#the duffers write it into the show

[maddy-ferguson]

i have never in my life seen a fandom hate fun the way this fandom does. someone will post a headcanon and preface it by saying "i know this would never happen but wouldn't this be so cute" and within 20 minutes someone else will make a post saying "um if you think this could Ever happen you are gravely mistaken. you don't understand anything about the show. how dare you post this on the internet. you should be ashamed of yourself" all because the first person didn't take every "agreed upon" theory into consideration like bro maybe they aren't here for that maybe they just wanna be silly and have fun maybe you should consider shutting up

#and the hc is the most harmless fluffiest shit like shut up how is that bothering you did they threaten to go to netflix hq and have #the duffers write it into the show #i waited a little before posting this so it wouldn't seem as targeted as it would have had i posted it at the time. lol #if people took everything into consideration nothing would ever be written i get not wanting stuff to be ooc but that wasn't even what was #supposedly wrong with the hc. it's just. lmao #you cant shut down everything and everyone let people have fun get off your high horse youre talking about stranger things on tumblr.com #again not talking about weird mischaracterization i'm talking about snippets not perfectly fitting into the bigger picture #not everything has to be/is meant to be canon compliant s5 speculation like let's chill a little... #also the og post wasn't even not canon compliant so it's not even that it just doesn't fit this Specific Interpretation and i don't even #disagree with that interpretation but like oh my god #besides someone being a byler doesn't mean they've read every single theory and analysis out there i don't understand how that's become a #prerequisite #there's plenty of ways to do fandom #and maybe what they're saying is appalling but that's not what this is about this is about non-appalling stuff #this would be easier if you knew what inspired this post #and like i say: brf slt

[mikoran]

no man but if byler isnt endgame its just gonna be so disappointing especially if mileven stays the main couple. like okay guess mike was genuinely just an asshole. guess he barely had an arc. guess el never truly developed and just regressed instead. guess another gay character gets an unhappy ending. fucking hell

#itll change my perspective on the whole show and the duffers ability to write relationships #like it wont ruin everything about it for me but its gonna be hard to recover from #especially mike so much doesnt work with him if byler isnt endgame #hes just genuinely kind of a dick #and not to mention just how much shit would not make any sense at all #theres some shit thats really hard to deny or write off as not being byler proof #i just hope they go through with this man #byler #anti mileven #its so important that they do something like this for so many reasons #to preserve the writing and to show people that hey gay people can like. be a major thing in franchises not actively targetted at them #not everything that includes a major gay couple or queer people in general has to be something thats dedicated solely to queerness #we can exist in sci fi shows and have major roles #we can exist in dramas and have major roles #we can exist in any franchise with major roles #we dont have to be exclusive to things designed solely for us #and we can be characters without our queerness being the only aspect of our character #we really need to take that step and one of the most popular shows in the world doing that would literally change the course of film histor #please duffers dont fuck this up

[clovermunson]

might piss off a few people with this little take, but—

billy hargrove was redeemable.

you just don’t like someone who doesn’t fit the “good” trauma survivor ideals.

#and i’ll die on this hill #and if you wanna tell me there’s a such thing as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ trauma survivors #then you’re toxic as hell and please kindly stay the fuck away from me #billy’s only positive experience with love was when he was ten years old #then after all those years #el showed him just one moment of compassion #and that flipped a switch in him because goddamnit he wanted to do something good #he wanted to be good #but the duffers just don’t know how to write for a traumatized character #so we were robbed of what could’ve been🤷🏻‍♀️ #billy hargrove #tw: trauma mention #morgan’s dumbass thoughts💬

[croptopscout]

one thing I love about ofmd is that it feels like the writers care about the characters and the story as deeply as the fandom does, which is a nice fucking change

#looking at you duffer brothers #very few times ive seen media where the actual content and characters are as well though out in the actual media as they are by the fandom #yeah ik theres unrealistic shit #thats not what i mean #i mean character motivation and arcs and shit #with a lot of other shows it feels like the writers literally dont understand the character they’re writing #ofmd #our flag means death

[chirpsythismorning]

