willbyersprotector05

[willbyersprotector05]

In ‘Lucas on the Line,’ Lucas Sinclair experienced countless bouts of racism and micro aggressions including but not limited to:

Had children run away from him and refuse to touch him because they thought his Black skin color would rub off on them. This happened IN THE THIRD GRADE! And he never told his parents about it!

Calmed his anxiety about being the only Black kid in his homeroom class by coming to the realization that since there was no other Black kids that meant he most likely wouldn’t be bombed

Had to install a camera in his locker because his property got defaced by a glitter bomb

Lost his first and only black friend/mentor who supported him thanks to an ACTUAL MAKESHIFT BOMB being installed in his locker that caused a janitor to go to the hospital for 1st/2nd degree burns (and the white boy who did it barely got punished)

Got teased that the only reason he got on the basketball team was because he was Black

Comes to the realization that he might’ve actually only gotten in the team because the coach has a history of recruiting Black boys for the team regardless of their skill level

Gets called an Oreo (for uneducated: white on the inside, black on the outside) by racist bullies. Erica (who apparently has also been called this) sticks up for him and is the only one who understands what the insult means which means Mike and Dustin don’t know/understand the lengths of how deep the racism Lucas experiences in Hawkins on a daily bases

And these aren’t even all of them! These are just examples I had from the top of my head!

And despite all this happening in the book, “fans” have STILL FOUND A WAY to turn this book about Lucas and his struggles as a Black boy in a mostly white suburban town and his deteriorating relationship with Max and make it about Byler!

The fact that Lucas, one of the only characters of color on this show, can’t have ANYTHING to himself without people using him to push their ships is so aggravating!

He and Erica constantly get shit talked and miss characterized by fans, get excluded/cut out of group shots, and barely get any fanart/fics about them and their struggles compared to the white characters (I could make a whole new post about the terrible way this fandom treats Erica but I won’t do that here). Hell don’t forget that the fandom constantly tries to dispute the racism Lucas received in S2 from Billy was either not really racism, just a moment that Duffer Bros. put in to “ruin” Billy’s character and ultimately can be tossed out and ignored.

The only time I ever see Lucas get any large amount of attention is either due to 1) Lumax (but let’s be honest: 90% of the lumax tag on here isn’t even about them and has now become Elumax 2.0 and most post are people praising ElMax and then being like “oh Lucas/lumax is cute too” in the tags and that’s it). 2) people creating “parallels” of Lumax to their ship of choice (mostly Byler and Mileven) as a way to say that their ship is gonna be canon or 3) to say that he’s bisexual.

And all that is fine and whatever, ship and headcanon things to your hearts content, but if you only care about Lucas if he’s helping push you ship narrative or because you think he’s gay (to the point where some people actually read snippets of the book that talked about Lucas coming to the realization that Black boys like him can be considered attractive and only acknowledge the “queer” reading of the text and completely ignored the big race element that was the main focus), I’m sorry but, that’s not cool. The fact that 95% of the Lucas Sinclair tag isn’t about Lucas himself but white characters like Steve, Eddie, Byler says everything about how the fandom treats him.

I’m just so tired.

Lucas Sinclair deserves the same respect that the white characters get!

I leave you one of my favorite sections of the entire book: Lucas learning to become unabashedly himself:

Rant over.

Edit: in my blind rage I realized I forgot to edit out the Twitter handle. That’s completely my fault. Please don’t hate that Twitter user. I’m just coming back to fix that.

[willbyersprotector05]

[willbyersprotector05]

I'm gonna be honest, you could make the shittiest edit of byler and put it to angeleyes by Abba and I'll watch it 100 times, I can't get enough of it

[willbyersprotector05]

he's only 51 if he doesn't die in season 5 🥰

will byers is 51 this year. that kid you call your sweet precious child is old enough to be your dad.

