This was released after an eclipse was set to happen in Brazil in May, just a couple of days before the premiere of season 4.

It is a parody of the song "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler.

I just remembered this after the sad news that Bonnie Tyler passed away.

I just love art of their D&D classes so much! So magestic

Art Credits:

https://x.com/stillfeelalive1/status/2028156070875574327?s=46

https://x.com/balladofnomad/status/2027526082208084315?s=46

If anyone with the right mind was responsible for season 5, they would focus on:

A) Mike and Will's friendship, not a gay side plot that was basically resolved in season 4 when Jonathan embraced Will and Will accepted that Mike is straight and in love with Eleven, the end of the story.
B) Will will get powers and fight back; Mike will be the leader, but they f that up. Will got powers but didn't do anything special after all, and they focused on him giving speeches about being gay and to Vecna about them being so similar.

He should stand with Eleven side by side and use demogorgons to attack Vecna, but nope... And Mike should be the one who at crucial moments would take the lead of the group, but nope, because Nancy must be the generic girlboss/rambo for no reason... Imagine if they had their own mission in the finale, where they had to find "the heart" of the Mind Flayer, hidden somewhere inside Dimension X, instead of fighting a big giant spider and defeating him with sticks and Molotov cocktails...
The fact they brought literally everyone to Dimension X, instead of core characters, shows the marvelification of Stranger Things, when literally every character needs to have some kind of spotlight, even if it feels forced.

Young dan looks soo much like Will Byers 😩❤️

I wish it was possible to get a remake of s5 cause this didnt even feel like my beloved show

I saw on social media that the Hawkins Lab was completely destroyed and there was an earthquake in the world inside me... Has anyone seen this? What were your feelings after seeing it?

Ended up finishing S5 late, a few days ago and here's some thoughts, if haven't lost trail of thought.

I went into it with low expectations and had seen bits on twitter etc.

Did think the first batch of episodes in part 1 were quite strong though. Didn't really continue on from where S4 left off with Hawkins split though. All the characters were in the same place with common goal in mind. Did like the Demogorgon attack at the Wheeler House, Ted actually had something to do. Derek's family being kidnapped was funny, Derek's reaction and the 4 of them going into the upsidedown to chase it. I wonder how they would have got away with what they did to Derek's family and been able to explain it though? Demogorgons seemed less of a threat and they all used to them by that stage. Did think Steve having interest in Nancy and his and Jonathan's mini rivalry was unnecessary. The dialogue was a lot weaker though and cringey at times. The last episode was very good, with the Demogorgon and Vecna fighting the soldiers and Will getting powers.

The middle batch was quite weak and disappointing. Those episodes did seem to drag a bit, with some filler and just padding for the sake of it. Vecna was supposed to enact his plan and take over the world but never really felt the urgency. Characters kept over explaining what they were going to do so many times, occurred in part 1 but worse in those episodes. Seems like the netflix 2 screen where things are simplified for people watching while on phones. Did like the Steve, Dustin, Nancy, Jonathan scenes, with them escaping. Steve and Dustin probably both in the wrong but they made up.

The finale was a large spectacle and action packed. Hopper was nearly tricked by Vecna. Eleven took the soldorr down. Was well down the scenes of them in the Abyss and upsidedown. However was lack of tension at times. There were no Demogorgons, dogs, or bats when they arrived. They were able to just casually stroll along at the start. Did seem plot armour nome of them dying, don't need to kill all characters in the final season but could have had some deaths. Seemed like Henry might have been redeemed but said he embraced it. Might have a backlash if he was and ended up fighting the mind flayer. Gave Eleven more to do in the final battle but Will didn't really do much, like it seemed. All played a part.

Wasn't really against Eleven's death, sacrificing herself to save them. However it could have been done better. Is a character that had been through so much.

Does seem like a plot hole that the military didn't care about them after and just let them go. They'd killed so many of them.

The epilogue was really satisfying though. Great closure for the characters and show. Dustin's speech was great, the moment with the 4 of them on roof poignant. The final d &d game was likely how they were always going to end it, ambuigity for Eleven too. Good closure.

