silver catfish

this is like a reach, but at this point I've stopped caring lol.

You know what event could also be taking place on Mike’s birthday if we just inverted the numbers from 4/7 -> 7/4?

July 4th -> April 7th

Is 12 important because of clocks? Is 12 important because of months? Yes AND

12 is important because if you use the 12 hour clock - you can mix up AM and PM. If you have events taking place in a month/day format, you can swap them too.

What an easy way to confuse people about dates and times if you’re trying to change memories …

EDITS:

Is it…?

11/06 or 06/11

04/07 or 07/04

11/03 or 03/11

06/07 or 07/06

Is it 0315 or 1515? The difference being… twelve hours… why don’t any of these fucking nerds use 24 hour/military clock!?

WHO ELSE BUT THE MILITARY AND LAB WOULD BE USING THE 24-HOUR CLOCK AND THE DD/MM/YYYY FORMAT!?

(I literally work at a lab in the US and we use 24 hour clock & a DD/MM/YYYY format btw!)

It’s been a year Mike starts to make a little more sense…

EDIT 2:

Thank you @madmlle

It just seems so much more obvious in these BTS pics:

Like that’s solid 6 months of growth isn’t it?? Was there no such thing as a continuity haircut?

Even here, it makes me laugh. Why is it just hovering above his head like a wig 💀

BONUS: Never noticed the Exit sign takes turns between shots above Mike’s or Will’s head 👀

Did he shave his head at one stage during production?? 😂

- Mike Wheeler

Vomit Green:

Vomit green:

Be careful what you wish for, am I right? 😭

SORRY FOR THE KISSING JUMPSCARES 💀

This image just gave me a massive brain wave and now I'm thinking about all of the Byler scenes we've had over the years and Will silently longing in the background. In the new content we're gonna get MIKE'S POV during all the Byler scenes and HIM longing for Will!!!

This also could be a hint for all the missing/altered memories. They film a scene -> they film it again but slightly different/in a different pov -> they film the corrupted memory -> they use the corrupted memory in S5.

I actually have proof for this too (I think 😭 I could be remembering this wrong):

During Sorcerer, Vecna comes torments Will yadda yadda yah, and shows him the van scene from S4. Except, it's not actually the van scene from S4! It's slightly altered!

In the S4 van scene, Will looks away from Mike (towards the window) while Mike is looking at the painting, then he looks at Will and then back at the painting.

In the Sorcerer van scene, Will looks away from Mike (towards the window) while Mike is looking at the painting, then he DOESN'T look at Will and is just staring at the painting the whole time.

Guys I'm actually a genius 😎😭

Also this kinda explains the ridiculous amount of time they took to film the van scene (12 hours!!!) and S4 and S5 in general.

Anyways, blah blah blah, I will add more thoughts later (probably never) and I'm gonna call this vangate just because 😋

Vangate <333

Anyways feel free to add to this (or correct me if I'm wrong) <333

I’m of the opinion that the first little flicker is probably MORE on Mike’s end at the beginning of the first episode. Like that looks like the face of someone realizing what their first crush is, while Will is acting kinda normal. Even though it is not Mike’s fault that Will goes missing, and all of this starts. Can you imagine how badly that would compound someone’s internalised homophobia? That probably the first moment you realise you probably have a crush on your best friend of the same sex, and then they go missing. Like, everyone has their own reasons for having internalised homophobia, but Mike’s is actually insane beyond even just his family. AND THEN, people are making fun of him to you, and you stand up for him by pushing someone over. And this stranger makes the bully pee his pants. And then you and your other friend get chased, and he’s being held at knife point while you’re told to jump off a cliff. The same cliff where they were just talking about queer kids dying in, AND where his body was. I’m sorry, even IF we think that oh he did it because of his friends and he cares about them and it’s not about his love for Will, that is still actually a hate crime…? Like, point blank period, end of sentence. We basically watched Season 1 Mike Wheeler get hate-crimed.

And again, Dustin is right there, watching MIKE jump off the cliff to save him. Just like Eddie acts like a hero and gets himself killed in Season 4.

I’m not a Mike metanarrative person, but his trauma is so real and strong. And it goes beyond just like I’m gay and it’s wrong to be gay. Mike’s lived experience so far has shown him that bad, super natural things happen when he has gay feelings. Even Eddie!

That would be so incredibly easily to exploit. Someone with that much internalised guilt and homophobia. Like OF COURSE Mike is hurting Will, but like be in Mike’s head. Even if it’s not what he explicitly thinks on the surface level, there is that association between gay feelings and BAD THINGS happening to the object of his desires.

And then, after you ‘put your friend in danger’, the girl saves you and your friend. And this girl does this repeatedly throughout the whole season, saving you and your friends over and over. And she’s the one who actually brought Will back.

And then when Will is back the next season, and having these incredibly traumatic experiences. You say that you know that if El was there, she could help him 😭 because MIKE thinks he cannot help him. Because he didn’t get him back, because he didn’t actually save him. And he didn’t save Dustin. Because it was El that saved them, over and over and over and over and over and over again.

So this girl is saving YOU, your FRIENDS, and bringing your BEST FRIEND back. Like, THAT that same best friend, that you probably feel like you sent away. I know it can be interpreted as Mike ‘sending’ him into the closet, but like… it could just as easily BE Mike realizing just for Will to go missing the NEXT DAY! Right after this moment!

^^^ like look at him 🥹

Like idk if that’s Mike’s scared face, or if he’s like confused or even just realizing something.

Like El is his shield in so many ways 😭 like Mike Wheeler has been proven time and time again that his feelings for men/boys, especially Will, are straight up dangerous. Like a threat to those around him, not just Will, not just Eddie, but your friends.

