A Boy Like Me- Over A Shot Of Karen Wheeler? Ft “Henry” Creel is Not A Chick & Swapping Places: What’s With Lipstick and Gender Swaps In ST?

So, these shots of Karen are very interesting to me:

Because why is the lyric “a boy like me” playing over Karen Wheeler while she puts on lipstick?

Especially with the TFS scene where Walter says that Henry Creel “isnt a chick/hes not a chick,” versus Henry complimenting Patty’s lipstick (which is the same colour as Virginia’s lipstick and as Karen’s lipstick here) right after that “not a chick” scene. (and then there’s also the whole “henry vs henrietta” swap in fringe where a character named henry becomes henrietta due to a timeline change)

So, right now, we have two instances of lipstick being connected to weird gender swap references- we have Henry’s line about how he “likes Patty’s lipstick,” right after Walter says that Henry “isnt a chick,” and then we have Karen putting on lipstick while the lyric “a boy like me,” plays.

And then further connecting the lipstick to weird gender swap stuff, we have Patty’s lipstick scene versus the whole “Patty” vs “Patrick,” thing- so that’s three instances of lipstick being connected to gender swap stuff.

And just regarding gender swaps in general, not only do we have Owens mistaking Max for a boy, but Max also has a whole scene associated with a song about a man and a wonder swapping places (Running Up That Hill), versus Karen’s gender swap scene also involving a song/the “a boy like me” lyric.

What’s going on??? What kind of weird timeline gender swap Matrix-esque trans allegory stuff is going on here??

A little break from requests (will continue those soon!)

This is inspired by all the discourse lately on Henry and his ships… hehe. Did I basically put him in his own Twilight poster? Yes. I did the same with Mike previously.

My thoughts? I haven’t even seen the play (I want to tho!) but ship him with whoever you want. Just keep Brenner away from him!!!

i love (hate) that this is just. canon.

hentty / byler

hentty vs creelarke is giving byler vs m!leven if both had, like, 5 shippers.

Henry Creel and Patty Newby

As requested by many, I will be detailing in the form of a long analysis the relationship and, at first, the friendship that Henry and Patty had. Again, if you do not wish to have spoilers, please do not read on!

Firstly, Henry was misunderstood by his whole family. Alice said that it was "not Henry" that was in the house, just a random boy. Virginia was terrified of Henry, especially after the incident that occurred in Nevada that contributed to them moving to Hawkins for a fresh start. Finally, his father, Victor, was very oblivious to many different things and was generally absent. On his first day of school he was pretty much called weird and not listened to by any of his classmates. The only person who he connects with is Patty Newby.

They form an instant emotional bond with each other. You can feel the chemistry between the two of them. The dynamic has been likened by many to that of Mike and El when they first met. However, I do tend to disagree with this statement. Mainly, due to the fact that, Henry and Patty seemed to form an instant and deep emotional connection. They both were on the same wavelength. Patty is convinced that Henry is good and keeps reassuring him of that throughout the play. I'll get to his powers further on in this post.

After they first meet at school by the locker room, they form an instant bond. Henry talks about his Spyglass that he has and how he likes Superman. He even does the Superman pose and nerds out to that. Patty finds this funny and mentions how she loves Wonder Woman. They both bond over these topics. Before they leave the locker room they say an awkward goodbye and Henry walks off annoyed with himself that he made himself look weird and awkward in front of Patty.

The next time they meet is at a rehearsal for Joyce's play that she is organising. She is desperate to leave Hawkins and therefore she plans to do so through a scholarship. However, the play has to be successful for that to happen. Anyway, back to the story. As Patty is auditioning for the lead role and starts to sing, Henry jumps in out of nowhere and tries to help her gain confidence. He has a go at singing, not to an amazing ability, and everyone in the audience laughs at him. Again, you can see the bond as Henry is trying to help her and genuinely has feelings for her. They have further moments in the play where Henry helps her to calm down and sing, which leads us to the next scene they have together.

