Max Mayfield - Blog Posts
Sometimes I wish that the Duffers hadn’t managed to cast an amazing group of actors for ST so that it would be easier to see how abysmal at worst and mediocre at best the show really is.
Literally all of the most beloved moments, lines, and changes to characters/storylines are due to the actors’ improvisations and suggestions.
Or maybe it’s because he represents a certain portion of abuse survivors that don’t become meek and docile but instead angry and aggressive due to not having an active support system to help unlearn unhealthy coping mechanisms like the other characters you mentioned, ever thought of that?
You guys have characters such as Eleven, Max, Will, Jonathan as representation for abuse but you guys pick the racist abuser who likes to attack and threaten children. If he wasn’t an attractive white man y’all would not be on his side.
things max kept from billy
okay, so @meowmeowbilly ‘s post about the little belt/decor in billy’s door, now on max’s door, ignited my curiosity about what other things that once belonged to billy were still around max and susan’s trailer. here are the little things i found!
this little suitcase that used to be in the shelves in billy’s room
his bedside table clock
his headphones
and this little candle (or glass)
no cause considering that billy didn’t knew shit, the situation at the byers house is really weird. like, a legal adult lying about his underage (basically a kid, not a teen yet) sister not being here, when she’s in fact here with him and three boys is very sketchy. and steve doesn’t have a great reputation with girls, he’s a known womanizer. and it’s the 80’s. and karen probably not the first adult that was interested in billy, he knows how a person older than you can be. he can think only abt one thing and i don’t want to say it so. kinda understand him on this one. also if i’ll see my lil brother in a situation like that i’ll be pulling out a knife not a fist 🏃🏽♀️
i know we sadly didn’t get a chance to see how billy and max’s relationship had evolved from s2 to s3, not even a single scene between them without billy being already flayed but i do think we get glimpses in s3 of how things had progressed between them.
before learning that anything could be wrong with billy there’s a lightness in her speech when he’s mentioned, which didn’t occur during s2. this, for me, is the most significant change:
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I genuinely want to know how someone can simultaneously be Anti Billy and a Max Stan when Max herself is President of the Billy fan-club.
it’s not that Steve is “the big brother that Max deserves”. it’s that Steve had the opportunity to be there for Max in ways that Billy could not be because he was either unaware of the dangers lurking in Hawkins, was under the control of an inter-dimensional being he had no way of understanding, or was…dead.
Steve stepped up to the plate because he had the knowledge and means to do so. Max relied on him because she knew that he understood her and that she could trust him.
there is no point in Max and Steve’s friendship where either of them seems to be trying to replace or fill in for Billy. rather, Steve is present for Max in her grief. you think he didn’t know exactly what she was doing when she told him to pull into the cemetery? who else would she be visiting? he knows that this girl has been through absolute hell, and as much as he complains about babysitting, you know he would (and has!) put his life on the line for any of those kids. in that moment, he would have done anything for Max. he knows he can’t fill Billy’s shoes. he know he can’t give Max what she really wants. he can’t bring her brother back. but he can do his damnedest to protect her, to shield her from any more hurt. he is there for Max because he can be, because he loves her. he will play big brother for as long as she needs him to, because her big brother can’t physically be there for her anymore. but he can’t replace Billy, and Max clearly doesn’t want him to. she wants her brother. Steve is simply there to support her as she mourns and adjusts to a world without Billy.
You know, it annoys me every time someone calls Billy a racist asshole, he wasn't, I know for a fact he wasn't.
He never once said anything racist, never acted out in disgust at any other black characters, not even Lucas himself, not Lucas' family, not any background characters, non of that, he never made any comments about race either,
And don't bring up the "That kid is one of them" into this, because do you know what he saw? He saw some random kid arguing with his sister, he saw some kid making her upset to the point she walked up to the car teary eyed and tried lying about what happened, that's what he saw, he stood there in the background watching the entire time and I'm sure he may have heard a thing or two due to their arguing, Max said it herself that Lucas treats her badly, that is what he saw and of course, despite him taking his anger out on her, he cares, it's shown he cares because he saved all of their lives by sacrificing his own in the end.
Billy was never racist, he just didn't get the full picture of why Max was already walking to his car damn near crying when they've just moved into the town.
Tldr: Billy wasn't racist, just saw Max coming to his car nearly crying and thought she was being bullied already.
“I think that maybe a part of me died that day too”
Why have Billy look alive when he's dead when the others looked dead but are alive? Why would Vecna do that? Wouldn't it be more affective to have Max see the corpse of her dead brother? And the tear???? Why would Vecna bother putting that little detail in???
Stole this from an anti who was pissed because "trying to avenge his death" is now the only thing I will be thinking about until I see it happen
I don’t know why my mind insists on making me sad, but I just can’t stop thinking about Max in S3 being SO in denial about Billy being the new host for the Mind Flayer or ANYTHING being off about him. Even when El, someone who knows MUCH more about the Upside Down and the Mind Flayer, claims something odd is going on with Billy, she persistently tried to rationalize all the weird things discovered.
