#not really byler

[doriandrifting]

Why I think Vickie could go missing next season: Rescuing The Princess

Almost all of the characters added this season were from The Breakfast Club! We also saw nods to the makeover scene with Nancy and Robin. In the Breakfast Club, Molly Ringwald’s character is dubbed “The Princess” and Vickie’s aesthetic is based on her and Molly Ringwald’s role in Pretty in Pink, which we also see referenced throughout the show and the characters’ official playlist.

In Season Two we see the boys playing Dragon's Lair, attempting to slay a Dragon to rescue Princess Daphne which is again referenced to with Will's painting for Mike in Season Four:

Someone else pointed out that the DnD guide that the painting was based on also shows a princess in the grips of an angry dragon.

And Season One's campaign talks about a Lost Knight and Proud Princess:

These lines in Season Four also really stuck out to me as possible foreshadowing:

This makes me think that Vecna might take Vickie as bait, which would lure Robin, and in turn the rest of our characters, where Vecna could close the gates behind them and trap them in the Upside Down.

I also think it's interesting when we consider what we've been told about her character:

(This isn't to say I wouldn't be disappointed that she possibly wouldn't get as much romantic development, because I most definitely would, but I think it makes sense in terms of mirroring Season One's plot and managing the overwhelming lack of time to finish up so many plotlines for long-standing characters. This could also be a way to integrate her into the supernatural plot as well as give Robin development on a similar level to Mike in Season One.)

[fairyrona]

some happy will byers for your feed 💐💐

[yellow-n-blue-hyperfixation]

Hey ambiguous writers in the future, I want you to listen to me for a second. I just read a book that straightbaited me when I thought I was about to be queerbaited, and that was the most terrific reading experience of my life.

I don’t care if you’re writing for a show, or a book or a film, but can you do that more? Please? I promise you that it’s way better than queerbaiting, I really do-

[dysfunctionalupsidedown]

"Mike didn't love El at first sight. He treated her terribly."

"Well, he had just met her/didn't know her yet/was upset about Will!"

The analysis I'm working on is really opening my eyes...

[paladinsbrainrot]

tried to shut up about willel for five minutes and almost exploded

close ups + my reference !

[strawberrybyers]

not too long ago we found out robin and will will have scenes together and now we have photographic evidence of mike and robin filming a scene together???? the gays are teaming up in season 5 we love to see it

[crxzytogether]

Listen im a mike defender through and through BUT MIKE WTF DUDE, go give your girlfriend a hug or reassurance or literally any comfort my goodness😭😭

[gayofthefae]

Shoutout to Mike making it through that hospital door first

as canonically the slowest runner of the group

(also idk what Lucas is doing here - fixing his jacket maybe? - but I love him as always)

[hawkwidows]

mike doing the work with the shovel while will stands there looking pretty nobody is shocked

[tender-emotional-music]

I need to do a whole post ranting about this, because it is so hilarious how people will see the leaks of byler always filming together and teaming up and say "it's just them on bikes! Byler isn't real!" or the alleged casting call for young byler + Jonathan and say "omg you delusional losers! There aren't going to be any romantic scenes between 8 year olds!"

Because surely they understand story structure and realise that El and Mike ending on ambiguous terms in s4 + Finn and Noah constantly filming together + Millie and Finn not filming together past the first two episodes + El apparently having a storyline with Hopper and Lucas/Erica/Max (just as the s4 finale foreshadowed!!) does indeed mean something?

I constantly see them refuse to place this information in the greater scope of the narrative and character arcs for s5, instead just interpreting them in isolation. We aren't excited about the flashbacks because we want to see romance between children; we're excited because it demonstrates that their early relationship is important enough to warrant showing on screen, and that whatever that scene establishes will be important to their current-day selves. The bike pics aren't significant because they're hanging out; they're significant because they suggest that they truly are teaming up in s5 and that this pairing will be important to the overall narrative (as is always the case when couples team up in the show). These things imply that the writers do take this plot seriously.

