#jim hopper fandom

[luveline]

need need NEED more hop x reader w el they are the CUTEST

“So she’s coming?” El asks. 

Hopper pushes a glass of orange juice in her direction. “Mm-hm.” 

“And she wants to see me.” 

“Yeah, kid, she wants to see you.” 

Eleven’s hair curls just under her ears. Hopper hadn’t suspected her hair would be curly once it began to grow, but it waves gently, and tighter the longer it becomes. He doesn’t know how to take care of it. He only just taught her how to use shampoo and conditioner without leaving all the suds in. 

She scratches it. “What are you looking at?” 

“Nothing.” He ruffles her hair. “Eat your breakfast. You can get changed when you’re done. You need me to help you find something?” 

“No. I like choosing.” 

Hopper knows. She isn’t good at matching yet, but she’ll get there. 

She eats her breakfast too quickly, doesn’t drink her juice, and doesn’t put her plate in the sink before she goes, but Hopper doesn’t bother getting mad. He’s trying to be less moody. He’s also trying to be understanding; she’s learning to be a normal kid. Most normal kids are slobs. 

“Can we have dessert?” El shouts from her room. 

“You can have a snack later.” 

“Please?” 

“You can have some chips once you get dressed. Are you still hungry, or–?” 

“Snacks,” she says, turning on her radio. 

Hopper nods, laughing to himself when there’s a knock at the door. He’s been waiting to see you all weekend, and he walks to the door with a terrible smugness about him to let you in. 

“Hello,” he says, wedging the creaky frame open with his shoe. 

“Hi, handsome.” You look up into his eyes, fresh-faced like you’ve had a good scrub and dressed for a day in the house in cuffless sweatpants and a hoodie he thinks might be his. “Wow, nice shirt, hotshot. What is that? The Hawkins Police Department fun run of eighty two? That’s vintage.” 

He leans down to kiss you hello. 

“Oh, hi,” you flirt. 

You’re confident when you know you’re loved, he’s found. Still the homespun woman he knew you to be, but affectionate once you’re comfortable. He smiles into your mouth and pulls you tight to his chest, lifting you off of your feet for a millisecond before placing you back down. 

“Where’s my girl?” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says. 

“El?” you call. You slide around him to find her but turn back, “Did you ask her about the hugging?” 

“She says it’s fine.” 

“Like, she wants to?” 

It had been a strange conversation. Hopper is used to telling El things, or being told things by her. He didn’t ask her what she likes for breakfast, he just kept guessing until he found the right stuff. She never asked him if she could sit in his side during movies, she just inched closer until he put his arm around her. 

“She wants to,” Hopper says. She’d seemed perturbed by the question, sure, but it ended with her happy little smile through a handful of popcorn. 

“El?” you call again. 

“Kid! Your best friend is here!” Hopper shouts. 

Thunder from her bedroom, a door swung open and slapping the wall. “Y/N?” she asks, the skirt of her dress swinging as she pauses in the doorway. 

You smile and step forward. You’re tentative but excited all the same, laughing as you wrap your arms around her shoulders, and pat her back. “Hi, beautiful.” 

“Where have you been? It’s two weeks.” 

“Yeah? I didn’t mean to not see you for so long, I’m sorry.” 

“Hop says you have lots to do.” 

“There’s a leak in my bathroom,” you take her by the shoulders. “Aw, this is nice. When’d you get this? It’s light and summery.” 

“Hop… from a catalogue.” 

You raise your brows at him, grinning. “That’s nice. How many did you get?” 

“We got five.” 

“Five! From the catalogue!” You hold her hand. “Hop must really like you, huh? Who can blame him?” 

El looks down at your joined hands. Hopper feels his skeptic heart softening. “He likes you, too.” 

“But do we like him?” you joke, letting go of her hand to put your arm behind her back instead. You give Hopper a look. 

“What?” he asks. 

“I was thinking we’d go out for milkshakes?” 

Hopper bites his tongue. El has a birth certificate now, she’s his daughter, she can’t be taken, but going out with her into the world draws stares and derision alike. People can tell she’s abnormal, and he can’t stand that. She doesn’t deserve to be gawked at for talking a little slowly, or messing with stuff she doesn’t understand. 

But he doesn’t want her feeling punished for those things either. 

“Get your jacket, El.” She beams, rushing for her room. “She’s gonna love the jukebox,” Hopper says. 

You meander back into his arms, kissing his stubbly cheek. He pretends to nudge you away.

[honey-flustered]

Kinktober Day 9: Body Worship

DBF!Jim Hopper x Artist!Fem!Reader

Summary: Hopper becomes your muse.

Warnings: age gap (Hopper 40s, Reader 20s), unethical relationship, cheating, c*ck worship, cum eating, cumming untouched, facef*cking, body worship, hopper has a big one (i know it), dacryphilia

You’re sitting at your dining room table sketching away when you felt a heavy hand on your head, tussling your hair. You quickly place your arms over your work, looking back at the unexpected guest with an anxious smile.

Hopper gives you a warm genuine smile. He’d come over for dinner by your father’s invitation with his girlfriend, Joyce Byers. When you learned of his relationship status, you were quite disappointed to say the least. You want to be happy for him as he appears to be a lot healthier and happier but because he’s not with you, it doesn’t settle right. Because of this you ignored him the entire night.

“Hey, kid,” He says with a soft chuckle at your startled look. His eyes squint at the way you hid your sketchbook. “Whatcha got there?”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” You sigh, trying to feign indifference. “You wouldn’t like it.”

“No, I’m really curious,” He insists, sitting in a chair to face you. “I always care for your art.”

You clutched the book to your chest before slowly releasing it for him to take. It’s erotica art. The male vampire lover similar-looking to Hopper feeding from the breast of a woman similar-looking to you.

“That’s pretty good stuff.” He says, much to your surprise.

“I-it is.”

“Yeah,” He laughs. “Is this why you were afraid to show me?”

Your eyes bug out of your head. Did he catch on that the drawing looks similar to him? It’s so obvious! Of course, he knows.

“Because of a little nudity?” He continues. So he didn’t catch on, after all.

“Well, yeah,” You follow through with his observation. “People tend to get a bit uncomfortable with nudity so I didn’t want to do that to you.”

“I don’t mind nudity especially when it comes to incredible art like yours. The human body’s a natural thing.”

“Exactly! That’s actually the concept I’m going for with my art. Natural bodies, sexualities, and kinks. It’s about what makes humans find beauty and attraction or lack thereof beyond the human flesh.”

“I think it’s brilliant. Maybe a little above my intelligence level but I know you’ve got it.”

“Actually, I think you might be the only one who understands around here,” You admit. “My parents…they just think this whole art thing’s unsustainable. But I think with this art installation project coming up, I can prove them wrong. Do you…do you think you can help me, Sheriff Hopper?”

“How could I help?” He asks.

“Be my muse, pretty please.”

And when he agreed he’d no clue what he’d signed himself up for. For you to be so bold to ask your father’s best friend to be your muse when it meant seeing him in the nude, he couldn’t fathom you asking such a thing. And yet now here he was in your small studio contemplating on whether he should go through with removing the remainder of his clothing.

You place your pencil down onto the canvas’s utensil holder, approaching his tall frame. “What’s wrong? Do you need help taking off your pants?”

He swallows convulsively. “When I said I’d be your muse, I thought you just needed me to hold a quick pose…fully clothed.”

“My art concept’s about natural bodies, Sheriff,” You grab unto the waist band of his jeans that had been slightly undone to reveal his white boxers. You drag his pants down a little to where his rather sizable member rests above the open fly. He’s growing hard. “You knew that though. It’s exactly why you agreed to becoming my muse—so I can worship you.”

You palm him through his underwear and he groans, taking your hand away to place them over his hairy chest.

“I knew you as a teenager.” He protests.

“I was 19.” You roll your eyes, using your free hand to hook into his underwear and pull him closer.

“Your father wouldn’t approve.” He argues, a moan bubbling in his throat when you begin to kiss on his chest and swirl a tongue around his nipple. He squeezes your hand a little, releasing as if it is an expression of his diminishing restraint.

You pull away with a wet pop, a line of saliva connecting as you stare up at him with doe eyes. “When have I ever cared what my father approves of?”

“I have a girlfriend.” He counters.

You move your lips to his ear, hotly whispering, “So do I.”

Your lips find each other’s in a sloppy make out session of tongues and clashing teeth. Your hands roam his body, caressing his belly then slipping down his underwear to jerk him off. Even though, you can’t see it, you can tell that it’s not only deathly thick and long but super veiny, too, with a wicked curve. No wonder Joyce had been limping all throughout dinner that day.

You break away from his lips, peppering wet kisses all over his stomach and dipping your tongue in his bellybutton. When you’re finally on your knees, you rub the base of him through the fabric. You bite your lip in anticipation as you finally take initiative and pull him out of his confines, mouth dropping open at the look of him. Just as veiny as you thought with heavy, sagging balls to match. You’re drooling, licking your lips and staring up at him one last time before focusing your eyes on the leaking tip and enclosing your mouth around him.

He cradles the back of your head with one hand while the other pounds a fist against your not-so-high ceilings, a loud growl escaping his clenched teeth.

