Beau

Will would be a defenseman because he's the backbone of the party and also super self sacrificial. We love our defensemen. He blocks shots like no others and checks people into the boards like he means it. Buff Byers supremacy, but he's a sweetheart off the ice.

Mike would be the center. He's literally "The Heart." Definitely has high hockey IQ and a good shot, but also good at cutting and starting plays. Taking the face off like he should. Definitely gets a lot of penalties though.

Lucas would be a winger because he'd also have high hockey IQ. He'd definitely pass more than she shoots because he's a people pleaser but amazing at getting to open space and backchecking. Super reliable forward.

Max would also be a winger. She's scrappy, fast, and has quick puck movement. Her and Lucas and the wing duo we need in life. Not scared for 1v1 on the puck, especially when it comes to checking boys into the boards. A wildcard forward because you never know what will happen each shift.

Dustin is a goalie. I was between winger or goal, but he's definitely a goalie. He's weird, as all goalies are. Lowkey would be my self insert because I'm also a goalie but he is sharp and willing to learn. Just look at his season 4 battle attire with that shield and tell me he isn't a keeper.

Mike shows Holly his D&D figurine, "Mike the Brave," in episode one. This represents Mike being the paladin of the group, as this figurine is what Mike looks to when he's scared or upset. However, it is the same figurine that triggers the bomb in the last episode.

Not only does this mean that he no longer has anything to comfort him when he's sad and afraid, but it also means that he looses the one thing that ties him to being the paladin of the group, which is why he takes on only being the storyteller of the Party in the epilogue. Along with El, Mike also lost himself in the explosion. This could be why his character is altered so much in end to resemble his father because he no longer has himself; Mike gave up his bravery and paladin to instead be a coward who stays stagnant in the past.

Byler, the ship that everyone is talking about right now, is so much more than just a ship. Compare it to something like Steve and Eddie, and we aren't finding those fans as upset that the ship never ended up working. With Byler, we knew Will was gay since season 3, and we saw the potential in the shared history between two actually named characters.

Now, if the duffers were to have made Will "rip the bandaid off" in season 4 like he said, ending that arc with Mike, they could have just as easily introduced a character in season 5 that liked Will, portraying queer self acceptance and incorporating another queer relationship into the show without leaving fans to feel empty with an epilogue boyfriend and a "rejection" that only happened because Noah asked the duffers. They didn't need to have Will stick with the same guy for years just to end up unrequited. They could have gotten their rejection AND THEN went from there.

Imagine the potential if Robin was Will's "gay advisor" and helped him navigate his feelings for a new character in the same way Steve did for Robin? Me personally, I wouldn't have held disdain the ending of the show nearly as much. I actually would have really liked the last episodes of the show if it meant I could see people like me be awkward, have their loving moments, and feel good rather than whatever this is.

The idea of Will thriving by moving far away to embrace his queer identity and finding love in other people while Mike is so consumed by grief that he spends his life in stagnancy and suppresses his identity, becoming a lonely writer and moping around like his father.

Mike and Will reunite, Mike learns to accept that El is gone and find love in someone else that he pushed away his entire childhood, and Will comes to terms with the fact that every single guy he's slept with looks just like his old best friend.

We got Holly "walk 'em down" Wheeler and Will "back 'em up" byers, the least anticipated going into season 5.

I thought about the whole byler crisis for awhile, and I guess this is good for the ship. Just because the duffers felt it would be good to send a message in ep 7 to young queers that helps them accept if they have a crush that is unrequited, it doesn't mean that the ship won't happen. Even though Will thinks and has accepted that Mike won't like him back, which, yay character development(?), we could still have Byler happen. It might actually make byler so much more healthy than other ships that are more codependent (Jancy and Mileven) because Will won't have this underlying foundation in the relationship that he "needs" Mike. So, looking at this positively, there's still a good chance for Byler, they just needed to address the emotional background and development first.

I might be in a smaller group of Byler fans who actually really liked Will's coming out scene (outside of the whole "he's my Tammy" and the freak "no I'm radio rebel!" ahh scene). I thought Noah did a really good job with his acting and vulnerability that shone through Will, and the whole speech about liking the same things as his friends was super impactful and really added to the "outside of liking boys, I really am like you guys" aspect. It made me cry because I could picture little season 1-3 Will and how he was basically making amends with that little Byers by finally being just... himself. To have a character state that they are gay in such an influential and popular TV show without room for deniability is such good representation for the queer community.

However, I'm also pissed that they decided to assassinate the character of Will Byers.

Things we didn't see in volume 2 regarding Byler: