OKAY WILLS BIRTHDAY HAS ARRIVED DUFFERS BETTER GIVE US MORE WILL BTS. 😡

thinking about the Duffers saying that Jaws is their favorite movie and they liked the idea of the demogorgan bursting out of the wall like Bruce bursting out of the water

thinking about the Jaws poster behind mike

thinking about lovers lake

worrying about mike

“ Will Byers breathes.”

Mike Wheeler:

The Duffer Brothers & ST Cast

i like to imagine the duffers kicking their feet and giggling as they scroll through the byler tag

When he says, “the last time we talked,” he’s referring to when El was arrested. He stood by one of the car windows and told her, “I am going to fix this.” And then he didn’t. Owens got her out of the arrest; she protected herself from the government bitches. Mike didn’t do shit, and she didn’t need him to.

So he isn’t misinterpreting anything — he isn’t being an unreliable narrator. In fact, he’s telling it exactly as it is.

(EDIT) For reference, this is how she looks at him during their conversation:

And here’s when he says, “I am going to fix this”:

She turns away from him right after he finishes that sentence because she doesn’t fucking believe him.

so i was watching this interview and i wanted to talk about a few things that were said.

first, i want to talk about the first half of this clip:

maya says that the duffers pay very close attention to the story and the characters. once again, this shows how much detail goes into stranger things and that even if something seems so small, it really does mean something. i think it is possible to overanalyze some things in the show, but for the most part, lots of the patterns or details we’re noticing definitely mean something and are there for a reason. she then goes on to say how empathetic the duffers are. would two people who are empathetic see all the shit will has been through for multiple seasons, decide to emphasize his love for mike even more in the fourth season, only to turn around and kill will or have him be a part of an unrequited love story? no way!! also, i really don’t think we need to worry about will or any og characters dying because they’ve said in another interview this isn’t game of thrones and killing someone like mike would be depressing. finally, maya mentions how the duffers look at the characters and the actors to try to see what would move the story along the most. would making the audience more aware of will’s love for mike move the story along if it’s unrequited? no. would highlighting that el and mike have severe relationships problems, that even mike says in the show, are much more adult-like and different compared to previous times before move the story along only to have them end up being endgame when clearly this couple isn’t capable of being themselves around each other or have any good development that solves their problems? no, it would completely contradict el’s storyline of wanting to develop her own person and be loved the way she deserves and to stop being idolized. and mike does idolizes her. he compares her to superman. when el asks him why he doesn’t say “i love you”, he goes on to mention she’s a superhero. in his monologue he mentions how she’s a superhero, can fly, and move mountains. something we’ve been learning about el is that she doesn’t want to be defined by her powers. her entire life her worth was defined by her abilities. her standing up to dr. brenner and literally not giving AF that he died was also her way of showing that she knows she’s so much more than what he always tried to water her down to. she’s fine with having her powers to save her friends and family, but if you pay attention to el’s storyline, you know all she wants is to be loved and be a kid. season 3 shows el being the most happy she’s ever been because she got to be a KID and go shopping and have sleepovers and talk about celebrity crushes with max. how in any way would having el stay with mike, who can’t say he loves her and is only motivated to say it because of will’s confession, be beneficial to her character or the plot? it wouldn’t. how would having mike stay with someone he doesn’t romantically love and have him struggle with his friendship with will for no reason develop his character? it wouldn’t. they would’ve completely assassinated mike’s character otherwise. how would including will’s coded love confession to mike that mentions el commissioned the painting which leads to mike’s monologue move the story forward if they completely ignore that mike believes those are el’s feelings? this is why i know the painting is coming back up again in s5 and mike is going to learn the truth that those were actually will’s feelings. also, el tells mike in a letter, that we SEE him read, that will is painting something for someone he likes. ignoring all of this would be the biggest wtf lol. anyways, everything that is included is intentional and most definitely does not lead to a dead-end.