The Duffer Brothers rushing to put The Last Of Us on the ST5 inspo board after Ep 3

#stranger things #byler #duffer brothers #st writers #I know fans have speculated before already they’ve been inspired by the game #like that’s clear especially in earlier seasons #with the overall plot of st having very distinct parallels with the last of us #but now there’s a tv show… #and it’s arguably as good as tv gets… #the duffers are definitely watching it and seeing ppls reactions to it #they’re also writing an apocalypse queer love story next season… #and their ST5 inspo board is probably almost filled up by now #with them being close to halfway done with writing s5 #but I guarantee you the last of us will be on it when it does inevaitbly drop sometime in the next few months…

[jonathanssweatercollection]

you still resent nancy and jonathan for getting together???? for “hurting steve’s feelings”??? despite the fact that he verbally supported their relationship like 2 hours after seeing them together. this from a season that released 6 fucking years ago. a season prior to him saying that he was NOT in love with nancy anymore. do you want me to call shawn levy and tell him of your dilemma. bestie do you need to rewatch the source material

#ppl will use ANY excuse to hate nancy and jonathan to prop steve* up #their flanderised ‘pwecious little babygirl’ steve who is a delicate little flower who’s still butthurt over his high school breakup #albeit s4 did completely surrender to this bs characterisation bc the duffers don’t know how to write a storyline for steve that doesn’t #involve him being a lovestruck loser nowadays. SAD #get me in that writers room i could give him something good thats not egregiously repetitive #funny that the post that sparked this was an ANTI MURRAY FANFIC?????? in 2023. bc him suggesting jon+nancy should be together was unfair to #fuckin STEVE?????? #1) murray is literally a jokey funnyguy character. he’s a little guy it’s his birthday he makes risotto studies martial arts is a conspiracy #theorist who daydrinks and snores on airplanes. he’s SO unserious #if u want to hate on him thats fine good for u whatever but do it for. normal reasons. like encouraging teenagers to drink and have sex in #his bunker. like he was not normal for that i get it i used to kinda dislike him for that too but like. its literally not meant 2 be #that big of a deal. nothing matters there’s no point the show hasn’t been genuinely good for six years nothing matters go outside go to bed #anyways. happy 3 AM everyone im going to sleep love and what have you on planet earth #stranger things #nancy wheeler #steve harrington #jonathan byers #mine

[emblazons]

I still can’t believe there are people who think that Will “I’m not gonna fall in love, just kidding I am in love already but I think I’ve been rejected so let’s rip off the bandaid” Byers isn’t going to get what he wants…in a show whose whole premise started with his abduction and is, by it’s creators own repeated admission, both going to focus on him the final season + about championing the underdog and the outcast.

It really is that simple, because once you know what the Duffers value...even if you haven’t dug that far into the show, it’s obvious where the “it started with Will, it will end with Will” is taking us based on tropes alone, if you listen to anything The Duffers say about their themes and narrative goals.

You don't even need color coding or parallels to other media to sort through it, because outside of any "but it was the 80s" commentary or "they would never break up the flagship couple" talk...Byler is literally just the logical thematic conclusion for Will's arc as the full embodiment of the outcasted, childlike AND the underdog, even if you don't like what they did to get our characters there.

Like? Will is literally the boy who represents the duffers love of being a “child at heart” and taking things you adored from your youth into being a grown up (see: their entire mf show being based on DnD and the media they loved as kids) on top of being a queer, poor, and regularly disrepected character.

He is the textbook representation of the outcast and underdog energy The Duffers love, to the point where you could hardly fit more "marginalized and imperfect" checkboxes into him without making him poc...and yet people actually believe he is going to be rejected not because there is no setup, or because there is no precedence for the storyline but solely because his love interest (who also has a non-conformity storyline and who is already making heart eyes at him) is currently dating a girl...and it would be "realistic" for him to get rejected? ☠️

Not to mention...I haven't even touched on how byler resolves Mike's own thematic issues and it already makes the most sense? Like?

