#what’s the reason for this dear duffers?

[fruitbythefoot7]

will? (inspo under cut)

[stranger-fanfiction-n-things]

CHAPTER 4: THE BODY

This is an Original Character fanfiction. All Stranger Things characters and content are owned by Netflix and The Duffer Brothers.

a/n: Enjoy!

Warnings: Officer Callahan tbh.

Word Count: 2062

Masterlist

PART I || PART II

Thursday, November 10, 1983 - HAWKINS HIGH 

“Now, the three main reasons for The Civil War were one, disagreements over slavery, two, state vs. federal rights…” 

I stare outside the window watching the trees ripple in the wind, drowning out the history lesson. It’s been hard to concentrate and I can’t think about how heavy yesterday was. From finding Barb’s car, the thing with no face in Steve’s backyard, running to Lucas in the front yard after finding out about Will. The events following after Mom and Erica found Lucas and I on the front lawn feels like a fever dream. I remember being led to the front door, Erica calling out to Dad, Dad questioning Mom about what happened. I don’t know how or who took a shower first, but I know Mom was talking to me but I couldn’t hear anything. 

The shock of something happening to Barb and the police finding Will in the Quarry didn’t sink in until I lay in bed. I couldn’t stop crying. I woke up this morning squished between Lucas and Erica. Lucas lying almost horizontal and practically hanging off my bed while Erica snuggles into my back like a baby koala basking in my body heat. It’s been a few years since Erica and Lucas slept in my bed and I’m sure Mom has taken multiple photos of us all sleeping together. She loves taking photos and videos of us. 

The news of Will spread across the entire town like wildfire. Whispers of fear, concern and condolences echo in the hallways. I don’t see Jonathan which makes sense considering. I saw Nancy this morning in first period. Neither of us talk, both too wrapped up in our own thoughts to say anything. Mom dropped me and Erica at school this morning. Lucas stayed home. He hasn’t said much since last night and the family has given him space to grieve. For all of us to grieve. We knew Will too. 

“Diana Sinclair?” 

I blink out of my stupor, perking up in my seat. Principal Higgins stands at the door looking at me. 

“Y-yes?” 

“If you’ll come with me, please.” 

Everyone’s eyes are on me and I quickly stand up avoiding their stare as I pack up my books. Principal Higgins escorts me down the hall and I wonder what’s happening. I am led to his office. Janice, the secretary is scribbling on yellow legal pad, her plum-coloured outfit matching her eggplant-coloured nails. She smiles at me, magnified eyeballs warm and kind. 

“Hello, dear,” she greets. 

“Hi, Janice.” 

Principal Higgins nods his head respectfully in greeting and guides me to his office where two officers stand. My eyes widen in alarm and I linger outside the office not wanting to go inside. The two officers look at me through the window and I feel my knees tremble. I don’t know what to expect. I mean who does when it comes to being escorted out of class to speak to police officers. I immediately fear the worse. Barb. Principal Higgins opens his office door. 

“Officer Powell, Callahan. This is Diana Sinclair.” Officer Powell and Callahan peer out the door. Principal Higgins looks behind him and notices I’m not behind and smiles patiently. “It’s okay, Miss Sinclair, you’re not in trouble. Officer Powell and Officer Callahan just want to ask you a few questions.” My heart races. That doesn’t make me feel any better.

I wave half-heartedly with a closed lip smile. “H-Hello.” 

“Good Morning.” 

“Hi.” 

They answer at the same time. 

I don’t move from my spot in the middle of the office and the officers don’t move from where they stand. The whole encounter is awkward and I really want to run back to class and forget this ever happened. I shift side to side on my feet, playing with a loose thread on my skirt wondering what we’re waiting for. If they wanted to ask me questions, wouldn’t Principal Higgins have ushered me into his office to talk? Everyone was just standing here like they were waiting for something or someone. My ears immediately perk up when I hear soft clacking of heels walk into the office and I turn my head to see who it could be. My eyes widen and my jaw drops. Mom stands by the entrance wearing a sleek black trench coat with small kitten heels. Her hair is styled in a nice bob and looks freshly done, meaning she just got back from the salon. Principal Higgins walks past me to greet her, shaking her hand firmly and mom smiles her classic southern belle smile at him. 

My heart is beating so loud, I can hear it in my ears. I clutch my pendant tightly in my hands fearing I may pass out from overstimulation. Principal Higgins nods to the officers and they walk out his office excusing themselves past me. I blink realizing I’m still standing in the middle of the room like a deer stuck in headlights. The men walk out the door while Mom lingers waiting for me. She extends her arm and on instinct I walk towards her in a trance. Mom wraps her arm around my shoulder and without a word, we walk out the office.  

Principal Higgins brought us to the cafeteria. It was empty, but I know the lunch ladies were in the kitchen preparing the food for lunch. He leaves us to parade the hallways and Mom and I are sitting across Officer Powell and Callahan. They introduce themselves to Mom and tell us both, that they are here to talk to me about Barb. It turns out Mr. and Mrs. Holland went to the station this morning to file a missing person report and told them mine and Nancy’s name as the last people who saw her. I guess they are going to talk to Nancy next which meant, Mrs. Wheeler was going to come to the school too. I wish I could’ve warned Nancy about what was happening, but I can’t. I tell the officers what happened Tuesday night. 

“So, after this argument—” Officer Powell continued. 

“It wasn’t an argument,” I correct, shaking my head. “It was a…disagreement.” I’ve been talking to Officer Powell and Officer Callahan for the past fifteen minutes answering their questions. Mom sits quietly beside me, listening intently to the conversation. 

“Okay.” Officer Powell said. “After the disagreement, what happened?” 

“I walked home.” 

“You walked all the way home in the middle of the night.” It wasn’t a question. Officer Powell and Officer Callahan both looked skeptical about the thought. It takes almost two hours or more to walk uptown.

“Well, no. I-I got a ride.” 

I can feel Mom looking at me now. At the Wheelers with Barb’s parents, I didn’t get the chance to answer Mrs. Wheeler’s question before Mike stormed inside the house. To be honest, I was hoping I would never have to. Part of me wants to keep Eddie a secret. Not because I was embarrassed of him, the complete opposite. He seemingly was the only good in my life right now and I don’t want it all to be too good to be true. Officer Powell and Officer Callahan glanced at each other, my answer perking newfound interest in my story. 

“From who?” 

“His name is Eddie.” 

“Eddie what?” Officer Powell asks, writing in his notepad. 

“I’m not sure,” I respond, frowning. It never occurred to ask him his full name. The specifics didn’t matter. “He goes to this school and he was on his way home…” I don’t want to say Eddie was on his way from work because he is technically working illegally at a bar downtown and I don’t want to get him in trouble. “He saw me walking past Benny’s Burgers and offered to drive me home.” 

“She must be talking about Munson.” Officer Callahan said to Officer Powell. “Wayne’s nephew.” 

Officer Powell made a face. “Al’s kid?” He shakes his head. 

My eyes dart back and forth between the officers. I may have been born and raised in Hawkins but it didn’t mean I knew everyone in town. Mom and Dad moved to Hawkins from Virginia and we were one of the few families in our neighbourhood who didn’t have grandparents who grew up knowing each other. We didn’t come from generations and generations of Hawkins natives. We are the first in our family to uproot here. 

“You seem like a nice girl, Diana.” Officer Callahan says. “I would keep my distance from Eddie Munson.” 

I frown. “Why?” 

“With a father like Al Munson, take my word for it. He’s trouble.”  

My frown deepens and I clench my hands into tight fists. I don’t like how they’re talking about Eddie especially when the information provided doesn’t have anything to do with what matters. Barb’s disappearance. 

“I don’t think this is an appropriate conversation to be having with my daughter when her best friend is missing.” Mom reminded, her tone hard. 

“Eddie has been nothing but kind to me.” I counter, nostrils flaring. “He drove me all the way across town to make sure I got home safe. That’s more than anybody here has ever done for me.” 

“Do you have any more questions for my daughter about her whereabouts?” Mom asks in her parental voice.

Officer Callahan sits back in his chair while Officer Powell cleared his throat. 

“What happened yesterday?” he asked. 

“Nancy and I went back to Steve’s house to look for Barb and on the way, we saw her car parked in the exact same spot we left it the night before.” 

