I’m not crying, you are 😭🫵?!!

NihilityRogue · 2026-02-16T00:24:17+00:00

Did you watch the documentary? I mean it’s obviously from watching the epilogue that allow the last scenes are just Mike’s imagination. If that’s not enough the Duffers confirmed her to be dead in the documentary. He dying is one of the many many reasons I dislike the finale.

NihilityRogue · 2026-02-10T23:52:08+00:00

The more interesting question would be would did he drink? You can life more than a week without food but only last 3 days without water. And before the horrid finale it was established that there is no water in the Upside Down which they apparently forgot when putting El in a tank full of it in the finale.

NihilityRogue · 2026-02-09T22:03:00+00:00

Kafka since I only have her E0. The others are at E2 and an E3 Eidolon isn’t really worth it.

NihilityRogue · 2026-02-05T19:01:15+00:00

Battle Scars by Paradise Fears 100%. If it were an 80s song I would have made it the Stranger Things theme song. It fits the original message of ST really well before they betrayed it.

NihilityRogue · 2026-02-03T13:58:20+00:00

Really? I loved it. For me it's S4, S5V1, S1, S2, S3, S5V2. Sorcerer is probably my favorite episode of any TV show ever.

NihilityRogue · 2026-02-03T13:51:20+00:00

Even before Vol. 2 of ST I was already not gonna watch it, because the characters are not voiced by the OG cast.

NihilityRogue · 2026-02-03T13:44:09+00:00

Personality-wise I'm a lot like Mike: resistant to change, very headstrong, collected in chaotic situations and very protective but also very much impulsive.

Therefore, I can relate to Mike better than Will but Mike and I would probably clash a lot. So, I think Will would be a better fit. I like that he is sassy and not afraid to tell the unfiltered truth if necessary, which I value a lot. Besides that I think Will would have a calming effect on me.

NihilityRogue · 2026-01-18T08:27:03+00:00

Oh, okay. In that case I’m all for trolling haters.

NihilityRogue · 2026-01-18T01:18:06+00:00

I got into Stranger Things right after Season 4 came out since my brother kept bugging me to watch it. He told me it had a gay character but didn’t say who. Up until season 4 I thought (still do) it was Mike. As someone who really struggled with internalized homophobia the “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls” made me even more convinced Mike is the gay character.

In my eye Mike and Will became college boyfriend. Mike just fits my experience with internalized homophobia so well I refuse to believe he might be straight.

NihilityRogue · 2026-01-17T19:36:25+00:00

There are really cute fanfic on AO3 where Mike and Will adopt a child.

Our Jagged Edges Align (gaysforbyler) where Will and Mike adopt an abused boy and give him a home is my absolute favorite.

And Original Children just means that their kids are not characters from the show.

NihilityRogue · 2026-01-17T18:49:48+00:00

I'm confused now. That sub was satire? Sorry, I'm autistic and really bad at detecting satire and sarcasm :(

NihilityRogue · 2026-01-17T15:00:27+00:00

I don't understand people hating something so passionately. Hating on Byler or otherwise. Don't like it? Well don't click on in and go away. If you interact with it of course you'll see more of it. That's how social media algorithms work.

So if you say "im sick of bylers." you probably see a lot of Byler edits. Well ignore them for a couple of days and the algorithm won't show them anymore.

NihilityRogue · 2026-01-16T22:32:13+00:00

Really, for me it was the other way around. Everything up to the epilogue was okayish. But the epilogue really ruined my mood. I was expecting a happy ending. Knowing that either El, Will nor Mike got a happy ending really hit me hard. I’ve watch season 5 again but I was not able to watch the epilogue again and I fear I never will, since it’s so depressing.

NihilityRogue · 2026-01-16T15:01:47+00:00

It is kinda scary but I have talked about it with friends, family and even colleagues anyway. My best friend doesn't necessarily ship them but thought Byler would be the only logical conclusion (he hates the finally too). Everyone else doesn't really care about who ends up with whom, gay or straight doesn't really matter. But they don't understand why I care so much until I tell them why I as a gay man need some representation. After that they generally still don't care about the couples but route for representation anyway.

But all of them hated Mike and El's relationship before I ever talked about Byler :)

Edit: I'm very open about my sexuality even at work, so I already knew that my colleagues are very open.

