I sincerely doubt anybody wanted me to elaborate on my anti-steddie take but. here we are, soooo...
I want to preface this with like- no hate against steddie shippers or fan content, there's great stuff and great people out there.
But genuinely- how the actual fuck is it more popular than stonathan. I am getting more steddie shit on my feed than stonathan and oh! when was the last time eddie ever showed up? three years ago? oh!
Steddie in general is just reheating stonathan's nachos soooo bad like.
Popular guy x freak? Stonathan.
"Cishet" normal guy x perceived queer? Stonathan
Standard x Counter culture? STONATHAN.
And, dare I say, that Jonathan is just as "punk" as Eddie? Like he's canonically anti-capitalist, takes pride in being a freak like.
Just because he's not jumping on tables and shit he's no longer anti-conformity? bullshit.
Stonathan is more realistic for a small town 80's queer relationship and I will die on this hill gladly.
(This is bleeding into my take on Eddie being a completely uneccessary character and a major sign of the actual writing of the show declining- dumbing down messages and values to aim towards a younger fanbase.)
But back to stonathan. Not only is steddie literally a watered down version of stonathan, but it lacks so much of what makes stonathan so GOOD.
Steve and Jonathan were set as narrative foils in season one. The popular guy and the freak. They can't stand each other and yet they keep crashing back into each others lives.
Hell, the reason Steve got involved with the upside down was literally to APOLOGIZE TO JONATHAN LIKE-
They have two solid seasons of interaction and then orbit around each other whenever they don't. After Eddie's death, how upset is Steve? Not signifigantly. How long have Steve and Jonathan known each other? YEARS. Steve and Eddie? oh like. a day. a few days.
Sure, steddie will still get my infinite thanks for dethroning harringrove. but. how how how is it more popular than stonathan.
