You know what they could have made? Benny's Burgers T-shirts. Oh like CRAAAAZY they could have sold Benny's Burgers T-shirts. Specialized in over-sized, swallowing you whole. Sweatshirts too, the whole deal. Slap it on everything. But not only

There is also no Benny's Burgers shirts in SIGHT. As I always say: They 👏COULD👏HAVE👏DONE👏BOTH👏

They could have made more money and they chose not to. It was EASY merch. A direct reference to an explicitly romantic and reciprocated line ABOUT A CLOTHING ITEM. Instead...

They've never had THIS explicit of a merch opportunity before that they just overtly passed up. Usually you market lines and stuff but with an OBJECT? You ALWAYS sell that shit. They clearly know that (see: image). They had an object. A SHIRT, even. An identifiable and specific reference - couples could have bought them for Halloween and people would know who they were immediately. We were past knowing it was purposeful but now we are even further BEYOND, knowing they had an easy, brainless idea for merch that they just didn't do.

Noah didn't get the role for Theo in The Goldfinch because it would've spoiled willhail being canon season 5 of Stranger Things🤭🤭

robin buckley in suspenders 🫡

i am the duffer brothers and i am here to confirm a "what painting" scene and byler endgame

Apparently some people misunderstood Jonathan's s4 rant as him wanting to stick Nancy in the suburbs in the house on the Cul de Sac???? Like no my man was having an anxiety spiral with a little bit of trust issues as a treat.

Like he was picking out coffins at 16 for his little brother and shit has been downhill since. Of course he thinks he still has to protect his family. He's been parentified and He's traumatized. And honestly he probably still sees Will as 12 in his mind (not ok but understandable given the circumstances) But he clearly also wants to be with Nancy (and everything else that comes with that i.e. college) because you don't drive 2000 miles with the government tracking you to break up with someone???

His rant about his future kids hating him isn't about some suburban fantasy. His next line is literally the cycle never ends. Jonathan thinks that he is doomed to repeat the cycle of a broken home. My boy doesn't want a housewife he's just insecure. That's why he asked Nancy if they were ok because despite everything he didn't trust that they are because of that insecurity and fear

Every time I look at sides of this fandom arguing over random things I think of that interview where Matt and Ross talk about how sometimes (despite working toward the same goal) they get into legit fights so they now sit apart and write so they don’t come to blows.

Like. Even the twins writing this shit can't agree sometimes, and I think that's a good reminder when people start getting upset someone is challenging their ideas. (Still....given their reactions to several topics in interviews over the years, I'm pretty sure I know exactly which brother I’d end up siding with every time) 😂

Matt "You've Lost the Plot" Duffer (& his complete inability to hide his judgment of an opinion....even from his own identical twin brother) I love you lmaoooo

The Duffers are not exempt from criticism but it’s annoying how selective the “I don’t trust the Duffers to write this” argument is. Refuting a statement with “I don’t think the Duffers would do that” doesn’t work if you can’t support WHY you think the Duffers would not in fact Do That, especially if the text is saying that they are Already Doing That.

Baby Eleven trying to defeat Peter with his advice (that she needs to remember something sad and something that makes her angry, kinda the same advice that Kali gave her) but in doing so she wasn’t strong enough to beat him.

Then El remembers her mother saying to her “I love you” and she succeeds in trapping him in the upside down. A sad but at the same time loving/happy thought.

NOW NOW STAY WITH ME...

what Mike and El just argued about?? Him not outright saying I love you to her! And you know what she’ll need in her last fight against Vecna??? (besides the help of everyone)

HIM SAYING I LOVE YOU TO HER !!!

S3 Flayed! Billy looks like a doll. And essentially, he is one. A puppet, really.

He speaks through his eyes, and nobody hears.

Which is why I think his final yell of defiance is poetic as hell.

But it was useless, because him gaining control and taking his voice and body back ended up being trashed on repeatedly in season 4.

