#as well as the evidence that noah was at the rink o mania location in his yellow plaid

[chirpsythismorning]

I think because closets have being associated with Mike so much, is why a lot of bylers predict that s5 will finally explore his sexuality.

Why have all that closet imagery throughout the seasons, associated with Mike (even more so than Will), if the resolution to his arc is just going to be, "Will loves me and needs me?! Yay!"

5 years of build-up, hinting at Mike hiding his sexuality, and with an audience that's almost entirely convinced he's straight because he hid it so well, warrants addressing the deeper context of why exactly he felt the need to hide in the first place.

It wouldn't be satisfying, both to ga and milkvans who were straight-baited the entire series, nor to bylers and even viewers open to supporting byler, but who think Will deserves better, all because they don't understand Mike beyond what he's willing to outright tell us.

Mike's character has dealt with so much criticism post s4, to the point where any articles or buzz regarding his arc, minimizes his importance as either being El's boyfriend or how he's basically declined in development over the years from a beloved character to most hated.

To have Mike's arc close with his role going from being El's boyfriend to being Will's boyfriend, wouldn't give closure to what all that closet imagery was meant to represent in the first place; Mike hiding his sexuality.

[chirpsythismorning]

This whole “OOPS we forgot Will’s birthday” fiasco has led casual fans to conveniently refusing to read the subtext for Byler.

Like they can just write off all of it because I guess nothing means anything anymore now that the Duffer’s have admitted to forgetting something so easy to remember.

But what if that was the intention? Like we know the Duffer’s have this tendency to make Byler scenes readable from many different lens’. We see this in the way, that when we have a solid argument supporting endgame Byler, anti’s manage to come up with a long list of other possibilities, and I think the Duffer’s intend it that way.

They want the doubt of the ‘will they won’t they’, to last for as long as they can.

But then this also got me thinking about how I was convinced that them forgetting Will’s birthday was a lie. And how them jumping in right away to come up with this big elaborate story about how they’re going to retcon it, could have been a way for them to steer fans away from easily figuring where the story is going in s5.

Because plenty of us have seen evidence that there is footage that wasn’t used for s4, that is likely going to be used for s5. With Noah at the Rink-O-Mania location with his outfit he wore all of Vol 1-2, or that shot of him in his room looking out the window, or the actor for Lonnie attending the s4 table reading, or Noah wearing a harness???

These are things that could very well involve this concept of Will or maybe even Mike and El, being forced to readdress that day, which was in fact Will’s birthday, through some sort of vision from Vecna.

I know no one believes it’s possible that everyone forgot Will’s birthday within the story, or like why wouldn’t Will himself come out and admit it to remind people instead of suffering in silence?. But if Vol. 2 taught us anything, it’s that Will is the most selfless son of a bitch on the planet, and he would no doubt refrain from telling anyone if they all forgot.

This leads me to believe s5 will explore this conflict in the first two episodes, which are supposed to be set directly after the events of Vol. 2.

They’ve set up this situation, where Will is feeling as low as he can possibly feel, to the point where them forgetting his birthday is nothing compared to everything else going on, but it definitely adds to the pain he’s feeling. And they’ve also set up for everyone, Mike specifically to slowly become aware of all of these things that they forgot or glossed over.

Like we’ve been discussing how it’s inevitable that Mike is going to find out about Will’s feelings, but what about that in combination with him finding out he forgot Will’s birthday?

There’s going to be so many things piling up as amo to not only make Will’s suffering so blatant and heartbreaking, but for Mike to realize and be on the verge of a mental breakdown…

This is going to wreck Mike. And I’m convinced that they probably did have the intention to put this stuff in s4, but either ran out of time, or decided last minute they wanted Byler to be more subtle before going all in, either from Netflix themselves advising them to save it so they don’t lose viewers, or because they themselves knew this was the best decision. (Remember when 4x09 was said to be 2 and a half hours, but got cut to like 2 hours and 19 minutes a week before it premiered…?)

Why else does the s5 plot give us like 2 episodes worth of the s4 conflict continuing, only to have a time jump early mid season?? Like it’s clear that Mike’s realization is going to happen during this time and they’re saving it for when the audience only has one more round of tuning in.

Also, what I’m sort of scared of is what causes the time jump around 5x03 in the first place.

I’ve seen so many theories that Will’s costume in s1 was similar to Marty Mcfly’s, and how this season we see a similar costume with the plaid and long sleeve under, but without the vest.

Along with Will’s FUNKO POP touching his watch, we were talking about how there was this possibility that he could somehow travel back in time back to that day he went missing or he might sacrifice himself and change the course of the future by changing the past somehow, maybe by never being found?

We know the day he went missing is the same day that the upside down is stuck in. So time is important and it also has to do with Will most likely.

I know time travel is something a lot of fans don’t want for valid reasons, but I can’t think of anything else that would cause such a random time jump after they just had us stick with the Vol. 2 plot line for two episodes?

