Captain's Log

S1E8 (timestamp 15:48)

Regular version vs. VHS special edition:

Regular version: The demogorgon puts its arm on whatever's on the ground there and opens its mouth.

VHS version: The demogorgon just stands up and stands there.

The audio seems to be the same in both versions.

Another difference.

Regular version vs. VHS special edition:

Regular version: It looks like there's UD membrane, and the ceiling is cracking.

VHS version: It looks like the ceiling itself is more membrane-like.

There's also a white line on the screen right before this all happens.

So we have… Lonnie “the Hawk” Hawkins

AND Ronnie “the Hawk” Hawkins

And… we have a Rockin’ Ronnie (Ronnie Hawkins)

and a Rockin’ Robin (Maya Hawke)

What the fuck is going on LOL

OKAY Y’ALL!!!!!

My first ~major~ find on the VHS Season

I know everyone is talking about the white lines, but LOOK HOW MUCH OF THE DEMOGORGON you can see in the background in this shot! That’s CRAZY! I’m going to reblog with the original clip just for comparison!

JK it won’t let me repost with it!

Electromagneticgate we are so here! I don’t know what it means at all yet, but it’s so interesting because I wonder how this will work when we get to the actual clip of the Shadow Monster on the VHS-C but we’re watching it on VHS or on VHS-C (because VHS-C was out in 1984). Will it disappear…? Are the true monsters, more visible on VHS?

I mean, they are shown to interact with tapes, and now we are getting the VHS tapes. VHS tapes work by having analog signals (different from like radio signals but still signals) encoded onto them, and then the VCR basically decodes them into a format that is visible on your screen.

Even the damn NOISE from a VHS tape looks like the starry sky backgrounds in the show…

Remind you of anything…?

Lastly, putting the date on a VHS is a manual recording option… Will, you smart boy!

Worth noting, this DATED tape is also the one the lab confiscated… 🤨🧐

Some of the ones Brenner has are dated, some are not.

Removing height would also likely, get rid of these dates! *we need more height!*

This is making me wonder about these end shots again, the black and white.

Lastly, the consumer … VHS (video home system) is a consumer-level analog tape recording 👀

Part 2

Vance: "Code Red. A serious emergency (= Hopper is recaptured; Joyce and Murray are roofied). I'm out of coffee (= the one that Joyce spilled a couple of seconds earlier)."

Part 3

Mindy: "Close the gate (= the gate is being opened)!"

The slow motion corresponds with the glitches in the broadcast. The lyrics are golden too!

"Turning and RETURNING to some secret place inside Watching in SLOW MOTION as you turn around and say"

Part 5

I do NOT believe in coincidences...

Part 4

The focus is on the timer Dustin picked up when we hear “time” and “the clock is ticking”.

Realized I didn't include the actual picture in my last post (also by flashback I meant will in the UD not the other flashbacks sorry if that was confusing)

But you really cant make this up

Papa. Are we serious

(Thank you sm for pointing that out)

(the Shutter Island, The Truman Show and Fight Club)

Do you remember a theory that Hawkins got flayed in the end of season 2? I believe we have corrupted memories earlier (most likely from the very beginning of the show, but that’s story for another time). Let’s check this one out.

The first thing that stood out to me was this shot:

Dr Owens opens the door, and the scientist starts “working” immediately. He was not working, when the door opened, he started at the same moment. This jumped out at me as if it was staged, and no one was indeed working there until Nancy and Jonathan entered the room. It gave The Truman Show immediately, and I rewatched the whole sequence… a dozen times.

The sequence starts with this shot:

Here we see just Jonathan, and it would be fine, if only I didn’t feel weird by the way the next shot separates Jonathan from Nancy: we see just him in the mirror, which is okay for thing angle, but something still feels off… For example, the fact that Jonathan in the mirror is not Jonathan in the room. The mirror is fake!

episode 3 is incomplete because i just started watching the vhs version where i stopped my rewatch of the regular version. i'm probably gonna continue this for the other episodes over the weekend :)

timestamps (only minute) in brackets

episode 3 (incomplete!)