How do you miss the most obvious plot twist setup in history not because its not blatantly set up, but because you’re homophobic? It really does have to be the blindness of heteronormativity thats driving most of this, because if you were a media literate homophobe, you would be screaming at the Duffers for doing it, not denying it’s happening at all. But ☕️

#byler #anti mlvn #duffer brothers #i am simply not blind enough for the foolishness of taking homophobes seriously tbh #their complaints are rooted in nonsense half the time #and yes this is kind of an offshoot of the 'bad writing' commentary of the tutor but #I swear on my LIFE knowing what good writing and a clear setup looks like makes byler so obvious its laughable #there's just no other thing they could be setting up with the choices they've made. everything else rings hollow #AND PEOPLE KNOW IT?!?! #mlvns saying things like 'it makes sense that mike and el have a less prominent role together in S5 but they won't break them up' #BABES LISTEN TO YOURSELF?!?! #the biggest season of the show and you think they're gonna let the 'flagship couple' be MID?! #Matt 'if its bad writing I'm not doing that shit' Duffer wouldn't even consider it. and its time you accepted that too 🤣 #ANYWAY #my st commentary #stranger things

[strangeswift]

Omg a character I love is experiencing the same internalized homophobia I experienced! That representation is so validating!

Me when the character I love shows outward signs of their internalized homophobia:

#me writing the most devastating mike wheeler angst where he is physically disgusted by himself and wants to die: :) #me when mike shows ANY signs of internalized homophobia in canon: NO NO NONONONO NO #duffers leave my SON alone and let him be happy and gay challenge :( #byler #also get it this reaction image is very fitting because said character is right there !

[edgelordtozier]

the steddie fics where steve is embarrassingly air-headed and has no clue what bisexuality is even though his best friend is a lesbian are so funny to me (in a bad way). it’s like what’s another way that we can mercilessly infantilize him and make eddie munson (pathetic clueless loser) guide him and navigate the relationship as if steve hasn’t been in many relationships himself?

#like sorry eddie would absolutely fucking not be the suave flirter u all seem to think he is #i do understand why this happens though lmao. it’s either blatant gay fetishism or cheap comedic value #OR the usual: showing off how little they understand steve as a character and how they’ve fallen for the duffers trap of steve being stupid #like make him a little dumb like he canonically is whatever. but he’s not that much of a fucking idiot #the whole “liking boys AND girls is a thing????🥺🥺” makes me click off so fast. what the fuck is that #he’s not 2 fucking years old and the 80s weren’t a billion years ago Lmfao. #and AGAIN: his best friend is a lesbian!!!!!!!! do u think they don’t speak to each other???? #they obviously talk about gay shit together their first scene together in s4 is them talking about the idea of vickie liking BOTH! he KNOWS! #ok sorry for writing an essay in the tags I’m annoyed #steve harrington #stranger things #steddie

[jmnxjmnx]

Here's an unpopular opinion.

I have seen so many fans getting head over heels towards Eddie Munson and Chrissy Cunningham's chemistry in the forest. Even the Duffers admitted to regret killing her and so on and so forth. Don't take me wrong, but y'all just be exaggerating a bit.

I love Chrissy from the second she appeared as a cheerleader blowing a kiss to her *actual* boyfriend, basketball team captain Jason. She has this warm smile that is able to melt anyone, not gonna lie, plus the actress is gorgeous! Of course she deserved to be alive. The show indeed showed us how bad her life actually was and how this affected her mind until it became pathetically weak for Vecna to reach it out. But that's a whole other point. Then we got awesome, cute, hot Eddie, a metalhead and a freak who has repeat three times his senior year. Let's be honest: Eddie is an adult who really couldn't care less about his future (of course he does, but let's talk about how the show is portraying him AT the moment and not about how US, the fans, see him). Eddie is a fucking dealer, therefore, a criminal. In whatever country you go, this action is illegal, even more if you are dealing to a MINOR.

