Trying To Figure Out Whats Behind The Curtain…

she / Gen Y / I do art n stuff (no reposts w/o credit please) 🦤 / I discuss dark topics at times so be aware... 18+ 🪐☕️ art account: @greeninspired

[mindflamer]

i was watching this video about st being nina project videos

this stuck out to me: "it's important to not just see your past, but to fully re-experience it. in doing so, i believe we can repair your broken signals."

stranger things was created around 80s nostalgia. many people are quite literally, re-living their past through watching it. but it leaves out of the main text (only subtext so far), a critical part of the 80s. one which greatly affects our main characters and one which many people likely didn't pay much attention to unless they were personally affected. homophobia and the AIDS crisis created a traumatizing period for the queer community; a stain on their comforting 80s nostalgia. the story is not complete without bringing it to the surface - to see ALL of the 80s. the parts they ignored or even perpetuated. to fix the "broken signals" - the homophobia that still lingers in society.

[timblriche-deactivated20260106]

Heartbreak according to Will Byers

12+ hours of editing and sound mixing for the most devastating video to grace your screen…

The Mindflayer is just a metaphor… Falling in love with someone you shouldn’t can feel a bit like getting possessed by an Eldritch monster.

This is what I think Will was actually remembering in Castle Byers and in Mike's basement in S3 and what his train of thought was (his feelings for Mike just weren't canon yet, so the Duffers couldn't go quite this hard…).

Plus, a sneak peek into Mike's POV when he agrees with Will about that roller coaster feeling...

"Something is coming… something hungry for blood…" (the gay and in love with your best friend flavor of heartbreak) "it got me…" (love) "You were just swinging [that bat] by yourself…" "Where were you when I was lonesome?"

anyway I'M SICK!!!!!!!! This Frankenstein creation is like actually sick and twisted and I need to be put in jail but it's art and i'm so proud of it, I hope you enjoy/cry. I put a lot of thought into making it as devastating as possible!

some of my favorite mostly imperceptible technical details: max and lucas magically disappearing from mike & will's movie date lol, all my sound bridges/audio overlays to indicate will (and mike, at the end) reliving his memories in the context of whatever he's doing/looking at, the ominous film projector reel, stitching all the movie theater music clips together to the exact beat, the new rain matching the two diff storm intensities, the thunderclaps that I had to match to each lightning strike bc removing the OG background music also removes all the OG sound effects lmao, the added comic book page flip sounds and door noises etc, seamlessly lengthening the song by over a minute, etc ! so many details lol

[armencias]

Mike and Will fell to their Death on the Same Day - November 12th 1983

I'm not kidding. We all remember Mike jumping down that cliff at the quarry in S1, but at the beginning of S5 we saw Will literally doing the same thing. Climbing that tree to escape the Demo and then jumping off as he's been followed. The dates are confirmed in the show, very obviously. Can't believe we've been sleeping on that.

If you play it side by side they do everything in sync. The jump, suddenly stopping mid fall, moving again... only that Will actually fell and Mike started defying gravity.

We know Will actually died that day (yeah he came back to life ofc), but what about Mike? Max taught us you have to follow your memories back to your death to escape the maze of memories. Something that worked for Will already, since S5 started with his death... Mhh.

I fear there's no proving Byler without investigating Mike's 'death' first. And everything leads me back to this day.

But hey, just watch it yourself:

Don't ask what wrong with Troy's voice, it abstracted every single try saving the file.

If you only wanna watch the actual sequence jump to ~ 01:30, but then you'll miss Mike and Troy answering to Will's singing and El paralleling Vecna :3 Oh and El heard a ticking noise.

Anyways, Matthew Modine answered my comment on Insta today, I'm very happy. :3 Weird feeling when you call someone Papa and they actually answer for the first time in 12 years... o_O

[greenfiend]

Every time Will receives signals... Mike is there

[greenfiend]

FLY OR DIE

Those are the two options.

Well guess what they chose.

Not flying.

