crazy together.

as a former mike lover turned mike disliker turned mike wheeler defender for life. i have to say it, mike hate is SO forced.

they’re are so many worse characters in the show to hate on but for some reason the GA loves to claim that mike is amongst the worst character’s in the show and their argument is like 3 things.

1) mike is poorly written post season 2. okay so you actually missed the entire point but okay! whether or not mike is queer, which lets be honest, it logically makes the most sense for that to be the case. the duffers did NOT just drop/forget about one of the greatest main characters in netflix history. if we remove mike’s queerness from the equation, the duffers logically forgetting about mike who played the most integral part in the first 2 seasons would be the biggest fumble of the CENTURY. mike was the most loved for his bravery, commitment to the party, and unfortunately being el’s boyfriend. but it’s so clear that mike and will are definitely favored by netflix over dustin and lucas. thus, this decline in mike’s character absolutely MUST mean something huge has to happen for mike’s character. and if we look logically at his blatant queer coding, mike is queer. this is where his story is headed. not down but up as he starts to have self realization. logically this also aligns with will’s story of self acceptance, he knows he loves mike romantically, he doesn’t need any more acceptance of his sexual identity, he needs to either have his love reciprocated or rejected. (likely reciprocated otherwise m*leven is the most lame ending to the show’s ending)

2) mike has been a horrible boyfriend to el/doesn’t deserve her. what gets me about this argument is that it’s actually mostly from actual m*leven shippers who hate mike but like the ship. i’ve already been on a whole ass rant about this here:

but firstly, your perception of love is seriously warped. but also how can you HATE one part of the relationship and still expect them to work out in endgame? this is clearly not a couple worth rooting for as it has a character that you believe mistreats his own girlfriend and lacks depth. and you still think they should stay together for the sake of… what exactly? being together bc they were together from the beginning, hate to say it but your first partner will almost never be your last. i’ve also heard the argument that, they hate him post season 2-3 because he became distant but they know the duffers will magically rewrite depth to their relationship and make them endgame. again hate to say it, but the duffers then suck at writing. why wait 5 whole seasons to give your characters in a relationship actual depth and complexity when you managed to give it to lumax IN ONE? it’s illogical to start doing it now unless you could make mike genuinely a god and somehow manage to not make it feel out of place. (whole rant about this on my page already, but will and mike aside from narratively making sense have so much built up tension and feelings that would literally manage to resolve the errors in m*leven as a couple and the weird behavior of mike for two whole seasons)

3) he’s just so annoying for not being able to choose between el & will. oh my lord. this, THIS is the one that gets me. if you’re able to acknowledge byler and still somehow hate mike. YOU ARE DONE. do you hear me. that is genuinely the worst argument for hating mike by FAR. mike is a 14-15 year old boy canonically in the show. in what universe would it make any sense to manage to force mike to just resolve his entire character arc in 10 seconds. mike’s entire character arc revolves around his queer attraction/feelings, internalized homophobia, & forced conformity. mike’s a survivor, had the most insane case of survivor’s guilt AND internalized homophobia in the show. (robin coming out scene & will admitting his own feelings before mike BEFORE GTA6 is insane work). mike has done quite literally nothing except try to be there for those around him, he’s a brat and has an attitude but if you’re saying you’ve never had one before you’re a liar or you’re a liar bc mike is literally a cutie patootie, he’s got unpacked trauma from years of fighting monsters, society pressuring him to be masculine and straight, his own family making him feel worthless and weird for his relationship with will, watching his love of his life best friend being dragged out of a quarry, chased by federal agents? a girl he tried to save being a annihilated in front of him and she didn’t return for over a year, watched billy die, and so many people in his town go missing bc they’re not human and are actually just melded pieces of flesh for the mindflayer’s body, shot at by government agents, literally had to bury a dead body, watched his own girlfriend over and over fight for her life and fail to save people and tried to be there for her, saw a completely deformed max fighting for her life, saw YET ANOTHER person come back from the dead (hopper). and you’re telling me you think he should just find time to reject the girl who makes him think he is normal for the person who actually makes him feel that way when everyone and thing around him has been telling him that’s the wrong choice. you think he has time to genuinely just make the choice to drop everything because his heart wants it, he’s not the brave 12 year old he was in season 1, he’s not running after will because this time will is not dead. he’s accepting himself which is scarier to him than will being dead.

in conclusion, STOP THE MIKE WHEELER HATE. he deserves grace equally as much as will does. i love you mike wheeler, if you have 0 fans i am dead.