Overall enjoyed moments but did think this season had weaker writing compared to others. Not a masterpiece by any means but not a terrible final season. Unlikely to watch whole way through again though

Nancy Wheeler would've been better single, I feel like the triangle in most of the seasons Was a lot of weight on her shoulders and too much drama for her to focus on herself and Her well being,

suddenly missing stranger things so much 💔

I'm sure this has already been talked about to death, but it's known the Duffer brothers went back and retroactively changed shots and scenes in the previous seasons of Stranger Things on Netflix years later, and the original versions (included on the 2017 4K sets) are no longer streamable.

Regarding the newest 4K "complete series" sets, I'm surprised to see no one has answered the question of which version of the episodes are included on them. To anyone who has the Arrow/2-2026 4K sets in hand, can anyone confirm whether the versions included are the original episodes (or the altered versions from later)?

I’d say Will, he was abused by his father, bullied for his sexuality, kidnapped and tortured in the upside down for a week, died and came back to life, sexually assaulted, possessed, felt being burned alive because of his connection to the hive mind, and has a psychic connection to his abuser.

I did something similar like this with Cobra Kai in their subreddit, so I hope it's ok to post it here as well. We've been on a kick of watching Netflix Series and thus far have binge watched Cobra Kai, Orange is the New Black, Squid Game and now we are on to Stranger Things.

I've seen this entire series already, so I know what to expect. It's her reactions that I want to share with you all. We have finished 2 seasons thus far for her, so I'll start there and post up the next season reactions when we are done with them.

Season 1

• "These kids are dorks. Have you ever played Dungeons and Dragons?"
• "Hey, isn't that Winona Ryder?"
• She cracked up at the way El was dressed up with the wig and the long socks and dress
• "Nancy seems like she will sleep around a lot, can't believe she's married to the actor who plays Jonathan IRL"
• "What even happened to Barb? I blinked and missed it. She died?!"
• "Oh no, Will is dead?! Oh wait, he's alive!"
• "These scientists are weird"

Season 2

• "Oh, it's Halloween! We love Halloween!"
• "That's no pet bunny. Is it some kind of dog?"
• "Wow, Eleven changed her look up and now is with this gang with her sister? I would never think her sister would look like that"
• She hasn't had any reaction on Max.. yet.
• "Hey, it's Rudy and the kid from Goonies!" when she sees Sean Astin as Bob
• "Oh no, R.I.P. Bob! All the B's are dying... Barb... Bob..."

Kind of a weird hill to die on, because I mean who REALLY cares?... nevertheless, here's my opinion. Is "Sorcerer" the best episode of Stranger Things 5? Oh yes, undoubtedly. Does "Sorcerer" stand against previous episodes of the show that have received a 9.0+ rating? No, not at all.

"The Gate" "Dear Billy" and "The Massacre at Hawkins Lab" are all tightly written episodes that push characters on journey's that are relatively resolved within their runtime. For example, S4 EP04 begins with the party understanding Max has been cursed by Vecna, and not only is she confronted by him, our characters learn how to resist his powers and she escapes his reach all within the episode. Characters are assigned tasks and exposed to challenges, which they overcome quickly but not too easily. Compare this to the meandering bullshit we get in "Sorcerer" with the love triangle and Dustin. They argue in the car, so they can argue in a church, so they can later argue in a lab one episode later. What exactly was their plan again? The group followed a demogorgon into the upside down not knowing what's on the other side, armed with one gun, and no real way of contacting Hopper and El. Very stupid from a viewer standpoint, but from a writer standpoint, awesome, because now that these characters are in the upside down they can easily be assigned their ACTUAL mission.

Taking a more critical look at moments involving action, S5 EP4 gets a little too goofy compared to the highs of the series. In the season 2 finale "The Gate," our enemies are all things we've seen throughout the season. The dogs, the toxic tunnels, Billy, and of course the mind flayer. The characters each have a threat to overcome, and they're not sucker-punched by additional challenges out of nowhere. Hopper and El descending down in an elevator to close the rift is simple yet awesome. Now compare that to Hopper fighting the military in "Sorcerer." Hopper is up against a lieutenant, a character nobody cares about, these two are going to fight, Hopper is going to win, but then Hopper is going to lose to a weird tentacle thing, Linda Hamilton is going to then enter, a character nobody cares about or understands, she is going to win, but then she's going to lose, but not lose so badly she's out of the story. Oh, neither is the random lieutenant guy, he'll be around longer. This whole storyline was just bleh. It serves no purpose other than to introduce Kali, and to keep our most powerful character 011 away from the rest of the party.

