but if i say we’re already witnessing s5 bychance foreshadowing i’m the villain… 💀
Will -> confident, independent, happy and chill asf, does not bother placing his hand first.
Lucas (former Tiger mind you) -> looks between Mike and Will, utterly surprised, mind boggled; and in order to not leave his best friend just standing there alone, feels obligated to be the first one placing his hand on Mike’s. this is also wheelclair brotherhood crumbs for when Mike becomes inevitably bitchless and depressed (loses everyone, El, Will, friends and family).
Mike -> puppy eyes & immediately confused, hurt and suspicious of why on earth Will wasn’t the first to place his hand. it’s so clear that he starts doubting Will’s loyalty
UK: The BBFC abolished the “X” certificate in 1982, renaming it “18.” This happened amid tightening around home-video—culminating in the Video Recordings Act 1984 (the “video nasties” panic).
US: The MPAA’s “X” rating (widely conflated with pornography) was replaced by NC-17 in 1990, but that 1980s “X” aura—forbidden/erotic—stuck in pop memory.
Urban visual culture: “XXX” storefront signage (peep shows, adult theaters) was part of late-70s/80s Times Square’s landscape, reinforcing X => explicit/adult connotations.
MDMA/Ecstasy entered club subcultures in the 1980s (before US scheduling in 1985). By the late ’80s/early ’90s the shorthand “X” was common slang.
#PartyGate #ViceGate #TraffickGate
❌ Computing & design → “X11” Window System + network
The X Window System (“X11”), created at MIT’s Project Athena (1984; the X protocol has been at version 11 (hence "X11") since September 1987, put “X” on millions of UNIX workstations—so in tech circles, “X” connoted cutting-edge GUI/networked computing.
PS.: “X11”??? Eleven??? “Athena” the Greek goddess of war??? 1987, the year ST5 is set in???
#MetaGate #ComputerGate #CodeGate #WarGamesGate #ManifestationGate #AvatarGate (El is an avatar/manifestation of Mike and/or Will, born from & tethered to certain specific aspects of their psyche)
❌ Advertising & anonymization → “Brand X”
In ad/comparison contexts, “Brand X” meant a generic unnamed competitor—anonymity with a hint of inferiority—a usage well-established by mid-20th century and still common in the ’80s.
PS.: “generic unnamed anonymous inferior competitor”??? S4 Argyle going “that’s a shitty knockoff” at Mike??? Are you guys following me???
#ByChance #ChanceGate #ShittyKnockoffGate #ManifestationGate #AvatarGate (Chance is also an avatar/manifestation of Mike and/or Will, born from & tethered to certain specific aspects of their psyche)
Bonus connections I remembered:
❌ 'The X Files' (TV Series, 1993–2018)
"Two F.B.I. Agents, Fox Mulder the believer and Dana Scully the skeptic, investigate the strange and unexplained, while hidden forces work to impede their efforts."
BRO idk who that on the left is, but that is the same fucking guy as the one on the left of Brenner in s1. They're also SO similar to Murray Bauman tf??
#XFilesGate
❌ X-Men
All the ST / X-Men connections we already know about...
❌'Dimension X' from TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
Dimension X is the home dimension of The Kraang, Kraang Prime, Traag and Granitor. Here, this military-dominant place threatens to take over
Which reminded me of my olddddd post about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Stranger Things Comic.
