Netflix brainrot 😔✌️

and we kissed, as though nothing could fall

happy pride month everybody 💐🌈🏳️‍🌈

BTS pic in the Wheeler’s living room

Not only do I think this is actually from a scene we haven’t seen yet, but spot the Ozarks book on the table!

It’s called Portrait of the Ozarks, a photography and narrative book from 1985. It covers the unique landscape and culture of the region.

What’s particularly interesting…is it’s abundance of caves in the Ozark Mountains:

Lake of the Ozarks cave vs. Henry’s Cave

And yknow what else is in the Ozark Mountains? Twin Falls, which is then nicknamed Triple Falls after heavy rainfall:

Twin Falls vs. El’s scene with 3 Two Waterfalls

And the historic Rosalie House used to be called “The Hill House”. And the children that used to live there nicknamed it “The Gingerbread House” 👀

Rosalie House vs. The Creel House

As usual, nooo idea if these parallels are the intention…

Did we look at these close enough...?

- S4 Pizza boxes and a paper that reads "begins", - The backgrounds aren't obscured but almost purposefully in shot, the sign top right in the first pic and the building with the number 9 in the second

Having 70% of the fandom turn against you is not a success, even if there’s a bigger plan behind it. People won’t simply forget everything that happened over the past year. Good marketing should build excitement and engagement, not alienate a large portion of the audience while catering to only a tiny fraction of the fandom.

Also known as the worst Alien move in the franchise 😆

The queer undertones went craaaazy 🏳️‍🌈

Sigourney Weaver plays a “resurrected” version of Ripley called Ripley 8. She was cloned partly using Xenomorph (alien) DNA.

Winona Ryder played Analee Call, an andriod whose part of her programming includes to destroy Xenomorphs.

However, the audience doesn’t know Call is an android until she has a “fakeout death”. She gets shot in the stomach and then returns to help Ripley. They then bond over their “different” nature. Very queer enemies to lovers subtext lol.

It just makes me think of El & Kali dynamic 👀

Not in a queer way, but the death pact and secret understanding were not aware of yet…

But yo…this deleted scene of Ripley & Call in a chapel ⛪️

Reminds me SO much of El & Kali’s convo in the church:

Kali was definitely not brought back just to convince El to kill herself and then die.

They’ve planned something bigger upon their return, I bet 🤘🏼

"THE ORIGINAL MALTED MILK BALLS"

...snow ball?

MALTED MILK(SHAKES)

malted milk whoppers...

peanut butter boppers..

"be an original" like. not a clone/copy... HMM

Season 1 - El wanting a family, Hopper literally offering her up to HNL for the other kids’ safety, Joyce being probably one of the first women that’s nice to El.

Season 2 - Hopper suddenly taking her in, why? Joyce tells Will his birthday is March 22nd, when the memorial says August 28th in Season 1. El watching her friends from afar, getting jealous of Max and throwing her off the skateboard; simultaneously Will and Mike being close again. El returns, Mike and El kiss during the Snow Ball.

Season 3 - El and Mike are dating, Mike and Will are fighting. Somewhat resolve, fight, weird relationship still. Mike is still always having some serious eyes for Will. She also starts to figure out what who she wants to be outside of Mike, Hopper, or Papa (primarily shown through shopping montage, what clothes she likes). Hopper DIES at StarCourt Mall (her father), he was taking care of her primarily, so she is down a parental figure. El and Mike make up (?), but also Mike realizes he’s gay and happier about Will saying he won’t play D&D with other people than El saying she loves him and kissing him.

Season 4 - El is living with the Byers, dating Mike and looking forward to seeing him, and having the bangs that look like Will’s bowl cut and dressing LIKE Will. Season 4 starting on March 22nd, Will’s supposed birthday that everyone ‘forgets’, a day that El says she wants to be all about HER and Mike. Unfortunately for El, Will’s PEERS also think he is weird and he gets bullied (girl, I promise you, you don’t want his life you want your own). Similar to Will, El doesn’t have powers this season, and El has previously voiced concern that her powers make her a monster. She also knows Will has been painting a lot, maybe for a girl he likes (girl please). The painting Will brings to the airport, where Mike’s flowers ‘might have too much yellow’ and his note says ‘from Mike’. Her ‘lies’ pile on top of each other (she is living Will’s life with him, but is also getting bullied and doesn’t have powers). Maybe, THIS is the moment where she is finally seeing that she needs to find her OWN path. Was it worth it? The bullying, not having powers. Was it worth it for the life you wanted? Do you not love me anymore? And she gets her powers back!

Season 5 - But, are we not back at Season 1? Training, being a weapon, gearing up for battle? Without Hopper, without Mike, without being like Will, we are still back to Papa. However, this is probably the best place to actually start to understand ourselves- where we started before we became what we think everyone else wanted from us.

Now, for MALT !!

@nuffit building off your post about Whoppers and Boppers… Whoppers being the original, Boppers being the clone the knock off what have you.

And Mileven’s surname ship name being Whopper… but would Whopper be the correct name? If we are trying to figure out who El is, without Papa, without Hopper, without Mike, without being like Will.

Hopper wouldn’t be her last name, but Whopper being the original MALTED milk ball… and it not being HER, Jane, whatever El’s birth name is. Whoppers being the ORIGINAL malted milk balls, and with Season 3 introducing malt (through scoops ahoy, in the ice cream through my analysis of malt above!). HOLD ONTO IT!

El originally wanting to be Mike’s sister, and HIM struggling to define it (maybe, idk, a friend would be good lol). But he mentions the Snow Ball, and associates it with something you do with someone you take to the Snow Ball.

Finally, we have Whopper take full effect during this kiss at the Snow Ball. Where Every Breath You Take starts playing, with the Shadow Monster looming and the flip to the Upside Down. Immediately ushering in a season around ice cream, which I’m connecting to malt.

Overall, the original™️ Whopper should never have been Whopper to begin with. It is only Whopper after Hopper became her father, Mike told Will it was okay to dance with someone else, AND Mike is looking longingly at Will dancing with someone else. All of which, comes with the downside of being watched by the Shadow Monster, just like Will. She may be out of the lab, with a family like she wanted, and a boyfriend like she wanted; she has (seemingly) severed the connection with the lab, but is still being watched. Male gaze- hello!

When we talk about who ‘made the deal with the devil’ in Stranger Things, people often associate it with Mike. But maybe, it was El. Before even understanding what that would mean for the people she would come to grow to love and care for deeply. She was choosing conformity before she even knew what it was! Aren’t we all? Especially as young, impressionable kids who want to be loved and cared for, before we even know who we are and what WE want.

Maybe it should’ve ALWAYS been ElMike. But, still that contains a nickname derived from her lab number. It should’ve been Jake. Jane + Mike. The ONLY person who looks pleased with Mike in this entire fucking scene 🤭😂

She also seems to like know SO much more in Seasons 1 & 2 about what’s going on with the Upside Down. Like she swapped one pre-determined life in the lab, for another in the ‘real’ world.

Free her from him (Hopper, Papa, and Mike)!!

What dat mean?

We have two options:

A) they were lying about their use of ChatGPT in the documentary, and people were in on the gag ...or

B) the documentary maker, the cast, everyone involved were completely unaware, and were, in fact, befuddled and confused by the Duffers' weird behaviour.

Point B doesn't really hold for me, if you consider how positively the cast members have been describing the Duffers over the years. Point B also implies that the documentary maker didn't do her job properly - if, in fact, I caught the showrunners I was making a whole ass documentary about 'accidentally' letting it slip that they're using AI, and then providing NO commentary on that in the documentary itself, that would be either incompetence, bias or silencing from Netflix. In other words, documentary = bad.