Chrissy, already said, had a boyfriend. There's not so much insight on her relationship with Jason but for what we could see, they were romantic with each other, although it kinda made it pretty clear that she has never opened up to anyone but Eddie. She didn't trust her boyfriend her problems or her visions (at least until what the series has showed us, maybe in the Vol. 2 this could be another whole thing and maybe Jason did know about her suffering and her eating disorders problems, but personally and as how he describes her as a "good, perfect girl", I highly doubt he knew something). She talks to Eddie because she knows he's a dealer and maybe he has something to help her. Here's my point, there's nothing special about the two of them talking in the woods and y'all being so weird. Here's why:

She reaches to Eddie because of drugs, not because she feels something towards him.

Eddie is thrilled to deal to her because he, just like Jason, knew the perfect side of Chrissy, nothing more than that and has never been in love with her or anything similar to it.

Both of them thought the worst of themselves, clarifying the "terrifying, scary" and "mean" adjectives. Negative ones.

She barely remembered him from previous years and he just remember talking to her ONCE, then, for him, she has just been the Hawkins High School Queen. Nothing more.

Again, the age. Is not my shit honestly because I LOOOOOVE older guys, so is not to judge. This point is more about how he is a criminal who probably has 20-21 years old and is selling/trying to sell drugs to youngsters who, like Chrissy, had trouble to stay mentally healthy. (I know this is an 80s based show, and mental health at that time wasn't really the trending topic of the decade, but y'all need to see how wrong is to ship them).

Chrissy needed someone to talk to. She needed advices. She didn't need drugs. When she talks to Eddie, both of them just shared their surprise to find out that they can actually hang out and how wrong their thoughts of each other were. And the only part that Eddie responded to her question, was a vague response with a brutal topic change.

Eddie just wants to sell her drugs, that's all he wants. He even lowered the price to her because flattering works with him. He wasn't really interested in her at all more than just having a client. And no, inviting her to watch his band isn't something really meaningful nor special, doesn't mean love is in the air.

Chrissy also wasn't interested in Eddie at all. She was just interested in having something stronger so that she could deal with her pain. Thats it. If she left Jason waiting for her in his party was because she was holding into the tiniest hope of keeping her status as the good, perfect girl, and it happened that Eddie "had" what she thought she "needed".

I love all the FanArt created towards them, and as a viewer I loved their chemistry as well. I would love to think that both Joe and Grace became really good friends after their shoots together because they could have really become a wonderful couple in the series. They had way more chemistry in 5 minutes than what Nancy and Jonathan had these four seasons (and to think that Natalia and Charlie are even dating for 6 years now).

But when you look at the signs and at that special scene again, and again, it just made it clear that definitely Eddie and Chrissy were never meant to be, not even as friends, how important was her death to happen and how damned damaged y'all are to be shipping a dealer with a minor just because "they had chemistry". I mean I ship them too but RED FLAGS ARE THERE, WAKE UP PEOPLE.

And the worst part of all of this shit, is that Eddie will always remember Chrissy in a disgusting memory of herself at his trailer roof with no eyes and all broken bones. And also, that I can't sleep, that's really a bad side.

Honestly I would have loved them to date but life's hard, and besides that would have been soooo fucking cliché: "the weirdo metalhead freak dates the Queen Bee", or whatever adjective people from the 80s used to describe the typical blond popular girls. I'm glad the Duffers gave us a hint of what their relationship could have been like and then killed her off as if there's no tomorrow.

So this is my unpopular opinion. Now I'll be back onto reading fanfics about Eddie because irl, I couldn't love him more and more now that he's single huh.

#eddie my beloved #eddie stranger things #eddie munson #eddie x reader #writing #reality #stranger things #chrissy stranger things #chrissy deserved better #joseph quinn #grace van dien #aesthetic #80s #dealer #personal shit #opinion #article #netflix shows #netflix #ross duffer #matt duffer #netflix stranger things #hellfire club #corroded coffin #metalhead #cheerleader

[strangerthanyou011]

i love that really the only alternative to the interpretation that byler is something that's being set up to become canon is that stranger things is a poorly written show

#like if you really analyze the show you're either a “delusional byler” or you think the duffers are talentless #there is NO good explanation for so much of the writing choices in st other than byler #go us! #byler #eden talks #stranger things #duffer brothers #stranger things 5 #byler proof

[ickypuppi3]

dyslexic!steve + billy helping him with his work, reading books to him and calling people out when they call steve dumb means so much to me

