Mike Wheeler - Blog Posts

I’ve been consumed by owm I made more fanart :)

It’s owm byler meeting canon byler idk what i did i just did it

They’re so silly 🫶

(Also what do you mean there was a scrip I can’t find it anywhere 😭)

Finally got the balls to read owm (one wheat mark) it was something I mean wow

The characters are so different compared to the show but it was interesting to read anyway I made some fanart

Idk personally the story it’s self was interesting and I would have been curious to see how it would have kept going but Ronnie stoped, what stuck with me was Mike smoking weed anyway it kinda reminded me of the kids ik around mikes age (in show and comic? 13 I think) and I realized how many kids nowadays do similar stuff I don’t think I know anyone who does weed but I do know a lot of kids who smoke and vape and it was very scary to think about.

Happy birthday Mike wheeler 🫶🫶🫶

My baby 😭😭 he is me I am himmmmm

(Bonus byler bc I did this for will bday too)

I loveeeeeee them 💙💛

Ok I had this idea..

My art style/skills are not giving them justice

and I have no idea if someone has done this before because I’ve never seen it

anyway guys please draw them I feel like others might do it better and tag me if you will (I have no idea if you can but still)

Byler week

I didn’t get the chance to do anything for byler week (kinda because I only found out about it on Thursday) so I’ll just post all my Byler drawings to make up for it

(please ignore horrible quality and how weird they look😢)

happy birthday will byersss 🫶🫶🫶

I love him so much

(I can’t believe he’s like 50 something rn)

+bonus old byler drawing bc will deserves all the love in the world

(Ignoring low quality pls😭😭)

first post let’s gooo

Adding this to my very tiny list of reasons to like Mike.

Also adding this to my "Duffer Brothers WHY" list.

Mike is the party’s problem creator, and that is why he is so vital to the party's success.

Let me explain.

I’m not talking about him creating real problems. I’m talking about D&D.

Mike is the dungeon-master. He creates plot. He creates opponents. He creates problems and snares and tricks for the other players to face. We even see in one of the tie-in comics that he plotted out a campaign specifically with the intention to give Will the chance to feel like a hero instead of a victim (the Thessalhydra campaign) after his trauma in the UD, which mean he had to consider skills, inventories, weaponry, opponent strengths and weaknesses, and more, all to funnel toward a scene where Will gets to kill the Thessalhydra without making it obvious and patronizing.

So when it comes to making plans regarding the UD, Mike is brilliant and he is necessary. He’s the one who figures out El is taking about an alternate dimension because he thinks outside the box and isn’t hindered by conventional logic. He considers all sides. He’s the only one to view Will’s True Sight as a power that allows him to become a superspy—a change in perspective that helps Will save Hopper and in turn saves Hop, Joyce, Mike, and Owens at the lab. Only Mike knew Will was a spy and needed to be sedated, and if he hadn’t been there, Spy!Will would have known where they were at all times and the demodogs would have killed them all. Not only that, but he came up with the shed plan and was the first time bring up that closing the gate would kill Will.

Dustin is the one who proposes they distract the demodogs for El and Hop, but here’s the problem. His plan to lure Dart to the junkyard and Steve’s input on this plan—inspired by what he’d seen Nancy and Jonathan do in s1 with the gasoline trail—took forever. It was a smart plan, but it left them incredibly vulnerable and trapped in a small space, and in the end required Steve to go out into the open. It didn’t account for the possibility that there might be more demodogs, and it left part of the bus (the top hatch) exposed. It also doesn't account for an escape plan.

It’s very similar to what they do in s4 with Eddie’s trailer in the UD: fortify, lure, hide. Except they forgot to account for the vents (like the top hatch) and in the end, Eddie ran out into the open and was overwhelmed by the sheer number of the demobats. The main difference is that they did have an escape route (the trailergate) except they don't have the ability to close the trailergate, so they're still vulnerable.

So while we don’t know what Dustin’s plan would have been to distract the demodogs if Mike hadn’t been there, we still know that they needed Mike’s knowledge of the hive mind and the tunnels and the weakness to fire (beyond just a general “oh fire is a good weapon” knowledge like Nancy and Jonathan stumbled into in s1 and that Steve tried to replicate in s2, but a for-sure “fire is its weakness” knowledge that Mike gains at the lab) in order to pull off this plan successfully. Dustin’s idea to distract and his emotional connection to Dart in particular protects them, but Mike’s knowledge and outside-the-box thinking is vital. It’s likely that he’s even the one to make them all wear goggles and bandanas because he probably saw Hopper coughing and wheezing after prolonged exposure to the toxic air and knew that he’d needed to be hosed down at the lab. His plan is also a get-in-get-out plan, meaning he intended for them to get in, wreak havoc, and then immediately get tf out safely. Mike plans for after the attack as well.