[willbyersprotector05]

just watched Thor... I am not ok

[willbyersprotector05]

The constant pain you feel when Will is you comfort character 🥲

[willbyersprotector05]

I watched the goldfinch last night just for the gay and Boris literally looks at Theo's lips multiple times in the exact way Mike does to Will... either Mike is gay or Finn never got that memo (or just is gaslighting the Duffers)

[willbyersprotector05]

do you ever think that maybe mike said he felt like his life started when they found el in the woods because it was the day after will went missing in the woods and he felt like if they could find a kid like her alive then they could probably find will alive too? that maybe he felt hopeless that he would never see will again but finding her gave him hope and that is why his life started?

[willbyersprotector05]

THIS SCENE HAD ME ACTUALLY SOBBING LIKE. OH MY G O D IT LITERALLY BROKE MY HEART

vol 2 so insane though omg i still don’t think i’ve processed what happened

[willbyersprotector05]

it took like 4 days for a letter I wrote to get to someone kinda the same distance as El and Mike are from eachother and that's NOW, probably would take a little bit more than that to get to Mike in the 80s

I remember seeing a post way back after volume 1 came out that someone was confused how Mike was reading El's letter when it seemed like she had just written it like at least a day ago and it would take a bit for the letter to get there, so what if Mike gets back home and sees this letter from El. reads it. and realizes that she had NO idea about that painting

[willbyersprotector05]

was looking on Netflix for movies and I think I get why Noah said the eggplant emoji to describe this season

[willbyersprotector05]

I remember seeing a post way back after volume 1 came out that someone was confused how Mike was reading El's letter when it seemed like she had just written it like at least a day ago and it would take a bit for the letter to get there, so what if Mike gets back home and sees this letter from El. reads it. and realizes that she had NO idea about that painting

[willbyersprotector05]

so what happens when el finally learns to become her own person and views the world through her own eyes and not mike's? he kills himself?? like?? how is this healthy?

[willbyersprotector05]

I think it would really be funny and good storytelling to have Will about to come out to Mike and Mike is like "omg Will I don't like you I'm sorry" and Will is all "oh no! I like Steve, not you wtf..."

because who doesn't have a crush on Steve?

[willbyersprotector05]

I hope in the time skip milkvan breaks up, just like how lumax broke up between these two seasons, they don't need to show us it all, just show us the aftermath, and also that way byler can happen and Mike won't be fresh out of a relationship

[willbyersprotector05]

the one bad part of me trying to do a whole season rewrite is that I might have to rewatch it... because like some parts are fine and I'll be keeping them so I need to remember everything that happens to write it...

I really don't wanna rewatch it all right now

[willbyersprotector05]

I’m gonna say it, I think El can take a bit of backseat next season. And no, this isn’t about Byler, and this isn’t about me disliking El. I love El and Millie is a great actress, but this has more to do with her character.

Every season, El took the focus one way or another, people might say Stranger Things is an ensemble show, but in reality, it’s just the El Show at this point.

We already learn’t everything about her character, and we see her overcoming many feats, like trauma and relationship problems. Season 4 looked to be a conclusion to her character, but they are still pushing that El is worried she can’t defeat One. But no, she definitely can! She nerfed him like he was wet salary. And now, she miraculously has healing problems now?? So, they’re probably going to spend a while on that aspect of her, and I am dreading it.

There doesn’t need to be a hyperfocus on El every season, and it’s not like I want her to fade into the background. She can still be an important character, but not so important, that the other characters basically revolve around making her look cool. There is absolutely nothing new to learn about her, and her next character arc is probably gonna be a rehash of the Nevada plotline, where she is underestimating herself, but with the power of love, she makes it through.

So yeah, I think next season should definitely focus on other characters, preferably Will and Mike, because they were done dirty this season.

We still need to learn about Will’s connection to the Upsidedown.

And as for Mike, he is possibly the most under-utilised main character I have ever seen, make him act like a person for god’s sake! Not a love interest to El or Will, but a person with his own life outside of his love troubles.