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It's my 7 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

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always down for some gay colour theory💙💚💛

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manifesting this for s5

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I can’t😆I can’t anymore 😆😆

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Okay, so…I’m all for Byler, ya’ll know that.

But, uh…I don’t think this “THE CRAWL” is in reference to Mike ‘crawling back’… I think it’s way bigger than these two little boyfriends.

It makes a little more sense that “Episode 1: The Crawl” is in reference to the current state of Hawkins, right?

Like, it’d be covered in growth from the Upside Down, vines all over the ground and buildings. Maybe so much so that the roads are inaccessible, and anyone still left, like the Party, are forced to navigate by foot. Maybe it’s easy to get lost now bc Hawkins is damn near unrecognizable. And don’t even get me started on the giant fault lines…that shit is not gonna make traversing easy.

I don’t have to explain why looting is gonna be an issue. All it took was one white boy screaming “Devil! Witchcraft! They do the Devil’s work!” at the Hellfire club, and everyone started loading their guns and grabbing pitchforks —— With the roads blocked and buildings damaged, I bet a lot of townsfolk are breaking in to whatever they can and looting. (Perhaps the Party has to do so too, in order to survive,)

“Battling various monsters,” Didn’t Nancy literally say that Vecna showed her a vision of monsters invading Hawkins? What if there are Demo-bats and Demo-dogs and even Demogorgons lurking throughout the town now?

In case I’m not being obvious enough about this, the small town of Hawkins Indiana has been turned to Hell on Earth. A real life Dungeon Crawl.

And it’s up to our party of heroes— The Paladin, The Cleric, The Mage, The Ranger, and the Bard, to save it and reawaken their fallen Zoomer.

Stranger Things 5 is going to be one giant IRL Dungeons and Dragons campaign. The first episodes of each season usually start off lighthearted to establish the new dynamic with everyone, but Season Five’s first episode is “The Crawl”, in which they establish how bad things really are this time. This time, they lost. They lost Max. They lost Eddie. This isn’t just the final fight. This is war.

And Hawkins is Ground Zero.

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Murray’d this. Argyle’d that. Erica’d this. Robin’d that. And yes to all of those of course.

But just hear me out… Byler getting Holly’d!!???

Literally no one would see it coming because she started the show so young, only really observing.

But, maybe that’s a good thing, because she’s probably seen sides of Mike no one else has. And she’s probably also known Will her entire life bc Will and Mike became friends when they were like 4…

It’s also noteworthy that she’s been associated with ‘light’, in the few moments we’ve seen her most prominently on screen, ie. the Christmas lights, Lite-Brite, etc.

So wouldn’t it would be sort of ironic if she ‘shed light’ on the truth, that the true light of Mike’s life is actually Will?

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Y’all!

I’m rewatching Holly Jolly and just noticed something. When Karen drops off the casserole for Joyce and the two of them talk while Holly walks away, Joyce asks how Mike is handling Will’s disappearance. I never noticed it because I was too focused on Holly, but I have subtitles on and I could read Joyce asking about Mike and I could hear it since I was focused on her dialogue.

I know this is a bit of a reach, but they could have tuned out Joyce and Karen’s discussion because Holly is distracted by the lights so the focus of the audience is on her. But they deliberately chose to let us hear Joyce ask Karen about Mike before fading the audio to focus on Holly. Something to ponder.

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El has four major makeovers over the course of the seasons

Mike tells her she's 'Pretty'

Hopper tells her she's 'Not Stupid'

Kali tells her she's 'Bitchin''

But Max is the only one who lets her decide who she wants to be

"not Hopper, not Mike, you"

Everyone else in her life told El what she was. She was 011, or Eleven, or El, or Jane. Max is the only person who let her make her own identity instead of telling what she was or who she had to listen to. She doesn't dress her up in the way she wants El to look, she lets el choose her style. I really think people need to realize that El just barely has a sense of identity. She just goes with the flow, it's not like she got a choice in anything ever. Breaking up with Mike was the first time she really got to express who she was and what she wanted

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insanity

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MIKE'S UNSENT LETTER TO WILL

i wasn't a firm believer of the "Mike carries a letter for Will" theory until I combined four different official hints: Music, Costume Designing, ST Social Media and the show parallels.

This theory came from the first hint: costume designing.

It's been pointed out that Mike's side pocket seems kinda.. weird. (Seems like there was some piece of paper inside of it).

