#mike meta

[hun9rybug]

I can't keep track of the record number of exes in this game so I made myself a chart, enjoy

[metamatronic]

What is William and Michael's relationship like in your AU throughout the story? Like with teenage Michael before and after the bite, and when William is Springtrap?

father-son timeline stuff belowwww

Pre-83: Pretty Standard Father-Son relationship—Mike wanted to be an engineer like him and Will was supportive. Healthy sprinkling of teen angst and rebellion from Mike.

Post-83: Relationship became strained—Will never outright blamed Mike for what happened, but definitely struggled in his grief to fully absolve Mike or to help minimize Mike’s trauma. Mike didn’t tell his dad about his night terrors or his getting haunted by David, as he was afraid his father wouldn’t care or wouldn’t believe him. Will took Mike’s stoicism as a lack of remorse. We loooove miscommunication.

Post-Liz’s Death: Will became singularly focused on solving the MCI and “fixing” the animatronics. Mike tried to be “useful” by helping his father, but William kept him at a distance because he feared losing him too. Michael took it as his father not wanting him around. We loooove miscommunication.

Springlock Incident: Michael—having no clue where William had gone off too and having recently been scooped in an attempt to make his father love him and save his sister—assumed his father had skipped town to avoid the investigation. He villainized his father over the next 30 years believing he’d been abandoned, and worked at the restaurants partly to destroy his father’s work (but mostly to save the dead kids, not that Mike would ever admit to being altruistic) William, meanwhile, has 30 years to reflect on every bad parenting decision he made. Oof.

Fazbear Fright’s: When Mike meets Springtrap, he introduces himself as Eggs to avoid getting clocked by the “former employee” who may know him from the 80s. William, likewise, uses the name Springtrap to avoid getting recognized. The two idiots—being incredibly similar in personality—become very good friends without ever realizing who the other is. It isn’t until the two burn the place down that they come clean and realize who they’d been talking to the whole time.

Post-Fazbear Fright’s: They’re relationship is significantly better, though Michael still sees him more as a friend than a father at times and gets upset when William tries to “parent” him.

[ghost-kings-court-jester]

I find it so interesting that time and time again Jun Wu never considered other peoples kindness and how that foiled all his plans.

Like originally he wanted Xie Lian to fall apart and break like him but Wu Ming was there to be sure he wasn’t alone and to take on all that resentment.

The man with the bamboo hat was there making sure Xie Lian remember that people can be kind.

Like even 800 years later after Jun Wu failed he tries to cause rifts for Xie Lian so that he has no one and becomes isolated and hopefully insane like him.

Except Pei Ming who would have lied and manipulated the situation doesn’t blame Xie Lian for figuring everything out, he knows it wasn’t personal and he’s able to work with him later despite Jun Wu constantly pitting them against each other.

Shi Wudu is the strongest elemental master and while he didn’t ever warm to Xie Lian, Shi Qingxuan did and they loved him for who he was. They always came to Xie Lian defence to give him backing in heaven because they were friends. (Which honestly might be why the Shi Wudu plot was revealed starting the Black Water Arc.) then even after leaving heaven and Xie Lian losing a popular gods backing. Shi Qingxuan is kind and doesn’t hold a grudge and even when they have nothing and can’t be an ally in heaven they still care about Xie Lian and help him when they are literally crippled and mortal.

Ling Wen is shrewd and could have been a very strong antagonist against Xie Lian except he was always polite and kind to her and she respects that. She has no real desire to do him harm outside of protecting herself and doesn’t really consider him an enemy in any way.

Lang Qianqiu should have turned against him and all of the heavens against too except he only wants the truth. He hears the whole story and immediately clears Xie Lians name and makes sure the heavens know it was Qi Rong so Xie Lian can’t be banished again.

He pairs Xie Lian with Quan Yizhen a god known for being confrontational and picking fights except Xie Lian was kind to him and that makes him a for lifer in Quan Yizhen’s mind he literally wouldn’t turn against him or even think about it because Xie Lian proved himself to be a good person and that’s all Quan Yizhen needs to like you.

