#byler correct quotes

[gayofthefae]

I'm sorry but this snapshot I just got is HILARIOUS like you would think Will just insulted his mother or something but all he said was like "it's not a big deal that I was quiet today" and Mike goes full "Well it is to ME because I took that shit PERSONALLY and I MISSED YOU so FUCK YOU TOO"

[gayofthefae]

No I know this one is so funny because you would never guess that this is him responding to/with what it is. He looks personally attacked.

absolutely keeled over in hysterical laughter over mikes face after will says "i wasn't being a douche"

like keep in mind this is the face of a guy who is about to go off on his best friend for not talking to him 💀

my man was FUMING!!!! HOW DARE YOU SAY YOU DIDNT HURT MY FEELINGS BECAUSE YOU DID!!!!! 🤬🤬🤬🤬

HE WAS FUCKING TWEAKING I CANT BREATHE

[sapphic-bats]

“I could fix him.” Nope. You couldn’t, because he only wants me.

- Mike Wheeler, circa 19-whenever-the-fuck.

[notsohehehahanow]

can i ask if there's a reason you don't also have gender fluid thoughts for will or others that aren't just finn being white, used to be skinny and soft looking? like since there's not one way to be fluid or enby etc but he seems like people use his teenage self as the cliche modern "ideal" that puts whiteness and skinniness as the pinnacle of what acceptably fluid or trans looks like, even though will or any other boy could also be fluid/trans even if they don't look "androgynous" like finn used to? it's just interesting to me since i see "I relate to mike" from people but not sure if they think about why exactly they pick him

oh i definitely do have ideas of trans/genderfluid/enby will however theyre not as prominent as they are with mike

theres no like specific reason for it besides i feel like it could just like tie in to mike trying to figure himself out instead of just being whatever his parents raised him to be

at least once hes been referred to as "a kid trying to be normal" by finn himself (forgive me if im wrong on the quote but its something along the lines 🙏) and through season 1-3 hes generally your average 12-14 year old boy and looks it but after meeting eddie and sort of stepping outside his comfort zone

theres a lot more getting comfortable and trying to figure out who he is and what he likes appearance wise as he does generally take a step closer to alternative, i believe metalhead in specific (correct me if im wrong 🙏), fashion and i just like the idea of him doing the same when it comes to identity

its definitely not a look thing, its more so a vibe or idea type thing as i myself am. not a tall nor skinny person

i like trans/genderfluid/enby mike more because for me its also a relatability thing. i find that its easy for me to relate to mike (and multiple other finn wolfhard characters. shoutout richie and trevor, literally me btw) and i tend to have a harder time finding characters to relate too that also struggle with knowing who they are even at a young age so adding bits of myself into my favorite characters is something that i just like to do

t4t lesbian byler for the win by the way chat 🙏🙏

[will80sbyers]

hi I’m the anon who asked if the fandom really wants more byler kisses in art! firstly thank you for all that you said, you share my sentiments exactly. and the replies/opinions from others was so nice to read too! I feel less scared now lolol. the other thing I forgot to mention that I guess plays a part was that what made it more discouraging especially on twitter is being over 18 (I’m not even that much over personally?) and wanting to draw your ships in established relationship scenarios eg. kissing and being romantic at a deeper level. you’re so completely correct that it doesn’t have to mean the artist is implying it leads to anything more (and people quoting “🤨” when nothing was even slightly suggested is so… terrifying to anticipate actually) and there’s definitely merit to that discussion in the replies about the automatic sexual lens queer ships are seen through.

passionate/deep/open mouthed (not even with tongue) kisses don’t have to lead to anything, it shouldn’t immediately be assume sexual as you said. intimacy and passion =\= sex. especially, to me, for a /repressed/ 80s gay couple??? they are 100% going to want to kiss and be intimate. but yeah, apparently all practiced fandom artists who want to share some joy to our community are ‘freaks’ because we’re not minors? 🙃 I just don’t understand it. and you’d be surprised how many other artists and writers don’t get it and wish they could make the content they want. but again, appreciate everybody on my previous ask for being so open about this conversation you rock!