now, i want to talk about the second half of the clip. the duffers said they already outlined season 5. they then went back and revised season 4 to make sure it connects with season 5. they’ve also said in other interviews that season 5 is part 2 to season 4, which explains why vol 2 felt incomplete because it was supposed to be! they didn’t circle back to certain plot points or details because they will appear in season 5! which means we’re going to find out why mike has been acting the way he has and mike is going to learn the truth about the painting and will’s feelings. like let’s be serious. what would be the point of them making sure season 4 and 5 connect perfectly, if they’re going to dismiss what was included in season 4? that would be ridiculous. if they didn’t care about their show or their characters, then they wouldn’t go back to revise season 4 to make sure it fits with the ending they want. the duffers then go on to say how they view responses and get new ideas 👀 so if we see an episode titled “the paladin and the cleric” and it takes place on a day where there’s a forecast of a 100% chance of rain, we know what’s about to happen and where they got the idea from *cough* bylers *cough*. the interview ends with the duffers echoing what maya said about how they are inspired by the actors and use that as influence in their storytelling as well. so they pay attention to what the actors are doing/perception of their character AND they pay very close attention to details in the show, which means any thing that mike does that is perceived as flirting or romantic is intentional?? yeah, i think it does 😭 i mean even if finn wanted byler to be canon, if that’s not the story the duffers want to tell, then they’re not going to let him portray mike as staring lovingly at will, looking at will’s lips, and doing a triple-take look where mike then looks nervous when he sees will also staring at him lol. like finn’s job is to act. he can’t do whatever he wants because he feels like it lol. so in conclusion: mike is in love with will and that’s the story they’re telling to the audience. everything is intentional and byler is endgame. thank you for coming to my ted talk.

Planing, Shaping, & Slotting theory

So the Duffers released some bts images of the filming of ST S5. In one of the shots we see this book laying on a table underneath a poster of Pink Floyd The Wall.

After doing some light digging I found something out:

This book does not exist. Meaning, it was made specifically for ST S5. I went down a bit of a rabbit hole trying to break down everything about this book that we can see to potentially find out its importance. The Photo: - Doing a reverse image search of the factory worker didn’t garner any results, which means this is either a photo that someone had of some random factory worker that has never been published previously or, they took this photo specifically for this book cover. A lot of work for something that is meant to be a throw away background prop.

Also when doing a quick reverse image search, it brought up similar photos (not this exact one though) of factory workers. Specifically factory workers working on manufacturing tanks and turrets. 

“Planing, Shaping & Slotting”

A quick google search of those terms reveals that these are all different mechanical operating processes. Most specifically used in woodworking and metal working. The major difference seems to be a difference in how the machine cuts the wood/metal.

Fred H Calvin

Looking up this name as an author yields no results. HOWEVER, something I do find interesting is if you just Google “Fred H Calvin”, this is the first result:

Calvin’s doctrine of predestination is a book by Fred H Klooster, who is a former professor of systematic theology at Calvin Seminary, specializing in the study of John Calvin. - John Calvin is a well known French theologist who is known for his doctrine of predestination and the birth of Calvinism.

Calvinism, also called Reformed Christianity, is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Calvin and various other Reformation-era theologians. It emphasizes the sovereignty of God and the authority of the Bible

Predestination by definition, at least in theology, is the doctrine that all events are willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul.

- If you look at the reviews on the book, there is really only one that kind of breaks down the main points of the book, which I find to be very interesting: 

Now, I am by no means an expert in theology so I had to go and breakdown what some of the key terms used here mean in reference to theology and Calvinism specifically:

**important note** all of these definitions are pulled directly from Google, so I don’t know if these are all 100% accurate or if anything is being misrepresented.

Election: In Christianity, particularly within the theological framework of Calvinism, election involves God choosing a particular person or group of people to a particular task or relationship, especially eternal life. Election to eternal life is viewed by some as conditional on a person's faith, and by others as unconditional. Unconditional election (also called sovereign election[1] or unconditional grace) is a Calvinist doctrine relating to predestination that describes the actions and motives of God prior to his creation of the world, when he predestined some people to receive salvation, the elect, and the rest he left to continue in their sins and receive the just punishment, eternal damnation, for their transgressions of God's law as outlined in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.

