Cal

[nicheofmyown]

Decided to Make a "We Rate Dogs"-esque Post But it's Byler fics I've read this week:

(btw, all these are 10/10. ratings are just to visually match what "we rate dogs" does)

This is "the words we held back" by mogiah, they think it's okay to rip my heart out because they put it back together so perfectly. 10/10 they absolutely can

This is "will byers' guide to advanced concepts in painting" by falloutboi, they give another meaning to 'idiots in love' bc really, this could've been solved if they just spoke to one another. 12/10, I'm glad they didn't immediately

This is "love in slow motion" by astrobi, they heard about fake dating and schemes and then said 'hold my beer.' 11/10, made me want to hi-five max and el

This is "need-to-snow-basis" by smoosnoom (moonsooms), they said "i see your oblivious! Mike and raise you: oblivious! Will." 10/10, perfect execution (of my heart)

This is "tell me, is it really love?" by agustplz (shout_out_lou), they thought I meant literally when I said to rip out my heart. 13/10, glad for the misconception with my heart.

[calsjuiceboxes]

So the first shadow is coming to Netflix… is conformity gate back or what???

[nuffit]

hello all, despite everything I am not discouraged. call me naive or stupid but I have unwavering faith that there is more to this story.

not sure if anyone has mentioned the puzzle thing yet but it ends in 4 hours. I don’t blame anyone for giving up hope. to those who are crazy enough to keep believing, stay strong 💙💛

[thisbeautifuldelirium]

the GA started believing in conformitygate (a byler theory) despite mocking bylers for analyzing the show and the marketing. and then the GA proceeded to analyze the show and the marketing. and then the GA got baited by said show and marketing just like bylers have been since 2017??? am i hearing this right??????

[stillchess]

I've been in so many fandoms and still this one is by far the most creative, successful (like wdym you are actually writers, have different roles in the film industry, lawyers, psychologists, etc) united and fun/funny of all of them. Seriously, guys you are incredible, in the span of not even a week but 3-4 days you made a theory that reached celebrities, casual viewers, and big magazines (which is like over a million people counting the likes on tiktok posts about conformitygate) to the point that Netflix crashed.

And that's not all, we collectively made other fandoms have their eyes on us and while it looked like the majority was in negative ways. I've seen others delighted that their own fandoms are being brought again just because we pointed out parallels with them.

Maybe Stranger Things didn't make history itself like it should have, but the fandom did. I know for sure that thanks to the absolute catastrophe that the ending was that a lot of people from here are gonna pursue careers in film, screen writing, writing, animation or illustration, and get the representation and more we were stolen.

After all,

[ghostopossum123]

okay what the fuck Netflix. An hour ish ago (so 8:00ish) they posted a video called “Joyce core” like bro knew what they were doing. It’s on TikTok.

[chirpsythismorning]

Pretty poetic if you ask me

[calsjuiceboxes]

more Morse code messages from the secret ST TikTok account…

[calsjuiceboxes]

I want to watch Fear street because I’ve been told it has a similar gay pairing to Mike and Will (except they are actually canon?)

is this true? Can someone confirm if it will scratch the same itch.

[scapegods]

How's it going to end?

[chewing-on-lead]

posting this here as well hopefully so more people can see @calsjuiceboxes posted this screen shot

and i translated it the morse code says "vecna ne meurs jamais" ne meurs jamais translates to "never die"

AAAAA

in short this means "vecna never die"

[calsjuiceboxes]

WOAH

I think this is some some of word puzzle but I can’t figure it out. Any ideas?? This is BIG

[calsjuiceboxes]

it’s trending on threads rn guys

We’ve gone mainstream

[sfhvn-alltheas]

now that conformitygate is everywhere in the news the suffers have to come out and deny it, right?

[calsjuiceboxes]

the best part is it’s so tied to the byler community with the ___gate that their queerbait will literally haunt them forever

[calsjuiceboxes]

This CANNOT be nothing

[bylerfan1805]

Here’s my thing:

There was no set up for the “Will’s arc was always about self-acceptance!” approach.

We didn’t get any scenes of Will reacting to homophobic comments from bullies, or having a private moment of shame about his sexuality, or any sort of self-acceptance conflict in a framing outside of Mike— think: Ritchie being harassed at the arcade in the flashback in IT 2.

Every single moment of a “lack of self-acceptance” was very directly tied to his relationship with Mike. This made Will accepting his sexuality feel like an OBSTACLE to overcome within his CENTRAL storyline concerning his love for Mike.

The Duffers trying to flip the script by claiming Mike was just his “Tammy” is such bullshit because it was never written that way. Fuck, that argument would have worked better for IT, and even there Ritchie’s feelings for Eddie weren’t treated as some throwaway hurdle towards his path of self-acceptance.

So even just completely ignoring how the canon conclusion of Byler assassinated Mike’s character and subtextual story arc, it is just not at all a satisfying conclusion to Will’s story. Any sort of Byler ending in which Will’s feeling for Mike are treated as trivial is doomed to be unsatisfying and detached from the actual course of the show.

And don’t get me started about the bullshit-ass pub meet-cute epilogue for Will. The reason I was so attached to Byler was because I loved seeing queer characters have personality, motivation, and story-presence outside of just being queer. Seeing Will’s passion for painting, love for his family, and uncanny initiative and independence from his difficult childhood being tossed in the trash in favor of an uncharacteristic “Will goes to gay pubs where he is accepted for being gay!” conclusion is SUCH a slap in the face not just to Will, but to the queer community as a whole who are so much more than their queer identity.

So yeah, safe to say I was NOT satisfied with how Byler was concluded. Not just because of my personal agenda and hopes, but because it’s a nonsense conclusion to the story we were presented with.

[omartinyosef]

GUYS