You should make all the content you want without being scared by twitter people with distorted lens on that are thinking maliciously about a kiss when there is no reason to... people are not protecting anyone by cancelling others for a drawing of a kiss, it's insane to me that this is even a thing!!! 😭

and as I said before, you don't stop loving fandoms and tv shows once your grow up, you obviously need to change how you approach the fandom and always be mindful of what you do more... but that's because when you're an adult you should always be more aware of dynamics and all in general (and honestly it would be good if everybody was...)

being older doesn't mean that you should stop having fun online just because you're not a minor when you're not hurting anyone?? adults in fandom are even giving more to the fandom than others by making art or great fanfiction etc 😅

and yeah I think many of these concerns are born because they can't separate being gay and kissing from being sexual... queer kids fall in love too exactly like straight kids and they kiss to express that... it's not meant to be automatically a sexual thing 💀

anyway I'm glad you're less scared now!! 😊

[willow-lark]

even though both are mileven tracks, 'The First I Love You ' and 'You're the Heart' are just so...pretty?? lmao pretty isn't the correct word but it kinda fits?? i hope I'm making sense. Especially You're the Heart. I still can't relate the track to mileven lol. It rather reminds me of Will. So. Much. I feel like it'd fit for byler perfectly or maybe I'm just weird and delusional☹️ i just wanted to talk to someone about it and none of my friends watch stranger things unfortunately. I hope I'm not being too weird🥺

omg nonnie no i 100% agree with you actually. i remember when the soundtrack came out for s3 like a week before it aired and i was SO EXCITED for the first i love you. it IS such a pretty song, but also everyone was hype for jancy taking a new step in their relationship, since it sounds a lot like the first lie. what we should have gotten 😭 tmi but i literally had the whole score on repeat the entire week so i had it memorized and when i recognized the first i love you playing when mil/even started having a scene i literally paused it and ranted at the screen for 5 minutes. like how dare they. why would they take my jancy hopes and dreams away from me 😢 it’s such a beautiful piece of music & it deserves to be a testament to jancy. ugh. my beloveds.

and yes you’re the heart is toootally a byler song. like the name of the piece is literally a BYLER quote 😭 that doesn’t have shit to do with mi/leven. in the scene mike only tells el the things that he does because WILL encouraged him. WILL told him he’s the heart. WILL made him believe it was necessary to save el. (no shade to will btw, lol.) i remember something going around a while back (like over the summer) mashing up being different & you’re the heart and they literally fit together as ONE SONG. like???

n e ways anon u r so smart & idk if we’ve talked before but plsplspls message me if u want to!! 💕💗🫶 would LOVEEE to talk to u about stranger things & byler & the st score!!! tbh i haven’t talked about the music in st that much on here but i DO have so many thoughts about it,,, <333

[gayofthefae]

Mike flirting with El: Pizza box goggles! Vomit green socks! :D (this is cute don't get me wrong)

Mike flirting with Will: You're the love of my life

[gayofthefae]

Will: she'll be gone no matter how much you wish she wasn't

Mike: you're right. I'm being a self-pitying idiot.

Will: No, that's not what I-

Mike: *throws it away*

Will: I didn't say that-

Mike: You didn't have to 😘☺️🫣

Mike was so in love with El that he threw away the last message she gave him before she left for an undetermined amount of time. That made sense.

[japplejottomjeans]

“he wont”

“how do you know?”

“we wont let him”

[zipstick]

good evening byler nation. i think you will enjoy this exchange i just had with my boyfriend (he has not seen a single episode of the show)

[davvekat]

Will:how are you Mike? :D

Mike:blue. Do you like boys?

[chasm-of-sarcasm]

*voice cracking* i don’t know where my boy is

[skrittle-mix]

The Bingham House

I've only seen a little bit of talk about the Bingham house, so I wanted to add my observations to see how it represents season four and Mike’s character.

