El was WAY HAPPIER in S 3 WITHOUT Mike. She was having fun with Max and Mike was being a shitty boyfriend tbh. El is better off without Mike, and Will simply doesn't deserve to be dumped. Mileven was quite sweet in seasons 1 and 2, but from season 3 onward, things just got increasingly annoying and toxic. El deserves someone who can tell her he loves her (monologue in S 4 doesn't count because Will made Mike say it, and that's how he looked btw).
This is what Mike looks like when El kissed him and said she loved him btw:
Look of Love? No.
Why isn't he coforting her btw? When El hit Angela, Mike said, "What's wrong with you?" (Parallel to Dr. Brenner) I wouldn't necessarily say that to someone I love. I would comfort the person.
Fact is: El deserves better, and Will neads Mike (and Mike needs Will).
Let’s address this “ship war” and how we talk to each other. I’ve never done a longer post before but I just had a very overwhelming interaction and wanted to share!
Had to run back to Byler tumblr guys help. I was commenting on a TikTok live discussing Byler vs Milven and it was… well. I would just say “I’d love to see El having an independence arc and receiving love she doesn’t need to constantly ask for” and I got flamed.
Apparently I need to “stop pretending to care about her”? I would also say absolutely anything about Byler, not even mentioning Milven, and the only thing they respond with is “delusional” or “Bylers just overanalyse and act like it’s canon”. It seems to me that some people are running out of arguments and don’t take time to hear what we have to say. They only immediately flag everything as “overreaching” without backing up their points.
Whatever becomes endgame, I’d just like to say… in fandoms there’s meant to be meaningful discussions but, at least from my perspective, there’s a consistently loud hate train on one side. I try my best to deliver my points respectfully and NOT ONCE have I ever called another shipper delusional in a discussion. In media and art there is and always will be room for analysis. Always a deeper meaning. To claim evidence and analysis as “overreaching” or “delusional” is to completely disregard the meaning of creating these stories. I’d also like to point out that whenever I fight for El/Jane, I’m always told that I apparently don’t care about her. It feels like words are being put in my mouth, and the words I DO say are being disregarded. It reminds me of political debates where the other participant just randomly quotes the Bible in response to an argument…
True Bylers love and care about El/Jane. I just happen to absolutely adore her character, especially when she’s independent of Mike. I know what it’s like to be dependent on a man and you think him loving you is what makes you valuable, or even what makes you love yourself. I can see it when I watch them argue. I can see how Mike parallels his dad when he gaslights her, and parallels Brenner when he scrutinises her. Mike has said “what’s wrong with you” more than “I love you.” He’s actually never said “I love you” to her face, even when she begs him to. The only thing he seems to be interested in about her is the fact that she’s a “superhero.” How about her gentleness, her selflessness, her love, her emotional strength, her empathy, her curiosity…? Anything besides her physical powers? No? Yeah, okay…
El/Jane deserves to be her own person, where she can focus on herself, friendship and family. I hate when she’s reduced to being a girlfriend. She’s so much more than that. It upsets me that she was made to feel this way when she had just escaped a lab and knew nothing of the world or real love.
If that makes me “not care about her”, I genuinely think some people are not okay, or just want to deflect.
This goes beyond a TV show, in my opinion! These characters and stories are meant to convey real experiences, human experiences. It’s how we can navigate reality and understand others through seeing it on our screen. To both sides of the “war,” please could we all have some more emotional understanding. And if you read my post and you think “it’s not that deep,” then why are you reading an analysis on tumblr, a platform where we can be free to be deep?
When analysing any literary work, for example, Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” multiple conclusions can be made when analysing any line or scene as to their interpretation, intention or meaning. Art is for human interpretation and understanding! It’s not delusional. It’s having the courage to look deeper. I find the writing of Mike and Will to be a careful, thoughtful and beautiful love story that is also incredibly emotional and has a sense of realism. I also believe that their story has the potential to make a change in our society.
Anyway! I love Byler tumblr because everyone I’ve interacted with has excellent points and a high level of empathy and respect for the characters, something many more people should aim for…
Whatever becomes endgame I still stand by everything I’ve said! This post is mainly speaking about my perspective on El’s experience and that side of why I think Byler should happen, as it’s been on my mind! Hopefully I’m making sense, I just wanted to get my point of view out there. ☺️
i made like four pieces of concept art for a stranger things/star wars AU so as promised here’s the actual notes behind them (+ like a small stoncy sketch at the end)
whats the plan?
