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ilovebeingt4t · 7 months

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a (not) little rant about total drama’s portrayal of dissociative identity disorder in ROTI and AS

a few little tidbits before we get into the juice…

-i don’t have DID ! i have a dissociation disorder and i’ve done a lot of research on DID, but that obviously doesn’t mean i know as much as someone in a system would. if i make any mistakes or you want to add/correct anything, please do !

-since there isn’t an official name for the system as a whole, i’m gonna use “mike system” to refer to mike, chester, svetlana, vito, manitoba, and mal as a system

-before anyone says it, i know it’s “just a kids’ show” but it’s a kids’ show i’m insane and not normal about. so i’m very passionate about this. also kids’ shows should still be normal about mental illnesses/disabilities so idc

alright stinkers… let’s get into it

ok ! mike systems DID in ROTI isn’t GOOD representation but it isn’t like. the worst out there compared to some other media. some huge positives are the way the alters have actual triggers, and that everyone in the system IS portrayed as their own person, not just an extension or part of mike. i interpret the “gasp” the body does with switches as a stand in for dissociation (since they couldn’t really have him just sit there and stare into space bc of plot/time reasons) and it’s very easy to assume the role of everyone in the system from their personalities and triggers. the best example of this to me is vito ! vito is a “tough guy” who’s triggered to front by his shirt coming off, it’s easy to put the pieces together and assume his role is a protector who formed due to sexual abuse.

obviously, the use of the outdated term multiple personality disorder, the very quick switches, the fact the writers obviously did not actually research DID and just wanted a silly crazy character, and probably more i’m forgetting rn, are NOT issues to just ignore because of the good stuff. it’s definitely NOT good or super accurate representation by any means, but i don’t think it’s exactly super bad either. it’s iffy but has redeeming qualities to it.

another plus about mike system in ROTI, even though this isn’t really part of the portrayal of DID as a disorder, is that mike has a love interest that isn’t written as a joke. i feel like having mike in a romantic relationship is a BIG positive representation wise. it’s really important to me that even though zoey is confused and weirded out when she didn’t know what was going on, once she found out mike was part of a system she became more understanding and didn’t give up on him. being part of a system doesn’t mean you can’t have a partner, friends, etc and mike being in a wholesome healthy relationship is a nice breath of fresh air compared to other media portraying DID.

NOW. LETS ADDRESS MAL AND ALL STARS. GOOD LORD.

all stars has an issue with watering down characters and making poor plot/character choices in general, and in my opinion it’s the worst with mike system. ROTI had questionable at times but ok DID rep with mike system, which is why it’s so disappointing that AS took the “evil alter” route and whatever the hell the button thing was… bc they were SO close with having ok representation and then they threw it all away for an overdone and harmful stereotype. mike system in ROTI is a MASTERPIECE compared to whatever the hell was going on in AS.

even when you take into account that in a real life system, mal is most similar to the role of a persecutor (an alter who sabotages the body’s relationships and causes harm to the body/other alters as a way to “protect” everyone in their eyes (oops ! i was wrong. a persecutor isn’t always a protector, however they can take the role of a persecutor and protector which is where i got confused. mal is a both a persecutor and protector to me)) which makes SOME of his actions explainable TO AN EXTENT, it’s clear the writers didn’t have that intent and just wanted a spooky evil alter, which is really disappointing. along with the button issue, which is just…. so insane….

i choose to believe for my own sanity that the button was sort of an emergency temporary dormancy button and that chester fr just lied/didn’t know and made something up. but that obviously isn’t canon, and IN CANON the body’s trauma and serious disorder was literally gone because of the PRESS OF A BUTTON and it is absolutely ridiculous. and it’s portrayed as a GOOD THING.

systems are systems because it is the only way the body and brain can maintain stability and live after serious repeated trauma. in a real situation with a system, if there was somehow a way to get rid of alters in literal seconds, the consequences would be ABSOLUTELY DISASTROUS and unstable. obviously, integration and dormancy CAN be a good thing depending on the system, but it is a LOOONG and complicated process and watering it down to the press of a button in your brain is so inappropriate and insensitive. literally why did they do that. it’s just so disappointing to go from what mike system was in roti to what they became in all stars.

sorry u guys i am just passionate about this

#total drama #total drama revenge of the island #total drama all stars #td mike #td mike system #td mal #tdroti #tdas #chester svetlana vito manitoba #are mentioned briefly #sorry for being insane about this #dissociative identity disorder #keeb goes mad about total drama

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booksandpaperss · 2 years

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The fact that Mike Wheeler being either one of the best or worst written characters on the show entirely depends on his sexuality being confirmed is wild fr

#mike wheeler #byler #mike wheeler is queer #mike wheeler i know what you are

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byersfanclub · 9 months

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if the message behind mike and will's relationship versus mike and el's was that "friendship is more important than romance" aka the ppl who think will is just going to get over his real, romantic feelings for his friend he's known for a decade, to the ppl who think the duffers who have written every other couple in the show 10x better than m1l3v3n simply because "well they already put mike and el through 4 seasons as a couple they won't break them up", to the ppl who can't see that we've been watching mike and will's love story being FULLY played out since s2 (and I argue s1 as well) to the people who can't fucking see what is right in front of them, you are who the duffers are talking about when they say "I think people are going to surprised, like "how did we not see that?'" when byler happens. you don't choose to make will byers, a character who has suffered since the very beginning, to be in love with his best friend who can't even have a fucking stable relationship with his own "girlfriend" without fucking over their friendship in the process, and proceed to make this CANON in the second to last season of the show and not have it resolved. you don't choose to leave the reveal for the last season. you don't choose for someone to be rejected in the last season when they've spent the entire show pining and hurting. that is literally, quite possibly, the worst storytelling for a character that is beloved by its creators and who has done nothing to deserve such an awful conclusion to his struggling sexuality and feelings.

mike and will's friendship IS important and it is more important than mike and el's relationship, but only because that relationship was never built on any real romantic feelings (because true love at 12 is so common???) it's constantly being mocked and shown to be anything but serious, meanwhile mike and will's relationship is being tested all throughout season 3 and 4 and shown that it will always be top priority for them when it comes down to it. it's just funny to throw in the fact that will is in love with mike while mike is clearly shown to have problems being honest in his relationship el and toxicity between them as a couple overall, unable to keep will close to him when el is near. I just find it all so interesting.

#byler

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factorialsotherfandoms · 6 months

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TW: poorly written major character injury and following equally poorly written first aid. Dissociation due to severe hypothermia.

It's freezing on Soulfire Island, bitterly cold and coated in snow. Pac is doing his best to mine, but his gloves are for driving, not the cold, and his fingers are numb against the pickaxe. He's sure someone would get him better gloves, if they could, but having them at all currently gives him an advantage.

He blows on his hands, tries to shift his hands on the cold wood, and tries again.

There's threefold reason for putting him in the mine, he knows; he has the gloves to handle the pick without freezing to it, his prosthetic freezes easier than a limb, and nobody actually wants to talk to him. By the time he arrived they already had their team, afterall; it's not their fault, it's just him. Trying to apply himself in any useful way.

He wants Mike, he wants Fit, he wants Richars or Forever or Felps or Tubbo, and only the last is an option but the teenager is too busy ordering people around. At this point he would even take Philza, or Cellbit, but he's heard rumours of what Bolas are up to, and would actually rather never see any of that team again.

He's just... He's so cold, and his leg isn't helping any.

Pac also knows the theory; using a prosthetic takes more energy, and so it should be easier for him to stay warm just from walking. The liner also provides some extra protection, but does not stop the fact it is freezing cold. There is freezing cold metal pressed against his skin, separated only by an admittedly thick fabric layer, and it /hurts/. He can put down the pick, the others can lay down their swords or shove their hands in their pockets, but there's nothing he can do about his leg.

Not and lose the ability to run - he needs to be able to run, in a death game.

It chafes, too; he knows the skin will be rubbed raw, possibly to bleeding, from never taking it off. The liner is damp and he knows that way lies infection, but how can he wash it and dry it when at any moment someone could arrive to take his life - and then he'd be stuck atop a frozen mountain without his prosthetic, or crutches, or anything.

(Maybe he should ask about leaving crutches up there, just in case? But then even if he does, he can't go fast down a mountain, so surely its safer just to never remove his leg and deal with the pain and possible complications? Surely after all this he can just grab antibiotics and not leave his island for a few days and wait out the worst of it defended but alone?)

He finishes mining the vein, collecting up the spoils. Some of the iron has fallen, and he has to bend to pick it up.

Getting down is fine.

When he tries to get back up, the mechanical joints of his leg seize, messing up his balance and leaving him tumbling to the floor.

He's in the mine, at least; he didn't fall into any snow.

It's a small mercy as he whines, desperate, and tries to pull himself up. There's little he can do to fix his prosthetic until it warms, but he can at least straighten it out. Still jammed, but in a more useful position.

He ignores the scrapes from the fall to slap at the joint. Really he should get a screwdriver and some alan keys and fix it, but Cucurucho stole his toolkit on the train. At least he didn't take the prosthetic itself, but without his repair kit... And in the cold... There's only so much Pac can do.

Slamming his hands into the frozen metal sends pain racing up Pac's arms, and triggers a sob of frustration. There's so little progress in brute force for what should have been a simple job, but he gets there. He gets there.

