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stranger-chichka · 2 years

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Dustin, compasses, magnets, coke and eating (p.2)

After “Dustin’s “This is the answer” the accent is on the fridge in the Wheeler's house with a 7 made from the magnets. 7 is Mike's and Will's number. 7 is L upside-down. 7 is Love. Mrs Wheeler gives the police officer New Coke (which is associated with Byler) instead of water. By the way, do you remember what Dustin and Steve put in Byers' fridge in s2? The Demogorgon. If my theory's right, it also represents Byler in some way. I won't write about it here in detail, so check out the original post, but few interesting things that are connected with this scene:

most tadpoles are aquatic, but Dart isn't. He doesn't need water;

Dart hates the sun, it hurts him (Will is associated with the light, and it hurts Mike to feel that way about his friend. It hurts to think you're never gonna be together because it's not right in the community they're growing up in. Actually, that's what Dart represents - Mike's being afraid of his feelings toward Will;

Mike wants to take Dart to Hopper (=the police officer). In the same season, we see Mike having his breakdown while talking with Hopper. He calls him a liar, but he actually talks about himself. "You've been hiding her this whole time! Protecting her? You're a stupid, disgusting, lying piece of shit! Liar, liar, liar!" In s3 we see him constantly lying to El, to others, and to himself. After Snow Ball, he realised he has romantic feelings for Will but hides them deep inside to protect both of them. He knows what it means to be a gay kid in the 80s. Dangerous. And we know Mike also hates lying. Friends don't lie. He hates himself. I'm stopping here because it's a bit out of the topic, but I'll write a separate post on this scene.

"Water it down" and "Water still works" both said by Nancy seem to be important lines, considering later Dustin offers someone H2O right after. It definitely has smth to do with Byler in a negative context, but I need more time to think about it (maybe @dinitride-art has some ideas about what the Duffers are trying to imply). I want to focus on Coke. Steve is talking about El while there's Regular Coke near Eddie and Skull Rock. Later we see some Stancy scenes in that very location.

Regular Coke = Stancy, Mileven = not endgame. New Coke = Byler = endgame.

Here are some scenes with Coke I n s4, but also I highly recommend you to read this post by @awhstrangerthings. Keep in mind, the thing = love, because in s4 Mike even says to Will: “Maybe I should’ve said something, and if I would’ve said that thing, then maybe she’d wanted me there with her, wherever she is.”

New Coke on the clock during Mileven's fight above Mike’s head = he’s thinking about the relationship between him and Will at that moment.

Regular Coke during the reunion scene, where we see El's disappointed because he wrote “From, Mike” again.

At Rink o Mania we see Regular Coke 2 times - when Angela takes El to the roller rink and Mike shows zero concern about it, ignoring the fact she definitely looked scared and uncomfortable near Angela (she even looked at him for help, come on, Michael), and when we see devastated El after the accident, sitting alone and Mike, again, showing zero concern.

Regular Coke during dinner, when Mike says “She didn’t look fine.”

Regular Coke during their interrupted talk at Surfer Boy Pizza, where Mike starts talking about their fight and we don’t happen to know what he wanted to say, because Argyle brings pineapple pizza (pineapple pizza and New Coke both represent Byler) and Mike looks very uncomfortable with but later calls it good and eats pizza.

Eating = loving. El dumps Mike and he starts eating.

Mike looks at Will's painting the same painting behind Max.

We also have THIS in Starcourt Mall teaser. A blue triangle. Two pies where the boy in a blue tank top picks one.

"And don't forget, a state of the art food court is just an escalator ride away."

Talking about the food, who was "foraging for food" in s2? Dart. And what season has the most Byler moments? Season 2. And who initiates most of them? Mike.

+ this parallel once again ties Dart to Mike. Not to mention the word "dart" means a small pointed missile that can be thrown or fired. The synonyms are “arrow”, and “barb.” And who is associated with arrows in s4? Michael Wheeler. Also, “to dart” means to move or run somewhere suddenly or rapidly. And who’s always late? Whose playlist’s full of songs about running? No way, it’s Michael Wheeler again.

