#byler rant

So many reasons

For one, it was the first thing to bring me happiness again after a really bad depressive episode in 2022. I had really strained relationships at the time and felt extremely alone and just hated everything, and byler was the one thing that got me excited. It was the first thing that I felt any sort of passion for in a long time and it allowed me to branch out and find more things to love and start caring about and my mental health improved very quickly.

Another reason is that I'm autistic and byler is my main special interest lol

And another reason is that their individual characters (up until season 5😒) are just so well written and fully realized and the way their characters blend together is so perfect, like as if they were just made for one another. For just one example (I could list many but this is my favorite) - in the van scene Will said felt like a mistake but Mike made him feel like he wasn't a mistake. And Mike felt like he was unneeded but Will said needed him and would always need him. They make each other feel better about their biggest fears/insecurities and it is ONLY them that can make each other feel that way.

And also the fact that they've had this bond for so incredibly long. They met when they were 5 and immediately had such pure love for each other, and the way that innocent and pure love slowly and painfully turned into longing and yearning is just heartbreaking.

Another massive reason is honestly this fandom. I love how creative this fandom is and I love byler tumblr so much specifically. It feels like the only corner of the internet left that isn't genuinely painful to scroll through, it doesn't trigger my anxiety, it doesn't make me wish I never opened my phone, it makes me feel genuine happiness and love. It's so beautiful to look at other people's artwork or writing and see comments and reblogs praising it because it just makes me think how we're just one big community of people who are just here to love the same thing for a while. And like I said, the creativity in this fandom is insane. The amount of byler variants we have and all the fics and fanart and cosplays and headcanons and scenarios and even music all just about byler! It's insane how talented so many people here are!

yes, this is about milevens.

coming back to these.

yes, it was so homophobic to not make them canon, they used queer fans for views and engagement for YEARS without debunking anything like Wednesday creators did with WenClair. they left all of us hopeful, especially after adding some many scenes PARALLELING romantic scenes with CANONICAL couples. it was the QUEERBAITING of the century. (what they did with rovickie (the only canonical queer couple in the show) is the further prove for that).

yes, i lost my hope in television. especially from big corporations like netflix. FUCK NETFLIX. agatha all along kinda brought my hope back for canonical queer couples, but now im not gonna watch anything “implied” to be queer. i want real visibility and representation.

yes, it could’ve been one of the most beautiful queer stories in media. just imagine if they became canon. a boy who said “i’m not gonna fall in love” but always was a hopeless romantic. a boy who suffered his WHOLE life and nothing ever went his way. another boy who’s whole family is a typical nuclear family you would see in tv shows. a boy who has to look and behave perfect, normal, straight. them together, who make each other better. will, who believed that mike is the heart and brought back his “leader” role. mike, who believed that will is inherently magical and helped him to manifest his powers. them, who saved each other with the same memory of them meeting, “the best thing I’ve ever done”. them ending up together, especially after all that build up, truly could’ve been one of the best queer stories ever written.

yes, them not becoming canon, and writers conforming into social norms instead, made this “show for the outcasts” a bland mainstream netflix show for straight (mostly white) people.

God I hate some of you Bylers— or Will stans (because let’s be honest, some Will stans tend to act like this more than any other fan.)

It is CANON that Mike has depression, this is not only supported by the text from the show, but also the books. I mean really, you think he doesn’t have it? Logically that’s not possible after what he’s went through.

Mike Wheeler IS a depressed and majorly repressed kid, and as a psych student this hurts to see in this fandom. I can only imagine how you treat friends or strangers who are struggling.

Many of you do not understand the difference between horrible writing or character flaws, and while Mike has best butchered— that doesn’t negate any of his previous actions and text/subtext.

Some of you truly want Mike to be a nothingburger to prop up Will more, it isn’t in defiance to the writers— it’s making you and Byler look ridiculous. And I mean this with full offense, Twitter has the most brain dead takes on characters. All while they turn around and clown on Tumblr users, just dumb as fuck.

These same fans will say they love analyzation and deep characters, but refuse to care about characters that aren’t upfront about how they feel.

I know I’m only 18, but I feel as if I’m old enough to say this: