anthrophile1-blog

[anthrophile1-blog]

My blog has been pretty much exclusively used to interact with and occasionally create Stranger Things content, but one fandom I am even more obsessed with is The Legend of Zelda. With news of an upcoming Zelda live action film coming out, I’ve become a bit hyper focused on the Zeldaverse lately. While many fans are anxious about the film, particularly it being live action, I’m extremely optimistic about it. We have the filmmaking technology to bring fantastical worlds to life in live action film and with the amount of resources Nintendo is pouring into this project one thing is certain: it’s going to be a sensory spectacle rivaling anything else we have ever seen on screen.

There is one thing I am nervous about however: casting. Particularly of Link. He’s got to be one of the hardest characters to cast in all of fiction, and getting him wrong will ruin the movie for a lot of fans. I’ve been wracking my brain for an ideal pick, and it hasn’t been easy. The three options I have seen suggested the most are Tom Holland, Timmothy Chalamet, and Thomas Brodie-Sangster. While I wouldn’t be angry with any of these choices, there a few glaring problems:

1. They’re too old. Link has always, in every piece of official Zelda media, been portrayed as a child or a teenager. Even “adult Link” is only about 17. The only exception is maybe Tears of the Kingdom, where he is, at oldest, in his early 20’s (not counting his 100 year ageless nap in the resurrection chamber), and even there he looks rather young to be in his 20’s. By contrast, Holland is 27, Chalamet is 28, and Brodie-Sangster is 33. Each would have been ideal - 10 or 15 years ago.

2. They’re too established. With the exception of maybe Brodie-Sangster. If Holland or Chalamet played Link I simply wouldn’t see Link. I’d see Tom Holland or Timmothy Chalamet. It’s not their fault that they’re such tremendous talents that they’ve been cast in so many huge career defining roles, but their huge celebrity status would break the cinematic illusion for me.

I think Nintendo would agree, and I know they are taking utmost care with this IP, so I doubt we’re going to see the Chris-Prattization of the Zelda cast. So who do I think they should pick? The first person to come to mind for me is Walker Scobell, of Disney’s Percy Jackson reboot fame. In so many ways he’s just perfect. He’s young. He’s beautiful. He has a very expressive face, capable of conveying Link’s personality with relatively few words (and I do hope they maintain Link’s canonical strong-silent-type demeanor). He fits into the fantasy genre naturally and is capable of the athleticism would will be needed to play Link. The only problem is that he is… Percy Jackson. The starring role in one of the most popular young adult fandoms ever. Could his role as Percy Jackson have the same distracting effect as casting a Holland or Chalamet would have? Does Scobell even have the time for a project as big as The Legend of Zelda will inevitably be?

I’ve heard other great child actors names by fans who would fit the role well, namely Julian Crauser, Thomas Kuc, Mason Thames, and Kiefer o'Reilly (thank you Brian Seeker on YouTube for pointing out these tremendously talented young men), but I haven’t heard anyone mention my personal choice for the role. That’s probably because few people have ever heard of him. My number one pick for Link would be… drum roll please…

Henry Lawfull.

Henry Lawfull is a 17 year old actor who stares in the Netflix original holiday-fantasy film A Boy Called Christmas. If you haven’t seen it, it’s absolutely worth a watch.

He’s a great actor, he’s the right age, he’s a relatively unknown name in the industry, and most importantly, he just kind of looks like Link -

To drive the point home further, I asked Bing AI to imagine what Henry Lawfull would look like as Link, and that absolutely sold it for me:

Tell me what you think. Is this kid perfect for the role or do you just not see it? In any case, I hope this kid has a thriving career ♥️

#the legend of zelda #zelda movie #link #fan casting #a boy called christmas #nintendo #sony #zelda #legend of zelda #fan cast #zelda film

[anthrophile1-blog]

The song playing in the background is a gay song called "tarzan boy" and it's a gay song about a gay man telling another gay man to embrace the gay "lifestyle"

Also the Duffers remodeled (and added the blue and yellow lights) the place to make it look like the gay bar from Dawson's Creek (they're big fans of the series and took inspiration from it) and Mike parallels Jack (gay character from Dawson's Creek) perfectly

[anthrophile1-blog]

So a few weeks ago my family gathered for thanksgiving. My two little cousins are both big Stranger Things fans. The older of the two is in college and the younger in elementary school. So naturally I had to discuss the show with them - theories, favorite characters, etc. And of course… Byler!

So I asked the older girl “so… Mike and Eleven, or Mike and Will?” Without hesitation she said “oh, Mike and Will. Definitely.”

I just thought that was neat 🙂

#byler #byler tumblr #byler endgame #byler obsessed #mike wheeler #stranger things #miwi #bi mike wheeler #stranger writers #byler canon #byler theory #byler evidence #byler analysis #byler proof #be gay make byler canon #byler better be canon #byler brainrot #byler is canon #byler is endgame #byler is real #byler is requited #mike wheeler loves will byers #will byers deserves the world #mike wheeler x will byers

[anthrophile1-blog]

Halp. My club needs new members!