Unless maybe Will’s powers are addressed (if he even has them) and he somehow sacrifices himself to the past aka the upside down to save everyone.

This could also cause some conflict and tension if Mike just discovers Will’s feelings and the audience becomes abundantly clear that Mike returns those feelings, only to separate them and force us to end up right where we started with S1.

Although I hate the concept of Mike and Will being separated all season, it doesn’t necessarily have to be all season even, but I think this approach would create an undeniable appeal for everyone watching.

Did you miss Mike Wheeler from s1?? Well he’s back and he’s more himself than ever trying to get his best friend and now LOVE back.

Personally I love angst as long as it leads to a happy ending, and with how a lot of the cast have been talking about the ending of ST being beautiful and wonderful for YEARS and with the Duffer’s just admitting recently that they already have the last 30 minutes of the series finale well planned out… makes me think that all this pain and uncertainty is going to be worth it..

[chirpsythismorning]

From what I understand, the actor who played Lonnie was NOT at the rink-o-mania location! Correct me if I’m wrong but the only evidence we have of him is that the actor who played him attended the ST4 Table read, as well as the potential Easter egg of his car being placed in the background of the Cali gang poster!! Those are still pretty incriminating in terms of him very likely making an appearance at some point, most likely in a hallucination for Will. We also have that evidence of Noah at Rink-o-mania in the yellow plaid and black blades like you said, which does not match what he wore in 4x02… so I agree!! I think it’s likely there’s stuff that was planted just as seeds for now in s4, but that won’t be fully explored and acknowledged until early s5, most likely before the assumed time jump, but I’m just guessing!

Reading the birthdaygate posts and I’m actually starting to believe the Duffers lied. But I’m so annoyed cause I just don’t want to believe Joyce and Jonathon and the others forgot Will’s birthday.

I know there’s a lot of different opinions on this, so I just want to make a disclaimer: I’m not trying to put any emotions into these theories. I’m literally just looking at the evidence and analyzing it, the same thing all of us do with byler.

Our approach has always been to look at what the Duffers are trying to show us without telling us, and to analyze it and see if we can predict what's to come based upon those hints.

Not everything was meant to be tied up and resolved at the end of s4. I mean, would there have been enough time to delve into the whole birthday debacle, with everything else that was going on? Absolutely not. 

So it makes sense that they left the birthday hints subtle in season 4, within the subtext, if the plan was to save the revelation for season 5. This also makes s4 rewatch value for Will’s character that much more angsty and painful. Will wasn’t just sad because his best friend/the boy he’s in love with was ignoring him; everyone forgot his birthday... This is the same kid who ended s4 saying he feels like a mistake. Will is a selfless son of a bitch and this theory doesn’t go against that quality of his, it further confirms it.

Especially considering how s5 is supposed to start right where s4 left off, it feels like they are intentionally leaving things unresolved, saving it for the start of s5 because they want the final season to  unravel all of this built up pain for Will (who is said to be central to s5) in a way that is going to leave us devastated right from the jump, but also all the more reason why he is guaranteed a happy ending (an ending they insist is wonderful and beautiful...). That’s why it’s just weird to rule this whole theory out entirely based on anything, bc s5 is literally going to jump right back into that exact timeline, where everyone could have presumably forgot and still has yet to be reminded.

It’s the fact that Sixteen Candles is arguably one of the most well recognized American 80's movies and it’s entire plot centers on a main character whose family/friends forgot her 16th birthday up until the very end, and how this film was acknowledged multiple times in the subtext during s4. This debunks the argument that it would impossible for everyone to forget, when clearly... it would just be literal homage to an 80s classic, ie. their entire brand.

TBH the Duffer’s built s4 in a way that fit’s a little too perfectly with a scenario where everyone conveniently forgets Will’s birthday.

Murray got into contact with Joyce the day before Will’s birthday. And it’s the 80’s, so it’s not like they have cell phones to be reminded of the date at any time, all the time. Forgetting the exact date back then was a lot more common of an occurrence than it is now. Joyce also works at home so unless she made a point of peaking at her calendar or something, it’s not out of the realm of possibility for her to have forgotten.

Joyce being preoccupied with Hopper, her love, who she thought was dead, but who is actually alive and being held prisoner, who she’s now making plans to rescue ASAP, is a pretty solid excuse for a cloud in judgment.

Speaking of cloud in judgement, Jonathon was so high the evening of Will’s birthday, he could barely function. Why do that? Maybe because Jonathon is the type of person (I would know because I am this kind of person. We exist and we’re valid) to remember it’s someones birthday halfway through the day and almost before it's too late. And so by making him near incapacitated by the end of the evening, they give him the perfect alibi for why he also conveniently forgot Will’s birthday. 