You bob your head quickly, dramatically gagging on him and its loud and messy but neither of you care. Soon, he’s fucking your mouth both hands interlocked on the back of your head while you do a mix of massaging his clothed thick thighs or raking your sharp nails down his pudgy tummy. Tears prick your eyes as you struggle to take him but you’ll take whatever he gives you even if it kills you.

You don’t even need to touch yourself as the juices flow out of you, streaming down your inner thighs. You’re humping the air, core contracting around nothing as his whines are the only thing fueling you to near your end.

“Fuuuck, I’m cumming.” He hisses, rapid final thrusts of his wide cock into your mouth. He holds you down, your nose embedded in his pubic hair and you taste his hot spunk shoot down your throat. Just from that, you cum untouched, the act of being used so filthily making it possible.

You’re limited in breathing as you inhale through your nose and your jaw hurts but it’s all worth it as your eyes roll back and you quiver as much as your body could under his hold.

He finally releases your head, pulling his cock out of your wet mouth with webs of saliva to follow as you gasp for air.

“Was I inspiring enough for you?” He asks cockily.

Your throat itches as you let out a low giggle. “You’re perfect.”

[uhhyupmlb]

Hear me out… Mamma Mia x Stranger things or Byler au???

I just can’t think of the exact logistics w/ like the dads and the characters rn but I feel like something could be cooking here??? Or maybe not at all lol - Feel free to add your thoughts on this 🫶🏼🥲 xx

[redroses07]

Might make some people mad over this…

y’all predicting who survives in Stranger Things five based on blurry ass set pictures is silly. Just because a character isn’t in ONE scene doesn’t mean they’re dead, and half the time they don’t even film stuff in order. So stop being like “El dies i’m so devastated” over ONE PICTURE. JUST WAIT TILL THE SHOW COMES OUT OML.

[fallingsinking]

Mileven being endgame would make everyone miserable. ESPECIALLY ELEVEN.

I’m so sorry but it had to be said. I cannot see a situation where mileven is endgame, for the sake of these characters. Let me explain.

Will is obvious- he’s canonically in love with Mike Wheeler, so if Mike and Eleven ended up together in season five it would not be a happy ending for Will. Now, I see a lot of milevens and/or byler antis saying ‘Will is going to confess his love to Mike and Mike will turn him down but say he still cares for him as a friend.’ Narrative wise, how can you genuinely think this? The duffers have confirmed that Will is going to be the central focus of season 5, so why would that be his ending? What would that tell the audience? It goes against every central theme that the show is about, and is just , frankly, nonsensical to me.

Next up is Mike. His whole thing throughout s4 (and parts of s3) was that he couldn’t tell El that he loved her. Even referring back to the s3 ending, where El tells Mike she loves him too, Mike doesn’t look happy. If the reason that Mike couldn’t tell El he loved her was through shyness , or purely through an inability to communicate, wouldn’t he be happy? It would, in this hypothetical situation, be the resolution to his issue of being unable to say I love you. And yet… Mike looks sad. Like he has just realised that he DOESN’T love Eleven. When Mike does tell El he loves her in season 4, it was purely through Will intervening. The show has spelled out to us that Mike Wheeler does not love Jane Hopper.

Before I finish with El, I’d like to make a point in saying that I love Mileven platonically. These two have an extremely unique bond, and were vital in building each other’s characters. However, I do not believe that them, together romantically, is a healthy relationship. I’m getting ahead of myself, so let me move on.

Eleven deserves an ending in which she is not dependent on Mike. Think about El and Max’s conversation in s3 where they go shopping, and Max tells her to pick out clothes that feel like her, not Hopper or Mike. (We as the audience can also add Dr Brenner into this discussion, although Max does obviously not mention him) Eleven does not know who she is. Stranger things makes a point of showing and telling us this, over and over again. Not only this, but Eleven deserves better than a boy who cannot tell her he loves her. She deserves open, expressed affection and respect- in whatever form that comes in. In my opinion, I believe that this will be through restoring and strengthening Hopper and El’s father-daughter bond that we did not have in season 4. This arc would also make more sense for her character as a whole. She grew up with a ‘papa’ who abused her and manipulated her instead of caring for her. That is what she wants and needs, both as a person but also as a character. Also, the ending to s4 just sets up a Mileven break up so blatantly to me.

To me, the perfect ending to the Will/El/Mike ‘love triangle’ (?) would simply be this. Byler, where El understands and supports, and Eleven finding herself as a person, with a father who loves her. Boom.

[ts4hollywood]

David Harbour - Red Guardian (Thunderbolts*)

Released!!! .... The amazing actor David Harbour portraying The Red Guardian from the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Plus, additional Bonus Look (CC Included) as:

Jim Hopper from the Stranger Things Netflix Series

Released for Members Tier

Face Skin made by Me

All Credits and Kudos to all CC creators (Hair, Makeup, Clothes, Skins, Sliders & Presets)

Special Credit goes to @aralenorimaki01 for the outfits and to @thisisthem for the body Skin

[Required] - Download the below CC to have the same look as the images

Link to Costumes (FREE): Here

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Download at my Patreon:

TS4 Hollywood | Sims 4 Realistic Hollywood Stars | Patreon

[the-queen-of-hell-666]

Wanting

Kinktober 2024 - Day 3

Pairing: Alpha!Jim Hopper x Assistant!Omega!Fem!Reader

Kink: Knotting

Word Count: 1000+

Summary: Your new boss won't go home even though he's a stone's throw from his rut but you weren't going to complain.

Warning: explicit language, explicit sexual content (unprotected vaginal sex, vaginal sex, knotting, creampie, rough sex, doggy style, fingering, vaginal fingering, masturbation (m! receiving), breeding, squirting), feral!Jim, porn w/o much plot, a/b/o dynamics

a/n: Here is day 3! This is my first time writing for Hopper and I hope I did him justice! I hope you enjoy!

Banners by @vase-of-lilies

Hopper’s rut was about to come on, everyone in the office could smell it, no matter how many scent patches he slapped on his glands. He was leaking alpha pheromones all over the station, no one else cared that he was stinking up the place cause they all knew Hopper would bite the head off anyone who said anything about him going home. Hopper dreaded the thought of going home to his empty cabin, El was off at college, and his cabin smelled like frustrated Alpha and that was the last smell he wanted. 

He’d rather stay at the station and smell the sickly sweet smell of his new young, omega, assistant. You smelled like lilacs, fresh rain, and something just uniquely you. He knew his smell was bothering you, he could tell when your scent spikes and his eyes caught how your thighs clenched. He could practically smell your slick wetting your panties. He wanted to grab you, bend you over his desk, and make you scream so that the entire station could hear you. 

It was later that night, once everyone went home. Some went home early cause of the smell but you stayed. His smell wrapped you up in a nice safe blanket, like nothing could hurt you. You had files to give to Hopper when his smell spiked with lust and need and you heard a grunt coming from his office. You stood up, the files forgotten on the desk, and made your way to his office door. You peeked between the blinds and saw the most delicious sight you’ve ever seen. Hopper was sitting in his office chair, his slacks open and yanked down to middle thigh and he had his hand wrapped tightly around his monster cock and his knot was starting to swell at the base as he stroked himself from knot to tip, using his pre-cum to slick his way.

Your eyes traveled up to his face and his eyes were clenched shut with his mouth dropped open as small groans and grunts slipped past his lips. Your thighs clenched as slick pooled in the gusset of your panties and your hand moved before you could think and you opened the door. Hopper’s eyes snapped up to yours as the door swung open and hit the wall. He went to cover himself but you were quick to cross the room to him. 

“Don’t cover yourself.” You whispered as you moved to straddle his lap, his cock slipping against your cunt under your skirt. “Wanna see you. All of you.” You purred as your pupils dilated and you ran your fingers through his hair gently. 

He groaned softly as you scratched his scalp softly and his eyes met yours, his eyes as heated as yours. “Once I start, m’not gonna stop.” He practically growled at you making a shiver run down your spine and you ground your hips down against his hard cock making him grunt and jolted. 

“Don’t want you to stop. Want all of you.” You murmured as you leaned down and pressed soft kisses to his neck and you quickly ripped off his used scent blocker and tossed it away. Your tongue immediately pressed against his mating gland and your cloudy eyes locked with his as he looked down at you. 

The next events were quick, before you knew it, your clothes were shreds on the floor and you were pinned in between him and the desk. Hopper was curled over your back and he was two fingers deep in your sopping cunt, making you ready for his thick girth. You keened and ground your hips back on his hand as he pounded his fingers deeper into your quivering cunt. You gripped the desk hard as Hopper curled his fingers and rubbed them against your sweet spot. His other hand came up to your throat and squeezed your throat lightly making your eyes cross. 

“Alpha, please.” You whined as slick ran down the back of your thighs. “Want your knot.” 

He smirked as he nuzzled into your hair and nipped your ear playfully. “Patience, needy girl. Don’t wanna hurt you.” He hummed as he squeezed your throat tighter. 

“M’ready. Please.” You squealed as your thighs tightened around his wrist pinning his hand against your cunt. 

