Not all who wander are lost

NOTHING IN THE WORLD CAN BOTHER YOU AS MUCH AS YOUR OWN MIND, I TELL YOU. IN FACT, OTHERS SEEM TO BE BOTHERING YOU, BUT IT IS NOT OTHERS, IT IS YOUR OWN MIND.

[erikiara80]

One of the main reasons I believe the story is not over.

Circus theme song after the "skate attack"

Connection between clowns and the rabbit that was shot on someone's birthday (like Alexei, killed on July 4th)

[richieee707]

Guys I've tweaked Season 5, Vol. 2 a bit. I'm feeling better now💅🏻

[bookishbon]

#mikeshouldhavegottenvecnad

[gothicosmic]

yall r brave for rewatching s5 you would genuinely have to pay me to relive that again

[seekingflower]

Me when I lie

[bookishbon]

i'm actually crine, why is twitter so fucking funny

[ssentinl]

guess which of these photos are of mike looking at his girlfriend?? that’s right! NONE OF THEM!

[acecreamsandwich]

This will probably be controversial, so please don't scream at me.

What I wouldn't be able to get over if Conformitygate isn't real at all (I still fully believe it's real but hypothetically speaking) is that the writers, ALL of them, then decided it would be cool to queerbait the audience? And the thing is they KNOW how to bait people already.

Because they did it before. There is no "they are stupid and just didn't know that they did it." They know how to subvert expectations and not cater to homophobes or viewers who only view relationships in a heteronormative lens. They technically made fun of them by literally "straight-baiting" the audience in season 3 with Steve and Robin. (I know it is not the same thing as queerbaiting FYI, queerbaiting is actually harmful and cruel, I am just calling it this as a comparison)

In the third episode they hold hands in a moment of panic, implying there's a possible romance building up, which would eventually unfold over the course of the season. Yay, hopefully Steve will finally get a new love interest!

Then BAM, just kidding 😘, Robin comes out to him in a moment of vulnerability on the mall bathroom floor. They hit the audience out of nowhere with it in the 7th episode.

Like, I had never witnessed "straight-baiting" before this show had done it, and I loved it. They were basically like, "oh you thought something straight was happening here? Just kidding! Fuck you homophobic uncles 🤗"

So how could these be the same writers in season 5? I just don't believe that they were mocking the Mike x Will dynamic that people have noticed in the writing for years in season 5. That would genuinely not only be cruel but, kind of out of character, imo, based on how they handled the Steve and Robin dynamic.

I'm sure many will disagree with me, that's fair. This is my opinion, so please don't come yelling at me 😭I am just saying it how I see it based on what I have witnessed throughout the show and through a coformitygate lens, really.

[thebestofmyrmidons]

The test subjects in the book don't match the ones in the show!

Thank you @erikiara80 for pointing out that there are two sets of Rainbow Room subjects - some appear during 'actual' scenes where they're training with Brenner, and some get swapped out during the Nina Project time loop.

Further to my post that the actor playing Young Will in season 5, Luke Kokotek, is shown as one of the Rainbow Room test subjects, I realised that almost every single test subject that we see in the book is the 'wrong' one, and not who we see in the show! CRAZY STUFF!

These are the 'canonical' actors for each of the test subjects (according to IMDb and the Wiki fanon site). As you can see, there numbers only go up to 18, so if you subtract, El, Henry and Kali, you are left with 15 additional subjects.

That matches with the show, and the spread in the book also has 15 test subjects, so these numbers are correct!

See how below, we also have 15 pictures (these are numbered simply to quantify the total - the numbers do not correspond with the actual number the test subjects get assigned):

There are 15 test subjects in the show, and there are 15 photos, but somehow, only numbers 2, 16, and 17 match the test subjects we see in the show.

None of the other test subjects are featured in the book spread!

These are the only ones that match:

The other numbers we see in the book are all wrong!

Even ones that looked somewhat similar to me, I compared these, and still came to the conclusions that they are different actors!