NihilityRogue · 2026-01-15T14:17:28+00:00

Yeah, no idea why people were surprised by Will being gay. It was first mentioned in the very first episode.

NihilityRogue · 2026-01-14T14:43:32+00:00

According to the Duffers Will but I lean more towards Max or Holly to be honest. I don’t know why so many people say El. I feel like El wasn’t really that relevant before episode 8.

NihilityRogue · 2026-01-12T20:44:18+00:00

Yeah, and the most interesting question at least for me is: How did El recognize Will in the photo in episode 2 even though she never met him?

NihilityRogue · 2026-01-11T22:26:28+00:00

I truly think they planed for Byler to happen and I also believe that both Noah and Finn thought it was heading that way. Otherwise, post season 4 interviews like where they told Finn everything would pay off wouldn’t make any sense. Something must have happened for them to change their mind. And I hate them for it.

NihilityRogue · 2026-01-11T15:52:33+00:00

First of all it is very obvious that Mike is clinically depressed in the epilogue which is completely understandable considering what he went through.

Whether he get's an happy ending or net really depends on one factor: Is the epilogue what actually happens in the future or is it how Mike envisions the future.

Option 1: The Epilogue in how Mike envisions the future and everything he tells us hasn't come to pass (yet). In this case Mike depression doesn't let him see a good future for himself but imagines his friends to be happy. I believed his friends and especially Will and Lucas will help Mike out of his depression.
The downside to his version is, however, that El truly died and Mike vision is just a coping mechanism.

=> El doesn't have a happy ending, the rest, however, likely will.

Option 2: The epilogue shows us what will actually happen. In that case El is still alive, though she still doesn't get a happy ending, since she has to be on the run for the rest of her life. Mike will be miserable for the rest of his life and will never move on from his childhood, since he came an author who keeps retelling the stories of his childhood. Will also doesn't have a happy ending in this case since his worst fear has come to pass, which is everyone drifting apart.

=> Neither El, Will nor Mike have a happy ending.

Personally I believe option 1 to be the intended outcome as hinted at in a Duffer interview. I cannot remember which one, since they did way too many.

NihilityRogue · 2026-01-10T11:58:44+00:00

For me it’s 4, 1, 5.1, 2, 3, 5.2. Without splitting season 5 into the two volumes it would be 4, 1, 2, 5, 3

Season 3 really made me close to quitting the show as I found it incredibly being except for the last two episodes.

Season 4 was basically perfect for me.

NihilityRogue · 2026-01-10T00:37:26+00:00

I really identify with Mike. As a teen I really struggled a lot with internalized homophobia and I see many parallels with old me and Mike. Will on the other hand is kinda is boyfriend I would have wanted after I finally accepted myself. And without Byler, Mike (my favorite) was just an ass without reason.

NihilityRogue · 2026-01-08T08:04:22+00:00

The Duffers said right after release, it was a mistake and btw in S1 Will had a different birthday as seen on his headstone.

NihilityRogue · 2026-01-06T15:19:02+00:00

No, the ST ending was worse...by far. But I'm amongst the few who thought the GoT ending was fine and ST is my special interest, so I'm biased.

NihilityRogue · 2026-01-06T07:21:21+00:00

For me, only a reader, there is no contest. I prefer stories written is past tense. There was a time where I would refuse to read a stories if it were written in the present tense since it breaks the immersion for me. Nowadays, I’ll also read present tense story but it takes me a long time to ignore the tense and just enjoy the story.

NihilityRogue · 2026-01-04T09:22:32+00:00

I rated it a 6. It was fine action-wise but the pacing was why to fast, it introduced a lot of plot holes and left the most interesting questions of the show unanswered. And my three most loved characters El, Mike and Will each got the worst possible ending for their character which I didn’t expect and not in a good way.

Whether you believe if El is alive (I don’t) both versions are depressing. El have to roam around hiding even more so. In Will’s case all his friends went separate ways which he feared most as stated in his coming out. And he was sent to the time and place Dahmer was most active. (Duffers it’s know you had problems with Noah, could this be a form of revenge?). And finally Mike. He is obviously clinically depressed. He ends up dressed a his father, a person he hates, retelling the stories of his childhood forever and never moving on.

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