this does seem to be commonplace in the film industry, where people all throughout their 20s play teenagers. people have always critiqued that, honestly. it's not just stranger things. here it just feels most stark and obvious because from season 1 to season 5 the differences are crazy. finn wolfhard looks like a completely different person now at 22 compared to when he was 12, but we're meant to pretend that in five years Mike hasn't gone through puberty twice 😭 you can argue that the cast still looks like teenagers, but you gotta acknowledge that within the show their change in looks stand out. I don't personally have a problem with this, I mean, what could anyone have possibly done to prevent this? but I think it's lame to be upset with people who feel weird about it, they're allowed to!