#and that has died bc of the duffers

[every-dayiwakeup]

If canon Steve were to talk to fanon Steve he'd be like:

The only thing different we do about Billy is actually give him support and a safe home. I'd even argue that fanon Billy is the Billy we only see glimpses of in canon... when he's not on edge.

Which gets this fandom all hot and unbothered for some reason 🤷‍♂️

#billy hargrove #steve harrington #he would not fucking say that #as a friend of mine said #and i like steve #fanon steve #he had potential #and that has died bc of the duffers #good day #anti duffers #anti stranger things #srsly #hes the annoyed older brother who always looks like he needs smelling salts to wake up #hes not the babysitter #not the single mother of six #not a doormat existing to fuck eddie #dont strip him of what little personality hes got smh #he was barely crying #when he was tortured #hes emotionally conspitated

[chirpsythismorning]

Joyce staying at the cabin with Hopper and El to keep them safe bc no one in Hawkins knows they’re alive. Will, Jonathan and Argyle staying at the Wheeler's bc they have more room and presumably aren't in danger like the others.

OH WAIT there's a witch hunt for the Hellfire club, which means all the boys are in danger from the townspeople. OH WAIT the boy who came back to life has returned from the West, the same boy whose assumed death jumpstarted this small town's curse in the first place! The same boy who apparently everyone and their fathers knew was gay...

THE END IS NEAR! THE GAYS ARE RESPONSIBLE!

+ Time jump early somewhere in between.

Now picture how that would look in an 8 episode story format, leading up to a final battle lasting about 2+ hrs, and that's loosely how s5 is gonna go down.

#byler #enter satanic panic #enter religious imagery #enter small town blaming the apocalypse on two boys falling in love #NO but deadass... #I could see a gradual realization in 5x01 #with them making a plan but then realizing it wont work bc townspeople are hunting down members of hellfire #the whistleblower for the hellfire club in the eyes of the town was jason #and now jason has been found dead #and before he died he told the townspeople that members of hellfire club were protecting eddie... #jason basically signed all of hellfire clubs death certificates #now that citizens are seeing real life impacts as a result of what jason said was caused by these kids playing dnd... #that they're now working for the devil himself #shit is going to get bleak af... #it could get so bleak that something horrible happens instigating a time jump early on #the duffers have said s5 is pretty quick in motion with continuing the events directly after vol 2 #but then they imply that there is a shift after those first two eps... #so i think it's likely we're getting at time jump in time for 5x03 #putting the rest of the season post time jump and preparing for the ultimate final battle #that is my guesstimation at this time

[scoopstomyahoy]

thinking about a no upside down au steddie fic where steve and eddie run into each other years after moving away from hawkins, and eddie remembers steve and his fall from grace as king, and is kind of intrigued to see what kind of person he is now

and steve doesn’t remember him at all at first, because, look, eddie changed his hair again, and steve’s had a few head injuries (no upside down but i imagine he still went thru some shit with the party and with robin), and he didn’t really think about eddie in high school anyway, and he’s trying to forget about hawkins as much as possible (besides the kiddos, but they’re all moved out for college now, anyway) (obviously he lives with robin)

but steve is different now, happier, more open, flirts with guys, flirts with EDDIE, and eddie….. well, he wants to know more! and he tells steve he knows him from hawkins, and steve’s sunny little smile flickers a little, but he just apologizes for not remembering him and mentions he has some memory problems

and they get to know each other, and eventually as eddie tells him more (and maybe with the help of some yearbooks) steve remembers eddie. and. well. they like getting to know each other. and they like each other. and then they get together

eventually they’ve been together for a while, and eddie thinks he wants to maybe introduce steve to wayne, and he mentions he’s going to go back to hawkins for a long weekend (as he’s done a couple times) and this time he’d like steve to join him

and again steve’s sunny smile flickers a bit, but he says he’d love to meet eddie’s uncle, and… they go to hawkins. and it goes well— meeting wayne, at least, but steve seems a little on edge the whole time they’re there, tense when they drive in, fidgety when they go to the grocery store, et cetera. eddie thinks maybe steve is nervous about staying with the man who raised eddie, which is ridiculous, because wayne LOVES steve.

it’s not til they leave the town altogether that steve relaxes, and eddie realizes it wasn’t “meeting the parents” but rather going back to hawkins. and speaking of meeting the parents, steve didn’t ever bring his own up, even though eddie knew they still lived in hawkins. and the way steve glanced around whenever they went in public, like he was scared of getting recognized

and he asks about it, and steve doesn’t really want to talk about it, but he gives eddie snippets of it. people he wanted to leave behind in hawkins, memories that resurfaced, things he wants to forget

eddie goes back to see wayne sometimes, and the first time he doesn’t know whether to ask steve to come, so he just mentions he’s thinking about going to hawkins for some weekend and steve immediately starts making plans with him as if the invite is implicit. they go back to hawkins several more times, steve still tense and pent up the whole time they’re there

over time steve reveals more and more to eddie. everything that made hawkins hell for him, from the things he himself did in high school to the things people did to him. stuff tommy and carol and billy said to him. some of it is just typical high school bullshit (and oh, the nancy thing.) some of it is the tragedies steve went through, the horrors he had to protect his kids from. the injuries he sustained. more generally the homophobia that permeated the whole town, keeping steve from being himself. the lack of support in the indiana public school system for a high school senior who’s had two concussions and gone through incredible trauma.

his parents. the reason why steve’s mail is addressed to ‘steve buckley’ now, not ‘steve harrington’.