“When you went back, what did you see?” 

“I don’t know how to explain it, but it was huge, like some sort of animal or something, but,” I pause, licking my bottom lip. “It didn’t have a face.” 

Judgement shoots across Officer Powell’s face. “An animal with no face.” 

“I know it sounds ridiculous but that’s what I saw.” I swallow down the lump forming in my throat and touch my gold pendant on my chest. “I think it took Barb.” 

“We checked the house and there were no signs of any animals.” 

“Did you check the woods?” 

“Check the woods for an animal?” Officer Callahan deadpans. I don’t respond, fixing my chin up. It wasn’t the brightest question to ask, but it was still valid in my opinion. 

“There was no car either.” Officer Powell adds. 

I sit up straight, eyes darting to his. “What? Where did it go?” 

“That’s what we’d like to know, Diana.” He responds, patiently. 

“Nancy and I saw Barb’s car yesterday. I swear to you.” 

“Here’s what we think. We figure that Barb came back last night and then took off somewhere. Has she ever talked to you about running away?” 

I shake my head. “No. Barb wouldn’t do that.” 

“Maybe she was upset, like you, about the fact that Nancy was spending time with Steve.” Officer Callahan surmises. 

I squint at him and his ridiculous deduction. Barb wasn’t like that. I wasn’t like that. Barb and I may have had our worries about Nancy’s relationship with Steve but it wasn’t because of her. It was because of him. 

“I wasn’t upset about that.” I protest. 

“Jealous, perhaps?” 

The subtle tilt of his head conveyed an air of disdainful curiousity as if he were assessing me from a lofty perch. The laugh that comes out my lips is uncharacteristic. The tinge of bitterness and condescension charges the air. I can feel my Mom’s disapproving stare. My manners were unbecoming, I know. But for Officer Callahan to insinuate I am jealous of my best friend for spending time with a boy she likes is comical and proves he clearly wasn’t listening to anything I was saying. There was no motive for Barb to randomly disappear. There was nothing. The only thing that I know is that she is missing and something bad happened to her. 

“No one was jealous of Nancy,” I shoot back, trying to be mindful of my tone. “Not me. Not Barb. No one. I don’t care about Steve. I care about Barb and she’s missing.” 

The officers both watch me slightly taken aback by my firmness. Mom shifts in her seat waiting. Officer Powell closes his notepad, clicking his pen. 

“That’s all the questions we have for you Diana.” 

NEXT -> PART II

[stevie-petey]

Hiii I stumbled across your come home series a little while ago but it quickly became one of my comfort fics on here. Your writing for this series is so good and it kinda feels like a warm hug? Idk. I love how interactive you are with readers and it’s so nice having a peek inside your mind because I personally love love love characterisation so it’s really interesting gaining more of an insight into character depth (what makes them tick, character background etc).

My question for you if you don’t mind is around your motivations for Steve/Bug/Nancy. I know we’re seeing a little insecurity creep in with Bug relating to Nancy but have you written Steve with any residual feelings for Nancy? Like is Bug picking up on any genuine feelings remaining there that Steve is harbouring for Nancy or is it more genuine insecurity on bugs part atm rather than him actually still liking Nancy? (I do get the vibe from your writing it’s the latter? Especially given that she’s going through a LOT right now. But also, and this is a compliment to your craft, sometimes you feel right in the trenches with Bug like you’re really in her shoes and it’s like WAIT does he actually still like Nancy?)

Anyway - bless u for this series that feels like a warm hug even with the angst. I think sometimes it’s hard to find community on here but your page feels like a comforting space ✨🐈‍⬛

hi dear !!! first of all, describing my writing as a warm hug is so ????? sweet ???? i love you ??????? also i love interacting with yall and giving insight im just happy yall LIKE it lmao it gives me an excuse to yap and i adore yall <3333

as for steve/nancy/bug i can safely say there isnt, and will never be, a love triangle between them (or for bug/jon/steve) !! the love triangle arcs have finished, seasons 1 and 2 were all triangles and messy and painful and i dont want to bring that back for no good reason smh (duffer bros ! take notes!)

buuuuut with that being said, i think its important to recognize how painful and reminiscent first loves are. they will always be a part of you, no matter what, and i try to emphasize this for steve/nancy and bug/jon !! memories and time are very important motifs throughout the story and season 4 is FULL of this ,,, thank u duffer bros for that one good thing <3

so, to summarize: no, steve doesnt have any lingering feelings for nancy, but its complicated and bug is just having a bad week lmao. we WILL however see more of that in chapter 7 ;)

[bookinit02]

just read the episode seven script. HOLY FUCKING SHIT DUDW

there is . so much. SO MUCH i want to say about it. so many great moments. oh my god. final girl karen wheeler my QUEEN. and the camp scene at the end, witg all the reunions- mr. clark!!! lucas and his parents!!! KALI!!! god im SO EXCITED to see what you do with kali man, i loved that part of season 2 and kind of hated how she was just...never mentioned again... and seeing her in your season 5 makes me so happy!!!!

and now to scream about byler.

*deep breath* .. ASJFBFKFNWIJDKDBFJFBIDBDJD DHHDJDVDJDBDJDHD HEHVDJDBDKDHDIDBJDBDJDBEJEHDJ

HOLY SHIT!!!! THE LETTERS. TYE FCUKGIN LETTERSSSSSZSSS. THAT. THE. MIKE. READING THE LETTER TO WILL. "i dont know how to love people without hurting them" DEAR GOD. AND THEY FINALLY KISSED!!!!!!! IN THE RUINS OF CASTLE BYERS!!!!! AND IT LITERALLY FUCKINNG RESTORES THE UPSIDE DOWN!!!!!! LIKE FUCKING MLP TWILIGHT SPARKLE MAGIC POWER STYLE!!!! HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!

also on that note . i loveloveLOVE how you did the hive mind flashback to before henry showed up, i LOVE the notion that the upside down wasnt always creepy and evil and thats all henry's doing, i LOVE the demodogs and demogorgons being real, sympathetic creatures rather than these mindless drones for the Good Guys to kill. doggie!!!! theyre just doggies!!!! im!!!!!!!!!

clears throat. anyways

YES final girl karen wheeler!! i am so glad everyone is starting to care about her as much as i do bc i have had this plotline in my head for over a year now🥹

actually. confession! karen’s plot was like 80% of the reason i decided to do a script at all, bc i had such a solid s5 vision in my head for her but i couldn’t figure out how to work it into a byler-pov fic. i was thinking about doing separate related ficlets originally, but then i got even more ideas, and the scripts were born!

and yeah, i’m super excited about all the reunions!! i was going to wait for the finale until some of them, like mr. clark, but i figured i’d just get them all done in one big reunion extravaganza. the plan was always to include kali somehow—i want to make sure i close out the arcs of all characters in the show, like terry and the police, etc! and el needs her sister back💗

i’m glad you liked the letter scene :) it’s one of my favorites, and i’m very happy with how it turned out.

thank you so so so much for the comment about the hive mind (and for your notes on the fic as well)! i know that understandably this chapter got overshadowed very much by byler, but the restoration/decolonization of the upside down is a really important theme to me, and i’m looking forward to writing it out. especially because (and i could be wrong about this) it’s not a route that i necessarily see the duffers taking, and i wanted to be able to do it justice.

thank you for the comment!!!! sorry for the long reply, i just woke up from a nap and apparently i had a lot to say😭

[thestobingirlie]

fr friendship is so important to stranger things! same dustin and the party are so dear to me and mean the world to me! literally it’s been so long since they had a plot line together and i just want to see them together again.

same like it was so obvious that eddie was going to die to me! ngl when they put heavy emphasis on the years with chrissy and eddie i knew that both of them were gonna die. also they’re side characters in st so lol. literally you can’t force a connection with a character because honestly that’s just going to end up with a lot of people resenting it all. which is sorta what happened.

same i loved wayne’s actor because he was so good and he put a lot of emotion with that scene. fr though like Dustin making that whole speech was very weird from wayne’s perspective which i think maybe dustin being stuck in grieve just didn’t change his wording but it’s still so weird that he just openly said that while also stating it was an earthquake. but yeah wayne def said that.

