maybe we will go crazy together

gatekeeping my own thoughts head empty only Byler ironically maintaining my sanity - they/them |zero support for zionists and anti-palestine shit|

[stargazingthemoooon]

karen holding up the will byers cutout to make her son smile on photos

[stateofdreaming14]

Guys have we ever considered byler lettergate but Mike accidentally mails the wrong letter so El ends up reading a long letter saying everything she ever wanted to hear from Mike, how broken up he's been since they moved, how confused and scared he is of how strongly he feels, and it's signed 'love, mike'

The problem is that it's addressed 'dear Will'

[auracobaltblue]

“Bring him to me…I can take care of him…give him back😭”

[withoutheartwedallfallapart]

What bothers me the most about Will's epilouge isn't the bar, the cigarettes or the Mike-lookalike date/friend/acquaintance (I won't say boyfriend because boyfriends don't greet each other like that. Sue me.) It's the "he finds happiness and acceptance."

It's the damn acceptance again. The only thing Will was allowed to have as a gay boy on the show. The least he could have gotten was a promise of "happiness and love" for his epilouge.

But I guess that would have been too gay for the suffers and Netflix.

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

I guess we all should've believed Will when he said he wasn't going to fall in love. Because by the end his feelings for Mike were only just a crush that was harmful to him, something he confused for love.

That's what most straight people want to see because they want love to be something that sets them apart (and above) queer people, even if they otherwise consider themselves accepting and progressive.

It's sickening to see Mike, of all people, telling Will that happiness and acceptance, but not love, are his happy ending. But he's meant to be a self-insert of the Duffers, and they clearly subscribe to that perspective on LGBT people. They deserve to be happy and accepted, but should go find someplace they can be with their own kind for that.

I mean, the Duffers wrote Will's greatest fear over his sexuality not as being rejected by his loved ones, but him pushing them away until he was alone. All because he was afraid they wouldn't understand or would be overly worried for him. It wasn't "what if they hate me?" or "what if Mike never wants to talk to me again?" or "what if mom and Jonathan kick me out?" It was "I'm not good enough for them" and "they'll never understand, so I'll have to leave and be alone." They made his angst internal and intrinsic to his queer identity.

One of the big reasons homosexuality isn't considered a mental illness anymore is because it was found that (in addition to not being able to link it to any brain abnormalities) associated anxiety and depression were better attributed to external factors, such as social stigma, fear of physical violence, and losses of resources like shelter and social support. However, the Duffers essentially made Will's struggle an entirely internal one by the time we reached season 5. The impact of the bullies and his dad were left behind in season 1. They made it something Will just had to go through because that's what happens when you're gay. And, in doing so, they supported the idea that simply being LGBT is mentally harmful to the individual.

Fuck the Duffers, indeed.

[finnaticccc]

missing the days pre-S5 when we all collectively thought that season 5 was gonna be in an apocalyptic setting..

[bocje-ce-ustu]

the way mike is the leader of the party but s2 shows will as the party mike's mediator is priceless to me: dustin and lucas don't ask mike if he's cool with inviting max on halloween, they ask will. i can see that being a constant in their party shenanigans, what with mike being short-tempered and willful (aha) a lot: if will greenlights something, lucas and dustin know he's probably already factoring in mike's reaction, and even if it turns out that mike disagrees on a thing will's already agreed on, what is he gonna do? argue with will? impossible. once they've cracked the code, i can see them going directly to will every single time they just know mike is going to be difficult about something.

[bubblybyler]

“Season 5 wasn’t that bad”

Blocked.

[thoraelrlffnem]

“Bad” is a massive understatement

[massivetyrantduck]

extremely cold take bc I’m actually right the party would not have ever gone to the party Mike wasn’t all whiny until they agreed to play dnd they loved dnd minus max but she was going to give it a try bc her friends loved it they would not magically become popular party people they are proud of being nerdy and liking dnd

the party was never an option for them bc they are not the type to conform it was just showing that the other high schoolers at least a few were rethinking what makes a person a loser

[ssentinl]

throwing this in my pile of “mileven was never meant to be” posts

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

Two 12 year olds not being interested in anything about each other beyond the girl feeling safe with the boy, and the boy liking that the girl has superpowers.

It didn't really get any better from here. They were separated a week later and didn't meet back up for a year. The boy even thought the girl was dead, while the girl spied on the boy.

They had a train wreck of a relationship where they never got on the same page, not once. They fought and broke up, only getting back together after the boy made amends with his gay best friend, who he also fought with.

Their most romantic scenes together paled in comparison to other couples, and their interactions in the final season were stiff and emotionless, as if their actors hated every second of it, up until a melodramatic final scene that may or may not have even happened.

Yet most of the audience shipped them.

The bar is so low for straight pairings that it's on the floor.

[krakoansam]

The bar is subterranean

[auracobaltblue]

Idk there’s something about how Will was barely in season one but we understand his importance through the rest of the characters reaction to his disappearance: his family, friends and entire town looking for him and being wrecks when he’s gone.

And then Holly disappearing in season 5 with more screen time than most main characters yet her family barely talks about missing her, we barely see them panicking, and the emotional impact of her absence lacks the depth and urgency that made us care about Will as an audience in the first place.

They completely missed what made Will’s disappearance so horrifying in season one and replaced it with a watered down more comedic version of that.

[gothicosmic]

yall r brave for rewatching s5 you would genuinely have to pay me to relive that again

[withoutheartwedallfallapart]

Queer media: Fights for decades to paint queerness and queer love in a positive light

The dipshit brothers: "Here, hold our GLAAD award-"

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

I'm genuinely angry at GLAAD for rewarding the bare minimum.

[ssentinl]

mike’s mouth hanging open gets me so bad like he wants that cookie SO BAD

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

But, seriously, can someone explain Mike jerking his head away like that the moment Will looks his way, as if he was caught doing something he shouldn't have been. What exactly are they trying to convey here?

Is this some sort of red light, green light where one of them has to be looking at the Abyss at all times to stop it from coming faster?

[noihavenosanitythanksforasking]

"my life started when i found u in the woods"

mike when he found el in the woods: hey so have u see a small cute boy about this tall with the most beautiful eyes youve ever seen and soft hair that blows in the summer wind?

el: ?

mike: *hyperventilating*

[kidovna]

happy 7/7 byler day!

[purplewriter]

Just a reminder of what we have missed.

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

Instead we got "what did you expect, it was the 80s." They wanted kudos for having Will's happy ending be him being accepted by his family and friends and liking himself on a show filmed from 2016-2025 just because it was set in the 80s.

As if there was ever any doubt that his family and friends would accept him. Will was literally the only person who thought it wouldn't happen.

[heyimcelery]

Mike wheeler being Wills Guard Dog but managed to do so without infantalising, underestimating pitying or dismissing Will at all because they're so I'm tune with each other