By the time he does, however, his entire body has cooled. He is shaking, and shivering, and trembling so hard that even with the aid of the wall he can barely stand.

Pac does it anyway, stumbling along, until he reaches the mouth of his mine and remembers the snow.

The big, long, void of snow, seperating him from warmth with the aid of the sea.

He doesn't know if he can make it, but he has to try.

His prosthetic no longer bends, but with sufficient effort he can swing it around. It's not a face pace, it's not steady or comfortable, but it is still movement.

Mentally he apologises to his team, too cold to risk reaching for his communicator; he couldn't get enough diamonds or gold, and they're going to suffer for it. But, with the cold breaking his prosthetic... There's not a lot he can do.

Just get back with the little he is carrying - not waste their food and the little ore he did collect dying out here.

So he walks, and he walks, and when he reaches water too cold and too confused to make a boat, he somehow finds it in himself to swim.

---

Pac has no idea how he made it to the farm, only that his appearance caused Missa to shriek. The surprise lasts only a second, though, before he's being tugged out of the water, and Missa is trying to both carry him and send a message on his comm.

The rapid Spanish makes no sense, but Pac lets himself be dragged along. Soon enough he's sat on their bed - useless as respawn but still a bed - being stripped of his clothes, dried off, and wrapped in sun-warmed blankets.

Useless, useless - Pac cannot even manage to move his own arms up, let alone pull his clothing off.

Missa hesitates at Pac's leg.

"How do I...?" He asks, hands hovering by it.

Pac... Pac freezes even harder at the idea of losing it. He knows, he knows to get him warm they need to take it off, but how does he do it? What if they fail and he dies anyway?

Missa must see his panic, as he darts back and tries to apologise.

Pac... cannot handle that; somehow he manages to pull apart the straps and undo the latches, unable to stop it falling to the floor. Missa is gentler with the liner than Pac would have been, whimpering when he sees the state of the skin beneath.

Pac doesn't want to look. He doesn't want to know. He wants his home and his family and this all to end.

"Sorry I took so long," it's Tina, half asleep, tea in hand. "Here, this'll help."

She presses it into Pac's hands - he does his best not to scream at the pain of heat against frozen skin - and guides it to his lips. Being forced to drink is nearly enough to distract him from the pain of Missa trying to clean up his stump, but only nearly - he chokes on the tea, and Missa and Tina both panic.

Somehow he gets his breathing back under control; they're more hesitant this time, but both continue their tasks.

"Tubbo is coming," Tina promises. "He won't be long. Just drink up, we'll get you warm soon!"

Once the tea is finished, she hands him another cup, but it is forced into one hand. She takes the other in her own, asking something Pac looses before beginning to clean and bandage the blisters and scrapes on his skin.

Pac doesn't want to know, he doesn't want to look, all he can feel is the cold in his soul and wonders if maybe what this is what Mike felt. It's horrific, horrifying, and makes him want nothing more than to hold his dear friend close.

It isn't Mike who holds him - or any of his friends. Instead it's Missa again, reassigned from farming duty to warming Pac up, holding him while Tina finds more blankets and a sword. He cannot bring himself to resist as he's tucked into bed - his comm pings again and again in a flurry of messages that nobody else is receiving, but his body just continues to shut down.

He hears panic, but he's cold, and he's hurt, and he's /exhausted/, and it's not his family, so he zones them out and finds comfort in oblivion instead.

#qsmp fanfic #qsmp pac #qsmp purgatory #gosh I want to poke all the canon disabilities in context of purgatory more #there was a bit where he woke up feverish to tubbo and fit arguing #but I couldn't make it work #so... just know after this he very nearly dies from a fever and is absolutely fussed over by people who love him very much #they just weren't immediately to hand #and because of the team split took a while to know #the bonus of the injured person's pov is they're rarely in a headspace to process it

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will80sbyers · 1 year

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imo Mike is 14 and didn't do anything that bad to be hated on even if he was straight, the Duffers would be at fault for writing his storyline in a way that hurts Will, not the character... because he's not being written as an asshole... in the worst case scenario he was sad that he felt like he lost his best friend and didn't hug him because of that, they are not making one of the mains be homophobic lol and like, we know he's queer for many reasons but stop hating on the babygirl pls he did nothing that bad to deserve that even if he wasn't :(

#byler #mike wheeler #will byers #like go hate on Billy he deserves that #stranger things

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kaibutsushidousha · 4 months

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What are your thoughts on TM takes of Taigong, Nezha and Huang Feihu?

Taigong is always a delight to watch. He wears his crippling fear of disappointing on his sleeve, making him very proactive as a tactician and having him deliver the most transparent lies about his status and confidence. When he succeeds, we cheer because he's generally awesome and we know he was trying really hard to impress. When he fails, we cheer because his reactions are great. There's no losing with Taigong. His relationship with Daji has the standard levels of sexual tension and bitter aftertaste we'd expect, and TM chooses to have him act outwardly mature toward the event he'll never forget. Again, nothing new, but Taigong Wang is a hard figure to screw up for me. The only way to feel unsatisfied about him is by comparing him to his Houshin Engi counterpart, but it honestly feels almost bad faith to raise the bar that high (this applies to every Investiture character in FGO).

Nezha is another of my favorites, but she's harder to talk about because she's been in many main story chapters through hands that write her very differently. The general common ground is that Nezha's demeanor draws a lot from his portrayal in Houshin Engi, which is a directing my biased ass likes a lot for all Investiture characters.

As for Nezha's individual portrayals, she was initially a Higashide profile with the worst genderbend background this series produced to this day. Next, Meteo picked her up for Salem, fitting her as the party member who defaulted to violence at every choice where violence wasn't an option. It's the same brand of humor they use for Nightingale and you probably know how much I love this. Salem also puts a sweet amount of emphasis on Nezha's status as a hero for the children, making her the Servant that bonds the closest with Abby. Later Urobochi has Nezha in SIN as a plot device that didn't need to be present outside Shi Huang's backstory. Then, the transition between SIN and Yuga Kshetra has a Nasu scene of Nezha commenting on the similarities between the natural limitations of hers and da Vinci's artificial lives, which is somehow still the second-best character interaction da Vinci's ever got (the first being Mike).

Lastly, Nezha passed through Minase's hands in Yuga Kshetra, where she was written to her best capacity yet. I imagine she was a miss for most people because Yuga Kshetra is expecting a lot of familiarity with Nezha's character from the player. Nezha's background has still never been given in the game. Materials barely touch her relationship with her father. The best we got is an interlude with Nezha saying she chose to be a benevolent god who treats children because cherishing children is what it means to be the opposite of his father (note: this goes so hard). But when you come to the story with preestablished feelings about Nezha's and Li Jing's relationship, Nezha's visceral reactions to being fused with her father hit like a truck.

And Feihu is tragically boring. They failed to make his moral conundrum feel like a real question. They wasted Tianhua as Saint Graph piece. They debuted him in an event that puts him in the background in favor of Higashide's worst joke character yet. Considering the trend of Investiture Servants drawing a lot from their Houshin Engi characterization, we really need to put Wen Zhong in the game to salvage Feihu's character with the power of peak old man yaoi.

#type moon #fate grand order #taigong wang #nezha #huang feihu

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andiwriteordie · 1 year

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prompts um . um ! may i suggest a little piece with one of the boys having bird/angel wings

wibble!!!! ok i was a little nervous for this one at first because i've never done any wing fics, but this was such a fun prompt! so thank you for indulging my two current loves: 1) fantasy-esque byler aus and 2) some good ole fashioned mike angst :)

—

take these broken wings

People always say that right before you die, your life will flash before your eyes—memories and images of the moments you lived, your worst failures and greatest successes, the highest highs and lowest lows, and every moment in between. Some people who have had brushes with death and lived to tell the tale claim that life flashes before your eyes in the same way that lightning strikes—there, one moment, and full of crackling energy which calls all of your attention, then gone the next.

Mike’s had a lot of close calls with near-death experiences. After all, it just comes with the territory of knowing about the Upside Down and all its monsters, what with their faces literally made out of teeth and their creepily evocation of actual, less terrifying animals. Death’s not exactly something new to him, which is sorta sad, as a seventeen year old.

But in the five years since this shit all started, he’s never, ever had a “lightning strike, life flash before his eyes” kinda moment.

At least not for himself.

It’s funny, in like the world’s least funny and most morbid kinda way. Is it possible to have someone else’s life flash before your eyes? Only if you know them well enough, Mike would venture to guess. Only if you’ve been part of so many key moments in their life, only if your life is so deeply intertwined with theirs, and only if they are the one brushing hands with death and preparing to meet their end.

Yeah. That would be Mike’s guess.

Except that it isn’t a guess anymore. It’s actually something that’s happening, right here, right now in front of him, playing out like the world’s worst movie written by a screenwriter with a personal vendetta against Mike Wheeler himself. Lightning strikes—figuratively and literally—and Will’s life flashes before Mike’s eyes, right as his best friend pushes him out of the way and puts his own body in between Mike and a rabid, snarling demodog.

We killed it, a voice in the back of Mike’s mind protests, and that voice isn’t wrong. Mike could have sworn that thing was already dead, that its snarls had been reduced to mere whimpers, that the threat had already been neutralized by a stroke of sheer luck and some unfortunate How To Fight In the Apocalypse 101 training they’ve picked up on over the last few years.

