#Yes i believe this with my whole heart

[teniwohasuperfan]

the phantomlyn theory cause i am. Insane.

As seen in the comic, it's made very apparent that the children are becoming increasingly connected to the phantoms. However Ashlyn's connection is. INSANELY DIFFERENT than the other kids. She's been able to hear the phantom dimension for YEARS. Ashlyn is quite literally a cursed child. However in recent chapters she seems to suddenly switch to a separate personality. One with a big grin and one that I suspect has BEEN there. 

Ashlyns phantom alter ego originally shows up way back when season two first started weekly uploads. While the phantom theory is pretty solid, I believe that this wasn't just something that the series started to hint at during the current season, but rather WAY back during the original canvas uploads of the series. While it's hard enough to find any canvas content due to it being practically wiped off the universe, There was a small bit of canvas art of Ashlyn looking oddly phantom-like. (Yes, I know using the canvas version as evidence isn't exactly a smoking gun, but they have the same premise. LET ME COOK.)

It's also worth noting that while each kid seems to be turning into a phantom, Ashlyn is the only one who seems to switch between the two at random notices. The other kids strange phantom versions only show up when they've died in the phantom world, which Ashlyn CLEARLY hasn't done. Ashlyn's phantom alter ego really only shows up as some sort of protective mechanism, which isn't the same with the others.

If I had to guess, her phantom version has been with her since the very beginning of the time loops in the phantom dimension, maybe even earlier. She seems to forget anything she thinks while her phantom side is out aswell, implying she's only semi-conscious during these strange switches. 

While none of these are true smoking guns, another piece of evidence I found was in the official SBG playlists made by red herself. While most songs are simply to fit the thriller theme of the comic, others seem to be hints to direct characters. Happy Face, for example, hinting at Aiden. However there's one song that stood out to me, that of which being Two Face by Jake Daniels. Any FNAF fan would recognize this song from that one sun and moon animation, however it being in the official SBG playlist... is a little strange. This could simply be implying any of the kids, but it doesn't really make sense. While the fight with Barron and his friends imply that the kids are slowly turning INTO phantoms, the times they actually switch into phantom-like personalities are by death. Ashlyn is currently the only one who experiences a complete personality switch without dying at all. 

This being said, Ashlyn's weird connection to the phantom dimension, and the fact that she was stated by Jasmine to have a huge connection with the rift. (Her connection also seemed to keep the group from becoming comatose when they were first dragged into the rift aswell.) leads me to believe that Ashlyn's weird alter ego has always been with her, however wasn't able to have a stable enough connection to take over Ashlyn until they became stuck in the phantom dimension.

In my opinion, Ashlyn's Phantom alter ego doesn't seem to be exactly evil. She literally saves Ashlyn's life and seems to cut out any negative thoughts Ashlyn may be having. (Reference to when Ashlyn lightly contemplates self-unaliving only for Phantomlyn to jump in like 3 panels later.)

Yes this was written bad it's currently 12am and i wrote this on my ipad. Take screenshots of evidence with my written commentary

[bookshelfdreams]

yk when you see someone share a finished handmade item that they clearly spent a lot of time and money on and it's just. The absolute tackiest thing you have seen in your life. And then you ask yourself why someone would waste all those resources on such an eyesore.

(no, of course you can't relate to that because you're a much nicer person than me)

In any case.

BEHOLD!

A wool coat!

The top fabric is handwoven and handspun, the whole thing is sewn by hand, too.

Leftovers. Barely anything, all things considered, which is very satisfying.

This thing took me well over 3 years to make, on and off. And now I'm done.

Thank you for your attention.

[cicerfics]

Hi! I just wanted to say thanks for all of your posts - especially right now - and the messages of hope you put with them. I'm having a hard time with accepting the election results and what it means, so it's nice to see the encouragement and the reminder that we will get through it all. 🙂

Big, big hugs to you. I don't want to seem like I'm being glib about any of this: it's a really hard and scary time and I understand the tendency to panic. My stomach was in knots all last night, to the point I felt like I was going to throw up! I literally emptied out a trash can to put by my bed, just in case my stomach couldn't cope with the stress!

It's A Lot to cope with. Especially after the insanity and stress we've all experienced since the start of the pandemic. We're all exhausted and sad and burned out. Believe me, I know.

But I do believe that we can and will get through this. Obviously, none of us wanted to be called upon to live through this type of Major Historical Event. But we will not be the first set of people (nor the last) to face this kind of thing in their lifetime.

Famines and natural disasters happen. Unpleasant and malicious political regimes rise and fall. Plagues sweep through the land. It's part of how the world works. Nothing is ever perfect. We have always inhabited a flawed world and a flawed society.

But humans are, broadly speaking, really good at surviving things and a sense of community is our superpower. We can (and will) take care of each other. Humans can be awful, but we can also be so very wonderful.

