OPERATION 7.0

(because ofc, byler=7)

Okay byler tumblr. We’ve had four days of (justified) doomposting. NOW, it’s time to do what we do best and bond together.

The Issue: Season 5 Episode 7 is currently sitting at an IMDB rating of 5.4. If you’re unfamiliar with IMDB, generally anything under 6 is BAD, anything over 7 is GOOD. 6 is just kinda average.

The Reason: We all know this episode had some glaring issues, and the coming out was handled poorly. HOWEVER, it is still an openly gay main character on the biggest television series today. THAT’S why this episode is bombing. Not because people see the actual issues. ELON MUSK himself commented on how low the ratings are, claiming it’s because woke ruined Stranger Things.

Operation 7.0: I believe if we band together we can get the 5.4 up to a 7.0, Byler’s number! This sounds ambitious, yes, BUT, there are currently 77k ratings on IMDB and… 312k signatures on the cutgate petition. If even a QUARTER of the people who signed gave a 10 star rating, we’d be sitting COMFORTABLY near a 7.0

For the skeptics: A 7.0 rating on a Stranger Things episode is STILL LOW. Ignoring “The Lost Sister” (sorry Kali), the next lowest episode is 03.01 which is still a 7.8. A goal of 7.0 proves that there WERE issues with the episode, without letting the homophobes win.

The plan of action: Give episode 7 a 10 star rating on IMDB, then either reblog this post, OR tell three of your friends (on tumblr or irls!) to do the same.

The motivation: I am not an artist or an author, but I WILL reblog this post with a fic rec, an edit, or a piece of fan art I like for each decimal point the rating increases. If there are any artists or authors who would like to be of assistance, either with previously posted work, or new snippets, message me!!

I wholeheartedly believe if we work together, we can fix this dumpster fire of a situation, to prove that we are here, we are queer, and we are not backing down.

THIS IS THE ISSUE WITH REVIEW BOMBING ONLY EPISODE 7

This is what is being taken away from the reviews of episode 7, and I'm begging you all to reconsider celebrating this.

can we pls stop review bombing ep 7 please and thank you.

all they're gonna see is: wow so the episode we had a gay coming out is officially the lowest rated of the whole show. kill the gays i guess

this is not a good thing.

cutgate is most likely not real — they would have made major plot changes like that BEFORE filming, there’s still a finale where many “missing” scenes will most likely appear, and the only evidence is the word of random people who are telling bylers what we want to hear. it is all too convenient, isn’t it?

this volume was rushed, yes, but even if cutgate WERE real this is not going to do anything good. they aren’t going to suddenly change their minds and release a MORE queer version of the season when the episode focusing on a queer character and his journey is the lowest reviewed episode in the show.

the lower this rating gets, the more proof netflix will have that they should never include a queer character in mainstream media again.

the duffers fucked up, yes, and it needs to be addressed, but i don’t believe they fumbled maliciously. i hate to say it, but in a time where we’re going backwards every day, we need to accept this, and yes push for better, but not through harassing actors and tanking an episode from one of the only big-time producers willing to even entertain queer rep. all this proves is that queerness doesn’t “sell”.

“3 to be exact”

“simultaneously”

“a real life wizard”

“a sorcerer actually”

“IT MATTERS”

Oh they all hyping will up iktr

Shut up this man is FLIRTING

i didn't say it

🎧✨ BYLER NATION RISE… or fall… or spiral into the Upside Down with me ✨🎧

okay BESTIES buckle up because I’m about to drop the most unhinged yet academically-peer-reviewed Stranger Things analysis known to humankind. like if after this post you STILL think Mike “I lose my entire identity when Will isn’t breathing on my neck” Wheeler is straight and in love with El then PLEASE leave your opinion in the tags so I can personally hand you a juice box and wish you well on your journey.

this is LONG so hydrate. stretch. crack your knuckles. we’re going in.

⸻

1. the california chaos arc — also known as mike wheeler being a doofster™ for 48 hours straight

the way Mike arrives in Cali and instantly decides: my new personality is being a wet sock.

