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chirpsythismorning · 2 days

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Fun fact: In the original pitch for Stranger Things, El had a little brother.

After being rejected by almost 20 studios for the Montauk pilot, the Duffers were finally green-lit by Netflix. It was at this time that they began casting and then writing the first season officially, which included reworking a lot of that first episode.

This led to the removal of the brother reference, and with it, removing any sort of arc El could have had about her apparent brother.

But the thing about this moment, is that it might not have been scrapped entirely...

Going into the final season, no one can explain why or how El recognized Will back in 1x02. And while there are plenty of things on the show that are left unexplained, with a small portion likely left that way with the intention to uncover it later, what sets this moment apart from the rest is that there are very few possibilities here.

Because for starters, the story presents El's ability to see people in the void in s1 as requiring either a picture of that person for reference, or having met that person before.

But when El see's this picture of Will, she's never met him before. Or maybe she has, but we wouldn't know because they never showed us. They could have just not done this scene at all, given that it's clearly a copy/paste/edit of something scrapped from the pitch. Or they could have even still included it, but explained it.

One explanation could be that the lab had shown El a picture of Will before, similar to what they did with the Russian agent they wanted to spy on. But then that begs to question, why would the lab show El a picture of Will? Why would they want to see what he was doing? That alone is incriminating in and of itself, implying that Will is more connected to the lab than we realize.

The only other, and frankly most likely explanation, would be that El stumbled across Will at some point on her journey between escaping the lab and Will going missing. This is actually something that happens in The Other Side comic, which explores all the things Will may have experienced during his time in the Upside Down.

Though it’s worth noting the comics aren’t technically canon, and I highly doubt they would outright spoil everything in relation to Will’s time there, years before it was intended to be revealed. But still, let's humor this for a moment given that I do think Will's time in the UD is going to be very relevant in s5, which means it's highly likely they will finally address how exactly El saw him.

Basically, in the comic, Will see’s El walking through the woods, almost apparition like, glowing as she passes by, while also sporting the Benny’s burgers shirt. This means they would have crossed passed within a short span of time, between when El escaped Benny’s when the agents arrived, but before she was found by the boys.

Though it’s worth noting that we’re seeing this all from Will’s perspective. This means from the UD, Will was capable of seeing El on the other side, despite them being on different sides. And not only that, but she also looks back at him.

What confuses me about this, is that it doesn’t make sense for El to be in the woods, only to randomly decide to pop in to the void for a moment. She was trying to escape the lab and everything that came with it. I doubt she had any desire to lurk back there for some reason, not until someone encouraged her to. Not to mention, it would make no sense for her to go there and see Will if she wasn't even looking for him in the first place. And so this would mean Will and El could see each other, with Will being in the UD, and El being on the other side.

While it does seem pretty far off, given that you would think Will and El wouldn't be able to see each other from different sides, it is true in the story that El not only recognizes Will, but knows that he is in danger. She mentions that he is hiding specifically.

Which means she has likely seen him within the last 24 hours regardless.

This, in combination with Will being able to respond to El in the void at the end of the season in Castle Byers, when no one else outside of Terry and flayed-Billy have been able to, seems to imply that there is indeed something special about Will that makes him capable of communicating with El from the UD. Not only that, but El also seems to have an ability to be in this constant knowing state of how Will is doing, without even checking again to confirm. She's just certain of it. And she seems terrified about it.

Going forward, El never uses a picture of Will to find him. She never did. And more often than not, they don’t show us what she see’s either, not until the very end. And that’s the moment they reveal that he was able to communicate with her.

Again, there was really no reason to have El recognize Will. If anything it complicates things. But the fact that they chose to introduce this concept, with a scene from the original pitch that was related to El’s younger brother, with her pointing at his name cryptically, startling Benny, only to revamp it and have El not say anything at all while pointing at the picture of Will, startling Mike… It just really makes you stop and think.

Which brings me to the other aspect of this that might have people doubting, which is that El’s brother was originally younger than her.

We know Will is not younger than El, so how could this apply to him?

