Here's The Thing. Will Took Himself Out Of The Running. It Was A Love Triangle By Simple "two Options

Mike and Will have emotional arcs in Season 5...

It isn't clear whether this is true (which I'm totally fine with! I don't want to ruin the suspense). But if this is true, El Mike and Will "leading the final season" is kind of huge for Byler Nation.

Because remember this quote from Shawn Levy:

Stranger Things isn't just about flashy action and monsters; it's about the emotional arcs its characters go through. They must battle their internal demons to "become heroes" to confront external ones.

Season 4x9 had possessions and snapping limbs, but at its core it was about:

Max confronting her guilt over Billy's death

El defying Brenner

Lucas rejecting "the cool crowd"

And yes, Mike "confessing his love"

Mike, El, and Will being the leads in s5 means THEIR EMOTIONAL ARCS come to the fore this season as well...

It's already confirmed Will's emotional arc "will tie the series together."

So what on earth could Mike's emotional arc be this season? Hmmm?

And what do Mike, El, and Will have to resolve, in order to band together?

And how on earth do Will and Mike manage to band together, when Will's canonical love for Mike, the Painting Lie, and not coming out to him are huge dangling plot threads? When David Bowie's "Heroes" is canonically associated with these two?

I'll wait!

-teambyler

no bc if in season 5 we get flashbacks to Mike constantly reassuring and comforting will throughout the show I'll actually cry

Of course Milevens, this was but a friendly hand hold

Frogs are known as symbols for emotional healing and cleansing in some cultures.

How appropriate is that?

PLEASE PLEASE LET THERE BE A ST TEASER PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

screaming crying throwing up

Stranger Things VR and How it Portrays Byler/Elmax VS Milven

I wanted to make this post bc I haven't seen the ST VR game discussed on here much at all, especially in terms of it's Byler/Elmax content, and I think some people weren't even aware of it's existence!

In short, the game consists of nine chapters which switch through different time periods from 1979 to 1986, and contain the perspectives of multiple characters, including Henry/001/Vecna (mainly), Will, Billy, and El. The chapters all focus on how Vecna is influencing the characters or vice versa.

Although all of the chapters have very interesting lore woven into them, in this post im going to focus in on chapters 3 and 4 (which are more Will centric) and chapter 9 (which is El centric).

Chapter 3: The Possession of Will Byers

Chapter three opens with us as Will in November of 1984 while he slowly becomes possessed by Vecna. Vecna begins tormenting him in his mind, which prompts Will to attempt to focus on a good memory. He ends up at Castle Byers with Mike.

Mike talks to Will for a couple moments, but soon, Will's mind goes back into Upside Down hallucinations.

The player cycles through multiple hallucinations in which Vecna taunts Will and tells him his friends see him as a freak, while also tormenting him with visions of the demogorgon. This continues until Vecna tells him that he'll show Will "how miserable he really is"

We then cut to another memory/hallucination (it's slightly unclear, and i believe that's the point) where Mike tells Will that El is "different from anyone" Mike's ever met, and tells Will he wouldn't get it because he's never liked anyone. Then, we get this heartbreaking dialogue that lowkey makes me want to cry (all lines are Vecna speaking to Will):

Obviously, Will's feelings towards Mike are already canonical, but this gives us even more confirmation that these feelings root back all the way to at least mid-season 2. Also, we do get more of a look into Will's POV on El before he met her, which is a little bit upsetting :(

Then, Vecna taunts Will more by telling him that he understands him the most out of everyone, and we cut to Ch4.

Chapter 4: The Spy

Chapter 4 also takes place in November of 1984, but it's main premise is Vecna attempting to take hold of each of the party members' minds by taunting them with their fears.

He fails in taking hold of Dustin, Lucas, and Mike's minds, as they have been made too strong by the events of season one, but manages to weaken Will's mind enough to be let in.

I'd like to point out, though, that the main fear Mike is taunted with is losing El, and never knowing what "could've been" between them-

But when Vecna breaks into Will's mind, he specifically asks him what Mike is afraid of. It's as if he doesn't know because taunting him about his relationship with El couldn't reach him. Keep in mind that he also failed to break into Lucas and Dustin's minds, but it was only Mike's fears that he asks Will about.