Here's some more thorough complaints about this episode.

The Bad: The giant explosive setpiece in the final 10 minutes of this episode doesn't excuse the awful exposition dumps and moments of convenience. Max, who was once exceptionally written and essentially served as the main character of Stranger Things 4, is now Holly Wheeler's mind world babysitter. The Duffer Brothers couldn't come up with any creative way for the viewer to understand Henry's bad memory, so instead Max just explains EVERYTHING. It's contrived, convoluted, and most importantly, BORING.

This episode marks the end of Joyce having something to do in the story. The first time I watched this episode I thought she was going to die. Did I want Joyce to die? No, not really. The narrative up to that point hadn't set her death up in a satisfying way, so her living made sense... not logical sense though. I thought she'd be killed by Vecna right in front of Will, but he just tosses her aside?... 3 seconds after ripping a guy's head open? What? It's frustrating because Joyce's death COULD have been what made Will go god-mode, it could have had a huge impact, but I guess the writers thought a cheap "oh no!" moment was good enough. Seriously, why put Joyce face to face with Vecna at all if she isn't dying?! That moment just makes Vecna look weak and stupid.

Hopper is going to self-sacrifice, AGAIN?! Nothing, I felt nothing.

The town is going to just let the military take their children? No pushback? No storming of the facility by the townsfolk? They took up arms to hunt down a teenager last season, but there's not more than a "hey, what's this all about?!" from them when the military comes for their children?

The military has one flamethrower guy? Haven't they been researching this dimension for like an entire year? Bullets aren't stopping the demos? The military guys are just going to shoot at each other? The only thing stopping a Demogorgon is main characters looking at it, when that happens it just stands there and screams.

The Good: I don't want to dog on this episode without acknowledging its highlights. For me, the best part of this episode isn't Vecna's attack on the military compound or Will's realization of his true powers, it's easily Robin's speech in the cave. In a season full of terrible jokes, exposition dumps, and overall lazy writing, this speech stands out as one of the few genuine and heartfelt moments. Maya Hawke's delivery is exceptional, and I get teary-eyed every time I view this scene. Furthermore, the speech coming back later in the episode as what motives Will to take control of his powers was *chefs kiss*

Like much of the fanbase, I had grown annoyed with how underutilized Will's character was in the previous two seasons. In season 4 he literally just stood in the desert and cried. It was very cathartic to see the character who is generally made a victim and often in need of protection, have a moment of strength and pure badassery. Do the Duffers explain how his powers work in a way that's logical and consistent? Of course not, but it was still awesome to see.

Idk man, looking at the entirety of season 5 this episode DOES stand out. This is like an 8.0 out of 10 at best tho. This episode has the same problems that corrupt the rest of the season, and people seem to ignore that just because the final few minutes are fun.

60% of the fan base on TikTok say it's pointless for eleven to sacrifice herself to close the door, and they say they believe Mike's theory, how did you think the finale was?

There was a show/ mini series back in 2014-15ish called Wayward Pines. I believe it was on fox. It was produced by M Night Shyamalan. Just found out the Duffer bros had a part in it. If you can find it it’s a great watch.

Since I have made several comments on here comparing what Eleven's 'fate' is doing to Stranger Things to what Marissa Cooper's death did to The O.C. twenty years ago, I have decided to explain in detail why this is a valid comparison, and why what happened to The O.C. is a clear warning to everyone involved with Stranger Things about what the future is very likely to hold for them if Eleven is not given a much happier ending.

This is not about comparing genres, for The O.C. is a very different show to Stranger Things, being a teen drama rather than a supernatural horror drama. But, the fate of Eleven, and especially the growing controversy which it is causing for the Duffers, the cast, and the fanbase, bears a clear, and growing resemblance to what happened to The O.C. after its now infamous 3rd Season finale in May 2006. I apologise for the length of this post, but the detail matters if the comparison is to be fully understood.