Clearly, the thing’s not dead though. Clearly, it’s alive, and in the slow motion moment when it lunges at Mike and Will pushes Mike out of the way and the demodog makes contact with Will’s back, Will Byers’ entire life as Mike Wheeler knows it flashes before his eyes.

Kindergarten and the swing set. Becoming best friends.

First grade and meeting Lucas. Their party of two becomes a party of three.

Second, third, fourth grade and running around on the playground together. Late nights spent talking back and forth about their favorite comic books. Dreaming of worlds together.

Fifth, sixth, seventh grade. Dustin joins their party. DnD is discovered by the four of them, and Will the Wise, as well as all their other characters, is born. Mike’s basement is the safest place in the world.

November 6, 1983. The nightmare begins.

Halloween 1984. It continues.

Summer 1985. It keeps on going and going and going.

Fall 1985. The Byers move away, far, far, far from Mike, and Mike doesn’t know what happens after that—in the in-between months, because he wasn’t part of Will’s life back then. He did that to himself.

Spring 1986. The worst fucking road trip ever and the start of the literal fucking apocalypse.

1986, 1987, 1988.

Every. Single. Moment.

And now.

Thunder rumbles above them, and with it echoes Will’s cry of pain as the demodog sinks its teeth into his back—into his wings, Mike thinks, vaguely, somewhere in the haze of his mind. He hasn’t heard Will scream like that in years. Not since the Mind Flayer incident, that night at the lab.

The scream’s enough to kick him back into action.

Well-thought out action?

…

Not exactly.

See, there are actually no logical thoughts running through Mike’s mind when he throws—quite literally throws—his entire body weight against the snarling demodog. The sheer impact does succeed in his intended, vague plan of getting the dog off Will, but it does, unfortunately, come with the unintended (and very obvious, now that Mike thinks of it) consequence of having said demodog on top of him now.

That’s a lot of teeth, Mike thinks. That thought is quickly followed by a barrage of curse words, Shit, fuck, shit, shit shit, holy fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK, as pure survival instincts kick in, and Mike tousles with the demodog. The thing’s growling at him, its entire face full of teeth and spit and blood—Will’s blood and honestly probably some of Mike’s too—snapping at him and trying its best to maul his arm, and holy fucking shit, there’s no lightning strike, but Mike’s going to die, Mike’s going to die, Mike is going to die—

A single gunshot rings out above the silence. Mike’s pretty sure his own heart stops.

Then, barely a split second later, a pained yelp follows the gunshot, and suddenly, sixty something pounds of pure monstrous muscle and evil collapses onto Mike, complete deadweight. Something warm and sticky presses against Mike’s old jacket, and he winces, doing his best to squirm away from the now dead demodog.

Once upon a time, he remembers Mrs. Blackburn from across the street used to complain about how difficult it was to get up when the family’s golden retriever used to make a bed out of her lap. Growing up, Mike had never really understood that, having never owned a dog in his life.

He gets it now.

“Jesus,” Mike breathes, right as he manages to pull himself out from under the dog. His heart somehow must’ve restarted, because now it’s beating faster than it ever has before, and adrenaline courses through his veins, making him feel jittery and out of breath. There’s blood on his clothes and on his arms, so God knows he’ll wake up feeling like hell tomorrow.

But he’s alive. He’s alive. That’s all that matters. Mike’s alive, and so is Will, and—

Suddenly, a pained groan interrupts Mike’s thoughts, and he whips his head around, eyes widening as he catches sight of his best friend.

Lightning strikes above the two of them. Will looks pale in the dim light, his eyes drooping and his legs swaying. He opens his mouth, like he’s going to say something, but he never quite gets to.

Will’s body hits the ground before either of them are able to say or do anything.

“Will!”

The strangled cry tears itself from Mike’s throat, and once again, his body moves on pure instinct as Mike throws himself down onto the pavement beside Will. Up close, it’s easier to see just how bad Will has been hurt—the ever darkening color of his fabric as the blood continues to flow, staining his shirt and the jacket he’s wearing over it, the open gashes and bite marks underneath torn pieces of fabric, the unsteady rise and fall of his best friend’s chest as Will tries desperately to stay conscious, and—

Bile rises, burning the back of Mike’s throat. His hands, which had been moving with a mind of their own, panicked and full of a desperation and need to help Will, save him, make sure he’s okay, oh God, he has to be okay, now freeze. His heart damn near comes to a stop, and it’s probably a miracle Mike’s still alive with how much his heart has been pounding, then suddenly stopping, then pounding again this evening.

And worst of all, his eyes… his eyes take in a sight Mike had never wanted to see—the familiar, white feathers of his best friend’s wings, now mauled and stained with red. With Will’s wings still folded under his shirt, kept close to himself, it’s difficult to see the full extent of the damage, but Mike knows it’s bad.

This is your fault, the harsh, critical voice in the back of Mike’s mind whispers. This is your fault.

Those words feel like a knife in the heart, and Mike falters, his hands still lingered on Will’s broken and mangled wings. Your fault, that voice taunts again. This is all your—

“M-Mike,” Will wheezes, and Mike can’t help but flinch, looking down to see Will straining to look at him. His face is still pale; his eyes are still barely open. But worst of all, there’s a fear in his eyes—one that Mike has only seen a few other times.

It’s that fear that kicks Mike back into action. His trembling hands, now covered in blood that’s probably Will’s but also Mike’s but also the demodog’s, reach for Will, and Mike squeezes his best friend’s hand as tightly as he can.

“You’re going to be okay,” Mike reassures, even though he has no business saying that. “Just stay with me, Will, okay? Just stay with me; please don’t leave me, okay? Okay, just hold on, just hold on—”

Those words continue to tumble out of Mike’s mouth, mixed in with desperate, snotty sobs, even after Will’s eyes flutter close. He’s still breathing in small shallow gasps, and his hand is slack in Mike’s own, and he’s hurt, Will’s hurt, it’s your fault, your fault, YOUR FAULT—

Please don’t go, Mike thinks. The thought feels far away, lost somewhere in the loud cacophony of anxious thoughts. Please, please, please don’t go; stay with me, please, Will; please don’t go; please.

And then:

I love you.

Truthfully, Mike doesn’t really know what happens after that. He doesn’t know how much time passes or how the others manage to find them or how his body becomes unfrozen from its place, keeping watch over Will. Everything else becomes a blur of rainwater and blood—so much blood—staining the ground and Mike’s hands and Will’s clothes and Will’s wings that awful scarlet red.

This is your fault, that voice whispers to him, the entire ride back to their makeshift home. This is all your fault.

It takes a scary amount of time for Will to wake up.

Time’s a really fucking strange thing, you know? Mike still remembers being six or seven years old and how the weeks between the first day of school and picture day in the first week of October always felt so long. That month stretched on for forever and ever to his little six year old brain, but slowly, as he got older, the month seemed to become a little bit shorter. Then, even shorter the next year and shorter again the next. Growing up, it was as if the older he’d get, the faster time would fly right past him.

But apparently, time has decided it wants to do a complete one-eighty on Mike while he’s down for the count. Apparently, time no longer wants to fly; no, it wants to move at a fucking snail’s speed, dragging on until every second that passes by feels like a minute and each minute feels like an hour and each hour feels like a day.

Time’s really fucking strange.

And so, by the time Will wakes up, Mike honestly doesn’t know how long it’s been since the two of them were attacked. He knows a few things though—some that are helpful and some that aren’t.

Mike knows he hasn’t slept since then, choosing instead to sit by Will’s bedside and watch over him, as if that might do any good.

He knows practically everyone in their little group of Upside Down survivors has tried to convince him to leave, and he knows that, in response, he’d turned into a creature about as vicious as the one who did this to Will.

He knows that the fucking demodog that had attacked Will deserved a far crueler ending than a well-aimed bullet in the heart. He knows that it’s maybe a little sick and twisted for thinking that, and he knows he doesn’t really care right now.

He knows that Will’s wings are broken and torn, feathers brutally ripped off, bones broken underneath, damage near irreparable. He knows that Joyce cried when she saw her son, and he knows that she then picked herself back up and did everything she, with Hopper and Jonathan’s help, did everything she possibly could to mend Will’s broken wings and ease his pain.

And Mike knows that all of this is his fault.

So, when Will wakes up, eyes fluttering open and searching the dimly lit room, relief and guilt go to war inside Mike’s heart and mind. Relief wins out the initial battle, because Will is finally awake, and Mike doesn’t even care that Joyce and Hopper are in the room and can see him cry. But it’s guilt that ultimately wins the war, taking its place as the victor when Will sits up and immediately cries out, instinctively curling his wings around himself and only making things worse.

Bile rises in the back of Mike’s throat, and he feels frozen—just as frozen as he did in that moment when Will had stared up at him, terrified and bleeding out on the pavement. Joyce and Hopper are quick to jump to action, and Joyce’s soothing words fill the quietness in the room, “It’s okay, baby; you’re okay. Just relax, okay? Just breathe for me; that’s good; you’re doing so good, baby.”

Mike can barely hear the words over the sound of his own blood rushing through his ears.

Get out, something in the back of his mind pleads. Get out, get out, get out—

He would get out, if he could. But instead, Mike’s stuck here. Completely frozen in place, unable to do anything but watch in horror and try not to throw up as Joyce and Hopper slowly unwrap the bandages around Will’s wings.

Red is the first color Mike sees as the bandages come off. Blood, sticky and dark red, has stained the bandages, and Mike’s eyes wander from that gauze to the wounded appendages. Massive gashes, still a bright, painful shade of maroon, marr Will’s normally white wings, and there are chunks of feathers missing from where the demodog had attacked him. More than that, with Will now awake and able to stretch his wings out more, it’s easier to see the awkward, painful angles his wings are twisted at.

Every single moment and every single touch seems to hurt Will, even if he doesn’t say it.

And all Mike can do is watch. He’s breathing. He has to be. But at the same time, it doesn’t feel like it. His chest is burning; his lungs don’t feel like they’re getting any oxygen. Will’s bandages are discarded to the side—red, red, red replacing white, blooming, spreading, overtaking, and—

“Mike, sweetie?”

Mike flinches sharply, and finally, his body feels unfrozen. He’s able to look somewhere other than the blood-stained bandages and the bloody gashes on Will’s wings, and instead, he turns his attention to Joyce, who’d just called his name.

“S-sorry.” Mike swallows the lump in his throat and tries to remember how to breathe. “Did you, um… did you say something?”

A sad smile forms on Joyce’s face. “I didn’t,” she reassures gently. “But I, ah… I think maybe it would be best if you stepped outside for a bit. Maybe… go get some rest now that Will’s awake.”

Mike’s gut reaction is to protest, but the words die in the back of his throat as Joyce’s gaze flickers to Will’s face. Mike follows her line of sight, and—

Oh.

Red colors Will’s cheeks too, and he’s hiding his face from Mike, like he’s ashamed to be seen crying. It’s hard to see, but Mike can feel the heartbreak and the pain his best friend is experiencing right now. All he wants to do is make it better—to help Will, to somehow make this up to him, to let Will know that he’s here and that he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

Protest rises again, clawing its way up Mike’s throat, but he manages to bite his tongue and stop himself from yelling, It’s okay; please, it’s okay; you don’t have to hide, not from me. Please don’t hide. It’s okay; I’m here. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere, and you’re my best friend, and I love you—

Warmth rushes to Mike’s face, and for just a moment, he feels frozen again. There it is again—that thought that keeps sneaking up on him, more and more with each passing day. It’s the confession that Mike’s too much of a coward to say out loud, but he’s no idiot. There’s no denying the implications of those three words.

Not when he couldn’t even write the damn words in a letter to his own girlfriend.

Not when the words sneak up on him, in the most mundane and the most insane moments of his life, like they’re something as natural as breathing.

Not when it’s Will.

I love you, Mike lets himself think again.

Unfreeze.

Mike takes a step forward, ignoring the way his heart pounds inside his chest and the skeptical looks both Hopper and Joyce give him. Instead, he just sits down as carefully as possible as he can onto the bed, and he reaches for Will’s hands, pulling them away from his face so the two of them are looking at one another again.

This is your fault, that voice in the back of Mike’s mind whispers as Will tentatively looks at him, eyes full of grief and shame and embarrassment. It’s all your fault.

Maybe, Mike thinks. But Will needs me.

So, without giving it another thought, Mike scoots close, and he wraps his arms around his best friend, being careful to not exacerbate Will’s injuries. Like two puzzle pieces slotting into place, Will falls easily into his arms, and Mike hugs him close, running his hand up and down Will’s bare arm.

“You’re okay,” Mike whispers. It’s a reassurance and a reminder wrapped up all in two simple words and meant for both of them. “You’re going to be okay. We’ll get through this. I promise. I promise.”

Maybe that’s not a promise he should be making, but it’s one that Mike is going to try and do everything to keep.

Eventually, Will begins to get better.

His wings will never be the same again. That much is clear. Wings are already sensitive appendages—something that both Will and El can attest to—but it doesn’t help that they’re in the middle of the apocalypse with limited medical supplies. Hopper and Joyce do their best, and Will does slowly begin to heal from his injuries.

But his wings will never be the same again.

He doesn’t like talking about it, and that’s fine. Mike doesn’t like thinking about it, much less talking about it, so instead, he pours all of his energy into making sure Will knows he isn’t alone and also into keeping Will’s mind off the current reality of their situation. It’s no easy task, but if there’s one thing Mike’s gotten good at over the last twelve years of their friendship, it’s making Will Byers smile.

It’s… strange, actually. These past couple of months have objectively been some of the worst months of Will’s life—and Mike’s too, if he’s being completely honest. Will has spent these months recovering from a severely traumatic ordeal, both physically and emotionally. They’re living in the middle of the apocalypse, and One could literally return any day now to try and… destroy everything or whatever the fuck he wants to do.

And yet somehow, even in spite of how shitty things have been, the two of them have been able to find a little bit of light in the middle of the darkness.

It’s different, and it’s maybe too soon to say this, but also not soon enough. They’ve been walking down this path for years now, and only in these past couple months has that walk turned into a sprint towards… something – something remarkable and exhilarating and terrifying all at once. Something Mike doesn’t dare name yet, but that he wants to name, every single time those three words, I love you, come to mind.

It’s an ordinary day when he finally finds the courage to.

“Okay, so I was thinking,” Mike announces as the door to Will’s room flings open, and he walks in, the way he’s done dozens of times, “we should—”

He doesn’t get the chance to finish his sentence. Before he can, Will turns around quickly, arms wrapped around himself, and he yelps, “Mike! Jesus, knock next time!”

His face is bright red, his eyes are wide, and his expression is caught somewhere between embarrassed and actually mortified. Part of Mike wants to point out the fact that he’s done this multiple times and Will’s never seemed to care, but the words die in the back of his throat as he takes in the sight of his best friend.

For starters, Will is shirtless, and that – that’s totally fine. That’s fine. Mike doesn’t feel like his face is on fire or anything. Pfft, no. He’s seen Will shirtless hundreds of times, so this situation? Right here? Totally normal. Completely.

…

Anyways.

Beyond that, Will is… clearly trying to hide his wings. Despite the fact that Mike knows it hurts him to not stretch his wings out, he’s folded them down, so that Mike can just barely see the tips of his wings not hidden behind Will’s back. His eyes dart back and forth around the room anxiously, and a pang of hurt and guilt forms in Mike’s heart.

“Will,” Mike whispers, and he takes a step towards his best friend, unable to help himself. “Hey, it – it’s just me. It’s okay.”

Those words, apparently, aren’t the right ones to say, because Will’s face falls. He looks away quickly, wraps his arms around himself, and mutters, “It’s not okay. Just… please… can you go?”

His voice breaks on those last few words, and though he doesn’t say it aloud, Mike hears Will regardless. There’s no one in the world he knows better than Will, just like there’s no one in the world who knows Mike better than Will does. The two of them get each other.

“If you really want me to go, I will,” Mike says quietly and takes another step, holding out his hand for Will to take. “But if not…”

He lets his voice trail off, waiting for Will’s reaction. It takes a few moments, but then finally, Will looks up, eyes watery and heartbroken. He doesn’t say anything; instead, he just slowly unfolds his wings and takes a step backwards, sitting down onto his bed and keeping his arms wrapped around himself.

The invitation goes unspoken but not unsaid, so Mike takes another few steps forward, sitting down beside his best friend. Not a moment later, Will rests his head on Mike’s shoulder, and Mike responds by wrapping his arms around his best friend and holding him close. Neither one of them says a word, but Mike can feel the way the tension dissolves from the room, the way Will’s walls begin to crumble, the way both of them walk hand in hand back towards who they used to be.

There was a point in their lives when things were too confusing. Too messy and too big to figure out. There was a time when this didn’t feel right, even though all Mike wanted to do was keep Will as close to him as possible. He didn’t understand it back then, but he gets it now.

It’s pretty simple, actually. Mike is in love with Will, and he has been for a long, long time. Maybe since before he even met El, but definitely during the extent of their relationship. And while the feelings for El were there, they were never as strong as the ones he felt for Will.

…

The ones he still feels for Will.

So, it’s easy. It’s the most natural thing in the world for Mike to hold his best friend close, to let the rest of the world fall away, to think back to the very same thoughts that had flooded his mind on the rainy night all of this first began. Please don’t leave me, and You’ve gotta be okay; you’re gonna be okay, and even I love you, I love you, I love you. Please don’t go.

Eventually, the tears stop falling, and the room grows quiet once more. The two of them sit there, arms still wrapped around each other, with Will’s head resting against Mike’s chest lightly. He’s shifted a little bit now, wings wrapped around the two of them as best as he can, and it reminds Mike of when they were little, back when Will’s wings were the secret Mike was lucky enough to know and back when the world seemed just a little bit smaller and less overwhelming.

As carefully as he can, Mike adjusts ever so slightly, and he lifts one of his hands, running it across one of the long, jagged scars on Will’s wings. He feels his best friend shiver under the touch, and hesitantly, both of them turn their gazes towards one another.

There’s hesitancy written all over Will’s face, and his gaze flickers to Mike’s hand for just a brief moment, before returning back to Mike’s eyes once more. He looks like he wants to say a million different things, but finally, he settles on quietly saying, “They’ll never be the same again.”

He doesn’t say it aloud, but the words don’t go unsaid.

I’ll never be the same again.

And there – there is the root of all of this, the grief that Mike knows Will has been feeling this whole time. Hell, it’s the same old grief and confusion and pain that’s been around since Will was first rescued from the Upside Down. It’s the same grief that appeared again the year after, and it’s the same grief that keeps on coming back, manifesting itself in new ways, and always posing the same question.

Will I ever be the same person again?

Will any of us?

“Maybe not,” Mike says quietly. The words don’t feel nearly big enough to even begin to say what he truly means and how he truly feels. All he can do is hope that Will understands what he’s trying to say—that the words he can manage right now are enough until he musters up enough courage to truly tell Will everything Mike needs to say to him. “But they’re still beautiful.”

You’re still beautiful, he thinks but doesn’t say. Instead, Mike just runs his hand delicately down the broken, scarred wing, never once taking his eyes off Will. And I love you.

Will takes a shuddered breath, and despite the watery look still in his eyes, he manages to smile. “You really mean that?”

“Yeah,” Mike whispers back, and he scoots closer, one arm still wrapped around Will and the other still gently stroking the patches of white feathers on Will’s wings. In return, Will wraps his wings around the two of them even tighter, and the smile on his face grows. He seems more relaxed. More at home. “I really do.”

The words still aren’t everything that Mike wants to say, but Will gets it. He always does. And one day, hopefully soon, the two of them will be able to talk about this, and Mike will be able to speak the words that have been echoing through his mind and that he’s kept close to his heart ever since the moment he came to this realization.

Someday.

#byler #byler ficlet #andi writes not dies #andi's asks #ok sorry the ending was rushed #truthfully i probably could've written like 2k more words #but i was like oh this is getting Long #wing ficlet!#woohooo!!!

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scullysflannel · 2 years

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i remember seeing your post about why bcs is better than breaking bad, with this last episode, how do you think it stands as an antithesis of breaking bad?

it's become even more obvious this season that better call saul is not at all the antithesis of breaking bad, even though it is the antithesis of the kind of antihero story breaking bad exemplified. both shows are about moral agency in the wild west. they assert choice as identity (you are what you choose to do) and ask whether those choices redefine you or just reveal who you are intrinsically. they're both about men who become the architects of their own destruction and about how one person's actions can trap others.

I think better call saul is doing it in a much sadder and richer way. jimmy is acting out of deflected love, in a system that gives him fewer options to succeed without bending the rules. walt is handed an out early on from his wealthy ex-partners, but he doesn't take it because of his pride. he does what he does for entirely selfish reasons: money, power, ego, control. I've seen some pushback against walt hate on the premise that it ignores the humanity in the writing or whatever, so let me be clear: walt sucks because he's written like a human being. he's terrible to his son and only dotes on him when he wants to feel like a big provider. he ignores and lies to his pregnant wife. his students don't like him. he thinks he cares about jesse, but he's manipulating him, and he's at his most affectionate when he has the most control over him. that's not real care. I do think in the later seasons it sometimes borders on ridiculous how loathsome walt can be, and he's not the best character on breaking bad (jesse, skyler, mike, and hank are all more interesting. marie and gus are cooler). but the writers took care to root the worst things about him in personality traits that clearly predated his little meth empire. this is not a good guy we caught at a bad time. this is a small man who's masked his bitterness in socially acceptable ways for years.

in better call saul the chain reaction is more tangled. jimmy takes the opportunities that he's given to change, and then he tanks them, and his self-sabotage is both a fatal flaw and a response to legitimate structural problems in the legal system. (the rules are harder to justify when those rules are designed to maintain a status quo that makes upward mobility so hard, makes forgiveness so hard. think of jimmy's speech in "winner": one teenage shoplifting incident will follow you forever. they are never, ever letting you in. he got a whole law degree, but it was from an online university, so should it count?) he's much more shaped by other people than walt is ("people tell me how they see me"). better call saul builds on the big ideas in breaking bad but really commits to making the world around the fucked-up guy fucked up too, and it makes the tragedy so much deeper. because ultimately it's still a story about personal responsibility, just as breaking bad is. even when you have no good options, you still have to live with your choices.

being a prequel pushes better call saul to be smarter (which is what I was saying in the post you mentioned). it makes the characters more reflective. shoutout to the new yorker article that pointed out what it does to the show that the actors look older, as if the characters are trapped reliving their pasts without the power to change them. jimmy believes his fate is sealed, and as a result we get to watch him seal it. it's agonizing. that's where better call saul diverges from the breaking bad antihero formula: there's no (lasting) thrill in watching him make bad choices because we know what they'll do to him in the long run. but rebuking the walter white problem doesn't make better call saul breaking bad's opposite; it just makes it a more fulfilling version of the same story.

#bcs #breaking bad

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scheodingers-muppet · 8 months

Text

welcome back to stranger things characters/ships as songs. this episode; GUTS !

all-american bitch - nancy. the battle between trying to be something society likes while still being a strong woman. she’s very much girl-next-door, americana-dream coded

bad idea right? - steddie. specifically used to be dating in secret steddie. this song just really reminds me of steve talking to robin getting ready to go hang out with eddie again after not talking for months

vampire - s2 stancy, from nancy’s pov. i adore steve, but he wasn’t a great boyfriend to nancy. in this season, she is so clearly struggling with barbs death and he just wanted to move on. “how’s the castle built of people you pretend to care about?” “i’ve made some real big mistakes, but you make the worst one look fine” nancy blames them for barbs death, the worst mistake, and steve is “making it look fine” by trying to just go back to normal. “every girl i ever talked to told me you were bad, bad news” “how do you lie without flinching?” and the dinner scene with barbs parents

lacy - ronance. nancy about seeing robin with steve, thinking she’s jealous that she gets to have steve, when in reality she’s falling for robin and jealous that steve gets to have her. i can also see this being from robins pov without the jealousy undertone.

ballad of a homeschool girl - el. just feeling awkward and like you don’t know what to do in social situations fits so well with growing up as an actual science experiment. plus, “everything i do is tragic, every guy i like is gay”

making the bed - will and el about mike. first half is will. “another thing i ruined i used to do for fun” and the dnd fight. “another conversation with nothing good to say” and the season 4 fight. “another day pretending i’m older than i am” “another perfect moment that doesn’t feel like mine” airport scene. “another thing i forced to be a sign” “push away all the people who know me the best” second verse is el. “my life feels so out of control” “i tell someone i love them just as a distraction. they tell me that they love me like i’m some tourist attraction” “i got the things i wanted, it’s just not as i imagined.” “i’m so tired of being the girl that i am. every good thing i have turns into something i dread”

logical - joyce and lonnie. i can also see max and billy if you ignore the romance love and make it a little sister loving her older brother, but i think joyce fits a bit better. i could also see maybe karen and ted

get him back! - steddie again. steve is just so teenage girl pop coded. but in my little used to be secretly dating au, this is very much right when he’s realizing he still has feelings for eddie

love is embarrassing - going right back to my steddie au. i might right a whole fic honestly. this would be from eddie’s perspective

the grudge - max about billy AND will about his dad. i desperately need people to dive into that dynamic more.

pretty isn’t pretty - honestly, robin is the closest i can find. or maybe a trans!stevie

teenage dream - nancy. it’s so nancy coded. the whole first verse is written in nancy’s diary.

#guts #stranger things #steve harrington #eddie munson #mike wheeler #steddie #el hopper #olivia rodrigo #idk how to tag this

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jackiietaylor · 1 year

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unpopular stranger things opinions/hot takes 👀

omg thanks for sending this and giving me a reason to share my opinions 👀 this got really long because i have a lot to say apparently

first of all, i genuinely love and enjoy this show and that seems to be an unpopular opinion recently? like i was shocked when i logged on after watching volume 2 and everyone on my dash hated it because i loved it. and i love all the other seasons, too. yeah obviously there’s some parts i don’t like and things i would change but overall i still think it’s really good. but yeah mandatory “i do actually really like the show” before i start complaining about some things

s1 > s4 > s3 > s2

i don’t understand the obsession with character death. not as in i don’t understand why people don’t want characters to die but i don’t understand the constant need to talk about how characters are “definitely” going to die. no main character has been killed off throughout the whole show and yet pre-s4 no one would shut up about characters dying. also after the reaction to eddies death i think the duffers are gonna be too scared to kill anyone off lol

on the other hand, killing el off/not giving her a happy ending would be the single greatest mistake the show could make

el’s side plot in s2 is one of the highlights of the show for me. the lost sister will probably forever be my favorite episode of the show. ive never understood the hate it gets. im really hoping that kali comes back in s5 and helps fight vecna

el is the only Main character. there are obviously many other characters that are leads but she is ultimately the main character. the entire show revolves around her and her plot(s).

nancy has some of the best development in the entire show. ive seen so many people say she has no development outside of the love triangle and i find that so surprising because she’s changed soo much. her entire journey to wanting to be a reporter directly stems from her not being listened to and her desire to do something about barbs death. everything about her current character stems from that specific moment and we’ve seen throughout the seasons how that’s progressed and shaped her into and i think because of that development, she’s pretty much the only character with a defined ending (career as a journalist)

mike has done like one thing wrong in the entire show and im so unbelievably tired of people acting like he’s the villain. he’s a 14 year old who doesn’t know how to perfectly express himself sometimes. people need to leave him alone

steve & robin and el & max have the two best friendships on the entire show and anyone who says otherwise is wrong

hopper should’ve stayed dead. his death was perfectly written in s3 and reviving him brought nothing to the plot. it wasn’t even explained how he survived, he was just there. it wasn’t well thought out or well written, and overall it just wasnt necessary. they ruined what was ultimately a beautiful send off (the speech to end s3) for a cheap plot twist that had no payoff.

