Here’s how the early fandom (s1/s2) was like, for those who joined late:
- Mileven all around, people loved them.
- Lots of babysitter Steve jokes. Now they are still very prevalent, but back then they were EVERYWHERE it was horrible. Steve himself was all around, but that hasn’t changed. I actually don’t really remember much stancy, I think more people were jancy lovers than now.
- Will was kind of ignored BUT not as much as he is now (the ga went from simply focusing on other characters they found more “cool” [El, mainly] to purposely ignoring Will the moment s3 dropped).
- However, there was absolutely no Will hate, at least, that I remember. They didn’t focus on him much, but the ga still loved him and felt so bad for him (things like “protect Will at all costs”, “let Will have a good day in s3🙏”, “Will is the cutest smol bean🥺” were everywhere).
- El and her pink dress and wig. Everyone’s favorite El outfit, apparently. Also, El and eggos were hand in hand, I hate the fandoms’ obsession of making a character be ABSOLUTELY OBSESSED with a food simply because they like it. Why.
- Lucas was completely ignored and even hated (the way the homophobic ga treats Will now was how Lucas was treated back then. Even in s3 people didn’t really care about him, he only got popular after s4). Same with Caleb, I think I read somewhere than the fans were horrible towards him (didn’t want to take pictures with him, only other cast members, etc) :(
- Surprisingly, I remember several byler instagram accounts. The instagram fanfics converted me to byler ngl. There was one which I don’t remember anything about, but it had something to do with prison?? Also youtube and instagram byler edits >>> (peak byler edits era. I kinda miss it)
- Jonathan has always been ignored but people generally liked him (except those who hated him because of him taking pictures of Nancy).
- I remember how absolutely bodyshamed Nancy was. Many people were making fun of her because she was “super flat” (when she took her shirt off at Steve’s house and revealed her bra. Since she didn’t have a huge chest, that meant she was SOOOO flat. Sure, the actress was an adult [still doesn’t make it ok to bodyshame her] but Nancy was 15/16. How tf do they expect a 15/16 year old girl to look like?).
- So many content of the cast together, so many fun interviews, etc.
- (Finn and Millie were shipped a lot. Like, a LOT. It was weird.)
- Lots of Barb appreciation. Everyone loved her.
