#conformitygate

[thebestofmyrmidons]

Finn was fucking with us all along

I came across this old article, and god, why has this not been brought up more? It's a gem!

Firstly, he hints that he was 'very confused and sad, but also happy' - a direct hint to the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast.

Secondly, he describes the final season by saying that he 'felt like he was in a dream. None of it felt real. I don't know, it felt perfect'

Did the ending feel too 'perfect'? Did it feel like a dream? Did it feel real? I think we all know the answer!!!

Speaking about going back in time and doing things differently...hm...I smell bandersnatchgate crumbs...

[bird-on-the-fly]

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Strange summer you say? The curse is broken "you" say? Huh. Interesting. 💙💛🌈🙃💛💙

[anotherjlynn]

Lucas, your shirt is almost identical, but not quite. Try again in a different loop.

Has anyone else noticed this?

[it-was-a-seven07]

guys just a reminder that time doesn’t dismiss all the clues we’ve found! the red dial is still red melvalds still doesn’t sell malted milkshakes wsqk radio still aligned with all the episodes m still marks the spot the exit signs are still there and along with everything else they still told us not to believe in coincidences! i know it’s been a long time and people are starting to give up but that doesn’t change the fact that all these things still exist and all add up toward the same thing! don’t stop believing!! <33

[indianaflyer]

Just some info on the poster people got at the Duffers interview (13/5/26)

[nanas-basement]

Jesus fucking christ.

This wasn’t even in the-

You know what… Whatever

[thewisewill80sbyers]

how can anyone expect me to not think that this shit is suspicious as hell, why would they put a binder with written that stranger things is a fantasy role playing game with a dice on 7 meaning that we literally LOST the game if it wasn't to say that we lost

[beaulesbian]

5x8 vs the 'documentary'

i realized i never giffed this comparison of the difference between these scenes (until today one of @nightnut 's post reminded me of it)

[rgwriter]

If a cg falls in the forest...

I believe wholeheartedly that the entirety of season 5 is off. That they're already in a loop of wrong, illusion and/or warped memories are at play, and there is a lot of evidence to back it up.

But the hardest part of this for me has always been that none of the characters ever seemed to catch the glitches. Lucas does wonder momentarily if they're being messed with, but he's quickly distracted from that with news that Max might be returning to her body.

What I'm talking about is Neo and the cat in the Matrix. The Truman Show with a falling spotlight. Dark City where the hero watches the buildings change shape. The Freddy/Inception signs that you're in a dream of it all.

You see where I'm going with this? No member of the party is the mythological Cassandra telling them something is wrong and not being believed.

Joyce, who notices magnets and follows up on unusual hunches, never seems to figure it out. Hopper the investigator and Murray and Nancy the journalists never figure it out. Jonathon the observant photographer never figures it out. Dustin the genius gets it all wrong. Mr. Clarke doesn't even flinch at the UD trip or the bad wormhole explanation and beanstalk plan. We've got a lot of smart people there who don't seem to notice that anything is wrong with their story at all--even when it is staring them right in the face.

The audience can see the subtle signs. The character changes. The color changes. The fake monster battle and disturbing ending. There is absolutely something going on. But when the basement door closes at the end of episode 8, no other shoe has dropped, and we're left with ambiguity and confusion. For months. A confusion that wasn't cleared up with Tales at all. Only emphasized.

We do have at least 5 of them saying something doesn't make any sense multiple times, but they never follow up on that, and choose to believe the easiest conclusions they are given. (Holly does scream none of this is real, but that is in Henry's mind, so...)

Nancy in particular surprises me by not thinking for herself. She agrees and follows up on something Mike or Dustin says. On something Steve says. She remembers the UD lab for El and dresses like a candy striper to talk to her mom, but that and shooting things are all we get of her old intelligent and curious character. She and Joyce were the main go-tos for discovering the truth, but they are both pretty distracted and emotionally compromised, so we got nothing from them.

We have a few subtle signs that are never followed through on. El looks momentarily confused when she hops from her mindscape to the middle of the road while looking for Holly. She looks down at Kali's reflection in the mindscape and makes a subtle face that could be some sort of realization. She almost has a real moment with Hopper but then a roaring sound that is never explained draws them back into the action.

Mike seems distracted and makes a lot of his famous figuring something out faces, but other than some seriously odd behavior, particularly after shock jock, we don't have any idea what he's actually thinking or feeling.

