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Mike froze for a second, feeling something inside him give way. Then, carefully, almost reverently, he cupped Will’s face in his hands. His palms settled along his jawline—the skin was warm, a pulse beating beneath his fingers. Alive. Mike lifted his head to look at him. His features were relaxed, peaceful. His lips slightly parted. He looked like he was asleep—just asleep, not trapped. “Please, wake up,” he whispered. “Come back to me. Please.” He couldn't say anything else. The words stuck in his throat, breaking apart against the silence, met with no answer. He just knelt there, holding Will’s face in his hands, looking at him—at those closed eyes, those calm features, at the person he was supposed to protect but couldn’t. The one he had left behind, in that crimson wasteland.

— chapter 5

#byler

The last thing he saw before the light swallowed him was Will’s figure against the crimson sky. “I’ll come back for you”, Mike thought as he fell into the light. “I promise. I won’t leave you. I’ll come back. Whatever it takes.”

— chapter 4

#byler

Will. That thought burned the most. Will, who hadn’t answered calls for three years… Had he really just drifted away? Had he never been in New York? No travels with that guy, no fame, no exhibitions? What if all this time he had simply been a prisoner, under Vecna’s control—his body back in the radio station, his mind trapped? Mike felt nausea rise in his throat. He would have preferred that to be real. He would have preferred that Will had truly moved away, built a life, found love, and left him behind. That pain would have been real—human and understandable. Not this cold fear that was spreading through his chest, tightening his lungs, and stealing his breath.

— chapter 3

#byler

And every time—every single time—he saw a photo of Will, happy and smiling, standing next to that tall, dark-haired young man in a fashionable jacket (too flashy, in Mike’s opinion), something inside him clenched painfully. As if that guy had stolen his friend. As if Mike were the one who should be there next to Will. Which was… absolutely stupid, of course! Will and that guy were a couple. And Will and Mike were friends. They were friends.

— chapter 2

#byler

Eventually, Mike stopped writing too. Stopped calling—what was the point when there was never any answer? The last letter he’d sent Will was a little over a year ago, asking if he’d come to the ninth anniversary—but he’d never gotten a reply. At first, it had been hard. He’d wanted to reach out to his former best friend, tell him about his life, share things—especially in those rare moments when something significant actually happened. But he stayed silent, forcing himself not to reach out. For the past year, he’d been building a wall of feigned indifference around himself. Will didn’t need their friendship anymore. Fine. Cool. Mike didn’t care.

— chapter 1

#byler #i suck at making moodboards #but keep making them anyway #because i have free will #conformitygate #inspired fic

twwarina

love me anyway

#pretty pretty absolutely beautiful

lyxchen

Byler kiss that would have saved the world <3

Bonus: Mike without the hat :>

Also I have a bunch of close ups under the cut <33

bibbledoestaxfraud

real canon tower scene

smooch

spookeart

Shared looks or whatever

bbluesidess

omens and cycles

another bravebyers and wheelwise comic because I’m still obsessed with this concept

loserrsquad

ok sooo posting more of my fav boys bc i never got the chance to. this was lowk a quick one (aesthetic pinterest references coming in clutch)

furiously slapped this together directly after the finale. mindset was definitely “netflix can’t stop me from making them gay” 😭

anyways they’re so beautiful and i love giving mike his long pretty hair ❤️❤️❤️

lonecastiel

April 23

Once again, I made a post on Reddit - and I’m bringing it over here too to invite y’all to #cokegate, lol.

So, the release date of Tales from ’85 does seem weird to me. Why would they choose this date specifically?

And then it hit me: New Coke was released on April 23, 1985.

Here’s the Wiki link, just in case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke

At this point, I have to say - it’s funny how close its discontinuation date is to ST’s 10-year anniversary: July 10 and July 15. Just a coincidence?

But back to the point. I think we all remember the S3 grocery store scene with New Coke, right? If not, here’s the YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe3GjCgVUdM

They very deliberately drew our attention to it back then.

Now skipping ahead to S5E8 - in the epilogue rooftop scene, we see a New Coke can again. But the epilogue is set in 1989, four years after New Coke was discontinued - which always seemed weird to me. Unless it was from some old supply, but then again… wouldn’t it be expired by then? Or at least taste bad? 😅

All in all, it feels intentional and out of place. Especially since in S3 they explicitly say that no one likes it (except Lucas, of course).

And before someone says “well actually, it wasn’t discontinued until 2002” - let me stop you right there. I just did a full Coke deepdive (even though it was VERY much not on my 2026 to-do list), and I’m about to un-debunk that.

So. New Coke was released on April 23, 1985 and received massive backlash. After just 79 days, it was renamed. From Wiki:

“The new product continued to be marketed and sold as ‘Coke’ (until 1990, when it was renamed ‘Coke II’), while the original formula was named ‘Coca-Cola Classic,’ and for a short time it was referred to by the public as Old Coke.”

From that point on, they sold both products (Coke and Coca-Cola Classic), just under different names.