For example for 3, I thought it could be this guy from the book. But when you compare the two, you see that, aside from being the same race, these are different actors!

Or this girl - she's not a number but she is featured in the book - you can see her in BTS scenes that were shared with me again by @erikiara80:

This girl, again, is not listed as a test subject, but suddenly takes the place of 002 during the Nina Project loop, can be seen in BTS scenes, and is also featured in the book:

Again - how does one make a huge two-page spread for the Rainbow Room test subjects, has the correct number of subjects (15), and 'accidentally' gets almost every single one of them wrong.

Two is correct, which makes sense, as he's the most prominent one of the bunch as he is the main antagonist to El, so people would be able to tell immediately if his one was incorrect.

It's also interesting that the only other correct subjects are the twins, numbers 16 and 17. @erikiara80 pointed that this might be a hint towards there being two timelines, and with all the twins discourse we've been having over the past few months, it wouldn't surprise me.

So, not only do we have Young Will in the Rainbow Room, we have almost every other test subjects be listed incorrectly! I repeat again - these things don't happen in error.

@erikiara80 noticed previously that they had swapped around test subjects in season 4, but by repeating that same 'mistake' again in the book, they are trying to make this obvious to a wider audience, to those who don't pay as much attention to detail when watching the show (but would notice the inconsistencies if it were laid out to them on paper).

We are being thrown hints over and over again in this book - and hopefully, the message will land!

[thebestofmyrmidons]

Evidence of Young Will in the Rainbow Room!

Curse my facial recognition skills, but I saw these pictures of the kids in the rainbow room, and almost instantly, this particular face stood out to me:

Firstly - I don't remember seeing this kid in the season 4 rainbow room scenes.

Secondly - I almost immediately recognised that this actor was Luke Kokotek, the actor that played Young Will in the first flashback scene of season 5:

As you can see - same face shape, slope of eyebrows, eye shape, and eyelid fold.

To double check I wasn't actually going insane, I sense checked against another picture of the actor:

The resolution of the photo I took of the book is really low, but you can see at least two moles on the neck of both the actor and the picture in the book. Aside from that, the shape of their ears match up too - the left one is rounder and the right one is slightly pointier, in both pictures.

The funny thing is - it's clearly a younger version of Luke Kokotek playing a test subject in the Rainbow Room. However, on IMDb, he only has season 5 credits on his profile and his name is not mentioned in any of the season 4 credits, so he clearly doesn't feature in the show - so why include a still of him in the official book?

Either they cut all of his scenes in season 4 for some reason (but released BTS footage of him to the author of this book?)... Or...

There might be footage of a Young Will in the Rainbow Room that we haven't seen yet...

[greenfiend]

The Mysterious Heart

He can't say it... he can't even write it.

Except for two instances...

When he turns to look in Will's direction. If you re-watch this scene, he first looks forward towards Nancy/Jonathan then turns his head to the left... exactly where Will is standing... while he says "I can't lose her again".

When Will pushed him to do so while standing behind him and featured in the camera shot.

Each time he cannot say or write it, El is present but Will is missing. But every time he can say it, Will is right there beside him.

This isn't some re-used plot point that doesn't properly resolve. This is a major aspect of the story as a whole... that's why it keeps re-occurring.

His feelings and his heart is integral to the story as a whole. Without heart, it all falls apart.

Above is one of my favourite scenes through a metaphoric lens. Will feels "crazy" "nervous" and "the sky spins" for him; these are feelings of being in love and he's struggling with it. Lucas says he gets nervous too but "the sky doesn't spin" for him. He then asks Mike "it ever spin for you?" And, of course, Mike avoids directly answering the question. Unwilling to explicitly reveal his heart. However, he does immediately turn his complete attention towards Will.

But his feelings remain a mystery. He cannot say "I love you" ever again since ST4. He creates the motto "friends don't lie" while he continues to lie to his friends and himself. He builds a bomb that he truly never symbolically drops. He never becomes "Mike the Brave".

