crazy together

Andy 20 | she/her | infp

[miwiluvv]

So this is what I THINK is happening in this scene:

El: “ Stop worrying about me. I can do it by myself.”

Mike: “Oh, so she doesn’t need me anymore.” while he backs away.

Even if that's not the case, that's NOT how you want to portray your endgame couple 💀

We all know that would contradict what Will said in season 4: “She needs you Mike. And she always will.” And guess who actually needs Mike more than anyone, especially now?

[byerseason]

Some food for thought about the teaser & What I think is going on?

First of all, I'm gonna take you back to last year because we will need those information later.

I will revisit everything quickly before connecting the dots, in case you weren't here during the filming or just need a reminder.

- CHURCH SET

This set was a VERY important filming place during last year, in which they closed all the close roads and everything.

The set also had a crazily big crane, basically everything that screams it's an important place.

That set was built late May 2024 for the first time, shortly after it was taken down & the filming was delayed to August, due to an actor being unavailable.

It all happened around two weeks, so it was a situation with that actor that happened suddenly. People initially thought it's Millie, but she was being seen hanging out with her husband so it wasn't her.During that time, none of the actors were really unavailable. Except Noah, who had a really visible stye on his eye this exact time.

Which means he won't be able to use contacts, and it will just look bad in close up shots. So he was most likely the actor they delayed this filming for.

— FINN & NOAH'S REHEARSAL

During these weeks, we were informed about Finn and Noah flying to set on their off day just to rehearse an important scene, the two of them. And the church was newly being built, even the information we got was them rehearsing for the church. So it's safe to day that was true.

— FILMING IN CHURCH

In August 2024, the set was built back. They filmed multiple scenes there with older teens and some other characters, but Noah or Finn wasn't seen during those filmings even if they were supposedly filming that week, probably in somewhere else.

However, to our surprise the production went back to the church set in October 2024, two months later, with Noah (confirmed) Nell and Finn (at some point, according to locals). This filming took 4 days in total.

— EPISODE INFORMATION

Every information we had points out to this scenes taking place in episode 6 - 7. The best guess is the scene with Noah taking place in episode 7 The Bridge, and some other scenes being in episode 6.

Speaking of episode 6, we have absolutely no information about Will in this episode. We were able to learn such kind of information for all the filming era, but for episode 6 Will is nowhere to be found.

The only thing I have is that Noah was filming something separately from the rest for a while. Jamie was also on set the same exact week. Not being 100% sure about this, that was from episode 6 because I remember thinking how that's all we got from that episode about Will.

What I think is going on?

At the end of episode 5 / beginning of episode 6, Will disappears.

Him filming with Nell in the church pretty much confirms she was trapped there. And when you put everything together, it very much seems like Will is there for her. Knowing him, sacrificing for an innocent kid who is about to have the same fate as him and is Mike's sister on top of that, is something that he definitely would do. He even might be tormented by Vecna, being shown visions of her, just to pull him in there willingly. And of course Will would do that, this might be how he finds her.

The scene of El going into the deprivation tank might be to find them. El seems to be comforting Mike in this scene, reassuring him about both her safety & finding them. Mike seems to be down and needs reassurance, which makes sense knowing how it would hit him to not be able to save his little sister, then losing Will, then putting El in danger.

And thanks to Shawn Levy posting a bts of this scene before, we know it happens in his episode, aka the episode we don't hear from Will, episode 6.

You could also argue that it's about Max, but i think Escape from the Camazots is already the episode she finally manages to wake up. But still, could be. I can't add more about this Max possibility because of our lack of information about her, so I'm gonna stick with the other possibility. The theory could still work without this exact scene not being about this.

After the gang finds out where they are, they go to the church, which are the multiple outdoor scenes that were filmed in there.

And the second filming that happened with Noah, and possibly with Nell and Finn, is when Mike comes in to save the day, to try, at least.

In his post, Ross confirmed only episode 7 was not included in the teaser, which is the episode this takes place in, probably along with some Max stuff.