Starting off, we have a moment before the group even enter the house. Jonathan says how the group need to be on “their best behaviour”. We are expected to take this as meaning Argyle, who chimes in asking why Jonathan looked at him when he says this line, but it’s Mike who adds that the Binghams are very religious. Also, to note, Mike is the only one to make a change within the house - correcting himself from saying holy shit to holy heck in the father’s study.

Next, we see the door opening and Mike gets stuck with a yellow arrow by Cornelius. I’m not going to go in-depth into the yellow/blue byler colour coding, but basically, Will is yellow and Mike is blue. So Mike gets hit with a yellow arrow from someone that shares the name with a saint that unites an artist with his lover is a neon light. (he was also the patron saint of lovers in Rhineland)  Not to mention, the artist was commissioned to do his piece of work, which Mike currently believes to be true with Will’s painting.

Upon entering the home, we are shown two children sword fighting on the kitchen table. They are quoting Shakespeare, Henry IV Part 1, Act II, Scene IV;�� “you starveling, you elf-skin, you driedneat's tongue”. They also quote Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2, Act II, Scene IV when Suzie’s father runs downstairs; “away, you mouldy rogue, away”. We’ve been made aware of Shakespeare in the past when Dustin refers to Suzie and himself as ‘star-crossed lovers’. In the script for 3x01, it refers to Mike and El as star-crossed lovers aswell. In this season, we’ve had Mike being called Romeo by Argyle and the oven behind him while giving his monologue is branded as ‘Montague’, Romeo’s family name.

We then have the death scene being directed, which later gets paralleled to Mike’s monologue, and shows that the monologue is in Will’s POV. The director says to the father, who would be in Mike’s situation, “your terror, it looked genuine”. 

Argyle and Eden’s scene is showing love at first sight, and exploring the comedic and non-realistic element to it. And we have a season three parallel to a certain pair that ditch their friends to.. um.. hang out.. just like Argyle and Eden do in the Surfer Boy Pizza van. 

slightly delusional points:

Something that sticks out to me is that in Suzie’s bedroom, Mike is the only one who does not sit down, which makes me think he felt uncomfortable in the house. Why would he not be comfortable, unless he had recently discovered somethings about himself in the months the Byers had been gone from Hawkins. Mike actively avoids any eye contacts with Suzie's father on the stairs when the group leave the study and pushes himself away from her father, almost hurling himself over the banister, when the rest of the group look him in the face and don't feel the need to physically be miles away.

While the group are hovering over the computer, Jonathan makes the comment of “maybe it’s hidden in the code somehow”. Codes have been used in the past such as the “when blue and yellow meet in the West”, this reads as a sign to look further into everything, just as we’ve been doing.

Some non-byler parallels that I think are interesting:

The kids cooking are adding salt into a pot of water - the sensory deprivation tank El uses 

The group needing to get into a room in an attic - Vecna being in the Creel’s attic and the Hawkins group getting into the attic 

The father needing to be distracted so the group can get into the attic - Dustin, Eddie and Max distracting Vecna so the Hawkins group can get into the attic

The fire in the kitchen - the fire in the Creel’s attic

apologies if any of this is incoherent, its very late and im very tired, but thanks for reading if you got this far! 

[byler-alarmist]

OH forgot my other fave

"it's not my MAINNN conCERn, it's just a sUB concern!"

line deliveries in stranger things that have forever changed my brain chemistry:

“i don’t CARE about tINA. or uncle jack’s pARty”

“YOU ARE WAY OFF BASE BUDDY”

“isn’t it past your bed time?” “isn’t it time you die”

“what else do you use a bowl for?”

“yeah it’s me don’t cream your pants”

“i’m ten you bald bastard”

[wiz1ys]

Byler, Mileven and the flower symbolism in season 4

Hi everyone ! It is my very first post on tumblr and first analysis im making.

So i was rewatching some byler scenes from funsies. Of course, i get to the infamous airport scene. No need to explain its context, i think anyone in this tag knows what i’m referring to.

So Mike comes to Lenora. El obviously looks super excited to finally see her boyfriend that she didn’t meet for 6 months. El and Mike reunite, and while they hug, Mike tells her “Careful careful, you’re squishing your present”. This line is very important and we will be coming back to it later.

The present in question is a pretty bouquet of flowers that our boy Michael picked himself on that one hill in Hawkins. Keep in mind, the hill appeared twice (correct me if i’m wrong though). Once at the beginning of season 3, when the party are about to try reaching out to Suzie and when El and Mike go back home. Yes, in that one scene Will describes their relationship as “gross” and Dustin as “bullshit”. Dustin’s points of view is very important to me because he’s always described as the smartest in the party, but i digress. The second time the hill appears is at the very last scene of season 4, but again i will come back to it later.

COMING BACK TO THE AIRPORT SCENE. It is a yellow and purple bouquet, “because [El] likes yellow and purple”. Now what’s important in the following : Mike says, i quote :

“I know you like yellow, but now i’m kind of realizing that it’s too much yellow […] so i kinda did some 70/30 split kinda thing”

Ladies, gentlemen and non-binary legends, we ALL KNOW that Mike is blue, Will is yellow and El is purple. The 70% in the bouquet is yellow, the remaining 30% is purple. YOU HEARD ME. The bouquet is supposed to show El how Mike loves her, but it is made of 70% of the other “love interest” ’s official representative color (assuming Will is a love interest because DUH) .

In short : the bouquet represents Mike’s love for El ; but it is actually just 30%. The other 70% of his love is for somebody else. The yellow. WILLIAM BYERS.

Coming back to the line “Careful careful, you’re squishing your present” I mentioned before. It is to highlight the way the bouquet was between El and Mike. I MEAN EVEN WITHOUT BEING A BYLER TRUTHER ANYONE WOULD TAKE CARE OF THAT BOUQUET AND TRY TO NOT DAMAGE IT. But it’s not Mike’s case: he uses it as some kind of shield. I like to parallel it to the scene at the end of season 3, where El says I love you to Mike. When she kisses him, she has Will’s old teddy bear in her arm, which kind of keeps them apart. Also, in that make-out scene in season 3, we notice how there’s one of Will’s drawings in that room. At a very random place, like, the room is almost empty. YOU ARE MEANT TO NOTICE IT. I think it implies how Will was always there, every time Mike and El have a romantic scene. This is reinforced in season 4, where the only scene Will is absent is the one when they fight.

Now. The hill scene. The final scene of season 4.

Flowers on the Hawkins hill decay. As i said before, it is supposedly the hill where Mike picked up his flowers. The bouquet represented his love for El. Now its flowers withered, and their relationship faded.

The couples are standing up the hill. Jonathan and Nancy, Joyce and Hopper… and Will and Mike, while El is alone, in front. Because El’s arc is about her finding her independence, who she truly is, not as a “superhero” but as a normal girl, as a person.

Thank you for reading, and the may you have a fantastic day 🫶🏼

[kaypeace21]

ignoring the fact that they sound like a married couple arguing, mike and will are also bickering over whether or not el and mike are still together. it was written in the script, rehearsed, performed, and kept in the final cut that will OUTRIGHT SAYS “she said she dumped your ass, that doesn’t sound like a break.” and max yells “it wasn’t!” :@;$:@/&$:&:??!?! they literally said they’re not endgame. they aren’t endgame.

i KNOW right! Based on the s4 movies I think things are reversed and it’s El who can’t accept they are broken up. A lot of films said to inspire s4 have ex gfs refuse to accept the break up -one even hits on her gay ex-bf ( ‘birdcage’ ). Similar scenario in ‘clueless’ with girl hinting on gay guy who just wants to be friends.  Max in s3 having to correct El that Mike is her “ ex boyfriend” and Will saying “that doesn’t sound like a break”. And Max agreeing “it wasn’t!” is foreshadowing they never actually got back together.  IT WASN’T A BREAK! But El may not accept this.

It’s similar, to the random telemarketing joke where they had Mike say on the phone “El, sorry not interested “ and hang up . It was foreshadowing.

In the films the exes constantly call . Mike telling El “i’ll call so often you’ll have to turn your walkie off” was also foreshadowing of what Mike will do to her in s4. Since ,he hung up on her in s3 when she called demanding to know where he was at 9:30 in the morning.  In  ‘swingers’ the guy name mike (whose friends call him ‘gay’)  hangs up on his ex gf who wants to get back together . He hangs up on her so he can talk to his new love interest (Will) . Specifically, Hangs up on his ex as she says  “I love-“. Then in ‘splash’ he breaks up with his gf on the phone and says “do I love you?well what about you?” To dodge the question (then yells at a family member ease dropping on the other line -Karen). And they break up on the phone. And he tells a friend later he never loved her. 

2 movies the ex says they’ll get back together and their new relationships are “just phases” etc ( waynes world,  high fidelity, dumb and dumber). Saying they’re still together when they aren’t  (wayne’s world). Loads of movies had the crazy ex sabotage new relationships, call constantly, stalk, and flirt despite the exes discomfort and repeatedly saying it’s over (despite the ex not loving them and just be possessive and not wanting them with other people).

The exes are cray in the films (el stalking and never apologizing for spying. And mileven dancing to the song ‘every breath you take’ a song about a stalker ex who doesn’t take no for an answer -after their ex hooks up with their friend, wasn’t a coincidence). Along with El watching ‘days of our lives’ where she mimicked erica who was in a relationship with Mike roy. And it ended messy with one of them sabotaging their new relationship, stalking them, and claiming the stalking victim still loved them. (Although, they eventually accepted that wasn’t true).  

El  stalked Mike in s2 (all that stuff milevens found romantic- El watching him without him knowing. Mike said he was not ok with it in s3). And in s3 (like the song) she stalks him after their breakup, and when he said not to do that she just says ‘i make my own rules’. I think s4 shows just how ‘un-cute’ this behavior can get.

 I’ve already talked about that awkward kiss scene to death. But i think it indicates Mike assumes they’re broken up and el assumes they’re back together. 

FIrst he  LIED AGAIN (the cause of the breakup)- and pretended he didn’t confess to her at the end of s3. And never said “ I love you’ back! He even tries to take the words back and  says about the prior love confession “ “Oh! Oh, yeah that.Man, that was so long ago. Um…”  and starts to scratch his head and says everything he said at the cabin was “in the heat of the moment stuff and we were arguing…”

They even frame the scene right before the kiss strangely, making El look larger and imposing, as she approaches. Mike feels cornered (you the viewer subconsciously are supposed to feel claustraphobic/trapped/cornered/stuck along with Mike).

We see him furrow his brows (uncomfortable and confused ) when El initiates the romantic moment, saying “I love you too.”

 And cue most awkward kiss in history- where he keeps his eyes open the whole time and doesn’t kiss back. (In Will’s room, mike in front of an open closet, as el holds Will’s s1 bear.)

��During the kiss, the song ‘the first i love you ‘played. The only other time they played that song in s3,  was when Robin rejects Steve’s  romantic confession and she comes out as gay . Interesting choice for that awkward mileven kiss/confession shown later where El says she loves Mike (and mike keeps his eyes open, doesn’t kiss back or return the ‘I love you’). It’s foreshadowing of Mike rejecting El (in the future) cause he’s gay.

We even see El’s reaction first (happy, smiling and giddy). Assuming they’re back together. But then we blur the screen to see Mike’s opposing expression. He looks confused, bewildered and even furrows his brows again.

Then we see El initiating all the romantic stuff outside.El seems to be the one trying to make it romantic- like Mike hugging el and lucas with one arm identically (hand on their upper back), but El caresses his chest.

And as Mike stops the hug El shoves his head into hers (it actually looked like it hurt honestly XD)

the byler centric ending with the Hopper monologue reinforces this theme. Mike while looking at both cars driving away was thinking of Will . They show this by having Mike be sad as Will drives away (alone) twice as Mike  sadly watches him leave- this was done to show that he’s actually upset the 2 later times where Will and El leave at the same time -because of Will. I showed it in one of my vids here, at 23:11

When we first see Mike during the Hopper monologue , it continues to pan to only Mike and Will (not El) cause what he says is mostly about them. “I’ve been feeling distant from you. Like you’re pulling away from me or something” (Will does this both figuratively/literally). I miss playing board games every night (d &d)”. Then Mike looks back at the Byers house (he just lingers there and looks back as his friends leave without him) like how Will turned to watch Mike leave and hold hands with El  (as the crew  go up the hill without Will).  “But I know you’re getting older, growing, changing. And I guess, if I’m being really honest, that’s what scares me. I don’t want things to change.”

It pans to both of them on  “i don’t want things to change’ cause that’s how they both feel. Mike , ‘doesn’t want things things to change’. He doesn’t want their friendship to change as they ‘get older’ because he’d have to and acknowledge his feelings for Will are romantic and if he’s “being honest” that “scares” him (especially in rural 80s conservative-Indiana at the height of the aids epidemic).  Why we see Mike trying to act like a adult while dating El, and Will trying to act like a kid- they’re both trying to escape  growing up to be gay in different ways. Will reverting to childhood activities and saying he’ll ‘never fall in love’ (after his double date with lumax). And Mike trying to act like “old people’ saying “we’re not kids anymore... what did you expect that we’d never get girlfriends?” Cause he equates straight romance with being an adult and his feelings for Will as something he has to grow out of . Which he learns in the very end isn’t possible.

Right after that scene it switches from Will crying,  to Mike entering his house. His face is visibly red from crying and he looks shocked (almost as if he realized something) before he hugs his mom- to mirror the time he thought Will died in s1. 

And the dialogue in this scene says “So I think maybe that’s why I came in here, to try and maybe stop that change. To turn back the clock. To make things go back to how they were.” He goes back to his mother for comfort, like he did the 1st time he lost Will. But also to reverse back time, to s1, before he realized his feelings for Will are romantic.  When things were simple. I think the last episode is when Mike truly realizes he’s been in love with Will this entire time and he can’t fix it and transfer his feelings for Will on to el (something he’s been trying to do all of s3). El said he loved him and he felt nothing-and he was heartbroken over Will leaving (not El). Which is why he just seems almost shocked/numb as he’s processing this fact. This whole scene only showed Mike and Will transitions- el was never there, cause Mike wasn’t upset over her.

In the last ep (in s3) Mike mirrors the scene in s1, hugging his mom, since he feels like he’s losing Will all over again. In s1 the romantic/queer coded lyric from the song ‘We can be heroes’ plays as he hugs his mom “And we kiss as though nothing could fall. And the shame.”. And during the s3 move  (‘we can be heroes’) plays again!  And David Bowie wrote this song and Jonathan even said to Will  in his ‘being a freak is the best speech’ “who would you rather be friends with David bowie (a queer singer) or Kenny Roggers?”

It’s why finn wolfhard after s3 liked this byler pic. cause s3 was all about Will and Mike denying their feelings for each other.

Not to mention,After s1 Finn quoted the  Duffers saying Mike thought of El as a “puppy’ (dart) or “et” , and then said  Mileven was a  “first summer love thing”- foreshadowing mileven’s downfall during the Summer (aka s3). He repeats this “first summer love” phrase 2x.  Millie when he mentioned what the duffers said rightfully thought the puppy thing was “awful”, but Finn was clearly told mileven doesn’t last -very early on- and most likely the Duffers told him “it’s like a first summer love thing”.Summer love” by definition fails-as it only lasts during the summer.