[strangerdangerous]

the way the duffers dressed up misogyny as feminism and used queerness as a plot device is going to get lost in #them screaming about queerbaiting but i don't think they're ready for the nuance tbh

[strangerdangerous]

oh i thought bylers were just bad at media literacy for their ship, i didn’t know they were just bad at it altogether.

okay, alright. makes sense i guess

[strangerdangerous]

mike wheeler's screams of agony and heartbreak are haunting

[strangerdangerous]

i think you mean el being strengthened by her mother’s love to save herself and banish henry, then using mike’s love to strengthen herself, decidedly mess up vecna’s plans before steve, robin, and nancy set him on fire and pulled him out of the mindscape before el can kill him, and then she restarts max’s heart, saving her life instead of whatever nonsense this is:

maybe the reason y’all were so wrong about your ship is because your 4.0GPAs and scholarships and film schools and media literacy came from tiktok and not the show itself

[strangerdangerous]

how they didn’t catch on with this:

i’ll never know tbh. say what you want about this season but that man has been forming a plan to run away with his gf probably since they got back to hawkins and everyone was too busy telling themselves he lied about loving el and yapping about closets and paintings that they forgot to consider the fact that he actually might just love her that much

[strangerdangerous]

not y'all really trying to call mike racist now that your ship isn't happening 😭

so the stuff you're now calling him racist for was fine 2 days ago when you guys thought endgame secured but now he's a whole ass problem?

calling this kid homophobic, racist, and misogynistic for having the audacity to be straight is a wild take just because he's not kissing your fave.

[strangerdangerous]

for years people tried to tell them that not every little thing meant something, that the duffers were not that intricate or subtle. they called milevens and the GA stupid, homophobic, media illiterate, etc but in the end, everyone else was right.

you can't find easter eggs when the eggs don't exist. they made up scenarios the show was never going to pay off, the color theory? the set dec? the more nonsensical it was, the deeper they went and they ignored every single person who told them they were looking too hard into it.

they thought mike's obliviousness in the van meant something more than him not knowing. no, the failure of having will cry in the van when mike is just vibing is a directing failure, either will needed to just be sad as intended in the script or they needed to add mike reacting to his crying. they gave them too much credit at every step because their ideas were more interesting to them than what the show gave them.

they decided they were getting codes and signals from bts and interviews and dug their heels in every time they heard something they didn't like. they called people names and bullied half the milevens straight off most of the social media sites then cried victim at every turn.

we were supposed to stop and listen and agree with them because they said so but they talked over everyone else when they were talking. they have degraded and disrespected one of the most traumatized female characters in the series in their effort to center men into their made up romance then cried foul when her boyfriend has the audacity to still love her.

[darklinaforever]

Im so confused on why Mike saying "Friends don't lie" to El is an indicator that they aren't together anymore or that they are going to break up. Because he said 'friends'? That saying is literally their thing. They say it in every season. They need to stop reading so much into everything. Its only gonna hurt them in the end

Literally, it's something that dates back to season 1 and is repeated in every season. At this point, the Bylers are just stupid.

[strangerdangerous]

bylers watch more than scenepacks challenge to understand how mike and el interact since the beginning

[darklinaforever]

No? Mileven didn't lose? The ship is canon? The characters are still together? Is it just that the plot isn't focused on them because the writers preferred to concentrate on something else for the final season? Besides, they said there wouldn't really be time for romance at the end, and it seemed obvious that the only relationships left to explore were this love triangle with Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve, which didn't get much attention either. Mileven is a couple who resolved their issues at the end of season 4. What kind of redemption are these people talking about?! It's mind-bogglingly stupid and full of denial.

[feterradi]

It's fascinating how the byler craze reflects the return to conservatism among young people. Your worth is defined by reciprocation, your sexuality only matters in the context of having a "forever" relationship. Your teenage years are for dreaming about a big house with a white fence and a spouse and if you didn't bag a sweetheart in school to make that dream a reality? You're done. You will never recover from the colossal damage of being rejected by your crush. Your value has now plummeted and your happiness is unattainable.

It's not shipping for fun, it's not a way to explore the characters and their dynamic. It's dogmatic and cultish and of course it's always steeped in misogyny.

[strangerdangerous]

there's some very thoughtful nuance in will's story arc for s5 but they're missing it because they're centering a romance trope that isn't appropriate for the genre over it.

i could make a long af post about will (and dustin tbh) being behind mike and lucas in their coming of age arcs to explain their story trajectories this season that no one will read before getting mad but i think it's more important to remember some things:

this show is a horror/supernatural show with the love stories and coming of age plots as a background set to 1980s nostalgia

unrequited love is and remains a large part of that coming of age storytelling device

it's almost always about personal growth and maturity under the umbrellas of jealousy, idealization, realization, and yes, getting your heart broken

a key component is taking the person put on a pedestal (mike, clearly) off of it

mike being unavailable/uninterested is also important to the story, this is what moves will along to grow and mature

he will become a stronger, more independent person for it, a story that they're very obviously telling

wallpapering romantic tropes over will's arc is such a disservice to him and his character growth. just like being irritated with dustin's character because he's not the carefree, happy kid he was is missing the point. dustin is being reckless, angry, and straining his relationships because that's what grief looks like in a coming of age story. it's a learning curve that leads to maturity and a renewed sense of hope. and they'll both come through this just fine and all the better for having experienced it.