He couldn’t save Will (he thinks that), AND he wasn’t even there to fucking save Eddie.

This boy has the regular internalised homophobia of the 80s, the overt homophobic bullying to his face, his father’s comments, AND the supernatural entity taking his best friend who he has feelings for… like MULTIPLE times.

"I haven't told any of you this because I don't want you to see me differently. But the truth is...I am. I am different."

The audience already knows Will is gay; they've already seen other characters suspect it in the show. We've had multiple scenes hinting at it: Jonathan's hug, the Van scene, all the longing stares in S4.

But the audience might see Mike in a different light after the truth is finally out. They might see his interactions with El differently now—his coming of age is hidden in plain sight now, there for everyone to analyze and speculate.

"I just pretended like I wasn't because I didn't want to be. I wanted to be like everyone else. I wanted to be like my friends, and I am like you."

Will doesn't like pretending; he's always honest with himself. He says it to Jonathan in S2—he knows he is a freak. He chooses Bowie over Kenny Rogers. Will never really pushes Mike away because of shame. He's just resigned himself to the "best friend" moniker.

walk with me.

how about will knew something and he went back to save mike?

he had to skip school though

And no one believes that Dustin actually has a girlfriend.

Because yeah likely story! Sure, your ‘girlfriend’ that you can’t talk to over the phone, your ‘girlfriend’ that lives in another state, your ‘girlfriend’ that you met over camp and have known for like maybe a few weeks, your ‘girlfriend’ who’s suspiciously like a super-tech genius. Your ‘girlfriend’ who’s like …

basically a superhero!! Like, Dustin’s best friends don’t believe him

And then as the viewer, I’m supposed to believe that *no one* in this ENTIRE TOWN would notice that Mr. Emo over here…

Is depressed as FUCK right after his boy best friend moves away to California? The same one who was acting out in Season 1 because his boy best friend was missing…? The same boy who Troy et al. targeted their homophobic bullying towards?!

Who *only* looks happy when he’s engaging with his hobby that is *directly* connected to his boy best friend?

**in the wrestling room mind you** I know what you are!!!

And sure, Dustin and Lucas know El, but like… !? NO ONE ELSE!

Sure…

Oh, Mike! Yeah, no he’s acting out because his ‘girlfriend’ moved to another state with the Byers

Sure, Mike’s ‘girlfriend’ no one knows (or, last they saw her, she was being confused with Will fucking Byers)

Sure, Mike’s ‘girlfriend’ that he can’t call because otherwise the ‘government’ will find out her location… so they can only communicate via radio (are we even sure that Dustin’s Cerebro is like a secure method of communication…? That is IF they even used it)

Sure, Mike’s ‘girlfriend’ that’s supposedly SuperMAN a superhero!

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH now he’s leaving for Spring Break to visit his ‘girlfriend’ who ‘lives with the Byers’

You KNOW how bad those rumors were this time around I’m sorry!!! And guess what!! El’s not even there to fucking make his bullies piss their pants anymore!

No wonder we don’t have a Mike POV book yet

And then the SECOND Mike is back in town. With the Byers. Where’s Mike’s girlfriend!?

Oh yeah… hiding from the government!!! Again!

But you know who he’s fucking living with now!? 💀💀

Oh and NOW HE HAS SUPER POWERS TOO!?

I’m sure!!

Give me a fuckin break. That man was fighting rumors left and right I know it to be true!!

We NOW know from S5:

At the end of the song, a man shouts:

If you don’t eat your meat, you can’t have any pudding!

This is obviously a metaphor for conforming: enduring your unpleasant duties first, do what's enforced and expected of you (eating meat, the proper food), only then being allowed something you actually enjoy: freedom and joy (the dessert).

In the finale of S1, Lucas and Dustin are quite excited to find loads of pudding:

Mike doesn't seem so interested:

El seems intrigued but doesn't know what pudding is (this is so sad: she doesn't know joy, only her duties):

Mike explains:

El also wants to eat Eggos, but Mike says no, eat real food:

Eat your meat!

This is where ST first uses this metaphor and it's right before Mike kisses El for the first time. I don't need to explain that that kiss does not look enjoyable, that Mike surprises her with it and she asks him if he's like her brother right before.

Then again in S3, during Mike's first attempted love confession to El, they sit in front of this sign:

Mike tries again to perform his expected obligation to reconcile with her after the break up to become her boyfriend again, and isn't successful this time or any other time really telling El that he loves her.

Here is part 1.

I just found this scene from S2 and remembered my post about how Mike fills in for Dustin a bit in S5.

It’s a theory based on cues hinting that m11 is byler in s3, the idea of which is the show being built upon corrupted memories. There are more significant posts revealing what exactly was altered (links will be below), but the ones based on El’s character, explaining cues around her, are its base.

Have you ever felt that Hopper yelling at El the way hatred for him feels with the whole body is in the heaviest way ooc after everything he’s done by this time? That’s because it’s not Hopper.

If you know corruptiongate, then you probably know how suspicious El’s room in s3 m11 scenes is. T85 didn’t make it ‘easier’, turning orange objects (as if orange being Vecna’s colour wasn’t enough) into pink and placing the bird poster in two rooms at once (in part 1 I theorised what it can mean, but I’d genuinely recommend to keep up with all three main posts).

What stood out for me this time is that s2 room looks nothing like s3 room (as if s3 room is not real at all): the walls are not green, the curtains are not yellow, and even El’s bedside table is different.

Like, I don't think some people understand. Matthew Modine's behavior is very suspicious, not just "troll-like" because this:

is clearly a "professional" marketing tweet, meaning it was most likely prewritten and sent to him to just copy and publish onto his page to promote it. Meaning he is still apart of promoting, possibly out of contractual obligation, which is weird since he is nowhere to be seen in S5.