Holly having a cleric figurine and Mike telling her "it will keep her safe" made me almost sure it was gonna be Will who ends up saving her, and all of this just adds to it.

General Opinions:

About this Elmike scene i'm honestly one of those who didn't experience doubt (as usual for me but wait, listen).

First of all the aim of a teaser is to remind the audience where they left while also giving them a general opinion on the new season. It is not meant to you give you any spoilers, nor let you know about the outcomes of the unresolved arcs. Especially when you're watching Stranger Things, after Ross had to make it clear while posting the teaser, Imao.

You did not imagine byler when it's not there. Will's love for Mike took them three seasons to build up. Two seasons of Will's character arc has been solely about his sexuality and love for Mike. Mike's behavior with El and Will has been put in an unexplainable way. And most importantly, the plot was left unresolved to the final season.

So no, The Duffers aren't trying to give the message to delusional byler fans, they, in fact know where they put this story and how would the fans react to it.

And no, they're not letting you know about the outcome of this plot that took them seasons to build up through a teaser which they sweared up and down isn't spoilery.

We also need to stop freaking out every time we see El and Mike together. If we want this to work, there has to be actual heart-to-heart moments between them that will contradict their dynamic during the relationship.

Also, we already know Mike and Will share 85% of this season together, and if you didn't see them in the teaser, congrats, there is something to hide there.

Other than that I'm pretty caught up with the scene where Vecna himself comes for an unconscious Will and only Mike & Joyce being there to save him. I can't even imagine watching this sequence & the aftermath of it with Byler.

There has never been a scene like this where Mike saves Will like this when he's not fully unconscious, especially not from something like this. We're so getting s2 byler on steroids it's crazy to think about.

Anyway, i think that's all i have in mind now, reblog with opinions if you have something to add! I could discuss those stuff for hours. <333

gif from @mikesbasementbeets

[furimmer96arts]

Inspired by @greenfiend’s theory (here)

Closeups are under cut

[frogsdontcry]

Mike saving Will in the Upside Down is my new Roman Empire, so I made fanart of it.

[bitofanupsidedowner]

friendly reminder mike's the one making it weird! will has absolutely zero intention to pursue mike romantically. he wants to be honest but he does not believe it's reciprocated. MIKE is the one seeing their interactions differently.

he makes it weird in season three by hyperfixating on his relationship to the point he's a shitty friend. he makes it weird by actively pushing will away. he makes it super weird with "it's not my fault you don't like girls." he is the first one to speak out loud about a version of their relationship where they have forever to do what they want, implying at the same time that the reason they can't is because he's obligated to grow up. he makes it weird by being so devastated when will admits he did want that, because mike wanted that, too.

he makes it weird by not writing letters. he makes it weird by not hugging will at the airport and getting jealous of the painting. he makes it weird by acting up at the rink, paying all his attention to will while pretending to ignore him. he makes it weird with "that's because she's my girlfriend, will!" and then doubles down on that weirdness with "we're friends! we're friends."

and it isn't just their friendship he makes weird, it's the entire dynamic of the party, it's his relationship with el, with hopper, with his parents to an extent, because he isn't acting like himself.

will, despite his canon romantic interest in mike, was not the one to choose to interpret their friendship through a romantic lens and that is so fucking fascinating. mike did that even though he's totally unaware of will's feelings.

mike is the one who cannot appropriately contextualize their relationship and struggles to behave appropriately. mike's the one who missed will so much he called and called and whined to dustin when will didn't pick up. mike's the one who refused to let dustin use the phone when will DID pick up.

mike did that shit bro idk what to tell u. he's the one who can't be normal despite that being his hidden goal the entire season.

[teambyler]

Random thoughts that make a Byler happy

The main character of Netflix's #1 show is a GAY BOY. A gay boy who will be a HERO.

It's clear Will needs help in s5 to avoid being taken over by the Mind Flayer/Vecna. We all know that the BEST way to bring him back is through love, from YOU KNOW WHO.