Will: “she’s been lying for a year.”

Mike: “okay but I didn’t know she was going to lie in the specific way she lied today.”

and then the whole “vomit green” moment??? bro sabotaged the entire day because his boyfriend—sorry, BEST FRIEND—rolled his eyes. the tension? immaculate. the heterosexuality? nowhere to be found.

also Will the whole time is like “interesting how you forgot the song we shared emotional trauma to :) interesting how you forgot my existence :) interesting how I am third-wheeling my own coming-of-age story :) love that for me :)”

but the part that slaps me across the face every time is Will telling El she’s lying and Mike’s like “I don’t deserve deception 🥺” and Will is silently dying inside because he is the deception. the original deception. the blueprint.

2. the painting™ arc — or: mike’s closet door slamming so loud I heard it in Kansas

listen. LISTEN.

the portfolio under Mike’s bed????

the drawings from Will he keeps but NOTHING from El except the letters she mailed him like she’s collecting taxes??? I’m sorry but that relationship is built on USPS codependency and nothing more.

Will is painting DAILY like he’s Michelangelo speedrunning the Sistine Chapel. Mike won’t stop staring at him like Will is an emotional piñata full of repressed confession candy.

then we get to THE VAN SCENE.

Will: “El commissioned the painting :) totally her idea :) no reason you don’t see my tears pooling on the canvas :)”

Mike: loses his ENTIRE MIND because someone validated him emotionally for 0.2 seconds

this boy lights up like a Christmas tree the MOMENT he realizes the painting is about him specifically. not him and El. not the party. HIM HIM.

if Mike Wheeler is straight then I’m Vecna’s personal Pilates instructor.

3. mike’s monologue — the most break-up coded love confession in cinematic history

I cannot emphasize enough how El looks when he says “I love you.”

she looks DEVASTATED. not “omg finally 🥺”

more like “wow… that sounded like a book report Will gave you to read aloud.”

because guess what?

THE MONOLOGUE IS LITERALLY THE PAINTING SPEECH.

the one Will fed him 6 minutes earlier while SOBBING OUT OF FRAME.

El’s face is like “is this… is this plagiarism????”

and after all that?

after the “you’re my superhero” speech???

after the MOST EMOTION MIKE HAS EXHIBITED SINCE SEASON ONE—

—they never talk about it again.

not the next day.

not the next episode.

not EVER.

because it was never for El.

4. the parallels no one asked for but I will deliver anyway because I am unwell

• Mike choosing Will in S1 (“you said he was alive!! WHY DID YOU LIE TO US!! WILL IS OUT THERE!!”)

• Mike choosing Will in S4 (staring while Will stares first, the tension literally cracking the van’s windows)

• El walking ahead and leaving them behind EXACTLY the same way Mike + El left Will behind in early S4

• the triangle symbolism (yes I’m insane enough to talk about geometric shapes as queer coding)

• the FADING FLOWERS paralleling a fading relationship

• the S1 stancy parallel: a couple appearing solid but actually already breaking up

ALSO the way Mike reacts when Will says “maybe you can say it to her then” is so suspicious. man looks nauseous. like he’s about to pass out. like his entire beard-growing potential evaporated in that moment.

5. mike wheeler: the bisexual panic speedrun

I know people say Mike “doesn’t care about El” just because he’s not romantically into her but STOP THAT because Mike cares SO MUCH. he loves her, he respects her, he protects her.

but romantically?

this boy is on the floor sobbing over another man’s drawing of him while whispering “what if she doesn’t need me anymore.”

because El “not needing him” means Mike has no shield.

no closet door.

no excuse to NOT look directly at the gay lightning bolt striking his forehead.

Will is everything Mike doesn’t know how to process.

El is everything Mike thinks he should feel.

6. the final nail: he looks at Will instead of El IN THE MOST ROMANTIC PART OF THE FINALE

I still can’t get over it.