In s3, Mike knows they need to act as fast as possible in regards to Billy because he has experience with a Flayed individual—the only one out of the kids’ party other than Will who actually experienced Will being Flayed. All the other kids only showed after he’d already been sedated, and only Mike was in the shed with Hop and the Byers once he woke up (and then and to be sedated again). Everyone else doubts, everyone else hesitates, but Mike and Will know they need to act now—they can’t sit and wait for information, they need to create a scenario to give them information. So Mike creates one: The Sauna Plan.

This isn't to say that Dustin isn't smart! He's incredibly intelligent! But Dustin is more science-minded and doesn't think outside of the box as naturally as Mike does. And this is why they're most successful when they work together.

Dustin has a ton of D&D knowledge, but he doesn’t really apply it until prompted. I can think of at least 2 instances where Mike describes a supernatural occurrence in detail and then Dustin names it with a D&D reference. Mike explains what he thinks El means by flipping the board over and he suggests/describes an alternate dimension, and then Dustin says, “like the Vale of Shadows.” In s2, Mike describes in detail the hive mind and how it works, and then Dustin says, “like the Mind Flayer.” Dustin is able to label but he doesn’t understand before being able to label it like Mike does. In fact, Dustin doesn't question why Vecna is creating the gates until Erica prompts it – if Mike had been there, this question would've undoubtedly been prompted much sooner because Mike asks a billion questions all the time (for example, "Why would he give me a pen that doesn't work?")

Dustin and Nancy actually approach problems in a very similar way. When Nancy encountered the Demogorgon in the UD, she started looking through a science book to rationalize it in terms she understood. Dustin did the exact same thing when he found Dart – he went to the library and did research on amphibians and pollywogs. Both times, they found valuable information! Nancy was able to figure out that the Demogorgon was attracted to blood and Dustin figured out that Dart would continue to molt and is heat-sensitive. But in s2, Mike is the one who took Will's knowledge and experience seriously and accepts right away that Dart is from the UD, and treats Dart as a serious potential danger even before they know he's a demodog.

Nancy is also incredibly intelligent, and she's a fighter through-and-through. I adore her! But here's the thing about Nancy: she hates feeling powerless. She hates being emotionally vulnerable in a way that makes her look weak. She can be emotionally vulnerable in an affectionate way and be okay with that! But she hates being vulnerable in a way where she feels hurt and scared and grieving, and when she feels this way, she feels the intense need to Immediately act and stomp out what’s making her feel that way. We see it in s1 where after she learns about Barb’s death, she wants to immediately go back and kill the Demogorgon.

Nancy prefers the direct approach, even when that's not the best choice. Her choosing the direct approach against Vecna required a lot of time they didn't have trekking across the UD, and it didn't account for what would happen if they got snagged in the vines. In fact, her approach is very similar to Hopper's in s2 when he goes to the tunnels for the first time! He chooses to be direct and it nearly kills him because he didn't plan for backup and can't free himself from the vines without external aid.

And the more I think about it, the more I suspect that Vecna gave Nancy the vision of his plan and her family dying specifically to make her emotionally vulnerable and therefore impulsive and brash and direct.

And in s4, we see what happens when Mike isn’t there to challenge Dustin's logical, science-based thinking and Nancy's direct, brash attack style – when Mike isn't there to present outside-the-box thinking and see the problem from all angles:

The demobats get into the "fortified" trailer, Eddie goes out into the open and dies, Nancy & Co. get immobilized by vines, they only prepared one music source for Max and so when her Walkman is destroyed, she's wholly and utterly vulnerable, and if it weren't for El piggybacking from the other side of the country, she would've died permanently.

The one time Mike isn't in Hawkins, they fail.

Mike, the dungeon-master, is a problem creator, so he is vital to the party's ability to solve problems.

HEAR ME OUT:

Jonathan can't sleep in the same room as Nancy in her mom's house, Karen probably is not that chill. So Mike decides that Jonathan can have his room and he can sleep in the basement with Will.

Imagine them hanging out/sleeping under that little fort that Mike had in S2. Just imagine

joyce is in karen’s house… because the byers had no where to stay… which means will is also there… which means will living with mike real

i think about this and how there's no heterosexual explanation for it every single day

"We're friends" not as "I don't want to be any more than friends" but "We're friends" as in "not having you in my life is painful and I need to know that we still have a connection"

Stop it Mike knows and he knew since El kissed him at the end of season 3 cuz he realized he’d miss Will more than her and that caused some realization within him which he later tried to shove down instead of embracing and that’s why he was weird in season 4 towards Will, emphasizing they were “friends”

I'll see myself out

im joining the stranger things textposts party

platonic madwheeler platonic madwheeler platonic madwheeler platonic madwheeler platonic madwheeler platonic madwheeler platonic madwheeler platoni

Spreading my madwheeler bi agenda.

some christmas byler for you guys

Some little Byer drawings cause I can't finish anything

this was written as foreshadowing that they are going to end up together lol

you don't put this in a (queer) romantic coded conversation where Will is looking at him like he's completely smitten

and they JUST had a flirty exchange with each other

...opening the options of "will they, won't they" to the viewers, if you don't plan to do anything with the ship!