Well, it might be helpful to consider that in the original script, El was actually 10 years old, while the boys were always 12. Meaning that for some reason, they decided to age her up to the age of the boys, aka the same age as Will…

Ever since @erikiara80 shared this brother discovery with me, I have been sort of reeling. It then led to other little discoveries of changes they made between Montauk and Stranger Things.

It’s important to understand that the Montauk bible and the original script precedes what we ended up with in the final product, with it finally changing and evolving months, maybe even a year since that original vision. Even casting occurred before writing started for the first season. We know this because casting announcements were made in June and August of 2015, with writing not starting until August going into early 2016, simultaneously while they were filming.

And believe it or not, what I've discovered is that a lot of the changes they made between their original plans and what we see in the final product, have to do with not only Willel, but also Byler.

If you've read the original script for Montauk, you'll know that Mike's crush on Jennifer Hayes was focused on right from the jump, along with the birthmark on his face being focused on, which was the main cause of the bullying he experienced.

This has actually been talked about recently, and some of the claims people make do fit with what I am genuinely starting to consider here, which is that the initial plan for what makes Mike an outcast shifted.

I think when they completed casting, and started actually deep diving into what they wanted this world to look like, both from a short-term and long-term standpoint, they were presented with some pretty interesting discoveries, arguably already hiding in their initial plans without realizing it.

And this is where it sort of becomes a 'chicken or the egg' situation. Because which one came first? Byler or Willel?

I can't say for certain, because obviously this is all just speculation. But in the case that Willel came first, I think Byler would come very naturally after that.

The Duffers themselves are twins. Then they hire Noah, who is a twin. Then they're thinking and planning for El's past and how her family all fits into this, and they're thinking... wait a damn minute... We could totally Star Wars this bitch!

And then when they think it couldn't get any better, they uncover another layer that they hadn't planned or really considered in their initial plans.

While Will was always going to have sexual identity issues according to the Montauk bible, meaning that the writing process for him likely involved sitting down imagining scenarios that encapsulated this arc for Will from the beginning, they were simultaneously now finding very interesting aspects of Mike's character that made it hard not to at least consider the possiblity that Mike is not exactly straight.

Just think about it. The Byers and Wheelers are basically polar opposites on the spectrum of what a family looks like. While Will's discovery and acceptance of his queerness is interesting to explore because he comes from a low-income, single-mom household, all while having been bullied for years based on his perceived queerness, he also has a mother and brother constantly reinforcing that they will accept him no matter what. They've been sort of hitting us over the head with it for years, and so it wouldn't be very satisfying for his entire arc to merely lead up to something we've known all along. It's pretty much a given at this point.

On the other side of the spectrum, Mike comes from a more upper-middle class family at the end of a cul-de-sac, more aligned with what a nuclear family looks like. Mike's family is also presented as being more conservative, and while Karen does give that very queer-coded speech to Mike in s1 (I'm convinced they only wrote this after deciding to explore queer-coding more heavily with Mike), it also comes with comments from Ted and even still Karen that hint that they are probably not as open-minded and accepting as Will's family is to him. Which means Mike's arc would be a lot more about acceptance around him from his loved ones who we have been led to believe might not be as accepting of his queerness in contrast to Will.

And so as they're putting this story together, and they're being presented with something very interesting. Two similar experiences that play out in different ways because of the characters circumstances.

Will goes missing, and his twin sister with a buzzcut pops up and has the ability to help them find Will.

This leads to several moments where El is being compared to as not only a boy, but Will as well.

Now suddenly, their initial plans to have Mike's arc be about having a girl be interested in him and to hopefully have his first kiss and feel like less of a loser, starts to look a lot like what the experience a queer kid in his position might encounter growing up in the environment that he did.

And if you don't want to take my word for it, just hear the Duffer's themselves hinting at what they initially planned for Mike and the fact that it changed.

The changes don't stop there.

Believe it or not, 'It was a seven', did not exist in the initial pitch. When the boys went outside bickering over Nancy, they leave right after that.

Another thing that changed from the first script, was Scott Clarke's introduction:

And so you might be thinking, who cares? What does that have to do with anything?

Well, it's interesting because the line we end up with on the show is arguably one of the most on the nose Twelvegate proofs to date. Mind you, this is from the first episode:

Why chuck the original version, which was arguably more interesting and fascinating in terms of it hinting at the mysteriousness surrounding this story, only to replace it with him listing off tips about their upcoming test?