Even for viewers who deny Byler evidence feel like something is missing from ST5. They may not be able to pin point exactly why it felt so unsatisfying. But a major reason is Mike and his arc. Mike himself has been a mystery for nearly a decade now. A mystery with many clues and buildup but no reveal or resolution. The "X" was never solved, nor the missing puzzle piece found.

[withoutheartwedallfallapart]

"Soooo what was the best part of stranger things s5?"

"The t-mobile ad"

[misspracticallydelulu]

I KNEWWW THAT DOOR HAD A LOCK ON IT 🔓

(One Last Adventure Documentary)

(The Truman Show)

IT’S THE SAME TOP TRUMAN WEARS WHEN HE DISCOVERS HIS LIFE IS A LIE ❌

(sorry for yelling lol. I’m excited by the possibilities. this may be old news, but it’s the first I’ve noticed 😭)

[monsterkill--er]

The Duffer Brothers' Masterclass 🚩

Did anyone take their Masterclass posted June 30, 2022? In the video, the brothers show off their writing process for Stranger Things with a fake demo that matches the plot of Season 5.

They work on a spin-off of Steve and Dustin's roadtrip in the Southwest to find Dustin's dad, who has been missing for years or months (making an inside joke about their release schedule).

The fake story borrows from mythic conspiracy called The Lost Dutchman's Mine, with two versions of a German man who found gold in a spot called "Superstitious Mountains."

He draws a crude map, which years later leads an amateur treasure hunter, Adolf Ruth (Nancy's fake name), to his mysterious death. The tale ending in "Veni, vidi, vici" written on a checkbook.

Their story's skeleton outline leads to Henderson (the dad) finding a secret passageway into the mine where a vampiric creatures attacks.

They add the disclaimer that this is a fake script.

The "Hawk" version was darker, full of betrayal. Meanwhile, "bullshit" Rubik's Cubes are not a good sign of intelligence (look at the spire-like shadow cast).

Secret passageways lead to fools gold.

In this fake pitch document—unknown if actually meaningless—the show they reference as inspiration is the Sopranos, which they've spoken about around the release of Season 5. The last season split in two, released a year after the other.

Montauk is the show's original title, but it's also where Hopper wanted to move in the end. There are many layers to this title—all of them hallucinogenic.

A Duffer is standing in front of the fake set of posters. One of them reads "Mission Space," which also happens to be a X-2 NASA simulation ride at Disney's Epcot.

After an update, the ride was split in two: passengers can choose to be on team Orange that rockets to Mars, or team Green, which orbits Earth and less intense.

While blue-sky brainstorming, the other Duffer says, "one way you know it's a good idea is that it starts to unlock a lot of doors." Three or the maze of doors inside Camazotz to escape? Notice how they didn't say secret.

They mention the show becoming a "sandbox," a pit of endless ideas, which is also what the Curse of Straud, Mike's campaign, is often referred to as being.

It's a campaign that gives one end goal—escape, not accept—while the rest is up to the players. Though, Vallaki typically comes into play as Chapter 5 of the campaign (it's stand-in is Hawkins lab, in Episode 5).

Speaking of maps, there was a story map to a blue-sky idea inside Will's drawing of the party going up against a dragon, though really it was a map to Will's heart.

This was mysteriously missing from Season 5, but the so-called fake scenario in this Masterclass was left in, in it's place?!? Look at the pens beside it.

Overall, the bros act bizarre and accentuate words in the video. Odd, considering they're awkward as it is. If you even need my conclusion:

Season 5 is "not a real thing".

[erikiara80]

In S2 Will "casts Fog Cloud" and the soldiers die in the tunnels.

But later, Mike says that during a d&d campaign, he cast that spell and saved the whole party.

Is that what Will did in S5? He cast a "spell/illusion" to save everybody, and that's why they're trapped in a fake happy ending? Or maybe it was both Will the Builder and Mike the Storyteller

[shishoch]

[puls1a]

“It was the best thing I’ve ever done..”