#st5 meta

and comments on the failure of mainstream media to report factual information

Yesterday I dropped a master post on all inconsistencies and oddities surrounding the reports on Nikki Baxter, a character that's supposed to appear in the animation Stranger Things: Tales of '85. Since then, I have an update and I have formulated my final thoughts on this situation. Here, I will reference information and sources that are listed in that post without linking every single one of them to keep it short.

I was speculating on the nature of @BradleysBigBuy Twitter account. Now, I know for certain that they highly edited a photo from one concept art image posted on Twitter by @Updates_SThings, way back in Nov 6 (2025). That has been included in the final edit of the master post!

This Twitter post was (not) coincidentally posted on the same day the official teaser trailer came out on YT. I can't speak on the validity of this Twitter account either, it seems semi-official at first glance. I argue it's still weird that the only source of this image is on Twitter.

I want to reiterate the following:

Regardless if @BradleysBigBuy is a misinformation or a leak account, it is outrageous that mainstream news outlets are citing it as if it's an official source of information!!!

I think mainstream media is NOT working together with the Stranger Things team, but rather, the Stranger Things social media team is completely playing them.

We have the following timeline of events:

Jan 24

- A Reddit Post critiquing Stranger Things: Tales of '85, mentions a Chapter Book by Penguin Random House Publisher

- A crunchy ass edit of Nikki Baxter is posted by @BradleysBigBuy

SAME DAY!?

Jan 28

- all mainstream news outlets reporting on entertainment cite these two posts

What kind of journalism is this???

They don't cite Penguin Random House Publisher, they don't mention the semi-official Twitter @Updates_SThings account with the only clear version of the concept art, they don't show the actual concept art...

They did not verify any of the information from the Reddit Post and especially not from the Twitter Post by @BradleysBigBuy.

I argue that the Stranger Things social media team wanted attention to go to Stranger Things: Tales of '85 in late January. There have been no official major updates on this animation since Nov 6 (2025). So, it had to be generated somehow.

Either this was an attempt at regular promotion of Stranger Things: Tales of '85, or this was to show that Nikki Baxter being added would significantly impact and alter the established Stranger Things story and time line. [paraphrased, but a sentiment echoed in all articles reporting on Jan 28 (2026)]

Anyway, I was completely right with my promotional timeline:

See you on February 2nd or 3rd!

In one of my posts, I mention the pattern of major content drops happening around 5 to 6 days and that this coincides with the fact that news stories of any topic die out after 5 to 6 days.

Since it seems that the Stranger Things team wants to keep our attention on their show and seems to be building up anticipation for something larger to happen, I assumed this promotional pattern would continue. I predicted Jan 23 to be the next moment a major content drop would happen.

Jan 1 -> Jan 7 -> Jan 12 -> Jan 17 -> Jan 23

Lo and behold I was right:

Now, with confirmation that my deductions do indeed hold some merit, I am here to present the promotional timeline until my predicted upper bound of the range of release dates. I have updated the broadest confidence interval to be Jan 17 <--> Feb 26, and the finest confidence interval to be Jan 19 <--> Jan 29, with a mean close to or between Jan 24 and Jan 25. You can find the reasoning behind the range on my blog.

Promotional timeline:

Jan 1 -> Jan 7 -> Jan 12 -> Jan 17 -> Jan 23 -> Jan 28 -> Feb 2/3 -> Feb 7/8/9 -> Feb 12/13/14/15 -> etc

Some notes:

- The further in the future we go, the less certainty we have, which is how predictions work. We have to either add 5 or 6 days to the previous dates, thus multiple options arise. You all know how weather predictions are fairly accurate for the next couple of hours, right? But, the accuracy starts decreasing for tomorrow and the day after, and then actually starts sucking ass for two weeks into the future. It's that principle.

- Jan 28 is 5 days into the future after Jan 23 and the only possible spot for major promotion. Jan 29 is when Bridgerton S4 Vol 1 will be aired, so it's highly unlikely they'll double schedule.

ps I really enjoy your posts using maths to figure all this out!

I expect more clues like in the SNL skits! They're probably going to focus on topics that already raise suspicion among the fandom, like unanswered questions, unfinished plotlines and odd inconsistencies. (queue the obligatory byler reaction: oh my god how could the Duffers not have noticed that, even the quiz is pointing it out?! 🤬)

Frankly, I don't think we need more hints, but they want to keep the fandom engaged and guessing. Maybe, like you said, they hope that more and more people will finally catch on to the meta narrative and social experiment! 🥹

Scheduled for the 23rd of January.

I'm scared by my own prediction skills. For context:

from this Jamie interview from 2022

Something about this vision Will had from the demogorgon and then drew this painting above in 5x4, him being in the centre, I have a bad feeling about this (star wars reference intended)

the landscape of it makes it seem almost like teeth, pointy and giant.

almost as if it could be of some sort of giant creature and its mouth, something we heard before from nancy in 4x8:

I saw a dark cloud, spreading over Hawkins.

Downtown on fire. Dead soldiers.

And this giant creature, with... a gaping mouth.

the teeth or thorns look also very similar to how Vecna's current body look, and also to this frame that wasn't yet in vol.1 of Will:

which brings me back to how central Will actually is and to another point i realized from another of Jamie's interviews, where he mentions manipulation, (x)

Ofc this could be mostly about how he's acting towards Holly and the other kids, appearing as a friend etc.

But the scene in 5x4 with Vecna talking to Will how easy it was to broke him, could have been another manipulation to actually further nudge Will to unlock his powers.

Vecna told Will about the kids being so easy to control, reshape, weak in body and mind, the perfect vessels. and then told him this:

We know that's not really the truth - Will was the only one to survive for almost a week in the Upside Down, he was ready to run from the demogorgon and tried to get away as much as a kid could, and maybe that's why Vecna needs him.

He's also tugging at Will's fears and insecurities, pulling all the painful memories of Will and Mike fighting, of the van scene, of him struggling with his sexuality and identity. Pushing all of these negative thoughts on him at once,

But before that we got this Robin scene with Will, talking about their younger selves:

How when she was young, she was so fearless.

And I feel that might be the biggest point of Vecna's future downfall - for thinking so little of those kids, being so sure they would break., Even with season 1 main characters we see how some of them were already in big leadership roles, so sure of themselves, inspiring others and leading their groups. Not weak at all.

So two things might be here tangled together - Will unlocking these powers thanks to Robin (and Mike)'s words and the need to protect Mike, Joyce, Robin and Lucas.

But at the same time maybe because of unlocking those powers, Will is where Vecna wanted him? He's still not done with him..

Before vol. 1 there were theories that Vecna would take Will away in this episode 4, but it was the opposite, he left him there. But what if he just didn't take him yet? Because he wasn't in the place Vecna planned for him?

I think the main point here is that Will isn't alone - and that's been the case since season 1, where Joyce and Hopper went for him into the Upside Down, and the whole town searched for him, and Mike and his friends never gave up on him. Even El somehow knew him from before, and their connection still needs to be more explored.

So even if Vecna might try to put these negative thoughts in Will's mind, try to break him again, all the comparison between Henry and Will about how they're similar and don't belong in this world for it, Will's love for his friends was stronger to unlock these powers despite feeling the anger from the hivemind, and he knows his friends are there for him too, because trust is a two way street. I think that's the best advantage for Will, because he is so so loved!