He chuckled and pulled his fingers out of your cunt and spanked it hard, making you cry out with pleasure. “Alright, ‘mega.” He chuckled and leaned closer to your ear. “You asked for it.” He growled before lining his cock up to your cunt and slamming into you. 

You screamed his name and he chuckled darkly and yanked your legs up so your knees were pressed against your chest and your cunt was exposed to him fully. His strong hands gripped your hips tight to the point of almost painful but the pleasure of his cock overpowered it. You keened and squealed as he pounded in and out you fast and hard. His knot swelled at the base as your walls squeezed and pulsed around him. Hopper curled himself over you and turned your face to his and kissed you passionately, muffling your moans and cries. He spanked you over and over again making your end come quicker with each spank and thrust of his girthy cock. 

“A-alpha, gonna cum. S-so close. Can I-I cum? Pl-please?” You whined against his lips as your hips ground back against him. Your walls fluttered as you came closer to your end and you gripped the desk tighter. 

“Cum for me, ‘mega. M’close too. So close. Gonna knot you, baby. Fill you up.” He grunted with each thrust and you cried out as his swelling knot slipped inside and you both fell apart cumming with each other. Your cunt squirted on his cock as his knot swelled locking you two together and Hopper came deep in your wanting pussy. He slid his hands over yours and linked your fingers as you two slumped on the desk, locked together.

[elevenenthusiast]

Someone on Twitter slowed down the voice message that the Stranger Things Instagram account posted, and I couldn’t help but notice that a part of it sounds a lot like the intro to “The Final Countdown.” I slowed down the song myself later in the video, and honestly it really does sound like it. Maybe I’m just imagining things, but it stood out to me.

It’d be kind of hilarious if that actually is the song they’re using for the teaser/trailer. It could mean something… or maybe it’s just a coincidence.

Also, I remember seeing an orchestral remix of “The Final Countdown” that someone did on YouTube for Stranger Things and it was actually really cool.

[lestatlioncourtt]

I apologize in advance because this one is really long but here it is! all the stranger things (and some byler) theories I either came up with or saw somewhere in the last weeks!!! please feel free to share your thoughts on them whatever they are just be respectful please! I would be really happy to talk about them!! (I know some on them are conflicting between each other but I just gathered as many theories as possible, I also know some of them are really weird and kind of out of pocket but whatever)

1. max, eleven and will die

2. mike dies

3. will is still some sort of spy for the upside down but now is not for the shadowmonster but to vecna

4. will has powers and that's why he was able to survive in the upside down meanwhile barb died almost instantly

5. vecna is gonna erase every memory that will's friends and family have of him (aka erase him from existence)

6. mike will be vecnas target so he can get to both will and elevens weakness

7. mike and eleven will breakup (still in the beginning of the season)

8. will is gonna die right after confessing his feelings for mike or mike is gonna find out about wills feelings for him right afer will dies

9. eleven is the only one who dies (maybe sacrificing herself bc she may have a connection to vecna and the only way he can die is if she dies too)

10. both will and eleven die

11. my favorite theory: BYLER ANYTHING ABOUT BYLER, BYLER CANON, BYLER CONFESSION, BYLER KISS, MIKE WHEELER REALIZING HE HAS FEELINGS FOR WILL BYERS

12. everyone thinks steve is going to die but i actually think hes pretty safe, and if he were to die i don't think he would be the only one, he would die along with another main character

13. important byler scene in episode 5

14. mike and Lucas sacrificing themselves for will/eleven and max

15. more of a wish than a theory, NANCY NEEDS TO END UP W JONATHAN AND NOT W STEVE PLEASE

16. The dragon in will's painting for mike is actually a new monster they're going to be fighting in season 5 (because we already now the monsters are all after creatures that exists in dnd like the demogorgon and vecna and will's painting is dnd related)

17. byler in a bar in the 90's after they graduate

18. Holly(Mike's sister) goes missing and Mike and will go after her and get closer to each other in the process

19. will is going to be staying at the wheelers when they move back to hawkins now that they probably don't have their own house anymore

20. mike talking with nancy and realizing his relationship with el is falling apart or talking w nancy about will and realizing his feelings for him in the middle of it (maybe nancy is also talking about Steve and Jonathan, making a parallel between their love triangles)

21. byler is going to become canon and shortly after that one of them dies

22. flashback scene of mike and will meeting each other for the first time when they we're 8 years old at a swing

23. the first scene of the first episodes of season 5 showing will as he arrives/falls into the upside in the first episode of season 1

24. in season 4 Eddie has a line that goes "it's forced conformity. That's what's killing the kids" > possibly being a foreshadowing to mike or will dying because they tried to fit and follow the social norms. (aka being straight)

25. will confessing to mike or the other way around while they're battling against vecna or a new monster that is going to be introduced

26. byler kiss with heroes by David bowie playing in the background

27. will and Robin talking with each other about how they understand each other (aka being gay, but maybe they don't even realize the other is talking about this)

28. max is not physically alive but she can still help the party mentality(?) like helping they defeat vecna inside of her mind

29. if eleven doesn't die maybe she surrenders herself to the lab so her friends and family won't be involved in these supernatural stuff anymore

30. mike e will are going to help the kids from the hawkins lab to escape

31. will and holly (Mike's sister) both have powers and were supposed to be two of the kids from the hawkins lab

32. will cleaning Mike's wounds or the other way around

33. byler sharing a bed

34. Mike, Will, Lucas, Dustin and Steve are all going to survive and we'll see them years after the events of season 5

35. hopper is dying for real this time (tbh i don't think so but who knows)

37. ROBIN IS NOT GOING TO DIE THAT'S MY WIFE AND YOU CANNOT TAKE HER FROM ME

36. i saw a girl saying mike, will eleven and hopper all die, but hopper dies before the other 3 (i also dont believe this one but you never know)

38. the upside down was created by vecna FOR WILL

39. the first part releases October 10 and the other releases November 27

40. everyone survives but the party splits apart and everyone goes their own way

41. our 4 divas suffering bullying again at hawkins high school 😭

42. will taking care of Mike's bruises

43. will does NOT have powers and vecna purposefully made him survive the upside down on season 1 just so he can use him as a puppet in season 5

that's it!!! I hope you guys liked some of my theories and feel free to share yours too, we need to occupy our minds while waiting season 5 to drop and what better way than theorizing?

[luveline]

ah okay wait i could kinda see hopper with like a younger ish reader and he’s all like grumbly old man about it and doesn’t get why r likes him and reader is just like calm down lets go get ice cream

Your boyfriend has anger issues. Seriously, he’s easy to rile, easier to complain, and he doesn’t like doing things he doesn’t wanna do, which is lots of things, but thankfully isn’t you. 

You offer your hand, butterflies in your stomach squeezing up into your chest when he takes it, his eyes dark with his squared brow. You love being with him in part because he intimidates you, what with his frowning, his uniform, his arguable silly hate. He suits the hat. He pulls it down over his eyes when it rains, a cigarette between his teeth like he’s in a noir film.

“Where’s your hat today, Chief?” you ask. 

He nods toward the backseat. “Why, you like it?” 

“You know I like the hat. It’s a great hat. It makes you look like the Lone Ranger.” 

“I’m never wearing it again,” he says severely. 

“Come on, Hopper, don’t be like that,” you tease back, back of your head dipping back to brush the headrest, your hand right in his. Hopper had this way of making you feel pretty, or cared for? It’s definitely something. He holds your hand and rubs your knuckles and your hand feels pretty, or fine. Not delicate, but held. “I really like it. I meant it as a compliment.” 

“You mean everything as a compliment.” 

You side-eye his muttering. “You know you’re my boyfriend, right?” 

“Doesn’t make any sense.” 

“What, that you’d ever go out with me?” 

“That you’d be with me,” he corrects. 

“That’s really…” You bite your tongue. Perturbed, you crane your neck, kissing the back of his hand softly. Barely a kiss, no smack nor pressure, just a soft brush of your lips. “Hop, I don’t get you sometimes.” 

“That’s what I’m talking about,” he insists. 

“You act like we’re worlds apart. I like you. I don’t get why you don’t get it.” 

He sighs at your small tone. “Don’t take it the wrong way.” 

“Then don’t mean it that way.” 

He glares at the road outside, but he doesn’t let go of your hand. He stays rubbing soft lines with his thumb on your skin, the car speeding fast toward his cabin, snow falling in chunky flakes against the windows. You tuck your other hand over your twined fingers, thinking. What’s the right thing to say? He’s clearly upset believing that he’s not good enough for you, or not right for you, something. 

“Okay,” you say, “alright, here’s what’s gonna happen, handsome,” —he snorts— “we’re gonna go for milkshakes, you’re gonna kiss me up against the car, and I’m gonna tell you how much I like being with you, because it’s true.” 

“In that order?” 

“In that order.” 

Hopper steers the car into a u-turn. “Fucking. Alright, sweetheart. Let’s get you a milkshake.” 

[spidermans-l-o-v-e-r]

Masterlist

So...I'm making my masterlist pretty! I had a lot more freaking fics than I thought I did boy was dis a LONG process! Do you know how excited I am that this looks like Barbie font okay. Thanks Silas for all your help!