i saw that ask about the duffers not being able to recognize any other trauma other than loved ones dying and that is so true! especially considering that they didn’t even write the boys having trauma when Will came back about him potentially getting lost. like we see Will talk about being treated as if he were fragile but we don’t really see that with the boys unless it’s actually a life or death thing in season 2 or where they were visibly seeing something wrong with Will.

the party are my babies, and the fact that they’ve been separated for so long kills me.

the second a side character said that year will be his year, i knew he was gonna die, cause come on. especially on stranger things, a show known for killing of side characters.

i think that kinda happened for chrissy with me, like they were just so obviously going for sweet girl you have to love, and for some reason i just couldn’t connect to her. it felt like she didn’t really have any personality traits. and obviously she’s only in like two scenes, so it would be hard to do anyway, but i think we maybe should’ve gotten an actual scene of her and jason together, make them feel like a real couple and real characters. for how long s4 was, no character really got enough focus. we didn’t even see what vecna showed patrick!

it’s funny, because dustin in that scene does exactly what nancy wanted to, and couldn’t, in s2, which was tell the hollands about barbs death. but for some reason when it’s dustin telling wayne it doesn’t matter? and also, not to get all angsty, but it’s like…

idk if you’ve read percy jackson, but there’s this bit with one character’s mum. he dies, and she never finds out (because she’s not all there mentally) and she’s just baking cookies and waiting for him forever, and it’s so tragic, but it also sticks in your head.

like, that’s essentially the hollands in s2. imagine if wayne’s story went the same. dustin doesn’t tell him, and wayne is left just sticking up missing posters because he’ll never accept that eddie is dead without a body, and no one will be able to produce one because it’s in the upside down. like, that’s tragedy! that’s kids dying and no one being able to do anything about it. the kind of shit that haunts you. that at the end of the day, all our heroes are powerless to the upside down and are just forced to watch as it tears families apart, and can’t do anything about it, because if they tell others the truth, they’ll be killed the government.

wayne is the hollands, but he doesn’t have to live in ignorance, searching for his nephew, until someone is strong enough to break into the lab and release the information. because it’s just given to wayne to, again, make us sad about eddie’s death. as much as i dislike nancy’s plot line in s2 (it was too easy), she did have to do some shit to get that info, and it is stressed how serious it is. but in s4, dustin just straight up tells wayne that eddie died fighting to save the town and he was a hero until he got, uh… killed by an earthquake.

yeah, there’s so much trauma that they just ignore in st (because they aren’t good writers for the size cast they have, yet refuse to kill characters)

[sterlingarcher23]

The Neverending Story - Stranger Things

Every real story is a never ending story., Michael Ende.

The years are interesting choices, wouldn't you say?

"Momo" the film based on Michael Ende's novel is released in the year 1986 ; book and film have some interesting lines:

All three, Will, Max and El had a cardiac arrest at one point - most interestingly is that Will was revived via CPR in the UD, Max in the mind: both have a lot of mirror elements ...

Well, the script clearly points out that El sent Max's mind into another dimension. This could be the reason why her heart restarted, it is further possible that El used a new set of powers or even that both their powers, now that Max was fully activated, worked in conjunction.

Nevertheless: Time stopped - Like the clock in "Back to the Future" when the lightning struck it.

"And there upon a rainbow is the answer to a neverending story...."

This of course is then referenced through various appearances of rainbows, most notably Henry who stands upon the rainbow in the "Rainbow Room". But of course also rainbows appearing near Max, for example on her right in the hallway (the banner behind says "All the way") and directly on her face.

Besides: This dialog is cleverly meta. "What the hell is that suppose to mean" = All the way... Rainbow.

Telling us were Max's mind is...

... and basically what's going to happen I also talked about:

What it has to do with Will and Henry, since Will can actually feel him, remembering him etc. is almost a story of its own and something people might not like at all.

This is going to be a different post though. But to give you an idea, I think they are kinda combining themes from "Legend of Korra" and "Once upon a time".

[ackermental]

The rich kids are also writers' favourites, you can tell that almost right of the bat in Season 2, when all pretenses of taking responsibility get dropped, and yet...

Because of that the poor kids get more personality in one finger, than all of the upper class children for four seasons.

Their flaws, family problems and fuck-ups make them so much more relatable, funny and pleasant to watch.

The most obvious parallel: look at Steve and Billy. Billy was basically Steve rewritten, because the showrunners for some reason have decided that King Steve had to become show's golden boy and they didn't want to make him too problematic for the audience. So all of his flaws were transferred to Billy, then multiplied by a hundred.

And the next thing you know, people started to adore Billy as a character, because he had a screen presence unachievable to Steve.

Max stole the stage from Nancy as a 'cool' female character years ago as well, and no amount of badly handled shotguns is gonna help.

Beyers are much more interesting than Wheelers can ever hope to be.

And don't even let me get started on what the writers did to break down Jonathan, yet he's still one of the most complex characters out there, including his stalking and talking back at Nancy. No, scratch that, he's interesting because of those things, not despite them.

And, not gonna lie, it would be nice to see some rich kid finally die instead of another expendable peasant (who 99% of the time also happens to be audience favourite). And I don't mean basically non-characters-we-created-to-kill like Jason, I mean the Party. Because it's somehow always El, Will and Max taking the biggest hits.

That's how we actually get stuck with Stranger Things going back from being great to boring af. Because once in a while we will get an interesting new character with an entire season worth of storytelling, only to see them get killed the next second.

There wasn't anything interesting to say about Mike or Lucas after Season 1. Nancy and Steve are going in circles ever since Season 2. Dustin isn't even a character at this point, he's just a meme that sometimes gets used to soften King Steve for the audience.

This show was dying a horrible death until Max saved it with her 'Dear Billy' arc. Which makes me think that the writers know what we need to see on our screens to give a fuck. Yet still they treat Wheelers as a central family unit, even tho Eddie put all of them to shame during one season.

And for fucks sake, this take????

Even imagining the flipside of that, where he does survive that final battle, there’s not a great life waiting for Eddie in the right side up either, so he was really designed from the get go as a doomed character.

Is all I have to know about what Duffers think about people from the wrong side of the tracks. Well, their lives suck anyway, so why not just kill them? 🙃

All of the people thinking that Eddie would graduate and live a happy life? Duffers are here to tell you that there was no way, that Eddie could make it. They say it was all a broken fantasy. He was fucked. He couldnt possibly become a better person.

Billy who suffered years of abuse and was traumatized by his own father? Who died for his sister's friend? Who cared and loved Max, but was incapable of showing it in a healthy way because of his father? Lost couse. No sense in waisting any time on actually writing his arc, just give us some flashbacks and kill him.

And make Max suffer just for the sake of suffering, she lives in a trailer-park, so breaking all of her bones is so much better than her every-day life, I guess.

Also fuck Karen.

anyone notice that this fandom has a serious classism problem?

the rich ones get babyfied and put on pedestals when they do horrible things (the wheelers, steve, jason, vecna)

but when the poor kids do thing that arent anywhere near as bad they get demonised (the byers, el, eddie, billy and max)

[justablogger234]

ending a certain debate

So, earlier during the weekend my dear friend and fellow mileven supporter @mike-haters-dni were talking about el and her lab background. I eventually led myself down into the rabbit hole of confusion (luckily God got me out of it) and then my friend proceeded to get some answers from an interview from the duffers.

So this article talked about how the show was originally gonna be an anthology series but then the big bosses decided that people were gonna fall in love with the characters so they scrapped that idea. Then the next day i saw a ridiculous post that was ragging on el and I obviously responded to that ridiculous post and called them a moron 😊 . I then further proceeded to block them because if you hate el then i see no reason to look at your stuff.

Anyway, what got me so mad about that post besides the obvious was how they were describing el, saying we still don't know what she likes or dislikes or etc, all she does is put her hands up and screams. They also brought up will and how when the show stopped focusing on him and proceeded to focus on her it kinda went downhill. And wow that type of idiocy just astounds me. I personally think the person who made this post is an idiot. I also told them that she is the main character and some other moron told me she isn't.

So, to put an end to this ridiculous debate about el not being the main character when she obviously is, i grant you guys this wonderful piece of evidence.

Oh you guys don't wanna read this whole article don't worry i got you guys covered.