It's church day, where everyone goes and attends. The Creel family arrive and Henry hides in the backroom of the church. At the back he finds Patty doing the same thing. Patty is nervous to go out on stage and Henry tries to calm her down. They give confessions and Henry says how that he is not right and there is something wrong with him, he has some sort of power. Patty again tells Henry that he's good and maybe he can use his powers for good. Following that, Henry creates a vision for them both where the church turns into a dance. Patty has the lead role of singing and is adored by everyone who reacts warmly to her performance. During the vision Henry tries to put his arm around Patty to try and get closer to her, but Patty gets caught up in the positive chaos of the vision. Henry gives her confidence through his powers, demonstrating that he can use them for good purposes. He is not inherently bad.

They spend literally everyday together, they really have a strong bond. Not only was it romantic love, they had a true friendship. Their next crucial scene together was during a date that they had at Melvalds. This is where Henry reveals to Patty that he can read people's minds and see what they're really thinking. He tells Patty that Karen thinks Ted is an idiot and Ted is afraid of Karen. Also, that most of them in the place were pretending to like it, really they were bored. Patty is astonished by this and also laughs. Shortly after this, Patty and Henry share their first kiss together.

Unfortunately, the next part is where things start going downhill for their relationship. It's mainly all because of what was going on with the Mindflayer, plus everyone else not being accepting of them being together. When I say not being accepting, I don't mean due to it being a race issue. It was simply that they were not approved of being together by some. Particularly Brenner who wanted Henry for himself, he saw Patty as an obstacle to controlling Henry. After Henry broke out of the HNL, due to Virginia contacting Brenner to take him there, Brenner wanted to find him again. One way was through finding where Patty was as he knew Henry would go for her.

Anyways, let's get back to the story again. Patty convinces Henry to look for her biological mother and Henry is not keen. He knows this could go wrong if the Mindflayer possessed him. They meet up and go to Henry's attic to start the search her mother. Patty mentions how it is cold in the attic, which Henry says that he likes it cold, which is what Will says in Season 2. He manages to find her performing and singing. Patty is so happy to hear this news. However, like Henry feared, the Mindflayer managed to take him over whilst he was in the void looking for Patty's biological mother. Patty gets frightened when Henry tells her to leave so that she doesn't get hurt. Patty's father, Principal Newby, finds them in the attic. To give context to this, Victor Creel goes to speak to Mr. Newby after he mentions how he should know that Henry and Patty are dating. He therefore decides to come over as he is not happy with this. So Mr. Newby walks into the attic at the wrong time. He tries to get Patty away from Henry which leads to him being attacked and almost killed. He is lifted up into the air. Patty manages to encourage Henry to take back control and beat the Mindflayer by telling him she loves him. Henry manages to break through the barrier and tell her that he loves her too. This stops the situation and saves Patty's father. However, he suffered the consequences of the attack by falling through the attic floor when he was dropped, alongside being blinded and seriously injured from the fall.

When we see Mr. Newby lying on a hospital bed, he suddenly wakes up after being visited by Patty. He tells her that he was attacked by a monster and that he saw it. He goes on to describe how Henry saved him from the monster. He proceeds to draw an image of what the Mindflayer looks like, detailing the shape of a spider looking dark shadowy creature. He hands this drawing over to Patty.

After these events, this is when Virginia sends Henry away to the HNL with Brenner. Later on after Patty learns that Henry did in fact save her father, she returns to the Creel house to try and find Henry. She calls out for him and manages to communicate with him. Henry contacts her through the void and they both are able to speak to each other. Patty tries to convince him that he's still good and she believes in him. She encourages him to return home and to play alongside her, as they auditioned to do so, in Joyce's play. He commits to this and decides to return, leaving the HNL. He rejects Brenner's attempt to try and make him kill another man and leaves the lab. Brenner tries to stop him and suffers the consequences of nearly being killed.