(that doesn’t come out until much, much later, and eddie is kicking himself for ever suggesting steve come back to hawkins.)

eddie, who hardly had an easy time of it in hawkins, is absolutely blown away by what steve had gone through in the same town, right under his nose. the entire persona that steve was trying to leave behind — the cool as a cucumber, unaffected, douchey mask he wore to hide all that he had endured. the head injuries. the emotional tragedies he had gone through. the way he had to be the rock for the kids even as he went through the same things as them.

he tries to tell steve they never have to go back to hawkins again, and steve is having none of it. he tells steve wayne can come visit them in their new city, and steve thinks that’s completely unfair to the man who had raised eddie, seriously, you’re going to make him come all the way up here?

and well i don’t know exactly what the ending is but steve is so stubborn about trying to love hawkins because it was eddie’s home and he wants to be able to go see wayne because wayne deserves to see his kid and eddie deserves to see his uncle and steve doesn’t want to be the problem :(

#steddie #stranger things #this isn’t very fleshed out but just. hawkins as an incredibly scarring place for steve #something built up in his mind as a very dangerous place for him not just because of what happened there but who he had to be there #i think ultimately it would culminate in them going back to hawkins and running into steve’s parents when they least expect it #and steve gets to yell at them in public and tell them they suck and ruin their image and eddie is being his little guard dog next to him #baring his teeth #for the no upside down part of the au i think it would have to be like. nebulous tragedy of season 1 struck them #barb still died (sorry barb) so that his relationship with nancy falls apart. will and el are twins and they disappear the same night #steve knows the kids earlier in the timeline in this one and has already basically adopted them when will and el go missing #eddie was never the victim of a massive witch hunt but jason still harasses him during his third senior year and gets ppl to gang up on him #so he was never like Wanted by all of hawkins and can never return but he sure doesn’t feel welcome there besides w wayne #oh i also think it would be important that one of the trips steve snaps at eddie bc he’s so strung out and immediately regrets it #and takes it as proof that when in hawkins Steve Is A Bad Person and tries to explain this to eddie #eddie meanwhile is trying to convince steve that he’s not a bad person and that he was being mean because he’s completely stressed out #and he wouldn’t be so stressed out if he didn’t make himself come back to hawkins #anyway ultimately. steve realized hawkins is just a place where bad things happened. it is not a place that makes people (including himself) #bad. it’s just. a place. and steve did not grow and change for the better bc he got out of hawkins. he got better bc he put the effort in #god i just. love steve so much and the version of him in my mind is so much better developed than what the duffers are doing

[moderngirlmp3]

as a society i think we need to talk less about eddie munson

#listen. LISTEN. i get it he’s cool and nonconformist and edgy and. dead and queercoded i GET IT #but like jesus christ yall the amounts of character butchery that the entire fandom has been subjected to #also hi sorry can we maybe possibly also address how the entire fandom insists on queerifying all the male characters. when we have. #a canonical wlw character. like ?? i just. im used to it from every other fandom but like #i simply do not have the patience for it in this one. can we please not ignore robin #also why does the obsession with eddie always come at the expense of the other more fleshed out characters. #like just say you want a self insert and go but don’t pretend that all of your headcanons or whatever actually happened #ESPECIALLY when it comes to ships. ahem steddie shippers. completely changing both of their characters and dynamics w other characters #i get wanting to change aspects of canon. trust me. i have a five page google doc of complaints. but like can we not act like he’s #canonically anything other than another minor character that the duffer bros sacrificed bc they didn’t wanna kill a main #and like. i don’t know. something about how the relationship everyone wants to focus on. is between steve and eddie ?? #who barely interact and tbh don’t have much stake in each others lives. #as opposed to like. dustin and eddie ??? like im sorry but. why is steve always so destroyed in fics where eddie dies #and dustin is just like. crying or whatever. #steve barely fucking knew the guy let’s be real. #i dont know. im angry and tired of shitty characterization and wlw being ignored for less relevant white men #roxisms #st #stranger things

[lemoyne]

#tbh it kinda sucks that i’m hyperfixating on stranger things rn #like all the characters that actually made me feel things fucking died (eddie/billy primarily) #idek why i get upset like it’s the same damn thing every single season lmao #1. oh no a big scary monster! 2. el kills it with the Hand Scream pose 3. thanks el for destroying the big scary monster 4. the end #1. oh wow a cool lovable character 2. get dangerously attached to said character 3. character fucking dies for no reason 4. cry #ITS THE SAME THINGGGGGGGGGGG #first it was bob. then alexei (and billy for those inclined). then eddie. fuck the duffer brothers frfr #don’t even get me started on eddie. bro died for no fucking reason. he literally could’ve got away but they fucking killed him!!!!! #pretty sure it was for shock value or some stupid shit 🙄 #he died a fucking hero and the rest of the town still sees him as a murderer freak. fuck you #this makes me sound childish bc not every character has a happy ending but at the very least they could’ve written it better or something #txt

[icallhimjoey]

panel things!