Well, I think it's the irony of it all. Here Mr. Clarke is practically telling us where to look to figure stuff out for ourselves what is going on, with all the kids filing out and ignoring him...

I relate to Scott a litttle too much in this shot here, any time I try to drop Willel evidence.

And the changes go on, as they obviously would.

Things like Terry Ives not even being El's mom, but actually a man who more so aligns with the characterization of Murray.

And one very interesting one I almost overlooked was in Hopper's introduction, where instead of a kids drawing done by who we assume to be Sarah, we actually see a picture on the wall of him and his wife and daughter... Interesting that they decided to switch it something that is a lot less definitive in presenting what Hopper's past looked like...

If you've made it this far, congratulations.

If you still think I'm out of my mind, just remember that El was going to have a brother in the original script, but they scrapped the scene and gave a near identical one to introduce her connection to Will instead 😘

#byler #stranger things #willel twins #twelvegate #montauk #as you can see #i am out of my mind #and i'm okay with that #i've spent the last couple months trying to make a video going over all the willel twin evidence #and i can't decide if it's even possible to do without going over an hour #like there is just so much shit that fits too perfectly into this family being ripped apart by mind control and time shenanigans #i hope to have it done soon #trying to make it less than 20 minutes #but it's probably going to end up being closer to an hour #especially with this stuff from the montauk pitch being added to the mix now #anyways #willel and byler are the curtain behind the curtain #if you are open to one of them #you are bound to stumble across the other #and they don't want that to happen #stay tuned for the inevitable twin imagery to continue in s5 related to willel leading up to the big reveal #bc it's arguably the most consistent thing about this damn show #and tbh this all just makes the queer-coding for mike in s1 a lot more concrete to me #them exploring will's queerness through his dad's expectations for him to do more 'manly' things like play baseball #and jonathan saying he shouldn't like things just bc people telll him he's supposed to #how they connect that narratively with the boys being at a baseball field when mike's being pressured about his supposed feelings for el #with the bullies showing up and literally being homophobic seconds later #the fact that jennifer hayes did in fact exist in the original pilot and was the girl mike had a crush on #only for them to scrap that and just make it about her having a crush on will...#never once introducing this idea of mike liking her...

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fromtheseventhhell · 4 months

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It's "the Stark sisters have complementary skillsets" until someone points out that Arya is good at math and Sansa isn't. Then suddenly Arya is an unreliable narrator, Sansa is just being humble, and she'll magically have that skill if/when it becomes relevant

#the absolute refusal of this fandom to believe that Arya is better at an /intellectual/ subject than Sansa is ridiculous #and the funniest part is that Sansa explicitly states she isn't good at math herself but people still pretend not to see it #they want to force the brain and brawn shit on them sooooo badly and it's just never gonna work because Arya is incredibly intelligent #and that's constantly reinforced...her being good at math just introduces how analytical she is which is a HUGE part of her character #the irony of the /don't pit the sisters against each other/ stans doing the most to compare and divide their stories + characters #if they didn't base their takes on fanon it wouldn't be an issue though 🤷🏾‍♀️#so funny to bring up the fact that Arya is canonically good at math cause it goes against basically every fandom idea about her #that along with her overall intelligence cause they can't handle her being more then someone's bodyguard

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minecraftian1213 · 9 months

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Baby Obi-Wan once stared so hard into the Force that he was never the same. Ever since he joined the creche the Masters knew there was something... off about the little one. They weren't quite sure what to think of the littlest of the younglings. He always seemed to know things he shouldn't and offered words that often intimidated padawans, knights, and even gained concerned expressions from seasoned masters.

The guards in the temple were less amused when he learned to properly shield himself. Gifted in the art of shielding, Obi-Wan tended to wander from his creche. Normally, a wandering youngling wouldn't be a problem. Where one youngling lingered, a sentinel was hiding in the shadows not too far away. Obi-Wan Kenobi, however, finds the right moment to slip away.

When questioned what he is doing so far from his creche, Obi-Wan always answers, "Force says so."

Qui-Gon keeps stumbling upon a small ginger boy when he finds himself alone. The first time was a memorable experience. It is, after all, the first time Qui-Gon met his future apprentice.

"What are you doing?" And the voice makes Qui-Gon pause in his walk. A youngling is staring at him from behind a pillar.

"Thinking," he answers honestly. The boy, probably no older than four or five, steps out and walks up to him, arms held out in demand to be picked up. Qui-Gon obliges and settles him on his hip, changing his destination to the creches. "Why aren't you with your creche?"

"The masters say I should listen to the Force. The Force says I should be here. With you."

Qui-Gon's lips quirk upward. "Is that so, little one? What else does it tell you?"

The youngling tilts his head, blue eyes shining. Qui-Gon feels like he isn't being seen despite the boy's eyes clearly on him. "Nothing you should know yet," the boy says.

Qui-Gon doesn't ask any more questions, too stumped to know what to ask the boy. The boy of course takes Qui-Gon's silence as his cue to talk. He offers his name as Obi-Wan Kenobi and tells him all about his friend Quinlan who sees things when he touches stuff and- "He doesn't see stuff when he holds my hand because my shields are good. Did you know the guards don't like it when I leave? Guard Feemor says I shield too hard."

And doesn't that take Qui-Gon by surprise. "Is that so?" Temple guards wore masks to protect their identities. Qui-Gon wasn't aware his former padawan took rotations as a guard.

Obi-Wan replies easily, "He doesn't know I know."

Qui-Gon quickly returns the youngling to his creche. The second escape and return allows Obi to decide he likes this master. It's the seventh escapade from their first meeting that the guards and creche masters and even passing jedi learn that when Obi-Wan goes missing he's with Qui-Gon.

#this was originally about baby Obi-Wan being a menace of a seer #then it became about baby Obi being a menace of a seer who follows the Will Of The Force in a way that even Qui-Gon can't follow #Qui-Gon picks Obi-Wan up bc jedi babies are cute and raised by everyone #also if you've never interacted with a child I should inform you that children do in fact walk up to people and ask for uppies #anyway here's a thing #jedi babies are very trusting #baby Obi will look into peoples souls and tell them the most off the wall shit #many jedi actually go to therapy because of this #maybe if Mace doesn't Look at him then he can ignore the Shatterpoints #star wars #star wars series #obi wan kenobi #qui gon jinn #qui gon and obi wan #baby Obi-Wan #star wars headcanons

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sergle · 7 days

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lollll stevens insta post is so tone def too like uhh u can smell the privilege coming off this 🧍

ohhhh... I think I'm going to hurt him

#''for those who won't be joining us'' WON'T?????? Will Not. huh hm. strange phrasing #how about. for those who can't afford to join us. god i'm rollin my eyes #WHY DOES THIS FEEL SO STANKY. so wait #does this decision have DIRECT CORRELATION to him wanting to do more of his food shows again???#the ones where he takes his christian ass to upscale dining places in japan and italy and shit and eats the most expensive thing he can fin #bc that is SO not what ppl subbed to watcher for bro. this was NOT worth-it hype #this was ghoul boys hype #and i don't gaf about production value eitherrrRRRR #sergle answers #i know i'm not alone in liking the stuff they made that was lower production value #that's not where the Value actually lies. it isn't valuable bc it's more Produced #it's valuable bc it's funny and people like ryan and shane's personalities and the show formats

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uncanny-tranny · 6 months

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Big reminder that your country is not immune to bigotry. I've seen so many people, for example, pretend like antisemitism doesn't exist in the USA because we were part of the allied forces in WWII (of course, they conveniently don't remember that we rejected jewish refugees when WWII broke out and we only really joined because Pearl Harbor was bombed, but I digress).

If you think your country is immune from antisemitism, racism (including anti-Indigenous racism), class issues, ableism, whatever else it may be, look deeper because you will find it.