El feels pretty self-explanatory. She’s been so distracted and excited about her reunion with Mike, and the fact that she’s lying about pretty much everything, only for it to all blow up in her face. She also has yet to experience Will’s birthday, so it’s not like she can remember it from the last year and be like, "oh we have to do that again"... bc it’s not something she can look back on for reference.

“What is going on, you guys?...”

Joyce is so focused on lying at dinner on the night of Will's birthday, that she’s not noticing the tension going on, up until El storms off. This comment was there for a reason. It was meant to point to the fact that everyone has something going on that they’re not speaking about, but unfortunately, Joyce was too busy to dig further regarding any of their issues, bc Hopper was at the top of her mind and so everything else had to take a backseat (for now).

When it comes to Will, this dude is the living, breathing definition of selfless. Mike barely returning his hug at the airport, followed by El saying, “I want this day to be about me and you”, nailed the coffin for him and the fact that there was no way he was going to throw out the fact that it’s his birthday. He most definitely convinced himself he’d be selfish for doing so. I mean how does someone like Will even bring that up without feeling humiliated? After all, he already feels guilty about having feelings for Mike in the first place, so keeping to himself and just hiding in plain sight, is about as in character as it gets for him in this scenario. This is the same dude who scarified his own art and love confession, in place of El, to further improve milkvan's relationship, even at the expense of making himself miserable? Like, it’s not out of character at all for him to not bring it up ever after everyone forgot and they have more serious things to worry about.

My main issue is with Mike. 

A new popular theory is that Mike is hiding a birthday card in his pocket for Will, but he just hasn’t given it to him yet. But idk, that just doesn’t add up to me. 

Not saying Mike doesn’t have a letter of some sort or anything in that pocket intended for Will necessarily (bc I personally think he does. They didn't have to even put a prop letter there all season in order for us to find out in s5 there was indeed one there. Because to be fair, if a letter was clearly visible in the pocket all season, that might have been too much of a giveaway. Maybe that was the whole purpose of the pocket being so unique in the first place).

Regardless, I think it would be weird for Mike to just never bring up Will’s birthday at all during their week together. If he did know, that means he also knows everyone else forgot, but still he didn't mention it to comfort Will? Not even when they were alone? That just doesn’t add up to me. I think it’s more likely Mike forgot, but only because he’s put so much effort into repressing his feelings for Will, ie. focusing too much on El (he literally told us that’s what he was doing), so that adds up more to me. 

There’s also the new theory that it’s not as simple as we’re assuming it is. Since we now know that the Upside Down is stuck on the day Will went missing, and how there are so many things pointing to the importance of time as we near endgame territory, it might take on an entirely different approach than all of us are predictably expecting. 

Could Vecna be manipulating time in a way that made everyone forget? Is that a part of his plan to get to Will? 

I understand us bylers have personal headcanons and preferences for how we all want byler to happen and all that. But when it comes down to it, what each of us want/don’t want for the story, is beside the point. What we’re convinced is best isn’t necessarily what the Duffer Brothers are gonna make their priority (it would be fan-service if they just did what we all wanted). They are going to follow through and do what they always planned.

This makes me want to circle back to the whole byler getting Murray’d theory. I made analysis posts about this because there was evidence mounting that felt important to share. Though there was a decent amount of pushback from fellow bylers, who said they just personally felt that Will and Mike should figure their shit out themselves, which is fair. But it’s not that simple. 

Whose to say they can’t figure it out by themselves + get Murray’d in some capacity? 

Just because Byler is likely to be Murray’d, doesn’t mean byler is going to put all the pieces together instantly afterwards and be together, solely bc of Murray. I feel like that’s what a lot of bylers jump to when it comes to arguing why they don’t want it to happen at all. 

But it doesn't have to be as simple or as pessimistic as you can possibly muster up based on your preferences. I think it's pretty clear all of these little hints are preparing us for what is to come, otherwise why take the time to put them there in the first place? How are some of us out here convinced that the evidence pointing to byler over the seasons was intentional, while arguing that all the evidence pointing to this birthday debacle, is just a coincidence bc the Duffer Brothers are idiots. Like we sound just as naive as the GA.

We go into every season with expectations and the writers manage to surprise us and give us things we didn’t even realize we needed. And that’s the beauty of it. They know the characters better than we do because they made them. And we love their characters. So we should trust them to do what they always planned and have fun picking up on what they put down for us to discover along the way.

Before you convince yourself something is or isn't happening because of what you want/don't want to happen, ask yourself genuinely why it matters what you specifically want?

There are millions of us. They can't satisfy everyone.

All we can do right now while we wait is look at the evidence and decide for ourselves what we're leaning towards. And if you're reading this and you're someone who read all my posts, but you're still convinced it's all just a coincidence, then at least you've given it your all to consider, just like you did with byler and that's all I ask of anyone. Look at what's there and consider it. What you decide to do or think afterwards is entirely up to you!