Iâm incredibly compelled to believe conformitygate could be real based on evidence thus far.
Which is why it bothers me so much that people will dismiss it without considering. I want to think itâs not real, but absolutely nobody is providing substantial proof to argue against itâit all just boils down to condescension, calling the duffers stupid and theorists over thinkers.
So, I want everyone calling conformitygate theorists stupid, or delusional, or crazy, or psychotic, or every other weirdly nasty name people have come up with to actually properly refute conformitygate evidence for me:
People say the time spent filming, overall screentime, and budgeting ultimately doesnât add up for the content we received. When compared to season 4, we have 6mo of filming vs 1yr. 13hrs total screentime vs 10hrs. 270mil vs 400-480 (round it to 440 to play it safe, each ep costed 50-60mil). Explain why it does add up.
They claimed to have studied bad and good endings immensely to understand what is often received well and what isnât and avoid what isnât. They even put emphasis on game of thrones specifically. They destielâd mileven, GoTâd killing the mindflayer, GoTâd the documentary, and lord knows what else (my tv media consumption consists almost exclusively of bobs burgers, Rick and Morty, and niche queer shows that get cancelled before they get to have bad finales, so I canât point out any parallels that havenât been pointed out by others, and Iâm probably not online enough to see everything). Explain how they studied bad finales specifically to avoid it, only to do what they didâespecially GoT, right down to the documentary.
Elâs entire storyline in season 5 contradicts her previous 4 season arc of self-discovery. She became a weapon and a monster. She snapped a persons neck without hesitation or reaction, she looked a man dead in the eye while forcing him to kill himself without missing a beat. Thatâs not a subtle change or accidental minor mischaracterisation, thatâs a complete contradiction of the goal their character has worked towards for the past 4 seasons. Explain why her story this season contradicts her previous arcs so heavily.
The duffers are being accused of AI usage during scriptwriting, and using Rossâs ex-wife to give the show the quality it had (ignoring how offensive that is to the female writers on the show, one of whom was the writer of the play everyone adores), and yet they are doing very little to dispute these rumours. The interviews they did after Vol3 immediately turned them into laughingstocks, PR found dead in a ditch apparently. Explain why theyâve done almost nothing the shield themselves from the hellfire raining down upon them (thatâs not an intentional pun).
The writing of stranger things has had its flaws here and there, like most shows or books do, but itâs always stuck to its core values (love defeats fear, protect outcasts/freaks). Explain why it did a complete 180 in season 5.
The lights are still flashing when el and Nancy arrive, and hol can still be heard screaming once theyâre inside, so the time between the attack and el and Nancy getting inside will have been 45 seconds at most (being generous). In Hollys memory, Karen is lying on to floor, eyes open, chest not moving (they even accentuate this by panning down to her for a few seconds). Yet in E2, sheâd managed to drag herself over to the counter and stand up and grab the phone. Explain why they made the choice to show that the demo was still in the house at the point that they showed up, and to show Karen unmoving in Hollys memory.
People claim the WYR question âbe stuck in the upside down with your best friend, or live in paradise shackled to your worst nightmareâ is far too reminiscent of what conformitygate is to be a random question. Explain why it is random.
The documentary has at least one undoubtedly scripted scene, another thatâs been heavily speculated to be scripted. It managed to point out just about every flaw with the finale, focused heavily on the duffers essentially just being incompetent and everyone around them judging them (if itâs not real then this is actually just really funny honestly, totally lost respect from all their employees), and evidently showed us a previous draft that gave us a far better storyline. Explain why, despite the at least 1 scripted scene and the duffers being made to look like complete buffoons to the point where the GA was fired up over it, the documentary is still sincere (using the term loosely because we do already know at least part of it isnât).
Will and mike have multiple wardrobe designs that parallel lovers whose memories of the other are taken:
Explain why itâs not intentional, or what the parallel is about if not that.
The images of the clown cake and circus tent show us that birthdaygate was (more than likely) real. Under the assumption people will argue the storyline was simply cut (Iâve seen different arguments as to why), explain why they would allow for bts to be posted that proves a well-known theory they are aware of was cut.
Barbs body was brought up prior to the release, saying it would be in S5. The actor was at the premiere. BTS images show her body in at least two locations: the church and the pool. Explain why they would talk about it, and allow for bts to be posted if it was cut.
People have pointed out that the leaks of the ending were suspicious. There were multiple high quality shots of Mike and hopper talking together, showing enough of the set to give a timeframe, immediately leading to the theory that el would die or fake her death. This was the biggest twist (twist being used loosely) of the series, and it was leaked with no attempt to quell it (as far as Iâm aware, please correct me if they did try to snuff it out). Explain why it was so easy to leak the biggest twist of the series and why they didnât try to keep it quiet.
Dnd games foreshadowing events in the show, yet vecna having a fakeout death (and noteably coming back missing an arm, cough cough) was never realised. Explain why that game wasnât foreshadowing, despite the previously established rule.
Following up, the foreshadowing of the season 3 game in which Mike injured his arm and sacrificed himselfâwe see the beginning of the foreshadowing coming into the show when he hurt his arm in E4, only for the rest never to be carried out and his arm miraculously being okay afterward. Explain why the foreshadowing was suddenly abandoned, and why they put focus on mikes arm only for it to be okay.
