4 DAYS LEFT

byler nation pls reblog and put your other fixations/blorbos in the tags. i wanna know what else we’re into.

stranger things instagram is always such a slap to the face the few times a week I go on there cuz it’s all just overdone jokes about wills hair, byler comment sections flooded with death threats from homophobes, fan accounts about the cast that feel entitled to their personal lives and actively shipping them with their costars, and reels of the most awful interpretations of the most surface level aspect of s4 scenes

Whenever you doubt Byler, remember that Will was planned to be in love with Mike from the start. Remember that Finn and Noah had to take a chemistry test. Remember that Mike has never had moments like that with anyone but Will. Remember the Venkman Lucas/Max Mike/Will foreshadowing. Remember every heart to heart Will and Mike have had. Remember the Variety interview. Remember Brett Gelman. Remember Eleven wasn't supposed to come back after season 1. Remember how most of the cast ships Byler. Remember how Byler has way more chemistry than Marijuana. Remember that the Duffers have taken inspiration from many shows with best friends to lovers tropes. Remember that Shawn Levi is for Byler. Remember Finn and Noah are for Byler. Remember the scripts. Remember the Eyewitness parallel. Remember the Byler docs. Remember nobody believing us about Will being gay and calling us delusional when we were right. Remember that Mike and El have nothing in common, and never have normal conversations. Remember the Duffers saying they don't believe in love at first sight. Remember Mosquito breakups being shown as comedic. Remember Byler fights being shown as a serious breakup. Remember Season 2. Remember the final placements in Season 4. Remember the show cares about detail. Remember Megamind is paralled to doomed relationships. Remember that, Byler, Jancy, Jopper, and Lumax are endgame couples, and have been all paralleled to each other at least once. Remember how the four endgames are always standing together. Remember the Duffers calling Mildew puppy love. Remember the cast's reaction to the monologue. Remember the stupid ass monologue in general. Remember Causeineedu. Remember NaturallyBrielle. Remember Millie improvising in almost all Mormon scenes. Remember the duffers mentioning one of their favorite shows growing up was a show where a man fell in love with his best friend who had a gf, and it turned out he shared those feelings. Remember that Mozzarella is paralled to Byler, but Byler is always the better version (You make me feel better for being different/You think I am a monster [] I say it/You didn't have to) and many more. Remember that Byler is absolutely going to be endgame, and they wouldn't build it up for 4 seasons for it to be unreciprocated. The duffers make mistakes, everyone does, but they know what they're doing (they made a hit show) and if you're still doubtful, it isn't just them writing it. Also, we have the music, the sets, the outfits, and camera angles on our side as well. Let MinnieMouse deny it all they want, but Byler is endgame along with Jopper, Jancy and Lumax. We have already won. It's been confirmed many times before, we just have to wait to prove it. And in those to years more proof will come, and we've gotten a lot of it already and it's only been 2 weeks. I know that sounded really stupid, but I see a few people giving up hope that the Duffers can pull this off (including myself at times) and I think despite all the proof we have we all need to hear this, especially with the Malaria shippers flooding everyone's inboxes lmfao. Anyways have and anazing day/night Byler nation. I am done with my rant.

A timeline for all the byler ws (so far)

this is a compilation of all the times byler nation earned a w, through sources such as the writer's Twitter accounts, official Netflix accounts, interviews, articles, and from the official cast + the duffer bros!

Pre S4

Oct 14, 2019→ "Let's start a new party, you and me." The ominous post from the Stranger Things writers…

Oct 18, 2019 → Stranger Things official writers: responding with incorrect answers only, responded to someone asking if they believed in love at first sight. Responded with absolutely. Foreshadowing to the S4 infamous Mike monologue being null?

Oct 28, 2019 → Stranger things official writers describing the characters as musicals. Will was assigned the musical, Spring Awakening, a coming-of-age story, where teens navigate their life coming to terms with their ever changing selves and expressing their sexuality. 

August 2nd, 2020 → Netflix India's Instagram posting the famous "Crazy Together" scene, with the caption "How to say 'I love you' without saying 'I love you'" 

May 22, 2021 → Noah Schapp during a fan interview in regards to shipping Byler, "I do, there's definitely some of that in the next season." 

