Life finds a Way

here's the link to the 'declassified' files, that somebody found by cracking the code from the official book that released today:

this concept art for the rifts being a spiral, or a time vortex that leads into a time tunnel (as suspected!!! ding! ding ding!)

DING DING DING

why is Max listed as being born in 1972 and graduating in 1990? that would make her 1 year younger than everyone?

also there is some puzzle to solve here, but my brain is too tired:

probably relates to the hawkins lab floor plan too:

Brenner's notes:

and for all you Russian speakers, have a field day:

GUYS - thank you @youaremess for pointing this out (and courtesy to Google translate!)

Laudatory letter on 8th July 1985, one week after the Soviets 'defeat' in Starcourt mall:

Upon the great altar of eternity, the immortal flame of the People's Republic shall shine brightly. On this day, July 8, 1985, I hereby award you—most esteemed citizens of the Union—the Star of Valor for your diligent and steadfast work on this highly classified matter.

Thanks to your diligence and determination, we can look forward to victory and taking the war to the enemy's doorstep. Victory to the Soviet Union!

You will shortly receive your personal authorization codes, granting you full secure access and protocol authorization. It is your duty as scientists of the Soviet Union to report all discoveries to your immediate supervisor, ensuring that no information is compromised. Please consult your personal records to identify your supervising officer.

This document also serves as proof that the bearer enjoys full diplomatic immunity under the law and is to carry out their duties in strict accordance with state regulations.

Then this document, dated 14th March 1986, a week before season 4, showing that the Soviets still had a presence in Hawkins:

Dr. Ivanov,

I am writing to you today in the interest of national security to express concern regarding the specimen you recovered in Kamchatka last week. We have managed to conduct several tests on it here in Moscow, and the sample appears to match the genetic code sequence obtained by our affiliates in America. Regarding the experiment in question, our American affiliates also confirmed simultaneous seismic disturbances during the specimen's dissection. Our scientists in Moscow performed the dissection at the exact same time as our American affiliate—06:14.

Following the initial incision, the specimen delivered an electric shock in both Moscow and the Hawkins laboratories. The attending physicians sustained third-degree burns and are currently in isolation due to radioactive contamination. Our findings align with your results from last week, and we can confirm the presence of dark matter within the specimen. All necessary measures must be taken to ensure this information does not become public knowledge before containment is achieved. Both teams of scientists have now been placed under strict quarantine, as symptoms of radiation sickness have begun to manifest.

Please understand that every effort is being made to contact the American affiliate; their coordinates are shown in Figure 1 on the right. The Comrades thank you for your diligent work on this matter and for your continued cooperation in military operations.

You must proceed with your experiments as planned and eliminate all prisoners required for use in the experiment. Please report back to us as soon as possible.

Steve runs over these guys in 503.

In 101, Phil Larson reports kids stealing his garden gnomes.

The gnomes DISAPEARED. They were crushed by LIGHT (Steve's beamer). That's how you travel between worlds, timelines, etc. In 101, the kids switch worlds and THAT'S what was represented by Steve running over the garden gnomes in 503.

In 208, they use ammonia to wake Will up because it has a strong odor. Ammonia is commonly used in smelling salts.

I study cognitive science and olfaction is the only sense that does not go through the thalamus which is the brain's main relay station.

Instead, it goes directly to the amygdala and hippocampus which are generally associated with fear and memory. Smell is a very important indicator of memory, due to how memories of smell are integrated with episodic memories.

Max told us that music has a way of reaching people in the darkest of places. Smell can help trigger memories due to it's direct projection to the olfactory bulb.

Argyle told us "That doesn't pass the smell test. In fact it stinks to high heaven". Outside smell is probably the most likely sense to push through the dream barrier.

In S5 people have constantly pointed out a mysterious smell. They never know where it comes from. I think it comes from outside the dream, wherever their body is.

The Thalamus also largely regulates the sleep-wake cycle by facilitating consciousness and the switching between REM/non REM sleep.

Most people associate dreams with REM sleep, but we also dream in non REM, especially during slow wave sleep (delta waves). Those dreams however, are typically more abstract.

REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement, so the eyes dart back and forth which is exactly what we see from Will. We don't see this from the other characters who are in the hive, and we don't see it from Max.

