#pastagate

Churchgate: More UD kiss related theories! This one claims Will is going to get Vecna'd or possessed in the Upside Down church (and that he's going to hurt/choke Mike in the process). With a crazy amount of religious symbolism, Mike would be the one breaking him out of his trance, through a kiss or a confession.

(More thorough explanation here.)

Lettergate: This gate's truthers believe that Mike did actually write to Will in the time period between s3 and s4, but never sent the letters. Said letters (signed "Love, Mike") are going to make an appearance in s5, revealing his true feelings. (Great post that has to do with this gate here)

Also related to:

OTHER GATES

Pocketgate: Very connected to Lettergate™️, this theory has to do with Mike's infamous triangle shaped pocket in S4. It suggests that the letter signed Love, Mike is hidden in said pocket throughout s4, since it very closely resembles an envelope. Triangles have also been used in ST as a queer symbol (with Robin) and Mike's pocket consistently points to Will like an arrow.

Phonegate: Kinda similar to the previous two, this gate claims Mike did actually call the Byers in Lenora. For some reason, the calls didn't go through, either because of Joyce's telemarketer job OR because of Vecna manipulating things again (cough, birthdaygate, cough).

This is backed up by one of Dustin's lines, saying that the Byers' phone line is always busy and Mike won't stop complaining about it. We know he must have been calling WILL, since the whole reason he was communicating with El using letters is that they couldn't talk on the phone.

Basementgate(*): The theory that the byler confession/kiss will take place in Mike's basement. Started because of WSQK: The Squawk (a real radio station you can listen to!) that aside from 80s songs, has hints and Easter eggs for volumes 2+3. The hosts in the squawk mention basements quite a bit, as well as getting better signal down there ("how did you know Vickie wanted to date?" "There were signals", + Will being an antenna/signal receiver). We know we're back at the Wheeler house in ep7, that there are scenes in Mike's basement and that Noah's favorite set is SAID BASEMENT. There are a lot of hints that make basementgate a very real possibility.

Loverslakegate: Related to Lovers' lake (obviously). The lake is shaped like a heart, tying into its name, but it was split in two after the gates opened, now resembling a broken one (and Mike is ofc referred to as "the heart" so it could be a reference to him).

According to this theory, Mike and Will are going to kiss/become lovers near said lake/Reefer Rick's house.

Heartgate: To put it simply: Heart reflections EVERYWHERE. This one is better explained through pictures:

Also: Different heartgate but really interesting

Colorgate: I don't think I have to explain this one tbh but anyway

Blue meets yellow in the west.

Mike and Will have been HEAVILY associated with blue and yellow respectively since the beginning of the show (even wearing eachother's colours in both of their arguments). There's an insane amount of evidence that backs this one up.

It's speculated that the Russian code in s3 was foreshadowing for s4 ("The silver cat feeds when Blue meets Yellow in the west") Silver cat: Vecna who started killing when Mike (Blue) met Will (Yellow) in the west (California, literally west of Indiana)

Curtaingate: "They don't spent their lives trying to get a look at what's behind the curtain [...] They like the curtain. It provides them comfort, stability, definition" -Murray 2x05

Mike and El are pretty consistently framed in front of CLOSED (and more often than not, yellow) curtains, or ones that have closed blinds. According to this theory, closed curtains represent not being honest with one's true feeling. So, the truth about Mike's feelings is beyond the curtain and in s5 he will open it (and come out)

Motelgate: This one has to do with the dreaded two day time skip at the end of S4. Theory claims the Cali crew stayed at a motel during that time skip and the scenes were cut for time, but we'll flash back to them in s5. It's based on a photo a production assistant posted from the New Mexico filming, as well as some bts pics of the Cali Crew playing board games in a motel.

Shoegate: In S4, we see a pair of Will's shoes in his bedroom. In s5, Mike seems to be wearing that exact pair. This, in addition to the fact that they wear the same shoe size (a 10 according to their rollerskates from 4x02), lead people to theorize they will share clothes/shoes in s5. More importantly though, this theory suggests Mike is figuratively being put into Will's shoes (maybe pining?). Also, both of them wear the same shoes they wore in s2. Interestingly enough though, even though the design is the same, the colors are reversed (so their roles will be reversed too).

Possessiongate: This one runs DEEP so I'm going to link a bunch of posts

To put it VERY simply: this theory claims Vecna somehow attached himself to Mike (maybe when the vine grabbed him by the leg in the S2 tunnels- right before he started acting weird in s3 and s4) and he has been influenced/possessed for some time now.