Shortly after, Will's nose starts bleeding and Mike immediately notices and uses Nancy's shirt (lmao) to go up to him and stop the bleeding.

At this point, we reenter Will's mind, where Vecna is throwing all sorts of taunts at him, and telling him that his friends have outgrown him, and that "he'll finally matter to someone" (i assume this is referring to him potentially joining Vecna, but it's an interesting detail). However, Will is able to break free of Vecna's control by paying attention to Mike, who is tending to his bloody nose and taking care of him.

I do believe that it means something that a lot of post s4 content focuses in on Will's relationship with Mike, and, knowing that Will could experience possession in season 5, it sets up an interesting dynamic by giving us even more examples of Mike being the only one able to get through to Will.

Now, you might be asking, "well, Will's chapters are very focused on his relationship with Mike in particular, so El's probably is as well, right?"

Well, you'd be wrong!

Chapter 9: The Resurrection of Mad Max

Firstly, i want to start of by saying that while chapter 8 is also El POV, it only covers her origins with 001, and covers already mostly known info, so I decided to focus in more on chapter 9 instead.

Ch9 takes place in March of 1986, and we open immediately with the scene in which Max gets put into her coma. Vecna speaks to El and blames her for this, but El tells him that she won't let him take Max.

We then get an expansion of the S4 scene where El goes into Max's mind, cycling through different memories there while Vecna continues to taunt her.

In this sequence, one of the most interesting lines in my opinion is this one:

"You chose her"

Here, we get more evidence that Max is El's most important relationship. Max is El's person.

Throughout both El-centric chapters, Mike is mentioned only a couple times in passing.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, is an almost perfect parallel to Mike's speech to El, but this time it's from Max:

Max brings up the first time her and El met, just like Mike did in his speech. However, while Mike blatantly lies and tells El it was love at first sight, Max is honest. Even though their first meeting wasn't pleasant, she recalls it truthfully.

Then, we get this parallel, which I think is insane:

In Mike's speech, he tells El that she's his superhero, which is one of their main points of argument earlier in the season- El doesn't want to always be the superhero, she doesn't want to be placed on a pedestal, but Mike doesn't quite understand that. Max, however, tells El that she likes her just as herself - that she's human, and doesn't constantly have to fit that role that she's been put into.

Max knows exactly what El needs to hear, and their bond is more important to El than her bond with Mike, which is why Mike is not a key character in her story in this game (and wont be in s5). Will needs Mike, and it's Mike's care for him that pulls Will out of his visions and nightmares - which is why Mike is a part of Will's storyline in s5 (and will be in s5).

Max is El's person, and Mike is Will's person. Ty.

thanks for the tag!

no pressure tags! @evilbookworm @william-byers-1971 @will80sbyers @bylerpining

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make this picrew and put your name in the incorrect quote generator!

tags: @wintry-whimsy @renalyxx @renalyxx @rainandsugarcane2000 @devotedlyuniquewizard @cabbagewhites @eggedagain @fall1ngawayfromm3 @jasperr6969 @the-sonni-guy and open tags !

Reblog if you genuinely support asexuals

It terrifies me that there’s so much raging passion in the lgbt+ community that insist on marginalizing asexuals and implying that asexuals don’t deserve to have safe spaces. There’s still so much acephobia so I just wanna know which blogs are genuinely supportive and a safe space for asexuals

YESSS MARCH 22ND GATE ISTG

hoping for the teaser on wills birthday !!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Hi chat

once again i am asking you if you would like to a read a fic based on its concept:

basically mike has already confessed to will which saved him from vecna, but will was too unconscious/injured to even respond. will wakes up next to mike the morning after.

mike's super worried that will listened and doesn't feel the same (despite it literally saving him but he's a little hopeless)

reply or reblog if you want me to tag you when i post it! (might be a while bc im prioritising my university work but its a shorter fic than my usual ones)