coming into the series as a newbie and into the fandom was extraordinary and insane, changed his life

he finds himself in situations now that leave him overwhelmed

when asked about the physicality of her performance, joe joked grace broke her arms for real as chrissy

joe wasnt given any homework from the duffers for his part, said he maybe pulled some 80s inspo from the breakfast club

he doesnt play dnd, only played it once because he had to for the netflix thing and had to pretend to know what he was doing

joe doesn't know what animal crossing is

he hasnt really played guitar since the show

doesnt have much time for hobbies, said he still cooks

grace said she binge watches indian matchmaking on netflix and joe joked that he was going to watch that too now

he said a lot has changed for him but at the same time not much has changed at all, is glad he gets to travel and work more

joked he was furious when he found out eddie was gonna die

grace said she liked dying because she'd never done it before, then gave joe a look (bc he fucking dies in everything)

said the kas theory sounds amazing and that he doesnt know if its gonna happen

when asked if he could play any person in history, who would he pick, he let the audience decide because he didnt know - they went with RDJ or Heath Ledger

if he could be a magician in a movie, he'd be david blaine

he said it’s moving to hear how these characters have changed peoples lives

if joe could talk to his future self, he'd ask how it's all going

if joe could talk to his 16 year-old self, he'd tell him to go to bed and do his homework

in the ST5 scripts, it was always master of puppets (never another song), like his death, no discussion

joe talked about hanging out with his cast-members and mason coming up with fun things to do, like going to the aquarium together

joe was asked 'american or european dr pepper' and he said ?? there's a difference?

joe met andy serkis and had sushi with him, said he’s great, no big deal

grace said joe would be a great paul newman - joe said, no he wouldnt

he kept rubbing the mic on his mouth

joe's not a starwars nerd

but he met darth vader and thought that was cool

first piece of media that inspired joe is disney's animated alice in wonderland, said he loved that film when he was younger

(xoxo to @jo-harrington once more who fed me live updates all throughout the full panel!)

#joe quinn #joseph quinn #fan expo dallas #<3

[kuumara]

ok lets go

usually the original post is alright and its the comments that are weird, but not this time. bc i could say the exact same thing ab mcdonalds, that they would be disappointed crying pissing screaming etc when they see s5. i personally think more ronaldmcdonaldasses should be ok with a byler endgame, but if i said this they would all cry piss scream shit

--

yeah, he did say he's scared of losing her. but as the saying goes that you've prob seen from alot of other stuff, "if you love something you're not afraid to let it go". so idk ab u but mike saying that just confirms that the relationship is toxic and if it continues it might even turn into an emotionally abusive one, IMO (its a pattern- ur anxious the partner will leave, u start being more cautious around them; even turn into a whole another version of urself u think the partner will like more (mikes lenora drip), etc etc. very stressful for u (mike) and also ur partner (el)).

"he's clearly inlove with eleven" idk it wasnt really clear to me when she offensively side-eyed him at the cabin and then he rolled his eyes or wtvr that was, which was literally the last time they interacted. not really madly in love healthy relationship of them tbh. and its EL not goddamn eleven that alone speaks volumes ab how much they care ab her well-being or character arc or wtvr their other excuses are (they say mike leaving her would crush her, but so would if u called her eleven in her face)

"it would go against everything we've seen in the show" i agree with this one. except, byler not being canon would go against everything blablabla 🤓 like, we've seen this happen before with steve and robin, this would just be even more bombastic.

then, the show dunks on homophobes all the time so Macabre canon would go against that too; and yes, it would be homophobic to use a gay character's CONFESSION and FEELINGS THAT ARE ALREADY CAUSING HIM PAIN to uplift the straight couple, making them happy married with 17 kids while the gay character is in even more pain and like dies or smth

--

holy shit i thought yall were exaggerating when u said they actually think mleven is love at first sight.

1) the duffers wouldnt "suddenly scrap it", ppl have been finding subtext and set design clues since the beginning, since ep1. no its not delusions, its stuff for which there isnt any other actual explanation. it all makes sense, every subtext reference, every set design prop, every decoration on clothes- theres even an official st video on yt where the set design says she put triangles on robins clothes bc shes gay asf. Guess who else has triangles on his shirt (which he wears for majority of the show, might i add)? MIKE -but that just means he likes girls!! just like robin, to shut down any theories the fans made ab him liking guys!!! hes a lesbian😭😭😭

2) im assuming these are hard core fans, since theyre still in the subreddit and all that, and i dont doubt theyve seen the stranger things twitter account say they don't believe in love at first sight. so the writers=write the show. don't believe in love at first sight, it's just cheesy (infatuated) 12yr old shit. so, why would they include smth they think isn't real, unrealistic even? except if they're saying mike and els love isn't real-

--

alright final one. the classic "yall delusional" argument. Nothing else to say besides we are seeing patterns and we are recognizing them. not my fault ur not as observant and intelligent🙄

#anti mileven #anti milkvan #anti m*leven #stranger things #byler #this is fun asf

[aemiron-main]

logically I know that will and joyce can’t have their happy ending if Jonathan dies and that they Are gonna get their happy ending BUT the fact that Jon’s parentification was never really resolved & the fact that he has so many death flags is making me wonder what the duffers r gonna do with him…… like they Could go the ‘Jonathan representing parentified kids who don’t make it out and literally sacrificing all of himself until there’s nothing left’ route but then that removes a happy ending for Will and Joyce & doesn’t make sense. wondering if he’s gonna get a fake death or smthn esp because the s3 conflict with Nancy was never fully resolved either & he just sort of rolled over and said she was right when she Wasn’t fully right and how people take him for granted and how he has so much guilt and just. hhmmmmbbbm what are they Planning duffers let me in ur heads… like I talked earlier abt Henry killing him & then technically absorbing his personality and like Yeah but again it doesn’t align with a will and Joyce happy ending but also like. maybe it could Somehow bc I’m seeing some Connections between el’s ability to touch objects that belonged to people and get an idea of who they are/learn things abt them vs Henry’s ability to absorb people vs the phylactery stuff with vecna which ties into the ‘object’ side of el’s powers so I’m like. maybe he doesn’t Have to kill people to absorb them but he Does bc that’s how he is/thinks that’s the path he needs to take and how Henry himself almost works like a phylactery with how he stores peoples’ souls/essence inside of his own mind and so maybe people can be revived after he ‘absorbs’ them if the phylactery holding those souls (him) is destroyed and if the body of the victims is still physically intact enough to hold that soul (which would explain why he breaks his victims’ bones etc because then they can’t return to their bodies but if he was to kill them in a Different way which then if that applied to Jon it would tie into what I talked about earlier except Jonathan would be alive in the end and it would explain a lot of the very Henry-specific death flags around Jonathan but it can’t happen in a ‘will uses his grief to defeat Henry’ way bc it’s the power of Love that’s gonna do it so it’s like. i think it would be more that absorbing jon would weaken Henry & then Will’s love for Mike and for everyone else in his life is what helps him kill Henry/free the souls & not everyone would be revived bc some bodies are too broken but… hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm)