MCU

9-1-1

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[fandom-rants-here]

I'm still not over my hatred of people thinking Max, Jonathan, and Hopper hate Mike.

[thegayhimbo]

Stranger Things (1x07): “The Bathtub” Review

The more I think about it, the more I enjoy penultimate episodes in most TV shows. It’s the episode where the pacing and the plot kick into high gear as it becomes a mad dash for the finish. It’s also where many of the previous side-plots are wrapped up and the story becomes more focused as the characters finally get on the same page.

If I were to pick my favorite episode from season 1, it’s a tie between this one and “The Upside Down.” In fact, I’ve always liked the last 2 episodes in each season because, aside from being suspenseful and thrilling, it’s where all of the characters meet up and finally work together as a team. Everyone has their own individual roles, but they’re all important in helping to defeat the threat they are facing. It’s also where we get to see the culmination of character development that’s been building up for most of the season, which finally pays off here.

Part 1: Lucas

Knowing about the Montauk Pitch and how they originally planned to write Lucas makes me appreciate the changes they made to his character (similar to what they did to Steve). For context, this was the first outline for Lucas when the show was conceived:

I’m sure the Duffer Brothers had an arc planned for Lucas similar to what they did in the final product, but I honestly question how much more backlash Lucas would have gotten if they had gone the “angry and destructive” route with his character. I know for a fact Lucas was controversial in the fandom when season 1 first aired, and there were people who ripped him (and by extension, Caleb McLaughlin) to shreds for Lucas’s initial behavior towards El. Even to this day, I still see certain fans (who are a small but vocal minority) who hold it against Lucas and refuse to ever let him live it down (even though he apologized to El and never betrayed her or did anything to endanger the Party), similar to how certain fans refuse to let go of how Steve acted in season 1 or accept that he’s grown as a character since then. Put a pin in this because I will be talking about this kind of pettiness and how it reflects badly on the fandom later in the review.

In Lucas’s case, given the way the fandom reacted at the time towards his character, I know the fallout would have been worse if they had gone with the Montauk version of Lucas: The Lucas who’s a loudmouth, is angry all the time, and making choices that would put the other members of the Party in danger. Doubly so since Lucas is a person of color and we already know Caleb McLaughlin was already on the receiving end of fandom racism despite the Stranger Things version of Lucas being more toned-down compared to his Montauk counterpart. This fandom really isn’t as progressive as it wants to believe it is. 😒

I said this in my last review, but for all his flaws, Lucas is loyal to a fault. He wasn’t happy with El, or with Mike’s decision to include El in the Party, but that never meant he was going to betray Mike or El, especially if it put any chance of finding Will in jeopardy. Whatever anger he had two episodes ago over what happened in the junkyard, he channeled it into locating Will while allowing Mike and Dustin to do their own thing. I can’t quite speak for how the Montauk version of Lucas would’ve played out, but given how the outline talks about how “his attitude would land his friends in danger more than once and put his friendship with Mike to the test,” that puts the version of that character’s loyalty into question, and makes me wonder how bad things would’ve gotten between Lucas and Mike for Mike to consider ending his friendship with him. Even the argument in the junkyard wasn’t bad enough to be a deal-breaker in terms of these two never speaking to each other again.

There’s also the question of what Lucas would’ve done to put the entire Party in danger, and how much of that would have been deliberate on his part vs how much of it was tied towards his attitude making things unnecessarily difficult. Would this have been rooted in understandable circumstances and motivations on Lucas's part, or would this have been the kind of self-centeredness that would make Lucas unintentionally unsympathetic? Like I said, fandoms are notoriously unforgiving if a character fucks up in a major way. Even if the Montauk version of Lucas realized the error of his ways, if the damage he intentionally or unintentionally perpetrated was significant enough to cause severe problems and hardships for the other characters, it wouldn’t have been enough to save him from the fandom bashing him to the moon and back.

I wonder if the Duffer Brothers realized this as they were drafting Lucas, and proceeded to rework his character as a result. It’s telling they changed the relationship between his parents. Rather than being in the middle of a bitter divorce, Charles and Sue Sinclair are a loving couple who come from similar backgrounds (as detailed in Lucas on the Line and The First Shadow) and worked to protect their kids while also giving them a stable upbringing. Given the number of broken families and parents on this show who are either neglectful, abusive, or emotionally absent from their kids’ lives, I don’t mind the change. It doesn’t deter from the character development that both Lucas and Erica go through over the course of the show.

Speaking of which, let’s talk about Lucas’s growth in this episode.

Lucas started out the show having preconceived notions towards El. Part of it comes from his age (12 isn’t exactly the pinnacle of maturity), part of it comes from the circumstances with how he first meets El (i.e. she appears within 24 hours of Will vanishing, and she’s acting in a way he considers abnormal), part of it is from Mike’s newfound interest in El and how she disrupts the initial dynamic of the Party, and part of it is based on uncertainty about whether El is trustworthy. There is understandable context regarding how he views El, even if his initial behavior towards her wasn’t okay. Add in his worry over what’s happened to Will, and his disagreements with Mike over how the Party should move forward, and it begins to shape his perspective on things to the point he splits off.

But then he gets to Hawkins Lab (or the fence surrounding it) and sees the military gearing up to go after Mike, El, and Dustin, and it hits him that (aside from Dustin pointing out that splitting the Party is always a bad idea) whatever problems he may have had with El or Mike and Dustin were not worth losing them over. Disagreements mean jack-shit over the possibility of death, and considering that Mike warned him about “the bad men” and what they were capable of, it brings Lucas’s priorities into focus. He may not be able to get into the Lab right now to save Will, but he can save Mike, El, and Dustin and prevent their deaths.

Then we have the chase and El flipping the van to prevent Brenner’s men from coming after them, and Lucas realizing that El does care about their safety. Even her screwing up the compasses was about preventing them from walking into a dangerous situation that would’ve gotten them instantly killed. It isn’t even about El’s powers (which Lucas has known about for several episodes now); it’s about realizing El truly sees them as friends and would do anything to protect them.

All of this enables Lucas to realize he was wrong in his initial treatment of El, which allows him to apologize.

And El even extends that grace towards him. She gets why he was upset, and why he acted the way he did, and it’s telling she doesn’t hold it against him.

What’s nice about this is not only does it reinforce that, when push comes to shove, Lucas will be there for his friends (which we’ll also see again in season 4 during the Jason arc), but his character development continues on into the next season when Max is introduced and Lucas is the one making an effort to include her in the Party.

Part 2: Steve

I’ve previously said that rewatches are good for picking up aspects that you miss the first time viewing, and nowhere do I think that’s best exemplified than with Steve’s arc in season 1.

I’ve noted over past reviews how Steve was beginning to lose patience with Tommy and Carol and their nasty, mean-spirited behavior. I’ve seen people speculate on why Steve stuck with them as long as they did, and it likely had to do with Tommy and Carol knowing Steve for a number of years. People will argue about how Steve should have cut ties with them sooner, but this is a thing that happens in real life: There are people who have friends (or in some cases, family members) that they’ve known for a while, and while those people might have questionable traits, they overlook them for the sake of their relationship. The little excuses like “Oh, they didn’t really mean it” or “Oh, they have an off-color sense of humor but they’re not really hurting anyone” or “Oh, it’s just a phase they’re going through and they’ll eventually get over it.” Stuff like that.

But somewhere down the line, these people take a turn for the worst, and those questionable qualities become a major problem that need to be addressed. When that happens, there are usually one of two outcomes when that person is confronted with their behavior: Either they realize they’ve taken things too far, apologize, promise to do better in the future, and work to improve as a person. Or they refuse to accept responsibility, make excuses, and double-down. When the latter happens, there are only two choices: Either try to maintain the relationship as it deteriorates, or walk away.

I’m remind of how, over the past decade, I’ve heard so many stories from people who had friends or relatives who voted for Trump, where they initially kept quiet for the sake of their relationship, but eventually were forced to confront their friends or relatives because they wouldn’t stop posting bigoted conspiratorial shit on their social media platform, or kept regurgitating disinformation that had been proven false, or were acting in a way that wasn’t okay. Some of those people got the message and changed their behavior, but there are those who didn’t and continued on with what they’d been doing. Same thing goes for those who fell down the QAnon pipeline and became so deeply radicalized in a way their behavior became inappropriate and (in some cases) criminal.

This isn’t just exclusive to the Right. I have seen (and even have receipts) of Leftists who’ve gone so far off the deep end in perpetrating misinformation/disinformation, bullying/harassing people who don’t get on board with their takes, attacking others under the guise that they did something to deserve it (all while maintaining they’re in the right to act like this because they are morally good people), promoting harmful conspiracy theories (some of these rooted in antisemitism or Russian propaganda), and doubling down on the kind of bigotry they claim to be against, that I’ve just started blocking them because no amount of talking to them and trying to get them to understand how harmful their behavior is will work. Some of these people were even former mutuals I’ve cut ties with and will never speak to again.