Brenner has a significant influence over Virginia Creel during the play and provides her with medication throughout, in the form of tranquillisers. He convinces her that Henry needs help. He goes to Virginia after Henry breaks out of the lab and tells her that he escaped. Virginia is immediately worried that he is a threat. Brenner reassures her that he can control him but needs to find out where he could be. He suspects that someone is holding Henry back and asks Virginia about this and she tells him. Although before we get to this point, we need to mention the Creel massacre. This occurs before Henry sets off for the play and to see Patty. When he returns home, he reads his family's mind and sees that Virginia has been contacting Brenner and talking about how Henry has never been good and is willing to give him up for good. He does so through seeing her memories. During this moment, Henry is very angry which allows the Mindflayer to take over. During emotions of hate and fear, this is when he loses control. We can visually see Henry having some sort of fit inside his mind. On the stage of the play we see two versions of Henry to demonstrate that he is stuck in his own mind. Meanwhile, the Mindflayer is controlling his physical body and can be seen hovering over the room. After which, Virginia and Alice are killed. Henry then leaves for Hawkins High to see Patty, hoping to get there before Brenner finds him and her.

Before finding Patty, Henry runs into Joyce. who voices her suspicion that Victor is dangerous and was behind the animal killings in Hawkins. It could be argued therefore that this gave Henry the idea to frame his father. Before she explains who she is suspicious about, Henry is worried she is on to him. So the Mindflayer starts briefly coming through until she reveals that it's Victor. Due to this, Henry calms down and he takes back control.

Moving on now, Henry finds Patty on stage but is momentarily joined by Brenner. Brenner attempts to convince Henry that Patty is the thing that's holding him back from his true potential. Patty tries to convince Henry to not listen to what Brenner is saying to him. Brenner also tries convincing Patty that Henry is a killer and is dangerous, that he killed his family. Henry tries dismissing these claims but he starts to get mad and angry at Brenner. Brenner knows what he is doing and is trying to incite this anger to get him to cause a reaction. Brenner is so deranged that he wanted Henry to keep killing to get stronger powers. The Mindflayer therefore starts to takeover and Henry does his best to try and stop it. Unfortunately, it does not work and he loses control. Patty falls from the rafters after the Mindflayer forces him to push her.

Henry basically is now back at the HNL and appears to try and contact Patty through the void. This is where we then see a scene where Patty finds her mother. So she did survive, this is where it's unclear whether she tried to find Henry again or not. Maybe she can help end this story.

Summary of The First Shadow

Spoilers of course. Source

Small theory about Max based on that account on Twitter

What if Max is hiding in Henry's memories that are his happy memories with Patty Newby and he doesn't go there as Vecna, he doesn't think to check there for her so Max is the one that will make us see the plot of the first shadow going through his memories with Patty

thinking about henry and will’s arcs paralleling each other in s5 now that i’ve seen henry’s backstory and how that could possibly pan out.

the first shadow spoilers:

henry was constantly pulled apart from patty every time he got close to figuring out that love and support could be what helps him keep the mind flayer at bay and eventually just gave into it. if his mother hadn’t been so scared of him and if he was actually allowed to be friends with patty, his story could’ve panned out so differently.

next season being will centric and the way they’ve set byler up so far is making me think that they’re going to show will have a similar arc where something finally triggers the powers in him and his love for mike is going to help him keep it at bay and no one except henry is going to try and keep them apart. he’s going to get support from joyce and jonathan too. if will’s story is going where i believe it’s going, then mike wheeler is the patty newby in will’s story and henry will probably recognise that.

will having powers is not even question for me anymore. if a single unnamed object from the upside down and 12 hours were enough to unlock henry’s supernatural abilities, no way a week in the upside down PLUS being controlled by the mind flayer hasn’t completely reconstructed will’s DNA. he’s definitely got dormant powers.

Patty and Henry mid 60's (Inspired by @/cabinetkillerz art)

The Gay Ones: Henry Creel Is So Gay, How Did Any Of You Guys Come Out Of TFS Thinking That He’s Straight?

So, I just saw TFS (it was AMAZING) and I’m actually really surprised with just how heavy handed they were with the gay Henry stuff.

