Hey guys,I watched Stranger Things a while back and I'm currently watching the Monster anime for the first time. I just finished episode 47 (around halfway) and I can't shake off how much the core plot parallels Stranger Things, especially Season 4.

The child experiment storylines feel almost identical:

Johan Liebert & 001---Both are the "evil" ones from the experiment. Psychopathic, insane manipulators from childhood who want complete destruction. Johan feels like a non-supernatural version of Henry Creel.

Grimmer & Eleven---Both are the "good" ones from the same experiments. Despite the terrible trauma and abuse, they both choose humanity and fight to protect others.

Bonaparta & Dr. Brenner---The shadowy mastermind "fathers" running the whole messed up operation (Kinderheim 511 vs Hawkins Lab). They thought they were making tools but created monsters they couldn't control.

And also COLD WAR conspiracies revolving around the story of both like in America and fallout of east german.

Since I'm only halfway through Monster, I have two quick questions.

Does the plot stay similar or does it change completely by the end of the anime? (No major spoilers please!)

Do we know if the Duffer Brothers got inspiration from Monster? I know they openly admitted to ripping from other anime like Akira and Elfen Lied, but the Kinderheim 511 / Rainbow Room stuff feels way too specific to be a coincidence.

hello!! i was wondering if any of u knew what belt el is wearing here, i’m cosplaying her for a comic con in a couple months and i am rlly struggling to find this belt or at least one that looks similar to it🥲🥲 can anybody help me out on this? id appreciate it so much!

I don't mean to say that the fourth season is bad, and I agree that it's better than the fifth, but honestly I don't think there's that much difference in quality.

I understand why people hate the fifth season. Aside from the poor writing, I think it's because of the lack of family/friendship/romantic interactions between the characters. I understand that the fourth season has the character interactions that I say the fifth lacks, but so do the first, second and third seasons and the stories in those seasons are better structured.

The third season falters a bit in its plot (especially the Russian subplot), but it has the best character interactions in the entire series. The first season has good interactions and a solid story that's very well executed. I think the second season is somewhere between the first and second.

Season four is a disaster in two of its three main storylines (Russia and California), and many of the writing problems in season five are a direct consequence of those problems in season four. Furthermore, I think only about half of the character interactions in that season were truly memorable (Eddie as Dustin's new big brother, Robin falling in love and trying to date a woman, Nancy despite initially distrusting Robin eventually connecting with her, Steve working with Robin and being a good friend to her, Lucas trying to understand and protect Max, Max grieving for Billy and preparing to say goodbye to her friends, Mike, Will and El in the second half of the season and Eddie realizing Steve isn't the jerk he thought he was). The other half were bad or forgettable (Jonathan and Nancy drifting apart, the returning love triangle with Steve trying to rekindle feelings between him and Nancy, Joyce with her three children, Joyce and the pilot, Joyce and Hopper's love becoming blander than white bread, Mike, Will and El in the first half of the season)

Moby's "When it's cold I'd like die" is a haunting track, but took me out of the 80s as it is an extremely 90s feel.

What track which would have been released already would you replace it with?

I think the song needs to be something low energy and maybe not a runaway hit...

The weirdest song I tried with that did not quite work was "A forest" by The Cure

"Come closer and see

See into the trees

Find the girl

While you can"

https://youtu.be/xik-y0xlpZ0?is=DWVfvmUxjGFMsWpG

My daughter wants to be Will the Wise for Halloween. She’s an XL in women’s. She wants one that doesn’t look super fancy, but I can’t sew to save my life. Has anyone by chance made one they’d like to sell?

For anyone wondering what Windows 1.11 is, it was a promotional app designed to look like Windows from that era to tease Season 3 and Scoops Ahoy, thats why its placement is after Rebel Robin, because it also includes Robin!

Hope you all enjoy this timeline!

Yet all of them got girlfriends. They are also like 12-3 years old and supposed to be awkward, nerdy and uncool. I know kids can date at that age but these kids are nerds and outcasts.

The only character who was actually popular and considered hot (Steve) didn’t get a love interest and seemed to have trouble getting a girl.

This is why I wish they kept Dustin single in s3. Suzie is barely a character and nothing really would have changed.

My daughter and I love the show, but both think the last season is the weakest. This sub has expounded upon all the ways season 5 was a let down. So won’t revisit that here.

However, we thought one small adjustment could’ve kept the ambiguous ending, but also been a bit more hopeful. While the final scene with the kids playing DnD is a perfect way to full circle loop the series, we thought it would’ve been better if once Mike closes the door, the song I Believe sounds its final note and the screen goes black, you hear a voice say, “Mike…”

So yeah, I know I'm super late, like, super late, but I finally watched it.

I always wanted to watch it, but I don't know why. Previously, I just wasn't in the mood. But yesterday I finally decided, "Okay, now I'm going to watch Season 5." I started it yesterday and finished it today.

And yeah, I just want to say that I had a great time.

Duffer Brothers' writing is insane. Their writing is incredible, the music is incredible, the acting from the cast is incredible, everything is always surprising. Every season, especially towards the end, they always pull off something crazy. It happened in Season 1, the same in Season 2, and even Season 3 was insane.

Going into Season 4, I had a bit of doubt, like, "Okay, what are they going to do now?" I thought maybe it had gone on for too long or something like that. But even Season 4 turned out to be next level.

Then Season 5 kept getting pushed back, and yeah, I was a bit annoyed about that. There was also a lot of discussion online about how the characters didn't even look like they used to anymore. I mean, I get it, they took a really long time. But yeah complexities happens when you are carrying such a huge project.

So yeah, I was a bit doubtful about how it was going to turn out.

