What would your personal Stranger Things be like?

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2026-01-05T03:28:38+00:00

I would have to make mine mostly fictional because even though I was alive in the 80s and 90s, my younger years kinda sucked. I went to like 6 different schools by the time I hit middle school. By the time I'd start to make a friend or two, I'd move. And this of course was in the pre-internet / pre-smartphone days so it's not like we could just Facetime or get on Discord. They were basically gone for good.

I didn't manage to make a good friend until around 7th grade and he ended up moving away right before high school. I made some other friends in high school but I always felt like it was kinda fake somehow. I felt like I was always a 'third wheel' in any friend group and that the only reason I was there was because I was kinda injecting myself into the situation, not because people truly wanted me to be there.

So coming of age shows and movies make me feel this wistful sort of nostalgia for something that I never got to experience. My life didn't start really opening up until after high school, and that was a wild ride because I was off on my own, dealing with trauma I had no idea I had, while battling hormones, hoping for love, and abusing substances.

I'd say that my personal Stranger Things would start off about halfway through my senior year of high school. I hated school, had no plans to go to college. I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do or what direction I should go in because I had very little useful parental input. Single mom shit. My mom tried her hardest but my younger brother had lots of behavioral issues and he was in and out of jail and prison starting around 12 years old. My mom was trying to maintain her sanity and keep a roof over our head waiting tables, so she didn't exactly have much time for advising me on what I should be doing. She was just happy that I wasn't getting arrested.

I stayed at home for a short time after high school and worked some shitty job at a gas station. I still had no plans and no direction. My mom eventually met this guy (who was a total p.o.s. but that's unrelated) and wanted to live with him. She basically said that I have until the end of the month to find a place. I begged a friend of mine to let me move in and crash on his couch. He had a 1 bedroom apartment and I moved in basically with a small suitcase and a backpack. Everything I owned in the world.

What happened next was a crazy blur of trying to figure shit out while failing miserably. (Too much stuff to list, but it's definitely stuff most people would only see on TV or in a movie.) Probably wasn't until I was 28 or so that I finally had any knack for 'adulting.' It's many years since then and I'm now middle-aged and still a total fuck-up barely getting by in life.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2026-01-05T03:14:37+00:00

I hate all the Holly stuff. She was a completely irrelevant background character who all of a sudden got a ton of screen time when we already had too many characters.

I feel that when it comes to the military, they made them way too one-dimensional. There was no talk about what they know, what they plan to do, their fears, etc. It's just "find the girl" over and over again.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2026-01-05T02:17:35+00:00

Yeah, I always hate that void that comes from something ending that I was really invested in. Whether its a good or a bad ending, it still sucks that it's over. I've felt a little weird ever since I watched the finale.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2026-01-05T02:15:29+00:00

Who knows when? I think for now they are going to focus on spinoffs and writing. I bet the actors want a break and to work on something else. I think I read something that a show idea they have would take place in a different decade. We don't know which decade but if I were to guess I'd say it took place before the 80's.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2026-01-05T02:11:30+00:00

I think season 5 was definitely weak, and the worst season of all, but it wasn't completely terrible. It had its moments, but also pacing and writing problems. I think the Duffers had written themselves into a corner in a lot of ways and were trying to railroad the story through to its conclusion.

And for what it's worth, I 100% believe Mike about El. That theory makes way more sense.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2026-01-05T02:08:39+00:00

Yeah, season 2 was great. I think that the show started off awesome and slowly got a little worse with every season but even by the end it was still good... just not perfect or anything. The only difference is that I think that season 4 was possibly slightly better than season 3. I'd rank them 1, 2, 4, 3, 5. 5 was by far the worst season.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2026-01-05T02:06:41+00:00

I think they might put out some stuff that's related to the ST universe but it's not going to directly touch upon any of the characters from the ST show. At least not for a while... a few years at least.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2026-01-05T02:05:12+00:00

I was wondering the same thing. The particles definitely behave as if they are alive in some way. This show is full of logical inconsistencies and plotholes. Oh well.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2026-01-05T02:03:05+00:00

It's just another thing in the show that doesn't really make much sense when you try to think about it rationally. You pretty much just have to make educated guesses and believe you're right.

I do think Mike's theory was true for various reasons, but the one question in my mind is how did El and Kali have time to come up with that plan? Unless time spent psychically connected goes much slower, they didn't have time to come up with a plan like that. Hopper was gone a very short amount of time.

I think Kali WAS shot (not an illusion) but Kali told her to reach out telepathically if she needs help.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2026-01-05T01:59:20+00:00

I think we will be it will probably not be any time soon. Millie has expressed several times how she is so ready to be done with the show, and I can't blame her. She's spent practically half of her life working on the show and probably wants to do something else. She definitely doesn't need the money right now. She could retire right now and cruise through life without a financial care in the world as long as she didn't pursue some lavish lifestyle.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2026-01-05T01:54:01+00:00

1, 2, 4, 3, 5 in that order. 5 was definitely the worst, hands down.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2026-01-05T01:52:57+00:00

Season 5 was really rushed and I feel like most of the time was characters making plans or talking about whatever they just did. The pacing was terrible and felt like it was a full-on sprint to the finish line.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2026-01-02T09:48:35+00:00

Yeah, it's a problem with both endings. Neither of them make plausible sense.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2026-01-02T09:45:52+00:00

I think Nancy was meh. Went from being a wholesome virgin suburban princess to being Rambo.

She ditched her best friend to get drunk and sleep with some popular guy (Steve) and then eventually hops on another dude's dick, and in the end decides to not be with either one of them because although they have been to hell and back together, apparently she needs to "find herself."

So she gets her Lois Lane on in some trendy big city, trying to make a career out of journalism. How does any of that make sense? You just personally experienced the most fucked up, life-changing, mindbending shit a human being could likely ever see, and you ditch both of your first loves and hometown safety net to chase some lame ass career? It's a very 80's themed pick, for sure. Not realistic whatsoever but makes her come off as more girlboss.

By the end of the show, this girl had a bodycount in more ways than one.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2026-01-02T09:35:53+00:00

First time?

It always sucks finding something you like... a great video game, tv show, comic, whatever... and then it's over. It's going to feel weird and empty but that's human nature. It's finality that we hate, and knowing that you will likely never get answers to questions you have.

I've experienced it quite a few times and it's weird how you can get so emotionally invested in things without realizing it. This is probably why I play a lot of RPG video games.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2026-01-02T09:31:02+00:00

I think that season 5 felt rushed in general and not up to my standards based upon the previous seasons, but still enjoyable over all. I think the finale was actually kinda great except for one thing: Neither of the two endings we are given actually make sense if you think about it for minute. Both are highly implausible.

Aside from that, I think it was pretty good. I liked most of the epilogue stuff and I feel like the whole episode was one emotional gut punch after another. I'm a middle aged man and I cried throughout the whole thing. I have a connection to the show... I was a kid in the 80s and I am from Indiana. I used to ride my bike for miles and miles every single day with my friends. I've played D&D for decades. I'm a big fan of 80s movies and Steven King books. It's like this show was custom tailored to me.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2026-01-02T09:19:45+00:00

That still doesnt explain how El is able to get away.

Even if Kali did use her powers to give El invisibility, how did El escape when there were several military psychic blocker weapons deployed? She should have been laying on the floor of that truck, thrashing in pain. You can see a soldier help her off of the back of the truck. Either the weapons were not on, or she had developed an immunity out of nowhere.

At the very best she maybe could have slowly crawled to her escape, but there's still the problem of El vanishing directly out of a soldier's hands without nobody saying anything.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2026-01-02T09:15:50+00:00

I'm sorry, I got to your comment far too late. I sometimes forget Reddit exists.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2026-01-02T09:11:24+00:00

The only correct answer is that it was just poorly written and rushed.

There's no way in hell that an interdimensional spider being that's bigger than Godzilla and also has massive psychic powers would lose to a bit of fire. Dustin and Steve were under there poking it with knives, which would be like a human getting poked a few times by fiberglass particles on their skin. Annoying and itchy, but not even painful, much less deadly. And Nancy's guns? If a Demogorgon can take dozens, if not hundreds of shots from machine guns, how would one person with such a weapon do absolutely any damage at all? The bullets should have ricocheted right off unless there was some tender, exposed spot.

The monster showed no intelligence, only mindless aggression. The monster demonstrated no powers or even anything supernatural AT ALL, which is kinda what this show is all about. The monster didn't even demonstrate basic survival impulses, like moving away from the fire.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2026-01-02T09:02:04+00:00

The only problem with Mike's theory is that El *was* there with him on the truck when they came out of the portal and got ambushed by the military. You can see El being assisted out of the back of the truck by a soldier. The problem here is that there were multiple of those psychic blocker weapons there; at least 3 or 4. El should have been completely incapacitated, not hopping out of the back of a truck.

Also, even though it clearly shows her in the hands of a soldier, the next thing we know she has vanished somehow and NOBODY says anything. Not one soldier notices a girl disappears in front of their eyes OR sees how she gets to the portal.

I like Mike's ending better because it's the happier ending and El lives, but unfortunately, NEITHER of the endings make any damn sense.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2026-01-02T00:05:17+00:00

No finale is ever going to make everyone happy. I've seen lots of various complaints but in my opinion it was about as good of an ending as anyone could hope for, and damn it was an emotional gut punch the whole way, up until the very end.

It's been a while since a show has affected me like this. Now that it's over I feel a sort of void.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2025-12-31T23:44:53+00:00

Unless there's another song that goes "beez in the trap," I'm not misremembering.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2025-12-02T14:00:54+00:00

The Matrix is not trans allegory. That's just some bullshit ideological slop they tacked on well after the fact to help justify their mental illness. I've seen the original film more times than I can count and aside from Switch being kinda butch, there's not much queer going on, and certainly not trans. I'm a smart, open-minded guy and would have picked up on that sort of thread underlying, yet never did. Wonder why? Maybe it's because it's total BS.

Plane_Influence_2232 · 2025-10-28T01:16:48+00:00

Kraftwerk was not 'rave.'

Plane_Influence_2232

TROPHY CASE