#anonasaurous

Yeahhhhh especially now with the new(?) Gaten interview, I really don't know how they'll react. They've been told a few times that while Will has romantic feelings for Mike, Mike is in love with El.(And this is a normal thing to happen both in shows and irl)

I see the tjlc parallels anon, ohhh do I see them. (There's even a bnf that's a lawyer lol) And it's just so....sad? That side of st fandom already devours members who don't think it'll be canon, or have "doubt", so I can only imagine the bloodbath.

And the fact is, byler not being requited won't be some act of production or network censorship. It won't be some ambiguous ending like in the past. It'll just be unrequited because that's the narrative. Because sometimes, regardless of sexuality, people have crushes on/fall in love with their friends that don't feel the same. Netflix has lots of queer characters on lots of their shows, and of course there can always be more, but the fact is, Will is gay. So is Robin, who is dating a girl. It's not censored.

Stranger things isn't a romance or slice of life show--as many bylers like to point out to me--so it isn't going to focus on one or two characters' romance. The romances come second to the plot, even mileven I'd say. The amount of effort that I has supposedly been put into hinting or building up byler is simply unrealistic for the type and quality of production Stranger Things is. To say that Stranger Things is not a romance and then to try to prove that nearly a decade of effort has been put into packing nearly every scene with the indication that mike and will are mutually in love is... Well. It's hypocritical at the least.

I (37) recently moved to rural community and the only reason I’m learning to drive after living in a community with ample public transport is that the closest gloryhole is an hour away.

Stranger Things has never been billed as such, and that's what makes it different. Its a huge mainstream non-gay-interest-billed shoe that is choosing to reveals its mains as gaynij the final act. That IS big.

As much as I love Robin and Vickie, they were introduced late and have had less overall screentime, both being revealed as queer in the same seasons they're introduced.

Mike is part of a straight relationship that has been part of the global audience's understanding for the better part of nearly ten years. This is not the same as a gay hockey show at all.

All right we are not going to agree on the level of social importance that byler being canon would be. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

I think the repeated emphasis people replying to my post make on sci-fi as a genre, and then dismiss other instances of rep in scifi because they are not "mainstream" enough are absolutely missing the point. Each piece of media with rep lead to another. A build up, a snowball. Each a little step better. Ellen and Will and Grace and modern family. Legend of Kora and Steven Universe and She-Ra and owl house. They're all steps forward. LoK was massive with that handhold, and word of god confirmation. It was all the network would allow.

But it's not 2014 anymore.

Netflix has created many genre works with queer mains that are not "LGBT series" as you call them. (That... Don't have the same impact? I think is your argument?) Ozarks. Umbrella academy (which I think would qualify for whatever standards you're setting?). Amongst others and shows that are more romance or coming of age or ??? LGBTQ themed I guess. Even Bridgerton has a queer character.

I do not want to reject the individual impact byler would have of people if it were to be canon. I personally do not see it making narrative sense for it to be requited but that is irrelevant to discussing its potential impact. (Well, it does but not for this). Bylers continue to talk about it making cultural or social waves of change. And like. I just don't see it. But I know that the representation *I* appreciate or was earth shattering for me as a kid/teen is not always the most obvious or biggest series. (Or even fully acknowledged by canon)

I also think there's amatonormativaty happening with dismissing the fact that sometimes queer people get crushes on straight friends, and it doesn't ruin anything. But there's an insistence that if Mike doesn't reciprocate Will would never be happy. There's so many ways to write queer stories within non romance genres. While I can see the frustration of a ship you like not being canon or the gay character the only single one of the party, he's still gay. It doesn't mean he isn't representation. Queer characters don't stop being queer when they're single.

and I am going to be so honest. I think all the "slow burn" comments are not accurate. Sure maybe it's slow burn for Will, who has been pining for a while, but for Mike, in my opinion, it would be an emotional and relationship speed run.

But again. We're not going to agree. That's fine.

On a final note, I would like to emphasize just how mainstream Heated Rivalry is now.

Heated Rivalry is a romance TV show that getting more coverage that Bridgerton, a show in a similar genre and similar sex level, on a bigger streaming platform. One of Canada's major national news programs equivalent to CNN or NBC (Global National LINK) did a piece on how it is sparking both more discussion of inclusion and inspiring queer people who stepped away from the sport to get back into it. It's got sports bars filled with people cheering for a gay kiss on the ice.

Just because it is specifically a romance does not mean something outside of that genre is more impactful with representation. We are not on opposite sides, anon. I want more queer rep too! I want more complicated and diverse and deep queer stories.