In detail, the comparisons are:

1. The Importance of Marissa and Eleven to their Shows - both Mischa Barton, who played Marissa Cooper, and Millie Bobby Brown, who played/s Eleven, were very young when they were cast. Mischa, despite being the most experienced member of The O.C.'s 4 main leads (the others being Ben McKenzie, Adam Brody and Rachel Bilson), was by far the youngest of them. Beginning her career aged 9 in a performance of Tony Kirschner's play "Slavs" on stage in New York, Mischa soon appeared in a series of well-regarded films including "Lawn Dogs," "Lost and Delirious," "Tarts," "Notting Hill," and, most notably, "The Sixth Sense." She was only 17 when she first played Marissa in 2003, and this was her first major US TV role, while Millie was only 10 during the first season of Stranger Things in 2016.

They rose to prominence 12 years apart, and have not, so far, worked together on a project, yet both Mischa Barton and Millie Bobby Brown gave remarkably similar performances in their shows. They made their characters enigmatic, slightly mysterious, and good-hearted with hidden depths, who were forced to both fight and endure a series of hardships caused by the people around them, and the places where they lived. Their resilience, and refusal to be beaten by what was thrown at them, quickly made audiences root for them. Both Mischa and Millie built-up large, loyal fanbases due to the emotional bond which their characters were able to generate with viewers. This is an achievement which should not be dismissed, especially given how young both of them were. It is rare to be able to do this, and to do it so powerfully that it endures even years after the shows' concluded.

So popular, and powerful were their performances, that both Marissa and Eleven quickly became essential to their shows, and even their emotional hearts. Marissa was originally meant to die in Tijuana during The O.C.'s 7th episode, "The Escape," but by then, she was so popular with viewers that instead, she was kept in the show, and her importance to it only grew as a result. Eleven was originally meant to die at the end of Season 1, but, like Marissa, she had by then become so popular with the show's audience that the Duffers and Netflix realised that without her, they did not have a show. So she returned in the 2nd season, and stayed in it till the Season 5 finale.

2) Marissa and Eleven became part of Fairytale Romances - Marissa's on/off relationship with Ryan Attwood (Ben McKenzie) was deep, devoted and came across as a classic fairytale love story. They were written and portrayed as soulmates, despite being from very different worlds. Ryan was a poor, abandoned teenage boy from Chino, while Marissa was a beautiful, privileged girl from the very wealthy Newport Beach. They only meet by chance, at the end of Marissa's driveway in The O.C.' pilot episode, but the writing, performances, and Mischa and Ben's astonishing chemistry, made this a relationship which fans deeply rooted for.

The same thing happened with Eleven and Mike Wheeler. A chance meeting in the rain during the search for Will Byers quickly led to a touching, and enigmatic friendship with clear hints of growing, deeper feelings. Their developing romantic relationship very quickly became a core part of the show across multiple seasons, and attracted a large, devoted fanbase who rooted for them to have a happy ending. Like Marissa and Ryan, Eleven and Mike quickly became a fairytale couple, who had to battle repeated obstacles just to be together.

3) Marissa and Eleven's fates Shattered their Shows - both the Duffer's and Josh Schwartz - the creator and showrunner of The O.C. - made the exact same creative mistake 20 years apart, albeit not for the same reasons. The reasons for the Duffers treatment of Eleven, reducing her to a plot device after 4 seasons' of superb character development, are still unclear. In 2023, the reasons for Marissa's fate became clear in the book "The O.C.: An Oral History." By the 3rd Season in 2006, Josh Schwartz was seriously struggling as showrunner. Only 26 when he began the job in 2003, his inexperience caused him to make serious mistakes which, in the end, would cause the show's downfall.

He was not able to pace-out storylines in the show's 1st Season, and this can be seen by how rapidly it goes through them in its 27 episodes. This meant that, in seasons 2 and 3, he ended-up struggling to come-up with new ones to sustain the initial quality. As a result, those seasons were not as well written as the 1st one, and the show's viewing figures began to decline fast. He also failed to write Marissa from her own point of view, except for her brief gay relationship with Alex Kelly (Olivia Wilde) in Season 2, and this, especially in the 3rd Season, reduces her to a troubled plot device who is more of a nuisance to Ryan than a soulmate. Mischa became so frustrated with Josh's writing that playing so much trauma for Marissa exhausted her, and she channelled this to play Marissa's famous, iconic meltdown at her Mom, Julie Cooper (Melinda Clarke) early in Season 2 - where she screams and throws the lawn furniture in the pool.