“Eleven was going to sacrifice herself to save the day,” Ross Duffer reveals in the book, according to ​Esquire. “That was always the end game

“But once we realized that the show was potentially going to go on longer than one season, we needed to leave it more up in the air, because deep down we knew the show just wouldn’t really work without Eleven," Duffer continues. "And at that point, we knew how special Millie was. If there was going to be more Stranger Things, Eleven had to come back

There you guys have it. The show can't work without el, there literally is no stranger things without her. Bottom line is if you like the show you have to accept the fact that she is the main character, SHE IS THE SHOW. It's as simple as that. Now this whole main character debate should be over.

P.S. will was only a plot device in season 1 and 2 and barely had that many scenes in season 1. El has been the main since forever, she's literally got all of this tragic but necessary backstory that feeds the whole show. I like to think that she was the secret main character of season 1 and we just didn't know it yet.

sorry for the long post I just wanted to make my point clear without making it hard to read. There will also be a follow up post to this as well

[castlebyersafterdark]

That recent ask about anon’s cousins liking m/leven is so interesting! The cousin always roots for the main couple? Maybe she will switch to byler if it’s revealed THEY were the main ones all along, then? Upon watching s4 I felt that byler were magic and that the duffers WANTED me to feel like they’re magic - Vinny I believe you had a similar experience? But people who still like m/leven, yet want Will to be happy, could be ideal viewers, too. After all, byler wouldn’t be half as dramatic without a sense that mike and el COULD still work through their problems in s5. 

As for your cousins liking Mike’s monologue, I think it all depends how you perceive love and romance irl. The monologue was big, loud, and public, and some people live for grand gestures like this. They want the wedding but not the marriage, ya know? Lol. But I can also picture a bold and declarative love confession for byler in the midst of a battle - yet, tonally, everything about it feels different to mike’s speech to El! There wouldn’t be an undeniable undercurrent of doom rippling beneath the surface, for one thing. But lots of people either don’t pick up on, or ignore, anything non-verbal in the show. 

Viewers who stick stubbornly to their static opinions of certain characters or pairings are the anomaly, not the ideal, because they remove all of the writer’s power to manipulate the viewers�� emotions and move the story onward. Hardcore m/levens, for example, have an agenda. (As do many hardcore bylers who grapple with flimsy evidence rather than letting the storylines unfold over time. Oof!)

But what of the byler-ignorants, lol? The people anon fears will think byler came out of nowhere? Well… the horror and gore of s4 was pretty out of the blue for many people. Did they stop watching? Maybe. Many didn’t, though. Because it made for fantastic entertainment. So the issue is instead HOW viewers will respond to such a twist. And because I’m lame, I’m going to do a full breakdown. 

Plot twists and surprises aren’t intrinsically bad. In fact, they’re a storytelling institution and an aspirational feat of engineering for many writers, especially in the thriller and mystery genre! The ideal audience response would be:  ‘Ohhhhhhhhhh!’ And will byler be any more left-field than the sudden visceral horror-gore of s4? This show takes no prisoners, and never has when it comes to shock factor. 

But sadly, sometimes the response to a plot twist is WTF?!??!! or even I HATE THIS!!!1. Oh dear. 

Byler coming out of nowhere would only be bad if 1) it’s an unpleasant surprise or 2) it is a plot point that hasn’t earned its own payoff. These two results are usually linked by… bad storytelling. 

Now, bad storytelling is not a subjective thing. There are rules and formulas in how to tell stories on screen. Not that everyone is well-versed in these, so you end up with people who say something is ‘bad’ when what they actually mean is ‘I didn’t enjoy that.’ You will always end up with viewers like this, and they’ll usually complain loudest. But you also don’t HAVE to like a story that is objectively well-written and employs storytelling devices successfully! Personal taste, y’all. I’m sure the Duffers are well aware of the possibility for negative feedback and will either accept it with grace (if it’s reasonable critique) or ignore it (if it’s unintelligent waffle), as should any artist who shares their work with the world. 

So… the Venn diagram of people that could think byler came out of nowhere are most likely:

1) people not paying full attention

2) homophobic folk, internalised or not

3) people who will never budge from loving mileven no matter what is presented to them

4) people who genuinely did not pick up on byler’s chemistry  

No.1 camp is filled primarily with reasonable, modern GA. They shouldn’t mind byler endgame, even if it means they feel compelled to rewatch the show to make it make sense. In fact, if they enjoyed the show, they should be excited to! Who wouldn’t love a clever rug-pull that weaves lots of plot points together, even if they somehow don’t care too much for Will specifically?

Now… folk from camp no.2. Homophobic folk. The internalised ones… hey, maybe they’ll grow from the watching experience. Art is always gorgeous when it can help people do this. The outright bigots, though? What the heckins are they doing watching this show, anyway? Something went over their heads, and that can’t be blamed on the Duffers. Chuck ‘em straight into the ‘irrelevant babble’ bin. 

Then we have no.3 camp: adamant m/leven fans. They can range from terrifying and harmful to romantic and misguided, but at the end of the day, ST is a work of art that owes nothing to anyone except being as good a piece of storytelling as it can be. It’s actually laughable to me that rude m/levens on twitter think that the writers will care what they think. They won’t. This doesnt mean the duffers don’t care about their fans in general - it just means they’re normal human beings who have a larger perspective about what truly matters. 

And lastly, I'd say no.4 camp are mostly GA too, especially folk who genuinely aren’t very good at reading subtext, non-verbal cues, or picking up on emotional nuance (perhaps in real life too). This isn’t objectively a bad thing - it just means they might not have the same experience of the show as was intended by the artist. Which makes me wonder….

… whose duty it is to make a work of art clear in meaning and intention? I went to art school, and we were certainly critiqued if our work didnt manage to do what it set out to do. But then again art is so subjective, and a viewer taking something else away from my work, finding a meaning I hadn’t, was rarely a bad thing. But most m/levens aren't doing this, are they? They're not full of possibility or imaginative explanations. They're just full of denial, and are often rude. Just as long as you can provide your ‘working out’ - a.k.a show the intention behind your art even if it falls flat in the landing, then the work will have worth to someone. And considering the overwhelming fanbase for byler, + the positive response to Will’s heartbreaking storyline in s4 from regular viewers, PLUS the cast member’s excitement to portray the final chapter of this story, I would say the Duffs are very much on the right track re: Mike and Will falling, on-screen and rather unambiguously, in love. 

Or maybe cousin anon worries that their experience of the show will be ruined if s5 byler receives a lot of negative feedback. That one is out of your control, I’m afraid - and the Duffers’, too. All you can do is try to enjoy what you love and not let anyone ruin it for you. 

First, before I proceed - HOW ARE YOU DOING THE COLORS what in the world. I am so distracted hahahah

Anyway... yes, I had a similar experience! The vibes were subtly there but I wasn't super invested, but season 4 really conjured that magical ohhhh moment that made everything else make sense. I think a lot more people will feel that in five, just for the more casual or non-fandom minded person in all honesty.

But lots of people either don’t pick up on, or ignore, anything non-verbal in the show. 

Ain't that the whole truth...

people who say something is ‘bad’ when what they actually mean is ‘I didn’t enjoy that.’ You will always end up with viewers like this, and they’ll usually complain loudest. But you also don’t HAVE to like a story that is objectively well-written and employs storytelling devices successfully! Personal taste, y’all. I’m sure the Duffers are well aware of the possibility for negative feedback and will either accept it with grace (if it’s reasonable critique) or ignore it (if it’s unintelligent waffle), as should any artist who shares their work with the world. 

Loving your whole breakdown analysis, but that point in particular was great. Very, very true. Important to keep in mind.

ST is a work of art that owes nothing to anyone except being as good a piece of storytelling as it can be.

👏👏👏👏

This was an amazing breakdown of the show and a very stunning read on the perception of media in general, thank you for laying all that out!!! Ending with this one because it's the most important mantra to follow if you consider yourself a big fan:

All you can do is try to enjoy what you love and not let anyone ruin it for you. 