(also i don’t like hopper because he gave brenner el’s location in s1, fully intending that he would kidnap her again. it’s unforgivable regardless of what his reasoning was and i hate that it was never brought up ever again)

going off of that, the entire russia plot is the worst written part of the whole show. it could be scrapped entirely from s4 and the season would lose nothing

stranger things is blatantly obvious about what ships are gonna end up together at the end of the show

jancy is just a truly terrible ship all around. jonathan hiding in a bush to take pictures of nancy through a window while she was taking her clothes off is soo unbelievably creepy and unforgivable, and it’s terrible that it was just dropped with no consequences whatsoever for him. he doesn’t even actually apologize! he says he shouldnt have taken the picture, but when she asks him why he took it in the next episode he says it was just a nice picture and then starts lecturing her about how she’s gonna end up miserable like her mom?? they should’ve never got together after all that. and then there’s all the bullshit in s3 when he undermined the misogyny she was facing at work and didn’t believe her at all which just further proves that they shouldn’t be together! and then she forgot he existed for most of s4 anyway

i want nancy to end the show single so bad

robin/vickie sucks lol. stranger things is probably the only show that has me rooting against the lesbian character ending up in a relationship. vickie is sooo boring and has absolutely no personality! even suzie’s random family members got personalities in s4! im tired of being told to accept the bare minimum just because a show is adding a random throwaway gay character. vickie serves no purpose in the plot and id rather not waste the extremely limited time left in the show developing robins relationship with a complete nobody when her friendships with pre-existing characters should be the focus. also every single one of their scenes featured steve in some capacity which was very annoying

steve and nancy actually have such an interesting dynamic as characters but specifically as exes. personally, i do not think they should get back together, but i think what makes them interesting is why they shouldn’t be together. obviously their first breakup is because of their different reactions to barbs death. their relationship was never going to make it past that. barb died because nancy brought her to steves house, she died AT steves house, and died while nancy was alone with steve. there was never any coming from back that, not while nancy hadn’t processed her grief and especially not when steve was trying to convince her to forget about it and go to a party. but they’ve both grown as people since then, and they’re still not going to work. steve wants a big family, nancy is career-oriented to the point that she will do anything to succeed as a journalist. nancy doesn’t want the suburban, nuclear family life. they are fundamentally mismatched when it comes to what they want in life and i think exploring THAT aspect of their dynamic is so much more interesting than just shoving them back together

overall the show is so much more enjoyable when you don’t care about ships <3 please disregard everything i just said about the ships <3 but seriously the main focus of the show is not even remotely centered on the romantic relationships and watching the show without really caring about that aspect of things is way better

this isn’t a hot take about the show but more the fandom: a lot of the dynamics do not exist at all in the show the way some people think they do. most obvious example is el and will, who both are wayyyy closer to at least 3 other characters than they are to each other. this isn’t just limited to stranger things, it happens in most shows, especially ones with a found family element (ex. agents of shield) but people tend to forget what the dynamics actually are and then project their opinions onto the characters

semi-related and not really a hot take but if i had to choose underrated/non-existent dynamics to explore in s5, i would choose: lucas and el (connection to max), nancy and el (both on the show since s1 but have barely spoken, both the only people to know vecna’s full backstory firsthand), and nancy and mike (siblings who both probably think they’re only children at this point because they never interact with each other)

also related to fandom but it’s so clear that so many people either have not watched the show or just don’t anything remember what happens in the show when they post shit. and that’s way there’s sooo much mischaracterization everywhere

this show has way too many characters and it’s resulted in a lot of them having nothing to do for entire seasons. look at the california group from this season. they spent the entirety of episodes 5-8 driving around in a van with nothing to do. even joyce, who was one of the main main characters in earlier seasons, felt like she was just kinda there this season. part of it is the way they divide the plots, especially geographically this season, but the other part is just not having anywhere near enough time or plot spaces for all the characters. it’s unfortunately probably only gonna get worse in s5 because they have to somehow wrap up every characters individual plot in addition to the greater shows plot

and my hottest take is that will is severely overhyped sorry. he’s just not that interesting of a character and i really don’t understand that obsession with him? i mean he’s a fine character and he hasn’t really done anything wrong but there are so many other characters that are actually involved in the plot that i find way more interesting, relevant, and better written. like he was barely in s1, s2 was more about things happening to him than him actually doing anything, and s3 and s4 he didn’t do anything. hopefully s5 will give him something interesting to do but for now i just don’t see it

#this is so long oops #some of these are probably more unpopular than others idk #moonlayl #answered

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bimboficationblues · 9 months

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whats the good comics to read? ive read & liked hellboy & flex mentallo, watchmen was pretty good. did not rly enjoy punisher that much tho i read a lot of it like 15 years ago. ive read a couple of batman runs as well tho aside from killing joke idr which ones.

caveat that I've been mostly reading Marvel stuff of late and I kinda dropped off comics like...a month and a half ago or so cause of work and pivoting to interest in film, though I'm hoping to get back into it. But here are some things I've enjoyed!

The original Stan Lee and Gerry Conway Amazing Spider-Man runs are great if you want old-school character drama and have the patience for excessive exposition. The same caveats go for Chris Claremont's tenure on Uncanny X-Men which are some of my favorite cape comics ever. This run is really long, so if you want a condensed idea of what it's like, "God Loves, Man Kills" is a great graphic novel that kinda captures the spirit of that era and its core characters, and I also adore the Starjammers/Brood Saga. The New Teen Titans by Marv Wolfman, which @radiofreederry is chronicling as she reads it, works for similar reasons as Claremont's X-Men, which it was emulating and in some ways surpasses.

J. Michael Straczynski's Amazing Spider-Man run...there are two options here: 1) Just read the period where John Romita Jr. is the artist, which ends with "The Book of Ezekiel" arc. This is the strongest and most consistent section of the story. It actually made me cry at least once or twice. 2) Read the whole run, but recognize that it *will* shit the bed at least three times, two of which are mostly pointless and skippable ("Sins Past" and "The Other"), one of which is both one of the worst stories ever told and fundamentally damaged the character to this day, *and* the unfortunate, editorially imposed conclusion to the whole creative run ("One More Day"). However this section also includes two of my favorite Spider-Man stories ("Mr. Parker Goes to Washington/The War at Home," imo the only part of Civil War that actually proved the value of the event, and "Back in Black") so it depends on your patience and willingness to deal with wack stuff in order to get to good parts.

Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo's Fantastic Four run is like, really charming and beautiful and silly but moving. Honestly a perfect run imo.

My favorite Batman story is unquestionably The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, which was a big influence on the Matt Reeves Batman movie (which is also my favorite Batman film). Really embraces the character's detective qualities, which is when I think he's most interesting - I don't need him to be doing a lot emotionally or be the most unconquerable creature with tons of prep time, I need him to be Hercule Poirot in a silly suit. But if you want a great detective story without Batman's baggage, Denny O'Neill's The Question is so so good. Funny, dark, politically charged, philosophically poignant. Kind of ends unsatisfactorily but the ride there is really good detective drama.

If you like Hellboy, it's worth checking out a lot of the late 80s DC/Vertigo lineup which aimed for weirdness and high concepts. This includes Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, Gaiman's The Sandman, Hellblazer, Animal Man, and Doom Patrol. Double-recommendation for Doom Patrol and Animal Man, because both were written by Flex Mentallo author Grant Morrison.

Let's see...George Perez's Wonder Woman is a cool mix of grounded drama and high-fantasy. I like it best when Perez is on pencils and writing, not just the latter. Hawkworld is the only good Hawkman story. Morrison's All-Star Superman is great but requires a lot of Superman familiarity to really appreciate imo. Warren Ellis's time on Thunderbolts is a fun little action/psychological thriller comic. Brian Michael Bendis' Dardevil is actually really good, it's the only thing he's written that I think is great without any qualifications. Gail Simone's Secret Six is a fun variant on the Suicide Squad concept. I like 2000s She-Hulk, Ghost Rider...the first forty-two issues of Ed Brubaker's Captain America is honestly a pretty sick spy thriller.

if I didn't' mention something well-regarded or contemporary here (e.g. Mark Waid's The Flash) assume I just haven't read it yet, I have an extremely long spreadsheet of things to read. This got pretty long but yeah, that's a bunch of stuff I've read and enjoyed!

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bi-bard · 2 years

Text

Miscellaneous Masterlist

A masterlist of any show/movie/project with less than four fics and only one character written about. This includes shows like 9-1-1, The Umbrella Academy, and The Rookie.