For example, in ’86/’87, the New Coke cans looked like this — they just said “Coke,” without the “New” label:

And by 1989 (the year of the epilogue), the cans already looked like this - labeled Coke II:

As you can see, this is NOT the can we see in the epilogue. And that’s what makes it extra weird, because the show creators are famously obsessive about small details and ’80s accuracy.

Add to that:

how much attention they drew to New Coke in S3

and the fact that Tales from ’85 is being released on the exact same date New Coke originally launched

…and suddenly it all feels very intentional. Very “I don’t believe in coincidences” coded.

I’m not trying to do any wild date speculation here, honestly. But if this is intentional… then maybe the 10-year anniversary is actually going to give us something?

Thanks for reading - and I’d love to hear your ideas!

walkablepurse50

Sorry to be a bit of a debbie downer;-; but your post is either misinformed or misleading. According to your own sources.

July 10 is not when New Coke was discontinued. That's when they announced they were bring back the original formula of coke and rebranding that as Coca-Cola Classic. It rolled out July 11. New Coke was still being sold (as you say in your post) but it was always sold as Coke.

It was still discontinued in July 2002 so same month as anniversary. You acknowledge it was still being sold and still say it was discontinued.

Same mistake here ^ New Coke wasn't renamed after 79 days. Old Coke was brought back and renamed Coca Cola Classic. That quote from the wiki is talking about two separate products. Again you note that but say the name change is happening to New Coke. That quote doesn't back up your claim. New Coke has always been an unofficial name.

Now, I'm less sure about this one because it's difficult to trace back but that listing says that Coke II can is from 1989. Coke II was only released on April 4 1990 and in limited quantities. It wasn't rolled out country wide until 1992 so the characters would not have had it in the epilogue. The clearest source for that I have is a sourceless fandom website https://logos.fandom.com/wiki/Coke_II#:~:text=In%20April%201992%2C%20Coca%2DCola,discontinued%20on%20July%2010%2C%202002. But the Wikipedia also says that Coke II was rolled out in the 1990s. And everywhere else I could find also lists the date as 1990 or 1992 though non-specifically. https://www.britannica.com/topic/New-Coke

New Coke, reformulated soft drink that the Coca-Cola Company introduced on April 23, 1985, to replace its flagship drink in the hope of revi

Coke, more commonly known as New Coke from its original packaging, was a reformulation of Coca-Cola introduced on April 23, 1985. Despite be

That can you found ^ does say 1989 but for the copyright.

It is weird that the can still has 'new' on it in the epilogue. That was taken off in I believe 1986. It is also weird that Tales From 85 comes out on the 23rd. But the claim that they're obsessive about dates for small details is not really true either, it's only bigger clues that they tend to care about specific dates for (posters, movies, etc). A bunch of the PEZ dispensers in Holly's room are from the 90s and 00s for example. They care more so about leaving clues than they do about date accuracy, which is a reason why I DO think the coke can saying 'new' on it is significant. I agree that that's a detail we're meant to take notice of. But apologies for sort of pooping the party.

lonecastiel

Hey, Debbie Downer - sorry, jk!

I just wanted to say thank you for sharing the additional info!

You’re totally right to point out that my use of the word “discontinued” can sound weird or misleading, so sorry about that. That said, I do try to make it clear (or at least I hope I do, lol) in my post that they continued selling both products at the same time, just under different names.

And thanks as well for sharing the article about the Coke II thing - you’re right, rewinding back through ’80s Coke history can get pretty confusing, so I could’ve gotten that detail wrong. So yeah, appreciate the correction!

Either way, it doesn’t really change the main point about the New Coke lifecycle, which apparently went like this: New Coke (with the silver “New” label) → Coke (without the label) → Coke II.

So, in the epilogue, they should have had a Coke can without the “New” label - yes.

And considering the fact that they literally made "New Coke" cans specifically for the S3 set (if I’m not mistaken - they were like custom-made), it’s hard to believe they wouldn’t know its history that the can design changed. Especially since they have a whole ass team dedicated to set design.

So using the “wrong” can design really does feel intentional here. A lot of people noticed it - just like they noticed the Under Armour logo on Holly’s shirt, which the ST team later edited out - yet the "New Coke" can stayed unedited, and that looks weird to me unless it was intentional.

I hope I could explain my point clear this time 😅

April 23

Once again, I made a post on Reddit - and I’m bringing it over here too to invite y’all to #cokegate, lol.

So, the release date of Tales from ’85 does seem weird to me. Why would they choose this date specifically?

And then it hit me: New Coke was released on April 23, 1985.

Here’s the Wiki link, just in case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke

At this point, I have to say - it’s funny how close its discontinuation date is to ST’s 10-year anniversary: July 10 and July 15. Just a coincidence?

But back to the point. I think we all remember the S3 grocery store scene with New Coke, right? If not, here’s the YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe3GjCgVUdM

They very deliberately drew our attention to it back then.

All in all, it feels intentional and out of place. Especially since in S3 they explicitly say that no one likes it (except Lucas, of course).