Yushi Huang happily tried to help Xie Lian with the drought and gives him her spiritual device as a show of kindness. Then she helps him hide Banyue, helps in Tonglu and helps Hua Cheng infiltrate Heaven because she’s a kind woman who gave up her life for her people and understands Xie Lian is the same.

Jun Wu assumes this whole time that Feng Xin and Mu Qing would be resentful because that’s what happened to him with his friends except Feng Xin and Mu Qing are insane and deranged and just want Xie Lian to be their friend again so they make little disguises to help all the time and take some of the scrutiny of Xie Lian because they were there too. Feng Xin pays of Xie Lians huge debt to smooth things over for him with the other Gods. When Xie Lian is “kidnapped” they follow him to get him back immediately because hey wait that’s our friend. Jun Wu tries to bring suspicion between them by making them assume the worst about each other but Mu Qing literally takes a shackle over betrayal. Then both of them go to Mount Tonglu to protect Xie Lian and begin to mend their friendship because that’s how they roll.

And of course we have Hua Cheng who is Wu Ming that constant loyal thorn in Jun Wu’s side because through all of these events he is with Xie Lian. He offers comfort and support and insures that Xie Lian never even begins to spiral down the same dark path by helping him in every situation, acting as a buffer and a confidant and reminding Xie Lian he isn’t alone and he will be there loving Xie Lian more than Jun Wu could ever hate him.

There’s probably more instances but I just love how this all kinda plays out like yes Xie Lian is truly kind and hopeful and that’s why he’ll never fully be Bai Wuxiang anyway but other people are kind too! There is so much more to people than Jun Wu expects and that’s why his plan is foiled over and over again. Not by smarts or by fighting but by simple human kindness and compassion.

[doks-aux]

The idea of William Afton genuinely loving his children is so much more interesting to me than the alternative, not just because it's more tragic and makes his motivations make more sense, but also because it's fucking hilarious.

You are about to be obliterated from this Earth by a six-foot-something zombie rabbit, and your last moments are spent terrified and deeply confused as he shows you pictures of his kids in a blood-stained wallet: a clearly haunted bear costume, a limitlessly unnerving chrome clown doll, and what looks like Grimace's corpse left to shrivel in the sun.

[tryingonametaphor]

Why Will Byers?

An analysis and theory on why Henry/Vecna targeted Will first in season 1 and his plans for Will in season 5

‼️Contains The First Shadow (TFS) spoilers so please proceed with caution.‼️

This is going to be a little long but I’ve tried to give as much context as I can without actually being able to show snippets from the stage play. This is my interpretation of everything that went down as a member of the audience and not as someone who has read up any theories about TFS before. To understand why Henry took Will first in 1983, we have to start with -

Henry and Joyce

From all the times I’ve watched TFS, the one thing that has stuck with me is the final conversation Henry has with Joyce. It’s just before his last confrontation with Patty Newby and before he joins Brenner for good. Joyce is the last person (who doesn’t know about Henry’s powers) that he canonically talks to.

Throughout the entire play Joyce, Hopper, and Bob are investigating the animals dying at the hands of Henry and come to the conclusion that Victor Creel has been the one doing the killing. They get so close to solving the case. In her last conversation with Henry, Joyce tries to comfort him by saying that Victor will pay for his crimes - which makes Henry laugh because she’s so close yet so far from the truth. He gets a little frustrated and says something along the lines of “You don’t get it. But someday you will.” (edit 28/9: the exact dialogue is [Henry: you’re too nice. that is how they’ll get you. you have to learn to do anything you can to protect the ones you love] [Joyce: I don’t understand.] [Henry: You will.]) The next time we see Henry make a reappearance in Joyce’s life is during -

The Vanishing of Will Byers

Will is taken into the Upside Down (UD) by Henry. It’s not even a question anymore. All of the context clues from 1x1 lead us to believe that Will’s kidnapping was not by a demogorgon. Will - a 12 year old - miraculously survives a week in the upside down with no food or water. Will is even around the demogorgon a few times in the Upside Down. (Joyce communicating with Will through the lights and then the demogorgon coming after her immediately).