Originally, it was gonna be a fanfic(might still be) but im considering a comic format? but moreso in the style of Homestuck/MSPA bc im shit at keeping up w a background
so if i did that itd probably be a side blog
but i have like
so many projects on backburners and idk enough abt star wars to even pull it off
i watched uhhhhhh 1,3,4,5,6,7, and 9, solo, and the mandalorian
so like what the hell is the plot anyway?
when it was going to be in a fanfiction format, i was going to make it revolve around Robin(naturally, she’s my favorite character) and Steve(who is my second favorite) so it revolves around them, but i might change that
anyway
Missions start flooding a local bounty hunter guild concerning reports of kids being taken from planets by a group of people nicknamed “Scoopers” to be pitted against one another in an underground fight club.
The mission to uncover the operation falls on the head of the guild, Hopper(who’s a washed-up Mandalorian bc i said so). Robin, a rookie bounty hunter, catches wind of the operation and persuades Hopper to take her with him on the mission.
Meanwhile, Steve(a spice runner) is on his way to his next client, who just so happen to be the “Scoopers”.
they all meet at the base and things happen. cant spoil jic this is something i end up pursuing
so what are the robin notes
ngl fam i got shit for robin haha shes just the everyman trope for the story
probably an orphan in this story? but def not a Mandalorian of any sort
her suit is a combo of Samus’ light suit and Valkyrie’s costume from Ragnarok. (and in a way, metal sonic and mega man bc im trash)
she really wants a T4-M33 navigator droid
you got any steve notes?
BOY DO I EVER!
you’re just in luck bc *slaps the roof of this post* this baby can fit so many steve notes in it
on his homeplanet(its probably named Hawkins), he underwent knight training along w Nancy and Jonathan.
(you might notice some similarities between his outfit and the ones Mike and the other kids wear in the previous post)
Steve and Nancy were very much together, and they were the top knights in the program. Both were up for the position of the prince’s personal knight. The identity of the prince, until coronation, was unknown to the public, and so when Jonathan selected Nancy for his personal knight, Steve skipped town, and eventually, skipped planet altogether.
but he didnt plan ahead, almost got his ass handed to him by some ex-hutts, and scrambled back to Hawkins. Joyce, who i think would be accurate to describe as the Queen Matron of Hawkins, gave him a chance to work at least as a top officer.
during his return to Hawkins, Nancy gave him a pretty cold shoulder, only adding to Steve’s sense of displacement.
he was given the task of hunting down some spice runners who’d stolen a bounty from one of their quarries, and fueled by resentment, he joined them instead.
on one of his spice runs, he came across a rather wealthy Wookie family. he noticed, however, their son was rather sheltered, and took a keen interest in the business Steve had come into
it took him exactly three weeks for him to realize the kid had snuck onto his ship. the disappearing rations didnt occur to him until the packs were near empty.
he decided to take him with him on his spice run when the kid expressed extreme turmoil at home with his magnate family. but Steve sees himself more as the babysitter friend than the mom friend, having made a silent vow to return the kid(which was promised to himself after one adventure, which turned into five, and now they’re up to fifty. It’s been a couple years.)
so now he just does spice runs w dustin bc every story needs a lone star and a barf— i mean a han solo and chewie
god will anyone ever think of the children
no bc the teens are more interesting in s2-3 imo
except eleven, she’s always great
but since u asked
Mike, Will, Lucas, and Max are all going through knight training on Hawkins. Lumax is a thing, and Byler is starting to be.
i dont get caught up in those ships too much and just try to go w whats canon since they’re kids for the most part
the whole plot kicks off w Mike and Will getting kidnapped(well, mostly Will and Mike just so happens to be there so he’s taken too)
and Lucas and Max go after them.
At the underground fight club they’re taken to, Mike befriends the top fighter who’s named Eleven because she’s the 11th force user they’ve managed to find. and eleven is,, dare i say,, unusually strong in the force
Nancy can use the force, Jonathan and Mike can’t. Will is force sensitive.
i guess i should mention if its not already obvious but Lucas is a Rodian and Max is a Twi-lek
ok yeah thats cool but what about billy
nothing about billy. or kali. for now
or barb
but they do exist in this au.
theyre also wips tho haha
so what now
nothing. for now
if u wanna know more drop me an ask and i’ll elaborate
until then i’ll probably do something for this once my robali fic on ao3 is finished.
anyway thanks for readin my nonsense heres a stoncy sketch for ur troubles
This is my random “Stranger Things’ head canon (that probably makes no sense, but whatever, my muse wanted it that way!) about 001 being the most ‘powerful’ of the gifted ‘experiments’ out there. Because, you know, if there’s an 11 and an 8, there’s got to be more floating around out there, right? Enjoy!