Such as when they found ice bags in his bathtub:
Max says that they were “probably for his muscles or something [cause] he works out like a maniac”.
Even if Max really believed that it was some weird workout thing, if I found my sibling’s tub full of ice, I would have definitely been more weirded out; she was mostly dismissive about it.
Or when El said that Billy seemed wrong when they found him at Heather’s house, Max reassures in a humorous way:
“Wrong is kind of like his default, but it’s nice to know he’s not a murderer, because that would have totally sucked”
Despite seeing that Heather was indeed ok, there was still the BLOODY WHISTLE found in her brother’s room. And she was adamant that, as long as Heather didn’t seem harmed in any way, it was enough to disregard ANY suspicions of Billy doing wrong.
Or the Party points out how weird it is for Billy to be fully covered from head to toe at the pool
Max: I don’t know, he looks pretty normal to me.
Lucas: Normal? How many times have you seen him with a shirt on?
Max: I mean it’s a little weird….
Max knows Billy better than anyone in Hawkins. She KNOWS that Billy shows off his body any chance he gets. It is NOT normal to dress more conservatively out of the blue.
It is only during the Sauna Test that she couldn’t deny the fact that Billy is, without a doubt, the new host.
It is so heartbreaking because we can tell that their relationship has improved from where it was left in S2 (when she nearly crushed his nuts with a spiky baseball bat).
I can already imagine that between S2 and S3, they came to a sort of truce. Their relationship wouldn’t do a complete 180 of course. But it would be the type of truce where they would try to be less hostile towards each other, keep their tempers in check, and minimize the arguing between them. That would eventually lead to them having a mutual understanding and respect of each other.
Billy and Max share a lot of similarities (both are headstrong and outspoken) and been put in the same miserable situation (moving away from their home in California), that once they were able to put their bitterness towards each other aside, they formed a kinship and found out that, hey, maybe having this little shitbird/asshole as a sibling isn’t so bad.Their relationship was finally improving and on the path for the better.
Until the Mind Flayer put that progress to a screeching halt.
Alright, I’m done with my depressing rant.🥲
Me seeing all these “Billy is coming back for S4” theories:
Hiiii! Can you do hcs for max and steve being a sibling duo or write a one shot abt them?
Steve and Max As A Sibling Duo
headcanons
summary: steve and max are the best sibling duo we could’ve asked for
pairing: steve harrington x max mayfield (platonic)
warnings: swearing, mentions of canon typical violence, mention of death/grieving
note: why are there no gifs of steve and max?? also there’s no reader insert here this is just my take on steve and max behaving as siblings !!
Steve and Max are absolutely the best sibling duo
Steve is the big brother that Max deserved and having Max around makes Steve feel less lonely
Steve always wanted a little sister !! He would beg his parents for a sibling all the time when he was younger but to not avail
Steve is obviously protective of all the kids but Max would literally kill somebody for Steve. Nobody is gonna ever hurt him while she’s around.
I feel like Max is already super protective over people she cares about but it’s just different with Steve. Like she’s already lost one brother and feels the guilt of that, she’s not gonna lose another.
The entire party is a found family for Max and somehow Steve fits in so perfectly.
They argue and she loves to rile him up, but they have such a strong bond that almost rivals Steve and Dustin’s.
Max isn’t affectionate at all and Steve knows that, so he tries to go about things differently with her. He makes her mixtapes (she absolutely roasts his taste in music but she secretly treasures them so much), he buys her little things that he knows she needs or likes, and he really tries to be there for her in ways Billy wasn’t.
Steve is the only reliable male figure Max has ever had and she still doesn’t really know how to express things to him.
Max’s love language is gift giving. She saves up months in advance to buy Steve something really nice for his birthday or Christmas. That usually means she’s on a budget for everyone else’s gifts but she really wants to show Steve how much she appreciates him, so it doesn’t matter to her.
Max knows that Billy was an awful person and he treated her like shit, but he was also her brother and she had some fucked up idea that she should have protected him. She feels so much guilt over his death. She’s not even really grieving, she just feels so guilty.
Steve knows this and, in one of Max’s moments of vulnerability, he confesses his guilt over Barb’s death. He’s come to terms with the fact that there was nothing he really could have done for her, but he can’t help but feel like he should have done something.
They have a little bonding moment over shared trauma and guilt.
Having a little sister is uncharted territory for Steve. He has Dustin, who is the equivalent of a little brother, but Max is so much different. She’s snarky and unaffectionate and a little mean sometimes. He really has to learn how to be there for her in a way that makes her comfortable.
Steve loves Max and he would voluntarily lay down his life for any of those kids but especially Max, who has been through hell and back for the last year and who he just wants to protect so bad.
Max is used to being the responsible adult and looking out for herself, so letting go of the responsibility and letting Steve Harrington, of all people, make sure she’s safe is really difficult for her at first.
I’m 100% convinced that Max’s letter to Steve is so sappy. It’s full of the things she was never brave enough to say to him.