So, at one point, Patty is reading from the script for “The Dark of the Moon,” and says, verbatim:

“I like the gay ones the best. Let’s make it a gay one.”

Come ON. That’s comically obvious- saying literally that she “likes the Gay Ones” versus Patty having a crush on Henry/“liking” him & him literally being a Gay 001.

And then, Patty and Henry kiss- but it’s IDENTICAL to the Mileven kiss at the end of S3- the one where Mike just stands there while El grabs his face and kisses him. Patty does this to Henry & they’re kissing specifically because they have to kiss for the play.

And yes, Henry does talk about wanting to go on a date with Patty, and they do kiss again outside of Melvald’s, but also- all of this ends up specifically tied to the idea of trying to be “normal,” and that idea that Henry is “not normal,” re: Patty and dates and prom and girls is brought up CONSTANTLY. Henry obviously cares deeply for Patty/friendship, but he’s very obviously just trying to be “normal,” and do what he thinks he’s supposed to do with girls.

Plus, a large part of this is also specifically that Henry is very pissed at Virginia throughout the play (and rightfully so), and Virginia and Henry have this super overt emotional incest thing going on (like, actually beginning to cross past emotional incest sometimes), and Virginia doesn’t want him hanging out with Patty/being around her because she’s jealous of Patty, and so part of Henry rebelling against Virginia & rebelling against Virginia doing things like kissing him on the face when she doesnt kiss Victor at all & rebelling against her whole emotional incest vibe is Henry being around Patty and kissing her etc. So, not only is there the “trying to be normal,” aspect with Henry and Patty’s relationship, but there’s also the “Henry is rebelling against Virginia and her emotional incest via his relationship with Patty,” aspect of their relationship.

Not to mention that during the attic scene where Patty and Father Newby get attacked by “It,” and when Henry’s fighting “It,”/the shadow, it’s a DIRECT S4 Mike monologue parallel- Patty says she loves Henry and that Patty tells Henry that he has to say “I love you,” back. The Mileven parallels are constant and the Byler parallels are basically nonexistent.

TLDR: I went into this loving Creelby already & being totally prepared (and even excited for) for actual romantic Creelby- and while we totally got cute moments & I love them, Henry is GAY GAY HOMOSEXUAL GAY CERTIFIED G A Y

Mike's speech to Eleven in Stranger Things S4E9 holds so much more weight after watching the First Shadow in London.

He tells El: "I love you with your powers, without your powers. I love you for exactly who you are. You're my superhero. And ... I can't lose you."

And it mirrors Eleven and Henry together so nicely.

Because we know Patty Newby thought of Henry Creel as her superhero - that was their thing and they constantly talked about him having super powers in the same way Max, Mike, Will and the Squad do with El. And Henry liked being Patty's superhero, and he felt loved for the first time in his life. He felt understood by someone for the first time in his life; by someone that also felt like an out-cast, and also felt like they didn't fit in and weren't "normal".

And we also know that Henry did lose Patty. Because Dr. Brenner isolated him away from her. He isolated him away from everyone and everything.

And he lost who he was because of that. And he became the weapon that Dr. Brenner wanted him to because of that.

If any part of the Henry Creel we meet in Stranger Things: the First Shadow is still there in Henry/Vecna/One, the realisation that Mike is Eleven's Patty must hurt him deeply.

They have so much to work with.

If Eleven finds out Mike loves Will, for example, then El will have to come to terms with losing the person that believed in her.

I'm interested to know what the Duffer Brothers might do with this in ST5.

Because we know Eleven experienced the same bullying that Henry did during her time in California. And we know that Will Byers has also been feeling isolated and alone his whole life, so maybe we'll see those similarities between Will and Henry start to creep into the story a lot more.

I'm excited. And I'm nervous.

Ms. (Patty) Kelley?

(Not a spoiler for TFS just a theory).

Btw thank you to those who sent drawing requests! I’m going start them soon and I can’t wait!

for tumblr user "gayhenrycreel" who wanted to see henry singing badly...here's the full henry-patty audition scene

i’m SO normal about this, very normal ^^