Dustin is to Steddie as Max is to Ronance

HE'S GROWING OUT HIS HAIR FOR EDDIE 😭 AND WEARING A TORN HELLFIRE SHIRT 😭 AND EDDIE'S RING 😭 AND GOING TO HIS GRAVE 😭

screenshot from @kittykat940 <3

Being a fan of Stranger Things means knowing that there are way too many characters now but also not wanting to get rid of any of them because you love them all dearly.

Happy pride month to the citizens of Hawkins (they are all gay to me)

At this minute on this day last year, Stranger Things season 4 volume 1 was released! Happy birthday to Will's crush on Mike being confirmed, to Vickie and Eddie's introduction, to Running Up That Hill trending and to me crying...a lot.

My favourite thing about the Stranger Things fandom is that I can probably guarantee that some bloggers on this platform have put 10 times more thought into this show than the creators have. Eddie and Chrissy's age? Changes depending on the scene. Will's birthday? What season are you watching? Johnathan wanting to go to NYU? NY-who, he wants to go to community college (but considered Emerson)! The writers apparently don't have a spreadsheet with characters ages and birthdays but people on here have broken down every minute detail of this show and every show or ad that can be remotely linked with it. And honestly, I love them for that.

STRANGERTHEORIES S5 post index and intro

This index is very long so to avoid clutter on my blog, I've put it under the cut.

❤️🧡💛💚🩵💜

Wow I'm actually not sure. I've never read any gender bent ST fic. Gender bent Will Byers should be called "me" except there's no chance my straight best friend was into me /j. Jokes aside, I'll try to come up with some good names that are similar.

Hope this was fun enough! Lmk if I missed anybody. Thanks for the ask.

I'm rewatching Stranger Things (when am I not) and I've realized why I didn't like Steve in S4 when I loved him in S3 and liked him in S2. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike him now, but his likeability seems to be sustained purely by Joe Keery's charisma and great comedic timing at this point.

The issue is that Steve is a character who works best when he's with other characters. In S2, we saw his humorous but sweet dynamic with Dustin and it served as a great way to show Steve's newfound maturity and show his protective side. In S3, we saw this again with Dustin and Erica, but we also saw a new side to him through Robin. Through their relationship, he was able to move past his need for popularity and validation from girls and make a great friend who he's entirely supportive of even though she rejected him. You cannot tell me that early season Steve would've reacted the same.

But then comes along S4. Steve and Robin get barely enough screen time together and when they do, it is the highlight of Steve's character. Steve and Dustin still spend time together but it feels weirdly vitriolic to me and I feel as though the writers wanted Dustin and Eddie more than Dustin and Steve, leaving him behind. We get a few good moments in their relationship, but they're with Eddie and not Dustin. I like his relationship with Eddie too and I (mildly) ship Steddie but again, it's only a few scenes.

Instead, the season is spent building up Steve and Nancy falling back in love. Steve and Nancy's relationship is not a good dynamic for Steve (hot take or whatever) because I think most of the development that came from that relationship was not them dating, but in fact them breaking up. Especially since S3 was heavily focused on Steve getting over his break up and no longer relying on girls for validation.

I think that somehow the writers view Nancy as a reward for his development, as though him being a good person means he's entitled to the one that got away, however it just rings hollow and makes Steve seem a bit immature. Sure he had a two season arc of moving on but now he wants to have 6 little nuggets with her, how cute! His character is not shining through in these scenes especially since she has a boyfriend who she's been with for years in a relationship he approved of. Now it just seems as though Steve doesn't want to respect Nancy's boundaries and yet the show frames Johnathan as the bad one for not wanting to move on from his grudge against Steve. Y'know, the guy who was homophobic to him, mocked his family and is now trying to steal his girlfriend? That one?

Side note: I kinda hate the six nuggets thing because I feel as though the writers are no longer interested in exploring the more caring side of his character but instead are being super fan service-y towards him. They saw the mom meme and it got to their heads. It just annoys me how they spent seasons building up an interesting complex character only to reduce him to 'the dad one who likes Nancy'.

I don't know, maybe I'm being too harsh, but it's just a bit annoying. If anyone has read this far, thanks! It's a bit of a rant but worth saying anyways.

