Arabella's Castle

We haven't seen this before.

That's it. Representation like this has not been done. Our brains work on pattern recognition and autofill predictions based on that.

We don't know what to fill in this one. Because we just haven't seen it before. So sometimes, when you try to picture it, queerbaiting comes out.

Not because it's true. Not because it's based in anything in the show. But because your brain is estimating based on only what it's seen.

It is good representation. The bittersweet fact is...THAT'S why we can't picture it.

You don't think it's gonna be queerbait, I see plenty of people saying they don't know why they're feeling doubt - it's because you're not. It's just an autofill based on past data. And the whole point is that this time...it's wrong.

I've been feeling that a little lately. Going "why is this?" and I realized. I said the same thing when Will said "it's scary to open up like that..." I said the same thing when the van scene came on I said the same thing when we got Will's powers fueled by his flashbacks of queer joy.

"They both like each other. But that isn't the only obstacle for queer people. Now how do they figure that out."

Then they have the immediate contrast of El bringing Max back to life through the power of love with a whole montage of flashbacks of their time together (even the “There’s more to life than stupid boys!” line) and a two days timeskip in which we later found out (through yet another Byler heart-to-heart) that El and Mike barely even spoke to each other. El doesn’t even want to look his way when she passes Mike and Will. They are not well, their issues have not been resolved. If El confided in Mike about how she felt about losing offscreen why do we find this out as Mike is telling his other love interest? That Mileven conversation alone could have solidified them as an endgame couple, opening up to each other and combining their strengths. Instead, we get Mike comforting and encouraging Will.

And the final nail in the coffin is the fact that Mike chose to stay with Will on the hill. No one held him back from following El. He never even considered it, he stayed right where he wanted to.

In a love triangle there’s always someone in the middle and that person has to make a choice by the end of the story. Well, I say Mike has made his choice long ago, even if he doesn’t know it even is an option. By the end of season 4, he no longer wants to conform, he doesn’t want to push Will away just because of how scared he is of his feelings. He, just like Max did with Lucas in season 2, accepts the risk. What if Will finds out? What if El finds out? Those questions no longer have as much weight as his desire to stay by Will’s side.

Season 5 is not about Will and Mike finding out they’re in love with each other. It’s about them realizing that their love is mutual and has always been. That’s why they didn’t want Mike to figure out Will’s feelings in vol 1 and instead we got the setup of Robin telling Will what to look for or what to do to signal interest.

Even Robin describes it as "I know your house is like weirdly creepily frozen in time and shit..."

But this isn't just some continuity error either. Because the boat they took out onto the lake was mirrored in the upside down in the same episode.

Just a different location in Hawkins...

Now I'm thinking about that first light flicker and how the demogorgon didn't find Will at his house. He followed him from where he was: which is the Wheelers'.

Ted's tv wasn't working.

The garage lights flickered.

We know these things.

They never actually claimed that Hawkins was frozen on November 6th. They only claimed The Wheeler house was.

In my life outside of tumblr and making videos, I am a journalism student! We have to write a feature on something topical, so I have chosen to write about the homophobia present in the fandom. I would really super appreciate it if you could help me with either of these two things:

1) Send me any homophobic tweets/youtube comments/anything you have seen regarding byler, Will, or even Robin. I am looking specifically for the ones that mention they want Will to get aids and things along those lines, but I’m interested in anything!

Obviously please keep yourself safe! Don’t go looking for the homophobia on purpose, but if you have any screenshotted it would be super helpful!

2) if you have had any experiences in the fandom with homophobia, or have anything interesting to say about the homophobia within the fandom, please comment and I will message you so we can have a conversation about it!

Mike is paralleled to Vickie not Tammy Thompson such a weak comparison.

Yeah I don't know.

I think a big part of the reason that Robin and Vickie start the season as an established couple is so that Will can see them and make a connection with Robin (ie, find community,) and learn not to hate that part of himself so much. But also to see that it's possible. I think they are right about that regard.

But Will is not going to get over Mike as a result of this - if anything it's going to make Will long for Mike even more. Because know he knows that it's possible, that there's other people out there like him, that barrier between him and the boy of his dreams is thinner - but he's still stopped by the simple fact that (he believes) Mike doesn't return his feelings.

If it were simply about Will finding community and moving foreword - why make him see Robin and Vickie kissing? Why not Robin come out to Will after she has her suspicions? Why not make Will figure out in his own way that Robin is queer too?

But no, Will sees a same-sex couple being intimate, essentially, and his story supposedly ends with him not getting to have that?

Robin got the girl.

“Lock the fuck in. Get that boy, Byers.”

"Look! Mike with Will. Mike happy. El separate, El still happy!"

And they'll ship Byler.

They'll go "I'm rooting for his happiness, which seems to be like this, but before I do, is it hurting anybody? Oh! No, it's not! Okay, great"

I've seen so many people act as though there will be riots in the streets and a bunch of casual fans will end up in straitjackets because the shock of Mike and Will ending up together will destroy their entire concept of life and reality.

It's really not that deep.

Some casual viewers/GA are already expecting Byler. Some aren't necessarily expecting it, but they know it's a possibility. Some think Byler is a long shot, but they understand it could potentially happen.

The show went mainstream so it now has a very diverse audience. There are still intelligent and well read people watching the show, even if that demographic has been greatly overshadowed by the reads-at-a-third-grade-level-and-binges-Marvel-movies-and-reality-television crowd.

Back when season 4 dropped, Will’s story didn’t only resonate with the queer audience. The general audience also felt for this boy who gave up his heart in a silver platter so that his sister and his best friend could stay together. I remember seeing this one guy that was straight up speechless and couldn’t concentrate on anything else for a minute due to how deeply touched he’d been during the van scene.

The GA wants Will to be happy because the Duffers wrote him as a character that could not be hated. Will is not even aware he’s part of the love triangle because to him, it’s a straight line that connects Mike and El, who are both madly in love with each other and he’s watching from the sidelines. He has no hope of ever getting what he’s always dreamed. He doesn’t think all his suffering will have any kind of payoff and we’re about to dive into his biggest traumas and insecurities. The villain himself will hunt him down and weaponize his feelings against him.

Do people really think a casual viewer would be happy if they had to watch all this angst just for Will to get a halfway happy ending? No. When Mike returns his feelings and we see that none of his worst fears end up coming true, they’re going to be relieved. It’s going to feel like a cathartic moment. Especially because the audience’s reactions normally aligns with the characters’. So if the audience sees that every single character is happy with the outcome and that it turned out well for everybody, there’s no reason for them to dislike Mike and Will as a couple.