In the case of Tommy and Carol, their issues isn’t radicalization (we will see that with Jason’s character in season 4), but the fact that they have their heads so far up their own asses that they don’t recognize (or care) how awful their behavior has become. Barbara likely was onto something when she told Nancy about how Tommy and Carol have been fucking since seventh grade, with the implication being that these two have been navel-gazing with each other for so long that it has calcified them into becoming self-absorbed and callous. There may have been a point in time where their friendship with Steve was genuine, but that’s pretty much gone at this point, which Steve is forced to realize. The fact neither Tommy nor Carol make any attempt after this episode to reconcile with Steve speaks volumes, and not in a way that reflects well on them.

This is why I find it puzzling when Steve-Antis come out claiming that Steve’s sudden change-of-heart makes no sense. It absolutely does for several reasons. For one thing, Steve was forced to recognize how little these two actually cared about him, and how they were just using him (and by extension, his relationship with Nancy) for their own amusement. His anger with Tommy and Carol in the parking lot makes perfect sense not just from a writing perspective, but from a real-life perspective as well: He’s sick of their behavior. He has reached his limit with them. He just nuked a relationship with Nancy that he genuinely cared about, is feeling remorseful over how he acted (especially now that the full gravity of what he did has hit him), and he’s now stuck with two inauthentic and nasty people who are just going to continue acting the way they always have without making any effort to change.

Simply put: That’s not the kind of person he wants to be, and he's disgusted with himself for falling into that.

My mom pointed this out to me when we were rewatching the previous episode, but Steve’s initial behavior goes beyond just simply being angry with Nancy: He’s angry with himself. He’s angry because he feels vulnerable and taken advantage of, not just by what he thinks Nancy did, but by Tommy and Carol as well. I mentioned in my previous review that there’s an ugly implication that Tommy and Carol would’ve ripped Steve to shreds for showing any kind of sensitivity (which they perceive as weakness), and the fact that Steve just saw what he believed was Nancy cheating on him with Jonathan shattered Steve and made him feel like the biggest fool on the planet. And in the heat of the moment, he wrecks the entire relationship to avoid getting hurt further. Spoilers: It didn’t make things better.

It’s telling that Steve isn’t gleefully participating in the spray-painting when Nancy confronts him, but just looks deeply disgusted and unhappy to even be there. I wonder if in that moment, it finally hit him how much of an idiot he truly was in telling Tommy and Carol what he saw at Nancy’s window.

For Tommy, Carol, and Nicole, the slut-shaming was done for their amusement, and it was their opportunity to be nasty and claim to have the moral high ground (something I see A LOT of Tumblr and Reddit users doing these days 😒). There’s nothing genuine about their behavior here. They could not care less about how Steve feels about this, and it doesn’t surprise me that Steve’s disgust towards them got projected onto Nancy and Jonathan since he thinks they’re also using him as the fool to be laughed at. 

That’s why I buy this scene in the parking lot with Steve finally snapping at Tommy and Carol (as pictured above): Once the fight was over and he finally had the chance to calm down and think things through (while being forced to listen to Tommy and Carol’s consistent snide jabs), he realized how low he had sunk as a person. Compared to Tommy and Carol (or even Billy and Angela), Steve doesn’t get any sadistic delight in being cruel to others. Furthermore, when Steve had time to contemplate, he recognized that not only did Nancy NOT deserve what he did (regardless of whether or not she cheated on him) but that Nancy had always been genuine about caring for others (which we even see in the previous episode when she was begging Jonathan to stop attacking Steve in the alley), and it occurs to Steve that he never actually gave Nancy a fair chance to explain herself before he jumped to conclusions. Same thing with Jonathan: Steve has the bruises and the blood to show that Jonathan’s rage over daring to trash-talk Will was authentic, and it’s not a coincidence that when Tommy and Carol once again bring up the idea that Jonathan killed Will, Steve tells them to shut-up. He recognizes he hurt Jonathan (similar to how he hurt Nancy), that Jonathan’s anger is genuine, and it hits him that what he said was nasty and he feels awful about it (as anyone with a conscious would). And like any person with any kind of decency, he wants to try and makes this right however he can.

Another detail I want to point out here is this moment when Tommy grabs Steve in a threatening manner:

I know there’s the common joke about Steve frequently getting manhandled (a joke I’ve been guilty of making once or twice), or even this questionable idea that Tommy has a crush on Steve (which is something Chester Rushing, the actor who plays Tommy, has jumped on board with), but given the release of the Eddie Munson prequel Flight of Icarus, which showcases Tommy’s bullying of the Hellfire Club and how physical it got, it paints this scene (and by extension, Tommy and Steve’s entire relationship) in a much more disturbing context. I used to think Tommy was simply just an ass-kisser who’d drop you in a heartbeat for the next popular person if it suited him, but that book (which was written by Caitlin Schneiderhan, one of the writers for the show), combined with this scene, makes me question if this is the first time Tommy’s physically threatened Steve like this, or if there have been other instances of abusive behavior from Tommy towards Steve. Not that it excuses how Steve acted beforehand, but it makes me wonder how much control Tommy exerted over Steve during their relationship.

In any case, it makes it understandable why Steve just left and didn’t take Tommy’s bait to fight him. He knew nothing good was going to come out of that.

In regards to Steve cleaning the spray-paint off the theater, I think it’s noteworthy how blatantly obvious it is to the theater worker there that Steve had something to do with this. While he isn’t remotely impressed, he doesn’t shame Steve for it. Instead, he extends the grace of allowing Steve to clean it up and lets it be. It’s a small thing, but it makes a big difference in Steve being able to fix the damage he’s caused and actually strive to be a better person. As I’m about to point out in the next part of this review, I don’t have a lot of patience anymore for people who continue to hold the sins of those who are genuinely remorseful and trying to be better over their heads. Call their behavior pettiness or self-righteousness or adherence to purity culture, but that kind of attitude of refusing to give credit when someone is trying to do better is NOT impressive to me.

The movie Nancy and Steve were originally going to see, All the Right Moves, has a story that somewhat parallels Steve’s arc during the show. The movie stars Tom Cruise as a high school football player for the Ampipe Bulldogs named Stefen "Stef" Djordjevic, who’s looking to get out of the small Pennsylvania town he’s in via a college football scholarship so he can study to become an engineer. After a particularly bad football game where his team loses, he gets into a heated argument with his football coach that results in him getting kicked off the team and forced to find a ride home since the coach won’t allow Stef back on the bus. After having one too many drinks, and still pissed at his coach, Stef gets roped into coming to the coach’s house by disgruntled Ampipe fans, who blame the coach for their loss and take it out on him by vandalizing his home. The most Stef does during this scene is toss a bag of garbage on the lawn, but he doesn’t take it further than that. Stef gets increasingly disturbed by how far the vandals take their actions, from spraypainting vile phrases on the coach’s house, to slashing the tires to their car, to even hanging a dead rooster by the front door. The vandals flee when the coach becomes aware of their presence, but he spots Stef during this, which not only wrecks any chance at reconciliation between Stef and his coach, but results in the coach blackballing Stef out of fury over what happened.

Just like with Steve at the theater, Stef’s actions were stupid and done in a moment of anger that he later came to regret. These weren’t two people getting malicious delight in their cruelty (unlike Tommy, Carol, and Nicole, or the vandals at the coach’s house). The movie explores the aftermath of the incident, with Stef having to deal with the consequences (even though he was far from the only participant in that event, and didn’t take it to the extent the other vandals did), as well reckon with how his behavior has wrecked things with the people he cares about. The movie’s overall question centers on whether Stef deserves the extent of his punishment, and the answer seems to lie in the middle: He certainly needed a major attitude adjustment (something his girlfriend, Lisa, calls him out on), but there comes a point where his punishment seems less about teaching him a lesson and more rooted in pettiness on the coach’s part (which is something the coach is eventually called out for as well).

In Steve’s case, even though his actions at the theater aren't excusable, I feel bad for him the same way I feel bad for Stef in the movie: Aside from the fact that both boys are remorseful while bearing the full consequences of what they did (whereas those who also participated in that debauchery weren’t remotely remorseful about it and walked away scot-free, with not even a slap on the wrist), I’m someone who dislikes the idea of a person paying for their sins for the rest of their lives when it’s clear they are remorseful about it, all while never getting a break or being able to move past what happened. Stef is eventually able to in the movie, and there is a reconciliation that happens. Steve on the other hand…………..while there’s no doubt he’s undergone massive character development since this point, there’s a debate to be had if the show (and by extension, the fandom) is ever going to let go of Steve’s past sins, or if they’ll continue to hold it over his head.

And this brings me to a point I’ve wanted to talk about for a long time………..

Part 3: Stan Culture and Fandom Pettiness

This part is semi-related to Steve’s redemption arc, but it also deals with my personal perspective about fandoms in general, why I’ve distanced myself from the Stranger Things fandom over the years, and how all of this inform how I write these reviews.

Five years ago (during 2020 when Covid-19 was rampant and we were all in isolation), I was an active user on Reddit, and most of my posts and comments were related to shows I was invested in. Fandoms were a new thing for me at the time. I had been aware of them for a while, but hadn’t really participated in them prior to that. For reasons I’m not going to get into now, I decided I wanted to be active in fandoms around that time. One of those fandoms was Stranger Things.