Over a week ago, the Season 4 Episode 7 script was released by Deadline. It's fully legit, even retweeted by writers. I have not seen enough people talking about it so here are some highlights.

Firstly demobats being referred to as fuckers in the official is so funny to me. I was not expecting Eddie in the official script to be quote "shish-kabobing the fucker" in reference to him killing a demobat.

As well as this Erica is referred to as a "fucking ninja!" which is so iconic. I'm glad the writers know how cool she is too.

Now I am not a St4ncy fan, no offense if you do ship it, but the quote "there are bigger problems than sexual tension." is hilarious. The writers and I seem to have the same attitude towards their relationship; uh oh.

Other beautiful quotes include Nancy landing on the concrete pool being described so eloquently.

The following quotes are less funny but are interesting to me so I thought I'd share.

For example, Nancy holding her hands out in case Robin fell was improvised! Natalia proving herself as the number 1 Ronance shipper yet again. Also improvised: Maya Hawke refering to Robin as the guinea pig.

Also the Eleven/Vecna fight was a reference to the circle test! Did not work out that parallel to be honest.

Finally, the, in my opinion, very funny line saying Dustin's tone was his issue was improvised by Joseph Quinn! Good for him, it really elevated the scene.

Hopefully this was amusing and informative and not just some random Tumblr user yelling into the void (: no Byler in this post obviously as the Cali gang weren't in the episode.

First BTS drop of Stranger Things Day!

Hello again! I know exactly what you mean. There's so many theories that make a ton of sense and then theories that contradict that one that also makes perfect sense to me as well. Especially with shipping stuff. They have so much potential to mess up when it comes to ships that could ruin characters (cough Steve and Nancy cough). They could go full villain mode on Will and screw him over or just not expand on Mike's trauma at all so all defenses of him are left up to fans and not the show itself.

But I think no matter what, people are going to be upset. If Ronance is canon people will be angry, but people will be disappointed if it isn't. Same thing with the Johnathan vs Steve thing or Mike and Eleven vs Byler. I think the fandom is going to do the same thing with S5 as they did with S4 Volume 2; say it's the worst thing ever because it's not what they expected, then flip it around and then like it. People were acting like the show has never had a good written scene because Mike's monologue was kind of mediocre. So I'm already preparing myself for the disappointment that this fandom is going to inevitably go through. This isn't just about ships, for example if Eddie doesn't come back which he probably won't, people will be very upset.

That's why for me I don't like when people argue for a theory or ship or character by saying it's popular because people are going to be angry no matter what. It's more important to focus on analysis and the show itself. However, everyone's analyses seem so smart so I have literally no idea who is right. I'm going to continue making my posts and theories as well as way too long character analyses (2500 words into Nancy's right now), but I also have no idea. I just hope they don't screw everything up as there's so much to go right but also so much to go wrong.

By the way, I'm glad you like seeing me in the Discord! The Ronance community is so friendly so I've really liked being on there and I'm glad you enjoy me occasionally popping up too. Thanks for the ask again!

Hi I'm thinking of doing some more character analyses like my Mike, Will and Max ones. They take me a long time and are several thousand words hence why I stopped but I don't have that much content to make so I think I might start up again. I have some old (like several months old) asks for Eleven, Dustin and Robin, but if anyone has any requests please send it to me! I'll probably prioritize new ones anyways so the anons who sent them can read them. I'd love to look at some, in my opinion, underrated characters too, like Johnathan or Lucas. Or overhated ones like Nancy. Or big progression ones like Steve. Actually anyone. I could talk forever about anyone.

You can also ask for a specific interpretation in the analysis, eg a gay Mike analysis (see index post). This is less about canon and more of a long breakdown of their character arc and the direction I think they'll go in next. Thanks in advance!

According to TikTok, the Duffer brothers have confirmed Eddie is alive, that Will loves Eleven, that Mike is straight whilst also confirming that Byler is canon and that they regret making Eddie because of the crazy Eddie stans. I'm starting to think people might just be making this up but you know what they said the Duffer brothers said it so it must be canon (/s).

Byler, Romance, Steddie and Jopper first date headcanons!