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

Flying = queer joy and acceptance

Landing = dying, sadness, prison

[viavoila]

More doodles and unfinished things

[greenfiend]

It only truly counts if Will tells Mike

In the first episode, Will rolls the dice and received a "7".

I've long thought that there's a lot of hidden meaning and symbolism here.

If you turn a "7" upside down you get "ㄥ". This resembles a capital L.

In the scene above, we even see Mike holding a "7up" while Mike and Will discuss the importance of knowing a specific number and while Will alludes to his feelings in code. "dnL" is a real drink that has existed as an upside down version of the famous drink. Also makes me think of the term "down low" which is slang for men who are closeted.

The show has also utilized capitalizing the first letter of a word to emphasize a point. Robin says her and Steve are "platonic with a capital P" which is the exact opposite of love with a capital L.

In ST3, there's a famous song on the soundtrack titled "The First I love You" which does the opposite. Love with a lower case l. This song plays during the scene where Robin comes out to Steve (the platonic with a capital P relationship), but it also plays when El says "I love you" to Mike at the end of the season (and Mike doesn't respond).

So, yes, I do think 7 is a code for Love with a capital L.

Will rolled the dice and his fate was falling in Love... with Mike.

He was then faced with a dilemma: should he cast fireball (drop a bomb/tell the truth). Or should he cast protection and play it safe?

We know his choice:

He drops the bomb on Mike. Symbolically, he tells Mike he loves him (with a capital L!!!).

Then we come back to the same dilemma for Will once again in ST5:

But this time, he chooses protection. He's vague, and avoids speaking to Mike directly like he once did.

Mike didn't truly see the roll here. So guess what?

It doesn't count.

[greenfiend]

The Mysterious Heart

He can't say it... he can't even write it.

Except for two instances...

When he turns to look in Will's direction. If you re-watch this scene, he first looks forward towards Nancy/Jonathan then turns his head to the left... exactly where Will is standing... while he says "I can't lose her again".

When Will pushed him to do so while standing behind him and featured in the camera shot.

Each time he cannot say or write it, El is present but Will is missing. But every time he can say it, Will is right there beside him.

This isn't some re-used plot point that doesn't properly resolve. This is a major aspect of the story as a whole... that's why it keeps re-occurring.

His feelings and his heart is integral to the story as a whole. Without heart, it all falls apart.

Above is one of my favourite scenes through a metaphoric lens. Will feels "crazy" "nervous" and "the sky spins" for him; these are feelings of being in love and he's struggling with it. Lucas says he gets nervous too but "the sky doesn't spin" for him. He then asks Mike "it ever spin for you?" And, of course, Mike avoids directly answering the question. Unwilling to explicitly reveal his heart. However, he does immediately turn his complete attention towards Will.

But his feelings remain a mystery. He cannot say "I love you" ever again since ST4. He creates the motto "friends don't lie" while he continues to lie to his friends and himself. He builds a bomb that he truly never symbolically drops. He never becomes "Mike the Brave".

Even for viewers who deny Byler evidence feel like something is missing from ST5. They may not be able to pin point exactly why it felt so unsatisfying. But a major reason is Mike and his arc. Mike himself has been a mystery for nearly a decade now. A mystery with many clues and buildup but no reveal or resolution. The "X" was never solved, nor the missing puzzle piece found.

[amvthea]

Movies the Duffers wanted us to watch before S5 • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind + Stranger Things • Update

Mike’s trying to hide Will in The Hideaway gay bar. Oh, “best friends” I’m sure…

Pineapple pizza as a metaphor for homosexuality. I didn’t say it. I don’t have to. Try before you deny, Mike! He did try it. He wants more.

[greeninspired]

Meeting at your gate

[greenfiend]

The Missing Tape

How the show hints that Mike's story isn't over yet...

The UD "imploded" along with El, right before Mike's eyes. This was clearly foreshadowing...