Attention Puzzle Tales players.

Somehow I got promoted to leader of this club. It’s been pretty dead for a while and I’ve been the only one doing the club bosses. As newly minted leader, I kicked all of the inactive members. If you play this game, please consider joining the club! But only if you’re going to regularly fight the club boss. I can’t beat all of them on my own!

#Byler

[anthrophile1-blog]

This line. The hesitation before he says ‘best friends’, the way he gazes softly for just a little too long before speaking…the quick intake of breath afterwards, mouth slightly open in anticipation…That boy is in love, it’s written all over his face. You have to be wilfully ignorant to miss the undertones in this scene.

+ Honourable mention to the romantically coded background music making the whole scene feel even more sweet and soft and lovely

[anthrophile1-blog]

What do you mean they've always loved each other?

[anthrophile1-blog]

Dear Matt and Ross Duffer,

Whatever you do, whatever you decide for the end of Stranger Things- please don’t let the homophobes win.

[anthrophile1-blog]

You’re not wrong. But we have the numbers, passion, and strategy to take Byler at least to the top 5. It would send a message about how big our chunk of the fandom is. If we can get the top Byler influencers to come together and pick a target and mobilize the base, we could even win the damn thing.

…can you tell I’ve worked on politics? 😂

There's a Ship Elimination Game on Reddit with daily polls, so if you want your ship to survive for as long as possible, vote for your LEAST favorite ship here:

Reddit Thread:

[anthrophile1-blog]

Agreed. So far we’ve been in agreement on who to knock out, and the general Redditpulic has agreed. Now that we’ve knocked out the most obviously problematic ships, who do we go for next? I’ve seen influential Byler blogs name Stancy as our next target, so that’s who I voted for. How can we continue to build consensus and narrow down a target once we get to the point where only good ships remain?

There's a Ship Elimination Game on Reddit with daily polls, so if you want your ship to survive for as long as possible, vote for your LEAST favorite ship here:

Reddit Thread:

[anthrophile1-blog]

We should coordinate this community and agree one ship to eliminate each day. If our votes are dispersed, Byler antis will knock Byler out way too early.

@angelwithnightmares @lesbianmindflayer think you can help coordinate this?

There's a Ship Elimination Game on Reddit with daily polls, so if you want your ship to survive for as long as possible, vote for your LEAST favorite ship here:

Reddit Thread:

#byler #byler tumblr #byler endgame #byler obsessed #byler is endgame #byler theory #byler is requited #byler poll #byler is real #byler rights #byler proof #byler brainrot #byler analysis #will byers #mike wheeler #mike wheeler x will byers #mike wheeler i know what you are #mike wheeler is fruity #gay mike wheeler #mike wheeler apologist #mike wheeler loves will byers #will byers deserves the world #will byers my beloved #i love will byers #will byers supremacy #will byers x mike wheeler #cleradin #miwi #anti mileven

[anthrophile1-blog]

Saw someone answer an anon that said "Mlvn having relationship issues doesn't automatically mean they're gonna break up because all couples on the show have had issues on the show" which is true! Simply having relationship issues doesn't mean Mike and El will break up and the other couples have had issues as well.

However, none of the other couples' relationship issues revolve around one of them not loving the other (except for Stanky...which is why they broke up lol). And their issues don't revolve around one of them feeling threatened by the others independence and autonomy. And none of the other couples needed help from a third party to fix their issues, they work together to sort things out. AND none of them have weird ass "love confessions" that indirectly caused the apocalypse or had one of them only say "I love you" to the other because of their other love interests feelings for them...yeah. And that was just me touching the SURFACE of their relationship issues.

Like there are obvious differences between Mlvn and the other couples that point towards this going beyond them just "having a rough patch" and points to them breaking up. Like people just wanna act ignorant and dense on purpose. Like you KNOW why all that points to a Midleven break up and why it isn't the same as the most likely endgame couples please be serious 😭😭

[anthrophile1-blog]

😭😭😭

Mike clenched his fingers around the phone and let himself slide down the wall to a sitting position on the floor. The sound of a busy line ringed in his ear, a sound he’d grown familiar to over the past few weeks.

He wasn’t surprised, but that didn’t take any of the disappointment away. Hope was a rare thing for kids like Mike in towns like Hawkins, and his was wearing thin and weak with each call that didn’t reach Will.

Mike had thought something like this could happen. The distance was imposing, after all, and not just in the physical sense. He and Will… they’d been drawing apart since before the Byers packed their lives and moved to the other side of the country. There was a fracture between them, burned bridges Mike now so desperately wanted to build back up, even when he’d started the fire in the first place.

It was just hard to accept that Will was… gone. And this time, there was no looking for him in the woods and no staying next to him in a hospital bed. This time, Will wasn’t in danger, he was just… away, out of Mike’s reach. And he had done that.

The line remained busy, but Mike didn’t hang up. Instead, he spoke.