She thanks him for looking out for her, for being the best big brother in the entire world.
By the time she’s finished writing it, the ink is slightly smudged by the tears rolling off her cheeks and onto the paper.
Then, in delicate handwriting, she signs it: “Your baby sister, Max”
My favorite headcannons in my Stranger Things Fic:
Will hates that El's birthday is celebrated on November 6th (she picked it), but then he forgets that it's the day he goes missing so he moves on. She only picked that date because it's usually seen as bad so she wanted to make him happy
Back in California, Will and El used to split the time they spent with Sean. Will gets Monday and Tuesday, El gets Thursday and Friday, and he hangs out with both on Wednesdays. On the weekends, he spends time with Argyle.
Furthermore, Sean met them because he threw a book at Will's head. He was aiming for Angela, but she dodged it. He got two weeks' detention and met them after Argyle did. Will fell for him the same day he got hit.
Eleven likes to be called Jane more than "El" but she keeps it as a nickname.
Mike spent a whole day at Max's house complaining about how much he dislikes Sean.
Sean's real birth name is Ignacio De La Cruz. His birth mother is white Dominican and his biological dad is Afro-Dominican. His mother was shot four times because she broke into the lab repeatedly to get him back. She's alive, lives in Indianapolis, and is still looking for him.
Angela and Sean used to be friends but that was before he was outed. El and Will know nothing about this story.
Sean knows Spanish but no one knows how. In fact, no one in the adopted family taught him Spanish. He started speaking it one day and they just went along with it.
Dr. Roseanne, their therapist, believes that Sean and El are on the neurodivergent spectrum. They both have varying severities of ADHD, autism, BPD, PTSD, depression, and anxiety. She knows not to diagnose them just yet.
Sean would identify as genderfluid if he grew up in 2024.
Ana Maria was arrested because Sean and Mateo had found a dead body in their backyard and had moved it. She confessed to killing the man and got the charges dropped from her brothers.
The man died form heroin overdose
Eleven gets irregular periods. Jonathan was there when she got her first one. She was terrified.
Eleven and Will were taught how to surf by Argyle. Jonathan would take videos of them while Sean suntanned (he doesn't need to tan at all but he can't swim).
Elliot calls Max daily to complain about Lucas's gentle and unbearable physical affection. She laughs every time.
Erica loves Lucas. And she tells him every night before she goes off to bed. (She's terrified of losing him after Vecna)
Erica and Melanie are very close and do each other's hair.
Will, Eleven, and Mike go to NYU. Sean goes to Cal U School of Arts. Max enters the workforce and become a tattoo apprentice. Dustin and Lucas get into Perdue. Elliot and Melanie join them a year later.
Steve has been in love with Jonathan since he punched him back in S1.
The Guerreros are incredibly rich. Their dad owns the Sufer Boy Pizza Franchise, and Argyle just likes to smoke weed and make pizza.
Their majors are Double Major in Fine Arts & Art History (Will); Double Major in Business & English (Mike); Fashion Design (Eleven); Double Major in Theater Arts & Art History (Sean); Architectural Science (Lucas); Computer Science (Dustin); Sports and Physical Therapy (Elliot); Writing and Journalism (Melanie)
Suzie becomes ex-Mormon
Max is such an underrated gem of the show
Seriously. She is a literal badass, she is smart, she is brave, she stands up for herself, calls out everyday sexism and really doesn’t need to hang out with boys to feel cool. She is into a lot of stuff that is considered "boyish" , yet she doesn’t feel embarassed to like things like shopping, clothes and etc. Max helps El realise that the world is not all about boys and spending time with your boyfriend. She teaches her not to endorse bad treatment and to have fun on her own. Max is a delightful and incredible character and we all should appreciate her more. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk
I swear imma wake up tmr just to find out that the Trailer just dropped randomly and 2 AM CUZ WHERE THE FREAK IS IT?!?!?!?!?!??!.!
Imagine if vecna has a favourite song
Welp my phone is abt to die so BYE EVRYB-
Byler 4 life
Nah imagine if this is ALL just a scheme to get people talking about stranger things 💀💀
STILL HAVE HOPE THO!!!
Little meme I made!! Idk if someone has made this meme before but DONT COME AT ME 😭😭😭😭 (also this was made in like 2022 so trust me I have better humour now....maybe)
STRANGER THINGS S5 IS SO CLOSE GUYS THEYRR ALMOST WRAPPING UP PRODUCTION RN, IT DOESNT TAKE THAT LONG TO EDIT STUFF (LIKE IT SHOULDN'T TAKE A YEAR) SO ITS MOST LIKELY COMINV IN EARLY TO MIDDLE 2025, I CANT FRICKIN WAIT AHAGSWUAJANA
“you can’t even look at me!”
CW: blood, very mild gore i think
based on this theory of mine giggles
i rlly enjoyed working on this a LOTTTT hope you guys like it<3
also feel free to write fics or draw my design of bonkers will or whatever you guys wanna call him cause i think he looks cool👍