[strangerdangerous]

saw this in the comments of a post and it's wild how they know how tags work when it benefits them. i took 30 seconds to look in the mileven tag under latest and there are NO mileven posts, just bylers posting in the tag

y'all really do deserve the reputation you have

[strangerdangerous]

it really do be your own people

[strangerdangerous]

4.0s and scholarships and they’re out there proving that they don’t know that outcast =/= oppressed

[strangerdangerous]

if they want us to believe they're all film students and script writers, pretending that the scripts (that have been sold to people with the expectation of accuracy) are holding out on "povs" and/or not being truthful is crazy work

wouldn't it be easier to just...you know, release them after the show ended if they were hiding byler easter eggs in the script?

[strangerdangerous]

the duffers could hold our hands and tell us it's not happening quite frankly they have had ample opportunity to do so like they have with plenty of other fan theories over the years but they haven't so we will all see why on new years

okay but if you're wrong, and i mean this sincerely, please ask yourself why you were so willing to go with whatever theory was next when the trail behind you guys was things proven wrong. consistently.

if the script proves you wrong, you say it's a secret or it was changed or that's not the intention.

mike is lying about loving eleven and only loves her for her powers even though he literally says differently but mike's having his "realization" for will seeing him have powers.

mike being gay is a plot twist when they spent years on will's arc. bylers think this will be good writing. for some reason.

every scene is or was a breakup scene except now they're already broken up but the audience doesn't need to know yet. they talk about their future but super platonically. and they kept it from their friends for some reason.

if the actors say something you don't like, they're lying.

if they say something you do like, they're telling the truth.

a thinkpiece article saying mileven sucks? bang on, spot on.

an article saying finn thinks byler would be unearned? lies, fake, ai, doxx the journalist.

byler will have no doubts by the end of ep1, then vol 1, a kiss by the end of vol 1, now it's ep 7 or 8.

the show being extremely clear with what robin is saying? no no, robin doesn't know mike (after how long now?) and she means that el is mike's tammy. you really don't think robin has observed mike and eleven over the last 18+ months?

if will tried to flirt, it's because he knows mileven is broken up but if they're not then that's alright and cheating is totally fine, actually.

but also mike was flirting back and into it. only now. uh duh, he was oblivious.

i think you should also ask yourself why you were so willing to throw eleven away but i fear i already know.

mike is not a prize, he's not an npc. eleven is far more independent than will has ever been and yet the idea of these things persist in service to your ship.

the point is, they don't have to hold your hand and tell you. y'all decided you knew what they were doing and discarded the parts you didn't like every time.

you guys have created an environment where people can't even enjoy the canon flagship couple of the series and then cry victim when people don't agree with you.

there's what? 2-3 days in canon left before the epilogue and you think mike is going to break up with eleven, come to terms with his feelings for will, and then date him? or eleven breaks up with him and he's super awesome and cool with it and still...moves on immediately?

oh, and all of this happens during a final battle to stop the world from ending.

your best chance now is that eleven dies and mike gets a shoved in, badly done and handled queer awakening arc in the epilogue and then will is what? second choice for always? what a satisfying ending that would be.

[naomi-loves-raspberries]

You ate and left no crumbs 💜💛

[strangerdangerous]

💜💛 and that’s not even getting into how a lot of their proof is mike flirting with will over the years but if he’s been oblivious this whole time and didn’t notice in the van or reciprocate in the field before robin’s speech that invalidates a ton of their theories 💀

[strangerdangerous]

the duffers could hold our hands and tell us it's not happening quite frankly they have had ample opportunity to do so like they have with plenty of other fan theories over the years but they haven't so we will all see why on new years

okay but if you're wrong, and i mean this sincerely, please ask yourself why you were so willing to go with whatever theory was next when the trail behind you guys was things proven wrong. consistently.

if the script proves you wrong, you say it's a secret or it was changed or that's not the intention.

mike is lying about loving eleven and only loves her for her powers even though he literally says differently, but mike's having his "realization" for will seeing him have powers. and that’s framed as a good thing now.

mike being gay is a plot twist when they spent years on will's arc. bylers think this will be good writing. for some reason.

every scene is or was a breakup scene except now they're already broken up but the audience doesn't need to know yet. they talk about their future but super platonically. and they kept it from their friends for some reason.

if the actors say something you don't like, they're lying.

if they say something you do like, they're telling the truth.

a thinkpiece article saying mileven sucks? bang on, spot on.

an article saying finn thinks byler would be unearned? lies, fake, ai, doxx the journalist.

byler will have no doubts by the end of ep1, then vol 1, a kiss by the end of vol 1, now it's ep 7 or 8.

the show being extremely clear with what robin is saying? no no, robin doesn't know mike (after how long now?) and she means that el is mike's tammy. you really don't think robin has observed mike and eleven over the last 18+ months?

if will tried to flirt, it's because he knows mileven is broken up but if they're not then that's alright and cheating is totally fine, actually.

but also mike was flirting back and into it. only now. uh duh, he was oblivious.

i think you should also ask yourself why you were so willing to throw eleven away but i fear i already know.

mike is not a prize, he's not an npc. eleven is far more independent than will has ever been and yet the idea of these things persist in service to your ship.

the point is, they don't have to hold your hand and tell you. y'all decided you knew what they were doing and discarded the parts you didn't like every time.

you guys have created an environment where people can't even enjoy the canon flagship couple of the series and then cry victim when people don't agree with you.

there's what? 2-3 days in canon left before the epilogue and you think mike is going to break up with eleven, come to terms with his feelings for will, and then date him? or eleven breaks up with him and he's super awesome and cool with it and still...moves on immediately?

oh, and all of this happens during a final battle to stop the world from ending.

your best chance now is that eleven dies and mike gets a shoved in, badly done and handled queer awakening arc in the epilogue and then will is what? second choice for always? what a satisfying ending that would be.