#stranger things #byler #st analysis #jonathan byers #Henry creel #st5 #don’t mind me I am just rambling #but boarding up the windows of the cabin does not bode well for Jon #staring at the Benny’s burgers boards and the boards in Chrissy’s vision

[anthonysfuneral]

The duffers shouldn’t get credit for most of the show honestly other than perhaps the main storyline. Anything that made the show’s characters interesting was typically the actors not them. Steve actually being good and not an assaulter was Joe’s work. Robin being gay and not Steve’s next love interest was Maya. Ofc Billy being a victim of abuse and not just a one sided villain was Dacre. Eddie flirting with Chrissy was how Joseph wanted to play the part not how it was written.

They are just so out of touch with what their characters are like it’s knots like they never watched their own show lmao. Billy is the most evilest character in their eyes while Dr. Brenner who literally experimented on and tortured kids has this semi-redemption in s4 and is deemed ok. Jason who started a lynch mob for some kids is excused bc he lost Chrissy. 001 is also not so bad despite being a murderer. God forbid any of Billy’s actions be explained and explored because he was a one sided villain to them jfc. Anyways the Duffers contribute fuck all to the show and everything that drew me into the show was the result of actors changing shit not them.

Literal-fucking-ly! If it weren't for the actors input, the show wouldn't be half as fucking popular because it would be full of the same one-note eighties stereotypes. Robin and Steve would've been pretty boy meets eccentric girl and they fall in love. Billy would've been the shitty jock asshole. Eddie would've been the corrupt drug dealer to turn golden girl Chrissy bad. Guess who saved us from the Duffers' boring characters? I'll give you a hint— it wasn't them changing their minds!

Like, I get they're the producers, which means they have full reign over how they want their show to be perceived. However, this doesn't mean they're like. Right.

Anyway, yeah. I'm convinced the Duffers only write in abuse victims as plot devices. Remember Patrick? Probably not, considering he got fuck all when it came to screen time and his abuse was used to shovel Vecna's choice of victims into the show. Same with Chrissy when it came to her mother.

They're more interested in giving the man who— and I'm not going to sugarcoat it— tortured children a fleshed out redemption arc than the angry abuse victim, who they just said "he died for everyone! God, aren't we great at writing character arcs?"

Jason is an entirely different issue, because you're gonna say Jason's reaction to his girlfriend dying is fully justified (y'know, him forming an entire fucking lynch mob) but Billy's reaction to eighteen years of abuse with zero-to-none support is evil? Especially when Billy did nothing close to what Jason did. I guess you can bring up him beating Steve's ass, but they were two almost adult teenagers, and this is after Billy discovers teenage Max, the sibling he's supposed to protect or else he gets beat, is hanging out with what's nearly an adult. Meanwhile, Jason literally fucking shoots at and beats the shit out of Lucas, a teenager, (when Billy did fuck all but vaguely threaten him and push him around a little? It's still not justified, but it's nowhere near what Carver did), not to mention sending his goons to chase a little black girl. And even if he hadn't done that, his lack of action literally wouldn't have had near the consequences Billy would've gotten! But guess who gets more sympathy? Poor little fucking rich boy Jason Carver.

Anyway, yeah. Me 🤝 you: despising the Duffer Brothers and the fact these fuckers cannot write characters.

#billy hargrove #dr brenner #jason carver #the duffer brothers #stranger things #answered #cw: abuse #cw: torture #cw: violence

[nothoughts-onlywomen]

Hi! I just read the new chapter and it is magnificent like the entire story. I just wanted to say thank you for this story and continue with it because it's really so good that it's in my top 3 fanfics of all time. I appreciate that there's this story about lumax bc i love them and there's scarce fic content about them sadly. So again thank you sm and I really appreciate your work and how you write the story, especially how you present lumax's characters bc I imagine them exactly like that. This story makes me really happy that i've waited for your updates for nearly 2 years and I'll wait for it as long as it takes. Have a good day! ♡

me reading this message:

I can't tell you how much of a godsend your message is. To be honest, I was starting to get bummed out about the lack of response to the chapter so far. Between-season lulls usually result in the fandom becoming somewhat dormant, and being an elder Tumblr user (age 30), I have been a part of many fandoms where this has happened. The difference is, I'm still giving my entire heart to this story, and so it can be hard to recognize that the fandom's stimulation has died down somewhat. Especially as the chapters have gotten longer and deeper. This last one is my longest yet - 41 pages in my Word document.