Anyways, during a conversation about Steve’s redemption, there was this particularly unpleasant Jonathan Byers/Charlie Heaton Stan who was ripping into how Steve’s redemption arc constituted “bad writing” and how no person ever changes like that. Because I was new to the fandom (and was ignorant about how some fans read things in bad-faith and do NOT want to hear opinions that contradict their own), I made the mistake of replying to this person by explaining why I thought Steve’s redemption worked from a writing perspective and why I liked his character. I got a reply from this person within minutes, who first insisted that they didn’t hate Steve (which is seriously questionable for reasons I’ll go into in a minute), but then proceeded to snidely claim that the only reason Steve was on the show was because the Duffer Brothers liked Joe Keery, with the nasty insinuation this somehow derailed the entire show and the quality of the writing. They then proceeded to rip into him for the camera-breaking incident, and the slut-shaming at the theater (which they had already been talking about in several other comments to various people that they’d interacted with). They then took a very condescending “holier-than-thou” tone with me (the same kind of attitude I remember getting projected onto me when I was growing up in the LDS church as a participating Mormon, which was one of many reasons I finally left and haven’t been back since) while they proceeded to tell me how they didn’t give credit for Steve breaking it off with Tommy and Carol, or for him cleaning up the theater (contemptuously insisting “that was the least of what he needed to do”), or for coming to Jonathan’s house to apologize, or for coming to the aid of Jonathan and Nancy against the Demogorgon. There was also this bizarre fixation on taking the scene with Steve coming to Nancy’s window completely out-of-context to paint him as a creep who had the intention of forcing himself on Nancy (or at the very least, pressuring her into having sex with him). I would later find out from their Tumblr account (which has the same user name as their Reddit account) that they’ve gone out of their way to misconstrue certain things Steve said or did during the show to paint him as a manipulative controlling boyfriend to Nancy. They then proceeded to reiterate that Steve’s redemption was bad writing, and that no one changes like that, and that they couldn’t understand what prompted Steve to realize how much of an asshole he’d been, all while completely ignoring anything I’d said in my previous comment.

Even at the time of this conversation, I remember being extremely put-off by this. It wouldn’t be until later when I fully processed not only how petty this person was being, but how there was A LOT of hostile projection towards Steve’s character. In any case, I responded back reiterating why I believed Steve’s redemption and what prompted it, as well as pointing out that the window scene was meant to be a homage to Glen Lantz and Nancy Thompson’s dynamic from A Nightmare on Elm Street, with Nancy’s character being directly inspired by Nancy Thompson from that movie (as noted in the companion book Worlds Turned Upside Down), as well as Glen serving as inspiration for Steve’s character and costume design. I even pointed out that, for as much as they claimed not to hate Steve, the negative way they talked about him indicated to me they didn’t like him, and my opinion about Steve remained unchanged. They did NOT take this well, and proceeded to immediately downvote me. I could already tell a nasty reply was coming from them (this wasn’t the first time I dared to disagree with someone on Reddit who couldn’t let it slide and proceeded to rip into me for not accepting their opinions as gospel), and I automatically edited my comment to tell them if they were going to act like this, I wasn’t going to continue the conversation, and blocked them. I don’t know if they ever replied back. I don’t care either.

The reason I bring this incident up isn’t because it changed the way I felt about Steve’s character or his redemption (if anything, I still think he’s a great character and his redemption arc is well-written). It also wasn’t the worst conversation I ever had on that platform. Not even in the Top 10. I have so many other horror stories regarding vile, disgusting behavior from Reddit users, and how genuinely cruel and callous people can be on that platform.

No, the reason I bring it up at all is because it’s one of many encounters that forced me to not only see the uglier side of the Stranger Things fandom, but also marked the beginning of the end for my interest in being a part of ANY fandom.

Aside from shipping wars, I know for a fact that Stan Culture and Hatedoms are two of the most toxic, poisonous aspects of fandoms that kill any desire to interact with fans, and make fandoms in general a miserable place to be. I am well-aware of the behavior people like this exhibit, which involves myopic levels of thinking, putting the characters they like on a pedestal while getting offended at the idea of anyone criticizing them, and turning a blind eye to said character’s faults. Meanwhile, if it’s a character they hate, it’s open season on them. Suddenly, everything that character has ever said or done is interpreted in the most cynical, bad-faith manner possible to portray them as “irredeemable” or the scum of the earth. Anything regarding that character that can’t be put in that category automatically falls into blaming the writers for screwing up.

As someone once put it: “Everything I like about the story or character is fine, but everything I don’t agree with is ‘bad writing.’” If that sounds childish and petulant, that’s EXACTLY how I feel about it as well. This is basically 90% of posts and conversations on Reddit when it comes to fandoms. Reddit breeds an extremely toxic culture where the subreddits become echo chambers that beat the same points to death, and the upvote/downvote system works to shame people who don’t follow the status quo.

I joked about this a while back, but I remember what happened after the last of season of Game of Thrones aired, and that fanbase was badly split to the point the subreddits reflected it: Either you had u/freefolk, which was usually for shitposting and tearing apart every aspect of the show because people were THAT ANGRY about the last season and how Daenerys’s character was assassinated, or you had u/naath, which took the opposite approach of “Game of Thrones Season 8 was Practically Perfect in every way and you’re too stupid to realize it” while bashing Daenerys and interpreting every single thing she ever said or did in the worst manner possible to make her out to be a monster similar to Sauron from LOTR or real life dictators like Hitler and Stalin. This mentality even went to the extent of making rape and slavery apologies as long as these fans could made Daenerys look bad. I am not kidding about that. I remember seeing those posts with my jaw dropping and wondering what the hell was wrong with these people. Of course, if another user confronted anyone on u/naath about how they hated Daenerys’s character, they would deny this and start waxing poetic about how they believed Daenerys was a complex tragic character…………….and then proceed to go back to bashing the shit out of her once they were done talking with that person.

In regards to my encounter with the Jonathan Byers/Charlie Heaton Stan……….I truly don’t care if they hate Steve’s character. They are entitled to that position, even if I disagree with it. However, if you’re sitting there trying to tell me that you don’t hate a character while proceeding to rip into them and take snipes at every single aspect (and I mean Every. Single. Aspect.) related to them……..that tells me you are either lacking in self-awareness, or you’re being disingenuous. Either way, after years of constantly seeing people behave like this, I don’t have a lot of patience for that kind of bullshit.

What’s almost comical is that even after Steve and Nancy had broken up and Jancy took off (with Steve bowing out gracefully at the end of season 2), this person still couldn’t stop themselves from trying to poke holes in Steve’s storyline. Keep in mind that when I encountered this particular stan, it was AFTER season 3 aired and BEFORE season 4 premiered. Season 3 was where Nancy and Jonathan were a couple, and Steve had NOTHING to do with their relationship (or their storyline) at that point. Yet here they were trying to poke holes in Steve’s Scoops Ahoy arc. For whatever reason, they weren’t willing to let bygones be bygones, or even accept the idea that a fan can like Steve as a character while also shipping Jonathan and Nancy, and those two concepts are NOT mutually exclusive.

As for the claims of Steve’s redemption being bad writing…………if Steve had been written like his Montauk Counterpart where he raped Nancy, was unapologetic about it, proceeded to slut-shame her after the fact, and then spontaneously had a redemption in the last two episodes out of nowhere (with none of the subtext or foreshadowing regarding Steve’s positive aspects that season 1 had), I could understand that criticism. However, that’s not what happened here. They did NOT write Steve on the show the way they did in the Montauk script (which should be noted was a rough draft and NOT the final product). Steve had his negative qualities (as did every other character on this show, including Jonathan) but he was also given subtle redeeming qualities (like his willingness to help Nancy study for the test in the first episode when she told him this test mattered to her, or apologizing to Nancy for his self-absorbed reaction to Barbara’s disappearance) to show there was a decent person underneath, and an arc of his own where the toxicity of his former friends was impacting his behavior and he needed to make a choice whether to stay with them or cut them off. As we see, he did the latter.

This is also why I’m not really impressed by this person’s attempts to paint Steve on the show as a creepy wannabe rapist: It’s like they read the Montauk Script, decided that’s who Steve’s character should have been, got upset when the show didn’t go that route, proceeded to try and find reasons for why it was bad they didn't go with Steve's original characterization, and is now re-interpreting any interaction between Steve and Nancy on the show in the most bad-faith manner possible.

By the way, I’ve sat through this show several times now, and I have never seen anything that indicated to me that Steve intended to force himself on Nancy, or pressure her into having sex with him. I have also watched this show with other people, including family, friends, and mutuals, who have never gotten that impression as well. Even my sister, who has had her own ugly experiences with boys who would not respect boundaries, never got that impression from Steve when she saw him.

As for the snide claim about how the only reason Steve was changed was because the Duffer Brothers liked Joe Keery……………I maintain this is a gross oversimplification for several reasons:

If a character like Steve staying on the show as long as he did and rewriting his character was only contingent on the Duffer Brothers liking the actor, why didn’t this happen for other actors and the characters they play? Are we supposed to believe that Elodie Grace Orkin (who plays Angela), or Ross Partridge (who plays Lonnie), or Peyton Wich (who plays Troy), or Dacre Montgomery (who plays Billy) were so deeply unpleasant to work with that the Duffer Brothers couldn’t wait to write out their characters the first chance they got? I haven’t ever heard of anything negative regarding these actors, and for all I know they could be lovely people to be around. Doesn’t change the fact the fictional characters they portrayed were loathsome individuals, and the Duffer Brothers didn’t alter those characters to make them nicer just because they may have liked the actors.

