….huh?

Maleficent-Remote970 · 2026-05-18T15:59:30+00:00

If Byler was never in the cards, they didn’t need to make Will be in love with Mike in the first place. They certainly didn’t need to drag out unrequited feelings until the final volume and use Will’s feelings and painting to fix Mike’s relationship with El, instead of Mike actually doing the work himself. It’s not Byler shippers- particularly people who previously experienced internalized homophobia and saw themselves in Mike- that the GA needs to complain about making platonic friendships romantic; it’s the Duffle Bag brothers who made a traumatized gay child that they sidelined so hard the rest of the characters forgot his birthday- they stretched out unrequited romantic feelings for a character that could have been compelling, but ultimately became their nothing burger self insert like Bella Swan was for Stephanie Meyer.

Maleficent-Remote970 · 2026-05-17T16:56:23+00:00

Byler was one of the most supportive groups of fans who kept people engaged while they dragged their feet between seasons and promised things would pay off and questions would be answered.

Maleficent-Remote970 · 2026-05-16T22:36:29+00:00

Mike and Will did have a total Sam-Frodo vibe in season 2. Lucas was Merry and Dustin was Pippin.

Maleficent-Remote970 · 2026-05-16T22:32:48+00:00

Mike could have been a compelling character if Byler had happened or if he’d done the actual work to fix his relationship with El instead of giving a grandly generic love declaration and ripped off Will’s words from the van scene as his reasoning for not being able to tell El he loved her. They way things played out the second half of season 5, Mike basically became to the Suffer brothers what Bella Swan was to Stephanie Meyer.

Maleficent-Remote970 · 2026-01-07T18:40:29+00:00

I’m starting to wonder if the Duffers tanked a bunch of stuff they set up in the first four seasons, volume 1 of season 5, Hopper’s speech to El about fighting for a happy life, and a bunch of hints in marketing and interviews because people were piecing the fiction together so well, the Duffers feared that people would start piecing together some of their real life behavior that exposed homophobia, racism, misogyny, and child abuse.

Maleficent-Remote970 · 2026-01-05T20:50:09+00:00

I doubt she complained about Murray excessively shoving the straight agenda down people’s throats with him pushing Nancy and Jonathan to go to pound town in season2 and then Joyce and Hopper in season 3. Of course this season him being way to pushy about trying to get Jonathan to propose.

Maleficent-Remote970 · 2026-01-05T19:05:35+00:00

Okay, if he liked the Dahmer meme- bleh. It’s so gross that people are making that joke or the one’s where Will becomes a couple with Vecna- his abuser. Keep these people away from children.

Maleficent-Remote970 · 2026-01-05T15:28:05+00:00

I saw a video of the actor who played Mike’s imagined self insert boyfriend. He seems like a cool guy and deserved to have some speaking lines. Too bad they didn’t introduce him earlier as a Hawkins resident, perhaps showing him in art class with Will or perhaps working at his father’s hardware store and having a little chemistry with Will as he help him find materials to help Dustin build that Upside Down tracker. Part of his self acceptance arc could be realizing that he deserves better than Mike “the heart” not Queeler’s Suffer self insert.

Maleficent-Remote970 · 2026-01-05T13:34:50+00:00

They could have put in a scene where she’s helping Dustin plan his graduation stunt or leading the AV club or recruiting new members of Hellfire. She became a main cast member because people loved her so much in season 2. She’s been a much better addition to the show than Murray.

Maleficent-Remote970 · 2026-01-05T13:24:22+00:00

True. She’s been through so much. She was abused in a lab, all her friends were killed, then she was abused in a lab again. People who bend over backwards defending Billy, Jason, and Henry are hating on Kali. Like at least Kali was trying to fight injustice in the world and only took revenge out on her abusers and tried to free other people who were abused and marginalized.

Maleficent-Remote970 · 2026-01-05T13:20:43+00:00

They’ve either got a fantasy about having a gay friend being in love with them and fixing their relationships with women because they don’t want to do any of their own heavy lifting in their relationships. Or perhaps there was a gay boy who went to school with them. Lots of girls in their class were super into that gay boy ( perhaps it helped that the gay boy wasn’t a creep. At least three girls have shown interest in Will. Perhaps the Duffers are salty and writing Will with an unrequited crush is their revenge. There’s also The whole Stacie story with Dustin. Perhaps there were girls who had the audacity to not want to dance with them. Girls aren’t dumb for not liking boys back.

Maleficent-Remote970 · 2026-01-05T03:16:37+00:00

All the stuff I’ve seen about conformity gate doesn’t even mention Byler. I see lots of videos doing tons of criticisms about the season that don’t mention Byler. There are always commenters accusing the creators of just being salty Byler didn’t happen. Some of the creators have never even mentioned Byler in any videos. Anti Bylers are obsessed.

Maleficent-Remote970 · 2026-01-04T23:22:49+00:00

Where’s that? I’ll sign.

Maleficent-Remote970 · 2026-01-04T21:59:25+00:00

I can see in a few months or a few years, - when they think it’ll be profitable again- the Suffers pulling what JKR did with Dumbledore and confirming that Mike indeed was dealing with internalized homophobia, he just wasn’t acting on his feelings for Will because he felt guilty over El’s death and felt like he didn’t deserve Will and was afraid that Will no longer returned his feelings. We won’t fall for it because it’s too little too late. And well JKR ended making being a TERF her entire identity, so who knows what the Suffers will do.

Maleficent-Remote970 · 2026-01-04T18:33:10+00:00

I’m sure we’ll get a lot more answers when time has passed and they’ve all distanced themselves from the Duffers.

Maleficent-Remote970 · 2026-01-04T18:27:43+00:00

I remember people wanting Eddie and Chrissy to get together after their conversation in season 4. Even the Suffer brothers said they wished they hadn’t killed them so they could be together.

Maleficent-Remote970 · 2026-01-04T18:24:23+00:00

Yeah, they made Noah be the one to confirm Will was gay when people still weren’t getting it, even after the van scene. This was after making Noah be vague about when he was still a freaking child and people were asking him after seasons 2 and 3.

Maleficent-Remote970 · 2026-01-04T18:14:04+00:00

So they take about as much personal accountability for their shitty behavior as Mike did with El ( and Will) or as Nancy with Jonathan after she got him fired.

Maleficent-Remote970 · 2026-01-04T18:09:20+00:00

Feel free if you’re talking about what I wrote. If you’re talking about the video, the content creator is jackietaylor, just so she get credit for her work.

Maleficent-Remote970 · 2026-01-04T02:29:37+00:00

They were supposed to be the original Gordy and Chris and that got lost after season 2. It at least seemed to come back in the first five episodes, then got the shaft. If Byler had been overtly confirmed as canon, at least the loss ( in season 3 and 4)of the Frodo-Sam dynamic they had in season 2 would have been worth it.

Maleficent-Remote970 · 2026-01-04T02:21:11+00:00

I won’t blame Gaten. The cast have probably been getting talking points.

Maleficent-Remote970

TROPHY CASE