Reprobation: Reprobation is God's eternal decree whereby he foreordained that (1) certain persons would be excluded from the number of those saved by grace, and that (2) those same persons would instead experience his just wrath. - Something of note that I also found about reprobation, at least in Calvinism, is that God is not viewed as the author or creator of sin, but rather it’s “fearful, irreproachable, just judge and avenger.”

Double predestination: Double predestination is the idea that not only does God choose some to be saved, he also creates some people who will be damned. Some modern Calvinists respond to the ethical dilemma of double predestination by explaining that God's active predestination is only for the elect.

Foreordination: Definitions of foreordination. (theology) being determined in advance; especially the doctrine (usually associated with Calvin) that God has foreordained every event throughout eternity (including the final salvation of mankind)

Unlike predestination, foreordination allows for individual agency (the ability to choose whether to fulfill one's callings).

Proximate: So looking up proximate in relation to theology I found what is called the proximate cause doctrine. The proximate cause, also called legal cause,  refers to a primary cause or an incident that set everything in motion.

So from my rudimentary understanding Calvin believed, in relation to the end of the world, that God has predetermined who will be saved and who will be damned since the creation of the universe. That he has chosen, or elected, certain people to have a specific role in the salvation of mankind and that they, as well as the damned, have the ability, or foreordination, to choose whether they want to fulfill that calling. And that all of this will be set into motion, or proximated, by a specific incident or event. 

Lindsay Publications Inc.

Doing some digging, I did find out that this is a real publication company. If you look at a list of their published works, you see that they are mostly specialized in manufacturing and machine building books. A lot of their works were published in the mid-to-late 80s and early 90s. 

Now taking everything we’ve learned, I’m sure we are all wondering: How does this relate to Stranger Things?

So based on a couple of theories that are already floating around about S5, especially because of the inspo board the writers posted, I believe this book could be alluding to the party working on building some form of machine, potentially in one dealing with time travel. Let me explain:

So we are all already under the idea that s5 is going to deal with time in some form or another, whether that has to do with time loops, time travel, or something similar. We also know that the Upside Down is stuck on the day that Will was taken into the Upside Down and that s5 potentially opens with a flashback to Will in the Upside Down.

Also based on those weird AI generated clips the writers shared during the strikes about specific scenes in s5 we can tell that Jonathan and Steve are building something as well as Dustin, Nancy, and Jonathan in some kind of machine(car?) traveling through some kind of hellscape. 

Based on things they have already referenced in Stranger Things, I wouldn’t be surprised if they took inspiration from Back to The Future and tried to make their own version of the DeLorean. The book, just as a manual on machinery, could be used as a guide on how to build said machine. Especially since none of the party, except for maybe Dustin,has any understanding on building something of that magnitude. 

That part seems obvious based on things we already know. All we are left with is the question of why they are building this machine in the first place. I think the answer could potentially be explained in the other clues of the book. Stranger Things has dealt in religious imagery before, especially in s4. I found this reddit post specifically talking about all the religious symbolism we see in s4. 

Since they have dabbled in religious imagery before, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that they will continue that theme in s5. In regards to Calvinism specifically, we can take a look again at my rudimentary explanation of Calvinism: So from my rudimentary understanding Calvin believed, in relation to the end of the world, that God (Henry/One) has predetermined who will be saved and who will be damned(Vecna’s victims) since the creation of the universe (The Upside Down). That he has chosen, or elected, certain people (Eleven/Will(?)) to have a specific role in the salvation of mankind and that they, as well as the damned(The People of Hawkins), have the ability, or foreordination, to choose whether they want to fulfill that calling. And that all of this will be set into motion, or proximated, by a specific incident or event(The events of the finale of s4). 

Them time traveling back in time to prevent the events of s4, or even Will being taken in the first place, could be them refusing the call of their roles in Henry’s version of the end of the world/Hawkins. 