So. New Coke was released on April 23, 1985 and received massive backlash. After just 79 days, it was renamed. From Wiki:

From that point on, they sold both products (Coke and Coca-Cola Classic), just under different names.

For example, in ’86/’87, the New Coke cans looked like this — they just said “Coke,” without the “New” label:

And by 1989 (the year of the epilogue), the cans already looked like this - labeled Coke II:

As you can see, this is NOT the can we see in the epilogue. And that’s what makes it extra weird, because the show creators are famously obsessive about small details and ’80s accuracy.

Add to that:

how much attention they drew to New Coke in S3

and the fact that Tales from ’85 is being released on the exact same date New Coke originally launched

…and suddenly it all feels very intentional. Very “I don’t believe in coincidences” coded.

I’m not trying to do any wild date speculation here, honestly. But if this is intentional… then maybe the 10-year anniversary is actually going to give us something?

Thanks for reading - and I’d love to hear your ideas!

#conformitygate #stranger things #cokegate #lol idk i love the cokegate thing

I’m sorry, but this demoflower or whatever

Makes me think of one thing only

For anyone who doesn’t know where it’s from - it’s from Jumanji (I know it’s not an ’80s movie, but I still can’t unsee it)

And, funny enough, the roll that caused it all - it was a 7

#conformitygate #stranger things #tales from 85

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5 (1989) vs. Stranger Things Season 5 parallels

First of all, I'm not supposed to be here.

I haven't posted anything on Tumblr for 12 years (yes, my last post was made in August 2014, that's crazy). BUT I noticed something and now I just have to share.

I originally posted this theory on Reddit, but the community is private there, so bringing it out here too.

---

So I was rewatching the A Nightmare on Elm Street movies to take a bit of a break from Conformity Gate.

But then I rewatched A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (which, if you’ve seen it, you know isn’t great - but is still important) and now I just cannot stop thinking about how many structural and thematic overlaps it has with Stranger Things.

I might be reaching here, but since we’ve already discussed multiple Freddy references in ST, I thought I’d share the moments I noticed. I’m not saying this has to mean something - these could just be references, or maybe certain scenes were used as inspiration. But still.

1. Timeline

In Elm Street 5, the characters graduate high school in 1989

In Stranger Things S5, the characters also graduate in 1989

2. The forbidden place

We discover that Freddy is afraid of the tower - the one place he cannot enter (until the end, when he finally does, if I’m not mistaken)

We also discover that Vecna has a specific place in his memories that he cannot enter (also eventually breached)

In both cases, the villain’s limitation is spatial and psychological, like a locked room in their own mythology.

3. Power transferred through the body

Freddy intentionally gives Jacob powers by feeding him souls while he’s still in Alice’s womb, using the umbilical cord

Vecna unintentionally (or intentionally?) gives Will powers during Season 1, when Will is trapped and has some sort of a cord attached to his mouth

Both villains seed power into a child through a parasitic connection.

4. The child as a bridge

So, Jacob has powers and Freddy uses him as a bridge

Jacob can pull people into his dreams

Freddy enters reality by piggybacking on Jacob

At this point, Alice doesn’t even need to be asleep anymore - she’s dragged into Jacob’s dream

If you haven’t seen the movies: Alice previously pulled friends into her dreams while she was asleep. Now the mechanic flips.

And here comes the missing parallel.

5. The missing parallel? (Or is it?)

What if Vecna used Will the same way? What if:

Will acts as the bridge

Vecna drags Will’s friends and family into an illusion or false resolution

Not by simply “Vecna-ing” them - but through emotional proximity and Will’s bond with everyone

6. The final confrontation

Freddy is ultimately fought by Jacob, who uses the powers Freddy gave him against Freddy

Vecna is fought by Will, who uses Vecna’s own abilities against him

In both stories, the villain engineers the weapon that harms him - but doesn’t kill him.

Smaller but weirdly specific overlaps

Elm Street 5 was heavily rewritten during production, with filming starting before the script was finished and with release date nearing them. It was discussed in the documentary called Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy. Sounds familiar, right?

Robert Englund played both Freddy and Freddy’s father

Englund also played Henry Creel’s father in Stranger Things

TL;DR

Elm Street 5 and Stranger Things S5 share:

the same year of graduation

the same “child-as-bridge” mechanic

the same body-horror power transfer

the same villain limitation

the same “weaponized gift” trope

Which raises the question:

Could Vecna use Will the same way Freddy used Jacob - to drag everyone into an illusion and stage the ending?

And if you think about it, this could actually justify why half of Hawkins was in the room when Will came out - because that still weirds me out.

I mean, why would Will want everyone to be there, if not as part of Vecna’s plan to gather everyone in one place? Gathering all of your enemies in the same room before making a move sounds like a pretty smart villain strategy.

So if Vecna needed them all in one place to sort of initiate the illusion for everyone at once, that would explain it.

And the things Will says - like “milkshakes at Melvald’s” and “getting lost in the woods” - no one corrects him or even questions it. That could easily be Vecna testing whether they’ve started accepting the illusion without resistance.

That's it, thanks for reading!

#conformitygate #stranger things