-teambyler

[bylerworld]

[miwiluvv]

Oh man I’ve missed this… It's nice to be back here

[miwiluvv]

I love how every time there's a Will-centric season, I already KNOW that Mike will be important and will once again become the brave and protective boy we know and love... because Will always brings out the best in him

Season 2:

Season 5:

[will80sbyers]

I KNEW IT I KNEW THEY WOULD BE CONNECTED

[demibanshee]

BYLER GATES: A GUIDE

(Explaining all the different theories, for anyone who is also lost with how many there are)

THE BIG 4

Flickergate: This theory involves a lot of time shenanigans and is connected to the Will having powers in s5 one (possibly manipulation of time or electricity). Theory claims Will and Mike will kiss in the UD, specifically outside Mike's garage, paralleling 1x01. Will is going to tell the truth at the same time his s1 self is ("it was a seven"), causing the garage light to flicker on Nov. 6th 1983.

Birthdaygate: This theory suggests that the Duffers didn't actually forget Will's birthday is March 22nd (the day of the rink-o-mania incident). It claims that Vecna is actually manipulating the characters' memories (possibly even Will's), making them forget his birthday in the process, maybe in an attempt to make him feel excluded/lonely and making him vulnerable. (Similar to the beginning of Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets, which happened to be on the inspo board for S4)

But also the Creel murders themselves happened on March 22nd.

Churchgate: More UD kiss related theories! This one claims Will is going to get Vecna'd or possessed in the Upside Down church (and that he's going to hurt/choke Mike in the process). With a crazy amount of religious symbolism, Mike would be the one breaking him out of his trance, through a kiss or a confession.

(More thorough explanation here.)

Lettergate: This gate's truthers believe that Mike did actually write to Will in the time period between s3 and s4, but never sent the letters. Said letters (signed "Love, Mike") are going to make an appearance in s5, revealing his true feelings. (Great post that has to do with this gate here)

Also related to:

OTHER GATES

Pocketgate: Very connected to Lettergate™️, this theory has to do with Mike's infamous triangle shaped pocket in S4. It suggests that the letter signed Love, Mike is hidden in said pocket throughout s4, since it very closely resembles an envelope. Triangles have also been used in ST as a queer symbol (with Robin) and Mike's pocket consistently points to Will like an arrow.

Phonegate: Kinda similar to the previous two, this gate claims Mike did actually call the Byers in Lenora. For some reason, the calls didn't go through, either because of Joyce's telemarketer job OR because of Vecna manipulating things again (cough, birthdaygate, cough).

This is backed up by one of Dustin's lines, saying that the Byers' phone line is always busy and Mike won't stop complaining about it. We know he must have been calling WILL, since the whole reason he was communicating with El using letters is that they couldn't talk on the phone.

Loverslakegate: Related to Lovers' lake (obviously). The lake is shaped like a heart, tying into its name, but it was split in two after the gates opened, now resembling a broken one (and Mike is ofc referred to as "the heart" so it could be a reference to him).

According to this theory, Mike and Will are going to kiss/become lovers near said lake/Reefer Rick's house.

Heartgate: To put it simply: Heart reflections EVERYWHERE. This one is better explained through pictures:

Also: Different heartgate but really interesting

Colorgate: I don't think I have to explain this one tbh but anyway

Blue meets yellow in the west.

Mike and Will have been HEAVILY associated with blue and yellow respectively since the beginning of the show (even wearing eachother's colours in both of their arguments). There's an insane amount of evidence that backs this one up.

It's speculated that the Russian code in s3 was foreshadowing for s4 ("The silver cat feeds when Blue meets Yellow in the west") Silver cat: Vecna who started killing when Mike (Blue) met Will (Yellow) in the west (California, literally west of Indiana)

Curtaingate: "They don't spent their lives trying to get a look at what's behind the curtain [...] They like the curtain. It provides them comfort, stability, definition" -Murray 2x05

Mike and El are pretty consistently framed in front of CLOSED (and more often than not, yellow) curtains, or ones that have closed blinds. According to this theory, closed curtains represent not being honest with one's true feeling. So, the truth about Mike's feelings is beyond the curtain and in s5 he will open it (and come out)

Motelgate: This one has to do with the dreaded two day time skip at the end of S4. Theory claims the Cali crew stayed at a motel during that time skip and the scenes were cut for time, but we'll flash back to them in s5. It's based on a photo a production assistant posted from the New Mexico filming, as well as some bts pics of the Cali Crew playing board games in a motel.

Shoegate: In S4, we see a pair of Will's shoes in his bedroom. In s5, Mike seems to be wearing that exact pair. This, in addition to the fact that they wear the same shoe size (a 10 according to their rollerskates from 4x02), lead people to theorize they will share clothes/shoes in s5. More importantly though, this theory suggests Mike is figuratively being put into Will's shoes (maybe pining?). Also, both of them wear the same shoes they wore in s2. Interestingly enough though, even though the design is the same, the colors are reversed (so their roles will be reversed too).

Possessiongate: This one runs DEEP so I'm going to link a bunch of posts

To put it VERY simply: this theory claims Vecna somehow attached himself to Mike (maybe when the vine grabbed him by the leg in the S2 tunnels- right before he started acting weird in s3 and s4) and he has been influenced/possessed for some time now.

He's not the dungeon master anymore, he's not in control. Both in s3 and s4 someone ELSE is the DM when they play D&D (Will and Eddie respectively)

More here and here

Victimgate: Very closely related to the previous one, this one suggests that MIKE was originally supposed to be Vecna's 4th victim instead of Patrick. Since Max escaped the first time, SHE ended up being the last victim but the original plan was for it to be Patrick. However, Patrick's curse doesn't fit the theme of all of the previous ones. We only see one of his visions, he gets cursed for ONE DAY, as opposed to the other 3 that are cursed for almost a week and we also know very little about him, even though we gradually knew more about the previous victims. Chrissy (no relation to main characters) -> Fred (friends w/ Nancy) -> Max (main character who we've known since s2)

More thorough explanation here

Twelvegate: This one is not really Byler related but i wanted to include it anyway

Theory claims Will was one of the lab kids (specifically 012) and him and El are actual twins. There are mentions of Will and El looking similar since s1, and a lot of twin imagery.

This theory obviously ties in with the Will having powers one and some people believe he wasn't 012, but him and El have a deeper connection/may be actually related. It could theoretically explain Henry's connection to Will, as well as things like El seemingly recognizing him in s1.(Alternatively called rainbowshipgate, because of the rainbow ship drawing Joyce mentions in s2 and the rainbow room)

Eightfifteengate: Again, not explicitly Byler but it's quite crazy.

TL;DR: The time 8:15 seems to have great significance in the show and it's mentioned all the time, if not by the characters themselves, (Eg. "It's 8:15, you're late"- El s2) then by small details in the background. There's even a whole track named after it.

Will left the Wheelers' house at 8:15 and it's the EXACT timestamp of his disappearance in 1x01. It's also the time in which most of the UD related weirdness happens and so it's very likely the UD is stuck on 8:15. (Also you know, 15-8=7)

Radiationgate: Related to the previous one! Clocks in Chernobyl are stuck on 8:15 and Hiroshima has been described figuratively as being frozen in time. Henry has burns identical to Chernobyl victims and almost all of his + his victims' symptoms can be explained through radiation exposure. As this post explains, for radiation levels between 8.3-11 Gy (SI unit for absorbed radiation), symptoms start with headaches and disorientation, move on to unconsciousness and bleeding (the exact symptoms of his victims) and finally, death happens at around 7 days (which is about how long Vecna's curse lasts AND how long Will was in the UD for)

Whiterabbitgate: The song "White Rabbit" is the first song in the show and it plays when we first get a sense of El's powers. Theory suggests it will also be the last song in the show (coming full circle) with either Will using his powers, or Willel using their powers together.