Robin, the solver of the most puzzles through this series, is put directly in the visual path of the dial color change and the tower color change, both objects she should be extremely familiar with due to her job, and she doesn't react to either.

Murray's entire character is literally brilliant, paranoid, overly suspicious conspiracy theorist and he spends the entire season just smiling goofily and delivering things to the party. He barely reacts to Joyce's insane plan that makes no sense, except to mention they need some snacks. It's very out of character for him to be that oblivious.

Will's mysterious experience with Vecna changed him, but we have no idea what he saw so we can't establish the true reasons for his reactions. Was he shown the truth and warned of the outcome if he didn't follow the script? We don't know.

And that is the most frustrating part of this. I know it's true, I even believe there will be more content, BUT I can see why it might be difficult for others.

Because no character had a deja vu cat moment. No one noticed that the people behind him were on a loop. No one noticed the fifty million exit signs that kept appearing everywhere, or all The Wall references. No one even wondered why the military had a lab in the UD that kept needing to be restocked when they didn't seem to know about Vecna. It was just there because?

Nancy should have wondered about the military during all those crawls, that's all I'm saying. But they were all wearing blinders.

No one questioned the absence of characters--and not just the physical absence but the absence of mention, because no one ever said their names even though it would have fit the story for them to at least get a passing reference. Particularly Owens, Argyle, Suzi, the deputies in every season until 5, and Max's mother.

Don't get me started on the wormhole and those journals.

So yes, the people, the objects, the relationships and the physics of the entire season was completely off and wrong. But no one noticed except the audience. And you only saw it if you were really paying attention or watched it more than once.

And even if you have a 50 page list of things you saw that were wrong on the show (and we do) none of it is conclusive enough to explain what's happening.

Which has left the show open to accusations of queerbaiting, cash-grabbing, bad AI writing, just another big show with a bad ending etc.

It's why so many people have felt crazy for the last few months. Because we didn't have that one character who saw what we saw, and on bad days, that leaves the door open 3 inches for doubt.

[gritstartar]

Top 58 MOST Insane Things Duffer Brothers/Netflix/Stranger Things/ST Cast have done in the last year:

(Note: this is off the top of my head, I did not compile evidence because I did not want to but I COULD but I won’t)

1. Announce & release a TV show from UD Productions within 4 months of the end of their last show

2. Release an animated spin-off within 5 months of a SERIES FINALE

3. Announce & release a TV from UD Productions within 6 months of the end of their last show

4. ANNOUNCE AND RELEASE ALL OF THE ABOVE within 6 months of their absolute disappointment of a series finale for their biggest creation

5. Have a theatrical release for a show no one is excited about that comes in at 55 MINUTES

6. Announce a SECOND season of an animated spin-off show that no one was excited for to begin with, that wasn’t received too well, WITHIN ONE WEEK of the season 1 release

7. Drop the TEASER TRAILER for the second season within 1 week of the first season PREMIERE!

8. Announce a renewal season for a show BEFORE IT HAS PREMIERED!!

9. Go back and forth on if it is actually renewed or not up until the DAY BEFORE the teaser trailer is released

10. Have ST cons and Q&As where questions are blocked from being asked for a show THAT HAS ENDED

11. Take over 3 years to release the final season of your show, while also working on a BROADWAY SHOW, an animated spin-off (now 2 seasons!), and 2 shows DURING that time period!

12. Allow your cast to make PUBLIC COMMENTS in OFFICIAL INTERVIEWS about how they did not feel that character arcs & relationships were not wrapped up well enough

13. Allow your cast to make PUBLIC COMMENTS in OFFICIAL INTERVIEWS about how they had to push the Duffer Brothers to add certain scenes or remind them of MAJOR plot & character lore

14. APPROVE said comments TO BE IN A DOCUMENTARY!

15. Openly admit CONTINUOUSLY you did not have a finished script and didn’t know what you were doing in a NETFLIX documentary

16. Show your actors questioning your authority as show-runners in a documentary!

17. Spend 2 weeks post season interviewing talking about how you don’t know your own show

18. Disappear for 4 months afterwards only to have Netflix allow you to come back and interview another director about their upcoming work

19. Not make it clear whether or not your ‘main couple’ is together is together in the FINAL SEASON of your show until they kiss at the end

20. Kill one of your main characters in the last 50 minutes of the show

21. Talk about in the documentary how the whole plot twist would be wondering if she would kill herself or not and talk about it so lightly

22. Release a show less than 5 months after you kill said character where she is happy again while the audience knows she will LITERALLY DIE in the next 2 years of her life

