Exactly, that's why the fanbase is crashing out so bad, whether some people want to awknoledge it or not.

Like, I hope you don't mind me being an unbearable nerd under your post for a minute, but the actual problem is that they broke the narrative pact. They broke the suspension of disbelief.

I saw people complain that we're nitpicking but honestly, no. Just no.

It's not just all the inconsistencies, it's not just the uncountable production mistakes (assuming they were actually mistakes), it's not even forgetting their own lore or trying and failing at subverting the tropes (if that even was the goal, I still don't understand what they were trying to do with that finale).

It's actively betraying the foundational themes of their own story, dumbing down their own monsters/villains and abandoning their characters, reducing them to stereotypes, love interests, plot devices and GODDAMN allegories.

They stopped justifying the characters' decisions and they stopped creating credible reasons for why certain things were the way they were. As a result the ending feels fake.

There's a reason if conformitygate became so big and it's because the finale is so ridiculous compared to the previous seasons that people genuinely couldn't believe they fucked up so bad.

and this is precisely why it’s not just people ‘being mad that byler didnt happen’

by the time s5 dropped, i did NOT ship byler anymore and got off the bus fully after the scene where Will tried to flirt with Mike but Mike didn’t reciprocate. And yet, I still fully expected to cringe as hell WHEN they became canon in the finale bc, taking past seasons into account, it sincerely felt like it was inevitable. i just thought it would be poorly written, like the rest of the season was.

but instead they NERFED byler to the point it is NOTICEABLE even their FRIENDSHIP was watered down??? and for what??? it gives such whiplash bc they did NOT give that storyline resolution at ALL ( the fact Noah had to ask for that tower scene multiple times ………………… )

byler not being endgame is a consequence of the decline in writing quality, not the reason why we’re mad.

i dont even know if im mad, im just disappointed and confused as hell because … why??? just why?????

who is snoopclair? i have mixed opinions on this but i do feel like byler was at the very least on the table at one point so this has me raising my eyebrows

going back and re-reading this feels so strange because i definitely should write this out as a one-shot to get it out of my system

damn, the duffers genuinely could’ve committed to byler in s5 if they had wanted to, it was so easy to tie it all up neatly.

Mike’s trauma made him lose juice for his own campaigns and whereas he was a meticulous planner before, he became prone to plot holes and inconsistencies afterwards. He was never the same after Will got taken and the events of Stranger Things ensued

I think the Duffers knew Mike’s ending all along, tbh

ngl this crack ship saved my sanity like im so deadass if i was still a byler by the time s5 + the finale dropped i wouldve been so upset id have cried for DAYS im not joking

i feel so bad for my fellow bylers though i genuinely GENUINELY thought byler was gonna happen hence why i didnt really talk on main about my “byler doubt” more openly. i thought we would get poorly-written byler but here we are …