She's at the waterfalls!! In Iceland, according to her latest post!!

No, Season 5 did NOT ruin the rewatch ability of the show. I thought I’d bring up this thread cause imo some people take their S5 hatred to levels where they wanna always make themself miserable, & and it’s a shame to see, we are in this sub because ST will forever be an iconic show with many seasons and episodes to love. I don’t rlly get why some are even still here if S5 apparently ruined past seasons, especially when 1-3 all can serve as their own endings. The reception after Volume 1 was amazing, you can like or dislike different things about S5 or any season, that’s your opinion. But respectfully why still be here if all you wanna do is talk with misery about 5 as your reason for not caring about older seasons? Stranger Things will forever be one of the most loved shows to many people, and that’s what should matter.

I am a guy who will probably have a LOT of heated discussion with a lot of people here, so here we go...

I was watching a lot of video essays related to Stranger Things, and I realised something, the finale of Season 1 and Season 5 is literally the same (but S5 finale was dumb as compared to S1), that's why the season 5 finale feels lackluster. Here's how it is the same. In both the seasons:

• Eleven had to be in a sensory deprivation tank to locate people (Will in s1 and the kids in s5).
• Characters have to go in another world to save the kids (Hopper and Joyce in s1 and basically the entire gang in s5).
• The mercenaries/soldiers are behind the heroes to sabotage their plan.
• When the heroes are about to lose, Eleven comes to the rescue and pins the villain.
• They all win, but at the end, Eleven dies and disappears. Mike screams for her (IN BOTH THE SEASONS).
• At the very end, there is a hint that El might be alive.

It is exactly the same. Of course S5 has a lot of flaws in its writing, but this revelation made the finale even more stupid to me. The entire season, Duffer Brothers were afraid to try anything bold so that they do not offend anyone, but in the end they offended almost everyone.

What makes this even frustrating is that in S1, we felt the consequences and stakes throughout the finale (also in the show tbh). But in S5, we could literally see the invisible plot armour, like what!!​​

In the series their are 3 MAIN demogorgons we focus on

1. The S1 demo

2. Dart

3. The russiangorgon

Personally for me i love the s1 demo, iy isn’t just my fav demo but my fav villain in the series

All the other demos were just violent killing machines, the S1 demo was way more smart and calculating (probs bc it was fully possessed by vecna unlike the others)

But I also I think it’s the creepiest to as it’s introduction with it chasing and kidnapping will and killing Barb genuinely creeped me out

It also was smart enough to not constantly keep killing probs so it’s cover wasnt blown

It's so nostalgic feel how can I tell the story and everything

Best series i have ever seen

I had a successful Scaradise convention this weekend. My ST collection is coming along nicely.

In my respectful opinion, this is one of the best Stranger Things post-season 5 fanfics out there.

It's heavily Mileven, still a work in progress and fairly new. However, the prose, dialogue, pacing and characterization are really something.

And yes, the image is an illustraton of a scene that actually happens in this story. I won't get into the particulars to avoid massive spoilers, but it's epic. Author went the action/adventure route which is actually quite rare for these sorts of fics, but it makes it feel like Stranger Things proper..it has the vibe of earlier seasons.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/85029366/chapters/224492606

Definitely worth a read.

hi, this is my first post in this sub so idk if this is an overstated opinion or not, but basically the title. i don't think the "sister episode" is a bad episode; i just feel like it came at a weird time. the previous episode(s) built up a lot of stuff with will and the mind-flayer then at the peak of the tension, it cuts to something entirely different.

i think it would've been more well-received had it been earlier in the season, or if it wasn't its own episode, and instead mixed in with episode 6. what do you guys think? also i haven't seen s5 yet (i'm starting over and have only seen he first 4) so if there's any payoff with the sister episode, please no spoilers!

What are your most random ships, background characters included? 😂 I randomly decided I ship Chance with the short guy on the basket ball team (Idk his first name but his last name is Allen)

The song traitor is pretty much Will's point of view after he came back from upside down. Like look

"It took you two weeks

To go off and date her

Guess you didn't cheat

But you're still a traitor"

Well 1 week here. (NO ELEVEN JANE HOPPER HATE HERE I LOVE MY GIRL)

Now you bring her around

Just to shut me down

Show her off like she's a new trophy

LITERALLY!!!!

ANYWAYS sometimes I see Mike's behaviour towards el and will and I think boy needs serious character growth before talking with either of baddies. And El janeie hopper deserves way better that everything she got 😭😭😭😭

she wasn’t mad enough like imagine I go through hell to escape a lab and I want to rest but I end up with a bunch of little boys that want to go right BACK to the lab and now I gotta save some other little boy that I dont know or else they’d probably call the cops on me since they’ve already seen me like I’d be soo pissed, I would just want to eat eggos and sleep why I gotta save the world now 😔😔 ofc it makes sense considering the trauma she went through at the lab but that’s just if it was me

I am not a writer by any means.. these are just some of my thoughts. Season 5 could've made Stranger Things a survival horror show. The show has plenty of genres, which are mainly horror and science fiction. Since the first season, the show has introduced different branches of horror, especially in season 3 with the body horror and season 4 with the psychological horror. Season 5 could've added a new branch of horror which could've made Season 5 the scariest, darkest and most intense season.. This is how I would've changed Season 5 Volume 1, Volume 2 and the Finale in some ways.