And when I manage to persuade myself to step outside my bubble of human-centric concerns, I'm blown away by the sheer beauty and wonder of the world we get to live in. Even though it's flawed and imperfect, it's so lovely. It's downright magical sometimes.

I was opening a pomegranate the other day and just marveling at the seeds. How beautiful it is! And how lucky I am to get to be here, eating these sweet juicy seeds! How lucky I am to toss a small handful of seeds to the birds in my backyard, and watch them gobble down their food before fluttering up into the trees!

How lucky I am to send a photo of my pomegranate seeds to friends, and receive in return a picture of their dog, or their garden, or their new throw pillows! How lucky I was last night, in the midst of all my anxiety, to get to go outside as see a really spectacular sunset and share it with my loved ones!

We have a beautiful world full of beautiful creatures. We have so many fellow humans who see this beauty and want to protect it and share it with one another. We must not lose sight of that. Things are still good, and we will continue to take care of each other in the days ahead. 💖

[perenians]

oh merrill...

[majiburger]

ngl i smiled a little

[a-shadowedvales]

so… in the additional media of stranger things (specifically the comics i’m mentioning), it was initially brenner’s idea/plan to kill off the other test subjects because they weren’t performing as well as eleven was. it was his best solution because that way, all the resources, time, and money could instead be placed only to her. and i just…. sure henry is a fine character and the massacre makes a lot of sense to me, but i think i am once again gonna change up my canon to actually fit this potential narrative instead.

i genuinely think the comic canon of the lab and brenner is far more intriguing than the show. everything with 9/9.5, ricky, and francine. eleven being the only one who grew up completely in the lab. those other kids were either volunteers, well into their teens, or had some semblance of a home life. eleven was the only one practically moulded from the womb. and they all had such a range of interesting powers. i firmly stand with the idea that jane is the only one who can contact the void.

brenner’s entire point of view on the lab subjects changed the second he found out terry was pregnant. he discovered he could steal this baby and make her his own. there would be no convincing the child because it’s all she would have ever known. because of this, i would not put it past a man like brenner to kill the other subjects for the sake of the “greater good” in this case, eleven.

eleven’s gifts just continue thriving beyond his wildest expectations. brenner would never dare assume that having moulded her from the womb, she would still be able to grow into her own person, her own mind, and one day be able to see him for exactly who he was.

back before season four aired, it was obvious there were other test subjects because jane was 011. so there were at least ten kids before her. but i always liked the idea/assumed that she was the last experiment because she was the most successful. that they didn’t need anyone after her because she was fulfilling everything they set out for her to do. with flying colours.

i just think the whole rainbow room idea, pitting the kids against each other thing… been there, done that. boring and predictable. i think at this point my portrayal of her time in hawkins lab really stems from the complete isolation she endured. where having the rainbow room, although eleven was obviously the most isolated out of the kids, brings that sense of community and sister/brotherhood. albeit extremely warped and toxic. knowing that she wasn’t alone in that experience just. doesn’t sit well with me. i think it’s important to note that she was alone, physically and mentally. which is why kali is also so important to her growth. i thought a lot of the flashbacks of her time in the lab during season four was really boring, repetitive, and just very predictable. although peter becoming vecna was a surprise to me, and was a nice little twist, the idea of her having an ally on the inside was really interesting.

maybe they did get as far as they do in canon, peter ballad was telling the truth about everything, about some of the workers there being prisoners like him, and he really wanted to get her out and to safety. but before they can escape through the pipes, they’re caught. peter is shot on the spot, and eleven is put into the isolation room for a few days as punishment. in this timeline, henry would be vecna, but henry would not be peter ballad.

when eleven turned seven, and was already showing extreme promise, where the other children were average at best, brenner had the eight children killed. kali had already escaped. this was the main cause for peter to gain eleven’s trust and try to get her out. because if brenner could murder his “children” in cold blood, there’s no way eleven was safe even in spite of her power.

when eleven is allowed out of the isolation room, her testing becomes more rigorous in attempt to distance and make her forget about what she attempted to do with peter. brenner begins gaslighting her, saying that there was never a peter, that she must have been dreaming. eleven does ask “papa” about “mama”, given peter told her of the day terry broke in the lab, but brenner is convincing enough to make eleven believe it was all in her head. say she is around eight years old, meaning the same timeline of season fours canon flashbacks.

i still do wanna keep the henry creel canon, and keep him as 001. brenner didn’t have him killed alongside the other test subjects, because who knows, one day he could become an even better asset than 011. brenner definitely wants to be able to control henry, but keeps the chip in him because, for the moment, doesn’t know how. killing him would be too big of a loss.

when eleven is ten years old, henry’s concealed powers break free and he manages to get the chip out himself, and unleashes hell onto hawkins lab. he almost kills brenner by snapping his bones, but eleven manages to stop him. her extreme abilities are unleashed, and she sends henry to the upside down. she does fall into a coma due to the extremity of the situation, but she does not forget what happened. brenner believes she’s the perfect weapon as she stepped in to save him without a second thought, was able to defeat henry, and opened a door to something he never thought possible. eleven is rewarded for her efforts. although she remembers the entire battle / confrontation, her memories regarding the portal are very hazy.