Barb dies the night she is taken but Will stays alive and also somehow manages to talk to Joyce through the wall. Joyce is led exactly to where Will was held at the end of s1 and he makes it out alive. It’s almost as if Henry knew all along that Joyce was the most capable of never giving up on finding her son. Like Henry took Will Byers because he was Joyce’s son. And like he was giving her just enough to know that Will was alive. Even when Joyce and Hopper find him at the end in a state of near death, he’s not injured by a creature. He was being prepared for the next stage of Vecna’s plan -

The Possession of Will Byers

The origins of Henry’s powers happen as such - As a kid, he is transported into the UD (originally coined Dimension X by the government) for a few hours because he touched something he wasn’t meant to touch. During his time in there, he came in contact with the Mind Flayer (MF). According to TFS this is the point in his life when he started getting “corrupted”. Brenner’s dad - who was one of the first people to enter dimension X - had mutated blood after but no powers. Henry was the first person to come in contact with the MF and it’s highly likely he got his powers because of this (This would also track considering how most of the party has been in the UD now but show no signs of having powers). The MF controls Henry for the rest of TFS and Henry grows more power hungry the more he kills.

In S2, Henry presumably sends the MF after Will - who has now had a year to heal from the events of 1983. Will is the only other person in all of ST to have had direct contact with the MF and survived it. Henry didn’t hesitate to kill Billy in S3, but he always gives everyone just enough to keep Will safe. Will himself tells Owens in S2 that the MF wants to kill everyone except him. Will once again survives the entire ordeal and is given a “break” for the next 2 seasons. Except I don’t believe he’s been just given a break. I think Will is -

Henry’s Sleeper Agent.

Ready to awaken in s5. I undoubtedly think that Will is going to have powers. And I don’t think they’re going to be the same as Henry and El. El and the other lab kids get their powers directly from Henry. Will’s powers will be directly from the MF like Henry. I believe this has been Henry’s plan all along and it’s further affirmed by what he tells Will in the recent VR game. That Will will be the key to Henry being able to infiltrate his friends’ minds. Jamie Campbell-Bower also mentioned during the S4 press that to get in character, he set up a display with all of Henry’s victims and targets’ faces on his wall(?), and Will was in the center.

Henry is going to use his connection with Will sneakily and midway through S5 he’s going to awaken Will’s powers (maybe in ep4 - which is said to be titled ‘Sorcerer’ and has young Will in it). Henry is going to try and manipulate his way into making an ally out of Will, and it’s not going to work because -

Will is the Perfect Character Foil.

Will is everything Henry could have been if he had a better support system. He is the perfect character foil. Unlike Henry, Will has a mother who loves him unconditionally and more importantly, believes him. Unlike Henry, the person who Will loves the most (the Patty to Will’s Henry: Mike) is going to love him back and stay by his side all season. No one is going to force them to be apart the way Henry was told to stay away from Patty. Will is not going to be easily swayed even though Henry has spent years crafting him into the perfect soldier. Sure, Henry has seen him heartbroken and sad, but that comes nowhere near to the amount of love and support Will is going to get from his people next season. And they’re going to quite literally defeat Vecna with the power of love and friendship. After that, Will Byers is getting the happy ending that Henry could have gotten.

[millionsknives]

i don’t think i’ve rewatched atla since becoming a committed pacifist and i just finished what was probably my tenth rewatch and i have never loved aang more. i've seen it so many times but i still came away with a new appreciation for the way the end of the story was handled. aang is the only survivor of a genocide and he is clinging to the last remnants of his culture and religion, and everyone is telling him the only way to save the world is to kill the dictator whose regime is responsible for the genocide, but to do so would abandon the deeply held beliefs of his people. if aang goes against his beliefs and kills ozai, his people's way of life dies completely and sozin wins.

aang knows it would be wrong but he can't see another way out so he prays for an answer, and the universe hears him and the spirits send out the lion turtle, and the creator answers him. and here's the thing that i never put together before today: aang would not have been able to energybend ozai if he had given in and wanted to kill him. the lion turtle tells aang that only the incorruptible can bend another’s energy, or else they will become corrupted themselves. and i think that aang, because of his love for the fire nation as he had once known it, was never corrupted by personal hatred for the fire lord or the fire nation. he was able to expertly hold two conflicting beliefs in harmony better than any adult could, the belief that ozai is a horrible person and the world would be better off without him and that he's still a human being with a life that is sacred.