That being said, the fact that I still have readers, the fact that I've been told things like "one of my favorite fanfics" and "the Duffers could never" and just had such a showering of praise...it's all a bit surreal for me. I've been writing since I was twelve, and I never imagined I would get to write a story like this, much less a story that was so well-received. You always read your own writing and wince, to be certain, but this is one of the first stories that I've been truly proud of.

I started writing this story for the very reason you describe - there is a shocking scarcity of Lumax-centric fics out there. Most of them are embedded in Steddie or Byler fics, and you're forced to wring out whatever drops of Lumax you can find. After season 4 concluded and I was so completely on board the Lumax ship, I was frustrated I couldn't find any fanfics. So, I decided to write one myself.

I'm honored - I'm floored - that you've followed this story from the beginning. I'm so thankful to you, and to my other readers who've stuck around for so long.

It's messages like these that let me know people still care to read this fic, especially on days when I'm not sure anyone still reads it at all. And I can't express how full of gratitude I am.

Thank you. Truly.

#lumax #stranger things #max mayfield #lucas sinclair #max x lucas #lucas x max #lumax fic #stranger things fic #lumax fanfiction #stranger things fanfiction #st fanfic #st fanfiction #steadfast sightless

[steveharrington]

Oh yeah I mean. Barb vs Chrissy is very distinct Barb is treated like a normal character introduced fairly naturally over the course of two (?) episodes, I don’t think we even learned her last name until season 2 with her parents (which makes sense. I don’t say my last name often in conversations). Meanwhile season 4 is like. Here’s Chrissy. Cunningham. She’s a brand new character! Here’s everything about her from her interests to her family to her dickish bf to her traumas. Here’s a fun middle school anecdote that doesn’t make sense with the timeline we’ve already established. Then she dies after existing for like, 30 minutes of screen time (most of which she wasn’t in). NONE of that felt natural. And the only characters who had any real reason to care were Jason and to a much lesser extent eddie (maybe max at a stretch. But neither of them really knew her. Her major role in the season was to cause problems for the gang by turning Jason into a secondary antagonist) who were ALSO introduced at the beginning of the season and dead by the end so she’ll basically have no lasting impact on the show. She could show up as a vecna vision and most of the characters would have very little idea who she is

They might try to wring some out bc she was kind of well-received (obviously the duffers rely on fan feedback in the worst way. Kali I will avenge you) but it won’t be earned AT ALL.

Chrissy managed to have a developed personality but ultimately I think she kind of failed the sexy lamp test. Like if Eddie had allegedly stolen and broken Jason’s prized possession the story wouldn’t have changed much she existed SOLELY to die (which is why I think too many people are like. Giving credit for how Chrissy was vs Barb. Barb was an actual minor character Chrissy was a list of traits tortured and killed for real reason, though gender plays a heavy role in how both were written and received. )

hmmm i don’t really agree :/ personally i don’t think chrissy was poorly written/introduced into the show at all, esp within the context of the season. all the things you listed that feel unnatural for us to know about her (her interests, her family, her boyfriend, her traumas) have an inherent place in the story because they matter when unraveling the mystery of vecna. we know about chrissy’s trauma from her mother and her ed because that’s what vecna takes advantage of. it’s showing us this to establish that he targets people who are already struggling with an internal conflict and plays on their fears/traumas. the exact same thing happens to fred! we meet him as fred benson, editor on the newspaper who likes nancy and has this traumatic past involving a car accident for which he feels a lot of guilt. it’s just the way new characters who will soon be vecna’d are introduced this season because it gives context to why they’re vecna’d. if anything, i think chrissy and fred were treated wayyyy better than patrick in terms of humanizing them and giving their trauma screentime. patrick is the Only vecna victim to not have his trauma delved into and explored beyond other characters talking about it.

as for stuff like learning about her relationship with jason and her little backstory with eddie….idk i think that was also fairly well executed and not unlike other character introductions we’ve seen? stranger things loveeees to have two characters recount a past shared experience from long long ago. mike and will at the park, joyce and hopper under the bleachers, jonathan and will as kids playing with legos, robin and steve in click’s class, etc etc so i don’t think chrissy and eddie reminiscing about middle school to find some common ground during an awkward meet-up is that out of place. i know there’s some conjecture about how old chrissy is supposed to be and if that would line up with her and eddie being in middle school at the same time and tbh i don’t know Much about it but she’s wearing an ‘86 necklace which i assumed was her graduating year, making her a senior and eddie two years older than her which isn’t that much of a stretch for them to have been in middle school at the same time

i don’t think chrissy could be replaced with an object to evoke the same reaction out of jason. really if i’m being honest i think jason is almost sympathetic for an st villain (i say almost because the whole spiral into puritanism and the tackling of erica just got. weird.) like……..he is under the very justified impression that eddie killed someone. a body was found in eddie’s house. the body of his girlfriend! i know jason is a shitty guy and very much douche who doesn’t respect women coded, but there’s really nothing in canon that explicitly suggests that he didn’t actually love chrissy. i’ve seen people be like “well he thought she would never do drugs, he didn’t really know her!!” yall eddie was also surprised by her doing drugs. it was clearly her first time buying drugs. no wonder jason wouldn’t think she would do that BUT i digress.

i think st does have trouble writing women sometimes, but i personally think those problems manifest mostly with nancy. i’m not trying to be a duffers apologist but i really didn’t find issue with chrissy’s introduction and characterization and death, mostly because she’s treated the exact same way as fred, a man, and treated better than patrick, a black man

#sorry if any of this came across as rude i’m not trying to be mean or bash ur perspective !!!! #answered #anon

[antisociallilbrat]

I feel you, but the Duffers just simply do not like killing their main cast, as for Steve... he is not only one of the main characters but also a fan fav. Like the whole reason they created Eddie's character and made him be Dustin's brother figure is so they could kill Eddie off and like... Eddie pretty much died in Steve's place narratively speaking.

