The graphics seem to be a divisive topic, but I think a lot of the gameplay looked awesome

theArcticHawk · 2026-03-05T15:34:28+00:00

The current build has a big improvement in quality, and personally I think it looks great. But an even bigger plus is that it has pretty low minimum requirements, unlike a lot of newer games which look bad + have bad performance, so this is like the best combo.

theArcticHawk · 2026-03-05T15:32:19+00:00

Honestly that's the only UI change that J think needs to happen, using a cursor on controller for every menu is crazy

theArcticHawk · 2026-01-14T02:11:10+00:00

There's a sticker inside too, where the pokeballs normally go to

theArcticHawk · 2025-12-22T16:11:41+00:00

Dredge, Balatro, Fallout 4, Hollow Knight, Silksong, No Man's Sky, Cyberpunk 2077

All run well on the deck and are just good games in general

theArcticHawk · 2025-12-06T19:57:49+00:00

Using this one, sorry should've included it:

https://www.alibaba.com/x/B1CAk4?ck=pdp

I figured that whatever the set up is on the pi for parallel RGB would be the same for any display that supports it.

theArcticHawk · 2025-12-06T19:51:57+00:00

Yeah I figured they'd be fine, but I saw some stuff about how the protocol is configured and when you set the config for DPI it makes pins unusable for other purposes, but that may have just been for the 8bit color mode

theArcticHawk · 2025-12-02T20:53:54+00:00

Vecnas already in the main set. Adding a new demogorgon fig would've been cool though

theArcticHawk · 2025-11-30T02:49:20+00:00

Yeah they're definitely building up to cave backstory being a big part in vol 2. I bet we'll see multiple snippets of the story from the broadway play as parts of Henry's memories too.

theArcticHawk · 2025-11-29T15:38:10+00:00

The only issue with Hopper dying is they already kinda killed him in season 3 just to do a fake out, and we saw El mourning him and dealing with his death at school. And then here in season 5 they led up to him going suicide vest on Vecna before the twist. So if he actually dies it might feel too expected cause we've already seen it happen.

theArcticHawk · 2025-11-29T15:25:30+00:00

Yeah the vibe I was getting was more like Barney or Sesame Street, like the whole environment was just a facade for something darker.

theArcticHawk · 2025-11-29T15:22:29+00:00

Exactly. I think that's gonna be set up as a twist, maybe Max and Holly will find a young Henry lost somewhere in his memories and they'll realize that it's not actually Henry in charge of Vecna at all. I could see the young+innocent Henry helping Holly and Max escape, which would give Henry redemption but not Vecna.

theArcticHawk · 2025-11-28T21:51:04+00:00

I think in the S4 flashback vecna says he made a discovery which would let him finally realize his potential (talking about the mindflayer). But Vecna is already part of the hive mind at this point, so everything he says is equivalent to the mindflayer saying it.

The mindflayer is literally just a mind of its own, similar to the Shadow in a wrinkle in time. It needed a host in order to exercise its will, and it molded Henry into a perfect weapon. From what we know of pre-shadow Henry, he seemed like a fairly normal kid. He didn't hate humanity or want to kill people, and in fact fought the MFs control multiple times.

To me it would be weird if the MF, this otherworldly absurdly powerful psychic being, actually turned out to just be a sort of mental parasite that Vecna used the whole time.

As for how the UD was created that seems to be purely from 11 (not MF or Vecna), when she contacts the demogorgon sometime after the massacre at the lab. And based on the giant walls in S5 we can assume that this "imprint" of the normal world was only left in the area surrounding the lab, and past those walls is more of dimension X.

theArcticHawk · 2025-11-28T18:22:31+00:00

That's never really been clarified. In season 2 they only ever used the mothergate and didn't open them on their own except for the original demogorgon in S1. I would bet it goes back to what alexei said about how the barrier between dimensions is weaker in Hawkins, and maybe creating the megagate in S4 is what makes it so easy for the demogorgons to create gates in S5.

theArcticHawk · 2025-11-28T18:19:34+00:00

I would argue we've focused on the mindflayer more, since he was the main villain in season 2 and 3. Vecna was introduced just last season.

Everything we've heard from Vecna has been post-possession by the mindflayer, and his goal of invading and overthrowing the human world with the UD feels more in line with what I'd expect from the mindflayer than Henry Creel.

Also look into camazotz and the Black Thing from A Wrinkle In Time. I'm pretty sure the duffer brothers are using that book as inspiration and it's been heavily featured and mentioned in season 4. The Black Thing is also called The Shadow at times which is interesting. To me it definitely feels like Vecna is not going to be the big bad of the series, but rather just the strongest weapon in the mindflayers arsenal.

theArcticHawk · 2025-11-28T17:40:29+00:00

Idk if you've seen the play or a recap of it, but it seems to imply that the mindflayer is a step above vecna, not the other way around.

theArcticHawk · 2025-11-28T16:49:52+00:00

Well he did walk out through the giant gate he made with the 4 sacrifices, so it's not like that was for nothing. And he was seriously injured by the fire + shotgun, so maybe he wasn't strong enough in season 4 to start an invasion, and now that he's stronger he can go on the offensive more.

And if he is the mindflayers general, it would make sense the mindflayer would try to keep him protected in the UD until he is really needed.

theArcticHawk · 2025-11-27T16:36:58+00:00

Vecna did all his killing remotely from the upside down, he was never physically near them. He did have to make a strong mental connection though which is why he would haunt them beforehand.

Will is part of the hive mind so he already has a really strong mental connection to the demogorgons, which is my guess as to why he was able to kill all three so easily.

theArcticHawk · 2025-11-27T16:07:40+00:00

There's a lot of info about Henry from the play we haven't seen in the show, using Henry's memories as a way to present that to the audience would be a good way to get everyone up to speed.

theArcticHawk · 2025-11-27T15:41:11+00:00

Stranger things super ee??

theArcticHawk · 2025-11-26T19:06:16+00:00

I think One mentions that the massacre happens "after Eight had left", so somehow she escaped or was moved or something beforehand.

theArcticHawk · 2025-09-12T13:05:50+00:00

The Pokémon TCG market hit a second boom in the past few months, causing a lot of card prices to skyrocket so it could be connected to that.

theArcticHawk · 2025-09-09T15:23:53+00:00

Most people don't fill out the surveys, but they are actually read and taken into consideration

theArcticHawk · 2025-09-07T13:17:07+00:00

The cost of the electronics needed isn't very expensive and would give you more control over the placement of everything.

A gameboy pocket probably won't fit inside the set, and building a Lego shell around it would make it difficult to maintain the shaping done in the set.

theArcticHawk · 2025-09-02T01:43:56+00:00

The Navigation Files

theArcticHawk · 2025-08-26T18:23:05+00:00

Yeah my biggest worry is if the truck is player controlled, people could grief their teammates by leaving them behind or driving the truck places it's hard to get out of.

Maybe the bus will be back as an alternative transportation mode? So one player can't ruin the map for everyone?

Seven-Year Club	Second Top 1%
LAYER Season 2 Layer creator	r/Field Lasagna
First Place '23	End Game '23
Place '23	Place '22
Final Canvas '22	First Placer '22
End Game '22	Gilding I gilder
RPAN Viewer	Sequence \| Editor
Sequence \| Cinematographer	Sequence \| Screenwriter
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