and i don't think it's a matter of selfishness like some people make it out to be. aang is not some immature little kid who doesn't want to kill because killing is for bad guys. he's an incredibly wise and spiritual person who was shaped by airbender beliefs and upholds airbender beliefs, and he can see beyond the scope of this war. the balance of the world depends on the existence of the four nations, and aang does not just represent the air nomads, he IS the air nomads. he's all that's left.

despite many people’s interpretation of the four past avatars’ advice, none of the past avatars outright tell him to kill ozai. they tell him to be decisive, to bring justice, to be proactive, to be sacrificial. but none of them tells him definitively to kill him. he doesn't disobey or ignore their advice, he follows their ancient wisdom while still staying true to his beliefs. yangchen actually comes the closest to outright telling him to kill ozai (even more than kiyoshi, surprisingly) but what she fails to account for is that aang is not just the avatar, he is the last airbender, and being the last airbender is far greater a burden than being the avatar. no matter what happens, once he dies, there will always be another avatar. but if he is not careful to preserve the airbender way of life, there will be no more airbenders. yangchen could sacrifice her air nomad way of life for the sake of her duty to the world because there were thousands of other air nomads to continue their traditions. aang has no such privilege.

and it's not that he doesn't want to kill, it's that he actually doesn't think he can do it -- both that he won't be able to emotionally bring himself to kili someone, and, prodigy that he is, he doesn't have the raw bending skill to overcome a comet-powered master firebender. and then it turns from 'i don't think i can do it' into ‘i can’t do it.’ and when the avatar state gives him enough power to actually do it, he changes the answer to ‘i won’t do it.’ he overcomes all the combined power of his past lives to say no, i have found another answer and i will remain incorruptible. to kill is to maintain the power struggle of the fire nation and to reject air nomad wisdom and without airbenders the world CANNOT be brought into balance.

the only thing ozai cares about is power, and that's what the entire fight with ozai is about, physically and ideologically, because ozai only sees power in terms of force, fear, threats, and violence. to ozai, aang (and his entire people) are weak and undeserving of life because they are largely pacifists, but he fails to see the magnificent power that the airbenders do hold, spiritual wisdom and mastery of the self and contentment and joy and harmony and a deep understanding of the world that a man like ozai could never obtain. to kill ozai would ratify ozai’s worldview that power as he defines it is the most important pursuit in the world and the only way to assert one's right to be in the world is to be cruel and violent like him. i think to ozai, becoming powerless might be worse than being dead. he wants power, or he wants death, and aang gives him neither. it upends everything he believed in. aang, the avatar, but more importantly, the last airbender, armed by his past lives' power and his people's love and the spirit world's blessing and the lion turtle's omniscience (and toph's mastery of true sight through neutral jing), ends the war 100 years to the day after the air nomad genocide, in the way that his people taught him, with power that goes beyond force and violence, with spiritual wisdom, with an incorruptible soul, with mercy -- mercy that is not weakness, mercy that brings justice.

[gayofthefae]

Lmao I just realized they made sure he took off his visor so we could take him seriously during the fight

[owenwillsons]

"if byler is endgame, why are they not canon yet?"

honestly, it's not a bad question. if they are going to be endgame, why wouldn't they have been made canon in season 4? or, at least, why wouldn't they have made mike's feelings explicit earlier? after all, mike's feelings for will, while obvious to bylers, remain subtextual even at the end of season 4. what is the point of making m!leven last for so long despite their obvious relationship troubles only for them to be broken up in season 5?

el and mike lasting for that long is meaningful - and it's not just for the sake of slow burn. each season represents a different facet of their relationship.

season 1: "m!leven is like a first love!"

season 2: "m!leven can survive through long distance!"

season 3: "m!leven is a classic teenage relationship!"

all the above is purposefully deconstructed in season 4. let me explain.

let's not go in order and start with my favourite season - season 2.

season 2: "m!leven can survive through long distance!"

