🧃

the paladin and the sorcerer

for @andiwriteordie’s birthday!!

I don’t care about anything BYLER LUMAX DOUBLE DATES ARE BACK BABY

Bloody Finn Mike is my obsession.

byler in my heart~

I think we all (or at least the vast majority) are disappointed by the ending of Stranger Things- HOWEVER that has just opened a whole wave of insanely talented people making art that is so much more than what that ending gave us. I've been seeing so many amazing drawings, fanfics and edits, I'd like to see it as the silver lining, byler is canon in my heart!!!! Someday we will get the representation we deserve, one with a happy ending. ((heads up, i used an Ai generated image as reference, I thought it was a cute idea but it pissed me off that it was Ai generated so I just drew it- this drawing is NOT made nor has been assisted by GenAi))

Trying to act cool in front of your boyfriend gone wrong </3

a prince and his knight 🥰🥵

Mike is multiple inches taller than Will but he bends down so far he has to look up to catch Will’s eyes. He makes me sick.

He is 40% bunny and 60% deer

i really apologise if this has been posted on here but i need yall to see this

from @ cysticlover on tiktok

Thinking about Will becoming a famous artist that garners a reputation similar to those memes about Junji Ito’s personality vs his work. He’d draw the most horrifying shit but in every interview he’s like 😊☀️

the way that they made the upside down not scary anymore is so shitty cause now wills trauma loses some of its meaning. the boy survived a week in the upside down, literal hell at the age of 12, in constant danger and now they stroll around this alternate dimension like it’s nothing. it’s not fucking fair.

listen. i love this show. i do. i have spent years of my life thinking about children riding bikes and fighting interdimensional monsters. but if we’re being honest — and we are being honest — seasons 1 and 2 were the soul of stranger things. everything after that was… a brand.

and no, that is not me being nostalgic. that is me having EYES.

⸻

at its core, stranger things was about:

• weird kids

• outcasts

• small-town horror

• quiet dread

• government secrets

• and something deeply, deeply wrong under the surface

it was eerie.

it was slow.

it was mysterious.

it trusted the audience to think.

season 1 was basically:

what if your friend disappeared and nobody believed you but you knew something was wrong

season 2 was:

what if the kid who came back, came back wrong.

that is GOOD SHIT.

⸻

ask a random netflix viewer what their favorite season is and they will say season 3 with their whole chest.

why?

because season 3 is:

• colorful

• neon

• funny

• nostalgic

• full of montages

• full of jokes

• full of action

• and El is back to main character era

it is the most “easy to watch” season.

and here’s the thing no one wants to admit:

season 3 barely matters.

you could skip it and miss, like, three plot points and a russian subplot that goes nowhere emotionally.

the cast themselves have said it’s basically filler.

but it’s filler that feels good.

because capitalism doesn’t care about story — it cares about money.

⸻

season 2 is actually one of the best-written seasons.

it has:

• horror

• mystery

• possession

• emotional fallout

• real consequences

and it centers… Will.

and that’s why people hated it.

because Will is:

• quiet

• traumatized

• queer-coded

• not funny

• not powerful ( yet )

• not flashy

and the general audience hates that.

they wanted Eleven in her girlboss era.

they wanted cool outfits.

they wanted power fantasy.

instead they got:

a fragile boy crying and being possessed by an eldritch horror.

and people went:

ew. boring. crybaby.

meanwhile Eleven cries CONSTANTLY and nobody calls her annoying.

why?

because:

• she’s a girl

• girls are “allowed” to cry

• boys who cry are “cringe”

it’s literally gender stereotypes dressed up as fandom opinions.

⸻

this is where it gets juicy.

superfans loved season 2 because:

• it was scary

• it had lore

• it had mystery

• it built the world

they hate season 3 because:

• nothing changes

• nothing matters

• it plays it safe

the general audience is the opposite:

they hate season 2 because it’s “too slow”

they love season 3 because it’s “fun”

guess who netflix listens to?

the people with popcorn.

⸻

season 1 and 2 were weird.

they didn’t explain everything.

they trusted you to sit in the discomfort. after that i slept with a candle stick under my pillow! iykyk😉

season 3 and onward were:

here is a monster

here is a Steve

here is a joke

here are some Russians to hate

please don’t think too hard

because complicated storytelling doesn’t sell as well as:

bright colors + action + nostalgia.

the show stopped being about:

“what is happening in hawkins?”

Why are the demogorgons on a jet 2 holiday during the final battle?

and became:

“how can we make this look cool in a trailer?”

⸻

we started watching because:

• it was creepy

• it was sad

• it was about outsiders

• it felt real

now it’s a theme park ride.

Season 3 is so colorful and loud I half expect the Demogorgon to start doing the cha‑cha behind the mall.

and yeah, it’s entertaining.

but it’s not what it was.

⸻

stranger things didn’t get worse because the creators got dumber.

it got worse because:

capitalism hates subtlety.

it hates:

• slow burns

• queer sadness

• mystery

• emotional complexity

it loves:

• action

• nostalgia

• easy heroes

• simple stories that hints lmbtq because of ✨money✨.

and somewhere between season 2 and season 3, stranger things stopped being a story

and started being a product.

anyway.

i’m right.

reblog if you agree.

go cry about will byers with me.

Another final

Every time Mike and el fight so do Mike and Will. Their storylines always mirror each other. Only the Byler fights are always solved faster because Mike is always quick to apologise to Will whereas with el he always needs to be pushed to apologise. Byler is literally embedded in the narrative. If we aren’t supposed to see Mike and Will as a romantic option then why are they always compared to Mike’s romantic relationship?

the AU vision is so clear to me 🚬

this is basically 90s byler