The wsqk episodes evidently sync to the actual episodes, with multiple audio cues that heavily point toward the sync being intentional. Parts of the episodes are completely recontenxtualised by the music choices. Explain why it isnât intentional, or why it doesnât play into conformitygate.
The season has multiple parallels to the Truman show, some noteable ones being the lightbulb drawing framed over Truman vs the wormhole/upside down drawing framed over will, the eagle on the wsqk van vs the eagle on the boat Truman used to escape, wills epilogue outfit being reminiscent of Trumanâs love interest (as referenced above), & more. Explain why these parallels are not intentional, or how theyâre relevant in the show, just not to conformitygate.
Digdug foreshadowed the tunnels in season 2, the video game Derek plays has a false ending before you get to the real final boss. Explain what the game foreshadows if not a false ending, or why it doesnât foreshadow anything.
They have multiple abandoned/incomplete (some foreshadowed) storylines or arcs, such as romantic development between Mike and Will, Wills forgotten birthday and his birthday being the same as Henry, the continued love overcomes fear arc that plays a part in each finale, patty newby, Henryâs trauma, mikes hero arc (and foreshadowed battle with Will, which leads me to believe should conformitygate be real, heâll be the final boss), the time travel references and the UD being stuck on the day Will was taken, Will being revealed as vecnas builder, Wills connection to the hivemind. Some were introduced this season, which means forgetting due to time is not a valid argument. Explain why we have all these meticulously (byler, birthdaygate, time travel, patty/henrys trauma, love overcoming fear specifically are the ones Iâm referring to as meticulous) set up arcs left suddenly abandoned.
Joyce puts on a play within a play, the fake âOklahomaâ play before the real play, saying that itâs a risk, but itâll be worth it if they can pull it off. So the writers clearly are aware of fake-outs. Explain why Joyceâs play doesnât work in favour of conformitygate.
We also have the âsad ending vs gay endingâ script from Joyceâs play, with bylers colours, and the song not finishing in the credits (âyou never know the ending until itâs sung all the way throughâ, credits finish on âwe can be heroesâ, right before the next lyric âweâre nothing, and nothing will help usâ). Explain why they gave us a sad ending, donât plan to give us a gay one, and why the song doesnât finish on the credits.
Millie called season 5 âmetaâ, when we have not yet seen any meta content. Explain why she would call it meta.
Episodes 2-8 are yet to be copyrighted, episode 1 was registered after 5 days. Explain why they havenât copyrighted them yet.
People have noted these potential âhints/cluesâ the ending:
- no watches show the time (Iâve gone through scenes frame by frame, itâs not a matter of bad lighting or quality)
- Jonâs camera does not show the date
- whatzit game in basement and cabin (killer is not dead trope)
- robin saying, âI am almost too superstitious to say this [âŚ] but I think the Hawkins curse has finally liftedâ.
- Mike and Nancy being copies of their parents, when that is each their biggest fears
- gowns being orange, despite the fact that orange was closely associated with prisoners in the 80âs (and still is), and the gowns were green in Nancys book, but they were orange when Henry went there.
- Robin hoping she would double her audience by the end of the year (only if will can out-sorcerer the sorcerer and they donât all die), and promising to take Vickie to enzos (if they make it out alive), neither evidently happen in the epilogue.
- Will being erased from the scene where his birthday was forgotten, and the small town boy album shapes in the background.
- the ticking leading into the epilogue (which immediately opens with another brick in the wall)
- wills imagined epilogue boyfriend wearing a similar jacket to mike and the same hair (the actor does not have this hairstyle, so it was changed to look like that)
- the engagement ring jopper used being the jancy ring
- el in a wig being the clip they used right after she said âthe real meâ, and her entire speech being directly contradicted by the arcs for their relationship in the previous 2 seasons
- Mike not saying I love you, nor initiating the kiss
- the âmâ on mikes dnd book holding the same shape as the cave/spyglass
Explain why all of these are coincidences/how they work in the show in a way that doesnât feed into conformitygate.
Im not saying conformitygate is 100% real, i donât want to believe in it (not saying I donât want it to be real, just donât want to believe in it), but I am yet to see any compelling arguments against conformitygate. So I am genuinely inviting people to please refute these (without being condescending). Iâm fully aware thereâs a ton more, but Iâm so tired and my neck hurts, and Iâm yet to organise the evidence Iâve seen in a fashion that makes it easy to navigate.
And no, calling the duffers stupid as an actual argument doesnât cut it. Especially when it comes to refuting the bad writing arguments, because other people were still involved, including Kate Trefy (I believe thatâs her name, apologies if I got it wrong) who they deeply respect and admire. And that reminds me, please stop with the Divorcegate crap, it feels genuinely insulting to these women who worked on ST5âand Leigh too, who was better established in the industry than the duffers, and Iâm sure would not let her husband take credit for her work for 10 years.
Canât believe I forgot this one, because itâs definitely one of my favourites:
Melvalds is not only mentioned in Wills coming out speech, present in the background of many scenes at the Mac-Z, and shown in the beginning of the epilogue AS a general store (which proves they did not forget its function, meaning the speech wasnât a plot hole), it takes centre stage in one of the most emotionally pivotal (and visually impeccable) scenes of the entire season.
Explain why they would put so much emphasis on Melvalds if it werenât there for us to notice.