i was clocked into byler from season 1 episode 1, but i can admit when a ship was cute, and m!leven was the cute as hell in season 2. not a coincidence that it's also the season where they spend virtually no time together.

the struggle throughout season 2 is that mike and el are separated. mike tries to reach her every single day - el wants to tell him that she's alive. that very simple tension makes their reunion genuinely heartwarming and one of my favourite scenes in the show.

season 4 has the same problem that is out of their control - distance. you would assume, having seen what distance does in season 2, that we'll see a similar thing play out in season 4.

of course, this doesn't happen. mostly because in season 2, when el is hiding something from him, it's not her choice. in season 4, when el hides the truth from mike, it is entirely of her own will.

in season 2, distance makes the heart grow fonder. el and mike don't spend all that much time alone together in season 1, and most of that time is taken up with trying to find will rather than spending time together. they kiss, of course, but after that they don't have time to find footing on what their relationship really is. all of that is to say that although mike wants el to be alive, more than that, he wants the idea of her to be alive. ignoring the glaring heteronormativity, he likes the idea of having a girlfriend, and he invents a narrative in his head for her.

no need for him to do that in season 4 - el invents the narrative for him! but this has entirely different consequences. unlike mike, the lies in el's narrative has consequences, and we see it play out in unfortunate high definition.

mike isn't exempt from this - he also invents a version of el in his head which is different from both the real el and the el that she invents for him, and it is of her being a superhero. before they reunite, mike talking about el references her powers - and during their fight about 'i love you', mike references it again, which turns out to be a mistake.

so a fact about m!leven established in season 2: the two can survive long distance. the subsequent dismantling of this so-called fact in season 4: the two cannot, in fact, survive long distance.

season 3: "m!leven is a classic teenage relationship!"

milkvans clown on bylers for saying that a teenage relationship is genuinely "toxic", and i will say that for season 3, this critique of byler analysis is valid. why do i say this? because in season 3, the "toxicity" of m!leven is compared to lumax, who we are supposed to take seriously in season 4.

both couples are mostly played for comedy in season 3 - teenage relationships that are not taken seriously for a reason.

their "breakup" isn't real. max compares it to her several breakups with lucas, and we're supposed to laugh it off.

the most serious tension between mike and el's relationship is the fact that mike hasn't said 'i love you' to her face yet - something which is not that serious in a teenage relationship, and is, in fact, played for laughs.

the only time it is truly taken seriously is at the end of season 3 when el says that she has heard mike say it, and she kisses him. leading him to make this face of absolute delight...

...leading into season 4, which deconstructs all these dismissals of m!leven's relationship.

firstly, mike's inability to say 'i love you' to el's face is no longer played as comedy - it is one of the primary tensions within their relationship. he can't write it in a letter and he can't say it to her face, even when el pretty much explicitly asks for it.

i think another layer of tension between the two is that mike still treats it as a teenage relationship, but el needs more than that. mike can sit down and seriously apologise - we see him do it with will. but in this scene, mike's approach to el lacks any subtlety that we know he can have (and we know finn can do as well).

to me, that is the biggest juxtaposition between lumax and m!leven in the jump from season 3 to season 4. lucas and max have a serious conversation from the get-go. despite their miscommunication, both of them take the relationship seriously, even if it makes them act differently. they switch between being silly teenagers into taking their relationship seriously - mike and el can't.

until...

ah yes, the love confession. let's talk about it.

on the surface, that completes the arc, right? he said 'i love you' to el to her face and we can all go home now? even if we take the love confession at complete face value, ignoring what i believe are lies and straight up piggybacking from will's monologue, i have two problems with that.

firstly, as many have pointed out - where's the conversation after? the two of them barely interact after this scene, except for when el is leaning her head on mike's shoulder in the hospital. if they are endgame, you would normally get this big, dramatic scene, and then a quieter, more private scene with the two of them with mike confirming everything he said with apologies, and a kiss between the two of them. instead, we get mike telling will that she's barely talked to him since they got back to hawkins. the arc is not over.