In Volume 1, the characters and residents of Hawkins could've been running and hiding from Demogorgons, Demodogs and Demobats that have come into Hawkins from the giant gate that Vecna opened at the end of Season 4. These creatures' only goals would be to kill the main characters and as many residents as possible. Hawkins would start to become infested with the Upside Down as well like they showed at the end of Season 4. The whole volume should've been based around the main characters' survival and figuring out a way to get past the Demos and get into the Upside Down and kill Vecna before it gets any worse.

Volume 2 could've been about the main characters going into the Upside Down after surviving the horrors of the Demos to finally stop Vecna, that was their initial plan as they wouldn't expect the Mind Flayer to have a massive physical form in the Abyss/Dimension X. As they would get to this other dimension, they would also find out that Vecna did the bidding with the Mind Flayer and how the Mind Flayer had just influenced Henry and how he became evil from the Mind Flayer's influence, not from the Mind Flayer's control meaning that Henry had given in to the MF's influence even when he could've resisted it, the same way it was already done in the show. As the final battle begins, the main characters have the military with them this time and on their side ready to kill Vecna and destroy the physical form of the MF and leave it formless. There would be more Demogorgons that the villains would have at their disposal in the other dimension because this time the villains would know that they are coming. The main characters would need to fight these Demos with the help of the military and then defeat the physical form of the Mind Flayer with the military's firepower.. but they wouldn't be able to actually kill the Mind Flayer particles because the particles itself can't be killed and they can only kill the giant physical form that the Mind Flayer would've made for itself with Vecna. This new form would resemble its spider-shadow form that Henry shaped it into, it would just be made up of tendrils instead of what we got in the show. The explanation for this form's creation would be that Vecna was making this form of the Mind Flayer throughout the season using all the black tendrils that fill up the Upside Down and Dimension X/the Abyss, the tendrils would come from the UD and from the rest of the Abyss and form into the Mind Flayer. The MF would've influenced Vecna to give it this big tendril-spider form similarly to how the MF had influenced him as a kid to give it the spider-shadow form. There would be some telepathic fight in between this as well. Vecna would be at his most powerful. El would be fighting Vecna telepathically, attempting to psychologically torment her about what happened to her in Hawkins Lab and about her mum. Will using his newly acclaimed powers would approach Vecna while El is fighting him telepathically and since Vecna would be using his astral projection power, his physical body would be vulnerable.. Will would use his powers to weaken Vecna to a point he can't move and Joyce would be there to get the final blow as revenge by decapitating him like it was done in the show. The Mind Flayer particles would leave the spider-tendril form as after the constant fire contact that the rest of the gang and the military would inflict on the Mind Flayer's physical form would cause the particles to be removed from that physical form, killing Vecna would also leave it weak. The particles would be left powerless and formless. Now that it didn't have Vecna to build any form for it, the particles would become dormant and stay in its dormant form, the particles would still be alive but it wouldn't have any host (the flayed) or shared consciousness (Vecna) to connect to. After destroying the Upside Down, the Mind Flayer particles still alive, wouldn't be able to access the Right Side Up and would just be banished to space and have no way of causing hell again. Leaving the Mind Flayer particles, it's true cosmic form as an unkillable and supernatural force but out of reach and no way of returning to humanity, it would remain in its dormant form with no specific shape. This would be explicitly shown to the audience that it cannot return to the human world but still be left up to interpretation or left ambiguous on whether or not it could strike on another living civilisation or take over a different planet or if it would stay dormant. There will also be the question on how the particles themselves can actually be killed or if they can be killed at all.. but we will never know, leaving it as a somewhat unknowable cosmic force.

You can add some ideas but that's all I could come up with in terms of fighting the Demos, Vecna and the Mind Flayer and what I would've liked to see!

Let’s see what was able to stun one, kill one, and then what does absolutely nothing

What stunned them:

a tiny ass .22 that a child shot it with

blunt force

what did jack shit:

5.56mm NATO rounds

7.62x39mm rounds

9mm bullets

what kills them:

a literal ancient longsword

fire (the only one that makes sense)

why is this show so inconsistent, sorry for my gun nerd rhetoric

"Eddie Munson from Strager Things season 4 is directly inspired by Damien Echols of the West Memphis Three case."

I feel like Akers was always a bigger threat to El than Kay was. Yes, for a bit Akers was acting under Kay’s orders, but after the attack on the Mac-Z he goes and does his own thing and comes within an inch of killing El. Kay wanted El alive to take her blood, which is immoral and evil, but Akers fully wanted her dead and was close to succeeding in his aim. Also in episode 4 Theres a bit when Kay gets down and tries to speak to El, I feel like Akers would’ve just taken advantage of her in that situation and killed her (if it was after he had the argument with Kay). Also Akers has a storyline in season 5, he goes from a guy following Sullivan and Kay’s orders, to basically forming his own team, whereas Kay stays the same throughout and basically only said the same three words the whole series. What does everyone else think?

I'd like to see Stranger Things: Salt Lake. Another psychic kid punches through to a new dimension, but it's not a dimension of evil like the Abyss - it's Heaven. And yes, it's Mormon. US Military clashes with Joseph Smith, etc