#also like ... they WOULD do that to jancy

[infiniteentertainment]

So we saw Tammy Thompson sing the national anthem in the first episode of s4...

Which prompted Robin and Steve to give each other looks because they remembered Robin's coming out moment in the bathroom, where they made fun of Tammy's singing...

Vickie overheard them joking, and Robin took the opportunity to talk to her, saying that she "used to think that Tammy sounded good because I had this massive crush—um, we took a massively hard class together. We were in Mrs. Click's class together," reminding the audience of Robin's explanation that, in the class, she wanted Tammy to look at her, while Tammy only looked at Steve.

So episodes later, in the boat out on Lovers Lake, where Robin looked at Nancy looking at Steve? Yeah. This was a direct callback.

And it's interesting that even though Robin's crush was specifically mentioned when talking to Vickie, it's this scene with Nancy that we see what Robin referenced in action.

But the question is: why do any of this?

Even though Robin said Vickie is the girl of her dreams, we saw Vickie for approximately 3 min of s4, and it's within the last 20 min of the final episode that they had their first actual on-screen conversation. Meanwhile, Robin had been glued to Nancy's side all season. The writers are smart, they could've inserted Vickie into the main group at any point, to give her and Robin a chance to bond, and to develop their relationship. It's been done before with other characters. If anything, it seems like the last thing the writers would want is to give clear preferential treatment to Robin's dynamic with a character who's (supposedly) not meant to be a love interest for her (especially in the season where the actual love interest is first introduced, and the audience has been mentally prepped for Robin to have romantic interactions). I'm not saying Robin can't have platonic female friends, I'm just pointing out interesting writing choices, and the usage of show vs tell.

[emblazons]

That “did Jonathan lie” poll proving that following subtext / non-explicit storytelling and forgetting entire canon events for the sake of headcanons is an issue across the whole entire fandom because W H A T

We literally see Steve RUN INTO JONATHAN before he WALKS OUT THE DOOR. He didn’t tell Jonathan a damn thing and they literally show us that? Plus Jonathan was already of the opinion that Steve and Nancy were happy /he had no chance because of seeing them dancing earlier + kissing at school—he was just trying to support what he THOUGHT Nancy wanted just like his brother does with Mike in S4. Be serious

[chirpsythismorning]

The way fans on the st sub are almost all in agreement Nancy ending up with neither Jon nor Steve wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, and how they can even come up with a sleuth of reasons as to why, honestly pretty valid and fair reasons, but then are absolutely gobsmacked when fans merely speculate something along those lines for El is, quite something.

[emily-mooon]

Nancy Wheeler the shoujo manga protagonist you are what with your love triangle and everything about you my pookie <3

[jonathanbyersphd]

When Byler or Jancy fics exist without mentioning the other half of the siblings. Like what do you mean you're not obsessed with all of them??

[cannonsinmyhead]

ya so i just finished watching stranger things.

some things i didn’t reblog but feel STRONGLY about:

bob newby superhero

will and el as siblings

will being rObbed of his childhood

will in s3 just trying to move on from his trauma and be a kid while his friends are all out there actively seeking out his triggers

joyce being the mom ever esp with her decision to move from hawkins cause damn is will’s trauma tied to that place

nancy with a gun

steve with a bat

babysitter steve the hair harrington

the bad creative choice it was to bring back papa <- hated that

dr Owens’s redemption arc being nerfed

el’s legal name being jane hopper <3

steve and eddie’s little rivalry to be dustin’s big brother

the way the s4 finale kicked my ass i was bawling fresh tears no less than three separate times

[cringengl]

Sometimes there's ships where you would be genuinely angry/upset if they weren't endgame and sometimes there's ships where you would be upset if they were endgame, but in another universe, they would make a great couple.

[heavencasteel420]

I’m definitely putting the cart before the horse, because I have three active multi-chapter WIPs, but I’m debating whether or not to put Nancy Wheeler Can’t Win (my vaguely Freaks and Geeks-inspired no-UD AU) and Life During Wartime (my Will-and-Jonathan no-UD AU) in the same universe and if so how to work out the timeline.

[charliespringverse]

something so fun about seeing posts like "the writers have backed themselves into a corner where [queer relationship] is the only thing that makes sense! there's no logical outcome where they don't end up together!" because like? yeah ur right homosexuality is the only way forward and any other romantic endgame would be really badly done... but i've been gay for a while now and consuming media for even longer. i have near complete confidence in my belief that any show that doesn't market itself specifically towards queer audiences is never going to provide a satisfactory outcome to queer subtext

[wastelandbabyblue]

I’m going to finally watch the ST finale (I started s4 last night) and episode 8 where Will is crying in the car & trying to hide it simply annihilated my heart. One question remains though …

How do the most goddamn obnoxious people (the Wheelers) have the best people (Will and Steve) pining for them. Like Mike is absolutely correct that El has no reason to need him. 🫠

hey, my girl Nancy is innocent, Mike got all the obnoxious genes in the family. she's just confused, she needs a girl to kiss her to clear her mind it's all 😭

but agree with Will/Mikejfjf need my boy Will to find someone nicer or perform a ritual to bring s1 Mike back, it's the only way

[cluelessbees]

Yknow what ? I think Byler getting Murray’d would be more heartfelt than anything else.

Because like-

Murray doesn’t just call out Jopper and Jancy because it’s obvious. He points it out because he knows they’re being stupid. In their cases, it’s really just them not communicating their feelings to one another and trying to pretend they don’t exist.

But with Byler it’s like…it’s different.

Because it’s not just that is it? We’re not just watching two people pine over one another whilst being oblivious to the fact they other likes them back. We’re not just looking at two people who can’t communicate well. There’s more to it.

Because they’re two boys who have been best friends since childhood. They grew up at the peak of the AIDS epidemic. They live in a small town and they’re expected to act a certain way. It’s different for them.

I don’t think Murray is gonna waltz in acting all holier than thou and essentially out both Mike and Will to one another. He’s a smart man as we’ve seen. He’s attentive. He doesn’t just call jancy and jopper out to prove a point he knows what they both need to hear so they can get over their miscommunication hurdle.

I think he’s going to go up to them. Either both or just Mike or Will or whatever, and he’s going to talk to them about it. Because that’s what they need. They need someone to talk to them about it. And I don’t think he would start with just directly talking about it. I think he (and this is me headcanonning Murray as queer) would open up first. Like about his own experiences- to show them that he gets it, and he knows what it’s like. And then he would casually bring up the whole byler thing.

Hmmm something along the lines of...

Okay– picture a conflict Mike Wheeler sitting by himself – either on the couch or on the floor or whatever. And, he’s stuck in his head. A lot had happened. He broke up with El and he’s struggling to grasp what he’s feeling about his best friend. And there's this…weird tension between them that– he just– he can't put his finger on. But they’re off. They aren’t clicking like they used to and Mike can’t seem to fix things. 

So he sat alone, trying to understand or comprehend whatever he’s feeling whilst everyone else is god knows where in the house. Will was in the kitchen though. Mike knew that much. And then suddenly, he felt a weight on the couch seat next to him or the space on the floor beside him was no longer there and he heard the words of Murray Bauman pull him out of his thoughts with the weirdest fucking ice-breaker he has ever heard.

“Y’know…I was like you when I was younger.” 

“Really?” Mike asked – mostly out of disbelief as he scanned Murray. No way. Not a chance. 

“Oh yeah…” Murray smiled, nodding to himself as he continued. “I know it's hard to believe it, but I was this…brash, stubborn, reactive teen who loved going against authority. I was very...headstrong in my beliefs.” 

He paused and Mike turned to him. Murray had his head down, looking at his lap silently, and Mike didn’t know what to do but watch or…more– listen to the silence. 

“And…I was also in my head a lot.” Murray looked up, turning to Mike once before looking forward again. “I was angry at things – at people and at myself because…no matter how much I pretended like I loved being a freak…a part of me hated that I wasn’t normal…”

Mike felt cold. His heartbeat raced as he turned away from Murray – facing forward and staring at his lap as he continued to listen.

“Yeah?”

“Oh yeah…I was-- going through a lot of stuff internally that I tried pretending didn’t exist.” He paused again – taking a deep breath. “I was…in love with someone who I didn’t want to be in love with.”

“...You were?” 

“Yeah…” Murray laughed to himself. “Yeah…it was– well he was…my best friend.”

Mike held his breath.

“I fell for him. And I was mad at myself for falling for him. Because even though I knew it wasn’t wrong…I just kept thinking about how I wasn’t supposed to like him. Because that’s not normal– Well ‘normal.’” Murray airquoted, rolling his eyes. Mike’s eyes were glued onto him at this point. 

“So…I grew angrier. And I took it out on myself. On him. Even though he didn’t deserve it. Even though I loved him– I just..I let my fear get the better of me and I pushed him away until I lost him…And I hated myself for doing that.” He breathed, another pause, before finally turning to Mike. “It took me a long time to realise that there was nothing wrong about loving someone.”

Murray tilted his head towards the direction of the kitchen as he raised his eyebrows – and it clicked to Mike.

“I..” Mike’s throat felt dry. “You know?”

“I had a hunch.”

“Is it obvious? Does he–”

“No, he doesn’t know. Your secret's safe with me, kid.”

“Okay– good.” Mike paced his breathing. “I just…I– I can’t lose him because of this. If he knew– if– if he knew he would–”

“He’s your best friend right?” Murray cut him off.

“What? Yes but–”

“Then. he could never hate you, Mike. Not about this.”

