#stop the mike wheeler hate!!

[runninguplenorahills]

The way Mike’s character is so overhated in the fandom feels like a punch in the gut because in my old friend group I was him! I was Mike Wheeler!

In my friend group it was rather obvious that all of the other group members had mental health issues. We would always talk about it and have our little “therapy talks” where everyone would open up. Especially two members had very severe issues but usually we would always acknowledge everyone’s issues. It didn’t matter that some weren’t “as bad” because it wasn’t our place to make comparisons!!! We were all suffering in our own ways. And while my friends would openly share their problems during our “therapy talks” I was occupied with comforting them and giving advice. I never knew when it would be my turn to open up because I didn’t want to just brush over my friends’ problems and make it about me. I wanted them to feel acknowledged. Unfortunately, that lead to me never talking about my own problems when we had our “therapy talks” and so my mental health problems were pushed aside. I gained the reputation of the carefree friend. The whole one amongst the broken.

So whenever one of my friends would act out and treat someone from the group badly, the other members always swooped in and excused their behavior with: “You know they haven’t been doing well lately.” Though when I was acting up I was blamed for being a bad friend! They just dismissed that I wasn’t happy. They dismissed that I had problems too and so they painted me as the bad guy because “there’s no reason for you to be acting that way!”

They couldn’t see deeper than the surface so I was a bad friend because everyone just assumed that I didn’t have any problems in my life.

And it’s the same with Mike. He is definitely going through some bad shit and it just hurts so much to see how people dismiss his mental health problems and say he’s a bad friend because I’ve been through that! I know what it’s like to be seen as incapable of struggling with my mental health. As being seen as the whole one amongst the broken while that is so not true! When El tells Mike that he doesn’t understand her struggling, she also dismisses that Mike isn’t doing well himself and I think that’s what hit me the most in that scene because my old friends also treated me like I’m not able to understand what it’s like to have mental health issues!!

We don’t get any insight into Mike’s mental health so when we see him pull away from his friends and act out he’s the bad guy. People hate on him so much because we don’t explore his trauma on screen. But when Max pulls away from her friends and acts out everybody feels bad for her and says that her actions are justified because she hasn’t been doing well lately. All because we get to see her trauma and her struggle being explored on screen! And I’m not saying that we shouldn’t empathize with Max! We totally should! But we also should try and empathize with Mike! Just because his mental health problems aren’t as obvious we shouldn’t dismiss that they exist!

[hoteadepresso]

and the comment under it:

and then El will *checks notes* pop out an army of superpowered babies and one of them will *reads smudged writing on hand* murder their uncle Will to *squints at the idea board* cure their father from homosexuality

[bagsbyler]

saw this on twitter and IMMEDIATELY thought of byler

[longtallglasses]

was already planning on writing a mike fic about the build up to the airport scene cus of this post and then ttpd came out and guilty as sin? possessed me to start this - so here’s the beginning of that 🤮

[fluffyfangirl]

i was able to fill it! (esp. compared to 2022)

Everything (except the December one) is already on tumblr:

January II February II March II April

May II June II July II August

September II October II November II

[miwiromantics]

There are really people out her saying that will is not the main character. Like excuse me- are we watching the same show???

I also saw this:

Like when???

The whole point of the van scene was that it wasn’t about el. It’s about will’s feelings for Mike and how he is using el as a shield.

And the crazy together scene was just them being them. Like it had nothing to do with el. It was just about them talking about their feelings and Mike saying that he was going to stay with will no matter what happened. Like it was never about el.

And they still call us delusional-

[willbyersabyss]

Hopper gets the call that Benny committed suicide right as he’s standing at the edge of the quarry. Will’s body was found there the next day. The constant association of suicide and Will's disappearance. Hopper hesitates to say that Will accidentally fell in. The scene of Karen telling Mike to open up to her is directly before the scene where they find Benny. Mike jumped off the edge a few days later. The implications of it all. The implications.

[sadboyhrs]

everyone goes on and on abt how Mike is bad for El but El is bad for Mike too babygirls,,,,,,

Mike literally can't tell El about any of his interests because he knows she just doesn't care (this isn't El slander), she makes him feel like he has to hide parts of himself to be loved/valued and even AFTER he completely changes himself to appeal to her it still isn't enough

Their relationship makes Mike feel like he isn't good enough and no one ever acknowledges how trapped and miserable that makes him feel </3

[katimanki]

Cleradin my beloved😌💕

Mike just wanted to give a pretty flower to his wizard boyfriend

[pareiwheeler]

writing fics from mike's pov is hard bc i have to go from being a crazy mike apologist and mike kinnie to being a mike hater. oh michael.

[whynotimtired]

You're not listening to me hard enough rn. Will is getting vecna'd at the beginning of st5 and when fake El shows up at the roller rink she's going to berate him for never helping while she's bullied. WHY ELSE WOULD THEY SO BLATANTLY SHOW HIM FREEZING??? AND TRYING HIS HARDEST TO HELP AFTER EVERY TIME?? HE FEELS SO GUILTY YOU GUYS AND VECNA IS GOING TO THROW IT IN HIS FACE THROUGH HIS FUCKING SISTER

[lighthouseas]

some of you have internalized mikephob-*GUNSHOTS*

[themfsupreme]

If I see one more fucking post saying shit like "oh so Mike's best day was when will went missing" "oh so his life started the day will went missing huh" im going to cry blood

First of fucking all

1. Will goes missing on the 6th of November 1983. They find el in the woods on the 7th. Those are not the same fucking days. Ye either forgot that shit or ur blatantly lying.

Second of all

2. He does not say "omg my best day ever was around the time will went missing 💞💅" like ye are making it out to be. He is saying that's when his life started. Which is true. His life completely changed when el came into his life. That's when all the characters lives completely changed. Not that what he is saying is even about will which brings me to my next point.

3. This is literally not about will. Its about using words of affirmation to prevent the girl he loves from fucking dying.

Also another point mike has already stated that his best day was the day him and will became friends. Mike throughout the show states will is his best friend. He loves him. He is just not attracted to him in the way will or ye want him to be. So please stop spreading this bs everywhere cause I'm tired of correcting ye.

[bylerisrequited]

do you think will set up a sleeping bag next to his bed for mike before picking him up because he was so excited to get to share a room with his best friend again, like they were when they were kids, but then the half assed airport hug and rink-o-mania happened so mike didn't end up sharing a room with will, which made will feel worse about everything and ended in him crying himself to sleep that night and that's why he looked so tired in the morning :/

[lunabug2004]

Scrolling on my tumblr rn is such a rollercoaster. One sec i see a post that makes me so giddy my face hurts from smiling, then the next i see a post that makes me mad sad for the next hour. Crazy.

[will80sbyers]

there's a middle ground in almost everything and things are not just black and white + a connection is just a connection, a possibility, not unwavering proof otherwise we'd have no reason to be here talking about the show and making theories because we would already know everything