#it’s actually canon to me #billy hargrove #steve harrington #harringrove #billy knowing what dyslexia is #billy knowing what dyslexia is and steve just thinking he’s shit at school my beloved #billy being like ‘haven’t you heard of this? do the teachers not help you? your parents?’ #ans steve’s like ‘um no ?? now leave me alone’ #and* #then billy’s like no actually i won’t because i’m annoying and steve’s lowkey into it #steve: i just can’t do it i’m stupid whatever #billy: you’re not stupid your brain just works through it differently #billy: here lemme show you #steve: am i…. in love rn #i hate the dumb steve agenda so much it’s so pointless #like it’s not funny and i hate it #yes it’s personal #but it’s still annoying #he’s not stupid #the duffers writing of him is sure #but steve as a character isn’t #the duffers really said if you’re not academically smart then you’re thick #and it’s the worst #AND it’s not true

[local-redhead-bookworm]

Stranger Things was supposed to be a show about outcasts finding a family for themselves. It was meant to be a show that gave everyone who was outside the “norm” a rallying point and a story of love triumphing over hate, good triumphing over evil.

Instead, we got a show where characters that are canonically/heavily implied to be LGBTQ+ are plot devices and not people. We got a show where abuse victims don’t deserve to escape their abuse. We got a show where poor characters are treated like animals and die insignificant and forgotten. We got a show where women are girlbosses incapable of error, plot devices, or heartless. We got a show that let abusers off the hook and tried to vindicate them. We got a show where the only POC characters are both attacked and one is shot at (EDIT: I forgot that Argyle is also a POC, but the writers made him a walking stereotype). We got a show where anyone who is unapologetically themselves is punished for daring to be something other than what is expected.

#stranger things #stranger things 4 #max mayfield #will byers #eddie munson #billy hargrove #robin buckley #erica sinclair #lucas sinclair #chrissy cunningham #el hopper #I am thoroughly fed up with the writing this season #the duffers don’t even know what story they’re trying to tell at this point #this show marketed itself as a safe haven for the nerds and freaks #and it is… so long as you’re a cishet white dude with a stable nuclear family #I’m just so tired of acting like this is a well written show #stranger things analysis #tw abuse #tw abuse mention

[kurokoros]

how did they even buy Eddie alcohol. Steve can't be more than 20 in S4, if that. and if Hawkins is a small town (like it's supposed to be) people are going to know he's underage???

#duffers i know you have a show bible #how are you not able to keep track of the details you write into your own show??? #alisha watches stranger things

[marypsue]

I'd love to hear your thoughts on S1 of ST being a tragedy! No main character dies, so I never thought of it that way before

I mean, nobody has to die for a story to be a tragedy (at least, in the modern definition. I'm pretty sure '(almost) everybody dies' is a requirement of Greek tragedies and Renaissance revenge tragedies). But also, no main character dies in season one...if you take season one as part of a series. Which it wasn't originally conceived as.

I am not going looking for copies of the original pitch bible, because I am lazy, and also I only saw them floating around this webbed site. But the show changed a lot from the initial pitch (Joyce had a Long Island accent! Lucas' parents were divorcing! Murray was there and named Terry Ives! Most of what ended up in Hopper's character originally belonged to Mr. Clarke! The original pitch bible is fascinating). And part of the original pitch was a proposal for possible sequels.

The Duffers' proposal for a possible sequel was "It's ten years later, and Eleven is dead".

So that's the setup. Everything that came after season one was made up wholecloth after season one was a hit and people wanted more, but also people loved the adorable little psychic murder child (cue the Duffers shockedpikachu.jpg) and Netflix obviously recognised it would be a bad call to make a new season without her in it. So it makes sense to take season one as a unit, as a self-contained story on its own. You can also take it as part of a whole, but it makes sense to read it first as a complete story. Especially given the thematic drift of later seasons and the way they are...I'm just going to say it, each new season is very much added-on to what came before rather than being built on foundation that the earlier season(s) laid. It is very clear there was never a planned five-season story arc from the beginning. (This isn't necessarily always a bad thing, when it comes to sequels, but it does mean it makes sense to 'read' each season as its own thing.)