Feb 17, 2022 → S4 posters were revealed. Mike and Will were seen on the same poster, looking directly at each other.

May 23, 2022 → Netflix Latin America Youtube: Stranger Things Cast Members, Finn Wolfhard and David Harbour hint at Will's feelings towards Mike > DAVID: If you've been watching the show you should know that Will's not interested in El, he's interested in someone else in the group. FINN: Yeah, and you'll see soon, who he's interested in. DAVID: VERY interested in. 

ST4V1 RELEASE: 

May 27, 2022→ The release of ST4 V1

What it brought us:

- The framework of Will's feelings towards Mike in a more non-subtle way. 

- Will painting something for someone he likes. 

- The Alan Turing Project, I mean COME ON 

- The possibility of Mike slowly realizing his feelings towards Will as well (eg, the awkward dynamic much different from previous seasons between the two, Mike throwing away El's letter before heading out of his home, Mike's inability to say that he loves El.) 

- The beautiful scene while they're packing, "It's Hawkins… it's not the same without you… and I feel like maybe, I was worrying too much about El, and I don't know, maybe I feel like I lost you or something." 😭

- The car heart-to-heart!!! Incredible!!

POST V1 

May 28, 2022 - June 30, 2022 → Just a whole lot of theories from Byler Nation

June 2, 2022 → Noah Schnapp's Twitter, "S4 has me shipping byler over anything… vol. 2 now!!" 

June 5th, 2022 → Noah Schapp at Awesome Con on his favorite ships, "...obviously Byler is just- at its peak right now, they're- they're building that up." ((Noah our byler warrior))

ST4V2 RELEASE:

What it brought us: 

- The painting was revealed!!! Mike is Will’s heart!! (Because we all know Mike is NOT the heart of the group lol)

- The heartbreaking van scene, although necessary to let the general audience cue in on Will’s feelings.

- The Surfer Boy pizza scene with Jonathan and Will… although not an official coming out, it does give us the satisfaction of Jonathan fulfilling his brotherly role and reassuring Will, would be met with nothing but love from him, should he ever choose to open up to him. 

- While initially at surface value, this can be taken as an L, Mike's monologue was only prompted by Will and was almost in response to Will’s disguised feelings in the van scene. Even with the monologue, El could not defeat Vecna, and only came close when realizing her self worth. (EL INDEPENDANT ARC??? PLEASE)

- The framework for the general audience and their reception of Will’s feelings, gearing them to feel more sympathetic.

POST V2

Jul 13, 2022 → THE SCRIPT FOR EPISODE 4, DEAR BILLY, BEING RELEASED. OMG CONTENT GALORE!!

Jul 14, 2022 → Noah Schnapp confirms Will is gay, and in love with Mike on an interview with Variety Magazine!!! (We’ve known but it's nice to see this being validated)

Also confirmed: Will has been in love with Mike since S1. This isn’t something that was just “pulled out of nowhere”, like those who deny like to say.

This also shows that we aren’t “looking too hard into things” as the subtext and clues were always there!  We just picked up on that and analyzed it! Now think of how many other things we’ve noticed that can possibly turn out to be canon! 

Jul 15, 2022 → Noah Schnapp in an interview with NBC news regarding Will’s story arc: “They're still working it out, but they have their end goal. There's so many different things they have to address obviously we hope for a coming-out scene…”  they have an end goal…

Similarly, on the same day, Brett Gelman and Shawn Levy are seen to be liking tweets in regards to Byler. Shawn Levy we should particularly take note of as he is a producer and director on Stranger Things.

Jul 16, 2022 → Brett Gelman speaks out on twitter in support of Byler and the LGBTQ+ community!! 

Jul 18, 2022 → Noah Schnapp saying that the ending positions of all the characters on the hill, in the finale of S4 were purposely curated by the Duffer Brothers, and could possibly be foreshadowing…

Jul 20, 2022 -> High school Musical, Byler parallel being brought to the internet and becoming viral in the mainstream media

NOT DATED 

Gaten (pls take this with a grain of salt, I'm not sure if the account was his official one) and Noah liking byler content on TikTok

Millie saying Eleven is in a state in their relationship where, “If he [Mike] doesn’t love me, he doesn’t love me.” ELEVEN DISCOVERING HERSELF ON HER OWN ARC PLS.