Contrary to what some fans have claimed, Steve is NOT the only character who went through a radical change between the Montauk Script and the final product. As I’ve noted several times now in my reviews, there were significant changes made to other characters: Dustin for instance went from being the fat kid with weight issues to having an arc centered around his scientific interests and his overall place in the Party, as well as how the writers incorporated Gaten Matarazzo’s CCD into the character to raise awareness about the condition. Lucas went from an angry loudmouthed kid who causes problems for the Party and whose parents constantly fight to coming from a stable and happy family and having an ironclad sense of loyalty to the Party (even if he disagrees with them on certain issues). Terry Ives went from an antisocial conspiracy nut looking to have their theories validated to a sympathetic mother who had her child stolen from her after being a part of unethical experiments, and did everything in her power to get her child back and got crushed by the system as a result.

Simply put, the Duffer Brothers probably realized there was more they could do with Steve’s character beyond making him a one-dimensional bully and rapist. It’s not like they didn’t already have a plethora of bullies on this show to fill that role. Writing a character like Billy, Tommy, Carol, or Angela is easy. Writing a character like Steve, with complexity and depth, is more of a challenge, and one the Duffer Brothers were eager to accept. This isn’t conjecture by the way. This is something Joe Keery even talked about in Worlds Turned Upside Down:

As for the claim of Steve’s redemption coming out of nowhere………I’m going to assume this person has never heard of an epiphany (or the ability to reflect on one’s behavior and realize you were in the wrong), has never met anyone who’s had an epiphany or done any introspection regarding how they acted where they apologized and tried to do better (which makes me feel sorry for them), or it’s just them being disingenuous (like they were when they claimed they didn’t hate Steve). I’ve already talked about what led up to him finally cutting ties with Tommy and Carol, and making amends with Jonathan and Nancy, but simply put, Steve did not like the person he became in that moment. Seeing how nasty and miserable Tommy and Carol were as people made him realize he didn’t want to be that kind of person, and that his behavior towards Jonathan and Nancy was cruel and he feels awful about it. This isn’t that hard of a concept to grasp.

In any case, this conversation I’m referring to was years ago. I deactivated my account on Reddit in early 2023, and I haven’t been back since. Even in regards to Tumblr, my interactions with other fans are limited these days. Considering everything that’s happened over the past year, and seeing just how vile people have become, and how many talk a big game about morals and unlearning biases but won’t actually put it into practice when it really matters, I’ve become pretty disillusioned and started distancing myself. Stranger Things will probably be the last fandom I’m ever in. I am only doing these reviews for me, and for the benefit of the 4-5 mutuals who are interested in them. I have no delusions these will ever be popular, and I am okay with that.

For the record, I’m glad they reworked Steve’s character, and actually gave him an arc of becoming a better person. Now, more than ever, we need that. There are plenty of Tommys, Carols, Billys, and Angelas out there already, especially on social media. They are as tiresome as they are predictable, and I’m sick of encountering people like them. I want people like Steve who are willing to put in the fucking effort to be better. Not make excuses, not double-down, not get on the cross to portray themselves as a victim, not be condescending brats when they’re called out for their behavior………….but actually make an effort to improve. I am not petty, and I don’t adhere to the “purity culture” that’s messed up so many fandoms and people on the Right AND the Left. I give credit where credit is due. If someone is sincere about changing, I’m willing to give that grace (similar to the theater guy who let Steve clean up the spray-paint).

Part 4: Reunions

The chase scene at the beginning of the episode was my favorite part, being both awesome and funny at the same time. I know the situation itself was serious, but when Lucas was shouting over the walkie-talkie about the bad men coming, I couldn’t help but think of those 80s PSAs they used to do about stranger danger:

I also laughed at Mike’s line to his mom about leaving the country. Reminds me of one of the storylines Calvin and Hobbes did were they accidentally rolled the car into a ditch and were forced to go on the run:

Calvin had it easy by comparison. Mike and his friends did not, and were lucky to escape Brenner and his men by the skin of their teeth.

There were two movies that came to mind when I was watching the chase scene, and even the aftermath when Brenner shows up at the Wheeler’s house. The first is an obvious reference: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. Agents coming in and confiscating evidence at Mike’s house, like when government employees from that movie take over Elliot’s house and keep him and his family quarantined when they discover E.T. with them. Even the chase with the kids on the bikes pays homage to this movie:

Obviously, they didn’t have El lift everyone’s bikes in the air and fly to freedom, but we did get an awesome scene of El flipping a van. To my understanding, this was accomplished with a real van. You can even listen to how they did this effect here.

Another movie that gets a shout-out is an anime called Akira, which has been cited as an inspiration for the show along with E.T. and Elfen Lied.

Akira is a 1988 anime film set in an alternate reality where World War III (which started on July 16, 1988) has come and gone, and the city of Neo-Tokyo in the year 2019 has risen from the ashes. A crime-filled city with biker gangs, escalating violence, lawlessness, unemployment, government corruption, and the general sense the world’s going to hell in a hand-basket, the anime deals with a government program regarding special kids called Espers (referred to in-universe as Numbers), who possess powerful psychic and psychokinetic powers derived from a source known as Akira. One evening, a biker named Tetsuo from one of these gangs comes into contact with an escaped Esper (named Takashi/Number 26) on the road, resulting Tetsuo accidentally obtaining these powers that he can’t control, which causes havoc on his physical and mental health, as well as on Neo Tokyo itself.

I plan to talk more about this anime in later reviews as I believe it has more applicability to later seasons (like Colonel Shikishima and all the politicking in the movie having eerily parallels to Colonel Sullivan and the different factions in the U.S. government split over El’s existence in season 4, as well as the general theme of accelerationism present in both the movie and the show), and may even factor heavily into season 5 regarding the military’s presence in Hawkins. However, there are subtle shout outs to it in the chase scene, like Tetsuo’s crash upon encountering Takashi/Number 26 in the middle of the road, similar to how El flips the van when it’s coming for them. Or the street chase in general, with the difference being the boys from Stranger Things are on bikes instead of motorcycles.

Even the scene with the helicopter searching for the boys in the junkyard (and the agents later arriving with guns) reminds me of the scene from the anime where the military has Kaneda’s bike gang pinned down, recaptures Number 26, and takes Tetsuo into custody. Obvious difference is El and the boys aren’t captured because Hopper comes in time to rescue them.

I know Hopper’s character was inspired by Chief Brody from Jaws, and I see the similarities, especially in seasons 3-4 when he’s dealing with Mayor Kline (whose character was also inspired by the Mayor from Jaws) and when Hopper finally gets to fight the Soviet Demogorgon. However, for the most part (especially in this picture), I see more present similarities with Indiana Jones:

Hell, the scene where Hopper, Nancy, Jonathan, and Joyce are watching as Brenner’s men raid the Wheeler House reminds me of the scene from The Last Crusade when Indy, his father, and Sallah are in the Hatay State, spying on the Nazis in the desert as they’ve arrived to find the Holy Grail. Thankfully, Hopper and his group don’t get spotted by Brenner’s men the same way Indy does by the Nazis, and they’re able to leave before they are.

A movie series constantly referenced by the characters on this show is Star Wars. I haven’t really talked about the original trilogy because the references are well-known by the characters in-universe and the audience, with most people being familiar with the plot of those movies. However, the reference made to Lando Calrissian by the boys as they’re debating about whether to trust Nancy and Hopper when they communicate with them via walkie-talkie is important for the next episode. Just like how Lando was forced to make a choice between betraying Han, Leia, Chewbacca, and C-3PO to the Empire in order to protect the residents of Cloud City, Hopper is going to be forced to make a morally questionable choice regarding giving El’s location to Brenner in order to rescue Will. We’ll discuss the ramifications of that in the next review.

Part 5: The Bathtub

For an episode that spends almost half its time with the characters constructing their own sensory deprivation tank for El to communicate with Will, the process they go through to accomplish this was fun to watch.

I enjoyed the phone call between Dustin and Mr. Clarke. Aside from how funny it is Dustin is calling on a Saturday (when Mr. Clarke is on a date no less) and unconvincingly claiming he’s just building this for fun, we do get to see the pushier side of Dustin (“Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?!”) that both Steve and Eddie would later comment on in season 4:

The fact Mr. Clarke takes it in stride though (and doesn’t probe too deeply into Dustin’s motivations) goes to show how chill of a guy he is. The Duffer Brothers admitted in the companion book Worlds Turned Upside Down that Mr. Clarke was the science teacher they wished they had growing up, and his character was even inspired by Carl Sagan and the videos he did for Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (which is mentioned in “The Flea and the Acrobat” when the boys get information from Mr. Clarke about alternate dimensions).

As for the woman Mr. Clarke is watching The Thing with, her name is Jen Woo, and she later comes back in the comic book Tomb of Ybwen, where she plays an important role in helping Mr. Clarke rescue the boys when they’re trapped in a snowstorm. Considering the events of that comic take place in January 1985 (a year and two months after season 1), this implies they either have an on/off-again relationship, or they’re a couple. Either way, I hope she and Mr. Clarke come back for season 5.

