE/MURDER!! Ik it’s unclear abt what Eddie’s fate will be but when I made that post I was just this:

“I’ve only had Eddie for a day and a half, but if anything happened to him I would kill everyone in this room, then myself.”

[0aurelion-sol0]

What I want to know is where was Will and why was he inside while El was outside with her badly dressed bullies ?

Did he have the "you're not giving your homework on time and you're having bad grades" talk ? Not so Will The Wise if that's the case...

Like the other bowlcut boy ? 👀

ALSO...

Where is his Alan Turing's project ? Maybe it's the opposite, the teacher said let me hang that project on my classroom's wall. 💅

[bsnsasusval]

I'm actually mad tho bc in my bones we're absolutely getting Steve/Nancy (but my body will disintegrate from raw anger) or a "see !! Love comes in all forms !! It's... THE POWER OF PLATONIC/SELF LOVE" storyline.

and that's all well and good but they're still very gay

[hippierenogade]

Let's do a fun Stranger Things poll!

Like this post if you think Mike is going to get Vecna'd

Reblog this post if you think Will is going to get Vecna'd

Winner will be posted 5 hours prior to Vol. II's release ♡

[sleazyjanet]

i can’t believe season 4 is breaking up the straight byler and canonising the gay one. i guess there can only be one 😔