(21) el looking at pics of barb | (45) joyce talking to will through the lights

episode 4

(4) hop leaving the byers' house after telling joyce about will's body | (6) mike looking at will's art after learning about his 'death' | (9) mike skipping school

(14) honorable mention: this weird glitch after nancy gets mad at steve for caring more about his parents finding out about the party than barb | (16) dustin after lucas says that will is dead | (27) first exploration of the UD

(31) troy trying to get back to mike (right before el makes him pee himself) | (41) el exhausted after contacting will

episode 5

(1) hop breaking into the lab but not being able to open a door | (5) kids discussing if/how el led them to will | (7) hop seeing the gate

(10) lonnie telling jonathan to behave at the funeral | (13) flashback to before will was missing | (18) the lab discovering that el used the radio

(21) informing hop about two more residents going missing | (30) jonathan talking about his parents | (33) el manipulating their compasses

(37) after hop was bugged | (41) when lucas realizes el misled them | (50) nancy in the UD seeing the demogorgon for the first time

since i don't have time to look further into it: we recently talked about the cut-up method where you scramble and rearrange pieces of text. i wonder if we need to rearrange the stills (or clips) from the white line scenes, arranging them according to the position of the white line? (top to bottom)

There's three merch items on Universal's shop, two of them feature this mindflayer design. The last one is a set of figurines of Vecna, Dart/a demodog and a demogorgon. They're not that interesting to me and aren't relevant to this post

The two items that are interesting are this mug and shirt, which have the same design and basically the same description.

Now, the parts I find interesting are:

The Mind Flayer is connected to Mike's silhouette

Dustin and Lucas seem to have switched places

Vecna/Henry/001 seems to be amongst the silhouettes

Side note: "Never Go Alone" is the slogan for Halloween Horror Nights, and therefore not relevant to theorising

The Mind Flayer is connected to Mike's silhouette

I think it's pretty clear that it's Mike the Mind Flayer/Shadow Monster is connected to. Sure, it could just be a coincidence. But I don't believe in coincidences then again, there have been other merch items where this doesn't happen (comparison further down)

Dustin and Lucas seem to have switched places

This doesn't seem to be specific to this design, but interesting nonetheless. Especially with all the theories about characters shifting around. It might not mean anything, who knows. Also, this could just be me overanalysing it, but I've come to this conclusion based on the placement of the legs and the silhouette of the upper body. The "heights" are still the same order as the poster. I would assume it's just to keep the design balanced.

Vecna/Henry/001 seems to be amongst the silhouettes

Yes, this is kind of a reach. I know. But to me, the head tilt pose is way more Vecna/Henry/001 than it is El, which we're probably meant to think that silhouette in the middle is.

El only does the head tilt as quick motions, when moving something or killing/hurting someone. I couldn't even get a good picture of it, cause it's always in movement. I'd also say her stare is more iconic (but harder to show as a silhouette).

Henry however keeps his head there, for longer periods. When talking, when dissapointed, when angry. It's his deranged look. And to me, that silhouette seems closer to him than it does to El.

Merch comparisons/references:

First (purple) is a shirt from the Netflix merch store. Second (orange) is a shirt from Hot Topic. And the third (red) is, of course, a shirt for Universal Halloween Horror Nights

Before I go, I also want to mention that the way the Mind Flayer/Shadow Monster is framed on the Halloween Horror Nights design, the Universal archway almost seems to be a part of it. And with that in mind, Lucas (and El/Henry) is the only one not affected. The Shadow Monster is touching/connecting to all of the core four, except for Lucas.

This makes sense to me. We have the Dustin dying foreshadowing (is anyone surprised??), Will is possessed (the coming out speech is pretty telling) and we have the missing Mike (cookbookgate, no Mike audition from Universal. I talked about that here).

I would also go as far as to say this archway-connection represents dying. There's a ton of theories regarding Will and death (Fake-out death. He died in s1 and Mike is coping. Also, didn't he literally die in the first season? Before Hopper brought him back and broke his ribcage completely).

You could also say it's the gates to hell (or heaven, but that would imply god is a Mind Flayer and/or the Upside Down is heaven). Or just that it doesn't actually mean anything.