wickeddreamerr

[wickeddreamerr]

Immm crazy frog sad and why!

@higuysetc @jesslikestowrite @pointmetotheundertow @gay-lien-from-space @clericscauldron @muduus @iheartqueers @spookytreerebel @the-bogginses-are-gay @televangelistics @sleepy-husk @fatfatgaybitch @sashet-of-ketchup @iloverobinbyckley @sufferingfrommoodpoisoning

Please join anyone who wants to! I would love to tag everyoneee :(

WHAT AM I TO YOU?

u know the drill

[wickeddreamerr]

Thank you!

I’m so sorry everyone that i couldn’t tag!! Please anyone who wants to join , join!!

@higuysetc @vampirementality @gay-lien-from-space @pavuchokk @muduus @voidcrumbs @sashet-of-ketchup @clericscauldron @pointmetotheundertow @the-bogginses-are-gay @sufferingfrommoodpoisoning @iloverobinbyckley @wizardelio @iheartqueers @televangelistics @star-41306 @foxxf1nch @mabthemab @freakycass @sirvinkunt @spookytreerebel @moonlight-froggy

⌗ DO THIS PICREW AND TAG MOOTS .ᐟ ֹ₊⊹

tags .ᐟ @glowydiaries @hers-underwraps @calamaroo @your-mommy-ems @pinkwinesupernovas @gentlehue @sweetheartcrush @lovestruckhaze @binibby @swagvie @haeerizm @auntiejohn @cherryribbcns @pjxcksonswrd @jjsblueberry @daystarpoet @lovethornes @pottersdeer @ultimatelyangel @lilywalkers @maybxlle @loveuimsorry @caramelmiacchiato @catchmeonyourceiling @willucryy @inkstainsonmysheets @catacombspooks @ssparksflyy @ccupcakqs @moefangzz @xoxoivy13 @dollysdoe

[wickeddreamerr]

SOMEONE TELL HIM HE GETS THE BOY

[wickeddreamerr]

Thank you so much for this.

To add something little;

‘A beloved hand radio is heavily tied to Henry Creel. He uses static like Eleven at first to explore his powers, but high pitched frequencies are a weakness.’

“Henry’s hand radio acts like his Cerebro”

This kinda confirms the theory of why radio station will be so important in Season 5. They’ll weaken everything by using high-pitched frequencies then.But it could be use against El by the soldiers which why we see her screaming with her ears covered probably.

And again, it could pave the way for Will to spy on Vecna almost like his own version of Cerebro for the Upside Down.

As OP mentioned, there’s definitely much more to take away from this.I’m hoping for a stream soon too <3

Just Saw Stranger Things: The First Shadow, AMA

I was lucky enough to see Stranger Things: The First Shadow on Broadway recently. I'll leave my anon asks open for a short period if anyone has any questions about the play, or wants to discuss any details.

For a brief overview, Stranger Things: The First Shadow is a theatrical prequel that takes place decades before the start of the popular Netflix show. Set in Hawkins, Indiana, in 1959, the play provides the necessary backstory of how the Upside Down alternate dimension, and Dr. Brenner's lab, came to be.

The story follows a young Henry Creel as he moves to Hawkins and enrolls as a freshman at Hawkins High. After exhibiting disturbing telekinetic powers, he becomes Dr. Brenner's first test subject, later known as One. The play also features teenage versions of familiar characters from the show, including Joyce Byers, Jim Hopper, Bob Newby, and others. A new character, Patty Newby, Bob's sister, is introduced as a friend/love interest to Henry. As Henry grapples with disturbing visions and the influence of the Mind Flayer, his classmates must band together to save him and their town from a new, terrifying threat.

Overall, I would personally rate it 3/5 stars. If I could describe it in one word, it would be intense. By the same VFX artists of Harry Potter and Cursed Child and Back to the Future The Musical, this was a visually exciting treat for the eyes.