Robin, the bird, got grounded/landed. Unable to fly... People keep using the phrase "stuck the landing" for the ending. Which is deviously clever because it sounds good on the surface, but the show keeps reiterating how important being able to fly is. Also the show’s “grades” definitely “plummeted”… they predicted this…. Lmfao.

This was the ending we got but...

THIS WASN'T THE END TO ROBIN'S STORY! THERE WAS MORE!!!

She found a missing tape! The concept of a missing tape is so frequently alluded to within the show and outside of it. Click the link for some examples of this.

Clearly these scenes are connected. Both Mike and Robin have a little version of themselves whom they look up to. This little version of themselves is brave and fearless!

Their inner child that accepts themselves for who they are before society tells them they should feel shame for being different.

Not to mention how both Mike and Robin have alter egos: "Rockin' Robin" and "Mike the Brave".

After finding the tape, Robin learns to stop being scared of who she is. She embraces herself and learns to fly once again.

Now why connect Mike with this speech without him achieving the same outcome?

[mewvore]

Sometimes you need to read something twice to get it. You might need to watch a movie three times to understand it. You might have to have that album on repeat for a week until the lyrics make any sense. You're allowed to engage with it and can keep engaging with it until it means something to you. People will see a painting at a museum and laugh about not getting what the big deal is but like you can come back, you can see it at another time, and maybe that next time it'll be different for you. I'm of the belief the "media literacy crisis" would solve itself if more people just sat down and did it again. Watched, read, played, listened, etc like I don't think people are getting more ignorant necessarily I just think we're not glorifying personally replaying things nearly as much as we should be.

[greenfiend]

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

And the Mindflayer, spider creature, whatever the hell it was supposed to be, had a pulsating, heart-like organ. You can also hear a heartbeat after the fade out into the epilogue if you turn your volume up. It leads into the banging of the bricklayer.

Not sure if that fits at all into what you're thinking, but I figured I'd bring it up. They're details that have bugged me since the finale.

[greenfiend]

OOO yes I've been thinking about that too.

Not to mention how Vecna is referred to as "One" and how "the one" is used within the show...

A romantic concept... funny when you remember Mike referred to Will as "Vecna" aka the "One" within the same episode.

Then we have this line from Mike in regards to Vecna... Mike says this then immediately looks at Will.

AND this scene. Will says he has a "crazy" feeling. He says he feels nervous and the sky is spinning for him. Hm, sounds like being in love. Lucas looks to Mike and asks if he ever feels that too and he doesn't answer (he also never says "I love you" to El). Mike then says "maybe he's close" to Will, and he's right- the one causing these feelings in Will is literally standing right in front of him!

Plus the whole "signals" metaphor. Will is a receiver who receives signals from both Vecna via the hivemind but also from... Mike.

All I'm saying is that there has always been quite an elaborate analogy here within the show that most people missed.

[greenfiend]

[slytherflowerao3]

it’s always funny to me when people in fandom act like there’s only one acceptable way to interpret a character.

and no, i’m obviously not talking about takes that are genuinely harmful or target real people or marginalized groups. i’m talking about people theorizing, analyzing, and sharing different readings of fictional characters, only for someone in the comments to go, “no! that’s not it!”

art is subjective for a reason. we all bring different experiences, perspectives, and biases to what we consume. if someone has a different interpretation than you, that doesn’t invalidate yours.

you don’t have to agree with every take you see, but acting like your interpretation is the only objectively correct one completely misses the point of engaging with art in the first place. don’t like it? scroll. disagree? discuss. but stop treating differing character interpretations like a moral failing.

[greenfiend]

Sooooo… Noah allegedly has a major project coming out this year.

Keep in mind, this year is over half way over and this project remains a secret, why?

There’s a few things we know about it:

- there’s romance in it involving him (because he once said he felt he was “robbed of a romance” but this project “makes up for it”.)

- it’s a big project

- he can’t even reveal the genre of said project

- it’s coming out this year

So I just have to ask, why would this be such a big secret if it’s not a part of an already established media?

Here’s the source but there’s also a separate clip of Noah saying this project “makes up for [the romance he was robbed of]” (I can’t find it atm).