Okay, now that we've established all of that. Season one has one very clear goal, one very clear stake for the characters: save Will Byers from the Upside Down. (I like this. It makes the stakes both extremely high and extremely personal, it makes it very easy to understand each character's motivation, it also keeps the stakes grounded in reality. I like this a lot.) And by the end of the season, that goal is accomplished. So at first blush, you're right, season one doesn't look like a tragedy.

But when you start to unpack it a little, you start to see just how many important things were lost along the way. It's most glaringly obvious with Mike and El, with Nancy and Barb. The whole Wheeler family is fractured down the middle, with Mike and Nancy on one side and Ted, Karen, and Holly on the other, and Karen, who's been trying so hard the whole time to be part of her children's lives and understand what's going on with them, is aware of the ever-expanding gulf between them but will never be able to cross it, and will never fully know why. Hopper's finally managed to snatch a kid out of the jaws of death, save a woman he obviously cares about from the pain of losing a child, and Joyce has finally had someone believe her, support her, trust her. But it became blindingly obvious to me on my fourth rewatch that Hopper's plan, from the moment he went to leave the middle school gym, was always to trade El for Will. And that decision (and the fact that Joyce obviously understands that he did something to get the lab to let them go after Will, but she obviously doesn't dare press him on what) has broken her trust in him, and left him with what looks like an equally heavy burden of guilt as what he was carrying before. The lab stays open. The government gets away with everything. No one will ever know the true extent of the hurt they've caused.

And in the end, none of it even saved Will. He's back. He's alive. But he's spitting slugs in the sink. He's permanently marked by the Upside Down, and by trying to hide it from his family, he's putting a crack down the centre of them, as well. They're losing Will, just as surely as they had when they thought he was dead, just without him going anywhere.

And there's still a hole in the world.

The fragile bonds of community, the things that people share in common, the way catastrophe can bring people together and bring out the very best in them, are the major thematic threads woven through season one. Human connection is the only thing that can change what seems inevitable, the only thing that can bring back what's seemingly lost forever.

And it's still not enough to protect anyone from the random tragedy of the world.

The love was there. The love mattered. The love bent the entire course of the world around itself.

And it still wasn't quite enough.

If that's not a tragedy, then I don't know what is.

#stranger things #the pitch bible is also part of why I think they're gonna kill el for real at the end of s5 #and that the final epilogue scene of s5 is going to be a callback to the eggos-in-the-woods scene #a) the show's ending so they don't HAVE to let her survive. and we all know the duffers love it when other people are upset #b) they've said themselves they're 'going back to season one' #c) netflix would absolutely cream their pants for an opportunity to update the nostalgia marketing for this show to the now-trendy nineties #d) and also would want to leave the door open for 'well MAYBE she survived you don't know that we're not going to resurrect this franchise! #one of many many many reasons why I'm not bothering to watch any more of this show #I'll stick happily with my s1-s2 duology and steal characters from other seasons thanks #it's so frustrating because it's so CLEAR in season one that the love MATTERS #that these people care about each other and that MATTERS #even though it's not enough. #and by season four it's just like. well what if we just kept introducing new characters so we can kill them. aren't you sad about it #like there are so many ways to write a tragedy well and 'kill everyone kind of indiscriminately' is not one of them #okay rant over. i am climbing off the cafeteria table

[willbyers-stanie]

i dunno why i expected the duffer brothers to write a good story involving queer people or poc because their biggest issue was only ever being nerds

#the shit they pulled with lucas erica argyle that goes with stereotypes makes me pissed #or the scene where jason had pulled a gun on lucas and made him empty his pockets and the flashlight makes me sick #everything they wrote with pic was stereotypical or downright sick #oh and robin will and eddie just shows how they don’t give a fuck about their queer audience #robin got a love interest that was basically her in a different font bc they don’t k ow how to write other queer characters #will being used to only further the ship that has the guy he’s in loved with is so goddamn heartbreaking #fuck the duffers #lucas sinclar #will byers #robin buckley #erica sinclair #argyle #eddie munson