I will just include my initial thoughts and in-depth review of the show below (so keep reading). I have a semi-photographic memory, yet remembering dialogue will be very hard for me. For now, I will summarize and point out the most interesting things that stood out to me as a long-time fan of Stranger Things (with a brief Byler, Elmike analysis for S5).

*Warning for The First Shadow spoilers and st5 speculation ahead!*

Virginia Creel (Henry/Vecna's mom) is very similar to Will's father Lonnie, who has a small part in the play as the teen version of himself (where he has an on-and-off again relationship with Joyce). We've gotten parallels to Will and Henry ("sensitive children"), but both parents attempt to recondition ("fix") their children leading to dire consequences.

A beloved hand radio is heavily tied to Henry Creel. He uses static like Eleven at first to explore his powers, but high pitched frequencies are a weakness. Radio iconography is prevalent throughout, as Bob Newby has a radio show that bookends plenty of sequences.

Henry becomes possessed by the MF after trespassing and puncturing his hand at Brenner's military facility in Nevada, where the Creel family was originally from. Years before, a Navy ship testing stealth radar technology got transported into the Upside Down, bringing back with them the MF and tales of the UD.

While Henry is possessed, and perhaps years of suffering caused psychic/physiological damage, Henry has nervous ticks. They look like jolts of electricity through his body. When he is nervous/filled with rage, he short circuits the lights (and Bob's radio show). Beyond that, it is uncertain if he is coded to already have had schizophrenia, or be on the spectrum. I am not trying to armchair diagnose him, or perpetuate harmful stereotypes. Yet, because this new insight into his character flirts with this, I must mention it. The spider obsession/imagery (a common schizophrenic hallucination) suggests the former.

He is also Norman Bates-coded, having an intense (oedipus) relationship with his mother. This is sort of transferred onto Patty (who's father is like Virginia, which they bond over this shared trauma).

We meet Dr. Brenner's father, and he is heavily tied to the origins of the UD (he was on the navy ship). We see how and why Brenner becomes obsessed with opening a portal. It's a mantel passed down to him.

Henry is portrayed differently at first. He resembles Crispin Glover's George Mcfly from Back To The Future, rather than (imo) Jamie Bower's Wonka-esque facade as One. His transition to One is slightly rushed.

There is a lot of incest humor in the similar vein to Marty and Lorraine gag, too. I also kind of got Heathers (The Musical) vibes, just a little.

Ted Wheeler is Babygirl TM, had a pet hedgehog, and loves playing his guitar to the musical Oklahoma. Both he and Karen Wheeler are portrayed as extremely ditzy, and it's a wonder how they raised Nancy. You really don't see/get to know the Sinclairs.

The Hendersons (Dustin's parents) are not nice people, and are interesting (morally gray) characters. They kind of resemble Tommy and Carol (bullies from S1 and S2). The dynamic between Claudia (his mom) and Dustin is now slightly worrying. She subscribes to satanic panic, which makes Dustin's involvement in Hellfire much more consequential.

Bob Newby parallels Dustin Henderson. Their respectively love triangles are similar. As Dustin was on the outskirts of Lumax in S2, Bob is the third wheel to Jopper (also hinted at in S2). Both are inventors, and AV club members. Bob is most like his adult counterpart, too.

Joyce is probably the most different as a teenager. She has some moments where she'll remind you of her adult counterpart. She picks up an axe at one point, then she's seen with Christmas lights, and has one moment of coming off as a "crazy" conspiracy theorist (lotta Jopper S3 vibes). Yet, she is an exuberant, colorful, and theatrical director of a school play with high aspirations. She would get along well with Eddie Munson, whose father is present as a bonafide drama geek. Her portrayal reminded me of Holly Hunter in Broadcast News (which, I know, is a niche reference, sorry).

There is a metatexual play within a play plot. Joyce directs a play starring Henry Creel and Patty Newby as its leads. Not quite sure if the play is based off of a real one, but it is as if The Scarlet Letter was also about a Salem witch trial with "Dark Moon" in its title. It centers around a "witch boy" who has a baby with a human townswoman (this out of wedlock baby has ties to both Eleven and Patty Newby's past).