Will even took the painting because he had a little hope blossom in his heart after this conversation, even against all odds (in his mind)

Oooh this is inspiring me to write some poetry about Mike's love for Will and how El feels like a momentary placeholder after Will disappeared

The Cyrano Trope & Byler

The byler painting lie is such a clear example of a literary trope where a character receives some form of courtship that makes them feel "in love", however the character does not know the true identity of WHO they got it from. 

This trope has a full fledged name called "Playing Cyrano". It comes from a famous french play from 1897 about a character named Cyrano, who felt that the love of his life, Roxane, would never love him back because he was not good looking enough. Still, he tries to find the courage to convey his love to Roxane through a love letter (think~ painting) and this is what happens: 

(link to full article)

Will is the one "playing Cyrano" here for El, as a means to make Mike happy, help Mike and El's relationship, and also to secretly convey his own feelings for Mike in the process. 

This trope very obviously ends with Roxane (Mike) falling for Cyrano (Will) upon learning the true identity behind the letters (painting/van speech). 

And it's also precisely why Mike makes the expressions he makes at Will in the van; why his eyes shine with awe, why he takes breathless gulps as Will speaks, the whole nine yards. 

I've spent a long time wondering why Finn Wolfhard acted the way he did in the van scene (the expressions he makes are VERY distinct and emotive, he was given clear acting directions for it), and this is the most concrete reason why: The writers/directors here were trying to show us how Mike is perceiving Will's gift and words, and what it's making Mike feel. The van scene is not ONLY about Will, but about Mike's feelings too!!!

Mike's expressions in the van scene clearly tell the audience that he feels like he's falling in love all over again. It's giving him hope for his relationship with El. It's making him forget about his insecurities with her, and making him feel needed and loved. 

And the obvious catch here is that it's all Will doing that. Not El. And that's the missing piece to how they're going to segue into byler in season 5. 

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Beyond Stranger Things, obviously the idea of 'Playing Cyrano' has been adapted for literally over a hundred of years, into hundreds of stories, cementing it as a trope in romance plotlines. Here are just a few other examples:

Ben and Beverly from It

Ben gives Beverly a poem, but she thinks it's from Bill and ends up with Bill in the first movie. In the second movie she learns who the poem is really from and rightfully ends up with Ben.

Olivia and Sebastian from She's the Man

Olivia quickly falls for Sebastian while reading a sheet of song lyrics he wrote. But she thinks the lyrics are written by his twin who is disguised as Sebastian at the time. She spends most of the movie chasing after his twin, but eventually finds out the truth and ends up with Sebastian. 

Ellie and Aster from The Half Of It

Ellie agrees to help a jock named Paul write letters to his crush Aster. Ellie is in love with Aster and communicates it through the letters under Paul's name. This helps Paul and Aster's relationship a lot and they begin to date. Eventually Aster finds out the real person behind the letters, which leads to Ellie and Aster ending up together.

I especially love how the Cyrano trope is used in this story, because it shows how easily the trope can be molded to fit the queer perspective: in the original, Cyrano believes his love will never be reciprocated because he's not attractive enough. While in the Half of It, Ellie believes her love will never be reciprocated because of her gender.

Otis and Maeve from Sex Education 

Otis plays Cyrano for Jackson who is hooking up with Maeve at the time. Otis is in love with Maeve and knows everything about her, and essentially meshes with her perfectly. But he's too insecure to confess to her. Meanwhile, Jackson doesn't mesh with Maeve super well, and gets Otis to play Cyrano (eg. Otis telling Jackson Maeve's favourite books) . Maeve and Jackson end things when she finds out the truth about Otis's involvement, and her/Otis are the main couple of this series. 

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Overall the moral behind Cyrano's story is about how love at first sight is foolish and that appearances are not the basis of true love. 

Reading about this trope struck me with the thought that maybe this is why the writers forcibly shoved El and Mike into the love at first sight trope— even when it doesn't totally fit Mike's behaviour or words in S1E2 (after he sees El the first time, he does not behave like someone "in love" at all and plans to send her away). 

In most cases of the Cyrano trope, the love that exists between the "wrong" pairing is mainly based off of physical appearance and cyrano's masked courtship. There is little else holding them together. So by writing Mike declare that it was "love at first sight", it makes me question the whole basis of his love for El and how superficial it might be. I mean sorry Mike, how did you know you loved her the moment you saw her? You didn't even know anything about her. Meanwhile there's an undeniable depth to byler's bond— their friendship deepened and evolved over the course of many years, and it's anything but superficial.

(Side note: this trope sometimes involves Cyrano actively aiding the other love interest -Christian/El- but sometimes does not. In byler's case it does not. Will does not directly plan with El to woo Mike, and instead uses her name to an unknowing Mike to help their relationship. This trope can be executed a million different ways, but the main point is: the one in Roxane's role doesn't know who is causing their feelings of love)