He's not the dungeon master anymore, he's not in control. Both in s3 and s4 someone ELSE is the DM when they play D&D (Will and Eddie respectively)

More here and here

Victimgate: Very closely related to the previous one, this one suggests that MIKE was originally supposed to be Vecna's 4th victim instead of Patrick. Since Max escaped the first time, SHE ended up being the last victim but the original plan was for it to be Patrick. However, Patrick's curse doesn't fit the theme of all of the previous ones. We only see one of his visions, he gets cursed for ONE DAY, as opposed to the other 3 that are cursed for almost a week and we also know very little about him, even though we gradually knew more about the previous victims. Chrissy (no relation to main characters) -> Fred (friends w/ Nancy) -> Max (main character who we've known since s2)

More thorough explanation here

Twelvegate: This one is not really Byler related but i wanted to include it anyway

Theory claims Will was one of the lab kids (specifically 012) and him and El are actual twins. There are mentions of Will and El looking similar since s1, and a lot of twin imagery.

This theory obviously ties in with the Will having powers one and some people believe he wasn't 012, but him and El have a deeper connection/may be actually related. It could theoretically explain Henry's connection to Will, as well as things like El seemingly recognizing him in s1.(Alternatively called rainbowshipgate, because of the rainbow ship drawing Joyce mentions in s2 and the rainbow room)

Eightfifteengate: Again, not explicitly Byler but it's quite crazy.

TL;DR: The time 8:15 seems to have great significance in the show and it's mentioned all the time, if not by the characters themselves, (Eg. "It's 8:15, you're late"- El s2) then by small details in the background. There's even a whole track named after it.

Will left the Wheelers' house at 8:15 and it's the EXACT timestamp of his disappearance in 1x01. It's also the time in which most of the UD related weirdness happens and so it's very likely the UD is stuck on 8:15. (Also you know, 15-8=7)

Radiationgate: Related to the previous one! Clocks in Hiroshima are stuck on 8:15 and Hiroshima has been described figuratively as being frozen in time. Henry has burns identical to Chernobyl victims and almost all of his + his victims' symptoms can be explained through radiation exposure. As this post explains, for radiation levels between 8.3-11 Gy (SI unit for absorbed radiation), symptoms start with headaches and disorientation, move on to unconsciousness and bleeding (the exact symptoms of his victims) and finally, death happens at around 7 days (which is about how long Vecna's curse lasts AND how long Will was in the UD for)

Eyegate: The theory that Will is going to lose an eye in s5. Mostly based on the Vecna's left eye and arm artifact, the suspicious way one of his eyes is often covered or in the darkness and the Phineas gage/rod motif that appears throughout the show. Phineas was a survivor of a large iron rod that was driven directly through his head, causing him to lose vision in his left eye and he was nicknamed "No longer gage". Will was heavily paralleled in s2 with Phineas, utilizing the "came back wrong" trope. Vecna in dnd lore is missing his left eye (and hand), that a wearer can tune into by gouging out his own and placing the artifact in the empty socket. It is the only way for a player to permanently acquire true sight. Theory is Will is going to lose that eye, as a way to sever his connection with Vecna (Harry Potter horcrux style).

Whiterabbitgate: The song "White Rabbit" is the first song in the show and it plays when we first get a sense of El's powers. Theory suggests it will also be the last song in the show (coming full circle) with either Will using his powers, or Willel using their powers together.

In general though, ST has a lot of similarities/parallels to Alice in Wonderland. The white rabbit constantly being late (Mike is late to something at the start of every season), great significance to clocks/ticking/time, a lot of hallucinations/visions, the overall similarities between the Upside Down and Wonderland. Henry's sister was literally named Alice Creel and there is SO much rabbit imagery throughout the show. There are also direct references to AIW with set pieces and paintings.

Soundtrackgate: This one has to do with the Stranger Things OST and the overall insane musical symbolism throughout the show. A lot of different theories talk about the show's soundtrack, but this one talks about 3 tracks in particular: Being Different, The First Lie, The First I love You

To put it briefly: "The First I love You" plays in both Robin's coming out scene and El's kiss with Mike at the end of s3 (Already a weird parallel). The three tracks not only share the same melody, but they also sync up perfectly. "Being Different" (s4 van scene) and "The First Lie" (Nancy and Jonathan's kiss in s2) especially, match up together to create an entirely new track, completing eachother. The scenes featuring those three tracks also share very similar themes at their core. (This post goes into a lot of detail!)

