Also??

Not to be a downer on the byler tag but I feel conflicted now that I'm back on st twitter

FIRST I don't want this whole post to be a rehash of the Noah controversy it's always a rinse and repeat of the same points. Yes, Zionism is bad (DUH) but I feel like we can seperate silly little gay characters from the actors, it's commonplace.

BUT I will say that death threats, threats of physical harm, or insults don't help. Those behaviors only cause defensiveness and if you want to change someone's opinion you have to be understanding. Everyone is shaped by their environment and if I was exposed to different influences growing up I'd be a totally different person today, not to say that people can't control their own decisions, but social pressure and ingrained prejudice is very real. Not everyone has the courage to become a social pariah, PLUS everyone believes they are a good person. That they are the one that is morally righteous, in any situation. It can make them blind to the truth, but you can't change that in one day.

EVERYONE WANTS TO BE A GOOD PERSON.

SECOND and the point I actually wanted to make is that I'm sorry but people will always be consumers, and you can't decide how they will spend their money, but do you think going to a con bc you like a tv show and ALL the amazing people in it is the same as openly supporting a genocide?!?? Like why direct all your (valid) frustration with the state of how people view palestinians onto 2 girls who are just there bc they like a ship in fandom??

Also I'll never understand the need to be mean to people online can't we all just be normal 😭

Like even if I know someone has opinions I am vehemently against I'm still cordial with them unless they bring it up, like I don't try to insult anyone but CEO's, billionaires, and those who sustain global war campaigns. Not anybody online who has an incorrect or even sometimes so disgustingly uninformed opinion. OR ARE JUST THERE TO DO SOMETHING THEY ENJOY LIKE????

Idk this was a ramble but I hate this, I understand that more people need to be aware of the horrible inhumane things continuing to occur in gaza, but this almost feels counterproductive, why use it as a reason to call people (who didn't even bring it into the conversation) ugly? The movement is all about SUPPORT and BRINGING AWARENESS is this the kind of awareness we need? where we call anyone ignoring or uncaring towards this massacre ugly when instead we could educate? Not to say we shouldn't call people out but be constructive! Help them understand instead of telling them to kill themselves, this feels like it isn't helping.

Thank you for listening to my tedTALK byler nation

I'm so fed up w these people on Twitter like bffr

I FOUND THE VIDEO THAT GOT ME OBSESSED WITH BYLER!!

watch it omg it's some of the best editing I've seen 💛💙

The Strange Postponement of Mike and Will's relationship

If Mike and Will had remained as close as they were in Season 2 in the subsequent seasons, the "are they gay?" rumors absolutely would have spread among the General Audience, as they entered their official teen/dating/sexual awakening years.

There have been peculiar writing choices that seem to have no other explanation but to postpone romantic rumors about these two.

The show does it's damnedest to keep these best friends apart. The only interactions hinting at romance we get in Season 3 are their virtual double date with Lumax, and Mike being concerned for Will's well-being one time. These were necessary to reestablish their "good friendness" at the start of the season to set-up their breakup during the Rain Fight.

Then, of course, the Rain Fight happens. Mike says "It's not my fault you don't like girls." These two effectively break up.

But then there is the strange, interesting choice that there is no resolution ever about the Rain Fight. The apology for not liking Will's D&D game comes from Lucas instead of Mike:

Will had his blow-up with MIKE, not Lucas! And we know that Mike absolutely was DRIVEN to apologize to Will. Maybe he actually did, but it was offscreen. But why not have it ON screen? Why not clear the air on whether Mike thought Will was gay and was being homophobic to Will?

The writers were exceedingly careful to keep attention away from Mike and Will: they have NO conversations during nearly all the rest of the season. They made sure Mike was focused on trying to repair things with El and blurting out "I love her." These two things together kept the Gay Rumors(TM) in check.

Season 4 then dramatizes how they'd grown apart -- specifically, how they don't seem to have stayed in contact and Mike seems to ignore Will.

What a strange thing for the writers to do! Mike and Will had been on good terms.

They soon repair things, but for what?

The Will Counseling Hour:

They literally have no conversations with each other where Will isn't comforting Mike and/or talking about El. To the extent that the GA was annoyed that the California plotline was a "waste of time" and Mike seemed "useless."

The show was putting Byler in a holding pattern. The show established that Mike and Will were friends again, but with a "beard" on Mike: his relationship with El. Will's attempt to talk about a future playing Nintendo and D&D was ignored as Mike worried about El.

The Will Counseling Hour ends only with their very LAST conversation of season 4, when Will shares that he can still feel Vecna and Mike resolves that they will overcome him. The danger of Season 5 bringing them together, along with signs that Mike and El are drifting apart, lay the trajectory for Season 5.

Season 5 will be the first season with Unfiltered Byler(TM) since Season 2.

EVERYTHING that kept the GA from thinking about the possibility of Byler, (1) how young they were in Season 2, (2) their being kept artificially apart and (3) Mike's focus on his relationship with El, will have fallen away.

For the first time since Season 2, the A plot and Mike and Will being close and "a team" will mesh.

During all of this, we will get Season 2 Mike because Will will also be the center of the story and be IN DANGER. It's impossible to imagine Mike being his aloof start-of-Season-4 self. Add to all of this Season 4 hormones: we're likely to see the heart-eyes romantic, Will-Voice-speaking boy in love we Bylers see in the 2nd half of Season 4.

And there's the Painting Lie, which the Duffers have told Finn Wolfhard will "pay off in the end." Mike WILL KNOW Will loves him, and loved him so much as to sacrifice himself for him.

Even if one doesn't accept Byler, one can't deny that there has to be a DIRECT RECKONING over whether Mike returns Will's feelings.

The entire structure of how the show has presented their relationship is building up toward this. The Strange Postponement of Byler had a purpose.

-teambyler

St as out of context Danny Gonzalez clips

(this is so unbelievably niche lmao)

YESSS MARCH 22ND GATE ISTG

hoping for the teaser on wills birthday !!

The fact that I just installed tumblr just because of this video because there are alot of byler thing in this app, and just to share how right is the lawyer, and how crazy is to have a LAWYER on our side😭😭🤞🏻

Nooo because sometimes 😭😭😭

There should be an ao3 tag which says "this is messed up, yes, but it is no more messed up than canon and if you can't handle that, what are you doing in the first place?"

Here's the thing. Will took himself out of the running. It was a love triangle by simple "two options to the audience" standards and he took himself out of the running for Mike. So either it was pointless for him to ever even be there OR Mike has to himself put him back in the running

Which do you think is more likely

Every non-Byler pitch for resolving Will's feelings in season 5 is highly dependent on him still having desire to pursue Mike in any way. There was a major scene about how he is definitely not going to do that. But we both know the plot still needs to be resolved. And we both know there's only one other person that can do that. And we both know there's only one reason for them to initiate that conversation.