blurting out my byler thoughts

Have we ever considered that it might not be music AT ALL?

…but Mike’s voice??

Think about it…Mike has been the only one able to snap Will out of his trance using his voice:

And with the whole narrative that haunts Mike not being able to say I Love You aloud how he truly feels - this would be HUGE for Mike’s arc as well:

And what if it has something to do with this coded message??

What if it’s a message he recorded on tape for Will’s birthday, or even while he was missing 😭

Me right now:

holly thinks that kate bush is just max's friend. meaning that she wasn't aware it was music that max heard. it's a fun joke, but it could be a clue for us maybe?

there's already so many parallels between the for max tape and the for will tape. but in the show, we've really only seen mike's voice break will out of trances. max also said she didn't even need music, she just needed lucas. and like you said, a lot of mike's story and character revolves around words. words he says or doesn't say. and he's the storyteller too. i really think the show could be telling us something about all this!

But OMG such a good point about Kate Bush and the “friend” association. That just adds a deeper layer!! So true, Holly instantly thought of a voice, not music. I didn’t consider that, thank you 🫶🏻

And yeah…Mike who can’t speak his feelings aloud, as ‘the Storyteller’ who has “a story he can never tell” 📼

A while ago, someone had made a post asking about where we were on the belief train. Just today, I received a reply from someone who allegedly worked on the project (whether that project was specifically the VHS edition, or ST as a whole, I'm not sure). Interesting to note that someone who might have worked on ST in any capacity is hovering around the private conformitygate sub, and didn't immediately shut a theory down.

I will admit that I was not a Stranger Things sleuth when elements of S1/2 had reportedly changed (Jonathan's photo-taking scene, etc.) Looking further into it, though, this comment doesn't really sway my belief.

In 2022, many people pointed out altered scenes, to which the writers replied,

"PSA: no scenes from previous seasons have ever been cut or re-edited. And they never will be."

Well, this person who worked on the project seems to think differently, if there was an "original" version of the Demos that had been changed at some point. Not to mention the changes to Dimension X in S4, the quick editing of Holly's Under Armour shirt in S5, and I'm sure a bunch of other things I'm not thinking of.

@itswhatyougive pointed out an incredible observation when i asked if fans expected s5 to be the last season. a huge indication for why s5 would be the last chapter of the series was because of how s4 used the main theme in the final scenes of the season. i had never considered this before!

i talked about this a while ago but usually st uses the main theme for the credits in the season's final episode. the series has 100% used pre-existing songs in the credits for other episodes during the season. like "hazy shade of winter" in 1x02 or "we'll meet again" in 3x04. stuff like that. but the s4 finale is the only season that doesn't play the main theme during the credits. it was a very strange creative decision.

i said that "spellbound" was the song hanging in between s4&5. as in it could have been foreshadowing.

but also it was like basically my song before going into s5 lol. i listened to it for months before the season, so i looked for any easter eggs about it. i was so happy that they were spinning will around in the trailers 😆 imagine how i felt when he also heard laughter while he was spinning

right after s5 ended, i was pretty mad that they "didn't follow through" on that. but i'm pretty sure they did now. now i interpret that to have been foreshadowing lol.

but it's so cool to look at how music was used in s4. they played the main theme in the finale just like any other season. but it wasn't during the credits, it was over the last few scenes.

reality definitely ended here ↓

and then this is how we went into s5 ↓

Remember this scene?:

Then do you also remember this:

Now connect…

I am not ok🥺😢😭

“As my final act of love I will love you in silence forever.”

saw one of loustat and heard the divine call. 💙💛

Aaand it’s sent me down a rabbit hole. I’ll take you guys with me 😆

Stranger Things S2 (red cube left of frame)

And we all know they’re from the Rainbow Room. They’re used as a measure of cognitive testing & honing their abilities:

This either tells me that:

Hawkins Lab would visit the Byers household to run cognitive tests, or;

There is something whack with the timeline going on…

Now tell me WHY does the exotic matter from below look like a red cube with a core 😭:

Stranger Things S5 (exotic matter from below)

And yeah, there’s been so much allusion to the tesseract, only for it to go nowhere:

Even this S4 poster, the texture of the Rainbow is just like the bookshelf tesseract in Interstellar:

Stranger Things S4 poster vs. Interstellar tesseract

And the reversed rainbow in the Rainbow Room reminds me of the reversed watches:

Mike Wheeler S4 vs. S5 (the red cubes in the pizza shop!!)

What if…all the red objects and red lights are a reminder that Brenner is testing you between timelines:

(Snippet taken from my edit here)

And all the allusions to the red tapes, particularly S2 is hinting at that:

(Be Kind, Rewind theory here)

And everytime an object was red or changes to red signalled A COGNITIVE TEST:

And it begins & ends with Will going through this test (or maybe all characters being tested):

Will literally goes into his mind here to access memories to save Mike ⬇️

WHAT IF THE ENTIRETY OF S5 WAS A TEST??? (Unknowingly) And they failed 💀 Will literally says they failed in Shock Jock

We NOW know from S5:

At the end of the song, a man shouts:

If you don’t eat your meat, you can’t have any pudding!

This is obviously a metaphor for conforming: enduring your unpleasant duties first, do what's enforced and expected of you (eating meat, the proper food), only then being allowed something you actually enjoy: freedom and joy (the dessert).

In the finale of S1, Lucas and Dustin are quite excited to find loads of pudding:

Mike doesn't seem so interested:

El seems intrigued but doesn't know what pudding is (this is so sad: she doesn't know joy, only her duties):

Mike explains:

El also wants to eat Eggos, but Mike says no, eat real food:

Eat your meat!

This is where ST first uses this metaphor and it's right before Mike kisses El for the first time. I don't need to explain that that kiss does not look enjoyable, that Mike surprises her with it and she asks him if he's like her brother right before.

Then again in S3, during Mike's first attempted love confession to El, they sit in front of this sign:

Mike tries again to perform his expected obligation to reconcile with her after the break up to become her boyfriend again, and isn't successful this time or any other time really telling El that he loves her.

It’s literally the Eye of Vecna!!

Just like all the eye imagery with Will/Vecna:

S1E8 (timestamp 15:48)

Regular version vs. VHS special edition:

Regular version: The demogorgon puts its arm on whatever's on the ground there and opens its mouth.

VHS version: The demogorgon just stands up and stands there.

The audio seems to be the same in both versions.

Another difference.

Regular version vs. VHS special edition:

Regular version: It looks like there's UD membrane, and the ceiling is cracking.

VHS version: It looks like the ceiling itself is more membrane-like.

There's also a white line on the screen right before this all happens.