NO BC YOU'RE RIGHT.

It's so frustrating to me because the Suffer Brother do make decisions for the St story based off marketing and the story suffers because of it. (Side Note: It could be Netflix pressuring them but,,,idk to extent it also has to be them at this point)

Few quick examples, if we see a character dynamic that became popular, that became marketable, that is all we will ever see of them. Max for instance, the GA loves seeing her with Lucas and El, so now we only see her interact with those two (and Steve but I'm coming back to him) and very rarely do we see her have meaningful moments with other characters. I don't know what her friendship is like with Will bc we have not seen it. We don't even know how they interact with each other. The GA is not interested in it so it doesn't happen. There's a ton more examples. In a way it stunts the character's growth. We should be seeing them come together, grow together as a family as the Suffer Brothers want us to see them as, but they restrict character's interactions with each other based on what the GA likes.

Back to Steve. 'Babysitter Steve' blew up after season two and now he's been restricted to that role. It feels like he's not allowed to grow. He does have meaningful interactions with characters but only like Robin, Max, Dustin, and Lucas. You can say Nancy too but this an entirely different thing. I worry about that storyline.

The Suffer Brothers have written him into a box. I feel like he was supposed to die in season four but the character Steve is too marketable to lose so they came up with Eddie instead.

Eddie was destined to die in place of Steve, that was his purpose. It's why he was created. They made sure to have him bond with Dustin and they made sure to hit the same emotional notes when he died as if it had been Steve instead. A total cop out.

Eddie's death was unnecessary and Steve should've been the one to die, the Suffer Brothers are just sellouts. But if they planned on killing Steve in season four, odds are we wouldn't have gotten Eddie, or at least he wouldn't have been apart of one of the main crews.

#sorry anon I just have too many thoughts #also this makes me nervous for my by/ler mutuals #I hope ya'll get what ya'll want #but the Suffer Brothers are sellouts and the queer fanbase is not the GA #that is the biggest thing against By/ler having an actual storyline #sam answers asks #sam rants #tagging this as that bc it is kinda fandom discourse #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things 4 #stranger things season four #stranger things

[elekinetic]

Quick! Tag your top favorite byler blogs (as many as you want) and tell my why you love them in one line to spread positivity on the dashboard and make someone's day!

FINALLY! THE TIME HAS COME!

this is in no particular order

first up. my wheelies. my ride or dies. call it traumabonding or whatever u want but these mfs know secrets of mine they better take to the grave

@hawkinsp0st, my first real friend on here. currently on hiatus but truly a kindred spirit. single-handedly changed the way i looked at the show with their hellfire color post. u simply get me and i miss ur brain!!

@ratt-duffer deserves so much more credit than you all give them. he just gets this show so well and has such well written analyses, but more than that, is just a fun fuckin person to exist around.

@willsglock my sister in glock. what can i say. she has permanently altered the way i think about brba and bcs. refreshingly honest in a way i wish more people were. occasionally breaks hearts w her writing.

@crazycoven no. 1 weezer stan in my heart ❤️ jk but fr hayden is such a cool person with some of the best themes and best takes on this site. very glad to know him

@tntozier deserves financial compensation for what theyve given to this tag. one of the brightest souls on here. everything he posts is a gift and u all should be so lucky 🤨 thank u for screaming abt st puzzle games and convincing me to download. i blame you for my crippling addiction.

ok onto some of my other favorite geniuses on here <3

@quinnick his energy??? immaculate. thank u for putting reddie content on my dash. u are so sweet and are the only valid ask hoarder. yes ofc i will send you more asks!! you deserve it!! even if you won’t stop making ur mom jokes.

@madcleradin just fucking gets it. she has never made a single post i did not wholeheartedly agree with. her understanding of the characters and the dynamics….phenomenal. also genuinely hilarious. very grateful to be mutuals w one sierra loveqbrl madcleradin

@mlchaelwheeler is a certified genius and is single-handedly responsible for getting me to restart succession. we don’t chat very often but when we do it is so much fun. she always puts such good posts i’ve never seen before on my dash and her analyses are genius. sarah’s blog is a gift to this site!!!

@chiquitablanquita changed my life with her poetry fic. i just. wow. wow. oh my god. yeah basically yeah. oh my god. i am in awe of you for the work u do outside of fandom and for the absolute insane talent u so gracefully share with us.

@eightieslesbian is The Gif Maker on here. her visions…holy shit. yes her gifs of my demos and the bitch meredith brooks gifset haunt my dreams bc she is the sweetest person on here and the fact that she DOWNLOADED MY MUSIC?? hello my heart is broken in two. but can we talk about HER original stuff?? HELLO?? she is so insanely talented and her vision is just….omg. OMG.

@elmaxed lumi and i don’t chat all that much but her brain is just so correct always and forever. her writing is wonderful and her energy is stellar. always happy to see her on my dash.

@wibble-wobbegong is such a fun blog to follow. he’s just such a cool dude and has such a nuanced understanding of mike. plus a great signature blog theme. dude has a BRAND, mad respect

@astrobei i cannot believe we are mutuals. i CANNOT BELIEVE we are mutuals. genuinely one of my favorite writers on ao3 and i still fangirl a little everytime we interact. like. the fics….holy shit. HOLY shit. she has such a firm understanding of the characters and has never written anything that doesn’t feel true to the show, regardless of AU or canon compliance. hanleia costume fic my beloved. good god they are such a talented writer.

@smoosnoom the scream i scrumpt when i got the follow notification. first fic writer i actually learned how to use the “subscribe” function on ao3 for. there are no words for the absolute batshit amount talent stored in this tumblr blog. ik y’all have read i’m tearing you asunder (cue “uh yeah, i’ve read the classics” tiktok audio) but every fic in their fix it series….jesus christ. run up that hill to go read rn.

@strangeswift is in a category of her own. abby u are a twin flame and i am so glad to know u. u simply understand me!! y’all she is such a fuckin phenomenal writer and is SO CEREBRAL in the way she approaches the show. her mike s4 pov snippets live rent free in my head. truly the only person who could get me to voluntarily read angst. NEVER misses with her takes and is just. so smart. SO SMART. the most supportive mfer on here fr. you guys aren’t ready for milevenvision or any of the other stuff you should be so lucky for abby to put out.

ok i could talk about my friends and moots for hours and i definitely DEFINITELY missed ppl but pls just know i follow blogs i love love love the content of and if we are mutuals i value u to the moon and back <333

#friendship is magic fr #also shoutout to georgia dungeons-are-too-cold who is NOT a byler blog but is one of my best friends #thank you for listening to me infodump about byler. i will do it more when i am home >:) #byler

[puppietooth]

if steve dies in vol 2 i literally do not think i’ll be able to watch the rest of the show. i don’t want to sound annoying bc i’m literally bawling over a fictional character rn but it’s just like. steve is such a great character and it’s been so heartwarming watching him grow into the person he is present day in the show. he went from hanging out w carol and tommy h, some of the biggest assholes in hawkins, to looking out for and loving a group of mismatched kids, going out of his way and putting himself at risk to protect and care for them. and not just the kids — for someone living in a small close-minded town in the 80s, the amount of love and support he has for robin is something i’ll always commend the show for doing bc it’s about time people realize that on-screen relationships between men and women don’t have to be exclusively sexual or romantic. steve is probably one of my favorite characters in tv history and although i had my guard up in regards to him during the earlier seasons of the show, the fact that he has flourished into this beloved, mother-hen, swoopy-haired and selfless individual is what makes his impending // potential death all the more hurtful. but what’s done is done and volume two has already been shot, edited and it’s waiting to be released. now all these death predictions could be way off and steve could be totally fine by the end of the season but things aren’t looking so good for him right now and honestly, although i’m very devastated rn — if the duffers have decided to bid him goodbye then i hope they’ll send him off with guns blazing, that it’ll be the most fcking amazing send off ive ever seen in my life bc god knows this guy deserves it bc he has made such an impact on so many people’s lives so the least they can do for him is honor him and his legacy.

#i’m SOBBING #that vol 2 trailer broke me #bawling my eyes out #i love that man so much #stranger things 4 #steve harrington #stranger things #joe keery #robin buckley #dustin henderson #stranger things vol 2

[kulekrizpy]

fixed stranger things season 4 finale

there was actually a lot i liked about this season! there was also i did NOT like

-russia plot should've been 3 eps at the maximum. come up with something for the adults to do after that

-hopper reunion should've been middle of the season. it was all build-up and so little payoff. i propose he and joyce land back in the states and learn el was abducted and the boys are missing. maybe murray figures out a way to track them. then joyce and hopper go to save their fucking daughter!! perhaps they are a day or so behind the boys, so they still get their little journey. or maybe they land somewhere else and converge on el's location

-after that, one, MAYBE TWO, eps before the NINA plot is resolved

-el and hopper deserved to be a family on screen. their relationship is important. and now even more so. they both understand what it's like to be imprisoned and tortured... they thought they wouldn't see each other again. why do the duffer brothers do this to me

-joyce and hopper could've gone on a date, had a stakeout that sort of counted as a date, something

-too much papa. mf should've been dead ages ago

-i think el deserved to kill him

-just wanted the whole group to be able to coordinate. and the adults to BE THERE AT ALL.

-nancy and jonathon should've been able to meet much earlier in the season to give them time to actually interact in the awkward state of their relationship. to talk...... this goes for a lot of characters. we stick thru the show for the characters, let us see them together!!

this ended up way long... more under the cut

-how do the parents of the rest of the kids still not know what's going on?? they should have some hint

-also erica snitching to the cops ?! cmon girl 😭

-chrissy and eddie were both acted so well. the duffers keep creating these great characters and wasting their potential 😭

-eddie cutting the rope and moving the mattress :| bad decision. i guess it was to buy more time but augh. yknow, if they'd had an adult with them..... (also still do not understand how the rope works. wonder if it was a reference to Rope Trick in D&D)

-any of the young adults walking away from each other in the upside down was a dumb move. i could barely concentrate on the contrived romantic drama bc i kept thinking "robin HAS to have stepped on a tentacle by now"

-when whatshisface was yelling about how chrissy wouldn't buy drugs, that she wasn't going thru anything bc she never talked about it, lucas should've had lines relating to his experience with max. that people isolate themselves and feel like they can't talk to the ones they care about. even if it didn't calm whathisface down, i think it would've been a good and true attempt, and it would've tied into the themes of the season

-when lucas punched out that hateful prick and was free, LUCAS' VOICE SHOULD'VE PULLED MAX OUT. if her favorite song works, why not a favorite voice?! he and el pulling her out together would've been so amazing...