She was born with several nicknames -
The Ticking Time Bomb, The Living Disaster, She-Who-Should-Not-Have-Lived, An Experiment Gone Terribly Wrong (or Right depending on which circles you move in), and The Single Greatest Achievement Ever Known.
Yet she sleeps.
For eighteen years, she has bided her time in the depths of the earth; several thousand miles beneath the cacophony of restless human feet, which trample over the labyrinth of lies being constructed almost daily. Her home is a husk of NASA-inspired steel with a combination of alloys created – for her protection - they say. Her memory banks filter through the random names the men and women in white have tossed around; titanium, vibranium, adamantium. They laugh in jest at their cunning and wonder if those comic artists are onto them already.
Yet she sleeps.
Once in a while, she’s allowed to step out of her ‘bedroom’; a floor to ceiling tank made of those special alloys and glass so thick, they are sure she’ll never be able to shatter it this time (not unlike the others she’s destroyed over the years). The soluble, slimy, amniotic fluid is familiar to her skin now; having long stopped the use of ordinary water when her powers were capable of shattering said glass with a mere thought. She is allowed to breathe in this cocoon; though she floats in it like a doll dipped in gel. There is limited freedom, but she saves her energy by curling into a fetal position; her waist-length hair as white as snow, sprayed around her like tendrils desperately seeking sunlight. Yet she sleeps.
She imagines how the real sun would feel upon her skin; and not the artificial rays they shower upon her whenever they feel generous. She is suitably pale; a pallid complexion that reminds one of papier-mâché in its crudest form.
Yet she sleeps.
Her naked body is a living pin cushion; wires and tubes stuck to every bit of available flesh they can find. There are electrodes taped across her forehead, with said tubes – of all shapes and sizes – drifting like elongated snakes toward massive terrifying machines which light up with excitement at any possible ‘activity’ from her. Data flies across computer grid papers, screens beep with dots and lines that monitor her strengths and weaknesses, while squiggly lines go up and down and up and down with every breath she takes through a mask that covers her nose and mouth; for even when she breathes, it is an important event to record.
Yet she sleeps.
At a certain hour, a particular tube pokes its way through the fluid and finds a spot not punished in a while. The needle is barely felt, but the result is always the same. The quick flow of her blood seeps its way through the narrow cylinder into a collection of test tubes awaiting their new test subjects. It would be watered down and injected into her ‘clones’- more and more experiments needed to see how well they fare with a taste of her powers.
She weakens after each draw, and perhaps she ought to be grateful they at least give her a few days to recover before making another attempt.
She thinks she’s losing count of how many of ‘her’ are out there now, but she is still able to reach out to some of them when she dreams. She can see their faces – her ‘children’, you might say.
They are, at first, mere shadows floating in the periphery of her mind; as if she seeks to find their full form through a thick mist that attempts to prevent their meeting. The Dark Void is usually the best place to see them in full form, but she knows it’s dangerous making herself visible at this time. She’s content to watch them from afar, and to see how well they adjust to a life no longer theirs.
It’s almost always the same procedure; the young ones – some stolen from mothers at birth – and injected with her blood/serum in addition to their other putrid tests. Their goal is to make a stronger version of her; and even better and more obedient version of her. Several attempts end in disaster; many of the children never living past the age of one. However, there are the ‘lucky’ ones; those resilient infants who survive the harsh stages of ‘training’ and grow up to become emotionless robots designated to foreign nations willing to purchase them for a certain price.
The Cold War is upon us after all.
However, there are the rebels in the midst; those who fight back and seek their freedom no matter the cost. She is able to reach into their thoughts, and perhaps…just maybe she feeds them a little more of herself so they can go to places she’s only imagined.
On the wicked streets of Philadelphia, one stumbles into a gang she protects while seeking justice to those who have done her wrong. Her illusionary abilities are excellent, but crude compared to her ‘mother’s’ abilities. In the cold wasteland of Siberia, another is able to set things on fire with just a thought, and right now he runs in fear of his life for his creators are desperately after him. In the claustrophobic streets of Sao Paolo, another hides in the belly of an underground home with friends who are aware of her ability to levitate. She is sometimes worshipped as a goddess, but her tears of sorrow at night strike a chord in her ‘mother’s’ heart.