Let's return to the scene in Jonathan's room and how it parallels with other scenes from previous seasons.

Again, "thing" = love. Games [DnD & Nintendo] = their relationships.

During their talk in 5x03 someone knocks and Mike decides it's his mom. Doors = being in the closet.

But it's Nancy, not mom, so he opens the door. Will he come out to his sister in s5? Or does it mean he was open with her in s1?

Losing, loving and hearing.

It’s interesting that El is listening to Mike’s monologue trapped in front of the door. The door with so much Byler symbolism (credit to @themacklemorebrothers for that observation). Mike's in the closet.

And, finally. Gay love wins because that's what the whole show is about. There upon a rainbow is the answer to a neverending story.

Part 1

#byler #stranger things #stranger things parallels #stranger things 4 #byler evidence #byler endgame #mike wheeler #will byers

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there-was-a-hole-here-itsgonenow · 2 years

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Wasn’t able to reblog but I said this yesterday:

Here’s some tidbits and highlights from watching it with him:

- Kicking his feet over Jopper kiss, quite literally. He waited a long time for this.

- “Erica, bravest lil 11-year-old I’ve never met.”

- “Pothead to pothead communication.”

- “There’s gonna be an unhappy franchise owner at Surfer Boy’s in the morning.”

- “Why’s he making pizza?? Just because he can???”

- “Steve has balls [to talk about six nuggets in front of Nancy]”

- Went “ :(( ” when Lucas wrote ‘Movie Friday?’ Just knew something bad was happening.

- “I like Lucas a lot, man.”

- Sees Will watching Mike and El - “ooh no Will :( ”

- My brother loves romance in shows. This is not an understatement. It’s one of his favorite things. He enjoys seeing Jopper, Jancy, Lumax, and also thinks Dustin and Suzie are cute. But he never gets hyped over Milkvan. And just feels bad for Will in s4 especially because he’s always present in their scenes.

- They call it the shadow/ the shadow went into them “[remembers s2] Uh-Oohh the Mindflayer!”

- Passionate hatred for Jason, just wanted him to die.

- Got super tense about everything with Max, Lucas, El and everything else, but “the only thing getting me through this is that Jason has to die”

- Mad that Eddie didn’t leave the UD

- Lucas: “I never should’ve knocked” *starts snapping*

- Couldn’t stand Lucas getting beaten up, just wants Jason to die quicker

- No discernible reaction to Mike’s monologue as it was going; was pretty dead-silent and focused through a lot of the Vecna vs. El stuff except for seeing Henry take control of what would become the Mindflayer. The confirmation was interesting for him. But he said LATER that he felt like Mike was saying what he felt like he needed to tell El to get her through the fight. Like we say, not being genuine.

- Our dad walked in right before Mike’s monologue started and stayed; I felt secondhand embarrassment because he just 🤨

- After seeing what happened with Max, Lucas, and Eddie my brother just kinda deflated. Naturally. But quietly finger-gunned at the tv when Jason died.

- Yes he picked up on ‘there’s more to life than stupid boys’

- [at Robin and Vicki] “They’re the same person lol”

- Loves ally Steve smiling at Robin and Vicki; even giggled about it

- We get to the ending shots, he’s loving the “endgame feel” as he put it, and he literally pointed at each pair behind El and goes “Couple, couple, couple!!”

…

So he’s a big fan of Lucas (he’s said before that Steve is his favorite but maybe there’s been a shift lol), overall enjoyed the episode (I wish I had the same reaction he did back in July; our first reactions were polar opposite), and he knew endgame Byler when he saw it. He came to this conclusion on his own, based on what he understood.

My brother is a fan of the show, just not an active one. He’s not a casual GA but a regular GA who feels hype and tends to watch from a ‘narrative first’ perspective. And he sees Byler endgame on his own.

