#backpack gate

Ik ik im like lowkey hella late to this, but I literally just realized the byler importance of the mixtape (if anyone else has had these thots b4 me (which is super likely), all the props and cred to them)

Okay! So we all know the possibley new will mixtape!

This lovely, lovely mix tape. It's shown a few different times. I've seen a few other posts featuring it in a Stranger Things charm bracelet or necklace/necklace thing as well as in the little frame graphics in the Stranger Things timeline, and in other promotional materials.

From what I've seen, there are two theories to this tape. 1. It's Johnathan's mixtape or 2. It's a mixtape, Mike.

NO. 1 Johnathan

I would have no quams with this being a playlist Johnathan made for Will, but personally, it's not the old playlist.

In S1, when Lonnie and Joyce are fighting, Johnathan introduces Will to "real music." This is when he first hears "Should I Stay or Should I Go," the song that saves him in the Upside Down. This playlist made by Johnathan is specifically called "will playlist of real music" or something along those lines. (I swear in the Stranger Things 2026 annual, there's a reference to this scene in the timeline where they have a tape graphic with that name on it. I just don't own that book, and I lost the original post I found about it. So just take my word for it. At the end of S1, Johnathan gives a new mixtape in the hospital.

This is not the playlist of real music, im not entirely sure the original source or if this is canon, but I believe that this playlist is probably the "We Will Rock You" mix depicted in this photo

(If you know where this image is from or if it's canon, please let me know!) There is also, to my knowledge, another playlist Johnathan made, but I think it is unrelated, called Johnathan's end of the world mix

While I love Jonathan and Will's little playlists, and it's definitely likely that this could be the same playlist, I don't think that would be the most emotionally intense choice. And it raises many questions. Which playlist is it? It's not titled any of the other playlist names that Johnathan has used previously. Is it a new mix? Why does this new mix hold so much emotional depth? While I im sure that Will is still very fond of his old playlists and music taste he developed from Jonathan, hes not twelve anymore; hes probably 16-18 in Season Five. How many of us are listening to the exact same songs now as we did when we were twelve?

I think that this is a good opportunity for the show to depict that Will has grown up and changed, so I cannot be convinced that this playlist, which is probably played to save Will from getting vecna'ed or from being possessed, is gonna be the same exact one from when he was a kid. As Max said in season four, can listening to the same thing over and over really protect you? Will isn't that little twelve-year-old kid anymore. While that song remains nostalgic, the period of his life when that music saved him was genuinely one of the most traumatic times of his life. I don't see how that time will save him from Vecna.

NO.2 MIKE

It starts with the backpack, I think most bylers know a little about backpack gate.

In this beautiful shot of Will, a black backpack is visible in front of him. Inside, notice the odd arched shape of the headphones and the boxy shape of what may be a radio or a Walkman. The idea is that this bag is a kit of survival things that you may need. The party likely thinks that Will is a target, so they (MIKE (and maybe Lucas)) put together a bag kinda like Max's that has their music, tapes, a first aid kit (perhaps an extra jacket or smth cause Will hates to be cold) that is supposed to keep Will safe.

This tape is illustrated explicitly as blue, with accents of yellow and green (BYLER COLORS). Even if the mixtape isn't blue in the show, the graphic being designed as blue is very much so; Mike coding it as blue is often shown to be Mike's color. (only ever switching when they are in conflict or fighting)

My idea is that Mike (with some help from Lucas) puts together a bag for Will, and in the bag with the headphones and tapes is a new tape, one possibly paired with a letter.

The tape could be something that Mike started working on when he moved to California. Because he wants to hide and ignore his feelings, he never sends the letter or finishes the mix to send to Will. Mike's tape letter will probably parallel Will's letter about the clouds.

I know my own self-indulgent theory is that 'Boys Don't Cry' will be on the tape, why?

The " This Boy Doesn't Cry" poster appeared in Will's bedroom in Season 4, and because Mike literally notices everything surrounding Will, he probably notices this poster, listens to some of the Cure's stuff, and adds the song.

But no, imagine it: Mike puts together the bag, gives it to Will, and they have a sweet, intimate moment. Later, we get the "switch scene, they're going out to do smth, Will's cold, Mike gives him his vest. (shhhhhhh im ignoring the vest debunked posts, let a man be happy)

Protective Mike, noticing Will is cold, takes off his vest and gives it to him. Will, who was carrying his backpack, took it off, handing it to Mike to hold for a moment. But once he put the vest on, Mike had already slung the bag over his back, deciding to carry it for Will.

UGH AND IMAGINE IT, wills possessed, but what saves him his the playlist Mike made, and thinking of all the moments, good and bad, they have had together. Or even better!

Mike is so concerned with being safe and prepared that he is the one who gets vecna'd, and no one knows what to do because no one expected this to happen to Mike, and maybe will sacrifice himself for Mike, or perhaps he, in a last-ditch effort, puts on his music and it works! Because Mike poured all his favorites into that playlist. Or maybe both! Mike is vecna'ed, but when he comes to, Will's music is playing in his ears, hes expecting to see Will with him, but when he looks, Will is gone.