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

It is a bit suspicious if he mentioned an upcoming project but didn't give any details. Doubly weird if it's coming out relatively soon, but nothing is known of it.

Of course, he wouldn't be allowed to talk about it without permission. But, if it was indeed slated for this year, shouldn't something be known about it? A title, people attached to it, a genre, etc. The people who would control information being released would surely want to start hyping it up, even if it's not that big of a project.

Maybe nothing, but, yeah, suspicious.

I don't follow the actors' careers, but I always got the sense that Noah never seemed to have as much going on as the others. It always struck me as weird considering how good of an actor he is. Though, I suppose it could be a result of him prioritizing school. But I do worry that maybe coming out is negatively affecting him, too. He seems to love acting, and I wish for him to find success in that.

[withoutheartwedallfallapart]

Can we be 100% sure it's an acting project, though? Because he's the only one in the cast I've been following rather closely, and I don't know when he would have filmed a major project (if it's something unrelated to st)

It could be some kind of entrepreneur-project, since he's done several in the past. Or he means that the project will be announced this year.

There were discussions about him being in Heated Rivalry or another project linked to the director of the show, but I don't know if that's likely or if it's just wishful thinking though.

[greenfiend]

The fact that he was asked the genre of the project means that it's likely a film/tv show. He also previously mentioned that he was "robbed of a romance [in ST]" and that there's this upcoming project that "makes up for it" implying that said project, like ST, is a film/tv show. Could he be working on something behind the scenes? Sure it's possible, but I don't think it's a business project that he's starting/involved in.

In the clip I've linked, he allegedly stated this project comes out this year. Now, obviously, this is a second hand (or third?) source so feel free to take it with a grain of salt.

He very well might be in a project related to Heated Rivalry, but I doubt this is the same thing. The second season will not be releasing this year. Could this project be linked to the director of the show? Maybe. But if it's a new project, why so much secrecy when it's allegedly coming out late this year? I'm sure he'd at least be able to reveal the genre of the project in this case if not even more information by now.

[greenfiend]

Sooooo… Noah allegedly has a major project coming out this year.

Keep in mind, this year is over half way over and this project remains a secret, why?

There’s a few things we know about it:

- there’s romance in it involving him (because he once said he felt he was “robbed of a romance” but this project “makes up for it”.)

- it’s a big project

- he can’t even reveal the genre of said project

- it’s coming out this year

So I just have to ask, why would this be such a big secret if it’s not a part of an already established media?

Here’s the source but there’s also a separate clip of Noah saying this project “makes up for [the romance he was robbed of]” (I can’t find it atm).

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

It is a bit suspicious if he mentioned an upcoming project but didn't give any details. Doubly weird if it's coming out relatively soon, but nothing is known of it.

Of course, he wouldn't be allowed to talk about it without permission. But, if it was indeed slated for this year, shouldn't something be known about it? A title, people attached to it, a genre, etc. The people who would control information being released would surely want to start hyping it up, even if it's not that big of a project.

Maybe nothing, but, yeah, suspicious.

I don't follow the actors' careers, but I always got the sense that Noah never seemed to have as much going on as the others. It always struck me as weird considering how good of an actor he is. Though, I suppose it could be a result of him prioritizing school. But I do worry that maybe coming out is negatively affecting him, too. He seems to love acting, and I wish for him to find success in that.

[greenfiend]

Exactly! It's weird. If he were cast in a upcoming movie or show this year, there would usually be more info released by now... unless it had to be secretive.

But why would a project have to be secretive? Usually that only occurs within an already established/existing media because it would contain spoilers. If it were a new show/movie, I'm sure he'd most likely be able to reveal a bit more by now... Also since he said it was a "big project", I assume it implies his role in it is large? I don't think he would call it that if he only had a minor role.

Also, not sure when he had the time to film this big project since he's a very busy guy. Filming ST for all of 2025, plus being in school, plus travelling a lot, plus going to all those panels/events... etc.