Brenner's "rainbow project" steals Henry's blood to produce telekinetic children (including Eleven), and he refers to Henry at one point as a "father" as well as referring to the lab's child experiments as his "brothers and sisters."

One exchange between Henry and Patty as they read their lines goes like: "It's a sad ending," Patty says. Henry replies, "We can make it a happy ending," and something something, Patty goes, "Let's make it a gay one." 👀 🌈 In the 50s, gay meant a happy ol' time, but at the turn of this decade (going into the 60s, this is 1959) it started to be widely adopted as another term for homosexual. This is a Byler nod, if I ever seen one.

Dr. Brenner and Henry share A LOT of physical touch. It is meant to be disturbing. There are no boundaries between them. This is suggestive of a deeper, more worrying psychosexual relationship of grooming. It never *goes* there, it only suggests with caresses/brief embraces, but it's more apparent with them than Brenner with El. However, in the Netflix show, Henry as Vecna exhibits the same exact traits towards Eleven (and Will) that Brenner did to him as One. Perhaps, the term "Papa" takes on a new, twisted meaning… Brenner is straight up evil in this.

Patty and Henry are obsessed with a superhero called Captain Midnight. Patty has an almost identical scene to Mike's confession during the Piggyback sequence, but with Henry at the lab. I've seen a lot of parallels of Henry/Patty to Byler, but dare I say, their relationship more so resembles Elmike's. We DO NOT wish for Henry and Patty's love to find Byler.

Though, Patty, at one point, has a MF version of herself that tortures Henry in the Hawkins High bathroom, which is something fans want to see out of Mike in S5 (idk). They also spend a lengthy scene inside a church, where the main topic is sharing confessions. This maybe sets up churchgate (again, who is to say).

The word "normal" is thrown around a lot. Henry really wants to be "normal". Patty attempts to tell him his differences are a gift, he's better for being different (possibly another Byler parallel, or an Elmike one, idk). Ultimately, it doesn't work. She gets a semi-happy ending, and her family secrets are revealed. Though, she is left disabled.

The show is very visual effects heavy, which mostly resembles the iconography of ST2 (huge Mind Flayer set piece). Henry has a lot of void sequences that uses screens/CGI.

There is a Vegas subplot, with a song and dance number with showgirls. Will mentioned wanting to go to Vegas with Eleven and Mike. Vegas this, Vegas that, I guess. MF likes to gamble.

We get to see more of Hopper and Joyce's relationship, and they get a haunted house escapade into the Creel house (like season 4). They are the cause of the Victor Creel rumors.

Hopper has a similar dilemma to the background character Patrick, who got Vecna'd in Season 4. He has a volatile relationship with his father. Hopper blames himself for what happened to the Creel family. A lot of themes of PTSD from the war (multiple characters served in WWII), and at one point Hopper is curled up next to the dead body of Alice Creel (not explicit). This kind of foreshadows his issues with losing Sarah (and agent orange). At the end of the play, Hopper is shipped off to the army and says goodbye to Joyce at Christmas.

This show really doesn't give a F*** about the time period, lol. The period piece aspect barely registers, especially with modern line deliveries and the lingo they use. Again, like Back To The Future, it's an 80s version of the 50s. What does a lot of the heavy lifting is the 50s music Bob plays on his radio show.

There are multiple upstage and downstage happenings going on, overlapping dialogue, and what I would call intercutting in film (fast transitions between multiple storylines). This is what gives the play a chaotic tone and pace. Actors have very physically demanding roles. There is a lot of complicated choreography/blocking. The theater had a revolving stage. As well as windows/frames, like what you imagine looking into a doll house would be.

There are two finales, an attic séance in the Creel house, and a runaway bid from Brenner to escape with Patty during the school play. Again, the latter is Heathers-coded.