Of course, this doesn't CONFIRM byler, but as I've said before, the only place they can really take mlvn in s5 is them being a team, proving they did work through their issues in s4. But that does not seem to be happening, and yes, that does mean something. People will say that Will needs to move on and learn to be himself. If that were the case, he would not be paired up with Mike. He would be with someone/a group which enables him to foster his identity outside of Mike. Funnily enough, that does seem to be happening....with El.

[demadogs]

When a typical virus attaches itself to its host, it duplicates, right? It spreads, essentially hijacking the host… What is so unusual here is that this virus, the infected hosts seem to be communicating.

Stranger Things season two (2017)

[will80sbyers]

HE LISTENED TO ME

Weeks 15-19

[elyasdoodles]

🌧️But I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain 🌧️

[ven0moir]

Will had hope ... and then lost it.

He had hope that maybe, just maybe, Mike and he felt the same way. And I think it started here:

Mike expressed relief at the idea of Will not joining another party. And Will's look seems ... surprised but joyful? Like he's picking up on Something the audience is not.

Then we have this:

I know a lot of people say he meant this in a friendship way. But I don't think he did entirely. I think he was 'testing the waters' so to speak, to see Mike's reaction to him asking something like this so forwardly--an action driven in part, possibly, also by frustration. Of course their friendship was his priority but he was also Sending Mike a Message. Speaking in code, if you will. And I'm not sure if Mike picked up on it or not, but he knew what he was doing when he used the word 'us'.

Then of course we have Mike's speech to Will in episode 4. The way he slightly tilts his head to the side inquisitively after Mike said 'It's Hawkins, it's not the same without you', as if he's thinking "am I dreaming? Is he really saying this?" And not to be meta but he might even be wondering if he's being delusional here.

On top of that, the speech prompted him to gather the courage to do this:

hope again. But then his arc culminated in this:

Will's facial expressions when Mike is self-depricating ... he seems so sad. In the second one, even Mike notices and cuts himself off to apologize for bringing up this subject.

I think he, sadly, realized Mike did feel the same way as him, but not in the way he had initially hoped. Mike, like him, is struggling with not feeling good enough for the person he loves.

And Will did not want Mike to feel the same way he did. So he did what we saw him do and give the painting to Mike, which symbolizes his love for DnD, for what they do together, for their friend group, for him. His intention here was to make Mike feel better. Important. Seen. Even at the cost of his own heartbreak.

"Every smile you fake, I'll be watching you."

So to recap, at the beginning of the season, Will had been acting weird and painting for someone he liked ( according to El ). We find out very quickly that the recipient of the painting was intended to be Mike. I don't think Will ever intended for the painting to be a full blown love confession--but a start. A continuation of the 'hint dropping' they started doing at the end of S3. But of course, the whole world went to shit, and his feelings got amplified to the point where the painting's meaning took a different turn. And it became the basis of a veiled love confession.

I think this is devastating because the narrative forced them, once again, down a different path from the natural progression this would've been had Mike been allowed to enjoy a nice spring break in California.

I do believe by the end of S4, Will has completely lost the last vestiges of hope he had left that Mike would ever reciprocate his feelings, especially after Mike's love confession. I think he feels stupid for even allowing himself to believe there was a chance.

I mean, look at him. And, terrifyingly, I feel like that is exactly where Vecna needs him to be at the start of S5.

Sprinkle in some #birthdaygate and voila ... we have the perfect recipe for a horrible Vecna vision.

I don't know how they'll resolve this, but it does feel to me that the intention of Will's S4 arc was to get him to a point of loss of hope, which signifies the death of his dream.

Going into S5, he probably sees this dream now as stupid and childish--an impossibility. Adding to this, there's no way in hell Will is going to confess. Not when this happened and it was never resolved.

The ball is on Mike's court, for better or for worse.

And I think this is also another plot twist we will find out through Vecna: the fact that Will had hope that he and Mike could be together and felt the same way. And that honestly makes whatever Vecna does to Will 10 times worse because if Will had NEVER had hope, then there's nothing new there. But having hope and then having it crushed to the ground? Yeah ... my heart hurts as I type this.

[dysfunctionalupsidedown]

Will Byers is so funny for straight-up lying to the police.

[paladinsbrainrot]

my favourite stranger things duo 💜 (they have interacted Once)

+ close ups !!