This pocket was interesting even before the unsent letter theory, because many people pointed out the grey piece. Looks like an arrow pointing to Mike's left, which is curious because we can see Will standing on Mike's left in suspicious scenes like this.

This pocket was mentioned again by Finn just a few days ago in the latest con. 👀

But, this is not part of the letter theory, so let's keep moving.

Now let's find the context.

First of all, let's position here.

In season four, letters are probably one of the most relevant topic of the season. They're always brought up. They're meaningful. (El's letter, Jonathan's admission letter, Max's letters) Letters, Letters and more Letters.

So, it wouldn't be surprising if we had another hidden letter too, right?

Now, to go deeper, let's go back to season 3 ending.

First, we have Mike realizing his feelings towards Will. (Too late for him, because now Will was moving across the country)

Then we have, surprise, another letter. Probably one of the most important letters in the show.

Hopper's letter. A letter where he tells El how he is feeling about all the changes.

But, somehow, this letter not only relates to Hop or El. We've been shown that Hopper's voiceover focuses on Mike at some specific phrases.

"Feelings. Jesus. The truth is, for so long I forgotten what those even were" - FOCUSES ON MIKE AND WILL HUG

"I guess I've been feeling distant from you. Like you're pulling away from me or something" - Focuses on Mike watching the Byers leaving.

"And I guess, If i'm being really honest, that' what scares me. I don't want things to change" - Focuses on Mike turning back to see the empty byers house for the last time, then focuses on Will crying.

"So I think maybe that's why I came in here. To try to maybe, stop that change. To turn back the clock, to make things go back to how they were" - Focuses on Mike hugging his mum, almost in tears. (Which also parallels the scene where he cries because he thought Will was d3ad)

Hopper's letter was not only the main hinter to Mike's feelings. It was also the beginning of some other meaningful letters in the show.

Now, let's focus on this detail before moving back to season 4. Second hint: parallels.

When Hopper wrote this letter, he never gave it to El. He never read it. He just hid it, he kept it on.. oh, his left pocket. Well, it could be just a coincidence, right?

But then, moving forward to season 4, again, we have another "hidden" letter.

Jonathan lies to Nancy about this letter, he says he never received it. But he has it. He hides it. Where does he hide the letter? Oh... his left pocket.

It wouldn't surprise me if there's another hidden letter on a left side pocket (cof cof, Mike's)

Well, now let's go to our third hint: Music.

We know background music is maybe one of the most important ways to send a message in this show.

We've been told about this by the writers. Music is carefully selected.

Then, I found this post on instagram (from @sagebyers on tumblr)

Mike nods. He understands what Will is saying on the heart to heart scene.

"Its scary to open up like that, especially to people you care about the most, because what if they don't like the truth?". Oh, have you got some hidden feelings there Michael? That phrase really got into your heart.

Yesterday, @emily-tumbles-on pointed out that El said, through her letter, that Will may like someone, so he has been acting weird. But the one who has been acting really, really weird this season was Mike.

This is related to his internal struggle. To his internal jealousy, too. But, could it also be about him trying to find the perfect moment to give Will that letter?

Finally, the fourth hint. Social media spoilers, maybe?

We've been hinted about the existence of, probably, another letter.

I believe this could be THE letter from Mike to Will. It couldn't be one of Max's letters, because what we are shown here is the date when Will went missing. So, it may be a letter for him. It must be. A letter signed with "Love, ...."

A letter that's probably about untold fellings "you mean so... / sorry I couldn't get this done.../" makes sense after Mike's realization. Right?

ok im editing this 3 days later cause we have some more hints already, i'll probably keep adding info.

- birthday letter? reblog

ok so now I've read a lot of your theories talking about the fact that the duffer bros may have actually INTENTIONALLY forgotten about Will's birthday, so it's an interesting point to add here because this letter could be a birthday one. It would make so much sense and also it would show us that Mike didn't really forget about Will's birthday, he just felt so uncomfortable that day.

if thay's the case this is going to hit so hard because i'm suffering as a Will Byers stan rn.

- another addition: finn's mention about the pocket

- addition: a great analysis here by @willbylersheart

- another analysis by @vulvatar

- mike's unsent letter to will is from season 1? analysis by @doriandrifting

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Season 5 Masterpost

Everything we know so far

Release Date:

Late 2023/Early 2024

Episode Count:

Currently it looks likely that it’ll be 8 episodes, with a feature length finale (confirmed by this post).