-for that matter the decision to take off her headphones at all sucked

-in my opinion max's fate was far too brutal. jesus christ. she didn't deserve that. one broken arm would've been traumatizing enough. if it's for a plot in the future, they still could've made her blind since the process had already started. and i'm scared she is paralyzed. like, just. what the fuck man. hasn't she dealt with enough?!

-not to mention lucas and el watching that... :( i was stricken over that scene. too many tortured kids this season

-someone else could've died to complete the portal. not that i wanted more brenner, but what if they had utilized his character that way? maybe he comes after el (he sees her as his project, his life's work... her escaping while he still lived wouldn't be uncontested). maybe el actually kills him in place of vecna killing max, and the portal is opened anyway. then you could've had a vecna invasion as the finale

-this way you can still have el feel guilty and give her more development (max could be somewhat hurt, but add in killing brenner and completing vecna's portal and vecna has some great manipulation material for next season. "you're just like me eleven, you hurt the ones who hurt you and helped me complete my portal...")

-pacing was terrible. should've put the volunteer scene with robin and the cute girl in the beginning of the season, or at least before the climax. they left so many subplots going so long they had to resolve them all at the end, so it felt both packed in and much too long

-every scene was too long. it's like they were given all this time, and rather than make good use of it, they just stretched out the original hour-long plots

-gonna have an negative pavlov response to joyce wearing a hat now. i cannot explain how aggravating the russia plot was. every episode i thought "it MUST be over by now!" and then THEY DIDN'T EVEN LEAVE RUSSIA UNTIL AFTER THE CLIMAX OF THE SEASON. if it was due to a scheduling conflict they really should've figured something else out

-this show is about mommy issues. lean into it

-GIVE WILL AND MAX POWERSSSSS

-if there is not a flamethrower per person next season what is anyone even doing

#stranger things spoilers #kk watches stranger things #stranger things #stranger things season 4 #eleven hopper #eleven jane hopper #jim hopper #max mayfield #lucas sinclair #eddie munson #joyce byers #martin brenner #vecna stranger things #vecna/henry/001 #op

[itsryuworld]

what happened with vol.2? I'm the only one feeling robbed?

what the hell happened with jason and his friends chasing the hellfire? suddenly became a "sinclair's hunting" out of nowhere. i don't get it.

what about stancy? robin said steve didn't know what he wants but then he's been thinking in his six nuggets with nancy bc always has been nancy? what?

max was robbed too! i love her so much, she did an amazing performance in "dear billy" but then?? awful. i prefer her to die than her staying in that position now.

lucas was there just to be max support? that's unfair, he deserves his own arc too.

why has karen his own poster this season? she didn't do anything relevant.

eddie died for no reason. he didn't need to come back, but he did it anyway. he was perfectly portrayed and everybody loves him but still someone needs to die and they don't take risks so there's eddie, let him die or whatever.

eleven was learning so much about herself, growing up and find her way, and then she's with mike again and everything gets awkward again. she has her powers now and she's bald, so mike can be her boyfriend again, seriously? don't do this to her!

and will, oh let me start with will! they made him dirty again!! he was there just to suffer and suddenly became a matchmaker for m*lvn despite his own feelings, so he's again hurting and sad, and they promised a will's amazing coming out scene (and it was sweet and significant, but wasn't enough) but it DIDN'T HAPPEND. "will's sexuality will be adressed this season" it wasn't. people are still saying he's not gay and he's in love with eleven. how can you do this to him again? stop it.

and what on earth happened with mike wheeler? i don't know him anymore. he's now eleven's boyfriend but nothing else. he's an asshole and he's useless at this point. he's just there to makes her girlfriend stronger with power of love. he's a bad friend, a bad boyfriend, a bad person even. why mike turns out this way? it's terrible, he's so unlikable now and its sad, i feel so sorry for him.

and what was so funny, though? the cast said things that never happened. we've been tricked? they talked about a lot amazing things but we got nothing. i am so disappointed, only two episodies but it was so awful and disgusting. not will vecna'd? no, even when we saw the harness? the swingset? the "trying to be normal in the pattern, he's trying new things"? nothing happend.

i just feel like vol.2 doesn't fit vol.1 for a lot of reasons. what the fuck they did? mike saying "a fight you can't back from" but then "i love you el, the day i meet you in the woods my life started, i can't live without you"

it feels so out of place, i'm sorry. everything was weird to me. but byler EVEN WIERERD. they set up everyhing for what? will sad and heart broken once again while m*lvn are the main couple for no reason?? and still it seems like byler could actually be something in s5 because we had some hints too! i'm so exhausted but still i'm a delusional for byler.

i don't expect my ship anymore, because they'll need to do A LOT of work to fix it after put mike to saying "meeting you in the woods was the best day of my life" with will stading by his side and despite that was will's worst time bc was taken to the upside down and was traumatized for doing nothing wrong in his life!!

byler vol.1 should be ashamed of byler vol.2!! they were crazy for eachother in vol.1, ready to jump into eachothers arms and THEN WHAT? mike was afraid to lose eleven that's why he didin't say "i love you" before? NO SHIT. doesn't make sense.

i'm done. you better make a perfect byler endgame explaining everything or just stop playing with our hearts and give will a boyfriend an let him be happy, duffer brothers!!!

#stranger things #stranger things s4 #byler #mike x will #mike wheeler #will byers #st4 spoilers #byler rights #byler is endgame #eddie munson #steve harrington #m*leven is so funny