Navigation Guide

------------------------------

9-1-1:

Evan “Buck” Buckley:

I’m Sorry… I’m a What

I Think It's Time You Marry Me

Adam [2009]:

Adam Raki:

Safe Place

Rambling

Freckles and Constellations

You're the Right Person, so It's the Right Time

The Bear:

Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto:

Welcome Home

Interrogation

Kindness

The Blacklist:

Donald Ressler:

Soft

Well Earned

Too Cold

This Is Not a Hospital

Threats

Ability

Day Off

Drinks

Aftermath

Of Course

Blood & Chocolate (2007):

Aiden Galvin:

Harsh Reality

It's Got Me Planning for the Future and Worrying About the Past

Bodyguard:

David Budd:

Christmas and New Years

I Stumbled in at the Wrong Time (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5)

Bones:

Lance Sweets:

Nervous

And All of the Nights Will Lead into the Night with Me

Charlie Countryman:

Nigel:

Theoretical

Letting Go

I Would’ve Stayed till Death Took Me Out but Then You Fucked Up and Gave Me the Gun

Confessions of a Shopaholic:

Luke Brandon:

Denial

Death Stranding:

Sam Porter Bridges:

Resting

Realignment

Downton Abbey: A New Era:

Jack Barber:

The Look

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves:

Xenk Yendar:

Cruel Trick of Fate

Ella Enchanted:

Prince Charmont:

I Need to Save the Best for Last, I'm Serious

You Brought Heaven Down to Right Where I Stood

Five Nights at Freddy's [Movie]:

Mike Schmidt:

Babysitting

Gilmore Girls:

Dean Forester:

Fearless

Jess Mariano:

Quizzing

Good Omens:

Aziraphale & Crowley:

The Angel, The Demon, and the University Student They "Adopted"

Crowley:

When a Demon Stumbles onto the Doorstep of a Bookshop

Gossip Girl [2021]:

Max Wolfe:

No Other Expectations

Insecurities & Loose Lips

Parties & Stubbornness

Haven:

Duke Crocker:

Touch

House M.D:

Dr. James Wilson:

I Don’t Know What I Was Expecting

Commitment

Dr. Robert Chase:

Waste of Time

Ibiza: Love Drunk:

Leo West:

I Don’t Really Care About That

I Came By:

Toby Nealey:

Coming Back for You

The Invitation:

Walt Deville:

Lovely Night

Freedom [Part 2: The Right Choice] [Part 3: The Perfect Eternity]

Roses

Killing Eve:

Villanelle:

Calm Down

Kingsman Franchise:

Gary “Eggsy” Unwin:

New Year’s Kiss

Fights

I'm Wrong, Right?

Mission

Knives Out Franchise:

Benoit Blanc:

Christmas Day

The Last of Us:

Joel Miller:

Human Connection

Is It Insensitive for Me to Say Get Your Shit Together, So I Can Love You?

Fine

There's So Much I Wanna Tell You, But I Don't Know If It'll Fit

Tests

MacGyver (2016):

Angus MacGyver:

Field Work

The Collection of Failed Date Nights

The Mandalorian:

Din Djarin:

I Thought We Were…

Mr. Robot:

Elliot Alderson:

Who Have You Been Talking To?

The Path:

Cal Roberts:

Supportive

Three Things

Peaky Blinders:

Tommy Shelby:

Shock

Polar:

Duncan Vizla:

Stupid Mistakes

Prodigal Son:

Malcolm Bright:

An Extra Dose of Chaos (Criminal Minds Crossover)

Snow On Valentines Day

I’m Not a Party Kind of Person

Roar (Apple TV):

Bobby Bronson:

Drunk Mess

Robin Hood (2018):

Robin of Loxley:

Knock It Off

The Rookie:

Tim Bradford:

The Worst Day

Schitt’s Creek:

David Rose:

Dammit

New Adventures

Stevie Budd:

Helping Hand

Scream (TV Series):

Tom Martin (from season 2, episode 13):

Alive

Sweetbitter:

Jake:

Wanted

A Kind Act

But You’re Not Allowed, She’s Got You Under Lock and Chain

Uncomfortable Questions

Sick Day

Redefining Affection

No Big Deal (I Love You)

Utopia:

Thomas Christie:

How Much Did You Know?

Wolfblood:

Rhydian Morris:

NASA

Protective By Nature

#fanfiction #imagine #x reader #masterlist

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hawkinsschoolcounselor · 2 years

Note

I’m gonna preface this by saying that I hope Byler doesn’t end up being canon, and in my opinion they’re taking the route that Will is going to confess, and Mike will friendzone him as he doesn’t feel the same way. I want Mileven to be together as it’ll make me happy. Hope I’m not being aggressive.

Anyway. I don’t really understand what Duffers are trying to accomplish in the story now. They are making sure that we know Will is gay without stating it at this point. They are giving us Byler scenes that contain typical romance movie tropes. They are subtly trying to hint there’s a possibility that Mike isn’t in love with El. So what’s the point? Why are they basically going to have Mike reject Will and say he loves El? Why would you make it look like a story is going a certain direction (Byler + Single El) then proceed to make the opposite happen (Mileven + Single Will) in just few seconds?

Then them having Mike say in season 2 that asking Will to be his friend is the best thing he’s ever done (Not meeting the girl he’s in love with lmao), then in season 3 saying that she’s the most important thing to him in the world (I can’t believe what he said in the shed has changed and now that he became closer to El some memory with her replaced meeting Will?? I highly doubt that and if that was the case I’d laugh).

This semi-love triangle in general is confusing. Though they don’t know the fate of characters or what will happen, there’s copious amounts of Byler content on the various Netflix social media - to the point you can easily forget about the existence of Mileven - which there’s barely any mention of.

I don’t trust Duffers at all it just gives off bait vibes.

You're not being aggressive at all. I appreciate how you've respectfully addressed this with me considering you probably know my stance on who Mike should be with.

The only reason I could see for them to go with this love triangle is to compare and contrast the relationships. Sorry to say, but Mike and El just bring out the worst in each other. They rushed into a relationship based on one week together and one year apart, a year in which they built up fantasy versions of each other in their minds. When they finally did get together, they just didn't work. They don't know each other, they have nothing in common, and they lie to each other. Mike and Will bring out the best in each other, though. They do know each other, they have things in common, and they're (mostly) honest with each other.

I can't see any reason for them to set the narrative up like this if they didn't want us to compare how Mike is with both of them, as well as how both of them are with him. El was happier in season 3 when they were apart, and she showed more character (and personal) development. Much the same is happening now, as she hasn't really thought about him since she left, instead learning more about her past and probably finding closure with Brenner. Will is miserable when distanced from Mike, which makes sense when you realize they've known each other since kindergarten.

It would make no sense for Mike to reject Will. It does nothing for either of their stories, and, in fact, takes away all that Will (currently) has left in terms of a place on the show. It makes all the buildup for Will and Mike since season 1. Meanwhile, Mike and El got their buildup during season 2. They're no longer in that phase. We got to see them together, and it's just not good. It makes no sense for Mike and El to magically repair their problems, for Mike to magically be able to tell El he loves her and for El to no longer cling to him or lie to him.

There's no outcome for this that makes us both happy, I'm afraid, but this is the situation the Duffers have written. To me, there's only one outcome that makes sense with what they've set up. El is going to grow as a person, accepting her good and her bad, and realize that she was using Mike as a security blanket that she no longer needs. Mike is going to realize that he was in a forced relationship that started for the wrong reasons, just like his parents. Will is going to get the courage to tell Mike how he really feels. I suppose Mike could still reject Will and we can all be mad together, but that still makes his entire story a waste, in my opinion.

#stranger things 4

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discoursedeity · 6 months

Text

Disappointed, bored & hurt, the worst trifecta:

I don't care what anyone else thought if the movie, if you liked it, good for you, I am happy you were able to enjoy it. I am not going to argue with you and tell you you're wrong for liking it and just being happy it actually got made because I don't want to ruin it for you. But I am going to say my piece regardless because I have been thinking about it all week and it is really bothering me and I want there to be helpful criticism out there for Scott Cawthon to pull from the fan base.

So I will start by saying that yes, I have been a fan since 2014 when Markiplier first uploaded his first video, and I have been watching countless YouTubers since then for it. Ranging from gamers who play the games, to theorists who disect them, and I cant even begin to count how many hours I have sunk into this franchise to watch all of those videos, so this isn't just someone coming in later and not getting it or something. Of course I caught things like Sparky the dog, and the Ella spring lock suit and thought "Oh my God, what a deep cut, how nice." But that in itself does not make a movie. Nor do the YouTuber appearances like MatPat being a waiter named Ness (as much as that moment was the highlight of the film) A movie needs to be written to make the audience CARE about it, it's world, it's characters. And this movie sadly just did not do that for any of the characters, be they human, ghost or animatronic.

Vanessa info dumping is a quick way to get the lore across, and yes fans already know the lore so I understand WHY things were done that way, but you should always SHOW not TELL. We fans would have loved to see it all unfold before our eyes, rather than just have some cop hang around for some reason to just spew lore out her mouth at us. We want to SEE the restaurant being established and built up, we want to see William spiral and finally decide to kill the kids, we want to see each conversation he had with each kid to get them to follow him, we want to see him kill them and put them in the suits, we want to see the kids ghosts adjusting to the suits and begin their rampage of killing guards.