It is possible that it will be split into two volumes, 4 episodes in each. Time-jump after the first two episodes.

Runtime:

The runtime will roughly be around 10 hours long for the series, potentially more. This means that each episode will be roughly around 50-60 minutes, with the finale clocking in over 2 hours again. See this quote from the Duffers below:

“I don’t think the run times will be as extreme in season five. We’re trying to return to the simplicity of the structure in season one, with bigger scale and scope. Except for the finale, which I’m expecting will be pretty massive.”

Pacing:

The new season is set to start in the midst of the action, making the shorter runtime make sense.

"Characters are already going to be in action, they're already going to have a goal and a drive, and I think that's going to carve out at least a couple hours and make this season feel really different.”

Characters:

All of the original and newly added characters look set to return, with no new characters being added. The Duffers have stated how they want to focus on the original characters for their finale season. It is also thought that the original pairings will be utilised once again.

The Duffers have also confirmed the major role that Will Byers will play in Season 5. They stated the following:

"Will's going to be a big part and focus, is really all I can say of Season 5, in his journey. We're starting to see his coming of age, really. Which has been challenging for a number of reasons, some of which are supernatural. But you're starting to see him come into his own."

The Duffers also commented the below in regards to not only Will, but also other original characters:

"[It's] setting up us coming full circle back to Season 1. I think you'll see that with a couple of the character arcs, not just with Will. But also with Steve and Nancy, and her relationship with Jonathan where things are not fully resolved. The characters have maybe made steps, like in the case of Will, but that journey isn't over yet. All of that is going to play a huge role as we try to wrap this thing up next season."

Location:

The Duffers have confirmed that the storyline for Season 5 will take place solely in Hawkins, Indiana. They state that they are coming “full circle” with the storyline.

Writing and Production:

Writing began on the 2nd of August, as seen on this post by the Stranger Writers Twitter account.

Production and filming is yet to begin, with writing needing to wrap up first. There were casting calls made for extras, however, in early July (see here).

On the 20th of September (21st in some countries) the Stranger Writers account posted a picture of a completed writing grid. Essentially illustrating how they have now got a framework completed for season 5. You can see this here.

Plot:

The story will start in the heat of the action for the first two episodes before a time-jump. It’ll be an apocalyptic Hawkins and one in which we haven’t seen before. Our characters last fight.

The Duffers confirmed that we will find out why the upside down is frozen in time on the day Will went missing and that it is an extremely big part of season 5, a crucial plot point. There is also a reason as to why Will was the first victim, another important part to the plot.

Max being in a coma will also be vital to the storyline and we will see if there is any way of reversing her coma. Eddies death is also set to have huge implications on the storyline.

Henry’s origin story will be fully explored in Season 5, possibly leaving space for a redemption arc.

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FULL THEORY TO THE PEN HOLDER.

OKAY, SO IT STARTS WITH THE GRID.

SOME QUESTIONS TO ASK.

why would they post a grid.

make sure everyone analyzes that 'black dot' for a full day.

then wait 2 days to post it blurred.

then wait a few hours before saying it's a pen holder.

NOW LETS NARROW IT DOWN. MIKE ASKS WHY HE GOT GAVE A PEN THAT DOESN'T WORK.

HE THEN FIGURES OUT THE PEN HAD A DIFFERENT MEANING. IN FACT, IT HAD A NUMBER INSIDE IT

SKIP PAST A FEW MINUTES THEY CALL THE NUMBER

SO NOW WE KNOW ALL THIS.

NOW LET'S GO BACK TO THE GRID.

YOU CAN SEE THERE IS A ROAD. LEADING TO THE NEXT EP. POSSIBLY A NEW PATH???

----------------------------------------------------------------------

NOW LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT NUMBER THEORY.

THE SAME EPISODE MIKE FIGURES OUT THE PEN IS WHEN HE IS DRINKING THE 7UP.

THIS WHOLE THEORY IS BUILT FROM EPISODE 5 AND THE GRID.

WHAT EPISODE HAS THE PEN HOLDER ON THE GRID? EPISODE 7.

WHAT IS HE DRINKING? 7UP.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

NOW LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT COLOR THEORY.

THE MARKER UNDER ON THE WHITEBOARD IS GREEN.

AND THE COLORS THEY USED ARE GREEN ON THE BOARD.

WHAT COLORS MAKE GREEN?? BLUE AND YELLOW.

FINN ANSWERED A BLUE AND YELLOW QUESTION YESTERDAY AT TUDUM. HE POSSIBLY MIGHT KNOW SOMETHING AND IS TRYING TO BRING ATTENTION TO IT.

SO THIS WHOLE THEORY IS BYLER ENDGAME.

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FULL THEORY SO MORE PEOPLE SEE IT

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Genuinely I think if you have ever come up with a headcanon about a real human person, especially regarding their gender or sexuality, or sat down and written fanfiction about them, you should take a serious critical look about the way you engage with media. It’s creepy and dehumanizing to do and you really should not ever be treating real people the same way you’d treat fake ones for reasons that seem incredibly obvious but clearly aren’t

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ok so the double lining in the centre between episode 4 and 5 is interesting because i saw a video on tiktok (cant remember the @ sorry) based off a theory that episode 5 will be something to do with byler.

why? because season 1 episode 1 will goes missing and mike is searching for him. season 2 episode 2 it’s the crazy together scene. season 3 episode 3 it’s the byler rain fight (eyewitness parallel). season 4 episode 4 it’s the “i felt like i was lost without you.” scene. season 5 episode 5? who knows.

it could also be that there will be two volumes like season 4 except this time the season will be split in half. i feel like that would be better because we have time to analyse and stuff like that.

what do you think? i think what i’m saying could be a long shot but it could be possible.

they have also confirmed it is NOT a time skip since the first two episodes are when season 4 was filmed and not the rest. they did hint that it was purposeful.

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Even though Byler is endgame, there's still gonna be a lot of ups and downs in this fandom for the next two years.

So please, let's not dwell over things said at Cons, only to overreact and decide that we've lost. Otherwise, you're better off just going on a hiatus for the next two years, since this back and forth is not going to stop anytime soon. This is because doubt is extremely necessary for both sides to stay engaged!

They're either queer-baiting or straight-bating. Regardless, both of those scenarios involve basically feeding both sides, until one side has too much confidence and so they have to give the other side some hope to keep everyone going, until the very end. If things around here seem too good to be true, strap in, because doubts are just around the corner to even the score.

The most obvious reason they have to do this is because we're dealing with a mlm ship, with 2 main characters who started out young on the show. Like, it's so shitty, obviously, but this is the most watched show in the world, running on 80's nostalgia, which means most definitely a majority of their overall audience is homophobic (intentional or not), which is why the only way they could go the Byler route in the first place was is if it wasn't official until the last season. Luckily, slow-burn is an awesome trope, so it's not like they're even wrong for going about it this way. I think it's actually going to be pretty epic.

But bylers seriously need to be more realistic with their expectations. We also need to realize that, even though promotion for season 5 will probably involve heavy Byler placement/coding in regards to Mike and Will's characters, similar to season 4, I think there will still be some doubts up until we're actually watching s5 on our screens.

Better to just accept it now, Byler will NOT be getting together in the first episode of season 5, with established relationship fluff for the rest of the season. It's not happening. I know that's what everyone wants, but that's what fan-fiction is for!! Television just doesn't work that way though. The 'will they-won't they' is the whole appeal of most endgame ships, and that means drawing it out for as long as they can.

Absolute best case scenario, I could see us getting Mike and El breaking up once and for all after confronting each other about his monologue, along with Mike fully realizing the extent of Will's feelings, all by the end of 5x02. I could especially see this happening in combination with Mike discovering everything in regards to Will that he has overlooked this last year, because he was too busy trying to suppress his own feelings for Will, ie.:

The painting actually being from Will. I know a lot of bylers are convinced Mike knows for sure that El didn't commission the painting. But I think ya'll are grossly underestimating this whole concept of Will lying to Mike here. It wouldn't make sense to put all this emphasis on Will lying to Mike, for the first time, if Mike didn't fall for it. The reality is, he fell for it because Will never lies to him. Whenever he doubts Will, for example, when Will tried to tell him El was lying to him at Rink-o-mania, Mike said, "bullshit!", only to be proven wrong literal milliseconds later. He's learned his lesson this season not to doubt Will's honesty. So, it makes sense for him to sort of dismiss what El said about the painting in the letter, because his and El's relationship is built on lies, whereas his and Will's isn't. TBH I think Mike was just mesmerized hearing the exact words he wanted to hear from Will and all from Will himself, so there's these moments during Will's monologue where Mike's reaction is just so genuinely shocked and happy, because these words?? are coming from Will??? But I think his feelings in the moment, overshadow his ability to pick up on it in a way that allows him to fully realize Will loves him.