secondly - and this may be more of a personal opinion - but weird time for that arc to end. within the season, sure, but within the show?if i was writing the endgame ship, i would save the dramatic love confession for the final scene of the show, not the season. have the troubles last for one more season, and get that satisfying resolution in el's final fight, and make the first 'i love you' mean that much more. you get me?

all of that to say... it isn't over yet. we have proof that mike can say 'i love you' to el in the dramatic moments, but can he say 'i love you' and mean it in the quiet moments too?

overall, season 3 presents m!leven as a classic teenage relationship. season 4 shows that they can't be anything more.

let's go back to the beginning.

season 1: "m!leven is like a first love!"

season 1 is the best stranger things season because, unlike the other seasons, it had nothing to prove. the fact that it works as a standalone season allowed it to become a cultural sensation almost overnight.

that is also why it is harder to talk about when discussing intentional overarching arcs. while i'm sure the duffers had a plan for the show's potential renewal, they also had to keep in mind that it could've been a one-season wonder. that being said, there were things established - and there is no better place to look than the montauk show bible - aka, the pitch booklet for the original show. so from the beginning, were they established to be like a first love?

"if mike is the elliot of our show, eleven is our e.t."

obviously, this comparison isn't exactly the most romantic. while an initial pitch, this parallel is seen in the final product with mike hiding el and eventually dressing her up. but maybe this is unfair, because the booklet also says...

"he has never had a first kiss, much less a girlfriend...he will discover a courage he didn't know he had. by the end, he will even kiss a girl."

i do think that even within a potential one-season show, there was an intention of portraying an awkward but cute first kiss and first relationship. i will note, however, that nancy's description explicitly says, "with [jonathan's] help, she will experience love for the first time", saying the l-word that mike's description is missing.

in season 4, the love confession begins with references to season 1.

"i feel like my life started that day we found you in the woods...and i knew right then and there, in that moment, that i loved you"

this feels like a complete retcon of reality - which is crazy because in season 1, there are other better m!leven moments that can be referenced? their first kiss, mike giving his watch, mike doing el's makeup, el coming out in the dress and mike calling her pretty for the first time...

then they show the moment - and mike does not look in love.

this is the only flashback they show. compare that to max's several flashbacks with lucas when she is trying to escape vecna, and that seems purposeful.

your first thought might be "well, it was easier for mike to say the first time he saw her because love at first sight". but that's exactly it - he said what was easy to say. he didn't actually put the most effort into thinking of the real first time he fell in love with her - which is also a problem, because that shouldn't be an effort. he should just know.

i don't think mike was deliberately lying. el clearly needed someone to say something, and will was encouraging him to say something. love at first sight is a well-known trope...and that's the problem. if he's inventing a narrative for what their relationship looks like, it's an easy thing to sprinkle in because it's his idea of an ideal relationship.

max didn't fall in love with lucas at first sight, and neither did nancy and jonathan or joyce and hopper. it's okay if el and mike didn't fall in love at first sight - but the fact that mike says it when it is factually untrue is meaningful.

so, unlike the other seasons, season 4 is the season that tells us that mike and el are each other's first loves, fated at first sight - but if we go back to season 1, it shows us that they did not fall in love at first sight. if mike isn't telling the truth there, what else is he lying about?

[strange-anni]

Vickie is straight

... and she has a crush on Steve

I know how controversial it is to state such an opinion given how Vickie seems to be one of the few characters in the show who actually seem queer. Yet if we are being honest she has never expressed any direct or indirect signs of actually being in love with Robin. It's Robin who is incredibly biased as she has a crush on Vickie and Steve who is trying to be supportive of Robin who gave us this assumption.

This whole thing is not as bad as it seems though. I can promise you this. So if you still care let me explain to you why I think Vickie is straight and has a crush on Steve.

Part 1: The Muppet joke

While still in the car with Steve in early S4 Robin gets reminded of her own advise: Just be true to yourself and stop pretending to be someone you're not. We need to keep this in mind as she is soon shown to not follow said advise.

When Steve reminds Robin at the basketball game that Tammy Thompson does sound like a Muppet she agrees with him. Vickie overhears this and in turn agrees with Robin.

