☆ -We'll go crazy together, right ?

she/her I'm totally normal about byler @m3rceredits on tiktok if anyone's interested ♡

[ghostlyquestion]

people who don't like life is strange: reunion don't understand the whole purpose of that game. it wasn't made for them

max literally had to choose between a whole city or saving someone she loved. and that weighed on her so heavily that she actively found a way to not have to do that ever again (life is strange: double exposure). but in doing so, that also gave her the opportunity to right a wrong from her past.

reunion gave max what she deserved. she didn't have to choose a whole town, or the girl she loved. she got an emotionally mature and more grown up chloe, and she can love her freely and peacefully knowing she never has to choose between a town and her girl ever again. she deserved to have both. she couldn't love chloe freely before due to the fact that the deaths of an entire town weighed over her. if she chose the town over chloe, then she couldn't live happily knowing she lost the girl she loved to do the right thing.

she never should have had to choose and she didn't have to, but she didn't know that then. double exposure showed that to us. that it was possible to do both. so giving end game chloe and max with no looming deaths over their heads? just allowing them to live and cope with the memories of alternate universes. and they get to be happy. together.

anyone who hates this game hates whimsy and wants everything to always be complicated and dark. max and chloe deserved an actual happy ending. we don't have a lot of queer protagonists having happy relationships. let us have this. the loose ends are tied up with no guilt sitting there anymore. they deserve that.

editing to add: i'm not engaging in discourse, queer people don't get a lot of happy endings and this is the one time i get one and im kind of overly protective over it so i don't wanna talk about it with people who disagree. this post isn't a personal attack i just wanna have one thing for me lmao

[kitkat9400]

I have said it before and will say it again....byler and pricefield are soulmates ❤️

[mona07]

isn’t it funny how when Dustin had a crush on max they made it clear that the crush is unrequited, and he moved on in the same season, but when a gay character has an unrequited LOVE they have to go with it for 5 total seasons and torture him in every way possible

[nightnut]

I’m not sure whether it’s funny or sad, but I’ll leave it here 🥲

[aizawapilled]

the duffers never addressed that fuckass painting because there’s no heterosexual explanation for mike being in love with will’s feelings

[bylerswatches]

LOUDER

[thewisewill80sbyers]

this makes me want to commit murder, not only you make him be rejected but he's back to being the fucking helper for the straight relationship you need to die DEATH TO YOU DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE FUCKING DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gayofthefae]

Reminder that it's been under 24 hours since he asked Robin about coming out being the next step to being with Mike.

[flowermyg]

"you're just mad at the duffers because byler didn't happen"the writers and directors of the show needed maya hawke to remind them while filming that lucas didn't know robin is a lesbian in the 80's who is dating vickie, so they should whisper about their date at enzo's and their relationship instead of talking loudly about it. yeah, they totally handled very well queer representation.

[gayofthefae]

People also forget that queerness is an identity with romance in its definition so asking for romance in representation of queerness is not the same as straight people being unwilling to go without it in every story

[lost-in-golden-light]

So did the duffers just forget that they made Mike canonically in love with Will’s feelings or what

[fleetwood-will]

The leaking pipe innuendo is extremely distasteful towards Will (and Noah) if Mike is straight. Do they not realize that once again, Will is the butt of the joke?

We all saw what happened: two boys caught in a bathroom in a compromising position, a leaking pipe that won’t stop, and a washroom called Dick..... We are expected to laugh at the implications of being “caught in a bathroom,” suggesting that something improper is occurring. If the story were leading towards them ending up together, this could be interpreted as a chaotic romcom moment. However, since Will’s love remains unacknowledged and disrespected, the writers are simply adding another moment to laugh at Will’s unresolved desire, turning it into a gag.

For Will, the implications of this scene are not abstract; they reflect the very real fears, shame, and dangers associated with being queer in that era. Say what you want, but this scene does echo the experiences of queer people who were caught and exposed in private spaces during the 1980s.

Thus, the humor relies on the visual language of queer danger and intimacy, while the overall story fails to provide proper closure and resolution for Will’s longing and pain over multiple seasons. Since Mike does not reciprocate Will’s feelings, the use of this innuendo feels distasteful towards both Will and Noah. I hope Duffers never write queer characters again.

[lordzuuko]

They look so in love it's actually insane.

[narrativelogicofbyler]

the noise that audience made when maya put will and mike under “cutest couple that never was” lives rent free in my brain because, from a film and tv perspective, that is the clearest possible indicator of general audience expectation. you don’t get that kind of palpable, unanimous reaction unless the text has been building a trajectory people subconsciously recognise. that’s storytelling language 101.

and honestly? the duffers fumbled history. i’m not being dramatic, i’m being academically accurate. they set up a romantic arc, primed the audience for it, and then acted shocked when people responded to the emotional grammar they themselves established. it’s wild to watch a show undermine its own cinematic logic like that.

[spookeart]

Fixed it

[bylerswatches]

I hate that the tag "Will Byers/Will Byers's epilogue boyfriend" now exits. Like I know most of the fics tagged with this are actually (really cool) byler fics but still!! This tag should not have to exist. My boy deserved more than a stupid epilogue boyfriend that wasn't even real and just a product of Mike's fantasy! He deserved a real fucking love interest!!

[karust]

[0r1g1np01nt]

"mikes gonna hear good luck babe in 40 years and lose his mind" "mikes gonna hear conan gray in 40 years and go crazy" mike is gonna watch dead poets society like a week after will leaves hawkins and in a fit of insanity is going to fly to new york and show up at his door unannounced like the messy gay disaster that he is

[eilissxx]

homophobia so bad you ruined the number one netflix show

[itswhatyougive]

Another Mike-Hopper parallel: losing their beards in the finale