Playlistgate: Character playlists! At a certain point, every character's official playlist on Spotify was deleted, except for three: Mike's, Will's and Billy's. Songs were seemingly being added/deleted for no reason to the Mike and Will ones and people were struggling to make sense of it all.

Also, Mike's character playlist in particular is VERY interesting (so many byler coded songs, as well as "Smalltown Boy" a gay anthem, about a young gay boy forced to leave his home town to escape from their disapproval and homophobia.) There are three playlists on Finn's spotify that are very incriminating. "Love songs" (That has "BOYS DON'T CRY" on it, a song that Will literally has a poster of in his room), "drive" and the most recent one "STurn". These playlists feature songs like "Let her go", "Angst in my pants", "Me and Michael", "Gay thoughts" just to name a few. Basically a lot of the songs on all four playlists seem very relevant to some complicated feelings about Mike's relationship with El/Will but also with himself and his sexuality.

Mixtapegate(*): Based on the suspicious fuck ton of promo surrounding the "For Will x" mixtape that we haven't yet seen, this theory suggests Mike made that mixtape for Will, possibly while the latter was in California, and maybe as a birthday gift (birthdaygate cough cough), but never actually gave it to him. People noticed the handwriting on the tape was very similar to Mike's and the mixtape itself is not the same one Jonathan gives Will in s1. Lettergate adjacent.

Scriptgate: Oh boy. Here we go.

On August 5th 2022, the byler fandom got #bylerscript trending worldwide on Twitter while waiting for the 8flix account (run by Nick Runyeard) to release some supposed s4 scripts (that people PAID for, mind you). These scripts dropped on August 8th, featuring lines like: "I hate who I am" from Will in the van scene, "His mouth dry, like a California summer" from the bedroom apology scene and also, Will seemingly recognizing Brenner at NINA, despite never meeting him in canon.

These turned out to be fake and the community was in shambles. Nick started calling people psychos, the Stranger Writers tweeted that everyone got scammed, Nick privated his account and the authenticity of some released s2-s3 scripts was questioned. This post explains the entire situation in detail.

Searchbargate(*): In between vol 1 and 2 of st5, bylers started noticing that typing "byler endgame" into the Netflix searchbar gave you stranger things, while typing any other couple's ship name + endgame/kiss gave you no results. As time progressed, things started getting more and more ridiculous, as now typing "Mike queerler", "mwtfdydgate", "byler kiss", "byler real", "flickergate", "yaoi", and even "searchbargate", resulted in stranger things. This reached the masses, even being talked about by screenrant. No idea how or why this was happening, if it was algorithm and data based, or if it was an intern having the time of their life.

Breathgate: This one is also script related and specifically about a Mike/Max parallel.

In the official van scene script, when Mike sees Will's painting "his breath catches." Then, when Lucas asks Max to the Friday movie date, "(her) breath catches" as well. People caught on that parallel very fast and since the latter is obviously a romantic moment, it boosted their confidence for both Byler and Lumax endgame.

Piggybackgate: This one refers to two different situations/theories.

One, the seemingly deliberate framing of Mike and Will inside the little bubble in El's piggyback drawing (and it referening to Byler). The framing is especially suspicious, because the bubble drawing was drawn two separate times (it's different from one shot to the other). In the second shot, they're framed directly inside of it.

Two, Mike in his monologue essentially piggybacking off of Will's van confession. His monologue was going off of El's feelings, but since they weren't actually El's, the speech was based on Will's feelings. It also ties in with the parallel/foreshadowing between the monologue and Suzie's house, with Will being paralleled to the "director" kid, directing a "choking" Tabitha and their dad (more thorough explanation here).

Cleradingate: Originally created by @mikewheelerapologist4lyfe, this theory is based on a comment Ross Duffer made on the official s5 teaser, saying it pulls from every single episode, except from 5x07. Since someone earlier in the year leaked the episode titles and got all of them right except episode 7 ("the bridge"), which they instead called "The paladin and the cleric" , it led to the speculation of 5x07 being a standalone byler-heavy episode, similar to 2x07 being an El standalone, with both of them focusing on the characters' emotional/personal arcs. Since the Duffers have lied in past title releases as to not spoil plot points and/or changed their minds about certain titles, it is possible the actual title is in fact"the paladin and the cleric". Furthermore, in 4x07 Mike and Will were completely absent, so it would be a nice full circle moment AND it would explain why Finn and Noah started filming earlier than everyone else.