#stranger things day #byler #my brother is the best #he sees the narrative #also he continually loses his shit over argyle doing literally anything I love it

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demadogs · 2 years

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what’s funny is that i just recently watched what i think is the Exact same ship-ranking video, and had the exact same reaction. (like i should’ve known something was desperately wrong when she put b*lly/steve in the middle instead of slamming it directly to the bottom tier—don’t get me wrong i still scowled and took a moment to recuperate—but i decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and continued watching anyway 😭). but from there on out, it only got worse and worse, with st/ancy of all ships being the only one in the top tier (????).

anyway, the only saving grace is that she has a later video where she recounts all of the st events frm will’s pov (tht i actually think is quite funny ngl), and she ends it by implying tht byler is endgame bc of the way all the couples are standing in the end scene. maybe she had a change of heart between the making of those 2 videos???? or maybe she was just playing into will’s character and his biased pov, BUT i think it’s good news tht even the (previously misguided) GA is picking up on that very heavy-handed imagery. so idk sorry for the long ask, i just wanted to rant a bit and say that At Least we have a small win there !

yes that video from wills pov is what lead me to her channel! i enjoyed that it was hilarious. then i watched the ships video and its dumb to trash other peoples ships but steve and billy in the middle but steve eddie wasnt even good enough to be rated??? jail.

i agree tho based on the wills pov vid i think she mightve looked more into byler and changed her opinion on mike being straight. it could have been easy since in her rating video she didnt seem to love mlvn that much.

#i dont mean to like slam this person they seemed nice #stranger things #byler #eden answers

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kwikquik · 2 years

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Hear me out: everyone’s arcs would have benefitted from Steve dying instead of Eddie.

Steve: his long-game arc has been ‘become a better person’ not stuck on h.s. popular tropes and achieve unselfish love. With a sacrificial death done for all of them (especially Robin/Dustin/Eddie/Max and definitely not just Nancy), that arc would’ve been completed in spades! Not to mention, his death would’ve deeply affected audiences similarly to how Eddie’s has, AND his character would’ve been eternalized as a mom/martyr meme, forever, serving his stans well in the end. (And they could’ve set up some legacy/flashback stuff to maybe keep the stans watching S5.)

Robin: Robin has barely any arc right now. (It’s been tied too much with Steve.) But she WOULD have an arc if Steve died. She’d be so upset: no one yet really understands the depth of their bond, and that he’s the only one she confided in about being a lesbian. But now, through Steve, she’s met all these amazing people who are canonically different like her (including S5 Will!) and would accept her differences and she would in S5 come around to confiding in them about her bond with him/why. And she’d come out to them and no longer need to hide that part of herself so tightly. She’d continue to become more confident as the savvy badass leader she is.

Nancy: Nancy’s long-game arcs are her needing to overcome her unfounded guilt/trauma about Barb’s death and her coming into her own nerd-dom and badassery versus following the superficial popular crowd and damsel housewife tropes. Steve dying after confessing his continued love to her would deepen a similar “I should’ve been there and saved ‘em” trauma arc. She would break up with Jonathan, from guilt about Steve. But here’s the thing: neither of these deaths were her fault. Her choices did not kill them, circumstances did. She’d continue her badassery arc and move through the guilt arc with a friend who was also there for the Steve death who can help her to see it wasn’t her fault: Robin! And who can, like Jonathan did with Barb, help her get revenge/resolution for his death. And then in the final scenes -- bc she’s resolved the trauma — I could see her and Jonathan reconciling because, ultimately, when she leans into her self confident nerd-dom she has shown that she loves and chose him.

Jonathan: Jonathan’s long-game arc has been his trust issues due to his dad and trauma from being a parentified misunderstood/bullied loner. Nancy breaking up with him from the Steve guilt would deepen his trust trauma arc. But! But! He’s no longer a bullied loner!: he has a best friend Argyle and new familial love and total understanding from his new family Hopper and Jane (who had her own daddy & trust issues before she met the Party and Hop, and honestly being a sister to Jonathan in this way supports HER arc that she is valued/loved/needed as a person, not just as a superhero). And, his brother is growing up and has new support (Eddie - canon they’d be dnd bonded instantly & maybe Robin!) and now can support HIM. And they’d all help him work through those issues til where he has self confidence and self goals/dreams and then in the final scenes, well, see the Nancy arc. He’d be newly confident, driven and mature enough to know she always did love him but had her own issues to work through. And he’d be an even better version of himself now, for/to her. Endgame.