#politics #antisemitism #antisemitism tw #i think if pearl harbor wasn't bombed we would have potentially never declared war #like yes it was better for us to have joined but realistically it wasn't to 'save the jews' like many USamericans think #we did NOT in fact 'save the jews' and we still have huge antisemitism problems ALONG WITH so /so/ much other shit #i can't understate that america isn't so far removed from the world that we just magically don't have problems #ANYway. tangent aside. it just.... annoys me whenever i see usamericans doing this #not because i think they're always malicious but it's a reminder that people aren't truly taught accurate us history #look if american history was taught to you in such a way you only felt warm fuzzy feelings you were FAILED...#...you were *failed* by an education system that was more interested in american exceptionalism than actual factual history #and i don't think america is the only culprit in national exceptionalism but i have the most experience as a usamerican #quick amendment that many jewish refugees were fleeing in the very beginning before war broke out *officially*#but we still rejected them sanctuary from nazi germany as a country (AND ofc america wasn't the only country to have done this!)

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ratwithhands · 3 months

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Fun fact I used to consume a lot of Land of the Lustrous stuff.

Anyways this is one of my many Land of the Lustrous OCs, Vivianite. Mohs hardness of 1.5, dark green/blue in colour, and very old. Due to the nature of his weak composition, Vivianite can't actually do much of anything, and has had to live under very specific conditions.

Vivianite wears a tight full body uniform to hold any chipped pieces in place, and is kept in a box stuffed with loose cloth to ensure minimal damage. If he comes into contact with light, he begins to oxidize and darken, so he's kept in a windowless room with curtains over the entrance.

That's all to say he's isolated and bored. He spends much of his time inactive, but he'll jump at the opportunity for conversation if there's someone around. Certain gems visit him to chat, get guidance, or give him the recent news. A task given to some gems is to clear his room of dust, and maybe bring him some books if he's up for it.

Vivian sees himself as an older sibling/friend to many of the other gems, and as such he's very keen on providing a listening ear and giving advice where possible to those who need it. He's essentially emotional support in a can.

Other notes/details:

not all gems know Vivian exists! He's hidden away so most gems wouldn't see him unless they were actively looking for him. A lot of the older ones know about him, but the younger ones don't

Rutile is endlessly tired of having to glue him back together so often due to his softness, which is part of why he has a tighter uniform to keep all his broken pieces in place

Vivian struggles with walking, he tends to be slow and stumbly

the tanks in Vivian's room are for jellyfish. Gems who are sent to clean his room have to switch out the jellyfish too. They're there to provide a faint light source so he doesn't go completely inactive

Vivian, despite living in a box in the dark, has a lot of technical knowledge about things as a result of millennia of going through the library collection. He' a living encyclopedia and can usually offer some answers if a gem has questions on a particular subject

his internal structure is basically a lot of shards stuck together like fibers, so he does minor repairs on himself by affixing strands of his hair into empty spots. He's had his fingers repaired and replaced this way often

In the few instances where Vivian has gone outside, he has an abnormally high amount of energy as a result of his inclusions being able to work at full capacity in the light

If I remember anything else I'll add it, anyways have a good day!

#houseki no kuni #hnk #land of the lustrous #hnk fanart #hnk oc #hnk bort #not mentioned in the main post but shit man Vivianite wants to perish 😭#he's always felt like a burden as a result of his weak body‚ if it weren't for the fact he can't walk outside #he would've thrown himself into the sea to never rise again #he'd always asked Sensei if there was a way he could get stronger‚ and that's partly why he read so much in hopes to find a cure #when he heard about Phos' body getting replaced‚ he was both distraught and excited‚ because he felt so bad for Phos #but this was a way for him to become greater‚ if only he could just figure out how to guarantee it'd work (because otherwise he'd be #a burden again as they are forced to repair him and look after him through recovery)#that's also why he likes to talk with people; he can serve and assist others that way‚ he's trying to compensate for his lacking strength #tl;dr Vivianite is horrifically weak and makes up for it with his heart and mind in order to feel less bad about not being able to do more #also (unrelated) he tends to be touchy and holds people's hands/faces/hair a lot. He does this knowing the risk and he couldn't care less #also also‚ he has weird inclusions. What makes them odd is the fact that he can move them around and concentrate them in different areas #he's stiff cause he keep most of his inclusions packed in his torso‚ not his limbs. This also ensures he doesn't lose anything #by touching something and having his fingers (inevitably) flake apart #There's more but I'll save that for later. Good day ^^

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