[I probably missed some so pls feel free to tell me if I missed any!!]

Will you stay on here if byler aren’t endgame? or just change around your blog? I’m stuck what to do because I’m still 50/50 before people come for me too it’s me putting myself into a safety net others don’t have to follow suit. I have to just incase things go south as we all deal with disappointment and emotions differently.

I mean if Season 5 dropped, Will was rejected, and Byler somehow wasn’t endgame, I personally would definitely deactivate this blog. Can’t really wake up the members of Byler nation after that lmao. No hate to those who’d keep posting like normal tho. Stay safe out there!

I know people say stuff like, “You can still ship it even it’s not endgame.” I mean, sure? You can. I’ve definitely enjoyed some ships that never became canon/endgame, and I’ll still enjoy an edit of them occasionally if I stumble onto one. But in most cases, those are either ships I never believed would be endgame, or ships where it didn’t really matter either way, and I shipped them casually. I’m personally not, like, a diehard shipper of non-canon ships. Usually my shipping aligns with the arc of the story itself. (Byler is actually no different in that regard; it’s just still theory-based until we are proven right in S5).

I’ve personally never been invested in anything like Byler before, a ship full of mystery and the feeling that history is being made. The thrill of Byler is that we really believe it will happen, that we believe the narrative is on our side, that we are finding new evidence and parallels everyday to support our conviction. We see the Promised Land even when others call us insane.

If it turned out that we were all delusional after all, and the Redditors and toxic Melvins were right, why would I stick around? (Not to mention, that’d be queerbaiting to the nth degree at this point). I’d still like Byler, but there wouldn’t be anything to root for or look forward to with the ship.

Luckily, Byler is happening. I understand being afraid of getting your hopes up and getting queerbaited. I actually think it’s a good healthy practice in general to always allow room for healthy degree of skepticism and doubt so you’re not destroyed by the worst possible outcome. There have been plenty of stories where writers pivoted in strange and illogical directions.

But I think there are way too many clues that point to Byler, too many specific things in the narrative, in the show, and in the way Mike is written that simply would not make sense without Byler. That’s why I have faith in Byler endgame. At this point, it takes more faith to believe in Mlvn endgame. It’s simple. If the writers and directors follow through on the story that they set up, Byler will happen. This is nothing like other infamous queerbait ships in history. Something has shifted. The energy is just different this time.

thinking about how i’ve seen multiple posts on here of screenshots from tiktoks of people realizing will isn’t being treated fairly and that mikeven is a narrative mess. it makes me think once again that everything in volume 2 is intentional and that yeah, byler nation felt like they lost with the love you confession scene but maybe it’s been a win all along?

it seems like there’s more people analyzing how dry and corny it was 💀 (i think finn is an amazing actor and i think he acted it like this for a reason!!). season 4 starts to highlight the deterioration of mikeven and the general audience is picking up on it. i mean mike and el barely even developed this season? if that love you confession scene was development for their relationship then why don’t they talk afterwards? instead we get a convo between will and mike after the fight with vecna where mike says him and el haven’t talked. why is the “main” couple struggling this bad going into the final season?

and maybe there was hype about byler from the cast and duffer brothers because we are getting it and season 4 was starting to show the beginning stages of mike and el’s relationship ending for good to lead to their breakup and byler in season 5. maybe they wanted to have people more aware of mike and will’s interactions that way they can see that there’s something more there than a friendship. and it’s showing that the general audience is starting to pick up on what’s going on. this would fit into what noah was saying about how they’re building up byler *keywords: building up*.

the duffers seem like nerds who care about patterns, details, and references. there’s no fucking way the rest of us who eat up every detail and are interpreting it a certain way are crazy. we’re noticing it for a reason and they’ve put it there because we’re right. i know we’ve lost all trust in the duffers, but it really did seem like they cared about their audience and put a lot of details in the storyline for us to catch onto no matter how small they were? volume 2 feels different narratively compared to all the other episodes that there must be something in store for season 5 that explains why. i have hope. and haven’t they had the ending planned all along? doesn’t david harbor know the ending? if they’re good writers then they’re going to want everything that leads up to the ending (that they’ve had planned out for awhile) to make sense.