The tendrils of her memories stretch closer to home; to a place called Hawkins, Indiana, where one has made a home for herself. This one seems to be the strongest of them yet, and her escape has left many of her creators concerned. She is called ‘El’ by her friends, and oh, what wonderful friends they are. How lucky she is to have found a family to call her own. She has suffered greatly, yes, but she has proven to be a worthy and reliable offspring. She shows much promise, and one only wonders how far she’ll go with the positive influence of those who love and cherish her presence.
However, all is not as it seems in Hawkins, for the strange happenings in that little town have filtered into the ears of their colleagues.
The subtle panicked atmosphere is a reflection of the mess they have created; their silly prodding into the unknown awakening sleeping monsters beneath a world they thought they once knew.
On their chunky machinery, buttons and gizmos begin flickering with excitement as her breathing and pulse quickens; her dreams now diving into the place the Hawkins Team have nicknamed ‘The Upside Down’. She sees it again. That thing that takes up the fiery sky in a world decayed and rotting from its core. It roars in rage at being diverted once again from its quest to sink its teeth into the real world, and perhaps it’s aware that she is the one really responsible for giving that ‘El’ girl the extra strength needed to close the gate.
But there will be other gates, she thinks as her eyes dance feverishly behind closed lids. There will be other gates and it will find other ways to return. So I must remain strong for her…for all of them. My children who will all have to eventually find a way to defeat the Darkness coming.
She takes a deep breath and slows her heart rate; giving the illusion to the curious ones that she’s falling asleep again. Easily, so easily, she slips into the Void – that empty hole so pitch black that nothing else except her main focus can be seen.
In here, she can walk on legs that are strong and capable; her feet almost soundless on the puddles of water she steps on. She has no time to construct clothing for this ‘dream’, so she’s content in a simple shift dress reminiscent of a drab hospital gown.
Before her, El sleeps peacefully on her bed in the cabin. There is a small smile of content on her face as she clutches a teddy bear to her chest. She is happy because her best friend (her boyfriend?) named Mike took her to an ice cream parlor and they spent most of the day together…without the others. They are becoming closer and closer, for this relationship means the most to her. Though she cares just as much for her ‘father’ – Hopper – and her adopted friends; Lucas, Dustin, Will, and Max; nothing compares to her feelings for Mike. She loves him, and would do anything for him.
Protect him, she speaks without a sound. She makes the motion of caressing El’s hair, which is much longer now. Protect them for you will be needed more than ever quite soon, my dear.
She believes she can transfer more of her powers to El, but when her lashes suddenly fly open; and innocent wide brown eyes meet her startling blue ones, she panics at this unforeseen development.
She can see me!
El would only get a chance to whisper “You…” in awe, before she is yanked back to reality with a shriek of dismay.
The amniotic fluid bubbles around her in her frustration and she thrashes against the wires and tubes connected to her. The scientists fret as the temperature in the tank rises to above 1000 degrees in less than a minute yet her skin shows no sign of damage from the heat. Her lashes fly open, and she stretches out a hand toward the glass. There is a slight crack as the pressure mounts and her head feels like it’s being squeezed like a melon, for they have done their homework and they are aware of her limits. However, she presses on, or would have if it wasn’t for the sudden bark of a familiar voice to shatter through her moment of rage.
“Moon!”
Just like that, her fury dissipates and tears spring to her eyes.
Papa.
She lowers her hand in shame and the bubbles settle down until the temperature reaches its tolerable rate.
She hitches in a deep breath and stares at the man beyond the glass; he with the gray hair and the kind countenance that’s now laced with disappointment at her antics. She never wants him to feel that way about her, and it hurts worse than all the experiments they could ever do to her.
Papa. I’m so sorry.
He nods as if understanding her silent plea, and reaches out to touch the glass tenderly. She presses her hand against his; wishing the barrier was not between them, but it would have to do for now until she was released. Spending time with him – no matter how little – is almost always the highlight of her dreary days.
He motions toward someone on his right, and turning back to her - now with a warm smile on his face - she feels the first jolt of the serum being injected into the back of her neck again. Weariness, like a heavy cloak, envelopes her almost immediately, and she finds her body curling into its fetal position again as her lashes drift closed.
She will fall asleep and dream of her many children; praying that more of them will eventually follow the path of the one named ‘El’ in Hawkins, Indiana.
Perhaps one day I’ll see you all and hold you in my arms. I will tell you how brave you really are, and how proud I am of you. Never give up hope, my dear ones, for one day, we’ll truly be free.
La química que tienen Finn y Millie como actores es increíble, son muy lindos😍. Pero siempre están las personas que malinterpretan todo y están empeñados en que sea real su relación, más respeto hacia los dos no estaría mal.