Footballgate: On December 25 2024, the vast majority of the byler community spent their Christmas watching hours of NFL football, in the hopes we would maybe get a teaser or at the very least a release date for s5. This started from leakers saying we would most likely get something during the game.

We got nothing.

People were disappointed they wasted hours of their lives watching a sport they neither cared for or knew anything about, and the only thing we learned is that we would probably get something before the end of January 2025.

Mikewhatthefuckdidyoudogate(*): In s5, Mike and Will have been living in the same house for 18 months. During those 18 months, Will went from being heartbroken and having no hope Mike reciprocates his feelings, to asking Robin how obvious are the signs someone wants to date you. Ergo, something must have happened during those 18 months to cause Will to both pretty comfortably flirt and have hope Mike likes him back. So question arises: Mike, what the fuck could you have done.

Dinnergate(*): During S5 promo, the cast did a promotional video (not clear if in character or not), urging viewers to rewatch the show before the release of the final season. In said video Finn/Mike mentioned having dinner plans on that same night. Gaten/Dustin then cheekily asked him "with who?" to which Finn/Mike quickly replied in a nervous manner the plans were with his mom. Ppl then became suspicious and theorized said dinner was actually with Will who was missing from the group, or that they were at the very least hinting at the love triangle/wanted people to go 🤨🤨. Important to note all promotional material was very carefully scripted by the writers of the show, as explained by Maya Hawke.

Cloudgate(*): The origin of "I miss clouds, I miss you" and essentially reverse lettergate. A snippet from the "Stranger Things: D&D: Tales from the Table" book featured a letter written from Will to Mike while in California, seemingly after they had just arrived. Near the end of the letter, Will's talking about Lenora and missing Hawkins. He says Cali is always sunny compared to Hawkins, that he misses the clouds and that he misses [Mike]. The second part was crossed out but still visible, while the cloud part remained intact.

Backpackgate(*): The official s5 Will funko is holding a black backpack, but in leaks/promo (and as of Nov.26, vol1) he never actually carries that around. Instead, Mike is constantly seen with said backpack, which, aside from the Funko confirmation, we know cannot be his, since he's had the same backpack since s1. Theory suggests he's been carrying around Will's backpack with all the essentials for a vecna emergency (tapes, headphones etc). A pleading for overprotective Mike's return.

Vestgate(*): Backpackgate's cousin. Will's main jacket in s5 is navy blue, but in certain leaks and promo pics for episodes 3 and 4, it looked the exact same just...green instead. People realized he's wearing the same jacket but with a vest on top and theorized Mike gives him his vest (that he was presumably wearing over his ep4 jacket) at some point. This was pretty quickly debunked however, since Mike ended up not wearing a vest after all, and said "vest" was just the jacket's design. Rip vestgate.

Codegate(*): The theory that Mike and Will's love/relationship has been hidden in the subtext, behind code since the beginning, a deeper story within the story. It will ultimately be the key to the final solution ("can love conquer fear?"). Theory connects the concept of queer coding with the abundance of codes that hide sensitive information and need to be solved that appear throughout the show. Will specifically has always had to communicate in code and through a meta lens, not be confirmed gay for a majority of the show, but rather heavily queer coded. Mike and Will also communicate in code a lot of the time, possibly since the very first interaction we got of them.

Sixsevengate(*): Half brainrot half actual theory, this gate suggests Mike and Will are gonna have an almost kiss in ep6 and then an actual one in ep7. Mostly based on the fact Shawn Levy directs both of these episodes (even though he almost never directs the final episodes) and he's always at the scene of the crime when it comes to byler scenes. Finn describing ep7 as "enlightening" fueled this theory, although he could be referring to us getting UD related answers.

THE SILLIES

(aka the joke-theories/memes)

Miniongate: Mike and Will are secretly minions. (Because you know, minions are primarily blue and yellow)

This information will be revealed to us in s5 and they will have a magical girl-esque transformation where we see their true minion form. (Original post here)

Aiwfcibctgate: AKA all I want for Christmas is byler canon t shirt gate. Started by @bluemeetsyellowblahblah7437 , who on August 25th 2025 posted the long awaited "All I want for Christmas" byler parody mv, with original lyrics, in which they were wearing an "all I want for Christmas is byler kiss" sweatshirt. August 25th is now known as byler christmas day. In September, they started the Byler Christmas-Pocalypse 2: Electric Boogaloo, where Bylers were invited to post whatever photos they wanted, with the caption "is Christmas electric, Micheal?", referencing the "are friends electric" song on Mike's official Spotify playlist, in preparation for the vol 2 release on Dec 25th.

