#i'm also a massive Mike analyzer but i couldn't tell you a specific theory in that regard so i'll just mention it here in general

[bugsbenefit]

Hihi this is random lol but i really loved your posts ab alice creel & wanted to let you know!! I was wondering if there are any stranger things theories you’re rlly excited ab rn/that are occupying excessive amounts of brainspace/ that will probably own permanent real estate in your mind?

(Couldn’t be me a/b alice creel & karen wheeler since reading your post—)

hnngndfhgsk thanks for letting me know that's so sweet oh wow!!! ohhh i love corrupting people's thoughts with theories and observations yesss lets all be insane about this together 🤝

and okay brainspace:

i'm kinda busy with family until christmas is over so i'm being held back from being fully insane and really writing out anything super long until then. but i Am currently rewatching s3 casually when i have a bit of free time so i'm occasionally thinking Thoughts about that rn

but in general general, okay listen, the Wheeler Creel thing is messing me up so much too (if you couldn't tell by the super long post lmao). something is so so wrong with both of these families and it's really fun to look at them, both individually, and also just the weird parallels they have going - probably the thing i have most fun doing here currently, permanent tenant in my brain is accurate yeah

i tend to usually be really open to theories, like having multiple theories for one situation, not settling on one definite thing, considering theories that contradict each other etc. so i like looking at theories objectively without being super invested into wanting them to be true, which was why i even considered the Karen/Alice theory in the first place. i was curious and wanted to know what it was about and thought it was a crack theory. i was NOT prepared for there to be any room to potentially consider it a possibility help

i actually have a massive word document about it in the writing stage that's a full summary of the theory, with the cons against it, the pros supporting it, and narrative themes. the big Alice post is essentially a small chapter of it just focusing on Alice Creel. but then there's also parts about just Karen, the Wheelers, the Creels, parallels, weird things in the show and odd dialogue that coincides with it, and then the big "why do people think those two characters could be the same person" thing. + ofc also what could contradict it or what usually drives people off the theory since i like neutrally considering theories from all angles - really a general overview of why the theory could have some merit, and that doc is Long which really says something about how wild the theory is tbh

or maybe s5 will not take the literal approach of making the families have an actual relation and will parallel the Wheelers and Creels for thematic purposes only. which is a possibility that i also briefly go into in the doc

there's just so much to consider. i really hope to get around to actually finishing that giant write up of the theory, just to have a collective place where the full theory is laid out and listed. because i've really only seen people talk about individual aspects of it before in posts. I'll hopefully have some time for that again after christmas, but i'm sure i'll post more small individual segments of it before i finish the whole thing at some point because i have no idea when i'll actually get around to that

all in all, the Wheelers and Creels are probably the thing i'm most interested in right now. i don't personally have an investment in wanting Alice and Karen to be the same person (even though there are some weird nudges made to it that could support it, that are, eyebrow raising to say the least) but just the general relationship and Weird parallels in the story are 🤌 to me

okay and aside from the incoherent insane tangent i went on right here, i was prompted and had thought vomit my bad, i'm also SO invested in the general structure of s5. especially mechanics like the time jump and how they could set that up/work with it, without having to essentially start over and catch up with the characters AGAIN two episodes in (when the time jump should happen) are so interesting to me. they'll really have to come up with something to justify that time skip and i love all theories surrounding it tbh. we could get another short confrontation with Henry pre time skip, we could also just get an apocalyptic Hawkins and it takes years before everyone gears up for a final confrontation, there's kidnapping or hostage theories too which are cool and i also made a post about before. and then a bunch more i've seen float around here. i think i'm just in general looking forward to seeing how they'll incorporate the timeskip!

of course the consequences of the gates opening are hhhh too. the Duffers talking about how s5 will be "post apocalyptic" is making me bite and chew and bite and. it's such a cool concept for them to explore and since we know so little of what the gates opening actually entails the possibilities to speculate and theorize are endless in that regard as of now

oh! and Will and his role in the story also have their own room in my brain. theories about what his powers could actually be make me go insane tbh (the powers thing itself is also wild to talk about with the massive foreshadowing there is and us Still not knowing how most powers actually work or even what happened to Will in the UD in 1983). there's just so many options with what directions they could take him in and all of them would drastically change and impact the story. just! yeah i need to talk about that more honestly!