I’ll Make a Man Out of You | Mike-centric Byler animatic (CWs in desc)

Content Warnings: Bright colours, mild fantasy violence, brief depictions of (FAKE) blood, and fictional use of weaponry.
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Duration this took: 2 and a half months (essentially my whole summer lmao)

Basically in short: set in some fanon version of s5 about Mike’s journey with insecurity and how he has to face it by gaining confidence to be his true self, which he gains once he’s reminded he’s the Heart.

ik I haven’t posted one of these in like a year. crazy right lol. well at least this time it acc has a fairly consistent art style cuz I actually bothered using a fixed reference sheet for the characters — woo improvement

yeah this has the perspective of Mike possibly being a sad insecure closeted queer dude 😭 if you don’t agree cool, if u agree cool i reached my target audience then, yay awesome. either way no beefing in the comments from anyone, i dont wanna see it lmao
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Premise:
Paladin Mike is leading the Party into battle against a three headed dragon — but fears that he might not be a worthy enough leader to aid the Party into battle and keep them safe. He stays behind, worried he might cause their demise.

Mike in reality, is paired up with Will in the UD, but they have to split up for mission reasons (you decide lol). Mike’s been wanting to tell Will he loves him and confront him about the Painting (he knows about the Painting Lie at this point) — but keeps holding back, fearing he will lose Will once his feelings are out due to 80s societal attitudes and internalized homophobia.

Both Mikes are reminded by both their versions of Will that they are the Heart and gain confidence from that love to stop holding back because of insecurity: Paladin delivers a blow to one of the dragon heads to aid the Party, proving he is a worthy leader + Mike confronts Will about the Painting, and confesses to him that he loves him.

Mike’s own hope, in a turn of events, gives Will his hope back to be loved back the way he’s always wanted but thought he never could be — and they kiss, knowing they don’t have to feel so alone in their struggles anymore.

Color Motif Stuff:
- the warm (oranges and reds) palette is associated with Paladin Mike and the D&D setting
- the colder (blues) palette is for Real Mike and the UD setting
- Yellow represents confidence/hope in general
^^but Blue + Yellow also represent Byler at some points for fun mostly lol

Other:
- Paladin and Mike mirror one another with their insecurities (rlly obvious but im still saying it to make that clear)
- Mike's expressions during his "I love you" to Will, I actually referenced from when he said the same to El in his S4 monologue. Only to look more genuine because it is. lol
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I’ll Make a Man Out of You, song from Mulan (1998).
Characters (well except the horse I guess) from Stranger Things by the Duffer Brothers.
(All rights belong to the owners, I don’t own their content, only the art. This was just for entertainment purposes only. Also, please don’t repost, sharing is fine but with credit and linking back to my channel/don’t trace/don’t claim as your own by the way, you’d make a random stranger on the internet upset :(.)