23. Have her ‘try French fries’ for the first time in 1985 when it is literally the first food she eats in the entire show

24. Let the actor for one of the only canonically confirmed queer characters go on Jimmy Kimmel and call the QUEERBAIT from your show the best couple that never happened

25. Let your cast continue talking about Byler for almost FIVE MONTHS post finale KNOWING it was an absolutely gut wrenching experience for a huge portion of the largest subset of your fanbase

26. Somehow convince people who do not ship Byler that Byler was in fact together in the epilogue

27. Play in the faces of people you queerbaited even after the tower scene

28. Let Noah Schnapp publicly talk about how he was robbed of a romance on the show AT A CONVENTION!!! It took Sean Astin like 10+ years to do that, only AFTER he had other roles!!

29. Let your actors continue to talk about a fan theory that is ridiculed and has like 50 people who believe in it REGULARLY 5 months later

30. HAVE YOUR ACTORS CONTINUE TO BRING UP SAID FAN THEORY (unprompted!!!) and tell the fans to move on!

31. Telling fans to move on from a show that you won’t let die !! If you wanted it dead, let it rest where it was shot dead 57 times!!

32. Bring up multiple episodes to rewatch in pre season finales that directly remind people of plot holes YOU KNOW are going to be unresolved in the final season

33. Scrub an interview of Millie Bobbie Brown calling the ending ‘meta’

34. Have the evil villain from your show’s (Dr Brenner) actor publicly talk about how the ending was bad

35. Let him release weird footage of him in the lab ominously post-finale

36. Talk about how you wanted to explore the inside of a serial killers’ mind in this season & NEVER MENTION IT AGAIN even post-finale

37. Next to NO post-show tour or interviews from the characters

38. Allow the actor for one of your main characters to go on SNL and joke about your show’s SEVENTEEN days after its poorly received finale

39. ATTEND SAID SNL SHOW!! While they make fun of you!! To your face!! And have the thing sponsored by Netflix!

40. Introduce 12+ characters to the LAST season of your show, knowing one of the major complaints you get about your show is how bloated the cast is

41. Introduce EVEN MORE characters never mentioned again in the animated spin-off post-finale

42. Introduce the importance of 12 children, never address it in the show, and then never actually give an answer when asked about it in interviews

43. Release a documentary about a poorly received finale 12 days after the finale!!

44. Encourage a fan theory about secret episodes within one week of the show ending, and being poorly received!!

45. Disappear for 5+ months only to come back to interview with the same person who did the interviews that made you look so stupid immediately after the finale

46. Never even have a post-show interview with Winona Rider or David Harbour like EVER?!

47. Only let people talk about the same 5 general topics in any post-show interviews - is Eleven dead? Conformitygate? Secret episodes? Other stuff pre-season 5? Stuff on set?

*IF THEY DIDNT HAVE AN NDA AT ALL NOW, THEY WOULD TALK ABOUT MORE THAN JUST THE SAME TALKING POINTS!!!!!

48. Allow the actor for VECNA to say he thinks there was more to be explored between his and Will’s connection and that there isn’t enough closure there

49. Have your mid-season finale be better than your SERIES FINALE!

50. Have the final fight sequence of the animated spin-off (~25 minutes) be longer than that of the SERIES FINAL (~2 hours)

51. Give your queerbait couple more time together in the final season of your show than your ‘main couple’

52. Have the leaks for your SERIES FINALE circulate better than the clip of Millie Bobbie Brown calling the ending meta

53. Have the leaks for your SERIES FINALE circulate for over 6 months before its release, but have NO widespread leaks of the mid-season of the finale

54. Literally say no one has predicted the ending, and then it be the most predictable ending of all time

55. Center Will’s connection to the Hivemind/Vecna for the entire season, and admit to sidelining it when it comes to killing Vecna

56. Give more screen time to Holly than to one of your main 3 characters in the final season of your show

57. Openly talk about studying bad show endings, wanting to avoid that, and then have a bad ending in nearly the exact same ways you sought to avoid

58. Never confirming nor denying whether or not the villain won, despite it being one of the biggest theories post-finale.

All of these things are in fact related to the last season of stranger things & they are all insane. Taken together they are actually in all honesty more insane than having a secret episode/volume/season.

[rgwriter]

Somebody gave El her perfect story

It struck me that the last scene of Tales before it flipped to the UD was a close up of El's face looking into the camera. I found that odd. Especially since they'd been giving Nikki her new character and were in her garage etc. It got me thinking about whose story this was. I've believed it was Will's or even Mike's...but as a thought experiment, what if it were El's?

There's no denying that things were really great for her in animated Hawkins.

Hopper was protective, but not too even though the lab JUST left, allowing her more freedom than he did in 2 or 3. Letting her take Mike to school every morning for 5 weeks. Letting her wander around town. And in the end, since he never discovered what happened, he even extended her curfew.

Max was always on her side, even though they wouldn't be friends until they bonded over stupid boys in 3. She even got in a fight with Lucas over them not giving El a choice, and she's the one who told Mike to take her to the winter festival. She had her back and always asked her what she thought they should do.

Mike was the almost too perfect boyfriend. Always staring at her dreamily and holding her hand. Waking up 30 minutes early every day to see her. Planning to take her to the arcade and the mall, which would never happen, and focused on her new experiences like cheese fries, and her welfare above anything else. He was also cautious of Hopper in a way he wasn't until 3 when Hopper threatened him (remember he screamed at him at the end of 2 and was incredibly disrespectful and mocking in 3). But the facial expressions and gestures he usually gave to Will, asking if he was okay, standing close to him and touching whenever possible, holding his hand in comfort, staring at him and apologizing without gaslighting etc? That he gave exclusively to El in Tales (apart from a small jealous about Nikki outburst) He still couldn't say he loved her, but he showed her, so she knew.

Will was happy and strong on his own instead of being connected to Mike's hip. Will the Wise was replaced by Will the paladin and future storyteller. He wanted to be the DM. He instantly made friends with Nikki, who could arguably be a more confident, female version of Mike. Most importantly, he looked pleased to see El and Mike snuggled together. He even broke rules and put himself in danger to get Mike's walkie talkie-at first just so El wouldn't worry about Mike. Not that he was ever outwardly jealous, or not close to El (though they barely had scenes together) but it felt different. Mike and Will didn't seem as necessary to each other's story for the very first time in ST. Instead, everything was El.

There was no lab or military chasing her. No references to her being a monster. Everyone asked for and listened to her opinion, and once when Mike didn't? He apologized instantly and promised to communicate better. And she was able to communicate that she didn't appreciate him acting like Papa well before season 4.

Nikki appreciated what she'd been through, empathized with her and included her in her birthday.

Her powers were off the charts. She tossed entire trees into food marts, ripped open monsters, caused a tornado inside a building from a distance which showed incredible control, and killed the queen while simultaneously closing the gate. All without really needing her batteries charged. In fact, no one ever mentioned it as being an issue.

She wasn't conflicted or complex. She didn't have trauma flashbacks like she did even in season 1. She wasn't dealing with the anger/love aspects of her powers. She was just sweet and cute and able to speak in complete sentences, adored by her father and boyfriend and incredibly powerful without consequence. There were no shades of gray in her character. She was the too good to be true super girl who giggled happily at the orange on her fingers while traumatizing an office building full of adults.

When you think about it, other than the plant monsters, that was kind of El's dream scenario. Accepted for who she was, loved and part of the party and a family. Mike all to herself.

It could be someone else's idealized version of her of course (looking at you guilty Mike and Mileven cheerleader Will) but either way it is interesting.

[bylerbeattles]

That's actually quite interesting, considering how the ads with the actors (Karen and the laundry) had a plot element to them.

[perfectly-wrong-horribly-right]

Season 4 is a Lie

I know season four not being completely real is something that's been mentioned before, but I wanted to share my thoughts and maybe add to the conversation!

After I made a post about some Max Mayfield merch, some people shared more merch with inaccurate descriptions, which prompted me to do some more digging; there is so much more than I thought! Anyway, this feels like the birth of a new tag: #merchgate (I'm gonna go back and add it to that post!)

On that note, I was looking at merch to see if I could find anything interesting, and I found some referencing California. At first glance, it isn't a big deal, but I noticed the merch portrays Demogorgons and heavily implies that “California” is actually the Upside Down. Which got me thinking: “If California isn't real, then how much of season four is real?”

California = The Upside Down?

First, let's state the obvious: Lenora Hills, CA is not a real place. This isn't a big deal on its own, but considering the other evidence, I felt like I should mention it.

Second, what do you mean the kids were in California for spring break and went to a roller rink instead of the beach? Unless they couldn't go to the beach because there is no water in the Upside Down.

