YMMV / Tell Me Why

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Played With in the story itself with Mary-Ann. A driving focus of the game is how people saw and interpreted her. Despite the twin's opinion on Mary-Ann, a lot of the residents of Delos Crossing still openly express disbelief that she would have purposely tried to kill one of her children. The final main choice boils down to whether they continue to believe that Mary-Ann was going to kill Tyler and potentially Alyson, being unable to cope with the thought they might be taken away from her; or after learning more about her, her life and the circumstances of that night, whether they choose to accept that Mary-Ann loved them and that her death was a tragic mistake.
  • Was Tom really just stopping by to check up on Mary-Ann on that fateful night, as he claims? Or did he have more sinister motives? Given that it was mainly Tessa who took care of the Ronans, despite the twins being his children, and that he had threatened to have the twins taken away only a few nights prior, it seems unlikely that he'd visit them merely out of the goodness of his heart.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: In Chapter 2, the twins unlock a memory of them pretending the Mad Hunter was chasing them, only for him to appear in the room for real, seemingly out of nowhere. The incident is never brought up after the memory is unlocked and unlike most of the supernatural occurrences in the story, this doesn't get explained by the end. Even more confusing, since the story heavily implies that the Mad Hunter is supposed to be a metaphor for Mary-Ann's mental illness, meaning he has no real-life counterpart whom the twins could have mistaken for him. However, the Mad Hunter did turn out to be Real After All as Tom, at least for when Tyler saw him while running away from Mary-Ann.
• Fan Nickname: Quickly garnered the nickname of Life Is Strange 3, due to being a supernatural dialogue choice game from DONTNOD Entertainment with a heavy LGBTQ+ and Coming of Age focus. Some players even choose to view it as the "real" Life Is Strange 2 after the actual one was very divisive for its change in formula.
• Genius Bonus: While the Army veteran applying for the police department might seem at first glance to be qualified, his paperwork says differently. His discharge paper indicates General Under Honorable Conditions, a discharge typically given for misconduct that doesn't break any civilian laws, implying he may be a troublemaker who doesn't follow the rules. His resume states that he was responsible for his subordinates, but his rank (Private First Class) is one of the lowest ranks in the army, and he would not have any subordinates, only fellow soldiers of lower rank, indicating that he is either lying or heavily exaggerating his role in the army.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Alyson remarks early on that she has considered getting rid of a DVD box set she owns, since she could stream them anytime she wants. This sounds foolhardy barely three years later, when it became common for streaming platforms to remove programs from their services without warning, even highly-acclaimed ones, leaving people with no legitimate way to watch them.
• Jerkass Woobie: Tyler can be pretty cold to his sister as well as the residents of Delos Crossing, but seeing as he grew up trans in a community that felt uncomfortable about it at best and viewed it as "confusion" at worst, you can kinda get why he doesn't hold them in the highest regard. Especially Eddy, who separated Allyson and Tyler for seven years after they both had just gone through a traumatic experience and needed each other more than ever.
• LGBT Fanbase: Has garnered one due to having an explicitly and unabashedly Transgender protagonist. And being a Life Is Strange game in all but name meant that there was an in-built LGBTQ+ audience already following the developers, of course.
  • There's also Michael, an openly gay man and Alyson's best friend who develops romantic feelings for Tyler, and can optionally become his Love Interest. They even discuss moving in together (with Alyson, but still) and at least one of the potential endings reveals that they did just that, with or without Alyson.
  • Sapphic women have also responded positively to Alyson, despite her apparently identifying as cishet: picking up on a few subtle hints that she might be bisexual or lesbian and just closeted (or genuinely unaware of her sexuality), it's become a popular bit of Fanfic Fuel to imagine her finding her Closet Key after the events of the game. The fact that, unlike Tyler, she doesn't get a romantic subplot anywhere in the game surely adds even more fuel; as does being voiced by openly bisexual VA Erica Lindbeck.
• Memetic Mutation: Drawing parallels between the game's title and the Backstreet Boys song "I Want It That Way" is a pretty popular running gag. Just look at the main page.
• Spiritual Successor: Despite not being part of the Life Is Strange series, many if not most fans of that franchise still view it so unofficially due to having young adults with superpowers and a strong LBGT presence in the characters. Depending on your perspective, it either feels like what Life Is Strange 2 should have been, or would have made a worthy Life is Strange 3.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Alexander, the tourist visiting Delos Crossing for hunting season, stands out among the game's cast as the only character neither twin has a pre-existing relationship with. His aggressive demeanor and association with hunting make it seem like he's somehow connected to The Mad Hunter, the antagonist of the Book of Goblins who's heavily implied to be either the twins' biological father or the private detective Mary-Ann's parents sent to look for her. In the end, he has absolutely no bearing on the story at all and disappears completely after his second appearance, appearing in the third chapter only as a voice from Eddy's office.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Tyler. His ability to guilt Alyson into doing things that are clearly hurting her mentally (to various potential degrees) makes him able to be viewed as a self-involved jerk.
    • This isn't helped by the fact that most of the actions that can break the bond between the twins involve Alyson disagreeing with Tyler, implying that he is right in most of their interactions and Alyson's options are either wrong or superfluous.
  • Similarly, Alyson's constant refusal to actually investigate what went on that night and insistence that it doesn't matter, despite knowing how important it is for Tyler, can come off as a bit self-centered. It doesn't help that she's always acting snappy about it when Tyler broaches the subject, and at one point seems to make Tyler's remaining trauma all about herself and how she feels about the ordeal. Her unconditional defense of Eddy despite his faults and questionable actions (such as lying about her admission into a university program) can feel irritating as well, especially when she downplays Tyler's anger over his choice to separate them for seven years.
  • Depending on your perspective, Mary-Ann is this, as her backstory revealed over the course of the game doesn’t necessarily serve as an excuse for her behavior toward her children while she was alive.

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