In general though, ST has a lot of similarities/parallels to Alice in Wonderland. The white rabbit constantly being late (Mike is late to something at the start of every season), great significance to clocks/ticking/time, a lot of hallucinations/visions, the overall similarities between the Upside Down and Wonderland. Henry's sister was literally named Alice Creel and there is SO much rabbit imagery throughout the show. There are also direct references to AIW with set pieces and paintings.

Soundtrackgate: This one has to do with the Stranger Things OST and the overall insane musical symbolism throughout the show. A lot of different theories talk about the show's soundtrack, but this one talks about 3 tracks in particular: Being Different, The First Lie, The First I love You

To put it briefly: "The First I love You" plays in both Robin's coming out scene and El's kiss with Mike at the end of s3 (Already a weird parallel). The three tracks not only share the same melody, but they also sync up perfectly. "Being Different" (s4 van scene) and "The First Lie" (Nancy and Jonathan's kiss in s2) especially, match up together to create an entirely new track, completing eachother. The scenes featuring those three tracks also share very similar themes at their core. (This post goes into a lot of detail!)

Playlistgate: Character playlists! At a certain point, every character's official playlist on Spotify was deleted, except for three: Mike's, Will's and Billy's. Songs were seemingly being added/deleted for no reason to the Mike and Will ones and people were struggling to make sense of it all.

Also, Mike's character playlist in particular is VERY interesting (so many byler coded songs, as well as "Smalltown Boy" a gay anthem, about a young gay boy forced to leave his home town to escape from their disapproval and homophobia.) There are three playlists on Finn's spotify that are very incriminating. "Love songs" (That has "BOYS DON'T CRY" on it, a song that Will literally has a poster of in his room), "drive" and the most recent one "STurn". These playlists feature songs like "Let her go", "Angst in my pants", "Me and Michael", "Gay thoughts" just to name a few. Basically a lot of the songs on all four playlists seem very relevant to some complicated feelings about Mike's relationship with El/Will but also with himself and his sexuality.

Scriptgate: Oh boy. Here we go.

On August 5th 2022, the byler fandom got #bylerscript trending worldwide on Twitter while waiting for the 8flix account (run by Nick Runyeard) to release some supposed s4 scripts (that people PAID for, mind you). These scripts dropped on August 8th, featuring lines like: "I hate who I am" from Will in the van scene, "His mouth dry, like a California summer" from the bedroom apology scene and also, Will seemingly recognizing Brenner at NINA, despite never meeting him in canon.

These turned out to be fake and the community was in shambles. Nick started calling people psychos, the Stranger Writers tweeted that everyone got scammed, Nick privated his account and the authenticity of some released s2-s3 scripts was questioned. This post explains the entire situation in detail.

Breathgate: This one is also script related and specifically about a Mike/Max parallel.

In the official van scene script, when Mike sees Will's painting "his breath catches." Then, when Lucas asks Max to the Friday movie date, "(her) breath catches" as well. People caught on that parallel very fast and since the latter is obviously a romantic moment, it boosted their confidence for both Byler and Lumax endgame.

Piggybackgate: This one refers to two different situations/theories.

One, the seemingly deliberate framing of Mike and Will inside the little bubble in El's piggyback drawing (and it referening to Byler). The framing is especially suspicious, because the bubble drawing was drawn two separate times (it's different from one shot to the other). In the second shot, they're framed directly inside of it.

Two, Mike in his monologue essentially piggybacking off of Will's van confession. His monologue was going off of El's feelings, but since they weren't actually El's, the speech was based on Will's feelings. It also ties in with the parallel/foreshadowing between the monologue and Suzie's house, with Will being paralleled to the "director" kid, directing a "choking" Tabitha and their dad (more thorough explanation here).

THE SILLIES

(aka the joke-theories/memes)

Miniongate: Mike and Will are secretly minions. (Because you know, minions are primarily blue and yellow)

This information will be revealed to us in s5 and they will have a magical girl-esque transformation where we see their true minion form. (Original post here)

Localvillagegate: Related to the leaked Mike and El rooftop scene.