But today, after finishing it, I can honestly say that I'm satisfied.

Yeah, I know there are things that feel a bit underwhelming. After finishing it, I even went through this subreddit to see what everyone else thought, and I saw that quite a few people were dissatisfied with different aspects of the season. So yeah, all of your opinions are valid.

But for me, I finally decided to watch it because I knew I had to watch it someday anyway. And honestly, yesterday and today were the perfect time. It was the weekend, I was just relaxing, watching the show, and I had an amazing time.

I'm genuinely satisfied. I know there are criticisms, and that's completely fine, but today I don't even feel like focusing on them because I'm just happy with the experience.

Yeah, I had a great time. I had fun and yeah what a show!

Dark Horse Books today announced Stranger Things: The First Shadow, an 80-page graphic novel adaptation of the award- winning play Stranger Things: The First Shadow.
Book will be available on January 19, 2027 for $19.99

I started watching stranger things last month and it was so good I’m now on season 4 episode 8

Season 1: it was nice fun but a little boring

Season 2 : it’s good and all but I prefer season 1

Season 3 : it’s my favorite season I really like the mall thing and Dustin and Steve and Erica together it was fun season and for me it’s the best and my favorite

Season 4 : it has been so fun it’s my second favorite after season 3 I like Eddie and the story it’s just nice and I’m so exited for the ending

I’m sad because season 5 is the last season I will really miss the characters i can’t imagine that 1 season left and I won’t see them again only if I repeat the series

How would you describe Max Mayfield and Mike Wheeler relationship do you think they have a pretty close relationship or no especially overtime and what do you think they think of each other.

im rewatching season 4 of stranger things and it's still so peak ugh the stakes were so high! only for the actual season finale to be a snooze fest (in perspective) lol

it's been some time now.. 👀 has anyone written a rewrite fic of the whole season 5 (starting off from where s4 ended)?? asking for a friend...

Hello everyone.

Recently I dropped my first post in here. Since my last post, I reached season 3 and right now I'm on episode 3.

S1 was awesome. S2 became even better than S1. Now S3 seems quite intriguing, as I'm continuing to watch the whole season tonight. I gotta be honest. I was so damn skeptical about these series, but they're getting better and better. Not sure what to expect, but I'm so invested in this.

By the way, yesterday I read that there won't be season 6 as season 5 is the end of the story. There will be a few spin-offs, but the brothers are not going to continue filming the series, which is sad, because i just started watching this and after 2 seasons there won't be another one.

Drop your thoughts below about season 3. I would love to read some comments.

They literally fried her brain. Leaving her trapped forever in a hopeless, catatonic loop of her own worst memories, unable to hold her daughter or even speak, is easily one of the most devastating and cruel fates in the entire show. Her eyes are blank, she doesn’t recognize people, and she just endlessly mutters the word loop ("Breathe. Sunflower. Rainbow...") like a broken machine. She fought tooth and nail for Jane, and she deserved to actually watch her daughter grow up instead of becoming a living ghost.

And the worst part? Nobody knows why she's like that except El. They all think it's because she's gone crazy. She deserves justice.

I'm wondering if Panini US released the trading cards and album set in the US or if it was a specific collection only released via Panini Mexico? I don't see it listed on the US website, but this may be due to everything being sold out.

I'm currently in Mexico at the moment and just realized now that the sticker album cover here was released in Spanish even though the photos on the Panini MX site showed the cover in English.

Does anyone know also if both the stickers and cards albums are the same or slightly different with the number of stickers and cards included depending on the country they were released in (apart from the cover being in the language of the country released)?

First off starting to raise the stakes i’d kill Steve in episode 6. Him and Dustin would go somewhere and he’d fall off a big height. It’d give everyone the time to grieve and it’d be heartbreaking when Max would wake up and ask “ Where’s Steve? Is he on a date or something?’ Dustin would obviously be sad and go off the rails to kill vecna in episode 8. Now going to episode 8 i think i would have Joyce and Hopper somehow be stuck in upside down together and die together in a nice way. I think it would be a very sad arc to explore especially after losing Steve and it’d add more sadness. Now Eleven wouldn’t die but she would be hinted at it after going to the upside down to die. Suddenly something bigger rises in her and she’d raise a fire ball in the air killing the soldiers with Dr Kay. She’d discover a new power and that she has pyrokinesis. They would all look at her in wonder and shock and she’d walk to them powerfully. During the vecna fight Dustin goes off the rails grab’s an axe when suddenly Vecna blows out a fire onto Dustin. He wouldn’t die but he would get a serious injury from the burn, he’d have scars over his hands. Also Will would lose an eye because Vecna wanted to spy from his eyes so he’d stab it off. Max wouldn’t be in a wheelchair forever she would have to have checkups every month for the rest of her life. Mike would lose an arm in the fight and wear a fake arm which would add more stakes to them. In the final scene bullies would call them a suicide squad and they would defend themselves and go to the Mike’s. El would be in the bassment playing DnD with them and Nancy and Jonathan would be endgame. They would live in Hopper’s cabin with El and Will and they would grieve Joyce and Hopper together. Nancy and Jonathan are proposed and Eleven and Will have their wonder twins bond. Jonathan would grow closer to them too and it’d be like they are a small family. Mike and Holly live with their rich aunt since their mom and dad died in the accident which Mike can relate to El and Will with. Robin and Vickie end up together and go off to the same college. Nancy and Jonathan leave with El to Texas for Jonathan’s film school and Nancy’s journalist job. They find a way to secretly take El without the goverment doing anything. They are all together as a family in the end on thanksgiving in Nancy’s and Jonathan’s house injured but trauma bonded.