The sensory deprivation process and the experiments Terry Ives and El went through in the previous episode were inspired by a science-fiction horror film called Altered States. The movie centers around a man named Edward “Eddie” Jessup, a psychopathologist at Columbia University who experiments with sensory deprivation and psychedelics/hallucinogenic drugs as a means of understanding mental illnesses (specifically schizophrenia) and to explore the mind’s ability to transcend reality. Due to a traumatic experience over his father’s death (his father had cancer), he’s come to disbelieve in the idea of God, and believes these experiments can unlock the true self and access the limitless potentials of the human mind and memories (which he claims involves 6 billion years of memories from atoms that are 6 billion years old). After traveling with a colleague to the Hinchi tribe in Mexico to try a special potion made from magic mushrooms, a shrub called sinicuiche, and his own blood, he brings the concoction back with him for more experiments. However, the deeper he goes into these hallucinations, the more it begins to impact his mental and physical state, to the point of even threatening to alter his genetics.

Like I explained in my review of “Holly Jolly,” there may have been a point in time when the Duffer Brothers considered the idea of LSD, other psychedelics, and experiments involving sensory deprivation tanks allowing the human mind to open up and explore different realities while also transforming their genetic makeup and giving that person special abilities. As of season 4 and The First Shadow, we know that the special abilities El, Kali, and the other kids at the Lab had were due to Henry/One/Vecna’s blood, which had been altered all those years ago when Henry was transported into the Upside Down as a child and came in contact with the Mind Flayer. Even Terry’s ability to communicate via the lights with El in season 2 could be explained by the blood transfusion Brenner administered to Terry during the psychedelic experiments when she was pregnant with El.

In any case, the reason I bring this movie up now is for two reasons. One is how the main character, Edward, eventually starts doing his experiments in a horizontally contained space like El’s bathtub, except El’s was out in the open surrounded by people, whereas Edward keeps himself isolated in this container:

The second has to do with Joyce’s promise to be there for El.

Joyce in many ways serves as a perfect foil to Brenner. Brenner is cold, detached, calculated, and a man who views others as beneath him in terms of intellect. Meanwhile, Joyce is warm, willing to empathize with people (as she does here with El), gets labeled as a mess by other people when she actually has a pretty good sense of what’s going on around her, and has a caring side to her. Compared to Brenner, who would throw El in the sensory deprivation tank and cut her off from any contact that wasn’t coming from the Void, Joyce is willing to be there for El as a comforting presence while she remote-views. It reminds me of what happens in Altered States when Edwards love interest, Emily, manages to break through how deeply he’s gone into his experiments with the love she has for him. In this case, it’s Joyce’s paternal love for El.

The common theme in this series centers on the idea of love (whether romantic, platonic, familial, friendship, etc) as a superpower for the main characters. It sounds cliché when said out-loud, but not only does it keep the characters grounded when things go badly for them, it allows them to find inner strength they didn’t realize they had, which allows them to repel the darker influences that threaten to destroy them. This was even true in The First Shadow for Henry/One/Vecna: His love for Patty Newby allowed him to briefly fight off the Mind Flayer’s influence and save her adoptive father, Principal Newby.

El’s trip into the Void to locate Barbara and Will was both creepy and sad. First time I saw this, I had a sick feeling Barbara didn’t survive, which turned out to be true. The way her body is mutilated and cocooned in the slime and mucus reminds me of what the Xenomorphs from the Alien Series did to humans unlucky enough to cross their path. Talk about a gruesome and lonely end:

The original concept art for Barbara’s death was originally supposed to be A LOT MORE GRUESOME:

This was eventually cut, with the Duffer Brothers offering the explanation that they wanted Barbara to remain recognizable to confirm to the audience she was truly dead. According to Worlds Turned Upside Down though, this did NOT stop the fanbase at the time from speculating on the idea that she could still be rescued from the Upside Down. As we know now, that wasn’t meant to be.

Interestingly, it was originally supposed to be a spider that came out of Barbara’s mouth instead of the slug. We know the significance of the slug to the Demogorgon’s life-cycle, but why a spider originally? We know Henry/One/Vecna had a deep fascination with spiders as a kid, and there was originally concept art for a Demospider (as I noted in my first review) that may or may not appear in season 5. Could it be subtle foreshadowing? I know I keep coming back to Henry/One/Vecna, but the Duffer Brothers have admitted to Vecna being planned out from the beginning (as early as 2015 in fact, given this interview took place in 2022), so it’s not entirely irrational to suggest there was subtle foreshadowing in season 1 (and seasons 2-3) for his character being the unseen presence in the Upside Down who’s watching everything play out.

This leads me to the next bit when El finds Will.

The scene when the vision of Will and Castle Byers disappears in a cloud of smoke reminds me of what happened in season 3 when El spied on Billy (who was possessed by the Mind Flayer) and saw him kidnapping Heather: The moment Billy realized El was watching, the vision immediately dissolved before she could investigate further. The way El panics when the vision of Will begins to disappear makes it seem like a similar thing occurred here.

This raises an intriguing question: Did the Mind Flayer (or even Vecna) realize El was remote-viewing in the Upside Down and allowed El to briefly see Will, knowing he’d be rescued, before they dissolved the vision on their own accord?

Then there’s the matter of the Demogorgon taking Will at the end of the episode: There’s no question Vecna or even the Mind Flayer had to know Will was there, even before the Demogorgon attacked. The Other Side showed that Will was mostly by his house in the Upside Down during his week there (with only the occasional ventures he made into town, but never too far). Even without the comic, it makes sense on the show that Will would stay in an area he was familiar with (even if the terrain surrounding it was hostile). Vecna and the Mind Flayer are connected to vines and other monsters lurking in the Upside Down, which would allow them to see where Will was at all times. Whatever Will did during his time in the Upside Down, they were aware of it.

I know Will gets impregnated with the slugs, and we see him barfing them up in the next episode, but I don’t think that’s all there is to why they wanted Will. I even question if they truly need humans to reproduce Demogorgons and other monsters. This is a world that allegedly hasn’t been in contact with Earth for thousands of years (and likely never knew anything about humans prior to 1943 when the U.S.S. Eldridge got transported there) and yet the monsters there managed to reproduce during that time without using humans as hosts. I’ve said it before, but whatever fixation the Mind Flayer and Vecna have on Will has to extend past this. I still have the theory that Will’s blood has been altered at this point due to his exposure to the Mind Flayer in the Upside Down, and while we haven’t yet seen any special powers from him like with El, we do know he has a connection with the Mind Flayer (even BEFORE he got possessed by its black particles in season 2), which I believe has something to do with the altered blood, and could possibly come into play during season 5.

Like I’ve said, there’s a lot of speculating I’m doing in these reviews.

Part 6: Nancy and Jonathan

Gotta love how, in spite of being chewed out by Hopper and Joyce for trying to go after the Demogorgon to kill it, the episode still ends with Nancy and Jonathan following through on that plan. To be fair, they have a legitimate concern in wanting to keep the Demogorgon away from Hopper and Joyce while they travel through the Gate. However, both groups got lucky: We know for a fact there’s more than one Demogorgon in the Upside Down, and plenty of other monsters out there we haven’t seen yet. If Vecna or the Mind Flayer really wanted to, they could have sent a number of these monsters after Joyce and Hopper to prevent them from reaching Will. I’ll talk more about Will’s rescue in the next episode, but with what’s revealed in later seasons, his rescue almost seems like Vecna and the Mind Flayer allowed Will to escape.

In Nancy’s case, with Barbara’s gruesome death, her desire to kill the Demogorgon is personal. Like Nancy Thompson from A Nightmare on Elm Street, she is getting the traps ready for the monster and using herself as bait to lure it out. At least she has Jonathan to help her, whereas Nancy from the movie was forced to do this on her own once Freddy had killed off her friends and boyfriend. We will see these parallels revisited again in season 4 when Nancy goes up against Vecna, with it being just as personal for her there as it is here.

Same thing goes for Jonathan: The Demogorgon took his brother and has been terrorizing his mother. It’s just as personal for him, and he does not want to lose Will or Joyce to this monster.

Final Thoughts:

No songs to talk about for this review. Looking forward to finishing season 1 this week!

Also, RIP Barbara Holland! Here is a Funko Pop in your honor:

[star-41306]

I love silly HC's I love character scenarios I love incorrect quotes I love character tweets I love fanfiction I love CONTENT

STRANGER THINGS I MISS YOU I MISS YOU STRANGER THINGS PLEASE PLEASE I MISS YOUUUUUUU UGHHHHHHH AUHGHHHHHJ PLEASE 😔😭😭😔😔❤️❤️😔❤️😭😭😭😭❤️❤️😔❤️❤️😔😔❤️😭😭😭😔😔❤️❤️❤️

[faguettism]

hopper's speech at the end of s3 but it's literally a heart-to-heart because joyce finds the letter in hopper's uniform's left pocket and el puts it in her flannel's left pocket even though both of their shirts have double pockets💔