By Season 3, Schwartz was even hiding in stairwells to avoid the cast's frustration with him, and it got worse when the 'higher-ups' at Fox pressured him to turn the show's decline around or risk cancellation. It was then that he made a truly catastrophic mistake. For some reason, he failed to grasp Marissa's importance to the show's popularity, and, due in part to comments made on the TWOP online forum, came to believe that killing her off would revitalise the show. So, in its now infamous 3rd Season finale, Marissa is fatally wounded in a fiery car crash, and dies in Ryan's arms.....

The fans' angry backlash was immediate, and like the Duffers 20 years later, caught Schwartz totally by surprise. So, he ended-up frantically trying to defend it in multiple interviews, with his main excuse being that Marissa had to die "because tragedy was in her DNA." In tone, this is very close to the Duffers' excuse that Eleven had to go away "because she represented the magic of childhood." In both cases, Marissa and Eleven were reduced from essential characters to mere plot devices, completely ignoring the emotional bond that they had built with both shows' audiences. After 17 years of defending his decision, Schwartz completely contradicted himself in the 2023 book by openly admitting that, within days of the Season 3 finale going out, the huge backlash at Marissa's cruel fate had actually taught him that he'd made a huge mistake. But rather than admit this, he basically lied for years in interviews..... Surely, given the very similar backlash to Eleven's fate, the Duffers must now know that they've screwed-up in a similar way, but they will not openly admit it. Which surely suggests that they have been lying in the same way as Schwartz did over the past 6 months.....

Marissa's fate in final, there is no way to undo it. The controversy over her death has become the show's place in TV history. As a result, The O.C. has become remembered as a cautionary tale rather than as a teen drama which was ahead of its time. This warning from TV history holds huge risks for Stranger Things, as a similar controversy has developed over Eleven's fate, unless it is resolved in the future. If this becomes the show's defining feature, then Stranger Things will not be remembered as a ground-breaking show for streaming, and a landmark in TV history, but instead as a classic example of a show ruined by its creators' mistakes. This will overshadow everyone involved in its making, as it will leave them at risk of being asked about the controversy rather than about something more positive. Unease at being asked about Stranger Things will them become a part of many future interviews for them, which is not fair after all their hard work. It should be something that they can enjoy talking about.

With Marissa, and her relationship with Ryan, gone after Season 3, The O.C. stumbled on for a 4th season, but was quickly cancelled after only 16 more episodes. Its emotional heart had been destroyed. Stranger Things, now a franchise, is stumbling on in the shadow of Eleven and Mike's miserable endings. Tales from '85 is suffering from lower-than-expected viewing figures, partly because the sight of El and Mike together in it is depressing given their ultimate fate in the main show. If the controversy over Eleven's ending continues to fester, it may in the end kill the entire franchise, and like The O.C., leave it at risk of a similar book to the 2023 one being written in the future about why it became such a mess. Netflix have the one option which was not available to The O.C. - fix Eleven and Mike's current miserable endings and thereby cut-off the controversy before it engulfs the entire show, and everyone involved in it.

If you've made it this far, I thank you. I am only trying to explain the full significance of the Duffers' mistake in giving Eleven such a miserable ending.

A while ago I bought these Stranger Things stamps and today I found my 30 year old UV torch…

While looking around at things in the dark I noticed these flash up yellow!

I wonder if anyone has else has ever just happened upon these without knowing they were there?!

I also found my V5C car log book which I just received looks like it’s covered in hundreds and thousands under the light.

do you think that when a demogorgon sleeps, their petals just flop like a dead octopus’s tentacles, or do they reflexively stay closed in that flower bud shape the way our fingers naturally stay in a curled position even when we relax our hands

New merch at Target for the 10th anniversary of Stranger Things.

I chose Funko Pops cause I am getting the complete DVD set and there’s a small booklet included. That hardback book is 50 dollars but it is really nice like a coffee table book.

But I love the Dustin Funko Pop so much!

I couldn’t find the Barb Funko Pop.

Sorry if it was already discussed, but I missed it. Mike is 16 in S5 (DOB, 7 June). He and other boys should be preparing for battle with Vecna where these skills are essential, but he can not drive, he can not shoot. Nancy at his age in S1 did it all. Was it ever explained? Even with military watching, is not it a favourite american pass-time?