The joke however doesn't originate from Robin. She just repeated what Steve told her before. Therefore the joke that made Vickie laugh comes from Steve. Or in other words: It was Steve who made Vickie laugh and not Robin.

We even get conformation of this a bit later in episode 2 when Steve admits and agrees out loud that it was his joke that made Vickie laugh.

Robin wasn't entirely herself.

While everyone is looking straight ahead it's Vickie who makes a point not to look in Robins direction after Robin is embarrassed of herself. There is distance between them.

Part 2: Vickie and Robin (and Steve) meet at the Weapon Store

It's Robin who notices Vickie first in the weapon store which is followed by Steve looking at her as he knows she has a crush on Vickie which is then followed by both of them looking sad as Vickies boyfriend enters the scene.

Robin is obviously sad because her crush has a boyfriend while Steve is just sad for his friend.

This shot is often brought up to proof that Robin is standing between Vickie and Dan as it's believed that her crush on Vickie is reciprocated but I don't think this is what it means exactly. It's Robins POV and she believes her feelings to Vickie are reciprocated so she sees herself as standing in between them.

But is it true? Let's look at what Vickie sees next.

Vickie notices the both of them and while Robin is just staring at her Steve is licking his lips. Then Robin turns around and leaves while Steve is still looking at Vickie and Dan and then smiles awkwardly at them.

So Steve is licking his lips and then smiles at Vickie and Dan. What message would Vickie receive here? My guess would be 1) Steve and Robin are close and 2) Steve might like Vickie as well.

This however is the last look we get of Steve in this scene. It's his back while he is still looking after Robin. So whatever made him lick his lips and smile is no longer of interest to him the moment Robin leaves. I think this means that he is Robins friend first and foremost. He is not romantically interested in Vickie and doesn't reciprocate her feelings at all.

Robin is gone and Steve has turned his back on Vickie but her gaze still lingers. Maybe her feelings towards her own boyfriend aren't as sincere as it seems and everything considered I think it's fair to ask who this is truly about? Robin or Steve? Is she saying the truth when she makes it about Robin who she did meet in band or is she using Robin as a shield as she doesn't want to admit to her boyfriend that she has a crush on another man aka Steve?

In the end she looks back towards her boyfriend and then again to the place where Robin and Steve just were. Is he perhaps still standing there?

Then we get a scene transition to Nancy holding a very long gun. It's not subtle at all.

Part 3: Providing Food for the Suffering

There is light behind Robin which can indicate that she is the one who is most sincere in this scene. This makes sense as it is true that Robin has a crush on Vickie.

It's Vickie who gives her the information that Dan is no longer her boyfriend but from the scene in the weapon store she also knows that Robin and Steve are close. So everything she says to Robin is likely to reach Steve as well which means that Robin could be the one to tell Steve that Vickie is single again and therefore available to him.

First notice how Vickie wears spiral earrings. This is very interesting to me as it's triangle imagery that is used to indicate queerness in the show. So here we have the supposed love interest of one of the only confirmed queer characters in the show not wearing triangle imagery when it really matters. Why? Because she is straight.

Vickie also mentions how she rambles about her boyfriend when there are people out there suffering at which point in time she looks up and slightly to her right. Later when the scene transitions from Robin and Vickie to Steve we also get him at a alight angle which to me indicates that Vickie was looking at him as she was lifting her head.

It's Steve who Vickie perceives as the one suffering and who she wants to provide with food. Or to put it a bit differently: It's Steve she has a crush on and who she wants to be with and support.

Steve on the other hand is also smiling and looking at Robin and Vickie. He is happy for the both of them as everything seems to be working out for Robin and Vickie which could not be further from the truth. He's also shaking his head just slightly. Most likely because he thinks a certain assumption he's made just an episode earlier turned out to be wrong.

That assumption about Vickie pausing Fast Times at 53:05 however might be true after all. Steve is just misreading the signs Robin and Vickie are giving off at the gym.

Tbc in a reblog because I almost hit image limit. Look here.

