#the duffers have never touched a women confirmed

[ickypuppi3]

i do think it’s funny how, canonically, billy is kinda shitty at flirting and has the most god awful pick up lines but it just works for him because he’s pretty

[ronnieratsdoodles]

also credit to some sources!

byler proof:

1. Will’s sexuality has been an aspect since episode 1

if it wasn’t a major point, the duffer’s wouldn’t have any reason to subtly and continuously remind the GA throughout the entire show. they never were bold about it until season 4, because of foreshadowing, which they do a lot throughout the show; with many relationships.

season 5 is when build up finally reaches its peak.

2. “i’m not gonna fall in love scene.” coming from Will Byers, breakfast scene, joyce and Will Byers conversation. season: three. episode: chapter 1: susie, do you copy?

one tiny thing they added into the scene was Will pouring syrup on his eggs, which Mike also done, meaning they likely introduced each other to it. just tiny fact.

ultimately, this scene had to have significance, it couldn’t have been written without a point, why else would they make a traumatized boy have built up longing for his best friend? to end in heartbreak? that would just be a waste of writing, planning, foreshadowing, and most importantly their frequency of slow burning. they knew what they were doing.

3.smalltown boy being the first song on Mike’s official playlist:

spotify used to have a official character playlist up for each character, before being took down (if i’m right) either that they liked or that represented their character! (what creators felt was correlated)

(taken down 2023)

small town boy is by a artist named bronski beat, that is about a young gay man bullied, deciding to run away from home. we don’t even know exactly the reason why Mike is bullied, other than his supposed ‘frog face’

5. couples being paired up on the last episode of season four, while El stood alone. many reasons why this could have happened, but it was no mistake, lay outs always have a reason film wise. 

6. multiple parallels to stancy:

again, not much to say about it, BUT stancy was a unsuccessful relationship, and Nancy ended up going with a byers, wheeler + byers. the hospital scene with the two second shoulder lean. (stancy parallel!)

7.byler funko, not mileven funko. hmm super suspicious 🤨

8.”i need you mike, and i always will” - Will Byers, van scene, stranger things four. Will is not going to fall for anyone else. he always needed Mike. while El was shown more to needing Mike, she never did as much as Will. there’s nothing satisfying about Will being with another boy, not to the audience or Will. 

9.stranger things writer quote from twitter “let’s start a new party, you and me.”

10.mikes encounters with Will being focused/zoomed in on is for a REASON.

11. at the season four reunion, why did Mike not kiss El? their foreheads touched, they were inches apart, yet he looked back at Will. that would have been a perfect scene for a kiss, so why would the creators not include it?

12. Mike and Will had the first meaningful one-on-one conversation in stranger things.

13.in both arguments, the rink-o-mania they were wearing blue and yellow. their colors. when blue meets yellow in the west. they met in california. the west. 

14. “Karen, where’s our son?!” Ted yells, in season 2. 

“Will’s!” karen yelled back, holding a blue and yellow pen. totally on accident.

15. Crazy together being one of the most romantic scenes in the entire show.

16. the multiple scenes of Mike saying “boys only” and getting kicked out by girls. and his grossed out expression in season four, episode 1, the hellfire club, by a sign in the background saying women. 

17. i love you is either platonic or lies in strangers things so far, we haven’t gotten a single i love you that wasn’t either. Will’s i am not gonna fall in love implying an actual process, it’s happening in season 5.

18.when mileven tag duffers to complain about byler, they never respond, only to byler shippers, even if it’s just a small wave emoji.

19. lighting, the creators confirmed that the lighting in each scene has a meaning. the lighting either means that it could be a way of symbolizing mikes deep care and empathy for Will in the next season, (them being on a upside down couch also empathizes/foreshadows something)

20. the creators once again were planning since the first season. season four was written in a way to begin the root Will and for byler. so, when their endgame, we will know why.

21.mileven is star crossed, (not endgame)in march, millie talked about being unhappy with El’s ending, it doesn’t show that byler is endgame, but it does show mike and El are not. in one of the season 3 scripts they referred to mileven as ‘star crossed’ in the field scene. 

if any of this doesn’t make sense i apologize, it was written for my best friend<3333

[palmviolet]

Now it’s pretty much confirmed they’re about to resume filming ST, what’s your biggest hope/fear for S4? (you may have already answered this question). About Joyce but also everything else.

ooof i feel like i have answered this but my answer may well have changed since then, since in the intervening time i’ve written about 200k words of what my ideal st4 would be - you can read that soon, but in the meantime have what i don’t want. 

joyce separated from her kids the whole time. this was probably the thing that damaged her character the most in s3, because the duffers struggled with balancing storylines and consequently acted like she didn’t care about her kids, especially jonathan. i want that dynamic explored and if it’s not then it’s bad writing.

jopper getting together immediately. joyce has way too much romance-related trauma to work through for that, and hopper’s not exactly had a walk in the park either. it will not be easy for them so i don’t want them to get together immediately and have a wonderful time of it, because they wouldn’t. it’s not an easy road to a peaceful life after what they’ve been through, though i would like to see them get it eventually.

a whole hopper-centric backstory episode. sorry, i do like hopper, but his character isn’t exactly the most original on television and neither would his backstory be. i’m expecting something like he always had feelings for joyce but it never worked out because of his asshole hardline dad, he went to vietnam and did various anti-heroic things, he became a cop in new york and did various anti-heroic things. honestly? it’s been done before. if they do focus on his backstory i want an equal focus on joyce’s backstory, because personally speaking she’s a more interesting character.

the russians being the villains again. honestly - it wasn’t out of the blue in s3, fine, because they’d foreshadowed it a little, but they did a 180 in terms of political perspective. more criticism of america please. brenner etc was legitimately unnerving - the russians were just cartoonish. 

a robincy friendship done badly. honestly elmax was done pretty badly in s3 and i’m afraid the same will happen to robin and nancy, because the duffers struggle with writing female friendships and they just put two women in the same scene and dust their hands off and say “girl power!” and think it’s fine. newsflash: it’s not fine.

nancy not recognising her own privilege/her selfishness. in s3 they treated her like she was some feminist hero for getting her and jonathan, whose family is barely above the poverty line, fired from their jobs. can they retcon that please

steve and dustin being comic relief again. like, come on, we’re tired. i know they’re funny together but a) let steve have a relatively serious storyline for once and b) separate them because their dynamic is getting old. bring back the party and the monster hunting trio please.

lucas not getting a storyline. come on, he has so much potential. he’s a great character and they completely squandered him. on that subject-

will not getting a storyline. the whole narrative leads to him and el being these powerful twins and we get.... what. will touching his neck??? no, do better duffers. 

anyway if you read this carefully enough you can probably get hints for my st4 fic ahgskjhgdf but yeah i’m just... very disillusioned at this point and i’m expecting s4 to disappoint me, especially after having written my own version of it.