Spilledmilkgate (*): The theory that Mike and El broke up during the 18 month time skip between s4 and 5 and that's why Will had suddenly started hoping Mike could reciprocate. The name is wordplay on the name "milkvan" we use to refer to their relationship. (Milkvan tips over=milk gets spilled).

Candlestickgate(*): On October 2025, the actors did reactions to previous episodes and scenes as part of s5 promo. During that, they had Finn react to the s2 mlvn reunion scene (which is frankly, adorable) and the ONLY thing he said he remembered, the ONLY thing he mentioned, was the candlestick he was holding in place of an actual weapon and how ridiculous it was. No comment on the actual reunion, El or anything else, just candlestick. Mlvns were really mad, and bylers started making jokes and saying the true endgame was Mike and the infamous candlestick.

Stenchgate(*): This originated by a group of bylers in a voice chat at some point before s5, randomly blowing up overnight. Kind of inspired by loverslakegate, stenchgate is the claim Mike's hair was not actually wet in the MAC-Z scenes from the trailers and teasers, but rather, incredibly greasy. He doesn't shower and smells bad. The mindflayer is in reality Mike's stench cloud. Dark times. Don't ask. (Post vol 1 update: technically canon? Since his hair was soaked in TOILET WATER)

Localvillagegate: Related to the leaked Mike and El rooftop scene.

Basically, a mlvn used AI to lip read the scene and try to figure out what Mike is saying (and then posted the video on Twitter).

According to them, Mike was telling El they were going to leave the local village (AKA Hawkins) together and travel to a beautiful faraway land with "like, three waterfalls or something" (and also that she has to "improve her motivation", whatever that means).

People thought it was hilarious and started making a ton of memes based on it. (Post volume 1 update: this was correct 😭😭 not the "improving her motivation" part, nor the "we're going to run away together" one, as they were talking about the whole party, but the 3 waterfalls were spot on)

Parrotgate: This is directly connected to localvillagegate™️ and it was created by @cloudycleric in one of his streams.

Basically, the parrots are gay and represent Will and Mike, who in s5 will kiss under the three waterfalls depicted on the image.

Backgroundguygate: People making headcanons and creating backstories for random extras. The star of this gate is Barrett, an extra from the Lenora high school, who wears a barrette, bright red pants and a shirt that says "Hell".

According to this gate, he's actually gay and in love with Will. He has a goth best friend named Claire who is a lesbian and in love with El.

Chancegate: The theme of shipping Will with random extras continues on strong

Chance is one of Jason's friends and part of the basketball team. People thought he was attractive and somewhere along the line started making headcanons for him and shipping him with Will (Bychance). Basically, they're gonna date and Mike will be jealous.

Mikhailgate: More shipping Will with randoms! (I'm beginning to see a pattern here)

Originally created by @paladin-n-cleric

Enzo in S4 mentions his son, Mikhail Antonov. Mikhail is the Russian name for Micheal.

People started making jokes that Mikhail would arrive to Hawkins from Russia in s5 and shipped him with Will (Willhail), since he's like Mike but Russian and cooler. They made fanart, edits and posted pictures of Finn as Boris in "The Goldfinch" claiming it's Mikhail.

@will80sbyers then begun to ship Mikhail with El and thus the ship "Jail" was born.

Pastagate: On January 2nd 2025, Noah posted a 2024 recap on IG, which included a photo of a trailer door labeled "Rigatoni". People then started joking about Rigatoni being Will's new bf and the ship "Willoni" was born.

In reality, Rigatoni is a nickname for Noah and that was his trailer. But where's the fun in that?

Carltongate: Another alleged "epilogue bf" for Will, this time it was an Atlanta based actor called Ryan Holcomb. Someone found out he has a small speaking role in 5x08 as a character named Carlton. Because the actor wears a key necklace in a lot of his IG pictures, people started freaking out that it was actually a prop from the show, matching with epilogue Will's lock necklace (even though they are drastically different sizes and actors can't just walk around with props and accessories from the show). Wilton (WillxCarlton) was born, even though it was mostly people making jokes rather than having actual doubt. (Post vol 3 update: technically canon💀)

Baldmikegate: Did you know Mike is actually bald and is bullied for it? Well, now you do.

In 2022, a cult was born and the byler tag was filled with edited pictures of Bald!Mike. Terrifying honestly.