Stranger Things Coffee Shop Headcanons

So, I figured as an actual barista who understands his craft and has dealt with a lot of customers, I have duty to the byler nation (and the general public) to make a proper Party+ El and Max coffee shop au HCs. I am in no way an expert in all that is coffee but I do make coffee basically every day and have realized most people don’t know that much about coffee so I am very qualified. 

Anyways, here you all go

Mike Wheeler - Mike is the asshole (/affectionate) who goes to coffee shops and buys just tea. He mostly likes a London Fog and get’s a large. He also always get’s a little treat. He prefers scones but will settle for anything but also will be over the moon with excitement. He over tips even though all he does is get tea. He also tips every time he goes for a refill. He’s a writer so he also sits in one spot basically all day but always leaves thirty minutes before close and leaves his work area cleaner then it was when he got there.

Will Byers - He is a caffeine addict and he will do anything for it. He drinks coffee 24/7 but he doesn’t actually like coffee. He 100% orders a Carmel and Vanilla latte (Iced... always iced) with whipped cream and drizzle. And he also always gets extra pumps of the flavoring because he is crazy (sadly, Mike will not be joining him in this). he rarely gets anything to eat choosing to get a sandwich from a nearby shop. He also sits outside most of the time so he can paint or draw in peace. He has his work hanging up in the local coffee shop and it always sells fast. He also likes to paint the barista’s as an extra tip. He of course always generously tips. He keeps his work area generally clean but his favorite spot to sit outside always as a little bit of paint left over but he is usually gone about mid day. 

Lucas Sinclair - He loves just a basic hot vanilla latte. He’ll get it with almond milk a lot of times but doesn’t really care. He also grabs any hot food / breakfast items that are available. he always goes before school just to grab a cup. He also is usually picks up drinks for the rest of the party if they ask. He 100% grabs El and Max their drinks and has their orders down. Whenever he forgets his morning coffee, one of the party will sneak off and make a quick coffee run just for him. Lucas is the person who relies of the barista’s knowing his order mostly because his brain just doesn’t work very early in the morning. He’ll grab an second coffee if he has a game later in the day or a big test. He does like to sit down at the coffee shop if he is with friends or out on a date. He also obviously tips well. He also tips the same amount every time he goes. 

Dustin Henderson - Dustin was banned multiple times from drinking coffee but will still grab a cup if he has a school project due the next day. He mostly just gets a smoothie now a days whenever they go. He also likes to get a muffin but never finishes. He eats half of it and then pics at it for the rest of the chat. He also mostly just hangs around the coffee shop when he is with friends and rarely ever goes to begin with. But all the barista’s know him by name. Dustin also tips great obviously 

Jane “El” Byers-Hopper - She is also banned from drinking coffee. She tried it one time and started vibrating. So she likes to get frappes that don’t have any caffeine in them. She likes vanilla frappe with cinnamon powder and chocolate drizzle. During the winter she will get a hot chocolate with whip cream. She hangs out at the coffee shop a lot with Max. They will sit outside and she will watch Max try to do skate board tricks on the empty road. They accidentally leave a mess despite their best efforts to clean up but it’s okay because the barista’s love them so much. Sometimes they will give El extra stamps on her card. El also tips as much as she can although Max had to teach her a reasonable amount to give. Even though El still gives a few more dollars then that.

Max Mayfield - She does get coffee despite being a gremlin when she drinks it. She get’s a Carmel and Vanilla latte and likes it iced with whip cream. She ends up only drinking half of it before she gets distracted by skate boarding. She refills her drink with ice 5 times before deciding it is mostly just water and can be thrown out. She also one time tried to do a trick on her skateboard while drinking her coffee and ended up in the hospital. She tips but also leaves bottle caps she finds out in the street in the tip jar. The barista’s hate her (/affectionate)

okay but let's take a moment to appreciate brett gelman for being real in talking his shit and calling out the homophobes in general. brett probably saw the homophobic comments about will being canonically gay on the show and decided to bless the byler community and slay all the byler haters in the way. byler nation didn't expected this and it's utterly insane to see how byler nation keeps on winning specifically this week. RESPECT

BYLER CHECKPOINT (and stranger things nation generally)

what scenes do you want the writers to post next?? speak into the mic 🎤 🫡

my requests?