And third, why is there merch of Demogorgons in California, a place that is known for being HOT? [source: shirt 1, shirt 2]

This one doesn't have a Demo on it, but it does portray California as the Upside Down:

Also, the song “California Dreamin'” playing when we go to California for the first time feels a little on the nose.

The Party Was Being Watched👁️👁️

Going with the idea that season four—or at least some of it—is an illusion, then Vecna and the Mind Flayer are able to observe what's going on. This would explain some of the camera angles implying that some of the characters were being spied on, most notably (to me):

In Will's room, we saw the same "Jaws" poster from season two:

which represents the Mind Flayer.

There was also a picture of tiger in the same scene:

Another tiger can be found in the Wheeler's basement:

Tiger = Vecna

Everyone is Separated on Purpose

It's clear their bonds with each other make them strong, so Vecna split them up to exploit their fears, making their minds more susceptible to his influence. In Stranger Things VR, Shadow Brenner told him that knowing El made them confident and that confidence made their minds too strong for him to infiltrate:

So, of course, he had to separate everyone in order to break them.

El makes them feel confident > take El away, isolate her, and force her to relive her trauma.

El got arrested and the kids are freaking out, they need an adult > send Joyce to go find Hopper, forcing the kids to deal with it on their own.

Hopper talked to Dmitri/Enzo about his fears—that he is a curse and only brings death to the people he loves > he blames himself for Joyce getting captured.

Mike can't say he loves El because that would be a lie > he doesn't end the relationship because he's scared of two things:

losing her again

his sexuality and feelings for Will

Will is in love with Mike, but doesn't think he feels the same, so he masks his feelings as El's instead > Mike thinks El feels that way about him—giving him false confidence in their relationship.

Lucas wants to be there for Max, and is scared of losing her > Jason, captain of the tigers basketball team, distracts Lucas from being able to save her.

Max is grieving Billy's death and has mixed feelings about it > she's afraid she's a bad person because of it.

Dustin had to watch Eddie die in his arms > now lives with survivor's guilt.

Now that he's learned their fears and exploited them, he can take control.

X is a Lie

At the end of season four, a giant X split through Hawkins:

And if "X a lie"

then Season Four is a Lie!

[misspracticallydelulu]

EX-FUCKING-SCUSE ME ⚠️

You’re telling me that in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse, anything that doesn’t belong in the universe will glitch in TRIANGLES

Yknow, these green ones:

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse:

Glitch eg:

If you pause his glitch, it shows him in a different timeline 💀

Yeah anyway, so is Tales of 85 ✌🏼

Starting with glitches in the Snowball fight/posts:

Also there is already a Spider-man connection!

Will to Mike, trust 🙌🏼:

[lavenderlatte222]

snow = static = signal interference

winter in hawkins. too much snow. riiight.

(pic credit to @worldofsouthernwind)

[power-kinesis]

I'm noticing 👀

Bonus: Henderhop and Byler parallel

[amphibiaaccount]

It’s been 100 days since the finale of Stranger Things and ConformityGate is still alive and well

In honour of this, I’m going to list my top 12 proofs:

WSQK - HUGE overall (They talk about staying late, Mindy Flares vehicle being destroyed but she’s fine, Vance forgetting to close the gate etc)

The Creelby parallels (which they’ve pointed out themselves) AND Joyce’s “secret play” from “The First Shadow” where they trick everyone they’re there to watch a play about one thing and surprise them with another.

The Dial the dial the dial ‼️

All the inconsistencies, birthdaygate etc

All the interviews (The duffers talking about a big plot twist, saying how what’s cool is the characters and NOT a big CGI monster). They spend SO much time hyping up the finale and mocking bad finales to shows only to parallel so many of them. This includes the documentary released that just made the Duffers look completely incompetent

WSQKSync which includes Vecna’s death being accompanied by a Rickroll

Mikes ending literally being him ending up alone and miserable

The “For Will” Mixtape merch that is EVERYWHERE but never shown in the show.

The Season 5 had 3 hours less runtime than Season 4 and almost double the budget (a budget of almost half a BILLION dollars), yet looks completely worse CGI wise. They also mention in the documentary having a roughly 65-1 footage to screen ratio. The average industry the industry is 10:1. These are RIDICULOUSLY high mathematical anomalies for the quality of season produced.

The unresolved CYRANO trope??

Tracks not being played during the finale, I think “We’re friends, good friends” never clearly played. A BIG one that didn’t play is “Who wants to live forever” which they likely payed a large amount of money to remix, yet it only made it into a trailer.

The leaks that were all correct except for a few Byler details.