Salem

Probably going to post my art here!❤️

[salemkai-78]

Okay, to everyone who’s been posting Conformitygate theories and breaking down evidence: thank you. Genuinely. Thank you for giving me a way to keep engaging with a show I loved for so long. Thank you for bringing back that sense of joy and curiosity and letting me actually participate in fandom again. That’s what this space is supposed to be.

And to everyone being absolute fuckfaces about it: what is your problem? Seriously. You need to inject a little whimsy into your life. Conspiracy theories, wild speculation, and hoping for impossible outcomes are not new or “cringe” — they’ve always been part of fandom, especially when something people love is ending. This is normal behavior! You’re just being weird about it.

Also, to the people mad about Byler shipping: you need to acknowledge that we were actively queerbaited. Full stop. Between Will’s conversation with Robin and then the show directly mirroring those dynamics later on, that wasn’t accidental. That was a setup. Those character beats didn’t come out of nowhere.

And wanting those two characters together isn’t about “wanting them to kiss.” It’s about wanting to see queer joy and queer love in a massively popular show — at a time when that kind of representation would have actually mattered. A lot.

So yeah. Thank you to everyone who made this fun, creative, and communal. And fuck everyone who showed up just to be a hater.

[salemkai-78]

Conformitygate is really not that serious, actually.

And the way people are being weird about it is honestly irking me.

Because here’s the thing: conspiracy theories, wild speculation, reading too much into interviews, and hoping for the impossible have always been part of fandom. That’s not new. That’s not “crossing a line.” That’s literally how fandom works. If anything, the current reactions are just making it very obvious who hasn’t spent much time in other fandom spaces before.

This is extremely normal behavior when something people love is ending.

And for a lot of us, this isn’t “just a show.” It’s about closure. It’s about saying goodbye to something we grew up with. I was the same age as the younger actors when they started filming, and in a very real way it feels like saying goodbye to old friends. You don’t just switch that kind of attachment off the second the final episode airs.

Will it be upsetting that it ended?

Yes.

Will it hurt if it ends in a way that doesn’t feel right to us as fans?

Also yes.

But that’s kind of the point.

Fandom has always been about building community around theories, headcanons, alternate interpretations, and “what ifs.” It’s how people process disappointment. It’s how people process love. It’s how people process endings. None of this is harmful, none of this is new, and none of this means people are “taking it too far.”

This is just fandom doing what fandom has always done: grieving, theorizing, coping, and connecting.

And yeah — I’ll say it. I believe.

Not just because I want Byler to get together (though I do).

Not because I blindly trust the Duffer brothers.

But because believing has kept the fandom speculative and fun. Because I enjoy theorizing and making jokes with my best friend. Because engaging with the show like this is part of the joy.

That’s what people keep missing: this isn’t coming from delusion. It’s coming from enjoyment. From creativity. From community.

P.S. the interviews have been weird as hell, actually, and I do think there’s solid reason people are suspicious. Like… we still haven’t seen photos of the cast with the red finale script. Just saying.

Let people theorize. Let people hope. Let people cope.

That’s fandom.

[rl-isthere]

Conformitygate would be insane as a concept because right now it feels like the finale ponders only to the conservative audience of stranger things.

All that happened was more or less what they expected, with the "epic" monster battle, El dying, Mike being very straight very in love, everyone well... simply conforming

So for stranger things to come back saying "actually fuck that, all of that is wrong, and you are wrong for liking it, it's all a lie" would be so funny

Then we could actually accept this show as one who sides with the outcasts and the freaks for real

I'm not out there saying conformity gate is true, but I'm saying the idea, the concept slaps

And if the only place I'll ever get it is fanfictions, then so be it, they'll be good!

[salemkai-78]

Congrats @ao3org @staff!

[tumblr]

Well, folks, the numbers are in. We're in a committed relationShip with @ao3org, and it's called...drumroll...TagTeam! ao3blr was a VERY close second, so go ahead and use that tag too, ya crazy kids.