you got it!

i got tumblr just for byler

[you-got-it-8]

LOSING my mind because this is the rainbow puzzle we see when mike looks into the hospital room to find "a wrinkle in time" on the table - a RAINBOW SHIP that has SET SAIL ... like hello?? and it's upside-down? thank you duffer brothers this is so on the nose it's perfect and surely ample byler proof

edit: holy queerbait

[miwiheroes]

the one thing about both bylers is they have no idea what a rejection/breakup scene is supposed to look like

[narrativelogicofbyler]

i think about byler in a way that’s less “shipping discourse” and more the quiet grief of watching a genuinely groundbreaking narrative slip through the cracks. it’s that particular ache you only get when you understand the craft, when you can see the scaffolding, the emotional architecture, the cinematographic cues, all pointing toward a story that was ready to mean something. not just to fans, but to the medium.

finn and noah had the kind of chemistry you don’t teach. it’s the sort of on screen connection that directors build entire seasons around, the kind that lets you hold a shot a beat longer because the actors can carry the silence. their scenes already had that charged stillness, that soft, trembling intimacy that cinematographers dream of capturing. the camera loved them, not in a flashy way, but in that quiet, instinctive way where the frame leans in because it knows something is happening.

and maybe that’s why it hurts so much. because from a craft perspective, they were positioned to break boundaries in a genre that desperately needed it. they could have shifted the emotional centre of the story, not through shock value, but through honesty. through the kind of queer tenderness that rarely gets to exist in mainstream sci‑fi without being coded, sidelined, or softened into metaphor.

there was magic there, real, cinematic magic. the kind you recognise instantly when you’ve studied this stuff, when you’ve spent years analysing how performance, blocking, colour, and subtext braid together to create meaning. it was all right there, humming under the surface, waiting for someone in the writers’ room to trust what the camera was already telling us.

and the saddest part is knowing that potential doesn’t disappear just because it went unused. it lingers. it becomes a ghost of the story we could have had. a reminder of how rare it is to see chemistry like that, and how easily it can be left on the cutting room floor.

[fideesy]

he's been listening to "good luck, babe" for three hours now

REALLY proud of this animation, this idea has been stuck in my head since the vol 2

AND the point of this gif is that you can make him listen to any song you want (internalised homophobia playlist)

[0-summersun-0]

Me and the object im trying to pick up while my nail polish is still drying

[schnappsource]

finn is suuuch a cat dad I'm sobbing 😭🥺

[miwiheroes]

finn make a joke about mike being a repressed homosexual on snl and you will be reincarnated as a lotus flower

[rokusasuxiii]

byler is endgame because if the writers can choose to ignore plot points then so can I

[brookylnbabe05]

what i’m left with after the finale

a really good music taste (thanks WSQK)

a community of amazing bylers that can find hope in anything and are the real shit

a last scene that screams mike queerler and can be read as anything WE want (i hated the finale but thank u whoever said finn make that shit gay, bc what else was that)

the amount of fix it stories we will get props to all ao3 writers

THE byler fic (come on you guys know which one)

and last but not least conformity gate for helping me not completely crashing out

[theupsidedownsprincess]

something something the symbolism of karen using her issues (alcohol bottle) and her feminine stereotypes (doing laundry) that are so often viewed as weaknesses to be strong and fight and protect people

[fuusart]

👁️ I do not know why the hive chose me, but it did. And I think that it always has.

[0ceansoftime]

i need to know the scene behind this track now i can’t be normal about it.

It’s so tender and soft and yearning…just us and the crickets suggests seclusion, privacy, no judging eyes watching us. that ‘us’ is something as natural as the crickets chirping in the grass.

@lavraine pointed out that crickets appear in late summer in indiana in search of a mate! searching for a partner!! and will asked robin how to tell if someone wanted to “date” you. crickets chirp as a MATING SIGNAL. and something happened between mike and will during the 18 months to lead him to believe in a romantic future between them.

And Finn and Noah filmed in June! And Ross revealed that summer scenes were filmed!!! And this photo of Finn with him in a GREEN AND YELLOW summer set.

and will’s memories of his love for mike, among other things, have been altered!!! erased!!! and in eternal sunshine, clementine erased her memories of her love for joel, and he travels down his memories of falling in love with her.

i feel faint.

[mindflamer]

so max says holly isn't just like mike, she is mike. holly, the girl with rainbows all over her room, a rainbow love poster, a rainbow heart bracelet, a giant heart on her overalls, a yellow & teal outfit, flower wallpaper that looks the the flowers mike gave el that she later picked up rotting versions of. holly who is learning how to be brave. mmmhmmmm.... yeah

[mindflamer]

holly & her colors/symbolism... 💛

teal & yellow outfit

custom designed because the "colors were a little off" in the backup

heart design

custom fabric pattern with flowers

rainbow heart bracelet

rainbow necklace

rainbow hair clips

blue & yellow holly the heroic outfit

flower wallpaper & curtains, rainbow bag, rainbow love poster

rainbow lite brite

rainbow sheets & pillow (also there in the halloween scene)

blue & yellow merry-go-round

rainbow care bears & rainbow brite posters

rainbow binder

[mindflamer]

Mike will confess his love for Will the same day & time Will disappeared

Meta-theory: Will's Sacrifice, Catradora, Truthbombgate, & Eightfifteengate

This is pulling together multiple theories/analyses I have seen into one meta-theory. Please go interact with the original posts if you like them because these people did all the heavy lifting & I'm simply connecting everything into one coherent post! This is mostly pulling from @stranger-chichka @tumblriche @cucumberteapot @greenfiend & bylereras on twitter. Links: 1, 2, 3, 4

Will's Sacrifice

Will may be planning to sacrifice himself, similar to El. He is connected to the hive mind, to Vecna, and feels immense guilt as we see when he talks with Joyce. It would explain why he came out to everyone at once, because he plans to die shortly. We also haven't directly seen the vision Vecna showed him - it seems likely that it wasn't simply "your friends drift away." When has Vecna ever showed something not brutally violent? Whatever he showed scared the shit out of Will and caused him to completely reverse on Mike's feelings. Previously, he had hope when talking with Robin. Now suddenly he is calling Mike his "Tammy." Vecna may be manipulating him into believing that Mike doesn't love him, similar to how Henry was manipulated into believing Patty didn't love him.

Alternatively, it may not be a conscious sacrifice, but Will starts being overtaken by the Mind Flayer again during the battle. This would be similar to what happened to Henry in The First Shadow. Either way, their plan is not going to go smoothly, and Will will end up in danger of being overtaken/dying.

Catradora

The popular slowburn lesbian ship Catradora from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power have a powerful scene where they become canon in the finale of the show. Adora is planning to sacrifice herself but is saved by Catra's love confession. Giant rainbows shoot out from them, very reminiscent of the "Prismatic Spray" referenced in Stranger Things. The Stranger Things writers account on Twitter have tweeted about this ship before.

Truthbombgate

The team's plan discussed in episode 7 is to drop a bomb on the exotic matter holding the bridge together, and sever the connection between Hawkins, the Upside Down, and the Abyss.

There is a shot of Will in front of their drawing, perfectly centered on the exotic matter. There is also an X in the drawing, placed over his heart. X marks the spot -> Holly saying "M marks the spot" (Henry's map using the spyglass) -> M for Mike -> Mike is "the heart" -> Will's heart

As they prepare, Mike is making the bomb. It's remotely triggered by a record player. He chose a record by the Butthole Surfers, which is a queer band named after slang for gay men. One of their songs Human Cannonball plays over the above shot of Will. Jonathan refers to the ring he bought as a "cannonball" in his pocket, connecting this reference with romance.

So Will is the exotic matter, and Mike is dropping the bomb. The truth bomb: That he loves Will back.

Just like Catradora, Mike's love will save Will. This is in direct contrast to Henry and Patty in The First Shadow. Henry thought he lost Patty, and succumbed to the Mind Flayer. Mike's love will save Will from it.

Eightfifteengate

8:15 November 6 is the time that Will went missing. This time shows up repeatedly in show, I won't get into all of that here. But it's been enough to make a Byler gate!