“How do you know that?”

“Call it…another one of my hunches.” Mike knitted his brows together.

“Look – kid, I’m not going to force you to tell him or anything. It's your choice at the end of the day. And I can’t say much, but it doesn’t take a genius to know how much that boy cares about you. And you care about him, correct?”

Mike nodded. 

“And you trust him?”

Mike nodded again. “With my life.”

“So…all I can say is…if you trust him? Then...trust him with this.” Murray began to stand up. “Take it from me. Holding it in only hurts the both of you.”

And then Murray leaves

Anyways yeah thoughts––

[steveharrington]

when i see nancy and jonathan edited onto twitter exchanges for social media aus i know its a joke but im also like they would not say that…they wouldn’t even be there…modern jancy do not have fun on social media. nancy has every app because of her inquisitive nature she has to be #dialed in but she hates it and finds it all so garish and unchic…she sees people filming themselves in public for tiktoks doing that thing where they set up their phone on a grocery store shelf and pretend to walk past it naturally and she literally gets so irritated by the thought of that behavior that she gets a headache. jonathan only has an instagram which he made an account on to post his photography but then kinda forgot about after a few months and also he hated writing captions he’d always just write “trees” when it was a beautiful dynamic shot of the fall foliage. jonathan also has a letterboxd and it has one review for the evil dead and it just says “it’s really good”

[chirpsythismorning]

Never Gonna Give You Up plays next season, but it's a scene with Murray blasting it and singing along off key while he drives into town to get supplies and Mike and Will are just doing their shared look thing in the back like "Why is he like this." Jonathan is in the front staring out the window like 😐 because Murray wouldn't let him touch the radio or tape deck. It's also playing in the store when they go in.

Imagine the GA having to contend with byler endgame while simultaneously getting rickrolled!?!? That would be too much I fear! LOL

but WAIT, I SEE THE VISION!

Murray doesn't even say anything to byler directly, but when he does inevitably cross paths with them again in s5, he turns on the most blatant love song that perfectly applies to their situation/feelings, and while they're just sitting there awkwardly, we watch!

[emily-mooon]

This Fire Emblem AU for Stranger Things has me in a chokehold cause instead of doing Jancy week or historical au week stuff, I’m fleshing out the designs I made for the party yesterday and thinking about what classes the other characters would be and their colour palettes.

[jonathanbyersphd]

What's really devastating about the divorce of it all is that Jonathan effectively has no friends now, and yes he's got Will but clearly he's not comfortable telling Will things he would tell Argyle or Nancy. We can see that in s4 & s2 respectfully.

Like, I really, truly, believe that if they are actually broken up we're going to see Jonathan at his lowest. Especially because this isn't s1 Jonathan who had no friends and was fine alone (he wasn't but that's a different post) He knows what it's like to have multiple people to confide in and now he's a spot where he thinks he has no one.

Which makes me so curious what they're doing with him & Steve.

[lucystark12]

Read your post on your opinions on Byler and why you think it’s a genius love story. I’m curious though you mentioned Mike being gay, rather than Bisexual. I’ve been in the fandom since s1 and never actually thought abt it that way, what’s some evidence that made you see gay Mike instead of bi Mike?? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

up until i got on tumblr a few weeks ago (very new to this business haha) i didn't really have super strong opinions on his sexuality either way. i was kinda just like, okay, mike is queer in some sense of the word, but the more i've read theories and thought about it, i feel it's almost more powerful if he's explicitly gay. this is in no way biphobia- i'm bi- and i don't at all believe that him being bi would discredit the importance of his character being queer in the grand scheme of queer representation, but i do feel like having a character who actively grapples with feelings of inadequacy out of insecurity based in not being able to love his girlfriend the way he thinks he's supposed to and deep seeded disgust and internalized homophobia with himself and his own faults especially when there's just SO MUCH beautiful and real love between straight couples around him- think lumax and jancy- is really intelligent and insightful writing. as far as evidence goes, i think there really is a lot of importance in him not being able to tell el he loves her. yes, you could say that it's just because he flat out doesn't love her, but you could also say that he knows that he doesn't and could never love her in the way he thinks he should should, in the way she deserves. that's why will's real and genuine love confession through the eyes of el makes him think "okay, maybe this could work. she loves me in the way she's supposed to, maybe it's possible". the reason will's words are so fueling for him is because they serve as proof and validation that he isn't doing anything he deems wrong and that there is the same level of beauty and intimacy in their relationship that there is in lumax or jopper or jancy. this leads in to my painting theory and how i think learning the truth about the painting will ultimately be the thing that makes mike face his internal conflicts head on because he will realize that he doesn't and can never have this perfect heterosexual relationship because he isn't heterosexual.

wow i just went on a crazy rant there hello

also- lucas's season one line about mike only liking el because she's the first girl to look at him or something like that is a good one too