El is WAKING UP FROM A PSYCHIC BOSS FIGHT and Mike’s eyeballs are just like

“👁️➡️➡️➡️ WILL BYERS, ARE YOU SEEING THIS?? ARE YOU PROUD OF ME??”

sir. your girlfriend is on the ground. please.

7. conclusion: byler is literally the plot, I don’t know what else to tell you

I love Mike + El platonically with my whole heart.

They are trauma-bonded siblings who kept trying to force romance into the cracks of their shared survival and it just… isn’t that.

but Mike + Will???

that’s childhood friends → separation → longing → miscommunication → yearning so loud it has its own echo. THAT is literally the Stranger Things brand.

El is alone in that final shot.

Byler stands behind her.

The triangle points directly at Will.

The flowers are faded.

The monologue was borrowed.

The painting was the truth.

thank you for coming to my TED talk.

drop your opinions. even if you disagree.

especially if you disagree—because I love arguing respectfully like an 18-year-old with 2 hours of sleep and a cold brew.

BYE BESTIES 💥💥💥

people getting so angry at this tweet is shocking to me, because it wasn’t even hateful.

according to them, if you don’t think a female character should stay in an unhealthy relationship that she was forced into at the age of 12 after knowing a boy for 6 days, it must mean you hate her because she can apparently only be happy with that boy, and if we take that boy away from her, she’s going to be depressed and suffer (which we KNOW isn’t true). there actually is someone who is CANONICALLY depressed and suffering thinking mike doesn’t love him back but they despise will so of course they don’t care about that.

it’s also very weird these people are defending m*leven (and attacking bylers for apparently “not watching the show and not caring about the characters”, even though WE actually care about both people in our ship equally) and they keep saying how el should end up with mike because “he makes her happy” but there is never, ever, ever anything explaining exactly how el makes mike happy, or more importantly, how she gives him strength and comforts him emotionally and supports him when he’s struggling mentally, because that literally doesn’t happen, and they do not care.

to them, m*leven is only about el. her feelings are their priority, not mike’s mental health.

and yes, we are aware he loves her as a person and he’s grateful for everything she’s done. he’s happy when he feels needed and he probably feels very cool knowing he’s dating a superhero, so of course he’s going to smile about that. but emotionally and mentally (the MOST important things in a relationship, especially at their age and after what they’ve been through), he gets absolutely no type of support like that. it’s always mike bending over backwards for el trying to figure out the right words to say and to not lose her and to make her feel better but when has he ever gotten asked how HE’S feeling mentally after all the bullying, trauma, anxiety, fear and literally jumping off a cliff? the only thing he got when he mentioned that while trying to help her was invalidation.

“you’ve seen it. i’ve been bullied my entire life. i know what it’s like.”

“no. you don’t.”

we KNOW el has been through such different things that nobody understands. we know. we are not mad at her for that in the slightest. we understand exactly why it’s harder for her. but THAT is exactly why we don’t like mike and el in a relationship together, because it is simply not fair or equal. nobody is blaming el for her trauma. we’re blaming the WRITERS for this forced, rushed, unhealthy ship. these kids needs to HEAL, not make out, and it shouldn’t be a crime or misogynistic to say that. nobody said el couldn’t ever eventually be in a relationship either, of course she can. she deserves to love and be loved and experience that. they’re just saying THIS specific relationship was rushed, and to this day, does not feel fair to either of them, because it’s true.

every time a person defends this ship, it’s always “because it’s what el wants”, “because it’s good for el”, “because the script said mike gave her strength with the monologue”, but when are we ever going to think about mike as an actual individual person instead of reducing him to el’s boyfriend? because people treat him like he’s a side character only used as some sort of prop to uplift the main character but he never gets any of that back. that’s literally what he was reduced to in season 4. he was upset and drowning in insecurities and thinking about what he has to do to make el feel better while nobody was thinking about mike’s mental health EXCEPT for will, who was the only person who ended up listening to his struggles (not invalidating him and shutting him down) and then he gave him strength and made him so happy.

STRANGER THINGS 5 VOL 2 SPOILERS ‼️

no byler doubt when this exists.