Also: why did they keep cutting from Billy to Hopper if they were just going to bring Jim back anyway?

It really is all about expectations and trust because the number of people I've seen watch Stranger Things now without hearing about Byler and start to get suspicious at season 2 is ASTOUNDING. And it's because when you're surrounded by more representation, you notice it more too. The heteronormativity has been more broken down to acknowledge when traditional romantic cliches are being applied to people of the same gender.

Like I said in another post, my physical therapist said Mike checked Will out in the Halloween scene. She didn't think it was on purpose but I also don't think she would have noticed at all a few years ago.

Really, it's just a sweet observation of progress in general representation in the environment and what it can do for perceptions and normalization of queerness.

The fact that Mike couldn't even say he trusted El until he looked at someone else for guidance astounds me.

In season 3, Mike tells El that she doesn't have to look for Billy because it could be dangerous. El then tells Mike to trust her. Now, he could have just kept looking at her and nodded and said, "yeah, of course I do. Just, be careful." And it would have been a really sweet moment that shows the audience that Mike trusts her, but instead, they show Mike looking over at Max, who then tilts her head and raises her eyebrows like, well? Do you trust her? The answer should be yes. Only then does he turns back to El and say, "Yeah. Just, be careful."

Mike couldn't even tell El he trusted her without looking for guidance from someone else.

This was a choice that the Duffers made. This could have easily been a scene that showed Mike and El starting to repair their relationship after all of their fighting. This could have easily been a scene to show that they still trust each other, even when broken up, but the Duffers chose not to do that.

Almost every meaningful moment in Mike and El's relationship post season 2 that Mike has initiated has happened because someone else has pushed him to do it.

Lucas told Mike to buy an apology gift for El, Lucas told Mike to go talk with El at the hospital, Max told Mike to trust El, and then of course in season 4 Will plays the ultimate relationship counselor (multiple times) and pushes Mike to keep talking to El when she was in danger, which leads to Mike telling El he loves her.

Again, the Duffers chose to do all of this. They chose to have other characters (who are the same age with the same relationship experience, or less relationship experience) constantly have to tell Mike what to do, even things that should be common sense.

If they really wanted to make El and Mike's relationship favorable, they would have had Mike come up with more of these ideas on his own. They would have had Mike do more romantic and caring things for El unprompted.

ive said it before i’ll say it again but just because el is brought up in mike and wills conversations doesnt mean theyre actually talking about el

I just think it would be neat if when Will’s powers are revealed (I feel so confidently about him having some kind of power aha) in S5, we get some interesting contrasts from Mike.

Like Mike definitely admires and places El on this pedestal for her “superpowers” and refers to her as super man and a superhero quite a bit, which is where his insecurities come from. He feels so inferior to her.

But with Will’s powers, I’d love a little moment where Mike connects to him in a really different way! Maybe referring to him as “a real life cleric!”. Will would be (understandably) terrified of what’s happening and confused with his powers and Mike could comfort him similar to the super-spy scene in S2, except now he’s a cleric protecting the party instead of a super-spy…

Idk, this is just a random thought that I can’t get out of my head and I’m not very eloquent or articulate rn but I really love this idea and I hope you know what I’m talking about aha.

I’m just going to leave this right here 👇👇👇

I’m confused so does that mean they’re not editing Will’s birthday to be in May now? If that’s the case maybe that’ll actually be addressed as “forgotten” in S5 (this is wishful thinking I don’t have that much trust in the writers lmao)

The homies pulling up posts from bylers defending gay!Will subtext all the way back in SEASON ONE on the dash tonight? “Even if he never turns out to be gay there is still reason to believe it’s possible” FROM 2016?!?

Y’all got me out here feeling like I just saw the sacred texts written by the apostles with Christ. Like looking at the physical letters of Paul to the church in Ephesus about Jesus after a life of only reading the ESV LMFAO