- max running up that hill ep 4 scene

- final scene of season

- roller rink scenes

- airport scenes

- i do actually want to see mike’s monologue to see how it’s written

- the ep 7 scene with all the parents plus lucas, max and dustin LIKE ITS ONE OF THE FUNNIEST IN THE WHOLE SHOW FR 😭

- NANCY SCENES 🙏🙏 LITERALLY ANY OF THEM

- i want to see eddie’s opening scene

- lumax ep 9 scenes :(

- vecna/001/henry’s monologue, the twist gives me chills every time it’s just too good

- mike and el’s fight in ep 3

- WILLEL REUNION 😭😭😭🙏

- el’s monologue to brenner

and so many more that i’m forgetting

which ones do you guys wanna see 🫡🫡

hello byler nation ive come out of hiding, i am a chronic lurker in fandom generally but i am currently hyperfixated on byler and need fic recs!! so please tell me some of the most popular ones or your favorites

So, we've established that it's basically confirmed that Byler is set for season 5

But

A gentle reminder that we are going to have to be extremely patient for it's delivery though (yes yes, I know we've already been incredibly patient that it has almost been a punishment) because we aren't going to get everything we're hoping for in the first half of the season (my theory anyway)

So we are going to have to refrain from getting pissed and lashing out, or beginning to doubt it will even happen, just because we don't get the muchly anticipated moment right away

I would even think that we won't get the full capacity of Byler until the very last episode of the season

Something like...they go through a heap of deeply traumatic stuff, which continously brings them closer and closer together (they have to work as a team, but the concept of "team" begins shifting and evolving from friendship to romantic, mostly on Mike's end because he needs to catch up) only to be threatened by losing one another because of a chaotic final event that happens (like one of them being captured or at risk of sacrifice or significantly injured ect) then in the aftermath of this said moment, there is another moment (of realization) followed by a declaration of love and of course, the emphasis of this is forged with a kiss

Patience will be the key, Byler nation

It will need that time frame to really deliver this without disappointment, while still following through with the general storyline and other character arcs ect

We will most definitely get all the snippets of the evolving romance throughout the episodes, I don't doubt that but the endgame scene everything has on their lips, won't be until endgame

Either way, it will be worth the wait

favorite byler au if you have one? (no pressure community ask)

ooooo 👀👀

in terms of more general AUs, i'm a big sucker for any werewolf AU. there's so little byler werewolf AU content out there but something about it... the physical representation of repression... it gets me omg

in terms of hyperspecific AUs then right now it's unfortunately one that exists only in my head, that i have never figured out how to explain to other ppl without actually writing/drawing the damn thing. it's kinda like mystery flesh pit national park meets gemini home entertainment meets portal 2??? but with more tragic romance

OK I WANNA SAY SOMETHING

I joined tumblr in August (ik the most chaotic month for byler) and the support I’ve gotten is fucking unbelievable. I picked up my phone today after school to 100 notifications from u amazing bylers and thats crazy for me. I’ve never interacted with a platform that’s been so kind and nice (or that could just be byler nation in general). ANYWAY u ppl are utter legends so don’t forget that

This is a tumblr hug, or a tumblr high five, or a tumblr sitting in the same room together, anyways whats ur fav byler scene and why?

thank you!! <3

hmmm that’s hard, for some reason my brain is having trouble remembering different byler scenes so ig i’ll say crazy together. it might be a slightly generic answer within byler nation but i just really love it it’s such an sweet scene 🫶 another one that’s also from s2 would be when will is possessed by the mind flayer and mike asks him if he remembers the day they met on the swings when they were 5 and how it was “the best thing mikes ever done” 😭🫶

hey!! ✨🧡🌙SEND THIS TO TEN OTHER BLOGGERS YOU THINK ARE WONDERFUL. KEEP THE GAME GOING ✨🧡

MS MAMBA!!!!!! did you know that you were my first pal on here? 🥺 and i was so nervous but excited and happy when you first messaged me. i still feel that way every time you poke me. you're always so kind, funny, and such a genius, too, which is to say that i think you're wonderful, too! i've meant every single kind thing i've said to you on all platforms. you're one of my favorites, a pillar of the byler nation hehe, literally the coolest, and you brighten people's days just by being you. 100% factual and not biased at all btw. thank you for this lovely little message but also thank you for being you and being so generous as to share your gifts n presence with us! 🥰💙💛