❤️

[aurorabyler]

Screenwriting: How Do Internal Monologues Factor In?

first and foremost, i am 18 and am not an expert AT ALL when it comes to screenwriting. i LOVE screenwriting, i’m passionate about it, and part of my education over the years even now that i’m in university has been spent learning about it. that’s what i’m basing this analysis on, as well as my experiences with the stranger things scripts overall. just wanted to preface!

there’s been LOTS of discussion now that the dear billy script is out (😊💓 i’m so happy you guys are happy) about how we are shown SO MUCH of will’s perspective and that the audiences perception of mike and el’s relationship when will is in frame vs when he is not are completely different. a lot of this has to do with will’s internal monologue being EXPLICITLY SHOWN, unlike mike’s or el’s.

going through the old scripts, especially the season 3 ones since we have access to all of them, there are no other scenes with ANY of the characters that describe this level of an internal monologue within scene directions. this has been discussed, so you may be wondering why i’m bringing it up again? the reason is that it reminded me of when i took a writing course last year and we focused on screenwriting. one of the most important things i learned in that class was that stage directions are NOT TYPICALLY SUPPOSED TO SHOW A CHARACTER’S INTERNAL MONOLOGUE.

take this comparison for instance. this is just one of many, i could use any scene between characters (joyce and hopper, steve and robin, dustin and steve, etc) to show that the stage directions in these scripts show ACTIONS, not EMOTIONS. take a scene that has a lot of emotional significance for the show, el dumping mike. none of the directions point to either mike or el’s emotions. they just show their actions. because that’s what a screenplay is meant to do.

i was actually surprised by this, so i asked my teacher how that plays into actors creating their characters. he said that the job of a screenplay is mainly direction and tone, and that it is the job of directors and actors themselves to work together in understanding their character arcs. it is not typically the job of the screenplay.

the only character where this screenwriting “rule” differs in stranger things is with WILL. it’s been spread everywhere by now, but the scene between mike and will directly shows his internal monologue:

reflecting on this now, it makes it even more significant that WILL is shown to have this level of an internal monologue and that all of these scenes between mike and el’s are shown through his perspective. it goes so far beyond perspective—the show runners are actively placing will in the main character role here, making us sympathize with him, making us feel his pain, AND MAKING US ROOT FOR HIM!! and it totally seems to have been effective. how many people have started to open their eyes to wills love for mike and the romantic implications between them since season 4 dropped?? it is feeling like that because that is what the writers WANTED. will has become the main character in this triangle between mike/el/will.

with all of this in mind, it is palpable that our theory about the duffer’s direction with mike is true—that they are telling finn wolfhard mike’s inner thoughts, and he is portraying mike based on that. they have to give their actors something to work with. as of right now, will is the main character and mike is the person whose head we don’t see into.

one more important note to mention with regards to actors being told the arcs of their characters—all of this reminds me of what david harbour has said over the years about hopper: that he asked the duffers to not only give him hopper’s internal monologue for the season they were currently filming, but also the ENTIRE arc for hopper, so he could play him accordingly. they agreed and he said the following about it:

[deanismysavior]

4x04 "Dear Billy" Script Breakdown

Okay friends, let's talk about the S4×04 "Dear Billy" Scripts

For the purposes of this post, I'm mostly going to be looking at the Lenora scenes since I'm going to be focusing on the Mike/Will dynamic and what this means for Byler.

Now, before I get into my analysis, I know we were hoping for more from Mike's POV here, but Mike was not a POV character this season, so this makes sense that specific stage directions for him are left out of the scripts. This does not mean, however, that directions were not given during the time of filming. It just means that they weren't explicitly written out. So let's take a look at what's in front of us, and I'm going to try to be as objective as possible.

So first the episode opens with Mike, Will, and Jonathan being informed of where El was taken. We really don't get too much more from the script here than the text we see show up in the show itself, but we definitely get the sense that both Mike and Will are really concerned about the people they left behind in Hawkins and are also concerned about El, but I do think it's funny that Will is more concerned about El being with Owens than Mike is.

Mike starts off as incredibly distrusting but becomes less guarded when they identify that they are friends of Owens.

The context for this is later brought up because Mike trusted Owens with Will in season 2, so he feels more comfortable knowing that El is with him. The only reason I bring this up in my analysis is because the text and stage directions in this scene, and the following scene in which Will and Mike are talking about Owens, makes allusions back to the dynamic that Mike and Will had in season 2 of the show, Mike being extremely protective over Will and constantly feeling the need to look after him and check in on him, so the fact that Mike seems to relax when it's his girlfriend in a serious situation seems curious. This could just be chalked up to Mike trusting Owens though, so I'm not going to make any definitive claims about that. However, it's still intentionally making parallels here so I think it's important to talk about.

The next thing I really want to hone in on here is Mike's reaction to El's letter and the combined imagery with Jonathan.

So here, we get this scene of Mike opening El's letter and we can tell he's deep in thought. What he's thinking, we don't really know yet, the notes just say "Mike stares ahead contemplatively." We see this come out more later when he talks to Will.

But then we get this really tender moment with Jonathan here and I really want to take a closer look at this.

Here we see Jonathan going to the fridge and lingering on a photo of Nancy. It specifically says that he "stares longingly at the CHEERFUL COUPLE in the photo." Here we're getting pretty blatant love imagery. Jonathan misses Nancy and he misses when things were less complicated. Even with the current deception in their relationship, we can really see from these directions that he really loves her.

This is then paired with the next scene in which we once again get Mike sitting in El's room while Will is pacing and Mike is still looking at the note

I mean, the contrast in these two scenes could not be more stark. We have Jonathan, lovingly looking at a photograph of his girlfriend, while Mike throws the letter from his girlfriend away. I think it's pretty safe to say that the Duffers wanted us to pick up on this imagery and the difference in tone.

Mike then follows this gesture by speaking with concern about the fight he had with El, and claims the fight was like something they "can't come back from."

The tone of Jonathan's scene is longing, a wish to return to the relationship, but the tone in Mike's scene? While it's more complicated because he is worried about El, I think the symbolism really speaks for itself that on some level, Mike knows that things are over for him and El, and if throwing the letter in the trash is any indication, I'm not sure he entirely wants to come back from it.

This is again, another example of narrative dissonance in which the story we're being told by Mike, that he wants to fix things, and the imagery of the scene, discarding the letter, tell us two very different things.

Okay, so let's take a look now at this next shared moment between Mike and Will. This takes place right after they are talking about whether Will trusts Owens, and Will replies by saying Owens is a good guy, but it was "you guys" who actually saved him (referring to the rest of the party).

We get this shared look between Mike and Will

The directions here are not explicitly romantic, but it's good to know that the script's intention here was to build back some of the intimacy in Mike and Will's relationship. We see them joking around for the first time since Mike has been there, and it feels like this tender exchange where the dynamic of their old friendship comes back.

So the next scene here is the big one, and I'm going to try to do my best to parse it apart.

Here we have Mike and Will in Will's room, getting ready to leave Lenora.

Now, we have a lot going on with Will here. We get to see his mood shift very blatantly as he navigates this conversation with Mike. The pining is palpable, but there are a few key moments I want to highlight and explore more.

The first is this bit here with Will giving Mike a "SLY SMILE"

We can see here that Will is initiating this sort of flirty behavior with Mike, and while we don't get explicit directions to indicate exactly how Mike smiles at Will, the important thing to take note of here is that Mike returns the smile. Mike returns the smile that is meant to be flirty in nature.

How can we establish that flirtation is the tone here? Well, let's take a look at these stage directions in a moment between Steve and Nancy from the same episode.

This takes place after Robin and Nancy secure the files on Creel and Nancy has doctored letters for herself and Robin to make it look as though they are students writing a thesis.

She hands them to Steve, and he gets upset that he's not being included here. We then see the same stage directions are given to Nancy to convey the way she looks at Steve. A "SLY SMILE"

Here, she seems like she's trying to let him down easily that he won't be included in the operation, and in the very next scene where Nancy, Steve, and Robin are in Nancy's room, and Nancy is looking through her closet, Steve is saying he can bring charm to their mission, and Nancy tells him "Not the kind of charm we need" with a flirtatious expression.

It's a big plot point in s4 that they are re-examining the relationship between Steve and Nancy. They have romantic history together, and their scenes together in this season are meant to read romantically to hint at the possibility of them getting back together and to establish the love triangle between Nancy, Steve, and Jonathan.