[deathon1leg]

so many st viewers are like mike is EVIL i want this boy DEAD and he’s literally just a teenager dealing with internalized homophobia in the 80s

[capyclara]

colored the babies <333 more lore under the cut

my pose reference is hashtag THEMATICALLY RELEVANT 🔥🔥🔥

[matante-brainrot]

This line of dialogue has been consuming my brain:

If we assume “the other guy” is Spamton (and I can’t see who else it could be in this context) then it sounds like Mike was around when Spamton and Tenna were working together.

Mike acting differently after Spamton left I think heavily implies that the “real” Mike left with him. Small Mike even admits he’s never seen anyone in Mike’s Room:

So does that mean Spamton introduced the first Mike (the “real” Mike) to Tenna during their partnership? Why?? How?? Does that mean Mike was the voice on the phone??? And the phone voice helped them out on the show????

But Spamton doesn’t like Mike, right? Here it sounds like he hates him because he’s associated with Tenna.

But a phrase like “We don’t need Mike” sounds like he’s trying to convince himself, so…he’s parted from Mike and misses him? And on the damn you Tenna page, he says that everyone was going to pay, except Mike. So he DOES like Mike, he just hates Tenna. And he misses Mike, so that means they’re separated somehow. So then did Mike actually stay in TV World??? And Mike changed after Spamton was gone, so there must have been some kind of connection between the two, which made me think of the phone caller. So the caller has just been chilling in TV World since Spamton went crazy???

IS GASTER A THEATRE KID?????

[metamatronic]

Why does MCI!Jeremy take the form of the Puppet as a Phantom? (I know it's cuz there is no Phantom Bonnie variant but I was wondering why in universe he would take that form)

Also love this au! ❤️

When Jeremy first moved to Hurricane, Charlie took him under her wing when he didn’t know anyone. She also introduced him to the rest of the MCI Brigade. After Charlie was killed, Jeremy went to the Emily’s every day to see if she was home (she never was).

By the time of Fazbear Frights, most of the MCI kids had completely lost their bodies and most of their memories. Jeremy had vague memories of Charlie/Puppet being a protector, so he manifested a phantom version of her to “protect” him and his friends.

[flowersinthegrocerystore]

Nacho and Jesse: Ouroboros

Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan // The Orestia, Aesychlus // Better Call Saul, Vince Gilligan // Wolf in White Van, John Darnielle // 'Better Call Saul' Star Michael Mando Explains Nacho's Death and Oil Baptism, Michael Mando through Variety Magazine // I Bet On Losing Dogs, Mitski // Dinosaur, Richard Siken // Can't Catch Me Now, Olivia Rodrigo // Better Call Saul, Vince Gilligan // Silver Springs, Fleetwood Mac // Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan // Silver Springs, Fleetwood Mac // Little Beast, Richard Siken // Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan // Better Call Saul, Vince Gilligan // Like Him, Tyler, The Creator ft. Lola Young // Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan // Better Call Saul, Vince Gilligan // The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Stephen Adly Guirgis // Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan // The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Stephen Adly Guirgis // SO IT SEEMS / OUR END IS ALWAYS SELF MADE, @archbudzar

[orchidbreezefc]

UPDATED taxonomy of living mikes chart

hey everybody, new mike chart! roughly the same deal as [the old one], but in light of the lieutvia michael fiasco it now includes some mikes that were later consolidated into other mikes. but not all of them! so this chart is either non comprehensive to a new goal or contains a lot of extraneous information to the old one. lol

see the notes for other caveats and exclusions. otherwise, this should list every mike in woe.begone up to episode 191! contains spoilers up to that point, of course. as with the first one, this excludes speculation and operates on information we are currently given to understand is true.

EDIT: fixed the latvia mike section and distinguished organizational squares from groups! the original post on my blog will be kept up to date! (with fixes not with the show lol can you imagine)

[castlebyersthoughts]

Reminder that the "most heartfelt ever" S4 scene was Will's speech in the van scene, because despite hiding behind a big lie, his love for Mike in that instant was just so real and true... and then we have Mike's love confession to El that seems real and true on the surface but that's not the moment they chose, because it actually wasn't heartfelt and had hidden lies. Mike and Will's speeches were kind of Upside Down versions of each other when you think about it. The audience knew it was a lie but beneath the surface was real love VS the audience believed it was real love but beneath the surface was a lie.