Some people made posts about how the rest of the party feels about Mike's secret baldness and some even wrote FANFICS.

Gridgate/whiteboardgate/pixelgate: The Stranger Writers posted a picture of a pixelated/blurred whiteboard that had the entirety of s5 mapped out. People were desperately trying to decode it and figure out what was written on it.

On the space for episode 7, there was a "big black hole" that people went crazy trying to make sense of, only for it to be revealed as a pen holder.

Babygirlgate: The babygirlification of Mike Wheeler. That's it. That's the gate.

I think pretty much every line Will has ever said to Mike has been posted with the word "babygirl" replacing his name (it's hilarious and I love it)

Some examples here and here

Mattduffersbasementgate: Finn and Joe made up a third Duffer brother named Pete, who has no hair for some reason and is the actual writer of Stranger Things, while Matt and Ross are just the faces of it. Pete lives in a shed/Matt's basement and that's where he writes all of the scripts.

Finn and Noah are both also being held in Matt's basement however, and they're not allowed to leave so that they don't spoil byler endgame.

Lobegate: (This gate was officially named by @tripleatechie). In January 2025, a byler went undercover, sending asks to other members of the community pretending to be a Mlvn. In one of those, they accidentally misspelled "love" as lobe, which immediately became an inside joke. People starting speculating whether or not this was an actual Mlvn and an investigation ensued. On January 7th 2025, the identity of the undercover byler was revealed as @somewiseoutthere. The mystery didn't end there though, with people wondering if this was in reality a group effort with multiple culprits. Here is a list of all the possible culprits with a full timeline here.

Blankgate: On January 26th 2025, Atlantaspotting posted on Twitter a thread with controversial claims and gossip about the cast, but replaced all the names with BLANK, making pretty much incomprehensible, and impossible to figure out who it was about. Memes were then made, replacing every name and pronoun with BLANK.

Australiagate: In April of 2025, someone sent asks to byler accounts, with a paragraph they had written, in which Mike and El were dancing together. However, there was a mention of Will having randomly moved to Australia. People of course started making jokes out of this and even adding on to it, making Chance also move to Australia, essentially connecting this gate to Chancegate™.

Slimshadygate(*): Around late June of 2025, anonymous asks started popping up in our ask boxes, claiming that the real villain of stranger things is Slim Shady, who will kill all the main characters in s5. This is peak byler brainrot and we've created a monster.

Vangate: We have finally peaked and are now shipping vans. Vanler is the name of the crackship for the yellow pizza boy van from s4 and the blue WSQK van from s5, continuing the blue/yellow craze. A fanfic was soon made, called "When blue meets yellow in the intersection" (title based on this tweet) and edits followed as well. Anyway, vanler is my otp now <3

Madwisegate: Originally created by @4rielle, who sent anon asks to other accounts, claiming the one true endgame of ST was actually madwise. Essentially, Will is actually straight and in love w/ Max, who has also been in love with him since s2. @radiobyler then added on to this, creating hopnie (hopper x Lonnie) and palager (Mike x Lucas), which soon became midulu (Mike x Dustin x Lucas). El is also in love with Suzie Birmingham (creating Duziel, Dustin x Suzie x El).

Mpreggate: I...don't even know how to explain this one.

@4rielle strikes once again, sending anonymous asks to other accounts, asking them if they think there's gonna be a byler...mpreg arc in s5 and if so, which of the two is most likely to get pregnant. Mike gets the title and people come to the conclusion he was mean in s3 and s4 only because of his pregnancy mood swings. Basically, fandom goes batshit insane after waiting far too long for any new content to arrive.

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I will keep adding as more gates surface!

januarygate (all of january) - being convinced that we'll get a teaser in january.

pastagate/rigatonigate (jan 2nd) - noah posted a picture of a door with 'rigatoni' written on it. everyone decided rigatoni was will's new love interest. [similar to mikhailgate]

lobegate (jan 7th) - a byler was going around sending fake mileven asks to other bylers. in one of them they accidentally wrote 'lobe' instead of 'love'. this incident + the quest to search for their identity has been dubbed lobegate. (update: full list of possible lobe anons by @sykatz)

promgate (jan 10th) - this post explains it in full but tldr @lyricallyxo was directing a production of the prom on jan 10th (at 7pm est) and we all tried to get byler to trend for it.

plaguegate (jan 17th/18th) - honestly i was asleep while most of this went down so here's a post by @mrincrediblyblind explaining it.