It very much feels as though the "SLY SMILE" is meant to be romantically coded here. So what does this mean that Mike returns Will's "SLY SMILE"? We can't necessarily say anything definitive, but I think this hints towards Mike's openness to the flirtation, whether he's conscious of it or not.

And then, of course, we get the blush from Will, which I think is another clue aa to how Will took that interaction between himself and Mike: Will establishes flirty behavior, Mike returns it, and Will gets flustered.

Now that we've established this exchange, this next bit here becomes far more interesting.

This directly follows Mike's line, "No, no. You didn't do anything" as he's trying to apologize to Will.

Will is turning to Mike with "ANTICIPATION." He's just had, what read to him, as a flirty exchange with the guy he's in love with, and then he hears these words and thinks he's getting "DENIED," but we also get here that Will's facial expression here is "LOST ON MIKE."

I think there are a few things we can take away here:

1. Consciously, Mike seems unaware of the way Will feels about him. He's not picking up on Will's disappointment.

2. I don't think Mike realizes that he's flirting back with Will.

So if this is the case, what does this mean? It means Mike's feelings are what's driving the way he interacts with Will in this scene, not Will's.

So when, in the next line, Mike says, "It's Hawkins. It's not the same without you," this is coming from an incredibly genuine place. He's smiling at Will and telling Will this because he wants to, not because of anything he thinks Will might be feeling or wanting to hear.

There are a couple different ways you can take this, that either Mike is just smiling at Will like a friend, or that he's subconsciously flirting with Will because he wants to. Personally, I'm more inclined to lean towards camp 2 given the rest of these scenes.

So let's move on to this next bit. Here we have Mike telling Will that he feels "like he lost [him]," and these stage directions given to Will make it clear that Will is happy to hear this from Mike, happy to feel like he's still needed by Mike. Again, Mike is telling Will all of this completely unprompted. Mike is still motivating and driving the emotion in this conversation.

So when we get to this part

The locking of eyes is very intentional. It's not just that Will is looking at Mike, which from the rest of the stage directions in this scene, it seems like he has been intently looking at him the entire time, it's that Mike initiates this eye lock. Mike is the one that makes this moment intimate here, not Will.

Then we have this bit here following the "Cool." "Cool." exchange, which it's important to note that there is no stage direction for that, so the little eyebrow quirk from Finn was likely an acting choice, but again, editors choose the takes that best convey the message of the story, so I'll leave that up to y'all to interpret.

But we do get a very explicit direction that reads "THE SOUND OF SKIDDING TIRES seizes the moment."

I think this is important because it implies that this eye lock continued from Mike's initiation of it to this moment here. In seizing the moment, the sound breaks their eye contact, but the intentionality of this is unquestionable. We're meant to read this scene as at the very least deeply intimate, but likely romantic with the amount of romantically-coded exchanges that exist within the script.

We may only fully be seeing Will's point of view, but when we look at the deeper implications of the writing here, I think there's a lot more going on here than just Will's feelings.

The last part I want to just take note of here is when Mike and Will are running from the soldiers who are actively shooting at them, there's nothing explicitly written into the script about Mike covering Will with his arm, so this looks like it could either be an acting choice or a direction that was given upon filming.

I don't know that the script gives us anything conclusive on Mike's feelings, but I definitely think there's some interesting choices being made to chew through here. Anyway, let me know what you think!

[moonflowerdamie]

i’ve just finished vol 1 of stranger things and i’m gonna rant about my thoughts so:

⚠️SPOILERS FOR STRANGER THINGS⚠️

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

holy shit it was incredible! the vibe, the plot, the characters, all *chefs kiss* perfection. it was all amazing tbh, but i’m just gonna talk about my personal favourite things from the season.

• ep 4–‘dear billy’:

holy mother of god this episode. this fucking episode. possibly the best stranger things episode ever, if i’m honest. max’s storyline this season was brilliant, dealing with the loss of her abuser/brother, high school, a fading friend group—it was a dark twist for the character, but one that felt gritty in such a natural way. billy didn’t get a redemption arc (thank god) but max still dealt with the loss in a very real, very raw way that felt so genuine—big pat on the back for the duffer brothers there.

this episode, though. we got to see max’s true feelings; her isolation, her grief, her suicidal thoughts and feelings. it was a real exploration of her character that made me love her all the more.

and i can’t not talk about that end scene. holy. fucking. shit. the cinematography, the song choice, the way it swelled as max rose from the ground, the tension, the suspense, the goddamn flashbacks. all of it was just fucking breathtaking. i was crying and shaking the whole time. max’s determination to get back to her family, the way she collapses in lucas’s arms. absolutely the best scene in stranger things history, and one of my favourite scenes of all time in anything ever. chills. every time. and sadie sink deserves all the awards for her performance, i’ll stand by that. icon behaviour.

• the vecna/001 storyline:

this had me gripped from the start. honestly, i was so intrigued the whole time—and it was played out incredibly well.

from the first scene making us think eleven killed those kids, to the big reveal that 001 had been behind it all along, to eleven blasting him into the upside down and creating vecna. phew. was on the edge of my seat from the start.

it also makes sense in a way that’s not too perfect, but just perfect enough. it’s a reason for all previous seasons, a perfect storm. it felt like the stuff of epics, the final enemy, the final battle. mwah, i loved it.

• eddie, steve and dustin:

i loved them this season. best boys 4 life.

we got the steve and dustin best bros dynamic back, plus seeing how much they mean to each other through eddie coming between them. perfection. i love those little doofuses.

and eddie himself was great. brilliant character, comedic and interesting. good job joe quinn.

•lumax:

i’d never really hated or loved this ship before season 4. i mean, it was kinda cute, but i never got all the hype surrounding it. now, i think i do.

their angst this season was just 😤. the way you can so clearly see that they still care for each other, the way they still need each other. lucas being max’s safe haven. max being the one lucas is vulnerable around. amazing, spectacular. it’s clear they love each other, they just need to figure some stuff out first. my second fav ship of the season.

and here we go, my favourite thing from stranger things season 4 vol 1:

• RONANCE!!!!

oh. my. god. these two stole the show for me.

their dynamic was just immaculate the whole way through—from bickering strangers to grudging allies to genuine friendship. it was exactly what i imagined for them and natalia and maya played it so well. their scenes were honestly my favourite. and whilst i love them as friends, i’m a feral ronance shipper—and lemme tell you, i was FED.

firstly, robin tells steve in the video store that she rambles around the girls she likes. cut to robin talking non-stop around nancy in the library. ROBIN I KNOW UR SECRET BABE.

then, we see tammy thompson (finally), who could be a carbon copy of nancy wheeler, from the style down to the heart eyes for steve. SHIT robin, do you have a type—popular pretty girl who falls for the preppy pretty boy? just admit you like nancy already oh my god.

robin’s obsession with having nancy like her?? the fucking lesbianism of it! like, wanting this other girl so desperately to think you’re cool that you end up being so annoying she has to shut you up with mystery and monsters? the gay agenda. needing to be her friend but you don’t know why until—oh shit, that’s why.

the way they just complete each other!!! they bounce off each other so easily, coming up with all the plans and the genius ideas and basically saving the whole group together. the way they play off each other in the asylum, convincing the guy to let them see victor (and holy shit the way nancy looks at robin during her speech). they save max’s life together, and are the only reason the group can save themselves from vecna and i just think that’s neat.

finally, to address the stancy plot line. it’s clear the duffers are trying to make it seem like steve and nancy will get back together, and who knows, maybe they will. but i think (i hope) the duffers are smarter than that.

nancy and steve are the characters who have had the most development over the course of the show. they’ve both grown into themselves, become different and better people. and to have them get back together would completely defeat their respective arcs. i can see them being good friends, but i don’t think they’d realistically work as a couple again.

for one reason, it was made clear in nancy’s vecna vision that her biggest fear, the thing that haunts her most, is that she killed barb, that barb died because she slept with steve. that shit still fucks with 3 years later. and i think she’ll always associate that guilt with him, no matter what. i don’t think she’ll move past that enough to have a healthy relationship with him.

for another, steve clearly doesn’t know what he wants—and i think he needs to figure that out on his own. he’s desperate for love, that’s obvious, and he’s latched onto nancy because she’s his ex who’s showing interest. i think he needs to come into himself a little more before he thinks of trying a relationship.