Dustin: Poor Dustin. What’s his arc? Steve’s death would affect him with the same emotion as Eddie but check out this arc: with Steve’s death, Dustin has to come into his own and take the lead to clear Eddie’s name. But w/o Steve he doubly needs the Party- the party that has basically sidelined him since S2. So, we get both a reunited strong Party lovefest but also Dustin now leaning in as genius and natural leader. Together with Robin, he gets the Keiths of the world on board and also changes their minds finally on who Steve was. Together with Lucas, they get the jocks on board, telling the story of Steve’s heroic acts to save Eddie. Together with Erica, they’d get the middle school nerds in the fight and stanning. Together with Mike and Will, they’d get the parents on board led by Karen (who convinces them and goes all badass for once, over Ted’s countering, helping her ‘stronger than housewife, like Nancy’ arc) and Joyce, and Dustin’s mom, who goes all badass for Dusty in the end (and then, hear me out, she and Eddie’s uncle bond over their love for those 2 boys. Endgame lol.) Dustin simultaneously becomes the one that unites the school cliques in unanimous support of Steve and Eddie’s reputation healing. He goes from biggest bullied to biggest leader.

Eddie: And Eddie, he just had so much still to do in his arc! He didn’t retreat but leaned in and is a hero helping to save the community that shunned him! From the groups uniting to clear his name, he completes arcs of being accepted/loved for all his differences and becoming accepting and bringing his big love to all types of people. He learns from Hopper, Mr Clarke et al that a little bit of regular rules/authority are a good thing, bc, like, there is REAL evil and chaos out there to make your real fights against. He graduates! His band becomes beloved by jocks and nerds and every one in between who come to hear his songs “Chrissy,” “Hero with the Hair”, and “DnD End” and the like. They hit it big and Hellfire Tshirts are selling worldwide (wait, that already happened lol)!

Ok that got a little ooc but anyway the point is that Steve’s death instead of Eddie’s S4 could’ve really really served. Instead, I have no idea what half the arcs currently are or how they’ll resolve meaningfully.

#steve harrington #nancy wheeler #jonathan byers #eddie munson #dustin henderson #robin buckley #stranger things #jane hopper

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creme-meme · 2 years

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re: media consumption as a critical audience, I think when we buy into bullshit and when we don’t buy into it is down to

authorial intent

when I watch the Venom movies and I’m more than happy with this non-canon portrayal because the creators and actors are clearly having fun with the characters, keeping a consistency of ‘how would they act in xyz situations?’ and just generally having a blast with a soft AU of the comic book version; I don’t really care how Venom and Eddie met in this version, because the characters are enjoyable to watch, the actors are clearly having fun, the writing is camp, but all of it is incredibly self aware in how it’s not supposed to be taken seriously all the time (similar sentiments about Thor Ragnarok and camp writing)

meanwhile the plot for Endgame should’ve just been lifted from the comics (although even that probably would’ve been fucked up along the way) because the actual film we got was so badly threaded, a clear cut villain who they tried (for some inexplicable reason) to make ‘sympathetic’ and borderline redeemable, characters acting unlike whatever consistency we had seen before, half the plot was dedicated to no-homoing Steve and Bucky, and also everyone just took Thanos seriously??? just because there was no Deadpool to cuck him and bring him down several notches, apparently no one had the brain cells to question Thanos’ dumb plan??? like for whatever tumblr thinks of Dr Strange he’s the one character who’s arrogant enough to say ‘um, no’ to Thanos’ face and they didn’t even make him do that

#Marvel #Venom #Endgame #media consumption #critical thinking skills #authorial intent #also idk if I blame the Russos as much as I blame Disney for this

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