Will loves him. This will instantly explain Will's behavior to Mike as of recent, which was coming from insecurity of rejection, and even more importantly, Will losing him all-together (just like Mike was scared of).

That Will put his feelings aside at every turn to encourage Mike to work through his relationship with El, even though it meant Will putting himself last.

That Mike said, the day Will went missing was the day his life started, in front of Will. (Because if you honestly think Mike knows Will is in love with him and Mike returns those feelings, but still said THAT right in front of him... why do yall still ship them exactly, bc that's fucked up... Like that alone proves to me Mike is still pretty clueless when it comes to the extent of Will’s true feelings. I firmly believe when Mike realizes, his whole world is gonna shift and we’re gonna see it happen. And we haven’t yet… so…)

That the entire confession Mike gave to El was based on Will's feelings, and that the comfort it brought him, with Will's constant encouragement, is what allowed Mike to follow through in the end.

This feels so inevitable, in combination with everything else piling up, but it's likely we'll get an awkward moment where Will finds out about the party playing dnd a lot since he left. I could see it come up when they talk about Eddie's death and Mike finally finding out and mourning. I doubt Will is gonna be mad, he'll probably be bittersweet, like, "I'm used to it by now, it's no big deal, I promise guys," sort of vibes, because he has said he thinks he deserves to be mistreated (Mike: No no no no no! You didn't deserve anything!). So it makes sense that Will would just take this as another blow like it's nothing. Which is why I think this is going to affect Mike a lot, because he's discovering all of these things that reinforce in Will's mind that he's a mistake and no one cares for him. Also because I think the final straw that'll crack Mike completely, is that....

He and everyone forgot Will's birthday!!! And Mike will circle back to that day, re-living it and everything he said/did. And it's gonna hurt. Because he’ll know now that whole time, Will was in love with him!!??? Yes. I am a 'Duffers are lying their asses off about forgetting Will's birthday' truther because, them going out of their way to joke about not remembering the last time they rewatched s2, when there were countless parallels to s2 in s4, is all the proof I need. And I also think all this angst built up against Will is going to make his (and everyone's) happy ending that much more satisfying.

There's just so much potential for angst when it comes to Mike realizing Will's feelings, along with all these other details. And I could honestly see all of this coming to a head in early s5, because they have said the first two episodes of s5 take place directly after s4, so it makes sense that we’ll get the payoff of Mike finding out during that time, since that storyline wasn’t really resolved in s4. But when it comes to actual canon Byler, that will take some time...

At best, I could see an interaction that heavily implies endgame Byler in 5x05 at the earliest (I know that's a popular theory because it follows a pattern of big moments between them in past seasons, and so I could genuinely see them being able to build it up from there, going into the end). This would also allow at least 2-3 episodes of the audience getting to see Mike be fully aware of Will's feelings, without Will knowing that Mike knows and returns those feelings. I think it's necessary for us to get that pining from Mike's POV, with Will being oblivious and so it makes sense for them to put endgame off, at least for that.

This would also allow promotion for season 5 to keep the revelation of Byler endgame in the dark for the most part, until season 5 premieres.

Tbh, the whole appeal of Byler is that their story has been developing romantically this whole time, but that most of the audience missed it bc of heteronormativity. And that's what's going to make the big climax of that storyline be more worthwhile in the end.

When it finally happens, and it's officially confirmed, it will be the end. And people will inevitably go back and rewatch the show from the very beginning, all the way up until the end and go "Oh.?!" That's what’ll make the build-up worth it for everyone that’s willing to see it for what it is.

Of course you can torture yourself for the next two years. And I know many of you will (myself included). But I just had to rant about these doubts realistically at least once, even if only 20 or 100 or a thousand of you see it, I hope it'll give at least a few of you some more confidence about what's to come, even despite some understandable disappointment.

But to be clear, I do still believe in Byler endgame. It's not going to be all sunshine and rainbows the whole way, though. But after all, isn't that what the end is for?

Rhymes that keep their secrets Will unfold behind the clouds And there upon a rainbow Is the answer to a never-ending story