It's even written in the damn Creel House window.

8:15 is the time the first atomic bomb was dropped, on Hiroshima. The bomb was called Little Boy, carried in a plane called Enola Gay. Enola Gay is also the name of an 80s song that was a gay anthem.

The detonation time was significant because the impact of the blast "froze" timepieces at that time. Similar to how the Upside Down is frozen in time at 8:15 on Nov 6, 1983.

In Season 5, we are now on November 6 with the party gearing up for the final battle on this day. Lucas says "The day this all started is the day it ends."

So Mike's truth bomb (love confession) will drop at 8:15 on November 6. The same day & time Will originally went missing.

[0ceansoftime]

I’VE SEEN THIS FILM BEFORE

Will’s memories of his love for Mike have been erased! Mike will get them back!!

[lit3rally-m1ke-whlr]

The Replacements - Androgynous

I think I just struck gold guys!

So when Mike and Robin are arguing about which track to play when they blow up the Upside Down, Mike asks Robin what song she would use, and she says The Replacements.

I scoured the internet for The Replacements' songs that would fit this series, and I discovered the song "Androgynous".

And um, hello? This song literally mentions the names Dick and Jane! Jane obviously is El, but we also know both Mike and Will are associated with Dick in volume 1 ( still can't believe they actually went there- wow.)

So now, I'm going to go over the lyrics to the song, and what this means for Mike.

This song is about defying gender roles and celebrating gender nonconformity, criticizing the arbitrary nature of what society deems acceptable or unacceptable.

In s1, El is often mistaken for a boy because of her buzzed hair - she's even directly paralleled to Will. Hopper says while he was looking for Will, he was actually chasing after some other kid. Troy says El doesn't even look like a girl. When shown a picture of Will, the witness that Hopper interviews says that, if Will's hair was shaved, he could potentially be the strange kid he saw at the diner the night of Benny's murder, when in reality that kid was El.

Also, Will is described as sensitive, shy, artistic, and said to like colorful clothing, traits commonly associated with femininity. These traits made him a target for homophobic bullying and abuse from his father.

Basically, Will and El mirror each other, in the way they both feel different from other people, in the way they both suffered abuse at the hands of people who were supposed to protect them, and even in the way they physically resemble each other.

Don't get him wrong and don't get him mad He might be a father, but he sure ain't a dad And she don't need advice that'll center her She's happy with the way she looks, she's happy with her gender

As I said, Papa was a father figure to El, but he was not a good one. He tortured her and used her as a lab rat for her entire childhood before she escaped. Lonnie was also a deadbeat dad to Will, calling him homophobic slurs and trying to force him to like "normal" things before he eventually abandoned his children. Both El and Will learn to love themselves for who they are, El learns not to let men control how she lives her life, and Will learns to be comfortable in his sexuality despite the oppression faced from society.

Here's another screenshot from the same article, because this is pretty interesting.

Now, something meets boy, and something meets girl They both look the same, they're overjoyed in this world Same hair revolution, unisex evolution Tomorrow, who's gonna fuss?

The use of the word 'something' leaves it open for interpretation - subverting the cliche of 'girl meets boy' or 'boy meets girl'. It shows the duality in the meaning of the word because homophobes use that word to other people, while queer people use that word to show openness to freedom of gender expression.

So why does this matter? Because it's saying, F*ck the haters, do what you want. Dress how you want. It's a celebration of queer culture, and a reminder that trying to fit into society's standards is futile.

Don't play by other people's rules. You make your own.

@magexniqc

[queerxqueen]

Thinking about how the Duffers have said they always considered season 5 as two volumes split into four episodes, and the finale wasn’t originally intended to be split off separately - that was Netflix’s idea. I assume they did it that way partially to accommodate for a theatrical release but also so Netflix could get an extra month of subscriptions from everyone.

But it makes sense to me that the writers didn’t originally intend the end of episode 7 to be a cliffhanger and didn’t intend for these three episodes to be watched on their own with a wait before the finale. I think it really bit them in the ass and they didn’t expect this level of backlash because this volume was never meant to be consumed in this way, with a week-long wait before things are resolved. Sigh.