brenner decides not to focus on the portal straight away, instead gets her training harder and harder to see what else she can accomplish. also loved the idea of brenner sending her into the void to “look for him” so that will definitely be kept.

by the time she escapes and season one begins, her knowledge of the upside down is basically what we see in canon. because she passed out the moment after she sent henry away, she was once again gaslighted into believing she merely threw him through the glass and killed him. for two years she believed this, until making contact with the demogorgan, and those memories return completely.

due to her saving brenner’s life, (it was pure instinct. she happened to be there. saw her “papa” hurt and knew she had to make him better.) brenner constantly thanks her. but in a very condescending way. tells her: “you saved me so i can continue saving you.” aka, harness your abilities and see what else i can achieve from you. despite the fact that she saved his life, these words and phrases make her feel indebted to him. that she owes him something further.

i don't realistically see her thriving with her speech improvement until she's well into her twenties at least. her slowed development, sensory and social deprivation causes a serious delay in language. surrounded by other children she would have overheard conversations, some would have spoken to her. her conveniently forgetting her upbringing pre the battle with henry just isn't good enough for me anymore. it makes more sense for her to have been raised alone.

it also helps indicate why she gravitated towards the boys when they found her in the woods. they would have been the first people her age she ever remembered seeing. as far as she knew, during the lab there was no one like her. everyone was much older, they were adults-- although she stayed with benny, i'm not sure if she would have stuck around very long. where she followed the boys home without thought.

also it's important to note that after time, jane does understand that peter ballad was a real person, and was truly the first person (aside from terry) who wanted the best for her. when she remembers him, knows that brenner was lying, she deals with immense guilt regarding his death. he was shot right in front of her eyes, because he was trying to help her. this is another catalyst as to why after season two, jane never refers to brenner as papa. she does not give him that sort of credit.

[itspileofgoodthings]

okay but the thing about a good romcom is that it IS about the world-building. because it is often about people from two different worlds meeting through chance or fate or happenstance or some bizarre romcom arrangement and then the sparks that come from the draw towards not only each other but each other’s respective worlds and the funny alchemy that is one of love’s properties that is capable of changing and destroying both of the individual’s worlds to lesser and greater extents, sure, but it has to happen —-in order to create a new one.

[nothinggold13]

Today we are thinking about Starkid songs that are more true and beautiful than the stories they come from!

[slashersweethearts]

every time i ponder the meliwes orb i get a little emo out of guilt. i am so sorry white boy wes n i say this as melina’s #1 defender she did NOT deserve that boy 😭

[astro-b-o-y-d]

At this point, if there's a villain character in a series who is a chubby weird boy whose actions would likely be better received by the fandom if they were traditionally good-looking (skinny), I'm inclined to adopt them.

[hollenka99]

Okay but why DO people look at Wilbur Soot and go "Oh wow, look at how much evil that man can fit inside him. It's definitely not him exhibiting symptoms of mental illness"?

[thestarmaker]

I'M NORMAL ABT THEM I'M SOOOO NORMAL ABT THEM

[modern-day-classic]

Do you ever think about how Ted & Rebecca really had no relationship of any kind post season 1 or are you normal?

I mean they shared such little screen time in season 2&3.

Sure they MENTIONED bits which implied MAYBE they were becoming friends - 12 unanswered txts & 3 un HAHA'd texts, Ted having met her Dad etc.

But we got nothing concrete to SHOW us there was anything outside of an employer/employee relationship.

We as the audience got to see their soulmate links. Things which were never revealed to either of them.

I honestly think this is part of why it is so dissatisfying with how they ended their respective storylines (well outside of the obvious). Cause if them being soulmates of ANY kind wasn't important why show us? Why not leave it out? If you remove those elements from the overall story it doesn't change ANYTHING!!

So I guess what I am asking, once again, is WHAT WAS IT ALL FOR??????

[pummelingbat]

PeterMartin content has to be centered around Martin being in his venus fly trap era otherwise there is no point to me. like, the joys of the dynamic lie in Martin seeing the manipulation then playing uno reverse & manipulating that old man right back. i just don't know why you would remove the layers of flavor there.

[infizero]

also his drawings. make me insane. im pretty sure ive made a post about this before a while ago but i just love looking at his silly little drawings it adds so much to his character. even after everything he's been through he's still got some humor and lightheartedness in him. and he's really good at drawing too!! so it's likely something he's been doing since he was a kid

[cultivating-wildflowers]

"I should have thought," said Fanny, after a pause of recollection and exertion, "that every woman must have felt the possibility of a man's not being approved, not being loved by some one of her sex, at least, let him be ever so generally agreeable. Let him have all the perfections in the world, I think it ought not to be set down as certain, that a man must be acceptable to every woman he may happen to like himself."

Jane Austen, Mansfield Park