finally, it’d be pretty cruel of the duffer brothers to have nancy do what she did to steve with jonathan to jonathan with steve. it’d be unoriginal and disappointing, and it wouldn’t really make sense. at least have nancy and jonathan break up officially first, you know?

so no, i don’t think steve and nancy will get back together. and i also think jonathan and nancy will break up when she realises they don’t need each other anymore. they were trauma-bonded, that’s true, but she’s doing well on her own, and they want to take separate paths in life. so that leaves nancy a single pringle.

and who’s right there with her? robin motherfucking buckley.

robin, who annoyed the shit out of her at first, who is frustratingly clever and infuriatingly funny. robin, who saved max’s life, who tried to help nancy, unselfishly, with her love life when they barely even knew each other. robin, who’s become the closest thing she has to a friend since barb.

robin, who i think is gonna save her life.

last time we saw nancy, she was under vecna’s curse. and we all know the only way to break the trance is to play that person’s favourite song. and sure, steve might know it and that’ll be that, but what if he doesn’t? what if he can’t save her?

robin will step in. we saw her routing through nancy’s draws in her room, and we saw her holding some of nancy’s tapes. i don’t think that was a coincidence. i think robin knows nancy’s favourite song and is going to save her life with it.

and boom. just like that, robin stops being the annoying new friend. robin becomes the life-saver, the ally, the rock in the middle of the hurricane. and nancy starts to fall for her.

but what do i know, eh?

anyways, those are my thoughts on season 4 volume 1!!!! i’d love to hear yours—just send me an ask, some of your ideas about what’s gonna happen in vol 2, what your thoughts about the first volume are—love you guys :)

[nadia-zahra]

St5 byler speculation

This is some st5 speculation based off of will and mike’s last heart to heart in st4.

This is the scene I’m referring to btw:

First things first I just have to say that the Duffer brothers have said (don’t know if they were lying or not) that we would be able to figure what happens in season 5 from what’s given to us in 4. Ok now for the actual theorizing:

The first thing that happens is Mike tells Will him and El aren’t speaking and haven’t really spoken much since the love confession. Obviously this means El and Mike are still going to have relationship problems in season 5, but more importantly this means that El is definitely done with Mike’s bullshit. I’m assuming them not talking, even after Mike said ily in that horrendous monologue, that El is going to break up with him. Maybe she’s not breaking up with him because of his inability to say I Love You. Cause I mean literally this whole season was about that and we do get mike saying ily in the love confession. maybe its because her new sense of independence let’s her know she doesn’t need Mike’s (or anybody’s) opinion of her to make her feel good ab herself. And also she probably feels like she needs to focus on Max and Vecna but that’s for a whole other day lol.

Second thing that happens is Mike and will sitting down on the couch; this is where the rest of their convo happens. Now a lot of people have pointed out that the couch is upside and this could mean that Mike and Will will be in the upside for the next season. However, I would like to add this: Mike is the first one to sit on the couch…Mike is the first one to end up in the upside down. Will follows him onto the couch, and has to put the cushion down to sit…Will chooses to go into the upside down to save Mike. I think if Mike is the first to end up in the UD, then he is getting Vecna’d. That’s really the only plausible reason why he would be in there since there are no more gates. The Duffer brothers have said that st5 is going to circle back to st1 and it’s going to have a lot of the same character pairings. Wouldn’t it be crazy if instead of Will being lost in the upside down, it was Mike, and instead of Mike looking for Will, ITS WILL LOOKING FOR MIKE. i wouldn’t think, if this is true and Mike does get stuck in the ud, that they’d have him in there for a week considering most seasons have been set within a weeks time span. But the idea of them flipping they’re dynamic from season one is chef’s kiss.

Moving on to the third thing: lighting. Will is bathed in sunlight and Mike is pretty much in the shadows—except when he grabs to will. There’s dozens of analyses on the lighting in this shot, and I don’t really want to resay what’s already been so heavily spoken on. But I will say this as my own little spin on the lighting’s meaning: what if the light being almost like a spotlight on Will means that he is going to be the one to save the day? I mean think about it like this. In media and literature, there’s always a parallel between good and bad and light and dark. If Will does chase mike into the ud, or is trying to save him, Will would be mike’s light in the darkness. Mike is shown all the way out of the light, it actually kinda looks like Finn was told to position himself out of it. This could mean that Mike is stuck in that negative ass headspace while in the ud, he’s going to struggle with not letting Vecna get him. But Will is his light, and just like in this scene, mike will reach out for that light. For the goodness that will save him from being vecna’s next victim. You can also note how Mike’s grip on this scene is extremely tight (ik Noah’s shoulder must’ve hurt after that lol) and a lot of bylers have used that as byler evidence, but I’m going to use the death grip he gives as symbolism for him reaching out to Will for safety for dear life.

Fourth thing: Will talking ab his connection to Vecna. He hasn’t been in Hawkins for even a day and it has all flooded back to him. The being able to see through Vecna’s eyes, hear his thoughts, feel his presence. The connection is just as strong (if not stronger) than before he left. If Will ends up in the ud looking for Mike, this will obviously play a disgustingly huge role. I mean I can see us getting scenes where Will is talking to Vecna through his mind, getting a zoom in on the back of Will’s neck and then HEARING VECNA TALK TO WILL, and just so much more. Like can we pleaseeeee get Will doing a full on Harry Potter v. Voldemort battle?? This isn’t even me speculating that this is me wishing. Oh and I am going to make a post regarding the parallels between Will and Harry because everyone loves doing it with El but I feel there’s so many more with Will it’s insane. I have completely gotten off track let’s move on.

Idk what number we’re on now, but I was rewatching the clip and forgot to discuss them talking ab el. Now there are a lot of things through out the season that point to el not defeating vecna, and it being someone else (I will also be doing a post ab the d&d game because HOLY SHIT does it have some juice to it) but when talking about specifically this scene, mike says that she’s never lost like this before. Ok actually I’m going to have to rope in the d&d game a lil bit for this to make sense. So in the d&d game Eddie explains how vecna has returned from the dead even tho it was believed he was killed. We end st4 with everyone thinking Vecna is dead (dare I add how both in the d&d game he is missing a left arm and in the fight between him and the three older kids Nancy and robin both aim for his left arm). But in the game we watch a bunch of players die (to reassure those who think I would say st5 everyone is going to die but two people, no. That is absurd) and they’re left with only two chances to kill vecna. it’s not the 11 that kills him it’s a 20. Going back to this scene with mike and will (I am sorry for how messy this paragraph is it’s 1am and I’m just waiting for my goddamn script) Mike says El’s never lost like this. We can parallel El to the person that had supposedly tried to kill vecna but didn’t. Then Will goes on to say “she’ll have another chance” mike says “let’s hope not”. Now, this is kind of reaching but I think this scene with mike and will in regards to el is solidifying the idea of El not saving Hawkins. If the d&d game is true, and it’s not 11 but 20 (I have searched throughout this entire fucking season for even an inkling of a 20 being even AROUND a character but no hope so far) then mike saying, after Will says she has another chance, “let’s hope not” could be the writers telling us “El isn’t going to be the hero”. Also love that Will goes into brother mode when Mike talks ab her doubts, he is such a lovely brother.

Final thing I noticed: mike repeating “we will. we will”. I don’t care if I’m wrong ab what those words mean, but I don’t think I KNOW these words hold weight and tell us something ab st5. Think about it, Mike only ever repeats something if he is really trying to put emphasis on it. He did that with “we’re just friends”. The writers are telling us to pay attention to these words. And I think that it’s just such an odd sentence to begin with. It’s one of those sentences that only the writers would write with the intentions of it alluding to what’s to come. (Edit: I’m sorry to add it here but I reread this and I need to say that OBVIOUSLY THE WE WILL MEANS THEYRE GOING TO WIN. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that at the end of the show the bad guy loses. I’m talking ab more so “who” is doing the “will” so to speak… who will kill vecna 😐). I’m just going to throw out the idea of this alluding to will and mike fighting vecna, but it’s Will that ultimately kills him. Because if you break it down (analyzing a two word sentence is so fun! *said sarcastically*) the “we” mike is referring to could really only be two possibilities: it’s either him talking about mike + Will, or him talking ab the entire group. It’s not just a singular person that’s killing vecna. So to make that statement work with my “Will is killing vecna” theory. In the ud, mike and will hatch up a plan that involves both of them killing vecna. However, when it all comes down to it, it’s going to be Will that kills vecna. Even this little theory I just cooked up in three seconds works with the sentence. “We (mike and will as a team destroy vecna) will ( will kills vecna by himself)”.

