#but in like a bad way where the duffers lowkey insulted them by doing that

[gayofthefae]

Here's the thing about all my posts pointing out how Lum@x calls out all of Milkvan's short comings by doing them better...do you know what else that does?

Creates a ship the general audience just...cares about more. Even if you do Mike and El well from here on out. Even if you somehow make Will (and Mike and El) believably happy with it. There is still no undoing the foundation laid and history created that...

You made somebody better and compared them to them. Mike and El will never be a passive watcher's favorite. You made them cute. Great. But then you made a couple better, better in ways that demonstrated you knew how to do better. Better in ways that made viewers disappointed in a way they wouldn't have otherwise been when they came back to Mike and El. People who project and Mike or El have them as their favorite, which is valid, I won't say I don't project on Byler.

But most people? If I went "favorite straight couple on Stranger Things, go"? Maybe it would be J0pper or J@ncy too, I don't know you, but I would bet that because of Lum@x, the highest Milkvan can be now is #2.

Milkvan was a favorite in season 1. They were cute. (But do you wanna know a secret? There were no other couples in season 1). We didn't know they could do better. So then they did better. And guess who everyone cared about a little bit less. We only have so much attention. It isn't malicious. But it isn't theirs anymore either.