In REM, something called muscle atonia occurs, which means you are effectively paralyzed. Will said he feels frozen during his episodes.

In REM, people experience Theta and Beta waves. People experience Beta waves when they are awake, and right before they wake up. In the stage cycle, you experience REM more and more frequently as you get closer to waking up.

Dreams are nearly impossible to remember. Your brain doesn't consolidate memories into long-term while you dream, so you have about 30 seconds after you wake up to rehearse the information before it fades.

Stage 3 nonREM slow-wave sleep is the furthest from being awake. For people in comas, it is also more likely that they will experience slow waves, and perhaps some unique patterns. In S2, we actually see Will's EEG as he talks about the shadow monster.

He starts out with slower oscillations and then they become more frequent with a smaller amplitude. It looks like he's more relaxed and sleepy, but then becomes more alert as the conversation goes on (beta).

Here is the kicker...

This is after the shadow monster gets him. Remember, Beta waves occur when awake, as well as during REM. I also established that Will is in REM sleep when he builds. He is seriously walking the line between awake and asleep.

He experiences now-memories which he told us in 502, feel like a dream. Like someone else's dream. I think that Will is awake and dreaming simultaneously.

In 507, he tells us that the images Vecna showed him "felt so real"

We were shown that he was in REM when the vision happened. Inception told us that if you build with things from your memories, then you become unable to distinguish a dream from reality. I think Will has that same issue.

He's never sure if he's woken up, or if he's still asleep.

As for everyone else, they are said to be in comas (trances). Their eyes do not move like Will's. They are in slow wave sleep (delta waves). They don't get to toe the line like Will, because they are furthest from being awake.

Usually, if you set an alarm that goes off while you're in stage 3 deep sleep, you feel very groggy and disoriented.

You want to complete the cycle and finish REM before you wake up. I think this could be represented by Holly going through memories that get her closer and closer to home.

The moving from one memory to another is also decently abstract, like dreams that might occur during REM. (deep sleep dreams would be way less clear).

In order to escape Camazotz, you need to WAKE UP literally.

End the sleep cycle. Let's wake up. For real, this time.

Just want to add many thoughts on this:

Mike Ellis. MIKE ELlis. Out of all the possible names...

Mike re-experiencing the death of his best friend every day and the UD is supposedly stuck on November 6th, 1983... the day Will vanished.

The shot of Mike Ellis sitting alone/waiting on the bench definitely reminds me of Mike in the finale.

Mike Ellis waits every day for his best friend, exactly how Nina waited every day for her lover. In TFS, Henry tells Patty to wait for him at the train station as well. In episode 4x04 of ST, one of the songs listed on the blackboard of Pennhurst has a song with the lyrics "I'll wait by your gate". In season 4, we are shown Mike reuniting with Will (and El) by the airport gate and later Joyce reuniting with Hopper by the gate of the Russian prison. There's a clear re-occurring theme here of one person waiting by a bus stop/train station/gate.

"Whenever we get together... it's... it's like we were kids again"... do I have to explain this one? lol...

Mike Ellis is later seen with a BANDAID on his NOSE. He is not ready to rip off that bandaid and it's all very on the nose. lol...

reading millie's latest interview with josh horowitz (always at the scene of the crime) it reminded me of el's last speech to mike

going around mending and apologising, making sure they're still friends and that they understand each other

ARGH, I'm pulling my hair out - there's no way they'd release the interactive content in the box set first?! right?! RIGHT?!

AND ALSO - you know how the description of the ST box set is very, uh, high-level? Like, we don't know why there are that many discs, and what exact extra content we can expect? I took a browse on the Arrow Video website, and I think most of the releases have a MUCH more detailed explanation of A) the exact content you'll be getting, B) which disc the content will be on and C) the exact origin of the interview/content (e.g. who is conducting the interview, or narrating the additional video essays, etc etc.).

Look at the AV description for the unreleased, limited edition Jackie Chan breakout hit box set, which contains 10 discs:

And again, for their TMNT box set:

The description for Shawscope volume 3, which has 10 discs:

Now, let's look at the ST box set description (keep in mind that both the Jackie Chan one and the ST have pre-order status, and look at how MINIMALISTIC the descriptions of the ST box set are!):

That's it - that's the only description of the box set, despite it having 25 whole discs! I've looked at the Arrow Videos website, and the ST box set appears to be an anomaly amongst all of their other box sets, which contain very detailed explanations of what exactly is included in each box set (even if it's just one disc!).