I got an ask for these but unfortunately I forgot to save my draft before posting and have had to delete that and re-do it which is frustrating but oh well! These will be some cute/fluff first dates and there won't be any Vecna stuff or NSFW stuff (I'm a minor and wouldn't feel comfortable writing that kinda stuff). Also Eddie isn't dead. These are quite long so you can just skip to a ship you like if you want and they might be a bit basic as I'm not a fanfic writer. But I hope they're alright!

First up Byler:

Next up, Ronance, aka the best ship ever!

Ok now for Steddie and also platonic Stobin and also Ronance (this is very cliché because I don't really have too much of an attachment to this ship like the others but I hope the scenario is still cute):

Finally, Jopper! Another cliché one but let's be honest, where else is a Jopper first date gonna be other than Enzo's.

Hope these headcanons were alright! Thanks for the ask and sorry this wasn't in direct response to it due to the aforementioned reasoning

I mean... Maybe? I really don't want him to be alive, sorry. Will, Brenner, Max, Eleven and Hopper have all had fake deaths and it gets to the point where it feels like characters are just immune from dying. Especially main characters. So bringing back Eddie would not be a good move. Bringing him back as a zombie? That could be cool. Especially if Dustin has to kill him. Yes I am thinking of that one scene with Georgie and Bill in It (if you know, you know).

I'm not sure how I feel about the Kas theory because to be honest, I feel like it applies more to Max than Eddie. A zombie who's body is controlled by Vecna? I think that's much more likely Max as Eddie is dead whereas Max was revived however Vecna absorbed her consciousness effectively making her a zombie and possibly puppet. Also the lyrics to Master of Puppets foreshadow Max being Vecna'd (twisting your mind and smashing your dreams, blinded by me you can't see a thing) in my opinion but they could foreshadow her being a puppet like Kas. But somehow, she gets her memories back and is able to betray Vecna. Also maybe losing the consciousness of a person weakens him enough for him to be defeated. For Buffy fans, it's like Glory and Tara.

So overall, Eddie as Kas? Maybe, but Max makes more sense to me. Eddie being alive? No. Eddie being an emotionless zombie or a vision? Absolutely.

Thanks for the ask (:

Yup I agree. I liked Eddie but narratively it just made sense for him to die. He starts off as kind of a coward who is 19/20 and still in high school which in my opinion was to show how he was scared of moving on. He wants to move on with his life shown by his whole this is my year talk but he can't because he doesn't apply himself to anything. When Chrissy dies, he immediately runs and hides (which is perfectly reasonable by the way) but again is meant to set him up for this hero arc of facing his problems.

But through his relationships with the party (especially Dustin) and the Scooby Gang, Eddie is able to develop as a person. When he realizes they haven't fended off the demobats for long enough, Eddie decides to go and be the hero and by doing so weakens the hive mind. When he says he's going to graduate and that it's finally his year it's because he's stopped running from problems, supernatural or academic, and is finally able to move on instead of clinging onto high school and Hellfire for as long as possible. It's a well written self contained character arc that also serves to develop the character of Dustin and had some emotional moments to make the audience tear up.

I feel like it kinda defeats the whole point of that arc if he comes back because then he would be not moving on which is the entire point of his character. Plus you can now imagine that he now gets to be in the afterlife with Chrissy which is kind of sweet, regardless of if you ship it or not. I don't want Bob to come back either though, nor any other dead character. If they come back as a zombie that the heroes have to kill or a vision? Cool. Kas thing? I mean, maybe (?), but only if he dies at the end and it's only the body of Eddie plus the whole Kas thing would be way better with Max (the Master of Puppets lyrics literally talks about the puppet being blinded and having their dreams manipulated and then being controlled by the "master" which sounds like foreshadowing to me).

But if they're actually make dead characters genuinely alive again, it just defeats so many sad moments and character arcs. But I get your point, Bob's death was so unfair but I like how they paralleled it with Joyce saving Hopper from a demodog the way she couldn't save Bob which would again become pointless if he came back to life. I don't really get how killing off likeable well written characters is considered a mistake (especially with Chrissy and Eddie) when them being likeable is what makes you care when they die.

Hope this answer was alright! Thanks for the ask, anon (: