Itheeight

bylerlumax picnic double date (summer of ‘94)

My main goal with this video was take away any "gay cred" card the Duffers could claim to have, and make clear that we are going to STAY CRAZY TOGETHER

0:00 Intro 1:48 They prepared Byler and chickened out 5:44 The Duffers' can't claim to support queer people 13:22 Byler lives! 20:21 Crazy together (Byler comments) 33:17 Closing Statement

(The Duffers might be attempting damage control, and this is an article exclusive to Collider, so comments on it might be heard. I am sharing mine!)

Wait, so we're supposed to take your word for it Duffers, that Byler was never planned and simply an "external pressure" from fans that you treated as "noise" to block out?

The way Finn took your word for it when you told him that the van scene and the Painting Lie would pay off?

And did you just call the fans to whom this queer ship and Mike's internalized homophobia in particular was important to their own coming-out journeys "noise"?

Proves Mike WAS your self-insert, the way you're trying (but failing) to GASLIGHT the fandom.

Did Netflix pressure you to back down? Some of us are actually giving you CREDIT Duffers, thinking you weren't simply evil and cruel for ten whole years, and that you intended Byler but chickened out due to pressures. So now you're just their mouthpiece covering their ass?

How dare you play "Heroes" during the credits while being COWARDS yourselves.

And what you now claim actually makes you look MORE malicious, almost comically evil. Because if you knew it was never going to happen 10 years ago then why did you fail to rule it out, which even the creators of Supernatural and Sherlock had the courtesy of doing. Add to that trying to gaslight the fandom for thinking that you wouldn't queerbait them worse than those shows did.

None of us are wrong. The Duffer Brothers, Shawn Levy, Netflix are wrong. This was the most elaborate queerbait in media history. The responsibility is on them. Don't ever forget that.

All the evidence is that Mike is not straight, has feelings for Will, and is grieving over the loss of his first love.

And El's imagined happy ending did not include a romantic future with Mike.

BYLER IS REAL.

They stoked in us a hope and fire that will not burn out. The subtext was ABSOLUTELY planted and is there. They just didn't deliver. No network corporate execs have the right or the ABILITY to quell our fire to want want to be human and free.

They absolutely knew we exist and who we are when they played David Bowie's "Heroes" during the credits. They gave a nod to heroism, but weren't heroic themselves. What some corporate suits and the Duffer Brothers do does not dictate what WE do.

EDIT: The fact that Will's coming-out journey played NO role in the finale is bad writing. I said it. Like wtf.

EDIT 2: After seeing comments, I rewatched Mike putting his D&D book next to Will's. Mike shows the most emotion he has all season, looking at Will's book which takes up half the frame, and breaks down when placing his own book next to it. It was a nod to Byler. The Duffers never ruled out Byler; Will's painting is on his wall. It was cowardly, but the writers made Byler live on in subtext.

If Byler were canon, it would have been a fictional story after all. What would have mattered is what we did with it after. And for us, BYLER WILL ALWAYS BE REAL.

I'm coping