There is an emotional connection to the attic. Important scenes happen with both Virginia and Patty there. It alludes to why Henry chooses it to be his most vulnerable place in S4, which acts like Charles Xavier's Cerebro from the X-Men Comics. Henry's hand-radio acts as his Cerebro, too.

TW/CW for animal deaths, and animal abuse. Not unlike the rabbit trap scene in S4 (or Eleven and the lab's cat in S1). Though, in this iteration, Henry doesn't do it on purpose. There is a lot of retconning, this is one example. It's a major thread in the story, so I must mention it here.

Henry is (imo nominally) misguided, and misunderstood. He experiences a (Billy) redemption arc of sorts. His tragic character arc is not entirely his own doing (blame Dr. Brenner and the MF). Though, his decision to *off* his family is his defining villain moment (he's semi-pushed into it, but whatever).

A LOT of daddy issues going on here. It's like an episode of Oprah. YOU get daddy issues… And YOU get daddy issues. 🫵🏻🫵🏻🫵🏻 I was about to check under my seat. 💀 It's an extremely relevant theme to the show, so it's a nice thematic tie-in.

We get Hopby (Hopper and Bob) friendship scenes. 🙏🏻 This was a Bob appreciation show.

Hopefully an official recording of this play will stream on Netflix soon for everyone to see. This show creates so much st5 speculation and theories for me, some of which I mentioned. If you watched the BTS documentary for The First Shadow, you will know the playwright and screenwriter, Kate, had to edit out a lot of spoilers for season five from this play, so it's safe to assume a lot of this backstory will be referenced. If I remember any more details I'll add them as edits. If I get any questions I'll answer them with a reblog to this post.

*Stills of actual play are not mine.

[wickeddreamerr]

drew this on my phone for 5 hours

[wickeddreamerr]

"You're the heart" is the gayest thing I've ever heard ngl

[wickeddreamerr]

Please be kind, rewind

Interstellar, time loops, Will’s vanishing, and… flickergate?

The duffers admitted to have been inspired by Christopher Nolan in s2 (his movie The Dark Knight). In the s4 inspiration board, The Dark Knight appears again. Christopher Nolan’s most famous film is not The Dark Knight, but Interstellar. You know, the one with time loops, time travel, and a “oh lord, it was right in front of me this whole time, it had been him since the start” moment.

I need to start putting spoiler warnings, so, spoilers ahead.

The movie is about Joseph Cooper, who lives in a futuristic world where humanity fears extinction because of dust storms and crop blights. He works on a farm with his children and wife, and even tho he used to be an astronaut, he retired from it. So, when his daughter notices weird patterns caused by the sand in her room (like, very unusual and unnatural), he notices it’s binary code and decides to translate it into geographic coordinates, which takes them to a secret NASA facility. Normal.

(Doesn’t it kinda remind you of the cali plot, with Will, Mike, Jonathan, and Argyle trying to find NINA through coordinates?)

The head of the facility tells them about a wormhole that appeared near Saturn 48 years prior, which lead to another galaxy, which could have habitable planets (for humanity to move into, since earth was practically killing them). Other astronauts went there to investigate and all went well, so our guy Joseph decides he’ll get back to work and do it. After all, he would help save humanity.

His daughter isn’t happy about this and she’s scared of him going, but he goes anyway (despite the fact that he hates to leave her). She doesn’t even tell him goodbye, because she’s mad and hurt and she’s just a child. He leaves her a wristwatch, so that when he comes back they could compare the time in her watch vs his, since in space it works differently.

While in space, Joseph receives videos and messages from his family, and he sees them grow up, get married, etc, while time for him goes so slowly he doesn’t age and doesn’t feel the years pass. A bunch of things happen that aren’t relevant to this post, and eventually Joseph finds himself (while on space) in a tesseract, which looks like a bookshelf, and he realizes it’s the same bookshelf as the one his daughter had in her room, but that there are multiple timelines. Through the tesseract, he can communicate with his daughter. His daughter from the past. The weird patterns in the sand were made by him, in the future. He was trying to communicate with her, and with his past self, to tell him to not go on the mission, since it was doomed since the start.

His daughter figures it out, once she’s an adult. He tells her through Morse code by moving the wristwatch he gave her (which she always held on to, because she loves her dad). He says “STAY”, trying to get his past self to stay. Eventually he makes the patterns in the sand, since he knows he can’t change the past (that would be a paradox, since if he never went to space, he wouldn’t even arrived to the tesseract so HOW could he communicate from there).

Other things happen, like Joseph and his daughter eventually reuniting, while he is the same age as he was before he left while she’s an old lady, but let’s leave it here.

Ok don’t go so fast. What?

Well, I’m just saying it wouldn’t be the first time a fictional character tries to send a message to their past selves (or past versions of people they know). We have Joseph Cooper as an example. To not even mention Back to The Future, see picture above. That’s Marty McFly, our time-traveling friend, time traveling and seeing himself just before he time travelled for the first time. It also resembles the scene of Joseph seeing himself in the past through the bookshelf. And it also resembles that strange and unexplained picture of Will, on the night he vanished, looking into the glowing shed? For some reason? Seeing himself get kidnapped, apparently.

Let’s look at them again

They’re so similar, it’s insane. And I’m also gonna go and add some twin peaks similarities, with Mike being present at the time of Laura’s (who Will is paralleled to) death (which happened inside a shed), trying to stop it (and being unsuccessful).

(I think Will could time travel back in time (either alone or with company) to try to stop his disappearance, and while watching it he will be surprised (since his memories of the ud are fuzzy, and those of his vanishing probably are aswell), because it was a Vecna vision! Ok that’s my theory, it could very well not be, but whether it was a demogorgon, Vecna, Vecna making himself look like Lonnie, Lonnie, the lab, a Vecna vision, or whatever, the audience will FINALLY KNOW and it will be the reveal.)

(And of course, Will will be unable to stop his disappearance since it was always meant to happen etc. And also because maybe his disappearance was the best possible outcome, and Vecna was saving him from something even worse smth smth he wants to kill everyone but me (ok this is also one of my theories))

There are some dialogue in the movie that made me go 🤨🤨

The bridge. You mean like this bridge?

And, when TARS (his robot friend) asks him how he’s going to communicate with his daughter, he says

And then he realizes he can tell her through the watch, in Morse code.

Love is the key. Key. Like this key?

Love is the key to communication. Something something, the only part of Will’s body he could control while deep into his possession was the hand that Mike held, and through it he managed to communicate in Morse code. Or, you know, whatever.

Personally, I don’t believe in flickergate. It’s very fun and I’ll definitely will be very happy if it happens, but I don’t think so. However, I do support the idea of someone (likely Will) in the ud in s5 trying to communicate with the past (and likely succeeding, even if the past characters don’t notice/understand). Maybe through light flickers, who knows. However, interstellar gives flickergate a little basis to stand on (as long as the flicker was intentional, and they were intentionally trying to communicate with past Mike and Will, trying to stop Will from going home, aka: STAY (which is what Joseph sends his daughter through Morse code, before realizing it’s futile, it was always going to happen)

(@bugssavetheworld)

[wickeddreamerr]

the fact that one of the closing scenes of season 2 was supposed to be will longingly looking at mike while he dances with el at the snowball is so telling. imagine if that actually happened. it would have completely shifted the tone of the ending. we would have gone into season 3 knowing will is in love with mike. we would have viewed everything that happened after that in a different light and dare i say it would have made byler endgame obvious… because ending a season with a scene that is so unashamedly from wills perspective would mean that we’re meant to sympathize with will rather than enjoy the moment between mike and el. and every byler moment afterward would have felt like an even more obvious build up to their relationship. plus mike and el weren’t supposed to kiss in the snowball scene. it was millie’s idea to have them kiss for the fans. it was quite literally fan service. so… we know they went with the will being in love with mike storyline anyway. they have since the beginning. but they removed that one vital scene to make it obvious early on… i wonder why. that is a very strange decision to make when you think about it

[wickeddreamerr]

Mike didn’t just “profess his love” for El, by the way.He sacrificed his own happiness to save her.

Because saying “I love you” meant committing to a real relationship , something he was trying to escape from.

And of all people, El would be one of the last to want to see Mike unhappy.And she deserves the best for herself.

I can’t wait to finally watch their beautiful friendship.

[wickeddreamerr]

I haven’t talked about this before, but the very first time I got into Tumblr, I sent him my essay on Mike Wheeler’s closeted journey. He told me I should divide it into separate posts that would help it to reach people more. He supported me and said he’d make sure to follow me. That’s what got me into this beautiful community. He’s been helping behind the curtains too. Appreciation post <3 @teambyler

I love how the Byler lawyer is our own personal celebrity. Every once in awhile I'll see "BYLER LAWYER NOTICED ME" and go 'valid asf, love that guy'. Byler's love the Byler Lawyer.

[wickeddreamerr]

MIWI

I drew s1 Byler as the apple trend ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

[wickeddreamerr]

Breaking the Safe Place: Castle Byers

Him destroying the Castle Byers broke me.

He has never been “just a kid who wants to play games all the time.” They are literally kids united by DnD and DnD is not just a game,it’s a big part of their lives, their friendship, and their identities.

All of theirs.

He felt like he needed to say goodbye not just to his childhood,but to a part of himself.

Driven by the boy he is in love with but it’s not just that.Mike was also his best friend,the only one he ever felt like “understood him.”

That they were in this together.

Crazy together.

But I blieve like we do , Will also knew Mike wasn’t trying to hurt him.

And he’s wise enough to see Mike had chosen a path one where he deals with his difference by distancing himself from who he truly is.

That’s why he reminded him:

“Yeah, I guess I did , I really did” (think we’d never get girlfriends and we’d just play games for the rest of our lives.)

What hurt Will wasn’t Mike’s words but it was seeing Mike not being happy with who he is.

That made Will question his own identity,which he was already struggling with.

Seeing Mike decide to run away from what they had…pushed him into a breakdown.

“So stupid.”

He felt like he needs to say goodbye to his safe place. It’s not that he’s immature and childish, like people make him out to be , quite the opposite. He’s mature enough to realize that as they grow up, they need to hold on even tighter to the things they love.

But then, of course with his beautiful heart he forgives.Because there’s this mutual understanding between them that doesn’t need to be said out loud.

Which leads to;

“What if you want to join another party?”

“Not possible.”

-codedbywicked

[wickeddreamerr]

How do i move on from this

@adayfreeofgirls here is baby byler sir 🫴🏻

[wickeddreamerr]

William

[wickeddreamerr]

Passing the family values

[wickeddreamerr]

similarities between Byler and Rovickie in s4, Amybeth said Vickie is bi

these scenes are in the same episode, Will is blurred because the scene is shot with Mike's POV who then looked conflicted, Robin is focused because the scene is shot with her POV and then Vickie looks at her and looks conflicted, one difference: Vickie and her bf kissed, Mike and El didn't

i don't have the pic but Mike talked about El and then said "sorry"

Vickie talked about her bf and then said "sorry"

Mike and Will said "cool" "cool"

Robin said "cool"

then Vickie and her bf broke up and Robin and Vickie flirted, lighting behind them

Mike and Will had another heart-to-heart in the cabin, Will is sunbathed, Mike and El aren't really talking to each other

Mike and Will ended the season next to each other like Robin and Vickie, this scene foreshadows the s5 endgame couples :Lumax, Jopper ,Jancy, Byler and Rovickie

in s5 they have scenes together which i think is really cool and really interesting that Mike is hanging out with 3 other queer people

Also this

[wickeddreamerr]

Another old one !!!!

True blue by boygenius inspired