All that to say - Option A seems more plausible to me than Option B, because we would be implying that almost everyone, collectively lost their integrity and their brain.

I know everyone has moved on, and I've tried to make this post multiple times, but after watching it again, I keep finding similarities and little Easter eggs that are just insane. These two shows should not be THIS similar. The characters, should not have THIS MUCH in common unless it's on purpose. The fact that I can find a comparison to almost every ST character with almost every TB character is... well, let's just say that is one hell of a coincidence.

Edited to add: They keep talking about supporting original stories but it really feels like they keep supporting/telling the same story so that's a little confusing unless cg and the meta theories are real.

Spoilers ahead if you haven't watched The Boroughs

The Characters:

Sam keeps reliving the last moments of his wife’s life where she died surrounded by puzzle pieces with The Boss playing in the background.

Mike keeps reliving the last moments before El died while Prince played in the background, and there were several visual and verbal references to puzzle pieces in season 5.

Judy is an investigative journalist who owns a gun and loves 2 men. After the death of one, she’s all in on finding the monster and killing it.

Nancy wants to be an investigative journalist, is great with guns and stuck between two men. After the death of her bff while sleeping with one, she’s all in on finding the monster and killing it.

Art is smoking weed all the time, talking to a psycho pomp crow like he was his therapist and worried his relationship with Judy might be over. He’s lying about where he goes every day. He talks about playing golf and lives in the desert. He even mentions Brooksy is looking out for his mushrooms.

Jonathon in 4 was smoking all the time, talking to Argyle like he was his therapist and worried about his relationship with Nancy. He’s lying about why he isn’t visiting her and doesn’t want to go to Emerson. There is an actual scene of him hitting golf balls in the desert. At the end Argyle is looking for mushrooms.

They said “Everybody loves/loved Jack” at least 5 times, which tells me that Jack the weatherman is Steve the Hair Harrington. (Steve even mentions or implies Nancy is "special" in every season, which Jack says to Sam about Judy "She's special")

Renee Joyce finds her missing quartz suspicious even though nobody else does, gets in a relationship with a “cop”, has a horrible ex who is sue-happy, finds proof in a video, loves Wally enough to torture an old lady if it will save him.

Joyce finds her missing son/the magnets suspicious even though nobody else does, gets in a relationship with a cop, has a horrible ex who wants to sue Sattlers Quarry, finds proof of the MF on a video, loves Will enough to do anything to save him. Exorcisms, kidnappings, entering the UD etc.

The Mother connects to Sam. She projects herself as his wife to communicate. She’s been used for so long but now it’s time for her to die and she needs his help. She has an ET dress up moment to hide in plain sight. She brings Judy back to life against all odds. Sam is the last person she talks to before she dies.

El connects to Mike and she needs his help. She’s been used by the lab for years. Brings Max back against all odds. Has an ET dress up moment. Mike is the last person she talks to before she dies.

Blaine and his wife run a business that is basically a cult for the employees. It’s centered around Mother and her children and it has to do with her blood. And immortality.

To keep her, they monitor their closed neighborhood of seniors with seraphim and send the children to collect cerebral spinal fluid to feed her.

Brenner runs a lab that is basically a cult centered around El who is a child (and possibly other children) and it has to do with her/their blood. And time?

To keep El they monitor Hawkins with bugs and a faux energy company.

(I would like to say I also saw a lot of potentially Vance Goodman and Mindy Flare (and maybe Henry and Patty?) in that couple. She was desperate to live and violent and he was all about trying to keep her alive.)

Wally is gay and he’s dying of a terminal cancer. He was also a doctor working on a cure for AIDS in the 80s. To save his friends he agrees to help them heal mother while his friends pretend everything is back to normal.

Will is gay in the 80s. To save his friends he might have given in to the MF and given his friends a world in which everything seemed to have gone back to normal.  