That's Fnaf, that's what we are here for, the lore of the restaurant franchise, its history, its animatronics, that is all important for getting us invested, that and the mystery of it all since we like trying to solve things. So of course you don't have to show every single little thing lore wise, we do like to try to theorize and figure things out for ourselves when we are given enough pieces of the puzzle to do so, like if you are going to carry over that William also had 2 sons but you're planning to have them both be dead (one to Fredbear and one to Circus Baby) then you don't need to show us explicitly which one died first, but some things you really do need to layout for the audience to be able to feel invested in the movie. Again, like the characters, we have no reason to feel attached to Vanessa.

We don't know enough about her to care about whether or not she comes out of her coma. We have vague implications that William wasn't the best dad and that she has lasting trauma from that experience as his daughter, but we don't know what the trauma is or how severe her suffering was, so we can't truly empathize with her. Was she beaten by him? Or just yelled at or neglected? We don't know. And when building a character those sorts of things need to stated or at least hinted at more clearly to build intrigue and investment in the character. But they must be likeable as well, and non of the characters in the movie were relatable or likable enough. Mike was relatable, but his likability factor went out the window when he sold out his sister for a long dead brother that we also knew nothing about so we could care about him. The ghost kids weren't established enough as characters either, and while that may be because they have been there so long that they are not fully themselves anymore and you wanted to emphasize that it isn't really them just the negative emotions like anger and such that were left behind, it made it impossible for us to care about them beyond going "Oh dang, dead kids, poor things...Oh well, hey look at that animatronic." The only one who speaks is Golden Freddy's kid, and he was a brat.

On the topic of the animatronics, they were perhaps the biggest disappointment in the entire movie. It seemed like they were left as silent vessels for the kids both to try to make them scarier and fit the first game since they never talked in Fnaf 1, as well as to try to further emphasize the fact that this was about the ghost kids from the MCI situation. But it didn't work in either of those favors. The bots weren't scary, like the only time they had any level of intimidation factor was when Freddy stomped over to Mike when they were first introduced, and that was purely because of their size difference. The animatronics just came across as goofy. Like, how could they be threatening when they are so weak and slow that Bonnie and Freddy have to work together to lift one single little table? What makes them scary in the games is what they are capable of, how we see them move fast, how they are capable of intricate thought and planning, how they hide behind a friendly and calming facade but they are truly sinister and can outmatched any human in speed, strength and durability. But seeing the bots in the movie move so slow, barely be able to lift, go down so easily from one shot of a stun gun, it just takes any chance of them being perceived as an actual thing to fear away immediately. Not to mention the red and orange glowing eyes. It's like they are playing red light green light with their eyes and I could only laugh whenever I saw them. Where was was the iconic and chilling black with white pin pricks we all know and love? Those would have sent chills down any player's spine seeing them. The animtronics just looked so silly, and didn't have anything to backup their danger factor aside from killing some random break in thugs, 2 of which walked right into their own Demise so the bots didn't even have to work for it to show what they are capable of, (Freddy and Bonnie). And I get it, I know they were staged this way because the people in the suits probably can't see or move that well in them, and those physical limitations inhibit what can be done for the movie. But if that is the case, then why even bother making real suits and animatronics for this? If it is going to negatively impact the movie by posing such limitations, then don't waste the time or money on them, just use CGI. I would have preferred that even, since it would have allowed the animatronics to be as close as possible both look wise and feel wise to the game. As it is, Chica is the only one who perfectly matches how she looks in Fnaf 1. The boys all have slight color issues that keep them from being accurate adaptations. Really getting the creature shop to make them real was a mistake in every way except for the fact that it gives a chance for people to meet them irl at exhibits and stuff. But that isn't worth it if it requires shooting the movie in the foot. The animatronics should have been present more, they should have DONE more, they ARE Five Nights at Freddy's. We need them to be more involved, otherwise it feels less like a FNAF movie and more like the Fnaf bots making a cameo in some family drama movie.

Also, let's talk more about Mike and his whole dream thing. We got it the first time, we didn't need to see it over and over and over again. That was boring. Heck, the whole first 1/3 of the movie was just tedious and dull with all the setup and family drama, it felt like I was left waiting for the movie to actually start, like I was watching a required video before I could actually watch the movie. Yes, it was important to establish how down on his luck Mike was and why he needed a job and how this was his only option for work so he had to take it, even if it wasn't ideal. But the bots didn't even attack him until around night 3 or 4. So it was less about Mike coming back to the job despite the danger, and more about Mike just coming back despite it not working great with his schedule. And his backstop could have been established far faster and with less monotony. It took up so much of the run time that we could have spent better elsewhere, such as fleshing out William some more or on the animatronic side of things like I said earlier.

And God, William, oh William...He is just never going to be an actual threat again, is he? Like, odd enough to shift him from being British to just being American, but he was portrayed as so goofy as well in this movie. As Steve Raglan, I understand him being an upbeat and lighthearted guy, but when we are shown him in the suit, he should have had more buildup, there should have been more suspension and hype to make him FEEL like more of a threat. Him controlling the other animatronics should have also been shown, I don't care if it was him disguising himself as a friend via sound illusion disc's or some stereotypical remote control or what. But leaving it vague for anyone to see there to theorize about (or forcing them to read the books to understand) just takes any tension out of it by making it feel like a rushed cop out. His whole little speech about him creating disobedient monsters just felt sad and weird and out of place. And his delivery of his iconic line felt shoehorned in to be able to point at it and say "look, look, ah ha he said the thing" and was really just pathetically given, rather than it being more of a menacing and knowing promise. Plus, when we only know of 6 kills under his belt and all of them were children who couldn't fight back and we didn't even see how creepy and cunningly he lured those kids in to their deaths, we really have no frame of reference for what he is capable of and why we should fear him. Like, sure maybe he wasn't actually aiming to kill his own daughter, but if he shoved a big knife through her gut and she didn't even die and he actually WAS trying to kill her, then that's pretty sad. Makes him come across like a failure of a killer and more of a joke than anything. He couldn't even kill Mike for crying out loud, and Mike didn't have a gun like Vanessa did.

(Also, I suppose this is a nitpick, but why was he able to kick Mike in the suit without the spring locks going off? That was a hard jarring movement, and the foot meeting Mike was applying resistance, don't you normally have to be careful how you move and breathe in those things so as not to set them off? How can you harshly kick someone AND get tazed without it tripping the spring locks?)

I don't know, the whole thing just felt like it was relying on fans to just be satisfied with seeing Easter eggs, cameos, and feeling what superior or something for already knowing everything? I mean, the whole movie was so predictable, every single plot point of it, even Vanessa being his daughter wasn't a surprise to me or my friends that just went and saw it with. I've seen people say they went in with a Bingo sheet, and that is not a good thing at all. The run time was poorly allocated to the wrong points, and such important things like building the world of the Freddy's restaurant chains and its characters kind of got the screwed over. I watched this thing twice and hesitate to ever watch it again because my opinion of it already started out not so good with the first watch and fell to bad with the 2nd. I might actually cry if I try to watch it again. I don't like knowing I've waited years for this and hoped and prayed for the best, only to see red flags popping up when the trailers were released and then going in with low expectations telling nyself to ignore the warning bells in my head and actually seeing it, it's just so disappointing.

I love this franchise dearly, it's done so much good for so many good people. It gave so many people jobs as YouTubers who are a joy to see spread positivity and light in the world. Heck, the games also got some people to look at Chuck E Cheese in a new light and give it a visit. It's brought so many people together and inspired the next generation of game designers and story tellers. Nothing will ever shake me from its clutch, even back when Fnaf 3 came out and I felt disappointed I didn't give up on it, and that was back when it was still new enough that it didn't have a strangle hold on me yet. So of course I'm not going anywhere even if the Ruin DLC and movie were kind of a flops. I will still be here ready to go to the theater to give the 2nd movie a try when it comes out, I just hope that Scott and the crew learn from this and make better choices for the next one. Because I really want this series to be treated with the love and respect that it deserves.

Regardless of any complaints though, thanks to my fellow fans for being so devoted to the series as well and getting it past the Mario movie in terms of views for streaming, (the Mario movie was bad in its own way, mostly with Peach's...everything, and the voices of all the characters and stuff) so I'm glad to see it surpassed that shamless cash grab of a movie at something. And I am happy that the movie wasn't just abandoned after being in development purgatory for so long.

This again, was in no way meant to deter fans from enjoying it if they found something in it for them, keep enjoying it. If all you wanted was a cheesy movie that wasn't taken seriously and was intentionally bad, then all the power to you. But it truly is not for everyone. Hard core fans, casual fans, it doesn't matter, it truly comes down to what you were looking for in a movie. And I love Scott Cawthon and his dedication to the fans, but this really wasn't it and I know he can do better, so I darn sure will be voicing any complaints I have with the film to push him to push the movie crew to do better.

#fnaf movie #five nights at freddy's #Fnaf #Five nights at Freddy's movie #fnaf movie spoilers #Fnaf movie success #Fnaf movie bad #what a disappointment #2 or 3/10 at the most #And that is purely from MatPat and the other Easter eggs #matpat fnaf #He was seriously the best part #I could have walked out of the theater after his scene and I would have been able to leave on a high note #Make MatPat have a bigger part in the next movie #Please #Dawko should have been William Afton #MatPat should become more relevant to the plot #Markiplier should be the next main character

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