So hears my little st5 theory based off of that scene (and this is really only in regards to Will + Mike obviously): Mike gets vecna’d, but instead of dying he, he like max, gets trapped in the upside down. I’m going to throw this in here for fun and because I really want it to happen, but Vecna first gets mike by making an illusion of him at the quarry and vecna is basically harassing Mike for jumping off. Anyways, Will finds out (maybe he’s with mike? Idk it’s 2am leave me alone) that Mike is stuck in the upside down and goes after him. Will is in contact with vecna and scared of it but he knows that with this connection they can find him easier and can learn his weaknesses. Will does find Mike and their reunion would probably make byler shippers have a full on exorcism (I’m thinking the reunion scene would probably be a parallel of their reunion at the airport, but instead of the awkward side hug, they’re like crying and holding each other for dear life). Mike and Will will create a plan to kill good ole vecky. While on that journey they most definitely would have a heart to heart and I think this convo would make byler cannon. Also while on the journey Will would probably be seeing some crazy shit from Vecna and the closer and closer they get to him the worse it’s going to get. Once they actually do meet vecna mike and will begin their plan. Idk what the details of the plan would be or how it would lead to this, but it would lead to Will being the one to end vecna’s life. With or without mikes help, Will is killing him. I think while all this is going down throughout the season (can you imagine if all I just said only happens in like one episode Jesus Christ that’d be crazy) El is trying to figure out a way to gain back her confidence in her abilities, El and mike definitely break up before he gets vecna’d, and (PLEASE DONT MURDER ME THIS IS JUST A THEORY) in el and vecna’s final batte El loses….and dies. IK NO ONE WANTS HER DEAD I DONT EITHER I LOVE HER CHARACTER. But there’s just so much that shows her death and like not to mention story telling wise, going with the story of the whole show not just the final season, it makes sense. And like if they’re alluding to her not winning the final battle, how tf do y’all think that’s gonna play out? What she’s just magically gonna live because she said pretty please at the hands of vecna’s mercy? I don’t think so. Anyways this concludes this EXTREMELY long analysis. I’m going to check if I got the papa script now lol.

[mlchaelwheeler]

What are some good Byler blogs that aren't as popular?

hehe ok, i have absolutely no sense of which blogs on here are "popular" or not, so i'm just gonna list a couple dear mutuals of mine,, and i highly recommend all of their blogs for a variety of reasons. in alphabetical order (bc i don't play favorites 🫶):

@blackdeathmamba

@blueeandyellowmakesgreen

@bylertruther

@creepycoven

@elsghost

@frodohaven

@hawkinsp0st

@loveqbrl

@nancysglock

@new-ronantics

@quinnick

@ratt-duffer

@straightbyers

@strangeswift

@thranduel

@wibble-wobbegong

@willandmichael

@wiseatom

[skrittle-mix]

you're right about the script, the more i look into it the less it seems like it's fake. because why would anyone write these oddly specific things? like what, someone was in silly goofy mood and made this shit up for no reason?? also the fact that st writers didn't even contact nick (or called him out specifically) makes it all more suspicious, idk what to think anymore

theres so many small things that are adding up that it feels like you can't really ignore it at this point. at first I thought maybe nick ended up getting scammed because the gfm still seemed legit, main point being that it was set up at the end of may but didnt get traction until the start of july and even then its not like he was really broadcasting it anywhere iirc. the closest thing that came to that was linking the donation link because someone posted the script to dear billy. he seemed to be super transparent about where the funding would be going on the gfm page and he seems enthusiastic about people being interested in screenwriting. it looks like he is trying to give back and engage with this community, its hard to believe this was all done in bad faith.

now, it seems like there's either a whole load of miscommunication, or the writers twitter fucked up.

the tweet imo was honestly, kind of shady. the wording is interesting, the use of leaked and then saying "don't pay for the scripts" when they were incentives to donate. its as if the account isnt actually aware of the full situation and just pulled a blanket statement of sorts to calm the fan base. someone mentioned the fact that they were quick to call out BritishGQ for their false articles, but to not mention 8FLiX makes everything sort of uncomfortable. As you said, for them to not contact him or call him out is suspicious, if they knew even a small bit of what was really going on they could have posted a bit of the van scene to confirm it was a scam. they're willing to show us scenes all of a sudden but can't share a single one from 4x08? I'd hate to believe they've knowingly hurt someone's reputation just to keep some secrets, but unfortunately, we can't rule that out.

the bits in the actual script are so odd if they are fake, cause the only way they make sense is if the script was real.

(X)

(X) - has a picture of the tanks relative to the ceiling (I’m almost certain this was what the duffers had wanted but they probably had height/other restrictions)

(X)

edit: theres also a really weird note in Brenner scene in the script 

(X)

[itsryuworld]

what happened with vol.2? I'm the only one feeling robbed?

what the hell happened with jason and his friends chasing the hellfire? suddenly became a "sinclair's hunting" out of nowhere. i don't get it.

what about stancy? robin said steve didn't know what he wants but then he's been thinking in his six nuggets with nancy bc always has been nancy? what?

max was robbed too! i love her so much, she did an amazing performance in "dear billy" but then?? awful. i prefer her to die than her staying in that position now.

lucas was there just to be max support? that's unfair, he deserves his own arc too.

why has karen his own poster this season? she didn't do anything relevant.

eddie died for no reason. he didn't need to come back, but he did it anyway. he was perfectly portrayed and everybody loves him but still someone needs to die and they don't take risks so there's eddie, let him die or whatever.

eleven was learning so much about herself, growing up and find her way, and then she's with mike again and everything gets awkward again. she has her powers now and she's bald, so mike can be her boyfriend again, seriously? don't do this to her!

and will, oh let me start with will! they made him dirty again!! he was there just to suffer and suddenly became a matchmaker for m*lvn despite his own feelings, so he's again hurting and sad, and they promised a will's amazing coming out scene (and it was sweet and significant, but wasn't enough) but it DIDN'T HAPPEND. "will's sexuality will be adressed this season" it wasn't. people are still saying he's not gay and he's in love with eleven. how can you do this to him again? stop it.

and what on earth happened with mike wheeler? i don't know him anymore. he's now eleven's boyfriend but nothing else. he's an asshole and he's useless at this point. he's just there to makes her girlfriend stronger with power of love. he's a bad friend, a bad boyfriend, a bad person even. why mike turns out this way? it's terrible, he's so unlikable now and its sad, i feel so sorry for him.

and what was so funny, though? the cast said things that never happened. we've been tricked? they talked about a lot amazing things but we got nothing. i am so disappointed, only two episodies but it was so awful and disgusting. not will vecna'd? no, even when we saw the harness? the swingset? the "trying to be normal in the pattern, he's trying new things"? nothing happend.

i just feel like vol.2 doesn't fit vol.1 for a lot of reasons. what the fuck they did? mike saying "a fight you can't back from" but then "i love you el, the day i meet you in the woods my life started, i can't live without you"

it feels so out of place, i'm sorry. everything was weird to me. but byler EVEN WIERERD. they set up everyhing for what? will sad and heart broken once again while m*lvn are the main couple for no reason?? and still it seems like byler could actually be something in s5 because we had some hints too! i'm so exhausted but still i'm a delusional for byler.

i don't expect my ship anymore, because they'll need to do A LOT of work to fix it after put mike to saying "meeting you in the woods was the best day of my life" with will stading by his side and despite that was will's worst time bc was taken to the upside down and was traumatized for doing nothing wrong in his life!!

byler vol.1 should be ashamed of byler vol.2!! they were crazy for eachother in vol.1, ready to jump into eachothers arms and THEN WHAT? mike was afraid to lose eleven that's why he didin't say "i love you" before? NO SHIT. doesn't make sense.

i'm done. you better make a perfect byler endgame explaining everything or just stop playing with our hearts and give will a boyfriend an let him be happy, duffer brothers!!!