Something else interesting is that this book appears underneath the poster of Pink Floyd The Wall. There is a really good post (here) about what The Wall is about. It could be easy to assume that another thing that sets the events in motion could be that the party is not dealing well with coping with the trauma of s4. Eleven’s failure to save Max/Hawkins; Dustin’s failure to save Eddie; Mike dealing with his failed confession and crumbling relationship with El; Will dealing with his, supposed, unrequited feelings for Mike/the return of his connection to the UD; Lucas dealing with the loss of Max. We could see any individual member of the party building a wall around themselves after that. There could potentially be something that happens in early s5 that will cause one or more of those walls to crumble, and the way they see to rectify it is by building a time machine to save those they’ve lost. It also doesn’t hurt that the person in the poster easily looks like one of Henry’s victims. 

I could be way off base here, but I just think all these little details are interesting to pay attention to. Especially since the Duffers have referenced that they hide things in the background purposefully to foreshadow things in the main story.

Tldr; Planing, Shaping & Slotting is foreshadowing the party building a time machine to save Max/prevent the end of the world.

Once again preening with joy over the fact that The Duffer Brothers gave us phenomenally written love story arcs for all our queer characters rather than just “it’s okay to be gay” ones 🙌🏽

I read earlier about how Mike used the Dennis method and I keep busting out laughing appalled every hour or so upon remembering.

I am very delusional actually because listening to their podcasts and interviews I think I have sort of the same mentality of the Duffers when we are talking about writing stories so I think I can predict stranger things just thinking what would I do how would I write that and what could make me change and adapt this because of external interferences or because of technicalities and how would I still make this work ? and I don't actually know if I'm right about this kinship with the Duffers' brains but I believe it oh and I also hate them because I think they are going to kill( or almost kill )Jonathan because of this because that's what I would do if I was them

the reason the duffers keep joyce and steve from interacting is because if joyce knew about what happened to steve / what he went through / how he saved jonathan and nancy / how he was beaten and tortured yet continued to protect the kids every time and no one took care of him or asked if he was okay she would end up lecturing everyone while comforting steve

(also thinking abt this inspired me to make these)

There's one question that I need to know the answer to.

We know that Will is now confirmed as both gay and in love with Mike. That's confirmed.

But what I need to know is: how long has Noah known that? Was it only recently he was actually told this is where Will's character is going? Or did the Duffers tell him right from the very beginning that this will be where things are gonna go as the show progresses?

Like... did Noah know, during filming S1 or S2, that Will was in love with Mike?

I need to know.

And once again Will falls so hard after taking that bandaid off.😍

the duffers in an interview when asked how much they debated on having Max be "the one" for Vecnas big 4th kill

were literally like "it had to be her". they planned from the beginning to have her be the one to have her life on the line and be in real danger.

in s2 Lucas making her "accept the risk" of knowing about Vecna and telling her it could get her killed was her fate being foreshadowed and sealed.

i promise you post-s5 they'll be saying "it had to be him" about Mike, and Will ending up with him. they planned from the beginning for Mike to be the one, and that's why people saying "why can't it be someone else" is so stupid. but we all know that :)

-crazy together

like yeah i’m not a popular blog whatsoever but i still wanna speak out about this:

i personally don’t like the direction this fandom’s gone in. what happened to just loving the characters and not wanting to jump their bones every two seconds? and you can’t ‘claim’ a character either, it’s giving controlling behavior

like yea i write smut but that doesn’t mean i wanna suck ‘em all off

also, the racism towards lucas and erica (and priyah and caleb respectively) is absolutely disgusting! like, leave ‘em alone! the homophobia. the threatening to doxx. following joseph to his hotel. y’all should know better than that.

what happened to dreaming about dancing in the moonlight with the characters (they are not real. they are fictional, get over it)? sharing an ice cream at scoops ahoy. solving the mysteries.

…what happened to this fandom?

(if i get hate for this i honestly don’t care because i know i’m actually right for once) i’m just gonna sit in my little corner and write scenarios about kissing robin in the rain, making daisy chains with dustin and steve, skateboarding with max and teaching el, painting with will, helping eddie with his campaigns, lucas teaching me how to play basketball, getting my nails done by heather while having a girls’ night in with her and chrissy…