“Hey, Will. Uhm… it’s Mike. I–" Mike paused to nibble on his lip. He felt so stupid talking into an empty phone, his own voice crackling back to his ear. But Mike had always been a person of words, the Dungeon Master and the writer. They lived inside of him, burning and tickling, filling him up. The problem had always been, he was never good at letting them out. But here, in his basement when no one else was awake and when the line kept buzzing busy in his ear… it seemed like a good place to start.

“I tried to catch you on the phone again today, but… you didn’t pick up. The line was busy. Again. I’m guessing it’s because of Joyce’s new job. El told me about it in her last letter. That’s great! That… that she got a job there, I mean. Sounds like you are building a good life in Lenora. I’m… I’m glad, really.”

Mike breathed in through his mouth and closed his eyes. His fingers twisted on the cord and he pulled a little. There was an uncomfortable tug in his stomach, small but painful. There was a lot more Mike wanted to say, a lot more he needed to say. But where to even start? The words were there, pooling in his throat, but there were so many of them that they tangled together, so when Mike try to pull on one a bunch of them appeared and there was no making sense of them.

Opening his eyes, Mike started again.

“There’s… there’s a lot of things I wanna ask you, Will. I wanna know if you like Lenora, how school is going, if you have any new friends. I…” His eyes pricked and Mike blinked away the tears. God, he was so stupid. “I wanna ask you why you don’t want to talk to me anymore,” Mike huffed in a broken gasp. “I mean, you are my best friend, Will. But right now… right now it feels like I lost you, or something. And maybe… I did? I don’t know. But I miss you. I miss having you here with me and it sucks, okay? Everything sucks. I suck and the fucking Upside Down sucks and this stupid town sucks and you suck too for not picking up the phone.” Mike was out of breath. He wasn’t sure when the tears began to fall, but they were there and now Mike didn’t think he could stop. Mike let his head hang, tears dropping to the carpet with muffled sounds.

“I… I fucked it up, didn’t I, Will?” Mike asked to the empty line. A sob climbed up his throat and got trapped in Mike’s lips. Mike gritted his teeth and pushed a hand to his mouth.

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

“I don’t know why I do that. I… I don’t want to but I keep breaking things and breaking people and it sucks. I’m sorry I broke us, Will.” The phone kept quiet and Mike inhale deeply, filling his lungs until he felt dizzy. “I’m sorry for calling. I… Yeah. I’m just sorry.”

Mike didn’t hang up. He didn’t trust his body to climb up and put the phone in its place. Instead, he let it hang by the cord, bumping on his shoulder.

He didn’t try calling Will again after that night.

[anthrophile1-blog]

I got some birthday presents!

#byler #byler tumblr #byler endgame #byler obsessed #mike wheeler #be gay make byler canon #byler is requited #gay mike wheeler #mike wheeler is fruity #mike wheeler loves will byers #will byers #blue meets yellow in the west #i love will byers #mike wheeler x will byers #mike x will #will byers deserves the world #will byers supremacy #byler brainrot #cleradin #stranger things

[anthrophile1-blog]

This.

“it’s unrealistic for so many of them to be gay”

shut up shut up shut UP every single person in my 3rd grade friend group turned out to be queer (except for one, the token straight guy) and there were EIGHT of us. queer people find each other, even if they don’t know they’re queer.

[anthrophile1-blog]

Why do the straights feel so entitled?

This tweet will always be iconic 😂 I miss script polls 😔

[anthrophile1-blog]

Attention Puzzle Tales players.

Somehow I got promoted to leader of this club. It’s been pretty dead for a while and I’ve been the only one doing the club bosses. As newly minted leader, I kicked all of the inactive members. If you play this game, please consider joining the club! But only if you’re going to regularly fight the club boss. I can’t beat all of them on my own!

#byler #byler tumblr #byler endgame #byler obsessed #mike wheeler #be gay make byler canon #byler is requited #gay mike wheeler #mike wheeler is fruity #mike wheeler loves will byers #will byers #blue meets yellow in the west #i love will byers #mike wheeler x will byers #mike x will #will byers deserves the world #will byers supremacy #byler brainrot #cleradin #stranger things #puzzle tales #miwi

[anthrophile1-blog]

💯

Melvin vs Byler ending-

If Melvin is endgame: El’s 4 season long independence arc will be abandoned, all of the progress she has made toward becoming a whole person will be stunted because she will forever be tied to the “random nerd” she started dating at an extremely young age. Mike’s strange behavior regarding his relationships with El and Will will have all been for nothing, and he will be tied to someone who he views as superior to him, likely insecure forever. Will’s queerness will have been used as a plot device to keep the couple together and he will end up alone and sad. All three will be stagnant and likely unhappy.

If Byler is endgame: El’s independence arc will wrap up beautifully, proving to herself and everyone else that platonic and familial love are equally important to romantic love, and she will still have Mike in her corner likely forever. Mike’s strange behavior will all make sense and he will be a beautifully written, complex character who learns that he is deserving of the kind of love that Will has to offer and will have a partner who is his equal in every way. Will’s selflessness will pay off, his queerness will be a meaningful part of the story, and he will get a happy ending with his childhood bestie. All three will have grown as people and end up happy.

In case you cared.