Basically, a mlvn used AI to lip read the scene and try to figure out what Mike is saying (and then posted the video on Twitter).

According to them, Mike was telling El they were going to leave the local village (AKA Hawkins) together and travel to a beautiful faraway land with "like, three waterfalls or something" (and also that she has to "improve her motivation", whatever that means).

People thought it was hilarious and started making a ton of memes based on it.

Parrotgate: This is directly connected to localvillagegate™️ and it was created by @cloudycleric in one of his streams.

Basically, the parrots are gay and represent Will and Mike, who in s5 will kiss under the three waterfalls depicted on the image.

Backgroundguygate: People making headcanons and creating backstories for random extras. The star of this gate is Barrett, an extra from the Lenora high school, who wears a barrette, bright red pants and a shirt that says "Hell".

According to this gate, he's actually gay and in love with Will. He has a goth best friend named Claire who is a lesbian and in love with El.

Chancegate: The theme of shipping Will with random extras continues on strong

Chance is one of Jason's friends and part of the basketball team. People thought he was attractive and somewhere along the line started making headcanons for him and shipping him with Will (Bychance). Basically, they're gonna date and Mike will be jealous.

Mikhailgate: More shipping Will with randoms! (I'm beginning to see a pattern here)

Originally created by @paladin-n-cleric

Enzo in S4 mentions his son, Mikhail Antonov. Mikhail is the Russian name for Micheal.

People started making jokes that Mikhail would arrive to Hawkins from Russia in s5 and shipped him with Will (Willhail), since he's like Mike but Russian and cooler. They made fanart, edits and posted pictures of Finn as Boris in "The Goldfinch" claiming it's Mikhail.

@will80sbyers then begun to ship Mikhail with El and thus the ship "Jail" was born.

Baldmikegate: Did you know Mike is actually bald and is bullied for it? Well, now you do.

In 2022, a cult was born and the byler tag was filled with edited pictures of Bald!Mike. Terrifying honestly.

Some people made posts about how the rest of the party feels about Mike's secret baldness and some even wrote FANFICS.

Gridgate/whiteboardgate/pixelgate: The Stranger Writers posted a picture of a pixelated/blurred whiteboard that had the entirety of s5 mapped out. People were desperately trying to decode it and figure out what was written on it.

On the space for episode 7, there was a "big black hole" that people went crazy trying to make sense of, only for it to be revealed as a pen holder.

Babygirlgate: The babygirlification of Mike Wheeler. That's it. That's the gate.

I think pretty much every line Will has ever said to Mike has been posted with the word "babygirl" replacing his name (it's hilarious and I love it)

Some examples here and here

Mattduffersbasementgate: Finn and Joe made up a third Duffer brother named Pete, who has no hair for some reason and is the actual writer of Stranger Things, while Matt and Ross are just the faces of it. Pete lives in a shed/Matt's basement and that's where he writes all of the scripts.

Finn and Noah are both also being held in Matt's basement however, and they're not allowed to leave so that they don't spoil byler endgame.

I definitely missed some gates, but omg this took SO LONG

(this post is for you @felix-fathoms @bibylers)

[kidovna]

new beginnings

[thai-09]

thanks @will80sbyers @miwiheroes and @sleeeeeping-all-day for the ideas!

[dungeon-master-mike]

mike making dustin feel better, saying he has superpowers,

mike defending el when they called her weird, praising her like a superhero

mike calling will a super spy and empowering him

all while he's only felt like a nobody that's not needed in anyone's life

that painting meant way more than will could ever imagine

[miwiluvv]

i need a will byers in my life

[bylerworld]

today is bi visibility day! can't believe all bisexuals were born today, wow, what a coincidence! happy birthday, bisexuals! y'all rock :D

[camrlart]

I missed them sm

[will80sbyers]

I wasn't explicit enough so