Hank had a child and worked as a warden, but he did bad things-and to be fair-enjoyed them. He was given a job opportunity that would let him live forever if he aided and abetted Blaine and his wife and "the children" People thought he died but he didn't.

Hopper had a child and worked as a cop, but his guilt over his past hindered him. He agreed to keep what was going on at the lab quiet in return for helping Joyce save Will. People thought he died but he didn't. (Basically Hank is Evil Hopper)

There are elements of Dustin in Sam-the inventor, tinkerer and all those tvs reminded me of Dustin's creation in that one commercial.

There are elements of Max in both Judy and Renee. Renee is a sassy badass and Judy is brought back to life.

I didn't see Robin or Lucas in anyone necessarily. But Paz was kind of an Eddie/Billy/Bob combo. A musician who was sweet and also into older women. :)

Bonus Easter Eggs:

Sam watching the OG Little Shop of Horrors

The Little Shop of Horrors poster on Will's wall

The "children" being in cages at The Manor

The children being locked up at Hawkins lab

Art calls himself an Eagle Scout and Erica tells Judy that Sam is a Boy Scout.

Henry being a Boy Scout is fairly important to the show.

TB starts with ET mom actress running from a monster and that monster dragging her back inside and carrying her away.

ST starts with a scientist running from a monster and that monster dragging and carrying him away.

Only one monster gets a name "Scar"

Only one monster gets a name "Dart"

The tunnels.

The tunnels.

Golf carts

bicycles

Sneaking into a morgue to do an informal autopsy to find the truth.

Sneaking into a morgue to do an informal autopsy to find the truth.

The microscope in Wally's box

The microscope in Castle Byers

Blood giving immortality

Blood giving super powers

Wally picking out a coffin and laying in a closed one to hide.

Jonathon picking out Will's coffin and them having a funeral for him even though he wasn't dead.

Renee and Paz walking after a car goes off a cliff

Joyce and Hopper walking after the truck explodes

A famous David Bowie song on soundtrack -Golden Years

A famous David Bowie song on soundtrack- Heroes

A reach but...

When the children's blue blood combines with the Mother's gold blood, a cure is created.

"When blue and yellow meet in the West." (the west in that case being New Mexico, considered part of the American West) *also byler*

Edited to add: "Take the deal. Take a class. Play pickle ball." When Wally tells them to take the deal or end up in the bad guy's hands.

"Study for that test, enjoy that tv dinner, go on that date" When Robin is telling her audience to ignore the military quarantine that's kept them all locked up for 18 months.

Edited to add: Someone in the comments just mentioned something I forgot!

The children feed by sending tendrils into people's mouths.

The MF and Vecna put vines in children's mouths (the difference is they're putting something in instead of taking it out)

Boroughs names bonus #2

An old man named Mike is waiting for his best friend at a fake bus stop every day.

A younger woman named Erica helps Judy investigate Sam

Renee's last name is Joyce

Judy and Art's last name is Daniels -Daniel was the name of the bad guy in Tales from 85

Wally's last name is Baker which is synonymous with Baxter, as in Nikki Baxter and Mrs. Baxter who teaches evolution...oh and Sam's middle name is Darwin-a guy who wrote the book on evolution.

Edward (Eddie) says the owl is in the walls. He has Maxwell's disease.

Hank Williams and Jack Willard are both characters in the show with Will-centric last names.

Ella/El is the name of Sam's granddaughter

A blonde named Terri gets up to sing at Jack's funeral because they used to have a thing and its'...not great. Which reminded me of Tammy.

Also, in 5x01, Hop is not happy that Will is not helping El, because Joyce "keeps that boy wrapped in a bubble wrap", and in 5x02 Will tells Joyce that she only wants to save her boyfriend. I don't know, I think they're hiding something. Hopper's absence in the coming out scene, Will and Hop complaining about each other, but also Will seeing for the first time through the Demogorgon when Hop is in danger, just like he did in S2, when he saw him in the tunnels...