What makes it even weirder is that AV has a dedicated tab for just ST, and no other box set:

And both of these cases remain unresolved.

Dustin never told the others what actually happened, right? They just accepted his "truth", and the consequences for the jocks never came around to be addressed - in the epilogue it was as if all the school groups just like each other now.

Much like the painting for Mike was never brought up again, except until the end of the epilogue, but only as visual and without resolving the lie around it.

joyce, who is will, saves him with electricity

electricity = sexual tension, attraction, romantic feelings

are friends electric, michael?

they hug after

at some point mike should get his sword

so the very first thing it has you do-- apart from draw yourself as part of the party (how very arg)-- is to find three monsters.

there are a few points of interest i’d like to hit on already.

first, one of the monsters is in the light (hidden in the light).

second, why are the rotting pumpkins all over down town?

and third, the page numbers like everything related to tales of 85 it seems are triangles.

and fourth, it’s not too weird to imagine all the monsters going downtown, but that defs didn’t happen in the show, something that happens a lot in this book.

next, we get this lovely description of el’s character, now before we dive into that, i need you to take a good long look at that cabin in the background. notice the lights? the green door?

hey, that's not at all how the cabin looks like in tales. the door is red, and there are no lights.

you know where this exact cabin in the activity book is from? the real stranger things.

now, on to the activity! so el's descriptor page tells a tale of el being willing to do anything to save her friends, but right now she's lost! specifically in the woods, and it's our job to help her find her way back.

know as we know, the real show equates getting lost in the woods to getting trapped by the upside down.

and if el is in front of the real cabin, this most mean the real el is possibly trapped by something in the upside down and needs to find a way back to her friends.

and this my friends is the tip of the iceberg.

next we get a lovely activity with dustin where we have to find what’s wrong with two images, much like how holly and max look for things that are wrong with their memories. maybe dustin’s going to do a lot of that one day?

and oh look my favorite page, because the implications here are so good! will and mike are at the wheeler’s house, being attacked by monsters, and the only way to escape is with each other. 🩵💛

now here it says something’s wrong with max’s skateboard and that made me think of her epilogue skateboard

i can’t get over this activity in the slightest! everyone’s heads are in triangles (possibly prism prisons?) and will has to detangle and figure out everyone’s real backpack. there are so many things the backpacks could represent: timelines, memories, possible body swapping! and will’s the one to fix it.

part one

okay so i’m jumping in where we left off with this activity centered around lucas. lucas is now the one who isn’t with his friends and he has choices to make, three choices to be exact. it says dustin gives him a clue, and i wonder if that’s actually going to come into play somehow. and how did lucas get cut off from the group?

it reminds me very much of when caleb joked that his finale was nothing like the rest of the party’s.

you know what else reminds me of this? if you guessed the very next activity, you are right!

so far, this is the only instance of anything remotely that actually happened in tales of 85 until

you get to the activity and yeah, that did not happen. but it does make me think about how max escaped vecna, and how maybe now lucas needs to as well to get back to max!

i accidentally skipped this part in the first post but we do have a nikki activity as well! notice here that there’s two byler colored tools in her jacket right where her heart is! also the clock on the wall reads as 10:10.

the activity is about finding 10 hidden balls and i can’t think of much about this (if anyone can remember if there’s significance to the number 10 let me know) except that we have another case of hidden in the light.

now, we’re at the last activity and it’s centered around hopper. he’s described as always looking out for el and her friends and that he’s in danger of something he can’t see! and his activity?

it’s to solve the puzzle. i’m not even kidding. the first one is solved for us, while the other 5 are left for us to figure out. makes me think about the theory about how we didn’t actually win in st2, and the mindflayer had already changed memories. also could the six puzzle pieces mean six seasons? also note that the monsters are after happy meals. this could mean several things like happiness or maybe happy memories.

and perhaps you are thinking "wow this baby frog is so tiny it is like the size of 1/6th of a penny, I wonder how big the grown-up reticulated glass frogs are":